rupt the
operations of the siege. They endeavoured to surprise the town of
Aeth, by means of a secret correspondence with the inhabitants; but the
conspiracy was discovered before it took effect. Then they cut off all
communication between the besiegers and the Schelde, the banks of which
they fortified with strong intrenchments, and a prodigious number of
cannon; so that now all the stores and necessaries were sent to the camp
of the confederates from Ostend. On the twenty-first day of September,
prince Eugene, who was in the trenches, seeing the troops driven by
the enemy from a lodgement they had made on the counterscarp of the
tenaille, rallied and led them back to the charge; but being wounded
over the left eye with a musket-shot, he was obliged to retire, and for
some days the duke of Marlborough sustained the whole command, both in
the siege and of the covering army. On the twenty-third the tenaille was
stormed, and a lodgement made along the covered way. Mareschal Boufflers
having found means to inform the duke de Vendome that his ammunition was
almost expended, this general detached the chevalier de Luxembourg, with
a body of horse and dragoons, to supply the place with gunpowder,
every man carrying a bag of forty pounds upon the crupper. They were
discovered in passing through the camp of the allies, and pursued to the
barrier of the town, into which about three hundred were admitted; but a
great number were killed by the confederates, or miserably destroyed by
the explosion of the powder which they carried.

The next attempt of the French generals was to intercept a convoy from
Ostend. The count de la Motte marched from Ghent, with about two and
twenty thousand men, to attack this convoy, which was guarded by six
thousand of the allies, commanded by major-general Webb. This officer
made such an admirable disposition by the wood of Wynendale, and
received the enemy with such a close fire, that, after a very warm
action that lasted two hours, they retired in the utmost confusion,
notwithstanding their great superiority in number, leaving six thousand
men killed upon the field of battle; the loss of the allies not
exceeding nine hundred and twelve officers and soldiers. This was the
most honourable exploit performed during the whole war, and of such
consequence to the confederates, that if the convoy had been taken,
the siege must have been raised. The duke de Vendome ordered the dikes
between Bruges and Newport