The stir caused among the besiegers beyond the earthwork proved to Clodoald that the operations had been frustrated, and the mine rendered untenable. He then stopped up the entrance to the countermine, and when the smoke was dissipated, he resolved on examining the state of things for himself. The faggots were burning rapidly by reason of the draft, and the flame was roaring through the hole, which was becoming larger and larger. Fresh faggots were thrown on the fire with pitchforks, the limestone was cracking incessantly and falling in large slabs.
Secondinus had heard the counterminers at work, but had not been able to ascertain the direction they were following, as they were excavating under the limestone bed in a clayey sand. He thought the galleries would meet some time or other, and that then there would be a struggle in the tunnel. Anticipating this, he had screens in readiness, hoping thus to remain master of his own gallery, and even to gain possession of the countermine.
The event disconcerted his projects; no further progress was possible there. Along the ramping wall, Secondinus's miners had reached the sand, and were consequently no longer heard. He sent all his workmen, therefore, to this quarter, and had his galleries deeply excavated according to the plan ([Fig. 30]). Thanks to the yielding nature of the soil, this operation was completed the following night. The galleries were well propped and shored with dry wood taken from the houses of the lower town. Faggots smeared with tar were placed among these props, and at dawn were set fire to.
Fig. 30.
Clodoald's anxiety had brought him once more to this front of the defence, when a cracking noise was heard.... A wide piece of the wall, above the oblique intrenchment made by the besieged, immediately split, bent forward, and fell en masse outside into the fosse. Clouds of smoke and dust arose, and the exulting cries of the Franks were heard from the cité.
There was not a moment to lose: weak as he still was from his wound, Clodoald assembled all his men within call, and sent for a reinforcement. With the soldiers—about two hundred in number—who had hastened together at his first summons, he mounted to the summit of the crumbling wall ([Fig. 31]) to meet the assault.
