Page 348 - A Knight of the White Cross

any great headway.

The roar of the bombardment was almost continuous, and was heard at
islands distant from Rhodes, telling the inhabitants how the battle between

the Christians and the Moslems was raging.

It was not long before the wall in the front of the Jews' quarter began to

crumble, and it was soon evident that it must, ere many days, succumb to
the storm of missiles hurled against it. D'Aubusson lost no time in making

preparations to avert the danger. He ordered all the houses in rear of the
wall to be levelled; a deep semicircular ditch was then dug, and behind this
a new wall, constructed of the stones and bricks from the houses destroyed,

was built, and backed with an earthen rampart of great thickness and
solidity.

The work was carried on with extraordinary rapidity. The grand master
himself set the example, and, throwing aside his robes and armour,

laboured with pick and shovel like the commonest labourer. This excited
the people to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and all classes threw

themselves into the task. Knights and slaves, men, women, and children,
and even the inmates of the convents and nunneries, aided in the work, and
when at last the outer wall fell, and the Turks thought that success was at

hand, the pasha saw with astonishment and dismay that entry to the city
was still barred by a work as formidable as that which he had destroyed at

an enormous expenditure of ammunition. There was now a short breathing
time for the besieged; but the depression which the failure of their efforts
excited among the Turks, was shortly dispelled by the arrival of a ship, with

a despatch from Constantinople, in which the pasha was informed that the
sultan himself was about to proceed to Rhodes with a reinforcement of a

hundred thousand men, and a fresh park of artillery.

Paleologus had some doubts as to whether the report was true or was

merely intended to stimulate him to new efforts for the speedy capture of
the place. Knowing well that the grand master was the heart and soul of the

defence, and that the failure of the assault was mainly due to his energy and
ability, he determined to resort to the weapon so frequently in use in