'Deliver these ten heads to Duke Alva in payment of his tenpenny tax,
with one additional head for interest'."

Day after day the attack continued and was repulsed. Meanwhile,
unknown to the Spaniards, the besieged burghers were silently
and swiftly building inside the ravelin a solid half-moon shaped
battlement. On the 31st of December, the last day of 1572, the great
assault was made. "The attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty
sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. The tocsin
bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not apt to be heavy
during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. The
daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its
height. The besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket
and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and
stones. Meantime, after morning prayers in the Spanish camp, the
trumpet for a general assault was sounded. A tremendous onset was made
upon the gate of the Cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. The
Spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack,
expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. As
they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the
new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on
the inner side. The reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded
was revealed. The half moon, whose existence they had not suspected,
rose before them bristling with cannon, A sharp fire was instantly
opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin,
which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion,
carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so
triumphantly. This was the turning point. The retreat was sounded, and
the Spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead
beneath the walls. Thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming