He seized a torch, and, standing by the
side of a barrel placed on end by a large tier, shouted in Dutch,
"Another step forward and I fire the magazine!"
The men in front paused. Through the fumes of smoke they saw dimly
the pile of barrels and a figure standing with a lighted torch
close to one of them. A panic seized them, and believing they had
made their way into a powder magazine, and that in another instant
there would be a terrible explosion, they turned with shouts of "A
magazine! a magazine! Fly, or we are all dead men!"
"Run, Lionel, and get help," Geoffrey said, and in two or three
minutes a number of soldiers ran down into the cellar. The Walloons
were not long before they recovered from their panic. Their officers
knew that the wine cellars of the city were in front of them, and
reassured them as to the character of the barrels they had seen.
They were, however, too late, and a furious conflict took place at
the entrance into the cellar, but the enemy, able only to advance
two or three abreast, failed to force their way in.
Captain Uvedale and Francis Vere were soon on the spot, and when at
last the enemy, unable to force an entrance, fell back, the former
said, "This is just as I feared. You see, the Spaniards drove this
gallery, and ceased to work immediately they heard us approaching
them.
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