He had offered no terms,
and there was therefore no breach of faith. The commander of a
besieged town, he insisted, is always at liberty to propose a parley,
which the enemy can accept or not as he chooses. At any rate, it
was not for the archduke, who had hired a traitor to corrupt the
garrison, to make a complaint of treachery. Twelve hundred men
were employed for the next eight days in strengthening the works,
Sir Francis being always with them at night, when the water was
low, encouraging them by his presence and example.
Early in January he learned that the enemy were preparing for the
assault, and on the 7th a crushing fire was kept up on the Porc
Espic, Helmond, and Sand Hill forts. The Spaniards had by this
time fired 163,200 cannon shot into the town, and scarcely a whole
house was left standing. Towards evening they were seen bringing
scaling ladders to the opposite bank of the Haven. Two thousand
Italian and Spanish troops had been told off to attack the sand
hill, two thousand were to assault Helmond and the Porc Espic, two
parties of five hundred men each were to attack other works, while
on the east side Count Bucquoy was to deliver a general assault.
The English general watched all these preparations with the
greatest vigilance. At high water he closed the west sluice, which
let the water into the town ditch from the Old Haven, in the rear
of Helmond, in order to retain as much water as possible, and
stationed his troops at the various points most threatened.
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