The commandant was forced to threaten
death to any sentinel found asleep upon his post. A fire broke out
which was only suppressed with the greatest exertion. Famine also began
to invade the city, and the condition of the besieged grew daily more
desperate. Their only hope lay in relief from without, and this did not
come.
Two months passed slowly by. The Turks had made a desert of the
surrounding country, and held many thousands of its inhabitants as
prisoners in their camp. Step by step they gained upon the defenders. By
the end of August they possessed the moat around the city walls. On the
4th of September a mine was sprung under the Burg bastion, with such
force that it shook half the city like an earthquake. The bastion was
rent and shattered for a width of more than thirty feet, portions of its
walls being hurled far and wide.
Into the great breach made the assailants poured in an eager multitude.
But the defenders were equally alert, and drove them back with loss. On
the following day they charged again, and were again repulsed by the
brave Viennese, the ruined bastion becoming a very gulf of death.
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