[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
From the bastions it was easy to observe the advance of the ten musketeers, who at a certain point
separated in an attempt to seize the first house, as if with pincers. Cannon fire from the walls passed
above their heads and tore the roof off the house: like a swarm of insects, Spaniards dashed out and fled.
The musketeers let them escape, took the house, barri-caded themselves inside, and began laying down
a harassing fire towards the hill.
It seemed advisable to repeat the operation against the other houses: even from the bastions it was clear
that the Neapolitans had begun digging trenches, edging them with fagots and gabions. But these did not
circumscribe the hill, they ran towards the plain. Roberto learned that this was how the enemy started
constructing mine tunnels. Once these reached the walls, they would be packed, along their final stretch,
with kegs of powder. It was thus necessary to prevent the initial digging from reaching a depth sufficient
to allow further digging underground, otherwise the enemy from that point on could work under cover.
This was the whole game: to anticipate from outside, in the open, the construction of the tunnels, and to
dig countermine-tunnels of one s own from the other direction, until the relief army arrived and while
provisions and ammunition lasted. In a siege there is nothing else to do: harry the other side, and wait.
The following morning, as promised, it was the turn of the outwork. Roberto found himself grasping his
caliver in the midst of an unruly bunch of men who back in Lu or Cuccaro or Odalengo had never
wanted to work. With some surly Cor-sicans, they were all crammed into boats to cross the Po, after
two French companies had already touched the other shore. Toiras and his staff observed from the right
bank, and old Pozzo saluted his son before waving him on with one hand, then put his forefinger to his
cheekbone and pulled the skin down, as if to say, Keep your eyes open!
The three companies made camp in the outwork. Con-struction had not been completed, and part of the
finished walls had already collapsed. The men spent the day barricading the gaps. The position was well
protected by a ditch, beyond which some sentries were posted. When night fell, the sky was so bright
that the sentries dozed off, and not even the officers considered an attack possible. But suddenly they
heard the charge sounded, and they saw the Spanish light cavalry appear.
Roberto had been set by Captain Bassiani behind some bales of straw that patched a fallen part of the
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
outer wall: he had no time to realize what was happening. Each cavalryman had a musketeer behind him
and, as they arrived at the ditch, the horses began to follow it, surrounding the post while the mus-keteers
fired, eliminating the few sentries. Then each muske-teer jumped from his horse s back, rolling into the
ditch. As the horsemen formed a semicircle before the entrance, opening heavy fire and forcing the
defenders to seek cover, the musketeers, unharmed, reached the gate and the more vulnerable breaches.
The Italian company, which was on guard, had emptied its weapons and then scattered, seized with
panic, and they would long be reviled for this; but the French companies could do no better. Between the
first attack and the scaling of the walls only a few minutes had passed, and the rest of the men were
surprised by the attackers, who were inside the walls before the defenders could even grab their
weapons.
The enemy, exploiting this surprise, were slaughtering the garrison, and they were so numerous that while
some contin-ued felling the defenders still on their feet, others had already begun despoiling the fallen.
Roberto, after firing on the mus-keteers, was reloading painfully, his shoulder sore from the recoil; he was
unprepared for the charge of the cavalry. As the charge passed over his head through the breach, a
horse s hoofs buried him under the collapsing barricade. It was a stroke of luck: protected by the fallen
bales, he survived the first, murderous impact, and now, glancing from beneath his rick, he saw with
horror the enemies finishing off the wounded, hacking at a finger in order to steal a ring, or a whole hand
for a bracelet.
Captain Bassiani, to compensate for the shame of his men s rout, fought on bravely; but he was
surrounded and had to surrender. From the riverbank they saw that the situation was critical, and Colonel
La Grange, who had left the outwork after an inspection and was regaining Casale, wanted to rush to the
assistance of the defenders, but he was restrained by his officers, who advised him rather to ask the city
for reinforce-ments. From the right bank more boats set out, while Toiras, having been wakened
abruptly, now arrived at full tilt. It quickly became clear that the French were routed, and the
only thing to do was to lay down some covering fire to help the survivors reach the river.
In this confusion old Po/zo could be seen impatiently gal-loping back and forth between the staff and the
jetty, seeking Roberto among those who had escaped. When it was almost certain that no more boats
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]