_ 221 _ the mass of cotton, seeing which the enemy were overjoyed and began to give loud cries that seemed to reach the sky and shake the ground. This failure of our fire had a serious psychological effect on our men, and they were demoralized, thinking it would be impossible to defend the fortress. The captain sensed this and spoke to them loudly: "What are you afraid of? Have great faith in God for he did not protect you from these dogs while you were fetching water to desert you now". Suddenly he remembered that there was a metal piece of artillery in the fortress known as a "serpe", which was more powerful than the rest, and he sent for it at once. If he hadn't thought of it then the enemy would have finished filling up the trench and would have placed us in danger. The "serpe" was brought out and the constable fired it. The ball shot out furiously and hit one of the cotton balls, which flew into the air. When they saw this our men gave a loud cry which frightened the enemy, for they saw their cotton ball had been torn apart and realized that all the other balls wouldn't be of much help. With the same "serpe" our men began to tear apart the others, leaving the enemy unprotected, and now the shells would fall among the men, blowing off the legs of some, the heads of others
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