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 338 DESTEUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIEE within and without made up the pandemonium of a storm- ing party. Ladders were once more placed against the walls and were hurled back ; men scrambled on each other's shoulders trying hard to reach the summit of the stockade. ' Our men ' are continually throwing down stones and are resisting hand to hand all who attempt to scale or destroy it. ' More Turks were killed,' says Barbaro, ' than you would have thought possible.' Now the great cannon, which during the night had been advanced as near the wall as possible, is brought into play. An hour before daylight a well-directed shot from the monster was aimed at the stockade, struck it and brought a portion of it down. Under cover of the dust from the falling stones and barrels of earth, but especially of the dense black smoke of the powder, a band of Turks rushed forward and, before they could be prevented, three hundred had entered the enclosure. The Greeks and Italians resisted manfully, fought fiercely to expel them, killed many and drove the remainder out. 1 The besieged raised shouts of triumph. The emperor was with his soldiers, always showing himself in the thick of the fighting, urging men by voice and cheering them by his example. This second attack was more systematic, fiercer, more desperate than the first. The Turks had no need of men behind them to prevent their retreat or to urge them forward. Shouting their wild battle-cry of Allah ! Allah ! they rushed on in the darkness as men who, if they do not court death, at least do not fear it ; as men who believe they are fighting for God, and that in case of death they will be at once transported to a combined heavenly and earthly paradise. They, too, In spite of the discipline and daring of the Anatolian blck. riven troops, of the stimulus derived from their fanatical creed and from the special promise of reward here and hereafter to those who should succeed in entering the Queen City or should perish in the attempt, the assault by them failed as completely as had that of the Bashi-bazouks. The 1 Barbaro (54) says, Greeks and Venetians, omitting all mention of the Genoese.