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 decided to use the abandoned mines for this purpose. Hundreds of victims were hurled together alive into the common grave, where they perished from the wounds received in falling, or from starvation. In a few short weeks about 1,600 persons were thus murdered.

The evasive reply of the emperor, and the cruelties that the miners were allowed to perpetrate without any protest from the Royalists, showed the people what they might expect from their enemies, and they spared no pains to prepare themselves for the coming contest. Nicholas of Hussinetz tried to fortify Green Mountain near Nepomuk, but he was dislodged from the position by the lords from the neighboring castles. Žižka, at Pilsen, was more successful. The city was soon in his hands, the fortifications repaired, and even some monasteries were used as a means of defense. Still, he was in constant danger of an attack, and, as he could not fully trust the citizens of Pilsen, he decided to seek a place of greater security. Such a location was found about fifty miles southeast of Prague, in a spot where now the city of Tabor stands. Here the Lusnitz, an affluent of the Moldau, winds around a craggy hill, forming a peninsula, the neck of which is scarcely thirty feet broad. This narrow neck of land Žižka pierced with a deep ditch, and fortified with a thick wall, so that the place was quite cut off from the surrounding country. Only one side of the hill was accessible, and on this declivity the soldiers pitched their tents. The whole place was surrounded by fortifications and strong towers, so as to be impregnable to any engine of war then known. This became the rallying point of the Taborites. In course of time,