Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/331

 FROM CORFU TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 313 opposite the walls. The order was given to advance as near the shore as they could get. This was done under a tremen- dous discharge of stones from mangonels placed on the towers. In spite of this opposition the ships pushed boldly ashore. Their stems were moored to the land, and anchors were thrown out from their sterns. Each huissier had a mangonel. The stones thrown in immense quantities by the Romans were re- turned by the Venetians, and the return shots were better aimed. The Venetians succeeded during the attack in de- stroying the outer wall of the palace with a battering-ram.^ The bolts came in abundance from the crossbows. The scaling:- ladders thrown out from the ships' tops were so close to the walls that the contending soldiers fought together with lance and sword. A fierce hand-to-hand fight went on for some hours without interruption. The galleys had at first not ven- tured to run their bows on to the land, but had remained astern of the transports. Dandolo determined that everything should be dared. He commanded his own crew to put him on shore on the narrow strip of land, a few feet broad, between the walls and the water, and threatened his followers with death when they hesitated to obey. The old man and those with him leaped on shore. When the men in the other galleys saw the gonfalon of St. Mark carried on shore over the head of their fearless leader, they rushed to defend him. The enthusiasm spread through the fleet. Numbers of men from the trans- ports and the barges leaped into their boats or into the water and landed. The order was given that a general attack of all the Venetians should be concentrated upon a short distance of the walls. A battering-ram was brought to bear against one of the towers. Those who worked it were defended by a crowd of crossbowmen. While this thundered at the walls below, hundreds of men were fighting from the scaling-ladders, and trying to win or to hold a position on the walls. Presently the gonfalon of St. Mark was seen flying from one of the towers. For a while the defenders were panic-stricken and fled. Immediate advantage was taken of this success. Twenty- 1 Nicetas, p. 731.