At nightfall therefore the governor assembled the captains of the various posts and the Burgundian lords, and spoke to them as follows:--"Gentlemen, our troops have displayed courage and intelligence in this day's struggle; and this assures us success, with the help of God. Though inferior to the enemy in numbers, we have defended and recovered the outwork; it would therefore be possible to keep it. Yet we cannot do so without directing all our means of resistance to this point, and imposing a severe task on the garrison. We should be rapidly exhausting our strength, while the enemy, which is much more numerous than we, can employ fresh troops every day. It would seem wise, then, to abandon this outwork, exposed to the batteries of the enemy, and to retire behind the ramparts; but besides the disinclination which men of honour must feel for retreating, after a success has been gained, and not trying to avail themselves of the advantages they have secured, there is the consideration that if we abandon the boulevard this defence will be turned against us by the besieger, and will support him in attacking our front. I have, therefore, resolved to unite this boulevard with the extremities of the curtains by two intrenchments, which will be flanked by the towers. This very night we must begin; and if we have not finished the works to-morrow morning we must defend our present intrenchment, that we may secure time to finish the new one. Be so good, therefore, as to assemble the townspeople in their various quarters within an hour, and let them be in readiness on the ground to work at the said intrenchments." [Illustration: FIG. 54] The orders of the governor were peremptory, and about nine o'clock four hundred workmen, and even women, issued by the north gate to raise the earthworks marked out on the ground by the engineer (Fig. 54). This intrenchment consisted of a small ditch with an earthwork surmounted by stakes, rubbish from the demolition of houses in the town, fascines, and barrels filled with earth. On the western side it started from the boulevard at N, and joined the fosse of the curtain at L, leaving a passage of twenty-four feet between its extremity and the ditch. On the eastern side it reached the entrance of the boulevard O, and followed the line O M, with a similar passage at M. At R and P two culverins were mounted, protected by strong gabionades. On the enemy's side an embankment, with platform and gabions, had been raised at S, and the two bombards of the cavalier, B, were mounted on this platform. At T, Messire Charles d'Amboise had placed a culverin, protected by a gabionade. The bombards of the cavalier B were replaced by three veuglaires to crush the battery S, if the besieged, taking the offensive, endeavoured to seize it.