For a whole hour the gaunt and famished Frenchmen held their foes in check, and at length the Spaniards were driven off—not a single breach had been carried. Savoy gave his men a brief breathing time, then the clarions pealed forth their wild notes again, and the fierce strife burst forth anew. The Duc's keen eye had noted a weak point in the defence. A strong tower on the ramparts had been left with few defenders, in reliance upon its apparent invulnerability. On this point Savoy hurled the English contingent, and in one great rush it was carried and the invaders poured into the city. In vain had Coligni rushed to its defence, fighting desperately, hand- to-hand, with the assailants. He was overpowered and, with his heroic brother Daudelot, was taken prisoner. Immediately he was led through one of the excavated passages by his captor, Francisco Diaz, to the exterior of the city and into the presence of King Philip, who gave Diaz ten thousand ducats. Then a fierce onslaught by the whole army swept all resistance before it, and in half-an-hour the city was captured! Philip entered the city in complete armour, a page carrying his helmet; and a roar of savage triumph went up from his troops as they beheld their King. He had never been present at the storming of a city before, and the sights that met his eye moved even his stony heart to pity. The wild schwartzreiters spared neither age nor sex. As the Frenchmen retreated to the market-place, where their final slaughter took place, the troops entered the well-built houses of the citizens, slaying every living soul within them and loading themselves with rich plunder, some obtaining two or three thousand ducats apiece. In pure recklessness they set the houses on fire, and soon the whole city was ablaze. Philip gave immediate orders that the fires should be quenched, and that all who surrendered should be admitted to pardon. Crowds of women and children threw themselves at his feet with loud cries for mercy, and he ordered them to be escorted out of the city. But the cruel storm of savage lust and thirst for blood had passed beyond human control. As the flames spread to the cathedral and the churches, the women who had taken refuge within the sacred walls came pouring forth, panic- stricken with fear. Many of them were richly dressed, some even wore jewels, perhaps thinking them safer in their possession than if they had been left in the doomed town. Upon these helpless women the wild Germans rushed with savage cries, their ornaments and even their rich garments were torn from them, and the mad reiters slashed their faces with their daggers and knives. An infernal din filled the air, screams of anguish, cries for mercy, mingled with the demoniac shouts and curses of the conquerors. Under the walls of the venerable cathedral stood a company of English soldiers; they had been sent by Philip to perform a curious duty.