Diligence and activity, however, remedied many defects. Several redoubts were thrown up on the upper side of the Garonne; the old castle of Blancfort, which had seen the days of the Black Prince, was destined once more to receive a garrison; and numbers of the citizens worked day and night at the wall and trenches, in order to put them in a state for resistance before the approach of the royal army. By this time the Duke of Epernon was within a few miles of the city, and the first active operations were undertaken on the side of Blancfort, from which place Monsieur de Chambon, our maréchal de camp, was forced to make a precipitate retreat. An effort was made on the part of the Bordelais to support him, in which our regiment took a share: but the nature of the ground which the enemy now occupied, was so strong, that all we could accomplish was to cover the retreat of the maréchal de camp, which was now effected without difficulty and in good order. On that side the Duke was held at bay; but the King and Court were by this time at Libourne, while Monsieur de Meilleraie was advancing towards the faubourg St. Surin, which seemed quite untenable; and it was evident that he intended, if possible, to take advantage of its total want of defences, in order to storm the city by the Porte Digeaux. It so happened, however, that in advance of the gate was a dunghill, on which had been thrown a considerable quantity of rubbish, left by some improvements which had been carried on about two years before in that quarter of the town, the whole forming an elevation of a few feet, at a short distance from the Porte Digeaux. On visiting the spot, to see what might best be done for the defence of the gate, the Dukes of Bouillon and Rochefoucault, together with Monsieur de Villardin and several others, advanced to the top of this little mound, in order to gain a better view of the surrounding objects, when it suddenly struck some one, I do not know whom, that the very heap on which they were standing might be converted into a half-moon, for the defence of the gate. No sooner was this plan proposed than it was executed. What little additions the time permitted were immediately made; and, though it was utterly impossible either to erect a parapet or to dig a fosse, a dunghill and a pile of rubbish thus became the principal defence of the city of Bordeaux.