12. They carried their agreement into execution, and attacked the fort with so great fury that they imagined that they were going to defeat the Spaniards completely. They besieged the fort with all the severity of war. They made their circumvallation, which they set with stakes and ravelins at intervals, for the defense of their precincts. The fort was then half-finished, and the captain rallied as well as he could to its defense. He met the necessity as a prudent and valiant man, so that he obliged the natives to try other artifices. They built upon the lake some high towers on rafts, which they moored with a rattan cable, which held an anchor that was fastened to the ground, which they were able to do easily under cover of the night. They had another cable, arranged similarly, across the lake. With the first one, without any possibility of their being discovered, they hauled or pulled until they reached the proper position, whence they could discharge their firearms with effect. That being done, they retired beyond the range of the fort to load their pieces, and then returned to the combat with the same industry. The operation of bomb-vessels in the bombardment of any city or castle is no different. It is an ingenious invention, but not without great risk. Although truly those small castles built upon the rafts were very ingenious, they could not be of great resistance. Neither can we persuade ourselves that our artillery would remain quiet; and even if it did, the Moro scheme was very imperfect, because they accomplished nothing by such artifice. The captain and his men resisted valiantly, and unceasingly. But they were afflicted by another most invincible enemy, namely, the lack of provisions. If the Malanaos were to continue in their obstinacy, they would at last conquer the Spaniards through hunger. However, the continual fatigue by day and night was not inconsiderable, and must necessarily at the last sap their forces, and even first finish them all; for the bombardment was killing some of them.