Meanwhile the Ragusans were cowering behind their walls, expecting every moment to hear the tramp of the Turkish legions advancing to overwhelm them. The outworks on the Monte Sergio were strengthened, the churches outside the city and the houses in the suburbs of Pille and Ploće were pulled down, the wells at Ombla, Gravosa, and the neighbourhood poisoned, and the Government was authorised to destroy the aqueduct if necessary. The fortifications of Stagno were improved, and the Count entrusted with the defence of the frontier. All the Ragusan galleys in Dalmatia and elsewhere were recalled to defend the home waters, crossbowmen and rowers were levied in all the islands, a corps of infantry and lances raised in Apulia and placed under the command of Spirito d’Altamura, and a Herzegovinian contingent under Ivaniš Vlatković was formed. A loan of 15,000 ducats was raised to provide for war expenses.[414] During his raid through the Duchy the Sultan came very near to Ragusa, which he had determined to attack in person and occupy, as it would be a most useful port on the Adriatic and a basis for operations against Venice and Italy. While processions and prayers of intercession were being held in the town, a messenger arrived from the Beglerbeg of Rumelia ordering the Republic to do homage to Mohammed. This was done; but the Sultan demanded that the citizens should give up all their territory to him, and that the ambassadors should follow him to Thrace as hostages. The Senate was filled with consternation, as the surrender of the territory would be but a preliminary to the capture of the city itself. But one of the Senators, Serafino Bona, proposed that a reply should be drafted to the effect that while the Republic was ready to give up its territory to the Turks, it would place the city itself under the direct protection of Hungary and admit a Hungarian garrison. This diplomatic answer saved the situation, for the Sultan, who had heard of the great preparations which were being made in Hungary, had no mind to be attacked by the enemy from the south-west as well as from the north. Moreover, his troops were being severely handled in the rocky gorges of the Herzegovina by Kosača and his mountaineers; so he abandoned the enterprise for the time being.[415]