A label upon the barrel contained these words: 'Deliver these ten heads to Duke Alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, with one additional head for interest'." Day after day the attack continued and was repulsed.

Meanwhile, unknown to the Spaniards, the besieged burghers were silently and swiftly building inside the ravelin a solid half-moon shaped battlement.

On the 31st of December, the last day of 1572, the great assault was made.

"The attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm.

The tocsin bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not apt to be heavy during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again.