They at once opened fire,
and the guns on the walls facing them replied, while those on the
castle hurled their shot over the town into the enemy's battery. For
three days, the artillery fire was kept up without intermission. The
guns on the wall were too weak to silence the batteries of the
besiegers, although these were much annoyed by the fire from the fort,
which dismounted four of their guns, and blew up one of their
magazines. Several times the town was set on fire by the shell from
the French mortars; but Charlie had organized the irregulars into
bands with buckets, and these succeeded in extinguishing the flames
before they spread.
Seeing that the mud wall of the town was crumbling rapidly before the
besiegers' fire, Charlie set his troops to work, and levelled every
house within fifty yards of it, and with the stones and beams formed
barricades across the end of the streets beyond. Many of the guns from
other portions of the walls were removed, and placed on these
barricades. The ends of the houses were loopholed, and all was
prepared for a desperate defence.
Charlie's experience at Arcot stood him in good stead, and he imitated
the measures taken by Clive at that place.
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