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As every man was employed either on the rampart or in mining, many of
the pages were told off to act as watchers in the cellars, and to
listen for the faint sounds that told of the approach of the enemy's
miners. As the young Vickars were in attendance on the officers, they
were exempted from this work; but they frequently went down into the
cellars, both to watch the process of mining by their own men and to
listen to the faint sounds made by the enemy's workmen. One day they
were sitting on two wine-kegs, watching four soldiers at work at the
end of a short gallery that had been driven towards the Spaniards.
Suddenly there was an explosion, the miners were blown backwards, the
end of the gallery disappeared, and a crowd of Walloon soldiers almost
immediately afterwards rushed in.
The boys sprang to their feet and were about to fly, when an idea
occurred to Geoffrey. He seized a torch, and, standing by the side of a
barrel placed on end by a large tier, shouted in Dutch, "Another step
forward and I fire the magazine!" The men in front paused.


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