Note 23 — Chapter II · A LAND OF DUST AND ASHES (DIARBEKR AND MARDIN)

Chosroes employed the same device in his siege of Edessa a little later. In this case the mine was fired prematurely and (lest the smoke should betray them) the defenders pelted the mound with fireballs so that the Persians never suspected that the real danger was under ground. Presently the fire got beyond all quenching, and the mound was destroyed completely; the smoke of its burning being visible fifty miles away. Such counter-strokes were rather dangerous, as sometimes the wall itself burst with the heat of the bonfire; but the basalt walls of Amida were doubtless pretty well inured.