The pasha opened at once on his enemy a terrible fire of cannon and musketry.  It was returned with equal spirit, and much more effect; for the Turkish marksmen were observed to shoot over the heads of their adversaries.  Their galley was unprovided with the defences which protected the sides of the Spanish vessels; and the troops, huddled together on their lofty prow, presented an easy mark to their enemies’ balls.  But though numbers of them fell at every discharge, their places were soon supplied by those in reserve.  Their incessant fire, moreover, wasted the strength of the Spaniards; and as both Christian and Mussulman fought with indomitable spirit, it seemed doubtful to which side the victory would incline.

The affair was made more complicated by the entrance of other parties into the conflict.  Both Ali and Don John were supported by some of the most valiant captains in their fleets.  Next to the Spanish commander, as we have seen, were Colonna and the veteran Veniero, who, at the age of seventy-six, performed feats of arms worthy of a paladin of romance.  Thus a little squadron of combatants gathered around the principal leaders, who sometimes found themselves assailed by several enemies at the same time.  Still the chiefs did not lose sight of one another, but beating off their inferior foes as well as they could, each refusing to loosen his hold, clung with mortal grasp to his antagonist.

Thus the fight raged along the whole extent of the entrance of the Gulf of Lepanto.  If the eye of the spectator could have penetrated the cloud of smoke that enveloped the combatants, and have embraced the whole scene at a glance, he would have beheld them broken up into small detachments, engaged in conflict with one another, wholly independently of the rest, and indeed ignorant of all that was doing in other quarters.  The volumes of vapor, rolling heavily over the waters, effectually shut out from sight whatever was passing at any considerable distance, unless when a fresher breeze dispelled the smoke for a moment, or the flashes of the heavy guns threw a transient gleam over the dark canopy of battle.  The contest exhibited few of those enlarged combinations and skilful manoeuvres to be expected in a great naval encounter.  It was rather an assemblage of petty actions, resembling those on land.  The galleys, grappling together, presented a level arena, on which soldier and galley-slave fought hand to hand, and the fate of the engagement was generally decided by boarding.  As in most hand-to-hand contests, there was an enormous waste of life.  The decks were loaded with corpses, Christian and Moslem lying promiscuously together in the embrace of death.  Instances are given where every man on board was slain or wounded.  It was a ghastly spectacle, where blood flowed in rivulets down the sides of the vessels, staining the waters of the Gulf for miles around.