such a fortress as this that the Duke of Medina-Celi went up:  we have no space to deal here with the details of this attack, which ended in the hopeless and irremediable defeat of the Christian forces.  The Duke was an incompetent commander; he was opposed to one of the greatest leaders of the age—­an expert in almost every branch of the science of war, in command of a large body of the fiercest fighters of the day, who ever feared the wrath of Dragut more than the swords of the enemy.

La Valette, though he mourned over the repulse of the Christian forces from Tripoli, did not on that account allow his pursuit of the infidel to grow faint; the galleys of “the Religion” were always at sea, and both the corsairs and the Ottoman Turks were perpetually losing valuable ships and costly merchandise.  Under the General of the Galleys, the Commandeur Gozon de Melac, and that celebrated chevalier, the Commandeur de Romegas, the sea forces of the Knights were everywhere in evidence.  Into the hands of the Christians fell the Penon de Velez, situated on the northern coast of Africa opposite to Malaga—­a fortress much frequented by the corsairs; the Goletta at Tunis was also taken, and the pirates became so much alarmed that they demanded succour from Constantinople.  They represented to Soliman that, at this rate, the whole of Northern Africa would soon be in the hands of the Christians to the total exclusion of the true believer.

Soliman listened to their complaints and promised that soon he would send forth an armament which should put an end to the misfortunes from which they were suffering.  Once again preparations were begun in the arsenals of Constantinople, and while these were in progress an event took place which had an important bearing on the situation.  Just after the taking of the Penon de Velez seven galleys of “the Religion,” under the command of the chevaliers de Giou and De Romegas, which were cruising in the neighbourhood of Zante and Cephalonia, fell in with “a puissant galleon” filled with the richest merchandise of the East, armed with “twenty great cannons of bronze,” and a number of smaller guns, under the command of the Reis Bairan-Ogli, having on board “excellent officers of artillery,” as well as two hundred Janissaries for her defence.  This great ship was the property of Kustir-Aga, the chief Eunuch of the Seraglio of the Sultan, and many of the ladies of the harem were interested in a pecuniary sense in the safe arrival of this vessel at Constantinople.  The galleys of “the Religion” attacked, and, after a most obstinate resistance, in which one hundred and twenty of the Christians and an even larger number of the Turks were killed, the galleon was captured.  If there had been an outcry in Constantinople before this occurrence it was all as nothing to that which now arose.  Kustir-Aga and the Odalisques of the Harem prostrated themselves at the feet of Soliman the Magnificent, and with streaming eyes, dishevelled