On his side Kheyr-ed-Din looked with longing eyes on this remnant of the power of Spain in Africa.  Could he but dislodge Martin de Vargas, he had the whole of Northern Africa practically at his disposal; Algiers would then be really his, to fortify for all time against the inroads of his foes.  He was master by land and sea, the time was propitious; the corsair decided that the hour had come.  He had seen the repulse of his brother Uruj, none knew better than did he the temper of the men by whom the Penon was held, or the valiance and the unswerving fidelity of that caballero of Spain, Martin de Vargas.  He tried to induce that officer to surrender to him, offering every inducement to the Spanish commander to come to terms.  He was met with a haughty refusal, couched in the most contemptuous language.  He tried the most blood-curdling threats, which were no empty menaces, as his adversary well knew:  these were received in silence.

One more embassy he tried, and to this he received the following answer: 

“I spring from the race of the De Vargas, but my house has never made it a practice to boast of the glory of their long descent:  they professed merely to imitate the heroism of their ancestors.  Spurred forward by this worthy desire, I await with calmness all your efforts, and will prove to you, with arms in my hands, that I am faithful to my God, my country, and my king.”

[Illustration:  ANDREA DORIA, PRINCE OF ONEGLEA, ADMIRAL TO CHARLES V.]

Barbarossa summoned to his palace his kinsman and trusted adherent Celebi Rabadan, and they mutually decided that there was nothing they could do save take up arms against this most insolent and uncompromising warrior.  In the meanwhile they would try what craft would do; and accordingly two young Moors were introduced into the Penon, under the pretext that they had seen the error of their ways and were anxious to embrace the Christian religion.  Martin de Vargas, like all Spanish caballeros, was an ardent proselytiser, and he ordered the two young men to be taken into his own house and instructed by the chaplain of the garrison.  The next day was Easter Day, and the two young Moors, while the entire garrison were at Mass, signalled to their co-religionists a prearranged sign indicating that now was the time to attack.  Unfortunately for them, a woman in the employment of De Vargas saw them, and they were immediately hanged from the battlements in full view of Barbarossa.  That potentate was filled with fury at what he considered an insult to the Mohammedan religion, and again consulted with Celebi as to the feasibility of another assault.  It was true, he said, that his messengers had been hanged, but they had made the prearranged signal.  Still, the walls were hardly sufficiently breached, he thought, and his own men were singularly disheartened by the ill success of their previous efforts.  Did Celebi Rabadan think another attempt desirable?