“What matter, comrades?” said the veteran on one occasion when he was superintending the fitting out of the galleys.  “These dogs have gone back from whence they came, and they have left that creature, Muley Hassan, to do their will in Tunis.  It is true that there is Mendoza and his thousand Spaniards in the Goletta, but did not Martin de Vargas hold the Penon here?  And where is De Vargas, and in whose hands is the Penon now?  We know from whence the garrisons of Spain draw their supplies, and believe me that there will be hungry men in the Goletta in this coming year.  Once we get to sea again, there will be more than enough for every good man who believes in the Prophet, and who has the sense to follow Barbarossa.  For every ducat that you have lost see, in the coming year, if you do not gain ten; the Christians are off their guard now, and they think that they have done with me because they have captured Tunis.”  He laughed his great, jovial laugh.  “By the beard of the Prophet—­upon whom be peace!—­they have yet to find out the man with whom they have to deal.”

It took a master mind to instil heart of grace into men who so recently had had so bad a beating as these; but in the end they began to cheer up, and to recollect how Barbarossa had sooner or later always risen from defeat as strong or stronger than before; also they recalled the fact that he was the chosen of the Padishah, and that that potentate, the representative of the Prophet on earth, would assuredly come to his assistance now that Tunis, which had been taken in his name, had been reft from Barbarossa by the Christians.  Gradually hope took the place of despair, and when the corsairs took to the sea in the early part of the following year it was with renewed confidence in both themselves and their leader.

CHAPTER XI

ROXALANA AND THE MURDER OF IBRAHIM

At the coming of spring Barbarossa was at sea again with thirty-two ships ready for any eventuality, his crews aflame with ardour for revenge against those by whom they had been so roughly handled.  He chose for the scene of operations a place on the coast of Majorca some fifteen miles from Palma; from here he commanded the route of the Spaniards from their country to the African coast, and it was against this nation that he felt a great bitterness owing to recent events.  Eagerly did the corsair and his men watch for the Spanish ships, the heavier vessels lying at anchor, but the light, swift galleys ranging and questing afar so that none might be missed.  Very soon the vigilance of the Moslems was rewarded by the capture of a number of vessels, sent by Bernard de Mendoza laden with Turkish and Moorish slaves, destined to be utilised as rowers in the Spanish galleys.  These men were hailed as a welcome reinforcement, and joyfully joined the forces of Kheyr-ed-Din when he moved on Minorca, captured the castle by a surprise assault, raided the surrounding country, and captured five thousand seven hundred Christians, amongst whom were eight hundred men who had been wounded in the attack on Tunis—­all these unfortunates were sent to refill the bagnio of Algiers.