hey met in
the fields. Mustapha, with the main body of the army, marching a short
distance into the interior, occupied a rising ground, only a few miles
from Il Borgo. It was with difficulty that the inhabitants could be
prevented from issuing from the gates, in order to gaze on the show
presented by the invaders, whose magnificent array stretched far beyond
the hills, with their bright arms and banners glittering in the sun, and
their warlike music breathing forth notes of defiance to the Christians.
La Valette, in his turn, caused the standard of St. John to be unfurled
from the ramparts of the castle, and his trumpets to answer in a similar
strain of defiance to that of the enemy.[1308]

Meanwhile the grand marshal, Coppier, had sallied from the town at the
head of a small troop, and fallen upon some of the detachments which
were scouring the country. The success of his arms was shown by the gory
heads of the slaughtered Turks, which he sent back to Il Borgo as the
trophies of victory.[1309] La Valette's design, in permitting these
encounters, was to familiarize his men with the novel aspect and
peculiar weapons of their enemies, as well as with the fierce war-cries
which the Turks raised in battle. But the advantages gained in these
skirmishes did not compensate the losses, however light, on the part of
the Christians; and after two knights and a number of the common file
had been slain, the grand-master ordered his followers to remain quietly
within the walls of the town.

It was decided, in the Turkish council of war, to begin operations with
the siege of the castle of St. Elmo; as the possession of this place was
necessary to secure a safe harbor for the Turkish fleet. On the
twenty-fourth of May, the trenches were opened, if that can be said
where, from the rocky, impenetrable nature of the ground, no trenches
could be dug, and the besiegers were obliged to shelter themselves
behind a breastwork formed of planks, having the space between them
filled with earth brought from a distance, and held together by straw
and rushes. At certain intervals Mustapha indicated the points for
batteries. The principal of these was a battery where ten guns were
mounted, some of them of the largest calibre; and although artillery
practice was very different from what it is in our times, with so much
greater experience and more manageable engines, yet masonry stronger
than that of St. Elmo might well have crumbled under the masses