hristians. Serious fighting had taken place between Venetians and
Spaniards, and Veniero, without referring the case to Don Juan,
had hanged a Spanish soldier who had been impudent to him, thus
enraging the commander in chief. In a word, the various elements
were nearly at the point of fighting each other before the object
of their crusade was even sighted.

[Footnote 1: Lepanto is the modern name of Naupaktis, the naval
base of Athens in the gulf. It had been a Venetian stronghold,
but fell to the Turks in 1499. The name Lepanto is given to both
the town and the gulf.]

At dawn of the 7th the lookout on the _Real_ sighted the van of
the Turkish fleet coming out to the attack, and this news had a
salutary effect. Don Juan called a council of war, silenced those
like Doria who still counseled avoiding battle, and then in a swift
sailing vessel went through the fleet exhorting officers and men
to do their utmost. The sacrament was then administered to all,
the galley slaves freed from their chains, and the standard of
the Holy League, the figure of the Crucified Savior, was raised
to the truck of the flagship.

As the Christians streamed down from the straits to meet their
enemy, they faced a serious peril. The Turks were advancing in
full array aided by a wind at their backs; the same wind naturally
was against the Christians, who had to toil at their oars with great
labor to make headway. If the wind held there was every prospect
that the Turks would be able to fall upon their enemy before Don
Juan could form his line of battle. Fortunately, toward noon the
wind shifted so as to help the Christians and retard the Turks.
This shift just enabled most of the squadrons to fall into their
appointed stations before the collision. Two of the galleasses,
however, were not able to reach their posts in advance of the right
wing before the melee began, and the right wing itself, though it
had ample time to take position, kept on its course to the south,
leaving the rest of the fleet behind. To Turk and Christian alike
this move on the part of Doria meant treachery, for which Doria's
previous conduct gave ample color, but there was no time to draw
back or reorganize the line.

The Turkish force, numbering 222 galleys, swept on to the attack,
also in three divisions, stretched out in a wide crescent. The
commander in chief, Ali Pasha, led the center, his right was commanded
by Sirocco, the Viceroy of Egypt, and his left by "Ul