der of the day. Soliman the Magnificent was too wise a
man not to know what was being said in his capital that day; it was his
part to accustom the minds of men to the fact that he, Soliman, had chosen
Barbarossa to command his fleet, and that there could be no looking back.
The decree had been signed, the invitation had been sent, the man had
arrived, there could be no possible retreat from the situation. The anchors
splashed into the placid waters close to the shore, and the ships were soon
so surrounded by boats as to be almost unapproachable; then came official
persons from the Sultan with greetings to the famous seaman; also came
Bashas and officers ("con carga de guerra," says Sandoval), to offer a
welcome and to stare in undisguised curiosity at the man chosen by their
sovereign to make head against the famous Andrea Doria. This preliminary
courtesy completed, there came the next act in the drama, which consisted
in the immemorial custom of the East in the offering of gifts from
Barbarossa to the Sultan, from the vassal to his suzerain. The Janissaries,
splendid in scarlet and gold, tall above the ordinary stature of man,
bristling with weapons inlaid in gold and silver, cleared the common vulgar
from the streets approaching the palace of the Sultan; they formed the
spearhead of the procession clearing a way for the King of Algiers, who,
mounted on a splendid bay stallion, the gift of the Sultan on his arrival,
headed the captives who bore the gifts. Of these the exact number is not
stated, but the procession was headed by two hundred women and girls, each
of whom carried in her hand a gift of gold or silver; one hundred camels
were loaded with silks and golden ornaments, and other "curious riches"
("con otras mil cosas de que hizo ostentacion"), says Sandoval. There were
also lions and other animals, brocades and rich garments.

All of this reads no doubt somewhat too like the tales in the "Arabian
Nights"; but we have to remember that, if you have led a long and eminently
successful life as a robber, you have necessarily accumulated a store of
riches. In the case of Barbarossa he had begun in extreme youth, and was
now an old man; he had been quite in the wholesale way as a thief, and now
desired to pay a good price for that which he coveted, namely, the post of
Admiralissimo to the Grand Turk. It may be objected that he had already
been offered and had already accepted the post; this is quite true, but
there wer