very name shouted
in battle put to flight the Christian vessels. His smile was fine and
malicious, his speech facile, revealing beneath the rude exterior of the
corsair the subtle man of affairs, who, from nothing, had made himself King
of Algiers, and was now, by the invitation of Soliman the Magnificent,
Admiralissimo of the Ottoman navy.

Well may Jurien de la Graviere say that "in the sixteenth century even the
pirates were great men."

It has been stated that in speech Barbarossa was facile. He was not only
so, but he possessed a power of addressing such a man as Soliman in terms
which, while delicately flattering that mighty monarch, gave him also a
lead which he might follow in the future disposition of such power as he
possessed at sea.

On his return from Aleppo Kheyr-ed-Din was received in audience by the
Sultan. We must be pardoned if we give the long speech which he addressed
to his new master in its entirety; and we have to remember that the man who
made it was now an old man who, all his life, had been absolutely free and
untrammelled, owing allegiance to no one, following out his own caprices,
and sweeping out of his path any whom he found sufficiently daring as to
disagree with him. That this ruthless despot should have been able so to
change the whole style and manner of his address so late in life is only
one proof the more of the marvellous gifts which he possessed.

It was in the following words that the corsair addressed the Sultan:

Dread Sovereign, fortune itself has made it a law to second you in all
your enterprises because that you are always ready to declare war upon
the enemies of Mahomet the Prophet of God, on whom be peace. You have
extended the limits of your vast possessions, you have vanquished and
slain the King of Hungary, you have humiliated Charles V., this Emperor
with whom the Christians dare hold you in comparison. These have been
the recompenses received by you for the pure flame with which
your zeal for the religion of Mahomet has ever burned.

"But these successes and these triumphs are not capable of contenting
that thirst for glory with which your being is animated, and I am humbly
desirous of indicating to you the means of culling fresh laurels.
Experience has taught me the way, and I can assert, without fear of
being accused of vanity, that in this matter I can be of great
assistance to your Majesty.

"That which fortune has done for me