wer; immediately before starting he
had the entire number paraded before him, and, under the pretext of having
discovered a plot, which in no circumstances could possibly have existed,
owing to the supervision of the slaves, he caused twenty of them to be
beheaded on the spot in order to strike terror into the remainder during
his absence.

Back to the Golden Horn streamed ship after ship laden with plunder and
with slaves. "The veritable man of the sea" was proving the correctness of
the choice of the Sultan, the acumen of the Grand Vizier who had
recommended his appointment. Barbarossa was determined to leave nothing
undone to prove to Soliman that his choice had indeed been a worthy one
when he had selected him as admiral of his fleet: also he had in his mind
those others who spoke slightingly of him as "the African pirate"; they
should know as well as their master of what this pirate was capable.
Northward the devastating host of Barbarossa took its way; the fair shores
of Italy smoked to heaven as the torches of the corsairs fired the
villages. Blood and agony, torture and despair, followed ever on the heels
of the Sea-wolves of the Mediterranean. And now a fresh pack had been
loosed, as it was, of course, in enormously increased strength that
Barbarossa returned to the scene of so many of his former triumphs.

Plunder and slaves were all very well in their way, and acceptable enough
on the shores of the Golden Horn; but Kheyr-ed-Din had a pet project in
view on this particular cruise, which was to capture Julia Gonzaga and to
present her to Soliman for his harem. The lady destined by him for this
pleasant fate was reported to be the loveliest woman in Europe, a fitting
gift for such an one as the Grand Turk. The fame of her surpassing
loveliness had reached even the corsairs. She was the widow of Vespasian
Colonna, Duchess of Trajetto, and Countess of Fundi; she had now been a
widow since 1528, and lived at Fundi, some ninety miles north-east of
Naples. Barbarossa laid his plans with his accustomed acuteness, and it was
only through an accident that they miscarried.

There was one undeniable advantage in the system which swept off into
slavery the whole of the inhabitants of a country-side, and that was, if at
any time you required a guide at any particular point on the coast, he was
sure to be forthcoming from one of the vessels in the fleet. Now Barbarossa
did not exactly know where Julia Gonzaga was to be foun