did when Barbarossa stormed and turned upon
them those terrible eyes which knew neither fear nor pity. "We be but men,"
they answered, "and our lord the Sultan has so ordained it."

"I have forty galleys," replied the corsair; "you have forty more. With
these I will take the sea; but, mark you," he continued, softening
somewhat, "you do right to fear the displeasure of the Sultan, and I also
have no wish to encounter it; but vessels raised and equipped in a hurry
will be of small use to me. In the name of Allah the compassionate and his
holy Prophet give me my eighty galleys and let me go."

In Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa sound strategical instinct went hand in hand
with the desperate valour of the corsair. To dally in the Golden Horn while
so rich a prey was at sea to be picked up by his Christian foes was
altogether opposed to his instincts: never to throw away a chance in the
game of life had ever been his guiding principle.

Soliman, great man as he undoubtedly was, had not the adamantine hardness
of character which enabled his admiral to risk all on the hazards of the
moment; or possibly the Grand Turk was deficient in that clearness of
strategical instinct which never in any circumstances forgoes a present
advantage for something which may turn out well in a problematical future.
Soliman, sore, sullen, and unapproachable, dwelt in his palace brooding
over the misfortunes which had been his lot since the death of Ibrahim.
Barbarossa, who so recently had lost practically all that he possessed, and
who had reached an age at which most men have no hopes for the future, was
as clear in intellect, as undaunted in spirit, as if he had been half a
century younger: to be even once more with those by whom he had been
defeated and dispossessed was the only thing now in his mind. The capture
of Saleh-Reis and his convoy would be a triumph of which he could not bear
to think. Further, it would add to the demoralisation of the sea forces of
the Sultan, which were sadly in need of some striking success after the
defeats which had so recently been their portion. The Sultan had decided
that one hundred and fifty ships were necessary; his admiral thought
otherwise. There was too much at stake for him to dally at Constantinople;
his fiery energy swept all before it, and in the end he had his way. On
June 7th, 1538, he finally triumphed over the hesitations of the Viziers
and put to sea with eighty sail.

The Sultan, from his kiosk, th