an unsparing use of the lash on the naked bodies of the rowers.

This human material was used up in the most prodigal manner possible, as
those in command had not the inducement of treating the rowers well, from
that economic standpoint which causes a man to so use his beast of burden
as to get the best work from him. In the galley, when a slave could row no
more he was flung overboard and another was put in his place.

The admiral, however, even when backed by the Padishah, could not man a
large fleet of galleys with Moslem rowers, and, as there was a shortage in
the matter of propelling power, his first business was to collect slaves,
and for this purpose he visited the islands of the Archipelago. The lot of
the unhappy inhabitants of these was indeed a hard one. They were nearer to
the seat of the Moslem power than any other Christians; they were in those
days totally unable to resist an attack in force, and in consequence were
swept off in their thousands.

Seven islands cover the entrance to the Gulf of Volo. The nearest to the
coast is Skiathos, which is also the most important; it was defended by a
castle built upon a rock. This castle was attacked by Barbarossa, who
bombarded it for six days, carried it by assault, and massacred the
garrison. He spared the lives of the inhabitants of the island, and by this
means secured three thousand four hundred rowers for his galleys. He had to
provide motor-power for the reinforcements which he expected. In July he
was reinforced from Constantinople by ninety galleys, while from Egypt came
Saleh-Reis, who had succeeded in avoiding the terrible Doria, with twenty
more; the fleet was thus complete.

Barbarossa ravaged Skios, Andros, and other islands, putting them under
contribution, and in this manner raised some eight thousand ducats; from a
pen of guinea-fowl to a king's ransom, nothing escaped the maw of this most
rapacious of corsairs. Candia and some other islands yielded up some small
spoil, but the sufferings of such insignificant folk as the wretched
islanders were soon lost to the sight of the Christian world in the
magnitude of the events which were now impending.

Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa, Corsair, Admiral, and King, the scourge of the
Mediterranean, and Andrea Doria, Prince of Oneglia, Admiral of the modern
Caesar, Charles V., Emperor and King, were at last to meet face to face.

CHAPTER XII

THE PREVESA CAMPAIGN; THE GATHERING OF THE FLEETS

Some t