f Africa
had been reft by him "from one Dragut, a corsair odious to both God and
man"; that without in any way departing from the treaty which he had made
with Soliman "he intended to pursue this pirate whithersoever he might go."

Whether or no this denunciation of Dragut had any influence on the Sultan
it is impossible to say; he was in the habit of employing the corsairs, and
apparently cared nothing about their piratical reputation, so long as their
depredations were confined to Christian vessels. Shortly after the receipt
of the answer of Charles, however, the Sultan conferred upon Dragut the
title of Sandjak or governor of the island of Santa Maura, thus
constituting him a Turkish official.

Once again was Andrea Doria ordered to put to sea to fight against neither
small nor great save Dragut alone; he was to take him dead or alive, but
alive for choice, in order that he might be made to answer at the bar of
Christian justice for all the atrocities committed by him both by land and
sea. The corsair had returned in the meanwhile to Jerbah, an island on the
east coast of Tunis much affected by the sea-wolves, and which in
contemporary histories is known as Jerbah, as Los Gelues (by the Spanish
writers), as Gelves, and various other names which greatly confuse its
identity.

Doria put to sea with twenty-two royal galleys before Dragut was aware of
the fact. The Genoese admiral heard that his prey was at Jerbah; he
repaired thither without losing a moment, found that he had been correctly
informed, and anchored at the mouth of the harbour, at a place known as La
Bocca de Cantara. Dragut was completely hemmed in, Doria was in such
strength that he could not, reckless as he was, attempt to force the
passage. But as the hour came the spirit of the corsair rose to answer the
challenge: it was one thing to get Dragut-Reis into a trap, it was quite
another to keep him there. Accordingly, he assembled all his troops,
dragged cannon to the mouth of the harbour, and opened so brisk a foe on
the Christian ships as to compel them to haul out of range. These tactics
left Doria unaffected; there was but one way out of the harbour, and he
felt quite convinced that when Dragut had had enough of starvation he would
either surrender or else fight a hopeless action. The admiral surveyed his
anchored fleet with a contented mind; his enemy had been delivered into his
hand, he had nothing to do now but wait for that final triumph of appe