of conquest
for the sake of the vain applause of men; but one full of human love and
affection for those among whom he had lived all the days of his life. Upon
him was laid the charge of upholding the honour of the Order, the majesty
of the God whom he served. To this end he doomed to certain death those
brethren of his in St. Elmo, his own familiar friends, reminding them that
it was their duty so to die, while his heart was breaking with the agony of
this terrible decision, which no weaker man could have given. When his
beloved nephew was slain, together with another gallant youth, he smiled
sadly and said that they had only travelled the road which they all had to
tread in a few days; that he grieved as much for the one as for the other.
In speaking of this man, it may truly be said that there is no character in
history more elevated; there is none which shows us the picture of a more
perfect, gentle, and valiant knight.

CHAPTER XIX

DRAGUT-REIS

How Sinan Basha and Dragut raided the islands of Malta and Cozo and
captured the town of Tripoli. How the Knights of Malta captured "the
puissant galleon" belonging to the Kustir-Aga and the Odalisques of the
harem of the Grand Turk. The despair of the ladies and the advice of the
Imaum to Soliman the Magnificent. A great armada is fitted out in
Constantinople. The preparations for defence on the part of La Valette
and the Knights. The expedition sails from Constantinople and lands in
Malta.

Great must have been the consternation of the Knights when the armada,
commanded by Sinan Basha, appeared off their coasts, and bitter must have
been the reflections of Juan d'Omedes, the Grand Master, who had all along
contended that so formidable an expedition could not possibly be directed
against Malta. The inhabitants of that island were, however, not left long
in doubt, as Sinan, immediately on his arrival, entered the Grand Harbour,
or "the Great Port," as it was called in those days. Sinan, in his royal
galley, led the way in, contemptuously assured of an easy victory over so
insignificant a place of arms. He had his first rude awakening before he
had traversed some quarter of a mile of the placid waters of the Great
Port. The harbour, as is well known, though long, is very narrow, and, on
the starboard hand of the Turkish galleys as they entered, the Commandeur
de Guimeran, a Spanish Knight, had ambushed three hundred arquebusiers. As
the galley of