Sinan came abreast of the ambush, the Commandeur gave the
order to fire. The volley at so close a range had a terrible effect,
especially among the "chiourme," or the slaves who rowed the galley, some
hundred of whom were placed _hors de combat_. Sinan, in a furious rage,
ordered an immediate disembarkment; but when his men landed and scaled the
heights of Mount Sceberras (the elevated land on which the city of Valetta
now stands) there was no one to be found, the Commandeur and the men who
had formed the ambush having disappeared. Gazing from the heights at Il
Borgo, the fortress on the opposite side of the harbour where the Knights
then dwelt, Sinan demanded of Dragut, "If that," pointing to the fortress,
"was the place which he had told the Sultan could easily be taken?"

Dragut, whom no peril ever daunted, coolly replied:

"Certainly, no eagle ever built his nest on a rock more easy of access."

A corsair, who had been slave to the Knights, now approached Sinan, and
told him that he had assisted at the building of the fortress; which, he
averred, was so strong that if the admiral delayed until he had taken it
that the winter would be upon them, although it was then only the month of
July. Sinan, as we have said, was a hesitating commander. He had the
ever-present fear of the Grand Turk before his eyes, and was not inclined
for so difficult and dangerous an enterprise as this was represented to be.
Leaving the fortress in his rear, he marched off to the high land in the
centre of the island, on which was situated the Citta Notabile, the capital
of Malta, some seven miles distant from the sea. On their march through the
island the Turks committed their usual atrocities, murdering the wretched
inhabitants, firing their dwellings, destroying their crops, and carrying
off their women. Had the siege of Notabile been pressed, the city must have
fallen; but Sinan declared to Dragut that the principal object of the
expedition was the reduction of Tripoli, and, in consequence, he had not
the time to devote to its reduction. Dragut, furious at this temporising
policy, urged an immediate assault, and, while the contention was waxing
sharp between the two leaders, a letter was brought to Sinan which had been
captured in a Sicilian galley. It was from the "Receiver" of the Order, who
dwelt at Messina, to the Grand Master, informing him that he had expressly
sent this ship to inform him that Andrea Doria had just returned from Spai