ke was merely to expose the man making
the demand to derision. Particularly was this the case with the fierce
land-pirates of the desert, whose habit it was to exact and not to pay
tribute. To Ali the Sheiks replied that "if he wanted tribute from them he
must demand it lance in hand in the field, for there and nowhere else were
they accustomed to pay: that their coin was steel lance-heads and not
golden aspers." After this, says Morgan, "the Basha thought it well to
dissemble."

Ali, being in no position to wage war in the desert against these people,
had to swallow the insult and to turn his attention to regulating the
internal affairs of his newly acquired kingdom. This he succeeded in doing
sufficiently by the month of June in the following year to enable him to
leave Tunis in the hands of one Rabadan, a Sardinian renegado, and to start
himself for Constantinople. His reason for doing this was the old one of
attempting to consolidate his power in Northern Africa by appealing to the
Sultan for help. As long as the Goletta remained in the hands of the
Spaniards no corsair could feel himself secure in either Tunis or Algiers.
The object of Ali was to beg from the Grand Turk men and ships to assist
him to chase the Spaniards out of Africa.

The month of June 1570, in consequence, saw Ali once more at sea in his
"Admiral galley," steering northwards to the Golden Horn. Carrying with
them a favourable breeze from the south-east, the galleys spread their huge
lateen sails, and the straining rowers had rest awhile. The squadron
consisted of twenty-four galleys. Off Cape Passaro, in Sicily, a small
vessel was captured which gave information that five galleys of the Knights
of Malta were at anchor at Licata, a small harbour in the neighbourhood,
and that they were on the point of sailing for Malta. The decision of Ali
was taken on the instant: were he to go in and attack them with the
overwhelming force at his command the crews might escape to the shore; even
the Knights of Malta could hardly be expected to fight twenty-four galleys
with five. He was anxious to capture the ships, but above all to capture
those by whom they were manned: to have the satisfactory revenge of seeing
the proud Knights stripped naked and chained to the benches of his own
fleet.

The hot Mediterranean sun poured down out of a cloudless sky as the
Sea-wolves made their offing; out of sight of land they lay, but right in
the course which the galleys