for a
pirate, but perhaps its bestower was slightly deficient in a sense of
humour.

Sailing from Tunis in the spring of the year 1512, the brothers, with three
galleys, fell in with _The Galley of Naples_, an enormous nef with a crew
of three hundred. They instantly attacked, but were repulsed, night falling
without either side having gained an advantage. This audacious proceeding
illustrates the hardihood of the Moslem corsairs at this time. They were
amply strong enough to range the Mediterranean and to capture, with no risk
to themselves, the weak and unprotected argosies plying their trade in this
sea; but this was not the method of the Barbarossas. Villains they may have
been according to modern standards, pirates they were unquestionably; but
they were grim, hard-bitten, fighting men, who shrank from no dangers in
the pursuit of their prey, who reckoned that the humiliation and defeat of
their Christian antagonists was as sweet a morsel as the booty reft from
their hands. All night the three Moslem galleys and the great nef lay
becalmed awaiting the conflict which was to come with the break of day; and
it is easy to imagine that there was not much quiet sleep on board of
either the Moslem or the Christian ships, for both on the one side and the
other the issues loomed large. The corsairs had, so far, made no such
important capture as this, which, could it be accomplished, would add
enormously to their prestige, in addition to such spoils as they might
acquire; but the combatants were fairly evenly matched in the matter of
numbers, and the fight was one to a finish. The advantage on the side of
the corsairs lay in the fact of their being three to one, and their being
thus enabled to attack in three separate places at the same time. Terrible
must have been that night of waiting for the unfortunates on board _The
Galley of Naples_; there was no escape, and on board of her among her
passengers were many women, whose fate was too terrible to contemplate
should the day go against them. The first assault had been beaten off, it
is true, but the struggle had been hard and bitter; would they be equally
successful when the assault was renewed?

Even such a night as this, however, comes at last to an end, and the
prospect of action must have been welcomed by the men on both sides; of the
women with so horrible a fate impending one can hardly bear to think. The
ghostly fingers of the dawn touched the grey sea with a wan yell