of St. Margaret and made straight for the bastion defended by De
Robles; the third advanced from Conradin on the south-west, and
assaulted the salient angle at the extreme point of the spit of land
on which the fort was built. In vain the Turks swarmed up the
scaling-ladders; company after company was hurled down, a huddled mass
of mangled flesh, and the ladders were cast off. Again the escalade
began:--the Knights rolled huge blocks of masonry on the crowded
throng below; when they got within arms' reach the scimitar was no
match for the long two-handed swords of the Christians. At all three
points after a splendid attack, which called forth all the finest
qualities of the magnificent soldiery of Suleym[=a]n the Great, the
Turks were repulsed with terrible loss. The Knights lost some of their
bravest swords, and each one of them fought like a lion: but their
dead were few compared with the unfortunate troops of Barbary, who had
cut off their retreat by dismissing their ships, and were slaughtered
or drowned in the harbour by hundreds. The water was red with their
blood, and mottled with standards and drums and floating robes. Of
prisoners, the Christians spared but two, and these they delivered
over to the mob to be torn in pieces.

After the assault by water came the attack by mines; but the result
was no better, for the Knights were no novices in the art of
countermining, and the attempt to push on after the explosion ended in
rushing into a trap. Mustafa, however, continued to work underground
and ply his heavy artillery, with hardly a pause, upon the two
extremities of the line of landward defences--the Bastion of De
Robles, and the Bastion of Castile: both were in ruins by the 27th of
July, as S[=a]lih Reis, son of Barbarossa's old comrade, satisfied
himself by a reconnaissance pushed into the very breach. An assault
was ordered for midday of August 2nd, when the Christians were resting
after the toils of the sultry morning. Six thousand Turks advanced in
absolute silence to Melchior de Robles' bastion; they had almost
reached their goal when the shout of the sentry brought that gallant
Knight, readily awakened, to the breach, followed by Munatones and
three Spanish arquebusiers. These five warriors held twenty-six
Janissaries and Sip[=a]his in check till reinforcements came; and they
killed fifteen of them. Their valour saved the fort. Four hours longer
the struggle lasted, till neither party could deal another