Secretary of
State, with a large suite of officers, drummers, and fifes, received
him on his landing with a deafening noise. The new Pasha, who was
robed in white, then mounted a splendid barb, richly caparisoned with
precious stones and silk embroidery, and rode to the palace, whence
he sent the French envoy a present of an ox, six sheep, twenty-four
fowls, forty-eight hot loaves, and six dozen wax candles; to which the
Sieur le Page responded with gold and silver watches, scarlet cloth,
and rich brocades.

Despite these civilities, the negotiations languished; and finally,
after three months of fruitless endeavours, the Mission left "this
accursed town" in such haste that they never even looked to see if the
wind would serve them, and consequently soon found themselves driven
by a Greek Levant, or east wind, to Majorca; then across to Buj[=e]ya,
which was no longer a place of importance or of piracy, since the
Algerines had concentrated all their galleys at their chief port; and
then sighted Bona, which showed traces of the invasion of 1607, when
six Florentine galleys, commanded by French gentlemen, had seized the
fort, made mincemeat of the unfortunate garrison, and carried off
eighteen hundred men, women, and children to Leghorn. At last, with
much toil, they reached La Calle, the port of the Bastion de France, a
fine castle built by the merchants of Marseilles in 1561 for the
protection of the valuable coral fisheries, and containing two
handsome courts of solid masonry, and a population of four hundred
French people. Sanson Napolon had been governor here, but he was
killed in an expedition to Tabarka; Le Page accordingly appointed a
lieutenant, and then the Mission returned to Marseilles, without
results. The fathers, however, soon afterwards sailed for Tunis,
whence they brought back forty-two French captives, with whom they
made a solemn procession, escorted by all the clergy of Marseilles,
and sang a triumphant _Te Deum_, the captives marching joyfully beside
them, each with an illustrative chain over his shoulder.

This is but one example of a long course of determined efforts of the
Redemptionists (to say nothing of Franciscans and Dominicans) to
rescue their unhappy countrymen. In 1719 Father Comelin and others
brought away ninety-eight Frenchmen,[77] and similar expeditions were
constantly being made. The zeal of the Order was perhaps narrow: we
read that when they offered to pay 3,000 pieces for three