unted to about
five thousand men; its original strength being considerably augmented by
the fugitives from the fleet.

On the following morning, Piali landed with his whole force, and
instantly proceeded to open trenches before the citadel. When he had
established his batteries of cannon, he sent a summons to the garrison
to surrender. Sande returned for answer, that, "if the place were won,
it would not be, like Piali's late victory, without bloodshed." The
Turkish commander waited no longer, but opened a lively cannonade on the
ramparts, which he continued for some days, till a practicable breach
was made. He then ordered a general assault. The janizaries rushed
forward with their usual impetuosity, under a murderous discharge of
artillery and small arms from the fortress as well as from the shipping,
which was so situated as to support the fire of the besieged. Nothing
daunted, the brave Moslems pushed forward over the bodies of their
fallen comrades; and, scrambling across the ditch, the leading files
succeeded in throwing themselves into the breach. But here they met with
a spirit as determined as their own, from the iron array of warriors,
armed with pike and arquebuse, who, with Sande at their head, formed a
wall as impenetrable as the ramparts of the fortress. The contest was
now carried on man against man, and in a space too narrow to allow the
enemy to profit by his superior numbers. The besieged, meanwhile, from
the battlements, hurled down missiles of every description on the heads
of the assailants. The struggle lasted for some hours. But Spanish valor
triumphed in the end, and the enemy was driven back in disorder across
the moat, while his rear files were sorely galled, in his retreat, by
the incessant fire of the fortress.

Incensed by the failure of his attack and the slaughter of his brave
followers, Piali thought it prudent to wait till he should be reinforced
by the arrival of Dragut with a fresh supply of men and of battering
ordnance. The besieged profited by the interval to repair their works,
and when Dragut appeared they were nearly as well prepared for the
contest as before.

On the corsair's arrival, Piali, provided with a heavier battering
train, opened a more effective fire on the citadel. The works soon gave
way, and the Turkish commander promptly returned to the assault. It was
conducted with the same spirit, was met with the same desperate courage,
and ended, like the former, in the to