and, gathering in dark masses
round the Christians, presented an impenetrable barrier to their
advance. The contest now became furious; but it was short. The heroic
little band were too much enfeebled by their long fatigues, and by the
total want of food for the last two days, to make head against the
overwhelming number of their assailants. Many fell under the Turkish
scymitars, and the rest, after a fierce struggle, were forced back on
the path by which they had come, and took refuge in the fort. Their
dauntless leader, refusing to yield, succeeded in cutting his way
through the enemy, and threw himself into one of the vessels in the
port. Here he was speedily followed by such a throng as threatened to
sink the bark, and made resistance hopeless. Yielding up his sword,
therefore, he was taken prisoner, and led off in triumph to the tent of
the Turkish commander.

On the same day the remainder of the garrison, unable to endure another
assault, surrendered at discretion. Piali had now accomplished the
object of the expedition; and, having reestablished the Moorish
authorities in possession of the place, he embarked, with his whole
army, for Constantinople. The tidings of his victory had preceded him;
and, as he proudly sailed up the Bosphorus, he was greeted with thunders
of artillery from the seraglio and the heights surrounding the capital.
First came the Turkish galleys, in beautiful order, with the banners
taken from the Christians ignominiously trailing behind them through the
water. Then followed their prizes,--the seventeen vessels taken in the
action,--the battered condition of which formed a striking contrast to
that of their conquerors. But the prize greater than all was the
prisoners, amounting to nearly four thousand, who, manacled like so many
malefactors, were speedily landed, and driven through the streets,
amidst the shouts and hootings of the populace, to the slave-market of
Constantinople. A few only, of the higher order, were reserved for
ransom. Among them were Don Alvaro de Sande and a son of Medina Celi.
The young nobleman did not long survive his captivity. Don Alvaro
recovered his freedom, and lived to take ample vengeance for all he had
suffered on his conquerors.[1275]

Such was the end of the disastrous expedition against Tripoli, which
left a stain on the Spanish arms that even the brave conduct of the
garrison at Gelves could not wholly wipe away. The Moors were greatly
elated by the disco