aults was near being attended with fatal
consequences.

A mine which ran under the bastion of Castile was sprung, and brought
down a wide extent of the rampart. The enemy, prepared for the event,
mounting the smoking ruins, poured through the undefended breach,--or
defended only by a handful of the garrison, who were taken unawares. The
next minute, the great standard of the Ottomans was planted on the
walls. The alarm was raised. In a few moments the enemy would have been
in the heart of the town. An ecclesiastic of the order, Brother William
by name, terrified at the sight, made all haste to the grand-master,
then at his usual station in the public square. Rushing into his
presence, the priest called on him to take refuge, while he could, in
the castle of St. Angelo, as the enemy had broken into the town. But the
dauntless chief, snatching up his pike, with no other protection than
his helmet, and calling out to those around him, "Now is the time! let
us die together!"[1358] hurried to the scene of action, where, rallying
his followers, he fell furiously on the enemy. A sharp struggle ensued.
More than one knight was struck down by La Valette's side. He himself
was wounded in the leg by the splinter of a hand-grenade. The alarm-bell
of the city rang violently. The cry was raised that the grand-master was
in danger. Knights, soldiers, and townsmen came rushing to the spot.
Even the sick sprang from their beds, and made such haste as they could
to the rescue. The Moslems, pressed on all sides, and shaken by the
resolute charge, fell back slowly on the breach.

The cavaliers would now fain have persuaded the grand-master, who was
still standing among a heap of the slain, to retire to some place of
safety, and leave the issue of the battle to his companions. But, fixing
his eye on the Ottoman standard, still floating above the walls, he
mournfully shook his head, in token of his resolution to remain. The
garrison, spurred on by shame and indignation, again charged the
Moslems, with greater fury than before. The colors, wrenched from the
ramparts, were torn to shreds in the struggle. The Christians prevailed;
and the Turks, quailing before their invincible spirit, were compelled,
after a long and bloody contest, to abandon the works they had so nearly
won.

Still the grand-master, far from retiring, took up his quarters for the
night in the neighborhood of the breach. He had no doubt that the enemy
would return under co