he assault of the Moslem host.

Accordingly, after disembarking at their leisure, the Turkish army moved
forward, and took their post upon St. Stephen's Hill. From this eminence
they commanded a full view of the town, the hills sloping gently down
to the foot of the walls. In later times the first care of a general
commanding the defence would have been to construct formidable works
upon this commanding position. But the cannon of that period were so
cumbrous and slowly worked, and so inaccurate in their aim, that the
advantage of occupying a position that would prevent an enemy from
firing down into a town was considered to be more than counterbalanced
by the weakening of the garrison by the abstraction of the force
required to man the detached work, and by the risk of their being
surrounded and cut off without the garrison of the town being able to
aid them.

That the defence of St. Stephen's Hill was considered unnecessary for
the safety of Rhodes is shown by the fact that no attempt had been made
to fortify it when, forty years later, the Moslems again besieged the
city.

There was no shadow of apprehension felt by the garrison of Rhodes
as the great array of their foes was seen moving on to the hill, and
preparing to pitch its camp. On the summit was the great tent of the
pasha; round this were the marquees of the other commanders, while the
encampments of the troops stretched far away along the upper slopes of
the hill.

Previous to the despatch of the expedition, the sultan had made
preparations for aiding his arms by treachery. The agent he had sent
to propose a temporary truce had, during his stay on the Island, made
himself thoroughly acquainted with the outline of the works. A very
accurate plan of them had also been obtained from an inhabitant of
Rhodes, who had abandoned Christianity and taken service with the Turks.

In addition to this he had arranged with a renegade German, known as
Maitre Georges, a man of very great ability as an artilleryman and
engineer, to desert to the city, and there do all in his power to assist
the besiegers, both by affording them information and by giving bad
advice to the besieged. On the day after Paleologus, who was himself a
renegade Greek, had established his camp, he sent in a herald to summon
the city to surrender, at the same time making lavish promises that the
lives and property of the native population should be respected, and
that they should be allowed to co