ring the
duties of his responsible office, and was both respected and feared by
all backsliders. One cause, and perhaps the principal one, which induced
quarrels among the Knights was that of the difference of language. There
was a certain national rivalry which was ever coming to the surface, and
which proved a chronic source of trouble. This spirit finally broke
forth in open warfare, civil war, and was conducted with deadly
hostility between the several factions. Duels and personal conflicts
were of daily occurrence. It was a crisis in the history of the order,
but L'Isle Adam, notwithstanding his physical infirmities, was fully
equal to the trying occasion. He had faced the furious enemy in too many
a hard fought battle to know anything like hesitancy at a critical
moment. A brief court-martial was promptly held; the trial of the
accused Knights was short and decisive. The reckless and guilty culprits
found that they had been playing with fire. Twelve of the accused were
ordered to be stripped of their official garments and insignia, and were
ignominiously expelled from the order and the island, while an equal
number were condemned to immediate death. These last were inclosed in
canvas bags, after they had been securely bound with ropes, and, similar
to the Turkish fashion of treating unfaithful women, they were thrown
into the sea to drown! It was the iron hand of discipline, Oriental and
heathenish in the character of the punishment, but it was effective in
its results. Any halting in purpose on the part of L'Isle Adam at that
critical moment would have proved to be the death of the order. We may
be sure that there were no more attempts at civil war among the Knights.
Order was firmly reestablished. The vows of the members bound them to
the most implicit obedience. They were rebellious; they disregarded the
Grand Master's commands, and consequently they suffered condign
punishment.

A terrible example having thus been made, the members realized
thereafter both the certainty and the severity of the punishment which
awaited those who indulged a like rebellious spirit. Four years after
the settlement of the order in the island of Malta, L'Isle Adam died.
This was in 1534.

It was in 1565 that the Porte made its greatest and final effort to
capture Malta from the Knights of St. John. The Sultan determined to
crush out the life of a fraternity which for centuries had been so
persistently arrayed against his race. The