, La Vallette was informed of the object by his well-paid spies in
the Turkish capital. The Knights could not withstand another siege.
Their ranks had been so thinned as to leave only a skeleton
organization, and the outlook for them was indeed desperate. The Grand
Master knew that he could no longer hope to oppose force to force
successfully, and that other and effective means must be promptly
adopted to cripple and discourage the persistent enemy. La Vallette
secretly instructed his unscrupulous spies to fire the arsenal of
Constantinople, promising a grand premium if success followed the
attempt. This was done. Large stores of powder had already been gathered
here for the expedition; and its explosion destroyed not only the
arsenal itself, with its store of arms and equipments, but also wrecked
the entire fleet, which was being equipped close at hand. The instant
destruction of human life, as well as of war materials, was enormous, so
great, in fact, that the expedition was necessarily abandoned for the
time being. The death of the Sultan of Turkey soon followed the blowing
up of the arsenal, thus preventing any renewal of the design against the
order.

The successful defense of Malta proved to be the last great feat of arms
achieved by the Knights of St. John. They had completely broken the
Ottoman power, so far as aggressive operations were concerned. There was
now no active enemy with whom they were called upon to contend. Rest and
recuperation would seem to be absolutely necessary after the terrible
strain which had been put upon their endurance; and they had most
certainly earned the right to enjoy such a respite. Of the Grand Master,
La Vallette, it is recorded that, during the heat of action, when the
Turks were storming the walls and his battle-axe was spreading death
right and left, his associate Knights besought him not to so expose his
life. It was then that he replied: "How can I, at my age of seventy-one
years, die more gloriously than in the midst of my brothers, in the
service of God, and in defense of our holy religion?" He was the
soldier-monk par excellence, possessing grand physical powers, devoutly
pious according to his creed, and a grand example of chivalry. It is not
too much to say that it was his hand that hurled back the shattered and
riven power of the Turks. Age had not withered his ambition or
enterprise. He resolved to build at once a new and thoroughly fortified
city by the shore, on th