the sea, of which
latter pastime he was particularly fond. One of his favourite resorts was
the castle of Magliana, five miles from Rome, on the banks of the Tiber. On
September 18th, 1516, he left Rome and proceeded to Civita Lavinia, on the
Laurentian coast. Here he was waited for by the corsair Curtogali, who,
with fifteen ships off the coast and an ambush on shore, was ready to carry
him off. Curtogali is supposed to have derived his information as to the
movements of the Pope from some traitor about the Papal Court who desired
the downfall of "the fatal House of Medici."

Some one, however, warned the Pope, who fled, accompanied by his retinue,
at a headlong gallop to Rome, never drawing bridle until he reached the
safe seclusion of the Vatican.

We must now return, however, to that eagle who fluttered so sorely the
dovecotes, both Christian and Moslem, and whose loudly proclaimed faith in
the Prophet never permitted his religion to stand inconveniently in the way
of his material advancement in the world. The soldiers and sailors of the
corsair entered Bizerta shouting for Soliman and Barbarossa. There was no
mention of Raschid, that Prince of the Hafsit dynasty, whom Kheyr-ed-Din
had declared to the townspeople he had come to restore to the throne of his
ancestors. Too late the town sprang to arms, under a chief named Abdahar,
and in the first instance accomplished a considerable success. Barbarossa's
men were unprepared, and a number of them were slain. Driven into a bastion
of the walls, a party of the corsairs were desperately defending
themselves, when one Baetio, a Spanish renegado, discovered that a cannon
behind them pointing seawards was loaded. He succeeded, with the assistance
of others, in slewing it round and discharged it at close quarters into the
packed masses of the enemy. This caused a frightful demoralisation to set
in; the corsairs rallied and soon swept all before them. The massacre
turned from the one side to the other, and it is said that no less than
three thousand of the unfortunate townspeople were slain. Barbarossa only
called off his men when they were wearied out by the slaughter.

Kheyr-ed-Din now graciously accepted the submission of the townsfolk; that
is to say, such of them as were left, and took charge of the entire kingdom
as governor for the Sultan of Turkey. He sent out ambassadors to the
neighbouring Arab and Berber chieftains of the hinterland, repaired
fortifications, appo