inted magistrates--all ostensibly in the name of that
phantom prince whom the Tunisians were destined never to see, and who never
returned to his native country.

King of Algiers, _de facto_ King of Tunis, Admiralissimo to Soliman the
Magnificent, his name a portent in Christendom, his fame reaching from
Spartel to Tunis, and from the shores of France to the foothills of the
Atlas, Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa was at the height of his power. Never before
had a corsair risen to such eminence, never again was there destined to be
so magnificent a sea-robber. Thus it was that the year 1535 opened gloomily
for all those Powers whose coasts were washed by the tideless sea. Italy,
torn and bleeding, her strong men slain, her fairest matrons and maids
carried off into the most odious captivity, was lamenting the terrible fate
to which she had been exposed by the raids of the pirate admiral. In
Catalonia, in Genoa, in Venice, along what is now known as the Riviera, men
trembled and women wept; for who could say that it might not be upon them
that the next thunderbolt might fall? In Venice taxation was raised to the
breaking strain to provide galleys wherewith to combat the foe, while the
Genoese fortified their coasts and poured out money like water upon arms,
armaments, and ammunition. Says Sandoval:

"Desde el Estrecho de Mecina hasta el de Gibraltar ninguno de la parte
de Europa pudiera tomer comida ni sueno seguro de lo que viviera en las
riberas del mar." (From the Straits of Messina to those of Gibraltar
none living in Europe on the shores of the sea were able to eat in peace
or to sleep with any sense of security.)

The Emperor Charles V. was roused to action, stung by the intolerable
humiliation of the position into which he had been placed by a mere
corsair.

King of Sicily, Naples, and Spain, as well as Emperor of Germany, in any
direction he might turn he would find a trail of blood and fire over the
fair face of his dominions in the Mediterranean. Although it might gall his
pride to admit that his enemy was formidable, Charles was too wise a man,
too experienced a warrior to underrate his foe. He repaired the
fortifications of Naples and Sicily at great cost: he wrote letters to the
Pope, to Andrea Doria, to the Viceroys of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, to
the Marquis de Vasto, and Antonio de Leyva to collect all the arms and
munitions necessary for the attack on Barbarossa. He sent orders to Don
Luis Hurtad