unter. When men are so treated that their daily
life is one long martyrdom they become the most dangerous force in
existence, and on the occasions which sometimes happened that the slaves
got the upper hand, there were none left of the fighting men of the galley
to tell the tale of their discomfiture.

In time of battle the gallerians were of course equally exposed to death
and wounds from the projectiles of the enemy as were the orthodox fighting
men; but to them came no rejoicing at the sound of victory; rather they
prayed for the defeat of their masters, as it frequently happened that
those against whom they were arrayed were their own countrymen and friends
by whom they hoped for release. Thus at Lepanto, the Christian slaves,
seeing the right wing of the Turkish fleet thrown into disorder by the
galleys of the Allies, broke out into furious mutiny, succeeded in
shattering their fetters and chains, attacked their masters the Turks in
the rear with incredible energy with any weapons upon which they could lay
their hands, and thus contributed in no small measure to the ultimate
triumph of the Christian arms.

The Captain Pantero Pantera and Barras de la Peine have written
exhaustively on the galley, her crew, her armament, her manner of
provisioning, her masts, sails, rigging, etc., and Admiral Jurien de la
Graviere has given a most painstaking exposition concerning the
technicalities of these craft. But to enter into too much detail would be
to weary the reader unnecessarily, who, it is apprehended, merely desires
that a general idea should be given of the way in which these vessels were
handled and fought.

It would appear that during the whole time that oar-propelled vessels were
used as warships their form did not differ to any material extent, as
certain limitations of size were obviously imposed on them by the mere fact
that they had to be moved by so finite and feeble a force as human muscles,
hearts, and lungs. No cruelty, however ghastly, could extract from the
gallerians more than a certain amount of work, and the Captain Pantero
Pantera, as we have seen, even advocates that a certain minimum of
consideration should be shown to them in order that better work might be
obtained. It was probable, however, that in the case of the Christian
slaves captured by the corsairs even this minimum was to seek, as the
numbers swept off by them were so enormous that they could be used up and
replaced without inconvenienc