f
truth, as we shall see when we come to the next chapter, which will be
devoted to a sketch of this militant order. Suffice it to say here that the
Knights fought for what they termed "the Religion" (it was in this manner
they designated their confederacy), and to harry and enslave the Mussulman,
to destroy him as a noxious animal wherever he was to be found, was the
reason for which they existed. It is true that they plundered not for
individual gain, but many was the rich prize towed into Malta past St. Elmo
and the ominously named "Punta delle Forche" (the "Point of the Gallows,"
where all captured pirates were hanged), the proceeds of which went to the
enrichment of the Order; to buy themselves the wherewithal to fight with
the Mahommedan again.

The abuse of the Knights fell upon sympathetic ears; in his early days
Soliman the Magnificent had expelled the Knights from Rhodes; since then
Charles V. had given them the islands of Malta and Gozo, and the town of
Tripoli in Barbary as their abiding place; from Malta they had never ceased
their warfare against the corsairs, and incidentally against the Sultan and
his subjects. Therefore, in this year 1551, Soliman ordained that an
expedition should be prepared with the object of crushing once and for all
these troublers of the peace of Islam. The preparations were on so large a
scale that very soon it became noised abroad in Europe that something
really serious was in the wind: in Constantinople, however, men kept their
own counsel; it was ill talking of the affairs of the Padishah, and,
further than that, beyond Dragut and the proposed leaders of the
expedition, the Sultan took no one into his confidence. Charles V., well
served as he was by his spies, was as much in the dark as to the
destination of this new armada as were humbler folk; in it he recognised
the hand of Dragut again, and Doria had standing orders to catch that
mischievous person if he could. At present, however, there was no chance of
so desirable a thing happening, as Dragut was superintending the fitting
out of the new expedition at Constantinople.

Anxious and suspicious of the designs of the Turks, Charles ordered a
concentration of his fleet at Messina.

The Grand Master of the Knights of Malta at this time was a Spaniard, one
Juan d'Omedes; he was, says de Vertot, "un Grand Maitre Espagnol," meaning
by this that he was completely under the domination of the Emperor and
ready at any time to place