piration of
others, then that man and the force which he commands are as near to
invincibility as it is permitted to fallible human beings to attain. There
were two things in which the Knights were supremely fortunate on this
occasion: the first was that they had La Valette as Grand Master, the
second that Dragut was not in supreme command of the Turks, and that the
siege had opened before he arrived upon the scene. In this expedition, as
in previous ones, the Turkish commanders had orders to attempt nothing
really important without the advice of Dragut. They found themselves
without him when they arrived and made an initial mistake. With La Valette
in command there was no room for blundering; the ultimate result of their
blunder was the defeat which they sustained.

Grand Master, Knight, and noble, soldier, peasant, and mariner, strove
valiantly with the task of putting the island into a state of defence, and
when at last the long-expected armada of their foes rose above that distant
blue horizon in the north all had been done that skill and experience could
dictate.

It was upon May 18th in the year 1565 that the Turkish fleet arrived at
Malta. It was composed of one hundred and fifty-nine galleys and vessels
propelled by oars: on board of these was an army for disembarkation of
thirty thousand men, composed of Janissaries and Spahis, the very pick and
flower of the Turkish army. Soliman the Magnificent was leaving as little
to chance as was possible on this occasion; he well knew the temper of the
Knights, and that this expedition had before it a task which would try both
the army and its leaders to the very utmost of their strength. Behind the
main body of the fleet came a host of vessels, charged with provisions, the
horses of the Spahis, the siege-train of the artillery, all the innumerable
appliances and engines of war which were in use at that day. The initial
mistake on the part of the Turks was in embarking cavalry for a siege; they
knew, or they should have known, of the extreme smallness of the island
which they were about to attack, and that they were by no means likely to
be met with armies in the field owing to the enormous preponderance of
numbers which they had assured to themselves.

Piali, as we have said, was in command of the fleet, and Mustafa of the
army; the corsairs did not arrive on the scene till some days afterwards.

The Turks landed some men who encountered the Chevalier La Riviere and so