e head by a stone dislodged from a wall
by a cannon-ball. At the moment when this happened he was holding a council
of war in the trenches with Piali, a Sanjak, and the principal Turkish
engineer. The same shot which wounded Dragut killed the Sanjak on the spot.
Piali caused a cloak to be thrown over the body of the corsair in order
that his state should not be observed by the soldiers, and as soon as
possible had him removed to his tent, where he lay unconscious till the
following day.

The council on which the corsair had been engaged when he received his
mortal wound had for its object the complete isolation of St. Elmo from Il
Borgo; his dispositions were completed and his orders given to the engineer
just before he was struck.

The agony of St. Elmo was drawing to an end; completely hemmed in by the
latest dispositions of Dragut, the fortress was at its last gasp; a brave
Maltese swimmer managed to slip through the cordon, swim the harbour, and
deliver to the Grand Master a letter from the Bailli of Negropont. The
Grand Master made one last effort to throw succours and reinforcements into
the place, but these were beaten off with terrible slaughter: nothing now
remained but to await the inevitable tragedy.

[Illustration: DEATH OF DRAGUT AT THE SIEGE OF MALTA.]

On the night of June 22nd the defenders of St. Elmo, having now lost all
hope of being supported, made ready for death. Into them La Valette had
breathed his own heroic spirit, and none among them counselled or dreamed
of surrender. The Order to which they had given their allegiance now
demanded of them the last sacrifice which it was in their power to make,
and this was offered in the manner most fitting to its tenets. These
exhausted, war-worn, battle-scarred warriors repaired to the chapel, where
they confessed, and made ready by partaking together of the sacrament,
"and, having thus surrendered their souls to God, each retired to his post
to die on the bed of honour with arms in his hand." Those among the Knights
who were too severely wounded or too ill to stand caused chairs to be
carried to the breach in which they seated themselves and awaited the
assault. For four hours did these indomitable men withstand the might of a
host innumerable: at the conclusion of this period there remained alive but
sixty of the garrison. Mustafa ceased the assault for a few moments only to
replace the storming party by fresh troops, and then the end came. Almost
the