en. One galley escaped altogether, but four out of the
five were taken. So notable a victory as this over the Knights caused so
much rejoicing in the fleet of the Sea-wolves that Ali determined to
celebrate it by a triumphal return to Algiers instead of proceeding
directly to Constantinople. Accordingly, the ships' heads were turned south
once more, and upon July 20th, 1570, the fleet arrived in the African port,
"on sus galeras todas llenas de muchas banderas"--with galleys gaily
beflagged.

[Illustration: A GALLEY OF THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA.]

The procession entered the harbour in three divisions of eight galleys: and
towing behind each division was one of the captured galleys of the Knights.
In memory of his prowess Ali ordered that the shields and bucklers taken
from the Maltese galleys, which bore upon them emblazoned the white cross
of "the Religion," should be hung up in the great arched gate of the
Marina. Also there was placed here the image of Saint John the Baptist,
taken from the _Capitana_ galley, "all of which remain," says Haedo, "until
this day" _(i.e._ 1612), except the image of Saint John, which in the reign
of Hassan Basha, a Venetian renegado, was taken down and burned at the
instance of the Morabutos, "los letrados de los Moros" (the learned among
the Moors). It is an instructive commentary on the fear and respect in
which the Knights of Malta were held that such a man as Ali should have
considered it a triumph worth the celebrating when he defeated five of
their vessels with twenty-four of his own.

The next occurrence in the life of Ali was one of those to which the
Sea-wolves were subjected from time to time, and which do not seem to have
caused them much trouble or anxiety. This was a mutiny of the Janissaries
in Algiers, who very reasonably objected to being left without their pay. A
mutiny of the Janissaries, however, was somewhat a serious matter, as they
were accustomed to the enjoyment of many privileges, and were, as we have
said elsewhere, a picked corps who had it in their power even to coerce the
Sultan himself upon occasions.

Those of them who were in Algiers demanded "Who was this corsair who dared
to keep the picked men of the army of the Grand Turk waiting for their pay,
as if they were no better than his slaves?" Such a thing as a mutiny was,
in the days of which we speak, a matter for which any prudent corsair had
to be prepared. Ali was in no means discomposed, and, as the crisis