idly armed and equipped, and each a match for two or three
Turkish ships.[44] Every year they cruised from Sicily to the Levant,
and many a prize laden with precious store they carried off to Malta.
The commerce of Egypt and Syria was in danger of annihilation; the
Barbary Corsairs, even Dragut himself, shunned a meeting with the red
galleys of "the Religion," or their black _capitana_; and the Turkish
fleet, while holding undisputed sway over the Mediterranean, was not
nimble enough to surprise the Maltese squadron in its rapid and
incalculable expeditions. Jean de la Valette Parisot, General of the
Galleys and afterwards Grand Master, Francis of Lorraine, Grand Prior
of France, Romegas, prince of knights-errant, scoured the seas in
search of prey:--they were as true pirates as ever weathered the
"white squall." The Knights lived by plunder as much as any Corsair;
but they tempered their freebooting with chivalry and devotions; they
were the protectors of the helpless and afflicted, and they preyed
chiefly upon the enemies of the Faith.

Meanwhile they built and built; Fort St. Elmo rose on the central
promontory, Forts St. Michael and St. Angelo were strengthened;
bastions were skilfully planned, flanking angles devised, ravelins and
cavaliers erected, ditches deepened, parapets raised, embrasures
opened, and every device of sixteenth-century fortification as
practised by Master Evangelista, chief engineer of the Order, was
brought into use. For the Knights knew that Suleym[=a]n lived and was
mightier than ever. Their cruisers had wrought sad havoc among his
subjects, and the Sultan would not long suffer the hornets of Rhodes
to swarm at Malta. They lived in constant expectation of attack, and
they spent all their strength and all their money in preparing for
the day of the Sultan's revenge. At last the time came: Suleym[=a]n
swore in his wrath that the miscreants should no longer defy him; he
had suffered them to leave Rhodes as gentlemen of honour--he would
consume them in Malta as one burns a nest of wasps.

At the time of the siege of 1565 the city or fortress of Malta was
situated, not as Valetta now stands on the west, but on the east side
of the Marsa or great harbour. To understand even the briefest
narrative of one of the most heroic deeds of war that the world has
seen, the position of the forts must be understood. (See the Plan.) On
the northern coast of the rocky island a bold promontory or rugged
tongue