1565.
The strength of the order was now concentrated on the two narrow slips of land which run out from the eastern side of the Great Port. Although some account of these places has been given to the reader, it will not be amiss to refresh his recollection of what is henceforth to be the scene of operations.
The northern peninsula, occupied by the town of Il Borgo, and at the extreme point by the castle of St. Angelo, was defended by works stronger and in better condition than the fortifications of St. Elmo.
The care of them was divided among the different _languages_, each of which gave its own name to the bastion it defended. Thus the Spanish knights were intrusted with the bastion of Castile, on the eastern corner of the peninsula,--destined to make an important figure in the ensuing siege.
The parallel slip of land was crowned by the fort of St. Michael,--a work of narrower dimensions than the castle of St. Angelo,--at the base of which might be seen a small gathering of houses, hardly deserving the name of a town. This peninsula was surrounded by fortifications scarcely yet completed, on which the grand-master, La Sangle, who gave his name to the place, had generously expended his private fortune. The works were terminated, on the extreme point, by a low bastion, or rather demi-bastion, called the Spur.
The precious interval gained by the long detention of the Turks before St. Elmo had been diligently employed by La Valette in putting the defences of both La Sangle and Il Borgo in the best condition possible under the circ.u.mstances. In this good work all united,--men, women, and children. All were animated by the same patriotic feeling, and by a common hatred of the infidel. La Valette ordered the heavy guns to be taken from the galleys which were lying at anchor, and placed on the walls of the fortresses. He directed that such provisions as were in the hands of individuals should be delivered up for a fair compensation, and transferred to the public magazines.[1335] Five companies of soldiers, stationed in the Notable City, in the interior of the island, he now ordered to Il Borgo, where their services would be more needed. Finally, as there were no accommodations for prisoners, who, indeed, could not be maintained without encroaching on the supplies necessary for the garrison, La Valette commanded that no prisoners should be made, but that all who fell into the hands of the victors should be put to the sword.[1336] It was to be on both sides a war of extermination.
[Sidenote: ENVOY FROM THE TURKS.]
At this juncture, La Valette had the satisfaction of receiving a reinforcement from Sicily, which, though not large, was of great importance in the present state of affairs. The viceroy had, at length, so far yielded to the importunities of the Knights of St. John who were then at his court, impatiently waiting for the means of joining their brethren, as to fit out a squadron of four galleys,--two of his own, and two belonging to the order. They had forty knights on board, and seven hundred soldiers, excellent troops, drawn chiefly from the Spanish garrisons in Italy. The vessels were placed under command of Don Juan de Cardona, who was instructed to return without attempting to land, should he find St. Elmo in the hands of the enemy. Cardona, who seems to have had a good share of the timid, vacillating policy of his superior, fearful of the Ottoman fleet, stood off and on for some days, without approaching the island. During this time St. Elmo was taken. Cardona, ignorant of the fact, steered towards the south, and finally anch.o.r.ed off Pietra Negra, on the opposite side of the island. Here one of the knights was permitted to go on sh.o.r.e to collect information. He there learned the fate of St. Elmo; but, as he carefully concealed the tidings, the rest of the forces were speedily landed, and Cardona, with his galleys, was soon on the way to Sicily.
The detachment was under the command of the Chevalier de Robles, a brave soldier, and one of the most ill.u.s.trious men of the order. Under cover of night, he pa.s.sed within gunshot of the Turkish lines without being discovered, and was so fortunate as to bring his men in safety to the side of the English harbor opposite to Il Borgo, which it washes on the north. There he found boats awaiting his arrival. They had been provided by the grand-master, who was advised of his movements. A thick fog lay upon the waters; and under its friendly mantle Robles and his troops crossed over in safety to the town, where they were welcomed by the knights, who joyfully greeted the brave companions that had come to share with them the perils of the siege.[1337]
While this was going on, Mustapha, the Turkish commander, had been revolving in his mind, whether it were not possible to gain his ends by negotiation instead of war, and thus be spared the waste of life which the capture of St. Elmo had cost him. He flattered himself that La Valette, taking warning by the fate of that fortress, might be brought to capitulate on fair and honorable terms. He accordingly sent a messenger with a summons to the grand-master to deliver up the island, on the a.s.surance of a free pa.s.sage for himself and his followers, with all their effects, to Sicily.
The envoy chosen was a Greek slave,--an old man, who had lived from boyhood in captivity. Under protection of a flag of truce, the slave gained admission into St. Angelo, and was conducted blindfold to the presence of the grand-master. He there delivered his message. La Valette calmly listened, but without deigning to reply; and when the speaker had ended, the stern chief ordered him to be taken from his presence, and instantly hanged. The wretched man threw himself at the feet of the grand-master, beseeching him to spare his life, and protesting that he was but a poor slave, and had come, against his will, in obedience to the commands of the Turkish general. La Valette, who had probably no intention from the first to have his order carried into execution, affected to relent, declaring, however, that, should any other messenger venture hereafter to insult him with the like proposals, he should not escape so easily. The terrified old man was then dismissed. As he left the presence, he was led through long files of the soldiery drawn up in imposing array, and was shown the strong works of the castle of St.
Angelo. "Look," said one of the officers, pointing to the deep ditch which surrounded the fortress, "there is all the room we can afford your master; but it is deep enough to bury him and his followers!" The slave, though a Christian, could not be persuaded to remain and take his chance with the besieged. They must be beaten in the end, he said, and, when retaken by the Turks, his case would be worse than ever.[1338]
There was now no alternative for Mustapha but to fight; and he had not lost a moment since the fall of St. Elmo in pushing forward his preparations. Trenches had been opened on the heights at the foot of Mount Coradin, at the southern extremity of the Great Port, and continued on a line that stretched to Mount St. Salvador. Where the soil was too hard to be readily turned up, the defences were continued by a wall of stone. Along the heights, on different points of the line, batteries were established, and mounted with guns of the heaviest calibre. Batteries were also raised on the high ground which, under the name of Mount Sceberras, divides Port Musiette from the Great Port, terminating in the point of land crowned by St. Elmo. A few cannon were even planted by the Turks on the ruins of this castle.
Thus the Christian fortresses were menaced on every point; and while the lines of the besiegers cut off all communication on the land side, a detachment of the fleet, blocking up the entrance to the Great Port, effectually cut off intercourse by sea. The investment by land and by sea was complete.
Early in July the wide circle of batteries, mounting between sixty and seventy pieces of artillery, opened their converging fire on the fortresses, the towns, and the shipping, which lay at anchor in the Port of Galleys. The cannonade was returned with spirit by the guns of St.
Angelo and St. Michael, well served by men acquainted with their duty.
So soon as the breaches were practicable, Mustapha proposed to begin by storming St. Michael, the weaker of the two fortresses; and he determined to make the a.s.sault by sea as well as by land. It would not be possible, however, to bring round his vessels lying in Port Musiette into the Great Port, without exposing them to the guns of St. Angelo. He resorted, therefore, to an expedient startling enough, but not new in the annals of warfare. He caused a large number of boats to be dragged across the high land which divides the two harbors. This toilsome work was performed by his Christian slaves; and the garrison beheld with astonishment the Turkish flotilla descending the rugged slopes of the opposite eminence, and finally launched on the waters of the inland basin. No less than eighty boats, some of them of the largest size, were thus transported across the heights.
Having completed this great work, Mustapha made his preparations for the a.s.sault. At this time, he was joined by a considerable reinforcement under Ha.s.sem, the Algerine corsair, who commanded at the memorable sieges of Oran and Mazarquivir. Struck with the small size of the castle of St. Elmo, Ha.s.sem intimated his surprise that it should have held out so long against the Turkish arms; and he besought Mustapha to intrust him with the conduct of the a.s.sault that was to be made on Fort St.
Michael. The Turkish general, not unwilling that the presumptuous young chief should himself prove the temper of the Maltese swords, readily gave him the command, and the day was fixed for the attack.
[Sidenote: STORMING OF ST. MICHAEL.]
Fortunately, at this time, a deserter, a man of some consequence in the Turkish army, crossed over to Il Borgo, and acquainted the grand-master with the designs of the enemy. La Sangle was defended on the north, as already noticed, by a strong iron chain, which, stretching across the Port of Galleys at its mouth, would prevent the approach of boats in that direction. La Valette now caused a row of palisades to be sunk in the mud, at the bottom of the harbor, in a line extending from the extreme point of La Sangle to the foot of Mount Coradin. These were bound together by heavy chains, so well secured as to oppose an effectual barrier to the pa.s.sage of the Turkish flotilla. The length of this barricade was not great. But it was a work of much difficulty,--not the less so that it was necessary to perform it in the night, in order to secure the workmen from the enemy"s guns. In little more than a week, it was accomplished. Mustapha sent a small body of men, excellent swimmers, armed with axes, to force an opening in the barrier. They had done some mischief to the work, when a party of Maltese, swimming out, with their swords between their teeth, fell on the Turks, beat them off, and succeeded in restoring the palisades.[1339]
Early in the morning, on the fifteenth of July, two cannon in the Ottoman lines, from opposite sides of the Great Port, gave the signal for the a.s.sault. Ha.s.sem prepared to lead it, in person, on the land side. The attack by water he intrusted to an Algerine corsair, his lieutenant. Before the report of the cannon had died away, a great number of boats were seen by the garrison of St. Michael putting off from the sh.o.r.e. They were filled with troops, and among these, to judge from their dress, were many persons of condition. The account is given by the old soldier so often quoted, who, stationed on the bastion of the Spur, had a full view of the enemy. It was a gay spectacle, these Moslem chiefs, in their rich Oriental costumes, with their gaudy-colored turbans, and their loose, flowing mantles of crimson, or of cloth of gold and silver; the beams of the rising sun glancing on their polished weapons,--their bows of delicate workmanship, their scymitars from the forges of Alexandria and Damascus, their muskets of Fez.[1340] "It was a beautiful sight to see," adds the chronicler with some _navete_, "if one could have looked on it without danger to himself."[1341]
In advance of the squadron came two or three boats, bearing persons whose venerable aspect and dark-colored robes proclaimed them to be the religious men of the Moslems. They seemed to be reciting from a volume before them, and muttering what might be prayers to Allah,--possibly invoking his vengeance on the infidel. But these soon dropped astern, leaving the way open for the rest of the flotilla, which steered for the palisades, with the intention evidently of forcing a pa.s.sage. But the barrier proved too strong for their efforts; and, chafed by the musketry which now opened on them from the bastion, the Algerine commander threw himself into the water, which was somewhat above his girdle, and, followed by his men, advanced boldly towards the sh.o.r.e.
Two mortars were mounted on the rampart. But, through some mismanagement, they were not worked; and the a.s.sailants were allowed to reach the foot of the bastion, which they prepared to carry by escalade.
Applying their ladders, they speedily began to mount; when they were a.s.sailed by showers of stones, hand-grenades, and combustibles of various kinds; while huge fragments of rock were rolled over the parapet, crushing men and ladders, and scattering them in ruin below.
The ramparts were covered with knights and soldiers, among whom the stately form of Antonio de Zanoguerra, the commander of the post, was conspicuous, towering above his comrades, and cheering them on to the fight. Meantime the a.s.sailants, mustering like a swarm of hornets to the attack, were soon seen replacing the broken ladders, and again clambering up the walls. The leading files were pushed upward by those below; yet scarcely had the bold adventurers risen above the parapet, when they were pierced by the pikes of the soldiers, or struck down by the swords and battle-axes of the knights. At this crisis, a spark unfortunately falling into the magazine of combustibles, it took fire, and blew up with a terrific explosion, killing or maiming numbers of the garrison, and rolling volumes of blinding smoke along the bastion. The besiegers profited by the confusion to gain a footing on the ramparts; and when the clouds of vapor began to dissipate, the garrison were astonished to find their enemies at their side, and a number of small banners, such as the Turks usually bore into the fight, planted on the walls. The contest now raged fiercer than ever, as the parties fought on more equal terms;--the Mussulmans smarting under their wounds, and the Christians fired with the recollection of St. Elmo, and the desire of avenging their slaughtered brethren. The struggle continued long after the sun, rising high in the heavens, poured down a flood of heat on the combatants; and the garrison, pressed by superior numbers, weary and faint with wounds, were hardly able to keep their footing on the slippery ground, saturated with their own blood and that of their enemies. Still the cheering battle-cry of St. John rose in the air; and their brave leader, Zanoguerra, at the head of his knights, was to be seen in the thickest of the fight. There too was Brother Robert, an ecclesiastic of the order, with a sword in one hand and a crucifix in the other, though wounded himself, rushing among the ranks, and exhorting the men "to fight for the faith of Jesus Christ, and to die in its defence."[1342]
At this crisis the commander, Zanoguerra, though clad in armor of proof, was. .h.i.t by a random musket-shot, which stretched him lifeless on the rampart. At his fall the besiegers set up a shout of triumph, and redoubled their efforts. It would now have gone hard with the garrison, had it not been for a timely reinforcement which arrived from Il Borgo.
It was sent by La Valette, who had learned the perilous state of the bastion. He had, not long before this, caused a floating bridge to be laid across the Port of Galleys,--thus connecting the two peninsulas with each other, and affording a much readier means of communication than before existed.
[Sidenote: SLAUGHTER OF THE TURKS.]
While this was going on, a powerful reinforcement was on its way to the support of the a.s.sailants. Ten boats of the largest size, having a thousand janizaries on board, were seen advancing across the Great Harbor from the opposite sh.o.r.e. Taking warning by the fate of their countrymen, they avoided the palisades, and, pursuing a more northerly course, stood for the extreme point of the Spur. By so doing, they exposed themselves to the fire of a battery in St. Angelo, sunk down almost to the water"s level. It was this depressed condition of the work that secured it from the notice of the Turks. The battery, mounted with five guns, was commanded, by the Chevalier de Guiral, who coolly waited until the enemy had come within range of his shot, when he gave the word to fire. The pieces were loaded with heavy b.a.l.l.s, and with bags filled with chain and bits of iron. The effect of the discharge was terrible.
Nine of the barges were shattered to pieces, and immediately sunk.[1343]
The water was covered with the splinters of the vessels, with mutilated trunks, dissevered limbs, fragments of clothes, and quant.i.ties of provisions; for the enemy came prepared to take up their quarters permanently in the fortress. Amidst the dismal wreck a few wretches were to be seen, struggling with the waves, and calling on their comrades for help. But those in the surviving boat, when they had recovered from the shock of the explosion, had no mind to remain longer in so perilous a position, but made the best of their way back to the sh.o.r.e, leaving their companions to their fate. Day after day the waves threw upon the strand the corpses of the drowned men; and the Maltese divers long continued to drag up from the bottom rich articles of wearing apparel, ornaments, and even purses of money, which had been upon the persons of the janizaries. Eight hundred are said to have perished by this disaster, which may, not improbably, have decided the fate of the fortress; for the strength of the reinforcement would have been more than a match for that sent by La Valette to the support of the garrison.[1344]
Meanwhile the succors detached by the grand-master had no sooner entered the bastion, than, seeing their brethren so hard beset, and the Moslem flags planted along the parapet, they cried their war-cry, and fell furiously on the enemy. In this they were well supported by the garrison, who gathered strength at the sight of the reinforcement. The Turks, now pressed on all sides, gave way. Some succeeded in making their escape by the ladders, as they had entered. Others were hurled down on the rocks below. Most, turning on their a.s.sailants, fell fighting on the rampart which they had so nearly won. Those who escaped hurried to the sh.o.r.e, hoping to gain the boats, which lay off at some distance; when a detachment, sallying from the bastion, intercepted their flight. Thus at bay, they had no alternative but to fight. But their spirit was gone; and they were easily hewed down by their pursuers. Some, throwing themselves on their knees, piteously begged for mercy. "Such mercy," shouted the victors, "as you showed at St.
Elmo!"[1345] and buried their daggers in their bodies.
While this b.l.o.o.d.y work was going on below, the knights and soldiers, gathered on the exposed points of the bastion above, presented an obvious mark to the Turkish guns across the water, which had not been worked during the a.s.sault, for fear of injuring the a.s.sailants. Now that the Turks had vanished from the ramparts, some heavy shot were thrown among the Christians, with fatal effect. Among others who were slain was Frederic de Toledo, a son of the viceroy of Sicily. He was a young knight of great promise, and was under the especial care of the grand-master, who kept him constantly near his person. But when the generous youth learned the extremity to which his brethren in La Sangle were reduced, he secretly joined the reinforcement which was going to their relief, and did his duty like a good knight in the combat which followed. While on the rampart, he was struck down by a cannon-shot; and a splinter from his cuira.s.s mortally wounded a comrade to whom he was speaking at the time.
While the fight was thus going on at the Spur, Ha.s.sem was storming the breach of Fort St. Michael, on the opposite quarter. The storming-party, consisting of both Moors and Turks, rushed to the a.s.sault with their usual intrepidity. But they found a very different enemy from the spectral forms which, wasted by toil and suffering, had opposed so ineffectual a resistance in the last days of St. Elmo. In vain did the rushing tide of a.s.sailants endeavor to force an opening through the stern array of warriors, which, like a wall of iron, now filled up the breach. Recoiling in confusion, the leading files fell back upon the rear, and all was disorder. But Ha.s.sem soon re-formed his ranks, and again led them to the charge. Again they were repulsed with loss; but as fresh troops came to their aid, the little garrison must have been borne down by numbers, had not their comrades, flushed with their recent victory at the bastion, hurried to their support, and, sweeping like a whirlwind through the breach, driven the enemy with dreadful carnage along the slope, and compelled him to take refuge in his trenches.
Thus ended the first a.s.sault of the besiegers since the fall of St.
Elmo. The success of the Christians was complete. Between three and four thousand Mussulmans, including those who were drowned,--according to the Maltese statements,--fell in the two attacks on the fortress and the bastion. But the arithmetic of an enemy is not apt to be exact.[1346]
The loss of the Christians did not exceed two hundred. Even this was a heavy loss to the besieged, and included some of their best knights, to say nothing of others disabled by their wounds. Still it was a signal victory; and its influence was felt in raising the spirits of the besieged, and in inspiring them with confidence. La Valette was careful to cherish these feelings. The knights, followed by the whole population of Il Borgo, went in solemn procession to the great church of St.
Lawrence, where _Te Deum_ was chanted, while the colors taken from the infidel were suspended from the walls as glorious trophies of the victory.[1347]
Mustapha now found that the spirit of the besieged, far from being broken by their late reverses, was higher than ever, as their resources were greater, and their fortifications stronger, than those of St. Elmo.
He saw the necessity of proceeding with greater caution. He resolved to level the defences of the Christians with the ground, and then, combining the whole strength of his forces, make simultaneous a.s.saults on Il Borgo and St. Michael. His first step was to continue his line of intrenchments below St. Salvador to the water"s edge, and thus cut off the enemy"s communication with the opposite side of the English Port, by means of which the late reinforcement from Sicily had reached him. He further strengthened the battery on St. Salvador, arming it with sixteen guns,--two of them of such enormous calibre, as to throw stone bullets of three hundred pounds" weight.
[Sidenote: INCESSANT CANNONADE.]
From this ponderous battery he now opened a crushing fire on the neighboring bastion of Castile, and on the quarter of Il Borgo lying nearest to it. The storm of marble and metal that fell upon the houses, though these were built of stone, soon laid many of than in ruins; and the shot, sweeping the streets, killed numbers of the inhabitants, including women and children. La Valette caused barriers of solid masonry to be raised across the streets for the protection of the citizens. As this was a work of great danger, he put his slaves upon it, trusting, too, that the enemy might be induced to mitigate his fire from tenderness for the lives of his Moslem brethren. But in such an expectation he greatly erred. More than five hundred slaves fell under the incessant volleys of the besiegers; and it was only by the most severe, indeed cruel treatment, that these unfortunate beings could be made to resume their labors.[1348]
La Valette, at this time, in order to protect the town against a.s.sault on the side of the English Port, caused a number of vessels laden with heavy stones to be sunk not far from sh.o.r.e. They were further secured by anchors bound to one another with chains, forming altogether an impenetrable barrier against any approach by water.
The inhabitants of Il Borgo, as well as the soldiers, were now active in preparations for defence. Some untwisted large ropes and cables to get materials for making bags to serve as gabions. Some were busy with manufacturing different sorts of fireworks, much relied on as a means of defence by the besieged. Others were employed in breaking up the large stones from the ruined buildings into smaller ones, which proved efficient missiles when hurled on the heads of the a.s.sailants below. But the greatest and most incessant labor was that of repairing the breaches, or of constructing retrenchments to defend them. The sound of the hammer and the saw was everywhere to be heard. The fires of the forges were never suffered to go out. The hum of labor was as unintermitting throughout the city as in the season of peace;--but with a very different end.[1349]
Over all these labors the grand-master exercised a careful superintendence. He was always on the spot where his presence was needed. His eye seemed never to slumber. He performed many of the duties of a soldier, as well as of a commander. He made the rounds constantly in the night, to see that all was well, and that the sentinels were at their posts. On these occasions he freely exposed himself to danger, showing a carelessness of his own safety that called forth more than once the remonstrances of his brethren. He was indeed watchful over all, says the old chronicler who witnessed it; showing no sign of apprehension in his valiant countenance, but by his n.o.ble presence giving heart and animation to his followers.[1350]
Yet the stoutest heart which witnessed the scene might well have thrilled with apprehension. Far as the eye could reach, the lines of the Moslem army stretched over hill and valley; while a deafening roar of artillery from fourteen batteries shook the solid earth, and, borne across the waters for more than a hundred miles, sounded to the inhabitants of Syracuse and Catania live the mutterings of distant thunder.[1351] In the midst of this turmoil, and encompa.s.sed by the glittering lines of the besiegers, the two Christian fortresses might be dimly discerned amidst volumes of fire and smoke, which, rolling darkly round their summits, almost hid from view the banner of St. John, proudly waving in the breeze, as in defiance of the enemy.
But the situation of the garrison, as the works crumbled under the stroke of the bullet, became every day more critical. La Valette contrived to send information of it to the viceroy of Sicily, urging him to delay his coming no longer, if he would save the island. But, strange to say, such was the timid policy that had crept into the viceroy"s councils, that it was seriously discussed whether it was expedient to send aid at all to the Knights of Malta! Some insisted that there was no obligation on Spain to take any part in the quarrel, and that the knights should be left to fight out the battle with the Turks in Malta, as they had before done in Rhodes. Others remonstrated against this, declaring it would be an eternal blot on the scutcheon of Castile, if she should desert in their need the brave chivalry who for so many years had been fighting the battles of Christendom. The king of Spain, in particular, as the feudatory sovereign of the order, was bound to protect the island from the Turks, who, moreover, once in possession of it, would prove the most terrible scourge that ever fell on the commerce of the Mediterranean. The more generous, happily the more politic, counsel prevailed; and the viceroy contrived to convey an a.s.surance to the grand-master, that, if he could hold out till the end of the following month, he would come with sixteen thousand men to his relief.[1352]
But this was a long period for men in extremity to wait. La Valette saw with grief how much deceived he had been in thus leaning on the viceroy.
He determined to disappoint his brethren no longer by holding out delusive promises of succor. "The only succor to be relied on," he said, "was that of Almighty G.o.d. He who has. .h.i.therto preserved his children from danger will not now abandon them."[1353] La Valette reminded his followers, that they were the soldiers of Heaven, fighting for the Faith, for liberty and life. "Should the enemy prevail," he added, with a politic suggestion, "the Christians could expect no better fate than that of their comrades in St. Elmo." The grand-master"s admonition was not lost upon the soldiers. "Every man of us," says Balbi, "resolved to die rather than surrender, and to sell his life as dearly as possible.
From that hour no man talked of succors."[1354]
One of those spiritual weapons from the papal armory, which have sometimes proved of singular efficacy in times of need, came now most seasonably to the aid of La Valette. A bull of Pius the Fourth granted plenary indulgence for all sins which had been committed by those engaged in this holy war against the Moslems. "There were few," says the chronicler, "either women or men, old enough to appreciate it, who did not strive to merit this grace by most earnest devotion to the cause, and who did not have entire faith that all who died in the good work would be at once received into glory."[1355]
[Sidenote: GENERAL a.s.sAULT.]
More than two weeks had elapsed since the attempt, so disastrous to the Turks, on the fortress of St. Michael. During this time they had kept up an unintermitting fire on the Christian fortifications; and the effect was visible in more than one fearful gap, which invited the a.s.sault of the enemy. The second of August was accordingly fixed on as the day for a general attack, to be made on both Port St. Michael, and on the bastion of Castile, which, situated at the head of the English Port, eastward of Il Borgo, flanked the line of defence on that quarter.
Mustapha was to conduct in person the operations against the fort; the a.s.sault on the bastion he intrusted to Piali;--a division of the command by which the ambition of the rival chiefs would be roused to the utmost.
Fortunately, La Valette obtained notice, through some deserters, of the plans of the Turkish commanders, and made his preparations accordingly.
On the morning of the second, Piali"s men, at the appointed signal, moved briskly forward to the a.s.sault. They soon crossed the ditch, but partially filled with the ruins of the rampart, scaled the ascent in face of a sharp fire of musketry, and stood at length, with ranks somewhat shattered, on the summit of the breach. But here they were opposed by retrenchments within, thrown up by the besieged, from behind which they now poured such heavy volleys among the a.s.sailants as staggered the front of the column, and compelled it to fall back some paces in the rear. Here it was encountered by those pushing forward from below; and some confusion ensued. This was increased by the vigor with which the garrison now plied their musketry from the ramparts, hurling down at the same time heavy logs, hand-grenades, and torrents of scalding pitch on the heads of the a.s.sailing column, which, blinded and staggering under the shock, reeled to and fro like a drunken man. To add to their distress, the feet of the soldiers were torn and entangled among the spikes which had been thickly set in the ruins of the breach by the besieged. Woe to him who fell! His writhing body was soon trampled under the press. In vain the Moslem chiefs endeavored to restore order. Their voices were lost in the wild uproar that raged around. At this crisis the knights, charging at the head of their followers, cleared the breach, and drove the enemy with loss into his trenches.
There the broken column soon re-formed, and, strengthened by fresh troops, was again brought to the attack. But this gave a respite to the garrison, which La Valette improved by causing refreshments to be served to the soldiers. By his provident care, skins containing wine and water, with rations of bread, were placed near the points of attack, to be distributed among the men.[1356] The garrison, thus strengthened, were enabled to meet the additional forces brought against them by the enemy; and the refreshments on the one side were made, in some sort, to counterbalance the reinforcements on the other. Vessels filled with salt and water were also at hand, to bathe the wounds of such as were injured by the fireworks. "Without these various precautions," says the chronicler, "it would have been impossible for so few men as we were to keep our ground against such a host as now a.s.sailed us on every quarter."[1357]