Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/309

Rh

The losses of the Turks have been very variously stated, the most probable estimate being about 9,000 killed and 30,000 wounded. The great bulk of this fearful list of casualties occurred after the last repulse, when in their flight from the breath to the camp they were mown down by thousands without offering the slightest resistance. Paleologus pasha, after his humiliating discomfiture, could expect but a very unwelcome reception from his disappointed master. Indeed, in the first transport of his rage, the sultan ordered him to be bowstrung, together with several of the other principal leaders of the army. This stern decree was eventually mitigated into banishment in Gallipoli, where he remained in disgrace until the death of the emperor.

Mahomet consoled himself for the unfortunate issue of the enterprise with the idea that his own presence was necessary in order to insure the success of his arms. He immediately commenced preparations for the assembly of another and much larger army, with which he proposed to renew in person his attack upon the island. The news of the mighty equipment he was organizing for this purpose filled the minds of the fraternity with dismay. The ramparts behind which the knights had made so stubborn a resistance were in ruins, their treasury was exhausted, and their ranks thinned to a lamentable extent. They felt, therefore, that a new siege, if pressed upon them before they had time to recruit themselves, must end fatally to their cause.

At this critical juncture, as though to add to the calamities of