Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/370

340 post was at the moment one of the most serious responsibility and difficulty. D’Amaral, on the other hand, felt so keenly the slight which he considered his rejection had cast on him, that he gave way to the most unwarrantable bitterness of temper. Whilst in this mood he is reported to have uttered a speech which was subsequently quoted against him, and which materially assisted in bringing him to the scaffold. He was supposed to have remarked, upon hearing of the election of L’Isle Adam, that he would be the last Grand- Master of Rhodes.

L’Isle Adam was residing in his priory at the time of his election, but sensible of the importance of. the crisis, and the imminence of the danger which threatened the convent, he set sail at once for Rhodes in the great carrack which had been despatched to Marseilles for his conveyance. A succession of disasters overtook the little squadron during the voyage. On one occasion the carrack caught fire, and was only saved by the strenuous exertions of the crew. Immediately afterwards they were assailed by a violent tempest, in the midst of which the ship was struck by lightning. Nine of the crew were killed, and L’Isle Adam’s sword, which was hanging by his side, was destroyed, without, however, causing the slightest injury to his person. Such a combination of untoward circumstances excited the superstition of his attendants, and they earnestly besought him to abandon the voyage. L’Isle Adam was not the man to be deterred from his purpose by vague terrors, and so in spite of every obstacle he held steadily on his course. Whilst at Syracuse, he learnt that the pirate Curtoglu was hovering around Cape St. Angelo with the object of effecting his capture. Passing the point of peril under cover of night, he succeeded in evading the treacherous corsair, and reached Rhodes in safety.

In the summer of that year Solyman brought the siege of Belgrade to a successful conclusion, and his banner waved in triumph over its ruined ramparts. This victory accomplished, the Ottoman emperor found himself at leisure to turn his attention once more to that dream of his youthful ambition, the capture of Rhodes. The recollection that the forces of his