Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/383

Rh The chief difficulty against which L’Isle Adam had to contend was the paucity of his garrison. Numerous tempting opporturnties presented themselves for opposing the besiegers whilst they were disembarking. Any such efforts, however, must have involved a certain amount of loss, and as, considering the enormous disproportion between the Turkish forces and his own, no comparatively minor advantage could compensate for any diminution of his strength, the Grand-Master was obliged to curb the ardour of his followers, and to permit advances to be made which had his numbers been greater he would have been able to check.

It is recorded by Fontanus, in his history of this siege, that a Florentine named Girolamo Bartolini brought forward a project whereby the whole Turkish navy was to be destroyed at a blow, presumably by means of some explosive substance. L’Isle Adam declined the proferred aid, and this refusal has, by many of the contemporary writers, been attributed to the malign influence of D’Amaral. We may, however, safely assume that the clear judgment of the Grand-Master had discovered the chimerical nature of the proposal, and that he did not allow himself to be weakly guided by others when declining its adoption.

The disembarkation of the besieging army, which extended over several days, proceeded without interruption from the defenders, who were busily engaged throughout this period in making their last preparations to meet the coming storm. All preliminary measures having been taken, the Turks broke ground under cover of a cannonade, and commenced the construction of trenches with the aid of the Wallachian peasants, whom they had brought for the purpose. The knights, on their side, harassed the advances of the working parties by constant sorties. These checks greatly impeded the operations of the besiegers, whilst vast numbers of the defenceless pioneers fell beneath the swords of their assailants.

From the very commencement of the expedition disaffection had shown itself in the Turkish army. Upon the first appearance of the fleet a deserter had succeeded in making his escape from one of the ships, and reached St. Nicholas’s tower, swimming a distance stated to be between six and seven miles,