Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/466

432 the garrison withdrawn into the Bourg, and he himself thus released from a position of peril to which his courage was unequal. Whilst he was hesitating for a reply, La Valette sternly remarked, “I myself will bring you succour, and if I am not able to remove your terrors, at least I trust to save the fort.” It required the most urgent remonstrances of the council to dissuade the irate chief from making good his words, and himself leading the reinforcements into St. Elmo. He was at length induced to be content with sending fifty knights and 200 Spanish troops under a commander of that langue named Gonzales do Medrano, in whose intrepidity and constancy La Valette felt he could piace implicit reliance.

It was at this moment that Dragut made his appearance with thirteen galleys, having on board a reinforcement of 1,600 men. Much to the mortification of Mustapha he condemned the steps that general had taken. He considered the island of Gozo should first have been seized, and that they should then have advanced upon the Città Notabile and secured that point. They would thus, when attacking the Bourg, have had their rear protected, and the knights would have been unable to draw in any reinforcements, either of men or provisions, from the rest of the island. Now, however, that the siege of St. Elmo had actually commenced, he decided that it should be persevered in, and prosecuted with vigour. Under his directions a second and still more formidable battery was erected on one of the highest points of Mount Sceberras to play both on St. Elmo and St. Angelo. He also constructed a small battery for four guns on the point of land opposite St. Elmo, and forming the other side of the entrance to the Marsa Muscetto. This point has, in consequence, ever since been called point Dragut, and on it now stands a strong work called fort Tigné, from the name of the engineer under whose direction it was erected.

Medrano had not long entered the fort before he proposed a sortie to destroy the enemy’s batteries. This operation he headed in person. At first the attack was completely successful; the Turks were routed, their parapets thrown down, and the result of much labour destroyed. Before long, however, the besiegers rallied, and returned to the attack in overwhelming numbers. Medrano was in consequence compelled to draw off his