Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/484

450 the Knights of Malta. death in his tent. A gleam of satisfaction passed over the countenance of the dying man, and as though he had lingered upon earth only to assure himself of the success he had so materially assisted, he no sooner heard the news than he breathed his last. His loss, which in itself was a great blow to the Turks, was by no means the principal price they had to pay for the purchase of St. Elmo. No less than 8,000 of their number fell in the attack from first to last. The loss of the Christians amounted to 1,00, of whom 100 were knights, and 30 servants-at-arms of the Order.

Thus fell that ruined bulwark, after a siege of upwards of a month, shedding, even in its fall, a bright ray of glory over its heroic defenders. Though Mustapha had achieved his object, yet much precious time had been sacrificed, and there can be no doubt that the protracted resistance of St. Elmo was the main cause of the ultimate failure of his enterprise. The losses the Turkish army had sustained, severe though they were, counted but little in Mustapha’s calculations, compared with this great and unexpected waste of time. He had been thus taught the resistance he must expect in every subsequent stage of the undertaking, and even his bold mind quailed beneath the difficulties with which his path was still beset. Well might he, standing upon the ruins of the fort he had gained at such an outlay, and gazing at the lofty ramparts of St. Angelo, whose rising tiers of batteries were still crowned with the White Cross banner, exclaim, in an agony of doubt and perplexity, “What will not the parent cost us when the child has been purchased at so fearful a price?”