From this ponderous battery he now opened a crushing fire on the neighboring bastion of Castile, and on the quarter of Il Borgo lying nearest to it. The storm of marble and metal that fell upon the houses, though these were built of stone, soon laid many of than in ruins; and the shot, sweeping the streets, killed numbers of the inhabitants, including women and children. La Valette caused barriers of solid masonry to be raised across the streets for the protection of the citizens. As this was a work of great danger, he put his slaves upon it, trusting, too, that the enemy might be induced to mitigate his fire from tenderness for the lives of his Moslem brethren. But in such an expectation he greatly erred. More than five hundred slaves fell under the incessant volleys of the besiegers; and it was only by the most severe, indeed[{439}] cruel treatment, that these unfortunate beings could be made to resume their labors.[1348]
La Valette, at this time, in order to protect the town against assault on the side of the English Port, caused a number of vessels laden with heavy stones to be sunk not far from shore. They were further secured by anchors bound to one another with chains, forming altogether an impenetrable barrier against any approach by water.
The inhabitants of Il Borgo, as well as the soldiers, were now active in preparations for defence. Some untwisted large ropes and cables to get materials for making bags to serve as gabions. Some were busy with manufacturing different sorts of fireworks, much relied on as a means of defence by the besieged. Others were employed in breaking up the large stones from the ruined buildings into smaller ones, which proved efficient missiles when hurled on the heads of the assailants below. But the greatest and most incessant labor was that of repairing the breaches, or of constructing retrenchments to defend them. The sound of the hammer and the saw was everywhere to be heard. The fires of the forges were never suffered to go out. The hum of labor was as unintermitting throughout the city as in the season of peace;—but with a very different end.[1349]
Over all these labors the grand-master exercised a careful superintendence. He was always on the spot where his presence was needed. His eye seemed never to slumber. He performed many of the duties of a soldier, as well as of a commander. He made the rounds constantly in the night, to see that all was well, and that the sentinels were at their posts. On these occasions he freely exposed himself to danger, showing a carelessness of his own safety that called forth more than once the remonstrances of his brethren. He was indeed watchful over all, says the old chronicler who witnessed it; showing no sign of apprehension in his valiant countenance, but by his noble presence giving heart and animation to his followers.[1350]
Yet the stoutest heart which witnessed the scene might well have thrilled with apprehension. Far as the eye could reach, the lines of the Moslem army stretched over hill and valley; while a deafening roar of artillery from fourteen batteries shook the solid earth, and, borne across the waters for more than a hundred miles, sounded to the inhabitants of Syracuse and Catania live the mutterings of distant thunder.[1351] In the midst of this turmoil, and encompassed by the glittering lines of the besiegers, the two Christian fortresses might be dimly discerned amidst volumes of fire and smoke, which, rolling darkly round their summits, almost hid from view the banner of St. John, proudly waving in the breeze, as in defiance of the enemy.[{440}]
But the situation of the garrison, as the works crumbled under the stroke of the bullet, became every day more critical. La Valette contrived to send information of it to the viceroy of Sicily, urging him to delay his coming no longer, if he would save the island. But, strange to say, such was the timid policy that had crept into the viceroy's councils, that it was seriously discussed whether it was expedient to send aid at all to the Knights of Malta! Some insisted that there was no obligation on Spain to take any part in the quarrel, and that the knights should be left to fight out the battle with the Turks in Malta, as they had before done in Rhodes. Others remonstrated against this, declaring it would be an eternal blot on the scutcheon of Castile, if she should desert in their need the brave chivalry who for so many years had been fighting the battles of Christendom. The king of Spain, in particular, as the feudatory sovereign of the order, was bound to protect the island from the Turks, who, moreover, once in possession of it, would prove the most terrible scourge that ever fell on the commerce of the Mediterranean. The more generous, happily the more politic, counsel prevailed; and the viceroy contrived to convey an assurance to the grand-master, that, if he could hold out till the end of the following month, he would come with sixteen thousand men to his relief.[1352]
But this was a long period for men in extremity to wait. La Valette saw with grief how much deceived he had been in thus leaning on the viceroy. He determined to disappoint his brethren no longer by holding out delusive promises of succor. "The only succor to be relied on," he said, "was that of Almighty God. He who has hitherto preserved his children from danger will not now abandon them."[1353] La Valette reminded his followers, that they were the soldiers of Heaven, fighting for the Faith, for liberty and life. "Should the enemy prevail," he added, with a politic suggestion, "the Christians could expect no better fate than that of their comrades in St. Elmo." The grand-master's admonition was not lost upon the soldiers. "Every man of us," says Balbi, "resolved to die rather than surrender, and to sell his life as dearly as possible. From that hour no man talked of succors."[1354]
One of those spiritual weapons from the papal armory, which have sometimes proved of singular efficacy in times of need, came now most seasonably to the aid of La Valette. A bull of Pius the Fourth granted plenary indulgence for all sins which had been committed by those engaged in this holy war against the Moslems. "There were few," says the chronicler, "either women or men, old enough to appreciate it, who did not strive to merit this grace by most earnest devotion to the cause, and who did not have entire faith that all who died in the good work would be at once received into glory."[1355]
GENERAL ASSAULT.
More than two weeks had elapsed since the attempt, so disastrous to the Turks, on the fortress of St. Michael. During this time they had kept up an[{441}] unintermitting fire on the Christian fortifications; and the effect was visible in more than one fearful gap, which invited the assault of the enemy. The second of August was accordingly fixed on as the day for a general attack, to be made on both Port St. Michael, and on the bastion of Castile, which, situated at the head of the English Port, eastward of Il Borgo, flanked the line of defence on that quarter. Mustapha was to conduct in person the operations against the fort; the assault on the bastion he intrusted to Piali;—a division of the command by which the ambition of the rival chiefs would be roused to the utmost.