All night the three Moslem galleys and the great nef lay
becalmed awaiting the conflict which was to come with the break of day; and
it is easy to imagine that there was not much quiet sleep on board of
either the Moslem or the Christian ships, for both on the one side and the
other the issues loomed large. The corsairs had, so far, made no such
important capture as this, which, could it be accomplished, would add
enormously to their prestige, in addition to such spoils as they might
acquire; but the combatants were fairly evenly matched in the matter of
numbers, and the fight was one to a finish. The advantage on the side of
the corsairs lay in the fact of their being three to one, and their being
thus enabled to attack in three separate places at the same time. Terrible
must have been that night of waiting for the unfortunates on board _The
Galley of Naples_; there was no escape, and on board of her among her
passengers were many women, whose fate was too terrible to contemplate
should the day go against them. The first assault had been beaten off, it
is true, but the struggle had been hard and bitter; would they be equally
successful when the assault was renewed?
Even such a night as this, however, comes at last to an end, and the
prospect of action must have been welcomed by the men on both sides; of the
women with so horrible a fate impending one can hardly bear to think. The
ghostly fingers of the dawn touched the grey sea with a wan yellow light,
outlining the nef and the slender, wicked-looking galleys with their banks
of oars; over the surface of the deep a slight mist hovered, as though some
kindly spirit of the sea would hide, if such a thing were possible, the
deeds which were to come.
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