In consequence he
temporised and hesitated, while Barbarossa pulled at his famous red beard
and regarded him with scowling brows.
The situation was saved for Celebi Rabadan by an accident. There swam off
to the ship a traitor from the Spanish garrison, and this man informed them
that his whilom comrades were positively at their last gasp, ammunition all
but exhausted, and the food-supply barely sufficient to last another two
days.
"To such an end come those who deny the Prophet of God," exclaimed
Barbarossa, and gave orders that this news be communicated to all his men,
who were to prepare for the final assault on the morrow. He further offered
a reward for the capture of Martin de Vargas alive.
On May 16th, 1530, the corsairs once again advanced to the assault. By this
time the walls had been battered until a practicable breach had been
formed, and over this swarmed thirteen hundred of the starkest fighters of
the Mediterranean, In the breach, bareheaded, his armour hacked and dinted,
stood the undaunted chieftain of the Spaniards: over his head floated that
proud banner which had never cast its shadow on a worthier knight of Spain.
The garrison, worn to a shadow by their hardships and their hunger, most of
them wounded, and all of them sore spent, were in no case to resist this,
the most formidable attack to which they had been subjected. It was all
over in a very short time, and a dreadful massacre ensued.
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