)
Martin Nunez, "Caballero de Toledo," was sent on a special embassy to the
Pope to acquaint the Pontiff at first hand of all that happened, and the
success which had attended the arms of the Emperor, and also to thank his
Holiness for the assistance which he had rendered by sending the Papal
galleys. Jorge de Melo, a Portuguese caballero, was sent to his own country
with despatches, and other nobles and high officials were despatched to the
Emperor's Viceroys in the various parts of his dominions. In the long
circular letter which Charles addressed to all these potentates--and which
is reproduced in its entirety by Sandoval--he says "that the Christian
captives found in Tunis amounted to something like eighteen to twenty
thousand, that Barbarossa had escaped with some five thousand Turks,
corsairs, and renegadoes, of which three thousand were on horseback and two
thousand afoot; that, as they suffered from great scarcity of provisions,
and the almost total lack of water, many were falling by the way, and many
others were being murdered by their quondam allies for such goods as they
possessed, or for the value of their arms and clothing."
We must now return to Kheyr-ed-Din. What the sufferings of that chieftain
and the remnant of his gallant army must have been in their flight to Bona
they alone knew. It was the height of summer, and burning tracks of desert
and rugged mountain passes had to be surmounted; naturally they could have
carried but very little food, and water they had to find on the way.
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