But the
real source of his power lay, not in stone walls and fortifications, nor in
ill-trained levies of African tribes, but in his own genius for command at
sea, and the manner in which he was able to inspire with his own dauntless
and desperate spirit those hardy mariners who followed in his train, the
descendants of the "Moriscoes" who hailed from the ancient Moorish kingdoms
of Cordoba and Granada.
Thus it was in the present instance. He had been unable to withstand the
might of Caesar and his legions, but Tunis was not the whole of Northern
Africa, nor had quite all his eggs been kept in that one basket. He had
kept fifteen galleys in reserve at Bona, and, in consequence, on his
arrival there, was able to embark at once. This he did, and hardly had he
done so when there appeared upon the scene fifteen galleys commanded by
Adan Centurion and John Doria. Kheyr-ed-Din had had enough of fighting just
for the present; his men and he were wearied out by the hardships of their
flight, and accordingly he drew up his galleys under the fort at Bona and
awaited an attack, should the enemy care to deliver one. But Adan
Centurion's heart failed him; to cut out the old Sea-wolf from under one of
his own batteries was more than he had the stomach for, and he accordingly
sailed away. "Fue sin duda la perdida grande" (this no doubt was a great
pity), is the comment of Sandoval, who goes on to say that, had the Genoese
been the men that they had been aforetime, this would never have been, and
that they would have gone in and burnt or disabled the galleys of the
corsair, slain their leader, or driven him ashore.
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