The Count was profuse in his apologies when he discovered that he
had been chasing a live ambassador; but the occurrence so exasperated
Soliman that he increased his demands in consequence.
Barbarossa, who had spent his time harrying the Spaniards at sea ever since
the fall of Tunis, was shortly to appear on the scene again. He received
orders from the Sultan, and came as fast as a favouring wind would bring
him. Kheyr-ed-Din had been doing well in the matter of slaves and plunder,
but he knew that, with the backing of the Grand Turk, he would once again
be in command of a fleet in which he might repeat his triumph of past
years, and prove himself once more the indispensable "man of the sea."
Soon after his arrival his ambitions were gratified, and he found himself
with a fleet of one hundred ships. Since the death of Ibrahim, and the
incident which terminated with the despatch of Yonis Bey to Venice, the
relations between the Grand Turk and the Venetian Republic had become
steadily worse, and at last the Sultan declared war. On May 17th, 1537,
Soliman, accompanied by his two sons, Selim and Mohammed, left
Constantinople. With the campaign conducted by the Sultan we are not
concerned here; it was directed against the Ionian Islands, which had been
in the possession of Venice since 1401. On August 18th Soliman laid siege
to Corfu, and was disastrously beaten, re-embarking his men on September
7th, after losing thousands in a fruitless attack on the fortress.
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