He was asked, he said, to thrust his head into the
mouth of the wolf, and this he was determined not to do.
In the meanwhile Barbarossa was using much the same language to his
captains as was Doria.
"My brothers," said he, "you wish to transport cannon and raise redoubts on
this uncovered shore because you think that the Christians will disembark
and seize it: if you attempt this I tell you that the guns of the enemy
will annoy you terribly., Not only this, supposing that Doria, profiting by
the moment that our vessels are empty of troops, should attack in force, we
cannot with five thousand men repulse twenty thousand. The fort of Prevesa
will defend itself quite sufficiently well with its own garrison; our
business is to think of the fleet and not to weaken in any way our means of
attack and defence, If the infidels force, or attempt to force, an entry
into the port, they will be most likely merely losing time and ammunition
in cannonading us. You know that it is principally in this that these
accursed dogs do trust, whereas we, O men of Islam, will place our
confidence in God, in Mahomet his Prophet, in the strength of our right
arms, in the keenness of our scimitars; we will carry them by boarding,
therefore we must keep our crews on board,"
But Barbarossa had not that absolute domination of the forces under his
command which should be the prescriptive right of any leader. Sinan-Reis,
the implacable be-turbaned old Osmanli, held him in bitter scorn.
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