But that
black-hearted traitor Ibrahim Amburac and the few others who had been
gained over by the gold of Dragut watched and waited for the attack which
they knew to be impending.
The inhabitants of the doomed city never saw their assailants until they
were actually upon them, so well had the surprise attack been planned by
the leader of the corsairs. He had collected five hundred men, and this was
but a small number with which to assail so strong a place; but Dragut knew
exactly what he was doing and the effect likely to be produced by the
introduction of this number of highly trained men-at-arms among a
population which, although brave and warlike, lacked the elements of
organisation for the defence of their city.
So it was that, all preparations being completed, he stood along the coast
anchoring out of sight of his objective, but close enough to reach it by
midnight after darkness had fallen. He had every confidence in himself, an
absolute trust in the hardbitten fighters whom he was about to lead;
success or failure now rested in the hands of traitors within the city.
"Faith unfaithful kept them falsely true," for when Dragut and his
followers arrived at a certain rendezvous outside the walls which had been
agreed upon previously, there they found Ibrahim Amburac and his men ready
to assist them in scaling this obstacle. It will be remembered that Ibrahim
Amburac was personally in charge of one of the towers with which the walls
were guarded, and thus his task of aiding those who came from without was a
singularly easy one.
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