With a body of his own men reinforced by a rabble rout of
Berber tribesmen, he harassed the Christian army; they were, however, in
far too great numbers for him to make any impression, and after several
desperate skirmishes he recognised that the day was lost, and re-embarking
in his galleys sailed away. The town after a desperate and prolonged
resistance was at last taken by storm; and Doria captured Aisa, a Turkish
alcaid, and ten thousand prisoners of the baser sort. Of these, however,
there was scarce one who owed allegiance to Dragut; the warriors of this
chief neither gave nor accepted quarter, as they feared the wrath of the
terrible corsair even more than death itself.
Don Juan de Vega put his son Don Alvaro in command of the city and set out
in search of Dragut with twenty galleys, but the sea leaves no traces by
which a fugitive can be tracked, and his search proved as fruitless as had
been that of Doria in the previous year. The rage and the disappointment of
the admiral were beyond all bounds; what to him was the value of the
capture of Aisa, of the Turkish alcaid, of the ten thousand of the baser
sort; nay, what to him was the value of "Africa" itself when once again
like a mocking spirit Dragut had glided beyond the sea horizon to
devastate, to plunder, and to slay once more, the scourge and the menace of
Christendom.
It will be interesting to record briefly the fate of this city which we
have seen taken and retaken.
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