Dragut, like all the sea-wolves, was fond of money, fonder still of what
money could buy; he now hankered after revenge as the sweetest morsel that
his hoarded ducats could procure for him. That the Sultan was well disposed
to him he had every reason to think; none the less did he spend royally
among the venal favourites of the Court in order that nothing might be left
undone to inflame the ardour of Soliman against those whom he considered to
be his hereditary foes.
With such skill and address did the corsair manage his suit that he
prevailed upon the Sultan to address a letter to Charles demanding the
immediate return of the towns of Susa, Sfax, Monastir, and "Africa." This,
of course, meant war; as Charles immediately replied that these places were
dependencies of the King of Tunis, and that that ruler was under his
special protection; further that they were his by right of conquest;
finally that the matter was no concern whatever of the Sultan of
Constantinople. The stern and imperious Christian Emperor was in no mood to
brook interference, the more so that he discerned plainly that though the
demand was that of Soliman, the mover in the affair was none other than
Dragut. He therefore by way of a rider to his answer to the Sultan informed
that monarch that these places which he had taken on the coast of Africa
had been reft by him "from one Dragut, a corsair odious to both God and
man"; that without in any way departing from the treaty which he had made
with Soliman "he intended to pursue this pirate whithersoever he might go.
Pages:
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283