"
It cannot be denied that, in acting as he did, the corsair displayed a
self-restraint and a loyalty to the Sultan hardly to be expected in the
circumstances. The jealousy which so often obtains among rival commanders
was singularly in evidence in the forces of the Padishah: Dragut had good
cause to be dissatisfied with the dispositions which had been made, and
yet, for the reasons which we have quoted, he allowed them to proceed.
Before the Basha had left Tripoli he had been engaged in communications
with Muley Hamid, the then King of Tunis, who was feudatory of Spain.
Anxious as was the corsair to aid in attacking his implacable enemies, the
Knights, he could not afford to leave his own flank unguarded in Africa. He
succeeded, however, in arriving at an understanding with the King of Tunis,
and, further than this, he had assured himself, by means of his spies, that
the succours which were to be sent from Sicily by the Spanish King could
not possibly arrive for another two months. It was the negotiations which
he was obliged to undertake with Muley Hamid which had caused his late
arrival. As far as it is possible to judge, it was this circumstance, which
(added to their own incomparable valour) turned the scale in favour of the
Knights.
Among all those brave men at Malta, on both sides, in this flaming month of
June 1565, there were none who excelled the Basha of Tripoli. "No one had
ever seen a more intrepid general officer," says de Vertot.
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