Alter this the enemy succeeded
in drawing so close a cordon round the place that no more succours could
reach it, and the end was but a matter of time. The day before it came
Dragut, who, with his usual intrepidity, was standing in the midst of a hot
fire, was struck on the side of the head by a stone dislodged from a wall
by a cannon-ball. At the moment when this happened he was holding a council
of war in the trenches with Piali, a Sanjak, and the principal Turkish
engineer. The same shot which wounded Dragut killed the Sanjak on the spot.
Piali caused a cloak to be thrown over the body of the corsair in order
that his state should not be observed by the soldiers, and as soon as
possible had him removed to his tent, where he lay unconscious till the
following day.
The council on which the corsair had been engaged when he received his
mortal wound had for its object the complete isolation of St. Elmo from Il
Borgo; his dispositions were completed and his orders given to the engineer
just before he was struck.
The agony of St. Elmo was drawing to an end; completely hemmed in by the
latest dispositions of Dragut, the fortress was at its last gasp; a brave
Maltese swimmer managed to slip through the cordon, swim the harbour, and
deliver to the Grand Master a letter from the Bailli of Negropont. The
Grand Master made one last effort to throw succours and reinforcements into
the place, but these were beaten off with terrible slaughter: nothing now
remained but to await the inevitable tragedy.
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