"Only  eighty  sail;  is  that  all?"  he  asked.
The  trembling  Viziers  prostrated  themselves  be-
fore him.
"O  our  Lord,  the  Padishah,"  they  cried,  "Saleh-
Reis  comes  from  Alexandria  with  a  rich  convoy;
somewhere  lurking  is  Andrea  Doria,  the  accursed;
it  was  necessary,  O  Magnificent,  to  send  succor."

There  was  a  pause,  in  which  the  hearts  of  men
beat  as  do  those  who  know  not  but  that  the  next
moment  may  be  their  last  on  earth.
The  Sultan  stared  from  his  window  at  the  re-
treating ships  in  a  silence  like  the  silence  of  the
grave.    At  last  he  turned:

"So  be  it,"  he  answered  briefly;  "but  see  to  it
that  reinforcements  do  not  lag  upon  the  road."

If  there  had  been  activity  in  the  dockyards  before
it  was  as  nothing  to  the  strenuous  work  that  was
to  be  done  henceforward.
