BOOK VI. 1541. The disas ters which army troops But how far soever the emperor might think himself befel his beyond the reach of any danger from the enemy, he was suddenly exposed to a more dreadful calamity, and one against which human prudence and human efforts availed nothing. On the second day after his landing, and before he had time for any thing but to disperse some light-armed Arabs who molested his troops on their march, the clouds began to gather, and the heavens to appear with a fierce and threatening aspect. Towards evening, rain began to fall, accompanied with violent wind; and the rage of the tempest increasing during the night, the soldiers, who had brought nothing ashore but their arms, remained exposed to all its fury, without tents, or shelter, or cover of any kind. The ground was soon so wet, that they could not lie down on it; their camp being in a low situation, was overflowed with water, and they sunk at every step to the ankles in mud; while the wind blew with such impetuosity, that, to prevent their falling, they were obliged to thrust their spears into the ground, and to support themselves by taking hold of them. Hascen was too vigilant an officer to allow an enemy in such distress to remain unmolested. About the dawn of morning he sallied out with soldiers, who, having been screened from the storm under their own roofs, were fresh and vigorous. A body of Italians, who were stationed nearest VI. 1541. the city, dispirited and benumbed with cold, fled at the BOOK approach of the Turks. The troops at the post behind them discovered greater courage; but as the rain had extinguished their matches, and wet their powder, their muskets were useless, and having scarcely strength to handle their other arms, they were soon thrown into confusion. Almost the whole army, with the emperor himself in person, was obliged to advance, before the enemy could be repulsed, who, after spreading such general consternation, and killing a considerable number of men, retired at last in good order. But all feeling or remembrance of this loss and danger and fleet. were quickly obliterated by a more dreadful as well as affecting spectacle. It was now broad day; the hurricane had abated nothing of its violence; and the sea appeared agitated with all the rage of which that destructive element is capable: all the ships, on which alone the whole army knew that their safety and subsistence depended, were seen driven from their anchors, some dashing against each other, some beat to pieces on the rocks, many forced ashore, and not a few sinking in the waves. In less than an hour, fifteen ships of war, and an hundred and forty transports, with eight thousand men, perished; and such of the unhappy crews as escaped the fury of the sea, were murdered without mercy by the Arabs, as soon as they reached land. The emperor stood, in silent anguish and astonishment, beholding this fatal event, which at once blasted all his hopes of success, and buried in the depths the vast stores which he had provided, as well for annoying the enemy, as for subsisting his own troops. He had it not in his power to afford them any other assistance or relief, than by sending some troops to drive away the Arabs, and thus delivering a few who were so fortunate as to get ashore from the cruel fate which their companions had met with. At last the wind began to fall, and to give some hopes that as many ships might escape as would be sufficient to save the army from perishing by famine, and transport them back to Europe. But these BOOK VI. 1541. The disas ters which befel his army troops to disembark. But at last, the emperor, seizing a favourable opportunity, landed them without opposition not far from Algiers, and immediately advanced towards the town. To oppose this mighty army, Hascen had only eight hundred Turks, and five thousand Moors, partly natives of. Africa, and partly refugees from Granada. He returned, however, a fierce and haughty answer, when summoned to surrender. But, with such a handful of soldiers, neither his desperate courage, nor consummate skill in war, could have long resisted forces superior to those which had defeated Barbarossa, at the head of sixty thousand men, and which had reduced Tunis, in spite of all his endeavours to save it. But how far soever the emperor might think himself beyond the reach of any danger from the enemy, he was suddenly exposed to a more dreadful calamity, and one against which human prudence and human efforts availed nothing. On the second day after his landing, and before he had time for any thing but to disperse some light-armed Arabs who molested his troops on their march, the clouds began to gather, and the heavens to appear with a fierce and threatening aspect. Towards evening, rain began to fall, accompanied with violent wind; and the rage of the tempest increasing during the night, the soldiers, who had brought nothing ashore but their arms, remained exposed to all its fury, without tents, or shelter, or cover of any kind. The ground was soon so wet, that they could not lie down on it; their camp being in a low situation, was overflowed with water, and they sunk at every step to the ankles in mud; while the wind blew with such impetuosity, that, to prevent their falling, they were obliged to thrust their spears into the ground, and to support themselves by taking hold of them. Hascen was too vigilant an officer to allow an enemy in such distress to remain unmolested. About the dawn of morning he sallied out with soldiers, who, having been screened from the storm under their own roofs, were fresh and vigorous. A body of Italians, who were stationed nearest VI. 1541. the city, dispirited and benumbed with cold, fled at the BOOK approach of the Turks. The troops at the post behind. them discovered greater courage; but as the rain had extinguished their matches, and wet their powder, their muskets were useless, and having scarcely strength to handle their other arms, they were soon thrown into confusion. Almost the whole army, with the emperor himself in person, was obliged to advance, before the enemy' could be repulsed, who, after spreading such general consternation, and killing a considerable number of men, retired at last in good order. But all feeling or remembrance of this loss and danger and fleet. were quickly obliterated by a more dreadful as well as affecting spectacle. It was now broad day; the hurricane had abated nothing of its violence; and the sea appeared agitated with all the rage of which that destructive element is capable: all the ships, on which alone the whole army knew that their safety and subsistence depended, were seen driven from their anchors, some dashing against each other, some beat to pieces on the rocks, many forced ashore, and not a few sinking in the waves. In less than an hour, fifteen ships of war, and an hundred and forty transports, with eight thousand men, perished; and such of the unhappy crews as escaped the fury of the sea, were murdered without mercy by the Arabs, as soon as they reached land. The emperor stood, in silent anguish and astonishment, beholding this fatal event, which at once blasted all his hopes of success, and buried in the depths the vast stores which he had provided, as well for annoying the enemy, as for subsisting his own troops. He had it not in his power to afford them any other assistance or relief, than by sending some troops to drive away the Arabs, and thus delivering a few who were so fortunate as to get ashore from the cruel fate which their companions had met with. At last the wind began to fall, and to give some hopes that as many ships might escape as would be sufficient to save the army from perishing by famine, and transport them back to Europe. But these BOOK VI. 1541. Obliged to retreat. were only hopes; the approach of evening covered the sea with darkness; and it being impossible for the officers aboard the ships which had outlived the storm, to send any intelligence to their companions who were ashore, they remained during the night in all the anguish of auspence and uncertainty. Next day, a boat dispatched by Doria made shift to reach land, with information, that having weathered out the storm, to which, during fifty years knowledge of the sea, he had never seen any equal in fierceness and horror, he had found it necessary to bear away with his shattered ships to Cape Metafuz. advised the emperor, as the face of the sky was still lowering and tempestuous, to march with all speed to that place, where the troops could re-embark with greater ease. He Whatever comfort this intelligence afforded Charles, from being assured that part of his fleet had escaped, was balanced by the new cares and perplexity in which it involved him with regard to his army. Metafuz was at least three days march from his present camp; all the provisions which he had brought ashore at his first landing were now consumed; his soldiers, worn out with fatigue, were hardly able for such a march, even in a friendly country; and being dispirited by a succession of hardships, which victory itself would scarcely have rendered tolerable, they were in no condition to undergo new toils. But the situation of the army was such, as allowed not one moment for deliberation, nor left it in the least doubtful what to choose. They were ordered instantly to march, the wounded, the sick, and the feeble being placed in the centre; such as seemed most vigorous were stationed in the front and rear. Then the sad effects of what they had suffered began to appear more manifestly than ever, and new calamities were added to all those which they had already endured. Some could hardly bear the weight of their arms; others, spent with the toil of forcing their way through deep and almost impassable roads, sunk |