Page 321 - A Knight of the White Cross

large as that of Mahomet had suffered defeat at the hands of bodies of
knights no stronger than that gathered for the defence of Rhodes.

D'Aubusson, however, knew that between the undisciplined hordes that
gathered in countless numbers to oppose the crusaders, and the troops of

Mahomet, well trained in warfare, who had borne his standard victoriously
in numerous battles, there was but little comparison. They were
commanded, too, by Paleologus, a general of great capacity. Under such

circumstances, although victory might be possible, the chances of defeat
would be far greater, and while victory could be only won at a great

sacrifice of life, defeat would mean annihilation to the garrison, and the
loss of the city upon whose fortifications such an enormous amount of
money and labour had been expended.

On the other hand, he felt perfectly confident that the city could be

successfully defended, and that at a cost of life far less than would be
attained by a victory in the open field, while the blow that would be
inflicted upon the prestige and power of the enemy, by being ignominiously

compelled to retire to their ships, after the failure of all their attacks, would
be as great as if their army had been defeated in the field. Therefore the

grand master, with the full assent of his leaders, turned a deaf ear to the
entreaties of the younger knights, that they might be allowed to make a
sortie. He calmly waited behind the formidable defences he had for the past

ten years been occupied in perfecting, in anticipation of the assault of the
Moslem host.

Accordingly, after disembarking at their leisure, the Turkish army moved
forward, and took their post upon St. Stephen's Hill. From this eminence

they commanded a full view of the town, the hills sloping gently down to
the foot of the walls. In later times the first care of a general commanding

the defence would have been to construct formidable works upon this
commanding position. But the cannon of that period were so cumbrous and
slowly worked, and so inaccurate in their aim, that the advantage of

occupying a position that would prevent an enemy from firing down into a
town was considered to be more than counterbalanced by the weakening of

the garrison by the abstraction of the force required to man the detached
work, and by the risk of their being surrounded and cut off without the