He
had been more successful in pouring fictions into the ear of Don John
than in obtaining accurate intelligence for himself.
The Greek fishermen, in reporting to each leader the condition of his
enemy, had, as we have seen, taken care to please and deceive both.
Karacosh had indeed been present at the review of Gomenzia, but he had
erred considerably in his reckoning of the numbers of the Christian
fleet. Either by accident or design, he computed the vessels at fifty
less than the real number, and he, besides, greatly underrated the
weight of the artillery. Ali was still further deceived by the reports
of three Spanish soldiers, captured on the shore near Gomenzia, where
they had strayed too far from their boat. These prisoners assured the
Pacha that the Christian fleet had not as yet been joined either by the
great ships or the galeases, and that forty galleys, sent under Santa
Cruz to Otranto for troops, and two galleys with which Andrade had gone
on a cruise of observation, had not yet returned. This story confirmed
the accounts both of Karacosh and the Greek fishermen. The Pacha was
naturally no less anxious to meet Don John with Santa Cruz than Don John
had been to meet the Pacha without the Viceroy of Algiers. It was no
wonder, then, that the chiefs of the Turkish fleet led their galleys
down the gulf in the ardent hope of speedily meeting with an enemy in
whom they made certain of finding a rich and easy prey.
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