Shouting and screaming, they bade the Christians
come on "like drowned hens" and be slaughtered; then they danced and
stamped and clanged their arms; they blew trumpets, clashed cymbals, and
fired volleys of useless musketry. When the Christians had ended their
devotions and stood to their guns, or in their ordered ranks, each
galley, in the long array, seemed on fire, as the noon-tide sun blazed
on helmet and corselet, and pointed blades and pikes with flame. The
bugles now sounded a charge, and the bands of each vessel began to play.
Before Don John retired from the forecastle to his proper place on the
quarter-deck, it is said by one of the officers, who had written an
account of the battle, that he and two of his gentlemen, "inspired with
youthful ardor, danced a galliard on the gun platform to the music of
the fifes." The Turkish line, to the glitter of arms, added yet more
splendor of color from the brilliant and variegated garb of the
janizaries, their tall and fanciful crests and prodigious plumes, and
from the multitude of flags and streamers which every galley displayed
from every available point and peak. Long before the enemy were within
range the Turkish cannon opened. The first shot that took effect carried
off the point of the pennant of Don Juan de Cardona, who in his swiftest
vessel was hovering along the line, correcting trifling defects of
position and order, like a sergeant drilling recruits.
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