of Naples for more than a year, while the allied fleets were being mobilised. On September 15th, Don Juan of Austria found himself in command of the squadron of 208 galleys, 7 galleons, and 24 sailing ships, which sailed from Messina with a complement of 26,000 soldiers to give battle to the Turkish fleet. The enemy were discovered within the Gulf of Lepanto, where, on October 7th, was fought one of the greatest sea-actions of all times. The Turkish ships, though more numerous than those of the allies, were smaller in design, inferior in their armaments, and less skilfully navigated, while the wind, veering suddenly at the crisis of the struggle, gave the advantage to the united fleet. Though the result was not the beginning of the end of Moslem supremacy, the victory of the Holy League was complete and emphatic. The power of the Turk was arrested, and all Christendom rang with the glory of the achievement. The story of the Battle of Lepanto does not call for special description in these pages; its personal and peculiar interest for us lies in the fact that the two names that are associated with the victory in the most notable prominence are those of Don Juan of Austria, the generalissimo of the forces, and Miguel de Cervantes, the private soldier on the _Marquesa_--the one for his skill and generalship, the other for his personal heroism. Of Cervantes’ share in the battle, we have ample and detailed evidence. On the morning of the action he was, according to Martin Fernández de Navarrete, stricken with fever, and ordered to remain in the safety of his cabin. But on the representations of the young soldier, who protested that he would rather die fighting for God and his King than tend his health in security, his captain gave him a command of twelve men, and stationed him in a boat on the fighting side of the galley. Opposed to the _Marquesa_ was the flagship of the Turkish right squadron, commanded by the Captain-Pasha of Alexandria, and floating the royal standard of Egypt. The duel between the two galleys was fought with the utmost gallantry on both sides, but the Turk was captured after the loss of 500 of her crew, and her surrender involved the rout of the entire right squadron.