animation, movement, and life; and, in the background, standing out from the horizon, the ramparts of Candia overlooked by its silent steeples, its almost deserted towers, with here and there some domes which glitter in the sun. The evening following their arrival, Beaufort, Navailles, and the general officers, cautiously left the roadstead where the squadron had cast anchor, and in a little row-boat, with carefully muffled oars, succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Turks, and in penetrating into the port of the besieged town.[197] Their disappointment on arriving there was extreme; and after having been witnesses, during the day, of the energy and vigour displayed by the besiegers, they convinced themselves, during the evening, of the dejection and impotence of the defenders of Candia. Whilst the Ambassador of the Venetian Republic had affirmed at Versailles that their number still amounted to 14,000 men, it was, in reality, reduced to 6,000 combatants, who, discouraged and ill, considered the loss of the town as inevitable, and continued to fight through duty, but without hope.[198] The gunners had nearly all perished in the subterranean galleries, where the Turks had pursued them with the implacability of fanaticism. Of the two principal bastions of the place, one, the Bastion Saint-Andrew, was already in the power of the enemy; and the Venetians were too weak to preserve the other--that of the Sablonnière--much longer. The streets, blocked up with rubbish, scarcely afforded a passage for the troops. Here and there smoking ruins, in the midst of an open space, bore witness to a recent fire. Far apart were houses, their upper stories turned into casemates, and looking like isolated citadels, where the unhappy inhabitants had crowded to take refuge. In the open places were to be seen a few soldiers pacing up and down in silence, or perhaps some wounded being carried from the trenches and accompanied by a priest. Everywhere were the certain signs of utter discouragement and of approaching defeat. “The universal opinion is that the town can only be succoured by a general engagement,” wrote the Intendant Delacroix to France.[199] He expressed the opinion of the Council, which had assembled on the 20th at Candia. This was unanimous; and Saint-André-Montbrun,[200] Beaufort, Morosini (the captain-general of the Venetians), as well as Navailles, saw some chances of success only in a vigorous sortie from the side of the Sablonnière. There, in truth, a portion of the Turks were separated from their principal army, and exposed to the cross-fire of the town and fleet, and ran, moreover, the danger of being driven into the sea, which was close at hand.