The Armada of the Holy League cast anchor at Corfu on the morning of the 28th of September; there were no signs there of the whereabouts of the Turk, but on all sides the island showed the marks of his devastating steps. Then D. John sent Gil de Andrade with four galleys in search of news, and meanwhile embarked the considerable reinforcements of artillery, ammunition, victuals and soldiers which the Venetians had kept there ready. On the night of the 28th a frigate arrived at Corfu from Cephalonia, sent by Gil de Andrade, bringing word that the Turks were at Lepanto, and, without doubt, flying from battle, and retiring to their winter quarters, because their Generalissimo Ali Pasha had taken leave of the Viceroy of Algiers, Aluch Ali, with his 110 galleys; so that the Ottoman fleet was reduced to 180 galleys; but unfortunately, these tidings were absolutely false. It was true that the Ottoman Armada was at Lepanto, and also that the Viceroy of Algiers, Aluch Ali, had separated himself, with his galleys, from it; but it was only a temporary absence, to reconnoitre the archipelago, and he was already back at Lepanto, where the whole powerful fleet was, much superior to the Christian one, and, far from fleeing from fighting, they were trying to provoke a battle. This mistake on the part of the Christians, and a similar one, as we shall see, on the part of the Turks, was no doubt the simple means which Providence employed to bring about the decisive combat between the Cross and the Crescent, which could have been effected in no other way.