noon
In another moment she seized her dead husband 's sword , and plunging into the thickest of the fight , met a death worthy of a heroine . The rain now began to fall in torrents , washing away the floods of gore which , since daybreak , had dyed the bastions and the wall ; and the assault continued as arduously as the defense was maintained with desperation . Solyman commanded in person the division which was opposed to the gate and the fort intrusted by the lord general of the Christians to the care of the Italian auxiliaries . But , though it was now past noon , and the sultan had prosecuted his attack on that point with unabated vigor since the dawn , no impression had yet been made . The Italians fought with a heroism which bade defiance to the numerical superiority of their assailants ; for they were led on by a young chieftain who , beneath an effeminate exterior , possessed the soul of a lion . Clad in a complete suit of polished armor , and with crimson plumes waving from his steel helmet , to which no visor was attached , that youthful leader threw himself into the thickest of the medley , sought the very points where danger appeared most terrible -- and , alike by his example and his words , encouraged those whom he commanded to dispute every inch of ground with the Moslem assailants . The sultan was enraged when he beheld the success with which that Italian chieftain rallied his men again after every rebuff ; and , calling to Ibrahim to keep near him , Solyman the Magnificent advanced toward the breach which his cannon had already effected in the walls defended so gallantly by the Italian auxiliaries .