AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 321
   The Republic meanwhile applied to the King of Naples for arms and troops, expecting a Turkish attack, raised a loan for defensive purposes at Genoa,1 and negotiated with the Emperor Leopold. Kara Mustafa, on being informed of this action, vowed vengeance, determined to capture the city, and only delayed the operation until he should return from the siege of Vienna. But fortunately his armies were defeated by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and this Christian victory saved Europe, shaking the Ottoman power to its very foundations. The ferocious vizir was disgraced and beheaded in consequence, and the projects against Ragusa abandoned. Caboga, Bucchia, and Gozze were then liberated and allowed to return home. “ As he (Caboga) approached the city every knoll, villa, and house-top was covered with an admiring, almost adoring, people ; every bell in Ragusa rang a merry peal, and the Rector and Senate, in full robes, went out of the city to give a cordial welcome to the wonderful Marino Caboga.”2 He had indeed deserved well of his country, for never had the Republic been in more imminent danger, from which she was saved by this respite.
   In March 1684 a new Holy League was formed between the Emperor Leopold I., the King of Poland, the Pope, and the Venetians, in which Ragusa was forced to join. But the danger from such a proceeding was now less great, for the Turkish power was now broken. As the Austrians had reconquered a large part of Hungary, Ragusa was considered to be under the protection of the
1 Engel, § 59.
  2	A. A. Pa ton, Highlands and Islands of the Adriatic, vol. ii. p. 130 sqq.
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