Page 134 - A Knight of the White Cross

board I would ask that I should be kept apart from them, as well as from the
rowers of the galley. On being landed I should be sent to the prison where I

saw the officer enter last night, and the slaves and rowers should be
distributed among the other prisons. Thus, then, the slaves I should be

placed with would only know that I had arrived in the galley with other
slaves captured by it. I have no doubt I should be able to maintain my
assumed character, and should in a short time be taken into the confidence

of the others, and should learn what is going on. It would be well, of
course, that none of the officials of the prison should be informed as to my

true character, for others, besides the one I saw, may have been bribed to
participate in whatever plot is going on."

"And do you mean to say, Sir Gervaise, that you, a knight of the Order, are
willing to submit to the indignity of being treated as a slave? To keep up

the disguise long enough to be taken into the confidence of the plotters, you
might have to stay there for some time; and if the prison officials believe
you to be but an ordinary slave, you will be put to work either on the walls

or in one of the galleys."

"I am ready to do anything for the benefit of the Order, and the safety of
Rhodes, that will meet with your approval," Gervaise replied. "It will no
doubt be unpleasant, but we did not enter the Order to do pleasant things,

but to perform certain duties, and those duties necessarily involve a certain
amount of sacrifice."

"Do you think you would be able to maintain the character? Because you
must remember that if detected you might be torn in pieces by the slaves,

before the officers could interfere to protect you."

"I feel sure that I can do so, Sir John."

"What story would you tell them?"

"I would say that I had come from Syria, and sailed from Acre in a trader,

which is perfectly true, and also that I was taken off the ship I was on by a
galley -- which would not be altogether false, as I crossed one as I landed. I