Page 136 - A Knight of the White Cross

"If one is ready to give one's life for the Order, Sir John, surely one need
not mind a few weeks' inconvenience. I shall, at any rate, be no worse off

than you were when serving as a Turkish slave."

"Well, no, I don't know that you will," Sir John replied doubtfully. "But that
was from necessity, and not from choice; and it is, moreover, an accident
we are all exposed to."

"It is surely better to do a thing of one's own free will than because one is

forced to do it, Sir John?"

The knight was silent. He was a stout fighting man, but unused to

argument.

"Well," he said, after a long pause, "I can only hope that it will turn out all
right, and promise that if you are strangled in prison, I will see that every
slave who had a hand in it shall be strung up. I have told Kendall frankly

that if I were in his place I would not permit you to try such a venture.
However, as I could think of no other plan by which there would be a

chance of getting to the bottom of this matter, my words had no effect with
him. I should not have so much cared if the officers of the gaol knew who
you were; but I can see that if there is treachery at work this would defeat

your object altogether. What do you suppose this rascal Greek can be
intending?"

"That I cannot say, Sir John. He may be trying to get an exact plan of the
fortifications, or he may be arranging some plan of communication by

which, in case of siege, news of our condition and of the state of our
defences may be conveyed to the Turkish commander."

By this time they had reached the port, and embarked at once on a trading
vessel belonging to one of the merchants, from whom Sir John had readily

obtained her use for a day or two. Her sails were hoisted at once, and she
rowed out from the port. Having proceeded some three or four miles, they

lowered her sails, and lay to in the course a galley making for the port
would take. A sailor was sent up to the masthead to keep a lookout. Late in