Page 153 - A Knight of the White Cross

other hand, the whole of the slaves may be implicated in it. It is evident,
therefore, that the matter is too serious to be kept any longer from his

knowledge."

Three more days passed. On the third evening, after the allowance of broth
and bread had been consumed, and the door was closed and locked upon
them for the night, three or four of the galley slaves, after talking eagerly

together, beckoned to the others to gather round them at the end of the
room farthest from the door. Two of them took up arms full of the bedding,

and stuffed it into the side windows. Gervaise saw, in the dim light, a look
of intense excitement on the faces of the slaves. It had been vaguely known
among them that a plot was in hand, although but few had been admitted

into the confidence of the leaders. Hitherto all had feared that it concerned
only a small number, but the preparations now made to insure that they

should not be overheard, showed that, whatever the plan might be, all were
to share in it.

"Thanks be to Allah, the All Powerful," one of the men began, "my lips are
unsealed, and I can tell you the great news that our hour for escape from

bondage is at hand! We need not fear the warder there," he went on, as
several eyes were turned apprehensively towards the guard, who, with his
spear beside him, was leaning carelessly against the wall at the farther end,

looking through the window into the courtyard; "he is with us. You must
know that for the last two months an agent from Constantinople has been

on the Island, and has been engaged in arranging this affair. Two of our
taskmasters belonging to the Order have been bribed by large sums of
money, and several of the overseers, who are half of our blood, have

eagerly embraced the prospect of returning to their mothers' country, and of
avowing openly their belief in our religion. These, again, have bought over

many of the guards, ours included, and tonight all will be ready for action.
Those not of our party will be killed without ceremony. Duplicate keys
have been made of all the padlocks of the fetters; the guards who are with

us have each one of them, the others will have been slipped into the hands
of one man in each gang as they returned tonight from work. The overseers

who are in the plot will, at midnight, go quietly round and unlock the doors,
and remove the bars from the outside. We have, therefore, only to