Page 166 - A Knight of the White Cross

"This is the man," he said, pointing to one of them. "I marked him so
closely that I cannot be mistaken."

"That is Pietro Romano," the governor said; "he was an able officer, but

discontented with his position and given to quarrelling with his comrades."

"Have a hole dug and bury them in the prison," D'Aubusson said; "they

have been false to their vows, and false to their religion. They have chosen
their own mode of death; let them be buried like dogs, as they are. But let a

careful search be made of their garments and of this room. It may be that
they have some documents concealed which may be of use to us."

The grand master then descended to the hall.

"Members of the Order," he said to the overseers, "your guilty companions
have met death by their own hands, as the others concerned in this plot
have met theirs by the swords of the knights. It were well that this matter

were not spoken of outside the prison. The attempt has been detected, and
has failed; but were it talked of, it might incite others to repeat the attempt,

and possibly with better success. Now," he went on, turning to the
governor, "our work is done here. Call up the other warders. Let them take
the men now prisoners in the rooms, and place them in a dungeon. Let fresh

men be placed on guard, and let all the knights gather in the courtyard."

When this was done, and all the knights again assembled, D'Aubusson said,
"Our work is nearly done, brothers. The traitors are all dead, and the revolt
is at an end. It remains but to capture the author of this attempt; but I

believe he is already in our hands. I have given an accurate description of
him to Da Veschi, who has taken four knights with him, and they probably

will catch him down at the port; if not, he will be arrested the first thing in
the morning. As to the slaves, they will be so utterly cowed by the
discovery, that there will be no fear of their repeating the attempt. I have

ordered the officials of the prison to say naught in the town of what has
taken place. There can, however, be no concealment among ourselves. I

shall, of course, lay the whole matter before the council. The fact that a
strong body of knights has, at so late an hour, started on some unknown