Page 198 - A Knight of the White Cross

who is on watch, turn in to sleep till we are off again. All of you will, of
course, don your armour on rising."

At the appointed hour the galley was again under way. There was not a

breath of air, and before starting, pieces of cloth were wrapped round the
oars at the rowlocks to deaden the sound, which might otherwise have been
heard at a considerable distance on so still a night. After an hour and a

half's rowing, the knight on the lookout said that he could see a light some
distance ahead. The pilot, an experienced old sailor, joined him, and

speedily descended to the poop again.

"It is a ship's light," he said. "I should say that it was a lantern on board the

ship of the captain of the expedition, and is shown to enable the other two
to keep near him. I cannot say how far it is away, for I do not know at what

height it hangs above the water; but I should imagine, from the feebleness
of the light, that it must be some two miles distant."

As soon as the light had been noticed, the slaves had been ordered to cease
rowing, and they were now told that they would not be required again for

fully two hours. When the first gleam of dawn appeared in the east they
were called to their work again. The lantern was still burning, and, in a
quarter of an hour, the knights on the poop were able, in the broadening

light, to make out three shadowy forms some two miles ahead of them.
They decreased this distance by more than half before they could discern

any signs of life or motion on board. Then a sudden stir was apparent; they
could hear shouts from one vessel to another, oars were thrust out, and an
effort made to get the heads of the ships in the same direction, so as to

catch the light breeze that had just sprung up.

The moment he saw that the galley was discovered, Gervaise shouted down
to the slaves to row their hardest, and told the pilot to steer for the ship
farthest to the east. She was some four or five hundred yards from her

nearest consort, and the same distance separated that vessel from the third
craft.