Page 232 - A Knight of the White Cross

the vessels, dropped into the water, and made their way, either by
swimming or with the assistance of oars, to the shore. There remained only

the slaves, chained to their benches. A few of these had been killed by the
broadsides; but the guns had been aimed at the poops and forecastles,

where the corsairs were clustered together, and consequently the number of
galley slaves who had fallen was comparatively small.

In none of the galleys was the proportion of Christians anything like so
large as that in the three prizes first taken, the greater portion being men of

inland tribes who had been captured in warfare, or malefactors who, instead
of being executed, had been sold to the corsairs. Nevertheless, in the six
galleys some seventy Christians were found, and at once freed. It was

terrible to think that in the galleys that had been destroyed a large number
of Christians must have perished in the flames, and Gervaise expressed

bitter regret that he had not considered that his attack by fire ships must
necessarily involve the loss of so many Christian lives.

"It can't be helped," Ralph said, as Gervaise poured out his feelings to him.
"To very many of them death must have been welcome, and if we had not

attacked them as we did, and they had sailed for Italy, hundreds, if not
thousands, of Christians would have been killed, and as many more carried
away into captivity; so, you see, the balance is all in favour of the course

we adopted."

Gervaise admitted this, but nevertheless his regret at the fate of so many
unfortunate captives quite overpowered for the time his satisfaction at the
complete success that had been achieved. The victory had been almost a

bloodless one on the part of the assailants. A few of the knights had
received wounds. Two among the Christian crews had been killed, and four

Sards; while two score had received wounds more or less serious, as, unlike
the knights, they had no defensive armour. While waiting for daylight to
appear, all their wounds were dressed and bandaged by the knights.

In the morning the captured galleys were towed out, and anchored a short

distance away, and then Gervaise rowed up to the head of the inlet,
followed by the other three ships. They found that eleven of the corsairs