Page 265 - A Knight of the White Cross

Although the gale had entirely abated, there was still a brisk wind blowing,
and it was evident to the captain of the corsair that under such

circumstances he could outsail the galley that had long been searching for
him; when, therefore, the Santa Barbara came in sight, just as he and his

crew had finished stripping the wreck of its contents, the idea had occurred
to him to attempt to entice some of the knights to land.

As soon as the vessel was under way he abused his followers hotly for not
having obeyed his orders to capture the knights without bloodshed; but they

pleaded that it was as much as they had been able to do to capture Gervaise
in that way, and that they could never have overcome the four together,
before the boats would have had time to come from the ship.

Gervaise had been told to sit down with his back to a mast and in this

position he could, when the vessel heeled over to the breeze, obtain a view
of the sea. It was with a feeling of bitter mortification and rage that he saw
the galley lying but half a mile away, as the corsair issued from the inlet. A

moment later he heard a gun fired, and saw the signal hoisted to recall the
boats.

"If the wind had been favourable," the captain said to his mate, "we would
have borne down upon her, and could have reached and captured her before

the boats got back, for you may be sure that they have landed almost all
their men. However, we can't get there against the wind, and we will now

say goodbye to them."

Gervaise knew well that at the pace they were running through the water

the galley would have no chance whatever of overtaking her, and that, ere
the knights came on board again, she would be already two or three miles

away. A point of land soon concealed the galley from view, and when he
caught sight of her, as she rounded the point, she was but a speck in the
distance.

They passed several islands in the course of the day, changing their

direction to a right angle to that which they had at first pursued, as soon as
they were hidden from the sight of the galley by an intervening island. As