Page 268 - A Knight of the White Cross

carrying away."

This news was a disappointment to Gervaise. He had calculated that he
would be sold at one of the Levant ports, and had thought that with his

knowledge of Turkish he should have no great difficulty in escaping from
any master into whose hands he might fall, and taking his chance of either
seizing a fishing boat, or of making his way in a trading ship to some

district where the population was a mixed one, and where trade was winked
at between the merchants there, and those at some of the Greek towns. To

escape from Tunis or Tripoli would be far more difficult; there, too, he
would be beyond the reach of the good offices of Suleiman Ali, who would,
he was sure, have done all in his power to bring about his release. Of one

thing he was determined: he would not return to Rhodes without making
every possible effort to recover Claudia's gage, as he considered it

absolutely incumbent on him as a knight to guard, as something sacred, a
gift so bestowed. The fancy of the corsair to retain the jewel as a charm he
regarded as a piece of the greatest good fortune. Had it been thrown among

the common spoil, he would never have known to which of the crew it had
fallen at the division, still less have traced what became of it afterwards;

whereas now, for some time, at any rate, it was likely to remain in the
captain's possession.

Had it not been for that, he would have attempted to escape at the first
opportunity, and such an opportunity could not fail to present itself ere

long, for he had but to manage to possess himself of Moslem garments to
be able to move about unquestioned in any Turkish town. When it became
dark he was shut up in the hold, which was, he found, crowded with

captives, as, in addition to the crew of the wreck, between forty and fifty
Greeks, for the most part boys and young girls, had been carried off from

the villages plundered. It was pitch dark below, although the scuttle had
been left open in order to allow a certain amount of air to reach the
captives; Gervaise, therefore, felt his way about cautiously, and lay down

as soon as he found a clear space. Save an occasional moan or curse, and
the panting of those suffering from the heat and closeness of the crowded

hold, all was still. The majority of the captives had been some time in their
floating prison, and their first poignant grief had settled down into a dull