Page 292 - A Knight of the White Cross

morning when the gangs were drawn up in the yard before starting for
work, he was surprised at being ordered to leave the one to which he

belonged and to fall in with another, and was greatly pleased when he
found that this took its way to the spot at which they were at work on the

previous day.

At the end of the week, when the work of the day was finished, the head

mason came down to the prison and spoke to the governor; a few minutes
afterwards Gervaise was called out. The governor was standing in the

courtyard with an interpreter.

"This officer tells me that you are skilled in masonry," the governor said,

"and has desired that you shall be appointed overseer of the gang whose
duty it is to move the stones, saying he is sure that with half the slaves now

employed you would get as much work done as at present. Have you
anything to say?"

"I thank you, my lord, and this officer," Gervaise replied. "I will do my
best; but I would submit to you that it would be better if I could have the

same slaves always with me, instead of their being changed every day; I
could then instruct them in their work. I would also submit that it were well
to pick men with some strength for this labour, for many are so weak that

they are well nigh useless in the moving of heavy weights; and lastly, I
would humbly submit to you that if men are to do good work they must be

fed. This work is as heavy as that in the galleys, and the men there
employed receive extra rations to strengthen them; and I could assuredly
obtain far better results if the gang employed upon this labour were to

receive a somewhat larger supply of food."

"The fellow speaks boldly," the governor said to the head mason, when the
reply was translated.

"There is reason in what he says, my lord. Many of the slaves, though fit
for the light labour of cleaning the streets, are of very little use to us, and

even the whip of the drivers cannot get more than a momentary effort from
them. If you can save twenty-five men's labour for other work, it will pay to