Page 294 - A Knight of the White Cross

He had been walking close to Gervaise as he spoke, and one of the guards
pushed him roughly aside.

Time passed on. One day on his return from work a well dressed Moor met

him as the gang broke up in the courtyard.

"I have permission to speak to you," he said to Gervaise, and drew him

aside. "Know, 0 Christian, that I have received a letter from Suleiman Ali,
of Syria. He tells me that he has heard from Ben Tbyn, the Berber, that you

are a slave, and has asked me to inquire of the sultan the price that he will
take for your ransom, expressing his willingness to pay whatever may be
demanded, and charging me to defray the sum and to make arrangements

by which you may return to Europe. This I am willing to do, knowing
Suleiman Ali by report as a wealthy man and an honourable one. I saw the

sultan yesterday. He told me that I should have an answer this morning as
to the ransom that he would take. When I went to him again today, he said
that he had learnt from the governor of the prison and from the head mason

that you were almost beyond price, that you had been raised to the position
of superintendent of the slaves employed in the building of his palace, and

that you were a man of such skill that he would not part with you at any
price until the work was finished. After that he would sell you; but he
named a price threefold that at which the very best white slave in Tripoli

would be valued. However, from the way in which Suleiman Ali wrote, I
doubt not that he would pay it, great as it is, for he speaks of you in terms

of affection, and I would pay the money could you be released at once. As
it is, however, I shall write to him, and there will be ample time for an
answer to be received from him before the building is finished."

"Truly I am deeply thankful to my good friend, Suleiman Ali; but for

reasons of my own I am not desirous of being ransomed at present,
especially at such a cost, which I should feel bound in honour to repay to
him; therefore, I pray you to write to him, saying that while I thank him

from my heart for his kindness, I am not able to avail myself of it. In the
first place, I am well treated here, and my position is not an unpleasant one;

secondly, the sum required for ransom is altogether preposterous; thirdly, I
am not without hopes that I may some day find other means of freeing