Page 322 - A Knight of the White Cross

garrison of the town being able to aid them.

That the defence of St. Stephen's Hill was considered unnecessary for the
safety of Rhodes is shown by the fact that no attempt had been made to

fortify it when, forty years later, the Moslems again besieged the city.

There was no shadow of apprehension felt by the garrison of Rhodes as the

great array of their foes was seen moving on to the hill, and preparing to
pitch its camp. On the summit was the great tent of the pasha; round this

were the marquees of the other commanders, while the encampments of the
troops stretched far away along the upper slopes of the hill.

Previous to the despatch of the expedition, the sultan had made
preparations for aiding his arms by treachery. The agent he had sent to

propose a temporary truce had, during his stay on the Island, made himself
thoroughly acquainted with the outline of the works. A very accurate plan
of them had also been obtained from an inhabitant of Rhodes, who had

abandoned Christianity and taken service with the Turks.

In addition to this he had arranged with a renegade German, known as
Maitre Georges, a man of very great ability as an artilleryman and engineer,
to desert to the city, and there do all in his power to assist the besiegers,

both by affording them information and by giving bad advice to the
besieged. On the day after Paleologus, who was himself a renegade Greek,

had established his camp, he sent in a herald to summon the city to
surrender, at the same time making lavish promises that the lives and
property of the native population should be respected, and that they should

be allowed to continue to reside there, to enjoy the full exercise of their
religion and of all other rights they possessed. The pasha had no real hope

that the knights would obey the summons, but he thought that he might
excite a spirit of disaffection among the townspeople that would, when the
crisis came, greatly hamper the efforts of the defenders.

The Rhodians, however, were well satisfied with the rule of the Order. The

knights, although belonging to the Catholic Church, had allowed the
natives of the Island, who were of the Greek faith, perfect freedom in the