Page 62 - A Knight of the White Cross

ascending from that island to the southwest. There was none just now."

"You mean from that bay, Gervaise? Yes, I see it; it is not more than a light
mist."

"It is growing thicker," Gervaise said, "and spreading. Maybe it is but a hut
that has accidentally caught fire, but it seems to me that the smoke is rising

from several points."

"I think you are right, Gervaise. Let us hurry down with the news. It may be
that it is a village which has been attacked by pirates who have landed on
the other side of the island during the night, for I can see no ships in the

bay."

A few minutes' run and they stood on the shore.

"Quick, men!" Ralph said to the rowers of the boat that had brought them

ashore. "Row your hardest."

The slaves bent to their oars, and they were soon alongside the galley,
which lay two or three hundred yards from the shore. Those on board had
noticed the young knights running down the hill, and, marking the speed at

which the boat was rowing, concluded at once that they must have observed
one of the pirate's ships.

"Do you see anything of them, Sir Ralph?" the commander shouted, as they
came close.

"We have seen no ships, Sir Louis, but there is smoke coming up from a

bay in an island four or five miles away to the southwest. It seems to us that
it is far too extensive a fire to be the result of an accident, for there was no
smoke until within two or three minutes of the time we left, and before we

started it was rising from several points, and we both think that it must
come from a village that has been attacked by pirates."