down into it. In a
few minutes the smoke decreased.

"I thought that they would be able to put it out; but, as far as we are
concerned, it matters little. They have lost their sails, and as I saw
but four sweeps, we can travel five miles to their one. If we find the
galleys we will look in here on our way back, and if they have not left
we will fire that craft more effectually, and then the pirates will be
trapped, and we can leave them till we have fetched off Sir Louis
and his prizes, and then have a grand hunt here. We took no prisoners
before, and a hundred slaves will be a useful addition to our wall
builders. Now, Tresham, I have to thank you warmly, for Harcourt and I
doubly owe our lives to you. It was thanks to your quickness of wit that
we regained our boat, for I would not have given a ducat for our chances
had you not thought of that scheme. In the second place, we should
assuredly have been overtaken again had it not been for your happy
thought of crippling them by burning their sails. By St. George,
Harcourt, this young countryman of ours is as quick and as ready of wit
as he has shown himself a brave and gallant fighter! We have no lack of
sturdy fighters; but the wit to devise and to seize upon the right thing
in the moment of danger is vastly more rare. As for myself, I have no
shame that this lad, who is young enough to be my son, should have thus,
twice in a single hour, pointed out the way to safety. With sword and
battleaxe I can, I trust, hold my own with any man; but my brain is dull
when it comes to hatching schemes. If we live, we shall see Sir Gervaise
one of the most distinguished knights of the Order."

"While I feel gratified indeed, as I may well be by your commendation,
Sir John, I must, under your favour, say that you have given me a far
greater degree of credit than is my due. There was the fire, and there
was the sail, and the thought that the one would destroy the other was
simply a natural one, which might have occurred to a child. As to the
plan about the boat, seeing that there was the hill and the wood, it
flashed upon me at once that we might make a circuit and come back to
her."

"Just so, lad; but those thoughts did not flash upon my mind, nor upon
that of Harcourt. It is just because those sort of ideas do flash upon
the minds of some men, and not of others, that the first rise to the
rank of distinguished commanders, while the others remain simple knights
who would play the