is
expected back from a cruise today or tomorrow. Now, sir, my idea is that
I should go on board a small craft, under the command of a knight upon
whose discretion and silence you can rely, such as, for example, Sir
John Boswell, and that we should intercept the galley. Before we board
her I should disguise myself as a Turkish slave, and as such Sir John
should hand me over to the officer in command of the galley, giving him
a letter of private instructions from you as to my disposal. If they
have other slaves on board I would ask that I should be kept apart from
them, as well as from the rowers of the galley. On being landed I should
be sent to the prison where I saw the officer enter last night, and the
slaves and rowers should be distributed among the other prisons. Thus,
then, the slaves I should be placed with would only know that I had
arrived in the galley with other slaves captured by it. I have no doubt
I should be able to maintain my assumed character, and should in a short
time be taken into the confidence of the others, and should learn what
is going on. It would be well, of course, that none of the officials
of the prison should be informed as to my true character, for others,
besides the one I saw, may have been bribed to participate in whatever
plot is going on."

"And do you mean to say, Sir Gervaise, that you, a knight of the Order,
are willing to submit to the indignity of being treated as a slave? To
keep up the disguise long enough to be taken into the confidence of the
plotters, you might have to stay there for some time; and if the prison
officials believe you to be but an ordinary slave, you will be put to
work either on the walls or in one of the galleys."

"I am ready to do anything for the benefit of the Order, and the safety
of Rhodes, that will meet with your approval," Gervaise replied. "It
will no doubt be unpleasant, but we did not enter the Order to do
pleasant things, but to perform certain duties, and those duties
necessarily involve a certain amount of sacrifice."

"Do you think you would be able to maintain the character? Because
you must remember that if detected you might be torn in pieces by the
slaves, before the officers could interfere to protect you."

"I feel sure that I can do so, Sir John."

"What story would you tell them?"

"I would say that I had come from Syria, and sailed from Acre in a
trader, which is perfectly true, and also that I was taken off the ship
I was