ice; and it is, moreover,
an accident we are all exposed to."

"It is surely better to do a thing of one's own free will than because
one is forced to do it, Sir John?"

The knight was silent. He was a stout fighting man, but unused to
argument.

"Well," he said, after a long pause, "I can only hope that it will turn
out all right, and promise that if you are strangled in prison, I will
see that every slave who had a hand in it shall be strung up. I have
told Kendall frankly that if I were in his place I would not permit you
to try such a venture. However, as I could think of no other plan by
which there would be a chance of getting to the bottom of this matter,
my words had no effect with him. I should not have so much cared if the
officers of the gaol knew who you were; but I can see that if there is
treachery at work this would defeat your object altogether. What do you
suppose this rascal Greek can be intending?"

"That I cannot say, Sir John. He may be trying to get an exact plan of
the fortifications, or he may be arranging some plan of communication by
which, in case of siege, news of our condition and of the state of our
defences may be conveyed to the Turkish commander."

By this time they had reached the port, and embarked at once on a
trading vessel belonging to one of the merchants, from whom Sir John
had readily obtained her use for a day or two. Her sails were hoisted
at once, and she rowed out from the port. Having proceeded some three
or four miles, they lowered her sails, and lay to in the course a galley
making for the port would take. A sailor was sent up to the masthead to
keep a lookout. Late in the afternoon he called down that he could make
out a black speck some twelve miles away. She carried no sails, and he
judged her to be a galley.

"It will be dark before she comes along," Sir John Boswell said. "You
can hoist your sails, captain, and return to within half a mile of the
port, or she may pass us beyond hailing distance."

Gervaise at once retired to the cabin that had been set aside for their
use, and proceeded to disguise himself. An hour later Sir John came
down. He looked at Gervaise critically.

"You are all right as far as appearances go. I should take you anywhere
for a young Turk. Your clothes are not too new, and are in accordance
with the tale you are going to tell, which is that you are the son of
a Syrian trader. If, as Suleiman says, you speak Turkish well enough to
pose