s have
nothing to do with it, and, putting aside our friendship, I would rather
serve under you than under many knights old enough to be your father. I
don't know whether I shall have the luck to be one of the chosen, as Sir
John said that there were to be only seven from each langue, which will
make forty-nine--with yourself fifty. If I am chosen--and, knowing
our friendship, I hope that the bailiff will let me go with you--it is
likely enough I may be named your lieutenant, as I shall be the only one
beside yourself who is a secular knight, and am, therefore, superior in
rank to the rest."

"That would be pleasant indeed, Ralph, though I would rather that you
had been made commander and I lieutenant; but at any rate, with you
to support me, I shall feel less oppressed by the thought of my
responsibility."

As Ralph had declared would be the case, the young knights in the other
auberges were as anxious as those of England to be enrolled among the
crew of the new galley, and the bailiffs had some trouble in choosing
among the aspirants. Very few were selected outside the rank of
professed knights, and as great pains were taken to comply with the
grand master's wishes that only young knights of good conduct and
disposition, and distinguished by their proficiency in warlike
exercises, should be chosen, the crew was in every way a picked one.
Most of them had made one or two of the three months' voyages in
the galleys, though comparatively few had had the good fortune to be
absolutely engaged with the Moslem pirates.

To the great satisfaction of himself and Gervaise, Ralph Harcourt
was nominated lieutenant of the galley. The fact that so many had
volunteered impressed all those who were chosen with the sense that it
was at once an honour and a piece of good fortune to be selected, and
all were determined that the boy galley, as the elder knights laughingly
termed it, should do honour to the Order.

It was a fortnight before she was launched. Gervaise had heard, with
great satisfaction, that it had been decided by the council that no
punishment should be inflicted upon the slaves for their share in the
intended rising at St. Pelagius. All were guilty, and there was no means
of saying who had taken prominent parts in the plot. The council felt
that it was but natural that they should grasp at the prospect of
freedom, for they themselves would have done the same had they been
captives of the infidels. Even the warders a