life were you my son, for whom I could
lay by such funds as I could well spare, instead of spending all my
appointments on myself, and having neither kith nor kin to give a sigh
of regret when the news comes that I have fallen in some engagement with
the infidels. I often think of all these things, and sometimes talk them
over with comrades, and there are few who do not hold, with me, that it
would be far better that we should become a purely military Order, like
some of the military Orders in the courts of the European sovereigns,
than remain as we are, half monk, half soldier--a mixture that, so far
as I can see, accords but badly with either morality or public repute.

"However, I see no chance of such a change coming, and we must be
content to observe our vows as well as may be, so long as we are willing
to remain monks and try to obtain dispensation from our vows should we
desire to alter our mode of life. We ought either to have remained monks
pure and simple, spending our lives in deeds of charity, a life which
suits many men, and against which I should be the last to say anything,
or else soldiers pure and simple, as were the crusaders, who wrested
the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the infidels. At present, Gervaise,
your vocation lies wholly in the way of fighting, but it may be that the
time will come when you may have other aims and ambitions, and when the
vows of the Order will gall you."

"I hope not, Sir John," Gervaise said earnestly.

"You are young yet," the knight replied, with an indulgent smile. "Some
day you may think differently. Now," he went on, changing the subject
abruptly, "when will your galley be ready?"

"This is my last ride, Sir John. The shipwrights will have finished
tomorrow, and the next day we shall take possession of her, and begin to
practise, so that each man shall know his duties, and the galley slaves
learn to row well, before we have orders to sail. I wish you were going
with us, Sir John."

"I should like it, lad, in many respects. It does one good to see the
enthusiasm of young men, and doubtless you will be a merry party.
But, on the other hand, unless I mistake, you will be undertaking wild
adventures, and my time for these is well nigh passed. When the Turk
comes here, if he ever comes--and of that I have little doubt--I
shall be ready to take my full share of the fighting; but I shall seek
adventures no longer, and shall go no more to sea. Next only to the
bailiff