alace, amidst enthusiastic
cheering from the crowd that lined the road, occupied the windows and
balconies, and even scrambled on the housetops, the ladies waving their
handkerchiefs and scarves.

At the palace were assembled all the municipal authorities, and the
congratulations given on board were here repeated. After this there was
a great banquet, at which Gervaise was placed on the right hand of the
doge, who, at the conclusion of the feast, called upon the assembled
guests to drink to the health of the knights of St. John, who had saved
the commerce and seacoast of Italy from the greatest danger that had
menaced them since the days when the Northern rovers had desolated the
shores of the Mediterranean. The toast was drunk with enthusiasm, and
Gervaise then replied with a few words of thanks for the honour done to
himself and his comrades.

The party then left the banqueting hall for the great reception rooms,
where the wives and daughters of all the nobles and principal citizens
of Genoa were assembled. Most of the young knights, belonging as
they did to noble families, and accustomed from childhood to courtly
ceremonies and festivities, were quite at home here. Caretto, his two
companions, and their six Italian comrades, speedily introduced them,
and each was soon surrounded by a group of ladies, anxious to hear from
his lips the details of the exploits of the galley.

"But how is it that you are all so young, Sir Ralph?" one of the ladies,
to whom Harcourt had been introduced as the second in command, asked
him, when he had finished his account of the capture of the galleys.
"We heard from those who met you on landing, that all your comrades were
young, but we were filled with surprise when you entered the room, for
many of them are but lads."

"You may say that all of us are but lads, Countess. I am the oldest of
the party, and am but little over twenty-two, but few of the others are
over nineteen; they are all professed knights of the Order, who, as you
doubtless know, come out to Rhodes when only sixteen. Some, of course,
do not join until later, but I think that all here entered at the
earliest age permitted, and almost all had served in two or three
voyages in the galleys before they were appointed to the Santa Barbara.
The reason why so young a crew was chosen was that our commander was
also young. He had done such exceptional service to the Order that he
was appointed to the command of a galley, and h