t him
down.

Gervaise had received a slight wound before he realised what was
happening. He snatched his dagger from its sheath, and struck down one
assailant; but ere he could raise it to strike again, another leapt on
to his back, and clung there until the rest rushed up, when he shouted,
"Take him alive! take him alive!" and, throwing down their weapons, half
a dozen of the pirates flung themselves upon Gervaise, and strove
to pull him to the ground, until at last, in spite of his desperate
resistance, they succeeded in doing so. His armour was hastily stripped
off, his hands and feet bound, and then at the orders of the pirate who
had leapt on his back, and who was evidently the captain, half a dozen
men lifted him on to their shoulders. As they did so four guns from the
galley flashed out, and the balls flew overhead. The pirates, who had
already begun to quarrel over the armour and arms of the fallen knights,
at once took to their heels, followed by the galley slaves from the
boat.

"Make haste," the captain said to the men carrying Gervaise.

"They are lowering their boats; we must be under way before they come
up."

In a minute or two Gervaise was set down on his feet, the cords round
his legs were cut, and he was made to hurry along with his captors. In
a short time an inlet was reached, and here Gervaise saw, to his
mortification, the pirate craft for which the Santa Barbara had in vain
been searching. As soon as the party were all on board, the ropes by
which she was moored to two trees were thrown off; the great sails
hoisted, and she sailed boldly out. Although the gale had entirely
abated, there was still a brisk wind blowing, and it was evident to the
captain of the corsair that under such circumstances he could outsail
the galley that had long been searching for him; when, therefore,
the Santa Barbara came in sight, just as he and his crew had finished
stripping the wreck of its contents, the idea had occurred to him to
attempt to entice some of the knights to land.

As soon as the vessel was under way he abused his followers hotly for
not having obeyed his orders to capture the knights without bloodshed;
but they pleaded that it was as much as they had been able to do to
capture Gervaise in that way, and that they could never have overcome
the four together, before the boats would have had time to come from the
ship.

Gervaise had been told to sit down with his back to a mast and in this
positi