on he could, when the vessel heeled over to the breeze, obtain a
view of the sea. It was with a feeling of bitter mortification and rage
that he saw the galley lying but half a mile away, as the corsair issued
from the inlet. A moment later he heard a gun fired, and saw the signal
hoisted to recall the boats.

"If the wind had been favourable," the captain said to his mate, "we
would have borne down upon her, and could have reached and captured her
before the boats got back, for you may be sure that they have landed
almost all their men. However, we can't get there against the wind, and
we will now say goodbye to them."

Gervaise knew well that at the pace they were running through the water
the galley would have no chance whatever of overtaking her, and that,
ere the knights came on board again, she would be already two or three
miles away. A point of land soon concealed the galley from view, and
when he caught sight of her, as she rounded the point, she was but a
speck in the distance.

They passed several islands in the course of the day, changing their
direction to a right angle to that which they had at first pursued, as
soon as they were hidden from the sight of the galley by an intervening
island. As night came on they anchored in a little bay on the coast of
the Morea. The sails being furled, the sailors made a division of the
booty they had captured on the island, and of the portable property
found on board the wreck. A gourd full of water was placed to Gervaise's
lips by one of the men of a kinder disposition than the rest. He drank
it thankfully, for he was parched with thirst excited by the pain caused
by the tightness with which he had been bound.

He slept where he sat. All night four men remained on guard, although
from what he heard they had no fear whatever of being overtaken. In
the morning his arms were unbound, and they stripped off his tunic and
shirt. They had evidently respect for his strength, for before loosing
his arms they tightly fastened his ankles together. The removal of his
shirt exposed Claudia's gift to view.

"Take that from him and give it to me," the captain said. As the two men
approached, Gervaise seized one in each hand, dashed them against
each other, and hurled them on the deck. But the exertion upset his
equilibrium, and after making a vain effort to recover it, he fell
heavily across them. The captain stooped over him, and, before he could
recover himself, snatched the ch