hich was, he found, crowded
with captives, as, in addition to the crew of the wreck, between forty
and fifty Greeks, for the most part boys and young girls, had been
carried off from the villages plundered. It was pitch dark below,
although the scuttle had been left open in order to allow a certain
amount of air to reach the captives; Gervaise, therefore, felt his way
about cautiously, and lay down as soon as he found a clear space. Save
an occasional moan or curse, and the panting of those suffering from the
heat and closeness of the crowded hold, all was still. The majority
of the captives had been some time in their floating prison, and
their first poignant grief had settled down into a dull and despairing
acceptance of their fate; the sailors, newly captured, had for hours
raved and cursed, but, worn out by their struggle with the elements, and
their rage and grief, they had now fallen asleep.

It was long before Gervaise dozed off. He was furious with himself for
having fallen into the trap; if he had, as he said to himself, lain off
the beach in the boat, and questioned the supposed shipwrecked sailors,
their inability to reply to him would have at once put him on his guard;
as it was, he had walked into the snare as carelessly and confidently as
a child might have done. Even more than his own captivity, he regretted
the death of his three comrades, which he attributed to his own want
of care. The next morning he was again allowed on deck. The vessel was
under way, and her head was pointing south. To his surprise some of the
crew gave him a friendly greeting; he was unable to understand a manner
so at variance with their hatred to the Christians, until one of them
said to him in a mixture of Greek and Italian, "We have heard from
our countrymen who were in the boat with you, that they received much
kindness at your hands, and that of all the Christians they had served
under, you were the kindest master. Therefore, it is but right now Allah
has decreed that you in turn should be a slave to the true believers,
that you should receive the same mercy you gave to Moslems when they
were in your power."

The captain came up as the man was speaking. He talked for a time to the
sailor, who then turned again to Gervaise. "The captain says that he is
told you were the commander of that galley; he has questioned the eight
men separately, and they all tell the same story: and yet he cannot
understand how so young a man should