and if you fail you will be punished and put
to other labour."

So far from there being any falling off in the work, the head mason
found that, even though the walls began to rise and the labour of
transporting the stones into their positions became greater, the masons
were never kept standing. The men, finding their position improved,
both in the matter of food and in the immunity they enjoyed from blows,
worked cheerfully and well. Gervaise did not content himself with
giving orders, but worked at the heaviest jobs, and, little by little,
introduced many of the appliances used by the skilled masons of Rhodes
in transporting and lifting heavy stones. Gradually his own position
improved: he was treated as an overseer, and was permitted to sleep
under an arcade that ran along one side of the yard, instead of being
confined in the close and stifling cell. His dye had long since worn
off.

One day as he was going up with his gang under charge of the usual
guards to the building, he saw Hassan, who grinned maliciously.

"Ah, ah, Christian dog!" he said; "you threatened me, and I have not
forgotten it. The last time I was here I made it known to an officer of
the sultan that Ben Ibyn had a Christian slave who had been smuggled
in; and here you are. I hope you like the change. Look, I have still got
your amulet, and it has brought me better luck than it did you. I have
been fortunate ever since, and no money could buy it from me."

He had been walking close to Gervaise as he spoke, and one of the guards
pushed him roughly aside.

Time passed on. One day on his return from work a well dressed Moor met
him as the gang broke up in the courtyard.

"I have permission to speak to you," he said to Gervaise, and drew him
aside. "Know, O Christian, that I have received a letter from Suleiman
Ali, of Syria. He tells me that he has heard from Ben Ibyn, the Berber,
that you are a slave, and has asked me to inquire of the sultan the
price that he will take for your ransom, expressing his willingness to
pay whatever may be demanded, and charging me to defray the sum and to
make arrangements by which you may return to Europe. This I am willing
to do, knowing Suleiman Ali by report as a wealthy man and an honourable
one. I saw the sultan yesterday. He told me that I should have an answer
this morning as to the ransom that he would take. When I went to him
again today, he said that he had learnt from the governor of the prison
and fro