ve remained in your hands, had not those craft gone
out and snatched it from you."

Then, with salutes on both sides, the Turks took their places in the
boats, and the knights returned to the fort. As soon as darkness came
on, a large body of slaves were marched down from the town, and, under
the direction of the knights, laboured all night at the mound, removing
great quantities of the fallen stones and rubbish in a line halfway up
it, and piling them above so as to form a scarp across the mound that
would need ladders to ascend. Another party worked at the top of the
mound, and there built up a wall eight feet high. The work was completed
by daylight, and the knights felt that they were now in a position to
resist another attack, should Paleologus again send his troops to the
assault.

The night had passed quietly. There was a sound of stir and movement in
the Turkish battery, but nothing that would excite the suspicion of a
large body of troops being in motion. When it became light it was seen
that the Turkish ships had sailed away to their previous anchorage on
the other side of the Island, and although at considerable intervals
the great cannon hurled their missiles against the fort, it was evident
that, for the time at least, the attack was not to be pressed at that
point. A fresh body of slaves, however, came down from the town to
relieve those who had been all night at work, and the repair of the
defences was continued, and with greater neatness and method than had
been possible in the darkness.

At eight o'clock the bells of St. John's Church gave notice that a
solemn service of thanksgiving for the repulse of the enemy was about
to be held. Notice had been sent down early to the tower; and all the
knights who could be spared, without too greatly weakening the garrison,
went up to attend it; the service was conducted with all the pomp and
ceremony possible, and after it was over a great procession was formed
to proceed to the shrine, where a picture of the Virgin held in special
reverence by the Order was placed.

As it wound through the streets in splendid array, the grand master and
officials in all their robes of state, the knights in full armour and
the mantles of the Order, while the inhabitants in gala costume lined
the streets, windows, and housetops, the ladies waving scarves and
scattering flowers down on the knights, the roar of great cannon on the
south side of the city showed that the Turks had