urrounding islands, and from
which information could be signalled as to the movements of any vessels
which were observed. It was then decided to fortify the small island of Cos
or Lango in the vicinity, as it contained an excellent harbour; a fortress,
planned by the Grand Master himself, was erected on the island, a knight
was left in command, and we are told that under the successors of de
Villaret--himself twenty-fourth Grand Master--the island, which was very
fertile, flourished exceedingly, producing much fruit and some most
excellent wine.

There was reigning in Bithynia, at the time when the knights seized upon
Rhodes, that Ottoman whose name has come down to us when we speak of the
Ottoman Empire; it is a somewhat strange coincidence that the Christian
warriors, sworn foes of the Mussulman, should have so established
themselves just when the tide of the Mohammedan conquest was about to rise
and sweep away Byzantium; that they should arrive upon the scene just as
the curtain was about to rise on the tragedy which, in its onward march,
was to make of the church of St. Sophia a mosque for the worship of the
Ottoman Turks.

Ottoman--the descendant of one Soliman, the chief of a nomadic tribe of
Tartars who had been chased from the Empire of Persia in the year 1214--was
not only a soldier and a conqueror, but also a great and beneficent ruler
in those regions in which he held sway. Approached by those of his
co-religionists who had been driven out of Rhodes by the Knights, Ottoman
embarked an army and attacked the place, assuring himself of an easy
conquest. In spite, however, of the fortifications having been hastily
constructed, his troops were defeated with great loss, and he was obliged
to raise the siege. In this manner did the indomitable champions of
Christendom begin that long and bloodthirsty war between the Cross and the
Crescent in the Mediterranean which was to endure for nearly another five
centuries.

[Illustration: GOZON DE DIEU-DONNE SLAYING THE GREAT SERPENT OF RHODES.]

In the long, chequered, and glorious history of the Knights there are many
strange and semi-miraculous deeds recounted of them in the wars and
adventures in which they took so prominent a part; the following, which is
gravely set out by the historians of the time, may be left to the judgment
of the reader. In 1324 Fulke de Villaret was succeeded in the Grand
Mastership by Helion de Villeneuve, a knight of exemplary piety and a
st