ed on a divan surrounded by
officers and attendants. He heard in silence the account given him by
the escort, bowed his head at the commands of Suleiman, and, without
addressing a word to Cuthbert, indicated to two attendants that he was
to be removed into the interior of the house. Here the young knight was
led to a small dungeon-like room; bread and dates with a cruse of water,
were placed before him; the door was then closed and locked without, and
he found himself alone with his thoughts.

No one came near him that night, and he slept as soundly as he would
have done in his tent in the midst of the Christian host. He was
resolved to give no cause for ill-treatment or complaint to his captors,
to work as willingly, as cheerfully, as was in his power, and to seize
the first opportunity to make his escape, regardless of any risk of his
life which he might incur in doing so.

In the morning the door opened, and a black slave led him into the
garden, which was surrounded by a very high and lofty wall. It was
large, and full of trees and flowers, and far more beautiful than any
garden that Cuthbert had seen in his native land. There were various
other slaves at work; and an Arab, who appeared to be the head of the
gardeners, at once appointed to Cuthbert the work assigned to him. A
guard of Arabs with bow and spear watched the doings of the slaves.

With one glance round, Cuthbert was assured that escape from this
garden, at least, was not to be thought of, and that for the present
patience alone was possible. Dismissing all ideas of that kind from his
mind, he set to work with a steady attention to his task. He was very
fond of flowers, and soon he became so absorbed in his work as almost to
forget that he was a slave. It was not laborious--digging, planting,
pruning and training the flowers, and giving them copious draughts of
water from a large fountain in the center of the garden.

The slaves were not permitted to exchange a word with each other. At the
end of the day's work they were marched off to separate chambers, or,
as they might be called, dungeons. Their food consisted of water, dried
dates, and bread, and they had little to complain of in this respect;
indeed, the slaves in the gardens of the governor's house at Jerusalem
enjoyed an exceptionally favored existence. The governor himself was
absorbed in the cares of the city. The head gardener happened to be a
man of unusual humanity, and it was really in hi