MY DEAR LADS,

The order of the Knights of St. John, which for some centuries played a very important part in the great struggle between Christianity and Mahomedanism, was, at its origin, a semi-religious body, its members being, like other monks, bound by vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, and pledged to minister to the wants of the pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Places, to receive them at their great Hospital —­ or guest house —­ at Jerusalem, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and to defend them on their passage to and from the sea, against attack by Moslems.  In a comparatively short time the constitution of the order was changed, and the Knights Hospitallers became, like the Templars, a great military Order pledged to defend the Holy Sepulchre, and to war everywhere against the Moslems.  The Hospitallers bore a leading share in the struggle which terminated in the triumph of the Moslems, and the capture by them of Jerusalem.  The Knights of St. John then established themselves at Acre, but after a valiant defence of that fortress, removed to Crete, and shortly afterwards to Rhodes.  There they fortified the town, and withstood two terrible sieges by the Turks.  At the end of the second they obtained honourable terms from Sultan Solyman, and retiring to Malta established themselves there in an even stronger fortress than that of Rhodes, and repulsed all the efforts of the Turks to dispossess them.  The Order was the great bulwark of Christendom against the invasion of the Turks, and the tale of their long struggle is one of absorbing interest, and of the many eventful episodes none is more full of incident and excitement than the first siege of Rhodes, which I have chosen for the subject of my story.

Yours truly, G. A. Henty

CHAPTER I The King Maker

A stately lady was looking out of the window of an apartment in the Royal Chateau of Amboise, in the month of June, 1470.  She was still handsome, though many years of anxiety, misfortune, and trouble, had left their traces on her face.  In the room behind her, a knight was talking to a lady sitting at a tambour frame; a lad of seventeen was standing at another window stroking a hawk that sat on his wrist, while a boy of nine was seated at a table examining the pages of an illuminated missal.

“What will come of it, Eleanor?” the lady at the window said, turning suddenly and impatiently from it.  “It seems past belief that I am to meet as a friend this haughty earl, who has for fifteen years been the bitterest enemy of my House.  It appears almost impossible.”

“’Tis strange indeed, my Queen; but so many strange things have befallen your Majesty that you should be the last to wonder at this.  At any rate, as you said but yesterday, naught but good can come of it.  He has done his worst against you, and one can scarce doubt that if he chooses he has power to do as much good for you, as in past times he has done you evil.  ’Tis certain that his coming here shows he is in earnest, for his presence, —­ which is sure sooner or later to come to the ears of the Usurper, —­ will cause him to fall into the deepest disgrace.”