“I am at the sultan’s orders,” Gervaise said, bowing his head.  “My master has been a kind one, and I am grateful to him for his treatment of me.”

Gervaise, although taken aback by this sudden change in his fortunes, was not so cast down as he might otherwise have been; he would now be free to carry out any plan for escape that he might devise, and by his being addressed in Italian it was evident to him that his knowledge of Turkish was unsuspected.  When among the other slaves he had always maintained his character of a mute; and it was only when alone in his master’s family that he had spoken at all.  He had no doubt that his betrayal was due to one of the gardeners, who had several times shown him signs of ill will, being doubtless jealous of the immunity he enjoyed from hard labour, and who must, he thought, have crept up and overheard some conversation; but in that case it was singular that the fact of his knowledge of Turkish had not been mentioned.  Gervaise afterwards learned that Ben Ibyn had been fined a heavy sum for his breach of the regulations.

He was now placed between the soldiers, and marched down to the town, without being allowed to exchange a word with the merchant.  On his arrival there he was taken to the slaves’ quarter; here his clothes were stripped from him, and he was given in their place a ragged shirt and trousers, and then turned into a room where some fifty slaves were lying.  Of these about half were Europeans, the rest malefactors who had been condemned to labour.

The appearance of all was miserable in the extreme; they were clothed in rags, and the faces of the Europeans had a dull, hopeless look that told alike of their misery and of their despair of any escape from it.  They looked up listlessly as he entered, and then an Italian said, “Cospetto, comrade; but I know not whether your place is with us, or with the Moslems across there.  As far as colour goes I should put you down as a Nubian; but your hair is of a hue that consorts but badly with that of your flesh.”

“I am an Englishman,” Gervaise replied; “but I have been passing under a disguise which has unfortunately been detected, so you see here I am.”

The mystery explained, his questioner had no further interest in the matter, and Gervaise, picking out a vacant place on the stone floor, sat down and looked round him.  The room, although large, was roughly built, and had doubtless been erected with a view to its present purpose.  There were only a few windows; and these were small, strongly barred, and twelve feet above the floor.

“Not easy to get out of them,” Gervaise said to himself “at least, not easy without aid; and with these Moslems here it is clear that nothing can be done.”

They were roused at daybreak next morning, and were taken out to their work under the guard of six armed Moors, two overseers, provided with long whips, accompanied them.  The work consisted of cleaning the streets and working on the roads, and at times of carrying stones for the use of the masons employed in building an addition to the palace of the sultan.  This was the work to which the gang was set that morning, and it was not long before the vigour with which Gervaise worked, and the strength he displayed in moving the heavy stones, attracted the attention of the overseers and of the head of the masons.