“What a rich and beautiful country!” he said.

“It is very pleasant to look at,” De Lille agreed.  “But all this would be a sore disadvantage to us if the Turks were besieging us, for the groves and orchards would conceal their approaches, the walls and buildings would give them shelter, and our cannon would be of little use until they reached the farther side of the ditch.  If the Turks come, I hear it is decided to level all the buildings and walls, and to chop down every tree.”

“If they were to plant their cannon on the hills they would do us much harm,” Gervaise remarked.

“The Turks are clumsy gunners they say,” Deauville replied, “and they would but waste their powder and ball at that distance, without making a breach in our walls.”

“Even if they did, they could surely scarce pass that deep fosse,” Gervaise said, looking down into the tremendous cutting in the solid rock that ran round the whole circuit of the walls; it was from forty to sixty feet deep, and from ninety to a hundred and forty feet wide.  It was from this great cutting that the stones for the construction of the walls, towers, and buildings of the town had been taken, the work having been going on ever since the knights established themselves at Rhodes, and being performed by a host of captives taken in war, together with labour hired from neighboring islands.  Upon this immense work the Order had expended no small proportion of their revenue since their capture of the island in 1310, and the result was a fortress that, under the conditions of warfare of that age, seemed almost impregnable; and this without any natural advantage of position.

In addition to the five great towers or bastions, the wall was strengthened by square towers at short intervals.  On looking down from the wall upon which the three pages were standing, on to the lower town, the view was a singular one.  The houses were all built of stone, with flat roofs, after the manner of most Eastern cities.  The streets were very narrow, and were crossed at frequent intervals by broad stone arches.  These had the effect, not only of giving shelter from an enemy’s fire, but of affording means by which troops could march rapidly across the town upon the roofs of the houses to reinforce the defenders of the wall, wherever pressed by the enemy.  Thus the town from above presented the appearance of a great pavement, broken only by dark and frequently interrupted lines.

“How different to the towns at home!” Gervaise exclaimed, as, after gazing long upon the beautiful country outside the walls, he turned and looked inward.  “One would hardly know that it was a town at all.”