“Well, you have earned the appointment, Tresham,” Ralph Harcourt said heartily.  “You always told me when I asked you that you were getting on, but I had not the least idea that you were getting on like this.  And can you read and write the Turkish language?”

“Well enough for practical purposes, Ralph.  At any rate, I wrote a complimentary letter this morning from the grand master to the governor of Syria, and the bailiff of Spain, who was, as you know, for ten years a prisoner among the Turks, read it through at D’Aubusson’s request, to see that there was no error in it, and was good enough to pass it without alteration.”

“I would give a good deal,” Sir Giles Trevor said, “if I could follow your example, and shut myself up for nine months with an infidel to study his language; but I could not do it if my life depended on it.  I should throw myself off the wall at the end of the first fortnight.”

“I don’t pretend that I can do what Tresham has done,” Ralph Harcourt said.  “I always hated our lessons with the chaplain, who gave me the character of having the thickest head of any of his pupils; but I vow” —­ and he kissed the handle of his dagger —­ “I will spend half an hour a day in trying to learn something of Turkish.  Of course, I know that such time will not be enough to learn a great deal; but if one could get up just enough to be able to give orders to the slaves, to question the captain of a vessel one has captured, and to make them understand a little, if by bad luck one fell into their hands, it would be quite enough for me.  I am sure sometimes one is quite at a loss how to pass the hours when the sun is at its hottest, and if one tried one ought to be able to pick up a little without much trouble.  Look at the servants; there is not one of them but speaks a little English.  And if an infidel can learn enough English to get on with, without any regular study, I can’t see why we shouldn’t be able to learn enough Turkish in the same way.”

Two or three of the other young knights declared that they too would devote a short time during the heat of the day to learning Turkish, and they agreed to begin together forthwith with one of the servants, who spoke English most fluently.  Robert Rivers was not present, for he had returned to England six months before, to take up his residence at the House in Clerkenwell, in order that he might bring to bear the interest of his many powerful friends to secure for him an appointment as commander of one of the estates of the Order in England.  His departure had caused general satisfaction among the other knights, whom his arrogance and ill temper had frequently irritated.  Gervaise especially was glad at his leaving the Island, for after he received the honour of knighthood, Rivers made a point of always addressing him with an affectation of deference and respect that often tried his temper to the utmost.

“It is well that Rivers has gone,” Ralph said, laughing, “for I don’t know how he would have supported the chagrin your appointment would have given him.  He was devoured with jealousy as it was, but this would have been a trial beyond bearing.”