“If one is ready to give one’s life for the Order, Sir John, surely one need not mind a few weeks’ inconvenience.  I shall, at any rate, be no worse off than you were when serving as a Turkish slave.”

“Well, no, I don’t know that you will,” Sir John replied doubtfully.  “But that was from necessity, and not from choice; and it is, moreover, an accident we are all exposed to.”

“It is surely better to do a thing of one’s own free will than because one is forced to do it, Sir John?”

The knight was silent.  He was a stout fighting man, but unused to argument.

“Well,” he said, after a long pause, “I can only hope that it will turn out all right, and promise that if you are strangled in prison, I will see that every slave who had a hand in it shall be strung up.  I have told Kendall frankly that if I were in his place I would not permit you to try such a venture.  However, as I could think of no other plan by which there would be a chance of getting to the bottom of this matter, my words had no effect with him.  I should not have so much cared if the officers of the gaol knew who you were; but I can see that if there is treachery at work this would defeat your object altogether.  What do you suppose this rascal Greek can be intending?”

“That I cannot say, Sir John.  He may be trying to get an exact plan of the fortifications, or he may be arranging some plan of communication by which, in case of siege, news of our condition and of the state of our defences may be conveyed to the Turkish commander.”

By this time they had reached the port, and embarked at once on a trading vessel belonging to one of the merchants, from whom Sir John had readily obtained her use for a day or two.  Her sails were hoisted at once, and she rowed out from the port.  Having proceeded some three or four miles, they lowered her sails, and lay to in the course a galley making for the port would take.  A sailor was sent up to the masthead to keep a lookout.  Late in the afternoon he called down that he could make out a black speck some twelve miles away.  She carried no sails, and he judged her to be a galley.

“It will be dark before she comes along,” Sir John Boswell said.  “You can hoist your sails, captain, and return to within half a mile of the port, or she may pass us beyond hailing distance.”

Gervaise at once retired to the cabin that had been set aside for their use, and proceeded to disguise himself.  An hour later Sir John came down.  He looked at Gervaise critically.

“You are all right as far as appearances go.  I should take you anywhere for a young Turk.  Your clothes are not too new, and are in accordance with the tale you are going to tell, which is that you are the son of a Syrian trader.  If, as Suleiman says, you speak Turkish well enough to pose as a native, I think you ought to be able to pass muster.  How long will that dye last?  Because if it begins to fade they will soon suspect you.”