Part 29 (1/2)

”That is excellent,” the merchant said, when he had carefully inspected Gervaise, ”I should pa.s.s you myself without recognizing you. Now you can take him into the servants' quarters, Muley, and tell them that he is a new slave whom I have purchased, and that henceforth it will be his duty to wait upon my wife, to whom I have presented him as her special attendant, and that he will accompany her and my daughters when they go abroad to make their purchases or visit their friends. Give some reason, if you can think of one, why you have bestowed him in a chamber separate from the rest.”

Gervaise at once took up his new duties, and an hour later, carrying a basket, followed them into the town. It was strange to him thus to be walking among the fanatical Moors, who, had they known the damage that he had inflicted upon their galleys, would have torn him in pieces.

None gave him, however, more than a pa.s.sing look. Nubian slaves were no uncommon sight in the town, and in wealthy Moorish families were commonly employed in places of trust, and especially as attendants in the harems. The ladies were now as closely veiled as the Moorish women, it being only in the house that they followed the Berber customs.

Gervaise had learnt from Muley that Ben Ibyn was one of the richest merchants in Tripoli, trading direct with Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople, besides carrying on a large trade with the Berber tribes in the interior. He returned to the house with his basket full of provisions, and having handed these over to the cook, he went to the private apartments, as Khadja had requested him to do. Here she and her daughters asked him innumerable questions as to his country and its customs, and then about Rhodes and the Order to which he belonged.

Their surprise was great when they heard that the knights were bound to celibacy.

”But why should they not marry if they like? Why should they not have wives, children, and homes like other people?” Khadja asked.

”It is that they may devote their whole lives to their work. Their home is the convent at Rhodes, or at one of the commanderies scattered over Europe, where they take charge of the estates of the Order.”

”But why should they not marry then, Gervaise? At Rhodes there might be danger for women and children, but when they return to Europe to take charge of the estates, surely they would do their duty no worse for having wives?”

Gervaise smiled.

”I did not make the rules of the Order, lady, but I have thought myself that although, so long as they are doing military work at the convent, it is well that they should not marry, yet there is no good reason why, when established in commanderies at home, they should not, like other knights and n.o.bles, marry if it so pleases them.”

In the evening the merchant returned from his stores, which were situated down by the port. Soon after he came in he sent for Gervaise.

”There is a question I had intended to ask you last night,” he said, ”but it escaped me. More than two months since there sailed from this port and others many vessels--not the s.h.i.+ps of the State, but corsairs.

In all, more than twenty s.h.i.+ps started, with the intention of making a great raid upon the coast of Italy. No word has since been received of them, and their friends here are becoming very uneasy, the more so as we hear that neither at Tunis nor Algiers has any news been received. Have you heard at Rhodes of a Moorish fleet having been ravaging the coast of Italy?”

”Have you any friends on board the s.h.i.+ps that sailed from here, or any interest in the venture, Ben Ibyn?”

The merchant shook his head. ”We Berbers,” he said, ”are not like the Moors, and have but little to do with the sea, save by the way of trade.

For myself, I regret that these corsair s.h.i.+ps are constantly putting out. Were it not for them and their doings we might trade with the ports of France, of Spain, and Italy, and be on good terms with all. There is no reason why, because our faiths are different, we should be constantly fighting. It is true that the Turks threaten Europe, and are even now preparing to capture Rhodes; but this is no question of religion. The Turks are warlike and ambitious; they have conquered Syria, and war with Egypt and Persia; but the Moorish states are small, they have no thought of conquest, and might live peaceably with Europe were it not for the hatred excited against them by the corsairs.”

”In that case I can tell you the truth. Thirteen of those s.h.i.+ps were taken into Rhodes as prizes; the other eleven were burnt. Not one of the fleet escaped.”

Exclamations of surprise broke from Ben Ibyn, his wife, and daughters.

”I am astonished, indeed,” the merchant said. ”It was reported here that the Genoese galleys were all laid up, and it was thought that they would be able to sweep the seas without opposition, and to bring home vast spoil and many captives, both from the s.h.i.+ps they took and from many of the villages and small towns of the coast. How came such a misfortune to happen to them? It will create consternation here when it is known, for although it was not a state enterprise, the sultan himself and almost all the rich Moors embarked money in the fitting out of the s.h.i.+ps, and were to have shares in the spoil taken. How happened it that so strong a fleet was all taken or destroyed, without even one vessel being able to get away to carry home the news of the disaster?”

”Fortune was against them,” Gervaise said. ”Three s.h.i.+ps on their way up were captured by a galley of our Order, and her commander having obtained news of the whereabouts of the spot where the corsairs were to rendezvous, found them all lying together in a small inlet, and launched against them a number of fis.h.i.+ng boats fitted out as fire s.h.i.+ps. The corsairs, packed closely together, were unable to avoid them, and, as I told you, eleven of their s.h.i.+ps were burnt, four were run ash.o.r.e to avoid the flames, while six, trying to make their way out, were captured by the galley, aided by the three prizes that were taken and which the knights had caused to be manned by Sards.”

”The ways of Allah the All Seeing are wonderful,” the merchant said.

”It was indeed a marvellous feat for one galley thus to destroy a great fleet.”

”It was the result of good fortune rather than skill and valour,”

Gervaise said.

”Nay, nay; let praise be given where it is due. It was a marvellous feat; and although there is good or bad fortune in every event, such a deed could not have been performed, and would not even have been thought of, save by a great commander. Who was the knight who thus with one galley alone destroyed a strongly manned fleet, from which great things had been looked for?”

Gervaise hesitated. ”It was a young knight,” he said, ”of but little standing in the Order, and whose name is entirely unknown outside its ranks.”

”By this time it must be well known,” Ben Ibyn said; ”and it will soon be known throughout Christendom, and will be dreaded by every Moor. What was it?”

Gervaise again hesitated.

”I would not have told you the story at all, Ben Ibyn, had I supposed you would have cared to inquire into the matter. Of course, I will tell you the name if you insist upon it, but I would much rather you did not ask.”