"

"Who have fallen, Sir Louis?"

"Five more of the knights of my galley--Pierre des Vignes, Raoul de
Montpelier, Ernest Schmidt, Raymond Garcia, and Albert Schenck. Here is
the list of the knights of Santoval's galley."

"'Tis a long list, and a sad one," Piccolomini said, after reading
the names. "With the seven who fell in your first fight, twenty-seven
knights have fallen, all brave comrades. Truly, we can ill spare such
a loss. It is true there are five prizes to show for it, and we have
struck Hassan Ali a blow that will resound through the Levant; but the
cost is heavy."

"It is indeed," Ricord agreed. "The four vessels are well filled with
rich spoil that the scoundrels had gathered, and I doubt not the one you
captured is equally rich. Still, had they been ten times as valuable,
the booty would be dearly purchased at such a price."

There was now a consultation among the leaders, and it was agreed that
six knights should be placed in each of the captured ships, with ten of
the galley slaves to work the sails, the others being equally divided
between the three galleys. They were, in the first place, to row to the
island where the pirates were imprisoned, and to slay or capture the
whole of them; afterwards they were to make direct for Rhodes; with
so numerous a fleet there was no fear of their being attacked. The
arrangements took but a short time to complete. An hour later they left
the port, the three galleys rowing ahead, while the five prizes, under
easy sail, followed them.

Sir John Boswell had been wounded, but not so seriously as to altogether
disable him, and he was in command of one of the prizes, having Sir
Adam Tedbond, Harcourt, Gervaise, and a German knight, with him. Sir
Marmaduke Lumley, who, after the first fight was over, was found, to the
surprise and pleasure of his comrades, to be still living, was, with the
rest of the wounded, on board one of the galleys. Two of the pirates
had fallen dead across him, and in the ardour of their attack on the
knights, he had lain there unnoticed until the return of Sir Louis and
his comrades had driven the pirates overboard. The leech was of opinion
that he might yet recover from his wound.

On arriving at the island, sixty of the knights disembarked. The woods
near the shore were first searched, but were found untenanted. They were
about to advance up the hill when a man appeared on the crest above them
waving a white flag. He was told to come down