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 ha