f the Armory are rows of figures clad in the antique armor worn by
the Knights, together with steel gloves, helmets, and coats of mail,
inlaid with gold and silver; and around this hall are arranged the
crossbows, arquebuses, spears, pikes, swords, battle axes, and old
battle flags. There with the treasures are the old silver trumpet that
sounded the retreat from Rhodes, and the faded parchment manuscript, or
Papal edict, which sanctioned the gift of the island by Charles V. of
Germany to the Knights; and among the trophies are the jeweled coat of
mail and weapons of a famous Algerine corsair, a cannon curiously
constructed of a copper tube wound with tarred rope, and many torn and
blood-stained, crescent-mounted standards which in the hand-to-hand
conflicts had been captured from the Turks.

"What soldier of the present day could march or even ride any distance
so encumbered with steel?" remarked one of the tourists as we stood
before an emblazoned suit of mail that had been worn by one of the
Grand Masters of the Knights. "To handle these heavy battle axes or long
spears for stroke after stroke or thrust after thrust during the long
hours the battle raged must have required muscles of steel and wonderful
powers of endurance."

[Illustration: THE CLOCK ABOVE THE ANCIENT CHURCH HAS A TRIPLE FACE.]

"These breastplates and helmets and shields, which were worn by the
Knights to protect them from the arrows and spears of their enemies,"
said one of the ladies, as she looked at the old armor, "enable me to
understand better what St. Paul meant when he wrote to the Ephesians:
'Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil,' and 'all the fiery darts of the wicked.' The old
monk-soldiers must have interpreted that command literally when they
went out to fight the infidels."

After completing our sight-seeing in the city of Valetta, a little train
of cars on a narrow-gauge railroad carried us a distance of six miles to
the older city of Citta Vecchia. The land along the way as far as we
could see was divided into small plots ranging from about half an acre
to two acres in size. Each plot was surrounded by stone walls from six
to ten feet in height, many of which were broken and dilapidated. We
were told that, although the climate of the island is quite mild,
violent winds frequently blow over it, and these walls were erected to
protect the fig, orange, lemon, and other fruit trees