Gervaise bowed deeply to the two knights, and then followed the page.
I suppose you arrived in that ship which came in today, the latter said, as soon as they had left the room. You are in luck indeed to have obtained a pageship at the grand masters. You begin to count your time at once, while we do not begin to count ours until we are seventeen. Still, good luck may befall us yet, for if the grand master dies, Sir Peter is sure to be chosen to succeed him. Then, you see, we too shall be pages of the grand master.
How many are there of you?
Only De Lille and myself. Of course DAubusson will take on the grand masters present pages; but as there are five vacancies on an average every year, he will be able to find room for us among the number.
Why, how many pages has the grand master? Gervaise asked, in surprise.
Sixteen of them, so you may guess the duties are easy enough, as only two are generally employed, except, of course on solemn occasions.
Are there any other English besides myself?
The boy shook his head. There are eight belonging to the French langues; the others are Spaniards, Italians, or Germans. There, this is our room and this is De Lille. De Lille, this is the grand masters new page, Master Gervaise Tresham, and our lord says we are to treat him kindly and entertain him well until tomorrow, when he will go to the palace. He speaks our language, and has been some years in France.
How came you to be there? De Lille asked Gervaise.
My father was a Lancastrian, and my mother a great friend of our Queen Margaret of Anjou, and they were with her all the time she was in exile.
How quarrelsome you English are! De Lille said. You seem to be always fighting among yourselves.
I dont think, Gervaise said, with a smile, there is any love lost between Louis of France and the Duke of Burgundy, to say nothing of other great lords.
No; you are right there. But though we talk a great deal about fighting, it is only occasionally that we engage in it.
The pages room was a small one. It contained two pallets, which served as seats by day, and two wooden chests, in which they kept their clothes.
Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of a bell.
That is supper, De Lille said, jumping up. We will leave you here while we go down to stand behind our lords chair. When the meal is over we will bring a pasty or something else good, and a measure of wine, and have our supper together up here; and we will tell the servitors to bring up another pallet for you. Of course, you can go down with us if you like.
Thank you, I would much rather stay here. Every one would be strange to me, and having nothing to do I should feel in the way.
The boys nodded, and taking their caps ran off, while Gervaise, tired by the excitement of the day, lay down on the bed which a servant brought up a few minutes after they had left him, and slept soundly until their return.
I think I have been asleep, he said, starting up when they entered the room again.
You look as if you had, anyhow, De Lille laughed. It was the best thing you could do. We have brought up supper. We generally sit down and eat after the knights have done, but this is much better, as you are here. They sat down on the beds, carved the pasty with their daggers, and after they had finished Gervaise gladly accepted the proposal of the others to take a walk round the walls.
They started from the corner of the castle looking down upon the spit of land dividing the two ports.
You see, De Lille said, there is a row of small islands across the mouth of the outer port, and the guns of St. Nicholas, and those on this wall, would prevent any hostile fleet from entering.
I hardly see what use that port is, for it lies altogether outside the town, and vessels could not unload there.
No. Still, it forms a useful place of refuge. In case a great fleet came to attack us, our galleys would lay up in the inner port, which would be cleared of all the merchant craft, as these would hamper the defence; they would, therefore, be sent round into the outer port, where they would be safe from any attack by sea, although they would doubtless be burnt did an army besiege the town.
Passing along the walls of the grand masters palace, which was a strongly fortified building, and formed a citadel that could be defended after the lower town and the rest of the castle had been taken, they came to the western angle of the fortifications.
You must know that each langue has charge of a separate part of the wall. From the foot of the mole of St. Nicholas to the grand masters palace it is in charge of France. On the line where we now are, between the palace and the gate of St. George, it is held by Germany. From that gate to the Spanish tower Auvergne is posted. England takes the wall between the Spanish tower and that of St. Mary. You defend only the lower storey of that tower, the upper part being held by Aragon, whose charge extends up to the gate of St. John. Thence to the tower of Italybehind which lies the Jews quarterProvence is in charge, while the sea front thence to the mole of St. Nicholas, is held by Italy and Castile, each taking half. Not only have the langues the charge of defending each its portion of the wall, but of keeping it in order at all times; and I may say that nowhere is the wall better kept or more fairly decorated with carvings than where England holds.
You have not told me who defends the palace itself.
That is in charge of a force composed of equal numbers of picked knights from each langue.
Gervaise leant on the battlement and looked with admiration at the scene beyond. The land side was surrounded by hills, the ground rising very gradually from the foot of the walls. Every yard of ground was cultivated, and was covered with brilliant vegetation. Groves and orchards occurred thickly, while the slopes were dotted with chapels, summer housesin which the natives of the city spent most of their time in the hot seasonand other rustic buildings.
What a rich and beautiful country! he said.
It is very pleasant to look at, De Lille agreed. But all this would be a sore disadvantage to us if the Turks were besieging us, for the groves and orchards would conceal their approaches, the walls and buildings would give them shelter, and our cannon would be of little use until they reached the farther side of the ditch. If the Turks come, I hear it is decided to level all the buildings and walls, and to chop down every tree.
If they were to plant their cannon on the hills they would do us much harm, Gervaise remarked.
The Turks are clumsy gunners they say, Deauville replied, and they would but waste their powder and ball at that distance, without making a breach in our walls.
Even if they did, they could surely scarce pass that deep fosse, Gervaise said, looking down into the tremendous cutting in the solid rock that ran round the whole circuit of the walls; it was from forty to sixty feet deep, and from ninety to a hundred and forty feet wide. It was from this great cutting that the stones for the construction of the walls, towers, and buildings of the town had been taken, the work having been going on ever since the knights established themselves at Rhodes, and being performed by a host of captives taken in war, together with labour hired from neighboring islands. Upon this immense work the Order had expended no small proportion of their revenue since their capture of the island in 1310, and the result was a fortress that, under the conditions of warfare of that age, seemed almost impregnable; and this without any natural advantage of position.