greater importance, as it adjoined the town itself. It was defended
in the first place by Fort St. Nicholas, and at the inner entrance
stood the towers of St. John and St. Michael, one on either side.
Into this the vessel was steered. There were many craft lying there,
among them eight or ten of the galleys of the Order.

"We will go first to the house of our langue," Sir Guy said, "and
tell them to send down slaves to fetch up our baggage; then I will
take you, Gervaise, to Sir Peter D'Aubusson, and hand you over to
his care."

On landing, Gervaise was surprised at the number of slaves who were
labouring at the public works, and who formed no small proportion
of the population in the streets. Their condition was pitiable.
They were, of course, enemies of Christianity, and numbers of them
had been pirates; but he could not help pitying their condition
as they worked in the full heat of the sun under the vigilant eyes
of numbers of overseers, who carried heavy whips, in addition
to their arms. Their progress to the upper city was slow, for on
their way they met many knights, of whom several were acquainted
with Sir Guy; and each, after greeting him, demanded the latest
news from England, and in return gave him particulars of the state
of things at Rhodes.

At last they arrived at the house of the English langue. The Order
was divided into langues or nationalities. Of these there were
eight -- Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Germany, England,
Aragon, and Castile and Portugal. The French element was by far
the strongest. The Order had been founded in that country, and as
it possessed no less than three langues, and held the greater part