as he had reason to believe that some of the officials were concerned in
the plot, it was necessary that all should be kept in ignorance that
he was other than he seemed to be. Thanks to his perfect knowledge of
Turkish, he was able to carry his mission through with complete success,
and to obtain full particulars of the plot we have tonight crushed.
The knight who has performed this inestimable service is Sir Gervaise
Tresham, of the English langue. The action he has performed will be
noted in the annals of the Order as an example of intelligence and of
the extreme of self sacrifice, as well as of courage; for his life would
have been assuredly forfeited had the slaves entertained the slightest
suspicion of his real character.”
There was a murmur of acclamation among the knights. Not one of them but
would have freely risked his life in the service of the Order, but there
were few who would not have shrunk from the idea of living as a slave
among the slaves, sharing their tasks, and subject to the orders of men
of inferior rank and often brutal manners.
The knights now returned to their auberges. It was past midnight, but
at the English house the lamps and flambeaux were lighted in the great
hall. The servitors were called up, wine placed on the table, and the
knights discussed the incidents of the evening.
When the meal had concluded, Sir John Kendall said, “Brother knights,
when the grand master bestowed the honour of secular knighthood upon
this young comrade of ours, he predicted that he would rise to high
distinction in the Order. I think you will all agree with me that the
prediction is already in a fair way of being fulfilled, and that the
services he has rendered to the Order justify us, his comrades of the
English langue, in feeling proud of him. I drink, brothers, to his
health.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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