Sir Jehan was deeply interested in the weapons of the strangers, especially in Reeves's automatic pistol. The correspondent begged to be excused the pleasure of giving Sir Jehan a practical exhibition of the pistol, on the reasonable grounds that the ammunition, if used, could not be replaced; but, on the other hand, he fired several rounds from the flintlocks at a number of stout planks, which were brought into the hall for the purpose. "By St. Michael, if we had those weapons we should be more than a match for the Moslems!" exclaimed the knight. "Of what is that black powder composed?" Reeves hastened to explain the nature of the ingredients, upon which Sir Jehan (after considerable difficulty, owing to the strange names) elicited from his councillors that similar minerals were to be found in the mountains of Kadir. But when the correspondent proceeded to tell Sir Jehan of railways, steamships, telephones, and aeroplanes, the Croixilian's face showed unmistakable signs of disbelief, till one of the attendants reminded, him of a prophecy uttered centuries before by a certain Peter de Calvador, that when men should fly and fiery carriages pass over the earth without being drawn by horses, the deliverance of Croixilia would be at hand. At length the audience came to an end, Sir Jehan desiring Garth to regard the Englishmen as his honoured guests, and to provide everything requisite for their comfort; and, having taken leave of the head of the State, Reeves and his companions withdrew. Before the day was done the Englishmen learned the history of this derelict European colony. The Croixilians were, as Reeves had anticipated, the descendants of Crusaders. Just before the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, several English knights, with their wives, families, and followers, succeeded in stealing through one of the gates, contrived to pass with little loss through the weakest part of the besiegers' lines, and escaped southwards into Egypt. Here, finding that their retreat to the shores of the Mediterranean was cut off, they crossed the Isthmus of Suez, and took forcible possession of six large galleys. Even in the twelfth century the possibility of coasting around Africa was deemed an accepted fact, and that sorry remnant of the Crusaders ventured upon this dangerous enterprise. But the voyage ended disastrously, all the ships being wrecked on the western shore of the Red Sea. For a long time the devoted band remained in the professedly Christian country of Abyssinia, till, influenced by a monk, they set out on a march to the interior, with the object of regaining the sea at the Pillar of Hercules. After many privations the adventurers found themselves on the plateau of Khir. There, according to a vision that appeared to Peter the Monk, the march came to an end, until the signs at which Sir Jehan's attendant had hinted appeared.