“And yet, Rhodes, I’m doubtful. Do not the correspondences remote, mislead thee?”
“If a crusade leader sent a summons like this wouldst thou respond, trusting? ‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand?’”
“The Hospitaler knows I would.”
“Well; God by His Prophet-Herald, Joel, so alarms the nations. And more, we have a broader summons,” and the preacher soldier read again:
“‘Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
“‘Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
“‘Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
“‘The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
“‘The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.