Sir Jehan de Valx was a burly man of middle height, dark-complexioned, and wearing a closely-trimmed beard, after the fashion of the majority of the men of Croixilia. He was dressed in a kirtle of dark blue, edged with ermine, while over his shoulders was a cloak of white samite, marked with a triple crown in red. He was unarmed, but held a short ivory rod in his right hand. Ranged on either side of him were about twenty men of rank, all wearing double-lined crosses similar to those Reeves had observed in the courtyard.
Marching with head erect up to the foot of the dais, Garth saluted, the movement resembling a military salute performed by both hands at the same time. Reeves and the lads did likewise, after setting their flintlocks on the floor.
"These, then, are the men from England?" exclaimed Sir Jehan in a deep voice. "Welcome!"
For nearly two hours Reeves kept the ruler of Croixilia engrossed with the story of their adventures in the desert and the wonders of Europe, particularly of Great Britain. Sir Jehan, Reeves noticed, used a language that corresponded with the Anglo-Norman tongue, subject to slight variations for which the lapse of time was responsible. (The lads were already making vast strides in the study of the Croixilian tongue, thanks to their fair knowledge of French and their interest in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer.)
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.