I should throw myself off the wall at the end of the first fortnight." "I don't pretend that I can do what Tresham has done," Ralph Harcourt said.

"I always hated our lessons with the chaplain, who gave me the character of having the thickest head of any of his pupils; but I vow"-- and he kissed the handle of his dagger--"I will spend half an hour a day in trying to learn something of Turkish.

Of course, I know that such time will not be enough to learn a great deal; but if one could get up just enough to be able to give orders to the slaves, to question the captain of a vessel one has captured, and to make them understand a little, if by bad luck one fell into their hands, it would be quite enough for me.

I am sure sometimes one is quite at a loss how to pass the hours when the sun is at its hottest, and if one tried one ought to be able to pick up a little without much trouble.

Look at the servants; there is not one of them but speaks a little English.