We come from Lesbos.

It is now eighty years since my family settled in Rhodes, and we have seen it grow from a small place to a great fortress." "'Tis a wonderful place," Gervaise said.

"I know nothing of the fortresses of Europe, but it seems to me that no other can well be stronger than this--that is, among places with no natural advantages." "The knights have always had an abundance of slaves," the merchant said; "so many that they have not only had sufficient for their work here, but have been able to sell numbers to European potentates.

Yes, Rhodes is wonderfully strong.

That great fosse would seem as if it could defy the efforts of an army to cross; and yet the past has shown that even the strongest defences, held with the greatest bravery, can be carried by generals with immense armies, and careless how they sacrifice them so that they do but succeed.