Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/314

284 and having given him the required guarantee, they returned together to Rhodes.

Every preparation had there been made to receive the illustrious fugitive with due respect and honour. A bridge, eighteen feet in length, covered with rich tapestry, was thrown out into the harbour opposite St. Catherine’s gate, to enable him to land from his vessel on horseback. Upon the mole he met the Grand-Master mounted on his charger, accompanied by the bailiffs and other leading knights. Escorted by this chief in person he proceeded through the town to the auberge of the lngue of France, which had been prepared for his reception. The streets through which he passed were decorated with banners, flowers, and myrtle. Ladies in their gayest attire appeared in the balconies overlooking his route, and their beauty drew from the gallant Ottoman the observation that “it was with great justice that the Rhodians were considered the loveliest women in Asia.” The personal appearance of Djem was not prepossessing, if we may judge by the description of him given by Matthew Bosso, who was an eye-witness. He says he was a little over middle height, thickly built, broad shouldered, with very protuberant stomach, long and powerful arms, large head, his eyes squinting, the nose aquiline and much bent, his thick lips hidden by a large moustache, his general appearance giving the effect of barbarity and ferocity.

However unattractive his personal appearance may have been, it was a great triumph for the knights that within so short a time after their destruction had been decreed by the powerful sultan, they should be receiving his son as a helpless wanderer and a pensioner on their bounty. They were, however, far too chivalric to allow a trace of such feelings to appear in their behaviour towards the young prince. Djem found himself treated with the same deferential hospitality as though he had been a powerful monarch instead of a destitute fugitive. Every