he tells of a singular circumstance that happened at sea.
the health of the bewitched antonio was now quite restored, and with his recovered beauty, increased zenotia's passion, and made her more and more desirous of detaining him; for even those whose cases are most desperate, never give up deluding themselves with hope, so long as the beloved object is before their eyes: therefore with all the means her active mind could suggest, she cast about to throw impediments in the way of the departure of the guests, and went again to advise polycarp on no account to let the daring crime of the barbarous homicide go unpunished, or at least that he should keep a threat of punishment hanging over his head.
polycarp was not, however, disposed to comply with the advice, "for," said he to zenotia, "it will be an interference with prince arnoldo, under whose protection this youth is, and it will vex my beloved auristella, who considers him as her brother; besides, his crime was accidental, and proceeded not from malice, but mischance; moreover, no one demands justice, and all those who know the man, affirm that he well deserved his death, for that he was the worst evil-speaker and slanderer that ever lived."
"how is this, sire?" cried zenotia, "after having settled the other day together that he was to be punished as an excuse for detaining auristella,—you now seem averse to the measure. they will go, and she will not return; then will you lament your ill-advised consent to allow of her departure, when tears and lamentations will be of no avail. by giving up this boy to justice, and then acting towards him mercifully, you will preserve your character for a good and just king."
thus did zenotia counsel polycarp, who was now in one mind, now in another, as to what he should resolve to do, and how he could continue to detain auristella without offending arnoldo, whose power and valour he feared greatly.
in the midst of all these considerations, and in the midst of those which sinforosa was on her side also indulging, arrived the hour when periander was to go on with his history, which he did in the following manner:—
"lightly flew our ship as the winds impelled her—not a single man amongst us wished it otherwise—leaving our course to be as fate directed us.
"having sailed all that day, at the dawn of another the sentinel, on the topmast-head, cried aloud, 'a ship! a ship!' i asked what her course was, and how large she might be; he replied that, 'she was the same size as our own ship, and that she was ahead of us.'
"'then, my friends'," said i, 'arm yourselves, and if these are pirates, show the valorous spirit which has led you to abandon your nets in search of fame.' we crowded all our sails, and in less than two hours were alongside the ship, which, as if taken by surprise, offered no resistance: about forty of my men boarded her, but found no occasion to use their swords, as she contained only the mariners and some serving men. looking about, we found in one of the cabins, two persons, closely confined by the neck in a sort of iron stocks, and separated from each other scarcely two rods; one was a man of good mien; the other, a woman possessing a considerable share of beauty. in another apartment we found a rich couch, on which lay a venerable old man, whose air and manner at once commanded respect. he could not leave his couch, but he raised his head a little, and said, 'sheathe your swords, gentlemen, for in this ship you will find none to resist you; necessarily then you must try your fortune in this exercise in some other quarter; but your coming will be fortunate for you, not because the ship has wealth wherewith to enrich you, but because i sail in her, i, who am leopold, king of norway.'[g]
"on hearing him speak thus, i felt a desire to know what events could have happened to bring a king into such a defenceless situation; going to him, i asked if this was true that i heard, for although his appearance and noble demeanour well agreed with his words, yet the scanty equipage of his vessel made it difficult of belief. 'sir,' replied the old man, 'order your people to be quiet, and listen to me, for in a few words you shall hear great things.' i commanded silence, and my companions and i listened attentively to what he wished to say, which was this:—
"'it pleased heaven to make me king of norway;[h] my ancestors, likewise, were kings of that land, and they had ruled as their forefathers did, without tyranny or any other innovations. early in life i married a wife, who was my equal in rank; she died, and left me childless. time went on, and still i remained contented in my widower's state; but for my sins at length i became enamoured of a lady who had been one of the attendants of my late wife, and who might now be a queen, instead of a prisoner in those stocks, where you must have seen her fastened. she then, thinking it would be unjust not to prefer the curling locks of one of my servants to my grey hairs, fled with him, and not only felt a pleasure in thus dishonouring me, but conspired also with him to take away my life; so that, had i not been timely informed of her plots and machinations, my head would have been off my shoulders in the twinkling of an eye, and theirs crowned, as sovereigns in my place.
"'i discovered their treason in time; but they also obtained the information that i had found it out; and one night they got on board a small bark, which was ready to sail, and fled from my wrath. i, hearing of this, flew on the wings of my just anger to the sea-shore, and found that they had been gone about twenty hours. blind with fury, and full of a desire for vengeance, without waiting to take any counsel or prudent consideration, i embarked in this vessel, and followed them, not with the authority and paraphernalia of a monarch, but as a private enemy. i found them at the end of ten days in an island, called the isle of fire; i had them seized and immediately confined in the manner you have seen, to convey them back to norway, and deliver them up to the punishment due to their crime.
"'this is the plain truth. those are the delinquents; i am a king; and i promise to give you as my ransom one hundred thousand pieces of gold; not that i have them with me, but i give you my word of honour to send them wheresoever you please; and as a security, if my word suffices not, take me along with you in your own ship, and let some of your people go in mine until they reach norway, and fetch the money, to carry it whither it pleases you. i have no more to say.'
"my companions looked one on the other, and gave me time to answer for all, which, as their captain, i had a right to do; but, nevertheless, i wished to take the opinion of carino and solercio, and some of the others, that they might not think i presumed upon the command they had themselves given me over them; and so the answer i gave the king was to say—'my lord, these men you see before you are not in arms for lucre of gain, nor for any of the ambitious ends which commonly influence people; we are in search of robbers, we are seeking to chastise some ruffians, and to destroy some pirates, and as you are none of these, your life is safe with us; but if we can serve you in any way, you have only to ask us: and, although we thank you for the rich ransom you offer, we absolve you from giving any, since, as you are not a prisoner, you cannot be obliged to act like one. follow your own course in peace, and all that i would ask of you is, to beseech your pardon for the offenders, as the greatness of a king shines forth more in acts of mercy than even of justice.' he would fain have humbled himself at my feet, but i prevented this, and begged that he would give us some powder and divide his provisions with us, which he did immediately. i also said to him, that in case he did not like to forgive the two criminals entirely, i would advise him to allow me take them away in my vessel, and i would convey them to a distant land, where they could never more offend him. he agreed to this, for he said that the presence of the guilty pair would always revive the memory of their crime. i then gave my command that we should return to our ship, with the provisions and the powder, that the king had given us, and was going to send for the two prisoners, already free from their confinement, when a fresh breeze suddenly sprung up which prevented this: it quickly separated the two vessels without a possibility of their coming again together. i stood upon the deck, and cried aloud, 'adieu!' to the old king, who had ordered himself to be lifted from his bed, and supported in the arms of his servants, he waved his farewell to our ship—and i also must take my leave of you for the present, as i shall need rest before i begin upon my next adventure."
