Esclairmonde said to the jailor, "Now set before the prisoner meat and drink, and take such care of him as you best can. Only tell the Admiral that the man is dead of hunger." The jailor answered, "It shall be done as you desire."
CHAPTER XL
HOW HUON RETURNED, HIS ERRAND FULFILLED
When Gerames and the Lady Sybil had tarried for three months in the tower, and had heard no tidings of Huon, they were greatly troubled and doubted what they should do. And while they doubted, it chanced that certain pagans came in a ship bringing tribute to the giant. When Gerames perceived them, he said to his company, "We do ill to tarry here, when Huon, it may be, needs our help. Let us take this ship, therefore, and sail over the sea till we come to Babylon." So they took the ship, the pagans not being able to hinder them.
When they were come to Babylon, Gerames led his company to the Admiral's palace, and went in and saluted him where he sat with his lords, saying, "Now may Mahomet, of whose gift both corn and wine come to the sons of men, preserve the Admiral Gaudys!" "Friend," said the Admiral, "you are welcome to this place. Tell me your name and country." "I come," answered Gerames, "from the city of Mombraunt, and I am son to King Ivoryn." Now Ivoryn was brother to the Admiral. The Admiral rose up from his place and said, "Then are you doubly welcome. Pray tell me how fares my brother, King Ivoryn?" "He is in good health," answered Gerames. "And who are these that are with you?" said the Admiral. "These," said Gerames, "are Frenchmen, whom the King took when they were sailing on the sea. He sends them to you for your sport, that on the feast of St. John Baptist you may set them bound to stakes in the meadow, and let the archers shoot at them, trying who shall shoot the best. This damsel whom I have with me shall, if it please you, be put with your daughter that she may learn the French tongue more perfectly." "All this," answered the Admiral, "shall be done as you desire. Now, for the present, put these caitiffs in prison, and see that they have enough of meat and drink that they die not of famine, as there lately died in this place one Huon of Bordeaux. A fair knight he was, albeit he was a Christian."
When Gerames heard these words he was greatly troubled. Such was his anger that he had much ado to keep himself from running at the Admiral to slay him; but with a staff that he had, he smote the false prisoners that he had so hardly that the blood ran down. And they, for fear of the Admiral, durst not stir; nevertheless they cursed Gerames in their hearts. Said the Admiral, "Fair nephew, it seems to me that you have but little love for Christian men." "Even so, sir," answered Gerames; "three times a day do I beat them in honour of my God Mahomet." Then he led the Frenchmen to prison, beating them as he went, but none of them durst say one word.
As they went, they met the Lady Esclairmonde, who said, "Cousin, I am right glad of your coming, and now let me tell you of a private matter, if you will promise to keep it secret." "That will I do right willingly," answered Gerames. "Listen, then," said the damsel. "There came to this place some five months since a French knight, bringing a message from King Charlemagne. Him, my father, taking the message that he brought very ill, put in prison. I persuaded my father, for a reason that I had, that this Huon is dead of hunger, but in truth he is alive, and, indeed, is as well served with meat and drink as is my father himself."
Gerames made no answer, doubting what might be in the damsel's heart, and fearing that it might be a device for discovering the truth concerning himself. He spake no word, therefore, but thrust the Frenchmen roughly into the prison.
Now the prison was so dark that Huon could not by any means discover who they might be that had thus been brought into his company. But in a short space he heard one of them lamenting his hard fate, and praying to the Lord Christ that He would succour them, "For," said he, "Thou knowest that we have done no wrong that we should be cast into this place, having come hither for the sake of our young lord Huon." When Huon heard this, he knew that they were Frenchmen, and said, "Tell me now, fair sir, what has befallen you." So the lord told him his story. And Huon, when he had heard it, said, "I am Huon, safe, and in good health, thanks to the fair Esclairmonde, who is, indeed, a Christian damsel at the heart." Then the Frenchmen began to complain right bitterly concerning Gerames, saying that he was the worst and cruellest traitor on earth. "Nay," said Huon, "be content, Gerames has done all this to deliver us, as you will soon know for a certainty." And so it happened, for Gerames, having had more talk with the fair Esclairmonde, and having heard that she was well disposed in her heart to Huon and his companions, came that night to the dungeon, and declared the truth. "Only," said he, "we must wait awhile till there shall be a fitting opportunity."
After seven days there came to the palace a great giant, Agrapart by name, brother to Angolafer, whom Huon had slain. The purpose of his coming was to demand from the Admiral the tribute that had been paid by custom to his brother. Now the Admiral was sitting at dinner when he came, and the giant came to the table, and said, "You are a false traitor, for you harbour a villain that by some foul means slew my brother Angolafer." And when he had so spoken, he reached out his hand, and dragged the Admiral from his seat so rudely that the crown upon his head fell to the ground. This, done, he himself sat down in the Admiral's chair, and said, "My will is that you pay me the tribute that you were wont to pay my brother, for that which was his has by right come to me. Yet I offer you this grace, you shall choose you two men who may fight a joust with me. If they can overcome me, then shall you and your land be free of your tax; but if I overcome them, then shall you pay the double."