"The galleys came in at last with a Moorish brigantine that they had taken; the same day the soldiers were put on board in irons, the clothes they wore were taken off, and they were dressed in those worn by the rowers. A sad and miserable change, yet light, for the hardship that does not destroy life, custom will at last alleviate. They came to undress me, the boatswain ordered them to wash my face, for I had not strength to lift an arm; the barber who attended the crew looked at me and said, 'I shall spoil but few razors with this beard. I wonder what they have sent us this boy for, who looks as if he was made of china ware, as if our galleys were made of gingerbread, and our oars of sweetmeat. Eh, boy, what crime hast thou committed to deserve this punishment? I doubt not but that thou art brought to this by the sins of others;' and then continuing his discourse to the boatswain, he said, 'Truly, master, it would be much better to send this boy to the general with a chain to his leg, for at the oar he won't be worth a farthing.'
"This talk, and the thoughts of my misfortune, which now seemed to have reached its climax, so overcame me that I fell down in a swoon, and lay as if dead. I have been told that it was four hours before I came to myself, during which time they had done everything in their power to restore me to my senses, and what I should most have felt, if I had been conscious, was, that they must have discovered I was no man, but a woman. I recovered at last, and the first thing I saw was the face of my brother and of my husband, the latter held me in his arms. I do not know how it was that I did not die that moment; I do not know how it was that my tongue did not cleave to the roof of my mouth; all I know is, that I knew not what they said to me; but, I heard my brother say, 'What means this dress, my sister?' and my husband said, 'What is this disguise, my soul? If I did not know so well your virtue and honour, my sweet wife, this dress should be exchanged only for a shroud.' 'Your wife?' said my brother, 'this seems as strange a story to me as it is to find her thus disguised; but if it be true, it would be a sufficient recompense for the trouble it causes me to see her thus.'
"At this instant I had begun to recover my scattered senses, and I remember that I said, 'Dear brother, I am Ambrosia Agustina, thy sister, I am also the wife of Señor Contarino de Arbolanchez; Love, and thy absence, O my brother, gave him to me as a husband; but, on the wedding day he left me, and I, rash, desperate, and inconsiderate, set off to seek him in this disguise.' Then I told them all the story I have already narrated, and I had the good fortune (for now my fortune was beginning to amend) to find that they believed me, and pitied me. I then heard that my husband had been taken prisoner with one of the two vessels in which he had sailed for Genoa, and that it was only two days ago that he had recovered his liberty, and had had no time or opportunity to see my brother till the moment of my fainting. Events so strange are hardly credible, yet it is all as I have said. In these galleys the lady whom you saw with me was going to Italy with her two nieces; her son has the charge of the royal patrimony in Sicily; they supplied me with the dress I now wear, and my husband and brother sent us on shore to refresh and amuse ourselves, and see the friends that they have in this city. If you are going to Rome, I will make my brother convey you to the nearest seaport. The case of cordials I would fain repay with the best I possess; and if I should not myself go to Italy, I would ask my brother to take my debt upon him. This, my friends, is my history; if you should find it hard to believe I cannot wonder; but there is a common saying that it is courtesy to believe, and, in yours, which must be great, I place my credit."
Thus the fair Ambrosia ended her story; and now her hearers began to express their interest and admiration, and to discuss the different circumstances of the case; and then Constance and Auristella began embracing Ambrosia, who was to return to her home by her husband's desire, because, however charming and lovely she may be, the company of a wife is embarrassing in times of war to a husband.
That night the sea ran very high, so much so that it was necessary to loosen the galleys that were anchored in the bay, which in this part was not safe for them. The courteous Catalans, a people terrible when angry, and most supremely courteous when at peace, to maintain both which qualities they almost outdo themselves, which is therefore outdoing all other nations, visited and feasted the Lady Ambrosia as much as was possible.
Auristella, who had learned by experience what it was to encounter a storm at sea, would not embark in the galleys, but determined to go by way of France, which was then quiet. Ambrosia returned to Aragón. The galleys continued their voyage, and the pilgrims their journey, entering France by way of Perpignan.
CHAPTER XIII.
Our party wished to take Perpignan as their first entrance into France. The adventures of Ambrosia furnished them with conversation for some days, her great youth forming some excuse for her many errors, and they all were disposed to find pardon for her rashness in the great love she bore her husband. She had, as I before said, returned home to her own country; the galleys had gone on their voyage, and our pilgrims on their journey.