"This done, and having offered our prayers to Heaven to implore that our voyage might be propitious, and that our intentions might have a blessing upon them, I gave the word of command to set the sails, for they were all made fast to the yards, and to take advantage of the wind, which as I before said, blew off shore; and gay as gallant, and gallant as determined, we followed in the same track that we had seen the pirate vessel take with her prey.
"You, my friends, who are listening to my history, behold me turned now into a fisherman and match-maker, rich in the possession of a beloved sister, next robbed by pirates, and poor, deprived of her, raised to the rank of a captain in order to regain my treasure, and say whether the changes of my fortune have not reached a point almost unparalleled and boundless, so as to fatigue your patience in listening to them."
"Not so, my friend," said Arnoldo, "for if you are not weary of relating your adventures and misfortunes, we shall not be tired of hearing them, be they ever so numerous."
"If possible," answered Periander, "I will bring my story to an end to-morrow night, although it is yet hardly begun."
All agreed that they would meet again for the purpose of hearing him relate it, in the same place on the following evening.
CHAPTER XIV.
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.