Wherein is related from whence came the Ship and who the Persons were that came in her.

The salute on both sides, land and sea, having passed as I already told, the ship came to an anchor and lowered her boat. The first person who got into it (after four sailors had arranged carpets and prepared their oars) was an old man, apparently about seventy years of age, dressed in a robe of black velvet which reached to his feet, and girded round the waist with a silken sash; on his head he wore a high crowned hat, lined with plush. A lively graceful lad of about four-and-twenty, dressed like a sailor in black velvet, with a golden-hilted sword in his hand, and a dagger in his belt, leaped into the boat next, and seated himself. Immediately after, a man, heavily laden with chains, and a woman also bound with him, and entangled in the same fetters, were flung down into it from the ship. The man seemed about forty years of age; the woman looked about fifty. He was of an animated and indignant aspect; she melancholy and dejected. The sailors plied their oars, and soon reached the shore. The old man, the youth, and the two prisoners, were carried to land by the seamen and archers who guarded the prisoners. Transila, who with the rest had attentively watched the arrival of the strangers, turning to Auristella, said, "I pray you, lady, to cover my face with the veil you have upon your arm; for, unless I greatly mistake, there are persons in yonder boat whom I know, and by whom I am known." Auristella did as she desired; at the same moment the strangers came up to them, and met with a very courteous reception from all. The old man, in velvet, walked straight up to Transila, saying: "If my science deceives me not, and fortune does not prove unkind, this meeting will show that I am favoured by her." So saying he lifted the veil from Transila's face, and fell fainting into the arms she extended to save him from falling to the ground. It cannot be doubted that an event, so new and so unexpected, struck the bystanders with wonder and amazement. Still more, when they heard Transila say, "O my beloved father! what a meeting is this! what can have brought your venerable grey hairs and your great age into lands so distant from your own?"

"What should have brought him here," interposed the eager youth; "but to seek for the happiness he had lost with you. He and I, sweetest lady and my betrothed wife, came seeking in the north our only guide for a port wherein to rest. Thanks be to Heaven we have found it here! Hasten, lady, to recall your father Maurice to life, and make me a sharer in his joy, by acknowledging him as your father, and me as your lawful husband." Maurice revived, but only to see Transila in her turn sink down in a swoon. Auristella came to help her, for Ladislaus (so was the young stranger called) ventured not to assist, so great was the respect he owed to Transila. However, as swoons, caused by joy, are seldom of long duration, Transila soon recovered, and the master of the inn now said, "Come, sirs, and let me lead you to a place where, more conveniently and with less cold than here, you may give some account of your adventures." They took his advice and followed him to the house, which they found capacious enough to lodge a whole fleet.

The two chained prisoners were lifted on their feet, the archers who guarded them helped to support their fetters. Some persons hastened to the ships, and with as much haste as good will brought thence refreshments, and all that was needed. They got lights, set the tables, and before anything else was thought of they all began to satisfy their hunger, more with various kinds of fish than meat, for of that there was none, except some birds which are found in these parts in great numbers, so numerous in fact, t............