Wherein Periander pursues his pleasant narrative.

It was the beautiful Sinforosa who hung with the greatest delight upon the words of Periander, such was the charm and grace of his manner in relating his adventures.

"That night," said he, "we all went over to a small island in the middle of the river, invited by its verdant appearance, and the tranquillity of the spot. The newly-married couples, without openly showing their satisfaction, were diligent, and anxious, to give all the pleasure in their power to those to whom they owed their present happiness; and they gave orders that in this little islet of the river the festivities should be renewed, and should continue for three days.

"The season of the year, which was summer, the beauty of the place, the brilliant moonlight, the murmuring of the stream, the fruit covered trees, the fragrance of the flowers, each of these separately, and altogether, invited us to resolve that we would remain here whilst the festivities lasted; but scarcely had we reached the isle, when from a little grove, which was in it, rushed forth a band of fifty men, lightly armed, like those who rob and run away; and as the unwary when attacked, are overcome through their surprise, almost without attempting to defend ourselves,—bewildered by the suddenness of the assault, we gazed upon the robbers instead of attacking them, who, like hungry wolves that have beset a flock of innocent sheep, carried off, if not in their mouths, yet in their arms, my sister Auristella, her nurse Clelia, and Silviana, and Leoncia, as if it was only for them that they came, for they left many other women who were extremely beautiful.

"I, whom the strangeness of the event had rendered furious rather than stupified, rushed after the robbers, following them with loud cries, insulting them as if they were men capable of feeling insults, in the hope that by irritating them I might move them to return and take vengeance for it; but intent only on their prey, they neither seemed to hear or to wish for revenge, but disappeared with their prizes. Then the bridegrooms and myself, with some of the principal fishermen, took counsel together what we had better do to recover our lost ones; one said, 'it is not possible but that there must be in these seas some vessel belonging to these robbers, and in some place from whence they have easily landed, perhaps being aware of our meeting and festivities; if it be thus, as I imagine, the best remedy will be for some of our boats to go out and offer any ransom for the captives that they may require without any reserve.'

"'This business shall be mine,' I then exclaimed, 'for to me my sister is worth more than anything else in the whole world,' and Carino and Solercio said the same. They wept openly—I was raging inwardly. When we had come to this resolution, it was beginning to grow dark; nevertheless the two bridegrooms and I, got into a boat with six oars, but when we reached the open sea, night had closed in, and we could distinguish no ship at all in the darkness. We resolved to wait for daylight, in the hope of then discovering some vessel. It so happened that we did see two, one that was just leaving the shore, and another that was approaching it; I knew that the one which was departing, was the very same ship in which we had come to the island, for her flags as well as her sails were all marked with a red cross, the other had hers, green, and both were pirates.

"Then, as I imagined, that the ship which was leaving the shore was the one which contained our robbers and their prizes, I put a white flag on the end of a lance, and came near the ship's side to treat about the ransom, being careful not to be taken myself. The captain appeared on the deck, and when I was about to raise my voice and speak to him, I must confess I was startled and disturbed at being cut short in my attempt by a loud and frightful noise, proceeding from a discharge of artillery; this came from the vessel that was outermost, and was a message of defiance to the other vessel that was near the land; it was quickly answered by a return not less tremendous, and then began a cannonading between the two ships, like two fierce and furious enemies.

"We withdrew our little boat from the scene of combat, and from a distance we surveyed the fight. After the firing had lasted an hour, the two ships grappled one another with unexampled fury. The men of the outermost vessel, either more daring or more valiant, leapt into the other ship, and cleared her decks in a few minutes, killing all, without sparing a single soul on board; then, finding themselves masters, they proceeded to pillage the ship of everything valuable that she contained, which was not much, seeing that she was only a pirate vessel, but in my estimation she held what was more precious than anything else in the whole world, for they got possession of my sister and Clelia, and Silviana, and Leoncia, thus carrying a rich cargo to their own vessel, for they saw that the beauty of Auristella would ensure an unheard-of ransom. I wished to row near the ship, and speak to the captain of the conquerors—but the winds have been ever to me a source of misfortune,—a land breeze sprung up, which carried the ship rapidly away, and made it quite impossible for me to reach it, or to offer impossibilities as a ransom for their prize.

"Thus then were we obliged to return hopeless of recovering our lost ones, and knowing nothing of her course except that she had gone before the wind. We knew noth............