I made him drink, and thanking him heartily, wished him good night.  His warning struck me as deserving my attention, for, if I had no fear of the ‘cataramonachia’, in which I had not the slightest faith, I feared certain poisons which might be by far more efficient.  I passed a very quiet night, but at day-break I got up, and without saying anything to my lieutenant, I went straight to the church where I found the priest, and addressed him in the following words, uttered in a tone likely to enforce conviction: 

“On the first symptom of fever, I will shoot you like a dog.  Throw over me a curse which will kill me instantly, or make your will.  Farewell!”

Having thus warned him, I returned to my royal palace.  Early on the following Monday, the papa called on me.  I had a slight headache; he enquired after my health, and when I told him that my head felt rather heavy, he made me laugh by the air of anxiety with which he assured me that it could be caused by nothing else than the heavy atmosphere of the island of Casopo.

Three days after his visit, the advanced sentinel gave the war-cry.  The lieutenant went out to reconnoitre, and after a short absence he gave me notice that the long boat of an armed vessel had just landed an officer.  Danger was at hand.

I go out myself, I call my men to arms, and, advancing a few steps, I see an officer, accompanied by a guide, who was walking towards my dwelling.  As he was alone, I had nothing to fear.  I return to my room, giving orders to my lieutenant to receive him with all military honours and to introduce him.  Then, girding my sword, I wait for my visitor.

In a few minutes, Adjutant Minolto, the same who had brought me the order to put myself under arrest, makes his appearance.

“You are alone,” I say to him, “and therefore you come as a friend.  Let us embrace.”

“I must come as a friend, for, as an enemy, I should not have enough men.  But what I see seems a dream.”

“Take a seat, and dine with me.  I will treat you splendidly.”

“Most willingly, and after dinner we will leave the island together.”

“You may go alone, if you like; but I will not leave this place until I have the certainty, not only that I shall not be sent to the ‘bastarda’, but also that I shall have every satisfaction from the knave whom the general ought to send to the galleys.”

“Be reasonable, and come with me of your own accord.  My orders are to take you by force, but as I have not enough men to do so, I shall make my report, and the general will, of course, send a force sufficient to arrest you.”

“Never; I will not be taken alive.”

“You must be mad; believe me, you are in the wrong.  You have disobeyed the order I brought you to go to the ’bastarda; in that you have acted wrongly, and in that alone, for in every other respect you were perfectly right, the general himself says so.”