st then a band of young men issued from the town, and the captain's
good humour was restored as they hurried towards him. They seemed to be
much excited, and talked in loud tones as they advanced, their manners
and costumes indicating that they belonged to the upper ranks of
society.

One of the band, a fair youth, towered, like Saul, head and shoulders
above his fellows. Another, of dark complexion, handsome features, and
elegant, active frame, hurried forward to salute the captain.

"I fear we have kept you waiting," he said with a pleasant expression
that disarmed reproof.

"I will not deny that, Dromas," answered the captain, "but you have not
detained me long. Nevertheless, I was on the point of sailing without
your friend, for the winds and waves respect no one."

"But you are neither a wind nor a wave," remarked the youth.

"True, but I am the humble friend of both," retorted the captain, "and
am bound to accommodate myself to them. I suppose this is the prince
you spoke of," he added, turning to the towering youth already referred
to, with the air of a man who had as little--or as much--regard for a
prince as a peasant.

"Yes, Captain Arkal, this is Prince Bladud. Let me present him to you."

As the prince and the seaman joined hands the latter looked up from an
altitude of five feet six and squared his broad shoulders with the air
of a man ready to defy all creation, and anxious rather than otherwise
to do so. The prince, on the other hand, looked down from an eminence
of six feet seven, and bent his head with a modest grace and a genial
smile that indicated a desire to be on good terms, if possible, with the
world at large.

Although almost equal as to physical strength, the inequality of the two
men in height rendered their experience in those rude warlike times very
dissimilar, for, whereas the sailor was often compelled to give proof of
his strength to tall unbelievers, the prince very seldom had occasion to
do so. Hence, partly, their difference in manner, the one being
somewhat pugnacious and the other conciliatory, while both were in
reality good-natured, peace-loving men.

No two men, however, could have been more unlike in outward aspect. The
prince was, if we may say so, built on the Gothic model--fair,
blue-eyed, bulky of limb, huge, muscular, massive, with a soft beard and
moustache--for he had not yet seen twenty-four summers--and hair that
fell like rippling gold on his shoulders