cked guile,
False Afric's scourge I ever will remain,
And turn to streaming blood Morocco's soil;
That hateful Prince of Barbary shall rue
The just reward which is his treason's due."

These words so encouraged the Princess that when she awoke she went to
her sire, and entreated him, with scalding tears, to dismiss Almidor
from his court, and to allow her to enjoy that single blessedness for
which she professed to have for the present so ardent an admiration.
The King at length, softened by her grief, consented to her request,
and, with many courteous expressions, informed the black Monarch that
his daughter had finally resolved to decline his proposals. This
announcement created the greatest fury in the breast of Almidor.

Calling around him all the knights and the numerous other attendants who
had followed him to the court of Bagabornabou, he told them that, as he
had been insulted and deceived, he was determined to be revenged.

With loud cries and burning brands the treacherous Moors that night
attacked the palace where they had been long hospitably entertained,
and, amid the confusion, Almidor, seizing the Princess, bore her off on
his coal-black charger. In vain her father with his warriors pursued.
The fierce Almidor galloped with his captive across the burning sands,
which none but Moorish steed could traverse at the speed he went.
Hatred, not love, animated his bosom, and thus, instead of wedding her
as he had purposed, he cast her into a dark dungeon, where, her
beauteous charms concealed from the light of day, she for many a long
and anxious year bewailed her pitiable and cruel fate. Happily, ere she
left her father's home, a kind fairy, knowing full well what was to be
her fate, had presented her with a golden chain of most rare
workmanship. Seven days had it been steeped in tiger's blood, and seven
nights in dragon's milk, by which it had attained such excellent virtue,
that, as the fairy told her, if she wore it wrapped seven times round
her alabaster neck, it would preserve her from all violence, and enable
her to retain that enchanting beauty which had won the noble Champion's
heart, and brought so many suitors to her feet. Thus armed, she feared
not even the fierce Almidor's cruelty.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE ADVENTURES OF SAINT DENIS OF FRANCE.

On parting from his comrades, the gallant Champion of France, the famed
Saint Denis, attended by his squire, Le Crapeau, wandered away throug