ecessary. At length he
reached Cyprus, and, on entering the bay, there he beheld the galley
of Joanna and Berengaria riding safely at anchor in the offing. The
sea had not yet gone down, and the vessel was rolling and tossing on
the waves in a fearful manner. Richard was greatly enraged at
beholding this spectacle, for he at once inferred, by seeing the
vessel in this uncomfortable situation outside the harbor, that some
difficulty with the authorities had occurred which prevented her
seeking refuge and protection within. Accordingly, as soon as he came
near, he leaped into a boat, although burdened as he was with heavy
armor of steel, which was a difficult and somewhat dangerous
operation, and ordered himself to be rowed immediately on board.

When he arrived, after the first greetings were over, he was informed
by Stephen that three of the vessels of his fleet had been wrecked on
the coast; that Isaac, the king, had seized them as his lawful prize;
and that, at that very time, men that he had sent for this purpose
were plundering the wrecks. Stephen also said that he had at first
gone into the harbor with his galley, but that the indications of an
unfriendly feeling on the part of the king were so decided that he
did not dare to stay, and he had been compelled to come out into the
offing.

On hearing these things Richard was greatly enraged. He sent a
messenger on shore to the king to demand peremptorily that he should
at once leave off plundering the wrecks of the English ships, and that
he should deliver up to Richard again all the goods that had already
been taken. To this demand Isaac replied that whatever goods the sea
cast upon the shores of his island were his property, according to the
law of the land, and that he should take them without asking leave of
any body.

When Richard heard this answer, he was rather pleased than displeased
with it, for it gave him, what he always wanted wherever he went, a
pretext for quarreling. He said that the goods which Isaac obtained in
that way he would find would cost him pretty dear, and he immediately
prepared for war.

In this transaction there is no question that the King of Cyprus,
though wholly wrong, and guilty of a real and inexcusable violation of
the rights of property, had yet the law on his side. It was one of
those cases, of which innumerable examples have existed in all ages of
the world, where an act which is virtually the robbing of one man by
another i