diamonds, was too much for his self-denial,
and he took it and was bearing it off, notwithstanding the
remonstrances of Orlando, when a violent wind caught him and whirled
him back, as he approached the gate. This happened a second and a third
time, and Rinaldo at length yielded to necessity, rather than to the
entreaties of his friends, and cast away his prize.

They soon reached the bridge and passed over without hindrance to the
other side, where they found the trophy decorated with their arms. Here
each knight resumed his own, and all, except the paladins and their
friends, separated as their inclinations or duty prompted. Dudon, the
Dane, one of the rescued knights, informed the cousins that he had been
made prisoner by Morgana while in the discharge of an embassy to them
from Charlemagne, who called upon them to return to the defence of
Christendom. Orlando was too much fascinated by Angelica to obey this
summons, and, followed by the faithful Florismart, who would not leave
him, returned towards Albracca. Rinaldo, Dudon, Iroldo, Prasildo, and
the others took their way toward the west.

THE INVASION OF FRANCE

Agramant, King of Africa, convoked the kings, his vassals, to
deliberate in council. He reminded them of the injuries he had
sustained from France, that his father had fallen in battle with
Charlemagne, and that his early years had hitherto not allowed him to
wipe out the stain of former defeats. He now proposed to them to carry
war into France.

Sobrino, his wisest councillor, opposed the project, representing the
rashness of it; but Rodomont, the young and fiery king of Algiers,
denounced Sobrino's counsel as base and cowardly, declaring himself
impatient for the enterprise. The king of the Garamantes, venerable for
his age and renowned for his prophetic lore, interposed, and assured
the King that such an attempt would be sure to fail, unless he could
first get on his side a youth marked out by destiny as the fitting
compeer of the most puissant knights of France, the young Rogero,
descended in direct line from Hector of Troy. This prince was now a
dweller upon the mountain Carena, where Atlantes, his foster-father, a
powerful magician, kept him in retirement, having discovered by his art
that his pupil would be lost to him if allowed to mingle with the
world. To break the spells of Atlantes, and draw Rogero from his
retirement, one only means was to be found. It was a ring possessed by
Angelica,