to console him,
to diminish the weight with which his spirits were oppressed, and to
make him forget the wretched condition into which he had been sunk.

Orlando, in recovering his reason, found himself also delivered from
his insane attachment to the queen of Cathay. His heart felt now no
further influenced by the recollection of her than to be moved with an
ardent desire to retrieve his fame by some distinguished exploit.
Astolpho would gladly have yielded to him the chief command of the
army, but Orlando would not take from the friend to whom he owed so
much the glory of the campaign; but in everything the two paladins
acted in concert, and united their counsels. They proposed to make a
general assault on the city of Biserta, and were only waiting a
favorable moment, when their plan was interrupted by new events.

Agramant, after the bloody battle which followed the infraction of the
truce, found himself so weak that he saw it was in vain to attempt to
remain in France. So, in concert with Sobrino, the bravest and most
trusted of his chiefs, he embarked to return to his own country, having
previously sent off his few remaining troops in the same direction. The
vessel which carried Agramant and Sobrino approached the shore where
the army of Astolpho lay encamped before Biserta, and having discovered
this fact before it was too late, the king commanded the pilot to steer
eastward, with a view to seek protection of the King of Egypt. But the
weather becoming rough, he consented to the advice of his companions,
and sought harbor in an island which lies between Sicily and Africa.
There he found Gradasso, the warlike king of Sericane, who had come to
France to possess himself of the horse Bayard and the sword Durindana;
and having procured both these prizes was returning to his own country.

The two kings, who had been companions in arms under the walls of
Paris, embraced one another affectionately. Gradasso learned with
regret the reverses of Agramant, and offered him his troops and his
person. He strongly deprecated resorting to Egypt for aid. "Remember
the great Pompey," said he, "and shun that fatal shore. My plan," he
continued, "is this: I mean to challenge Orlando to single combat.
Possessed of such a sword and steed as mine, if he were made of steel
or bronze, he could not escape me. He being removed, there will be no
difficulty in driving back the Abyssinians. We will rouse against them
the Moslem nations from