were parted, because there was no remedy, and policy demanded she
should wed King Theodoret.

And the tale tells how Perion sailed with his retainers to seek
desperate service under the harried Kaiser of the Greeks.

This venture was ill-fated, since, as the Free Companions were passing
not far from Masillia, their vessel being at the time becalmed, they
were attacked by three pagan galleys under the admiralty of the
proconsul Demetrios. Perion's men, who fought so hardily on land, were
novices at sea. They were powerless against an adversary who, from a
great distance, showered liquid fire upon their vessel.

Then Demetrios sent little boats and took some thirty prisoners from
the blazing ship, and made slaves of all save Ahasuerus the Jew, whom
he released on being informed of the lean man's religion. It was a
customary boast of this Demetrios that he made war on Christians only.

And presently, as Perion had commanded, Ahasuerus came to Melicent.

The princess sat in a high chair, the back of which was capped with a
big lion's head in brass. It gleamed above her head, but was less
glorious than her bright hair.

Ahasuerus made dispassionate report. "Thus painfully I have delivered,
as my task was, these fine messages concerning Faith and Love and Death
and so on. Touching their rationality I may reserve my own opinion. I
am merely Perion's echo. Do I echo madness? This madman was my loved
and honoured master once, a lord without any peer in the fields where
men contend in battle. To-day those sinews which preserved a throne are