eated by the governor, and Fernando, though the hardships he
had gone through had told heavily on his health, did all he could to
help his friends, who fared no better than himself, and devoted what
money was left to him to ransoming those who had been for some years in
captivity.

For seven months Fernando and his companions remained in Arzilla, and
during all that time both he and his gaoler, Salat-ben-Salat, expected
to receive answers to the many letters the captive prince had been
suffered to write to Enrique respecting his promise to surrender Ceuta,
where he stayed for some time after the embarkation of the Portuguese
army. But after five months the only news that reached Arzilla was that
Enrique had returned to Portugal; so Fernando then wrote to the king
himself, imploring that he would redeem his pledge and set him free. It
seemed little to ask, seeing that a treaty is considered sacred, and
Duarte, from every point of view, was ready to fulfil the stipulation;
but there was a strong party in the state which held that a Christian
city should never be delivered up to the unbelievers, and even Enrique
advised him instead to offer a large ransom and the Moorish captives
then in Portugal in exchange for the infante.

* * * * *

Always distrustful of his own opinion, and fearful of taking any decided
action, Duarte next appealed for counsel to the pope and to the kings of
all the countries of Europe. They sent the politest and most sympathetic
answers to his questions. No words could express their admiration for
dom Fernando's patience under his sufferings, and their pity for his
hard lot, but--faith with Moslems need never be kept, and at all costs
Ceuta must be retained.

Thus, after all, it was the Christians, and not the Moslems, who failed
to keep their word and were responsible for the death of Fernando.

* * * * *

At length news reached Fernando that dom John was starting with a fleet
for his rescue, and then the doom which he dreaded befell him, for he
was sent with his fellow-captives at once to Fez, a city far in the
interior, and delivered over to Lazuraque, the vizier of the young king,
a man whose name was a proverb of cruelty throughout the whole of
Barbary. On their arrival at Fez, after a journey in which the whole
population turned out to howl at and to stone them, they were thrust
into a tiny cell without a ray of light. The four