e begged the generals to let him return
home, they would refuse, and tell him that he would have to remain with
them as a hostage for his father's neutrality. Thus was he for many
days on the march.

One day, however, there was a great stir in camp, and it did not escape
the attention of the boy. There was talk about breaking camp, or
withdrawing the troops, of embarking on ships; and Almansor was beside
himself with joy. "For now," he reasoned, "when the Franks are about to
return to their own country, they will surely set me at liberty." They
all marched back towards the coast, and at last reached a point from
which they could see their ships riding at anchor. The soldiers began
to embark, but it was night before many of them were on the vessels.
Anxious as Almansor was to keep awake--for he believed he would soon be
set at liberty--he finally sank into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he
found himself in a very small room, not the one in which he had gone to
sleep in. He sprang from his couch; but when he struck the floor, he
fell over, as the floor reeled back and forth, and every thing seemed
to be moving and dancing around him. He at last got up, steadied
himself against the walls, and attempted to make his way out of the
room.

A strange roaring and rushing was to be heard all about him. He knew
not whether he waked or dreamed; for he had never heard anything at all
like it. Finally he reached a small stair-case, which he climbed with
much difficulty, and what a sensation of terror crept over him! For all
around nothing was to be seen but sea and sky; he was on board a ship!
He began to weep bitterly. He wanted to be taken back, and would have
thrown himself into the sea with the purpose of swimming to land if the
Franks had not held him fast. One of the officers called him up, and
promised that he should soon be sent home if he would be obedient, and
represented to him that it would not have been possible to send him
home across the country, and that if they had left him behind he would
have perished miserably.

But the Franks did not keep faith with him; for the ship sailed on for
many days, and when it finally reached land, it was not the Egyptian,
but the Frankish coast. During the long voyage, and in their camp too,
Almansor had learned to understand and to speak the language of the
Franks; and this was of great service to him now, in a country where
nobody knew his own language. He was taken a long journey t