Setting all of us to work, both Turks and Christians, with renewed hope
and strength, in six hours we doubled the point, and found ourselves in
calmer water, so that we could better use our oars; and the Turks saw a
prospect of going on shore to see if there were any remains of the
galley that had been wrecked the night before. But Heaven denied me the
consolation I hoped for in seeing in my arms the body of Leonisa. I
asked a renegade, who was about to land, to look for it and see if it
had been cast on the strand. But, as I have said, Heaven denied me this
consolation, for at that moment the wind rose with such fresh fury that
the shelter of the island was no longer of any avail to us.

"Seeing this, Fatallah would no longer strive against the fortune that
so persecuted him. He ordered some sail to be spread, turned the prow to
the sea and the poop to the wind, and himself taking the helm, let the
vessel run over the wide sea, secure of not being crossed in his way by
any impediment. The oars were all placed in their regular positions, the
whole crew was seated on the benches, and no one else was seen on foot
in the whole galley but the boatswain, who had lashed himself strongly
amidship for his greater security. The vessel flew so swiftly that in
three days and nights, passing in sight of Trapani, Melazo, and Palermo,
she entered the straits of Messina, to the dismay of all on board, and
of the spectators on shore. Not to be as long-winded as the storm that
buffeted us, I will only say that wearied, famishing, and exhausted by
such a long run, almost all round the island of Sicily, we arrived at
Tripoli, where my master, before he had divided the booty with his
partners, and accounted to the king for one-fifth part, according to
custom, was seized with such a pleurisy that in three days it carried
him off to hell.

"The king of Tripoli, and the alcayde of the Grand Turk, who, as you
know, is heir to all those who die without natural heirs, immediately
took possession of all Fatallah's effects. I became the property of the
then viceroy of Tripoli, who a fortnight afterwards received the patent
appointing him viceroy of Cyprus, and hither I am come with him without
any intention of redeeming myself. He has often told me to do so, since
I am a man of station, as Fatallah's soldiers informed him; I have never
complied, but have declared that he was deceived by those who had
exaggerated my means. If you would have me te