nsom, as a contribution towards the payment of the sum
for which he was a hostage.

"It was nearly a year before the ship returned with the redemption
money. What befel me in that year would, of itself, furnish matter for
another history too long to relate at present. I will only say, that I
was recognised by one of the twenty Turks whom I liberated with the
Christians on the occasion already mentioned; but he was so grateful and
so honest, that he would not betray me, for had the Turks known me to be
the person who had sunk two of their galleys, and despoiled them of the
great Indian galleon, they would either have put me to death, or
presented me to the Grand Turk, in which case I should never have
recovered my liberty. Finally, the Redemptorist father came to Spain
with me, and fifty other ransomed Christians. We made a general
procession in Valentia, and from that place we dispersed and took each
his own several way, wearing this garb in token of the means by which we
had been released. For myself, I arrived to-day in this city, burning
with desire to see Isabella, my betrothed, and asked my way at once to
the convent, where I was to hear of her. What happened there you all
know. It now only remains for me to exhibit these certificates to
satisfy you of the truth of my strange story."

So saying, he produced the documents from a tin case, and placed them in
the hands of the vicar-general, who examined them along with the chief
justice, and found nothing in them to make him doubt the truth of what
Richard had stated. Moreover, for the fuller confirmation of his story,
Heaven ordained that among the persons present should be that very
Florentine merchant on whom the bill for sixteen hundred ducats was
drawn. He asked to see it, found it genuine, and accepted it on the
spot, for he had received advice of it several months before. Thereupon
Richard confirmed the promise he had made of contributing five hundred
ducats to the funds of the Redemptorist fathers. The chief justice
embraced him, Isabella, and her parents, and complimented them all in
the most courteous terms. So, too, did the vicar-general, who requested
Isabella to commit this whole story to writing, that he might lay it
before his superior, the archbishop, and this she promised to do.

The deep silence in which the audience had listened to this
extraordinary narrative was broken by thanksgivings to God for his great
marvels; and all present, from the high