ime, for
Hassan's term of office was drawing to a close, and the arrangement of
any ransom was a slow process, involving much patient bargaining. Hassan
refused to accept less than five hundred gold ducats for his slave; the
available funds fell short of this amount, and the balance was collected
from the Christian traders of Algiers. Cervantes was already embarked
for Constantinople when the money was paid on the 19th of September
1580. The first use that he made of his liberty was to cause affidavits
of his proceedings at Algiers to be drawn up; he sailed for Spain
towards the end of October, landed at Denia in November, and made his
way to Madrid. He signed an information before a notary in that city on
the 18th of December 1580.

These dates prove that he cannot, as is often alleged, have served under
Alva in the Portuguese campaign of 1580: that campaign ended with the
battle of Alcantara on the 25th of August 1580. It seems certain,
however, that he visited Portugal soon after his return from Algiers,
and in May 1581 he was sent from Thomar on a mission to Oran. Construed
literally, a formal statement of his services, signed by Cervantes on
the 21st of May 1590, makes it appear that he served in the Azores
campaigns of 1582-83; but the wording of the document is involved, the
claims of Cervantes are confused with those of his brother Rodrigo (who
was promoted ensign at the Azores), and on the whole it is doubtful if
he took part in either of the expeditions under Santa Cruz. In any case,
the stories of his residence in Portugal, and of his love affairs with a
noble Portuguese lady who bore him a daughter, are simple inventions.
From 1582-3 to 1587 Cervantes seems to have written copiously for the
stage, and in the _Adjunta al Parnaso_ he mentions several of his plays
as "worthy of praise"; these were _Los Tratos de Argel, La Numancia, La
Gran Turquesa, La Batalla naval, La Jerusalem, La Amaranta o la de Mayo,
El Bosque amoroso, La Unica y Bizarra Arsinda_--"and many others which I
do not remember, but that which I most prize and pique myself on was,
and is, one called _La Confusa_ which, with all respect to as many
sword-and-cloak plays as have been staged up to the present, may take a
prominent place as being good among the best." Of these only _Los Tratos
de Argel_ (or _El Trato de Argel_) and _La Numancia_ have survived, and,
though _La Numancia_ contains many fine rhetorical passages, both plays
go to prove th