one
cabbage-row to another, and always manage to keep a yard or two ahead of
the boy who chases it. At last, however, he alighted close by the side
of Roger, whereupon the Prince cried to his lady: "I will catch him and
give him a ride to break him in for you;" and, seizing hold of the
bridle in his left hand, he vaulted on to the back of the Hippogrif, who
stood still without attempting to escape, as if to acknowledge that here
he had found his proper master. But the Prince was no sooner fairly in
the saddle than his strange steed shot up fifty feet straight into the
air, and, taking the bit between his teeth, with a dozen flaps of his
mighty wings carried his unwilling rider far away over the mountains and
out of sight of the unfortunate Bradamante.

You must know that though Roger was quite unable to hold his Hippogrif,
and soon gave up the attempt in despair, the winged monster was really
guided by something stronger than bit or bridle, and every motion of his
headlong flight was controlled by the will of an invisible master. The
whole affair, in fact, was the work of the wonderful enchanter Atlas,
who was still persuaded that great dangers awaited his beloved Prince in
the land of France, and determined to use all his cunning to remove him
to a place of safety. With this design he had watched the noble lovers
from his hiding place, and guided every movement of the Hippogrif by the
mere muttering of spells; and by the same means he still steered the
creature's course through the air, for he was so powerful an enchanter
that he could make his purpose take effect from one end of the earth to
the other. In the old days of fairy lore, enchanters were very numerous,
and always found plenty to do.

Roger had a firm seat and a heart that knew no fear, and at any other
time would have enjoyed nothing better than such an exciting adventure;
but now he was terribly vexed at being separated again from his beloved
Bradamante, and at being carried away from the land where Agramant his
King and the Emperor Charlemagne were mustering all their forces for the
great struggle. However, there was no help for it, for the Hippogrif
flew through the air at such a pace that he soon left the realms of
Europe far behind him, and after a flight of a few hours he had carried
the Prince half round the globe. Roger in fact found himself hovering
over the Fortunate Islands, which lie in the far Eastern seas beyond the
shores of India. Here he