Part 10 (2/2)

So the poor victim of ill-faith was carried back to Fez, and set to break stones with his co the Moors, and each man shrank from his sick brother, and left hiht out the plague-stricken people and nursed the without his own food that they ht be nourished Perhaps Lazuraque had fled like other rich men from the city, but at all events he seems to have permitted dom Fernando to do as he liked till the pestilence had run its course

It was in March 1442 that Fernando was again taken before Lazuraque, and though the prisoner always told hiiven up hope, nevertheless his heart beat faster than usual at the summons The Moor did not waste words, but went at once to the point

'I have sent for you to ask what price you will pay for your freedom and that of your friends,' he said

Dom Fernando looked at hio he and his companions had talked over the matter and decided what they could offer, if they ever had the chance But now that thedepended, his voice seemed choked, and he could not utter a sound

'Are you deaf?' inquired Lazuraque impatiently 'Be quick, or I shall raise my terms'

Then Fernando stammered out, 'Fifty thousand doubloons and fifty Moorish prisoners'

'Nonsense,' cried Lazuraque, with a scornful laugh 'Fifty thousand doubloons for a Portuguese prince! Why, it is a beggarly suaoler, till he learns wisdoeon

It was no th of will to help him bear the blow By order of Lazuraque he was allowed to receive his fellow-prisoners in order to take counsel with thest the and their families, they would treble their former offer, and promise one hundred and fifty thousand doubloons and one hundred and fifty captives This the vizier agreed to accept, and when they heard the news the prisoners fell on each other's necks and wept for joy But for Fernando the hour of happiness was soon at an end, for till the ransom was paid and the captives landed on Moorish soil his treateon into which he was now throas saoler was forbidden to speak to hi touch to the alternate hopes and fears of the last few ht his scanty supply of food, he found the prince lying unconscious on the ground Fearing the anger of Lazuraque should his prisoner escape him by death before the money was received, he at once reported the iven to reer cell, where he could feel the soft winds blowing and even see a ray of the sun His co hard, with the least possible allowance of sleep, were permitted to see him, and to carry him books of prayer, as he had been deprived of his own Greatest boon of all, he was given a lamp by which he could read the unconscious on the ground]

Outside of his cell there was a sand-pit, in which so to scatter over the floor of the stables after they had been cleaned out A tiny gliht in this part of the wall showed doht with a little patience be ave hi to do and to look forward to, and prevented hi why no answer to his letter had ever coether, little knowing that out ofthey had written When these thoughts came into his head he worked away at the stone harder than ever, to deaden the pain which was almost too bad to bear At last one day his efforts were rewarded, and he was able to take the stone in and out and speak to his fellow-captives, ith sun and air about them, were more fortunate than he

Perhaps he aol news flies quickly) that ever since Duarte's death his wife had given great trouble to doovernal, though happily it was soon put an end to by the flight of the queen The expenses entailed by all this would, Fernando understood, have prevented the raising of the large ranso of his despair at his apparent abandonment came suspicions of Lazuraque It was so much easier and happier for him to believe that the vizier, whose cruelty he knew, should be playing some trick on him than that Pedro should have left him to die without a word

We cannot tell how it really happened, and why the ator' as he was called) in fitting out exploring expeditions was not e free the brother who had been h Enrique's own folly Certain it is that fifty thousand doubloons were all the Portuguese would offer, and now Lazuraque demanded four hundred thousand! This Fernando learnt after fifteen , and then his last reone he had nothing left to live for, and on June 1, 1443, he was too weak even to kneel at his prayers In vain did his coer, healthier rooranted them, most likely it would have been too late However, the prince's physician obtained leave to see him, and his chaplain and secretary watched by him alternately, so that he was not left alone in his last moments

Four days passed in thishappier than he had done since he bade farewell to the shores of Portugal five years before

'I have seen in a vision,' he said to his confessor, 'the archangel Michael and Saint John entreating the Blessed Virgin to have pity on s And she sates of heaven should be thrown open, and I should enter' So saying he begged to confess his sins, and when this was done he turned on his side and whispered, 'Now let me die in peace,' and with the last rays of the sun he was free

'He that is dead pays all his debts,' writes the poet who more than any man knew the best and the worst of the huree with hi for four days fro as in life, it was a prey to every insult the people could heap on it

Then it was taken down and placed in a box, but still reht have stayed there we cannot guess, but shortly after Fernando's death Lazuraque was stabbed by some victim of his tyranny, and by-and-by the remnant of dom Fernando's fellow-captives obtained their release on pay in Fez the bones of three of their co survived the Constant Prince It would seee alone had sustained theone they sank and died also

In 1448 dom Pedro, who had never ceased to ed an important Moorish prisoner for father John Alvaro, secretary to the infante Owing to various delays, it was three years before Alvaro reached Portugal, but when he arrived he carried with hi procession clad in black to the abbey of Batalha, where John and Philippa, Duarte, and a little brother and sister lay buried On the way they met unexpectedly dohts, and aof the train of mourners

'Senhor, it is the heart of the saintly infante,' was the answer he received, and without a word Enrique turned his horse, and accohts rode on to Batalha, where he laid the casket in the grave which awaited it

Twenty-seven years after his death Fernando's body was obtained froal With the po his bride Alfonso V, surrounded by his nobles, was drawn up on the banks of the Tagus, and behind hi of people