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Orlando then hastened to unbind the prisoner, and to assist him to
reclothe himself in his armor, which the false Magencian had dared to
assume. He then led him to Isabella, who now approached the scene of
a rich harness adorned with gold.
"If I may believe my eyes, which penetrate with difficulty the
underwood," said Angelica, "that horse that dashes so stoutly through
the bushes is Bayard, and I marvel how he seems to know the need we
have of him, mounted as we are both on one feeble animal." Sacripant,
dismounting from the palfrey, approached the fiery courser, and
attempted to seize his bridle, but the disdainful animal, turning from
him, launched at him a volley of kicks enough to have shattered a wall
of marble. Bayard then approached Angelica with an air as gentle and
loving as a faithful dog could his master after a long separation. For
he remembered how she had caressed him, and even fed him, in Albracca.
She took his bridle in her left hand, while with her right she patted
his neck. The beautiful animal, gifted with wonderful intelligence,
seemed to submit entirely. Sacripant, seizing the moment to vault upon
his knights?"
Angelica made no reply, uncertain what to do; but already Rinaldo was
too near to be escaped. He advanced menacingly to the Circassian king,
for he recognized his horse.
"Vile thief," he cried, "dismount from that horse, and prevent the
punishment that is your due for daring to rob me of my property. Leave,
also, the princess in my hands; for it would indeed be a sin to suffer
so charming a lady and so gallant a charger to remain in such keeping."
The king of Circassia, furious at being thus insulted, cried out, "Thou
liest, villain, in giving me the name of thief, which better belongs to
thyself than to me. It is true, the beauty of this lady and the
perfection of this horse are unequalled; come on, then, and let us try
which of us is most worthy to possess them."
At these words the king of Circassia and Rinaldo attacked one another
with all their force, one fighting on foot, the other on horseback. You
need not, however, suppose that the Saracen king found any advantage in
this; for a young page, unused to horsemanship, could not have failed
more completely to manage Bayard than did this accomplished knight. The
faithful animal loved his master too well to injure him, and refused
his aid as well as his obedience to the hand of Sacripant, who could
strike but ineffectual blows, the horse backing when he wished him to
go forward, and dropping his head and arching his back, throwing out
with his legs, so as almost to shake the knight out of the saddle.
Sacripant, seeing that he could not manage him, watched his
opportunity, rose on his saddle, and leapt lightly to the earth; then,
relieved from the embarrassment of the horse, renewed the combat on
him, controlled his curvetings, and Angelica, quitting the croup of the
palfrey, regained her seat.
But, turning his eyes toward a place where was heard a noise of arms,
Sacripant beheld Rinaldo. That hero now loves Angelica more than his
life, and she flies him as the timid crane the falcon.
The fountain of which Angelica had drunk produced such an effect on the
beautiful queen that, with distressed countenance and trembling voice,
she conjured Sacripant not to wait the approach of Rinaldo, but to join
her in flight.
"Am I, then," said Sacripant, "of so little esteem with you that you
doubt my power to defend you? Do you forget the battle of Albracca, and
how, in your defence, I fought single-handed against Agrican and all
plume to his helmet. "I have, indeed, seen too much of him," said
Sacripant, "it is he who has brought me to the ground; but at least I
hope to learn from you who that knight is." "That I can easily inform
you," said the man; "know then that, if you have been overthrown, you
owe your fate to the high prowess of a lady as beautiful as she is
brave. It is the fair and illustrious Bradamante who has won from you
the honors of victory."
At these words the courier rode on his way, leaving Sacripant more
confounded and mortified than ever. In silence he mounted the horse of
Angelica, taking the lady behind him on the croup, and rode away in
search of a more secure asylum. Hardly had they ridden two miles when a
new sound was heard in the forest, and they perceived a gallant and
powerful horse, which, leaping the ravines and dashing aside the
branches that opposed his passage, appeared before them, accoutred with
