Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/54

42 margin of the lake, gaping at the stranger—“tell your mistress that her brother is anxious to meet her”—and he threw all the crumbs that he found in his pockets to win the fishes over, but the trout voraciously swallowed the bread without heeding the prayer of their benefactor. Reginald saw at last that he could gain nothing by preaching to the fish, he therefore endeavoured to obtain his ends by other means. As a well-trained knight, he was expert at all gymnastic exercises, and could swim like a water rat. He was soon determined; casting off his armour, and drawing his sword, he threw himself into the water not having perceived any boat, (as formerly his father did) to seek his brother-in-law, the Behemoth. “He will not,” thought he, “swallow me at once, but listen, I suppose, to the voice of reason, as of yore to my father.” He purposely splashed the water with his hands to attract the attention of the Sea Wonder, and swam upon the blue wave towards the centre.

As long as his muscular force remained, he stoically pursued his aquatic path, but when his strength began to fail, he looked for ‘’terra firma’’, and saw at a little distance a mist arise, as if proceeding from behind a block of ice. He swam quickly towards the