After having sailed within sight of the island of Zealand, they passed before those of Moen, Falster, Laaland, Langeland, and Aero. Christian was not free from distress of mind. He had been treated at Copenhagen as a prisoner; and this terrible man, who in a single day had caused the _élite_ of Sweden to be massacred in nearly analogous circumstances, questioned with himself what they meant to do with him. A dark cloud arose in his soul. He strove to cast off the fears which he would fain believe to be puerile. He dared not disclose to any one the distress which agitated him, but remained dumb with shame, spite, and grief. The fleet approached the coast of Schleswig, and he rejoiced that the moment was not far off when he was to have the interview with his uncle. He was standing on the deck in deep silence. Suddenly he perceived that the ship, instead of entering the Gulf of Flensborg, was standing off the cape to the north [Sidenote: His Fate.] towards the island of Alsen. At this moment the veil was rent; the unhappy prince discovered the fate which awaited him. He uttered a cry and burst into tears. He would fain have arrested the pilot; but he knew that any attempt was useless. He broke out into bitter complaints, but his voice was soon stifled by sobs. The fleet continues its course northwards, and entering the strait of Sonderburg, stops before the town of that name. The gates of the old impregnable castle open before the fallen king and then close. The guards set over him conduct him to a gloomy donjon; and they shut up with him a dwarf who, as if in derision, was to be the sole companion of the colossus of the North. No sooner has he entered than the door is walled up behind him. There is no more hope. A single window feebly lighted up the gloom of this place; and it was through bars of iron that he, thenceforth, received his food.[324] The monarch who was so long formidable was treated like the vilest of his people. The king who sat on three thrones has nothing now to lean on but damp walls. The prince, nephew of the king, brother-in-law of the emperor Charles the Fifth, of King Ferdinand, and of Queen Mary; this ally of Henry VIII., of the princes of Germany and other powerful houses, has no longer any companion but a wretched dwarf. His food is of the meanest kind, and his jailers treat him with the utmost rigor. What monarch ever displayed greater barbarity than he did in the public place at Stockholm, in October, 1520? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. At the recollection of that massacre all the people shuddered. The name of Christian was the terror of the North. Frederick had been obliged to promise the nobles and the councillors of the crown by a formal instrument never to restore him to liberty. In vain were some hearts affected by this vast calamity; in vain were some voices raised in behalf of the wretched monarch. Public peace requires it, was the reply; and there was nothing more to be said.