"The usurper seduces them still," replied the old man. "Many hate the King's good laws; many take pride in what they call their independence; most will not listen, or will not believe. They mock the King's messengers, and declare that they are impostors, that their messages are a delusion, and some even persist in declaring that there is no King, and no country beyond the sea." "But the Black Ship is not a delusion!" said Hope. "It must come from some land. What proof have these ambassadors given? Have they ever been in the land beyond the sea?" "They gave many proofs, but I bring you better news than this. A few years since, the King's Son came Himself. Many of us have seen and spoken with Him. He stayed many days. He spoke words of such power, and in tones of such tenderness as none who heard can ever forget. We could trace in His features the lineaments of the statues we had defaced. Some of the worst rebels among us were melted to repentance, and fell at His feet, and besought His pardon. I was one. "He gave us not only His pardon, but His friendship. But His enemies prevailed. Especially the amulet-makers organised a conspiracy against Him; they feared for their trade, and secretly prepared to drive Him from the island. He had come alone, for He came not to compel but to win. And He came for another purpose, which, until He was gone, we could not comprehend. The conspirators triumphed. One day they came in force and seized Him. Alas, a base panic seized us who loved Him, and we fled. "They bound Him with thongs, they treated Him with the most barbarous cruelty and the basest indignity and drove Him to the sea. We thought a fleet and an army would have appeared to avenge His insulted majesty, and proclaim him King with power, or bear Him in pomp away. But to our surprise and dismay, nothing came for Him but the Black Ship, and the Dark Form bore Him from us, as if He had been a rebel like one of us. "He had told us something of the probability of this before it happened, but we could not comprehend what He meant. Never were days of such sorrow as those which passed over us after His being taken from us. His enemies were in full triumph; they mocked our Prince's claims, they insulted us, they threatened us, but all they could say or do was nothing in comparison with the anguish in our hearts. "For what could we think? He we had loved and trusted was gone, borne off in triumph by the very foe He came to deliver us from. We hid ourselves in caves and lonely beaches by the sea, and recalled to each other His precious words, and gazed out over the sea with a vague yearning, which was scarcely hope, and yet kept us lingering on the shore.