Finally, in accepting the combat, he assured the rescue of Reine des Anbiez; he would return a daughter to her father, and prisoners to their weeping families,--a last proof that divine justice desired to strike him alone, since it offered him the means of repairing the evils his crime had called down upon his own. When we reflect that the constant remorse of Pierre des Anbiez, while it did not impair his reason, had predisposed him to a sort of religious fatalism by no means orthodox, but calculated to make a deep impression upon his earnest and gloomy nature, we may comprehend the crushing effect produced on him by the language of Hadji. After a moment’s silence, he said to the Bohemian, “Go up on deck, I will give you my orders.” Then he sent for the overseer, and commanded him to conduct Hadji on deck, to watch over him, and to take him under his protection. CHAPTER XL. THE CHALLENGE The commander sent for the chaplain of the black galley to descend into his chamber. While Pierre des Anbiez confessed his sins,--with the exception of the murder reserved for the great act of penitence of the order,--and received absolution, the Bohemian went up on deck. The first person whom he met there was the captain of the _Holy Terror to the Moors, by the Grace of God_. Hadji, affecting an easy and impertinent familiarity, approached Luquin Trinquetaille and said to him: “Who would have believed, my boy, that we would see each other again here, when that pretty girl enraged you so much by giving me flame-coloured ribbons at Maison-Forte?” This excess of impudence rendered the worthy captain speechless a moment, then, putting his hand on his sword, he was about to attack Hadji, when the overseer reminded him that the Bohemian was under his protection by order of the commander. “There is another place where we will meet, you villain,” said Luquin, “and that will be under the gallows where you will be hanged; for, zounds! although the office of executioner is repugnant to me, I would sell my polacre even to have the right to put the rope around your neck.” “Ingrate, you do not think of the grief you would bring upon Stephanette; the poor girl loves me so much that she would die of sorrow to see me hanged, and especially by you.” “You lie, you lie like a dog. Oh, that I could tear your cursed tongue out by the roots!” “You would be right, my boy, to tear out my tongue, for it was my honeyed words which opened the way to this pretty girl’s heart A little while ago, on board my chebec where she was with me, she said, as she leaned her head on my shoulder--” “You lie, you blaspheme!” cried Luquin, in fury. “She said, as she leaned her head on my shoulder,” continued the Bohemian, with imperturbable coolness, “‘What a difference, my handsome captain, between your gallant and charming language, and the tiresome twittering of that long-legged heron that flutters around me so clumsily.’ That is the way she spoke of you, my poor boy.”