CHAPTER VIII

Summary

At nightfall we reached a little island called Maconnodon, belonging to the general of the galleys, where we slept: for it is their custom never to sail by night. On the following morning, when it was time to go on board, the lord told me we were within fifteen or sixteen leagues of Malé, where the king was, and that he would not dare to take my companion, not knowing whether it would be agreeable to the king, and that he proposed to leave him there for some days, until he should have spoken with the king about fetching him; that he was sure it would be well with him, and that he had given orders to that end. We arrived at length at Malé, where, on landing, he went at once to salute the king and render an account of his journey, bidding one of his people conduct me to his house. He did not omit, among other matters, to speak about me, the immediate consequence of which was that I was sent for by command of the king. At the palace I remained about three hours in waiting. In the evening I was introduced into a court where the king had come out to see all that had been brought in the last voyage from our vessel–i.e., the cannon, balls, arms, and other implements of war and navigation, which had been brought to his magazine there.