We went ashore for water and fruit. Solitary--neither
man nor woman! We found tracks upon the sand that some
among us would have it were made by griffons. One of
our men had the thought that he might procure some large
bird for the Admiral's table. Taking a crossbow he passed
alone through the palms into the deeper wood. He was gone
an hour, and when he returned it was in haste, with a chalk
face and great eyes. I was seated in the boat with the master
of the _Cordera_ and heard his tale. He had found what he
thought a natural aisle of the forest and had stolen down
it, looking keenly for pigeon or larger bird. A tree with
drooping branches stood across the aisle, he said. He went
around the trunk, which was a great one, and it was as
though he had turned into the nave of the cathedral. There
was space, but trees like pillars on either side, and at the
end three great trees covered to the tops with vine and purple
grapes. And here he saw before him, under the greatest
tree, a man in a long white gown like a White Friar.
The sight halted him, turned him, he averred, to stone.
Two more men in white dresses but shorter than that of
the first, came from among the trees and he saw behind
these a number in like clothing. He could not tell, now
he thought of it, if they were carrying lances or palms.
We had looked so long for clothed folk that it was the
white clothes he thought of.
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