blows on various parts of his body, taking care to keep clear of his murderous teeth; but the scales resisted every attack.  The Orc beat the water with his tail till he raised a foam which enveloped Rogero and his steed, so that the knight hardly knew whether he was in the water or the air.  He began to fear that the wings of the Hippogriff would be so drenched with water that they would cease to sustain him.  At that moment Rogero bethought him of the magic shield which hung at his saddle-bow; but the fear that Angelica would also be blinded by its glare discouraged him from employing it.  Then he remembered the ring which Melissa had given him, the power of which he had so lately proved.  He hastened to Angelica and placed it on her finger.  Then, uncovering the buckler, he turned its bright disk full in the face of the detestable Orc.  The effect was instantaneous.  The monster, deprived of sense and motion, rolled over on the sea, and lay floating on his back.  Rogero would fain have tried the effect of his lance on the now exposed parts, but Angelica implored him to lose no time in delivering her from her chains before the monster should revive.  Rogero, moved with her entreaties, hastened to do so, and, having unbound her, made her mount behind him on the Hippogriff.  The animal, spurning the earth, shot up into the air, and rapidly sped his way through it.  Rogero, to give time to the princess to rest after her cruel agitations, soon sought the earth again, alighting on the shore of Brittany.  Near the shore a thick wood presented itself, which resounded with the songs of birds.  In the midst, a fountain of transparent water bathed the turf of a little meadow.  A gentle hill rose near by.  Rogero, making the Hippogriff alight in the meadow, dismounted, and took Angelica from the horse.

When the first tumults of emotion had subsided Angelica, casting her eyes downward, beheld the precious ring upon her finger, whose virtues she was well acquainted with, for it was the very ring which the Saracen Brunello had robbed her of.  She drew it from her finger and placed it in her mouth, and, quicker than we can tell it, disappeared from the sight of the paladin.

Rogero looked around him on all sides, like one frantic, but soon remembered the ring which he had so lately placed on her finger.  Struck with the ingratitude which could thus recompense his services, he exclaimed:  “Thankless beauty, is this then the reward you make me?  Do you prefer to rob me of my ring rather than receive it as a gift?  Willingly would I have given it to you, had you but asked it.”  Thus he said, searching on all sides with arms extended like a blind man, hoping to recover by the touch what was lost to sight; but he sought in vain.  The cruel beauty was already far away.