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As before, the Dey tried to force hi

was made ready for his immediate execution; the halter was put round his

neck and his hands tied behind hiot froentleed the whole, and that the sixty ere to acco of it until the lastof him, the Dey sent him back to prison more heavily

ironed than before

The poverty-stricken Cervantes fa once

more to raise the ransoot together and entrusted to the Redeiers The Dey, however, demanded more than

double the sum offered, and as his term of office had expired and he was

about to sail for Constantinople, taking all his slaves with him, the

case of Cervantes was critical He was already on board heavily ironed,

when the Dey at length agreed to reduce his de was able to make up the amount, and on September

19, 1580, after a captivity of five years all but a week, Cervantes was

at last set free Before long he discovered that Blanco de Paz, who

clai on false

evidence a charge of ainst him on his return

to Spain To checkmate him Cervantes drew up a series of twenty-five

questions, covering the whole period of his captivity, upon which he

requested Father Gil to take the depositions of credible witnesses before