'He said, 'This youth, whom you see here, I snatched from the jaws of death and for his sake alone I came to Illyria, and have fallen into this danger.'

But the officers cared little for hearkening to the complaints of their prisoner, and they hurried him off, saying: 'What is that to us?'

And as he was carried away, he called Viola by the name of Sebastian, reproaching the supposed Sebastian for disowning his friend, as long as he was within hearing.

When Viola heard herself called Sebastian, though the stranger was taken away too fast for her to ask an explanation, she surmised that this apparent anonymity might arise from her being mistaken for her brother; and she began to cherish hopes that it was her brother whose life this man said he had preserved.

And that it was. The stranger, named Antonio, was a sea-captain. He had taken Sebastian up into his ship, when, almost exhausted with fatigue, he was floating on the mast to which he had fastened himself in the storm.

Antonio envisaged such a friendship for Sebastian, that he resolved to accompany him whithersoever he went; and when the youth expressed a curiosity to visit Orsino's court, Antonio, rather than part from him, came to Illyria, though he knew, if his person should be known there, his life would be in danger, because in a sea-fight he had once dangerously wounded the duke Orsino's nephew. This was the offence for which he was now made a prisoner.

Antonio and Sebastian had landed together, just a few hours before Antonio met Viola. Antonio had given his purse to Sebastian wanting him to use it freely.

He further stated that he would wait for Sebastian at the inn till he had a round of the place. Sebastian had not been punctual and hence Antonio had to leave in search of him.

He mistook Viola for Sebastian. Antonio drew his sword in defence of the youth he had saved, and when Sebastian (as he supposed) disowned him and denied him his own purse, was left with nothing but accuse him of ingratitude.