Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Every chamber, maidaun,* and roof," replied the privileged slave; "it was there I spent the early days of my servitude, when it was in the possession of the traitor Ben Omri, (may he burn for ever!) Shall I tell your highness some remarkable stories?"

"Another time-another time, my good Lalouk," interrupted the Caliph; "we cannot listen to your narratives now. You are to prepare our merchant dresses without delay; we make an expedition to-night. Be wary of your tongue thereupon ;" and the slave withdrew.

In about two hours the Caliph and Lalouk, in the disguise of Cairo traders, left the palace by a secret passage, and pursued their way toward a huge conglomeration of low, irregular buildings, which formed the mansion of the Khan. The slave's knowledge of the localities enabled him to guide his master to a place where he judged he would be most likely to attain his object. This was a balcony extending half round a small wing which projected from the main building, seemingly for the purpose of catching the cool breeze from the river, which flowed not far from its base. By the light which streamed through the half-curtained casements, it was apparent that the apartment must be occupied. With great caution the Caliph and his companion ascended the balcony, which had probably never before been profaned by the tread of a male, with the exception of the lord of the palace, and some hideous haremwarder; and by raising themselves on some stools which had been left there evidently for the convenience of the tenants of the apart. ment when they chose to watch the stars of a clear evening, they managed to obtain a distinct view, through a division in the curtain, of the interior.

The room was fitted up in a style of gorgeous splendour. The floor was covered with one of those costly carpets of Shiraz on which none but princes might dare to tread. The walls, which were of cedar frame-work, in order to allow free passage to the air, were hung with curtains of Damascus cloth, looped up by cords of silk and gold. A magnificent ottoman extended along one side of the apartment, and from the centre of the painted ceiling descended, by a chain of twisted gold, a small chandelier, in which the rays of three lamps were caught and reflected by a sparkling globe of the most brilliant stones. Around the room, as if thrown off hastily by one eager to escape from the sultriness of the inner harem, were scattered many articles of female attire too magnificent to permit any doubt of their wearer.

The figures which occupied the apartment were but two. Ex

Court or square.

tended on the sofa, in a costly though negligent undress, one hand hanging listlessly over the side of the couch and playing with the tassels which adorned it, lay one whom the Caliph immediately recognized as the original of the portrait. There was, on her really fine features, an expression of ill-humour, which seemed to be directed toward a young Georgian attendant, who, dressed in the close-fitting embroidered vest and white trowsers of her country, was kneeling on a cushion near her mistress, and holding in her hand a lute, by which she was evidently endeavouring to beguile the ennui of the princess.

"Barikillah,—may I drop from Al Sirat! but she is beautiful ;lovelier than the waving cypress, brighter than morning," whispered the enraptured Caliph.

"Fairer than the full moon," chimed in the favourite ;" and what splendid pearls on her zone !"

"Pshaw!" returned the monarch, "I was not thinking of her. She is well enough, indeed, except that her nose is too sharp. But only look at the slave! What a form! what eyes! Wallah! She would do honour to a heron-tuft."**

"Very true, my lord," replied the complaisant Lalouk; "she is more lovely than the rose of Shiraz; and what a beautiful bracelet !"

"Pish!" ejaculated the Caliph; "let us listen to their words;" and they were silent.

"Do you mean really to say," exclaimed the Princess to the kneeling Georgian, "that you can sing no other verses but those doleful ones about loss of country and home, that you have been dinning into my ears all the evening? Truly you would make a fine chanter at funerals. Sing me a lively air,-something about love for you must know some such."

"Lady,” replied the damsel," I do indeed know a few tunes of a merrier cast than the one I have just sung. But it is natural that the thoughts of a captive and a slave should dwell upon her own sad fortunes."

"Thoughts, indeed!" returned her mistress, peevishly. "I did not know that you had any thing to do with thinking, except as I command you."

The beautiful slave answered not; but as she bent over her lute to touch the preluding note, the Caliph thought he perceived a tear fall on the instrument.

"Wallah! billah!" he muttered, glancing a look of any thing

The badge of royalty.

but admiration at the unconscious princess," but her nose is excessively sharp!"

Thus sang the lovely musician :

"THE GEORGIAN'S TWILIGHT SONG."

"It is the holy hush of eve, the sun's last ray is gone,
And softly over hill and plain the shades of night come on;
And as the weary moments glide, the shadows deeper fall,
The dew is heavy on the flower, and damp upon the wall;
The nightingale has hushed her song within the cypress tree,—
But yet, alas! he cometh not, he cometh not to me.

"The breeze is flowing from the south, with all its fragrant load,
The gift of every lovely flower it met along its road;

It sighs above the dusky lake, and through the tree tops dim,
And kisses now the cheek I kept so holy pure for him;
The silent stars look pitying down my weary watch to see,
But ah! alas! he cometh not, he cometh not to me.

"I hear a tread! 'Tis but a lone gazelle that wanders by,

Is that his voice? Ah no! it is the jackall's human ery;

Cease! cease! my restless heart! Keep down the throbbings of thy fear!
Wo's me! the twilight hour is past, and I alone am here.
Alas! for every happy hope! that I should live to see

The hour in which he cometh not, he cometh not to me!"

"Pish!" exclaimed the khanine, "do you call that a lively air? Why it is a tune to which a troop of ghosts might dance all night!

But

you selected it on purpose to provoke me,-I understand it very well! But beware of the slipper, girl."

"Well, did I ever !" murmured the Caliph. "By the black mule of our father Ishmael, she is a downright vixen! and her nose is as sharp as the edge of my sabre." So saying, in the excess of his indignation he made some movement which overthrew the stool on which he was standing; as he fell, he involuntarily caught hold of Lalouk, and both the eaves-droppers were precipitated through the slight frame-work of the windows into the apartment. The occupants, as may be supposed, shrieked aloud; and a crowd of domestics, chiefly eunuchs, immediately surrounded the disguised wanderers, with uplifted scimitars, ready for the words of fate from their mistress.

"Stop!" shouted Lalouk, who did not relish this turn of affairs,"would you slay the

"Silence!" whispered the Caliph, "leave it to me. Most noble princess," he continued, " be assured that our sudden and violent intrusion was wholly unintentional. We are harmless merchants of Cairo, who were quietly returning to our inn this evening, when

we observed that we were followed by some suspicious-looking individuals; to avoid them, we hastily took refuge in your highness's balcony, and were unfortunate enough to stumble against the casement, causing a most involuntary entrance into your sublime presence. We would hope, most surpassing lady, that our unwilling offence is not a mortal one."

"A pretty story, truly," returned the princess, who was not in a forgiving mood," a very pretty trap to catch flies in; and think you that a vulgar trader can gaze upon the Khanine of Farsistan, whom princes have longed in vain to see, and live? Yet, as ye would have some grace, we allow you till dawn to prepare for death. Hence with the dogs!" The eunuchs obeyed.

"Wallah!" exclaimed the Caliph, when he had somewhat recovered from the effect of the rudeness with which they had been thrust into a cold and dark apartment, which was to be their prison till the morning :--" By the seven troubles of Abn Nasr, we are in a pretty pickle, and her tongue is as sharp as her nose."

"And does your majesty really intend to let her threat be fulfilled?" inquired the favourite, with a ludicrous whine of supplication and anxiety.

The monarch laughed. "My good Lalouk," said he, "set your mind at ease with regard to the safety of that fearful head of yours. We shall have nothing worse than a rather uncomfortable night's lodging in this wretched hole of a prison. And who knows what a few hours may bring forth? I would willingly escape, if possible, without making ourselves known; however, that shall be as it pleases Allah and our gentle hostess."

So saying, the Caliph stretched himself on the floor of the room, and endeavoured to sleep; but his uneasy posture, and the thousand varied thoughts and recollections which thronged upon his mind forbade the approach of slumber. About midnight a slight noise excited his attention; he started up, and aroused the slave, who was snoring at ease in a corner; a key was apparently introduced into a lock at a different side of the dungeon from that at which they entered. Several attempts were then made to turn it, which finally succeeded, and a concealed door opened, through which the light of a lantern flashed upon the wondering eyes of the prisoners. The bearer, a female, closely veiled from head to foot, paused for a moment at the entrance while she turned the rays of the lamp successively upon the two before her. Then, as if assured of their identity, she advanced and spoke, in a low tone, which left no doubt on the mind of the Caliph that it was the beautiful Georgian who was concealed behind the veil.

"You are innocent," she said, "I know; for you have not the

air of violent men; at all events you have committed no crime deserving of your threatened punishment. If you remain till morn. ing, you die. I have come to deliver you. Be silent, and follow me!" So saying, she turned and led the way through a narrow and winding passage, the soi-disant travellers following with the utmost caution. In a few moments they reached a small postern gate on the opposite side of the building from that by which they had entered; their guide then turned, and said in the same suppressed voice

"Now go, and Allah be with you! I have risked my life to save you! Hint not to a living being your means of deliverance." "We may at least inquire," said the disguised Caliph, "the name of our lovely preserver, that we may mention it in our prayers." "No," replied the Georgian with a sigh; "forget me; forget that you have ever seen me. My name-alas!-I have no name but Misfortune!" and hastily retiring, she closed the wicket on the delivered captives, and her retreating footsteps soon died away.

"Well!" said the disguised monarch to his companion, after a hasty flight, when they were fairly beyond the reach of pursuit, "that was an adventure worth meeting with; by the saddle of the holy dromedary, she is a splendid girl! Her name is Misfortune, eh! Mashallah, please God, we will change all that ;" and the Caliph fell to cogitating most furiously.

able

The following morning, the astonishment which the unaccountescape of the prisoners had excited in the harem of the Khan of Farsistan was further increased by an imperial message requiring him to conduct his daughter Ilasa, with her favourite Georgian slave, to the foot of the throne. The mention of the slave occasioned the greatest amazement, not only in her own mind, but also in that of her mistress, when she could disengage her thoughts from the magnificent visions that crowded upon her imagination. Commanded to attend a private audience of the Caliph! She thought of the vacant quarto-matrimonial office, and her step became yet more queenly, and her head was thrown back with an imperial toss which showed the kind of fancy-work going on within it. Magnificently attired, her features, however, concealed by an exquisitely wrought veil of Thibet, which yet allowed the graces of a fine but not sufficiently rounded form to be fully displayed, she bowed before the throne of the master of the world. At a little distance behind knelt the Georgian, adorned not more richly than the evening before, yet revealing beneath that simple dress a beauty of shape, feature, and expression which her haughty mistress had often envied. Besides the governor and the vizier, with a guard of black eunuchs, none else was present.

VOL. IX.

8

[ocr errors]
« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »