he foremost sentinels of the rebel army. The
disguised enchanter soon reached the camp of the Sultan; and the
sentinels, imagining it was the same female slave whom Horam had led
through their ranks in the former part of the night, suffered him to
pass unexamined.

In a short time he reached the royal pavilion, and demanded
admittance. The Vizier Horam, who was there in waiting, heard, as he
supposed, the voice of his female slave, and went out to bring her
before the Sultan.

"My slave," said Horam, as he saw the disguised enchanter, "hast thou
succeeded? and is Tasnar, the foe of the Faithful, dead?"

"Bring me before the Sultan," said the pretended slave, "that my lord
may first behold the head of his foe."

The Vizier then led the disguised enchanter into the pavilion, where
the Sultan Misnar, being warned of her coming, was seated on his
throne.

As the enchanter approached, he held a dagger in one hand, which was
covered by a long sleeve, and in the other he bore the fictitious
head. And now the pretended female was about to ascend the steps of
the throne, when the Vizier commanded her first to fall prostrate
before the Sultan.

The sham slave did as she was ordered; and the Vizier, seeing her
prostrate, fell upon her, and slew her with his sabre.

"What hast thou done, wretched Vizier?" said the Sultan. "Has envy
thus rashly stirred thee up against my faithful slave, that----"

The Sultan would probably have continued his invective against his
Vizier much longer, had he not beheld the corpse of the dead enchanter
change its appearance, and found that Horam, by the sudden destruction
of Tasnar, had but just preserved his own life.

At the sight of this transformation, Misnar descended from his throne,
and closely embraced his Vizier Horam.

"O Horam, forgive my impetuous temper!" said the Sultan: "how have I
blamed my friend for doing that which alone could have saved my life!
But by what means did my faithful Vizier become acquainted with the
disguise of this wicked enchanter, or how did he discover himself to
thy watchful eye?"

"Lord of my heart," answered Horam, "when I carried my poor female
slave through the camp (whose death we have unhappily caused by our
fraud), I bade her, when she returned and saw me, first repeat these
words in my ear: 'Allah is Lord of heaven, Mahomet is His Prophet, and
Misnar is His vicegerent upon earth.' And this precaution I took,
fearful less Tasnar, discovering o