y, as if recollecting something which
had been forgotten, Usbeck ordered his lords to summon Michel before
them and adjudge his cause. A tent was spread as a tribunal of
justice, near the tent of the khan; and the unhappy prince, bound with
cords, was led before his judges. He was accused of the unpardonable
crime of having drawn his sword against the soldiers of the khan. No
justification could be offered. Michel was cruelly fettered with
chains and thrown into a dungeon. An enormous collar of iron was
riveted around his neck.

Usbeck then set out for the chase, on an expedition which was to last
for one or two months. The annals of the time describe this expedition
with great particularity, presenting a scene of pomp almost surpassing
credence. Some allowance must doubtless be made for exaggeration; and
yet there is a minuteness of detail which, accompanied by
corroborative evidence of the populousness and the power of these
Tartar tribes, invests the narrative with a good degree of
authenticity. We are informed that several hundreds of thousands of
men were in movement; that each soldier was clothed in rich uniform
and mounted upon a beautiful horse; that merchants transported, in
innumerable chariots, the most precious fabrics of Greece and of the
Indies, and that luxury and gayety reigned throughout the immense
camp, which, in the midst of savage deserts, presented the aspect of
brilliant and populous cities. Michel, who was awaiting his sentence
from Usbeck, was dragged, loaded with chains, in the train of the
horde. Georges was in high favor with the khan, and was importunately
urging the condemnation of his rival.

With wonderful fortitude the prince endured his humiliation and
tortures. The nobles who had accompanied him were plunged into
inconsolable grief. Michel endeavored to solace them. He manifested,
through the whole of this terrible trial, the spirit of the Christian,
passing whole nights in prayer and in chanting the Psalms of David. As
his hands were bound, one of his pages held the sacred book before
him. His faithful followers urged him to take advantage of the
confusion and tumult of the camp to effect his escape. "Never,"
exclaimed Michel, "will I degrade myself by flight. Moreover, should I
escape, that would save _me_ only, not my country. God's will be
done."

The horde was now encamped among the mountains of Circassia. It was
the 22d of November, 1319, when, just after morning prayers, whi