omplishments, which every one is wont to commend. But numerous as
were the charms he found in his companion, still he was compelled to
acknowledge to himself, that a Labakan would be no less acceptable to
the royal father than the genuine prince.

These thoughts pursued Labakan the whole day; with them he went to
sleep in the nearest night-lodgings; but when he awoke in the morning,
and his eye rested upon Omar sleeping near him, who was reposing so
quietly, and could dream of his now certain fortune, then arose in him
the thought of gaining, by stratagem or violence, what unpropitious
destiny had denied him. The dagger, the returning prince's token of
recognition, hung in the sleeper's girdle; he softly drew it forth, to
plunge it in the breast of its owner. Nevertheless, the peaceable soul
of the journeyman recoiled before thoughts of murder; he contented
himself with appropriating the dagger, and bridling for himself the
faster horse of the prince; and, ere Omar awoke to see himself
despoiled of all his hopes, his perfidious companion was several miles
upon his way.

The day on which Labakan robbed the prince was the first of the holy
month Ramadan, and he had therefore four days to reach the pillar
El-Serujah, the locality of which was well known to him. Although the
region wherein it was situated could at farthest be at a distance of
but four days' journey, still he hastened to reach it, through a
constant fear of being overtaken by the real prince.

By the end of the second day, he came in sight of the pillar
El-Serujah. It stood upon a little elevation, in the midst of an
extensive plain, and could be seen at a distance of two or three
leagues. Labakan's heart beat high at the sight: though he had had
time enough on horseback, for the last two days, to think of the part
he was to play, still a consciousness of guilt made him anxious; the
thought that he was born for a prince, however, encouraged him again,
and he advanced towards the mark with renewed confidence.

The country around the pillar was uninhabited and desert, and the new
prince would have experienced some difficulty in finding sustenance,
if he had not previously supplied himself for several days. He lay
down beside his horse beneath some palm-trees, and there awaited his
distant destiny.

Towards the middle of the next day, he saw a large procession of
horses and camels crossing the plain in the direction of the pillar
El-Serujah. It reached th