ible!' I cried; 'it cannot be, take me to him at once. Let me
at least try what can be done for him.'

"Then this Emir--this wicked, this infamous man--took me in his arms,
in spite of my struggles, and kissed me and said: 'Think no more of
Suliman, who is gone, and whom you will not see again. Now you belong
to me--I love you, I have loved you for months, and never more shall we
part.'

"As he said these things, and I perceived his villainy, which I had
never even suspected until that moment, and thought how he had possibly
murdered his nephew, of whom he had pretended to be so fond, I fainted
off in the arms of the perfidious wretch, who, finding that I continued
so long insensible, no doubt concluded that I was dead. Indeed, I
remember nothing more until I found myself here in the palace, and most
kindly tended and watched. What has become of my dear husband I know
not; but oh, sir!" said she, falling down before the Caliph, "find him,
find him for me again if it be possible, and punish the Emir as he
deserves!"

"Rise," said the Caliph, "rise, beautiful lady, and be comforted. If
Suliman be alive he shall be restored to you. And whether he be alive
or dead the doom of the Emir is certain."

So saying, he at once went out of the harem, and summoning Giafer, he
said: "Send at once and fetch the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin. And let
some officers go also and bring hither, if they can find him, Suliman,
the nephew of the Emir, who lived in the next house to him."

An hour afterwards the officers returned, and reported that they could
find neither the Emir nor, his nephew. The former, taking some of his
slaves with him, had left his home about an hour before the arrival of
the officers sent to arrest him, and no one knew whither he had gone.
While as for his nephew, Suliman, he had left home on the previous day,
and had not since been heard of.

When this account was brought to the Caliph, he was furious.

"Go," said he, to the Grand Vizier, "destroy the house of that vile
scoundrel, the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin; leave of it not one stick or
stone upon another. And bring me both the Emir and his nephew--dead or
alive I will have them. Two days I give you to seek them, and if you
fail to find them, by Allah, your head shall not remain above your
shoulders."

Giafer trembled at the rage of his master, and went forth out of the
palace knowing no more where to look for the Emir and his nephew than
did the Calip