in the night, when all was quiet, and to sack the
caravanserai, to which the richest merchants were known to resort. Our
guide through the great salt desert was to be my master in person, whose
experience and local knowledge were greater than that of any of his
contemporaries; and he proposed to the council that as no one amongst
them, except myself, knew the streets and bazaars of Ispahan, I should
lead the way, when once we had entered the city. This was opposed by
several, who said that it was imprudent to trust a stranger and a native
of the very place they intended to attack, who would be likely to
run off the moment he could do so with safety. At length, after much
discussion, it was agreed that I should be their guide in Ispahan; that
two men should ride close on each side of me, and in case I showed the
least symptom of treachery in my movements, kill me on the spot. This
being settled, the Turcomans put their horses in training,[11] and one
was appointed for my use, which had the reputation of having twice borne
away the flag at their races. I was equipped as a Turcoman, with a large
sheep-skin cap on my head, a sheep-skin coat, a sword, a bow and arrows,
and a heavy spear, the head of which was taken off or put on as the
occasion might require. I had a bag of corn tied behind on my horse,
besides ropes to tether him with when we made a halt,--and for my own
food I carried several flaps of bread,[12] and half a dozen of hard
eggs, trusting to the chapter of accidents, and to my own endurance
of hunger, for further sustenance. I had already made a very tolerable
apprenticeship to a hard life since I had first been taken, by sleeping
on the ground with the first thing that I could seize for a pillow, and
thus I looked upon the want of a bed as no privation. My companions were
equally hardy, and in point of bodily fatigue, perhaps, we were a match
for any nation in the world.

I took previous care to unbury the fifty ducats, which I tied very
carefully in my girdle, and I promised my former master, who from
fretting had worn himself down to a skeleton, that if ever I had an
opportunity, I would do all in my power to make his friends ransom him.
'Ah,' said be, 'no one will ever ransom me. As for my son, he will be
happy to get my property; and as for my wife, she will be happy to get
another husband: so no hope is left. There is only one favour I beg
of you, which is, to inquire what is the price of lamb-skins at