disappeared. A sudden gust of smoke and flame
burst forth immediately after, which made the people imagine he was
lost; when, on a sudden, they beheld him emerge again with the child in
his arms, and descend the ladder without any material damage. A
universal shout of applause now resounded to the skies; but what words
can give an adequate idea of the father's feelings, when, on recovering
his senses, he found his darling miraculously preserved, and safe within
his arms?

"After the first effusions of his tenderness were over, he asked for his
deliverer, and was shown a man of a noble stature, but dressed in mean
attire, and his features were so begrimed with smoke and filth that it
was impossible to distinguish them. Francisco, however, accosted him
with courtesy, and, presenting him with a purse of gold, begged he would
accept of that for the present, and that the next day he should receive
to the utmost of his promised reward. 'No, generous merchant,' answered
the stranger, 'I do not sell my blood.'

"'Gracious heavens!' cried the merchant, 'sure I should know that
voice?--It is----' 'Yes,' exclaimed the son, throwing himself into the
arms of his deliverer, 'it is my Hamet!'

"It was indeed Hamet, who stood before them in the same mean attire
which he had worn six months before, when the first generosity of the
merchant had redeemed him from slavery. Nothing could equal the
astonishment and gratitude of Francisco; but as they were then
surrounded by a large concourse of people, he desired Hamet to go with
him to the house of one of his friends, and when they were alone he
embraced him tenderly, and asked by what extraordinary chance he had
thus been enslaved a second time, adding a kind of reproach for his not
informing him of his captivity.

"'I bless God for that captivity,' answered Hamet, 'since it has given
me an opportunity of showing that I was not altogether undeserving of
your kindness, and of preserving the life of that dear youth, that I
value a thousand times beyond my own. But it is now fit that my generous
patron should be informed of the whole truth. Know, then, that when the
unfortunate Hamet was taken by your galleys, his aged father shared his
captivity--it was his fate which so often made me shed those tears which
first attracted the notice of your son; and when your unexampled bounty
had set me free, I flew to find the Christian who had purchased him. I
represented to him that I was young and