ght only to cut a rope asunder?
And was I called forth to see only a passage made in the rocks, and
the slaves of Horam as ill employed as their master lately has been?
Lead me, villain!" continued he, "back to my tent, and expect with the
rising of the sun the fate you have so amply merited."

Thus saying, the Sultan returned, and the captain of the guard led
Horam back in chains to his place of confinement.

In the morning, the army of the Sultan Misnar, which had escaped to
the mountains, were all drawn out, the cymbals sounded, and a gibbet
forty feet high was erected in their front, to which the captain of
the guard led the unfortunate Vizier Horam.

At the sound of the cymbals the Sultan came from his tent, and gave
orders that Horam should be conducted to his fate.

The Vizier, unmoved at his doom, surrendered himself to the officer
who was to execute the Sultan's sentence; and the ignominious rope was
put about his neck, when a messenger, attended by several sentinels,
came running into the camp.

The messenger hastened to the Sultan, and thus delivered his message:
"Ahaback and Desra, the wicked enchanters who have upholden thy
rebellious brother, are dead; the army of Ahubal is in the utmost
consternation; and the friends of the Sultan wish to see thee hunting
thine enemies, as the lion hunts the wild asses in the forest."

This messenger was succeeded by several of the Sultan's spies, who
confirmed the account.

Misnar then put himself at the head of his troops, ordered Horam back
to his former confinement, and hastened to fall upon the forces of the
rebels.

Early the same morning, Ahubal was awakened by his guards, who, with
countenances of woe, declared to him the death of his friends Ahaback
and Desra.

"Are my friends dead?" said Ahubal, trembling: "by what misfortune am
I bereaved of them? What new device has Misnar practised against them?
Are not these wise and sage magicians, then, a match for a boy's
prudence? Alas! what can _I_ effect against them, when these fall away
before his victorious arm?"

"Prince," answered the guards, "we have too late discovered the wiles
of our enemies. Over the magnificent pavilion of the Sultan, which
Horam built for his master, the artful Vizier had concealed a
ponderous stone, which covered the whole pavilion. This, by some
secret means, he contrived in the night to release from its
confinement, while Ahaback and Desra were sleeping on the sofas
beneath