pearls betwixt the two cloths of his vest, and put into his mouth the
two others which he proposed to sell. He was not wrong in his
conjecture concerning the persons he had seen--they were in reality
robbers. They came up to him, surrounded him, and stripped him; and in
this situation they left him on the road, with nothing but a single
pair of drawers.

The unfortunate traveller recognized in this new feature of fortune
the effect of the evil destiny which pursued him. Meanwhile, he
congratulated himself on having been able to save from the hands of
the rascals the two most beautiful pearls, which were sufficient to
re-establish his affairs and assist him in some lucrative adventure.
The capital was not far distant. He arrived there, and entrusted to
the Dellal[13] the two pearls which remained, to expose them for sale.
The Dellal proclaimed the jewels with a loud voice in the market, and
invited the curious to bid for them. Unfortunately, some days before
there had been some pearls stolen from one of the richest jewellers in
the city. He thought he recognized some of his own in those which were
set up to sell, and demanded that the pretended owner of the jewels
should appear. When he saw him so ill dressed he was convinced he had
found the thief.

[Footnote 13: The Dellal is a public crier.]

"There are two pearls," said he to him, "but you ought to have ten:
what have you done with the other eight?"

Kaskas, thinking the jeweller had been informed of the present that
the fisher had made him, ingenuously replied, "I had ten of them, it
is true; but some robbers whom I met on the road have carried off the
other eight in the lining of my waistcoat, where I had concealed
them."

On this confession, which appeared to the jeweller an acknowledgment
of guilt, he took Kaskas by the hand and carried him before the civil
magistrate, accusing him of having stolen his pearls. This judge, led
away by appearances, and on the declaration of the rich citizen,
condemned the poor Kaskas to the bastinado, and to imprisonment as
long as his accuser should be pleased to detain him in custody. This
unhappy creature, the sport of fortune and of men's injustice,
underwent the punishment, and was forced, during a whole year, to
groan under the rigour of a severe confinement, till at length chance
brought a man of his acquaintance into the same prison. This was one
of the three divers in the Persian Gulf, whose labour appeared to have