its threshold every
proud head bowed to earth in deep, abject obeisance.

CHAPTER XXX.

TREASURE AND TREASON.

AT Omar's request a few days later I accompanied him alone through a
private exit of the palace, and ere long we found ourselves unnoticed
beyond the ponderous city walls, where two horses, held by a slave, were
awaiting us. Mounting, we rode straight for the open country, and not
knowing whither we were going or what were my companion's intentions, we
soon left the great city far behind. For fully three hours we pressed
forward, my companion avoiding any answer to my questions as to our goal,
until about noon we came to a rising mount in the midst of a beautiful
country with palms and scattered orange-groves.

The scene was a veritable paradise. Beautiful fruits peeped from between
the foliage, and every coloured, every scented flower, in agreeable
variety intermingled with the grass. Roses and woodbines, very much like
those in England, appeared in beauteous contention; while beneath great
trees were rich flocks of birds of various feather. At the foot of the
hill ran a clear, transparent stream, which gently washed the margin of
the green whereon we stood. On the other side a grove of myrtles,
intermixed with roses and flowering shrubs, led into shady mazes; in the
midst of which appeared the glittering tops of elegant pavilions, some of
which stood on the brink of the river, others had wide avenues leading
through the groves, and others were almost hidden from sight by
intervening woods. All were calculated to give the ideas of pleasure
rather than magnificence, and had more ease than labour conspicuous.

"Beautiful!" I cried, gazing entranced upon the scene.

"Yes. From the moment we left the city and passed through the ancient
gateway that you admired, we have been riding in my private domain. Here,
as far as the eye can reach, all is mine, the garden of the Sanoms. But
let us hasten forward. It was not to show you picturesque landscapes that
I brought you hither. We have much to do ere we return."

Skirting the stream, where flocks and herds stood gazing at their own
images and others drinking of the transparent waters, we found the river,
growing wider, opened into a spacious lake which was half surrounded by a
rising hill. From the lake, higher than the river, ran a glittering
cascade and over the pendant rocks fell luxuriant vines and creeping
plants. At the opposite extremity of the l