said HAMET, 'in my fortunes, that has
prompted thee to the danger of this attempt?' 'The utmost that I can
give thee,' said ALMORAN, 'I can give thee without danger to myself: but
though I have been placed, by the hand of fortune, near the person of
the tyrant, yet has my heart in secret been thy friend. If I am the
messenger of evil, impute it to him only by whom it is devised. The rack
is now preparing to receive thee; and every art of ingenious cruelty
will be exhausted to protract and to increase the agonies of death.'
'And what,' said HAMET, 'can thy friendship offer me?' 'I can offer
thee,' said ALMORAN, 'that which will at once dismiss thee to those
regions, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary rest for
ever.' He then produced the poignard from his bosom; and presenting it
to HAMET, 'Take this,' said he, 'and sleep in peace.'

HAMET, whose heart was touched with sudden joy at the sight of so
unexpected a remedy for every evil, did not immediately reflect, that he
was not at liberty to apply it: he snatched it in a transport from the
hand of ALMORAN, and expressed his sense of the obligation by clasping
him in his arms, and shedding the tears of gratitude in his breast. 'Be
quick,' said ALMORAN: this moment I must leave thee; and in the next,
perhaps, the messengers of destruction may bind thee to the rack. 'I
will be quick,' said HAMET; 'and the sigh that shall last linger upon my
lips, shall bless thee.' They then bid each other farewel: ALMORAN
retired from the dungeon, and the door was again closed upon HAMET.

Caled, who waited at the door till the supposed Osmyn should return,
presented him with the beverage which he had prepared, of which he
recounted the virtues; and ALMORAN received it with pleasure, and having
eagerly drank it off, returned to the palace. As soon as he was alone,
he resumed his own figure, and fate, with a confident and impatient
expectation, that in a short time a messenger would be dispatched to
acquaint him with the death of HAMET. HAMET, in the mean time, having
grasped the dagger in his hand, and raised his arm for the blow, 'This,'
said he, 'is my passport to the realms of peace, the immediate and only
object of my hope!' But at these words, his mind instantly took the
alarm: 'Let me reflect,' said he, 'a moment: from what can I derive hope
in death?--from that patient and persevering virtue, and from that
alone, by which we fulfill the task that is assigned us upo