upset.

Meanwhile, they had observed from the land the approach of the strange
boat, and, inasmuch as, for some time back, they had been in anxiety
on account of Corsairs, their suspicions were excited, and several
boats put off from the land to their assistance: but they only came in
time to pick up the drowning. In the confusion, the hostile boat
escaped. In both barks, however, which had taken in those who were
preserved, they were uncertain whether all had been saved. They
approached each other, and, alas! found that my sister and one of her
companions were missing; at the same time, in their number a stranger
was discovered, who was known to none. In answer to Mustapha's
threats, he confessed that he belonged to the hostile ship, which was
lying at anchor two miles to the eastward, and that his companions had
left him behind in their hasty flight, while he was engaged in
assisting to pick up the maidens; moreover, he said he had seen two
taken on board their boat.

The grief of my old father was without bounds, but Mustapha also was
afflicted unto death, for not only had his beloved sister been lost,
and did he accuse himself of having been the cause of her misfortune,
but, also, her companion who had shared it with her, had been promised
to him by her parents as his wife; still had he not dared to avow it
to our father, because her family was poor, and of low descent. My
father, however, was a stern man; as soon as his sorrow had subsided a
little, he called Mustapha before him, and thus spake to him:--

"Thy folly has deprived me of the consolation of my old age, and the
joy of my eyes. Go! I banish thee forever from my sight! I curse thee
and thine offspring--and only when thou shalt restore to me my Fatima,
shall thy head be entirely free from a father's execrations!"

This my poor brother had not expected; already, before this, he had
determined to go in search of his sister and her friend, after having
asked the blessing of his father upon his efforts, and now that father
had sent him forth into the world, laden with his curse. As, however,
his former grief had bowed him down, so this consummation of
misfortune, which he had not deserved, tended to steel his mind. He
went to the imprisoned pirate, and, demanding whither the ship was
bound, learned that she carried on a trade in slaves, and usually had
a great sale thereof in Balsora.

On his return to the house, in order to prepare for his journey, the