us, but
falling himself in the very charge which secured it."

"Gallant man!" exclaimed the Caliph. "And what did El Hadi do for the
sons?" Seeing that Suleiman did not answer--"Nothing!" he muttered,
"and Haroun has never known of the matter."

"This battle," continued Suleiman, "having broken the power of the
enemy, and the war being at an end, Mohammed and I returned to Bagdad,
intending to share the property left by our father between ourselves
and Moussa, our younger brother, in three parts or equal shares, as we
had understood our father to desire.

"But on our return we found that Moussa, who holds the position of a
Cadi, or judge, had already taken possession of the whole of the
property, and he altogether refused to share it in any way with us,
alleging that our father had promised to leave him all that he had.

"This assertion we knew to be false. And El Hadi having died just at
that time, and the new Caliph being supposed to mislike both him and
his adherents, we applied to Ali ibn Moulk, the Governor of Bagdad,
asking him to consider our case and enforce a just division of our
inheritance. But Ali, though he took whatever presents we could afford
to give him, did nothing, having no doubt received from Moussa still
handsomer presents than it was in our power to afford.

"Seeing that our cause in no way advanced, we, who had always been used
to an active life, soon got tired of waiting in idleness the good
pleasure of the Governor, and therefore applied for and obtained
commands in an army sent by the new Caliph against a province that had
revolted.

"For three years we were employed in distant expeditions, and at
length, at the end of that time, when storming a fortress held by a
body of insurgents, a splinter entering one of my eyes destroyed the
sight of it, and the inflammation extending from it not long after
destroyed the sight of the other, rendering me totally blind; while
Mohammed, poor fellow, still more unfortunate, was hurled backwards
from the walls of the same fortress and injured his back so severely,
that he has been unable to get about, and has suffered constant pain
ever since.

"When we got back to Bagdad from this most unlucky campaign, our money
being almost exhausted, I called again upon Moussa, and, relating to
him what had befallen us, I asked him once more to make a fair and
equitable division of the inheritance with us. But he once more
refused to do so, repeated his ass