ich the serdar expected would have given him
a great harvest of glory and of Muscovites' heads; and which, the chief
executioner flattered himself, would afford him exultation and boasting
for the remainder of his life. But, notwithstanding its total
failure, till, he had ingenuity enough to discover matter for
self-congratulation.

Surrounded by a circle of his adherents, amongst whom I was one, he was
in the midst of a peal of boasting, when a message came from the serdar,
requesting that Hajji Baba might be sent to him. I returned with the
messenger, and the first words which the serdar said, upon my appearing
before him, were, 'Where is Yusuf? Where is his wife?'

It immediately occurred to me that they had escaped; and putting on one
of my most innocent looks, I denied having the least knowledge of their
movements.

The serdar then began to roll his eyeballs about, and to twist up his
mouth into various shapes. Passion burst from him in the grossest and
most violent expressions; he vowed vengeance upon him, his race, his
village, and upon everything and everybody in the least connected with
him; and whilst he expressed a total disbelief of am my protestations of
ignorance, he gave me to understand, that if I was found to have been
in the smallest degree an accessory to his escape, he would use all his
influence to sweep my vile person from the face of the earth.

I afterwards heard that he had sent a party of men to Gavmishlu, to
seize and bring before him Yusuf's parents and kindred, with everything
that belonged to them; to take possession of their property, and to burn
and destroy whatever they could not bring away: but the sagacious and
active youth had foreseen this, and had taken his measures with such
prudence and promptitude, that he had completely baffled the tyrant.
He, his wife, his wife's relations, his own parents and family, with
all their effects (leaving only their tilled ground behind them), had
concerted one common plan of migration into the Russian territory. It
had fully succeeded, as I afterwards heard, for they were received with
great kindness, both by the government and by their own sect; lands were
allotted, and every help afforded them for the re-establishment of their
losses.

CHAPTER XLII

He proceeds to the king's camp, and gives a specimen of lying on a grand
scale.

I returned to my chief full of apprehension at the threat which I had
received; and knowing how very tena