to
follow my original destiny. I have now an opportunity of setting up for
a martyr, and _that_, now I recollect it, is worth more than the loss
of my worldly goods, my house, my furniture, my white ass, and even my
muties.'

'Then what do you propose doing?' said I. 'Will you accompany me to
Bagdad, or will you wait the tide of events in Persia?'

'My plan,' said he, 'is to proceed to my native place, Hamadan, where my
father, who is still alive, enjoys considerable reputation: through his
means I will set negotiations on foot for my readmission to the capital,
and ultimately for my restoration to the situations of which I have been
deprived. But you,--what road do you intend to pursue? When, inshallah,
please God, I am restored, I shall require your talents to make my muti
establishment prosper. You had better remain at Hamadan with me, and
follow my fortunes.'

'Ah, my friend,' said I, 'with all my present apparent prosperity, I am
more of an exile than you. Events have played wickedly into my lap, and
here am I (God knows how unwillingly) an avowed thief. I could not do
otherwise than follow my destiny, which has clothed me with the garments
of the chief priest, enriched me with his money, and mounted me upon the
finely caparisoned steed of the executioner in chief. That same destiny
compels me to fly my country: I cannot remain in it to run the chance of
being discovered and cut into quarters, to grace the gates of the city.
No, before many days are expired, I hope to have reached the Turkish
frontier, and then only shall I call myself in safety.'

Upon this I made him an offer of part of my acquired spoils, by which I
hoped to secure his secrecy, and happy was I to find him nothing loth.
He accepted of ten tomauns (leaving me ninety-five in hand), which he
said would be enough for present purposes, and which he promised to
repay whenever his fortunes should be reestablished. But upon taking
them from me, he again urged me to proceed with him to Hamadan. He
represented in the strongest colours the danger I ran of being seized
before I could escape from the Shah's territories, and even when I
should have quitted them. 'For,' said he, 'the moment the death of the
mollah bashi is known, and as soon as the chief executioner shall have
discovered the loss of his horse, he will not fail to dispatch officers
throughout the country in search of you, and you are too conspicuous a
character now not to be easily traced.