It will be much better for you to
take refuge with me, who will not fail to avert any inquiries, until the
event has blown over, when you will be at liberty to follow your plans
in safety. My father owns a village at some distance from Hamadan, where
you can live unsuspected; and as for your horse and trappings, we
may dispose of them in such a manner that they cannot lead to your
discovery. Hamadan is not very far distant. If you depart hence at
midnight, we shall reach it early to-morrow; and this we can easily do
by making your horse carry us both. Consider that the journey is long to
the Turkish frontier; and should the beast fail you, what is to hinder
your being taken?'

His words gave a new turn to my thoughts, and I saw that he spoke the
language of reason. Totally ignorant of this part of Persia, and feeling
how necessary it was for my safety not only to be acquainted with the
high roads, but also with the unfrequented paths, I looked upon a rapid
flight to the frontier as an undertaking not so easily performed as
imagined. If the mollah was inclined to betray me, he would as easily
do so whether I fled or whether I adopted his plan; and of the two, it
appeared to me a safer line of conduct to confide in than to distrust
him: and accordingly I agreed to accompany him.

Refreshed both by food and rest, we departed at midnight, and made
great progress on the road to Hamadan ere the sun rose. Having reached a
rising ground which gave us a view of the city, we made a halt, in order
to decide upon our present operations. Nadan pointed with his hand to
a village about a parasang distant, and said, 'That is the village in
which you must take up your quarters, until the story of the mollah
bashi's extraordinary death be blown over; but you cannot present
yourself in this magnificent garb, and mounted on this fine horse,
without creating suspicion. I propose that we exchange dresses, and
that, you surrender the horse up to me. By this means you will appear
in the character of a dependant of my father at his village, and I shall
keep up the respectability of mine, by returning to the paternal roof
properly equipped. This arrangement will advance our mutual as well as
our combined interests. You will be safe from suspicion, and I shall not
look the pauper that I do now. The history of my disgrace will no doubt
soon reach the ears of my family, and perhaps lower them in the eyes of
the world; but in this country, where so