the hands of Arbi Esid alone, he
would have set her at liberty at once. However, he replied with
considerable courtesy, that the whole circumstances of the affair had
been referred to the emperor, of whose imperial commands he was in
momentary expectation. This answer placed the matter in a less favorable
light, in the eyes of Don Jose--obstructing, as it did, any means of
bringing comfort to the helpless Sol, while she, still immured in the
dungeon, looked forward to death as the only escape from her
accumulating woes. Many days did not elapse, however, before the
expected dispatches arrived from the emperor, bearing his orders that
the captive Jewess should be conducted immediately to Fez.

This unexpected and unlooked-for result caused the utmost consternation
among all acquainted with the circumstances. Both Moors and Hebrews
evinced an almost equal desire to preserve the life of the beautiful
Sol; but the fatal order admitted no delay, and there was no choice but
to comply with it with the utmost promptitude. The governor, therefore,
summoned Haim Hachuel, and after communicating to him the commands of
the emperor, he informed him that his daughter must begin her journey to
Fez on the following day, and required of him the necessary sum
(amounting to forty dollars)[11] to defray the expenses of the transit.
This he demanded within two hours' time.

The Jew returned with several friends to his own home, and secretly
arranged that one of them should follow his daughter at a distance, so
as not to lose sight of her altogether. It was no easy matter to find
one able and willing to undertake a mission of so much difficulty and
danger, in defiance of the express commands of the governor; but at
length a Jew, but little known in the town, was found to accept the
charge, and having provided himself with money, he was sent on the way.

Whilst Haim and his son were busied in these preparations, the unhappy
Simla lay on her bed in a state of utter prostration. When the tidings
of her beloved Sol's intended departure reached her, she prepared to see
her pass from a secure hiding-place, and thence to bid her farewell, as
though she were to see her no more for ever. Not only, indeed, to the
parents and brother of Sol were the hours of the night laden with
tribulation and anguish, all their friends and neighbors shared their
griefs. The unhappy victim alone, to whom the dreadful tidings were
communicated at midnight, heard the