r with Crete; in his absence
he feared to leave Sabbatai in the capital. The prisoner was therefore
transferred to the abode of State prisoners, the Castle of the
Dardanelles at Abydos, with orders that he was to be closely confined,
and never to go outside the gates. But, under the spell of some
strange respect, or in the desire to have a hold upon them, too, the
Kaimacon allowed his retinue of Kings to accompany him, likewise his
amanuensis, Samuel Primo, and his consort, Melisselda.

The news of his removal to better quarters did not fail to confirm the
faith of the Sabbatians. It was reported, moreover, that the
Janissaries sent to take him fell dead at a word from his mouth, and
being desired to revive them he consented, except in the case of some
who, he said, were not true Turks. Then he went of his own accord to
the Castle, but the shackles they laid on his feet fell from him,
converted into gold with which he gratified his true and faithful
believers, and, spite of steel bars and iron locks, he was seen to
walk through the streets with a numerous attendance. Nor did the
Sabbatians fail to find mystic significance in the fact that their
Messiah arrived at his new prison on the Eve of Passover--of the
anniversary of Freedom.

Sabbatai at once proceeded to kill the Paschal lamb for himself and
his followers, and eating thereof with the fat, in defiance of
Talmudic Law, he exclaimed:--"Blessed be God who hath restored that
which was forbidden."

To the Tower of Strength, as the Sabbatians called the castle at
Abydos, wherein the Messiah held his Court, streamed treasure-laden
pilgrims from Poland, Germany, Italy, Vienna, Amsterdam, Cairo,
Morocco, thinking by the pious journey to become worthy of seeing his
face; and Sabbatai gave them his benediction, and promised them
increase of their stores and enlargement of their possessions in the
Holy Land. The ships were overburdened with passengers; freights rose.
The natives grew rich by accommodating the pilgrims, the castellan
(interpreting liberally the Kaimacon's instructions to mean that
though the prisoner might not go out visitors might come in) by
charging them fifteen to thirty marks for admission to the royal
precincts. A shower of gold poured into Abydos. Jew, Moslem,
Christian--the whole world wondered, and half of it believed. The
beauty and gaiety of Melisselda witched the stubbornest sceptics.
Men's thoughts turned to "The Tower of Strength," from the