aded the
officer in charge of the caravan to let him hire the vacant box, so it
was easy for the prince to scramble out of his own window and approach
ours.

This ingenious trick enchanted us, but our agreeable conversation was
soon interrupted by the attendants, who perceived that the camel was
walking in a crooked manner and came to find out what was wrong. Luckily
they were slow in their movements, and the prince had just time to
get back to his own box and restore the balance, before the trick was
discovered.

'But neither the prince nor his friend had any intention of allowing
us to enter the Sultan's palace, though it was difficult to know how we
were to escape, and what was to become of us when once we had escaped.
At length, one day as we were drawing near Constantinople, we learned
from the prince that Thelamis had made acquaintance with a holy dervish
whom he had met on the road, and had informed him that we were his
sisters, who were being sold as slaves against his will. The good man
was interested in the story, and readily agreed to find us shelter if
we could manage to elude the watchfulness of our guards. The risk was
great, but it was our only chance.

'That night, when the whole caravan was fast asleep, we raised the upper
part of our boxes and by the help of Thelamis climbed silently out. We
next went back some distance along the way we had come, then, striking
into another road, reached at last the retreat prepared for us by the
dervish. Here we found food and rest, and I need not say what happiness
it was to be free once more.

'The dervish soon became a slave to our beauty, and the day after our
escape he proposed that we should allow him to conduct us to an inn
situated at a short distance, where we should find two Jews, owners of
precious talismans which did not really belong to them. "Try," said the
dervish, "by some means to get possession of them."

'The inn, though not on the direct road to Constantinople, was a
favourite one with merchants, owing to the excellence of the food, and
on our arrival we discovered at least six or eight other people who had
stopped for refreshment. They greeted us politely, and we sat down to
table together.

'In a short time the two men described by the dervish entered the room,
and at a sign from him my sister made room at her side for one, while I
did the same for the other.

'Now the dervish had happened to mention that "their brother had
danced." At