"This night have I seen with my own eyes what we have hitherto refused to
believe," resumed Ibrahim after a pause, and in a tone of indignation that
echoed through the cavern. "I am now convinced that the shameless
scoundrels do not rob on their own account, since they are obliged to
pilfer and conceal a part of their plunder in order to get a profit from
their misdeeds. Marked you not, Hassan, how they trembled when the sun lit
up the ravine, lest their tricks should be espied by some sentry on the
battlements; and how their panic fear made them carry every thing up to
the castle?"

The old Turk bowed his head assentingly.

"Glory be to God and the Sultan!" continued the youth. "Before the bright
countenance of the prophet's vicegerent, who reigneth in Stamboul, no
misdeed can remain hidden that occurs in the remotest corner of his vast
dominions. Nay, much of what happens in the land of the Giaour is also
manifest to his penetrating vision. Witness the veil of turpitude and
cunning which has long been seen through by the clear eyes of our holy
mollahs, and of the council at the Seraglio, and which has just now been
torn away from before me, like a mist dispersing in the sunshine of truth.
Truly spoke the Christian maiden, whom but a few weeks back I took captive
in a fight with the Uzcoques, but who was shortly after rescued by another
band of those raging fiends."

"Saw you the maiden," exclaimed Hassan, "the good maiden that accompanies
the pirates, like an angel walking among demons?"

"What know you of the Houri?" eagerly demanded the youth, in vain
endeavouring to raise his head from the damp stones.