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CHAPTER VI.

"But look, the morning, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill."

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd;

Shakspeare.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown :
The sceptre shews the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above the scepter'd sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;

It is an attribute to God himself;

An earthly power doth then shew likest God's
When mercy seasons justice."

Shakspeare.

THE morning had scarce broadly dawned, ere Abdallah Mirza was summoned forth by a strong guard, to which he submitted with fortitude and resignation, though the non-re

turn of the boor did not fail to create the

most painful anxieties.

"Whither do ye lead me, genteel-men ?" inquired Abdallah, of two officers of rank, who had charge of him, and who marched by his side.

"To the tent of our emperor," replied one of the officers. "An order was issued yesterday morning, that all the Christian prisoners taken, should be brought before him, and by him alone should their fate be decided. The drunken raffs of last night, who would have put thee to instant death, would be severely punished for their disobedience of the imperial orders, was their conduct made known to the emperor."

"Ah! had Saladine lived," said Abdallah Mirza, to himself, "he might remember our last meeting. Pshaw, the thought is idle; he lives not, and, if he did, like the infidel merchant, he would forget the just dictates of an honourable mind, and glory in the death of a Christian warrior. What possible good can be expected from an infidel?"

In this hastily-formed, and as hastily-dissipated sentiment, the unhappy Abdallah did outrage to his own feelings, and he immediately blushed at such sweeping injustice, for the service Saladine rendered to him at the battle of Ashkelon, and the kind services which had been subsequently performed by the infidel merchant, flashed upon his mind, when he charged himself with the basest ingratitude.

"My fate, at last, is sealed," said he, continuing to soliloquize, "but I will not continue to accuse one of insensibility, whose lamented death, is the only bar to his serving me again; nor the other for not exercising the means for my escape and preservation, which he might feel disposed to do, but which may not be in his power. I will, therefore, die without hate, and without reproach."

By this time the escort and the prisoner reached the encampment, when shouts of demoniacal satisfaction from the infidel soldiery at the sight of Abdallah Mirza-a prisoner

rent the air, but which were only a renewal, or a continuance of shouts which had marked the arrival of other Christian prisoners, who had preceded him, which now vibrated along the whole line of encampment. They halted in the vicinity of the imperial tent, where about twenty other prisoners had previously arrived, and awaited their doom, surrounded by a strong body of troops.

The tent of the emperor, in fact, was a pavillion of silk and gold; the silk of the rarest and richest colours, and the gold-burnished, dead, and embossed-was interspersed with rich jewels. The emperor was seated, in front of his superb tent, on a throne, covered with the richest sky-blue silk, ornamented with different curious designs in gold, and studded with precious stones.

The dress the costume of peace-of the emperor, was magnificent beyond description. It consisted of many coloured silks of the brightest and most enlivening contrast, and was loaded with the most valuable and costly jewels. His brow was encircled with a wreath

of laurel, after the manner of the Roman Emperors, but in the front of the wreath was a crescent, formed of the largest diamonds.

His cimeter, the hilt of which was of richly embossed gold, crowned with an immense ruby, quietly rested in its golden scabbard, by his side.

He was attended by his principal generals and a large retinue of officers, and the army was drawn up in the distance, in the form of a half circle. He appeared a sun among men, vying in splendour and gorgeousness with the great orb of day, which now, was high in the firmament, and shed its bright and glowing beams upon the imposing spectacle.

The Christian prisoners were ushered, one by one, into the presence of the emperor, who demanded of each, their name and degree. Upon these inquiries being answered, they were ordered off to the right, there to await his final commands.

This ordeal had been passed by fifteen of the prisoners, without Abdallah Mirza paying any particular notice to what was going