I am infinitely obliged to you, replied Assad, for your good-will; I put myself entirely into your hands, and am ready to go with you wherever you please.
The old man laughed in his sleeve to think that he had got the prince in his clutches: he walked by his side as close as he could; and, to preserve the favourable opinion which Assad had conceived of him, he kept talking all the way with great civility and politeness. Among other things, he said, It must be confessed it was your good fortune to meet with me, rather than with any other man; for which I thank God. When you come to my house, you will know the reason why I express so much satisfaction at meeting you.
Arriving at the old man's house, he introduced Assad into a hall, where were forty such old fellows as himself, who formed a circle round a flaming fire, which they adored. The prince was not more seized with horror at the sight of so many men adoring the creature for the Creator, than with the fear of finding himself betrayed, and in such an abominable place.
While Assad stood motionless with surprise, the old cheat saluted the forty grey-headed men round the fire: Devout adorers of fire, said he, this is a happy day for us! Where is Gazban! Call him.
He spoke these words so loud, that a negro, who waited at the lower end of the hall, came immediately to him. This black was Gazban, who, as soon as he saw the disconsolate Assad, imagined for what purpose he had been called; he therefore instantly seized him, and with amazing nimbleness tied him hand and foot. When you have done, said the old man, carry him down, and bid my daughters, Bostava and Cavama, give him every day the bastinado, and allow him only a little bread morning and evening for his subsistence, sufficient just to keep him alive till the next ship departs for the Blue Sea and the Fiery Mountain, when he shall be offered up an agreeable sacrifice to our divinity.
As soon as the old man gave the cruel order, Gazban bore prince Assad into a cellar underneath the hall, from whence they proceeded through several dark rooms, till they came to a dungeon, the descent to which was by twenty steps, where he left him bound in chains of prodigious weight and bigness. Gazban then went to give notice of it to the old man's daughters; but he might have spared himself the trouble, their father having before sent for them, and given instructions himself how they were to proceed. Daughters, said he, I have just now caused a young Mussulman to be secured in the dungeon; therefore, as you well know how to do it, go instantly and give him the bastinado; and, as you cannot better show your zeal for our divinity, and the fire which you adore, than by your severity to him, do not be sparing in the punishment you are to inflict.
Bostava and Cavama, who had been bred up in their hatred to Mussulnien, received this order with joy: they descended immediately into the dungeon, stripped Assad, and bastinadoed him so unmercifully, that the blood issued out of the wounds, and he was left almost dead. After this cruel execution, they put a piece of bread and a pot of water by him, and retired.
It was some time before Assad recovered from the state of insensibility in which they had left him; and, in reflecting on his melancholy condition, he burst into a flood of tears, bitterly deploring the misery with which he was surrounded. The pleasing reflection, however, that this misfortune had not happened to his brother Amgrad, gave him some degree of comfort amidst his distress.
Prince Amgrad waited for his brother till the evening with great impatience; but when it was two, three, and four of the clock in the morning, and Assad not returned, his sorrow was so very violent, that he grew almost desperate. He spent the night in that dismal condition, and, as soon as it was day, went to the city, which, on entering, he was surprised to see but very few Mussulmen. He accosted the first he met, and asked him the name of the place; who told him it was the city of the magicians, so called because of the great number of magicians therein who adored fire, and that there were but very few Mussulmen. Amgrad then demanded how far it was to the isle of Ebene: he was answered, that it was four months' voyage by sea, and a year's journey by land. The man, having satisfied the prince as to these two questions, hastily left him, and went about his business.
Amgrad, who was about six weeks coming from the isle of Ebene with his brother Assad, could not comprehend how they came to this city in so short a time, unless the way across the mountain were much shortened, and not frequented because of the difficulty of the pass.