They immediately departed, and were not long before they arrived at the mouth of the cavern. The genie then said to Dakianos,
"It is here they are retired."
Dakianos, who was wholly possessed with the spirit of revenge, immediately would have entered it; but that moment there burst out from the cave a dreadful vapour, which was followed by a furious wind, and a darkness that spread over all that part of the world. The army gave back with horror; but anger redoubling the courage of Dakianos, he advanced to the entrance of the cavern, but it was with incredible difficulty, and, in spite of all his efforts, it was absolutely impossible for him to enter it, the air being so impenetrable. He perceived Catnier, who slept with his head resting upon his paw, and distinguished plainly the six young Greeks and the shepherd, who were all in a profound sleep, though he was far from suspecting it, as their eyes were open. Dakianos was not rash enough to renew his efforts—a secret horror restrained him. The sight of this cavern and all the prodigies of Heaven spread so great a terror in his mind that he returned to his army, and said that he had discovered his slaves, who had prostrated themselves before him without having the courage to speak to him, and that he had left them prisoners in the cavern till he fixed his resolution respecting their punishment. In effect, he consulted his sixty viziers, and demanded of them what remarkable vengeance he could exercise upon these young slaves; but no advice of theirs could give him satisfaction. He had recourse, therefore, to his genie, who advised him to command the architects, who always marched along with him, to raise a very thick wall, which should entirely close up the entrance of the cavern, and take away all hope of succour from those who were enclosed in it.
"You must take care for your own glory to cause to be engraved upon this wall the time, the year, and the reasons that obliged you to erect it; that will be the means," said he, "of informing posterity that you revenged yourself with a greatness of spirit."
Dakianos approved this counsel, and caused a wall to be erected as thick and solid as those of Alexandria; but he had the precaution to reserve one passage, of which he alone knew the entrance, in hopes of being one day able to seize upon his slaves, and with a view of examining the events at the cavern, which, in spite of himself, continually took up his thoughts. He added to all these precautions that of placing a guard of twenty thousand men, who encamped before the wall. All his armies had orders to relieve this body of troops every month, who were commanded to put to death all those who endeavoured to approach a place which enclosed those whose revolt and flight were the first misfortunes of his life; for till that moment everything had succeeded happily to him. A desire of revenge joined itself to the insult he had received from them, which appeared greater to him, as nothing had ever before dared to resist him. To a man intoxicated with his power, of which he had been himself the sole cause, so positive an opposition to his will was a cruel situation. Nothing could prevent him from repairing every day to the cavern in order to make new efforts to enter it, or at least to feed his eyes with the objects of his vengeance.
The calm which was enjoyed by those whom he still looked upon as his slaves redoubled his fury. Their eyes, which were, as he imagined, fixed upon him—their silence to all the reproaches and invectives with which he loaded them—even their attitude—all were marks of the greatest contempt of him. One day, when he had joined to his usual speeches the blackest imprecations against Heaven, Allah permitted Catnier, without any motion, to answer him:
"Wretch! darest thou blaspheme a God who has let thee live, notwithstanding the crimes that thou hast been guilty of? Believest thou that He has forgot to punish the fate of the learned Egyptian, whom thy avarice put to death, contrary to the most sacred oaths?"
Dakianos, whose wrath was impotent there, went out, distracted and provoked with the insulting reproaches that he received from the dog of his slaves. What a subject of humility! But far from having recourse to prayer, and imploring Allah's clemency, his pride revolted, and by a sentiment natural to the wicked, who generally render those who are subject to them answerable for everything that wounds their vanity, at his return he caused to be executed, in the public square, above two thousand men, who had refused to adore him. These examples of severity spread abroad the fire of a rebellion, which was lighted in all parts of his dominions; and, notwithstanding the anxiety that these troubles gave him to stop the progress of them, an inward emotion, which he could not resist, led him continually towards the cavern.
"What is it I go there to seek?" said he within himself. "The reproaches and contempt of one of the vilest animals, whilst I am everywhere adored—whilst every word that comes from my sacred mouth is revered. Yet, notwithstanding this, what am I in the eyes of an animal whom God protects? A shadow of power—an object of impotence! Ah! Dakianos, what shame! what confusion But, however, I have concealed it, notwithstanding this God, who will torment me, and His efforts will be in vain against my regulations. How happy I am to have concealed from my subjects the knowledge of such a misfortune! How prudent was I in erecting a wall which forbids all entrance to the cavern, and in hindering all mankind from approaching it by the troops which I have disposed before it! But in what manner can my slaves have subsisted whilst I have kept them enclosed there? Doubtless they have some communication into the country, and that communication is unknown to me. To remedy this inconvenience, I must surround the mountain with my troops." Accordingly he gave orders to six hundred thousand men to form an encampment round it, and to let no person approach a place that was so odious to him.
When he had taken these new precautions, he returned to the entrance of the cavern, and said, with a fierce and haughty voice,