"Lord of my life," answered the Vizier, "because I was resolved, in case my plot did not succeed, to bear the burden myself, that my Sultan's honour might not be lessened in the eyes of his troops."
This noble confession of the Vizier pleased the whole army, and they waited with the utmost impatience to hear his pardon pronounced.
The Sultan then embraced his Vizier, and the shouts of the army were,—"Long live Misnar the lord of our hearts, and Horam the first and the most faithful of his slaves!"
The army of Ahubal still continued to fly after their Prince, whose fear did not suffer him to direct those who came up to him.
And now, in a few days, the army would have been totally dispersed, had not the giant Kifri, enraged at the death of his brethren, and travelling in his fury, appeared before the eyes of the terrified Prince and his troops, in a narrow pass among the rocks.
The presence of Kifri was not less terrifying than the noise of the pursuers; and Ahubal, at the sight of the monster, fell with his face to the ground.
"Who art thou," said Kifri, with the voice of thunder, "that fliest like the roebuck, and tremblest like the heart-stricken antelope?"
"Prince of earth," said Ahubal, "I am the friend of Ulin, of Happuck, of Ollomand, of Tasnar, of Ahaback, and of Desra. I am he who, through the power of the enchanters, have contended for the throne of India."
"Wretched, then, are they that league with thee," answered the giant Kifri, "thou son of fear, thou wretch unworthy of such support! Was it for thee, base coward, that Ollomand poured forth his unnumbered stores? that the plains of India were dyed with the blood of Desra, the mistress of our race?"
As Kifri spake thus, his broad eyeballs glowed like the red orb of day when covered with dark fleeting clouds, and from his nostrils issued forth the tempest and the flame.