"Mahoud then showed me my father Zebenezer, whom, by his enchantment, he had deprived of all sensation: he lay in a coffin of black marble, in an inner apartment, and after that he vowed that he would desist from force; but, till I consented to love him, I must be content to live in the tomb.
"He, by his enchantments, obliged me to sleep in the place whence you delivered me, and what time has elapsed during my confinement I know not."
"Princess," said the Sultan, "we rejoice at your escape; but as it is probable, by your account, that your royal sire Zebenezer still sleeps in the tomb, we will pray for his deliverance from the chains of enchantment."
The Sultan then sent officers to search in the tomb for the body of Zebenezer, and also called together those who were skilled in magic, and desired them to use incantations to invoke the genius Macoma to their assistance. But the arts of the magicians were vain, and Macoma remained deaf to the entreaties of the Sultan and his sages.
In the meantime, while the Sultan and his Vizier Horam endeavoured to comfort the afflicted Hemjunah, the ambassadors returned from Cassimir, bringing advice that the grand Vizier Hobaddan had assumed the title of Sultan, and that the whole kingdom of Cassimir acknowledged his authority.
At this report, Hemjunah sank on the earth, and the Sultan Misnar ran to comfort her, declaring that he would march his whole army to recover her dominions from the rebel Hobaddan.
"Horam," said the Sultan, "let us be prudent as well as just: therefore, while you march to the assistance of the injured subjects of Cassimir, and to restore that kingdom to its lawful Prince, I will keep strict discipline and order in the provinces of my empire; and I trust, in a short time, I shall see you return with the head of the rebel Hobaddan."
The Vizier Horam set out in a few days from Delhi with three hundred thousand troops of the flower of the Sultan's army, and by forced marches reached the confines of Cassimir ere the pretended Sultan Hobaddan had notice of his arrival.
The Vizier Horam's intention to restore the Princess Hemjunah to the throne of her ancestors being proclaimed, numbers of the subjects of Cassimir flocked to the standard of Horam; and the army, now increased to five hundred thousand troops, marched forthwith toward the capital of Cassimir.