The Chief regarded him with a stern and terrible look and then made signs that he was to be led away. This being done, he cut the cords that bound Mustapha with his dagger and invited him to take a seat by his side.
“I ask your pardon for the mistake that has occurred,” he said, “but it was a strange interposition of Providence that placed you in the hands of my companions at the moment they were lying in wait for that vile wretch you have just seen.”
Mustapha asked for one favour only as compensation, namely, that he might be allowed to proceed on his way without further delay, and on the Chief questioning him as to the reason of his great haste he told him all. The Chief then persuaded him to remain with him one night at least, telling him that both he and his horse needed rest, and promised to show him the next morning a short way by which he would be able to reach Balsora in a day and a half. Mustapha agreed to this and after being most hospitably entertained slept soundly all night long in the robber’s tent.
When he awoke he found himself alone in the tent, but through the hangings over the doorway he could hear voices, which seemed to belong to the Robber Chief and the little dark dwarf. He listened attentively, and to his horror heard the little man advising the Chief to murder him, as if he were allowed to go free he might betray the whole troop.
Mustapha could not but perceive that the little man owed him a grudge, because he had been the cause of the sharp treatment he had received the previous day. But the Robber Chief, after reflecting a few moments, said: “No, he is my guest, and as such is sacred to me, besides which he does not look like a man to betray one.”
He then thrust aside the tent curtains and entered—“Peace be with thee, Mustapha,” he said, “we will drain a morning draught and then you should prepare yourself to start.”
He listened attentively. (P. [37].)
He handed his guest a cup of sherbert, and when they had each drunk, they saddled their horses and Mustapha mounted and left the camp with a lighter heart than when he had entered it.
As they left the tents behind them the Chief told his new friend that the Pasha they had captured the previous day, after having promised him and his men the free range of his territory, had captured one of the best and bravest of them and, after torturing him terribly, had hanged him, and that now he should die himself.