5! The ADVENTURES «f

and fortune, if thou halt courage to defpife the great* ^ eft danger. c<

> ith

T did not in the leaft doubt that the letter came from f c the favouitcfultana : the ftile and diamond p rfuaded \ r me that fhe mull have been the author. Befides, that ^ I am not naturally very timorous, the vanity of being fo, in the good graces of a grand figniors miftrefs, and ;C( mo e than that, the hope of getting from her four times as much money as would be neceflary for my re ranfom, made me form the dclign of atenieving that y ( adventure, whatever dangers might attend it. I con- c | tinued my work, mufing upon the means of entering n the apartment of Farrukhnaz, or rether expelling that j fhe would pave the way; for I concluded that (he a j would not iiop there, butatleaft beat more than half ar the trouble. I was not miltaken : the lame eunuch n( that palled me before; repafled an hour after, andfaid,

Chriftian, haft thou confidercd : and will thou have the boldnefs to follow me ? I anfwered, Yes.** f r lie replied, Very well : Heaven preferve thcc at Thou lb a It fee me again to-morrow morning. Sc faying, he retired. Next day he appeared according- ^ Iv, about eight in the morning, and beckoned me to tc him. I obeyed the fignal, and he condufted me into y ( a hall, where there was a large piece of linen, which ^ .another eunuch and he had brought thither, and which they were to carry to the fultana, for the de- jj ( ,-coi ation of an Arabian piece, that fhe was preparing for the entertainment, of the dey. ^

The two eunuchs, having fpread out the cloth, laid c j me along within it, and at the hazard of my being ai Ttrtiocated,, rolled it up again with me in the middle: then, each taking one end of it y carried me thus, an- ^ queftioned, into the bed-chamber of the fair Cache- u! mirian, who had nobody with her but an old flave k, devoted to her plcafure. When the two unrolled thff cloth, Farrukhnaz, at fight of me, broke out into ^ fcranfpom of joy, that well difoovered^the geniusf of

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