MURAD THE UNLUCKY AND OTHER TALES


Contents:

Introduction
Murad the Unlucky
The Limerick Gloves
Madame de Fleury




INTRODUCTION


Maria Edgeworth came of a lively family which had settled in Ireland in
the latter part of the sixteenth century.  Her father at the age of five-
and-twenty inherited the family estates at Edgeworthstown in 1769.  He
had snatched an early marriage, which did not prove happy.  He had a
little son, whom he was educating upon the principles set forth in
Rousseau's "Emile," and a daughter Maria, who was born on the 1st of
January, 1767.  He was then living at Hare Hatch, near Maidenhead.  In
March, 1773, his first wife died after giving birth to a daughter named
Anna.  In July, 1773, he married again, Honora Sneyd, and went to live in
Ireland, taking with him his daughter Maria, who was then about six years
old.  Two years afterwards she was sent from Ireland to a school at
Derby.  In April, 1780, her father's second wife died, and advised him
upon her death-bed to marry her sister Elizabeth.  He married his
deceased wife's sister on the next following Christmas Day.  Maria
Edgeworth was in that year removed to a school in London, and her
holidays were often spent with her father's friend Thomas Day, the author
of "Sandford and Merton," an eccentric enthusiast who lived then at
Anningsley, in Surrey.

Maria Edgeworth--always a little body--was conspicuous among her
schoolfellows for quick wit, and was apt alike for study and invention.
She was story-teller general to the community.  In 1782, at the age of
fifteen, she left school and went home with her father and his third
wife, who then settled finally at Edgeworthstown.

At Edgeworthstown Richard Lovell Edgeworth now became active in the
direct training of his children, in the improvement of his estate, and in
schemes for the improvement of the country.  His eldest daughter, Maria,
showing skill with the pen, he made her more and more his companion and
fellow-worker to good ends.  She kept household accounts, had entrusted
to her the whole education of a little brother, wrote stories on a slate
and read them to the family, wiped them off when not approved, and copied
them in ink if they proved popular with the home public.  Miss
Edgeworth's first printed book was a plea for the education of women,
"Letters to Literary Ladies," published in 1795, when her age was eight-
and-twenty.  Next year, 1796, working with her father, she produced the
first volume of the "Parent's Assistant."  In November, 1797, when Miss
Edgeworth's age was nearly thirty-one, her father, then aged fifty-three,
lost his third wife, and he married a fourth in the following May.  The
fourth wife, at first objected to, was young enough to be a companion and
friend, and between her and Maria Edgeworth a fast friendship came to be
established.  In the year of her father's fourth marriage Maria joined
him in the production of two volumes on "Practical Education."  Then
followed books for children, including "Harry and Lucy," which had been
begun by her father years before in partnership with his second wife,
when Thomas Day began writing "Sandford and Merton," with the original
intention that it should be worked in as a part of the whole scheme.

In the year 1800 Miss Edgeworth, thirty-three years old, began her
independent career as a novelist with "Castle Rackrent;" and from that
time on, work followed work in illustration of the power of a woman of
genius to associate quick wit and quick feeling with sound sense and a
good reason for speaking.  Sir Walter Scott in his frank way declared
that he received an impulse from Miss Edgeworth's example as a
story-teller.  In the general preface to his own final edition of the
Waverley Novels he said that "Without being so presumptuous as to hope to
emulate the rich humour, pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which
pervade the works of my accomplished friend, I felt that something might
be attempted for my own country of the same kind with that which Miss
Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland--something which might
introduce her natives to those of the sister kingdom in a more favourable
light than they had been placed hitherto, and tend to procure sympathy
for their virtues and indulgence for their foibles."

Of the three stories in this volume, who--"Murad the Unlucky" and "The
Limerick Gloves"--first appeared in three volumes of "Popular Tales,"
which were first published in 1804, with a short introduction by Miss
Edgeworth's father.  "Madame de Fleury" was written a few years later.

H. M.




MURAD THE UNLUCKY


CHAPTER I


It is well known that the grand seignior amuses himself by going at
night, in disguise, through streets of Constantinople; as the caliph
Haroun Alraschid used formerly to do in Bagdad.

One moonlight night, accompanied by his grand vizier, he traversed
several of the principal streets of the city without seeing anything
remarkable.  At length, as they were passing a rope-maker's, the sultan
recollected the Arabian story of Cogia-Hassan Alhabal, the rope-maker,
and his two friends, Saad and Saadi, who differed so much in their
opinion concerning the influence of fortune over human affairs.

"What is your opinion on this subject?" said the grand seignior to his
vizier.

"I am inclined, please your majesty," replied the vizier, "to think that
success in the world depends more upon prudence than upon what is called
luck, or fortune."

"And I," said the sultan, "am persuaded that fortune does more for men
than prudence.  Do you not every day hear of persons who are said to be
fortunate or unfortunate?  How comes it that this opinion should prevail
amongst men, if it be not justified by experience?"

"It is not for me to dispute with your majesty," replied the prudent
vizier.

"Speak your mind freely; I desire and command it," said the sultan.

"Then I am of opinion," answered the vizier, "that people are often led
to believe others fortunate, or unfortunate, merely because they only
know the general outline of their histories; and are ignorant of the
incidents and events in which they have shown prudence or imprudence.  I
have heard, for instance, that there are at present, in this city, two
men, who are remarkable for their good and bad fortune: one is called
Murad the Unlucky, and the other Saladin the Lucky.  Now, I am inclined
to think, if we could hear their stories, we should find that one is a
prudent and the other an imprudent character."

"Where do these men live?" interrupted the sultan.  "I will hear their
histories from their own lips before I sleep."

"Murad the Unlucky lives in the next square," said the vizier.

The sultan desired to go thither immediately.  Scarcely had they entered
the square, when they heard the cry of loud lamentations.  They followed
the sound till they came to a house of which the door was open, and where
there was a man tearing his turban, and weeping bitterly.  They asked the
cause of his distress, and he pointed to the fragments of a china vase,
which lay on the pavement at his door.

"This seems undoubtedly to be beautiful china," said the sultan, taking
up one of the broken pieces; "but can the loss of a china vase be the
cause of such violent grief and despair?"

"Ah, gentlemen," said the owner of the vase, suspending his lamentations,
and looking at the dress of the pretended merchants, "I see that you are
strangers: you do not know how much cause I have for grief and despair!
You do not know that you are speaking to Murad the Unlucky!  Were you to
hear all the unfortunate accidents that have happened to me, from the
time I was born till this instant, you would perhaps pity me, and
acknowledge I have just cause for despair."

Curiosity was strongly expressed by the sultan; and the hope of obtaining
sympathy inclined Murad to gratify it by the recital of his adventures.
"Gentlemen," said he, "I scarcely dare invite you into the house of such
an unlucky being as I am; but if you will venture to take a night's
lodging under my roof, you shall hear at your leisure the story of my
misfortunes."

The sultan and the vizier excused themselves from spending the night with
Murad, saying that they were obliged to proceed to their khan, where they
should be expected by their companions; but they begged permission to
repose themselves for half an hour in his house, and besought him to
relate the history of his life, if it would not renew his grief too much
to recollect his misfortunes.

Few men are so miserable as not to like to talk of their misfortunes,
where they have, or where they think they have, any chance of obtaining
compassion.  As soon as the pretended merchants were seated, Murad began
his story in the following manner:--

"My father was a merchant of this city.  The night before I was born he
dreamed that I came into the world with the head of a dog and the tail of
a dragon; and that, in haste to conceal my deformity, he rolled me up in
a piece of linen, which unluckily proved to be the grind seignior's
turban; who, enraged at his insolence in touching his turban, commanded
that his head should be struck off.

"My father awaked before he lost his head, but not before he had lost
half his wits from the terror of his dream.  He considered it as a
warning sent from above, and consequently determined to avoid the sight
of me.  He would not stay to see whether I should really be born with the
head of a dog and the tail of a dragon; but he set out, the next morning,
on a voyage to Aleppo.

"He was absent for upwards of seven years; and during that time my
education was totally neglected.  One day I inquired from my mother why I
had been named Murad the Unlucky.  She told me that this name was given
to me in consequence of my father's dream; but she added that perhaps it
might be forgotten, if I proved fortunate in my future life.  My nurse, a
very old woman, who was present, shook her head, with a look which I
shall never forget, and whispered to my mother loud enough for me to
hear, 'Unlucky he was, and is, and ever will be.  Those that are born to
ill luck cannot help themselves; nor can any, but the great prophet,
Mahomet himself, do anything for them.  It is a folly for an unlucky
person to strive with their fate: it is better to yield to it at once.'

"This speech made a terrible impression upon me, young as I then was; and
every accident that happened to me afterwards confirmed my belief in my
nurse's prognostic.  I was in my eighth year when my father returned from
abroad.  The year after he came home my brother Saladin was born, who was
named Saladin the Lucky, because the day he was born a vessel freighted
with rich merchandise for my father arrived safely in port.

"I will not weary you with a relation of all the little instances of good
fortune by which my brother Saladin was distinguished, even during his
childhood.  As he grew up, his success in everything he undertook was as
remarkable as my ill luck in all that I attempted.  From the time the
rich vessel arrived, we lived in splendour; and the supposed prosperous
state of my father's affairs was of course attributed to the influence of
my brother Saladin's happy destiny.

"When Saladin was about twenty, my father was taken dangerously ill; and
as he felt that he should not recover, he sent for my brother to the side
of his bed, and, to his great surprise, informed him that the
magnificence in which we had lived had exhausted all his wealth; that his
affairs were in the greatest disorder; for, having trusted to the hope of
continual success, he had embarked in projects beyond his powers.

"The sequel was, he had nothing remaining to leave to his children but
two large china vases, remarkable for their beauty, but still more
valuable on account of certain verses inscribed upon them in an unknown
character, which were supposed to operate as a talisman or charm in
favour of their possessors.

"Both these vases my father bequeathed to my brother Saladin; declaring
he could not venture to leave either of them to me, because I was so
unlucky that I should inevitably break it.  After his death, however, my
brother Saladin, who was blessed with a generous temper, gave me my
choice of the two vases; and endeavoured to raise my spirits by repeating
frequently that he had no faith either in good fortune or ill fortune.

"I could not be of his opinion, though I felt and acknowledged his
kindness in trying to persuade me out of my settled melancholy.  I knew
it was in vain for me to exert myself, because I was sure that, do what I
would, I should still be Murad the Unlucky.  My brother, on the contrary,
was nowise cast down, even by the poverty in which my father left us: he
said he was sure he should find some means of maintaining himself; and so
he did.

"On examining our china vases, he found in them a powder of a bright
scarlet colour; and it occurred to him that it would make a fine dye.  He
tried it, and after some trouble, it succeeded to admiration.

"During my father's lifetime, my mother had been supplied with rich
dresses by one of the merchants who was employed by the ladies of the
grand seignior's seraglio.  My brother had done this merchant some
trifling favours, and, upon application to him, he readily engaged to
recommend the new scarlet dye.  Indeed, it was so beautiful, that, the
moment it was seen, it was preferred to every other colour.  Saladin's
shop was soon crowded with customers; and his winning manners and
pleasant conversation were almost as advantageous to him as his scarlet
dye.  On the contrary, I observed that the first glance at my melancholy
countenance was sufficient to disgust every one who saw me.  I perceived
this plainly; and it only confirmed me the more in my belief in my own
evil destiny.

"It happened one day that a lady, richly apparelled and attended by two
female slaves, came to my brother's house to make some purchases.  He was
out, and I alone was left to attend to the shop.  After she had looked
over some goods, she chanced to see my china vase, which was in the room.
She took a prodigious fancy to it, and offered me any price if I would
part with it; but this I declined doing, because I believed that I should
draw down upon my head some dreadful calamity if I voluntarily
relinquished the talisman.  Irritated by my refusal, the lady, according
to the custom of her sex, became more resolute in her purpose; but
neither entreaties nor money could change my determination.  Provoked
beyond measure at my obstinacy, as she called it, she left the house.

"On my brother's return, I related to him what had happened, and expected
that he would have praised me for my prudence; but, on the contrary, he
blamed me for the superstitious value I set upon the verses on my vase;
and observed that it would be the height of folly to lose a certain means
of advancing my fortune for the uncertain hope of magical protection.  I
could not bring myself to be of his opinion; I had not the courage to
follow the advice he gave.  The next day the lady returned, and my
brother sold his vase to her for ten thousand pieces of gold.  This money
he laid out in the most advantageous manner, by purchasing a new stock of
merchandise.  I repented when it was too late; but I believe it is part
of the fatality attending certain persons, that they cannot decide
rightly at the proper moment.  When the opportunity has been lost, I have
always regretted that I did not do exactly the contrary to what I had
previously determined upon.  Often, whilst I was hesitating, the
favourable moment passed. {1}  Now this is what I call being unlucky.  But
to proceed with my story.

"The lady who bought my brother Saladin's vase was the favourite of the
Sultan, and all-powerful in the seraglio.  Her dislike to me, in
consequence of my opposition to her wishes, was so violent, that she
refused to return to my brother's house while I remained there.  He was
unwilling to part with me; but I could not bear to be the ruin of so good
a brother.  Without telling him my design, I left his house careless of
what should become of me.  Hunger, however, soon compelled me to think of
some immediate mode of obtaining relief.  I sat down upon a stone, before
the door of a baker's shop: the smell of hot bread tempted me in, and
with a feeble voice I demanded charity.

"The master baker gave me as much bread as I could eat, upon condition
that I should change dresses with him and carry the rolls for him through
the city this day.  To this I readily consented; but I had soon reason to
repent of my compliance.  Indeed, if my ill-luck had not, as usual,
deprived me at this critical moment of memory and judgment, I should
never have complied with the baker's treacherous proposal.  For some time
before, the people of Constantinople had been much dissatisfied with the
weight and quality of the bread furnished by the bakers.  This species of
discontent has often been the sure forerunner of an insurrection; and, in
these disturbances, the master bakers frequently lose their lives.  All
these circumstances I knew, but they did not occur to my memory when they
might have been useful.

"I changed dresses with the baker; but scarcely had I proceeded through
the adjoining streets with my rolls before the mob began to gather round
me with reproaches and execrations.  The crowd pursued me even to the
gates of the grand seignior's palace, and the grand vizier, alarmed at
their violence, sent out an order to have my head struck off; the usual
remedy, in such cases, being to strike off the baker's head.

"I now fell upon my knees, and protested I was not the baker for whom
they took me; that I had no connection with him; and that I had never
furnished the people of Constantinople with bread that was not weight.  I
declared I had merely changed clothes with a master baker for this day,
and that I should not have done so but for the evil destiny which governs
all my actions.  Some of the mob exclaimed that I deserved to lose my
head for my folly; but others took pity on me, and whilst the officer,
who was sent to execute the vizier's order, turned to speak to some of
the noisy rioters, those who were touched by my misfortune opened a
passage for me through the crowd, and thus favoured, I effected my
escape.

"I quitted Constantinople; my vase I had left in the care of my brother.
At some miles' distance from the city I overtook a party of soldiers.  I
joined them, and learning that they were going to embark with the rest of
the grand seignior's army for Egypt, I resolved to accompany them.  'If
it be,' thought I, 'the will of Mahomet that I should perish, the sooner
I meet my fate the better.'  The despondency into which I was sunk was
attended by so great a degree of indolence, that I scarcely would take
the necessary means to preserve my existence.  During our passage to
Egypt I sat all day long upon the deck of the vessel, smoking my pipe,
and I am convinced that if a storm had risen, as I expected, I should not
have taken my pipe from my mouth, nor should I have handled a rope to
save myself from destruction.  Such is the effect of that species of
resignation, or torpor, whichever you please to call it, to which my
strong belief in fatality had reduced my mind.

"We landed, however, safely, contrary to my melancholy forebodings.  By a
trifling accident, not worth relating, I was detained longer than any of
my companions in the vessel when we disembarked, and I did not arrive at
the camp till late at night.  It was moonlight, and I could see the whole
scene distinctly.  There was a vast number of small tents scattered over
a desert of white sand; a few date-trees were visible at a distance; all
was gloomy, and all still; no sound was to be heard but that of the
camels feeding near the tents, and, as I walked on, I met with no human
creature.

"My pipe was now out, and I quickened my pace a little towards a fire
which I saw near one of the tents.  As I proceeded, my eye was caught by
something sparkling in the sand: it was a ring.  I picked it up and put
it on my finger, resolving to give it to the public crier the next
morning, who might find out its rightful owner; but, by ill-luck, I put
it on my little finger, for which it was much too large, and as I
hastened towards the fire to light my pipe, I dropped the ring.  I
stooped to search for it amongst the provender on which a mule was
feeding, and the cursed animal gave me so violent a kick on the head that
I could not help roaring aloud.

"My cries awakened those who slept in the tent near which the mule was
feeding.  Provoked at being disturbed, the soldiers were ready enough to
think ill of me, and they took it for granted that I was a thief, who had
stolen the ring I pretended to have just found.  The ring was taken from
me by force, and the next day I was bastinadoed for having found it; the
officer persisting in the belief that stripes would make me confess where
I had concealed certain other articles of value which had lately been
missed in the camp.  All this was the consequence of my being in a hurry
to light my pipe and of my having put the ring on a finger that was too
little for it, which no one but Murad the Unlucky would have done.

"When I was able to walk again, after my wounds were healed, I went into
one of the tents distinguished by a red flag, having been told that these
were coffee-houses.  Whilst I was drinking coffee I heard a stranger near
me complaining that he had not been able to recover a valuable ring he
had lost, although he had caused his loss to be published for three days
by the public crier, offering a reward of two hundred sequins to whoever
should restore it.  I guessed that this was the very ring which I had
unfortunately found.  I addressed myself to the stranger, and promised to
point out to him the person who had forced it from me.  The stranger
recovered his ring, and, being convinced that I had acted honestly, he
made me a present of two hundred sequins, as some amends for the
punishment which I had unjustly suffered on his account.

"Now you would imagine that this purse of gold was advantageous to me.
Far the contrary; it was the cause of new misfortunes.

"One night, when I thought that the soldiers who were in the same tent
with me were all fast asleep, I indulged myself in the pleasure of
counting my treasure.  The next day I was invited by my companions to
drink sherbet with them.  What they mixed with the sherbet which I drank
I know not, but I could not resist the drowsiness it brought on.  I fell
into a profound slumber, and when I awoke, I found myself lying under a
date-tree, at some distance from the camp.

"The first thing I thought of when I came to my recollection was my purse
of sequins.  The purse I found still safe in my girdle; but on opening
it, I perceived that it was filled with pebbles, and not a single sequin
was left.  I had no doubt that I had been robbed by the soldiers with
whom I had drunk sherbet, and I am certain that some of them must have
been awake the night I counted my money; otherwise, as I had never
trusted the secret of my riches to any one, they could not have suspected
me of possessing any property; for ever since I kept company with them I
had appeared to be in great indigence.

"I applied in vain to the superior officers for redress: the soldiers
protested they were innocent; no positive proof appeared against them,
and I gained nothing by my complaint but ridicule and ill-will.  I called
myself, in the first transport of my grief, by that name which, since my
arrival in Egypt, I had avoided to pronounce: I called myself Murad the
Unlucky.  The name and the story ran through the camp, and I was
accosted, afterwards, very frequently, by this appellation.  Some,
indeed, varied their wit by calling me Murad with the purse of pebbles.

"All that I had yet suffered is nothing compared to my succeeding
misfortunes.

"It was the custom at this time, in the Turkish camp, for the soldiers to
amuse themselves with firing at a mark.  The superior officers
remonstrated against this dangerous practice, but ineffectually.
Sometimes a party of soldiers would stop firing for a few minutes, after
a message was brought them from their commanders, and then they would
begin again, in defiance of all orders.  Such was the want of discipline
in our army, that this disobedience went unpunished.  In the meantime,
the frequency of the danger made most men totally regardless of it.  I
have seen tents pierced with bullets, in which parties were quietly
seated smoking their pipes, whilst those without were preparing to take
fresh aim at the red flag on the top.

"This apathy proceeded, in some, from unconquerable indolence of body; in
others, from the intoxication produced by the fumes of tobacco and of
opium; but in most of my brother Turks it arose from the confidence which
the belief in predestination inspired.  When a bullet killed one of their
companions, they only observed, scarcely taking the pipes from their
mouths, 'Our hour is not yet come: it is not the will of Mahomet that we
should fall.'

"I own that this rash security appeared to me, at first, surprising, but
it soon ceased to strike me with wonder, and it even tended to confirm my
favourite opinion, that some were born to good and some to evil fortune.
I became almost as careless as my companions, from following the same
course of reasoning.  'It is not,' thought I, 'in the power of human
prudence to avert the stroke of destiny.  I shall perhaps die to-morrow;
let me therefore enjoy to-day.'

"I now made it my study every day to procure as much amusement as
possible.  My poverty, as you will imagine, restricted me from indulgence
and excess, but I soon found means to spend what did not actually belong
to me.  There were certain Jews who were followers of the camp, and who,
calculating on the probability of victory for our troops, advanced money
to the soldiers, for which they engaged to pay these usurers exorbitant
interest.  The Jew to whom I applied traded with me also, upon the belief
that my brother Saladin, with whose character and circumstances he was
acquainted, would pay my debts if I should fall.  With the money I raised
from the Jew I continually bought coffee and opium, of which I grew
immoderately fond.  In the delirium it created I forgot all my
misfortunes, all fear of the future.

"One day, when I had raised my spirits by an unusual quantity of opium, I
was strolling through the camp, sometimes singing, sometimes dancing,
like a madman, and repeating that I was not now Murad the Unlucky.  Whilst
these words were on my lips, a friendly spectator, who was in possession
of his sober senses, caught me by the arm, and attempted to drag me from
the place where I was exposing myself.  'Do you not see,' said he, 'those
soldiers, who are firing at a mark?  I saw one of them, just now,
deliberately taking aim at your turban; and observe, he is now reloading
his piece.'  My ill luck prevailed even at this instant--the only instant
in my life when I defied its power.  I struggled with my adviser,
repeating, 'I am not the wretch you take me for; I am not Murad the
Unlucky.'  He fled from the danger himself; I remained, and in a few
seconds afterwards a ball reached me, and I fell senseless on the sand.

"The ball was cut out of my body by an awkward surgeon, who gave me ten
times more pain than was necessary.  He was particularly hurried at this
time, because the army had just received orders to march in a few hours,
and all was confusion in the camp.  My wound was excessively painful, and
the fear of being left behind with those who were deemed incurable added
to my torments.  Perhaps, if I had kept myself quiet, I might have
escaped some of the evils I afterwards endured; but, as I have repeatedly
told you, gentlemen, it was my ill fortune never to be able to judge what
was best to be done till the time for prudence was past.

"During the day, when my fever was at the height, and when my orders were
to keep my bed, contrary to my natural habits of indolence, I rose a
hundred times, and went out of my tent in the very heat of the day, to
satisfy my curiosity as to the number of the tests which had not been
struck, and of the soldiers who had not yet marched.  The orders to march
were tardily obeyed, and many hours elapsed before our encampment was
raised.  Had I submitted to my surgeon's orders, I might have been in a
state to accompany the most dilatory of the stragglers; I could have
borne, perhaps, the slow motion of a litter, on which some of the sick
were transported; but in the evening, when the surgeon came to dress my
wounds, he found me in such a situation that it was scarcely possible to
remove me.

"He desired a party of soldiers, who were left to bring up the rear, to
call for me the next morning.  They did so; but they wanted to put me
upon the mule which I recollected, by a white streak on its back, to be
the cursed animal that had kicked me whilst I was looking for the ring.  I
could not be prevailed upon to go upon this unlucky animal.  I tried to
persuade the soldiers to carry me, and they took me a little way; but,
soon growing weary of their burden, they laid me down on the sand,
pretending that they were going to fill a skin with water at a spring
they had discovered, and bade me lie still, and wait for their return.

"I waited and waited, longing for the water to moisten my parched lips;
but no water came--no soldiers returned; and there I lay, for several
hours, expecting every moment to breathe my last.  I made no effort to
move, for I was now convinced my hour was come, and that it was the will
of Mahomet that I should perish in this miserable manner, and lie
unburied like a dog: 'a death,' thought I, 'worthy of Murad the Unlucky.'

"My forebodings were not this time just; a detachment of English soldiers
passed near the place where I lay: my groans were heard by them, and they
humanely came to my assistance.  They carried me with them, dressed my
wound, and treated me with the utmost tenderness.  Christians though they
were, I must acknowledge that I had reason to love them better than any
of the followers of Mahomet, my good brother only excepted.

"Under their care I recovered; but scarcely had I regained my strength
before I fell into new disasters.  It was hot weather, and my thirst was
excessive.  I went out with a party, in hopes of finding a spring of
water.  The English soldiers began to dig for a well, in a place pointed
out to them by one of their men of science.  I was not inclined to such
hard labour, but preferred sauntering on in search of a spring.  I saw at
a distance something that looked like a pool of water; and I pointed it
out to my companions.  Their man of science warned me by his interpreter
not to trust to this deceitful appearance; for that such were common in
this country, and that, when I came close to the spot, I should find no
water there.  He added, that it was at a greater distance than I
imagined; and that I should, in all probability, be lost in the desert if
I attempted to follow this phantom.

"I was so unfortunate as not to attend to his advice: I set out in
pursuit of this accursed delusion, which assuredly was the work of evil
spirits, who clouded my reason, and allured me into their dominion.  I
went on, hour after hour, in expectation continually of reaching the
object of my wishes; but it fled faster than I pursued, and I discovered
at last that the Englishman, who had doubtless gained his information
from the people of the country, was right; and that the shining
appearance which I had taken for water was a mere deception.

"I was now exhausted with fatigue: I looked back in vain after the
companions I had left; I could see neither men, animals, nor any trace of
vegetation in the sandy desert.  I had no resource but, weary as I was,
to measure back my footsteps, which were imprinted in the sand.

"I slowly and sorrowfully traced them as my guides in this unknown land.
Instead of yielding to my indolent inclinations, I ought, however, to
have made the best of my way back, before the evening breeze sprang up.  I
felt the breeze rising, and, unconscious of my danger, I rejoiced, and
opened my bosom to meet it; but what was my dismay when I saw that the
wind swept before it all trace of my footsteps in the sand.  I knew not
which way to proceed; I was struck with despair, tore my garments, threw
off my turban, and cried aloud; but neither human voice nor echo answered
me.  The silence was dreadful.  I had tasted no food for many hours, and
I now became sick and faint.  I recollected that I had put a supply of
opium into the folds of my turban; but, alas! when I took my turban up, I
found that the opium had fallen out.  I searched for it in vain on the
sand, where I had thrown the turban.

"I stretched myself out upon the ground, and yielded without further
struggle to my evil destiny.  What I suffered from thirst, hunger, and
heat cannot be described.  At last I fell into a sort of trance, during
which images of various kinds seemed to flit before my eyes.  How long I
remained in this state I know not: but I remember that I was brought to
my senses by a loud shout, which came from persons belonging to a caravan
returning from Mecca.  This was a shout of joy for their safe arrival at
a certain spring, well known to them in this part of the desert.

"The spring was not a hundred yards from the spot where I lay; yet, such
had been the fate of Murad the Unlucky, that he missed the reality,
whilst he had been hours in pursuit of the phantom.  Feeble and
spiritless as I was, I sent forth as loud a cry as I could, in hopes of
obtaining assistance; and I endeavoured to crawl to the place from which
the voices appeared to come.  The caravan rested for a considerable time
whilst the slaves filled the skins with water, and whilst the camels took
in their supply.  I worked myself on towards them; yet, notwithstanding
my efforts, I was persuaded that, according to my usual ill-fortune, I
should never be able to make them hear my voice.  I saw them mount their
camels!  I took off my turban, unrolled it, and waved it in the air.  My
signal was seen!  The caravan came towards me!

"I had scarcely strength to speak; a slave gave me some water, and, after
I had drunk, I explained to them who I was, and how I came into this
situation.

"Whilst I was speaking, one of the travellers observed the purse which
hung to my girdle: it was the same the merchant for whom I recovered the
ring had given to me; I had carefully preserved it, because the initials
of my benefactor's name and a passage from the Koran were worked upon it.
When he give it to me, he said that perhaps we should meet again in some
other part of the world, and he should recognise me by this token.  The
person who now took notice of the purse was his brother; and when I
related to him how I had obtained it, he had the goodness to take me
under his protection.  He was a merchant, who was now going with the
caravan to Grand Cairo: he offered to take me with him, and I willingly
accepted the proposal, promising to serve him as faithfully as any of his
slaves.  The caravan proceeded, and I was carried with it."



CHAPTER II


"The merchant, who was become my master, treated me with great kindness;
but on hearing me relate the whole series of my unfortunate adventures,
he exacted a promise from me that I would do nothing without first
consulting him.  'Since you are so unlucky, Murad,' said he, 'that you
always choose for the worst when you choose for yourself, you should
trust entirely to the judgment of a wiser or a more fortunate friend.'

"I fared well in the service of this merchant, who was a man of a mild
disposition, and who was so rich that he could afford to be generous to
all his dependants.  It was my business to see his camels loaded and
unloaded at proper places, to count his bales of merchandise, and to take
care that they were not mixed with those of his companions.  This I
carefully did till the day we arrived at Alexandria; when, unluckily, I
neglected to count the bales, taking it for granted that they were all
right, as I had found them so the preceding day.  However, when we were
to go on board the vessel that was to take us to Cairo, I perceived that
three bales of cotton were missing.

"I ran to inform my master, who, though a good deal provoked at my
negligence, did not reproach me as I deserved.  The public crier was
immediately sent round the city, to offer a reward for the recovery of
the merchandise; and it was restored by one of the merchants' slaves with
whom we had travelled.  The vessel was now under sail; my master and I
and the bales of cotton were obliged to follow in a boat; and when we
were taken on board, the captain declared he was so loaded, that he could
not tell where to stow the bales of cotton.  After much difficulty, he
consented to let them remain upon deck; and I promised my master to watch
them night and day.

"We had a prosperous voyage, and were actually in sight of shore, which
the captain said we could not fail to reach early the next morning.  I
stayed, as usual, this night upon deck, and solaced myself by smoking my
pipe.  Ever since I had indulged in this practice at the camp at El
Arish, I could not exist without opium and tobacco.  I suppose that my
reason was this night a little clouded with the dose I took; but towards
midnight I was sobered by terror.  I started up from the deck on which I
had stretched myself; my turban was in flames--the bale of cotton on
which I had rested was all on fire.  I awakened two sailors, who were
fast asleep on deck.  The consternation became general, and the confusion
increased the danger.  The captain and my master were the most active,
and suffered the most, in extinguishing the flames--my master was
terribly scorched.

"For my part, I was not suffered to do anything; the captain ordered that
I should be bound to the mast; and when at last the flames were
extinguished, the passengers, with one accord, besought him to keep me
bound hand and foot, lest I should be the cause of some new disaster.  All
that had happened was, indeed, occasioned by my ill-luck.  I had laid my
pipe down, when I was falling asleep, upon the bale of cotton that was
beside me.  The fire from my pipe fell out and set the cotton in flames.
Such was the mixture of rage and terror with which I had inspired the
whole crew, that I am sure they would have set me ashore on a desert
island rather than have had me on board for a week longer.  Even my
humane master, I could perceive, was secretly impatient to get rid of
Murad the Unlucky and his evil fortune.

"You may believe that I was heartily glad when we landed, and when I was
unbound.  My master put a purse containing fifty sequins into my hand,
and bade me farewell.  'Use this money prudently, Murad, if you can,'
said he, 'and perhaps your fortune may change.'  Of this I had little
hopes, but determined to lay out my money as prudently as possible.

"As I was walking through the streets of Grand Cairo, considering how I
should lay out my fifty sequins to the greatest advantage, I was stopped
by one who called me by my name, and asked me if I could pretend to have
forgotten his face.  I looked steadily at him, and recollected to my
sorrow that he was the Jew Rachub, from whom I had borrowed certain sums
of money at the camp at El Arish.  What brought him to Grand Cairo,
except it was my evil destiny, I cannot tell.  He would not quit me; he
would take no excuses; he said he knew that I had deserted twice, once
from the Turkish and once from the English army; that I was not entitled
to any pay; and that he could not imagine it possible that my brother
Saladin would own me or pay my debts.

"I replied, for I was vexed by the insolence of this Jewish dog, that I
was not, as he imagined, a beggar: that I had the means of paying him my
just debt, but that I hoped he would not extort from me all that
exorbitant interest which none but a Jew could exact.  He smiled, and
answered that if a Turk loved opium better than money this was no fault
of his; that he had supplied me with what I loved best in the world, and
that I ought not to complain when he expected I should return the favour.

"I will not weary you, gentlemen, with all the arguments that passed
between me and Rachub.  At last we compromised matters; he would take
nothing less than the whole debt: but he let me have at a very cheap rate
a chest of second-hand clothes, by which he assured me I might make my
fortune.  He brought them to Grand Cairo, he said, for the purpose of
selling them to slave merchants, who, at this time of the year, were in