Advancing in a beaten and direct road lying below the hills he had mounted, Sebastian found that a journey which had cost him two nights and days of wearisome toil, was to be achieved in less than the fourth part of that time: the Moors hurried on, not allowing him any other refreshment than a draught of water, so that when they reached the valley of palms, his strength had completely forsaken him, and he almost dropped from his horse at the great gate of El Hader’s residence. The Moors conveyed their captive to one of those dungeons where Gaspar had formerly been confined, telling him he must wait there till it pleased their high Lord the Almoçadem to determine upon his punishment: Sebastian gave no answer to their brutal information, throwing himself along the damp earth (his only resting place) regardless of his own fate, alarmed now for that of Gaspar. It was but too probable that the Almoçadem might have revenged himself upon his innocent head for the flight of his countryman: this fear had not before agitated Sebastian, because he believed Kara Aziek would interfere for the poor soldier, and that indeed El Hader himself was not inclined to cruelty; but the present appearance of severity rendered apprehensions for Gaspar perfectly rational. This thought gave anxiety a new direction, and kept the unfortunate monarch from reflecting upon his own disappointment; he was now earnestly praying to see, or hear from Kara Aziek, from whom alone he could hope for an account of his friend: but Kara Aziek did not appear, and the King of Portugal counted the tedious hours of night in a dark dungeon, upon the bare ground, alone and unsolaced. “When the mind’s free, the body’s delicate;” he that had been nursed on the lap of luxury, now suffered every human privation without missing any other comforts than those of freedom and friendship. Morning was made known to Sebastian merely by the sounds of labour without; no cheering sun-beam penetrated his airless cell; he lay on the unpaved floor, his spirit subdued awhile by past exertion and present disturbance. Towards evening a Moor whom he had once before seen, came to inform him that it was El Hader’s pleasure he should be brought out the ensuing day into the large slave-court, there to receive a thousand lashes, in the presence of the Almoçadem and all his household. “Tell your merciless master that I will die first!” exclaimed Sebastian, fiercely starting from the ground. “Peace! thou art a fool!” returned the phlegmatic Ephra, “how art thou to escape this flogging, when thou hast neither weapons nor strength to put thyself out of the world?”