Once more he turned round and stopt, determining to accost the Moor and be satisfied if the meeting were accidental; but on seeing him pause, Ben Tarab again retreated and concealed himself among the broken walls: Sebastian then resumed the road to his friends. The travellers had pitched a tent on the plain, and were therefore visible at a great distance: through the loop holes of the tower Ben Tarab now watched the course of the King, and saw him enter their tent; he then descended, and rejoicing at the chance which had led him to this spot for temporary shelter from the heat, called his associate and ran off to the town of Alcazar. On rejoining the merchants, Sebastian thought it best to speak of his adventure and the apprehension he grounded on it: one of the Syrians to whom Hafiz had peculiarly recommended his favorite, proposed immediate departure; if Ben Tarab wished to cast obstacles in their way, he might easily find means for doing so, by questioning the freedom of Sebastian, or by informing some of the Emperor’s officers in Alcazar, who would then seize him for their master’s service. Under this idea it was fit the whole party should hasten to get the start of the Moor. Their tents were now struck, their camels re-loaded, and bidding adieu to the pleasing hope of seeing Abensallah, Sebastian mounted a swift horse and resumed his journey. They had scarcely passed the boundaries of the plain, when a party of horsemen from Alcazar, overtook and detained them: the King gave himself up for lost; but he dissembled this despair, and met the scrutiny of the Moorish soldiers with apparent composure. Surrounded by armed guards, Ben Tarab could rail and threaten with impunity: he accused Sebastian of being a runaway slave; to oppose this assertion, the principal merchant simply produced the writing and signet to the Almoçadem, purporting that the Christian who accompanied them was a servant of his, bearing important dispatches to the Alcayde of Kouf.--At sight of this convincing testimony, the Moors began to excuse themselves, and were about to depart, when Ben Tarab called their captain aside and said a few words to him in a low, furious tone; the officer directly countermanded his men, telling the merchants that as they were going to travel through a Cavila then in a state of insurrection, he would honour the Almoçadem’s messenger by escorting him to the Alcayde and afterwards protecting him back to Mequinez. At this masterly trick of Ben Tarab’s the blood forsook the face of Sebastian, but it rushed indignantly back, while haughtily braving his fate he told the Moorish captain to lead on.--Ben Tarab eyed his changing countenance with a doubtful look;-- “If thou art not a runaway,” he said, “thou and thy master will thank us for this safe guard; and if thou art deceiving us, thy punishment will not wait for the sentence of El Hader, whose signet thou must have stolen; the Alcayde of Kouf will doom thee to death immediately.”