“The boy’s father evidently incurred the displeasure of the Franks, for one day they came and demanded his wife as a hostage and a guarantee of his good intentions towards them, and upon his refusing to give her up they tore his son from him by force, and carried him away to their camp.” As the young slave recounted this, the Sheik hid his face in his hands and a murmur of displeasure arose in the apartment. “How could this young man be so foolish as to tell such a story?” the Sheik’s friends asked one another. “How can he be so cruel as to open Ali Banu’s wounds afresh instead of attempting to heal them? How can he renew his grief instead of trying to allay it?” The overseer of the slaves was full of anger over the young man’s effrontery, and bade him roughly hold his peace, but the slave only showed surprise, and asked the Sheik in what way his story had displeased him. So the Sheik raised his head from his hands and said: “Calm yourselves, my friends. This young man has been but three days beneath my roof and quite possibly does not know of my sorrowful history. It is possible, considering the cruelties the Franks perpetrate, there may be another story similar to mine, or even this Almansor might be--” The Sheik did not finish his sentence, but bade the slave continue his story. “The young Almansor,” said he, “was, as I said, carried away to the camp of the Franks, where he did not fare so badly, for one of the generals took a fancy to him, and was amused at the boy’s answers to his questions, which were interpreted to him by a dragoman. He saw that he was well cared for and had all the food required, but that did not compensate the boy for the loss of his father and mother. “He wept bitterly, but his tears did not melt the hard hearts of his captors. When the camp was broken up Almansor hoped he would be sent home, but no, the army moved on and on in pursuit of the Mamelukes, and young Almansor was carried in its train. “In vain he begged and implored the officers to send him back to his father; they told him he was the only security they had for his father’s good faith.