The death of Moobarik afforded a subject of conversation for several weeks at the court of Mujahid’s father. It was a matter of extreme surprise that a mere boy should have so easily foiled a man of such great strength, and have so rapidly and fatally concluded the contest. He was from this time looked upon as a prodigy. Musaood Chan, however, from that moment entertained an implacable hatred against the destroyer of his father. He dared not openly manifest his hostility; nevertheless, it burned within him with a smothered, indeed, but still with an unextinguishable, flame. He heard the general applause bestowed upon the courage and prowess of the prince with silent yet fierce repugnance, which he was obliged to mask under the exterior of a suavity that seemed like self-mockery. Mujahid treated him with kindness and with confidence; and being of an open unsuspicious temper he did not for a moment harbour a thought of Musaood’s sinister feelings towards him; as the former neither expressed anger, nor evinced the slightest symptom of resentment at his father’s death. As Mujahid advanced towards manhood, he became the terror of the neighbouring potentates. He commanded his father’s armies, and invariably led them to conquest. The son of Moobarik witnessed his success with envy, and the fires of vengeance still smouldered in his bosom. He had a beautiful sister, whose detestation of the prince was no less ardent than his own; she could not wipe from her memory the cause of her father’s death; but she, as well as her brother, dissembled her resentment, and received Mujahid courteously when they happened to meet. The prince had conceived a passion for her, which he shortly avowed, and she encouraged. Hoping that it would forward the opportunity of revenge so ardently desired by her brother and herself, she pretended a reciprocal attachment, and listened to his unholy declarations of love, at first without any expressions of shame, and finally, with apparent pleasure. His passions were roused; but under various pretences, the artful siren delayed gratifying those passions which her seeming acquiescence had provoked. Musaood was pleased at seeing his intended victim gradually drawing towards the toil which he was preparing for him. The prince never for a moment imagined that the children of Moobarik attached to him the guilt of having purposely destroyed their father. Taking it for granted that they looked upon his death as a mere accident, he did not conceive that there could be cause for the slightest hostility towards him, and the daughter’s apparent affection confirmed this impression. His love for the sister caused him to repose the greatest confidence in the brother. The latter became privy to all the prince’s designs, encouraging Mujahid’s favourable feelings towards him by affecting a fervent zeal for his welfare.