The pilot, having ended his discourse, began to weep afresh, and all the rest of the ship’s company did the like. I had no other thought but that my days were there to have an end. In the mean time, every one began to provide for his own safety, and to that end took all imaginable precautions; and, being uncertain of the event, they all made one another their heirs, by virtue of a will, for the benefit of those that should happen to be saved. The next morning we perceived the black mountain very plain, and the idea we had conceived of it made it appear more frightful than it was. About noon we were come so near, that we found what the pilot had foretold to be true; for we saw all the nails and iron about the ships fly towards the mountain, where they fixed, by the violence of the attraction, with a horrible noise: the ships split asunder, and sunk into the sea, which was so deep about the place, that we could not sound it. All my people were drowned; but God had mercy on me, and permitted me to save myself by means of a plank, which the wind drove ashore just at the foot of the mountain. I did not receive the least hurt; and my good fortune brought me to a landing place, where there were steps that went up to the top of the mountain. Scheherazade would have gone on with her story, but day appearing, she was obliged to keep silence. The sultan was convinced by this beginning that the sultaness had not deceived him; and therefore we are not to wonder that he did not order her to die that day. FIFTY-FOURTH NIGHT. For heaven’s sake, cried Dinarzade, next morning, if you be not asleep, sister, go on with the story of the third calender. My dear sister, said Scheherazade, the prince renewed his discourse thus:-- At the sight of these steps, said he, for there was not a bit of ground, either on the right or left, whereon a man could set his foot, I gave thanks to God, and recommended myself to his holy protection, as I began to mount the steps, which were so narrow, rugged, and hard to get up, that had the wind blown ever so little, it would have thrown me down into the sea. But at last I got up to the top, without any accident. I came into the dome, and, kneeling on the ground, gave God thanks for his mercies to me.