------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Merciful Allah!" exclaimed the pacha, "why, it must have been Mahomet himself." "It was so, your highness, although I knew it not at the time." "Prove unto me that it is the true faith," said I. "I will," replied he; "I will turn the heart of the infidel captain," and he disappeared. The next day the captain of the vessel, to my astonishment, came to me as I lay on the forecastle, and begging my pardon for the cruelty that he had been guilty of, shed tears over me, and ordered me to be carried to his cabin. He laid me in his own bed, and watched me as he would a favourite child. In a short time I recovered; after which he would permit me to do no duty, but insisted upon my being his guest, and loaded me with every kindness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "God is great!" ejaculated the pacha. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was lying in my bed, meditating upon these thing when the venerable form again appeared to me. "Art thou now convinced?" "I am," replied I. "Then prove it by submitting to the law the moment that you are able. You shall be rewarded--not at once, but when your faith has been proved. Mark me, follow your profession on the seas, and, when once you find yourself sitting in the divan at Cairo, with two people originally of the same profession as yourself, without others being present, and have made this secret known, then you shall appointed to the command of the pacha's fleet, which under your directions shall always meet with success. Such shall be the reward of your fidelity." It is now four years that I have embraced the true faith, and, sinking under poverty, I was induced to make use of the exclamation that your highness heard; for how can I ever hope to meet two barbers at the divan without other people being present? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Holy Prophet! how strange! Why Mustapha was a barber, and so was I," cried the pacha. "God is great!" answered the renegade, prostrating himself. "Then I command your fleet?" "From this hour," replied the pacha. "Mustapha, make known my wishes." "The present in command," replied Mustapha, who was not a dupe to the wily renegade, "is a favourite with the men." "Then send for him and take off his head. Is he to interfere with the commands of Mahomet?" The vizier bowed, and the pacha quitted the divan. The renegade, with a smile upon his lips, and Mustapha with astonishment looked at each other for a few seconds "You have a great talent, Selim," observed the vizier. "Thanks to your introduction, and to my own invention, it will at last be called into action. Recollect, vizier, that I am grateful--you understand me;" and the renegade quitted the divan, leaving Mustapha still in his astonishment. VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN.