“When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round me, and refused to be parted, but I commanded them not to irritate those who had us in their power.  We travelled, the remaining part of the day, through an unfrequented and pathless country, and came, by moonlight, to the side of a hill, where the rest of the troop was stationed.  Their tents were pitched, and their fires kindled, and our chief was welcomed, as a man much beloved by his dependants.

“We were received into a large tent, where we found women, who had attended their husbands in the expedition.  They set before us the supper, which they had provided, and I ate rather to encourage my maids than to comply with any appetite of my own.  When the meat was taken away, they spread the carpets for repose.  I was weary, and hoped to find, in sleep, that remission of distress which nature seldom denies.  Ordering myself, therefore, to be undressed, I observed that the women looked submissively attended.  When my upper vest was taken off, they were, apparently, struck with the splendour of my clothes, and one of them timorously laid her hand upon the embroidery.  She then went out, and, in a short time, came back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank and greater authority.  She did, at her entrance, the usual act of reverence, and, taking me by the hand, placed me in a smaller tent, spread with finer carpets, where I spent the night quietly with my maids.

“In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the troop came towards me.  I rose up to receive him, and he bowed with great respect.  ‘Illustrious lady,’ said he, ’my fortune is better than I had presumed to hope; I am told, by my women, that I have a princess in my camp.’  ‘Sir,’ answered I, ’your women have deceived themselves and you; I am not a princess, but an unhappy stranger, who intended soon to have left this country, in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever.’  ‘Whoever, or whencesoever, you are,’ returned the Arab, ’your dress, and that of your servants, show your rank to be high, and your wealth to be great.  Why should you, who can so easily procure your ransome, think yourself in danger of perpetual captivity?  The purpose of my incursions is to increase my riches, or, more properly, to gather tribute.  The sons of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the continent, which is usurped by late invaders, and low-born tyrants, from whom we are compelled to take, by the sword, what is denied to justice.  The violence of war admits no distinction:  the lance that is lifted at guilt and power, will, sometimes, fall on innocence and gentleness.’

“‘How little,’ said I, ’did I expect that yesterday it should have fallen upon me!’

“‘Misfortunes,’ answered the Arab, ’should always be expected.  If the eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity, excellence, like yours, had been exempt from injury.  But the angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty and the mean.  Do not be disconsolate:  I am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the desert; I know the rules of civil life:  I will fix your ransome, give a passport to your messenger, and perform my stipulation, with nice punctuality.’