In the mean time, HAMET, to whom his own safety was of no importance but
for the sake of ALMEIDA, resolved, if possible, to conceal himself near
the city. Having, therefore, reached the confines of the desert, by
which it was bounded on the east, he quitted his horse, and determined
to remain there till the multitude was dispersed; and the darkness of
the evening might conceal his return, when in less than an hour he could
reach the palace.

He sat down at the foot of the mountain Kabessed, without considering,
that in this place he was most likely to be found, as those who travel
the desert seldom fail to enter the cave that winds its way under the
mountain, to drink of the water that issues there from a clear and
copious spring.

He reviewed the scenes of the day that was now nearly passed, with a
mixture of astonishment and distress, to which no description can be
equal The sudden and amazing change that a few hours had made in his
situation, appeared like a wild and distressful dream, from which he
almost doubted whether he should not wake to the power and the felicity
that he had lost. He sat some time bewildered in the hurry and
multiplicity of his thoughts, and at length burst out into passionate
exclamations: 'What,' says he, 'and where am I? Am I, indeed, HAMET;
that son of Solyman who divided the dominion of Persia with his brother,
and who possessed the love of ALMEIDA alone? Dreadful vicissitude! I am
now an outcast, friendless and forlorn; without an associate, and
without a dwelling: for me the cup of adversity overflows, and the last
dregs of sorrow have been wrung out for my portion: the powers not only
of the earth, but of the air, have combined against me; and how can I
stand alone before them? But is there no power that will interpose in my
behalf? If He, who is supreme, is good, I shall not perish. But