"Thither will I, to the land of promise and of fortune!--to the land
where slaves become heroes, and heroes princes! Mother, your dream
shall be realized! There I shall find palaces on whose summit I
shall stand with uplifted sword, nations at my feet. To Egypt will I
go. To the land of grandeur and glory, where for thousands of years
the greatest and mightiest have made of themselves princes and
rulers. I will become mighty; I will cultivate my mind, that it may
help me to rule men. Then I will make of myself a prince before whom
all other princes shall fall in the dust!"

He shouts again exultingly, and the walls of the cliffs echo back
his cry. He feels so happy, so free from all earthly care. He seems
to float in upper air like the eagle, looking down upon the
lowliness of earth beneath.

As he looks out into the distance, he sees a little dark spot rise
on the horizon. His eagle-eye perceives that it is a ship. As it
comes nearer, it dances on the waves, and its white sails expand
like the wings of a giant swan. It is a beautiful, majestic object.
The young Mohammed rejoices at the spectacle, and says, in low
tones, to himself; "Some day I shall possess ships, too. Some day I
shall tread the deck of the great admiral's ship."

The ship glides over the glittering mirror of the deep, and comes
nearer and nearer, and the curious are now assembled on the shore to
gaze at it; for rarely do vessels seek the rocky promontory of
Bucephalus to land in the bay of Contessa. The peninsula is desolate
and barren, and there is nothing here for merchant-ships but the
tobacco for which this region is celebrated. A Turkish galleon comes
semi-annually for the taxes which the governor has levied, to bring