hawk, and afterward ran to it, trying to catch it; and the hawk flitted
from corner to corner of the berth, he after it with open arms. Then he
took a sword, but the hawk flew past him, and fixed on the back part of
his head, tearing up his hair by the talons, and pecking over his
forehead at his eyes. And Shibli Bagarag heard the hawk scream the name
'Karaz,' and he looked closely at the Captain of the vessel, and knew him
for the Genie Karaz. Then trembled he with exceeding terror, cursing his
credulities, for he saw himself in the hands of the Genie, and nothing
but this hawk friendly to him on the fearful waters. When the hawk had
torn up a certain hair, the Genie stiffened, and glowed like copper in
the furnace, the whole length of him; and he descended heavily through
the bottom of the ship, and sank into the waters beneath, which hissed
and smoked as at a bar of heated iron. Then Shibli Bagarag gave thanks
to the Prophet, and praised the hawk, but the hawk darted out of the
cabin, and he followed it on deck, and, lo! the vessel was in flames,
and the hawk in a circle of the flames; and the flames soared with it,
and left it no outlet. Now, as Shibli Bagarag watched the hawk, the
flames stretched out towards him and took hold of his vestments. So he
delayed not to commend his soul to the All-merciful, and bore witness to
his faith, and plunged into the sea headlong. When he rose, the ship had
vanished, and all was darkness where it had been; so he buffeted with the
billows, thinking his last hour had come, and there was no help for him
in this world; and the spray shaken from the billows blinded him, the
great walls of water crumbled over him; strength failed him, and his
memory ceased to picture images of the old time--his heart to beat with
ambition; and to keep the weight of his head above the surface was
becoming a thing worth the ransom of kings. As he was sinking and
turning his eyes upward, he heard a flutter as of fledgling's wings, and
the two red ruby eyes of the hawk were visible above him, like steady
fires in the gloom. And the hawk perched on him, and buried itself among