command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual
gratifications, survey the Pyramids, and confess thy folly!"



CHAPTER XXXIII--THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE.



They rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they had
entered; and the Princess prepared for her favourite a long
narrative of dark labyrinths and costly rooms, and of the different
impressions which the varieties of the way had made upon her. But
when they came to their train, they found every one silent and
dejected: the men discovered shame and fear in their countenances,
and the women were weeping in their tents.

What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but immediately
inquired. "You had scarcely entered into the Pyramid," said one of
the attendants, "when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were too
few to resist them, and too slow to escape. They were about to
search the tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before
them, when the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to
flight: but they seized the Lady Pekuah with her two maids, and
carried them away: the Turks are now pursuing them by our
instigation, but I fear they will not be able to overtake them."

The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. Rasselas, in
the first heat of his resentment, ordered his servants to follow
him, and prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand.