"
"Let him speak again, then," said Vathek, "and tell me who he is, from
whence he came, and where he procured these singular curiosities, or I
swear by the ass of Balaam that I will make him rue his pertinacity."
The menace was accompanied by the Caliph with one of his angry and
perilous glances, which the stranger sustained without the slightest
emotion, although his eyes were fixed on the terrible eye of the prince.
No words can describe the amazement of the courtiers when they beheld
this rude merchant withstand the encounter unshocked. They all fell
prostrate with their faces on the ground to avoid the risk of their
lives, and continued in the same abject posture till the Caliph exclaimed
in a furious tone, "Up, cowards! seize the miscreant! see that he be
committed to prison and guarded by the best of my soldiers! Let him,
however, retain the money I gave him; it is not my intent to take from
him his property; I only want him to speak."
No sooner had he uttered these words than the stranger was surrounded,
pinioned with strong fetters, and hurried away to the prison of the great
tower, which was encompassed by seven empalements of iron bars, and armed
with spikes in every direction longer and sharper than spits.
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