Vathek,
having in this manner thrown in the last of the fifty, and expecting that
the Giaour on receiving them would have presented the key, already
fancied himself as great as Soliman, and consequently above being
amenable for what he had done: when, to his utter amazement, the chasm
closed, and the around became as entire as the rest of the plain.
No language could express his rage and despair. He execrated the perfidy
of the Indian, loaded him with the most infamous invectives, and stamped
with his foot as resolving to be heard; he persisted in this demeanour
till his strength failed him, and then fell on the earth like one void of
sense. His vizirs and grandees, who were nearer than the rest, supposed
him at first to be sitting on the grass at play with their amiable
children; but at length, prompted by doubt, they advanced towards the
spot, and found the Caliph alone, who wildly demanded what they wanted.
"Our children! our children!" cried they.
"It is assuredly pleasant," said he, "to make me accountable for
accidents; your children while at play fell from the precipice that was
here, and I should have experienced their fate had I not been saved by a
sudden start back.
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