In
this manner they advanced by moonlight, till they came within view of the
two towering rocks that form a kind of portal to the valley, at whose
extremity rose the vast ruins of Istakar. Aloft on the mountain
glimmered the fronts of various royal mausoleums, the horror of which was
deepened by the shadows of night. They passed through two villages
almost deserted, the only inhabitants remaining being a few feeble old
men, who, at the sight of horses and litters, fell upon their knees and
cried out:
"O Heaven! is it then by these phantoms that we have been for six months
tormented? Alas! it was from the terror of these spectres and the noise
beneath the mountains, that our people have fled, and left us at the
mercy of maleficent spirits!"
The Caliph, to whom these complaints were but unpromising auguries, drove
over the bodies of these wretched old men, and at length arrived at the
foot of the terrace of black marble; there he descended from his litter,
handing down Nouronihar; both with beating hearts stared wildly around
them, and expected with an apprehensive shudder the approach of the
Giaour; but nothing as yet announced his appearance.
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