Many a pale maid opens her window to the night at the sound of these magic songs—and becomes all the paler from listening to them.
The eunuchs steal softly along the banks of the Margaret Island with their long muskets, and stop still and watch for any suspicious skiff drawing near to the island; and the most wakeful of them is old Majmun, who, even when he is asleep, has one eye open, and in happier times was the guardian of the harem. He sits down on a hillock, and even a carrier-pigeon with a letter under its wings could not have eluded his vigilance. He has only just arrived on the island, having previously accompanied Yffim Beg into Transylvania, and therefore has only seen Azrael once.
His eyes roam constantly around, and his sharp ears detect even the flight of a moth or a beetle, yet suddenly he feels—someone tapping him on the shoulder.
He turns terrified, and behold Azrael standing behind him.
“Accursed be that singing over yonder. I was listening to it, so did not hear thee approach. What dost thou want? Why dost thou come hither in the darkness of night? How didst thou escape from the harem?”
“I prithee be quiet!” said the odalisque. “This evening I went a-boating with my master, and a gold ring dropped from my finger into the water; it was a present from him, and if tomorrow he asks: ‘Where is that ornament?’ and I cannot show it him, he will slay me. Oh, let me seek for it here in the water.”
“Foolish damsel, the water here is deep; it will go over thy head, and thou wilt perish.”
“I care not; I must look for it. I must find the ring, or lose my life for it.”
And the odalisque said the words in such an agony of despair that the eunuch was quite touched by it.
“Thou shouldst entrust the matter to another.”
“If only I could find someone who can dive under the water, I would give him three costly bracelets for it; I would give away all my treasures.”
“I can dive,” said Majmun, seized by avarice.
“Oh, descend then into the water for me,” implored the damsel, falling on her knees before him and covering the horny hand of the slave with her kisses. “But art thou not afraid of being suffocated? For then in the eyes of the governor I should be twice guilty.”
“Fear not on my account. In my youth I was a pearl-fisher in the Indian Ocean, and I can remain under water and look about me like a fish, even at night, while thou dost count one hundred. Only show me the place where the ring fell from thy finger.”
Azrael drew a pearl necklace from her arm and casting it into the water, pointed at the place where it fell.
“It was on the very spot where I have cast that; if thou dost fetch up both of them for me, the second one shall be thine.”
Majmun perceived that this was not exactly a joke, and laying aside his garment and his weapon, bade the damsel look after them, and quickly slipped beneath the water.
In a few seconds the eunuch’s terrified face emerged above the water and he struck out for the shore with a horrified expression.
“This is an evil spot,” said he; “at the bottom of the water is a heap of human heads.”
“I know it,” said the odalisque calmly.
The eunuch was puzzled. He gazed up at her, and was astounded to observe that in the place of the sensitive, supplicating figure so lately there, there now stood a haughty, awe-inspiring woman, who looked down upon him like a queen.
“Those heads there are the heads of thy comrades,” said Azrael to the astounded eunuch, “whom last night and the preceding nights I asked to do me a service, which they refused to do. Next day I accused them to the governor and he instantly had their heads cut off without letting them speak.”
“And what service didst thou require?”
“To swim to the opposite shore and give this bunch of flowers to that youth yonder.”
“Ha! thou art a traitor.”
“No such thing. All I ask of thee is this: dost thou hear those songs in that grove yonder? Very well, swim thither and give him this posy. If thou dost not, thy head also will be under the water among the heap of the others. But if thou dost oblige me I will make thee rich for the remainder of thy life. It is in thine own power to choose whether thou wilt live happily or die miserably.”
“But I have a third choice, and that is to kill thee,” cried the eunuch, gnashing his teeth.
Azrael laughed.
“Thou blockhead! Whilst thou wert still under the water it occurred to me to fill thy musket with earth and gird thy dagger to my side. Utter but a cry and thou wilt have no need to wait for tomorrow to lay thy head at thy feet.”
At these words the damsel squeezed the eunuch’s arm so emphatically that he bent down before her.
“What dost thou command?”
“I have already told thee.”
“I am playing with my own head.”
“That is not as bad as if I were playing with it.”
“What dost thou want of me?”
“I want thee to row me across to the opposite shore.”
“There is only one skiff on the island, and in that Yffim Beg is wont to fish.”
“Oh, why have I never learnt to swim!” cried Azrael, collapsing in despair.
“What! wouldst thou swim across this broad stream?”
“Yes, and I’ll swim across it now, this instant.”
“Those are idle words. If thou art not a devil thou wilt drown in this river if thou canst not swim.”
“Thou shalt swim with me. I will put one hand on thy shoulder to keep me up.”
“Thou art mad, surely! Only just now thou didst threaten me with death,
