The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-24

black and hfdeous stranger displayed,
 ehiefest of which were two sabres which dealt of themselves the blow at the per-
 son whom they were desired to strike.
 The sabres whose blades emitted a dag
 zling radiance. had texts engraven in un-
 couth characters upon them, which Va
 theR promised himself he would decipher
 at his leisure. The caliph took the whole of the merchandise and loaded the stran-
 ger with gold. Then he began to dues-
 ton him as to who he was and from
 what country he came. But the mon-
 strous barbarian would not speak. .'Is the man dumb?' asked Vathek. The 1 guards said he had spoken when they had
 arrested him, and the caliph in rage
 ordered that the traveller be cast into a strong dungeon to see if that would in-
 duee him to talk.
 But in the night the prisoner wrenehed off the iron bars. killed the guards and ' escaped. Worse than all to the caliph
 WAS the fact that he could make noth- ing at all out of the inscriptions on the sabres He now ordered every learned
 man in the kingdom to come and try to
 read what was written on the swords, l | succeed. But Carathis made him modify the penalty for non-suceess. We can't afford to lose subjects he said burn off the boards of those who fail; boards in state are not so necessary as men,"
 After many hundreds of boards had been
 sacrificed and the palace smelt abomina- ply of burn hair, an aged man was found who read the inscriptions as follows:
 "We were made where every good thing is made; we are the least of the won | ders of a place where all is wonderful
 and deserving the sight of the first po- tentate on earth.'
 Vathek was delighted, gave the old
 man costly robes and gold and sum- moned him the next morning to read the inscriptions over again. But the man
 started and rubbed his eyes when he ] looked at the sabre next morning. "Sov-
 ereign of the world" said he, "these sabres hold another language today from l what they did yesterday" How say you?" cried Vathek. But tell me what l they say today" And the man read: 'fWoe to the rash mortal who seeks to know that of which he should remain 1 ignorant and to undertake that which l surpasseth his power" And woe to
 thee" said Vathek, and he burned of half the old mans beard and drove him 1 forth. But the caliph was soon sorry for l his precipitate action, for he saw himself l that the inscriptions did change every | day, as the aged man had said. From l anger and his baffled curiosity Vathek | fell sick and from being one of the great | st in ba Inst b4a
 appetite that out of the 200 dishes set
 before him he could taste of but 32 and
 his desire for wine was succeeded by a | consuming thirst for water.
 ] A few miles from Samarah there was a mountain topped by plain so covered { with flowers and groves that it seemed realization of the Earthly Paradise. l Thither repaired Vathek to drink of ths 1 four clear fountains which gushed forth 1 there and inhale the pure air and the de- l lightful fragrance of the flowers. His l eunuchs constantly presented to the ca 1 liph water In jars of rock crystal, but so l insatiate was his thirst that sometimes
 he could not wait for their ministration.
 and prostrated himself on the ground to l lap up the water. One day as he was thus 1 engaged he heard a voice say: "Why as- suniest thou the function of a dog, oh, caiiph, so proud of thy dignity and pow et2'' It was the hideous stranger who
 had brought him the sabres. "Accursed
 giaour,' cried the caliph, "see to what you have transformed prinee!" Drink this,' replied the stranger. Vathek drank of the phial the stranger presented to him, | and at once felt his thirst appeased and 1 his health restored. But the giaour now made a hideous compact with him. If
 Vathek would abjure Mahomet and de- 1 vote himself to the powers of darkness he l promised to open for him the subterran- i can palace where are worshipped the in-
 fernal fires and where are stored the l treasures and the talismans of Soliman, and Vathek should have the treasures,
 and, what was more to him, the talis- mans.
 Now that which the caliph hattered himself was a desire for knowledge was
 nothing more than intense curiosity ] for which he was ready to sacrifice every 1 thing-even his soul. So, seeing no other
 way to his desires, he abjured Mahomct and pledged himself to Eblis and the l powers Ol QdIhlltSS, ucidIuiii5 lO- Do l taken at once to the mystic regions. Not | so fast" replied the giaour, 'know that 1
 have a raging thirst which will only be l appeased by the flood Of 90 of the most l beautiful boys, sons of your viziers and I great nobles. You yourself shall throw l them to me where I will wait at the bot l tom of that chasm in the plain And l even this Vathek promised.
 Under pretext of a contest In athletic
 sports the caliph assembled the 50 beau- l tiful boys on the plain and when they had 1 finished the sports declared that every
 one should have reward. Then station
 ing himself on the brink of the chasm he ! commanded each boy to come forward
 separately and receive his prize. As each l boy approached the caliph pushed him l oyer the edge. The parents and the other l spectators stood a considerable distance
 away and as mist had descended upon l the plain could not see what was happen l ing. But when the fast boy had been 1 thrown into the e1iasm the gulf closed i with a loud noise and the parents, rusn- | Ing forward to see what had become of their loved ones, an1 finding that they
 had disappeared, were furious with rage | end would have torn tae ealipn to pieces | But Morakanabad, the grand ylzier, al | though he had lost two beautiful boys