Year: 1876




statement perfectly true-my leg was
gone! "A


Here Hassun suddenly became silent,
and gazed with something like terror
around him. Nor was ne without good
cause for his alarm. He found that
with the rapidity of an electric shock
the whole OF his audience had sprung
to their feet, and were advancing angrily
towards him, abusing him by every op-
probrious term their imagination could
supply. Achmet was the most furious
of them all. .....


"And now let me ask you, my breth-
rem he said. whether you will allow
yourselves any longer to be insulted by
having offered to you as facts the lies in
vented by this miscreant. And you,
reverend fathers" he continued, address
sing the Ulemas, "let me ask if YOU can
| now say one word in his defence" i
The elder Of the Ulemas now made u
signal to the others to be silent, which
however he had great difficulty in OBJ
tanning When the tumult had subsidized
sufficiently for him to be heard, without
| the slightest appearance Of anger, he ad-
dressed them. ,...,.-..
my brethren" he said, 81 will not
utter one word IN defence Of this man
Hassan; but pray listen calmly to me,
thatIyou may do nothing in haste, but
like good and true men place him in the
hands of justice. where his case may be
calmly deliberated on. l promise you
that when before the cadi will myself
bear witness against him. have en-
deavored, somewhat against my own
reason. to close my eyes to the suspi-
cions which rose before me as to his real
character, and out of kind feeling to-
wards him to believe he was simply a
lunatlc. The statements he had hither-
to made We're for the most part utterly
preposterous. and may be fairly ex-
cused in having come to an erroneous
conclusion. Now, however, the affair is
different. He points to his wooden leg
as proof that he has told the truth
That he has lost his leg is certain, as
we can see by the wooden one he now
wears. On that point there is no doubt
but the manner in which he states the
| operation to have been performed, is AS
| equally, to the minds of all men, an ut
ter impossibility. Why, if the pain was
so great before the leg was cut off us to
4 prevent him sleeping. how could it be
| possible Tor him to have, slept through
1 the still greater pain of amputation !?
No, my brethren, no matter how effica.
cious the odor which had been placed o.,
the handkerchief might have been, il
stands to common sense its effects could
not have been as miraculous he he as.
serts. l therefore propose that he be Al
once placed in the custody Of Achmet,
and taken to the presence OF the cadi,
who shall pass judgment on his CASE
| Here Mustapha stepped forward on
Hassan's behalf. -'
| Pause, dear brethren" he said .sbe.
fore you act precipitately. Remembe,
yOn have yet to learn what were his ad-
ventures after the amputatlon of his leg
and his reaching England. Very like
~" he continued, glancing at Hassan as
he spoke, ''seme circumstance NAV be
brought to lig bit. which may tend great,
ly to modify the conclusion you have ar
rived at. Nay more, as Hassan's ad.
ventures have progressed, they became
more and more wonderful, and those he
has yet to relate may diminish, by com.
Parison, those he has already narrated
into insignificance. Let me implore yo
to be patient, and consider we'll whal
you are about" s-1c
"No consideration said Achmet,
'tshall hinder me from performing my
duty, Come, my brethren, let us con
duct him to prison, and tomorrow he
shall be brought before the cadi, who
will pass judgment upon him. and pun
ish him severely. hope that as many
OF you as can conveniently attend on the
occasion will be epresent, SO that the case
may not break down for lack of evi-
dence."


All promised to attend, and Hassan
was dragged off to the dungeon. where
he remained the whole night.
The next morning the door of the
prison was opened, and Achmst, ac-
companied by some officers of the po-
lice, entered, and seizing Hassan, took
him off to the presence of the cadi.
Terrified indeed did he appear, poor
fellow, when he looked round, and found
| angry glances poured on him from all
sides. There was, however, one excep-
ton present. although uassan did not
see him, and that was Mustapha. From
corner of the room he watched his
poor friend unobserved, willing to assist
him, yet totally unable to be OF the least
benefit to him. The cadi himself wore
on his countenance look of stern Sc
verify which made poor Hassan shud-
der, while in corner of the room were
the three executioners, one armed with
scimitar, another with a bow string,
and the third with long. powerful canes,
to be used for the bastinado, in case the
cadi should decide on a punishment of
the kind. Poor Hassan, with his hands
fastened, now stood before the cadi, who
asked the particulars of the crime of
which he was accused. Achmet was the
first witness examined. He gave long
and exaggerated account Of the false
statements made by Hassan. lie dwelt
on the frequent opportunities given him
by Mustapha to correct the assertions he
had made, but that on every occasion he
had enlarged the form of his crime by
maintaining that everything he uttered
was true, and within the bounds of DOS
sibility. The cadi asked the nature of
the impositions the prisoner had at
tempted to practice on the audience, and
what things he had stated as facts which
were utterly false.


Achmet narrated glibly enough the
feat performed by the Enchanter of pla-
cling old cotton in the hold of ship at
the bottom of the sea. and sending down
light which the water could not ex-
tinguish, which burst the hull of the ship
to pieces. He detailed all the feats of
the Enchanter, who carried Hassan
through the air in a car from the city of
Paris over the heads of a besieSina
army; how the Enchanter had lent him
a cap which allowed him to 20 to the
bottom ofthe sea andremain there without
difficulty; that he had blasphemously
stated that he had bottled a flash Of
lightning, and afterward made use of it
Then he told the story about the genie
who could fly round half the world in
less than ten hours, and the other who
accomplished the same distance in ten
hours less than no time.


And these preposterous statements"
continued Achmet, 1.-THE audience, con-
trary to my advice, put up with calmly
enough; but yesterday evening he per-
petrated so infamous falsehood, that it
broke down the patience of the audience,
and aroused the indignation Of the two
Ulemas whom you now see before YOU
and who had hitherto stood his friends.
treating him as an object Of compassion
than as miscreant who had attempted
to palm off impossibilities as facts on
the minds OF his too credulous au-
dience"


The two Ulemas now came forward
and gave evidence as far as they were