第28章

Quoth the King，'O Emir Khalid，what seekest thou？'； whereupon he brought forward Ahmad Kamakim，shuffling and tripping in his fetters，and the Caliph said to him，'What！ art thou yet alive，O Kamakim？' He replied，'O Commander of the Faithful，the miserable are long-lived.' Quoth the Caliph to the Emir，'Why hast thou brought him hither？'； and quoth he，'O Commander of the Faithful，he hath a poor old mother cut off from the world who hath none but this son and she hath had recourse to thy slave，imploring him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains，for he repenteth of his evil courses； and to make him Captain of the Watch as before.' The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim，'Doss thou repent of thy sins？' 'I do indeed repent me to Allah，O Commander of the Faithful，' answered he； whereupon the Caliph called for the blacksmith and made him strike off his irons on the corpse-washer's bench.[92] Moreover，he restored him to his former office and charged him to walk in the ways of godliness and righteousness.So he kissed the Caliph's hands and，being invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch，he went forth，whilst they made proclamation of his appointment.Now for a long time he abode in the exercise of his office，till one day his mother went in to the Governor's wife，who said to her，'Praised be Allah who hath delivered thy son from prison and restored him to health and safety！ But why dost thou not bid him contrive some trick to get the girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah？'

'That will I，' answered she and，going out from her，repaired to her son.She found him drunk with wine and said to him，'O my son，no one caused thy release from jail but the wife of the Governor，and she would have thee find some means to slay Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl Jessamine for her son Habzalam Bazazah.' He answered，'That will be the easiest of things； and I must needs set about it this very night.' Now this was the first night of the new month，and it was the custom of the Caliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah，for the setting free of a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the sort.Moreover，on such occasions he used to doff his royal-habit，together with his rosary and dagger-sword and royal-signet，and set them all upon a chair in the sitting-saloon： and he had also a golden lanthorn，adorned with three jewels strung on a wire of gold，by which he set great store； and he would commit all these things to the charge of the eunuchry，whilst he went into the Lady Zubaydah's apartment.So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakin waited till midnight，when Canopus shone bright，and all creatures to sleep were dight whilst the Creator veiled them with the veil of night.Then he took his drawn sword in his right and his grappling hook in his left and，repairing to the Caliph's sitting-saloon planted his scaling ladder and cast his grapnel on to the side of the terrace-roof； then，raising the trap-door，let himself down into the saloon，where he found the eunuchs asleep.He drugged them with hemp-fumes；[93] and，taking the Caliph's dress； dagger，rosary，kerchief，signet-ring and the lanthorn whereupon were the pearls，returned whence he came and betook himself to the house of Ala al-Din，who had that night celebrated his wedding festivities with Jessamine and had gone in unto her and gotten her with child.So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim climbed over into his saloon and，raising one of the marble slabs from the sunken part of the floor，[94] dug a hole under it and laid the stolen things therein，all save the lanthorn，which he kept for himself.Then he plastered down the marble slab as it before was，and returning whence he came，went back to his own house，saying，'I will now tackle my drink and set this lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its light.'[95] Now as soon as it was dawn of day，the Caliph went out into the sitting-chamber； and，seeing the eunuchs drugged with hemp，aroused them.Then he put his hand to the chair and found neither dress nor signet nor rosary nor dagger-sword nor kerchief nor lanthorn； whereat he was exceeding wroth and donning the dress of anger，which was a scarlet suit，[96] sat down in the Divan.So the Wazir Ja'afar came forward and kissing the ground before him，said，'Allah avert all evil from the Commander of the Faithful！' Answered the Caliph，'O Wazir，the evil is passing great！' Ja'afar asked，'What has happened？' so he told him what had occurred； and，behold，the Chief of Police appeared with Ahmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup，when he found the Commander of the Faithful sore enraged.As soon as the Caliph saw him，he said to him，'O Emir Khalid，how goes Baghdad？' And he answered，'Safe and secure.'