It was , he said , Thelamis 's idea to disguise him like this , and that he himself had assumed the character of a slave-dealer who was taking this peerless maiden as a present to the Sultan . Thelamis had also persuaded the officer in charge of the caravan to let him hire the vacant box , so it was easy for the prince to scramble out of his own window and approach ours . ` This ingenious trick enchanted us , but our agreeable conversation was soon interrupted by the attendants , who perceived that the camel was walking in a crooked manner and came to find out what was wrong . Luckily they were slow in their movements , and the prince had just time to get back to his own box and restore the balance , before the trick was discovered . ` But neither the prince nor his friend had any intention of allowing us to enter the Sultan 's palace , though it was difficult to know how we were to escape , and what was to become of us when once we had escaped . At length , one day as we were drawing near Constantinople , we learned from the prince that Thelamis had made acquaintance with a holy dervish whom he had met on the road , and had informed him that we were his sisters , who were being sold as slaves against his will . The good man was interested in the story , and readily agreed to find us shelter if we could manage to elude the watchfulness of our guards . The risk was great , but it was our only chance . ` That night , when the whole caravan was fast asleep , we raised the upper part of our boxes and by the help of Thelamis climbed silently out . We next went back some distance along the way we had come , then , striking into another road , reached at last the retreat prepared for us by the dervish . Here we found food and rest , and I need not say what happiness it was to be free once more . ` The dervish soon became a slave to our beauty , and the day after our escape he proposed that we should allow him to conduct us to an inn situated at a short distance , where we should find two Jews , owners of precious talismans which did not really belong to them . `` Try , '' said the dervish , `` by some means to get possession of them . '' ` The inn , though not on the direct road to Constantinople , was a favourite one with merchants , owing to the excellence of the food , and on our arrival we discovered at least six or eight other people who had stopped for refreshment . They greeted us politely , and we sat down to table together . ` In a short time the two men described by the dervish entered the room , and at a sign from him my sister made room at her side for one , while I did the same for the other . ` Now the dervish had happened to mention that `` their brother had danced . '' At the moment we paid no attention to this remark , but it came back to our minds now , and we determined that they should dance also . To accomplish this we used all our arts and very soon bent them to our wills , so that they could refuse us nothing . At the end of the day we remained possessors of the talismans and had left them to their fate , while the Prince and Thelamis fell more in love with us than ever , and declared that we were more lovely than any women in the world .
` The sun had set before we quitted the inn , and we had XXXXX no plans as to where we should go next , so we readily consented to the prince 's proposal that we should embark without delay for the Isle of Black Marble .
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