Though it was about midnight when he came there, the prince was not asleep. His separation from the fair princess of China his wife afflicted him as usual. He cursed the minute in which his curiosity tempted him to touch the fatal girdle.
Thus was he passing those hours which are devoted to rest, when he heard somebody knock at the gardendoor: he ran hastily to it; but he had no sooner opened it than the captain and his seamen took hold of him, and carried him to the boat, and so on ship- board. As soon as he was safely lodged, they set sail, and made the best of their way to the isle of Ebene.