The ring was taken from
me by force, and the next day I was bastinadoed for having found it; the
officer persisting in the belief that stripes would make me confess where
I had concealed certain other articles of value which had lately been
missed in the camp. All this was the consequence of my being in a hurry
to light my pipe and of my having put the ring on a finger that was too
little for it, which no one but Murad the Unlucky would have done.
"When I was able to walk again, after my wounds were healed, I went into
one of the tents distinguished by a red flag, having been told that these
were coffee-houses. Whilst I was drinking coffee I heard a stranger near
me complaining that he had not been able to recover a valuable ring he
had lost, although he had caused his loss to be published for three days
by the public crier, offering a reward of two hundred sequins to whoever
should restore it. I guessed that this was the very ring which I had
unfortunately found. I addressed myself to the stranger, and promised to
point out to him the person who had forced it from me. The stranger
recovered his ring, and, being convinced that I had acted honestly, he
made me a present of two hundred sequins, as some amends for the
punishment which I had unjustly suffered on his account.
"Now you would imagine that this purse of gold was advantageous to me.
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