Far the contrary; it was the cause of new misfortunes.
"One night, when I thought that the soldiers who were in the same tent
with me were all fast asleep, I indulged myself in the pleasure of
counting my treasure. The next day I was invited by my companions to
drink sherbet with them. What they mixed with the sherbet which I drank
I know not, but I could not resist the drowsiness it brought on. I fell
into a profound slumber, and when I awoke, I found myself lying under a
date-tree, at some distance from the camp.
"The first thing I thought of when I came to my recollection was my purse
of sequins. The purse I found still safe in my girdle; but on opening
it, I perceived that it was filled with pebbles, and not a single sequin
was left. I had no doubt that I had been robbed by the soldiers with
whom I had drunk sherbet, and I am certain that some of them must have
been awake the night I counted my money; otherwise, as I had never
trusted the secret of my riches to any one, they could not have suspected
me of possessing any property; for ever since I kept company with them I
had appeared to be in great indigence.
"I applied in vain to the superior officers for redress: the soldiers
protested they were innocent; no positive proof appeared against them,
and I gained nothing by my complaint but ridicule and ill-will. I called
myself, in the first transport of my grief, by that name which, since my
arrival in Egypt, I had avoided to pronounce: I called myself Murad the
Unlucky.
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