Hamet, who had not fortitude to give up at once the possibility of securing the advantages that had been offered, and who was seduced by human frailty to deliberate at least upon the choice; stretched out his hand, and receiving the scroll, the Genius instantly disappeared.  That which had been proposed as a trial of his virtue, Almoran believed indeed to be an offer of advantage; he had no hope, therefore, but that Hamet would refuse the conditions, and that he should be able to obtain the talisman, and fulfill them himself:  he judged that the mind of Hamet was in suspense, and was doubtful to which side it might finally incline; he, therefore, instantly assumed the voice and the person of Omar, that by the influence of his council he might be able to turn the scale.

When the change was effected, he called Hamet by his name; and Hamet, who knew the voice, answered him in a transport of joy and wonder:  ’My friend,’ said he, ’my father! in this dreary solitude, in this hour of trial, thou art welcome to my soul as liberty and life!  Guide me to thee by thy voice; and tell while I hold thee to my bosom, how and wherefore thou art come?’ ‘Do not now ask me,’ said Almoran:  ’it is enough that I am here; and that I am permitted to warn thee of the precipice, on which thou standest.  It is enough, that concealed in this darkness, I have overheard the specious guile, which some evil demon has practised upon thee.’  ‘Is it then certain,’ said Hamet, ‘that this being is evil?’ ’Is not that being evil, said Almoran,’ ’who proposes evil, as the condition of good?’ ‘Shall I then,’ said Hamet, ’renounce my liberty and life?  The rack is now ready; and, perhaps, the next moment, its tortures will be inevitable.’  ‘Let me ask thee then,’ said Almoran, ’to preserve thy life, wilt thou destroy thy soul?’ ‘O! stay,’ said Hamet—­’Let me not be tried too far!  Let the strength of Him who is Almighty, be manifest in my weakness!’ Hamet then paused a few moments; but he was no longer in doubt:  and Almoran, who disbelieved and despised the arguments, by which he intended to persuade him to renounce what, upon the same condition, he was impatient to secure for himself, conceived hopes that he should succeed; and those hopes were instantly confirmed.’  ‘Take then,’ said Hamet, this unholy charm; and remove it far from me, as the sands of Alai from the trees of Oman; lest, in some dreadful hour, my virtue may fail me, and thy counsel may be wanting!’ ‘Give it me then,’ said Almoran; and feeling for the hands of each other, he snatched it from him in an extasy of joy, and instantly resuming his own voice and figure, he cried out, ’At length I have prevailed:  and life and love, dominion and revenge, are now at once in my hand!’