“No,” replied the high-minded prince; “Usbeck demands my presence not yours.  Far be it from me, by my disobedience, to expose my country to ruin.  If I resist the commands of the khan, my country will be doomed to new woes; thousands of Christians will perish, the victims of his fury.  It is impossible for us to repel the forces of the Tartars.  What other asylum is there then for me but death?  Is it not better for me to die, if I may thus save the lives of my faithful subjects?”

He made his will, divided his estates among his sons, and entreating them ever to be faithful to the dictates of virtue, bade them an eternal adieu.  Michel encountered the khan near the mouth of the Don, as it enters the Sea of Azof.  Usbeck was on a magnificent hunting excursion, accompanied by his chieftains and his army.  For six weeks he did not deign, to pay any attention to the Russian prince, not even condescending to order him to be guarded.  The rich presents Michel had brought, in token of homage, were neither received nor rejected, but were merely disregarded as of no moment whatever.

At length, one morning, suddenly, as if recollecting something which had been forgotten, Usbeck ordered his lords to summon Michel before them and adjudge his cause.  A tent was spread as a tribunal of justice, near the tent of the khan; and the unhappy prince, bound with cords, was led before his judges.  He was accused of the unpardonable crime of having drawn his sword against the soldiers of the khan.  No justification could be offered.  Michel was cruelly fettered with chains and thrown into a dungeon.  An enormous collar of iron was riveted around his neck.

Usbeck then set out for the chase, on an expedition which was to last for one or two months.  The annals of the time describe this expedition with great particularity, presenting a scene of pomp almost surpassing credence.  Some allowance must doubtless be made for exaggeration; and yet there is a minuteness of detail which, accompanied by corroborative evidence of the populousness and the power of these Tartar tribes, invests the narrative with a good degree of authenticity.  We are informed that several hundreds of thousands of men were in movement; that each soldier was clothed in rich uniform and mounted upon a beautiful horse; that merchants transported, in innumerable chariots, the most precious fabrics of Greece and of the Indies, and that luxury and gayety reigned throughout the immense camp, which, in the midst of savage deserts, presented the aspect of brilliant and populous cities.  Michel, who was awaiting his sentence from Usbeck, was dragged, loaded with chains, in the train of the horde.  Georges was in high favor with the khan, and was importunately urging the condemnation of his rival.