This alarm was increased when the
officers, who had accompanied the king, and were obliged to return
after they had for a long time sought in vain for both him and his
uncle, came and told her majesty they must of necessity have come
to some harm, or be together in some place which they could not
guess, since they could hear no tidings of them. Their horses,
indeed, they had found, but as for their persons, they knew not
where to look for them. The queen, hearing this, had resolved to
dissemble and conceal her affliction, bidding the officers to
search once more with their utmost diligence; but in the mean time,
saying nothing to anybody, she plunged into the sea, to satisfy
herself as to the suspicion she had that King Saleh must have
carried away his nephew along with him.
This great queen would have been more affectionately received by
the queen her mother, had she not, upon first sight of her, guessed
the occasion of her coming. 'Daughter,' said she, 'I plainly
perceive you are not come hither to visit me; you come to inquire
after the king your son; and the only news I can tell you will
augment both your grief and mine. I no sooner saw him arrive in our
territories, than I rejoiced; yet, when I came to understand he had
come away without your knowledge, I began to share with you the
concern you must needs feel.
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