The Assassins' hands, ears and eyes were everywhere.

Once fully initiated,

a man might be sent to a place a thousand miles away,

there to take up residence and live:

waiting for the moment when orders came

to him from Alamut to fulfil his fatal destiny.

A story is told of the court of the Shah of Khwarism,

thus:

"The Ismaili ambassador spent some time with the Vizier.

One day, after a splendid banquet when the wine

which they had been drinking in violation of the law

had mounted into their heads,

the ambassador told the Vizier by way of confidence

that there were several Ismailis among the pages,

grooms, guards and other persons

who were immediately about the Sultan.

The Vizier, dismayed and at the same time curious

to know who these dangerous attendants were,

besought the ambassador to point them out to him,

giving him his napkin as a pledge

that nothing evil should happen to them.

Instantly, at a sign from the envoy,

five of the persons

who were attendants in the chamber stepped forth,

avowing themselves to be concealed Assassins,

'On such a day and at such an hour,' said one of them,

an Indian, to the Vizier,

'I might have slain thee without being seen or punished;

and if I did not do so it was only because

I had no orders from my superiors.' "

The Vizier begged for his life.

But word got the Sultan,

who ordered the Assassins to be apprehended and burned alive,

and

"the five chamberlains were cast on the falming pyre,

where they died exulting at being found worthy to suffer

in the service of the great Sheikh of the Mountain."

The Assassins had the last laugh,

for an order arrived immediately afterwards from Alamut,

that the Shah must pay ten thousand pieces of gold

as compensation for each man killed - which he did.

Another subsidiary activity which the Assassins

delighted in was holding captive in Alamut of useful,

rare and distinguished personages

who could be of value to them in educational,

military or other spheres.

One was a physician,

another a famous astronomer,

a third the greatest painter in Persia,

who worked to the order of the chief alone.