"Who
dares to preach rebellion shall surely die!--Hold fast these rebels,
my men, bind their hands behind their backs with their own scarfs,
and lead them to the governor's house. There let their heads fall,
that all may know how justice punishes the rebellious."
"Help! help!" cried the sheik and the ulemas. "Help!"
Their cries resounded far and wide, and, while the soldiers were
binding the ulemas and the sheik with their own scarfs, the armed
people came pressing forward to the open door of the mosque.
Mohammed looked toward them with the raging glance of a lion.
"Who enters here, meets his death!" he cried, in a voice of thunder.
The men without shrunk back before the soldiers' gleaming weapons,
and hastened to the other doors, but they found them all closed,
only the one entrance was open, the one at which the collectors
stood.
Within lay the sheik and the ulemas, all bound, upon their knees,
praying the men of Praousta to come to their help. The men sought
once more to storm the entrance, and once more they were repulsed.
"I swear, by Allah and the prophet, that the rebels shall die if
they do not submit!" cried Mohammed, aloud. "Place your daggers at
their breasts."
The soldiers did as they were ordered, and their prisoners lay, with
widely-extended eyes, and shrieks on their parted lips which they
dared not utter, for fear the sword-points would pierce their
breasts.
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