"If you yield now, and pay twofold, soon they will demand threefold;
they wish to impoverish us and exact our heart's blood, but we will
not submit, and we command you to stand firm!"
"But you, O fathers of our community, what will be your fate?"
"That Allah has determined," replied one of the ulemas. "Not a bird
falls to the ground, not a worm is crushed, by the careless foot of
man, without his knowledge. He who protects the spiders in the trees
and in the corners of the rooms, the birds of the air, and the
monsters of the deep, will also care for us. Allah be praised!"
"Allah be praised!" echoed the men, as they turned their steps
toward Praousta.
The maiden still knelt upon the rocky stairway and raised her hands
in wild entreaty to the passers-by. "Yield, yield, I implore you! Do
not deliver over your wisest and best men to a bloody death!"
Mohammed stood in the hall, behind a pillar, listening earnestly to
the words spoken by the prisoners to the men of the village. From
time to time Osman joined him, and begged him not to act the part of
guard over the prisoners, but to come into the saloon and rest upon
the divan. "They can not escape; the railing is high, and the gate
securely locked. Come, grant me the pleasure of your company, and
let me seek to soften your heart, and incline you to mercy."
"Impossible," said Mohammed, sternly.
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