"The hour until which I granted a respite has
come; the gold has not been paid; the law cannot be broken with
impunity. You pay, or the hour of vengeance is at hand!"
"We will not kneel; we will not humiliate ourselves before you, you
boy!"
With his sword still threateningly raised, Mohammed gazed around
him.
The tschorbadji and his son now approached the men, and pleaded with
them urgently. They explained to them that Mohammed was in the
right; that he could not act differently. As he had sworn by his
honor to force them to pay the double tax, he must therefore keep to
his word.
"Do as he tells you," said the tschorbadji, in an entreating tone;
"pay the tax he demands. Do it, ye men! I will reward you well, if
you do as I say. He who goes to Mohammed to pay the money, he can
ask at my hands a favor."
The men's anger became subdued by the soft, kind words of their
master. With bowed heads and gloomy aspect, they approached Mohammed
Ali, who still stood with threatening sword before the cage.
"We kneel before you in the dust; we have returned to our duty,"
said one of the men. "Here are the two sequins that I have to pay."
"Here are mine," "And mine," cried they all, with one accord. They
knelt and offered Mohammed the gold.
He did not take it; but, gazing steadfastly and bitterly at the
pacha, he thrust them aside with a movement of impatience.
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