This I have done,
and now you are free. And now your decision, if you please!"
"Osman Bey Bardissi is far too great a hero, and far too brave a
soldier and honorable man, not to know what emotions agitate my
soul. See, I wear a general's uniform, and my army corps is awaiting
me! You cannot suppose that I will abandon them, or incite them to
treason! As yet, I serve the viceroy alone," he continued in a lower
voice, "and, as yet, I do not know that I can depend entirely on
their fidelity."
"However, you do not say 'no' to my proposals?" said Bardissi.
"I say wait, Bardissi! He who wishes to attain fortune must not
grasp at it with too quick a hand. He may catch hold of a corner of
its mantle, but fortune itself might escape him. Only he who is calm
and collected can depend on securing it, Bardissi. Therefore, I say,
wait! Yet, this will I say, in addition," continued he, his
countenance assuming a milder expression, "Give me your hand before
we part. It is the hand of a brave man, and I am glad to press it in
my own."
Bardissi joyously laid his broad, sinewy hand in Mohammed's, and
grasped it firmly.
"I repeat it, Bardissi, wait. In eight days you shall have an answer
from me. Perhaps it will, be communicated to you through common
report--perhaps secretly. Therefore, name some one through whom I
can communicate with you."
Bardissi made no answer, but glanced uneasily at Mohammed.
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