g if he were ready to die, to which
he only responded by pressing his master's hand fervently to his lips.
He never took his eyes off Ali, and the lantern, near which a match was
constantly smoking, was entrusted only to him and to Ali, who took turns
with him in watching it. Ali drew a pistol from his belt, making as if
to turn it towards the powder magazine, and the envoys fell at his feet,
uttering involuntary cries of terror. He smiled at their fears, and
assured them that, being wearied of the weight of his weapons, he had
only intended to relieve himself of some of them. He then begged them
to seat themselves, and added that he should like even a more terrible
funeral than that which they had just ascribed to him. "I do not wish
to drag down with me," he exclaimed, "those who have come to visit me
as friends; it is Kursheed, whom I have long regarded as my brother,
his chiefs, those who have betrayed me, his whole army in short, whom I
desire to follow me to the tomb--a sacrifice which will be worthy of my
renown, and of the brilliant end to which I aspire."

The envoys gazed at him with stupefaction, which did not diminish when
Ali further informed them that they were not only sitting over the arch
of a casemate filled with two hundred thousand pounds of powder,
but that the whole castle, which they had so rashly occupied, was
undermined. "The rest you have seen," he said, "but of this you could
not be aware. My riches are the sole cause of the war which has been
made against me, and in one moment I can destroy them. Life is nothing
to me, I might have ended it among the Greeks, but could I, a powerless
old man, resolve to live on terms of equality among those whose absolute
master I have been? Thus, whichever way I look, my career is ended.
However, I am attached to those who still surround me, so hear my last
resolve. Let a pardon, sealed by the sultan's hands, be given me, and I
will submit. I will go to Constantinople, to Asia Minor, or wherever I
am sent. The things I should see here would no longer be fitting for me
to behold."

To this Kursheed's envoys made answer that without doubt these terms
would be conceded. Ali then touched his breast and forehead, and,
drawing forth his watch, presented it to the keeper of the wardrobe.
"I mean what I say, my friend," he observed; "my word will be kept. If
within an hour thy soldiers are not withdrawn from this castle which
has been treacherously yielded to them,