occasionally
issued from their passes and scoured the plain of Aleppo. There was also
an understanding between the Ansarey and the Kurds, that, whenever any
quarrel occurred between the mountaineers and the Turks, the Kurds, who
resembled the inhabitants of the mountain in their general appearance,
should, under the title of Ansarey, take this opportunity of ravage.
Darkush, however, had given Baroni credentials to the secret agent of
the Ansarey at Aleppo; and, with his instructions and assistance,
the difficulties, which otherwise might have been insuperable, were
overcome; and thus it was that the sentries stationed at the mouth of
the black ravine, which led to the fortress palace of the Queen, were
now hourly expecting the appearance of the princes.

A horseman at full gallop issued from the hills, and came bounding
over the stony plain; he shouted to the sentries as he passed them,
announcing the arrival of the strangers, and continued his pace through
the defile. Soon afterwards appeared the cavalcade of the princes;
themselves, their two attendants, and a party of horsemen with white
turbans and long lances.

Tancred and Fakredeen rode horses of a high race. But great as is the
pleasure of being well mounted, it was not that circumstance alone which
lit up their eyes with even unwonted fire, and tinged their cheeks
with a triumphant glow. Their expedition had been delightful; full of
adventure, novelty, and suspense. They had encountered difficulties and
they had overcome them. They had a great purpose, they were on the eve
of a stirring incident. They were young, daring, and brilliant.

'A strong position,' said Tancred, as they entered the defile.

'O! my Tancred, what things we have seen together!' exclaimed
Fakredeen. 'And what is to follow?'

The defile was not long, and it was almost unbending. It terminated in
a table-land of very limited extent, bounded by a rocky chain, on one of
the front and more moderate elevations of which was the appearance of an
extensive fortification; though, as the travellers approached it, they
perceived that, in many instances, art had only availed itself of the
natural advantages of the position, and that the towers and turrets were
carved out of the living rock which formed the impregnable bulwarks and
escarpments.

The cavalcade, at a quick pace, soon gained the ascending and winding
road that conducted them to a tall and massy gateway, the top of which
was formed o