these during
his fortunate days by piercing water conduits and making subterranean
vaults large enough to hold great stores of gunpowder.

Ali rallied his own bands at the head of the bridge, and when,
suddenly, the explosion burst forth along the whole length of the
street, and the destroying flame tossed the pursuing squadrons into
the air one after the other, he amused himself by contemplating the
ruin from the top of the fort, and was the last who disappeared in the
hidden tunnel. For a long time those in the fortress could hear the
agonized cries of the vanquished. One-third of the besieging army had
been destroyed in a single night. The rest quitted the accursed town,
which seemed to have been built over hell itself, and took up a
position in the fields outside and on the heights of Lithanizza.

The rising sun revealed a horrible spectacle. The town of Janina no
longer existed, the beautiful tall houses, the cupolaed mosques, the
slender white minarets, the imposing barracks--where were they?
Instead of them, all that could be seen was a shapeless mass of
piled-up ruins; here and there, on a dark background, scorched by
flickering flames, a huddle-muddle of broken rafters, mangled corpses,
charred black or gaping hideously open, lay scattered about amongst
the rubbish, and from the mouth of a conduit at the side of the
bastion there trickled sadly down into the lake a dark red stream,
which wound its way in and out amongst the ruins.

* * * * *

"Poor children, how sweetly they are sleeping!"

Thus spoke Ali.

In a corner of the red tower, sleeping side by side, were the two
Suliote kinsfolk, Artemis and Kleon. They slept in each other's
embrace, and not even the gaze of Ali awoke them.

"Don't arouse them," said Ali to his dumb eunuchs; "let them sleep
on!"

And again he regarded them with a smile--they slept so soundly. And
yet they knew not when they fell asleep whether they would ever awake
again.

Ali did not arouse the slumberers. Thrice he sent to see if they had
awakened, but he would not have them disturbed. At last the hand of
the youth made his chain clank, and both of them opened their eyes at
the sound.

"I was on my way to Akro-Corinth," said he, rubbing his large dreamy
eyes with his hands, "and I saw them rebuilding the Parthenon."

"I stood at Thermopylae," said the girl, "and the enemy fell before me
by thousands."

"And now we shall go to the block