e. Up she raised it in the air,
and dashed it to his heart with superhuman force. It struck against the
talisman which Jabaster had given to Alroy, and which, from a lingering
superstition, he still wore; it struck, and shivered into a thousand
pieces. The Caliph sprang from his couch; his eyes met the prophetess,
standing over him in black despair, with the hilt of the dagger in her
hand.

'What is all this? Schirene! Who art thou? Esther!' He jumped from
the couch, called to Pharez, and seized her by both hands. 'Speak!' he
continued. 'Art thou Esther? What dost thou here?'

She broke into a wild laugh; she wrestled with his grasp, and pulled him
towards the gallery. He beheld the chief tower of the Serail in flames.
Joining her hands together, grasping them both in one of his, and
dragging her towards the ottoman, he seized a helmet and flung it upon
the mighty shield. It sounded like a gong. Pharez started from his
slumbers, and rushed into the chamber.

'Pharez! Treason! treason! Send instant orders that the palace gates be
opened on no pretence whatever. Go, fly! See the captain himself. Summon
the household. Order all to arms. Speed, for our lives!'

The whole palace was now roused. Alroy delivered Esther, exhausted,
and apparently senseless, to a guard of eunuchs. Slaves and attendants
poured in from all directions. Soon arrived Schirene, with dishevelled
hair and hurried robes, attended by a hundred maidens, each bearing a
torch.

'My soul, what ails thee?'

'Nothing, sweetest; all will soon be well,' replied Alroy, picking up,
and examining the fragments of the shivered dagger, which he had just
discovered.

'My life has been attempted; the palace is in flames; I suspect the city
is in insurrection. Look to your mistress, maidens!' Schirene fell into
their arms. 'I will soon be back.' So saying, he hurried to the grand
court.

Several thousand persons, for the population of the Serail and its
liberties was very considerable, were assembled in the grand court;
eunuchs, women, pages, slaves, and servants, and a few soldiers; all
in confusion and alarm, fire raging within, and mysterious and terrible
outcries without. A cry of 'The Caliph! the Caliph!' announced the
arrival of Alroy, and produced a degree of comparative silence.

'Where is the captain of the guard?' he exclaimed. 'That's well. Open
the gates to none. Who will leap the wall and bear a message to Asriel?
You? That's well too. To-morrow