'
ALMEIDA, who perceived the storm to be gathering which the next moment
would burst upon the head of HAMET, interposed between them, and
addressed each of them by turns; urging HAMET to be silent, and
conjuring ALMORAN to be merciful. ALMORAN, however, without regarding
ALMEIDA, or making any reply to HAMET, struck the ground with his foot,
and the messengers of death, to whom the signal was familiar, appeared
at the door. ALMORAN then commanded them to seize his brother, with a
countenance pale and livid, and a voice that was broken by rage. HAMET
was still unmoved; but ALMEIDA threw herself at the feet of ALMORAN, and
embracing his knees was about to speak, but he broke from her with
sudden fury: 'If the world should sue,' said he, 'I would spurn it off.
There is no pang that cunning can invent, which he shall not suffer: and
when death at length shall disappoint my vengeance, his mangled limbs
shall be cast out unburied, to feed the beasts of the desert and the
fowls of heaven.' During this menace, ALMEIDA sunk down without signs of
life; and HAMET struggling in vain for liberty to raise her from the
ground, she was carried off by some women who were called to her
assistance.
In this awful crisis, HAMET, who felt his own fortitude give way, looked
up, and though he conceived no words, a prayer ascended from his heart
to heaven, and was accepted by Him, to whom our thoughts are known while
they are yet afar off.
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