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.
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