while the air was darkened. A
moment more and the old walls again met my sight, while over them hovered a
murky cloud; fragments of buildings whirled above, half seen in smoke,
while flames burst out beneath, and continued explosions filled the air
with terrific thunders. Flying from the mass of falling ruin which leapt
over the high walls, and shook the ivy towers, a crowd of soldiers made for
the road by which I came; I was surrounded, hemmed in by them, unable to
get forward. My impatience rose to its utmost; I stretched out my hands to
the men; I conjured them to turn back and save their General, the conqueror
of Stamboul, the liberator of Greece; tears, aye tears, in warm flow gushed
from my eyes--I would not believe in his destruction; yet every mass that
darkened the air seemed to bear with it a portion of the martyred Raymond.
Horrible sights were shaped to me in the turbid cloud that hovered over the
city; and my only relief was derived from the struggles I made to approach
the gate. Yet when I effected my purpose, all I could discern within the
precincts of the massive walls was a city of fire: the open way through
which Raymond had ridden was enveloped in smoke and flame. After an
interval the explosions ceased, but the flames still shot up from various
quarters; the dome of St. Sophia had disappeared. Strange to say (the
result perhaps of the concussion of air occasioned by the blowing up of the
city) huge, white thunder clouds lifted themselves up from the southern
horizon, and gathered over-head; they were the first blots on the blue
expanse that I had seen for months, and amidst this havoc and despair they
inspired pleasure. The vault above became obscured, lightning flashed from
the heavy masses, followed instantaneously by crashing thunder; then the
big rain fell. The flames of the city bent beneath it; and the smoke and
dust arising from the ruins was dissipated.

I no sooner perceived an abatement of the flames than, hurried on by an
irresistible impulse, I endeavoured to penetrate the town. I could only do
this on foot, as the mass of ruin was impracticable for a horse. I had
never entered the city before, and its ways were unknown to me. The streets
were blocked up, the ruins smoking; I climbed up one heap, only to view
others in succession; and nothing told me where the centre of the town
might be, or towards what point Raymond might have directed his course. The
rain ceased; the clouds sunk behind t