far as the village of Besdoune, where he
was to place an outpost, and then to retire along the other side of the
mountain, so that, being visible in the starlight, the sentinels placed
to watch on the hostile towers might take his men for the Suliots and
report to Ali that the position of Saint-Nicolas, assigned to them, had
been occupied as arranged. All preparations for battle were made, and
the two mortal enemies, Ismail and Ali, retired to rest, each cherishing
the darling hope of shortly annihilating his rival.

At break of day a lively cannonade, proceeding from the castle of the
lake and from Lithoritza, announced that the besieged intended a sortie.
Soon Ali's Skipetars, preceded by a detachment of French, Italians, and
Swiss, rushed through the Ottoman fire and carried the first redoubt,
held by Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. They found six pieces of cannon, which
the Turks, notwithstanding their terror, had had time to spike. This
misadventure, for they had hoped to turn the artillery against the
intrenched camp, decided Ali's men on attacking the second redoubt,
commanded by the chief bombardier. The Asiatic troops of Baltadgi Pacha
rushed to its defence. At their head appeared the chief Imaun of the
army, mounted on a richly caparisoned mule and repeating the curse
fulminated by the mufti against Ali, his adherents, his castles, and
even his cannons, which it was supposed might be rendered harmless by
these adjurations. Ali's Mohammedan Skipetars averted their eyes, and
spat into their bosoms, hoping thus to escape the evil influence. A
superstitious terror was beginning to spread among them, when a
French adventurer took aim at the Imaun and brought him down, amid the
acclamations of the soldiers; whereupon the Asiatics, imagining that
Eblis himself fought against them, retired within the intrenchments,
whither the Skipetars, no longer fearing the curse, pursued them
vigorously.

At the same time, however, a very different action was proceeding at the
northern end of the besiegers' intrenchments. Ali left his castle of
the lake, preceded by twelve torch-bearers carrying braziers filled with
lighted pitch-wood, and advanced towards the shore of Saint-Nicolas,
expecting to unite with the Suliots. He stopped in the middle of the
ruins to wait for sunrise, and while there heard that his troops had
carried the battery of Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. Overjoyed, he ordered them
to press on to the second intrenchment, promising