life. The wicked
men! Asriel must soon be here. What sayest thou?'

'There is no fear. Their plans are ill-devised. I have long expected
this stormy night, and feel even now more anxious than alarmed.'

''Tis at me they aim; it is I whom they hate. The High Priest, too! Ay,
ay! Thy proud brother, good Honain, I have ever felt he would not rest
until he drove me from this throne, my right; or washed my hated name
from out our annals in my life's blood. Wicked, wicked Jabaster! He
frowned upon me from the first, Honain. Is he indeed thy brother?'

'I care not to remember. He aims at something further than thy life; but
Time will teach us more than all our thoughts.'

The fortifications of the Serail resisted all the efforts of the rebels.
Scherirah remained in his quarters, with his troops under arms, and
recalled the small force that he had originally sent out as much to
watch the course of events as to assist Abidan. Asriel and Ithamar
poured down their columns in the rear of that chieftain, and by dawn a
division of the guard had crossed the river, the care of which had been
entrusted to Scherirah, and had thrown themselves into the palace. Alroy
sallied forth at the head of these fresh troops. His presence decided a
result which was perhaps never doubtful. The division of Abidan fought
with the desperation that became their fortunes. The carnage was
dreadful, but their discomfiture complete. They no longer acted
in masses, or with any general system. They thought only of
self-preservation, or of selling their lives at the dearest cost. Some
dispersed, some escaped. Others entrenched themselves in houses, others
fortified the bazaar. All the horrors of war in the streets were now
experienced. The houses were in flames, the thoroughfares flowed with
blood.

At the head of a band of faithful followers, Abidan proved himself, by
his courage and resources, worthy of success. At length, he was alone,
or surrounded only by his enemies. With his back against a building in a
narrow street, where the number of his opponents only embarrassed them,
the three foremost of his foes fell before his irresistible scimitar.
The barricaded door yielded to the pressure of the multitude. Abidan
rushed up the narrow stairs, and, gaining a landing-place, turned
suddenly round, and cleaved the skull of his nearest pursuer. He hurled
the mighty body at his followers, and, retarding their advance, himself
dashed onward, and gained the terr