without arms, and only three at a time. They should be allowed to
enter the court-yard of the palace, where they could see that the
prisoners were still alive, and that their lives and liberty rested
solely with the men of Praousta. In conformity with this
proclamation, the men of the village came up to the palace in
threes.

Above, upon the rock, knelt a young girl, closely veiled. The men of
Praousta knew well that this was Masa, the sheik's daughter. They
bowed low before her, and greeted her with the greeting of peace.
She raised her trembling hands toward them, exclaiming: "Have pity
on my unhappy father! Submit to the law! Yield to necessity! O save
my father, and do not make me an orphan!"

The men of Praousta made no reply; they bowed their heads silently,
and passed on, with clouded countenances, to the iron cage in which
the governor's lion had once been confined, and where now stood the
sheik and the ulemas, thus made wild beasts of; they, the best and
wisest men of Praousta, the representatives of the people, made a
public spectacle!

The sheik and the ulemas beckoned to each man who passed, and
besought him to hold fast to his resolution not to pay the new tax.
"If you yield now, and pay twofold, soon they will demand threefold;
they wish to impoverish us and exact our heart's blood, but we will
not submit, and we command you to stand firm!"

"But you, O fathers of our community, what will be your fate?"

"That Allah has determined," replied one of the ulemas. "Not a bird