Then only did
he feel safe.
Meanwhile the Janissaries battered in the door of his house and released
their comrades. Then they put Halil on Hassan's horse and proceeded in
great triumph to the Etmeidan. The next instant the whole square was
alive with armed men, and they hauled the Kulkiaja caldron out of the
barracks and set it up in the midst of the mob. This was the usual
signal for the outburst of the war of fiercely contending passions too
long enchained.
"And now open the prisons!" thundered Halil, "and set free all the
captives! Put daggers in the hands of the murderers and flaming torches
in the hands of the incendiaries, and let us go forth burning and
slaying, for to-day is a day of death and lamentation."
And the mob rushed upon the prisons, tore down the railings, broke
through bolts and bars, and whole hordes of murderers and malefactors
rushed forth into the piazza and all the adjoining streets, and the last
of all to quit the dungeon was Janaki, Halil's father-in-law. There he
remained standing in the doorway as if he were afraid or ashamed, till
Musli rushed towards him and tore him away by force.
"Be not cast down, muzafir, but snatch up a sword and stand alongside of
me. No harm can come to you here. It is the turn of the Gaolers now."
In the meantime Halil had made his way to that particular dungeon where
the loose women whom the Sultan had been graciously pleased to collect
from all the quarters of the town to herd in one place were listening in
trembling apprehension.
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