"Make way for the Sultana!" cried the running eunuchs to the approaching
crowd, "make way for the Sultana and her suite!"
The execution of this command bordered on the impossible. The whole
space of the square was filled with women--a perfect sea of heads--and
visible above them all was a quivering, tremulous white figure which
they had raised on high.
"Make way for the Sultana!" screamed the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, who led the
procession; a warty old woman she was, who had had charge of the harem
for years and grown grey in it.
At this one of the boldest of the bayaderes thrust herself forward.
"Make way thyself, thou bearded old witch," she cried; "make way, I say,
before the wife of Halil Patrona. Why, thou art not worthy to kiss the
dust off her feet. Stand aside if thou wilt not come along with us."
And with these words she banged her tambourine right under the nose of
the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda.
And then the bad idea occurred to some of the eunuchs to lift their
broadswords against the boisterous viragoes, possibly with a view of
cutting a path through them for the Sultana.
Ah! before they had time to whirl their swords above their heads, in the
twinkling of an eye, their weapons were torn from their hands, and their
backs were well-belaboured with the broad blades. The furious maenads
fell upon their assailants, flung them to the ground, and the next
instant had seized the bridles of the steeds of the odalisks.
The Kizlar-Aga was fully alive to the danger which threatened the
Sultana.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171