“And does He also think of us?” asked Conrad.
“How canst thou ask such a question? Certainly He does, foolish boy! He is everywhere, and of course He is here. As He watches over all He of course sees our condition and will help us in His own good time.”
“Why, Raymond, you do not actually believe I doubt what you say! I was only eager that this imprisonment might soon end, so that thy wounded arm might heal more quickly under the care of our Christian brethren.”
“Your liberty is in your own hands,” interposed the Sultan. “Like two young fools, you have rejected my proposal. Now I will renew it—write to the Emperor.”
“Not one word,” replied Raymond. “We have given you our answer, and we do not change our minds like smooth-tongued Greeks and Turks.”
The Sultan restrained his anger at the reproach hurled at him, and addressed Conrad:
“Be more reasonable than your insolent brother. You are young yet, but you know it is a sin against God to shorten life. The Emperor will be forced to free you. Write to him yourself.”
“I well know it is a crime to take one’s own life, but it is also a crime to preserve that life by a shameful deed. It would be the grossest offence to induce the Emperor to abandon his high purposes by my appeals for liberty. I refuse your request, as my brother has done.”
Wild rage flamed in the Sultan’s eye, and his face was distorted with unrestrained anger.
“Well,” he roared, “be it so! You shall now feel my power. I have foolishly been considerate of your youth, but shall be so no longer. You must die,—that is a matter of course. But death will be too mild a punishment for you. You have dared to defy me, me whom millions obey! You shall now suffer all that your brethren, the Christian dogs, have suffered. I will inflict hunger, thirst, punishments of every kind. I will devise tortures more painful than any one before has ever imagined. While you are enduring them your cries of agony will sound like heavenly music in my ears. When you supplicate for mercy there shall be no respite. The time will have passed then for securing what I offer now.”