She cast a glance of pity about her.
"And these, Count—these poor women not of my house, and the children—can you not save them also?"
"Alas, dear lady! The Blessed Mother must be their shield."
While the veils were being applied, the surge against the railing took place, leaving a number of dead and fainting across it.
"Hadifah," the Count called out, "clear the way to yon chair against the wall."
The Sheik set about removing the persons blockading the space, and greatly affected by their condition, the Princess interceded for them.
"Nay, Count, disturb them not. Add not to their terror, I pray."
But the Count was a soldier; in case of an affray, he wanted the advantage of a wall at his back.
"Dear lady, it was the throne of your fathers, now yours. I will seat you there. From it you can best treat with the Lord Mahommed."
Ere long some of the hordes—half a dozen or more—came to the chancel gate. They were of the rudest class of Anatolian shepherds, clad principally in half-cloaks of shaggy goat skin. Each bore at his back a round buckler, a bow, and a clumsy quiver of feathered arrows. Awed by the splendor of the altar and its surroundings, they stopped; then, with shouts, they rushed at the tempting display, unmindful of the living spoils crouched on the floor dumb with terror. Others of a like kind reenforced them, and there was a fierce scramble. The latest comers turned to the women, and presently discovered the Princess Irene sitting upon the throne. One, more eager than the rest, was indisposed to respect the Berbers.