"Tarry a while, I say, wait but for the morning. You would not surely kill them at night! At night the gates of Heaven are shut. At night the phantoms of darkness are let loose. You would not slay any living creature at night! Wait till the day dawns."
The first ray of light had scarce appeared on the horizon when the Kizlar-Aga once more stood before the Sultan.
"Master, the day is breaking."
"Call hither the mufti and Sulali!"
Both of them speedily appeared.
"Convey death to those who are already doomed."
Sulali and the mufti fell down on their knees.
"Wherefore this haste, O my master?" cried the aged mufti, bitterly weeping as he kissed the Sultan's feet.
"Because the rebels wish them to be surrendered alive."
"So it is," observed the Kizlar-Aga by way of corroboration, "the whole space in front of the kiosk is filled with the insurgents."