"I have had bad dreams," replied Azraele, trembling. "I dreamed that the Giaours stormed your castle by night and murdered you. I tried to throw myself down from the battlements but could not, and I was caught. A Christian had me. Oh, it was frightful."
"Don't be afraid," said Corsar. "The Koran says only the birds can fly and no one can get into this castle who has not learned to fly. But even if it were possible you need not be afraid of falling into the hands of the infidels, for there under the entrance is a fuse reaching to the powder houses; if all is lost you have only to touch that fuse with the night lamp, and the entire place will be blown to atoms, with us and our foes."
"What a comforting thought," said Azraele.
Suddenly she sprang up again with a scream. "Do not you hear the noise of the Djinns?" and she trembled in every limb.
The Bey looked around him in terror. A storm raged without; the weather vanes creaked. From the tops of the minarets the wind threw the tiles on the kiosks below. The lightning flashed and the thunder made the crags tremble.
"Do you hear these invisible creatures howling and rattling the closed windows with their mighty hands?"
"By the shades of Allah, I do," said the man, his eyes fixed with fear.
"Have mercy, have mercy! Away from this house, you bad spirits," cried Azraele. "May the sunbeams strike you and the darkness bury you. Go torment the Christians. May your wings break on the top of our crescents as you float over them. Ha, how their eyes shine! Spirit of Allah, cover us, that they may not see us with their eyes of fire."
The great, strong man trembled like a child. His superstitious fear had taken all strength out of his heart.
"Do you hear how they murmur? Say a prayer quickly aloud and stop your ears, so you shall not hear what they say."