THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. 337 



with them. The cry was not repeated, for the Turks 

 had lost all consciousness from the stifling effects of 

 the smoke. 



" Banish your fears, Uzcoques ! " exclaimed Stras- 

 olda, staying the fugitives. " The voice that to you 

 is a sound of dismay, gives me hope and confidence. 

 I see the golden Crescent rising in irresistible might, 

 and shedding its rays over all the lands of the earth. 

 Happy they on whom it casts its mild and favouring 

 beams, and truer far the safeguard it affords to those 

 who serve it, than that which is found beneath the 

 shadow of the Cross. Better the sharp cimeter and 

 plighted word of the Moslem, than the fair promises 

 of the lying Christian, who, in the hour of peril, 

 abandons those by whose courage he has profited. 

 But enough ! " cried she in an altered tone. " Our 

 first duty is to rescue my father from the hands of 

 the Venetians. Go not into Segna. There are traitors 

 there who might reveal what we most wish kept 

 secret. The Venetians know not the person of Dan- 

 sowich, and that may save him if no time be lost 

 in plotting his deliverance. Let none even of our 

 own people hear of his captivity. Now to the castle." 



She led the way, and in silence and sadness the 

 pirates followed the daughter of their captive chief. 



The fire was quite out, the smoke had cleared away, 

 the moon poured its silvery light into the cavern, and 

 the stillness was unbroken, save by the ripple of the 

 waves on the beach, when Ibrahim recovered from 



