Sunset had come, and they had been foiled; but hunger demanded
the feast. The order to cease firing and retreat sounded, and three
thousand men hurried back to the cooking-pot, the sack of dourha, and the
prayer mat. Malaish, if the infidel Inglesi was not conquered to-day, he
should be beaten and captured and should die to-morrow! And yet there
were those among them who had a well-grounded apprehension that the
"Inglesi" would win in the end.
By the trenches, where five men had died so bravely, and a traitorous
pasha had paid the full penalty of a crime and won a soldier's death,
David spoke to his living comrades. As he prepared to return to the city,
he said to the unwounded pasha: "Thou wert to die at sunset; it was thy
sentence."
And the pasha answered: "Saadat, as for death--I am ready to die, but
have I not fought for thee?" David turned to the wounded pasha.
"Why did Achmet Pasha spare thee?"
"He did not spare us, Saadat. Those who fought with us but now were to
shoot us at sunset, and remain here till other troops came.
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