Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/169

 persons of his suite with him. On arriving at the camp the Turks immediately placed him, as being an invalid, in a tent, and his attendants in irons, securing them all with a guard of janissaries. We, however, who remained at the house had no knowledge whither my lord had gone.

After about two hours we saw people running from all quarters by thousands to our house, placing themselves in rows, and creeping on the roofs, and at last so many collected that we could not see to the end of them. Not knowing what this indicated, and what kind of spectacle was about to be exhibited, we imagined at first that some part of our house was on fire; till, after a short time, we saw the guard which was usually employed at executions making straight for our hotel. Behind this guard rode the sub-pasha, the judges, the head-executioners, heralds, and under-executioners, bearing fetters in their hands. The eyes of all the people were then directed upon us. When they arrived at the house, the sub-pasha and the other Turks dismounted; the janissaries opened our house with a noise and shout (a thing which we did not expect, but imagined that my lord would come to us again), and led and dragged all of us, wherever they could seize us, down the galleries and out of the house. They then threw an iron ring over the neck of each and passed a chain through it. Upon this each of us fled hither and thither wherever we could, as though we were mad. Though I had been some weeks ill of dysentery, and could not stand on my feet, nevertheless, seeing what was happening to my comrades, I did not remain in bed, but crept up as high as possible under the rafters, springing from one to the other in