Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 4).djvu/75

 the boards all round us. Oh! how noble, how grand, was the vizier, my father, in the midst of the balls, his cimeter in his hand, and his face black with powder! How his enemies fled before him! 'Selim! Selim!' cried he, 'guardian of the fire, do your duty!'—'Selim is dead!'

replied a voice, which seemed to come from the depths of the earth, 'and you are lost, Ali!' At the same moment an explosion was heard, and the floor of the room was shivered to atoms; the tchodoars were firing underneath; three or four Palicares fell with their bodies literally plowed with wounds.