A low whisper grew audible among the many awe-struck group: their watch had endured lengthy; it was now virtually unavailing—the reckless Infidel had met his destiny ! Every went to his residence, and advised the talc in his harem; and plenty of a good cheek paled, and plenty of a brilliant eye grew dim with tears that night time, within the metropolis of the Moslem.
Morning got here—brilliant, rosy, laughing morning—and all was truthful, and homosexual, and sunny, in that completely satisfied clime ; and because the watchers resumed their station upon the brink of the subterranean, every turned an extended looking out gaze into its depths: however they regarded in useless—the boat and its doomed freight by no means appeared once more!
The mysterious progress
The mind grows dizzy because it makes an attempt to observe in concept the mysterious progress of the fated wanderer over these mysterious waters! Speedy was the splash of his oar because the little bark bounded away; the torch-light flashed broadly upon the gleaming columns of the vault, and had been solid again from the marble far over the rippleless sheet beneath; his reckless laughter made wild music till it was misplaced within the distance, and that he may not distinguish the anxious group whom he had left behind ; after which—then—all was nonetheless, and darkish, and solitary about him ! Above, dome succeeded dome; round, column rose beside column ; beneath, far as the attention may penetrate the gloom, the nonetheless, waveless water unfold itself out, to the fitting and to the left, earlier than and behind—the identical wild, stern, chilling monotony reigned all through the subterranean!
For a time, perchance, he rowed on in a straight line—his watery path may thus be simply retraced—and nonetheless the vista lengthened as lie went. Hours crept slowly by, and his vigorous arm relaxed considerably of its energy; and the environment grew dense, and engendered unusual vapours, which pressed upon his mind, and induced a languor that brought about him to attract in his oars, and ruminate for some time upon the scene round him. The torch had grown extra feeble in its results, and the shadowy darkness of the vaulted aisles by which he was encompassed on all sides pressed extra carefully upon him, and lie strained his eye-balls to look deeper into their black depths! His respiration, too, grew to become impeded; and the hand was much less agency than its wont, which loosened the kerchief about his neck: whereas within the act of doing so, he suffered the little boat to swing spherical, and directly grew to become aware that he not recognised the avenue by which he had entered the vault.
Historical Ottoman 