But soon, ashamed of their terror, they attempted another attack, and came attired in the colour of the Prophet.  This time no mysterious stranger speared to forbid their passage and with a cry they climbed the mountain, listening for any supernatural warning.  Nothing disturbed the silence and solitude save the bleating of flocks and the cries of birds of prey.  Arrived on the platform of Libokovo, they prepared in silence to surprise the guards, believing the castle full of them.  They approached crawling, like hunters who stalk a deer, already they had reached the gate of the enclosure, and prepared to burst it open, when lo! it opened of itself, and they beheld Chainitza standing before them, a carabine in her hand, pistols in her belt, and, for all guard, two large dogs.

“Halt! ye daring ones,” she cried; “neither my life nor my treasure will ever be at your mercy.  Let one of you move a step without my permission, and this place and the ground beneath your feet’ will engulf you.  Ten thousand pounds of powder are in these cellars.  I will, however, grant your pardon, unworthy though you are.  I will even allow you to take these sacks filled with gold; they may recompense you for the losses which my brother’s enemies have recently inflicted on you.  But depart this instant without a word, and dare not to trouble me again; I have other means of destruction at command besides gunpowder.  Life is nothing to me, remember that; but your mountains may yet at my command become the tomb of your wives and children.  Go!”

She ceased, and her would-be murderers fled terror.

Shortly after the plague broke out in these mountains, Chainitza had distributed infected garments among gipsies, who scattered contagion wherever they went.

“We are indeed of the same blood!” cried Ali with pride, when he heard of his sister’s conduct; and from that hour he appeared to regain all the fire and audacity of his youth.  When, a few days later, he was informed that Mouktar and Veli, seduced by the brilliant promises of Dacha Bey, had surrendered Prevesa and Argyro-Castron, “It does not surprise me,” he observed coldly.  “I have long known them to be unworthy of being my sons, and henceforth my only children and heirs are those who defend my cause.”  And on hearing a report that both had been beheaded by Dacha Bey’s order, he contented himself with saying, “They betrayed their father, and have only received their deserts; speak no more of them.”  And to show how little it discouraged him, he redoubled his fire upon the Turks.

But the latter, who had at length obtained some artillery, answered his fire with vigour, and began to rally to discrown the old pacha’s fortress.  Feeling that the danger was pressing, Ali redoubled both his prudence and activity.  His immense treasures were the real reason of the war waged against him, and these might induce his own soldiers to rebel, in order to become masters of them.  He resolved