“If I throw over this rope ladder, will you mount now to the top of the wall?”

“Yes, O yes; let me get away from here quickly.”

“Step away from the wall then for a moment,” said the young officer, and in an instant after a rope ladder made fast on the outer side, was cast over to her.

“Are you ready, lady?”

“Yes.”

“Then come quickly; don’t pause for a moment in the ascent, lest you be seen.”

Komel thinking of nothing but release from her confinement in the Sultan’s household, and seeing in perspective her home and parents, for the Armenian had promised that she should be taken thither, sprang lightly up the tiny, but strong ladder of cord, and was soon on the other side, the boy creeping after as she went.  But just as she had passed over the top and was descending on the other side, leaving the idiot boy on the top beside of the young officer, who stood so that his neck and head were above the level of the summit of the wall, the sentinel again came down the path in sight of the place and instantly discovered the whole affair, running with all speed to the spot.  The soldier dropped his carbine to seize and detain the ladder, when a struggle ensued between him and the young officer for its possession.

At this critical moment, the soldier seeming to recollect himself, turned to raise his gun, either to shoot Selim or give the alarm; in either case it would be equally fatal to the success of their design.  The boy had maintained his position during the brief struggle, but the moment the guard turned to recover his carbine, the half witted creature leaped from his high position directly upon his back and neck and bore him to the ground.  The weight of the boy’s body was sufficient to bring the soldier to the ground with stunning effect and leave him nearly insensible.

Had this not been the case the boy’s finger clutched the throat with the power of a vice and the guard was as insensible as a dead man.  In the mean time, the young officer scarcely knowing what to make of the opportune and sudden interference in his favor, drew up the ladder on the other side and prepared to follow Komel, who was already hurried by the Armenian nearly to the side of the boat that waited there, and in the stern of which sat another person in charge of the same.  Komel looked back as she was joined by Captain Selim, and asked: 

“Where is the boy?”

“What boy?” said the Armenian, ignorant as to whom they referred.

“The half-witted pet of the Sultan’s.”

“I left him in the grounds,” said Selim.—­“The guard passed over the ladder, but just as he was about to discharge his carbine, that boy sprang upon him like a tiger, and I think he must have killed him, for I saw the soldier lying on the ground insensible.”

“That boy has been my best friend, I cannot bear to leave him.”

“It would be madness to stop for anything now,” replied the young officer; and so they passed around to the spot where the boat was in waiting, moored closed to the shore.