Ny Deen uttered a fierce command to the mahout, the elephant swung round, and I set my teeth hard to keep from shouting to him to stop and take me with him. But I mastered my cowardly feeling, and marched on to what I felt was my execution, giving Ny Deen the credit of treating me as a soldier, though all the while it was in a curious, half-stupefied way, as if the shock had terrorised me, though after the first sensation of horror, I do not recall feeling any great amount of dread. It was then with something approaching wonder that I saw the leading men of the guard wheel to the left through the entrance, and up the broad staircase, and along the passages, at the end of which were my rooms. Here they drew back for me to enter, and the door was closed, the rattle of the men's muskets announcing that they remained on guard. I felt so faint on being left alone that I was glad to fly to the great cool vessel of water always standing in one of the rooms, after which I sank down on one of the piles of cushions, and wiped the cold perspiration from my forehead. I was still half-stunned, and wondering whether this was only a respite; but Hope soon began to be busy, and I felt that, after all, the being led off to instant death was the work of my own imagination, and that Ny Deen had probably never even had such a thought beyond holding it up as a threat. As I recovered myself, I rose and walked to the farther door, where, there could be no doubt, the twelve men were stationed, and from thence I hurried to one of the open windows, and looked out to see that there was a guard still at the gateway, and beyond it I could hear a dull, hoarse murmur, and the heavy tramp, tramp of marching men, which was followed by the rush of a body of horse going by at a gallop. This last revived me more than the water, for it sent a thrill through me, suggesting as it did preparations to meet our forces, which must be pretty close at hand, but whether in sufficient strength to attack this great town I would have given anything to know. The beating of the horses' hoofs passed away, but the steady tramp of infantry went on for some time before it had died out, and the dull, distant roar as of many people in a crowd, did not cease. I fancied that it was on the increase, while below me in the court, the fountain played and sparkled in the sunshine, the great goldfish sailed about in the tank, and the green leaves trembled and glistened in the bright light. For whatever might be going on in the town, here everything was perfectly peaceful and still.