The imams set to work at once. They fetched their fumigators and their sacred books, and they fumigated the drum with nose-offending odors and recited over it drum-expelling exorcisms in a shrill voice. And certainly if the devil was in that drum, and had anything of a nose or ears, he would have been obliged to escape from that noise and stink. So long as the drum was in any one's hand the drumsticks did not move, but when it was put down on the ground the mysterious tap-tapping began again. The imams went on howling, and horribly they howled. The chief of the observatory was present during this scene. As a French renegade he was a man of some education, and therefore he did not accept the theory of the _dzhins_. When he perceived that the imams were not successful in expelling the evil spirits, he called Gaskho Bey aside and whispered in his ear: "I know nothing about your _dzhins_, and don't understand what you are driving at with all this noise and stench, but I can tell you that this beating of the drum is a sign that invisible hands are at work here." "What?" "It means that we ought to get away from here, for they are digging mines beneath us, and that is why the ground trembles and the drumsticks vibrate." Gaskho Bey began smiling. He had as little idea of sapping and mining as the French renegade had of Turkish monsters. "How superstitious thou art, my brave moosir!" said he, shrugging his shoulders and looking down upon the Frenchman. The latter, however, did not remain there much longer, but hastened as quickly as he could to the summit of the Lithanizza. After about an hour and a half's more hubbub the imams succeeded in expelling the _dzhin_. The drum grew quiet, the excitement subsided, and the soldiers were instructed to lay two swords crosswise in front of the gate, so that the spirit might not be able to come back any more; and with that termination of the affair every one was satisfied. * * * * * Opposite the gate of the fortress of Janina, at the head of the collapsed bridge, stood a stone building, fenced about with redoubts and palisades, which had now fallen into the hands of the Suliotes. This building had been chosen by the two Greek kinsfolk for their dwelling-place. They wanted to get as close to Ali as possible; they would not suffer him to escape even in the shape of a bird or a spirit; their large siege-guns were pointed at the walled-up gate. Let him surrender or find his tomb in the fortress.