A few minutes elapsed, and like a distant echo from the north
the three mournful tones again distinctly sounded.
Was it an echo?
Impossible. Now from the south, far distant, but unmistakeable, the same
three regular beats came booming through the still night air. Again and
again, from every quarter, spreading far and wide, the signal was
responded; and the whole country echoed those three solemn notes so full
of warning. Once more the great nogara of Tarrangolle sounded the
original alarm within a few hundred paces of our quarters. The whole
country was up.
There was no doubt about the matter. The Turks well knew those three
notes were the war-signal of the Latookas. I immediately called
Suleiman. It was necessary to act in unison. I ordered him to beat the
drum loudly for about five minutes to answer the nogara. His men were
all scattered in several small inclosures. I called them all out into
the open quadrangle; in the centre of which I placed the baggage, and
planted the English ensign in the middle, while the Turks fixed their
flag within a few paces. Posting sentries at each corner of the square,
I stationed patrols in the principal street. In the meantime Mrs. Baker
had laid out upon a mat several hundred cartridges of buck-shot,
powder-flasks, wadding, and opened several boxes of caps, all of which
were neatly arranged for a reserve of ammunition; while a long row of
first-class double guns and rifles lay in readiness.
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