a quarter to eleven
Greet Kurshid Pasha from me , and point out to him that it was twenty minutes past ten when you spoke with me , and let him take notice that if after twenty minutes past eleven I can see from the windows of this tower a single hostile soldier in the court-yard of the fortress , then -- I swear it by the mercies of Allah ! -- I will blow the fortress into the air , with every living soul within it . Inform Kurshid Pasha of this when you give him my salutation . '' The silihdar hastened off , and at a quarter to eleven not a soul was to be seen in the court-yard of the fortress of Janina . Alive in his citadel sits Ali Tepelenti , the tyrant of Epirus , mighty even in his fall , who has nothing and nobody left , save only his indomitable heart . Night descended upon the fortress of Janina , but sleep did not descend upon the eyes of Ali . He sat in that red tower where he had perpetrated his crimes , in that chamber where his victims had breathed forth the last sighs of their tortured lives , and all round about glittering treasures looked upon Ali as if with eyes of fire -- all of it the price of robbery , fraud , treason .