Sound the alarm.

Sound the alarm!" It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum like a hive of bees.

The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither and thither shouting.

The officers also, developing the characteristic excitement of the Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and screamed at them, beating them with their fists and swords till some kind of control was established.
Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time had got hold in half-a-dozen places.

From the beginning the effort was absolutely hopeless.