Moreover, as they pointed out, she could not give them back their children if these were killed.
At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find that these resolved themselves into two alternatives--to surrender, or to take the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and attack Joshua.

On the face of it, this latter scheme had the appearance of suicide, but, in fact, it was not so desperate as it seemed.

The Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they would run in their thousands before the onset of a few hundred determined men, and that, if once victory declared itself for the Child of Kings, the bulk of her subjects would return to their allegiance.

So we settled on it in preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to ourselves, and for Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her troubles and a forced marriage.
But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers.

Japhet, who had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of them except those actually on guard, and when they were assembled in the large inner court Maqueda went out and addressed them.
I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of them, but it was extremely beautiful and touching.