laurence stared , leapt down from temeraire 's arm , and dashed back up the stairs to the court , temeraire sitting up and putting his head anxiously over the terrace railing : nearly all the crew were out in the arched cloister , figuring in a wild noisy struggle with their own door guards and several other palace eunuchs : men of far greater position , judging by their golden-hilted scimitars and rich garb , and of more powerful mien , bull-necked and plainly not mutes , with furious imprecations flying from their lips as they wrestled slighter aviators to the ground .