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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39048-8.txt b/39048-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb5497a --- /dev/null +++ b/39048-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14400 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slaves of the Padishah, by Mór Jókai + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Slaves of the Padishah + +Author: Mór Jókai + +Translator: R. Nisbet Bain + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39048] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH + + + + +[Illustration: Dr. Jókai Mór 1900] + + + + +The Slaves of the Padishah + +("The Turks in Hungary," being the Sequel to +"'Midst the Wild Carpathians") + +_A ROMANCE_ + +BY MAURUS JÓKAI + +_Author of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," "Black Diamonds," +"Pretty Michal," etc._ + +TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH HUNGARIAN EDITION BY +R. NISBET BAIN + +[Illustration: SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE THIRD EDITION] + + LONDON + JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C. + [_All Rights Reserved_] + 1903 + + AUTHORISED VERSION + + _Copyright_ + _London: Jarrold & Sons_ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE GOLDEN CAFTAN 9 + II. MAIDENS THREE 17 + III. THREE MEN 31 + IV. AFFAIRS OF STATE 41 + V. THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN 52 + VI. THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING 77 + VII. THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED 93 + VIII. THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH 102 + IX. THE AMAZON BRIGADE 112 + X. THE MARGARET ISLAND 118 + XI. A STAR IN HELL 125 + XII. THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD 134 + XIII. THE PERSECUTED WOMAN 154 + XIV. OLAJ BEG 169 + XV. THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE 179 + XVI. A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD 193 + XVII. THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE 218 + XVIII. SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN 233 + XIX. THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH 237 + XX. THE VICTIM 261 + XXI. OTHER TIMES--OTHER MEN 267 + XXII. THE DIVÁN 276 + XXIII. THE TURKISH DEATH 293 + XXIV. THE HOSTAGE 307 + XXV. THE HUSBAND 313 + XXVI. THE FADING OF FLOWERS 321 + XXVII. THE SWORD OF GOD 327 + XXVIII. THE MADMAN 340 + XXIX. PLEASANT SURPRISES 349 + XXX. A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL 360 + XXXI. THE NEWLY DRAWN SWORD 364 + XXXII. THE LAST DAY 371 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +"Török Világ Magyarországon," now englished for the first time, is a +sequel to "Az Erdély arany kora," already published by Messrs. Jarrold, +under the title of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians." The two tales, though +quite distinct, form together one great historical romance, which +centres round the weakly, good-natured Michael Apafi, the last +independent Prince of Transylvania, his masterful and virtuous consort, +Anna Bornemissza, and his machiavellian Minister, Michael Teleki, a sort +of pocket-Richelieu, whose genius might have made a great and strong +state greater and stronger still, but could not save a little state, +already doomed to destruction as much from its geographical position as +from its inherent weakness. The whole history of Transylvania, indeed, +reads like an old romance of chivalry, cut across by odd episodes out of +"The Thousand and One Nights," and the last phase of that history +(1674-1690), so vividly depicted in the present volume, is fuller of +life, colour, variety, and adventure than any other period of European +history. The little mountain principality, lying between two vast +aggressive empires, the Ottoman and the German, ever striving with each +other for the mastery of central Europe, was throughout this period the +football of both. Viewed from a comfortable armchair at a distance of +two centuries, the whole era is curiously fascinating: to unfortunate +contemporaries it must have been unspeakably terrible. Strange +happenings were bound to be the rule, not the exception, when a Turkish +Pasha ruled the best part of Hungary from the bastions of Buda. Thus it +was quite in the regular order of things for Hungarian gentlemen to join +with notorious robber-chieftains to attack Turkish fortresses; for +bandits, in the disguise of monks, to plunder lonely monasteries; for +simple boors to be snatched from the plough to be set upon a throne; for +Christian girls, from every country under heaven, to be sold by auction +not fifty miles from Vienna, and for Turkish filibusters to plant +fortified harems in the midst of the Carpathians. Jókai, luckier than +Dumas, had no need to invent his episodes, though he frequently presents +them in a romantic environment. He found his facts duly recorded in +contemporary chronicles, and he had no temptation to be unfaithful to +them, because the ordinary, humdrum incidents of every-day life in +seventeenth century Transylvania outstrip the extravagances of the most +unbridled imagination. + +No greater praise can be awarded to the workmanship of Jókai than to say +that, although written half a century ago (the first edition was +published in 1853), "Török Világ Magyarországon" does not strike one as +in the least old-fashioned or out of date. Romantic it is, no doubt, in +treatment as well as in subject, but a really good romance never grows +old, and Jókai's unfailing humour is always--at least, in his +masterpieces--a sufficient corrective of the excessive sensibility to +which, like all the romanticists, he is, by temperament, sometimes +liable. + +Most of the characters which delighted us in "'Midst the Wild +Carpathians" accompany us through the sequel. The Prince, the Princess, +the Minister, Béldi, Kucsuk, Feriz, Azrael, and even such minor +personages as the triple renegade, Zülfikar, are all here, and remain +true to their original presentment, except Azrael, who is the least +convincing of them all. Of the new personages, the most original are the +saponaceous Olaj Beg, whose unctuous suavity always conveys a menace, +and the heroic figure of the famous Emeric Tököly, who, but for the +saving sword of Sobieski, might have wrested the crown of St. Stephen +from the House of Hapsburg. + + +R. NISBET BAIN. + +_December, 1902._ + + + + +The Slaves of the Padishah. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE GOLDEN CAFTAN. + + +The S---- family was one of the richest in Wallachia, and consequently +one of the most famous. The head of the family dictated to twelve +boyars, collected hearth-money and tithes from four-and-fifty villages, +lived nine months in the year at Stambul, held the Sultan's bridle when +he mounted his steed in time of war, contributed two thousand +lands-knechts to the host of the Pasha of Macedonia, and had permission +to keep on his slippers when he entered the inner court of the Seraglio. + +In the year 1600 and something, George was the name of the first-born of +the S---- family, but with him we shall not have very much concern. We +shall do much better to follow the fortunes of the second born, Michael, +whom his family had sent betimes to Bucharest to be brought up as a +priest in the Seminary there. The youth had, however, a remarkably thick +head, and, so far from making any great progress in the sciences, was +becoming quite an ancient classman, when he suddenly married the +daughter of a sub-deacon, and buried himself in a little village in +Wallachia. There he spent a good many years of his life with scarce +sufficient stipend to clothe him decently, and had he not tilled his +soil with his own hands, he would have been hard put to it to find +maize-cakes enough to live upon. + +In the first year of his marriage a little girl was born to him, and for +her the worthy man and his wife spared and scraped so that, in case they +were to die, she might have some little trifle. So they laid aside a few +halfpence out of every shilling in order that when it rose to a good +round sum they might purchase for their little girl--a cow. + +A cow! That was their very ultimate desire. If only they could get a +cow, who would be happier than they? Milk and butter would come to their +table in abundance, and they would be able to give some away besides. +Her calf they would rear and sell to the butcher for a good price, +stipulating for a quarter of it against the Easter festival. Then, too, +a cow would give so much pleasure to the whole family. In the morning +they would be giving it drink, rubbing it down, leading it out into the +field, and its little bell would be sounding all day in the pasture. In +the evening it would come into the yard, keeping close to the wall, +where the mulberry-tree stood, and poke its head through the kitchen +door. It would have a star upon its forehead, and would let you scratch +its head and stroke its neck, and would take the piece of maize-cake +that little Mariska held out to it. She would be able to lead the cow +everywhere. This was the Utopia of the family, its every-day desire, and +Papa had already planted a mulberry-tree in the yard in order that +Csákó, that was to be the cow's name, might have something to rub his +side against, and little Mariska every day broke off a piece of +maize-cake and hid it under the window-sill. The little calf would have +a fine time of it. + +And lo and behold! when the halfpennies and farthings had mounted up to +such a heap that they already began to think of going to the very next +market to bring home the cow; when every day they could talk of nothing +else, and kept wondering what the cow would be like, brindled, or brown, +or white, or spotted; when they had already given it its name +beforehand, and had prepared a leafy bed for it close to the house--it +came to pass that a certain vagabond Turkish Sheikh shot dead the elder +brother, who was living in Stambul, because he accidentally touched the +edge of the holy man's garment in the street. So the poor priest +received one day a long letter from Adrianople, in which he was informed +that he had succeeded his brother as head of the family, and, from that +hour, was the happy possessor of an annual income of 70,000 ducats. + +I wonder whether they wept for that cow, which they never brought home +after all? + +Mr. Michael immediately left his old dwelling, travelled with his family +all the way to Bucharest in a carriage (it was the first time in his +life he had ever enjoyed that dignity), went through the family +archives, and entered into possession of his immense domain, of whose +extent he had had no idea before. + +The old family mansion was near Rumnik, whither Mr. Michael also +repaired. The house was dilapidated and neglected, its former possessors +having lived constantly abroad, only popping in occasionally to see how +things were going on. Nevertheless, it was a palace to the new heir, +who, after the experience of his narrow hovel, could hardly accommodate +himself to the large, barrack-like rooms, and finally contented himself +with one half of it, leaving the other wing quite empty, as he didn't +know what to do with it. + +Having been accustomed throughout the prime of his life to deprivation +and the hardest of hard work, that state of things had become such a +second nature to him, that, when he became a millionaire, he had not +much taste for anything better than maize-cakes, and it was high +festival with him when _puliszka_[1] was put upon the table. + + [Footnote 1: A sort of maize pottage.] + +On the death of his wife, he sent his daughter on foot to the +neighbouring village to learn her alphabet from the cantor, and two +heydukes accompanied her lest the dogs should worry her on the way. +When his daughter grew up, he entrusted her with the housekeeping and +the care of the kitchen. Very often some young and flighty boyar would +pass through the place from the neighbouring village, and very much +would he have liked to have taken the girl off with him, if only her +father would give her away. And all this time Mr. Michael's capital +began to increase so outrageously that he himself began to be afraid of +it. It had come to this, that he could not spend even a thousandth part +of his annual income, and, puzzle his head as he might, he could not +turn it over quickly enough. He had now whole herds of cows, he bought +pigs by the thousand, but everything he touched turned to money, and the +capital that he invested came back to him in the course of the year with +compound interest. The worthy man was downright desperate when he +thought upon his treasure-heaps multiplying beyond all his expectations. +How to enjoy them he knew not, and yet he did not wish to pitch them +away. + +He would have liked to have played the grand seignior, if only thereby +to get rid of some of his money, but the rôle did not suit him at all. +If, for instance, he wanted to build a palace, there was so much +calculating how, in what manner, and by whom it could be built most +cheaply, that it scarce cost him anything at all, but then it never +turned out a palace. Or if he wanted to give a feast, it was easy enough +to select the handsomest of the boyars for his guests. Whatever was +necessary for the feast--wine, meat, bread, honey, and sack-pipers--was +supplied in such abundance from his own magazines and villages, that he +absolutely despaired to think how it was that his ancestors had not only +devoured their immense estates, but had even piled up debts upon them. +To him this remained an insoluble problem, and after bothering his head +for a long time as to what he should do with his eternally accumulating +capital, he at last hit upon a good idea. The spacious garden +surrounding his crazy castle had, by his especial command, been planted +with all sorts of rare and pleasant plants--like basil, lavender, wild +saffron, hops, and gourds--over whom a tenant had been promoted as +gardener to look after them. One year the garden produced such gigantic +gourds, that each one was as big as a pitcher. The astonished neighbours +came in crowds to gaze at them, and the promoted ex-boyar swore a +hundred times that such gourds as these the Turkish Sultan himself had +not seen all his life long. + +This gave Master Michael an idea. He made up his mind that he would send +one of these gourds to the Sultan as a present. So he selected the +finest and roundest of them, of a beautiful flesh-coloured rind, +encircled by dark-green stripes, with a turban-shaped cap at the top of +it, and, boring a little hole through it, drew out the pulp and filled +it instead with good solid ducats of the finest stamp, and placing it on +his best six-oxened wagon, he selected his wisest tenant, and, dinning +well into his head where to go, what to say, and to whom to say it, sent +him off with the great gourd to the Sublime Porte at Stambul. + +It took the cart three weeks to get to Constantinople. + +The good, worthy farmer, upon declaring that he brought gifts for the +Grand Seignior, was readily admitted into the presence, and after +kissing the hem of the Padishah's robe, drew the bright cloth away from +the presented pumpkin and deposited it in front of the Diván. + +The Sultan flew into a violent rage at the sight of the gift. + +"Dost thou take me for a swine, thou unbelieving dog, that thou bringest +me a gourd?" cried he. + +And straightway he commanded the Kiaja Beg to remove both the gourd and +the man. The gourd he was to dash to pieces on the ground, the bringer +of the gourd was to have dealt unto him a hundred stripes on the soles +of his feet, but the sender of the gourd was to lose his head. + +The Kiaja Beg did as he was commanded. He banged the gourd down in the +courtyard outside, and behold! a stream of shining ducats gushed out of +it instead of the pulp. Nevertheless, faithful above all things to his +orders, he had the poor farmer flung down on his face, and gave him such +a sound hundred stripes on the soles of his feet that he had no wish for +any more. + +Immediately afterwards he hastened to inform the Sultan that the gourd +had been dashed to the ground, the hundred blows with the stick duly +paid, the silken cord ready packed, but that the gourd was full of +ducats. + +At these words the countenance of the Grand Seignior grew serene once +more, like the smiling summer sky, and after ordering that the silken +cord should be put back in its place, he commanded that the most +magnificent of caftans should be distributed both to the bastinadoed +farmer and to the boyar who had sent the gift, and that they should both +be assured of the gracious favour of the Padishah. + +The former had sufficient sense when he arrived at Bucharest to sell the +gay garment he had received to a huckster in the bazaar, but his +master's present he carefully brought home, and, after informing him of +the unpleasant incident concerning himself, delivered to him his +present, together with a gracious letter from the Sultan. + +Master Michael was delighted with the return gift. He put on the long +caftan, which reached to his heels, and was made of fine dark-red +Thibetan stuff, embroidered with gold and silken flowers. Gold lace and +galloon, as broad as your hand, were piled up on the sleeves, shoulder, +and back, to such an extent that the original cloth was scarcely +visible, and the hem of the caftan was most wondrously embroidered with +splendid tulips, green, blue, and lilac roses, and all sorts of tinsel +and precious stones. + +Master Michael felt himself quite another man in this caftan. The Sultan +had sent him a letter. The Sultan had plainly written to him that he +was to wear this caftan. This, therefore, was a command, and it was +possible that the Sultan might turn up to-morrow or the next day to see +whether he was wearing this caftan, and would be angry if he hadn't got +it on. He must needs therefore wear it continually. + +But this golden caftan did not go at all well with his coarse fur +jacket, nor with his wooden sandals and lambskin cap. He was therefore +obliged to send to Tergoviste for a tailor who should make him a silk +dolman, vest, and embroidered stockings to match the golden caftan. He +also sent to Kronstadt for a tasselled girdle, to Braila for shoes and +morocco slippers, and to Tekas for an ermine kalpag with a heron's plume +in it. + +Of course, now that he was so handsomely dressed, it was quite out of +the question for him to sit in a ramshackle old carriage, or to bestride +a fifty-thaler nag. He therefore ordered splendid chargers to be sent to +him from Bessarabia, and had a gilded coach made for him in +Transylvania; and when the carriage and the horses were there, he could +not put them into the muddy wagon-shed and the sparrow-frequented, +rush-thatched stable, but had to make good stone coach-houses and +stables expressly for them. Now, it would have looked very singular, +and, in fact, disgusting, if the stable and coach-house had been better +than the castle, whose shingle roof was a mass of variegated patches and +gaping holes where the mortar had fallen out and left the bricks bare; +so there was nothing for it but to pull down the old castle, and to +order his steward to build up a new one in its place, and make it as +beautiful and splendid as his fancy could suggest. + +Thus the whole order of the world he lived in was transformed by a +golden caftan. + +The steward embellished the castle with golden lattices, turrets, +ornamental porches and winding staircases; put conservatories in the +garden, planted projecting rondelles and soaring belvederes at the +corners of the castle and a regular tower in the middle of it, and +painted all the walls and ceilings inside with green forests and +crooked-beaked birds. + +Of course, he couldn't put inside such a place as this the old rustic +furniture and frippery, so he had to purchase the large, high, shining +hump-backed arm-chairs, the gold-stamped leather sofas, and the +lion-legged marble tables which were then at the height of fashion. + +Of course, Turkey carpets had to be laid on the floor, and silver +candelabra and beakers placed upon the magnificent tables; and in order +that these same Turkey carpets might not be soiled by the muddy boots of +farmyard hinds, a whole series of new servants had to be invented, such +as footmen to stand behind the new carriage, cooks for the kitchen, and +a special gardener for the conservatories, who, instead of looking after +the honest, straightforward citron-trees and pumpkins, had gingerly to +plant out cactuses and Egyptian thistles like dry stalks, in pots, +whence, also, it came about that as there was now a regular gardener and +a regular cook, pretty Mariska had no longer any occasion to concern +herself either with garden or kitchen, nor did she go any more to the +village rector to learn reading or writing, but they had to get her a +French governess from whom she learnt good taste, elegant manners, +embroidery, and harp-strumming. + +And all these things were the work of the golden caftan! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MAIDENS THREE. + + +The family banner had scarce been hoisted on to the high tower of the +new castle, the rumour of Mariska's loveliness and her father's millions +had scarce been spread abroad, when the courtyard began to be all ablaze +with the retinues and equipages of the most eminent zhupans,[2] +voivodes,[3] and princes; but Master Michael had resolved within himself +beforehand that nobody less than the reigning Prince of Moldavia should +ever receive his daughter's hand, and stolidly he kept to his +resolution. + + [Footnote 2: A Servian Prince.] + + [Footnote 3: A Roumanian Prince.] + +Now the reigning Prince of Moldavia no doubt had an illustrious name +enough, but he also had inherited a very considerable load of debt, and +what with the eternal exactions of the Tartars, and the presents +expected by all the leading Pashas, and other disturbing causes, he saw +his people growing poorer and poorer, and his own position becoming more +and more precarious every year. He therefore did not keep worthy Master +Michael waiting very long when he heard, on excellent authority, that +there was being reserved for him in Wallachia a beautiful and +accomplished virgin, who would bring to her husband a dowry of a couple +of millions, in addition to an uncorrupted heart and an old ancestral +title. + +So, gathering together all the boyars, retainers, and officers of his +court, he set off a-wooing to Rumnik, where he was well received by the +father, satisfied himself as to the young lady's good graces, demanded +her hand in marriage, and, allowing an adequate delay for the +preliminaries of the wedding, fixed the glad event for the first week +after Easter. + +Master Michael, meantime, could think of nothing else but how he could +cut as magnificent a figure as possible on the occasion. He invited to +the banquet all the celebrities in Moldavia, Servia, Bosnia, and +Transylvania. He did not even hesitate to hire from Versailles one of +Louis XIV.'s cooks, to regulate the order and quality of the dishes. On +the day of the banquet the good gentleman was visible everywhere, and +saw to everything himself. Quite early, arrayed in the golden caftan, +the heron-plumed kalpag, and the tasselled girdle, he strutted about the +courtyard, corridors and chambers, distributing his orders and receiving +his guests; and his heart fluttered when he beheld the courtyard filling +with carriages, each one more brilliant than its predecessor, escorted +by gold-bedizened cavaliers, from which silver-laced heydukes assisted +noble ladies, in splendid pearl-embroidered costumes, to descend. There +was such a rustling of silk dresses, such a rattling of swords, and such +an endless procession of elegant and magnificent forms up the staircase, +as to make the heart of the beholder rejoice. + +Master Michael rushed hither and thither, and pride and humility were +strangely blended on his face. He assured all he welcomed how happy they +made him by honouring his poor dwelling with their presence; but the +voice with which he said this betrayed the conviction that not one of +his guests had quitted a home as splendid as his own poor dwelling. + +Then he plunged into the robing-chamber of the bride, where tire-women, +fetched all the way from Vienna, had been decking out Mariska from early +dawn. It gave them no end of trouble to adjust her jewels and her +gewgaws, and if they had heaped upon the fair bride all that her father +had purchased for her, she would have been unable to move beneath the +weight of her gems. + +Thence the good man rushed off to the banqueting-room, where his +domestics had been busy making ready two rows of tables in five long +halls. + +"Here shall sit the bride! That arm-chair to the right of her is for the +Patriarch--it is his proper place. On the left will sit Prince Michael +Apafi. He is to have the green-embossed chair, with the golden cherubim. +The bridegroom will sit on the right hand of the Patriarch. You must +give him that round, armless seat, so that he cannot lean back, but must +hold himself proudly erect. Over there you must place Paul Béldi and his +spouse, for they are always wont to sit together. Their daughter Aranka +will also be there, and she must sit between them on that little blue +velvet stool. Opposite to them the silk sofa is for Achmed Pasha and +Feriz Beg, recollect that they won't want knife or fork. The Dean must +have that painted stone bench, for a wooden bench would break beneath +him, and no chair will hold him. The three-and-thirty priests must be +placed all together over there--you must put none else beside them, or +they would be ashamed to eat. Don't forget to pile up wreaths of flowers +on the silver salvers; and remember there are peculiar reasons for not +placing a pitcher of wine before Michael Teleki. Achmed Pasha must have +a sherbet-bowl placed beside the can from which he drinks his wine, and +then folks will fancy he is not transgressing the Koran. Place goblets +of Venetian crystal before the ladies, and golden beakers before the +gentlemen, the handsomest before Teleki and Bethlen, the commoner sort +before the others, as they are wont to dash them against the walls. The +bridegroom should have the slenderest beaker of all, for he'll have to +pledge everyone, and I want no harm to befall him. Mind what I say!" + +Nearly all the wedding guests had now assembled. Only two families were +still expected, the Apafis and the Telekis, whom Master Michael in his +pride wished to see at his table most of all. He glanced impatiently +into the courtyard every time he heard the roll of a carriage, and the +staircase lacqueys had strict injunctions to let him know as soon as +they saw the Prince's carriage approaching. + +At last the rumbling of wheels was heard. Master Michael went all the +way to the gate to receive his guests, shoving aside all the vehicles in +his way, and bawling to the sentinels on the tower to blow the trumpets +as soon as ever they beheld the carriage on the road. The goodly host of +guests also thronged the balconies, the turrets, and the rondelles, to +catch a glance at the new arrivals, and before very long two carriages, +each drawn by four horses, turned the corner of the well-wooded road, +carriages supported on each side by footmen, lest they should topple +over, and escorted by a brilliant banderium of prancing horsemen. + +They were instantly recognised as the carriages of the Prince and his +Prime Minister, and the voices of the trumpets never ceased till the +splendid, gilded, silk-curtained vehicles had lumbered into the +courtyard, although the master of the castle was already awaiting them +at the outer, sculptured gate, and himself hastened to open the carriage +door, doffing first of all his ermine kalpag. But he popped it on again, +considerably nonplussed, when, on opening the carriage, a beardless bit +of a boy, to all appearance, leapt out of it all alone, and there was +not a trace of the Prince to be seen in the carriage. Perhaps he had +dismounted at the foot of the hill in order to complete the journey on +foot, as Master Michael himself was in the habit of doing every time he +took a drive in his coach, for fear of an accident. + +But the youthful jack-in-the-box lost no time in dispelling all rising +suspicions by quickly introducing himself. + +"I am Emeric Tököly," said he, "whom his Highness the Prince has sent to +your Worship as his representative to take part in the festivities, and +at the same time to express his regret that he was not able to appear +personally, but only to send his hearty congratulations, inasmuch as her +Highness the Princess is just now in good hopes, by the grace of God, of +presenting her consort with an heir, and consequently his Highness does +not feel himself capable of enduring the amenities which under these +circumstances Ali Pasha might at such a time think fit to force upon +him. Nevertheless he wishes your Worship, with God's will, all +imaginable felicity." + +Master Michael did not exactly know whether to say "I am very glad" or +"I am very sorry;" and in the meanwhile, to gain time, was turning +towards the second carriage, when Emeric Tököly suddenly intercepted +him. + +"I was also to inform your Worship that his Excellency Michael Teleki, +having unexpectedly received the command to invade Hungary with all the +forces of Transylvania, has sent, instead of himself, his daughter Flora +to do honour to your Worship, much regretting that, because of the +command aforesaid, which will brook neither objection nor delay, he has +been obliged to deny himself the pleasure personally to press your +Worship's hand and exchange the warm kiss of kinsmanship; but if your +Worship will entrust me with both the handshake and the kiss, I will +give your Worship his and take back to him your Worship's." + +The good old gentleman was absolutely delighted with the young man's +patriarchal idea, forgot the sour and solemn countenance which he had +expressly put on in honour of the Prince, and, falling on the neck of +the graceful young gentleman, hugged and kissed him so emphatically that +the latter could scarcely free himself from his embraces; then, taking +Flora Teleki, the youth's reported _fiancée_, on one arm, and Emeric +himself on the other, he conducted them in this guise among his other +guests, and they were the first to whom he introduced his daughter in +all her bridal array. + +A stately, slender brunette was Mariska, her face as pale as a lily, her +eyes timidly cast down, as, leaning on her lady companion's arm, and +tricked out in her festal costume, she appeared before the expectant +multitude. The beauty of her rich black velvet tresses was enhanced by +interwoven strings of real pearls; her figure, whose tender charms were +insinuated rather than indicated by her splendid oriental dress, would +not have been out of place among a group of Naiads; and that superb +carriage, those haughty eyebrows, those lips of hers full of the promise +of pleasure, suited very well with her bashful looks and timid +movements. + +Amongst the army of guests there was one man who towered above the +others--tall, muscular, with broad shoulders, dome-like breast, and head +proudly erect, whose long locks, like a rich black pavilion, flowed +right down over his shoulders. His thick dark eyebrows and his +coal-black moustache gave an emphatically resolute expression to his +dark olive-coloured face, whose profile had an air of old Roman +distinction. + +This was the bridegroom, Prince Ghyka. + +When the father of the bride introduced the new arrivals to the other +guests, his first action was to present them to Prince Ghyka, not +forgetting to relate how courteously the young Count had executed his +commission as to the transfer of the kisses, which, having been received +with general hilarity, suggested a peculiarly bold idea to the flighty +young man. + +While he was being embraced by one after the other, and passed on from +hand to hand so to speak, he suddenly stood before the trembling bride, +who scarce dared to cast a single furtive look upon him, and, greeting +her in the style of the most chivalrous French courtesy, at the same +time turning towards the bystanders with a proud, not to say haughty +smile, pardonable in him alone, said, with an amiable _abandon_: +"Inasmuch as I have been solemnly authorised to be the bearer of kisses, +I imagine I shall be well within my rights if I deliver personally the +kisses which my kinswomen, Princess Apafi and Dame Teleki have charged +me to convey to the bride." + +And before anyone had quite taken in the meaning of his concluding +words, the handsome youth, with that fascinating impertinence with which +he was wont to subdue men and women alike, bent over the charming bride, +and while her face blushed for a moment scarlet red, imprinted a +noiseless kiss upon her pure marble forehead. And this he did with such +grace, with such tender sprightliness, that nothing worse than a light +smile appeared upon the most rigorous faces present. + +Then, turning to the company with a proud smile of self-confidence on +his face: "I hope," said he, tucking Flora Teleki's hand under his arm, +"that the presence of my _fiancée_ is a sufficient guarantee of the +respect with which I have accomplished this item of my mission." + +At this there was a general outburst of laughter amongst the guests. Any +sort of absurdity could be forgiven Emeric, for he managed even his most +practical jokes so amiably that it was impossible to be angry with him. + +But the cheeks of two damsels remained rosy-red--Mariska's and Flora's. +Women don't understand that sort of joke. + +The bridegroom, half-smiling, half-angry, stroked his fine moustache. +"Come, come, my lad," said he, "you have been quicker in kissing my +bride than I have been myself." + +But now the reverend gentlemen intervened, the bells rang, the +bridesmaids and the best men took possession of the bride and +bridegroom, the ceremony began, and nobody thought any more of the +circumstance, except, perhaps, two damsels, whose hearts had been +pricked by the thoughtless pleasantry, one of them as by the thorn of a +rose, the other as by the sting of a serpent. + +And now, while for the next hour and a half the marriage ceremony, with +the assistance of the Most Reverend Patriarch, the Venerable Archdeacon, +three-and-thirty reverend gentlemen of the lower clergy, and just as +many secular dignitaries, is solemnly and religiously proceeding, we +will remain behind in the ante-chamber, and be indiscreet enough to worm +out the contents of the two well-sealed letters which have just been +brought in hot haste from Kronstadt for Emeric Tököly by a special +courier, who stamped his foot angrily when he was told that he must wait +till the Count came out of church. + +One of the letters was from Michael Teleki, and its contents pretty much +as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR SIR AND SON, + + "Our affairs are in the best possible order. During + the last few days our army, 9,000 strong, quitting + Gyulafehervár, has gone to await Achmed Pasha's forces + near Déva, and will thence proceed to unite with + Kiuprile's host. War, indeed, is inevitable; and + Transylvania must be gloriously in the forefront of + it. Do not linger where you are, but try and overtake + us. It would be superfluous for me to remind you to + take charge of my daughter Flora on the way. God bless + you. + + "MICHAEL TELEKI. + + "_Datum Albć Julić._ + + "P.S.--Her Highness the Princess awaits a safe + delivery from the mercy of God. His Highness the + Prince has just finished a very learned dissertation + on the orbits of the planets." + +The second letter was in a fine feminine script, but one might judge +from it that that hand knew how to handle a sword as well as a pen. + +It was to the following effect:-- + + "MY DEAR FRIEND, + + "I have received your letter, and this is my answer + to it. I can give you no very credible news in + writing, either about myself or the affairs of the + realm. A lover can do everything and sacrifice + everything, even to life itself, for his love. (You + will understand that this reference to love refers not + to me, a mournful widow, but to another mournful + widow, who is also your mother.) I do not judge men by + what they say, but by what they do. All the same, I + have every reason to think well of you, and I shall be + delighted if the future should justify my good opinion + of you. + + "Your faithful servant, + + "ILONA. + + "P.S.--I shall spend midsummer at the baths of + Mehadia." + +The noble bridal retinue, merrily conversing, now returned from the +chapel to the castle, the very sensible arrangement obtaining, that when +the guests sat down to table each damsel was to be escorted to her seat +by a selected cavalier known to be not displeasing to her. The only +exceptions to this rule were the right reverend brigade, and Achmed +Pasha and Feriz Beg, the two Turkish magnates present, whose grave +dignity restrained them from participating in this innocent species of +gallantry. + +First of all, as the representative of the Prince of Transylvania, came +Emeric Tököly, conducting the aged mother of the bridegroom, the +Princess Ghyka; after him came Paul Béldi, leading the bride by the +hand. Béldi's wife was escorted by the master of the house, and her +pretty little golden-haired daughter Aranka hung upon her left arm. + +Feriz Beg was standing in the vestibule with a grave countenance till +Aranka appeared. The little girl, on perceiving the youth, greeted him +kindly, whereupon Feriz sighed deeply, and followed her. The bridegroom +led the beautiful Flora Teleki by the hand. + +On reaching the great hall, the company broke up into groups, the +merriest of which was that which included Flora, Mariska, and Aranka. + +"Be seated, ladies and gentlemen! be seated!" cried the strident voice +of the host, who, full of proud self-satisfaction, ran hither and +thither to see that all the guests were in the places assigned to them. +Tököly was by the side of Mariska, opposite to them sat the bridegroom, +with Flora Teleki by his side. Aranka was the _vis-ŕ-vis_ of Feriz Beg. + +The banquet began. The endless loving-cup went round, the faces of the +guests grew ever cheerier, the bride conversed in whispers with her +handsome neighbour. Opposite to them the bridegroom, with equal +courtesy, exchanged from time to time a word with the fair Flora, but +the conversation thus begun broke down continually, and yet both the +lady and the prince were persons of culture, and had no lack of +mother-wit. But their minds were far away. Their lips spoke +unconsciously, and the Prince grew ever gloomier as he saw his bride +plunging ever more deeply into the merry chatter of her gay companion, +and try as he might to entertain his own partner, the resounding +laughter of the happy pair opposite drove the smile from his face, +especially when Flora also grew absolutely silent, so that the +bridegroom was obliged, at last, to turn to the Patriarch, who was +sitting on his right, and converse with him about terribly dull matters. + +Meanwhile, a couple of Servian musicians began, to the accompaniment of +a zithern, to sing one of their sad, monotonous, heroic songs. All this +time Achmed Pasha had never spoken a word, but now, fired by the juice +of the grape mediatized by his sherbet-bowl, he turned towards the +singers and, beckoning them towards him, said in a voice not unlike a +growl: + +"Drop all that martial jumble and sing us instead something from one of +our poets, something from Hariri the amorous, something from Gulestan!" + +At these words the face of Feriz Beg, who sat beside him, suddenly went +a fiery red--why, he could not have told for the life of him. + +"Do you know 'The Lover's Complaint,' for instance?" inquired the Pasha +of the musician. + +"I know the tune, but the verses have quite gone out of my head." + +"Oh! as to that, Feriz Beg here will supply you with the words quickly +enough if you give him a piece of parchment and a pen." + +Feriz Beg was preparing to object, with the sole result that all the +women were down upon him immediately, and begged and implored him for +the beautiful song. So he surrendered, and, tucking up the long sleeve +of his dolman, set the writing materials before him and began to write. + +They who drink no wine are nevertheless wont to be intoxicated by the +glances of bright eyes, and Feriz, as he wrote, glanced from time to +time at the fair face of Aranka, who cast down her forget-me-not eyes +shamefacedly at his friendly smile. So Feriz Beg wrote the verses and +handed them to the musicians, and then everyone bade his neighbour hush +and listen with all his ears. + +The musician ran his fingers across the strings of his zithern, and then +began to sing the song of the Turkish poet: + + "Three lovely maidens I see, three maidens embracing each other; + Gentle, and burning, and bright--Sun, Moon, and Star I declare them. + Let others adore Sun and Moon, but give me my Star, my belovéd!" + + "When the Sun leaves the heavens, her adorers are whelméd in slumber; + When the Moon quits the sky, sleep falls on the eyes of her lovers. + But the fall of the Star is the death of the man who adores her-- + And oh! if _my_ load-star doth fall, Machallah! I cease from the + living!" + +General applause rewarded the song, which it was difficult to believe +had not been made expressly for the occasion. + +"Who would think," said Paul Béldi to the Pasha, "that your people not +only cut darts from reeds, but pens also, pens worthy of the poets of +love?" + +"Oh!" replied Achmed, "in the hands of our poets, blades and harps are +equally good weapons; and if they bound the laurel-wreath round the +brows of Hariri it was only to conceal the wounds which he received in +battle." + +When the banquet was over, Tököly, with courteous affability, parted +from his fair neighbour, whom he immediately saw disappear in a window +recess, arm-in-arm with Flora. He himself made the circuit of the table +in order that he might meet the fair Aranka, but was stopped in +mid-career by his host, who was so full of compliments that by the time +Tököly reached the girl, he found her leaning on her mother's arm +engaged in conversation with the Prince. Aranka, feeling herself out of +danger when she had only a married man to deal with, had quite regained +her childish gaiety, and was making merry with the bridegroom. + +Tököly, with insinuating grace, wormed his way into the group, and +gradually succeeded in so cornering the Prince, that he was obliged to +confine his conversation to Dame Béldi, while Tököly himself was +fortunate enough to make Aranka laugh again and again at his droll +sallies. + +The Prince was boiling over with venom, and was on the verge of +forgetting himself and exploding with rage. Fortunately, Dame Béldi, +observing in time the tension between the two men, curtseyed low to them +both, and withdrew from the room with her daughter. Whereupon, the +Prince seized Tököly's hand, and said to him with choleric jocosity: "If +your Excellency's own bride is not sufficient for you, will you at least +be satisfied with throwing in mine, and do not try to sweep every girl +you see into your butterfly-net?" + +Tököly quite understood the bitter irony of these words, and replied, +with a soft but offensively condescending smile: "My dear friend, your +theory of life is erroneous. I see, from your face, that you are +suffering from an overflow of bile. You have not had a purge lately, or +been blooded for a long time." + +The Prince's face darkened. He squeezed Tököly's hand convulsively, and +murmured between his teeth: + +"One way is as good as another. When shall we settle this little +affair?" + +Tököly shrugged his shoulders. "To-morrow morning, if you like." + +"Very well, we'll meet by the cross." + +The two men had spoken so low that nobody in the whole company had +noticed them, except Feriz Beg, who, although standing at the extreme +end of the room with folded arms, had followed with his eagle eyes every +play of feature, every motion of the lips of the whole group, including +Dame Béldi and the girl, and who now, on observing the two men grasp +each other's hands, and part from each other with significant looks, +suddenly planted himself before them, and said simply: "Do you want to +fight a duel because of Aranka?" + +"What a question?" said the Prince evasively. + +"It will not be a duel," said Feriz, "for there will be three of us +there," and, with that, he turned away and departed. + +"How foolish these solemn men are," said Tököly to himself, "they are +always seeking sorrow for themselves. It would require only a single +word to make them merry, and, in spite of all I do, they will go and +spoil a joke. Why, such a duel as this--all three against each other, +and each one against the other two--was unknown even to the famous Round +Table and to the Courts of Love. It will be splendid." + +At that moment the courier, who had brought the letters, forced his way +right up to Tököly, and said that he had got two important despatches +for him. + +"All right, keep them for me, I'll read them to-morrow. I won't spoil +the day with tiresome business." + +And so he kept it up till late at night with the merriest of the topers. +Only after midnight did he return to his room, and ordered the soldier +who had brought the letters to wake him as soon as he saw the red dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THREE MEN. + + +Tököly's servant durst not go to sleep on the off-chance of awaking at +dawn in order to arouse his master, and so the sky had scarcely begun to +grow grey when he routed him up. Emeric hastily dressed himself. A sort +of ill-humour on his pale face was the sole reminder of the previous +night's debauch. + +"Here are the letters, sir," said the soldier. + +"Leave me in peace with your letters," returned Emeric roughly, "I have +no time now to read your scribble. Go down and saddle my horse for me, +and tell the coachman to make haste and get the carriage ready, and have +it waiting for me near the cross at the slope of the hill, and find out +on your way down whether the old master of the house is up yet." + +The soldier pocketed the letter once more, and went down grumbling +greatly, while Emeric buckled on his sword and threw his pelisse over +his shoulders. Soon after the soldier returned and announced that Master +Michael had been up long ago, because many of his guests had to depart +before dawn, amongst them the Prince, also the Turkish gentleman; the +bride was to follow them in the afternoon. + +"Good," said Emeric; "let the coachman wait for me in front of the +Dragmuili _csarda_.[4] You had better bring with you some cold meat and +wine, and we'll have breakfast on the way." And with that he hastened +to the father of the bride, who, after embracing him heartily and +repeatedly, with a great flux of tears, and kissing him again and again, +and sending innumerable greetings through him to every eminent +Transylvanian gentleman, took an affectionate leave of him. + + [Footnote 4: An inn.] + +Tököly hastened to bestride his horse on hearing that his adversaries +had been a little beforehand with him, and, putting spurs to his horse, +galloped rapidly away. Master Michael looked after him in amazement so +long as he could see him racing along the steep, hilly way, till he +disappeared among the woods. A soldier followed him at a considerable +distance. + +Emeric, on reaching the cross, found his adversaries there already. +Feriz Beg had brought with him Achmed Pasha's field-surgeon. Tököly had +only thought of breakfast, the Prince had thought of nothing. + +"Good morning," cried the Count, leaping from his horse. The Beg +returned his salute with a solemn obeisance; the Prince turned his back +upon him. + +"Let us go into the forest to find a nice clear space," said Tököly; and +off he set in silence, leading the way, while the soldiers followed at +some distance, leading the horses by the bridles. + +After going about a hundred yards they came to a clear space, surrounded +by some fine ash-trees. The Prince signified to the soldiers to stop +here, and, without a word, began to take off his dolman and mantle and +tuck up his sleeves. + +It was a fine sight to behold these men--all three of them were +remarkably handsome fellows. The Prince was one of those vigorous, +muscular shapes, whom Nature herself seems specially to have created to +head a host. As he rolled up the flapping sleeves of his +gold-embroidered, calf-skin shirt, he displayed muscles capable of +holding their own single-handed against a whole brigade, and the defiant +look of his eye testified to his confidence in the strength of his arms, +whose every muscle stood out like a hard tumour, while his fists were +worthy of the heavy broadsword, whose blade was broadest towards its +point. + +Feriz Beg, on discarding his dolman, rolled up the sleeves of his fine +shirt of Turkish linen to his shoulders, and drew from its sheath his +fine Damascus scimitar, which was scarce two inches broad, and so +flexible that you could have bent it double in every direction like a +watch-spring. His arms did not seem to be over-encumbered with muscles, +but at the first movement he made, as he lightly tested his blade, a +whole array of steel springs and stone-hard sinews, or so they seemed to +be, suddenly started up upon his arm, revealing a whole network of +highly-developed sinews and muscles. His face was fixed and grave. + +Only Emeric seemed to take the whole affair as a light joke. With a +smile he drew up his lace-embroidered shirt of holland linen, bound up +his hair beneath his kalpag, and folded his well-rounded arms, whose +feminine whiteness, plastic, regular symmetry, and slender proportions, +gave no promise whatever of anything like manly strength. His sword came +from a famous Newcastle arms manufactory, and was made of a certain +dark, lilac-coloured steel, somewhat bent, and with a very fine point. + +"My friends," said Emeric, turning towards his opponents, "as there are +three of us in this contest, and each one of the three must fight the +other two, let us lay down some rule to regulate the encounter." + +"I'll fight the pair of you together," said the Prince haughtily. + +"I'll also fight one against two," retorted Feriz. + +"Then each one for himself and everybody against everybody else," +explained Tököly. "That will certainly be amusing enough; in fact, a new +sort of encounter altogether, though hardly what gentlemen are used to. +Now, I should consider it much nobler if we fought against each other +singly, and when one of us falls, the victor can renew the combat with +the man in reserve." + +"I don't mind, only the sooner the better," said the Prince +impatiently, and took up his position on the ground. + +"Stop, my friend; don't you know that we cannot commence this contest +without Feriz?" + +"Pooh! I didn't come here as a spectator," cried the Prince +passionately; "besides, I have nothing to do with the Beg." + +"But I have to do with you," interrupted Feriz. + +"Well," said Tököly, "I myself do not know what has offended him, but he +chose to intervene, and such challenges as his are wont to be accepted +without asking the reason why. No doubt he has private reasons of his +own." + +"You may stop there," interrupted Feriz. "Let Fate decide." + +"By all means," observed the Count, drawing forth three pieces of money +impressed with the image of King Sigismund--a gold coin, a silver coin, +and a copper coin--and handed them to the Turkish leech. "Take these +pieces of money, my worthy fellow, and throw them into the air. The gold +coin is the Prince, the copper coin is myself. Whichever two of the +three coins come down on the same side, their representatives will fight +first." + +The leech flung the pieces into the air, and the gold and silver pieces +came down on the same side. + +The Prince beckoned angrily to Feriz. + +"Come, the sooner the better. Apparently I must have this little affair +off my hands before I can get at Tököly." + +Tököly motioned to the leech to keep the pieces of money and have his +bandages ready. + +"Bandages!" said the Prince ironically. "It's not first blood, but last +blood, I'm after." + +And now the combatants stood face to face. + +For a long time they looked into each other's eyes, as if they would +begin the contest with the darts of flashing glances, and then suddenly +they fell to. + +The Prince's onset was as furious as if he would have crushed his +opponent in the twinkling of an eye with the heavy and violent blows +which he rained upon him with all his might. But Feriz Beg stood firmly +on the self-same spot where he had first planted his feet, and though he +was obliged to bend backwards a little to avoid the impact of the +terrible blows, yet his slender Damascus scimitar, wove, as it were, a +tent of lightning flashes all around him, defending him on every side, +and flashing sparks now hither, now thither, whenever it encountered the +antagonistic broadsword. + +The Prince's face was purple with rage. "Miserable puppy!" he thundered, +gnashing his teeth; and, pressing still closer on his opponent, he dealt +him two or three such terrible blows that the Beg was beaten down upon +one knee, and, the same instant, a jet of blood leaped suddenly from +somewhere into the face of the Prince, who thereupon staggered back and +let fall his sword. In the heat of the duel he had not noticed that he +had been wounded. Whilst raining down a torrent of violent blows upon +his antagonist, he incautiously struck his own hand, so to speak, on the +sword of Feriz Beg, just below the palm where the arteries are, and the +wound which severed the sinews of the wrist constrained him to drop his +sword. + +Tököly at once rushed forward. + +"You are wounded, Prince!" he cried. + +The leech hastened forward with the bandages, the dark red blood spurted +from the severed arteries like a fountain, and the Prince's face grew +pale in an instant. But scarcely had the surgeon bound up his wounded +right hand than his eye kindled again, and, turning to Emeric, he cried: +"I have still a hand left, and I can fight with it. Put my sword into my +left hand, and I'll fight to the last drop of my blood." + +"Don't be impatient, Prince," said Emeric courteously; "ill-luck is your +enemy to-day, but as soon as you are cured you may command me, and I +will be at your service." + +The Prince, who was already tottering, leaned heavily on his soldiers, +who hastened towards him and conveyed him half unconscious to the +carriage awaiting him. His wound was much worse than it had seemed at +first, and there was no knowing whether it would not prove mortal. + +Only two combatants now remained in the field--Emeric and Feriz. The Beg +was still standing in his former place, and beckoned in dumb show to +Emeric to come on. + +"Pardon me, my worthy comrade," said the Count, "you are a little +fatigued, and a combat between us would be unfair if I, who have rested, +should fight with you now. Come, plump down on the grass for a little +beside me. My man has brought some cold provisions for the journey; let +us have a few mouthfuls together first, and then we can fight it out at +our ease." + +This nonchalant proposal seemed to please Feriz, and, leaning his sword +against a tree, he sat down in the grass, whilst Emeric's servant +unpacked the cold meat and the fruit which he had brought for his +master, together with a silver calabash-shaped flask full of wine. + +Emeric returned the flask to the soldier. "Look you, my son," said he, +"you can drink the wine, and then fill the flask with spring water, for +Feriz Beg does not drink wine, and there are no other drinking utensils; +I, therefore, will also drink water, and so we shall be equal." Feriz +Beg was pleased with his comrade's free and easy behaviour, took +willingly of the food piled up before him, and not only drank out of the +same flask, but even answered questions when they were put to him. + +A faint scar was visible on the forehead of the young Beg, which the +fold of his turban did not quite conceal. + +"Did you get that wound from a Magyar?" inquired the Count. + +"No, from an Italian, on the isle of Candia." + +"I thought so at once. A Magyar does not cut with the point of his +sword. I see the hand of an Italian fencing-master in it. I can even +tell you the position you were in when you received it. The enemy was +beside you, in front of you, on your right hand, and on your left. Now +you employed that masterly circular stroke which you have just now +displayed, whereby you can defend yourself on all sides at once. Then +the foe in front of you suddenly rose in his saddle, and with a blow +which you did not completely ward off, scarred your forehead with the +point of his sword." + +"It was just like that." + +"It is one of the master-strokes of Basanella, and very carefully you +have to watch it, for there is scarce any defence against it; the sword +seems to strike up and down in the same instant, as if it were a sickle, +and however high you may hold your own sword, the blow breaks through +your defence. There is, indeed, only one defence against it, and that +the simplest in the world--dodge back your head." + +"You are quite right," said Feriz Beg smiling, and after washing his +hands, he again took up his sword, "let us make an end of it." + +"I don't mind," said Tököly; and lightly drawing his own sword with his +delicate white hand, just as if it were a gewgaw which he was +disengaging from its case to present to a lady, he took up his position +on the ground. + +"Just one word more," said Tököly with friendly candour. "When you fight +with a single opponent, do not rush forward as if you were on a +battlefield and had to do with ten men at least, for in so doing you +expend much force uselessly, and allow your opponent to come up closer; +rather elongate your sword and allow only your hand to play freely." + +"I thank you for the advice," said Feriz smiling. Had it been anybody +else he would probably have thrust back the advice into his face. But +Emeric imparted it to him with such a friendly, comrade-like voice as +if they had only come there for the fun of the thing. + +Then the combat began. Feriz Beg, with his usual impetuosity, pressed +upon his adversary as if he would pay him back his amicable counsels in +kind; while Tököly calmly, composedly smiling, flung back the most +violent assaults of his rival as if it were a mere sport to him, so +lightly, so confidently did his sword turn in his hand, with so much +finished grace did he accompany every movement--in fact, he hardly +seemed to make any exertion. The most violent blows aimed at him by +Feriz Beg he parried with the lightest twist of his sword, and not once +did he counter, so that at last Feriz Beg, involuntarily overcome by +rage, fell back and lowered his sword. + +"You are only playing with me. Why don't you strike back?" + +"Twice you might have received from me Basanella's master-stroke, so +impetuously do you fight." + +In a duel nothing is so wounding as the supercilious self-restraint of +an opponent. Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Tököly's cold repose, and +flung himself upon his opponent as if absolutely beside himself. + +"Let us see whether you are the Devil or not," he cried. + +At the same instant, when he had advanced a pace nearer to Tököly, the +latter suddenly stretched forth his sword and at the instant when he +parried his opponent's blow, he made a scarce perceptible backward and +upward jerk with the point of his sword, and at that same instant a +burning red line was visible on the temples of Feriz Beg. The young Turk +lowered his sword in surprise as his face, immediately after the +unnoticed stroke, began to bleed. Tököly flung away his sword and, +tearing out his white pocket-handkerchief, rushed suddenly towards his +opponent, stanched the wound with the liveliest sympathy, and said, in a +voice tremulous with the most naďve apprehension: "Look now! didn't I +tell you all along to watch for that stroke?" + +By this time the leech had also come up with the bandages, and examining +the wound, observed consolingly: + +"A soldierly affair. Only the skin is pierced. In three days you will be +all right." + +Tököly, full of joy, pressed the hand of Feriz Beg. + +"Henceforth we will be good friends," said he. "Before God, I protest I +never gave you the slightest cause of offence." + +"I shall rejoice in your friendship," said Feriz solemnly, "but if you +wish it to last, listen to my words: never approach a girl whom you do +not love in order to make her love you, and if you are loved, love in +return and make her happy." + +"You have my word of honour on it, Feriz," replied Tököly. "Of all the +girls whom I have seen since I knew you, not one of them have I loved, +and by none of them do I want to be loved." + +Feriz Beg could not refrain from shaking his head and smiling. + +"Apparently you forget that your own bride was among them." + +Tököly bit his lips in some confusion, and answered nothing; he thought +it best to pass off this slip of the tongue as a mere jest. Then the two +reconciled antagonists embraced and returned to the roadside cross. +Tököly constrained the Beg to take his coach and go on to Ibraila, while +he himself mounted his horse, and taking leave of Feriz, took the road +leading to the Pass of Bozza. + +The soldier-courier now fancied it was high time that the urgent +letters, of which he was the bearer, should be read, and accordingly +asked his master about it. + +"Well, where are your two letters?" asked the Count very languidly. + +"There are not two, sir, but three." + +"What! have they multiplied?" + +"Miss Flora gave me the third half an hour before she took coach to go +home." + +"Then she has gone on before, eh? Well, let us see what they write +about." + +Teleki's was the first letter which Emeric perused; he glanced through +it rapidly, as if it had no very great claim upon his attention. When he +came to that part of it where he was told to look after Flora, he paused +for a little. "Well, I can easily overtake her," he thought, and he took +the second letter, which was subscribed with the name of Helen. Twice he +perused it, and then he returned to it a third time, and his face grew +visibly redder. Involuntarily he sighed as he thrust the letter into his +breast pocket just above his heart, and looked sadly in front of him, as +if he were listening to the beating of his own heart. + +Then he broke open the third letter. + +It contained an engagement ring, nothing else. That was all--not a +single accompanying word or letter. + +For an instant Emeric held it in his hand in blank amazement; his steed +stopped also. For some minutes his face was pale and his head hung down. + +But in another instant he was again upright in his saddle, and he +exclaimed in a voice loud enough to be heard afar: + +"Well, it's not coming off then, so much the better!" + +Then he threw away the envelope in which the ring had been, and drawing +out the letter which he had thrust into his bosom, he put the ring into +it and then returned it to his bosom; then, with a glowing face, he +turned his horse's head and, in the best of humours, called to his +soldier: "We will not go to Transylvania. Back to Mehadia!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AFFAIRS OF STATE. + + +The year was a few weeks older since we saw Tököly depart from Rumnik, +after reading the three letters, and behold, Michael Teleki still +lingered at Gyulafehervár, and had _not_ gone with the Transylvanian +forces to Déva. + +He had been feeling ill for some days, and had not been able to leave +his room. A slow fever tormented his limbs, his face had lost its +colour, he was hardly able to hold himself up, and every joint ached +whenever he moved. He had need of repose, but not a single moment could +he have to himself, and just when he would have liked to have shown the +door to every worry and bother, the Prince at one moment, and the +Turkish Ambassador at another, were continually pressing their affairs +upon him. + +At that moment his crony Nalaczi was with him, standing at the window, +while Teleki sat in an arm-chair. All his members were shaken by the +ague, his breath was burning hot, his face was as pale as wax, and he +could scarce keep his lips together. + +By his chair stood his page--young Cserei--whilst huddled up in a corner +on one side was a scarce visible figure which clung close to the wall +with as miserable, shamefaced an expression as if it would have liked to +crawl right into it and be hidden. What with the darkness and its own +miserableness, we should scarce recognise this shape if Teleki did not +chance to give it a name, railing at it, from time to time, as if it +were a lifeless log, without even looking at it, for, in truth, his back +was turned upon it. + +"I tell you, Master Szénasi, you are an infinitely useless +blockhead----" + +"I humbly beg----" + +"Don't beg anything. Here have I, worse luck, been entrusting you with a +small commission, in order that you might impart some wholesome +information to the people, and instead of that you go and fool them with +all sorts of old wives' stories." + +"Begging your Excellency's pardon, I thought----" + +"Thought? What business had you to think? You thought, perhaps, you were +doing me a service with your nonsense, eh?" + +"Mr. Nalaczi said as much, your Excellency." + +Mr. Nalaczi seemed to be sitting on thorns all this while. + +"Now just see what a big fool you are," interrupted Teleki. "Mr. Nalaczi +_may_ have told you, for what I know, that it might be well for you to +use your influence with the common people by mentioning before them the +wonders which have recently taken place, and thereby encouraging them to +be loyal and friendly to each other, but I am sure he did not tell you +to manufacture wonders on your own account, and terrify the people by +spreading abroad rumours of coming war." + +"I thought----" Here he stopped short, the worthy man was quite +incapable at that moment of completing his sentence. + +"Thought! You thought, I suppose, that just as I was collecting armies, +you would do me a great service by preaching war? So far as I am +concerned, I should like to see every sword buried in the earth." + +"Begging your Excellency's pardon----" + +"Get out of my sight. Never let me see you again. In three days you must +leave Transylvania, or else I'll send you out, and you won't thank me +for that." + +"May I humbly ask what I am to do if your Excellency withdraws your +favour from me?" whined the fellow. + +"You may do as you like. Go to Szathmár and become the lacquey of Baron +Kopp, or the scribe of Master Kászonyi. I'm just going to write to them. +I'll mention your name in my letter, and you can take it." + +"And if they won't accept me?" + +"Then you must tack on to someone else, anyhow you shan't starve. Only +get out of my sight as quickly as possible." + +The "magister" withdrew in fear and trembling, wiping his eyes with his +pocket-handkerchief. + +"Sir," said Nalaczi, when they were alone together, "this violence does +harm." + +"The only way with such fellows is to bully them whatever they do, for +they are deceivers and traitors at heart, and would otherwise do you +mischief. Kick and beat them, chivy them from pillar to post, and make +them feel how wretched their lot is, if you don't want them to play off +their tricks upon you." + +"I don't see it in that light. This irritability will do you no good." + +"On the contrary it keeps me up. If I had not always given vent to my +feelings I should have been lying on a sick-bed long ago. Take these few +thalers, go after that good-for-nothing, and tell him that I am very +angry with him, and therefore he must try in future to deserve my +confidence better, in which case I shall not forget him. Tell him to +wait in the gate for the letter I am about to write, and when once he +has it in his hand let him get out of Transylvania as speedily as he +can. Remind him that I don't yet know about what happened in the square +at Klausenberg, and if I did know I would have him flogged out of the +realm; so let him look sharp about it." + +Nalaczi laughed and went out. + +Teleki sank back exhausted on his pillows, and made his page rub the +back of his neck violently with a piece of flannel. + +At that instant the Prince entered. His face was wrath, and all because +of his sympathy. He began scolding Teleki on the very threshold. + +"Why don't you lie down when I command you? Does it beseem a grown-up +man like you to be as disobedient as a capricious child? Why don't you +send for the doctor; why don't you be blooded?" + +"There is nothing the matter with me, your Highness. It is only a little +_hćmorrhoidalis alteratio_. I am used to it. It always plagues me at the +approach of the equinoxes." + +"Ai, ai, Michael Teleki, you don't get over me. You are very ill, I tell +you. Your mental anxiety has brought about this physical trouble. Does +it become a Christian man, I ask, to take on so because my little friend +Flora cannot have one particular man out of fifteen wooers, and a fellow +like Emeric, too--a mere dry stick of a man." + +"I don't give it any particular importance." + +"You are a bad Christian, I tell you, if you say that. You love neither +God nor man; neither your family, nor me----" + +"Sir!" said Teleki, in a supplicating voice. + +"For if you did love us, you would spare yourself and lie down, and not +get up again till you were quite well again." + +"But if I lie down----" + +"Yes, I know--other things will have a rest too. The bottom of the world +isn't going to fall out, I suppose, because you keep your bed for a day +or two. Come! look sharp! I will not go till I see you lying on your +bed." + +What could Teleki do but lie down at the express command of his +Sovereign. + +"And you won't get up again without my permission, mind," said the +Prince, signalling to young Cserei, and addressing the remainder of his +discourse to him. "And you, young man, take care that your master does +not leave his bed, do you hear? I command it, and, till he is quite +well, don't let him do any hard work, whether it be reading, writing, or +dictation. You have my authorisation to prevent it, and you must +rigorously do your duty. You will also allow nobody to enter this room, +except the doctor and the members of the family. Now, mind what I say! +As for you, Master Teleki, you will wrap yourself well up and get +yourself well rubbed all over the body with a woollen cloth, clap a +mustard poultice on your neck and keep it there as long as you can bear +it, and towards evening have a hot bath, with salt and bran in it; and +if you won't have a vein opened put six leeches on your temples, and the +doctor will tell you what else to do. And in any case don't fail to take +some of these _pilulć de cynoglosso_. Their effect is infallible." +Whereupon the Prince pressed into Teleki's hand a box full of those +harmless medicaments which, under the name of dog's-tongue pills, were +then the vogue in all domestic repositories. + +"All will be well, your Highness." + +"Let us hope so! Towards evening I will come and see you again." + +And then the Prince withdrew with an air of satisfaction, thinking that +he had given the fellow a good frightening. + +Scarce had he closed the door behind him than Teleki beckoned to Cserei +to bring him the letters which had just arrived. + +The page regarded him dubiously. "The Prince forbade me to do so," he +observed conscientiously. + +"The Prince loves to have his joke," returned the counsellor. "I like my +joke, too, when I've time for it. Break open those letters and read them +to me." + +"But what will the Prince say?" + +"It is I who command you, my son, not the Prince. Read them, I say, and +don't mind if you hear me groan." + +Cserei looked at the seal of one of the letters and durst not break it +open. + +"Your Excellency, that is a _secretum sigillum_." + +"Break it open like a man, I say. Such secrets are not dangerous to you; +you are a child to be afraid of such things." + +Cserei opened the letter, and glancing at the signature, stammered in a +scarce audible voice: "Leopoldus."[5] + + [Footnote 5: _i.e._ the Emperor Leopold.] + +Teleki, resting on his elbows, listened attentively. + + "YOUR HIGHNESS AND MY WELL-DISPOSED FRIEND--I have + heard from Baron Mendenzi Kopp and worthy Master + Kászonyi of your Excellency's good dispositions + towards me and Christendom, and your readiness to help + in the present disturbances. All my own efforts will + be directed to the preservation of the rights and + liberties of the Christian Princes, so that there may + not be the slightest occasion that the Turkish War + should extend, and that the whole power of the Ottoman + Empire should be hurled on me and my dominions. But I + hope that the fury of these barbarians, by the + combination of the foreign kings and princes, shall, + with God's assistance, be so opposed and thwarted as + to make them turn back from the league of the combined + faithful hosts. Meanwhile, I assure your Excellency + and the Estates of Transylvania of my protection, so + long as you continue well-disposed towards me, and I + entrust the maintenance of this good understanding + between us to Messrs. the illustrious Baron Kopp and + the Honourable Mr. Kászonyi. Wishing your Excellency + good health and all manner of good fortune, etc., + etc." + +Cserei looked at the doors and windows in terror, for fear someone might +be listening. + +"And now let us read the second letter." + +Cserei's top-knot regularly began to sweat when he recognised at the +bottom of the opened letter the signature of the Grand Vizier, who thus +wrote to the Prince: + + "MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, HEARTY LOVE AND + GREETING!--We would inform thee of our grace and + favour that we have sent a part of our army to the + assistance of the imprisoned heroes in our most mighty + master the Sultan's fortress of Nyitra, where the + faithless foe are besieging them. It is therefore + necessary that thou with thy whole host and all the + necessary muniments of war should hasten thither + without loss of time, so as to unite both in heart and + deed with our warriors, who are on their way against + the enemy. We believe that by the grace of God thou + wilt be ready to render useful service to the mighty + Sultan, and so be entitled to participate in his + favour and liberality. We, moreover, after the end of + the solemn feast days which we are wont to keep after + our fasts are over, will follow our advance guards + with our countless hosts, and thou meanwhile must + manfully take this business in hand, so that thy + loyalty may shine the more gloriously in martial + deeds. Peace be to those who are in the obedience of + God." + +Poor Cserei, when he had read this letter through, had a worse fit of +ague than his master. He anxiously watched the face of the statesman, +but the only thing visible in his features was bodily suffering. There +was no sign of mental disturbance. + +The blood flew to his face, the veins were throbbing visibly in his +temples. + +"Come hither, my son," he said in a scarcely audible voice; "bring me a +glass of water, put into it as much rhubarb powder as would go on the +edge of a knife, and give it me to drink." + +Cserei fancied that the sick Premier had not mastered the contents of +the letter because of a fresh access of fever, and, having prepared the +rhubarb water in a few moments, gave it him to drink, whereupon Teleki +crouched down beneath his coverlet. He could have done nothing better, +for now the ague burst forth again, so that he regularly shivered +beneath its attack. Cserei wanted to run for a doctor. + +"Whither are you going?" asked Teleki. "Fetch ink and parchment, and +write." + +The lad obeyed his command marvelling. + +"Bring hither the round table and sit down beside it. Write what I tell +you." + +The pen shook in the lad's hand, and he kept dipping it into the sand +instead of into the ink. + +Teleki, in a broken voice, dictated a letter as well as the fever would +allow him. + + "MOST EXALTED GRAND VIZIER AND WELL-BELOVED SIR,--We + learn from your Highness's dispatch that the armies of + the Sublime Sultan who have lately been besieging the + fortress of Nyitra are now endeavouring to combine + their forces, and though this realm has but a meagre + possession of the muniments of war remaining to it, we + shall be prepared most punctually to hold at your + Highness's gracious disposition as much, though it be + but little, forage, hay, and other necessary stores as + we still possess, you making allowance for all + inevitable defects and shortcomings. Moreover, rumour + has it that the hostile hosts are beginning to show + themselves on the borders of Transylvania, which + irruption, though it be no secret, is yet to be + confirmed, and should it be so we must meet it with + all our attention and energy. As to this your Highness + shall be informed in good time, and in the meanwhile + we commit you to God's gracious favour, etc., etc." + +Cserei sighed and thought to himself: "I wonder whence all the hay and +oats is to come?" + +But Teleki knew very well that in consequence of last year's bad +harvests and inundations the Turkish army was suffering severely from +want of hay, so that what with him was an occasion for delay, with them +was an occasion for hurrying--whence we may draw the reflection that the +great events of this world are built upon haycocks! + +"Address the second letter," continued Teleki, "to his Excellency Baron +Mendenzi Kopp and to the honourable Achatius Kászonyi, commandants of +the fortress of Szathmár," and he thus went on dictating to Cserei, +whilst in the intervals of silence the groans which the ague forced from +his breast were distinctly audible. + + "With joy we learn of the intention of your Honours to + endeavour to seize one of the gates of entrance of the + enemy of our faith, through which he was always ready + to come for our destruction. May the God of mercy + forward the designs of your Excellencies. If, on this + occasion, your Excellencies could also find time to + make a feigned attack upon Transylvania in order to + give us a reasonable excuse of our inability to lend + the Turks the assistance they expect from us, you + would make matters easier for us, and render us an + essential service. On the other hand, if we should be + compelled against our wills to send our soldiers + against the Christian camp, in conjunction with the + enemies of our faith, we assure your Excellencies that + our host will be a purely nominal one, etc., etc. + + "P.S.--The bearer of this letter can be employed by + your Excellencies as a courier or otherwise." + +Cserei looked with amazement at the man in whom mental vivacity seemed +to rise triumphant even over the lassitude of fever. + +"Take a third sheet of paper, and address it to the Honourable Ladislaus +Ebéni, Lieutenant-Governor of the fortress of Klausenburg. + + "We hasten to inform your Honour that preparations are + being made by the Commandant of the fortress of + Szathmár, which leads us to conjecture that he + meditates making an irruption into Transylvania. It + may, of course, be merely a feint, but your Honour + would do well to be prepared and under arms, lest he + have designs against us, and is not merely making a + noise. We, meanwhile, will postpone the advance of our + arms into Hungary, lest, while we are attacking on one + side, we leave Transylvania defenceless on the other. + Once more we counsel your Honour to use the utmost + caution, etc." + +"And now take these letters and carry them to the Prince, that he may +sign them." + +"And what if he box my ears for allowing your Excellency to dictate?" +said the frightened lad. + +"Never mind it, my son, you will have suffered for your country. I, too, +have had buffets enough in my time, not only when I was a child, but +since I have grown up." And with that he turned his face towards the +wall and pulled the coverlet over him. + +Fortunately Cserei found Apafi in the apartment of the consort, and thus +avoided the box on the ear, got the letters signed, and dispatched them +all in different directions, so that all three got into the proper hands +in the shortest conceivable time. And now let us see the result. + +The Grand Vizier blasphemed when he had read his, and swore emphatically +that if there were no hay in Transylvania he would make hay of their +Excellencies. + +Baron Kopp and Mr. Kászonyi chuckled together over _their_ letter. The +Commandant murmured gruffly: "I don't care, so you needn't." + +Mr. Ebéni, however, on reading his letter, deposited it neatly among the +public archives, growling angrily: + +"If I were to call the people to arms at every wild alarm or idle +rumour, I should have nothing else to do all day long. It is a pity that +Teleki hasn't something better to do than to bother me continually with +his scribble." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. + + +In order that the horizon may stand clearly before us, it must be said +that in those days there were two important points in Hungary on the +Transylvanian border: Grosswardein and Szathmár-Németi, which might be +called the gates of Transylvania--good places of refuge if their keys +are in the hand of the Realm, but all the more dangerous when the hands +of strangers dispose of them. + +At this very time a German army was investing Szathmár and the Turks had +sat down before Grosswardein, and the plumed helmets of the former were +regarded as as great a menace on the frontiers of the state as the +half-moons themselves. + +The inhabitants of the regions enclosed between these fortresses never +could tell by which road they were to expect the enemy to come. For in +such topsy-turvy days as those were, every armed man was an enemy, from +whom corn, cattle, and pretty women had to be hidden away, and their +friendship cost as much as their enmity, and perhaps more; for if they +found out at Szathmár that some nice wagon-loads of corn and hay had +been captured from local marauders without first beating their brains +out, the magistrates would look in next day and impose a penalty; and +again, on the other hand, if it were known at Grosswardein that the +Szathmárians had been received hospitably at any gentleman's house, and +the daughter of the house had spoken courteously to them, the Turks +would wait until the Szathmárians had gone farther on and would then +fall upon the house in question and burn it to the ground, so that the +Szathmárians should not be able to sleep there again; and, as for the +daughter of the house, they would carry her off to a harem, in order to +save her from any further discoursing with the magistrates of Szathmár. + +And, last of all, there was a third enemy to be reckoned with, and this +was the countless rabble of _betyárs_, or freebooters, who inhabited the +whole region from the marshes of Ecsed to the morasses of Alibuner, and +who gave no reason at all for driving off their neighbour's herds and +even destroying his houses. + +In those days a certain Feri Kökényesdi had won renown as a robber +chieftain, and extraordinary, marvellous tales were told in every +village and on every _puszta_[6] of him and the twelve robbers who +followed his banner, and who were ready at a word to commit the most +incredible audacities. People talked of their entrenched fortresses +among the Bélabora and Alibuner marshes which were inaccessible to any +mortal foe, and in which, even if surrounded on all sides, they could +hold out against five regiments till the day of judgment. Then there +were tales of storehouses concealed among the Cumanian sand-hills which +could only be discovered by the scent of a horse; there were tales of a +good steed who, after one watering, could gallop all the way from the +Theiss to the Danube, who could recognise a foe two thousand paces off, +and would neigh if his master were asleep or fondling his sweetheart in +the tavern; there were tales of the gigantic strength of the robber +chief who could tackle ten _pandurs_[7] at once, and who, whenever he +was pursued, could cause a sea to burst forth between himself and his +pursuers, so that they would be compelled to turn back. + + [Footnote 6: Common.] + + [Footnote 7: Police officers.] + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Kökényesdi was neither a giant who turned men +round his little finger nor a magician who threw dust in their eyes, but +an honest-looking, undersized, meagre figure of a man and a citizen of +Hodmezö-Vásárhely, in which place he had a house and a couple of farms, +on which he conscientiously paid his portion of taxes; and he had bulls +and stallions, as to every one of which he was able to prove where he +had bought and how much he had paid for it. Not one of them was stolen. + +Yet everyone knew very well that neither his farms nor his bulls nor his +stallions had been acquired in a godly way, and that the famous robber +chief whose rumour filled every corner of the land was none other than +he. + +But who could prove it? Had anybody ever seen him steal? Had he ever +been caught red-handed? Did he not always defend himself in the most +brilliant manner whenever he was accused? When there was a rumour that +Kökényesdi was plundering the county of Mármaros from end to end, did he +not produce five or six eye-witnesses to prove that at that very time he +was ploughing and sowing on his farms, and was not the judge at great +pains to discover whether these witnesses were reliable? + +Those who visited him at his native place of Vásárhely found him to be a +respected, worthy, well-to-do man, who tossed his own hay till the very +palm of his hand sweated, while those who sought for Kökényesdi on the +confines of the realm never saw his face at all; it was indeed a very +tiresome business to pursue him. That man was a brave fellow indeed who +did not feel his heart beat quicker when he followed his track through +the pathless morasses and the crooked sand-hills of the interminable +_puszta_. And if two or three counties united to capture him, he would +let himself be chased to the borders of the fourth county, and when he +had leaped across it would leisurely dismount and beneath the very eyes +of his pursuers, loose his horse to graze and lie down beside it on his +_bunda_[8]--for there was the Turkish frontier, and he knew very well +that beyond Lippa they durst not pursue him, for there the Pasha of +Temesvar held sway. + + [Footnote 8: Sheepskin mantle.] + +Now, at this time there was among the garrison of Szathmár a captain +named Ladislaus Rákóczy. The Rákóczy family, after Helen Zrinyi's +husband had turned papist, for the most part were brought up at Vienna, +and many of them held commissions in the Imperial army. Ladislaus +Rákóczy likewise became a captain of musketeers, and as the greater part +of his company consisted of Hungarian lads, it was not surprising if the +Prince of Transylvania, on the other hand, kept German regiments to +garrison his towns and accompany him whithersoever he went. It chanced +that this Ladislaus Rákóczy, who was a very handsome, well-shaped, and +good-hearted youth, fell in love with Christina, the daughter of Adam +Rhédey, who dwelt at Rékás; and as the girl's father agreed to the +match, he frequently went over from Szathmár to see his _fiancée_, +accompanied by several of his fellow-officers, and he and his friends +were always received by the family as welcome guests. + +Now, it came to the ears of the Pasha of Grosswardein that the Squire of +Rékás was inclined to give away his daughter in marriage to a German +officer, and perchance it was also whispered to him that the girl was +beautiful and gracious. At any rate, one night Haly Pasha, at the head +of his Spahis, stole away from Grosswardein and, taking the people of +Rékás by surprise, burnt Adam Rhédey's house down, delivered it over to +pillage, beat Rhédey himself with a whip, and tied him to the +pump-handle, while, as for his daughter, who was half dead with fright, +he put her up behind him on the saddle and trotted back to Grosswardein +by the light of the burning village. + +Ladislaus Rákóczy, who came there next day for his own bridal feast, +found everything wasted and ravaged, and the servants, who were hiding +behind the hedges, peeped out and told him what had happened the night +before, and how Haly Pasha had abducted his bride. The bridegroom was +taciturn at the best of times, but a Hungarian is not in the habit of +talking much when anything greatly annoys him, so, without a word to his +comrades, he went back to the governor and asked permission to lead his +regiment against Grosswardein. + +The general, perceiving that persuasion was useless, and that the youth +would by himself try a tussle with the Turks if he couldn't do it +otherwise, took the matter seriously and promised that he would place at +his disposal, not only his own regiment but the whole garrison, if only +he would persuade the neighbouring gentry to join him in the attack on +the Turks of Grosswardein. + +As for the gentry, they only needed a word to fly to arms at once, for +there was scarce one of them who had not at one time or other been +enslaved, beaten, or at least insulted by the Turks, so that the mere +appearance of a considerable force of regular soldiers marching against +the Turks was sufficient to bring them out at once. The Turks, having +once got possession of Grosswardein, had established themselves therein +as firmly as if they meant to justify the Mussulman tradition that he +never abandons a town that he has once occupied, or never voluntarily +surrenders a place in which he has built a mosque, and indeed history +rarely records a case of capitulation by the Turks--_their_ fortresses +are generally taken by storm. + +From the year 1660, when Haly Pasha occupied the fortress, a quite new +Turkish town had arisen in the vacant space between the fortress and the +old town, and this new town was surrounded by a strong palisade, the +only entrances into which were through very narrow gates. This new town +was inhabited by nothing but Turkish chapmen, who bartered away the +goods captured by the garrison, and Haly Pasha's Spahis did a roaring +business in the oxen and slaves which they had gathered together, +attracting purchasers all the way from Bagdad. Thus from year to year +the market of Grosswardein became better and better known in the Turkish +commercial world, so that one wooden house after another sprang up, and +they built across and along the empty space just as they liked, so that +at last there was hardly what you would call a street in the whole +place, and people had to go through their neighbours' houses in order to +get into their own; in a word, the whole thing took the form of a +Turkish fair, where pomp and splendour conceals no end of filth; the +patched up wooden shanties were covered with gorgeous oriental stuffs, +while in the streets hordes of ownerless dogs wandered among the +perennial offal, and if two people met together in the narrow alleys, to +pass each other was impossible. + +This fenced town was not large enough to hold the herds that were swept +towards it, there was hardly room enough for the masters of the herds; +but on the banks of the Pecze there was a large open entrenched space +reserved for the purpose, where the Bashkir horsemen stood on guard over +the herds with their long spears, and had to keep their eyes pretty open +if they didn't want Kökényesdi to honour them with a visit, who was +capable of stealing not only the horses but the horsemen who guarded +them. + +Take but one case out of many. One day Kökényesdi, in his _bunda_, +turned inside out as usual, with a round spiral hat on his head and a +large knobby stick in his hands, appeared outside the entrenchment +within which a closely-capped Kurd was guarding Haly Pasha's favourite +charger, Shebdiz. + +"What a nice charger!" said the horse-dealer to the Kurd. + +"Nice indeed, but not for your dog's teeth." + +"Yet I assure you I'll steal him this very night." + +"I shall be there too, my lad," thought the Kurd to himself, and with +that he leaped upon the horse and grasped fast his three and a half +ells long spear; "if you want the horse come for it now!" + +"I'm not going to fetch it at once, so don't put yourself out," +Kökényesdi assured him. "You may do as you like with him till morning," +and with that he sat down on the edge of the ditch, wrapped himself up +in his _bunda_, and leaned his chin on his big stick. + +The Kurd durst not take his eyes off him, he scarce ventured even to +wink, lest the horse-dealer should practise magic in the meantime. + +He never stirred from the spot, but drew his hat deep down and regarded +the Kurd from beneath it with his foxy eyes. + +Meanwhile it was drawing towards evening. The Kurd's eyes now regularly +started out of his head in his endeavours to distinguish the form of +Kökényesdi through the darkness. At last he grew weary of the whole +business. + +"Go away!" he said. "Do you hear me?" + +Kökényesdi made no reply. + +The Kurd waited and gazed again. Everything seemed to him to be turning +round, and blue and green wheels were revolving before his eyes. + +"Go away, I tell you, for if this ditch was not a broad one I would leap +across and bore you through with my spear." + +The _bunda_ never budged. + +The Kurd flew into a rage, dismounted from the horse, seized his spear, +and climbing down into the ditch, viciously plunged his spear into the +sleeping form before him. + +But how great was his consternation when he discovered that what he had +looked upon as a man in the darkness was nothing but a propped up stick, +on which a _bunda_ and a hat were hanging! While he had been staring at +Kökényesdi, the latter had crept from out of the _bunda_ beneath his +very eyes and hidden himself in the ditch. + +The Kurd had not yet recovered from his astonishment when he heard the +crack of a whip behind his back, and there was Kökényesdi sitting +already on the back of Haly Pasha's charger, Shebdiz, and the next +moment he had leaped the ditch above the Kurd's head, shouting back at +him: + +"The trench is not broad enough for this horse, my son!" + + * * * * * + +Master Szénasi was one of those who had been sent to find Kökényesdi, +and he now arrived at Demerser, the famous robber's most usual +resting-place in those days, and pushing his way forward told him that +the gentlemen of Szathmár had sent him to ask him, Kökényesdi, to assist +them in their expedition against the Turks. + +Kökényesdi, who was carrying a sheaf on his back, looked sharply at the +magister, who dared not meet his gaze, and when he had finished his +little speech he roared at him: + +"You lie! You're a spy! I don't like the look of your mug! I'm going to +hang you up!" + +Szénasi, who was unacquainted with the robber chief's peculiarities, was +near collapsing with terror, whereupon Kökényesdi observed with a smile: + +"Come, come, don't tremble so, I won't eat you up at any rate, but tell +the gentleman that sent you here that another time he mustn't send a spy +to me, for to tell you the truth I don't believe in such faces as yours. +You may tell the gentleman, moreover, that if he wants to speak to me he +must come himself. I don't care about making a move on the strength of +idle chatter. I am easily to be found. Go to Püspök Ladánya, walk into +the last house on the right-hand side and ask the master where the +Barátfa hostelry is, he'll show you the way; and now in God's name +scuttle! and don't look back till you've got home." + +The magister did as he was bid, and on getting home delivered the +message to his masters, whereupon they immediately set out; Raining +going on the part of the military, János Topay on the part of the +Hungarians, together with Ladislaus Rákóczy himself and the captain of +the gentry of Báródság. + +The gentlemen safely reached Püspök Ladánya, where they had to wait at +the magistrate's house till night-fall, although Raining would have much +preferred to meet Kökényesdi by daylight, and Rákóczy was burning to +carry through his enterprise as soon as possible. + +While they waited Raining could not help asking the magistrate whether +it was far from there to the Barátfa inn? + +The magistrate shook his head and maintained there was no such inn in +the whole district, nor was there. + +Raining fancied that the magistrate must be a stranger there, so he +asked two or three old men the same question, but they all gave him the +same answer: there might be a _barátfa puszta_[9] here but there could +be no inn on it, or if there was an inn, the _puszta_ itself did not +exist. + + [Footnote 9: Common.] + +"Well, if they don't know anything about it at the last house we had +better turn back," said Raining to himself; and, when it had grown quite +dark, he approached the house and began to talk with the master who was +dawdling about the door. + +"God bless thee, countryman! where's the barátfa inn?" + +The man first of all measured the questioner from head to foot, and then +he merely remarked: "God requite thee! over yonder!" and he vaguely +indicated the direction with his head. + +"We want to go there; can't you show us the way?" asked Topay. + +The man seized the questioner's hand and pointed with it to a herdsman's +fire in the distance. + +"Look; do you see the shine of its windows there?" + +"Which is the way to it?" + +"That way 'tis nearer, t'other way it's quicker." + +"What do you mean?" + +"If you go that way you'll go astray the quicker, and if you go t'other +way you may plump into a bog." + +"You lead us thither," intervened Rákóczy, at the same time pressing a +ducat into the man's fist. + +He looked at it, turned it round in his palm and gave it back to Rákóczy +with the request that he would give him copper money in exchange for it. +He could not imagine anyone giving him gold which was not false. + +When this had been done he neatly led the gentlemen through the +morass--wading in front of them, girded up to his waist--through those +hidden places where the water-fowl were sitting on their nests, and when +at last they emerged from among the thick reedy plantations they saw a +hundred paces in front of them a fire of heaped up bulrushes brightly +burning, by the light of which they saw a horseman standing behind it. + +Here their guide stopped and the three men trotted in single file +towards the fire, which suddenly died out at the very moment they were +approaching it, as if someone had cast wet rushes upon it. + +Topay greeted the horseman, who lifted his hat in silence and allowed +them to draw nearer. + +"There are three of you gentlemen together," he observed guardedly; "but +that doesn't matter," he continued. "It would be all the same to me if +there were ten times as many of you, for there's a pistol in every one +of my holsters, from which I can fire sixteen bullets in succession, and +in each bullet is a magnet, so that even if I don't aim at my man I +bring him down all the same." + +"Very good, very good indeed, Master Kökényesdi," said Topay; "we have +not come here for you to pepper us with your magnetic globules, but we +have come to ask your assistance for the accomplishment of a doughty +deed, the object of which is an attack upon our pagan foes." + +"Oh, my good sirs, I am ready to do that without the co-operation of +your honours. In the courtyard of a castle in the Baborsai _puszta_ +there is a well some hundred fathoms deep and quite full of Turkish +skulls, and I will not be satisfied till I have piled up on the top of +it a tower just as high made of similar materials." + +"So I believe. But you would gain glory too?" + +"I have glory enough already. I am known in foreign countries as well as +at home. The King of France has long ago only waited for a word from me +to make me chief colonel of a long-tailed regiment, and quite recently, +when the King of England heard how I bored through the hulls of the +munition ships on the Theiss, he did me the honour to invite me to form +a regiment of divers to ravage the enemy under water. And I've all the +boys for it too." + +"I know, I know, Master Kökényesdi, but there will be booty here too, +and lots of it." + +"What is booty to me? If I choose to do so, I could bathe in gold and +sleep on pearls." + +"Have you really as much treasure as all that?" inquired Raining with +some curiosity. + +"Ah," said Kökényesdi, "you ought to see the storehouse in the Szilicza +cavern, where gold and silver are filled up as high as haystacks. There, +too, are the treasures dug up from the sands of the sea, nothing but +precious stones, diamonds, rubies, carbuncles, and real pearls. I, +myself, do not know how many sackfuls." + +"And cannot you be robbed of them?" + +"Impossible; the entrance is so well concealed that no man living can +find it. I myself can never tell whether I am near it; the shifting sand +has so well covered it. Only one living animal can find it when it is +wanted, and that is my horse. And he will never betray it, for if anyone +but myself mounts him, not a step farther will he go." + +"And how did you come into possession of these enormous treasures?" +asked Raining with astonishment. + +"God gave them to me," said the horse-dealer, raising his voice and his +eyebrows at the same time. + +"Very edifying, no doubt, my friend," said Topay; "but tell me now, +briefly, for how much will you join us against the Turks of +Grosswardein?--not counting the booty, which of course will be pretty +considerable." + +"Well--that is not so easily said. Of course I shall have to collect +together my twelve companies, and it will cost something to hold them +together and give them what they want and pay them." + +"At any rate you can name a good round sum for the services you are +going to render us, can't you? Come! how much do you require?" + +The robber chief reflected. + +"Well, as it is your honours' own business I hope your honours won't say +that I tax you too highly. Let us look at the job in this way: suppose I +came to the attack with seventeen companies, and I charge one thousand +thalers for each company. Let us say each company consists of one +thousand men, that will be a thaler per head--and what is that, 'twill +barely pay for their keep. Thus the whole round sum will come to +seventeen thousand thalers." + +"That won't do at all, Master Kökényesdi. 'Twere a shame to fatigue so +many gallant fellows for nothing, but suppose you bring with you only a +hundred men and the rest remain comfortably at home? In that case you +shall receive from us seventeen hundred florins in hard cash." + +"Pooh!" snapped the robber, "what does your honour take me for, eh? Do +you suppose you are dealing with a gipsy chief or a Wallachian bandit, +who are paid in pence? Why, I wouldn't saddle my horse for such a +trifle, I had rather sleep the whole time away." + +"But you have so much treasure besides," observed Raining naďvely. + +"But we may not break into it," rejoined the robber angrily. + +"Why not?" + +"Because we have agreed not to make use of till it has mounted up to a +million florins." + +"And what will you do with it then?" + +"We shall then buy a vacant kingdom from the Tartar king, where the +pasturage is good, and thither we will go with our men and set up an +empire of our own. We will buy enough pretty women from the Turks for us +all, and be our own masters." + +Topay smiled. + +"Well," said he, "this seventeen hundred florins of ours will at any +rate purchase one of the counties in this kingdom of yours." He was +greatly amused that Raining should take the robber's yarn so seriously, +and he pushed the German gentleman aside. "Mr. Kökényesdi," said he, +"you have nothing to do with this worthy man; he is come with us only to +see the fun, but it is we who pay the money, and I think we understand +each other pretty well." + +"Why didn't you tell me so sooner?" said the robber sulkily, "then I +shouldn't have wasted so many words. With which of you am I to bargain?" + +"With this young gentleman here," said Topay. "Ladislaus Rákóczy. I +suppose you know him by report?" + +"Know him? I should think I did. Haven't I carried him in my arms when +he was little? If it hadn't been so dark I should have recognised him at +once. Well, as it is he, I don't mind doing him a good turn. I certainly +wouldn't have taken a florin less from anyone else. I'll take from _him_ +the offer of seventeen hundred thalers." + +"Seventeen hundred florins, _I_ said." + +"I tell your honour, you said thalers--thalers was what _I_ heard, and I +won't undertake the job for less; may my hand and leg wither if I move +a step for less." + +"Oh, I'll give him his thalers," said Rákóczy, interrupting the dispute; +whereupon the robber seized the youth's hand and shook it joyfully. + +"Didn't I know that your honour was the finest fellow of the three?" +said the robber. "If, therefore, you will send these few trumpery +thalers a week hence to the house of the worthy man who guided you +hither, I will be at Grosswardein a week later with my seventeen hundred +fellows." + +"But, suppose we pay you in advance, and you don't turn up?" said +Raining anxiously. + +The robber looked at the quartermaster proudly. + +"Do you take me for a common swindler?" said he. Then he turned with a +movement of confiding expansion to the other gentlemen. + +"We understand each other better," he remarked. "Your honours may depend +upon me. God be with you." + +With that he turned his horse and galloped off into the darkness. The +three gentlemen were conducted back to Ladány. + +"Marvellous fellow, this Kökényesdi," said Raining, who had scarce +recovered yet from his astonishment. + +"You mustn't believe all the yarns he chooses to tell you," said Topay. + +"What!" inquired Raining. "Had he then no communications with the French +and English Courts?" + +"No more than his grandmother." + +"Then how about those treasures of which he spoke?" + +"He himself has never seen them, and he only talked about them to give +you a higher opinion of him." + +"And his castle in the puszta, and his seventeen companies of +freebooters?" + +"He invented them entirely for your honour's edification. The freebooter +is no fool, he lives in no castle in the puszta, but in a simple +village as modest Mr. Kökényesdi, and his seventeen companies scarcely +amount to more than seventeen hundred men." + +"Then why did he consent so easily to take only seventeen hundred +thalers?" + +"Because he does not mean to give his lads a single farthing of it." + +Raining shook his head, and grumbled to himself all the way home. + + * * * * * + +In a week's time they sent to Kökényesdi the stipulated money. Raining, +moreover, fearing lest the fellow might forget the fixed time, did not +hesitate to go personally to Vásárhely, to seek him at his own door. +There stood Master Kökényesdi in his threshing-floor, picking his teeth +with a straw. + +"Good-day," said the quartermaster. + +"If it's good, eat it," murmured Kökényesdi to himself. + +"Don't you know me?" + +"Blast me if I do." + +"Then don't you remember what you promised at the Barátfa inn?" + +"I don't know where the Barátfa inn is." + +"Then haven't you received the seventeen hundred thalers?" + +"What should I receive seventeen hundred thalers for?" + +"Don't joke, the appointed time has come." + +"What appointed time?" + +"What appointed time? And you who have to be at Grosswardein with +seventeen hundred men!" + +"Seventeen oxen and seventeen herdsmen on their backs, I suppose you +mean." + +"Well, a pretty mess we are in now," said Raining to himself as he +wrathfully trotted back to Debreczen, and as he rushed into Rákóczy's +room exclaiming, "Well, Kökényesdi has toasted us finely!" there stood +Kökényesdi before his very eyes. + +"What, you here?" + +"Yes, I am; and another time your honour will know that whenever I am at +my own place I am not at home." + + * * * * * + +It was the Friday before Whit Sunday, and the time about evening. A +great silence rested over the whole district, only from the minarets of +Varalja one Imâm answered another, and from the tombs one shepherd dog +answered his fellow: it was impossible to distinguish from which of the +two the howling proceeded. + +A couple of turbaned gentlemen were leisurely strolling along the +bastions. Above the palisaded gate the torso of a square-headed Tartar +was visible, with his elbows resting on the ramparts, holding his long +musket in his hand. The Tartar sentinel was gazing with round open eyes +into the black night, watching lest anyone should come from the +direction in which he was aiming with his gun, and blowing vigorously at +the lunt to prevent its going out. While he was thus anxiously on the +watch, it suddenly seemed to him as if he discerned the shape of a +horseman approaching the city. + +In such cases the orders given to the Osmanli sentinels were of the +simplest description: they were to shoot everyone who approached in the +night-time without a word. + +The Tartar only waited until the man had come nearer, and then, placing +his long musket on the moulding of the gate, began to take aim with it. + +But the approaching horseman rode his steed as oddly as only Hungarian +_csikósok_[10] can do, for he bobbed perpetually from the right to the +left, and dodged backwards and forwards in the most aggravating manner. + + [Footnote 10: Horse-dealers.] + +"Allah pluck thy skin from off thee, thou drunken Giaour," murmured the +baffled Tartar to himself, as he found all his aiming useless; for just +as he was about to apply the lunt, the _csikós_ was no longer there, and +the next moment he stood at the very end of his musket. "May all the +seven-and-seventy hells have a little bit of thee! Why canst thou not +remain still for a moment that I may fire at thee?" + +Meanwhile the shape had gradually come up to the very gate. + +"Don't come any nearer," cried the Tartar, "or I shan't be able to shoot +thee." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" said the other. "Then why didn't you tell me so +sooner? But don't hold your musket so near to me, it may go off of its +own accord." + +We recognise in the _csikós_ Kökényesdi, whose horse now began to prance +about to such an extent that it was impossible for the Tartar to take a +fair aim at it. + +"I bring a letter for Haly Pasha, from the Defterdar of Lippa," said the +_csikós_, searching for something in the pocket of his fur pelisse, so +far as his caracolling steed would allow him. "Catch it if you don't +want to come through the gate for it." + +"Well, fling it up here," murmured the sentinel, "and then be off again, +but ride decently that I may have a shot." + +"Thank you, my worthy Mr. Dog-headed Hero; but look out and catch what I +throw to you." + +And with that he drew out a roll of parchment and flung it up to the top +of the gate. The Tartar, with his eyes fixed on the missive, did not +perceive that the _csikós_, at the same time, threw up a long piece of +cord, and the sense of the joke did not burst upon him until the +_csikós_ drew in the noose, and he felt it circling round his body. +Kökényesdi turned round suddenly, twisted the cord round the forepart of +his horse, and clapping the spurs to its side, began galloping off. + +Naturally, in about a moment the Tartar had descended from the top of +the gate without either musket or lunt, and the cord being well lassoed +round his body, he plumped first into the moat, a moment afterwards +reappeared on the top of the trench, and was carried with the velocity +of lightning through bushes and briars. Being quite unused to this mode +of progression, and vainly attempting to cling by hand or foot to the +trees and shrubs which met him in his way, he began to bellow with all +his might, at which terrible uproar the other sentries behind the +ramparts were aroused, and, perceiving that some horseman or other was +compelling one of their comrades to follow after him in this merciless +fashion, they mounted their horses, and throwing open the gate, plunged +after him. + +As for Kökényesdi, he trotted on in front of them, drawing the Tartar +horde farther and farther after him till he reached a willow-wood, when +he turned aside and whistled, and instantly fifty stout fellows leaped +forth from the thicket on swift horses with _csákánys_[11] in their +hands, so that the pursuing Turks were fairly caught. + + [Footnote 11: Long-handled hammers.] + +They turned tail, however, in double-quick time, having no great love of +the _csákánys_, and never stopped till they reached the gate of the +fortress, within the walls of which they yelled to their heart's +content, that Kökényesdi's robbers were at hand, had leaped the cattle +trench at a single bound, seized a good part of the herds and were +driving the beasts before them; whereupon, some hundreds of Spahis set +off in pursuit of the audacious adventurers. When, however, the robbers +had reached the River Körös, they halted, faced about and stood up to +their pursuers man to man, and the encounter had scarce begun when the +Spahis grew alive to the fact that their opponents, who at first had +barely numbered fifty, had grown into a hundred, into two hundred, and +at last into five or six hundred: from out of the thickets, the ridges, +and the darkness, fresh shapes were continually galloping to the +assistance of their comrades, while from the fortress the Turks came +rushing out on each other's heels in tens and twenties to the help of +the Spahis, so that by this time the greater part of the garrison had +emerged to pounce upon Kökényesdi's freebooters; when suddenly, the +battle-cry resounded from every quarter and from the other side of the +Körös, whence nobody expected it, the _bandérium_[12] of the gentry of +Báródság rushed forth, and swam right across the river; while from the +direction of Várad-Olaszi, amidst the rolling of drums, Ladislaus +Rákóczy came marching along with the infantry of Szathmár. + + [Footnote 12: Mounted troops.] + +"Forward!" cried the youth, holding the banner in his hand, and he was +the first who placed his foot on the storming-ladder. The terrified +garrison, after firing their muskets in the air, abandoned the ramparts +and fled into the citadel. + +Rákóczy got into the town before the Spahis who were fighting with +Kökényesdi, and who now, at the sound of the uproar, would have fled +back through the town to take refuge in the citadel, but came into +collision with the cavalry of Topay, who reached the gates of the town +at the same moment that they did, and both parties, crowding together +before the gates, desperately tried to get possession of them, during +which tussle the contending hosts for a moment were wedged together into +a maddened mass, in which the antagonists could recognise each other +only from their war-cries; when, all at once, from the middle of the +town, a huge column of fire whirled up into the air, illuminating the +faces of the combatants. The fact was that Kökényesdi had hit upon the +good idea of connecting a burning lunt with the tops of the houses, and +making a general blaze, so that at least the people could see one +another. By this hideous illumination the Spahis suddenly perceived that +Rákóczy's infantry had broken through the ramparts in one place, and +that a sturdy young heyduke had just hoisted the banner of the Blessed +Virgin on the top of the eastern gate. + +"This is the day of death," cried the Aga of the Spahis in despair; and +drawing his sword from its sheath, he planted himself in the gateway, +and fought desperately till his comrades had taken refuge in the town, +and he himself fell covered with wounds. It was over his body that the +Hungarians rushed through the gates after the flying Spahis. + +At that moment a fresh cry resounded from the fortress: "Ali! Ali!" The +Pasha himself was advancing with his picked guards, with the valiant +Janissaries, with those good marksmen, the Szaracsies, who can pierce +with a bullet a thaler flung into the air, and with the veteran +Mamelukes, who can fight with sword and lance at the same time. He +himself rode in advance of his host on his war-horse, his big red face +aflame with rage; in front of him his standard-bearer bore the triple +horse-tail, on each side of which strode a negro headsman with a +broadsword. + +"Come hither, ye faithless dogs! Is the world too narrow for ye that ye +come to die here? By the shadow of Allah, I swear it, ye shall all be +sent to hell this day, and I will ravage your kingdom ten leagues round. +Come hither, ye impure swine-eaters! Your heads shall be brought to +market; everyone who brings in the head of a Christian shall receive a +ducat, and he who brings in a captive shall die." + +Thus the Pasha roared, stormed, and yelled at the same time; while Topay +tried to marshal once more his men who were scattering before the fire +of the Turks, galloping from street to street, and re-forming his +terrified squadrons to make head against the solid host of the advancing +Turks, which was rapidly gaining ground, while Kökényesdi's followers +only thought of booty. + +"A hundred ducats to him who shoots down that son of a dog!" thundered +the Pasha, pointing out the ubiquitous Topay, and, finding it impossible +to get near him, roared after him: "Thou cowardly puppy! whither art +thou running? Look me in the face, canst thou not?" + +Topay heard the exclamation and shouted back very briefly: + +"I saw _thy_ back at Bánfi-Hunyad."[13] + + [Footnote 13: See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book + II., Chapter IV.] + +At this insult Ali Pasha's gall overflowed, and seizing his mace, he +aimed a blow with it at Topay, when suddenly a sharp crackling +cross-fire resounded from a neighbouring lane, and amidst the thick +clouds of smoke, Rákóczy's musketeers appeared, sticking their daggers +into their discharged firearms, a practise to which the bayonet owed its +origin at a later day. The Turkish cavalry, crowded together in the +narrow street, was in a few moments demoralised by this rapid assault. +The improvised bayonet told terribly in the crush, swords and darts were +powerless against it. + +"Allah is great!" cried Ali. "Hasten into the fortress and draw up the +bridge, we are only perishing here. Only the fortress remains to us." + +His conductors, against his will, seized his bridle, and dragged him +along with them; and when a valiant musketeer, drawing near to him, cut +down his charger, the terrified Pasha clambered up into the saddle of +one of his headsmen, and took refuge behind his back. + +A young Hungarian horseman was constantly on his track. Nobody could +tell Ali who he was, but one could see from his face that he was the +Pasha's fiercest enemy, and animated by something more than mere martial +ardour. This young horseman gave no heed to the bullets or blades which +were directed against him; he was bent only on bloodshed. + +It was young Rákóczy, to whom bitterness had given strength a +hundredfold. Forcing his way through the flying hostile rabble, he was +drawing nearer and nearer to Ali every moment, cutting down one by one +all who barred the way between him and the Pasha, and the Turks quailed +before his strong hands and savage looks. + +At length they reached the bridge, which was built upon piles, between +deep bulwarks, and led into the fortress, the front part of whose gate +was fortified by iron plates and huge nails, and could be drawn up to +the gate of the tower by round chains. On the summit of the tower of the +citadel could still be seen the equestrian statue of St. Ladislaus +derisively turned upside down between the severed legs of two felons. + +The Hungarians and the Turks reached the bridge together so intermingled +that the only thing to be seen was a confused mass of turbans and +helmets, in the midst of a forest of swords and scimitars, with the +banner of the Blessed Virgin cheek by jowl with the crescented +horse-tails. + +At the gate of the citadel stood two long widely gaping +eighteen-pounders commanding the bridge, filled with chain, shot, and +ground nails; but the Komparajis dare not use their cannons, for in +whatever direction they might aim, there were quite as many Turks as +Hungarians. On the bridge itself the foes were fighting man to man. +Rákóczy was at that moment fighting with the bearer of the triple +horse-tail, striving to take the standard pole with his left hand, while +he aimed blow after blow at his antagonist with his right. + +"Shoot them down, you good-for-nothings!" roared Ali Pasha, turning back +to the inactive and contumacious Komparajis. "Reck not whether your +bullets sweep away as many Mussulmans as Hungarians, myself included! +Sweep the bridge clear, I say! Life is cheap, but Paradise is dear!" + +But the gunners still hesitated to fire amongst their comrades, when Ali +sent two drummers to them commanding them to aim their guns aloft and +fire into the air. + +The contest on the bridge was raging furiously; the Janissaries had +placed their backs against the parapet, and there stood motionless, with +their huge broad-swords in their naked fists, like a fence of living +scythes, tearing into ribbons everything which came between them. + +Then it occurred to a regiment of German Drabants to clamber up the +parapet of the bridge, and tear the Janissaries away from the parapet; +some ten or twenty of these Drabants did scramble up on the bridge, when +the parapet suddenly gave way beneath the double weight, and Janissaries +and Drabants fell down into the deep moat beneath, throttling each other +in the water, and whenever a turbaned head appeared above the surface, +the Germans standing at the foot of the bridge beat out its brains with +their halberds. + +Meanwhile, the two fighting heroes in the middle of the bridge were +almost exhausted by the contest. They had already hacked each other's +swords to pieces, had grasped the banner, the object of the struggle, +with both hands, and were tearing away at it with ravening wrath. + +The Turkish standard-bearer then suddenly pressed his steed with his +knees, making it rear up beneath him, so that the Turk stood now a head +and shoulder higher than Rákóczy, and threatened either to oust him from +his saddle or tear the standard from his hand. + +At that moment the white figure of a girl appeared on the summit of the +rampart of the tower, her black locks streaming in the wind, her face +aglow with enthusiasm. + +"Heaven help thee, Ladislaus!" cried the girl from the battlement of the +tower; and the youth, hearing from on high what sounded like a voice +from heaven, recognised it, looked up and saw his bride--a superhuman +strength arose in his heart and in his arm, and when the Turkish +standard-bearer made his charger rear, Rákóczy suddenly let the +flag-pole go, and seizing the bridle of the snorting steed with both +hands, with one Herculean thrust, flung back steed, rider, and banner +through the palisade into the deep moat below. + +"There is no hope save with God!" cried Ali in despair, for his +terrified people at the sight of this prodigy had dragged him along with +them against his will. + +"Ladislaus! Ladislaus! My darling!" resounded from above. The youth was +fighting with the strength of ten men; three horses had already been +shot under him, and a third sword was flashing in his hand. Already he +was standing on the drawbridge; his sweetheart threw down a white +handkerchief to him, and he was already waving it above his head in +triumph, when a well-directed bullet pierced the young hero's heart, and +he collapsed a corpse on the very threshold of his success, in the very +gate of the captured fortress at the feet of his beloved. + +At that same instant a heart-rending shriek resounded, and from the top +of the tower a white shape fell down upon the bridge; the beautiful +bride, from a height of thirty feet, had cast herself down on the dead +body of her beloved, and died at the same instant as he, mingling their +blood together; and if their arms did not, at least their souls could, +embrace each other. + +This spectacle so stupefied the besiegers, that Ali Pasha had just time +enough swiftly to raise the drawbridge and save the fortress and a +fragment of his host. Of those who remained outside, not a single soul +survived. Kökényesdi massacred without mercy everything which distantly +resembled a Turk, together with the camels and mules, sparing nothing +but the horses, and when every house had been well plundered, he set the +town on fire in twelve places, so that the flames in half an hour +consumed everything, and the whole city blazed away like a gigantic +bonfire, the rising wind whirling the smoke and flame over the ditch +towards the fortress. + +"Ali Pasha may put that in his pipe and smoke it," said Kökényesdi, +rejoicing at the magnificent conflagration. + + * * * * * + +But the bodies of Ladislaus Rákóczy and his sweetheart they bore away, +and buried them side by side in the family vault at Rákás. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. + + +About a day's journey from Klausenburg there used to be a famous +monastery, whose ruined tower remains to this day. + +Formerly the ample courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall, massive and +strong, within which crowds of pilgrims, coming from every direction, +found a convenient resting-place. For at the foot of this monastery was +a famous miraculous spring, which entirely disappeared throughout the +winter and spring, but on certain days in the summer and autumn was wont +to trickle through the crevices of the rocks, and, for a couple of weeks +or so, to bubble forth abundantly, whereupon it gradually subsided +again. + +During this season whole hosts of suffering humanity, the lame, the +paralytic, the aged, the mentally infirm, and the childless mothers, +would come from the most distant regions; and the Lord of Nature gave a +wondrous virtue to the waters, and the sufferers quitted the blessed +spring crutchless and edified, both in body and mind. There could be +seen, hung up on the walls of the church, votive crutches which the +cripples had left behind them; and more than one great nobleman, out of +gratitude to the holy spring, enriched the altar with gold and silver +plate. + +The larger part of the building was reserved for noble guests, the +common people encamped in the courtyard beneath tents; and behind the +building a splendid garden was laid out, which the worthy monks always +magnificently maintained. Even to this day, in the grassy patches round +about the spot, it is possible to discover the savage descendants of +many rare and precious flowers. + +At the period in which our history falls, the convent of the holy well +was represented by a single reverend father, whom the common tongue +simply called Friar Gregory, and there was scarce a soul in Transylvania +who did not know him well. He was a big man, six feet in height, with a +flowing black beard, swarthy, lean, with a bony frame, and with hands so +big that he could cover a six-pound cannon ball with each palm. A simple +habit covered his limbs, head-dress he had none, and his broad shining +forehead was without a wrinkle. His droning voice was so powerful that +when he sang his psalms he made more noise than a whole congregation. + +At the times when the holy spring was flowing, the cellar and pantry of +the good friar stood wide open to rich and poor alike, for whatever he +earned in one year he never put by for the next, and whatever the +wealthy paid to him the needy had the benefit of; and whenever any +clerical colleague happened to come his way, whether he were Orthodox, +Armenian, Calvinist, or Unitarian, he could not make too much of him; +all such guests, during their stay, regularly swam in milk and butter, +and remembered it to the very day of their death. + +Just at this very time the Right Reverend Ladislaus Magyari's little +daughter, Rosy, was suffering from a complaint which gave the lie to her +healthy name, and her father thought it just as well to take her to the +holy spring, perchance the healing water would restore to her wan little +face the colour of youth. + +Brother Gregory was beside himself with joy; the best room was prepared +for his right reverend colleague, and brother cook, brother cellarer, +and brother gardener were ordered to see to it that meat, drink, and +heaps of flowers were provided for the honoured guests. No two people in +the wide world were so suited to each other as Father Gregory and Dean +Magyari; their hearts were equally good, and each of them had a head +upon his shoulders. They rose up early in the morning to argue with each +other on dogmatic questions--to wit, which faith was the best, truest, +happiest, most blessed, and surest, and kept it up till late in the +evening, by no means neglecting the frequent emptying of foaming beakers +during the contest, pounding each other with citations, entangling each +other with syllogisms, flooring each other with authorities, and +overwhelming each other with anecdotes; and it always ended in their +shaking hands and agreeing together that every faith was good if only a +man were true to himself. + +While her father was thus manfully battling, pretty pale Rosy would be +amusing herself in the garden or by the spring with little girls of her +own age, and the fresh air, the scent of the flowers, and the beneficent +water of the spring gradually restored to her face its vanished bloom; +and Magyari joyfully thought how delighted her mother would be if she +were able to embrace her convalescent child, and, in sheer delight at +the idea, spun out his disputatious evenings whilst Rosy in an adjacent +cell was sleeping the sleep of the just. + +The two worthy gentlemen were sitting over their cups one beautiful +evening, when a loud knocking was heard at the outer gate. The rule was +that at sundown the pilgrim mob was to betake itself to the courtyard of +the cloister, and the gate should be closed. The friar who kept the gate +came to announce that four queer-looking monks demanded admission, were +they to be let in? + +"There can be no question about it," said Father Gregory. "If any desire +admission, bring them to us, and provide refreshment for them." + +In a few moments the four friars in question entered. They were dressed +in coarse black sackcloth habits, with the cowls drawn down over their +heads. All that was to be seen of them was their eyes and shaggy beards. +With deep obeisances, but without a word, they approached the two +reverend gentlemen. The Father rose politely and greeted them +respectfully in Latin: "Benedicite nomen Domini." They only kept on +bowing and were silent. + +"Nomen dei sit benedictum!" repeated Gregory, fancying that his guests +did not hear what he said, and as they did not reply to that, he asked +with great astonishment: + +"Non exandistis nomen gloriosissimi Domini, fratres amantissimi?" + +At this the foremost of them said: "We do not understand that language, +worthy brother." + +"Then what sort of monks are ye? To what confession do ye belong? Are ye +Greeks?" + +"We are not Greeks." + +"Then are you Armenians?" + +"We are not Armenians." + +"Arians, then?" + +"Neither are we Arians." + +"Are you Patarenes?" + +"No, we are not." + +"Then _in gloriam ćterni_ to what order do you belong?" + +"We are robbers," thereupon exclaimed the one interrogated, throwing +aside the fold of his cloak, beneath which could be seen a belt crammed +with daggers and pistols. "My name is Feri Kökényesdi," said he, +striking his breast. + +Magyari thereupon leaped from his chair, which he immediately converted +into a weapon; it at once occurred to him that he had an only daughter +to defend, and he was ready to fight the robbers on behalf of her. But +the father pulled him by the cassock and whispered: "Pray be quiet, your +Reverence," and then with an infinitely placid face he turned towards +the robbers. "So that is the order to which you belong," said he. +"Still, if you have come as guests, sit down and eat what you desire." + +"But that is not sufficient. Outside this monastery there are 1700 of +us, and all of them want to eat and drink, for it is only the ancient +prophets who, when hungry, were content with the meat of the Word." + +"Let them also satisfy their desires." + +"However, the main thing is this: in your Reverence's chapel is a whole +lot of very nice gold and silver saints, who certainly befriend those +who sigh after them, and as we cannot come running to them here every +day in order to entreat their aid, we had better take them along with +us, that they may be helpful to us on the road." + +"Thou hast a pretty mother-wit, frater! Who could refuse thee anything?" + +"It is also no secret to us, Father Gregory, that your Reverence's +cellar is crammed with kegs full of good money, silver and gold. May we +be allowed to relieve your Reverence of a little of this burden?" + +"He is quite welcome to it," thought the father, well aware that there +was absolutely nothing at all. + +"Do not imagine, your Reverence," continued the robber, "that we cannot +extort a confession, if it should occur to your Reverence to conceal +anything. It would be just as well, therefore, if your Reverence were to +reveal everything before we cut up your back with sharp thongs." + +The brother smiled as good-humouredly as if he were listening to some +pleasing anecdote. + +"Have you any other desires, my sons?" + +"Yes, a good many. There is a great crowd of women collected together in +your Reverence's courtyard. We have taken no vows of celibacy, therefore +we should like to choose from among them what would suit us." + +Magyari felt the hairs of his head rising heavenwards, a cold shiver ran +through him from head to foot, and he would have risen from his place +had not the monk pressed him down with a frightfully heavy hand. + +"For God's sake, my dear son, do not so wickedly. Take away the saints +from the altar if you like, but harm not the innocent who are now +peacefully slumbering in the shadow of God's protection." + +"Not another word, Brother Gregory," cried the robber, closing his fist +on his dagger, "or I'll set the monastery on fire and burn every living +soul in it, yourself included. A robber only recognises four sacraments: +wine, money, wenches, and blood! You may congratulate yourself if we are +content with the third and dispense with the last." + +"So it is!" observed another of the cowled and bearded robbers, tapping +Magyari on the shoulder. "Do you recognise me, eh, your Reverence?" + +Magyari, with a sensation of shuddering loathing, recognised Szénasi, a +canting charlatan whose frauds he had often exposed. + +"We know well enough," said the fellow with an evil chuckle, "that you +have a fair daughter here. I am going to pay off old scores." + +If Magyari had not been well in the brother's grip, he would have gone +for the wretch. Every fibre of his body was shivering with rage. + +Only the brother remained calm and smiling. Joining his hands together, +he made a little mill with the aid of his two thumbs. + +"Wait, my dear son, cannot we come to some agreement. You know very well +that my money is concealed in barrels, but so well hidden is it that +none besides myself know where it is. Even if you turned this monastery +upside down you would not find it. You may also have heard that once +upon a time there lived a kind of men called martyrs, who let themselves +be boiled in oil, or roasted on red-hot fires, or torn in pieces by wild +beasts, without saying a word which might hurt their souls. Well, that +is the sort of man _I_ am. If I make up my mind to hold my tongue, you +might tear me to bits inch by inch with burning tweezers, and you would +get not a word nor a penny out of me. Now 'tis for you to choose. Will +you carry off the money and leave the poor women-folk alone, or will you +lay your hands on the down-trodden, lame, halt, consumptive +beggar-women, whom you will find here, and not see a farthing? Which is +it to be?" + +The four robbers whispered together. No doubt they said something to +this effect: only let the pater produce his money, and then it will be +an easy thing for us to take back our given word and satisfy our hearts' +desires. They signified that they would stand by the money. + +"Look now! you are good men," said the father, "take these two torches +and come with me to the cellar and go through my treasures, only you +must do none any harm." + +"A little less jaw, please," growled Kökényesdi. "Two go in front with +the torches, and Brother Gregory between you. I'll follow after; the +magister can remain behind to look after the other parson. Whoever +speaks a word or makes a signal, I'll bring my axe down on his +head--forward!" + +And so it was. Two of the robbers went in front with torches; after them +came the brother with Kökényesdi at his heels with a drawn dagger in his +hand; last of all marched Magyari, whom Master Szénasi held by the +collar at arm's-length, threatening him at the same time with a flashing +axe. + +Thus they descended to the cellar. The good father, with timid humility, +hid his head in his hood and looked neither to the left nor to the +right. + +The cellar was provided with a large, double, iron trap-door. After +drawing out its massive bolts, the worthy brother raised one of its +flaps, bidding them lower the torches for his convenience. + +As now the first robber descended and the second plunged after him, the +father suddenly kicked out with his monstrous wooden shoe and brought +the door down on his head, so that he rolled down to the bottom of the +stairs; and then, quick as thought, he turned upon Kökényesdi, seized +his hands, and said to Magyari: + +"You seize the other!" + +Kökényesdi, in the first moment of surprise, thrust at the brother, but +his dagger glanced aside against the stiff hair-shirt, and there was no +time for a second thrust, for the terrible brother had seized both his +hands and crushed them against his breast with irresistible force with +one hand, while with the other he dispossessed him of all the murderous +weapons in his girdle one by one, shaking him with one hand as easily as +a grown man shakes a child of nine; then he dragged him towards the +cellar door, pressing it down with their double weight so that those +below could not raise it. + +Mr. Magyari that self-same instant had caught the magister by the nape +of the neck and, mindful of the wrestling trick he had learnt in his +youth when he was a student at Nagyenyed, quickly floored, and, not +content with that, sat down on the top of him with his whole weight, so +that the poor meagre creature was flattened out beneath him. Magyari at +the same time relieved his sprawling hands of their murderous weapons in +imitation of the good priest. + +Kökényesdi admitted to himself that never before had he been in such a +hobble. In a stand-up fight he had rarely met his equal, and more than +once he had held his own against two or three stout fellows +single-handed; but never had he had to do with such a man as Brother +Gregory, one of whose hands was quite sufficient to pin his two arms +uselessly to his side, while with the other hand he explored his +remotest pockets to their ultimate depths and denuded them of every sort +of cutting and stabbing instrument. When the robber realized that even +his gigantic strength was powerless to drag his antagonist away from the +cellar door beneath which his two comrades were vainly thundering, he +endeavoured to free himself by resorting to the desperate devices of the +wild-beasts, lunging out with his feet and worrying the iron hand of the +monk with his teeth; whereupon Brother Gregory also lost his temper and, +seizing Kökényesdi by the hair of his head, held him aloft like a young +hare, so that he was unable to scratch or bite any more. + +"Do not plunge about so, dilectissime; you see it is of no use," said +the brother, holding the robber so far away from him by his hairy poll +with outstretched hand that at last he was obliged to capitulate. + +"Thou seest what unmercifulness thou dost compel us to adopt, +amantissime!" said the brother apologetically, but still holding him +aloft with one hand and shaking a reproving finger at him with the +other. "Dost thou not shudder at thyself, does not thine own soul accuse +thee for coming to plunder holy places? Or dost thou not think of the +Kingdom of Hell to the very threshold of which evil resolves have +misguided thy feet, and where there will be weeping, wailing, and +gnashing of teeth?" + +"Let me go, you devil of a friar!" gasped the robber, hoarse with rage. + +"Not until thou hast come to thyself and art sorry for thy sins," said +the brother, still holding in the air his dilectissime, whose eyes by +this time were starting out of his head because of the tugging pressure +on his hair; "thou must be sorry for thy sins." + +"I am sorry then, only let me go!" + +"And wilt thou turn back to the right path?" + +"Yes, yes, of course I will." + +"And thou wilt steal no more?" + +"Not a cockchafer." + +"Nor curse and swear?" + +"Never no more." + +"Very well, then, I'll let thee go. But, colleague Magyari, first of all +tie all these daggers and axes together and fling them out of the +window." + +Mr. Magyari, who had meanwhile disposed of the magister by tying his +hands and legs so tightly that he was unable to move a muscle, effected +the clearance confided to him, while Brother Gregory deposited on the +ground his convert, who leaned against the wall breathing heavily. + +"Well, you monk of hell, give me something to eat if there's anything +like a kitchen here." + +"Oh, my dear son," said the pater tenderly, stroking the face of his +lambkin; "believe me, that there is more joy in heaven over one +converted sinner----" + +"You're a devil, not a friar; for if you were a man of God you could not +have got over Kökényesdi so easily--Kökényesdi, who was wont to +overthrow whole armadas single-handed--and now to be beaten by an +unarmed man!" + +"Thou didst come against me with an axe and a _fokos_,[14] but I came +against thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and He who permitted +David the shepherd to pluck the raging lion by the beard and slay him, +hath aided my arm also in order that I might be a blessing to thee." + + [Footnote 14: Sledge-hammer.] + +"Blessing indeed!--hang me up! I deserve it for letting myself be +collared by a parson." + +"Oh, my dear son, to attribute such flagrant cruelty to me! Heaven +rejoices not in the death of a sinner." + +"Then let me go!" + +"How could I let thee go when thou art but half converted? Rather remain +here, my son, in this holy seclusion and try and cleanse thy soul by +holy penance and prayer." + +The robber foamed with rage. + +"Where is there a nail that I may hang myself upon it?" + +"That thou certainly wilt never be able to do, for a worthy pater shall +always be by thy side to teach thee how to sing the Psalter." + +The robber gnashed his teeth and stamped with his feet as he cast at the +terrible brother bloodshot glances very similar to those which a hyena +casts upon a beast-tamer whom he would like to tear to bits and grind to +mincemeat, but whom he durst not attack, being well aware that if he but +lay a paw or even cast an eye upon him he will instantly be felled to +the ground. + +"Besides that," continued the brother, "by way of a first trial thou +shalt presently deliver a God-fearing discourse." + +"I preach a sermon!" + +"Not exactly a sermon, but inasmuch as thy faithful followers outside +the walls of the monastery may be growing impatient at thy long absence, +thou wilt stand at a window and, after assuring them of thy heart-felt +penitence, thou wilt send the worthy fellows away that they may depart +to their own homes." + +"Very well," said Kökényesdi, thinking all the time, let me once be +planted at the window in the sight of my bands and at a word from me +they will break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to them at +the first opening. + +Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and whispered in his ear: "You +meanwhile will get the carriage ready and take your seat in it with your +daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble has departed from +the monastery, you will drive straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr. +Ebéni, the commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters, together with +the garrison of Szathmár, has invaded the realm. I detected a helmet +beneath a cowl of one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to +defend the capital against their attacks. God be with you!" + +The two priests pressed each other's hands, whereupon Brother Gregory, +taking the robber by the arms and shoving him through a little low door, +in order that no mischief might befall him, caught him by the nape of +the neck and began to force him to ascend a narrow corkscrew staircase, +two or three steps at a time. + +It was evening now and dark, and there was nothing about the corkscrew +staircase to suggest to the robber whither he was being led till at last +the brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged with him on to a +light place and deposited him in front of a lofty window. + +The robber's first thought was that he could clear the window at a +single bold leap, but one swift glance from the parapet made him recoil +with terror; beneath him yawned a depth of at least fifty ells, and, +glancing dizzily aloft, he perceived hanging above his head the bells of +the monastery. They were in the tower. + +"So now, my dear son," said the brother, "stand out on this parapet and +call in a loud voice to thy faithful ones that they may draw nigh and +hear thee. Then thou wilt speak to them, and in case thou shouldst be at +a loss for words, I shall be standing close by this bell-tongue to +suggest to thee what thou shalt say. But, for God's sake, beware of +thyself, dilectissime! Thou seest what a frightful depth is here below +thee, and say not to thy faithful followers anything but what I shall +suggest to thee, nor give with thy head or thy hand an unbecoming +interpretation to thy words, for if thou doest any such thing, take my +word for it that at that same instant thou shalt fall from this window, +and if once thou dost stumble, thou wilt not stop till thou dost reach +the depths of hell." + +The robber stood at the window with his hair erect with horror. He +actually trembled--a thing which had never occurred to him before. His +valour, that cold contempt for death which had always accompanied him +hitherto, forsook him in this horrible position. He felt that at this +giddy height neither dexterity nor audacity were of the slightest use to +him. Beneath his feet was the gaping abyss, and behind his back was a +man with the strength of a giant from whom a mere push--nay! the mere +touch of a finger, or a shout a little louder than usual, were +sufficient to plunge him down and dash him into helpless fragments on +the rocks below. The desperate adventurer, in a fever of terror never +felt before, crouched against one of the pillars of the window clutching +at the wall with his hand, and it seemed to him as if the wall were +about to give way beneath him, as if the tower were tottering beneath +his feet; and he regarded the ground below as if it had some horrible +power of dragging him down to it, as if some invisible force were +inviting him to leap down from there. + +Meanwhile his bands, who were lying in ambush outside the monastery, +perceived the form of their leader aloft and suddenly darted forward in +a body with a loud yell. + +"Speak to them, attract their attention!" whispered the brother; "quick, +mind what I say!" + +The robber indicated his readiness to comply by a nod of his swimming +head, and repeated the words which the brother concealed behind the +tongue of the bell whispered in his ear. + +"My friends" (thus he began his speech), "the priests are collecting +their treasures; they are piling them on carts; there are sacks and +sacks crammed with gold and silver." + +A hideous shout of joy from the auditors expressed thorough approval of +this sentence. + +"But the worthy brethren have no wine or provisions in this monastery, +but in their cellars at Eger there is plenty, so let two hundred of you +go there immediately and get what you want." + +The freebooters approved of this sentiment also. + +"As for the desires that you nourish towards the womenfolk here, I am +horrified to be obliged to tell you that for the last three days the +black death, that most terrible of plagues, which makes the human body +black as a coal even while alive, and infects everyone who draws near +it, has been raging within the walls of this monastery during the last +three days. I should not therefore advise you to break into this +monastery, for it is full of dead and dying men, and so swift is the +operation of this destroying angel that my three comrades succumbed to +it even while I was ascending this tower, and only the Turkish talisman +I wear, composed of earth seven times burnt, and the little finger of a +baby that never saw the light of day, have preserved me from +destruction." + +By the way, Father Gregory had discovered all these things while he was +investigating the robber's pockets. + +At this terrifying message the horde of robbers began to scatter in all +directions from beneath the walls of the monastery. + +"For the same reason neither I myself nor the treasure of the monastery +can leave this place till all the gold and silver that has been found +here has been purified first by fire, then by boiling, and then by cold +water, lest the black death should infect you by means of them. And now +before making a joint attack on Klausenburg, as we had arranged--which, +in view of the height of its walls and the strength of its fortress, +would scarcely be a safe job to tackle--you will do this instead: Hide +yourselves in parties of two hundred in the forests of Magyar-Gorbo, +Vista and Szucság, and remain there quietly without showing yourself on +the high road; at the same time four hundred of you will go round at +night by the Korod road, and the rest of you will make for the Gyalu +woods, and go round towards Szász Fenes. Then, when the garrison of +Klausenburg hears the rumour that you are approaching by the Korod road, +they will come forth with great confidence; and while some of you will +be enticing them further on continually, the rest of you can fall on the +defenceless town and plunder it. All you have to do is to act in this +way and never show yourselves on the high road." + +The robbers expressed their approval of their leader's advice with a +loud howl; and while Kökényesdi tottered back half senseless into the +brother's arms, they scattered amongst the woods with a great uproar. In +an hour's time all that could be heard of them was a cry or two from the +darkened distance. + +The people assembled in the monastery had been listening to all this in +an agony of terror; only Magyari understood the meaning of it. When the +brother came down from the tower, Kökényesdi was locked up with his two +comrades, and the two reverend gentlemen embraced and magnified each +other. + +"After God, we have your Reverence to thank for our deliverance," said +Magyari with warm feeling, holding his trembling little daughter by the +hand. + +"But now we must save Klausenburg," said Gregory. + +"I will set out this instant; my horse is saddled." + +"Your Reverence on horseback, eh? How about the girl?" + +"I will leave her here in your Reverence's fatherly care." + +"But think." + +"Could I leave her in a better place than within these walls, which +Providence and your Reverence's fists defend so well?" + +"But what if this robber rabble discover our trick and return upon the +monastery with tenfold fury?" + +"Then I will all the more certainly hasten to defend the walls of your +Reverence, because my only child will be within them." + +With that the pastor kissed the forehead of his daughter, who at that +moment was paler than ever, fastened his big copper sword to his side, +seized his shaggy little horse by the bridle, opened the door for +himself, and, with a stout heart, trotted away on the high road. + +But the brother summoned into the chapel the whole congregation, and +late at night intoned a thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts; after which +Father Gregory got into the pulpit and preached to the faithful a +powerful and fulminating sermon, in which he stirred them up to the +defence of their altars, and at the end of his sacred discourse he +seized with one hand the gigantic banner of the church--which on the +occasion of processions three men used to support with difficulty--and +so stirred up the enthusiastic people that if at that moment the robbers +had been there in front of the monastery, they would have been capable +of rushing out of the gates upon them with their crutches and sticks and +dashing them to pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. + + +While the priests were girding swords upon their thighs, while the lame +and the halt were flying to arms in defence of their homes and altars, +the chief commandant of the town of Klausenburg, Mr. Ebéni, was calmly +sleeping in his bed. + +The worthy man had this peculiarity that when any of his officers awoke +him for anything and told him that this or that had happened, he would +simply reply "Impossible!" turn over on the other side, and go on +slumbering. + +Magyari was well aware of this peculiarity of the worthy man, and so +when he arrived home, late at night, safe and sound, he wasted no time +in talking with Mr. Ebéni, but opened the doors of the church and had +all the bells rung in the middle of the night--a regular peal of them. + +The people, aroused from its sleep in terror at the sound of the +church-bells at that unwonted hour, naturally hastened in crowds to the +church, where the reverend gentleman stood up before them and, in the +most impressive language, told them all that he had seen, described the +danger which was drawing near to them beneath the wings of the night, +and exhorted his hearers valiantly to defend themselves. + +The first that Mr. Ebéni heard of the approaching mischief was when ten +or twenty men came rushing to him one after another to arouse him and +tell him what the parson was saying. When at last he was brought to see +that the matter was no joke, he leaped from his bed in terror, and for +the life of him did not know what to do. The people were running up and +down the streets bawling and squalling; the heydukes were beating the +alarm drums; cavalry, blowing their trumpets, were galloping backwards +and forwards--and Mr. Ebéni completely lost his head. + +Fortunately for him Magyari was quickly by his side. + +"What has happened? What's the matter? What are they doing, very +reverend sir?" inquired the commandant, just as if Magyari were the +leader of troops. + +"The mischief is not very serious, but it is close at hand," replied the +reverend gentleman. "A band of freebooters--some seventeen companies +under the command of a robber chief--have burst into Transylvania, and +with them are some regular horse belonging to the garrison of Szathmár. +At this moment they cannot be more than four leagues distant from +Klausenburg; but they are so scattered that there are no more than four +hundred of them together anywhere, so that, with the aid of the +gentlemen volunteers and the Prince's German regiments, you ought to +wipe them out in detail. The first thing to be done, however, is to warn +the Prince of this unexpected event, for he is now taking his pleasure +at Nagyenyed." + +"Your Reverence is right," said Ebéni, "we'll act at once;" and, after +dismissing the priest to look after the armed bands and reconnoitre, he +summoned a swift courier, and, as in his confusion he at first couldn't +find a pen and then upset the inkstand over the letter when he _had_ +written it, he at last hurriedly instructed the courier to convey a +verbal message to the Prince to the effect that the Szathmárians, in +conjunction with the freebooters, had broken into Transylvania with +seventeen companies, and were only four hours' march from Klausenburg, +and that Klausenburg was now preparing to defend itself. + +Thus Ebéni gave quite another version to the parson's tidings, for while +the parson had only mentioned a few horsemen from the Szathmár garrison +he had put the Szathmárians at the head of the whole enterprise, and had +reduced the distance of four leagues to a four hours' journey which, in +view of the condition of the Transylvanian roads, made all the +difference. + +The courier got out of the town as quickly as possible, and by the time +he had reached his destination had worked up his imagination to such an +extent that he fancied the invading host had already valiantly covered +the four leagues; and, bursting in upon the Prince without observing +that the Princess, then in an interesting condition, was with him, +blurted out the following message: + +"The Szathmár garrison with seventeen bands of freebooters has invaded +Transylvania and is besieging Klausenburg, but Mr. Ebéni is, no doubt, +still defending himself." + +The Princess almost fainted at these words; while Apafi, leaping from +his seat and summoning his faithful old servant Andrew, ordered him to +get the carriage ready at once, and convey the Princess as quickly as +possible to Gyula-Fehervár, for the Szathmár army, with seventeen +companies of Hungarians, had attacked Klausenburg, and by this time +eaten up Mr. Ebéni, who was not in a position to defend himself. + +Andrew immediately rushed off for his horses, had put them to in one +moment, in another moment had carried down the Princess' most necessary +travelling things, and in the third moment had the lady safely seated, +who was terribly frightened at the impending danger. + +The men loafing about the courtyard, surprised at this sudden haste, +surrounded the carriage; and one of them, an old acquaintance of +Andrew's, spoke to him just as he had mounted the box and asked him what +was the matter. + +"Alas!" replied Andrew, "the army of Szathmár has invaded Transylvania, +has devastated Klausenburg with 17,000 men, and is now advancing on +Nagyenyed." + +Well, they waited to hear no more. As soon as they perceived the +Princess's carriage rolling rapidly towards the fortress of Fehervár, +they scattered in every direction, and in an hour's time the whole town +was flying along the Fehervár road. Everyone hastily took away with him +as much as he could carry; the women held their children in their arms; +the men had their bundles on their backs and drove their cows and oxen +before them; carts were packed full of household goods; and everyone +lamented, stormed, and fled for all he was worth. + +Just at that time there happened to be at Nagyenyed the envoy of the +Pasha of Buda, Yffim Beg, who had been sent to the Prince to hasten his +march into Hungary with the expected auxiliary army, and who absolutely +refused to believe Teleki that they ought to remain where they where, as +it was from the direction of Szathmár that an attack was to be feared. + +The worthy Yffim Beg was actually sitting in his bath when the +panic-flight took place; and, alarmed at the noise, he sprang out of the +water, and wrapping a sheet round him rushed to the window, and +perceiving the terrified flying rabble, cried to one of the passers-by: +"Whither are you running? What is going on here?" + +"Alas, sir!" panted the breathless fugitive, "the Szathmár army, 27,000 +strong, has invaded Transylvania, has taken everything in its road, and +is now only two hours' march from Nagyenyed." + +This was quite enough for Yffim Beg also. Hastily tying the +bathing-towels round his body and without his turban, he rushed to the +stables, flung himself on a barebacked steed and galloped away from +Nagyenyed without taking leave of anyone; and did not so much as change +his garment till he reached Temesvár, and there reported that the +countless armies of Szathmár had conquered the whole of Transylvania! + +Thus Teleki had gained his object: the Transylvanian troops had now good +reasons for staying at home. Yet he had got much more than he wanted, +for he had only required of Kászonyi a feigned attack, whereas the band +of Kökényesdi had ravaged Transylvania as far as Klausenburg. + +The fact that the worthy friar and Mr. Ladislaus Magyari had captured +the leader of the freebooters made very little difference at all, for +the crafty adventurer had bored his way through the wall of his dungeon +that very night, and had escaped with his three comrades. + +Early next morning, on perceiving that his captives had escaped, Father +Gregory was terribly alarmed, imagining that they would now bring back +the whole robber band against him; and, hastening immediately to collect +the whole of the pilgrims, loaded wagons with the most necessary +provisions and the treasures of the altar, conducted them among the +hills, and there concealed them in the Cavern of Balina, carrying the +sick members of his flock one by one across the mountain-streams in +front of the cavern and depositing them in the majestic rocky chamber, +which more than once had served the inhabitants of the surrounding +districts as a place of refuge from the Tartars, having a large open +roof through which the smoke could get out, while a stream flowing +through it kept them well supplied with drinking-water. In an hour's +time fires and ovens, made from fresh leaves and mown grass, stood ready +in the midst of the place of refuge; and on a stone pedestal, in the +background, always standing ready for such a purpose, an altar was +erected. + +Meanwhile Kökényesdi had hastened to overtake his bands which had +scattered at the word of the brother in order to re-unite them before +the people of Klausenburg could capture them in detail. Szénasi he +dispatched to call back the wanderers who had been sent to the cellars +of Eger and besiege the monastery. + +When Szénasi returned with the two hundred hungry men he only found +empty walls, and to make them emptier still--he burnt them down to the +ground. + +He then sat down, and by the light of the conflagration wrote a +sarcastic letter to Teleki, in which he informed him with a great show +of humility that he had made the required diversion against +Transylvania, that he kissed his hand, that he might command him at any +future time, and that he was his most humble servant. + +He had scarcely sent off the letter by a Wallachian gipsy, picked up on +the road, when he saw a company of horsemen galloping towards the +burning monastery, and recognised in the foremost fugitive Kökényesdi. + +"It is all up with us!" cried the robber chief from afar, "we are +surrounded. All the parsons in the world have become soldiers, and +turned their swords against us as if they were Bibles. The Calvinist +pastor, the Catholic friar, the Greek priest, and the Unitarian +minister--every man jack of them has placed himself at the head of the +faithful, and are coming against us with at least twenty thousand men: +students, artisans and peasants, the whole swarm is rushing upon us. I +and fifty more were set upon by the whole Guild of Shoemakers, who cut +down twenty of my men; they were all as mad as hatters, and when the +peasants had done with us, the gentlemen took us up: they united with +the German dragoons, and pursued my flying army on horseback. Every bit +of booty, every slave they have torn from us; this Calvinist Joshua is +always close on my heels, not a single one of our infantry can be +saved." + +The robber chief behaved as the leader of robber bands usually do +behave. When he had to fight, he fought among the foremost; but when he +had to run, then also he was well to the front. When he was beaten, he +cared not a jot whether the others got off scot-free, he only thought of +saving himself. + +When he had announced the catastrophe from horseback to the terrified +Szénasi, he clapped spurs to his nag, and, without looking back to see +whether anyone was following him, he galloped off, and left Szénasi in +the lurch with the footmen. + +The fox is always most crafty when he falls into the snare. The +perplexed hypocrite perceived that however quickly he might try to +escape, the cavalry would overtake him at Grosswardein and mow him down. +Unfortunately, he knew not how to ride, and therefore could not hope to +save himself that way. Already the trumpets of the Transylvanian bands +were blaring all around him; fiery beacons of pitchy pines were +beginning to blaze out from mountain-top to mountain-top; on every road +were visible the flying comrades of Kökényesdi, terrifying one another +with their shouts of alarm as they rushed through the woods and valleys, +not daring to take refuge among the snowy Alps, where the axes of the +enraged Wallachians flashed before their eyes; and there was not a +single road on which they did not run the risk of being trampled down by +the Hungarian banderia and the German dragoons. + +In that moment of despair Szénasi quickly flung himself into the +garments of a peasant, climbed up to the top of a tree, and as soon as +he perceived the first band of German horsemen approaching him, he +called out to them. + +"God bless you, my noble gentlemen!" + +They looked up at these words and told the man to come down from the +tree. + +"No doubt you also have taken refuge from the robbers, poor man!" + +"Ah! most precious gentlemen! they were not robbers, but German soldiers +in Hungarian uniforms who had been sent hither from Szathmár. Take care +how you pursue them, for if your German soldiers should meet theirs, it +might easily happen that they would join together against you. I heard +what they were saying as I understand their language, but I pretended +that I did not understand; and while they made me come with them to show +them the road, they began talking among themselves, and they said that +they had had sure but secret information from the Klausenburg dragoons +that they were going to attack the town. The Devil never sleeps, my +noble gentlemen!" + +The good gentlemen were astounded; the intelligence was not altogether +improbable, and as, just before, a vagabond had been captured who could +speak nothing but German, a mad rumour spread like wild-fire among the +Magyars that the dragoons had an understanding with the enemy and wanted +to draw them into an ambush; and so the gentlemen told the students, and +the students told the mechanics, and by the time it reached the ears of +Ebéni and the parsons, there was something very like a mutiny in the +army. The gentry suggested that the Germans should be deprived of their +swords and horses; the students would have fought them there and then; +but the most sensible idea came from the Guild of Cobblers, who would +have waited till they had lain down to sleep and then bound and gagged +them one by one. + +Master Szénasi meanwhile went and hunted up the dragoons, whom he found +full of zeal for the good cause entrusted to them, and had a talk with +them. + +"Gentlemen!" said he, "what a pity it is, but look now at these +Hungarian gentlemen! Well, they are shaking their fists at you, so look +to yourselves. Someone has told them that you are acting in concert with +the people of Szathmár, so they won't go a step further until they have +first massacred the whole lot of you." + +At this the German soldiers were greatly embittered. Here they were, +they said, shedding their blood for Transylvania, and the only reward +they got was to be called traitors! So they sounded the alarm, +collected their regiments together, took up a defensive position, and +for a whole hour the camp of Mr. Ebéni was thrown into such confusion +that nothing was easier for Master Szénasi than to hide himself among +the fugitives. All night long Mr. Ebéni suffered all the tortures of +martyrdom. At one time he was besieged by a deputation from the Magyars, +who demanded satisfaction, confirmation, and Heaven only knows what +else; while the worthy parsons kept rushing from one end of the camp to +the other, with great difficulty appeasing the uproar, enlightening the +half-informed, and in particular solemnly assuring both parties that +neither the Hungarian gentlemen wanted to hurt the Germans nor the +Germans the Hungarians, till light began to dawn on them, and the +reconciled parties were convinced, much to their astonishment, that the +whole alarm was the work of a single crafty adventurer who clearly +enough had gained time to escape from the pursuers when they had him in +their very clutches. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. + + +In the middle of the sixteenth century, Haji Baba, the most celebrated +slave-dealer of Stambul, having been secretly informed beforehand, by +acquaintances in the Seraglio, that a great host would assemble that +summer beneath Pesth, hastily filled his ship with wares before his +business colleagues had got an inkling of what was going to happen; and, +steering his bark with its precious load through the Black Sea and up +the Danube, reached Pesth some time before the army had concentrated +there. + +Casting anchor in the Danube, he adorned his vessel with oriental +carpets and flowers, and placing a band of black eunuchs in the prow of +the vessel with all sorts of tinkling musical instruments, he set about +beating drums till the sound re-echoed from the hills of Buda. + +The Turks immediately assembled on the bastions of the castle of Buda +right opposite, and perceiving the bedizened ship with its flags +streaming from the mast and sweeping the waves, thereby giving everyone +who wanted to know what sort of wares were for sale there, got into all +sorts of little skiffs and let themselves be rowed out thither. + +The loveliest damsels in the round world were there exhibited for sale. + +As soon as the first of the Turks had well intoxicated himself with the +sight of the sumptuous wares, he hastened back to get his money and come +again, telling the dozen or so of his acquaintances whom he met on the +way what sort of a spectacle he had seen with no little enthusiasm, and +in a very short time hundreds more were hastening to this ship which +offered Paradise itself for sale. + +Hassan Pasha, the then Governor of Buda, perceiving the throng from the +windows of his palace, and ascertaining the cause, sent his favourite +Yffim Beg to forbid the market to the mob till he, the general, had +chosen for himself what girls he wanted; and if there was any one of the +slave-girls worthy of consideration, he was to buy her for his harem. + +Yffim Beg hastened to announce the prohibition, and when the skiffs had +departed one by one from the ship, he got into the general's curtained +gondola and had himself rowed over to the ship of Haji Baba. + +The man-seller, perceiving the state gondola on its way to him, went to +the ship's side, and waited with a woe-begone face till it had come +alongside, and stretched forth his long neck to Yffim Beg that he might +clamber up it on to the deck. + +The Beg, with great condescension, informed the merchant that he had +come on behalf of the Vizier of Buda, who was over all the Pashas of +Hungary, to choose from among the wares he had for sale. + +Haji Baba, on hearing this, immediately cast himself to the ground and +blessed the day which had risen on these hills, and the water and the +oars which had brought the Beg thither, and even the mother who had made +the slippers in which Yffim Beg had mounted his ship. + +Then he kissed the Beg's hand, and having, as a still greater sign of +respect, boxed the ears of the eunuch who happened to be nearest to the +Beg, for his impertinence in daring to stand so near at all, led Yffim +into the most secret of his secret chambers. Heavy gold-embroidered +hangings defended the entry to the interior of the ship; after this came +a second curtain of dark-red silk, and through this were already audible +sweet songs and twittering, and when this curtain was drawn aside by +its golden tassels, a third muslin-like veil still stood in front of the +entrance through which one could look into the room beyond without being +seen by those inside. + +Fourteen damsels were sporting with one another. Some of them darting in +and out from between the numerous Persian curtains suspended from the +ceiling, and laughing aloud when they caught each other; one was +strumming a mandoline; five or six were dancing a round dance to the +music of softly sung songs; another group was swinging one another on a +swing made from costly shawls. All of them were so young, all of them +were of such superior loveliness, that if the heart had allowed the eye +alone to choose for it, mere bewilderment would have made selection +impossible. + +Yffim Beg gazed for a long time with the indifference of a connoisseur, +but even his face relaxed at last, and smilingly tapping the merchant on +the shoulder, he said to him: + +"You have been filching from Paradise, Haji Baba!" + +Haji Baba crossed his hands over his breast and shook his head humbly. + +"All these girls are my pupils, sir. There is not one of them who +resembles her dear mother. From their tenderest youth they have grown up +beneath my fostering care; I do no business with grown-up, captured +slave-girls, for, as a rule, they only weep themselves to death, grow +troublesome, wither away before their time, and upset all the others. I +buy the girls while they are babies; it costs a mint of money and no end +of trouble before such a flower expands, but at least he who plucks it +has every reason to rejoice. Look, sir, they are all equally perfect! +Look at that slim lily there dancing on the angora carpet! Did you ever +see such a figure anywhere else? How she sways from side to side like +the flowering branch of a banyan tree! That is a Georgian girl whom I +purchased before she was born. Her father when he married had not money +enough for the wedding-feast, so he came to me and sold for a hundred +denarii the very first child of his that should be born. Yes, sir, not +much money, I know, but suppose the child had never been born? And +suppose it had been a son! And how often too, and how easily I might +have been cheated! I am sure you could not say that five hundred ducats +was too much for her if I named that price. Look, how she stamps down +her embroidered slippers! Ah, what legs! I don't believe you could find +such round, white, smooth little legs anywhere else! Her price, sir, is +six hundred ducats." + +Yffim Beg listened to the trader with the air of a connoisseur. + +"Or, perhaps, you would prefer that melancholy virgin yonder, who has +sought solitude and is lying beneath the shade of that rose-tree? Look, +sir, what a lot of rose-trees I have all about the place! My girls can +never bear to be without rose-trees, for roses go best with damsels, and +the fragrance of the rose is the best teacher of love. That Circassian +girl yonder was captured along with her father and mother; the husband, +a rough fellow, slew his wife lest she should fall into our hands, but +he had no time to kill his child, for I took her, and now I would not +sell her for less than seven hundred ducats; there's no hurry, for she +is still quite a child." + +Here Yffim Beg growled something or other. + +"Now that saucy damsel swinging herself to and fro on the shawl," +continued the dealer, "I got in China, where her parents abandoned her +in a public place. She does not promise much at first sight, but touch +her and you'll fancy you are in contact with warm velvet. I would let +you have her, sir, for five hundred ducats, but I should charge anyone +else as much again." + +Yffim Beg nodded approvingly. + +"And now do you see that fair damsel who, with a gold comb, is combing +out tresses more precious than gold; she came to me from the northern +islands, from a ship which the Kapudan Pasha sent to the bottom of the +sea. I don't ask you if you ever saw such rich fair tresses before, but +I do ask you whether you ever saw before a mortal maid with such a +blindingly fair face? When she blushes, it is just as if the dawn were +touching her with rosy finger-tips." + +"Yes, but her face is painted," said Yffim Beg suspiciously. + +"Painted, sir!" exclaimed Haji Baba with dignity. "Painted faces at my +shop! Very well! come and convince yourself." + +And, tearing aside the muslin veil, he entered the apartment with Yffim +Beg. + +At the sight of the men a couple of the charming hoydens rushed +shrieking behind the tapestries, and only after a time poked their +inquisitive little heads through the folds of the curtains; but the +Georgian beauty continued to dance; the Chinese damsel went on swinging +more provocatively than ever; the beauty from the northern islands +allowed her golden tresses to go on playing about her shoulders; a +fresh, tawny gipsy-girl, in a variegated, elaborately fringed dress, +with ribbons in her curly hair, stood right in front of the approaching +Beg, eyed him carefully from top to toe, seized part of his silken +caftan, and rubbed it between her fingers, as if she wanted to appraise +its value to a penny; while a tiny little negro girl with gold bracelets +round her hands and legs, fumigated the entering guest with ambergris, +naďvely smiling at him all the time with eyes like pure enamel and lips +as red as coral. + +The robber-chapman was right, there was not one of these girls who felt +ashamed. They looked at the purchaser with indifference and even +complacency, and everyone of them tried to please him in the hope that +he would take them where they would have lots of jewels and fine +clothes, and slaves to wait on them. + +Haji Baba led the Beg to the above-mentioned beauty, and raising the +edge of her white garment and displaying her blushing face, rubbed it +hard, and when the main texture remained white, he turned triumphantly +to the seller. + +"Well, sir! I sell painted faces, do I? Do you suppose that every +orthodox shah, emir, and khan would have any confidence in me if I did? +Will you not find in my garden those flowers which the Sultana Valideh +presents to the greatest of Emperors on his birthday, and which in a +week's time the Sultan gives in marriage to those of his favourite +Pashas whom he delights to honour? Why, I don't keep Hindu bayaderes +simply because they stain their teeth with betel-root and orange yellow, +and gild their eyebrows; accursed be he who would improve upon what +Allah created perfect! The black girl is lovely because she is black, +the Greek because she is brown, the Pole because she is pale, and the +Wallach because she is ruddy; there are some who like blonde, and some +who like dark tresses; and fire dwells in blue eyes as well as in black; +and God has created everything that man may rejoice therein." + +While the worthy man-filcher was thus pouring himself forth so +enthusiastically, Yffim Beg, with a very grave face, was gazing round +the apartment, drawing aside every curtain and gazing grimly at the +dwellers behind them, who, clad in rich oriental garments, were +reclining on divans, sucking sugar-plums and singing songs. + +Haji Baba was at his back the whole time, and had so much to say of the +qualifications of every damsel they beheld, that the Turkish gentleman +must have been sorely perplexed which of them to choose. + +He had got right to the end of the apartment, when unexpectedly peeping +into the remotest corner, he beheld a damsel who seemed to be entirely +different from all the rest. She was wrapped in a simple white +wadding-like garment, only her head was visible; and when the Beg +turned towards her, both his eyes and his mouth opened wide, and he +stood rooted to the spot before her. + +It was the face of the Queen in the Kingdom of Beauty. Never had he seen +such a look, such burning, glistening, flashing eyes as hers! The proud, +free temples, beneath which two passionate eyebrows sparkled like +rainbows, even without a diadem dispensed majesty. At the first glance +she seemed as savage as Diana surprised in her bath, at the next she was +as timorous as the flying Daphne; gradually a tender smile transformed +her features, she looked in front of her with a dazed expression like +betrayed Sappho gazing at the expanse of ocean in which she would fain +extinguish her burning love. + +"Chapman!" cried the Beg, scarce able to contain himself for +astonishment, "would you deceive me by hiding away from me a houri +stolen from heaven?" + +"I assure you, sir," said the chapman, with a look of terror, "that it +were better for you if you turned away and thought of her no more." + +"Haji Baba, beware! if perchance you would sell her to another, or even +keep her for yourself, you run the risk of losing more than you will +ever make up again." + +"I tell you, sir, by the beard of my father, look not upon that woman." + +"Hum! Some defect perhaps!" thought Yffim to himself, and he beckoned to +the girl to let down her garment. She immediately complied, and, +standing up, stripped her light mantle from her limbs. + +Ah! how the Beg's eyes sparkled. He half believed that what he saw was +not human, but a vision from fairy-land. The damsel's shape was as +perfect as a marble statue carved expressly for the altar of the Goddess +of Love, and the silver hoop encircling her body only seemed to be there +as a girdle in order to show how much whiter than silver was her body. + +"Curses on your tongue, vile chatterer!" said Yffim Beg, turning upon +the chapman. "Here have you been wasting an hour of my time with your +empty twaddle, and hiding the beauties of Paradise from my gaze. What's +the price of this damsel?" + +"Believe me, sir, she won't do for you." + +"What! thou man-headed dog! Dost fancy thou hast to do with beggars who +cannot give thee what thou askest? I come hither to buy for Hassan +Pasha, the Governor of Buda, who is wont to give two thousand ducats to +him who asks him for one thousand." + +At these words the damsel's face was illuminated by an unwonted smile, +and at that moment her large, fiery eyes flashed so at Yffim Beg that +_his_ eyes could not have been more blinded if he had been walking on +the seashore and two suns had flashed simultaneously in his face, one +from the sky and the other from the watery mirror. + +"It is not that," said the slave merchant, bowing himself to the ground; +"on the contrary, I'll let you have the damsel so cheaply that you will +see from the very price that I had reserved her for one of the lowest +_mushirs_, in case he should take a fancy to her--you shall have her for +a hundred dinars." + +"Thou blasphemer, thou! Dost thou cheapen in this fashion the +masterpieces of Nature. Thou shouldst ask ten thousand dinars for her, +or have a stroke on the soles of thy feet with a bamboo for every dinar +thou askest below that price." + +The merchant's face grew dark. + +"Take her not, sir," said he; "you will be no friend to yourself or to +your master if you would bring her into his harem." + +"I suppose," said the Beg, "that the damsel has a rough voice, and that +is why she is going so cheaply?" and he ordered her to sing a song to +him if she knew one. + +"Ask her not to do that, sir!" implored the chapman. But, already, he +was too late. At the very first word the girl had laid hold of a +mandolin, and striking the chords till they sounded like the breeze on +an ćolian harp, she began to sing in the softest, sweetest, most ardent +voice an Arab love-song: + + "In the rose-groves of Shiraz, + In the pale beams of moonlight, + In the burning heart's slumber, + Love ever is born. + + "'Midst the icebergs of Altai, + On the steps of the scaffold, + In the fierce flames of hatred, + Love never can die." + +The Beg felt absolutely obliged to rush forthwith upon Haji Baba and +pummel him right and left for daring to utter a word to put him off +buying the damsel. + +The slave-dealer patiently endured his kicks and cuffs, and when the +jest was over, he said once more: + +"And again I have to counsel you not to take the damsel for your +master." + +"What's amiss with her, then, thou big owl? Speak sense, or I'll hang +thee up at thine own masthead." + +"I'll tell you, sir, if only you will listen. That damsel has not +belonged to one master only, for I know for certain that five have had +her. All five, sir, have perished miserably by poison, the headman's +sword, or the silken cord. She has brought misfortune to every house she +has visited, and she has dwelt with Tartars, Turks, and Magyars. Against +the Iblis that dwells within her, prophets, messiahs, and idols have +alike been powerless; ruin and destruction breathe from her lips; he who +embraces her has his grave already dug for him, and he who looks at her +had best have been born without the light of his eyes. Therefore I once +more implore you, sir, to let this damsel go to some poor mushir, whose +head may roll off without anybody much caring, and do not convey danger +to so high a house as the palace of Hassan Pasha." + +The Beg shook his head. + +"I thought thee a sharper, and I have found thee a blockhead," said he, +and he signified to the damsel to wrap herself in her mantle and follow +him. + +"Allah is my witness that I warned you; I wash my hands of it," +stammered Haji Baba. + +"The girl will follow me; send thou for the money to my house." + +"The Prophet seeth my soul, sir. If you are determined to take the +damsel, _I_ will not give her to you for money, lest so great a man may +one day say that he bought ruin from me. Take her then as a gift to your +master." + +"But I have forgotten to ask the damsel's name?" + +"I will tell you, but forget not every time that name passes your lips +to say: 'Mashallah!' for that woman's name is the name of the devil, and +doubtless she does not bear it without good cause, nor will she ever be +false to it." + +"Speak, and chatter not!" + +"That damsel's name is Azrael ... Allah is mighty!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE AMAZON BRIGADE. + + +It was three days since Azrael had come into the possession of Hassan +Pasha, and in the evening of the third day Haji Baba was sitting in the +prow of his ship and rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight when he saw, a +long way off, in the direction of the Margaret island a skiff, and then +another skiff, and then another, row across the Danube, and heard +heart-rending shrieks which only lasted for a short time. + +Presently the skiffs disappeared among the trees on the river bank, the +last hideous cry died away, and from the rose-groves of the castle came +a romantic song which resounded over the Danube through the silent +night. The merchant recognised the voice of the odalisk, and listened +attentively to it for a long time, and it seemed to him as if through +this song those shrieks were passing incessantly. + +The next day Yffim Beg came to see him, and the merchant hospitably +welcomed him. He set before him a narghile and little cups of sherbet, +and then they settled down comfortably to their pipes, but neither of +them uttered a word. + +Thus a good hour passed away; then at last Haji Baba opened his mouth. + +"During the night I saw some skiffs row out towards the island, and I +heard the sound of stifled shrieks." + +And then they both continued to pull away at their narghiles, and +another long hour passed away. + +Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji Baba, and said, just as +he was moving off: + +"They were the favourite damsels of Hassan Pasha, who had been sewn up +in leathern sacks and flung into the water." + +Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a Turk: I anticipated +that. + +Not long afterwards the whole host began to assemble below Pesth, +encamping on the bank of the Danube; a bridge suddenly sprang into +sight, and across it passed army corps, heavy cannons and wagons. First +there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier Aga, with a bodyguard of nine +thousand men, and pitched their tents on the Rákás; after him followed +Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and their tents covered +the plain. The Tartar Khan's disorderly hordes, which might be computed +at forty thousand, extended over the environs of Vácz; and presently +Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand horsemen, and along with him +the picked troops of the Vizier of Buda; the whole army numbered about +one hundred thousand. + +So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were numerous purchasers among +so many Turkish gentlemen; there was something to suit everyone, for the +prices were graduated; and Haji thought he might perhaps order up a +fresh consignment from his agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off +rapidly so long as the camp remained. But he very much wanted to know +how long the concentration would go on, and how many more gentlemen were +still expected to join the host, and with that object he sought out +Yffim Beg. + +The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly everyone who had a mind +to come was there already. The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously +absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk Pasha and young Feriz +Beg's brigades were still expected; without them the army would move no +farther. + +At the mention of these names Haji Baba started. + +"You have as good as made me a dead man, sir. I must now go back to +Stambul with my whole consignment." + +"Art thou mad?" + +"No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for these gentlemen. Never, +sir, can I live in the same part of the world, sir, with those fine +fellows, whom may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation! I +have two houses on the opposite shores of the Bosphorus, so that when +these noble gentlemen are in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come +to Asia I may sail over to Europe." + +"Thou speakest in riddles." + +"Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz Beg?" + +"I have heard him mentioned as a valiant warrior." + +"And how about the brigade of damsels which is wont to follow him into +battle?" + +Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words. + +"It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have never dealt in damsels +like me. But you should know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz +Beg is as great a danger to every man who trades in women as plague or +small-pox." + +"I never heard of this peculiarity of his." + +"But I have. I tell you this Feriz Beg is a youth with magic power, in +whose eyes is hidden a talisman, whose forehead is inscribed with magic +letters, and from whose lips flow sorcery and magic spells, so that +whenever he looks upon a woman, or whenever she hears his words even +through a closed door, that woman is lost for ever. Just as he upon whom +the moon shines when he is asleep is obliged to follow the moon from +thenceforth, so, too, this young man draws after him with the moonbeams +of his eyes all the women who look upon him. Ah! many is the great man +who has cursed the hour in which Feriz Beg galloped past his windows and +thereby turned the heads of the most beauteous damsels. Even the Grand +Vizier himself has wept the loss of his favourite bayadere Zaida, who +descended from his windows by a silken cord into the sea, and swam after +the ship which bore along Feriz Beg; and one night my kinsman, Kutub +Alnuma, who is a far greater slave merchant than I am, was, while he +slept, tied hand and foot by his own damsels to whom he heedlessly had +pointed out Feriz Beg, and the whole lot incontinently ran after him." + +"And what does the youth do with all these women?" + +"Oh, sir, that is the most marvellous part of the whole story. For if he +culled all the fairest flowers of earth for the sake of love, I would +say that he was a wise man, who tasted the joys of Paradise beforehand. +But it is quite another thing, sir. You will be horrified when I tell +you that he at whose feet all the beauties of earth fling themselves, +never so much as greets one of them with a kiss." + +"Is he sick, then, or mad?" + +"He loves another damsel, a Christian girl, who is far from here, and +for whom he has pined from the days of his childhood. At the time of his +first battle he saw this girl for the first time, and as often as he has +gone to war since, it is always with her name upon his lips that he +draws his sword." + +"And what happens to the girls he takes away?" + +"When the first of these flung themselves at his feet, offering him +their hearts and their very lives and imploring him to kill them if he +would not requite their love, to them he replied: 'You have not been +taught to love as I love. Your love awoke in the shadows of rose-bushes, +mine amidst the flashing of swords; you love sweet songs, and the voice +of the nightingale, I love the sound of the trumpet. If you would love +me, love as I do; if you would be with me, come whither I go; and if +Allah wills it, die where I die.' Ah, sir, there is an accursed charm on +the lips of this young man. He destroys the hearts of the damsels with +his words so that they forget that Allah gave them to men as playthings +and delightful toys, and they gird swords upon their tender thighs, +fasten cuirasses of mail round their bosoms, and expose their fair faces +to deadly swords." + +"And do these women really fight, or is it all a fable?" + +"They do wonders, sir. No one has ever seen them fly before the foe, and +frequently they are victorious; and if they have less strength in their +arms than men, they have ten times more fire in their hearts. And if at +any one point the fight is most dogged, and the enemy collecting +together his most valiant bands has tired out the hardly-pressed spahis +and timariots, then the youth draws his sword and plunges into the +blackest of mortal peril. And then the wretched women all plunge blindly +after him, and each one of them tries to get nearest to him, for they +know that every weapon is directed against him, and they ward off with +their bosoms the bullets which were meant for him. And so long as the +youth remains there, or presses forward, they never leave him, the whole +battalion perishes first. And at last, if he wins the fight and remains +master of the field, the youth dismounts from his horse, collects the +bodies of the slain who have fallen fighting beside him, kisses them one +by one on their foreheads, sheds tears on their pale faces, and with his +own hands lays them in the grave. And, believe me, sir, these bewitched, +enchanted damsels are mad after that kiss, and their only wish is to +gain it as soon as possible." + +"And is there none to put an end to this scandal? Have the generals no +authority to abolish this abomination? Do not the outraged owners demand +back their slave-girls?" + +"You must know, sir, that Feriz Beg stands high in the favour of the +Sultan. He is never prominent anywhere but on the battlefield, but there +he gives a good account of himself; and if anybody who came to his +tents to try and recover his slave-girls by force, he might easily be +sent about his business minus his nose and ears. Besides, who could say +that these warriors of Feriz are women? Do they not dispense thrusts and +slashes instead of kisses? Do you ever hear them sing or see them dance +and smile so long as they are under canvas? Oh, sir, I assure you that +you would do well if you told all those who buy slave-girls from me to +guard the damsels from the enchanting dark eyes of this man, for there +is a talisman concealed in them. And, in particular, forget not to tell +your master to conceal his damsel, for you know not what might happen if +a magician caused a female Iblis[15] to enter into her. If an enamoured +woman is terrible, what would an enamoured she-devil be? You bought her, +take care that she does not sell you! The day before yesterday you threw +his favourite women into the water, the day after to-morrow you +might----but Allah guard my tongue, I will not say what I would. Watch +carefully, that's all I'll say. Yet to keep a watch upon women is the +most difficult of sciences. If you want to get into a beleagured +fortress, hide an enamoured woman in it, and she'll very soon show you +the way in. Take heed to what I say, sir, for if you forget my words but +for half an hour, I would not give my little finger-nail for your head." + + [Footnote 15: Evil spirit.] + +Whereupon Yffim Beg arose without saying a word and withdrew, deeply +pondering the words of the slave-dealer. But Haji Baba that same night +drew up his anchors, and at dawn he had vanished from the Danube, none +knew whither. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE MARGARET ISLAND. + + +On the Margaret island, in the bosom of the blue Danube, was the +paradise of Hassan Pasha, and to behold its treasures was death. At +every interval of twenty yards stands a eunuch behind the groves of the +island with a long musket, and if any man fares upon the water within +bullet-reach, he certainly will never tell anyone what he saw. + +Paradise exhales every intoxicating joy, every transient delight; it is +full of flowers, and no sooner does one flower bloom than another +instantly fades away; and this also is the fate of those flowers which +are called damsels, for some of these likewise fade in a day, whilst +others are culled to adorn the table of the favourite. This, I say, is +the fate of all the flowers, and frequently in those huge porcelain +vases which stand before Azrael's bed, among its wreaths of roses and +pomegranate flowers, one may see the head of an odalisk with drooping +eyes who yesterday was as bright and merry as her comrades, the rose and +pomegranate blossoms. + +Oh, that woman is a veritable dream! Since he possessed her Hassan Pasha +is no longer a man, but a piece of wax which receives the impression of +her ideas. He hears nothing but her voice, and sees nothing but her. +Already they are beginning to say that Hassan Pasha no longer recognizes +a man ten feet off, and is no longer able to distinguish between the +sound of the drum and the sound of the trumpet. And it is true, but +whoever said so aloud would be jeopardizing his head, for Hassan would +conceal his failings for fear of being deprived of the command of the +army if they became generally known. + +All the better does Yffim Beg see and hear, Yffim Beg who is constantly +about Azrael; if he were not such an old and faithful favourite of +Hassan Pasha he might almost regret that he has such good eyes and ears. +But Azrael's penetrating mind knows well enough that Yffim Beg's head +stands much more firmly on his shoulders than stand the heads of those +whom Hassan Pasha sacrifices to her whims, so she flatters him, and it +is all the worse for him that she does flatter. + +Hassan Pasha, scarce waiting for the day to end and dismissing all +serious business, sat him down in his curtained pinnace, known only to +the dwellers on the fairy island, and had himself rowed across to his +hidden paradise, where, amidst two hundred attendant damsels, Azrael, +the loveliest of the living, awaits him in the hall of the fairy kiosk, +round whose golden trellis work twine the blooms of a foreign sky. + +Yffim Beg alone accompanies the Pasha thither. + +The Governor, after embracing the odalisk, strolled thoughtfully through +the labyrinth of fragrant trees where the paths were covered by coloured +pebbles and a whole army of domesticated birds made their nests in the +trees. Yffim Beg follows them at a little distance, and not a movement +escapes his keen eyes, not so much as a sigh eludes his sharp ears; he +keeps a strict watch on all that Azrael does and says. + +In the midst of their walk--they hadn't gone a hundred paces--a falcon +rose before them from among the trees and perched on a poplar close by. + +"Look, sir, what a beautiful falcon!" cried Yffim Beg. + +Azrael laughed aloud and looked back. + +"Oh, my good Beg, how canst thou take a wood-pigeon for a falcon? why it +_was_ a wood-pigeon." + +"I took good note of it, Azrael, and there it is sitting on that +poplar." + +"Why, that's better still--now he calls a nut-tree a poplar. Eh, eh! +worthy Beg, thou must needs have been drinking a little to see so +badly." + +"Well, that was what I fancied," said the Beg, much perplexed, and for +the life of him not perceiving the point of the jest. Why should the +odalisk make a fool of him so? + +"But look then, my love," said Azrael, appealing to the Pasha; "thou +didst see that bird fly away from the tree yonder, was it not a +wood-pigeon flying from a nut-tree?" + +Hassan saw neither the tree nor the bird, but he pretended he did, and +agreed with the odalisk. + +"Of course it was a wood-pigeon and a nut-tree." + +Yffim Beg did not understand it at all. + +They went on further, and presently Yffim Beg again spoke. + +"Shall we not turn, my master, towards that beautiful arcade of +rose-trees?" + +Azrael clapped her hands together in amazement. + +"What! an arcade of roses! Where is it?" + +"Turn in that direction and thou wilt see it." + +"These things! Why if he isn't taking some sumach trees full of berries +for an arcade of rose-trees!" + +Hassan Pasha laughed. As for Yffim Beg he was lost in amazement--why did +this damsel choose to jest with him in this fashion? + +At that moment a cannon shot resounded from the Pesth shore. + +"Ah!" said the Pasha, stopping, "a cannon shot!" + +"Yes, my master," said Yffim, "from the direction of Pesth." + +"From Pesth indeed," said Azrael, "it was from Buda; it was the signal +for closing the gate." + +"I heard it plainly." + +"Excuse me, my good Beg, but thy hearing is as bad as thy sight. I am +beginning to be anxious about thee. How could it be from the direction +of Pesth when the whole camp has crossed over to Buda?" + +"Maybe a fresh host has arrived, which now awaits us." + +"Come," cried Azrael, seizing Hassan's hand, "we will find out at once +who is right;" and she hastened with them to the shore of the island. + +On the further bank the camp of Feriz Beg was visible; they were just +pitching their tents on the side of the hills. A company of cavalry was +just going down to the water's-edge, at whose head ambled a slim young +man whose features were immediately recognised, even at that distance, +both by the favourite Beg and the favourite damsel. + +Only Hassan saw nothing; in the distance everything was to him but a +blur of black and yellow. + +"Well, what did I say?" exclaimed Yffim Beg triumphantly; "that is the +camp of Feriz Beg, and there is Feriz himself trotting in front of +them." + +The words were scarce out of his mouth when the terrible thought +occurred to him that Azrael had no business to be looking upon this +strange man. + +The odalisk, laughing loudly, flung herself on Hassan's neck. + +"Ha, ha, ha! the worthy Beg takes the water-carrying girls for an army!" + +Then Yffim Beg began to tremble, for he perceived now whither this woman +wanted to carry her joke. + +"My master," said he, "forbid thy slave-girl to make a fool of me. The +camp of Feriz Beg is straight in front of us, and thou wilt do well to +prevent thy maid-servant from looking at these men with her face +unveiled." + +"Allah! thou dost terrify me, good Beg!" said Azrael, feigning horror so +admirably that Hassan himself felt the contagion of it. + +"Say! where dost thou see this camp?" + +"There, on the water-side; dost thou not see the tents on the +hillocks?" + +"Surely it is the linen which these girls are bleaching." + +"And that blare of trumpets?" + +"I only hear the merry songs that the girls are singing." + +In his fury Yffim Beg plucked at his beard. + +"My master, this devilish damsel is only mocking us." + +"Thou art suffering from deliriums," said Azrael, with a terrible face, +"or thou art under a spell which makes thee see before thee things which +exist not. Contradict me not, I beg; this hath happened to thee once +before. Dost thou not remember when thou fleddest from Transylvania how, +then also, thou didst maintain that the enemy was everywhere close upon +thy heels! Thou also then wert under the spell of a hideous enchantment, +for thy eunuch horseman who remained behind at Nagyenyed, and is now a +sentinel on this island, hath told me that there was no sign of any +enemy for more than twenty leagues around, and he remained waiting for +thee for ten days and fancied thou wert mad. Most assuredly some evil +sorcery made thee fly before an imaginary enemy without thy turban or +tunic." + +Yffim Beg grew pale. He felt that he must surrender unconditionally to +this infernal woman. + +"Was it so, Yffim?" cried Hassan angrily. + +"Pardon him, my lord," said Azrael soothingly; "he was under a spell +then, as he is now. Thou art bewitched, my good Yffim." + +"Really, I believe I am," he stammered involuntarily. + +"But I will turn away the enchantment," said the damsel; and tripping +down to the water's-edge she moistened her hand and sprinkled the face +of the Beg, murmuring to herself at the same time some magic spell. "Now +look and see!" + +The Beg did all that he was bidden to do. + +"Who, then, are these walking on the bank of the Danube?" + +"Young girls," stammered the Beg. + +"And those things spread out yonder." + +"Wet linen." + +"Dost thou not hear the songs of the girls?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"Look now, my master, what wonders there are beneath the sun!" said +Azrael, turning towards Hassan Pasha; "is it not marvellous that Yffim +should see armies when there is nothing but pretty peasant girls?" + +"Miracles proceed from Allah, but methinks Yffim Beg must have very bad +sight to mistake maidens for men of war." + +Yffim Beg durst not say to Hassan Pasha that he also had bad sight; he +might just as well have pronounced his own death sentence at once. +Hassan wanted to pretend to see all that his favourite damsel pointed +out, and she proceeded to befool the pair of them most audaciously in +the intimate persuasion that Hassan would not betray the fact that he +could not see, while Yffim Beg was afraid to contradict lest he should +be saddled with that plaguy Transylvanian business. + +Meanwhile, on the opposite bank, Feriz Beg in a sonorous voice was +distributing his orders and making his tired battalions rest, galloping +the while an Arab steed along the banks of the Danube. The odalisk +followed every movement of the young hero with burning eyes. + +"I love to hear the songs of these damsels; dost not thou also, my +master?" she inquired of Hassan. + +"Oh, I do," he answered hastily. + +"Wilt thou not sit down beside me here on the soft grass of the river +bank?" + +The Pasha sat down beside the odalisk, who, lying half in his bosom, +with her arm round his neck, followed continually the movements of Feriz +with sparkling eyes. + +"Look, my master!" said she, pointing him out to Hassan; "look at that +slim, gentle damsel, prominent among all the others, walking on the +river's bank. Her eyes sparkle towards us like fire, her figure is +lovelier than a slender flower. Ah! now she turns towards us! What a +splendid, beauteous shape! Never have I seen anything so lovely. Why may +I not embrace her--like a sister--why may I not say to her, as I say to +thee, 'I love thee, I live and die for thee?'" + +And with these words the odalisk pressed Hassan to her bosom, covering +his face with kisses at every word; and he, beside himself with rapture, +saw everything which the girl told him of, never suspecting that those +kisses, those embraces, were not for him but for a youth to whom his +favourite damsel openly confessed her love beneath his very eyes! + +And Yffim Beg, amazed, confounded, stood behind them, and shaking his +head, bethought him of the words of Haji Baba, "Cast forth that devil, +and beware lest she give you away!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STAR IN HELL. + + +Let the gentle shadows of night descend which guard them that sleep from +the eyes of evil spectres! Let the weary errant bee rest in the fragrant +chalice of the closed flower. Everything sleeps, all is quiet, only the +stars and burning hearts are still awake. + +What a gentle, mystical song resounds from among the willows, as of a +nightingale endowed with a human voice in order to sing to the listening +night in coherent rhymes the song of his love and his melancholy +rapture. It is the poet Hariri whom, sword in hand, they call Feriz Beg, +"The Lion of Combat," but who, when evening descends, and the noise and +tumult of the camp are still, discards his coat of mail, puts on a light +grey _burnush_, and, lute in hand, strolls through the listening groves +and by the side of the murmuring streams and calls forth languishing +songs from the depths of his heart and the strings of his lute, +uninterrupted by the awakening appeals of the trumpet. + +Many a pale maid opens her window to the night at the sound of these +magic songs--and becomes all the paler from listening to them. + +The eunuchs steal softly along the banks of the Margaret Island with +their long muskets, and stop still and watch for any suspicious skiff +drawing near to the island; and the most wakeful of them is old Majmun, +who, even when he is asleep, has one eye open, and in happier times was +the guardian of the harem. He sits down on a hillock, and even a +carrier-pigeon with a letter under its wings could not have eluded his +vigilance. He has only just arrived on the island, having previously +accompanied Yffim Beg into Transylvania, and therefore has only seen +Azrael once. + +His eyes roam constantly around, and his sharp ears detect even the +flight of a moth or a beetle, yet suddenly he feels--some one tapping +him on the shoulder. + +He turns terrified, and behold Azrael standing behind him. + +"Accursed be that singing over yonder. I was listening to it, so did not +hear thee approach. What dost thou want? Why dost thou come hither in +the darkness of night? How didst thou escape from the harem?" + +"I prythee be quiet!" said the odalisk. "This evening I went a-boating +with my master, and a gold ring dropped from my finger into the water; +it was a present from him, and if to-morrow he asks: 'Where is that +ornament?' and I cannot show it him, he will slay me. Oh, let me seek +for it here in the water." + +"Foolish damsel, the water here is deep; it will go over thy head, and +thou wilt perish." + +"I care not; I must look for it. I must find the ring, or lose my life +for it." + +And the odalisk said the words in such an agony of despair that the +eunuch was quite touched by it. + +"Thou shouldst entrust the matter to another." + +"If only I could find someone who can dive under the water, I would give +him three costly bracelets for it; I would give away all my treasures." + +"I can dive," said Majmun, seized by avarice. + +"Oh, descend then into the water for me," implored the damsel, falling +on her knees before him and covering the horny hand of the slave with +her kisses. "But art thou not afraid of being suffocated? For then in +the eyes of the governor I should be twice guilty." + +"Fear not on my account. In my youth I was a pearl-fisher in the Indian +Ocean, and I can remain under water and look about me like a fish, even +at night, while thou dost count one hundred. Only show me the place +where the ring fell from thy finger." + +Azrael drew a pearl necklace from her arm and casting it into the water, +pointed at the place where it fell. + +"It was on the very spot where I have cast that; if thou dost fetch up +both of them for me, the second one shall be thine." + +Majmun perceived that this was not exactly a joke, and laying aside his +garment and his weapon, bade the damsel look after them, and quickly +slipped beneath the water. + +In a few seconds the eunuch's terrified face emerged above the water and +he struck out for the shore with a horrified expression. + +"This is an evil spot," said he; "at the bottom of the water is a heap +of human heads." + +"I know it," said the odalisk calmly. + +The eunuch was puzzled. He gazed up at her, and was astounded to observe +that in the place of the sensitive, supplicating figure so lately there, +there now stood a haughty, awe-inspiring woman, who looked down upon him +like a queen. + +"Those heads there are the heads of thy comrades," said Azrael to the +astounded eunuch, "whom last night and the preceding nights I asked to +do me a service, which they refused to do. Next day I accused them to +the governor and he instantly had their heads cut off without letting +them speak." + +"And what service didst thou require?" + +"To swim to the opposite shore and give this bunch of flowers to that +youth yonder." + +"Ha! thou art a traitor." + +"No such thing. All I ask of thee is this: dost thou hear those songs in +that grove yonder? Very well, swim thither and give him this posy. If +thou dost not, thy head also will be under the water among the heap of +the others. But if thou dost oblige me I will make thee rich for the +remainder of thy life. It is in thine own power to choose whether thou +wilt live happily or die miserably." + +"But I have a third choice, and that is to kill thee," cried the eunuch, +gnashing his teeth. + +Azrael laughed. + +"Thou blockhead! Whilst thou wert still under the water it occurred to +me to fill thy musket with earth and gird thy dagger to my side. Utter +but a cry and thou wilt have no need to wait for to-morrow to lay thy +head at thy feet." + +At these words the damsel squeezed the eunuch's arm so emphatically that +he bent down before her. + +"What dost thou command?" + +"I have already told thee." + +"I am playing with my own head." + +"That is not as bad as if I were playing with it." + +"What dost thou want of me?" + +"I want thee to row me across to the opposite shore." + +"There is only one skiff on the island, and in that Yffim Beg is wont to +fish." + +"Oh, why have I never learnt to swim!" cried Azrael, collapsing in +despair. + +"What! wouldst thou swim across this broad stream?" + +"Yes, and I'll swim across it now, this instant." + +"Those are idle words. If thou art not a devil thou wilt drown in this +river if thou canst not swim." + +"Thou shalt swim with me. I will put one hand on thy shoulder to keep me +up." + +"Thou art mad, surely! Only just now thou didst threaten me with death, +and now thou wouldst trust thy life to me! I need only hold thee under +for a second or two to be rid of thee for ever. Water is a terrible +element to him who cannot rule over it, the dwellers beneath the waves +are merciless." + +"By putting my life into thy hands I show thee that I fear thee not. +Lead me through the water!" + +"Thou art mad, but I still keep my senses. Go back to the Vizier's kiosk +while he hath not noticed thy absence. I will not betray thee." + +"Then thou wilt not go with me?" said the odalisk darkly. + +"May I never see thee again if I do so," said Majmun resolutely, sitting +down on a hillock. + +"Wretched slave!" cried Azrael in despair, "then I will go myself." + +And with that she cast herself into the water from the high bank. +Majmun, unable to prevent her leap, plunged in after her and soon +emerged with her again on the surface of the water, holding the woman by +her long hair. + +She suddenly embraced the eunuch with both arms, turned in the water so +as to come uppermost and raising her head from the waves, cried fiercely +to the submerged eunuch: + +"Go to the opposite shore, or we'll drown together." + +The eunuch, after a short, desperate struggle, becoming convinced that +he could not free himself from the arms of the damsel who held him fast +like a gigantic serpent, with a tremendous wrench contrived to bring his +head above the water and cried unwillingly: + +"I'll lead thee thither." + +"Hasten then!" cried Azrael, releasing him from her arms and grasping +the woolly pate of the swimmer with one hand; "hasten!" + +The eunuch swam onwards. Nothing was to be seen but a white and a black +head moving closely together in the darkness and the long tresses of the +damsel floating on the surface of the waves. + +"Is the bank far?" she presently asked the slave, for she was somewhat +behind and could not see in front of her. + +"Art thou afraid?" + +"I fear that I may not be able to see it." + +"We shall be at the other side directly. The stream is broad just now, +for the Danube is in flood." + +A few minutes later the negro felt firm ground beneath his feet, and the +odalisk perceived the branch of a willow drooping above her face. +Quickly seizing it, she drew herself out of the water. + +Softly and tremulously she ran towards the grove of trees which +concealed what she sought, and on perceiving the singer, whose +enchanting tones had enticed her across the water, she stood there all +quivering, holding back her breath, and with one hand pressed against +her bosom. + +The young singer was sitting on a silver linden-tree. He had just +finished his song, and had placed the lute by his side, and was gazing +sadly before him with his handsome head resting against his hand as if +he would have summoned back the spirit which had flown far far away on +the wings of his melody. + +"Now thou canst speak to him," said Majmun to the damsel. + +Azrael stood there, leaning against a weeping willow and gazing, +motionless, at the youth. + +"Hasten, I say. The night is drawing to an end and we have to get back +again. Wherefore dost thou hesitate when thou hast come so far for this +very thing?" + +The odalisk sighed softly, and leant her head against the mossy tree +trunk. + +"Thou saidst thou wouldst rush to him, embrace his knees, and greet him +with thy lips, and now thou dost stand as if rooted to the spot by +spells." + +The damsel slowly sank upon her knees and hid her face in her garment. + +"The girl is really crazy," murmured the negro; "if thou hast come +hither only to weep, thou couldst have done that just as well on the +other side." + +At that moment the voice of a bugle horn rang out from a distance +through the silent night, whereupon the singer, suddenly transformed +into a warrior, sprang to his feet. It was the first _reveille_ from the +camp of Buda to awake the sleepers, and Hariri disappeared to become +Feriz Beg again, who, drawing his sword, quickly hastened away from +among the willow-trees, and in his hurry forgot his lute beneath a +silver birch. + +"Thou seest he has departed from thee," cried the negro malevolently, +seizing the damsel's hand. "Hasten back with me while yet there is +time." + +The girl arose--holding her breath as she gazed after the youth--and +waited till he had disappeared among the bushes; then she drew forth the +wreath of flowers which she had hidden in her bosom, and took a step +forward, listening till the retreating footsteps had died away, and then +suddenly rushed towards the abandoned lute, pressed it to her heart, +covered it with kisses, and fell down beside it filled with agony and +rapture. + +Then she took the wreath and cast it round the lute, and the wreath was +composed of these flowers: A rose. What does a rose signify in the +language of love?--"I love thee, I am happy." Then a pomegranate-flower, +which signifies: "I love none but thee!" Then a pink, which signifies: +"I wither for love of thee." Then a balsam, which signifies: "I dare not +approach thee." And, finally, a forget-me-not, which signifies: "Let us +live or die together." + +This wreath the odalisk fastened together with a lock of her own hair, +which signifies: "I surrender my life into thy hands!" For a Turkish +woman never allows a lock of her hair to pass into the hand of a +stranger, believing, as she does, that whoever possesses it has the +power to ruin or slay her, to deprive her either of her reason or her +life. + +Majmun gazed at her in astonishment. Was this all she had come for +through so many terrible dangers? + +"Hasten, damsel, with thine incantations," said he, "the camp is now +aroused and the dawn is at hand." + +Azrael cast a burning kiss with her hand in the direction whither Feriz +had disappeared; then returning to the slave, she said, with her usual +commanding voice: + +"Remain here and count up to six hundred without looking after me, and +by that time I shall have come back." + +Majmun counted up to six hundred with a loud voice. + +Meanwhile, Azrael ran along the dam of the river bank till she came to +the sluice, which she raised by the exertion of her full strength. The +liberated water began to flow through the opening with a mighty roar. + +Then Azrael hastened back to the negro. + +"And now for the island," said she. + +And once more they traversed the dangerous way, Azrael lying on her back +with a hand on the negro's head. In her bosom was a poplar leaf, which +afforded her great satisfaction. + +On reaching the island Azrael richly recompensed the negro, and said to +him: + +"To-morrow morning, at dawn, thy master, Yffim Beg, will seek thee and +command thee to accompany him and Hassan Pasha across the bridge to the +other side where stands the camp of Feriz Beg. Thou wilt find no one +there, but look at the place where we were this night, and if thou +shouldst find there a nosegay or a wreath, bring it to me!" + +Majmun listened with amazement. How could Azrael have found out all +about these things? + +Azrael returned to the kiosk, where Hassan Pasha was still sleeping the +deep sleep of opium. He awoke in the arms of his favourite, and he could +not understand why her hands were so cold and her kisses so burning. + +The odalisk told him she had been dreaming. She had dreamt that she swam +across the river enticed by the singing of the Peris. + +Hassan smiled. + +"Go on sleeping, and continue thy dream," said he. + +The sun was high in the heaven when Hassan Pasha quitted the kiosk. +Yffim Beg was awaiting him. + +"Wilt thou not ride to Pesth there to mark out the place for the camp of +Feriz Beg, who has just arrived?" + +Azrael shrewdly guessed that Yffim Beg was for leading the Governor to +the Pesth shore to satisfy him as to the peasant girls whom he was said +to have mistaken for soldiers by some evil enchantment. She also thought +how convenient it would be for her that they should take Majmun with +them for the whole day. + +Hassan accordingly accepted Yffim's invitation, and galloped with him +and Majmun over to the opposite shore, where Yffim was amazed to +discover that not a soul of Feriz Beg's host was visible. + +In the night the suddenly released water had covered the whole ground of +their camp, and they had been obliged to retire farther away from the +river and seek another encampment beyond Pesth. + +Yffim Beg would have liked to have torn out his beard in his wrath if he +had not been restrained by the general's presence. + +But Majmun, under the pretext of clearing the way, reconnoitred the +scene of yesterday's interview, and there, in the roots of the silver +birch, he found that a wreath had been deposited. He concealed it +beneath his _burnush_, and carried it home to Azrael. + +The wreath was composed of two pieces--a branch of laurel and a spray of +thorn. + +The damsel bowed her head before this answer. She knew that it +signified: "Suffer if thou wouldst prevail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. + + +It was a beautiful summer evening; there was a half-moon in the sky, and +a hundred other half-moons scattered over the hillocks below. The +Turkish host had encamped among the hills skirting the river Raab. + +Concerning this particular new moon, we find recorded in the prophetic +column of the "Kaossa Almanack" for the current year that it was to be: + + "To the Germans, help in need; + To the Turks, fortune indeed; + To the Magyars, power to succeed. + And whoever's not ill + Shall of health have his fill, + For 'tis Heaven's own will." + +The worthy astrologer forgot, however, to find out in heaven whether +there are not certain quarters of the moon beneath which man may easily +die even if they are not sick. + +The great Grand Vizier Kiuprile, after resting on the ruins of Zerinvár, +turned towards the borders of Styria and united with the army of the +Pasha of Buda, below St. Gothard. + +Kiuprile's host consisted for the most part of cavalry, for his infantry +was employed in digging trenches round Zerinvár, whose commandant, in +reply to an invitation to surrender the fortress and not attempt to +defend it with six hundred men against thirty thousand, jestingly +responded: "As one Hungarian florin is worth ten Turkish piasters, one +Hungarian warrior necessarily must be worth ten Turkish warriors." And +what is more, the worthy man made good this rate of exchange, for when +the victors came to count up the cost, they found that for six hundred +Hungarians they had had to pay six thousand Osmanlis into the hands of +his Majesty King Death. + +Kiuprile had then pursued the armies of the Emperor, but they refused to +stand and fight anywhere; and while their enemies were marching higher +and higher up the banks of the Raab, they seemed to be withdrawing +farther and farther away on the opposite shore. + +The army of the Pasha of Buda should have gone round at the rear of the +imperial forces, in order to unite with the Pasha of Érsekújvár, the +former having previously cut off every possibility of a retreat; but +Hassan, as an independent general, did not follow the directions sent +him, simply because they came from Kiuprile, and he also made straight +for the Raab by forced marches, in order to wrest the opportunity of +victory from his rival. + +Thus the two armies came together, on July 30th, below the romantic +hills of St. Gothard, each army pitching its tents on the right bank of +the river, and occupying the summits of the hills, which commanded a +view of the whole region. + +And certainly the worthy gentlemen showed no bad taste when they took a +fancy to that part of the kingdom. In every direction lay the yellow +acres, from which the terrified peasants had not yet reaped the standing +corn; to the right were the gay vineyard-clad hills; to the left the +dark woods and stretch upon stretch of undulating meadow-land, bisected +by the winding ribbon of the Raab. On a hill close by stood the gigantic +pillared portico of the Monastery of St. Gothard, with fair +pleasure-groves at its base. Farther away were the towers of four or +five villages. The setting sun, as if desirous of making the district +still more beautiful, enwrapped it in a veil of golden mist. + +"Thou dog!" cried Hassan Pasha to the peasant who alone received the +terrible guests in the abandoned cloisters, "this region is far too +beautiful for the like of you monks to dwell in. But you will not be in +it long, my good sirs, for I mean to take it for myself. The peasant +after all is lord here. He eats his own bread and he drinks his own +wine, and he has a couple of good garments to draw over his head. But +stop, things shall be very different, for I shall have a word to say +about it." + +The honest peasant took off his cap. "God grant," said he, "that more +and more of you may dwell in my domains, and that I may build your +houses for you." The man was a grave-digger. + +Hassan Pasha and his suite occupied the monastery, whose vestibule was +filled with priests and magistrates from every quarter of the kingdom, +whose duty it was to collect and bring in provisions and taxes due to +the Turkish Government. And what they brought in was never sufficient, +and therefore the poor creatures had to send deputies as hostages from +time to time, who followed their lords on foot wherever they went, and +relieved each other from this servitude in rotation; some of them had +been here for half a year. + +The Turkish army was more than 100,000 strong, and the right bank of the +river was planted for a long distance with their tents. The monastery +constituted the centre of the camp; there was the encampment of Hassan's +favourite mamelukes and the selected corps of cloven-nosed, gigantic +negroes, who used to plunge into the combat half-naked, and neither take +nor give quarter. Alongside of them was the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha, a +corps accustomed to the strictest discipline. Close beside the tents of +this division, within a quadrilateral, guarded by a ditch, you could see +the camp of the Amazon Brigade, whose first thought when they pitch +their tents is to entrench themselves. + +Close to the camp of Kucsuk lies the Moldavian army, from whose +elaborate precautions you can gather that they have a far greater fear +of their allies all around them than of the foe against whom they are +marching. From beyond the monastery, right up to the vineyards of +Nagyfalva, the ground is occupied by the noisy Janissaries of Ismail +Pasha, who, if their military reputation lies not, are more used to +distributing orders to their commanders than receiving orders from them. +Beyond the vine-clad hills lies the cavalry of the Grand Vizier, Achmed +Kiuprile, and all round about, wherever a column of smoke is to be seen +or the sky is blood-red, there is good reason for suspecting that there +the marauding Tartar bands are out, whom it was not the habit to attach +to the main army. Far in the rear, along the mountain paths, on the +slopes of the narrow forest passes, could be seen the endlessly long +procession of wagons laden with plunder, intermingled with long round +iron cannons and ancient stone mortars, each one drawn along by ten or +twelve buffaloes, striving laboriously and painfully to urge their way +forward, and if one of them stops for a moment, or falls down, all the +others behind it must stop also. + +It is now evening, and from one division of the army to another the +messengers from headquarters are hurrying. Kiuprile's messenger comes to +inform Hassan that the army of the enemy has taken up its position on +the opposite bank, between two forests, the French mercenaries and the +German auxiliary troops have joined it, so that it would be well to +attack it in the night, before it has had time properly to marshal its +ranks. + +"Thy master is mad," replied Hassan; "how can I fly across the water? +Before me is the river Raab. I should have to fling a bridge across it +first--nay two, three bridges--which it would take me days to do, and I +cannot even begin to do it till the old ammunition waggons have +arrived. Go back, therefore, and tell thy master that if he wants to +fight I'll sound the alarm." + +The messenger opened his eyes wide, being unaware of the fact that +Hassan was short-sighted, and consequently only knew the river Raab from +the map, not knowing that at the spot where he stood the river was not +more than two yards wide, and could be bridged over in a couple of hours +without the assistance of old ammunition wagons--so back the messenger +went to Kiuprile. + +He had scarce shown a clean pair of heels, when the messenger of Kucsuk +Pasha arrived to signify in his master's name that the battle could not +be postponed, because no hay had arrived for the horses. + +Hassan turned furiously on the captive magistrates. + +"Why have you not sent hay?" + +The wisest of them, desirous to answer the question, politely rejoined: +"It has been a dry summer, sir, the Lord has kept back the clouds of +Heaven." + +"Oh, that's it, eh!" said Hassan. "Tell Kucsuk Pasha that he must give +his horses the clouds to eat; the hay of the Magyars is there, it +seems." + +This messenger had no sooner departed than a whole embassy arrived from +the Janissaries, and the whole lot of them energetically demanded that +they should be led into battle at once. + +"What?" inquired Hassan mockingly, "has your hay fallen short too, +then?" The Janissaries are infantry, by the way. + +"It is glory we are running short of," said the leader of the deputation +stolidly; "it bores us to stand staring idly into the eyes of the +enemy." + +"Then don't stare idly at them any longer; away with those mutinous dogs +and impale them, and put them on the highest hillock that the whole army +may see them." + +The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered the Janissaries, and +pending their impalement, locked them up in the cellar of the +cloisters. + +By this time Hassan Pasha was in the most horrible temper; and just at +that unlucky moment who should arrive but Balló, the envoy of the Prince +of Transylvania. + +Hassan, who could not see very well at the best of times, and was now +blinded with rage besides, roared at him: + +"Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee hither? What is thy errand?" + +"I come from Kiuprile, sir," replied Balló blandly. + +"What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile must be to send to me +such a rogue as thou art, except in chains and fetters." + +"Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of Transylvania, and +represent the Prince." + +"Represent the Prince, eh? Art thou the Prince's cobbler that thou +standest in his shoes? Hast thou brought soldiers with thee?" + +"Gracious sir----" + +"Thou hast _not_, then? Not another word! Hast thou brought money?" + +"Gracious sir!" + +"Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou come at all? Canst thou pay +the allotted tribute?" + +"Gracious sir!" + +"Don't gracious sir me, but answer--yes or no!" + +"Well, but----" + +"Then why not?" + +"The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of God is upon it." + +"Thou must settle that with God, then, and pray that it may not feel my +heavy hand also. Wherefore, then, hast thou come?" + +Balló made up his mind to swallow the bitter morsel. + +"I have come to implore you to remit the annual tribute." + +At first Hassan did not know what to say. + +"Hast thou become wooden, then," he said at last, "thou and thy whole +nation? What right have ye to ask for a remission of the tribute?" + +"Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than what Gabriel Bethlen +was wont to pay." + +"Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in iron what he did not pay +in silver; if he paid fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of +fighting alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty thousand for +sitting comfortably at your own firesides. What, only eighty thousand +for Transylvania, a state that is always digging up gold and silver, +when a single sandjak[16] pays the Pasha of Thessalonica twice as much?" + + [Footnote 16: Province.] + +At these words the national pride awoke in the breast of Balló. + +"Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its Pasha has unlimited +power over his sandjaks, but Transylvania is a free state." + +"And who told thee that it shall not become a sandjak like the rest?" +said Hassan grimly. "Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice, +take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on the throne of +Transylvania! Dost thou hear me? By the prophet I swear it." + +"The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the ancient rights of +Transylvania should never be infringed. He swore it on the Koran and by +the Prophet." + +"It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior, our present Sultan," +cried Hassan, "to remember the oath sworn by the great Suleiman; not +what he says, but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly do ye +entrust your heads to his hand, while the sword of execution remains in +our hands! I'll humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all +nations! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian rajas who themselves +pull the plough!" + +Balló raised his head with a bitter look before the wrathful vizier. + +"Then, sir, you must find another population for Transylvania, for you +will not find there now the men you seek. You may see no end of murdered +Magyars there, but a degraded Magyar you will never find." + +At these words Hassan drew his sword, and with his own hand would have +decapitated the presumptuous ambassador, but the mamelukes dragged him +away, assuring the Pasha that they would impale him along with the +Janissaries. + +"Place the stake in front of my window that I may speak to the insolent +wolf while he is well spitted." + +The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Balló into the cellar along with the +Janissaries, and began to plant a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of +the Pasha's window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind +their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their comrades had been +condemned to death without mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment +they had cut down those of their officers who remonstrated, and while +one body rushed towards the monastery, beating their alarm-drum and +blowing their horns, the others attacked the negro giants guarding the +impalement stakes already planted on the top of the hill, and in a few +moments the executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes. + +Meanwhile the mamelukes of Hassan, who were preparing to resist the +insurgents, put to flight by the furious Janissaries, made for the +courtyard of the cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by a +stone wall, and after barricading the entrances, succeeded with great +difficulty in shutting the iron gates in the faces of their assailants, +and prepared vigorously to defend them. + +The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and bombarding its windows with +bullets and darts, began to besiege it at long-firing distance. + +Hassan, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the tower of the +monastery, leaving his guards to defend the gates till the other +divisions of the army should come to quell the insurgents, but they did +not stir. Hassan perceived from his tower that not a man from Kiuprile's +army was coming to his assistance, though they very well could see his +jeopardy and hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the other +side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on the hills, but it never +entered their minds to draw nearer; on the contrary, they were only too +delighted to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail Pasha's army +seemed rather to be retreating than approaching, and from Kucsuk and his +son he durst not hope for assistance, as they were his personal enemies. + +At that moment the insurgents caught sight of the stake planted before +the window, and set up a howl of fury. + +"Ah, ha! Hassan had this planted here for himself. Let's fix up Hassan!" + +With a shudder the Vizier reflected on the enormous difference between +the throne of Transylvania and the stake on which he might be planted +instead, and cursed softly as he murmured to himself: + +"That rogue of a Christian must have prayed to his God that I might be +brought to shame here;" and grasping in his terror the solitary +bell-rope that hung there, and winding it round his neck, he stood by +the window, so that if the rebels should burst through the gates he +might leap out and hang himself, rather than that they should wreak +their horrible threats upon him. + +The night had now set in, but the besiegers kindled pine branches, by +whose spluttering light they streamed round the monastery; and then came +a sudden and continuous firing of guns and beating of drums and a +frightful braying of buffalo horns. + +The banner of danger had already been planted on the summit of the +tower, but from no quarter did help arise, and from time to time the +sound of a bell rang through the air as a chance bullet struck it. + +Hassan, full of terror, drew back behind the window curtains. Suddenly a +yell still more terrible than the hitherto pervading tumult filled his +ear--the besiegers had discovered the cellar in which their comrades had +been confined, and, bursting in the doors, liberated them, and the +Transylvanian deputy along with them, who speedily left this scene of +uproar behind him. + +At the sight of their bound and fettered comrades, the Janissaries' +wrath increased ten-fold. The leader of the released captives, waving an +axe over his head with a fierce howl, and hurling himself at the iron +gate, hammered away like the roaring of guns; whilst the rest of them, +who hitherto had been firing at the windows from a distance, now +attacked the entrances with unrestrainable fury, raining showers of +blows upon the gates. + +But the gates were of good strong iron plates, well barricaded below +with quadraginal paving-stones. The besiegers' arms grew weary, and the +mamelukes on the roof flung stones and heavy beams down upon them, doing +fearful execution among their serried ranks; whilst every mameluke who +fell from his perch, pierced by a bullet, was instantly torn to pieces +by the crowd, which flung back his head at the defenders. + +"Draw back!" cried the officer in command, who stood foremost amidst the +storm of rafters and bullets. "Run for the guns! At the bottom of that +hill I saw a mortar planted in the ground; draw it forth, and we'll fire +upon the walls." + +In an instant the whole Janissary host had withdrawn from below the +monastery, and the whole din died away. Yet the dumb silence was more +threatening, more terrible, than the uproar had been. Very soon a dull +rumbling was audible, drawing nearer and nearer every instant; it was +the rolling of a gun-carriage full of artillery. Hundreds of them were +pushing it together, and were rapidly advancing with the heavy, +shapeless guns. At last they placed one in position opposite the +monastery; it was a heavy iron four-and-twenty pound culverin, whose +voice would be audible at the distance of four leagues. This they +planted less than fifteen yards from the monastery, and aimed it at the +gate. + +"There is no help save with God!" cried Hassan in despair; and he took +off his turban lest they should thereby recognise his dead body. + +At that instant a trumpet sounded, and the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha +appeared in battle array, making its way through the congested masses of +the insurgents; while Feriz Beg, at the head of his Spahis, skilfully +surrounded them, and cut off their retreat. + +Kucsuk Pasha, with a drawn sword in his hand, trotted straight up to the +gun and stood face to face with its muzzle. + +"Are ye faithful sons of the prophet, or fire-worshippers, giaurs, and +idolators, that ye attack the faithful after this fashion?" he asked the +insurgents. + +At these words the ringleaders of the insurgents came forward. + +"We are Janissaries," he said, "the flowers of the Prophet's garden, who +are wont to pluck the weeds we find there." + +"I know you, but you know me; ye are good soldiers, but I am a good +soldier too. Hath Allah put swords into the hands of good soldiers that +they may fall upon one another? Ye would weep for me if I fell because +of you, and I would weep for you if ye fell because of me--but where +would be the glory of it? What! Here with the foe in front of you, ye +would wage war among yourselves, to your own shame, and to the joy of +the stranger? Is not that sword accursed which is not drawn against the +foe?" + +"Yet accursed also is the sword which returns to its sheath unblooded." + +"What do ye want?" + +"We want to fight." + +"And can you only find enemies among yourselves?" + +"Our first enemy is cowardice, and cowardice sits in the seat of that +general who alone is afraid when the whole camp wants to fight. We would +first slay fear, and then we would slay the foe." + +"Why not slay the foe first?" + +"We will go alone against the whole camp of the enemy if the rest +refuse." + +"Good; I will go with you." + +"Thou?" + +"I and my son with all our squadrons." + +At these words the mutineers passed, in an instant, from the deepest +wrath to the sublimest joy. "To battle!" they cried. "Kucsuk also is +coming, and Feriz will help!" These cries spread from mouth to mouth. +And immediately the drums began to beat another reveille, the horns gave +forth a very different sound, they turned the cannons round and dragged +them to the river's bank, and began to build a bridge over the Raab with +the beams and rafters that had been hurled down upon them. + +The hostile camp lay about four hours' march away, on the opposite bank, +between two forests, and by an inexplicable oversight, had left that +portion of the river's bank absolutely unguarded. + +The Janissaries swam to and fro in the water strengthening the posts and +stays of the improvised bridge by tying them stoutly together, and by +the time the night had begun to grow grey, the first bridge ever thrown +over the Raab was ready and the infantry began to cross it. + +It was only then that the German-Hungarian camp perceived the design of +the enemy, and speedily sent three regiments of musketeers against the +Turks, who fought valiantly with the Janissaries, and drove them right +back upon the bridge, where a bloody tussle ensued as fresh divisions +hastened up to sustain the hardly-pressed Mussulmans. + +Meanwhile a second bridge had been got ready, over which Kucsuk's +cavalry quickly galloped and fell upon the rear of the musketeers. + +These warriors, taken by surprise and perceiving the preponderance of +the enemy, and obtaining no assistance from their own headquarters, +quickly flung down their firearms and made helter-skelter for their own +trenches. + +The next moment the two combating divisions were a confused struggling +mass. Kucsuk's swift Spahis cut off the retreat of the Christian +infantry; only for a few moments was there a definite struggle, the +tussle being most obstinate round the standards, till at last they also +began to totter and fall one after the other, and three thousand +Christian souls mounted on high together, pursued by a roar of triumph +from the Mussulmans, who, seizing the advanced trenches, planted thereon +their half-moon streamers, and plundered the tents which remained +defenceless before them. + +At that moment the Christian host was near to destruction, and if +Kiuprile had crossed the river and Hassan Pasha had shared the fight +with Kucsuk, he would have become famous. + +But the two chief commanders remained obstinately behind on the further +shore. Kiuprile, who the evening before had himself wanted to begin the +fight when he had received a negative answer, had now not even saddled +his nag, and looked on with sinister _sangfroid_ while the extreme wing +of the army was engaged. Hassan, on the other hand, would have liked +nothing better if the Janissaries, and Kucsuk their auxiliary, had lost +the battle thus begun without orders, and so far from hastening to their +assistance remained sitting up in his tower. He could see nothing of the +battle, but he heard a cry, and fancying that it was the death-yell of +the Janissaries, took his beads from his girdle and began zealously to +pray that the Prophet would keep open for them the gates of Paradise. + +"Master, master!" exclaimed Yffim Beg, "gird on thy sword and to horse!" + +The Pasha heard nothing. At last Yffim Beg, in despair, seized the +bell-rope, and pulled the old bell right above Hassan's head, whereupon +the latter rushed in terror to the window. + +"What is it? What dost thou want?" + +"Hasten, sir!" roared Yffim Beg. "Kucsuk Pasha has beaten the enemy, +taken their trenches, and is plundering their tents. Do not allow him to +have all the glory of scattering the Christians!" + +Hassan leapt from his seat. If he had heard that Kucsuk's men were being +cut to pieces he would have gone on praying, but Kucsuk triumphed--had +all the triumph to himself. The thought was a keen spur to his mind. Up +everyone who could stir hand or foot! Forward Spahis and Arabs! To +battle every true believer! Let the dervishes go up in the tower and +sing dirges for the fallen! Let the ground shake beneath the rolling of +the guns! Let the horns ring out for now is the day of glory! + +In an instant the camp was alert, and crowds of warriors rushed towards +the bridge. Every man pressed hard on the heels of his fellow; those who +were crowded into the water did their best to reach the opposite shore +by swimming; whole companies swam through on horseback, and the heavy +iron guns moved forward as rapidly as if they had wings. It was only now +that the vast numbers of the Ottoman host became manifest, it seemed +suddenly to spring out of the ground in every direction; the tiny little +cramped Christian camp over against them looked like an island in an +inundation. + +In the very centre of the host could be seen Hassan Pasha with a +brilliant suite, twenty horse-tail banners fluttered around him, the +pick of his veterans at his side. On the left was the army of Ismail +Pasha; on the right were the hosts of the Moldavians. Their immediate +objective was the trenches already occupied by Kucsuk Pasha. + +At that moment Yffim Beg was seen galloping along the front of the host +with the Vizier's commands for Kucsuk Pasha. + +"Ye remain where now you are, and move no farther till a fresh command +arrives. Feriz Beg and his battalion move forward along the outermost +wing." + +Hassan could not endure that two such heroes should help each other in +the battle, and that the son should deliver the father. Kucsuk beat the +tattoo. Feriz Beg moved along the left wing, where he formed the +reserve. + +Then the reveille sounded; a hideous yell filled the air; the Mussulman +host, with bloodthirsty rage, rushed upon the front of the Christian +army. No power on earth can save them! But what is this? Suddenly the +impetus of the assailants is stayed. Along the front of the camp of the +Christian infantry star-shaped trenches have been dug during the night +and planted full of sharp stakes. The foremost row of the assailants +pause terror-stricken in front of these trenches, and for an instant the +onset is arrested. But only for an instant. The powerful impact of the +rearward masses flings them into the deadly ditch, one after another +they fall upon the pointed stakes, a mortal yell drowns the cry of +battle, in a few moments the star-shaped trenches are filled with +corpses and the rushing throng tramples over the dead bodies of their +comrades to get to the other side of the ditch. And now the roar of the +cannons begin. Up to that moment the guns of the Christians have +remained inactive, concealed behind the gabions. Now their gaping +throats face the attacking host. At a single signal the roar of eighty +iron throats is heard, bullets and chain-shot make their whirring way +through the serried ranks, the crackling mortars discharge sackloads of +acorn-shaped balls, while the fire-spitting grenades terrify the +rearmost ranks. + +The Mussulmans host recoils in terror, leaving their dead and wounded +behind them. Horrible spectacle! Instead of the lately brilliant ranks +the ground is strewn with mangled bloody limbs, writhing like worms in +the dust. The next moment the splendid array again covers the ground; +the corpses are no longer visible, they are hidden by the feet of the +living. The beaten squadrons are sent to the rear; fresh battalions fill +their places; the assault is renewed. The fire of the guns no longer +keeps them back. They cast down their eyes, shout "Allah!" and rush +forward. An earth-rending report resounds, a fiery mine has exploded +beneath the feet of the assailants; fragments of human limbs +intermingled with strips of tempest-tossed banners fly up into the air +amidst whirling clouds of smoke. The second assault is also flung back, +and in the meantime the Christian army has succeeded in drawing a line +of wagons across their front. And now a third, now a fourth, assault is +delivered, each more furious than the last. The Christians begin to +despair; every regiment of the Turkish host is now engaged with them, +only Kucsuk has received no order to advance. Hassan would win the +battle without him. + +There he stands, together with his staff, directing the most perverse of +battles, hurling his swarms against unassailable rocks, assaulting +entrenched places with cavalry; at one time distributing orders to +regiments which had ceased to exist, at another sending to consult with +commanders who had fallen before his very eyes. Those around him +listened to his words with astonishment, and not one of them durst say: +"Dismount from your horse, you cannot see ten yards in front of you!" +The din of the renewed assaults sounded in his ears like a cry of +triumph. "Look how they waver!" he cried; "look how the Christian ranks +waver, and how their banners are falling in the dust! Shoot them, shoot +them down!" and none durst say to him: "These are thy hosts whose +death-cries thou dost hear, and it is the fire from the Christian guns +which mow down whole ranks of thy army!" + +The Ottoman host had begun its tenth assault, when Hassan sent a courier +to Kiuprile on the opposite shore with this message: "Thou canst return +to Paphlagonia! We have won the battle without thee. Tell them at home +what thou hast seen!" + +Kiuprile, seriously alarmed lest he should have no part in the glory of +the contest, immediately mounted the whole of his cavalry, flung a +bridge over the river, and began to cross it. + +This happened at the very moment when Ismail Pasha was leading the +Osmanlis to the tenth assault. + +The leader of the Christian host, Montecuculi, no sooner perceived +Kiuprile's movement, than he called together his generals and gave them +to understand that if they awaited Kiuprile where they stood they would +be irretrievably lost. + +They were just then loading their guns with their last charge. + +Many faces grew pale at this announcement, and a deep silence followed +Montecuculi's words. Yet his words were the words of valour. Three +heroes had been in his army--one of them, the French general, the +Marquis de Brianzon, had already fallen; the other two, still present, +were the German general, Toggendorf, and the Hungarian cavalry officer, +Petneházy. + +At the commander-in-chief's announcement the faces of both remained +unmoved, and Toggendorf, with the utmost _sang-froid_ came forward: "If +we must choose between two deaths," said he, "why not rather choose +death by advancing than death in flight?" + +"Not so, my lad," cried Petneházy, enthusiastically grasping his +comrade's hand; "we choose between death and glory, and he who seeks +glory will find a triumph also." + +"So be it," said Montecuculi, with cool satisfaction, thrusting his +field-glass into his pocket and drawing forth his thin blade; and, while +he sent the two heroes to the two wings, he placed himself in front of +the army, and commanded that the barrier of wagons should instantly be +demolished. + +The last discharge thundered forth, and from amidst the dispersing +clouds of smoke two compact army columns could be seen rapidly +charging--they were Toggendorf's cuirassiers and Petneházy's hussars. + +Petneházy made straight for the still hesitating Moldavian army, which, +with Prince Ghyka at its head, had as yet taken no part in the fight. +Heaven itself gave him the inspiration. The Prince of Moldavia had been +waiting for a long time for some one to attack him, that he might at +once quit the field of battle to which he had been constrained to come, +though it revolted his feelings as a Christian to do so; consequently, +when Petneházy was within fifty yards of his battalions, they, as if at +a given signal, turned tail without so much as crossing swords with the +foe, galloped off to the left bank of the Waag, and so quitted the +field. + +This flight threw the whole Turkish army into disorder. A more skilful +general would indeed have withdrawn the whole host, but, because of his +short-sightedness, Hassan did not perceive that the Moldavians had fled, +and nobody durst tell him so. Ismail Pasha immediately hastened to fill +up the gap; but before he had reached the spot, Toggendorf's cuirassiers +were upon him, and he was caught between two fires in a moment. The +Janissaries received the full brunt of the swords of the cuirassiers and +the hussars, and in the first onset Ismail Pasha himself fell from his +horse. A hussar rushed upon him, and severing from his body his big +bared head, stuck it on the point of a lance, and raised it in the air +as a very emblem of terror to the panic-stricken Turks. The Janissaries +were no longer able to rally, in every direction they broke through the +hostile ranks in a desperate attempt at flight, and, which was worse +still, the flying infantry barred the way against the cavalry which was +hastening to their assistance. + +All this was taking place within two hundred yards of Hassan Pasha, and +he saw nothing of it. + +"Glory be to Allah," he cried, raising his hands to heaven; "victory is +ours! The Christian is flying and is casting down his banners in every +direction. The best of his warriors are wallowing in the dust. The rest +are flying without weapons and with pale----" + +Those about him listened, horror-stricken, to his words. The Christian +host was at that moment cutting down the Janissaries, the flower of the +Turkish camp! + +"Thou ravest, my master!" cried Yffim Beg, seizing the bridle of Hassan +Pasha's horse. "Fly and save thyself! The best of thy army has perished, +the Janissaries have fallen, the Moldavian army hath fled. Ismail +Pasha's head has been hoisted on to a pike!" + +"Impossible!" roared Hassan, beside himself, "come with me; let us +charge, the victory is ours." + +But his generals seized him, and tearing his sword from his hand, seized +the bridle of his horse on both sides and hurried him along with them +towards the bridge, which was now full of fugitives. + +The hazard of the die had changed. The pursuers had become the +fugitives. An hour before the Christian camp ran the risk of +annihilation; it was now the turn of the Turks. + +Kiuprile seeing the catastrophe, destroyed his bridges and remained on +the opposite bank. + +Meanwhile on the wings, Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, with his brigade of +Amazons, were valiantly holding their own against the cuirassiers of +Toggendorf and the hussars of Petneházy, till at last the melancholy +notes of the bugle-horns gave the signal for retreat, and the combatants +gradually separated. Only a few scattered bands, and presently, only a +few scattered individuals, still fought together, and then they also +wearily abandoned the contest and returned silently to their respective +camps. Both sides felt that their strength was exhausted. The Christian +host had four thousand, the Turkish sixteen thousand slain, and among +them its best generals; they also lost all their heavy cannons, their +banners, and their military renown; but none lost so much as Feriz Beg. +The Amazon Brigade had perished. By its deliberate self-sacrifice it had +saved the Turkish army from utter destruction. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. + + +Perhaps by this time you have clean forgotten our dear acquaintance, +pretty Mariska, the wife of the Prince of Wallachia? + +Ah, she is happy! Although her husband is far away, her sorrow is +forgotten in the near approach of a new joy--the joy of motherhood. + +There she sits at eventide in the garden of her castle, weaving together +dreams of a happy future, and her court ladies by her side are making +tiny little garments adorned with bright ribbons. + +When the peasant women pass by her on the road with their children in +their arms, she takes the children from them, presses them to her bosom, +kisses, and talks to them. She is the godmother of every new-born +infant, and what a tender godmother! Day after day she visits the +churches, and before the altar of the Virgin-Mother prays that she also +may have her portion of that happiness which is the greatest joy God +gives to women. + +After the battle of St. Gothard it was Prince Ghyka's first thought to +send a courier to his wife, bidding her not to be anxious about her +husband, for he was alive and would soon be home. + +This was Mariska's first tidings of the lost battle, and she thanked God +for it. What did she care that the battle was lost, that the glory of +the Turkish Sultan was cracked beyond repair, so long as her husband +remained to her? With him the husbands of all the other poor Wallachian +wives were also safe. She at once hastened to tell the more remote of +these poor women that they were not to be alarmed if they heard that the +Turkish army had been cut down, for their husbands were free and quite +near to them. + +What joy at the thought of seeing him again! How she watched for her +husband from morn till eve, and awoke at night at the slightest noise. +If a horse neighed in the street, if she heard a trumpet far away, she +fancied that her husband was coming. + +One night she was aroused by the sound of a light tapping at her bedroom +door, and her husband's voice replied to her question of "Who is there?" + +Her surprise and her joy were so great that in the first moment of +awaking she knew not what to do, whereupon her husband impatiently +repeated: + +"Mariska, open the door!" + +The wife hastened to embrace her husband, admitted him, fell upon his +neck, and covered him with kisses; but, perceiving suddenly that the +kisses her husband gave her back were quite cold, and that his arm +trembled when he embraced her, she looked anxiously at his face--it was +grave and full of anxiety. + +"My husband!" cried the unusually sensitive woman with a shaky voice. +"Why do you embrace me--us, so coldly," her downcast eyes seemed to say. + +The Prince did not fail to notice the expression, and very sadly, and +sighing slightly, he said: + +"So much the worse for me!" + +His hands, his whole frame shook so in the arms of his wife; and yet the +Prince was a muscular as well as a brave man. + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" asked his wife anxiously. + +"Nothing," said the Prince, kissing her forehead. "Be quiet. Lie down. I +have some business to do which must be done to-night. Then I'll come to +you, and we'll talk about things." + +Mariska took him at his word, and lay down again. But she still +trembled--why, she knew not. + +There must be something wrong, something very wrong with her husband, or +else he would not have welcomed his wife so coldly at the very moment of +his arrival. + +After a few moments, during which she heard her husband talking in an +undertone with someone outside, he came in with his sword in his hand, +and after seeming to look for something, he turned to Mariska: + +"Have you the keys of your treasure-box?" + +"Yes, they are in my secretaire." + +The Prince took the keys and withdrew. + +Mariska breathed again. "Then it is only some money trouble after all," +she thought. "Thank God it is no worse. They have lost something in the +camp, I suppose, or they are screwing some more tribute out of him." + +In a short time the Prince again returned, and stood there for a time as +if he couldn't make up his mind to speak. At last he said: + +"Mariska, have you any money?" + +"Yes, dear!" Mariska hastened to answer, "just ten thousand thalers. Do +you want them?" + +"No, no. But have them all ready to hand, and if you collected your +jewels together at the same time you would do well." + +"What for, my husband?" + +"Because," stammered Ghyka, "because--we may--and very speedily, +too--have to set out on our travels." + +"Have to travel--in my condition?" asked Mariska, raising a pathetic +face up to her husband. + +That look transfixed the very soul of Ghyka. His wife was in a condition +nearer to death than to life. + +"No, I won't stir a stump," he suddenly cried, beside himself with +agitation, striking his sword so violently on the table that it flew +from its sheath, "if heaven itself fall on me, I won't go." + +"For God's sake, my husband, what is the matter?" cried Mariska in her +astonishment; whereupon the Prince proudly raised his eyebrows, +approached her with a smile, and pressing his wife to his bosom, said +reassuringly: + +"Fear nothing. I had an idea in my head; but I have dismissed it, and +will think of it no more. Take it that I have asked you nothing." + +"But your anxiety?" + +"It has gone already. Ask not the reason, for you would laugh at me for +it. Sleep in peace. I also will sleep upon it." + +The husband caressed and kissed his wife, and his hand trembled no +longer, his face was no longer pale, and his lips were no longer so cold +as before. + +But the wife's were now. When her husband tenderly kissed her eyes and +bade her sleep, she pretended that she was satisfied; but as soon as he +had withdrawn from her room, she arose, put on a dressing-gown, and +calling one of her maids, descended with her into the hall, and sent for +a faithful old servant of her husband's, who was wont to accompany him +everywhere, an old Moldavian courier. + +"Jova!" she said, "speak the truth! What's the matter with your master? +What have you seen and heard?" + +"It is a great trouble, my lady. God deliver us from it! We only escaped +destruction at the battle of St. Gothard by not standing up against the +Magyars. But what were we to do? Christian cannot fight against +Christian, for then should we be fighting against God. The Turkish army +was badly beaten there. And now the Vizier of Buda, that he may wash +himself clean, for the Sultan is very wroth, wants to cast the whole +blame of the affair on the head of the Prince." + +"Great Heaven! And what will be the result?" + +"Well, it would not be a bad thing if your Highnesses were to withdraw +somewhere or other for a time to give the Sultan's wrath time to cool." + +"To my father's, eh? in Wallachia?" + +"Well, a little farther than that, I should say." + +"True, we might go to Transylvania; we have lots of good friends there." + +"Even there it might not be as well to stay. You would do well to make a +journey to Poland." + +"Do you suppose the danger to be so great then?" + +"God grant it be not so bad as I think it." + +"Thank you for your advice, Jova. I will tell my husband quite early in +the morning." + +"My lady, you would do well not to wait till morning." + +The woman grew pale. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that if you would take care of yourselves, you should take +carriage this very night, this very hour. I will go before the horses +with a lantern, and a courier shall be sent on ahead to have fresh +relays of horses awaiting us at every station, so that by the time it +begins to grow grey, we shall have left the last hill of this region out +of sight." + +The terrified Princess returned to her bedchamber, and quickly packed up +her most valuable things, making all the necessary preparations for a +long journey. But the door leading to her husband's room was locked, and +she durst not call him, but with an indescribable sinking of heart +awaited the endlessly distant dawn. She was unable to close her eyes the +whole night. Wearied out in body and soul she rose as soon as she saw +the light of dawn, sitting with her swimming head against the window, +whence she could look down into the courtyard. + +Gradually the courtyard awoke to life and noise again, and the hall was +peopled with domestics hurrying to and fro. The grooms began walking the +horses up and down, the peasant girls with pitchers on their heads were +returning from the distant wells, a merry voice began singing a popular +ditty in one of the outhouses. All this seemed as strange to the +watchful lady as the life and the movement of the outside world seems to +one condemned to death who gazes upon it from the window of his cell. + +Then the door opened and her husband came out of his bedchamber and +greeted his wife with a voice full of boisterous courage. He was dressed +in a short stagskin jacket, which he generally wore when he went +a-hunting, and wore big Polish boots with star-like spurs. + +"Going a-hunting, eh?" asked Mariska, from whose soul all her terrifying +phantoms vanished instantly when her husband embraced her in his +vigorous arms. + +"Yes, I'm going a-hunting. I feel so full of energy that if I don't +tumble about somewhere or other I shall burst. Any boar or bear that I +come across to-day will have good cause to remember me." + +"Oh! take care no ill befalls you!" + +"Befalls me!" cried the Prince, proudly smiting his herculean breast. + +The lady flung herself on her husband's neck with the confidence of a +child, and lifting from his head his saucy bonnet with its eagle plume, +which gave him such a brave appearance, and smoothing down his curls, +kissed his bonny face, and forgot all her thoughts and visions of the +bygone night. + +The Prince withdrew, and Mariska opened her window and looked out of it +to see him mount his horse. + +While the Prince was going downstairs, a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid +rags entered the courtyard, from which at other times he was wont to +fetch letters, and mingled with the ostlers and stablemen without +seeming to attract attention. + +A few moments later the Prince ordered his horse to be brought in a loud +resonant voice, whereupon the cavasse immediately came forward, and +producing from beneath his dirty dolman a sealed and corded letter, +pressed it to his forehead and then handed it to the Prince. + +The Prince broke open the letter and his face suddenly turned pale; +taking off his cap, he bowed low before the cavasse and saluted him. + +O Prince of Moldavia! to doff thy eagle-plumed cap to a dirty cavasse, +and bow thy haughty manly brow before him! Whatever can be the meaning +of it all? Mariska's heart began to throb violently as she gazed down +from her window. + +The Prince, with all imaginable deference, then indicated the door of +his castle to the cavasse and invited him to enter first; but the Turk +with true boorish insolence, signified that the Prince was to lead the +way. + +Suddenly, in an illuminated flash, Mariska guessed the mystery. In the +moment of peril, with rare presence of mind, she rushed to her +secretaire, where her jewels were. Her first thought was that the +cavasse had come for her husband; he must be bribed therefore to connive +at his escape. + +Then she saw hastening through the door the old groom Jova. The face of +the ancient servitor was full of fear, and there were tears in his eyes. + +"Has the cavasse come for my husband, then?" she inquired tremulously. + +"Yes, my lady," stammered the servant; "why don't you make haste?" + +"Let us give him money." + +"He won't take it. What is money to him? If he returns without the +Prince his own head will be forfeit." + +"Merciful God! Then what shall we do?" + +"My master whispered a few words in my ear, and I fancy I caught their +meaning. First of all I must take you off to Transylvania, my lady. +Meanwhile my master will remain here with the cavasses and their +attendants, who are now in the courtyard. My master will remain with +them and spin out the time till he feels pretty sure that we have got +well beyond the river Sereth in our carriage. Near there is a bridge +over a steep rocky chasm, beneath which the river flows. That bridge we +will break down behind us. The Prince will then bring forth his charger +Gryllus, on whose back he is wont to take such daring leaps, and will +set out in the same direction with the Turkish cavasses. When he +approaches the broken-down bridge, he will put spurs to his steed and +leap across the gap, while the Turks remain behind. And after that God +grant him good counsel!" + +Mariska perceiving there was no time to be lost, hastily collected her +treasures and, assisted by Jova, descended by way of the secret +staircase to the chapel and stood there, for a moment, before the image +of the Blessed Virgin to pray that her husband might succeed in +escaping. Before the chapel door stood a carriage drawn by four muscular +stallions. She got into it quickly, and succeeded in escaping by a +side-gate. + +Meanwhile the Prince, with great self-denial, endeavoured to detain his +unwelcome guests by all manner of pretexts. First of all he almost +compelled them to eat and drink to bursting point, swearing by heaven +and earth that he would never allow such precious guests as they were to +leave his castle with empty stomachs. Then followed a distribution of +gifts. Every individual cavasse got a sword or a beaker and every sword +and every beaker had its own peculiar history. So-and-so had worn it, +So-and-so had drunk out of it. It had been found here and sent there, +and its last owner was such a one, etc., etc. And he artfully +interlarded his speech with such sacred and sublime words as "Allah!" +"Mahomet!" "the Sultan!" at the mention of each one of which the +cavasses felt bound to interrupt him repeatedly with such expressions as +"Blessed be his name!" so that despite the insistence of the Turks, it +was fully an hour before his horse could be brought forward. + +At last, however, Gryllus was brought round to the courtyard. The Prince +now also would have improved the occasion by telling them a nice +interesting tale about this steed of his, but the chief cavasse would +give him no peace. + +"Come! mount your Honour!" said he, "you can tell us the story on the +way." + +The Prince mounted accordingly, and immediately began to complain how +very much all the galloping of the last few days had taken it out of +him, and begged his escort not to hurry on so as he could scarce sit in +his saddle. + +The chief cavasse, taking him at his word, had the Prince's feet tied +fast to his stirrups, so that he might not fall off his horse, +sarcastically adding: + +"If your honour should totter in your saddle, I shall be close beside +you, so that you may lean upon me." + +And indeed the chief cavasse trotted by his side with a drawn sword in +his hand; the rest were a horse's head behind them. + +When they came to the path leading to the bridge the way grew so narrow +because of the rocks on both sides that it was as much as two horsemen +could do to ride abreast. The Prince already caught sight of the bridge, +and though its wooden frame was quite hidden by a projecting tree, a +white handkerchief tied to the tree informed him that his carriage with +his consort inside it had got across and away, and that the supports had +been also cut. + +At this point he made as if he felt faint and turning to the chief +cavasse, said to him, "Come nearer, I want to lean on you!" and upon the +cavasse leaning fatuously towards him he dealt him such a fearful blow +with his clenched fist that the Turk fell right across his horse. And +now: "Onward, my Gryllus!" + +The gallant steed with a bound forward left the escort some distance +behind, and while they dashed after him with a savage howl, he darted +with the fleetness of the wind towards the bridge. + +The Prince sat tied to his horse without either arms or spurs, but the +noble charger, as if he felt that his master's life was now entrusted to +his safe-keeping, galloped forward with ten-fold energy. + +Suddenly it became clear to the pursuers that the beams of the bridge +had been severed and only the balustrade remained. "Stop!" they shouted +in terror to the Prince, at the same time reining in their own horses. +Then Ghyka turned towards them a haughty face, and leaning over his +horse's head, pressed its flanks with his knees, and at the very moment +when he had reached the dizzy chasm he laughed aloud as he raised his +eagle-plumed cap in the air, and shouted to his pursuers: "Follow me, if +you dare!" + +The charger the same instant lowered its head upon its breast, and, with +a well-calculated bound, leaped the empty space between the two sides of +the bridge as lightly as a bird. The Prince as he flew through the air +held his eagle-plumed cap in his hand, while his black locks fluttered +round his bold face. + +The terrified cavasses drew the reins of their horses tightly lest they +should plunge after Gryllus; but one of them, carried away by his +maddened steed, would also have made the bold leap but the fore feet of +the horse barely grazed the opposite bank, and with a mortal yell it +crashed down with its rider among the rocks of the stream below. + +The Prince meanwhile, beneath the very eyes of the cavasses, loosened +the cords from his legs on the opposite shore and also allowed himself +time enough to break down the remaining balustrades of the bridge, one +by one, and pitch them into the river. Then, remounting his steed, he +ambled leisurely off whilst the cavasses gazed after him in helpless +fury. A rapid two hours' gallop enabled him to overtake the carriage of +his wife, who, according to his directions, had hastened without +stopping towards Transylvania with the sole escort of the old horseman. + +On overtaking the carriage he mounted the old man on his own nag, and +sent him on before to Transylvania requesting the Prince to allow him +and his wife to pass through Transylvania to the domains of the Kaiser. +He himself took a seat in the carriage by the side of Mariska, who was +quite rejoiced at her husband's deliverance, and forgot the anxieties +still awaiting her. + +According to the most rigorous calculations their pursuers would either +have to go another way, or they might throw another bridge over the +Sereth; but, in any case they had a day's clear start of them, which +would be quite sufficient to enable them, travelling leisurely, to reach +the borders of Transylvania, where the Seraskier of Moldavia had no +jurisdiction. + +In this hope they presently perceived the mountains of Szeklerland +rising up before them, and the nearer they came to them the more lightly +they felt their hearts beat, regarding the mountain range as a vast city +of refuge stretching out before them. + +They had already struck into that deep-lying road which leads to the +Pass of Porgo, which, after winding along the bare hillside, plunges +like a serpent into the shady flowering valleys beneath, and every now +and then a mountain stream darted along the road beside them; above them +the dangerous road looked like a tiny notch in which a heavy wagon +crawled slowly along, with lofty rocks apparently tottering to their +fall above it in every direction. + +And here galloping straight towards them, was a horseman in whom the +Prince instantly recognised his _avant courier_. + +Old Jova reached them in a state of exhaustion, and Gryllus also seemed +ready to drop. + +"Go no further, sir!" cried the terrified servant, "I have come all the +way without stopping from Szamosújvár where the Prince is staying. I +laid your request before him. 'For God's sake!' cried the Prince, +clasping his hands together, 'don't let your master come here, or he'll +ruin the whole lot of us. Olaj Beg has just come hither with the +Sultan's command that if the Prince of Moldavia comes here he is to be +handed over.'" + +The Prince gazed gloomily in front of him, his lips trembled. Then he +turned his face round and shading his eyes with his hand, gazed away +into the distance. On the same road by which he had come a cloud of dust +could be seen rapidly approaching. + +"Those are our pursuers," he moaned despairingly; "there is nothing for +it but to die." + +"Nay, my master. Over yonder is a mountain path which can only be +traversed on foot. With worthy Szeklers or Wallachs as our guides we may +get all the way to Poland through the mountains. Why not take refuge +there?" + +"And my wife?" asked the Prince, looking round savagely and biting his +lips in his distress; "she cannot accompany me." + +All this time Mariska had remained, benumbed and speechless, gazing at +her husband--her heart, her mind, stood still at these terrible tidings; +but when she heard that her husband could be saved without her, she +plunged out of the carriage and falling at his feet implored him, +sobbing loudly, to fly. + +"Save yourself," she cried; "do not linger here on my account another +instant." + +"And sacrifice you, my consort, to their fury?" + +"They will not hurt me, for they do not pursue an innocent woman. God +will defend me. You go into Transylvania; there live good friends of +mine, whose husbands and fathers are the leading men in the State; there +is the heroic Princess, there is the gentle Béldi with her angel +daughter, there is Teleki's daughter Flora--we swore eternal friendship +together once--they will mediate for us; and then, too, my rich father +will gladly spend his money to spare our blood. And if I must suffer and +even die, it will be for you, my husband. Save yourself! In Heaven's +name I implore you to depart from me." + +Ghyka reflected for a moment. + +"Very well, I will take refuge in order to be able to save you." + +And he pressed the pale face of his wife to his bosom. + +"Make haste," said Mariska, "I also want to hasten. If die I must--I +would prefer to die among Christians, in the sight of my friends and +acquaintances. But you go on in front, for if they were to slay you +before my eyes, it would need no sword to slay me; my heart would break +from sheer despair." + +"Come, sir, come!" said the old courier, seizing the hand of the Prince +and dragging him away by force. + +Mariska got into the carriage again, and told the coachman to drive on +quickly. The Prince allowed himself to be guided by the old courier +along the narrow pass, looking back continually so long as the carriage +was visible, and mournfully pausing whenever he caught sight of it again +from the top of some mountain-ridge. + +"Come on, sir! come on!" the old servant kept insisting; "when we have +reached that mountain summit yonder we shall be able to rest." + +Ghyka stumbled on as heavily as if the mountain was pressing on his +bosom with all its weight. He allowed himself to be led unconsciously +among the steep precipices, clinging on to projecting bushes as he went +along. God guarded him from falling a hundred times. + +After half an hour's hard labour they reached the indicated summit, and +as the courier helped his master up and they looked around them, +Nature's magnificent tableau stood before them; and looking down upon a +vast panorama, they saw the tiny winding road by which his wife had +gone; and, looking still farther on, he perceived that the carriage had +just climbed to the summit of a declivity about half a league off. + +Ah! that sight gave him back his soul. He followed with his eyes the +travelling coach, and as often as the coach ascended a higher hill, it +again appeared in sight, and it seemed to him as if all along he saw +inside it his wife, and his face brightened as he fancied himself +kissing away her tears. + +At that instant a loud uproar smote upon his ears. At the foot of the +steep mountain, on the summit of which his wife had just come into sight +again, he saw a troop of horsemen trotting rapidly along. These were the +pursuers. They seemed scarcely larger than ants. + +Ah! how he would have liked to have trampled those ants to death. + +"You would pursue her, eh? Then I will stop you." + +And with these words seizing a large grey rock from among those which +were heaped upon the summit, he rolled it down the side of the mountain +just as the Turks had reached a narrow defile. + +With a noise like thunder the huge mass of rock plunged its way down the +mountain-side, taking great leaps into the air whenever it encountered +any obstacle. Ah! how the galloping rock plunged among the terrified +horsemen--only a streak of blood remained in its track, horses and +horsemen were equally crushed beneath it. + +With a second, with a third rock also he greeted them. The cavasses, at +their wits' end, fled back, and never stopped till they had clambered up +the opposite ridge; they did not feel safe among the plunging rocks +below and there they could be seen deliberating how it was possible to +reach the road behind their backs. + +Guessing their intention, the Prince sent his servant to fling a rock +down upon them from the hillside beyond, which, as it came clattering +down, made the cavasses believe that their enemies were in force, and +they climbed higher up still. + +"There they will remain till evening," thought the Prince to himself; +"so they will not overtake Mariska after all." + +And so it conveniently turned out. The cavasses, after consulting +together for a long time fruitlessly as to what road they should take to +get out of the dangerous pass, began to yell from their lofty perch at +their invisible foes, threatening them with the highest displeasure of +the Sultan if they did not allow them to pass through in peace; and when +a fresh shower of rocks came down by way of reply, they unsaddled their +horses and allowing them to graze about at will, lit a fire and squatted +down beside it. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, the hunted lady, exchanging her tired horses for four fresh +ones in the first Transylvanian village she came to, pressed onwards +without stopping. Travelling all night she reached Szamosújvár in the +early morning. The Prince was no longer there. He had migrated in hot +haste, they said, before the rising of the sun, to Klausenberg. + +Mariska did not descend from her carriage, but only changed her horses. +Three days and three nights she had already been travelling, without +rest, in sickness and despair. And again she must hasten on farther. It +was evening when they reached Klausenberg. The coachman, when he saw the +towers in the distance, turned round to her with the comforting +assurance that they would now be at Klausenberg very shortly. At these +words the lady begged the coachman not to go so quickly, and when he +lashed up his horses still more vigorously notwithstanding, and cast a +look behind him, she also looked through the window at the back of the +carriage and saw a band of horsemen galloping after them along the road. + +So their pursuers were as near to them behind as Klausenberg was in +front. + +There was not a moment's delay. The coachman whipped up the horses, +their nostrils steamed, foam fell from their lips, they plunged wildly +forward, the pebbles flashed sparks beneath their hoofs, the carriage +swayed to and fro on the uneven road, the persecuted lady huddled +herself into a corner of the carriage, and prayed to God for +deliverance. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OLAJ BEG. + + +The Prince was just then standing in the portico of his palace +conversing with the Princess, whose face bore strong marks of the +sufferings of the last few days. Shortly after the panic of Nagyenyed +she had given birth to a little daughter, and the terror experienced at +the time had had a bad effect on both mother and child. + +Apafi's brow was also clouded. The Prince's heart was sore, and not +merely on his own account. Whenever there was any distress in the +principality he also was distressed, but his own sorrow he had to share +alone. + +For some days he had found no comfort in whatever direction he might +turn. The Turks had made him feel their tyranny everywhere, and the +foreign courts had listened to his tale of distress with selfish +indifference; while the great men of the realm dubbed him a tyrant, the +common folks sung lampoons upon his cowardice beneath his very windows; +and when he took refuge in the bosom of his family he was met by a sick +wife, who had ceased to find any joy in life ever since he had been made +Prince. + +A sick wife is omnipotent as regards her husband. If Anna had insisted +upon _her_ husband's quitting his princely palace, and returning with +her to their quiet country house at Ebesfalu--where there was no kingdom +but the kingdom of Heaven--perhaps he would even have done that for +her. + +As the princely pair stood on the castle battlements, the din of the +town grew deeper, and suddenly the rumble of a carriage, driven at full +tilt, broke upon the dreamy stillness of the castle courtyard, and +dashing into it stopped before the staircase; the door of the coach was +quickly thrown open and out of it rushed a pale woman, who, rallying her +last remaining strength, ran up the staircase and collapsed at the feet +of the Prince as he hastened to meet her, exclaiming as she did so: + +"I am Mariska Sturdza." + +"For the love of God," cried the agitated Prince, "why did you come +here? You have destroyed the state and me; you have brought ruin on +yourself and on us." + +The unfortunate lady was unable to utter another word. Her energy was +exhausted. She lay there on the marble floor, half unconscious. + +The Princess Apafi summoned her ladies-in-waiting, who, at her command, +hastened to raise the lady in their arms and began to sprinkle her face +with eau-de-Cologne. + +"I cannot allow her to be brought into my house," cried the terrified +Apafi; "it would bring utter destruction on me and my family." + +The Princess cast a look full of dignity upon her husband. + +"What do you mean? Would you hand this unfortunate woman over to her +pursuers? In her present condition, too? Suppose _I_ was obliged to fly +in a similar plight, would you fling _me_ out upon the high road instead +of offering me a place of refuge?" + +"But the wrath of the Sultan?" + +"Yes; and the contempt of posterity?" + +"Then would you have me bring ruin upon my throne and my family for the +sake of a woman?" + +"Better perish for the sake of a woman than do that woman to death. If +you shut your rooms against her, I will open mine wide to receive her, +and then you can tell the Sultan if you like that I have taken her." + +Apafi felt that his wife's obstinacy was getting him into a hideous +muddle. This audacious woman would listen to no reasons of state in any +matter which interested her humanity. + +What was he to do? He pitied the persecuted lady from the bottom of his +heart, but the emissary of the Sublime Porte, Olaj Beg, had come to +demand her with plenipotentiary power. If he did _not_ shelter the +persecuted lady he would pronounce himself a coward in the face of the +whole world; if he _did_ shelter her, the Porte would annihilate him! + +In the midst of this dilemma, one of the gate-keepers came in hot haste +to announce that a band of Turkish soldiers was at that moment galloping +along the road, inquiring in a loud voice for the Princess of Wallachia. + +Apafi leant in dumb despair against a marble pillar whilst Anna quickly +ordered her women to carry the unconscious lady to her innermost +apartments and summon the doctor. She then went out on the balcony, and +perceiving that the cavasses had just halted in front of the palace, she +cried to the gate-keepers: + +"Close the gates!" + +Apafi would have very much liked to have countermanded the order; but +while he was still thinking about it, the gates were snapped to under +the very noses of the cavasses. + +They began angrily beating with the shafts of their lances against the +closed gate, whereupon the Princess called down to them from the balcony +with a sonorous, authoritative voice: + +"Ye good-for-nothing rascals, wherefore all that racket? This is not a +barrack, but the residence of the Prince. Perchance ye know it not, +because fresh human heads are wont to be nailed over the gates of your +Princes every day as a mark of recognition? If that is what you are +accustomed to, your error is pardonable." + +The cavasses were considerably startled at these words, and, looking up +at the imperious lady, began to see that she really meant what she said. +For a while they laid their heads together, and then turned round and +departed. + +Apafi sighed deeply. + +"There is some hidden trick in this," said he, "but what it is God only +knows." + +A few moments later a müderris appeared from Olaj Beg at the gate of the +Prince, and, being all alone, was admitted. + +"Olaj Beg greets thee, and thou must come to him quickly," said he. + +Anna had drawn near to greet her guest, but hearing that Olaj Beg +summoned the Prince to appear before him, she approached the messenger, +boiling over with wrath. + +"Whoever heard," she said, "of a servant ordering his master about, or +an ambassador summoning the Prince to whose Court he is accredited?" + +But Apafi could only take refuge in a desperate falsehood. + +"Poor Olaj Beg," he explained, "is very sick and cannot stir from his +bed, and, indeed, he humbly begs me to pay him a visit. There is no +humiliation in this--none at all, if I am graciously pleased to do it. +He is an old man of eighty. I might be his grandson, he is wont to scold +me as if I were his darling; I will certainly go to him, and put this +matter right with him. You go to your sick guest and comfort her. I give +you my word I will do everything to get her set free. For her sake I +will humble myself." + +The Princess Apafi's foresight already suggested to her that this +humiliation would be permanent, but, perceiving that her own strength of +mind was not contagious, she allowed her husband to depart. + +Apafi prepared himself for his visit upon Olaj Beg. With a peculiar +feeling of melancholy he did _not_ put on his princely dolman of green +velvet, but only the _köntös_ of a simple nobleman, imagining that thus +it would not be the Prince of Transylvania but the squire of Ebesfalu +who was paying a visit on Olaj Beg. He went on foot to the house of Olaj +Beg, accompanied by a single soldier, who had to put on his everyday +clothes. + +The dogs had been let loose in the courtyard, for the Beg was a great +protector of animals, and used to keep open table in front of his +dwelling for the wandering dogs of every town he came to. + +Making his way through them, Apafi had to cross a hall and an +ante-chamber, brimful with praying dervishes, who, squatting down with +legs crossed, were reading aloud from books with large clasps, only so +far paying attention to each other as to see which could yell the +loudest. + +The Prince did not address them, as it was clear that he would get no +answer, but went straight towards the third door. + +The chamber beyond was also full of spiders'-webs and dervishes, but a +red cushion had been placed in the midst of it, and on this cushion sat +a big, pale, grey man in a roomy yellow caftan. He also was holding a +large book in front of him and reading painfully. + +Apafi approached, and even ventured to address him. + +"Merciful Olaj Beg, my gracious master, find a full stop somewhere in +that book of yours, turn down the leaf at the proper spot, put it down, +and listen to me." + +Olaj Beg, on hearing the words of the Prince, put the book aside, and +turning with a sweet and tender smile towards him, remarked with +emotion: + +"The angels of the Prophet bear thee up in all thy ways, my dear child. +Heaven preserve every hair of thy beard, and the Archangel Izrafil go +before thee and sweep every stone from thy path, that thy feet may not +strike against them!" + +With these words the Beg graciously extended his right hand to be +kissed, blinking privily at the Prince; nor would Apafi have minded +kissing it if they had been all alone, but in the presence of so many +dervishes it would have been derogatory to his dignity; so, instead of +doing so, he took the Beg's hand and provisionally placed it in his left +hand and gave it a resounding thump with his right, and then shook it +amicably as became a friend. + +"Don't trouble thyself, my dear son, I will not suffer thee to kiss my +hand," cried Olaj Beg, drawing back his hand and making a show of +opposition so that everyone might fancy that Apafi was angry with him +for not being allowed to kiss it. + +"You have deigned to send for me," said Apafi, taking a step backwards; +"tell me, I pray, what you desire, for my time is short. I am +overwhelmed with affairs of state." + +These last words Apafi pronounced with as majestic an intonation as +possible. + +Olaj Beg thereupon folded his hands together. + +"Oh, my dear son!" said he, "the princely dignity is indeed a heavy +burden. I see that quite well, nor am I in the least surprised that thou +wishest to be relieved of it; but be of good cheer, the blessing of +Heaven will come upon us when we are not praying for it; when thou dost +least expect it the Sublime Sultan will have compassion upon thee, and +will deliver thee of the heavy load which presses upon thy shoulders." + +Apafi wrinkled his brows. The exordium was bad enough; he hastened +towards the end of the business. + +"Perchance, you have heard, gracious Olaj Beg! that the unfortunate +Mariska Sturdza has taken refuge with us." + +"It matters not," signified the Beg, with a reassuring wave of the hand. + +"She took refuge in my palace without my knowledge," observed Apafi +apologetically, "and what could I do when she was all alone? I couldn't +turn her out of my house." + +"There was no necessity. Thou didst as it became a merciful man to do." + +"If you had seen her you would yourself have felt sorry for her--sick, +half-dead, desperate, she flung herself at my feet, imploring +compassion, and before I could reply to her she had fainted away. +Perhaps even now she is dead." + +"Oh, poor child!" cried Olaj Beg, folding both his hands and raising his +eyes to Heaven. + +"Her husband had left her in great misery, and alone she plunged into +jeopardy," continued Apafi, trying to justify the persecuted woman in +every possible manner. + +"Oh, poor, unhappy child!" cried Olaj Beg, shaking his head. + +"And more than that," sighed Apafi, "the poor woman is big with child." + +"What dost thou say?" + +"Yes, sir, and flying day and night in all sorts of weathers from her +pursuers in such a condition, you can imagine her wretched condition; +she was scarce alive, she was on the very threshold of death." + +"Allah be gracious to her and extend over her the wings of his mercy!" + +Apafi began to think that he had found Olaj Beg in a charitable humour. + +"I knew that you would not be angry about her." + +"I am not angry, my son, I am not angry. My eyes overflow at her sad +fate." + +"She, you know, had no share in her husband's faults." + +"Far from it." + +"And it would not be right that an innocent woman should atone for what +her husband has committed." + +"Certainly not." + +"Then do you think, my lord, that the Sublime Sultan will be merciful to +this woman?" + +"What a question! Have no fear for her!" + +Apafi was not so simple as not to be struck by this exaggerated +indulgence, the more satisfactory were the Beg's replies the keener grew +his feeling of anxiety. At last, much perturbed, he ventured to put this +question: + +"Gracious Beg! will you allow this unfortunate woman to rest in peace at +my house, and can you assure me that the Sublime Sultan will espouse her +cause?" + +"The Holy Book says: 'Be merciful to them that suffer and compassionate +them that weep.' Therefore, behold I grant thee thy desire: let this +poor innocent woman repose in thy house in peace, let her rest +thoroughly from her sufferings and let her enjoy the blessedness of +peace till such time as I must take her from thee by the command of the +Grand Seignior." + +Apafi felt his brain reel, so marvellous, so terrible was this +graciousness of the Turk towards him. + +"And when think you you will require this woman to be handed over?" + +Olaj Beg, with a reassuring look, tapped Apafi on the shoulder, and said +with a voice full of unction: + +"Fret not thyself, my dear son! In no case will it be earlier than +to-morrow morning." + +Apafi almost collapsed in his fright. + +"To-morrow morning, do you say, my lord?" + +"I promise thee she shall not be disturbed before." + +Apafi perceived that the man had been making sport with him all along. +Rage began to seethe in his heart. + +"But, my lord, I said nothing about one day. One day is the period +allowed to condemned criminals." + +"Days and seasons come from Allah, and none may divide them." + +"Damn you soft sawder!" murmured Apafi between his teeth. "My lord," he +resumed, "would you carry away with you a sick woman whom only the most +tender care can bring back from the shores of Death, and who, if she +were now to set out for Buda, would never reach it, for she would die on +the way?" + +Olaj Beg piously raised his hands to Heaven. + +"Life and death are inscribed above in the Book of Thora, and if it +there be written in letters embellished with roses and tulips that +Mariska Sturdza must die to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow, die she +will most certainly, though she lay upon musk and were anointed with the +balm of life, and neither the prayers of the saints nor the lore of the +Sages could save her--but if it be written that she is to live, then let +the Angels of Death come against her with every manner of weapon and +they shall not harm her." + +Apafi saw that he would have to speak very plainly to this crafty old +man. + +"Worthy Olaj Beg! you know that this realm has a constitution which +enjoins that the Prince himself must not issue ordinances in the more +weighty matters without consulting his counsellors. Now, the present +case seems to me to be so important that I cannot inform you of my +resolution till I have communicated it to my council." + +"It is well, my dear son, I have no objection. Speak with those servants +of thine whom thou hast made thy masters; sit in thy council chamber and +let the matter be well considered as it deserves to be; and if +thereafter ye decide that the Princess shall accompany me, I will take +her away and take leave of thee with great honour; but if it should so +fall out that ye do not give her up to me, my dear son, or should allow +her to escape from me--then will I take thee instead of her, together +with thy brave counsellors, my sweet son." + +The Beg said these words in the sweetest, tenderest voice, as old +grandfathers are wont to address their grandchildren, and descending +from his pillows he stroked the Prince's face with both his hands, and +kissed him on the temples with great good will, quite covering his head +with his long white beard. + +Apafi felt as if the whole room were dancing around him. He did not +speak a word, but turned on his axis and went right out. He himself did +not know how he got through the first door, but by the time he had shut +the second door behind him he bethought him that he was still the Prince +of Transylvania, and by descent one of the first noblemen of the land, +whereas Olaj Beg was only a nasty, dirty Turkish captain, who had been a +camel-driver in the days of his youth, and yet had dared to speak to +him, the Prince, like that! By the time he had reached the third door he +had reflected that in the days when he was nothing but the joint-tenant +of Ebesfalu, if Olaj Beg had dared to treat him so shamefully, he would +have broken his bald head for him with a stout truncheon. But had he not +just such a stout truncheon actually hanging by his side? Yes, he had! +and he would go back and strike Olaj Beg with it, not exactly on the +head perhaps, but, at any rate, on the back that he might remember for +the rest of his life the _stylus curialis_ of Transylvania. + +And with that he turned back from the third door with very grave +resolves. + +But when he had re-opened the second door he bethought him once more +that such violence might be of great prejudice to the realm, and +besides, there was not very much glory after all in striking an old man +of eighty. But at any rate he would tell him like a man what it had not +occurred to him to say in the first moment of his surprise. + +So when he had opened the first door and was in the presence of Olaj +Beg, he stood there on the threshold with the door ajar, and said to him +in a voice of thunder: + +"Hearken, Olaj Beg! I have come back simply to tell you----" + +Olaj Beg looked at him. + +"What dost thou say, my good son?" + +"This," continued Apafi in a very much lower key, "that it will take +time to summon the council, for Béldi lives at Bodola, Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, Csaky at Déva, and until they come together you can do what +you think best: you may remain here or go"--and with that he turned +back, and only when he had slammed to the door he added--"to hell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. + + +This incident was the occasion of great affliction to the Estates of +Transylvania. The counsellors assembled at the appointed time at the +residence of the Prince, who at that moment would have felt happier as a +Tartar captive than as the ruler of Transylvania. + +On the day of the session everyone appeared in the council chamber with +as gloomy a countenance as if he were about to pronounce his own +death-warrant. + +They took their places in silence, and everyone took great care that his +sword should not rattle. There were present: old John and young Michael +Bethlen, Paul Béldi, Caspar Kornis, Ladislaus Csaky, Joshua Kapi, and +the protonotarius, Francis Sárpataky. For the Prince, there had just +been prepared a new canopied throne, with three steps; it was the first +time he had sat on it. Beside it was an empty arm-chair, reserved for +Michael Teleki. + +As soon as the guard of the chamber announced that the counsellors had +assembled, the Prince at once appeared, accompanied by Michael Teleki +and Stephen Naláczi. + +It could be seen from the Prince's face that for at least two hours +Teleki had been filling his head with talk. Nalaczi greeted everyone +present with a courtly smile, but nobody smiled back at him. Teleki, +with cold gravity, led the Prince to the throne. The latter on first +looking up at the throne, stood before it as if thunderstruck, and +seemed to be deliberating for a moment whether it ought not to be taken +away and a simple chair put in its place. But after thinking it well out +he mounted the steps, and, sighing deeply, took his seat upon it. + +Michael Teleki stood silent in his place for some time, as if he was +collecting his thoughts. His eyes did not travel along the faces of +those present as they generally did to watch the effect of his words, +but were fixed on the clasp of his kalpag, and his voice was much duller +than at other times, often sinking to tremulous depths, except when he +pulled himself together and tried to give it a firmer tone. + +"Your Highness, your Excellencies,--God has reserved peculiar trials for +our unfortunate nation. One danger has scarce passed over us when we +plump into another; when we try to avoid the lesser perils, we find the +greater ones directly in our path, and we end in sorrow what we began in +joy. Scarcely have we got over the tidings of the battle of St. Gothard +(we had our own melancholy reasons for not participating therein), and +the consequent annihilation of the far-reaching designs of the Turkish +Empire, by the peace contracted between the two great Powers, amidst +whose quarrels our unhappy country is buffeted about as if between +hammer and anvil, when we have a fresh and still greater occasion for +apprehension. For the generals of the Turkish Sultan impute the loss of +the battle to the premature flight of Prince Ghyka, and at the same time +hold us partly responsible for it--and certainly, had our soldiers stood +in the place of the Wallachian warriors, although they would not have +liked fighting their fellow-Magyars, nevertheless, if once they had been +in for it, they would not have ran away and so the battle would not have +been lost--wherefore the wrath of the Sublime Sultan was so greatly +kindled against both the neighbouring nations, that he sent his cavasses +to seize the Prince of Moldavia and carry him in chains to Stambul with +his whole family. As for Transylvania, but for the mercy of God and the +goodwill of certain Turkish statesmen, we might have seen it suddenly +converted into a sandjak or province, and a fez-wearing Pasha on the +throne of his Highness. Now it has so happened that the Prince of +Moldavia, wresting himself and his wife out of the hands of their +pursuers, took the shortest road to Transylvania. We sent a message to +them that on no account were they to try to come here, as their flight +would cost us more than a Tartar invasion. The Prince, therefore, took +refuge in the mountains, but let his wife continue her journey, and, in +an evil hour for us and herself, she arrived here a few days ago with +the knowledge and under the very eyes of the Sultan's plenipotentiary. +The husband having escaped, the whole wrath of the Sultan is turned upon +the wife and upon us also if we try to defend her. What, then, are we to +do? If we had to choose between shame and death, I should know what to +say; but here our choice is only between two kinds of shame: either to +hand over an innocent, tender woman, who has appealed to us for +protection, or see a Turkish Pasha sitting on the throne of the Prince!" + +"But there's a third course, surely," said Béldi, "by way of petition?" + +"I might indeed make the request," interrupted Apafi, "but I know very +well what answer I should get." + +"I do not mean petitioning the envoy," returned Béldi. "Who would +humiliate himself by petitioning the servant when he could appeal to the +master?" + +At this Apafi grew dumb; he could not bring forward the fact that he had +already petitioned the servant. + +"I believe that Béldi is right," said young Michael Bethlen, "and that +is the only course we can take. I am well acquainted with the mood of an +eastern Despot when he gets angry, and I know that at such times it is +nothing unusual for him to level towns to the ground and decapitate +viceroys; but fortunately for Transylvania it is situated in Europe, +where one state has some regard for another, and it is the interest of +all the European kingdoms to maintain a free state between themselves +and the Ottoman Empire, even if it be only a small one like +Transylvania. And it seems to me that if our petition be supported at +Stambul by the French, Austrian, and Polish ambassadors, there will be +no reason for the Sultan, especially after such a defeat as the last +one, to send a Pasha to Transylvania. And, finally, if we show him that +our swords have not rusted in their scabbards, and that we know how to +draw them on occasion, he will not be disposed to do so." + +The youth's enthusiastic speech began to pour fresh confidence into the +souls of those who heard him, and their very faces appeared to brighten +because of it. + +Teleki shook his head slowly. + +"I tell your Excellencies it will be a serious business," said he. "I am +obliged to arouse you from an agreeable dream by confronting you with a +rigorous fact. Europe has not the smallest care for our existence; we +only find allies when they have need of our sacrifices; let us begin to +petition, and they know us no more. It is true that at one time I said +something very different, but time is such a good master that it teaches +a man more in one day than if he had gone through nine schools. In +consequence of the battle of St. Gothard, peace has been concluded +between the two Emperors. I have read every article of it, every point, +and we are left out of it altogether, as if we were a nation quite +unworthy of consideration. Yet the French, the English, and the Polish +ministers were there, and I can say that not one of them received so +much pay from his own court as he received from us. If they want war, +oh! then we are a great and glorious nation; but when peace is concluded +they do not even know that we are there. In war we may lead the van, but +in the distribution of rewards we are left far behind. And now the +Pasha of Buda, who is bent upon our destruction and would like to set a +pasha over Transylvania, after the last defeat, has sent down Yffim Beg +to us to go from village to village demanding why the arrears of taxes +have not been paid, and then he is coming to the Prince to ask the cause +of the remissness and threaten him with the vengeance of the Pasha of +Buda." + +There was a general murmur of indignation. + +"Ah, gentlemen, let us confess to each other that we play at being +masters in our own home, but in fact we are masters there no longer. We +may trust to our efforts and rely upon our rights, but we have none to +help us; we have no allies either on the right hand or on the left; we +have only our masters. We may change our masters, but we shall never win +confederates. The Power which stands above us is only awaiting an +opportunity to carry out its designs upon us, and no one could render it +a better service in Transylvania than by raising his head against it. We +have all of us a great obligation laid upon us: to recognise the little +we possess, take care to preserve it, and, if the occasion arise, insist +upon it. It is true that while the sword is in our hands we may defend +all Europe with it; but let our sword once be broken and our whole realm +falls to pieces and the heathen will trample upon us in the sight of all +the nations. We shall bleed for a half-century or so, and nobody will +come to our assistance; the gates of our realm will be guarded by our +enemies; and, like the scorpion in a fiery circle, we shall only turn +the bitterness of our hearts against ourselves. Do you want reasons, +then, why we should not defend those hunted creatures who seek a refuge +with us? The World and Fate have settled their accounts with us; this +realm is left entirely to its own devices. Matters standing thus, if we +refuse to deliver up to Olaj Beg the above-mentioned Princess of +Moldavia, the armies of the Pashas of Buda and Grosswardein will +instantly receive orders to reduce Transylvania to the rank of a vassal +state of the Porte. There is no room here for regret or humanity, +self-preservation is our one remaining duty and the duty of +self-preservation demands that where we have no choice, we should do +voluntarily what we may be forced to do." + +Teleki had scarce finished these words than an attendant announced that +the Princess of Moldavia requested admittance into the council chamber. + +Apafi would have replied in the negative, but Teleki signified that she +might as well come in. + +A few moments later the attendant again appeared and requested +permission for the ladies of the Princess's suite to accompany their +mistress, as she was too weak to walk alone. + +Teleki consented to that also. + +The counsellors cast down their eyes when the door opened. But there is +a sort of spell which forces a man to look in the very direction in +which he would not, in which he fears to look, and lo and behold! when +the door opened and the hunted woman entered with her suite, a cry of +astonishment resounded from every lip. For of what did the woman's suite +consist? It consisted of the most eminent ladies of Transylvania. The +wives and daughters of all the counsellors present accompanied the +unfortunate lady, foremost among them being the Princess and Dame +Michael Teleki, on whose shoulders she leaned; and last of all came old +Dame Bethlen, with dove-white hair. All the most respectable matrons, +the loveliest wives, and fairest maidens of the realm were there. + +The unfortunate Princess, whose pale face was full of suffering, +advanced on the arms of her supporters towards the throne of the Prince. +Her knees tottered beneath her, her whole body trembled like a leaf, she +opened her lips, but no sound proceeded from them. + +"Courage, my child," whispered Anna Bornemissza, pressing her hand; +whereupon the tears suddenly burst from the eyes of the unfortunate +woman, and, breaking from her escort, she flung herself at the feet of +the Prince, embracing his knees with her convulsive arms, and raising +towards him her tear-stained face, exclaimed with a heart-rending voice: +"Mercy! ... Mercy!" + +A cold dumbness sat on every lip; it was impossible for a time to hear +anything but the woman's deep sobbing. The Prince sat like a statue on +his throne, the steps of which Mariska Sturdza moistened with her tears. +The silence was painful to everyone, yet nobody dared to break it. + +Teleki smoothed away his forelock from his broad forehead, but he could +not smooth away the wrinkles which had settled there. He regretted that +he had given occasion to this scene. + +"Mercy!" sobbed the poor woman once more, and half unconsciously her +hand slipped from Apafi's knees. Aranka Béldi rushed towards her and +rested her declining head on her own pretty childlike bosom. + +Then Anna Bornemissza stepped forward, and after throwing a stony glance +upon all the counsellors present, who cast down their eyes before her, +looked Apafi straight in the face with her own bright, penetrating, +soul-searching eyes, till her astonished husband was constrained to +return her glance almost without knowing it. + +"My petition is a brief one," said Dame Apafi in a low, deep, though +perfectly audible voice. "An unfortunate woman, whom the Lord of Destiny +did not deem to be sufficiently chastened by a single blow, has lost in +one day her husband, her home, and her property; she implores us now for +bare life. You see her lying in the dust asking of you nothing more than +leave to rest--a petition which Dzengis Khan's executioners would have +granted her. That is all she asks, but we demand more. The destiny of +Transylvania is in your hands, but its honour is ours also; ye are +summoned to decide whether our children are to be happy or miserable. +But speak freely to us and say if you wish them to be honourable men or +cowards. And I ask you which of us women would care to bear the name of +a Kornis, a Csaky, or an Apafi, if posterity shall say of the bearers of +these names that they surrendered an innocent woman to her heathen +pursuers and constrained their own sons thereby to renounce the names of +their fathers? Look not so darkly upon me, Master Michael Teleki, for my +soul is dark enough without that. An unhappy woman is on her knees +before you, hoping that she will find you to be men. The women of +Transylvania stand before you, hoping to find you patriots. We beg you +to have compassion for the sake of the honour of our children." + +Teleki, upon whom the eyes of the Princess had flashed fiercely during +the speech, as if accepting the challenge, answered in a cold, stony +voice: + +"Here, madam, we dispense justice only, not mercy or honour." + +"Justice!" exclaimed Anna. "What! If a husband has offended, is his +innocent wife, whose only fault is that she loves the fugitive, is she, +I say, to suffer punishment in his stead? Where is the justice of that?" + +"Justice is often another name for necessity." + +"Then who are all ye whom I see here? Are ye the chief men of +Transylvania or Turkish slaves? This is what I ask, and what we should +all of us very much like to know: is this the council chamber of the +free and constitutional state of Transylvania, or is it the ante-chamber +of Olaj Beg?" + +The gentlemen present preserved a deep silence. This was a question to +which they could not give a direct answer. + +"I demand an answer to my question," cried Dame Apafi in a loud voice. + +"And what good will the answer do you, my lady?" inquired Teleki, +pressing his index-finger to his lips. + +"I shall at any rate know whether the place in which we now stand is +worthy of us." + +"It is not worthy, my lady. The present is no time for the Magyars to be +proud that they dwell in Transylvania; we are ashamed to be the +responsible ministers of a down-trodden, deserted, and captive nation. +This your Highness ought to know as well as any of us, for it was a +Turkish Pasha who placed your husband on the Prince's seat. And, +assuredly, it would be a far less grief to us to lose our heads than to +bend them humbly beneath the derisive honour of being the leaders of a +people lying among ruins. But, at the most, history will only be able to +say of us that we humbly bowed before necessity, that we bore the yoke +of the stranger without dignity, that running counter to the feelings of +our hearts and the persuasions of our minds, we covered our faces with +shame, and yet that that very shame and dishonour saved the life of +Transylvania, and that poor spot of earth which remained in our hands +saved the whole country from a bloody persecution. We are the victims of +the times, madam; help us to conceal the blush of shame and share it +with us. There, you have the answer to your question." + +Dame Apafi grew as pale as death, her head drooped, and she clasped her +hands together. + +"So we have come to this at last? Formerly valour was the national +virtue, now it is cowardice. What is our own fate likely to be if we +reject this poor woman? What has happened to-day to a Princess Ghyka +might easily happen to the wives of Kornis and Csaky and Béldi +to-morrow. For their husbands' faults they may be carried away captive, +brought to the block, if only God does not have mercy upon them, for you +yourselves say that this would be right. Why do you look at us? You, +Béldi, Kornis, Teleki, Csaky, Bethlen, here stand your wives and +daughters. Draw forth your coward swords, and if you dare not slay men, +at least slay women; kill them before it occurs to the Turkish Padishah +to drag them by the hair into his harem." + +As Dame Apafi mentioned the names of the men one after another, their +wives and daughters, loudly weeping, rushed towards them, and hiding +their heads in their bosoms, with passionate sobs, begged for the +unfortunate Princess, and behold the eyes of the men also filled with +tears, and nothing could be heard in the room but the sobbing of the +husbands mingled with the sobbing of their wives. + +On Teleki's breast also hung the gentle Judith Veér and his own daughter +Flora, and the great stony-hearted counsellor stood trembling between +them; and although his cast-iron features assumed with an effort a +rigorous expression, nevertheless a couple of unrestrainable tears +suddenly trickled down the furrows of his face. + +The Prince turned aside on his throne, and covering his face, murmured: +"No more, Anna! No more!" + +"Oh, Apafi!" cried the Princess bitterly; "if perish I must it shall not +be by your hand. Anna Bornemissza has strength enough to meet death if +there be no choice between that and shame. Be content, if Olaj Beg +demands my death, I shall at least be spared the unpleasantness of +falling at your feet in supplication. And now, pronounce your decision, +but remember that every word you say will resound throughout the +Christian world." + +Teleki dried the tears from his face, made his wife and daughter +withdraw, and said in a voice tremulous with emotion: + +"In vain should I deny it, my tears reveal that I have a feeling heart. +I am a man, I am a father, and a husband. If I were nothing but Michael +Teleki, I should know how to sacrifice myself on behalf of persecuted +innocence; and if my colleagues around me were only companions-in-arms, +I should say to them, gird on your swords, lie in wait, rush upon the +Turkish escort of the Princess, and deliver her out of their hands--if +we perish, a blessing will be upon us. But in this place, in these +chairs, it is not ourselves who feel and speak. The life, the death of +all Transylvania depends upon us. And my last word is that we +incontinently deliver up Mariska Sturdza to the ambassador of the Porte. +If my colleagues decide otherwise, I will agree to it, I will take my +share of the responsibility, but I shall have saved my soul anyhow. +Speak, gentlemen, and if you like, vote against me." + +The silence of death ensued, nobody spoke a word. + +"What, nobody speaks?" cried Dame Apafi in amazement. "Nobody! Ah! let +us leave this place! There is not a man in the whole principality." + +And with these words the lady withdrew from the council chamber. Her +attendants followed her sorrowfully, one by one, tearfully bidding adieu +to the unfortunate Princess. Aranka Béldi was the last to part from her. +During the whole of this mournful scene her eyes had remained tearless, +but she had knelt down the whole time by Mariska's side, holding her +closely embraced, and assuring her that God would deliver her, she must +fear nothing. + +When all the ladies had withdrawn, and Dame Béldi beckoned her daughter +to follow her, she tenderly kissed the face of her friend and whispered +in her ear: "I have still hope, fear not, we will save you!" and smiling +at her with her bright blue eyes like an angel of consolation, got up +and withdrew. + +The Princess, tearless, speechless, then allowed herself to be conducted +away by the officers of the council chamber. + +The men remained sitting upon their chairs, downcast and sorrowful. +Every bosom was oppressed, and every heart was empty, and the thought of +their delivered fatherland was a cold consolation for the grief they +felt that the Government of Transylvania should fling an innocent woman +back into the throat of the monster which was pursuing her. + +The silence still continued when, suddenly, the door was violently burst +open, and shoving aside the guards right and left, Yffim Beg entered +the room. He had been sent by Hassan Pasha to levy contributions on the +Prince and the people. + +The rough Turkish captain looked round with boorish pride upon the +silent gentlemen, who were still depressed by the preceding incident, +and perceiving that here he had to do with the humble, without so much +as bowing, he strode straight up to the Prince, and placing one foot on +the footstool before the throne, and throwing his head haughtily back, +flung these words at him: + +"In the name of my master, the mighty Hassan Pasha, I put this question +to thee, thou Prince of the Giaurs, why hast thou kept back for so long +the tribute which is due to the Porte? Who hath caused the delay--thou, +or the farmers of the taxes, or the tax-paying people? Answer me +directly, and take care that thou liest not!" + +The Prince looked around with wrinkled brows as if looking for something +to fling at the head of the fellow. He regretted that the inkstand was +so far off. + +But Teleki handed a sheet of parchment to Sárpataky, the clerk of the +council. + +"Read our answer to the Pasha's letter," said he; "as for you--sir I +will not call you--listen to what is written therein. 'Beneficent Hassan +Pasha, we greatly regret that you bother yourself about things which are +already settled. We do not ask you why you came so late to the battle of +St. Gothard. Why do you ask us, then, why we are so late with the taxes? +We will answer for ourselves at the proper time and place. Till then, +Heaven bless you, and grant that misfortune overwhelm you not just when +you would ruin others.' When you have written all that down, hand it to +his Highness the Prince for signature." + +The gentlemen present had fallen from one surprise into another. Michael +Teleki, who a moment before, against the inclinations of his own heart +and mind, had tried to compel the land to submit to the demand of Olaj +Beg, could in the next moment send such a message to the powerful Vizier +of Buda. + +But Teleki knew very well that the storm which was passing over the +country on account of the Princess of Moldavia was sure to rebound on +the head of the Vizier of Buda. The Sultan was seeking for an object on +which to wreak his wrath because of the lost battle, and if the Pasha of +Buda did not succeed in making the Government of Transylvania the +victim, he would fall a victim himself. + +As for Yffim Beg, he did not quite know whether a thunder-bolt had +plunged down close beside him, or whether he was dreaming. There he +stood like a statue, unable to utter a word, and only looked on stupidly +while the letter was being written before his very eyes, while Apafi's +pen scraped the parchment as he subscribed his signature, while they +poured the sand over it, folded it up, impressed it with an enormous +seal, and thrust it into his palm. + +Only then did he emerge somewhat from his stupor. + +"Do ye think I am mad enough to carry this letter back with me to Buda?" + +And with these words he seized the letter at both ends, tore it in two, +and flung it beneath the table. + +"Write another!" said he, "write it nicely, for my master, the mighty +Hassan Pasha, will strangle the whole lot of you." + +Teleki turned coldly towards him. + +"If you don't like the letter, worthy müderris, you may go back without +any letter at all." + +"I am no müderris, but Yffim Beg. I would have thee know that, thou dog; +and I won't go without a letter, and I won't let you all go till ye have +written another." + +And with these words he sat down on the steps of the Prince's throne and +crossed his legs, so that two were sitting on the throne at the same +time, the Beg and Apafi. + +"Guards!" cried Apafi in a commanding voice, "seize this shameless +fellow, tie him on to a horse's back and drive him out of the town." + +They needed not another word. One of the guards immediately rushed +forward to where Yffim Beg was still sitting on a footstool with legs +crossed, and took him under the arm, while another of them grasped him +firmly by the collar, and raising him thus in the air, kicking and +struggling, carried him out of the room in a moment. The Beg struck, +bit, and scratched, but it was all of no avail. The merciless drabants +set him on the back of a horse in the courtyard, without a saddle, tied +his feet together beneath the horse's belly, placed the bridle of the +steed in the hands of a stable-boy, while another stable-boy stood +behind with a good stout whip; and so liberally did they interpret the +commands of the chief counsellor, that they escorted the worthy +gentleman, not only out of the town, but beyond the borders of the +realm. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. + + +At Buda, while Hassan Pasha was fighting with the army of the German +Emperor, Yffim Beg was preparing the triumphal arches through which the +victors were to pass on their return, adorning them with green branches +and precious carpets, and leaving room for the standards to be captured +from the Germans and Hungarians. The bridge was also repaired and +strengthened to support the weight of the heavy gun-carriages and cannon +which Montecuculi was to have abandoned, and at the same time a large +space on the Rákás was railed in where all the slaves of all the +nations, including women and children, were to be impounded. + +And after all these amiable preparations the terrible message reached +the worthy Yffim Beg from Hassan Pasha that he was to place all his +movable chattels, gold and silver, on a fugitive footing, barricade the +fortress, cut away the bridge so that the enemy might not be able to +cross it, and follow him with the whole harem, beyond the Raab, for who +could tell whether they would ever see the fortress of Buda again. + +Yffim Beg was not particularly pleased with this message, but without +taking long to think about it, he put the damsels of the harem into +carriages, sent them off along the covered way adjoining the water-gate, +in order to make as little disturbance as possible, and, as soon as they +were on the other side of the bridge, ordered it to be destroyed and the +garrison of the fortress to defend themselves as best they could. + +He reached the Turkish army to find the opposing hosts drawn up against +each other on different sides of the river, across which they bombarded +each other from time to time, without doing much damage. + +The Pasha's pavilion was well in the rear, out of cannon-shot; he was +delighted when he saw Yffim Beg, and could not take his fill of kissing +Azrael, who was lovelier and more gracious than ever. + +"Remain here," he said to his favourites, embracing the pair of them. "I +must retire now to the interior of my pavilion to pray for an hour or so +with the dervishes, for a great and grievous duty will devolve upon me +in an hour's time--two great Turkish nobles, Kucsuk Pasha and his son, +are to be condemned to death." + +Azrael started as violently as if a serpent had crept into her bosom. + +"How have they offended?" she asked, scarce able to conceal her +agitation. + +"Against the precepts of the Prophet they engaged in battle on a day of +ill-omen; they have cast dirt on the victorious half-moon, and must wash +off the stain with their blood." + +Hassan withdrew; Azrael remained alone in the tent with the Beg. + +"I saw thee shudder," said Yffim, fixing his sharp eyes on the face of +Azrael. + +"Death chooses the thirteenth; he leaped past me at this very moment." + +"And on whom has the fatal thirteen fallen?" + +"On someone who stands beside me or behind me." + +"Behind thee in the tent outside is Feriz Beg." + +"But thou art beside me." + +"I am too young to die yet." + +"And is not he also?" + +"He of whom Hassan saith: 'He hath sinned!' becomes old and withered on +the spot." + +"And hast thou done nothing for which thou shouldst die?" + +"My beard will grow white because of my loyalty; life is long in the +shadow of Hassan." + +"But how long will Hassan have a shadow?" + +"Till his night cometh--but that is still far off." + +"Hast thou not heard of the case of Ajas Pasha, Yffim?--of Ajas, who was +the mightiest of all the Pashas?" + +"He was the Sultan's son-in-law." + +"The Grand Seignior gave him his own daughter to wife, and loaded him +with every favour. One day Ajas lost a battle against the Zrinyis. It +was not a great defeat, but the Sultan was wrath and beheaded Ajas +Pasha." + +"H'm! I recollect, it was a sad story." + +"And dost thou remember the story of the faithful Hiassar? Ajas charged +him to bring to him before his death his favourite wife, not his whole +harem which thou hast brought to Hassan Pasha, but only his favourite +wife, that he might take leave of her; and dost thou know that for doing +this thing the Sultan had Hiassar roasted to death in a copper ox? For a +disgraced favourite possesses nothing--all he had is the Sultan's, his +treasures, his wives and his children; and whoever lays his hand upon +them is robbing the Sultan. Who knows, Yffim Beg, but what at this +moment I may not be the Sultan's slave-girl? and from slave-girl to +favourite is but a step, and thou knowest it would be but a short step +for me." + +"What accursed things thou art saying." + +"The wife of Ajas Beg was the Sultan's favourite at the time when +Hiassar was burnt, and a word from her would have saved him. But she +said it not, because she was wrath with him; methinks the woman loved +him once, and the slave despised her love. Give me my mandoline, Yffim, +I would sing a song." + +The odalisk lay back upon the bed, while Yffim anxiously paced to and +fro like a hyena fallen into a snare. The story just related had a +striking resemblance to his own, and it would not take very much to give +it a similar termination. + +Suddenly he stood before the damsel, who nonchalantly strummed the +strings of her instrument. + +"What dost thou want?" + +"Ask not what thou knowest." + +"Thou wouldst save Feriz?" + +"I will save him." + +"I swear by Allah it is not to be done. Die he must, if only to tame +thee; for if he remain alive thou wilt destroy the lot of us sooner or +later." + +Azrael collapsed at the feet of the Beg. Sobbing, she embraced his +knees. + +"Oh, be merciful! Say but a word for him to the general. I love the +youth as thou canst see and dost very well know. Do not let him perish!" + +Like all little souls, Yffim Beg became all the bolder at these +supplicating words, and seizing Azrael by the arms, roughly pulled her +to her feet, and whispered in her ear with malicious joy: + +"I'll make thee a present of his head." + +At these words the woman raised her head, her eyes like those of a +furious she-wolf seemed to glow with green fire, her tresses curled like +serpents round her bosom. She said not a word, but her tightly clenched +teeth kept back a whole hell of dumb fury. + +At that moment the Vizier returned. + +Azrael at once put on a smile. Hassan could not see what was seething in +her heart. + +Yffim approached the Pasha confidentially. + +"Does the Sultan know of thy disaster?" + +"He has heard it since." + +"It would be as well to send me with gifts to the Porte." + +"Ask not that honour for thyself, Yffim; learn, rather, that whomsoever +I send to Stambul now is as good as sent to Paradise. The Sultan's wrath +is kindled, and he can only quench it with blood." + +All the blood quitted Yffim's own face. + +"Then thou hast thy fears, my master?" + +"His rage demands blood, and the blood of a great man, too. Which of us? +That is all one, but a great man must die. If I cannot sacrifice someone +in my place I shall perish myself, but there are men of equal value to +myself from whom I can choose. There are two especially--Kucsuk and his +son. They began the battle; if they had not begun it, there would have +been no battle; and if there had been no battle, there would have been +no disaster. They are Death's sons already. The third is the Prince of +Moldavia. He was the first to fly from the fight; he had a secret +understanding with the Christians. He is a son of Death also. I can +throw in the Prince of Transylvania also, because he kept away from the +battle altogether and was late with his tribute. Had he sent it sooner, +we should have had money; and if we had had money, we should have been +able to have bought hay; and if we had had hay the soldiers would not +have hastened on the battle and so lost it. He also is a son of Death, +therefore. Go thou into Transylvania and bring him hither to me." + +Azrael listened to all this with great attention. Yffim Beg regarded her +with a radiant countenance, as much as to say: "You see our heads won't +ache yet!" + +The odalisk, however, trembled no longer; she pressed her lips tightly +together, and as if she was quite certain of what she was about to do, +she pressed her sweetly smiling face close to that of the Vizier, and +hanging on his arms, whispered to him: + +"O Hassan, how my soul would rejoice if I could see flow the blood of +thine enemies." + +Hassan sat the damsel on his knees, and his lips sported with her +twining tresses. + +Yffim Beg was in such a mighty good humour at being commissioned by +Hassan to go as ambassador to the Prince of Transylvania, and so blindly +exalted by such a mark of confidence, that he fancied he could well +afford to torment Azrael a little. + +"Whilst thou wert away, my master," said he, "thy damsel implored me to +grant her a favour, which I dare not do without first asking thy +permission." + +Azrael regarded the smiling Beg with sparkling eyes, anxiously awaiting +what he would be bold enough to betray. + +"What was it?--speak, Yffim Beg," remarked Hassan wildly. + +"Thou and the other Pashas are about to condemn a youth to death--young +Feriz Beg, I mean." + +"Well?" said Hassan frowning, while the odalisk whom he held embraced +trembled all over. + +"Azrael would like to see the young man die." + +The girl grew pale at these words; her heart for a moment ceased to +beat, and then began fiercely to throb again. + +"A foolish wish," said Hassan; "but if thou desire it, be it so! Be +present at the meeting of the Pashas, stand behind the curtains by my +side, and thou shalt hear and see everything." + +Azrael imprinted a long and burning kiss on Hassan's forehead with a +face full of death, and stood behind the curtain holding the folds +together with her hands. + +"If thou shouldst faint," whispered Yffim Beg sarcastically, "thou shalt +have a vessel of musk from me." + +Azrael laughed so loudly that Yffim fancied she must have gone mad. + +"And now call the Pashas and draw the curtain of the tent," commanded +Hassan. + +At the invitation of Yffim all the officers of the camp came to the +pavilion and took their seats in a circle on cushions. Last of all came +the Grand Vizier, Kiuprile, a big, stout, angry man, who, without +looking at anyone, sat down on the cushion beside Hassan and turned his +back upon him. + +Then the roll of drums was heard, and Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, well +guarded, were brought in from different sides--Kucsuk on the left hand, +and Feriz on the right. + +"Look!" whispered Azrael to Hassan from behind the curtain; "look how +proud they are, the son on the right, the father on the left. They seem +to be encouraging each other with their glances." + +Hassan nodded his head as if thanking his favourite for assisting his +weak eyes, and as both figures came within the obscurity of the tent, +where the light was not very good at the best of times, acting on the +hint given, he turned towards the aged Kucsuk Pasha and cried: + +"Thou immature youth, step back till I speak to thee." + +Then, turning to young Feriz Beg, he said: + +"Step forward, thou hardened old traitor! Wherefore didst thou leave the +armies of the Sublime Sultan in the lurch?" + +Feriz Beg, as if a weapon against his persecutors had suddenly been put +into his hand, stepped boldly right up to Hassan Pasha, and exclaimed in +a bold voice, which rang though the tent: + +"Thou art the traitor, not I; for thou darest to hold the office of +general when thou art blind and canst not distinguish two paces off +father from son, or an enemy from a friend." + +Hassan sprang in terror from his carpet when he heard Kucsuk's son speak +instead of Kucsuk. + +"That is not true," he stammered, changing colour. + +"Not true!" replied Feriz stiffly; "then, if thine eyes be good, wilt +thou tell me what regiment is now passing thy tent with martial music?" + +The tent be it understood was open towards the plain overlooking the +whole camp and the river beyond. + +A military band was just then crossing the ground not far from the tent, +quite alone; no regiment was coming after it. + +"Methinks, thou mutinous dog, 'tis no answer to my question to inquire +what regiment is now passing by, for it maybe that I know better than +thou why it has arrived; nor is it part of my duty to mention the +rabble by name; suffice it that I hear the trumpets and see the +banners." + +The Pashas looked at each other; there was neither regiment nor banners. + +"So that's it, eh?" said Kiuprile, spitting in front of him; and with +that he rose from his place, and, without looking at Hassan, took Kucsuk +and Feriz by the arm. "Come!" said he to the other generals--"you can go +now!" he cried to the guards, and the whole assembly withdrew from the +tent. + +Hassan fell back on his carpet. He himself had betrayed his great +defect. + +Azrael rushed from her hiding-place. + +"Oh, my master!" she cried; "thou didst wrongly interpret my words, and +so made everything go wrong." + +"I am lost," he stammered, and quite beside himself he plunged into the +interior of the tent to pray with the dervishes. + +Yffim Beg stood there as if his soul had been filched from him; while +Azrael approached him with a smile of devilish scorn and stroked his +face down with her hand. + +"Dost thou fancy thou wilt require another good word for thee?" + +"I can betray thee." + +"Thou couldst if thou didst but know which of the two is to live +longest--Hassan or I." + + * * * * * + +Two hours after this scene there was a private conversation between +Hassan Pasha and Yffim Beg, from which even Azrael was excluded. The +interview over, Yffim Beg departed quickly from the camp. The general +had sent him to Transylvania to go in his name from village to village +to make a general inspection, and ask the magistrates why the common +folks did not pay the taxes at the proper time. He was thence to go to +the Prince and ask the cause of this delay in the transmission of +taxes; thus either the people or the Prince would be held responsible. +Hassan for a long time had had a scheme in his head of seizing +Transylvania by force of arms, whereby, on the one hand, he would win +the favour of the Porte, by adding a new subject state to Turkish +territory, and, on the other hand, would secure for himself a good easy +princely chair instead of a dangerously-jolting general's saddle. + +At the same time Olaj Beg was worrying Apafi to seize the escaped +Princess of Moldavia and send her to Hassan Pasha, who was well aware +that the silken cord would be constantly dangling before his eyes till +he had found someone else whose neck he could jeopardise instead of his +own. + +Kucsuk and his son had escaped from his talons, but he had just heard +from Olaj Beg that the Moldavian Princess was with Apafi, and in an +interesting condition, so that there was every prospect of a young +Prince being born. Here, then, in case of necessity, was a person who +could be handed over, and in case she escaped, the silken cord would +remain round Apafi's neck. + +A few days after the departure of Yffim Beg, peace was hastily concluded +between the Porte and the King of the Romans. In consequence thereof +Hassan avoided a collision with the other generals, and, quitting them, +hastened back to Buda with his army. Kiuprile marched right off to +Belgrade, Kucsuk was dispatched to the fortress of Szekelyhid; only +Feriz remained at Buda, for the simple reason that he was confined to +his bed by a feverish cold in a kiosk, which was erected for him by the +express command of Kiuprile. + +Just about this time Azrael had an excess of devotion, and was +constantly plagued by terrifying dreams in which she saw Hassan Pasha +walking up and down without his head, and every morning she got leave +from him to pay a visit to an old dervish to pray against the apparition +of evil spirits. Hassan was much affected by this devotion towards him +and true Mussulman fervour, and made no opposition to his favourite +damsel going every morning to the mosque to pray, and only returning +from thence late every evening; but he impressed it upon her suite to +keep a watchful eye upon the girl lest she should deceive them. They +therefore permitted pious Azrael to visit the worthy dervish so wrapped +up that only her eyes were visible, and soon afterwards saw her return +with the gracious old man. The dervish had a white beard and white +eyebrows, as if he were well frosted; his eyes were cast down, and he +wore such a frightfully big turban that not even the tips of his ears +were visible. He was also not very lavish of speech, dumbly he pointed +out to the veiled damsel the great clasped book and she knelt down +before it and began to read with edifying devotion, touching it from +time to time with her forehead; while the dervish, raising his hand, +blessed one by one the slaves standing outside the door, and, after +indicating by dumb show that he must now go to the kiosk where the sick +Feriz Beg was lying and cure him by the efficacy of his prayers, he +hobbled away. + +All four slaves glued their faces to the iron lattice work of the door, +thrust their cheeks between its ornaments, and saw how the kneeling +damsel kept praying all the time before the large open book. She must +have had an unconscionable fondness for prayer, for even when the +evening grew late she had not moved from the spot till the dervish, +leaning on his crutch, came hobbling back from Feriz Beg. Then she +accompanied him into the interior of the mosque, and after a short hymn, +returned to make her way back to the fortress. + +And thus it went on for ten days. The slaves of her escort now began to +think that Azrael wanted to learn the Koran by heart and grew tired of +watching her praying and bowing and genuflecting with unwearied +devotion. + +Let us leave them gazing and marvelling, and seek out Feriz Beg, whom +now, as at other times, the old dervish was tending. + +There sat the good old man by the bedside of the pale and handsome +youth. Nobody else was in the room. With his hand he dried the dripping +sweat from the youth's forehead, every hour he put red healing drops +into his mouth with a golden spoon, he guessed what was wanted +immediately from every sigh, from every groan of the invalid. When he +slept he fanned fresh air upon him, when he woke and stretched forth his +burning hands, he felt the throbbing pulse and comforted and soothed him +with gentle and consolatory words; and if he flung about impatiently in +the fever of delirium, he covered him up carefully, like a tender +mother, moistened his lips with fresh citron-water; and if he perceived +from his flushed face how he was suffering he would raise his head, and +press his burning temples to his bosom. + +On the tenth day the youth's illness took a turn for the better. Early +in the morning, when he awoke, he had a clear consciousness of his +condition. + +There by the side of his bed still sat the old man with his eyes fixed +on the youth's face. + +"So thou hast been my nurse, eh?" sighed the youth gratefully, and he +extended his hand to take that of the dervish, and he respectfully +impressed upon it a long burning kiss, closing his eyes piously as he +did so. + +And when he again opened his eyes, holding continually the kissed hand +between his own hands, behold! by his bedside no longer sat the old +dervish, but a young and tremulous damsel, with black tresses rolling +down her shoulders, with a blushing face and timidly smiling lips--it +was Azrael. + +Feriz fancied that he was the sport of some delirious dream or +enchantment, and only when he looked about him in his bewilderment and +perceived the cast-off false beard and turban and the other lying +symbols of age, did he regain his presence of mind; and immediately the +expression of gratitude and devotion disappeared from the face of Feriz +Beg, his features took in a rigorous expression and he withdrew his hand +from the pressure of those other hands. Speak he could not, both mind +and body were too much broken for that; but he pointed to the door and +signified to the damsel in dumb show that she was to withdraw. + +"Thou knowest me, for thou hatest me," stammered Azrael; "if thou didst +not know me thou wouldst not hate me, and if thou didst know me better +thou wouldst love me." + +The youth shook his head. + +"Then--thou--lovest--another?" said the trembling girl. + +Feriz Beg nodded: yes. + +Azrael rose from her place as if some venomous spider had bitten her, +her face was convulsed by a burning grief, she pressed her hands to her +bosom; then slowly her form lost all its proud rigidity, and her eyes +their savage brightness, her features softened, and collapsing before +the bed of the youth she hid her face in his pillows and murmured in a +scarce audible voice: "And therefore I love thee all the more." + +Then, resuming her disguise, she calmly piled upon herself all the +tokens of old age till once more before the sick man stood the gentle +honest dervish who hobbled away on his crutches, blessing everyone he +encountered till he returned again to the mosque. + +After Azrael had withdrawn, Feriz at once dismissed the dervish, who, at +the youth's command, confessed everything to him. The general's +favourite damsel, he said, had come to the mosque to pray ten days ago +and had changed garments with him in his hiding-place in order to tend +the dear invalid all day long while the dervish, enwrapped in her veil, +had prayed in the sight of the slaves. + +Feriz Beg threatened the dervish with death if he did not confess +everything, and, as it became a true cavalier, richly rewarded him when +he had revealed the secret intrigue, forbidding him at the same time to +assist it any further. + + * * * * * + +Several days had passed by. + +Hassan Pasha spent his days in the mosque, and his nights behind the +trellised gates of his harem; he scented an evil report in every new +arrival, and avoided all intercourse with his fellows. The whole day he +was praying, the whole night he was drunk; from morning to evening he +was occupied with the priests and the Koran, and from the evening to the +morning he amused himself among his damsels, listened to their songs, +bathed in ambergris-water, drank wine mingled with poppies, and had his +body rubbed with cotton-wool that he might sleep and be in paradise. + +Frequently he had bad dreams, an evil foreboding, like the pressure of a +night-hag, lay upon his heart, and when he awoke he seemed to see it all +vividly before his eyes and durst not sleep any more, but dressed +himself, sought out the room of Azrael and made the damsel sit down +beside him and amuse him with merry stories. + +The odalisk held unlimited sway over the mind of Hassan, and could, at +will, tune his mind to a good or evil humour by anticipating his +thoughts. The Pasha trusted her implicitly. + +It is a bad old custom with oriental potentates to go to bed fuddled and +dream all manner of nonsense, and then incontinently to demand a clear +interpretation of the nebulous stuff from their wise men--or wise women. + +This happened to be the case one morning with Hassan Pasha and Azrael +who just then was watering with a silver watering-can a gorgeous gobća, +whose luxurious offshoots clambered like a living ladder to the roof of +the greenhouse, thence casting down to the ground again tendrils as +thick as ropes. + +"Last night I was dreaming of this very plant that thou dost nourish in +yon large tub," said Hassan in a voice that sounded as if he thought it +an extraordinary thing to be listening to his own words. "I dreamt that +it put forth a long and flowery shoot which grew into a tall tree, and +from the end of one of the branches of this tree hung a large yellow +fruit. Then I thought I had some important and peculiar reason for +breaking off the fruit, and I sent a big white-bearded ape up into the +tree to fetch it. The ape reached the fruit, and for a long time plucked +at it and shook it, but was unable to break it off. At last, however, he +fell down with it at my feet, the golden fruit burst in two, and a red +apple rolled out of it, and I picked them both up and was delighted. +What does that signify?" + +Azrael kept plucking the yellow leaves off her dear plant and throwing +them through the window, beckoned to the Pasha to sit down beside her, +and tapping him on the shoulder, began to tick off the events on her +pretty fingers. + +"The golden fruit is the Moldavian Princess, and the white ape thou +didst send for her is none other than Olaj Beg. Thy dream signifies that +the Beg is about to arrive with the Princess, who in the meantime has +borne a son, and thou wilt rejoice greatly." + +Hassan was well content with this interpretation, when a eunuch entered +and brought him a sealed letter on a golden salver. It was from the +Pasha of Grosswardein. + +The letter was anything but pleasant. Ali Pasha begged to inform the +Vizier that the Government of Transylvania, having delivered Mariska +Sturdza into the hands of Olaj Beg, the Beg at once set off with her, +and had got as far as Királyhágó, when some persons hidden in the forest +had suddenly rushed out upon him, massacred his suite to the last man, +and left the Princess' carriage empty on the high road. The Princess had +in all probability been helped to rejoin her husband in Poland. + +The letter fell from the hand of Hassan Pasha. + +"Thou hast interpreted my dream backwards," he roared, turning upon +Azrael; "everything has turned topsy-turvy. The ape descended from the +tree with the fruit, but knocked his brains out." + +At that moment the door-keeper announced: "Olaj Beg has arrived with the +Moldavian Princess." + +At these words Hassan Pasha, in the joy of his heart, leaped from his +cushions, and after kissing Azrael over and over again, rushed forward +to meet Olaj Beg, and meeting him in the doorway, caught him round the +neck and exclaimed, beside himself with joy: + +"Then my ape has not knocked his brains out, after all!" + +Olaj Beg smilingly endured the title and the embrace, but on looking +around and perceiving Azrael standing in the window he began doing +obeisance to her with the greatest respect. + +"Hast thou brought her? Where is she? Thou hast not lost her, eh? Thou +hast well looked after her?" asked Hassan in one breath. + +By this time Olaj Beg had bowed his head down to his very knees before +the damsel, and was saying to her in a mollified voice: + +"May I hope that the beautiful Princess will not find it tiresome if we +talk of grave affairs in her presence?" + +Azrael at once perceived the object of all this bowing and scraping. +Olaj Beg wished her to withdraw. + +"Thou mayest speak before me, worthy Olaj Beg, though what thou art +about to say is no secret to me, for I can read the future, and my +secrets I tell to none." + +And now Hassan intervened. + +"Thou mayest speak freely before her, worthy Olaj Beg. Azrael is the +root of my life." + +Olaj Beg made another deep and long obeisance. + +He had heard enough of that name to need no further recommendation. He +made up his mind on the spot to tell Hassan, who was in the power of +this infernal woman, no more than he deserved to know. + +"Then thou hast brought the Princess with thee?" insisted Hassan, whose +joy beamed upon his face in spite of himself. "Did the Transylvanian +gentlemen make much difficulty in handing her over?" + +"They handed her over, but it would have been very much better if they +had not. I should have preferred it if they had risen in her behalf, +stirred up all Klausenberg against me and beaten me to death. At any +rate, I should then have died gloriously. But alas! the Magyar race is +degenerating, it has begun to be sensible. Those good old times have +gone when they used to fire a whole village for the sake of a runaway +female slave; and it was possible to seize a whole county in exchange +for one burnt village; if the Hungarian gentry continue to be as wise as +they are now the younger generation of them may strike root in our very +Empire." + +"I was alarmed on thy account, for I have just received a letter from +the Pasha of Grosswardein, in which he informed me that certain persons +had attacked the Princess's escort at Királyhágó and cut them down to a +man." + +"I anticipated that," replied Olaj Beg slily. "When with much shedding +of tears they handed the Princess over to me, I heard them whisper in +her ear: 'Fear nothing!' and I well understood from that that those same +gentlemen who in the council chamber, with wise precautions, resolved to +deliver up the fugitive Princess, had agreed among themselves over their +cups at dinner-time that as I left Transylvania they would lie in wait +for, fall upon me, and liberate and take away with them the Princess +whom, by the way, they did not deliver over immediately, giving out that +she was sick and suffering torments. While I was awaiting her recovery, +nobody but her ladies was allowed admittance to her, and as soon as she +was on her legs again, I made all my preparations for the journey next +day, marshalling all the carriages and baggage-wagons in the courtyard. +I myself, however, got into a sorry matted conveyance with the Princess +and her child, and set off the same night in the direction of Déva. My +suite, with the empty carriages, was to follow next morning in the +direction of Grosswardein. The masked men cut them down as arranged, but +the Princess and her son were in safe hands all the time. Olaj Beg is an +old fox, and a fox knows his way about." + +Hassan Pasha rubbed his hands delightedly. + +"Nevertheless," continued Olaj Beg, "imagine not, my good general, that +because this woman is now in thy hands thou wilt be able to keep her. +Sleeplessness will enter thy house as soon as thou hast admitted her +within thy doors. If it be hard to guard any woman, it will be +particularly hard to guard this one. The men and women of a whole +kingdom have sworn to set her free by force or fraud, and will use every +effort to do so. They will open thy bedroom doors with skeleton keys, +they will dig beneath thy cellars, they will strew sleeping powder in +thy evening potions, they will corrupt thy most faithful servants, and +if no other poison make any impression upon thee they will pour into thy +heart the most potent of all poisons, the tears of a supplicating woman. +I have brought the treasure, and I deliver it into thy hands. Allah +requites me for my pains by taking her from me. Thou art now her guard, +conceal her as best thou canst. Thy greatest worry will be that thou +canst not slay her, for indeed she were best hidden beneath the ground. +But thou art to see to it that she is delivered alive into the hands of +the Sultan's envoys, for shouldst thou kill her thyself be sure thou +wilt soon feel the silken cord around thine own neck. Meanwhile, peace +be with thee and to all who abide in the shadow of the Prophet!" + +With these words Olaj Beg stepped into the adjoining room, and leading +in the Princess, placed her hand in the hand of Hassan; then he raised +his eyes to Heaven. + +"Allah is my witness," said he, "that I have delivered her and her child +into thy hands!" + +In the first moment Hassan Pasha was amazed at the woman's loveliness, +and thought with regret that it was necessary for his own safety that +she must die. + +Olaj Beg, however, had yet another piece of good advice to impart, and, +with that object, drew nigh to him to whisper in his ear; but, as if his +courage failed him at the last moment, he delivered his sentiments in +the Arabic tongue. + +"Thou wouldst guard this woman best if thou tookest her child from her +and locked it up separately. The mother certainly would not escape +without the child." + +The Princess Ghyka did not understand these words, but she saw how the +old fox indicated her little one with a glance and with what a greedy +look Hassan regarded it; and she pressed the child all the closer to her +bosom as she saw him come a step closer. The unhappy woman trembled when +she saw Hassan smile upon the child like a hungry wolf would smile if he +encountered it on his path. She guessed from their play of feature the +terrible idea which the two men were discussing in a foreign tongue, and +in her despair cast her eyes upon Azrael, as if hoping that she would +find a response to her agony in a woman's heart. + +The odalisk pretended she had not observed the look, as if those present +were not worthy of the slightest attention from her; when, however, +Hassan gratefully embraced the Beg for this fresh piece of advice, +Azrael intervened with a peculiar smile. + +"Thou dost act like one who, bending beneath the weight of a burden too +heavy for him, would pass it on to his neighbour." + +Hassan looked at his favourite damsel inquiringly, while Olaj Beg, who +was unaccustomed to hear women talk at all when men were holding +counsel together, looked back with offended surprise over his shoulder. + +Azrael reclined lazily back upon her cushions, and swung one leg over +her knee as she conversed with the two men. + +"Worthy Hassan," said she, "thou wouldst make two troubles out of one, +if thou didst separate thy captives; while thou keepest thine eye on one +of them, they will steal away the other behind thy back." + +Hassan cast a troubled look upon Olaj Beg, who stroked his long white +beard and smiled. + +"If thou dost permit thy damsels to ask questions, thou must needs +answer them," said he. + +At these words Azrael leaped from her place and boldly approached the +two men, her flaming black eyes measured the Beg from head to foot, and +when she spoke it was with a determined, startling voice. + +"Listen to me, Hassan--yes, I say, thou shouldst listen to me before all +thy friends just because I am a woman. A man can only give advice, but a +woman loves, and before a man thinks of danger a woman already sees it +coming from afar, and while a man may grow into a crafty old fox, a +woman is born crafty. Hassan knows very well that of all those who wear +a mask of friendship for him, there is but one on whom he can absolutely +rely, whose love all the treasures in India can as little destroy as +they can lull her hatred asleep, who watches over him while he sleeps, +and if she sleeps is dreaming of his destiny--that person am I." + +Hassan confirmed the words of the damsel by throwing his arm round her +shoulders and drawing her towards him. + +"If this woman requires a sleepless, uncorruptible guardian," continued +Azrael, "I will be that guardian. Make for us a long chain, and let one +end of it be fastened to my arm and the other to her girdle. Thus the +slave will be chained to the jailer, and, sleeping or waking, will be +unable to escape from me. I shall be a good janitor. I will not let her, +or her child, out of my hands." + +The damsel accompanied these words with such an infernal smile that Olaj +Beg involuntarily edged away from her; while Hassan was enchanted by +this noble specimen of loyalty. But Mariska's face was bright and +resigned again, for she understood from the words of the odalisk, +threatening as they were, that she and her child were not to be +separated, and to all else she was indifferent. + +Olaj Beg drew the folds of his caftan over his lean, dry bosom, and +after peering at the two women, remarked to Hassan: + +"'Tis well thou canst trust a woman to look after a woman." + +With that he backed out of the room, blessing all four corners of it as +he went, and in the gateway distributed with great condescension to +every one of the servants who had done anything for him some money +ingeniously twisted up in pieces of paper (which, by the way, were found +to contain a half-penny each when at last unfolded), and sitting in his +mat-covered carriage, gave strict orders to the coachman not to look +back till he saw the citadel of Buda. + +But Hassan the same hour sent for his goldsmith, and bade him prepare +immediately a silver chain, four yards long, with golden shackles at +each end, for Azrael and Mariska. The goldsmith took the measure of the +hands of the two damsels, and brought in the evening a chain made of +beaten silver, whose shackles were fastened by masterly-constructed +padlocks, which Hassan himself fastened on the hands of the damsels, +thrusting the key which opened the padlocks into his girdle, which he +tapped a hundred times a day to discover whether it was still there or +not. Then he dismissed the pair of them into Azrael's dormitory. Mariska +endured everything--the chain, the shame, and rough words--for the +privilege of being able to embrace her child. She lay down content on +the carpets as far from Azrael as the chain would permit it, and folding +her hands above the baby's innocent head, prayed with burning devotion +to the God of mercy, and calmly went to sleep holding the child in her +arms. + + * * * * * + +A little beyond midnight the child began softly wailing. At the first +sound of its crying Mariska awoke, and as she moved her hand the chain +rattled. Azrael was instantly alert. + +"Hast thou had evil dreams?" inquired the odalisk of Mariska; "the +rattling of the chain aroused me." + +"The weeping of my child awoke me," said Mariska softly; and drawing the +little one to her bosom, as it embraced its mother's beautiful velvet +breast with its chubby little finger, and drank from the sweetest of all +sources the draught of life, the young mother gazed upon it with +unspeakable joy, smiled, laughed, caught the child's rosy little fingers +in her mouth, and implanted resounding kisses on its rosy, chubby +cheeks. She had no thought at that moment for chain and dungeon. + +Azrael felt in her heart the torments of the demons--it was that +jealousy which those who are rocked in the lap of happiness feel at the +sight of a luckless wretch who is happier than they are in spite of all +his wretchedness. + +"Wherefore dost thou rejoice?" she asked, gazing upon the lady with the +eyes of a serpent. + +"Because my child is with me." + +"But the whole world has abandoned thee." + +"It is more to me than the whole world." + +"More than thy husband?" + +Mariska reflected for a moment, and then, instead of replying, hugged +the child still closer to her bosom and imprinted a kiss upon its +forehead. + +"Wert thou ever a mother?" she asked Azrael in her turn. + +"Never," stammered the odalisk, and involuntarily her bosom heaved +beneath a sigh. + +It was plain from the face of Mariska how much she pitied this poor +woman. Azrael perceived the look, and it wounded her that she should be +pitied. + +"Dost thou not know that both of you must die?" she asked with a +darkened countenance. + +"I am ready." + +"And art thou not terrified at the thought? They will strangle thy child +with a silken cord, and hang it dead upon thy breast, and then they will +strangle thee likewise, and put you both in the grave, in the cold +earth." + +"We shall see each other in a better world," said Mariska with fervent +devotion. + +"Where?" inquired the astounded Azrael. + +Mariska, with holy confidence, raised her little one in her arms, and, +lifting her eyes, said: "God will take us unto Himself." + +"And what need hath God of you?" + +"He is the Father of those who suffer, and in the other world He rewards +those who suffer grief here below." + +"And who told thee this?" + +Mariska, as one inspired, placed her hand upon her heart and said: "It +is written here!" + +Azrael regarded the woman abashed. Truly, many mysterious words are +written in the heart, why cannot everyone read them? She also had +listened to such mystic voices, but they were words shouted in a desert, +in her savage breast there was no manner of love which could interpret +their meaning. + +Mariska again put down her child on the edge of the cushion. + +"Place not thy child there," cried Azrael impatiently; "it might easily +fall, place it between us!" + +Mariska accepted the offer, and placed the little one between herself +and Azrael. + +When the first ray of dawn penetrated the large window Mariska awoke, +and, folding her hands together above the head of the little child, +again began to pray. + +Azrael looked on darkly. + +"Dost thou never pray?" said Mariska, turning towards her. + +"Why should women pray? Their destiny is not in their own hands. Their +fate depends upon their masters; if their masters are happy, they are +happy also; if their masters perish, they perish with them. This is +their earthly lot--and that is all. Allah never gave them a soul--what +have they to do with the life beyond this? In Paradise the Houris take +their places and the Houris remain young for ever. The breath of a woman +vanishes with the autumn mist like the fumes of a dead animal, and Allah +has no thought for them." + +Mariska, with only half intelligible sorrow, looked at this woman who +wished to seem worse than she really was. + +Azrael crept closer up to her. + +"And dost thou really believe that there is someone who listens to what +the worms say, to what the birds twitter, and to what women pray?" + +"Certainly," replied the young Christian woman; "turn to Him, and thou +wilt feel for thyself His goodness." + +"How can it be so? Why should He pay any attention to me?" + +"It is not enough I know to clasp thy hands and close thy eyes. Thy +petition must come straight from thy heart, and thy soul must believe +that it will gain its desire." + +Azrael's face flushed red. Hastily she cast herself down on her knees on +the carpet, and pressing her folded hands to her bosom, stammered in a +scarce audible voice: + +"God! grant me one moment in my life in which I can say: I am happy." + +Her eyes were still closed when the door of the dormitory opened, and +Hayat, the oldest duenna of the harem, entered with an air of great +secrecy. She was now a shrivelled up bundle of old bones, but formerly +she had been the first favourite of Hassan Pasha, and now she was the +slave and secret confidante of all the favourites in turn. + +Azrael leaned towards her, perceiving from the face of the duenna that +she brought some message for her; whereupon the latter advanced and, +looking around in case anyone should be lurking there, whispered some +words in Azrael's ear. + +On hearing these words the odalisk leaped from her seat with a face +flushed with joy, while unspeakably tender tears trembled in her eyes. +Her hands were involuntarily pressed against her heaving bosom, and her +lips seemed to murmur some voiceless prayer. + +Some great unusual joy had come upon her, some joy which she had always +longed but never dared to hope for. Scarce able to restrain herself she +turned towards her comrade, who, after listening to her, gazed +wonderingly at her and pressed her hand, exclaiming in a voice of strong +conviction: "Then it is true, our prayer has indeed been heard!" + +Azrael began merrily putting on her garments, and helped Mariska also to +dress; then she sent the duenna with a message to Hassan. She must go +again to the mosque of the old dervish to pray, for she had been +dreaming of Hassan. + +Soon afterwards Hassan himself came to her, took from her arm the golden +shackle which fastened the chain that bound her to Mariska, and, +ordering her palanquin to be brought up to the door, sent her away to +the old dervish; while, seizing the end of the Princess's chain, he led +her, together with her child, into his own apartments and there sat down +on his cushions, drawing his rosary from his girdle and mumbling the +first prayers of the naáma, constantly holding in his hand the end of +the Princess's chain. + +The Vizier had of late been much given to prayer, for since the lost +battle not a soul had come to visit him. The envoys of the Sultan, the +country petitioners, the foreign ministers, the begging brotherhoods, +all of them had avoided his threshold as if he were dead. + +The first day he was painfully affected by this manifestation, but on +the second day he commanded the door-keepers to admit none to his +presence. Thus, at any rate, he could make himself believe that if +nobody came to visit him it was by his express command. + +He knew right well that a sentence of death had been written down and +that this sentence was meant for one of two persons, either the Princess +or himself, where their two shadows mingled a double darkness was cast, +and Israfil, the Angel of Death, stood over them with a drawn sword. + +Hassan knew this right well, and he pressed in his hand convulsively the +silver chain to which his prisoner was attached, that prisoner whom he +regarded as the ransom for his own life. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE + + +After that melancholy scene, when the ladies of Transylvania vainly drew +tears and blushes from the faces of their husbands, a ray of hope still +remained in one heart alone. It was pretty Aranka Béldi, who, when +everyone else's eyes were full of tears, could whisper words of +encouragement to her unhappy friend, and who, when everyone else +abandoned her, embraced her last of all, and said to her with firm +conviction: "Fear not, we will save you!" + +The youths of Transylvania also said: "Fear not, we will save you!" but +Fate flung the dice blindly, the marked men in ambush captured only the +escort, not the captive, and had all their fine trouble for nothing. + +Aranka Béldi, however, begged her father to let her go to Gernyeszeg to +visit her friend Flora Teleki, and there the two noble young damsels +agreed together to write two letters to acquaintances in Hungary. One of +them wrote to Tököly, the other to Feriz Beg, and when the letters were +ready, they read to each other what they had written. Flora's letter to +Tököly was as follows: + + "SIR, + + "The fact that _I_ write these lines to you shows the + desperate position I am in, when I have to hide my + blushes and apply to him whom of all men I ought to + avoid. But it is a question of life and death. Do you + recollect the moment when, in the castle of Rumnik, + you saw three maids embrace each other, of whom I was + one? We then swore friendship and good fellowship to + each other. One of the three at the present moment + stands at the brink of death; I mean Mariska Sturdza, + whose misfortunes cannot be unknown to you, and this + is not the first mode of deliverance which we have + attempted--but the last. Your Excellency is a powerful + and magnanimous man, who has great influence with the + Sultan, and where one expedient fails, you can employ + another. I have always pictured your Excellency to + myself as a valiant and chivalrous cavalier, and from + what I know of the respect which all honourable + persons of my acquaintance have for your Excellency, I + have the utmost confidence that the unfortunate + Princess of Moldavia will not wait in vain for + deliverance. Do what you can, and may I add to the + esteem in which you are held the fervent blessings of + a heart which sincerely prays for your Excellency's + welfare. + + "FLORA TELEKI." + +Flora's calculations were most just. Tököly, in those days, stood high +in the favour of the Sultan, was on terms of intimacy with all the +pashas and viziers, and very frequently a casual word from him had more +effect than other people's supplications. And Flora showed a fine +knowledge of character when she appealed to the magnanimity of the very +man who had so grievously offended her, feeling certain that just for +that very reason, although Tököly might not recognise the force of his +former obligations, he would be magnanimous enough instantly to grant a +favour to the lady who asked him for it, especially as the woman to be +liberated had been the original cause of their separation. + +Aranka kissed her friend over and over again when she had read this +letter, and then she suddenly grew sad. + +"Oh, _my_ letter is not nearly so pretty, I am ashamed to show it to +you." + +Flora looked at her friend with gentle bashfulness as Aranka handed over +her letter, and blushed like a red rose all the time she was perusing +it. + + "NOBLE-HEARTED FERIZ! + + "When we were both children you maintained that you + loved me (here she inserted within brackets: 'like a + sister,' and a good thing for her that she did put + these three words in brackets). If you still recollect + what you said, now is the time to prove it. My dearest + friend, Mariska Sturdza, is at Buda, a prisoner in the + hands of Hassan Pasha. My only hope of her deliverance + depends on you. I have heard such splendid things of + you. If you see her, for whom I now implore you, with + a sad face and tearful eyes, think how I should look + if I were there, and if you give her back to me, and I + can embrace her again, and look into her smiling eyes, + then I will think of you, too. + + "ARANKA BÉLDI." + +The girls entrusted these letters to faithful servants, sending the +first letter to Temesvár, where Tököly was then residing, and the second +to Feriz Beg, who, as we know, lay ill at Buda. + +The news first reached Tököly at supper-time. On receiving the letter +and reading it through, he at once put down his glass, girded on his +sword, and telling his comrades that he was about to take a little +stroll, he mounted his horse and vanished from the town. + +Feriz was lying half-delirious on his carpet. His health mended but +slowly, as is often the case with men of strong constitutions, and the +tidings of the smallest disaster which befell the Turks threw him into +such a state of excitement that a relapse was incessantly to be feared, +so that at last they would not allow any messages at all to be brought +to him, for even when they brought good news to him he always managed +to look at them from the worst side, so that news of any kind was +absolute poison to him. At last his Greek physician made it a rule to +read every letter addressed to his patient beforehand; and if it +contained the least disturbing element, he let Feriz know nothing at all +about it. What especially annoyed Feriz were any letters from women, and +these were simply sent back. + +Thus Aranka's letter might very easily have had the fate of being +suppressed altogether had it not been entrusted to Master Gregory Biró, +a shrewd and famous Szekler courier, whose honourable peculiarity it was +to go wherever he was sent, and do whatsoever he was told, be the +obstacles in the way what they might. If he had been told to give +something to the Sultan of Turkey, he would have wormed his way to him +somehow--all inquiries, all threats would have been in vain; he would +have insisted on seeing and speaking to him if his head had to be cut +off the next moment. + +One day, then, worthy Gregory Biró appeared before the kiosk of Feriz +Beg and asked to be admitted. + +At these words a Moor popped out, and, seizing him by the collar, +conducted him to a room where a half-dressed man was standing before a +fire cooking black potions in all sorts of queer-shaped crooked glasses. +The Moor presented Gregory to the doctor as another messenger. + +"What is your name?" he asked, venomously regarding him from over his +shoulder, and treating him to the most terrifying grimace he could think +of. + +"Gregory Biró," replied the Szekler, nodding his head twice as was his +custom. + +"Gregory, Gregory, what do you want here?" + +"I want to see Feriz Beg." + +"I am he; what have you brought?" + +Gregory twisted his mug derisively at these words, and immediately +reflected that the business was beginning badly, for the person before +him did not in the least resemble Feriz Beg as described to him. + +"I have brought a letter--from a pretty girl." + +"Give it to me quickly, and be off." + +Gregory twisted round his short jacket that he might get at his +knapsack; but while he was fumbling inside it he was cute enough to +extract the contents of the letter from its cover, and only handed the +empty envelope to the doctor. + +"'Tis well, Gregory, now you may go," said he gently, and without so +much as opening the envelope he thrust it into the fire and held the +blazing paper under a retort which he wanted to warm. + +"Is that the way they read letters here?" asked Gregory, scratching his +head, and he crept to the door; but there he stopped, and while half his +body remained outside he thrust his arm up to the elbow into the long +pocket of his _szüre_,[17] drew from thence a diamond-clasp, and holding +it between two fingers cried: "Look! I found this ring on the road not +far from here, perchance Feriz Beg has lost it." + + [Footnote 17: Sheepskin mantle.] + +The doctor took the splendid jewel, and feeling convinced that only a +nobleman could have lost such a thing, he said he would show it to Feriz +Beg immediately. + +"Ho! then you are not Feriz Beg after all!" cried the humorist. + +The doctor burst out laughing. + +"Gregory! Gregory! don't jest with me. I am the cook, and if I like you +I will let you stay to dinner." + +Gregory pulled a wry face at the sight of the doctor's stews. + +The doctor thereupon took in the diamond-clasp to Feriz Beg, after +bidding the Moor, whom he left behind him, not to drink anything out of +the glasses standing there, or it would make him ill. + +Shortly afterwards the doctor returned in great astonishment, planted +himself in front of Gregory with frowning eyebrows and roared at him in +a voice which alarmed even the Szekler: + +"Where did you get that jewel from?" + +"Where did I get it from?" said Gregory, shrugging his shoulders; he was +very pleased they wanted to frighten him. + +"Come, speak!--quick!" + +"Not now." + +"Why not?" snapped the doctor firmly. + +"Not to you, if you were to break me on the wheel." + +"I'll bastinado you." + +"Not if you impaled me, I say." + +"Gregory! If you anger me, I'll make you drink three pints of physic." + +"They are here, eh!" exclaimed Gregory, approaching the hearth, skipping +among the flasks of the doctor, and seizing one of them, but he had the +sense to choose alcohol, and dragging it from its case, sipped away at +it till there was not a drop of it left. + +"Leave a little in it, you dog!" yelled the doctor, snatching the flask +away from him, "don't drink it all!" + +"I'll drink up the whole shop, but speak I won't unless I like." + +The doctor perceived that he had met his match. + +"Then will you speak before Feriz Beg?" he asked. + +"I'll speak the whole truth then." + +So there was nothing for it but to open Feriz Beg's door before Gregory +and shove him inside. + +Feriz Beg was sitting there on a couch, a feverish flush was burning +upon his pale face; he still held the jewel in his hand, and his eyes +were fastened upon it; just such a similar clasp he had given to Aranka +Béldi when they were both children together. + +"How did you come by this jewel?" inquired Feriz in a soft, mournful +voice. + +"She to whom you gave it gave it to me that you might believe she sent +me to you." + +At these words Feriz Beg arose with flashing eyes. + +"She sent you to me! She! So she remembers me! She thinks of me +sometimes, then." + +"She sent you a letter through me." + +Feriz Beg stretched out a tremulous hand. + +"Where is the letter?" + +"I flung it into the fire," interjected the doctor. + +"How dared you do that?" exclaimed Feriz angrily. + +But the doctor was not afraid. + +"I am your doctor, and every letter injures your health." + +"Panajot! you are an impertinent fellow!" thundered Feriz, with a face +of inflamed purple; and he smote the table such a blow with his fist +that all the medicine bottles tumbled off it. + +"Don't be angry, sir!" said Gregory, twisting his moustache at both +ends, while Panajot coolly swept together the fragments of the broken +bottles and boxes on the floor; "the worthy man did not burn the letter +but only the envelope. I had gumption enough not to entrust the inside +of it to him." + +And with these words he drew from his pouch a letter written on all four +sides of the sheet and handed it to Feriz, who before reading it covered +with kisses the lines traced by that dear hand, while Master Panajot +looked at Gregory in amazement. + +"Go along, you old fox, Gregory," said he; "next time you come, I'll +throw _you_ into the fire to boot." + +But Gregory, highly delighted, feasted his eyes on the youth's face all +the time he was reading the letter. + +As if his soul had changed within him, as if he had passed from the +troubles of this world to the joys of Paradise, every feature of the +youth's face became smiling and joyful. The farther he read the brighter +grew his eyes; and when he came to the last word he pressed the leaf to +his heart with an expression of the keenest rapture, and held it there +a long time, closing his eyes as if in a happy dream, as if he had shut +them to see no other object when he conjured up her image before his +mind. + +Master Panajot was alarmed, fancying some mischief had happened to the +invalid, and turned upon Gregory with gnashing teeth: + +"What infernal document have you brought along with you, Gregory?" + +Feriz meanwhile smilingly nodded his head as if he would thank some +invisible shape, and whispered softly: + +"So it shall be, so it shall be." + +"I'm afraid you feel bad, my master," said the doctor. + +Feriz looked up, and his face had grown quite round. + +"I?--I feel very well. Take your drugs from my table, and bring me wine +and costly meats dear to the eyes and mouth. I would rejoice my soul and +my palate. Call hither musicians, and open wide my gate. Pile flowers +upon my windows, I would be drunk with the fragrance of the flowers that +the breeze brings to me." + +Panajot fancied that the invalid had gone out of his mind, and yet full +of the joy of life he rose from his couch, laid aside his warm woollen +garment, put on instead a light silk robe, wound round his head a turban +of the finest linen instead of the warm shaggy shawl, and he who had +hitherto been brooding and fretting apathetically, had suddenly become +as light as a bird, paced the room with rapid steps, with proudly +erected face, from which the livid yellow of sickness had suddenly +disappeared, and his eyes sparkled like fire. + +Panajot could not account for the change, and really believed that the +patient had fallen into some dangerous paroxysm and in this persuasion +bawled for all the members of the negro family. The old Egyptian +door-keeper, a young Nubian huntsman, a Chinese cook, trampling upon +each other in their haste, all rushed into the room at his cry. + +Feriz Beg, with boyish mirth, stopped them all before the doctor could +say a word. + +"Thou, Ali," he said to the old door-keeper, "go to the mosque and cast +this silver among the poor that they may give thanks to Allah for my +recovery. And thou, O cook! prepare a dinner for twelve persons, looking +to it that there is wine and flowers and music; and thou, my huntsman, +bring forth the fieriest steed and put upon him the most costly +wrappings; and ye others, take this worthy doctor and lock him up among +his drugs that he may not get away, and call hither all my friends and +acquaintances, and tell them we will celebrate the festival of my +recovery." + +The servants with shouts of joy fulfilled the commands of Feriz. First +of all they shoved good Panajot into his drug-brewing kitchen, and then +they dispersed to do their master's bidding. + +Feriz then took the hand of the Szekler who had brought the message and +shook it violently, saying to him in a loud firm voice: + +"Thou must remain with me till I have accomplished thy mistress's +commands. For she has laid a command upon me which I must needs obey." + +Meanwhile, the ostlers had brought forward the good charger. It was a +fiery white Arab, ten times as restless as usual because of its long +rest; not an instant were its feet still. Two men caught it by the head +and were scarce able to hold it, its pink, wide open nostrils blew forth +jets of steam, and through its smooth white mane could be seen the ruddy +hue of the full blood. + +The unfortunate Panajot poked his head through the round window of his +laboratory, and from thence regarded with stupefaction his whilom +invalid bestride the back of the wild charger, that same invalid who, if +anyone knocked at his door an hour or two before, complained that his +head was bursting. + +The charger pranced and caracolled and the doctor with tears in his eyes +besought the bystanders if they had any sense of feeling at all not to +let the Beg ride on such a winged griffin. They only laughed at him. +Feriz flung himself into the saddle as lightly as a grasshopper. The two +stablemen let go the reins, the steed rose up erect on his hind legs and +bucked along as a biped for several yards. Then the Beg struck the sharp +stirrups into its flank, and the steed, snorting loudly, bowed its head +over its fore-quarters and galloped off like lightning. + +The doctor followed him with a lachrymose eye, every moment expecting +that Feriz would fall dead from his horse; but he sat in the saddle as +if grown to it, as he had always been wont to do. When the road +meandered off towards the fortress he turned into it and disappeared +from the astonished gaze of those who were looking after him. + +A few moments later the horseman was in the courtyard of the fortress. +He demanded an interview with the general, and was told that he was +receiving nobody. He applied therefore to his favourite eunuch instead. +He arrived at the fortress with a full purse, he quitted it with an +empty one; but he now knew everything he wanted to know, viz., that +Hassan had entrusted the captive Princess to Azrael; that the two girls +were tied by the hands to one chain; that he greatly feared someone +would come and filch the Princess from him; that he got up ten times +every night to see whether anyone had stolen into the palace; and that +since Mariska had been placed in his hands he had drunk no wine and +smoked no opium, and would eat of no dish save from the hands of his +favourite damsel. + +Feriz Beg knew quite enough. Again he mounted his horse and galloped +back to his kiosk, taking the neighbouring mosque on his way, on +reaching which he called from his horse to the old dervish, who +immediately appeared in answer to his summons. + +"Tell her who was wont to visit me in thy stead that I want to see and +speak to her early to-morrow morning." + +And with that he threw some gold ducats to the dervish and galloped off. + +The dervish looked after him in astonishment, and picking up the ducats, +instantly toddled off to the fortress, prowled about the gate all night, +met Hajat at early dawn, and gave her the message for Azrael. + +This was the joyful tidings which the odalisk had received in response +to her first prayer, and which had made her so happy. + + * * * * * + +Next morning she ordered her servants to admit none but the old dervish, +and to close every door as soon as he had entered. + +Shortly afterwards, Azrael with her retinue of servants arrived at the +mosque, and a few moments after she had disappeared behind the trellised +railings the form of the old dervish appeared in the street, hobbling +along with his crutch till he reached the kiosk. Feriz Beg perceived him +through the window, and sent everyone from the room that he might remain +alone with him. + +The dervish entered, closed the door behind him, let down the +tapestries, took off his false beard and false raiment, and there before +Feriz--tremulous, blushing, and shamefaced--stood the odalisk. + +"Thou hast sent for me," she stammered softly, "and behold--here I am!" + +"I would beg something of thee," said Feriz, half leaning on his elbow. + +"Demand my life!" cried the odalisk impetuously, "and I will lay it at +thy feet!" and at these words she flung herself at the foot of the divan +on which the youth was sitting. + +"I ask thee for nothing less than thy life. Once thou saidst that thou +didst love me. Is that true now also?" + +"Is it not possible to love thee, and yet live?" + +"Say then that I might love thee if I knew thee better. Good! I wish to +know thee." + +The damsel regarded the youth tremblingly, waiting to hear what he would +say to her. + +The youth rose and said in a solemn, lofty voice: + +"In my eyes not the roses of the cheeks, or the fire of the eyes, or +bodily charms make a woman beautiful, but the beauty of the soul, for I +recognise a soul in woman, and she is no mere plaything for the pastime +of men. What enchants me is noble feeling, self-sacrifice, loyalty, +resignation. Canst thou die for him whom thou lovest?" + +"It would be rapture to me." + +"Canst thou die for her whom thou hatest in order to prove how thou dost +love?" + +"I do not understand," said Azrael hesitating. + +"Thou wilt understand immediately. There is a captive woman in Hassan's +castle who is entrusted to thy charge. This captive woman must be +liberated. Wilt _thou_ liberate her?" + +At these words Azrael's heart began to throb feverishly. All the blood +vanished from her face. She looked at the youth in despair, and said +with a gasp: + +"Dost _thou_ love this woman?" + +"Suppose that I love her and thou dost free her all the same." + +The woman collapsed at the feet of Feriz Beg, and embracing his knees, +said, sobbing loudly: + +"Oh, say that thou dost not love her, say that thou dost not know her, +and I will release her--I will release her for thee at the risk of my +own life." + +The reply of Feriz was unmercifully cold. + +"Believe that I love her, and in that belief sacrifice thyself for her. +This night I will wait for her wherever thou desirest, and will take her +away if thou wilt fetch her. It was thy desire to know me, and I would +know thee also. Thou art free to come or go as thou choosest." + +The odalisk hid her tearful face in the carpets on the floor, and +writhed convulsively to the feet of Feriz, moaning piteously. + +"Oh, Feriz, thou art merciless to me." + +"Thou wouldst not be the first who had sacrificed her life for love." + +"But none so painfully as I." + +"And art thou not proud to do so, then?" + +At these words the woman raised a pale face, her large eyes had a +moonlight gleam like the eyes of a sleep-walker. She seized the hand of +Feriz in order to help herself to rise. + +"Yes, I am proud to die for thee. I will show that here--within +me--there is a heart which can feel nobly--which can break for that +which it loves, for that which kills it--that pride shall be mine. I +will do it." + +And then, as if she wished to clear away the gathering clouds from her +thoughts, she passed her hand across her forehead and continued in a +lower, softer voice: + +"This night, when the muezzin calls the hour of midnight, be in front of +the fortress-garden on thy fleetest horse. Thou wilt not have to wait +long; there is a tiny door there which conceals a hidden staircase which +leads from the fortress to the trenches. I will come thither and bring +her with me." + +Feriz involuntarily pressed the hand of the girl kneeling before him, +and felt a burning pressure in his hand, and when he looked at the young +face before him he saw the smile of a sublime rapture break forth upon +her radiantly joyful features. + +Azrael parted from Feriz an altogether transformed being, another heart +was throbbing in her breast, another blood was flowing to her heart, +earth and heaven had a different colour to her eyes. She believed that +the youth would love her if she died for him, and that thought made her +happy. + +But Feriz summoned Gregory Biró, and having recompensed him, sent him +back to his mistress with the message: + +"Thy wish hath been accomplished." + +So sure was he that Azrael would keep her word--if only she were alive +to do so. + + * * * * * + +Hassan Pasha waited and waited for Azrael. If the odalisk was not with +him he felt as helpless as a child who has strayed away from its nurse. +In the days immediately following the lost battle, the shame attaching +to him and his agonized fear for his life had quite confused his mind; +and the drugs employed at that time, combined with restless nights, the +prayers of the dervishes, the joys of the harem and opium, had completed +the ruin of his nervous system. If he were left alone for an hour he +immediately fainted, and when he awoke it was in panic terror--he gazed +around him like one in the grip of a hideous nightmare. For some days he +would leave off his opium, but as is generally the case when one too +suddenly abandons one's favourite drug, the whole organism threatened to +collapse, and the renunciation of the opium did even more mischief than +its enjoyment. + +When Azrael rejoined him he was asleep, the chain by which he held the +Princess had fallen from his hand and when he awoke there was a good +opportunity of persuading him that Mariska had escaped from him while he +slept. + +Hassan looked long and blankly at her, it seemed as if he would need +some time wherein to rally his scattered senses sufficiently to +recognise anyone. But Azrael was able to exercise a strange magnetic +influence over him, and he would awake from the deepest sleep whenever +she approached him. + +Azrael sat down beside the couch and embraced the Vizier, while Mariska, +with tender bashfulness, turned her head away from them; and Hassan, +observing it, drew Azrael's head to his lips and whispered in her ear: + +"I have had evil dreams again. Hamaliel, the angel of dreams, appeared +before me, and gave me to understand that if I did not kill this woman, +he would kill me. My life is poisoned because she is here. My mind is +not in proper order. I often forget who I am. I fancy I am living at +Stambul, and looking out of the window am amazed that I do not see the +Bosphorus. This woman must die. This will cure me. I will kill her this +very day." + +Mariska did not hear these words, all her attention was fixed upon the +babbling of her child; and Azrael, with an enchanting smile, flung +herself on the breast of the Vizier, embracing his waggling head and +covering his face with kisses, and the smile of her large dark eyes +illuminated his gloomy soul. + +Poor Hassan! He fancies that that enchanting smile, that embrace, those +kisses are meant for him, but the shape of a handsome youth hovers +before the mind of the odalisk, and that is why she kisses Hassan so +tenderly, embraces him so ardently, and smiles so enchantingly. She +fancies 'tis her ideal whom she sees and embraces. + +Ah, the extravagances of love! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN. + + +Azrael had felt afraid when Hassan said: "I must kill this woman +to-day." A fearful spectre was haunting the mind of the Vizier; he must +be freed from this spectre, and made to forget it. + +So Azrael devised an odd sport for the man on the verge of imbecility. + +The seven days had passed during which Hassan had forbidden that anyone +should be admitted to his presence, and it occurred to Azrael that in +the ante-chamber crowds of brilliant envoys, and couriers, and +supplicants were waiting, all eagerly desirous of an audience, many of +them with rich gifts; others came to render homage, others with joyful +tidings from the seat of war; whilst one of them had come all the way +from the Grand Vizier with a very important message from the Sultan +himself. + +Hassan's stupid mind brightened somewhat at these words, a fatuously +good-natured smile lit up his face. + +"Let them come in, let them appear before me," he said joyfully to the +girl; "and remain thou beside me and introduce them to me one by one; +thine shall be the glory of it." + +But in reality none was awaiting an audience in the ante-room, there +were no splendid envoys there, no humble petitioners, no agas, no +messengers, none but the Vizier's own slaves. + +But these Azrael dressed up one by one to look like splendid magnates, +village magistrates, and soldiers; put sealed letters, purses, and +banners in their hands, and placing Hassan in the reception-room on a +lofty divan, sat down with the Princess on stools at his feet, and +ordered the door-keepers to admit the disguised slaves one by one. + +The mockery was flagrant, but was there among them all any who dared to +enlighten Hassan? Who would undertake to undeceive him when a mere nod +from Azrael might annihilate before the Vizier could realise that they +were making sport of him? It was a fleet-winged demon fooling a sluggish +mammoth with strength enough to crush her but with no wings to enable it +to get at her, and the rabble always takes the part of the mocker, not +of the mocked, especially if the former be lucky and the latter unlucky. + +The loutish slaves came one by one into the room, and Hassan turned his +face towards them, remaining in that position while Azrael told him who +they were and what they wanted. + +"This is Ferhad Aga," said the odalisk, pointing at a stable-man, "who, +hearing of thy martial prowess in all four corners of the world has come +hither begging thee with veiled countenance to include him among thy +armour-bearers." + +Hassan most graciously extended his hand to the stable-man and granted +him his petition. + +Azrael next presented to Hassan a cook from a foreign court, who, +dressed in a large round mantle of cloth of silver, might very well have +passed for a burgomaster of Debreczen, and whose shoulders bent beneath +the weight of two sacks of gold and silver from Hassan's own treasury. + +"This is the magistrate of the city of Debreczen," said the odalisk, +"who hath brought thee a little gift in the name of the municipality, +with the petition that when thou dost become the Pasha of Transylvania +thou wilt not forget them." + +Hassan smiled at the word money, had the sacks placed before him, thrust +his arms into them up to his very wrists with great satisfaction, had +their contents emptied at his feet, and dismissed the envoy with a +hearty pressure of the hand. + +And now followed a negro, who brought some recaptured Turkish banners +from the bed of a river which did not exist, in which the Turks had +drowned the whole army of Montecuculi. + +Hassan was now in such a weak state of mind that he no longer recognised +his own people in their unwonted garments, and the more extraordinary +the things reported to him the more readily he believed them. + +And so Azrael kept on exhibiting to him envoys, couriers, and captains +till, at last, it came to the turn of the envoy of the Grand Vizier, +whose part the odalisk had entrusted to a clever eunuch who had been +instructed to present to Hassan a sealed firman, which Azrael was to +read because Hassan could not see the letters. It was to the effect that +Hassan was to endeavour to preserve the life of the captive Princess, as +the Grand Vizier himself intended in a few days to take her over alive. + +When thus it seemed good to Azrael that the most striking scene of the +whole game should begin she exclaimed in a loud voice to the +door-keepers: + +"Admit the ambassador of the Grand Vizier with the message from the +Sublime Padishah!" + +The guards drew back the curtains and in came--Olaj Beg! + +"Truly I must needs admit," said he turning towards the odalisk, who +stood there petrified with fear and amazement, "truly I must admit that +thou art blessed with the faculty of seeing through walls and reading +fast-closed letters, for thou hast announced me before I appeared +officially and thou hast seen the firman hidden in my bosom before I +have had time to produce it." + +Azrael arose. She felt her blood throbbing in her brain for terror. At +that moment she had that keen sensation of danger when every atom of the +body--heart, brain, hands, and the smallest nerve--sees, hears, and +thinks. + +"Thou hast brought the firman of the Sultan?" she inquired of Olaj Beg +with wrapt attention. + +"Thou knowest also what is written in it, O enchantress!" said Olaj, in +a tone of homage, "therefore ask not." + +There was something in the yellow face of Olaj Beg which made him most +formidable, most menacing at the very time when he seemed to be utterly +abject in his humility. + +"What doth the Sublime Sultan command?" inquired Hassan, gazing +abstractedly in front of him. + +"That thou prepare a scaffold in the courtyard of thy palace by +to-morrow morning." + +"For whom?" inquired Hassan in alarm. It was curious that it was he who +trembled at this word, and not the Princess. + +"That is the secret of to-morrow. Thou shalt break open and read this +firman to-morrow, in it thou wilt find who is to die to-morrow." + +At these words Olaj Beg looked at the faces of all who were present, as +if he would read their innermost thoughts, but in vain. He recognised +none of those on whom his eyes fell. Although many of them seemed to be +great men he could not remember meeting any of them in the Empire of the +Grand Turk; and the face of Azrael was as cold and motionless as marble, +he could read nought from that. + +But Azrael had already read the sealed firman through the eyes of Olaj +Beg. + +She had read it, and it said that if by to-morrow morning the Princess +was not set free then the scaffold would be erected for her, but if she +had escaped, then it would be raised for Hassan and for whomsoever had +set her free. + +"I must hasten to set her free," she thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. + + +The Angel of Death had already spread his wings over the palace of +Hassan. It was already known that on the morning of the morrow someone +of those who now dwelt beneath that roof would quit the world--only the +name of the condemned mortal was not pronounced. + +Till late at evening the carpenters were at work in front of the palace +gates, and every nail knocked into the fabric of the scaffold was +audible in the rooms. When the structure was ready they covered it with +red cloth, and placed upon it a three-legged chair and by the side of +the chair leaned a bright round headsman's sword. A gigantic Kurd then +mounted the scaffolding, and stamped about the floor with his big feet +to see whether it would break down beneath him. The chair was badly +placed, he observed it, put it right and shook his head while he did so. +To think that people did not understand how to set a chair! Then he +stripped his muscular arms to the shoulder, took up the sword in his +broad palm and tested the edge of it, running his fingers along the +blade as if it were some musical instrument and could not conceal his +satisfaction. Then he made some sweeping blows with it, and as if +everything was now in perfect order, he leaned it against the chair +again and descended the ladder like a man well content with himself. + +The hands of Hassan Pasha trembled unusually when that evening he locked +the golden padlocks on the hands of Azrael and Mariska. A hundred times +he tapped the key hidden in his girdle to convince himself that it had +not fallen out. + +Scarcely had he left the two women alone than he came back to them again +to ascertain whether he had really locked their hands together, for he +had forgotten all about it by the time he had reached the door. + +Then he came back a second time, looked all round the room, tapped the +walls repeatedly, for he was afraid or had dreamt that there was another +door somewhere which led out of the room. However, he convinced himself +at last that there was not. Then he went to the window and looked out. +There was a fall of fifteen feet to the bastions, and the ditch below +was planted with sharp stakes; all round the room there was nothing +whatever which could serve as a rope. The curtains were all of down and +feathers; the dresses were of the lightest transparent material; the +shawls which formed Azrael's turban and were twisted round her body were +the finest conceivable; and the garments the odalisk actually wore were +of silk, and so light that they stuck to the skin everywhere. + +Azrael saw through the mind of the Vizier. + +"Why dost though look at me?" she exclaimed aloud so that he trembled +all over; "thou dost suspect me. If thou fearest this woman whom thou +hast confided to me, take and guard her thyself." + +"Azrael," said Hassan meekly, "be not angry with me, at least not now." + +"Thou hast never suspected me, then?" + +"Have I not always loved thee? If even thou didst want my life would I +not trust it with thee?" + +"Then wander not about the room so. Go and rest!" + +"Rest to-night? The Messenger of Death stands before the door." + +"What care I about the Messenger of Death? I know _when_ I am going to +die! And _till_ then I will not lower my eyes before Death." + +"And when will Hassan die?" asked the Vizier, seizing the hand of his +favourite and watching eagerly for her answer with parted lips. + +"Thou wilt survive me a day and no longer," said Azrael. There was a +tremulousness in the intonation of her voice. She felt that what she +said was true. + +The tears trickled from Hassan's face, and he covered it with his hands. + +Then the imbecile old man kissed the robe of the odalisk again and +again, and folding her in his ardent embrace, actually sobbed over her. +And he kept on babbling: + +"Thou wilt die before me?" + +"So it is written in the book of the Future," said Azrael proudly; "so +long as thou seest me alive, have no fear of Death! But the sound of the +horn of the Angel of Death which summons me away will also be a signal +for thee to make ready." + +Hassan, having dried his tears, quitted Azrael's room, and on reaching +his own, sank down upon a divan, and was immediately overcome by sleep. + +When he had gone, Mariska knelt down before the bed on which her little +child was softly sleeping, and drawing a little ivory cross from her +breast, began to pray. + +Azrael touched her hand. + +"Pray not now, thou wilt have time to pray later." + +Mariska looked at her in wonder. + +"I? Are not the hours of my life numbered?" + +"No. Listen to my words and act accordingly. I will free thee." + +The Princess was astonished, she fancied she was dreaming. + +The odalisk now drew a small fine steel file from her girdle, and, +seizing the Princess's hand, began to file the chain from off it. + +After the first few rubs the sharp file bit deeply into the silver +circlet, but suddenly it stopped, and, press it as hard as she would, it +would bite the chain no more. + +"What is this? it won't go on. What is the chain made of? Even if it +were of steel, another steel would file it." + +Azrael hastily filed right round the whole of the link which Hassan's +smith had thought good to form of silver only on the outside, thinking +that the fraud would never be discovered, and behold, the hard +impervious substance which resisted the file was nothing but--glass. + +"Ah!" said Azrael, "all the better for us, the work will be quicker;" +and seizing an iron candlestick, she broke in pieces with a single blow +the whole of the glass chain which was only covered by a light varnish +of silver, only the two locked golden manacles remained in their hands. + +"We shall be ready all the sooner," she whispered to Mariska, "now we +must make haste and get you off." + +But Mariska still stood before her like one who knows not what is +befalling her. + +"Hast thou thought how we are to escape?" she inquired of Azrael. "The +guards of Hassan Pasha stand at every door, and all the doors have been +locked by his own hand. In front of the gates of the fortress the +sentinels have been doubled. I heard what commands he gave." + +"I have nought to do with doors or guards; we are going to escape +through the window." + +Mariska looked at Azrael incredulously; she fancied she had gone mad. +She could see nothing in the room by which they could descend from the +window, and below stood the thickly planted sharp stakes. + +"Help me to let down this gobća ladder!" said Azrael, and quick as a +squirrel herself, she leaped on the edge of the great porcelain tub, and +thrust aside the vigorous shoots of the plant from its natural ladder +within, which grew right up to the roof and thence descended again to +its own roots. + +Mariska began to see that her companion knew what she was about. She +hastened to give her assistance, lowered the pliable trunk, and, +looking round to see if anyone was watching, bent the branches towards +the window. + +But still it was too short. The longest creepers only reached to the +edges of the palisade, and one could not count upon the green sprouts at +the end of the creepers. Even if the ladder which formed the flower were +attached to it, it would still not reach to the bottom of the trench. + +Azrael looked around the room to see if she could find anything. +Suddenly she had hit upon it. + +"Give me those scissors," she said to Mariska, and when the latter had +returned to her, the odalisk had already let down her flowing tresses. +Four long locks as black as night, reaching below her knee, the crown of +a woman's beauty which make men rejoice in her, were twining there on +the floor. + +"Give me the scissors!" she said to Mariska. + +"Wouldst thou cut off thy hair?" asked the Princess, holding back. + +"Yes, yes, what does it matter? It is wanted for the rope, and it will +be quite strong enough." + +"Rather cut off mine!" said Mariska. With noble emulation she took from +her head her small pearl haube, and loosened her own tresses, which, if +not so long and so full of colour, at least rivalled those of her +comrade in quantity. + +"Good; the two together will make the rope stronger," said Azrael; and +with that the two ladies began clipping off their luxurious locks one by +one with the little scissors. One marvellously beautiful tress after +another flowed from the head of the odalisk. When the last had fallen, a +tear-drop also followed it. + +Then she picked up the splendid tresses and began plaiting them together +into strong knots. + +"Wouldst thou ever have thought," said Azrael, "that the locks of thy +hair would be so intermingled?" + +Mariska gratefully pressed the hand of the odalisk. + +"How can I ever thank you for your goodness?" + +"Think not of it. Fate orders it so--and someone else," she muttered +softly. + +And now the attached ladder was long enough to reach the bottom of the +palisades. Then they pitched down all the pillows and cushions of the +divans till they covered the sharp stakes, so that their points might +not hurt the fugitives. Moreover, Azrael tied the tough shoots of the +gobća to the cross piece of the window with the wraps of her turban and +girdle. + +"And now let me go first," said the odalisk, when all was ready; "if the +branches of the creeper do not break beneath me, then thou canst come +boldly after me, for thou and the child together are not heavier than I +am." + +The sky was dark and obscured by clouds; no one saw a white shape +descending from one of the black windows of the fortress down the wall, +lower and lower, till at last it got to the bottom and vanished in the +depths of the ditch. + +Mariska was waiting above there with a beating heart till the odalisk +had descended; a tug at the gobća-rope informed her that Azrael was +already below, and Mariska could come after her. + +A supplicating sigh to God ascended from the anxious bosom of the +Princess at that supreme moment of trial; then she fastened to her +breast with the folds of her garment the little one, who, fortunately, +was still sound asleep, and stepping from the window entrusted herself +to the yawning abyss below. + +And, indeed, she had need of the most confident trust in God during this +hazardous experiment, for if the child had awoke, the Komparajis pacing +the bastions would have heard his tearful little wail at once, and it +would have been all over with the fugitives. + +Nothing happened. Mariska reached the ditch in safety, together with her +child. Azrael assisted her to descend, and then they began to creep +along among the trenches on the river's bank. It was not advisable to +clamber upon the trenches, as there they might have encountered a +sentinel at any moment. + +At last they came to the end of the ditch where two bastions joined +together, forming a little oblique opening, through which one could look +down on the town of Pesth. + +Before the little opening stood a Komparaji leaning on his long lance. +As his back was turned towards them, he did not notice the women, while +they started back in terror when they saw him. The man stood right in +front of the opening completely barring their way, and was gaping at +Pesth, facing the steep declivity. + +Azrael quickly caught Mariska's hand and whispered in her ear: + +"Remain here! Sit down with the child, and see that he does not make a +noise." + +And with that, quitting her companion and pressing against the wall of +the bastion, she slowly and noiselessly began creeping along behind the +back of the Komparaji. + +The sentinel remained standing there, as motionless as a statue, gazing +at the Danube flying in front of him, when suddenly, like the panther +leaping upon its prey, the odalisk leaped upon the Komparaji, and before +he had time to call out, pushed him so violently that he plunged over +into the abyss. + +Then quickly seizing Mariska's hand, the odalisk exclaimed: + +"And now forward quickly!" + +Like two spirits the forms of the women flitted across the bastions. In +Azrael's hand was the key of the castle garden; in a few moments they +reached the subterranean staircase, and when Azrael had locked the door +behind her she turned to Mariska and said: + +"Now thou canst pray, for thou art saved." + + * * * * * + +The report had already spread through the two towns that early at dawn +someone would be executed, and here and there people whispered that it +would be the Princess of Moldavia. + +The population living outside the town were able to give full reins to +their imagination, for the gates of the fortress, by Hassan Pasha's +command, were already locked fast at six o'clock in the evening, and +after that time nobody was allowed to enter out or in except the +sentinels outside, and these only by the Szombat gate. + +The later grew the hour the more numerous became the crowd assembled in +front of the gates thus unwontedly bolted and barred, consisting for the +most part of people who lived inside the town of every rank, who thus +waited patiently for the chance of reaching their houses again. Knocking +at the gates was useless, the guards had been ordered to take no notice +of such demonstrations. + +The darker grew the night, the more numerous became the throng before +the gate, and the more closely they pressed together the plainer it +became to them all that they would have to sleep outside. + +The largest concourse was in front of the Fejérvár gate, for that was +the chief entrance. + +It was already close upon midnight, when some dozen horsemen, in the +uniforms of Spahis, arrived at the gate, forcing their way through the +throng, led, apparently, by a handsome youth (it was too dark to +distinguish very clearly), who thundered at the gate with the butt-end +of his lance. + +"You may bang away at it till morning," said a cobbler of Buda, who was +lying prone, chawing bacon at his ease, "they won't let you in." + +"Then why are you all here?" cried the youth in the purest Hungarian. + +"Because they locked us out at six o'clock in the evening, and would not +let us in." + +"Why was that?" + +"They say that at dawn of day someone in the fortress is to be +executed." + +"Who is it?" said the youth, visibly affected. + +"Why, the Princess of Moldavia, of course." + +"Oh, that cannot be in any case," exclaimed the leader of the Spahis. "I +have just come from the Sultan, and I have brought with me his firman, +in which he summons her to Stambul; not a hair of her head is to be +crumpled." + +"Then it will be just as well, sir, if you try to get into the fortress, +for it may be you have come with the sermon after the festival is over, +and that letter may remain in your pocket if once they cut off her +head." + +The youth seemed for a moment to be reflecting, then, turning to those +who stood around, he said: + +"Through which gate do they admit the soldiers on guard?" + +"Through the Szombat gate." + +The youth immediately turned his horse's head, and beckoned to his +comrades to follow him. + +But at the first words he had uttered, a figure enwrapped in a mantle +had emerged from a corner of the gate, and when he began to talk about +the Princess and the firman, this figure, with great adroitness, had +crept quite close to him, and when he turned round had swiftly followed +him till, having made its way through the throng, it overtook him, and, +placing its hand on the horseman's knee, said in a low voice: "Tököly!" + +"Hush!" hissed the horseman, with an involuntary start, and bending his +head so that he might look into the face of his interlocutor, whereupon +his wonder was mingled with terror, and throwing himself back in his +saddle, he exclaimed: "Prince! can it be you?" + +For Prince Ghyka stood before him. + +"Could I be anywhere else when they want to kill my wife?" he said +mournfully. + +"Do not be cast down, there will be plenty of time till to-morrow +morning. I have plenty of confidence in my good star. When I really wish +for a thing I generally get it even if the Devil stand in the opposite +camp against me, and never have I wished for anything so much as to save +Mariska." + +The Prince, with tears in his eyes, pressed the hand of the youth, and +did not take it at all amiss of him that he called his wife Mariska. + +"Well, of course, you have brought the firman with you, and if you come +with the suite of the Sultan----" + +"Firman, my friend? I have not brought a bit of a firman with me, and +those who are with me are my good kinsfolk in Turkish costumes, worthy +Magyar chums everyone of them, who have agreed to help me through with +whatsoever I take it into my head to set about; but I have got something +about me which can make firmans and athnamés, and whatever else I may +require, whether it be the key of a dungeon, or a marshal's bâton, or a +prince's sceptre--a golden knapsack, I mean." + +"And what are you going to get with that?" + +"Everything. I will corrupt the sentinels so that they will let me into +the fortress; and once let me get in, and I'll either make Hassan Pasha +sell Olaj Beg, or Olaj Beg sell Hassan Pasha. If a good word be of no +avail I will use threats, and if my whole scheme falls through, Heaven +only knows what I won't do. I'll chop Hassan Pasha and his guards into a +dozen pieces, or I'll set the castle on fire, or I'll blow up the powder +magazine--in a word, I won't desist till I have brought out your +consort." + +"How can I thank you for your noble enthusiasm?" + +"You mustn't thank me, my friend; you must thank Flora Teleki, who is +your wife's friend, and expects this of me." + +"Then you are re-engaged?" + +"No, my friend. Helen is my bride. Ah, that is the only real woman in +the whole round world. I should be with her now if I were not engaged in +this business, and as soon as I have finished with it, the pair of us +will give you a wedding the like of which has never yet been seen in +Hungary." + +The Prince sadly bowed his head. He means well, he thought, but there is +a very poor chance of his succeeding. The mercurial youth seems to have +no idea that within an hour he will be jeopardizing his head by engaging +in a foolhardy enterprise which runs counter to the whole policy of the +Turkish Empire. But Tököly's mind never impeded his heart. His motto +always was: "_Virtus nescia freni_." + +"Then what do you intend to do?" Tököly casually asked Ghyka, just as if +he considered it the most extraordinary thing in the world to find him +there. + +"I also want to save Mariska, and I have hopes of doing so," said the +Prince. + +"How? Tell me! Perchance we may be able to unite our efforts." + +"Scarcely, I think. My plan is simply to give myself up instead of my +wife. They would execute her for my fault; it is only right that I +should appear on the scaffold and take her place." + +"A bad idea!" exclaimed Tököly, "a stupid notion. If you deliver +yourself up, they will seize you as well as your wife and do for the +pair of you. I know a dodge worth two of that. Take horse along with us, +and let us make our way into the fortress sword in hand; we shall do +much more that way than if we went hobbling in on crutches. Luck belongs +to the audacious." + +"You know, Tököly, that I do not much rely on Turkish humanity; and I am +quite prepared, if I deliver myself up, for them to kill both me and +her; but at least we shall die together, and that will be some +consolation." + +"It is no good talking like that," cried the young Magyar impatiently. +"Stop! A good idea occurs to me. Yes, and it will be better if you come +with us and we all act in common. We will say openly at the gate that we +bring with us the fugitive Prince of Moldavia as a captive. At the mere +rumour of such a thing they will instantly admit us, not only into the +fortress, but into the presence of Hassan likewise. The Pasha knows me +pretty well, and if I tell him that I bring you a captive, he will +believe me, or I'll break his head for him. He will be delighted to see +you. But I will not give you up. I am responsible for you, and must +mount guard over you. This will make it necessary to postpone the +execution, for we shall have to write to Stambul that the husband has +fallen into our hands, and inquire whether the wife is to be sacrificed, +and we shall have time to elope ten times over before we get a reply." + +The Prince hesitated. If this desperate expedient had been a mere joke, +Tököly could not have spoken of it with greater nonchalance. The Prince +gave him his hand upon it. + +"The only question now is: which is the easiest way into the fortress. +Let us draw near the first sentinel whom we find on the bridge or in the +garden and wait until they change guard." + +The horsemen thereupon surrounded the Prince as if he was their captive, +and escorted him along the river's bank. + +It was late. On the black surface of the Danube rocked the shapeless +Turkish vessels, their sails creaking in the blast of the strong south +wind. + +It was scarce possible to see ahead at all, nevertheless the little band +of adventurers, constantly pushing forward, kept looking around to see +where the sentinels were, keeping very quiet themselves that they might +catch the watchword. + +Suddenly a cry was heard, but a cry which ended abruptly, as if the +mouth from which it proceeded had been clapped to in mid-utterance. + +On reaching the walls of the palace garden, however, one of them +perceived that an armed figure was standing in the little wicket gate. + +"There's the sentinel!" said Tököly. + +"The rascal must certainly be asleep to let us come right up to him +without challenging us," said Tököly; and he approached the armed man, +who still stood motionless in the gate, and addressed him in the Turkish +tongue: + +"Hie, Timariot, or whoever you are! Are you guarding this gate?" + +"You see that I am." + +"Then why don't you challenge those who approach you?" + +"That's none of my business." + +"Then what is your business?" + +"To stand here till I am relieved." + +"And when will they relieve you?" + +"Any time." + +"Does the relief watch come by this gate?" + +"Not by this gate." + +"And by which gate can one get into the fortress?" + +"By no gate." + +"You give very short answers, my friend, but we must get at Hassan Pasha +this very night without fail." + +"You must learn to fly then." + +"Don't joke with me, sir! I have very important tidings for the Vizier; +you may possibly find it easier to get into the fortress than we could. +You shall receive from me a hundred ducats on the spot if you inform the +Pasha that I, Emeric Tököly, bring with me as a captive the fugitive +Prince of Moldavia, and the Vizier himself will certainly reward you for +it richly." + +The Count had no sooner mentioned his name, and pointed at the captive +prince, than the Turkish sentinel quickly came forth from beneath the +archway, and Tököly and Ghyka, in astonishment, exclaimed with one +voice: + +"Feriz Beg!" + +"Yes, 'tis I. Keep still. You want to save Mariska, so do I." + +"So it is," said Tököly. "I promised the woman I do not love that I +would do it, and I will keep my promise. You need have no secrets from +us, for we shall require your assistance." + +"Your secrets are nought to me." + +The Prince listened with downcast head to the conversation of the two +young men; then he intervened, took their hands, and said with deep +emotion: + +"Feriz! Tököly! Once upon a time we faced each other as antagonists, and +now as self-sacrificing friends we hold each other's hands. I don't want +to be smaller than you. A scaffold has been put up in the courtyard of +the fortress of Buda, that scaffold awaits a victim, whoever it may be, +for the sword which the Sultan draws in his wrath will not remain +unsatisfied. That scaffold was prepared for my wife, you must let me +take her place. I am well aware that whoever liberates her must be +prepared to perish instead of her. Let me perish. You, Feriz, can easily +get into the fortress. Tell Hassan that the scaffold shall have the +husband instead of the wife--let him surrender the wife for the +husband." + +"Leave the scaffold alone, Prince. He who deserves it most shall get to +the scaffold." + +"Don't listen to the Prince!" said Tököly to Feriz; "he has lost his +head evidently, as he wants to make a present of it to Hassan. All I ask +of you is to let me into the fortress; once let me get inside, and no +harm shall be done. I was born with a caul, so good-luck goes with me." + +"Good. Wait here till the muezzin proclaims midnight, which will not be +long, I fancy, as the night is already well advanced; meanwhile, keep +your eye on those horsemen below there." + +The men fancied Feriz wanted to join the sentinels when the watch was +relieved, and taking him at his word, hid themselves and their horses +behind the lofty bank. + +The night was now darker than ever, only here and there a lofty star +looked down upon them from among the wind-swept clouds. + + * * * * * + +Hassan had a restless night. Horrible dreams awoke him every instant, +and yet he never wholly awoke, one phantom constantly supplanted the +other in his agitated brain. + +The raging blast broke open one of the windows and beat furiously +against the wall, so that the coloured glasses crashed down upon the +floor. + +Aroused by the uproar, and gazing but half awake at the window, he saw +the long curtain slowly approaching him as if some Dzhin were inside and +had come thither to terrify him. + +"Who is that?" cried Hassan in terror, laying his hand on his sword. + +It was no one. It was only the wind which had stiffened out the +curtains, expanding them like a banner and blowing gustily into the +room. + +Hassan seized the curtain, pulled it away from the window, fastened it +up by its golden tassels, and laid him down again. The wind returned to +torment him and again worried the curtain till it had succeeded in +unravelling the tassels, and again blew the curtain into the room. + +And then the tapestries of the door and the divans began fluttering and +flapping as if someone was tugging away at their ends, and the flame of +the night-lamp on the tripod flickered right and left, casting galloping +shadows on the wall. + +"What is that? Have the devils been let loose in this palace?" Hassan +asked himself in amazement. + +The closed doors jarred in the blast as if someone was banging at them +from the outside, and every now and then the bang of a window-shutter +would respond to the howling of the blast. + +Men have curious supernatural faculties through which their minds are +suddenly illuminated. At that moment the idea flashed through Hassan's +brain that, in the apartments of the wing beyond, a window must needs be +open, which was the cause of the unwonted current of air which fluttered +the curtains of his palace and made the doors rattle, and this window +could be none other than Azrael's, and if it were open, then the two +women must have escaped. + +At this horrible idea he quickly leaped out on to the floor, seized his +sword, which was lying at his bedside, and, bursting open the door, +rushed like a madman through all the apartments to Azrael's dormitory. + +At the instant of their escape Azrael had turned over the long divan and +placed it right across the room in such a way that one end of it was +jammed against the door, whilst the other end pressed against the wall, +so that when Hassan tried to open the door, he found it impossible to do +so. + +Everything was now quite clear to him. + +He called to nobody to open the door; he knew that they had escaped. In +the fury of despair he snatched a battle-axe from the wall and began to +break open the hard oaken door, so that the whole palace resounded with +the noise of the blows, and the guards and the domestics all came +running up together. + +Having beaten in the door at last, Hassan rushed into the room, cast a +glance around, and even _his_ eyes could see that his slave had flown. + +Howling with rage he rushed to the window, and when he saw the dependent +branches of the gobća, he beat his forehead with his fists and laughed +aloud as if something had broken loose inside him. + +"They have run off!" he yelled; "they have escaped, they have stolen +their lives, and they have stolen my life, too. Run after them into +every corner of the globe, pursue them, bring them back tied together, +tied together so that the blood may flow through their fingers. Oh, +Azrael, Azrael! How have I deserved this of thee?" + +And with that the old man burst into tears, and perceiving the +odalisk's girdle on the window-frame, to which the plant was attached, +he took it down, kissed it hundreds of times, hid his tearful face in +it, and collapsed senseless on the floor. + + * * * * * + +"Hasten, Princess, hasten!" + +The odalisk pressed her companion's hand, and dragged her down along the +bushy hillside. And now they had reached the hollow forming the entrance +to the underground passage which terminated at the gates of the garden +on the banks of the Danube. + +The odalisk had succeeded in filching the keys of the door of this +secret passage from Hassan. While she was trying which of the two it was +that belonged to the lock of the inner door, a cry resounded through the +stillness of the night. "Hassan!" exclaimed the two girls together. They +had recognised the voice. + +"They have discovered our escape," said Azrael. + +"Oh, God! do not leave me!" cried Mariska, pressing her hands together. +"My child!" + +Azrael quickly opened the grating door. It took a few moments, and +during that time a commotion was audible in the town, no doubt caused by +the cry of Hassan. Cries of alarm and consternation spread from bastion +to bastion, the whole garrison was aroused, and there was a confused +murmur within the fortress. + +"Let us hasten!" cried Azrael, quickly opening the door and dragging +after her the Princess into the blind-black corridor. + +At that moment a cannon-shot thundered from the fortress as an +alarm-signal. + +Mariska, at the sound of the shot, collapsed in terror at Azrael's feet, +and lay motionless in the corridor, still holding her child fast clasped +in her arms. + +"Hah! the woman has fainted," cried the odalisk in alarm; "we shall +both perish here," she cried in her despair. + +The din in the fortress grew louder every instant, from every bastion +the signal-guns thundered. + +"No, no, we must not perish!" exclaimed the heroine, and with a strength +multiplied by the extremity of the danger, she caught up the moaning +woman and child in her arms, and raising them to her bosom began making +her way with them along the covered corridor. + +Pitch darkness engulfed everything around them; the odalisk groped her +way along by the feel of the wet, sinuous walls, stumbling from time to +time beneath the burden of the dead weight in her arms, but at every +fresh shot she started forward again and went on without resting. + +Onwards, ever onwards!--till the last gasp! till the last heart-throb! +The awakened child also began to cry. + +Azrael's knees tottered, her bosom heaved beneath the double load, her +staring eyes saw nothing; and the world was as dark before her soul as +it was before her eyes. + +Heavy was the load upon her shoulder; but heavier still was the thought +in her heart that this woman whom she was saving at the risk of her own +life was the darling of him whom she loved herself, yet save her she +must, for she had promised to do so. + +At every step she felt her strength diminishing; with swimming head she +staggered against the wall, the steps seemed to have no end; if only she +could hold out till she reached the door with her, and then for a moment +might see Feriz Beg and hear from his lips the words: "Well done!"--then +Israfil, the Angel of Death might come with his flaming sword. + +For some time she had gathered from the hollower resonance of the steps +in the darkness that she was approaching the door; rallying her +remaining strength, she tottered forward a few paces with her load, and +when the latch of the door was already in her hand, her knees gave way +beneath her, and along with the Princess and the child, she fell in a +heap on the threshold, being just able to shove the key into the lock +and turn it twice. + + * * * * * + +Feriz Beg, with the Magyar nobles, plunged again beneath the shade of +the deep arch of the gate of the fortress garden and with wrapt +attention listened for the muezzin to proclaim midnight. It was then +that Azrael had said she would come. + +It never occurred to him that the woman could not come, so deeply had he +looked into her heart that he felt sure she would fulfil her promise. + +If only the muezzin would proclaim midnight from the mosque. + +At last a cry sounded through the stillness of the night, but it was not +the voice of the muezzin from the mosque, but Hassan's yell of terror +from the fortress window and the din which immediately followed it, +proclaiming that there was danger. + +Feriz's heart was troubled, but he never moved from the spot. He knew +right well what that noise meant. They had tried to help the Princess to +escape and her escape was discovered. + +"What is that noise?" asked the Prince apprehensively, sticking up his +head. + +Feriz did not want to alarm him. + +"It is nothing," he answered. "Some one has stolen away on the bastions, +perhaps, and they are pursuing him." + +Then the first cannon-shot resounded. + +Feriz, for the first time in his life, was agitated at the sound of a +cannon. + +"That is an alarm-signal," cried Tököly, drawing his sword. + +"Keep quiet!" whispered Feriz, "perhaps they are shooting at the people +who are thronging the gates." + +Nevertheless the shots were repeated from every bastion; the tumult, +the uproar increased; a tattoo was beaten, the trumpets rang out and a +whole concourse of people could be seen running along the bastions with +torches and flashing swords in their hands. + +"They are pursuing someone!" cried the Prince, and unable to endure it +any longer, he leaped upon the bank. + +"I know not what it is," stammered Feriz, and a cold shudder ran through +his body. + +Ghyka grasped his sword, and would have rushed up the hill as if obeying +some blind instinct. + +"What would you do?" whispered Feriz, grasping the hand of the Prince, +and pulling him back by force under the gate. + +For a few moments they stood there in a dead silence, the tumult, the +uproar seemed to be coming nearer and nearer--if it were to overtake +them? + +"Hush!" whispered Feriz, holding his ear close to the door. He seemed to +hear footsteps approaching from within and the plaintive wail of a +child. + +A few moments afterwards there was a fumbling at the latch and a key was +thrust into the lock and twice turned. Feriz hastened to open the door +and the senseless forms of the two women fell at his feet. + +The youth quickly dragged the Prince after him, and recognising Mariska, +who still lay in the embrace of Azrael, he placed her in her husband's +arms together with the weeping child. + +"Here are your wife and child," said he, "and now hasten!" + +"Mariska!" exclaimed the Prince, beside himself; and embracing the child +whom he now saw for the first time, he kissed the rosy face of the one +and the pallid face of the other again and again. + +That voice, that kiss, that embrace awoke the fainting woman, and as +soon as she opened her eyes, she quickly, passionately, flung her arms +round her husband's neck while he held the child on his arm. No sound +came from her lips, all her life was in her heart. + +"Quick! quick!" Feriz whispered to them. "Get into this skiff. When you +get to the other side it will be time to rejoice in each other; till +then we have cause to fear, for the whole of the Buda side of the river +is on the alert. But I'll look after them here. On the other bank my +servant is awaiting you with the swift horses; mention my name, and he +will hand them over to you. On the banks of the Raab you will find +another of my servants with fresh relays. Choose your horses, and then +to Nógrád as fast as you can. Thence it will be easy to escape into +Poland. Do not linger. Every moment is precious. Forward!" + +With that he conducted the fugitives to the skiff which was ready +waiting for them, and at the bottom of which two muscular servants of +his were lying out of sight. These helped them in, Feriz undid the rope, +and at a few strokes of the oars they were already some distance from +the shore. + +Then only did Feriz breathe freely, as if a huge load had fallen from +his heart. + +"May they not pursue them?" inquired Tököly anxiously. + +"They may," returned Feriz; "but they cannot transport the horses in +boats, as the fugitives now sit in the only boat here; the bridge, too, +has been removed and they will hardly be able to build another in time +on such a night as this." + +The fugitives had now reached the middle of the Danube, when Mariska, +who had scarce been herself for joy and terror in her half-unconscious +state, suddenly bethought her of her companion who had saved her with +such incomprehensible self-sacrifice and energy, and standing up in the +skiff waved her handkerchief as if she would thereby make up for the +leave-taking which she had neglected in her joy and haste. + +"What are they doing?" cried Feriz angrily, seeing that they were +attracting attention in consequence. + +Fortunately the night was dark and the people rushing down from the +bastions could not see the skiff making its way across the Danube; +presently its shape even began to vanish out of sight of the young eyes +that were watching it. + +Feriz looked up to the sky with a transfigured face. Two stars, close +together, looked down very brightly from amidst the fleeting clouds. Did +he not see Aranka's eyes in that twin stellar radiance? + +Tököly took the hands of the young hero and pressed them hard. + +"Once before we stood face to face," he said with a feeling voice, which +came from the bottom of his heart, "then I prevailed, now you prevail. +God be with you!" + +Then the young Count mounted his horse, and beckoning to his comrades, +galloped off in the direction of Gellérthegy. + +Feriz stood there alone on the shore with folded arms and tried to +distinguish once more the shape of the skiff already vanishing in the +darkness. + +Nobody thought of the poor odalisk who had saved them. + +All at once the youth felt the contact of a burning hand upon his arm. +Broken in mind and body, the odalisk dragged herself to his knees, and +seizing his hand drew it to her breast and to her lips. She could not +speak, she could only sob and weep. + +Feriz looked at her compassionately. + +"Thou hast done well," he said gently. + +The girl embraced the youth's knees, and it was well with her that he +suffered her to do so. + +"I thank thee for keeping thy word," said Feriz; "look now! that woman +was not my beloved. She has a husband who loves her." + +Indescribably sweet were these words to the damsel. In them she found +the sweetest reward for her sufferings and self-sacrifice. Then it was +not love after all which made Feriz save this woman through her! + +The uproar meanwhile was extending along the shore, the pursuers could +see that they were on the track of the fugitives. + +"We must be off," said Feriz; "wouldst thou like to come with me?" + +"Come with him!" What a thought was that for Azrael! To be able to live +under the same roof with him! + +Yet she answered: "I will not come." + +It occurred to her that if she were found with the dear youth he would +perish because of her. And besides, she knew that the invitation was due +not to love but to magnanimous gratitude. + +"I want to go over to the island," she said in a faint voice. + +"Then I'll help thee to find thy skiff," said the youth, extending his +hand to the odalisk to raise her up. + +She was still kneeling on the ground before him. + +She fixed upon him her large eyes swimming with tears, and whispered in +a tremulous voice: + +"Feriz! Thou wert wont to reward those damsels who sacrificed themselves +for thee, who died nobly and valiantly because they loved thee. Have not +I also won that reward?" + +Feriz Beg sadly lowered his head as if it afflicted him to think of the +significance of these words; then softly, gently, he bent over the +damsel, and drawing her lovely head towards him, pressed a warm, feeling +kiss on her marble forehead. + +The odalisk trembled with rapture beneath the load of that more than +earthly sensation of pleasure, and leaping up and stretching her arms to +Heaven, she whispered: + +"I am happy!--For the first time in my life. Now I may go--and die." + +Feriz, tenderly embracing her, led the damsel to her skiff. Then she +stopped suddenly, and leaning her head against the shoulder of the +youth, murmured in his ear: + +"When thou reachest thy kiosk, lie not down to sleep! Sit at thy window +and look towards the island in the direction of sunrise. The night will +be over ere long, and the dawn will come sooner than at other times. +When thou seest this portent think of me and say for me the prayer which +is used before the cold dawn, and say from thy heart: 'That woman does +penance for her sins!'" + +The odalisk felt two tear-drops falling upon her cheek. They fell from +the eyes of the youth. + +She could never feel happier in this world than she felt now. + +A few minutes later the skiff was flying over the rocking waves. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE VICTIM. + + +The Princess was saved, but she who had saved her was doomed. + +Along the banks of the rivers, and on the summits of the bastions, +alarm-beacons had been kindled announcing the flight of the fugitives. +It was late. On the shore the swift Arab horses of the pursuers were +racing with the wind. But the wind was not idle, but blew and raged and +fought with the foaming waves of the Danube, and tossed and pitched +about every little boat that lay upon it. + +There was only one skiff, however, that ventured to cross the Danube and +rise and fall with its billows, which were like the waves of the sea. A +white form stood stonily motionless in the boat, and the blast kept +twisting its soft garments round its body. The trembling boatman called +upon the name of Allah. + +"Fear not, when you carry me," Azrael said to him, and her eyes hung +upon a star which shone above her head, shining through the tatters of +the scurrying clouds. + +The skiff reached the shore of the Margaret island. The damsel got out, +and her last bracelet dropped from her hand into the hand of the +boatman. + +"Remember me, and begone." + +"Dost thou remain here?" + +"No." + +"Whither wilt thou go?" + +Azrael answered nothing, but pointed mutely to the sky. + +The boatman did not understand much about it; but, anyhow, he understood +that he could not give the damsel a lift up there, so he drew back his +canoe and departed. + +Azrael remained alone on the island, quite alone; for that day everyone +had been withdrawn by command of the Vizier; the damsels, the guards, +and the eunuchs had all migrated to the fortress, the paradise was empty +and uninhabited. + +Azrael strolled the whole length of the shore of the island. The mortars +were still thundering down from the fortress, the horsemen were still +shouting on the river's bank, the signal fires were blazing on the +bastions, the night was dark, the wind blew tempestuously and scattered +the leaves of the trees--but she saw neither the beacon fires, nor the +darkness; she heard neither the tumult of men nor the howling of the +blast; in her soul there was the light of heaven and an angelic harmony +with which no rumour, no shape of the outer world would intermingle. + +She came to the kiosk in the centre of the island. Wandering aimlessly +she had hit upon the labyrinthine way to it unawares. The sudden view of +the summer-house startled her, and it awoke a two-fold sensation in her +heart, it appealed equally to her memory and her imagination. She +bethought her of the resolve she had made on coming to the island. She +remembered that when she parted from the youth of her heart she had +said: "When thou comest to thy kiosk, do not lie down to sleep; sit down +at thy window, and look towards the island in the direction of the dawn. +This night will be soon over, and the dawn will dawn more quickly than +at other times. When thou seest it think of me and say for me the prayer +of direction for the departing." + +She reflected that the youth must now be sitting at the window, looking +towards the island, with his fine eyes weary of staring into the +darkness. She would not weary those fine eyes for long. + +She hastily opened the door with her silver key and entered the hall. A +hanging lamp was burning in the room just as the servants had left it in +the morning. She drew forth a wax taper, and having lit it, proceeded to +the other rooms, which opened one out of another, and whose floors were +covered by precious oriental carpets, whose walls were inlaid with all +manner of woods brought from foreign countries, and covered with +tapestries, all splendid masterpieces of eastern art; the atmosphere of +the rooms was heavy with intoxicating perfumes. + +All this was frightful, abominable to her now. As she walked over the +carpets, it was as if she were stepping on burning coals; when she +inhaled the scented atmosphere, it was as though she were breathing the +corruption of the pestilence; everything in these rooms awoke memories +of sin and disgust in her heart--costly costumes, porcelain vases, +silver bowls, all of them the playthings of loathsome moments, whose +keenest punishment was that she was obliged to remember them. + +But they shall all perish. And if they all perish, if these symbols of +sin and the hundred-fold more sinful body itself become dust, then +surely the soul will remember them no more? Surely it will depart far, +far away--perchance to that distant star--and will be happy like the +others who are near to God and know nothing of sin, but are full of the +comfort of the infinite mercy of God, who has permitted them to escape +from hence? + +With the burning torch in her hand she went all through the rooms, +tearing down the curtains and tapestries, and piling them all on the +divan; and when she entered the last of the rooms she saw a pale white +figure coming towards her from its dark background. The shape was as +familiar to her as if she had seen it hundreds of times, although she +knew not where; and its face was so gentle, so unearthly--a grief not of +this world suffused its handsome features and the joy of heaven flashed +from its calm, quiet eyes--its hair clung round its head in tiny curls, +as guardian-angels are painted. + +The damsel gazed appalled at this apparition. She fancied Heaven had +sent her the messenger of the forgiveness of her sins; but it was her +own figure reflected from a mirror concealed in the dark +background--that gentle, downcast, sorrowful face, those pure, shining +eyes she had never seen in a mirror before; the cut-off hair increased +the delusion. + +Tremblingly she sank on her knees before this apparition, and touching +the ground with her face, lay sobbing there for some time; and when she +again rose up, it appeared to her as if that apparition extended towards +her its snow-white arms full of pity, full of compassion; and when she +raised her hands to Heaven it also pointed thither, raising a face +transformed by a sublime desire. No, she could not recognise that face +as her own, never before had she seen it so beautiful. + +Azrael placed her hands devoutly across her breast and beckoned to the +apparition to follow her, and raising the curtain she returned into that +room where she had already raised a funeral pyre for herself. + +There, piled up together, lay cushions of cloth of gold, Indian +feather-stuffs, divans filled with swansdown, light, luxurious little +tables, harps of camphor-wood adorned with pearls, lutes with the +silvery voices of houris, a little basin filled with fine fragrant oils +composed from the aroma of a thousand oriental flowers; this she +everywhere sprinkled over the heaped-up stuff, and also saturated the +thick carpets with it, the volatile essence filled the whole atmosphere. + +Then she pressed her hand upon her throbbing heart, and said: "God be +with me!" + +And then she fired the heaped-up materials at all four corners, and, as +if she were ascending her bridal bed, mounted her cushions with a +smiling, triumphant face, and lay down among them, closing her eyes with +a happy smile. + +In a few moments the flames burst forth at all four corners, fed freely +by the light dry stuff, and combining above her like a wave of fire, +formed a flaming canopy over her head. And she smiled happily, sweetly, +all the time. The air, filled with volatile oil, also burst into flame, +turning into a sea of burning blue; white clouds of smoke began to +gather above the pyre; the strings of the harp caught by the flames +burst asunder one by one from their burning frame, emitting tremulous, +woeful sounds as if weeping for her who was about to die. When the last +harp-string had burnt--the odalisk was dead. + + * * * * * + +The night was now drawing to a close. Feriz Beg, quietly intent, was +sitting at the window of his kiosk, as he had promised the odalisk. He +had not understood her mysterious words, but he did as she asked, for he +knew instinctively that it was the last wish of one about to die. + +Suddenly, as he gazed at the black waves of the Danube and the still +blacker clouds in the sky, he saw a bright column of fire ascend with +the rapidity of the wind from the midst of the opposite island, driving +before it round white clouds of smoke. A few moments later the flames of +the burning kiosk lit up the whole region. The startled inhabitants +gazed at the splendid conflagration, whose flames mounted as high as a +tower in the roaring blast. Nobody thought of saving it. + +"No human life is lost, at any rate," they said quietly; "the harem and +its guards were transferred yesterday." + +The wind, too, greatly helped the fire. The kiosk, built entirely of the +lightest of wood, was a heap of ashes by the morning, when Feriz, +accompanied by the müderris in his official capacity, got into a skiff +and were rowed across to the island. Not even a remnant of embers was to +be found, everything had been burnt to powder. Nothing was to be seen +but a large, black, open patch powdered with ashes. The fire had +utterly consumed the abode of sin and vice. Nothing remained but a black +spot. In the coming spring it will be a green meadow. + + * * * * * + +In the afternoon of the following day we see a familiar horseman +trotting up to the gates of the fortress--if we mistake not, it is Yffim +Beg. + +All the way from Klausenburg he had been cudgelling his brains to find +words sufficiently dignified to soften the expression of the insulting +message which the Estates of Transylvania had sent through him to his +gracious master. On arriving in front of Hassan's palace he dismounted +as usual, without asking any questions, and gave the reins to the +familiar eunuchs that they might lead the horse to the stables. + +There was no trace of the scaffold that had been erected in front of the +gate the day before. Yffim Beg entered and passed through all the rooms +he knew so well, all the doors of which were still guarded by the +drabants of Hassan as of yore; at last he reached Hassan's usual +audience chamber, and there he found Olaj Beg sitting on a divan reading +the Alkoran. + +Yffim Beg gazed around him, and after a brief inspection, not +discovering what he sought, he addressed Olaj Beg: + +"I want to speak to Hassan Pasha," said he. + +Olaj Beg looked at him, rose with the utmost aplomb, and approached a +table on which was a silver dish covered by a cloth. This cloth he +removed, and a severed bloody head stared at Yffim Beg with stony eyes. + +"There he is--speak to him!" said Olaj Beg gently. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +OTHER TIMES--OTHER MEN. + + +Great men are the greatest of all dangers to little States. There are +men born to be great generals who die as robber-chiefs. If Michael +Teleki had sat at the head of a great kingdom, his name perchance would +have ranked with that of Richelieu, and that kingdom would have been +proud of the years during which he governed it. It was his curse that +Transylvania was too small for his genius, but it was also the curse of +Transylvania that he was greater than he ought to have been. + +The Battle of St. Gothard was a painful wound to Turkish glory, and it +left behind it a constant longing for revenge, though a ten-years' peace +had actually been concluded; and presently a more favourable opportunity +than the prognostications of the Ulemas or the wisdom of the Lords of +Transylvania anticipated presented itself, an opportunity far too +favourable to be neglected. + +Treaty obligations had compelled the Kaiser to take part in the War of +the Spanish Succession against Louis XIV., and the Kaiser's enemies at +once saw that the time for raising their standards against him had +arrived. The war was to begin from Transylvania, and the reward dangled +before the Prince of Transylvania for his participation in this war was +what his ancestors had often but vainly attempted to gain in the same +way--the Kingdom of Hungary. + +It was, of course, a dangerous game to risk one kingdom in order to gain +another, for both might be sacrificed. There was even a party in +Transylvania itself which was indisposed to risk the little Principality +for the sake of the larger kingdom, and though the most powerful arm of +this party, Dionysius Banfy, had been cut off, it still had two powerful +heads in Paul Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen. + +So one fine day at the Diet assembled at Fogaras, the Prince's guard +suddenly surrounded the quarters of Paul Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen, and +informed those gentlemen that they were State prisoners. + +What had they done? What crime had they committed that they should be +arrested so unceremoniously? + +Good Michael Apafi believed that they were aiming at the princely +coronet. This was a crime he was ready to believe in at a single word, +and he urged the counsellors who had ordered the arrest at once to put +the law into execution against the arrestants. But that is what these +gentlemen took very good care not to do. It was much easier to kill the +arrestants outright than to find a law which would meet their case. + +In those days worthy Master Cserei was the commandant of the fortress of +Fogaras, and the castle in which the arrestants were lodged was the +property of the Princess. As soon as Anna heard of the arrest she +summoned Cserei, and showing him the signet-ring on her finger, said to +him: "Look at that ring, and whatever death-warrant reaches you, if it +bears not the impression of that seal, you will take care not to execute +the prisoners; the castle is mine, so you have to obey my orders rather +than the orders of the Prince." + +The Prince and his wife then returned together to Fejérvár. On the day +after their arrival the chief men of the realm met together in council +at the Prince's palace, and it was Teleki's idea that only those should +remain to dinner who were of the same views as himself. So they all +remained at the Prince's till late in the evening, and thoroughly +enjoyed the merry jests of the court buffoon, Gregory Biró, who knew no +end of delightful tricks, and swallowed spoons and forks so dextrously +that nobody could make out what had become of them. + +Apafi had not noticed how much he had drunk, for every time he had +filled his beaker from the flagon standing beside him, the flagon itself +had been replenished, so that he fancied he had drunk nothing from sheer +forgetfulness. But his face had got more inflamed and bloodshot than +usual, and suddenly perceiving that the chair next to his was empty, he +exclaimed furiously: "Who else has bolted? It is Denis Banfy who has +bolted now, I know it is. What has become of Denis Banfy, I say?" + +The gentlemen were all silent; only Teleki was able to reply: + +"Denis Banfy is dead." + +"Dead?" inquired Apafi, "how did he die?" + +"Paul Béldi formed a league against him and he was beheaded." + +"Béldi?" cried Apafi, rising from his seat in blind rage, "and where is +that man?" + +"He is in a dungeon at present, but it will not be long before he sits +on the throne of the Prince." + +"On the scaffold, you mean!" thundered Apafi, beside himself, in a +bloodthirsty voice, "on the scaffold, not the throne. I'll show that +crafty Szekler who I am if he raises his head against me. Call hither +the protonotarius, the law must be enforced." + +"The sentences are now ready, sir," said Nalaczi, drawing from his +pocket three documents of equal size; "only your signature is required." + +He was also speedily provided with ink and a pen, which they thrust into +the trembling hand of the Prince, indicating to him at the same time the +place on the document where he was to sign his name. The thing was done. + +"Is there any stranger among us?" asked Teleki, looking suspiciously +around. + +"Only the fool, but he doesn't count." + +The fool at that moment was making a sword dance on the tip of his nose, +and on the sword he had put a plate, and he kept calling on the +gentlemen to look at him--he certainly had paid no attention to what was +going on at the table. + +The three letters were three several commands. The first was directed to +Cserei, telling him to put the prisoners to death at once; the second +was to the provost-marshal, Zsigmond Boer, to the effect that if Cserei +showed any signs of hesitation he was to be killed together with the +gentlemen; the third was to the garrison of the fortress, impressing +upon them in case of any hesitation on the part of the provost to make +an end of him forthwith along with the others. All three letters, sealed +with yellow wax, were handed over to Stephen Nalaczi, who, placing them +in his kalpag, pressed his kalpag down upon his head and hastened +quickly from the room. He had to pass close to the jester on his way +out, and the fool, rushing upon him, exclaimed. "O ho! you have got on +my kalpag; off with it, this is yours!" and before Nalaczi had recovered +from his surprise he found a cap and bells on his head instead of a +kalpag. + +The magnate considered this jest highly indecent, and seized the jester +by the throat. + +"You scoundrel, you, where have you put my kalpag? Speak, or I'll +throttle you." + +"Don't throttle me, sir," said the jester apologetically, "for then you +would be the biggest fool at the court of the Prince." + +"My kalpag!" cried Nalaczi furiously, "where have you put it?" + +"I have swallowed it, sir." + +"You worthless rascal," roared Nalaczi, throttling the jester, "would +you play your pranks with me!" + +"Truly, sir, I shall not be able to bring it up again if you press my +throat like that." + +"Stop, I mean to search you," said Nalaczi; and he began to tear up the +coat of the jester, whereupon the kalpag came tumbling out from between +its folds. "You clumsy charlatan," laughed Nalaczi, "well, you hid it +very well, I must say." Then he put on his kalpag again, in which were +all three letters well sealed with yellow wax, but he now hastened +outside as rapidly as possible in case the fool should spirit them away +again. + +The same night he galloped to Fogaras, though it cost him his horse to +get there, summoned Cserei, and giving him the letter addressed to him +said: + +"You, sir, are to execute this strict command to the very letter." + +The commandant took the letter, broke the seal, and then looked at the +magnate in amazement: + +"I know not, sir, whether you or I have been made a fool of--but there's +not a scrap of writing in this letter." + +Nalaczi incredulously examined the letter. It was a perfect blank. +Hastily he broke open the other two letters. In these also there was +nothing but the bare paper. + +The fool, while the nobleman was throttling him, had substituted blanks +for the letters sent, and sent the sentences the same evening to the +Princess, who thereby had discovered all that the Prince and his +councillors were doing. + +In the morning the Princess went to Apafi with the three sentences in +her hand, and reproached him for wanting to murder his ministers. + +The worthy Prince was amazed at seeing these orders signed by himself. +He knew nothing about it, and embracing his wife, thanked her for +watching over him and not allowing him to send forth such orders. As for +Nalaczi, the shame of the thing made it impossible for him to show +himself at Court, and he could only nourish a grudge against the fool. + +This accident greatly upset the worthy Prince, and he immediately rushed +to release the captives. First of all, however, they had to sign deeds +in which they solemnly engaged not to seek to revenge themselves on +their accusers. + +Paul Béldi was wounded to the heart, but he regarded this calamity as a +just retribution for having been the first to sign the league[18] +against Denis Banfy; it was a weapon which now recoiled upon himself. + + [Footnote 18: See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book + II., Chapter VII.] + +But this private grief was the least of his misfortunes, for while Paul +Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen had been sitting in their dungeon the war +party had had a free hand, so that when the two gentlemen were released +they were astounded to learn from their partisans that only the sanction +of the Diván was now necessary for a rupture of the peace. + +Béldi perceived that to remain silent any longer would be equivalent to +looking on while the State rushed to its destruction. He immediately +assembled all those who were of the same opinion as himself--Ladislaus +Csaky, John Haller, George Kapy--and consulted with them as to the +future of the realm. + +Béldi opined throughout that the Prince should be spared, but he was to +be compelled to dismiss such councillors as Teleki, Székely, Mikes, and +Nalaczi, and form a new council of state. Kapy would have done more than +this. "If we want as much as that," said he, "it would be better to +declare ourselves openly; and if we draw the sword, we shall have no +need to petition, but can fight, and whoever wins let him profit by it +and become Prince." + +"No!" said Béldi, "I have sworn allegiance to the Prince, and though I +love my country, and am prepared to fight for it, yet I will never break +my oath. My proposition is that we assemble in arms at the Diet which is +convened to meet at Nagy-Sink, together with the Szekler train-bands, +and if we show our strength the Prince assuredly will not hesitate to +change his counsellors, for I know him to be a good man who rather fears +than loves them." + +The gentlemen present accepted Béldi's proposition. + +"Then here I will leave your Excellencies," said Kapy, stiffly buttoning +his mente.[19] "I am not afraid of war, for there I see my enemy before +me, and can fight him; but I do not like these armed appeals, for they +are apt to twist a man's sword from his hand and turn it against his own +neck." + + [Footnote 19: Fur pelisse.] + +And he withdrew. The other gentlemen resolved, however, that they would +all arm their retainers. At a word from Béldi the armed Szeklers of +Háromszék, Csik, and Udvarhelyszék rose at once; they were ready at an +hour's notice to rise in obedience to the command of their +generalissimo. + +The news of this audacious insurrection reached Michael Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, who was beside himself with joy, well aware that Béldi was +not the sort of man who was likely to prevail in a civil war whilst the +contrary case would bring about his ruin, as he had now gone too far to +draw back again. He immediately hastened to the Prince and, arousing him +from his bed, told him that Béldi had risen against him, and so +terrified Apafi that he immediately got into his coach, and fled by +torchlight to Fogaras. Gregory Bethlen, Farkas, and the other +counsellors also took to their heels in a panic--only Teleki remained +cool. He knew the character of Béldi too well to be afraid of him. + +So the spark of ambition and rage was kindled in Paul Béldi's heart, and +for some days it looked as if he would be the master of Transylvania, +for nothing could resist him with the Szekler bands at his side, and all +the regular troops were scattered among the frontier fortresses. + +But Béldi thought it enough to show his weapons without letting them be +felt. Instead of a declaration of war he sent a manifesto full of +loyalty to the Prince, in which he assured his Highness that he had +taken up arms not against his Highness but in the name of the state; all +he demanded was that the counsellors of the Prince should be tried by +the laws of the realm. + +Whilst this wild missive was on its way, Teleki had had time to call +together the troops from the frontier fortresses, and send orders to +those of the Szeklers who had not risen to assemble under Clement Mikes +in defence of the Prince; and while Béldi awaited an attack, he +proceeded to take the offensive against him at once. + +One day Béldi was sitting in the castle of Bodola along with Ladislaus +Csáky, when news was brought them that Gregory Bethlen, with the army of +the Prince, was already before Kronstadt. + +"War can no longer be avoided," sighed Csáky. + +"We can avoid it if we lay down our arms," returned Béldi. + +"Surely you do not think of that?" inquired Csáky in alarm. + +"Why should I not? I will take no part in a civil war." + +"Then we are lost." + +"Rather we shall save thousands." + +The same day he ordered his forces to disperse and return home. + +The next day Gregory Bethlen sent Michael Vay to Bodola, who brought +with him the Prince's pardon. + +Csáky ground his teeth together. It occurred to him that he had got +Denis Banfy beheaded, yet he too had received a pardon, and he inquired +of Vay in some alarm: "Can we really rely on this letter of pardon?" + +Michael Vay was candid enough to reply: "Well, my dear brethren, though +you had a hundred pardons it would be as well if you courageously +resolved to quit Transylvania notwithstanding." + +Csáky gave not another moment's thought to the matter, but packed up +his trunks, and while it was still daylight escaped through the Bozza +Pass. + +Béldi decided to remain; shame prevented him from flying. + +Nevertheless, Michael Vay told his wife and children of his danger and +they insisted, supplicating him on their knees, that he should hasten +away and save himself. + +"And what about you?" asked Béldi, looking at his tearful family. + +He had two handsome sons, and his daughter Aranka had grown up a lovely +damsel; she was the apple of her father's eye, his pride and his glory. + +"What about you?" he asked with a troubled voice. + +"You can more easily defend us at Stambul than here," said Dame Béldi; +and Béldi saw that that was a word spoken in season. + +That word changed his resolve, for, indeed, by seeking a refuge at the +Porte, he would be able to help himself and his family much more, and +perhaps even give a better turn to the fortunes of his country. There, +too, many of the highest viziers were his friends who had very great +influence in affairs. + +He immediately had his horse saddled, and after taking leave of his +family with the utmost confidence, he escaped through the Bozza Pass the +same night with an escort of a few chosen servants into Wallachia, where +he found many other fugitive colleagues, and with them he took refuge at +the Porte--then the highest court of appeal for Transylvania. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE DIVÁN. + + +The gates of the seraglio were thrown wide open, the discordant, +clanging, and ear-piercing music was put to silence by a thundering roll +of drums, and twelve mounted cavasses with great trouble and difficulty +began clearing a way for the corps of viziers among the thronging crowd, +belabouring all they met in their path with stout cudgels and rhinoceros +whips. The indolent, gaping crowd saw that it was going to be flogged, +yet didn't stir a step to get out of the reach of the whips and +bludgeons. + +The members of the Diván dismounted from their horses in the courtyard +and ascended the steps, which were guarded by a double row of +Janissaries with drawn scimitars, the blue and yellow curtains of the +assembly hall of the Diván were drawn aside before them, and the +mysterious inner chamber--the hearth and home of so much power and +splendour, once upon a time--lay open before them. + +It was a large octagonal chamber without any of those adornments +forbidden by the Koran; its marble pavement covered by oriental carpets, +its walls to the height of a man's stature inlaid with mother-o'-pearl. +Along the walls were placed a simple row of low sofas covered with red +velvet and without back-rests, behind them was a pillared niche +concealing a secret door where Amurath was wont to listen unperceived to +the consultations of his councillors. + +Through the parted curtains passed the members of the Council of the +Diván. First of all came the Grand Vizier, a tall, dry man with rounded +projecting shoulders; his head was constantly on the move and his eyes +peered now to the right and now to the left as if he were perpetually +watching and examining something. His brown, mud-coloured face wore an +expression of perpetual discontent; every glance was full of scorn, +rage, and morbid choler; when he spoke he gnashed his black teeth +together through which he seemed to filter his voice; and his face was +never for an instant placid, at one moment he drew down his eyebrows +till his eyes were scarce visible, at the next instant he raised them so +that his whole forehead became a network of wrinkles and the whites of +his eyes were visible; the corners of his mouth twitched, his chin +waggled, his beard was thin and rarely combed, and the only time he ever +smiled was when he saw fear on the face of the person whom he was +addressing; finally, his robes hung about him so slovenly that despite +the splendid ornaments with which they were plastered he always looked +shabby and sordid. + +After the Grand Vizier came Kiuprile, a full-bodied, red-faced Pasha, +with a beard sprawling down to his knees; the broad sword which hung by +his side raised the suspicion that the hand that was wont to wield it +was the hand of no weakling; his voice resembled the roar of a buffalo, +so deep, so rumbling was it that when he spoke quietly it was difficult +to understand him, while on the battle-field you could hear him above +the din of the guns. + +Among the other members of the Diván there were three other men worthy +of attention. + +The first was Kucsuk Pasha, a muscular, martial man; his sunburnt face +was seamed with scars, his eyes were as bright and as black as an +eagle's; his whole bearing, despite his advanced age, was valiant and +defiant; he carried his sword in his left hand; his walk, his pose, his +look were firm; he was slow to speak, and rapid in action. + +Beside him stood his son, Feriz Beg, the sharer of his father's dangers +and glory, a tall, handsome youth in a red caftan and a white turban +with a heron's plume. + +Last of all came the Sultan's Christian doctor, the court interpreter, +Alexander Maurocordato, a tall, athletic man, in a long, ample mantle of +many folds; his long, bright, black beard reaches almost to his girdle, +his features have the intellectual calm of the ancient Greek type, his +thick black hair flows down on both shoulders in thick locks. + +The viziers took their places; the Sultan's divan remains vacant; +nearest to it sits the Grand Vizier; farther back sit the pashas, agas, +and begs. + +"Most gracious sir," said Maurocordato, turning towards the Grand +Vizier, "the poor Magyar gentlemen have been waiting at thy threshold +since dawn." + +The Grand Vizier gazed venomously at the interpreter, protruding his +head more than ever. + +"Let them wait! It is more becoming that they should wait for us than we +for them." + +And with that he beckoned to the chief of the cavasses to admit the +petitioners. + +The refugees were twelve in number, and the chief cavasse, drawing aside +the curtains from the door of an adjoining room, at once admitted them. +Foremost among them was Paul Béldi, the others entered with anxious +faces and unsteady, hesitating footsteps; he alone was brave, noble, and +dignified. His gentle, large blue eyes ran over the faces of those +present, and his appearance excited general sympathy. + +Only the Grand Vizier regarded him with a look of truculent +indifference--it was his usual expression, and he knew no other. + +"Fear not!--open your hearts freely!" signified the Grand Vizier. + +Béldi stepped forward, and bowed before the Grand Vizier. One of the +Hungarians approached still nearer to the Vizier and kissed his hand; +the others were prevented from doing the same by the intervention of +Maurocordato, who at the same time beckoned to Béldi to speak without +delay. + +"Your Excellencies!" began Béldi, "our sad fate is already well-known to +you, as fugitives from our native land we come to you, as beggars we +stand before you; but not as fugitives, not as beggars do we petition +you at this moment, but as patriots. We have quitted our country not as +traitors, not as rebels, but because we would save it. The Prince is +rushing headlong into destruction, carrying the country along with him. +His chief counsellor lures him on with the promise of the crown of +Hungary in the hope that he himself will become the Palatine. Your +excellencies are aware what would be the fate of Hungary after such a +war. A number of the great men of the realm joined me in a protest +against this policy. We knew what we were risking. For some years past I +have been one of those who disapproved of an offensive war--we are the +last of them, the rest sit in a shameful dungeon, or have died a +shameful death. Once upon a time, as happy fathers of families, we dwelt +by our own firesides; now our wives and children are cast into prison, +our castles are rooted up, our escutcheons are broken; but we do not ask +of you what we have lost personally, we ask not for the possession of +our properties, we ask not for the embraces of our wives and children, +we do not even ask to see our country; we are content to die as beggars +and outcasts; we only petition for the preservation of the life of the +fatherland which has cast us forth, and which is rushing swiftly to +destruction--hasten ye to save it." + +Kucsuk Pasha, who well understood Hungarian, angrily clapped his hand +upon his sword, half drew it and returned it to its sheath again. Feriz +Beg involuntarily wiped away a tear from his eyes. + +"Gracious sirs," continued Béldi, "we do not wish you to be wrath with +the Prince for the tears and the blood that have been shed; we only ask +you to provide the Prince with better counsellors than those by whom he +is now surrounded, binding them by oath to satisfy the nation and the +Grand Seignior, for none will break such an oath lightly and with +impunity; and these new counsellors will constrain him to be a better +father to those who remain in the country than he was to us." + +When Béldi had finished, Maurocordato came forward, took his place +between the speaker and the Grand Vizier, and began to interpret the +words of Béldi. + +At the concluding words the face of the interpreter flushed brightly, +his resonant, sonorous voice filled the room, his soul, catching the +expression of his face, changed with his changing feelings. Where Béldi +calmly and resignedly had described his sufferings, the voice of the +interpreter was broken and tremulous. Where Béldi had sketched the +future in a voice of solemn conviction, Maurocordato assumed a tone of +prophetic inspiration; and finally, when in words of self-renunciation +he appealed for the salvation of his country, his oratory became as +penetrating, as bitterly ravishing, as if his speech were the original +instead of the copy. Passion in its ancient Greek style, the style of +Demosthenes, seemed to have arisen from the dead. + +The listening Pashas seemed to have caught the inspiration of his +enthusiasm, and bent their heads approvingly. The Grand Vizier +contracted his eyelids, puckered up his lips, and hugging his caftan to +his breast, began to speak, at the same time gazing around abstractedly +with prickling eyes, every moment beating down the look of whomsoever he +addressed or glaring scornfully at them. His screeching voice, which he +seemed to strain through his lips, produced an unpleasant impression on +those who heard it for the first time; while his features, which seemed +to express every instant anger, rage, and scorn in an ascending scale, +accentuated by the restless pantomime of his withered, tremulous hand, +could not but make those of the Magyars who were ignorant of Turkish +imagine that the Grand Vizier was atrociously scolding them, and that +what he said was nothing but the vilest abuse from beginning to end. + +Mr. Ladislaus Csaky, who was standing beside Paul Béldi, plucked his fur +mantle and whispered in his ear with a tremulous voice: + +"You have ruined us. Why did you not speak more humbly? He is going to +impale the whole lot of us." + +The Vizier, as usual, concluded his speech with a weary smile, drew back +his mocking lips, and exposed his black, stumpy teeth. The heart's blood +of the Magyars began to grow cold at that smile. + +Then Maurocordato came forward. A gentle smile of encouragement +illumined his noble features, and he began to interpret the words of the +Grand Vizier: "Worshipful Magyars, be of good cheer. I have compassion +on your petition, your righteousness stands before us brighter than the +noonday sun, your griefs shall have the fullest remedy. Ye did well to +supplicate the garment of the Sublime Sultan; cling fast to the folds of +it, and no harm shall befall you. Now depart in peace; if we should +require you again, we will send for you." + +Everyone breathed more easily. Béldi thanked the Vizier in a few simple +sentences, and they prepared to withdraw. + +But Ladislaus Csaky, who was much more interested in his Sóva property +than in the future of Transylvania, and to whom Béldi's petition, which +only sought the salvation of the fatherland, and said nothing about the +restitution of confiscated estates, appeared inadequate, scarce waited +for his turn to speak, and, what is more, threw himself at the feet of +the Vizier, seized one of them, which he embraced, and began to weep +tremendously. Indeed, his words were almost unintelligible for his +weeping, and Mr. Csaky's oratory was always difficult to understand at +the best of times, so that it was no wonder that the Grand Vizier lost +his usual phlegm and now began to curse and swear in real earnest; till +the other Magyar gentlemen rushed up, tore Csaky away by force, while +Maurocordato angrily pushed them all out, and thus put an end to the +scandalous scene. + +"If you kneel before a man," said Béldi, walking beside him, "at least +do not weep like a child." + +Before Béldi could reach the door he felt his hand warmly pressed by +another hand. He looked in that direction, and there stood Feriz. + +"Did you say that your wife was a captive?" asked the youth with an +uncertain voice. + +"And my child also." + +The face of Feriz flushed. + +"I will release them," he said impetuously. Béldi seized his hand. "Wait +for me at the entrance." + +The Hungarian refugees withdrew, everyone of them weaving for himself +fresh hopes from the assurances of the Vizier. Only Ladislaus was not +content with the result, and going to his quarters he immediately sat +down and wrote two letters, one to the general of the Kaiser, and the +other to the minister of the King of France, to both of whom he promised +everything they could desire if they would help forward his private +affairs, thinking to himself if the Sultan does not help me the Kaiser +will, and if both fail me I can fall back upon the French King; at any +rate a man ought to make himself safe all round. + + * * * * * + +Scarce had the refugees quitted the Diván when an Aga entered the +audience-chamber and announced: + +"The Magyar lords." + +"What Magyar lords?" cried the Grand Vizier. + +"Those whom the Prince has sent." + +"They're in good time!" said the Vizier, "show them in;" and he at once +fell into a proper pose, reserving for them his most venomous +expression. + +The curtains were parted, and the Prince's embassy appeared, bedizened +courtly folks in velvet with amiable, simpering faces. Their spokesman, +Farkas Bethlen, stood in the very place where Paul Béldi had stood an +hour before, in a velvet mantle trimmed with swan's-down, a bejewelled +girdle worthy of a hero, and a sword studded with turquoises, the +magnificence of his appointments oddly contrasting with his look of +abject humility. + +"Well! what do ye want? Out with it quickly!" snapped the Grand Vizier, +with an ominous air of impatience. + +Farkas Bethlen bent his head to his very knees, and then he began to +orate in the roundabout rhetoric of those days, touching upon everything +imaginable except the case in point. + +"Most gracious and mighty, glorious and victorious Lords, dignified +Grand Vizier, unconquerable Pashas, mighty Begs and Agas, most potent +pillars of the State, lords of the three worlds, famous and widely-known +heroes by land and sea, my peculiarly benevolent Lords!" + +All this was merely prefatory! + +Kiuprile began to perspire; Kucsuk Pasha twirled his sword upon his +knee; Feriz Beg turned round and contemplated the fountains of the +Seraglio through the window. + +"Make haste, do!" interrupted Maurocordato impatiently; whereupon Farkas +Bethlen, imagining that he had offended the interpreter by omitting him +from the exordium, turned towards him with a supplementary compliment: + +"Great and wise interpreter, most learned and extraordinarily to be +respected court physician of the most mighty Sultan!" + +Kiuprile yawned so tremendously that the girdle round his big body burst +in two. + +Farkas Bethlen, however, did not let himself be put out in the least, +but continued his oration. + +"Our worthy Prince, his Highness Michael Apafi, has been much distressed +to learn that those seditious rebels who have dared to raise their evil +heads, not only against the Prince but against the Sublime Porte also, +as represented in his person, in consequence of the frustration of their +plans, have fled hither to damage the Prince by their falsehoods and +insinuations. Nevertheless, although our worthy Prince is persuaded that +the wisdom of your Excellencies must needs confute their lying words, +your goodwill confound their devices, and your omnipotence chastise +their audacity, nevertheless it hath also seemed good to his Highness to +send us to your Excellencies in order that we may refute all these +complaints and accusations whereby they would falsely, treacherously and +abominably disturb the realm ..." + +Maurocordato here took advantage of a pause made by the orator to take +breath after this exordium, and before he was able to proceed to the +subject-matter of his address, began straightway to interpret what he +had said so far for the benefit of the Grand Vizier, being well aware +that the Vizier would not allow anyone to speak a second time before he +had spoken himself. + +The speech of the interpreter was this time dry and monotonous. All +Farkas Bethlen's homiletical energy was thrown away in Maurocordato's +drawling, indifferent reproduction. + +The Grand Vizier replied with flashing eyes, his face was twice as +venomous as it had been before, and his gestures plainly indicated an +intention to show the envoys the door. + +Maurocordato interpreted his reply. + +"The Grand Vizier says that not those whom ye persecute but you +yourselves are the rebels who have broken the oath ye made to the +Sublime Porte, inasmuch as your ambitious projects aim at the separation +of Transylvania from its dependence on the Porte and at the conquest of +Hungary--both sure ways of destruction for yourselves. Wherefore the +Grand Vizier gives you to understand that if you cannot sit still and +live in peace with your own fellow-countrymen, he will send to you an +intermediary, who will leave naught but tears behind him." + +The Hungarian gentlemen regarded each other in astonishment. Not a trace +of simpering amiability remained on the face of Farkas Bethlen, who was +furious at the failure of the speech he had so carefully learnt by +heart. He bowed still deeper than before, and sacrificing with +extraordinary self-denial the remainder of his oration, especially as he +perceived that any further parleying would not be permitted, he had +resort to more drastic expedients. + +"Oh, sir! how can such accusations affect us who have always been +willing faithfully to fulfil your wishes? We pay tribute, we give gifts, +and now also our worthy Prince hath not sent us to you empty-handed, +having commanded Master Michael Teleki not to neglect to provide us with +suitable gifts, who has, moreover, sent to your Excellencies through me +two hundred purses of money,[20] as a token of his respect and homage, +beseeching your Excellencies to accept this little gift from us your +humble servants." + + [Footnote 20: Equivalent to 100,000 thalers.] + +With these words the orator beckoned to one of the deputation, at whose +summons, four porters appeared carrying between them, suspended on two +poles, a large iron chest, which Farkas Bethlen opened, discharging its +contents at the feet of the Grand Vizier. + +The jingling thalers fell in heaps around the Diván, and the sound of +the rolling coins filled the room. The features of the Grand Vizier +suddenly changed. Maurocordato stepped back. Bethlen's last words had +needed no interpreter; the Vizier could not keep back from his face a +hideous smile, the grin of the devil of covetousness. His eyes grew +large and round, he no longer clenched his teeth together, he was +rather like a wild beast eager to pounce upon his prey. + +Farkas Bethlen humbly withdrew among his colleagues; the Vizier could +not resist the temptation, he descended from the Diván, rubbing his +hands, tapping the shoulders of the last speaker, smiling at all the +deputies, and even going so far as to extend his hand to one or two of +them, which those fortunate beings hastened to kiss, and spoke something +to them in Turkish, to which they felt bound to reply with profound +obeisances. + +During this scene Maurocordato had quitted the Diván, and as in default +of an interpreter the envoys were unable to understand the words of the +Vizier, and could only bow repeatedly, Kiuprile, who had learnt +Hungarian while he was Pasha of Eger, arose and roared at them in a +voice which made the very ceiling shake: + +"The Vizier bids you go to hell, ye dogs of Giaours, and if we want you +again we will send for you!" Whereupon he gave a vicious kick at a +thaler which had rolled to his feet, while the deputies, after +innumerable salutations, left the Diván. + + * * * * * + +On the departure of the Prince's envoys, the Grand Vizier immediately +sent for Béldi and his comrades. When the refugees entered the Diván, +not one of them yet knew that the envoys of the Prince had been there +and brought the money which they saw piled up before them, though they +could not for the life of them understand what the Grand Vizier and +themselves had to do with all that money; and inasmuch as Maurocordato +had also departed, and the cavasses sent after him could not find him +anywhere, the Hungarians, in the absence of an interpreter, stood there +for some time in the utmost doubt, striving to explain as best they +could the signification of the peculiar signs which the Grand Vizier +kept making to them from time to time, pointing now at the heaps of +money and now at them, and expounding his sayings with all ten fingers. +Every time he glanced at the money he could not restrain his disgusting, +hyćna-like smile. + +"Don't you see," whispered Csaky to Béldi, "the Grand Vizier intends all +that money for us?" + +Béldi could not help smiling at this artless opinion. + +At last, as the interpreter did not come, Kiuprile was constrained, very +much against the grain, to arise and interpret the wishes of the Grand +Vizier as best he could. + +"Worthy sirs, this is what the Grand Vizier says to you. The Prince's +deputies have been here. They ought to have their necks broken--that's +what _I_ say. They brought with them this sum of money, and they said +all sorts of things which are not true, but the money which they brought +is true enough. Having regard to which the Grand Vizier says to you that +he recognises the justice of your cause and approves of it, but the mere +recognition of its justice will make no difference to it, for it will +remain just what it was before. But if you would make your righteous +cause progress and succeed, promise him seventy more purses than those +of the Prince's envoys, and then we will close with you. We will then +fling _them_ into the Bosphorus sewn up in sacks, but you we will bring +back into your own land and make you the lords of it." + +A bitter smile crossed the lips of Paul Béldi, he sighed sorrowfully, +and looked back upon his comrades. + +"You know right well, sir," said he to Kiuprile, "that we have no money, +nor do I know from whence to get as much as you require, and my +colleagues are as poor as I am. We never used the property of the State +as a means of collecting treasures for ourselves, and what little +remained to us from our ancestors has already been divided among the +servants of the Prince. We have no money wherewith to buy us justice, +and if there be no other mode of saving our country, then in God's name +dismiss us and we will throw ourselves at the feet of some foreign +Prince, and supplicate till we find one who must listen to us. God be +with you; money we have none." + +"Then I have!" cried a voice close beside Béldi; and, looking in that +direction, they saw Kucsuk Pasha approach Paul Béldi and warmly press +the right hand of the downcast Hungarian gentleman. "If you want two +hundred and seventy purses I will give it; if you want as much again I +will give it; as much as you want you shall have; bargain with them, fix +your price; I am here. I will pay instead of you." + +Feriz Beg rushed towards his father, and, full of emotion, hid his face +in his bosom. Béldi majestically clasped the hand of the old hero, and +was scarce able to find words to express his gratitude at this offer. + +"I thank you, a thousand times I thank you, but I cannot accept it; that +would be a debt I should never be able to repay, nor my descendants +after me. Blessed are you for your good will, but you cannot help me +that way." + +Kiuprile intervened impatiently. + +"Be sensible, Paul Béldi, and draw not upon thee my anger; weigh well +thy words, and hearken to good counsel. To demand so much money from +thee as a private man in exile would be a great folly, but assume that +thou art a Prince, and that this amount, which it would be impossible to +drag out of one pocket, could easily be distributed over a whole kingdom +and not be felt. Do no more then than promise us the amount; it is not +necessary that thou shouldst pay us before we have made thee Prince." + +Béldi shuddered, and said to Kiuprile with a quavering voice: + +"I do not understand you, sir, or else I have not heard properly what +you said." + +"Then understand me once for all. If it be true what thou sayest--to +wit, that the present Prince of Transylvania rules amiss, why then, +depose him from his Principality; and if it also be true what thou +sayest--to wit, that thou dost love thy country so much and seest what +ought to be done--why then, defend it thyself. I will send a message to +the frontier Pashas, and they will immediately declare war upon this +state, seize Master Michael Apafi and all his counsellors, clap them +into the fortress of Jedikula, and put thee and thy comrades in their +places. Thou art only to promise the Grand Vizier two hundred and +seventy purses, and he will engage to make thee Prince as soon as +possible, and then thou wilt be able to pay it; which, if thou dost +refuse, of a truth I tell thee, that I will clap thee into Jedikula in +the place of Michael Apafi." + +The heart of Paul Béldi beat violently throughout this speech. His +emotion was visible in his face, and more than once he would have +interrupted Kiuprile if the Hungarian gentlemen had not restrained him. +When, however, Kiuprile had finished his speech. Paul Béldi took a step +forward, and proudly raising his head so that he seemed to be taller +than usual, he replied in a firm, strong voice: + +"I thank you, gracious sir, for your offer, but I cannot accept it. A +sacred oath binds me to the present Prince of Transylvania, and if he +has forgotten the oath which he swore to the nation it is no answer to +say that we should also violate ours, nay, rather should we remind him +of his. I have raised my head to ask for justice, not to pile one +injustice upon another. Transylvania needs not a new Prince, but its old +liberties; and if I had only wanted to make war upon the Prince, the +country would rise at a sign from me, the whole of the Szeklers would +draw their swords for me, but it was I who made them sheath their swords +again. I do not come to the Porte for vengeance, but for judgment; not +my own fate, but the fate of my country I submit to your Excellencies. I +do not want the office of Prince. I do not want to drive out one +usurper only to bring in a hundred more. I will not set all Transylvania +in a blaze for the sake of roasting Master Michael Teleki, nor for the +sake of freeing a dozen people from a shameful dungeon will I have ten +thousand dragged into captivity. May I suffer injustice rather than all +Transylvania. Accursed should I be, and all my posterity with me, if I +were to sell my oppressed nation for a few pence and bring armies +against my native land. As to your threats--I am prepared for anything, +for prison, for death. I came to you for justice, slay me if you will." + +Kiuprile, disgusted, flung himself back on his divan; he did not count +upon such opposition, he was not prepared for such strength of mind. The +other gentlemen who, from time to time, had fled to the Porte from +Transylvania had been wont to beg and pray for the very favour which +this man so nobly rejected. + +The Grand Vizier, perceiving from the faces of those present the +impression made on them by Béldi's speech, turned now to the right and +now to the left for an explanation, and dismay gradually spread over his +pallid face as he began to understand. Béldi's colleagues, pale and +utterly crushed, awaited the result of his alarming reply; while +Ladislaus Csaky, unable to restrain his dismay, rushed up to Béldi, +flung himself on his neck in his despair, and implored him by heaven and +earth to accept the offer of the Grand Vizier. + +If the offer had been made to him he would most certainly have accepted +it. + +"Never, never," replied Béldi, as cold as marble. + +The other gentlemen knelt down before him, and with clasped hands +besought him not to make himself, his children, and themselves for ever +miserable. + +"Arise, I am not God!" said Béldi, turning from his tearful colleagues. + +The Grand Vizier, on understanding what it was all about, leaped +furiously from his place, and tearing off his turban, hurled it in +uncontrollable rage to the ground, exclaiming with foaming mouth: +"Hither, cavasses!" + +"Put that accursed dog in chains!" he screeched, pointing with bloodshot +eyes at Béldi, who quietly permitted them to load him with fetters +weighing half-a-hundredweight each, which the army of slaves always had +in readiness. + +"Wouldst thou speak, puppy of a giaour?" cried the Vizier, when he was +already chained. + +"What I have said I stand to," solemnly replied the patriot, raising his +chained hand to Heaven. "God is my refuge." + +"To the dungeon with him!" yelled Kara Mustafa, beckoning to the +drabants to drag Béldi away. + +Just as a hard stone emits sparks when it is struck, so Béldi turned +suddenly upon the Vizier and said, shaking his chains, "Thine hour will +also strike!" + +Then he suffered them to lead him away to prison. + + * * * * * + +Immediately afterwards, the Grand Vizier sent for the envoys of the +Prince, and commending them and those who sent them, gave each of them a +new caftan, and with the most gracious assurances sent them back to +their native land, where nevertheless Master Farkas Bethlen had never +been accounted a very great orator. + +In the gates of the Seraglio the dismissed envoys encountered Master +Ladislaus Csaky. The worthy gentleman at once perceived from their +self-satisfied smiles and the new caftans they were wearing that they +had been sent away with a favourable reply; whereupon, notwithstanding +that he had already agreed with Paul Béldi to render homage to the +French and German Ministers, he did not consider it superfluous to pay +his court to Master Farkas Bethlen also, and offer to surrender himself +body and soul if the Prince would agree to pardon him and restore his +estates. + +Farkas Bethlen accepted the proposal and not only promised Csaky an +amnesty, but high office to boot if he would separate from Béldi; nay, +he rewarded on the spot that gentleman who had thus very wisely fastened +the threads of his fate to four several places at the same time, so that +if one of them broke he could still hold on to the other three. + + * * * * * + +"Béldi has ruined his affairs utterly," said Kucsuk Pasha to his son, as +they retired from the Diván; "I give up every idea of saving him." + +"I don't," sighed Feriz. "I'll either save or perish with him." + +"Let us go to Maurocordato, he may perhaps advise us." + +After an hour's interview with Maurocordato, Feriz Beg, with fifty armed +Albanian horsemen, took the road towards Grosswardein. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE TURKISH DEATH. + + +In the gate of the Pasha of Grosswardein, amidst the gaping throng of +armed retainers there, could be seen a pale wizened Moslem idly +sprawling on the threshold, apparently regardless of everything, but +sometimes looking up, cat-like, with half-shut, dreamy eyes, and at such +times he would smile craftily to himself. + +Suddenly a handsome, chivalrous youth galloped out of the gate before +whom the soldiers bowed down to the earth; this was the Pasha's +favourite horseman, Feriz Beg, who had just arrived from Stambul. + +The Beg, as if he had only by accident caught sight of the sprawling +Moslem, turned towards him, tapped him on the shoulder with his lance, +and while the latter, feigning ignorance and astonishment, gazed up at +him, he drew nearer to him and said: + +"What Zülfikar! dost thou not recognise me?" + +The person so addressed bowed himself to the earth. + +"Allah is gracious! By the soul of the Prophet, is it thou, gracious +sir?" and with that he got up and began walking by the side of the horse +of the Beg, who beckoned him to follow. + +"I have lost a good deal of money and a good many horses over the +dice-box at Stambul, Zülfikar," said Feriz Beg, "so I have come into +these parts to rehabilitate my purse a little. Where dost thou go +a-robbing now, Zülfikar?" + +"La illah, il Allah! God is gracious and Mohammed is His holy Prophet," +said Zülfikar, rolling his eyes heavenwards. + +"A truce to this piety, Zülfikar; ye renegades, with unendurable +shamelessness, are always glorifying the Prophet, born Turks don't +mention him half as much. What I ask thee is, where dost thou go +a-plundering now of nights?" + +"I thank thee, gracious sir," answered Zülfikar, making a wooden picture +of his face, "my wife is quite well, and there is nothing amiss with me +either." + +"Zülfikar, I value in thee that peculiarity of thine which enables thee +to become deaf whenever thou desirest it, but I possess a very good +remedy for that evil, and if thou wilt I will cure thee of it." + +Zülfikar dodged the lance which was turned in his direction, and said +with a Pharisaical air: + +"What does your honour deign to inquire of me?" + +"Didst thou hear what I said to thee just now?" + +"Dost thou mean: where I went robbing? I swear by the beard of the +Prophet that I go nowhither for such a purpose." + +"I know very well, thou cat, that thou goest nowhither where there is +trouble, but thou dost ferret out where a fat booty lies hidden, and +thou leadest our Spahis on the track of it, wherefore they give thee +also a portion of it; so answer me at once whom thou art wont to visit +at night, as otherwise I shall open a hole in thy head." + +"But, sir, betray me not; for the Spahis would tie me to a horse's tail +and the Pasha would impale me. Thou knowest that he does not allow +robbery, but if it happens he looks through his fingers." + +"So far from betraying thee I would go with thee, I only know one mode +of getting hold of booty. While the others storm a village, I stand a +little distance off at the farther end of the village; whoever has +anything to save always makes for the farther end of the village, and so +falls into my hands." + +The renegade began to feel in his element. + +"My good sir, at night the Spahis will go to Élesd. There dwell rich +Wallachians away from the high road. They have never had blackmail +levied on them and there's lots of gold and silver there; if we get a +good haul, do not betray me." + +"But may we not fall in with the soldiers of Ladislaus Székely?" + +"Nay, sir," said Zülfikar, winking his eyes, "they are far from here. Do +not betray thy faithful servant." + +Feriz Beg put spurs to his horse and galloped off. Zülfikar sat down in +the gate again, very sleepily blinking his eyes, and smiling +mysteriously. + +Towards evening four-and-twenty Spahis crept out of the fortress and +made off in the direction of Élesd. Feriz Beg kept an eye upon them, and +when they had disappeared in the woods he aroused his Albanian horsemen +and quietly went after them. + +It was past midnight when Feriz Beg and his company reached the hillside +covering Élesd. The Spahis had already plundered the place as was +evident from the distant uproar, the loud shrieks, the pealing of bells, +and a couple of flaming haystacks which the mauraders had set on fire to +assist their operations. + +Feriz Beg posted his Albanian horsemen at the mouth of a narrow pass, +divided them into four bands and ordered them all to remain as quiet as +possible and wait patiently till the Spahis returned. + +After some hours of plundering the distant tumult died away, and instead +of it could be heard approaching a sound of loud wrangling. Presently, +in the deep valley below, the Spahis became visible, staggering under +the stolen goods, dispersed into twos and threes and quarrelling +together over their booty. + +Feriz Beg let them come into the narrow pass and when they were quite +unsuspiciously at the height of their dispute, he suddenly blew his horn +and then suddenly fell upon them from all sides with his Albanian +horsemen, surrounded and attacked the marauders, and before they had had +time to use their weapons began to cut them down. The tussle was a +short one. Not one of the Albanians fell, not one of the Spahis escaped. + +Feriz dried his sword and leaving the dead Spahis on the road, galloped +back with his band to Grosswardein. + +In the Pasha's gate he again encountered Zülfikar and, shaking his fist +at him, dismounted from his horse. + +"Thou dog! thou hast betrayed us to Ladislaus Székely; the Spahis have +all been cut down." + +Zülfikar turned yellow with fear. It is true that he usually did +something like this: when the Spahis would only promise him a small +portion of the booty, he would for a few ducats extra let the Hungarian +generals know of their coming, when one or two of them would bite the +dust and the rest return without the booty. Last night also he had told +the captain of Klausenberg of this particular adventure, but the +commandant had been unable to make any use of it, for it had been the +Prince's birthday, and he had been obliged to treat the soldiers. + +Zülfikar felt a lump in his throat when he heard that all twenty-four of +the Spahis had perished, and he immediately quitted the fortress and +made his way to Klausenberg through the woods as hard as he could pelt. + +Feriz Beg, however, in great wrath, paid a visit upon the Pasha. + +"Your Excellency," said he, assuming a very severe countenance, "this is +the sort of allies we have. Last night I went on an excursion, taking +four-and-twenty Spahis with me, in order to purchase horses for myself +in the neighbourhood. We dealt honourably with the dealers. I entrusted +the horses to the Spahis and myself galloped on in front. In a narrow +pass the soldiers of Ladislaus Székely laid an ambush for the Spahis, +surrounded them and cut them off to a man. When I came to their +assistance there they were all lying slain and the slayers had trotted +off on my own good steeds. Most gracious sir, that is treachery, our +own allies do us a mischief. I will not put up with it, but if thou dost +not give me complete satisfaction, I will go myself to Klausenberg and +put every one of them to the sword, from Master Michael Apafi down to +Master Ladislaus Székely." + +Ajas Pasha, whose special favourite Feriz Beg was, laughed loudly at +this demonstration, patted the youth's cheek, and said in a consolatory +voice: + +"Nay, my dear son, do not so, nor waste the fire of thy enthusiasm upon +these infidels. I have a short method of doing these things--leave it to +me." + +And thereupon he sent for an aga, and gave him a command in the +following terms: + +"Sit on thy horse and go quickly to Klausenberg. There go to the +commandant, Ladislaus Székely, and speak to him thus: Ajas Pasha wishes +thee good-day, thou unbelieving giaour, and sends thee this message: +Inasmuch as thy dog-headed servants during the night last past have +treacherously fallen upon the men of Feriz Beg and cut down +four-and-twenty of them, now therefore I require of thee to search for +and send me instantly these murderers, otherwise the whole weight of my +wrath shall descend upon thine own head. Moreover, in the place of the +horses stolen from him, see that thou send to me without delay just as +many good chargers of Wallachia, and beware lest I come for them myself, +for then thou wilt have no cause to thank me." + +When the aga had learnt the message by heart he withdrew, and Ajas Pasha +turned to Feriz Beg complacently: + +"Trouble not thyself further," said he, "in a couple of days the +murderers will be here." + +"I want the Prince to intercede for them himself," said Feriz Beg. + +"And dost thou not believe then that the little finger of the Sublime +Porte is able to give thee the lives of a few giaour hirelings, when it +sends forth thousands to perish on the battle-field?" + +"And I will venture to bet a hundred ducats that Master Ladislaus +Székely will reply that his soldiers were not out of the fortress at all +last night." + +"I am sorry for thy hundred ducats, my dear son, but I will take thy bet +all the same; and, if I lose, I will cut just as many pieces out of the +skin of Master Ladislaus Székely." + + * * * * * + +The terrified Zülfikar was almost at his last gasp by the time he +reached the courtyard of Master Ladislaus Székely, where, greatly +exhausted, he obtained an audience of the commandant, who was +resplendent in a great mantle trimmed with galloon and adorned with +rubies and emeralds. This love of display was the good old gentleman's +weak point. He had the most beautiful collection of precious stones in +all Transylvania; the nearest way to his heart was to present him with a +rare and beautiful jewel. + +He was engaged in furbishing up a necklace of chrysoprases and jacinths +with a hare's foot when the renegade breathlessly rushed through the +door unable to utter a word for sheer weariness. Ladislaus Székely +fancied that Zülfikar had come for the reward of his treachery, and very +bluntly hastened to anticipate him. + +"I was unable to make any use of your information, Zülfikar; it was the +Prince's name-day, and the soldiers were not at liberty to leave the +town." + +"How can your honour say so," stuttered Zülfikar; "you had +four-and-twenty Spahis cut down at Élesd. What fool told your honour to +kill them? You should merely have deprived them of their booty." + +Ladislaus Székely let fall his necklace in his fright and gazed at the +renegade with big round eyes. + +"Don't be a fool, Zülfikar, my son! Not a soul was outside this fortress +to-day or yesterday." + +"Your honour has been well taught what to say," said the renegade, with +the insolence of fury; "you put on as innocent a face over the business +as a new-born lamb." + +"I swear to you I don't understand a word of your nonsense." + +"Of course, of course! Capital! Excellent! But your honour would do well +to keep these falsehoods for the messengers of Ajas Pasha, who will be +with your honour immediately; try and fool them if you like, but don't +fool me." + +Ladislaus Székely, well aware that every word he said was the sacred +truth, fancied that Zülfikar's assertion was only a rough joke which he +wanted to play upon him, so he cast an angry look on the renegade. + +"Be off, my son Zülfikar, and cease joking; or I'll beat you about the +head with this hare's foot till I knock all the moonshine out of you." + +"Your honour had best keep your hare's foot to yourself, for if I draw +my Turkish dagger I'll make you carry your own head." + +"Be off, be off, my son!" cried Székely, looking around for a stick, and +perceiving a cane in the corner with a large silver knob he seized it. +"And now are you going, or I shall come to you?" he added. + +Zülfikar had just caught sight, meanwhile, through the window of the aga +sent by Ajas Pasha, and fearing to encounter him, hastily skipped +through the door, which sudden flight was attributed by Master Ladislaus +Székely to his own threats of violence. He followed close upon the heels +of the fugitive, and ran almost into the very arms of the aga; +whereupon, the aga, also flying into a rage, belaboured the commandant +with his fists, reviled his father, his mother, and his remotest +ancestry, and only after that began to deliver the message of Ajas +Pasha, which he enlarged and embellished with the choicest flowers of an +angry man's rhetoric. + +At these words Ladislaus Székely changed colour as often as a genuine +opal, or as a fractured polyporus fungus. It was clear to him that +someone or other had just slain a number of marauding Spahis, but he +knew very well that neither he nor his men had performed this heroic +deed, for that particular evening they had all been safe and sound at +ten o'clock, and yet he was expected to pay the piper! + +"Gracious sir, unconquerable aga," he said at last, "my men the whole of +that evening were on duty beneath the windows of the Prince, and the +same evening I myself closed the city gates, so that no living thing +except a bird could get out. Therefore, I pray you ask not of me the +slayers of the Spahis, for never in my life have I killed one of them." + +The aga gnashed his teeth, and stared wildly about, as if seeking for +big words worthy of the occasion. + +"Darest thou say such things to me, thou wine-drinking infidel?" he +cried at last. "I know very well that thou, single-handed, hast not cut +down four-and-twenty Spahis; rather do I believe there were two thousand +of you that fell upon them, but these thou must give up to me, every +man-jack of them." + +Large drops of perspiration began to ooze out upon the forehead of the +commandant, and in his embarrassment it occurred to him that deeds were +better than words, so he seized the chain covered with chrysoprases and +jacinths, which he had just been polishing, and handed them in a +deprecating manner to the Turk, knowing that such a line of defence was +most likely to obtain a hearing. + +But the envoy gave the chain handed to him such a kick that the precious +stones were scattered all over the deal boards, and, trampling them +beneath his feet, he roared with a blood-red face: + +"I want the murderers, not your precious stones." + +The commandant thereupon seeing that the aga's embassy was really a +serious matter, took him down to the soldiers, who were drawn up in the +courtyard, in order to ask each one of them in the hearing of the +envoy: "Where were you during the night in question?" Naturally everyone +of them was able to prove an alibi, not one of them could be suspected. + +The aga very nearly had an overflow of gall. He said nothing, he only +rolled his eyes; and when the last soldier had denied any share in the +death of the Turks, he leaped upon his horse, and threatening them with +his fist, growled through his gnashing teeth: + +"Wait, ye also shall have your St. Demetrius' day!"[21] and with that he +galloped back to Grosswardein. + + [Footnote 21: _i.e._ you shall be stoned to death.] + +On his arrival he found Feriz Beg with the Pasha, and at once told his +story, exaggerating the details to the uttermost. + +"What did I tell thee?" said Feriz to the Pasha; "didn't I say they +would send back the message that they had never quitted the town. I am +sorry for your honour's hundred ducats." + +At these words Ajas Pasha kicked over his chibouk and his saucer of +sherbet, and in a hoarse, scarce intelligible voice, said to the aga: + +"Be off this instant to Stambul as fast as thou canst. Tell the Grand +Vizier what has happened, and say to him that if he does not give me the +amplest satisfaction, I myself will go against these unbelieving +devourers of unruminating beasts who have dared to send me such a +message, and will destroy them, together with their strongholds; or else +I will cast my sword to the ground, and tie a girdle round my loins, and +go away and join the brotherhood of Iskender! Say that, and forget it +not!" + + * * * * * + +Very soon one firman after another reached the Prince from Stambul, each +one of which, with steadily rising wrath, demanded the extradition of +the assassins of the Spahis. The Prince made inquiries and searched for +them everywhere, but nobody could be found to take upon his shoulders +this uncommitted deed of heroism. + +The messages from the Porte assumed a more and more furious tone every +day. In itself the death of four-and-twenty Spahis was no very serious +stumbling-block, but what more than anything lashed the Turkish generals +into a fury was the persistent refusal of the Prince to acknowledge the +offence. Yet with the best will in the world he was unable to do +anything else, for not a single person on whom suspicion might fall +could he find throughout the Principality. + + * * * * * + +In those days the dungeons of Klausenburg were well filled with +condemned robbers; in the past year alone no fewer than thirty +incendiaries had been discovered who had resolved to fire all +Transylvania. + +One day the noble Martin Pók, the provost-marshal of the place, appeared +before the robbers, and attracted the attention of the most +evil-disposed of these cut-throats and incendiaries by shouting at them: + +"You worthless gallows-dogs, which of you would like to be set free at +any price?" + +"I would! I would!" cried a whole lot of them. + +"Bread is going to be dear, so we cannot waste it on the like of you, so +Master Ladislaus Székely has determined that whoever of you would like +to become Turks are to be handed over to our gracious master, Ajas +Pasha, who will make some of you Janissaries, and send the rest to the +isle of Samos; so whoever will be a Turk, let him speak." + +Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk. + +"Very well, you rascals, just attend to me! I must tell you what to say +when you stand before the Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will +be bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you: 'Are you Master Ladislaus +Székely's men?' You will answer: 'Yes, we are!' Then he will ask you: +'Were you at Élesd on a certain day?' And you must admit that you were. +Finally, he will ask you if you met Feriz Beg there? You will admit +everything, and then he will instantly release you from servitude. Do +you understand?" + +"Yes, yes!" roared the incendiaries; and dancing in their fetters they +followed the provost-marshal upstairs, who turned his extraordinary +small head back from time to time to smile at them, at the same time +twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache with an air of crafty +self-satisfaction. + + * * * * * + +One day two letters reached Grosswardein from Stambul. One of these +letters was from Kucsuk Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan +to Ajas Pasha. + +The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows: + + "MY SON,--Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and + Maurocordato have not been wasting their time. The + Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and his + Court. The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis is an + affair of even greater importance in Stambul just now + than the capture of Candia. I fancy we shall very soon + get what we want." + +Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at once to the Pasha in the +best of humours. + +"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes," said the Pasha, producing +a parchment sealed with green wax, adorned below with the official +signature of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not unlike a +bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs. + +Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead and his lips, and the +further he read into it the more his face filled with surprise and joy. + + "VALIANT AJAS PASHA MY FAITHFUL SERVANT!--I wish thee + always all joy and honour. Inasmuch as I learn from + thee that the faithless servants of the Prince, in + time of peace and amity, have slain four-and-twenty + Spahis, and that their masters not only have not + punished this misdeed but even presumed to deceive me + with lying reports thereof, thereby revealing their + ill-will towards me, now therefore I charge and + authorise thee in case the counsellors of the Prince + do not surrender the murderers in response to my + ultimatum, which even now is on its way to them, or in + case they make any objection whatsoever, or even if + they simply pass over the matter in silence; in any + such case I charge and authorise thee instantly to + invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy + disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha also + will immediately be ready at hand with his bands at + Vöröstorony, and the Tartar King hath also our command + to lend thee assistance. This done, I will either + drive the Prince into exile or take him prisoner, when + I will at once strike off the chains of Master Paul + Béldi--who, because of his stubbornness, now sits in + irons at Jedekula--and whether he will or not, I will + place him incontinently on the throne of the Prince, + etc., etc." + +"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the murderers?" asked Ajas +Pasha triumphantly. + +"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and beside himself with joy. + +"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished Ajas; "but suppose we go +for them ourselves?" + +"Well!" said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly betrayed himself, "in +that case--yes." But he said to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul +Béldi will be released, and Paul Béldi will become Prince, and his wife +will be Princess Consort, and Aranka will be a Princess too, and we +shall see each other again." + +At that moment an aga entered the room and announced with a look of +satisfaction: + +"Master Ladislaus Székely has now sent the murderers." + +Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible" hung upon his lips, +and he nearly let it escape. It _was_ impossible. + +"Let them come in!" said Ajas Pasha viciously. He would have preferred +to carry out the Sultan's conditional command, seize the Principality, +and conduct the campaign personally. + +Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw the forty or fifty +selected rascals who, led by Martin Pók, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the +rogues were dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was written on +the face of each one of them. + +Master Martin Pók exhibited them to the Pasha and Feriz Beg, and very +wisely stood aside from them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in +astonishment. He knew better than anyone that these fellows had never +seen the Spahis, and he waited to hear what they would say. + +Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as cold as marble, and at +a sign from him a file of Janissaries formed behind the backs of the +rascals, who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible before +the Pasha to gain his favour. + +"Ye are Master Ladislaus Székely's men, eh?" inquired the Pasha of the +false heroes. + +"We are--at thy service, unconquerable Pasha," they replied with one +voice, folding their hands across their breasts and bowing down to the +very ground. + +The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come softly up behind each one +of them. + +"Ye were at Élesd at midnight on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, +eh?" he asked again. + +"We were indeed--at thy service invincible Pasha!" they repeated +striking their knees with their foreheads. + +Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have +roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he +was obliged to keep silence. + +Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they +drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, +concealed them behind their backs. + +The Pasha put the third question to the robbers. + +"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?" + +"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen +me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at Élesd?" + +The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion: +"Yes--at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!" + +At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries, +and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet. + +"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his +clenched fist. + +Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pók: "Greet thy master, and tell +him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me +angry.--As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE HOSTAGE. + + +One evening two horsemen dressed as Turks rode into the courtyard of the +fortress of Szamosújvár, and demanded an audience of the noble Danó +Sólymosi, the commandant. A soldier conducted to him the two Moslems, +one of whom seemed to be a man advanced in years, whose sunburnt face +was covered with scars; the other was a youth, whose face was half +hidden in the folds of a large mantle, only his dark eyes were visible. + +"Good evening, captain," said the elder Turk, greeting the commandant, +who at the first moment recognised the intruder and joyfully hastened +towards him and grasped his hand. + +"So God has brought Kucsuk Pasha to my humble dwelling." + +"Then thou dost recognise me, worthy old man?" said Kucsuk, just +touching the hand of the worthy old Magyar. + +"How could I help it, my good sir? Thou didst free my only daughter from +the hands of the filthy Tartars, thou didst deliver her from grievous +captivity, thou didst give her a place of refuge, food, and pleasant +words in a foreign land. I should not be a man if I were to forget +thee." + +"Well, for all these things I have come hither to beg something of +thee." + +"Command me! My life and goods are at thy service." + +"Dost thou not detain here the family of Paul Béldi?" + +"Yes, sir; they brought the unfortunate creatures hither." + +"I must have Paul Béldi's consort out of this prison for a fortnight, at +the accomplishment of which time I will bring her back again." + +The captain was thunderstruck. + +"Sir," said he, "you are playing with my head." + +"None will know, and in two weeks' time she will be here again." + +"But if they discover it?" + +"Have no fear of that. During that time I will leave in thy hands as a +hostage my own son." + +The young cavalier approached, threw back his mantle, and the captain +recognised Feriz Beg. He fancied he was dreaming. + +"Dost thou not suppose that I will bring back the woman for the sake of +my son?" + +"Do what you think well," said the commandant. "I owe you a life, I will +now pay it back to you; follow me!" + +The commandant led his visitors up a narrow corkscrew fortress into the +corner tower, which was used as a dungeon for state prisoners. The +circular windows were guarded by heavy iron bars, the heavy iron-plated +oaken doors groaned upon their hinges, indicating thereby that they were +very seldom opened. + +"Why did you put them in this lonely place?" asked Kucsuk Pasha; "is +there not some other prison in the town?" + +"Don't blame me, sir; my orders were to lock the lady up securely, apart +from her child, and in this tower are two adjacent chambers with a +common window, and in one of them I have put the mother and in the other +the child. I knew that they would not mind if they could speak to each +other through the window, and press each other's hands, and even kiss +each other through the bars." + +"Thou art a true man, my good old fellow," said Kucsuk Pasha, patting +the commandant's shoulder; while Feriz Beg warmly pressed his hand. + +"Thou wouldst put me into just such another dungeon, eh?" he asked. + +"There would be no need of that, good Feriz Beg; you should dwell in my +apartments." + +"But I would not have it so," said the youth, thinking with glowing +cheeks of the fair Aranka who would thus be his next-door neighbour and +fellow-prisoner. + +At last the iron door of the prison was opened, the jailor remained +outside, and the two Osmanlis entered. By the side of a rude oak table +was sitting a lady in deep mourning in front of the narrow window, +reading aloud from a large Bible with silver clasps; her children at the +window of the other dungeon were listening devoutly to the Word of God. + +When the men entered the woman started and looked up; the dim ray of +light coming through the narrow window made her face appear still paler +than it used to be; she looked up seriously, sadly--sorrow had lent a +gentle gravity to the face that used to be so bright and gay. + +Kucsuk Pasha approached, and taking the lady's soft transparent hand in +his own, briefly introduced himself. + +"I am Kucsuk Pasha, thy husband's most faithful friend in this world +after thyself." + +"I thank you for your visit; my husband has often mentioned your name. +Do you perchance bring me any message from him?" + +"He would have thee with him." + +"Then I am free?" cried the lady, tremulous between joy and doubt. + +"Rejoice not, lady; it is not in my power to give thee freedom, I only +promise thee a brief interview with Paul Béldi, just time enough for +thee to tell him how much thou hast suffered. He cannot come to thee, so +thou must come to him. With me thou canst come most quickly, for the +greatest part of the time we shall be travelling together." + +"Will my children come with me?" + +"They will remain here. But thou wilt see them again soon. Either thou +wilt conquer Paul Béldi with thy tears, and melt his iron will, and then +he will come back to Transylvania as Prince and every gate will be open +before him; or else he will stand fast to his determination, and then +thou wilt return to thy dungeon and he to his, and so you will both die +in the dungeons of different realms. Now take leave of thy children and +hasten. It depends upon thee whether they become princes and princesses +or slaves for ever." + +"And who will defend them, who will watch over them, who will pray with +them while I am away?" + +"Be not distressed. I will leave my own son here as a hostage while thou +art away. Feriz will occupy thy dungeon, he will watch over thy +children, and not let them be afraid. Hasten now and take leave of +them." + +Dame Béldi rushed to the round window. Loudly sobbing, she called her +children one by one, and then embraced them all as best she could. The +cold iron bars stood between her breast and theirs. The tears of their +weeping faces could not dissolve them. + +"Give this kiss to father!--And this kiss from me!--And this from me!" +lisped the children, putting their little arms round their mother's neck +through the bars. + +"My child, my good Aranka!" said Dame Béldi to the girl, who being about +fifteen or sixteen was the eldest of them all; "look after thy little +brothers and sisters! And you, my good little lads, comfort Aranka. God +bless you! God defend you! One more kiss, Aranka! And one more for you, +little David?" + +"Madame, time is passing, and Paul Béldi is waiting for thee to open his +prison!" intervened Kucsuk Pasha, withdrawing Dame Béldi from the +window of her children's prison, who thereupon turned her tear-stained +face towards Feriz Beg, and in a passion of grief flung herself on the +youth's neck, and said to him in a voice almost indistinguishable for +her sobbing: + +"Thou noble heart! promise me that thou wilt love my children when I am +far away!" + +"By Allah, I swear it!" exclaimed the youth, pressing to his bosom the +poor woman who was half-fainting for sorrow, "I swear that I will love +them for ever!" + +Ah! there was one among them whom he had already loved for a long, long +time. + +"Hasten, lady!" urged the Pasha; "cast this mantle over thee, and place +this turban on thy head that the guards may not recognise thee in the +distance. The way is long, the time is short." + +"God be with you, God be with you!" sobbed Dame Béldi, casting with +tremulous hands hundreds of kisses towards her children, who waved their +goodbyes to her from their window and then, violently repressing her +emotion, she rushed from the dungeon. + +Kucsuk Pasha pressed the hand of his son in silence, and left him in +Dame Béldi's room. + +The children kept on weeping behind their window. + +The youth drew nearer to them. + +"Weep not," he said cheerfully, "your mother will soon come again and +bring your father with her, and then you will all rejoice together." + +"Ah, but then they'll kill father!" sobbed one of the children timidly. + +"So long as Feriz Beg can use his sword none shall touch Paul Béldi," +cried the youth, with flashing eyes. "My sword and my father's will +flash around him, his enemies will be my enemies. Fear not! when I get +back my sword, I will win back his liberty with it." + +"I thank you, I thank you," whispered a gentle voice overcome by +emotion. + +Feriz Beg recognised the silvery voice of Aranka, and the weeping blue +eyes of the seraph face which regarded him, like Heaven after rain, +flashed upon him a burning ray of gratitude which was to haunt him in +his dreams and in his memory for ever. + +Feriz felt his heart leap with a great joy. Pressing close up to the +prison bars that he might get as close to the girl as possible he said +to her with a tender voice: + +"How happy I am now that we dwell together as neighbours in the same +dungeon, but oh, how much happier shall we be when no doors are closed +upon us? Let me then have a place beside thy hearth and within thy +heart!" + +The fair, sad girl, with a face full of foreboding, stretched through +the bars of the dungeon a hand whiter than a lily, whiter than snow. +Feriz Beg solemnly raised it to his lips and falling on his knees, in an +outburst of sublime devotion touched his lips and his forehead with that +beloved hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE HUSBAND. + + +At the very hour when Kucsuk Pasha arrived at Stambul, Master Ladislaus +Székely, whom Master Michael Teleki had sent with rich presents to the +Porte, likewise dismounted from his carriage. It was his mission to win +the favour of the infuriated Grand Vizier and the Pashas, who had again +begun violently to urge Paul Béldi to accept the princely throne. + +Master Ladislaus Székely had also brought with him Zülfikar to be his +guide and interpreter through the tortuous streets of Stambul. + +As we already know, this worthy gentleman's particular hobby was the +collection of jewels, and the Prince had sent through him such a heap of +precious stones that the heart of the good gentleman when he saw them +all spread out before him died away within him at the thought that the +whole collection was ruthlessly to be broken up and distributed among a +lot of foreigners and Pashas. + +"What a shame to lose them all," he thought. "And even then who knows +whether we shall be safe after all. It is like casting pearls before +swine. A much quicker way would be to get Master Paul Béldi +assassinated. That would be cutting the knot once for all, and we should +have no further danger from that quarter. Michael Teleki wouldn't kill +me for a trifle like that, I know. You, Zülfikar, my son, could you +undertake to poison someone?" he inquired, turning towards the +renegade. + +"The whole town if you like." + +"No, only Master Paul Béldi. It is all one to him whether he dies or +remains a prisoner for life." + +"I'll do it for two hundred ducats, if you pay me half in advance." + +"I'll pay you, Zülfikar, but how will you get at him?" + +"That's my affair, all you have to do is to get the money ready." + +Accordingly Ladislaus Székely gave the earnest-money to the renegade, +and the renegade went home and wrote a letter in the name of the +Beglerleg of the following tenour: "Be assured that our affairs are in +the best order, and we shall shortly gain our object." + +He strewed over these lines a fine blue dust which was the strongest of +poisons, calculating that whoever wanted to read the letter would first +brush the dust off it, whereupon the fine dust would rise in the air, +and the person reading the letter would inhale the dust and die. + +After attaching the letter to his turban, he began prowling round the +dungeon of Paul Béldi, awaiting an opportunity of worming his way into +it. + + * * * * * + +Paul Béldi was sitting alone in the darkest corner of the dungeon of +Jedikula. At his feet lay his faithful bloodhound, Körtövely, with his +eyes fixed sadly on his master. Whenever his master slept the dog would +sit up, never take his eyes off him, and begin growling at the lightest +noise. + +Béldi, with folded arms, was sitting on the stone bench to which he was +chained. His face had grown terribly pale and as if turned to stone. The +pale gleam of light which filtered through the narrow window and lit up +his face, found there no trace of that weary longing which the dweller +in prisons generally has for the sun's rays. The whole man, body and +soul, was hardened into steel. + +Suddenly the dog lying at his feet impatiently raised its sagacious +head, and then with a whimper of joy ran towards the door; there it +stood for a time merrily barking, and then ran back to its master and +stood before him wagging its tail with one foot on his shoulder, whining +and whimpering with such lively joy that one might almost have +understood what it wanted to say. + +"What's the matter? Good dog!" said Béldi, stroking the dog's head. +"What is it? Nobody's coming to see me that can make you happy." + +At that moment the key turned in the door of the dungeon and a group of +men by the light of torches descended the steps and entered Béldi's +prison; whereupon Körtövely quickly left his master and burrowing his +way through the throng, began to yelp merrily over someone, and then +rushing back to his master, planted his fore-paws on his breast and +barked as if he would burst because he could not express more plainly +the joy which his wonderful canine instinct had anticipated. + +Béldi, perceiving among those who visited him the Grand Vizier, +Kiuprile, and Maurocordato, ordered his dog to be quiet, and standing up +before them, saluted them with a deep bow. + +"Well, thou obstinate man!" said the Grand Vizier, "how long wilt thou +torment thyself and offend the Sultan and thine own good friends? Wilt +thou ever perceive that to sit on a stone bench in a damp dungeon is a +very different thing to sitting on a princely throne?" + +"The more I suffer," said Béldi, in a strangely calm voice, "the more +reason I have to rejoice that my country does not suffer instead of me." + +The Grand Vizier thereupon said something in Turkish which Maurocordato +sadly interpreted: "The Grand Seignior informs thee that because of +money thou hast been cast into prison, and only money can release thee; +promise, therefore, two hundred and seventy purses, and thou shalt get +the Principality to enable thee to pay it." + +"I have told you my determination," said Béldi, "and I will not depart +from it. I will not promise money to the detriment of my country. I will +not lead an army against it, and I will not break my oath. These were +and will be my words from which I can never depart." + +"Never!" cried Kucsuk Pasha, pressing through the crowd. "Wilt thou not +even now?"--and with that he led a pale female figure towards Béldi. + +"My wife!" exclaimed the captive, and he gripped fast his chains lest he +should collapse for joy, terror, and surprise. + +The pale woman in mourning fell upon his bosom, her tears became his +fetters. + +Paul Béldi burst into tears, he fell back upon his stone bench, his very +soul was shattered. He remained clinging upon his wife's neck, +speechless, unable to utter a word, and the whining dog licked now the +hand of his master and now the lady's hand. + +"Let us turn aside," said Kucsuk Pasha; "let us leave them +together"--and the Turks withdrew from the dungeon, leaving Paul Béldi +alone with his wife. + +"I fancied," said Dame Béldi when she was able to utter a word amidst +her choking sobs. "I fancied I was suffering instead of you, and oh! you +were suffering more than I." + +"How did you come here?" asked Béldi, in a low stifled voice. + +"Kucsuk Pasha left his son as a hostage in my stead." + +"Worthy man! What useless sacrifices he is making for my sake. And my +children?" + +"They remain in the dungeon whither also I must return, if you will not +accept the Sultan's offer." + +"Have they taken away my girl Aranka also?" asked Béldi, with a heavy +heart. + +"Yes, they have taken her too, and if we are released we shall have no +whither to go. They have taken everything of ours. The Bethlen property +has become the prey of Farkas Bethlen; the Haromszeki estate is now in +the hands of Clement Mikes, although it is not lawful to deprive a +Székler of his lands, even for high-treason. Our castle at Bodola has +been totally destroyed, our escutcheon has been torn to pieces, and your +name has been recorded in the journals of the Diet as a traitor." + +"Oh, ye men!" roared Béldi, shaking his chains in the bitterness of his +anger; "if I were not Paul Béldi the wrath of God would descend upon +your heads. But ah!--I love my country even if worms are gnawing it. Dry +your eyes, my good wife! you see I am not weeping. What we suffer is the +visitation of God upon us. I remain a Christian and a patriot. I leave +my cause to God!" + +"You will not accept the offer of the Sultan?" inquired Dame Béldi, +approaching her husband with fear and despair in her eyes. + +"Never!" replied Béldi, in a low voice. + +The wife, with a loud scream, flung herself at the feet of her husband, +and, seizing his knees in a convulsive embrace, begged and besought him: +"You would send me back to my dungeon? You would separate me from you +for ever? Never, never, not even in the hour of death, shall I see you +again." + +"Comfort yourself with the thought that you loved me, and were worthy of +me, if you can suffer as I do and for the same reason." + +"You would plunge your children into eternal captivity?" + +"Tell them that their father lived honourably and died honourably, and +teach them to live and die like him." + +"Think of your girl, Aranka; your favourite, your dearest child." + +"Rather may she fade away than Transylvania be plunged in the flames of +war." + +"Béldi! drive me not to despair!" cried the wife trembling violently. "I +am afraid, horribly afraid, of my dungeon. Twice have I had fever from +the close, damp air. There was none to care for me in my sickness; I +was calling your name continually, and you were far from me; I saw your +image, and was unable to embrace you. Oh, Béldi! I shall die without +you! The most terrible form of death--despair--will kill me!" + +Béldi knelt down by the side of his wife and embraced and kissed her. +The woman fainted in his arms as the Turks entered his prison. Béldi +beckoned Kucsuk Pasha to him. A sort of leaden, death-like hue had begun +to spread over his face; he could scarce see with whom he was +conversing. He laid his swooning wife in the arms of the Pasha, and +stammered with barely intelligible words: "I thank you for your good +will. Here is my wife--take her--back to her dungeon!" + +The Turks, in speechless astonishment, lifted up the fainting woman, and +left the dungeon without plaguing Béldi with any more questions. + +Béldi stood stonily there as they went out, with open lips and a dull +light in his eyes. When the last Turk had gone, and he saw his wife no +longer, his head began to nod and droop down, and suddenly he fell prone +upon the floor. + +Körtövely, the old hound, began sorrowfully, bitterly, to whine. + +At that moment Zülfikar entered the dungeon with the poisoned letter. + +He was too late. Paul Béldi had already departed from this world. + + * * * * * + +When Ladislaus Székely heard of Béldi's death he gave a magnificent +banquet, and when the company was at its merriest Zülfikar came rushing +in. + +"Come! out with those hundred ducats!" he whispered in the ear of Master +Ladislaus Székely. + +"What do you mean?" cried Székely in a voice flushed with wine. "Paul +Béldi had a stroke; be content with what you have had already." + +"Thou faithless dog of a giaour!" cried the renegade at the top of his +voice so that everyone could hear him, "is this the way thou dost +deceive me? Thou didst bargain with me for the death of Paul Béldi for +two hundred ducats, and now thou wouldst beat me down by one half. Thou +art a rogue meet for the hangman's hands. Is it thus thou dost treat an +honest man? I'll not kill a man for thee another time until thou pay me +in advance, thou faithless robber!" + +The company laughed aloud at this scene, but Master Ladislaus Székely +seemed very much put out by the joke. "What are you talking about, you +crazy fellow?" said he. "Who asked you to do anything? I never saw you +in my life before!" + +"What!" cried Zülfikar. "I suppose thou wilt deny next that thou didst +write this letter to Paul Béldi!" and with that he gave Ladislaus +Székely the poisoned letter. He seized it, broke the seal, brushed away +the dust, and ran his eye over it, whereupon he flung it at the feet of +Zülfikar, exclaiming: "I never wrote that." + +Then he beckoned to the servants to seize Zülfikar by the collar and +pitch him into the street. But the renegade stood outside in front of +the windows and began to curse Székely before the assembled crowd for +not paying him the price of the poison. + +Inside the house the guests laughed more heartily than ever, and at last +Székely himself began to look upon the matter in the light of a joke, +and laughed like the rest; but when he returned home to Transylvania he +felt a pain in his stomach, and did not know what was the matter. He +became deaf, could neither eat nor drink, and his bowels began to rot. + +Nobody could cure him of his terrible malady, till at last he fell in +with a German leech, who persuaded him that he could cure him with the +dust of genuine diamonds and sapphires. Ladislaus Székely handed to the +charlatan his collection of precious stones. He abstracted the stones +from their settings, but ground up common stones instead of them in his +medical mortar, and stampeded himself with the real stones, leaving +Ladislaus Székely to die the terrible death by poison which he had +intended for Paul Béldi. + + * * * * * + +Paul Béldi they buried in foreign soil; none visited his grave. Only his +faithful dog sat beside it. For eight days it neither ate nor drank. On +the ninth day it died on the deserted grave of its master. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE FADING OF FLOWERS. + + +And now let us see what became of Aranka and Feriz. + +At last they were beneath one roof together--this roof was a little +better than the roof of a tomb, but not much, for it was the roof of a +dungeon. They could only see each other through a narrow little window, +but even this did them good. They were able to press each other's hands +through the iron bars, console each other, and talk of their coming joys +and boundless happiness. The walls of the prison were so narrow, so +damp, the narrow opening scarce admitted the light of day; but when the +youth began to talk of his native land, Damascus, rich in roses, of +palm-trees waving in the breeze, of warm sunny skies, where the +housetops were planted with flowers, and the evergreens give a shade +against the ever-burning sun, at such times the girl forgot her dungeon +and fancied she was among the rose-groves of Damascus, and when the +youth spoke of the future she forgot the rose-groves of Damascus and +fancied she was in heaven. + +Days and days passed since the departure of Dame Béldi, and there were +no news of her. Every day the spirits of the girl declined, every +evening she parted more and more sadly with Feriz, and every morning he +found it more and more difficult to comfort her. And now with great +consternation the youth began to perceive that the girl was very pale, +the colour of life began to fade from her round, rosy cheeks, and there +was something new in the brightness of her eyes--it was no earthly +light there which made him tremble as he gazed upon her. The youth durst +not ask her: "What is the matter?" But the girl said to him: + +"Oh, Feriz! I am dying here; I shall never see your smiling skies." + +"I would rather see the sky black than thee dead." + +"The sky will smile again, but I never shall. I feel something within me +which makes my heart's blood flow languidly, and at night I see my dead +kinsfolk, and walk with them in unknown regions which I never saw +before, and which appear before me so vividly that I could describe +every house and every bush by itself." + +"That signifies that thou wilt visit unknown regions with me." + +"Oh, Feriz, I no longer feel any pleasure in those lands of yours, nor +am I glad when I think of your palms, and as often as I see you darkness +descends upon my soul, for I feel that I am going to leave you." + +"Speak not so, joy of my existence. Grieve not God with thy words, for +God is afflicted when the innocent complain." + +"I am not complaining. I go from a bad into a good world, and there I +shall see you in my dreams." + +"But if this bad world should become better, and you lived happily in +it?" + +Aranka sadly shook her pretty, angelic head. + +"That it is not necessary for this world to grow better you can see from +the fact that the good must die while the wicked live a long time. God +seeks out those that love Him, and takes them unto Himself, for He will +not let them suffer long." + +Feriz shuddered. What could have put these solemn, melancholy thoughts +into the heart of this girl, this child? It was the approach of Death, +the worm-bitten fruit ripens more quickly than the rest. Slow, creeping +Death had seized upon the childish mind and made it speak like the +aged--and sad it was to listen to its words. + +"Cheer up," said Feriz, with an effort, skimming with his lips the +girl's white hand which she thrust out to him through the bars. "Thy +mother will soon be here; thy father will sit on the throne of the +Prince as he deserves; thou wilt be a Princess, and I will strive and +struggle till I am high enough to sue for thee, and then I will lay my +glory and renown at thy feet, and thou shalt be my bride, my queen, my +guardian angel." + +The girl shook her head sorrowfully. + +"And we will walk along by the banks of the quiet streams in those +ancient lands where not craft but valour rules, where the wise are only +learned in the courses of the stars and the healing virtues of the +plants, not in the science of the rise and fall of kingdoms. There from +the window of my breeze-blown kiosk, which is built on the slopes of +Lebanon, thou wilt view the whole region round about. Above, the +shepherds kindle their fires in the blackness of the cedar forests; +below, the mountain stream runs murmuring along, and all round about us +the nightingale is singing, and what he singeth is the happiness of +love. In the far distance thou seest the mirror of the great sea, and +the white-sailed pleasure boat rocks to and fro on the transparent +becalmed billows, and the moon looks down upon the limitless mirror, and +a fair maiden sits in the pleasure-boat, and at her feet lies a youth, +and both of them are silent, only a throbbing heart is speaking, and it +speaks of the happiness of love." + +A couple of tears dropped from the eyes of the girl--the future was so +seductive--and that picture, that fair country, she did not seem to be +regarding them from the earth, it seemed to her as if she was looking +down upon them from the sky and regretting that she was forced to +leave--the beautiful world. + +Aranka adored her father. The man who was respected for his virtues by a +whole kingdom was the highest ideal of his child. When Feriz began to +speak of him, the girl's face brightened, and at the recital of his +heroic deeds the tears dried up in her flashing eyes; and when the youth +told her how the great patriot would return, glorious and powerful, +supported by the mightiest of monarchs, and how he would throw open the +prison doors of his children and be parted from them no more, then a +smile would gradually transfigure the girl's face, and she would feel +happy. And then she would steal apart into her own dungeon, and kneel +down before her bed, and pray ardently that she might see her father +soon, very soon. + +And she was to see him before very long. + +Paul Béldi's body was now six feet deep in the ground, and his soul a +star farther off in the sky--to see him one must go to him. + +Paler and paler she became every day, her waking moments were scarcely +different from her dreams, and her dreams from her waking moments. The +provost-marshal now had compassion on the withered flower, and allowed +it on the sunny afternoons to walk about on the bastions and breathe the +fresh air. But neither moonlight nor fresh air could cure her now. + +Frequently she would take the hand of Feriz Beg and press it to her +forehead. "See how it burns, just like fire! Oh, if only I might live +till my father comes. How he would grieve for me!" + +Feriz Beg saw her wither from day to day, and still there was no sign of +liberty. The youth used frequently to walk about the courtyard half a +day at a time, like a lion in a cage, beating the walls with his +forehead at the thought that that for which he had been striving his +whole life long, and the possession whereof was the final goal of his +existence, was drawing nearer and nearer to Death every hour, and no +human power could hold it back! + +The wife of the provost-marshal, a good, true woman, nursed the rapidly +declining girl. Medical science was then of very small account in +Transylvania; the sick had resort to well-known herbs and domestic +remedies based on the experience of the aged; they trusted for the most +part to our blessed mother Nature and the mercy of God. + +The worthy woman did all she could, but her honest heart told her that +the arrival of Aranka's father, and the sooner the better, would do more +good than all her remedies. That would transform the invalid, and joy +would give her back her failing vital energy. + +Feriz Beg had not been able to speak to Aranka for two days; the girl +had suffered greatly during the night, and Feriz was condemned to listen +to the moaning of his beloved, and to hear her in the delirium of fever +through the prison windows without being able to go to her, without +being able to wipe the sweat from her forehead, or put a glass of cold +water to her lips, or whisper to her words of comfort, and had to be +content with knowing that she was with those who carefully nursed her. + +Oh, it is not to the dying that death is most bitter. + +By the morning the fever left her. The rising sun was just beginning to +shine through the narrow round window and the sick girl begged to be +carried out into the open air and the warm morning sunshine. She was no +longer able to walk by herself, and they carried her out on to the +bastions in an arm-chair. + +It was a beautiful autumn morning, a sort of transparent light rested +upon the whole region, giving a pale lilac blue to the sunlit scene. +Where the road wound down from the Szekler hills a light cloud of dust +was visible in the morning vapour; it seemed to be coming from the +direction of Szamosújvár. + +"Ah! there is my mother coming!" whispered Aranka, with a smiling face. + +The young Turk held his hand before his face and fixed his eagle eyes in +that direction; and when for a moment the breeze swept the dust off the +road, and a carriage on springs drawn by five horses appeared, he +exclaimed with a beating heart: + +"Yes, that is indeed the carriage in which they took away thy mother." + +Aranka was dumb with joy and surprise; she could not speak a word, she +only squeezed Feriz Beg's hands and fixed her tearful eyes upon him with +a grateful look. + +The carriage seemed to be rapidly approaching. "That is how people +hasten who have something joyful to say," thought Feriz, and then he +began to fear less boundless joy might injure the life of his darling. + +Soon the carriage arrived in front of the fortress and rumbled noisily +over the drawbridge. Aranka, supported by the arm of Feriz, descended +into the courtyard. They pressed onward to meet the carriage, and the +smile upon her pallid face was so melancholy. + +The glass door of the carriage was opened, and who should come out but +Kucsuk Pasha. + +There was nothing encouraging in his look; he said not a word either to +his son or to the girl who clung to him, but the castellan was standing +hard by, and he beckoned to him. + +"In the carriage," said Kucsuk, "is the prisoner for whom I left my son +as an hostage; take her back, and look well after her, for she is very +ill." + +Dame Béldi lay in the carriage unconscious, motionless. + +Aranka, paler than ever and trembling all over, asked: + +"Where is my father?" + +Kucsuk Pasha would have spoken, but tears came instead of words and ran +down his manly face; silently he raised his hand, pointed upwards, and +said, in a scarce audible voice: "In Heaven!" + +The gentle girl, like a plucked flower, collapsed at these words. Feriz +Beg caught her moaning in his arms, she raised her eyes, a long sigh +escaped her lips, then her beautiful lips drooped, her beautiful eyes +closed, and all was over. + +The beloved maiden had gone to her father in Heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE SWORD OF GOD. + + +For some time past God's marvels had been multiplied over Transylvania. +No longer were they disquieting rumours which popular agitators invented +for the disturbance of the public peace, but extraordinary natural +phenomena whose rapid sequence stirred the heart of even the coldest +sceptic. + +One summer morning at dawn, after a clear night, an unusually thick +heavy mist descended upon the earth, which only dispersed in the +afternoon, spread over the whole sky in the shape of an endless black +cloud, and there remained like a heavy motionless curtain. Not a drop of +water fell from it, and at noonday in the houses it was impossible to +see anything without a candle. + +Towards evening every bird became silent, the flowers closed their +calices, the leaves of the trees hung limply down. The people walking +about outside began to complain of a stifling cough, and from that time +forth the germs of every disease antagonistic to nature were seen in +every herb, in every fruit; even the water of the streams was corrupted. +The hot blood of man, the earth itself was infected by a kind of +epidemic, so that weeds never seen before sprang up and ruined the +richest crops, and the strongest oaks of the forest withered beneath the +assault of grey blight and funguses, and the good black soil of the +fruitful arable land was covered with a hideous green mould. + +For three whole days the sky did not clear. On the evening of the +fourth day the stifling stillness was followed by a frightful hurricane, +which tore off the roofs of the houses, wrenched the stars and crosses +from the steeples of the churches, swept up the dust from the +high-roads, caused such a darkness that it was impossible to see, and +bursting open the willow trees, which had just begun to bloom, drove the +red pollen before it in clouds, so that when the first big rain-drops +began to fall they left behind them blood-red traces on the white walls +of the houses. "It is raining blood from Heaven!" was the terrified cry. +Not long afterwards came the cracking thunderbolts flashing and flaming +as if they would flog the earth with a thousand fiery whips, while one +perpendicular flash of lightning plumped right down into the middle of +the town, shaking the earth with its cracking concussion, so that +everyone believed the hour of judgment was at hand. + +Nevertheless the storm had scattered the clouds, and by eventide the sky +had cleared, and lo! before the eyes of the gaping multitude a gigantic +comet stood in the firmament, all the more startling as nobody had been +aware of its proximity because for three days the sky had been blotted +out by clouds. + +The nucleus of the comet stood just over the place where the sun had +gone down, and the blood-red light of evening was not sufficient to dim +the brightness of the lurid star; it appeared as if it had just slain +the sun and was now bathing in its blood. + +The comet was so long that it seemed to stretch across two-thirds of the +firmament, and the end of it bulged out broadly like a Turkish scimitar. + +"The sword of God!" whispered the people with instinctive fear. + +For two weeks this phenomenon stood in the sky, rising late one day and +early the next. Sometimes it appeared with the bright sun, and in the +solar brightness it looked like a huge streak of blue enamel in the sky +and spread around it a sort of febrile pallor as if the atmosphere +itself were sick: on bright afternoons the sun could be regarded with +the naked eye. + +The people were in fear and terror at this extraordinary phenomenon, and +when the blind masses are in an unconscious panic then a storm is close +at hand, then they are capable of anything to escape from their fear. + +In those days the priests of every faith could give strange testimony of +the general consternation which prevailed in Transylvania. The churches +were kept open all day long, and the indefatigable curers of souls spoke +words of consolation to the assembled hosts of the faithful. Magyari, +the Prince's chaplain, preached four sermons every day in the cathedral, +which was so crowded at such times that half the people could not get in +at all but remained standing outside the doors. + +One evening the church was so filled with faithful worshippers that the +very steps were covered with them, and all sorts of Klausenberg +burgesses intermingled with travelling Szeklers in a group before the +principal door, and after the hymn was finished they clapped to their +clasped psalm-books and began to talk to each other while the sermon was +going on inside. + +"We live in evil times," said an old master-tanner, shaking his big cap. + +"We can say a word about that too," interrupted a Szekler, who was up in +town about a law-suit, and who seized the opportunity of saying what he +knew because he had come from far. + +"Then you also have seen the sword of God?" inquired a young man. + +"Not only have we seen it, my little brother, but we have felt it also. +Not a single evening do we lay down to rest without reciting the prayers +for the dead and dying, and scarce a night passes but what we see the +sky a fiery red colour, either on the right hand or to the left." + +"What would that be?" + +"Some village or town burning to ashes. They say the whole kingdom is +full of destroying angels; one never knows whose roof will be fired over +his head next." + +"God and all good spirits guard us from it." + +"We hear all sorts of evil reports," said a gingerbread baker. +"Yesterday I was talking to a Wallachian woman whose husband was faring +on the Járas-water on a raft taking cheese to Yorda. He was not a day's +journey from his home when the Járas turned, began to flow upwards, and +took the Wallachian back to his house from which he had started." + +A listening clergyman here explained the matter by saying that the +Aranyos, into which the Járas flows, was greatly flooded just then, and +it was its overflow which filled up the Járas; in fact it was Divine +Providence which brought the Wallachian back, for if he had been able to +go on farther, the Tartars would certainly have fallen upon him and cut +him to pieces. + +"I have experienced everything in my time," said the oldest of the +burgesses, "war, plague, flood and pestilence, but there's only one +thing I am afraid of, and that is earthquake, for a man cannot even go +to church to pray against that." + +At that moment the preacher in the church began to speak so loudly that +those standing outside could hear his words, and, growing suddenly +silent, they pressed nearer to the door of the church to hear what he +was saying. + +The right rev. Magyari was trouncing the gentlemen present unmercifully: +"God prepares to war against you, for ye also are preparing to war +against Him. You have broken the peace ye swore to observe right and +left, and ye shall have what you want, war without and war within, so +that ye may be constrained to say: 'Enough, enough, O Lord!' and ye +shall not see the end of what you have so foolishly begun." + +Magyari already knew that Teleki, at the Diet of Szamosújvár, had +announced the impending war. + +Just at this very time two men of the patrician order in sable kalpags +were seen approaching, in whom the Klausenbergers at once recognised +Michael Teleki and Ladislaus Vajda, and so far as they were able they +made room for them to get into the church through the crowd; but the +Szekler did not recognise either of them, and when Ladislaus Vajda very +haughtily shoved him aside with his elbows, he turned upon him and said: + +"Softly, softly, sir! This is the house of God, not the house of a great +lord. Here I am just as good a man as you are." + +Those standing beside him tried to pull him aside, but it is the +peculiarity of the Szeklers that they grow more furious than ever when +people try to pacify them; and on perceiving that Ladislaus Vajda, +unable to make his way through the throng, began to look about him to +see how he best could get to his seat, the Szekler cried in front of +him: + +"Cannot you let these two gentlemen get into the church? don't you see +that the lesson is meant for them?" + +Teleki meanwhile had forced his way just over the threshold, and taking +off his kalpag, exposed his bald, defenceless head in the sight of all +the people, with his face turned in the direction indicated by the +boisterous Szekler. + +Magyari continued his fulminating discourse from the pulpit. + +"Nobody dare speak against you now, for your words are very thunderbolts +and strike down those with whom you are angry--nay, rather, men bow the +knee before you and say, 'Your Excellency! Your Excellency!' but the +judgment of the Lord shall descend upon you, the Lord will slay you, and +then men will point the finger of scorn at you and say: 'That is the +consort of the accursed one who betrayed his country!--these are the +children of that godless man!' And your descendants will blush to bear +the shameful name you have left them, for then the tongue of every man +will wag in his mouth against you, and they will cry after your +posterity: 'It was the father of those fellows who betrayed Transylvania +and plunged us into slime from which we cannot now withdraw our feet' +..." + +"Come away, your Excellency!" said Ladislaus Vajda to Teleki, whom the +parson seemed to have seen, for he turned straight towards him as he +spoke. + +"What are you thinking of?" Teleki whispered back; "the parson is +speaking the truth, but it doesn't matter." + +"Whither would ye go, ye senseless vacillators!" continued Magyari, "who +empowered you to make the men of Transylvania fugitives, their wives +widows, and their children orphans? Verily I say to you, ye shall fare +like the camel who went to Jupiter for horns and got shorn of his ears +instead." + +"It may be so," said Teleki to Vajda, "but we shall pursue our course +all the same." + +The parson saw that the Minister of State was paying attention to his +discourse, so he wrinkled his forehead, and thus proceeded: + +"When King Louis perished on the field of Mohács, the Turkish Emperor +had the dead body brought before him, and recognising at the same time +the corpse of an evil Hungarian politician lying there, he struck off +its head with his sword, and said: 'If thou hadst not been there, thou +dog! this honest child-king would not be lying dead here.' God grant +that a foreign nation may not so deal with you." + +Teleki scratched his head, and whispered: + +"It may happen to me likewise, but that makes no difference." + +Shortly afterwards another hymn was sung, the two magnates put on their +kalpags and withdrew, and the emerging crowd of people flowed along all +around them, among whom the Szekler, as recently mentioned, followed +hard upon the heels of the two gentlemen with singular persistency, +lauding to the skies before everyone, in a loud voice, the sermon he had +just heard, so as to insult the two gentlemen walking in front of him as +much as possible. + +"That was something like a sermon," he cried, "that is just how our +masters ought to have their heads washed--without too much soap. And +quite right too! Why saddle the realm with war at all? Why should +Transylvania put on a mustard plaster because Hungary has a pain in its +stomach? What has all this coming and going of foreigners to do with us? +Why should we poor Transylvanians suffer for the sake of the lean +foreigners among us?" + +Ladislaus Vajda could put up with this no longer, and turning round, +shouted at the Szekler: + +"Keep your distance, you rascal, speak like a man at any rate; don't +bark here like some mad beast when it sees a better man than itself." + +At these words the Szekler thrust his neck forward, stuck his face +beneath the very nose of the gentleman who had spoken to him, looked him +straight in the face with bright eyes that pricked like pins, and said, +twisting his moustaches fiercely: + +"Don't you try to fix any of your bastard names on me, sir, for if I go +home for my sword I will pretty soon make you a present of a head, and +that head shall be your own." + +Ladislaus Vajda would have made some reply, but Teleki pulled him by the +arm and dragged him away. + +"Nothing aggravates your Excellency," said the offended gentleman. + +"Let him growl, he'll be all the better soldier if we do have war; never +quarrel with a Szekler, my friend, for he always has a greater respect +for his own head than for anyone else's." + +And so the two gentlemen disappeared through the gates of the Prince's +palace. + + * * * * * + +The Prince himself was present at this sermon, and it produced this much +impression that he enjoined a fast upon his whole household and then +went to bed. In the night, however, he awoke repeatedly, and had so many +tormenting visions that he woke up all his pages, and it was even +necessary at last to send for the Princess herself, and only then did he +become a little calmer when she appeared at his bedside; in fact, he +kept her with him till dawn of day, continually telling her all sorts of +sad and painful things so that the Princess's cries of horror could be +heard through the door. + +In the morning, after the Princess had retired to her own apartments, +she immediately summoned to her presence Michael Teleki, who, living at +that time at the Prince's court as if it were his own home, was not very +long in making his appearance, and obeyed the command to be seated with +as much cheerful alacrity as if he had been asked to sit down at a +banquet, though well aware that a bitter cup had been prepared for him +which he must drain to the dregs. + +"Sir," said the Princess, "Apafi was very ill last night." + +"That was owing to the fast, he isn't used to such practices. Generally, +he has a good supper, and if he departs from his usual course of life he +is bound to sleep badly. Bad dreams plague an empty stomach just as much +as an overburdened one." + +"And how about an overburdened conscience, sir? I have spent the whole +night at his bedside, only this instant have I quitted him; he would not +let me leave him, he pressed my hand continually, and he talked, soberly +and wide-awake, of things which I should have thought could only have +been talked about in the delirium of typhus. He said that that night he +had stood before the judgment-seat of God, before a great table--which +was so long that he could not see the end of it--and at this table sat +the accusing witnesses, first of all Denis Banfy, and then Béldi, Dame +Béldi and their daughter, and eldest son, who died in prison; Kepi, +too, was there, and young Kornis, and old John Bethlen, and the rest of +them; all these familiar faces were before him, and as tremblingly he +approached the throne of God they all fixed their eyes upon him and +pointed their fingers at him. Sir, it was a terrible picture." + +"Does your Highness fancy that I am an interpreter of dreams?" asked +Teleki maliciously. + +"Sir, this is more than a dream--it is a vision, a revelation." + +"It may be so; the souls of the gentlemen enumerated are, no doubt, in +Heaven, and it is possible that countless other souls will follow them +thither." + +"And will the soul that shed their blood ascend thither too?" + +"Will your Highness deign to speak quite plainly--I suppose you mean me? +Of course, I am the cause of all the evils of Transylvania. Till I came +upon the scene, none but lamb-like men inhabited this state, in whose +veins flowed milk and honey instead of blood! King Sigismund, Bethlen, +Bocskai, George Rákóczy, for instance! Under them only some fifty or +sixty thousand men lost their lives in their party feuds and ambitious +struggles! Fine fellows, every one of them of course, everyone calls +them great patriots. But I, whose sword has never aimed at a self-sought +crown, I, who am animated by a great and mighty thought, a sublime idea, +I am a murderer, and responsible not only for those who have fallen in +battle, but also for those who have died quietly in their beds, if they +were not my good friends." + +"There was a time, sir, when you used every effort to prevent +Transylvania from going to war." + +"That was the very time when your Highness pleaded before the Prince for +war in the name of your exiled Hungarian kinsfolk. Other times, other +men." + +"I knew not then that such a desire would lead to the ruin of so many +great and honourable men." + +"You feared war, and yet you fanned it. He who resists a snow-storm is +swept away. Not the fate of men alone, but the fate of kingdoms also is +here in question. Apafi may console himself with the reflection that God +regards us both as far too petty instruments to lay upon our souls what +He Himself has decreed in the fullness of time, and what will and must +happen in spite of us, for the weeping and mourning which we listen to +here is also heard in Heaven. The mottoes of our escutcheons go very +well together. Apafi's is '_Fata viam inveniunt_,' mine is '_Gutta cavat +lapidem_.' Let us trust ourselves to our mottoes." + +The Princess, with folded arms, gazed out of the window and remained in +a brown study for some time. And now, as though her thoughts were +wandering far away, she suddenly sighed: "Ah! this Béldi family so +unhappily ruined, and how many more must be ruined likewise!" + +"Your Highness!" rejoined the Minister, without moving a muscle of his +face, "when, in time of drought, we pray for rain the whole day, does +anybody inquire what will become of the poor travellers who may be +caught in the downpour? Yet it may well happen that some of them may +take a chill and die in consequence." + +"I don't grasp the metaphor." + +"Well, the whole Principality is now praying for rain--a rain of blood, +I admit--and there is every sign that God will grant it. I do not mean +those signs and wonders in which the common folks believe, but those +signs of the times which rivet the attention of thinking men. Formerly +there was a large party in Transylvania which had engaged to uphold an +indolent peace, and which had so many ties, amongst the leading men both +of the Kaiser and the Sultan, that Denis Banfy could at one time boldly +tell me to my face that that Party was a hand with a hundred fingers, +which could squeeze everything it laid hold of like a sponge. And lo! +the fingers have all dropped off one by one. Denis Banfy has +perished--they say I killed him. Paul Béldi has died in prison--they say +I have poisoned him. God hath called John Bethlen also to Himself. Kapi +has died. The boldest of my enemies, Gabriel Kornis, has also died in +the flower of his youth--naturally they attribute his death to me +likewise. All those, too, who opposed war in the Diván have disappeared +one by one. Kucsuk Pasha has been shot down by a bullet at Lippa. +Kiuprile Pasha has been stifled by his own fat; and the youngest of the +Viziers, Feriz Beg, has gone mad. + +"Gone mad!" cried the Princess, covering her face with her hands; "that +noble, worthy youth who loved Transylvania so well?" + +"Do you not see the hand of God in all this?" asked the Minister. + +"No, sir," said the Princess, rising with a face full of sadness and +approaching the Minister so as to look him straight in the face while +she spoke to him, "it is your hand that I see everywhere. Denis Banfy +perished, but it was you who had him beheaded. Béldi is dead, but it was +you who drove him to despair. It was you, too, who threw his family into +prison, and only let them out when the foul air had poured a deadly +sickness into their blood. And Feriz Beg has gone mad because he loved +Béldi's daughter, and she is dead." + +"Very well, your Highness, let it be so," replied the imperturbable +Minister. "To attribute to me the direction of destiny is praise indeed. +Believe, then, that everything which happens in the council chamber of +this realm and in the heart of its members derives from me. I'll be +responsible. And if your Highness believes that that flaming comet, +which they call the Sword of God, is also in my hand--why--be it so! I +will hurl it forth, and strike the earth with it so that all its hinges +shall be out of joint." + +At that very moment the palace trembled to its very foundations. + +The Princess leaped to her feet, shrieking. + +"Ah! what was that?" she asked, as pale as death. + +"It was an earthquake, madame," replied Teleki with amazing calmness. +"There is nothing to be afraid of, the palace has very strong vaults; +but if you _are_ afraid, stand just beneath the doorway, that cannot +fall." + +On recovering from her first alarm the Princess quickly regained her +presence of mind. + +"God preserve us! I must hasten to the Prince. Will not you come too?" + +"I'll remain here," replied Teleki coolly. "We are in the hands of God +wherever we may be, and when He calls me to Him I will account to Him +for all that I have done." + +The Princess ran along the winding corridor, and, finding her husband, +took him down with her into the garden. + +It was terrible to see from the outside how the vast building moved and +twisted beneath the sinuous motion of the earth; every moment one might +fear it would fall to pieces. + +The Prince asked where Teleki was; the Princess said she had left him in +her apartments. + +"We must go for him this instant!" cried the Prince, but amongst all the +trembling faces around him he could find none to listen to his words, +for a man who fears nothing else is a coward in the presence of an +earthquake. + +Meanwhile the Minister was sitting quietly at a writing-table and +writing a letter to Kara Mustafa, who had taken the place of the dead +Kiuprile. He was a great warrior and the Sultan's right hand, who not +long before had been invited by the Cossacks to help them against the +Poles, which he did very thoroughly, first of all ravaging numerous +Polish towns, and then, turning against his confederate Cossacks, he cut +down a few hundred thousands of them and led thirty thousand more into +captivity. + +To him Teleki wrote for assistance for the Hungarians. + +Every bit of furniture was shaking and tottering around him, the windows +rattled noisily as if shaken by an ague, the very chair on which he sat +rocked to and fro beneath him, and the writing-table bobbed up and down +beneath his hand so that the pen ran away from the paper; but for all +that he finished his letter, and when he came to the end of it he wrote +at the bottom in firm characters: + +"Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinć!" + +Mustafa puzzled his brains considerably when he came to that part of the +letter containing the verse which had nothing to do with the text, which +the Minister, under the influence of an iron will struggling against +terror, had written there almost involuntarily. + +When the menacing peril had passed, and the pages had returned to the +palace, he turned to them reproachfully with the sealed letter in his +hand. + +"Where have you been? Not one of you can be found when you are wanted. +Take this letter at once, with an escort of two mounted drabants, to +Varna, for the Grand Vizier." + +And then he began to walk up and down the room as if nothing had +happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE MAD MAN. + + +In the most secret chamber of the Diván were assembled the Viziers for +an important consultation. The impending war was the subject of their +grave deliberations. For as Mohammed had said, there ought to be one God +in Heaven and one Lord on earth, so many of the Faithful believed that +the time for the accomplishment of this axiom had now arrived. + +Those wise men of the empire, those honourable counsellors, Kucsuk and +Kiuprile, were dead. Kara Mustafa, an arrogant, self-confidant man, +directed the mind of the Diván, and everyone followed his lead. + +The Sultan himself was present, a handsome man with regular features, +but with an expression of lassitude and exhaustion. During the whole +consultation he never uttered a word nor moved a muscle of his face; he +sat there like a corpse. + +One by one the ambassadors of the Foreign Powers were admitted. The +orator of Louis XIV. declared that the French King was about to attack +the Kaiser with all his forces; if the Sultan would also rise up against +him, he would be able to seize not only all Hungary but Vienna likewise. + +The Sultan was silent. The Grand Vizier, answering for him, replied that +Hungary had long since belonged to the Sultan, and no doubt Vienna and +Poland would shortly share the same fate. The Sultan could only suffer +tributary kings on the earth. + +The ambassador drew a somewhat wry face at these words, reflecting that +France also was on the earth; then he withdrew. + +After him came the envoys of Emeric Tököly, offering the blood and the +swords of the Hungarian malcontents to the Sultan if he would help them +to win back Hungary. + +This time the Sultan replied instead of Mustafa. + +"The Grand Seignior greets his servants, and will be gracious to them if +they will help him to win back Hungary." + +The envoys noticed that their words had ingeniously been twisted, but as +they also had their own _arričre-pensées_ in regard to the Turks, they +only looked at each other with a smile and withdrew. + +Then came the Transylvanian embassy--gentle, mild-looking men, whose +orator delivered an extraordinarily florid discourse. His Highness, +Michael Apafi, they said, and all the estates of Transylvania, were +ready to draw their swords for the glory of the Grand Seignior and +invade Hungary. + +Mustafa replied: + +"The Grand Seignior permits you to help your comrades in Hungary." + +The orator would like to have heard something different--for example, +that the crown of Hungary was reserved for Michael Apafi, the dignity of +Palatine for Teleki, etc., etc., and there he stood scratching his ear +till the Grand Vizier told him he might go. + +Ha, ha! the Turkish policy was written in Turkish. + +After the foreign envoys came the messengers from the various pashas and +commandants in Hungary, who brought terrible tidings of raids, +incursions, and outrages on the part of the Magyar population against +the Turks. The Grand Vizier exclaimed angrily at every fresh report, +only the Sultan was silent. Last of all came the ulemas. + +On their decisions everything depended. + +Very solemnly they appeared before the Diván. First of all advanced the +Chief Mufti in a long mantle reaching to his heels, and with a large +beehive-shaped hat upon his head; his white beard reached to his girdle. +After him came two imams, one of whom carried a large document in a +velvet case, whose pendant seal swung to and fro beneath its long golden +cord; the other bent beneath the weight of an enormous book--it was the +Alkoran. + +The Alkoran is a very nice large book, larger than our _corpus juris_ of +former days, and in it may be found everything which everyone requires: +accusatory, condemnatory, and absolvatory texts for one and the same +thing. + +The Mufti presented the Alkoran to the Sultan and all the Viziers in +turn, and each one of them kissed it with deep reverence; then he +beckoned to one of the imams to kneel down on a stool before the Diván +and remain there resting on his hands and knees, and placing the Koran +on his back, began to select expressly marked texts. + +For seventy years he had thoroughly studied the sacred volume, and could +say that he had read it through seven hundred and ninety-three times. +He, therefore, knew all its secrets, and could turn at once to the leaf +on which the text he wanted to read aloud could be found. + +"The Alkoran saith," he read with unctuous devotion, "'the knot which +hath been tied in the name of Allah the hand of Allah can unloose!' The +Alkoran saith moreover: 'Wherever we may be, and whatever we may be, +everywhere we are all of us in the hand of Allah.' Therefore this treaty +of peace is also in the hand of Allah, and the hand of Allah can unloose +everything. Furthermore, the Alkoran saith: 'If any among thy suffering +father's children implore help from thee, answer him not: come to me +to-morrow, for my vow forbids me to rise up to-day; or, if any ask an +alms of thee answer him not: to-day it cannot be, for my vow forbids me +to touch money; or, if anyone beg thee to slay someone, answer him not: +to-morrow I will help thee, for my vow forbids me to draw the sword +to-day; verily the observance of thy vow will be a greater sin to thee +than its violation.' Moreover, thus saith the Alkoran: 'The happiness of +the nations is the first duty of the rulers of the earth, yet the glory +of Allah comes before it.' And finally it is written: 'Whoso formeth a +league with the infidel bindeth himself to wage war upon Allah, yet +vainly do the nations of the earth bind themselves together that they +may live long, for let Allah send his breath upon them and more of them +are destroyed in one day than in ten years of warfare: kings and +beggars--it is all one.'" + +At each fresh sentence the viziers and the ulemas bowed their heads to +the ground. Mustafa could not restrain a blood-thirsty smile, which +distorted his face more and more at each fresh sentence, and at the last +word, with a fanatical outburst, he threw off the mask altogether, and +with a howl of joy kissed repeatedly the hem of the Chief Mufti's +mantle. + +The Mufti then unclasped the velvet case which contained the treaty of +peace, and drawing forth the parchment, which was folded fourfold, he +unfolded it with great ceremony, and placing it in the hands of the +second imam that he might hold it spread open at both ends, he exhibited +the document to the viziers. + +It was a long and beautiful script. The initial letter was as big as a +painted castle and wreathed around with a pattern of birds and flowers. +The whole of the first line of it was in ultramarine letters, the other +lines much smaller on a gradually diminishing scale, and whenever the +name of Allah occurred, it was written in letters of gold. The Sultan's +name was always in red, the Kaiser's in bright green letters. At the +foot of it was the fantastic flourish which passed for the Sultan's +signature, which he would never have been able to write, but which was +always engraved on the signet ring which he wore on his finger. + +"Lo! here is the treaty," said the Mufti, pointing to the document, +"from which, by the command of Allah, I will now wash off the writing." + +Thereupon he drew across the document a large brush which he had +previously dipped into a large basin of water in which sundry chemicals +had been dissolved, and suddenly the writing began to fade away, the +Sultan's name written in red letters disappeared instantly from the +parchment, then the lines written in black ink visibly grew dimmer. The +Kaiser's name written in bright green letters resisted more obstinately, +but at last these also vanished utterly, and nothing more remained on +the white parchment but the name of God written in letters of gold--the +corrosive acid was powerless against that. + +Deep silence prevailed in the Diván, every eye was fixed with pious +attention on the bleaching script. + +Then, seizing a drawn sword, the Mufti raised it aloft and said: + +"Having wiped away the writing which cast dishonour on the name of +Allah, I now cut this document in four pieces with the point of my +sword." + +And speaking thus, and while the imam stretched the parchment out with +both hands, the Mufti cut it into four pieces with the sword he held in +his hand, and placing the fragments in a pan, filled it up with naptha +from a little crystal flask. + +"Lo! now I burn thee before the face of Allah!" + +Then he passed an ignited wax taper over the pan, whereupon the naptha +instantly burst into flame, and the fragments of the torn document were +hidden by the blue fire and the white smoke. Presently the flame turned +to red, the smoke subsided, and the parchment was burnt to ashes. + +"And now I scatter thy ashes that thou mayst be dispersed to nothing," +said the Mufti; and, taking the ashes, he flung them out of the palace +window. The burnt paper rags, like black butterflies, descended gently +through the air and were cast by the wind into the Bosphorus below. + +No sooner was this accomplished than the pashas and viziers all leaped +from their seats and drew their swords, swearing with great enthusiasm +by the beard of the Prophet that they would not return their weapons to +their sheaths till the crescent should shine on the top of the tower of +the Church of St. Stephen at Vienna. + +At that moment the door-curtains were thrust aside, and into the Diván +rushed--Feriz Beg. + +The face of the youth was scarce recognisable, his turban was awry upon +his forehead, his eyes, full of dull melancholy, stared stonily in front +of him, his dress was untidy and dishevelled, his sword was girded to +his side, but its handle was broken. Nobody had prevented him from +rushing through the numerous halls into the Diván, and when he entered +the ulemas parted before him in holy horror. When the youth reached the +middle of the room, he stood there glancing round upon the viziers with +folded arms, just as if he were counting how many of them there were, +one by one they all stood up before him--nay, even the Sultan did so, +and awaited his words tremblingly. + +Everyone in the East regards the insane with awe and reverence, and if a +crazy fakir were to stop the greatest of the Caliphs in the way and say +to him: "Dismount from thy horse, and change garments with me," he would +not dare to offer any opposition, but would fulfil his desire, for a +strange spirit is in the man and God has sent it. + +How will it be then when the terrible spirit of madness descends upon +such a valiant warrior, such a distinguished soldier as Feriz Beg, who, +when only six-and-twenty, had fought a hundred triumphant battles, and +frequently put to shame the grey beards with his wisdom. And lo! +suddenly he goes mad, and stops people in the street, and speaks such +words of terror to them that they cannot sleep after it. + +The youth, with quiet, gentle eyes and a sorrowful countenance passes in +review the faces of all who are present, and heartrending was the +expression of deep unutterable anguish in his voice when he spoke. + +"Pardon me, high and mighty lords, for appearing among you without an +invitation--I who have now no business at all in the world anywhere. The +world in which I lived is dead, it has withdrawn to Heaven far from me; +all those who possessed my heart are now high above my head, and now, I +have no heart and no feeling: neither love, nor valour, nor the desire +of fame and glory; in my veins the blood flows backwards and forwards so +that oftentimes I rush roaring against the walls round about me and tear +carpets and pillows which have never offended me; and now again the +blood stands still within me, my arteries do not beat at all, so that I +lie stiff and staring like a dead man. I beg you all, ye high and mighty +lords, who in a brief time will go to Paradise, to take a message from +me thither." + +The high lords listened horror-stricken to the calm way in which the +youth uttered these words, and they saw each other's faces growing pale. + +Feriz paid no attention to their horrified expressions. + +"Tell to them whom I love, and with whom my heart is, to give me back my +heart, for without it I am very poor. I perceive not the fragrance of +the rose, wine is not sweet to my lips, neither fire nor the rays of the +sun have any warmth, and the note of the bugle-horn and the neighing of +my charger find no response in me. High and mighty lords, tell this to +those who are above if I myself go not thither shortly." + +There were present, besides Mustafa, Rezlán Pasha, Ajas Beg, Rifát Aga, +Kara Ogli the Kapudan Pasha, and many more who promised themselves a +long life. + +The Grand Seignior had always made a particular favourite of Feriz, and +he now addressed him in a gentle, fatherly voice. + +"My dear son, go back home; my viziers are preparing to subdue the +world with unconquerable armies. Go with them, in the din of battle thou +wilt find again thy heroic heart and be cured of thy sickness." + +An extraordinary smile passed across the face of Feriz, he waved aside +the idea with his hand and bent his head forwards, which is a way the +Turks have of expressing decided negation. + +"This war cannot be a triumphant war, for men are the cause thereof. +Allah will bring it to nought. Ye draw the sword at the invitation of +murderers, deceivers, and traitors. I have broken the hilt of my own +sword in order that I may not draw it forth. They have killed those whom +I love, how can I fight in that army which was formed for them who were +the occasion of the ruin of my beloved?" + +At this thought the blood flew to the youth's face, the spirit of +madness flamed up in his eyes, he rose to his full height before the +Sultan, and he cried with a loud, audacious voice: + +"Thou wilt lose the war for which thou dost now prepare, for thy viziers +are incapable, thy soldiers are cowards, thy allies are traitors, thy +wise men are fools, thy priests are hypocrites, and thou thyself art an +oath-breaker." + +Then, as if he were suddenly sorry of what he had said to the Sultan, he +bent humbly over him and taking hold of the edge of his garment raised +it up and kissed it--and then, regarding him with genuine sympathy, +murmured softly: + +"Poor Sultan!--so young, so young--and yet thou must die." + +And thereupon, with hanging head, he turned away and prepared to go out. +None stayed him. + +On reaching the door, he fumbled for his sword, and perceiving when he +touched it that the hilt was missing, he suddenly turned back again, and +exclaimed in a low whisper: + +"Think not that it will rust in its sheath. The time will come when I +shall again draw it, and it will drink its fill of blood. When those +who now urge us on to war shall turn against us, when those who now +stand in line with us shall face us with hostile banners, then also will +I return, though then ye will no longer be present. But ye shall look on +from Paradise above. So it will be: ye shall look on ... Poor young +Sultan!" + +Having whispered these prophetic words, the mad youth withdrew, and the +gentlemen in the Diván were so much disturbed by his words that, with +faces bent to the earth, they prayed Allah that He would turn aside from +them the evil prophesy and not suffer to be broken asunder the weapons +they had drawn for the increase of His glory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +PLEASANT SURPRISES. + + +All the chief generals, all the border pashas, had received the Sultan's +orders to gather their hosts together and lead them against the armies +of the King of the Romans, and besiege the places which were the pretext +of the rupture--to wit, the fortresses of Fülek, Böszörmény, and Nagy +Kallá. + +At the same time the Government of Transylvania also received permission +to attack Hungary with its armies, as had already been decided at the +Diet of Szamosújvár. + +Vast preparations were everywhere made. The Magyar race is very hard to +move to war, but once in a quarrel it does not waste very much time in +splitting straws. + +Teleki, too, had attained at last to the dream of his life and the +object of all his endeavours, for which he had knowingly sacrificed his +own peace of mind, and the lives of so many good patriots--he was the +generalissimo of the armies of Transylvania. + +The Hungarian exiles in Transylvania hailed him as their deliverer, and +he saw himself a good big step nearer to the place of Esterházy--the +place of Palatine of Hungary. And why not? Why should he not stand among +the foremost statesmen of his age? + +All the way to the camp at Fülek he was the object of flattery and +congratulation; the Hungarians gathered in troops beneath his banner, +colonels and captains belauded him. As for the worthy Prince, he did +not show himself at all, but sat in his tent and read his books, and +when he felt tired he took his watch to pieces and put it together +again. + +At Fülek the Transylvanian army joined the camp of Kara Mustafa. + +Teleki dressed up the Prince in his best robes, and trotted with him and +his suite to the tent of the Grand Vizier with growing pride when he +heard the guards blow their trumpets at their approach, and the Grand +Vizier as a special favour admitted them straightway to his presence, +allowed them to kiss his hand, made the magnates sit down, and praised +them for their zeal and fidelity, giving each of them a new caftan; and +when they were thus nicely tricked out, he dismissed them with an escort +of an aga, a dragoman, and twelve cavasses to see the whole Turkish camp +to their hearts' content. + +Teleki regarded this permission as a very good omen. Turkish generals +are wont to be very sensitive on this point, and it is a great favour on +their part when they allow foreigners to view their camps. + +The dragoman took the Hungarian gentlemen everywhere. He told them which +aga was encamped on this hill and which on that, how many soldiers made +up a squadron of horse, and how many guns, and how many lances were in +every company. He pointed out to them the long pavilion made of deal +boards in which the gunpowder lay in big heaps, and gigantic cannon +balls were piled up into pyramids, and round mortars covered with pitchy +cloths, and gigantic culverines, and siege-guns, and iron howitzers lay +on wooden rollers. The accumulated war material would have sufficed for +the conquest of the world. + +The gentlemen sightseers returned to their tents with the utmost +satisfaction, and, overjoyed at what he had seen, the Prince gave a +great banquet, to which all the Hungarian gentlemen in his army were +also invited. The tables were placed beneath a quickly-improvised +baldachin; and at the end of an excellent dinner the noble feasters +began to make merry, everyone at length saw his long-deferred hopes on +the point of fulfilment, and none more so than Michael Teleki. + +One toast followed another, and the healths of the Prince and of Teleki +were interwoven with the healths of everyone else present, so that +worthy Apafi began to think that it would really be a very good thing if +he were King of Hungary, while Teleki held his head as high as if he +were already sitting in the seat of the Palatine. + +Just when the revellers were at their merriest, a loud burst of martial +music resounded from the plain outside, and a great din was audible as +if the Turkish armies were saluting a Prince who had just arrived. + +The merry gentry at once leaped from their seats and hurried to the +entrance of the tent to see the ally who was received with such +rejoicing, and a cry of amazement and consternation burst from their +lips at the spectacle which met their eyes. + +Emeric Tököly had arrived at the head of a host of ten thousand Magyars +from Upper Hungary. His army consisted of splendid picked warriors on +horseback, hussars in gold-braided dolmans, wolf-skin pelisses, and +shakos with falcon feathers. Tököly himself rode at the head of his host +with princely pomp; his escort consisted of the first magnates of +Hungary, jewel-bedizened cavaliers in fur mantles trimmed with +swansdown, among whom Tököly himself was only conspicuous by his manly +beauty and princely distinction. + +The face of Teleki darkened at the sight, while the faces of all who +surrounded him were suddenly illuminated by an indescribable joy, and +their enthusiasm burst forth in _eljens_ of such penetrating enthusiasm +at the sight of the young hero that Teleki felt himself near to +fainting. + +Ah! it was in a very different voice that they had recently cried +"_Viva!_" to him, it was a very different sort of smile with which they +had been wont to greet _him_. + +Meanwhile Tököly had reached the front of the marshalled Turkish army, +which was drawn up in two rows right up to the pavilion of the Grand +Vizier, allowing the youth and his suite to pass through between them +amidst a ceremonious abasement of their horse-tail banners. The young +general had only passed half through their ranks when the Grand Vizier +came to meet him in a state carriage drawn by six white horses. + +From the hill on which Teleki stood he could see everything quite +plainly. + +On reaching the carriage of the Grand Vizier, Tököly leaped quickly from +his horse, whereupon Kara Mustafa also descended from his carriage, and, +hastening to the young general, embraced him and kissed him repeatedly +on the forehead, made him take a seat in the carriage beside him, and +thus conveyed him to his tent amidst joyful acclamations. + +Teleki had to look on at all this! That was very different from the +reception accorded to him and the Prince of Transylvania. + +He looked around him--gladness, a radiant smile shone on every face. Oh! +those smiles were so many dagger-thrusts in his heart! + +In half an hour's time Tököly emerged from the tent of the Grand Vizier. +His head was encircled by a diamond diadem which the Sultan had sent for +all the way to Belgrade, and in his hand was a princely sceptre. When he +remounted and galloped away close beside the tents of the +Transylvanians, the Hungarians in Teleki's company could restrain +themselves no longer, but rushed towards Tököly and covered his hands, +his feet, his garments, with kisses, took him from his horse on to their +shoulders, and carried him in their arms back to camp. + +Teleki could endure the sight no more; he fled into his tent, and, +throwing himself on his camp-bedstead, wept like a child. + +The whole edifice which he had reared so industriously, so doggedly, +amidst innumerable perils, during the arduous course of a long +life--for which he had sacrificed relations, friends, and all the great +and wise men of a kingdom, and pledged away the repose of his very +soul--had suddenly collapsed at the appearance of a mere youth, whose +only merit was the exaggerated fame of a few successful engagements! It +was the heaviest blow he had ever staggered under. Oh! Fortune is indeed +ingenious in her disappointments. + +Evening came, and still Teleki had not quitted his tent. Then the Prince +went to see him. Teleki wanted to hear nothing, but the Prince told him +everything. + +"Hearken, Mr. Michael Teleki! The Hungarian gentlemen have not come back +to us, but remain with Tököly. And Tököly also, it appears, doesn't want +to have much to do with us, for instead of encamping with us he has +withdrawn to the furthest end of the Turkish army, and has pitched his +tents there." + +Teleki groaned beneath the pain which the distilled venom of these words +poured into his heart. + +"Apparently, Mr. Michael Teleki, we have been building castles in the +air," continued Apafi with jovial frankness. "We are evidently not of +the stuff of which Kings and Palatines of Hungary are made. I cannot but +think of the cat in the fable, who pulled the chestnuts out of the fire +with the claws of others." + +Teleki shivered as if with an ague. + +Apafi continued in his own peculiar vein of cynicism: "Really, my dear +Mr. Michael Teleki, I should like it much better if we were sitting at +home, and Denis Banfy and Paul Béldi and the other wise gentlemen were +sitting beside me, and I were listening to what they might advise." + +Teleki clenched his fists and stamped his feet, as much as to say: "I +would not allow that." + +Then with a bitter smile he watched the Prince as he paced up and down +the tent, and said with a cold, metallic voice: + +"One swallow does not make a summer. If ten or twelve worthless fellows +desert to Tököly, much good may it do him! The army of the real +Hungarian heroes will not follow their example, and when it can fight +beneath the banner of a Prince it will not fling itself into the arms of +a homeless adventurer." + +"Then it would be as well if your Excellency spoke to them at once, for +methinks that this night the whole lot of them may turn tail." + +Teleki seemed impressed by these words. He immediately ordered his +drabants to go to the captains of the army collected from Hungary who +had joined Apafi at Fülek, and invite them to a conference in his tent +at once. + +The officers so summoned, with a good deal of humming and hahing, met +together in Teleki's tent, and there the Minister harangued them for two +good hours, proving to demonstration what a lot of good they might +expect from cleaving to Apafi, and what a lot of evil if they allowed +themselves to be deluded by Tököly, till the poor fellows were quite +tired out and cried: "Hurrah!" in order that he might let them go the +sooner. + +But that same night they all fled to the camp of Tököly. None remained +with Apafi but his faithful Transylvanians. + +But even now Teleki could not familiarise himself with the idea of +playing a subordinate part here, but staked everything on a last, +desperate cast--he went to the Grand Vizier. He announced himself, and +was admitted. + +The Grand Vizier was alone in his tent with his dragoman, and when he +saw Teleki he tried to make his unpleasant face more repulsive than it +was by nature, and inquired very viciously: "Who art thou? Who sent thee +hither? What dost thou want?" + +"I, sir, am the general of the Transylvanian armies, Michael Teleki; you +know me very well, only yesterday I was here with the Prince." + +Just as if the two speakers did not understand each other's language, +the dragoman had to interpret their questions and answers. + +"I hope," replied the Grand Vizier, "thou dost not expect me to +recognise at sight the names of all the petty princes and generals whom +I have ever cast eyes on? My master, the mighty Sultan, has so many +tributary princes in Europe, Asia, and Africa, that their numbers are +incalculable, and all of them are superior men to thee, how canst thou +expect me to recognise thee among so many?" + +Teleki swallowed the insult, and seeing that the Grand Vizier was +anxious to pick a quarrel with him, he came straight to the point. + +"Gracious sir, I have something very important to say to you if you will +grant me a private interview." + +The Grand Vizier pretended to fly into a rage at these words. + +"Art thou mad or drunk that thou wouldst have a private interview with +me, although I don't understand Hungarian and thou dost not understand +Turkish, or perchance thou wouldst like me to learn Hungarian to please +thee? Ye learn Latin, I suppose, though no living being speaks it? And +ye learn German and French and Greek, yet ye stop short at the language +of the Turks, though the Turks are your masters and protectors! For a +hundred and fifty years our armies have passed through your territories, +yet how many of you have learned Turkish? 'Tis true our soldiers have +learnt Hungarian, for thy language is as sticky as resin on a growing +tree. Therefore, if thou art fool enough to ask me for a private +interview--go home and learn Turkish first!" + +Teleki bowed low, went home and learnt Turkish--that is to say, he +packed up a couple of thousand thalers in a sack--and, accompanied by +two porters to carry them, returned once more to the tent of the Grand +Vizier. + +And now the Grand Vizier understood everything which the magnate wished +to say. The dragoman interpreted everything beautifully. He said the +Sultan was building a fortress on the ice when he entrusted the fate of +the Hungarians to such a flighty youth as Emeric Tököly. How could a +young man, who was such a bad manager of his own property, manage the +affairs of a whole kingdom? And so fond was he of being his own master, +that he suffered himself to be exiled from Transylvania with the loss of +all his property rather than submit to the will of his lawful Prince. +The man who had already rebelled against two rulers would certainly not +be very loyal to a third; while Apafi, on the other hand, had all his +life long been a most faithful vassal of the Sublime Porte, and, modest, +humble man as he was, would be far more useful than Tököly, whom the +Porte would always be obliged to help with men and money, whereas the +latter would always be able to help with men and money the Porte and its +meritorious viziers--_uti figura docet_. + +Mustafa listened to the long oration, took the money, and replied that +he would see what could be done. + +Teleki was not quite clear about the impression his words had made, but +he did not remain in uncertainty for long; for scarcely had he reached +the tent of the Prince than a defterdar with twelve cavasses came after +him, and signified that he was commanded by the Grand Vizier immediately +to seize Michael Teleki, fling him into irons, and bring him before a +council of pashas. + +Michael Teleki turned pale at these words. The faithless dragoman had +told everything to Tököly, who had demanded satisfaction from the Grand +Vizier, who, without the least scruple of conscience, was now ready to +present to another the head of the very man from whom he had accepted +presents only an hour before. + +The magnate now gave himself up for lost, but the Prince approached him, +and tapping him on the shoulder, said: + +"If I were the man your Excellency is pleased to believe me and make +other people believe too--that is to say, a coward yielding to every +sort of compulsion--in an hour's time your Excellency would not have a +head remaining on your shoulders. But everyone shall see that they have +been deceived in me." + +Then, turning towards the defterdar, he said to him in a firm, +determined voice: + +"Go back to your master, and say to him that Michael Teleki is the +generalissimo of my armies and under my protection, and at the present +moment I have him in my tent. Let anyone therefore who has any complaint +against him, notify the same to me, and I will sit in judgment over him. +But let none dare to lay a hand upon him within the walls of my tent, +for I swear by the most Holy Trinity that I will break open the head of +any such person with my cudgel. I would be ready to go over to the enemy +with my whole army at once rather than permit so much as a mouse +belonging to my household to be caught within my tent by a foreign cat, +let alone the disgrace of handing over my generalissimo!" + +The defterdar duly delivered the message of the enraged Prince to the +Grand Vizier. Emeric Tököly was with him at the time, and the two +gentlemen on hearing the vigorous assertion of the Prince agreed that +after all Michael Apafi was really a very worthy man, and sending back +the defterdar, instructed him to say with the utmost politeness and all +due regard for the Prince that so long as Michael Teleki remained in the +Prince's tent not a hair of his head should be crumpled; but he was to +look to it that he did not step out of the tent, for in that case the +cavasses who were looking out for him would pounce upon him at once and +treat him as never a Transylvanian generalissimo was treated before; and +now, too, he had only the Prince to thank for his life. + +Teleki was annihilated. Nothing could have wounded his ambitious soul so +deeply as the consciousness that the Prince was protecting him. To +think that this man, whom the whole kingdom regarded as cowardly and +incapable, could be great when he himself had suddenly become so very +small! His nimbus of wisdom, power, and valour had vanished, and he saw +that the man whom he had only consulted for the sake of obtaining his +signature to prearranged plans was wiser and more powerful and more +valiant than he. + +Peering through the folds of the tent he could see that, faithful to the +threatening message, the cavasses were prowling around the tent and +telling the loutish soldiers that if Teleki stepped out they would seize +him forthwith. The Szeklers laughed and shouted with joy thereat. + +Then the magnate began to reflect whether it would not be best if he +drew his sword, and rushing out, slash away at them till he himself were +cut to pieces. + +What a ridiculous ending that would be! + +Towards evening Emeric Tököly paid a visit to the Prince. He approached +the old man with the respect of a child, did obeisance, and would have +kissed his hand, but Apafi would not permit it, but embraced him, kissed +him on the forehead repeatedly, and made him sit down beside him on the +bear-skin of his camp-bed. + +The young leader feelingly begged the old man's pardon for all the +trouble that he had caused him and Transylvania. + +"It is I who ought to beg pardon of your Excellency," said Apafi in a +submissive voice. + +"Not at all, your Highness and dear Father. I know that you have always +loved me, but evil counsellors have whispered such scandalous things to +you about me that you were bound to hate me--but God requite them for it +if I cannot." + +"Be magnanimous towards them, my dear son; forgive them, for my sake." + +Tököly was silent. He knew that Teleki was in the tent, he saw him, but +he would not take any notice of him. At last, without even looking +towards him, he said, in the most passionate, threatening voice: + +"Look, ye, Teleki, you have practised all sorts of devices against me, +but if you put your nose outside the tent of the Prince you will eat his +bread no more. You would be in my power now, and here your head would +lie, but for his Highness whom I look upon as a father." + +Michael Teleki was silent, but future events were to prove that he had +heard very well what was now spoken. + +After surrendering the fortress of Fülek to the Turks, the Transylvanian +gentlemen returned home with their army; and Michael Teleki, when he got +home, paid a visit to the church where lay the ashes of Denis Banfy, and +hiding his face on the tomb, he wept bitterly over the noble patriot +whom he had sacrificed to his ambitious plans. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL. + + +One blow followed hard upon another. + +In the following year the Sultan assembled a formidable host against +Vienna, and the Transylvanian bands also had to go. Teleki would have +avoided the war, but his representations and pretexts fell not upon +listening ears. They asked him why he, who had hitherto urged on the +campaign, wanted to withdraw from it now that it was in full swing? If +he had liked the beginning, the end also should please him. + +But the end was exceedingly bitter. + +The formidable host surrounding Vienna was scattered in a single night +by the heroic sword of Sobieski, the gigantic military enterprise was +ruined. + +The Transylvanian forces took no part in these operations. During the +siege of Vienna they had been left at Raab, and Teleki did not let the +opportunity pass. While the stupid Turks were fighting in the trenches, +he entered into communication with the German commander at Raab and +attached himself to the winning side. + +Everything which the insane Feriz had prophesied in the Diván was +literally fulfilled. + +The Turkish armies were everywhere routed. They lost the fortresses of +Grand Visegrad and Érsekújvár one after the other. The fortress of +Nograd was struck by lightning, which fired the powder-magazine and blew +up the garrison. Finally Buda was besieged and captured in the sight of +the Grand Vizier, and after a domination of one hundred and fifty years, +the half-moons were hauled down from the bastions and crosses +re-occupied their places. + +And all those who were present at the Diván fulfilled, one by one, the +prophecy that they should see Paradise before long. + +Rislán Pasha fell beneath the walls of Buda at the head of the +Janissaries, the Vizier of Buda was throttled by order of Kara Mustafa +after the battle was lost, Rifa Aga was drowned in the Danube among the +fugitives, Kara Ogli fell defending the ramparts of Buda, Tököly killed +Ajas Pasha at the Sultan's command; and, after the fall of Buda, Olaj +Beg brought to Kara Mustafa for his own use the silken cord and the +purple purse. It was the last purse which Kara Mustafa ever saw, for +after his decapitation his head was put inside it. + +And, finally, the people of Stambul, maddened by so many losses and +reinforced by the rebellious Janissaries, rushed upon the Seraglio, cut +down the counsellors of the Sultan, and threw the Sultan himself into +the same dungeon in which he had let his own brother languish for +thirty-nine years. The brother was now set on the throne, and the +dethroned Sultan died in the dungeon. + +And this also was fulfilled that those who had stirred up the Turks to +begin the war turned against them at the end of it. Transylvania +deposited its oath of homage in the hands of Caraffa, and Michael +Teleki, who became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, opened the gates of +the towns and fortresses to German garrisons. The Prince paid the +victors thirteen thousand florins, which it took heavy wagons two weeks +to convey from Fogaras to Nagyszeben. But Michael Teleki, in addition to +his countly escutcheon, got a present of a silver table service which +cost ten thousand florins. So Transylvania became imperial territory, +and its alliance with the Porte was dissolved. + +And then it was that God called to Himself the last lovable figure in +our history, the virtuous and magnanimous Anna Bornemissza. + +Only after her death did Apafi feel what his wife had been to him, his +guardian-angel, his consoler in all his sorrows, the brightest part of +his life, and when that light set, everything around him was doubly +dark. Every misfortune, every trouble, now weighed doubly heavy on his +mind and heart; he had no longer any refuge against persecuting sorrow. +He fled from one town to another like a hunted wild beast which can find +no refuge from the dart which transfixes it. At last he barricaded +himself in his room, which he did not quit for six weeks; and if +visitors came to see him he complained to them like a child: + +"I am starving to death. I have lost everything. It is a year since I +got a farthing from my estates or my mines or my salt-works. If the +farrier comes I cannot pay him his bill for my mantle, for I haven't got +a stiver. What will become of my son when I am gone, poor little Prince? +There's not enough to send him to school." + +He began to get quite crazy, and could neither eat, drink, nor sleep. +The whole day he would stride up and down his room, and utter strange +things in a loud voice. What troubled him most was that he must die of +hunger. + +At last those about him hit upon a remedy. Every day they laid purses of +money before him and said: "This sum Stephen Apor has sent from your +property, and that amount Paul Inezedi has collected from your +salt-works. Why should your Highness be anxious when there is such lots +of money?" + +And the next day they presented the same purses to him over again, and +invented some fresh story. And this simple deceit somewhat pacified the +poor old man, but the old worries had so affected his mind, never very +strong at any time, that he could never recover his former spirits. He +grew duller and more stupid every day, and often when he lay down he +would sleep a couple of days at a stretch. + +And at last the Almighty had mercy upon him and called him away from +this vale of tears; and he went to that land where the Turks plunder +not, and there is no warfare. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD. + + +The German armies were now in complete possession of Transylvania, the +Turks were everywhere driven back and trampled down, the hereditary +Prince of Bavaria took Belgrade by storm and put twelve thousand +Janissaries to the edge of the sword. Thus the gate of the Turkish +Empire was broken open, and the victoriously advancing host, under the +Prince of Baden, crushed the remains of the Turkish army at Nish. Then +Bulgaria and Albania were subjugated, the sea shore was reached, and +only the Hćmus Mountains stood between the invaders and Stambul. + +The deluge left nothing untouched, even little Wallachia, whose +fortunate situation, wild mountains, and villainous roads had hitherto +saved it from invasion, saw the approach of the conquering banners. + +Old S---- was still the Prince, and he now gave a brilliant example of +the dexterity of Wallachian diplomacy, which at the same time +illustrates the simplicity of his character. + +The armies invading Wallachia were entrusted to the care of General +Heissler, who consequently wrote to Prince S---- informing him that he +was advancing on Bucharest through the Transylvanian Alps with ten +thousand men, therefore he was to provide winter quarters and provisions +for his army, as he intended to winter there. + +At exactly the same time the Tartar Khan gave the Prince to understand +that he intended to invade Moldavia in order that he might follow the +movements of the Transylvanian army close at hand. + +The Prince liked the one proposition as little as the other, so he sent +the Tartar Khan's letter to General Heissler bidding him beware, as a +great force was coming against him, and he sent Heissler's letter to the +Tartar Khan advising him in a friendly sort of way not to move too far +as Heissler was now advancing in his rear. + +Consequently both armies turned aside from the Principality, and +Wallachia had to support neither the Germans nor the Tartars. + +This is the diplomacy of little states. + + * * * * * + +Amidst the wildly romantic hills of Lebanon is a pleasant valley for +which Nature herself has a peculiar preference. Amidst the gigantic +mountains which encircle a vast hollow on every side of it, rises a +roundish mound. On level ground it would be accounted a hill, but in the +midst of such a range of snowy giants it emerges only like a tiny heap +of earth, and to this day nothing grows on it but the cedar--the finest, +darkest, most widely spreading specimens of that noble and fragrant tree +are here to be found. A foaming mountain stream gurgles down it on both +sides, a little wooden bridge connects the opposing banks, and in the +midst of the bridge a rock projecting from the water clings to the +mountain side. Far away among the blue forests shine forth the white +roofless little houses of the city of Edena, which, built against the +mountain side, peer forth like some card-built castle, and still farther +away through gaps in the hills the Syrian sea is visible. + +Here in former days on the heights stood the romantic and poetical kiosk +of Feriz Beg. + +The youth, with dogged persistence, continued to live for years in this +sublime solitude with the din of battle all around him. The prophecy +which he had once pronounced in the Diván was whispered abroad among +the people, ran through the army, and as every one of his sayings was +severally fulfilled, the more widely there spread in the hearts of the +soldiers the superstitious belief that till he seized his sword they +would everywhere be defeated, but when he should again appear on the +battlefield the fortune of war would turn and become favourable once +more to the Ottoman arms. + +Long ago the Diván had wished to profit by this blind belief, and +countless embassies had been sent to the youthful hermit in his solitude +announcing the fall of generals, the loss of battles, the pressure of +peril. + +Nothing could move Feriz. To all these tidings he replied: + +"Thus it must come to pass! Doves do not spring from serpents' eggs. +Your rulers are those who took it upon them to wipe out a sacred oath +from the patient pages, who tore up and burnt and scattered to the winds +the vow that was made before God, and now ye likewise shall be wiped +from the page of history and your memory shall be laden with reproaches. +Learn ye, therefore, that it is dangerous to play with the name of +Allah, and though many of you grow so high that his head touches the +Heavens--yet he is but a man, and the earth moves beneath his feet, and +presently he shall fall and perish." + +The men perceived that these words were not so bad as they seemed to be +at first sight, and after every fresh defeat, more and more of his old +acquaintances came to see him and begged and prayed him to seize his +sword once more and let himself be chosen leader of the host. + +He sternly rejected every offer. No allurement was capable of making him +change his resolution. + +"When the time comes for me to draw my sword," he said, "I will come +without asking. That time will come none the quicker for anyone's +beseeching, but come it will one day and not tarry." + +And, indeed, the advent of that time had become a matter of necessity +for the Ottoman Empire. The banners of the German Empire were waving in +the very heart of Turkey; the Poles had recovered Podolia, the Venetians +were on the Turkish islands, and at last Transylvania also broke with +the Porte and opened her fortresses to the enemies of the Padishah. + +The new Sultan collected fresh armies, military enthusiasm was +stimulated by great rewards, fresh alliances were formed, and among the +new allies the one who enjoyed the greatest confidence was Emeric +Tököly, who was proclaimed Prince of Transylvania, and orders were given +to the Tartar Khan and the Prince of Moldavia to support him with their +forces. + +Tököly, always avid of fame and glory, threw himself heart and soul into +this new enterprise, but it was only when he saw the army with which he +was to conquer Transylvania that he had misgivings. His soldiers were +good for robbing and burning, they had been used to that for a long +time, but when it came to fighting there was no power on earth capable +of keeping them together. What could he make of soldiers whose sole +knowledge of the art of warfare consisted in running backwards and +forwards, whose most sensible weapon was the dart, and who, whenever +they heard a gun go off, stuffed up their ears and bolted like so many +mice? And with these ragamuffins he was expected to fight regular, +highly-disciplined troops. + +Suddenly an idea occurred to him. He sat down and wrote a letter and +delivered it to a swift courier, enjoining him not to rest or tarry till +he had placed it in the proper hands. + +This letter was addressed to Feriz Beg. In it Tököly informed him of the +course of events in Transylvania, and it concluded thus: + +"Behold, what you prophesied has come to pass, those who began the war +along with us now continue the war against us. Remember that you held +out the promise of joining us when such a time came; fulfil your +promise." + +Feriz Beg got this letter early in the morning, and the moment after he +had read it he ordered his stableman instantly to saddle his +war-charger, he chose from among his swords those which smote the +heaviest, exchanged his grey mantle for a splendid and costly costume, +gave a great banquet to all his retainers, and bade them make merry, for +in an hour's time, he would be off to the wars. + + * * * * * + +The imperial army was making itself quite at home in Albania. Beautiful +scenery and beautiful women smiled upon the victors; there was money +also and to spare. And soon came the rumour that a gigantic Tartar host +was approaching the Albanian mountains, in number exceeding sixty +thousand. The imperial army was no more than nine thousand; but they +only laughed at the rumour, they had seen far larger armies fly before +them. The pick of the Turkish host, the Spahis, the Janissaries, had +cast down their arms before them in thousands; while it was the talk of +the bazaars that all that the Tartars were good for was to devastate +conquered territory. Besides, reinforcements were expected from Hungary, +where the Prince of Baden was encamped beneath Nándor-Fehérvár with a +numerous army. + +The leader of the Albanian forces was the Prince of Hanover. + +He was a pupil of the lately deceased Piccolomini, and though he +inherited his valour he was scarcely his equal in wisdom. + +On hearing of the approach of the Tartar army he assembled his captains +and held a council of war. The enemy was assumed to be the old mob which +used to turn tail at the first cannon-shot, and could not be overtaken +because of the superior swiftness of its horses. And indeed it was the +old mob, but a new spirit now inspired it; it followed a new leader +whom the enemy had never put to flight or beaten, and that leader was +Feriz Beg. + +Tököly's letter had speedily brought the young hero all the way from +Syria to Stambul to offer his sword and his genius to the new Sultan, +and the Sultan had charged him to lead the Tartar hordes against the +imperial army. + +When Feriz, from the top of a hill, saw the forces of the Prince of +Hanover all wedged together in a compact mass on the plain before him +like a huge living machine only awaiting a propelling hand to set it in +motion, he quickly sent the Tartars who were with him back into the +fir-woods that they might well cover their darts with the tar and +turpentine exuding from the trees, and this done, he sent them to gallop +round the Prince's camp and take up their position well within range. + +The Prince observed the movement but left them alone; oftentimes had the +Turks attempted a simple assault upon the German camp; oftentimes had +their threefold superior forces surrounded the small, well-ordered camp +and assaulted it from every side, and the Germans used always politely +to allow them to come within range of their guns and then discharge all +their artillery at once--and generally that was the end of the whole +affair. + +Feriz, however, made no assault upon them, but got his Tartars to +surround them, commanding them to set their darts on fire and discharge +them into the air so that they might fall down into the German camp. +According to this plan they could fire at the enemy at a much greater +distance off than the enemy could fire upon them, for the dart, flying +in a curve could reach further than the straight-going musket balls of +those days, and wherever it fell its sharp point inflicted a wound, +whereas the bullet was often spent before it reached its mark. + +Suddenly a flaming flood of darts darkened the air and the burning +resinous bolts fell from all sides into the crowded ranks of the +imperial army; the points of the darts fastened in the backs of the +horses, the burning drops fell upon the faces and garments of the +warriors, burning through the texture and inflicting grievous wounds; +the horses began to rear violently at this unexpected attack; the +gunners, cursing and swearing, began to discharge their guns anyhow at +the enemy; nobody paid any attention to the orders of the general, +discipline was quite at an end; the burning darts were destructive of +all military tactics, for there was no refuge from them, and every dart +struck its man. + +Then Feriz Beg blew with the trumpets, and suddenly the imperial troops +were attacked from all sides. They were unable to repel the attack in +the regular way, but intermingled with their assailants, fought man to +man. The picked German troopers quitted themselves like men, not one of +them departed without taking another with him to the next world, but the +Turks outnumbered them, and just when the Prince's army was exhausted by +the attacks of the Tartars, Feriz brought forward his well-rested +reserves, who burned with the desire to wash out the shame of former +defeats. The Prince of Hanover fell on the battle-field with the rest of +his army. Not one escaped to tell the tale. + +This was the first victory which turned the fortunes of war once more in +favour of the Turks after so many defeats. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE LAST DAY. + + +It was well known in Transylvania that the Porte had proclaimed Tököly +Prince and given into his hands armies wherewith he might invade the +Principality and conquer it, so General Heissler gave orders to the +counties and the Szeklers to rise up in defence of the realm, which they +accordingly did. + +The Hungarian forces were commanded by Balthasar Mackási and Michael +Teleki himself; the leader of the Germans was Heissler, with Generals +Noscher and Magni, and Colonel Doria under him, all of them heroic +soldiers of fortune, who, all the way from Vienna to Wallachia, had +never seen the Turks otherwise than as corpses or fugitives. + +When Tököly was approaching through Wallachia with his forces, Heissler +quickly closed all the passes, and placed three regiments at the Iron +Gates, while he himself took up a position in the Pass of Bozza, and +there pitched his camp amidst the mountains. + +The encamped forces were merry and sprightly enough, there was lots to +eat and drink of all sorts, and the Szeklers were quite close to their +wives and houses, so that they did not feel a bit homesick--only Teleki +was perpetually dissatisfied. He would have liked the forces to be +marching continually from one pass to another and sentinels to be +standing on guard night and day on every footpath which led into the +kingdom. + +The third week after the camp had been pitched at Bozza he suddenly +said to the general with a very anxious face: + +"Sir, what if Tököly were to appear at some other gate of the kingdom +while we are lying here?" + +"Every avenue is closed against him," answered Heissler. + +"But suppose he got in before we came here?" + +"The trouble then would not be how he got in but how he could get out +again." + +But Teleki wanted to show that he also knew something of the science of +warfare, so he said with the grave face of an habitual counsellor: + +"I do not think it expedient that we worthy soldiers should be crammed +up into a corner of the kingdom. In my opinion it would be much safer +if, after guarding every pass, we took up a position equi-distant +between Törcsvár and Bozza." + +Now for once Teleki was right, but for that very reason Heissler was all +the more put out. It was intolerable that a lay-general should suggest +something to him which he could not gainsay. + +And the worst of it was Teleki would not leave the general alone. "I am +participating in nothing here," said he, "make use of me, give me +something to do, and I will do it--occupation is what I want." + +"I'll give it you at once," said Heissler, and putting his arm through +Teleki's he led him to his tent, there made him sit down beside him at a +round table, sent one of the yawning guards to summon Noscher, Magni, +Doria and the other generals, made them sit down by the side of Teleki, +sat down at the table himself, and drawing a pack of cards from his +pocket, gave it to Teleki with the words: + +"Here's some occupation for you--you deal!" + +"What, sir!" burst forth Teleki, quite upset by the jest, "play at cards +when the enemy stands before us?" + +"How can we be better employed when the enemy is _not_ before us? Do you +know how to play at landsknecht?" + +"I do not." + +"Then we'll teach you." + +And they did teach him, for in a couple of hours they had won from him a +couple of hundred ducats, whereupon Teleki, on the pretext that he had +no more money, retired from the game. + +It was not the loss of a little money which vexed him so much as the +scant respect paid to his counsels. + +The other gentlemen continued the game. Heissler suddenly by a grand +coup won all the ready-money of the other generals, so that at last +there was a great heap of thalers and ducats in front of him, and his +three-cornered hat was filled to the brim with money. + +The losing party tried to console itself with jests. + +"Well, well! lucky at cards, luckless in love!" + +"Eh!" said Heissler, sweeping together his winnings, "I have only had +one love in my life, and that is on a battlefield, but there I have +always been lucky." + +At that moment a rapid galloping was heard, and after a brief parley +with the guard outside, a dusty dragoon courier entered the tent and +whispered breathlessly in Heissler's ear: + +"Tököly's advance guard is before Törcsvár, it attacked and cut down the +troops posted in the pass, only the Szeklers still hold out; if we don't +come quickly the pass will be taken." + +Heissler suddenly swept the cards from the table, and snatching up his +hat so that the money in it rolled away in every direction, he clapped +it on his head, and drawing his sword exclaimed: "To horse, gentlemen! +Quick! Towards Törcsvár! We shall arrive in good time, I know!" + +"Well! wasn't I right?" growled Teleki. + +"Oh, there's no harm done! Blow the trumpets, we must strike our tents; +let the camp fires burn, and at the third sound of the trumpet let +everyone advance towards Törcsvár. A company and a couple of mortars +will be enough to guard the pass. All right now, Mr. Michael Teleki!" + +Then he also took horse. Teleki too hastened back to his levies, and +soon the whole host was trotting on in the dark towards Törcsvár. + +It was the 19th August, such a silent summer night that not a leaf was +stirring. Against the beautiful starry sky rose the majestic snowy Alps +which encircle Transylvania within their mighty chain; everything was +still, only now and then through the melancholy night resounded the din +and bustle of the warriors hurrying towards Törcsvár. + +Here in the mountain-chasm a wide opening is visible which presently +contracts so much that two carriages can scarce advance along it +abreast. The road goes deep down between two rocks, and if a few hundred +resolute and determined men planted themselves in that place, they could +hold it against the largest armies. + +On the other side of Moldavia, looking downwards, could be seen the +camp-fires of the hosts of Tököly, who was encamped on the farther side +of the Alps, occupying a vast extent of ground. + +In front all was dark. After the first surprise caused by some hundreds +of dragoons who had penetrated into Moldavia, the Szeklers had quickly +blocked the pass by felling trees across it, retired to the mountain +summits, and received the advancing Tartars with such showers of stones +that they were compelled to desist from any further advance and turn +back again. + +Great commotion was observable in the Turkish camp. The Tartars were +roasting a whole ox on a huge spit, and cut pieces off it while it was +roasting; some jovial Wallachians, a little elated by wine, began +dancing their national dances; on a hill the Hungarian hussars were +blaring their _farogatos_, whose penetrating voices frequently pierced +the most distant recess of the snowy Alps. + +But just because the camp had begun making merry the outposts had been +carefully disposed. The leaders of the host were youths in age but +veterans in military experience; they were keeping watch for everyone. + +They met as they were going their rounds and, without observing it, +strayed somewhat from the camp and advanced without a word along a +mountain path. + +At last Feriz broke the silence by remarking gravely to Tököly: + +"Is it not desperating to see a mountain before you and not be able to +fly?" + +"Especially when your desires are on the other side of that mountain." + +"What are your desires?" said Feriz bitterly, "in comparison with mine; +you have only a thirst for glory, I have a thirst for blood." + +"But mine is a still stronger impulse," said Tököly; "I have a wife." + +"Ah! I understand, and you want to see your wife? I also should like to +see her if I am not slain. And is the lady worthy of you?" + +"One must have lived very far from this kingdom not to have heard of +her," said Tököly proudly. "My name has not given such glory to Helen as +her name has to me. When everyone in Hungary laid down their arms, and I +myself fled from the kingdom, she herself remained in the fortress of +Munkács and defended it as valiantly as any man could do. Helen stood +like a man upon the bastions amidst the whirring of the bullets and the +thunder of the guns, extinguished the bombs cast into the fortress with +huge moistened buffalo-skins, fired off the cannons against the +besiegers with her own hands, and cut down the soldiers who attempted to +storm the walls, spiked their guns, and burnt their tents." + +At this Feriz grew enthusiastic. + +"We will save this brave woman; is she still defending herself?" + +"No. My chief confidant--a man whom I trusted would carry out my ideas, +a man whom I found a beggar and made a gentleman--betrayed her, and they +now hold her captive. Believe me, Feriz, if they gave her back to me I +would perchance for ever forget my dream of glory and renounce the crown +I seek, but to win her back I'll go through hell itself, and you will +see that I shall go through this mountain chain also, for though I have +not the strength to fly over it, I have the patience to crawl over it." + +Feriz Beg sighed gloomily. + +"Alas! I have no one for whose sake I might hasten into battle." + +Early next morning Tököly came over to Feriz's quarters and told him +that he had just received tidings that Heissler had arrived during the +night, having galloped without stopping through Szent Peter to Törcsvár. +Teleki, too, was with him. + +That name seemed to electrify the young Turk. + +He leapt quickly from his couch, and, seizing his sword, raised it +towards Heaven and cried with a savage expression which had never been +on his face before: "I thank thee, Allah, that thou hast delivered him +into my hands!" + +The two young generals then consulted together in private for about an +hour, after sending everyone out of their tent. Then they came forth and +reviewed their forces. Feriz selected his best Janissaries and Spahis, +Tököly the Hungarian hussars and the swiftest of the Tartars, and with +this little army, numbering about six thousand, they marched off without +saying whither. The vast camp meanwhile was intrusted to the care of the +Prince of Moldavia, who was charged to stand face to face night and day +over against the Transylvanian army, and not move from the spot. + +Meanwhile the two young leaders, with their picked band, made their way +among the hills by the dark, sylvan mountain paths, whose wilderness no +human foot had ever yet trod. Anyone looking down upon them from the +rocks above would have called their enterprise foolhardy. Now they had +to crawl down precipitous slopes on their hands and knees; now gigantic +rocks barred their way, which enclosed them within a narrow, mountainous +gorge whence there was no exit; here and there they had to cling on to +the roots of the stout shrubs growing out of the crevices of the rocks, +or pull themselves up, man by man, and horse by horse, by means of ropes +fastened to the trunks of trees. In these regions nought dwelt but +savage birds of prey, and the startled golden eagle looked down in +wonder from his stony lair at the panting, toiling host--what did such a +multitude of men seek in that desolate wilderness? + + * * * * * + +The Transylvanian gentlemen from the vantage-point of a lofty mountain +ridge watched the two opposing hosts facing each other in front of the +defiles. Now the Szeklers would burst forth from the woods on the +straying Tartars and drive them back to their tents, and now like a +disturbing swarm of wasps the Tartars and Wallachians would force the +Szeklers back to the very borders of the forest. It was great fun to +watch all this from the lofty ridge where stood Heissler, Doria, and +Teleki observing the manly sport through long telescopes. + +Suddenly the sentinels brought to Heissler a Wallachian who had given +the pickets to understand that he had brought a message from the Prince +of Wallachia to the commander-in-chief. + +"No doubt it is to tell you once more not to go into Wallachia again, +for the enemy has eaten it up," said Teleki, turning to Heissler, who +had got to the bottom of the Prince's former craftiness. "What is your +master's message?" he said, turning towards the Wallachian. + +"He sends his respects, and bids you be on your guard against Tököly, +for he has a large army and is very crafty; but instead of opposing him +in the direction of Wallachia you would do better if you saw to it that +he did not break into Transylvania, and you ought to beware of this all +the more as only three days ago he departed from the main host along +with his chief Sirdar, with a picked army of six thousand men, which has +since vanished as completely as if the earth had swallowed it up." + +"What did I say?" remarked Heissler, with a smile to Teleki. "You may go +back, my son, from whence you came," he said to the Szekler. + +But Teleki shook his head at this. + +"It is quite possible," said he, "that while we are halting here, Tököly +may issue forth somewhere behind our very backs." + +Heissler pointed at the snow-capped mountains. + +"Can anything but a bird get through those?" + +"If Tököly lead the way--yes." + +"Your Excellency has a great respect for that gentleman." + +"Truly, Mr. General, I should advise you to summon hither the regiments +left at the iron gate, and bring up some more cannons." + +Heissler did not even reply, but beckoned to him to be silent. + +At that instant a wild yell suddenly struck upon the ear of the general, +and looking back towards Zernyest he saw a large column of smoke rising +heavenwards, while the outposts came galloping up towards the camp. + +"What is that?" + +"Tököly has got through the mountains!" was the terrifying report, "the +Tartars have burnt Toháir and plundered the camp." + +"To horse, to arms, every man!" roared Heissler, and drawing his sword +leaped upon his horse. Doria, Noscher, and Magni quickly marshalled +their squadrons, Macskári quickly got together his squadrons, and +descended into the plain. + +They had scarce got into battle array when they were joined by the boyar +Balacsán, the refugee Moldavian nobleman, who kept on foot two regiments +of the Hungarians and Wallachians at his own expense. + +The cry of the ravaging Tartars was now audible close at hand in the +village of Toháir, which was blazing away under the very eyes of the +Transylvanian hosts. Balacsán's soldiers, eager for the fray, begged +leave of Heissler to drive them from the village, and rushing upon them +with a wild yell, quickly drove the Tartars back through the burning +streets; while Heissler, with the main body of the army, galloped +towards Zernyest with the greatest haste. He also succeeded in occupying +it before Tököly had reached it. + +Here the soldiers rested after their tiring gallop. Heissler distributed +wine and brandy among them, then marshalled them, and sent to the front +the military chaplains. Two Jesuits, crucifix in hand, confessed all the +German soldiers, and the Rev. Mr. Gernyeszeg preached a pious discourse +to the Calvinists. + +Meanwhile Tököly's army had advanced upon Zernyest. On one side of him +were the snowy Alps, on the other a reed-grown morass, which in the hot +days of August was quite dried up and could easily be crossed. + +As soon as the Szeklers saw the Turks, with their characteristic +pigheadedness they seized their pikes and would have rushed upon them +with their usual war-cry: "Jesus! Help, Jesus! Help!" + +Their leaders drove them back by beating them with their sword-blades, +and exhausted the whole vocabulary of abuse and condemnation before they +could prevent them prematurely from beginning the battle. + +Teleki meanwhile summoned to his side his trusty servant, and as he was +dressed in a black habit--for they were still in mourning for the +Prince--with few jewels on it, he detached his diamond aigrette and +gold chain, and adding his signet-ring to them, gave them to the servant +that he might take them before the battle to Gernyeszeg, and give them +to his daughter, Dame Michael Vay. + +The old servant would have asked why he did this, but Teleki turned away +from him and beckoned him to go away. + +Then he had his favourite charger, Kálmán, brought forth, and after +stroking its neck tenderly, trotted off to the front of his forces and +addressed them in these words: + +"My brave Transylvanians, now is the time to fight together valiantly +for glory and liberty in the service of his Imperial Majesty in order to +deliver our country, our wives and children, from Turkish bondage and +the tyranny of that evil ally of theirs, Tököly, for otherwise you and +your descendants have nought but eternal slavery to expect. Grieve not +for me if I, your general, fall on the field of battle. Behold, I bring +my white beard among you, and am ready to die." + +While he was saying these words his adjutant, Macskári, came to him and +began to explain that the Transylvanians had been placed in the rear and +were grumbling loudly at having been so set aside. + +On hearing this Teleki at once galloped up to Heissler. + +"Sir," said he, "you are a bad judge of the Hungarian temperament in +warfare if you place them in the rear; the Szekler, in particular, has a +great aptitude for the assault, but don't expect help from him if you +keep him waiting in the rear till the front ranks are broken." + +Generals, on the eve of a battle are, very naturally, somewhat impatient +of advice, especially if it be delivered by a civilian. Heissler +therefore snubbed the minister somewhat unmercifully, whereupon Teleki +galloped back to his men without saying another word. + +Meanwhile the Turkish army had slowly begun to move; on the left wing a +regiment of Tartars stealthily entered the reeds of the morass and began +to surround the right wing of the Transylvanians; but their experienced +general, perceiving their approach from the undulatory movement of the +reed-stalks, speedily ordered Doria to advance against them with six +squadrons of dragoons, whereupon Teleki also sent thirteen regiments of +Szeklers against them under Michael Henter, and soon the two stealthily +crouching hosts could be seen in collision. The Szeklers, with a wild +yell, rushed upon the Tartars, who turned tail after the first onset, +and fled still deeper among the reeds. Doria pursued them everywhere, +the discharge of the artillery fired the reeds in several places, and +they began to burn over the heads of the combatants. + +At that moment Tököly suddenly blew the trumpets and advanced into the +plain with thirty-two squadrons, who rushed upon the foe with a +sky-rending howl. There was a roll of musketry as the assailants drew +near, and nine of the thirty-two squadrons bit the dust, hundreds of +riders fell from their horses. + +But the rest did not turn back as they used to do. Feriz Beg was leading +them, they saw his sword flashing in front of them, and felt sure of +victory. + +At the moment of the firing a bullet had struck the youth in the breast; +but he regarded it not, he only saw Teleki before him, dressed in black. +He recognised him from afar, and galloped straight towards him. + +Beneath the savage assault of the Turkish horsemen the German dragoons +gave way in a moment, their ranks were scattered; against the slim darts +of the Spahis and the light csakanyis of the hussars the straight sword +and the heavy cuirass were but a poor defence. The first line was cast +back upon the second, and when General Noscher was struck down by a dart +in the forehead, the centre also was broken. + +The Szeklers simply looked on at the battle from the rear. + +"What think you, comrades," they said to one another, "if they only +brought us here to look on, wouldn't it be better to look on from yonder +hill?" + +And with that they shouldered their pikes, and without doing the +slightest harm to the Turks, went off in a body. + +The cavalry, who still had some stomach in them, on perceiving the +flight of the infantry, also suddenly lost heart, and giving their +horses the reins, scampered off in every direction. + +Heissler thus was left alone on the battle-field, and up to the last +moment strenuously endeavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day. All +in vain. Balacsán fell before his very eyes on the left wing, and +shortly afterwards, General Magni staggered towards him scarce +recognisable, for he had a fearful slash right across his head, which +covered his face with blood, and his left arm was pierced by a dart. It +was not about himself that he was anxious, however, for he grasped +Heissler's bridle and dragged him away. + +Heissler, full of desperation, fought against his own men, who carried +him from the field by force. At last he reached the top of a hillock +and, looking back, perceived one division still fighting on the +battlefield. It was the picked division of Doria who, in its pursuit of +the Tartars, had been cut off from the rest of the army, and seeing that +it was isolated had hastily formed into a square and stood against the +whole of the victorious host, fighting obstinately and refusing to +surrender. This was too much for Heissler. He tore himself loose from +his escort, and returned alone to the battlefield. A few stray horsemen +followed him, and he tried to cut his way to Doria through the +intervening hussars. + +A tall and handsome cavalier intercepted him. + +"Surrender, general, it is no shame to you. I am Emeric Tököly." + +Heissler returned no answer but galloped straight at him, and, whirling +his sword above his head, aimed a blow at the Hungarian leader. + +Tököly called to those around him to stand back. Alone he fought against +so worthy an enemy till a violent blow broke in twain the sword of the +German general, and he was obliged to surrender. + +Meanwhile Doria's division was overborne by superior forces; he himself +fell beneath his horse, which was shot under him, and was taken +prisoner. + +The rest fled. + +Michael Teleki fled likewise, trusting in his good steed Kálmán. He +heard behind him the cries of his pursuers; there was one form in +particular that he did not wish to have behind him, and it seemed to +Teleki as if he were about to see this form. + +This was the chief sirdar, Feriz Beg. Mortally wounded though he was, he +did not forget his mortal anger, and though his blood flowed in streams, +he still felt strength enough in his arm to shed the blood of his enemy. + +Suddenly Michael directed his flight towards a field of wheat, when his +horse stumbled and fell with him. + +Here Feriz Beg overtook the minister, and whirling around his sword, +exclaimed: + +"That blow is from Denis Banfy!" + +Teleki raised his sword to defend himself, but at that name his hand +shook and he received a slash across the face, whereupon his sword fell +from his hand; but he still held his hand before his streaming eyes and +only heard these words: + +"This blow is for Paul Béldi! This blow is for the children of Paul +Béldi! This blow is for Transylvania!" + +That last blow was the heaviest of all! + +Teleki sank down on the ground a corpse. + +Feriz Beg gazed upwards with a look of transport, sighed deeply, and +then drooped suddenly over his horse's neck. He was dead. + + * * * * * + +Next day when they found Teleki among the slain, and brought him to +Tököly, the young Prince cried: + +"Heh! bald head! bald head! if you had never lived in Transylvania so +much blood would not have flowed here." + +Thus the prophecy of Magyari was fulfilled. + +Then Tököly ordered the naked, plundered corpse to be clothed in +garments of his own and sent to his widow at Görgéncy. + +In exchange for the captured generals, Heissler and Doria, Tököly got +back his wife Helen. This was his greatest gain from the war. + +Both of them now sleep far away from their native land in the valley of +Nicomedia. + + +THE END. + + +_Jarrold and Sons, Limited, The Empire Press, Norwich._ + + + + + Dr. Maurus Jókai's Novels + + _The Green Book_ + _Black Diamonds_ + _Pretty Michal_ + _The Lion of Janina_ + _A Hungarian Nabob_ + _Dr. Dumany's Wife_ + _The Poor Plutocrats_ + _The Nameless Castle_ + _Debts of Honor_ + _The Day of Wrath_ + _Eyes Like the Sea_ + _Halil the Pedlar (The White Rose)_ + _'Midst the Wild Carpathians_ + _The Slaves of the Padishah._ + + + + + NEW & RECENT FICTION. + + _Crown 8vo, 6s._ + + + =The Slaves of the Padishah=, or, "The Turks in + Hungary." By MAURUS JÓKAI. + + =The Daughter of the Dawn.= By REGINALD HODDER. + Illustrated by HAROLD PIFFARD. + + ='Neath the Hoof of the Tartar=, or, "The Scourge of + God." By BARON NICHOLAS JÓSIKA. Translated by SELINA + GAYE. With Preface by R. NISBET BAIN. + + =The Golden Dwarf.= By R. NORMAN SILVER. + + =More Tales from Tolstoi.= Translated from the Russian + by R. NISBET BAIN. With Biography brought up to date. + + =Distant Lamps.= By JESSIE REUSS. + + =The Jest of Fate.= By PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR. + + =Over Stony Ways:= A Romance of Tennyson-Land. By EMILY + M. BRYANT. + + =Liege Lady.= By LILIAN S. ARNOLD. + FOURTH EDITION. + + =Tales from Tolstoi.= Translated from the Russian by R. + NISBET BAIN. With Biography of COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. + SIXTH EDITION. + + =Tales from Gorky.= Translated from the Russian of MAXIM + GORKY by R. NISBET BAIN. + + =Halil the Pedlar.= By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. + NISBET BAIN. + + =Autumn Glory.= By RENÉ BAZIN. Translated by ELLEN + WAUGH. + + LONDON: JARROLD & SONS, + 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +The advertisements were moved from the front of the book to the back. A +period was added after "Distant Lamps". + +In Chapter I, "deposited it in front of the Divan" was changed to +"deposited it in front of the Diván". + +In Chapter III, "Feriz Beg grew quiet furious at Tököly's cold repose" +was changed to "Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Tököly's cold repose". + +In Chapter IV, a quotation mark was added after "commandants of the +fortress of Szathmár". + +In Chapter V, "as to everyone of which he was able to prove" was changed +to "as to every one of which he was able to prove", "found everthing +wasted and ravaged" was changed to "found everything wasted and +ravaged", and "we are have not come here for you to pepper us" was +changed to "we have not come here for you to pepper us". + +In Chapter VI, "s ized his shaggy little horse" was changed to "seized +his shaggy little horse". + +In Chapter VII, "he had put the Szathmŕrians" was changed to "he had put +the Szathmárians", "for the Szathmŕr army" was changed to "for the +Szathmár army", "he had only required of Kŕszonyi" was changed to "he +had only required of Kászonyi", and "kept them well supplied them with +drinking-water" was changed to "kept them well supplied with +drinking-water". + +In Chapter VIII, a malformed ellipsis in "That damsel's name is Azrael +... Allah is mighty!" was corrected. + +In Chapter IX, "they ward of with their bosoms" was changed to "they +ward off with their bosoms", and "a female Ibbis" was changed to "a +female Iblis". + +In Chapter X, a quotation mark was removed before "Eh, eh! worthy Beg, +thou must needs have been drinking". + +In Chapter XI, a quotation mark was added before "the camp is now +aroused". + +In Chapter XII, "Ersekújvar" was changed to "Érsekújvár". + +In Chapter XIII, "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags, entered the +courtyard" was changed to "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags +entered the courtyard", "without stopping from Szamosujvár" was changed +to "without stopping from Szamosújvár", and "she reached Szamosujvár in +the early morning" was changed to "she reached Szamosújvár in the early +morning". + +In Chapter XIV, "the panic of Nagyened" was changed to "the panic of +Nagyenyed", and "for Béldi lives at Bodolá" was changed to "for Béldi +lives at Bodola". + +In Chapter XV, "well aquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot" was +changed to "well acquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot", "for +him it to level towns to the ground" was changed to "for him to level +towns to the ground", and a malformed ellipsis in "Mercy! ... Mercy!" +was corrected. + +In Chapter XVI, "the time when Haissar was burnt" was changed to "the +time when Hiassar was burnt", "I sware by Allah it is not to be done" +was changed to "I swear by Allah it is not to be done", "whispered in +her hear with malicious joy" was changed to "whispered in her ear with +malicious joy", "in all probabilty been helped" was changed to "in all +probability been helped", and "sorry matted coveyance" was changed to +"sorry matted conveyance". + +In Chapter XIX, a period was added after the chapter number, "Rest +to night?" was changed to "Rest to-night?", and "plunged over into the +abss" was changed to "plunged over into the abyss". + +In Chapter XX, "the muderris in his official capacity" was changed to +"the müderris in his official capacity". + +In Chapter XXI, a period was changed to a question mark after "where +have you put it", and "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyizeg" was changed +to "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyeszeg". + +In Chapter XXII, a period was changed to a comma after "shaking his +chains". + +In Chapter XXIV, "demanded an audience of the noble Danó Sôlymosi" was +changed to "demanded an audience of the noble Danó Sólymosi". + +In Chapter XXV, "You, Züfikar, my son" was changed to "You, Zülfikar, my +son", and "Körtörely, the old hound" was changed to "Körtövely, the old +hound". + +In Chapter XXVII, "Thus Aranki's letter" was changed to "Thus Aranka's +letter", a missing period was added after "as if nothing had happened", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "we cannot now withdraw our +feet". + +In Chapter XXX, "Ersekujvár" was changed to "Érsekújvár", and "During +the seige of Vienna" was changed to "During the siege of Vienna". + +In Chapter XXXI, "always arid of fame and glory" was changed to "always +avid of fame and glory". + +In Chapter XXXII, a period was added after the chapter number, and a +period was changed to a question mark after "And is the lady worthy of +you". + +The original text contained numerous inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation, frequently reflecting inconsistent Anglicization of +Hungarian names. In some cases, when the translator's preferred form was +obvious, the spelling has been modified to reflect the dominant usage or +to conform with the original Hungarian text; in many cases, where no +single spelling was obviously preferred, inconsistent spellings have +been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slaves of the Padishah, by Mór Jókai + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + +***** This file should be named 39048-8.txt or 39048-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39048/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Slaves of the Padishah + +Author: Mór Jókai + +Translator: R. Nisbet Bain + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39048] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1><i>THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH</i></h1> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 330px;"> +<img src="images/front.jpg" width="330" height="500" alt="Dr. Jókai Mór 1900" title="Dr. Jókai Mór 1900" /> +</div> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smalltext">THE</span><br /> +<span class="bigtext">Slaves of the Padishah</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext">("<i>The Turks in Hungary," being the Sequel to<br /> +"'Midst the Wild Carpathians</i>")</p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>A ROMANCE</i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smalltext">BY</span><br /> +<span class="smcap bigtext">Maurus Jókai</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>Author of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," "Black Diamonds,"<br /> +"Pretty Michal," etc.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Translated from the Sixth Hungarian Edition by<br /> +R. Nisbet Bain</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="125" height="200" alt="SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE THIRD EDITION" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center smalltext">LONDON<br /> +JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.<br /> +[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]<br /> +1903</p> + +<p class="center smalltext smcap">Authorised Version</p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>Copyright</i><br /> +<i>London: Jarrold & Sons</i></p> + + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table class="figcenter" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="chapname smalltext"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE GOLDEN CAFTAN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">MAIDENS THREE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">17</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">THREE MEN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">31</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">AFFAIRS OF STATE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE AMAZON BRIGADE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE MARGARET ISLAND</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A STAR IN HELL</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">125</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE PERSECUTED WOMAN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">OLAJ BEG</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">179</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">193</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">218</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">233</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE VICTIM</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">261</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">OTHER TIMES—OTHER MEN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">267</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE DIVÁN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">276</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE TURKISH DEATH</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">293</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE HOSTAGE</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">307</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE HUSBAND</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE FADING OF FLOWERS</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">321</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE SWORD OF GOD</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">327</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE MADMAN</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">340</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">PLEASANT SURPRISES</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">349</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">360</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE NEWLY DRAWN SWORD</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">364</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">THE LAST DAY</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">371</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p>"Török Világ Magyarországon," now englished for the first time, is a +sequel to "Az Erdély arany kora," already published by Messrs. Jarrold, +under the title of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians." The two tales, though +quite distinct, form together one great historical romance, which +centres round the weakly, good-natured Michael Apafi, the last +independent Prince of Transylvania, his masterful and virtuous consort, +Anna Bornemissza, and his machiavellian Minister, Michael Teleki, a sort +of pocket-Richelieu, whose genius might have made a great and strong +state greater and stronger still, but could not save a little state, +already doomed to destruction as much from its geographical position as +from its inherent weakness. The whole history of Transylvania, indeed, +reads like an old romance of chivalry, cut across by odd episodes out of +"The Thousand and One Nights," and the last phase of that history +(1674-1690), so vividly depicted in the present volume, is fuller of +life, colour, variety, and adventure than any other period of European +history. The little mountain principality, lying between two vast +aggressive empires, the Ottoman and the German, ever striving with each +other for the mastery of central Europe, was throughout this period the +football of both. Viewed from a comfortable armchair at a distance of +two centuries, the whole era is curiously fascinating: to unfortunate +contemporaries it must have been unspeakably terrible. Strange +happenings were bound to be the rule, not the exception, when a Turkish +Pasha ruled the best part of Hungary from the bastions of Buda. Thus it +was quite in the regular order of things for Hungarian gentlemen to join +with notorious robber-chieftains to attack Turkish fortresses; for +bandits, in the disguise of monks, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> plunder lonely monasteries; for +simple boors to be snatched from the plough to be set upon a throne; for +Christian girls, from every country under heaven, to be sold by auction +not fifty miles from Vienna, and for Turkish filibusters to plant +fortified harems in the midst of the Carpathians. Jókai, luckier than +Dumas, had no need to invent his episodes, though he frequently presents +them in a romantic environment. He found his facts duly recorded in +contemporary chronicles, and he had no temptation to be unfaithful to +them, because the ordinary, humdrum incidents of every-day life in +seventeenth century Transylvania outstrip the extravagances of the most +unbridled imagination.</p> + +<p>No greater praise can be awarded to the workmanship of Jókai than to say +that, although written half a century ago (the first edition was +published in 1853), "Török Világ Magyarországon" does not strike one as +in the least old-fashioned or out of date. Romantic it is, no doubt, in +treatment as well as in subject, but a really good romance never grows +old, and Jókai's unfailing humour is always—at least, in his +masterpieces—a sufficient corrective of the excessive sensibility to +which, like all the romanticists, he is, by temperament, sometimes +liable.</p> + +<p>Most of the characters which delighted us in "'Midst the Wild +Carpathians" accompany us through the sequel. The Prince, the Princess, +the Minister, Béldi, Kucsuk, Feriz, Azrael, and even such minor +personages as the triple renegade, Zülfikar, are all here, and remain +true to their original presentment, except Azrael, who is the least +convincing of them all. Of the new personages, the most original are the +saponaceous Olaj Beg, whose unctuous suavity always conveys a menace, +and the heroic figure of the famous Emeric Tököly, who, but for the +saving sword of Sobieski, might have wrested the crown of St. Stephen +from the House of Hapsburg.</p> + +<p class="sig">R. Nisbet Bain.</p> + +<p class="sigdate"><i>December, 1902.</i></p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="The_Slaves_of_the_Padishah" id="The_Slaves_of_the_Padishah"></a>The Slaves of the Padishah.</h2> + + +<h2 class="chapterone"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE GOLDEN CAFTAN.</span></h2> + + +<p>The S—— family was one of the richest in Wallachia, and consequently +one of the most famous. The head of the family dictated to twelve +boyars, collected hearth-money and tithes from four-and-fifty villages, +lived nine months in the year at Stambul, held the Sultan's bridle when +he mounted his steed in time of war, contributed two thousand +lands-knechts to the host of the Pasha of Macedonia, and had permission +to keep on his slippers when he entered the inner court of the Seraglio.</p> + +<p>In the year 1600 and something, George was the name of the first-born of +the S—— family, but with him we shall not have very much concern. We +shall do much better to follow the fortunes of the second born, Michael, +whom his family had sent betimes to Bucharest to be brought up as a +priest in the Seminary there. The youth had, however, a remarkably thick +head, and, so far from making any great progress in the sciences, was +becoming quite an ancient classman, when he suddenly married the +daughter of a sub-deacon, and buried himself in a little village in +Wallachia. There he spent a good many years of his life with scarce +sufficient stipend to clothe him decently, and had he not tilled his +soil with his own hands, he would have been hard put to it to find +maize-cakes enough to live upon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>In the first year of his marriage a little girl was born to him, and for +her the worthy man and his wife spared and scraped so that, in case they +were to die, she might have some little trifle. So they laid aside a few +halfpence out of every shilling in order that when it rose to a good +round sum they might purchase for their little girl—a cow.</p> + +<p>A cow! That was their very ultimate desire. If only they could get a +cow, who would be happier than they? Milk and butter would come to their +table in abundance, and they would be able to give some away besides. +Her calf they would rear and sell to the butcher for a good price, +stipulating for a quarter of it against the Easter festival. Then, too, +a cow would give so much pleasure to the whole family. In the morning +they would be giving it drink, rubbing it down, leading it out into the +field, and its little bell would be sounding all day in the pasture. In +the evening it would come into the yard, keeping close to the wall, +where the mulberry-tree stood, and poke its head through the kitchen +door. It would have a star upon its forehead, and would let you scratch +its head and stroke its neck, and would take the piece of maize-cake +that little Mariska held out to it. She would be able to lead the cow +everywhere. This was the Utopia of the family, its every-day desire, and +Papa had already planted a mulberry-tree in the yard in order that +Csákó, that was to be the cow's name, might have something to rub his +side against, and little Mariska every day broke off a piece of +maize-cake and hid it under the window-sill. The little calf would have +a fine time of it.</p> + +<p>And lo and behold! when the halfpennies and farthings had mounted up to +such a heap that they already began to think of going to the very next +market to bring home the cow; when every day they could talk of nothing +else, and kept wondering what the cow would be like, brindled, or brown, +or white, or spotted; when they had already given it its name +beforehand, and had prepared a leafy bed for it close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> to the house—it +came to pass that a certain vagabond Turkish Sheikh shot dead the elder +brother, who was living in Stambul, because he accidentally touched the +edge of the holy man's garment in the street. So the poor priest +received one day a long letter from Adrianople, in which he was informed +that he had succeeded his brother as head of the family, and, from that +hour, was the happy possessor of an annual income of 70,000 ducats.</p> + +<p>I wonder whether they wept for that cow, which they never brought home +after all?</p> + +<p>Mr. Michael immediately left his old dwelling, travelled with his family +all the way to Bucharest in a carriage (it was the first time in his +life he had ever enjoyed that dignity), went through the family +archives, and entered into possession of his immense domain, of whose +extent he had had no idea before.</p> + +<p>The old family mansion was near Rumnik, whither Mr. Michael also +repaired. The house was dilapidated and neglected, its former possessors +having lived constantly abroad, only popping in occasionally to see how +things were going on. Nevertheless, it was a palace to the new heir, +who, after the experience of his narrow hovel, could hardly accommodate +himself to the large, barrack-like rooms, and finally contented himself +with one half of it, leaving the other wing quite empty, as he didn't +know what to do with it.</p> + +<p>Having been accustomed throughout the prime of his life to deprivation +and the hardest of hard work, that state of things had become such a +second nature to him, that, when he became a millionaire, he had not +much taste for anything better than maize-cakes, and it was high +festival with him when <i>puliszka</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> was put upon the table.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">1</span></a> A sort of maize pottage.</p></div> + +<p>On the death of his wife, he sent his daughter on foot to the +neighbouring village to learn her alphabet from the cantor, and two +heydukes accompanied her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> lest the dogs should worry her on the way. +When his daughter grew up, he entrusted her with the housekeeping and +the care of the kitchen. Very often some young and flighty boyar would +pass through the place from the neighbouring village, and very much +would he have liked to have taken the girl off with him, if only her +father would give her away. And all this time Mr. Michael's capital +began to increase so outrageously that he himself began to be afraid of +it. It had come to this, that he could not spend even a thousandth part +of his annual income, and, puzzle his head as he might, he could not +turn it over quickly enough. He had now whole herds of cows, he bought +pigs by the thousand, but everything he touched turned to money, and the +capital that he invested came back to him in the course of the year with +compound interest. The worthy man was downright desperate when he +thought upon his treasure-heaps multiplying beyond all his expectations. +How to enjoy them he knew not, and yet he did not wish to pitch them +away.</p> + +<p>He would have liked to have played the grand seignior, if only thereby +to get rid of some of his money, but the rôle did not suit him at all. +If, for instance, he wanted to build a palace, there was so much +calculating how, in what manner, and by whom it could be built most +cheaply, that it scarce cost him anything at all, but then it never +turned out a palace. Or if he wanted to give a feast, it was easy enough +to select the handsomest of the boyars for his guests. Whatever was +necessary for the feast—wine, meat, bread, honey, and sack-pipers—was +supplied in such abundance from his own magazines and villages, that he +absolutely despaired to think how it was that his ancestors had not only +devoured their immense estates, but had even piled up debts upon them. +To him this remained an insoluble problem, and after bothering his head +for a long time as to what he should do with his eternally accumulating +capital, he at last hit upon a good idea. The spacious garden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +surrounding his crazy castle had, by his especial command, been planted +with all sorts of rare and pleasant plants—like basil, lavender, wild +saffron, hops, and gourds—over whom a tenant had been promoted as +gardener to look after them. One year the garden produced such gigantic +gourds, that each one was as big as a pitcher. The astonished neighbours +came in crowds to gaze at them, and the promoted ex-boyar swore a +hundred times that such gourds as these the Turkish Sultan himself had +not seen all his life long.</p> + +<p>This gave Master Michael an idea. He made up his mind that he would send +one of these gourds to the Sultan as a present. So he selected the +finest and roundest of them, of a beautiful flesh-coloured rind, +encircled by dark-green stripes, with a turban-shaped cap at the top of +it, and, boring a little hole through it, drew out the pulp and filled +it instead with good solid ducats of the finest stamp, and placing it on +his best six-oxened wagon, he selected his wisest tenant, and, dinning +well into his head where to go, what to say, and to whom to say it, sent +him off with the great gourd to the Sublime Porte at Stambul.</p> + +<p>It took the cart three weeks to get to Constantinople.</p> + +<p>The good, worthy farmer, upon declaring that he brought gifts for the +Grand Seignior, was readily admitted into the presence, and after +kissing the hem of the Padishah's robe, drew the bright cloth away from +the presented pumpkin and deposited it in front of the Diván.</p> + +<p>The Sultan flew into a violent rage at the sight of the gift.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou take me for a swine, thou unbelieving dog, that thou bringest +me a gourd?" cried he.</p> + +<p>And straightway he commanded the Kiaja Beg to remove both the gourd and +the man. The gourd he was to dash to pieces on the ground, the bringer +of the gourd was to have dealt unto him a hundred stripes on the soles +of his feet, but the sender of the gourd was to lose his head.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>The Kiaja Beg did as he was commanded. He banged the gourd down in the +courtyard outside, and behold! a stream of shining ducats gushed out of +it instead of the pulp. Nevertheless, faithful above all things to his +orders, he had the poor farmer flung down on his face, and gave him such +a sound hundred stripes on the soles of his feet that he had no wish for +any more.</p> + +<p>Immediately afterwards he hastened to inform the Sultan that the gourd +had been dashed to the ground, the hundred blows with the stick duly +paid, the silken cord ready packed, but that the gourd was full of +ducats.</p> + +<p>At these words the countenance of the Grand Seignior grew serene once +more, like the smiling summer sky, and after ordering that the silken +cord should be put back in its place, he commanded that the most +magnificent of caftans should be distributed both to the bastinadoed +farmer and to the boyar who had sent the gift, and that they should both +be assured of the gracious favour of the Padishah.</p> + +<p>The former had sufficient sense when he arrived at Bucharest to sell the +gay garment he had received to a huckster in the bazaar, but his +master's present he carefully brought home, and, after informing him of +the unpleasant incident concerning himself, delivered to him his +present, together with a gracious letter from the Sultan.</p> + +<p>Master Michael was delighted with the return gift. He put on the long +caftan, which reached to his heels, and was made of fine dark-red +Thibetan stuff, embroidered with gold and silken flowers. Gold lace and +galloon, as broad as your hand, were piled up on the sleeves, shoulder, +and back, to such an extent that the original cloth was scarcely +visible, and the hem of the caftan was most wondrously embroidered with +splendid tulips, green, blue, and lilac roses, and all sorts of tinsel +and precious stones.</p> + +<p>Master Michael felt himself quite another man in this caftan. The Sultan +had sent him a letter. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> Sultan had plainly written to him that he +was to wear this caftan. This, therefore, was a command, and it was +possible that the Sultan might turn up to-morrow or the next day to see +whether he was wearing this caftan, and would be angry if he hadn't got +it on. He must needs therefore wear it continually.</p> + +<p>But this golden caftan did not go at all well with his coarse fur +jacket, nor with his wooden sandals and lambskin cap. He was therefore +obliged to send to Tergoviste for a tailor who should make him a silk +dolman, vest, and embroidered stockings to match the golden caftan. He +also sent to Kronstadt for a tasselled girdle, to Braila for shoes and +morocco slippers, and to Tekas for an ermine kalpag with a heron's plume +in it.</p> + +<p>Of course, now that he was so handsomely dressed, it was quite out of +the question for him to sit in a ramshackle old carriage, or to bestride +a fifty-thaler nag. He therefore ordered splendid chargers to be sent to +him from Bessarabia, and had a gilded coach made for him in +Transylvania; and when the carriage and the horses were there, he could +not put them into the muddy wagon-shed and the sparrow-frequented, +rush-thatched stable, but had to make good stone coach-houses and +stables expressly for them. Now, it would have looked very singular, +and, in fact, disgusting, if the stable and coach-house had been better +than the castle, whose shingle roof was a mass of variegated patches and +gaping holes where the mortar had fallen out and left the bricks bare; +so there was nothing for it but to pull down the old castle, and to +order his steward to build up a new one in its place, and make it as +beautiful and splendid as his fancy could suggest.</p> + +<p>Thus the whole order of the world he lived in was transformed by a +golden caftan.</p> + +<p>The steward embellished the castle with golden lattices, turrets, +ornamental porches and winding staircases; put conservatories in the +garden, planted projecting rondelles and soaring belvederes at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +corners of the castle and a regular tower in the middle of it, and +painted all the walls and ceilings inside with green forests and +crooked-beaked birds.</p> + +<p>Of course, he couldn't put inside such a place as this the old rustic +furniture and frippery, so he had to purchase the large, high, shining +hump-backed arm-chairs, the gold-stamped leather sofas, and the +lion-legged marble tables which were then at the height of fashion.</p> + +<p>Of course, Turkey carpets had to be laid on the floor, and silver +candelabra and beakers placed upon the magnificent tables; and in order +that these same Turkey carpets might not be soiled by the muddy boots of +farmyard hinds, a whole series of new servants had to be invented, such +as footmen to stand behind the new carriage, cooks for the kitchen, and +a special gardener for the conservatories, who, instead of looking after +the honest, straightforward citron-trees and pumpkins, had gingerly to +plant out cactuses and Egyptian thistles like dry stalks, in pots, +whence, also, it came about that as there was now a regular gardener and +a regular cook, pretty Mariska had no longer any occasion to concern +herself either with garden or kitchen, nor did she go any more to the +village rector to learn reading or writing, but they had to get her a +French governess from whom she learnt good taste, elegant manners, +embroidery, and harp-strumming.</p> + +<p>And all these things were the work of the golden caftan!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MAIDENS THREE.</span></h2> + + +<p>The family banner had scarce been hoisted on to the high tower of the +new castle, the rumour of Mariska's loveliness and her father's millions +had scarce been spread abroad, when the courtyard began to be all ablaze +with the retinues and equipages of the most eminent zhupans,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> +voivodes,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> and princes; but Master Michael had resolved within himself +beforehand that nobody less than the reigning Prince of Moldavia should +ever receive his daughter's hand, and stolidly he kept to his +resolution.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">2</span></a> A Servian Prince.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">3</span></a> A Roumanian Prince.</p></div> + +<p>Now the reigning Prince of Moldavia no doubt had an illustrious name +enough, but he also had inherited a very considerable load of debt, and +what with the eternal exactions of the Tartars, and the presents +expected by all the leading Pashas, and other disturbing causes, he saw +his people growing poorer and poorer, and his own position becoming more +and more precarious every year. He therefore did not keep worthy Master +Michael waiting very long when he heard, on excellent authority, that +there was being reserved for him in Wallachia a beautiful and +accomplished virgin, who would bring to her husband a dowry of a couple +of millions, in addition to an uncorrupted heart and an old ancestral +title.</p> + +<p>So, gathering together all the boyars, retainers, and officers of his +court, he set off a-wooing to Rumnik, where he was well received by the +father, satisfied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> himself as to the young lady's good graces, demanded +her hand in marriage, and, allowing an adequate delay for the +preliminaries of the wedding, fixed the glad event for the first week +after Easter.</p> + +<p>Master Michael, meantime, could think of nothing else but how he could +cut as magnificent a figure as possible on the occasion. He invited to +the banquet all the celebrities in Moldavia, Servia, Bosnia, and +Transylvania. He did not even hesitate to hire from Versailles one of +Louis XIV.'s cooks, to regulate the order and quality of the dishes. On +the day of the banquet the good gentleman was visible everywhere, and +saw to everything himself. Quite early, arrayed in the golden caftan, +the heron-plumed kalpag, and the tasselled girdle, he strutted about the +courtyard, corridors and chambers, distributing his orders and receiving +his guests; and his heart fluttered when he beheld the courtyard filling +with carriages, each one more brilliant than its predecessor, escorted +by gold-bedizened cavaliers, from which silver-laced heydukes assisted +noble ladies, in splendid pearl-embroidered costumes, to descend. There +was such a rustling of silk dresses, such a rattling of swords, and such +an endless procession of elegant and magnificent forms up the staircase, +as to make the heart of the beholder rejoice.</p> + +<p>Master Michael rushed hither and thither, and pride and humility were +strangely blended on his face. He assured all he welcomed how happy they +made him by honouring his poor dwelling with their presence; but the +voice with which he said this betrayed the conviction that not one of +his guests had quitted a home as splendid as his own poor dwelling.</p> + +<p>Then he plunged into the robing-chamber of the bride, where tire-women, +fetched all the way from Vienna, had been decking out Mariska from early +dawn. It gave them no end of trouble to adjust her jewels and her +gewgaws, and if they had heaped upon the fair bride all that her father +had purchased for her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> she would have been unable to move beneath the +weight of her gems.</p> + +<p>Thence the good man rushed off to the banqueting-room, where his +domestics had been busy making ready two rows of tables in five long +halls.</p> + +<p>"Here shall sit the bride! That arm-chair to the right of her is for the +Patriarch—it is his proper place. On the left will sit Prince Michael +Apafi. He is to have the green-embossed chair, with the golden cherubim. +The bridegroom will sit on the right hand of the Patriarch. You must +give him that round, armless seat, so that he cannot lean back, but must +hold himself proudly erect. Over there you must place Paul Béldi and his +spouse, for they are always wont to sit together. Their daughter Aranka +will also be there, and she must sit between them on that little blue +velvet stool. Opposite to them the silk sofa is for Achmed Pasha and +Feriz Beg, recollect that they won't want knife or fork. The Dean must +have that painted stone bench, for a wooden bench would break beneath +him, and no chair will hold him. The three-and-thirty priests must be +placed all together over there—you must put none else beside them, or +they would be ashamed to eat. Don't forget to pile up wreaths of flowers +on the silver salvers; and remember there are peculiar reasons for not +placing a pitcher of wine before Michael Teleki. Achmed Pasha must have +a sherbet-bowl placed beside the can from which he drinks his wine, and +then folks will fancy he is not transgressing the Koran. Place goblets +of Venetian crystal before the ladies, and golden beakers before the +gentlemen, the handsomest before Teleki and Bethlen, the commoner sort +before the others, as they are wont to dash them against the walls. The +bridegroom should have the slenderest beaker of all, for he'll have to +pledge everyone, and I want no harm to befall him. Mind what I say!"</p> + +<p>Nearly all the wedding guests had now assembled. Only two families were +still expected, the Apafis and the Telekis, whom Master Michael in his +pride wished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> to see at his table most of all. He glanced impatiently +into the courtyard every time he heard the roll of a carriage, and the +staircase lacqueys had strict injunctions to let him know as soon as +they saw the Prince's carriage approaching.</p> + +<p>At last the rumbling of wheels was heard. Master Michael went all the +way to the gate to receive his guests, shoving aside all the vehicles in +his way, and bawling to the sentinels on the tower to blow the trumpets +as soon as ever they beheld the carriage on the road. The goodly host of +guests also thronged the balconies, the turrets, and the rondelles, to +catch a glance at the new arrivals, and before very long two carriages, +each drawn by four horses, turned the corner of the well-wooded road, +carriages supported on each side by footmen, lest they should topple +over, and escorted by a brilliant banderium of prancing horsemen.</p> + +<p>They were instantly recognised as the carriages of the Prince and his +Prime Minister, and the voices of the trumpets never ceased till the +splendid, gilded, silk-curtained vehicles had lumbered into the +courtyard, although the master of the castle was already awaiting them +at the outer, sculptured gate, and himself hastened to open the carriage +door, doffing first of all his ermine kalpag. But he popped it on again, +considerably nonplussed, when, on opening the carriage, a beardless bit +of a boy, to all appearance, leapt out of it all alone, and there was +not a trace of the Prince to be seen in the carriage. Perhaps he had +dismounted at the foot of the hill in order to complete the journey on +foot, as Master Michael himself was in the habit of doing every time he +took a drive in his coach, for fear of an accident.</p> + +<p>But the youthful jack-in-the-box lost no time in dispelling all rising +suspicions by quickly introducing himself.</p> + +<p>"I am Emeric Tököly," said he, "whom his Highness the Prince has sent to +your Worship as his representative to take part in the festivities, and +at the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> time to express his regret that he was not able to appear +personally, but only to send his hearty congratulations, inasmuch as her +Highness the Princess is just now in good hopes, by the grace of God, of +presenting her consort with an heir, and consequently his Highness does +not feel himself capable of enduring the amenities which under these +circumstances Ali Pasha might at such a time think fit to force upon +him. Nevertheless he wishes your Worship, with God's will, all +imaginable felicity."</p> + +<p>Master Michael did not exactly know whether to say "I am very glad" or +"I am very sorry;" and in the meanwhile, to gain time, was turning +towards the second carriage, when Emeric Tököly suddenly intercepted +him.</p> + +<p>"I was also to inform your Worship that his Excellency Michael Teleki, +having unexpectedly received the command to invade Hungary with all the +forces of Transylvania, has sent, instead of himself, his daughter Flora +to do honour to your Worship, much regretting that, because of the +command aforesaid, which will brook neither objection nor delay, he has +been obliged to deny himself the pleasure personally to press your +Worship's hand and exchange the warm kiss of kinsmanship; but if your +Worship will entrust me with both the handshake and the kiss, I will +give your Worship his and take back to him your Worship's."</p> + +<p>The good old gentleman was absolutely delighted with the young man's +patriarchal idea, forgot the sour and solemn countenance which he had +expressly put on in honour of the Prince, and, falling on the neck of +the graceful young gentleman, hugged and kissed him so emphatically that +the latter could scarcely free himself from his embraces; then, taking +Flora Teleki, the youth's reported <i>fiancée</i>, on one arm, and Emeric +himself on the other, he conducted them in this guise among his other +guests, and they were the first to whom he introduced his daughter in +all her bridal array.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>A stately, slender brunette was Mariska, her face as pale as a lily, her +eyes timidly cast down, as, leaning on her lady companion's arm, and +tricked out in her festal costume, she appeared before the expectant +multitude. The beauty of her rich black velvet tresses was enhanced by +interwoven strings of real pearls; her figure, whose tender charms were +insinuated rather than indicated by her splendid oriental dress, would +not have been out of place among a group of Naiads; and that superb +carriage, those haughty eyebrows, those lips of hers full of the promise +of pleasure, suited very well with her bashful looks and timid +movements.</p> + +<p>Amongst the army of guests there was one man who towered above the +others—tall, muscular, with broad shoulders, dome-like breast, and head +proudly erect, whose long locks, like a rich black pavilion, flowed +right down over his shoulders. His thick dark eyebrows and his +coal-black moustache gave an emphatically resolute expression to his +dark olive-coloured face, whose profile had an air of old Roman +distinction.</p> + +<p>This was the bridegroom, Prince Ghyka.</p> + +<p>When the father of the bride introduced the new arrivals to the other +guests, his first action was to present them to Prince Ghyka, not +forgetting to relate how courteously the young Count had executed his +commission as to the transfer of the kisses, which, having been received +with general hilarity, suggested a peculiarly bold idea to the flighty +young man.</p> + +<p>While he was being embraced by one after the other, and passed on from +hand to hand so to speak, he suddenly stood before the trembling bride, +who scarce dared to cast a single furtive look upon him, and, greeting +her in the style of the most chivalrous French courtesy, at the same +time turning towards the bystanders with a proud, not to say haughty +smile, pardonable in him alone, said, with an amiable <i>abandon</i>: +"Inasmuch as I have been solemnly authorised to be the bearer of kisses, +I imagine I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> shall be well within my rights if I deliver personally the +kisses which my kinswomen, Princess Apafi and Dame Teleki have charged +me to convey to the bride."</p> + +<p>And before anyone had quite taken in the meaning of his concluding +words, the handsome youth, with that fascinating impertinence with which +he was wont to subdue men and women alike, bent over the charming bride, +and while her face blushed for a moment scarlet red, imprinted a +noiseless kiss upon her pure marble forehead. And this he did with such +grace, with such tender sprightliness, that nothing worse than a light +smile appeared upon the most rigorous faces present.</p> + +<p>Then, turning to the company with a proud smile of self-confidence on +his face: "I hope," said he, tucking Flora Teleki's hand under his arm, +"that the presence of my <i>fiancée</i> is a sufficient guarantee of the +respect with which I have accomplished this item of my mission."</p> + +<p>At this there was a general outburst of laughter amongst the guests. Any +sort of absurdity could be forgiven Emeric, for he managed even his most +practical jokes so amiably that it was impossible to be angry with him.</p> + +<p>But the cheeks of two damsels remained rosy-red—Mariska's and Flora's. +Women don't understand that sort of joke.</p> + +<p>The bridegroom, half-smiling, half-angry, stroked his fine moustache. +"Come, come, my lad," said he, "you have been quicker in kissing my +bride than I have been myself."</p> + +<p>But now the reverend gentlemen intervened, the bells rang, the +bridesmaids and the best men took possession of the bride and +bridegroom, the ceremony began, and nobody thought any more of the +circumstance, except, perhaps, two damsels, whose hearts had been +pricked by the thoughtless pleasantry, one of them as by the thorn of a +rose, the other as by the sting of a serpent.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>And now, while for the next hour and a half the marriage ceremony, with +the assistance of the Most Reverend Patriarch, the Venerable Archdeacon, +three-and-thirty reverend gentlemen of the lower clergy, and just as +many secular dignitaries, is solemnly and religiously proceeding, we +will remain behind in the ante-chamber, and be indiscreet enough to worm +out the contents of the two well-sealed letters which have just been +brought in hot haste from Kronstadt for Emeric Tököly by a special +courier, who stamped his foot angrily when he was told that he must wait +till the Count came out of church.</p> + +<p>One of the letters was from Michael Teleki, and its contents pretty much +as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Sir and Son</span>,</p> + +<p>"Our affairs are in the best possible order. During +the last few days our army, 9,000 strong, quitting +Gyulafehervár, has gone to await Achmed Pasha's forces +near Déva, and will thence proceed to unite with +Kiuprile's host. War, indeed, is inevitable; and +Transylvania must be gloriously in the forefront of +it. Do not linger where you are, but try and overtake +us. It would be superfluous for me to remind you to +take charge of my daughter Flora on the way. God bless +you.</p> + +<p class="sig">"<span class="smcap">Michael Teleki.</span></p> + +<p class="sigdate">"<i>Datum Albæ Juliæ.</i></p> + +<p>"P.S.—Her Highness the Princess awaits a safe +delivery from the mercy of God. His Highness the +Prince has just finished a very learned dissertation +on the orbits of the planets."</p></div> + +<p>The second letter was in a fine feminine script, but one might judge +from it that that hand knew how to handle a sword as well as a pen.</p> + +<p>It was to the following effect:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Friend</span>,</p> + +<p>"I have received your letter, and this is my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> answer +to it. I can give you no very credible news in +writing, either about myself or the affairs of the +realm. A lover can do everything and sacrifice +everything, even to life itself, for his love. (You +will understand that this reference to love refers not +to me, a mournful widow, but to another mournful +widow, who is also your mother.) I do not judge men by +what they say, but by what they do. All the same, I +have every reason to think well of you, and I shall be +delighted if the future should justify my good opinion +of you.</p> + +<p class="sig1">"Your faithful servant,</p> + +<p class="sig2">"<span class="smcap">Ilona</span>.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I shall spend midsummer at the baths of +Mehadia."</p></div> + +<p>The noble bridal retinue, merrily conversing, now returned from the +chapel to the castle, the very sensible arrangement obtaining, that when +the guests sat down to table each damsel was to be escorted to her seat +by a selected cavalier known to be not displeasing to her. The only +exceptions to this rule were the right reverend brigade, and Achmed +Pasha and Feriz Beg, the two Turkish magnates present, whose grave +dignity restrained them from participating in this innocent species of +gallantry.</p> + +<p>First of all, as the representative of the Prince of Transylvania, came +Emeric Tököly, conducting the aged mother of the bridegroom, the +Princess Ghyka; after him came Paul Béldi, leading the bride by the +hand. Béldi's wife was escorted by the master of the house, and her +pretty little golden-haired daughter Aranka hung upon her left arm.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg was standing in the vestibule with a grave countenance till +Aranka appeared. The little girl, on perceiving the youth, greeted him +kindly, whereupon Feriz sighed deeply, and followed her. The bridegroom +led the beautiful Flora Teleki by the hand.</p> + +<p>On reaching the great hall, the company broke up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> into groups, the +merriest of which was that which included Flora, Mariska, and Aranka.</p> + +<p>"Be seated, ladies and gentlemen! be seated!" cried the strident voice +of the host, who, full of proud self-satisfaction, ran hither and +thither to see that all the guests were in the places assigned to them. +Tököly was by the side of Mariska, opposite to them sat the bridegroom, +with Flora Teleki by his side. Aranka was the <i>vis-à-vis</i> of Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>The banquet began. The endless loving-cup went round, the faces of the +guests grew ever cheerier, the bride conversed in whispers with her +handsome neighbour. Opposite to them the bridegroom, with equal +courtesy, exchanged from time to time a word with the fair Flora, but +the conversation thus begun broke down continually, and yet both the +lady and the prince were persons of culture, and had no lack of +mother-wit. But their minds were far away. Their lips spoke +unconsciously, and the Prince grew ever gloomier as he saw his bride +plunging ever more deeply into the merry chatter of her gay companion, +and try as he might to entertain his own partner, the resounding +laughter of the happy pair opposite drove the smile from his face, +especially when Flora also grew absolutely silent, so that the +bridegroom was obliged, at last, to turn to the Patriarch, who was +sitting on his right, and converse with him about terribly dull matters.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a couple of Servian musicians began, to the accompaniment of +a zithern, to sing one of their sad, monotonous, heroic songs. All this +time Achmed Pasha had never spoken a word, but now, fired by the juice +of the grape mediatized by his sherbet-bowl, he turned towards the +singers and, beckoning them towards him, said in a voice not unlike a +growl:</p> + +<p>"Drop all that martial jumble and sing us instead something from one of +our poets, something from Hariri the amorous, something from Gulestan!"</p> + +<p>At these words the face of Feriz Beg, who sat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> beside him, suddenly went +a fiery red—why, he could not have told for the life of him.</p> + +<p>"Do you know 'The Lover's Complaint,' for instance?" inquired the Pasha +of the musician.</p> + +<p>"I know the tune, but the verses have quite gone out of my head."</p> + +<p>"Oh! as to that, Feriz Beg here will supply you with the words quickly +enough if you give him a piece of parchment and a pen."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg was preparing to object, with the sole result that all the +women were down upon him immediately, and begged and implored him for +the beautiful song. So he surrendered, and, tucking up the long sleeve +of his dolman, set the writing materials before him and began to write.</p> + +<p>They who drink no wine are nevertheless wont to be intoxicated by the +glances of bright eyes, and Feriz, as he wrote, glanced from time to +time at the fair face of Aranka, who cast down her forget-me-not eyes +shamefacedly at his friendly smile. So Feriz Beg wrote the verses and +handed them to the musicians, and then everyone bade his neighbour hush +and listen with all his ears.</p> + +<p>The musician ran his fingers across the strings of his zithern, and then +began to sing the song of the Turkish poet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0q">"Three lovely maidens I see, three maidens embracing each other;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gentle, and burning, and bright—Sun, Moon, and Star I declare them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let others adore Sun and Moon, but give me my Star, my belovéd!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0q">"When the Sun leaves the heavens, her adorers are whelméd in slumber;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the Moon quits the sky, sleep falls on the eyes of her lovers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the fall of the Star is the death of the man who adores her—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And oh! if <i>my</i> load-star doth fall, Machallah! I cease from the living!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>General applause rewarded the song, which it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> difficult to believe +had not been made expressly for the occasion.</p> + +<p>"Who would think," said Paul Béldi to the Pasha, "that your people not +only cut darts from reeds, but pens also, pens worthy of the poets of +love?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" replied Achmed, "in the hands of our poets, blades and harps are +equally good weapons; and if they bound the laurel-wreath round the +brows of Hariri it was only to conceal the wounds which he received in +battle."</p> + +<p>When the banquet was over, Tököly, with courteous affability, parted +from his fair neighbour, whom he immediately saw disappear in a window +recess, arm-in-arm with Flora. He himself made the circuit of the table +in order that he might meet the fair Aranka, but was stopped in +mid-career by his host, who was so full of compliments that by the time +Tököly reached the girl, he found her leaning on her mother's arm +engaged in conversation with the Prince. Aranka, feeling herself out of +danger when she had only a married man to deal with, had quite regained +her childish gaiety, and was making merry with the bridegroom.</p> + +<p>Tököly, with insinuating grace, wormed his way into the group, and +gradually succeeded in so cornering the Prince, that he was obliged to +confine his conversation to Dame Béldi, while Tököly himself was +fortunate enough to make Aranka laugh again and again at his droll +sallies.</p> + +<p>The Prince was boiling over with venom, and was on the verge of +forgetting himself and exploding with rage. Fortunately, Dame Béldi, +observing in time the tension between the two men, curtseyed low to them +both, and withdrew from the room with her daughter. Whereupon, the +Prince seized Tököly's hand, and said to him with choleric jocosity: "If +your Excellency's own bride is not sufficient for you, will you at least +be satisfied with throwing in mine, and do not try to sweep every girl +you see into your butterfly-net?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>Tököly quite understood the bitter irony of these words, and replied, +with a soft but offensively condescending smile: "My dear friend, your +theory of life is erroneous. I see, from your face, that you are +suffering from an overflow of bile. You have not had a purge lately, or +been blooded for a long time."</p> + +<p>The Prince's face darkened. He squeezed Tököly's hand convulsively, and +murmured between his teeth:</p> + +<p>"One way is as good as another. When shall we settle this little +affair?"</p> + +<p>Tököly shrugged his shoulders. "To-morrow morning, if you like."</p> + +<p>"Very well, we'll meet by the cross."</p> + +<p>The two men had spoken so low that nobody in the whole company had +noticed them, except Feriz Beg, who, although standing at the extreme +end of the room with folded arms, had followed with his eagle eyes every +play of feature, every motion of the lips of the whole group, including +Dame Béldi and the girl, and who now, on observing the two men grasp +each other's hands, and part from each other with significant looks, +suddenly planted himself before them, and said simply: "Do you want to +fight a duel because of Aranka?"</p> + +<p>"What a question?" said the Prince evasively.</p> + +<p>"It will not be a duel," said Feriz, "for there will be three of us +there," and, with that, he turned away and departed.</p> + +<p>"How foolish these solemn men are," said Tököly to himself, "they are +always seeking sorrow for themselves. It would require only a single +word to make them merry, and, in spite of all I do, they will go and +spoil a joke. Why, such a duel as this—all three against each other, +and each one against the other two—was unknown even to the famous Round +Table and to the Courts of Love. It will be splendid."</p> + +<p>At that moment the courier, who had brought the letters, forced his way +right up to Tököly, and said that he had got two important despatches +for him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"All right, keep them for me, I'll read them to-morrow. I won't spoil +the day with tiresome business."</p> + +<p>And so he kept it up till late at night with the merriest of the topers. +Only after midnight did he return to his room, and ordered the soldier +who had brought the letters to wake him as soon as he saw the red dawn.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THREE MEN.</span></h2> + + +<p>Tököly's servant durst not go to sleep on the off-chance of awaking at +dawn in order to arouse his master, and so the sky had scarcely begun to +grow grey when he routed him up. Emeric hastily dressed himself. A sort +of ill-humour on his pale face was the sole reminder of the previous +night's debauch.</p> + +<p>"Here are the letters, sir," said the soldier.</p> + +<p>"Leave me in peace with your letters," returned Emeric roughly, "I have +no time now to read your scribble. Go down and saddle my horse for me, +and tell the coachman to make haste and get the carriage ready, and have +it waiting for me near the cross at the slope of the hill, and find out +on your way down whether the old master of the house is up yet."</p> + +<p>The soldier pocketed the letter once more, and went down grumbling +greatly, while Emeric buckled on his sword and threw his pelisse over +his shoulders. Soon after the soldier returned and announced that Master +Michael had been up long ago, because many of his guests had to depart +before dawn, amongst them the Prince, also the Turkish gentleman; the +bride was to follow them in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Good," said Emeric; "let the coachman wait for me in front of the +Dragmuili <i>csarda</i>.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> You had better bring with you some cold meat and +wine, and we'll have breakfast on the way." And with that he hastened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +to the father of the bride, who, after embracing him heartily and +repeatedly, with a great flux of tears, and kissing him again and again, +and sending innumerable greetings through him to every eminent +Transylvanian gentleman, took an affectionate leave of him.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">4</span></a> An inn.</p></div> + +<p>Tököly hastened to bestride his horse on hearing that his adversaries +had been a little beforehand with him, and, putting spurs to his horse, +galloped rapidly away. Master Michael looked after him in amazement so +long as he could see him racing along the steep, hilly way, till he +disappeared among the woods. A soldier followed him at a considerable +distance.</p> + +<p>Emeric, on reaching the cross, found his adversaries there already. +Feriz Beg had brought with him Achmed Pasha's field-surgeon. Tököly had +only thought of breakfast, the Prince had thought of nothing.</p> + +<p>"Good morning," cried the Count, leaping from his horse. The Beg +returned his salute with a solemn obeisance; the Prince turned his back +upon him.</p> + +<p>"Let us go into the forest to find a nice clear space," said Tököly; and +off he set in silence, leading the way, while the soldiers followed at +some distance, leading the horses by the bridles.</p> + +<p>After going about a hundred yards they came to a clear space, surrounded +by some fine ash-trees. The Prince signified to the soldiers to stop +here, and, without a word, began to take off his dolman and mantle and +tuck up his sleeves.</p> + +<p>It was a fine sight to behold these men—all three of them were +remarkably handsome fellows. The Prince was one of those vigorous, +muscular shapes, whom Nature herself seems specially to have created to +head a host. As he rolled up the flapping sleeves of his +gold-embroidered, calf-skin shirt, he displayed muscles capable of +holding their own single-handed against a whole brigade, and the defiant +look of his eye testified to his confidence in the strength of his arms, +whose every muscle stood out like a hard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> tumour, while his fists were +worthy of the heavy broadsword, whose blade was broadest towards its +point.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg, on discarding his dolman, rolled up the sleeves of his fine +shirt of Turkish linen to his shoulders, and drew from its sheath his +fine Damascus scimitar, which was scarce two inches broad, and so +flexible that you could have bent it double in every direction like a +watch-spring. His arms did not seem to be over-encumbered with muscles, +but at the first movement he made, as he lightly tested his blade, a +whole array of steel springs and stone-hard sinews, or so they seemed to +be, suddenly started up upon his arm, revealing a whole network of +highly-developed sinews and muscles. His face was fixed and grave.</p> + +<p>Only Emeric seemed to take the whole affair as a light joke. With a +smile he drew up his lace-embroidered shirt of holland linen, bound up +his hair beneath his kalpag, and folded his well-rounded arms, whose +feminine whiteness, plastic, regular symmetry, and slender proportions, +gave no promise whatever of anything like manly strength. His sword came +from a famous Newcastle arms manufactory, and was made of a certain +dark, lilac-coloured steel, somewhat bent, and with a very fine point.</p> + +<p>"My friends," said Emeric, turning towards his opponents, "as there are +three of us in this contest, and each one of the three must fight the +other two, let us lay down some rule to regulate the encounter."</p> + +<p>"I'll fight the pair of you together," said the Prince haughtily.</p> + +<p>"I'll also fight one against two," retorted Feriz.</p> + +<p>"Then each one for himself and everybody against everybody else," +explained Tököly. "That will certainly be amusing enough; in fact, a new +sort of encounter altogether, though hardly what gentlemen are used to. +Now, I should consider it much nobler if we fought against each other +singly, and when one of us falls, the victor can renew the combat with +the man in reserve."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind, only the sooner the better," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> Prince +impatiently, and took up his position on the ground.</p> + +<p>"Stop, my friend; don't you know that we cannot commence this contest +without Feriz?"</p> + +<p>"Pooh! I didn't come here as a spectator," cried the Prince +passionately; "besides, I have nothing to do with the Beg."</p> + +<p>"But I have to do with you," interrupted Feriz.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tököly, "I myself do not know what has offended him, but he +chose to intervene, and such challenges as his are wont to be accepted +without asking the reason why. No doubt he has private reasons of his +own."</p> + +<p>"You may stop there," interrupted Feriz. "Let Fate decide."</p> + +<p>"By all means," observed the Count, drawing forth three pieces of money +impressed with the image of King Sigismund—a gold coin, a silver coin, +and a copper coin—and handed them to the Turkish leech. "Take these +pieces of money, my worthy fellow, and throw them into the air. The gold +coin is the Prince, the copper coin is myself. Whichever two of the +three coins come down on the same side, their representatives will fight +first."</p> + +<p>The leech flung the pieces into the air, and the gold and silver pieces +came down on the same side.</p> + +<p>The Prince beckoned angrily to Feriz.</p> + +<p>"Come, the sooner the better. Apparently I must have this little affair +off my hands before I can get at Tököly."</p> + +<p>Tököly motioned to the leech to keep the pieces of money and have his +bandages ready.</p> + +<p>"Bandages!" said the Prince ironically. "It's not first blood, but last +blood, I'm after."</p> + +<p>And now the combatants stood face to face.</p> + +<p>For a long time they looked into each other's eyes, as if they would +begin the contest with the darts of flashing glances, and then suddenly +they fell to.</p> + +<p>The Prince's onset was as furious as if he would have crushed his +opponent in the twinkling of an eye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> with the heavy and violent blows +which he rained upon him with all his might. But Feriz Beg stood firmly +on the self-same spot where he had first planted his feet, and though he +was obliged to bend backwards a little to avoid the impact of the +terrible blows, yet his slender Damascus scimitar, wove, as it were, a +tent of lightning flashes all around him, defending him on every side, +and flashing sparks now hither, now thither, whenever it encountered the +antagonistic broadsword.</p> + +<p>The Prince's face was purple with rage. "Miserable puppy!" he thundered, +gnashing his teeth; and, pressing still closer on his opponent, he dealt +him two or three such terrible blows that the Beg was beaten down upon +one knee, and, the same instant, a jet of blood leaped suddenly from +somewhere into the face of the Prince, who thereupon staggered back and +let fall his sword. In the heat of the duel he had not noticed that he +had been wounded. Whilst raining down a torrent of violent blows upon +his antagonist, he incautiously struck his own hand, so to speak, on the +sword of Feriz Beg, just below the palm where the arteries are, and the +wound which severed the sinews of the wrist constrained him to drop his +sword.</p> + +<p>Tököly at once rushed forward.</p> + +<p>"You are wounded, Prince!" he cried.</p> + +<p>The leech hastened forward with the bandages, the dark red blood spurted +from the severed arteries like a fountain, and the Prince's face grew +pale in an instant. But scarcely had the surgeon bound up his wounded +right hand than his eye kindled again, and, turning to Emeric, he cried: +"I have still a hand left, and I can fight with it. Put my sword into my +left hand, and I'll fight to the last drop of my blood."</p> + +<p>"Don't be impatient, Prince," said Emeric courteously; "ill-luck is your +enemy to-day, but as soon as you are cured you may command me, and I +will be at your service."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>The Prince, who was already tottering, leaned heavily on his soldiers, +who hastened towards him and conveyed him half unconscious to the +carriage awaiting him. His wound was much worse than it had seemed at +first, and there was no knowing whether it would not prove mortal.</p> + +<p>Only two combatants now remained in the field—Emeric and Feriz. The Beg +was still standing in his former place, and beckoned in dumb show to +Emeric to come on.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, my worthy comrade," said the Count, "you are a little +fatigued, and a combat between us would be unfair if I, who have rested, +should fight with you now. Come, plump down on the grass for a little +beside me. My man has brought some cold provisions for the journey; let +us have a few mouthfuls together first, and then we can fight it out at +our ease."</p> + +<p>This nonchalant proposal seemed to please Feriz, and, leaning his sword +against a tree, he sat down in the grass, whilst Emeric's servant +unpacked the cold meat and the fruit which he had brought for his +master, together with a silver calabash-shaped flask full of wine.</p> + +<p>Emeric returned the flask to the soldier. "Look you, my son," said he, +"you can drink the wine, and then fill the flask with spring water, for +Feriz Beg does not drink wine, and there are no other drinking utensils; +I, therefore, will also drink water, and so we shall be equal." Feriz +Beg was pleased with his comrade's free and easy behaviour, took +willingly of the food piled up before him, and not only drank out of the +same flask, but even answered questions when they were put to him.</p> + +<p>A faint scar was visible on the forehead of the young Beg, which the +fold of his turban did not quite conceal.</p> + +<p>"Did you get that wound from a Magyar?" inquired the Count.</p> + +<p>"No, from an Italian, on the isle of Candia."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>"I thought so at once. A Magyar does not cut with the point of his +sword. I see the hand of an Italian fencing-master in it. I can even +tell you the position you were in when you received it. The enemy was +beside you, in front of you, on your right hand, and on your left. Now +you employed that masterly circular stroke which you have just now +displayed, whereby you can defend yourself on all sides at once. Then +the foe in front of you suddenly rose in his saddle, and with a blow +which you did not completely ward off, scarred your forehead with the +point of his sword."</p> + +<p>"It was just like that."</p> + +<p>"It is one of the master-strokes of Basanella, and very carefully you +have to watch it, for there is scarce any defence against it; the sword +seems to strike up and down in the same instant, as if it were a sickle, +and however high you may hold your own sword, the blow breaks through +your defence. There is, indeed, only one defence against it, and that +the simplest in the world—dodge back your head."</p> + +<p>"You are quite right," said Feriz Beg smiling, and after washing his +hands, he again took up his sword, "let us make an end of it."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind," said Tököly; and lightly drawing his own sword with his +delicate white hand, just as if it were a gewgaw which he was +disengaging from its case to present to a lady, he took up his position +on the ground.</p> + +<p>"Just one word more," said Tököly with friendly candour. "When you fight +with a single opponent, do not rush forward as if you were on a +battlefield and had to do with ten men at least, for in so doing you +expend much force uselessly, and allow your opponent to come up closer; +rather elongate your sword and allow only your hand to play freely."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for the advice," said Feriz smiling. Had it been anybody +else he would probably have thrust back the advice into his face. But +Emeric imparted it to him with such a friendly, comrade-like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> voice as +if they had only come there for the fun of the thing.</p> + +<p>Then the combat began. Feriz Beg, with his usual impetuosity, pressed +upon his adversary as if he would pay him back his amicable counsels in +kind; while Tököly calmly, composedly smiling, flung back the most +violent assaults of his rival as if it were a mere sport to him, so +lightly, so confidently did his sword turn in his hand, with so much +finished grace did he accompany every movement—in fact, he hardly +seemed to make any exertion. The most violent blows aimed at him by +Feriz Beg he parried with the lightest twist of his sword, and not once +did he counter, so that at last Feriz Beg, involuntarily overcome by +rage, fell back and lowered his sword.</p> + +<p>"You are only playing with me. Why don't you strike back?"</p> + +<p>"Twice you might have received from me Basanella's master-stroke, so +impetuously do you fight."</p> + +<p>In a duel nothing is so wounding as the supercilious self-restraint of +an opponent. Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Tököly's cold repose, and +flung himself upon his opponent as if absolutely beside himself.</p> + +<p>"Let us see whether you are the Devil or not," he cried.</p> + +<p>At the same instant, when he had advanced a pace nearer to Tököly, the +latter suddenly stretched forth his sword and at the instant when he +parried his opponent's blow, he made a scarce perceptible backward and +upward jerk with the point of his sword, and at that same instant a +burning red line was visible on the temples of Feriz Beg. The young Turk +lowered his sword in surprise as his face, immediately after the +unnoticed stroke, began to bleed. Tököly flung away his sword and, +tearing out his white pocket-handkerchief, rushed suddenly towards his +opponent, stanched the wound with the liveliest sympathy, and said, in a +voice tremulous with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> the most naïve apprehension: "Look now! didn't I +tell you all along to watch for that stroke?"</p> + +<p>By this time the leech had also come up with the bandages, and examining +the wound, observed consolingly:</p> + +<p>"A soldierly affair. Only the skin is pierced. In three days you will be +all right."</p> + +<p>Tököly, full of joy, pressed the hand of Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>"Henceforth we will be good friends," said he. "Before God, I protest I +never gave you the slightest cause of offence."</p> + +<p>"I shall rejoice in your friendship," said Feriz solemnly, "but if you +wish it to last, listen to my words: never approach a girl whom you do +not love in order to make her love you, and if you are loved, love in +return and make her happy."</p> + +<p>"You have my word of honour on it, Feriz," replied Tököly. "Of all the +girls whom I have seen since I knew you, not one of them have I loved, +and by none of them do I want to be loved."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg could not refrain from shaking his head and smiling.</p> + +<p>"Apparently you forget that your own bride was among them."</p> + +<p>Tököly bit his lips in some confusion, and answered nothing; he thought +it best to pass off this slip of the tongue as a mere jest. Then the two +reconciled antagonists embraced and returned to the roadside cross. +Tököly constrained the Beg to take his coach and go on to Ibraila, while +he himself mounted his horse, and taking leave of Feriz, took the road +leading to the Pass of Bozza.</p> + +<p>The soldier-courier now fancied it was high time that the urgent +letters, of which he was the bearer, should be read, and accordingly +asked his master about it.</p> + +<p>"Well, where are your two letters?" asked the Count very languidly.</p> + +<p>"There are not two, sir, but three."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>"What! have they multiplied?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Flora gave me the third half an hour before she took coach to go +home."</p> + +<p>"Then she has gone on before, eh? Well, let us see what they write +about."</p> + +<p>Teleki's was the first letter which Emeric perused; he glanced through +it rapidly, as if it had no very great claim upon his attention. When he +came to that part of it where he was told to look after Flora, he paused +for a little. "Well, I can easily overtake her," he thought, and he took +the second letter, which was subscribed with the name of Helen. Twice he +perused it, and then he returned to it a third time, and his face grew +visibly redder. Involuntarily he sighed as he thrust the letter into his +breast pocket just above his heart, and looked sadly in front of him, as +if he were listening to the beating of his own heart.</p> + +<p>Then he broke open the third letter.</p> + +<p>It contained an engagement ring, nothing else. That was all—not a +single accompanying word or letter.</p> + +<p>For an instant Emeric held it in his hand in blank amazement; his steed +stopped also. For some minutes his face was pale and his head hung down.</p> + +<p>But in another instant he was again upright in his saddle, and he +exclaimed in a voice loud enough to be heard afar:</p> + +<p>"Well, it's not coming off then, so much the better!"</p> + +<p>Then he threw away the envelope in which the ring had been, and drawing +out the letter which he had thrust into his bosom, he put the ring into +it and then returned it to his bosom; then, with a glowing face, he +turned his horse's head and, in the best of humours, called to his +soldier: "We will not go to Transylvania. Back to Mehadia!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AFFAIRS OF STATE.</span></h2> + + +<p>The year was a few weeks older since we saw Tököly depart from Rumnik, +after reading the three letters, and behold, Michael Teleki still +lingered at Gyulafehervár, and had <i>not</i> gone with the Transylvanian +forces to Déva.</p> + +<p>He had been feeling ill for some days, and had not been able to leave +his room. A slow fever tormented his limbs, his face had lost its +colour, he was hardly able to hold himself up, and every joint ached +whenever he moved. He had need of repose, but not a single moment could +he have to himself, and just when he would have liked to have shown the +door to every worry and bother, the Prince at one moment, and the +Turkish Ambassador at another, were continually pressing their affairs +upon him.</p> + +<p>At that moment his crony Nalaczi was with him, standing at the window, +while Teleki sat in an arm-chair. All his members were shaken by the +ague, his breath was burning hot, his face was as pale as wax, and he +could scarce keep his lips together.</p> + +<p>By his chair stood his page—young Cserei—whilst huddled up in a corner +on one side was a scarce visible figure which clung close to the wall +with as miserable, shamefaced an expression as if it would have liked to +crawl right into it and be hidden. What with the darkness and its own +miserableness, we should scarce recognise this shape if Teleki did not +chance to give it a name, railing at it, from time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> to time, as if it +were a lifeless log, without even looking at it, for, in truth, his back +was turned upon it.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Master Szénasi, you are an infinitely useless +blockhead——"</p> + +<p>"I humbly beg——"</p> + +<p>"Don't beg anything. Here have I, worse luck, been entrusting you with a +small commission, in order that you might impart some wholesome +information to the people, and instead of that you go and fool them with +all sorts of old wives' stories."</p> + +<p>"Begging your Excellency's pardon, I thought——"</p> + +<p>"Thought? What business had you to think? You thought, perhaps, you were +doing me a service with your nonsense, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Nalaczi said as much, your Excellency."</p> + +<p>Mr. Nalaczi seemed to be sitting on thorns all this while.</p> + +<p>"Now just see what a big fool you are," interrupted Teleki. "Mr. Nalaczi +<i>may</i> have told you, for what I know, that it might be well for you to +use your influence with the common people by mentioning before them the +wonders which have recently taken place, and thereby encouraging them to +be loyal and friendly to each other, but I am sure he did not tell you +to manufacture wonders on your own account, and terrify the people by +spreading abroad rumours of coming war."</p> + +<p>"I thought——" Here he stopped short, the worthy man was quite +incapable at that moment of completing his sentence.</p> + +<p>"Thought! You thought, I suppose, that just as I was collecting armies, +you would do me a great service by preaching war? So far as I am +concerned, I should like to see every sword buried in the earth."</p> + +<p>"Begging your Excellency's pardon——"</p> + +<p>"Get out of my sight. Never let me see you again. In three days you must +leave Transylvania, or else I'll send you out, and you won't thank me +for that."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>"May I humbly ask what I am to do if your Excellency withdraws your +favour from me?" whined the fellow.</p> + +<p>"You may do as you like. Go to Szathmár and become the lacquey of Baron +Kopp, or the scribe of Master Kászonyi. I'm just going to write to them. +I'll mention your name in my letter, and you can take it."</p> + +<p>"And if they won't accept me?"</p> + +<p>"Then you must tack on to someone else, anyhow you shan't starve. Only +get out of my sight as quickly as possible."</p> + +<p>The "magister" withdrew in fear and trembling, wiping his eyes with his +pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Nalaczi, when they were alone together, "this violence does +harm."</p> + +<p>"The only way with such fellows is to bully them whatever they do, for +they are deceivers and traitors at heart, and would otherwise do you +mischief. Kick and beat them, chivy them from pillar to post, and make +them feel how wretched their lot is, if you don't want them to play off +their tricks upon you."</p> + +<p>"I don't see it in that light. This irritability will do you no good."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary it keeps me up. If I had not always given vent to my +feelings I should have been lying on a sick-bed long ago. Take these few +thalers, go after that good-for-nothing, and tell him that I am very +angry with him, and therefore he must try in future to deserve my +confidence better, in which case I shall not forget him. Tell him to +wait in the gate for the letter I am about to write, and when once he +has it in his hand let him get out of Transylvania as speedily as he +can. Remind him that I don't yet know about what happened in the square +at Klausenberg, and if I did know I would have him flogged out of the +realm; so let him look sharp about it."</p> + +<p>Nalaczi laughed and went out.</p> + +<p>Teleki sank back exhausted on his pillows, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> made his page rub the +back of his neck violently with a piece of flannel.</p> + +<p>At that instant the Prince entered. His face was wrath, and all because +of his sympathy. He began scolding Teleki on the very threshold.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you lie down when I command you? Does it beseem a grown-up +man like you to be as disobedient as a capricious child? Why don't you +send for the doctor; why don't you be blooded?"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing the matter with me, your Highness. It is only a little +<i>hæmorrhoidalis alteratio</i>. I am used to it. It always plagues me at the +approach of the equinoxes."</p> + +<p>"Ai, ai, Michael Teleki, you don't get over me. You are very ill, I tell +you. Your mental anxiety has brought about this physical trouble. Does +it become a Christian man, I ask, to take on so because my little friend +Flora cannot have one particular man out of fifteen wooers, and a fellow +like Emeric, too—a mere dry stick of a man."</p> + +<p>"I don't give it any particular importance."</p> + +<p>"You are a bad Christian, I tell you, if you say that. You love neither +God nor man; neither your family, nor me——"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" said Teleki, in a supplicating voice.</p> + +<p>"For if you did love us, you would spare yourself and lie down, and not +get up again till you were quite well again."</p> + +<p>"But if I lie down——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know—other things will have a rest too. The bottom of the world +isn't going to fall out, I suppose, because you keep your bed for a day +or two. Come! look sharp! I will not go till I see you lying on your +bed."</p> + +<p>What could Teleki do but lie down at the express command of his +Sovereign.</p> + +<p>"And you won't get up again without my permission, mind," said the +Prince, signalling to young Cserei, and addressing the remainder of his +discourse to him. "And you, young man, take care that your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> master does +not leave his bed, do you hear? I command it, and, till he is quite +well, don't let him do any hard work, whether it be reading, writing, or +dictation. You have my authorisation to prevent it, and you must +rigorously do your duty. You will also allow nobody to enter this room, +except the doctor and the members of the family. Now, mind what I say! +As for you, Master Teleki, you will wrap yourself well up and get +yourself well rubbed all over the body with a woollen cloth, clap a +mustard poultice on your neck and keep it there as long as you can bear +it, and towards evening have a hot bath, with salt and bran in it; and +if you won't have a vein opened put six leeches on your temples, and the +doctor will tell you what else to do. And in any case don't fail to take +some of these <i>pilulæ de cynoglosso</i>. Their effect is infallible." +Whereupon the Prince pressed into Teleki's hand a box full of those +harmless medicaments which, under the name of dog's-tongue pills, were +then the vogue in all domestic repositories.</p> + +<p>"All will be well, your Highness."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope so! Towards evening I will come and see you again."</p> + +<p>And then the Prince withdrew with an air of satisfaction, thinking that +he had given the fellow a good frightening.</p> + +<p>Scarce had he closed the door behind him than Teleki beckoned to Cserei +to bring him the letters which had just arrived.</p> + +<p>The page regarded him dubiously. "The Prince forbade me to do so," he +observed conscientiously.</p> + +<p>"The Prince loves to have his joke," returned the counsellor. "I like my +joke, too, when I've time for it. Break open those letters and read them +to me."</p> + +<p>"But what will the Prince say?"</p> + +<p>"It is I who command you, my son, not the Prince. Read them, I say, and +don't mind if you hear me groan."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Cserei looked at the seal of one of the letters and durst not break it +open.</p> + +<p>"Your Excellency, that is a <i>secretum sigillum</i>."</p> + +<p>"Break it open like a man, I say. Such secrets are not dangerous to you; +you are a child to be afraid of such things."</p> + +<p>Cserei opened the letter, and glancing at the signature, stammered in a +scarce audible voice: "Leopoldus."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">5</span></a> <i>i.e.</i> the Emperor Leopold.</p></div> + +<p>Teleki, resting on his elbows, listened attentively.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Your Highness and my well-disposed Friend</span>—I have +heard from Baron Mendenzi Kopp and worthy Master +Kászonyi of your Excellency's good dispositions +towards me and Christendom, and your readiness to help +in the present disturbances. All my own efforts will +be directed to the preservation of the rights and +liberties of the Christian Princes, so that there may +not be the slightest occasion that the Turkish War +should extend, and that the whole power of the Ottoman +Empire should be hurled on me and my dominions. But I +hope that the fury of these barbarians, by the +combination of the foreign kings and princes, shall, +with God's assistance, be so opposed and thwarted as +to make them turn back from the league of the combined +faithful hosts. Meanwhile, I assure your Excellency +and the Estates of Transylvania of my protection, so +long as you continue well-disposed towards me, and I +entrust the maintenance of this good understanding +between us to Messrs. the illustrious Baron Kopp and +the Honourable Mr. Kászonyi. Wishing your Excellency +good health and all manner of good fortune, etc., +etc."</p></div> + +<p>Cserei looked at the doors and windows in terror, for fear someone might +be listening.</p> + +<p>"And now let us read the second letter."</p> + +<p>Cserei's top-knot regularly began to sweat when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> recognised at the +bottom of the opened letter the signature of the Grand Vizier, who thus +wrote to the Prince:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Most illustrious Prince, hearty love and +greeting!</span>—We would inform thee of our grace and +favour that we have sent a part of our army to the +assistance of the imprisoned heroes in our most mighty +master the Sultan's fortress of Nyitra, where the +faithless foe are besieging them. It is therefore +necessary that thou with thy whole host and all the +necessary muniments of war should hasten thither +without loss of time, so as to unite both in heart and +deed with our warriors, who are on their way against +the enemy. We believe that by the grace of God thou +wilt be ready to render useful service to the mighty +Sultan, and so be entitled to participate in his +favour and liberality. We, moreover, after the end of +the solemn feast days which we are wont to keep after +our fasts are over, will follow our advance guards +with our countless hosts, and thou meanwhile must +manfully take this business in hand, so that thy +loyalty may shine the more gloriously in martial +deeds. Peace be to those who are in the obedience of +God."</p></div> + +<p>Poor Cserei, when he had read this letter through, had a worse fit of +ague than his master. He anxiously watched the face of the statesman, +but the only thing visible in his features was bodily suffering. There +was no sign of mental disturbance.</p> + +<p>The blood flew to his face, the veins were throbbing visibly in his +temples.</p> + +<p>"Come hither, my son," he said in a scarcely audible voice; "bring me a +glass of water, put into it as much rhubarb powder as would go on the +edge of a knife, and give it me to drink."</p> + +<p>Cserei fancied that the sick Premier had not mastered the contents of +the letter because of a fresh access of fever, and, having prepared the +rhubarb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> water in a few moments, gave it him to drink, whereupon Teleki +crouched down beneath his coverlet. He could have done nothing better, +for now the ague burst forth again, so that he regularly shivered +beneath its attack. Cserei wanted to run for a doctor.</p> + +<p>"Whither are you going?" asked Teleki. "Fetch ink and parchment, and +write."</p> + +<p>The lad obeyed his command marvelling.</p> + +<p>"Bring hither the round table and sit down beside it. Write what I tell +you."</p> + +<p>The pen shook in the lad's hand, and he kept dipping it into the sand +instead of into the ink.</p> + +<p>Teleki, in a broken voice, dictated a letter as well as the fever would +allow him.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Most Exalted Grand Vizier and Well-beloved Sir</span>,—We +learn from your Highness's dispatch that the armies of +the Sublime Sultan who have lately been besieging the +fortress of Nyitra are now endeavouring to combine +their forces, and though this realm has but a meagre +possession of the muniments of war remaining to it, we +shall be prepared most punctually to hold at your +Highness's gracious disposition as much, though it be +but little, forage, hay, and other necessary stores as +we still possess, you making allowance for all +inevitable defects and shortcomings. Moreover, rumour +has it that the hostile hosts are beginning to show +themselves on the borders of Transylvania, which +irruption, though it be no secret, is yet to be +confirmed, and should it be so we must meet it with +all our attention and energy. As to this your Highness +shall be informed in good time, and in the meanwhile +we commit you to God's gracious favour, etc., etc."</p></div> + +<p>Cserei sighed and thought to himself: "I wonder whence all the hay and +oats is to come?"</p> + +<p>But Teleki knew very well that in consequence of last year's bad +harvests and inundations the Turkish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> army was suffering severely from +want of hay, so that what with him was an occasion for delay, with them +was an occasion for hurrying—whence we may draw the reflection that the +great events of this world are built upon haycocks!</p> + +<p>"Address the second letter," continued Teleki, "to his Excellency Baron +Mendenzi Kopp and to the honourable Achatius Kászonyi, commandants of +the fortress of Szathmár," and he thus went on dictating to Cserei, +whilst in the intervals of silence the groans which the ague forced from +his breast were distinctly audible.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"With joy we learn of the intention of your Honours to +endeavour to seize one of the gates of entrance of the +enemy of our faith, through which he was always ready +to come for our destruction. May the God of mercy +forward the designs of your Excellencies. If, on this +occasion, your Excellencies could also find time to +make a feigned attack upon Transylvania in order to +give us a reasonable excuse of our inability to lend +the Turks the assistance they expect from us, you +would make matters easier for us, and render us an +essential service. On the other hand, if we should be +compelled against our wills to send our soldiers +against the Christian camp, in conjunction with the +enemies of our faith, we assure your Excellencies that +our host will be a purely nominal one, etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—The bearer of this letter can be employed by +your Excellencies as a courier or otherwise."</p></div> + +<p>Cserei looked with amazement at the man in whom mental vivacity seemed +to rise triumphant even over the lassitude of fever.</p> + +<p>"Take a third sheet of paper, and address it to the Honourable Ladislaus +Ebéni, Lieutenant-Governor of the fortress of Klausenburg.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>"We hasten to inform your Honour that preparations are +being made by the Commandant of the fortress of +Szathmár, which leads us to conjecture that he +meditates making an irruption into Transylvania. It +may, of course, be merely a feint, but your Honour +would do well to be prepared and under arms, lest he +have designs against us, and is not merely making a +noise. We, meanwhile, will postpone the advance of our +arms into Hungary, lest, while we are attacking on one +side, we leave Transylvania defenceless on the other. +Once more we counsel your Honour to use the utmost +caution, etc."</p></div> + +<p>"And now take these letters and carry them to the Prince, that he may +sign them."</p> + +<p>"And what if he box my ears for allowing your Excellency to dictate?" +said the frightened lad.</p> + +<p>"Never mind it, my son, you will have suffered for your country. I, too, +have had buffets enough in my time, not only when I was a child, but +since I have grown up." And with that he turned his face towards the +wall and pulled the coverlet over him.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Cserei found Apafi in the apartment of the consort, and thus +avoided the box on the ear, got the letters signed, and dispatched them +all in different directions, so that all three got into the proper hands +in the shortest conceivable time. And now let us see the result.</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier blasphemed when he had read his, and swore emphatically +that if there were no hay in Transylvania he would make hay of their +Excellencies.</p> + +<p>Baron Kopp and Mr. Kászonyi chuckled together over <i>their</i> letter. The +Commandant murmured gruffly: "I don't care, so you needn't."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebéni, however, on reading his letter, deposited it neatly among the +public archives, growling angrily:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>"If I were to call the people to arms at every wild alarm or idle +rumour, I should have nothing else to do all day long. It is a pity that +Teleki hasn't something better to do than to bother me continually with +his scribble."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN.</span></h2> + + +<p>In order that the horizon may stand clearly before us, it must be said +that in those days there were two important points in Hungary on the +Transylvanian border: Grosswardein and Szathmár-Németi, which might be +called the gates of Transylvania—good places of refuge if their keys +are in the hand of the Realm, but all the more dangerous when the hands +of strangers dispose of them.</p> + +<p>At this very time a German army was investing Szathmár and the Turks had +sat down before Grosswardein, and the plumed helmets of the former were +regarded as as great a menace on the frontiers of the state as the +half-moons themselves.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the regions enclosed between these fortresses never +could tell by which road they were to expect the enemy to come. For in +such topsy-turvy days as those were, every armed man was an enemy, from +whom corn, cattle, and pretty women had to be hidden away, and their +friendship cost as much as their enmity, and perhaps more; for if they +found out at Szathmár that some nice wagon-loads of corn and hay had +been captured from local marauders without first beating their brains +out, the magistrates would look in next day and impose a penalty; and +again, on the other hand, if it were known at Grosswardein that the +Szathmárians had been received hospitably at any gentleman's house, and +the daughter of the house had spoken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> courteously to them, the Turks +would wait until the Szathmárians had gone farther on and would then +fall upon the house in question and burn it to the ground, so that the +Szathmárians should not be able to sleep there again; and, as for the +daughter of the house, they would carry her off to a harem, in order to +save her from any further discoursing with the magistrates of Szathmár.</p> + +<p>And, last of all, there was a third enemy to be reckoned with, and this +was the countless rabble of <i>betyárs</i>, or freebooters, who inhabited the +whole region from the marshes of Ecsed to the morasses of Alibuner, and +who gave no reason at all for driving off their neighbour's herds and +even destroying his houses.</p> + +<p>In those days a certain Feri Kökényesdi had won renown as a robber +chieftain, and extraordinary, marvellous tales were told in every +village and on every <i>puszta</i><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> of him and the twelve robbers who +followed his banner, and who were ready at a word to commit the most +incredible audacities. People talked of their entrenched fortresses +among the Bélabora and Alibuner marshes which were inaccessible to any +mortal foe, and in which, even if surrounded on all sides, they could +hold out against five regiments till the day of judgment. Then there +were tales of storehouses concealed among the Cumanian sand-hills which +could only be discovered by the scent of a horse; there were tales of a +good steed who, after one watering, could gallop all the way from the +Theiss to the Danube, who could recognise a foe two thousand paces off, +and would neigh if his master were asleep or fondling his sweetheart in +the tavern; there were tales of the gigantic strength of the robber +chief who could tackle ten <i>pandurs</i><a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> at once, and who, whenever he +was pursued, could cause a sea to burst forth between himself and his +pursuers, so that they would be compelled to turn back.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">6</span></a> Common.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">7</span></a> Police officers.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>As a matter of fact, Mr. Kökényesdi was neither a giant who turned men +round his little finger nor a magician who threw dust in their eyes, but +an honest-looking, undersized, meagre figure of a man and a citizen of +Hodmezö-Vásárhely, in which place he had a house and a couple of farms, +on which he conscientiously paid his portion of taxes; and he had bulls +and stallions, as to every one of which he was able to prove where he +had bought and how much he had paid for it. Not one of them was stolen.</p> + +<p>Yet everyone knew very well that neither his farms nor his bulls nor his +stallions had been acquired in a godly way, and that the famous robber +chief whose rumour filled every corner of the land was none other than +he.</p> + +<p>But who could prove it? Had anybody ever seen him steal? Had he ever +been caught red-handed? Did he not always defend himself in the most +brilliant manner whenever he was accused? When there was a rumour that +Kökényesdi was plundering the county of Mármaros from end to end, did he +not produce five or six eye-witnesses to prove that at that very time he +was ploughing and sowing on his farms, and was not the judge at great +pains to discover whether these witnesses were reliable?</p> + +<p>Those who visited him at his native place of Vásárhely found him to be a +respected, worthy, well-to-do man, who tossed his own hay till the very +palm of his hand sweated, while those who sought for Kökényesdi on the +confines of the realm never saw his face at all; it was indeed a very +tiresome business to pursue him. That man was a brave fellow indeed who +did not feel his heart beat quicker when he followed his track through +the pathless morasses and the crooked sand-hills of the interminable +<i>puszta</i>. And if two or three counties united to capture him, he would +let himself be chased to the borders of the fourth county, and when he +had leaped across it would leisurely dismount and beneath the very eyes +of his pursuers, loose his horse to graze and lie down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> beside it on his +<i>bunda</i><a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a>—for there was the Turkish frontier, and he knew very well +that beyond Lippa they durst not pursue him, for there the Pasha of +Temesvar held sway.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">8</span></a> Sheepskin mantle.</p></div> + +<p>Now, at this time there was among the garrison of Szathmár a captain +named Ladislaus Rákóczy. The Rákóczy family, after Helen Zrinyi's +husband had turned papist, for the most part were brought up at Vienna, +and many of them held commissions in the Imperial army. Ladislaus +Rákóczy likewise became a captain of musketeers, and as the greater part +of his company consisted of Hungarian lads, it was not surprising if the +Prince of Transylvania, on the other hand, kept German regiments to +garrison his towns and accompany him whithersoever he went. It chanced +that this Ladislaus Rákóczy, who was a very handsome, well-shaped, and +good-hearted youth, fell in love with Christina, the daughter of Adam +Rhédey, who dwelt at Rékás; and as the girl's father agreed to the +match, he frequently went over from Szathmár to see his <i>fiancée</i>, +accompanied by several of his fellow-officers, and he and his friends +were always received by the family as welcome guests.</p> + +<p>Now, it came to the ears of the Pasha of Grosswardein that the Squire of +Rékás was inclined to give away his daughter in marriage to a German +officer, and perchance it was also whispered to him that the girl was +beautiful and gracious. At any rate, one night Haly Pasha, at the head +of his Spahis, stole away from Grosswardein and, taking the people of +Rékás by surprise, burnt Adam Rhédey's house down, delivered it over to +pillage, beat Rhédey himself with a whip, and tied him to the +pump-handle, while, as for his daughter, who was half dead with fright, +he put her up behind him on the saddle and trotted back to Grosswardein +by the light of the burning village.</p> + +<p>Ladislaus Rákóczy, who came there next day for his own bridal feast, +found everything wasted and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> ravaged, and the servants, who were hiding +behind the hedges, peeped out and told him what had happened the night +before, and how Haly Pasha had abducted his bride. The bridegroom was +taciturn at the best of times, but a Hungarian is not in the habit of +talking much when anything greatly annoys him, so, without a word to his +comrades, he went back to the governor and asked permission to lead his +regiment against Grosswardein.</p> + +<p>The general, perceiving that persuasion was useless, and that the youth +would by himself try a tussle with the Turks if he couldn't do it +otherwise, took the matter seriously and promised that he would place at +his disposal, not only his own regiment but the whole garrison, if only +he would persuade the neighbouring gentry to join him in the attack on +the Turks of Grosswardein.</p> + +<p>As for the gentry, they only needed a word to fly to arms at once, for +there was scarce one of them who had not at one time or other been +enslaved, beaten, or at least insulted by the Turks, so that the mere +appearance of a considerable force of regular soldiers marching against +the Turks was sufficient to bring them out at once. The Turks, having +once got possession of Grosswardein, had established themselves therein +as firmly as if they meant to justify the Mussulman tradition that he +never abandons a town that he has once occupied, or never voluntarily +surrenders a place in which he has built a mosque, and indeed history +rarely records a case of capitulation by the Turks—<i>their</i> fortresses +are generally taken by storm.</p> + +<p>From the year 1660, when Haly Pasha occupied the fortress, a quite new +Turkish town had arisen in the vacant space between the fortress and the +old town, and this new town was surrounded by a strong palisade, the +only entrances into which were through very narrow gates. This new town +was inhabited by nothing but Turkish chapmen, who bartered away the +goods captured by the garrison, and Haly Pasha's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Spahis did a roaring +business in the oxen and slaves which they had gathered together, +attracting purchasers all the way from Bagdad. Thus from year to year +the market of Grosswardein became better and better known in the Turkish +commercial world, so that one wooden house after another sprang up, and +they built across and along the empty space just as they liked, so that +at last there was hardly what you would call a street in the whole +place, and people had to go through their neighbours' houses in order to +get into their own; in a word, the whole thing took the form of a +Turkish fair, where pomp and splendour conceals no end of filth; the +patched up wooden shanties were covered with gorgeous oriental stuffs, +while in the streets hordes of ownerless dogs wandered among the +perennial offal, and if two people met together in the narrow alleys, to +pass each other was impossible.</p> + +<p>This fenced town was not large enough to hold the herds that were swept +towards it, there was hardly room enough for the masters of the herds; +but on the banks of the Pecze there was a large open entrenched space +reserved for the purpose, where the Bashkir horsemen stood on guard over +the herds with their long spears, and had to keep their eyes pretty open +if they didn't want Kökényesdi to honour them with a visit, who was +capable of stealing not only the horses but the horsemen who guarded +them.</p> + +<p>Take but one case out of many. One day Kökényesdi, in his <i>bunda</i>, +turned inside out as usual, with a round spiral hat on his head and a +large knobby stick in his hands, appeared outside the entrenchment +within which a closely-capped Kurd was guarding Haly Pasha's favourite +charger, Shebdiz.</p> + +<p>"What a nice charger!" said the horse-dealer to the Kurd.</p> + +<p>"Nice indeed, but not for your dog's teeth."</p> + +<p>"Yet I assure you I'll steal him this very night."</p> + +<p>"I shall be there too, my lad," thought the Kurd to himself, and with +that he leaped upon the horse and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> grasped fast his three and a half +ells long spear; "if you want the horse come for it now!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to fetch it at once, so don't put yourself out," +Kökényesdi assured him. "You may do as you like with him till morning," +and with that he sat down on the edge of the ditch, wrapped himself up +in his <i>bunda</i>, and leaned his chin on his big stick.</p> + +<p>The Kurd durst not take his eyes off him, he scarce ventured even to +wink, lest the horse-dealer should practise magic in the meantime.</p> + +<p>He never stirred from the spot, but drew his hat deep down and regarded +the Kurd from beneath it with his foxy eyes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile it was drawing towards evening. The Kurd's eyes now regularly +started out of his head in his endeavours to distinguish the form of +Kökényesdi through the darkness. At last he grew weary of the whole +business.</p> + +<p>"Go away!" he said. "Do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>Kökényesdi made no reply.</p> + +<p>The Kurd waited and gazed again. Everything seemed to him to be turning +round, and blue and green wheels were revolving before his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Go away, I tell you, for if this ditch was not a broad one I would leap +across and bore you through with my spear."</p> + +<p>The <i>bunda</i> never budged.</p> + +<p>The Kurd flew into a rage, dismounted from the horse, seized his spear, +and climbing down into the ditch, viciously plunged his spear into the +sleeping form before him.</p> + +<p>But how great was his consternation when he discovered that what he had +looked upon as a man in the darkness was nothing but a propped up stick, +on which a <i>bunda</i> and a hat were hanging! While he had been staring at +Kökényesdi, the latter had crept from out of the <i>bunda</i> beneath his +very eyes and hidden himself in the ditch.</p> + +<p>The Kurd had not yet recovered from his astonish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>ment when he heard the +crack of a whip behind his back, and there was Kökényesdi sitting +already on the back of Haly Pasha's charger, Shebdiz, and the next +moment he had leaped the ditch above the Kurd's head, shouting back at +him:</p> + +<p>"The trench is not broad enough for this horse, my son!"</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Master Szénasi was one of those who had been sent to find Kökényesdi, +and he now arrived at Demerser, the famous robber's most usual +resting-place in those days, and pushing his way forward told him that +the gentlemen of Szathmár had sent him to ask him, Kökényesdi, to assist +them in their expedition against the Turks.</p> + +<p>Kökényesdi, who was carrying a sheaf on his back, looked sharply at the +magister, who dared not meet his gaze, and when he had finished his +little speech he roared at him:</p> + +<p>"You lie! You're a spy! I don't like the look of your mug! I'm going to +hang you up!"</p> + +<p>Szénasi, who was unacquainted with the robber chief's peculiarities, was +near collapsing with terror, whereupon Kökényesdi observed with a smile:</p> + +<p>"Come, come, don't tremble so, I won't eat you up at any rate, but tell +the gentleman that sent you here that another time he mustn't send a spy +to me, for to tell you the truth I don't believe in such faces as yours. +You may tell the gentleman, moreover, that if he wants to speak to me he +must come himself. I don't care about making a move on the strength of +idle chatter. I am easily to be found. Go to Püspök Ladánya, walk into +the last house on the right-hand side and ask the master where the +Barátfa hostelry is, he'll show you the way; and now in God's name +scuttle! and don't look back till you've got home."</p> + +<p>The magister did as he was bid, and on getting home delivered the +message to his masters, whereupon they immediately set out; Raining +going on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> the part of the military, János Topay on the part of the +Hungarians, together with Ladislaus Rákóczy himself and the captain of +the gentry of Báródság.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen safely reached Püspök Ladánya, where they had to wait at +the magistrate's house till night-fall, although Raining would have much +preferred to meet Kökényesdi by daylight, and Rákóczy was burning to +carry through his enterprise as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>While they waited Raining could not help asking the magistrate whether +it was far from there to the Barátfa inn?</p> + +<p>The magistrate shook his head and maintained there was no such inn in +the whole district, nor was there.</p> + +<p>Raining fancied that the magistrate must be a stranger there, so he +asked two or three old men the same question, but they all gave him the +same answer: there might be a <i>barátfa puszta</i><a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> here but there could +be no inn on it, or if there was an inn, the <i>puszta</i> itself did not +exist.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">9</span></a> Common.</p></div> + +<p>"Well, if they don't know anything about it at the last house we had +better turn back," said Raining to himself; and, when it had grown quite +dark, he approached the house and began to talk with the master who was +dawdling about the door.</p> + +<p>"God bless thee, countryman! where's the barátfa inn?"</p> + +<p>The man first of all measured the questioner from head to foot, and then +he merely remarked: "God requite thee! over yonder!" and he vaguely +indicated the direction with his head.</p> + +<p>"We want to go there; can't you show us the way?" asked Topay.</p> + +<p>The man seized the questioner's hand and pointed with it to a herdsman's +fire in the distance.</p> + +<p>"Look; do you see the shine of its windows there?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>"Which is the way to it?"</p> + +<p>"That way 'tis nearer, t'other way it's quicker."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"If you go that way you'll go astray the quicker, and if you go t'other +way you may plump into a bog."</p> + +<p>"You lead us thither," intervened Rákóczy, at the same time pressing a +ducat into the man's fist.</p> + +<p>He looked at it, turned it round in his palm and gave it back to Rákóczy +with the request that he would give him copper money in exchange for it. +He could not imagine anyone giving him gold which was not false.</p> + +<p>When this had been done he neatly led the gentlemen through the +morass—wading in front of them, girded up to his waist—through those +hidden places where the water-fowl were sitting on their nests, and when +at last they emerged from among the thick reedy plantations they saw a +hundred paces in front of them a fire of heaped up bulrushes brightly +burning, by the light of which they saw a horseman standing behind it.</p> + +<p>Here their guide stopped and the three men trotted in single file +towards the fire, which suddenly died out at the very moment they were +approaching it, as if someone had cast wet rushes upon it.</p> + +<p>Topay greeted the horseman, who lifted his hat in silence and allowed +them to draw nearer.</p> + +<p>"There are three of you gentlemen together," he observed guardedly; "but +that doesn't matter," he continued. "It would be all the same to me if +there were ten times as many of you, for there's a pistol in every one +of my holsters, from which I can fire sixteen bullets in succession, and +in each bullet is a magnet, so that even if I don't aim at my man I +bring him down all the same."</p> + +<p>"Very good, very good indeed, Master Kökényesdi," said Topay; "we have +not come here for you to pepper us with your magnetic globules, but we +have come to ask your assistance for the accomplishment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> of a doughty +deed, the object of which is an attack upon our pagan foes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my good sirs, I am ready to do that without the co-operation of +your honours. In the courtyard of a castle in the Baborsai <i>puszta</i> +there is a well some hundred fathoms deep and quite full of Turkish +skulls, and I will not be satisfied till I have piled up on the top of +it a tower just as high made of similar materials."</p> + +<p>"So I believe. But you would gain glory too?"</p> + +<p>"I have glory enough already. I am known in foreign countries as well as +at home. The King of France has long ago only waited for a word from me +to make me chief colonel of a long-tailed regiment, and quite recently, +when the King of England heard how I bored through the hulls of the +munition ships on the Theiss, he did me the honour to invite me to form +a regiment of divers to ravage the enemy under water. And I've all the +boys for it too."</p> + +<p>"I know, I know, Master Kökényesdi, but there will be booty here too, +and lots of it."</p> + +<p>"What is booty to me? If I choose to do so, I could bathe in gold and +sleep on pearls."</p> + +<p>"Have you really as much treasure as all that?" inquired Raining with +some curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Kökényesdi, "you ought to see the storehouse in the Szilicza +cavern, where gold and silver are filled up as high as haystacks. There, +too, are the treasures dug up from the sands of the sea, nothing but +precious stones, diamonds, rubies, carbuncles, and real pearls. I, +myself, do not know how many sackfuls."</p> + +<p>"And cannot you be robbed of them?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible; the entrance is so well concealed that no man living can +find it. I myself can never tell whether I am near it; the shifting sand +has so well covered it. Only one living animal can find it when it is +wanted, and that is my horse. And he will never betray it, for if anyone +but myself mounts him, not a step farther will he go."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>"And how did you come into possession of these enormous treasures?" +asked Raining with astonishment.</p> + +<p>"God gave them to me," said the horse-dealer, raising his voice and his +eyebrows at the same time.</p> + +<p>"Very edifying, no doubt, my friend," said Topay; "but tell me now, +briefly, for how much will you join us against the Turks of +Grosswardein?—not counting the booty, which of course will be pretty +considerable."</p> + +<p>"Well—that is not so easily said. Of course I shall have to collect +together my twelve companies, and it will cost something to hold them +together and give them what they want and pay them."</p> + +<p>"At any rate you can name a good round sum for the services you are +going to render us, can't you? Come! how much do you require?"</p> + +<p>The robber chief reflected.</p> + +<p>"Well, as it is your honours' own business I hope your honours won't say +that I tax you too highly. Let us look at the job in this way: suppose I +came to the attack with seventeen companies, and I charge one thousand +thalers for each company. Let us say each company consists of one +thousand men, that will be a thaler per head—and what is that, 'twill +barely pay for their keep. Thus the whole round sum will come to +seventeen thousand thalers."</p> + +<p>"That won't do at all, Master Kökényesdi. 'Twere a shame to fatigue so +many gallant fellows for nothing, but suppose you bring with you only a +hundred men and the rest remain comfortably at home? In that case you +shall receive from us seventeen hundred florins in hard cash."</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" snapped the robber, "what does your honour take me for, eh? Do +you suppose you are dealing with a gipsy chief or a Wallachian bandit, +who are paid in pence? Why, I wouldn't saddle my horse for such a +trifle, I had rather sleep the whole time away."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>"But you have so much treasure besides," observed Raining naïvely.</p> + +<p>"But we may not break into it," rejoined the robber angrily.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because we have agreed not to make use of till it has mounted up to a +million florins."</p> + +<p>"And what will you do with it then?"</p> + +<p>"We shall then buy a vacant kingdom from the Tartar king, where the +pasturage is good, and thither we will go with our men and set up an +empire of our own. We will buy enough pretty women from the Turks for us +all, and be our own masters."</p> + +<p>Topay smiled.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "this seventeen hundred florins of ours will at any +rate purchase one of the counties in this kingdom of yours." He was +greatly amused that Raining should take the robber's yarn so seriously, +and he pushed the German gentleman aside. "Mr. Kökényesdi," said he, +"you have nothing to do with this worthy man; he is come with us only to +see the fun, but it is we who pay the money, and I think we understand +each other pretty well."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell me so sooner?" said the robber sulkily, "then I +shouldn't have wasted so many words. With which of you am I to bargain?"</p> + +<p>"With this young gentleman here," said Topay. "Ladislaus Rákóczy. I +suppose you know him by report?"</p> + +<p>"Know him? I should think I did. Haven't I carried him in my arms when +he was little? If it hadn't been so dark I should have recognised him at +once. Well, as it is he, I don't mind doing him a good turn. I certainly +wouldn't have taken a florin less from anyone else. I'll take from <i>him</i> +the offer of seventeen hundred thalers."</p> + +<p>"Seventeen hundred florins, <i>I</i> said."</p> + +<p>"I tell your honour, you said thalers—thalers was what <i>I</i> heard, and I +won't undertake the job for less;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> may my hand and leg wither if I move +a step for less."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll give him his thalers," said Rákóczy, interrupting the dispute; +whereupon the robber seized the youth's hand and shook it joyfully.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I know that your honour was the finest fellow of the three?" +said the robber. "If, therefore, you will send these few trumpery +thalers a week hence to the house of the worthy man who guided you +hither, I will be at Grosswardein a week later with my seventeen hundred +fellows."</p> + +<p>"But, suppose we pay you in advance, and you don't turn up?" said +Raining anxiously.</p> + +<p>The robber looked at the quartermaster proudly.</p> + +<p>"Do you take me for a common swindler?" said he. Then he turned with a +movement of confiding expansion to the other gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"We understand each other better," he remarked. "Your honours may depend +upon me. God be with you."</p> + +<p>With that he turned his horse and galloped off into the darkness. The +three gentlemen were conducted back to Ladány.</p> + +<p>"Marvellous fellow, this Kökényesdi," said Raining, who had scarce +recovered yet from his astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't believe all the yarns he chooses to tell you," said Topay.</p> + +<p>"What!" inquired Raining. "Had he then no communications with the French +and English Courts?"</p> + +<p>"No more than his grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Then how about those treasures of which he spoke?"</p> + +<p>"He himself has never seen them, and he only talked about them to give +you a higher opinion of him."</p> + +<p>"And his castle in the puszta, and his seventeen companies of +freebooters?"</p> + +<p>"He invented them entirely for your honour's edification. The freebooter +is no fool, he lives in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> no castle in the puszta, but in a simple +village as modest Mr. Kökényesdi, and his seventeen companies scarcely +amount to more than seventeen hundred men."</p> + +<p>"Then why did he consent so easily to take only seventeen hundred +thalers?"</p> + +<p>"Because he does not mean to give his lads a single farthing of it."</p> + +<p>Raining shook his head, and grumbled to himself all the way home.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>In a week's time they sent to Kökényesdi the stipulated money. Raining, +moreover, fearing lest the fellow might forget the fixed time, did not +hesitate to go personally to Vásárhely, to seek him at his own door. +There stood Master Kökényesdi in his threshing-floor, picking his teeth +with a straw.</p> + +<p>"Good-day," said the quartermaster.</p> + +<p>"If it's good, eat it," murmured Kökényesdi to himself.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know me?"</p> + +<p>"Blast me if I do."</p> + +<p>"Then don't you remember what you promised at the Barátfa inn?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know where the Barátfa inn is."</p> + +<p>"Then haven't you received the seventeen hundred thalers?"</p> + +<p>"What should I receive seventeen hundred thalers for?"</p> + +<p>"Don't joke, the appointed time has come."</p> + +<p>"What appointed time?"</p> + +<p>"What appointed time? And you who have to be at Grosswardein with +seventeen hundred men!"</p> + +<p>"Seventeen oxen and seventeen herdsmen on their backs, I suppose you +mean."</p> + +<p>"Well, a pretty mess we are in now," said Raining to himself as he +wrathfully trotted back to Debreczen, and as he rushed into Rákóczy's +room exclaiming,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> "Well, Kökényesdi has toasted us finely!" there stood +Kökényesdi before his very eyes.</p> + +<p>"What, you here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am; and another time your honour will know that whenever I am at +my own place I am not at home."</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>It was the Friday before Whit Sunday, and the time about evening. A +great silence rested over the whole district, only from the minarets of +Varalja one Imâm answered another, and from the tombs one shepherd dog +answered his fellow: it was impossible to distinguish from which of the +two the howling proceeded.</p> + +<p>A couple of turbaned gentlemen were leisurely strolling along the +bastions. Above the palisaded gate the torso of a square-headed Tartar +was visible, with his elbows resting on the ramparts, holding his long +musket in his hand. The Tartar sentinel was gazing with round open eyes +into the black night, watching lest anyone should come from the +direction in which he was aiming with his gun, and blowing vigorously at +the lunt to prevent its going out. While he was thus anxiously on the +watch, it suddenly seemed to him as if he discerned the shape of a +horseman approaching the city.</p> + +<p>In such cases the orders given to the Osmanli sentinels were of the +simplest description: they were to shoot everyone who approached in the +night-time without a word.</p> + +<p>The Tartar only waited until the man had come nearer, and then, placing +his long musket on the moulding of the gate, began to take aim with it.</p> + +<p>But the approaching horseman rode his steed as oddly as only Hungarian +<i>csikósok</i><a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> can do, for he bobbed perpetually from the right to the +left,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> and dodged backwards and forwards in the most aggravating manner.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">10</span></a> Horse-dealers.</p></div> + +<p>"Allah pluck thy skin from off thee, thou drunken Giaour," murmured the +baffled Tartar to himself, as he found all his aiming useless; for just +as he was about to apply the lunt, the <i>csikós</i> was no longer there, and +the next moment he stood at the very end of his musket. "May all the +seven-and-seventy hells have a little bit of thee! Why canst thou not +remain still for a moment that I may fire at thee?"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the shape had gradually come up to the very gate.</p> + +<p>"Don't come any nearer," cried the Tartar, "or I shan't be able to shoot +thee."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's it, is it?" said the other. "Then why didn't you tell me so +sooner? But don't hold your musket so near to me, it may go off of its +own accord."</p> + +<p>We recognise in the <i>csikós</i> Kökényesdi, whose horse now began to prance +about to such an extent that it was impossible for the Tartar to take a +fair aim at it.</p> + +<p>"I bring a letter for Haly Pasha, from the Defterdar of Lippa," said the +<i>csikós</i>, searching for something in the pocket of his fur pelisse, so +far as his caracolling steed would allow him. "Catch it if you don't +want to come through the gate for it."</p> + +<p>"Well, fling it up here," murmured the sentinel, "and then be off again, +but ride decently that I may have a shot."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my worthy Mr. Dog-headed Hero; but look out and catch what I +throw to you."</p> + +<p>And with that he drew out a roll of parchment and flung it up to the top +of the gate. The Tartar, with his eyes fixed on the missive, did not +perceive that the <i>csikós</i>, at the same time, threw up a long piece of +cord, and the sense of the joke did not burst upon him until the +<i>csikós</i> drew in the noose, and he felt it circling round his body. +Kökényesdi turned round suddenly, twisted the cord round the forepart of +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> horse, and clapping the spurs to its side, began galloping off.</p> + +<p>Naturally, in about a moment the Tartar had descended from the top of +the gate without either musket or lunt, and the cord being well lassoed +round his body, he plumped first into the moat, a moment afterwards +reappeared on the top of the trench, and was carried with the velocity +of lightning through bushes and briars. Being quite unused to this mode +of progression, and vainly attempting to cling by hand or foot to the +trees and shrubs which met him in his way, he began to bellow with all +his might, at which terrible uproar the other sentries behind the +ramparts were aroused, and, perceiving that some horseman or other was +compelling one of their comrades to follow after him in this merciless +fashion, they mounted their horses, and throwing open the gate, plunged +after him.</p> + +<p>As for Kökényesdi, he trotted on in front of them, drawing the Tartar +horde farther and farther after him till he reached a willow-wood, when +he turned aside and whistled, and instantly fifty stout fellows leaped +forth from the thicket on swift horses with <i>csákánys</i><a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> in their +hands, so that the pursuing Turks were fairly caught.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">11</span></a> Long-handled hammers.</p></div> + +<p>They turned tail, however, in double-quick time, having no great love of +the <i>csákánys</i>, and never stopped till they reached the gate of the +fortress, within the walls of which they yelled to their heart's +content, that Kökényesdi's robbers were at hand, had leaped the cattle +trench at a single bound, seized a good part of the herds and were +driving the beasts before them; whereupon, some hundreds of Spahis set +off in pursuit of the audacious adventurers. When, however, the robbers +had reached the River Körös, they halted, faced about and stood up to +their pursuers man to man, and the encounter had scarce begun when the +Spahis grew alive to the fact that their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> opponents, who at first had +barely numbered fifty, had grown into a hundred, into two hundred, and +at last into five or six hundred: from out of the thickets, the ridges, +and the darkness, fresh shapes were continually galloping to the +assistance of their comrades, while from the fortress the Turks came +rushing out on each other's heels in tens and twenties to the help of +the Spahis, so that by this time the greater part of the garrison had +emerged to pounce upon Kökényesdi's freebooters; when suddenly, the +battle-cry resounded from every quarter and from the other side of the +Körös, whence nobody expected it, the <i>bandérium</i><a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> of the gentry of +Báródság rushed forth, and swam right across the river; while from the +direction of Várad-Olaszi, amidst the rolling of drums, Ladislaus +Rákóczy came marching along with the infantry of Szathmár.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">12</span></a> Mounted troops.</p></div> + +<p>"Forward!" cried the youth, holding the banner in his hand, and he was +the first who placed his foot on the storming-ladder. The terrified +garrison, after firing their muskets in the air, abandoned the ramparts +and fled into the citadel.</p> + +<p>Rákóczy got into the town before the Spahis who were fighting with +Kökényesdi, and who now, at the sound of the uproar, would have fled +back through the town to take refuge in the citadel, but came into +collision with the cavalry of Topay, who reached the gates of the town +at the same moment that they did, and both parties, crowding together +before the gates, desperately tried to get possession of them, during +which tussle the contending hosts for a moment were wedged together into +a maddened mass, in which the antagonists could recognise each other +only from their war-cries; when, all at once, from the middle of the +town, a huge column of fire whirled up into the air, illuminating the +faces of the combatants. The fact was that Kökényesdi had hit upon the +good idea of connecting a burning lunt with the tops of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> houses, and +making a general blaze, so that at least the people could see one +another. By this hideous illumination the Spahis suddenly perceived that +Rákóczy's infantry had broken through the ramparts in one place, and +that a sturdy young heyduke had just hoisted the banner of the Blessed +Virgin on the top of the eastern gate.</p> + +<p>"This is the day of death," cried the Aga of the Spahis in despair; and +drawing his sword from its sheath, he planted himself in the gateway, +and fought desperately till his comrades had taken refuge in the town, +and he himself fell covered with wounds. It was over his body that the +Hungarians rushed through the gates after the flying Spahis.</p> + +<p>At that moment a fresh cry resounded from the fortress: "Ali! Ali!" The +Pasha himself was advancing with his picked guards, with the valiant +Janissaries, with those good marksmen, the Szaracsies, who can pierce +with a bullet a thaler flung into the air, and with the veteran +Mamelukes, who can fight with sword and lance at the same time. He +himself rode in advance of his host on his war-horse, his big red face +aflame with rage; in front of him his standard-bearer bore the triple +horse-tail, on each side of which strode a negro headsman with a +broadsword.</p> + +<p>"Come hither, ye faithless dogs! Is the world too narrow for ye that ye +come to die here? By the shadow of Allah, I swear it, ye shall all be +sent to hell this day, and I will ravage your kingdom ten leagues round. +Come hither, ye impure swine-eaters! Your heads shall be brought to +market; everyone who brings in the head of a Christian shall receive a +ducat, and he who brings in a captive shall die."</p> + +<p>Thus the Pasha roared, stormed, and yelled at the same time; while Topay +tried to marshal once more his men who were scattering before the fire +of the Turks, galloping from street to street, and re-forming his +terrified squadrons to make head against the solid host of the advancing +Turks, which was rapidly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> gaining ground, while Kökényesdi's followers +only thought of booty.</p> + +<p>"A hundred ducats to him who shoots down that son of a dog!" thundered +the Pasha, pointing out the ubiquitous Topay, and, finding it impossible +to get near him, roared after him: "Thou cowardly puppy! whither art +thou running? Look me in the face, canst thou not?"</p> + +<p>Topay heard the exclamation and shouted back very briefly:</p> + +<p>"I saw <i>thy</i> back at Bánfi-Hunyad."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">13</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">13</span></a> See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book II., Chapter IV.</p></div> + +<p>At this insult Ali Pasha's gall overflowed, and seizing his mace, he +aimed a blow with it at Topay, when suddenly a sharp crackling +cross-fire resounded from a neighbouring lane, and amidst the thick +clouds of smoke, Rákóczy's musketeers appeared, sticking their daggers +into their discharged firearms, a practise to which the bayonet owed its +origin at a later day. The Turkish cavalry, crowded together in the +narrow street, was in a few moments demoralised by this rapid assault. +The improvised bayonet told terribly in the crush, swords and darts were +powerless against it.</p> + +<p>"Allah is great!" cried Ali. "Hasten into the fortress and draw up the +bridge, we are only perishing here. Only the fortress remains to us."</p> + +<p>His conductors, against his will, seized his bridle, and dragged him +along with them; and when a valiant musketeer, drawing near to him, cut +down his charger, the terrified Pasha clambered up into the saddle of +one of his headsmen, and took refuge behind his back.</p> + +<p>A young Hungarian horseman was constantly on his track. Nobody could +tell Ali who he was, but one could see from his face that he was the +Pasha's fiercest enemy, and animated by something more than mere martial +ardour. This young horseman gave no heed to the bullets or blades which +were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> directed against him; he was bent only on bloodshed.</p> + +<p>It was young Rákóczy, to whom bitterness had given strength a +hundredfold. Forcing his way through the flying hostile rabble, he was +drawing nearer and nearer to Ali every moment, cutting down one by one +all who barred the way between him and the Pasha, and the Turks quailed +before his strong hands and savage looks.</p> + +<p>At length they reached the bridge, which was built upon piles, between +deep bulwarks, and led into the fortress, the front part of whose gate +was fortified by iron plates and huge nails, and could be drawn up to +the gate of the tower by round chains. On the summit of the tower of the +citadel could still be seen the equestrian statue of St. Ladislaus +derisively turned upside down between the severed legs of two felons.</p> + +<p>The Hungarians and the Turks reached the bridge together so intermingled +that the only thing to be seen was a confused mass of turbans and +helmets, in the midst of a forest of swords and scimitars, with the +banner of the Blessed Virgin cheek by jowl with the crescented +horse-tails.</p> + +<p>At the gate of the citadel stood two long widely gaping +eighteen-pounders commanding the bridge, filled with chain, shot, and +ground nails; but the Komparajis dare not use their cannons, for in +whatever direction they might aim, there were quite as many Turks as +Hungarians. On the bridge itself the foes were fighting man to man. +Rákóczy was at that moment fighting with the bearer of the triple +horse-tail, striving to take the standard pole with his left hand, while +he aimed blow after blow at his antagonist with his right.</p> + +<p>"Shoot them down, you good-for-nothings!" roared Ali Pasha, turning back +to the inactive and contumacious Komparajis. "Reck not whether your +bullets sweep away as many Mussulmans as Hungarians, myself included! +Sweep the bridge clear, I say! Life is cheap, but Paradise is dear!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>But the gunners still hesitated to fire amongst their comrades, when Ali +sent two drummers to them commanding them to aim their guns aloft and +fire into the air.</p> + +<p>The contest on the bridge was raging furiously; the Janissaries had +placed their backs against the parapet, and there stood motionless, with +their huge broad-swords in their naked fists, like a fence of living +scythes, tearing into ribbons everything which came between them.</p> + +<p>Then it occurred to a regiment of German Drabants to clamber up the +parapet of the bridge, and tear the Janissaries away from the parapet; +some ten or twenty of these Drabants did scramble up on the bridge, when +the parapet suddenly gave way beneath the double weight, and Janissaries +and Drabants fell down into the deep moat beneath, throttling each other +in the water, and whenever a turbaned head appeared above the surface, +the Germans standing at the foot of the bridge beat out its brains with +their halberds.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the two fighting heroes in the middle of the bridge were +almost exhausted by the contest. They had already hacked each other's +swords to pieces, had grasped the banner, the object of the struggle, +with both hands, and were tearing away at it with ravening wrath.</p> + +<p>The Turkish standard-bearer then suddenly pressed his steed with his +knees, making it rear up beneath him, so that the Turk stood now a head +and shoulder higher than Rákóczy, and threatened either to oust him from +his saddle or tear the standard from his hand.</p> + +<p>At that moment the white figure of a girl appeared on the summit of the +rampart of the tower, her black locks streaming in the wind, her face +aglow with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Heaven help thee, Ladislaus!" cried the girl from the battlement of the +tower; and the youth, hearing from on high what sounded like a voice +from heaven,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> recognised it, looked up and saw his bride—a superhuman +strength arose in his heart and in his arm, and when the Turkish +standard-bearer made his charger rear, Rákóczy suddenly let the +flag-pole go, and seizing the bridle of the snorting steed with both +hands, with one Herculean thrust, flung back steed, rider, and banner +through the palisade into the deep moat below.</p> + +<p>"There is no hope save with God!" cried Ali in despair, for his +terrified people at the sight of this prodigy had dragged him along with +them against his will.</p> + +<p>"Ladislaus! Ladislaus! My darling!" resounded from above. The youth was +fighting with the strength of ten men; three horses had already been +shot under him, and a third sword was flashing in his hand. Already he +was standing on the drawbridge; his sweetheart threw down a white +handkerchief to him, and he was already waving it above his head in +triumph, when a well-directed bullet pierced the young hero's heart, and +he collapsed a corpse on the very threshold of his success, in the very +gate of the captured fortress at the feet of his beloved.</p> + +<p>At that same instant a heart-rending shriek resounded, and from the top +of the tower a white shape fell down upon the bridge; the beautiful +bride, from a height of thirty feet, had cast herself down on the dead +body of her beloved, and died at the same instant as he, mingling their +blood together; and if their arms did not, at least their souls could, +embrace each other.</p> + +<p>This spectacle so stupefied the besiegers, that Ali Pasha had just time +enough swiftly to raise the drawbridge and save the fortress and a +fragment of his host. Of those who remained outside, not a single soul +survived. Kökényesdi massacred without mercy everything which distantly +resembled a Turk, together with the camels and mules, sparing nothing +but the horses, and when every house had been well plundered, he set the +town on fire in twelve places, so that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> flames in half an hour +consumed everything, and the whole city blazed away like a gigantic +bonfire, the rising wind whirling the smoke and flame over the ditch +towards the fortress.</p> + +<p>"Ali Pasha may put that in his pipe and smoke it," said Kökényesdi, +rejoicing at the magnificent conflagration.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>But the bodies of Ladislaus Rákóczy and his sweetheart they bore away, +and buried them side by side in the family vault at Rákás.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING.</span></h2> + + +<p>About a day's journey from Klausenburg there used to be a famous +monastery, whose ruined tower remains to this day.</p> + +<p>Formerly the ample courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall, massive and +strong, within which crowds of pilgrims, coming from every direction, +found a convenient resting-place. For at the foot of this monastery was +a famous miraculous spring, which entirely disappeared throughout the +winter and spring, but on certain days in the summer and autumn was wont +to trickle through the crevices of the rocks, and, for a couple of weeks +or so, to bubble forth abundantly, whereupon it gradually subsided +again.</p> + +<p>During this season whole hosts of suffering humanity, the lame, the +paralytic, the aged, the mentally infirm, and the childless mothers, +would come from the most distant regions; and the Lord of Nature gave a +wondrous virtue to the waters, and the sufferers quitted the blessed +spring crutchless and edified, both in body and mind. There could be +seen, hung up on the walls of the church, votive crutches which the +cripples had left behind them; and more than one great nobleman, out of +gratitude to the holy spring, enriched the altar with gold and silver +plate.</p> + +<p>The larger part of the building was reserved for noble guests, the +common people encamped in the courtyard beneath tents; and behind the +building a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> splendid garden was laid out, which the worthy monks always +magnificently maintained. Even to this day, in the grassy patches round +about the spot, it is possible to discover the savage descendants of +many rare and precious flowers.</p> + +<p>At the period in which our history falls, the convent of the holy well +was represented by a single reverend father, whom the common tongue +simply called Friar Gregory, and there was scarce a soul in Transylvania +who did not know him well. He was a big man, six feet in height, with a +flowing black beard, swarthy, lean, with a bony frame, and with hands so +big that he could cover a six-pound cannon ball with each palm. A simple +habit covered his limbs, head-dress he had none, and his broad shining +forehead was without a wrinkle. His droning voice was so powerful that +when he sang his psalms he made more noise than a whole congregation.</p> + +<p>At the times when the holy spring was flowing, the cellar and pantry of +the good friar stood wide open to rich and poor alike, for whatever he +earned in one year he never put by for the next, and whatever the +wealthy paid to him the needy had the benefit of; and whenever any +clerical colleague happened to come his way, whether he were Orthodox, +Armenian, Calvinist, or Unitarian, he could not make too much of him; +all such guests, during their stay, regularly swam in milk and butter, +and remembered it to the very day of their death.</p> + +<p>Just at this very time the Right Reverend Ladislaus Magyari's little +daughter, Rosy, was suffering from a complaint which gave the lie to her +healthy name, and her father thought it just as well to take her to the +holy spring, perchance the healing water would restore to her wan little +face the colour of youth.</p> + +<p>Brother Gregory was beside himself with joy; the best room was prepared +for his right reverend colleague, and brother cook, brother cellarer, +and brother gardener were ordered to see to it that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> meat, drink, and +heaps of flowers were provided for the honoured guests. No two people in +the wide world were so suited to each other as Father Gregory and Dean +Magyari; their hearts were equally good, and each of them had a head +upon his shoulders. They rose up early in the morning to argue with each +other on dogmatic questions—to wit, which faith was the best, truest, +happiest, most blessed, and surest, and kept it up till late in the +evening, by no means neglecting the frequent emptying of foaming beakers +during the contest, pounding each other with citations, entangling each +other with syllogisms, flooring each other with authorities, and +overwhelming each other with anecdotes; and it always ended in their +shaking hands and agreeing together that every faith was good if only a +man were true to himself.</p> + +<p>While her father was thus manfully battling, pretty pale Rosy would be +amusing herself in the garden or by the spring with little girls of her +own age, and the fresh air, the scent of the flowers, and the beneficent +water of the spring gradually restored to her face its vanished bloom; +and Magyari joyfully thought how delighted her mother would be if she +were able to embrace her convalescent child, and, in sheer delight at +the idea, spun out his disputatious evenings whilst Rosy in an adjacent +cell was sleeping the sleep of the just.</p> + +<p>The two worthy gentlemen were sitting over their cups one beautiful +evening, when a loud knocking was heard at the outer gate. The rule was +that at sundown the pilgrim mob was to betake itself to the courtyard of +the cloister, and the gate should be closed. The friar who kept the gate +came to announce that four queer-looking monks demanded admission, were +they to be let in?</p> + +<p>"There can be no question about it," said Father Gregory. "If any desire +admission, bring them to us, and provide refreshment for them."</p> + +<p>In a few moments the four friars in question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> entered. They were dressed +in coarse black sackcloth habits, with the cowls drawn down over their +heads. All that was to be seen of them was their eyes and shaggy beards. +With deep obeisances, but without a word, they approached the two +reverend gentlemen. The Father rose politely and greeted them +respectfully in Latin: "Benedicite nomen Domini." They only kept on +bowing and were silent.</p> + +<p>"Nomen dei sit benedictum!" repeated Gregory, fancying that his guests +did not hear what he said, and as they did not reply to that, he asked +with great astonishment:</p> + +<p>"Non exandistis nomen gloriosissimi Domini, fratres amantissimi?"</p> + +<p>At this the foremost of them said: "We do not understand that language, +worthy brother."</p> + +<p>"Then what sort of monks are ye? To what confession do ye belong? Are ye +Greeks?"</p> + +<p>"We are not Greeks."</p> + +<p>"Then are you Armenians?"</p> + +<p>"We are not Armenians."</p> + +<p>"Arians, then?"</p> + +<p>"Neither are we Arians."</p> + +<p>"Are you Patarenes?"</p> + +<p>"No, we are not."</p> + +<p>"Then <i>in gloriam æterni</i> to what order do you belong?"</p> + +<p>"We are robbers," thereupon exclaimed the one interrogated, throwing +aside the fold of his cloak, beneath which could be seen a belt crammed +with daggers and pistols. "My name is Feri Kökényesdi," said he, +striking his breast.</p> + +<p>Magyari thereupon leaped from his chair, which he immediately converted +into a weapon; it at once occurred to him that he had an only daughter +to defend, and he was ready to fight the robbers on behalf of her. But +the father pulled him by the cassock and whispered: "Pray be quiet, your +Reverence," and then with an infinitely placid face he turned towards +the robbers. "So that is the order to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> which you belong," said he. +"Still, if you have come as guests, sit down and eat what you desire."</p> + +<p>"But that is not sufficient. Outside this monastery there are 1700 of +us, and all of them want to eat and drink, for it is only the ancient +prophets who, when hungry, were content with the meat of the Word."</p> + +<p>"Let them also satisfy their desires."</p> + +<p>"However, the main thing is this: in your Reverence's chapel is a whole +lot of very nice gold and silver saints, who certainly befriend those +who sigh after them, and as we cannot come running to them here every +day in order to entreat their aid, we had better take them along with +us, that they may be helpful to us on the road."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast a pretty mother-wit, frater! Who could refuse thee anything?"</p> + +<p>"It is also no secret to us, Father Gregory, that your Reverence's +cellar is crammed with kegs full of good money, silver and gold. May we +be allowed to relieve your Reverence of a little of this burden?"</p> + +<p>"He is quite welcome to it," thought the father, well aware that there +was absolutely nothing at all.</p> + +<p>"Do not imagine, your Reverence," continued the robber, "that we cannot +extort a confession, if it should occur to your Reverence to conceal +anything. It would be just as well, therefore, if your Reverence were to +reveal everything before we cut up your back with sharp thongs."</p> + +<p>The brother smiled as good-humouredly as if he were listening to some +pleasing anecdote.</p> + +<p>"Have you any other desires, my sons?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a good many. There is a great crowd of women collected together in +your Reverence's courtyard. We have taken no vows of celibacy, therefore +we should like to choose from among them what would suit us."</p> + +<p>Magyari felt the hairs of his head rising heavenwards, a cold shiver ran +through him from head to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> foot, and he would have risen from his place +had not the monk pressed him down with a frightfully heavy hand.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, my dear son, do not so wickedly. Take away the saints +from the altar if you like, but harm not the innocent who are now +peacefully slumbering in the shadow of God's protection."</p> + +<p>"Not another word, Brother Gregory," cried the robber, closing his fist +on his dagger, "or I'll set the monastery on fire and burn every living +soul in it, yourself included. A robber only recognises four sacraments: +wine, money, wenches, and blood! You may congratulate yourself if we are +content with the third and dispense with the last."</p> + +<p>"So it is!" observed another of the cowled and bearded robbers, tapping +Magyari on the shoulder. "Do you recognise me, eh, your Reverence?"</p> + +<p>Magyari, with a sensation of shuddering loathing, recognised Szénasi, a +canting charlatan whose frauds he had often exposed.</p> + +<p>"We know well enough," said the fellow with an evil chuckle, "that you +have a fair daughter here. I am going to pay off old scores."</p> + +<p>If Magyari had not been well in the brother's grip, he would have gone +for the wretch. Every fibre of his body was shivering with rage.</p> + +<p>Only the brother remained calm and smiling. Joining his hands together, +he made a little mill with the aid of his two thumbs.</p> + +<p>"Wait, my dear son, cannot we come to some agreement. You know very well +that my money is concealed in barrels, but so well hidden is it that +none besides myself know where it is. Even if you turned this monastery +upside down you would not find it. You may also have heard that once +upon a time there lived a kind of men called martyrs, who let themselves +be boiled in oil, or roasted on red-hot fires, or torn in pieces by wild +beasts, without saying a word which might hurt their souls. Well, that +is the sort of man <i>I</i> am. If I make up my mind to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> hold my tongue, you +might tear me to bits inch by inch with burning tweezers, and you would +get not a word nor a penny out of me. Now 'tis for you to choose. Will +you carry off the money and leave the poor women-folk alone, or will you +lay your hands on the down-trodden, lame, halt, consumptive +beggar-women, whom you will find here, and not see a farthing? Which is +it to be?"</p> + +<p>The four robbers whispered together. No doubt they said something to +this effect: only let the pater produce his money, and then it will be +an easy thing for us to take back our given word and satisfy our hearts' +desires. They signified that they would stand by the money.</p> + +<p>"Look now! you are good men," said the father, "take these two torches +and come with me to the cellar and go through my treasures, only you +must do none any harm."</p> + +<p>"A little less jaw, please," growled Kökényesdi. "Two go in front with +the torches, and Brother Gregory between you. I'll follow after; the +magister can remain behind to look after the other parson. Whoever +speaks a word or makes a signal, I'll bring my axe down on his +head—forward!"</p> + +<p>And so it was. Two of the robbers went in front with torches; after them +came the brother with Kökényesdi at his heels with a drawn dagger in his +hand; last of all marched Magyari, whom Master Szénasi held by the +collar at arm's-length, threatening him at the same time with a flashing +axe.</p> + +<p>Thus they descended to the cellar. The good father, with timid humility, +hid his head in his hood and looked neither to the left nor to the +right.</p> + +<p>The cellar was provided with a large, double, iron trap-door. After +drawing out its massive bolts, the worthy brother raised one of its +flaps, bidding them lower the torches for his convenience.</p> + +<p>As now the first robber descended and the second plunged after him, the +father suddenly kicked out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> with his monstrous wooden shoe and brought +the door down on his head, so that he rolled down to the bottom of the +stairs; and then, quick as thought, he turned upon Kökényesdi, seized +his hands, and said to Magyari:</p> + +<p>"You seize the other!"</p> + +<p>Kökényesdi, in the first moment of surprise, thrust at the brother, but +his dagger glanced aside against the stiff hair-shirt, and there was no +time for a second thrust, for the terrible brother had seized both his +hands and crushed them against his breast with irresistible force with +one hand, while with the other he dispossessed him of all the murderous +weapons in his girdle one by one, shaking him with one hand as easily as +a grown man shakes a child of nine; then he dragged him towards the +cellar door, pressing it down with their double weight so that those +below could not raise it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Magyari that self-same instant had caught the magister by the nape +of the neck and, mindful of the wrestling trick he had learnt in his +youth when he was a student at Nagyenyed, quickly floored, and, not +content with that, sat down on the top of him with his whole weight, so +that the poor meagre creature was flattened out beneath him. Magyari at +the same time relieved his sprawling hands of their murderous weapons in +imitation of the good priest.</p> + +<p>Kökényesdi admitted to himself that never before had he been in such a +hobble. In a stand-up fight he had rarely met his equal, and more than +once he had held his own against two or three stout fellows +single-handed; but never had he had to do with such a man as Brother +Gregory, one of whose hands was quite sufficient to pin his two arms +uselessly to his side, while with the other hand he explored his +remotest pockets to their ultimate depths and denuded them of every sort +of cutting and stabbing instrument. When the robber realized that even +his gigantic strength was powerless to drag his antagonist away from the +cellar door beneath which his two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> comrades were vainly thundering, he +endeavoured to free himself by resorting to the desperate devices of the +wild-beasts, lunging out with his feet and worrying the iron hand of the +monk with his teeth; whereupon Brother Gregory also lost his temper and, +seizing Kökényesdi by the hair of his head, held him aloft like a young +hare, so that he was unable to scratch or bite any more.</p> + +<p>"Do not plunge about so, dilectissime; you see it is of no use," said +the brother, holding the robber so far away from him by his hairy poll +with outstretched hand that at last he was obliged to capitulate.</p> + +<p>"Thou seest what unmercifulness thou dost compel us to adopt, +amantissime!" said the brother apologetically, but still holding him +aloft with one hand and shaking a reproving finger at him with the +other. "Dost thou not shudder at thyself, does not thine own soul accuse +thee for coming to plunder holy places? Or dost thou not think of the +Kingdom of Hell to the very threshold of which evil resolves have +misguided thy feet, and where there will be weeping, wailing, and +gnashing of teeth?"</p> + +<p>"Let me go, you devil of a friar!" gasped the robber, hoarse with rage.</p> + +<p>"Not until thou hast come to thyself and art sorry for thy sins," said +the brother, still holding in the air his dilectissime, whose eyes by +this time were starting out of his head because of the tugging pressure +on his hair; "thou must be sorry for thy sins."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry then, only let me go!"</p> + +<p>"And wilt thou turn back to the right path?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, of course I will."</p> + +<p>"And thou wilt steal no more?"</p> + +<p>"Not a cockchafer."</p> + +<p>"Nor curse and swear?"</p> + +<p>"Never no more."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, I'll let thee go. But, colleague Magyari, first of all +tie all these daggers and axes together and fling them out of the +window."</p> + +<p>Mr. Magyari, who had meanwhile disposed of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the magister by tying his +hands and legs so tightly that he was unable to move a muscle, effected +the clearance confided to him, while Brother Gregory deposited on the +ground his convert, who leaned against the wall breathing heavily.</p> + +<p>"Well, you monk of hell, give me something to eat if there's anything +like a kitchen here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear son," said the pater tenderly, stroking the face of his +lambkin; "believe me, that there is more joy in heaven over one +converted sinner——"</p> + +<p>"You're a devil, not a friar; for if you were a man of God you could not +have got over Kökényesdi so easily—Kökényesdi, who was wont to +overthrow whole armadas single-handed—and now to be beaten by an +unarmed man!"</p> + +<p>"Thou didst come against me with an axe and a <i>fokos</i>,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> but I came +against thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and He who permitted +David the shepherd to pluck the raging lion by the beard and slay him, +hath aided my arm also in order that I might be a blessing to thee."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">14</span></a> Sledge-hammer.</p></div> + +<p>"Blessing indeed!—hang me up! I deserve it for letting myself be +collared by a parson."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear son, to attribute such flagrant cruelty to me! Heaven +rejoices not in the death of a sinner."</p> + +<p>"Then let me go!"</p> + +<p>"How could I let thee go when thou art but half converted? Rather remain +here, my son, in this holy seclusion and try and cleanse thy soul by +holy penance and prayer."</p> + +<p>The robber foamed with rage.</p> + +<p>"Where is there a nail that I may hang myself upon it?"</p> + +<p>"That thou certainly wilt never be able to do, for a worthy pater shall +always be by thy side to teach thee how to sing the Psalter."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>The robber gnashed his teeth and stamped with his feet as he cast at the +terrible brother bloodshot glances very similar to those which a hyena +casts upon a beast-tamer whom he would like to tear to bits and grind to +mincemeat, but whom he durst not attack, being well aware that if he but +lay a paw or even cast an eye upon him he will instantly be felled to +the ground.</p> + +<p>"Besides that," continued the brother, "by way of a first trial thou +shalt presently deliver a God-fearing discourse."</p> + +<p>"I preach a sermon!"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly a sermon, but inasmuch as thy faithful followers outside +the walls of the monastery may be growing impatient at thy long absence, +thou wilt stand at a window and, after assuring them of thy heart-felt +penitence, thou wilt send the worthy fellows away that they may depart +to their own homes."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Kökényesdi, thinking all the time, let me once be +planted at the window in the sight of my bands and at a word from me +they will break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to them at +the first opening.</p> + +<p>Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and whispered in his ear: "You +meanwhile will get the carriage ready and take your seat in it with your +daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble has departed from +the monastery, you will drive straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr. +Ebéni, the commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters, together with +the garrison of Szathmár, has invaded the realm. I detected a helmet +beneath a cowl of one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to +defend the capital against their attacks. God be with you!"</p> + +<p>The two priests pressed each other's hands, whereupon Brother Gregory, +taking the robber by the arms and shoving him through a little low door, +in order that no mischief might befall him, caught him by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> nape of +the neck and began to force him to ascend a narrow corkscrew staircase, +two or three steps at a time.</p> + +<p>It was evening now and dark, and there was nothing about the corkscrew +staircase to suggest to the robber whither he was being led till at last +the brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged with him on to a +light place and deposited him in front of a lofty window.</p> + +<p>The robber's first thought was that he could clear the window at a +single bold leap, but one swift glance from the parapet made him recoil +with terror; beneath him yawned a depth of at least fifty ells, and, +glancing dizzily aloft, he perceived hanging above his head the bells of +the monastery. They were in the tower.</p> + +<p>"So now, my dear son," said the brother, "stand out on this parapet and +call in a loud voice to thy faithful ones that they may draw nigh and +hear thee. Then thou wilt speak to them, and in case thou shouldst be at +a loss for words, I shall be standing close by this bell-tongue to +suggest to thee what thou shalt say. But, for God's sake, beware of +thyself, dilectissime! Thou seest what a frightful depth is here below +thee, and say not to thy faithful followers anything but what I shall +suggest to thee, nor give with thy head or thy hand an unbecoming +interpretation to thy words, for if thou doest any such thing, take my +word for it that at that same instant thou shalt fall from this window, +and if once thou dost stumble, thou wilt not stop till thou dost reach +the depths of hell."</p> + +<p>The robber stood at the window with his hair erect with horror. He +actually trembled—a thing which had never occurred to him before. His +valour, that cold contempt for death which had always accompanied him +hitherto, forsook him in this horrible position. He felt that at this +giddy height neither dexterity nor audacity were of the slightest use to +him. Beneath his feet was the gaping abyss,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and behind his back was a +man with the strength of a giant from whom a mere push—nay! the mere +touch of a finger, or a shout a little louder than usual, were +sufficient to plunge him down and dash him into helpless fragments on +the rocks below. The desperate adventurer, in a fever of terror never +felt before, crouched against one of the pillars of the window clutching +at the wall with his hand, and it seemed to him as if the wall were +about to give way beneath him, as if the tower were tottering beneath +his feet; and he regarded the ground below as if it had some horrible +power of dragging him down to it, as if some invisible force were +inviting him to leap down from there.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile his bands, who were lying in ambush outside the monastery, +perceived the form of their leader aloft and suddenly darted forward in +a body with a loud yell.</p> + +<p>"Speak to them, attract their attention!" whispered the brother; "quick, +mind what I say!"</p> + +<p>The robber indicated his readiness to comply by a nod of his swimming +head, and repeated the words which the brother concealed behind the +tongue of the bell whispered in his ear.</p> + +<p>"My friends" (thus he began his speech), "the priests are collecting +their treasures; they are piling them on carts; there are sacks and +sacks crammed with gold and silver."</p> + +<p>A hideous shout of joy from the auditors expressed thorough approval of +this sentence.</p> + +<p>"But the worthy brethren have no wine or provisions in this monastery, +but in their cellars at Eger there is plenty, so let two hundred of you +go there immediately and get what you want."</p> + +<p>The freebooters approved of this sentiment also.</p> + +<p>"As for the desires that you nourish towards the womenfolk here, I am +horrified to be obliged to tell you that for the last three days the +black death, that most terrible of plagues, which makes the human body +black as a coal even while alive, and infects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> everyone who draws near +it, has been raging within the walls of this monastery during the last +three days. I should not therefore advise you to break into this +monastery, for it is full of dead and dying men, and so swift is the +operation of this destroying angel that my three comrades succumbed to +it even while I was ascending this tower, and only the Turkish talisman +I wear, composed of earth seven times burnt, and the little finger of a +baby that never saw the light of day, have preserved me from +destruction."</p> + +<p>By the way, Father Gregory had discovered all these things while he was +investigating the robber's pockets.</p> + +<p>At this terrifying message the horde of robbers began to scatter in all +directions from beneath the walls of the monastery.</p> + +<p>"For the same reason neither I myself nor the treasure of the monastery +can leave this place till all the gold and silver that has been found +here has been purified first by fire, then by boiling, and then by cold +water, lest the black death should infect you by means of them. And now +before making a joint attack on Klausenburg, as we had arranged—which, +in view of the height of its walls and the strength of its fortress, +would scarcely be a safe job to tackle—you will do this instead: Hide +yourselves in parties of two hundred in the forests of Magyar-Gorbo, +Vista and Szucság, and remain there quietly without showing yourself on +the high road; at the same time four hundred of you will go round at +night by the Korod road, and the rest of you will make for the Gyalu +woods, and go round towards Szász Fenes. Then, when the garrison of +Klausenburg hears the rumour that you are approaching by the Korod road, +they will come forth with great confidence; and while some of you will +be enticing them further on continually, the rest of you can fall on the +defenceless town and plunder it. All you have to do is to act in this +way and never show yourselves on the high road."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>The robbers expressed their approval of their leader's advice with a +loud howl; and while Kökényesdi tottered back half senseless into the +brother's arms, they scattered amongst the woods with a great uproar. In +an hour's time all that could be heard of them was a cry or two from the +darkened distance.</p> + +<p>The people assembled in the monastery had been listening to all this in +an agony of terror; only Magyari understood the meaning of it. When the +brother came down from the tower, Kökényesdi was locked up with his two +comrades, and the two reverend gentlemen embraced and magnified each +other.</p> + +<p>"After God, we have your Reverence to thank for our deliverance," said +Magyari with warm feeling, holding his trembling little daughter by the +hand.</p> + +<p>"But now we must save Klausenburg," said Gregory.</p> + +<p>"I will set out this instant; my horse is saddled."</p> + +<p>"Your Reverence on horseback, eh? How about the girl?"</p> + +<p>"I will leave her here in your Reverence's fatherly care."</p> + +<p>"But think."</p> + +<p>"Could I leave her in a better place than within these walls, which +Providence and your Reverence's fists defend so well?"</p> + +<p>"But what if this robber rabble discover our trick and return upon the +monastery with tenfold fury?"</p> + +<p>"Then I will all the more certainly hasten to defend the walls of your +Reverence, because my only child will be within them."</p> + +<p>With that the pastor kissed the forehead of his daughter, who at that +moment was paler than ever, fastened his big copper sword to his side, +seized his shaggy little horse by the bridle, opened the door for +himself, and, with a stout heart, trotted away on the high road.</p> + +<p>But the brother summoned into the chapel the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> whole congregation, and +late at night intoned a thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts; after which +Father Gregory got into the pulpit and preached to the faithful a +powerful and fulminating sermon, in which he stirred them up to the +defence of their altars, and at the end of his sacred discourse he +seized with one hand the gigantic banner of the church—which on the +occasion of processions three men used to support with difficulty—and +so stirred up the enthusiastic people that if at that moment the robbers +had been there in front of the monastery, they would have been capable +of rushing out of the gates upon them with their crutches and sticks and +dashing them to pieces.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED.</span></h2> + + +<p>While the priests were girding swords upon their thighs, while the lame +and the halt were flying to arms in defence of their homes and altars, +the chief commandant of the town of Klausenburg, Mr. Ebéni, was calmly +sleeping in his bed.</p> + +<p>The worthy man had this peculiarity that when any of his officers awoke +him for anything and told him that this or that had happened, he would +simply reply "Impossible!" turn over on the other side, and go on +slumbering.</p> + +<p>Magyari was well aware of this peculiarity of the worthy man, and so +when he arrived home, late at night, safe and sound, he wasted no time +in talking with Mr. Ebéni, but opened the doors of the church and had +all the bells rung in the middle of the night—a regular peal of them.</p> + +<p>The people, aroused from its sleep in terror at the sound of the +church-bells at that unwonted hour, naturally hastened in crowds to the +church, where the reverend gentleman stood up before them and, in the +most impressive language, told them all that he had seen, described the +danger which was drawing near to them beneath the wings of the night, +and exhorted his hearers valiantly to defend themselves.</p> + +<p>The first that Mr. Ebéni heard of the approaching mischief was when ten +or twenty men came rushing to him one after another to arouse him and +tell him what the parson was saying. When at last he was brought to see +that the matter was no joke, he leaped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> from his bed in terror, and for +the life of him did not know what to do. The people were running up and +down the streets bawling and squalling; the heydukes were beating the +alarm drums; cavalry, blowing their trumpets, were galloping backwards +and forwards—and Mr. Ebéni completely lost his head.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for him Magyari was quickly by his side.</p> + +<p>"What has happened? What's the matter? What are they doing, very +reverend sir?" inquired the commandant, just as if Magyari were the +leader of troops.</p> + +<p>"The mischief is not very serious, but it is close at hand," replied the +reverend gentleman. "A band of freebooters—some seventeen companies +under the command of a robber chief—have burst into Transylvania, and +with them are some regular horse belonging to the garrison of Szathmár. +At this moment they cannot be more than four leagues distant from +Klausenburg; but they are so scattered that there are no more than four +hundred of them together anywhere, so that, with the aid of the +gentlemen volunteers and the Prince's German regiments, you ought to +wipe them out in detail. The first thing to be done, however, is to warn +the Prince of this unexpected event, for he is now taking his pleasure +at Nagyenyed."</p> + +<p>"Your Reverence is right," said Ebéni, "we'll act at once;" and, after +dismissing the priest to look after the armed bands and reconnoitre, he +summoned a swift courier, and, as in his confusion he at first couldn't +find a pen and then upset the inkstand over the letter when he <i>had</i> +written it, he at last hurriedly instructed the courier to convey a +verbal message to the Prince to the effect that the Szathmárians, in +conjunction with the freebooters, had broken into Transylvania with +seventeen companies, and were only four hours' march from Klausenburg, +and that Klausenburg was now preparing to defend itself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>Thus Ebéni gave quite another version to the parson's tidings, for while +the parson had only mentioned a few horsemen from the Szathmár garrison +he had put the Szathmárians at the head of the whole enterprise, and had +reduced the distance of four leagues to a four hours' journey which, in +view of the condition of the Transylvanian roads, made all the +difference.</p> + +<p>The courier got out of the town as quickly as possible, and by the time +he had reached his destination had worked up his imagination to such an +extent that he fancied the invading host had already valiantly covered +the four leagues; and, bursting in upon the Prince without observing +that the Princess, then in an interesting condition, was with him, +blurted out the following message:</p> + +<p>"The Szathmár garrison with seventeen bands of freebooters has invaded +Transylvania and is besieging Klausenburg, but Mr. Ebéni is, no doubt, +still defending himself."</p> + +<p>The Princess almost fainted at these words; while Apafi, leaping from +his seat and summoning his faithful old servant Andrew, ordered him to +get the carriage ready at once, and convey the Princess as quickly as +possible to Gyula-Fehervár, for the Szathmár army, with seventeen +companies of Hungarians, had attacked Klausenburg, and by this time +eaten up Mr. Ebéni, who was not in a position to defend himself.</p> + +<p>Andrew immediately rushed off for his horses, had put them to in one +moment, in another moment had carried down the Princess' most necessary +travelling things, and in the third moment had the lady safely seated, +who was terribly frightened at the impending danger.</p> + +<p>The men loafing about the courtyard, surprised at this sudden haste, +surrounded the carriage; and one of them, an old acquaintance of +Andrew's, spoke to him just as he had mounted the box and asked him what +was the matter.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>"Alas!" replied Andrew, "the army of Szathmár has invaded Transylvania, +has devastated Klausenburg with 17,000 men, and is now advancing on +Nagyenyed."</p> + +<p>Well, they waited to hear no more. As soon as they perceived the +Princess's carriage rolling rapidly towards the fortress of Fehervár, +they scattered in every direction, and in an hour's time the whole town +was flying along the Fehervár road. Everyone hastily took away with him +as much as he could carry; the women held their children in their arms; +the men had their bundles on their backs and drove their cows and oxen +before them; carts were packed full of household goods; and everyone +lamented, stormed, and fled for all he was worth.</p> + +<p>Just at that time there happened to be at Nagyenyed the envoy of the +Pasha of Buda, Yffim Beg, who had been sent to the Prince to hasten his +march into Hungary with the expected auxiliary army, and who absolutely +refused to believe Teleki that they ought to remain where they where, as +it was from the direction of Szathmár that an attack was to be feared.</p> + +<p>The worthy Yffim Beg was actually sitting in his bath when the +panic-flight took place; and, alarmed at the noise, he sprang out of the +water, and wrapping a sheet round him rushed to the window, and +perceiving the terrified flying rabble, cried to one of the passers-by: +"Whither are you running? What is going on here?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, sir!" panted the breathless fugitive, "the Szathmár army, 27,000 +strong, has invaded Transylvania, has taken everything in its road, and +is now only two hours' march from Nagyenyed."</p> + +<p>This was quite enough for Yffim Beg also. Hastily tying the +bathing-towels round his body and without his turban, he rushed to the +stables, flung himself on a barebacked steed and galloped away from +Nagyenyed without taking leave of anyone; and did not so much as change +his garment till he reached Temesvár, and there reported that the +countless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> armies of Szathmár had conquered the whole of Transylvania!</p> + +<p>Thus Teleki had gained his object: the Transylvanian troops had now good +reasons for staying at home. Yet he had got much more than he wanted, +for he had only required of Kászonyi a feigned attack, whereas the band +of Kökényesdi had ravaged Transylvania as far as Klausenburg.</p> + +<p>The fact that the worthy friar and Mr. Ladislaus Magyari had captured +the leader of the freebooters made very little difference at all, for +the crafty adventurer had bored his way through the wall of his dungeon +that very night, and had escaped with his three comrades.</p> + +<p>Early next morning, on perceiving that his captives had escaped, Father +Gregory was terribly alarmed, imagining that they would now bring back +the whole robber band against him; and, hastening immediately to collect +the whole of the pilgrims, loaded wagons with the most necessary +provisions and the treasures of the altar, conducted them among the +hills, and there concealed them in the Cavern of Balina, carrying the +sick members of his flock one by one across the mountain-streams in +front of the cavern and depositing them in the majestic rocky chamber, +which more than once had served the inhabitants of the surrounding +districts as a place of refuge from the Tartars, having a large open +roof through which the smoke could get out, while a stream flowing +through it kept them well supplied with drinking-water. In an hour's +time fires and ovens, made from fresh leaves and mown grass, stood ready +in the midst of the place of refuge; and on a stone pedestal, in the +background, always standing ready for such a purpose, an altar was +erected.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kökényesdi had hastened to overtake his bands which had +scattered at the word of the brother in order to re-unite them before +the people of Klausenburg could capture them in detail. Szénasi he +dispatched to call back the wanderers who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> been sent to the cellars +of Eger and besiege the monastery.</p> + +<p>When Szénasi returned with the two hundred hungry men he only found +empty walls, and to make them emptier still—he burnt them down to the +ground.</p> + +<p>He then sat down, and by the light of the conflagration wrote a +sarcastic letter to Teleki, in which he informed him with a great show +of humility that he had made the required diversion against +Transylvania, that he kissed his hand, that he might command him at any +future time, and that he was his most humble servant.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely sent off the letter by a Wallachian gipsy, picked up on +the road, when he saw a company of horsemen galloping towards the +burning monastery, and recognised in the foremost fugitive Kökényesdi.</p> + +<p>"It is all up with us!" cried the robber chief from afar, "we are +surrounded. All the parsons in the world have become soldiers, and +turned their swords against us as if they were Bibles. The Calvinist +pastor, the Catholic friar, the Greek priest, and the Unitarian +minister—every man jack of them has placed himself at the head of the +faithful, and are coming against us with at least twenty thousand men: +students, artisans and peasants, the whole swarm is rushing upon us. I +and fifty more were set upon by the whole Guild of Shoemakers, who cut +down twenty of my men; they were all as mad as hatters, and when the +peasants had done with us, the gentlemen took us up: they united with +the German dragoons, and pursued my flying army on horseback. Every bit +of booty, every slave they have torn from us; this Calvinist Joshua is +always close on my heels, not a single one of our infantry can be +saved."</p> + +<p>The robber chief behaved as the leader of robber bands usually do +behave. When he had to fight, he fought among the foremost; but when he +had to run, then also he was well to the front. When he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> beaten, he +cared not a jot whether the others got off scot-free, he only thought of +saving himself.</p> + +<p>When he had announced the catastrophe from horseback to the terrified +Szénasi, he clapped spurs to his nag, and, without looking back to see +whether anyone was following him, he galloped off, and left Szénasi in +the lurch with the footmen.</p> + +<p>The fox is always most crafty when he falls into the snare. The +perplexed hypocrite perceived that however quickly he might try to +escape, the cavalry would overtake him at Grosswardein and mow him down. +Unfortunately, he knew not how to ride, and therefore could not hope to +save himself that way. Already the trumpets of the Transylvanian bands +were blaring all around him; fiery beacons of pitchy pines were +beginning to blaze out from mountain-top to mountain-top; on every road +were visible the flying comrades of Kökényesdi, terrifying one another +with their shouts of alarm as they rushed through the woods and valleys, +not daring to take refuge among the snowy Alps, where the axes of the +enraged Wallachians flashed before their eyes; and there was not a +single road on which they did not run the risk of being trampled down by +the Hungarian banderia and the German dragoons.</p> + +<p>In that moment of despair Szénasi quickly flung himself into the +garments of a peasant, climbed up to the top of a tree, and as soon as +he perceived the first band of German horsemen approaching him, he +called out to them.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my noble gentlemen!"</p> + +<p>They looked up at these words and told the man to come down from the +tree.</p> + +<p>"No doubt you also have taken refuge from the robbers, poor man!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! most precious gentlemen! they were not robbers, but German soldiers +in Hungarian uniforms who had been sent hither from Szathmár. Take care +how you pursue them, for if your German soldiers should meet theirs, it +might easily happen that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> would join together against you. I heard +what they were saying as I understand their language, but I pretended +that I did not understand; and while they made me come with them to show +them the road, they began talking among themselves, and they said that +they had had sure but secret information from the Klausenburg dragoons +that they were going to attack the town. The Devil never sleeps, my +noble gentlemen!"</p> + +<p>The good gentlemen were astounded; the intelligence was not altogether +improbable, and as, just before, a vagabond had been captured who could +speak nothing but German, a mad rumour spread like wild-fire among the +Magyars that the dragoons had an understanding with the enemy and wanted +to draw them into an ambush; and so the gentlemen told the students, and +the students told the mechanics, and by the time it reached the ears of +Ebéni and the parsons, there was something very like a mutiny in the +army. The gentry suggested that the Germans should be deprived of their +swords and horses; the students would have fought them there and then; +but the most sensible idea came from the Guild of Cobblers, who would +have waited till they had lain down to sleep and then bound and gagged +them one by one.</p> + +<p>Master Szénasi meanwhile went and hunted up the dragoons, whom he found +full of zeal for the good cause entrusted to them, and had a talk with +them.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen!" said he, "what a pity it is, but look now at these +Hungarian gentlemen! Well, they are shaking their fists at you, so look +to yourselves. Someone has told them that you are acting in concert with +the people of Szathmár, so they won't go a step further until they have +first massacred the whole lot of you."</p> + +<p>At this the German soldiers were greatly embittered. Here they were, +they said, shedding their blood for Transylvania, and the only reward +they got was to be called traitors! So they sounded the alarm, +collected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> their regiments together, took up a defensive position, and +for a whole hour the camp of Mr. Ebéni was thrown into such confusion +that nothing was easier for Master Szénasi than to hide himself among +the fugitives. All night long Mr. Ebéni suffered all the tortures of +martyrdom. At one time he was besieged by a deputation from the Magyars, +who demanded satisfaction, confirmation, and Heaven only knows what +else; while the worthy parsons kept rushing from one end of the camp to +the other, with great difficulty appeasing the uproar, enlightening the +half-informed, and in particular solemnly assuring both parties that +neither the Hungarian gentlemen wanted to hurt the Germans nor the +Germans the Hungarians, till light began to dawn on them, and the +reconciled parties were convinced, much to their astonishment, that the +whole alarm was the work of a single crafty adventurer who clearly +enough had gained time to escape from the pursuers when they had him in +their very clutches.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH.</span></h2> + + +<p>In the middle of the sixteenth century, Haji Baba, the most celebrated +slave-dealer of Stambul, having been secretly informed beforehand, by +acquaintances in the Seraglio, that a great host would assemble that +summer beneath Pesth, hastily filled his ship with wares before his +business colleagues had got an inkling of what was going to happen; and, +steering his bark with its precious load through the Black Sea and up +the Danube, reached Pesth some time before the army had concentrated +there.</p> + +<p>Casting anchor in the Danube, he adorned his vessel with oriental +carpets and flowers, and placing a band of black eunuchs in the prow of +the vessel with all sorts of tinkling musical instruments, he set about +beating drums till the sound re-echoed from the hills of Buda.</p> + +<p>The Turks immediately assembled on the bastions of the castle of Buda +right opposite, and perceiving the bedizened ship with its flags +streaming from the mast and sweeping the waves, thereby giving everyone +who wanted to know what sort of wares were for sale there, got into all +sorts of little skiffs and let themselves be rowed out thither.</p> + +<p>The loveliest damsels in the round world were there exhibited for sale.</p> + +<p>As soon as the first of the Turks had well intoxicated himself with the +sight of the sumptuous wares, he hastened back to get his money and come +again, telling the dozen or so of his acquaintances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> whom he met on the +way what sort of a spectacle he had seen with no little enthusiasm, and +in a very short time hundreds more were hastening to this ship which +offered Paradise itself for sale.</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha, the then Governor of Buda, perceiving the throng from the +windows of his palace, and ascertaining the cause, sent his favourite +Yffim Beg to forbid the market to the mob till he, the general, had +chosen for himself what girls he wanted; and if there was any one of the +slave-girls worthy of consideration, he was to buy her for his harem.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg hastened to announce the prohibition, and when the skiffs had +departed one by one from the ship, he got into the general's curtained +gondola and had himself rowed over to the ship of Haji Baba.</p> + +<p>The man-seller, perceiving the state gondola on its way to him, went to +the ship's side, and waited with a woe-begone face till it had come +alongside, and stretched forth his long neck to Yffim Beg that he might +clamber up it on to the deck.</p> + +<p>The Beg, with great condescension, informed the merchant that he had +come on behalf of the Vizier of Buda, who was over all the Pashas of +Hungary, to choose from among the wares he had for sale.</p> + +<p>Haji Baba, on hearing this, immediately cast himself to the ground and +blessed the day which had risen on these hills, and the water and the +oars which had brought the Beg thither, and even the mother who had made +the slippers in which Yffim Beg had mounted his ship.</p> + +<p>Then he kissed the Beg's hand, and having, as a still greater sign of +respect, boxed the ears of the eunuch who happened to be nearest to the +Beg, for his impertinence in daring to stand so near at all, led Yffim +into the most secret of his secret chambers. Heavy gold-embroidered +hangings defended the entry to the interior of the ship; after this came +a second curtain of dark-red silk, and through this were already audible +sweet songs and twittering, and when this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> curtain was drawn aside by +its golden tassels, a third muslin-like veil still stood in front of the +entrance through which one could look into the room beyond without being +seen by those inside.</p> + +<p>Fourteen damsels were sporting with one another. Some of them darting in +and out from between the numerous Persian curtains suspended from the +ceiling, and laughing aloud when they caught each other; one was +strumming a mandoline; five or six were dancing a round dance to the +music of softly sung songs; another group was swinging one another on a +swing made from costly shawls. All of them were so young, all of them +were of such superior loveliness, that if the heart had allowed the eye +alone to choose for it, mere bewilderment would have made selection +impossible.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg gazed for a long time with the indifference of a connoisseur, +but even his face relaxed at last, and smilingly tapping the merchant on +the shoulder, he said to him:</p> + +<p>"You have been filching from Paradise, Haji Baba!"</p> + +<p>Haji Baba crossed his hands over his breast and shook his head humbly.</p> + +<p>"All these girls are my pupils, sir. There is not one of them who +resembles her dear mother. From their tenderest youth they have grown up +beneath my fostering care; I do no business with grown-up, captured +slave-girls, for, as a rule, they only weep themselves to death, grow +troublesome, wither away before their time, and upset all the others. I +buy the girls while they are babies; it costs a mint of money and no end +of trouble before such a flower expands, but at least he who plucks it +has every reason to rejoice. Look, sir, they are all equally perfect! +Look at that slim lily there dancing on the angora carpet! Did you ever +see such a figure anywhere else? How she sways from side to side like +the flowering branch of a banyan tree! That is a Georgian girl whom I +purchased before she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> born. Her father when he married had not money +enough for the wedding-feast, so he came to me and sold for a hundred +denarii the very first child of his that should be born. Yes, sir, not +much money, I know, but suppose the child had never been born? And +suppose it had been a son! And how often too, and how easily I might +have been cheated! I am sure you could not say that five hundred ducats +was too much for her if I named that price. Look, how she stamps down +her embroidered slippers! Ah, what legs! I don't believe you could find +such round, white, smooth little legs anywhere else! Her price, sir, is +six hundred ducats."</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg listened to the trader with the air of a connoisseur.</p> + +<p>"Or, perhaps, you would prefer that melancholy virgin yonder, who has +sought solitude and is lying beneath the shade of that rose-tree? Look, +sir, what a lot of rose-trees I have all about the place! My girls can +never bear to be without rose-trees, for roses go best with damsels, and +the fragrance of the rose is the best teacher of love. That Circassian +girl yonder was captured along with her father and mother; the husband, +a rough fellow, slew his wife lest she should fall into our hands, but +he had no time to kill his child, for I took her, and now I would not +sell her for less than seven hundred ducats; there's no hurry, for she +is still quite a child."</p> + +<p>Here Yffim Beg growled something or other.</p> + +<p>"Now that saucy damsel swinging herself to and fro on the shawl," +continued the dealer, "I got in China, where her parents abandoned her +in a public place. She does not promise much at first sight, but touch +her and you'll fancy you are in contact with warm velvet. I would let +you have her, sir, for five hundred ducats, but I should charge anyone +else as much again."</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg nodded approvingly.</p> + +<p>"And now do you see that fair damsel who, with a gold comb, is combing +out tresses more precious than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> gold; she came to me from the northern +islands, from a ship which the Kapudan Pasha sent to the bottom of the +sea. I don't ask you if you ever saw such rich fair tresses before, but +I do ask you whether you ever saw before a mortal maid with such a +blindingly fair face? When she blushes, it is just as if the dawn were +touching her with rosy finger-tips."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but her face is painted," said Yffim Beg suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Painted, sir!" exclaimed Haji Baba with dignity. "Painted faces at my +shop! Very well! come and convince yourself."</p> + +<p>And, tearing aside the muslin veil, he entered the apartment with Yffim +Beg.</p> + +<p>At the sight of the men a couple of the charming hoydens rushed +shrieking behind the tapestries, and only after a time poked their +inquisitive little heads through the folds of the curtains; but the +Georgian beauty continued to dance; the Chinese damsel went on swinging +more provocatively than ever; the beauty from the northern islands +allowed her golden tresses to go on playing about her shoulders; a +fresh, tawny gipsy-girl, in a variegated, elaborately fringed dress, +with ribbons in her curly hair, stood right in front of the approaching +Beg, eyed him carefully from top to toe, seized part of his silken +caftan, and rubbed it between her fingers, as if she wanted to appraise +its value to a penny; while a tiny little negro girl with gold bracelets +round her hands and legs, fumigated the entering guest with ambergris, +naïvely smiling at him all the time with eyes like pure enamel and lips +as red as coral.</p> + +<p>The robber-chapman was right, there was not one of these girls who felt +ashamed. They looked at the purchaser with indifference and even +complacency, and everyone of them tried to please him in the hope that +he would take them where they would have lots of jewels and fine +clothes, and slaves to wait on them.</p> + +<p>Haji Baba led the Beg to the above-mentioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> beauty, and raising the +edge of her white garment and displaying her blushing face, rubbed it +hard, and when the main texture remained white, he turned triumphantly +to the seller.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir! I sell painted faces, do I? Do you suppose that every +orthodox shah, emir, and khan would have any confidence in me if I did? +Will you not find in my garden those flowers which the Sultana Valideh +presents to the greatest of Emperors on his birthday, and which in a +week's time the Sultan gives in marriage to those of his favourite +Pashas whom he delights to honour? Why, I don't keep Hindu bayaderes +simply because they stain their teeth with betel-root and orange yellow, +and gild their eyebrows; accursed be he who would improve upon what +Allah created perfect! The black girl is lovely because she is black, +the Greek because she is brown, the Pole because she is pale, and the +Wallach because she is ruddy; there are some who like blonde, and some +who like dark tresses; and fire dwells in blue eyes as well as in black; +and God has created everything that man may rejoice therein."</p> + +<p>While the worthy man-filcher was thus pouring himself forth so +enthusiastically, Yffim Beg, with a very grave face, was gazing round +the apartment, drawing aside every curtain and gazing grimly at the +dwellers behind them, who, clad in rich oriental garments, were +reclining on divans, sucking sugar-plums and singing songs.</p> + +<p>Haji Baba was at his back the whole time, and had so much to say of the +qualifications of every damsel they beheld, that the Turkish gentleman +must have been sorely perplexed which of them to choose.</p> + +<p>He had got right to the end of the apartment, when unexpectedly peeping +into the remotest corner, he beheld a damsel who seemed to be entirely +different from all the rest. She was wrapped in a simple white +wadding-like garment, only her head was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> visible; and when the Beg +turned towards her, both his eyes and his mouth opened wide, and he +stood rooted to the spot before her.</p> + +<p>It was the face of the Queen in the Kingdom of Beauty. Never had he seen +such a look, such burning, glistening, flashing eyes as hers! The proud, +free temples, beneath which two passionate eyebrows sparkled like +rainbows, even without a diadem dispensed majesty. At the first glance +she seemed as savage as Diana surprised in her bath, at the next she was +as timorous as the flying Daphne; gradually a tender smile transformed +her features, she looked in front of her with a dazed expression like +betrayed Sappho gazing at the expanse of ocean in which she would fain +extinguish her burning love.</p> + +<p>"Chapman!" cried the Beg, scarce able to contain himself for +astonishment, "would you deceive me by hiding away from me a houri +stolen from heaven?"</p> + +<p>"I assure you, sir," said the chapman, with a look of terror, "that it +were better for you if you turned away and thought of her no more."</p> + +<p>"Haji Baba, beware! if perchance you would sell her to another, or even +keep her for yourself, you run the risk of losing more than you will +ever make up again."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, sir, by the beard of my father, look not upon that woman."</p> + +<p>"Hum! Some defect perhaps!" thought Yffim to himself, and he beckoned to +the girl to let down her garment. She immediately complied, and, +standing up, stripped her light mantle from her limbs.</p> + +<p>Ah! how the Beg's eyes sparkled. He half believed that what he saw was +not human, but a vision from fairy-land. The damsel's shape was as +perfect as a marble statue carved expressly for the altar of the Goddess +of Love, and the silver hoop encircling her body only seemed to be there +as a girdle in order to show how much whiter than silver was her body.</p> + +<p>"Curses on your tongue, vile chatterer!" said Yffim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> Beg, turning upon +the chapman. "Here have you been wasting an hour of my time with your +empty twaddle, and hiding the beauties of Paradise from my gaze. What's +the price of this damsel?"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, sir, she won't do for you."</p> + +<p>"What! thou man-headed dog! Dost fancy thou hast to do with beggars who +cannot give thee what thou askest? I come hither to buy for Hassan +Pasha, the Governor of Buda, who is wont to give two thousand ducats to +him who asks him for one thousand."</p> + +<p>At these words the damsel's face was illuminated by an unwonted smile, +and at that moment her large, fiery eyes flashed so at Yffim Beg that +<i>his</i> eyes could not have been more blinded if he had been walking on +the seashore and two suns had flashed simultaneously in his face, one +from the sky and the other from the watery mirror.</p> + +<p>"It is not that," said the slave merchant, bowing himself to the ground; +"on the contrary, I'll let you have the damsel so cheaply that you will +see from the very price that I had reserved her for one of the lowest +<i>mushirs</i>, in case he should take a fancy to her—you shall have her for +a hundred dinars."</p> + +<p>"Thou blasphemer, thou! Dost thou cheapen in this fashion the +masterpieces of Nature. Thou shouldst ask ten thousand dinars for her, +or have a stroke on the soles of thy feet with a bamboo for every dinar +thou askest below that price."</p> + +<p>The merchant's face grew dark.</p> + +<p>"Take her not, sir," said he; "you will be no friend to yourself or to +your master if you would bring her into his harem."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said the Beg, "that the damsel has a rough voice, and that +is why she is going so cheaply?" and he ordered her to sing a song to +him if she knew one.</p> + +<p>"Ask her not to do that, sir!" implored the chapman. But, already, he +was too late. At the very first word the girl had laid hold of a +mandolin, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> striking the chords till they sounded like the breeze on +an æolian harp, she began to sing in the softest, sweetest, most ardent +voice an Arab love-song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0q">"In the rose-groves of Shiraz,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the pale beams of moonlight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the burning heart's slumber,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Love ever is born.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0q">"'Midst the icebergs of Altai,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the steps of the scaffold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the fierce flames of hatred,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Love never can die."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Beg felt absolutely obliged to rush forthwith upon Haji Baba and +pummel him right and left for daring to utter a word to put him off +buying the damsel.</p> + +<p>The slave-dealer patiently endured his kicks and cuffs, and when the +jest was over, he said once more:</p> + +<p>"And again I have to counsel you not to take the damsel for your +master."</p> + +<p>"What's amiss with her, then, thou big owl? Speak sense, or I'll hang +thee up at thine own masthead."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you, sir, if only you will listen. That damsel has not +belonged to one master only, for I know for certain that five have had +her. All five, sir, have perished miserably by poison, the headman's +sword, or the silken cord. She has brought misfortune to every house she +has visited, and she has dwelt with Tartars, Turks, and Magyars. Against +the Iblis that dwells within her, prophets, messiahs, and idols have +alike been powerless; ruin and destruction breathe from her lips; he who +embraces her has his grave already dug for him, and he who looks at her +had best have been born without the light of his eyes. Therefore I once +more implore you, sir, to let this damsel go to some poor mushir, whose +head may roll off without anybody much caring, and do not convey danger +to so high a house as the palace of Hassan Pasha."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>The Beg shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I thought thee a sharper, and I have found thee a blockhead," said he, +and he signified to the damsel to wrap herself in her mantle and follow +him.</p> + +<p>"Allah is my witness that I warned you; I wash my hands of it," +stammered Haji Baba.</p> + +<p>"The girl will follow me; send thou for the money to my house."</p> + +<p>"The Prophet seeth my soul, sir. If you are determined to take the +damsel, <i>I</i> will not give her to you for money, lest so great a man may +one day say that he bought ruin from me. Take her then as a gift to your +master."</p> + +<p>"But I have forgotten to ask the damsel's name?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, but forget not every time that name passes your lips +to say: 'Mashallah!' for that woman's name is the name of the devil, and +doubtless she does not bear it without good cause, nor will she ever be +false to it."</p> + +<p>"Speak, and chatter not!"</p> + +<p>"That damsel's name is Azrael ... Allah is mighty!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE AMAZON BRIGADE.</span></h2> + + +<p>It was three days since Azrael had come into the possession of Hassan +Pasha, and in the evening of the third day Haji Baba was sitting in the +prow of his ship and rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight when he saw, a +long way off, in the direction of the Margaret island a skiff, and then +another skiff, and then another, row across the Danube, and heard +heart-rending shrieks which only lasted for a short time.</p> + +<p>Presently the skiffs disappeared among the trees on the river bank, the +last hideous cry died away, and from the rose-groves of the castle came +a romantic song which resounded over the Danube through the silent +night. The merchant recognised the voice of the odalisk, and listened +attentively to it for a long time, and it seemed to him as if through +this song those shrieks were passing incessantly.</p> + +<p>The next day Yffim Beg came to see him, and the merchant hospitably +welcomed him. He set before him a narghile and little cups of sherbet, +and then they settled down comfortably to their pipes, but neither of +them uttered a word.</p> + +<p>Thus a good hour passed away; then at last Haji Baba opened his mouth.</p> + +<p>"During the night I saw some skiffs row out towards the island, and I +heard the sound of stifled shrieks."</p> + +<p>And then they both continued to pull away at their narghiles, and +another long hour passed away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji Baba, and said, just as +he was moving off:</p> + +<p>"They were the favourite damsels of Hassan Pasha, who had been sewn up +in leathern sacks and flung into the water."</p> + +<p>Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a Turk: I anticipated +that.</p> + +<p>Not long afterwards the whole host began to assemble below Pesth, +encamping on the bank of the Danube; a bridge suddenly sprang into +sight, and across it passed army corps, heavy cannons and wagons. First +there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier Aga, with a bodyguard of nine +thousand men, and pitched their tents on the Rákás; after him followed +Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and their tents covered +the plain. The Tartar Khan's disorderly hordes, which might be computed +at forty thousand, extended over the environs of Vácz; and presently +Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand horsemen, and along with him +the picked troops of the Vizier of Buda; the whole army numbered about +one hundred thousand.</p> + +<p>So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were numerous purchasers among +so many Turkish gentlemen; there was something to suit everyone, for the +prices were graduated; and Haji thought he might perhaps order up a +fresh consignment from his agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off +rapidly so long as the camp remained. But he very much wanted to know +how long the concentration would go on, and how many more gentlemen were +still expected to join the host, and with that object he sought out +Yffim Beg.</p> + +<p>The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly everyone who had a mind +to come was there already. The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously +absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk Pasha and young Feriz +Beg's brigades were still expected; without them the army would move no +farther.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>At the mention of these names Haji Baba started.</p> + +<p>"You have as good as made me a dead man, sir. I must now go back to +Stambul with my whole consignment."</p> + +<p>"Art thou mad?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for these gentlemen. Never, +sir, can I live in the same part of the world, sir, with those fine +fellows, whom may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation! I +have two houses on the opposite shores of the Bosphorus, so that when +these noble gentlemen are in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come +to Asia I may sail over to Europe."</p> + +<p>"Thou speakest in riddles."</p> + +<p>"Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz Beg?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard him mentioned as a valiant warrior."</p> + +<p>"And how about the brigade of damsels which is wont to follow him into +battle?"</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words.</p> + +<p>"It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have never dealt in damsels +like me. But you should know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz +Beg is as great a danger to every man who trades in women as plague or +small-pox."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of this peculiarity of his."</p> + +<p>"But I have. I tell you this Feriz Beg is a youth with magic power, in +whose eyes is hidden a talisman, whose forehead is inscribed with magic +letters, and from whose lips flow sorcery and magic spells, so that +whenever he looks upon a woman, or whenever she hears his words even +through a closed door, that woman is lost for ever. Just as he upon whom +the moon shines when he is asleep is obliged to follow the moon from +thenceforth, so, too, this young man draws after him with the moonbeams +of his eyes all the women who look upon him. Ah! many is the great man +who has cursed the hour in which Feriz Beg galloped past his windows and +thereby turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> the heads of the most beauteous damsels. Even the Grand +Vizier himself has wept the loss of his favourite bayadere Zaida, who +descended from his windows by a silken cord into the sea, and swam after +the ship which bore along Feriz Beg; and one night my kinsman, Kutub +Alnuma, who is a far greater slave merchant than I am, was, while he +slept, tied hand and foot by his own damsels to whom he heedlessly had +pointed out Feriz Beg, and the whole lot incontinently ran after him."</p> + +<p>"And what does the youth do with all these women?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, that is the most marvellous part of the whole story. For if he +culled all the fairest flowers of earth for the sake of love, I would +say that he was a wise man, who tasted the joys of Paradise beforehand. +But it is quite another thing, sir. You will be horrified when I tell +you that he at whose feet all the beauties of earth fling themselves, +never so much as greets one of them with a kiss."</p> + +<p>"Is he sick, then, or mad?"</p> + +<p>"He loves another damsel, a Christian girl, who is far from here, and +for whom he has pined from the days of his childhood. At the time of his +first battle he saw this girl for the first time, and as often as he has +gone to war since, it is always with her name upon his lips that he +draws his sword."</p> + +<p>"And what happens to the girls he takes away?"</p> + +<p>"When the first of these flung themselves at his feet, offering him +their hearts and their very lives and imploring him to kill them if he +would not requite their love, to them he replied: 'You have not been +taught to love as I love. Your love awoke in the shadows of rose-bushes, +mine amidst the flashing of swords; you love sweet songs, and the voice +of the nightingale, I love the sound of the trumpet. If you would love +me, love as I do; if you would be with me, come whither I go; and if +Allah wills it, die where I die.' Ah, sir, there is an accursed charm on +the lips of this young man. He destroys the hearts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> of the damsels with +his words so that they forget that Allah gave them to men as playthings +and delightful toys, and they gird swords upon their tender thighs, +fasten cuirasses of mail round their bosoms, and expose their fair faces +to deadly swords."</p> + +<p>"And do these women really fight, or is it all a fable?"</p> + +<p>"They do wonders, sir. No one has ever seen them fly before the foe, and +frequently they are victorious; and if they have less strength in their +arms than men, they have ten times more fire in their hearts. And if at +any one point the fight is most dogged, and the enemy collecting +together his most valiant bands has tired out the hardly-pressed spahis +and timariots, then the youth draws his sword and plunges into the +blackest of mortal peril. And then the wretched women all plunge blindly +after him, and each one of them tries to get nearest to him, for they +know that every weapon is directed against him, and they ward off with +their bosoms the bullets which were meant for him. And so long as the +youth remains there, or presses forward, they never leave him, the whole +battalion perishes first. And at last, if he wins the fight and remains +master of the field, the youth dismounts from his horse, collects the +bodies of the slain who have fallen fighting beside him, kisses them one +by one on their foreheads, sheds tears on their pale faces, and with his +own hands lays them in the grave. And, believe me, sir, these bewitched, +enchanted damsels are mad after that kiss, and their only wish is to +gain it as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"And is there none to put an end to this scandal? Have the generals no +authority to abolish this abomination? Do not the outraged owners demand +back their slave-girls?"</p> + +<p>"You must know, sir, that Feriz Beg stands high in the favour of the +Sultan. He is never prominent anywhere but on the battlefield, but there +he gives a good account of himself; and if anybody who came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> to his +tents to try and recover his slave-girls by force, he might easily be +sent about his business minus his nose and ears. Besides, who could say +that these warriors of Feriz are women? Do they not dispense thrusts and +slashes instead of kisses? Do you ever hear them sing or see them dance +and smile so long as they are under canvas? Oh, sir, I assure you that +you would do well if you told all those who buy slave-girls from me to +guard the damsels from the enchanting dark eyes of this man, for there +is a talisman concealed in them. And, in particular, forget not to tell +your master to conceal his damsel, for you know not what might happen if +a magician caused a female Iblis<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> to enter into her. If an enamoured +woman is terrible, what would an enamoured she-devil be? You bought her, +take care that she does not sell you! The day before yesterday you threw +his favourite women into the water, the day after to-morrow you +might——but Allah guard my tongue, I will not say what I would. Watch +carefully, that's all I'll say. Yet to keep a watch upon women is the +most difficult of sciences. If you want to get into a beleagured +fortress, hide an enamoured woman in it, and she'll very soon show you +the way in. Take heed to what I say, sir, for if you forget my words but +for half an hour, I would not give my little finger-nail for your head."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">15</span></a> Evil spirit.</p></div> + +<p>Whereupon Yffim Beg arose without saying a word and withdrew, deeply +pondering the words of the slave-dealer. But Haji Baba that same night +drew up his anchors, and at dawn he had vanished from the Danube, none +knew whither.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE MARGARET ISLAND.</span></h2> + + +<p>On the Margaret island, in the bosom of the blue Danube, was the +paradise of Hassan Pasha, and to behold its treasures was death. At +every interval of twenty yards stands a eunuch behind the groves of the +island with a long musket, and if any man fares upon the water within +bullet-reach, he certainly will never tell anyone what he saw.</p> + +<p>Paradise exhales every intoxicating joy, every transient delight; it is +full of flowers, and no sooner does one flower bloom than another +instantly fades away; and this also is the fate of those flowers which +are called damsels, for some of these likewise fade in a day, whilst +others are culled to adorn the table of the favourite. This, I say, is +the fate of all the flowers, and frequently in those huge porcelain +vases which stand before Azrael's bed, among its wreaths of roses and +pomegranate flowers, one may see the head of an odalisk with drooping +eyes who yesterday was as bright and merry as her comrades, the rose and +pomegranate blossoms.</p> + +<p>Oh, that woman is a veritable dream! Since he possessed her Hassan Pasha +is no longer a man, but a piece of wax which receives the impression of +her ideas. He hears nothing but her voice, and sees nothing but her. +Already they are beginning to say that Hassan Pasha no longer recognizes +a man ten feet off, and is no longer able to distinguish between the +sound of the drum and the sound of the trumpet. And it is true, but +whoever said so aloud would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> jeopardizing his head, for Hassan would +conceal his failings for fear of being deprived of the command of the +army if they became generally known.</p> + +<p>All the better does Yffim Beg see and hear, Yffim Beg who is constantly +about Azrael; if he were not such an old and faithful favourite of +Hassan Pasha he might almost regret that he has such good eyes and ears. +But Azrael's penetrating mind knows well enough that Yffim Beg's head +stands much more firmly on his shoulders than stand the heads of those +whom Hassan Pasha sacrifices to her whims, so she flatters him, and it +is all the worse for him that she does flatter.</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha, scarce waiting for the day to end and dismissing all +serious business, sat him down in his curtained pinnace, known only to +the dwellers on the fairy island, and had himself rowed across to his +hidden paradise, where, amidst two hundred attendant damsels, Azrael, +the loveliest of the living, awaits him in the hall of the fairy kiosk, +round whose golden trellis work twine the blooms of a foreign sky.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg alone accompanies the Pasha thither.</p> + +<p>The Governor, after embracing the odalisk, strolled thoughtfully through +the labyrinth of fragrant trees where the paths were covered by coloured +pebbles and a whole army of domesticated birds made their nests in the +trees. Yffim Beg follows them at a little distance, and not a movement +escapes his keen eyes, not so much as a sigh eludes his sharp ears; he +keeps a strict watch on all that Azrael does and says.</p> + +<p>In the midst of their walk—they hadn't gone a hundred paces—a falcon +rose before them from among the trees and perched on a poplar close by.</p> + +<p>"Look, sir, what a beautiful falcon!" cried Yffim Beg.</p> + +<p>Azrael laughed aloud and looked back.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my good Beg, how canst thou take a wood-pigeon for a falcon? why it +<i>was</i> a wood-pigeon."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>"I took good note of it, Azrael, and there it is sitting on that +poplar."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's better still—now he calls a nut-tree a poplar. Eh, eh! +worthy Beg, thou must needs have been drinking a little to see so +badly."</p> + +<p>"Well, that was what I fancied," said the Beg, much perplexed, and for +the life of him not perceiving the point of the jest. Why should the +odalisk make a fool of him so?</p> + +<p>"But look then, my love," said Azrael, appealing to the Pasha; "thou +didst see that bird fly away from the tree yonder, was it not a +wood-pigeon flying from a nut-tree?"</p> + +<p>Hassan saw neither the tree nor the bird, but he pretended he did, and +agreed with the odalisk.</p> + +<p>"Of course it was a wood-pigeon and a nut-tree."</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg did not understand it at all.</p> + +<p>They went on further, and presently Yffim Beg again spoke.</p> + +<p>"Shall we not turn, my master, towards that beautiful arcade of +rose-trees?"</p> + +<p>Azrael clapped her hands together in amazement.</p> + +<p>"What! an arcade of roses! Where is it?"</p> + +<p>"Turn in that direction and thou wilt see it."</p> + +<p>"These things! Why if he isn't taking some sumach trees full of berries +for an arcade of rose-trees!"</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha laughed. As for Yffim Beg he was lost in amazement—why did +this damsel choose to jest with him in this fashion?</p> + +<p>At that moment a cannon shot resounded from the Pesth shore.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the Pasha, stopping, "a cannon shot!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my master," said Yffim, "from the direction of Pesth."</p> + +<p>"From Pesth indeed," said Azrael, "it was from Buda; it was the signal +for closing the gate."</p> + +<p>"I heard it plainly."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, my good Beg, but thy hearing is as bad as thy sight. I am +beginning to be anxious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> about thee. How could it be from the direction +of Pesth when the whole camp has crossed over to Buda?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe a fresh host has arrived, which now awaits us."</p> + +<p>"Come," cried Azrael, seizing Hassan's hand, "we will find out at once +who is right;" and she hastened with them to the shore of the island.</p> + +<p>On the further bank the camp of Feriz Beg was visible; they were just +pitching their tents on the side of the hills. A company of cavalry was +just going down to the water's-edge, at whose head ambled a slim young +man whose features were immediately recognised, even at that distance, +both by the favourite Beg and the favourite damsel.</p> + +<p>Only Hassan saw nothing; in the distance everything was to him but a +blur of black and yellow.</p> + +<p>"Well, what did I say?" exclaimed Yffim Beg triumphantly; "that is the +camp of Feriz Beg, and there is Feriz himself trotting in front of +them."</p> + +<p>The words were scarce out of his mouth when the terrible thought +occurred to him that Azrael had no business to be looking upon this +strange man.</p> + +<p>The odalisk, laughing loudly, flung herself on Hassan's neck.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! the worthy Beg takes the water-carrying girls for an army!"</p> + +<p>Then Yffim Beg began to tremble, for he perceived now whither this woman +wanted to carry her joke.</p> + +<p>"My master," said he, "forbid thy slave-girl to make a fool of me. The +camp of Feriz Beg is straight in front of us, and thou wilt do well to +prevent thy maid-servant from looking at these men with her face +unveiled."</p> + +<p>"Allah! thou dost terrify me, good Beg!" said Azrael, feigning horror so +admirably that Hassan himself felt the contagion of it.</p> + +<p>"Say! where dost thou see this camp?"</p> + +<p>"There, on the water-side; dost thou not see the tents on the +hillocks?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>"Surely it is the linen which these girls are bleaching."</p> + +<p>"And that blare of trumpets?"</p> + +<p>"I only hear the merry songs that the girls are singing."</p> + +<p>In his fury Yffim Beg plucked at his beard.</p> + +<p>"My master, this devilish damsel is only mocking us."</p> + +<p>"Thou art suffering from deliriums," said Azrael, with a terrible face, +"or thou art under a spell which makes thee see before thee things which +exist not. Contradict me not, I beg; this hath happened to thee once +before. Dost thou not remember when thou fleddest from Transylvania how, +then also, thou didst maintain that the enemy was everywhere close upon +thy heels! Thou also then wert under the spell of a hideous enchantment, +for thy eunuch horseman who remained behind at Nagyenyed, and is now a +sentinel on this island, hath told me that there was no sign of any +enemy for more than twenty leagues around, and he remained waiting for +thee for ten days and fancied thou wert mad. Most assuredly some evil +sorcery made thee fly before an imaginary enemy without thy turban or +tunic."</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg grew pale. He felt that he must surrender unconditionally to +this infernal woman.</p> + +<p>"Was it so, Yffim?" cried Hassan angrily.</p> + +<p>"Pardon him, my lord," said Azrael soothingly; "he was under a spell +then, as he is now. Thou art bewitched, my good Yffim."</p> + +<p>"Really, I believe I am," he stammered involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"But I will turn away the enchantment," said the damsel; and tripping +down to the water's-edge she moistened her hand and sprinkled the face +of the Beg, murmuring to herself at the same time some magic spell. "Now +look and see!"</p> + +<p>The Beg did all that he was bidden to do.</p> + +<p>"Who, then, are these walking on the bank of the Danube?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>"Young girls," stammered the Beg.</p> + +<p>"And those things spread out yonder."</p> + +<p>"Wet linen."</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not hear the songs of the girls?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I do."</p> + +<p>"Look now, my master, what wonders there are beneath the sun!" said +Azrael, turning towards Hassan Pasha; "is it not marvellous that Yffim +should see armies when there is nothing but pretty peasant girls?"</p> + +<p>"Miracles proceed from Allah, but methinks Yffim Beg must have very bad +sight to mistake maidens for men of war."</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg durst not say to Hassan Pasha that he also had bad sight; he +might just as well have pronounced his own death sentence at once. +Hassan wanted to pretend to see all that his favourite damsel pointed +out, and she proceeded to befool the pair of them most audaciously in +the intimate persuasion that Hassan would not betray the fact that he +could not see, while Yffim Beg was afraid to contradict lest he should +be saddled with that plaguy Transylvanian business.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, on the opposite bank, Feriz Beg in a sonorous voice was +distributing his orders and making his tired battalions rest, galloping +the while an Arab steed along the banks of the Danube. The odalisk +followed every movement of the young hero with burning eyes.</p> + +<p>"I love to hear the songs of these damsels; dost not thou also, my +master?" she inquired of Hassan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do," he answered hastily.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou not sit down beside me here on the soft grass of the river +bank?"</p> + +<p>The Pasha sat down beside the odalisk, who, lying half in his bosom, +with her arm round his neck, followed continually the movements of Feriz +with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>"Look, my master!" said she, pointing him out to Hassan; "look at that +slim, gentle damsel, prominent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> among all the others, walking on the +river's bank. Her eyes sparkle towards us like fire, her figure is +lovelier than a slender flower. Ah! now she turns towards us! What a +splendid, beauteous shape! Never have I seen anything so lovely. Why may +I not embrace her—like a sister—why may I not say to her, as I say to +thee, 'I love thee, I live and die for thee?'"</p> + +<p>And with these words the odalisk pressed Hassan to her bosom, covering +his face with kisses at every word; and he, beside himself with rapture, +saw everything which the girl told him of, never suspecting that those +kisses, those embraces, were not for him but for a youth to whom his +favourite damsel openly confessed her love beneath his very eyes!</p> + +<p>And Yffim Beg, amazed, confounded, stood behind them, and shaking his +head, bethought him of the words of Haji Baba, "Cast forth that devil, +and beware lest she give you away!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A STAR IN HELL.</span></h2> + + +<p>Let the gentle shadows of night descend which guard them that sleep from +the eyes of evil spectres! Let the weary errant bee rest in the fragrant +chalice of the closed flower. Everything sleeps, all is quiet, only the +stars and burning hearts are still awake.</p> + +<p>What a gentle, mystical song resounds from among the willows, as of a +nightingale endowed with a human voice in order to sing to the listening +night in coherent rhymes the song of his love and his melancholy +rapture. It is the poet Hariri whom, sword in hand, they call Feriz Beg, +"The Lion of Combat," but who, when evening descends, and the noise and +tumult of the camp are still, discards his coat of mail, puts on a light +grey <i>burnush</i>, and, lute in hand, strolls through the listening groves +and by the side of the murmuring streams and calls forth languishing +songs from the depths of his heart and the strings of his lute, +uninterrupted by the awakening appeals of the trumpet.</p> + +<p>Many a pale maid opens her window to the night at the sound of these +magic songs—and becomes all the paler from listening to them.</p> + +<p>The eunuchs steal softly along the banks of the Margaret Island with +their long muskets, and stop still and watch for any suspicious skiff +drawing near to the island; and the most wakeful of them is old Majmun, +who, even when he is asleep, has one eye open, and in happier times was +the guardian of the harem. He sits down on a hillock, and even a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +carrier-pigeon with a letter under its wings could not have eluded his +vigilance. He has only just arrived on the island, having previously +accompanied Yffim Beg into Transylvania, and therefore has only seen +Azrael once.</p> + +<p>His eyes roam constantly around, and his sharp ears detect even the +flight of a moth or a beetle, yet suddenly he feels—some one tapping +him on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>He turns terrified, and behold Azrael standing behind him.</p> + +<p>"Accursed be that singing over yonder. I was listening to it, so did not +hear thee approach. What dost thou want? Why dost thou come hither in +the darkness of night? How didst thou escape from the harem?"</p> + +<p>"I prythee be quiet!" said the odalisk. "This evening I went a-boating +with my master, and a gold ring dropped from my finger into the water; +it was a present from him, and if to-morrow he asks: 'Where is that +ornament?' and I cannot show it him, he will slay me. Oh, let me seek +for it here in the water."</p> + +<p>"Foolish damsel, the water here is deep; it will go over thy head, and +thou wilt perish."</p> + +<p>"I care not; I must look for it. I must find the ring, or lose my life +for it."</p> + +<p>And the odalisk said the words in such an agony of despair that the +eunuch was quite touched by it.</p> + +<p>"Thou shouldst entrust the matter to another."</p> + +<p>"If only I could find someone who can dive under the water, I would give +him three costly bracelets for it; I would give away all my treasures."</p> + +<p>"I can dive," said Majmun, seized by avarice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, descend then into the water for me," implored the damsel, falling +on her knees before him and covering the horny hand of the slave with +her kisses. "But art thou not afraid of being suffocated? For then in +the eyes of the governor I should be twice guilty."</p> + +<p>"Fear not on my account. In my youth I was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> pearl-fisher in the Indian +Ocean, and I can remain under water and look about me like a fish, even +at night, while thou dost count one hundred. Only show me the place +where the ring fell from thy finger."</p> + +<p>Azrael drew a pearl necklace from her arm and casting it into the water, +pointed at the place where it fell.</p> + +<p>"It was on the very spot where I have cast that; if thou dost fetch up +both of them for me, the second one shall be thine."</p> + +<p>Majmun perceived that this was not exactly a joke, and laying aside his +garment and his weapon, bade the damsel look after them, and quickly +slipped beneath the water.</p> + +<p>In a few seconds the eunuch's terrified face emerged above the water and +he struck out for the shore with a horrified expression.</p> + +<p>"This is an evil spot," said he; "at the bottom of the water is a heap +of human heads."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said the odalisk calmly.</p> + +<p>The eunuch was puzzled. He gazed up at her, and was astounded to observe +that in the place of the sensitive, supplicating figure so lately there, +there now stood a haughty, awe-inspiring woman, who looked down upon him +like a queen.</p> + +<p>"Those heads there are the heads of thy comrades," said Azrael to the +astounded eunuch, "whom last night and the preceding nights I asked to +do me a service, which they refused to do. Next day I accused them to +the governor and he instantly had their heads cut off without letting +them speak."</p> + +<p>"And what service didst thou require?"</p> + +<p>"To swim to the opposite shore and give this bunch of flowers to that +youth yonder."</p> + +<p>"Ha! thou art a traitor."</p> + +<p>"No such thing. All I ask of thee is this: dost thou hear those songs in +that grove yonder? Very well, swim thither and give him this posy. If +thou dost not, thy head also will be under the water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> among the heap of +the others. But if thou dost oblige me I will make thee rich for the +remainder of thy life. It is in thine own power to choose whether thou +wilt live happily or die miserably."</p> + +<p>"But I have a third choice, and that is to kill thee," cried the eunuch, +gnashing his teeth.</p> + +<p>Azrael laughed.</p> + +<p>"Thou blockhead! Whilst thou wert still under the water it occurred to +me to fill thy musket with earth and gird thy dagger to my side. Utter +but a cry and thou wilt have no need to wait for to-morrow to lay thy +head at thy feet."</p> + +<p>At these words the damsel squeezed the eunuch's arm so emphatically that +he bent down before her.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou command?"</p> + +<p>"I have already told thee."</p> + +<p>"I am playing with my own head."</p> + +<p>"That is not as bad as if I were playing with it."</p> + +<p>"What dost thou want of me?"</p> + +<p>"I want thee to row me across to the opposite shore."</p> + +<p>"There is only one skiff on the island, and in that Yffim Beg is wont to +fish."</p> + +<p>"Oh, why have I never learnt to swim!" cried Azrael, collapsing in +despair.</p> + +<p>"What! wouldst thou swim across this broad stream?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I'll swim across it now, this instant."</p> + +<p>"Those are idle words. If thou art not a devil thou wilt drown in this +river if thou canst not swim."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt swim with me. I will put one hand on thy shoulder to keep me +up."</p> + +<p>"Thou art mad, surely! Only just now thou didst threaten me with death, +and now thou wouldst trust thy life to me! I need only hold thee under +for a second or two to be rid of thee for ever. Water is a terrible +element to him who cannot rule over it, the dwellers beneath the waves +are merciless."</p> + +<p>"By putting my life into thy hands I show thee that I fear thee not. +Lead me through the water!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>"Thou art mad, but I still keep my senses. Go back to the Vizier's kiosk +while he hath not noticed thy absence. I will not betray thee."</p> + +<p>"Then thou wilt not go with me?" said the odalisk darkly.</p> + +<p>"May I never see thee again if I do so," said Majmun resolutely, sitting +down on a hillock.</p> + +<p>"Wretched slave!" cried Azrael in despair, "then I will go myself."</p> + +<p>And with that she cast herself into the water from the high bank. +Majmun, unable to prevent her leap, plunged in after her and soon +emerged with her again on the surface of the water, holding the woman by +her long hair.</p> + +<p>She suddenly embraced the eunuch with both arms, turned in the water so +as to come uppermost and raising her head from the waves, cried fiercely +to the submerged eunuch:</p> + +<p>"Go to the opposite shore, or we'll drown together."</p> + +<p>The eunuch, after a short, desperate struggle, becoming convinced that +he could not free himself from the arms of the damsel who held him fast +like a gigantic serpent, with a tremendous wrench contrived to bring his +head above the water and cried unwillingly:</p> + +<p>"I'll lead thee thither."</p> + +<p>"Hasten then!" cried Azrael, releasing him from her arms and grasping +the woolly pate of the swimmer with one hand; "hasten!"</p> + +<p>The eunuch swam onwards. Nothing was to be seen but a white and a black +head moving closely together in the darkness and the long tresses of the +damsel floating on the surface of the waves.</p> + +<p>"Is the bank far?" she presently asked the slave, for she was somewhat +behind and could not see in front of her.</p> + +<p>"Art thou afraid?"</p> + +<p>"I fear that I may not be able to see it."</p> + +<p>"We shall be at the other side directly. The stream is broad just now, +for the Danube is in flood."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>A few minutes later the negro felt firm ground beneath his feet, and the +odalisk perceived the branch of a willow drooping above her face. +Quickly seizing it, she drew herself out of the water.</p> + +<p>Softly and tremulously she ran towards the grove of trees which +concealed what she sought, and on perceiving the singer, whose +enchanting tones had enticed her across the water, she stood there all +quivering, holding back her breath, and with one hand pressed against +her bosom.</p> + +<p>The young singer was sitting on a silver linden-tree. He had just +finished his song, and had placed the lute by his side, and was gazing +sadly before him with his handsome head resting against his hand as if +he would have summoned back the spirit which had flown far far away on +the wings of his melody.</p> + +<p>"Now thou canst speak to him," said Majmun to the damsel.</p> + +<p>Azrael stood there, leaning against a weeping willow and gazing, +motionless, at the youth.</p> + +<p>"Hasten, I say. The night is drawing to an end and we have to get back +again. Wherefore dost thou hesitate when thou hast come so far for this +very thing?"</p> + +<p>The odalisk sighed softly, and leant her head against the mossy tree +trunk.</p> + +<p>"Thou saidst thou wouldst rush to him, embrace his knees, and greet him +with thy lips, and now thou dost stand as if rooted to the spot by +spells."</p> + +<p>The damsel slowly sank upon her knees and hid her face in her garment.</p> + +<p>"The girl is really crazy," murmured the negro; "if thou hast come +hither only to weep, thou couldst have done that just as well on the +other side."</p> + +<p>At that moment the voice of a bugle horn rang out from a distance +through the silent night, whereupon the singer, suddenly transformed +into a warrior, sprang to his feet. It was the first <i>reveille</i> from the +camp of Buda to awake the sleepers, and Hariri disappeared to become +Feriz Beg again, who, drawing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> his sword, quickly hastened away from +among the willow-trees, and in his hurry forgot his lute beneath a +silver birch.</p> + +<p>"Thou seest he has departed from thee," cried the negro malevolently, +seizing the damsel's hand. "Hasten back with me while yet there is +time."</p> + +<p>The girl arose—holding her breath as she gazed after the youth—and +waited till he had disappeared among the bushes; then she drew forth the +wreath of flowers which she had hidden in her bosom, and took a step +forward, listening till the retreating footsteps had died away, and then +suddenly rushed towards the abandoned lute, pressed it to her heart, +covered it with kisses, and fell down beside it filled with agony and +rapture.</p> + +<p>Then she took the wreath and cast it round the lute, and the wreath was +composed of these flowers: A rose. What does a rose signify in the +language of love?—"I love thee, I am happy." Then a pomegranate-flower, +which signifies: "I love none but thee!" Then a pink, which signifies: +"I wither for love of thee." Then a balsam, which signifies: "I dare not +approach thee." And, finally, a forget-me-not, which signifies: "Let us +live or die together."</p> + +<p>This wreath the odalisk fastened together with a lock of her own hair, +which signifies: "I surrender my life into thy hands!" For a Turkish +woman never allows a lock of her hair to pass into the hand of a +stranger, believing, as she does, that whoever possesses it has the +power to ruin or slay her, to deprive her either of her reason or her +life.</p> + +<p>Majmun gazed at her in astonishment. Was this all she had come for +through so many terrible dangers?</p> + +<p>"Hasten, damsel, with thine incantations," said he, "the camp is now +aroused and the dawn is at hand."</p> + +<p>Azrael cast a burning kiss with her hand in the direction whither Feriz +had disappeared; then returning to the slave, she said, with her usual +commanding voice:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>"Remain here and count up to six hundred without looking after me, and +by that time I shall have come back."</p> + +<p>Majmun counted up to six hundred with a loud voice.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Azrael ran along the dam of the river bank till she came to +the sluice, which she raised by the exertion of her full strength. The +liberated water began to flow through the opening with a mighty roar.</p> + +<p>Then Azrael hastened back to the negro.</p> + +<p>"And now for the island," said she.</p> + +<p>And once more they traversed the dangerous way, Azrael lying on her back +with a hand on the negro's head. In her bosom was a poplar leaf, which +afforded her great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>On reaching the island Azrael richly recompensed the negro, and said to +him:</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning, at dawn, thy master, Yffim Beg, will seek thee and +command thee to accompany him and Hassan Pasha across the bridge to the +other side where stands the camp of Feriz Beg. Thou wilt find no one +there, but look at the place where we were this night, and if thou +shouldst find there a nosegay or a wreath, bring it to me!"</p> + +<p>Majmun listened with amazement. How could Azrael have found out all +about these things?</p> + +<p>Azrael returned to the kiosk, where Hassan Pasha was still sleeping the +deep sleep of opium. He awoke in the arms of his favourite, and he could +not understand why her hands were so cold and her kisses so burning.</p> + +<p>The odalisk told him she had been dreaming. She had dreamt that she swam +across the river enticed by the singing of the Peris.</p> + +<p>Hassan smiled.</p> + +<p>"Go on sleeping, and continue thy dream," said he.</p> + +<p>The sun was high in the heaven when Hassan Pasha quitted the kiosk. +Yffim Beg was awaiting him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>"Wilt thou not ride to Pesth there to mark out the place for the camp of +Feriz Beg, who has just arrived?"</p> + +<p>Azrael shrewdly guessed that Yffim Beg was for leading the Governor to +the Pesth shore to satisfy him as to the peasant girls whom he was said +to have mistaken for soldiers by some evil enchantment. She also thought +how convenient it would be for her that they should take Majmun with +them for the whole day.</p> + +<p>Hassan accordingly accepted Yffim's invitation, and galloped with him +and Majmun over to the opposite shore, where Yffim was amazed to +discover that not a soul of Feriz Beg's host was visible.</p> + +<p>In the night the suddenly released water had covered the whole ground of +their camp, and they had been obliged to retire farther away from the +river and seek another encampment beyond Pesth.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg would have liked to have torn out his beard in his wrath if he +had not been restrained by the general's presence.</p> + +<p>But Majmun, under the pretext of clearing the way, reconnoitred the +scene of yesterday's interview, and there, in the roots of the silver +birch, he found that a wreath had been deposited. He concealed it +beneath his <i>burnush</i>, and carried it home to Azrael.</p> + +<p>The wreath was composed of two pieces—a branch of laurel and a spray of +thorn.</p> + +<p>The damsel bowed her head before this answer. She knew that it +signified: "Suffer if thou wouldst prevail!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD.</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a beautiful summer evening; there was a half-moon in the sky, and +a hundred other half-moons scattered over the hillocks below. The +Turkish host had encamped among the hills skirting the river Raab.</p> + +<p>Concerning this particular new moon, we find recorded in the prophetic +column of the "Kaossa Almanack" for the current year that it was to be:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0q">"To the Germans, help in need;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the Turks, fortune indeed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the Magyars, power to succeed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whoever's not ill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall of health have his fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For 'tis Heaven's own will."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The worthy astrologer forgot, however, to find out in heaven whether +there are not certain quarters of the moon beneath which man may easily +die even if they are not sick.</p> + +<p>The great Grand Vizier Kiuprile, after resting on the ruins of Zerinvár, +turned towards the borders of Styria and united with the army of the +Pasha of Buda, below St. Gothard.</p> + +<p>Kiuprile's host consisted for the most part of cavalry, for his infantry +was employed in digging trenches round Zerinvár, whose commandant, in +reply to an invitation to surrender the fortress and not attempt to +defend it with six hundred men against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> thirty thousand, jestingly +responded: "As one Hungarian florin is worth ten Turkish piasters, one +Hungarian warrior necessarily must be worth ten Turkish warriors." And +what is more, the worthy man made good this rate of exchange, for when +the victors came to count up the cost, they found that for six hundred +Hungarians they had had to pay six thousand Osmanlis into the hands of +his Majesty King Death.</p> + +<p>Kiuprile had then pursued the armies of the Emperor, but they refused to +stand and fight anywhere; and while their enemies were marching higher +and higher up the banks of the Raab, they seemed to be withdrawing +farther and farther away on the opposite shore.</p> + +<p>The army of the Pasha of Buda should have gone round at the rear of the +imperial forces, in order to unite with the Pasha of Érsekújvár, the +former having previously cut off every possibility of a retreat; but +Hassan, as an independent general, did not follow the directions sent +him, simply because they came from Kiuprile, and he also made straight +for the Raab by forced marches, in order to wrest the opportunity of +victory from his rival.</p> + +<p>Thus the two armies came together, on July 30th, below the romantic +hills of St. Gothard, each army pitching its tents on the right bank of +the river, and occupying the summits of the hills, which commanded a +view of the whole region.</p> + +<p>And certainly the worthy gentlemen showed no bad taste when they took a +fancy to that part of the kingdom. In every direction lay the yellow +acres, from which the terrified peasants had not yet reaped the standing +corn; to the right were the gay vineyard-clad hills; to the left the +dark woods and stretch upon stretch of undulating meadow-land, bisected +by the winding ribbon of the Raab. On a hill close by stood the gigantic +pillared portico of the Monastery of St. Gothard, with fair +pleasure-groves at its base. Farther away were the towers of four or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +five villages. The setting sun, as if desirous of making the district +still more beautiful, enwrapped it in a veil of golden mist.</p> + +<p>"Thou dog!" cried Hassan Pasha to the peasant who alone received the +terrible guests in the abandoned cloisters, "this region is far too +beautiful for the like of you monks to dwell in. But you will not be in +it long, my good sirs, for I mean to take it for myself. The peasant +after all is lord here. He eats his own bread and he drinks his own +wine, and he has a couple of good garments to draw over his head. But +stop, things shall be very different, for I shall have a word to say +about it."</p> + +<p>The honest peasant took off his cap. "God grant," said he, "that more +and more of you may dwell in my domains, and that I may build your +houses for you." The man was a grave-digger.</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha and his suite occupied the monastery, whose vestibule was +filled with priests and magistrates from every quarter of the kingdom, +whose duty it was to collect and bring in provisions and taxes due to +the Turkish Government. And what they brought in was never sufficient, +and therefore the poor creatures had to send deputies as hostages from +time to time, who followed their lords on foot wherever they went, and +relieved each other from this servitude in rotation; some of them had +been here for half a year.</p> + +<p>The Turkish army was more than 100,000 strong, and the right bank of the +river was planted for a long distance with their tents. The monastery +constituted the centre of the camp; there was the encampment of Hassan's +favourite mamelukes and the selected corps of cloven-nosed, gigantic +negroes, who used to plunge into the combat half-naked, and neither take +nor give quarter. Alongside of them was the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha, a +corps accustomed to the strictest discipline. Close beside the tents of +this division, within a quadrilateral, guarded by a ditch, you could see +the camp of the Amazon Brigade,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> whose first thought when they pitch +their tents is to entrench themselves.</p> + +<p>Close to the camp of Kucsuk lies the Moldavian army, from whose +elaborate precautions you can gather that they have a far greater fear +of their allies all around them than of the foe against whom they are +marching. From beyond the monastery, right up to the vineyards of +Nagyfalva, the ground is occupied by the noisy Janissaries of Ismail +Pasha, who, if their military reputation lies not, are more used to +distributing orders to their commanders than receiving orders from them. +Beyond the vine-clad hills lies the cavalry of the Grand Vizier, Achmed +Kiuprile, and all round about, wherever a column of smoke is to be seen +or the sky is blood-red, there is good reason for suspecting that there +the marauding Tartar bands are out, whom it was not the habit to attach +to the main army. Far in the rear, along the mountain paths, on the +slopes of the narrow forest passes, could be seen the endlessly long +procession of wagons laden with plunder, intermingled with long round +iron cannons and ancient stone mortars, each one drawn along by ten or +twelve buffaloes, striving laboriously and painfully to urge their way +forward, and if one of them stops for a moment, or falls down, all the +others behind it must stop also.</p> + +<p>It is now evening, and from one division of the army to another the +messengers from headquarters are hurrying. Kiuprile's messenger comes to +inform Hassan that the army of the enemy has taken up its position on +the opposite bank, between two forests, the French mercenaries and the +German auxiliary troops have joined it, so that it would be well to +attack it in the night, before it has had time properly to marshal its +ranks.</p> + +<p>"Thy master is mad," replied Hassan; "how can I fly across the water? +Before me is the river Raab. I should have to fling a bridge across it +first—nay two, three bridges—which it would take me days to do, and I +cannot even begin to do it till the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> ammunition waggons have +arrived. Go back, therefore, and tell thy master that if he wants to +fight I'll sound the alarm."</p> + +<p>The messenger opened his eyes wide, being unaware of the fact that +Hassan was short-sighted, and consequently only knew the river Raab from +the map, not knowing that at the spot where he stood the river was not +more than two yards wide, and could be bridged over in a couple of hours +without the assistance of old ammunition wagons—so back the messenger +went to Kiuprile.</p> + +<p>He had scarce shown a clean pair of heels, when the messenger of Kucsuk +Pasha arrived to signify in his master's name that the battle could not +be postponed, because no hay had arrived for the horses.</p> + +<p>Hassan turned furiously on the captive magistrates.</p> + +<p>"Why have you not sent hay?"</p> + +<p>The wisest of them, desirous to answer the question, politely rejoined: +"It has been a dry summer, sir, the Lord has kept back the clouds of +Heaven."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's it, eh!" said Hassan. "Tell Kucsuk Pasha that he must give +his horses the clouds to eat; the hay of the Magyars is there, it +seems."</p> + +<p>This messenger had no sooner departed than a whole embassy arrived from +the Janissaries, and the whole lot of them energetically demanded that +they should be led into battle at once.</p> + +<p>"What?" inquired Hassan mockingly, "has your hay fallen short too, +then?" The Janissaries are infantry, by the way.</p> + +<p>"It is glory we are running short of," said the leader of the deputation +stolidly; "it bores us to stand staring idly into the eyes of the +enemy."</p> + +<p>"Then don't stare idly at them any longer; away with those mutinous dogs +and impale them, and put them on the highest hillock that the whole army +may see them."</p> + +<p>The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered the Janissaries, and +pending their impalement, locked them up in the cellar of the +cloisters.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>By this time Hassan Pasha was in the most horrible temper; and just at +that unlucky moment who should arrive but Balló, the envoy of the Prince +of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>Hassan, who could not see very well at the best of times, and was now +blinded with rage besides, roared at him:</p> + +<p>"Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee hither? What is thy errand?"</p> + +<p>"I come from Kiuprile, sir," replied Balló blandly.</p> + +<p>"What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile must be to send to me +such a rogue as thou art, except in chains and fetters."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of Transylvania, and +represent the Prince."</p> + +<p>"Represent the Prince, eh? Art thou the Prince's cobbler that thou +standest in his shoes? Hast thou brought soldiers with thee?"</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir——"</p> + +<p>"Thou hast <i>not</i>, then? Not another word! Hast thou brought money?"</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir!"</p> + +<p>"Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou come at all? Canst thou pay +the allotted tribute?"</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir!"</p> + +<p>"Don't gracious sir me, but answer—yes or no!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but——"</p> + +<p>"Then why not?"</p> + +<p>"The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of God is upon it."</p> + +<p>"Thou must settle that with God, then, and pray that it may not feel my +heavy hand also. Wherefore, then, hast thou come?"</p> + +<p>Balló made up his mind to swallow the bitter morsel.</p> + +<p>"I have come to implore you to remit the annual tribute."</p> + +<p>At first Hassan did not know what to say.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou become wooden, then," he said at last,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> "thou and thy whole +nation? What right have ye to ask for a remission of the tribute?"</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than what Gabriel Bethlen +was wont to pay."</p> + +<p>"Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in iron what he did not pay +in silver; if he paid fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of +fighting alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty thousand for +sitting comfortably at your own firesides. What, only eighty thousand +for Transylvania, a state that is always digging up gold and silver, +when a single sandjak<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> pays the Pasha of Thessalonica twice as much?"</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">16</span></a> Province.</p></div> + +<p>At these words the national pride awoke in the breast of Balló.</p> + +<p>"Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its Pasha has unlimited +power over his sandjaks, but Transylvania is a free state."</p> + +<p>"And who told thee that it shall not become a sandjak like the rest?" +said Hassan grimly. "Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice, +take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on the throne of +Transylvania! Dost thou hear me? By the prophet I swear it."</p> + +<p>"The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the ancient rights of +Transylvania should never be infringed. He swore it on the Koran and by +the Prophet."</p> + +<p>"It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior, our present Sultan," +cried Hassan, "to remember the oath sworn by the great Suleiman; not +what he says, but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly do ye +entrust your heads to his hand, while the sword of execution remains in +our hands! I'll humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all +nations! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian rajas who themselves +pull the plough!"</p> + +<p>Balló raised his head with a bitter look before the wrathful vizier.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>"Then, sir, you must find another population for Transylvania, for you +will not find there now the men you seek. You may see no end of murdered +Magyars there, but a degraded Magyar you will never find."</p> + +<p>At these words Hassan drew his sword, and with his own hand would have +decapitated the presumptuous ambassador, but the mamelukes dragged him +away, assuring the Pasha that they would impale him along with the +Janissaries.</p> + +<p>"Place the stake in front of my window that I may speak to the insolent +wolf while he is well spitted."</p> + +<p>The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Balló into the cellar along with the +Janissaries, and began to plant a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of +the Pasha's window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind +their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their comrades had been +condemned to death without mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment +they had cut down those of their officers who remonstrated, and while +one body rushed towards the monastery, beating their alarm-drum and +blowing their horns, the others attacked the negro giants guarding the +impalement stakes already planted on the top of the hill, and in a few +moments the executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the mamelukes of Hassan, who were preparing to resist the +insurgents, put to flight by the furious Janissaries, made for the +courtyard of the cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by a +stone wall, and after barricading the entrances, succeeded with great +difficulty in shutting the iron gates in the faces of their assailants, +and prepared vigorously to defend them.</p> + +<p>The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and bombarding its windows with +bullets and darts, began to besiege it at long-firing distance.</p> + +<p>Hassan, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the tower of the +monastery, leaving his guards to defend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> the gates till the other +divisions of the army should come to quell the insurgents, but they did +not stir. Hassan perceived from his tower that not a man from Kiuprile's +army was coming to his assistance, though they very well could see his +jeopardy and hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the other +side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on the hills, but it never +entered their minds to draw nearer; on the contrary, they were only too +delighted to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail Pasha's army +seemed rather to be retreating than approaching, and from Kucsuk and his +son he durst not hope for assistance, as they were his personal enemies.</p> + +<p>At that moment the insurgents caught sight of the stake planted before +the window, and set up a howl of fury.</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha! Hassan had this planted here for himself. Let's fix up Hassan!"</p> + +<p>With a shudder the Vizier reflected on the enormous difference between +the throne of Transylvania and the stake on which he might be planted +instead, and cursed softly as he murmured to himself:</p> + +<p>"That rogue of a Christian must have prayed to his God that I might be +brought to shame here;" and grasping in his terror the solitary +bell-rope that hung there, and winding it round his neck, he stood by +the window, so that if the rebels should burst through the gates he +might leap out and hang himself, rather than that they should wreak +their horrible threats upon him.</p> + +<p>The night had now set in, but the besiegers kindled pine branches, by +whose spluttering light they streamed round the monastery; and then came +a sudden and continuous firing of guns and beating of drums and a +frightful braying of buffalo horns.</p> + +<p>The banner of danger had already been planted on the summit of the +tower, but from no quarter did help arise, and from time to time the +sound of a bell rang through the air as a chance bullet struck it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>Hassan, full of terror, drew back behind the window curtains. Suddenly a +yell still more terrible than the hitherto pervading tumult filled his +ear—the besiegers had discovered the cellar in which their comrades had +been confined, and, bursting in the doors, liberated them, and the +Transylvanian deputy along with them, who speedily left this scene of +uproar behind him.</p> + +<p>At the sight of their bound and fettered comrades, the Janissaries' +wrath increased ten-fold. The leader of the released captives, waving an +axe over his head with a fierce howl, and hurling himself at the iron +gate, hammered away like the roaring of guns; whilst the rest of them, +who hitherto had been firing at the windows from a distance, now +attacked the entrances with unrestrainable fury, raining showers of +blows upon the gates.</p> + +<p>But the gates were of good strong iron plates, well barricaded below +with quadraginal paving-stones. The besiegers' arms grew weary, and the +mamelukes on the roof flung stones and heavy beams down upon them, doing +fearful execution among their serried ranks; whilst every mameluke who +fell from his perch, pierced by a bullet, was instantly torn to pieces +by the crowd, which flung back his head at the defenders.</p> + +<p>"Draw back!" cried the officer in command, who stood foremost amidst the +storm of rafters and bullets. "Run for the guns! At the bottom of that +hill I saw a mortar planted in the ground; draw it forth, and we'll fire +upon the walls."</p> + +<p>In an instant the whole Janissary host had withdrawn from below the +monastery, and the whole din died away. Yet the dumb silence was more +threatening, more terrible, than the uproar had been. Very soon a dull +rumbling was audible, drawing nearer and nearer every instant; it was +the rolling of a gun-carriage full of artillery. Hundreds of them were +pushing it together, and were rapidly advancing with the heavy, +shapeless guns. At last they placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> one in position opposite the +monastery; it was a heavy iron four-and-twenty pound culverin, whose +voice would be audible at the distance of four leagues. This they +planted less than fifteen yards from the monastery, and aimed it at the +gate.</p> + +<p>"There is no help save with God!" cried Hassan in despair; and he took +off his turban lest they should thereby recognise his dead body.</p> + +<p>At that instant a trumpet sounded, and the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha +appeared in battle array, making its way through the congested masses of +the insurgents; while Feriz Beg, at the head of his Spahis, skilfully +surrounded them, and cut off their retreat.</p> + +<p>Kucsuk Pasha, with a drawn sword in his hand, trotted straight up to the +gun and stood face to face with its muzzle.</p> + +<p>"Are ye faithful sons of the prophet, or fire-worshippers, giaurs, and +idolators, that ye attack the faithful after this fashion?" he asked the +insurgents.</p> + +<p>At these words the ringleaders of the insurgents came forward.</p> + +<p>"We are Janissaries," he said, "the flowers of the Prophet's garden, who +are wont to pluck the weeds we find there."</p> + +<p>"I know you, but you know me; ye are good soldiers, but I am a good +soldier too. Hath Allah put swords into the hands of good soldiers that +they may fall upon one another? Ye would weep for me if I fell because +of you, and I would weep for you if ye fell because of me—but where +would be the glory of it? What! Here with the foe in front of you, ye +would wage war among yourselves, to your own shame, and to the joy of +the stranger? Is not that sword accursed which is not drawn against the +foe?"</p> + +<p>"Yet accursed also is the sword which returns to its sheath unblooded."</p> + +<p>"What do ye want?"</p> + +<p>"We want to fight."</p> + +<p>"And can you only find enemies among yourselves?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>"Our first enemy is cowardice, and cowardice sits in the seat of that +general who alone is afraid when the whole camp wants to fight. We would +first slay fear, and then we would slay the foe."</p> + +<p>"Why not slay the foe first?"</p> + +<p>"We will go alone against the whole camp of the enemy if the rest +refuse."</p> + +<p>"Good; I will go with you."</p> + +<p>"Thou?"</p> + +<p>"I and my son with all our squadrons."</p> + +<p>At these words the mutineers passed, in an instant, from the deepest +wrath to the sublimest joy. "To battle!" they cried. "Kucsuk also is +coming, and Feriz will help!" These cries spread from mouth to mouth. +And immediately the drums began to beat another reveille, the horns gave +forth a very different sound, they turned the cannons round and dragged +them to the river's bank, and began to build a bridge over the Raab with +the beams and rafters that had been hurled down upon them.</p> + +<p>The hostile camp lay about four hours' march away, on the opposite bank, +between two forests, and by an inexplicable oversight, had left that +portion of the river's bank absolutely unguarded.</p> + +<p>The Janissaries swam to and fro in the water strengthening the posts and +stays of the improvised bridge by tying them stoutly together, and by +the time the night had begun to grow grey, the first bridge ever thrown +over the Raab was ready and the infantry began to cross it.</p> + +<p>It was only then that the German-Hungarian camp perceived the design of +the enemy, and speedily sent three regiments of musketeers against the +Turks, who fought valiantly with the Janissaries, and drove them right +back upon the bridge, where a bloody tussle ensued as fresh divisions +hastened up to sustain the hardly-pressed Mussulmans.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a second bridge had been got ready, over which Kucsuk's +cavalry quickly galloped and fell upon the rear of the musketeers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>These warriors, taken by surprise and perceiving the preponderance of +the enemy, and obtaining no assistance from their own headquarters, +quickly flung down their firearms and made helter-skelter for their own +trenches.</p> + +<p>The next moment the two combating divisions were a confused struggling +mass. Kucsuk's swift Spahis cut off the retreat of the Christian +infantry; only for a few moments was there a definite struggle, the +tussle being most obstinate round the standards, till at last they also +began to totter and fall one after the other, and three thousand +Christian souls mounted on high together, pursued by a roar of triumph +from the Mussulmans, who, seizing the advanced trenches, planted thereon +their half-moon streamers, and plundered the tents which remained +defenceless before them.</p> + +<p>At that moment the Christian host was near to destruction, and if +Kiuprile had crossed the river and Hassan Pasha had shared the fight +with Kucsuk, he would have become famous.</p> + +<p>But the two chief commanders remained obstinately behind on the further +shore. Kiuprile, who the evening before had himself wanted to begin the +fight when he had received a negative answer, had now not even saddled +his nag, and looked on with sinister <i>sangfroid</i> while the extreme wing +of the army was engaged. Hassan, on the other hand, would have liked +nothing better if the Janissaries, and Kucsuk their auxiliary, had lost +the battle thus begun without orders, and so far from hastening to their +assistance remained sitting up in his tower. He could see nothing of the +battle, but he heard a cry, and fancying that it was the death-yell of +the Janissaries, took his beads from his girdle and began zealously to +pray that the Prophet would keep open for them the gates of Paradise.</p> + +<p>"Master, master!" exclaimed Yffim Beg, "gird on thy sword and to horse!"</p> + +<p>The Pasha heard nothing. At last Yffim Beg, in despair, seized the +bell-rope, and pulled the old bell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> right above Hassan's head, whereupon +the latter rushed in terror to the window.</p> + +<p>"What is it? What dost thou want?"</p> + +<p>"Hasten, sir!" roared Yffim Beg. "Kucsuk Pasha has beaten the enemy, +taken their trenches, and is plundering their tents. Do not allow him to +have all the glory of scattering the Christians!"</p> + +<p>Hassan leapt from his seat. If he had heard that Kucsuk's men were being +cut to pieces he would have gone on praying, but Kucsuk triumphed—had +all the triumph to himself. The thought was a keen spur to his mind. Up +everyone who could stir hand or foot! Forward Spahis and Arabs! To +battle every true believer! Let the dervishes go up in the tower and +sing dirges for the fallen! Let the ground shake beneath the rolling of +the guns! Let the horns ring out for now is the day of glory!</p> + +<p>In an instant the camp was alert, and crowds of warriors rushed towards +the bridge. Every man pressed hard on the heels of his fellow; those who +were crowded into the water did their best to reach the opposite shore +by swimming; whole companies swam through on horseback, and the heavy +iron guns moved forward as rapidly as if they had wings. It was only now +that the vast numbers of the Ottoman host became manifest, it seemed +suddenly to spring out of the ground in every direction; the tiny little +cramped Christian camp over against them looked like an island in an +inundation.</p> + +<p>In the very centre of the host could be seen Hassan Pasha with a +brilliant suite, twenty horse-tail banners fluttered around him, the +pick of his veterans at his side. On the left was the army of Ismail +Pasha; on the right were the hosts of the Moldavians. Their immediate +objective was the trenches already occupied by Kucsuk Pasha.</p> + +<p>At that moment Yffim Beg was seen galloping along the front of the host +with the Vizier's commands for Kucsuk Pasha.</p> + +<p>"Ye remain where now you are, and move no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> farther till a fresh command +arrives. Feriz Beg and his battalion move forward along the outermost +wing."</p> + +<p>Hassan could not endure that two such heroes should help each other in +the battle, and that the son should deliver the father. Kucsuk beat the +tattoo. Feriz Beg moved along the left wing, where he formed the +reserve.</p> + +<p>Then the reveille sounded; a hideous yell filled the air; the Mussulman +host, with bloodthirsty rage, rushed upon the front of the Christian +army. No power on earth can save them! But what is this? Suddenly the +impetus of the assailants is stayed. Along the front of the camp of the +Christian infantry star-shaped trenches have been dug during the night +and planted full of sharp stakes. The foremost row of the assailants +pause terror-stricken in front of these trenches, and for an instant the +onset is arrested. But only for an instant. The powerful impact of the +rearward masses flings them into the deadly ditch, one after another +they fall upon the pointed stakes, a mortal yell drowns the cry of +battle, in a few moments the star-shaped trenches are filled with +corpses and the rushing throng tramples over the dead bodies of their +comrades to get to the other side of the ditch. And now the roar of the +cannons begin. Up to that moment the guns of the Christians have +remained inactive, concealed behind the gabions. Now their gaping +throats face the attacking host. At a single signal the roar of eighty +iron throats is heard, bullets and chain-shot make their whirring way +through the serried ranks, the crackling mortars discharge sackloads of +acorn-shaped balls, while the fire-spitting grenades terrify the +rearmost ranks.</p> + +<p>The Mussulmans host recoils in terror, leaving their dead and wounded +behind them. Horrible spectacle! Instead of the lately brilliant ranks +the ground is strewn with mangled bloody limbs, writhing like worms in +the dust. The next moment the splendid array again covers the ground; +the corpses are no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> longer visible, they are hidden by the feet of the +living. The beaten squadrons are sent to the rear; fresh battalions fill +their places; the assault is renewed. The fire of the guns no longer +keeps them back. They cast down their eyes, shout "Allah!" and rush +forward. An earth-rending report resounds, a fiery mine has exploded +beneath the feet of the assailants; fragments of human limbs +intermingled with strips of tempest-tossed banners fly up into the air +amidst whirling clouds of smoke. The second assault is also flung back, +and in the meantime the Christian army has succeeded in drawing a line +of wagons across their front. And now a third, now a fourth, assault is +delivered, each more furious than the last. The Christians begin to +despair; every regiment of the Turkish host is now engaged with them, +only Kucsuk has received no order to advance. Hassan would win the +battle without him.</p> + +<p>There he stands, together with his staff, directing the most perverse of +battles, hurling his swarms against unassailable rocks, assaulting +entrenched places with cavalry; at one time distributing orders to +regiments which had ceased to exist, at another sending to consult with +commanders who had fallen before his very eyes. Those around him +listened to his words with astonishment, and not one of them durst say: +"Dismount from your horse, you cannot see ten yards in front of you!" +The din of the renewed assaults sounded in his ears like a cry of +triumph. "Look how they waver!" he cried; "look how the Christian ranks +waver, and how their banners are falling in the dust! Shoot them, shoot +them down!" and none durst say to him: "These are thy hosts whose +death-cries thou dost hear, and it is the fire from the Christian guns +which mow down whole ranks of thy army!"</p> + +<p>The Ottoman host had begun its tenth assault, when Hassan sent a courier +to Kiuprile on the opposite shore with this message: "Thou canst return +to Paphlagonia! We have won the battle without thee. Tell them at home +what thou hast seen!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>Kiuprile, seriously alarmed lest he should have no part in the glory of +the contest, immediately mounted the whole of his cavalry, flung a +bridge over the river, and began to cross it.</p> + +<p>This happened at the very moment when Ismail Pasha was leading the +Osmanlis to the tenth assault.</p> + +<p>The leader of the Christian host, Montecuculi, no sooner perceived +Kiuprile's movement, than he called together his generals and gave them +to understand that if they awaited Kiuprile where they stood they would +be irretrievably lost.</p> + +<p>They were just then loading their guns with their last charge.</p> + +<p>Many faces grew pale at this announcement, and a deep silence followed +Montecuculi's words. Yet his words were the words of valour. Three +heroes had been in his army—one of them, the French general, the +Marquis de Brianzon, had already fallen; the other two, still present, +were the German general, Toggendorf, and the Hungarian cavalry officer, +Petneházy.</p> + +<p>At the commander-in-chief's announcement the faces of both remained +unmoved, and Toggendorf, with the utmost <i>sang-froid</i> came forward: "If +we must choose between two deaths," said he, "why not rather choose +death by advancing than death in flight?"</p> + +<p>"Not so, my lad," cried Petneházy, enthusiastically grasping his +comrade's hand; "we choose between death and glory, and he who seeks +glory will find a triumph also."</p> + +<p>"So be it," said Montecuculi, with cool satisfaction, thrusting his +field-glass into his pocket and drawing forth his thin blade; and, while +he sent the two heroes to the two wings, he placed himself in front of +the army, and commanded that the barrier of wagons should instantly be +demolished.</p> + +<p>The last discharge thundered forth, and from amidst the dispersing +clouds of smoke two compact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> army columns could be seen rapidly +charging—they were Toggendorf's cuirassiers and Petneházy's hussars.</p> + +<p>Petneházy made straight for the still hesitating Moldavian army, which, +with Prince Ghyka at its head, had as yet taken no part in the fight. +Heaven itself gave him the inspiration. The Prince of Moldavia had been +waiting for a long time for some one to attack him, that he might at +once quit the field of battle to which he had been constrained to come, +though it revolted his feelings as a Christian to do so; consequently, +when Petneházy was within fifty yards of his battalions, they, as if at +a given signal, turned tail without so much as crossing swords with the +foe, galloped off to the left bank of the Waag, and so quitted the +field.</p> + +<p>This flight threw the whole Turkish army into disorder. A more skilful +general would indeed have withdrawn the whole host, but, because of his +short-sightedness, Hassan did not perceive that the Moldavians had fled, +and nobody durst tell him so. Ismail Pasha immediately hastened to fill +up the gap; but before he had reached the spot, Toggendorf's cuirassiers +were upon him, and he was caught between two fires in a moment. The +Janissaries received the full brunt of the swords of the cuirassiers and +the hussars, and in the first onset Ismail Pasha himself fell from his +horse. A hussar rushed upon him, and severing from his body his big +bared head, stuck it on the point of a lance, and raised it in the air +as a very emblem of terror to the panic-stricken Turks. The Janissaries +were no longer able to rally, in every direction they broke through the +hostile ranks in a desperate attempt at flight, and, which was worse +still, the flying infantry barred the way against the cavalry which was +hastening to their assistance.</p> + +<p>All this was taking place within two hundred yards of Hassan Pasha, and +he saw nothing of it.</p> + +<p>"Glory be to Allah," he cried, raising his hands to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> heaven; "victory is +ours! The Christian is flying and is casting down his banners in every +direction. The best of his warriors are wallowing in the dust. The rest +are flying without weapons and with pale——"</p> + +<p>Those about him listened, horror-stricken, to his words. The Christian +host was at that moment cutting down the Janissaries, the flower of the +Turkish camp!</p> + +<p>"Thou ravest, my master!" cried Yffim Beg, seizing the bridle of Hassan +Pasha's horse. "Fly and save thyself! The best of thy army has perished, +the Janissaries have fallen, the Moldavian army hath fled. Ismail +Pasha's head has been hoisted on to a pike!"</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" roared Hassan, beside himself, "come with me; let us +charge, the victory is ours."</p> + +<p>But his generals seized him, and tearing his sword from his hand, seized +the bridle of his horse on both sides and hurried him along with them +towards the bridge, which was now full of fugitives.</p> + +<p>The hazard of the die had changed. The pursuers had become the +fugitives. An hour before the Christian camp ran the risk of +annihilation; it was now the turn of the Turks.</p> + +<p>Kiuprile seeing the catastrophe, destroyed his bridges and remained on +the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile on the wings, Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, with his brigade of +Amazons, were valiantly holding their own against the cuirassiers of +Toggendorf and the hussars of Petneházy, till at last the melancholy +notes of the bugle-horns gave the signal for retreat, and the combatants +gradually separated. Only a few scattered bands, and presently, only a +few scattered individuals, still fought together, and then they also +wearily abandoned the contest and returned silently to their respective +camps. Both sides felt that their strength was exhausted. The Christian +host had four thousand, the Turkish sixteen thousand slain, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> among +them its best generals; they also lost all their heavy cannons, their +banners, and their military renown; but none lost so much as Feriz Beg. +The Amazon Brigade had perished. By its deliberate self-sacrifice it had +saved the Turkish army from utter destruction.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE PERSECUTED WOMAN.</span></h2> + + +<p>Perhaps by this time you have clean forgotten our dear acquaintance, +pretty Mariska, the wife of the Prince of Wallachia?</p> + +<p>Ah, she is happy! Although her husband is far away, her sorrow is +forgotten in the near approach of a new joy—the joy of motherhood.</p> + +<p>There she sits at eventide in the garden of her castle, weaving together +dreams of a happy future, and her court ladies by her side are making +tiny little garments adorned with bright ribbons.</p> + +<p>When the peasant women pass by her on the road with their children in +their arms, she takes the children from them, presses them to her bosom, +kisses, and talks to them. She is the godmother of every new-born +infant, and what a tender godmother! Day after day she visits the +churches, and before the altar of the Virgin-Mother prays that she also +may have her portion of that happiness which is the greatest joy God +gives to women.</p> + +<p>After the battle of St. Gothard it was Prince Ghyka's first thought to +send a courier to his wife, bidding her not to be anxious about her +husband, for he was alive and would soon be home.</p> + +<p>This was Mariska's first tidings of the lost battle, and she thanked God +for it. What did she care that the battle was lost, that the glory of +the Turkish Sultan was cracked beyond repair, so long as her husband +remained to her? With him the husbands of all the other poor Wallachian +wives were also safe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> She at once hastened to tell the more remote of +these poor women that they were not to be alarmed if they heard that the +Turkish army had been cut down, for their husbands were free and quite +near to them.</p> + +<p>What joy at the thought of seeing him again! How she watched for her +husband from morn till eve, and awoke at night at the slightest noise. +If a horse neighed in the street, if she heard a trumpet far away, she +fancied that her husband was coming.</p> + +<p>One night she was aroused by the sound of a light tapping at her bedroom +door, and her husband's voice replied to her question of "Who is there?"</p> + +<p>Her surprise and her joy were so great that in the first moment of +awaking she knew not what to do, whereupon her husband impatiently +repeated:</p> + +<p>"Mariska, open the door!"</p> + +<p>The wife hastened to embrace her husband, admitted him, fell upon his +neck, and covered him with kisses; but, perceiving suddenly that the +kisses her husband gave her back were quite cold, and that his arm +trembled when he embraced her, she looked anxiously at his face—it was +grave and full of anxiety.</p> + +<p>"My husband!" cried the unusually sensitive woman with a shaky voice. +"Why do you embrace me—us, so coldly," her downcast eyes seemed to say.</p> + +<p>The Prince did not fail to notice the expression, and very sadly, and +sighing slightly, he said:</p> + +<p>"So much the worse for me!"</p> + +<p>His hands, his whole frame shook so in the arms of his wife; and yet the +Prince was a muscular as well as a brave man.</p> + +<p>"What has happened? What is the matter?" asked his wife anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said the Prince, kissing her forehead. "Be quiet. Lie down. I +have some business to do which must be done to-night. Then I'll come to +you, and we'll talk about things."</p> + +<p>Mariska took him at his word, and lay down again. But she still +trembled—why, she knew not.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>There must be something wrong, something very wrong with her husband, or +else he would not have welcomed his wife so coldly at the very moment of +his arrival.</p> + +<p>After a few moments, during which she heard her husband talking in an +undertone with someone outside, he came in with his sword in his hand, +and after seeming to look for something, he turned to Mariska:</p> + +<p>"Have you the keys of your treasure-box?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are in my secretaire."</p> + +<p>The Prince took the keys and withdrew.</p> + +<p>Mariska breathed again. "Then it is only some money trouble after all," +she thought. "Thank God it is no worse. They have lost something in the +camp, I suppose, or they are screwing some more tribute out of him."</p> + +<p>In a short time the Prince again returned, and stood there for a time as +if he couldn't make up his mind to speak. At last he said:</p> + +<p>"Mariska, have you any money?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear!" Mariska hastened to answer, "just ten thousand thalers. Do +you want them?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. But have them all ready to hand, and if you collected your +jewels together at the same time you would do well."</p> + +<p>"What for, my husband?"</p> + +<p>"Because," stammered Ghyka, "because—we may—and very speedily, +too—have to set out on our travels."</p> + +<p>"Have to travel—in my condition?" asked Mariska, raising a pathetic +face up to her husband.</p> + +<p>That look transfixed the very soul of Ghyka. His wife was in a condition +nearer to death than to life.</p> + +<p>"No, I won't stir a stump," he suddenly cried, beside himself with +agitation, striking his sword so violently on the table that it flew +from its sheath, "if heaven itself fall on me, I won't go."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, my husband, what is the matter?" cried Mariska in her +astonishment; whereupon the Prince proudly raised his eyebrows, +approached her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> with a smile, and pressing his wife to his bosom, said +reassuringly:</p> + +<p>"Fear nothing. I had an idea in my head; but I have dismissed it, and +will think of it no more. Take it that I have asked you nothing."</p> + +<p>"But your anxiety?"</p> + +<p>"It has gone already. Ask not the reason, for you would laugh at me for +it. Sleep in peace. I also will sleep upon it."</p> + +<p>The husband caressed and kissed his wife, and his hand trembled no +longer, his face was no longer pale, and his lips were no longer so cold +as before.</p> + +<p>But the wife's were now. When her husband tenderly kissed her eyes and +bade her sleep, she pretended that she was satisfied; but as soon as he +had withdrawn from her room, she arose, put on a dressing-gown, and +calling one of her maids, descended with her into the hall, and sent for +a faithful old servant of her husband's, who was wont to accompany him +everywhere, an old Moldavian courier.</p> + +<p>"Jova!" she said, "speak the truth! What's the matter with your master? +What have you seen and heard?"</p> + +<p>"It is a great trouble, my lady. God deliver us from it! We only escaped +destruction at the battle of St. Gothard by not standing up against the +Magyars. But what were we to do? Christian cannot fight against +Christian, for then should we be fighting against God. The Turkish army +was badly beaten there. And now the Vizier of Buda, that he may wash +himself clean, for the Sultan is very wroth, wants to cast the whole +blame of the affair on the head of the Prince."</p> + +<p>"Great Heaven! And what will be the result?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it would not be a bad thing if your Highnesses were to withdraw +somewhere or other for a time to give the Sultan's wrath time to cool."</p> + +<p>"To my father's, eh? in Wallachia?"</p> + +<p>"Well, a little farther than that, I should say."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>"True, we might go to Transylvania; we have lots of good friends there."</p> + +<p>"Even there it might not be as well to stay. You would do well to make a +journey to Poland."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose the danger to be so great then?"</p> + +<p>"God grant it be not so bad as I think it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you for your advice, Jova. I will tell my husband quite early in +the morning."</p> + +<p>"My lady, you would do well not to wait till morning."</p> + +<p>The woman grew pale.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that if you would take care of yourselves, you should take +carriage this very night, this very hour. I will go before the horses +with a lantern, and a courier shall be sent on ahead to have fresh +relays of horses awaiting us at every station, so that by the time it +begins to grow grey, we shall have left the last hill of this region out +of sight."</p> + +<p>The terrified Princess returned to her bedchamber, and quickly packed up +her most valuable things, making all the necessary preparations for a +long journey. But the door leading to her husband's room was locked, and +she durst not call him, but with an indescribable sinking of heart +awaited the endlessly distant dawn. She was unable to close her eyes the +whole night. Wearied out in body and soul she rose as soon as she saw +the light of dawn, sitting with her swimming head against the window, +whence she could look down into the courtyard.</p> + +<p>Gradually the courtyard awoke to life and noise again, and the hall was +peopled with domestics hurrying to and fro. The grooms began walking the +horses up and down, the peasant girls with pitchers on their heads were +returning from the distant wells, a merry voice began singing a popular +ditty in one of the outhouses. All this seemed as strange to the +watchful lady as the life and the movement of the outside world seems to +one condemned to death who gazes upon it from the window of his cell.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>Then the door opened and her husband came out of his bedchamber and +greeted his wife with a voice full of boisterous courage. He was dressed +in a short stagskin jacket, which he generally wore when he went +a-hunting, and wore big Polish boots with star-like spurs.</p> + +<p>"Going a-hunting, eh?" asked Mariska, from whose soul all her terrifying +phantoms vanished instantly when her husband embraced her in his +vigorous arms.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm going a-hunting. I feel so full of energy that if I don't +tumble about somewhere or other I shall burst. Any boar or bear that I +come across to-day will have good cause to remember me."</p> + +<p>"Oh! take care no ill befalls you!"</p> + +<p>"Befalls me!" cried the Prince, proudly smiting his herculean breast.</p> + +<p>The lady flung herself on her husband's neck with the confidence of a +child, and lifting from his head his saucy bonnet with its eagle plume, +which gave him such a brave appearance, and smoothing down his curls, +kissed his bonny face, and forgot all her thoughts and visions of the +bygone night.</p> + +<p>The Prince withdrew, and Mariska opened her window and looked out of it +to see him mount his horse.</p> + +<p>While the Prince was going downstairs, a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid +rags entered the courtyard, from which at other times he was wont to +fetch letters, and mingled with the ostlers and stablemen without +seeming to attract attention.</p> + +<p>A few moments later the Prince ordered his horse to be brought in a loud +resonant voice, whereupon the cavasse immediately came forward, and +producing from beneath his dirty dolman a sealed and corded letter, +pressed it to his forehead and then handed it to the Prince.</p> + +<p>The Prince broke open the letter and his face suddenly turned pale; +taking off his cap, he bowed low before the cavasse and saluted him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>O Prince of Moldavia! to doff thy eagle-plumed cap to a dirty cavasse, +and bow thy haughty manly brow before him! Whatever can be the meaning +of it all? Mariska's heart began to throb violently as she gazed down +from her window.</p> + +<p>The Prince, with all imaginable deference, then indicated the door of +his castle to the cavasse and invited him to enter first; but the Turk +with true boorish insolence, signified that the Prince was to lead the +way.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, in an illuminated flash, Mariska guessed the mystery. In the +moment of peril, with rare presence of mind, she rushed to her +secretaire, where her jewels were. Her first thought was that the +cavasse had come for her husband; he must be bribed therefore to connive +at his escape.</p> + +<p>Then she saw hastening through the door the old groom Jova. The face of +the ancient servitor was full of fear, and there were tears in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Has the cavasse come for my husband, then?" she inquired tremulously.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lady," stammered the servant; "why don't you make haste?"</p> + +<p>"Let us give him money."</p> + +<p>"He won't take it. What is money to him? If he returns without the +Prince his own head will be forfeit."</p> + +<p>"Merciful God! Then what shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"My master whispered a few words in my ear, and I fancy I caught their +meaning. First of all I must take you off to Transylvania, my lady. +Meanwhile my master will remain here with the cavasses and their +attendants, who are now in the courtyard. My master will remain with +them and spin out the time till he feels pretty sure that we have got +well beyond the river Sereth in our carriage. Near there is a bridge +over a steep rocky chasm, beneath which the river flows. That bridge we +will break down behind us. The Prince will then bring forth his charger +Gryllus, on whose back he is wont to take such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> daring leaps, and will +set out in the same direction with the Turkish cavasses. When he +approaches the broken-down bridge, he will put spurs to his steed and +leap across the gap, while the Turks remain behind. And after that God +grant him good counsel!"</p> + +<p>Mariska perceiving there was no time to be lost, hastily collected her +treasures and, assisted by Jova, descended by way of the secret +staircase to the chapel and stood there, for a moment, before the image +of the Blessed Virgin to pray that her husband might succeed in +escaping. Before the chapel door stood a carriage drawn by four muscular +stallions. She got into it quickly, and succeeded in escaping by a +side-gate.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Prince, with great self-denial, endeavoured to detain his +unwelcome guests by all manner of pretexts. First of all he almost +compelled them to eat and drink to bursting point, swearing by heaven +and earth that he would never allow such precious guests as they were to +leave his castle with empty stomachs. Then followed a distribution of +gifts. Every individual cavasse got a sword or a beaker and every sword +and every beaker had its own peculiar history. So-and-so had worn it, +So-and-so had drunk out of it. It had been found here and sent there, +and its last owner was such a one, etc., etc. And he artfully +interlarded his speech with such sacred and sublime words as "Allah!" +"Mahomet!" "the Sultan!" at the mention of each one of which the +cavasses felt bound to interrupt him repeatedly with such expressions as +"Blessed be his name!" so that despite the insistence of the Turks, it +was fully an hour before his horse could be brought forward.</p> + +<p>At last, however, Gryllus was brought round to the courtyard. The Prince +now also would have improved the occasion by telling them a nice +interesting tale about this steed of his, but the chief cavasse would +give him no peace.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>"Come! mount your Honour!" said he, "you can tell us the story on the +way."</p> + +<p>The Prince mounted accordingly, and immediately began to complain how +very much all the galloping of the last few days had taken it out of +him, and begged his escort not to hurry on so as he could scarce sit in +his saddle.</p> + +<p>The chief cavasse, taking him at his word, had the Prince's feet tied +fast to his stirrups, so that he might not fall off his horse, +sarcastically adding:</p> + +<p>"If your honour should totter in your saddle, I shall be close beside +you, so that you may lean upon me."</p> + +<p>And indeed the chief cavasse trotted by his side with a drawn sword in +his hand; the rest were a horse's head behind them.</p> + +<p>When they came to the path leading to the bridge the way grew so narrow +because of the rocks on both sides that it was as much as two horsemen +could do to ride abreast. The Prince already caught sight of the bridge, +and though its wooden frame was quite hidden by a projecting tree, a +white handkerchief tied to the tree informed him that his carriage with +his consort inside it had got across and away, and that the supports had +been also cut.</p> + +<p>At this point he made as if he felt faint and turning to the chief +cavasse, said to him, "Come nearer, I want to lean on you!" and upon the +cavasse leaning fatuously towards him he dealt him such a fearful blow +with his clenched fist that the Turk fell right across his horse. And +now: "Onward, my Gryllus!"</p> + +<p>The gallant steed with a bound forward left the escort some distance +behind, and while they dashed after him with a savage howl, he darted +with the fleetness of the wind towards the bridge.</p> + +<p>The Prince sat tied to his horse without either arms or spurs, but the +noble charger, as if he felt that his master's life was now entrusted to +his safe-keeping, galloped forward with ten-fold energy.</p> + +<p>Suddenly it became clear to the pursuers that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> beams of the bridge +had been severed and only the balustrade remained. "Stop!" they shouted +in terror to the Prince, at the same time reining in their own horses. +Then Ghyka turned towards them a haughty face, and leaning over his +horse's head, pressed its flanks with his knees, and at the very moment +when he had reached the dizzy chasm he laughed aloud as he raised his +eagle-plumed cap in the air, and shouted to his pursuers: "Follow me, if +you dare!"</p> + +<p>The charger the same instant lowered its head upon its breast, and, with +a well-calculated bound, leaped the empty space between the two sides of +the bridge as lightly as a bird. The Prince as he flew through the air +held his eagle-plumed cap in his hand, while his black locks fluttered +round his bold face.</p> + +<p>The terrified cavasses drew the reins of their horses tightly lest they +should plunge after Gryllus; but one of them, carried away by his +maddened steed, would also have made the bold leap but the fore feet of +the horse barely grazed the opposite bank, and with a mortal yell it +crashed down with its rider among the rocks of the stream below.</p> + +<p>The Prince meanwhile, beneath the very eyes of the cavasses, loosened +the cords from his legs on the opposite shore and also allowed himself +time enough to break down the remaining balustrades of the bridge, one +by one, and pitch them into the river. Then, remounting his steed, he +ambled leisurely off whilst the cavasses gazed after him in helpless +fury. A rapid two hours' gallop enabled him to overtake the carriage of +his wife, who, according to his directions, had hastened without +stopping towards Transylvania with the sole escort of the old horseman.</p> + +<p>On overtaking the carriage he mounted the old man on his own nag, and +sent him on before to Transylvania requesting the Prince to allow him +and his wife to pass through Transylvania to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> domains of the Kaiser. +He himself took a seat in the carriage by the side of Mariska, who was +quite rejoiced at her husband's deliverance, and forgot the anxieties +still awaiting her.</p> + +<p>According to the most rigorous calculations their pursuers would either +have to go another way, or they might throw another bridge over the +Sereth; but, in any case they had a day's clear start of them, which +would be quite sufficient to enable them, travelling leisurely, to reach +the borders of Transylvania, where the Seraskier of Moldavia had no +jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>In this hope they presently perceived the mountains of Szeklerland +rising up before them, and the nearer they came to them the more lightly +they felt their hearts beat, regarding the mountain range as a vast city +of refuge stretching out before them.</p> + +<p>They had already struck into that deep-lying road which leads to the +Pass of Porgo, which, after winding along the bare hillside, plunges +like a serpent into the shady flowering valleys beneath, and every now +and then a mountain stream darted along the road beside them; above them +the dangerous road looked like a tiny notch in which a heavy wagon +crawled slowly along, with lofty rocks apparently tottering to their +fall above it in every direction.</p> + +<p>And here galloping straight towards them, was a horseman in whom the +Prince instantly recognised his <i>avant courier</i>.</p> + +<p>Old Jova reached them in a state of exhaustion, and Gryllus also seemed +ready to drop.</p> + +<p>"Go no further, sir!" cried the terrified servant, "I have come all the +way without stopping from Szamosújvár where the Prince is staying. I +laid your request before him. 'For God's sake!' cried the Prince, +clasping his hands together, 'don't let your master come here, or he'll +ruin the whole lot of us. Olaj Beg has just come hither with the +Sultan's command that if the Prince of Moldavia comes here he is to be +handed over.'"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>The Prince gazed gloomily in front of him, his lips trembled. Then he +turned his face round and shading his eyes with his hand, gazed away +into the distance. On the same road by which he had come a cloud of dust +could be seen rapidly approaching.</p> + +<p>"Those are our pursuers," he moaned despairingly; "there is nothing for +it but to die."</p> + +<p>"Nay, my master. Over yonder is a mountain path which can only be +traversed on foot. With worthy Szeklers or Wallachs as our guides we may +get all the way to Poland through the mountains. Why not take refuge +there?"</p> + +<p>"And my wife?" asked the Prince, looking round savagely and biting his +lips in his distress; "she cannot accompany me."</p> + +<p>All this time Mariska had remained, benumbed and speechless, gazing at +her husband—her heart, her mind, stood still at these terrible tidings; +but when she heard that her husband could be saved without her, she +plunged out of the carriage and falling at his feet implored him, +sobbing loudly, to fly.</p> + +<p>"Save yourself," she cried; "do not linger here on my account another +instant."</p> + +<p>"And sacrifice you, my consort, to their fury?"</p> + +<p>"They will not hurt me, for they do not pursue an innocent woman. God +will defend me. You go into Transylvania; there live good friends of +mine, whose husbands and fathers are the leading men in the State; there +is the heroic Princess, there is the gentle Béldi with her angel +daughter, there is Teleki's daughter Flora—we swore eternal friendship +together once—they will mediate for us; and then, too, my rich father +will gladly spend his money to spare our blood. And if I must suffer and +even die, it will be for you, my husband. Save yourself! In Heaven's +name I implore you to depart from me."</p> + +<p>Ghyka reflected for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Very well, I will take refuge in order to be able to save you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>And he pressed the pale face of his wife to his bosom.</p> + +<p>"Make haste," said Mariska, "I also want to hasten. If die I must—I +would prefer to die among Christians, in the sight of my friends and +acquaintances. But you go on in front, for if they were to slay you +before my eyes, it would need no sword to slay me; my heart would break +from sheer despair."</p> + +<p>"Come, sir, come!" said the old courier, seizing the hand of the Prince +and dragging him away by force.</p> + +<p>Mariska got into the carriage again, and told the coachman to drive on +quickly. The Prince allowed himself to be guided by the old courier +along the narrow pass, looking back continually so long as the carriage +was visible, and mournfully pausing whenever he caught sight of it again +from the top of some mountain-ridge.</p> + +<p>"Come on, sir! come on!" the old servant kept insisting; "when we have +reached that mountain summit yonder we shall be able to rest."</p> + +<p>Ghyka stumbled on as heavily as if the mountain was pressing on his +bosom with all its weight. He allowed himself to be led unconsciously +among the steep precipices, clinging on to projecting bushes as he went +along. God guarded him from falling a hundred times.</p> + +<p>After half an hour's hard labour they reached the indicated summit, and +as the courier helped his master up and they looked around them, +Nature's magnificent tableau stood before them; and looking down upon a +vast panorama, they saw the tiny winding road by which his wife had +gone; and, looking still farther on, he perceived that the carriage had +just climbed to the summit of a declivity about half a league off.</p> + +<p>Ah! that sight gave him back his soul. He followed with his eyes the +travelling coach, and as often as the coach ascended a higher hill, it +again appeared in sight, and it seemed to him as if all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> along he saw +inside it his wife, and his face brightened as he fancied himself +kissing away her tears.</p> + +<p>At that instant a loud uproar smote upon his ears. At the foot of the +steep mountain, on the summit of which his wife had just come into sight +again, he saw a troop of horsemen trotting rapidly along. These were the +pursuers. They seemed scarcely larger than ants.</p> + +<p>Ah! how he would have liked to have trampled those ants to death.</p> + +<p>"You would pursue her, eh? Then I will stop you."</p> + +<p>And with these words seizing a large grey rock from among those which +were heaped upon the summit, he rolled it down the side of the mountain +just as the Turks had reached a narrow defile.</p> + +<p>With a noise like thunder the huge mass of rock plunged its way down the +mountain-side, taking great leaps into the air whenever it encountered +any obstacle. Ah! how the galloping rock plunged among the terrified +horsemen—only a streak of blood remained in its track, horses and +horsemen were equally crushed beneath it.</p> + +<p>With a second, with a third rock also he greeted them. The cavasses, at +their wits' end, fled back, and never stopped till they had clambered up +the opposite ridge; they did not feel safe among the plunging rocks +below and there they could be seen deliberating how it was possible to +reach the road behind their backs.</p> + +<p>Guessing their intention, the Prince sent his servant to fling a rock +down upon them from the hillside beyond, which, as it came clattering +down, made the cavasses believe that their enemies were in force, and +they climbed higher up still.</p> + +<p>"There they will remain till evening," thought the Prince to himself; +"so they will not overtake Mariska after all."</p> + +<p>And so it conveniently turned out. The cavasses, after consulting +together for a long time fruitlessly as to what road they should take to +get out of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> dangerous pass, began to yell from their lofty perch at +their invisible foes, threatening them with the highest displeasure of +the Sultan if they did not allow them to pass through in peace; and when +a fresh shower of rocks came down by way of reply, they unsaddled their +horses and allowing them to graze about at will, lit a fire and squatted +down beside it.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Meanwhile, the hunted lady, exchanging her tired horses for four fresh +ones in the first Transylvanian village she came to, pressed onwards +without stopping. Travelling all night she reached Szamosújvár in the +early morning. The Prince was no longer there. He had migrated in hot +haste, they said, before the rising of the sun, to Klausenberg.</p> + +<p>Mariska did not descend from her carriage, but only changed her horses. +Three days and three nights she had already been travelling, without +rest, in sickness and despair. And again she must hasten on farther. It +was evening when they reached Klausenberg. The coachman, when he saw the +towers in the distance, turned round to her with the comforting +assurance that they would now be at Klausenberg very shortly. At these +words the lady begged the coachman not to go so quickly, and when he +lashed up his horses still more vigorously notwithstanding, and cast a +look behind him, she also looked through the window at the back of the +carriage and saw a band of horsemen galloping after them along the road.</p> + +<p>So their pursuers were as near to them behind as Klausenberg was in +front.</p> + +<p>There was not a moment's delay. The coachman whipped up the horses, +their nostrils steamed, foam fell from their lips, they plunged wildly +forward, the pebbles flashed sparks beneath their hoofs, the carriage +swayed to and fro on the uneven road, the persecuted lady huddled +herself into a corner of the carriage, and prayed to God for +deliverance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">OLAJ BEG.</span></h2> + + +<p>The Prince was just then standing in the portico of his palace +conversing with the Princess, whose face bore strong marks of the +sufferings of the last few days. Shortly after the panic of Nagyenyed +she had given birth to a little daughter, and the terror experienced at +the time had had a bad effect on both mother and child.</p> + +<p>Apafi's brow was also clouded. The Prince's heart was sore, and not +merely on his own account. Whenever there was any distress in the +principality he also was distressed, but his own sorrow he had to share +alone.</p> + +<p>For some days he had found no comfort in whatever direction he might +turn. The Turks had made him feel their tyranny everywhere, and the +foreign courts had listened to his tale of distress with selfish +indifference; while the great men of the realm dubbed him a tyrant, the +common folks sung lampoons upon his cowardice beneath his very windows; +and when he took refuge in the bosom of his family he was met by a sick +wife, who had ceased to find any joy in life ever since he had been made +Prince.</p> + +<p>A sick wife is omnipotent as regards her husband. If Anna had insisted +upon <i>her</i> husband's quitting his princely palace, and returning with +her to their quiet country house at Ebesfalu—where there was no kingdom +but the kingdom of Heaven—perhaps he would even have done that for +her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>As the princely pair stood on the castle battlements, the din of the +town grew deeper, and suddenly the rumble of a carriage, driven at full +tilt, broke upon the dreamy stillness of the castle courtyard, and +dashing into it stopped before the staircase; the door of the coach was +quickly thrown open and out of it rushed a pale woman, who, rallying her +last remaining strength, ran up the staircase and collapsed at the feet +of the Prince as he hastened to meet her, exclaiming as she did so:</p> + +<p>"I am Mariska Sturdza."</p> + +<p>"For the love of God," cried the agitated Prince, "why did you come +here? You have destroyed the state and me; you have brought ruin on +yourself and on us."</p> + +<p>The unfortunate lady was unable to utter another word. Her energy was +exhausted. She lay there on the marble floor, half unconscious.</p> + +<p>The Princess Apafi summoned her ladies-in-waiting, who, at her command, +hastened to raise the lady in their arms and began to sprinkle her face +with eau-de-Cologne.</p> + +<p>"I cannot allow her to be brought into my house," cried the terrified +Apafi; "it would bring utter destruction on me and my family."</p> + +<p>The Princess cast a look full of dignity upon her husband.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? Would you hand this unfortunate woman over to her +pursuers? In her present condition, too? Suppose <i>I</i> was obliged to fly +in a similar plight, would you fling <i>me</i> out upon the high road instead +of offering me a place of refuge?"</p> + +<p>"But the wrath of the Sultan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and the contempt of posterity?"</p> + +<p>"Then would you have me bring ruin upon my throne and my family for the +sake of a woman?"</p> + +<p>"Better perish for the sake of a woman than do that woman to death. If +you shut your rooms against her, I will open mine wide to receive her, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> then you can tell the Sultan if you like that I have taken her."</p> + +<p>Apafi felt that his wife's obstinacy was getting him into a hideous +muddle. This audacious woman would listen to no reasons of state in any +matter which interested her humanity.</p> + +<p>What was he to do? He pitied the persecuted lady from the bottom of his +heart, but the emissary of the Sublime Porte, Olaj Beg, had come to +demand her with plenipotentiary power. If he did <i>not</i> shelter the +persecuted lady he would pronounce himself a coward in the face of the +whole world; if he <i>did</i> shelter her, the Porte would annihilate him!</p> + +<p>In the midst of this dilemma, one of the gate-keepers came in hot haste +to announce that a band of Turkish soldiers was at that moment galloping +along the road, inquiring in a loud voice for the Princess of Wallachia.</p> + +<p>Apafi leant in dumb despair against a marble pillar whilst Anna quickly +ordered her women to carry the unconscious lady to her innermost +apartments and summon the doctor. She then went out on the balcony, and +perceiving that the cavasses had just halted in front of the palace, she +cried to the gate-keepers:</p> + +<p>"Close the gates!"</p> + +<p>Apafi would have very much liked to have countermanded the order; but +while he was still thinking about it, the gates were snapped to under +the very noses of the cavasses.</p> + +<p>They began angrily beating with the shafts of their lances against the +closed gate, whereupon the Princess called down to them from the balcony +with a sonorous, authoritative voice:</p> + +<p>"Ye good-for-nothing rascals, wherefore all that racket? This is not a +barrack, but the residence of the Prince. Perchance ye know it not, +because fresh human heads are wont to be nailed over the gates of your +Princes every day as a mark of recognition? If that is what you are +accustomed to, your error is pardonable."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>The cavasses were considerably startled at these words, and, looking up +at the imperious lady, began to see that she really meant what she said. +For a while they laid their heads together, and then turned round and +departed.</p> + +<p>Apafi sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>"There is some hidden trick in this," said he, "but what it is God only +knows."</p> + +<p>A few moments later a müderris appeared from Olaj Beg at the gate of the +Prince, and, being all alone, was admitted.</p> + +<p>"Olaj Beg greets thee, and thou must come to him quickly," said he.</p> + +<p>Anna had drawn near to greet her guest, but hearing that Olaj Beg +summoned the Prince to appear before him, she approached the messenger, +boiling over with wrath.</p> + +<p>"Whoever heard," she said, "of a servant ordering his master about, or +an ambassador summoning the Prince to whose Court he is accredited?"</p> + +<p>But Apafi could only take refuge in a desperate falsehood.</p> + +<p>"Poor Olaj Beg," he explained, "is very sick and cannot stir from his +bed, and, indeed, he humbly begs me to pay him a visit. There is no +humiliation in this—none at all, if I am graciously pleased to do it. +He is an old man of eighty. I might be his grandson, he is wont to scold +me as if I were his darling; I will certainly go to him, and put this +matter right with him. You go to your sick guest and comfort her. I give +you my word I will do everything to get her set free. For her sake I +will humble myself."</p> + +<p>The Princess Apafi's foresight already suggested to her that this +humiliation would be permanent, but, perceiving that her own strength of +mind was not contagious, she allowed her husband to depart.</p> + +<p>Apafi prepared himself for his visit upon Olaj Beg. With a peculiar +feeling of melancholy he did <i>not</i> put on his princely dolman of green +velvet, but only the <i>köntös</i> of a simple nobleman, imagining that thus +it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> would not be the Prince of Transylvania but the squire of Ebesfalu +who was paying a visit on Olaj Beg. He went on foot to the house of Olaj +Beg, accompanied by a single soldier, who had to put on his everyday +clothes.</p> + +<p>The dogs had been let loose in the courtyard, for the Beg was a great +protector of animals, and used to keep open table in front of his +dwelling for the wandering dogs of every town he came to.</p> + +<p>Making his way through them, Apafi had to cross a hall and an +ante-chamber, brimful with praying dervishes, who, squatting down with +legs crossed, were reading aloud from books with large clasps, only so +far paying attention to each other as to see which could yell the +loudest.</p> + +<p>The Prince did not address them, as it was clear that he would get no +answer, but went straight towards the third door.</p> + +<p>The chamber beyond was also full of spiders'-webs and dervishes, but a +red cushion had been placed in the midst of it, and on this cushion sat +a big, pale, grey man in a roomy yellow caftan. He also was holding a +large book in front of him and reading painfully.</p> + +<p>Apafi approached, and even ventured to address him.</p> + +<p>"Merciful Olaj Beg, my gracious master, find a full stop somewhere in +that book of yours, turn down the leaf at the proper spot, put it down, +and listen to me."</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg, on hearing the words of the Prince, put the book aside, and +turning with a sweet and tender smile towards him, remarked with +emotion:</p> + +<p>"The angels of the Prophet bear thee up in all thy ways, my dear child. +Heaven preserve every hair of thy beard, and the Archangel Izrafil go +before thee and sweep every stone from thy path, that thy feet may not +strike against them!"</p> + +<p>With these words the Beg graciously extended his right hand to be +kissed, blinking privily at the Prince; nor would Apafi have minded +kissing it if they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> been all alone, but in the presence of so many +dervishes it would have been derogatory to his dignity; so, instead of +doing so, he took the Beg's hand and provisionally placed it in his left +hand and gave it a resounding thump with his right, and then shook it +amicably as became a friend.</p> + +<p>"Don't trouble thyself, my dear son, I will not suffer thee to kiss my +hand," cried Olaj Beg, drawing back his hand and making a show of +opposition so that everyone might fancy that Apafi was angry with him +for not being allowed to kiss it.</p> + +<p>"You have deigned to send for me," said Apafi, taking a step backwards; +"tell me, I pray, what you desire, for my time is short. I am +overwhelmed with affairs of state."</p> + +<p>These last words Apafi pronounced with as majestic an intonation as +possible.</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg thereupon folded his hands together.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear son!" said he, "the princely dignity is indeed a heavy +burden. I see that quite well, nor am I in the least surprised that thou +wishest to be relieved of it; but be of good cheer, the blessing of +Heaven will come upon us when we are not praying for it; when thou dost +least expect it the Sublime Sultan will have compassion upon thee, and +will deliver thee of the heavy load which presses upon thy shoulders."</p> + +<p>Apafi wrinkled his brows. The exordium was bad enough; he hastened +towards the end of the business.</p> + +<p>"Perchance, you have heard, gracious Olaj Beg! that the unfortunate +Mariska Sturdza has taken refuge with us."</p> + +<p>"It matters not," signified the Beg, with a reassuring wave of the hand.</p> + +<p>"She took refuge in my palace without my knowledge," observed Apafi +apologetically, "and what could I do when she was all alone? I couldn't +turn her out of my house."</p> + +<p>"There was no necessity. Thou didst as it became a merciful man to do."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>"If you had seen her you would yourself have felt sorry for her—sick, +half-dead, desperate, she flung herself at my feet, imploring +compassion, and before I could reply to her she had fainted away. +Perhaps even now she is dead."</p> + +<p>"Oh, poor child!" cried Olaj Beg, folding both his hands and raising his +eyes to Heaven.</p> + +<p>"Her husband had left her in great misery, and alone she plunged into +jeopardy," continued Apafi, trying to justify the persecuted woman in +every possible manner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, poor, unhappy child!" cried Olaj Beg, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"And more than that," sighed Apafi, "the poor woman is big with child."</p> + +<p>"What dost thou say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, and flying day and night in all sorts of weathers from her +pursuers in such a condition, you can imagine her wretched condition; +she was scarce alive, she was on the very threshold of death."</p> + +<p>"Allah be gracious to her and extend over her the wings of his mercy!"</p> + +<p>Apafi began to think that he had found Olaj Beg in a charitable humour.</p> + +<p>"I knew that you would not be angry about her."</p> + +<p>"I am not angry, my son, I am not angry. My eyes overflow at her sad +fate."</p> + +<p>"She, you know, had no share in her husband's faults."</p> + +<p>"Far from it."</p> + +<p>"And it would not be right that an innocent woman should atone for what +her husband has committed."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Then do you think, my lord, that the Sublime Sultan will be merciful to +this woman?"</p> + +<p>"What a question! Have no fear for her!"</p> + +<p>Apafi was not so simple as not to be struck by this exaggerated +indulgence, the more satisfactory were the Beg's replies the keener grew +his feeling of anxiety. At last, much perturbed, he ventured to put this +question:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>"Gracious Beg! will you allow this unfortunate woman to rest in peace at +my house, and can you assure me that the Sublime Sultan will espouse her +cause?"</p> + +<p>"The Holy Book says: 'Be merciful to them that suffer and compassionate +them that weep.' Therefore, behold I grant thee thy desire: let this +poor innocent woman repose in thy house in peace, let her rest +thoroughly from her sufferings and let her enjoy the blessedness of +peace till such time as I must take her from thee by the command of the +Grand Seignior."</p> + +<p>Apafi felt his brain reel, so marvellous, so terrible was this +graciousness of the Turk towards him.</p> + +<p>"And when think you you will require this woman to be handed over?"</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg, with a reassuring look, tapped Apafi on the shoulder, and said +with a voice full of unction:</p> + +<p>"Fret not thyself, my dear son! In no case will it be earlier than +to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Apafi almost collapsed in his fright.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning, do you say, my lord?"</p> + +<p>"I promise thee she shall not be disturbed before."</p> + +<p>Apafi perceived that the man had been making sport with him all along. +Rage began to seethe in his heart.</p> + +<p>"But, my lord, I said nothing about one day. One day is the period +allowed to condemned criminals."</p> + +<p>"Days and seasons come from Allah, and none may divide them."</p> + +<p>"Damn you soft sawder!" murmured Apafi between his teeth. "My lord," he +resumed, "would you carry away with you a sick woman whom only the most +tender care can bring back from the shores of Death, and who, if she +were now to set out for Buda, would never reach it, for she would die on +the way?"</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg piously raised his hands to Heaven.</p> + +<p>"Life and death are inscribed above in the Book of Thora, and if it +there be written in letters embellished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> with roses and tulips that +Mariska Sturdza must die to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow, die she +will most certainly, though she lay upon musk and were anointed with the +balm of life, and neither the prayers of the saints nor the lore of the +Sages could save her—but if it be written that she is to live, then let +the Angels of Death come against her with every manner of weapon and +they shall not harm her."</p> + +<p>Apafi saw that he would have to speak very plainly to this crafty old +man.</p> + +<p>"Worthy Olaj Beg! you know that this realm has a constitution which +enjoins that the Prince himself must not issue ordinances in the more +weighty matters without consulting his counsellors. Now, the present +case seems to me to be so important that I cannot inform you of my +resolution till I have communicated it to my council."</p> + +<p>"It is well, my dear son, I have no objection. Speak with those servants +of thine whom thou hast made thy masters; sit in thy council chamber and +let the matter be well considered as it deserves to be; and if +thereafter ye decide that the Princess shall accompany me, I will take +her away and take leave of thee with great honour; but if it should so +fall out that ye do not give her up to me, my dear son, or should allow +her to escape from me—then will I take thee instead of her, together +with thy brave counsellors, my sweet son."</p> + +<p>The Beg said these words in the sweetest, tenderest voice, as old +grandfathers are wont to address their grandchildren, and descending +from his pillows he stroked the Prince's face with both his hands, and +kissed him on the temples with great good will, quite covering his head +with his long white beard.</p> + +<p>Apafi felt as if the whole room were dancing around him. He did not +speak a word, but turned on his axis and went right out. He himself did +not know how he got through the first door, but by the time he had shut +the second door behind him he bethought him that he was still the Prince +of Transylvania, and by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> descent one of the first noblemen of the land, +whereas Olaj Beg was only a nasty, dirty Turkish captain, who had been a +camel-driver in the days of his youth, and yet had dared to speak to +him, the Prince, like that! By the time he had reached the third door he +had reflected that in the days when he was nothing but the joint-tenant +of Ebesfalu, if Olaj Beg had dared to treat him so shamefully, he would +have broken his bald head for him with a stout truncheon. But had he not +just such a stout truncheon actually hanging by his side? Yes, he had! +and he would go back and strike Olaj Beg with it, not exactly on the +head perhaps, but, at any rate, on the back that he might remember for +the rest of his life the <i>stylus curialis</i> of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>And with that he turned back from the third door with very grave +resolves.</p> + +<p>But when he had re-opened the second door he bethought him once more +that such violence might be of great prejudice to the realm, and +besides, there was not very much glory after all in striking an old man +of eighty. But at any rate he would tell him like a man what it had not +occurred to him to say in the first moment of his surprise.</p> + +<p>So when he had opened the first door and was in the presence of Olaj +Beg, he stood there on the threshold with the door ajar, and said to him +in a voice of thunder:</p> + +<p>"Hearken, Olaj Beg! I have come back simply to tell you——"</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg looked at him.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou say, my good son?"</p> + +<p>"This," continued Apafi in a very much lower key, "that it will take +time to summon the council, for Béldi lives at Bodola, Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, Csaky at Déva, and until they come together you can do what +you think best: you may remain here or go"—and with that he turned +back, and only when he had slammed to the door he added—"to hell!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE.</span></h2> + + +<p>This incident was the occasion of great affliction to the Estates of +Transylvania. The counsellors assembled at the appointed time at the +residence of the Prince, who at that moment would have felt happier as a +Tartar captive than as the ruler of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>On the day of the session everyone appeared in the council chamber with +as gloomy a countenance as if he were about to pronounce his own +death-warrant.</p> + +<p>They took their places in silence, and everyone took great care that his +sword should not rattle. There were present: old John and young Michael +Bethlen, Paul Béldi, Caspar Kornis, Ladislaus Csaky, Joshua Kapi, and +the protonotarius, Francis Sárpataky. For the Prince, there had just +been prepared a new canopied throne, with three steps; it was the first +time he had sat on it. Beside it was an empty arm-chair, reserved for +Michael Teleki.</p> + +<p>As soon as the guard of the chamber announced that the counsellors had +assembled, the Prince at once appeared, accompanied by Michael Teleki +and Stephen Naláczi.</p> + +<p>It could be seen from the Prince's face that for at least two hours +Teleki had been filling his head with talk. Nalaczi greeted everyone +present with a courtly smile, but nobody smiled back at him. Teleki, +with cold gravity, led the Prince to the throne. The latter on first +looking up at the throne, stood before it as if thunderstruck, and +seemed to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> deliberating for a moment whether it ought not to be taken +away and a simple chair put in its place. But after thinking it well out +he mounted the steps, and, sighing deeply, took his seat upon it.</p> + +<p>Michael Teleki stood silent in his place for some time, as if he was +collecting his thoughts. His eyes did not travel along the faces of +those present as they generally did to watch the effect of his words, +but were fixed on the clasp of his kalpag, and his voice was much duller +than at other times, often sinking to tremulous depths, except when he +pulled himself together and tried to give it a firmer tone.</p> + +<p>"Your Highness, your Excellencies,—God has reserved peculiar trials for +our unfortunate nation. One danger has scarce passed over us when we +plump into another; when we try to avoid the lesser perils, we find the +greater ones directly in our path, and we end in sorrow what we began in +joy. Scarcely have we got over the tidings of the battle of St. Gothard +(we had our own melancholy reasons for not participating therein), and +the consequent annihilation of the far-reaching designs of the Turkish +Empire, by the peace contracted between the two great Powers, amidst +whose quarrels our unhappy country is buffeted about as if between +hammer and anvil, when we have a fresh and still greater occasion for +apprehension. For the generals of the Turkish Sultan impute the loss of +the battle to the premature flight of Prince Ghyka, and at the same time +hold us partly responsible for it—and certainly, had our soldiers stood +in the place of the Wallachian warriors, although they would not have +liked fighting their fellow-Magyars, nevertheless, if once they had been +in for it, they would not have ran away and so the battle would not have +been lost—wherefore the wrath of the Sublime Sultan was so greatly +kindled against both the neighbouring nations, that he sent his cavasses +to seize the Prince of Moldavia and carry him in chains to Stambul with +his whole family. As for Transylvania, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> for the mercy of God and the +goodwill of certain Turkish statesmen, we might have seen it suddenly +converted into a sandjak or province, and a fez-wearing Pasha on the +throne of his Highness. Now it has so happened that the Prince of +Moldavia, wresting himself and his wife out of the hands of their +pursuers, took the shortest road to Transylvania. We sent a message to +them that on no account were they to try to come here, as their flight +would cost us more than a Tartar invasion. The Prince, therefore, took +refuge in the mountains, but let his wife continue her journey, and, in +an evil hour for us and herself, she arrived here a few days ago with +the knowledge and under the very eyes of the Sultan's plenipotentiary. +The husband having escaped, the whole wrath of the Sultan is turned upon +the wife and upon us also if we try to defend her. What, then, are we to +do? If we had to choose between shame and death, I should know what to +say; but here our choice is only between two kinds of shame: either to +hand over an innocent, tender woman, who has appealed to us for +protection, or see a Turkish Pasha sitting on the throne of the Prince!"</p> + +<p>"But there's a third course, surely," said Béldi, "by way of petition?"</p> + +<p>"I might indeed make the request," interrupted Apafi, "but I know very +well what answer I should get."</p> + +<p>"I do not mean petitioning the envoy," returned Béldi. "Who would +humiliate himself by petitioning the servant when he could appeal to the +master?"</p> + +<p>At this Apafi grew dumb; he could not bring forward the fact that he had +already petitioned the servant.</p> + +<p>"I believe that Béldi is right," said young Michael Bethlen, "and that +is the only course we can take. I am well acquainted with the mood of an +eastern Despot when he gets angry, and I know that at such times it is +nothing unusual for him to level towns to the ground and decapitate +viceroys; but fortunately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> for Transylvania it is situated in Europe, +where one state has some regard for another, and it is the interest of +all the European kingdoms to maintain a free state between themselves +and the Ottoman Empire, even if it be only a small one like +Transylvania. And it seems to me that if our petition be supported at +Stambul by the French, Austrian, and Polish ambassadors, there will be +no reason for the Sultan, especially after such a defeat as the last +one, to send a Pasha to Transylvania. And, finally, if we show him that +our swords have not rusted in their scabbards, and that we know how to +draw them on occasion, he will not be disposed to do so."</p> + +<p>The youth's enthusiastic speech began to pour fresh confidence into the +souls of those who heard him, and their very faces appeared to brighten +because of it.</p> + +<p>Teleki shook his head slowly.</p> + +<p>"I tell your Excellencies it will be a serious business," said he. "I am +obliged to arouse you from an agreeable dream by confronting you with a +rigorous fact. Europe has not the smallest care for our existence; we +only find allies when they have need of our sacrifices; let us begin to +petition, and they know us no more. It is true that at one time I said +something very different, but time is such a good master that it teaches +a man more in one day than if he had gone through nine schools. In +consequence of the battle of St. Gothard, peace has been concluded +between the two Emperors. I have read every article of it, every point, +and we are left out of it altogether, as if we were a nation quite +unworthy of consideration. Yet the French, the English, and the Polish +ministers were there, and I can say that not one of them received so +much pay from his own court as he received from us. If they want war, +oh! then we are a great and glorious nation; but when peace is concluded +they do not even know that we are there. In war we may lead the van, but +in the distribution of rewards we are left far behind. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> now the +Pasha of Buda, who is bent upon our destruction and would like to set a +pasha over Transylvania, after the last defeat, has sent down Yffim Beg +to us to go from village to village demanding why the arrears of taxes +have not been paid, and then he is coming to the Prince to ask the cause +of the remissness and threaten him with the vengeance of the Pasha of +Buda."</p> + +<p>There was a general murmur of indignation.</p> + +<p>"Ah, gentlemen, let us confess to each other that we play at being +masters in our own home, but in fact we are masters there no longer. We +may trust to our efforts and rely upon our rights, but we have none to +help us; we have no allies either on the right hand or on the left; we +have only our masters. We may change our masters, but we shall never win +confederates. The Power which stands above us is only awaiting an +opportunity to carry out its designs upon us, and no one could render it +a better service in Transylvania than by raising his head against it. We +have all of us a great obligation laid upon us: to recognise the little +we possess, take care to preserve it, and, if the occasion arise, insist +upon it. It is true that while the sword is in our hands we may defend +all Europe with it; but let our sword once be broken and our whole realm +falls to pieces and the heathen will trample upon us in the sight of all +the nations. We shall bleed for a half-century or so, and nobody will +come to our assistance; the gates of our realm will be guarded by our +enemies; and, like the scorpion in a fiery circle, we shall only turn +the bitterness of our hearts against ourselves. Do you want reasons, +then, why we should not defend those hunted creatures who seek a refuge +with us? The World and Fate have settled their accounts with us; this +realm is left entirely to its own devices. Matters standing thus, if we +refuse to deliver up to Olaj Beg the above-mentioned Princess of +Moldavia, the armies of the Pashas of Buda and Grosswardein will +instantly receive orders to reduce Transylvania to the rank of a vassal +state of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> Porte. There is no room here for regret or humanity, +self-preservation is our one remaining duty and the duty of +self-preservation demands that where we have no choice, we should do +voluntarily what we may be forced to do."</p> + +<p>Teleki had scarce finished these words than an attendant announced that +the Princess of Moldavia requested admittance into the council chamber.</p> + +<p>Apafi would have replied in the negative, but Teleki signified that she +might as well come in.</p> + +<p>A few moments later the attendant again appeared and requested +permission for the ladies of the Princess's suite to accompany their +mistress, as she was too weak to walk alone.</p> + +<p>Teleki consented to that also.</p> + +<p>The counsellors cast down their eyes when the door opened. But there is +a sort of spell which forces a man to look in the very direction in +which he would not, in which he fears to look, and lo and behold! when +the door opened and the hunted woman entered with her suite, a cry of +astonishment resounded from every lip. For of what did the woman's suite +consist? It consisted of the most eminent ladies of Transylvania. The +wives and daughters of all the counsellors present accompanied the +unfortunate lady, foremost among them being the Princess and Dame +Michael Teleki, on whose shoulders she leaned; and last of all came old +Dame Bethlen, with dove-white hair. All the most respectable matrons, +the loveliest wives, and fairest maidens of the realm were there.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate Princess, whose pale face was full of suffering, +advanced on the arms of her supporters towards the throne of the Prince. +Her knees tottered beneath her, her whole body trembled like a leaf, she +opened her lips, but no sound proceeded from them.</p> + +<p>"Courage, my child," whispered Anna Bornemissza, pressing her hand; +whereupon the tears suddenly burst from the eyes of the unfortunate +woman, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> breaking from her escort, she flung herself at the feet of +the Prince, embracing his knees with her convulsive arms, and raising +towards him her tear-stained face, exclaimed with a heart-rending voice: +"Mercy! ... Mercy!"</p> + +<p>A cold dumbness sat on every lip; it was impossible for a time to hear +anything but the woman's deep sobbing. The Prince sat like a statue on +his throne, the steps of which Mariska Sturdza moistened with her tears. +The silence was painful to everyone, yet nobody dared to break it.</p> + +<p>Teleki smoothed away his forelock from his broad forehead, but he could +not smooth away the wrinkles which had settled there. He regretted that +he had given occasion to this scene.</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" sobbed the poor woman once more, and half unconsciously her +hand slipped from Apafi's knees. Aranka Béldi rushed towards her and +rested her declining head on her own pretty childlike bosom.</p> + +<p>Then Anna Bornemissza stepped forward, and after throwing a stony glance +upon all the counsellors present, who cast down their eyes before her, +looked Apafi straight in the face with her own bright, penetrating, +soul-searching eyes, till her astonished husband was constrained to +return her glance almost without knowing it.</p> + +<p>"My petition is a brief one," said Dame Apafi in a low, deep, though +perfectly audible voice. "An unfortunate woman, whom the Lord of Destiny +did not deem to be sufficiently chastened by a single blow, has lost in +one day her husband, her home, and her property; she implores us now for +bare life. You see her lying in the dust asking of you nothing more than +leave to rest—a petition which Dzengis Khan's executioners would have +granted her. That is all she asks, but we demand more. The destiny of +Transylvania is in your hands, but its honour is ours also; ye are +summoned to decide whether our children are to be happy or miserable. +But speak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> freely to us and say if you wish them to be honourable men or +cowards. And I ask you which of us women would care to bear the name of +a Kornis, a Csaky, or an Apafi, if posterity shall say of the bearers of +these names that they surrendered an innocent woman to her heathen +pursuers and constrained their own sons thereby to renounce the names of +their fathers? Look not so darkly upon me, Master Michael Teleki, for my +soul is dark enough without that. An unhappy woman is on her knees +before you, hoping that she will find you to be men. The women of +Transylvania stand before you, hoping to find you patriots. We beg you +to have compassion for the sake of the honour of our children."</p> + +<p>Teleki, upon whom the eyes of the Princess had flashed fiercely during +the speech, as if accepting the challenge, answered in a cold, stony +voice:</p> + +<p>"Here, madam, we dispense justice only, not mercy or honour."</p> + +<p>"Justice!" exclaimed Anna. "What! If a husband has offended, is his +innocent wife, whose only fault is that she loves the fugitive, is she, +I say, to suffer punishment in his stead? Where is the justice of that?"</p> + +<p>"Justice is often another name for necessity."</p> + +<p>"Then who are all ye whom I see here? Are ye the chief men of +Transylvania or Turkish slaves? This is what I ask, and what we should +all of us very much like to know: is this the council chamber of the +free and constitutional state of Transylvania, or is it the ante-chamber +of Olaj Beg?"</p> + +<p>The gentlemen present preserved a deep silence. This was a question to +which they could not give a direct answer.</p> + +<p>"I demand an answer to my question," cried Dame Apafi in a loud voice.</p> + +<p>"And what good will the answer do you, my lady?" inquired Teleki, +pressing his index-finger to his lips.</p> + +<p>"I shall at any rate know whether the place in which we now stand is +worthy of us."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>"It is not worthy, my lady. The present is no time for the Magyars to be +proud that they dwell in Transylvania; we are ashamed to be the +responsible ministers of a down-trodden, deserted, and captive nation. +This your Highness ought to know as well as any of us, for it was a +Turkish Pasha who placed your husband on the Prince's seat. And, +assuredly, it would be a far less grief to us to lose our heads than to +bend them humbly beneath the derisive honour of being the leaders of a +people lying among ruins. But, at the most, history will only be able to +say of us that we humbly bowed before necessity, that we bore the yoke +of the stranger without dignity, that running counter to the feelings of +our hearts and the persuasions of our minds, we covered our faces with +shame, and yet that that very shame and dishonour saved the life of +Transylvania, and that poor spot of earth which remained in our hands +saved the whole country from a bloody persecution. We are the victims of +the times, madam; help us to conceal the blush of shame and share it +with us. There, you have the answer to your question."</p> + +<p>Dame Apafi grew as pale as death, her head drooped, and she clasped her +hands together.</p> + +<p>"So we have come to this at last? Formerly valour was the national +virtue, now it is cowardice. What is our own fate likely to be if we +reject this poor woman? What has happened to-day to a Princess Ghyka +might easily happen to the wives of Kornis and Csaky and Béldi +to-morrow. For their husbands' faults they may be carried away captive, +brought to the block, if only God does not have mercy upon them, for you +yourselves say that this would be right. Why do you look at us? You, +Béldi, Kornis, Teleki, Csaky, Bethlen, here stand your wives and +daughters. Draw forth your coward swords, and if you dare not slay men, +at least slay women; kill them before it occurs to the Turkish Padishah +to drag them by the hair into his harem."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>As Dame Apafi mentioned the names of the men one after another, their +wives and daughters, loudly weeping, rushed towards them, and hiding +their heads in their bosoms, with passionate sobs, begged for the +unfortunate Princess, and behold the eyes of the men also filled with +tears, and nothing could be heard in the room but the sobbing of the +husbands mingled with the sobbing of their wives.</p> + +<p>On Teleki's breast also hung the gentle Judith Veér and his own daughter +Flora, and the great stony-hearted counsellor stood trembling between +them; and although his cast-iron features assumed with an effort a +rigorous expression, nevertheless a couple of unrestrainable tears +suddenly trickled down the furrows of his face.</p> + +<p>The Prince turned aside on his throne, and covering his face, murmured: +"No more, Anna! No more!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Apafi!" cried the Princess bitterly; "if perish I must it shall not +be by your hand. Anna Bornemissza has strength enough to meet death if +there be no choice between that and shame. Be content, if Olaj Beg +demands my death, I shall at least be spared the unpleasantness of +falling at your feet in supplication. And now, pronounce your decision, +but remember that every word you say will resound throughout the +Christian world."</p> + +<p>Teleki dried the tears from his face, made his wife and daughter +withdraw, and said in a voice tremulous with emotion:</p> + +<p>"In vain should I deny it, my tears reveal that I have a feeling heart. +I am a man, I am a father, and a husband. If I were nothing but Michael +Teleki, I should know how to sacrifice myself on behalf of persecuted +innocence; and if my colleagues around me were only companions-in-arms, +I should say to them, gird on your swords, lie in wait, rush upon the +Turkish escort of the Princess, and deliver her out of their hands—if +we perish, a blessing will be upon us. But in this place, in these +chairs, it is not our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>selves who feel and speak. The life, the death of +all Transylvania depends upon us. And my last word is that we +incontinently deliver up Mariska Sturdza to the ambassador of the Porte. +If my colleagues decide otherwise, I will agree to it, I will take my +share of the responsibility, but I shall have saved my soul anyhow. +Speak, gentlemen, and if you like, vote against me."</p> + +<p>The silence of death ensued, nobody spoke a word.</p> + +<p>"What, nobody speaks?" cried Dame Apafi in amazement. "Nobody! Ah! let +us leave this place! There is not a man in the whole principality."</p> + +<p>And with these words the lady withdrew from the council chamber. Her +attendants followed her sorrowfully, one by one, tearfully bidding adieu +to the unfortunate Princess. Aranka Béldi was the last to part from her. +During the whole of this mournful scene her eyes had remained tearless, +but she had knelt down the whole time by Mariska's side, holding her +closely embraced, and assuring her that God would deliver her, she must +fear nothing.</p> + +<p>When all the ladies had withdrawn, and Dame Béldi beckoned her daughter +to follow her, she tenderly kissed the face of her friend and whispered +in her ear: "I have still hope, fear not, we will save you!" and smiling +at her with her bright blue eyes like an angel of consolation, got up +and withdrew.</p> + +<p>The Princess, tearless, speechless, then allowed herself to be conducted +away by the officers of the council chamber.</p> + +<p>The men remained sitting upon their chairs, downcast and sorrowful. +Every bosom was oppressed, and every heart was empty, and the thought of +their delivered fatherland was a cold consolation for the grief they +felt that the Government of Transylvania should fling an innocent woman +back into the throat of the monster which was pursuing her.</p> + +<p>The silence still continued when, suddenly, the door was violently burst +open, and shoving aside the guards right and left, Yffim Beg entered +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> room. He had been sent by Hassan Pasha to levy contributions on the +Prince and the people.</p> + +<p>The rough Turkish captain looked round with boorish pride upon the +silent gentlemen, who were still depressed by the preceding incident, +and perceiving that here he had to do with the humble, without so much +as bowing, he strode straight up to the Prince, and placing one foot on +the footstool before the throne, and throwing his head haughtily back, +flung these words at him:</p> + +<p>"In the name of my master, the mighty Hassan Pasha, I put this question +to thee, thou Prince of the Giaurs, why hast thou kept back for so long +the tribute which is due to the Porte? Who hath caused the delay—thou, +or the farmers of the taxes, or the tax-paying people? Answer me +directly, and take care that thou liest not!"</p> + +<p>The Prince looked around with wrinkled brows as if looking for something +to fling at the head of the fellow. He regretted that the inkstand was +so far off.</p> + +<p>But Teleki handed a sheet of parchment to Sárpataky, the clerk of the +council.</p> + +<p>"Read our answer to the Pasha's letter," said he; "as for you—sir I +will not call you—listen to what is written therein. 'Beneficent Hassan +Pasha, we greatly regret that you bother yourself about things which are +already settled. We do not ask you why you came so late to the battle of +St. Gothard. Why do you ask us, then, why we are so late with the taxes? +We will answer for ourselves at the proper time and place. Till then, +Heaven bless you, and grant that misfortune overwhelm you not just when +you would ruin others.' When you have written all that down, hand it to +his Highness the Prince for signature."</p> + +<p>The gentlemen present had fallen from one surprise into another. Michael +Teleki, who a moment before, against the inclinations of his own heart +and mind, had tried to compel the land to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> submit to the demand of Olaj +Beg, could in the next moment send such a message to the powerful Vizier +of Buda.</p> + +<p>But Teleki knew very well that the storm which was passing over the +country on account of the Princess of Moldavia was sure to rebound on +the head of the Vizier of Buda. The Sultan was seeking for an object on +which to wreak his wrath because of the lost battle, and if the Pasha of +Buda did not succeed in making the Government of Transylvania the +victim, he would fall a victim himself.</p> + +<p>As for Yffim Beg, he did not quite know whether a thunder-bolt had +plunged down close beside him, or whether he was dreaming. There he +stood like a statue, unable to utter a word, and only looked on stupidly +while the letter was being written before his very eyes, while Apafi's +pen scraped the parchment as he subscribed his signature, while they +poured the sand over it, folded it up, impressed it with an enormous +seal, and thrust it into his palm.</p> + +<p>Only then did he emerge somewhat from his stupor.</p> + +<p>"Do ye think I am mad enough to carry this letter back with me to Buda?"</p> + +<p>And with these words he seized the letter at both ends, tore it in two, +and flung it beneath the table.</p> + +<p>"Write another!" said he, "write it nicely, for my master, the mighty +Hassan Pasha, will strangle the whole lot of you."</p> + +<p>Teleki turned coldly towards him.</p> + +<p>"If you don't like the letter, worthy müderris, you may go back without +any letter at all."</p> + +<p>"I am no müderris, but Yffim Beg. I would have thee know that, thou dog; +and I won't go without a letter, and I won't let you all go till ye have +written another."</p> + +<p>And with these words he sat down on the steps of the Prince's throne and +crossed his legs, so that two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> were sitting on the throne at the same +time, the Beg and Apafi.</p> + +<p>"Guards!" cried Apafi in a commanding voice, "seize this shameless +fellow, tie him on to a horse's back and drive him out of the town."</p> + +<p>They needed not another word. One of the guards immediately rushed +forward to where Yffim Beg was still sitting on a footstool with legs +crossed, and took him under the arm, while another of them grasped him +firmly by the collar, and raising him thus in the air, kicking and +struggling, carried him out of the room in a moment. The Beg struck, +bit, and scratched, but it was all of no avail. The merciless drabants +set him on the back of a horse in the courtyard, without a saddle, tied +his feet together beneath the horse's belly, placed the bridle of the +steed in the hands of a stable-boy, while another stable-boy stood +behind with a good stout whip; and so liberally did they interpret the +commands of the chief counsellor, that they escorted the worthy +gentleman, not only out of the town, but beyond the borders of the +realm.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD.</span></h2> + + +<p>At Buda, while Hassan Pasha was fighting with the army of the German +Emperor, Yffim Beg was preparing the triumphal arches through which the +victors were to pass on their return, adorning them with green branches +and precious carpets, and leaving room for the standards to be captured +from the Germans and Hungarians. The bridge was also repaired and +strengthened to support the weight of the heavy gun-carriages and cannon +which Montecuculi was to have abandoned, and at the same time a large +space on the Rákás was railed in where all the slaves of all the +nations, including women and children, were to be impounded.</p> + +<p>And after all these amiable preparations the terrible message reached +the worthy Yffim Beg from Hassan Pasha that he was to place all his +movable chattels, gold and silver, on a fugitive footing, barricade the +fortress, cut away the bridge so that the enemy might not be able to +cross it, and follow him with the whole harem, beyond the Raab, for who +could tell whether they would ever see the fortress of Buda again.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg was not particularly pleased with this message, but without +taking long to think about it, he put the damsels of the harem into +carriages, sent them off along the covered way adjoining the water-gate, +in order to make as little disturbance as possible, and, as soon as they +were on the other side of the bridge, ordered it to be destroyed and the +garrison<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> of the fortress to defend themselves as best they could.</p> + +<p>He reached the Turkish army to find the opposing hosts drawn up against +each other on different sides of the river, across which they bombarded +each other from time to time, without doing much damage.</p> + +<p>The Pasha's pavilion was well in the rear, out of cannon-shot; he was +delighted when he saw Yffim Beg, and could not take his fill of kissing +Azrael, who was lovelier and more gracious than ever.</p> + +<p>"Remain here," he said to his favourites, embracing the pair of them. "I +must retire now to the interior of my pavilion to pray for an hour or so +with the dervishes, for a great and grievous duty will devolve upon me +in an hour's time—two great Turkish nobles, Kucsuk Pasha and his son, +are to be condemned to death."</p> + +<p>Azrael started as violently as if a serpent had crept into her bosom.</p> + +<p>"How have they offended?" she asked, scarce able to conceal her +agitation.</p> + +<p>"Against the precepts of the Prophet they engaged in battle on a day of +ill-omen; they have cast dirt on the victorious half-moon, and must wash +off the stain with their blood."</p> + +<p>Hassan withdrew; Azrael remained alone in the tent with the Beg.</p> + +<p>"I saw thee shudder," said Yffim, fixing his sharp eyes on the face of +Azrael.</p> + +<p>"Death chooses the thirteenth; he leaped past me at this very moment."</p> + +<p>"And on whom has the fatal thirteen fallen?"</p> + +<p>"On someone who stands beside me or behind me."</p> + +<p>"Behind thee in the tent outside is Feriz Beg."</p> + +<p>"But thou art beside me."</p> + +<p>"I am too young to die yet."</p> + +<p>"And is not he also?"</p> + +<p>"He of whom Hassan saith: 'He hath sinned!' becomes old and withered on +the spot."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>"And hast thou done nothing for which thou shouldst die?"</p> + +<p>"My beard will grow white because of my loyalty; life is long in the +shadow of Hassan."</p> + +<p>"But how long will Hassan have a shadow?"</p> + +<p>"Till his night cometh—but that is still far off."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou not heard of the case of Ajas Pasha, Yffim?—of Ajas, who was +the mightiest of all the Pashas?"</p> + +<p>"He was the Sultan's son-in-law."</p> + +<p>"The Grand Seignior gave him his own daughter to wife, and loaded him +with every favour. One day Ajas lost a battle against the Zrinyis. It +was not a great defeat, but the Sultan was wrath and beheaded Ajas +Pasha."</p> + +<p>"H'm! I recollect, it was a sad story."</p> + +<p>"And dost thou remember the story of the faithful Hiassar? Ajas charged +him to bring to him before his death his favourite wife, not his whole +harem which thou hast brought to Hassan Pasha, but only his favourite +wife, that he might take leave of her; and dost thou know that for doing +this thing the Sultan had Hiassar roasted to death in a copper ox? For a +disgraced favourite possesses nothing—all he had is the Sultan's, his +treasures, his wives and his children; and whoever lays his hand upon +them is robbing the Sultan. Who knows, Yffim Beg, but what at this +moment I may not be the Sultan's slave-girl? and from slave-girl to +favourite is but a step, and thou knowest it would be but a short step +for me."</p> + +<p>"What accursed things thou art saying."</p> + +<p>"The wife of Ajas Beg was the Sultan's favourite at the time when +Hiassar was burnt, and a word from her would have saved him. But she +said it not, because she was wrath with him; methinks the woman loved +him once, and the slave despised her love. Give me my mandoline, Yffim, +I would sing a song."</p> + +<p>The odalisk lay back upon the bed, while Yffim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> anxiously paced to and +fro like a hyena fallen into a snare. The story just related had a +striking resemblance to his own, and it would not take very much to give +it a similar termination.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he stood before the damsel, who nonchalantly strummed the +strings of her instrument.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou want?"</p> + +<p>"Ask not what thou knowest."</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst save Feriz?"</p> + +<p>"I will save him."</p> + +<p>"I swear by Allah it is not to be done. Die he must, if only to tame +thee; for if he remain alive thou wilt destroy the lot of us sooner or +later."</p> + +<p>Azrael collapsed at the feet of the Beg. Sobbing, she embraced his +knees.</p> + +<p>"Oh, be merciful! Say but a word for him to the general. I love the +youth as thou canst see and dost very well know. Do not let him perish!"</p> + +<p>Like all little souls, Yffim Beg became all the bolder at these +supplicating words, and seizing Azrael by the arms, roughly pulled her +to her feet, and whispered in her ear with malicious joy:</p> + +<p>"I'll make thee a present of his head."</p> + +<p>At these words the woman raised her head, her eyes like those of a +furious she-wolf seemed to glow with green fire, her tresses curled like +serpents round her bosom. She said not a word, but her tightly clenched +teeth kept back a whole hell of dumb fury.</p> + +<p>At that moment the Vizier returned.</p> + +<p>Azrael at once put on a smile. Hassan could not see what was seething in +her heart.</p> + +<p>Yffim approached the Pasha confidentially.</p> + +<p>"Does the Sultan know of thy disaster?"</p> + +<p>"He has heard it since."</p> + +<p>"It would be as well to send me with gifts to the Porte."</p> + +<p>"Ask not that honour for thyself, Yffim; learn, rather, that whomsoever +I send to Stambul now is as good as sent to Paradise. The Sultan's wrath +is kindled, and he can only quench it with blood."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>All the blood quitted Yffim's own face.</p> + +<p>"Then thou hast thy fears, my master?"</p> + +<p>"His rage demands blood, and the blood of a great man, too. Which of us? +That is all one, but a great man must die. If I cannot sacrifice someone +in my place I shall perish myself, but there are men of equal value to +myself from whom I can choose. There are two especially—Kucsuk and his +son. They began the battle; if they had not begun it, there would have +been no battle; and if there had been no battle, there would have been +no disaster. They are Death's sons already. The third is the Prince of +Moldavia. He was the first to fly from the fight; he had a secret +understanding with the Christians. He is a son of Death also. I can +throw in the Prince of Transylvania also, because he kept away from the +battle altogether and was late with his tribute. Had he sent it sooner, +we should have had money; and if we had had money, we should have been +able to have bought hay; and if we had had hay the soldiers would not +have hastened on the battle and so lost it. He also is a son of Death, +therefore. Go thou into Transylvania and bring him hither to me."</p> + +<p>Azrael listened to all this with great attention. Yffim Beg regarded her +with a radiant countenance, as much as to say: "You see our heads won't +ache yet!"</p> + +<p>The odalisk, however, trembled no longer; she pressed her lips tightly +together, and as if she was quite certain of what she was about to do, +she pressed her sweetly smiling face close to that of the Vizier, and +hanging on his arms, whispered to him:</p> + +<p>"O Hassan, how my soul would rejoice if I could see flow the blood of +thine enemies."</p> + +<p>Hassan sat the damsel on his knees, and his lips sported with her +twining tresses.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg was in such a mighty good humour at being commissioned by +Hassan to go as ambassador to the Prince of Transylvania, and so blindly +exalted by such a mark of confidence, that he fancied he could well +afford to torment Azrael a little.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>"Whilst thou wert away, my master," said he, "thy damsel implored me to +grant her a favour, which I dare not do without first asking thy +permission."</p> + +<p>Azrael regarded the smiling Beg with sparkling eyes, anxiously awaiting +what he would be bold enough to betray.</p> + +<p>"What was it?—speak, Yffim Beg," remarked Hassan wildly.</p> + +<p>"Thou and the other Pashas are about to condemn a youth to death—young +Feriz Beg, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Hassan frowning, while the odalisk whom he held embraced +trembled all over.</p> + +<p>"Azrael would like to see the young man die."</p> + +<p>The girl grew pale at these words; her heart for a moment ceased to +beat, and then began fiercely to throb again.</p> + +<p>"A foolish wish," said Hassan; "but if thou desire it, be it so! Be +present at the meeting of the Pashas, stand behind the curtains by my +side, and thou shalt hear and see everything."</p> + +<p>Azrael imprinted a long and burning kiss on Hassan's forehead with a +face full of death, and stood behind the curtain holding the folds +together with her hands.</p> + +<p>"If thou shouldst faint," whispered Yffim Beg sarcastically, "thou shalt +have a vessel of musk from me."</p> + +<p>Azrael laughed so loudly that Yffim fancied she must have gone mad.</p> + +<p>"And now call the Pashas and draw the curtain of the tent," commanded +Hassan.</p> + +<p>At the invitation of Yffim all the officers of the camp came to the +pavilion and took their seats in a circle on cushions. Last of all came +the Grand Vizier, Kiuprile, a big, stout, angry man, who, without +looking at anyone, sat down on the cushion beside Hassan and turned his +back upon him.</p> + +<p>Then the roll of drums was heard, and Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, well +guarded, were brought in from different sides—Kucsuk on the left hand, +and Feriz on the right.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>"Look!" whispered Azrael to Hassan from behind the curtain; "look how +proud they are, the son on the right, the father on the left. They seem +to be encouraging each other with their glances."</p> + +<p>Hassan nodded his head as if thanking his favourite for assisting his +weak eyes, and as both figures came within the obscurity of the tent, +where the light was not very good at the best of times, acting on the +hint given, he turned towards the aged Kucsuk Pasha and cried:</p> + +<p>"Thou immature youth, step back till I speak to thee."</p> + +<p>Then, turning to young Feriz Beg, he said:</p> + +<p>"Step forward, thou hardened old traitor! Wherefore didst thou leave the +armies of the Sublime Sultan in the lurch?"</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg, as if a weapon against his persecutors had suddenly been put +into his hand, stepped boldly right up to Hassan Pasha, and exclaimed in +a bold voice, which rang though the tent:</p> + +<p>"Thou art the traitor, not I; for thou darest to hold the office of +general when thou art blind and canst not distinguish two paces off +father from son, or an enemy from a friend."</p> + +<p>Hassan sprang in terror from his carpet when he heard Kucsuk's son speak +instead of Kucsuk.</p> + +<p>"That is not true," he stammered, changing colour.</p> + +<p>"Not true!" replied Feriz stiffly; "then, if thine eyes be good, wilt +thou tell me what regiment is now passing thy tent with martial music?"</p> + +<p>The tent be it understood was open towards the plain overlooking the +whole camp and the river beyond.</p> + +<p>A military band was just then crossing the ground not far from the tent, +quite alone; no regiment was coming after it.</p> + +<p>"Methinks, thou mutinous dog, 'tis no answer to my question to inquire +what regiment is now passing by, for it maybe that I know better than +thou why it has arrived; nor is it part of my duty to mention the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +rabble by name; suffice it that I hear the trumpets and see the +banners."</p> + +<p>The Pashas looked at each other; there was neither regiment nor banners.</p> + +<p>"So that's it, eh?" said Kiuprile, spitting in front of him; and with +that he rose from his place, and, without looking at Hassan, took Kucsuk +and Feriz by the arm. "Come!" said he to the other generals—"you can go +now!" he cried to the guards, and the whole assembly withdrew from the +tent.</p> + +<p>Hassan fell back on his carpet. He himself had betrayed his great +defect.</p> + +<p>Azrael rushed from her hiding-place.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my master!" she cried; "thou didst wrongly interpret my words, and +so made everything go wrong."</p> + +<p>"I am lost," he stammered, and quite beside himself he plunged into the +interior of the tent to pray with the dervishes.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg stood there as if his soul had been filched from him; while +Azrael approached him with a smile of devilish scorn and stroked his +face down with her hand.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou fancy thou wilt require another good word for thee?"</p> + +<p>"I can betray thee."</p> + +<p>"Thou couldst if thou didst but know which of the two is to live +longest—Hassan or I."</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Two hours after this scene there was a private conversation between +Hassan Pasha and Yffim Beg, from which even Azrael was excluded. The +interview over, Yffim Beg departed quickly from the camp. The general +had sent him to Transylvania to go in his name from village to village +to make a general inspection, and ask the magistrates why the common +folks did not pay the taxes at the proper time. He was thence to go to +the Prince and ask<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> the cause of this delay in the transmission of +taxes; thus either the people or the Prince would be held responsible. +Hassan for a long time had had a scheme in his head of seizing +Transylvania by force of arms, whereby, on the one hand, he would win +the favour of the Porte, by adding a new subject state to Turkish +territory, and, on the other hand, would secure for himself a good easy +princely chair instead of a dangerously-jolting general's saddle.</p> + +<p>At the same time Olaj Beg was worrying Apafi to seize the escaped +Princess of Moldavia and send her to Hassan Pasha, who was well aware +that the silken cord would be constantly dangling before his eyes till +he had found someone else whose neck he could jeopardise instead of his +own.</p> + +<p>Kucsuk and his son had escaped from his talons, but he had just heard +from Olaj Beg that the Moldavian Princess was with Apafi, and in an +interesting condition, so that there was every prospect of a young +Prince being born. Here, then, in case of necessity, was a person who +could be handed over, and in case she escaped, the silken cord would +remain round Apafi's neck.</p> + +<p>A few days after the departure of Yffim Beg, peace was hastily concluded +between the Porte and the King of the Romans. In consequence thereof +Hassan avoided a collision with the other generals, and, quitting them, +hastened back to Buda with his army. Kiuprile marched right off to +Belgrade, Kucsuk was dispatched to the fortress of Szekelyhid; only +Feriz remained at Buda, for the simple reason that he was confined to +his bed by a feverish cold in a kiosk, which was erected for him by the +express command of Kiuprile.</p> + +<p>Just about this time Azrael had an excess of devotion, and was +constantly plagued by terrifying dreams in which she saw Hassan Pasha +walking up and down without his head, and every morning she got leave +from him to pay a visit to an old dervish to pray against the apparition +of evil spirits. Hassan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> was much affected by this devotion towards him +and true Mussulman fervour, and made no opposition to his favourite +damsel going every morning to the mosque to pray, and only returning +from thence late every evening; but he impressed it upon her suite to +keep a watchful eye upon the girl lest she should deceive them. They +therefore permitted pious Azrael to visit the worthy dervish so wrapped +up that only her eyes were visible, and soon afterwards saw her return +with the gracious old man. The dervish had a white beard and white +eyebrows, as if he were well frosted; his eyes were cast down, and he +wore such a frightfully big turban that not even the tips of his ears +were visible. He was also not very lavish of speech, dumbly he pointed +out to the veiled damsel the great clasped book and she knelt down +before it and began to read with edifying devotion, touching it from +time to time with her forehead; while the dervish, raising his hand, +blessed one by one the slaves standing outside the door, and, after +indicating by dumb show that he must now go to the kiosk where the sick +Feriz Beg was lying and cure him by the efficacy of his prayers, he +hobbled away.</p> + +<p>All four slaves glued their faces to the iron lattice work of the door, +thrust their cheeks between its ornaments, and saw how the kneeling +damsel kept praying all the time before the large open book. She must +have had an unconscionable fondness for prayer, for even when the +evening grew late she had not moved from the spot till the dervish, +leaning on his crutch, came hobbling back from Feriz Beg. Then she +accompanied him into the interior of the mosque, and after a short hymn, +returned to make her way back to the fortress.</p> + +<p>And thus it went on for ten days. The slaves of her escort now began to +think that Azrael wanted to learn the Koran by heart and grew tired of +watching her praying and bowing and genuflecting with unwearied +devotion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>Let us leave them gazing and marvelling, and seek out Feriz Beg, whom +now, as at other times, the old dervish was tending.</p> + +<p>There sat the good old man by the bedside of the pale and handsome +youth. Nobody else was in the room. With his hand he dried the dripping +sweat from the youth's forehead, every hour he put red healing drops +into his mouth with a golden spoon, he guessed what was wanted +immediately from every sigh, from every groan of the invalid. When he +slept he fanned fresh air upon him, when he woke and stretched forth his +burning hands, he felt the throbbing pulse and comforted and soothed him +with gentle and consolatory words; and if he flung about impatiently in +the fever of delirium, he covered him up carefully, like a tender +mother, moistened his lips with fresh citron-water; and if he perceived +from his flushed face how he was suffering he would raise his head, and +press his burning temples to his bosom.</p> + +<p>On the tenth day the youth's illness took a turn for the better. Early +in the morning, when he awoke, he had a clear consciousness of his +condition.</p> + +<p>There by the side of his bed still sat the old man with his eyes fixed +on the youth's face.</p> + +<p>"So thou hast been my nurse, eh?" sighed the youth gratefully, and he +extended his hand to take that of the dervish, and he respectfully +impressed upon it a long burning kiss, closing his eyes piously as he +did so.</p> + +<p>And when he again opened his eyes, holding continually the kissed hand +between his own hands, behold! by his bedside no longer sat the old +dervish, but a young and tremulous damsel, with black tresses rolling +down her shoulders, with a blushing face and timidly smiling lips—it +was Azrael.</p> + +<p>Feriz fancied that he was the sport of some delirious dream or +enchantment, and only when he looked about him in his bewilderment and +perceived the cast-off false beard and turban and the other lying +symbols of age, did he regain his presence of mind;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> and immediately the +expression of gratitude and devotion disappeared from the face of Feriz +Beg, his features took in a rigorous expression and he withdrew his hand +from the pressure of those other hands. Speak he could not, both mind +and body were too much broken for that; but he pointed to the door and +signified to the damsel in dumb show that she was to withdraw.</p> + +<p>"Thou knowest me, for thou hatest me," stammered Azrael; "if thou didst +not know me thou wouldst not hate me, and if thou didst know me better +thou wouldst love me."</p> + +<p>The youth shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Then—thou—lovest—another?" said the trembling girl.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg nodded: yes.</p> + +<p>Azrael rose from her place as if some venomous spider had bitten her, +her face was convulsed by a burning grief, she pressed her hands to her +bosom; then slowly her form lost all its proud rigidity, and her eyes +their savage brightness, her features softened, and collapsing before +the bed of the youth she hid her face in his pillows and murmured in a +scarce audible voice: "And therefore I love thee all the more."</p> + +<p>Then, resuming her disguise, she calmly piled upon herself all the +tokens of old age till once more before the sick man stood the gentle +honest dervish who hobbled away on his crutches, blessing everyone he +encountered till he returned again to the mosque.</p> + +<p>After Azrael had withdrawn, Feriz at once dismissed the dervish, who, at +the youth's command, confessed everything to him. The general's +favourite damsel, he said, had come to the mosque to pray ten days ago +and had changed garments with him in his hiding-place in order to tend +the dear invalid all day long while the dervish, enwrapped in her veil, +had prayed in the sight of the slaves.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg threatened the dervish with death if he did not confess +everything, and, as it became a true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> cavalier, richly rewarded him when +he had revealed the secret intrigue, forbidding him at the same time to +assist it any further.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Several days had passed by.</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha spent his days in the mosque, and his nights behind the +trellised gates of his harem; he scented an evil report in every new +arrival, and avoided all intercourse with his fellows. The whole day he +was praying, the whole night he was drunk; from morning to evening he +was occupied with the priests and the Koran, and from the evening to the +morning he amused himself among his damsels, listened to their songs, +bathed in ambergris-water, drank wine mingled with poppies, and had his +body rubbed with cotton-wool that he might sleep and be in paradise.</p> + +<p>Frequently he had bad dreams, an evil foreboding, like the pressure of a +night-hag, lay upon his heart, and when he awoke he seemed to see it all +vividly before his eyes and durst not sleep any more, but dressed +himself, sought out the room of Azrael and made the damsel sit down +beside him and amuse him with merry stories.</p> + +<p>The odalisk held unlimited sway over the mind of Hassan, and could, at +will, tune his mind to a good or evil humour by anticipating his +thoughts. The Pasha trusted her implicitly.</p> + +<p>It is a bad old custom with oriental potentates to go to bed fuddled and +dream all manner of nonsense, and then incontinently to demand a clear +interpretation of the nebulous stuff from their wise men—or wise women.</p> + +<p>This happened to be the case one morning with Hassan Pasha and Azrael +who just then was watering with a silver watering-can a gorgeous gobæa, +whose luxurious offshoots clambered like a living ladder to the roof of +the greenhouse, thence casting down to the ground again tendrils as +thick as ropes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>"Last night I was dreaming of this very plant that thou dost nourish in +yon large tub," said Hassan in a voice that sounded as if he thought it +an extraordinary thing to be listening to his own words. "I dreamt that +it put forth a long and flowery shoot which grew into a tall tree, and +from the end of one of the branches of this tree hung a large yellow +fruit. Then I thought I had some important and peculiar reason for +breaking off the fruit, and I sent a big white-bearded ape up into the +tree to fetch it. The ape reached the fruit, and for a long time plucked +at it and shook it, but was unable to break it off. At last, however, he +fell down with it at my feet, the golden fruit burst in two, and a red +apple rolled out of it, and I picked them both up and was delighted. +What does that signify?"</p> + +<p>Azrael kept plucking the yellow leaves off her dear plant and throwing +them through the window, beckoned to the Pasha to sit down beside her, +and tapping him on the shoulder, began to tick off the events on her +pretty fingers.</p> + +<p>"The golden fruit is the Moldavian Princess, and the white ape thou +didst send for her is none other than Olaj Beg. Thy dream signifies that +the Beg is about to arrive with the Princess, who in the meantime has +borne a son, and thou wilt rejoice greatly."</p> + +<p>Hassan was well content with this interpretation, when a eunuch entered +and brought him a sealed letter on a golden salver. It was from the +Pasha of Grosswardein.</p> + +<p>The letter was anything but pleasant. Ali Pasha begged to inform the +Vizier that the Government of Transylvania, having delivered Mariska +Sturdza into the hands of Olaj Beg, the Beg at once set off with her, +and had got as far as Királyhágó, when some persons hidden in the forest +had suddenly rushed out upon him, massacred his suite to the last man, +and left the Princess' carriage empty on the high road. The Princess had +in all probability been helped to rejoin her husband in Poland.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>The letter fell from the hand of Hassan Pasha.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast interpreted my dream backwards," he roared, turning upon +Azrael; "everything has turned topsy-turvy. The ape descended from the +tree with the fruit, but knocked his brains out."</p> + +<p>At that moment the door-keeper announced: "Olaj Beg has arrived with the +Moldavian Princess."</p> + +<p>At these words Hassan Pasha, in the joy of his heart, leaped from his +cushions, and after kissing Azrael over and over again, rushed forward +to meet Olaj Beg, and meeting him in the doorway, caught him round the +neck and exclaimed, beside himself with joy:</p> + +<p>"Then my ape has not knocked his brains out, after all!"</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg smilingly endured the title and the embrace, but on looking +around and perceiving Azrael standing in the window he began doing +obeisance to her with the greatest respect.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou brought her? Where is she? Thou hast not lost her, eh? Thou +hast well looked after her?" asked Hassan in one breath.</p> + +<p>By this time Olaj Beg had bowed his head down to his very knees before +the damsel, and was saying to her in a mollified voice:</p> + +<p>"May I hope that the beautiful Princess will not find it tiresome if we +talk of grave affairs in her presence?"</p> + +<p>Azrael at once perceived the object of all this bowing and scraping. +Olaj Beg wished her to withdraw.</p> + +<p>"Thou mayest speak before me, worthy Olaj Beg, though what thou art +about to say is no secret to me, for I can read the future, and my +secrets I tell to none."</p> + +<p>And now Hassan intervened.</p> + +<p>"Thou mayest speak freely before her, worthy Olaj Beg. Azrael is the +root of my life."</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg made another deep and long obeisance.</p> + +<p>He had heard enough of that name to need no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> further recommendation. He +made up his mind on the spot to tell Hassan, who was in the power of +this infernal woman, no more than he deserved to know.</p> + +<p>"Then thou hast brought the Princess with thee?" insisted Hassan, whose +joy beamed upon his face in spite of himself. "Did the Transylvanian +gentlemen make much difficulty in handing her over?"</p> + +<p>"They handed her over, but it would have been very much better if they +had not. I should have preferred it if they had risen in her behalf, +stirred up all Klausenberg against me and beaten me to death. At any +rate, I should then have died gloriously. But alas! the Magyar race is +degenerating, it has begun to be sensible. Those good old times have +gone when they used to fire a whole village for the sake of a runaway +female slave; and it was possible to seize a whole county in exchange +for one burnt village; if the Hungarian gentry continue to be as wise as +they are now the younger generation of them may strike root in our very +Empire."</p> + +<p>"I was alarmed on thy account, for I have just received a letter from +the Pasha of Grosswardein, in which he informed me that certain persons +had attacked the Princess's escort at Királyhágó and cut them down to a +man."</p> + +<p>"I anticipated that," replied Olaj Beg slily. "When with much shedding +of tears they handed the Princess over to me, I heard them whisper in +her ear: 'Fear nothing!' and I well understood from that that those same +gentlemen who in the council chamber, with wise precautions, resolved to +deliver up the fugitive Princess, had agreed among themselves over their +cups at dinner-time that as I left Transylvania they would lie in wait +for, fall upon me, and liberate and take away with them the Princess +whom, by the way, they did not deliver over immediately, giving out that +she was sick and suffering torments. While I was awaiting her recovery, +nobody but her ladies was allowed admittance to her, and as soon as she +was on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> her legs again, I made all my preparations for the journey next +day, marshalling all the carriages and baggage-wagons in the courtyard. +I myself, however, got into a sorry matted conveyance with the Princess +and her child, and set off the same night in the direction of Déva. My +suite, with the empty carriages, was to follow next morning in the +direction of Grosswardein. The masked men cut them down as arranged, but +the Princess and her son were in safe hands all the time. Olaj Beg is an +old fox, and a fox knows his way about."</p> + +<p>Hassan Pasha rubbed his hands delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," continued Olaj Beg, "imagine not, my good general, that +because this woman is now in thy hands thou wilt be able to keep her. +Sleeplessness will enter thy house as soon as thou hast admitted her +within thy doors. If it be hard to guard any woman, it will be +particularly hard to guard this one. The men and women of a whole +kingdom have sworn to set her free by force or fraud, and will use every +effort to do so. They will open thy bedroom doors with skeleton keys, +they will dig beneath thy cellars, they will strew sleeping powder in +thy evening potions, they will corrupt thy most faithful servants, and +if no other poison make any impression upon thee they will pour into thy +heart the most potent of all poisons, the tears of a supplicating woman. +I have brought the treasure, and I deliver it into thy hands. Allah +requites me for my pains by taking her from me. Thou art now her guard, +conceal her as best thou canst. Thy greatest worry will be that thou +canst not slay her, for indeed she were best hidden beneath the ground. +But thou art to see to it that she is delivered alive into the hands of +the Sultan's envoys, for shouldst thou kill her thyself be sure thou +wilt soon feel the silken cord around thine own neck. Meanwhile, peace +be with thee and to all who abide in the shadow of the Prophet!"</p> + +<p>With these words Olaj Beg stepped into the adjoining room, and leading +in the Princess, placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> her hand in the hand of Hassan; then he raised +his eyes to Heaven.</p> + +<p>"Allah is my witness," said he, "that I have delivered her and her child +into thy hands!"</p> + +<p>In the first moment Hassan Pasha was amazed at the woman's loveliness, +and thought with regret that it was necessary for his own safety that +she must die.</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg, however, had yet another piece of good advice to impart, and, +with that object, drew nigh to him to whisper in his ear; but, as if his +courage failed him at the last moment, he delivered his sentiments in +the Arabic tongue.</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst guard this woman best if thou tookest her child from her +and locked it up separately. The mother certainly would not escape +without the child."</p> + +<p>The Princess Ghyka did not understand these words, but she saw how the +old fox indicated her little one with a glance and with what a greedy +look Hassan regarded it; and she pressed the child all the closer to her +bosom as she saw him come a step closer. The unhappy woman trembled when +she saw Hassan smile upon the child like a hungry wolf would smile if he +encountered it on his path. She guessed from their play of feature the +terrible idea which the two men were discussing in a foreign tongue, and +in her despair cast her eyes upon Azrael, as if hoping that she would +find a response to her agony in a woman's heart.</p> + +<p>The odalisk pretended she had not observed the look, as if those present +were not worthy of the slightest attention from her; when, however, +Hassan gratefully embraced the Beg for this fresh piece of advice, +Azrael intervened with a peculiar smile.</p> + +<p>"Thou dost act like one who, bending beneath the weight of a burden too +heavy for him, would pass it on to his neighbour."</p> + +<p>Hassan looked at his favourite damsel inquiringly, while Olaj Beg, who +was unaccustomed to hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> women talk at all when men were holding +counsel together, looked back with offended surprise over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Azrael reclined lazily back upon her cushions, and swung one leg over +her knee as she conversed with the two men.</p> + +<p>"Worthy Hassan," said she, "thou wouldst make two troubles out of one, +if thou didst separate thy captives; while thou keepest thine eye on one +of them, they will steal away the other behind thy back."</p> + +<p>Hassan cast a troubled look upon Olaj Beg, who stroked his long white +beard and smiled.</p> + +<p>"If thou dost permit thy damsels to ask questions, thou must needs +answer them," said he.</p> + +<p>At these words Azrael leaped from her place and boldly approached the +two men, her flaming black eyes measured the Beg from head to foot, and +when she spoke it was with a determined, startling voice.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Hassan—yes, I say, thou shouldst listen to me before all +thy friends just because I am a woman. A man can only give advice, but a +woman loves, and before a man thinks of danger a woman already sees it +coming from afar, and while a man may grow into a crafty old fox, a +woman is born crafty. Hassan knows very well that of all those who wear +a mask of friendship for him, there is but one on whom he can absolutely +rely, whose love all the treasures in India can as little destroy as +they can lull her hatred asleep, who watches over him while he sleeps, +and if she sleeps is dreaming of his destiny—that person am I."</p> + +<p>Hassan confirmed the words of the damsel by throwing his arm round her +shoulders and drawing her towards him.</p> + +<p>"If this woman requires a sleepless, uncorruptible guardian," continued +Azrael, "I will be that guardian. Make for us a long chain, and let one +end of it be fastened to my arm and the other to her girdle. Thus the +slave will be chained to the jailer, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> sleeping or waking, will be +unable to escape from me. I shall be a good janitor. I will not let her, +or her child, out of my hands."</p> + +<p>The damsel accompanied these words with such an infernal smile that Olaj +Beg involuntarily edged away from her; while Hassan was enchanted by +this noble specimen of loyalty. But Mariska's face was bright and +resigned again, for she understood from the words of the odalisk, +threatening as they were, that she and her child were not to be +separated, and to all else she was indifferent.</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg drew the folds of his caftan over his lean, dry bosom, and +after peering at the two women, remarked to Hassan:</p> + +<p>"'Tis well thou canst trust a woman to look after a woman."</p> + +<p>With that he backed out of the room, blessing all four corners of it as +he went, and in the gateway distributed with great condescension to +every one of the servants who had done anything for him some money +ingeniously twisted up in pieces of paper (which, by the way, were found +to contain a half-penny each when at last unfolded), and sitting in his +mat-covered carriage, gave strict orders to the coachman not to look +back till he saw the citadel of Buda.</p> + +<p>But Hassan the same hour sent for his goldsmith, and bade him prepare +immediately a silver chain, four yards long, with golden shackles at +each end, for Azrael and Mariska. The goldsmith took the measure of the +hands of the two damsels, and brought in the evening a chain made of +beaten silver, whose shackles were fastened by masterly-constructed +padlocks, which Hassan himself fastened on the hands of the damsels, +thrusting the key which opened the padlocks into his girdle, which he +tapped a hundred times a day to discover whether it was still there or +not. Then he dismissed the pair of them into Azrael's dormitory. Mariska +endured everything—the chain, the shame, and rough words<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>—for the +privilege of being able to embrace her child. She lay down content on +the carpets as far from Azrael as the chain would permit it, and folding +her hands above the baby's innocent head, prayed with burning devotion +to the God of mercy, and calmly went to sleep holding the child in her +arms.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>A little beyond midnight the child began softly wailing. At the first +sound of its crying Mariska awoke, and as she moved her hand the chain +rattled. Azrael was instantly alert.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou had evil dreams?" inquired the odalisk of Mariska; "the +rattling of the chain aroused me."</p> + +<p>"The weeping of my child awoke me," said Mariska softly; and drawing the +little one to her bosom, as it embraced its mother's beautiful velvet +breast with its chubby little finger, and drank from the sweetest of all +sources the draught of life, the young mother gazed upon it with +unspeakable joy, smiled, laughed, caught the child's rosy little fingers +in her mouth, and implanted resounding kisses on its rosy, chubby +cheeks. She had no thought at that moment for chain and dungeon.</p> + +<p>Azrael felt in her heart the torments of the demons—it was that +jealousy which those who are rocked in the lap of happiness feel at the +sight of a luckless wretch who is happier than they are in spite of all +his wretchedness.</p> + +<p>"Wherefore dost thou rejoice?" she asked, gazing upon the lady with the +eyes of a serpent.</p> + +<p>"Because my child is with me."</p> + +<p>"But the whole world has abandoned thee."</p> + +<p>"It is more to me than the whole world."</p> + +<p>"More than thy husband?"</p> + +<p>Mariska reflected for a moment, and then, instead of replying, hugged +the child still closer to her bosom and imprinted a kiss upon its +forehead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>"Wert thou ever a mother?" she asked Azrael in her turn.</p> + +<p>"Never," stammered the odalisk, and involuntarily her bosom heaved +beneath a sigh.</p> + +<p>It was plain from the face of Mariska how much she pitied this poor +woman. Azrael perceived the look, and it wounded her that she should be +pitied.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not know that both of you must die?" she asked with a +darkened countenance.</p> + +<p>"I am ready."</p> + +<p>"And art thou not terrified at the thought? They will strangle thy child +with a silken cord, and hang it dead upon thy breast, and then they will +strangle thee likewise, and put you both in the grave, in the cold +earth."</p> + +<p>"We shall see each other in a better world," said Mariska with fervent +devotion.</p> + +<p>"Where?" inquired the astounded Azrael.</p> + +<p>Mariska, with holy confidence, raised her little one in her arms, and, +lifting her eyes, said: "God will take us unto Himself."</p> + +<p>"And what need hath God of you?"</p> + +<p>"He is the Father of those who suffer, and in the other world He rewards +those who suffer grief here below."</p> + +<p>"And who told thee this?"</p> + +<p>Mariska, as one inspired, placed her hand upon her heart and said: "It +is written here!"</p> + +<p>Azrael regarded the woman abashed. Truly, many mysterious words are +written in the heart, why cannot everyone read them? She also had +listened to such mystic voices, but they were words shouted in a desert, +in her savage breast there was no manner of love which could interpret +their meaning.</p> + +<p>Mariska again put down her child on the edge of the cushion.</p> + +<p>"Place not thy child there," cried Azrael impatiently; "it might easily +fall, place it between us!"</p> + +<p>Mariska accepted the offer, and placed the little one between herself +and Azrael.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>When the first ray of dawn penetrated the large window Mariska awoke, +and, folding her hands together above the head of the little child, +again began to pray.</p> + +<p>Azrael looked on darkly.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou never pray?" said Mariska, turning towards her.</p> + +<p>"Why should women pray? Their destiny is not in their own hands. Their +fate depends upon their masters; if their masters are happy, they are +happy also; if their masters perish, they perish with them. This is +their earthly lot—and that is all. Allah never gave them a soul—what +have they to do with the life beyond this? In Paradise the Houris take +their places and the Houris remain young for ever. The breath of a woman +vanishes with the autumn mist like the fumes of a dead animal, and Allah +has no thought for them."</p> + +<p>Mariska, with only half intelligible sorrow, looked at this woman who +wished to seem worse than she really was.</p> + +<p>Azrael crept closer up to her.</p> + +<p>"And dost thou really believe that there is someone who listens to what +the worms say, to what the birds twitter, and to what women pray?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied the young Christian woman; "turn to Him, and thou +wilt feel for thyself His goodness."</p> + +<p>"How can it be so? Why should He pay any attention to me?"</p> + +<p>"It is not enough I know to clasp thy hands and close thy eyes. Thy +petition must come straight from thy heart, and thy soul must believe +that it will gain its desire."</p> + +<p>Azrael's face flushed red. Hastily she cast herself down on her knees on +the carpet, and pressing her folded hands to her bosom, stammered in a +scarce audible voice:</p> + +<p>"God! grant me one moment in my life in which I can say: I am happy."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>Her eyes were still closed when the door of the dormitory opened, and +Hayat, the oldest duenna of the harem, entered with an air of great +secrecy. She was now a shrivelled up bundle of old bones, but formerly +she had been the first favourite of Hassan Pasha, and now she was the +slave and secret confidante of all the favourites in turn.</p> + +<p>Azrael leaned towards her, perceiving from the face of the duenna that +she brought some message for her; whereupon the latter advanced and, +looking around in case anyone should be lurking there, whispered some +words in Azrael's ear.</p> + +<p>On hearing these words the odalisk leaped from her seat with a face +flushed with joy, while unspeakably tender tears trembled in her eyes. +Her hands were involuntarily pressed against her heaving bosom, and her +lips seemed to murmur some voiceless prayer.</p> + +<p>Some great unusual joy had come upon her, some joy which she had always +longed but never dared to hope for. Scarce able to restrain herself she +turned towards her comrade, who, after listening to her, gazed +wonderingly at her and pressed her hand, exclaiming in a voice of strong +conviction: "Then it is true, our prayer has indeed been heard!"</p> + +<p>Azrael began merrily putting on her garments, and helped Mariska also to +dress; then she sent the duenna with a message to Hassan. She must go +again to the mosque of the old dervish to pray, for she had been +dreaming of Hassan.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards Hassan himself came to her, took from her arm the golden +shackle which fastened the chain that bound her to Mariska, and, +ordering her palanquin to be brought up to the door, sent her away to +the old dervish; while, seizing the end of the Princess's chain, he led +her, together with her child, into his own apartments and there sat down +on his cushions, drawing his rosary from his girdle and mumbling the +first prayers of the naáma, constantly holding in his hand the end of +the Princess's chain.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>The Vizier had of late been much given to prayer, for since the lost +battle not a soul had come to visit him. The envoys of the Sultan, the +country petitioners, the foreign ministers, the begging brotherhoods, +all of them had avoided his threshold as if he were dead.</p> + +<p>The first day he was painfully affected by this manifestation, but on +the second day he commanded the door-keepers to admit none to his +presence. Thus, at any rate, he could make himself believe that if +nobody came to visit him it was by his express command.</p> + +<p>He knew right well that a sentence of death had been written down and +that this sentence was meant for one of two persons, either the Princess +or himself, where their two shadows mingled a double darkness was cast, +and Israfil, the Angel of Death, stood over them with a drawn sword.</p> + +<p>Hassan knew this right well, and he pressed in his hand convulsively the +silver chain to which his prisoner was attached, that prisoner whom he +regarded as the ransom for his own life.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE</span></h2> + + +<p>After that melancholy scene, when the ladies of Transylvania vainly drew +tears and blushes from the faces of their husbands, a ray of hope still +remained in one heart alone. It was pretty Aranka Béldi, who, when +everyone else's eyes were full of tears, could whisper words of +encouragement to her unhappy friend, and who, when everyone else +abandoned her, embraced her last of all, and said to her with firm +conviction: "Fear not, we will save you!"</p> + +<p>The youths of Transylvania also said: "Fear not, we will save you!" but +Fate flung the dice blindly, the marked men in ambush captured only the +escort, not the captive, and had all their fine trouble for nothing.</p> + +<p>Aranka Béldi, however, begged her father to let her go to Gernyeszeg to +visit her friend Flora Teleki, and there the two noble young damsels +agreed together to write two letters to acquaintances in Hungary. One of +them wrote to Tököly, the other to Feriz Beg, and when the letters were +ready, they read to each other what they had written. Flora's letter to +Tököly was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"The fact that <i>I</i> write these lines to you shows the +desperate position I am in, when I have to hide my +blushes and apply to him whom of all men I ought to +avoid. But it is a question of life and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> death. Do you +recollect the moment when, in the castle of Rumnik, +you saw three maids embrace each other, of whom I was +one? We then swore friendship and good fellowship to +each other. One of the three at the present moment +stands at the brink of death; I mean Mariska Sturdza, +whose misfortunes cannot be unknown to you, and this +is not the first mode of deliverance which we have +attempted—but the last. Your Excellency is a powerful +and magnanimous man, who has great influence with the +Sultan, and where one expedient fails, you can employ +another. I have always pictured your Excellency to +myself as a valiant and chivalrous cavalier, and from +what I know of the respect which all honourable +persons of my acquaintance have for your Excellency, I +have the utmost confidence that the unfortunate +Princess of Moldavia will not wait in vain for +deliverance. Do what you can, and may I add to the +esteem in which you are held the fervent blessings of +a heart which sincerely prays for your Excellency's +welfare.</p> + +<p class="sig">"Flora Teleki."</p></div> + +<p>Flora's calculations were most just. Tököly, in those days, stood high +in the favour of the Sultan, was on terms of intimacy with all the +pashas and viziers, and very frequently a casual word from him had more +effect than other people's supplications. And Flora showed a fine +knowledge of character when she appealed to the magnanimity of the very +man who had so grievously offended her, feeling certain that just for +that very reason, although Tököly might not recognise the force of his +former obligations, he would be magnanimous enough instantly to grant a +favour to the lady who asked him for it, especially as the woman to be +liberated had been the original cause of their separation.</p> + +<p>Aranka kissed her friend over and over again when she had read this +letter, and then she suddenly grew sad.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>"Oh, <i>my</i> letter is not nearly so pretty, I am ashamed to show it to +you."</p> + +<p>Flora looked at her friend with gentle bashfulness as Aranka handed over +her letter, and blushed like a red rose all the time she was perusing +it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Noble-hearted Feriz!</span></p> + +<p>"When we were both children you maintained that you +loved me (here she inserted within brackets: 'like a +sister,' and a good thing for her that she did put +these three words in brackets). If you still recollect +what you said, now is the time to prove it. My dearest +friend, Mariska Sturdza, is at Buda, a prisoner in the +hands of Hassan Pasha. My only hope of her deliverance +depends on you. I have heard such splendid things of +you. If you see her, for whom I now implore you, with +a sad face and tearful eyes, think how I should look +if I were there, and if you give her back to me, and I +can embrace her again, and look into her smiling eyes, +then I will think of you, too.</p> + +<p class="sig">"Aranka Béldi."</p></div> + +<p>The girls entrusted these letters to faithful servants, sending the +first letter to Temesvár, where Tököly was then residing, and the second +to Feriz Beg, who, as we know, lay ill at Buda.</p> + +<p>The news first reached Tököly at supper-time. On receiving the letter +and reading it through, he at once put down his glass, girded on his +sword, and telling his comrades that he was about to take a little +stroll, he mounted his horse and vanished from the town.</p> + +<p>Feriz was lying half-delirious on his carpet. His health mended but +slowly, as is often the case with men of strong constitutions, and the +tidings of the smallest disaster which befell the Turks threw him into +such a state of excitement that a relapse was incessantly to be feared, +so that at last they would not allow any messages at all to be brought +to him, for even when they brought good news to him he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> always managed +to look at them from the worst side, so that news of any kind was +absolute poison to him. At last his Greek physician made it a rule to +read every letter addressed to his patient beforehand; and if it +contained the least disturbing element, he let Feriz know nothing at all +about it. What especially annoyed Feriz were any letters from women, and +these were simply sent back.</p> + +<p>Thus Aranka's letter might very easily have had the fate of being +suppressed altogether had it not been entrusted to Master Gregory Biró, +a shrewd and famous Szekler courier, whose honourable peculiarity it was +to go wherever he was sent, and do whatsoever he was told, be the +obstacles in the way what they might. If he had been told to give +something to the Sultan of Turkey, he would have wormed his way to him +somehow—all inquiries, all threats would have been in vain; he would +have insisted on seeing and speaking to him if his head had to be cut +off the next moment.</p> + +<p>One day, then, worthy Gregory Biró appeared before the kiosk of Feriz +Beg and asked to be admitted.</p> + +<p>At these words a Moor popped out, and, seizing him by the collar, +conducted him to a room where a half-dressed man was standing before a +fire cooking black potions in all sorts of queer-shaped crooked glasses. +The Moor presented Gregory to the doctor as another messenger.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" he asked, venomously regarding him from over his +shoulder, and treating him to the most terrifying grimace he could think +of.</p> + +<p>"Gregory Biró," replied the Szekler, nodding his head twice as was his +custom.</p> + +<p>"Gregory, Gregory, what do you want here?"</p> + +<p>"I want to see Feriz Beg."</p> + +<p>"I am he; what have you brought?"</p> + +<p>Gregory twisted his mug derisively at these words, and immediately +reflected that the business was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> beginning badly, for the person before +him did not in the least resemble Feriz Beg as described to him.</p> + +<p>"I have brought a letter—from a pretty girl."</p> + +<p>"Give it to me quickly, and be off."</p> + +<p>Gregory twisted round his short jacket that he might get at his +knapsack; but while he was fumbling inside it he was cute enough to +extract the contents of the letter from its cover, and only handed the +empty envelope to the doctor.</p> + +<p>"'Tis well, Gregory, now you may go," said he gently, and without so +much as opening the envelope he thrust it into the fire and held the +blazing paper under a retort which he wanted to warm.</p> + +<p>"Is that the way they read letters here?" asked Gregory, scratching his +head, and he crept to the door; but there he stopped, and while half his +body remained outside he thrust his arm up to the elbow into the long +pocket of his <i>szüre</i>,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> drew from thence a diamond-clasp, and holding +it between two fingers cried: "Look! I found this ring on the road not +far from here, perchance Feriz Beg has lost it."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">17</span></a> Sheepskin mantle.</p></div> + +<p>The doctor took the splendid jewel, and feeling convinced that only a +nobleman could have lost such a thing, he said he would show it to Feriz +Beg immediately.</p> + +<p>"Ho! then you are not Feriz Beg after all!" cried the humorist.</p> + +<p>The doctor burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"Gregory! Gregory! don't jest with me. I am the cook, and if I like you +I will let you stay to dinner."</p> + +<p>Gregory pulled a wry face at the sight of the doctor's stews.</p> + +<p>The doctor thereupon took in the diamond-clasp to Feriz Beg, after +bidding the Moor, whom he left behind him, not to drink anything out of +the glasses standing there, or it would make him ill.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards the doctor returned in great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> astonishment, planted +himself in front of Gregory with frowning eyebrows and roared at him in +a voice which alarmed even the Szekler:</p> + +<p>"Where did you get that jewel from?"</p> + +<p>"Where did I get it from?" said Gregory, shrugging his shoulders; he was +very pleased they wanted to frighten him.</p> + +<p>"Come, speak!—quick!"</p> + +<p>"Not now."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" snapped the doctor firmly.</p> + +<p>"Not to you, if you were to break me on the wheel."</p> + +<p>"I'll bastinado you."</p> + +<p>"Not if you impaled me, I say."</p> + +<p>"Gregory! If you anger me, I'll make you drink three pints of physic."</p> + +<p>"They are here, eh!" exclaimed Gregory, approaching the hearth, skipping +among the flasks of the doctor, and seizing one of them, but he had the +sense to choose alcohol, and dragging it from its case, sipped away at +it till there was not a drop of it left.</p> + +<p>"Leave a little in it, you dog!" yelled the doctor, snatching the flask +away from him, "don't drink it all!"</p> + +<p>"I'll drink up the whole shop, but speak I won't unless I like."</p> + +<p>The doctor perceived that he had met his match.</p> + +<p>"Then will you speak before Feriz Beg?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I'll speak the whole truth then."</p> + +<p>So there was nothing for it but to open Feriz Beg's door before Gregory +and shove him inside.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg was sitting there on a couch, a feverish flush was burning +upon his pale face; he still held the jewel in his hand, and his eyes +were fastened upon it; just such a similar clasp he had given to Aranka +Béldi when they were both children together.</p> + +<p>"How did you come by this jewel?" inquired Feriz in a soft, mournful +voice.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>"She to whom you gave it gave it to me that you might believe she sent +me to you."</p> + +<p>At these words Feriz Beg arose with flashing eyes.</p> + +<p>"She sent you to me! She! So she remembers me! She thinks of me +sometimes, then."</p> + +<p>"She sent you a letter through me."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg stretched out a tremulous hand.</p> + +<p>"Where is the letter?"</p> + +<p>"I flung it into the fire," interjected the doctor.</p> + +<p>"How dared you do that?" exclaimed Feriz angrily.</p> + +<p>But the doctor was not afraid.</p> + +<p>"I am your doctor, and every letter injures your health."</p> + +<p>"Panajot! you are an impertinent fellow!" thundered Feriz, with a face +of inflamed purple; and he smote the table such a blow with his fist +that all the medicine bottles tumbled off it.</p> + +<p>"Don't be angry, sir!" said Gregory, twisting his moustache at both +ends, while Panajot coolly swept together the fragments of the broken +bottles and boxes on the floor; "the worthy man did not burn the letter +but only the envelope. I had gumption enough not to entrust the inside +of it to him."</p> + +<p>And with these words he drew from his pouch a letter written on all four +sides of the sheet and handed it to Feriz, who before reading it covered +with kisses the lines traced by that dear hand, while Master Panajot +looked at Gregory in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Go along, you old fox, Gregory," said he; "next time you come, I'll +throw <i>you</i> into the fire to boot."</p> + +<p>But Gregory, highly delighted, feasted his eyes on the youth's face all +the time he was reading the letter.</p> + +<p>As if his soul had changed within him, as if he had passed from the +troubles of this world to the joys of Paradise, every feature of the +youth's face became smiling and joyful. The farther he read the brighter +grew his eyes; and when he came to the last word he pressed the leaf to +his heart with an expression of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> the keenest rapture, and held it there +a long time, closing his eyes as if in a happy dream, as if he had shut +them to see no other object when he conjured up her image before his +mind.</p> + +<p>Master Panajot was alarmed, fancying some mischief had happened to the +invalid, and turned upon Gregory with gnashing teeth:</p> + +<p>"What infernal document have you brought along with you, Gregory?"</p> + +<p>Feriz meanwhile smilingly nodded his head as if he would thank some +invisible shape, and whispered softly:</p> + +<p>"So it shall be, so it shall be."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you feel bad, my master," said the doctor.</p> + +<p>Feriz looked up, and his face had grown quite round.</p> + +<p>"I?—I feel very well. Take your drugs from my table, and bring me wine +and costly meats dear to the eyes and mouth. I would rejoice my soul and +my palate. Call hither musicians, and open wide my gate. Pile flowers +upon my windows, I would be drunk with the fragrance of the flowers that +the breeze brings to me."</p> + +<p>Panajot fancied that the invalid had gone out of his mind, and yet full +of the joy of life he rose from his couch, laid aside his warm woollen +garment, put on instead a light silk robe, wound round his head a turban +of the finest linen instead of the warm shaggy shawl, and he who had +hitherto been brooding and fretting apathetically, had suddenly become +as light as a bird, paced the room with rapid steps, with proudly +erected face, from which the livid yellow of sickness had suddenly +disappeared, and his eyes sparkled like fire.</p> + +<p>Panajot could not account for the change, and really believed that the +patient had fallen into some dangerous paroxysm and in this persuasion +bawled for all the members of the negro family. The old Egyptian +door-keeper, a young Nubian huntsman, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> Chinese cook, trampling upon +each other in their haste, all rushed into the room at his cry.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg, with boyish mirth, stopped them all before the doctor could +say a word.</p> + +<p>"Thou, Ali," he said to the old door-keeper, "go to the mosque and cast +this silver among the poor that they may give thanks to Allah for my +recovery. And thou, O cook! prepare a dinner for twelve persons, looking +to it that there is wine and flowers and music; and thou, my huntsman, +bring forth the fieriest steed and put upon him the most costly +wrappings; and ye others, take this worthy doctor and lock him up among +his drugs that he may not get away, and call hither all my friends and +acquaintances, and tell them we will celebrate the festival of my +recovery."</p> + +<p>The servants with shouts of joy fulfilled the commands of Feriz. First +of all they shoved good Panajot into his drug-brewing kitchen, and then +they dispersed to do their master's bidding.</p> + +<p>Feriz then took the hand of the Szekler who had brought the message and +shook it violently, saying to him in a loud firm voice:</p> + +<p>"Thou must remain with me till I have accomplished thy mistress's +commands. For she has laid a command upon me which I must needs obey."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the ostlers had brought forward the good charger. It was a +fiery white Arab, ten times as restless as usual because of its long +rest; not an instant were its feet still. Two men caught it by the head +and were scarce able to hold it, its pink, wide open nostrils blew forth +jets of steam, and through its smooth white mane could be seen the ruddy +hue of the full blood.</p> + +<p>The unfortunate Panajot poked his head through the round window of his +laboratory, and from thence regarded with stupefaction his whilom +invalid bestride the back of the wild charger, that same invalid who, if +anyone knocked at his door an hour or two before, complained that his +head was bursting.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>The charger pranced and caracolled and the doctor with tears in his eyes +besought the bystanders if they had any sense of feeling at all not to +let the Beg ride on such a winged griffin. They only laughed at him. +Feriz flung himself into the saddle as lightly as a grasshopper. The two +stablemen let go the reins, the steed rose up erect on his hind legs and +bucked along as a biped for several yards. Then the Beg struck the sharp +stirrups into its flank, and the steed, snorting loudly, bowed its head +over its fore-quarters and galloped off like lightning.</p> + +<p>The doctor followed him with a lachrymose eye, every moment expecting +that Feriz would fall dead from his horse; but he sat in the saddle as +if grown to it, as he had always been wont to do. When the road +meandered off towards the fortress he turned into it and disappeared +from the astonished gaze of those who were looking after him.</p> + +<p>A few moments later the horseman was in the courtyard of the fortress. +He demanded an interview with the general, and was told that he was +receiving nobody. He applied therefore to his favourite eunuch instead. +He arrived at the fortress with a full purse, he quitted it with an +empty one; but he now knew everything he wanted to know, viz., that +Hassan had entrusted the captive Princess to Azrael; that the two girls +were tied by the hands to one chain; that he greatly feared someone +would come and filch the Princess from him; that he got up ten times +every night to see whether anyone had stolen into the palace; and that +since Mariska had been placed in his hands he had drunk no wine and +smoked no opium, and would eat of no dish save from the hands of his +favourite damsel.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg knew quite enough. Again he mounted his horse and galloped +back to his kiosk, taking the neighbouring mosque on his way, on +reaching which he called from his horse to the old dervish, who +immediately appeared in answer to his summons.</p> + +<p>"Tell her who was wont to visit me in thy stead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> that I want to see and +speak to her early to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>And with that he threw some gold ducats to the dervish and galloped off.</p> + +<p>The dervish looked after him in astonishment, and picking up the ducats, +instantly toddled off to the fortress, prowled about the gate all night, +met Hajat at early dawn, and gave her the message for Azrael.</p> + +<p>This was the joyful tidings which the odalisk had received in response +to her first prayer, and which had made her so happy.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Next morning she ordered her servants to admit none but the old dervish, +and to close every door as soon as he had entered.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards, Azrael with her retinue of servants arrived at the +mosque, and a few moments after she had disappeared behind the trellised +railings the form of the old dervish appeared in the street, hobbling +along with his crutch till he reached the kiosk. Feriz Beg perceived him +through the window, and sent everyone from the room that he might remain +alone with him.</p> + +<p>The dervish entered, closed the door behind him, let down the +tapestries, took off his false beard and false raiment, and there before +Feriz—tremulous, blushing, and shamefaced—stood the odalisk.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast sent for me," she stammered softly, "and behold—here I am!"</p> + +<p>"I would beg something of thee," said Feriz, half leaning on his elbow.</p> + +<p>"Demand my life!" cried the odalisk impetuously, "and I will lay it at +thy feet!" and at these words she flung herself at the foot of the divan +on which the youth was sitting.</p> + +<p>"I ask thee for nothing less than thy life. Once thou saidst that thou +didst love me. Is that true now also?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>"Is it not possible to love thee, and yet live?"</p> + +<p>"Say then that I might love thee if I knew thee better. Good! I wish to +know thee."</p> + +<p>The damsel regarded the youth tremblingly, waiting to hear what he would +say to her.</p> + +<p>The youth rose and said in a solemn, lofty voice:</p> + +<p>"In my eyes not the roses of the cheeks, or the fire of the eyes, or +bodily charms make a woman beautiful, but the beauty of the soul, for I +recognise a soul in woman, and she is no mere plaything for the pastime +of men. What enchants me is noble feeling, self-sacrifice, loyalty, +resignation. Canst thou die for him whom thou lovest?"</p> + +<p>"It would be rapture to me."</p> + +<p>"Canst thou die for her whom thou hatest in order to prove how thou dost +love?"</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," said Azrael hesitating.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt understand immediately. There is a captive woman in Hassan's +castle who is entrusted to thy charge. This captive woman must be +liberated. Wilt <i>thou</i> liberate her?"</p> + +<p>At these words Azrael's heart began to throb feverishly. All the blood +vanished from her face. She looked at the youth in despair, and said +with a gasp:</p> + +<p>"Dost <i>thou</i> love this woman?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose that I love her and thou dost free her all the same."</p> + +<p>The woman collapsed at the feet of Feriz Beg, and embracing his knees, +said, sobbing loudly:</p> + +<p>"Oh, say that thou dost not love her, say that thou dost not know her, +and I will release her—I will release her for thee at the risk of my +own life."</p> + +<p>The reply of Feriz was unmercifully cold.</p> + +<p>"Believe that I love her, and in that belief sacrifice thyself for her. +This night I will wait for her wherever thou desirest, and will take her +away if thou wilt fetch her. It was thy desire to know me, and I would +know thee also. Thou art free to come or go as thou choosest."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>The odalisk hid her tearful face in the carpets on the floor, and +writhed convulsively to the feet of Feriz, moaning piteously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Feriz, thou art merciless to me."</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst not be the first who had sacrificed her life for love."</p> + +<p>"But none so painfully as I."</p> + +<p>"And art thou not proud to do so, then?"</p> + +<p>At these words the woman raised a pale face, her large eyes had a +moonlight gleam like the eyes of a sleep-walker. She seized the hand of +Feriz in order to help herself to rise.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am proud to die for thee. I will show that here—within +me—there is a heart which can feel nobly—which can break for that +which it loves, for that which kills it—that pride shall be mine. I +will do it."</p> + +<p>And then, as if she wished to clear away the gathering clouds from her +thoughts, she passed her hand across her forehead and continued in a +lower, softer voice:</p> + +<p>"This night, when the muezzin calls the hour of midnight, be in front of +the fortress-garden on thy fleetest horse. Thou wilt not have to wait +long; there is a tiny door there which conceals a hidden staircase which +leads from the fortress to the trenches. I will come thither and bring +her with me."</p> + +<p>Feriz involuntarily pressed the hand of the girl kneeling before him, +and felt a burning pressure in his hand, and when he looked at the young +face before him he saw the smile of a sublime rapture break forth upon +her radiantly joyful features.</p> + +<p>Azrael parted from Feriz an altogether transformed being, another heart +was throbbing in her breast, another blood was flowing to her heart, +earth and heaven had a different colour to her eyes. She believed that +the youth would love her if she died for him, and that thought made her +happy.</p> + +<p>But Feriz summoned Gregory Biró, and having recompensed him, sent him +back to his mistress with the message:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>"Thy wish hath been accomplished."</p> + +<p>So sure was he that Azrael would keep her word—if only she were alive +to do so.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Hassan Pasha waited and waited for Azrael. If the odalisk was not with +him he felt as helpless as a child who has strayed away from its nurse. +In the days immediately following the lost battle, the shame attaching +to him and his agonized fear for his life had quite confused his mind; +and the drugs employed at that time, combined with restless nights, the +prayers of the dervishes, the joys of the harem and opium, had completed +the ruin of his nervous system. If he were left alone for an hour he +immediately fainted, and when he awoke it was in panic terror—he gazed +around him like one in the grip of a hideous nightmare. For some days he +would leave off his opium, but as is generally the case when one too +suddenly abandons one's favourite drug, the whole organism threatened to +collapse, and the renunciation of the opium did even more mischief than +its enjoyment.</p> + +<p>When Azrael rejoined him he was asleep, the chain by which he held the +Princess had fallen from his hand and when he awoke there was a good +opportunity of persuading him that Mariska had escaped from him while he +slept.</p> + +<p>Hassan looked long and blankly at her, it seemed as if he would need +some time wherein to rally his scattered senses sufficiently to +recognise anyone. But Azrael was able to exercise a strange magnetic +influence over him, and he would awake from the deepest sleep whenever +she approached him.</p> + +<p>Azrael sat down beside the couch and embraced the Vizier, while Mariska, +with tender bashfulness, turned her head away from them; and Hassan, +observing it, drew Azrael's head to his lips and whispered in her ear:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>"I have had evil dreams again. Hamaliel, the angel of dreams, appeared +before me, and gave me to understand that if I did not kill this woman, +he would kill me. My life is poisoned because she is here. My mind is +not in proper order. I often forget who I am. I fancy I am living at +Stambul, and looking out of the window am amazed that I do not see the +Bosphorus. This woman must die. This will cure me. I will kill her this +very day."</p> + +<p>Mariska did not hear these words, all her attention was fixed upon the +babbling of her child; and Azrael, with an enchanting smile, flung +herself on the breast of the Vizier, embracing his waggling head and +covering his face with kisses, and the smile of her large dark eyes +illuminated his gloomy soul.</p> + +<p>Poor Hassan! He fancies that that enchanting smile, that embrace, those +kisses are meant for him, but the shape of a handsome youth hovers +before the mind of the odalisk, and that is why she kisses Hassan so +tenderly, embraces him so ardently, and smiles so enchantingly. She +fancies 'tis her ideal whom she sees and embraces.</p> + +<p>Ah, the extravagances of love!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN.</span></h2> + + +<p>Azrael had felt afraid when Hassan said: "I must kill this woman +to-day." A fearful spectre was haunting the mind of the Vizier; he must +be freed from this spectre, and made to forget it.</p> + +<p>So Azrael devised an odd sport for the man on the verge of imbecility.</p> + +<p>The seven days had passed during which Hassan had forbidden that anyone +should be admitted to his presence, and it occurred to Azrael that in +the ante-chamber crowds of brilliant envoys, and couriers, and +supplicants were waiting, all eagerly desirous of an audience, many of +them with rich gifts; others came to render homage, others with joyful +tidings from the seat of war; whilst one of them had come all the way +from the Grand Vizier with a very important message from the Sultan +himself.</p> + +<p>Hassan's stupid mind brightened somewhat at these words, a fatuously +good-natured smile lit up his face.</p> + +<p>"Let them come in, let them appear before me," he said joyfully to the +girl; "and remain thou beside me and introduce them to me one by one; +thine shall be the glory of it."</p> + +<p>But in reality none was awaiting an audience in the ante-room, there +were no splendid envoys there, no humble petitioners, no agas, no +messengers, none but the Vizier's own slaves.</p> + +<p>But these Azrael dressed up one by one to look like splendid magnates, +village magistrates, and soldiers;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> put sealed letters, purses, and +banners in their hands, and placing Hassan in the reception-room on a +lofty divan, sat down with the Princess on stools at his feet, and +ordered the door-keepers to admit the disguised slaves one by one.</p> + +<p>The mockery was flagrant, but was there among them all any who dared to +enlighten Hassan? Who would undertake to undeceive him when a mere nod +from Azrael might annihilate before the Vizier could realise that they +were making sport of him? It was a fleet-winged demon fooling a sluggish +mammoth with strength enough to crush her but with no wings to enable it +to get at her, and the rabble always takes the part of the mocker, not +of the mocked, especially if the former be lucky and the latter unlucky.</p> + +<p>The loutish slaves came one by one into the room, and Hassan turned his +face towards them, remaining in that position while Azrael told him who +they were and what they wanted.</p> + +<p>"This is Ferhad Aga," said the odalisk, pointing at a stable-man, "who, +hearing of thy martial prowess in all four corners of the world has come +hither begging thee with veiled countenance to include him among thy +armour-bearers."</p> + +<p>Hassan most graciously extended his hand to the stable-man and granted +him his petition.</p> + +<p>Azrael next presented to Hassan a cook from a foreign court, who, +dressed in a large round mantle of cloth of silver, might very well have +passed for a burgomaster of Debreczen, and whose shoulders bent beneath +the weight of two sacks of gold and silver from Hassan's own treasury.</p> + +<p>"This is the magistrate of the city of Debreczen," said the odalisk, +"who hath brought thee a little gift in the name of the municipality, +with the petition that when thou dost become the Pasha of Transylvania +thou wilt not forget them."</p> + +<p>Hassan smiled at the word money, had the sacks placed before him, thrust +his arms into them up to his very wrists with great satisfaction, had +their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> contents emptied at his feet, and dismissed the envoy with a +hearty pressure of the hand.</p> + +<p>And now followed a negro, who brought some recaptured Turkish banners +from the bed of a river which did not exist, in which the Turks had +drowned the whole army of Montecuculi.</p> + +<p>Hassan was now in such a weak state of mind that he no longer recognised +his own people in their unwonted garments, and the more extraordinary +the things reported to him the more readily he believed them.</p> + +<p>And so Azrael kept on exhibiting to him envoys, couriers, and captains +till, at last, it came to the turn of the envoy of the Grand Vizier, +whose part the odalisk had entrusted to a clever eunuch who had been +instructed to present to Hassan a sealed firman, which Azrael was to +read because Hassan could not see the letters. It was to the effect that +Hassan was to endeavour to preserve the life of the captive Princess, as +the Grand Vizier himself intended in a few days to take her over alive.</p> + +<p>When thus it seemed good to Azrael that the most striking scene of the +whole game should begin she exclaimed in a loud voice to the +door-keepers:</p> + +<p>"Admit the ambassador of the Grand Vizier with the message from the +Sublime Padishah!"</p> + +<p>The guards drew back the curtains and in came—Olaj Beg!</p> + +<p>"Truly I must needs admit," said he turning towards the odalisk, who +stood there petrified with fear and amazement, "truly I must admit that +thou art blessed with the faculty of seeing through walls and reading +fast-closed letters, for thou hast announced me before I appeared +officially and thou hast seen the firman hidden in my bosom before I +have had time to produce it."</p> + +<p>Azrael arose. She felt her blood throbbing in her brain for terror. At +that moment she had that keen sensation of danger when every atom of the +body—heart, brain, hands, and the smallest nerve—sees, hears, and +thinks.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>"Thou hast brought the firman of the Sultan?" she inquired of Olaj Beg +with wrapt attention.</p> + +<p>"Thou knowest also what is written in it, O enchantress!" said Olaj, in +a tone of homage, "therefore ask not."</p> + +<p>There was something in the yellow face of Olaj Beg which made him most +formidable, most menacing at the very time when he seemed to be utterly +abject in his humility.</p> + +<p>"What doth the Sublime Sultan command?" inquired Hassan, gazing +abstractedly in front of him.</p> + +<p>"That thou prepare a scaffold in the courtyard of thy palace by +to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"For whom?" inquired Hassan in alarm. It was curious that it was he who +trembled at this word, and not the Princess.</p> + +<p>"That is the secret of to-morrow. Thou shalt break open and read this +firman to-morrow, in it thou wilt find who is to die to-morrow."</p> + +<p>At these words Olaj Beg looked at the faces of all who were present, as +if he would read their innermost thoughts, but in vain. He recognised +none of those on whom his eyes fell. Although many of them seemed to be +great men he could not remember meeting any of them in the Empire of the +Grand Turk; and the face of Azrael was as cold and motionless as marble, +he could read nought from that.</p> + +<p>But Azrael had already read the sealed firman through the eyes of Olaj +Beg.</p> + +<p>She had read it, and it said that if by to-morrow morning the Princess +was not set free then the scaffold would be erected for her, but if she +had escaped, then it would be raised for Hassan and for whomsoever had +set her free.</p> + +<p>"I must hasten to set her free," she thought.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH.</span></h2> + + +<p>The Angel of Death had already spread his wings over the palace of +Hassan. It was already known that on the morning of the morrow someone +of those who now dwelt beneath that roof would quit the world—only the +name of the condemned mortal was not pronounced.</p> + +<p>Till late at evening the carpenters were at work in front of the palace +gates, and every nail knocked into the fabric of the scaffold was +audible in the rooms. When the structure was ready they covered it with +red cloth, and placed upon it a three-legged chair and by the side of +the chair leaned a bright round headsman's sword. A gigantic Kurd then +mounted the scaffolding, and stamped about the floor with his big feet +to see whether it would break down beneath him. The chair was badly +placed, he observed it, put it right and shook his head while he did so. +To think that people did not understand how to set a chair! Then he +stripped his muscular arms to the shoulder, took up the sword in his +broad palm and tested the edge of it, running his fingers along the +blade as if it were some musical instrument and could not conceal his +satisfaction. Then he made some sweeping blows with it, and as if +everything was now in perfect order, he leaned it against the chair +again and descended the ladder like a man well content with himself.</p> + +<p>The hands of Hassan Pasha trembled unusually when that evening he locked +the golden padlocks on the hands of Azrael and Mariska. A hundred times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +he tapped the key hidden in his girdle to convince himself that it had +not fallen out.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he left the two women alone than he came back to them again +to ascertain whether he had really locked their hands together, for he +had forgotten all about it by the time he had reached the door.</p> + +<p>Then he came back a second time, looked all round the room, tapped the +walls repeatedly, for he was afraid or had dreamt that there was another +door somewhere which led out of the room. However, he convinced himself +at last that there was not. Then he went to the window and looked out. +There was a fall of fifteen feet to the bastions, and the ditch below +was planted with sharp stakes; all round the room there was nothing +whatever which could serve as a rope. The curtains were all of down and +feathers; the dresses were of the lightest transparent material; the +shawls which formed Azrael's turban and were twisted round her body were +the finest conceivable; and the garments the odalisk actually wore were +of silk, and so light that they stuck to the skin everywhere.</p> + +<p>Azrael saw through the mind of the Vizier.</p> + +<p>"Why dost though look at me?" she exclaimed aloud so that he trembled +all over; "thou dost suspect me. If thou fearest this woman whom thou +hast confided to me, take and guard her thyself."</p> + +<p>"Azrael," said Hassan meekly, "be not angry with me, at least not now."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast never suspected me, then?"</p> + +<p>"Have I not always loved thee? If even thou didst want my life would I +not trust it with thee?"</p> + +<p>"Then wander not about the room so. Go and rest!"</p> + +<p>"Rest to-night? The Messenger of Death stands before the door."</p> + +<p>"What care I about the Messenger of Death? I know <i>when</i> I am going to +die! And <i>till</i> then I will not lower my eyes before Death."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>"And when will Hassan die?" asked the Vizier, seizing the hand of his +favourite and watching eagerly for her answer with parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt survive me a day and no longer," said Azrael. There was a +tremulousness in the intonation of her voice. She felt that what she +said was true.</p> + +<p>The tears trickled from Hassan's face, and he covered it with his hands.</p> + +<p>Then the imbecile old man kissed the robe of the odalisk again and +again, and folding her in his ardent embrace, actually sobbed over her. +And he kept on babbling:</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt die before me?"</p> + +<p>"So it is written in the book of the Future," said Azrael proudly; "so +long as thou seest me alive, have no fear of Death! But the sound of the +horn of the Angel of Death which summons me away will also be a signal +for thee to make ready."</p> + +<p>Hassan, having dried his tears, quitted Azrael's room, and on reaching +his own, sank down upon a divan, and was immediately overcome by sleep.</p> + +<p>When he had gone, Mariska knelt down before the bed on which her little +child was softly sleeping, and drawing a little ivory cross from her +breast, began to pray.</p> + +<p>Azrael touched her hand.</p> + +<p>"Pray not now, thou wilt have time to pray later."</p> + +<p>Mariska looked at her in wonder.</p> + +<p>"I? Are not the hours of my life numbered?"</p> + +<p>"No. Listen to my words and act accordingly. I will free thee."</p> + +<p>The Princess was astonished, she fancied she was dreaming.</p> + +<p>The odalisk now drew a small fine steel file from her girdle, and, +seizing the Princess's hand, began to file the chain from off it.</p> + +<p>After the first few rubs the sharp file bit deeply into the silver +circlet, but suddenly it stopped, and, press it as hard as she would, it +would bite the chain no more.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>"What is this? it won't go on. What is the chain made of? Even if it +were of steel, another steel would file it."</p> + +<p>Azrael hastily filed right round the whole of the link which Hassan's +smith had thought good to form of silver only on the outside, thinking +that the fraud would never be discovered, and behold, the hard +impervious substance which resisted the file was nothing but—glass.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Azrael, "all the better for us, the work will be quicker;" +and seizing an iron candlestick, she broke in pieces with a single blow +the whole of the glass chain which was only covered by a light varnish +of silver, only the two locked golden manacles remained in their hands.</p> + +<p>"We shall be ready all the sooner," she whispered to Mariska, "now we +must make haste and get you off."</p> + +<p>But Mariska still stood before her like one who knows not what is +befalling her.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou thought how we are to escape?" she inquired of Azrael. "The +guards of Hassan Pasha stand at every door, and all the doors have been +locked by his own hand. In front of the gates of the fortress the +sentinels have been doubled. I heard what commands he gave."</p> + +<p>"I have nought to do with doors or guards; we are going to escape +through the window."</p> + +<p>Mariska looked at Azrael incredulously; she fancied she had gone mad. +She could see nothing in the room by which they could descend from the +window, and below stood the thickly planted sharp stakes.</p> + +<p>"Help me to let down this gobæa ladder!" said Azrael, and quick as a +squirrel herself, she leaped on the edge of the great porcelain tub, and +thrust aside the vigorous shoots of the plant from its natural ladder +within, which grew right up to the roof and thence descended again to +its own roots.</p> + +<p>Mariska began to see that her companion knew what she was about. She +hastened to give her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> assistance, lowered the pliable trunk, and, +looking round to see if anyone was watching, bent the branches towards +the window.</p> + +<p>But still it was too short. The longest creepers only reached to the +edges of the palisade, and one could not count upon the green sprouts at +the end of the creepers. Even if the ladder which formed the flower were +attached to it, it would still not reach to the bottom of the trench.</p> + +<p>Azrael looked around the room to see if she could find anything. +Suddenly she had hit upon it.</p> + +<p>"Give me those scissors," she said to Mariska, and when the latter had +returned to her, the odalisk had already let down her flowing tresses. +Four long locks as black as night, reaching below her knee, the crown of +a woman's beauty which make men rejoice in her, were twining there on +the floor.</p> + +<p>"Give me the scissors!" she said to Mariska.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou cut off thy hair?" asked the Princess, holding back.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, what does it matter? It is wanted for the rope, and it will +be quite strong enough."</p> + +<p>"Rather cut off mine!" said Mariska. With noble emulation she took from +her head her small pearl haube, and loosened her own tresses, which, if +not so long and so full of colour, at least rivalled those of her +comrade in quantity.</p> + +<p>"Good; the two together will make the rope stronger," said Azrael; and +with that the two ladies began clipping off their luxurious locks one by +one with the little scissors. One marvellously beautiful tress after +another flowed from the head of the odalisk. When the last had fallen, a +tear-drop also followed it.</p> + +<p>Then she picked up the splendid tresses and began plaiting them together +into strong knots.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou ever have thought," said Azrael, "that the locks of thy +hair would be so intermingled?"</p> + +<p>Mariska gratefully pressed the hand of the odalisk.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>"How can I ever thank you for your goodness?"</p> + +<p>"Think not of it. Fate orders it so—and someone else," she muttered +softly.</p> + +<p>And now the attached ladder was long enough to reach the bottom of the +palisades. Then they pitched down all the pillows and cushions of the +divans till they covered the sharp stakes, so that their points might +not hurt the fugitives. Moreover, Azrael tied the tough shoots of the +gobæa to the cross piece of the window with the wraps of her turban and +girdle.</p> + +<p>"And now let me go first," said the odalisk, when all was ready; "if the +branches of the creeper do not break beneath me, then thou canst come +boldly after me, for thou and the child together are not heavier than I +am."</p> + +<p>The sky was dark and obscured by clouds; no one saw a white shape +descending from one of the black windows of the fortress down the wall, +lower and lower, till at last it got to the bottom and vanished in the +depths of the ditch.</p> + +<p>Mariska was waiting above there with a beating heart till the odalisk +had descended; a tug at the gobæa-rope informed her that Azrael was +already below, and Mariska could come after her.</p> + +<p>A supplicating sigh to God ascended from the anxious bosom of the +Princess at that supreme moment of trial; then she fastened to her +breast with the folds of her garment the little one, who, fortunately, +was still sound asleep, and stepping from the window entrusted herself +to the yawning abyss below.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, she had need of the most confident trust in God during this +hazardous experiment, for if the child had awoke, the Komparajis pacing +the bastions would have heard his tearful little wail at once, and it +would have been all over with the fugitives.</p> + +<p>Nothing happened. Mariska reached the ditch in safety, together with her +child. Azrael assisted her to descend, and then they began to creep +along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> among the trenches on the river's bank. It was not advisable to +clamber upon the trenches, as there they might have encountered a +sentinel at any moment.</p> + +<p>At last they came to the end of the ditch where two bastions joined +together, forming a little oblique opening, through which one could look +down on the town of Pesth.</p> + +<p>Before the little opening stood a Komparaji leaning on his long lance. +As his back was turned towards them, he did not notice the women, while +they started back in terror when they saw him. The man stood right in +front of the opening completely barring their way, and was gaping at +Pesth, facing the steep declivity.</p> + +<p>Azrael quickly caught Mariska's hand and whispered in her ear:</p> + +<p>"Remain here! Sit down with the child, and see that he does not make a +noise."</p> + +<p>And with that, quitting her companion and pressing against the wall of +the bastion, she slowly and noiselessly began creeping along behind the +back of the Komparaji.</p> + +<p>The sentinel remained standing there, as motionless as a statue, gazing +at the Danube flying in front of him, when suddenly, like the panther +leaping upon its prey, the odalisk leaped upon the Komparaji, and before +he had time to call out, pushed him so violently that he plunged over +into the abyss.</p> + +<p>Then quickly seizing Mariska's hand, the odalisk exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"And now forward quickly!"</p> + +<p>Like two spirits the forms of the women flitted across the bastions. In +Azrael's hand was the key of the castle garden; in a few moments they +reached the subterranean staircase, and when Azrael had locked the door +behind her she turned to Mariska and said:</p> + +<p>"Now thou canst pray, for thou art saved."</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>The report had already spread through the two towns that early at dawn +someone would be executed, and here and there people whispered that it +would be the Princess of Moldavia.</p> + +<p>The population living outside the town were able to give full reins to +their imagination, for the gates of the fortress, by Hassan Pasha's +command, were already locked fast at six o'clock in the evening, and +after that time nobody was allowed to enter out or in except the +sentinels outside, and these only by the Szombat gate.</p> + +<p>The later grew the hour the more numerous became the crowd assembled in +front of the gates thus unwontedly bolted and barred, consisting for the +most part of people who lived inside the town of every rank, who thus +waited patiently for the chance of reaching their houses again. Knocking +at the gates was useless, the guards had been ordered to take no notice +of such demonstrations.</p> + +<p>The darker grew the night, the more numerous became the throng before +the gate, and the more closely they pressed together the plainer it +became to them all that they would have to sleep outside.</p> + +<p>The largest concourse was in front of the Fejérvár gate, for that was +the chief entrance.</p> + +<p>It was already close upon midnight, when some dozen horsemen, in the +uniforms of Spahis, arrived at the gate, forcing their way through the +throng, led, apparently, by a handsome youth (it was too dark to +distinguish very clearly), who thundered at the gate with the butt-end +of his lance.</p> + +<p>"You may bang away at it till morning," said a cobbler of Buda, who was +lying prone, chawing bacon at his ease, "they won't let you in."</p> + +<p>"Then why are you all here?" cried the youth in the purest Hungarian.</p> + +<p>"Because they locked us out at six o'clock in the evening, and would not +let us in."</p> + +<p>"Why was that?"</p> + +<p>"They say that at dawn of day someone in the fortress is to be +executed."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>"Who is it?" said the youth, visibly affected.</p> + +<p>"Why, the Princess of Moldavia, of course."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that cannot be in any case," exclaimed the leader of the Spahis. "I +have just come from the Sultan, and I have brought with me his firman, +in which he summons her to Stambul; not a hair of her head is to be +crumpled."</p> + +<p>"Then it will be just as well, sir, if you try to get into the fortress, +for it may be you have come with the sermon after the festival is over, +and that letter may remain in your pocket if once they cut off her +head."</p> + +<p>The youth seemed for a moment to be reflecting, then, turning to those +who stood around, he said:</p> + +<p>"Through which gate do they admit the soldiers on guard?"</p> + +<p>"Through the Szombat gate."</p> + +<p>The youth immediately turned his horse's head, and beckoned to his +comrades to follow him.</p> + +<p>But at the first words he had uttered, a figure enwrapped in a mantle +had emerged from a corner of the gate, and when he began to talk about +the Princess and the firman, this figure, with great adroitness, had +crept quite close to him, and when he turned round had swiftly followed +him till, having made its way through the throng, it overtook him, and, +placing its hand on the horseman's knee, said in a low voice: "Tököly!"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" hissed the horseman, with an involuntary start, and bending his +head so that he might look into the face of his interlocutor, whereupon +his wonder was mingled with terror, and throwing himself back in his +saddle, he exclaimed: "Prince! can it be you?"</p> + +<p>For Prince Ghyka stood before him.</p> + +<p>"Could I be anywhere else when they want to kill my wife?" he said +mournfully.</p> + +<p>"Do not be cast down, there will be plenty of time till to-morrow +morning. I have plenty of confidence in my good star. When I really wish +for a thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> I generally get it even if the Devil stand in the opposite +camp against me, and never have I wished for anything so much as to save +Mariska."</p> + +<p>The Prince, with tears in his eyes, pressed the hand of the youth, and +did not take it at all amiss of him that he called his wife Mariska.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, you have brought the firman with you, and if you come +with the suite of the Sultan——"</p> + +<p>"Firman, my friend? I have not brought a bit of a firman with me, and +those who are with me are my good kinsfolk in Turkish costumes, worthy +Magyar chums everyone of them, who have agreed to help me through with +whatsoever I take it into my head to set about; but I have got something +about me which can make firmans and athnamés, and whatever else I may +require, whether it be the key of a dungeon, or a marshal's bâton, or a +prince's sceptre—a golden knapsack, I mean."</p> + +<p>"And what are you going to get with that?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. I will corrupt the sentinels so that they will let me into +the fortress; and once let me get in, and I'll either make Hassan Pasha +sell Olaj Beg, or Olaj Beg sell Hassan Pasha. If a good word be of no +avail I will use threats, and if my whole scheme falls through, Heaven +only knows what I won't do. I'll chop Hassan Pasha and his guards into a +dozen pieces, or I'll set the castle on fire, or I'll blow up the powder +magazine—in a word, I won't desist till I have brought out your +consort."</p> + +<p>"How can I thank you for your noble enthusiasm?"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't thank me, my friend; you must thank Flora Teleki, who is +your wife's friend, and expects this of me."</p> + +<p>"Then you are re-engaged?"</p> + +<p>"No, my friend. Helen is my bride. Ah, that is the only real woman in +the whole round world. I should be with her now if I were not engaged in +this business, and as soon as I have finished with it, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> pair of us +will give you a wedding the like of which has never yet been seen in +Hungary."</p> + +<p>The Prince sadly bowed his head. He means well, he thought, but there is +a very poor chance of his succeeding. The mercurial youth seems to have +no idea that within an hour he will be jeopardizing his head by engaging +in a foolhardy enterprise which runs counter to the whole policy of the +Turkish Empire. But Tököly's mind never impeded his heart. His motto +always was: "<i>Virtus nescia freni</i>."</p> + +<p>"Then what do you intend to do?" Tököly casually asked Ghyka, just as if +he considered it the most extraordinary thing in the world to find him +there.</p> + +<p>"I also want to save Mariska, and I have hopes of doing so," said the +Prince.</p> + +<p>"How? Tell me! Perchance we may be able to unite our efforts."</p> + +<p>"Scarcely, I think. My plan is simply to give myself up instead of my +wife. They would execute her for my fault; it is only right that I +should appear on the scaffold and take her place."</p> + +<p>"A bad idea!" exclaimed Tököly, "a stupid notion. If you deliver +yourself up, they will seize you as well as your wife and do for the +pair of you. I know a dodge worth two of that. Take horse along with us, +and let us make our way into the fortress sword in hand; we shall do +much more that way than if we went hobbling in on crutches. Luck belongs +to the audacious."</p> + +<p>"You know, Tököly, that I do not much rely on Turkish humanity; and I am +quite prepared, if I deliver myself up, for them to kill both me and +her; but at least we shall die together, and that will be some +consolation."</p> + +<p>"It is no good talking like that," cried the young Magyar impatiently. +"Stop! A good idea occurs to me. Yes, and it will be better if you come +with us and we all act in common. We will say openly at the gate that we +bring with us the fugitive Prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> of Moldavia as a captive. At the mere +rumour of such a thing they will instantly admit us, not only into the +fortress, but into the presence of Hassan likewise. The Pasha knows me +pretty well, and if I tell him that I bring you a captive, he will +believe me, or I'll break his head for him. He will be delighted to see +you. But I will not give you up. I am responsible for you, and must +mount guard over you. This will make it necessary to postpone the +execution, for we shall have to write to Stambul that the husband has +fallen into our hands, and inquire whether the wife is to be sacrificed, +and we shall have time to elope ten times over before we get a reply."</p> + +<p>The Prince hesitated. If this desperate expedient had been a mere joke, +Tököly could not have spoken of it with greater nonchalance. The Prince +gave him his hand upon it.</p> + +<p>"The only question now is: which is the easiest way into the fortress. +Let us draw near the first sentinel whom we find on the bridge or in the +garden and wait until they change guard."</p> + +<p>The horsemen thereupon surrounded the Prince as if he was their captive, +and escorted him along the river's bank.</p> + +<p>It was late. On the black surface of the Danube rocked the shapeless +Turkish vessels, their sails creaking in the blast of the strong south +wind.</p> + +<p>It was scarce possible to see ahead at all, nevertheless the little band +of adventurers, constantly pushing forward, kept looking around to see +where the sentinels were, keeping very quiet themselves that they might +catch the watchword.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a cry was heard, but a cry which ended abruptly, as if the +mouth from which it proceeded had been clapped to in mid-utterance.</p> + +<p>On reaching the walls of the palace garden, however, one of them +perceived that an armed figure was standing in the little wicket gate.</p> + +<p>"There's the sentinel!" said Tököly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>"The rascal must certainly be asleep to let us come right up to him +without challenging us," said Tököly; and he approached the armed man, +who still stood motionless in the gate, and addressed him in the Turkish +tongue:</p> + +<p>"Hie, Timariot, or whoever you are! Are you guarding this gate?"</p> + +<p>"You see that I am."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you challenge those who approach you?"</p> + +<p>"That's none of my business."</p> + +<p>"Then what is your business?"</p> + +<p>"To stand here till I am relieved."</p> + +<p>"And when will they relieve you?"</p> + +<p>"Any time."</p> + +<p>"Does the relief watch come by this gate?"</p> + +<p>"Not by this gate."</p> + +<p>"And by which gate can one get into the fortress?"</p> + +<p>"By no gate."</p> + +<p>"You give very short answers, my friend, but we must get at Hassan Pasha +this very night without fail."</p> + +<p>"You must learn to fly then."</p> + +<p>"Don't joke with me, sir! I have very important tidings for the Vizier; +you may possibly find it easier to get into the fortress than we could. +You shall receive from me a hundred ducats on the spot if you inform the +Pasha that I, Emeric Tököly, bring with me as a captive the fugitive +Prince of Moldavia, and the Vizier himself will certainly reward you for +it richly."</p> + +<p>The Count had no sooner mentioned his name, and pointed at the captive +prince, than the Turkish sentinel quickly came forth from beneath the +archway, and Tököly and Ghyka, in astonishment, exclaimed with one +voice:</p> + +<p>"Feriz Beg!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, 'tis I. Keep still. You want to save Mariska, so do I."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>"So it is," said Tököly. "I promised the woman I do not love that I +would do it, and I will keep my promise. You need have no secrets from +us, for we shall require your assistance."</p> + +<p>"Your secrets are nought to me."</p> + +<p>The Prince listened with downcast head to the conversation of the two +young men; then he intervened, took their hands, and said with deep +emotion:</p> + +<p>"Feriz! Tököly! Once upon a time we faced each other as antagonists, and +now as self-sacrificing friends we hold each other's hands. I don't want +to be smaller than you. A scaffold has been put up in the courtyard of +the fortress of Buda, that scaffold awaits a victim, whoever it may be, +for the sword which the Sultan draws in his wrath will not remain +unsatisfied. That scaffold was prepared for my wife, you must let me +take her place. I am well aware that whoever liberates her must be +prepared to perish instead of her. Let me perish. You, Feriz, can easily +get into the fortress. Tell Hassan that the scaffold shall have the +husband instead of the wife—let him surrender the wife for the +husband."</p> + +<p>"Leave the scaffold alone, Prince. He who deserves it most shall get to +the scaffold."</p> + +<p>"Don't listen to the Prince!" said Tököly to Feriz; "he has lost his +head evidently, as he wants to make a present of it to Hassan. All I ask +of you is to let me into the fortress; once let me get inside, and no +harm shall be done. I was born with a caul, so good-luck goes with me."</p> + +<p>"Good. Wait here till the muezzin proclaims midnight, which will not be +long, I fancy, as the night is already well advanced; meanwhile, keep +your eye on those horsemen below there."</p> + +<p>The men fancied Feriz wanted to join the sentinels when the watch was +relieved, and taking him at his word, hid themselves and their horses +behind the lofty bank.</p> + +<p>The night was now darker than ever, only here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> and there a lofty star +looked down upon them from among the wind-swept clouds.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Hassan had a restless night. Horrible dreams awoke him every instant, +and yet he never wholly awoke, one phantom constantly supplanted the +other in his agitated brain.</p> + +<p>The raging blast broke open one of the windows and beat furiously +against the wall, so that the coloured glasses crashed down upon the +floor.</p> + +<p>Aroused by the uproar, and gazing but half awake at the window, he saw +the long curtain slowly approaching him as if some Dzhin were inside and +had come thither to terrify him.</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" cried Hassan in terror, laying his hand on his sword.</p> + +<p>It was no one. It was only the wind which had stiffened out the +curtains, expanding them like a banner and blowing gustily into the +room.</p> + +<p>Hassan seized the curtain, pulled it away from the window, fastened it +up by its golden tassels, and laid him down again. The wind returned to +torment him and again worried the curtain till it had succeeded in +unravelling the tassels, and again blew the curtain into the room.</p> + +<p>And then the tapestries of the door and the divans began fluttering and +flapping as if someone was tugging away at their ends, and the flame of +the night-lamp on the tripod flickered right and left, casting galloping +shadows on the wall.</p> + +<p>"What is that? Have the devils been let loose in this palace?" Hassan +asked himself in amazement.</p> + +<p>The closed doors jarred in the blast as if someone was banging at them +from the outside, and every now and then the bang of a window-shutter +would respond to the howling of the blast.</p> + +<p>Men have curious supernatural faculties through which their minds are +suddenly illuminated. At that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> moment the idea flashed through Hassan's +brain that, in the apartments of the wing beyond, a window must needs be +open, which was the cause of the unwonted current of air which fluttered +the curtains of his palace and made the doors rattle, and this window +could be none other than Azrael's, and if it were open, then the two +women must have escaped.</p> + +<p>At this horrible idea he quickly leaped out on to the floor, seized his +sword, which was lying at his bedside, and, bursting open the door, +rushed like a madman through all the apartments to Azrael's dormitory.</p> + +<p>At the instant of their escape Azrael had turned over the long divan and +placed it right across the room in such a way that one end of it was +jammed against the door, whilst the other end pressed against the wall, +so that when Hassan tried to open the door, he found it impossible to do +so.</p> + +<p>Everything was now quite clear to him.</p> + +<p>He called to nobody to open the door; he knew that they had escaped. In +the fury of despair he snatched a battle-axe from the wall and began to +break open the hard oaken door, so that the whole palace resounded with +the noise of the blows, and the guards and the domestics all came +running up together.</p> + +<p>Having beaten in the door at last, Hassan rushed into the room, cast a +glance around, and even <i>his</i> eyes could see that his slave had flown.</p> + +<p>Howling with rage he rushed to the window, and when he saw the dependent +branches of the gobæa, he beat his forehead with his fists and laughed +aloud as if something had broken loose inside him.</p> + +<p>"They have run off!" he yelled; "they have escaped, they have stolen +their lives, and they have stolen my life, too. Run after them into +every corner of the globe, pursue them, bring them back tied together, +tied together so that the blood may flow through their fingers. Oh, +Azrael, Azrael! How have I deserved this of thee?"</p> + +<p>And with that the old man burst into tears, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> perceiving the +odalisk's girdle on the window-frame, to which the plant was attached, +he took it down, kissed it hundreds of times, hid his tearful face in +it, and collapsed senseless on the floor.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>"Hasten, Princess, hasten!"</p> + +<p>The odalisk pressed her companion's hand, and dragged her down along the +bushy hillside. And now they had reached the hollow forming the entrance +to the underground passage which terminated at the gates of the garden +on the banks of the Danube.</p> + +<p>The odalisk had succeeded in filching the keys of the door of this +secret passage from Hassan. While she was trying which of the two it was +that belonged to the lock of the inner door, a cry resounded through the +stillness of the night. "Hassan!" exclaimed the two girls together. They +had recognised the voice.</p> + +<p>"They have discovered our escape," said Azrael.</p> + +<p>"Oh, God! do not leave me!" cried Mariska, pressing her hands together. +"My child!"</p> + +<p>Azrael quickly opened the grating door. It took a few moments, and +during that time a commotion was audible in the town, no doubt caused by +the cry of Hassan. Cries of alarm and consternation spread from bastion +to bastion, the whole garrison was aroused, and there was a confused +murmur within the fortress.</p> + +<p>"Let us hasten!" cried Azrael, quickly opening the door and dragging +after her the Princess into the blind-black corridor.</p> + +<p>At that moment a cannon-shot thundered from the fortress as an +alarm-signal.</p> + +<p>Mariska, at the sound of the shot, collapsed in terror at Azrael's feet, +and lay motionless in the corridor, still holding her child fast clasped +in her arms.</p> + +<p>"Hah! the woman has fainted," cried the odalisk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> in alarm; "we shall +both perish here," she cried in her despair.</p> + +<p>The din in the fortress grew louder every instant, from every bastion +the signal-guns thundered.</p> + +<p>"No, no, we must not perish!" exclaimed the heroine, and with a strength +multiplied by the extremity of the danger, she caught up the moaning +woman and child in her arms, and raising them to her bosom began making +her way with them along the covered corridor.</p> + +<p>Pitch darkness engulfed everything around them; the odalisk groped her +way along by the feel of the wet, sinuous walls, stumbling from time to +time beneath the burden of the dead weight in her arms, but at every +fresh shot she started forward again and went on without resting.</p> + +<p>Onwards, ever onwards!—till the last gasp! till the last heart-throb! +The awakened child also began to cry.</p> + +<p>Azrael's knees tottered, her bosom heaved beneath the double load, her +staring eyes saw nothing; and the world was as dark before her soul as +it was before her eyes.</p> + +<p>Heavy was the load upon her shoulder; but heavier still was the thought +in her heart that this woman whom she was saving at the risk of her own +life was the darling of him whom she loved herself, yet save her she +must, for she had promised to do so.</p> + +<p>At every step she felt her strength diminishing; with swimming head she +staggered against the wall, the steps seemed to have no end; if only she +could hold out till she reached the door with her, and then for a moment +might see Feriz Beg and hear from his lips the words: "Well done!"—then +Israfil, the Angel of Death might come with his flaming sword.</p> + +<p>For some time she had gathered from the hollower resonance of the steps +in the darkness that she was approaching the door; rallying her +remaining strength, she tottered forward a few paces with her load, and +when the latch of the door was already in her hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> her knees gave way +beneath her, and along with the Princess and the child, she fell in a +heap on the threshold, being just able to shove the key into the lock +and turn it twice.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Feriz Beg, with the Magyar nobles, plunged again beneath the shade of +the deep arch of the gate of the fortress garden and with wrapt +attention listened for the muezzin to proclaim midnight. It was then +that Azrael had said she would come.</p> + +<p>It never occurred to him that the woman could not come, so deeply had he +looked into her heart that he felt sure she would fulfil her promise.</p> + +<p>If only the muezzin would proclaim midnight from the mosque.</p> + +<p>At last a cry sounded through the stillness of the night, but it was not +the voice of the muezzin from the mosque, but Hassan's yell of terror +from the fortress window and the din which immediately followed it, +proclaiming that there was danger.</p> + +<p>Feriz's heart was troubled, but he never moved from the spot. He knew +right well what that noise meant. They had tried to help the Princess to +escape and her escape was discovered.</p> + +<p>"What is that noise?" asked the Prince apprehensively, sticking up his +head.</p> + +<p>Feriz did not want to alarm him.</p> + +<p>"It is nothing," he answered. "Some one has stolen away on the bastions, +perhaps, and they are pursuing him."</p> + +<p>Then the first cannon-shot resounded.</p> + +<p>Feriz, for the first time in his life, was agitated at the sound of a +cannon.</p> + +<p>"That is an alarm-signal," cried Tököly, drawing his sword.</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet!" whispered Feriz, "perhaps they are shooting at the people +who are thronging the gates."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the shots were repeated from every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> bastion; the tumult, +the uproar increased; a tattoo was beaten, the trumpets rang out and a +whole concourse of people could be seen running along the bastions with +torches and flashing swords in their hands.</p> + +<p>"They are pursuing someone!" cried the Prince, and unable to endure it +any longer, he leaped upon the bank.</p> + +<p>"I know not what it is," stammered Feriz, and a cold shudder ran through +his body.</p> + +<p>Ghyka grasped his sword, and would have rushed up the hill as if obeying +some blind instinct.</p> + +<p>"What would you do?" whispered Feriz, grasping the hand of the Prince, +and pulling him back by force under the gate.</p> + +<p>For a few moments they stood there in a dead silence, the tumult, the +uproar seemed to be coming nearer and nearer—if it were to overtake +them?</p> + +<p>"Hush!" whispered Feriz, holding his ear close to the door. He seemed to +hear footsteps approaching from within and the plaintive wail of a +child.</p> + +<p>A few moments afterwards there was a fumbling at the latch and a key was +thrust into the lock and twice turned. Feriz hastened to open the door +and the senseless forms of the two women fell at his feet.</p> + +<p>The youth quickly dragged the Prince after him, and recognising Mariska, +who still lay in the embrace of Azrael, he placed her in her husband's +arms together with the weeping child.</p> + +<p>"Here are your wife and child," said he, "and now hasten!"</p> + +<p>"Mariska!" exclaimed the Prince, beside himself; and embracing the child +whom he now saw for the first time, he kissed the rosy face of the one +and the pallid face of the other again and again.</p> + +<p>That voice, that kiss, that embrace awoke the fainting woman, and as +soon as she opened her eyes, she quickly, passionately, flung her arms +round her husband's neck while he held the child on his arm. No sound +came from her lips, all her life was in her heart.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>"Quick! quick!" Feriz whispered to them. "Get into this skiff. When you +get to the other side it will be time to rejoice in each other; till +then we have cause to fear, for the whole of the Buda side of the river +is on the alert. But I'll look after them here. On the other bank my +servant is awaiting you with the swift horses; mention my name, and he +will hand them over to you. On the banks of the Raab you will find +another of my servants with fresh relays. Choose your horses, and then +to Nógrád as fast as you can. Thence it will be easy to escape into +Poland. Do not linger. Every moment is precious. Forward!"</p> + +<p>With that he conducted the fugitives to the skiff which was ready +waiting for them, and at the bottom of which two muscular servants of +his were lying out of sight. These helped them in, Feriz undid the rope, +and at a few strokes of the oars they were already some distance from +the shore.</p> + +<p>Then only did Feriz breathe freely, as if a huge load had fallen from +his heart.</p> + +<p>"May they not pursue them?" inquired Tököly anxiously.</p> + +<p>"They may," returned Feriz; "but they cannot transport the horses in +boats, as the fugitives now sit in the only boat here; the bridge, too, +has been removed and they will hardly be able to build another in time +on such a night as this."</p> + +<p>The fugitives had now reached the middle of the Danube, when Mariska, +who had scarce been herself for joy and terror in her half-unconscious +state, suddenly bethought her of her companion who had saved her with +such incomprehensible self-sacrifice and energy, and standing up in the +skiff waved her handkerchief as if she would thereby make up for the +leave-taking which she had neglected in her joy and haste.</p> + +<p>"What are they doing?" cried Feriz angrily, seeing that they were +attracting attention in consequence.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the night was dark and the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> rushing down from the +bastions could not see the skiff making its way across the Danube; +presently its shape even began to vanish out of sight of the young eyes +that were watching it.</p> + +<p>Feriz looked up to the sky with a transfigured face. Two stars, close +together, looked down very brightly from amidst the fleeting clouds. Did +he not see Aranka's eyes in that twin stellar radiance?</p> + +<p>Tököly took the hands of the young hero and pressed them hard.</p> + +<p>"Once before we stood face to face," he said with a feeling voice, which +came from the bottom of his heart, "then I prevailed, now you prevail. +God be with you!"</p> + +<p>Then the young Count mounted his horse, and beckoning to his comrades, +galloped off in the direction of Gellérthegy.</p> + +<p>Feriz stood there alone on the shore with folded arms and tried to +distinguish once more the shape of the skiff already vanishing in the +darkness.</p> + +<p>Nobody thought of the poor odalisk who had saved them.</p> + +<p>All at once the youth felt the contact of a burning hand upon his arm. +Broken in mind and body, the odalisk dragged herself to his knees, and +seizing his hand drew it to her breast and to her lips. She could not +speak, she could only sob and weep.</p> + +<p>Feriz looked at her compassionately.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast done well," he said gently.</p> + +<p>The girl embraced the youth's knees, and it was well with her that he +suffered her to do so.</p> + +<p>"I thank thee for keeping thy word," said Feriz; "look now! that woman +was not my beloved. She has a husband who loves her."</p> + +<p>Indescribably sweet were these words to the damsel. In them she found +the sweetest reward for her sufferings and self-sacrifice. Then it was +not love after all which made Feriz save this woman through her!</p> + +<p>The uproar meanwhile was extending along the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> shore, the pursuers could +see that they were on the track of the fugitives.</p> + +<p>"We must be off," said Feriz; "wouldst thou like to come with me?"</p> + +<p>"Come with him!" What a thought was that for Azrael! To be able to live +under the same roof with him!</p> + +<p>Yet she answered: "I will not come."</p> + +<p>It occurred to her that if she were found with the dear youth he would +perish because of her. And besides, she knew that the invitation was due +not to love but to magnanimous gratitude.</p> + +<p>"I want to go over to the island," she said in a faint voice.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll help thee to find thy skiff," said the youth, extending his +hand to the odalisk to raise her up.</p> + +<p>She was still kneeling on the ground before him.</p> + +<p>She fixed upon him her large eyes swimming with tears, and whispered in +a tremulous voice:</p> + +<p>"Feriz! Thou wert wont to reward those damsels who sacrificed themselves +for thee, who died nobly and valiantly because they loved thee. Have not +I also won that reward?"</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg sadly lowered his head as if it afflicted him to think of the +significance of these words; then softly, gently, he bent over the +damsel, and drawing her lovely head towards him, pressed a warm, feeling +kiss on her marble forehead.</p> + +<p>The odalisk trembled with rapture beneath the load of that more than +earthly sensation of pleasure, and leaping up and stretching her arms to +Heaven, she whispered:</p> + +<p>"I am happy!—For the first time in my life. Now I may go—and die."</p> + +<p>Feriz, tenderly embracing her, led the damsel to her skiff. Then she +stopped suddenly, and leaning her head against the shoulder of the +youth, murmured in his ear:</p> + +<p>"When thou reachest thy kiosk, lie not down to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> sleep! Sit at thy window +and look towards the island in the direction of sunrise. The night will +be over ere long, and the dawn will come sooner than at other times. +When thou seest this portent think of me and say for me the prayer which +is used before the cold dawn, and say from thy heart: 'That woman does +penance for her sins!'"</p> + +<p>The odalisk felt two tear-drops falling upon her cheek. They fell from +the eyes of the youth.</p> + +<p>She could never feel happier in this world than she felt now.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later the skiff was flying over the rocking waves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE VICTIM.</span></h2> + + +<p>The Princess was saved, but she who had saved her was doomed.</p> + +<p>Along the banks of the rivers, and on the summits of the bastions, +alarm-beacons had been kindled announcing the flight of the fugitives. +It was late. On the shore the swift Arab horses of the pursuers were +racing with the wind. But the wind was not idle, but blew and raged and +fought with the foaming waves of the Danube, and tossed and pitched +about every little boat that lay upon it.</p> + +<p>There was only one skiff, however, that ventured to cross the Danube and +rise and fall with its billows, which were like the waves of the sea. A +white form stood stonily motionless in the boat, and the blast kept +twisting its soft garments round its body. The trembling boatman called +upon the name of Allah.</p> + +<p>"Fear not, when you carry me," Azrael said to him, and her eyes hung +upon a star which shone above her head, shining through the tatters of +the scurrying clouds.</p> + +<p>The skiff reached the shore of the Margaret island. The damsel got out, +and her last bracelet dropped from her hand into the hand of the +boatman.</p> + +<p>"Remember me, and begone."</p> + +<p>"Dost thou remain here?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Whither wilt thou go?"</p> + +<p>Azrael answered nothing, but pointed mutely to the sky.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>The boatman did not understand much about it; but, anyhow, he understood +that he could not give the damsel a lift up there, so he drew back his +canoe and departed.</p> + +<p>Azrael remained alone on the island, quite alone; for that day everyone +had been withdrawn by command of the Vizier; the damsels, the guards, +and the eunuchs had all migrated to the fortress, the paradise was empty +and uninhabited.</p> + +<p>Azrael strolled the whole length of the shore of the island. The mortars +were still thundering down from the fortress, the horsemen were still +shouting on the river's bank, the signal fires were blazing on the +bastions, the night was dark, the wind blew tempestuously and scattered +the leaves of the trees—but she saw neither the beacon fires, nor the +darkness; she heard neither the tumult of men nor the howling of the +blast; in her soul there was the light of heaven and an angelic harmony +with which no rumour, no shape of the outer world would intermingle.</p> + +<p>She came to the kiosk in the centre of the island. Wandering aimlessly +she had hit upon the labyrinthine way to it unawares. The sudden view of +the summer-house startled her, and it awoke a two-fold sensation in her +heart, it appealed equally to her memory and her imagination. She +bethought her of the resolve she had made on coming to the island. She +remembered that when she parted from the youth of her heart she had +said: "When thou comest to thy kiosk, do not lie down to sleep; sit down +at thy window, and look towards the island in the direction of the dawn. +This night will be soon over, and the dawn will dawn more quickly than +at other times. When thou seest it think of me and say for me the prayer +of direction for the departing."</p> + +<p>She reflected that the youth must now be sitting at the window, looking +towards the island, with his fine eyes weary of staring into the +darkness. She would not weary those fine eyes for long.</p> + +<p>She hastily opened the door with her silver key<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> and entered the hall. A +hanging lamp was burning in the room just as the servants had left it in +the morning. She drew forth a wax taper, and having lit it, proceeded to +the other rooms, which opened one out of another, and whose floors were +covered by precious oriental carpets, whose walls were inlaid with all +manner of woods brought from foreign countries, and covered with +tapestries, all splendid masterpieces of eastern art; the atmosphere of +the rooms was heavy with intoxicating perfumes.</p> + +<p>All this was frightful, abominable to her now. As she walked over the +carpets, it was as if she were stepping on burning coals; when she +inhaled the scented atmosphere, it was as though she were breathing the +corruption of the pestilence; everything in these rooms awoke memories +of sin and disgust in her heart—costly costumes, porcelain vases, +silver bowls, all of them the playthings of loathsome moments, whose +keenest punishment was that she was obliged to remember them.</p> + +<p>But they shall all perish. And if they all perish, if these symbols of +sin and the hundred-fold more sinful body itself become dust, then +surely the soul will remember them no more? Surely it will depart far, +far away—perchance to that distant star—and will be happy like the +others who are near to God and know nothing of sin, but are full of the +comfort of the infinite mercy of God, who has permitted them to escape +from hence?</p> + +<p>With the burning torch in her hand she went all through the rooms, +tearing down the curtains and tapestries, and piling them all on the +divan; and when she entered the last of the rooms she saw a pale white +figure coming towards her from its dark background. The shape was as +familiar to her as if she had seen it hundreds of times, although she +knew not where; and its face was so gentle, so unearthly—a grief not of +this world suffused its handsome features and the joy of heaven flashed +from its calm, quiet eyes—its hair clung round its head in tiny curls, +as guardian-angels are painted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>The damsel gazed appalled at this apparition. She fancied Heaven had +sent her the messenger of the forgiveness of her sins; but it was her +own figure reflected from a mirror concealed in the dark +background—that gentle, downcast, sorrowful face, those pure, shining +eyes she had never seen in a mirror before; the cut-off hair increased +the delusion.</p> + +<p>Tremblingly she sank on her knees before this apparition, and touching +the ground with her face, lay sobbing there for some time; and when she +again rose up, it appeared to her as if that apparition extended towards +her its snow-white arms full of pity, full of compassion; and when she +raised her hands to Heaven it also pointed thither, raising a face +transformed by a sublime desire. No, she could not recognise that face +as her own, never before had she seen it so beautiful.</p> + +<p>Azrael placed her hands devoutly across her breast and beckoned to the +apparition to follow her, and raising the curtain she returned into that +room where she had already raised a funeral pyre for herself.</p> + +<p>There, piled up together, lay cushions of cloth of gold, Indian +feather-stuffs, divans filled with swansdown, light, luxurious little +tables, harps of camphor-wood adorned with pearls, lutes with the +silvery voices of houris, a little basin filled with fine fragrant oils +composed from the aroma of a thousand oriental flowers; this she +everywhere sprinkled over the heaped-up stuff, and also saturated the +thick carpets with it, the volatile essence filled the whole atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Then she pressed her hand upon her throbbing heart, and said: "God be +with me!"</p> + +<p>And then she fired the heaped-up materials at all four corners, and, as +if she were ascending her bridal bed, mounted her cushions with a +smiling, triumphant face, and lay down among them, closing her eyes with +a happy smile.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the flames burst forth at all four corners, fed freely +by the light dry stuff, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> combining above her like a wave of fire, +formed a flaming canopy over her head. And she smiled happily, sweetly, +all the time. The air, filled with volatile oil, also burst into flame, +turning into a sea of burning blue; white clouds of smoke began to +gather above the pyre; the strings of the harp caught by the flames +burst asunder one by one from their burning frame, emitting tremulous, +woeful sounds as if weeping for her who was about to die. When the last +harp-string had burnt—the odalisk was dead.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>The night was now drawing to a close. Feriz Beg, quietly intent, was +sitting at the window of his kiosk, as he had promised the odalisk. He +had not understood her mysterious words, but he did as she asked, for he +knew instinctively that it was the last wish of one about to die.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as he gazed at the black waves of the Danube and the still +blacker clouds in the sky, he saw a bright column of fire ascend with +the rapidity of the wind from the midst of the opposite island, driving +before it round white clouds of smoke. A few moments later the flames of +the burning kiosk lit up the whole region. The startled inhabitants +gazed at the splendid conflagration, whose flames mounted as high as a +tower in the roaring blast. Nobody thought of saving it.</p> + +<p>"No human life is lost, at any rate," they said quietly; "the harem and +its guards were transferred yesterday."</p> + +<p>The wind, too, greatly helped the fire. The kiosk, built entirely of the +lightest of wood, was a heap of ashes by the morning, when Feriz, +accompanied by the müderris in his official capacity, got into a skiff +and were rowed across to the island. Not even a remnant of embers was to +be found, everything had been burnt to powder. Nothing was to be seen +but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> a large, black, open patch powdered with ashes. The fire had +utterly consumed the abode of sin and vice. Nothing remained but a black +spot. In the coming spring it will be a green meadow.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>In the afternoon of the following day we see a familiar horseman +trotting up to the gates of the fortress—if we mistake not, it is Yffim +Beg.</p> + +<p>All the way from Klausenburg he had been cudgelling his brains to find +words sufficiently dignified to soften the expression of the insulting +message which the Estates of Transylvania had sent through him to his +gracious master. On arriving in front of Hassan's palace he dismounted +as usual, without asking any questions, and gave the reins to the +familiar eunuchs that they might lead the horse to the stables.</p> + +<p>There was no trace of the scaffold that had been erected in front of the +gate the day before. Yffim Beg entered and passed through all the rooms +he knew so well, all the doors of which were still guarded by the +drabants of Hassan as of yore; at last he reached Hassan's usual +audience chamber, and there he found Olaj Beg sitting on a divan reading +the Alkoran.</p> + +<p>Yffim Beg gazed around him, and after a brief inspection, not +discovering what he sought, he addressed Olaj Beg:</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to Hassan Pasha," said he.</p> + +<p>Olaj Beg looked at him, rose with the utmost aplomb, and approached a +table on which was a silver dish covered by a cloth. This cloth he +removed, and a severed bloody head stared at Yffim Beg with stony eyes.</p> + +<p>"There he is—speak to him!" said Olaj Beg gently.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">OTHER TIMES—OTHER MEN.</span></h2> + + +<p>Great men are the greatest of all dangers to little States. There are +men born to be great generals who die as robber-chiefs. If Michael +Teleki had sat at the head of a great kingdom, his name perchance would +have ranked with that of Richelieu, and that kingdom would have been +proud of the years during which he governed it. It was his curse that +Transylvania was too small for his genius, but it was also the curse of +Transylvania that he was greater than he ought to have been.</p> + +<p>The Battle of St. Gothard was a painful wound to Turkish glory, and it +left behind it a constant longing for revenge, though a ten-years' peace +had actually been concluded; and presently a more favourable opportunity +than the prognostications of the Ulemas or the wisdom of the Lords of +Transylvania anticipated presented itself, an opportunity far too +favourable to be neglected.</p> + +<p>Treaty obligations had compelled the Kaiser to take part in the War of +the Spanish Succession against Louis XIV., and the Kaiser's enemies at +once saw that the time for raising their standards against him had +arrived. The war was to begin from Transylvania, and the reward dangled +before the Prince of Transylvania for his participation in this war was +what his ancestors had often but vainly attempted to gain in the same +way—the Kingdom of Hungary.</p> + +<p>It was, of course, a dangerous game to risk one kingdom in order to gain +another, for both might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> sacrificed. There was even a party in +Transylvania itself which was indisposed to risk the little Principality +for the sake of the larger kingdom, and though the most powerful arm of +this party, Dionysius Banfy, had been cut off, it still had two powerful +heads in Paul Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen.</p> + +<p>So one fine day at the Diet assembled at Fogaras, the Prince's guard +suddenly surrounded the quarters of Paul Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen, and +informed those gentlemen that they were State prisoners.</p> + +<p>What had they done? What crime had they committed that they should be +arrested so unceremoniously?</p> + +<p>Good Michael Apafi believed that they were aiming at the princely +coronet. This was a crime he was ready to believe in at a single word, +and he urged the counsellors who had ordered the arrest at once to put +the law into execution against the arrestants. But that is what these +gentlemen took very good care not to do. It was much easier to kill the +arrestants outright than to find a law which would meet their case.</p> + +<p>In those days worthy Master Cserei was the commandant of the fortress of +Fogaras, and the castle in which the arrestants were lodged was the +property of the Princess. As soon as Anna heard of the arrest she +summoned Cserei, and showing him the signet-ring on her finger, said to +him: "Look at that ring, and whatever death-warrant reaches you, if it +bears not the impression of that seal, you will take care not to execute +the prisoners; the castle is mine, so you have to obey my orders rather +than the orders of the Prince."</p> + +<p>The Prince and his wife then returned together to Fejérvár. On the day +after their arrival the chief men of the realm met together in council +at the Prince's palace, and it was Teleki's idea that only those should +remain to dinner who were of the same views as himself. So they all +remained at the Prince's till late in the evening, and thoroughly +enjoyed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> merry jests of the court buffoon, Gregory Biró, who knew no +end of delightful tricks, and swallowed spoons and forks so dextrously +that nobody could make out what had become of them.</p> + +<p>Apafi had not noticed how much he had drunk, for every time he had +filled his beaker from the flagon standing beside him, the flagon itself +had been replenished, so that he fancied he had drunk nothing from sheer +forgetfulness. But his face had got more inflamed and bloodshot than +usual, and suddenly perceiving that the chair next to his was empty, he +exclaimed furiously: "Who else has bolted? It is Denis Banfy who has +bolted now, I know it is. What has become of Denis Banfy, I say?"</p> + +<p>The gentlemen were all silent; only Teleki was able to reply:</p> + +<p>"Denis Banfy is dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead?" inquired Apafi, "how did he die?"</p> + +<p>"Paul Béldi formed a league against him and he was beheaded."</p> + +<p>"Béldi?" cried Apafi, rising from his seat in blind rage, "and where is +that man?"</p> + +<p>"He is in a dungeon at present, but it will not be long before he sits +on the throne of the Prince."</p> + +<p>"On the scaffold, you mean!" thundered Apafi, beside himself, in a +bloodthirsty voice, "on the scaffold, not the throne. I'll show that +crafty Szekler who I am if he raises his head against me. Call hither +the protonotarius, the law must be enforced."</p> + +<p>"The sentences are now ready, sir," said Nalaczi, drawing from his +pocket three documents of equal size; "only your signature is required."</p> + +<p>He was also speedily provided with ink and a pen, which they thrust into +the trembling hand of the Prince, indicating to him at the same time the +place on the document where he was to sign his name. The thing was done.</p> + +<p>"Is there any stranger among us?" asked Teleki, looking suspiciously +around.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>"Only the fool, but he doesn't count."</p> + +<p>The fool at that moment was making a sword dance on the tip of his nose, +and on the sword he had put a plate, and he kept calling on the +gentlemen to look at him—he certainly had paid no attention to what was +going on at the table.</p> + +<p>The three letters were three several commands. The first was directed to +Cserei, telling him to put the prisoners to death at once; the second +was to the provost-marshal, Zsigmond Boer, to the effect that if Cserei +showed any signs of hesitation he was to be killed together with the +gentlemen; the third was to the garrison of the fortress, impressing +upon them in case of any hesitation on the part of the provost to make +an end of him forthwith along with the others. All three letters, sealed +with yellow wax, were handed over to Stephen Nalaczi, who, placing them +in his kalpag, pressed his kalpag down upon his head and hastened +quickly from the room. He had to pass close to the jester on his way +out, and the fool, rushing upon him, exclaimed. "O ho! you have got on +my kalpag; off with it, this is yours!" and before Nalaczi had recovered +from his surprise he found a cap and bells on his head instead of a +kalpag.</p> + +<p>The magnate considered this jest highly indecent, and seized the jester +by the throat.</p> + +<p>"You scoundrel, you, where have you put my kalpag? Speak, or I'll +throttle you."</p> + +<p>"Don't throttle me, sir," said the jester apologetically, "for then you +would be the biggest fool at the court of the Prince."</p> + +<p>"My kalpag!" cried Nalaczi furiously, "where have you put it?"</p> + +<p>"I have swallowed it, sir."</p> + +<p>"You worthless rascal," roared Nalaczi, throttling the jester, "would +you play your pranks with me!"</p> + +<p>"Truly, sir, I shall not be able to bring it up again if you press my +throat like that."</p> + +<p>"Stop, I mean to search you," said Nalaczi; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> he began to tear up the +coat of the jester, whereupon the kalpag came tumbling out from between +its folds. "You clumsy charlatan," laughed Nalaczi, "well, you hid it +very well, I must say." Then he put on his kalpag again, in which were +all three letters well sealed with yellow wax, but he now hastened +outside as rapidly as possible in case the fool should spirit them away +again.</p> + +<p>The same night he galloped to Fogaras, though it cost him his horse to +get there, summoned Cserei, and giving him the letter addressed to him +said:</p> + +<p>"You, sir, are to execute this strict command to the very letter."</p> + +<p>The commandant took the letter, broke the seal, and then looked at the +magnate in amazement:</p> + +<p>"I know not, sir, whether you or I have been made a fool of—but there's +not a scrap of writing in this letter."</p> + +<p>Nalaczi incredulously examined the letter. It was a perfect blank. +Hastily he broke open the other two letters. In these also there was +nothing but the bare paper.</p> + +<p>The fool, while the nobleman was throttling him, had substituted blanks +for the letters sent, and sent the sentences the same evening to the +Princess, who thereby had discovered all that the Prince and his +councillors were doing.</p> + +<p>In the morning the Princess went to Apafi with the three sentences in +her hand, and reproached him for wanting to murder his ministers.</p> + +<p>The worthy Prince was amazed at seeing these orders signed by himself. +He knew nothing about it, and embracing his wife, thanked her for +watching over him and not allowing him to send forth such orders. As for +Nalaczi, the shame of the thing made it impossible for him to show +himself at Court, and he could only nourish a grudge against the fool.</p> + +<p>This accident greatly upset the worthy Prince, and he immediately rushed +to release the captives. First of all, however, they had to sign deeds +in which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> solemnly engaged not to seek to revenge themselves on +their accusers.</p> + +<p>Paul Béldi was wounded to the heart, but he regarded this calamity as a +just retribution for having been the first to sign the league<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> +against Denis Banfy; it was a weapon which now recoiled upon himself.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">18</span></a> See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book II., Chapter VII.</p></div> + +<p>But this private grief was the least of his misfortunes, for while Paul +Béldi and Nicholas Bethlen had been sitting in their dungeon the war +party had had a free hand, so that when the two gentlemen were released +they were astounded to learn from their partisans that only the sanction +of the Diván was now necessary for a rupture of the peace.</p> + +<p>Béldi perceived that to remain silent any longer would be equivalent to +looking on while the State rushed to its destruction. He immediately +assembled all those who were of the same opinion as himself—Ladislaus +Csaky, John Haller, George Kapy—and consulted with them as to the +future of the realm.</p> + +<p>Béldi opined throughout that the Prince should be spared, but he was to +be compelled to dismiss such councillors as Teleki, Székely, Mikes, and +Nalaczi, and form a new council of state. Kapy would have done more than +this. "If we want as much as that," said he, "it would be better to +declare ourselves openly; and if we draw the sword, we shall have no +need to petition, but can fight, and whoever wins let him profit by it +and become Prince."</p> + +<p>"No!" said Béldi, "I have sworn allegiance to the Prince, and though I +love my country, and am prepared to fight for it, yet I will never break +my oath. My proposition is that we assemble in arms at the Diet which is +convened to meet at Nagy-Sink, together with the Szekler train-bands, +and if we show our strength the Prince assuredly will not hesitate to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +change his counsellors, for I know him to be a good man who rather fears +than loves them."</p> + +<p>The gentlemen present accepted Béldi's proposition.</p> + +<p>"Then here I will leave your Excellencies," said Kapy, stiffly buttoning +his mente.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> "I am not afraid of war, for there I see my enemy before +me, and can fight him; but I do not like these armed appeals, for they +are apt to twist a man's sword from his hand and turn it against his own +neck."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">19</span></a> Fur pelisse.</p></div> + +<p>And he withdrew. The other gentlemen resolved, however, that they would +all arm their retainers. At a word from Béldi the armed Szeklers of +Háromszék, Csik, and Udvarhelyszék rose at once; they were ready at an +hour's notice to rise in obedience to the command of their +generalissimo.</p> + +<p>The news of this audacious insurrection reached Michael Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, who was beside himself with joy, well aware that Béldi was +not the sort of man who was likely to prevail in a civil war whilst the +contrary case would bring about his ruin, as he had now gone too far to +draw back again. He immediately hastened to the Prince and, arousing him +from his bed, told him that Béldi had risen against him, and so +terrified Apafi that he immediately got into his coach, and fled by +torchlight to Fogaras. Gregory Bethlen, Farkas, and the other +counsellors also took to their heels in a panic—only Teleki remained +cool. He knew the character of Béldi too well to be afraid of him.</p> + +<p>So the spark of ambition and rage was kindled in Paul Béldi's heart, and +for some days it looked as if he would be the master of Transylvania, +for nothing could resist him with the Szekler bands at his side, and all +the regular troops were scattered among the frontier fortresses.</p> + +<p>But Béldi thought it enough to show his weapons without letting them be +felt. Instead of a declaration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> of war he sent a manifesto full of +loyalty to the Prince, in which he assured his Highness that he had +taken up arms not against his Highness but in the name of the state; all +he demanded was that the counsellors of the Prince should be tried by +the laws of the realm.</p> + +<p>Whilst this wild missive was on its way, Teleki had had time to call +together the troops from the frontier fortresses, and send orders to +those of the Szeklers who had not risen to assemble under Clement Mikes +in defence of the Prince; and while Béldi awaited an attack, he +proceeded to take the offensive against him at once.</p> + +<p>One day Béldi was sitting in the castle of Bodola along with Ladislaus +Csáky, when news was brought them that Gregory Bethlen, with the army of +the Prince, was already before Kronstadt.</p> + +<p>"War can no longer be avoided," sighed Csáky.</p> + +<p>"We can avoid it if we lay down our arms," returned Béldi.</p> + +<p>"Surely you do not think of that?" inquired Csáky in alarm.</p> + +<p>"Why should I not? I will take no part in a civil war."</p> + +<p>"Then we are lost."</p> + +<p>"Rather we shall save thousands."</p> + +<p>The same day he ordered his forces to disperse and return home.</p> + +<p>The next day Gregory Bethlen sent Michael Vay to Bodola, who brought +with him the Prince's pardon.</p> + +<p>Csáky ground his teeth together. It occurred to him that he had got +Denis Banfy beheaded, yet he too had received a pardon, and he inquired +of Vay in some alarm: "Can we really rely on this letter of pardon?"</p> + +<p>Michael Vay was candid enough to reply: "Well, my dear brethren, though +you had a hundred pardons it would be as well if you courageously +resolved to quit Transylvania notwithstanding."</p> + +<p>Csáky gave not another moment's thought to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> matter, but packed up +his trunks, and while it was still daylight escaped through the Bozza +Pass.</p> + +<p>Béldi decided to remain; shame prevented him from flying.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Michael Vay told his wife and children of his danger and +they insisted, supplicating him on their knees, that he should hasten +away and save himself.</p> + +<p>"And what about you?" asked Béldi, looking at his tearful family.</p> + +<p>He had two handsome sons, and his daughter Aranka had grown up a lovely +damsel; she was the apple of her father's eye, his pride and his glory.</p> + +<p>"What about you?" he asked with a troubled voice.</p> + +<p>"You can more easily defend us at Stambul than here," said Dame Béldi; +and Béldi saw that that was a word spoken in season.</p> + +<p>That word changed his resolve, for, indeed, by seeking a refuge at the +Porte, he would be able to help himself and his family much more, and +perhaps even give a better turn to the fortunes of his country. There, +too, many of the highest viziers were his friends who had very great +influence in affairs.</p> + +<p>He immediately had his horse saddled, and after taking leave of his +family with the utmost confidence, he escaped through the Bozza Pass the +same night with an escort of a few chosen servants into Wallachia, where +he found many other fugitive colleagues, and with them he took refuge at +the Porte—then the highest court of appeal for Transylvania.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE DIVÁN.</span></h2> + + +<p>The gates of the seraglio were thrown wide open, the discordant, +clanging, and ear-piercing music was put to silence by a thundering roll +of drums, and twelve mounted cavasses with great trouble and difficulty +began clearing a way for the corps of viziers among the thronging crowd, +belabouring all they met in their path with stout cudgels and rhinoceros +whips. The indolent, gaping crowd saw that it was going to be flogged, +yet didn't stir a step to get out of the reach of the whips and +bludgeons.</p> + +<p>The members of the Diván dismounted from their horses in the courtyard +and ascended the steps, which were guarded by a double row of +Janissaries with drawn scimitars, the blue and yellow curtains of the +assembly hall of the Diván were drawn aside before them, and the +mysterious inner chamber—the hearth and home of so much power and +splendour, once upon a time—lay open before them.</p> + +<p>It was a large octagonal chamber without any of those adornments +forbidden by the Koran; its marble pavement covered by oriental carpets, +its walls to the height of a man's stature inlaid with mother-o'-pearl. +Along the walls were placed a simple row of low sofas covered with red +velvet and without back-rests, behind them was a pillared niche +concealing a secret door where Amurath was wont to listen unperceived to +the consultations of his councillors.</p> + +<p>Through the parted curtains passed the members of the Council of the +Diván. First of all came the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> Grand Vizier, a tall, dry man with rounded +projecting shoulders; his head was constantly on the move and his eyes +peered now to the right and now to the left as if he were perpetually +watching and examining something. His brown, mud-coloured face wore an +expression of perpetual discontent; every glance was full of scorn, +rage, and morbid choler; when he spoke he gnashed his black teeth +together through which he seemed to filter his voice; and his face was +never for an instant placid, at one moment he drew down his eyebrows +till his eyes were scarce visible, at the next instant he raised them so +that his whole forehead became a network of wrinkles and the whites of +his eyes were visible; the corners of his mouth twitched, his chin +waggled, his beard was thin and rarely combed, and the only time he ever +smiled was when he saw fear on the face of the person whom he was +addressing; finally, his robes hung about him so slovenly that despite +the splendid ornaments with which they were plastered he always looked +shabby and sordid.</p> + +<p>After the Grand Vizier came Kiuprile, a full-bodied, red-faced Pasha, +with a beard sprawling down to his knees; the broad sword which hung by +his side raised the suspicion that the hand that was wont to wield it +was the hand of no weakling; his voice resembled the roar of a buffalo, +so deep, so rumbling was it that when he spoke quietly it was difficult +to understand him, while on the battle-field you could hear him above +the din of the guns.</p> + +<p>Among the other members of the Diván there were three other men worthy +of attention.</p> + +<p>The first was Kucsuk Pasha, a muscular, martial man; his sunburnt face +was seamed with scars, his eyes were as bright and as black as an +eagle's; his whole bearing, despite his advanced age, was valiant and +defiant; he carried his sword in his left hand; his walk, his pose, his +look were firm; he was slow to speak, and rapid in action.</p> + +<p>Beside him stood his son, Feriz Beg, the sharer of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> his father's dangers +and glory, a tall, handsome youth in a red caftan and a white turban +with a heron's plume.</p> + +<p>Last of all came the Sultan's Christian doctor, the court interpreter, +Alexander Maurocordato, a tall, athletic man, in a long, ample mantle of +many folds; his long, bright, black beard reaches almost to his girdle, +his features have the intellectual calm of the ancient Greek type, his +thick black hair flows down on both shoulders in thick locks.</p> + +<p>The viziers took their places; the Sultan's divan remains vacant; +nearest to it sits the Grand Vizier; farther back sit the pashas, agas, +and begs.</p> + +<p>"Most gracious sir," said Maurocordato, turning towards the Grand +Vizier, "the poor Magyar gentlemen have been waiting at thy threshold +since dawn."</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier gazed venomously at the interpreter, protruding his +head more than ever.</p> + +<p>"Let them wait! It is more becoming that they should wait for us than we +for them."</p> + +<p>And with that he beckoned to the chief of the cavasses to admit the +petitioners.</p> + +<p>The refugees were twelve in number, and the chief cavasse, drawing aside +the curtains from the door of an adjoining room, at once admitted them. +Foremost among them was Paul Béldi, the others entered with anxious +faces and unsteady, hesitating footsteps; he alone was brave, noble, and +dignified. His gentle, large blue eyes ran over the faces of those +present, and his appearance excited general sympathy.</p> + +<p>Only the Grand Vizier regarded him with a look of truculent +indifference—it was his usual expression, and he knew no other.</p> + +<p>"Fear not!—open your hearts freely!" signified the Grand Vizier.</p> + +<p>Béldi stepped forward, and bowed before the Grand Vizier. One of the +Hungarians approached still nearer to the Vizier and kissed his hand; +the others were prevented from doing the same by the interven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>tion of +Maurocordato, who at the same time beckoned to Béldi to speak without +delay.</p> + +<p>"Your Excellencies!" began Béldi, "our sad fate is already well-known to +you, as fugitives from our native land we come to you, as beggars we +stand before you; but not as fugitives, not as beggars do we petition +you at this moment, but as patriots. We have quitted our country not as +traitors, not as rebels, but because we would save it. The Prince is +rushing headlong into destruction, carrying the country along with him. +His chief counsellor lures him on with the promise of the crown of +Hungary in the hope that he himself will become the Palatine. Your +excellencies are aware what would be the fate of Hungary after such a +war. A number of the great men of the realm joined me in a protest +against this policy. We knew what we were risking. For some years past I +have been one of those who disapproved of an offensive war—we are the +last of them, the rest sit in a shameful dungeon, or have died a +shameful death. Once upon a time, as happy fathers of families, we dwelt +by our own firesides; now our wives and children are cast into prison, +our castles are rooted up, our escutcheons are broken; but we do not ask +of you what we have lost personally, we ask not for the possession of +our properties, we ask not for the embraces of our wives and children, +we do not even ask to see our country; we are content to die as beggars +and outcasts; we only petition for the preservation of the life of the +fatherland which has cast us forth, and which is rushing swiftly to +destruction—hasten ye to save it."</p> + +<p>Kucsuk Pasha, who well understood Hungarian, angrily clapped his hand +upon his sword, half drew it and returned it to its sheath again. Feriz +Beg involuntarily wiped away a tear from his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Gracious sirs," continued Béldi, "we do not wish you to be wrath with +the Prince for the tears and the blood that have been shed; we only ask +you to provide the Prince with better counsellors than those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> by whom he +is now surrounded, binding them by oath to satisfy the nation and the +Grand Seignior, for none will break such an oath lightly and with +impunity; and these new counsellors will constrain him to be a better +father to those who remain in the country than he was to us."</p> + +<p>When Béldi had finished, Maurocordato came forward, took his place +between the speaker and the Grand Vizier, and began to interpret the +words of Béldi.</p> + +<p>At the concluding words the face of the interpreter flushed brightly, +his resonant, sonorous voice filled the room, his soul, catching the +expression of his face, changed with his changing feelings. Where Béldi +calmly and resignedly had described his sufferings, the voice of the +interpreter was broken and tremulous. Where Béldi had sketched the +future in a voice of solemn conviction, Maurocordato assumed a tone of +prophetic inspiration; and finally, when in words of self-renunciation +he appealed for the salvation of his country, his oratory became as +penetrating, as bitterly ravishing, as if his speech were the original +instead of the copy. Passion in its ancient Greek style, the style of +Demosthenes, seemed to have arisen from the dead.</p> + +<p>The listening Pashas seemed to have caught the inspiration of his +enthusiasm, and bent their heads approvingly. The Grand Vizier +contracted his eyelids, puckered up his lips, and hugging his caftan to +his breast, began to speak, at the same time gazing around abstractedly +with prickling eyes, every moment beating down the look of whomsoever he +addressed or glaring scornfully at them. His screeching voice, which he +seemed to strain through his lips, produced an unpleasant impression on +those who heard it for the first time; while his features, which seemed +to express every instant anger, rage, and scorn in an ascending scale, +accentuated by the restless pantomime of his withered, tremulous hand, +could not but make those of the Magyars who were ignorant of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> Turkish +imagine that the Grand Vizier was atrociously scolding them, and that +what he said was nothing but the vilest abuse from beginning to end.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ladislaus Csaky, who was standing beside Paul Béldi, plucked his fur +mantle and whispered in his ear with a tremulous voice:</p> + +<p>"You have ruined us. Why did you not speak more humbly? He is going to +impale the whole lot of us."</p> + +<p>The Vizier, as usual, concluded his speech with a weary smile, drew back +his mocking lips, and exposed his black, stumpy teeth. The heart's blood +of the Magyars began to grow cold at that smile.</p> + +<p>Then Maurocordato came forward. A gentle smile of encouragement +illumined his noble features, and he began to interpret the words of the +Grand Vizier: "Worshipful Magyars, be of good cheer. I have compassion +on your petition, your righteousness stands before us brighter than the +noonday sun, your griefs shall have the fullest remedy. Ye did well to +supplicate the garment of the Sublime Sultan; cling fast to the folds of +it, and no harm shall befall you. Now depart in peace; if we should +require you again, we will send for you."</p> + +<p>Everyone breathed more easily. Béldi thanked the Vizier in a few simple +sentences, and they prepared to withdraw.</p> + +<p>But Ladislaus Csaky, who was much more interested in his Sóva property +than in the future of Transylvania, and to whom Béldi's petition, which +only sought the salvation of the fatherland, and said nothing about the +restitution of confiscated estates, appeared inadequate, scarce waited +for his turn to speak, and, what is more, threw himself at the feet of +the Vizier, seized one of them, which he embraced, and began to weep +tremendously. Indeed, his words were almost unintelligible for his +weeping, and Mr. Csaky's oratory was always difficult to understand at +the best of times, so that it was no wonder that the Grand Vizier lost +his usual phlegm and now began<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> to curse and swear in real earnest; till +the other Magyar gentlemen rushed up, tore Csaky away by force, while +Maurocordato angrily pushed them all out, and thus put an end to the +scandalous scene.</p> + +<p>"If you kneel before a man," said Béldi, walking beside him, "at least +do not weep like a child."</p> + +<p>Before Béldi could reach the door he felt his hand warmly pressed by +another hand. He looked in that direction, and there stood Feriz.</p> + +<p>"Did you say that your wife was a captive?" asked the youth with an +uncertain voice.</p> + +<p>"And my child also."</p> + +<p>The face of Feriz flushed.</p> + +<p>"I will release them," he said impetuously. Béldi seized his hand. "Wait +for me at the entrance."</p> + +<p>The Hungarian refugees withdrew, everyone of them weaving for himself +fresh hopes from the assurances of the Vizier. Only Ladislaus was not +content with the result, and going to his quarters he immediately sat +down and wrote two letters, one to the general of the Kaiser, and the +other to the minister of the King of France, to both of whom he promised +everything they could desire if they would help forward his private +affairs, thinking to himself if the Sultan does not help me the Kaiser +will, and if both fail me I can fall back upon the French King; at any +rate a man ought to make himself safe all round.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Scarce had the refugees quitted the Diván when an Aga entered the +audience-chamber and announced:</p> + +<p>"The Magyar lords."</p> + +<p>"What Magyar lords?" cried the Grand Vizier.</p> + +<p>"Those whom the Prince has sent."</p> + +<p>"They're in good time!" said the Vizier, "show them in;" and he at once +fell into a proper pose, reserving for them his most venomous +expression.</p> + +<p>The curtains were parted, and the Prince's embassy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> appeared, bedizened +courtly folks in velvet with amiable, simpering faces. Their spokesman, +Farkas Bethlen, stood in the very place where Paul Béldi had stood an +hour before, in a velvet mantle trimmed with swan's-down, a bejewelled +girdle worthy of a hero, and a sword studded with turquoises, the +magnificence of his appointments oddly contrasting with his look of +abject humility.</p> + +<p>"Well! what do ye want? Out with it quickly!" snapped the Grand Vizier, +with an ominous air of impatience.</p> + +<p>Farkas Bethlen bent his head to his very knees, and then he began to +orate in the roundabout rhetoric of those days, touching upon everything +imaginable except the case in point.</p> + +<p>"Most gracious and mighty, glorious and victorious Lords, dignified +Grand Vizier, unconquerable Pashas, mighty Begs and Agas, most potent +pillars of the State, lords of the three worlds, famous and widely-known +heroes by land and sea, my peculiarly benevolent Lords!"</p> + +<p>All this was merely prefatory!</p> + +<p>Kiuprile began to perspire; Kucsuk Pasha twirled his sword upon his +knee; Feriz Beg turned round and contemplated the fountains of the +Seraglio through the window.</p> + +<p>"Make haste, do!" interrupted Maurocordato impatiently; whereupon Farkas +Bethlen, imagining that he had offended the interpreter by omitting him +from the exordium, turned towards him with a supplementary compliment:</p> + +<p>"Great and wise interpreter, most learned and extraordinarily to be +respected court physician of the most mighty Sultan!"</p> + +<p>Kiuprile yawned so tremendously that the girdle round his big body burst +in two.</p> + +<p>Farkas Bethlen, however, did not let himself be put out in the least, +but continued his oration.</p> + +<p>"Our worthy Prince, his Highness Michael Apafi, has been much distressed +to learn that those seditious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> rebels who have dared to raise their evil +heads, not only against the Prince but against the Sublime Porte also, +as represented in his person, in consequence of the frustration of their +plans, have fled hither to damage the Prince by their falsehoods and +insinuations. Nevertheless, although our worthy Prince is persuaded that +the wisdom of your Excellencies must needs confute their lying words, +your goodwill confound their devices, and your omnipotence chastise +their audacity, nevertheless it hath also seemed good to his Highness to +send us to your Excellencies in order that we may refute all these +complaints and accusations whereby they would falsely, treacherously and +abominably disturb the realm ..."</p> + +<p>Maurocordato here took advantage of a pause made by the orator to take +breath after this exordium, and before he was able to proceed to the +subject-matter of his address, began straightway to interpret what he +had said so far for the benefit of the Grand Vizier, being well aware +that the Vizier would not allow anyone to speak a second time before he +had spoken himself.</p> + +<p>The speech of the interpreter was this time dry and monotonous. All +Farkas Bethlen's homiletical energy was thrown away in Maurocordato's +drawling, indifferent reproduction.</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier replied with flashing eyes, his face was twice as +venomous as it had been before, and his gestures plainly indicated an +intention to show the envoys the door.</p> + +<p>Maurocordato interpreted his reply.</p> + +<p>"The Grand Vizier says that not those whom ye persecute but you +yourselves are the rebels who have broken the oath ye made to the +Sublime Porte, inasmuch as your ambitious projects aim at the separation +of Transylvania from its dependence on the Porte and at the conquest of +Hungary—both sure ways of destruction for yourselves. Wherefore the +Grand Vizier gives you to understand that if you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> cannot sit still and +live in peace with your own fellow-countrymen, he will send to you an +intermediary, who will leave naught but tears behind him."</p> + +<p>The Hungarian gentlemen regarded each other in astonishment. Not a trace +of simpering amiability remained on the face of Farkas Bethlen, who was +furious at the failure of the speech he had so carefully learnt by +heart. He bowed still deeper than before, and sacrificing with +extraordinary self-denial the remainder of his oration, especially as he +perceived that any further parleying would not be permitted, he had +resort to more drastic expedients.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir! how can such accusations affect us who have always been +willing faithfully to fulfil your wishes? We pay tribute, we give gifts, +and now also our worthy Prince hath not sent us to you empty-handed, +having commanded Master Michael Teleki not to neglect to provide us with +suitable gifts, who has, moreover, sent to your Excellencies through me +two hundred purses of money,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> as a token of his respect and homage, +beseeching your Excellencies to accept this little gift from us your +humble servants."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">20</span></a> Equivalent to 100,000 thalers.</p></div> + +<p>With these words the orator beckoned to one of the deputation, at whose +summons, four porters appeared carrying between them, suspended on two +poles, a large iron chest, which Farkas Bethlen opened, discharging its +contents at the feet of the Grand Vizier.</p> + +<p>The jingling thalers fell in heaps around the Diván, and the sound of +the rolling coins filled the room. The features of the Grand Vizier +suddenly changed. Maurocordato stepped back. Bethlen's last words had +needed no interpreter; the Vizier could not keep back from his face a +hideous smile, the grin of the devil of covetousness. His eyes grew +large and round, he no longer clenched his teeth together, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> was +rather like a wild beast eager to pounce upon his prey.</p> + +<p>Farkas Bethlen humbly withdrew among his colleagues; the Vizier could +not resist the temptation, he descended from the Diván, rubbing his +hands, tapping the shoulders of the last speaker, smiling at all the +deputies, and even going so far as to extend his hand to one or two of +them, which those fortunate beings hastened to kiss, and spoke something +to them in Turkish, to which they felt bound to reply with profound +obeisances.</p> + +<p>During this scene Maurocordato had quitted the Diván, and as in default +of an interpreter the envoys were unable to understand the words of the +Vizier, and could only bow repeatedly, Kiuprile, who had learnt +Hungarian while he was Pasha of Eger, arose and roared at them in a +voice which made the very ceiling shake:</p> + +<p>"The Vizier bids you go to hell, ye dogs of Giaours, and if we want you +again we will send for you!" Whereupon he gave a vicious kick at a +thaler which had rolled to his feet, while the deputies, after +innumerable salutations, left the Diván.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>On the departure of the Prince's envoys, the Grand Vizier immediately +sent for Béldi and his comrades. When the refugees entered the Diván, +not one of them yet knew that the envoys of the Prince had been there +and brought the money which they saw piled up before them, though they +could not for the life of them understand what the Grand Vizier and +themselves had to do with all that money; and inasmuch as Maurocordato +had also departed, and the cavasses sent after him could not find him +anywhere, the Hungarians, in the absence of an interpreter, stood there +for some time in the utmost doubt, striving to explain as best they +could the signification of the peculiar signs which the Grand Vizier +kept making to them from time to time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> pointing now at the heaps of +money and now at them, and expounding his sayings with all ten fingers. +Every time he glanced at the money he could not restrain his disgusting, +hyæna-like smile.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see," whispered Csaky to Béldi, "the Grand Vizier intends all +that money for us?"</p> + +<p>Béldi could not help smiling at this artless opinion.</p> + +<p>At last, as the interpreter did not come, Kiuprile was constrained, very +much against the grain, to arise and interpret the wishes of the Grand +Vizier as best he could.</p> + +<p>"Worthy sirs, this is what the Grand Vizier says to you. The Prince's +deputies have been here. They ought to have their necks broken—that's +what <i>I</i> say. They brought with them this sum of money, and they said +all sorts of things which are not true, but the money which they brought +is true enough. Having regard to which the Grand Vizier says to you that +he recognises the justice of your cause and approves of it, but the mere +recognition of its justice will make no difference to it, for it will +remain just what it was before. But if you would make your righteous +cause progress and succeed, promise him seventy more purses than those +of the Prince's envoys, and then we will close with you. We will then +fling <i>them</i> into the Bosphorus sewn up in sacks, but you we will bring +back into your own land and make you the lords of it."</p> + +<p>A bitter smile crossed the lips of Paul Béldi, he sighed sorrowfully, +and looked back upon his comrades.</p> + +<p>"You know right well, sir," said he to Kiuprile, "that we have no money, +nor do I know from whence to get as much as you require, and my +colleagues are as poor as I am. We never used the property of the State +as a means of collecting treasures for ourselves, and what little +remained to us from our ancestors has already been divided among the +servants of the Prince. We have no money wherewith to buy us justice, +and if there be no other mode of saving our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> country, then in God's name +dismiss us and we will throw ourselves at the feet of some foreign +Prince, and supplicate till we find one who must listen to us. God be +with you; money we have none."</p> + +<p>"Then I have!" cried a voice close beside Béldi; and, looking in that +direction, they saw Kucsuk Pasha approach Paul Béldi and warmly press +the right hand of the downcast Hungarian gentleman. "If you want two +hundred and seventy purses I will give it; if you want as much again I +will give it; as much as you want you shall have; bargain with them, fix +your price; I am here. I will pay instead of you."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg rushed towards his father, and, full of emotion, hid his face +in his bosom. Béldi majestically clasped the hand of the old hero, and +was scarce able to find words to express his gratitude at this offer.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, a thousand times I thank you, but I cannot accept it; that +would be a debt I should never be able to repay, nor my descendants +after me. Blessed are you for your good will, but you cannot help me +that way."</p> + +<p>Kiuprile intervened impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Be sensible, Paul Béldi, and draw not upon thee my anger; weigh well +thy words, and hearken to good counsel. To demand so much money from +thee as a private man in exile would be a great folly, but assume that +thou art a Prince, and that this amount, which it would be impossible to +drag out of one pocket, could easily be distributed over a whole kingdom +and not be felt. Do no more then than promise us the amount; it is not +necessary that thou shouldst pay us before we have made thee Prince."</p> + +<p>Béldi shuddered, and said to Kiuprile with a quavering voice:</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you, sir, or else I have not heard properly what +you said."</p> + +<p>"Then understand me once for all. If it be true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> what thou sayest—to +wit, that the present Prince of Transylvania rules amiss, why then, +depose him from his Principality; and if it also be true what thou +sayest—to wit, that thou dost love thy country so much and seest what +ought to be done—why then, defend it thyself. I will send a message to +the frontier Pashas, and they will immediately declare war upon this +state, seize Master Michael Apafi and all his counsellors, clap them +into the fortress of Jedikula, and put thee and thy comrades in their +places. Thou art only to promise the Grand Vizier two hundred and +seventy purses, and he will engage to make thee Prince as soon as +possible, and then thou wilt be able to pay it; which, if thou dost +refuse, of a truth I tell thee, that I will clap thee into Jedikula in +the place of Michael Apafi."</p> + +<p>The heart of Paul Béldi beat violently throughout this speech. His +emotion was visible in his face, and more than once he would have +interrupted Kiuprile if the Hungarian gentlemen had not restrained him. +When, however, Kiuprile had finished his speech. Paul Béldi took a step +forward, and proudly raising his head so that he seemed to be taller +than usual, he replied in a firm, strong voice:</p> + +<p>"I thank you, gracious sir, for your offer, but I cannot accept it. A +sacred oath binds me to the present Prince of Transylvania, and if he +has forgotten the oath which he swore to the nation it is no answer to +say that we should also violate ours, nay, rather should we remind him +of his. I have raised my head to ask for justice, not to pile one +injustice upon another. Transylvania needs not a new Prince, but its old +liberties; and if I had only wanted to make war upon the Prince, the +country would rise at a sign from me, the whole of the Szeklers would +draw their swords for me, but it was I who made them sheath their swords +again. I do not come to the Porte for vengeance, but for judgment; not +my own fate, but the fate of my country I submit to your Excellencies. I +do not want the office of Prince. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> do not want to drive out one +usurper only to bring in a hundred more. I will not set all Transylvania +in a blaze for the sake of roasting Master Michael Teleki, nor for the +sake of freeing a dozen people from a shameful dungeon will I have ten +thousand dragged into captivity. May I suffer injustice rather than all +Transylvania. Accursed should I be, and all my posterity with me, if I +were to sell my oppressed nation for a few pence and bring armies +against my native land. As to your threats—I am prepared for anything, +for prison, for death. I came to you for justice, slay me if you will."</p> + +<p>Kiuprile, disgusted, flung himself back on his divan; he did not count +upon such opposition, he was not prepared for such strength of mind. The +other gentlemen who, from time to time, had fled to the Porte from +Transylvania had been wont to beg and pray for the very favour which +this man so nobly rejected.</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier, perceiving from the faces of those present the +impression made on them by Béldi's speech, turned now to the right and +now to the left for an explanation, and dismay gradually spread over his +pallid face as he began to understand. Béldi's colleagues, pale and +utterly crushed, awaited the result of his alarming reply; while +Ladislaus Csaky, unable to restrain his dismay, rushed up to Béldi, +flung himself on his neck in his despair, and implored him by heaven and +earth to accept the offer of the Grand Vizier.</p> + +<p>If the offer had been made to him he would most certainly have accepted +it.</p> + +<p>"Never, never," replied Béldi, as cold as marble.</p> + +<p>The other gentlemen knelt down before him, and with clasped hands +besought him not to make himself, his children, and themselves for ever +miserable.</p> + +<p>"Arise, I am not God!" said Béldi, turning from his tearful colleagues.</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier, on understanding what it was all about, leaped +furiously from his place, and tearing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> off his turban, hurled it in +uncontrollable rage to the ground, exclaiming with foaming mouth: +"Hither, cavasses!"</p> + +<p>"Put that accursed dog in chains!" he screeched, pointing with bloodshot +eyes at Béldi, who quietly permitted them to load him with fetters +weighing half-a-hundredweight each, which the army of slaves always had +in readiness.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou speak, puppy of a giaour?" cried the Vizier, when he was +already chained.</p> + +<p>"What I have said I stand to," solemnly replied the patriot, raising his +chained hand to Heaven. "God is my refuge."</p> + +<p>"To the dungeon with him!" yelled Kara Mustafa, beckoning to the +drabants to drag Béldi away.</p> + +<p>Just as a hard stone emits sparks when it is struck, so Béldi turned +suddenly upon the Vizier and said, shaking his chains, "Thine hour will +also strike!"</p> + +<p>Then he suffered them to lead him away to prison.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Immediately afterwards, the Grand Vizier sent for the envoys of the +Prince, and commending them and those who sent them, gave each of them a +new caftan, and with the most gracious assurances sent them back to +their native land, where nevertheless Master Farkas Bethlen had never +been accounted a very great orator.</p> + +<p>In the gates of the Seraglio the dismissed envoys encountered Master +Ladislaus Csaky. The worthy gentleman at once perceived from their +self-satisfied smiles and the new caftans they were wearing that they +had been sent away with a favourable reply; whereupon, notwithstanding +that he had already agreed with Paul Béldi to render homage to the +French and German Ministers, he did not consider it superfluous to pay +his court to Master Farkas Bethlen also, and offer to surrender himself +body and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> soul if the Prince would agree to pardon him and restore his +estates.</p> + +<p>Farkas Bethlen accepted the proposal and not only promised Csaky an +amnesty, but high office to boot if he would separate from Béldi; nay, +he rewarded on the spot that gentleman who had thus very wisely fastened +the threads of his fate to four several places at the same time, so that +if one of them broke he could still hold on to the other three.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>"Béldi has ruined his affairs utterly," said Kucsuk Pasha to his son, as +they retired from the Diván; "I give up every idea of saving him."</p> + +<p>"I don't," sighed Feriz. "I'll either save or perish with him."</p> + +<p>"Let us go to Maurocordato, he may perhaps advise us."</p> + +<p>After an hour's interview with Maurocordato, Feriz Beg, with fifty armed +Albanian horsemen, took the road towards Grosswardein.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TURKISH DEATH.</span></h2> + + +<p>In the gate of the Pasha of Grosswardein, amidst the gaping throng of +armed retainers there, could be seen a pale wizened Moslem idly +sprawling on the threshold, apparently regardless of everything, but +sometimes looking up, cat-like, with half-shut, dreamy eyes, and at such +times he would smile craftily to himself.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a handsome, chivalrous youth galloped out of the gate before +whom the soldiers bowed down to the earth; this was the Pasha's +favourite horseman, Feriz Beg, who had just arrived from Stambul.</p> + +<p>The Beg, as if he had only by accident caught sight of the sprawling +Moslem, turned towards him, tapped him on the shoulder with his lance, +and while the latter, feigning ignorance and astonishment, gazed up at +him, he drew nearer to him and said:</p> + +<p>"What Zülfikar! dost thou not recognise me?"</p> + +<p>The person so addressed bowed himself to the earth.</p> + +<p>"Allah is gracious! By the soul of the Prophet, is it thou, gracious +sir?" and with that he got up and began walking by the side of the horse +of the Beg, who beckoned him to follow.</p> + +<p>"I have lost a good deal of money and a good many horses over the +dice-box at Stambul, Zülfikar," said Feriz Beg, "so I have come into +these parts to rehabilitate my purse a little. Where dost thou go +a-robbing now, Zülfikar?"</p> + +<p>"La illah, il Allah! God is gracious and Mohammed is His holy Prophet," +said Zülfikar, rolling his eyes heavenwards.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>"A truce to this piety, Zülfikar; ye renegades, with unendurable +shamelessness, are always glorifying the Prophet, born Turks don't +mention him half as much. What I ask thee is, where dost thou go +a-plundering now of nights?"</p> + +<p>"I thank thee, gracious sir," answered Zülfikar, making a wooden picture +of his face, "my wife is quite well, and there is nothing amiss with me +either."</p> + +<p>"Zülfikar, I value in thee that peculiarity of thine which enables thee +to become deaf whenever thou desirest it, but I possess a very good +remedy for that evil, and if thou wilt I will cure thee of it."</p> + +<p>Zülfikar dodged the lance which was turned in his direction, and said +with a Pharisaical air:</p> + +<p>"What does your honour deign to inquire of me?"</p> + +<p>"Didst thou hear what I said to thee just now?"</p> + +<p>"Dost thou mean: where I went robbing? I swear by the beard of the +Prophet that I go nowhither for such a purpose."</p> + +<p>"I know very well, thou cat, that thou goest nowhither where there is +trouble, but thou dost ferret out where a fat booty lies hidden, and +thou leadest our Spahis on the track of it, wherefore they give thee +also a portion of it; so answer me at once whom thou art wont to visit +at night, as otherwise I shall open a hole in thy head."</p> + +<p>"But, sir, betray me not; for the Spahis would tie me to a horse's tail +and the Pasha would impale me. Thou knowest that he does not allow +robbery, but if it happens he looks through his fingers."</p> + +<p>"So far from betraying thee I would go with thee, I only know one mode +of getting hold of booty. While the others storm a village, I stand a +little distance off at the farther end of the village; whoever has +anything to save always makes for the farther end of the village, and so +falls into my hands."</p> + +<p>The renegade began to feel in his element.</p> + +<p>"My good sir, at night the Spahis will go to Élesd. There dwell rich +Wallachians away from the high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> road. They have never had blackmail +levied on them and there's lots of gold and silver there; if we get a +good haul, do not betray me."</p> + +<p>"But may we not fall in with the soldiers of Ladislaus Székely?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, sir," said Zülfikar, winking his eyes, "they are far from here. Do +not betray thy faithful servant."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg put spurs to his horse and galloped off. Zülfikar sat down in +the gate again, very sleepily blinking his eyes, and smiling +mysteriously.</p> + +<p>Towards evening four-and-twenty Spahis crept out of the fortress and +made off in the direction of Élesd. Feriz Beg kept an eye upon them, and +when they had disappeared in the woods he aroused his Albanian horsemen +and quietly went after them.</p> + +<p>It was past midnight when Feriz Beg and his company reached the hillside +covering Élesd. The Spahis had already plundered the place as was +evident from the distant uproar, the loud shrieks, the pealing of bells, +and a couple of flaming haystacks which the mauraders had set on fire to +assist their operations.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg posted his Albanian horsemen at the mouth of a narrow pass, +divided them into four bands and ordered them all to remain as quiet as +possible and wait patiently till the Spahis returned.</p> + +<p>After some hours of plundering the distant tumult died away, and instead +of it could be heard approaching a sound of loud wrangling. Presently, +in the deep valley below, the Spahis became visible, staggering under +the stolen goods, dispersed into twos and threes and quarrelling +together over their booty.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg let them come into the narrow pass and when they were quite +unsuspiciously at the height of their dispute, he suddenly blew his horn +and then suddenly fell upon them from all sides with his Albanian +horsemen, surrounded and attacked the marauders, and before they had had +time to use their weapons began to cut them down. The tussle was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +short one. Not one of the Albanians fell, not one of the Spahis escaped.</p> + +<p>Feriz dried his sword and leaving the dead Spahis on the road, galloped +back with his band to Grosswardein.</p> + +<p>In the Pasha's gate he again encountered Zülfikar and, shaking his fist +at him, dismounted from his horse.</p> + +<p>"Thou dog! thou hast betrayed us to Ladislaus Székely; the Spahis have +all been cut down."</p> + +<p>Zülfikar turned yellow with fear. It is true that he usually did +something like this: when the Spahis would only promise him a small +portion of the booty, he would for a few ducats extra let the Hungarian +generals know of their coming, when one or two of them would bite the +dust and the rest return without the booty. Last night also he had told +the captain of Klausenberg of this particular adventure, but the +commandant had been unable to make any use of it, for it had been the +Prince's birthday, and he had been obliged to treat the soldiers.</p> + +<p>Zülfikar felt a lump in his throat when he heard that all twenty-four of +the Spahis had perished, and he immediately quitted the fortress and +made his way to Klausenberg through the woods as hard as he could pelt.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg, however, in great wrath, paid a visit upon the Pasha.</p> + +<p>"Your Excellency," said he, assuming a very severe countenance, "this is +the sort of allies we have. Last night I went on an excursion, taking +four-and-twenty Spahis with me, in order to purchase horses for myself +in the neighbourhood. We dealt honourably with the dealers. I entrusted +the horses to the Spahis and myself galloped on in front. In a narrow +pass the soldiers of Ladislaus Székely laid an ambush for the Spahis, +surrounded them and cut them off to a man. When I came to their +assistance there they were all lying slain and the slayers had trotted +off on my own good steeds. Most gracious sir, that is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> treachery, our +own allies do us a mischief. I will not put up with it, but if thou dost +not give me complete satisfaction, I will go myself to Klausenberg and +put every one of them to the sword, from Master Michael Apafi down to +Master Ladislaus Székely."</p> + +<p>Ajas Pasha, whose special favourite Feriz Beg was, laughed loudly at +this demonstration, patted the youth's cheek, and said in a consolatory +voice:</p> + +<p>"Nay, my dear son, do not so, nor waste the fire of thy enthusiasm upon +these infidels. I have a short method of doing these things—leave it to +me."</p> + +<p>And thereupon he sent for an aga, and gave him a command in the +following terms:</p> + +<p>"Sit on thy horse and go quickly to Klausenberg. There go to the +commandant, Ladislaus Székely, and speak to him thus: Ajas Pasha wishes +thee good-day, thou unbelieving giaour, and sends thee this message: +Inasmuch as thy dog-headed servants during the night last past have +treacherously fallen upon the men of Feriz Beg and cut down +four-and-twenty of them, now therefore I require of thee to search for +and send me instantly these murderers, otherwise the whole weight of my +wrath shall descend upon thine own head. Moreover, in the place of the +horses stolen from him, see that thou send to me without delay just as +many good chargers of Wallachia, and beware lest I come for them myself, +for then thou wilt have no cause to thank me."</p> + +<p>When the aga had learnt the message by heart he withdrew, and Ajas Pasha +turned to Feriz Beg complacently:</p> + +<p>"Trouble not thyself further," said he, "in a couple of days the +murderers will be here."</p> + +<p>"I want the Prince to intercede for them himself," said Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>"And dost thou not believe then that the little finger of the Sublime +Porte is able to give thee the lives of a few giaour hirelings, when it +sends forth thousands to perish on the battle-field?"</p> + +<p>"And I will venture to bet a hundred ducats that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> Master Ladislaus +Székely will reply that his soldiers were not out of the fortress at all +last night."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for thy hundred ducats, my dear son, but I will take thy bet +all the same; and, if I lose, I will cut just as many pieces out of the +skin of Master Ladislaus Székely."</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>The terrified Zülfikar was almost at his last gasp by the time he +reached the courtyard of Master Ladislaus Székely, where, greatly +exhausted, he obtained an audience of the commandant, who was +resplendent in a great mantle trimmed with galloon and adorned with +rubies and emeralds. This love of display was the good old gentleman's +weak point. He had the most beautiful collection of precious stones in +all Transylvania; the nearest way to his heart was to present him with a +rare and beautiful jewel.</p> + +<p>He was engaged in furbishing up a necklace of chrysoprases and jacinths +with a hare's foot when the renegade breathlessly rushed through the +door unable to utter a word for sheer weariness. Ladislaus Székely +fancied that Zülfikar had come for the reward of his treachery, and very +bluntly hastened to anticipate him.</p> + +<p>"I was unable to make any use of your information, Zülfikar; it was the +Prince's name-day, and the soldiers were not at liberty to leave the +town."</p> + +<p>"How can your honour say so," stuttered Zülfikar; "you had +four-and-twenty Spahis cut down at Élesd. What fool told your honour to +kill them? You should merely have deprived them of their booty."</p> + +<p>Ladislaus Székely let fall his necklace in his fright and gazed at the +renegade with big round eyes.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a fool, Zülfikar, my son! Not a soul was outside this fortress +to-day or yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Your honour has been well taught what to say," said the renegade, with +the insolence of fury; "you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> put on as innocent a face over the business +as a new-born lamb."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you I don't understand a word of your nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course! Capital! Excellent! But your honour would do well +to keep these falsehoods for the messengers of Ajas Pasha, who will be +with your honour immediately; try and fool them if you like, but don't +fool me."</p> + +<p>Ladislaus Székely, well aware that every word he said was the sacred +truth, fancied that Zülfikar's assertion was only a rough joke which he +wanted to play upon him, so he cast an angry look on the renegade.</p> + +<p>"Be off, my son Zülfikar, and cease joking; or I'll beat you about the +head with this hare's foot till I knock all the moonshine out of you."</p> + +<p>"Your honour had best keep your hare's foot to yourself, for if I draw +my Turkish dagger I'll make you carry your own head."</p> + +<p>"Be off, be off, my son!" cried Székely, looking around for a stick, and +perceiving a cane in the corner with a large silver knob he seized it. +"And now are you going, or I shall come to you?" he added.</p> + +<p>Zülfikar had just caught sight, meanwhile, through the window of the aga +sent by Ajas Pasha, and fearing to encounter him, hastily skipped +through the door, which sudden flight was attributed by Master Ladislaus +Székely to his own threats of violence. He followed close upon the heels +of the fugitive, and ran almost into the very arms of the aga; +whereupon, the aga, also flying into a rage, belaboured the commandant +with his fists, reviled his father, his mother, and his remotest +ancestry, and only after that began to deliver the message of Ajas +Pasha, which he enlarged and embellished with the choicest flowers of an +angry man's rhetoric.</p> + +<p>At these words Ladislaus Székely changed colour as often as a genuine +opal, or as a fractured polyporus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> fungus. It was clear to him that +someone or other had just slain a number of marauding Spahis, but he +knew very well that neither he nor his men had performed this heroic +deed, for that particular evening they had all been safe and sound at +ten o'clock, and yet he was expected to pay the piper!</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir, unconquerable aga," he said at last, "my men the whole of +that evening were on duty beneath the windows of the Prince, and the +same evening I myself closed the city gates, so that no living thing +except a bird could get out. Therefore, I pray you ask not of me the +slayers of the Spahis, for never in my life have I killed one of them."</p> + +<p>The aga gnashed his teeth, and stared wildly about, as if seeking for +big words worthy of the occasion.</p> + +<p>"Darest thou say such things to me, thou wine-drinking infidel?" he +cried at last. "I know very well that thou, single-handed, hast not cut +down four-and-twenty Spahis; rather do I believe there were two thousand +of you that fell upon them, but these thou must give up to me, every +man-jack of them."</p> + +<p>Large drops of perspiration began to ooze out upon the forehead of the +commandant, and in his embarrassment it occurred to him that deeds were +better than words, so he seized the chain covered with chrysoprases and +jacinths, which he had just been polishing, and handed them in a +deprecating manner to the Turk, knowing that such a line of defence was +most likely to obtain a hearing.</p> + +<p>But the envoy gave the chain handed to him such a kick that the precious +stones were scattered all over the deal boards, and, trampling them +beneath his feet, he roared with a blood-red face:</p> + +<p>"I want the murderers, not your precious stones."</p> + +<p>The commandant thereupon seeing that the aga's embassy was really a +serious matter, took him down to the soldiers, who were drawn up in the +courtyard, in order to ask each one of them in the hearing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the +envoy: "Where were you during the night in question?" Naturally everyone +of them was able to prove an alibi, not one of them could be suspected.</p> + +<p>The aga very nearly had an overflow of gall. He said nothing, he only +rolled his eyes; and when the last soldier had denied any share in the +death of the Turks, he leaped upon his horse, and threatening them with +his fist, growled through his gnashing teeth:</p> + +<p>"Wait, ye also shall have your St. Demetrius' day!"<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> and with that he +galloped back to Grosswardein.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">21</span></a> <i>i.e.</i> you shall be stoned to death.</p></div> + +<p>On his arrival he found Feriz Beg with the Pasha, and at once told his +story, exaggerating the details to the uttermost.</p> + +<p>"What did I tell thee?" said Feriz to the Pasha; "didn't I say they +would send back the message that they had never quitted the town. I am +sorry for your honour's hundred ducats."</p> + +<p>At these words Ajas Pasha kicked over his chibouk and his saucer of +sherbet, and in a hoarse, scarce intelligible voice, said to the aga:</p> + +<p>"Be off this instant to Stambul as fast as thou canst. Tell the Grand +Vizier what has happened, and say to him that if he does not give me the +amplest satisfaction, I myself will go against these unbelieving +devourers of unruminating beasts who have dared to send me such a +message, and will destroy them, together with their strongholds; or else +I will cast my sword to the ground, and tie a girdle round my loins, and +go away and join the brotherhood of Iskender! Say that, and forget it +not!"</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Very soon one firman after another reached the Prince from Stambul, each +one of which, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> steadily rising wrath, demanded the extradition of +the assassins of the Spahis. The Prince made inquiries and searched for +them everywhere, but nobody could be found to take upon his shoulders +this uncommitted deed of heroism.</p> + +<p>The messages from the Porte assumed a more and more furious tone every +day. In itself the death of four-and-twenty Spahis was no very serious +stumbling-block, but what more than anything lashed the Turkish generals +into a fury was the persistent refusal of the Prince to acknowledge the +offence. Yet with the best will in the world he was unable to do +anything else, for not a single person on whom suspicion might fall +could he find throughout the Principality.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>In those days the dungeons of Klausenburg were well filled with +condemned robbers; in the past year alone no fewer than thirty +incendiaries had been discovered who had resolved to fire all +Transylvania.</p> + +<p>One day the noble Martin Pók, the provost-marshal of the place, appeared +before the robbers, and attracted the attention of the most +evil-disposed of these cut-throats and incendiaries by shouting at them:</p> + +<p>"You worthless gallows-dogs, which of you would like to be set free at +any price?"</p> + +<p>"I would! I would!" cried a whole lot of them.</p> + +<p>"Bread is going to be dear, so we cannot waste it on the like of you, so +Master Ladislaus Székely has determined that whoever of you would like +to become Turks are to be handed over to our gracious master, Ajas +Pasha, who will make some of you Janissaries, and send the rest to the +isle of Samos; so whoever will be a Turk, let him speak."</p> + +<p>Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk.</p> + +<p>"Very well, you rascals, just attend to me! I must tell you what to say +when you stand before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will +be bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you: 'Are you Master Ladislaus +Székely's men?' You will answer: 'Yes, we are!' Then he will ask you: +'Were you at Élesd on a certain day?' And you must admit that you were. +Finally, he will ask you if you met Feriz Beg there? You will admit +everything, and then he will instantly release you from servitude. Do +you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" roared the incendiaries; and dancing in their fetters they +followed the provost-marshal upstairs, who turned his extraordinary +small head back from time to time to smile at them, at the same time +twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache with an air of crafty +self-satisfaction.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>One day two letters reached Grosswardein from Stambul. One of these +letters was from Kucsuk Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan +to Ajas Pasha.</p> + +<p>The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Son</span>,—Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and +Maurocordato have not been wasting their time. The +Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and his +Court. The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis is an +affair of even greater importance in Stambul just now +than the capture of Candia. I fancy we shall very soon +get what we want."</p></div> + +<p>Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at once to the Pasha in the +best of humours.</p> + +<p>"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes," said the Pasha, producing +a parchment sealed with green wax, adorned below with the official +signature of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not unlike a +bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> and his lips, and the +further he read into it the more his face filled with surprise and joy.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Valiant Ajas Pasha my Faithful Servant!</span>—I wish thee +always all joy and honour. Inasmuch as I learn from +thee that the faithless servants of the Prince, in +time of peace and amity, have slain four-and-twenty +Spahis, and that their masters not only have not +punished this misdeed but even presumed to deceive me +with lying reports thereof, thereby revealing their +ill-will towards me, now therefore I charge and +authorise thee in case the counsellors of the Prince +do not surrender the murderers in response to my +ultimatum, which even now is on its way to them, or in +case they make any objection whatsoever, or even if +they simply pass over the matter in silence; in any +such case I charge and authorise thee instantly to +invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy +disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha also +will immediately be ready at hand with his bands at +Vöröstorony, and the Tartar King hath also our command +to lend thee assistance. This done, I will either +drive the Prince into exile or take him prisoner, when +I will at once strike off the chains of Master Paul +Béldi—who, because of his stubbornness, now sits in +irons at Jedekula—and whether he will or not, I will +place him incontinently on the throne of the Prince, +etc., etc."</p></div> + +<p>"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the murderers?" asked Ajas +Pasha triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and beside himself with joy.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished Ajas; "but suppose we go +for them ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly betrayed himself, "in +that case—yes." But he said to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul +Béldi will be released, and Paul Béldi will become Prince, and his wife +will be Princess Consort, and Aranka<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> will be a Princess too, and we +shall see each other again."</p> + +<p>At that moment an aga entered the room and announced with a look of +satisfaction:</p> + +<p>"Master Ladislaus Székely has now sent the murderers."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible" hung upon his lips, +and he nearly let it escape. It <i>was</i> impossible.</p> + +<p>"Let them come in!" said Ajas Pasha viciously. He would have preferred +to carry out the Sultan's conditional command, seize the Principality, +and conduct the campaign personally.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw the forty or fifty +selected rascals who, led by Martin Pók, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the +rogues were dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was written on +the face of each one of them.</p> + +<p>Master Martin Pók exhibited them to the Pasha and Feriz Beg, and very +wisely stood aside from them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in +astonishment. He knew better than anyone that these fellows had never +seen the Spahis, and he waited to hear what they would say.</p> + +<p>Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as cold as marble, and at +a sign from him a file of Janissaries formed behind the backs of the +rascals, who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible before +the Pasha to gain his favour.</p> + +<p>"Ye are Master Ladislaus Székely's men, eh?" inquired the Pasha of the +false heroes.</p> + +<p>"We are—at thy service, unconquerable Pasha," they replied with one +voice, folding their hands across their breasts and bowing down to the +very ground.</p> + +<p>The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come softly up behind each one +of them.</p> + +<p>"Ye were at Élesd at midnight on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, +eh?" he asked again.</p> + +<p>"We were indeed—at thy service invincible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> Pasha!" they repeated +striking their knees with their foreheads.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have +roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he +was obliged to keep silence.</p> + +<p>Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they +drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, +concealed them behind their backs.</p> + +<p>The Pasha put the third question to the robbers.</p> + +<p>"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen +me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at Élesd?"</p> + +<p>The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion: +"Yes—at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!"</p> + +<p>At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries, +and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his +clenched fist.</p> + +<p>Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pók: "Greet thy master, and tell +him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me +angry.—As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE HOSTAGE.</span></h2> + + +<p>One evening two horsemen dressed as Turks rode into the courtyard of the +fortress of Szamosújvár, and demanded an audience of the noble Danó +Sólymosi, the commandant. A soldier conducted to him the two Moslems, +one of whom seemed to be a man advanced in years, whose sunburnt face +was covered with scars; the other was a youth, whose face was half +hidden in the folds of a large mantle, only his dark eyes were visible.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, captain," said the elder Turk, greeting the commandant, +who at the first moment recognised the intruder and joyfully hastened +towards him and grasped his hand.</p> + +<p>"So God has brought Kucsuk Pasha to my humble dwelling."</p> + +<p>"Then thou dost recognise me, worthy old man?" said Kucsuk, just +touching the hand of the worthy old Magyar.</p> + +<p>"How could I help it, my good sir? Thou didst free my only daughter from +the hands of the filthy Tartars, thou didst deliver her from grievous +captivity, thou didst give her a place of refuge, food, and pleasant +words in a foreign land. I should not be a man if I were to forget +thee."</p> + +<p>"Well, for all these things I have come hither to beg something of +thee."</p> + +<p>"Command me! My life and goods are at thy service."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>"Dost thou not detain here the family of Paul Béldi?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; they brought the unfortunate creatures hither."</p> + +<p>"I must have Paul Béldi's consort out of this prison for a fortnight, at +the accomplishment of which time I will bring her back again."</p> + +<p>The captain was thunderstruck.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he, "you are playing with my head."</p> + +<p>"None will know, and in two weeks' time she will be here again."</p> + +<p>"But if they discover it?"</p> + +<p>"Have no fear of that. During that time I will leave in thy hands as a +hostage my own son."</p> + +<p>The young cavalier approached, threw back his mantle, and the captain +recognised Feriz Beg. He fancied he was dreaming.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not suppose that I will bring back the woman for the sake of +my son?"</p> + +<p>"Do what you think well," said the commandant. "I owe you a life, I will +now pay it back to you; follow me!"</p> + +<p>The commandant led his visitors up a narrow corkscrew fortress into the +corner tower, which was used as a dungeon for state prisoners. The +circular windows were guarded by heavy iron bars, the heavy iron-plated +oaken doors groaned upon their hinges, indicating thereby that they were +very seldom opened.</p> + +<p>"Why did you put them in this lonely place?" asked Kucsuk Pasha; "is +there not some other prison in the town?"</p> + +<p>"Don't blame me, sir; my orders were to lock the lady up securely, apart +from her child, and in this tower are two adjacent chambers with a +common window, and in one of them I have put the mother and in the other +the child. I knew that they would not mind if they could speak to each +other through the window, and press each other's hands, and even kiss +each other through the bars."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>"Thou art a true man, my good old fellow," said Kucsuk Pasha, patting +the commandant's shoulder; while Feriz Beg warmly pressed his hand.</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst put me into just such another dungeon, eh?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"There would be no need of that, good Feriz Beg; you should dwell in my +apartments."</p> + +<p>"But I would not have it so," said the youth, thinking with glowing +cheeks of the fair Aranka who would thus be his next-door neighbour and +fellow-prisoner.</p> + +<p>At last the iron door of the prison was opened, the jailor remained +outside, and the two Osmanlis entered. By the side of a rude oak table +was sitting a lady in deep mourning in front of the narrow window, +reading aloud from a large Bible with silver clasps; her children at the +window of the other dungeon were listening devoutly to the Word of God.</p> + +<p>When the men entered the woman started and looked up; the dim ray of +light coming through the narrow window made her face appear still paler +than it used to be; she looked up seriously, sadly—sorrow had lent a +gentle gravity to the face that used to be so bright and gay.</p> + +<p>Kucsuk Pasha approached, and taking the lady's soft transparent hand in +his own, briefly introduced himself.</p> + +<p>"I am Kucsuk Pasha, thy husband's most faithful friend in this world +after thyself."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your visit; my husband has often mentioned your name. +Do you perchance bring me any message from him?"</p> + +<p>"He would have thee with him."</p> + +<p>"Then I am free?" cried the lady, tremulous between joy and doubt.</p> + +<p>"Rejoice not, lady; it is not in my power to give thee freedom, I only +promise thee a brief interview with Paul Béldi, just time enough for +thee to tell him how much thou hast suffered. He cannot come to thee, so +thou must come to him. With me thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> canst come most quickly, for the +greatest part of the time we shall be travelling together."</p> + +<p>"Will my children come with me?"</p> + +<p>"They will remain here. But thou wilt see them again soon. Either thou +wilt conquer Paul Béldi with thy tears, and melt his iron will, and then +he will come back to Transylvania as Prince and every gate will be open +before him; or else he will stand fast to his determination, and then +thou wilt return to thy dungeon and he to his, and so you will both die +in the dungeons of different realms. Now take leave of thy children and +hasten. It depends upon thee whether they become princes and princesses +or slaves for ever."</p> + +<p>"And who will defend them, who will watch over them, who will pray with +them while I am away?"</p> + +<p>"Be not distressed. I will leave my own son here as a hostage while thou +art away. Feriz will occupy thy dungeon, he will watch over thy +children, and not let them be afraid. Hasten now and take leave of +them."</p> + +<p>Dame Béldi rushed to the round window. Loudly sobbing, she called her +children one by one, and then embraced them all as best she could. The +cold iron bars stood between her breast and theirs. The tears of their +weeping faces could not dissolve them.</p> + +<p>"Give this kiss to father!—And this kiss from me!—And this from me!" +lisped the children, putting their little arms round their mother's neck +through the bars.</p> + +<p>"My child, my good Aranka!" said Dame Béldi to the girl, who being about +fifteen or sixteen was the eldest of them all; "look after thy little +brothers and sisters! And you, my good little lads, comfort Aranka. God +bless you! God defend you! One more kiss, Aranka! And one more for you, +little David?"</p> + +<p>"Madame, time is passing, and Paul Béldi is waiting for thee to open his +prison!" intervened Kucsuk Pasha, withdrawing Dame Béldi from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +window of her children's prison, who thereupon turned her tear-stained +face towards Feriz Beg, and in a passion of grief flung herself on the +youth's neck, and said to him in a voice almost indistinguishable for +her sobbing:</p> + +<p>"Thou noble heart! promise me that thou wilt love my children when I am +far away!"</p> + +<p>"By Allah, I swear it!" exclaimed the youth, pressing to his bosom the +poor woman who was half-fainting for sorrow, "I swear that I will love +them for ever!"</p> + +<p>Ah! there was one among them whom he had already loved for a long, long +time.</p> + +<p>"Hasten, lady!" urged the Pasha; "cast this mantle over thee, and place +this turban on thy head that the guards may not recognise thee in the +distance. The way is long, the time is short."</p> + +<p>"God be with you, God be with you!" sobbed Dame Béldi, casting with +tremulous hands hundreds of kisses towards her children, who waved their +goodbyes to her from their window and then, violently repressing her +emotion, she rushed from the dungeon.</p> + +<p>Kucsuk Pasha pressed the hand of his son in silence, and left him in +Dame Béldi's room.</p> + +<p>The children kept on weeping behind their window.</p> + +<p>The youth drew nearer to them.</p> + +<p>"Weep not," he said cheerfully, "your mother will soon come again and +bring your father with her, and then you will all rejoice together."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but then they'll kill father!" sobbed one of the children timidly.</p> + +<p>"So long as Feriz Beg can use his sword none shall touch Paul Béldi," +cried the youth, with flashing eyes. "My sword and my father's will +flash around him, his enemies will be my enemies. Fear not! when I get +back my sword, I will win back his liberty with it."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, I thank you," whispered a gentle voice overcome by +emotion.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg recognised the silvery voice of Aranka, and the weeping blue +eyes of the seraph face which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> regarded him, like Heaven after rain, +flashed upon him a burning ray of gratitude which was to haunt him in +his dreams and in his memory for ever.</p> + +<p>Feriz felt his heart leap with a great joy. Pressing close up to the +prison bars that he might get as close to the girl as possible he said +to her with a tender voice:</p> + +<p>"How happy I am now that we dwell together as neighbours in the same +dungeon, but oh, how much happier shall we be when no doors are closed +upon us? Let me then have a place beside thy hearth and within thy +heart!"</p> + +<p>The fair, sad girl, with a face full of foreboding, stretched through +the bars of the dungeon a hand whiter than a lily, whiter than snow. +Feriz Beg solemnly raised it to his lips and falling on his knees, in an +outburst of sublime devotion touched his lips and his forehead with that +beloved hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE HUSBAND.</span></h2> + + +<p>At the very hour when Kucsuk Pasha arrived at Stambul, Master Ladislaus +Székely, whom Master Michael Teleki had sent with rich presents to the +Porte, likewise dismounted from his carriage. It was his mission to win +the favour of the infuriated Grand Vizier and the Pashas, who had again +begun violently to urge Paul Béldi to accept the princely throne.</p> + +<p>Master Ladislaus Székely had also brought with him Zülfikar to be his +guide and interpreter through the tortuous streets of Stambul.</p> + +<p>As we already know, this worthy gentleman's particular hobby was the +collection of jewels, and the Prince had sent through him such a heap of +precious stones that the heart of the good gentleman when he saw them +all spread out before him died away within him at the thought that the +whole collection was ruthlessly to be broken up and distributed among a +lot of foreigners and Pashas.</p> + +<p>"What a shame to lose them all," he thought. "And even then who knows +whether we shall be safe after all. It is like casting pearls before +swine. A much quicker way would be to get Master Paul Béldi +assassinated. That would be cutting the knot once for all, and we should +have no further danger from that quarter. Michael Teleki wouldn't kill +me for a trifle like that, I know. You, Zülfikar, my son, could you +undertake to poison someone?" he inquired, turning towards the +renegade.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>"The whole town if you like."</p> + +<p>"No, only Master Paul Béldi. It is all one to him whether he dies or +remains a prisoner for life."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it for two hundred ducats, if you pay me half in advance."</p> + +<p>"I'll pay you, Zülfikar, but how will you get at him?"</p> + +<p>"That's my affair, all you have to do is to get the money ready."</p> + +<p>Accordingly Ladislaus Székely gave the earnest-money to the renegade, +and the renegade went home and wrote a letter in the name of the +Beglerleg of the following tenour: "Be assured that our affairs are in +the best order, and we shall shortly gain our object."</p> + +<p>He strewed over these lines a fine blue dust which was the strongest of +poisons, calculating that whoever wanted to read the letter would first +brush the dust off it, whereupon the fine dust would rise in the air, +and the person reading the letter would inhale the dust and die.</p> + +<p>After attaching the letter to his turban, he began prowling round the +dungeon of Paul Béldi, awaiting an opportunity of worming his way into +it.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Paul Béldi was sitting alone in the darkest corner of the dungeon of +Jedikula. At his feet lay his faithful bloodhound, Körtövely, with his +eyes fixed sadly on his master. Whenever his master slept the dog would +sit up, never take his eyes off him, and begin growling at the lightest +noise.</p> + +<p>Béldi, with folded arms, was sitting on the stone bench to which he was +chained. His face had grown terribly pale and as if turned to stone. The +pale gleam of light which filtered through the narrow window and lit up +his face, found there no trace of that weary longing which the dweller +in prisons generally has for the sun's rays. The whole man, body and +soul, was hardened into steel.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the dog lying at his feet impatiently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> raised its sagacious +head, and then with a whimper of joy ran towards the door; there it +stood for a time merrily barking, and then ran back to its master and +stood before him wagging its tail with one foot on his shoulder, whining +and whimpering with such lively joy that one might almost have +understood what it wanted to say.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? Good dog!" said Béldi, stroking the dog's head. +"What is it? Nobody's coming to see me that can make you happy."</p> + +<p>At that moment the key turned in the door of the dungeon and a group of +men by the light of torches descended the steps and entered Béldi's +prison; whereupon Körtövely quickly left his master and burrowing his +way through the throng, began to yelp merrily over someone, and then +rushing back to his master, planted his fore-paws on his breast and +barked as if he would burst because he could not express more plainly +the joy which his wonderful canine instinct had anticipated.</p> + +<p>Béldi, perceiving among those who visited him the Grand Vizier, +Kiuprile, and Maurocordato, ordered his dog to be quiet, and standing up +before them, saluted them with a deep bow.</p> + +<p>"Well, thou obstinate man!" said the Grand Vizier, "how long wilt thou +torment thyself and offend the Sultan and thine own good friends? Wilt +thou ever perceive that to sit on a stone bench in a damp dungeon is a +very different thing to sitting on a princely throne?"</p> + +<p>"The more I suffer," said Béldi, in a strangely calm voice, "the more +reason I have to rejoice that my country does not suffer instead of me."</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier thereupon said something in Turkish which Maurocordato +sadly interpreted: "The Grand Seignior informs thee that because of +money thou hast been cast into prison, and only money can release thee; +promise, therefore, two hundred and seventy purses, and thou shalt get +the Principality to enable thee to pay it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>"I have told you my determination," said Béldi, "and I will not depart +from it. I will not promise money to the detriment of my country. I will +not lead an army against it, and I will not break my oath. These were +and will be my words from which I can never depart."</p> + +<p>"Never!" cried Kucsuk Pasha, pressing through the crowd. "Wilt thou not +even now?"—and with that he led a pale female figure towards Béldi.</p> + +<p>"My wife!" exclaimed the captive, and he gripped fast his chains lest he +should collapse for joy, terror, and surprise.</p> + +<p>The pale woman in mourning fell upon his bosom, her tears became his +fetters.</p> + +<p>Paul Béldi burst into tears, he fell back upon his stone bench, his very +soul was shattered. He remained clinging upon his wife's neck, +speechless, unable to utter a word, and the whining dog licked now the +hand of his master and now the lady's hand.</p> + +<p>"Let us turn aside," said Kucsuk Pasha; "let us leave them +together"—and the Turks withdrew from the dungeon, leaving Paul Béldi +alone with his wife.</p> + +<p>"I fancied," said Dame Béldi when she was able to utter a word amidst +her choking sobs. "I fancied I was suffering instead of you, and oh! you +were suffering more than I."</p> + +<p>"How did you come here?" asked Béldi, in a low stifled voice.</p> + +<p>"Kucsuk Pasha left his son as a hostage in my stead."</p> + +<p>"Worthy man! What useless sacrifices he is making for my sake. And my +children?"</p> + +<p>"They remain in the dungeon whither also I must return, if you will not +accept the Sultan's offer."</p> + +<p>"Have they taken away my girl Aranka also?" asked Béldi, with a heavy +heart.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they have taken her too, and if we are released we shall have no +whither to go. They have taken everything of ours. The Bethlen property +has become the prey of Farkas Bethlen; the Haromszeki<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> estate is now in +the hands of Clement Mikes, although it is not lawful to deprive a +Székler of his lands, even for high-treason. Our castle at Bodola has +been totally destroyed, our escutcheon has been torn to pieces, and your +name has been recorded in the journals of the Diet as a traitor."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ye men!" roared Béldi, shaking his chains in the bitterness of his +anger; "if I were not Paul Béldi the wrath of God would descend upon +your heads. But ah!—I love my country even if worms are gnawing it. Dry +your eyes, my good wife! you see I am not weeping. What we suffer is the +visitation of God upon us. I remain a Christian and a patriot. I leave +my cause to God!"</p> + +<p>"You will not accept the offer of the Sultan?" inquired Dame Béldi, +approaching her husband with fear and despair in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Never!" replied Béldi, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>The wife, with a loud scream, flung herself at the feet of her husband, +and, seizing his knees in a convulsive embrace, begged and besought him: +"You would send me back to my dungeon? You would separate me from you +for ever? Never, never, not even in the hour of death, shall I see you +again."</p> + +<p>"Comfort yourself with the thought that you loved me, and were worthy of +me, if you can suffer as I do and for the same reason."</p> + +<p>"You would plunge your children into eternal captivity?"</p> + +<p>"Tell them that their father lived honourably and died honourably, and +teach them to live and die like him."</p> + +<p>"Think of your girl, Aranka; your favourite, your dearest child."</p> + +<p>"Rather may she fade away than Transylvania be plunged in the flames of +war."</p> + +<p>"Béldi! drive me not to despair!" cried the wife trembling violently. "I +am afraid, horribly afraid, of my dungeon. Twice have I had fever from +the close, damp air. There was none to care for me in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> my sickness; I +was calling your name continually, and you were far from me; I saw your +image, and was unable to embrace you. Oh, Béldi! I shall die without +you! The most terrible form of death—despair—will kill me!"</p> + +<p>Béldi knelt down by the side of his wife and embraced and kissed her. +The woman fainted in his arms as the Turks entered his prison. Béldi +beckoned Kucsuk Pasha to him. A sort of leaden, death-like hue had begun +to spread over his face; he could scarce see with whom he was +conversing. He laid his swooning wife in the arms of the Pasha, and +stammered with barely intelligible words: "I thank you for your good +will. Here is my wife—take her—back to her dungeon!"</p> + +<p>The Turks, in speechless astonishment, lifted up the fainting woman, and +left the dungeon without plaguing Béldi with any more questions.</p> + +<p>Béldi stood stonily there as they went out, with open lips and a dull +light in his eyes. When the last Turk had gone, and he saw his wife no +longer, his head began to nod and droop down, and suddenly he fell prone +upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Körtövely, the old hound, began sorrowfully, bitterly, to whine.</p> + +<p>At that moment Zülfikar entered the dungeon with the poisoned letter.</p> + +<p>He was too late. Paul Béldi had already departed from this world.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>When Ladislaus Székely heard of Béldi's death he gave a magnificent +banquet, and when the company was at its merriest Zülfikar came rushing +in.</p> + +<p>"Come! out with those hundred ducats!" he whispered in the ear of Master +Ladislaus Székely.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" cried Székely in a voice flushed with wine. "Paul +Béldi had a stroke; be content with what you have had already."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>"Thou faithless dog of a giaour!" cried the renegade at the top of his +voice so that everyone could hear him, "is this the way thou dost +deceive me? Thou didst bargain with me for the death of Paul Béldi for +two hundred ducats, and now thou wouldst beat me down by one half. Thou +art a rogue meet for the hangman's hands. Is it thus thou dost treat an +honest man? I'll not kill a man for thee another time until thou pay me +in advance, thou faithless robber!"</p> + +<p>The company laughed aloud at this scene, but Master Ladislaus Székely +seemed very much put out by the joke. "What are you talking about, you +crazy fellow?" said he. "Who asked you to do anything? I never saw you +in my life before!"</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Zülfikar. "I suppose thou wilt deny next that thou didst +write this letter to Paul Béldi!" and with that he gave Ladislaus +Székely the poisoned letter. He seized it, broke the seal, brushed away +the dust, and ran his eye over it, whereupon he flung it at the feet of +Zülfikar, exclaiming: "I never wrote that."</p> + +<p>Then he beckoned to the servants to seize Zülfikar by the collar and +pitch him into the street. But the renegade stood outside in front of +the windows and began to curse Székely before the assembled crowd for +not paying him the price of the poison.</p> + +<p>Inside the house the guests laughed more heartily than ever, and at last +Székely himself began to look upon the matter in the light of a joke, +and laughed like the rest; but when he returned home to Transylvania he +felt a pain in his stomach, and did not know what was the matter. He +became deaf, could neither eat nor drink, and his bowels began to rot.</p> + +<p>Nobody could cure him of his terrible malady, till at last he fell in +with a German leech, who persuaded him that he could cure him with the +dust of genuine diamonds and sapphires. Ladislaus Székely handed to the +charlatan his collection of precious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> stones. He abstracted the stones +from their settings, but ground up common stones instead of them in his +medical mortar, and stampeded himself with the real stones, leaving +Ladislaus Székely to die the terrible death by poison which he had +intended for Paul Béldi.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Paul Béldi they buried in foreign soil; none visited his grave. Only his +faithful dog sat beside it. For eight days it neither ate nor drank. On +the ninth day it died on the deserted grave of its master.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE FADING OF FLOWERS.</span></h2> + + +<p>And now let us see what became of Aranka and Feriz.</p> + +<p>At last they were beneath one roof together—this roof was a little +better than the roof of a tomb, but not much, for it was the roof of a +dungeon. They could only see each other through a narrow little window, +but even this did them good. They were able to press each other's hands +through the iron bars, console each other, and talk of their coming joys +and boundless happiness. The walls of the prison were so narrow, so +damp, the narrow opening scarce admitted the light of day; but when the +youth began to talk of his native land, Damascus, rich in roses, of +palm-trees waving in the breeze, of warm sunny skies, where the +housetops were planted with flowers, and the evergreens give a shade +against the ever-burning sun, at such times the girl forgot her dungeon +and fancied she was among the rose-groves of Damascus, and when the +youth spoke of the future she forgot the rose-groves of Damascus and +fancied she was in heaven.</p> + +<p>Days and days passed since the departure of Dame Béldi, and there were +no news of her. Every day the spirits of the girl declined, every +evening she parted more and more sadly with Feriz, and every morning he +found it more and more difficult to comfort her. And now with great +consternation the youth began to perceive that the girl was very pale, +the colour of life began to fade from her round, rosy cheeks, and there +was something new in the brightness of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> eyes—it was no earthly +light there which made him tremble as he gazed upon her. The youth durst +not ask her: "What is the matter?" But the girl said to him:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Feriz! I am dying here; I shall never see your smiling skies."</p> + +<p>"I would rather see the sky black than thee dead."</p> + +<p>"The sky will smile again, but I never shall. I feel something within me +which makes my heart's blood flow languidly, and at night I see my dead +kinsfolk, and walk with them in unknown regions which I never saw +before, and which appear before me so vividly that I could describe +every house and every bush by itself."</p> + +<p>"That signifies that thou wilt visit unknown regions with me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Feriz, I no longer feel any pleasure in those lands of yours, nor +am I glad when I think of your palms, and as often as I see you darkness +descends upon my soul, for I feel that I am going to leave you."</p> + +<p>"Speak not so, joy of my existence. Grieve not God with thy words, for +God is afflicted when the innocent complain."</p> + +<p>"I am not complaining. I go from a bad into a good world, and there I +shall see you in my dreams."</p> + +<p>"But if this bad world should become better, and you lived happily in +it?"</p> + +<p>Aranka sadly shook her pretty, angelic head.</p> + +<p>"That it is not necessary for this world to grow better you can see from +the fact that the good must die while the wicked live a long time. God +seeks out those that love Him, and takes them unto Himself, for He will +not let them suffer long."</p> + +<p>Feriz shuddered. What could have put these solemn, melancholy thoughts +into the heart of this girl, this child? It was the approach of Death, +the worm-bitten fruit ripens more quickly than the rest. Slow, creeping +Death had seized upon the childish mind and made it speak like the +aged—and sad it was to listen to its words.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>"Cheer up," said Feriz, with an effort, skimming with his lips the +girl's white hand which she thrust out to him through the bars. "Thy +mother will soon be here; thy father will sit on the throne of the +Prince as he deserves; thou wilt be a Princess, and I will strive and +struggle till I am high enough to sue for thee, and then I will lay my +glory and renown at thy feet, and thou shalt be my bride, my queen, my +guardian angel."</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"And we will walk along by the banks of the quiet streams in those +ancient lands where not craft but valour rules, where the wise are only +learned in the courses of the stars and the healing virtues of the +plants, not in the science of the rise and fall of kingdoms. There from +the window of my breeze-blown kiosk, which is built on the slopes of +Lebanon, thou wilt view the whole region round about. Above, the +shepherds kindle their fires in the blackness of the cedar forests; +below, the mountain stream runs murmuring along, and all round about us +the nightingale is singing, and what he singeth is the happiness of +love. In the far distance thou seest the mirror of the great sea, and +the white-sailed pleasure boat rocks to and fro on the transparent +becalmed billows, and the moon looks down upon the limitless mirror, and +a fair maiden sits in the pleasure-boat, and at her feet lies a youth, +and both of them are silent, only a throbbing heart is speaking, and it +speaks of the happiness of love."</p> + +<p>A couple of tears dropped from the eyes of the girl—the future was so +seductive—and that picture, that fair country, she did not seem to be +regarding them from the earth, it seemed to her as if she was looking +down upon them from the sky and regretting that she was forced to +leave—the beautiful world.</p> + +<p>Aranka adored her father. The man who was respected for his virtues by a +whole kingdom was the highest ideal of his child. When Feriz began to +speak of him, the girl's face brightened, and at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> recital of his +heroic deeds the tears dried up in her flashing eyes; and when the youth +told her how the great patriot would return, glorious and powerful, +supported by the mightiest of monarchs, and how he would throw open the +prison doors of his children and be parted from them no more, then a +smile would gradually transfigure the girl's face, and she would feel +happy. And then she would steal apart into her own dungeon, and kneel +down before her bed, and pray ardently that she might see her father +soon, very soon.</p> + +<p>And she was to see him before very long.</p> + +<p>Paul Béldi's body was now six feet deep in the ground, and his soul a +star farther off in the sky—to see him one must go to him.</p> + +<p>Paler and paler she became every day, her waking moments were scarcely +different from her dreams, and her dreams from her waking moments. The +provost-marshal now had compassion on the withered flower, and allowed +it on the sunny afternoons to walk about on the bastions and breathe the +fresh air. But neither moonlight nor fresh air could cure her now.</p> + +<p>Frequently she would take the hand of Feriz Beg and press it to her +forehead. "See how it burns, just like fire! Oh, if only I might live +till my father comes. How he would grieve for me!"</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg saw her wither from day to day, and still there was no sign of +liberty. The youth used frequently to walk about the courtyard half a +day at a time, like a lion in a cage, beating the walls with his +forehead at the thought that that for which he had been striving his +whole life long, and the possession whereof was the final goal of his +existence, was drawing nearer and nearer to Death every hour, and no +human power could hold it back!</p> + +<p>The wife of the provost-marshal, a good, true woman, nursed the rapidly +declining girl. Medical science was then of very small account in +Transylvania; the sick had resort to well-known herbs and domestic +remedies based on the experience of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> the aged; they trusted for the most +part to our blessed mother Nature and the mercy of God.</p> + +<p>The worthy woman did all she could, but her honest heart told her that +the arrival of Aranka's father, and the sooner the better, would do more +good than all her remedies. That would transform the invalid, and joy +would give her back her failing vital energy.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg had not been able to speak to Aranka for two days; the girl +had suffered greatly during the night, and Feriz was condemned to listen +to the moaning of his beloved, and to hear her in the delirium of fever +through the prison windows without being able to go to her, without +being able to wipe the sweat from her forehead, or put a glass of cold +water to her lips, or whisper to her words of comfort, and had to be +content with knowing that she was with those who carefully nursed her.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is not to the dying that death is most bitter.</p> + +<p>By the morning the fever left her. The rising sun was just beginning to +shine through the narrow round window and the sick girl begged to be +carried out into the open air and the warm morning sunshine. She was no +longer able to walk by herself, and they carried her out on to the +bastions in an arm-chair.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful autumn morning, a sort of transparent light rested +upon the whole region, giving a pale lilac blue to the sunlit scene. +Where the road wound down from the Szekler hills a light cloud of dust +was visible in the morning vapour; it seemed to be coming from the +direction of Szamosújvár.</p> + +<p>"Ah! there is my mother coming!" whispered Aranka, with a smiling face.</p> + +<p>The young Turk held his hand before his face and fixed his eagle eyes in +that direction; and when for a moment the breeze swept the dust off the +road, and a carriage on springs drawn by five horses appeared, he +exclaimed with a beating heart:</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is indeed the carriage in which they took away thy mother."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>Aranka was dumb with joy and surprise; she could not speak a word, she +only squeezed Feriz Beg's hands and fixed her tearful eyes upon him with +a grateful look.</p> + +<p>The carriage seemed to be rapidly approaching. "That is how people +hasten who have something joyful to say," thought Feriz, and then he +began to fear less boundless joy might injure the life of his darling.</p> + +<p>Soon the carriage arrived in front of the fortress and rumbled noisily +over the drawbridge. Aranka, supported by the arm of Feriz, descended +into the courtyard. They pressed onward to meet the carriage, and the +smile upon her pallid face was so melancholy.</p> + +<p>The glass door of the carriage was opened, and who should come out but +Kucsuk Pasha.</p> + +<p>There was nothing encouraging in his look; he said not a word either to +his son or to the girl who clung to him, but the castellan was standing +hard by, and he beckoned to him.</p> + +<p>"In the carriage," said Kucsuk, "is the prisoner for whom I left my son +as an hostage; take her back, and look well after her, for she is very +ill."</p> + +<p>Dame Béldi lay in the carriage unconscious, motionless.</p> + +<p>Aranka, paler than ever and trembling all over, asked:</p> + +<p>"Where is my father?"</p> + +<p>Kucsuk Pasha would have spoken, but tears came instead of words and ran +down his manly face; silently he raised his hand, pointed upwards, and +said, in a scarce audible voice: "In Heaven!"</p> + +<p>The gentle girl, like a plucked flower, collapsed at these words. Feriz +Beg caught her moaning in his arms, she raised her eyes, a long sigh +escaped her lips, then her beautiful lips drooped, her beautiful eyes +closed, and all was over.</p> + +<p>The beloved maiden had gone to her father in Heaven.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SWORD OF GOD.</span></h2> + + +<p>For some time past God's marvels had been multiplied over Transylvania. +No longer were they disquieting rumours which popular agitators invented +for the disturbance of the public peace, but extraordinary natural +phenomena whose rapid sequence stirred the heart of even the coldest +sceptic.</p> + +<p>One summer morning at dawn, after a clear night, an unusually thick +heavy mist descended upon the earth, which only dispersed in the +afternoon, spread over the whole sky in the shape of an endless black +cloud, and there remained like a heavy motionless curtain. Not a drop of +water fell from it, and at noonday in the houses it was impossible to +see anything without a candle.</p> + +<p>Towards evening every bird became silent, the flowers closed their +calices, the leaves of the trees hung limply down. The people walking +about outside began to complain of a stifling cough, and from that time +forth the germs of every disease antagonistic to nature were seen in +every herb, in every fruit; even the water of the streams was corrupted. +The hot blood of man, the earth itself was infected by a kind of +epidemic, so that weeds never seen before sprang up and ruined the +richest crops, and the strongest oaks of the forest withered beneath the +assault of grey blight and funguses, and the good black soil of the +fruitful arable land was covered with a hideous green mould.</p> + +<p>For three whole days the sky did not clear. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> the evening of the +fourth day the stifling stillness was followed by a frightful hurricane, +which tore off the roofs of the houses, wrenched the stars and crosses +from the steeples of the churches, swept up the dust from the +high-roads, caused such a darkness that it was impossible to see, and +bursting open the willow trees, which had just begun to bloom, drove the +red pollen before it in clouds, so that when the first big rain-drops +began to fall they left behind them blood-red traces on the white walls +of the houses. "It is raining blood from Heaven!" was the terrified cry. +Not long afterwards came the cracking thunderbolts flashing and flaming +as if they would flog the earth with a thousand fiery whips, while one +perpendicular flash of lightning plumped right down into the middle of +the town, shaking the earth with its cracking concussion, so that +everyone believed the hour of judgment was at hand.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the storm had scattered the clouds, and by eventide the sky +had cleared, and lo! before the eyes of the gaping multitude a gigantic +comet stood in the firmament, all the more startling as nobody had been +aware of its proximity because for three days the sky had been blotted +out by clouds.</p> + +<p>The nucleus of the comet stood just over the place where the sun had +gone down, and the blood-red light of evening was not sufficient to dim +the brightness of the lurid star; it appeared as if it had just slain +the sun and was now bathing in its blood.</p> + +<p>The comet was so long that it seemed to stretch across two-thirds of the +firmament, and the end of it bulged out broadly like a Turkish scimitar.</p> + +<p>"The sword of God!" whispered the people with instinctive fear.</p> + +<p>For two weeks this phenomenon stood in the sky, rising late one day and +early the next. Sometimes it appeared with the bright sun, and in the +solar brightness it looked like a huge streak of blue enamel in the sky +and spread around it a sort of febrile pallor as if the atmosphere +itself were sick: on bright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> afternoons the sun could be regarded with +the naked eye.</p> + +<p>The people were in fear and terror at this extraordinary phenomenon, and +when the blind masses are in an unconscious panic then a storm is close +at hand, then they are capable of anything to escape from their fear.</p> + +<p>In those days the priests of every faith could give strange testimony of +the general consternation which prevailed in Transylvania. The churches +were kept open all day long, and the indefatigable curers of souls spoke +words of consolation to the assembled hosts of the faithful. Magyari, +the Prince's chaplain, preached four sermons every day in the cathedral, +which was so crowded at such times that half the people could not get in +at all but remained standing outside the doors.</p> + +<p>One evening the church was so filled with faithful worshippers that the +very steps were covered with them, and all sorts of Klausenberg +burgesses intermingled with travelling Szeklers in a group before the +principal door, and after the hymn was finished they clapped to their +clasped psalm-books and began to talk to each other while the sermon was +going on inside.</p> + +<p>"We live in evil times," said an old master-tanner, shaking his big cap.</p> + +<p>"We can say a word about that too," interrupted a Szekler, who was up in +town about a law-suit, and who seized the opportunity of saying what he +knew because he had come from far.</p> + +<p>"Then you also have seen the sword of God?" inquired a young man.</p> + +<p>"Not only have we seen it, my little brother, but we have felt it also. +Not a single evening do we lay down to rest without reciting the prayers +for the dead and dying, and scarce a night passes but what we see the +sky a fiery red colour, either on the right hand or to the left."</p> + +<p>"What would that be?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>"Some village or town burning to ashes. They say the whole kingdom is +full of destroying angels; one never knows whose roof will be fired over +his head next."</p> + +<p>"God and all good spirits guard us from it."</p> + +<p>"We hear all sorts of evil reports," said a gingerbread baker. +"Yesterday I was talking to a Wallachian woman whose husband was faring +on the Járas-water on a raft taking cheese to Yorda. He was not a day's +journey from his home when the Járas turned, began to flow upwards, and +took the Wallachian back to his house from which he had started."</p> + +<p>A listening clergyman here explained the matter by saying that the +Aranyos, into which the Járas flows, was greatly flooded just then, and +it was its overflow which filled up the Járas; in fact it was Divine +Providence which brought the Wallachian back, for if he had been able to +go on farther, the Tartars would certainly have fallen upon him and cut +him to pieces.</p> + +<p>"I have experienced everything in my time," said the oldest of the +burgesses, "war, plague, flood and pestilence, but there's only one +thing I am afraid of, and that is earthquake, for a man cannot even go +to church to pray against that."</p> + +<p>At that moment the preacher in the church began to speak so loudly that +those standing outside could hear his words, and, growing suddenly +silent, they pressed nearer to the door of the church to hear what he +was saying.</p> + +<p>The right rev. Magyari was trouncing the gentlemen present unmercifully: +"God prepares to war against you, for ye also are preparing to war +against Him. You have broken the peace ye swore to observe right and +left, and ye shall have what you want, war without and war within, so +that ye may be constrained to say: 'Enough, enough, O Lord!' and ye +shall not see the end of what you have so foolishly begun."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>Magyari already knew that Teleki, at the Diet of Szamosújvár, had +announced the impending war.</p> + +<p>Just at this very time two men of the patrician order in sable kalpags +were seen approaching, in whom the Klausenbergers at once recognised +Michael Teleki and Ladislaus Vajda, and so far as they were able they +made room for them to get into the church through the crowd; but the +Szekler did not recognise either of them, and when Ladislaus Vajda very +haughtily shoved him aside with his elbows, he turned upon him and said:</p> + +<p>"Softly, softly, sir! This is the house of God, not the house of a great +lord. Here I am just as good a man as you are."</p> + +<p>Those standing beside him tried to pull him aside, but it is the +peculiarity of the Szeklers that they grow more furious than ever when +people try to pacify them; and on perceiving that Ladislaus Vajda, +unable to make his way through the throng, began to look about him to +see how he best could get to his seat, the Szekler cried in front of +him:</p> + +<p>"Cannot you let these two gentlemen get into the church? don't you see +that the lesson is meant for them?"</p> + +<p>Teleki meanwhile had forced his way just over the threshold, and taking +off his kalpag, exposed his bald, defenceless head in the sight of all +the people, with his face turned in the direction indicated by the +boisterous Szekler.</p> + +<p>Magyari continued his fulminating discourse from the pulpit.</p> + +<p>"Nobody dare speak against you now, for your words are very thunderbolts +and strike down those with whom you are angry—nay, rather, men bow the +knee before you and say, 'Your Excellency! Your Excellency!' but the +judgment of the Lord shall descend upon you, the Lord will slay you, and +then men will point the finger of scorn at you and say: 'That is the +consort of the accursed one who betrayed his country!—these are the +children of that godless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> man!' And your descendants will blush to bear +the shameful name you have left them, for then the tongue of every man +will wag in his mouth against you, and they will cry after your +posterity: 'It was the father of those fellows who betrayed Transylvania +and plunged us into slime from which we cannot now withdraw our feet' +..."</p> + +<p>"Come away, your Excellency!" said Ladislaus Vajda to Teleki, whom the +parson seemed to have seen, for he turned straight towards him as he +spoke.</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of?" Teleki whispered back; "the parson is +speaking the truth, but it doesn't matter."</p> + +<p>"Whither would ye go, ye senseless vacillators!" continued Magyari, "who +empowered you to make the men of Transylvania fugitives, their wives +widows, and their children orphans? Verily I say to you, ye shall fare +like the camel who went to Jupiter for horns and got shorn of his ears +instead."</p> + +<p>"It may be so," said Teleki to Vajda, "but we shall pursue our course +all the same."</p> + +<p>The parson saw that the Minister of State was paying attention to his +discourse, so he wrinkled his forehead, and thus proceeded:</p> + +<p>"When King Louis perished on the field of Mohács, the Turkish Emperor +had the dead body brought before him, and recognising at the same time +the corpse of an evil Hungarian politician lying there, he struck off +its head with his sword, and said: 'If thou hadst not been there, thou +dog! this honest child-king would not be lying dead here.' God grant +that a foreign nation may not so deal with you."</p> + +<p>Teleki scratched his head, and whispered:</p> + +<p>"It may happen to me likewise, but that makes no difference."</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards another hymn was sung, the two magnates put on their +kalpags and withdrew, and the emerging crowd of people flowed along all +around them, among whom the Szekler, as recently mentioned, followed +hard upon the heels of the two gentlemen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> with singular persistency, +lauding to the skies before everyone, in a loud voice, the sermon he had +just heard, so as to insult the two gentlemen walking in front of him as +much as possible.</p> + +<p>"That was something like a sermon," he cried, "that is just how our +masters ought to have their heads washed—without too much soap. And +quite right too! Why saddle the realm with war at all? Why should +Transylvania put on a mustard plaster because Hungary has a pain in its +stomach? What has all this coming and going of foreigners to do with us? +Why should we poor Transylvanians suffer for the sake of the lean +foreigners among us?"</p> + +<p>Ladislaus Vajda could put up with this no longer, and turning round, +shouted at the Szekler:</p> + +<p>"Keep your distance, you rascal, speak like a man at any rate; don't +bark here like some mad beast when it sees a better man than itself."</p> + +<p>At these words the Szekler thrust his neck forward, stuck his face +beneath the very nose of the gentleman who had spoken to him, looked him +straight in the face with bright eyes that pricked like pins, and said, +twisting his moustaches fiercely:</p> + +<p>"Don't you try to fix any of your bastard names on me, sir, for if I go +home for my sword I will pretty soon make you a present of a head, and +that head shall be your own."</p> + +<p>Ladislaus Vajda would have made some reply, but Teleki pulled him by the +arm and dragged him away.</p> + +<p>"Nothing aggravates your Excellency," said the offended gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Let him growl, he'll be all the better soldier if we do have war; never +quarrel with a Szekler, my friend, for he always has a greater respect +for his own head than for anyone else's."</p> + +<p>And so the two gentlemen disappeared through the gates of the Prince's +palace.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>The Prince himself was present at this sermon, and it produced this much +impression that he enjoined a fast upon his whole household and then +went to bed. In the night, however, he awoke repeatedly, and had so many +tormenting visions that he woke up all his pages, and it was even +necessary at last to send for the Princess herself, and only then did he +become a little calmer when she appeared at his bedside; in fact, he +kept her with him till dawn of day, continually telling her all sorts of +sad and painful things so that the Princess's cries of horror could be +heard through the door.</p> + +<p>In the morning, after the Princess had retired to her own apartments, +she immediately summoned to her presence Michael Teleki, who, living at +that time at the Prince's court as if it were his own home, was not very +long in making his appearance, and obeyed the command to be seated with +as much cheerful alacrity as if he had been asked to sit down at a +banquet, though well aware that a bitter cup had been prepared for him +which he must drain to the dregs.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said the Princess, "Apafi was very ill last night."</p> + +<p>"That was owing to the fast, he isn't used to such practices. Generally, +he has a good supper, and if he departs from his usual course of life he +is bound to sleep badly. Bad dreams plague an empty stomach just as much +as an overburdened one."</p> + +<p>"And how about an overburdened conscience, sir? I have spent the whole +night at his bedside, only this instant have I quitted him; he would not +let me leave him, he pressed my hand continually, and he talked, soberly +and wide-awake, of things which I should have thought could only have +been talked about in the delirium of typhus. He said that that night he +had stood before the judgment-seat of God, before a great table—which +was so long that he could not see the end of it—and at this table sat +the accusing witnesses, first of all Denis Banfy, and then Béldi, Dame +Béldi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> and their daughter, and eldest son, who died in prison; Kepi, +too, was there, and young Kornis, and old John Bethlen, and the rest of +them; all these familiar faces were before him, and as tremblingly he +approached the throne of God they all fixed their eyes upon him and +pointed their fingers at him. Sir, it was a terrible picture."</p> + +<p>"Does your Highness fancy that I am an interpreter of dreams?" asked +Teleki maliciously.</p> + +<p>"Sir, this is more than a dream—it is a vision, a revelation."</p> + +<p>"It may be so; the souls of the gentlemen enumerated are, no doubt, in +Heaven, and it is possible that countless other souls will follow them +thither."</p> + +<p>"And will the soul that shed their blood ascend thither too?"</p> + +<p>"Will your Highness deign to speak quite plainly—I suppose you mean me? +Of course, I am the cause of all the evils of Transylvania. Till I came +upon the scene, none but lamb-like men inhabited this state, in whose +veins flowed milk and honey instead of blood! King Sigismund, Bethlen, +Bocskai, George Rákóczy, for instance! Under them only some fifty or +sixty thousand men lost their lives in their party feuds and ambitious +struggles! Fine fellows, every one of them of course, everyone calls +them great patriots. But I, whose sword has never aimed at a self-sought +crown, I, who am animated by a great and mighty thought, a sublime idea, +I am a murderer, and responsible not only for those who have fallen in +battle, but also for those who have died quietly in their beds, if they +were not my good friends."</p> + +<p>"There was a time, sir, when you used every effort to prevent +Transylvania from going to war."</p> + +<p>"That was the very time when your Highness pleaded before the Prince for +war in the name of your exiled Hungarian kinsfolk. Other times, other +men."</p> + +<p>"I knew not then that such a desire would lead to the ruin of so many +great and honourable men."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>"You feared war, and yet you fanned it. He who resists a snow-storm is +swept away. Not the fate of men alone, but the fate of kingdoms also is +here in question. Apafi may console himself with the reflection that God +regards us both as far too petty instruments to lay upon our souls what +He Himself has decreed in the fullness of time, and what will and must +happen in spite of us, for the weeping and mourning which we listen to +here is also heard in Heaven. The mottoes of our escutcheons go very +well together. Apafi's is '<i>Fata viam inveniunt</i>,' mine is '<i>Gutta cavat +lapidem</i>.' Let us trust ourselves to our mottoes."</p> + +<p>The Princess, with folded arms, gazed out of the window and remained in +a brown study for some time. And now, as though her thoughts were +wandering far away, she suddenly sighed: "Ah! this Béldi family so +unhappily ruined, and how many more must be ruined likewise!"</p> + +<p>"Your Highness!" rejoined the Minister, without moving a muscle of his +face, "when, in time of drought, we pray for rain the whole day, does +anybody inquire what will become of the poor travellers who may be +caught in the downpour? Yet it may well happen that some of them may +take a chill and die in consequence."</p> + +<p>"I don't grasp the metaphor."</p> + +<p>"Well, the whole Principality is now praying for rain—a rain of blood, +I admit—and there is every sign that God will grant it. I do not mean +those signs and wonders in which the common folks believe, but those +signs of the times which rivet the attention of thinking men. Formerly +there was a large party in Transylvania which had engaged to uphold an +indolent peace, and which had so many ties, amongst the leading men both +of the Kaiser and the Sultan, that Denis Banfy could at one time boldly +tell me to my face that that Party was a hand with a hundred fingers, +which could squeeze everything it laid hold of like a sponge. And lo! +the fingers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> have all dropped off one by one. Denis Banfy has +perished—they say I killed him. Paul Béldi has died in prison—they say +I have poisoned him. God hath called John Bethlen also to Himself. Kapi +has died. The boldest of my enemies, Gabriel Kornis, has also died in +the flower of his youth—naturally they attribute his death to me +likewise. All those, too, who opposed war in the Diván have disappeared +one by one. Kucsuk Pasha has been shot down by a bullet at Lippa. +Kiuprile Pasha has been stifled by his own fat; and the youngest of the +Viziers, Feriz Beg, has gone mad.</p> + +<p>"Gone mad!" cried the Princess, covering her face with her hands; "that +noble, worthy youth who loved Transylvania so well?"</p> + +<p>"Do you not see the hand of God in all this?" asked the Minister.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said the Princess, rising with a face full of sadness and +approaching the Minister so as to look him straight in the face while +she spoke to him, "it is your hand that I see everywhere. Denis Banfy +perished, but it was you who had him beheaded. Béldi is dead, but it was +you who drove him to despair. It was you, too, who threw his family into +prison, and only let them out when the foul air had poured a deadly +sickness into their blood. And Feriz Beg has gone mad because he loved +Béldi's daughter, and she is dead."</p> + +<p>"Very well, your Highness, let it be so," replied the imperturbable +Minister. "To attribute to me the direction of destiny is praise indeed. +Believe, then, that everything which happens in the council chamber of +this realm and in the heart of its members derives from me. I'll be +responsible. And if your Highness believes that that flaming comet, +which they call the Sword of God, is also in my hand—why—be it so! I +will hurl it forth, and strike the earth with it so that all its hinges +shall be out of joint."</p> + +<p>At that very moment the palace trembled to its very foundations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>The Princess leaped to her feet, shrieking.</p> + +<p>"Ah! what was that?" she asked, as pale as death.</p> + +<p>"It was an earthquake, madame," replied Teleki with amazing calmness. +"There is nothing to be afraid of, the palace has very strong vaults; +but if you <i>are</i> afraid, stand just beneath the doorway, that cannot +fall."</p> + +<p>On recovering from her first alarm the Princess quickly regained her +presence of mind.</p> + +<p>"God preserve us! I must hasten to the Prince. Will not you come too?"</p> + +<p>"I'll remain here," replied Teleki coolly. "We are in the hands of God +wherever we may be, and when He calls me to Him I will account to Him +for all that I have done."</p> + +<p>The Princess ran along the winding corridor, and, finding her husband, +took him down with her into the garden.</p> + +<p>It was terrible to see from the outside how the vast building moved and +twisted beneath the sinuous motion of the earth; every moment one might +fear it would fall to pieces.</p> + +<p>The Prince asked where Teleki was; the Princess said she had left him in +her apartments.</p> + +<p>"We must go for him this instant!" cried the Prince, but amongst all the +trembling faces around him he could find none to listen to his words, +for a man who fears nothing else is a coward in the presence of an +earthquake.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Minister was sitting quietly at a writing-table and +writing a letter to Kara Mustafa, who had taken the place of the dead +Kiuprile. He was a great warrior and the Sultan's right hand, who not +long before had been invited by the Cossacks to help them against the +Poles, which he did very thoroughly, first of all ravaging numerous +Polish towns, and then, turning against his confederate Cossacks, he cut +down a few hundred thousands of them and led thirty thousand more into +captivity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>To him Teleki wrote for assistance for the Hungarians.</p> + +<p>Every bit of furniture was shaking and tottering around him, the windows +rattled noisily as if shaken by an ague, the very chair on which he sat +rocked to and fro beneath him, and the writing-table bobbed up and down +beneath his hand so that the pen ran away from the paper; but for all +that he finished his letter, and when he came to the end of it he wrote +at the bottom in firm characters:</p> + +<p>"Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinæ!"</p> + +<p>Mustafa puzzled his brains considerably when he came to that part of the +letter containing the verse which had nothing to do with the text, which +the Minister, under the influence of an iron will struggling against +terror, had written there almost involuntarily.</p> + +<p>When the menacing peril had passed, and the pages had returned to the +palace, he turned to them reproachfully with the sealed letter in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been? Not one of you can be found when you are wanted. +Take this letter at once, with an escort of two mounted drabants, to +Varna, for the Grand Vizier."</p> + +<p>And then he began to walk up and down the room as if nothing had +happened.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE MAD MAN.</span></h2> + + +<p>In the most secret chamber of the Diván were assembled the Viziers for +an important consultation. The impending war was the subject of their +grave deliberations. For as Mohammed had said, there ought to be one God +in Heaven and one Lord on earth, so many of the Faithful believed that +the time for the accomplishment of this axiom had now arrived.</p> + +<p>Those wise men of the empire, those honourable counsellors, Kucsuk and +Kiuprile, were dead. Kara Mustafa, an arrogant, self-confidant man, +directed the mind of the Diván, and everyone followed his lead.</p> + +<p>The Sultan himself was present, a handsome man with regular features, +but with an expression of lassitude and exhaustion. During the whole +consultation he never uttered a word nor moved a muscle of his face; he +sat there like a corpse.</p> + +<p>One by one the ambassadors of the Foreign Powers were admitted. The +orator of Louis XIV. declared that the French King was about to attack +the Kaiser with all his forces; if the Sultan would also rise up against +him, he would be able to seize not only all Hungary but Vienna likewise.</p> + +<p>The Sultan was silent. The Grand Vizier, answering for him, replied that +Hungary had long since belonged to the Sultan, and no doubt Vienna and +Poland would shortly share the same fate. The Sultan could only suffer +tributary kings on the earth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>The ambassador drew a somewhat wry face at these words, reflecting that +France also was on the earth; then he withdrew.</p> + +<p>After him came the envoys of Emeric Tököly, offering the blood and the +swords of the Hungarian malcontents to the Sultan if he would help them +to win back Hungary.</p> + +<p>This time the Sultan replied instead of Mustafa.</p> + +<p>"The Grand Seignior greets his servants, and will be gracious to them if +they will help him to win back Hungary."</p> + +<p>The envoys noticed that their words had ingeniously been twisted, but as +they also had their own <i>arrière-pensées</i> in regard to the Turks, they +only looked at each other with a smile and withdrew.</p> + +<p>Then came the Transylvanian embassy—gentle, mild-looking men, whose +orator delivered an extraordinarily florid discourse. His Highness, +Michael Apafi, they said, and all the estates of Transylvania, were +ready to draw their swords for the glory of the Grand Seignior and +invade Hungary.</p> + +<p>Mustafa replied:</p> + +<p>"The Grand Seignior permits you to help your comrades in Hungary."</p> + +<p>The orator would like to have heard something different—for example, +that the crown of Hungary was reserved for Michael Apafi, the dignity of +Palatine for Teleki, etc., etc., and there he stood scratching his ear +till the Grand Vizier told him he might go.</p> + +<p>Ha, ha! the Turkish policy was written in Turkish.</p> + +<p>After the foreign envoys came the messengers from the various pashas and +commandants in Hungary, who brought terrible tidings of raids, +incursions, and outrages on the part of the Magyar population against +the Turks. The Grand Vizier exclaimed angrily at every fresh report, +only the Sultan was silent. Last of all came the ulemas.</p> + +<p>On their decisions everything depended.</p> + +<p>Very solemnly they appeared before the Diván.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> First of all advanced the +Chief Mufti in a long mantle reaching to his heels, and with a large +beehive-shaped hat upon his head; his white beard reached to his girdle. +After him came two imams, one of whom carried a large document in a +velvet case, whose pendant seal swung to and fro beneath its long golden +cord; the other bent beneath the weight of an enormous book—it was the +Alkoran.</p> + +<p>The Alkoran is a very nice large book, larger than our <i>corpus juris</i> of +former days, and in it may be found everything which everyone requires: +accusatory, condemnatory, and absolvatory texts for one and the same +thing.</p> + +<p>The Mufti presented the Alkoran to the Sultan and all the Viziers in +turn, and each one of them kissed it with deep reverence; then he +beckoned to one of the imams to kneel down on a stool before the Diván +and remain there resting on his hands and knees, and placing the Koran +on his back, began to select expressly marked texts.</p> + +<p>For seventy years he had thoroughly studied the sacred volume, and could +say that he had read it through seven hundred and ninety-three times. +He, therefore, knew all its secrets, and could turn at once to the leaf +on which the text he wanted to read aloud could be found.</p> + +<p>"The Alkoran saith," he read with unctuous devotion, "'the knot which +hath been tied in the name of Allah the hand of Allah can unloose!' The +Alkoran saith moreover: 'Wherever we may be, and whatever we may be, +everywhere we are all of us in the hand of Allah.' Therefore this treaty +of peace is also in the hand of Allah, and the hand of Allah can unloose +everything. Furthermore, the Alkoran saith: 'If any among thy suffering +father's children implore help from thee, answer him not: come to me +to-morrow, for my vow forbids me to rise up to-day; or, if any ask an +alms of thee answer him not: to-day it cannot be, for my vow forbids me +to touch money; or, if anyone beg thee to slay someone, answer him not:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +to-morrow I will help thee, for my vow forbids me to draw the sword +to-day; verily the observance of thy vow will be a greater sin to thee +than its violation.' Moreover, thus saith the Alkoran: 'The happiness of +the nations is the first duty of the rulers of the earth, yet the glory +of Allah comes before it.' And finally it is written: 'Whoso formeth a +league with the infidel bindeth himself to wage war upon Allah, yet +vainly do the nations of the earth bind themselves together that they +may live long, for let Allah send his breath upon them and more of them +are destroyed in one day than in ten years of warfare: kings and +beggars—it is all one.'"</p> + +<p>At each fresh sentence the viziers and the ulemas bowed their heads to +the ground. Mustafa could not restrain a blood-thirsty smile, which +distorted his face more and more at each fresh sentence, and at the last +word, with a fanatical outburst, he threw off the mask altogether, and +with a howl of joy kissed repeatedly the hem of the Chief Mufti's +mantle.</p> + +<p>The Mufti then unclasped the velvet case which contained the treaty of +peace, and drawing forth the parchment, which was folded fourfold, he +unfolded it with great ceremony, and placing it in the hands of the +second imam that he might hold it spread open at both ends, he exhibited +the document to the viziers.</p> + +<p>It was a long and beautiful script. The initial letter was as big as a +painted castle and wreathed around with a pattern of birds and flowers. +The whole of the first line of it was in ultramarine letters, the other +lines much smaller on a gradually diminishing scale, and whenever the +name of Allah occurred, it was written in letters of gold. The Sultan's +name was always in red, the Kaiser's in bright green letters. At the +foot of it was the fantastic flourish which passed for the Sultan's +signature, which he would never have been able to write, but which was +always engraved on the signet ring which he wore on his finger.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>"Lo! here is the treaty," said the Mufti, pointing to the document, +"from which, by the command of Allah, I will now wash off the writing."</p> + +<p>Thereupon he drew across the document a large brush which he had +previously dipped into a large basin of water in which sundry chemicals +had been dissolved, and suddenly the writing began to fade away, the +Sultan's name written in red letters disappeared instantly from the +parchment, then the lines written in black ink visibly grew dimmer. The +Kaiser's name written in bright green letters resisted more obstinately, +but at last these also vanished utterly, and nothing more remained on +the white parchment but the name of God written in letters of gold—the +corrosive acid was powerless against that.</p> + +<p>Deep silence prevailed in the Diván, every eye was fixed with pious +attention on the bleaching script.</p> + +<p>Then, seizing a drawn sword, the Mufti raised it aloft and said:</p> + +<p>"Having wiped away the writing which cast dishonour on the name of +Allah, I now cut this document in four pieces with the point of my +sword."</p> + +<p>And speaking thus, and while the imam stretched the parchment out with +both hands, the Mufti cut it into four pieces with the sword he held in +his hand, and placing the fragments in a pan, filled it up with naptha +from a little crystal flask.</p> + +<p>"Lo! now I burn thee before the face of Allah!"</p> + +<p>Then he passed an ignited wax taper over the pan, whereupon the naptha +instantly burst into flame, and the fragments of the torn document were +hidden by the blue fire and the white smoke. Presently the flame turned +to red, the smoke subsided, and the parchment was burnt to ashes.</p> + +<p>"And now I scatter thy ashes that thou mayst be dispersed to nothing," +said the Mufti; and, taking the ashes, he flung them out of the palace +window. The burnt paper rags, like black butterflies, descended gently +through the air and were cast by the wind into the Bosphorus below.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>No sooner was this accomplished than the pashas and viziers all leaped +from their seats and drew their swords, swearing with great enthusiasm +by the beard of the Prophet that they would not return their weapons to +their sheaths till the crescent should shine on the top of the tower of +the Church of St. Stephen at Vienna.</p> + +<p>At that moment the door-curtains were thrust aside, and into the Diván +rushed—Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>The face of the youth was scarce recognisable, his turban was awry upon +his forehead, his eyes, full of dull melancholy, stared stonily in front +of him, his dress was untidy and dishevelled, his sword was girded to +his side, but its handle was broken. Nobody had prevented him from +rushing through the numerous halls into the Diván, and when he entered +the ulemas parted before him in holy horror. When the youth reached the +middle of the room, he stood there glancing round upon the viziers with +folded arms, just as if he were counting how many of them there were, +one by one they all stood up before him—nay, even the Sultan did so, +and awaited his words tremblingly.</p> + +<p>Everyone in the East regards the insane with awe and reverence, and if a +crazy fakir were to stop the greatest of the Caliphs in the way and say +to him: "Dismount from thy horse, and change garments with me," he would +not dare to offer any opposition, but would fulfil his desire, for a +strange spirit is in the man and God has sent it.</p> + +<p>How will it be then when the terrible spirit of madness descends upon +such a valiant warrior, such a distinguished soldier as Feriz Beg, who, +when only six-and-twenty, had fought a hundred triumphant battles, and +frequently put to shame the grey beards with his wisdom. And lo! +suddenly he goes mad, and stops people in the street, and speaks such +words of terror to them that they cannot sleep after it.</p> + +<p>The youth, with quiet, gentle eyes and a sorrowful countenance passes in +review the faces of all who are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> present, and heartrending was the +expression of deep unutterable anguish in his voice when he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, high and mighty lords, for appearing among you without an +invitation—I who have now no business at all in the world anywhere. The +world in which I lived is dead, it has withdrawn to Heaven far from me; +all those who possessed my heart are now high above my head, and now, I +have no heart and no feeling: neither love, nor valour, nor the desire +of fame and glory; in my veins the blood flows backwards and forwards so +that oftentimes I rush roaring against the walls round about me and tear +carpets and pillows which have never offended me; and now again the +blood stands still within me, my arteries do not beat at all, so that I +lie stiff and staring like a dead man. I beg you all, ye high and mighty +lords, who in a brief time will go to Paradise, to take a message from +me thither."</p> + +<p>The high lords listened horror-stricken to the calm way in which the +youth uttered these words, and they saw each other's faces growing pale.</p> + +<p>Feriz paid no attention to their horrified expressions.</p> + +<p>"Tell to them whom I love, and with whom my heart is, to give me back my +heart, for without it I am very poor. I perceive not the fragrance of +the rose, wine is not sweet to my lips, neither fire nor the rays of the +sun have any warmth, and the note of the bugle-horn and the neighing of +my charger find no response in me. High and mighty lords, tell this to +those who are above if I myself go not thither shortly."</p> + +<p>There were present, besides Mustafa, Rezlán Pasha, Ajas Beg, Rifát Aga, +Kara Ogli the Kapudan Pasha, and many more who promised themselves a +long life.</p> + +<p>The Grand Seignior had always made a particular favourite of Feriz, and +he now addressed him in a gentle, fatherly voice.</p> + +<p>"My dear son, go back home; my viziers are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> preparing to subdue the +world with unconquerable armies. Go with them, in the din of battle thou +wilt find again thy heroic heart and be cured of thy sickness."</p> + +<p>An extraordinary smile passed across the face of Feriz, he waved aside +the idea with his hand and bent his head forwards, which is a way the +Turks have of expressing decided negation.</p> + +<p>"This war cannot be a triumphant war, for men are the cause thereof. +Allah will bring it to nought. Ye draw the sword at the invitation of +murderers, deceivers, and traitors. I have broken the hilt of my own +sword in order that I may not draw it forth. They have killed those whom +I love, how can I fight in that army which was formed for them who were +the occasion of the ruin of my beloved?"</p> + +<p>At this thought the blood flew to the youth's face, the spirit of +madness flamed up in his eyes, he rose to his full height before the +Sultan, and he cried with a loud, audacious voice:</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt lose the war for which thou dost now prepare, for thy viziers +are incapable, thy soldiers are cowards, thy allies are traitors, thy +wise men are fools, thy priests are hypocrites, and thou thyself art an +oath-breaker."</p> + +<p>Then, as if he were suddenly sorry of what he had said to the Sultan, he +bent humbly over him and taking hold of the edge of his garment raised +it up and kissed it—and then, regarding him with genuine sympathy, +murmured softly:</p> + +<p>"Poor Sultan!—so young, so young—and yet thou must die."</p> + +<p>And thereupon, with hanging head, he turned away and prepared to go out. +None stayed him.</p> + +<p>On reaching the door, he fumbled for his sword, and perceiving when he +touched it that the hilt was missing, he suddenly turned back again, and +exclaimed in a low whisper:</p> + +<p>"Think not that it will rust in its sheath. The time will come when I +shall again draw it, and it will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> drink its fill of blood. When those +who now urge us on to war shall turn against us, when those who now +stand in line with us shall face us with hostile banners, then also will +I return, though then ye will no longer be present. But ye shall look on +from Paradise above. So it will be: ye shall look on ... Poor young +Sultan!"</p> + +<p>Having whispered these prophetic words, the mad youth withdrew, and the +gentlemen in the Diván were so much disturbed by his words that, with +faces bent to the earth, they prayed Allah that He would turn aside from +them the evil prophesy and not suffer to be broken asunder the weapons +they had drawn for the increase of His glory.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">PLEASANT SURPRISES.</span></h2> + + +<p>All the chief generals, all the border pashas, had received the Sultan's +orders to gather their hosts together and lead them against the armies +of the King of the Romans, and besiege the places which were the pretext +of the rupture—to wit, the fortresses of Fülek, Böszörmény, and Nagy +Kallá.</p> + +<p>At the same time the Government of Transylvania also received permission +to attack Hungary with its armies, as had already been decided at the +Diet of Szamosújvár.</p> + +<p>Vast preparations were everywhere made. The Magyar race is very hard to +move to war, but once in a quarrel it does not waste very much time in +splitting straws.</p> + +<p>Teleki, too, had attained at last to the dream of his life and the +object of all his endeavours, for which he had knowingly sacrificed his +own peace of mind, and the lives of so many good patriots—he was the +generalissimo of the armies of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian exiles in Transylvania hailed him as their deliverer, and +he saw himself a good big step nearer to the place of Esterházy—the +place of Palatine of Hungary. And why not? Why should he not stand among +the foremost statesmen of his age?</p> + +<p>All the way to the camp at Fülek he was the object of flattery and +congratulation; the Hungarians gathered in troops beneath his banner, +colonels and captains belauded him. As for the worthy Prince, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> did +not show himself at all, but sat in his tent and read his books, and +when he felt tired he took his watch to pieces and put it together +again.</p> + +<p>At Fülek the Transylvanian army joined the camp of Kara Mustafa.</p> + +<p>Teleki dressed up the Prince in his best robes, and trotted with him and +his suite to the tent of the Grand Vizier with growing pride when he +heard the guards blow their trumpets at their approach, and the Grand +Vizier as a special favour admitted them straightway to his presence, +allowed them to kiss his hand, made the magnates sit down, and praised +them for their zeal and fidelity, giving each of them a new caftan; and +when they were thus nicely tricked out, he dismissed them with an escort +of an aga, a dragoman, and twelve cavasses to see the whole Turkish camp +to their hearts' content.</p> + +<p>Teleki regarded this permission as a very good omen. Turkish generals +are wont to be very sensitive on this point, and it is a great favour on +their part when they allow foreigners to view their camps.</p> + +<p>The dragoman took the Hungarian gentlemen everywhere. He told them which +aga was encamped on this hill and which on that, how many soldiers made +up a squadron of horse, and how many guns, and how many lances were in +every company. He pointed out to them the long pavilion made of deal +boards in which the gunpowder lay in big heaps, and gigantic cannon +balls were piled up into pyramids, and round mortars covered with pitchy +cloths, and gigantic culverines, and siege-guns, and iron howitzers lay +on wooden rollers. The accumulated war material would have sufficed for +the conquest of the world.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen sightseers returned to their tents with the utmost +satisfaction, and, overjoyed at what he had seen, the Prince gave a +great banquet, to which all the Hungarian gentlemen in his army were +also invited. The tables were placed beneath a quickly-improvised +baldachin; and at the end of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> excellent dinner the noble feasters +began to make merry, everyone at length saw his long-deferred hopes on +the point of fulfilment, and none more so than Michael Teleki.</p> + +<p>One toast followed another, and the healths of the Prince and of Teleki +were interwoven with the healths of everyone else present, so that +worthy Apafi began to think that it would really be a very good thing if +he were King of Hungary, while Teleki held his head as high as if he +were already sitting in the seat of the Palatine.</p> + +<p>Just when the revellers were at their merriest, a loud burst of martial +music resounded from the plain outside, and a great din was audible as +if the Turkish armies were saluting a Prince who had just arrived.</p> + +<p>The merry gentry at once leaped from their seats and hurried to the +entrance of the tent to see the ally who was received with such +rejoicing, and a cry of amazement and consternation burst from their +lips at the spectacle which met their eyes.</p> + +<p>Emeric Tököly had arrived at the head of a host of ten thousand Magyars +from Upper Hungary. His army consisted of splendid picked warriors on +horseback, hussars in gold-braided dolmans, wolf-skin pelisses, and +shakos with falcon feathers. Tököly himself rode at the head of his host +with princely pomp; his escort consisted of the first magnates of +Hungary, jewel-bedizened cavaliers in fur mantles trimmed with +swansdown, among whom Tököly himself was only conspicuous by his manly +beauty and princely distinction.</p> + +<p>The face of Teleki darkened at the sight, while the faces of all who +surrounded him were suddenly illuminated by an indescribable joy, and +their enthusiasm burst forth in <i>eljens</i> of such penetrating enthusiasm +at the sight of the young hero that Teleki felt himself near to +fainting.</p> + +<p>Ah! it was in a very different voice that they had recently cried +"<i>Viva!</i>" to him, it was a very different sort of smile with which they +had been wont to greet <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>Meanwhile Tököly had reached the front of the marshalled Turkish army, +which was drawn up in two rows right up to the pavilion of the Grand +Vizier, allowing the youth and his suite to pass through between them +amidst a ceremonious abasement of their horse-tail banners. The young +general had only passed half through their ranks when the Grand Vizier +came to meet him in a state carriage drawn by six white horses.</p> + +<p>From the hill on which Teleki stood he could see everything quite +plainly.</p> + +<p>On reaching the carriage of the Grand Vizier, Tököly leaped quickly from +his horse, whereupon Kara Mustafa also descended from his carriage, and, +hastening to the young general, embraced him and kissed him repeatedly +on the forehead, made him take a seat in the carriage beside him, and +thus conveyed him to his tent amidst joyful acclamations.</p> + +<p>Teleki had to look on at all this! That was very different from the +reception accorded to him and the Prince of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>He looked around him—gladness, a radiant smile shone on every face. Oh! +those smiles were so many dagger-thrusts in his heart!</p> + +<p>In half an hour's time Tököly emerged from the tent of the Grand Vizier. +His head was encircled by a diamond diadem which the Sultan had sent for +all the way to Belgrade, and in his hand was a princely sceptre. When he +remounted and galloped away close beside the tents of the +Transylvanians, the Hungarians in Teleki's company could restrain +themselves no longer, but rushed towards Tököly and covered his hands, +his feet, his garments, with kisses, took him from his horse on to their +shoulders, and carried him in their arms back to camp.</p> + +<p>Teleki could endure the sight no more; he fled into his tent, and, +throwing himself on his camp-bedstead, wept like a child.</p> + +<p>The whole edifice which he had reared so industriously, so doggedly, +amidst innumerable perils,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> during the arduous course of a long +life—for which he had sacrificed relations, friends, and all the great +and wise men of a kingdom, and pledged away the repose of his very +soul—had suddenly collapsed at the appearance of a mere youth, whose +only merit was the exaggerated fame of a few successful engagements! It +was the heaviest blow he had ever staggered under. Oh! Fortune is indeed +ingenious in her disappointments.</p> + +<p>Evening came, and still Teleki had not quitted his tent. Then the Prince +went to see him. Teleki wanted to hear nothing, but the Prince told him +everything.</p> + +<p>"Hearken, Mr. Michael Teleki! The Hungarian gentlemen have not come back +to us, but remain with Tököly. And Tököly also, it appears, doesn't want +to have much to do with us, for instead of encamping with us he has +withdrawn to the furthest end of the Turkish army, and has pitched his +tents there."</p> + +<p>Teleki groaned beneath the pain which the distilled venom of these words +poured into his heart.</p> + +<p>"Apparently, Mr. Michael Teleki, we have been building castles in the +air," continued Apafi with jovial frankness. "We are evidently not of +the stuff of which Kings and Palatines of Hungary are made. I cannot but +think of the cat in the fable, who pulled the chestnuts out of the fire +with the claws of others."</p> + +<p>Teleki shivered as if with an ague.</p> + +<p>Apafi continued in his own peculiar vein of cynicism: "Really, my dear +Mr. Michael Teleki, I should like it much better if we were sitting at +home, and Denis Banfy and Paul Béldi and the other wise gentlemen were +sitting beside me, and I were listening to what they might advise."</p> + +<p>Teleki clenched his fists and stamped his feet, as much as to say: "I +would not allow that."</p> + +<p>Then with a bitter smile he watched the Prince as he paced up and down +the tent, and said with a cold, metallic voice:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>"One swallow does not make a summer. If ten or twelve worthless fellows +desert to Tököly, much good may it do him! The army of the real +Hungarian heroes will not follow their example, and when it can fight +beneath the banner of a Prince it will not fling itself into the arms of +a homeless adventurer."</p> + +<p>"Then it would be as well if your Excellency spoke to them at once, for +methinks that this night the whole lot of them may turn tail."</p> + +<p>Teleki seemed impressed by these words. He immediately ordered his +drabants to go to the captains of the army collected from Hungary who +had joined Apafi at Fülek, and invite them to a conference in his tent +at once.</p> + +<p>The officers so summoned, with a good deal of humming and hahing, met +together in Teleki's tent, and there the Minister harangued them for two +good hours, proving to demonstration what a lot of good they might +expect from cleaving to Apafi, and what a lot of evil if they allowed +themselves to be deluded by Tököly, till the poor fellows were quite +tired out and cried: "Hurrah!" in order that he might let them go the +sooner.</p> + +<p>But that same night they all fled to the camp of Tököly. None remained +with Apafi but his faithful Transylvanians.</p> + +<p>But even now Teleki could not familiarise himself with the idea of +playing a subordinate part here, but staked everything on a last, +desperate cast—he went to the Grand Vizier. He announced himself, and +was admitted.</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier was alone in his tent with his dragoman, and when he +saw Teleki he tried to make his unpleasant face more repulsive than it +was by nature, and inquired very viciously: "Who art thou? Who sent thee +hither? What dost thou want?"</p> + +<p>"I, sir, am the general of the Transylvanian armies, Michael Teleki; you +know me very well, only yesterday I was here with the Prince."</p> + +<p>Just as if the two speakers did not understand each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> other's language, +the dragoman had to interpret their questions and answers.</p> + +<p>"I hope," replied the Grand Vizier, "thou dost not expect me to +recognise at sight the names of all the petty princes and generals whom +I have ever cast eyes on? My master, the mighty Sultan, has so many +tributary princes in Europe, Asia, and Africa, that their numbers are +incalculable, and all of them are superior men to thee, how canst thou +expect me to recognise thee among so many?"</p> + +<p>Teleki swallowed the insult, and seeing that the Grand Vizier was +anxious to pick a quarrel with him, he came straight to the point.</p> + +<p>"Gracious sir, I have something very important to say to you if you will +grant me a private interview."</p> + +<p>The Grand Vizier pretended to fly into a rage at these words.</p> + +<p>"Art thou mad or drunk that thou wouldst have a private interview with +me, although I don't understand Hungarian and thou dost not understand +Turkish, or perchance thou wouldst like me to learn Hungarian to please +thee? Ye learn Latin, I suppose, though no living being speaks it? And +ye learn German and French and Greek, yet ye stop short at the language +of the Turks, though the Turks are your masters and protectors! For a +hundred and fifty years our armies have passed through your territories, +yet how many of you have learned Turkish? 'Tis true our soldiers have +learnt Hungarian, for thy language is as sticky as resin on a growing +tree. Therefore, if thou art fool enough to ask me for a private +interview—go home and learn Turkish first!"</p> + +<p>Teleki bowed low, went home and learnt Turkish—that is to say, he +packed up a couple of thousand thalers in a sack—and, accompanied by +two porters to carry them, returned once more to the tent of the Grand +Vizier.</p> + +<p>And now the Grand Vizier understood everything which the magnate wished +to say. The dragoman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> interpreted everything beautifully. He said the +Sultan was building a fortress on the ice when he entrusted the fate of +the Hungarians to such a flighty youth as Emeric Tököly. How could a +young man, who was such a bad manager of his own property, manage the +affairs of a whole kingdom? And so fond was he of being his own master, +that he suffered himself to be exiled from Transylvania with the loss of +all his property rather than submit to the will of his lawful Prince. +The man who had already rebelled against two rulers would certainly not +be very loyal to a third; while Apafi, on the other hand, had all his +life long been a most faithful vassal of the Sublime Porte, and, modest, +humble man as he was, would be far more useful than Tököly, whom the +Porte would always be obliged to help with men and money, whereas the +latter would always be able to help with men and money the Porte and its +meritorious viziers—<i>uti figura docet</i>.</p> + +<p>Mustafa listened to the long oration, took the money, and replied that +he would see what could be done.</p> + +<p>Teleki was not quite clear about the impression his words had made, but +he did not remain in uncertainty for long; for scarcely had he reached +the tent of the Prince than a defterdar with twelve cavasses came after +him, and signified that he was commanded by the Grand Vizier immediately +to seize Michael Teleki, fling him into irons, and bring him before a +council of pashas.</p> + +<p>Michael Teleki turned pale at these words. The faithless dragoman had +told everything to Tököly, who had demanded satisfaction from the Grand +Vizier, who, without the least scruple of conscience, was now ready to +present to another the head of the very man from whom he had accepted +presents only an hour before.</p> + +<p>The magnate now gave himself up for lost, but the Prince approached him, +and tapping him on the shoulder, said:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>"If I were the man your Excellency is pleased to believe me and make +other people believe too—that is to say, a coward yielding to every +sort of compulsion—in an hour's time your Excellency would not have a +head remaining on your shoulders. But everyone shall see that they have +been deceived in me."</p> + +<p>Then, turning towards the defterdar, he said to him in a firm, +determined voice:</p> + +<p>"Go back to your master, and say to him that Michael Teleki is the +generalissimo of my armies and under my protection, and at the present +moment I have him in my tent. Let anyone therefore who has any complaint +against him, notify the same to me, and I will sit in judgment over him. +But let none dare to lay a hand upon him within the walls of my tent, +for I swear by the most Holy Trinity that I will break open the head of +any such person with my cudgel. I would be ready to go over to the enemy +with my whole army at once rather than permit so much as a mouse +belonging to my household to be caught within my tent by a foreign cat, +let alone the disgrace of handing over my generalissimo!"</p> + +<p>The defterdar duly delivered the message of the enraged Prince to the +Grand Vizier. Emeric Tököly was with him at the time, and the two +gentlemen on hearing the vigorous assertion of the Prince agreed that +after all Michael Apafi was really a very worthy man, and sending back +the defterdar, instructed him to say with the utmost politeness and all +due regard for the Prince that so long as Michael Teleki remained in the +Prince's tent not a hair of his head should be crumpled; but he was to +look to it that he did not step out of the tent, for in that case the +cavasses who were looking out for him would pounce upon him at once and +treat him as never a Transylvanian generalissimo was treated before; and +now, too, he had only the Prince to thank for his life.</p> + +<p>Teleki was annihilated. Nothing could have wounded his ambitious soul so +deeply as the consciousness that the Prince was protecting him. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +think that this man, whom the whole kingdom regarded as cowardly and +incapable, could be great when he himself had suddenly become so very +small! His nimbus of wisdom, power, and valour had vanished, and he saw +that the man whom he had only consulted for the sake of obtaining his +signature to prearranged plans was wiser and more powerful and more +valiant than he.</p> + +<p>Peering through the folds of the tent he could see that, faithful to the +threatening message, the cavasses were prowling around the tent and +telling the loutish soldiers that if Teleki stepped out they would seize +him forthwith. The Szeklers laughed and shouted with joy thereat.</p> + +<p>Then the magnate began to reflect whether it would not be best if he +drew his sword, and rushing out, slash away at them till he himself were +cut to pieces.</p> + +<p>What a ridiculous ending that would be!</p> + +<p>Towards evening Emeric Tököly paid a visit to the Prince. He approached +the old man with the respect of a child, did obeisance, and would have +kissed his hand, but Apafi would not permit it, but embraced him, kissed +him on the forehead repeatedly, and made him sit down beside him on the +bear-skin of his camp-bed.</p> + +<p>The young leader feelingly begged the old man's pardon for all the +trouble that he had caused him and Transylvania.</p> + +<p>"It is I who ought to beg pardon of your Excellency," said Apafi in a +submissive voice.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, your Highness and dear Father. I know that you have always +loved me, but evil counsellors have whispered such scandalous things to +you about me that you were bound to hate me—but God requite them for it +if I cannot."</p> + +<p>"Be magnanimous towards them, my dear son; forgive them, for my sake."</p> + +<p>Tököly was silent. He knew that Teleki was in the tent, he saw him, but +he would not take any notice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> of him. At last, without even looking +towards him, he said, in the most passionate, threatening voice:</p> + +<p>"Look, ye, Teleki, you have practised all sorts of devices against me, +but if you put your nose outside the tent of the Prince you will eat his +bread no more. You would be in my power now, and here your head would +lie, but for his Highness whom I look upon as a father."</p> + +<p>Michael Teleki was silent, but future events were to prove that he had +heard very well what was now spoken.</p> + +<p>After surrendering the fortress of Fülek to the Turks, the Transylvanian +gentlemen returned home with their army; and Michael Teleki, when he got +home, paid a visit to the church where lay the ashes of Denis Banfy, and +hiding his face on the tomb, he wept bitterly over the noble patriot +whom he had sacrificed to his ambitious plans.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL.</span></h2> + + +<p>One blow followed hard upon another.</p> + +<p>In the following year the Sultan assembled a formidable host against +Vienna, and the Transylvanian bands also had to go. Teleki would have +avoided the war, but his representations and pretexts fell not upon +listening ears. They asked him why he, who had hitherto urged on the +campaign, wanted to withdraw from it now that it was in full swing? If +he had liked the beginning, the end also should please him.</p> + +<p>But the end was exceedingly bitter.</p> + +<p>The formidable host surrounding Vienna was scattered in a single night +by the heroic sword of Sobieski, the gigantic military enterprise was +ruined.</p> + +<p>The Transylvanian forces took no part in these operations. During the +siege of Vienna they had been left at Raab, and Teleki did not let the +opportunity pass. While the stupid Turks were fighting in the trenches, +he entered into communication with the German commander at Raab and +attached himself to the winning side.</p> + +<p>Everything which the insane Feriz had prophesied in the Diván was +literally fulfilled.</p> + +<p>The Turkish armies were everywhere routed. They lost the fortresses of +Grand Visegrad and Érsekújvár one after the other. The fortress of +Nograd was struck by lightning, which fired the powder-magazine and blew +up the garrison. Finally Buda was besieged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> and captured in the sight of +the Grand Vizier, and after a domination of one hundred and fifty years, +the half-moons were hauled down from the bastions and crosses +re-occupied their places.</p> + +<p>And all those who were present at the Diván fulfilled, one by one, the +prophecy that they should see Paradise before long.</p> + +<p>Rislán Pasha fell beneath the walls of Buda at the head of the +Janissaries, the Vizier of Buda was throttled by order of Kara Mustafa +after the battle was lost, Rifa Aga was drowned in the Danube among the +fugitives, Kara Ogli fell defending the ramparts of Buda, Tököly killed +Ajas Pasha at the Sultan's command; and, after the fall of Buda, Olaj +Beg brought to Kara Mustafa for his own use the silken cord and the +purple purse. It was the last purse which Kara Mustafa ever saw, for +after his decapitation his head was put inside it.</p> + +<p>And, finally, the people of Stambul, maddened by so many losses and +reinforced by the rebellious Janissaries, rushed upon the Seraglio, cut +down the counsellors of the Sultan, and threw the Sultan himself into +the same dungeon in which he had let his own brother languish for +thirty-nine years. The brother was now set on the throne, and the +dethroned Sultan died in the dungeon.</p> + +<p>And this also was fulfilled that those who had stirred up the Turks to +begin the war turned against them at the end of it. Transylvania +deposited its oath of homage in the hands of Caraffa, and Michael +Teleki, who became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, opened the gates of +the towns and fortresses to German garrisons. The Prince paid the +victors thirteen thousand florins, which it took heavy wagons two weeks +to convey from Fogaras to Nagyszeben. But Michael Teleki, in addition to +his countly escutcheon, got a present of a silver table service which +cost ten thousand florins. So Transylvania became imperial territory, +and its alliance with the Porte was dissolved.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>And then it was that God called to Himself the last lovable figure in +our history, the virtuous and magnanimous Anna Bornemissza.</p> + +<p>Only after her death did Apafi feel what his wife had been to him, his +guardian-angel, his consoler in all his sorrows, the brightest part of +his life, and when that light set, everything around him was doubly +dark. Every misfortune, every trouble, now weighed doubly heavy on his +mind and heart; he had no longer any refuge against persecuting sorrow. +He fled from one town to another like a hunted wild beast which can find +no refuge from the dart which transfixes it. At last he barricaded +himself in his room, which he did not quit for six weeks; and if +visitors came to see him he complained to them like a child:</p> + +<p>"I am starving to death. I have lost everything. It is a year since I +got a farthing from my estates or my mines or my salt-works. If the +farrier comes I cannot pay him his bill for my mantle, for I haven't got +a stiver. What will become of my son when I am gone, poor little Prince? +There's not enough to send him to school."</p> + +<p>He began to get quite crazy, and could neither eat, drink, nor sleep. +The whole day he would stride up and down his room, and utter strange +things in a loud voice. What troubled him most was that he must die of +hunger.</p> + +<p>At last those about him hit upon a remedy. Every day they laid purses of +money before him and said: "This sum Stephen Apor has sent from your +property, and that amount Paul Inezedi has collected from your +salt-works. Why should your Highness be anxious when there is such lots +of money?"</p> + +<p>And the next day they presented the same purses to him over again, and +invented some fresh story. And this simple deceit somewhat pacified the +poor old man, but the old worries had so affected his mind, never very +strong at any time, that he could never recover his former spirits. He +grew duller and more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> stupid every day, and often when he lay down he +would sleep a couple of days at a stretch.</p> + +<p>And at last the Almighty had mercy upon him and called him away from +this vale of tears; and he went to that land where the Turks plunder +not, and there is no warfare.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD.</span></h2> + + +<p>The German armies were now in complete possession of Transylvania, the +Turks were everywhere driven back and trampled down, the hereditary +Prince of Bavaria took Belgrade by storm and put twelve thousand +Janissaries to the edge of the sword. Thus the gate of the Turkish +Empire was broken open, and the victoriously advancing host, under the +Prince of Baden, crushed the remains of the Turkish army at Nish. Then +Bulgaria and Albania were subjugated, the sea shore was reached, and +only the Hæmus Mountains stood between the invaders and Stambul.</p> + +<p>The deluge left nothing untouched, even little Wallachia, whose +fortunate situation, wild mountains, and villainous roads had hitherto +saved it from invasion, saw the approach of the conquering banners.</p> + +<p>Old S—— was still the Prince, and he now gave a brilliant example of +the dexterity of Wallachian diplomacy, which at the same time +illustrates the simplicity of his character.</p> + +<p>The armies invading Wallachia were entrusted to the care of General +Heissler, who consequently wrote to Prince S—— informing him that he +was advancing on Bucharest through the Transylvanian Alps with ten +thousand men, therefore he was to provide winter quarters and provisions +for his army, as he intended to winter there.</p> + +<p>At exactly the same time the Tartar Khan gave the Prince to understand +that he intended to invade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> Moldavia in order that he might follow the +movements of the Transylvanian army close at hand.</p> + +<p>The Prince liked the one proposition as little as the other, so he sent +the Tartar Khan's letter to General Heissler bidding him beware, as a +great force was coming against him, and he sent Heissler's letter to the +Tartar Khan advising him in a friendly sort of way not to move too far +as Heissler was now advancing in his rear.</p> + +<p>Consequently both armies turned aside from the Principality, and +Wallachia had to support neither the Germans nor the Tartars.</p> + +<p>This is the diplomacy of little states.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>Amidst the wildly romantic hills of Lebanon is a pleasant valley for +which Nature herself has a peculiar preference. Amidst the gigantic +mountains which encircle a vast hollow on every side of it, rises a +roundish mound. On level ground it would be accounted a hill, but in the +midst of such a range of snowy giants it emerges only like a tiny heap +of earth, and to this day nothing grows on it but the cedar—the finest, +darkest, most widely spreading specimens of that noble and fragrant tree +are here to be found. A foaming mountain stream gurgles down it on both +sides, a little wooden bridge connects the opposing banks, and in the +midst of the bridge a rock projecting from the water clings to the +mountain side. Far away among the blue forests shine forth the white +roofless little houses of the city of Edena, which, built against the +mountain side, peer forth like some card-built castle, and still farther +away through gaps in the hills the Syrian sea is visible.</p> + +<p>Here in former days on the heights stood the romantic and poetical kiosk +of Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>The youth, with dogged persistence, continued to live for years in this +sublime solitude with the din of battle all around him. The prophecy +which he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> once pronounced in the Diván was whispered abroad among +the people, ran through the army, and as every one of his sayings was +severally fulfilled, the more widely there spread in the hearts of the +soldiers the superstitious belief that till he seized his sword they +would everywhere be defeated, but when he should again appear on the +battlefield the fortune of war would turn and become favourable once +more to the Ottoman arms.</p> + +<p>Long ago the Diván had wished to profit by this blind belief, and +countless embassies had been sent to the youthful hermit in his solitude +announcing the fall of generals, the loss of battles, the pressure of +peril.</p> + +<p>Nothing could move Feriz. To all these tidings he replied:</p> + +<p>"Thus it must come to pass! Doves do not spring from serpents' eggs. +Your rulers are those who took it upon them to wipe out a sacred oath +from the patient pages, who tore up and burnt and scattered to the winds +the vow that was made before God, and now ye likewise shall be wiped +from the page of history and your memory shall be laden with reproaches. +Learn ye, therefore, that it is dangerous to play with the name of +Allah, and though many of you grow so high that his head touches the +Heavens—yet he is but a man, and the earth moves beneath his feet, and +presently he shall fall and perish."</p> + +<p>The men perceived that these words were not so bad as they seemed to be +at first sight, and after every fresh defeat, more and more of his old +acquaintances came to see him and begged and prayed him to seize his +sword once more and let himself be chosen leader of the host.</p> + +<p>He sternly rejected every offer. No allurement was capable of making him +change his resolution.</p> + +<p>"When the time comes for me to draw my sword," he said, "I will come +without asking. That time will come none the quicker for anyone's +beseeching, but come it will one day and not tarry."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>And, indeed, the advent of that time had become a matter of necessity +for the Ottoman Empire. The banners of the German Empire were waving in +the very heart of Turkey; the Poles had recovered Podolia, the Venetians +were on the Turkish islands, and at last Transylvania also broke with +the Porte and opened her fortresses to the enemies of the Padishah.</p> + +<p>The new Sultan collected fresh armies, military enthusiasm was +stimulated by great rewards, fresh alliances were formed, and among the +new allies the one who enjoyed the greatest confidence was Emeric +Tököly, who was proclaimed Prince of Transylvania, and orders were given +to the Tartar Khan and the Prince of Moldavia to support him with their +forces.</p> + +<p>Tököly, always avid of fame and glory, threw himself heart and soul into +this new enterprise, but it was only when he saw the army with which he +was to conquer Transylvania that he had misgivings. His soldiers were +good for robbing and burning, they had been used to that for a long +time, but when it came to fighting there was no power on earth capable +of keeping them together. What could he make of soldiers whose sole +knowledge of the art of warfare consisted in running backwards and +forwards, whose most sensible weapon was the dart, and who, whenever +they heard a gun go off, stuffed up their ears and bolted like so many +mice? And with these ragamuffins he was expected to fight regular, +highly-disciplined troops.</p> + +<p>Suddenly an idea occurred to him. He sat down and wrote a letter and +delivered it to a swift courier, enjoining him not to rest or tarry till +he had placed it in the proper hands.</p> + +<p>This letter was addressed to Feriz Beg. In it Tököly informed him of the +course of events in Transylvania, and it concluded thus:</p> + +<p>"Behold, what you prophesied has come to pass, those who began the war +along with us now continue the war against us. Remember that you held +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> the promise of joining us when such a time came; fulfil your +promise."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg got this letter early in the morning, and the moment after he +had read it he ordered his stableman instantly to saddle his +war-charger, he chose from among his swords those which smote the +heaviest, exchanged his grey mantle for a splendid and costly costume, +gave a great banquet to all his retainers, and bade them make merry, for +in an hour's time, he would be off to the wars.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>The imperial army was making itself quite at home in Albania. Beautiful +scenery and beautiful women smiled upon the victors; there was money +also and to spare. And soon came the rumour that a gigantic Tartar host +was approaching the Albanian mountains, in number exceeding sixty +thousand. The imperial army was no more than nine thousand; but they +only laughed at the rumour, they had seen far larger armies fly before +them. The pick of the Turkish host, the Spahis, the Janissaries, had +cast down their arms before them in thousands; while it was the talk of +the bazaars that all that the Tartars were good for was to devastate +conquered territory. Besides, reinforcements were expected from Hungary, +where the Prince of Baden was encamped beneath Nándor-Fehérvár with a +numerous army.</p> + +<p>The leader of the Albanian forces was the Prince of Hanover.</p> + +<p>He was a pupil of the lately deceased Piccolomini, and though he +inherited his valour he was scarcely his equal in wisdom.</p> + +<p>On hearing of the approach of the Tartar army he assembled his captains +and held a council of war. The enemy was assumed to be the old mob which +used to turn tail at the first cannon-shot, and could not be overtaken +because of the superior swiftness of its horses. And indeed it was the +old mob, but a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> new spirit now inspired it; it followed a new leader +whom the enemy had never put to flight or beaten, and that leader was +Feriz Beg.</p> + +<p>Tököly's letter had speedily brought the young hero all the way from +Syria to Stambul to offer his sword and his genius to the new Sultan, +and the Sultan had charged him to lead the Tartar hordes against the +imperial army.</p> + +<p>When Feriz, from the top of a hill, saw the forces of the Prince of +Hanover all wedged together in a compact mass on the plain before him +like a huge living machine only awaiting a propelling hand to set it in +motion, he quickly sent the Tartars who were with him back into the +fir-woods that they might well cover their darts with the tar and +turpentine exuding from the trees, and this done, he sent them to gallop +round the Prince's camp and take up their position well within range.</p> + +<p>The Prince observed the movement but left them alone; oftentimes had the +Turks attempted a simple assault upon the German camp; oftentimes had +their threefold superior forces surrounded the small, well-ordered camp +and assaulted it from every side, and the Germans used always politely +to allow them to come within range of their guns and then discharge all +their artillery at once—and generally that was the end of the whole +affair.</p> + +<p>Feriz, however, made no assault upon them, but got his Tartars to +surround them, commanding them to set their darts on fire and discharge +them into the air so that they might fall down into the German camp. +According to this plan they could fire at the enemy at a much greater +distance off than the enemy could fire upon them, for the dart, flying +in a curve could reach further than the straight-going musket balls of +those days, and wherever it fell its sharp point inflicted a wound, +whereas the bullet was often spent before it reached its mark.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a flaming flood of darts darkened the air and the burning +resinous bolts fell from all sides into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> the crowded ranks of the +imperial army; the points of the darts fastened in the backs of the +horses, the burning drops fell upon the faces and garments of the +warriors, burning through the texture and inflicting grievous wounds; +the horses began to rear violently at this unexpected attack; the +gunners, cursing and swearing, began to discharge their guns anyhow at +the enemy; nobody paid any attention to the orders of the general, +discipline was quite at an end; the burning darts were destructive of +all military tactics, for there was no refuge from them, and every dart +struck its man.</p> + +<p>Then Feriz Beg blew with the trumpets, and suddenly the imperial troops +were attacked from all sides. They were unable to repel the attack in +the regular way, but intermingled with their assailants, fought man to +man. The picked German troopers quitted themselves like men, not one of +them departed without taking another with him to the next world, but the +Turks outnumbered them, and just when the Prince's army was exhausted by +the attacks of the Tartars, Feriz brought forward his well-rested +reserves, who burned with the desire to wash out the shame of former +defeats. The Prince of Hanover fell on the battle-field with the rest of +his army. Not one escaped to tell the tale.</p> + +<p>This was the first victory which turned the fortunes of war once more in +favour of the Turks after so many defeats.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LAST DAY.</span></h2> + + +<p>It was well known in Transylvania that the Porte had proclaimed Tököly +Prince and given into his hands armies wherewith he might invade the +Principality and conquer it, so General Heissler gave orders to the +counties and the Szeklers to rise up in defence of the realm, which they +accordingly did.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian forces were commanded by Balthasar Mackási and Michael +Teleki himself; the leader of the Germans was Heissler, with Generals +Noscher and Magni, and Colonel Doria under him, all of them heroic +soldiers of fortune, who, all the way from Vienna to Wallachia, had +never seen the Turks otherwise than as corpses or fugitives.</p> + +<p>When Tököly was approaching through Wallachia with his forces, Heissler +quickly closed all the passes, and placed three regiments at the Iron +Gates, while he himself took up a position in the Pass of Bozza, and +there pitched his camp amidst the mountains.</p> + +<p>The encamped forces were merry and sprightly enough, there was lots to +eat and drink of all sorts, and the Szeklers were quite close to their +wives and houses, so that they did not feel a bit homesick—only Teleki +was perpetually dissatisfied. He would have liked the forces to be +marching continually from one pass to another and sentinels to be +standing on guard night and day on every footpath which led into the +kingdom.</p> + +<p>The third week after the camp had been pitched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> at Bozza he suddenly +said to the general with a very anxious face:</p> + +<p>"Sir, what if Tököly were to appear at some other gate of the kingdom +while we are lying here?"</p> + +<p>"Every avenue is closed against him," answered Heissler.</p> + +<p>"But suppose he got in before we came here?"</p> + +<p>"The trouble then would not be how he got in but how he could get out +again."</p> + +<p>But Teleki wanted to show that he also knew something of the science of +warfare, so he said with the grave face of an habitual counsellor:</p> + +<p>"I do not think it expedient that we worthy soldiers should be crammed +up into a corner of the kingdom. In my opinion it would be much safer +if, after guarding every pass, we took up a position equi-distant +between Törcsvár and Bozza."</p> + +<p>Now for once Teleki was right, but for that very reason Heissler was all +the more put out. It was intolerable that a lay-general should suggest +something to him which he could not gainsay.</p> + +<p>And the worst of it was Teleki would not leave the general alone. "I am +participating in nothing here," said he, "make use of me, give me +something to do, and I will do it—occupation is what I want."</p> + +<p>"I'll give it you at once," said Heissler, and putting his arm through +Teleki's he led him to his tent, there made him sit down beside him at a +round table, sent one of the yawning guards to summon Noscher, Magni, +Doria and the other generals, made them sit down by the side of Teleki, +sat down at the table himself, and drawing a pack of cards from his +pocket, gave it to Teleki with the words:</p> + +<p>"Here's some occupation for you—you deal!"</p> + +<p>"What, sir!" burst forth Teleki, quite upset by the jest, "play at cards +when the enemy stands before us?"</p> + +<p>"How can we be better employed when the enemy is <i>not</i> before us? Do you +know how to play at landsknecht?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>"I do not."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll teach you."</p> + +<p>And they did teach him, for in a couple of hours they had won from him a +couple of hundred ducats, whereupon Teleki, on the pretext that he had +no more money, retired from the game.</p> + +<p>It was not the loss of a little money which vexed him so much as the +scant respect paid to his counsels.</p> + +<p>The other gentlemen continued the game. Heissler suddenly by a grand +coup won all the ready-money of the other generals, so that at last +there was a great heap of thalers and ducats in front of him, and his +three-cornered hat was filled to the brim with money.</p> + +<p>The losing party tried to console itself with jests.</p> + +<p>"Well, well! lucky at cards, luckless in love!"</p> + +<p>"Eh!" said Heissler, sweeping together his winnings, "I have only had +one love in my life, and that is on a battlefield, but there I have +always been lucky."</p> + +<p>At that moment a rapid galloping was heard, and after a brief parley +with the guard outside, a dusty dragoon courier entered the tent and +whispered breathlessly in Heissler's ear:</p> + +<p>"Tököly's advance guard is before Törcsvár, it attacked and cut down the +troops posted in the pass, only the Szeklers still hold out; if we don't +come quickly the pass will be taken."</p> + +<p>Heissler suddenly swept the cards from the table, and snatching up his +hat so that the money in it rolled away in every direction, he clapped +it on his head, and drawing his sword exclaimed: "To horse, gentlemen! +Quick! Towards Törcsvár! We shall arrive in good time, I know!"</p> + +<p>"Well! wasn't I right?" growled Teleki.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's no harm done! Blow the trumpets, we must strike our tents; +let the camp fires burn, and at the third sound of the trumpet let +everyone advance towards Törcsvár. A company and a couple of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> mortars +will be enough to guard the pass. All right now, Mr. Michael Teleki!"</p> + +<p>Then he also took horse. Teleki too hastened back to his levies, and +soon the whole host was trotting on in the dark towards Törcsvár.</p> + +<p>It was the 19th August, such a silent summer night that not a leaf was +stirring. Against the beautiful starry sky rose the majestic snowy Alps +which encircle Transylvania within their mighty chain; everything was +still, only now and then through the melancholy night resounded the din +and bustle of the warriors hurrying towards Törcsvár.</p> + +<p>Here in the mountain-chasm a wide opening is visible which presently +contracts so much that two carriages can scarce advance along it +abreast. The road goes deep down between two rocks, and if a few hundred +resolute and determined men planted themselves in that place, they could +hold it against the largest armies.</p> + +<p>On the other side of Moldavia, looking downwards, could be seen the +camp-fires of the hosts of Tököly, who was encamped on the farther side +of the Alps, occupying a vast extent of ground.</p> + +<p>In front all was dark. After the first surprise caused by some hundreds +of dragoons who had penetrated into Moldavia, the Szeklers had quickly +blocked the pass by felling trees across it, retired to the mountain +summits, and received the advancing Tartars with such showers of stones +that they were compelled to desist from any further advance and turn +back again.</p> + +<p>Great commotion was observable in the Turkish camp. The Tartars were +roasting a whole ox on a huge spit, and cut pieces off it while it was +roasting; some jovial Wallachians, a little elated by wine, began +dancing their national dances; on a hill the Hungarian hussars were +blaring their <i>farogatos</i>, whose penetrating voices frequently pierced +the most distant recess of the snowy Alps.</p> + +<p>But just because the camp had begun making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> merry the outposts had been +carefully disposed. The leaders of the host were youths in age but +veterans in military experience; they were keeping watch for everyone.</p> + +<p>They met as they were going their rounds and, without observing it, +strayed somewhat from the camp and advanced without a word along a +mountain path.</p> + +<p>At last Feriz broke the silence by remarking gravely to Tököly:</p> + +<p>"Is it not desperating to see a mountain before you and not be able to +fly?"</p> + +<p>"Especially when your desires are on the other side of that mountain."</p> + +<p>"What are your desires?" said Feriz bitterly, "in comparison with mine; +you have only a thirst for glory, I have a thirst for blood."</p> + +<p>"But mine is a still stronger impulse," said Tököly; "I have a wife."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I understand, and you want to see your wife? I also should like to +see her if I am not slain. And is the lady worthy of you?"</p> + +<p>"One must have lived very far from this kingdom not to have heard of +her," said Tököly proudly. "My name has not given such glory to Helen as +her name has to me. When everyone in Hungary laid down their arms, and I +myself fled from the kingdom, she herself remained in the fortress of +Munkács and defended it as valiantly as any man could do. Helen stood +like a man upon the bastions amidst the whirring of the bullets and the +thunder of the guns, extinguished the bombs cast into the fortress with +huge moistened buffalo-skins, fired off the cannons against the +besiegers with her own hands, and cut down the soldiers who attempted to +storm the walls, spiked their guns, and burnt their tents."</p> + +<p>At this Feriz grew enthusiastic.</p> + +<p>"We will save this brave woman; is she still defending herself?"</p> + +<p>"No. My chief confidant—a man whom I trusted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> would carry out my ideas, +a man whom I found a beggar and made a gentleman—betrayed her, and they +now hold her captive. Believe me, Feriz, if they gave her back to me I +would perchance for ever forget my dream of glory and renounce the crown +I seek, but to win her back I'll go through hell itself, and you will +see that I shall go through this mountain chain also, for though I have +not the strength to fly over it, I have the patience to crawl over it."</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg sighed gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Alas! I have no one for whose sake I might hasten into battle."</p> + +<p>Early next morning Tököly came over to Feriz's quarters and told him +that he had just received tidings that Heissler had arrived during the +night, having galloped without stopping through Szent Peter to Törcsvár. +Teleki, too, was with him.</p> + +<p>That name seemed to electrify the young Turk.</p> + +<p>He leapt quickly from his couch, and, seizing his sword, raised it +towards Heaven and cried with a savage expression which had never been +on his face before: "I thank thee, Allah, that thou hast delivered him +into my hands!"</p> + +<p>The two young generals then consulted together in private for about an +hour, after sending everyone out of their tent. Then they came forth and +reviewed their forces. Feriz selected his best Janissaries and Spahis, +Tököly the Hungarian hussars and the swiftest of the Tartars, and with +this little army, numbering about six thousand, they marched off without +saying whither. The vast camp meanwhile was intrusted to the care of the +Prince of Moldavia, who was charged to stand face to face night and day +over against the Transylvanian army, and not move from the spot.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the two young leaders, with their picked band, made their way +among the hills by the dark, sylvan mountain paths, whose wilderness no +human foot had ever yet trod. Anyone looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> down upon them from the +rocks above would have called their enterprise foolhardy. Now they had +to crawl down precipitous slopes on their hands and knees; now gigantic +rocks barred their way, which enclosed them within a narrow, mountainous +gorge whence there was no exit; here and there they had to cling on to +the roots of the stout shrubs growing out of the crevices of the rocks, +or pull themselves up, man by man, and horse by horse, by means of ropes +fastened to the trunks of trees. In these regions nought dwelt but +savage birds of prey, and the startled golden eagle looked down in +wonder from his stony lair at the panting, toiling host—what did such a +multitude of men seek in that desolate wilderness?</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p>The Transylvanian gentlemen from the vantage-point of a lofty mountain +ridge watched the two opposing hosts facing each other in front of the +defiles. Now the Szeklers would burst forth from the woods on the +straying Tartars and drive them back to their tents, and now like a +disturbing swarm of wasps the Tartars and Wallachians would force the +Szeklers back to the very borders of the forest. It was great fun to +watch all this from the lofty ridge where stood Heissler, Doria, and +Teleki observing the manly sport through long telescopes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the sentinels brought to Heissler a Wallachian who had given +the pickets to understand that he had brought a message from the Prince +of Wallachia to the commander-in-chief.</p> + +<p>"No doubt it is to tell you once more not to go into Wallachia again, +for the enemy has eaten it up," said Teleki, turning to Heissler, who +had got to the bottom of the Prince's former craftiness. "What is your +master's message?" he said, turning towards the Wallachian.</p> + +<p>"He sends his respects, and bids you be on your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> guard against Tököly, +for he has a large army and is very crafty; but instead of opposing him +in the direction of Wallachia you would do better if you saw to it that +he did not break into Transylvania, and you ought to beware of this all +the more as only three days ago he departed from the main host along +with his chief Sirdar, with a picked army of six thousand men, which has +since vanished as completely as if the earth had swallowed it up."</p> + +<p>"What did I say?" remarked Heissler, with a smile to Teleki. "You may go +back, my son, from whence you came," he said to the Szekler.</p> + +<p>But Teleki shook his head at this.</p> + +<p>"It is quite possible," said he, "that while we are halting here, Tököly +may issue forth somewhere behind our very backs."</p> + +<p>Heissler pointed at the snow-capped mountains.</p> + +<p>"Can anything but a bird get through those?"</p> + +<p>"If Tököly lead the way—yes."</p> + +<p>"Your Excellency has a great respect for that gentleman."</p> + +<p>"Truly, Mr. General, I should advise you to summon hither the regiments +left at the iron gate, and bring up some more cannons."</p> + +<p>Heissler did not even reply, but beckoned to him to be silent.</p> + +<p>At that instant a wild yell suddenly struck upon the ear of the general, +and looking back towards Zernyest he saw a large column of smoke rising +heavenwards, while the outposts came galloping up towards the camp.</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>"Tököly has got through the mountains!" was the terrifying report, "the +Tartars have burnt Toháir and plundered the camp."</p> + +<p>"To horse, to arms, every man!" roared Heissler, and drawing his sword +leaped upon his horse. Doria, Noscher, and Magni quickly marshalled +their squadrons, Macskári quickly got together his squadrons, and +descended into the plain.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>They had scarce got into battle array when they were joined by the boyar +Balacsán, the refugee Moldavian nobleman, who kept on foot two regiments +of the Hungarians and Wallachians at his own expense.</p> + +<p>The cry of the ravaging Tartars was now audible close at hand in the +village of Toháir, which was blazing away under the very eyes of the +Transylvanian hosts. Balacsán's soldiers, eager for the fray, begged +leave of Heissler to drive them from the village, and rushing upon them +with a wild yell, quickly drove the Tartars back through the burning +streets; while Heissler, with the main body of the army, galloped +towards Zernyest with the greatest haste. He also succeeded in occupying +it before Tököly had reached it.</p> + +<p>Here the soldiers rested after their tiring gallop. Heissler distributed +wine and brandy among them, then marshalled them, and sent to the front +the military chaplains. Two Jesuits, crucifix in hand, confessed all the +German soldiers, and the Rev. Mr. Gernyeszeg preached a pious discourse +to the Calvinists.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Tököly's army had advanced upon Zernyest. On one side of him +were the snowy Alps, on the other a reed-grown morass, which in the hot +days of August was quite dried up and could easily be crossed.</p> + +<p>As soon as the Szeklers saw the Turks, with their characteristic +pigheadedness they seized their pikes and would have rushed upon them +with their usual war-cry: "Jesus! Help, Jesus! Help!"</p> + +<p>Their leaders drove them back by beating them with their sword-blades, +and exhausted the whole vocabulary of abuse and condemnation before they +could prevent them prematurely from beginning the battle.</p> + +<p>Teleki meanwhile summoned to his side his trusty servant, and as he was +dressed in a black habit—for they were still in mourning for the +Prince—with few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> jewels on it, he detached his diamond aigrette and +gold chain, and adding his signet-ring to them, gave them to the servant +that he might take them before the battle to Gernyeszeg, and give them +to his daughter, Dame Michael Vay.</p> + +<p>The old servant would have asked why he did this, but Teleki turned away +from him and beckoned him to go away.</p> + +<p>Then he had his favourite charger, Kálmán, brought forth, and after +stroking its neck tenderly, trotted off to the front of his forces and +addressed them in these words:</p> + +<p>"My brave Transylvanians, now is the time to fight together valiantly +for glory and liberty in the service of his Imperial Majesty in order to +deliver our country, our wives and children, from Turkish bondage and +the tyranny of that evil ally of theirs, Tököly, for otherwise you and +your descendants have nought but eternal slavery to expect. Grieve not +for me if I, your general, fall on the field of battle. Behold, I bring +my white beard among you, and am ready to die."</p> + +<p>While he was saying these words his adjutant, Macskári, came to him and +began to explain that the Transylvanians had been placed in the rear and +were grumbling loudly at having been so set aside.</p> + +<p>On hearing this Teleki at once galloped up to Heissler.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he, "you are a bad judge of the Hungarian temperament in +warfare if you place them in the rear; the Szekler, in particular, has a +great aptitude for the assault, but don't expect help from him if you +keep him waiting in the rear till the front ranks are broken."</p> + +<p>Generals, on the eve of a battle are, very naturally, somewhat impatient +of advice, especially if it be delivered by a civilian. Heissler +therefore snubbed the minister somewhat unmercifully, whereupon Teleki +galloped back to his men without saying another word.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>Meanwhile the Turkish army had slowly begun to move; on the left wing a +regiment of Tartars stealthily entered the reeds of the morass and began +to surround the right wing of the Transylvanians; but their experienced +general, perceiving their approach from the undulatory movement of the +reed-stalks, speedily ordered Doria to advance against them with six +squadrons of dragoons, whereupon Teleki also sent thirteen regiments of +Szeklers against them under Michael Henter, and soon the two stealthily +crouching hosts could be seen in collision. The Szeklers, with a wild +yell, rushed upon the Tartars, who turned tail after the first onset, +and fled still deeper among the reeds. Doria pursued them everywhere, +the discharge of the artillery fired the reeds in several places, and +they began to burn over the heads of the combatants.</p> + +<p>At that moment Tököly suddenly blew the trumpets and advanced into the +plain with thirty-two squadrons, who rushed upon the foe with a +sky-rending howl. There was a roll of musketry as the assailants drew +near, and nine of the thirty-two squadrons bit the dust, hundreds of +riders fell from their horses.</p> + +<p>But the rest did not turn back as they used to do. Feriz Beg was leading +them, they saw his sword flashing in front of them, and felt sure of +victory.</p> + +<p>At the moment of the firing a bullet had struck the youth in the breast; +but he regarded it not, he only saw Teleki before him, dressed in black. +He recognised him from afar, and galloped straight towards him.</p> + +<p>Beneath the savage assault of the Turkish horsemen the German dragoons +gave way in a moment, their ranks were scattered; against the slim darts +of the Spahis and the light csakanyis of the hussars the straight sword +and the heavy cuirass were but a poor defence. The first line was cast +back upon the second, and when General Noscher was struck down by a dart +in the forehead, the centre also was broken.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>The Szeklers simply looked on at the battle from the rear.</p> + +<p>"What think you, comrades," they said to one another, "if they only +brought us here to look on, wouldn't it be better to look on from yonder +hill?"</p> + +<p>And with that they shouldered their pikes, and without doing the +slightest harm to the Turks, went off in a body.</p> + +<p>The cavalry, who still had some stomach in them, on perceiving the +flight of the infantry, also suddenly lost heart, and giving their +horses the reins, scampered off in every direction.</p> + +<p>Heissler thus was left alone on the battle-field, and up to the last +moment strenuously endeavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day. All +in vain. Balacsán fell before his very eyes on the left wing, and +shortly afterwards, General Magni staggered towards him scarce +recognisable, for he had a fearful slash right across his head, which +covered his face with blood, and his left arm was pierced by a dart. It +was not about himself that he was anxious, however, for he grasped +Heissler's bridle and dragged him away.</p> + +<p>Heissler, full of desperation, fought against his own men, who carried +him from the field by force. At last he reached the top of a hillock +and, looking back, perceived one division still fighting on the +battlefield. It was the picked division of Doria who, in its pursuit of +the Tartars, had been cut off from the rest of the army, and seeing that +it was isolated had hastily formed into a square and stood against the +whole of the victorious host, fighting obstinately and refusing to +surrender. This was too much for Heissler. He tore himself loose from +his escort, and returned alone to the battlefield. A few stray horsemen +followed him, and he tried to cut his way to Doria through the +intervening hussars.</p> + +<p>A tall and handsome cavalier intercepted him.</p> + +<p>"Surrender, general, it is no shame to you. I am Emeric Tököly."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>Heissler returned no answer but galloped straight at him, and, whirling +his sword above his head, aimed a blow at the Hungarian leader.</p> + +<p>Tököly called to those around him to stand back. Alone he fought against +so worthy an enemy till a violent blow broke in twain the sword of the +German general, and he was obliged to surrender.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Doria's division was overborne by superior forces; he himself +fell beneath his horse, which was shot under him, and was taken +prisoner.</p> + +<p>The rest fled.</p> + +<p>Michael Teleki fled likewise, trusting in his good steed Kálmán. He +heard behind him the cries of his pursuers; there was one form in +particular that he did not wish to have behind him, and it seemed to +Teleki as if he were about to see this form.</p> + +<p>This was the chief sirdar, Feriz Beg. Mortally wounded though he was, he +did not forget his mortal anger, and though his blood flowed in streams, +he still felt strength enough in his arm to shed the blood of his enemy.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Michael directed his flight towards a field of wheat, when his +horse stumbled and fell with him.</p> + +<p>Here Feriz Beg overtook the minister, and whirling around his sword, +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"That blow is from Denis Banfy!"</p> + +<p>Teleki raised his sword to defend himself, but at that name his hand +shook and he received a slash across the face, whereupon his sword fell +from his hand; but he still held his hand before his streaming eyes and +only heard these words:</p> + +<p>"This blow is for Paul Béldi! This blow is for the children of Paul +Béldi! This blow is for Transylvania!"</p> + +<p>That last blow was the heaviest of all!</p> + +<p>Teleki sank down on the ground a corpse.</p> + +<p>Feriz Beg gazed upwards with a look of transport, sighed deeply, and +then drooped suddenly over his horse's neck. He was dead.</p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>Next day when they found Teleki among the slain, and brought him to +Tököly, the young Prince cried:</p> + +<p>"Heh! bald head! bald head! if you had never lived in Transylvania so +much blood would not have flowed here."</p> + +<p>Thus the prophecy of Magyari was fulfilled.</p> + +<p>Then Tököly ordered the naked, plundered corpse to be clothed in +garments of his own and sent to his widow at Görgéncy.</p> + +<p>In exchange for the captured generals, Heissler and Doria, Tököly got +back his wife Helen. This was his greatest gain from the war.</p> + +<p>Both of them now sleep far away from their native land in the valley of +Nicomedia.</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END.</p> + +<p class="smalltext" style="text-align: left; margin-top: 4em;"><i>Jarrold and Sons, Limited, The Empire Press, Norwich.</i></p> + + +<hr class="wide" /> + + +<p class="center bigtext"><i>Dr. Maurus Jókai's Novels</i></p> + +<p class="advert">The Green Book</p> +<p class="advert">Black Diamonds</p> +<p class="advert">Pretty Michal</p> +<p class="advert">The Lion of Janina</p> +<p class="advert">A Hungarian Nabob</p> +<p class="advert">Dr. Dumany's Wife</p> +<p class="advert">The Poor Plutocrats</p> +<p class="advert">The Nameless Castle</p> +<p class="advert">Debts of Honor</p> +<p class="advert">The Day of Wrath</p> +<p class="advert">Eyes Like the Sea</p> +<p class="advert">Halil the Pedlar (The White Rose)</p> +<p class="advert">'Midst the Wild Carpathians</p> +<p class="advert">The Slaves of the Padishah.</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center bigtext">NEW & RECENT FICTION.</p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>Crown 8vo, 6s.</i></p> + + +<p class="advert2">The Slaves of the Padishah,</p> + +<p class="advert3">or, "The Turks in +Hungary." By <span class="smcap">Maurus Jókai</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">The Daughter of the Dawn.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">Reginald Hodder</span>. +Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Harold Piffard</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar,</p> + +<p class="advert3">or, "The Scourge of +God." By <span class="smcap">Baron Nicholas Jósika</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Selina +Gaye</span>. With Preface by <span class="smcap">R. Nisbet Bain</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">The Golden Dwarf.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">R. Norman Silver</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">More Tales from Tolstoi.</p> + +<p class="advert3">Translated from the Russian +by <span class="smcap">R. Nisbet Bain</span>. With Biography brought up to date.</p> + +<p class="advert2">Distant Lamps.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">Jessie Reuss</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">The Jest of Fate.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">Paul Lawrence Dunbar</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">Over Stony Ways:</p> + +<p class="advert3">A Romance of Tennyson-Land. By <span class="smcap">Emily +M. Bryant</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">Liege Lady.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">Lilian S. Arnold</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert4"><span class="smcap">Fourth Edition.</span></p> + +<p class="advert5">Tales from Tolstoi.</p> + +<p class="advert3">Translated from the Russian by <span class="smcap">R. +Nisbet Bain</span>. With Biography of <span class="smcap">Count Leo Tolstoi</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert4"><span class="smcap">Sixth Edition.</span></p> + +<p class="advert5">Tales from Gorky.</p> + +<p class="advert3">Translated from the Russian of <span class="smcap">Maxim +Gorky</span> by <span class="smcap">R. Nisbet Bain</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">Halil the Pedlar.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">Maurus Jókai</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">R. +Nisbet Bain</span>.</p> + +<p class="advert2">Autumn Glory.</p> + +<p class="advert3">By <span class="smcap">René Bazin</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Ellen +Waugh</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">LONDON: JARROLD & SONS,<br /> +10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.</p></div> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected.</p> + +<p>The advertisements were moved from the front of the book to the back. A +period was added after "Distant Lamps".</p> + +<p>In Chapter I, "deposited it in front of the Divan" was changed to +"deposited it in front of the Diván".</p> + +<p>In Chapter III, "Feriz Beg grew quiet furious at Tököly's cold repose" +was changed to "Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Tököly's cold repose".</p> + +<p>In Chapter IV, a quotation mark was added after "commandants of the +fortress of Szathmár".</p> + +<p>In Chapter V, "as to everyone of which he was able to prove" was changed +to "as to every one of which he was able to prove", "found everthing +wasted and ravaged" was changed to "found everything wasted and +ravaged", and "we are have not come here for you to pepper us" was +changed to "we have not come here for you to pepper us".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VI, "s ized his shaggy little horse" was changed to "seized +his shaggy little horse".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VII, "he had put the Szathmàrians" was changed to "he had put +the Szathmárians", "for the Szathmàr army" was changed to "for the +Szathmár army", "he had only required of Kàszonyi" was changed to "he +had only required of Kászonyi", and "kept them well supplied them with +drinking-water" was changed to "kept them well supplied with +drinking-water".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, a malformed ellipsis in "That damsel's name is Azrael +... Allah is mighty!" was corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, "they ward of with their bosoms" was changed to "they +ward off with their bosoms", and "a female Ibbis" was changed to "a +female Iblis".</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, a quotation mark was removed before "Eh, eh! worthy Beg, +thou must needs have been drinking".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XI, a quotation mark was added before "the camp is now +aroused".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XII, "Ersekújvar" was changed to "Érsekújvár".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIII, "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags, entered the +courtyard" was changed to "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags +entered the courtyard", "without stopping from Szamosujvár" was changed +to "without stopping from Szamosújvár", and "she reached Szamosujvár in +the early morning" was changed to "she reached Szamosújvár in the early +morning".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIV, "the panic of Nagyened" was changed to "the panic of +Nagyenyed", and "for Béldi lives at Bodolá" was changed to "for Béldi +lives at Bodola".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XV, "well aquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot" was +changed to "well acquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot", "for +him it to level towns to the ground" was changed to "for him to level +towns to the ground", and a malformed ellipsis in "Mercy! ... Mercy!" +was corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVI, "the time when Haissar was burnt" was changed to "the +time when Hiassar was burnt", "I sware by Allah it is not to be done" +was changed to "I swear by Allah it is not to be done", "whispered in +her hear with malicious joy" was changed to "whispered in her ear with +malicious joy", "in all probabilty been helped" was changed to "in all +probability been helped", and "sorry matted coveyance" was changed to +"sorry matted conveyance".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIX, a period was added after the chapter number, "Rest +to night?" was changed to "Rest to-night?", and "plunged over into +the abss" was changed to "plunged over into the abyss".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XX, "the muderris in his official capacity" was changed to +"the müderris in his official capacity".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXI, a period was changed to a question mark after "where +have you put it", and "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyizeg" was changed +to "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyeszeg".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXII, a period was changed to a comma after "shaking his +chains".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIV, "demanded an audience of the noble Danó Sôlymosi" was +changed to "demanded an audience of the noble Danó Sólymosi".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXV, "You, Züfikar, my son" was changed to "You, Zülfikar, my +son", and "Körtörely, the old hound" was changed to "Körtövely, the old +hound".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, "Thus Aranki's letter" was changed to "Thus Aranka's +letter", a missing period was added after "as if nothing had happened", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "we cannot now withdraw our +feet".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXX, "Ersekujvár" was changed to "Érsekújvár", and "During +the seige of Vienna" was changed to "During the siege of Vienna".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXXI, "always arid of fame and glory" was changed to "always +avid of fame and glory".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXXII, a period was added after the chapter number, a period +was changed to a question mark after "And is the lady worthy of you".</p> + +<p>The original text contained numerous inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation, frequently reflecting inconsistent Anglicization of +Hungarian names. In some cases, when the translator's preferred form was +obvious, the spelling has been modified to reflect the dominant usage or +to conform with the original Hungarian text; in many cases, where no +single spelling was obviously preferred, inconsistent spellings have +been retained.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slaves of the Padishah, by Mór Jókai + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + +***** This file should be named 39048-h.htm or 39048-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39048/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/39048-h/images/front.jpg b/39048-h/images/front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bb26cf --- /dev/null +++ b/39048-h/images/front.jpg diff --git a/39048-h/images/logo.png b/39048-h/images/logo.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1f2c65 --- /dev/null +++ b/39048-h/images/logo.png diff --git a/39048.txt b/39048.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36847a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/39048.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14400 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slaves of the Padishah, by Mor Jokai + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Slaves of the Padishah + +Author: Mor Jokai + +Translator: R. Nisbet Bain + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39048] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH + + + + +[Illustration: Dr. Jokai Mor 1900] + + + + +The Slaves of the Padishah + +("The Turks in Hungary," being the Sequel to +"'Midst the Wild Carpathians") + +_A ROMANCE_ + +BY MAURUS JOKAI + +_Author of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," "Black Diamonds," +"Pretty Michal," etc._ + +TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH HUNGARIAN EDITION BY +R. NISBET BAIN + +[Illustration: SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE THIRD EDITION] + + LONDON + JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C. + [_All Rights Reserved_] + 1903 + + AUTHORISED VERSION + + _Copyright_ + _London: Jarrold & Sons_ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE GOLDEN CAFTAN 9 + II. MAIDENS THREE 17 + III. THREE MEN 31 + IV. AFFAIRS OF STATE 41 + V. THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN 52 + VI. THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING 77 + VII. THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED 93 + VIII. THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH 102 + IX. THE AMAZON BRIGADE 112 + X. THE MARGARET ISLAND 118 + XI. A STAR IN HELL 125 + XII. THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD 134 + XIII. THE PERSECUTED WOMAN 154 + XIV. OLAJ BEG 169 + XV. THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE 179 + XVI. A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD 193 + XVII. THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE 218 + XVIII. SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN 233 + XIX. THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH 237 + XX. THE VICTIM 261 + XXI. OTHER TIMES--OTHER MEN 267 + XXII. THE DIVAN 276 + XXIII. THE TURKISH DEATH 293 + XXIV. THE HOSTAGE 307 + XXV. THE HUSBAND 313 + XXVI. THE FADING OF FLOWERS 321 + XXVII. THE SWORD OF GOD 327 + XXVIII. THE MADMAN 340 + XXIX. PLEASANT SURPRISES 349 + XXX. A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL 360 + XXXI. THE NEWLY DRAWN SWORD 364 + XXXII. THE LAST DAY 371 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +"Toeroek Vilag Magyarorszagon," now englished for the first time, is a +sequel to "Az Erdely arany kora," already published by Messrs. Jarrold, +under the title of "'Midst the Wild Carpathians." The two tales, though +quite distinct, form together one great historical romance, which +centres round the weakly, good-natured Michael Apafi, the last +independent Prince of Transylvania, his masterful and virtuous consort, +Anna Bornemissza, and his machiavellian Minister, Michael Teleki, a sort +of pocket-Richelieu, whose genius might have made a great and strong +state greater and stronger still, but could not save a little state, +already doomed to destruction as much from its geographical position as +from its inherent weakness. The whole history of Transylvania, indeed, +reads like an old romance of chivalry, cut across by odd episodes out of +"The Thousand and One Nights," and the last phase of that history +(1674-1690), so vividly depicted in the present volume, is fuller of +life, colour, variety, and adventure than any other period of European +history. The little mountain principality, lying between two vast +aggressive empires, the Ottoman and the German, ever striving with each +other for the mastery of central Europe, was throughout this period the +football of both. Viewed from a comfortable armchair at a distance of +two centuries, the whole era is curiously fascinating: to unfortunate +contemporaries it must have been unspeakably terrible. Strange +happenings were bound to be the rule, not the exception, when a Turkish +Pasha ruled the best part of Hungary from the bastions of Buda. Thus it +was quite in the regular order of things for Hungarian gentlemen to join +with notorious robber-chieftains to attack Turkish fortresses; for +bandits, in the disguise of monks, to plunder lonely monasteries; for +simple boors to be snatched from the plough to be set upon a throne; for +Christian girls, from every country under heaven, to be sold by auction +not fifty miles from Vienna, and for Turkish filibusters to plant +fortified harems in the midst of the Carpathians. Jokai, luckier than +Dumas, had no need to invent his episodes, though he frequently presents +them in a romantic environment. He found his facts duly recorded in +contemporary chronicles, and he had no temptation to be unfaithful to +them, because the ordinary, humdrum incidents of every-day life in +seventeenth century Transylvania outstrip the extravagances of the most +unbridled imagination. + +No greater praise can be awarded to the workmanship of Jokai than to say +that, although written half a century ago (the first edition was +published in 1853), "Toeroek Vilag Magyarorszagon" does not strike one as +in the least old-fashioned or out of date. Romantic it is, no doubt, in +treatment as well as in subject, but a really good romance never grows +old, and Jokai's unfailing humour is always--at least, in his +masterpieces--a sufficient corrective of the excessive sensibility to +which, like all the romanticists, he is, by temperament, sometimes +liable. + +Most of the characters which delighted us in "'Midst the Wild +Carpathians" accompany us through the sequel. The Prince, the Princess, +the Minister, Beldi, Kucsuk, Feriz, Azrael, and even such minor +personages as the triple renegade, Zuelfikar, are all here, and remain +true to their original presentment, except Azrael, who is the least +convincing of them all. Of the new personages, the most original are the +saponaceous Olaj Beg, whose unctuous suavity always conveys a menace, +and the heroic figure of the famous Emeric Toekoely, who, but for the +saving sword of Sobieski, might have wrested the crown of St. Stephen +from the House of Hapsburg. + + +R. NISBET BAIN. + +_December, 1902._ + + + + +The Slaves of the Padishah. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE GOLDEN CAFTAN. + + +The S---- family was one of the richest in Wallachia, and consequently +one of the most famous. The head of the family dictated to twelve +boyars, collected hearth-money and tithes from four-and-fifty villages, +lived nine months in the year at Stambul, held the Sultan's bridle when +he mounted his steed in time of war, contributed two thousand +lands-knechts to the host of the Pasha of Macedonia, and had permission +to keep on his slippers when he entered the inner court of the Seraglio. + +In the year 1600 and something, George was the name of the first-born of +the S---- family, but with him we shall not have very much concern. We +shall do much better to follow the fortunes of the second born, Michael, +whom his family had sent betimes to Bucharest to be brought up as a +priest in the Seminary there. The youth had, however, a remarkably thick +head, and, so far from making any great progress in the sciences, was +becoming quite an ancient classman, when he suddenly married the +daughter of a sub-deacon, and buried himself in a little village in +Wallachia. There he spent a good many years of his life with scarce +sufficient stipend to clothe him decently, and had he not tilled his +soil with his own hands, he would have been hard put to it to find +maize-cakes enough to live upon. + +In the first year of his marriage a little girl was born to him, and for +her the worthy man and his wife spared and scraped so that, in case they +were to die, she might have some little trifle. So they laid aside a few +halfpence out of every shilling in order that when it rose to a good +round sum they might purchase for their little girl--a cow. + +A cow! That was their very ultimate desire. If only they could get a +cow, who would be happier than they? Milk and butter would come to their +table in abundance, and they would be able to give some away besides. +Her calf they would rear and sell to the butcher for a good price, +stipulating for a quarter of it against the Easter festival. Then, too, +a cow would give so much pleasure to the whole family. In the morning +they would be giving it drink, rubbing it down, leading it out into the +field, and its little bell would be sounding all day in the pasture. In +the evening it would come into the yard, keeping close to the wall, +where the mulberry-tree stood, and poke its head through the kitchen +door. It would have a star upon its forehead, and would let you scratch +its head and stroke its neck, and would take the piece of maize-cake +that little Mariska held out to it. She would be able to lead the cow +everywhere. This was the Utopia of the family, its every-day desire, and +Papa had already planted a mulberry-tree in the yard in order that +Csako, that was to be the cow's name, might have something to rub his +side against, and little Mariska every day broke off a piece of +maize-cake and hid it under the window-sill. The little calf would have +a fine time of it. + +And lo and behold! when the halfpennies and farthings had mounted up to +such a heap that they already began to think of going to the very next +market to bring home the cow; when every day they could talk of nothing +else, and kept wondering what the cow would be like, brindled, or brown, +or white, or spotted; when they had already given it its name +beforehand, and had prepared a leafy bed for it close to the house--it +came to pass that a certain vagabond Turkish Sheikh shot dead the elder +brother, who was living in Stambul, because he accidentally touched the +edge of the holy man's garment in the street. So the poor priest +received one day a long letter from Adrianople, in which he was informed +that he had succeeded his brother as head of the family, and, from that +hour, was the happy possessor of an annual income of 70,000 ducats. + +I wonder whether they wept for that cow, which they never brought home +after all? + +Mr. Michael immediately left his old dwelling, travelled with his family +all the way to Bucharest in a carriage (it was the first time in his +life he had ever enjoyed that dignity), went through the family +archives, and entered into possession of his immense domain, of whose +extent he had had no idea before. + +The old family mansion was near Rumnik, whither Mr. Michael also +repaired. The house was dilapidated and neglected, its former possessors +having lived constantly abroad, only popping in occasionally to see how +things were going on. Nevertheless, it was a palace to the new heir, +who, after the experience of his narrow hovel, could hardly accommodate +himself to the large, barrack-like rooms, and finally contented himself +with one half of it, leaving the other wing quite empty, as he didn't +know what to do with it. + +Having been accustomed throughout the prime of his life to deprivation +and the hardest of hard work, that state of things had become such a +second nature to him, that, when he became a millionaire, he had not +much taste for anything better than maize-cakes, and it was high +festival with him when _puliszka_[1] was put upon the table. + + [Footnote 1: A sort of maize pottage.] + +On the death of his wife, he sent his daughter on foot to the +neighbouring village to learn her alphabet from the cantor, and two +heydukes accompanied her lest the dogs should worry her on the way. +When his daughter grew up, he entrusted her with the housekeeping and +the care of the kitchen. Very often some young and flighty boyar would +pass through the place from the neighbouring village, and very much +would he have liked to have taken the girl off with him, if only her +father would give her away. And all this time Mr. Michael's capital +began to increase so outrageously that he himself began to be afraid of +it. It had come to this, that he could not spend even a thousandth part +of his annual income, and, puzzle his head as he might, he could not +turn it over quickly enough. He had now whole herds of cows, he bought +pigs by the thousand, but everything he touched turned to money, and the +capital that he invested came back to him in the course of the year with +compound interest. The worthy man was downright desperate when he +thought upon his treasure-heaps multiplying beyond all his expectations. +How to enjoy them he knew not, and yet he did not wish to pitch them +away. + +He would have liked to have played the grand seignior, if only thereby +to get rid of some of his money, but the role did not suit him at all. +If, for instance, he wanted to build a palace, there was so much +calculating how, in what manner, and by whom it could be built most +cheaply, that it scarce cost him anything at all, but then it never +turned out a palace. Or if he wanted to give a feast, it was easy enough +to select the handsomest of the boyars for his guests. Whatever was +necessary for the feast--wine, meat, bread, honey, and sack-pipers--was +supplied in such abundance from his own magazines and villages, that he +absolutely despaired to think how it was that his ancestors had not only +devoured their immense estates, but had even piled up debts upon them. +To him this remained an insoluble problem, and after bothering his head +for a long time as to what he should do with his eternally accumulating +capital, he at last hit upon a good idea. The spacious garden +surrounding his crazy castle had, by his especial command, been planted +with all sorts of rare and pleasant plants--like basil, lavender, wild +saffron, hops, and gourds--over whom a tenant had been promoted as +gardener to look after them. One year the garden produced such gigantic +gourds, that each one was as big as a pitcher. The astonished neighbours +came in crowds to gaze at them, and the promoted ex-boyar swore a +hundred times that such gourds as these the Turkish Sultan himself had +not seen all his life long. + +This gave Master Michael an idea. He made up his mind that he would send +one of these gourds to the Sultan as a present. So he selected the +finest and roundest of them, of a beautiful flesh-coloured rind, +encircled by dark-green stripes, with a turban-shaped cap at the top of +it, and, boring a little hole through it, drew out the pulp and filled +it instead with good solid ducats of the finest stamp, and placing it on +his best six-oxened wagon, he selected his wisest tenant, and, dinning +well into his head where to go, what to say, and to whom to say it, sent +him off with the great gourd to the Sublime Porte at Stambul. + +It took the cart three weeks to get to Constantinople. + +The good, worthy farmer, upon declaring that he brought gifts for the +Grand Seignior, was readily admitted into the presence, and after +kissing the hem of the Padishah's robe, drew the bright cloth away from +the presented pumpkin and deposited it in front of the Divan. + +The Sultan flew into a violent rage at the sight of the gift. + +"Dost thou take me for a swine, thou unbelieving dog, that thou bringest +me a gourd?" cried he. + +And straightway he commanded the Kiaja Beg to remove both the gourd and +the man. The gourd he was to dash to pieces on the ground, the bringer +of the gourd was to have dealt unto him a hundred stripes on the soles +of his feet, but the sender of the gourd was to lose his head. + +The Kiaja Beg did as he was commanded. He banged the gourd down in the +courtyard outside, and behold! a stream of shining ducats gushed out of +it instead of the pulp. Nevertheless, faithful above all things to his +orders, he had the poor farmer flung down on his face, and gave him such +a sound hundred stripes on the soles of his feet that he had no wish for +any more. + +Immediately afterwards he hastened to inform the Sultan that the gourd +had been dashed to the ground, the hundred blows with the stick duly +paid, the silken cord ready packed, but that the gourd was full of +ducats. + +At these words the countenance of the Grand Seignior grew serene once +more, like the smiling summer sky, and after ordering that the silken +cord should be put back in its place, he commanded that the most +magnificent of caftans should be distributed both to the bastinadoed +farmer and to the boyar who had sent the gift, and that they should both +be assured of the gracious favour of the Padishah. + +The former had sufficient sense when he arrived at Bucharest to sell the +gay garment he had received to a huckster in the bazaar, but his +master's present he carefully brought home, and, after informing him of +the unpleasant incident concerning himself, delivered to him his +present, together with a gracious letter from the Sultan. + +Master Michael was delighted with the return gift. He put on the long +caftan, which reached to his heels, and was made of fine dark-red +Thibetan stuff, embroidered with gold and silken flowers. Gold lace and +galloon, as broad as your hand, were piled up on the sleeves, shoulder, +and back, to such an extent that the original cloth was scarcely +visible, and the hem of the caftan was most wondrously embroidered with +splendid tulips, green, blue, and lilac roses, and all sorts of tinsel +and precious stones. + +Master Michael felt himself quite another man in this caftan. The Sultan +had sent him a letter. The Sultan had plainly written to him that he +was to wear this caftan. This, therefore, was a command, and it was +possible that the Sultan might turn up to-morrow or the next day to see +whether he was wearing this caftan, and would be angry if he hadn't got +it on. He must needs therefore wear it continually. + +But this golden caftan did not go at all well with his coarse fur +jacket, nor with his wooden sandals and lambskin cap. He was therefore +obliged to send to Tergoviste for a tailor who should make him a silk +dolman, vest, and embroidered stockings to match the golden caftan. He +also sent to Kronstadt for a tasselled girdle, to Braila for shoes and +morocco slippers, and to Tekas for an ermine kalpag with a heron's plume +in it. + +Of course, now that he was so handsomely dressed, it was quite out of +the question for him to sit in a ramshackle old carriage, or to bestride +a fifty-thaler nag. He therefore ordered splendid chargers to be sent to +him from Bessarabia, and had a gilded coach made for him in +Transylvania; and when the carriage and the horses were there, he could +not put them into the muddy wagon-shed and the sparrow-frequented, +rush-thatched stable, but had to make good stone coach-houses and +stables expressly for them. Now, it would have looked very singular, +and, in fact, disgusting, if the stable and coach-house had been better +than the castle, whose shingle roof was a mass of variegated patches and +gaping holes where the mortar had fallen out and left the bricks bare; +so there was nothing for it but to pull down the old castle, and to +order his steward to build up a new one in its place, and make it as +beautiful and splendid as his fancy could suggest. + +Thus the whole order of the world he lived in was transformed by a +golden caftan. + +The steward embellished the castle with golden lattices, turrets, +ornamental porches and winding staircases; put conservatories in the +garden, planted projecting rondelles and soaring belvederes at the +corners of the castle and a regular tower in the middle of it, and +painted all the walls and ceilings inside with green forests and +crooked-beaked birds. + +Of course, he couldn't put inside such a place as this the old rustic +furniture and frippery, so he had to purchase the large, high, shining +hump-backed arm-chairs, the gold-stamped leather sofas, and the +lion-legged marble tables which were then at the height of fashion. + +Of course, Turkey carpets had to be laid on the floor, and silver +candelabra and beakers placed upon the magnificent tables; and in order +that these same Turkey carpets might not be soiled by the muddy boots of +farmyard hinds, a whole series of new servants had to be invented, such +as footmen to stand behind the new carriage, cooks for the kitchen, and +a special gardener for the conservatories, who, instead of looking after +the honest, straightforward citron-trees and pumpkins, had gingerly to +plant out cactuses and Egyptian thistles like dry stalks, in pots, +whence, also, it came about that as there was now a regular gardener and +a regular cook, pretty Mariska had no longer any occasion to concern +herself either with garden or kitchen, nor did she go any more to the +village rector to learn reading or writing, but they had to get her a +French governess from whom she learnt good taste, elegant manners, +embroidery, and harp-strumming. + +And all these things were the work of the golden caftan! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MAIDENS THREE. + + +The family banner had scarce been hoisted on to the high tower of the +new castle, the rumour of Mariska's loveliness and her father's millions +had scarce been spread abroad, when the courtyard began to be all ablaze +with the retinues and equipages of the most eminent zhupans,[2] +voivodes,[3] and princes; but Master Michael had resolved within himself +beforehand that nobody less than the reigning Prince of Moldavia should +ever receive his daughter's hand, and stolidly he kept to his +resolution. + + [Footnote 2: A Servian Prince.] + + [Footnote 3: A Roumanian Prince.] + +Now the reigning Prince of Moldavia no doubt had an illustrious name +enough, but he also had inherited a very considerable load of debt, and +what with the eternal exactions of the Tartars, and the presents +expected by all the leading Pashas, and other disturbing causes, he saw +his people growing poorer and poorer, and his own position becoming more +and more precarious every year. He therefore did not keep worthy Master +Michael waiting very long when he heard, on excellent authority, that +there was being reserved for him in Wallachia a beautiful and +accomplished virgin, who would bring to her husband a dowry of a couple +of millions, in addition to an uncorrupted heart and an old ancestral +title. + +So, gathering together all the boyars, retainers, and officers of his +court, he set off a-wooing to Rumnik, where he was well received by the +father, satisfied himself as to the young lady's good graces, demanded +her hand in marriage, and, allowing an adequate delay for the +preliminaries of the wedding, fixed the glad event for the first week +after Easter. + +Master Michael, meantime, could think of nothing else but how he could +cut as magnificent a figure as possible on the occasion. He invited to +the banquet all the celebrities in Moldavia, Servia, Bosnia, and +Transylvania. He did not even hesitate to hire from Versailles one of +Louis XIV.'s cooks, to regulate the order and quality of the dishes. On +the day of the banquet the good gentleman was visible everywhere, and +saw to everything himself. Quite early, arrayed in the golden caftan, +the heron-plumed kalpag, and the tasselled girdle, he strutted about the +courtyard, corridors and chambers, distributing his orders and receiving +his guests; and his heart fluttered when he beheld the courtyard filling +with carriages, each one more brilliant than its predecessor, escorted +by gold-bedizened cavaliers, from which silver-laced heydukes assisted +noble ladies, in splendid pearl-embroidered costumes, to descend. There +was such a rustling of silk dresses, such a rattling of swords, and such +an endless procession of elegant and magnificent forms up the staircase, +as to make the heart of the beholder rejoice. + +Master Michael rushed hither and thither, and pride and humility were +strangely blended on his face. He assured all he welcomed how happy they +made him by honouring his poor dwelling with their presence; but the +voice with which he said this betrayed the conviction that not one of +his guests had quitted a home as splendid as his own poor dwelling. + +Then he plunged into the robing-chamber of the bride, where tire-women, +fetched all the way from Vienna, had been decking out Mariska from early +dawn. It gave them no end of trouble to adjust her jewels and her +gewgaws, and if they had heaped upon the fair bride all that her father +had purchased for her, she would have been unable to move beneath the +weight of her gems. + +Thence the good man rushed off to the banqueting-room, where his +domestics had been busy making ready two rows of tables in five long +halls. + +"Here shall sit the bride! That arm-chair to the right of her is for the +Patriarch--it is his proper place. On the left will sit Prince Michael +Apafi. He is to have the green-embossed chair, with the golden cherubim. +The bridegroom will sit on the right hand of the Patriarch. You must +give him that round, armless seat, so that he cannot lean back, but must +hold himself proudly erect. Over there you must place Paul Beldi and his +spouse, for they are always wont to sit together. Their daughter Aranka +will also be there, and she must sit between them on that little blue +velvet stool. Opposite to them the silk sofa is for Achmed Pasha and +Feriz Beg, recollect that they won't want knife or fork. The Dean must +have that painted stone bench, for a wooden bench would break beneath +him, and no chair will hold him. The three-and-thirty priests must be +placed all together over there--you must put none else beside them, or +they would be ashamed to eat. Don't forget to pile up wreaths of flowers +on the silver salvers; and remember there are peculiar reasons for not +placing a pitcher of wine before Michael Teleki. Achmed Pasha must have +a sherbet-bowl placed beside the can from which he drinks his wine, and +then folks will fancy he is not transgressing the Koran. Place goblets +of Venetian crystal before the ladies, and golden beakers before the +gentlemen, the handsomest before Teleki and Bethlen, the commoner sort +before the others, as they are wont to dash them against the walls. The +bridegroom should have the slenderest beaker of all, for he'll have to +pledge everyone, and I want no harm to befall him. Mind what I say!" + +Nearly all the wedding guests had now assembled. Only two families were +still expected, the Apafis and the Telekis, whom Master Michael in his +pride wished to see at his table most of all. He glanced impatiently +into the courtyard every time he heard the roll of a carriage, and the +staircase lacqueys had strict injunctions to let him know as soon as +they saw the Prince's carriage approaching. + +At last the rumbling of wheels was heard. Master Michael went all the +way to the gate to receive his guests, shoving aside all the vehicles in +his way, and bawling to the sentinels on the tower to blow the trumpets +as soon as ever they beheld the carriage on the road. The goodly host of +guests also thronged the balconies, the turrets, and the rondelles, to +catch a glance at the new arrivals, and before very long two carriages, +each drawn by four horses, turned the corner of the well-wooded road, +carriages supported on each side by footmen, lest they should topple +over, and escorted by a brilliant banderium of prancing horsemen. + +They were instantly recognised as the carriages of the Prince and his +Prime Minister, and the voices of the trumpets never ceased till the +splendid, gilded, silk-curtained vehicles had lumbered into the +courtyard, although the master of the castle was already awaiting them +at the outer, sculptured gate, and himself hastened to open the carriage +door, doffing first of all his ermine kalpag. But he popped it on again, +considerably nonplussed, when, on opening the carriage, a beardless bit +of a boy, to all appearance, leapt out of it all alone, and there was +not a trace of the Prince to be seen in the carriage. Perhaps he had +dismounted at the foot of the hill in order to complete the journey on +foot, as Master Michael himself was in the habit of doing every time he +took a drive in his coach, for fear of an accident. + +But the youthful jack-in-the-box lost no time in dispelling all rising +suspicions by quickly introducing himself. + +"I am Emeric Toekoely," said he, "whom his Highness the Prince has sent to +your Worship as his representative to take part in the festivities, and +at the same time to express his regret that he was not able to appear +personally, but only to send his hearty congratulations, inasmuch as her +Highness the Princess is just now in good hopes, by the grace of God, of +presenting her consort with an heir, and consequently his Highness does +not feel himself capable of enduring the amenities which under these +circumstances Ali Pasha might at such a time think fit to force upon +him. Nevertheless he wishes your Worship, with God's will, all +imaginable felicity." + +Master Michael did not exactly know whether to say "I am very glad" or +"I am very sorry;" and in the meanwhile, to gain time, was turning +towards the second carriage, when Emeric Toekoely suddenly intercepted +him. + +"I was also to inform your Worship that his Excellency Michael Teleki, +having unexpectedly received the command to invade Hungary with all the +forces of Transylvania, has sent, instead of himself, his daughter Flora +to do honour to your Worship, much regretting that, because of the +command aforesaid, which will brook neither objection nor delay, he has +been obliged to deny himself the pleasure personally to press your +Worship's hand and exchange the warm kiss of kinsmanship; but if your +Worship will entrust me with both the handshake and the kiss, I will +give your Worship his and take back to him your Worship's." + +The good old gentleman was absolutely delighted with the young man's +patriarchal idea, forgot the sour and solemn countenance which he had +expressly put on in honour of the Prince, and, falling on the neck of +the graceful young gentleman, hugged and kissed him so emphatically that +the latter could scarcely free himself from his embraces; then, taking +Flora Teleki, the youth's reported _fiancee_, on one arm, and Emeric +himself on the other, he conducted them in this guise among his other +guests, and they were the first to whom he introduced his daughter in +all her bridal array. + +A stately, slender brunette was Mariska, her face as pale as a lily, her +eyes timidly cast down, as, leaning on her lady companion's arm, and +tricked out in her festal costume, she appeared before the expectant +multitude. The beauty of her rich black velvet tresses was enhanced by +interwoven strings of real pearls; her figure, whose tender charms were +insinuated rather than indicated by her splendid oriental dress, would +not have been out of place among a group of Naiads; and that superb +carriage, those haughty eyebrows, those lips of hers full of the promise +of pleasure, suited very well with her bashful looks and timid +movements. + +Amongst the army of guests there was one man who towered above the +others--tall, muscular, with broad shoulders, dome-like breast, and head +proudly erect, whose long locks, like a rich black pavilion, flowed +right down over his shoulders. His thick dark eyebrows and his +coal-black moustache gave an emphatically resolute expression to his +dark olive-coloured face, whose profile had an air of old Roman +distinction. + +This was the bridegroom, Prince Ghyka. + +When the father of the bride introduced the new arrivals to the other +guests, his first action was to present them to Prince Ghyka, not +forgetting to relate how courteously the young Count had executed his +commission as to the transfer of the kisses, which, having been received +with general hilarity, suggested a peculiarly bold idea to the flighty +young man. + +While he was being embraced by one after the other, and passed on from +hand to hand so to speak, he suddenly stood before the trembling bride, +who scarce dared to cast a single furtive look upon him, and, greeting +her in the style of the most chivalrous French courtesy, at the same +time turning towards the bystanders with a proud, not to say haughty +smile, pardonable in him alone, said, with an amiable _abandon_: +"Inasmuch as I have been solemnly authorised to be the bearer of kisses, +I imagine I shall be well within my rights if I deliver personally the +kisses which my kinswomen, Princess Apafi and Dame Teleki have charged +me to convey to the bride." + +And before anyone had quite taken in the meaning of his concluding +words, the handsome youth, with that fascinating impertinence with which +he was wont to subdue men and women alike, bent over the charming bride, +and while her face blushed for a moment scarlet red, imprinted a +noiseless kiss upon her pure marble forehead. And this he did with such +grace, with such tender sprightliness, that nothing worse than a light +smile appeared upon the most rigorous faces present. + +Then, turning to the company with a proud smile of self-confidence on +his face: "I hope," said he, tucking Flora Teleki's hand under his arm, +"that the presence of my _fiancee_ is a sufficient guarantee of the +respect with which I have accomplished this item of my mission." + +At this there was a general outburst of laughter amongst the guests. Any +sort of absurdity could be forgiven Emeric, for he managed even his most +practical jokes so amiably that it was impossible to be angry with him. + +But the cheeks of two damsels remained rosy-red--Mariska's and Flora's. +Women don't understand that sort of joke. + +The bridegroom, half-smiling, half-angry, stroked his fine moustache. +"Come, come, my lad," said he, "you have been quicker in kissing my +bride than I have been myself." + +But now the reverend gentlemen intervened, the bells rang, the +bridesmaids and the best men took possession of the bride and +bridegroom, the ceremony began, and nobody thought any more of the +circumstance, except, perhaps, two damsels, whose hearts had been +pricked by the thoughtless pleasantry, one of them as by the thorn of a +rose, the other as by the sting of a serpent. + +And now, while for the next hour and a half the marriage ceremony, with +the assistance of the Most Reverend Patriarch, the Venerable Archdeacon, +three-and-thirty reverend gentlemen of the lower clergy, and just as +many secular dignitaries, is solemnly and religiously proceeding, we +will remain behind in the ante-chamber, and be indiscreet enough to worm +out the contents of the two well-sealed letters which have just been +brought in hot haste from Kronstadt for Emeric Toekoely by a special +courier, who stamped his foot angrily when he was told that he must wait +till the Count came out of church. + +One of the letters was from Michael Teleki, and its contents pretty much +as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR SIR AND SON, + + "Our affairs are in the best possible order. During + the last few days our army, 9,000 strong, quitting + Gyulafehervar, has gone to await Achmed Pasha's forces + near Deva, and will thence proceed to unite with + Kiuprile's host. War, indeed, is inevitable; and + Transylvania must be gloriously in the forefront of + it. Do not linger where you are, but try and overtake + us. It would be superfluous for me to remind you to + take charge of my daughter Flora on the way. God bless + you. + + "MICHAEL TELEKI. + + "_Datum Albae Juliae._ + + "P.S.--Her Highness the Princess awaits a safe + delivery from the mercy of God. His Highness the + Prince has just finished a very learned dissertation + on the orbits of the planets." + +The second letter was in a fine feminine script, but one might judge +from it that that hand knew how to handle a sword as well as a pen. + +It was to the following effect:-- + + "MY DEAR FRIEND, + + "I have received your letter, and this is my answer + to it. I can give you no very credible news in + writing, either about myself or the affairs of the + realm. A lover can do everything and sacrifice + everything, even to life itself, for his love. (You + will understand that this reference to love refers not + to me, a mournful widow, but to another mournful + widow, who is also your mother.) I do not judge men by + what they say, but by what they do. All the same, I + have every reason to think well of you, and I shall be + delighted if the future should justify my good opinion + of you. + + "Your faithful servant, + + "ILONA. + + "P.S.--I shall spend midsummer at the baths of + Mehadia." + +The noble bridal retinue, merrily conversing, now returned from the +chapel to the castle, the very sensible arrangement obtaining, that when +the guests sat down to table each damsel was to be escorted to her seat +by a selected cavalier known to be not displeasing to her. The only +exceptions to this rule were the right reverend brigade, and Achmed +Pasha and Feriz Beg, the two Turkish magnates present, whose grave +dignity restrained them from participating in this innocent species of +gallantry. + +First of all, as the representative of the Prince of Transylvania, came +Emeric Toekoely, conducting the aged mother of the bridegroom, the +Princess Ghyka; after him came Paul Beldi, leading the bride by the +hand. Beldi's wife was escorted by the master of the house, and her +pretty little golden-haired daughter Aranka hung upon her left arm. + +Feriz Beg was standing in the vestibule with a grave countenance till +Aranka appeared. The little girl, on perceiving the youth, greeted him +kindly, whereupon Feriz sighed deeply, and followed her. The bridegroom +led the beautiful Flora Teleki by the hand. + +On reaching the great hall, the company broke up into groups, the +merriest of which was that which included Flora, Mariska, and Aranka. + +"Be seated, ladies and gentlemen! be seated!" cried the strident voice +of the host, who, full of proud self-satisfaction, ran hither and +thither to see that all the guests were in the places assigned to them. +Toekoely was by the side of Mariska, opposite to them sat the bridegroom, +with Flora Teleki by his side. Aranka was the _vis-a-vis_ of Feriz Beg. + +The banquet began. The endless loving-cup went round, the faces of the +guests grew ever cheerier, the bride conversed in whispers with her +handsome neighbour. Opposite to them the bridegroom, with equal +courtesy, exchanged from time to time a word with the fair Flora, but +the conversation thus begun broke down continually, and yet both the +lady and the prince were persons of culture, and had no lack of +mother-wit. But their minds were far away. Their lips spoke +unconsciously, and the Prince grew ever gloomier as he saw his bride +plunging ever more deeply into the merry chatter of her gay companion, +and try as he might to entertain his own partner, the resounding +laughter of the happy pair opposite drove the smile from his face, +especially when Flora also grew absolutely silent, so that the +bridegroom was obliged, at last, to turn to the Patriarch, who was +sitting on his right, and converse with him about terribly dull matters. + +Meanwhile, a couple of Servian musicians began, to the accompaniment of +a zithern, to sing one of their sad, monotonous, heroic songs. All this +time Achmed Pasha had never spoken a word, but now, fired by the juice +of the grape mediatized by his sherbet-bowl, he turned towards the +singers and, beckoning them towards him, said in a voice not unlike a +growl: + +"Drop all that martial jumble and sing us instead something from one of +our poets, something from Hariri the amorous, something from Gulestan!" + +At these words the face of Feriz Beg, who sat beside him, suddenly went +a fiery red--why, he could not have told for the life of him. + +"Do you know 'The Lover's Complaint,' for instance?" inquired the Pasha +of the musician. + +"I know the tune, but the verses have quite gone out of my head." + +"Oh! as to that, Feriz Beg here will supply you with the words quickly +enough if you give him a piece of parchment and a pen." + +Feriz Beg was preparing to object, with the sole result that all the +women were down upon him immediately, and begged and implored him for +the beautiful song. So he surrendered, and, tucking up the long sleeve +of his dolman, set the writing materials before him and began to write. + +They who drink no wine are nevertheless wont to be intoxicated by the +glances of bright eyes, and Feriz, as he wrote, glanced from time to +time at the fair face of Aranka, who cast down her forget-me-not eyes +shamefacedly at his friendly smile. So Feriz Beg wrote the verses and +handed them to the musicians, and then everyone bade his neighbour hush +and listen with all his ears. + +The musician ran his fingers across the strings of his zithern, and then +began to sing the song of the Turkish poet: + + "Three lovely maidens I see, three maidens embracing each other; + Gentle, and burning, and bright--Sun, Moon, and Star I declare them. + Let others adore Sun and Moon, but give me my Star, my beloved!" + + "When the Sun leaves the heavens, her adorers are whelmed in slumber; + When the Moon quits the sky, sleep falls on the eyes of her lovers. + But the fall of the Star is the death of the man who adores her-- + And oh! if _my_ load-star doth fall, Machallah! I cease from the + living!" + +General applause rewarded the song, which it was difficult to believe +had not been made expressly for the occasion. + +"Who would think," said Paul Beldi to the Pasha, "that your people not +only cut darts from reeds, but pens also, pens worthy of the poets of +love?" + +"Oh!" replied Achmed, "in the hands of our poets, blades and harps are +equally good weapons; and if they bound the laurel-wreath round the +brows of Hariri it was only to conceal the wounds which he received in +battle." + +When the banquet was over, Toekoely, with courteous affability, parted +from his fair neighbour, whom he immediately saw disappear in a window +recess, arm-in-arm with Flora. He himself made the circuit of the table +in order that he might meet the fair Aranka, but was stopped in +mid-career by his host, who was so full of compliments that by the time +Toekoely reached the girl, he found her leaning on her mother's arm +engaged in conversation with the Prince. Aranka, feeling herself out of +danger when she had only a married man to deal with, had quite regained +her childish gaiety, and was making merry with the bridegroom. + +Toekoely, with insinuating grace, wormed his way into the group, and +gradually succeeded in so cornering the Prince, that he was obliged to +confine his conversation to Dame Beldi, while Toekoely himself was +fortunate enough to make Aranka laugh again and again at his droll +sallies. + +The Prince was boiling over with venom, and was on the verge of +forgetting himself and exploding with rage. Fortunately, Dame Beldi, +observing in time the tension between the two men, curtseyed low to them +both, and withdrew from the room with her daughter. Whereupon, the +Prince seized Toekoely's hand, and said to him with choleric jocosity: "If +your Excellency's own bride is not sufficient for you, will you at least +be satisfied with throwing in mine, and do not try to sweep every girl +you see into your butterfly-net?" + +Toekoely quite understood the bitter irony of these words, and replied, +with a soft but offensively condescending smile: "My dear friend, your +theory of life is erroneous. I see, from your face, that you are +suffering from an overflow of bile. You have not had a purge lately, or +been blooded for a long time." + +The Prince's face darkened. He squeezed Toekoely's hand convulsively, and +murmured between his teeth: + +"One way is as good as another. When shall we settle this little +affair?" + +Toekoely shrugged his shoulders. "To-morrow morning, if you like." + +"Very well, we'll meet by the cross." + +The two men had spoken so low that nobody in the whole company had +noticed them, except Feriz Beg, who, although standing at the extreme +end of the room with folded arms, had followed with his eagle eyes every +play of feature, every motion of the lips of the whole group, including +Dame Beldi and the girl, and who now, on observing the two men grasp +each other's hands, and part from each other with significant looks, +suddenly planted himself before them, and said simply: "Do you want to +fight a duel because of Aranka?" + +"What a question?" said the Prince evasively. + +"It will not be a duel," said Feriz, "for there will be three of us +there," and, with that, he turned away and departed. + +"How foolish these solemn men are," said Toekoely to himself, "they are +always seeking sorrow for themselves. It would require only a single +word to make them merry, and, in spite of all I do, they will go and +spoil a joke. Why, such a duel as this--all three against each other, +and each one against the other two--was unknown even to the famous Round +Table and to the Courts of Love. It will be splendid." + +At that moment the courier, who had brought the letters, forced his way +right up to Toekoely, and said that he had got two important despatches +for him. + +"All right, keep them for me, I'll read them to-morrow. I won't spoil +the day with tiresome business." + +And so he kept it up till late at night with the merriest of the topers. +Only after midnight did he return to his room, and ordered the soldier +who had brought the letters to wake him as soon as he saw the red dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THREE MEN. + + +Toekoely's servant durst not go to sleep on the off-chance of awaking at +dawn in order to arouse his master, and so the sky had scarcely begun to +grow grey when he routed him up. Emeric hastily dressed himself. A sort +of ill-humour on his pale face was the sole reminder of the previous +night's debauch. + +"Here are the letters, sir," said the soldier. + +"Leave me in peace with your letters," returned Emeric roughly, "I have +no time now to read your scribble. Go down and saddle my horse for me, +and tell the coachman to make haste and get the carriage ready, and have +it waiting for me near the cross at the slope of the hill, and find out +on your way down whether the old master of the house is up yet." + +The soldier pocketed the letter once more, and went down grumbling +greatly, while Emeric buckled on his sword and threw his pelisse over +his shoulders. Soon after the soldier returned and announced that Master +Michael had been up long ago, because many of his guests had to depart +before dawn, amongst them the Prince, also the Turkish gentleman; the +bride was to follow them in the afternoon. + +"Good," said Emeric; "let the coachman wait for me in front of the +Dragmuili _csarda_.[4] You had better bring with you some cold meat and +wine, and we'll have breakfast on the way." And with that he hastened +to the father of the bride, who, after embracing him heartily and +repeatedly, with a great flux of tears, and kissing him again and again, +and sending innumerable greetings through him to every eminent +Transylvanian gentleman, took an affectionate leave of him. + + [Footnote 4: An inn.] + +Toekoely hastened to bestride his horse on hearing that his adversaries +had been a little beforehand with him, and, putting spurs to his horse, +galloped rapidly away. Master Michael looked after him in amazement so +long as he could see him racing along the steep, hilly way, till he +disappeared among the woods. A soldier followed him at a considerable +distance. + +Emeric, on reaching the cross, found his adversaries there already. +Feriz Beg had brought with him Achmed Pasha's field-surgeon. Toekoely had +only thought of breakfast, the Prince had thought of nothing. + +"Good morning," cried the Count, leaping from his horse. The Beg +returned his salute with a solemn obeisance; the Prince turned his back +upon him. + +"Let us go into the forest to find a nice clear space," said Toekoely; and +off he set in silence, leading the way, while the soldiers followed at +some distance, leading the horses by the bridles. + +After going about a hundred yards they came to a clear space, surrounded +by some fine ash-trees. The Prince signified to the soldiers to stop +here, and, without a word, began to take off his dolman and mantle and +tuck up his sleeves. + +It was a fine sight to behold these men--all three of them were +remarkably handsome fellows. The Prince was one of those vigorous, +muscular shapes, whom Nature herself seems specially to have created to +head a host. As he rolled up the flapping sleeves of his +gold-embroidered, calf-skin shirt, he displayed muscles capable of +holding their own single-handed against a whole brigade, and the defiant +look of his eye testified to his confidence in the strength of his arms, +whose every muscle stood out like a hard tumour, while his fists were +worthy of the heavy broadsword, whose blade was broadest towards its +point. + +Feriz Beg, on discarding his dolman, rolled up the sleeves of his fine +shirt of Turkish linen to his shoulders, and drew from its sheath his +fine Damascus scimitar, which was scarce two inches broad, and so +flexible that you could have bent it double in every direction like a +watch-spring. His arms did not seem to be over-encumbered with muscles, +but at the first movement he made, as he lightly tested his blade, a +whole array of steel springs and stone-hard sinews, or so they seemed to +be, suddenly started up upon his arm, revealing a whole network of +highly-developed sinews and muscles. His face was fixed and grave. + +Only Emeric seemed to take the whole affair as a light joke. With a +smile he drew up his lace-embroidered shirt of holland linen, bound up +his hair beneath his kalpag, and folded his well-rounded arms, whose +feminine whiteness, plastic, regular symmetry, and slender proportions, +gave no promise whatever of anything like manly strength. His sword came +from a famous Newcastle arms manufactory, and was made of a certain +dark, lilac-coloured steel, somewhat bent, and with a very fine point. + +"My friends," said Emeric, turning towards his opponents, "as there are +three of us in this contest, and each one of the three must fight the +other two, let us lay down some rule to regulate the encounter." + +"I'll fight the pair of you together," said the Prince haughtily. + +"I'll also fight one against two," retorted Feriz. + +"Then each one for himself and everybody against everybody else," +explained Toekoely. "That will certainly be amusing enough; in fact, a new +sort of encounter altogether, though hardly what gentlemen are used to. +Now, I should consider it much nobler if we fought against each other +singly, and when one of us falls, the victor can renew the combat with +the man in reserve." + +"I don't mind, only the sooner the better," said the Prince +impatiently, and took up his position on the ground. + +"Stop, my friend; don't you know that we cannot commence this contest +without Feriz?" + +"Pooh! I didn't come here as a spectator," cried the Prince +passionately; "besides, I have nothing to do with the Beg." + +"But I have to do with you," interrupted Feriz. + +"Well," said Toekoely, "I myself do not know what has offended him, but he +chose to intervene, and such challenges as his are wont to be accepted +without asking the reason why. No doubt he has private reasons of his +own." + +"You may stop there," interrupted Feriz. "Let Fate decide." + +"By all means," observed the Count, drawing forth three pieces of money +impressed with the image of King Sigismund--a gold coin, a silver coin, +and a copper coin--and handed them to the Turkish leech. "Take these +pieces of money, my worthy fellow, and throw them into the air. The gold +coin is the Prince, the copper coin is myself. Whichever two of the +three coins come down on the same side, their representatives will fight +first." + +The leech flung the pieces into the air, and the gold and silver pieces +came down on the same side. + +The Prince beckoned angrily to Feriz. + +"Come, the sooner the better. Apparently I must have this little affair +off my hands before I can get at Toekoely." + +Toekoely motioned to the leech to keep the pieces of money and have his +bandages ready. + +"Bandages!" said the Prince ironically. "It's not first blood, but last +blood, I'm after." + +And now the combatants stood face to face. + +For a long time they looked into each other's eyes, as if they would +begin the contest with the darts of flashing glances, and then suddenly +they fell to. + +The Prince's onset was as furious as if he would have crushed his +opponent in the twinkling of an eye with the heavy and violent blows +which he rained upon him with all his might. But Feriz Beg stood firmly +on the self-same spot where he had first planted his feet, and though he +was obliged to bend backwards a little to avoid the impact of the +terrible blows, yet his slender Damascus scimitar, wove, as it were, a +tent of lightning flashes all around him, defending him on every side, +and flashing sparks now hither, now thither, whenever it encountered the +antagonistic broadsword. + +The Prince's face was purple with rage. "Miserable puppy!" he thundered, +gnashing his teeth; and, pressing still closer on his opponent, he dealt +him two or three such terrible blows that the Beg was beaten down upon +one knee, and, the same instant, a jet of blood leaped suddenly from +somewhere into the face of the Prince, who thereupon staggered back and +let fall his sword. In the heat of the duel he had not noticed that he +had been wounded. Whilst raining down a torrent of violent blows upon +his antagonist, he incautiously struck his own hand, so to speak, on the +sword of Feriz Beg, just below the palm where the arteries are, and the +wound which severed the sinews of the wrist constrained him to drop his +sword. + +Toekoely at once rushed forward. + +"You are wounded, Prince!" he cried. + +The leech hastened forward with the bandages, the dark red blood spurted +from the severed arteries like a fountain, and the Prince's face grew +pale in an instant. But scarcely had the surgeon bound up his wounded +right hand than his eye kindled again, and, turning to Emeric, he cried: +"I have still a hand left, and I can fight with it. Put my sword into my +left hand, and I'll fight to the last drop of my blood." + +"Don't be impatient, Prince," said Emeric courteously; "ill-luck is your +enemy to-day, but as soon as you are cured you may command me, and I +will be at your service." + +The Prince, who was already tottering, leaned heavily on his soldiers, +who hastened towards him and conveyed him half unconscious to the +carriage awaiting him. His wound was much worse than it had seemed at +first, and there was no knowing whether it would not prove mortal. + +Only two combatants now remained in the field--Emeric and Feriz. The Beg +was still standing in his former place, and beckoned in dumb show to +Emeric to come on. + +"Pardon me, my worthy comrade," said the Count, "you are a little +fatigued, and a combat between us would be unfair if I, who have rested, +should fight with you now. Come, plump down on the grass for a little +beside me. My man has brought some cold provisions for the journey; let +us have a few mouthfuls together first, and then we can fight it out at +our ease." + +This nonchalant proposal seemed to please Feriz, and, leaning his sword +against a tree, he sat down in the grass, whilst Emeric's servant +unpacked the cold meat and the fruit which he had brought for his +master, together with a silver calabash-shaped flask full of wine. + +Emeric returned the flask to the soldier. "Look you, my son," said he, +"you can drink the wine, and then fill the flask with spring water, for +Feriz Beg does not drink wine, and there are no other drinking utensils; +I, therefore, will also drink water, and so we shall be equal." Feriz +Beg was pleased with his comrade's free and easy behaviour, took +willingly of the food piled up before him, and not only drank out of the +same flask, but even answered questions when they were put to him. + +A faint scar was visible on the forehead of the young Beg, which the +fold of his turban did not quite conceal. + +"Did you get that wound from a Magyar?" inquired the Count. + +"No, from an Italian, on the isle of Candia." + +"I thought so at once. A Magyar does not cut with the point of his +sword. I see the hand of an Italian fencing-master in it. I can even +tell you the position you were in when you received it. The enemy was +beside you, in front of you, on your right hand, and on your left. Now +you employed that masterly circular stroke which you have just now +displayed, whereby you can defend yourself on all sides at once. Then +the foe in front of you suddenly rose in his saddle, and with a blow +which you did not completely ward off, scarred your forehead with the +point of his sword." + +"It was just like that." + +"It is one of the master-strokes of Basanella, and very carefully you +have to watch it, for there is scarce any defence against it; the sword +seems to strike up and down in the same instant, as if it were a sickle, +and however high you may hold your own sword, the blow breaks through +your defence. There is, indeed, only one defence against it, and that +the simplest in the world--dodge back your head." + +"You are quite right," said Feriz Beg smiling, and after washing his +hands, he again took up his sword, "let us make an end of it." + +"I don't mind," said Toekoely; and lightly drawing his own sword with his +delicate white hand, just as if it were a gewgaw which he was +disengaging from its case to present to a lady, he took up his position +on the ground. + +"Just one word more," said Toekoely with friendly candour. "When you fight +with a single opponent, do not rush forward as if you were on a +battlefield and had to do with ten men at least, for in so doing you +expend much force uselessly, and allow your opponent to come up closer; +rather elongate your sword and allow only your hand to play freely." + +"I thank you for the advice," said Feriz smiling. Had it been anybody +else he would probably have thrust back the advice into his face. But +Emeric imparted it to him with such a friendly, comrade-like voice as +if they had only come there for the fun of the thing. + +Then the combat began. Feriz Beg, with his usual impetuosity, pressed +upon his adversary as if he would pay him back his amicable counsels in +kind; while Toekoely calmly, composedly smiling, flung back the most +violent assaults of his rival as if it were a mere sport to him, so +lightly, so confidently did his sword turn in his hand, with so much +finished grace did he accompany every movement--in fact, he hardly +seemed to make any exertion. The most violent blows aimed at him by +Feriz Beg he parried with the lightest twist of his sword, and not once +did he counter, so that at last Feriz Beg, involuntarily overcome by +rage, fell back and lowered his sword. + +"You are only playing with me. Why don't you strike back?" + +"Twice you might have received from me Basanella's master-stroke, so +impetuously do you fight." + +In a duel nothing is so wounding as the supercilious self-restraint of +an opponent. Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Toekoely's cold repose, and +flung himself upon his opponent as if absolutely beside himself. + +"Let us see whether you are the Devil or not," he cried. + +At the same instant, when he had advanced a pace nearer to Toekoely, the +latter suddenly stretched forth his sword and at the instant when he +parried his opponent's blow, he made a scarce perceptible backward and +upward jerk with the point of his sword, and at that same instant a +burning red line was visible on the temples of Feriz Beg. The young Turk +lowered his sword in surprise as his face, immediately after the +unnoticed stroke, began to bleed. Toekoely flung away his sword and, +tearing out his white pocket-handkerchief, rushed suddenly towards his +opponent, stanched the wound with the liveliest sympathy, and said, in a +voice tremulous with the most naive apprehension: "Look now! didn't I +tell you all along to watch for that stroke?" + +By this time the leech had also come up with the bandages, and examining +the wound, observed consolingly: + +"A soldierly affair. Only the skin is pierced. In three days you will be +all right." + +Toekoely, full of joy, pressed the hand of Feriz Beg. + +"Henceforth we will be good friends," said he. "Before God, I protest I +never gave you the slightest cause of offence." + +"I shall rejoice in your friendship," said Feriz solemnly, "but if you +wish it to last, listen to my words: never approach a girl whom you do +not love in order to make her love you, and if you are loved, love in +return and make her happy." + +"You have my word of honour on it, Feriz," replied Toekoely. "Of all the +girls whom I have seen since I knew you, not one of them have I loved, +and by none of them do I want to be loved." + +Feriz Beg could not refrain from shaking his head and smiling. + +"Apparently you forget that your own bride was among them." + +Toekoely bit his lips in some confusion, and answered nothing; he thought +it best to pass off this slip of the tongue as a mere jest. Then the two +reconciled antagonists embraced and returned to the roadside cross. +Toekoely constrained the Beg to take his coach and go on to Ibraila, while +he himself mounted his horse, and taking leave of Feriz, took the road +leading to the Pass of Bozza. + +The soldier-courier now fancied it was high time that the urgent +letters, of which he was the bearer, should be read, and accordingly +asked his master about it. + +"Well, where are your two letters?" asked the Count very languidly. + +"There are not two, sir, but three." + +"What! have they multiplied?" + +"Miss Flora gave me the third half an hour before she took coach to go +home." + +"Then she has gone on before, eh? Well, let us see what they write +about." + +Teleki's was the first letter which Emeric perused; he glanced through +it rapidly, as if it had no very great claim upon his attention. When he +came to that part of it where he was told to look after Flora, he paused +for a little. "Well, I can easily overtake her," he thought, and he took +the second letter, which was subscribed with the name of Helen. Twice he +perused it, and then he returned to it a third time, and his face grew +visibly redder. Involuntarily he sighed as he thrust the letter into his +breast pocket just above his heart, and looked sadly in front of him, as +if he were listening to the beating of his own heart. + +Then he broke open the third letter. + +It contained an engagement ring, nothing else. That was all--not a +single accompanying word or letter. + +For an instant Emeric held it in his hand in blank amazement; his steed +stopped also. For some minutes his face was pale and his head hung down. + +But in another instant he was again upright in his saddle, and he +exclaimed in a voice loud enough to be heard afar: + +"Well, it's not coming off then, so much the better!" + +Then he threw away the envelope in which the ring had been, and drawing +out the letter which he had thrust into his bosom, he put the ring into +it and then returned it to his bosom; then, with a glowing face, he +turned his horse's head and, in the best of humours, called to his +soldier: "We will not go to Transylvania. Back to Mehadia!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AFFAIRS OF STATE. + + +The year was a few weeks older since we saw Toekoely depart from Rumnik, +after reading the three letters, and behold, Michael Teleki still +lingered at Gyulafehervar, and had _not_ gone with the Transylvanian +forces to Deva. + +He had been feeling ill for some days, and had not been able to leave +his room. A slow fever tormented his limbs, his face had lost its +colour, he was hardly able to hold himself up, and every joint ached +whenever he moved. He had need of repose, but not a single moment could +he have to himself, and just when he would have liked to have shown the +door to every worry and bother, the Prince at one moment, and the +Turkish Ambassador at another, were continually pressing their affairs +upon him. + +At that moment his crony Nalaczi was with him, standing at the window, +while Teleki sat in an arm-chair. All his members were shaken by the +ague, his breath was burning hot, his face was as pale as wax, and he +could scarce keep his lips together. + +By his chair stood his page--young Cserei--whilst huddled up in a corner +on one side was a scarce visible figure which clung close to the wall +with as miserable, shamefaced an expression as if it would have liked to +crawl right into it and be hidden. What with the darkness and its own +miserableness, we should scarce recognise this shape if Teleki did not +chance to give it a name, railing at it, from time to time, as if it +were a lifeless log, without even looking at it, for, in truth, his back +was turned upon it. + +"I tell you, Master Szenasi, you are an infinitely useless +blockhead----" + +"I humbly beg----" + +"Don't beg anything. Here have I, worse luck, been entrusting you with a +small commission, in order that you might impart some wholesome +information to the people, and instead of that you go and fool them with +all sorts of old wives' stories." + +"Begging your Excellency's pardon, I thought----" + +"Thought? What business had you to think? You thought, perhaps, you were +doing me a service with your nonsense, eh?" + +"Mr. Nalaczi said as much, your Excellency." + +Mr. Nalaczi seemed to be sitting on thorns all this while. + +"Now just see what a big fool you are," interrupted Teleki. "Mr. Nalaczi +_may_ have told you, for what I know, that it might be well for you to +use your influence with the common people by mentioning before them the +wonders which have recently taken place, and thereby encouraging them to +be loyal and friendly to each other, but I am sure he did not tell you +to manufacture wonders on your own account, and terrify the people by +spreading abroad rumours of coming war." + +"I thought----" Here he stopped short, the worthy man was quite +incapable at that moment of completing his sentence. + +"Thought! You thought, I suppose, that just as I was collecting armies, +you would do me a great service by preaching war? So far as I am +concerned, I should like to see every sword buried in the earth." + +"Begging your Excellency's pardon----" + +"Get out of my sight. Never let me see you again. In three days you must +leave Transylvania, or else I'll send you out, and you won't thank me +for that." + +"May I humbly ask what I am to do if your Excellency withdraws your +favour from me?" whined the fellow. + +"You may do as you like. Go to Szathmar and become the lacquey of Baron +Kopp, or the scribe of Master Kaszonyi. I'm just going to write to them. +I'll mention your name in my letter, and you can take it." + +"And if they won't accept me?" + +"Then you must tack on to someone else, anyhow you shan't starve. Only +get out of my sight as quickly as possible." + +The "magister" withdrew in fear and trembling, wiping his eyes with his +pocket-handkerchief. + +"Sir," said Nalaczi, when they were alone together, "this violence does +harm." + +"The only way with such fellows is to bully them whatever they do, for +they are deceivers and traitors at heart, and would otherwise do you +mischief. Kick and beat them, chivy them from pillar to post, and make +them feel how wretched their lot is, if you don't want them to play off +their tricks upon you." + +"I don't see it in that light. This irritability will do you no good." + +"On the contrary it keeps me up. If I had not always given vent to my +feelings I should have been lying on a sick-bed long ago. Take these few +thalers, go after that good-for-nothing, and tell him that I am very +angry with him, and therefore he must try in future to deserve my +confidence better, in which case I shall not forget him. Tell him to +wait in the gate for the letter I am about to write, and when once he +has it in his hand let him get out of Transylvania as speedily as he +can. Remind him that I don't yet know about what happened in the square +at Klausenberg, and if I did know I would have him flogged out of the +realm; so let him look sharp about it." + +Nalaczi laughed and went out. + +Teleki sank back exhausted on his pillows, and made his page rub the +back of his neck violently with a piece of flannel. + +At that instant the Prince entered. His face was wrath, and all because +of his sympathy. He began scolding Teleki on the very threshold. + +"Why don't you lie down when I command you? Does it beseem a grown-up +man like you to be as disobedient as a capricious child? Why don't you +send for the doctor; why don't you be blooded?" + +"There is nothing the matter with me, your Highness. It is only a little +_haemorrhoidalis alteratio_. I am used to it. It always plagues me at the +approach of the equinoxes." + +"Ai, ai, Michael Teleki, you don't get over me. You are very ill, I tell +you. Your mental anxiety has brought about this physical trouble. Does +it become a Christian man, I ask, to take on so because my little friend +Flora cannot have one particular man out of fifteen wooers, and a fellow +like Emeric, too--a mere dry stick of a man." + +"I don't give it any particular importance." + +"You are a bad Christian, I tell you, if you say that. You love neither +God nor man; neither your family, nor me----" + +"Sir!" said Teleki, in a supplicating voice. + +"For if you did love us, you would spare yourself and lie down, and not +get up again till you were quite well again." + +"But if I lie down----" + +"Yes, I know--other things will have a rest too. The bottom of the world +isn't going to fall out, I suppose, because you keep your bed for a day +or two. Come! look sharp! I will not go till I see you lying on your +bed." + +What could Teleki do but lie down at the express command of his +Sovereign. + +"And you won't get up again without my permission, mind," said the +Prince, signalling to young Cserei, and addressing the remainder of his +discourse to him. "And you, young man, take care that your master does +not leave his bed, do you hear? I command it, and, till he is quite +well, don't let him do any hard work, whether it be reading, writing, or +dictation. You have my authorisation to prevent it, and you must +rigorously do your duty. You will also allow nobody to enter this room, +except the doctor and the members of the family. Now, mind what I say! +As for you, Master Teleki, you will wrap yourself well up and get +yourself well rubbed all over the body with a woollen cloth, clap a +mustard poultice on your neck and keep it there as long as you can bear +it, and towards evening have a hot bath, with salt and bran in it; and +if you won't have a vein opened put six leeches on your temples, and the +doctor will tell you what else to do. And in any case don't fail to take +some of these _pilulae de cynoglosso_. Their effect is infallible." +Whereupon the Prince pressed into Teleki's hand a box full of those +harmless medicaments which, under the name of dog's-tongue pills, were +then the vogue in all domestic repositories. + +"All will be well, your Highness." + +"Let us hope so! Towards evening I will come and see you again." + +And then the Prince withdrew with an air of satisfaction, thinking that +he had given the fellow a good frightening. + +Scarce had he closed the door behind him than Teleki beckoned to Cserei +to bring him the letters which had just arrived. + +The page regarded him dubiously. "The Prince forbade me to do so," he +observed conscientiously. + +"The Prince loves to have his joke," returned the counsellor. "I like my +joke, too, when I've time for it. Break open those letters and read them +to me." + +"But what will the Prince say?" + +"It is I who command you, my son, not the Prince. Read them, I say, and +don't mind if you hear me groan." + +Cserei looked at the seal of one of the letters and durst not break it +open. + +"Your Excellency, that is a _secretum sigillum_." + +"Break it open like a man, I say. Such secrets are not dangerous to you; +you are a child to be afraid of such things." + +Cserei opened the letter, and glancing at the signature, stammered in a +scarce audible voice: "Leopoldus."[5] + + [Footnote 5: _i.e._ the Emperor Leopold.] + +Teleki, resting on his elbows, listened attentively. + + "YOUR HIGHNESS AND MY WELL-DISPOSED FRIEND--I have + heard from Baron Mendenzi Kopp and worthy Master + Kaszonyi of your Excellency's good dispositions + towards me and Christendom, and your readiness to help + in the present disturbances. All my own efforts will + be directed to the preservation of the rights and + liberties of the Christian Princes, so that there may + not be the slightest occasion that the Turkish War + should extend, and that the whole power of the Ottoman + Empire should be hurled on me and my dominions. But I + hope that the fury of these barbarians, by the + combination of the foreign kings and princes, shall, + with God's assistance, be so opposed and thwarted as + to make them turn back from the league of the combined + faithful hosts. Meanwhile, I assure your Excellency + and the Estates of Transylvania of my protection, so + long as you continue well-disposed towards me, and I + entrust the maintenance of this good understanding + between us to Messrs. the illustrious Baron Kopp and + the Honourable Mr. Kaszonyi. Wishing your Excellency + good health and all manner of good fortune, etc., + etc." + +Cserei looked at the doors and windows in terror, for fear someone might +be listening. + +"And now let us read the second letter." + +Cserei's top-knot regularly began to sweat when he recognised at the +bottom of the opened letter the signature of the Grand Vizier, who thus +wrote to the Prince: + + "MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, HEARTY LOVE AND + GREETING!--We would inform thee of our grace and + favour that we have sent a part of our army to the + assistance of the imprisoned heroes in our most mighty + master the Sultan's fortress of Nyitra, where the + faithless foe are besieging them. It is therefore + necessary that thou with thy whole host and all the + necessary muniments of war should hasten thither + without loss of time, so as to unite both in heart and + deed with our warriors, who are on their way against + the enemy. We believe that by the grace of God thou + wilt be ready to render useful service to the mighty + Sultan, and so be entitled to participate in his + favour and liberality. We, moreover, after the end of + the solemn feast days which we are wont to keep after + our fasts are over, will follow our advance guards + with our countless hosts, and thou meanwhile must + manfully take this business in hand, so that thy + loyalty may shine the more gloriously in martial + deeds. Peace be to those who are in the obedience of + God." + +Poor Cserei, when he had read this letter through, had a worse fit of +ague than his master. He anxiously watched the face of the statesman, +but the only thing visible in his features was bodily suffering. There +was no sign of mental disturbance. + +The blood flew to his face, the veins were throbbing visibly in his +temples. + +"Come hither, my son," he said in a scarcely audible voice; "bring me a +glass of water, put into it as much rhubarb powder as would go on the +edge of a knife, and give it me to drink." + +Cserei fancied that the sick Premier had not mastered the contents of +the letter because of a fresh access of fever, and, having prepared the +rhubarb water in a few moments, gave it him to drink, whereupon Teleki +crouched down beneath his coverlet. He could have done nothing better, +for now the ague burst forth again, so that he regularly shivered +beneath its attack. Cserei wanted to run for a doctor. + +"Whither are you going?" asked Teleki. "Fetch ink and parchment, and +write." + +The lad obeyed his command marvelling. + +"Bring hither the round table and sit down beside it. Write what I tell +you." + +The pen shook in the lad's hand, and he kept dipping it into the sand +instead of into the ink. + +Teleki, in a broken voice, dictated a letter as well as the fever would +allow him. + + "MOST EXALTED GRAND VIZIER AND WELL-BELOVED SIR,--We + learn from your Highness's dispatch that the armies of + the Sublime Sultan who have lately been besieging the + fortress of Nyitra are now endeavouring to combine + their forces, and though this realm has but a meagre + possession of the muniments of war remaining to it, we + shall be prepared most punctually to hold at your + Highness's gracious disposition as much, though it be + but little, forage, hay, and other necessary stores as + we still possess, you making allowance for all + inevitable defects and shortcomings. Moreover, rumour + has it that the hostile hosts are beginning to show + themselves on the borders of Transylvania, which + irruption, though it be no secret, is yet to be + confirmed, and should it be so we must meet it with + all our attention and energy. As to this your Highness + shall be informed in good time, and in the meanwhile + we commit you to God's gracious favour, etc., etc." + +Cserei sighed and thought to himself: "I wonder whence all the hay and +oats is to come?" + +But Teleki knew very well that in consequence of last year's bad +harvests and inundations the Turkish army was suffering severely from +want of hay, so that what with him was an occasion for delay, with them +was an occasion for hurrying--whence we may draw the reflection that the +great events of this world are built upon haycocks! + +"Address the second letter," continued Teleki, "to his Excellency Baron +Mendenzi Kopp and to the honourable Achatius Kaszonyi, commandants of +the fortress of Szathmar," and he thus went on dictating to Cserei, +whilst in the intervals of silence the groans which the ague forced from +his breast were distinctly audible. + + "With joy we learn of the intention of your Honours to + endeavour to seize one of the gates of entrance of the + enemy of our faith, through which he was always ready + to come for our destruction. May the God of mercy + forward the designs of your Excellencies. If, on this + occasion, your Excellencies could also find time to + make a feigned attack upon Transylvania in order to + give us a reasonable excuse of our inability to lend + the Turks the assistance they expect from us, you + would make matters easier for us, and render us an + essential service. On the other hand, if we should be + compelled against our wills to send our soldiers + against the Christian camp, in conjunction with the + enemies of our faith, we assure your Excellencies that + our host will be a purely nominal one, etc., etc. + + "P.S.--The bearer of this letter can be employed by + your Excellencies as a courier or otherwise." + +Cserei looked with amazement at the man in whom mental vivacity seemed +to rise triumphant even over the lassitude of fever. + +"Take a third sheet of paper, and address it to the Honourable Ladislaus +Ebeni, Lieutenant-Governor of the fortress of Klausenburg. + + "We hasten to inform your Honour that preparations are + being made by the Commandant of the fortress of + Szathmar, which leads us to conjecture that he + meditates making an irruption into Transylvania. It + may, of course, be merely a feint, but your Honour + would do well to be prepared and under arms, lest he + have designs against us, and is not merely making a + noise. We, meanwhile, will postpone the advance of our + arms into Hungary, lest, while we are attacking on one + side, we leave Transylvania defenceless on the other. + Once more we counsel your Honour to use the utmost + caution, etc." + +"And now take these letters and carry them to the Prince, that he may +sign them." + +"And what if he box my ears for allowing your Excellency to dictate?" +said the frightened lad. + +"Never mind it, my son, you will have suffered for your country. I, too, +have had buffets enough in my time, not only when I was a child, but +since I have grown up." And with that he turned his face towards the +wall and pulled the coverlet over him. + +Fortunately Cserei found Apafi in the apartment of the consort, and thus +avoided the box on the ear, got the letters signed, and dispatched them +all in different directions, so that all three got into the proper hands +in the shortest conceivable time. And now let us see the result. + +The Grand Vizier blasphemed when he had read his, and swore emphatically +that if there were no hay in Transylvania he would make hay of their +Excellencies. + +Baron Kopp and Mr. Kaszonyi chuckled together over _their_ letter. The +Commandant murmured gruffly: "I don't care, so you needn't." + +Mr. Ebeni, however, on reading his letter, deposited it neatly among the +public archives, growling angrily: + +"If I were to call the people to arms at every wild alarm or idle +rumour, I should have nothing else to do all day long. It is a pity that +Teleki hasn't something better to do than to bother me continually with +his scribble." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DAY OF GROSSWARDEIN. + + +In order that the horizon may stand clearly before us, it must be said +that in those days there were two important points in Hungary on the +Transylvanian border: Grosswardein and Szathmar-Nemeti, which might be +called the gates of Transylvania--good places of refuge if their keys +are in the hand of the Realm, but all the more dangerous when the hands +of strangers dispose of them. + +At this very time a German army was investing Szathmar and the Turks had +sat down before Grosswardein, and the plumed helmets of the former were +regarded as as great a menace on the frontiers of the state as the +half-moons themselves. + +The inhabitants of the regions enclosed between these fortresses never +could tell by which road they were to expect the enemy to come. For in +such topsy-turvy days as those were, every armed man was an enemy, from +whom corn, cattle, and pretty women had to be hidden away, and their +friendship cost as much as their enmity, and perhaps more; for if they +found out at Szathmar that some nice wagon-loads of corn and hay had +been captured from local marauders without first beating their brains +out, the magistrates would look in next day and impose a penalty; and +again, on the other hand, if it were known at Grosswardein that the +Szathmarians had been received hospitably at any gentleman's house, and +the daughter of the house had spoken courteously to them, the Turks +would wait until the Szathmarians had gone farther on and would then +fall upon the house in question and burn it to the ground, so that the +Szathmarians should not be able to sleep there again; and, as for the +daughter of the house, they would carry her off to a harem, in order to +save her from any further discoursing with the magistrates of Szathmar. + +And, last of all, there was a third enemy to be reckoned with, and this +was the countless rabble of _betyars_, or freebooters, who inhabited the +whole region from the marshes of Ecsed to the morasses of Alibuner, and +who gave no reason at all for driving off their neighbour's herds and +even destroying his houses. + +In those days a certain Feri Koekenyesdi had won renown as a robber +chieftain, and extraordinary, marvellous tales were told in every +village and on every _puszta_[6] of him and the twelve robbers who +followed his banner, and who were ready at a word to commit the most +incredible audacities. People talked of their entrenched fortresses +among the Belabora and Alibuner marshes which were inaccessible to any +mortal foe, and in which, even if surrounded on all sides, they could +hold out against five regiments till the day of judgment. Then there +were tales of storehouses concealed among the Cumanian sand-hills which +could only be discovered by the scent of a horse; there were tales of a +good steed who, after one watering, could gallop all the way from the +Theiss to the Danube, who could recognise a foe two thousand paces off, +and would neigh if his master were asleep or fondling his sweetheart in +the tavern; there were tales of the gigantic strength of the robber +chief who could tackle ten _pandurs_[7] at once, and who, whenever he +was pursued, could cause a sea to burst forth between himself and his +pursuers, so that they would be compelled to turn back. + + [Footnote 6: Common.] + + [Footnote 7: Police officers.] + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Koekenyesdi was neither a giant who turned men +round his little finger nor a magician who threw dust in their eyes, but +an honest-looking, undersized, meagre figure of a man and a citizen of +Hodmezoe-Vasarhely, in which place he had a house and a couple of farms, +on which he conscientiously paid his portion of taxes; and he had bulls +and stallions, as to every one of which he was able to prove where he +had bought and how much he had paid for it. Not one of them was stolen. + +Yet everyone knew very well that neither his farms nor his bulls nor his +stallions had been acquired in a godly way, and that the famous robber +chief whose rumour filled every corner of the land was none other than +he. + +But who could prove it? Had anybody ever seen him steal? Had he ever +been caught red-handed? Did he not always defend himself in the most +brilliant manner whenever he was accused? When there was a rumour that +Koekenyesdi was plundering the county of Marmaros from end to end, did he +not produce five or six eye-witnesses to prove that at that very time he +was ploughing and sowing on his farms, and was not the judge at great +pains to discover whether these witnesses were reliable? + +Those who visited him at his native place of Vasarhely found him to be a +respected, worthy, well-to-do man, who tossed his own hay till the very +palm of his hand sweated, while those who sought for Koekenyesdi on the +confines of the realm never saw his face at all; it was indeed a very +tiresome business to pursue him. That man was a brave fellow indeed who +did not feel his heart beat quicker when he followed his track through +the pathless morasses and the crooked sand-hills of the interminable +_puszta_. And if two or three counties united to capture him, he would +let himself be chased to the borders of the fourth county, and when he +had leaped across it would leisurely dismount and beneath the very eyes +of his pursuers, loose his horse to graze and lie down beside it on his +_bunda_[8]--for there was the Turkish frontier, and he knew very well +that beyond Lippa they durst not pursue him, for there the Pasha of +Temesvar held sway. + + [Footnote 8: Sheepskin mantle.] + +Now, at this time there was among the garrison of Szathmar a captain +named Ladislaus Rakoczy. The Rakoczy family, after Helen Zrinyi's +husband had turned papist, for the most part were brought up at Vienna, +and many of them held commissions in the Imperial army. Ladislaus +Rakoczy likewise became a captain of musketeers, and as the greater part +of his company consisted of Hungarian lads, it was not surprising if the +Prince of Transylvania, on the other hand, kept German regiments to +garrison his towns and accompany him whithersoever he went. It chanced +that this Ladislaus Rakoczy, who was a very handsome, well-shaped, and +good-hearted youth, fell in love with Christina, the daughter of Adam +Rhedey, who dwelt at Rekas; and as the girl's father agreed to the +match, he frequently went over from Szathmar to see his _fiancee_, +accompanied by several of his fellow-officers, and he and his friends +were always received by the family as welcome guests. + +Now, it came to the ears of the Pasha of Grosswardein that the Squire of +Rekas was inclined to give away his daughter in marriage to a German +officer, and perchance it was also whispered to him that the girl was +beautiful and gracious. At any rate, one night Haly Pasha, at the head +of his Spahis, stole away from Grosswardein and, taking the people of +Rekas by surprise, burnt Adam Rhedey's house down, delivered it over to +pillage, beat Rhedey himself with a whip, and tied him to the +pump-handle, while, as for his daughter, who was half dead with fright, +he put her up behind him on the saddle and trotted back to Grosswardein +by the light of the burning village. + +Ladislaus Rakoczy, who came there next day for his own bridal feast, +found everything wasted and ravaged, and the servants, who were hiding +behind the hedges, peeped out and told him what had happened the night +before, and how Haly Pasha had abducted his bride. The bridegroom was +taciturn at the best of times, but a Hungarian is not in the habit of +talking much when anything greatly annoys him, so, without a word to his +comrades, he went back to the governor and asked permission to lead his +regiment against Grosswardein. + +The general, perceiving that persuasion was useless, and that the youth +would by himself try a tussle with the Turks if he couldn't do it +otherwise, took the matter seriously and promised that he would place at +his disposal, not only his own regiment but the whole garrison, if only +he would persuade the neighbouring gentry to join him in the attack on +the Turks of Grosswardein. + +As for the gentry, they only needed a word to fly to arms at once, for +there was scarce one of them who had not at one time or other been +enslaved, beaten, or at least insulted by the Turks, so that the mere +appearance of a considerable force of regular soldiers marching against +the Turks was sufficient to bring them out at once. The Turks, having +once got possession of Grosswardein, had established themselves therein +as firmly as if they meant to justify the Mussulman tradition that he +never abandons a town that he has once occupied, or never voluntarily +surrenders a place in which he has built a mosque, and indeed history +rarely records a case of capitulation by the Turks--_their_ fortresses +are generally taken by storm. + +From the year 1660, when Haly Pasha occupied the fortress, a quite new +Turkish town had arisen in the vacant space between the fortress and the +old town, and this new town was surrounded by a strong palisade, the +only entrances into which were through very narrow gates. This new town +was inhabited by nothing but Turkish chapmen, who bartered away the +goods captured by the garrison, and Haly Pasha's Spahis did a roaring +business in the oxen and slaves which they had gathered together, +attracting purchasers all the way from Bagdad. Thus from year to year +the market of Grosswardein became better and better known in the Turkish +commercial world, so that one wooden house after another sprang up, and +they built across and along the empty space just as they liked, so that +at last there was hardly what you would call a street in the whole +place, and people had to go through their neighbours' houses in order to +get into their own; in a word, the whole thing took the form of a +Turkish fair, where pomp and splendour conceals no end of filth; the +patched up wooden shanties were covered with gorgeous oriental stuffs, +while in the streets hordes of ownerless dogs wandered among the +perennial offal, and if two people met together in the narrow alleys, to +pass each other was impossible. + +This fenced town was not large enough to hold the herds that were swept +towards it, there was hardly room enough for the masters of the herds; +but on the banks of the Pecze there was a large open entrenched space +reserved for the purpose, where the Bashkir horsemen stood on guard over +the herds with their long spears, and had to keep their eyes pretty open +if they didn't want Koekenyesdi to honour them with a visit, who was +capable of stealing not only the horses but the horsemen who guarded +them. + +Take but one case out of many. One day Koekenyesdi, in his _bunda_, +turned inside out as usual, with a round spiral hat on his head and a +large knobby stick in his hands, appeared outside the entrenchment +within which a closely-capped Kurd was guarding Haly Pasha's favourite +charger, Shebdiz. + +"What a nice charger!" said the horse-dealer to the Kurd. + +"Nice indeed, but not for your dog's teeth." + +"Yet I assure you I'll steal him this very night." + +"I shall be there too, my lad," thought the Kurd to himself, and with +that he leaped upon the horse and grasped fast his three and a half +ells long spear; "if you want the horse come for it now!" + +"I'm not going to fetch it at once, so don't put yourself out," +Koekenyesdi assured him. "You may do as you like with him till morning," +and with that he sat down on the edge of the ditch, wrapped himself up +in his _bunda_, and leaned his chin on his big stick. + +The Kurd durst not take his eyes off him, he scarce ventured even to +wink, lest the horse-dealer should practise magic in the meantime. + +He never stirred from the spot, but drew his hat deep down and regarded +the Kurd from beneath it with his foxy eyes. + +Meanwhile it was drawing towards evening. The Kurd's eyes now regularly +started out of his head in his endeavours to distinguish the form of +Koekenyesdi through the darkness. At last he grew weary of the whole +business. + +"Go away!" he said. "Do you hear me?" + +Koekenyesdi made no reply. + +The Kurd waited and gazed again. Everything seemed to him to be turning +round, and blue and green wheels were revolving before his eyes. + +"Go away, I tell you, for if this ditch was not a broad one I would leap +across and bore you through with my spear." + +The _bunda_ never budged. + +The Kurd flew into a rage, dismounted from the horse, seized his spear, +and climbing down into the ditch, viciously plunged his spear into the +sleeping form before him. + +But how great was his consternation when he discovered that what he had +looked upon as a man in the darkness was nothing but a propped up stick, +on which a _bunda_ and a hat were hanging! While he had been staring at +Koekenyesdi, the latter had crept from out of the _bunda_ beneath his +very eyes and hidden himself in the ditch. + +The Kurd had not yet recovered from his astonishment when he heard the +crack of a whip behind his back, and there was Koekenyesdi sitting +already on the back of Haly Pasha's charger, Shebdiz, and the next +moment he had leaped the ditch above the Kurd's head, shouting back at +him: + +"The trench is not broad enough for this horse, my son!" + + * * * * * + +Master Szenasi was one of those who had been sent to find Koekenyesdi, +and he now arrived at Demerser, the famous robber's most usual +resting-place in those days, and pushing his way forward told him that +the gentlemen of Szathmar had sent him to ask him, Koekenyesdi, to assist +them in their expedition against the Turks. + +Koekenyesdi, who was carrying a sheaf on his back, looked sharply at the +magister, who dared not meet his gaze, and when he had finished his +little speech he roared at him: + +"You lie! You're a spy! I don't like the look of your mug! I'm going to +hang you up!" + +Szenasi, who was unacquainted with the robber chief's peculiarities, was +near collapsing with terror, whereupon Koekenyesdi observed with a smile: + +"Come, come, don't tremble so, I won't eat you up at any rate, but tell +the gentleman that sent you here that another time he mustn't send a spy +to me, for to tell you the truth I don't believe in such faces as yours. +You may tell the gentleman, moreover, that if he wants to speak to me he +must come himself. I don't care about making a move on the strength of +idle chatter. I am easily to be found. Go to Puespoek Ladanya, walk into +the last house on the right-hand side and ask the master where the +Baratfa hostelry is, he'll show you the way; and now in God's name +scuttle! and don't look back till you've got home." + +The magister did as he was bid, and on getting home delivered the +message to his masters, whereupon they immediately set out; Raining +going on the part of the military, Janos Topay on the part of the +Hungarians, together with Ladislaus Rakoczy himself and the captain of +the gentry of Barodsag. + +The gentlemen safely reached Puespoek Ladanya, where they had to wait at +the magistrate's house till night-fall, although Raining would have much +preferred to meet Koekenyesdi by daylight, and Rakoczy was burning to +carry through his enterprise as soon as possible. + +While they waited Raining could not help asking the magistrate whether +it was far from there to the Baratfa inn? + +The magistrate shook his head and maintained there was no such inn in +the whole district, nor was there. + +Raining fancied that the magistrate must be a stranger there, so he +asked two or three old men the same question, but they all gave him the +same answer: there might be a _baratfa puszta_[9] here but there could +be no inn on it, or if there was an inn, the _puszta_ itself did not +exist. + + [Footnote 9: Common.] + +"Well, if they don't know anything about it at the last house we had +better turn back," said Raining to himself; and, when it had grown quite +dark, he approached the house and began to talk with the master who was +dawdling about the door. + +"God bless thee, countryman! where's the baratfa inn?" + +The man first of all measured the questioner from head to foot, and then +he merely remarked: "God requite thee! over yonder!" and he vaguely +indicated the direction with his head. + +"We want to go there; can't you show us the way?" asked Topay. + +The man seized the questioner's hand and pointed with it to a herdsman's +fire in the distance. + +"Look; do you see the shine of its windows there?" + +"Which is the way to it?" + +"That way 'tis nearer, t'other way it's quicker." + +"What do you mean?" + +"If you go that way you'll go astray the quicker, and if you go t'other +way you may plump into a bog." + +"You lead us thither," intervened Rakoczy, at the same time pressing a +ducat into the man's fist. + +He looked at it, turned it round in his palm and gave it back to Rakoczy +with the request that he would give him copper money in exchange for it. +He could not imagine anyone giving him gold which was not false. + +When this had been done he neatly led the gentlemen through the +morass--wading in front of them, girded up to his waist--through those +hidden places where the water-fowl were sitting on their nests, and when +at last they emerged from among the thick reedy plantations they saw a +hundred paces in front of them a fire of heaped up bulrushes brightly +burning, by the light of which they saw a horseman standing behind it. + +Here their guide stopped and the three men trotted in single file +towards the fire, which suddenly died out at the very moment they were +approaching it, as if someone had cast wet rushes upon it. + +Topay greeted the horseman, who lifted his hat in silence and allowed +them to draw nearer. + +"There are three of you gentlemen together," he observed guardedly; "but +that doesn't matter," he continued. "It would be all the same to me if +there were ten times as many of you, for there's a pistol in every one +of my holsters, from which I can fire sixteen bullets in succession, and +in each bullet is a magnet, so that even if I don't aim at my man I +bring him down all the same." + +"Very good, very good indeed, Master Koekenyesdi," said Topay; "we have +not come here for you to pepper us with your magnetic globules, but we +have come to ask your assistance for the accomplishment of a doughty +deed, the object of which is an attack upon our pagan foes." + +"Oh, my good sirs, I am ready to do that without the co-operation of +your honours. In the courtyard of a castle in the Baborsai _puszta_ +there is a well some hundred fathoms deep and quite full of Turkish +skulls, and I will not be satisfied till I have piled up on the top of +it a tower just as high made of similar materials." + +"So I believe. But you would gain glory too?" + +"I have glory enough already. I am known in foreign countries as well as +at home. The King of France has long ago only waited for a word from me +to make me chief colonel of a long-tailed regiment, and quite recently, +when the King of England heard how I bored through the hulls of the +munition ships on the Theiss, he did me the honour to invite me to form +a regiment of divers to ravage the enemy under water. And I've all the +boys for it too." + +"I know, I know, Master Koekenyesdi, but there will be booty here too, +and lots of it." + +"What is booty to me? If I choose to do so, I could bathe in gold and +sleep on pearls." + +"Have you really as much treasure as all that?" inquired Raining with +some curiosity. + +"Ah," said Koekenyesdi, "you ought to see the storehouse in the Szilicza +cavern, where gold and silver are filled up as high as haystacks. There, +too, are the treasures dug up from the sands of the sea, nothing but +precious stones, diamonds, rubies, carbuncles, and real pearls. I, +myself, do not know how many sackfuls." + +"And cannot you be robbed of them?" + +"Impossible; the entrance is so well concealed that no man living can +find it. I myself can never tell whether I am near it; the shifting sand +has so well covered it. Only one living animal can find it when it is +wanted, and that is my horse. And he will never betray it, for if anyone +but myself mounts him, not a step farther will he go." + +"And how did you come into possession of these enormous treasures?" +asked Raining with astonishment. + +"God gave them to me," said the horse-dealer, raising his voice and his +eyebrows at the same time. + +"Very edifying, no doubt, my friend," said Topay; "but tell me now, +briefly, for how much will you join us against the Turks of +Grosswardein?--not counting the booty, which of course will be pretty +considerable." + +"Well--that is not so easily said. Of course I shall have to collect +together my twelve companies, and it will cost something to hold them +together and give them what they want and pay them." + +"At any rate you can name a good round sum for the services you are +going to render us, can't you? Come! how much do you require?" + +The robber chief reflected. + +"Well, as it is your honours' own business I hope your honours won't say +that I tax you too highly. Let us look at the job in this way: suppose I +came to the attack with seventeen companies, and I charge one thousand +thalers for each company. Let us say each company consists of one +thousand men, that will be a thaler per head--and what is that, 'twill +barely pay for their keep. Thus the whole round sum will come to +seventeen thousand thalers." + +"That won't do at all, Master Koekenyesdi. 'Twere a shame to fatigue so +many gallant fellows for nothing, but suppose you bring with you only a +hundred men and the rest remain comfortably at home? In that case you +shall receive from us seventeen hundred florins in hard cash." + +"Pooh!" snapped the robber, "what does your honour take me for, eh? Do +you suppose you are dealing with a gipsy chief or a Wallachian bandit, +who are paid in pence? Why, I wouldn't saddle my horse for such a +trifle, I had rather sleep the whole time away." + +"But you have so much treasure besides," observed Raining naively. + +"But we may not break into it," rejoined the robber angrily. + +"Why not?" + +"Because we have agreed not to make use of till it has mounted up to a +million florins." + +"And what will you do with it then?" + +"We shall then buy a vacant kingdom from the Tartar king, where the +pasturage is good, and thither we will go with our men and set up an +empire of our own. We will buy enough pretty women from the Turks for us +all, and be our own masters." + +Topay smiled. + +"Well," said he, "this seventeen hundred florins of ours will at any +rate purchase one of the counties in this kingdom of yours." He was +greatly amused that Raining should take the robber's yarn so seriously, +and he pushed the German gentleman aside. "Mr. Koekenyesdi," said he, +"you have nothing to do with this worthy man; he is come with us only to +see the fun, but it is we who pay the money, and I think we understand +each other pretty well." + +"Why didn't you tell me so sooner?" said the robber sulkily, "then I +shouldn't have wasted so many words. With which of you am I to bargain?" + +"With this young gentleman here," said Topay. "Ladislaus Rakoczy. I +suppose you know him by report?" + +"Know him? I should think I did. Haven't I carried him in my arms when +he was little? If it hadn't been so dark I should have recognised him at +once. Well, as it is he, I don't mind doing him a good turn. I certainly +wouldn't have taken a florin less from anyone else. I'll take from _him_ +the offer of seventeen hundred thalers." + +"Seventeen hundred florins, _I_ said." + +"I tell your honour, you said thalers--thalers was what _I_ heard, and I +won't undertake the job for less; may my hand and leg wither if I move +a step for less." + +"Oh, I'll give him his thalers," said Rakoczy, interrupting the dispute; +whereupon the robber seized the youth's hand and shook it joyfully. + +"Didn't I know that your honour was the finest fellow of the three?" +said the robber. "If, therefore, you will send these few trumpery +thalers a week hence to the house of the worthy man who guided you +hither, I will be at Grosswardein a week later with my seventeen hundred +fellows." + +"But, suppose we pay you in advance, and you don't turn up?" said +Raining anxiously. + +The robber looked at the quartermaster proudly. + +"Do you take me for a common swindler?" said he. Then he turned with a +movement of confiding expansion to the other gentlemen. + +"We understand each other better," he remarked. "Your honours may depend +upon me. God be with you." + +With that he turned his horse and galloped off into the darkness. The +three gentlemen were conducted back to Ladany. + +"Marvellous fellow, this Koekenyesdi," said Raining, who had scarce +recovered yet from his astonishment. + +"You mustn't believe all the yarns he chooses to tell you," said Topay. + +"What!" inquired Raining. "Had he then no communications with the French +and English Courts?" + +"No more than his grandmother." + +"Then how about those treasures of which he spoke?" + +"He himself has never seen them, and he only talked about them to give +you a higher opinion of him." + +"And his castle in the puszta, and his seventeen companies of +freebooters?" + +"He invented them entirely for your honour's edification. The freebooter +is no fool, he lives in no castle in the puszta, but in a simple +village as modest Mr. Koekenyesdi, and his seventeen companies scarcely +amount to more than seventeen hundred men." + +"Then why did he consent so easily to take only seventeen hundred +thalers?" + +"Because he does not mean to give his lads a single farthing of it." + +Raining shook his head, and grumbled to himself all the way home. + + * * * * * + +In a week's time they sent to Koekenyesdi the stipulated money. Raining, +moreover, fearing lest the fellow might forget the fixed time, did not +hesitate to go personally to Vasarhely, to seek him at his own door. +There stood Master Koekenyesdi in his threshing-floor, picking his teeth +with a straw. + +"Good-day," said the quartermaster. + +"If it's good, eat it," murmured Koekenyesdi to himself. + +"Don't you know me?" + +"Blast me if I do." + +"Then don't you remember what you promised at the Baratfa inn?" + +"I don't know where the Baratfa inn is." + +"Then haven't you received the seventeen hundred thalers?" + +"What should I receive seventeen hundred thalers for?" + +"Don't joke, the appointed time has come." + +"What appointed time?" + +"What appointed time? And you who have to be at Grosswardein with +seventeen hundred men!" + +"Seventeen oxen and seventeen herdsmen on their backs, I suppose you +mean." + +"Well, a pretty mess we are in now," said Raining to himself as he +wrathfully trotted back to Debreczen, and as he rushed into Rakoczy's +room exclaiming, "Well, Koekenyesdi has toasted us finely!" there stood +Koekenyesdi before his very eyes. + +"What, you here?" + +"Yes, I am; and another time your honour will know that whenever I am at +my own place I am not at home." + + * * * * * + +It was the Friday before Whit Sunday, and the time about evening. A +great silence rested over the whole district, only from the minarets of +Varalja one Imam answered another, and from the tombs one shepherd dog +answered his fellow: it was impossible to distinguish from which of the +two the howling proceeded. + +A couple of turbaned gentlemen were leisurely strolling along the +bastions. Above the palisaded gate the torso of a square-headed Tartar +was visible, with his elbows resting on the ramparts, holding his long +musket in his hand. The Tartar sentinel was gazing with round open eyes +into the black night, watching lest anyone should come from the +direction in which he was aiming with his gun, and blowing vigorously at +the lunt to prevent its going out. While he was thus anxiously on the +watch, it suddenly seemed to him as if he discerned the shape of a +horseman approaching the city. + +In such cases the orders given to the Osmanli sentinels were of the +simplest description: they were to shoot everyone who approached in the +night-time without a word. + +The Tartar only waited until the man had come nearer, and then, placing +his long musket on the moulding of the gate, began to take aim with it. + +But the approaching horseman rode his steed as oddly as only Hungarian +_csikosok_[10] can do, for he bobbed perpetually from the right to the +left, and dodged backwards and forwards in the most aggravating manner. + + [Footnote 10: Horse-dealers.] + +"Allah pluck thy skin from off thee, thou drunken Giaour," murmured the +baffled Tartar to himself, as he found all his aiming useless; for just +as he was about to apply the lunt, the _csikos_ was no longer there, and +the next moment he stood at the very end of his musket. "May all the +seven-and-seventy hells have a little bit of thee! Why canst thou not +remain still for a moment that I may fire at thee?" + +Meanwhile the shape had gradually come up to the very gate. + +"Don't come any nearer," cried the Tartar, "or I shan't be able to shoot +thee." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" said the other. "Then why didn't you tell me so +sooner? But don't hold your musket so near to me, it may go off of its +own accord." + +We recognise in the _csikos_ Koekenyesdi, whose horse now began to prance +about to such an extent that it was impossible for the Tartar to take a +fair aim at it. + +"I bring a letter for Haly Pasha, from the Defterdar of Lippa," said the +_csikos_, searching for something in the pocket of his fur pelisse, so +far as his caracolling steed would allow him. "Catch it if you don't +want to come through the gate for it." + +"Well, fling it up here," murmured the sentinel, "and then be off again, +but ride decently that I may have a shot." + +"Thank you, my worthy Mr. Dog-headed Hero; but look out and catch what I +throw to you." + +And with that he drew out a roll of parchment and flung it up to the top +of the gate. The Tartar, with his eyes fixed on the missive, did not +perceive that the _csikos_, at the same time, threw up a long piece of +cord, and the sense of the joke did not burst upon him until the +_csikos_ drew in the noose, and he felt it circling round his body. +Koekenyesdi turned round suddenly, twisted the cord round the forepart of +his horse, and clapping the spurs to its side, began galloping off. + +Naturally, in about a moment the Tartar had descended from the top of +the gate without either musket or lunt, and the cord being well lassoed +round his body, he plumped first into the moat, a moment afterwards +reappeared on the top of the trench, and was carried with the velocity +of lightning through bushes and briars. Being quite unused to this mode +of progression, and vainly attempting to cling by hand or foot to the +trees and shrubs which met him in his way, he began to bellow with all +his might, at which terrible uproar the other sentries behind the +ramparts were aroused, and, perceiving that some horseman or other was +compelling one of their comrades to follow after him in this merciless +fashion, they mounted their horses, and throwing open the gate, plunged +after him. + +As for Koekenyesdi, he trotted on in front of them, drawing the Tartar +horde farther and farther after him till he reached a willow-wood, when +he turned aside and whistled, and instantly fifty stout fellows leaped +forth from the thicket on swift horses with _csakanys_[11] in their +hands, so that the pursuing Turks were fairly caught. + + [Footnote 11: Long-handled hammers.] + +They turned tail, however, in double-quick time, having no great love of +the _csakanys_, and never stopped till they reached the gate of the +fortress, within the walls of which they yelled to their heart's +content, that Koekenyesdi's robbers were at hand, had leaped the cattle +trench at a single bound, seized a good part of the herds and were +driving the beasts before them; whereupon, some hundreds of Spahis set +off in pursuit of the audacious adventurers. When, however, the robbers +had reached the River Koeroes, they halted, faced about and stood up to +their pursuers man to man, and the encounter had scarce begun when the +Spahis grew alive to the fact that their opponents, who at first had +barely numbered fifty, had grown into a hundred, into two hundred, and +at last into five or six hundred: from out of the thickets, the ridges, +and the darkness, fresh shapes were continually galloping to the +assistance of their comrades, while from the fortress the Turks came +rushing out on each other's heels in tens and twenties to the help of +the Spahis, so that by this time the greater part of the garrison had +emerged to pounce upon Koekenyesdi's freebooters; when suddenly, the +battle-cry resounded from every quarter and from the other side of the +Koeroes, whence nobody expected it, the _banderium_[12] of the gentry of +Barodsag rushed forth, and swam right across the river; while from the +direction of Varad-Olaszi, amidst the rolling of drums, Ladislaus +Rakoczy came marching along with the infantry of Szathmar. + + [Footnote 12: Mounted troops.] + +"Forward!" cried the youth, holding the banner in his hand, and he was +the first who placed his foot on the storming-ladder. The terrified +garrison, after firing their muskets in the air, abandoned the ramparts +and fled into the citadel. + +Rakoczy got into the town before the Spahis who were fighting with +Koekenyesdi, and who now, at the sound of the uproar, would have fled +back through the town to take refuge in the citadel, but came into +collision with the cavalry of Topay, who reached the gates of the town +at the same moment that they did, and both parties, crowding together +before the gates, desperately tried to get possession of them, during +which tussle the contending hosts for a moment were wedged together into +a maddened mass, in which the antagonists could recognise each other +only from their war-cries; when, all at once, from the middle of the +town, a huge column of fire whirled up into the air, illuminating the +faces of the combatants. The fact was that Koekenyesdi had hit upon the +good idea of connecting a burning lunt with the tops of the houses, and +making a general blaze, so that at least the people could see one +another. By this hideous illumination the Spahis suddenly perceived that +Rakoczy's infantry had broken through the ramparts in one place, and +that a sturdy young heyduke had just hoisted the banner of the Blessed +Virgin on the top of the eastern gate. + +"This is the day of death," cried the Aga of the Spahis in despair; and +drawing his sword from its sheath, he planted himself in the gateway, +and fought desperately till his comrades had taken refuge in the town, +and he himself fell covered with wounds. It was over his body that the +Hungarians rushed through the gates after the flying Spahis. + +At that moment a fresh cry resounded from the fortress: "Ali! Ali!" The +Pasha himself was advancing with his picked guards, with the valiant +Janissaries, with those good marksmen, the Szaracsies, who can pierce +with a bullet a thaler flung into the air, and with the veteran +Mamelukes, who can fight with sword and lance at the same time. He +himself rode in advance of his host on his war-horse, his big red face +aflame with rage; in front of him his standard-bearer bore the triple +horse-tail, on each side of which strode a negro headsman with a +broadsword. + +"Come hither, ye faithless dogs! Is the world too narrow for ye that ye +come to die here? By the shadow of Allah, I swear it, ye shall all be +sent to hell this day, and I will ravage your kingdom ten leagues round. +Come hither, ye impure swine-eaters! Your heads shall be brought to +market; everyone who brings in the head of a Christian shall receive a +ducat, and he who brings in a captive shall die." + +Thus the Pasha roared, stormed, and yelled at the same time; while Topay +tried to marshal once more his men who were scattering before the fire +of the Turks, galloping from street to street, and re-forming his +terrified squadrons to make head against the solid host of the advancing +Turks, which was rapidly gaining ground, while Koekenyesdi's followers +only thought of booty. + +"A hundred ducats to him who shoots down that son of a dog!" thundered +the Pasha, pointing out the ubiquitous Topay, and, finding it impossible +to get near him, roared after him: "Thou cowardly puppy! whither art +thou running? Look me in the face, canst thou not?" + +Topay heard the exclamation and shouted back very briefly: + +"I saw _thy_ back at Banfi-Hunyad."[13] + + [Footnote 13: See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book + II., Chapter IV.] + +At this insult Ali Pasha's gall overflowed, and seizing his mace, he +aimed a blow with it at Topay, when suddenly a sharp crackling +cross-fire resounded from a neighbouring lane, and amidst the thick +clouds of smoke, Rakoczy's musketeers appeared, sticking their daggers +into their discharged firearms, a practise to which the bayonet owed its +origin at a later day. The Turkish cavalry, crowded together in the +narrow street, was in a few moments demoralised by this rapid assault. +The improvised bayonet told terribly in the crush, swords and darts were +powerless against it. + +"Allah is great!" cried Ali. "Hasten into the fortress and draw up the +bridge, we are only perishing here. Only the fortress remains to us." + +His conductors, against his will, seized his bridle, and dragged him +along with them; and when a valiant musketeer, drawing near to him, cut +down his charger, the terrified Pasha clambered up into the saddle of +one of his headsmen, and took refuge behind his back. + +A young Hungarian horseman was constantly on his track. Nobody could +tell Ali who he was, but one could see from his face that he was the +Pasha's fiercest enemy, and animated by something more than mere martial +ardour. This young horseman gave no heed to the bullets or blades which +were directed against him; he was bent only on bloodshed. + +It was young Rakoczy, to whom bitterness had given strength a +hundredfold. Forcing his way through the flying hostile rabble, he was +drawing nearer and nearer to Ali every moment, cutting down one by one +all who barred the way between him and the Pasha, and the Turks quailed +before his strong hands and savage looks. + +At length they reached the bridge, which was built upon piles, between +deep bulwarks, and led into the fortress, the front part of whose gate +was fortified by iron plates and huge nails, and could be drawn up to +the gate of the tower by round chains. On the summit of the tower of the +citadel could still be seen the equestrian statue of St. Ladislaus +derisively turned upside down between the severed legs of two felons. + +The Hungarians and the Turks reached the bridge together so intermingled +that the only thing to be seen was a confused mass of turbans and +helmets, in the midst of a forest of swords and scimitars, with the +banner of the Blessed Virgin cheek by jowl with the crescented +horse-tails. + +At the gate of the citadel stood two long widely gaping +eighteen-pounders commanding the bridge, filled with chain, shot, and +ground nails; but the Komparajis dare not use their cannons, for in +whatever direction they might aim, there were quite as many Turks as +Hungarians. On the bridge itself the foes were fighting man to man. +Rakoczy was at that moment fighting with the bearer of the triple +horse-tail, striving to take the standard pole with his left hand, while +he aimed blow after blow at his antagonist with his right. + +"Shoot them down, you good-for-nothings!" roared Ali Pasha, turning back +to the inactive and contumacious Komparajis. "Reck not whether your +bullets sweep away as many Mussulmans as Hungarians, myself included! +Sweep the bridge clear, I say! Life is cheap, but Paradise is dear!" + +But the gunners still hesitated to fire amongst their comrades, when Ali +sent two drummers to them commanding them to aim their guns aloft and +fire into the air. + +The contest on the bridge was raging furiously; the Janissaries had +placed their backs against the parapet, and there stood motionless, with +their huge broad-swords in their naked fists, like a fence of living +scythes, tearing into ribbons everything which came between them. + +Then it occurred to a regiment of German Drabants to clamber up the +parapet of the bridge, and tear the Janissaries away from the parapet; +some ten or twenty of these Drabants did scramble up on the bridge, when +the parapet suddenly gave way beneath the double weight, and Janissaries +and Drabants fell down into the deep moat beneath, throttling each other +in the water, and whenever a turbaned head appeared above the surface, +the Germans standing at the foot of the bridge beat out its brains with +their halberds. + +Meanwhile, the two fighting heroes in the middle of the bridge were +almost exhausted by the contest. They had already hacked each other's +swords to pieces, had grasped the banner, the object of the struggle, +with both hands, and were tearing away at it with ravening wrath. + +The Turkish standard-bearer then suddenly pressed his steed with his +knees, making it rear up beneath him, so that the Turk stood now a head +and shoulder higher than Rakoczy, and threatened either to oust him from +his saddle or tear the standard from his hand. + +At that moment the white figure of a girl appeared on the summit of the +rampart of the tower, her black locks streaming in the wind, her face +aglow with enthusiasm. + +"Heaven help thee, Ladislaus!" cried the girl from the battlement of the +tower; and the youth, hearing from on high what sounded like a voice +from heaven, recognised it, looked up and saw his bride--a superhuman +strength arose in his heart and in his arm, and when the Turkish +standard-bearer made his charger rear, Rakoczy suddenly let the +flag-pole go, and seizing the bridle of the snorting steed with both +hands, with one Herculean thrust, flung back steed, rider, and banner +through the palisade into the deep moat below. + +"There is no hope save with God!" cried Ali in despair, for his +terrified people at the sight of this prodigy had dragged him along with +them against his will. + +"Ladislaus! Ladislaus! My darling!" resounded from above. The youth was +fighting with the strength of ten men; three horses had already been +shot under him, and a third sword was flashing in his hand. Already he +was standing on the drawbridge; his sweetheart threw down a white +handkerchief to him, and he was already waving it above his head in +triumph, when a well-directed bullet pierced the young hero's heart, and +he collapsed a corpse on the very threshold of his success, in the very +gate of the captured fortress at the feet of his beloved. + +At that same instant a heart-rending shriek resounded, and from the top +of the tower a white shape fell down upon the bridge; the beautiful +bride, from a height of thirty feet, had cast herself down on the dead +body of her beloved, and died at the same instant as he, mingling their +blood together; and if their arms did not, at least their souls could, +embrace each other. + +This spectacle so stupefied the besiegers, that Ali Pasha had just time +enough swiftly to raise the drawbridge and save the fortress and a +fragment of his host. Of those who remained outside, not a single soul +survived. Koekenyesdi massacred without mercy everything which distantly +resembled a Turk, together with the camels and mules, sparing nothing +but the horses, and when every house had been well plundered, he set the +town on fire in twelve places, so that the flames in half an hour +consumed everything, and the whole city blazed away like a gigantic +bonfire, the rising wind whirling the smoke and flame over the ditch +towards the fortress. + +"Ali Pasha may put that in his pipe and smoke it," said Koekenyesdi, +rejoicing at the magnificent conflagration. + + * * * * * + +But the bodies of Ladislaus Rakoczy and his sweetheart they bore away, +and buried them side by side in the family vault at Rakas. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MONK OF THE HOLY SPRING. + + +About a day's journey from Klausenburg there used to be a famous +monastery, whose ruined tower remains to this day. + +Formerly the ample courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall, massive and +strong, within which crowds of pilgrims, coming from every direction, +found a convenient resting-place. For at the foot of this monastery was +a famous miraculous spring, which entirely disappeared throughout the +winter and spring, but on certain days in the summer and autumn was wont +to trickle through the crevices of the rocks, and, for a couple of weeks +or so, to bubble forth abundantly, whereupon it gradually subsided +again. + +During this season whole hosts of suffering humanity, the lame, the +paralytic, the aged, the mentally infirm, and the childless mothers, +would come from the most distant regions; and the Lord of Nature gave a +wondrous virtue to the waters, and the sufferers quitted the blessed +spring crutchless and edified, both in body and mind. There could be +seen, hung up on the walls of the church, votive crutches which the +cripples had left behind them; and more than one great nobleman, out of +gratitude to the holy spring, enriched the altar with gold and silver +plate. + +The larger part of the building was reserved for noble guests, the +common people encamped in the courtyard beneath tents; and behind the +building a splendid garden was laid out, which the worthy monks always +magnificently maintained. Even to this day, in the grassy patches round +about the spot, it is possible to discover the savage descendants of +many rare and precious flowers. + +At the period in which our history falls, the convent of the holy well +was represented by a single reverend father, whom the common tongue +simply called Friar Gregory, and there was scarce a soul in Transylvania +who did not know him well. He was a big man, six feet in height, with a +flowing black beard, swarthy, lean, with a bony frame, and with hands so +big that he could cover a six-pound cannon ball with each palm. A simple +habit covered his limbs, head-dress he had none, and his broad shining +forehead was without a wrinkle. His droning voice was so powerful that +when he sang his psalms he made more noise than a whole congregation. + +At the times when the holy spring was flowing, the cellar and pantry of +the good friar stood wide open to rich and poor alike, for whatever he +earned in one year he never put by for the next, and whatever the +wealthy paid to him the needy had the benefit of; and whenever any +clerical colleague happened to come his way, whether he were Orthodox, +Armenian, Calvinist, or Unitarian, he could not make too much of him; +all such guests, during their stay, regularly swam in milk and butter, +and remembered it to the very day of their death. + +Just at this very time the Right Reverend Ladislaus Magyari's little +daughter, Rosy, was suffering from a complaint which gave the lie to her +healthy name, and her father thought it just as well to take her to the +holy spring, perchance the healing water would restore to her wan little +face the colour of youth. + +Brother Gregory was beside himself with joy; the best room was prepared +for his right reverend colleague, and brother cook, brother cellarer, +and brother gardener were ordered to see to it that meat, drink, and +heaps of flowers were provided for the honoured guests. No two people in +the wide world were so suited to each other as Father Gregory and Dean +Magyari; their hearts were equally good, and each of them had a head +upon his shoulders. They rose up early in the morning to argue with each +other on dogmatic questions--to wit, which faith was the best, truest, +happiest, most blessed, and surest, and kept it up till late in the +evening, by no means neglecting the frequent emptying of foaming beakers +during the contest, pounding each other with citations, entangling each +other with syllogisms, flooring each other with authorities, and +overwhelming each other with anecdotes; and it always ended in their +shaking hands and agreeing together that every faith was good if only a +man were true to himself. + +While her father was thus manfully battling, pretty pale Rosy would be +amusing herself in the garden or by the spring with little girls of her +own age, and the fresh air, the scent of the flowers, and the beneficent +water of the spring gradually restored to her face its vanished bloom; +and Magyari joyfully thought how delighted her mother would be if she +were able to embrace her convalescent child, and, in sheer delight at +the idea, spun out his disputatious evenings whilst Rosy in an adjacent +cell was sleeping the sleep of the just. + +The two worthy gentlemen were sitting over their cups one beautiful +evening, when a loud knocking was heard at the outer gate. The rule was +that at sundown the pilgrim mob was to betake itself to the courtyard of +the cloister, and the gate should be closed. The friar who kept the gate +came to announce that four queer-looking monks demanded admission, were +they to be let in? + +"There can be no question about it," said Father Gregory. "If any desire +admission, bring them to us, and provide refreshment for them." + +In a few moments the four friars in question entered. They were dressed +in coarse black sackcloth habits, with the cowls drawn down over their +heads. All that was to be seen of them was their eyes and shaggy beards. +With deep obeisances, but without a word, they approached the two +reverend gentlemen. The Father rose politely and greeted them +respectfully in Latin: "Benedicite nomen Domini." They only kept on +bowing and were silent. + +"Nomen dei sit benedictum!" repeated Gregory, fancying that his guests +did not hear what he said, and as they did not reply to that, he asked +with great astonishment: + +"Non exandistis nomen gloriosissimi Domini, fratres amantissimi?" + +At this the foremost of them said: "We do not understand that language, +worthy brother." + +"Then what sort of monks are ye? To what confession do ye belong? Are ye +Greeks?" + +"We are not Greeks." + +"Then are you Armenians?" + +"We are not Armenians." + +"Arians, then?" + +"Neither are we Arians." + +"Are you Patarenes?" + +"No, we are not." + +"Then _in gloriam aeterni_ to what order do you belong?" + +"We are robbers," thereupon exclaimed the one interrogated, throwing +aside the fold of his cloak, beneath which could be seen a belt crammed +with daggers and pistols. "My name is Feri Koekenyesdi," said he, +striking his breast. + +Magyari thereupon leaped from his chair, which he immediately converted +into a weapon; it at once occurred to him that he had an only daughter +to defend, and he was ready to fight the robbers on behalf of her. But +the father pulled him by the cassock and whispered: "Pray be quiet, your +Reverence," and then with an infinitely placid face he turned towards +the robbers. "So that is the order to which you belong," said he. +"Still, if you have come as guests, sit down and eat what you desire." + +"But that is not sufficient. Outside this monastery there are 1700 of +us, and all of them want to eat and drink, for it is only the ancient +prophets who, when hungry, were content with the meat of the Word." + +"Let them also satisfy their desires." + +"However, the main thing is this: in your Reverence's chapel is a whole +lot of very nice gold and silver saints, who certainly befriend those +who sigh after them, and as we cannot come running to them here every +day in order to entreat their aid, we had better take them along with +us, that they may be helpful to us on the road." + +"Thou hast a pretty mother-wit, frater! Who could refuse thee anything?" + +"It is also no secret to us, Father Gregory, that your Reverence's +cellar is crammed with kegs full of good money, silver and gold. May we +be allowed to relieve your Reverence of a little of this burden?" + +"He is quite welcome to it," thought the father, well aware that there +was absolutely nothing at all. + +"Do not imagine, your Reverence," continued the robber, "that we cannot +extort a confession, if it should occur to your Reverence to conceal +anything. It would be just as well, therefore, if your Reverence were to +reveal everything before we cut up your back with sharp thongs." + +The brother smiled as good-humouredly as if he were listening to some +pleasing anecdote. + +"Have you any other desires, my sons?" + +"Yes, a good many. There is a great crowd of women collected together in +your Reverence's courtyard. We have taken no vows of celibacy, therefore +we should like to choose from among them what would suit us." + +Magyari felt the hairs of his head rising heavenwards, a cold shiver ran +through him from head to foot, and he would have risen from his place +had not the monk pressed him down with a frightfully heavy hand. + +"For God's sake, my dear son, do not so wickedly. Take away the saints +from the altar if you like, but harm not the innocent who are now +peacefully slumbering in the shadow of God's protection." + +"Not another word, Brother Gregory," cried the robber, closing his fist +on his dagger, "or I'll set the monastery on fire and burn every living +soul in it, yourself included. A robber only recognises four sacraments: +wine, money, wenches, and blood! You may congratulate yourself if we are +content with the third and dispense with the last." + +"So it is!" observed another of the cowled and bearded robbers, tapping +Magyari on the shoulder. "Do you recognise me, eh, your Reverence?" + +Magyari, with a sensation of shuddering loathing, recognised Szenasi, a +canting charlatan whose frauds he had often exposed. + +"We know well enough," said the fellow with an evil chuckle, "that you +have a fair daughter here. I am going to pay off old scores." + +If Magyari had not been well in the brother's grip, he would have gone +for the wretch. Every fibre of his body was shivering with rage. + +Only the brother remained calm and smiling. Joining his hands together, +he made a little mill with the aid of his two thumbs. + +"Wait, my dear son, cannot we come to some agreement. You know very well +that my money is concealed in barrels, but so well hidden is it that +none besides myself know where it is. Even if you turned this monastery +upside down you would not find it. You may also have heard that once +upon a time there lived a kind of men called martyrs, who let themselves +be boiled in oil, or roasted on red-hot fires, or torn in pieces by wild +beasts, without saying a word which might hurt their souls. Well, that +is the sort of man _I_ am. If I make up my mind to hold my tongue, you +might tear me to bits inch by inch with burning tweezers, and you would +get not a word nor a penny out of me. Now 'tis for you to choose. Will +you carry off the money and leave the poor women-folk alone, or will you +lay your hands on the down-trodden, lame, halt, consumptive +beggar-women, whom you will find here, and not see a farthing? Which is +it to be?" + +The four robbers whispered together. No doubt they said something to +this effect: only let the pater produce his money, and then it will be +an easy thing for us to take back our given word and satisfy our hearts' +desires. They signified that they would stand by the money. + +"Look now! you are good men," said the father, "take these two torches +and come with me to the cellar and go through my treasures, only you +must do none any harm." + +"A little less jaw, please," growled Koekenyesdi. "Two go in front with +the torches, and Brother Gregory between you. I'll follow after; the +magister can remain behind to look after the other parson. Whoever +speaks a word or makes a signal, I'll bring my axe down on his +head--forward!" + +And so it was. Two of the robbers went in front with torches; after them +came the brother with Koekenyesdi at his heels with a drawn dagger in his +hand; last of all marched Magyari, whom Master Szenasi held by the +collar at arm's-length, threatening him at the same time with a flashing +axe. + +Thus they descended to the cellar. The good father, with timid humility, +hid his head in his hood and looked neither to the left nor to the +right. + +The cellar was provided with a large, double, iron trap-door. After +drawing out its massive bolts, the worthy brother raised one of its +flaps, bidding them lower the torches for his convenience. + +As now the first robber descended and the second plunged after him, the +father suddenly kicked out with his monstrous wooden shoe and brought +the door down on his head, so that he rolled down to the bottom of the +stairs; and then, quick as thought, he turned upon Koekenyesdi, seized +his hands, and said to Magyari: + +"You seize the other!" + +Koekenyesdi, in the first moment of surprise, thrust at the brother, but +his dagger glanced aside against the stiff hair-shirt, and there was no +time for a second thrust, for the terrible brother had seized both his +hands and crushed them against his breast with irresistible force with +one hand, while with the other he dispossessed him of all the murderous +weapons in his girdle one by one, shaking him with one hand as easily as +a grown man shakes a child of nine; then he dragged him towards the +cellar door, pressing it down with their double weight so that those +below could not raise it. + +Mr. Magyari that self-same instant had caught the magister by the nape +of the neck and, mindful of the wrestling trick he had learnt in his +youth when he was a student at Nagyenyed, quickly floored, and, not +content with that, sat down on the top of him with his whole weight, so +that the poor meagre creature was flattened out beneath him. Magyari at +the same time relieved his sprawling hands of their murderous weapons in +imitation of the good priest. + +Koekenyesdi admitted to himself that never before had he been in such a +hobble. In a stand-up fight he had rarely met his equal, and more than +once he had held his own against two or three stout fellows +single-handed; but never had he had to do with such a man as Brother +Gregory, one of whose hands was quite sufficient to pin his two arms +uselessly to his side, while with the other hand he explored his +remotest pockets to their ultimate depths and denuded them of every sort +of cutting and stabbing instrument. When the robber realized that even +his gigantic strength was powerless to drag his antagonist away from the +cellar door beneath which his two comrades were vainly thundering, he +endeavoured to free himself by resorting to the desperate devices of the +wild-beasts, lunging out with his feet and worrying the iron hand of the +monk with his teeth; whereupon Brother Gregory also lost his temper and, +seizing Koekenyesdi by the hair of his head, held him aloft like a young +hare, so that he was unable to scratch or bite any more. + +"Do not plunge about so, dilectissime; you see it is of no use," said +the brother, holding the robber so far away from him by his hairy poll +with outstretched hand that at last he was obliged to capitulate. + +"Thou seest what unmercifulness thou dost compel us to adopt, +amantissime!" said the brother apologetically, but still holding him +aloft with one hand and shaking a reproving finger at him with the +other. "Dost thou not shudder at thyself, does not thine own soul accuse +thee for coming to plunder holy places? Or dost thou not think of the +Kingdom of Hell to the very threshold of which evil resolves have +misguided thy feet, and where there will be weeping, wailing, and +gnashing of teeth?" + +"Let me go, you devil of a friar!" gasped the robber, hoarse with rage. + +"Not until thou hast come to thyself and art sorry for thy sins," said +the brother, still holding in the air his dilectissime, whose eyes by +this time were starting out of his head because of the tugging pressure +on his hair; "thou must be sorry for thy sins." + +"I am sorry then, only let me go!" + +"And wilt thou turn back to the right path?" + +"Yes, yes, of course I will." + +"And thou wilt steal no more?" + +"Not a cockchafer." + +"Nor curse and swear?" + +"Never no more." + +"Very well, then, I'll let thee go. But, colleague Magyari, first of all +tie all these daggers and axes together and fling them out of the +window." + +Mr. Magyari, who had meanwhile disposed of the magister by tying his +hands and legs so tightly that he was unable to move a muscle, effected +the clearance confided to him, while Brother Gregory deposited on the +ground his convert, who leaned against the wall breathing heavily. + +"Well, you monk of hell, give me something to eat if there's anything +like a kitchen here." + +"Oh, my dear son," said the pater tenderly, stroking the face of his +lambkin; "believe me, that there is more joy in heaven over one +converted sinner----" + +"You're a devil, not a friar; for if you were a man of God you could not +have got over Koekenyesdi so easily--Koekenyesdi, who was wont to +overthrow whole armadas single-handed--and now to be beaten by an +unarmed man!" + +"Thou didst come against me with an axe and a _fokos_,[14] but I came +against thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and He who permitted +David the shepherd to pluck the raging lion by the beard and slay him, +hath aided my arm also in order that I might be a blessing to thee." + + [Footnote 14: Sledge-hammer.] + +"Blessing indeed!--hang me up! I deserve it for letting myself be +collared by a parson." + +"Oh, my dear son, to attribute such flagrant cruelty to me! Heaven +rejoices not in the death of a sinner." + +"Then let me go!" + +"How could I let thee go when thou art but half converted? Rather remain +here, my son, in this holy seclusion and try and cleanse thy soul by +holy penance and prayer." + +The robber foamed with rage. + +"Where is there a nail that I may hang myself upon it?" + +"That thou certainly wilt never be able to do, for a worthy pater shall +always be by thy side to teach thee how to sing the Psalter." + +The robber gnashed his teeth and stamped with his feet as he cast at the +terrible brother bloodshot glances very similar to those which a hyena +casts upon a beast-tamer whom he would like to tear to bits and grind to +mincemeat, but whom he durst not attack, being well aware that if he but +lay a paw or even cast an eye upon him he will instantly be felled to +the ground. + +"Besides that," continued the brother, "by way of a first trial thou +shalt presently deliver a God-fearing discourse." + +"I preach a sermon!" + +"Not exactly a sermon, but inasmuch as thy faithful followers outside +the walls of the monastery may be growing impatient at thy long absence, +thou wilt stand at a window and, after assuring them of thy heart-felt +penitence, thou wilt send the worthy fellows away that they may depart +to their own homes." + +"Very well," said Koekenyesdi, thinking all the time, let me once be +planted at the window in the sight of my bands and at a word from me +they will break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to them at +the first opening. + +Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and whispered in his ear: "You +meanwhile will get the carriage ready and take your seat in it with your +daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble has departed from +the monastery, you will drive straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr. +Ebeni, the commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters, together with +the garrison of Szathmar, has invaded the realm. I detected a helmet +beneath a cowl of one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to +defend the capital against their attacks. God be with you!" + +The two priests pressed each other's hands, whereupon Brother Gregory, +taking the robber by the arms and shoving him through a little low door, +in order that no mischief might befall him, caught him by the nape of +the neck and began to force him to ascend a narrow corkscrew staircase, +two or three steps at a time. + +It was evening now and dark, and there was nothing about the corkscrew +staircase to suggest to the robber whither he was being led till at last +the brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged with him on to a +light place and deposited him in front of a lofty window. + +The robber's first thought was that he could clear the window at a +single bold leap, but one swift glance from the parapet made him recoil +with terror; beneath him yawned a depth of at least fifty ells, and, +glancing dizzily aloft, he perceived hanging above his head the bells of +the monastery. They were in the tower. + +"So now, my dear son," said the brother, "stand out on this parapet and +call in a loud voice to thy faithful ones that they may draw nigh and +hear thee. Then thou wilt speak to them, and in case thou shouldst be at +a loss for words, I shall be standing close by this bell-tongue to +suggest to thee what thou shalt say. But, for God's sake, beware of +thyself, dilectissime! Thou seest what a frightful depth is here below +thee, and say not to thy faithful followers anything but what I shall +suggest to thee, nor give with thy head or thy hand an unbecoming +interpretation to thy words, for if thou doest any such thing, take my +word for it that at that same instant thou shalt fall from this window, +and if once thou dost stumble, thou wilt not stop till thou dost reach +the depths of hell." + +The robber stood at the window with his hair erect with horror. He +actually trembled--a thing which had never occurred to him before. His +valour, that cold contempt for death which had always accompanied him +hitherto, forsook him in this horrible position. He felt that at this +giddy height neither dexterity nor audacity were of the slightest use to +him. Beneath his feet was the gaping abyss, and behind his back was a +man with the strength of a giant from whom a mere push--nay! the mere +touch of a finger, or a shout a little louder than usual, were +sufficient to plunge him down and dash him into helpless fragments on +the rocks below. The desperate adventurer, in a fever of terror never +felt before, crouched against one of the pillars of the window clutching +at the wall with his hand, and it seemed to him as if the wall were +about to give way beneath him, as if the tower were tottering beneath +his feet; and he regarded the ground below as if it had some horrible +power of dragging him down to it, as if some invisible force were +inviting him to leap down from there. + +Meanwhile his bands, who were lying in ambush outside the monastery, +perceived the form of their leader aloft and suddenly darted forward in +a body with a loud yell. + +"Speak to them, attract their attention!" whispered the brother; "quick, +mind what I say!" + +The robber indicated his readiness to comply by a nod of his swimming +head, and repeated the words which the brother concealed behind the +tongue of the bell whispered in his ear. + +"My friends" (thus he began his speech), "the priests are collecting +their treasures; they are piling them on carts; there are sacks and +sacks crammed with gold and silver." + +A hideous shout of joy from the auditors expressed thorough approval of +this sentence. + +"But the worthy brethren have no wine or provisions in this monastery, +but in their cellars at Eger there is plenty, so let two hundred of you +go there immediately and get what you want." + +The freebooters approved of this sentiment also. + +"As for the desires that you nourish towards the womenfolk here, I am +horrified to be obliged to tell you that for the last three days the +black death, that most terrible of plagues, which makes the human body +black as a coal even while alive, and infects everyone who draws near +it, has been raging within the walls of this monastery during the last +three days. I should not therefore advise you to break into this +monastery, for it is full of dead and dying men, and so swift is the +operation of this destroying angel that my three comrades succumbed to +it even while I was ascending this tower, and only the Turkish talisman +I wear, composed of earth seven times burnt, and the little finger of a +baby that never saw the light of day, have preserved me from +destruction." + +By the way, Father Gregory had discovered all these things while he was +investigating the robber's pockets. + +At this terrifying message the horde of robbers began to scatter in all +directions from beneath the walls of the monastery. + +"For the same reason neither I myself nor the treasure of the monastery +can leave this place till all the gold and silver that has been found +here has been purified first by fire, then by boiling, and then by cold +water, lest the black death should infect you by means of them. And now +before making a joint attack on Klausenburg, as we had arranged--which, +in view of the height of its walls and the strength of its fortress, +would scarcely be a safe job to tackle--you will do this instead: Hide +yourselves in parties of two hundred in the forests of Magyar-Gorbo, +Vista and Szucsag, and remain there quietly without showing yourself on +the high road; at the same time four hundred of you will go round at +night by the Korod road, and the rest of you will make for the Gyalu +woods, and go round towards Szasz Fenes. Then, when the garrison of +Klausenburg hears the rumour that you are approaching by the Korod road, +they will come forth with great confidence; and while some of you will +be enticing them further on continually, the rest of you can fall on the +defenceless town and plunder it. All you have to do is to act in this +way and never show yourselves on the high road." + +The robbers expressed their approval of their leader's advice with a +loud howl; and while Koekenyesdi tottered back half senseless into the +brother's arms, they scattered amongst the woods with a great uproar. In +an hour's time all that could be heard of them was a cry or two from the +darkened distance. + +The people assembled in the monastery had been listening to all this in +an agony of terror; only Magyari understood the meaning of it. When the +brother came down from the tower, Koekenyesdi was locked up with his two +comrades, and the two reverend gentlemen embraced and magnified each +other. + +"After God, we have your Reverence to thank for our deliverance," said +Magyari with warm feeling, holding his trembling little daughter by the +hand. + +"But now we must save Klausenburg," said Gregory. + +"I will set out this instant; my horse is saddled." + +"Your Reverence on horseback, eh? How about the girl?" + +"I will leave her here in your Reverence's fatherly care." + +"But think." + +"Could I leave her in a better place than within these walls, which +Providence and your Reverence's fists defend so well?" + +"But what if this robber rabble discover our trick and return upon the +monastery with tenfold fury?" + +"Then I will all the more certainly hasten to defend the walls of your +Reverence, because my only child will be within them." + +With that the pastor kissed the forehead of his daughter, who at that +moment was paler than ever, fastened his big copper sword to his side, +seized his shaggy little horse by the bridle, opened the door for +himself, and, with a stout heart, trotted away on the high road. + +But the brother summoned into the chapel the whole congregation, and +late at night intoned a thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts; after which +Father Gregory got into the pulpit and preached to the faithful a +powerful and fulminating sermon, in which he stirred them up to the +defence of their altars, and at the end of his sacred discourse he +seized with one hand the gigantic banner of the church--which on the +occasion of processions three men used to support with difficulty--and +so stirred up the enthusiastic people that if at that moment the robbers +had been there in front of the monastery, they would have been capable +of rushing out of the gates upon them with their crutches and sticks and +dashing them to pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED. + + +While the priests were girding swords upon their thighs, while the lame +and the halt were flying to arms in defence of their homes and altars, +the chief commandant of the town of Klausenburg, Mr. Ebeni, was calmly +sleeping in his bed. + +The worthy man had this peculiarity that when any of his officers awoke +him for anything and told him that this or that had happened, he would +simply reply "Impossible!" turn over on the other side, and go on +slumbering. + +Magyari was well aware of this peculiarity of the worthy man, and so +when he arrived home, late at night, safe and sound, he wasted no time +in talking with Mr. Ebeni, but opened the doors of the church and had +all the bells rung in the middle of the night--a regular peal of them. + +The people, aroused from its sleep in terror at the sound of the +church-bells at that unwonted hour, naturally hastened in crowds to the +church, where the reverend gentleman stood up before them and, in the +most impressive language, told them all that he had seen, described the +danger which was drawing near to them beneath the wings of the night, +and exhorted his hearers valiantly to defend themselves. + +The first that Mr. Ebeni heard of the approaching mischief was when ten +or twenty men came rushing to him one after another to arouse him and +tell him what the parson was saying. When at last he was brought to see +that the matter was no joke, he leaped from his bed in terror, and for +the life of him did not know what to do. The people were running up and +down the streets bawling and squalling; the heydukes were beating the +alarm drums; cavalry, blowing their trumpets, were galloping backwards +and forwards--and Mr. Ebeni completely lost his head. + +Fortunately for him Magyari was quickly by his side. + +"What has happened? What's the matter? What are they doing, very +reverend sir?" inquired the commandant, just as if Magyari were the +leader of troops. + +"The mischief is not very serious, but it is close at hand," replied the +reverend gentleman. "A band of freebooters--some seventeen companies +under the command of a robber chief--have burst into Transylvania, and +with them are some regular horse belonging to the garrison of Szathmar. +At this moment they cannot be more than four leagues distant from +Klausenburg; but they are so scattered that there are no more than four +hundred of them together anywhere, so that, with the aid of the +gentlemen volunteers and the Prince's German regiments, you ought to +wipe them out in detail. The first thing to be done, however, is to warn +the Prince of this unexpected event, for he is now taking his pleasure +at Nagyenyed." + +"Your Reverence is right," said Ebeni, "we'll act at once;" and, after +dismissing the priest to look after the armed bands and reconnoitre, he +summoned a swift courier, and, as in his confusion he at first couldn't +find a pen and then upset the inkstand over the letter when he _had_ +written it, he at last hurriedly instructed the courier to convey a +verbal message to the Prince to the effect that the Szathmarians, in +conjunction with the freebooters, had broken into Transylvania with +seventeen companies, and were only four hours' march from Klausenburg, +and that Klausenburg was now preparing to defend itself. + +Thus Ebeni gave quite another version to the parson's tidings, for while +the parson had only mentioned a few horsemen from the Szathmar garrison +he had put the Szathmarians at the head of the whole enterprise, and had +reduced the distance of four leagues to a four hours' journey which, in +view of the condition of the Transylvanian roads, made all the +difference. + +The courier got out of the town as quickly as possible, and by the time +he had reached his destination had worked up his imagination to such an +extent that he fancied the invading host had already valiantly covered +the four leagues; and, bursting in upon the Prince without observing +that the Princess, then in an interesting condition, was with him, +blurted out the following message: + +"The Szathmar garrison with seventeen bands of freebooters has invaded +Transylvania and is besieging Klausenburg, but Mr. Ebeni is, no doubt, +still defending himself." + +The Princess almost fainted at these words; while Apafi, leaping from +his seat and summoning his faithful old servant Andrew, ordered him to +get the carriage ready at once, and convey the Princess as quickly as +possible to Gyula-Fehervar, for the Szathmar army, with seventeen +companies of Hungarians, had attacked Klausenburg, and by this time +eaten up Mr. Ebeni, who was not in a position to defend himself. + +Andrew immediately rushed off for his horses, had put them to in one +moment, in another moment had carried down the Princess' most necessary +travelling things, and in the third moment had the lady safely seated, +who was terribly frightened at the impending danger. + +The men loafing about the courtyard, surprised at this sudden haste, +surrounded the carriage; and one of them, an old acquaintance of +Andrew's, spoke to him just as he had mounted the box and asked him what +was the matter. + +"Alas!" replied Andrew, "the army of Szathmar has invaded Transylvania, +has devastated Klausenburg with 17,000 men, and is now advancing on +Nagyenyed." + +Well, they waited to hear no more. As soon as they perceived the +Princess's carriage rolling rapidly towards the fortress of Fehervar, +they scattered in every direction, and in an hour's time the whole town +was flying along the Fehervar road. Everyone hastily took away with him +as much as he could carry; the women held their children in their arms; +the men had their bundles on their backs and drove their cows and oxen +before them; carts were packed full of household goods; and everyone +lamented, stormed, and fled for all he was worth. + +Just at that time there happened to be at Nagyenyed the envoy of the +Pasha of Buda, Yffim Beg, who had been sent to the Prince to hasten his +march into Hungary with the expected auxiliary army, and who absolutely +refused to believe Teleki that they ought to remain where they where, as +it was from the direction of Szathmar that an attack was to be feared. + +The worthy Yffim Beg was actually sitting in his bath when the +panic-flight took place; and, alarmed at the noise, he sprang out of the +water, and wrapping a sheet round him rushed to the window, and +perceiving the terrified flying rabble, cried to one of the passers-by: +"Whither are you running? What is going on here?" + +"Alas, sir!" panted the breathless fugitive, "the Szathmar army, 27,000 +strong, has invaded Transylvania, has taken everything in its road, and +is now only two hours' march from Nagyenyed." + +This was quite enough for Yffim Beg also. Hastily tying the +bathing-towels round his body and without his turban, he rushed to the +stables, flung himself on a barebacked steed and galloped away from +Nagyenyed without taking leave of anyone; and did not so much as change +his garment till he reached Temesvar, and there reported that the +countless armies of Szathmar had conquered the whole of Transylvania! + +Thus Teleki had gained his object: the Transylvanian troops had now good +reasons for staying at home. Yet he had got much more than he wanted, +for he had only required of Kaszonyi a feigned attack, whereas the band +of Koekenyesdi had ravaged Transylvania as far as Klausenburg. + +The fact that the worthy friar and Mr. Ladislaus Magyari had captured +the leader of the freebooters made very little difference at all, for +the crafty adventurer had bored his way through the wall of his dungeon +that very night, and had escaped with his three comrades. + +Early next morning, on perceiving that his captives had escaped, Father +Gregory was terribly alarmed, imagining that they would now bring back +the whole robber band against him; and, hastening immediately to collect +the whole of the pilgrims, loaded wagons with the most necessary +provisions and the treasures of the altar, conducted them among the +hills, and there concealed them in the Cavern of Balina, carrying the +sick members of his flock one by one across the mountain-streams in +front of the cavern and depositing them in the majestic rocky chamber, +which more than once had served the inhabitants of the surrounding +districts as a place of refuge from the Tartars, having a large open +roof through which the smoke could get out, while a stream flowing +through it kept them well supplied with drinking-water. In an hour's +time fires and ovens, made from fresh leaves and mown grass, stood ready +in the midst of the place of refuge; and on a stone pedestal, in the +background, always standing ready for such a purpose, an altar was +erected. + +Meanwhile Koekenyesdi had hastened to overtake his bands which had +scattered at the word of the brother in order to re-unite them before +the people of Klausenburg could capture them in detail. Szenasi he +dispatched to call back the wanderers who had been sent to the cellars +of Eger and besiege the monastery. + +When Szenasi returned with the two hundred hungry men he only found +empty walls, and to make them emptier still--he burnt them down to the +ground. + +He then sat down, and by the light of the conflagration wrote a +sarcastic letter to Teleki, in which he informed him with a great show +of humility that he had made the required diversion against +Transylvania, that he kissed his hand, that he might command him at any +future time, and that he was his most humble servant. + +He had scarcely sent off the letter by a Wallachian gipsy, picked up on +the road, when he saw a company of horsemen galloping towards the +burning monastery, and recognised in the foremost fugitive Koekenyesdi. + +"It is all up with us!" cried the robber chief from afar, "we are +surrounded. All the parsons in the world have become soldiers, and +turned their swords against us as if they were Bibles. The Calvinist +pastor, the Catholic friar, the Greek priest, and the Unitarian +minister--every man jack of them has placed himself at the head of the +faithful, and are coming against us with at least twenty thousand men: +students, artisans and peasants, the whole swarm is rushing upon us. I +and fifty more were set upon by the whole Guild of Shoemakers, who cut +down twenty of my men; they were all as mad as hatters, and when the +peasants had done with us, the gentlemen took us up: they united with +the German dragoons, and pursued my flying army on horseback. Every bit +of booty, every slave they have torn from us; this Calvinist Joshua is +always close on my heels, not a single one of our infantry can be +saved." + +The robber chief behaved as the leader of robber bands usually do +behave. When he had to fight, he fought among the foremost; but when he +had to run, then also he was well to the front. When he was beaten, he +cared not a jot whether the others got off scot-free, he only thought of +saving himself. + +When he had announced the catastrophe from horseback to the terrified +Szenasi, he clapped spurs to his nag, and, without looking back to see +whether anyone was following him, he galloped off, and left Szenasi in +the lurch with the footmen. + +The fox is always most crafty when he falls into the snare. The +perplexed hypocrite perceived that however quickly he might try to +escape, the cavalry would overtake him at Grosswardein and mow him down. +Unfortunately, he knew not how to ride, and therefore could not hope to +save himself that way. Already the trumpets of the Transylvanian bands +were blaring all around him; fiery beacons of pitchy pines were +beginning to blaze out from mountain-top to mountain-top; on every road +were visible the flying comrades of Koekenyesdi, terrifying one another +with their shouts of alarm as they rushed through the woods and valleys, +not daring to take refuge among the snowy Alps, where the axes of the +enraged Wallachians flashed before their eyes; and there was not a +single road on which they did not run the risk of being trampled down by +the Hungarian banderia and the German dragoons. + +In that moment of despair Szenasi quickly flung himself into the +garments of a peasant, climbed up to the top of a tree, and as soon as +he perceived the first band of German horsemen approaching him, he +called out to them. + +"God bless you, my noble gentlemen!" + +They looked up at these words and told the man to come down from the +tree. + +"No doubt you also have taken refuge from the robbers, poor man!" + +"Ah! most precious gentlemen! they were not robbers, but German soldiers +in Hungarian uniforms who had been sent hither from Szathmar. Take care +how you pursue them, for if your German soldiers should meet theirs, it +might easily happen that they would join together against you. I heard +what they were saying as I understand their language, but I pretended +that I did not understand; and while they made me come with them to show +them the road, they began talking among themselves, and they said that +they had had sure but secret information from the Klausenburg dragoons +that they were going to attack the town. The Devil never sleeps, my +noble gentlemen!" + +The good gentlemen were astounded; the intelligence was not altogether +improbable, and as, just before, a vagabond had been captured who could +speak nothing but German, a mad rumour spread like wild-fire among the +Magyars that the dragoons had an understanding with the enemy and wanted +to draw them into an ambush; and so the gentlemen told the students, and +the students told the mechanics, and by the time it reached the ears of +Ebeni and the parsons, there was something very like a mutiny in the +army. The gentry suggested that the Germans should be deprived of their +swords and horses; the students would have fought them there and then; +but the most sensible idea came from the Guild of Cobblers, who would +have waited till they had lain down to sleep and then bound and gagged +them one by one. + +Master Szenasi meanwhile went and hunted up the dragoons, whom he found +full of zeal for the good cause entrusted to them, and had a talk with +them. + +"Gentlemen!" said he, "what a pity it is, but look now at these +Hungarian gentlemen! Well, they are shaking their fists at you, so look +to yourselves. Someone has told them that you are acting in concert with +the people of Szathmar, so they won't go a step further until they have +first massacred the whole lot of you." + +At this the German soldiers were greatly embittered. Here they were, +they said, shedding their blood for Transylvania, and the only reward +they got was to be called traitors! So they sounded the alarm, +collected their regiments together, took up a defensive position, and +for a whole hour the camp of Mr. Ebeni was thrown into such confusion +that nothing was easier for Master Szenasi than to hide himself among +the fugitives. All night long Mr. Ebeni suffered all the tortures of +martyrdom. At one time he was besieged by a deputation from the Magyars, +who demanded satisfaction, confirmation, and Heaven only knows what +else; while the worthy parsons kept rushing from one end of the camp to +the other, with great difficulty appeasing the uproar, enlightening the +half-informed, and in particular solemnly assuring both parties that +neither the Hungarian gentlemen wanted to hurt the Germans nor the +Germans the Hungarians, till light began to dawn on them, and the +reconciled parties were convinced, much to their astonishment, that the +whole alarm was the work of a single crafty adventurer who clearly +enough had gained time to escape from the pursuers when they had him in +their very clutches. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SLAVE MARKET AT BUDA-PESTH. + + +In the middle of the sixteenth century, Haji Baba, the most celebrated +slave-dealer of Stambul, having been secretly informed beforehand, by +acquaintances in the Seraglio, that a great host would assemble that +summer beneath Pesth, hastily filled his ship with wares before his +business colleagues had got an inkling of what was going to happen; and, +steering his bark with its precious load through the Black Sea and up +the Danube, reached Pesth some time before the army had concentrated +there. + +Casting anchor in the Danube, he adorned his vessel with oriental +carpets and flowers, and placing a band of black eunuchs in the prow of +the vessel with all sorts of tinkling musical instruments, he set about +beating drums till the sound re-echoed from the hills of Buda. + +The Turks immediately assembled on the bastions of the castle of Buda +right opposite, and perceiving the bedizened ship with its flags +streaming from the mast and sweeping the waves, thereby giving everyone +who wanted to know what sort of wares were for sale there, got into all +sorts of little skiffs and let themselves be rowed out thither. + +The loveliest damsels in the round world were there exhibited for sale. + +As soon as the first of the Turks had well intoxicated himself with the +sight of the sumptuous wares, he hastened back to get his money and come +again, telling the dozen or so of his acquaintances whom he met on the +way what sort of a spectacle he had seen with no little enthusiasm, and +in a very short time hundreds more were hastening to this ship which +offered Paradise itself for sale. + +Hassan Pasha, the then Governor of Buda, perceiving the throng from the +windows of his palace, and ascertaining the cause, sent his favourite +Yffim Beg to forbid the market to the mob till he, the general, had +chosen for himself what girls he wanted; and if there was any one of the +slave-girls worthy of consideration, he was to buy her for his harem. + +Yffim Beg hastened to announce the prohibition, and when the skiffs had +departed one by one from the ship, he got into the general's curtained +gondola and had himself rowed over to the ship of Haji Baba. + +The man-seller, perceiving the state gondola on its way to him, went to +the ship's side, and waited with a woe-begone face till it had come +alongside, and stretched forth his long neck to Yffim Beg that he might +clamber up it on to the deck. + +The Beg, with great condescension, informed the merchant that he had +come on behalf of the Vizier of Buda, who was over all the Pashas of +Hungary, to choose from among the wares he had for sale. + +Haji Baba, on hearing this, immediately cast himself to the ground and +blessed the day which had risen on these hills, and the water and the +oars which had brought the Beg thither, and even the mother who had made +the slippers in which Yffim Beg had mounted his ship. + +Then he kissed the Beg's hand, and having, as a still greater sign of +respect, boxed the ears of the eunuch who happened to be nearest to the +Beg, for his impertinence in daring to stand so near at all, led Yffim +into the most secret of his secret chambers. Heavy gold-embroidered +hangings defended the entry to the interior of the ship; after this came +a second curtain of dark-red silk, and through this were already audible +sweet songs and twittering, and when this curtain was drawn aside by +its golden tassels, a third muslin-like veil still stood in front of the +entrance through which one could look into the room beyond without being +seen by those inside. + +Fourteen damsels were sporting with one another. Some of them darting in +and out from between the numerous Persian curtains suspended from the +ceiling, and laughing aloud when they caught each other; one was +strumming a mandoline; five or six were dancing a round dance to the +music of softly sung songs; another group was swinging one another on a +swing made from costly shawls. All of them were so young, all of them +were of such superior loveliness, that if the heart had allowed the eye +alone to choose for it, mere bewilderment would have made selection +impossible. + +Yffim Beg gazed for a long time with the indifference of a connoisseur, +but even his face relaxed at last, and smilingly tapping the merchant on +the shoulder, he said to him: + +"You have been filching from Paradise, Haji Baba!" + +Haji Baba crossed his hands over his breast and shook his head humbly. + +"All these girls are my pupils, sir. There is not one of them who +resembles her dear mother. From their tenderest youth they have grown up +beneath my fostering care; I do no business with grown-up, captured +slave-girls, for, as a rule, they only weep themselves to death, grow +troublesome, wither away before their time, and upset all the others. I +buy the girls while they are babies; it costs a mint of money and no end +of trouble before such a flower expands, but at least he who plucks it +has every reason to rejoice. Look, sir, they are all equally perfect! +Look at that slim lily there dancing on the angora carpet! Did you ever +see such a figure anywhere else? How she sways from side to side like +the flowering branch of a banyan tree! That is a Georgian girl whom I +purchased before she was born. Her father when he married had not money +enough for the wedding-feast, so he came to me and sold for a hundred +denarii the very first child of his that should be born. Yes, sir, not +much money, I know, but suppose the child had never been born? And +suppose it had been a son! And how often too, and how easily I might +have been cheated! I am sure you could not say that five hundred ducats +was too much for her if I named that price. Look, how she stamps down +her embroidered slippers! Ah, what legs! I don't believe you could find +such round, white, smooth little legs anywhere else! Her price, sir, is +six hundred ducats." + +Yffim Beg listened to the trader with the air of a connoisseur. + +"Or, perhaps, you would prefer that melancholy virgin yonder, who has +sought solitude and is lying beneath the shade of that rose-tree? Look, +sir, what a lot of rose-trees I have all about the place! My girls can +never bear to be without rose-trees, for roses go best with damsels, and +the fragrance of the rose is the best teacher of love. That Circassian +girl yonder was captured along with her father and mother; the husband, +a rough fellow, slew his wife lest she should fall into our hands, but +he had no time to kill his child, for I took her, and now I would not +sell her for less than seven hundred ducats; there's no hurry, for she +is still quite a child." + +Here Yffim Beg growled something or other. + +"Now that saucy damsel swinging herself to and fro on the shawl," +continued the dealer, "I got in China, where her parents abandoned her +in a public place. She does not promise much at first sight, but touch +her and you'll fancy you are in contact with warm velvet. I would let +you have her, sir, for five hundred ducats, but I should charge anyone +else as much again." + +Yffim Beg nodded approvingly. + +"And now do you see that fair damsel who, with a gold comb, is combing +out tresses more precious than gold; she came to me from the northern +islands, from a ship which the Kapudan Pasha sent to the bottom of the +sea. I don't ask you if you ever saw such rich fair tresses before, but +I do ask you whether you ever saw before a mortal maid with such a +blindingly fair face? When she blushes, it is just as if the dawn were +touching her with rosy finger-tips." + +"Yes, but her face is painted," said Yffim Beg suspiciously. + +"Painted, sir!" exclaimed Haji Baba with dignity. "Painted faces at my +shop! Very well! come and convince yourself." + +And, tearing aside the muslin veil, he entered the apartment with Yffim +Beg. + +At the sight of the men a couple of the charming hoydens rushed +shrieking behind the tapestries, and only after a time poked their +inquisitive little heads through the folds of the curtains; but the +Georgian beauty continued to dance; the Chinese damsel went on swinging +more provocatively than ever; the beauty from the northern islands +allowed her golden tresses to go on playing about her shoulders; a +fresh, tawny gipsy-girl, in a variegated, elaborately fringed dress, +with ribbons in her curly hair, stood right in front of the approaching +Beg, eyed him carefully from top to toe, seized part of his silken +caftan, and rubbed it between her fingers, as if she wanted to appraise +its value to a penny; while a tiny little negro girl with gold bracelets +round her hands and legs, fumigated the entering guest with ambergris, +naively smiling at him all the time with eyes like pure enamel and lips +as red as coral. + +The robber-chapman was right, there was not one of these girls who felt +ashamed. They looked at the purchaser with indifference and even +complacency, and everyone of them tried to please him in the hope that +he would take them where they would have lots of jewels and fine +clothes, and slaves to wait on them. + +Haji Baba led the Beg to the above-mentioned beauty, and raising the +edge of her white garment and displaying her blushing face, rubbed it +hard, and when the main texture remained white, he turned triumphantly +to the seller. + +"Well, sir! I sell painted faces, do I? Do you suppose that every +orthodox shah, emir, and khan would have any confidence in me if I did? +Will you not find in my garden those flowers which the Sultana Valideh +presents to the greatest of Emperors on his birthday, and which in a +week's time the Sultan gives in marriage to those of his favourite +Pashas whom he delights to honour? Why, I don't keep Hindu bayaderes +simply because they stain their teeth with betel-root and orange yellow, +and gild their eyebrows; accursed be he who would improve upon what +Allah created perfect! The black girl is lovely because she is black, +the Greek because she is brown, the Pole because she is pale, and the +Wallach because she is ruddy; there are some who like blonde, and some +who like dark tresses; and fire dwells in blue eyes as well as in black; +and God has created everything that man may rejoice therein." + +While the worthy man-filcher was thus pouring himself forth so +enthusiastically, Yffim Beg, with a very grave face, was gazing round +the apartment, drawing aside every curtain and gazing grimly at the +dwellers behind them, who, clad in rich oriental garments, were +reclining on divans, sucking sugar-plums and singing songs. + +Haji Baba was at his back the whole time, and had so much to say of the +qualifications of every damsel they beheld, that the Turkish gentleman +must have been sorely perplexed which of them to choose. + +He had got right to the end of the apartment, when unexpectedly peeping +into the remotest corner, he beheld a damsel who seemed to be entirely +different from all the rest. She was wrapped in a simple white +wadding-like garment, only her head was visible; and when the Beg +turned towards her, both his eyes and his mouth opened wide, and he +stood rooted to the spot before her. + +It was the face of the Queen in the Kingdom of Beauty. Never had he seen +such a look, such burning, glistening, flashing eyes as hers! The proud, +free temples, beneath which two passionate eyebrows sparkled like +rainbows, even without a diadem dispensed majesty. At the first glance +she seemed as savage as Diana surprised in her bath, at the next she was +as timorous as the flying Daphne; gradually a tender smile transformed +her features, she looked in front of her with a dazed expression like +betrayed Sappho gazing at the expanse of ocean in which she would fain +extinguish her burning love. + +"Chapman!" cried the Beg, scarce able to contain himself for +astonishment, "would you deceive me by hiding away from me a houri +stolen from heaven?" + +"I assure you, sir," said the chapman, with a look of terror, "that it +were better for you if you turned away and thought of her no more." + +"Haji Baba, beware! if perchance you would sell her to another, or even +keep her for yourself, you run the risk of losing more than you will +ever make up again." + +"I tell you, sir, by the beard of my father, look not upon that woman." + +"Hum! Some defect perhaps!" thought Yffim to himself, and he beckoned to +the girl to let down her garment. She immediately complied, and, +standing up, stripped her light mantle from her limbs. + +Ah! how the Beg's eyes sparkled. He half believed that what he saw was +not human, but a vision from fairy-land. The damsel's shape was as +perfect as a marble statue carved expressly for the altar of the Goddess +of Love, and the silver hoop encircling her body only seemed to be there +as a girdle in order to show how much whiter than silver was her body. + +"Curses on your tongue, vile chatterer!" said Yffim Beg, turning upon +the chapman. "Here have you been wasting an hour of my time with your +empty twaddle, and hiding the beauties of Paradise from my gaze. What's +the price of this damsel?" + +"Believe me, sir, she won't do for you." + +"What! thou man-headed dog! Dost fancy thou hast to do with beggars who +cannot give thee what thou askest? I come hither to buy for Hassan +Pasha, the Governor of Buda, who is wont to give two thousand ducats to +him who asks him for one thousand." + +At these words the damsel's face was illuminated by an unwonted smile, +and at that moment her large, fiery eyes flashed so at Yffim Beg that +_his_ eyes could not have been more blinded if he had been walking on +the seashore and two suns had flashed simultaneously in his face, one +from the sky and the other from the watery mirror. + +"It is not that," said the slave merchant, bowing himself to the ground; +"on the contrary, I'll let you have the damsel so cheaply that you will +see from the very price that I had reserved her for one of the lowest +_mushirs_, in case he should take a fancy to her--you shall have her for +a hundred dinars." + +"Thou blasphemer, thou! Dost thou cheapen in this fashion the +masterpieces of Nature. Thou shouldst ask ten thousand dinars for her, +or have a stroke on the soles of thy feet with a bamboo for every dinar +thou askest below that price." + +The merchant's face grew dark. + +"Take her not, sir," said he; "you will be no friend to yourself or to +your master if you would bring her into his harem." + +"I suppose," said the Beg, "that the damsel has a rough voice, and that +is why she is going so cheaply?" and he ordered her to sing a song to +him if she knew one. + +"Ask her not to do that, sir!" implored the chapman. But, already, he +was too late. At the very first word the girl had laid hold of a +mandolin, and striking the chords till they sounded like the breeze on +an aeolian harp, she began to sing in the softest, sweetest, most ardent +voice an Arab love-song: + + "In the rose-groves of Shiraz, + In the pale beams of moonlight, + In the burning heart's slumber, + Love ever is born. + + "'Midst the icebergs of Altai, + On the steps of the scaffold, + In the fierce flames of hatred, + Love never can die." + +The Beg felt absolutely obliged to rush forthwith upon Haji Baba and +pummel him right and left for daring to utter a word to put him off +buying the damsel. + +The slave-dealer patiently endured his kicks and cuffs, and when the +jest was over, he said once more: + +"And again I have to counsel you not to take the damsel for your +master." + +"What's amiss with her, then, thou big owl? Speak sense, or I'll hang +thee up at thine own masthead." + +"I'll tell you, sir, if only you will listen. That damsel has not +belonged to one master only, for I know for certain that five have had +her. All five, sir, have perished miserably by poison, the headman's +sword, or the silken cord. She has brought misfortune to every house she +has visited, and she has dwelt with Tartars, Turks, and Magyars. Against +the Iblis that dwells within her, prophets, messiahs, and idols have +alike been powerless; ruin and destruction breathe from her lips; he who +embraces her has his grave already dug for him, and he who looks at her +had best have been born without the light of his eyes. Therefore I once +more implore you, sir, to let this damsel go to some poor mushir, whose +head may roll off without anybody much caring, and do not convey danger +to so high a house as the palace of Hassan Pasha." + +The Beg shook his head. + +"I thought thee a sharper, and I have found thee a blockhead," said he, +and he signified to the damsel to wrap herself in her mantle and follow +him. + +"Allah is my witness that I warned you; I wash my hands of it," +stammered Haji Baba. + +"The girl will follow me; send thou for the money to my house." + +"The Prophet seeth my soul, sir. If you are determined to take the +damsel, _I_ will not give her to you for money, lest so great a man may +one day say that he bought ruin from me. Take her then as a gift to your +master." + +"But I have forgotten to ask the damsel's name?" + +"I will tell you, but forget not every time that name passes your lips +to say: 'Mashallah!' for that woman's name is the name of the devil, and +doubtless she does not bear it without good cause, nor will she ever be +false to it." + +"Speak, and chatter not!" + +"That damsel's name is Azrael ... Allah is mighty!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE AMAZON BRIGADE. + + +It was three days since Azrael had come into the possession of Hassan +Pasha, and in the evening of the third day Haji Baba was sitting in the +prow of his ship and rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight when he saw, a +long way off, in the direction of the Margaret island a skiff, and then +another skiff, and then another, row across the Danube, and heard +heart-rending shrieks which only lasted for a short time. + +Presently the skiffs disappeared among the trees on the river bank, the +last hideous cry died away, and from the rose-groves of the castle came +a romantic song which resounded over the Danube through the silent +night. The merchant recognised the voice of the odalisk, and listened +attentively to it for a long time, and it seemed to him as if through +this song those shrieks were passing incessantly. + +The next day Yffim Beg came to see him, and the merchant hospitably +welcomed him. He set before him a narghile and little cups of sherbet, +and then they settled down comfortably to their pipes, but neither of +them uttered a word. + +Thus a good hour passed away; then at last Haji Baba opened his mouth. + +"During the night I saw some skiffs row out towards the island, and I +heard the sound of stifled shrieks." + +And then they both continued to pull away at their narghiles, and +another long hour passed away. + +Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji Baba, and said, just as +he was moving off: + +"They were the favourite damsels of Hassan Pasha, who had been sewn up +in leathern sacks and flung into the water." + +Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a Turk: I anticipated +that. + +Not long afterwards the whole host began to assemble below Pesth, +encamping on the bank of the Danube; a bridge suddenly sprang into +sight, and across it passed army corps, heavy cannons and wagons. First +there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier Aga, with a bodyguard of nine +thousand men, and pitched their tents on the Rakas; after him followed +Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and their tents covered +the plain. The Tartar Khan's disorderly hordes, which might be computed +at forty thousand, extended over the environs of Vacz; and presently +Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand horsemen, and along with him +the picked troops of the Vizier of Buda; the whole army numbered about +one hundred thousand. + +So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were numerous purchasers among +so many Turkish gentlemen; there was something to suit everyone, for the +prices were graduated; and Haji thought he might perhaps order up a +fresh consignment from his agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off +rapidly so long as the camp remained. But he very much wanted to know +how long the concentration would go on, and how many more gentlemen were +still expected to join the host, and with that object he sought out +Yffim Beg. + +The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly everyone who had a mind +to come was there already. The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously +absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk Pasha and young Feriz +Beg's brigades were still expected; without them the army would move no +farther. + +At the mention of these names Haji Baba started. + +"You have as good as made me a dead man, sir. I must now go back to +Stambul with my whole consignment." + +"Art thou mad?" + +"No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for these gentlemen. Never, +sir, can I live in the same part of the world, sir, with those fine +fellows, whom may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation! I +have two houses on the opposite shores of the Bosphorus, so that when +these noble gentlemen are in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come +to Asia I may sail over to Europe." + +"Thou speakest in riddles." + +"Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz Beg?" + +"I have heard him mentioned as a valiant warrior." + +"And how about the brigade of damsels which is wont to follow him into +battle?" + +Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words. + +"It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have never dealt in damsels +like me. But you should know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz +Beg is as great a danger to every man who trades in women as plague or +small-pox." + +"I never heard of this peculiarity of his." + +"But I have. I tell you this Feriz Beg is a youth with magic power, in +whose eyes is hidden a talisman, whose forehead is inscribed with magic +letters, and from whose lips flow sorcery and magic spells, so that +whenever he looks upon a woman, or whenever she hears his words even +through a closed door, that woman is lost for ever. Just as he upon whom +the moon shines when he is asleep is obliged to follow the moon from +thenceforth, so, too, this young man draws after him with the moonbeams +of his eyes all the women who look upon him. Ah! many is the great man +who has cursed the hour in which Feriz Beg galloped past his windows and +thereby turned the heads of the most beauteous damsels. Even the Grand +Vizier himself has wept the loss of his favourite bayadere Zaida, who +descended from his windows by a silken cord into the sea, and swam after +the ship which bore along Feriz Beg; and one night my kinsman, Kutub +Alnuma, who is a far greater slave merchant than I am, was, while he +slept, tied hand and foot by his own damsels to whom he heedlessly had +pointed out Feriz Beg, and the whole lot incontinently ran after him." + +"And what does the youth do with all these women?" + +"Oh, sir, that is the most marvellous part of the whole story. For if he +culled all the fairest flowers of earth for the sake of love, I would +say that he was a wise man, who tasted the joys of Paradise beforehand. +But it is quite another thing, sir. You will be horrified when I tell +you that he at whose feet all the beauties of earth fling themselves, +never so much as greets one of them with a kiss." + +"Is he sick, then, or mad?" + +"He loves another damsel, a Christian girl, who is far from here, and +for whom he has pined from the days of his childhood. At the time of his +first battle he saw this girl for the first time, and as often as he has +gone to war since, it is always with her name upon his lips that he +draws his sword." + +"And what happens to the girls he takes away?" + +"When the first of these flung themselves at his feet, offering him +their hearts and their very lives and imploring him to kill them if he +would not requite their love, to them he replied: 'You have not been +taught to love as I love. Your love awoke in the shadows of rose-bushes, +mine amidst the flashing of swords; you love sweet songs, and the voice +of the nightingale, I love the sound of the trumpet. If you would love +me, love as I do; if you would be with me, come whither I go; and if +Allah wills it, die where I die.' Ah, sir, there is an accursed charm on +the lips of this young man. He destroys the hearts of the damsels with +his words so that they forget that Allah gave them to men as playthings +and delightful toys, and they gird swords upon their tender thighs, +fasten cuirasses of mail round their bosoms, and expose their fair faces +to deadly swords." + +"And do these women really fight, or is it all a fable?" + +"They do wonders, sir. No one has ever seen them fly before the foe, and +frequently they are victorious; and if they have less strength in their +arms than men, they have ten times more fire in their hearts. And if at +any one point the fight is most dogged, and the enemy collecting +together his most valiant bands has tired out the hardly-pressed spahis +and timariots, then the youth draws his sword and plunges into the +blackest of mortal peril. And then the wretched women all plunge blindly +after him, and each one of them tries to get nearest to him, for they +know that every weapon is directed against him, and they ward off with +their bosoms the bullets which were meant for him. And so long as the +youth remains there, or presses forward, they never leave him, the whole +battalion perishes first. And at last, if he wins the fight and remains +master of the field, the youth dismounts from his horse, collects the +bodies of the slain who have fallen fighting beside him, kisses them one +by one on their foreheads, sheds tears on their pale faces, and with his +own hands lays them in the grave. And, believe me, sir, these bewitched, +enchanted damsels are mad after that kiss, and their only wish is to +gain it as soon as possible." + +"And is there none to put an end to this scandal? Have the generals no +authority to abolish this abomination? Do not the outraged owners demand +back their slave-girls?" + +"You must know, sir, that Feriz Beg stands high in the favour of the +Sultan. He is never prominent anywhere but on the battlefield, but there +he gives a good account of himself; and if anybody who came to his +tents to try and recover his slave-girls by force, he might easily be +sent about his business minus his nose and ears. Besides, who could say +that these warriors of Feriz are women? Do they not dispense thrusts and +slashes instead of kisses? Do you ever hear them sing or see them dance +and smile so long as they are under canvas? Oh, sir, I assure you that +you would do well if you told all those who buy slave-girls from me to +guard the damsels from the enchanting dark eyes of this man, for there +is a talisman concealed in them. And, in particular, forget not to tell +your master to conceal his damsel, for you know not what might happen if +a magician caused a female Iblis[15] to enter into her. If an enamoured +woman is terrible, what would an enamoured she-devil be? You bought her, +take care that she does not sell you! The day before yesterday you threw +his favourite women into the water, the day after to-morrow you +might----but Allah guard my tongue, I will not say what I would. Watch +carefully, that's all I'll say. Yet to keep a watch upon women is the +most difficult of sciences. If you want to get into a beleagured +fortress, hide an enamoured woman in it, and she'll very soon show you +the way in. Take heed to what I say, sir, for if you forget my words but +for half an hour, I would not give my little finger-nail for your head." + + [Footnote 15: Evil spirit.] + +Whereupon Yffim Beg arose without saying a word and withdrew, deeply +pondering the words of the slave-dealer. But Haji Baba that same night +drew up his anchors, and at dawn he had vanished from the Danube, none +knew whither. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE MARGARET ISLAND. + + +On the Margaret island, in the bosom of the blue Danube, was the +paradise of Hassan Pasha, and to behold its treasures was death. At +every interval of twenty yards stands a eunuch behind the groves of the +island with a long musket, and if any man fares upon the water within +bullet-reach, he certainly will never tell anyone what he saw. + +Paradise exhales every intoxicating joy, every transient delight; it is +full of flowers, and no sooner does one flower bloom than another +instantly fades away; and this also is the fate of those flowers which +are called damsels, for some of these likewise fade in a day, whilst +others are culled to adorn the table of the favourite. This, I say, is +the fate of all the flowers, and frequently in those huge porcelain +vases which stand before Azrael's bed, among its wreaths of roses and +pomegranate flowers, one may see the head of an odalisk with drooping +eyes who yesterday was as bright and merry as her comrades, the rose and +pomegranate blossoms. + +Oh, that woman is a veritable dream! Since he possessed her Hassan Pasha +is no longer a man, but a piece of wax which receives the impression of +her ideas. He hears nothing but her voice, and sees nothing but her. +Already they are beginning to say that Hassan Pasha no longer recognizes +a man ten feet off, and is no longer able to distinguish between the +sound of the drum and the sound of the trumpet. And it is true, but +whoever said so aloud would be jeopardizing his head, for Hassan would +conceal his failings for fear of being deprived of the command of the +army if they became generally known. + +All the better does Yffim Beg see and hear, Yffim Beg who is constantly +about Azrael; if he were not such an old and faithful favourite of +Hassan Pasha he might almost regret that he has such good eyes and ears. +But Azrael's penetrating mind knows well enough that Yffim Beg's head +stands much more firmly on his shoulders than stand the heads of those +whom Hassan Pasha sacrifices to her whims, so she flatters him, and it +is all the worse for him that she does flatter. + +Hassan Pasha, scarce waiting for the day to end and dismissing all +serious business, sat him down in his curtained pinnace, known only to +the dwellers on the fairy island, and had himself rowed across to his +hidden paradise, where, amidst two hundred attendant damsels, Azrael, +the loveliest of the living, awaits him in the hall of the fairy kiosk, +round whose golden trellis work twine the blooms of a foreign sky. + +Yffim Beg alone accompanies the Pasha thither. + +The Governor, after embracing the odalisk, strolled thoughtfully through +the labyrinth of fragrant trees where the paths were covered by coloured +pebbles and a whole army of domesticated birds made their nests in the +trees. Yffim Beg follows them at a little distance, and not a movement +escapes his keen eyes, not so much as a sigh eludes his sharp ears; he +keeps a strict watch on all that Azrael does and says. + +In the midst of their walk--they hadn't gone a hundred paces--a falcon +rose before them from among the trees and perched on a poplar close by. + +"Look, sir, what a beautiful falcon!" cried Yffim Beg. + +Azrael laughed aloud and looked back. + +"Oh, my good Beg, how canst thou take a wood-pigeon for a falcon? why it +_was_ a wood-pigeon." + +"I took good note of it, Azrael, and there it is sitting on that +poplar." + +"Why, that's better still--now he calls a nut-tree a poplar. Eh, eh! +worthy Beg, thou must needs have been drinking a little to see so +badly." + +"Well, that was what I fancied," said the Beg, much perplexed, and for +the life of him not perceiving the point of the jest. Why should the +odalisk make a fool of him so? + +"But look then, my love," said Azrael, appealing to the Pasha; "thou +didst see that bird fly away from the tree yonder, was it not a +wood-pigeon flying from a nut-tree?" + +Hassan saw neither the tree nor the bird, but he pretended he did, and +agreed with the odalisk. + +"Of course it was a wood-pigeon and a nut-tree." + +Yffim Beg did not understand it at all. + +They went on further, and presently Yffim Beg again spoke. + +"Shall we not turn, my master, towards that beautiful arcade of +rose-trees?" + +Azrael clapped her hands together in amazement. + +"What! an arcade of roses! Where is it?" + +"Turn in that direction and thou wilt see it." + +"These things! Why if he isn't taking some sumach trees full of berries +for an arcade of rose-trees!" + +Hassan Pasha laughed. As for Yffim Beg he was lost in amazement--why did +this damsel choose to jest with him in this fashion? + +At that moment a cannon shot resounded from the Pesth shore. + +"Ah!" said the Pasha, stopping, "a cannon shot!" + +"Yes, my master," said Yffim, "from the direction of Pesth." + +"From Pesth indeed," said Azrael, "it was from Buda; it was the signal +for closing the gate." + +"I heard it plainly." + +"Excuse me, my good Beg, but thy hearing is as bad as thy sight. I am +beginning to be anxious about thee. How could it be from the direction +of Pesth when the whole camp has crossed over to Buda?" + +"Maybe a fresh host has arrived, which now awaits us." + +"Come," cried Azrael, seizing Hassan's hand, "we will find out at once +who is right;" and she hastened with them to the shore of the island. + +On the further bank the camp of Feriz Beg was visible; they were just +pitching their tents on the side of the hills. A company of cavalry was +just going down to the water's-edge, at whose head ambled a slim young +man whose features were immediately recognised, even at that distance, +both by the favourite Beg and the favourite damsel. + +Only Hassan saw nothing; in the distance everything was to him but a +blur of black and yellow. + +"Well, what did I say?" exclaimed Yffim Beg triumphantly; "that is the +camp of Feriz Beg, and there is Feriz himself trotting in front of +them." + +The words were scarce out of his mouth when the terrible thought +occurred to him that Azrael had no business to be looking upon this +strange man. + +The odalisk, laughing loudly, flung herself on Hassan's neck. + +"Ha, ha, ha! the worthy Beg takes the water-carrying girls for an army!" + +Then Yffim Beg began to tremble, for he perceived now whither this woman +wanted to carry her joke. + +"My master," said he, "forbid thy slave-girl to make a fool of me. The +camp of Feriz Beg is straight in front of us, and thou wilt do well to +prevent thy maid-servant from looking at these men with her face +unveiled." + +"Allah! thou dost terrify me, good Beg!" said Azrael, feigning horror so +admirably that Hassan himself felt the contagion of it. + +"Say! where dost thou see this camp?" + +"There, on the water-side; dost thou not see the tents on the +hillocks?" + +"Surely it is the linen which these girls are bleaching." + +"And that blare of trumpets?" + +"I only hear the merry songs that the girls are singing." + +In his fury Yffim Beg plucked at his beard. + +"My master, this devilish damsel is only mocking us." + +"Thou art suffering from deliriums," said Azrael, with a terrible face, +"or thou art under a spell which makes thee see before thee things which +exist not. Contradict me not, I beg; this hath happened to thee once +before. Dost thou not remember when thou fleddest from Transylvania how, +then also, thou didst maintain that the enemy was everywhere close upon +thy heels! Thou also then wert under the spell of a hideous enchantment, +for thy eunuch horseman who remained behind at Nagyenyed, and is now a +sentinel on this island, hath told me that there was no sign of any +enemy for more than twenty leagues around, and he remained waiting for +thee for ten days and fancied thou wert mad. Most assuredly some evil +sorcery made thee fly before an imaginary enemy without thy turban or +tunic." + +Yffim Beg grew pale. He felt that he must surrender unconditionally to +this infernal woman. + +"Was it so, Yffim?" cried Hassan angrily. + +"Pardon him, my lord," said Azrael soothingly; "he was under a spell +then, as he is now. Thou art bewitched, my good Yffim." + +"Really, I believe I am," he stammered involuntarily. + +"But I will turn away the enchantment," said the damsel; and tripping +down to the water's-edge she moistened her hand and sprinkled the face +of the Beg, murmuring to herself at the same time some magic spell. "Now +look and see!" + +The Beg did all that he was bidden to do. + +"Who, then, are these walking on the bank of the Danube?" + +"Young girls," stammered the Beg. + +"And those things spread out yonder." + +"Wet linen." + +"Dost thou not hear the songs of the girls?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"Look now, my master, what wonders there are beneath the sun!" said +Azrael, turning towards Hassan Pasha; "is it not marvellous that Yffim +should see armies when there is nothing but pretty peasant girls?" + +"Miracles proceed from Allah, but methinks Yffim Beg must have very bad +sight to mistake maidens for men of war." + +Yffim Beg durst not say to Hassan Pasha that he also had bad sight; he +might just as well have pronounced his own death sentence at once. +Hassan wanted to pretend to see all that his favourite damsel pointed +out, and she proceeded to befool the pair of them most audaciously in +the intimate persuasion that Hassan would not betray the fact that he +could not see, while Yffim Beg was afraid to contradict lest he should +be saddled with that plaguy Transylvanian business. + +Meanwhile, on the opposite bank, Feriz Beg in a sonorous voice was +distributing his orders and making his tired battalions rest, galloping +the while an Arab steed along the banks of the Danube. The odalisk +followed every movement of the young hero with burning eyes. + +"I love to hear the songs of these damsels; dost not thou also, my +master?" she inquired of Hassan. + +"Oh, I do," he answered hastily. + +"Wilt thou not sit down beside me here on the soft grass of the river +bank?" + +The Pasha sat down beside the odalisk, who, lying half in his bosom, +with her arm round his neck, followed continually the movements of Feriz +with sparkling eyes. + +"Look, my master!" said she, pointing him out to Hassan; "look at that +slim, gentle damsel, prominent among all the others, walking on the +river's bank. Her eyes sparkle towards us like fire, her figure is +lovelier than a slender flower. Ah! now she turns towards us! What a +splendid, beauteous shape! Never have I seen anything so lovely. Why may +I not embrace her--like a sister--why may I not say to her, as I say to +thee, 'I love thee, I live and die for thee?'" + +And with these words the odalisk pressed Hassan to her bosom, covering +his face with kisses at every word; and he, beside himself with rapture, +saw everything which the girl told him of, never suspecting that those +kisses, those embraces, were not for him but for a youth to whom his +favourite damsel openly confessed her love beneath his very eyes! + +And Yffim Beg, amazed, confounded, stood behind them, and shaking his +head, bethought him of the words of Haji Baba, "Cast forth that devil, +and beware lest she give you away!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STAR IN HELL. + + +Let the gentle shadows of night descend which guard them that sleep from +the eyes of evil spectres! Let the weary errant bee rest in the fragrant +chalice of the closed flower. Everything sleeps, all is quiet, only the +stars and burning hearts are still awake. + +What a gentle, mystical song resounds from among the willows, as of a +nightingale endowed with a human voice in order to sing to the listening +night in coherent rhymes the song of his love and his melancholy +rapture. It is the poet Hariri whom, sword in hand, they call Feriz Beg, +"The Lion of Combat," but who, when evening descends, and the noise and +tumult of the camp are still, discards his coat of mail, puts on a light +grey _burnush_, and, lute in hand, strolls through the listening groves +and by the side of the murmuring streams and calls forth languishing +songs from the depths of his heart and the strings of his lute, +uninterrupted by the awakening appeals of the trumpet. + +Many a pale maid opens her window to the night at the sound of these +magic songs--and becomes all the paler from listening to them. + +The eunuchs steal softly along the banks of the Margaret Island with +their long muskets, and stop still and watch for any suspicious skiff +drawing near to the island; and the most wakeful of them is old Majmun, +who, even when he is asleep, has one eye open, and in happier times was +the guardian of the harem. He sits down on a hillock, and even a +carrier-pigeon with a letter under its wings could not have eluded his +vigilance. He has only just arrived on the island, having previously +accompanied Yffim Beg into Transylvania, and therefore has only seen +Azrael once. + +His eyes roam constantly around, and his sharp ears detect even the +flight of a moth or a beetle, yet suddenly he feels--some one tapping +him on the shoulder. + +He turns terrified, and behold Azrael standing behind him. + +"Accursed be that singing over yonder. I was listening to it, so did not +hear thee approach. What dost thou want? Why dost thou come hither in +the darkness of night? How didst thou escape from the harem?" + +"I prythee be quiet!" said the odalisk. "This evening I went a-boating +with my master, and a gold ring dropped from my finger into the water; +it was a present from him, and if to-morrow he asks: 'Where is that +ornament?' and I cannot show it him, he will slay me. Oh, let me seek +for it here in the water." + +"Foolish damsel, the water here is deep; it will go over thy head, and +thou wilt perish." + +"I care not; I must look for it. I must find the ring, or lose my life +for it." + +And the odalisk said the words in such an agony of despair that the +eunuch was quite touched by it. + +"Thou shouldst entrust the matter to another." + +"If only I could find someone who can dive under the water, I would give +him three costly bracelets for it; I would give away all my treasures." + +"I can dive," said Majmun, seized by avarice. + +"Oh, descend then into the water for me," implored the damsel, falling +on her knees before him and covering the horny hand of the slave with +her kisses. "But art thou not afraid of being suffocated? For then in +the eyes of the governor I should be twice guilty." + +"Fear not on my account. In my youth I was a pearl-fisher in the Indian +Ocean, and I can remain under water and look about me like a fish, even +at night, while thou dost count one hundred. Only show me the place +where the ring fell from thy finger." + +Azrael drew a pearl necklace from her arm and casting it into the water, +pointed at the place where it fell. + +"It was on the very spot where I have cast that; if thou dost fetch up +both of them for me, the second one shall be thine." + +Majmun perceived that this was not exactly a joke, and laying aside his +garment and his weapon, bade the damsel look after them, and quickly +slipped beneath the water. + +In a few seconds the eunuch's terrified face emerged above the water and +he struck out for the shore with a horrified expression. + +"This is an evil spot," said he; "at the bottom of the water is a heap +of human heads." + +"I know it," said the odalisk calmly. + +The eunuch was puzzled. He gazed up at her, and was astounded to observe +that in the place of the sensitive, supplicating figure so lately there, +there now stood a haughty, awe-inspiring woman, who looked down upon him +like a queen. + +"Those heads there are the heads of thy comrades," said Azrael to the +astounded eunuch, "whom last night and the preceding nights I asked to +do me a service, which they refused to do. Next day I accused them to +the governor and he instantly had their heads cut off without letting +them speak." + +"And what service didst thou require?" + +"To swim to the opposite shore and give this bunch of flowers to that +youth yonder." + +"Ha! thou art a traitor." + +"No such thing. All I ask of thee is this: dost thou hear those songs in +that grove yonder? Very well, swim thither and give him this posy. If +thou dost not, thy head also will be under the water among the heap of +the others. But if thou dost oblige me I will make thee rich for the +remainder of thy life. It is in thine own power to choose whether thou +wilt live happily or die miserably." + +"But I have a third choice, and that is to kill thee," cried the eunuch, +gnashing his teeth. + +Azrael laughed. + +"Thou blockhead! Whilst thou wert still under the water it occurred to +me to fill thy musket with earth and gird thy dagger to my side. Utter +but a cry and thou wilt have no need to wait for to-morrow to lay thy +head at thy feet." + +At these words the damsel squeezed the eunuch's arm so emphatically that +he bent down before her. + +"What dost thou command?" + +"I have already told thee." + +"I am playing with my own head." + +"That is not as bad as if I were playing with it." + +"What dost thou want of me?" + +"I want thee to row me across to the opposite shore." + +"There is only one skiff on the island, and in that Yffim Beg is wont to +fish." + +"Oh, why have I never learnt to swim!" cried Azrael, collapsing in +despair. + +"What! wouldst thou swim across this broad stream?" + +"Yes, and I'll swim across it now, this instant." + +"Those are idle words. If thou art not a devil thou wilt drown in this +river if thou canst not swim." + +"Thou shalt swim with me. I will put one hand on thy shoulder to keep me +up." + +"Thou art mad, surely! Only just now thou didst threaten me with death, +and now thou wouldst trust thy life to me! I need only hold thee under +for a second or two to be rid of thee for ever. Water is a terrible +element to him who cannot rule over it, the dwellers beneath the waves +are merciless." + +"By putting my life into thy hands I show thee that I fear thee not. +Lead me through the water!" + +"Thou art mad, but I still keep my senses. Go back to the Vizier's kiosk +while he hath not noticed thy absence. I will not betray thee." + +"Then thou wilt not go with me?" said the odalisk darkly. + +"May I never see thee again if I do so," said Majmun resolutely, sitting +down on a hillock. + +"Wretched slave!" cried Azrael in despair, "then I will go myself." + +And with that she cast herself into the water from the high bank. +Majmun, unable to prevent her leap, plunged in after her and soon +emerged with her again on the surface of the water, holding the woman by +her long hair. + +She suddenly embraced the eunuch with both arms, turned in the water so +as to come uppermost and raising her head from the waves, cried fiercely +to the submerged eunuch: + +"Go to the opposite shore, or we'll drown together." + +The eunuch, after a short, desperate struggle, becoming convinced that +he could not free himself from the arms of the damsel who held him fast +like a gigantic serpent, with a tremendous wrench contrived to bring his +head above the water and cried unwillingly: + +"I'll lead thee thither." + +"Hasten then!" cried Azrael, releasing him from her arms and grasping +the woolly pate of the swimmer with one hand; "hasten!" + +The eunuch swam onwards. Nothing was to be seen but a white and a black +head moving closely together in the darkness and the long tresses of the +damsel floating on the surface of the waves. + +"Is the bank far?" she presently asked the slave, for she was somewhat +behind and could not see in front of her. + +"Art thou afraid?" + +"I fear that I may not be able to see it." + +"We shall be at the other side directly. The stream is broad just now, +for the Danube is in flood." + +A few minutes later the negro felt firm ground beneath his feet, and the +odalisk perceived the branch of a willow drooping above her face. +Quickly seizing it, she drew herself out of the water. + +Softly and tremulously she ran towards the grove of trees which +concealed what she sought, and on perceiving the singer, whose +enchanting tones had enticed her across the water, she stood there all +quivering, holding back her breath, and with one hand pressed against +her bosom. + +The young singer was sitting on a silver linden-tree. He had just +finished his song, and had placed the lute by his side, and was gazing +sadly before him with his handsome head resting against his hand as if +he would have summoned back the spirit which had flown far far away on +the wings of his melody. + +"Now thou canst speak to him," said Majmun to the damsel. + +Azrael stood there, leaning against a weeping willow and gazing, +motionless, at the youth. + +"Hasten, I say. The night is drawing to an end and we have to get back +again. Wherefore dost thou hesitate when thou hast come so far for this +very thing?" + +The odalisk sighed softly, and leant her head against the mossy tree +trunk. + +"Thou saidst thou wouldst rush to him, embrace his knees, and greet him +with thy lips, and now thou dost stand as if rooted to the spot by +spells." + +The damsel slowly sank upon her knees and hid her face in her garment. + +"The girl is really crazy," murmured the negro; "if thou hast come +hither only to weep, thou couldst have done that just as well on the +other side." + +At that moment the voice of a bugle horn rang out from a distance +through the silent night, whereupon the singer, suddenly transformed +into a warrior, sprang to his feet. It was the first _reveille_ from the +camp of Buda to awake the sleepers, and Hariri disappeared to become +Feriz Beg again, who, drawing his sword, quickly hastened away from +among the willow-trees, and in his hurry forgot his lute beneath a +silver birch. + +"Thou seest he has departed from thee," cried the negro malevolently, +seizing the damsel's hand. "Hasten back with me while yet there is +time." + +The girl arose--holding her breath as she gazed after the youth--and +waited till he had disappeared among the bushes; then she drew forth the +wreath of flowers which she had hidden in her bosom, and took a step +forward, listening till the retreating footsteps had died away, and then +suddenly rushed towards the abandoned lute, pressed it to her heart, +covered it with kisses, and fell down beside it filled with agony and +rapture. + +Then she took the wreath and cast it round the lute, and the wreath was +composed of these flowers: A rose. What does a rose signify in the +language of love?--"I love thee, I am happy." Then a pomegranate-flower, +which signifies: "I love none but thee!" Then a pink, which signifies: +"I wither for love of thee." Then a balsam, which signifies: "I dare not +approach thee." And, finally, a forget-me-not, which signifies: "Let us +live or die together." + +This wreath the odalisk fastened together with a lock of her own hair, +which signifies: "I surrender my life into thy hands!" For a Turkish +woman never allows a lock of her hair to pass into the hand of a +stranger, believing, as she does, that whoever possesses it has the +power to ruin or slay her, to deprive her either of her reason or her +life. + +Majmun gazed at her in astonishment. Was this all she had come for +through so many terrible dangers? + +"Hasten, damsel, with thine incantations," said he, "the camp is now +aroused and the dawn is at hand." + +Azrael cast a burning kiss with her hand in the direction whither Feriz +had disappeared; then returning to the slave, she said, with her usual +commanding voice: + +"Remain here and count up to six hundred without looking after me, and +by that time I shall have come back." + +Majmun counted up to six hundred with a loud voice. + +Meanwhile, Azrael ran along the dam of the river bank till she came to +the sluice, which she raised by the exertion of her full strength. The +liberated water began to flow through the opening with a mighty roar. + +Then Azrael hastened back to the negro. + +"And now for the island," said she. + +And once more they traversed the dangerous way, Azrael lying on her back +with a hand on the negro's head. In her bosom was a poplar leaf, which +afforded her great satisfaction. + +On reaching the island Azrael richly recompensed the negro, and said to +him: + +"To-morrow morning, at dawn, thy master, Yffim Beg, will seek thee and +command thee to accompany him and Hassan Pasha across the bridge to the +other side where stands the camp of Feriz Beg. Thou wilt find no one +there, but look at the place where we were this night, and if thou +shouldst find there a nosegay or a wreath, bring it to me!" + +Majmun listened with amazement. How could Azrael have found out all +about these things? + +Azrael returned to the kiosk, where Hassan Pasha was still sleeping the +deep sleep of opium. He awoke in the arms of his favourite, and he could +not understand why her hands were so cold and her kisses so burning. + +The odalisk told him she had been dreaming. She had dreamt that she swam +across the river enticed by the singing of the Peris. + +Hassan smiled. + +"Go on sleeping, and continue thy dream," said he. + +The sun was high in the heaven when Hassan Pasha quitted the kiosk. +Yffim Beg was awaiting him. + +"Wilt thou not ride to Pesth there to mark out the place for the camp of +Feriz Beg, who has just arrived?" + +Azrael shrewdly guessed that Yffim Beg was for leading the Governor to +the Pesth shore to satisfy him as to the peasant girls whom he was said +to have mistaken for soldiers by some evil enchantment. She also thought +how convenient it would be for her that they should take Majmun with +them for the whole day. + +Hassan accordingly accepted Yffim's invitation, and galloped with him +and Majmun over to the opposite shore, where Yffim was amazed to +discover that not a soul of Feriz Beg's host was visible. + +In the night the suddenly released water had covered the whole ground of +their camp, and they had been obliged to retire farther away from the +river and seek another encampment beyond Pesth. + +Yffim Beg would have liked to have torn out his beard in his wrath if he +had not been restrained by the general's presence. + +But Majmun, under the pretext of clearing the way, reconnoitred the +scene of yesterday's interview, and there, in the roots of the silver +birch, he found that a wreath had been deposited. He concealed it +beneath his _burnush_, and carried it home to Azrael. + +The wreath was composed of two pieces--a branch of laurel and a spray of +thorn. + +The damsel bowed her head before this answer. She knew that it +signified: "Suffer if thou wouldst prevail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE BATTLE OF ST. GOTHARD. + + +It was a beautiful summer evening; there was a half-moon in the sky, and +a hundred other half-moons scattered over the hillocks below. The +Turkish host had encamped among the hills skirting the river Raab. + +Concerning this particular new moon, we find recorded in the prophetic +column of the "Kaossa Almanack" for the current year that it was to be: + + "To the Germans, help in need; + To the Turks, fortune indeed; + To the Magyars, power to succeed. + And whoever's not ill + Shall of health have his fill, + For 'tis Heaven's own will." + +The worthy astrologer forgot, however, to find out in heaven whether +there are not certain quarters of the moon beneath which man may easily +die even if they are not sick. + +The great Grand Vizier Kiuprile, after resting on the ruins of Zerinvar, +turned towards the borders of Styria and united with the army of the +Pasha of Buda, below St. Gothard. + +Kiuprile's host consisted for the most part of cavalry, for his infantry +was employed in digging trenches round Zerinvar, whose commandant, in +reply to an invitation to surrender the fortress and not attempt to +defend it with six hundred men against thirty thousand, jestingly +responded: "As one Hungarian florin is worth ten Turkish piasters, one +Hungarian warrior necessarily must be worth ten Turkish warriors." And +what is more, the worthy man made good this rate of exchange, for when +the victors came to count up the cost, they found that for six hundred +Hungarians they had had to pay six thousand Osmanlis into the hands of +his Majesty King Death. + +Kiuprile had then pursued the armies of the Emperor, but they refused to +stand and fight anywhere; and while their enemies were marching higher +and higher up the banks of the Raab, they seemed to be withdrawing +farther and farther away on the opposite shore. + +The army of the Pasha of Buda should have gone round at the rear of the +imperial forces, in order to unite with the Pasha of Ersekujvar, the +former having previously cut off every possibility of a retreat; but +Hassan, as an independent general, did not follow the directions sent +him, simply because they came from Kiuprile, and he also made straight +for the Raab by forced marches, in order to wrest the opportunity of +victory from his rival. + +Thus the two armies came together, on July 30th, below the romantic +hills of St. Gothard, each army pitching its tents on the right bank of +the river, and occupying the summits of the hills, which commanded a +view of the whole region. + +And certainly the worthy gentlemen showed no bad taste when they took a +fancy to that part of the kingdom. In every direction lay the yellow +acres, from which the terrified peasants had not yet reaped the standing +corn; to the right were the gay vineyard-clad hills; to the left the +dark woods and stretch upon stretch of undulating meadow-land, bisected +by the winding ribbon of the Raab. On a hill close by stood the gigantic +pillared portico of the Monastery of St. Gothard, with fair +pleasure-groves at its base. Farther away were the towers of four or +five villages. The setting sun, as if desirous of making the district +still more beautiful, enwrapped it in a veil of golden mist. + +"Thou dog!" cried Hassan Pasha to the peasant who alone received the +terrible guests in the abandoned cloisters, "this region is far too +beautiful for the like of you monks to dwell in. But you will not be in +it long, my good sirs, for I mean to take it for myself. The peasant +after all is lord here. He eats his own bread and he drinks his own +wine, and he has a couple of good garments to draw over his head. But +stop, things shall be very different, for I shall have a word to say +about it." + +The honest peasant took off his cap. "God grant," said he, "that more +and more of you may dwell in my domains, and that I may build your +houses for you." The man was a grave-digger. + +Hassan Pasha and his suite occupied the monastery, whose vestibule was +filled with priests and magistrates from every quarter of the kingdom, +whose duty it was to collect and bring in provisions and taxes due to +the Turkish Government. And what they brought in was never sufficient, +and therefore the poor creatures had to send deputies as hostages from +time to time, who followed their lords on foot wherever they went, and +relieved each other from this servitude in rotation; some of them had +been here for half a year. + +The Turkish army was more than 100,000 strong, and the right bank of the +river was planted for a long distance with their tents. The monastery +constituted the centre of the camp; there was the encampment of Hassan's +favourite mamelukes and the selected corps of cloven-nosed, gigantic +negroes, who used to plunge into the combat half-naked, and neither take +nor give quarter. Alongside of them was the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha, a +corps accustomed to the strictest discipline. Close beside the tents of +this division, within a quadrilateral, guarded by a ditch, you could see +the camp of the Amazon Brigade, whose first thought when they pitch +their tents is to entrench themselves. + +Close to the camp of Kucsuk lies the Moldavian army, from whose +elaborate precautions you can gather that they have a far greater fear +of their allies all around them than of the foe against whom they are +marching. From beyond the monastery, right up to the vineyards of +Nagyfalva, the ground is occupied by the noisy Janissaries of Ismail +Pasha, who, if their military reputation lies not, are more used to +distributing orders to their commanders than receiving orders from them. +Beyond the vine-clad hills lies the cavalry of the Grand Vizier, Achmed +Kiuprile, and all round about, wherever a column of smoke is to be seen +or the sky is blood-red, there is good reason for suspecting that there +the marauding Tartar bands are out, whom it was not the habit to attach +to the main army. Far in the rear, along the mountain paths, on the +slopes of the narrow forest passes, could be seen the endlessly long +procession of wagons laden with plunder, intermingled with long round +iron cannons and ancient stone mortars, each one drawn along by ten or +twelve buffaloes, striving laboriously and painfully to urge their way +forward, and if one of them stops for a moment, or falls down, all the +others behind it must stop also. + +It is now evening, and from one division of the army to another the +messengers from headquarters are hurrying. Kiuprile's messenger comes to +inform Hassan that the army of the enemy has taken up its position on +the opposite bank, between two forests, the French mercenaries and the +German auxiliary troops have joined it, so that it would be well to +attack it in the night, before it has had time properly to marshal its +ranks. + +"Thy master is mad," replied Hassan; "how can I fly across the water? +Before me is the river Raab. I should have to fling a bridge across it +first--nay two, three bridges--which it would take me days to do, and I +cannot even begin to do it till the old ammunition waggons have +arrived. Go back, therefore, and tell thy master that if he wants to +fight I'll sound the alarm." + +The messenger opened his eyes wide, being unaware of the fact that +Hassan was short-sighted, and consequently only knew the river Raab from +the map, not knowing that at the spot where he stood the river was not +more than two yards wide, and could be bridged over in a couple of hours +without the assistance of old ammunition wagons--so back the messenger +went to Kiuprile. + +He had scarce shown a clean pair of heels, when the messenger of Kucsuk +Pasha arrived to signify in his master's name that the battle could not +be postponed, because no hay had arrived for the horses. + +Hassan turned furiously on the captive magistrates. + +"Why have you not sent hay?" + +The wisest of them, desirous to answer the question, politely rejoined: +"It has been a dry summer, sir, the Lord has kept back the clouds of +Heaven." + +"Oh, that's it, eh!" said Hassan. "Tell Kucsuk Pasha that he must give +his horses the clouds to eat; the hay of the Magyars is there, it +seems." + +This messenger had no sooner departed than a whole embassy arrived from +the Janissaries, and the whole lot of them energetically demanded that +they should be led into battle at once. + +"What?" inquired Hassan mockingly, "has your hay fallen short too, +then?" The Janissaries are infantry, by the way. + +"It is glory we are running short of," said the leader of the deputation +stolidly; "it bores us to stand staring idly into the eyes of the +enemy." + +"Then don't stare idly at them any longer; away with those mutinous dogs +and impale them, and put them on the highest hillock that the whole army +may see them." + +The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered the Janissaries, and +pending their impalement, locked them up in the cellar of the +cloisters. + +By this time Hassan Pasha was in the most horrible temper; and just at +that unlucky moment who should arrive but Ballo, the envoy of the Prince +of Transylvania. + +Hassan, who could not see very well at the best of times, and was now +blinded with rage besides, roared at him: + +"Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee hither? What is thy errand?" + +"I come from Kiuprile, sir," replied Ballo blandly. + +"What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile must be to send to me +such a rogue as thou art, except in chains and fetters." + +"Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of Transylvania, and +represent the Prince." + +"Represent the Prince, eh? Art thou the Prince's cobbler that thou +standest in his shoes? Hast thou brought soldiers with thee?" + +"Gracious sir----" + +"Thou hast _not_, then? Not another word! Hast thou brought money?" + +"Gracious sir!" + +"Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou come at all? Canst thou pay +the allotted tribute?" + +"Gracious sir!" + +"Don't gracious sir me, but answer--yes or no!" + +"Well, but----" + +"Then why not?" + +"The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of God is upon it." + +"Thou must settle that with God, then, and pray that it may not feel my +heavy hand also. Wherefore, then, hast thou come?" + +Ballo made up his mind to swallow the bitter morsel. + +"I have come to implore you to remit the annual tribute." + +At first Hassan did not know what to say. + +"Hast thou become wooden, then," he said at last, "thou and thy whole +nation? What right have ye to ask for a remission of the tribute?" + +"Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than what Gabriel Bethlen +was wont to pay." + +"Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in iron what he did not pay +in silver; if he paid fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of +fighting alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty thousand for +sitting comfortably at your own firesides. What, only eighty thousand +for Transylvania, a state that is always digging up gold and silver, +when a single sandjak[16] pays the Pasha of Thessalonica twice as much?" + + [Footnote 16: Province.] + +At these words the national pride awoke in the breast of Ballo. + +"Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its Pasha has unlimited +power over his sandjaks, but Transylvania is a free state." + +"And who told thee that it shall not become a sandjak like the rest?" +said Hassan grimly. "Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice, +take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on the throne of +Transylvania! Dost thou hear me? By the prophet I swear it." + +"The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the ancient rights of +Transylvania should never be infringed. He swore it on the Koran and by +the Prophet." + +"It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior, our present Sultan," +cried Hassan, "to remember the oath sworn by the great Suleiman; not +what he says, but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly do ye +entrust your heads to his hand, while the sword of execution remains in +our hands! I'll humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all +nations! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian rajas who themselves +pull the plough!" + +Ballo raised his head with a bitter look before the wrathful vizier. + +"Then, sir, you must find another population for Transylvania, for you +will not find there now the men you seek. You may see no end of murdered +Magyars there, but a degraded Magyar you will never find." + +At these words Hassan drew his sword, and with his own hand would have +decapitated the presumptuous ambassador, but the mamelukes dragged him +away, assuring the Pasha that they would impale him along with the +Janissaries. + +"Place the stake in front of my window that I may speak to the insolent +wolf while he is well spitted." + +The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Ballo into the cellar along with the +Janissaries, and began to plant a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of +the Pasha's window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind +their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their comrades had been +condemned to death without mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment +they had cut down those of their officers who remonstrated, and while +one body rushed towards the monastery, beating their alarm-drum and +blowing their horns, the others attacked the negro giants guarding the +impalement stakes already planted on the top of the hill, and in a few +moments the executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes. + +Meanwhile the mamelukes of Hassan, who were preparing to resist the +insurgents, put to flight by the furious Janissaries, made for the +courtyard of the cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by a +stone wall, and after barricading the entrances, succeeded with great +difficulty in shutting the iron gates in the faces of their assailants, +and prepared vigorously to defend them. + +The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and bombarding its windows with +bullets and darts, began to besiege it at long-firing distance. + +Hassan, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the tower of the +monastery, leaving his guards to defend the gates till the other +divisions of the army should come to quell the insurgents, but they did +not stir. Hassan perceived from his tower that not a man from Kiuprile's +army was coming to his assistance, though they very well could see his +jeopardy and hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the other +side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on the hills, but it never +entered their minds to draw nearer; on the contrary, they were only too +delighted to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail Pasha's army +seemed rather to be retreating than approaching, and from Kucsuk and his +son he durst not hope for assistance, as they were his personal enemies. + +At that moment the insurgents caught sight of the stake planted before +the window, and set up a howl of fury. + +"Ah, ha! Hassan had this planted here for himself. Let's fix up Hassan!" + +With a shudder the Vizier reflected on the enormous difference between +the throne of Transylvania and the stake on which he might be planted +instead, and cursed softly as he murmured to himself: + +"That rogue of a Christian must have prayed to his God that I might be +brought to shame here;" and grasping in his terror the solitary +bell-rope that hung there, and winding it round his neck, he stood by +the window, so that if the rebels should burst through the gates he +might leap out and hang himself, rather than that they should wreak +their horrible threats upon him. + +The night had now set in, but the besiegers kindled pine branches, by +whose spluttering light they streamed round the monastery; and then came +a sudden and continuous firing of guns and beating of drums and a +frightful braying of buffalo horns. + +The banner of danger had already been planted on the summit of the +tower, but from no quarter did help arise, and from time to time the +sound of a bell rang through the air as a chance bullet struck it. + +Hassan, full of terror, drew back behind the window curtains. Suddenly a +yell still more terrible than the hitherto pervading tumult filled his +ear--the besiegers had discovered the cellar in which their comrades had +been confined, and, bursting in the doors, liberated them, and the +Transylvanian deputy along with them, who speedily left this scene of +uproar behind him. + +At the sight of their bound and fettered comrades, the Janissaries' +wrath increased ten-fold. The leader of the released captives, waving an +axe over his head with a fierce howl, and hurling himself at the iron +gate, hammered away like the roaring of guns; whilst the rest of them, +who hitherto had been firing at the windows from a distance, now +attacked the entrances with unrestrainable fury, raining showers of +blows upon the gates. + +But the gates were of good strong iron plates, well barricaded below +with quadraginal paving-stones. The besiegers' arms grew weary, and the +mamelukes on the roof flung stones and heavy beams down upon them, doing +fearful execution among their serried ranks; whilst every mameluke who +fell from his perch, pierced by a bullet, was instantly torn to pieces +by the crowd, which flung back his head at the defenders. + +"Draw back!" cried the officer in command, who stood foremost amidst the +storm of rafters and bullets. "Run for the guns! At the bottom of that +hill I saw a mortar planted in the ground; draw it forth, and we'll fire +upon the walls." + +In an instant the whole Janissary host had withdrawn from below the +monastery, and the whole din died away. Yet the dumb silence was more +threatening, more terrible, than the uproar had been. Very soon a dull +rumbling was audible, drawing nearer and nearer every instant; it was +the rolling of a gun-carriage full of artillery. Hundreds of them were +pushing it together, and were rapidly advancing with the heavy, +shapeless guns. At last they placed one in position opposite the +monastery; it was a heavy iron four-and-twenty pound culverin, whose +voice would be audible at the distance of four leagues. This they +planted less than fifteen yards from the monastery, and aimed it at the +gate. + +"There is no help save with God!" cried Hassan in despair; and he took +off his turban lest they should thereby recognise his dead body. + +At that instant a trumpet sounded, and the cavalry of Kucsuk Pasha +appeared in battle array, making its way through the congested masses of +the insurgents; while Feriz Beg, at the head of his Spahis, skilfully +surrounded them, and cut off their retreat. + +Kucsuk Pasha, with a drawn sword in his hand, trotted straight up to the +gun and stood face to face with its muzzle. + +"Are ye faithful sons of the prophet, or fire-worshippers, giaurs, and +idolators, that ye attack the faithful after this fashion?" he asked the +insurgents. + +At these words the ringleaders of the insurgents came forward. + +"We are Janissaries," he said, "the flowers of the Prophet's garden, who +are wont to pluck the weeds we find there." + +"I know you, but you know me; ye are good soldiers, but I am a good +soldier too. Hath Allah put swords into the hands of good soldiers that +they may fall upon one another? Ye would weep for me if I fell because +of you, and I would weep for you if ye fell because of me--but where +would be the glory of it? What! Here with the foe in front of you, ye +would wage war among yourselves, to your own shame, and to the joy of +the stranger? Is not that sword accursed which is not drawn against the +foe?" + +"Yet accursed also is the sword which returns to its sheath unblooded." + +"What do ye want?" + +"We want to fight." + +"And can you only find enemies among yourselves?" + +"Our first enemy is cowardice, and cowardice sits in the seat of that +general who alone is afraid when the whole camp wants to fight. We would +first slay fear, and then we would slay the foe." + +"Why not slay the foe first?" + +"We will go alone against the whole camp of the enemy if the rest +refuse." + +"Good; I will go with you." + +"Thou?" + +"I and my son with all our squadrons." + +At these words the mutineers passed, in an instant, from the deepest +wrath to the sublimest joy. "To battle!" they cried. "Kucsuk also is +coming, and Feriz will help!" These cries spread from mouth to mouth. +And immediately the drums began to beat another reveille, the horns gave +forth a very different sound, they turned the cannons round and dragged +them to the river's bank, and began to build a bridge over the Raab with +the beams and rafters that had been hurled down upon them. + +The hostile camp lay about four hours' march away, on the opposite bank, +between two forests, and by an inexplicable oversight, had left that +portion of the river's bank absolutely unguarded. + +The Janissaries swam to and fro in the water strengthening the posts and +stays of the improvised bridge by tying them stoutly together, and by +the time the night had begun to grow grey, the first bridge ever thrown +over the Raab was ready and the infantry began to cross it. + +It was only then that the German-Hungarian camp perceived the design of +the enemy, and speedily sent three regiments of musketeers against the +Turks, who fought valiantly with the Janissaries, and drove them right +back upon the bridge, where a bloody tussle ensued as fresh divisions +hastened up to sustain the hardly-pressed Mussulmans. + +Meanwhile a second bridge had been got ready, over which Kucsuk's +cavalry quickly galloped and fell upon the rear of the musketeers. + +These warriors, taken by surprise and perceiving the preponderance of +the enemy, and obtaining no assistance from their own headquarters, +quickly flung down their firearms and made helter-skelter for their own +trenches. + +The next moment the two combating divisions were a confused struggling +mass. Kucsuk's swift Spahis cut off the retreat of the Christian +infantry; only for a few moments was there a definite struggle, the +tussle being most obstinate round the standards, till at last they also +began to totter and fall one after the other, and three thousand +Christian souls mounted on high together, pursued by a roar of triumph +from the Mussulmans, who, seizing the advanced trenches, planted thereon +their half-moon streamers, and plundered the tents which remained +defenceless before them. + +At that moment the Christian host was near to destruction, and if +Kiuprile had crossed the river and Hassan Pasha had shared the fight +with Kucsuk, he would have become famous. + +But the two chief commanders remained obstinately behind on the further +shore. Kiuprile, who the evening before had himself wanted to begin the +fight when he had received a negative answer, had now not even saddled +his nag, and looked on with sinister _sangfroid_ while the extreme wing +of the army was engaged. Hassan, on the other hand, would have liked +nothing better if the Janissaries, and Kucsuk their auxiliary, had lost +the battle thus begun without orders, and so far from hastening to their +assistance remained sitting up in his tower. He could see nothing of the +battle, but he heard a cry, and fancying that it was the death-yell of +the Janissaries, took his beads from his girdle and began zealously to +pray that the Prophet would keep open for them the gates of Paradise. + +"Master, master!" exclaimed Yffim Beg, "gird on thy sword and to horse!" + +The Pasha heard nothing. At last Yffim Beg, in despair, seized the +bell-rope, and pulled the old bell right above Hassan's head, whereupon +the latter rushed in terror to the window. + +"What is it? What dost thou want?" + +"Hasten, sir!" roared Yffim Beg. "Kucsuk Pasha has beaten the enemy, +taken their trenches, and is plundering their tents. Do not allow him to +have all the glory of scattering the Christians!" + +Hassan leapt from his seat. If he had heard that Kucsuk's men were being +cut to pieces he would have gone on praying, but Kucsuk triumphed--had +all the triumph to himself. The thought was a keen spur to his mind. Up +everyone who could stir hand or foot! Forward Spahis and Arabs! To +battle every true believer! Let the dervishes go up in the tower and +sing dirges for the fallen! Let the ground shake beneath the rolling of +the guns! Let the horns ring out for now is the day of glory! + +In an instant the camp was alert, and crowds of warriors rushed towards +the bridge. Every man pressed hard on the heels of his fellow; those who +were crowded into the water did their best to reach the opposite shore +by swimming; whole companies swam through on horseback, and the heavy +iron guns moved forward as rapidly as if they had wings. It was only now +that the vast numbers of the Ottoman host became manifest, it seemed +suddenly to spring out of the ground in every direction; the tiny little +cramped Christian camp over against them looked like an island in an +inundation. + +In the very centre of the host could be seen Hassan Pasha with a +brilliant suite, twenty horse-tail banners fluttered around him, the +pick of his veterans at his side. On the left was the army of Ismail +Pasha; on the right were the hosts of the Moldavians. Their immediate +objective was the trenches already occupied by Kucsuk Pasha. + +At that moment Yffim Beg was seen galloping along the front of the host +with the Vizier's commands for Kucsuk Pasha. + +"Ye remain where now you are, and move no farther till a fresh command +arrives. Feriz Beg and his battalion move forward along the outermost +wing." + +Hassan could not endure that two such heroes should help each other in +the battle, and that the son should deliver the father. Kucsuk beat the +tattoo. Feriz Beg moved along the left wing, where he formed the +reserve. + +Then the reveille sounded; a hideous yell filled the air; the Mussulman +host, with bloodthirsty rage, rushed upon the front of the Christian +army. No power on earth can save them! But what is this? Suddenly the +impetus of the assailants is stayed. Along the front of the camp of the +Christian infantry star-shaped trenches have been dug during the night +and planted full of sharp stakes. The foremost row of the assailants +pause terror-stricken in front of these trenches, and for an instant the +onset is arrested. But only for an instant. The powerful impact of the +rearward masses flings them into the deadly ditch, one after another +they fall upon the pointed stakes, a mortal yell drowns the cry of +battle, in a few moments the star-shaped trenches are filled with +corpses and the rushing throng tramples over the dead bodies of their +comrades to get to the other side of the ditch. And now the roar of the +cannons begin. Up to that moment the guns of the Christians have +remained inactive, concealed behind the gabions. Now their gaping +throats face the attacking host. At a single signal the roar of eighty +iron throats is heard, bullets and chain-shot make their whirring way +through the serried ranks, the crackling mortars discharge sackloads of +acorn-shaped balls, while the fire-spitting grenades terrify the +rearmost ranks. + +The Mussulmans host recoils in terror, leaving their dead and wounded +behind them. Horrible spectacle! Instead of the lately brilliant ranks +the ground is strewn with mangled bloody limbs, writhing like worms in +the dust. The next moment the splendid array again covers the ground; +the corpses are no longer visible, they are hidden by the feet of the +living. The beaten squadrons are sent to the rear; fresh battalions fill +their places; the assault is renewed. The fire of the guns no longer +keeps them back. They cast down their eyes, shout "Allah!" and rush +forward. An earth-rending report resounds, a fiery mine has exploded +beneath the feet of the assailants; fragments of human limbs +intermingled with strips of tempest-tossed banners fly up into the air +amidst whirling clouds of smoke. The second assault is also flung back, +and in the meantime the Christian army has succeeded in drawing a line +of wagons across their front. And now a third, now a fourth, assault is +delivered, each more furious than the last. The Christians begin to +despair; every regiment of the Turkish host is now engaged with them, +only Kucsuk has received no order to advance. Hassan would win the +battle without him. + +There he stands, together with his staff, directing the most perverse of +battles, hurling his swarms against unassailable rocks, assaulting +entrenched places with cavalry; at one time distributing orders to +regiments which had ceased to exist, at another sending to consult with +commanders who had fallen before his very eyes. Those around him +listened to his words with astonishment, and not one of them durst say: +"Dismount from your horse, you cannot see ten yards in front of you!" +The din of the renewed assaults sounded in his ears like a cry of +triumph. "Look how they waver!" he cried; "look how the Christian ranks +waver, and how their banners are falling in the dust! Shoot them, shoot +them down!" and none durst say to him: "These are thy hosts whose +death-cries thou dost hear, and it is the fire from the Christian guns +which mow down whole ranks of thy army!" + +The Ottoman host had begun its tenth assault, when Hassan sent a courier +to Kiuprile on the opposite shore with this message: "Thou canst return +to Paphlagonia! We have won the battle without thee. Tell them at home +what thou hast seen!" + +Kiuprile, seriously alarmed lest he should have no part in the glory of +the contest, immediately mounted the whole of his cavalry, flung a +bridge over the river, and began to cross it. + +This happened at the very moment when Ismail Pasha was leading the +Osmanlis to the tenth assault. + +The leader of the Christian host, Montecuculi, no sooner perceived +Kiuprile's movement, than he called together his generals and gave them +to understand that if they awaited Kiuprile where they stood they would +be irretrievably lost. + +They were just then loading their guns with their last charge. + +Many faces grew pale at this announcement, and a deep silence followed +Montecuculi's words. Yet his words were the words of valour. Three +heroes had been in his army--one of them, the French general, the +Marquis de Brianzon, had already fallen; the other two, still present, +were the German general, Toggendorf, and the Hungarian cavalry officer, +Petnehazy. + +At the commander-in-chief's announcement the faces of both remained +unmoved, and Toggendorf, with the utmost _sang-froid_ came forward: "If +we must choose between two deaths," said he, "why not rather choose +death by advancing than death in flight?" + +"Not so, my lad," cried Petnehazy, enthusiastically grasping his +comrade's hand; "we choose between death and glory, and he who seeks +glory will find a triumph also." + +"So be it," said Montecuculi, with cool satisfaction, thrusting his +field-glass into his pocket and drawing forth his thin blade; and, while +he sent the two heroes to the two wings, he placed himself in front of +the army, and commanded that the barrier of wagons should instantly be +demolished. + +The last discharge thundered forth, and from amidst the dispersing +clouds of smoke two compact army columns could be seen rapidly +charging--they were Toggendorf's cuirassiers and Petnehazy's hussars. + +Petnehazy made straight for the still hesitating Moldavian army, which, +with Prince Ghyka at its head, had as yet taken no part in the fight. +Heaven itself gave him the inspiration. The Prince of Moldavia had been +waiting for a long time for some one to attack him, that he might at +once quit the field of battle to which he had been constrained to come, +though it revolted his feelings as a Christian to do so; consequently, +when Petnehazy was within fifty yards of his battalions, they, as if at +a given signal, turned tail without so much as crossing swords with the +foe, galloped off to the left bank of the Waag, and so quitted the +field. + +This flight threw the whole Turkish army into disorder. A more skilful +general would indeed have withdrawn the whole host, but, because of his +short-sightedness, Hassan did not perceive that the Moldavians had fled, +and nobody durst tell him so. Ismail Pasha immediately hastened to fill +up the gap; but before he had reached the spot, Toggendorf's cuirassiers +were upon him, and he was caught between two fires in a moment. The +Janissaries received the full brunt of the swords of the cuirassiers and +the hussars, and in the first onset Ismail Pasha himself fell from his +horse. A hussar rushed upon him, and severing from his body his big +bared head, stuck it on the point of a lance, and raised it in the air +as a very emblem of terror to the panic-stricken Turks. The Janissaries +were no longer able to rally, in every direction they broke through the +hostile ranks in a desperate attempt at flight, and, which was worse +still, the flying infantry barred the way against the cavalry which was +hastening to their assistance. + +All this was taking place within two hundred yards of Hassan Pasha, and +he saw nothing of it. + +"Glory be to Allah," he cried, raising his hands to heaven; "victory is +ours! The Christian is flying and is casting down his banners in every +direction. The best of his warriors are wallowing in the dust. The rest +are flying without weapons and with pale----" + +Those about him listened, horror-stricken, to his words. The Christian +host was at that moment cutting down the Janissaries, the flower of the +Turkish camp! + +"Thou ravest, my master!" cried Yffim Beg, seizing the bridle of Hassan +Pasha's horse. "Fly and save thyself! The best of thy army has perished, +the Janissaries have fallen, the Moldavian army hath fled. Ismail +Pasha's head has been hoisted on to a pike!" + +"Impossible!" roared Hassan, beside himself, "come with me; let us +charge, the victory is ours." + +But his generals seized him, and tearing his sword from his hand, seized +the bridle of his horse on both sides and hurried him along with them +towards the bridge, which was now full of fugitives. + +The hazard of the die had changed. The pursuers had become the +fugitives. An hour before the Christian camp ran the risk of +annihilation; it was now the turn of the Turks. + +Kiuprile seeing the catastrophe, destroyed his bridges and remained on +the opposite bank. + +Meanwhile on the wings, Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, with his brigade of +Amazons, were valiantly holding their own against the cuirassiers of +Toggendorf and the hussars of Petnehazy, till at last the melancholy +notes of the bugle-horns gave the signal for retreat, and the combatants +gradually separated. Only a few scattered bands, and presently, only a +few scattered individuals, still fought together, and then they also +wearily abandoned the contest and returned silently to their respective +camps. Both sides felt that their strength was exhausted. The Christian +host had four thousand, the Turkish sixteen thousand slain, and among +them its best generals; they also lost all their heavy cannons, their +banners, and their military renown; but none lost so much as Feriz Beg. +The Amazon Brigade had perished. By its deliberate self-sacrifice it had +saved the Turkish army from utter destruction. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PERSECUTED WOMAN. + + +Perhaps by this time you have clean forgotten our dear acquaintance, +pretty Mariska, the wife of the Prince of Wallachia? + +Ah, she is happy! Although her husband is far away, her sorrow is +forgotten in the near approach of a new joy--the joy of motherhood. + +There she sits at eventide in the garden of her castle, weaving together +dreams of a happy future, and her court ladies by her side are making +tiny little garments adorned with bright ribbons. + +When the peasant women pass by her on the road with their children in +their arms, she takes the children from them, presses them to her bosom, +kisses, and talks to them. She is the godmother of every new-born +infant, and what a tender godmother! Day after day she visits the +churches, and before the altar of the Virgin-Mother prays that she also +may have her portion of that happiness which is the greatest joy God +gives to women. + +After the battle of St. Gothard it was Prince Ghyka's first thought to +send a courier to his wife, bidding her not to be anxious about her +husband, for he was alive and would soon be home. + +This was Mariska's first tidings of the lost battle, and she thanked God +for it. What did she care that the battle was lost, that the glory of +the Turkish Sultan was cracked beyond repair, so long as her husband +remained to her? With him the husbands of all the other poor Wallachian +wives were also safe. She at once hastened to tell the more remote of +these poor women that they were not to be alarmed if they heard that the +Turkish army had been cut down, for their husbands were free and quite +near to them. + +What joy at the thought of seeing him again! How she watched for her +husband from morn till eve, and awoke at night at the slightest noise. +If a horse neighed in the street, if she heard a trumpet far away, she +fancied that her husband was coming. + +One night she was aroused by the sound of a light tapping at her bedroom +door, and her husband's voice replied to her question of "Who is there?" + +Her surprise and her joy were so great that in the first moment of +awaking she knew not what to do, whereupon her husband impatiently +repeated: + +"Mariska, open the door!" + +The wife hastened to embrace her husband, admitted him, fell upon his +neck, and covered him with kisses; but, perceiving suddenly that the +kisses her husband gave her back were quite cold, and that his arm +trembled when he embraced her, she looked anxiously at his face--it was +grave and full of anxiety. + +"My husband!" cried the unusually sensitive woman with a shaky voice. +"Why do you embrace me--us, so coldly," her downcast eyes seemed to say. + +The Prince did not fail to notice the expression, and very sadly, and +sighing slightly, he said: + +"So much the worse for me!" + +His hands, his whole frame shook so in the arms of his wife; and yet the +Prince was a muscular as well as a brave man. + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" asked his wife anxiously. + +"Nothing," said the Prince, kissing her forehead. "Be quiet. Lie down. I +have some business to do which must be done to-night. Then I'll come to +you, and we'll talk about things." + +Mariska took him at his word, and lay down again. But she still +trembled--why, she knew not. + +There must be something wrong, something very wrong with her husband, or +else he would not have welcomed his wife so coldly at the very moment of +his arrival. + +After a few moments, during which she heard her husband talking in an +undertone with someone outside, he came in with his sword in his hand, +and after seeming to look for something, he turned to Mariska: + +"Have you the keys of your treasure-box?" + +"Yes, they are in my secretaire." + +The Prince took the keys and withdrew. + +Mariska breathed again. "Then it is only some money trouble after all," +she thought. "Thank God it is no worse. They have lost something in the +camp, I suppose, or they are screwing some more tribute out of him." + +In a short time the Prince again returned, and stood there for a time as +if he couldn't make up his mind to speak. At last he said: + +"Mariska, have you any money?" + +"Yes, dear!" Mariska hastened to answer, "just ten thousand thalers. Do +you want them?" + +"No, no. But have them all ready to hand, and if you collected your +jewels together at the same time you would do well." + +"What for, my husband?" + +"Because," stammered Ghyka, "because--we may--and very speedily, +too--have to set out on our travels." + +"Have to travel--in my condition?" asked Mariska, raising a pathetic +face up to her husband. + +That look transfixed the very soul of Ghyka. His wife was in a condition +nearer to death than to life. + +"No, I won't stir a stump," he suddenly cried, beside himself with +agitation, striking his sword so violently on the table that it flew +from its sheath, "if heaven itself fall on me, I won't go." + +"For God's sake, my husband, what is the matter?" cried Mariska in her +astonishment; whereupon the Prince proudly raised his eyebrows, +approached her with a smile, and pressing his wife to his bosom, said +reassuringly: + +"Fear nothing. I had an idea in my head; but I have dismissed it, and +will think of it no more. Take it that I have asked you nothing." + +"But your anxiety?" + +"It has gone already. Ask not the reason, for you would laugh at me for +it. Sleep in peace. I also will sleep upon it." + +The husband caressed and kissed his wife, and his hand trembled no +longer, his face was no longer pale, and his lips were no longer so cold +as before. + +But the wife's were now. When her husband tenderly kissed her eyes and +bade her sleep, she pretended that she was satisfied; but as soon as he +had withdrawn from her room, she arose, put on a dressing-gown, and +calling one of her maids, descended with her into the hall, and sent for +a faithful old servant of her husband's, who was wont to accompany him +everywhere, an old Moldavian courier. + +"Jova!" she said, "speak the truth! What's the matter with your master? +What have you seen and heard?" + +"It is a great trouble, my lady. God deliver us from it! We only escaped +destruction at the battle of St. Gothard by not standing up against the +Magyars. But what were we to do? Christian cannot fight against +Christian, for then should we be fighting against God. The Turkish army +was badly beaten there. And now the Vizier of Buda, that he may wash +himself clean, for the Sultan is very wroth, wants to cast the whole +blame of the affair on the head of the Prince." + +"Great Heaven! And what will be the result?" + +"Well, it would not be a bad thing if your Highnesses were to withdraw +somewhere or other for a time to give the Sultan's wrath time to cool." + +"To my father's, eh? in Wallachia?" + +"Well, a little farther than that, I should say." + +"True, we might go to Transylvania; we have lots of good friends there." + +"Even there it might not be as well to stay. You would do well to make a +journey to Poland." + +"Do you suppose the danger to be so great then?" + +"God grant it be not so bad as I think it." + +"Thank you for your advice, Jova. I will tell my husband quite early in +the morning." + +"My lady, you would do well not to wait till morning." + +The woman grew pale. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that if you would take care of yourselves, you should take +carriage this very night, this very hour. I will go before the horses +with a lantern, and a courier shall be sent on ahead to have fresh +relays of horses awaiting us at every station, so that by the time it +begins to grow grey, we shall have left the last hill of this region out +of sight." + +The terrified Princess returned to her bedchamber, and quickly packed up +her most valuable things, making all the necessary preparations for a +long journey. But the door leading to her husband's room was locked, and +she durst not call him, but with an indescribable sinking of heart +awaited the endlessly distant dawn. She was unable to close her eyes the +whole night. Wearied out in body and soul she rose as soon as she saw +the light of dawn, sitting with her swimming head against the window, +whence she could look down into the courtyard. + +Gradually the courtyard awoke to life and noise again, and the hall was +peopled with domestics hurrying to and fro. The grooms began walking the +horses up and down, the peasant girls with pitchers on their heads were +returning from the distant wells, a merry voice began singing a popular +ditty in one of the outhouses. All this seemed as strange to the +watchful lady as the life and the movement of the outside world seems to +one condemned to death who gazes upon it from the window of his cell. + +Then the door opened and her husband came out of his bedchamber and +greeted his wife with a voice full of boisterous courage. He was dressed +in a short stagskin jacket, which he generally wore when he went +a-hunting, and wore big Polish boots with star-like spurs. + +"Going a-hunting, eh?" asked Mariska, from whose soul all her terrifying +phantoms vanished instantly when her husband embraced her in his +vigorous arms. + +"Yes, I'm going a-hunting. I feel so full of energy that if I don't +tumble about somewhere or other I shall burst. Any boar or bear that I +come across to-day will have good cause to remember me." + +"Oh! take care no ill befalls you!" + +"Befalls me!" cried the Prince, proudly smiting his herculean breast. + +The lady flung herself on her husband's neck with the confidence of a +child, and lifting from his head his saucy bonnet with its eagle plume, +which gave him such a brave appearance, and smoothing down his curls, +kissed his bonny face, and forgot all her thoughts and visions of the +bygone night. + +The Prince withdrew, and Mariska opened her window and looked out of it +to see him mount his horse. + +While the Prince was going downstairs, a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid +rags entered the courtyard, from which at other times he was wont to +fetch letters, and mingled with the ostlers and stablemen without +seeming to attract attention. + +A few moments later the Prince ordered his horse to be brought in a loud +resonant voice, whereupon the cavasse immediately came forward, and +producing from beneath his dirty dolman a sealed and corded letter, +pressed it to his forehead and then handed it to the Prince. + +The Prince broke open the letter and his face suddenly turned pale; +taking off his cap, he bowed low before the cavasse and saluted him. + +O Prince of Moldavia! to doff thy eagle-plumed cap to a dirty cavasse, +and bow thy haughty manly brow before him! Whatever can be the meaning +of it all? Mariska's heart began to throb violently as she gazed down +from her window. + +The Prince, with all imaginable deference, then indicated the door of +his castle to the cavasse and invited him to enter first; but the Turk +with true boorish insolence, signified that the Prince was to lead the +way. + +Suddenly, in an illuminated flash, Mariska guessed the mystery. In the +moment of peril, with rare presence of mind, she rushed to her +secretaire, where her jewels were. Her first thought was that the +cavasse had come for her husband; he must be bribed therefore to connive +at his escape. + +Then she saw hastening through the door the old groom Jova. The face of +the ancient servitor was full of fear, and there were tears in his eyes. + +"Has the cavasse come for my husband, then?" she inquired tremulously. + +"Yes, my lady," stammered the servant; "why don't you make haste?" + +"Let us give him money." + +"He won't take it. What is money to him? If he returns without the +Prince his own head will be forfeit." + +"Merciful God! Then what shall we do?" + +"My master whispered a few words in my ear, and I fancy I caught their +meaning. First of all I must take you off to Transylvania, my lady. +Meanwhile my master will remain here with the cavasses and their +attendants, who are now in the courtyard. My master will remain with +them and spin out the time till he feels pretty sure that we have got +well beyond the river Sereth in our carriage. Near there is a bridge +over a steep rocky chasm, beneath which the river flows. That bridge we +will break down behind us. The Prince will then bring forth his charger +Gryllus, on whose back he is wont to take such daring leaps, and will +set out in the same direction with the Turkish cavasses. When he +approaches the broken-down bridge, he will put spurs to his steed and +leap across the gap, while the Turks remain behind. And after that God +grant him good counsel!" + +Mariska perceiving there was no time to be lost, hastily collected her +treasures and, assisted by Jova, descended by way of the secret +staircase to the chapel and stood there, for a moment, before the image +of the Blessed Virgin to pray that her husband might succeed in +escaping. Before the chapel door stood a carriage drawn by four muscular +stallions. She got into it quickly, and succeeded in escaping by a +side-gate. + +Meanwhile the Prince, with great self-denial, endeavoured to detain his +unwelcome guests by all manner of pretexts. First of all he almost +compelled them to eat and drink to bursting point, swearing by heaven +and earth that he would never allow such precious guests as they were to +leave his castle with empty stomachs. Then followed a distribution of +gifts. Every individual cavasse got a sword or a beaker and every sword +and every beaker had its own peculiar history. So-and-so had worn it, +So-and-so had drunk out of it. It had been found here and sent there, +and its last owner was such a one, etc., etc. And he artfully +interlarded his speech with such sacred and sublime words as "Allah!" +"Mahomet!" "the Sultan!" at the mention of each one of which the +cavasses felt bound to interrupt him repeatedly with such expressions as +"Blessed be his name!" so that despite the insistence of the Turks, it +was fully an hour before his horse could be brought forward. + +At last, however, Gryllus was brought round to the courtyard. The Prince +now also would have improved the occasion by telling them a nice +interesting tale about this steed of his, but the chief cavasse would +give him no peace. + +"Come! mount your Honour!" said he, "you can tell us the story on the +way." + +The Prince mounted accordingly, and immediately began to complain how +very much all the galloping of the last few days had taken it out of +him, and begged his escort not to hurry on so as he could scarce sit in +his saddle. + +The chief cavasse, taking him at his word, had the Prince's feet tied +fast to his stirrups, so that he might not fall off his horse, +sarcastically adding: + +"If your honour should totter in your saddle, I shall be close beside +you, so that you may lean upon me." + +And indeed the chief cavasse trotted by his side with a drawn sword in +his hand; the rest were a horse's head behind them. + +When they came to the path leading to the bridge the way grew so narrow +because of the rocks on both sides that it was as much as two horsemen +could do to ride abreast. The Prince already caught sight of the bridge, +and though its wooden frame was quite hidden by a projecting tree, a +white handkerchief tied to the tree informed him that his carriage with +his consort inside it had got across and away, and that the supports had +been also cut. + +At this point he made as if he felt faint and turning to the chief +cavasse, said to him, "Come nearer, I want to lean on you!" and upon the +cavasse leaning fatuously towards him he dealt him such a fearful blow +with his clenched fist that the Turk fell right across his horse. And +now: "Onward, my Gryllus!" + +The gallant steed with a bound forward left the escort some distance +behind, and while they dashed after him with a savage howl, he darted +with the fleetness of the wind towards the bridge. + +The Prince sat tied to his horse without either arms or spurs, but the +noble charger, as if he felt that his master's life was now entrusted to +his safe-keeping, galloped forward with ten-fold energy. + +Suddenly it became clear to the pursuers that the beams of the bridge +had been severed and only the balustrade remained. "Stop!" they shouted +in terror to the Prince, at the same time reining in their own horses. +Then Ghyka turned towards them a haughty face, and leaning over his +horse's head, pressed its flanks with his knees, and at the very moment +when he had reached the dizzy chasm he laughed aloud as he raised his +eagle-plumed cap in the air, and shouted to his pursuers: "Follow me, if +you dare!" + +The charger the same instant lowered its head upon its breast, and, with +a well-calculated bound, leaped the empty space between the two sides of +the bridge as lightly as a bird. The Prince as he flew through the air +held his eagle-plumed cap in his hand, while his black locks fluttered +round his bold face. + +The terrified cavasses drew the reins of their horses tightly lest they +should plunge after Gryllus; but one of them, carried away by his +maddened steed, would also have made the bold leap but the fore feet of +the horse barely grazed the opposite bank, and with a mortal yell it +crashed down with its rider among the rocks of the stream below. + +The Prince meanwhile, beneath the very eyes of the cavasses, loosened +the cords from his legs on the opposite shore and also allowed himself +time enough to break down the remaining balustrades of the bridge, one +by one, and pitch them into the river. Then, remounting his steed, he +ambled leisurely off whilst the cavasses gazed after him in helpless +fury. A rapid two hours' gallop enabled him to overtake the carriage of +his wife, who, according to his directions, had hastened without +stopping towards Transylvania with the sole escort of the old horseman. + +On overtaking the carriage he mounted the old man on his own nag, and +sent him on before to Transylvania requesting the Prince to allow him +and his wife to pass through Transylvania to the domains of the Kaiser. +He himself took a seat in the carriage by the side of Mariska, who was +quite rejoiced at her husband's deliverance, and forgot the anxieties +still awaiting her. + +According to the most rigorous calculations their pursuers would either +have to go another way, or they might throw another bridge over the +Sereth; but, in any case they had a day's clear start of them, which +would be quite sufficient to enable them, travelling leisurely, to reach +the borders of Transylvania, where the Seraskier of Moldavia had no +jurisdiction. + +In this hope they presently perceived the mountains of Szeklerland +rising up before them, and the nearer they came to them the more lightly +they felt their hearts beat, regarding the mountain range as a vast city +of refuge stretching out before them. + +They had already struck into that deep-lying road which leads to the +Pass of Porgo, which, after winding along the bare hillside, plunges +like a serpent into the shady flowering valleys beneath, and every now +and then a mountain stream darted along the road beside them; above them +the dangerous road looked like a tiny notch in which a heavy wagon +crawled slowly along, with lofty rocks apparently tottering to their +fall above it in every direction. + +And here galloping straight towards them, was a horseman in whom the +Prince instantly recognised his _avant courier_. + +Old Jova reached them in a state of exhaustion, and Gryllus also seemed +ready to drop. + +"Go no further, sir!" cried the terrified servant, "I have come all the +way without stopping from Szamosujvar where the Prince is staying. I +laid your request before him. 'For God's sake!' cried the Prince, +clasping his hands together, 'don't let your master come here, or he'll +ruin the whole lot of us. Olaj Beg has just come hither with the +Sultan's command that if the Prince of Moldavia comes here he is to be +handed over.'" + +The Prince gazed gloomily in front of him, his lips trembled. Then he +turned his face round and shading his eyes with his hand, gazed away +into the distance. On the same road by which he had come a cloud of dust +could be seen rapidly approaching. + +"Those are our pursuers," he moaned despairingly; "there is nothing for +it but to die." + +"Nay, my master. Over yonder is a mountain path which can only be +traversed on foot. With worthy Szeklers or Wallachs as our guides we may +get all the way to Poland through the mountains. Why not take refuge +there?" + +"And my wife?" asked the Prince, looking round savagely and biting his +lips in his distress; "she cannot accompany me." + +All this time Mariska had remained, benumbed and speechless, gazing at +her husband--her heart, her mind, stood still at these terrible tidings; +but when she heard that her husband could be saved without her, she +plunged out of the carriage and falling at his feet implored him, +sobbing loudly, to fly. + +"Save yourself," she cried; "do not linger here on my account another +instant." + +"And sacrifice you, my consort, to their fury?" + +"They will not hurt me, for they do not pursue an innocent woman. God +will defend me. You go into Transylvania; there live good friends of +mine, whose husbands and fathers are the leading men in the State; there +is the heroic Princess, there is the gentle Beldi with her angel +daughter, there is Teleki's daughter Flora--we swore eternal friendship +together once--they will mediate for us; and then, too, my rich father +will gladly spend his money to spare our blood. And if I must suffer and +even die, it will be for you, my husband. Save yourself! In Heaven's +name I implore you to depart from me." + +Ghyka reflected for a moment. + +"Very well, I will take refuge in order to be able to save you." + +And he pressed the pale face of his wife to his bosom. + +"Make haste," said Mariska, "I also want to hasten. If die I must--I +would prefer to die among Christians, in the sight of my friends and +acquaintances. But you go on in front, for if they were to slay you +before my eyes, it would need no sword to slay me; my heart would break +from sheer despair." + +"Come, sir, come!" said the old courier, seizing the hand of the Prince +and dragging him away by force. + +Mariska got into the carriage again, and told the coachman to drive on +quickly. The Prince allowed himself to be guided by the old courier +along the narrow pass, looking back continually so long as the carriage +was visible, and mournfully pausing whenever he caught sight of it again +from the top of some mountain-ridge. + +"Come on, sir! come on!" the old servant kept insisting; "when we have +reached that mountain summit yonder we shall be able to rest." + +Ghyka stumbled on as heavily as if the mountain was pressing on his +bosom with all its weight. He allowed himself to be led unconsciously +among the steep precipices, clinging on to projecting bushes as he went +along. God guarded him from falling a hundred times. + +After half an hour's hard labour they reached the indicated summit, and +as the courier helped his master up and they looked around them, +Nature's magnificent tableau stood before them; and looking down upon a +vast panorama, they saw the tiny winding road by which his wife had +gone; and, looking still farther on, he perceived that the carriage had +just climbed to the summit of a declivity about half a league off. + +Ah! that sight gave him back his soul. He followed with his eyes the +travelling coach, and as often as the coach ascended a higher hill, it +again appeared in sight, and it seemed to him as if all along he saw +inside it his wife, and his face brightened as he fancied himself +kissing away her tears. + +At that instant a loud uproar smote upon his ears. At the foot of the +steep mountain, on the summit of which his wife had just come into sight +again, he saw a troop of horsemen trotting rapidly along. These were the +pursuers. They seemed scarcely larger than ants. + +Ah! how he would have liked to have trampled those ants to death. + +"You would pursue her, eh? Then I will stop you." + +And with these words seizing a large grey rock from among those which +were heaped upon the summit, he rolled it down the side of the mountain +just as the Turks had reached a narrow defile. + +With a noise like thunder the huge mass of rock plunged its way down the +mountain-side, taking great leaps into the air whenever it encountered +any obstacle. Ah! how the galloping rock plunged among the terrified +horsemen--only a streak of blood remained in its track, horses and +horsemen were equally crushed beneath it. + +With a second, with a third rock also he greeted them. The cavasses, at +their wits' end, fled back, and never stopped till they had clambered up +the opposite ridge; they did not feel safe among the plunging rocks +below and there they could be seen deliberating how it was possible to +reach the road behind their backs. + +Guessing their intention, the Prince sent his servant to fling a rock +down upon them from the hillside beyond, which, as it came clattering +down, made the cavasses believe that their enemies were in force, and +they climbed higher up still. + +"There they will remain till evening," thought the Prince to himself; +"so they will not overtake Mariska after all." + +And so it conveniently turned out. The cavasses, after consulting +together for a long time fruitlessly as to what road they should take to +get out of the dangerous pass, began to yell from their lofty perch at +their invisible foes, threatening them with the highest displeasure of +the Sultan if they did not allow them to pass through in peace; and when +a fresh shower of rocks came down by way of reply, they unsaddled their +horses and allowing them to graze about at will, lit a fire and squatted +down beside it. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, the hunted lady, exchanging her tired horses for four fresh +ones in the first Transylvanian village she came to, pressed onwards +without stopping. Travelling all night she reached Szamosujvar in the +early morning. The Prince was no longer there. He had migrated in hot +haste, they said, before the rising of the sun, to Klausenberg. + +Mariska did not descend from her carriage, but only changed her horses. +Three days and three nights she had already been travelling, without +rest, in sickness and despair. And again she must hasten on farther. It +was evening when they reached Klausenberg. The coachman, when he saw the +towers in the distance, turned round to her with the comforting +assurance that they would now be at Klausenberg very shortly. At these +words the lady begged the coachman not to go so quickly, and when he +lashed up his horses still more vigorously notwithstanding, and cast a +look behind him, she also looked through the window at the back of the +carriage and saw a band of horsemen galloping after them along the road. + +So their pursuers were as near to them behind as Klausenberg was in +front. + +There was not a moment's delay. The coachman whipped up the horses, +their nostrils steamed, foam fell from their lips, they plunged wildly +forward, the pebbles flashed sparks beneath their hoofs, the carriage +swayed to and fro on the uneven road, the persecuted lady huddled +herself into a corner of the carriage, and prayed to God for +deliverance. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OLAJ BEG. + + +The Prince was just then standing in the portico of his palace +conversing with the Princess, whose face bore strong marks of the +sufferings of the last few days. Shortly after the panic of Nagyenyed +she had given birth to a little daughter, and the terror experienced at +the time had had a bad effect on both mother and child. + +Apafi's brow was also clouded. The Prince's heart was sore, and not +merely on his own account. Whenever there was any distress in the +principality he also was distressed, but his own sorrow he had to share +alone. + +For some days he had found no comfort in whatever direction he might +turn. The Turks had made him feel their tyranny everywhere, and the +foreign courts had listened to his tale of distress with selfish +indifference; while the great men of the realm dubbed him a tyrant, the +common folks sung lampoons upon his cowardice beneath his very windows; +and when he took refuge in the bosom of his family he was met by a sick +wife, who had ceased to find any joy in life ever since he had been made +Prince. + +A sick wife is omnipotent as regards her husband. If Anna had insisted +upon _her_ husband's quitting his princely palace, and returning with +her to their quiet country house at Ebesfalu--where there was no kingdom +but the kingdom of Heaven--perhaps he would even have done that for +her. + +As the princely pair stood on the castle battlements, the din of the +town grew deeper, and suddenly the rumble of a carriage, driven at full +tilt, broke upon the dreamy stillness of the castle courtyard, and +dashing into it stopped before the staircase; the door of the coach was +quickly thrown open and out of it rushed a pale woman, who, rallying her +last remaining strength, ran up the staircase and collapsed at the feet +of the Prince as he hastened to meet her, exclaiming as she did so: + +"I am Mariska Sturdza." + +"For the love of God," cried the agitated Prince, "why did you come +here? You have destroyed the state and me; you have brought ruin on +yourself and on us." + +The unfortunate lady was unable to utter another word. Her energy was +exhausted. She lay there on the marble floor, half unconscious. + +The Princess Apafi summoned her ladies-in-waiting, who, at her command, +hastened to raise the lady in their arms and began to sprinkle her face +with eau-de-Cologne. + +"I cannot allow her to be brought into my house," cried the terrified +Apafi; "it would bring utter destruction on me and my family." + +The Princess cast a look full of dignity upon her husband. + +"What do you mean? Would you hand this unfortunate woman over to her +pursuers? In her present condition, too? Suppose _I_ was obliged to fly +in a similar plight, would you fling _me_ out upon the high road instead +of offering me a place of refuge?" + +"But the wrath of the Sultan?" + +"Yes; and the contempt of posterity?" + +"Then would you have me bring ruin upon my throne and my family for the +sake of a woman?" + +"Better perish for the sake of a woman than do that woman to death. If +you shut your rooms against her, I will open mine wide to receive her, +and then you can tell the Sultan if you like that I have taken her." + +Apafi felt that his wife's obstinacy was getting him into a hideous +muddle. This audacious woman would listen to no reasons of state in any +matter which interested her humanity. + +What was he to do? He pitied the persecuted lady from the bottom of his +heart, but the emissary of the Sublime Porte, Olaj Beg, had come to +demand her with plenipotentiary power. If he did _not_ shelter the +persecuted lady he would pronounce himself a coward in the face of the +whole world; if he _did_ shelter her, the Porte would annihilate him! + +In the midst of this dilemma, one of the gate-keepers came in hot haste +to announce that a band of Turkish soldiers was at that moment galloping +along the road, inquiring in a loud voice for the Princess of Wallachia. + +Apafi leant in dumb despair against a marble pillar whilst Anna quickly +ordered her women to carry the unconscious lady to her innermost +apartments and summon the doctor. She then went out on the balcony, and +perceiving that the cavasses had just halted in front of the palace, she +cried to the gate-keepers: + +"Close the gates!" + +Apafi would have very much liked to have countermanded the order; but +while he was still thinking about it, the gates were snapped to under +the very noses of the cavasses. + +They began angrily beating with the shafts of their lances against the +closed gate, whereupon the Princess called down to them from the balcony +with a sonorous, authoritative voice: + +"Ye good-for-nothing rascals, wherefore all that racket? This is not a +barrack, but the residence of the Prince. Perchance ye know it not, +because fresh human heads are wont to be nailed over the gates of your +Princes every day as a mark of recognition? If that is what you are +accustomed to, your error is pardonable." + +The cavasses were considerably startled at these words, and, looking up +at the imperious lady, began to see that she really meant what she said. +For a while they laid their heads together, and then turned round and +departed. + +Apafi sighed deeply. + +"There is some hidden trick in this," said he, "but what it is God only +knows." + +A few moments later a muederris appeared from Olaj Beg at the gate of the +Prince, and, being all alone, was admitted. + +"Olaj Beg greets thee, and thou must come to him quickly," said he. + +Anna had drawn near to greet her guest, but hearing that Olaj Beg +summoned the Prince to appear before him, she approached the messenger, +boiling over with wrath. + +"Whoever heard," she said, "of a servant ordering his master about, or +an ambassador summoning the Prince to whose Court he is accredited?" + +But Apafi could only take refuge in a desperate falsehood. + +"Poor Olaj Beg," he explained, "is very sick and cannot stir from his +bed, and, indeed, he humbly begs me to pay him a visit. There is no +humiliation in this--none at all, if I am graciously pleased to do it. +He is an old man of eighty. I might be his grandson, he is wont to scold +me as if I were his darling; I will certainly go to him, and put this +matter right with him. You go to your sick guest and comfort her. I give +you my word I will do everything to get her set free. For her sake I +will humble myself." + +The Princess Apafi's foresight already suggested to her that this +humiliation would be permanent, but, perceiving that her own strength of +mind was not contagious, she allowed her husband to depart. + +Apafi prepared himself for his visit upon Olaj Beg. With a peculiar +feeling of melancholy he did _not_ put on his princely dolman of green +velvet, but only the _koentoes_ of a simple nobleman, imagining that thus +it would not be the Prince of Transylvania but the squire of Ebesfalu +who was paying a visit on Olaj Beg. He went on foot to the house of Olaj +Beg, accompanied by a single soldier, who had to put on his everyday +clothes. + +The dogs had been let loose in the courtyard, for the Beg was a great +protector of animals, and used to keep open table in front of his +dwelling for the wandering dogs of every town he came to. + +Making his way through them, Apafi had to cross a hall and an +ante-chamber, brimful with praying dervishes, who, squatting down with +legs crossed, were reading aloud from books with large clasps, only so +far paying attention to each other as to see which could yell the +loudest. + +The Prince did not address them, as it was clear that he would get no +answer, but went straight towards the third door. + +The chamber beyond was also full of spiders'-webs and dervishes, but a +red cushion had been placed in the midst of it, and on this cushion sat +a big, pale, grey man in a roomy yellow caftan. He also was holding a +large book in front of him and reading painfully. + +Apafi approached, and even ventured to address him. + +"Merciful Olaj Beg, my gracious master, find a full stop somewhere in +that book of yours, turn down the leaf at the proper spot, put it down, +and listen to me." + +Olaj Beg, on hearing the words of the Prince, put the book aside, and +turning with a sweet and tender smile towards him, remarked with +emotion: + +"The angels of the Prophet bear thee up in all thy ways, my dear child. +Heaven preserve every hair of thy beard, and the Archangel Izrafil go +before thee and sweep every stone from thy path, that thy feet may not +strike against them!" + +With these words the Beg graciously extended his right hand to be +kissed, blinking privily at the Prince; nor would Apafi have minded +kissing it if they had been all alone, but in the presence of so many +dervishes it would have been derogatory to his dignity; so, instead of +doing so, he took the Beg's hand and provisionally placed it in his left +hand and gave it a resounding thump with his right, and then shook it +amicably as became a friend. + +"Don't trouble thyself, my dear son, I will not suffer thee to kiss my +hand," cried Olaj Beg, drawing back his hand and making a show of +opposition so that everyone might fancy that Apafi was angry with him +for not being allowed to kiss it. + +"You have deigned to send for me," said Apafi, taking a step backwards; +"tell me, I pray, what you desire, for my time is short. I am +overwhelmed with affairs of state." + +These last words Apafi pronounced with as majestic an intonation as +possible. + +Olaj Beg thereupon folded his hands together. + +"Oh, my dear son!" said he, "the princely dignity is indeed a heavy +burden. I see that quite well, nor am I in the least surprised that thou +wishest to be relieved of it; but be of good cheer, the blessing of +Heaven will come upon us when we are not praying for it; when thou dost +least expect it the Sublime Sultan will have compassion upon thee, and +will deliver thee of the heavy load which presses upon thy shoulders." + +Apafi wrinkled his brows. The exordium was bad enough; he hastened +towards the end of the business. + +"Perchance, you have heard, gracious Olaj Beg! that the unfortunate +Mariska Sturdza has taken refuge with us." + +"It matters not," signified the Beg, with a reassuring wave of the hand. + +"She took refuge in my palace without my knowledge," observed Apafi +apologetically, "and what could I do when she was all alone? I couldn't +turn her out of my house." + +"There was no necessity. Thou didst as it became a merciful man to do." + +"If you had seen her you would yourself have felt sorry for her--sick, +half-dead, desperate, she flung herself at my feet, imploring +compassion, and before I could reply to her she had fainted away. +Perhaps even now she is dead." + +"Oh, poor child!" cried Olaj Beg, folding both his hands and raising his +eyes to Heaven. + +"Her husband had left her in great misery, and alone she plunged into +jeopardy," continued Apafi, trying to justify the persecuted woman in +every possible manner. + +"Oh, poor, unhappy child!" cried Olaj Beg, shaking his head. + +"And more than that," sighed Apafi, "the poor woman is big with child." + +"What dost thou say?" + +"Yes, sir, and flying day and night in all sorts of weathers from her +pursuers in such a condition, you can imagine her wretched condition; +she was scarce alive, she was on the very threshold of death." + +"Allah be gracious to her and extend over her the wings of his mercy!" + +Apafi began to think that he had found Olaj Beg in a charitable humour. + +"I knew that you would not be angry about her." + +"I am not angry, my son, I am not angry. My eyes overflow at her sad +fate." + +"She, you know, had no share in her husband's faults." + +"Far from it." + +"And it would not be right that an innocent woman should atone for what +her husband has committed." + +"Certainly not." + +"Then do you think, my lord, that the Sublime Sultan will be merciful to +this woman?" + +"What a question! Have no fear for her!" + +Apafi was not so simple as not to be struck by this exaggerated +indulgence, the more satisfactory were the Beg's replies the keener grew +his feeling of anxiety. At last, much perturbed, he ventured to put this +question: + +"Gracious Beg! will you allow this unfortunate woman to rest in peace at +my house, and can you assure me that the Sublime Sultan will espouse her +cause?" + +"The Holy Book says: 'Be merciful to them that suffer and compassionate +them that weep.' Therefore, behold I grant thee thy desire: let this +poor innocent woman repose in thy house in peace, let her rest +thoroughly from her sufferings and let her enjoy the blessedness of +peace till such time as I must take her from thee by the command of the +Grand Seignior." + +Apafi felt his brain reel, so marvellous, so terrible was this +graciousness of the Turk towards him. + +"And when think you you will require this woman to be handed over?" + +Olaj Beg, with a reassuring look, tapped Apafi on the shoulder, and said +with a voice full of unction: + +"Fret not thyself, my dear son! In no case will it be earlier than +to-morrow morning." + +Apafi almost collapsed in his fright. + +"To-morrow morning, do you say, my lord?" + +"I promise thee she shall not be disturbed before." + +Apafi perceived that the man had been making sport with him all along. +Rage began to seethe in his heart. + +"But, my lord, I said nothing about one day. One day is the period +allowed to condemned criminals." + +"Days and seasons come from Allah, and none may divide them." + +"Damn you soft sawder!" murmured Apafi between his teeth. "My lord," he +resumed, "would you carry away with you a sick woman whom only the most +tender care can bring back from the shores of Death, and who, if she +were now to set out for Buda, would never reach it, for she would die on +the way?" + +Olaj Beg piously raised his hands to Heaven. + +"Life and death are inscribed above in the Book of Thora, and if it +there be written in letters embellished with roses and tulips that +Mariska Sturdza must die to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow, die she +will most certainly, though she lay upon musk and were anointed with the +balm of life, and neither the prayers of the saints nor the lore of the +Sages could save her--but if it be written that she is to live, then let +the Angels of Death come against her with every manner of weapon and +they shall not harm her." + +Apafi saw that he would have to speak very plainly to this crafty old +man. + +"Worthy Olaj Beg! you know that this realm has a constitution which +enjoins that the Prince himself must not issue ordinances in the more +weighty matters without consulting his counsellors. Now, the present +case seems to me to be so important that I cannot inform you of my +resolution till I have communicated it to my council." + +"It is well, my dear son, I have no objection. Speak with those servants +of thine whom thou hast made thy masters; sit in thy council chamber and +let the matter be well considered as it deserves to be; and if +thereafter ye decide that the Princess shall accompany me, I will take +her away and take leave of thee with great honour; but if it should so +fall out that ye do not give her up to me, my dear son, or should allow +her to escape from me--then will I take thee instead of her, together +with thy brave counsellors, my sweet son." + +The Beg said these words in the sweetest, tenderest voice, as old +grandfathers are wont to address their grandchildren, and descending +from his pillows he stroked the Prince's face with both his hands, and +kissed him on the temples with great good will, quite covering his head +with his long white beard. + +Apafi felt as if the whole room were dancing around him. He did not +speak a word, but turned on his axis and went right out. He himself did +not know how he got through the first door, but by the time he had shut +the second door behind him he bethought him that he was still the Prince +of Transylvania, and by descent one of the first noblemen of the land, +whereas Olaj Beg was only a nasty, dirty Turkish captain, who had been a +camel-driver in the days of his youth, and yet had dared to speak to +him, the Prince, like that! By the time he had reached the third door he +had reflected that in the days when he was nothing but the joint-tenant +of Ebesfalu, if Olaj Beg had dared to treat him so shamefully, he would +have broken his bald head for him with a stout truncheon. But had he not +just such a stout truncheon actually hanging by his side? Yes, he had! +and he would go back and strike Olaj Beg with it, not exactly on the +head perhaps, but, at any rate, on the back that he might remember for +the rest of his life the _stylus curialis_ of Transylvania. + +And with that he turned back from the third door with very grave +resolves. + +But when he had re-opened the second door he bethought him once more +that such violence might be of great prejudice to the realm, and +besides, there was not very much glory after all in striking an old man +of eighty. But at any rate he would tell him like a man what it had not +occurred to him to say in the first moment of his surprise. + +So when he had opened the first door and was in the presence of Olaj +Beg, he stood there on the threshold with the door ajar, and said to him +in a voice of thunder: + +"Hearken, Olaj Beg! I have come back simply to tell you----" + +Olaj Beg looked at him. + +"What dost thou say, my good son?" + +"This," continued Apafi in a very much lower key, "that it will take +time to summon the council, for Beldi lives at Bodola, Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, Csaky at Deva, and until they come together you can do what +you think best: you may remain here or go"--and with that he turned +back, and only when he had slammed to the door he added--"to hell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE WOMEN'S DEFENCE. + + +This incident was the occasion of great affliction to the Estates of +Transylvania. The counsellors assembled at the appointed time at the +residence of the Prince, who at that moment would have felt happier as a +Tartar captive than as the ruler of Transylvania. + +On the day of the session everyone appeared in the council chamber with +as gloomy a countenance as if he were about to pronounce his own +death-warrant. + +They took their places in silence, and everyone took great care that his +sword should not rattle. There were present: old John and young Michael +Bethlen, Paul Beldi, Caspar Kornis, Ladislaus Csaky, Joshua Kapi, and +the protonotarius, Francis Sarpataky. For the Prince, there had just +been prepared a new canopied throne, with three steps; it was the first +time he had sat on it. Beside it was an empty arm-chair, reserved for +Michael Teleki. + +As soon as the guard of the chamber announced that the counsellors had +assembled, the Prince at once appeared, accompanied by Michael Teleki +and Stephen Nalaczi. + +It could be seen from the Prince's face that for at least two hours +Teleki had been filling his head with talk. Nalaczi greeted everyone +present with a courtly smile, but nobody smiled back at him. Teleki, +with cold gravity, led the Prince to the throne. The latter on first +looking up at the throne, stood before it as if thunderstruck, and +seemed to be deliberating for a moment whether it ought not to be taken +away and a simple chair put in its place. But after thinking it well out +he mounted the steps, and, sighing deeply, took his seat upon it. + +Michael Teleki stood silent in his place for some time, as if he was +collecting his thoughts. His eyes did not travel along the faces of +those present as they generally did to watch the effect of his words, +but were fixed on the clasp of his kalpag, and his voice was much duller +than at other times, often sinking to tremulous depths, except when he +pulled himself together and tried to give it a firmer tone. + +"Your Highness, your Excellencies,--God has reserved peculiar trials for +our unfortunate nation. One danger has scarce passed over us when we +plump into another; when we try to avoid the lesser perils, we find the +greater ones directly in our path, and we end in sorrow what we began in +joy. Scarcely have we got over the tidings of the battle of St. Gothard +(we had our own melancholy reasons for not participating therein), and +the consequent annihilation of the far-reaching designs of the Turkish +Empire, by the peace contracted between the two great Powers, amidst +whose quarrels our unhappy country is buffeted about as if between +hammer and anvil, when we have a fresh and still greater occasion for +apprehension. For the generals of the Turkish Sultan impute the loss of +the battle to the premature flight of Prince Ghyka, and at the same time +hold us partly responsible for it--and certainly, had our soldiers stood +in the place of the Wallachian warriors, although they would not have +liked fighting their fellow-Magyars, nevertheless, if once they had been +in for it, they would not have ran away and so the battle would not have +been lost--wherefore the wrath of the Sublime Sultan was so greatly +kindled against both the neighbouring nations, that he sent his cavasses +to seize the Prince of Moldavia and carry him in chains to Stambul with +his whole family. As for Transylvania, but for the mercy of God and the +goodwill of certain Turkish statesmen, we might have seen it suddenly +converted into a sandjak or province, and a fez-wearing Pasha on the +throne of his Highness. Now it has so happened that the Prince of +Moldavia, wresting himself and his wife out of the hands of their +pursuers, took the shortest road to Transylvania. We sent a message to +them that on no account were they to try to come here, as their flight +would cost us more than a Tartar invasion. The Prince, therefore, took +refuge in the mountains, but let his wife continue her journey, and, in +an evil hour for us and herself, she arrived here a few days ago with +the knowledge and under the very eyes of the Sultan's plenipotentiary. +The husband having escaped, the whole wrath of the Sultan is turned upon +the wife and upon us also if we try to defend her. What, then, are we to +do? If we had to choose between shame and death, I should know what to +say; but here our choice is only between two kinds of shame: either to +hand over an innocent, tender woman, who has appealed to us for +protection, or see a Turkish Pasha sitting on the throne of the Prince!" + +"But there's a third course, surely," said Beldi, "by way of petition?" + +"I might indeed make the request," interrupted Apafi, "but I know very +well what answer I should get." + +"I do not mean petitioning the envoy," returned Beldi. "Who would +humiliate himself by petitioning the servant when he could appeal to the +master?" + +At this Apafi grew dumb; he could not bring forward the fact that he had +already petitioned the servant. + +"I believe that Beldi is right," said young Michael Bethlen, "and that +is the only course we can take. I am well acquainted with the mood of an +eastern Despot when he gets angry, and I know that at such times it is +nothing unusual for him to level towns to the ground and decapitate +viceroys; but fortunately for Transylvania it is situated in Europe, +where one state has some regard for another, and it is the interest of +all the European kingdoms to maintain a free state between themselves +and the Ottoman Empire, even if it be only a small one like +Transylvania. And it seems to me that if our petition be supported at +Stambul by the French, Austrian, and Polish ambassadors, there will be +no reason for the Sultan, especially after such a defeat as the last +one, to send a Pasha to Transylvania. And, finally, if we show him that +our swords have not rusted in their scabbards, and that we know how to +draw them on occasion, he will not be disposed to do so." + +The youth's enthusiastic speech began to pour fresh confidence into the +souls of those who heard him, and their very faces appeared to brighten +because of it. + +Teleki shook his head slowly. + +"I tell your Excellencies it will be a serious business," said he. "I am +obliged to arouse you from an agreeable dream by confronting you with a +rigorous fact. Europe has not the smallest care for our existence; we +only find allies when they have need of our sacrifices; let us begin to +petition, and they know us no more. It is true that at one time I said +something very different, but time is such a good master that it teaches +a man more in one day than if he had gone through nine schools. In +consequence of the battle of St. Gothard, peace has been concluded +between the two Emperors. I have read every article of it, every point, +and we are left out of it altogether, as if we were a nation quite +unworthy of consideration. Yet the French, the English, and the Polish +ministers were there, and I can say that not one of them received so +much pay from his own court as he received from us. If they want war, +oh! then we are a great and glorious nation; but when peace is concluded +they do not even know that we are there. In war we may lead the van, but +in the distribution of rewards we are left far behind. And now the +Pasha of Buda, who is bent upon our destruction and would like to set a +pasha over Transylvania, after the last defeat, has sent down Yffim Beg +to us to go from village to village demanding why the arrears of taxes +have not been paid, and then he is coming to the Prince to ask the cause +of the remissness and threaten him with the vengeance of the Pasha of +Buda." + +There was a general murmur of indignation. + +"Ah, gentlemen, let us confess to each other that we play at being +masters in our own home, but in fact we are masters there no longer. We +may trust to our efforts and rely upon our rights, but we have none to +help us; we have no allies either on the right hand or on the left; we +have only our masters. We may change our masters, but we shall never win +confederates. The Power which stands above us is only awaiting an +opportunity to carry out its designs upon us, and no one could render it +a better service in Transylvania than by raising his head against it. We +have all of us a great obligation laid upon us: to recognise the little +we possess, take care to preserve it, and, if the occasion arise, insist +upon it. It is true that while the sword is in our hands we may defend +all Europe with it; but let our sword once be broken and our whole realm +falls to pieces and the heathen will trample upon us in the sight of all +the nations. We shall bleed for a half-century or so, and nobody will +come to our assistance; the gates of our realm will be guarded by our +enemies; and, like the scorpion in a fiery circle, we shall only turn +the bitterness of our hearts against ourselves. Do you want reasons, +then, why we should not defend those hunted creatures who seek a refuge +with us? The World and Fate have settled their accounts with us; this +realm is left entirely to its own devices. Matters standing thus, if we +refuse to deliver up to Olaj Beg the above-mentioned Princess of +Moldavia, the armies of the Pashas of Buda and Grosswardein will +instantly receive orders to reduce Transylvania to the rank of a vassal +state of the Porte. There is no room here for regret or humanity, +self-preservation is our one remaining duty and the duty of +self-preservation demands that where we have no choice, we should do +voluntarily what we may be forced to do." + +Teleki had scarce finished these words than an attendant announced that +the Princess of Moldavia requested admittance into the council chamber. + +Apafi would have replied in the negative, but Teleki signified that she +might as well come in. + +A few moments later the attendant again appeared and requested +permission for the ladies of the Princess's suite to accompany their +mistress, as she was too weak to walk alone. + +Teleki consented to that also. + +The counsellors cast down their eyes when the door opened. But there is +a sort of spell which forces a man to look in the very direction in +which he would not, in which he fears to look, and lo and behold! when +the door opened and the hunted woman entered with her suite, a cry of +astonishment resounded from every lip. For of what did the woman's suite +consist? It consisted of the most eminent ladies of Transylvania. The +wives and daughters of all the counsellors present accompanied the +unfortunate lady, foremost among them being the Princess and Dame +Michael Teleki, on whose shoulders she leaned; and last of all came old +Dame Bethlen, with dove-white hair. All the most respectable matrons, +the loveliest wives, and fairest maidens of the realm were there. + +The unfortunate Princess, whose pale face was full of suffering, +advanced on the arms of her supporters towards the throne of the Prince. +Her knees tottered beneath her, her whole body trembled like a leaf, she +opened her lips, but no sound proceeded from them. + +"Courage, my child," whispered Anna Bornemissza, pressing her hand; +whereupon the tears suddenly burst from the eyes of the unfortunate +woman, and, breaking from her escort, she flung herself at the feet of +the Prince, embracing his knees with her convulsive arms, and raising +towards him her tear-stained face, exclaimed with a heart-rending voice: +"Mercy! ... Mercy!" + +A cold dumbness sat on every lip; it was impossible for a time to hear +anything but the woman's deep sobbing. The Prince sat like a statue on +his throne, the steps of which Mariska Sturdza moistened with her tears. +The silence was painful to everyone, yet nobody dared to break it. + +Teleki smoothed away his forelock from his broad forehead, but he could +not smooth away the wrinkles which had settled there. He regretted that +he had given occasion to this scene. + +"Mercy!" sobbed the poor woman once more, and half unconsciously her +hand slipped from Apafi's knees. Aranka Beldi rushed towards her and +rested her declining head on her own pretty childlike bosom. + +Then Anna Bornemissza stepped forward, and after throwing a stony glance +upon all the counsellors present, who cast down their eyes before her, +looked Apafi straight in the face with her own bright, penetrating, +soul-searching eyes, till her astonished husband was constrained to +return her glance almost without knowing it. + +"My petition is a brief one," said Dame Apafi in a low, deep, though +perfectly audible voice. "An unfortunate woman, whom the Lord of Destiny +did not deem to be sufficiently chastened by a single blow, has lost in +one day her husband, her home, and her property; she implores us now for +bare life. You see her lying in the dust asking of you nothing more than +leave to rest--a petition which Dzengis Khan's executioners would have +granted her. That is all she asks, but we demand more. The destiny of +Transylvania is in your hands, but its honour is ours also; ye are +summoned to decide whether our children are to be happy or miserable. +But speak freely to us and say if you wish them to be honourable men or +cowards. And I ask you which of us women would care to bear the name of +a Kornis, a Csaky, or an Apafi, if posterity shall say of the bearers of +these names that they surrendered an innocent woman to her heathen +pursuers and constrained their own sons thereby to renounce the names of +their fathers? Look not so darkly upon me, Master Michael Teleki, for my +soul is dark enough without that. An unhappy woman is on her knees +before you, hoping that she will find you to be men. The women of +Transylvania stand before you, hoping to find you patriots. We beg you +to have compassion for the sake of the honour of our children." + +Teleki, upon whom the eyes of the Princess had flashed fiercely during +the speech, as if accepting the challenge, answered in a cold, stony +voice: + +"Here, madam, we dispense justice only, not mercy or honour." + +"Justice!" exclaimed Anna. "What! If a husband has offended, is his +innocent wife, whose only fault is that she loves the fugitive, is she, +I say, to suffer punishment in his stead? Where is the justice of that?" + +"Justice is often another name for necessity." + +"Then who are all ye whom I see here? Are ye the chief men of +Transylvania or Turkish slaves? This is what I ask, and what we should +all of us very much like to know: is this the council chamber of the +free and constitutional state of Transylvania, or is it the ante-chamber +of Olaj Beg?" + +The gentlemen present preserved a deep silence. This was a question to +which they could not give a direct answer. + +"I demand an answer to my question," cried Dame Apafi in a loud voice. + +"And what good will the answer do you, my lady?" inquired Teleki, +pressing his index-finger to his lips. + +"I shall at any rate know whether the place in which we now stand is +worthy of us." + +"It is not worthy, my lady. The present is no time for the Magyars to be +proud that they dwell in Transylvania; we are ashamed to be the +responsible ministers of a down-trodden, deserted, and captive nation. +This your Highness ought to know as well as any of us, for it was a +Turkish Pasha who placed your husband on the Prince's seat. And, +assuredly, it would be a far less grief to us to lose our heads than to +bend them humbly beneath the derisive honour of being the leaders of a +people lying among ruins. But, at the most, history will only be able to +say of us that we humbly bowed before necessity, that we bore the yoke +of the stranger without dignity, that running counter to the feelings of +our hearts and the persuasions of our minds, we covered our faces with +shame, and yet that that very shame and dishonour saved the life of +Transylvania, and that poor spot of earth which remained in our hands +saved the whole country from a bloody persecution. We are the victims of +the times, madam; help us to conceal the blush of shame and share it +with us. There, you have the answer to your question." + +Dame Apafi grew as pale as death, her head drooped, and she clasped her +hands together. + +"So we have come to this at last? Formerly valour was the national +virtue, now it is cowardice. What is our own fate likely to be if we +reject this poor woman? What has happened to-day to a Princess Ghyka +might easily happen to the wives of Kornis and Csaky and Beldi +to-morrow. For their husbands' faults they may be carried away captive, +brought to the block, if only God does not have mercy upon them, for you +yourselves say that this would be right. Why do you look at us? You, +Beldi, Kornis, Teleki, Csaky, Bethlen, here stand your wives and +daughters. Draw forth your coward swords, and if you dare not slay men, +at least slay women; kill them before it occurs to the Turkish Padishah +to drag them by the hair into his harem." + +As Dame Apafi mentioned the names of the men one after another, their +wives and daughters, loudly weeping, rushed towards them, and hiding +their heads in their bosoms, with passionate sobs, begged for the +unfortunate Princess, and behold the eyes of the men also filled with +tears, and nothing could be heard in the room but the sobbing of the +husbands mingled with the sobbing of their wives. + +On Teleki's breast also hung the gentle Judith Veer and his own daughter +Flora, and the great stony-hearted counsellor stood trembling between +them; and although his cast-iron features assumed with an effort a +rigorous expression, nevertheless a couple of unrestrainable tears +suddenly trickled down the furrows of his face. + +The Prince turned aside on his throne, and covering his face, murmured: +"No more, Anna! No more!" + +"Oh, Apafi!" cried the Princess bitterly; "if perish I must it shall not +be by your hand. Anna Bornemissza has strength enough to meet death if +there be no choice between that and shame. Be content, if Olaj Beg +demands my death, I shall at least be spared the unpleasantness of +falling at your feet in supplication. And now, pronounce your decision, +but remember that every word you say will resound throughout the +Christian world." + +Teleki dried the tears from his face, made his wife and daughter +withdraw, and said in a voice tremulous with emotion: + +"In vain should I deny it, my tears reveal that I have a feeling heart. +I am a man, I am a father, and a husband. If I were nothing but Michael +Teleki, I should know how to sacrifice myself on behalf of persecuted +innocence; and if my colleagues around me were only companions-in-arms, +I should say to them, gird on your swords, lie in wait, rush upon the +Turkish escort of the Princess, and deliver her out of their hands--if +we perish, a blessing will be upon us. But in this place, in these +chairs, it is not ourselves who feel and speak. The life, the death of +all Transylvania depends upon us. And my last word is that we +incontinently deliver up Mariska Sturdza to the ambassador of the Porte. +If my colleagues decide otherwise, I will agree to it, I will take my +share of the responsibility, but I shall have saved my soul anyhow. +Speak, gentlemen, and if you like, vote against me." + +The silence of death ensued, nobody spoke a word. + +"What, nobody speaks?" cried Dame Apafi in amazement. "Nobody! Ah! let +us leave this place! There is not a man in the whole principality." + +And with these words the lady withdrew from the council chamber. Her +attendants followed her sorrowfully, one by one, tearfully bidding adieu +to the unfortunate Princess. Aranka Beldi was the last to part from her. +During the whole of this mournful scene her eyes had remained tearless, +but she had knelt down the whole time by Mariska's side, holding her +closely embraced, and assuring her that God would deliver her, she must +fear nothing. + +When all the ladies had withdrawn, and Dame Beldi beckoned her daughter +to follow her, she tenderly kissed the face of her friend and whispered +in her ear: "I have still hope, fear not, we will save you!" and smiling +at her with her bright blue eyes like an angel of consolation, got up +and withdrew. + +The Princess, tearless, speechless, then allowed herself to be conducted +away by the officers of the council chamber. + +The men remained sitting upon their chairs, downcast and sorrowful. +Every bosom was oppressed, and every heart was empty, and the thought of +their delivered fatherland was a cold consolation for the grief they +felt that the Government of Transylvania should fling an innocent woman +back into the throat of the monster which was pursuing her. + +The silence still continued when, suddenly, the door was violently burst +open, and shoving aside the guards right and left, Yffim Beg entered +the room. He had been sent by Hassan Pasha to levy contributions on the +Prince and the people. + +The rough Turkish captain looked round with boorish pride upon the +silent gentlemen, who were still depressed by the preceding incident, +and perceiving that here he had to do with the humble, without so much +as bowing, he strode straight up to the Prince, and placing one foot on +the footstool before the throne, and throwing his head haughtily back, +flung these words at him: + +"In the name of my master, the mighty Hassan Pasha, I put this question +to thee, thou Prince of the Giaurs, why hast thou kept back for so long +the tribute which is due to the Porte? Who hath caused the delay--thou, +or the farmers of the taxes, or the tax-paying people? Answer me +directly, and take care that thou liest not!" + +The Prince looked around with wrinkled brows as if looking for something +to fling at the head of the fellow. He regretted that the inkstand was +so far off. + +But Teleki handed a sheet of parchment to Sarpataky, the clerk of the +council. + +"Read our answer to the Pasha's letter," said he; "as for you--sir I +will not call you--listen to what is written therein. 'Beneficent Hassan +Pasha, we greatly regret that you bother yourself about things which are +already settled. We do not ask you why you came so late to the battle of +St. Gothard. Why do you ask us, then, why we are so late with the taxes? +We will answer for ourselves at the proper time and place. Till then, +Heaven bless you, and grant that misfortune overwhelm you not just when +you would ruin others.' When you have written all that down, hand it to +his Highness the Prince for signature." + +The gentlemen present had fallen from one surprise into another. Michael +Teleki, who a moment before, against the inclinations of his own heart +and mind, had tried to compel the land to submit to the demand of Olaj +Beg, could in the next moment send such a message to the powerful Vizier +of Buda. + +But Teleki knew very well that the storm which was passing over the +country on account of the Princess of Moldavia was sure to rebound on +the head of the Vizier of Buda. The Sultan was seeking for an object on +which to wreak his wrath because of the lost battle, and if the Pasha of +Buda did not succeed in making the Government of Transylvania the +victim, he would fall a victim himself. + +As for Yffim Beg, he did not quite know whether a thunder-bolt had +plunged down close beside him, or whether he was dreaming. There he +stood like a statue, unable to utter a word, and only looked on stupidly +while the letter was being written before his very eyes, while Apafi's +pen scraped the parchment as he subscribed his signature, while they +poured the sand over it, folded it up, impressed it with an enormous +seal, and thrust it into his palm. + +Only then did he emerge somewhat from his stupor. + +"Do ye think I am mad enough to carry this letter back with me to Buda?" + +And with these words he seized the letter at both ends, tore it in two, +and flung it beneath the table. + +"Write another!" said he, "write it nicely, for my master, the mighty +Hassan Pasha, will strangle the whole lot of you." + +Teleki turned coldly towards him. + +"If you don't like the letter, worthy muederris, you may go back without +any letter at all." + +"I am no muederris, but Yffim Beg. I would have thee know that, thou dog; +and I won't go without a letter, and I won't let you all go till ye have +written another." + +And with these words he sat down on the steps of the Prince's throne and +crossed his legs, so that two were sitting on the throne at the same +time, the Beg and Apafi. + +"Guards!" cried Apafi in a commanding voice, "seize this shameless +fellow, tie him on to a horse's back and drive him out of the town." + +They needed not another word. One of the guards immediately rushed +forward to where Yffim Beg was still sitting on a footstool with legs +crossed, and took him under the arm, while another of them grasped him +firmly by the collar, and raising him thus in the air, kicking and +struggling, carried him out of the room in a moment. The Beg struck, +bit, and scratched, but it was all of no avail. The merciless drabants +set him on the back of a horse in the courtyard, without a saddle, tied +his feet together beneath the horse's belly, placed the bridle of the +steed in the hands of a stable-boy, while another stable-boy stood +behind with a good stout whip; and so liberally did they interpret the +commands of the chief counsellor, that they escorted the worthy +gentleman, not only out of the town, but beyond the borders of the +realm. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A FIGHT FOR HIS OWN HEAD. + + +At Buda, while Hassan Pasha was fighting with the army of the German +Emperor, Yffim Beg was preparing the triumphal arches through which the +victors were to pass on their return, adorning them with green branches +and precious carpets, and leaving room for the standards to be captured +from the Germans and Hungarians. The bridge was also repaired and +strengthened to support the weight of the heavy gun-carriages and cannon +which Montecuculi was to have abandoned, and at the same time a large +space on the Rakas was railed in where all the slaves of all the +nations, including women and children, were to be impounded. + +And after all these amiable preparations the terrible message reached +the worthy Yffim Beg from Hassan Pasha that he was to place all his +movable chattels, gold and silver, on a fugitive footing, barricade the +fortress, cut away the bridge so that the enemy might not be able to +cross it, and follow him with the whole harem, beyond the Raab, for who +could tell whether they would ever see the fortress of Buda again. + +Yffim Beg was not particularly pleased with this message, but without +taking long to think about it, he put the damsels of the harem into +carriages, sent them off along the covered way adjoining the water-gate, +in order to make as little disturbance as possible, and, as soon as they +were on the other side of the bridge, ordered it to be destroyed and the +garrison of the fortress to defend themselves as best they could. + +He reached the Turkish army to find the opposing hosts drawn up against +each other on different sides of the river, across which they bombarded +each other from time to time, without doing much damage. + +The Pasha's pavilion was well in the rear, out of cannon-shot; he was +delighted when he saw Yffim Beg, and could not take his fill of kissing +Azrael, who was lovelier and more gracious than ever. + +"Remain here," he said to his favourites, embracing the pair of them. "I +must retire now to the interior of my pavilion to pray for an hour or so +with the dervishes, for a great and grievous duty will devolve upon me +in an hour's time--two great Turkish nobles, Kucsuk Pasha and his son, +are to be condemned to death." + +Azrael started as violently as if a serpent had crept into her bosom. + +"How have they offended?" she asked, scarce able to conceal her +agitation. + +"Against the precepts of the Prophet they engaged in battle on a day of +ill-omen; they have cast dirt on the victorious half-moon, and must wash +off the stain with their blood." + +Hassan withdrew; Azrael remained alone in the tent with the Beg. + +"I saw thee shudder," said Yffim, fixing his sharp eyes on the face of +Azrael. + +"Death chooses the thirteenth; he leaped past me at this very moment." + +"And on whom has the fatal thirteen fallen?" + +"On someone who stands beside me or behind me." + +"Behind thee in the tent outside is Feriz Beg." + +"But thou art beside me." + +"I am too young to die yet." + +"And is not he also?" + +"He of whom Hassan saith: 'He hath sinned!' becomes old and withered on +the spot." + +"And hast thou done nothing for which thou shouldst die?" + +"My beard will grow white because of my loyalty; life is long in the +shadow of Hassan." + +"But how long will Hassan have a shadow?" + +"Till his night cometh--but that is still far off." + +"Hast thou not heard of the case of Ajas Pasha, Yffim?--of Ajas, who was +the mightiest of all the Pashas?" + +"He was the Sultan's son-in-law." + +"The Grand Seignior gave him his own daughter to wife, and loaded him +with every favour. One day Ajas lost a battle against the Zrinyis. It +was not a great defeat, but the Sultan was wrath and beheaded Ajas +Pasha." + +"H'm! I recollect, it was a sad story." + +"And dost thou remember the story of the faithful Hiassar? Ajas charged +him to bring to him before his death his favourite wife, not his whole +harem which thou hast brought to Hassan Pasha, but only his favourite +wife, that he might take leave of her; and dost thou know that for doing +this thing the Sultan had Hiassar roasted to death in a copper ox? For a +disgraced favourite possesses nothing--all he had is the Sultan's, his +treasures, his wives and his children; and whoever lays his hand upon +them is robbing the Sultan. Who knows, Yffim Beg, but what at this +moment I may not be the Sultan's slave-girl? and from slave-girl to +favourite is but a step, and thou knowest it would be but a short step +for me." + +"What accursed things thou art saying." + +"The wife of Ajas Beg was the Sultan's favourite at the time when +Hiassar was burnt, and a word from her would have saved him. But she +said it not, because she was wrath with him; methinks the woman loved +him once, and the slave despised her love. Give me my mandoline, Yffim, +I would sing a song." + +The odalisk lay back upon the bed, while Yffim anxiously paced to and +fro like a hyena fallen into a snare. The story just related had a +striking resemblance to his own, and it would not take very much to give +it a similar termination. + +Suddenly he stood before the damsel, who nonchalantly strummed the +strings of her instrument. + +"What dost thou want?" + +"Ask not what thou knowest." + +"Thou wouldst save Feriz?" + +"I will save him." + +"I swear by Allah it is not to be done. Die he must, if only to tame +thee; for if he remain alive thou wilt destroy the lot of us sooner or +later." + +Azrael collapsed at the feet of the Beg. Sobbing, she embraced his +knees. + +"Oh, be merciful! Say but a word for him to the general. I love the +youth as thou canst see and dost very well know. Do not let him perish!" + +Like all little souls, Yffim Beg became all the bolder at these +supplicating words, and seizing Azrael by the arms, roughly pulled her +to her feet, and whispered in her ear with malicious joy: + +"I'll make thee a present of his head." + +At these words the woman raised her head, her eyes like those of a +furious she-wolf seemed to glow with green fire, her tresses curled like +serpents round her bosom. She said not a word, but her tightly clenched +teeth kept back a whole hell of dumb fury. + +At that moment the Vizier returned. + +Azrael at once put on a smile. Hassan could not see what was seething in +her heart. + +Yffim approached the Pasha confidentially. + +"Does the Sultan know of thy disaster?" + +"He has heard it since." + +"It would be as well to send me with gifts to the Porte." + +"Ask not that honour for thyself, Yffim; learn, rather, that whomsoever +I send to Stambul now is as good as sent to Paradise. The Sultan's wrath +is kindled, and he can only quench it with blood." + +All the blood quitted Yffim's own face. + +"Then thou hast thy fears, my master?" + +"His rage demands blood, and the blood of a great man, too. Which of us? +That is all one, but a great man must die. If I cannot sacrifice someone +in my place I shall perish myself, but there are men of equal value to +myself from whom I can choose. There are two especially--Kucsuk and his +son. They began the battle; if they had not begun it, there would have +been no battle; and if there had been no battle, there would have been +no disaster. They are Death's sons already. The third is the Prince of +Moldavia. He was the first to fly from the fight; he had a secret +understanding with the Christians. He is a son of Death also. I can +throw in the Prince of Transylvania also, because he kept away from the +battle altogether and was late with his tribute. Had he sent it sooner, +we should have had money; and if we had had money, we should have been +able to have bought hay; and if we had had hay the soldiers would not +have hastened on the battle and so lost it. He also is a son of Death, +therefore. Go thou into Transylvania and bring him hither to me." + +Azrael listened to all this with great attention. Yffim Beg regarded her +with a radiant countenance, as much as to say: "You see our heads won't +ache yet!" + +The odalisk, however, trembled no longer; she pressed her lips tightly +together, and as if she was quite certain of what she was about to do, +she pressed her sweetly smiling face close to that of the Vizier, and +hanging on his arms, whispered to him: + +"O Hassan, how my soul would rejoice if I could see flow the blood of +thine enemies." + +Hassan sat the damsel on his knees, and his lips sported with her +twining tresses. + +Yffim Beg was in such a mighty good humour at being commissioned by +Hassan to go as ambassador to the Prince of Transylvania, and so blindly +exalted by such a mark of confidence, that he fancied he could well +afford to torment Azrael a little. + +"Whilst thou wert away, my master," said he, "thy damsel implored me to +grant her a favour, which I dare not do without first asking thy +permission." + +Azrael regarded the smiling Beg with sparkling eyes, anxiously awaiting +what he would be bold enough to betray. + +"What was it?--speak, Yffim Beg," remarked Hassan wildly. + +"Thou and the other Pashas are about to condemn a youth to death--young +Feriz Beg, I mean." + +"Well?" said Hassan frowning, while the odalisk whom he held embraced +trembled all over. + +"Azrael would like to see the young man die." + +The girl grew pale at these words; her heart for a moment ceased to +beat, and then began fiercely to throb again. + +"A foolish wish," said Hassan; "but if thou desire it, be it so! Be +present at the meeting of the Pashas, stand behind the curtains by my +side, and thou shalt hear and see everything." + +Azrael imprinted a long and burning kiss on Hassan's forehead with a +face full of death, and stood behind the curtain holding the folds +together with her hands. + +"If thou shouldst faint," whispered Yffim Beg sarcastically, "thou shalt +have a vessel of musk from me." + +Azrael laughed so loudly that Yffim fancied she must have gone mad. + +"And now call the Pashas and draw the curtain of the tent," commanded +Hassan. + +At the invitation of Yffim all the officers of the camp came to the +pavilion and took their seats in a circle on cushions. Last of all came +the Grand Vizier, Kiuprile, a big, stout, angry man, who, without +looking at anyone, sat down on the cushion beside Hassan and turned his +back upon him. + +Then the roll of drums was heard, and Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg, well +guarded, were brought in from different sides--Kucsuk on the left hand, +and Feriz on the right. + +"Look!" whispered Azrael to Hassan from behind the curtain; "look how +proud they are, the son on the right, the father on the left. They seem +to be encouraging each other with their glances." + +Hassan nodded his head as if thanking his favourite for assisting his +weak eyes, and as both figures came within the obscurity of the tent, +where the light was not very good at the best of times, acting on the +hint given, he turned towards the aged Kucsuk Pasha and cried: + +"Thou immature youth, step back till I speak to thee." + +Then, turning to young Feriz Beg, he said: + +"Step forward, thou hardened old traitor! Wherefore didst thou leave the +armies of the Sublime Sultan in the lurch?" + +Feriz Beg, as if a weapon against his persecutors had suddenly been put +into his hand, stepped boldly right up to Hassan Pasha, and exclaimed in +a bold voice, which rang though the tent: + +"Thou art the traitor, not I; for thou darest to hold the office of +general when thou art blind and canst not distinguish two paces off +father from son, or an enemy from a friend." + +Hassan sprang in terror from his carpet when he heard Kucsuk's son speak +instead of Kucsuk. + +"That is not true," he stammered, changing colour. + +"Not true!" replied Feriz stiffly; "then, if thine eyes be good, wilt +thou tell me what regiment is now passing thy tent with martial music?" + +The tent be it understood was open towards the plain overlooking the +whole camp and the river beyond. + +A military band was just then crossing the ground not far from the tent, +quite alone; no regiment was coming after it. + +"Methinks, thou mutinous dog, 'tis no answer to my question to inquire +what regiment is now passing by, for it maybe that I know better than +thou why it has arrived; nor is it part of my duty to mention the +rabble by name; suffice it that I hear the trumpets and see the +banners." + +The Pashas looked at each other; there was neither regiment nor banners. + +"So that's it, eh?" said Kiuprile, spitting in front of him; and with +that he rose from his place, and, without looking at Hassan, took Kucsuk +and Feriz by the arm. "Come!" said he to the other generals--"you can go +now!" he cried to the guards, and the whole assembly withdrew from the +tent. + +Hassan fell back on his carpet. He himself had betrayed his great +defect. + +Azrael rushed from her hiding-place. + +"Oh, my master!" she cried; "thou didst wrongly interpret my words, and +so made everything go wrong." + +"I am lost," he stammered, and quite beside himself he plunged into the +interior of the tent to pray with the dervishes. + +Yffim Beg stood there as if his soul had been filched from him; while +Azrael approached him with a smile of devilish scorn and stroked his +face down with her hand. + +"Dost thou fancy thou wilt require another good word for thee?" + +"I can betray thee." + +"Thou couldst if thou didst but know which of the two is to live +longest--Hassan or I." + + * * * * * + +Two hours after this scene there was a private conversation between +Hassan Pasha and Yffim Beg, from which even Azrael was excluded. The +interview over, Yffim Beg departed quickly from the camp. The general +had sent him to Transylvania to go in his name from village to village +to make a general inspection, and ask the magistrates why the common +folks did not pay the taxes at the proper time. He was thence to go to +the Prince and ask the cause of this delay in the transmission of +taxes; thus either the people or the Prince would be held responsible. +Hassan for a long time had had a scheme in his head of seizing +Transylvania by force of arms, whereby, on the one hand, he would win +the favour of the Porte, by adding a new subject state to Turkish +territory, and, on the other hand, would secure for himself a good easy +princely chair instead of a dangerously-jolting general's saddle. + +At the same time Olaj Beg was worrying Apafi to seize the escaped +Princess of Moldavia and send her to Hassan Pasha, who was well aware +that the silken cord would be constantly dangling before his eyes till +he had found someone else whose neck he could jeopardise instead of his +own. + +Kucsuk and his son had escaped from his talons, but he had just heard +from Olaj Beg that the Moldavian Princess was with Apafi, and in an +interesting condition, so that there was every prospect of a young +Prince being born. Here, then, in case of necessity, was a person who +could be handed over, and in case she escaped, the silken cord would +remain round Apafi's neck. + +A few days after the departure of Yffim Beg, peace was hastily concluded +between the Porte and the King of the Romans. In consequence thereof +Hassan avoided a collision with the other generals, and, quitting them, +hastened back to Buda with his army. Kiuprile marched right off to +Belgrade, Kucsuk was dispatched to the fortress of Szekelyhid; only +Feriz remained at Buda, for the simple reason that he was confined to +his bed by a feverish cold in a kiosk, which was erected for him by the +express command of Kiuprile. + +Just about this time Azrael had an excess of devotion, and was +constantly plagued by terrifying dreams in which she saw Hassan Pasha +walking up and down without his head, and every morning she got leave +from him to pay a visit to an old dervish to pray against the apparition +of evil spirits. Hassan was much affected by this devotion towards him +and true Mussulman fervour, and made no opposition to his favourite +damsel going every morning to the mosque to pray, and only returning +from thence late every evening; but he impressed it upon her suite to +keep a watchful eye upon the girl lest she should deceive them. They +therefore permitted pious Azrael to visit the worthy dervish so wrapped +up that only her eyes were visible, and soon afterwards saw her return +with the gracious old man. The dervish had a white beard and white +eyebrows, as if he were well frosted; his eyes were cast down, and he +wore such a frightfully big turban that not even the tips of his ears +were visible. He was also not very lavish of speech, dumbly he pointed +out to the veiled damsel the great clasped book and she knelt down +before it and began to read with edifying devotion, touching it from +time to time with her forehead; while the dervish, raising his hand, +blessed one by one the slaves standing outside the door, and, after +indicating by dumb show that he must now go to the kiosk where the sick +Feriz Beg was lying and cure him by the efficacy of his prayers, he +hobbled away. + +All four slaves glued their faces to the iron lattice work of the door, +thrust their cheeks between its ornaments, and saw how the kneeling +damsel kept praying all the time before the large open book. She must +have had an unconscionable fondness for prayer, for even when the +evening grew late she had not moved from the spot till the dervish, +leaning on his crutch, came hobbling back from Feriz Beg. Then she +accompanied him into the interior of the mosque, and after a short hymn, +returned to make her way back to the fortress. + +And thus it went on for ten days. The slaves of her escort now began to +think that Azrael wanted to learn the Koran by heart and grew tired of +watching her praying and bowing and genuflecting with unwearied +devotion. + +Let us leave them gazing and marvelling, and seek out Feriz Beg, whom +now, as at other times, the old dervish was tending. + +There sat the good old man by the bedside of the pale and handsome +youth. Nobody else was in the room. With his hand he dried the dripping +sweat from the youth's forehead, every hour he put red healing drops +into his mouth with a golden spoon, he guessed what was wanted +immediately from every sigh, from every groan of the invalid. When he +slept he fanned fresh air upon him, when he woke and stretched forth his +burning hands, he felt the throbbing pulse and comforted and soothed him +with gentle and consolatory words; and if he flung about impatiently in +the fever of delirium, he covered him up carefully, like a tender +mother, moistened his lips with fresh citron-water; and if he perceived +from his flushed face how he was suffering he would raise his head, and +press his burning temples to his bosom. + +On the tenth day the youth's illness took a turn for the better. Early +in the morning, when he awoke, he had a clear consciousness of his +condition. + +There by the side of his bed still sat the old man with his eyes fixed +on the youth's face. + +"So thou hast been my nurse, eh?" sighed the youth gratefully, and he +extended his hand to take that of the dervish, and he respectfully +impressed upon it a long burning kiss, closing his eyes piously as he +did so. + +And when he again opened his eyes, holding continually the kissed hand +between his own hands, behold! by his bedside no longer sat the old +dervish, but a young and tremulous damsel, with black tresses rolling +down her shoulders, with a blushing face and timidly smiling lips--it +was Azrael. + +Feriz fancied that he was the sport of some delirious dream or +enchantment, and only when he looked about him in his bewilderment and +perceived the cast-off false beard and turban and the other lying +symbols of age, did he regain his presence of mind; and immediately the +expression of gratitude and devotion disappeared from the face of Feriz +Beg, his features took in a rigorous expression and he withdrew his hand +from the pressure of those other hands. Speak he could not, both mind +and body were too much broken for that; but he pointed to the door and +signified to the damsel in dumb show that she was to withdraw. + +"Thou knowest me, for thou hatest me," stammered Azrael; "if thou didst +not know me thou wouldst not hate me, and if thou didst know me better +thou wouldst love me." + +The youth shook his head. + +"Then--thou--lovest--another?" said the trembling girl. + +Feriz Beg nodded: yes. + +Azrael rose from her place as if some venomous spider had bitten her, +her face was convulsed by a burning grief, she pressed her hands to her +bosom; then slowly her form lost all its proud rigidity, and her eyes +their savage brightness, her features softened, and collapsing before +the bed of the youth she hid her face in his pillows and murmured in a +scarce audible voice: "And therefore I love thee all the more." + +Then, resuming her disguise, she calmly piled upon herself all the +tokens of old age till once more before the sick man stood the gentle +honest dervish who hobbled away on his crutches, blessing everyone he +encountered till he returned again to the mosque. + +After Azrael had withdrawn, Feriz at once dismissed the dervish, who, at +the youth's command, confessed everything to him. The general's +favourite damsel, he said, had come to the mosque to pray ten days ago +and had changed garments with him in his hiding-place in order to tend +the dear invalid all day long while the dervish, enwrapped in her veil, +had prayed in the sight of the slaves. + +Feriz Beg threatened the dervish with death if he did not confess +everything, and, as it became a true cavalier, richly rewarded him when +he had revealed the secret intrigue, forbidding him at the same time to +assist it any further. + + * * * * * + +Several days had passed by. + +Hassan Pasha spent his days in the mosque, and his nights behind the +trellised gates of his harem; he scented an evil report in every new +arrival, and avoided all intercourse with his fellows. The whole day he +was praying, the whole night he was drunk; from morning to evening he +was occupied with the priests and the Koran, and from the evening to the +morning he amused himself among his damsels, listened to their songs, +bathed in ambergris-water, drank wine mingled with poppies, and had his +body rubbed with cotton-wool that he might sleep and be in paradise. + +Frequently he had bad dreams, an evil foreboding, like the pressure of a +night-hag, lay upon his heart, and when he awoke he seemed to see it all +vividly before his eyes and durst not sleep any more, but dressed +himself, sought out the room of Azrael and made the damsel sit down +beside him and amuse him with merry stories. + +The odalisk held unlimited sway over the mind of Hassan, and could, at +will, tune his mind to a good or evil humour by anticipating his +thoughts. The Pasha trusted her implicitly. + +It is a bad old custom with oriental potentates to go to bed fuddled and +dream all manner of nonsense, and then incontinently to demand a clear +interpretation of the nebulous stuff from their wise men--or wise women. + +This happened to be the case one morning with Hassan Pasha and Azrael +who just then was watering with a silver watering-can a gorgeous gobaea, +whose luxurious offshoots clambered like a living ladder to the roof of +the greenhouse, thence casting down to the ground again tendrils as +thick as ropes. + +"Last night I was dreaming of this very plant that thou dost nourish in +yon large tub," said Hassan in a voice that sounded as if he thought it +an extraordinary thing to be listening to his own words. "I dreamt that +it put forth a long and flowery shoot which grew into a tall tree, and +from the end of one of the branches of this tree hung a large yellow +fruit. Then I thought I had some important and peculiar reason for +breaking off the fruit, and I sent a big white-bearded ape up into the +tree to fetch it. The ape reached the fruit, and for a long time plucked +at it and shook it, but was unable to break it off. At last, however, he +fell down with it at my feet, the golden fruit burst in two, and a red +apple rolled out of it, and I picked them both up and was delighted. +What does that signify?" + +Azrael kept plucking the yellow leaves off her dear plant and throwing +them through the window, beckoned to the Pasha to sit down beside her, +and tapping him on the shoulder, began to tick off the events on her +pretty fingers. + +"The golden fruit is the Moldavian Princess, and the white ape thou +didst send for her is none other than Olaj Beg. Thy dream signifies that +the Beg is about to arrive with the Princess, who in the meantime has +borne a son, and thou wilt rejoice greatly." + +Hassan was well content with this interpretation, when a eunuch entered +and brought him a sealed letter on a golden salver. It was from the +Pasha of Grosswardein. + +The letter was anything but pleasant. Ali Pasha begged to inform the +Vizier that the Government of Transylvania, having delivered Mariska +Sturdza into the hands of Olaj Beg, the Beg at once set off with her, +and had got as far as Kiralyhago, when some persons hidden in the forest +had suddenly rushed out upon him, massacred his suite to the last man, +and left the Princess' carriage empty on the high road. The Princess had +in all probability been helped to rejoin her husband in Poland. + +The letter fell from the hand of Hassan Pasha. + +"Thou hast interpreted my dream backwards," he roared, turning upon +Azrael; "everything has turned topsy-turvy. The ape descended from the +tree with the fruit, but knocked his brains out." + +At that moment the door-keeper announced: "Olaj Beg has arrived with the +Moldavian Princess." + +At these words Hassan Pasha, in the joy of his heart, leaped from his +cushions, and after kissing Azrael over and over again, rushed forward +to meet Olaj Beg, and meeting him in the doorway, caught him round the +neck and exclaimed, beside himself with joy: + +"Then my ape has not knocked his brains out, after all!" + +Olaj Beg smilingly endured the title and the embrace, but on looking +around and perceiving Azrael standing in the window he began doing +obeisance to her with the greatest respect. + +"Hast thou brought her? Where is she? Thou hast not lost her, eh? Thou +hast well looked after her?" asked Hassan in one breath. + +By this time Olaj Beg had bowed his head down to his very knees before +the damsel, and was saying to her in a mollified voice: + +"May I hope that the beautiful Princess will not find it tiresome if we +talk of grave affairs in her presence?" + +Azrael at once perceived the object of all this bowing and scraping. +Olaj Beg wished her to withdraw. + +"Thou mayest speak before me, worthy Olaj Beg, though what thou art +about to say is no secret to me, for I can read the future, and my +secrets I tell to none." + +And now Hassan intervened. + +"Thou mayest speak freely before her, worthy Olaj Beg. Azrael is the +root of my life." + +Olaj Beg made another deep and long obeisance. + +He had heard enough of that name to need no further recommendation. He +made up his mind on the spot to tell Hassan, who was in the power of +this infernal woman, no more than he deserved to know. + +"Then thou hast brought the Princess with thee?" insisted Hassan, whose +joy beamed upon his face in spite of himself. "Did the Transylvanian +gentlemen make much difficulty in handing her over?" + +"They handed her over, but it would have been very much better if they +had not. I should have preferred it if they had risen in her behalf, +stirred up all Klausenberg against me and beaten me to death. At any +rate, I should then have died gloriously. But alas! the Magyar race is +degenerating, it has begun to be sensible. Those good old times have +gone when they used to fire a whole village for the sake of a runaway +female slave; and it was possible to seize a whole county in exchange +for one burnt village; if the Hungarian gentry continue to be as wise as +they are now the younger generation of them may strike root in our very +Empire." + +"I was alarmed on thy account, for I have just received a letter from +the Pasha of Grosswardein, in which he informed me that certain persons +had attacked the Princess's escort at Kiralyhago and cut them down to a +man." + +"I anticipated that," replied Olaj Beg slily. "When with much shedding +of tears they handed the Princess over to me, I heard them whisper in +her ear: 'Fear nothing!' and I well understood from that that those same +gentlemen who in the council chamber, with wise precautions, resolved to +deliver up the fugitive Princess, had agreed among themselves over their +cups at dinner-time that as I left Transylvania they would lie in wait +for, fall upon me, and liberate and take away with them the Princess +whom, by the way, they did not deliver over immediately, giving out that +she was sick and suffering torments. While I was awaiting her recovery, +nobody but her ladies was allowed admittance to her, and as soon as she +was on her legs again, I made all my preparations for the journey next +day, marshalling all the carriages and baggage-wagons in the courtyard. +I myself, however, got into a sorry matted conveyance with the Princess +and her child, and set off the same night in the direction of Deva. My +suite, with the empty carriages, was to follow next morning in the +direction of Grosswardein. The masked men cut them down as arranged, but +the Princess and her son were in safe hands all the time. Olaj Beg is an +old fox, and a fox knows his way about." + +Hassan Pasha rubbed his hands delightedly. + +"Nevertheless," continued Olaj Beg, "imagine not, my good general, that +because this woman is now in thy hands thou wilt be able to keep her. +Sleeplessness will enter thy house as soon as thou hast admitted her +within thy doors. If it be hard to guard any woman, it will be +particularly hard to guard this one. The men and women of a whole +kingdom have sworn to set her free by force or fraud, and will use every +effort to do so. They will open thy bedroom doors with skeleton keys, +they will dig beneath thy cellars, they will strew sleeping powder in +thy evening potions, they will corrupt thy most faithful servants, and +if no other poison make any impression upon thee they will pour into thy +heart the most potent of all poisons, the tears of a supplicating woman. +I have brought the treasure, and I deliver it into thy hands. Allah +requites me for my pains by taking her from me. Thou art now her guard, +conceal her as best thou canst. Thy greatest worry will be that thou +canst not slay her, for indeed she were best hidden beneath the ground. +But thou art to see to it that she is delivered alive into the hands of +the Sultan's envoys, for shouldst thou kill her thyself be sure thou +wilt soon feel the silken cord around thine own neck. Meanwhile, peace +be with thee and to all who abide in the shadow of the Prophet!" + +With these words Olaj Beg stepped into the adjoining room, and leading +in the Princess, placed her hand in the hand of Hassan; then he raised +his eyes to Heaven. + +"Allah is my witness," said he, "that I have delivered her and her child +into thy hands!" + +In the first moment Hassan Pasha was amazed at the woman's loveliness, +and thought with regret that it was necessary for his own safety that +she must die. + +Olaj Beg, however, had yet another piece of good advice to impart, and, +with that object, drew nigh to him to whisper in his ear; but, as if his +courage failed him at the last moment, he delivered his sentiments in +the Arabic tongue. + +"Thou wouldst guard this woman best if thou tookest her child from her +and locked it up separately. The mother certainly would not escape +without the child." + +The Princess Ghyka did not understand these words, but she saw how the +old fox indicated her little one with a glance and with what a greedy +look Hassan regarded it; and she pressed the child all the closer to her +bosom as she saw him come a step closer. The unhappy woman trembled when +she saw Hassan smile upon the child like a hungry wolf would smile if he +encountered it on his path. She guessed from their play of feature the +terrible idea which the two men were discussing in a foreign tongue, and +in her despair cast her eyes upon Azrael, as if hoping that she would +find a response to her agony in a woman's heart. + +The odalisk pretended she had not observed the look, as if those present +were not worthy of the slightest attention from her; when, however, +Hassan gratefully embraced the Beg for this fresh piece of advice, +Azrael intervened with a peculiar smile. + +"Thou dost act like one who, bending beneath the weight of a burden too +heavy for him, would pass it on to his neighbour." + +Hassan looked at his favourite damsel inquiringly, while Olaj Beg, who +was unaccustomed to hear women talk at all when men were holding +counsel together, looked back with offended surprise over his shoulder. + +Azrael reclined lazily back upon her cushions, and swung one leg over +her knee as she conversed with the two men. + +"Worthy Hassan," said she, "thou wouldst make two troubles out of one, +if thou didst separate thy captives; while thou keepest thine eye on one +of them, they will steal away the other behind thy back." + +Hassan cast a troubled look upon Olaj Beg, who stroked his long white +beard and smiled. + +"If thou dost permit thy damsels to ask questions, thou must needs +answer them," said he. + +At these words Azrael leaped from her place and boldly approached the +two men, her flaming black eyes measured the Beg from head to foot, and +when she spoke it was with a determined, startling voice. + +"Listen to me, Hassan--yes, I say, thou shouldst listen to me before all +thy friends just because I am a woman. A man can only give advice, but a +woman loves, and before a man thinks of danger a woman already sees it +coming from afar, and while a man may grow into a crafty old fox, a +woman is born crafty. Hassan knows very well that of all those who wear +a mask of friendship for him, there is but one on whom he can absolutely +rely, whose love all the treasures in India can as little destroy as +they can lull her hatred asleep, who watches over him while he sleeps, +and if she sleeps is dreaming of his destiny--that person am I." + +Hassan confirmed the words of the damsel by throwing his arm round her +shoulders and drawing her towards him. + +"If this woman requires a sleepless, uncorruptible guardian," continued +Azrael, "I will be that guardian. Make for us a long chain, and let one +end of it be fastened to my arm and the other to her girdle. Thus the +slave will be chained to the jailer, and, sleeping or waking, will be +unable to escape from me. I shall be a good janitor. I will not let her, +or her child, out of my hands." + +The damsel accompanied these words with such an infernal smile that Olaj +Beg involuntarily edged away from her; while Hassan was enchanted by +this noble specimen of loyalty. But Mariska's face was bright and +resigned again, for she understood from the words of the odalisk, +threatening as they were, that she and her child were not to be +separated, and to all else she was indifferent. + +Olaj Beg drew the folds of his caftan over his lean, dry bosom, and +after peering at the two women, remarked to Hassan: + +"'Tis well thou canst trust a woman to look after a woman." + +With that he backed out of the room, blessing all four corners of it as +he went, and in the gateway distributed with great condescension to +every one of the servants who had done anything for him some money +ingeniously twisted up in pieces of paper (which, by the way, were found +to contain a half-penny each when at last unfolded), and sitting in his +mat-covered carriage, gave strict orders to the coachman not to look +back till he saw the citadel of Buda. + +But Hassan the same hour sent for his goldsmith, and bade him prepare +immediately a silver chain, four yards long, with golden shackles at +each end, for Azrael and Mariska. The goldsmith took the measure of the +hands of the two damsels, and brought in the evening a chain made of +beaten silver, whose shackles were fastened by masterly-constructed +padlocks, which Hassan himself fastened on the hands of the damsels, +thrusting the key which opened the padlocks into his girdle, which he +tapped a hundred times a day to discover whether it was still there or +not. Then he dismissed the pair of them into Azrael's dormitory. Mariska +endured everything--the chain, the shame, and rough words--for the +privilege of being able to embrace her child. She lay down content on +the carpets as far from Azrael as the chain would permit it, and folding +her hands above the baby's innocent head, prayed with burning devotion +to the God of mercy, and calmly went to sleep holding the child in her +arms. + + * * * * * + +A little beyond midnight the child began softly wailing. At the first +sound of its crying Mariska awoke, and as she moved her hand the chain +rattled. Azrael was instantly alert. + +"Hast thou had evil dreams?" inquired the odalisk of Mariska; "the +rattling of the chain aroused me." + +"The weeping of my child awoke me," said Mariska softly; and drawing the +little one to her bosom, as it embraced its mother's beautiful velvet +breast with its chubby little finger, and drank from the sweetest of all +sources the draught of life, the young mother gazed upon it with +unspeakable joy, smiled, laughed, caught the child's rosy little fingers +in her mouth, and implanted resounding kisses on its rosy, chubby +cheeks. She had no thought at that moment for chain and dungeon. + +Azrael felt in her heart the torments of the demons--it was that +jealousy which those who are rocked in the lap of happiness feel at the +sight of a luckless wretch who is happier than they are in spite of all +his wretchedness. + +"Wherefore dost thou rejoice?" she asked, gazing upon the lady with the +eyes of a serpent. + +"Because my child is with me." + +"But the whole world has abandoned thee." + +"It is more to me than the whole world." + +"More than thy husband?" + +Mariska reflected for a moment, and then, instead of replying, hugged +the child still closer to her bosom and imprinted a kiss upon its +forehead. + +"Wert thou ever a mother?" she asked Azrael in her turn. + +"Never," stammered the odalisk, and involuntarily her bosom heaved +beneath a sigh. + +It was plain from the face of Mariska how much she pitied this poor +woman. Azrael perceived the look, and it wounded her that she should be +pitied. + +"Dost thou not know that both of you must die?" she asked with a +darkened countenance. + +"I am ready." + +"And art thou not terrified at the thought? They will strangle thy child +with a silken cord, and hang it dead upon thy breast, and then they will +strangle thee likewise, and put you both in the grave, in the cold +earth." + +"We shall see each other in a better world," said Mariska with fervent +devotion. + +"Where?" inquired the astounded Azrael. + +Mariska, with holy confidence, raised her little one in her arms, and, +lifting her eyes, said: "God will take us unto Himself." + +"And what need hath God of you?" + +"He is the Father of those who suffer, and in the other world He rewards +those who suffer grief here below." + +"And who told thee this?" + +Mariska, as one inspired, placed her hand upon her heart and said: "It +is written here!" + +Azrael regarded the woman abashed. Truly, many mysterious words are +written in the heart, why cannot everyone read them? She also had +listened to such mystic voices, but they were words shouted in a desert, +in her savage breast there was no manner of love which could interpret +their meaning. + +Mariska again put down her child on the edge of the cushion. + +"Place not thy child there," cried Azrael impatiently; "it might easily +fall, place it between us!" + +Mariska accepted the offer, and placed the little one between herself +and Azrael. + +When the first ray of dawn penetrated the large window Mariska awoke, +and, folding her hands together above the head of the little child, +again began to pray. + +Azrael looked on darkly. + +"Dost thou never pray?" said Mariska, turning towards her. + +"Why should women pray? Their destiny is not in their own hands. Their +fate depends upon their masters; if their masters are happy, they are +happy also; if their masters perish, they perish with them. This is +their earthly lot--and that is all. Allah never gave them a soul--what +have they to do with the life beyond this? In Paradise the Houris take +their places and the Houris remain young for ever. The breath of a woman +vanishes with the autumn mist like the fumes of a dead animal, and Allah +has no thought for them." + +Mariska, with only half intelligible sorrow, looked at this woman who +wished to seem worse than she really was. + +Azrael crept closer up to her. + +"And dost thou really believe that there is someone who listens to what +the worms say, to what the birds twitter, and to what women pray?" + +"Certainly," replied the young Christian woman; "turn to Him, and thou +wilt feel for thyself His goodness." + +"How can it be so? Why should He pay any attention to me?" + +"It is not enough I know to clasp thy hands and close thy eyes. Thy +petition must come straight from thy heart, and thy soul must believe +that it will gain its desire." + +Azrael's face flushed red. Hastily she cast herself down on her knees on +the carpet, and pressing her folded hands to her bosom, stammered in a +scarce audible voice: + +"God! grant me one moment in my life in which I can say: I am happy." + +Her eyes were still closed when the door of the dormitory opened, and +Hayat, the oldest duenna of the harem, entered with an air of great +secrecy. She was now a shrivelled up bundle of old bones, but formerly +she had been the first favourite of Hassan Pasha, and now she was the +slave and secret confidante of all the favourites in turn. + +Azrael leaned towards her, perceiving from the face of the duenna that +she brought some message for her; whereupon the latter advanced and, +looking around in case anyone should be lurking there, whispered some +words in Azrael's ear. + +On hearing these words the odalisk leaped from her seat with a face +flushed with joy, while unspeakably tender tears trembled in her eyes. +Her hands were involuntarily pressed against her heaving bosom, and her +lips seemed to murmur some voiceless prayer. + +Some great unusual joy had come upon her, some joy which she had always +longed but never dared to hope for. Scarce able to restrain herself she +turned towards her comrade, who, after listening to her, gazed +wonderingly at her and pressed her hand, exclaiming in a voice of strong +conviction: "Then it is true, our prayer has indeed been heard!" + +Azrael began merrily putting on her garments, and helped Mariska also to +dress; then she sent the duenna with a message to Hassan. She must go +again to the mosque of the old dervish to pray, for she had been +dreaming of Hassan. + +Soon afterwards Hassan himself came to her, took from her arm the golden +shackle which fastened the chain that bound her to Mariska, and, +ordering her palanquin to be brought up to the door, sent her away to +the old dervish; while, seizing the end of the Princess's chain, he led +her, together with her child, into his own apartments and there sat down +on his cushions, drawing his rosary from his girdle and mumbling the +first prayers of the naama, constantly holding in his hand the end of +the Princess's chain. + +The Vizier had of late been much given to prayer, for since the lost +battle not a soul had come to visit him. The envoys of the Sultan, the +country petitioners, the foreign ministers, the begging brotherhoods, +all of them had avoided his threshold as if he were dead. + +The first day he was painfully affected by this manifestation, but on +the second day he commanded the door-keepers to admit none to his +presence. Thus, at any rate, he could make himself believe that if +nobody came to visit him it was by his express command. + +He knew right well that a sentence of death had been written down and +that this sentence was meant for one of two persons, either the Princess +or himself, where their two shadows mingled a double darkness was cast, +and Israfil, the Angel of Death, stood over them with a drawn sword. + +Hassan knew this right well, and he pressed in his hand convulsively the +silver chain to which his prisoner was attached, that prisoner whom he +regarded as the ransom for his own life. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF LOVE + + +After that melancholy scene, when the ladies of Transylvania vainly drew +tears and blushes from the faces of their husbands, a ray of hope still +remained in one heart alone. It was pretty Aranka Beldi, who, when +everyone else's eyes were full of tears, could whisper words of +encouragement to her unhappy friend, and who, when everyone else +abandoned her, embraced her last of all, and said to her with firm +conviction: "Fear not, we will save you!" + +The youths of Transylvania also said: "Fear not, we will save you!" but +Fate flung the dice blindly, the marked men in ambush captured only the +escort, not the captive, and had all their fine trouble for nothing. + +Aranka Beldi, however, begged her father to let her go to Gernyeszeg to +visit her friend Flora Teleki, and there the two noble young damsels +agreed together to write two letters to acquaintances in Hungary. One of +them wrote to Toekoely, the other to Feriz Beg, and when the letters were +ready, they read to each other what they had written. Flora's letter to +Toekoely was as follows: + + "SIR, + + "The fact that _I_ write these lines to you shows the + desperate position I am in, when I have to hide my + blushes and apply to him whom of all men I ought to + avoid. But it is a question of life and death. Do you + recollect the moment when, in the castle of Rumnik, + you saw three maids embrace each other, of whom I was + one? We then swore friendship and good fellowship to + each other. One of the three at the present moment + stands at the brink of death; I mean Mariska Sturdza, + whose misfortunes cannot be unknown to you, and this + is not the first mode of deliverance which we have + attempted--but the last. Your Excellency is a powerful + and magnanimous man, who has great influence with the + Sultan, and where one expedient fails, you can employ + another. I have always pictured your Excellency to + myself as a valiant and chivalrous cavalier, and from + what I know of the respect which all honourable + persons of my acquaintance have for your Excellency, I + have the utmost confidence that the unfortunate + Princess of Moldavia will not wait in vain for + deliverance. Do what you can, and may I add to the + esteem in which you are held the fervent blessings of + a heart which sincerely prays for your Excellency's + welfare. + + "FLORA TELEKI." + +Flora's calculations were most just. Toekoely, in those days, stood high +in the favour of the Sultan, was on terms of intimacy with all the +pashas and viziers, and very frequently a casual word from him had more +effect than other people's supplications. And Flora showed a fine +knowledge of character when she appealed to the magnanimity of the very +man who had so grievously offended her, feeling certain that just for +that very reason, although Toekoely might not recognise the force of his +former obligations, he would be magnanimous enough instantly to grant a +favour to the lady who asked him for it, especially as the woman to be +liberated had been the original cause of their separation. + +Aranka kissed her friend over and over again when she had read this +letter, and then she suddenly grew sad. + +"Oh, _my_ letter is not nearly so pretty, I am ashamed to show it to +you." + +Flora looked at her friend with gentle bashfulness as Aranka handed over +her letter, and blushed like a red rose all the time she was perusing +it. + + "NOBLE-HEARTED FERIZ! + + "When we were both children you maintained that you + loved me (here she inserted within brackets: 'like a + sister,' and a good thing for her that she did put + these three words in brackets). If you still recollect + what you said, now is the time to prove it. My dearest + friend, Mariska Sturdza, is at Buda, a prisoner in the + hands of Hassan Pasha. My only hope of her deliverance + depends on you. I have heard such splendid things of + you. If you see her, for whom I now implore you, with + a sad face and tearful eyes, think how I should look + if I were there, and if you give her back to me, and I + can embrace her again, and look into her smiling eyes, + then I will think of you, too. + + "ARANKA BELDI." + +The girls entrusted these letters to faithful servants, sending the +first letter to Temesvar, where Toekoely was then residing, and the second +to Feriz Beg, who, as we know, lay ill at Buda. + +The news first reached Toekoely at supper-time. On receiving the letter +and reading it through, he at once put down his glass, girded on his +sword, and telling his comrades that he was about to take a little +stroll, he mounted his horse and vanished from the town. + +Feriz was lying half-delirious on his carpet. His health mended but +slowly, as is often the case with men of strong constitutions, and the +tidings of the smallest disaster which befell the Turks threw him into +such a state of excitement that a relapse was incessantly to be feared, +so that at last they would not allow any messages at all to be brought +to him, for even when they brought good news to him he always managed +to look at them from the worst side, so that news of any kind was +absolute poison to him. At last his Greek physician made it a rule to +read every letter addressed to his patient beforehand; and if it +contained the least disturbing element, he let Feriz know nothing at all +about it. What especially annoyed Feriz were any letters from women, and +these were simply sent back. + +Thus Aranka's letter might very easily have had the fate of being +suppressed altogether had it not been entrusted to Master Gregory Biro, +a shrewd and famous Szekler courier, whose honourable peculiarity it was +to go wherever he was sent, and do whatsoever he was told, be the +obstacles in the way what they might. If he had been told to give +something to the Sultan of Turkey, he would have wormed his way to him +somehow--all inquiries, all threats would have been in vain; he would +have insisted on seeing and speaking to him if his head had to be cut +off the next moment. + +One day, then, worthy Gregory Biro appeared before the kiosk of Feriz +Beg and asked to be admitted. + +At these words a Moor popped out, and, seizing him by the collar, +conducted him to a room where a half-dressed man was standing before a +fire cooking black potions in all sorts of queer-shaped crooked glasses. +The Moor presented Gregory to the doctor as another messenger. + +"What is your name?" he asked, venomously regarding him from over his +shoulder, and treating him to the most terrifying grimace he could think +of. + +"Gregory Biro," replied the Szekler, nodding his head twice as was his +custom. + +"Gregory, Gregory, what do you want here?" + +"I want to see Feriz Beg." + +"I am he; what have you brought?" + +Gregory twisted his mug derisively at these words, and immediately +reflected that the business was beginning badly, for the person before +him did not in the least resemble Feriz Beg as described to him. + +"I have brought a letter--from a pretty girl." + +"Give it to me quickly, and be off." + +Gregory twisted round his short jacket that he might get at his +knapsack; but while he was fumbling inside it he was cute enough to +extract the contents of the letter from its cover, and only handed the +empty envelope to the doctor. + +"'Tis well, Gregory, now you may go," said he gently, and without so +much as opening the envelope he thrust it into the fire and held the +blazing paper under a retort which he wanted to warm. + +"Is that the way they read letters here?" asked Gregory, scratching his +head, and he crept to the door; but there he stopped, and while half his +body remained outside he thrust his arm up to the elbow into the long +pocket of his _szuere_,[17] drew from thence a diamond-clasp, and holding +it between two fingers cried: "Look! I found this ring on the road not +far from here, perchance Feriz Beg has lost it." + + [Footnote 17: Sheepskin mantle.] + +The doctor took the splendid jewel, and feeling convinced that only a +nobleman could have lost such a thing, he said he would show it to Feriz +Beg immediately. + +"Ho! then you are not Feriz Beg after all!" cried the humorist. + +The doctor burst out laughing. + +"Gregory! Gregory! don't jest with me. I am the cook, and if I like you +I will let you stay to dinner." + +Gregory pulled a wry face at the sight of the doctor's stews. + +The doctor thereupon took in the diamond-clasp to Feriz Beg, after +bidding the Moor, whom he left behind him, not to drink anything out of +the glasses standing there, or it would make him ill. + +Shortly afterwards the doctor returned in great astonishment, planted +himself in front of Gregory with frowning eyebrows and roared at him in +a voice which alarmed even the Szekler: + +"Where did you get that jewel from?" + +"Where did I get it from?" said Gregory, shrugging his shoulders; he was +very pleased they wanted to frighten him. + +"Come, speak!--quick!" + +"Not now." + +"Why not?" snapped the doctor firmly. + +"Not to you, if you were to break me on the wheel." + +"I'll bastinado you." + +"Not if you impaled me, I say." + +"Gregory! If you anger me, I'll make you drink three pints of physic." + +"They are here, eh!" exclaimed Gregory, approaching the hearth, skipping +among the flasks of the doctor, and seizing one of them, but he had the +sense to choose alcohol, and dragging it from its case, sipped away at +it till there was not a drop of it left. + +"Leave a little in it, you dog!" yelled the doctor, snatching the flask +away from him, "don't drink it all!" + +"I'll drink up the whole shop, but speak I won't unless I like." + +The doctor perceived that he had met his match. + +"Then will you speak before Feriz Beg?" he asked. + +"I'll speak the whole truth then." + +So there was nothing for it but to open Feriz Beg's door before Gregory +and shove him inside. + +Feriz Beg was sitting there on a couch, a feverish flush was burning +upon his pale face; he still held the jewel in his hand, and his eyes +were fastened upon it; just such a similar clasp he had given to Aranka +Beldi when they were both children together. + +"How did you come by this jewel?" inquired Feriz in a soft, mournful +voice. + +"She to whom you gave it gave it to me that you might believe she sent +me to you." + +At these words Feriz Beg arose with flashing eyes. + +"She sent you to me! She! So she remembers me! She thinks of me +sometimes, then." + +"She sent you a letter through me." + +Feriz Beg stretched out a tremulous hand. + +"Where is the letter?" + +"I flung it into the fire," interjected the doctor. + +"How dared you do that?" exclaimed Feriz angrily. + +But the doctor was not afraid. + +"I am your doctor, and every letter injures your health." + +"Panajot! you are an impertinent fellow!" thundered Feriz, with a face +of inflamed purple; and he smote the table such a blow with his fist +that all the medicine bottles tumbled off it. + +"Don't be angry, sir!" said Gregory, twisting his moustache at both +ends, while Panajot coolly swept together the fragments of the broken +bottles and boxes on the floor; "the worthy man did not burn the letter +but only the envelope. I had gumption enough not to entrust the inside +of it to him." + +And with these words he drew from his pouch a letter written on all four +sides of the sheet and handed it to Feriz, who before reading it covered +with kisses the lines traced by that dear hand, while Master Panajot +looked at Gregory in amazement. + +"Go along, you old fox, Gregory," said he; "next time you come, I'll +throw _you_ into the fire to boot." + +But Gregory, highly delighted, feasted his eyes on the youth's face all +the time he was reading the letter. + +As if his soul had changed within him, as if he had passed from the +troubles of this world to the joys of Paradise, every feature of the +youth's face became smiling and joyful. The farther he read the brighter +grew his eyes; and when he came to the last word he pressed the leaf to +his heart with an expression of the keenest rapture, and held it there +a long time, closing his eyes as if in a happy dream, as if he had shut +them to see no other object when he conjured up her image before his +mind. + +Master Panajot was alarmed, fancying some mischief had happened to the +invalid, and turned upon Gregory with gnashing teeth: + +"What infernal document have you brought along with you, Gregory?" + +Feriz meanwhile smilingly nodded his head as if he would thank some +invisible shape, and whispered softly: + +"So it shall be, so it shall be." + +"I'm afraid you feel bad, my master," said the doctor. + +Feriz looked up, and his face had grown quite round. + +"I?--I feel very well. Take your drugs from my table, and bring me wine +and costly meats dear to the eyes and mouth. I would rejoice my soul and +my palate. Call hither musicians, and open wide my gate. Pile flowers +upon my windows, I would be drunk with the fragrance of the flowers that +the breeze brings to me." + +Panajot fancied that the invalid had gone out of his mind, and yet full +of the joy of life he rose from his couch, laid aside his warm woollen +garment, put on instead a light silk robe, wound round his head a turban +of the finest linen instead of the warm shaggy shawl, and he who had +hitherto been brooding and fretting apathetically, had suddenly become +as light as a bird, paced the room with rapid steps, with proudly +erected face, from which the livid yellow of sickness had suddenly +disappeared, and his eyes sparkled like fire. + +Panajot could not account for the change, and really believed that the +patient had fallen into some dangerous paroxysm and in this persuasion +bawled for all the members of the negro family. The old Egyptian +door-keeper, a young Nubian huntsman, a Chinese cook, trampling upon +each other in their haste, all rushed into the room at his cry. + +Feriz Beg, with boyish mirth, stopped them all before the doctor could +say a word. + +"Thou, Ali," he said to the old door-keeper, "go to the mosque and cast +this silver among the poor that they may give thanks to Allah for my +recovery. And thou, O cook! prepare a dinner for twelve persons, looking +to it that there is wine and flowers and music; and thou, my huntsman, +bring forth the fieriest steed and put upon him the most costly +wrappings; and ye others, take this worthy doctor and lock him up among +his drugs that he may not get away, and call hither all my friends and +acquaintances, and tell them we will celebrate the festival of my +recovery." + +The servants with shouts of joy fulfilled the commands of Feriz. First +of all they shoved good Panajot into his drug-brewing kitchen, and then +they dispersed to do their master's bidding. + +Feriz then took the hand of the Szekler who had brought the message and +shook it violently, saying to him in a loud firm voice: + +"Thou must remain with me till I have accomplished thy mistress's +commands. For she has laid a command upon me which I must needs obey." + +Meanwhile, the ostlers had brought forward the good charger. It was a +fiery white Arab, ten times as restless as usual because of its long +rest; not an instant were its feet still. Two men caught it by the head +and were scarce able to hold it, its pink, wide open nostrils blew forth +jets of steam, and through its smooth white mane could be seen the ruddy +hue of the full blood. + +The unfortunate Panajot poked his head through the round window of his +laboratory, and from thence regarded with stupefaction his whilom +invalid bestride the back of the wild charger, that same invalid who, if +anyone knocked at his door an hour or two before, complained that his +head was bursting. + +The charger pranced and caracolled and the doctor with tears in his eyes +besought the bystanders if they had any sense of feeling at all not to +let the Beg ride on such a winged griffin. They only laughed at him. +Feriz flung himself into the saddle as lightly as a grasshopper. The two +stablemen let go the reins, the steed rose up erect on his hind legs and +bucked along as a biped for several yards. Then the Beg struck the sharp +stirrups into its flank, and the steed, snorting loudly, bowed its head +over its fore-quarters and galloped off like lightning. + +The doctor followed him with a lachrymose eye, every moment expecting +that Feriz would fall dead from his horse; but he sat in the saddle as +if grown to it, as he had always been wont to do. When the road +meandered off towards the fortress he turned into it and disappeared +from the astonished gaze of those who were looking after him. + +A few moments later the horseman was in the courtyard of the fortress. +He demanded an interview with the general, and was told that he was +receiving nobody. He applied therefore to his favourite eunuch instead. +He arrived at the fortress with a full purse, he quitted it with an +empty one; but he now knew everything he wanted to know, viz., that +Hassan had entrusted the captive Princess to Azrael; that the two girls +were tied by the hands to one chain; that he greatly feared someone +would come and filch the Princess from him; that he got up ten times +every night to see whether anyone had stolen into the palace; and that +since Mariska had been placed in his hands he had drunk no wine and +smoked no opium, and would eat of no dish save from the hands of his +favourite damsel. + +Feriz Beg knew quite enough. Again he mounted his horse and galloped +back to his kiosk, taking the neighbouring mosque on his way, on +reaching which he called from his horse to the old dervish, who +immediately appeared in answer to his summons. + +"Tell her who was wont to visit me in thy stead that I want to see and +speak to her early to-morrow morning." + +And with that he threw some gold ducats to the dervish and galloped off. + +The dervish looked after him in astonishment, and picking up the ducats, +instantly toddled off to the fortress, prowled about the gate all night, +met Hajat at early dawn, and gave her the message for Azrael. + +This was the joyful tidings which the odalisk had received in response +to her first prayer, and which had made her so happy. + + * * * * * + +Next morning she ordered her servants to admit none but the old dervish, +and to close every door as soon as he had entered. + +Shortly afterwards, Azrael with her retinue of servants arrived at the +mosque, and a few moments after she had disappeared behind the trellised +railings the form of the old dervish appeared in the street, hobbling +along with his crutch till he reached the kiosk. Feriz Beg perceived him +through the window, and sent everyone from the room that he might remain +alone with him. + +The dervish entered, closed the door behind him, let down the +tapestries, took off his false beard and false raiment, and there before +Feriz--tremulous, blushing, and shamefaced--stood the odalisk. + +"Thou hast sent for me," she stammered softly, "and behold--here I am!" + +"I would beg something of thee," said Feriz, half leaning on his elbow. + +"Demand my life!" cried the odalisk impetuously, "and I will lay it at +thy feet!" and at these words she flung herself at the foot of the divan +on which the youth was sitting. + +"I ask thee for nothing less than thy life. Once thou saidst that thou +didst love me. Is that true now also?" + +"Is it not possible to love thee, and yet live?" + +"Say then that I might love thee if I knew thee better. Good! I wish to +know thee." + +The damsel regarded the youth tremblingly, waiting to hear what he would +say to her. + +The youth rose and said in a solemn, lofty voice: + +"In my eyes not the roses of the cheeks, or the fire of the eyes, or +bodily charms make a woman beautiful, but the beauty of the soul, for I +recognise a soul in woman, and she is no mere plaything for the pastime +of men. What enchants me is noble feeling, self-sacrifice, loyalty, +resignation. Canst thou die for him whom thou lovest?" + +"It would be rapture to me." + +"Canst thou die for her whom thou hatest in order to prove how thou dost +love?" + +"I do not understand," said Azrael hesitating. + +"Thou wilt understand immediately. There is a captive woman in Hassan's +castle who is entrusted to thy charge. This captive woman must be +liberated. Wilt _thou_ liberate her?" + +At these words Azrael's heart began to throb feverishly. All the blood +vanished from her face. She looked at the youth in despair, and said +with a gasp: + +"Dost _thou_ love this woman?" + +"Suppose that I love her and thou dost free her all the same." + +The woman collapsed at the feet of Feriz Beg, and embracing his knees, +said, sobbing loudly: + +"Oh, say that thou dost not love her, say that thou dost not know her, +and I will release her--I will release her for thee at the risk of my +own life." + +The reply of Feriz was unmercifully cold. + +"Believe that I love her, and in that belief sacrifice thyself for her. +This night I will wait for her wherever thou desirest, and will take her +away if thou wilt fetch her. It was thy desire to know me, and I would +know thee also. Thou art free to come or go as thou choosest." + +The odalisk hid her tearful face in the carpets on the floor, and +writhed convulsively to the feet of Feriz, moaning piteously. + +"Oh, Feriz, thou art merciless to me." + +"Thou wouldst not be the first who had sacrificed her life for love." + +"But none so painfully as I." + +"And art thou not proud to do so, then?" + +At these words the woman raised a pale face, her large eyes had a +moonlight gleam like the eyes of a sleep-walker. She seized the hand of +Feriz in order to help herself to rise. + +"Yes, I am proud to die for thee. I will show that here--within +me--there is a heart which can feel nobly--which can break for that +which it loves, for that which kills it--that pride shall be mine. I +will do it." + +And then, as if she wished to clear away the gathering clouds from her +thoughts, she passed her hand across her forehead and continued in a +lower, softer voice: + +"This night, when the muezzin calls the hour of midnight, be in front of +the fortress-garden on thy fleetest horse. Thou wilt not have to wait +long; there is a tiny door there which conceals a hidden staircase which +leads from the fortress to the trenches. I will come thither and bring +her with me." + +Feriz involuntarily pressed the hand of the girl kneeling before him, +and felt a burning pressure in his hand, and when he looked at the young +face before him he saw the smile of a sublime rapture break forth upon +her radiantly joyful features. + +Azrael parted from Feriz an altogether transformed being, another heart +was throbbing in her breast, another blood was flowing to her heart, +earth and heaven had a different colour to her eyes. She believed that +the youth would love her if she died for him, and that thought made her +happy. + +But Feriz summoned Gregory Biro, and having recompensed him, sent him +back to his mistress with the message: + +"Thy wish hath been accomplished." + +So sure was he that Azrael would keep her word--if only she were alive +to do so. + + * * * * * + +Hassan Pasha waited and waited for Azrael. If the odalisk was not with +him he felt as helpless as a child who has strayed away from its nurse. +In the days immediately following the lost battle, the shame attaching +to him and his agonized fear for his life had quite confused his mind; +and the drugs employed at that time, combined with restless nights, the +prayers of the dervishes, the joys of the harem and opium, had completed +the ruin of his nervous system. If he were left alone for an hour he +immediately fainted, and when he awoke it was in panic terror--he gazed +around him like one in the grip of a hideous nightmare. For some days he +would leave off his opium, but as is generally the case when one too +suddenly abandons one's favourite drug, the whole organism threatened to +collapse, and the renunciation of the opium did even more mischief than +its enjoyment. + +When Azrael rejoined him he was asleep, the chain by which he held the +Princess had fallen from his hand and when he awoke there was a good +opportunity of persuading him that Mariska had escaped from him while he +slept. + +Hassan looked long and blankly at her, it seemed as if he would need +some time wherein to rally his scattered senses sufficiently to +recognise anyone. But Azrael was able to exercise a strange magnetic +influence over him, and he would awake from the deepest sleep whenever +she approached him. + +Azrael sat down beside the couch and embraced the Vizier, while Mariska, +with tender bashfulness, turned her head away from them; and Hassan, +observing it, drew Azrael's head to his lips and whispered in her ear: + +"I have had evil dreams again. Hamaliel, the angel of dreams, appeared +before me, and gave me to understand that if I did not kill this woman, +he would kill me. My life is poisoned because she is here. My mind is +not in proper order. I often forget who I am. I fancy I am living at +Stambul, and looking out of the window am amazed that I do not see the +Bosphorus. This woman must die. This will cure me. I will kill her this +very day." + +Mariska did not hear these words, all her attention was fixed upon the +babbling of her child; and Azrael, with an enchanting smile, flung +herself on the breast of the Vizier, embracing his waggling head and +covering his face with kisses, and the smile of her large dark eyes +illuminated his gloomy soul. + +Poor Hassan! He fancies that that enchanting smile, that embrace, those +kisses are meant for him, but the shape of a handsome youth hovers +before the mind of the odalisk, and that is why she kisses Hassan so +tenderly, embraces him so ardently, and smiles so enchantingly. She +fancies 'tis her ideal whom she sees and embraces. + +Ah, the extravagances of love! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SPORT WITH A BLIND MAN. + + +Azrael had felt afraid when Hassan said: "I must kill this woman +to-day." A fearful spectre was haunting the mind of the Vizier; he must +be freed from this spectre, and made to forget it. + +So Azrael devised an odd sport for the man on the verge of imbecility. + +The seven days had passed during which Hassan had forbidden that anyone +should be admitted to his presence, and it occurred to Azrael that in +the ante-chamber crowds of brilliant envoys, and couriers, and +supplicants were waiting, all eagerly desirous of an audience, many of +them with rich gifts; others came to render homage, others with joyful +tidings from the seat of war; whilst one of them had come all the way +from the Grand Vizier with a very important message from the Sultan +himself. + +Hassan's stupid mind brightened somewhat at these words, a fatuously +good-natured smile lit up his face. + +"Let them come in, let them appear before me," he said joyfully to the +girl; "and remain thou beside me and introduce them to me one by one; +thine shall be the glory of it." + +But in reality none was awaiting an audience in the ante-room, there +were no splendid envoys there, no humble petitioners, no agas, no +messengers, none but the Vizier's own slaves. + +But these Azrael dressed up one by one to look like splendid magnates, +village magistrates, and soldiers; put sealed letters, purses, and +banners in their hands, and placing Hassan in the reception-room on a +lofty divan, sat down with the Princess on stools at his feet, and +ordered the door-keepers to admit the disguised slaves one by one. + +The mockery was flagrant, but was there among them all any who dared to +enlighten Hassan? Who would undertake to undeceive him when a mere nod +from Azrael might annihilate before the Vizier could realise that they +were making sport of him? It was a fleet-winged demon fooling a sluggish +mammoth with strength enough to crush her but with no wings to enable it +to get at her, and the rabble always takes the part of the mocker, not +of the mocked, especially if the former be lucky and the latter unlucky. + +The loutish slaves came one by one into the room, and Hassan turned his +face towards them, remaining in that position while Azrael told him who +they were and what they wanted. + +"This is Ferhad Aga," said the odalisk, pointing at a stable-man, "who, +hearing of thy martial prowess in all four corners of the world has come +hither begging thee with veiled countenance to include him among thy +armour-bearers." + +Hassan most graciously extended his hand to the stable-man and granted +him his petition. + +Azrael next presented to Hassan a cook from a foreign court, who, +dressed in a large round mantle of cloth of silver, might very well have +passed for a burgomaster of Debreczen, and whose shoulders bent beneath +the weight of two sacks of gold and silver from Hassan's own treasury. + +"This is the magistrate of the city of Debreczen," said the odalisk, +"who hath brought thee a little gift in the name of the municipality, +with the petition that when thou dost become the Pasha of Transylvania +thou wilt not forget them." + +Hassan smiled at the word money, had the sacks placed before him, thrust +his arms into them up to his very wrists with great satisfaction, had +their contents emptied at his feet, and dismissed the envoy with a +hearty pressure of the hand. + +And now followed a negro, who brought some recaptured Turkish banners +from the bed of a river which did not exist, in which the Turks had +drowned the whole army of Montecuculi. + +Hassan was now in such a weak state of mind that he no longer recognised +his own people in their unwonted garments, and the more extraordinary +the things reported to him the more readily he believed them. + +And so Azrael kept on exhibiting to him envoys, couriers, and captains +till, at last, it came to the turn of the envoy of the Grand Vizier, +whose part the odalisk had entrusted to a clever eunuch who had been +instructed to present to Hassan a sealed firman, which Azrael was to +read because Hassan could not see the letters. It was to the effect that +Hassan was to endeavour to preserve the life of the captive Princess, as +the Grand Vizier himself intended in a few days to take her over alive. + +When thus it seemed good to Azrael that the most striking scene of the +whole game should begin she exclaimed in a loud voice to the +door-keepers: + +"Admit the ambassador of the Grand Vizier with the message from the +Sublime Padishah!" + +The guards drew back the curtains and in came--Olaj Beg! + +"Truly I must needs admit," said he turning towards the odalisk, who +stood there petrified with fear and amazement, "truly I must admit that +thou art blessed with the faculty of seeing through walls and reading +fast-closed letters, for thou hast announced me before I appeared +officially and thou hast seen the firman hidden in my bosom before I +have had time to produce it." + +Azrael arose. She felt her blood throbbing in her brain for terror. At +that moment she had that keen sensation of danger when every atom of the +body--heart, brain, hands, and the smallest nerve--sees, hears, and +thinks. + +"Thou hast brought the firman of the Sultan?" she inquired of Olaj Beg +with wrapt attention. + +"Thou knowest also what is written in it, O enchantress!" said Olaj, in +a tone of homage, "therefore ask not." + +There was something in the yellow face of Olaj Beg which made him most +formidable, most menacing at the very time when he seemed to be utterly +abject in his humility. + +"What doth the Sublime Sultan command?" inquired Hassan, gazing +abstractedly in front of him. + +"That thou prepare a scaffold in the courtyard of thy palace by +to-morrow morning." + +"For whom?" inquired Hassan in alarm. It was curious that it was he who +trembled at this word, and not the Princess. + +"That is the secret of to-morrow. Thou shalt break open and read this +firman to-morrow, in it thou wilt find who is to die to-morrow." + +At these words Olaj Beg looked at the faces of all who were present, as +if he would read their innermost thoughts, but in vain. He recognised +none of those on whom his eyes fell. Although many of them seemed to be +great men he could not remember meeting any of them in the Empire of the +Grand Turk; and the face of Azrael was as cold and motionless as marble, +he could read nought from that. + +But Azrael had already read the sealed firman through the eyes of Olaj +Beg. + +She had read it, and it said that if by to-morrow morning the Princess +was not set free then the scaffold would be erected for her, but if she +had escaped, then it would be raised for Hassan and for whomsoever had +set her free. + +"I must hasten to set her free," she thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH. + + +The Angel of Death had already spread his wings over the palace of +Hassan. It was already known that on the morning of the morrow someone +of those who now dwelt beneath that roof would quit the world--only the +name of the condemned mortal was not pronounced. + +Till late at evening the carpenters were at work in front of the palace +gates, and every nail knocked into the fabric of the scaffold was +audible in the rooms. When the structure was ready they covered it with +red cloth, and placed upon it a three-legged chair and by the side of +the chair leaned a bright round headsman's sword. A gigantic Kurd then +mounted the scaffolding, and stamped about the floor with his big feet +to see whether it would break down beneath him. The chair was badly +placed, he observed it, put it right and shook his head while he did so. +To think that people did not understand how to set a chair! Then he +stripped his muscular arms to the shoulder, took up the sword in his +broad palm and tested the edge of it, running his fingers along the +blade as if it were some musical instrument and could not conceal his +satisfaction. Then he made some sweeping blows with it, and as if +everything was now in perfect order, he leaned it against the chair +again and descended the ladder like a man well content with himself. + +The hands of Hassan Pasha trembled unusually when that evening he locked +the golden padlocks on the hands of Azrael and Mariska. A hundred times +he tapped the key hidden in his girdle to convince himself that it had +not fallen out. + +Scarcely had he left the two women alone than he came back to them again +to ascertain whether he had really locked their hands together, for he +had forgotten all about it by the time he had reached the door. + +Then he came back a second time, looked all round the room, tapped the +walls repeatedly, for he was afraid or had dreamt that there was another +door somewhere which led out of the room. However, he convinced himself +at last that there was not. Then he went to the window and looked out. +There was a fall of fifteen feet to the bastions, and the ditch below +was planted with sharp stakes; all round the room there was nothing +whatever which could serve as a rope. The curtains were all of down and +feathers; the dresses were of the lightest transparent material; the +shawls which formed Azrael's turban and were twisted round her body were +the finest conceivable; and the garments the odalisk actually wore were +of silk, and so light that they stuck to the skin everywhere. + +Azrael saw through the mind of the Vizier. + +"Why dost though look at me?" she exclaimed aloud so that he trembled +all over; "thou dost suspect me. If thou fearest this woman whom thou +hast confided to me, take and guard her thyself." + +"Azrael," said Hassan meekly, "be not angry with me, at least not now." + +"Thou hast never suspected me, then?" + +"Have I not always loved thee? If even thou didst want my life would I +not trust it with thee?" + +"Then wander not about the room so. Go and rest!" + +"Rest to-night? The Messenger of Death stands before the door." + +"What care I about the Messenger of Death? I know _when_ I am going to +die! And _till_ then I will not lower my eyes before Death." + +"And when will Hassan die?" asked the Vizier, seizing the hand of his +favourite and watching eagerly for her answer with parted lips. + +"Thou wilt survive me a day and no longer," said Azrael. There was a +tremulousness in the intonation of her voice. She felt that what she +said was true. + +The tears trickled from Hassan's face, and he covered it with his hands. + +Then the imbecile old man kissed the robe of the odalisk again and +again, and folding her in his ardent embrace, actually sobbed over her. +And he kept on babbling: + +"Thou wilt die before me?" + +"So it is written in the book of the Future," said Azrael proudly; "so +long as thou seest me alive, have no fear of Death! But the sound of the +horn of the Angel of Death which summons me away will also be a signal +for thee to make ready." + +Hassan, having dried his tears, quitted Azrael's room, and on reaching +his own, sank down upon a divan, and was immediately overcome by sleep. + +When he had gone, Mariska knelt down before the bed on which her little +child was softly sleeping, and drawing a little ivory cross from her +breast, began to pray. + +Azrael touched her hand. + +"Pray not now, thou wilt have time to pray later." + +Mariska looked at her in wonder. + +"I? Are not the hours of my life numbered?" + +"No. Listen to my words and act accordingly. I will free thee." + +The Princess was astonished, she fancied she was dreaming. + +The odalisk now drew a small fine steel file from her girdle, and, +seizing the Princess's hand, began to file the chain from off it. + +After the first few rubs the sharp file bit deeply into the silver +circlet, but suddenly it stopped, and, press it as hard as she would, it +would bite the chain no more. + +"What is this? it won't go on. What is the chain made of? Even if it +were of steel, another steel would file it." + +Azrael hastily filed right round the whole of the link which Hassan's +smith had thought good to form of silver only on the outside, thinking +that the fraud would never be discovered, and behold, the hard +impervious substance which resisted the file was nothing but--glass. + +"Ah!" said Azrael, "all the better for us, the work will be quicker;" +and seizing an iron candlestick, she broke in pieces with a single blow +the whole of the glass chain which was only covered by a light varnish +of silver, only the two locked golden manacles remained in their hands. + +"We shall be ready all the sooner," she whispered to Mariska, "now we +must make haste and get you off." + +But Mariska still stood before her like one who knows not what is +befalling her. + +"Hast thou thought how we are to escape?" she inquired of Azrael. "The +guards of Hassan Pasha stand at every door, and all the doors have been +locked by his own hand. In front of the gates of the fortress the +sentinels have been doubled. I heard what commands he gave." + +"I have nought to do with doors or guards; we are going to escape +through the window." + +Mariska looked at Azrael incredulously; she fancied she had gone mad. +She could see nothing in the room by which they could descend from the +window, and below stood the thickly planted sharp stakes. + +"Help me to let down this gobaea ladder!" said Azrael, and quick as a +squirrel herself, she leaped on the edge of the great porcelain tub, and +thrust aside the vigorous shoots of the plant from its natural ladder +within, which grew right up to the roof and thence descended again to +its own roots. + +Mariska began to see that her companion knew what she was about. She +hastened to give her assistance, lowered the pliable trunk, and, +looking round to see if anyone was watching, bent the branches towards +the window. + +But still it was too short. The longest creepers only reached to the +edges of the palisade, and one could not count upon the green sprouts at +the end of the creepers. Even if the ladder which formed the flower were +attached to it, it would still not reach to the bottom of the trench. + +Azrael looked around the room to see if she could find anything. +Suddenly she had hit upon it. + +"Give me those scissors," she said to Mariska, and when the latter had +returned to her, the odalisk had already let down her flowing tresses. +Four long locks as black as night, reaching below her knee, the crown of +a woman's beauty which make men rejoice in her, were twining there on +the floor. + +"Give me the scissors!" she said to Mariska. + +"Wouldst thou cut off thy hair?" asked the Princess, holding back. + +"Yes, yes, what does it matter? It is wanted for the rope, and it will +be quite strong enough." + +"Rather cut off mine!" said Mariska. With noble emulation she took from +her head her small pearl haube, and loosened her own tresses, which, if +not so long and so full of colour, at least rivalled those of her +comrade in quantity. + +"Good; the two together will make the rope stronger," said Azrael; and +with that the two ladies began clipping off their luxurious locks one by +one with the little scissors. One marvellously beautiful tress after +another flowed from the head of the odalisk. When the last had fallen, a +tear-drop also followed it. + +Then she picked up the splendid tresses and began plaiting them together +into strong knots. + +"Wouldst thou ever have thought," said Azrael, "that the locks of thy +hair would be so intermingled?" + +Mariska gratefully pressed the hand of the odalisk. + +"How can I ever thank you for your goodness?" + +"Think not of it. Fate orders it so--and someone else," she muttered +softly. + +And now the attached ladder was long enough to reach the bottom of the +palisades. Then they pitched down all the pillows and cushions of the +divans till they covered the sharp stakes, so that their points might +not hurt the fugitives. Moreover, Azrael tied the tough shoots of the +gobaea to the cross piece of the window with the wraps of her turban and +girdle. + +"And now let me go first," said the odalisk, when all was ready; "if the +branches of the creeper do not break beneath me, then thou canst come +boldly after me, for thou and the child together are not heavier than I +am." + +The sky was dark and obscured by clouds; no one saw a white shape +descending from one of the black windows of the fortress down the wall, +lower and lower, till at last it got to the bottom and vanished in the +depths of the ditch. + +Mariska was waiting above there with a beating heart till the odalisk +had descended; a tug at the gobaea-rope informed her that Azrael was +already below, and Mariska could come after her. + +A supplicating sigh to God ascended from the anxious bosom of the +Princess at that supreme moment of trial; then she fastened to her +breast with the folds of her garment the little one, who, fortunately, +was still sound asleep, and stepping from the window entrusted herself +to the yawning abyss below. + +And, indeed, she had need of the most confident trust in God during this +hazardous experiment, for if the child had awoke, the Komparajis pacing +the bastions would have heard his tearful little wail at once, and it +would have been all over with the fugitives. + +Nothing happened. Mariska reached the ditch in safety, together with her +child. Azrael assisted her to descend, and then they began to creep +along among the trenches on the river's bank. It was not advisable to +clamber upon the trenches, as there they might have encountered a +sentinel at any moment. + +At last they came to the end of the ditch where two bastions joined +together, forming a little oblique opening, through which one could look +down on the town of Pesth. + +Before the little opening stood a Komparaji leaning on his long lance. +As his back was turned towards them, he did not notice the women, while +they started back in terror when they saw him. The man stood right in +front of the opening completely barring their way, and was gaping at +Pesth, facing the steep declivity. + +Azrael quickly caught Mariska's hand and whispered in her ear: + +"Remain here! Sit down with the child, and see that he does not make a +noise." + +And with that, quitting her companion and pressing against the wall of +the bastion, she slowly and noiselessly began creeping along behind the +back of the Komparaji. + +The sentinel remained standing there, as motionless as a statue, gazing +at the Danube flying in front of him, when suddenly, like the panther +leaping upon its prey, the odalisk leaped upon the Komparaji, and before +he had time to call out, pushed him so violently that he plunged over +into the abyss. + +Then quickly seizing Mariska's hand, the odalisk exclaimed: + +"And now forward quickly!" + +Like two spirits the forms of the women flitted across the bastions. In +Azrael's hand was the key of the castle garden; in a few moments they +reached the subterranean staircase, and when Azrael had locked the door +behind her she turned to Mariska and said: + +"Now thou canst pray, for thou art saved." + + * * * * * + +The report had already spread through the two towns that early at dawn +someone would be executed, and here and there people whispered that it +would be the Princess of Moldavia. + +The population living outside the town were able to give full reins to +their imagination, for the gates of the fortress, by Hassan Pasha's +command, were already locked fast at six o'clock in the evening, and +after that time nobody was allowed to enter out or in except the +sentinels outside, and these only by the Szombat gate. + +The later grew the hour the more numerous became the crowd assembled in +front of the gates thus unwontedly bolted and barred, consisting for the +most part of people who lived inside the town of every rank, who thus +waited patiently for the chance of reaching their houses again. Knocking +at the gates was useless, the guards had been ordered to take no notice +of such demonstrations. + +The darker grew the night, the more numerous became the throng before +the gate, and the more closely they pressed together the plainer it +became to them all that they would have to sleep outside. + +The largest concourse was in front of the Fejervar gate, for that was +the chief entrance. + +It was already close upon midnight, when some dozen horsemen, in the +uniforms of Spahis, arrived at the gate, forcing their way through the +throng, led, apparently, by a handsome youth (it was too dark to +distinguish very clearly), who thundered at the gate with the butt-end +of his lance. + +"You may bang away at it till morning," said a cobbler of Buda, who was +lying prone, chawing bacon at his ease, "they won't let you in." + +"Then why are you all here?" cried the youth in the purest Hungarian. + +"Because they locked us out at six o'clock in the evening, and would not +let us in." + +"Why was that?" + +"They say that at dawn of day someone in the fortress is to be +executed." + +"Who is it?" said the youth, visibly affected. + +"Why, the Princess of Moldavia, of course." + +"Oh, that cannot be in any case," exclaimed the leader of the Spahis. "I +have just come from the Sultan, and I have brought with me his firman, +in which he summons her to Stambul; not a hair of her head is to be +crumpled." + +"Then it will be just as well, sir, if you try to get into the fortress, +for it may be you have come with the sermon after the festival is over, +and that letter may remain in your pocket if once they cut off her +head." + +The youth seemed for a moment to be reflecting, then, turning to those +who stood around, he said: + +"Through which gate do they admit the soldiers on guard?" + +"Through the Szombat gate." + +The youth immediately turned his horse's head, and beckoned to his +comrades to follow him. + +But at the first words he had uttered, a figure enwrapped in a mantle +had emerged from a corner of the gate, and when he began to talk about +the Princess and the firman, this figure, with great adroitness, had +crept quite close to him, and when he turned round had swiftly followed +him till, having made its way through the throng, it overtook him, and, +placing its hand on the horseman's knee, said in a low voice: "Toekoely!" + +"Hush!" hissed the horseman, with an involuntary start, and bending his +head so that he might look into the face of his interlocutor, whereupon +his wonder was mingled with terror, and throwing himself back in his +saddle, he exclaimed: "Prince! can it be you?" + +For Prince Ghyka stood before him. + +"Could I be anywhere else when they want to kill my wife?" he said +mournfully. + +"Do not be cast down, there will be plenty of time till to-morrow +morning. I have plenty of confidence in my good star. When I really wish +for a thing I generally get it even if the Devil stand in the opposite +camp against me, and never have I wished for anything so much as to save +Mariska." + +The Prince, with tears in his eyes, pressed the hand of the youth, and +did not take it at all amiss of him that he called his wife Mariska. + +"Well, of course, you have brought the firman with you, and if you come +with the suite of the Sultan----" + +"Firman, my friend? I have not brought a bit of a firman with me, and +those who are with me are my good kinsfolk in Turkish costumes, worthy +Magyar chums everyone of them, who have agreed to help me through with +whatsoever I take it into my head to set about; but I have got something +about me which can make firmans and athnames, and whatever else I may +require, whether it be the key of a dungeon, or a marshal's baton, or a +prince's sceptre--a golden knapsack, I mean." + +"And what are you going to get with that?" + +"Everything. I will corrupt the sentinels so that they will let me into +the fortress; and once let me get in, and I'll either make Hassan Pasha +sell Olaj Beg, or Olaj Beg sell Hassan Pasha. If a good word be of no +avail I will use threats, and if my whole scheme falls through, Heaven +only knows what I won't do. I'll chop Hassan Pasha and his guards into a +dozen pieces, or I'll set the castle on fire, or I'll blow up the powder +magazine--in a word, I won't desist till I have brought out your +consort." + +"How can I thank you for your noble enthusiasm?" + +"You mustn't thank me, my friend; you must thank Flora Teleki, who is +your wife's friend, and expects this of me." + +"Then you are re-engaged?" + +"No, my friend. Helen is my bride. Ah, that is the only real woman in +the whole round world. I should be with her now if I were not engaged in +this business, and as soon as I have finished with it, the pair of us +will give you a wedding the like of which has never yet been seen in +Hungary." + +The Prince sadly bowed his head. He means well, he thought, but there is +a very poor chance of his succeeding. The mercurial youth seems to have +no idea that within an hour he will be jeopardizing his head by engaging +in a foolhardy enterprise which runs counter to the whole policy of the +Turkish Empire. But Toekoely's mind never impeded his heart. His motto +always was: "_Virtus nescia freni_." + +"Then what do you intend to do?" Toekoely casually asked Ghyka, just as if +he considered it the most extraordinary thing in the world to find him +there. + +"I also want to save Mariska, and I have hopes of doing so," said the +Prince. + +"How? Tell me! Perchance we may be able to unite our efforts." + +"Scarcely, I think. My plan is simply to give myself up instead of my +wife. They would execute her for my fault; it is only right that I +should appear on the scaffold and take her place." + +"A bad idea!" exclaimed Toekoely, "a stupid notion. If you deliver +yourself up, they will seize you as well as your wife and do for the +pair of you. I know a dodge worth two of that. Take horse along with us, +and let us make our way into the fortress sword in hand; we shall do +much more that way than if we went hobbling in on crutches. Luck belongs +to the audacious." + +"You know, Toekoely, that I do not much rely on Turkish humanity; and I am +quite prepared, if I deliver myself up, for them to kill both me and +her; but at least we shall die together, and that will be some +consolation." + +"It is no good talking like that," cried the young Magyar impatiently. +"Stop! A good idea occurs to me. Yes, and it will be better if you come +with us and we all act in common. We will say openly at the gate that we +bring with us the fugitive Prince of Moldavia as a captive. At the mere +rumour of such a thing they will instantly admit us, not only into the +fortress, but into the presence of Hassan likewise. The Pasha knows me +pretty well, and if I tell him that I bring you a captive, he will +believe me, or I'll break his head for him. He will be delighted to see +you. But I will not give you up. I am responsible for you, and must +mount guard over you. This will make it necessary to postpone the +execution, for we shall have to write to Stambul that the husband has +fallen into our hands, and inquire whether the wife is to be sacrificed, +and we shall have time to elope ten times over before we get a reply." + +The Prince hesitated. If this desperate expedient had been a mere joke, +Toekoely could not have spoken of it with greater nonchalance. The Prince +gave him his hand upon it. + +"The only question now is: which is the easiest way into the fortress. +Let us draw near the first sentinel whom we find on the bridge or in the +garden and wait until they change guard." + +The horsemen thereupon surrounded the Prince as if he was their captive, +and escorted him along the river's bank. + +It was late. On the black surface of the Danube rocked the shapeless +Turkish vessels, their sails creaking in the blast of the strong south +wind. + +It was scarce possible to see ahead at all, nevertheless the little band +of adventurers, constantly pushing forward, kept looking around to see +where the sentinels were, keeping very quiet themselves that they might +catch the watchword. + +Suddenly a cry was heard, but a cry which ended abruptly, as if the +mouth from which it proceeded had been clapped to in mid-utterance. + +On reaching the walls of the palace garden, however, one of them +perceived that an armed figure was standing in the little wicket gate. + +"There's the sentinel!" said Toekoely. + +"The rascal must certainly be asleep to let us come right up to him +without challenging us," said Toekoely; and he approached the armed man, +who still stood motionless in the gate, and addressed him in the Turkish +tongue: + +"Hie, Timariot, or whoever you are! Are you guarding this gate?" + +"You see that I am." + +"Then why don't you challenge those who approach you?" + +"That's none of my business." + +"Then what is your business?" + +"To stand here till I am relieved." + +"And when will they relieve you?" + +"Any time." + +"Does the relief watch come by this gate?" + +"Not by this gate." + +"And by which gate can one get into the fortress?" + +"By no gate." + +"You give very short answers, my friend, but we must get at Hassan Pasha +this very night without fail." + +"You must learn to fly then." + +"Don't joke with me, sir! I have very important tidings for the Vizier; +you may possibly find it easier to get into the fortress than we could. +You shall receive from me a hundred ducats on the spot if you inform the +Pasha that I, Emeric Toekoely, bring with me as a captive the fugitive +Prince of Moldavia, and the Vizier himself will certainly reward you for +it richly." + +The Count had no sooner mentioned his name, and pointed at the captive +prince, than the Turkish sentinel quickly came forth from beneath the +archway, and Toekoely and Ghyka, in astonishment, exclaimed with one +voice: + +"Feriz Beg!" + +"Yes, 'tis I. Keep still. You want to save Mariska, so do I." + +"So it is," said Toekoely. "I promised the woman I do not love that I +would do it, and I will keep my promise. You need have no secrets from +us, for we shall require your assistance." + +"Your secrets are nought to me." + +The Prince listened with downcast head to the conversation of the two +young men; then he intervened, took their hands, and said with deep +emotion: + +"Feriz! Toekoely! Once upon a time we faced each other as antagonists, and +now as self-sacrificing friends we hold each other's hands. I don't want +to be smaller than you. A scaffold has been put up in the courtyard of +the fortress of Buda, that scaffold awaits a victim, whoever it may be, +for the sword which the Sultan draws in his wrath will not remain +unsatisfied. That scaffold was prepared for my wife, you must let me +take her place. I am well aware that whoever liberates her must be +prepared to perish instead of her. Let me perish. You, Feriz, can easily +get into the fortress. Tell Hassan that the scaffold shall have the +husband instead of the wife--let him surrender the wife for the +husband." + +"Leave the scaffold alone, Prince. He who deserves it most shall get to +the scaffold." + +"Don't listen to the Prince!" said Toekoely to Feriz; "he has lost his +head evidently, as he wants to make a present of it to Hassan. All I ask +of you is to let me into the fortress; once let me get inside, and no +harm shall be done. I was born with a caul, so good-luck goes with me." + +"Good. Wait here till the muezzin proclaims midnight, which will not be +long, I fancy, as the night is already well advanced; meanwhile, keep +your eye on those horsemen below there." + +The men fancied Feriz wanted to join the sentinels when the watch was +relieved, and taking him at his word, hid themselves and their horses +behind the lofty bank. + +The night was now darker than ever, only here and there a lofty star +looked down upon them from among the wind-swept clouds. + + * * * * * + +Hassan had a restless night. Horrible dreams awoke him every instant, +and yet he never wholly awoke, one phantom constantly supplanted the +other in his agitated brain. + +The raging blast broke open one of the windows and beat furiously +against the wall, so that the coloured glasses crashed down upon the +floor. + +Aroused by the uproar, and gazing but half awake at the window, he saw +the long curtain slowly approaching him as if some Dzhin were inside and +had come thither to terrify him. + +"Who is that?" cried Hassan in terror, laying his hand on his sword. + +It was no one. It was only the wind which had stiffened out the +curtains, expanding them like a banner and blowing gustily into the +room. + +Hassan seized the curtain, pulled it away from the window, fastened it +up by its golden tassels, and laid him down again. The wind returned to +torment him and again worried the curtain till it had succeeded in +unravelling the tassels, and again blew the curtain into the room. + +And then the tapestries of the door and the divans began fluttering and +flapping as if someone was tugging away at their ends, and the flame of +the night-lamp on the tripod flickered right and left, casting galloping +shadows on the wall. + +"What is that? Have the devils been let loose in this palace?" Hassan +asked himself in amazement. + +The closed doors jarred in the blast as if someone was banging at them +from the outside, and every now and then the bang of a window-shutter +would respond to the howling of the blast. + +Men have curious supernatural faculties through which their minds are +suddenly illuminated. At that moment the idea flashed through Hassan's +brain that, in the apartments of the wing beyond, a window must needs be +open, which was the cause of the unwonted current of air which fluttered +the curtains of his palace and made the doors rattle, and this window +could be none other than Azrael's, and if it were open, then the two +women must have escaped. + +At this horrible idea he quickly leaped out on to the floor, seized his +sword, which was lying at his bedside, and, bursting open the door, +rushed like a madman through all the apartments to Azrael's dormitory. + +At the instant of their escape Azrael had turned over the long divan and +placed it right across the room in such a way that one end of it was +jammed against the door, whilst the other end pressed against the wall, +so that when Hassan tried to open the door, he found it impossible to do +so. + +Everything was now quite clear to him. + +He called to nobody to open the door; he knew that they had escaped. In +the fury of despair he snatched a battle-axe from the wall and began to +break open the hard oaken door, so that the whole palace resounded with +the noise of the blows, and the guards and the domestics all came +running up together. + +Having beaten in the door at last, Hassan rushed into the room, cast a +glance around, and even _his_ eyes could see that his slave had flown. + +Howling with rage he rushed to the window, and when he saw the dependent +branches of the gobaea, he beat his forehead with his fists and laughed +aloud as if something had broken loose inside him. + +"They have run off!" he yelled; "they have escaped, they have stolen +their lives, and they have stolen my life, too. Run after them into +every corner of the globe, pursue them, bring them back tied together, +tied together so that the blood may flow through their fingers. Oh, +Azrael, Azrael! How have I deserved this of thee?" + +And with that the old man burst into tears, and perceiving the +odalisk's girdle on the window-frame, to which the plant was attached, +he took it down, kissed it hundreds of times, hid his tearful face in +it, and collapsed senseless on the floor. + + * * * * * + +"Hasten, Princess, hasten!" + +The odalisk pressed her companion's hand, and dragged her down along the +bushy hillside. And now they had reached the hollow forming the entrance +to the underground passage which terminated at the gates of the garden +on the banks of the Danube. + +The odalisk had succeeded in filching the keys of the door of this +secret passage from Hassan. While she was trying which of the two it was +that belonged to the lock of the inner door, a cry resounded through the +stillness of the night. "Hassan!" exclaimed the two girls together. They +had recognised the voice. + +"They have discovered our escape," said Azrael. + +"Oh, God! do not leave me!" cried Mariska, pressing her hands together. +"My child!" + +Azrael quickly opened the grating door. It took a few moments, and +during that time a commotion was audible in the town, no doubt caused by +the cry of Hassan. Cries of alarm and consternation spread from bastion +to bastion, the whole garrison was aroused, and there was a confused +murmur within the fortress. + +"Let us hasten!" cried Azrael, quickly opening the door and dragging +after her the Princess into the blind-black corridor. + +At that moment a cannon-shot thundered from the fortress as an +alarm-signal. + +Mariska, at the sound of the shot, collapsed in terror at Azrael's feet, +and lay motionless in the corridor, still holding her child fast clasped +in her arms. + +"Hah! the woman has fainted," cried the odalisk in alarm; "we shall +both perish here," she cried in her despair. + +The din in the fortress grew louder every instant, from every bastion +the signal-guns thundered. + +"No, no, we must not perish!" exclaimed the heroine, and with a strength +multiplied by the extremity of the danger, she caught up the moaning +woman and child in her arms, and raising them to her bosom began making +her way with them along the covered corridor. + +Pitch darkness engulfed everything around them; the odalisk groped her +way along by the feel of the wet, sinuous walls, stumbling from time to +time beneath the burden of the dead weight in her arms, but at every +fresh shot she started forward again and went on without resting. + +Onwards, ever onwards!--till the last gasp! till the last heart-throb! +The awakened child also began to cry. + +Azrael's knees tottered, her bosom heaved beneath the double load, her +staring eyes saw nothing; and the world was as dark before her soul as +it was before her eyes. + +Heavy was the load upon her shoulder; but heavier still was the thought +in her heart that this woman whom she was saving at the risk of her own +life was the darling of him whom she loved herself, yet save her she +must, for she had promised to do so. + +At every step she felt her strength diminishing; with swimming head she +staggered against the wall, the steps seemed to have no end; if only she +could hold out till she reached the door with her, and then for a moment +might see Feriz Beg and hear from his lips the words: "Well done!"--then +Israfil, the Angel of Death might come with his flaming sword. + +For some time she had gathered from the hollower resonance of the steps +in the darkness that she was approaching the door; rallying her +remaining strength, she tottered forward a few paces with her load, and +when the latch of the door was already in her hand, her knees gave way +beneath her, and along with the Princess and the child, she fell in a +heap on the threshold, being just able to shove the key into the lock +and turn it twice. + + * * * * * + +Feriz Beg, with the Magyar nobles, plunged again beneath the shade of +the deep arch of the gate of the fortress garden and with wrapt +attention listened for the muezzin to proclaim midnight. It was then +that Azrael had said she would come. + +It never occurred to him that the woman could not come, so deeply had he +looked into her heart that he felt sure she would fulfil her promise. + +If only the muezzin would proclaim midnight from the mosque. + +At last a cry sounded through the stillness of the night, but it was not +the voice of the muezzin from the mosque, but Hassan's yell of terror +from the fortress window and the din which immediately followed it, +proclaiming that there was danger. + +Feriz's heart was troubled, but he never moved from the spot. He knew +right well what that noise meant. They had tried to help the Princess to +escape and her escape was discovered. + +"What is that noise?" asked the Prince apprehensively, sticking up his +head. + +Feriz did not want to alarm him. + +"It is nothing," he answered. "Some one has stolen away on the bastions, +perhaps, and they are pursuing him." + +Then the first cannon-shot resounded. + +Feriz, for the first time in his life, was agitated at the sound of a +cannon. + +"That is an alarm-signal," cried Toekoely, drawing his sword. + +"Keep quiet!" whispered Feriz, "perhaps they are shooting at the people +who are thronging the gates." + +Nevertheless the shots were repeated from every bastion; the tumult, +the uproar increased; a tattoo was beaten, the trumpets rang out and a +whole concourse of people could be seen running along the bastions with +torches and flashing swords in their hands. + +"They are pursuing someone!" cried the Prince, and unable to endure it +any longer, he leaped upon the bank. + +"I know not what it is," stammered Feriz, and a cold shudder ran through +his body. + +Ghyka grasped his sword, and would have rushed up the hill as if obeying +some blind instinct. + +"What would you do?" whispered Feriz, grasping the hand of the Prince, +and pulling him back by force under the gate. + +For a few moments they stood there in a dead silence, the tumult, the +uproar seemed to be coming nearer and nearer--if it were to overtake +them? + +"Hush!" whispered Feriz, holding his ear close to the door. He seemed to +hear footsteps approaching from within and the plaintive wail of a +child. + +A few moments afterwards there was a fumbling at the latch and a key was +thrust into the lock and twice turned. Feriz hastened to open the door +and the senseless forms of the two women fell at his feet. + +The youth quickly dragged the Prince after him, and recognising Mariska, +who still lay in the embrace of Azrael, he placed her in her husband's +arms together with the weeping child. + +"Here are your wife and child," said he, "and now hasten!" + +"Mariska!" exclaimed the Prince, beside himself; and embracing the child +whom he now saw for the first time, he kissed the rosy face of the one +and the pallid face of the other again and again. + +That voice, that kiss, that embrace awoke the fainting woman, and as +soon as she opened her eyes, she quickly, passionately, flung her arms +round her husband's neck while he held the child on his arm. No sound +came from her lips, all her life was in her heart. + +"Quick! quick!" Feriz whispered to them. "Get into this skiff. When you +get to the other side it will be time to rejoice in each other; till +then we have cause to fear, for the whole of the Buda side of the river +is on the alert. But I'll look after them here. On the other bank my +servant is awaiting you with the swift horses; mention my name, and he +will hand them over to you. On the banks of the Raab you will find +another of my servants with fresh relays. Choose your horses, and then +to Nograd as fast as you can. Thence it will be easy to escape into +Poland. Do not linger. Every moment is precious. Forward!" + +With that he conducted the fugitives to the skiff which was ready +waiting for them, and at the bottom of which two muscular servants of +his were lying out of sight. These helped them in, Feriz undid the rope, +and at a few strokes of the oars they were already some distance from +the shore. + +Then only did Feriz breathe freely, as if a huge load had fallen from +his heart. + +"May they not pursue them?" inquired Toekoely anxiously. + +"They may," returned Feriz; "but they cannot transport the horses in +boats, as the fugitives now sit in the only boat here; the bridge, too, +has been removed and they will hardly be able to build another in time +on such a night as this." + +The fugitives had now reached the middle of the Danube, when Mariska, +who had scarce been herself for joy and terror in her half-unconscious +state, suddenly bethought her of her companion who had saved her with +such incomprehensible self-sacrifice and energy, and standing up in the +skiff waved her handkerchief as if she would thereby make up for the +leave-taking which she had neglected in her joy and haste. + +"What are they doing?" cried Feriz angrily, seeing that they were +attracting attention in consequence. + +Fortunately the night was dark and the people rushing down from the +bastions could not see the skiff making its way across the Danube; +presently its shape even began to vanish out of sight of the young eyes +that were watching it. + +Feriz looked up to the sky with a transfigured face. Two stars, close +together, looked down very brightly from amidst the fleeting clouds. Did +he not see Aranka's eyes in that twin stellar radiance? + +Toekoely took the hands of the young hero and pressed them hard. + +"Once before we stood face to face," he said with a feeling voice, which +came from the bottom of his heart, "then I prevailed, now you prevail. +God be with you!" + +Then the young Count mounted his horse, and beckoning to his comrades, +galloped off in the direction of Gellerthegy. + +Feriz stood there alone on the shore with folded arms and tried to +distinguish once more the shape of the skiff already vanishing in the +darkness. + +Nobody thought of the poor odalisk who had saved them. + +All at once the youth felt the contact of a burning hand upon his arm. +Broken in mind and body, the odalisk dragged herself to his knees, and +seizing his hand drew it to her breast and to her lips. She could not +speak, she could only sob and weep. + +Feriz looked at her compassionately. + +"Thou hast done well," he said gently. + +The girl embraced the youth's knees, and it was well with her that he +suffered her to do so. + +"I thank thee for keeping thy word," said Feriz; "look now! that woman +was not my beloved. She has a husband who loves her." + +Indescribably sweet were these words to the damsel. In them she found +the sweetest reward for her sufferings and self-sacrifice. Then it was +not love after all which made Feriz save this woman through her! + +The uproar meanwhile was extending along the shore, the pursuers could +see that they were on the track of the fugitives. + +"We must be off," said Feriz; "wouldst thou like to come with me?" + +"Come with him!" What a thought was that for Azrael! To be able to live +under the same roof with him! + +Yet she answered: "I will not come." + +It occurred to her that if she were found with the dear youth he would +perish because of her. And besides, she knew that the invitation was due +not to love but to magnanimous gratitude. + +"I want to go over to the island," she said in a faint voice. + +"Then I'll help thee to find thy skiff," said the youth, extending his +hand to the odalisk to raise her up. + +She was still kneeling on the ground before him. + +She fixed upon him her large eyes swimming with tears, and whispered in +a tremulous voice: + +"Feriz! Thou wert wont to reward those damsels who sacrificed themselves +for thee, who died nobly and valiantly because they loved thee. Have not +I also won that reward?" + +Feriz Beg sadly lowered his head as if it afflicted him to think of the +significance of these words; then softly, gently, he bent over the +damsel, and drawing her lovely head towards him, pressed a warm, feeling +kiss on her marble forehead. + +The odalisk trembled with rapture beneath the load of that more than +earthly sensation of pleasure, and leaping up and stretching her arms to +Heaven, she whispered: + +"I am happy!--For the first time in my life. Now I may go--and die." + +Feriz, tenderly embracing her, led the damsel to her skiff. Then she +stopped suddenly, and leaning her head against the shoulder of the +youth, murmured in his ear: + +"When thou reachest thy kiosk, lie not down to sleep! Sit at thy window +and look towards the island in the direction of sunrise. The night will +be over ere long, and the dawn will come sooner than at other times. +When thou seest this portent think of me and say for me the prayer which +is used before the cold dawn, and say from thy heart: 'That woman does +penance for her sins!'" + +The odalisk felt two tear-drops falling upon her cheek. They fell from +the eyes of the youth. + +She could never feel happier in this world than she felt now. + +A few minutes later the skiff was flying over the rocking waves. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE VICTIM. + + +The Princess was saved, but she who had saved her was doomed. + +Along the banks of the rivers, and on the summits of the bastions, +alarm-beacons had been kindled announcing the flight of the fugitives. +It was late. On the shore the swift Arab horses of the pursuers were +racing with the wind. But the wind was not idle, but blew and raged and +fought with the foaming waves of the Danube, and tossed and pitched +about every little boat that lay upon it. + +There was only one skiff, however, that ventured to cross the Danube and +rise and fall with its billows, which were like the waves of the sea. A +white form stood stonily motionless in the boat, and the blast kept +twisting its soft garments round its body. The trembling boatman called +upon the name of Allah. + +"Fear not, when you carry me," Azrael said to him, and her eyes hung +upon a star which shone above her head, shining through the tatters of +the scurrying clouds. + +The skiff reached the shore of the Margaret island. The damsel got out, +and her last bracelet dropped from her hand into the hand of the +boatman. + +"Remember me, and begone." + +"Dost thou remain here?" + +"No." + +"Whither wilt thou go?" + +Azrael answered nothing, but pointed mutely to the sky. + +The boatman did not understand much about it; but, anyhow, he understood +that he could not give the damsel a lift up there, so he drew back his +canoe and departed. + +Azrael remained alone on the island, quite alone; for that day everyone +had been withdrawn by command of the Vizier; the damsels, the guards, +and the eunuchs had all migrated to the fortress, the paradise was empty +and uninhabited. + +Azrael strolled the whole length of the shore of the island. The mortars +were still thundering down from the fortress, the horsemen were still +shouting on the river's bank, the signal fires were blazing on the +bastions, the night was dark, the wind blew tempestuously and scattered +the leaves of the trees--but she saw neither the beacon fires, nor the +darkness; she heard neither the tumult of men nor the howling of the +blast; in her soul there was the light of heaven and an angelic harmony +with which no rumour, no shape of the outer world would intermingle. + +She came to the kiosk in the centre of the island. Wandering aimlessly +she had hit upon the labyrinthine way to it unawares. The sudden view of +the summer-house startled her, and it awoke a two-fold sensation in her +heart, it appealed equally to her memory and her imagination. She +bethought her of the resolve she had made on coming to the island. She +remembered that when she parted from the youth of her heart she had +said: "When thou comest to thy kiosk, do not lie down to sleep; sit down +at thy window, and look towards the island in the direction of the dawn. +This night will be soon over, and the dawn will dawn more quickly than +at other times. When thou seest it think of me and say for me the prayer +of direction for the departing." + +She reflected that the youth must now be sitting at the window, looking +towards the island, with his fine eyes weary of staring into the +darkness. She would not weary those fine eyes for long. + +She hastily opened the door with her silver key and entered the hall. A +hanging lamp was burning in the room just as the servants had left it in +the morning. She drew forth a wax taper, and having lit it, proceeded to +the other rooms, which opened one out of another, and whose floors were +covered by precious oriental carpets, whose walls were inlaid with all +manner of woods brought from foreign countries, and covered with +tapestries, all splendid masterpieces of eastern art; the atmosphere of +the rooms was heavy with intoxicating perfumes. + +All this was frightful, abominable to her now. As she walked over the +carpets, it was as if she were stepping on burning coals; when she +inhaled the scented atmosphere, it was as though she were breathing the +corruption of the pestilence; everything in these rooms awoke memories +of sin and disgust in her heart--costly costumes, porcelain vases, +silver bowls, all of them the playthings of loathsome moments, whose +keenest punishment was that she was obliged to remember them. + +But they shall all perish. And if they all perish, if these symbols of +sin and the hundred-fold more sinful body itself become dust, then +surely the soul will remember them no more? Surely it will depart far, +far away--perchance to that distant star--and will be happy like the +others who are near to God and know nothing of sin, but are full of the +comfort of the infinite mercy of God, who has permitted them to escape +from hence? + +With the burning torch in her hand she went all through the rooms, +tearing down the curtains and tapestries, and piling them all on the +divan; and when she entered the last of the rooms she saw a pale white +figure coming towards her from its dark background. The shape was as +familiar to her as if she had seen it hundreds of times, although she +knew not where; and its face was so gentle, so unearthly--a grief not of +this world suffused its handsome features and the joy of heaven flashed +from its calm, quiet eyes--its hair clung round its head in tiny curls, +as guardian-angels are painted. + +The damsel gazed appalled at this apparition. She fancied Heaven had +sent her the messenger of the forgiveness of her sins; but it was her +own figure reflected from a mirror concealed in the dark +background--that gentle, downcast, sorrowful face, those pure, shining +eyes she had never seen in a mirror before; the cut-off hair increased +the delusion. + +Tremblingly she sank on her knees before this apparition, and touching +the ground with her face, lay sobbing there for some time; and when she +again rose up, it appeared to her as if that apparition extended towards +her its snow-white arms full of pity, full of compassion; and when she +raised her hands to Heaven it also pointed thither, raising a face +transformed by a sublime desire. No, she could not recognise that face +as her own, never before had she seen it so beautiful. + +Azrael placed her hands devoutly across her breast and beckoned to the +apparition to follow her, and raising the curtain she returned into that +room where she had already raised a funeral pyre for herself. + +There, piled up together, lay cushions of cloth of gold, Indian +feather-stuffs, divans filled with swansdown, light, luxurious little +tables, harps of camphor-wood adorned with pearls, lutes with the +silvery voices of houris, a little basin filled with fine fragrant oils +composed from the aroma of a thousand oriental flowers; this she +everywhere sprinkled over the heaped-up stuff, and also saturated the +thick carpets with it, the volatile essence filled the whole atmosphere. + +Then she pressed her hand upon her throbbing heart, and said: "God be +with me!" + +And then she fired the heaped-up materials at all four corners, and, as +if she were ascending her bridal bed, mounted her cushions with a +smiling, triumphant face, and lay down among them, closing her eyes with +a happy smile. + +In a few moments the flames burst forth at all four corners, fed freely +by the light dry stuff, and combining above her like a wave of fire, +formed a flaming canopy over her head. And she smiled happily, sweetly, +all the time. The air, filled with volatile oil, also burst into flame, +turning into a sea of burning blue; white clouds of smoke began to +gather above the pyre; the strings of the harp caught by the flames +burst asunder one by one from their burning frame, emitting tremulous, +woeful sounds as if weeping for her who was about to die. When the last +harp-string had burnt--the odalisk was dead. + + * * * * * + +The night was now drawing to a close. Feriz Beg, quietly intent, was +sitting at the window of his kiosk, as he had promised the odalisk. He +had not understood her mysterious words, but he did as she asked, for he +knew instinctively that it was the last wish of one about to die. + +Suddenly, as he gazed at the black waves of the Danube and the still +blacker clouds in the sky, he saw a bright column of fire ascend with +the rapidity of the wind from the midst of the opposite island, driving +before it round white clouds of smoke. A few moments later the flames of +the burning kiosk lit up the whole region. The startled inhabitants +gazed at the splendid conflagration, whose flames mounted as high as a +tower in the roaring blast. Nobody thought of saving it. + +"No human life is lost, at any rate," they said quietly; "the harem and +its guards were transferred yesterday." + +The wind, too, greatly helped the fire. The kiosk, built entirely of the +lightest of wood, was a heap of ashes by the morning, when Feriz, +accompanied by the muederris in his official capacity, got into a skiff +and were rowed across to the island. Not even a remnant of embers was to +be found, everything had been burnt to powder. Nothing was to be seen +but a large, black, open patch powdered with ashes. The fire had +utterly consumed the abode of sin and vice. Nothing remained but a black +spot. In the coming spring it will be a green meadow. + + * * * * * + +In the afternoon of the following day we see a familiar horseman +trotting up to the gates of the fortress--if we mistake not, it is Yffim +Beg. + +All the way from Klausenburg he had been cudgelling his brains to find +words sufficiently dignified to soften the expression of the insulting +message which the Estates of Transylvania had sent through him to his +gracious master. On arriving in front of Hassan's palace he dismounted +as usual, without asking any questions, and gave the reins to the +familiar eunuchs that they might lead the horse to the stables. + +There was no trace of the scaffold that had been erected in front of the +gate the day before. Yffim Beg entered and passed through all the rooms +he knew so well, all the doors of which were still guarded by the +drabants of Hassan as of yore; at last he reached Hassan's usual +audience chamber, and there he found Olaj Beg sitting on a divan reading +the Alkoran. + +Yffim Beg gazed around him, and after a brief inspection, not +discovering what he sought, he addressed Olaj Beg: + +"I want to speak to Hassan Pasha," said he. + +Olaj Beg looked at him, rose with the utmost aplomb, and approached a +table on which was a silver dish covered by a cloth. This cloth he +removed, and a severed bloody head stared at Yffim Beg with stony eyes. + +"There he is--speak to him!" said Olaj Beg gently. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +OTHER TIMES--OTHER MEN. + + +Great men are the greatest of all dangers to little States. There are +men born to be great generals who die as robber-chiefs. If Michael +Teleki had sat at the head of a great kingdom, his name perchance would +have ranked with that of Richelieu, and that kingdom would have been +proud of the years during which he governed it. It was his curse that +Transylvania was too small for his genius, but it was also the curse of +Transylvania that he was greater than he ought to have been. + +The Battle of St. Gothard was a painful wound to Turkish glory, and it +left behind it a constant longing for revenge, though a ten-years' peace +had actually been concluded; and presently a more favourable opportunity +than the prognostications of the Ulemas or the wisdom of the Lords of +Transylvania anticipated presented itself, an opportunity far too +favourable to be neglected. + +Treaty obligations had compelled the Kaiser to take part in the War of +the Spanish Succession against Louis XIV., and the Kaiser's enemies at +once saw that the time for raising their standards against him had +arrived. The war was to begin from Transylvania, and the reward dangled +before the Prince of Transylvania for his participation in this war was +what his ancestors had often but vainly attempted to gain in the same +way--the Kingdom of Hungary. + +It was, of course, a dangerous game to risk one kingdom in order to gain +another, for both might be sacrificed. There was even a party in +Transylvania itself which was indisposed to risk the little Principality +for the sake of the larger kingdom, and though the most powerful arm of +this party, Dionysius Banfy, had been cut off, it still had two powerful +heads in Paul Beldi and Nicholas Bethlen. + +So one fine day at the Diet assembled at Fogaras, the Prince's guard +suddenly surrounded the quarters of Paul Beldi and Nicholas Bethlen, and +informed those gentlemen that they were State prisoners. + +What had they done? What crime had they committed that they should be +arrested so unceremoniously? + +Good Michael Apafi believed that they were aiming at the princely +coronet. This was a crime he was ready to believe in at a single word, +and he urged the counsellors who had ordered the arrest at once to put +the law into execution against the arrestants. But that is what these +gentlemen took very good care not to do. It was much easier to kill the +arrestants outright than to find a law which would meet their case. + +In those days worthy Master Cserei was the commandant of the fortress of +Fogaras, and the castle in which the arrestants were lodged was the +property of the Princess. As soon as Anna heard of the arrest she +summoned Cserei, and showing him the signet-ring on her finger, said to +him: "Look at that ring, and whatever death-warrant reaches you, if it +bears not the impression of that seal, you will take care not to execute +the prisoners; the castle is mine, so you have to obey my orders rather +than the orders of the Prince." + +The Prince and his wife then returned together to Fejervar. On the day +after their arrival the chief men of the realm met together in council +at the Prince's palace, and it was Teleki's idea that only those should +remain to dinner who were of the same views as himself. So they all +remained at the Prince's till late in the evening, and thoroughly +enjoyed the merry jests of the court buffoon, Gregory Biro, who knew no +end of delightful tricks, and swallowed spoons and forks so dextrously +that nobody could make out what had become of them. + +Apafi had not noticed how much he had drunk, for every time he had +filled his beaker from the flagon standing beside him, the flagon itself +had been replenished, so that he fancied he had drunk nothing from sheer +forgetfulness. But his face had got more inflamed and bloodshot than +usual, and suddenly perceiving that the chair next to his was empty, he +exclaimed furiously: "Who else has bolted? It is Denis Banfy who has +bolted now, I know it is. What has become of Denis Banfy, I say?" + +The gentlemen were all silent; only Teleki was able to reply: + +"Denis Banfy is dead." + +"Dead?" inquired Apafi, "how did he die?" + +"Paul Beldi formed a league against him and he was beheaded." + +"Beldi?" cried Apafi, rising from his seat in blind rage, "and where is +that man?" + +"He is in a dungeon at present, but it will not be long before he sits +on the throne of the Prince." + +"On the scaffold, you mean!" thundered Apafi, beside himself, in a +bloodthirsty voice, "on the scaffold, not the throne. I'll show that +crafty Szekler who I am if he raises his head against me. Call hither +the protonotarius, the law must be enforced." + +"The sentences are now ready, sir," said Nalaczi, drawing from his +pocket three documents of equal size; "only your signature is required." + +He was also speedily provided with ink and a pen, which they thrust into +the trembling hand of the Prince, indicating to him at the same time the +place on the document where he was to sign his name. The thing was done. + +"Is there any stranger among us?" asked Teleki, looking suspiciously +around. + +"Only the fool, but he doesn't count." + +The fool at that moment was making a sword dance on the tip of his nose, +and on the sword he had put a plate, and he kept calling on the +gentlemen to look at him--he certainly had paid no attention to what was +going on at the table. + +The three letters were three several commands. The first was directed to +Cserei, telling him to put the prisoners to death at once; the second +was to the provost-marshal, Zsigmond Boer, to the effect that if Cserei +showed any signs of hesitation he was to be killed together with the +gentlemen; the third was to the garrison of the fortress, impressing +upon them in case of any hesitation on the part of the provost to make +an end of him forthwith along with the others. All three letters, sealed +with yellow wax, were handed over to Stephen Nalaczi, who, placing them +in his kalpag, pressed his kalpag down upon his head and hastened +quickly from the room. He had to pass close to the jester on his way +out, and the fool, rushing upon him, exclaimed. "O ho! you have got on +my kalpag; off with it, this is yours!" and before Nalaczi had recovered +from his surprise he found a cap and bells on his head instead of a +kalpag. + +The magnate considered this jest highly indecent, and seized the jester +by the throat. + +"You scoundrel, you, where have you put my kalpag? Speak, or I'll +throttle you." + +"Don't throttle me, sir," said the jester apologetically, "for then you +would be the biggest fool at the court of the Prince." + +"My kalpag!" cried Nalaczi furiously, "where have you put it?" + +"I have swallowed it, sir." + +"You worthless rascal," roared Nalaczi, throttling the jester, "would +you play your pranks with me!" + +"Truly, sir, I shall not be able to bring it up again if you press my +throat like that." + +"Stop, I mean to search you," said Nalaczi; and he began to tear up the +coat of the jester, whereupon the kalpag came tumbling out from between +its folds. "You clumsy charlatan," laughed Nalaczi, "well, you hid it +very well, I must say." Then he put on his kalpag again, in which were +all three letters well sealed with yellow wax, but he now hastened +outside as rapidly as possible in case the fool should spirit them away +again. + +The same night he galloped to Fogaras, though it cost him his horse to +get there, summoned Cserei, and giving him the letter addressed to him +said: + +"You, sir, are to execute this strict command to the very letter." + +The commandant took the letter, broke the seal, and then looked at the +magnate in amazement: + +"I know not, sir, whether you or I have been made a fool of--but there's +not a scrap of writing in this letter." + +Nalaczi incredulously examined the letter. It was a perfect blank. +Hastily he broke open the other two letters. In these also there was +nothing but the bare paper. + +The fool, while the nobleman was throttling him, had substituted blanks +for the letters sent, and sent the sentences the same evening to the +Princess, who thereby had discovered all that the Prince and his +councillors were doing. + +In the morning the Princess went to Apafi with the three sentences in +her hand, and reproached him for wanting to murder his ministers. + +The worthy Prince was amazed at seeing these orders signed by himself. +He knew nothing about it, and embracing his wife, thanked her for +watching over him and not allowing him to send forth such orders. As for +Nalaczi, the shame of the thing made it impossible for him to show +himself at Court, and he could only nourish a grudge against the fool. + +This accident greatly upset the worthy Prince, and he immediately rushed +to release the captives. First of all, however, they had to sign deeds +in which they solemnly engaged not to seek to revenge themselves on +their accusers. + +Paul Beldi was wounded to the heart, but he regarded this calamity as a +just retribution for having been the first to sign the league[18] +against Denis Banfy; it was a weapon which now recoiled upon himself. + + [Footnote 18: See "'Midst the Wild Carpathians," Book + II., Chapter VII.] + +But this private grief was the least of his misfortunes, for while Paul +Beldi and Nicholas Bethlen had been sitting in their dungeon the war +party had had a free hand, so that when the two gentlemen were released +they were astounded to learn from their partisans that only the sanction +of the Divan was now necessary for a rupture of the peace. + +Beldi perceived that to remain silent any longer would be equivalent to +looking on while the State rushed to its destruction. He immediately +assembled all those who were of the same opinion as himself--Ladislaus +Csaky, John Haller, George Kapy--and consulted with them as to the +future of the realm. + +Beldi opined throughout that the Prince should be spared, but he was to +be compelled to dismiss such councillors as Teleki, Szekely, Mikes, and +Nalaczi, and form a new council of state. Kapy would have done more than +this. "If we want as much as that," said he, "it would be better to +declare ourselves openly; and if we draw the sword, we shall have no +need to petition, but can fight, and whoever wins let him profit by it +and become Prince." + +"No!" said Beldi, "I have sworn allegiance to the Prince, and though I +love my country, and am prepared to fight for it, yet I will never break +my oath. My proposition is that we assemble in arms at the Diet which is +convened to meet at Nagy-Sink, together with the Szekler train-bands, +and if we show our strength the Prince assuredly will not hesitate to +change his counsellors, for I know him to be a good man who rather fears +than loves them." + +The gentlemen present accepted Beldi's proposition. + +"Then here I will leave your Excellencies," said Kapy, stiffly buttoning +his mente.[19] "I am not afraid of war, for there I see my enemy before +me, and can fight him; but I do not like these armed appeals, for they +are apt to twist a man's sword from his hand and turn it against his own +neck." + + [Footnote 19: Fur pelisse.] + +And he withdrew. The other gentlemen resolved, however, that they would +all arm their retainers. At a word from Beldi the armed Szeklers of +Haromszek, Csik, and Udvarhelyszek rose at once; they were ready at an +hour's notice to rise in obedience to the command of their +generalissimo. + +The news of this audacious insurrection reached Michael Teleki at +Gernyeszeg, who was beside himself with joy, well aware that Beldi was +not the sort of man who was likely to prevail in a civil war whilst the +contrary case would bring about his ruin, as he had now gone too far to +draw back again. He immediately hastened to the Prince and, arousing him +from his bed, told him that Beldi had risen against him, and so +terrified Apafi that he immediately got into his coach, and fled by +torchlight to Fogaras. Gregory Bethlen, Farkas, and the other +counsellors also took to their heels in a panic--only Teleki remained +cool. He knew the character of Beldi too well to be afraid of him. + +So the spark of ambition and rage was kindled in Paul Beldi's heart, and +for some days it looked as if he would be the master of Transylvania, +for nothing could resist him with the Szekler bands at his side, and all +the regular troops were scattered among the frontier fortresses. + +But Beldi thought it enough to show his weapons without letting them be +felt. Instead of a declaration of war he sent a manifesto full of +loyalty to the Prince, in which he assured his Highness that he had +taken up arms not against his Highness but in the name of the state; all +he demanded was that the counsellors of the Prince should be tried by +the laws of the realm. + +Whilst this wild missive was on its way, Teleki had had time to call +together the troops from the frontier fortresses, and send orders to +those of the Szeklers who had not risen to assemble under Clement Mikes +in defence of the Prince; and while Beldi awaited an attack, he +proceeded to take the offensive against him at once. + +One day Beldi was sitting in the castle of Bodola along with Ladislaus +Csaky, when news was brought them that Gregory Bethlen, with the army of +the Prince, was already before Kronstadt. + +"War can no longer be avoided," sighed Csaky. + +"We can avoid it if we lay down our arms," returned Beldi. + +"Surely you do not think of that?" inquired Csaky in alarm. + +"Why should I not? I will take no part in a civil war." + +"Then we are lost." + +"Rather we shall save thousands." + +The same day he ordered his forces to disperse and return home. + +The next day Gregory Bethlen sent Michael Vay to Bodola, who brought +with him the Prince's pardon. + +Csaky ground his teeth together. It occurred to him that he had got +Denis Banfy beheaded, yet he too had received a pardon, and he inquired +of Vay in some alarm: "Can we really rely on this letter of pardon?" + +Michael Vay was candid enough to reply: "Well, my dear brethren, though +you had a hundred pardons it would be as well if you courageously +resolved to quit Transylvania notwithstanding." + +Csaky gave not another moment's thought to the matter, but packed up +his trunks, and while it was still daylight escaped through the Bozza +Pass. + +Beldi decided to remain; shame prevented him from flying. + +Nevertheless, Michael Vay told his wife and children of his danger and +they insisted, supplicating him on their knees, that he should hasten +away and save himself. + +"And what about you?" asked Beldi, looking at his tearful family. + +He had two handsome sons, and his daughter Aranka had grown up a lovely +damsel; she was the apple of her father's eye, his pride and his glory. + +"What about you?" he asked with a troubled voice. + +"You can more easily defend us at Stambul than here," said Dame Beldi; +and Beldi saw that that was a word spoken in season. + +That word changed his resolve, for, indeed, by seeking a refuge at the +Porte, he would be able to help himself and his family much more, and +perhaps even give a better turn to the fortunes of his country. There, +too, many of the highest viziers were his friends who had very great +influence in affairs. + +He immediately had his horse saddled, and after taking leave of his +family with the utmost confidence, he escaped through the Bozza Pass the +same night with an escort of a few chosen servants into Wallachia, where +he found many other fugitive colleagues, and with them he took refuge at +the Porte--then the highest court of appeal for Transylvania. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE DIVAN. + + +The gates of the seraglio were thrown wide open, the discordant, +clanging, and ear-piercing music was put to silence by a thundering roll +of drums, and twelve mounted cavasses with great trouble and difficulty +began clearing a way for the corps of viziers among the thronging crowd, +belabouring all they met in their path with stout cudgels and rhinoceros +whips. The indolent, gaping crowd saw that it was going to be flogged, +yet didn't stir a step to get out of the reach of the whips and +bludgeons. + +The members of the Divan dismounted from their horses in the courtyard +and ascended the steps, which were guarded by a double row of +Janissaries with drawn scimitars, the blue and yellow curtains of the +assembly hall of the Divan were drawn aside before them, and the +mysterious inner chamber--the hearth and home of so much power and +splendour, once upon a time--lay open before them. + +It was a large octagonal chamber without any of those adornments +forbidden by the Koran; its marble pavement covered by oriental carpets, +its walls to the height of a man's stature inlaid with mother-o'-pearl. +Along the walls were placed a simple row of low sofas covered with red +velvet and without back-rests, behind them was a pillared niche +concealing a secret door where Amurath was wont to listen unperceived to +the consultations of his councillors. + +Through the parted curtains passed the members of the Council of the +Divan. First of all came the Grand Vizier, a tall, dry man with rounded +projecting shoulders; his head was constantly on the move and his eyes +peered now to the right and now to the left as if he were perpetually +watching and examining something. His brown, mud-coloured face wore an +expression of perpetual discontent; every glance was full of scorn, +rage, and morbid choler; when he spoke he gnashed his black teeth +together through which he seemed to filter his voice; and his face was +never for an instant placid, at one moment he drew down his eyebrows +till his eyes were scarce visible, at the next instant he raised them so +that his whole forehead became a network of wrinkles and the whites of +his eyes were visible; the corners of his mouth twitched, his chin +waggled, his beard was thin and rarely combed, and the only time he ever +smiled was when he saw fear on the face of the person whom he was +addressing; finally, his robes hung about him so slovenly that despite +the splendid ornaments with which they were plastered he always looked +shabby and sordid. + +After the Grand Vizier came Kiuprile, a full-bodied, red-faced Pasha, +with a beard sprawling down to his knees; the broad sword which hung by +his side raised the suspicion that the hand that was wont to wield it +was the hand of no weakling; his voice resembled the roar of a buffalo, +so deep, so rumbling was it that when he spoke quietly it was difficult +to understand him, while on the battle-field you could hear him above +the din of the guns. + +Among the other members of the Divan there were three other men worthy +of attention. + +The first was Kucsuk Pasha, a muscular, martial man; his sunburnt face +was seamed with scars, his eyes were as bright and as black as an +eagle's; his whole bearing, despite his advanced age, was valiant and +defiant; he carried his sword in his left hand; his walk, his pose, his +look were firm; he was slow to speak, and rapid in action. + +Beside him stood his son, Feriz Beg, the sharer of his father's dangers +and glory, a tall, handsome youth in a red caftan and a white turban +with a heron's plume. + +Last of all came the Sultan's Christian doctor, the court interpreter, +Alexander Maurocordato, a tall, athletic man, in a long, ample mantle of +many folds; his long, bright, black beard reaches almost to his girdle, +his features have the intellectual calm of the ancient Greek type, his +thick black hair flows down on both shoulders in thick locks. + +The viziers took their places; the Sultan's divan remains vacant; +nearest to it sits the Grand Vizier; farther back sit the pashas, agas, +and begs. + +"Most gracious sir," said Maurocordato, turning towards the Grand +Vizier, "the poor Magyar gentlemen have been waiting at thy threshold +since dawn." + +The Grand Vizier gazed venomously at the interpreter, protruding his +head more than ever. + +"Let them wait! It is more becoming that they should wait for us than we +for them." + +And with that he beckoned to the chief of the cavasses to admit the +petitioners. + +The refugees were twelve in number, and the chief cavasse, drawing aside +the curtains from the door of an adjoining room, at once admitted them. +Foremost among them was Paul Beldi, the others entered with anxious +faces and unsteady, hesitating footsteps; he alone was brave, noble, and +dignified. His gentle, large blue eyes ran over the faces of those +present, and his appearance excited general sympathy. + +Only the Grand Vizier regarded him with a look of truculent +indifference--it was his usual expression, and he knew no other. + +"Fear not!--open your hearts freely!" signified the Grand Vizier. + +Beldi stepped forward, and bowed before the Grand Vizier. One of the +Hungarians approached still nearer to the Vizier and kissed his hand; +the others were prevented from doing the same by the intervention of +Maurocordato, who at the same time beckoned to Beldi to speak without +delay. + +"Your Excellencies!" began Beldi, "our sad fate is already well-known to +you, as fugitives from our native land we come to you, as beggars we +stand before you; but not as fugitives, not as beggars do we petition +you at this moment, but as patriots. We have quitted our country not as +traitors, not as rebels, but because we would save it. The Prince is +rushing headlong into destruction, carrying the country along with him. +His chief counsellor lures him on with the promise of the crown of +Hungary in the hope that he himself will become the Palatine. Your +excellencies are aware what would be the fate of Hungary after such a +war. A number of the great men of the realm joined me in a protest +against this policy. We knew what we were risking. For some years past I +have been one of those who disapproved of an offensive war--we are the +last of them, the rest sit in a shameful dungeon, or have died a +shameful death. Once upon a time, as happy fathers of families, we dwelt +by our own firesides; now our wives and children are cast into prison, +our castles are rooted up, our escutcheons are broken; but we do not ask +of you what we have lost personally, we ask not for the possession of +our properties, we ask not for the embraces of our wives and children, +we do not even ask to see our country; we are content to die as beggars +and outcasts; we only petition for the preservation of the life of the +fatherland which has cast us forth, and which is rushing swiftly to +destruction--hasten ye to save it." + +Kucsuk Pasha, who well understood Hungarian, angrily clapped his hand +upon his sword, half drew it and returned it to its sheath again. Feriz +Beg involuntarily wiped away a tear from his eyes. + +"Gracious sirs," continued Beldi, "we do not wish you to be wrath with +the Prince for the tears and the blood that have been shed; we only ask +you to provide the Prince with better counsellors than those by whom he +is now surrounded, binding them by oath to satisfy the nation and the +Grand Seignior, for none will break such an oath lightly and with +impunity; and these new counsellors will constrain him to be a better +father to those who remain in the country than he was to us." + +When Beldi had finished, Maurocordato came forward, took his place +between the speaker and the Grand Vizier, and began to interpret the +words of Beldi. + +At the concluding words the face of the interpreter flushed brightly, +his resonant, sonorous voice filled the room, his soul, catching the +expression of his face, changed with his changing feelings. Where Beldi +calmly and resignedly had described his sufferings, the voice of the +interpreter was broken and tremulous. Where Beldi had sketched the +future in a voice of solemn conviction, Maurocordato assumed a tone of +prophetic inspiration; and finally, when in words of self-renunciation +he appealed for the salvation of his country, his oratory became as +penetrating, as bitterly ravishing, as if his speech were the original +instead of the copy. Passion in its ancient Greek style, the style of +Demosthenes, seemed to have arisen from the dead. + +The listening Pashas seemed to have caught the inspiration of his +enthusiasm, and bent their heads approvingly. The Grand Vizier +contracted his eyelids, puckered up his lips, and hugging his caftan to +his breast, began to speak, at the same time gazing around abstractedly +with prickling eyes, every moment beating down the look of whomsoever he +addressed or glaring scornfully at them. His screeching voice, which he +seemed to strain through his lips, produced an unpleasant impression on +those who heard it for the first time; while his features, which seemed +to express every instant anger, rage, and scorn in an ascending scale, +accentuated by the restless pantomime of his withered, tremulous hand, +could not but make those of the Magyars who were ignorant of Turkish +imagine that the Grand Vizier was atrociously scolding them, and that +what he said was nothing but the vilest abuse from beginning to end. + +Mr. Ladislaus Csaky, who was standing beside Paul Beldi, plucked his fur +mantle and whispered in his ear with a tremulous voice: + +"You have ruined us. Why did you not speak more humbly? He is going to +impale the whole lot of us." + +The Vizier, as usual, concluded his speech with a weary smile, drew back +his mocking lips, and exposed his black, stumpy teeth. The heart's blood +of the Magyars began to grow cold at that smile. + +Then Maurocordato came forward. A gentle smile of encouragement +illumined his noble features, and he began to interpret the words of the +Grand Vizier: "Worshipful Magyars, be of good cheer. I have compassion +on your petition, your righteousness stands before us brighter than the +noonday sun, your griefs shall have the fullest remedy. Ye did well to +supplicate the garment of the Sublime Sultan; cling fast to the folds of +it, and no harm shall befall you. Now depart in peace; if we should +require you again, we will send for you." + +Everyone breathed more easily. Beldi thanked the Vizier in a few simple +sentences, and they prepared to withdraw. + +But Ladislaus Csaky, who was much more interested in his Sova property +than in the future of Transylvania, and to whom Beldi's petition, which +only sought the salvation of the fatherland, and said nothing about the +restitution of confiscated estates, appeared inadequate, scarce waited +for his turn to speak, and, what is more, threw himself at the feet of +the Vizier, seized one of them, which he embraced, and began to weep +tremendously. Indeed, his words were almost unintelligible for his +weeping, and Mr. Csaky's oratory was always difficult to understand at +the best of times, so that it was no wonder that the Grand Vizier lost +his usual phlegm and now began to curse and swear in real earnest; till +the other Magyar gentlemen rushed up, tore Csaky away by force, while +Maurocordato angrily pushed them all out, and thus put an end to the +scandalous scene. + +"If you kneel before a man," said Beldi, walking beside him, "at least +do not weep like a child." + +Before Beldi could reach the door he felt his hand warmly pressed by +another hand. He looked in that direction, and there stood Feriz. + +"Did you say that your wife was a captive?" asked the youth with an +uncertain voice. + +"And my child also." + +The face of Feriz flushed. + +"I will release them," he said impetuously. Beldi seized his hand. "Wait +for me at the entrance." + +The Hungarian refugees withdrew, everyone of them weaving for himself +fresh hopes from the assurances of the Vizier. Only Ladislaus was not +content with the result, and going to his quarters he immediately sat +down and wrote two letters, one to the general of the Kaiser, and the +other to the minister of the King of France, to both of whom he promised +everything they could desire if they would help forward his private +affairs, thinking to himself if the Sultan does not help me the Kaiser +will, and if both fail me I can fall back upon the French King; at any +rate a man ought to make himself safe all round. + + * * * * * + +Scarce had the refugees quitted the Divan when an Aga entered the +audience-chamber and announced: + +"The Magyar lords." + +"What Magyar lords?" cried the Grand Vizier. + +"Those whom the Prince has sent." + +"They're in good time!" said the Vizier, "show them in;" and he at once +fell into a proper pose, reserving for them his most venomous +expression. + +The curtains were parted, and the Prince's embassy appeared, bedizened +courtly folks in velvet with amiable, simpering faces. Their spokesman, +Farkas Bethlen, stood in the very place where Paul Beldi had stood an +hour before, in a velvet mantle trimmed with swan's-down, a bejewelled +girdle worthy of a hero, and a sword studded with turquoises, the +magnificence of his appointments oddly contrasting with his look of +abject humility. + +"Well! what do ye want? Out with it quickly!" snapped the Grand Vizier, +with an ominous air of impatience. + +Farkas Bethlen bent his head to his very knees, and then he began to +orate in the roundabout rhetoric of those days, touching upon everything +imaginable except the case in point. + +"Most gracious and mighty, glorious and victorious Lords, dignified +Grand Vizier, unconquerable Pashas, mighty Begs and Agas, most potent +pillars of the State, lords of the three worlds, famous and widely-known +heroes by land and sea, my peculiarly benevolent Lords!" + +All this was merely prefatory! + +Kiuprile began to perspire; Kucsuk Pasha twirled his sword upon his +knee; Feriz Beg turned round and contemplated the fountains of the +Seraglio through the window. + +"Make haste, do!" interrupted Maurocordato impatiently; whereupon Farkas +Bethlen, imagining that he had offended the interpreter by omitting him +from the exordium, turned towards him with a supplementary compliment: + +"Great and wise interpreter, most learned and extraordinarily to be +respected court physician of the most mighty Sultan!" + +Kiuprile yawned so tremendously that the girdle round his big body burst +in two. + +Farkas Bethlen, however, did not let himself be put out in the least, +but continued his oration. + +"Our worthy Prince, his Highness Michael Apafi, has been much distressed +to learn that those seditious rebels who have dared to raise their evil +heads, not only against the Prince but against the Sublime Porte also, +as represented in his person, in consequence of the frustration of their +plans, have fled hither to damage the Prince by their falsehoods and +insinuations. Nevertheless, although our worthy Prince is persuaded that +the wisdom of your Excellencies must needs confute their lying words, +your goodwill confound their devices, and your omnipotence chastise +their audacity, nevertheless it hath also seemed good to his Highness to +send us to your Excellencies in order that we may refute all these +complaints and accusations whereby they would falsely, treacherously and +abominably disturb the realm ..." + +Maurocordato here took advantage of a pause made by the orator to take +breath after this exordium, and before he was able to proceed to the +subject-matter of his address, began straightway to interpret what he +had said so far for the benefit of the Grand Vizier, being well aware +that the Vizier would not allow anyone to speak a second time before he +had spoken himself. + +The speech of the interpreter was this time dry and monotonous. All +Farkas Bethlen's homiletical energy was thrown away in Maurocordato's +drawling, indifferent reproduction. + +The Grand Vizier replied with flashing eyes, his face was twice as +venomous as it had been before, and his gestures plainly indicated an +intention to show the envoys the door. + +Maurocordato interpreted his reply. + +"The Grand Vizier says that not those whom ye persecute but you +yourselves are the rebels who have broken the oath ye made to the +Sublime Porte, inasmuch as your ambitious projects aim at the separation +of Transylvania from its dependence on the Porte and at the conquest of +Hungary--both sure ways of destruction for yourselves. Wherefore the +Grand Vizier gives you to understand that if you cannot sit still and +live in peace with your own fellow-countrymen, he will send to you an +intermediary, who will leave naught but tears behind him." + +The Hungarian gentlemen regarded each other in astonishment. Not a trace +of simpering amiability remained on the face of Farkas Bethlen, who was +furious at the failure of the speech he had so carefully learnt by +heart. He bowed still deeper than before, and sacrificing with +extraordinary self-denial the remainder of his oration, especially as he +perceived that any further parleying would not be permitted, he had +resort to more drastic expedients. + +"Oh, sir! how can such accusations affect us who have always been +willing faithfully to fulfil your wishes? We pay tribute, we give gifts, +and now also our worthy Prince hath not sent us to you empty-handed, +having commanded Master Michael Teleki not to neglect to provide us with +suitable gifts, who has, moreover, sent to your Excellencies through me +two hundred purses of money,[20] as a token of his respect and homage, +beseeching your Excellencies to accept this little gift from us your +humble servants." + + [Footnote 20: Equivalent to 100,000 thalers.] + +With these words the orator beckoned to one of the deputation, at whose +summons, four porters appeared carrying between them, suspended on two +poles, a large iron chest, which Farkas Bethlen opened, discharging its +contents at the feet of the Grand Vizier. + +The jingling thalers fell in heaps around the Divan, and the sound of +the rolling coins filled the room. The features of the Grand Vizier +suddenly changed. Maurocordato stepped back. Bethlen's last words had +needed no interpreter; the Vizier could not keep back from his face a +hideous smile, the grin of the devil of covetousness. His eyes grew +large and round, he no longer clenched his teeth together, he was +rather like a wild beast eager to pounce upon his prey. + +Farkas Bethlen humbly withdrew among his colleagues; the Vizier could +not resist the temptation, he descended from the Divan, rubbing his +hands, tapping the shoulders of the last speaker, smiling at all the +deputies, and even going so far as to extend his hand to one or two of +them, which those fortunate beings hastened to kiss, and spoke something +to them in Turkish, to which they felt bound to reply with profound +obeisances. + +During this scene Maurocordato had quitted the Divan, and as in default +of an interpreter the envoys were unable to understand the words of the +Vizier, and could only bow repeatedly, Kiuprile, who had learnt +Hungarian while he was Pasha of Eger, arose and roared at them in a +voice which made the very ceiling shake: + +"The Vizier bids you go to hell, ye dogs of Giaours, and if we want you +again we will send for you!" Whereupon he gave a vicious kick at a +thaler which had rolled to his feet, while the deputies, after +innumerable salutations, left the Divan. + + * * * * * + +On the departure of the Prince's envoys, the Grand Vizier immediately +sent for Beldi and his comrades. When the refugees entered the Divan, +not one of them yet knew that the envoys of the Prince had been there +and brought the money which they saw piled up before them, though they +could not for the life of them understand what the Grand Vizier and +themselves had to do with all that money; and inasmuch as Maurocordato +had also departed, and the cavasses sent after him could not find him +anywhere, the Hungarians, in the absence of an interpreter, stood there +for some time in the utmost doubt, striving to explain as best they +could the signification of the peculiar signs which the Grand Vizier +kept making to them from time to time, pointing now at the heaps of +money and now at them, and expounding his sayings with all ten fingers. +Every time he glanced at the money he could not restrain his disgusting, +hyaena-like smile. + +"Don't you see," whispered Csaky to Beldi, "the Grand Vizier intends all +that money for us?" + +Beldi could not help smiling at this artless opinion. + +At last, as the interpreter did not come, Kiuprile was constrained, very +much against the grain, to arise and interpret the wishes of the Grand +Vizier as best he could. + +"Worthy sirs, this is what the Grand Vizier says to you. The Prince's +deputies have been here. They ought to have their necks broken--that's +what _I_ say. They brought with them this sum of money, and they said +all sorts of things which are not true, but the money which they brought +is true enough. Having regard to which the Grand Vizier says to you that +he recognises the justice of your cause and approves of it, but the mere +recognition of its justice will make no difference to it, for it will +remain just what it was before. But if you would make your righteous +cause progress and succeed, promise him seventy more purses than those +of the Prince's envoys, and then we will close with you. We will then +fling _them_ into the Bosphorus sewn up in sacks, but you we will bring +back into your own land and make you the lords of it." + +A bitter smile crossed the lips of Paul Beldi, he sighed sorrowfully, +and looked back upon his comrades. + +"You know right well, sir," said he to Kiuprile, "that we have no money, +nor do I know from whence to get as much as you require, and my +colleagues are as poor as I am. We never used the property of the State +as a means of collecting treasures for ourselves, and what little +remained to us from our ancestors has already been divided among the +servants of the Prince. We have no money wherewith to buy us justice, +and if there be no other mode of saving our country, then in God's name +dismiss us and we will throw ourselves at the feet of some foreign +Prince, and supplicate till we find one who must listen to us. God be +with you; money we have none." + +"Then I have!" cried a voice close beside Beldi; and, looking in that +direction, they saw Kucsuk Pasha approach Paul Beldi and warmly press +the right hand of the downcast Hungarian gentleman. "If you want two +hundred and seventy purses I will give it; if you want as much again I +will give it; as much as you want you shall have; bargain with them, fix +your price; I am here. I will pay instead of you." + +Feriz Beg rushed towards his father, and, full of emotion, hid his face +in his bosom. Beldi majestically clasped the hand of the old hero, and +was scarce able to find words to express his gratitude at this offer. + +"I thank you, a thousand times I thank you, but I cannot accept it; that +would be a debt I should never be able to repay, nor my descendants +after me. Blessed are you for your good will, but you cannot help me +that way." + +Kiuprile intervened impatiently. + +"Be sensible, Paul Beldi, and draw not upon thee my anger; weigh well +thy words, and hearken to good counsel. To demand so much money from +thee as a private man in exile would be a great folly, but assume that +thou art a Prince, and that this amount, which it would be impossible to +drag out of one pocket, could easily be distributed over a whole kingdom +and not be felt. Do no more then than promise us the amount; it is not +necessary that thou shouldst pay us before we have made thee Prince." + +Beldi shuddered, and said to Kiuprile with a quavering voice: + +"I do not understand you, sir, or else I have not heard properly what +you said." + +"Then understand me once for all. If it be true what thou sayest--to +wit, that the present Prince of Transylvania rules amiss, why then, +depose him from his Principality; and if it also be true what thou +sayest--to wit, that thou dost love thy country so much and seest what +ought to be done--why then, defend it thyself. I will send a message to +the frontier Pashas, and they will immediately declare war upon this +state, seize Master Michael Apafi and all his counsellors, clap them +into the fortress of Jedikula, and put thee and thy comrades in their +places. Thou art only to promise the Grand Vizier two hundred and +seventy purses, and he will engage to make thee Prince as soon as +possible, and then thou wilt be able to pay it; which, if thou dost +refuse, of a truth I tell thee, that I will clap thee into Jedikula in +the place of Michael Apafi." + +The heart of Paul Beldi beat violently throughout this speech. His +emotion was visible in his face, and more than once he would have +interrupted Kiuprile if the Hungarian gentlemen had not restrained him. +When, however, Kiuprile had finished his speech. Paul Beldi took a step +forward, and proudly raising his head so that he seemed to be taller +than usual, he replied in a firm, strong voice: + +"I thank you, gracious sir, for your offer, but I cannot accept it. A +sacred oath binds me to the present Prince of Transylvania, and if he +has forgotten the oath which he swore to the nation it is no answer to +say that we should also violate ours, nay, rather should we remind him +of his. I have raised my head to ask for justice, not to pile one +injustice upon another. Transylvania needs not a new Prince, but its old +liberties; and if I had only wanted to make war upon the Prince, the +country would rise at a sign from me, the whole of the Szeklers would +draw their swords for me, but it was I who made them sheath their swords +again. I do not come to the Porte for vengeance, but for judgment; not +my own fate, but the fate of my country I submit to your Excellencies. I +do not want the office of Prince. I do not want to drive out one +usurper only to bring in a hundred more. I will not set all Transylvania +in a blaze for the sake of roasting Master Michael Teleki, nor for the +sake of freeing a dozen people from a shameful dungeon will I have ten +thousand dragged into captivity. May I suffer injustice rather than all +Transylvania. Accursed should I be, and all my posterity with me, if I +were to sell my oppressed nation for a few pence and bring armies +against my native land. As to your threats--I am prepared for anything, +for prison, for death. I came to you for justice, slay me if you will." + +Kiuprile, disgusted, flung himself back on his divan; he did not count +upon such opposition, he was not prepared for such strength of mind. The +other gentlemen who, from time to time, had fled to the Porte from +Transylvania had been wont to beg and pray for the very favour which +this man so nobly rejected. + +The Grand Vizier, perceiving from the faces of those present the +impression made on them by Beldi's speech, turned now to the right and +now to the left for an explanation, and dismay gradually spread over his +pallid face as he began to understand. Beldi's colleagues, pale and +utterly crushed, awaited the result of his alarming reply; while +Ladislaus Csaky, unable to restrain his dismay, rushed up to Beldi, +flung himself on his neck in his despair, and implored him by heaven and +earth to accept the offer of the Grand Vizier. + +If the offer had been made to him he would most certainly have accepted +it. + +"Never, never," replied Beldi, as cold as marble. + +The other gentlemen knelt down before him, and with clasped hands +besought him not to make himself, his children, and themselves for ever +miserable. + +"Arise, I am not God!" said Beldi, turning from his tearful colleagues. + +The Grand Vizier, on understanding what it was all about, leaped +furiously from his place, and tearing off his turban, hurled it in +uncontrollable rage to the ground, exclaiming with foaming mouth: +"Hither, cavasses!" + +"Put that accursed dog in chains!" he screeched, pointing with bloodshot +eyes at Beldi, who quietly permitted them to load him with fetters +weighing half-a-hundredweight each, which the army of slaves always had +in readiness. + +"Wouldst thou speak, puppy of a giaour?" cried the Vizier, when he was +already chained. + +"What I have said I stand to," solemnly replied the patriot, raising his +chained hand to Heaven. "God is my refuge." + +"To the dungeon with him!" yelled Kara Mustafa, beckoning to the +drabants to drag Beldi away. + +Just as a hard stone emits sparks when it is struck, so Beldi turned +suddenly upon the Vizier and said, shaking his chains, "Thine hour will +also strike!" + +Then he suffered them to lead him away to prison. + + * * * * * + +Immediately afterwards, the Grand Vizier sent for the envoys of the +Prince, and commending them and those who sent them, gave each of them a +new caftan, and with the most gracious assurances sent them back to +their native land, where nevertheless Master Farkas Bethlen had never +been accounted a very great orator. + +In the gates of the Seraglio the dismissed envoys encountered Master +Ladislaus Csaky. The worthy gentleman at once perceived from their +self-satisfied smiles and the new caftans they were wearing that they +had been sent away with a favourable reply; whereupon, notwithstanding +that he had already agreed with Paul Beldi to render homage to the +French and German Ministers, he did not consider it superfluous to pay +his court to Master Farkas Bethlen also, and offer to surrender himself +body and soul if the Prince would agree to pardon him and restore his +estates. + +Farkas Bethlen accepted the proposal and not only promised Csaky an +amnesty, but high office to boot if he would separate from Beldi; nay, +he rewarded on the spot that gentleman who had thus very wisely fastened +the threads of his fate to four several places at the same time, so that +if one of them broke he could still hold on to the other three. + + * * * * * + +"Beldi has ruined his affairs utterly," said Kucsuk Pasha to his son, as +they retired from the Divan; "I give up every idea of saving him." + +"I don't," sighed Feriz. "I'll either save or perish with him." + +"Let us go to Maurocordato, he may perhaps advise us." + +After an hour's interview with Maurocordato, Feriz Beg, with fifty armed +Albanian horsemen, took the road towards Grosswardein. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE TURKISH DEATH. + + +In the gate of the Pasha of Grosswardein, amidst the gaping throng of +armed retainers there, could be seen a pale wizened Moslem idly +sprawling on the threshold, apparently regardless of everything, but +sometimes looking up, cat-like, with half-shut, dreamy eyes, and at such +times he would smile craftily to himself. + +Suddenly a handsome, chivalrous youth galloped out of the gate before +whom the soldiers bowed down to the earth; this was the Pasha's +favourite horseman, Feriz Beg, who had just arrived from Stambul. + +The Beg, as if he had only by accident caught sight of the sprawling +Moslem, turned towards him, tapped him on the shoulder with his lance, +and while the latter, feigning ignorance and astonishment, gazed up at +him, he drew nearer to him and said: + +"What Zuelfikar! dost thou not recognise me?" + +The person so addressed bowed himself to the earth. + +"Allah is gracious! By the soul of the Prophet, is it thou, gracious +sir?" and with that he got up and began walking by the side of the horse +of the Beg, who beckoned him to follow. + +"I have lost a good deal of money and a good many horses over the +dice-box at Stambul, Zuelfikar," said Feriz Beg, "so I have come into +these parts to rehabilitate my purse a little. Where dost thou go +a-robbing now, Zuelfikar?" + +"La illah, il Allah! God is gracious and Mohammed is His holy Prophet," +said Zuelfikar, rolling his eyes heavenwards. + +"A truce to this piety, Zuelfikar; ye renegades, with unendurable +shamelessness, are always glorifying the Prophet, born Turks don't +mention him half as much. What I ask thee is, where dost thou go +a-plundering now of nights?" + +"I thank thee, gracious sir," answered Zuelfikar, making a wooden picture +of his face, "my wife is quite well, and there is nothing amiss with me +either." + +"Zuelfikar, I value in thee that peculiarity of thine which enables thee +to become deaf whenever thou desirest it, but I possess a very good +remedy for that evil, and if thou wilt I will cure thee of it." + +Zuelfikar dodged the lance which was turned in his direction, and said +with a Pharisaical air: + +"What does your honour deign to inquire of me?" + +"Didst thou hear what I said to thee just now?" + +"Dost thou mean: where I went robbing? I swear by the beard of the +Prophet that I go nowhither for such a purpose." + +"I know very well, thou cat, that thou goest nowhither where there is +trouble, but thou dost ferret out where a fat booty lies hidden, and +thou leadest our Spahis on the track of it, wherefore they give thee +also a portion of it; so answer me at once whom thou art wont to visit +at night, as otherwise I shall open a hole in thy head." + +"But, sir, betray me not; for the Spahis would tie me to a horse's tail +and the Pasha would impale me. Thou knowest that he does not allow +robbery, but if it happens he looks through his fingers." + +"So far from betraying thee I would go with thee, I only know one mode +of getting hold of booty. While the others storm a village, I stand a +little distance off at the farther end of the village; whoever has +anything to save always makes for the farther end of the village, and so +falls into my hands." + +The renegade began to feel in his element. + +"My good sir, at night the Spahis will go to Elesd. There dwell rich +Wallachians away from the high road. They have never had blackmail +levied on them and there's lots of gold and silver there; if we get a +good haul, do not betray me." + +"But may we not fall in with the soldiers of Ladislaus Szekely?" + +"Nay, sir," said Zuelfikar, winking his eyes, "they are far from here. Do +not betray thy faithful servant." + +Feriz Beg put spurs to his horse and galloped off. Zuelfikar sat down in +the gate again, very sleepily blinking his eyes, and smiling +mysteriously. + +Towards evening four-and-twenty Spahis crept out of the fortress and +made off in the direction of Elesd. Feriz Beg kept an eye upon them, and +when they had disappeared in the woods he aroused his Albanian horsemen +and quietly went after them. + +It was past midnight when Feriz Beg and his company reached the hillside +covering Elesd. The Spahis had already plundered the place as was +evident from the distant uproar, the loud shrieks, the pealing of bells, +and a couple of flaming haystacks which the mauraders had set on fire to +assist their operations. + +Feriz Beg posted his Albanian horsemen at the mouth of a narrow pass, +divided them into four bands and ordered them all to remain as quiet as +possible and wait patiently till the Spahis returned. + +After some hours of plundering the distant tumult died away, and instead +of it could be heard approaching a sound of loud wrangling. Presently, +in the deep valley below, the Spahis became visible, staggering under +the stolen goods, dispersed into twos and threes and quarrelling +together over their booty. + +Feriz Beg let them come into the narrow pass and when they were quite +unsuspiciously at the height of their dispute, he suddenly blew his horn +and then suddenly fell upon them from all sides with his Albanian +horsemen, surrounded and attacked the marauders, and before they had had +time to use their weapons began to cut them down. The tussle was a +short one. Not one of the Albanians fell, not one of the Spahis escaped. + +Feriz dried his sword and leaving the dead Spahis on the road, galloped +back with his band to Grosswardein. + +In the Pasha's gate he again encountered Zuelfikar and, shaking his fist +at him, dismounted from his horse. + +"Thou dog! thou hast betrayed us to Ladislaus Szekely; the Spahis have +all been cut down." + +Zuelfikar turned yellow with fear. It is true that he usually did +something like this: when the Spahis would only promise him a small +portion of the booty, he would for a few ducats extra let the Hungarian +generals know of their coming, when one or two of them would bite the +dust and the rest return without the booty. Last night also he had told +the captain of Klausenberg of this particular adventure, but the +commandant had been unable to make any use of it, for it had been the +Prince's birthday, and he had been obliged to treat the soldiers. + +Zuelfikar felt a lump in his throat when he heard that all twenty-four of +the Spahis had perished, and he immediately quitted the fortress and +made his way to Klausenberg through the woods as hard as he could pelt. + +Feriz Beg, however, in great wrath, paid a visit upon the Pasha. + +"Your Excellency," said he, assuming a very severe countenance, "this is +the sort of allies we have. Last night I went on an excursion, taking +four-and-twenty Spahis with me, in order to purchase horses for myself +in the neighbourhood. We dealt honourably with the dealers. I entrusted +the horses to the Spahis and myself galloped on in front. In a narrow +pass the soldiers of Ladislaus Szekely laid an ambush for the Spahis, +surrounded them and cut them off to a man. When I came to their +assistance there they were all lying slain and the slayers had trotted +off on my own good steeds. Most gracious sir, that is treachery, our +own allies do us a mischief. I will not put up with it, but if thou dost +not give me complete satisfaction, I will go myself to Klausenberg and +put every one of them to the sword, from Master Michael Apafi down to +Master Ladislaus Szekely." + +Ajas Pasha, whose special favourite Feriz Beg was, laughed loudly at +this demonstration, patted the youth's cheek, and said in a consolatory +voice: + +"Nay, my dear son, do not so, nor waste the fire of thy enthusiasm upon +these infidels. I have a short method of doing these things--leave it to +me." + +And thereupon he sent for an aga, and gave him a command in the +following terms: + +"Sit on thy horse and go quickly to Klausenberg. There go to the +commandant, Ladislaus Szekely, and speak to him thus: Ajas Pasha wishes +thee good-day, thou unbelieving giaour, and sends thee this message: +Inasmuch as thy dog-headed servants during the night last past have +treacherously fallen upon the men of Feriz Beg and cut down +four-and-twenty of them, now therefore I require of thee to search for +and send me instantly these murderers, otherwise the whole weight of my +wrath shall descend upon thine own head. Moreover, in the place of the +horses stolen from him, see that thou send to me without delay just as +many good chargers of Wallachia, and beware lest I come for them myself, +for then thou wilt have no cause to thank me." + +When the aga had learnt the message by heart he withdrew, and Ajas Pasha +turned to Feriz Beg complacently: + +"Trouble not thyself further," said he, "in a couple of days the +murderers will be here." + +"I want the Prince to intercede for them himself," said Feriz Beg. + +"And dost thou not believe then that the little finger of the Sublime +Porte is able to give thee the lives of a few giaour hirelings, when it +sends forth thousands to perish on the battle-field?" + +"And I will venture to bet a hundred ducats that Master Ladislaus +Szekely will reply that his soldiers were not out of the fortress at all +last night." + +"I am sorry for thy hundred ducats, my dear son, but I will take thy bet +all the same; and, if I lose, I will cut just as many pieces out of the +skin of Master Ladislaus Szekely." + + * * * * * + +The terrified Zuelfikar was almost at his last gasp by the time he +reached the courtyard of Master Ladislaus Szekely, where, greatly +exhausted, he obtained an audience of the commandant, who was +resplendent in a great mantle trimmed with galloon and adorned with +rubies and emeralds. This love of display was the good old gentleman's +weak point. He had the most beautiful collection of precious stones in +all Transylvania; the nearest way to his heart was to present him with a +rare and beautiful jewel. + +He was engaged in furbishing up a necklace of chrysoprases and jacinths +with a hare's foot when the renegade breathlessly rushed through the +door unable to utter a word for sheer weariness. Ladislaus Szekely +fancied that Zuelfikar had come for the reward of his treachery, and very +bluntly hastened to anticipate him. + +"I was unable to make any use of your information, Zuelfikar; it was the +Prince's name-day, and the soldiers were not at liberty to leave the +town." + +"How can your honour say so," stuttered Zuelfikar; "you had +four-and-twenty Spahis cut down at Elesd. What fool told your honour to +kill them? You should merely have deprived them of their booty." + +Ladislaus Szekely let fall his necklace in his fright and gazed at the +renegade with big round eyes. + +"Don't be a fool, Zuelfikar, my son! Not a soul was outside this fortress +to-day or yesterday." + +"Your honour has been well taught what to say," said the renegade, with +the insolence of fury; "you put on as innocent a face over the business +as a new-born lamb." + +"I swear to you I don't understand a word of your nonsense." + +"Of course, of course! Capital! Excellent! But your honour would do well +to keep these falsehoods for the messengers of Ajas Pasha, who will be +with your honour immediately; try and fool them if you like, but don't +fool me." + +Ladislaus Szekely, well aware that every word he said was the sacred +truth, fancied that Zuelfikar's assertion was only a rough joke which he +wanted to play upon him, so he cast an angry look on the renegade. + +"Be off, my son Zuelfikar, and cease joking; or I'll beat you about the +head with this hare's foot till I knock all the moonshine out of you." + +"Your honour had best keep your hare's foot to yourself, for if I draw +my Turkish dagger I'll make you carry your own head." + +"Be off, be off, my son!" cried Szekely, looking around for a stick, and +perceiving a cane in the corner with a large silver knob he seized it. +"And now are you going, or I shall come to you?" he added. + +Zuelfikar had just caught sight, meanwhile, through the window of the aga +sent by Ajas Pasha, and fearing to encounter him, hastily skipped +through the door, which sudden flight was attributed by Master Ladislaus +Szekely to his own threats of violence. He followed close upon the heels +of the fugitive, and ran almost into the very arms of the aga; +whereupon, the aga, also flying into a rage, belaboured the commandant +with his fists, reviled his father, his mother, and his remotest +ancestry, and only after that began to deliver the message of Ajas +Pasha, which he enlarged and embellished with the choicest flowers of an +angry man's rhetoric. + +At these words Ladislaus Szekely changed colour as often as a genuine +opal, or as a fractured polyporus fungus. It was clear to him that +someone or other had just slain a number of marauding Spahis, but he +knew very well that neither he nor his men had performed this heroic +deed, for that particular evening they had all been safe and sound at +ten o'clock, and yet he was expected to pay the piper! + +"Gracious sir, unconquerable aga," he said at last, "my men the whole of +that evening were on duty beneath the windows of the Prince, and the +same evening I myself closed the city gates, so that no living thing +except a bird could get out. Therefore, I pray you ask not of me the +slayers of the Spahis, for never in my life have I killed one of them." + +The aga gnashed his teeth, and stared wildly about, as if seeking for +big words worthy of the occasion. + +"Darest thou say such things to me, thou wine-drinking infidel?" he +cried at last. "I know very well that thou, single-handed, hast not cut +down four-and-twenty Spahis; rather do I believe there were two thousand +of you that fell upon them, but these thou must give up to me, every +man-jack of them." + +Large drops of perspiration began to ooze out upon the forehead of the +commandant, and in his embarrassment it occurred to him that deeds were +better than words, so he seized the chain covered with chrysoprases and +jacinths, which he had just been polishing, and handed them in a +deprecating manner to the Turk, knowing that such a line of defence was +most likely to obtain a hearing. + +But the envoy gave the chain handed to him such a kick that the precious +stones were scattered all over the deal boards, and, trampling them +beneath his feet, he roared with a blood-red face: + +"I want the murderers, not your precious stones." + +The commandant thereupon seeing that the aga's embassy was really a +serious matter, took him down to the soldiers, who were drawn up in the +courtyard, in order to ask each one of them in the hearing of the +envoy: "Where were you during the night in question?" Naturally everyone +of them was able to prove an alibi, not one of them could be suspected. + +The aga very nearly had an overflow of gall. He said nothing, he only +rolled his eyes; and when the last soldier had denied any share in the +death of the Turks, he leaped upon his horse, and threatening them with +his fist, growled through his gnashing teeth: + +"Wait, ye also shall have your St. Demetrius' day!"[21] and with that he +galloped back to Grosswardein. + + [Footnote 21: _i.e._ you shall be stoned to death.] + +On his arrival he found Feriz Beg with the Pasha, and at once told his +story, exaggerating the details to the uttermost. + +"What did I tell thee?" said Feriz to the Pasha; "didn't I say they +would send back the message that they had never quitted the town. I am +sorry for your honour's hundred ducats." + +At these words Ajas Pasha kicked over his chibouk and his saucer of +sherbet, and in a hoarse, scarce intelligible voice, said to the aga: + +"Be off this instant to Stambul as fast as thou canst. Tell the Grand +Vizier what has happened, and say to him that if he does not give me the +amplest satisfaction, I myself will go against these unbelieving +devourers of unruminating beasts who have dared to send me such a +message, and will destroy them, together with their strongholds; or else +I will cast my sword to the ground, and tie a girdle round my loins, and +go away and join the brotherhood of Iskender! Say that, and forget it +not!" + + * * * * * + +Very soon one firman after another reached the Prince from Stambul, each +one of which, with steadily rising wrath, demanded the extradition of +the assassins of the Spahis. The Prince made inquiries and searched for +them everywhere, but nobody could be found to take upon his shoulders +this uncommitted deed of heroism. + +The messages from the Porte assumed a more and more furious tone every +day. In itself the death of four-and-twenty Spahis was no very serious +stumbling-block, but what more than anything lashed the Turkish generals +into a fury was the persistent refusal of the Prince to acknowledge the +offence. Yet with the best will in the world he was unable to do +anything else, for not a single person on whom suspicion might fall +could he find throughout the Principality. + + * * * * * + +In those days the dungeons of Klausenburg were well filled with +condemned robbers; in the past year alone no fewer than thirty +incendiaries had been discovered who had resolved to fire all +Transylvania. + +One day the noble Martin Pok, the provost-marshal of the place, appeared +before the robbers, and attracted the attention of the most +evil-disposed of these cut-throats and incendiaries by shouting at them: + +"You worthless gallows-dogs, which of you would like to be set free at +any price?" + +"I would! I would!" cried a whole lot of them. + +"Bread is going to be dear, so we cannot waste it on the like of you, so +Master Ladislaus Szekely has determined that whoever of you would like +to become Turks are to be handed over to our gracious master, Ajas +Pasha, who will make some of you Janissaries, and send the rest to the +isle of Samos; so whoever will be a Turk, let him speak." + +Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk. + +"Very well, you rascals, just attend to me! I must tell you what to say +when you stand before the Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will +be bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you: 'Are you Master Ladislaus +Szekely's men?' You will answer: 'Yes, we are!' Then he will ask you: +'Were you at Elesd on a certain day?' And you must admit that you were. +Finally, he will ask you if you met Feriz Beg there? You will admit +everything, and then he will instantly release you from servitude. Do +you understand?" + +"Yes, yes!" roared the incendiaries; and dancing in their fetters they +followed the provost-marshal upstairs, who turned his extraordinary +small head back from time to time to smile at them, at the same time +twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache with an air of crafty +self-satisfaction. + + * * * * * + +One day two letters reached Grosswardein from Stambul. One of these +letters was from Kucsuk Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan +to Ajas Pasha. + +The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows: + + "MY SON,--Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and + Maurocordato have not been wasting their time. The + Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and his + Court. The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis is an + affair of even greater importance in Stambul just now + than the capture of Candia. I fancy we shall very soon + get what we want." + +Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at once to the Pasha in the +best of humours. + +"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes," said the Pasha, producing +a parchment sealed with green wax, adorned below with the official +signature of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not unlike a +bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs. + +Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead and his lips, and the +further he read into it the more his face filled with surprise and joy. + + "VALIANT AJAS PASHA MY FAITHFUL SERVANT!--I wish thee + always all joy and honour. Inasmuch as I learn from + thee that the faithless servants of the Prince, in + time of peace and amity, have slain four-and-twenty + Spahis, and that their masters not only have not + punished this misdeed but even presumed to deceive me + with lying reports thereof, thereby revealing their + ill-will towards me, now therefore I charge and + authorise thee in case the counsellors of the Prince + do not surrender the murderers in response to my + ultimatum, which even now is on its way to them, or in + case they make any objection whatsoever, or even if + they simply pass over the matter in silence; in any + such case I charge and authorise thee instantly to + invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy + disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha also + will immediately be ready at hand with his bands at + Voeroestorony, and the Tartar King hath also our command + to lend thee assistance. This done, I will either + drive the Prince into exile or take him prisoner, when + I will at once strike off the chains of Master Paul + Beldi--who, because of his stubbornness, now sits in + irons at Jedekula--and whether he will or not, I will + place him incontinently on the throne of the Prince, + etc., etc." + +"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the murderers?" asked Ajas +Pasha triumphantly. + +"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and beside himself with joy. + +"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished Ajas; "but suppose we go +for them ourselves?" + +"Well!" said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly betrayed himself, "in +that case--yes." But he said to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul +Beldi will be released, and Paul Beldi will become Prince, and his wife +will be Princess Consort, and Aranka will be a Princess too, and we +shall see each other again." + +At that moment an aga entered the room and announced with a look of +satisfaction: + +"Master Ladislaus Szekely has now sent the murderers." + +Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible" hung upon his lips, +and he nearly let it escape. It _was_ impossible. + +"Let them come in!" said Ajas Pasha viciously. He would have preferred +to carry out the Sultan's conditional command, seize the Principality, +and conduct the campaign personally. + +Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw the forty or fifty +selected rascals who, led by Martin Pok, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the +rogues were dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was written on +the face of each one of them. + +Master Martin Pok exhibited them to the Pasha and Feriz Beg, and very +wisely stood aside from them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in +astonishment. He knew better than anyone that these fellows had never +seen the Spahis, and he waited to hear what they would say. + +Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as cold as marble, and at +a sign from him a file of Janissaries formed behind the backs of the +rascals, who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible before +the Pasha to gain his favour. + +"Ye are Master Ladislaus Szekely's men, eh?" inquired the Pasha of the +false heroes. + +"We are--at thy service, unconquerable Pasha," they replied with one +voice, folding their hands across their breasts and bowing down to the +very ground. + +The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come softly up behind each one +of them. + +"Ye were at Elesd at midnight on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, +eh?" he asked again. + +"We were indeed--at thy service invincible Pasha!" they repeated +striking their knees with their foreheads. + +Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have +roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he +was obliged to keep silence. + +Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they +drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly, +concealed them behind their backs. + +The Pasha put the third question to the robbers. + +"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?" + +"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen +me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at Elesd?" + +The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion: +"Yes--at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!" + +At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries, +and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet. + +"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his +clenched fist. + +Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pok: "Greet thy master, and tell +him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me +angry.--As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE HOSTAGE. + + +One evening two horsemen dressed as Turks rode into the courtyard of the +fortress of Szamosujvar, and demanded an audience of the noble Dano +Solymosi, the commandant. A soldier conducted to him the two Moslems, +one of whom seemed to be a man advanced in years, whose sunburnt face +was covered with scars; the other was a youth, whose face was half +hidden in the folds of a large mantle, only his dark eyes were visible. + +"Good evening, captain," said the elder Turk, greeting the commandant, +who at the first moment recognised the intruder and joyfully hastened +towards him and grasped his hand. + +"So God has brought Kucsuk Pasha to my humble dwelling." + +"Then thou dost recognise me, worthy old man?" said Kucsuk, just +touching the hand of the worthy old Magyar. + +"How could I help it, my good sir? Thou didst free my only daughter from +the hands of the filthy Tartars, thou didst deliver her from grievous +captivity, thou didst give her a place of refuge, food, and pleasant +words in a foreign land. I should not be a man if I were to forget +thee." + +"Well, for all these things I have come hither to beg something of +thee." + +"Command me! My life and goods are at thy service." + +"Dost thou not detain here the family of Paul Beldi?" + +"Yes, sir; they brought the unfortunate creatures hither." + +"I must have Paul Beldi's consort out of this prison for a fortnight, at +the accomplishment of which time I will bring her back again." + +The captain was thunderstruck. + +"Sir," said he, "you are playing with my head." + +"None will know, and in two weeks' time she will be here again." + +"But if they discover it?" + +"Have no fear of that. During that time I will leave in thy hands as a +hostage my own son." + +The young cavalier approached, threw back his mantle, and the captain +recognised Feriz Beg. He fancied he was dreaming. + +"Dost thou not suppose that I will bring back the woman for the sake of +my son?" + +"Do what you think well," said the commandant. "I owe you a life, I will +now pay it back to you; follow me!" + +The commandant led his visitors up a narrow corkscrew fortress into the +corner tower, which was used as a dungeon for state prisoners. The +circular windows were guarded by heavy iron bars, the heavy iron-plated +oaken doors groaned upon their hinges, indicating thereby that they were +very seldom opened. + +"Why did you put them in this lonely place?" asked Kucsuk Pasha; "is +there not some other prison in the town?" + +"Don't blame me, sir; my orders were to lock the lady up securely, apart +from her child, and in this tower are two adjacent chambers with a +common window, and in one of them I have put the mother and in the other +the child. I knew that they would not mind if they could speak to each +other through the window, and press each other's hands, and even kiss +each other through the bars." + +"Thou art a true man, my good old fellow," said Kucsuk Pasha, patting +the commandant's shoulder; while Feriz Beg warmly pressed his hand. + +"Thou wouldst put me into just such another dungeon, eh?" he asked. + +"There would be no need of that, good Feriz Beg; you should dwell in my +apartments." + +"But I would not have it so," said the youth, thinking with glowing +cheeks of the fair Aranka who would thus be his next-door neighbour and +fellow-prisoner. + +At last the iron door of the prison was opened, the jailor remained +outside, and the two Osmanlis entered. By the side of a rude oak table +was sitting a lady in deep mourning in front of the narrow window, +reading aloud from a large Bible with silver clasps; her children at the +window of the other dungeon were listening devoutly to the Word of God. + +When the men entered the woman started and looked up; the dim ray of +light coming through the narrow window made her face appear still paler +than it used to be; she looked up seriously, sadly--sorrow had lent a +gentle gravity to the face that used to be so bright and gay. + +Kucsuk Pasha approached, and taking the lady's soft transparent hand in +his own, briefly introduced himself. + +"I am Kucsuk Pasha, thy husband's most faithful friend in this world +after thyself." + +"I thank you for your visit; my husband has often mentioned your name. +Do you perchance bring me any message from him?" + +"He would have thee with him." + +"Then I am free?" cried the lady, tremulous between joy and doubt. + +"Rejoice not, lady; it is not in my power to give thee freedom, I only +promise thee a brief interview with Paul Beldi, just time enough for +thee to tell him how much thou hast suffered. He cannot come to thee, so +thou must come to him. With me thou canst come most quickly, for the +greatest part of the time we shall be travelling together." + +"Will my children come with me?" + +"They will remain here. But thou wilt see them again soon. Either thou +wilt conquer Paul Beldi with thy tears, and melt his iron will, and then +he will come back to Transylvania as Prince and every gate will be open +before him; or else he will stand fast to his determination, and then +thou wilt return to thy dungeon and he to his, and so you will both die +in the dungeons of different realms. Now take leave of thy children and +hasten. It depends upon thee whether they become princes and princesses +or slaves for ever." + +"And who will defend them, who will watch over them, who will pray with +them while I am away?" + +"Be not distressed. I will leave my own son here as a hostage while thou +art away. Feriz will occupy thy dungeon, he will watch over thy +children, and not let them be afraid. Hasten now and take leave of +them." + +Dame Beldi rushed to the round window. Loudly sobbing, she called her +children one by one, and then embraced them all as best she could. The +cold iron bars stood between her breast and theirs. The tears of their +weeping faces could not dissolve them. + +"Give this kiss to father!--And this kiss from me!--And this from me!" +lisped the children, putting their little arms round their mother's neck +through the bars. + +"My child, my good Aranka!" said Dame Beldi to the girl, who being about +fifteen or sixteen was the eldest of them all; "look after thy little +brothers and sisters! And you, my good little lads, comfort Aranka. God +bless you! God defend you! One more kiss, Aranka! And one more for you, +little David?" + +"Madame, time is passing, and Paul Beldi is waiting for thee to open his +prison!" intervened Kucsuk Pasha, withdrawing Dame Beldi from the +window of her children's prison, who thereupon turned her tear-stained +face towards Feriz Beg, and in a passion of grief flung herself on the +youth's neck, and said to him in a voice almost indistinguishable for +her sobbing: + +"Thou noble heart! promise me that thou wilt love my children when I am +far away!" + +"By Allah, I swear it!" exclaimed the youth, pressing to his bosom the +poor woman who was half-fainting for sorrow, "I swear that I will love +them for ever!" + +Ah! there was one among them whom he had already loved for a long, long +time. + +"Hasten, lady!" urged the Pasha; "cast this mantle over thee, and place +this turban on thy head that the guards may not recognise thee in the +distance. The way is long, the time is short." + +"God be with you, God be with you!" sobbed Dame Beldi, casting with +tremulous hands hundreds of kisses towards her children, who waved their +goodbyes to her from their window and then, violently repressing her +emotion, she rushed from the dungeon. + +Kucsuk Pasha pressed the hand of his son in silence, and left him in +Dame Beldi's room. + +The children kept on weeping behind their window. + +The youth drew nearer to them. + +"Weep not," he said cheerfully, "your mother will soon come again and +bring your father with her, and then you will all rejoice together." + +"Ah, but then they'll kill father!" sobbed one of the children timidly. + +"So long as Feriz Beg can use his sword none shall touch Paul Beldi," +cried the youth, with flashing eyes. "My sword and my father's will +flash around him, his enemies will be my enemies. Fear not! when I get +back my sword, I will win back his liberty with it." + +"I thank you, I thank you," whispered a gentle voice overcome by +emotion. + +Feriz Beg recognised the silvery voice of Aranka, and the weeping blue +eyes of the seraph face which regarded him, like Heaven after rain, +flashed upon him a burning ray of gratitude which was to haunt him in +his dreams and in his memory for ever. + +Feriz felt his heart leap with a great joy. Pressing close up to the +prison bars that he might get as close to the girl as possible he said +to her with a tender voice: + +"How happy I am now that we dwell together as neighbours in the same +dungeon, but oh, how much happier shall we be when no doors are closed +upon us? Let me then have a place beside thy hearth and within thy +heart!" + +The fair, sad girl, with a face full of foreboding, stretched through +the bars of the dungeon a hand whiter than a lily, whiter than snow. +Feriz Beg solemnly raised it to his lips and falling on his knees, in an +outburst of sublime devotion touched his lips and his forehead with that +beloved hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE HUSBAND. + + +At the very hour when Kucsuk Pasha arrived at Stambul, Master Ladislaus +Szekely, whom Master Michael Teleki had sent with rich presents to the +Porte, likewise dismounted from his carriage. It was his mission to win +the favour of the infuriated Grand Vizier and the Pashas, who had again +begun violently to urge Paul Beldi to accept the princely throne. + +Master Ladislaus Szekely had also brought with him Zuelfikar to be his +guide and interpreter through the tortuous streets of Stambul. + +As we already know, this worthy gentleman's particular hobby was the +collection of jewels, and the Prince had sent through him such a heap of +precious stones that the heart of the good gentleman when he saw them +all spread out before him died away within him at the thought that the +whole collection was ruthlessly to be broken up and distributed among a +lot of foreigners and Pashas. + +"What a shame to lose them all," he thought. "And even then who knows +whether we shall be safe after all. It is like casting pearls before +swine. A much quicker way would be to get Master Paul Beldi +assassinated. That would be cutting the knot once for all, and we should +have no further danger from that quarter. Michael Teleki wouldn't kill +me for a trifle like that, I know. You, Zuelfikar, my son, could you +undertake to poison someone?" he inquired, turning towards the +renegade. + +"The whole town if you like." + +"No, only Master Paul Beldi. It is all one to him whether he dies or +remains a prisoner for life." + +"I'll do it for two hundred ducats, if you pay me half in advance." + +"I'll pay you, Zuelfikar, but how will you get at him?" + +"That's my affair, all you have to do is to get the money ready." + +Accordingly Ladislaus Szekely gave the earnest-money to the renegade, +and the renegade went home and wrote a letter in the name of the +Beglerleg of the following tenour: "Be assured that our affairs are in +the best order, and we shall shortly gain our object." + +He strewed over these lines a fine blue dust which was the strongest of +poisons, calculating that whoever wanted to read the letter would first +brush the dust off it, whereupon the fine dust would rise in the air, +and the person reading the letter would inhale the dust and die. + +After attaching the letter to his turban, he began prowling round the +dungeon of Paul Beldi, awaiting an opportunity of worming his way into +it. + + * * * * * + +Paul Beldi was sitting alone in the darkest corner of the dungeon of +Jedikula. At his feet lay his faithful bloodhound, Koertoevely, with his +eyes fixed sadly on his master. Whenever his master slept the dog would +sit up, never take his eyes off him, and begin growling at the lightest +noise. + +Beldi, with folded arms, was sitting on the stone bench to which he was +chained. His face had grown terribly pale and as if turned to stone. The +pale gleam of light which filtered through the narrow window and lit up +his face, found there no trace of that weary longing which the dweller +in prisons generally has for the sun's rays. The whole man, body and +soul, was hardened into steel. + +Suddenly the dog lying at his feet impatiently raised its sagacious +head, and then with a whimper of joy ran towards the door; there it +stood for a time merrily barking, and then ran back to its master and +stood before him wagging its tail with one foot on his shoulder, whining +and whimpering with such lively joy that one might almost have +understood what it wanted to say. + +"What's the matter? Good dog!" said Beldi, stroking the dog's head. +"What is it? Nobody's coming to see me that can make you happy." + +At that moment the key turned in the door of the dungeon and a group of +men by the light of torches descended the steps and entered Beldi's +prison; whereupon Koertoevely quickly left his master and burrowing his +way through the throng, began to yelp merrily over someone, and then +rushing back to his master, planted his fore-paws on his breast and +barked as if he would burst because he could not express more plainly +the joy which his wonderful canine instinct had anticipated. + +Beldi, perceiving among those who visited him the Grand Vizier, +Kiuprile, and Maurocordato, ordered his dog to be quiet, and standing up +before them, saluted them with a deep bow. + +"Well, thou obstinate man!" said the Grand Vizier, "how long wilt thou +torment thyself and offend the Sultan and thine own good friends? Wilt +thou ever perceive that to sit on a stone bench in a damp dungeon is a +very different thing to sitting on a princely throne?" + +"The more I suffer," said Beldi, in a strangely calm voice, "the more +reason I have to rejoice that my country does not suffer instead of me." + +The Grand Vizier thereupon said something in Turkish which Maurocordato +sadly interpreted: "The Grand Seignior informs thee that because of +money thou hast been cast into prison, and only money can release thee; +promise, therefore, two hundred and seventy purses, and thou shalt get +the Principality to enable thee to pay it." + +"I have told you my determination," said Beldi, "and I will not depart +from it. I will not promise money to the detriment of my country. I will +not lead an army against it, and I will not break my oath. These were +and will be my words from which I can never depart." + +"Never!" cried Kucsuk Pasha, pressing through the crowd. "Wilt thou not +even now?"--and with that he led a pale female figure towards Beldi. + +"My wife!" exclaimed the captive, and he gripped fast his chains lest he +should collapse for joy, terror, and surprise. + +The pale woman in mourning fell upon his bosom, her tears became his +fetters. + +Paul Beldi burst into tears, he fell back upon his stone bench, his very +soul was shattered. He remained clinging upon his wife's neck, +speechless, unable to utter a word, and the whining dog licked now the +hand of his master and now the lady's hand. + +"Let us turn aside," said Kucsuk Pasha; "let us leave them +together"--and the Turks withdrew from the dungeon, leaving Paul Beldi +alone with his wife. + +"I fancied," said Dame Beldi when she was able to utter a word amidst +her choking sobs. "I fancied I was suffering instead of you, and oh! you +were suffering more than I." + +"How did you come here?" asked Beldi, in a low stifled voice. + +"Kucsuk Pasha left his son as a hostage in my stead." + +"Worthy man! What useless sacrifices he is making for my sake. And my +children?" + +"They remain in the dungeon whither also I must return, if you will not +accept the Sultan's offer." + +"Have they taken away my girl Aranka also?" asked Beldi, with a heavy +heart. + +"Yes, they have taken her too, and if we are released we shall have no +whither to go. They have taken everything of ours. The Bethlen property +has become the prey of Farkas Bethlen; the Haromszeki estate is now in +the hands of Clement Mikes, although it is not lawful to deprive a +Szekler of his lands, even for high-treason. Our castle at Bodola has +been totally destroyed, our escutcheon has been torn to pieces, and your +name has been recorded in the journals of the Diet as a traitor." + +"Oh, ye men!" roared Beldi, shaking his chains in the bitterness of his +anger; "if I were not Paul Beldi the wrath of God would descend upon +your heads. But ah!--I love my country even if worms are gnawing it. Dry +your eyes, my good wife! you see I am not weeping. What we suffer is the +visitation of God upon us. I remain a Christian and a patriot. I leave +my cause to God!" + +"You will not accept the offer of the Sultan?" inquired Dame Beldi, +approaching her husband with fear and despair in her eyes. + +"Never!" replied Beldi, in a low voice. + +The wife, with a loud scream, flung herself at the feet of her husband, +and, seizing his knees in a convulsive embrace, begged and besought him: +"You would send me back to my dungeon? You would separate me from you +for ever? Never, never, not even in the hour of death, shall I see you +again." + +"Comfort yourself with the thought that you loved me, and were worthy of +me, if you can suffer as I do and for the same reason." + +"You would plunge your children into eternal captivity?" + +"Tell them that their father lived honourably and died honourably, and +teach them to live and die like him." + +"Think of your girl, Aranka; your favourite, your dearest child." + +"Rather may she fade away than Transylvania be plunged in the flames of +war." + +"Beldi! drive me not to despair!" cried the wife trembling violently. "I +am afraid, horribly afraid, of my dungeon. Twice have I had fever from +the close, damp air. There was none to care for me in my sickness; I +was calling your name continually, and you were far from me; I saw your +image, and was unable to embrace you. Oh, Beldi! I shall die without +you! The most terrible form of death--despair--will kill me!" + +Beldi knelt down by the side of his wife and embraced and kissed her. +The woman fainted in his arms as the Turks entered his prison. Beldi +beckoned Kucsuk Pasha to him. A sort of leaden, death-like hue had begun +to spread over his face; he could scarce see with whom he was +conversing. He laid his swooning wife in the arms of the Pasha, and +stammered with barely intelligible words: "I thank you for your good +will. Here is my wife--take her--back to her dungeon!" + +The Turks, in speechless astonishment, lifted up the fainting woman, and +left the dungeon without plaguing Beldi with any more questions. + +Beldi stood stonily there as they went out, with open lips and a dull +light in his eyes. When the last Turk had gone, and he saw his wife no +longer, his head began to nod and droop down, and suddenly he fell prone +upon the floor. + +Koertoevely, the old hound, began sorrowfully, bitterly, to whine. + +At that moment Zuelfikar entered the dungeon with the poisoned letter. + +He was too late. Paul Beldi had already departed from this world. + + * * * * * + +When Ladislaus Szekely heard of Beldi's death he gave a magnificent +banquet, and when the company was at its merriest Zuelfikar came rushing +in. + +"Come! out with those hundred ducats!" he whispered in the ear of Master +Ladislaus Szekely. + +"What do you mean?" cried Szekely in a voice flushed with wine. "Paul +Beldi had a stroke; be content with what you have had already." + +"Thou faithless dog of a giaour!" cried the renegade at the top of his +voice so that everyone could hear him, "is this the way thou dost +deceive me? Thou didst bargain with me for the death of Paul Beldi for +two hundred ducats, and now thou wouldst beat me down by one half. Thou +art a rogue meet for the hangman's hands. Is it thus thou dost treat an +honest man? I'll not kill a man for thee another time until thou pay me +in advance, thou faithless robber!" + +The company laughed aloud at this scene, but Master Ladislaus Szekely +seemed very much put out by the joke. "What are you talking about, you +crazy fellow?" said he. "Who asked you to do anything? I never saw you +in my life before!" + +"What!" cried Zuelfikar. "I suppose thou wilt deny next that thou didst +write this letter to Paul Beldi!" and with that he gave Ladislaus +Szekely the poisoned letter. He seized it, broke the seal, brushed away +the dust, and ran his eye over it, whereupon he flung it at the feet of +Zuelfikar, exclaiming: "I never wrote that." + +Then he beckoned to the servants to seize Zuelfikar by the collar and +pitch him into the street. But the renegade stood outside in front of +the windows and began to curse Szekely before the assembled crowd for +not paying him the price of the poison. + +Inside the house the guests laughed more heartily than ever, and at last +Szekely himself began to look upon the matter in the light of a joke, +and laughed like the rest; but when he returned home to Transylvania he +felt a pain in his stomach, and did not know what was the matter. He +became deaf, could neither eat nor drink, and his bowels began to rot. + +Nobody could cure him of his terrible malady, till at last he fell in +with a German leech, who persuaded him that he could cure him with the +dust of genuine diamonds and sapphires. Ladislaus Szekely handed to the +charlatan his collection of precious stones. He abstracted the stones +from their settings, but ground up common stones instead of them in his +medical mortar, and stampeded himself with the real stones, leaving +Ladislaus Szekely to die the terrible death by poison which he had +intended for Paul Beldi. + + * * * * * + +Paul Beldi they buried in foreign soil; none visited his grave. Only his +faithful dog sat beside it. For eight days it neither ate nor drank. On +the ninth day it died on the deserted grave of its master. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE FADING OF FLOWERS. + + +And now let us see what became of Aranka and Feriz. + +At last they were beneath one roof together--this roof was a little +better than the roof of a tomb, but not much, for it was the roof of a +dungeon. They could only see each other through a narrow little window, +but even this did them good. They were able to press each other's hands +through the iron bars, console each other, and talk of their coming joys +and boundless happiness. The walls of the prison were so narrow, so +damp, the narrow opening scarce admitted the light of day; but when the +youth began to talk of his native land, Damascus, rich in roses, of +palm-trees waving in the breeze, of warm sunny skies, where the +housetops were planted with flowers, and the evergreens give a shade +against the ever-burning sun, at such times the girl forgot her dungeon +and fancied she was among the rose-groves of Damascus, and when the +youth spoke of the future she forgot the rose-groves of Damascus and +fancied she was in heaven. + +Days and days passed since the departure of Dame Beldi, and there were +no news of her. Every day the spirits of the girl declined, every +evening she parted more and more sadly with Feriz, and every morning he +found it more and more difficult to comfort her. And now with great +consternation the youth began to perceive that the girl was very pale, +the colour of life began to fade from her round, rosy cheeks, and there +was something new in the brightness of her eyes--it was no earthly +light there which made him tremble as he gazed upon her. The youth durst +not ask her: "What is the matter?" But the girl said to him: + +"Oh, Feriz! I am dying here; I shall never see your smiling skies." + +"I would rather see the sky black than thee dead." + +"The sky will smile again, but I never shall. I feel something within me +which makes my heart's blood flow languidly, and at night I see my dead +kinsfolk, and walk with them in unknown regions which I never saw +before, and which appear before me so vividly that I could describe +every house and every bush by itself." + +"That signifies that thou wilt visit unknown regions with me." + +"Oh, Feriz, I no longer feel any pleasure in those lands of yours, nor +am I glad when I think of your palms, and as often as I see you darkness +descends upon my soul, for I feel that I am going to leave you." + +"Speak not so, joy of my existence. Grieve not God with thy words, for +God is afflicted when the innocent complain." + +"I am not complaining. I go from a bad into a good world, and there I +shall see you in my dreams." + +"But if this bad world should become better, and you lived happily in +it?" + +Aranka sadly shook her pretty, angelic head. + +"That it is not necessary for this world to grow better you can see from +the fact that the good must die while the wicked live a long time. God +seeks out those that love Him, and takes them unto Himself, for He will +not let them suffer long." + +Feriz shuddered. What could have put these solemn, melancholy thoughts +into the heart of this girl, this child? It was the approach of Death, +the worm-bitten fruit ripens more quickly than the rest. Slow, creeping +Death had seized upon the childish mind and made it speak like the +aged--and sad it was to listen to its words. + +"Cheer up," said Feriz, with an effort, skimming with his lips the +girl's white hand which she thrust out to him through the bars. "Thy +mother will soon be here; thy father will sit on the throne of the +Prince as he deserves; thou wilt be a Princess, and I will strive and +struggle till I am high enough to sue for thee, and then I will lay my +glory and renown at thy feet, and thou shalt be my bride, my queen, my +guardian angel." + +The girl shook her head sorrowfully. + +"And we will walk along by the banks of the quiet streams in those +ancient lands where not craft but valour rules, where the wise are only +learned in the courses of the stars and the healing virtues of the +plants, not in the science of the rise and fall of kingdoms. There from +the window of my breeze-blown kiosk, which is built on the slopes of +Lebanon, thou wilt view the whole region round about. Above, the +shepherds kindle their fires in the blackness of the cedar forests; +below, the mountain stream runs murmuring along, and all round about us +the nightingale is singing, and what he singeth is the happiness of +love. In the far distance thou seest the mirror of the great sea, and +the white-sailed pleasure boat rocks to and fro on the transparent +becalmed billows, and the moon looks down upon the limitless mirror, and +a fair maiden sits in the pleasure-boat, and at her feet lies a youth, +and both of them are silent, only a throbbing heart is speaking, and it +speaks of the happiness of love." + +A couple of tears dropped from the eyes of the girl--the future was so +seductive--and that picture, that fair country, she did not seem to be +regarding them from the earth, it seemed to her as if she was looking +down upon them from the sky and regretting that she was forced to +leave--the beautiful world. + +Aranka adored her father. The man who was respected for his virtues by a +whole kingdom was the highest ideal of his child. When Feriz began to +speak of him, the girl's face brightened, and at the recital of his +heroic deeds the tears dried up in her flashing eyes; and when the youth +told her how the great patriot would return, glorious and powerful, +supported by the mightiest of monarchs, and how he would throw open the +prison doors of his children and be parted from them no more, then a +smile would gradually transfigure the girl's face, and she would feel +happy. And then she would steal apart into her own dungeon, and kneel +down before her bed, and pray ardently that she might see her father +soon, very soon. + +And she was to see him before very long. + +Paul Beldi's body was now six feet deep in the ground, and his soul a +star farther off in the sky--to see him one must go to him. + +Paler and paler she became every day, her waking moments were scarcely +different from her dreams, and her dreams from her waking moments. The +provost-marshal now had compassion on the withered flower, and allowed +it on the sunny afternoons to walk about on the bastions and breathe the +fresh air. But neither moonlight nor fresh air could cure her now. + +Frequently she would take the hand of Feriz Beg and press it to her +forehead. "See how it burns, just like fire! Oh, if only I might live +till my father comes. How he would grieve for me!" + +Feriz Beg saw her wither from day to day, and still there was no sign of +liberty. The youth used frequently to walk about the courtyard half a +day at a time, like a lion in a cage, beating the walls with his +forehead at the thought that that for which he had been striving his +whole life long, and the possession whereof was the final goal of his +existence, was drawing nearer and nearer to Death every hour, and no +human power could hold it back! + +The wife of the provost-marshal, a good, true woman, nursed the rapidly +declining girl. Medical science was then of very small account in +Transylvania; the sick had resort to well-known herbs and domestic +remedies based on the experience of the aged; they trusted for the most +part to our blessed mother Nature and the mercy of God. + +The worthy woman did all she could, but her honest heart told her that +the arrival of Aranka's father, and the sooner the better, would do more +good than all her remedies. That would transform the invalid, and joy +would give her back her failing vital energy. + +Feriz Beg had not been able to speak to Aranka for two days; the girl +had suffered greatly during the night, and Feriz was condemned to listen +to the moaning of his beloved, and to hear her in the delirium of fever +through the prison windows without being able to go to her, without +being able to wipe the sweat from her forehead, or put a glass of cold +water to her lips, or whisper to her words of comfort, and had to be +content with knowing that she was with those who carefully nursed her. + +Oh, it is not to the dying that death is most bitter. + +By the morning the fever left her. The rising sun was just beginning to +shine through the narrow round window and the sick girl begged to be +carried out into the open air and the warm morning sunshine. She was no +longer able to walk by herself, and they carried her out on to the +bastions in an arm-chair. + +It was a beautiful autumn morning, a sort of transparent light rested +upon the whole region, giving a pale lilac blue to the sunlit scene. +Where the road wound down from the Szekler hills a light cloud of dust +was visible in the morning vapour; it seemed to be coming from the +direction of Szamosujvar. + +"Ah! there is my mother coming!" whispered Aranka, with a smiling face. + +The young Turk held his hand before his face and fixed his eagle eyes in +that direction; and when for a moment the breeze swept the dust off the +road, and a carriage on springs drawn by five horses appeared, he +exclaimed with a beating heart: + +"Yes, that is indeed the carriage in which they took away thy mother." + +Aranka was dumb with joy and surprise; she could not speak a word, she +only squeezed Feriz Beg's hands and fixed her tearful eyes upon him with +a grateful look. + +The carriage seemed to be rapidly approaching. "That is how people +hasten who have something joyful to say," thought Feriz, and then he +began to fear less boundless joy might injure the life of his darling. + +Soon the carriage arrived in front of the fortress and rumbled noisily +over the drawbridge. Aranka, supported by the arm of Feriz, descended +into the courtyard. They pressed onward to meet the carriage, and the +smile upon her pallid face was so melancholy. + +The glass door of the carriage was opened, and who should come out but +Kucsuk Pasha. + +There was nothing encouraging in his look; he said not a word either to +his son or to the girl who clung to him, but the castellan was standing +hard by, and he beckoned to him. + +"In the carriage," said Kucsuk, "is the prisoner for whom I left my son +as an hostage; take her back, and look well after her, for she is very +ill." + +Dame Beldi lay in the carriage unconscious, motionless. + +Aranka, paler than ever and trembling all over, asked: + +"Where is my father?" + +Kucsuk Pasha would have spoken, but tears came instead of words and ran +down his manly face; silently he raised his hand, pointed upwards, and +said, in a scarce audible voice: "In Heaven!" + +The gentle girl, like a plucked flower, collapsed at these words. Feriz +Beg caught her moaning in his arms, she raised her eyes, a long sigh +escaped her lips, then her beautiful lips drooped, her beautiful eyes +closed, and all was over. + +The beloved maiden had gone to her father in Heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE SWORD OF GOD. + + +For some time past God's marvels had been multiplied over Transylvania. +No longer were they disquieting rumours which popular agitators invented +for the disturbance of the public peace, but extraordinary natural +phenomena whose rapid sequence stirred the heart of even the coldest +sceptic. + +One summer morning at dawn, after a clear night, an unusually thick +heavy mist descended upon the earth, which only dispersed in the +afternoon, spread over the whole sky in the shape of an endless black +cloud, and there remained like a heavy motionless curtain. Not a drop of +water fell from it, and at noonday in the houses it was impossible to +see anything without a candle. + +Towards evening every bird became silent, the flowers closed their +calices, the leaves of the trees hung limply down. The people walking +about outside began to complain of a stifling cough, and from that time +forth the germs of every disease antagonistic to nature were seen in +every herb, in every fruit; even the water of the streams was corrupted. +The hot blood of man, the earth itself was infected by a kind of +epidemic, so that weeds never seen before sprang up and ruined the +richest crops, and the strongest oaks of the forest withered beneath the +assault of grey blight and funguses, and the good black soil of the +fruitful arable land was covered with a hideous green mould. + +For three whole days the sky did not clear. On the evening of the +fourth day the stifling stillness was followed by a frightful hurricane, +which tore off the roofs of the houses, wrenched the stars and crosses +from the steeples of the churches, swept up the dust from the +high-roads, caused such a darkness that it was impossible to see, and +bursting open the willow trees, which had just begun to bloom, drove the +red pollen before it in clouds, so that when the first big rain-drops +began to fall they left behind them blood-red traces on the white walls +of the houses. "It is raining blood from Heaven!" was the terrified cry. +Not long afterwards came the cracking thunderbolts flashing and flaming +as if they would flog the earth with a thousand fiery whips, while one +perpendicular flash of lightning plumped right down into the middle of +the town, shaking the earth with its cracking concussion, so that +everyone believed the hour of judgment was at hand. + +Nevertheless the storm had scattered the clouds, and by eventide the sky +had cleared, and lo! before the eyes of the gaping multitude a gigantic +comet stood in the firmament, all the more startling as nobody had been +aware of its proximity because for three days the sky had been blotted +out by clouds. + +The nucleus of the comet stood just over the place where the sun had +gone down, and the blood-red light of evening was not sufficient to dim +the brightness of the lurid star; it appeared as if it had just slain +the sun and was now bathing in its blood. + +The comet was so long that it seemed to stretch across two-thirds of the +firmament, and the end of it bulged out broadly like a Turkish scimitar. + +"The sword of God!" whispered the people with instinctive fear. + +For two weeks this phenomenon stood in the sky, rising late one day and +early the next. Sometimes it appeared with the bright sun, and in the +solar brightness it looked like a huge streak of blue enamel in the sky +and spread around it a sort of febrile pallor as if the atmosphere +itself were sick: on bright afternoons the sun could be regarded with +the naked eye. + +The people were in fear and terror at this extraordinary phenomenon, and +when the blind masses are in an unconscious panic then a storm is close +at hand, then they are capable of anything to escape from their fear. + +In those days the priests of every faith could give strange testimony of +the general consternation which prevailed in Transylvania. The churches +were kept open all day long, and the indefatigable curers of souls spoke +words of consolation to the assembled hosts of the faithful. Magyari, +the Prince's chaplain, preached four sermons every day in the cathedral, +which was so crowded at such times that half the people could not get in +at all but remained standing outside the doors. + +One evening the church was so filled with faithful worshippers that the +very steps were covered with them, and all sorts of Klausenberg +burgesses intermingled with travelling Szeklers in a group before the +principal door, and after the hymn was finished they clapped to their +clasped psalm-books and began to talk to each other while the sermon was +going on inside. + +"We live in evil times," said an old master-tanner, shaking his big cap. + +"We can say a word about that too," interrupted a Szekler, who was up in +town about a law-suit, and who seized the opportunity of saying what he +knew because he had come from far. + +"Then you also have seen the sword of God?" inquired a young man. + +"Not only have we seen it, my little brother, but we have felt it also. +Not a single evening do we lay down to rest without reciting the prayers +for the dead and dying, and scarce a night passes but what we see the +sky a fiery red colour, either on the right hand or to the left." + +"What would that be?" + +"Some village or town burning to ashes. They say the whole kingdom is +full of destroying angels; one never knows whose roof will be fired over +his head next." + +"God and all good spirits guard us from it." + +"We hear all sorts of evil reports," said a gingerbread baker. +"Yesterday I was talking to a Wallachian woman whose husband was faring +on the Jaras-water on a raft taking cheese to Yorda. He was not a day's +journey from his home when the Jaras turned, began to flow upwards, and +took the Wallachian back to his house from which he had started." + +A listening clergyman here explained the matter by saying that the +Aranyos, into which the Jaras flows, was greatly flooded just then, and +it was its overflow which filled up the Jaras; in fact it was Divine +Providence which brought the Wallachian back, for if he had been able to +go on farther, the Tartars would certainly have fallen upon him and cut +him to pieces. + +"I have experienced everything in my time," said the oldest of the +burgesses, "war, plague, flood and pestilence, but there's only one +thing I am afraid of, and that is earthquake, for a man cannot even go +to church to pray against that." + +At that moment the preacher in the church began to speak so loudly that +those standing outside could hear his words, and, growing suddenly +silent, they pressed nearer to the door of the church to hear what he +was saying. + +The right rev. Magyari was trouncing the gentlemen present unmercifully: +"God prepares to war against you, for ye also are preparing to war +against Him. You have broken the peace ye swore to observe right and +left, and ye shall have what you want, war without and war within, so +that ye may be constrained to say: 'Enough, enough, O Lord!' and ye +shall not see the end of what you have so foolishly begun." + +Magyari already knew that Teleki, at the Diet of Szamosujvar, had +announced the impending war. + +Just at this very time two men of the patrician order in sable kalpags +were seen approaching, in whom the Klausenbergers at once recognised +Michael Teleki and Ladislaus Vajda, and so far as they were able they +made room for them to get into the church through the crowd; but the +Szekler did not recognise either of them, and when Ladislaus Vajda very +haughtily shoved him aside with his elbows, he turned upon him and said: + +"Softly, softly, sir! This is the house of God, not the house of a great +lord. Here I am just as good a man as you are." + +Those standing beside him tried to pull him aside, but it is the +peculiarity of the Szeklers that they grow more furious than ever when +people try to pacify them; and on perceiving that Ladislaus Vajda, +unable to make his way through the throng, began to look about him to +see how he best could get to his seat, the Szekler cried in front of +him: + +"Cannot you let these two gentlemen get into the church? don't you see +that the lesson is meant for them?" + +Teleki meanwhile had forced his way just over the threshold, and taking +off his kalpag, exposed his bald, defenceless head in the sight of all +the people, with his face turned in the direction indicated by the +boisterous Szekler. + +Magyari continued his fulminating discourse from the pulpit. + +"Nobody dare speak against you now, for your words are very thunderbolts +and strike down those with whom you are angry--nay, rather, men bow the +knee before you and say, 'Your Excellency! Your Excellency!' but the +judgment of the Lord shall descend upon you, the Lord will slay you, and +then men will point the finger of scorn at you and say: 'That is the +consort of the accursed one who betrayed his country!--these are the +children of that godless man!' And your descendants will blush to bear +the shameful name you have left them, for then the tongue of every man +will wag in his mouth against you, and they will cry after your +posterity: 'It was the father of those fellows who betrayed Transylvania +and plunged us into slime from which we cannot now withdraw our feet' +..." + +"Come away, your Excellency!" said Ladislaus Vajda to Teleki, whom the +parson seemed to have seen, for he turned straight towards him as he +spoke. + +"What are you thinking of?" Teleki whispered back; "the parson is +speaking the truth, but it doesn't matter." + +"Whither would ye go, ye senseless vacillators!" continued Magyari, "who +empowered you to make the men of Transylvania fugitives, their wives +widows, and their children orphans? Verily I say to you, ye shall fare +like the camel who went to Jupiter for horns and got shorn of his ears +instead." + +"It may be so," said Teleki to Vajda, "but we shall pursue our course +all the same." + +The parson saw that the Minister of State was paying attention to his +discourse, so he wrinkled his forehead, and thus proceeded: + +"When King Louis perished on the field of Mohacs, the Turkish Emperor +had the dead body brought before him, and recognising at the same time +the corpse of an evil Hungarian politician lying there, he struck off +its head with his sword, and said: 'If thou hadst not been there, thou +dog! this honest child-king would not be lying dead here.' God grant +that a foreign nation may not so deal with you." + +Teleki scratched his head, and whispered: + +"It may happen to me likewise, but that makes no difference." + +Shortly afterwards another hymn was sung, the two magnates put on their +kalpags and withdrew, and the emerging crowd of people flowed along all +around them, among whom the Szekler, as recently mentioned, followed +hard upon the heels of the two gentlemen with singular persistency, +lauding to the skies before everyone, in a loud voice, the sermon he had +just heard, so as to insult the two gentlemen walking in front of him as +much as possible. + +"That was something like a sermon," he cried, "that is just how our +masters ought to have their heads washed--without too much soap. And +quite right too! Why saddle the realm with war at all? Why should +Transylvania put on a mustard plaster because Hungary has a pain in its +stomach? What has all this coming and going of foreigners to do with us? +Why should we poor Transylvanians suffer for the sake of the lean +foreigners among us?" + +Ladislaus Vajda could put up with this no longer, and turning round, +shouted at the Szekler: + +"Keep your distance, you rascal, speak like a man at any rate; don't +bark here like some mad beast when it sees a better man than itself." + +At these words the Szekler thrust his neck forward, stuck his face +beneath the very nose of the gentleman who had spoken to him, looked him +straight in the face with bright eyes that pricked like pins, and said, +twisting his moustaches fiercely: + +"Don't you try to fix any of your bastard names on me, sir, for if I go +home for my sword I will pretty soon make you a present of a head, and +that head shall be your own." + +Ladislaus Vajda would have made some reply, but Teleki pulled him by the +arm and dragged him away. + +"Nothing aggravates your Excellency," said the offended gentleman. + +"Let him growl, he'll be all the better soldier if we do have war; never +quarrel with a Szekler, my friend, for he always has a greater respect +for his own head than for anyone else's." + +And so the two gentlemen disappeared through the gates of the Prince's +palace. + + * * * * * + +The Prince himself was present at this sermon, and it produced this much +impression that he enjoined a fast upon his whole household and then +went to bed. In the night, however, he awoke repeatedly, and had so many +tormenting visions that he woke up all his pages, and it was even +necessary at last to send for the Princess herself, and only then did he +become a little calmer when she appeared at his bedside; in fact, he +kept her with him till dawn of day, continually telling her all sorts of +sad and painful things so that the Princess's cries of horror could be +heard through the door. + +In the morning, after the Princess had retired to her own apartments, +she immediately summoned to her presence Michael Teleki, who, living at +that time at the Prince's court as if it were his own home, was not very +long in making his appearance, and obeyed the command to be seated with +as much cheerful alacrity as if he had been asked to sit down at a +banquet, though well aware that a bitter cup had been prepared for him +which he must drain to the dregs. + +"Sir," said the Princess, "Apafi was very ill last night." + +"That was owing to the fast, he isn't used to such practices. Generally, +he has a good supper, and if he departs from his usual course of life he +is bound to sleep badly. Bad dreams plague an empty stomach just as much +as an overburdened one." + +"And how about an overburdened conscience, sir? I have spent the whole +night at his bedside, only this instant have I quitted him; he would not +let me leave him, he pressed my hand continually, and he talked, soberly +and wide-awake, of things which I should have thought could only have +been talked about in the delirium of typhus. He said that that night he +had stood before the judgment-seat of God, before a great table--which +was so long that he could not see the end of it--and at this table sat +the accusing witnesses, first of all Denis Banfy, and then Beldi, Dame +Beldi and their daughter, and eldest son, who died in prison; Kepi, +too, was there, and young Kornis, and old John Bethlen, and the rest of +them; all these familiar faces were before him, and as tremblingly he +approached the throne of God they all fixed their eyes upon him and +pointed their fingers at him. Sir, it was a terrible picture." + +"Does your Highness fancy that I am an interpreter of dreams?" asked +Teleki maliciously. + +"Sir, this is more than a dream--it is a vision, a revelation." + +"It may be so; the souls of the gentlemen enumerated are, no doubt, in +Heaven, and it is possible that countless other souls will follow them +thither." + +"And will the soul that shed their blood ascend thither too?" + +"Will your Highness deign to speak quite plainly--I suppose you mean me? +Of course, I am the cause of all the evils of Transylvania. Till I came +upon the scene, none but lamb-like men inhabited this state, in whose +veins flowed milk and honey instead of blood! King Sigismund, Bethlen, +Bocskai, George Rakoczy, for instance! Under them only some fifty or +sixty thousand men lost their lives in their party feuds and ambitious +struggles! Fine fellows, every one of them of course, everyone calls +them great patriots. But I, whose sword has never aimed at a self-sought +crown, I, who am animated by a great and mighty thought, a sublime idea, +I am a murderer, and responsible not only for those who have fallen in +battle, but also for those who have died quietly in their beds, if they +were not my good friends." + +"There was a time, sir, when you used every effort to prevent +Transylvania from going to war." + +"That was the very time when your Highness pleaded before the Prince for +war in the name of your exiled Hungarian kinsfolk. Other times, other +men." + +"I knew not then that such a desire would lead to the ruin of so many +great and honourable men." + +"You feared war, and yet you fanned it. He who resists a snow-storm is +swept away. Not the fate of men alone, but the fate of kingdoms also is +here in question. Apafi may console himself with the reflection that God +regards us both as far too petty instruments to lay upon our souls what +He Himself has decreed in the fullness of time, and what will and must +happen in spite of us, for the weeping and mourning which we listen to +here is also heard in Heaven. The mottoes of our escutcheons go very +well together. Apafi's is '_Fata viam inveniunt_,' mine is '_Gutta cavat +lapidem_.' Let us trust ourselves to our mottoes." + +The Princess, with folded arms, gazed out of the window and remained in +a brown study for some time. And now, as though her thoughts were +wandering far away, she suddenly sighed: "Ah! this Beldi family so +unhappily ruined, and how many more must be ruined likewise!" + +"Your Highness!" rejoined the Minister, without moving a muscle of his +face, "when, in time of drought, we pray for rain the whole day, does +anybody inquire what will become of the poor travellers who may be +caught in the downpour? Yet it may well happen that some of them may +take a chill and die in consequence." + +"I don't grasp the metaphor." + +"Well, the whole Principality is now praying for rain--a rain of blood, +I admit--and there is every sign that God will grant it. I do not mean +those signs and wonders in which the common folks believe, but those +signs of the times which rivet the attention of thinking men. Formerly +there was a large party in Transylvania which had engaged to uphold an +indolent peace, and which had so many ties, amongst the leading men both +of the Kaiser and the Sultan, that Denis Banfy could at one time boldly +tell me to my face that that Party was a hand with a hundred fingers, +which could squeeze everything it laid hold of like a sponge. And lo! +the fingers have all dropped off one by one. Denis Banfy has +perished--they say I killed him. Paul Beldi has died in prison--they say +I have poisoned him. God hath called John Bethlen also to Himself. Kapi +has died. The boldest of my enemies, Gabriel Kornis, has also died in +the flower of his youth--naturally they attribute his death to me +likewise. All those, too, who opposed war in the Divan have disappeared +one by one. Kucsuk Pasha has been shot down by a bullet at Lippa. +Kiuprile Pasha has been stifled by his own fat; and the youngest of the +Viziers, Feriz Beg, has gone mad. + +"Gone mad!" cried the Princess, covering her face with her hands; "that +noble, worthy youth who loved Transylvania so well?" + +"Do you not see the hand of God in all this?" asked the Minister. + +"No, sir," said the Princess, rising with a face full of sadness and +approaching the Minister so as to look him straight in the face while +she spoke to him, "it is your hand that I see everywhere. Denis Banfy +perished, but it was you who had him beheaded. Beldi is dead, but it was +you who drove him to despair. It was you, too, who threw his family into +prison, and only let them out when the foul air had poured a deadly +sickness into their blood. And Feriz Beg has gone mad because he loved +Beldi's daughter, and she is dead." + +"Very well, your Highness, let it be so," replied the imperturbable +Minister. "To attribute to me the direction of destiny is praise indeed. +Believe, then, that everything which happens in the council chamber of +this realm and in the heart of its members derives from me. I'll be +responsible. And if your Highness believes that that flaming comet, +which they call the Sword of God, is also in my hand--why--be it so! I +will hurl it forth, and strike the earth with it so that all its hinges +shall be out of joint." + +At that very moment the palace trembled to its very foundations. + +The Princess leaped to her feet, shrieking. + +"Ah! what was that?" she asked, as pale as death. + +"It was an earthquake, madame," replied Teleki with amazing calmness. +"There is nothing to be afraid of, the palace has very strong vaults; +but if you _are_ afraid, stand just beneath the doorway, that cannot +fall." + +On recovering from her first alarm the Princess quickly regained her +presence of mind. + +"God preserve us! I must hasten to the Prince. Will not you come too?" + +"I'll remain here," replied Teleki coolly. "We are in the hands of God +wherever we may be, and when He calls me to Him I will account to Him +for all that I have done." + +The Princess ran along the winding corridor, and, finding her husband, +took him down with her into the garden. + +It was terrible to see from the outside how the vast building moved and +twisted beneath the sinuous motion of the earth; every moment one might +fear it would fall to pieces. + +The Prince asked where Teleki was; the Princess said she had left him in +her apartments. + +"We must go for him this instant!" cried the Prince, but amongst all the +trembling faces around him he could find none to listen to his words, +for a man who fears nothing else is a coward in the presence of an +earthquake. + +Meanwhile the Minister was sitting quietly at a writing-table and +writing a letter to Kara Mustafa, who had taken the place of the dead +Kiuprile. He was a great warrior and the Sultan's right hand, who not +long before had been invited by the Cossacks to help them against the +Poles, which he did very thoroughly, first of all ravaging numerous +Polish towns, and then, turning against his confederate Cossacks, he cut +down a few hundred thousands of them and led thirty thousand more into +captivity. + +To him Teleki wrote for assistance for the Hungarians. + +Every bit of furniture was shaking and tottering around him, the windows +rattled noisily as if shaken by an ague, the very chair on which he sat +rocked to and fro beneath him, and the writing-table bobbed up and down +beneath his hand so that the pen ran away from the paper; but for all +that he finished his letter, and when he came to the end of it he wrote +at the bottom in firm characters: + +"Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinae!" + +Mustafa puzzled his brains considerably when he came to that part of the +letter containing the verse which had nothing to do with the text, which +the Minister, under the influence of an iron will struggling against +terror, had written there almost involuntarily. + +When the menacing peril had passed, and the pages had returned to the +palace, he turned to them reproachfully with the sealed letter in his +hand. + +"Where have you been? Not one of you can be found when you are wanted. +Take this letter at once, with an escort of two mounted drabants, to +Varna, for the Grand Vizier." + +And then he began to walk up and down the room as if nothing had +happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE MAD MAN. + + +In the most secret chamber of the Divan were assembled the Viziers for +an important consultation. The impending war was the subject of their +grave deliberations. For as Mohammed had said, there ought to be one God +in Heaven and one Lord on earth, so many of the Faithful believed that +the time for the accomplishment of this axiom had now arrived. + +Those wise men of the empire, those honourable counsellors, Kucsuk and +Kiuprile, were dead. Kara Mustafa, an arrogant, self-confidant man, +directed the mind of the Divan, and everyone followed his lead. + +The Sultan himself was present, a handsome man with regular features, +but with an expression of lassitude and exhaustion. During the whole +consultation he never uttered a word nor moved a muscle of his face; he +sat there like a corpse. + +One by one the ambassadors of the Foreign Powers were admitted. The +orator of Louis XIV. declared that the French King was about to attack +the Kaiser with all his forces; if the Sultan would also rise up against +him, he would be able to seize not only all Hungary but Vienna likewise. + +The Sultan was silent. The Grand Vizier, answering for him, replied that +Hungary had long since belonged to the Sultan, and no doubt Vienna and +Poland would shortly share the same fate. The Sultan could only suffer +tributary kings on the earth. + +The ambassador drew a somewhat wry face at these words, reflecting that +France also was on the earth; then he withdrew. + +After him came the envoys of Emeric Toekoely, offering the blood and the +swords of the Hungarian malcontents to the Sultan if he would help them +to win back Hungary. + +This time the Sultan replied instead of Mustafa. + +"The Grand Seignior greets his servants, and will be gracious to them if +they will help him to win back Hungary." + +The envoys noticed that their words had ingeniously been twisted, but as +they also had their own _arriere-pensees_ in regard to the Turks, they +only looked at each other with a smile and withdrew. + +Then came the Transylvanian embassy--gentle, mild-looking men, whose +orator delivered an extraordinarily florid discourse. His Highness, +Michael Apafi, they said, and all the estates of Transylvania, were +ready to draw their swords for the glory of the Grand Seignior and +invade Hungary. + +Mustafa replied: + +"The Grand Seignior permits you to help your comrades in Hungary." + +The orator would like to have heard something different--for example, +that the crown of Hungary was reserved for Michael Apafi, the dignity of +Palatine for Teleki, etc., etc., and there he stood scratching his ear +till the Grand Vizier told him he might go. + +Ha, ha! the Turkish policy was written in Turkish. + +After the foreign envoys came the messengers from the various pashas and +commandants in Hungary, who brought terrible tidings of raids, +incursions, and outrages on the part of the Magyar population against +the Turks. The Grand Vizier exclaimed angrily at every fresh report, +only the Sultan was silent. Last of all came the ulemas. + +On their decisions everything depended. + +Very solemnly they appeared before the Divan. First of all advanced the +Chief Mufti in a long mantle reaching to his heels, and with a large +beehive-shaped hat upon his head; his white beard reached to his girdle. +After him came two imams, one of whom carried a large document in a +velvet case, whose pendant seal swung to and fro beneath its long golden +cord; the other bent beneath the weight of an enormous book--it was the +Alkoran. + +The Alkoran is a very nice large book, larger than our _corpus juris_ of +former days, and in it may be found everything which everyone requires: +accusatory, condemnatory, and absolvatory texts for one and the same +thing. + +The Mufti presented the Alkoran to the Sultan and all the Viziers in +turn, and each one of them kissed it with deep reverence; then he +beckoned to one of the imams to kneel down on a stool before the Divan +and remain there resting on his hands and knees, and placing the Koran +on his back, began to select expressly marked texts. + +For seventy years he had thoroughly studied the sacred volume, and could +say that he had read it through seven hundred and ninety-three times. +He, therefore, knew all its secrets, and could turn at once to the leaf +on which the text he wanted to read aloud could be found. + +"The Alkoran saith," he read with unctuous devotion, "'the knot which +hath been tied in the name of Allah the hand of Allah can unloose!' The +Alkoran saith moreover: 'Wherever we may be, and whatever we may be, +everywhere we are all of us in the hand of Allah.' Therefore this treaty +of peace is also in the hand of Allah, and the hand of Allah can unloose +everything. Furthermore, the Alkoran saith: 'If any among thy suffering +father's children implore help from thee, answer him not: come to me +to-morrow, for my vow forbids me to rise up to-day; or, if any ask an +alms of thee answer him not: to-day it cannot be, for my vow forbids me +to touch money; or, if anyone beg thee to slay someone, answer him not: +to-morrow I will help thee, for my vow forbids me to draw the sword +to-day; verily the observance of thy vow will be a greater sin to thee +than its violation.' Moreover, thus saith the Alkoran: 'The happiness of +the nations is the first duty of the rulers of the earth, yet the glory +of Allah comes before it.' And finally it is written: 'Whoso formeth a +league with the infidel bindeth himself to wage war upon Allah, yet +vainly do the nations of the earth bind themselves together that they +may live long, for let Allah send his breath upon them and more of them +are destroyed in one day than in ten years of warfare: kings and +beggars--it is all one.'" + +At each fresh sentence the viziers and the ulemas bowed their heads to +the ground. Mustafa could not restrain a blood-thirsty smile, which +distorted his face more and more at each fresh sentence, and at the last +word, with a fanatical outburst, he threw off the mask altogether, and +with a howl of joy kissed repeatedly the hem of the Chief Mufti's +mantle. + +The Mufti then unclasped the velvet case which contained the treaty of +peace, and drawing forth the parchment, which was folded fourfold, he +unfolded it with great ceremony, and placing it in the hands of the +second imam that he might hold it spread open at both ends, he exhibited +the document to the viziers. + +It was a long and beautiful script. The initial letter was as big as a +painted castle and wreathed around with a pattern of birds and flowers. +The whole of the first line of it was in ultramarine letters, the other +lines much smaller on a gradually diminishing scale, and whenever the +name of Allah occurred, it was written in letters of gold. The Sultan's +name was always in red, the Kaiser's in bright green letters. At the +foot of it was the fantastic flourish which passed for the Sultan's +signature, which he would never have been able to write, but which was +always engraved on the signet ring which he wore on his finger. + +"Lo! here is the treaty," said the Mufti, pointing to the document, +"from which, by the command of Allah, I will now wash off the writing." + +Thereupon he drew across the document a large brush which he had +previously dipped into a large basin of water in which sundry chemicals +had been dissolved, and suddenly the writing began to fade away, the +Sultan's name written in red letters disappeared instantly from the +parchment, then the lines written in black ink visibly grew dimmer. The +Kaiser's name written in bright green letters resisted more obstinately, +but at last these also vanished utterly, and nothing more remained on +the white parchment but the name of God written in letters of gold--the +corrosive acid was powerless against that. + +Deep silence prevailed in the Divan, every eye was fixed with pious +attention on the bleaching script. + +Then, seizing a drawn sword, the Mufti raised it aloft and said: + +"Having wiped away the writing which cast dishonour on the name of +Allah, I now cut this document in four pieces with the point of my +sword." + +And speaking thus, and while the imam stretched the parchment out with +both hands, the Mufti cut it into four pieces with the sword he held in +his hand, and placing the fragments in a pan, filled it up with naptha +from a little crystal flask. + +"Lo! now I burn thee before the face of Allah!" + +Then he passed an ignited wax taper over the pan, whereupon the naptha +instantly burst into flame, and the fragments of the torn document were +hidden by the blue fire and the white smoke. Presently the flame turned +to red, the smoke subsided, and the parchment was burnt to ashes. + +"And now I scatter thy ashes that thou mayst be dispersed to nothing," +said the Mufti; and, taking the ashes, he flung them out of the palace +window. The burnt paper rags, like black butterflies, descended gently +through the air and were cast by the wind into the Bosphorus below. + +No sooner was this accomplished than the pashas and viziers all leaped +from their seats and drew their swords, swearing with great enthusiasm +by the beard of the Prophet that they would not return their weapons to +their sheaths till the crescent should shine on the top of the tower of +the Church of St. Stephen at Vienna. + +At that moment the door-curtains were thrust aside, and into the Divan +rushed--Feriz Beg. + +The face of the youth was scarce recognisable, his turban was awry upon +his forehead, his eyes, full of dull melancholy, stared stonily in front +of him, his dress was untidy and dishevelled, his sword was girded to +his side, but its handle was broken. Nobody had prevented him from +rushing through the numerous halls into the Divan, and when he entered +the ulemas parted before him in holy horror. When the youth reached the +middle of the room, he stood there glancing round upon the viziers with +folded arms, just as if he were counting how many of them there were, +one by one they all stood up before him--nay, even the Sultan did so, +and awaited his words tremblingly. + +Everyone in the East regards the insane with awe and reverence, and if a +crazy fakir were to stop the greatest of the Caliphs in the way and say +to him: "Dismount from thy horse, and change garments with me," he would +not dare to offer any opposition, but would fulfil his desire, for a +strange spirit is in the man and God has sent it. + +How will it be then when the terrible spirit of madness descends upon +such a valiant warrior, such a distinguished soldier as Feriz Beg, who, +when only six-and-twenty, had fought a hundred triumphant battles, and +frequently put to shame the grey beards with his wisdom. And lo! +suddenly he goes mad, and stops people in the street, and speaks such +words of terror to them that they cannot sleep after it. + +The youth, with quiet, gentle eyes and a sorrowful countenance passes in +review the faces of all who are present, and heartrending was the +expression of deep unutterable anguish in his voice when he spoke. + +"Pardon me, high and mighty lords, for appearing among you without an +invitation--I who have now no business at all in the world anywhere. The +world in which I lived is dead, it has withdrawn to Heaven far from me; +all those who possessed my heart are now high above my head, and now, I +have no heart and no feeling: neither love, nor valour, nor the desire +of fame and glory; in my veins the blood flows backwards and forwards so +that oftentimes I rush roaring against the walls round about me and tear +carpets and pillows which have never offended me; and now again the +blood stands still within me, my arteries do not beat at all, so that I +lie stiff and staring like a dead man. I beg you all, ye high and mighty +lords, who in a brief time will go to Paradise, to take a message from +me thither." + +The high lords listened horror-stricken to the calm way in which the +youth uttered these words, and they saw each other's faces growing pale. + +Feriz paid no attention to their horrified expressions. + +"Tell to them whom I love, and with whom my heart is, to give me back my +heart, for without it I am very poor. I perceive not the fragrance of +the rose, wine is not sweet to my lips, neither fire nor the rays of the +sun have any warmth, and the note of the bugle-horn and the neighing of +my charger find no response in me. High and mighty lords, tell this to +those who are above if I myself go not thither shortly." + +There were present, besides Mustafa, Rezlan Pasha, Ajas Beg, Rifat Aga, +Kara Ogli the Kapudan Pasha, and many more who promised themselves a +long life. + +The Grand Seignior had always made a particular favourite of Feriz, and +he now addressed him in a gentle, fatherly voice. + +"My dear son, go back home; my viziers are preparing to subdue the +world with unconquerable armies. Go with them, in the din of battle thou +wilt find again thy heroic heart and be cured of thy sickness." + +An extraordinary smile passed across the face of Feriz, he waved aside +the idea with his hand and bent his head forwards, which is a way the +Turks have of expressing decided negation. + +"This war cannot be a triumphant war, for men are the cause thereof. +Allah will bring it to nought. Ye draw the sword at the invitation of +murderers, deceivers, and traitors. I have broken the hilt of my own +sword in order that I may not draw it forth. They have killed those whom +I love, how can I fight in that army which was formed for them who were +the occasion of the ruin of my beloved?" + +At this thought the blood flew to the youth's face, the spirit of +madness flamed up in his eyes, he rose to his full height before the +Sultan, and he cried with a loud, audacious voice: + +"Thou wilt lose the war for which thou dost now prepare, for thy viziers +are incapable, thy soldiers are cowards, thy allies are traitors, thy +wise men are fools, thy priests are hypocrites, and thou thyself art an +oath-breaker." + +Then, as if he were suddenly sorry of what he had said to the Sultan, he +bent humbly over him and taking hold of the edge of his garment raised +it up and kissed it--and then, regarding him with genuine sympathy, +murmured softly: + +"Poor Sultan!--so young, so young--and yet thou must die." + +And thereupon, with hanging head, he turned away and prepared to go out. +None stayed him. + +On reaching the door, he fumbled for his sword, and perceiving when he +touched it that the hilt was missing, he suddenly turned back again, and +exclaimed in a low whisper: + +"Think not that it will rust in its sheath. The time will come when I +shall again draw it, and it will drink its fill of blood. When those +who now urge us on to war shall turn against us, when those who now +stand in line with us shall face us with hostile banners, then also will +I return, though then ye will no longer be present. But ye shall look on +from Paradise above. So it will be: ye shall look on ... Poor young +Sultan!" + +Having whispered these prophetic words, the mad youth withdrew, and the +gentlemen in the Divan were so much disturbed by his words that, with +faces bent to the earth, they prayed Allah that He would turn aside from +them the evil prophesy and not suffer to be broken asunder the weapons +they had drawn for the increase of His glory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +PLEASANT SURPRISES. + + +All the chief generals, all the border pashas, had received the Sultan's +orders to gather their hosts together and lead them against the armies +of the King of the Romans, and besiege the places which were the pretext +of the rupture--to wit, the fortresses of Fuelek, Boeszoermeny, and Nagy +Kalla. + +At the same time the Government of Transylvania also received permission +to attack Hungary with its armies, as had already been decided at the +Diet of Szamosujvar. + +Vast preparations were everywhere made. The Magyar race is very hard to +move to war, but once in a quarrel it does not waste very much time in +splitting straws. + +Teleki, too, had attained at last to the dream of his life and the +object of all his endeavours, for which he had knowingly sacrificed his +own peace of mind, and the lives of so many good patriots--he was the +generalissimo of the armies of Transylvania. + +The Hungarian exiles in Transylvania hailed him as their deliverer, and +he saw himself a good big step nearer to the place of Esterhazy--the +place of Palatine of Hungary. And why not? Why should he not stand among +the foremost statesmen of his age? + +All the way to the camp at Fuelek he was the object of flattery and +congratulation; the Hungarians gathered in troops beneath his banner, +colonels and captains belauded him. As for the worthy Prince, he did +not show himself at all, but sat in his tent and read his books, and +when he felt tired he took his watch to pieces and put it together +again. + +At Fuelek the Transylvanian army joined the camp of Kara Mustafa. + +Teleki dressed up the Prince in his best robes, and trotted with him and +his suite to the tent of the Grand Vizier with growing pride when he +heard the guards blow their trumpets at their approach, and the Grand +Vizier as a special favour admitted them straightway to his presence, +allowed them to kiss his hand, made the magnates sit down, and praised +them for their zeal and fidelity, giving each of them a new caftan; and +when they were thus nicely tricked out, he dismissed them with an escort +of an aga, a dragoman, and twelve cavasses to see the whole Turkish camp +to their hearts' content. + +Teleki regarded this permission as a very good omen. Turkish generals +are wont to be very sensitive on this point, and it is a great favour on +their part when they allow foreigners to view their camps. + +The dragoman took the Hungarian gentlemen everywhere. He told them which +aga was encamped on this hill and which on that, how many soldiers made +up a squadron of horse, and how many guns, and how many lances were in +every company. He pointed out to them the long pavilion made of deal +boards in which the gunpowder lay in big heaps, and gigantic cannon +balls were piled up into pyramids, and round mortars covered with pitchy +cloths, and gigantic culverines, and siege-guns, and iron howitzers lay +on wooden rollers. The accumulated war material would have sufficed for +the conquest of the world. + +The gentlemen sightseers returned to their tents with the utmost +satisfaction, and, overjoyed at what he had seen, the Prince gave a +great banquet, to which all the Hungarian gentlemen in his army were +also invited. The tables were placed beneath a quickly-improvised +baldachin; and at the end of an excellent dinner the noble feasters +began to make merry, everyone at length saw his long-deferred hopes on +the point of fulfilment, and none more so than Michael Teleki. + +One toast followed another, and the healths of the Prince and of Teleki +were interwoven with the healths of everyone else present, so that +worthy Apafi began to think that it would really be a very good thing if +he were King of Hungary, while Teleki held his head as high as if he +were already sitting in the seat of the Palatine. + +Just when the revellers were at their merriest, a loud burst of martial +music resounded from the plain outside, and a great din was audible as +if the Turkish armies were saluting a Prince who had just arrived. + +The merry gentry at once leaped from their seats and hurried to the +entrance of the tent to see the ally who was received with such +rejoicing, and a cry of amazement and consternation burst from their +lips at the spectacle which met their eyes. + +Emeric Toekoely had arrived at the head of a host of ten thousand Magyars +from Upper Hungary. His army consisted of splendid picked warriors on +horseback, hussars in gold-braided dolmans, wolf-skin pelisses, and +shakos with falcon feathers. Toekoely himself rode at the head of his host +with princely pomp; his escort consisted of the first magnates of +Hungary, jewel-bedizened cavaliers in fur mantles trimmed with +swansdown, among whom Toekoely himself was only conspicuous by his manly +beauty and princely distinction. + +The face of Teleki darkened at the sight, while the faces of all who +surrounded him were suddenly illuminated by an indescribable joy, and +their enthusiasm burst forth in _eljens_ of such penetrating enthusiasm +at the sight of the young hero that Teleki felt himself near to +fainting. + +Ah! it was in a very different voice that they had recently cried +"_Viva!_" to him, it was a very different sort of smile with which they +had been wont to greet _him_. + +Meanwhile Toekoely had reached the front of the marshalled Turkish army, +which was drawn up in two rows right up to the pavilion of the Grand +Vizier, allowing the youth and his suite to pass through between them +amidst a ceremonious abasement of their horse-tail banners. The young +general had only passed half through their ranks when the Grand Vizier +came to meet him in a state carriage drawn by six white horses. + +From the hill on which Teleki stood he could see everything quite +plainly. + +On reaching the carriage of the Grand Vizier, Toekoely leaped quickly from +his horse, whereupon Kara Mustafa also descended from his carriage, and, +hastening to the young general, embraced him and kissed him repeatedly +on the forehead, made him take a seat in the carriage beside him, and +thus conveyed him to his tent amidst joyful acclamations. + +Teleki had to look on at all this! That was very different from the +reception accorded to him and the Prince of Transylvania. + +He looked around him--gladness, a radiant smile shone on every face. Oh! +those smiles were so many dagger-thrusts in his heart! + +In half an hour's time Toekoely emerged from the tent of the Grand Vizier. +His head was encircled by a diamond diadem which the Sultan had sent for +all the way to Belgrade, and in his hand was a princely sceptre. When he +remounted and galloped away close beside the tents of the +Transylvanians, the Hungarians in Teleki's company could restrain +themselves no longer, but rushed towards Toekoely and covered his hands, +his feet, his garments, with kisses, took him from his horse on to their +shoulders, and carried him in their arms back to camp. + +Teleki could endure the sight no more; he fled into his tent, and, +throwing himself on his camp-bedstead, wept like a child. + +The whole edifice which he had reared so industriously, so doggedly, +amidst innumerable perils, during the arduous course of a long +life--for which he had sacrificed relations, friends, and all the great +and wise men of a kingdom, and pledged away the repose of his very +soul--had suddenly collapsed at the appearance of a mere youth, whose +only merit was the exaggerated fame of a few successful engagements! It +was the heaviest blow he had ever staggered under. Oh! Fortune is indeed +ingenious in her disappointments. + +Evening came, and still Teleki had not quitted his tent. Then the Prince +went to see him. Teleki wanted to hear nothing, but the Prince told him +everything. + +"Hearken, Mr. Michael Teleki! The Hungarian gentlemen have not come back +to us, but remain with Toekoely. And Toekoely also, it appears, doesn't want +to have much to do with us, for instead of encamping with us he has +withdrawn to the furthest end of the Turkish army, and has pitched his +tents there." + +Teleki groaned beneath the pain which the distilled venom of these words +poured into his heart. + +"Apparently, Mr. Michael Teleki, we have been building castles in the +air," continued Apafi with jovial frankness. "We are evidently not of +the stuff of which Kings and Palatines of Hungary are made. I cannot but +think of the cat in the fable, who pulled the chestnuts out of the fire +with the claws of others." + +Teleki shivered as if with an ague. + +Apafi continued in his own peculiar vein of cynicism: "Really, my dear +Mr. Michael Teleki, I should like it much better if we were sitting at +home, and Denis Banfy and Paul Beldi and the other wise gentlemen were +sitting beside me, and I were listening to what they might advise." + +Teleki clenched his fists and stamped his feet, as much as to say: "I +would not allow that." + +Then with a bitter smile he watched the Prince as he paced up and down +the tent, and said with a cold, metallic voice: + +"One swallow does not make a summer. If ten or twelve worthless fellows +desert to Toekoely, much good may it do him! The army of the real +Hungarian heroes will not follow their example, and when it can fight +beneath the banner of a Prince it will not fling itself into the arms of +a homeless adventurer." + +"Then it would be as well if your Excellency spoke to them at once, for +methinks that this night the whole lot of them may turn tail." + +Teleki seemed impressed by these words. He immediately ordered his +drabants to go to the captains of the army collected from Hungary who +had joined Apafi at Fuelek, and invite them to a conference in his tent +at once. + +The officers so summoned, with a good deal of humming and hahing, met +together in Teleki's tent, and there the Minister harangued them for two +good hours, proving to demonstration what a lot of good they might +expect from cleaving to Apafi, and what a lot of evil if they allowed +themselves to be deluded by Toekoely, till the poor fellows were quite +tired out and cried: "Hurrah!" in order that he might let them go the +sooner. + +But that same night they all fled to the camp of Toekoely. None remained +with Apafi but his faithful Transylvanians. + +But even now Teleki could not familiarise himself with the idea of +playing a subordinate part here, but staked everything on a last, +desperate cast--he went to the Grand Vizier. He announced himself, and +was admitted. + +The Grand Vizier was alone in his tent with his dragoman, and when he +saw Teleki he tried to make his unpleasant face more repulsive than it +was by nature, and inquired very viciously: "Who art thou? Who sent thee +hither? What dost thou want?" + +"I, sir, am the general of the Transylvanian armies, Michael Teleki; you +know me very well, only yesterday I was here with the Prince." + +Just as if the two speakers did not understand each other's language, +the dragoman had to interpret their questions and answers. + +"I hope," replied the Grand Vizier, "thou dost not expect me to +recognise at sight the names of all the petty princes and generals whom +I have ever cast eyes on? My master, the mighty Sultan, has so many +tributary princes in Europe, Asia, and Africa, that their numbers are +incalculable, and all of them are superior men to thee, how canst thou +expect me to recognise thee among so many?" + +Teleki swallowed the insult, and seeing that the Grand Vizier was +anxious to pick a quarrel with him, he came straight to the point. + +"Gracious sir, I have something very important to say to you if you will +grant me a private interview." + +The Grand Vizier pretended to fly into a rage at these words. + +"Art thou mad or drunk that thou wouldst have a private interview with +me, although I don't understand Hungarian and thou dost not understand +Turkish, or perchance thou wouldst like me to learn Hungarian to please +thee? Ye learn Latin, I suppose, though no living being speaks it? And +ye learn German and French and Greek, yet ye stop short at the language +of the Turks, though the Turks are your masters and protectors! For a +hundred and fifty years our armies have passed through your territories, +yet how many of you have learned Turkish? 'Tis true our soldiers have +learnt Hungarian, for thy language is as sticky as resin on a growing +tree. Therefore, if thou art fool enough to ask me for a private +interview--go home and learn Turkish first!" + +Teleki bowed low, went home and learnt Turkish--that is to say, he +packed up a couple of thousand thalers in a sack--and, accompanied by +two porters to carry them, returned once more to the tent of the Grand +Vizier. + +And now the Grand Vizier understood everything which the magnate wished +to say. The dragoman interpreted everything beautifully. He said the +Sultan was building a fortress on the ice when he entrusted the fate of +the Hungarians to such a flighty youth as Emeric Toekoely. How could a +young man, who was such a bad manager of his own property, manage the +affairs of a whole kingdom? And so fond was he of being his own master, +that he suffered himself to be exiled from Transylvania with the loss of +all his property rather than submit to the will of his lawful Prince. +The man who had already rebelled against two rulers would certainly not +be very loyal to a third; while Apafi, on the other hand, had all his +life long been a most faithful vassal of the Sublime Porte, and, modest, +humble man as he was, would be far more useful than Toekoely, whom the +Porte would always be obliged to help with men and money, whereas the +latter would always be able to help with men and money the Porte and its +meritorious viziers--_uti figura docet_. + +Mustafa listened to the long oration, took the money, and replied that +he would see what could be done. + +Teleki was not quite clear about the impression his words had made, but +he did not remain in uncertainty for long; for scarcely had he reached +the tent of the Prince than a defterdar with twelve cavasses came after +him, and signified that he was commanded by the Grand Vizier immediately +to seize Michael Teleki, fling him into irons, and bring him before a +council of pashas. + +Michael Teleki turned pale at these words. The faithless dragoman had +told everything to Toekoely, who had demanded satisfaction from the Grand +Vizier, who, without the least scruple of conscience, was now ready to +present to another the head of the very man from whom he had accepted +presents only an hour before. + +The magnate now gave himself up for lost, but the Prince approached him, +and tapping him on the shoulder, said: + +"If I were the man your Excellency is pleased to believe me and make +other people believe too--that is to say, a coward yielding to every +sort of compulsion--in an hour's time your Excellency would not have a +head remaining on your shoulders. But everyone shall see that they have +been deceived in me." + +Then, turning towards the defterdar, he said to him in a firm, +determined voice: + +"Go back to your master, and say to him that Michael Teleki is the +generalissimo of my armies and under my protection, and at the present +moment I have him in my tent. Let anyone therefore who has any complaint +against him, notify the same to me, and I will sit in judgment over him. +But let none dare to lay a hand upon him within the walls of my tent, +for I swear by the most Holy Trinity that I will break open the head of +any such person with my cudgel. I would be ready to go over to the enemy +with my whole army at once rather than permit so much as a mouse +belonging to my household to be caught within my tent by a foreign cat, +let alone the disgrace of handing over my generalissimo!" + +The defterdar duly delivered the message of the enraged Prince to the +Grand Vizier. Emeric Toekoely was with him at the time, and the two +gentlemen on hearing the vigorous assertion of the Prince agreed that +after all Michael Apafi was really a very worthy man, and sending back +the defterdar, instructed him to say with the utmost politeness and all +due regard for the Prince that so long as Michael Teleki remained in the +Prince's tent not a hair of his head should be crumpled; but he was to +look to it that he did not step out of the tent, for in that case the +cavasses who were looking out for him would pounce upon him at once and +treat him as never a Transylvanian generalissimo was treated before; and +now, too, he had only the Prince to thank for his life. + +Teleki was annihilated. Nothing could have wounded his ambitious soul so +deeply as the consciousness that the Prince was protecting him. To +think that this man, whom the whole kingdom regarded as cowardly and +incapable, could be great when he himself had suddenly become so very +small! His nimbus of wisdom, power, and valour had vanished, and he saw +that the man whom he had only consulted for the sake of obtaining his +signature to prearranged plans was wiser and more powerful and more +valiant than he. + +Peering through the folds of the tent he could see that, faithful to the +threatening message, the cavasses were prowling around the tent and +telling the loutish soldiers that if Teleki stepped out they would seize +him forthwith. The Szeklers laughed and shouted with joy thereat. + +Then the magnate began to reflect whether it would not be best if he +drew his sword, and rushing out, slash away at them till he himself were +cut to pieces. + +What a ridiculous ending that would be! + +Towards evening Emeric Toekoely paid a visit to the Prince. He approached +the old man with the respect of a child, did obeisance, and would have +kissed his hand, but Apafi would not permit it, but embraced him, kissed +him on the forehead repeatedly, and made him sit down beside him on the +bear-skin of his camp-bed. + +The young leader feelingly begged the old man's pardon for all the +trouble that he had caused him and Transylvania. + +"It is I who ought to beg pardon of your Excellency," said Apafi in a +submissive voice. + +"Not at all, your Highness and dear Father. I know that you have always +loved me, but evil counsellors have whispered such scandalous things to +you about me that you were bound to hate me--but God requite them for it +if I cannot." + +"Be magnanimous towards them, my dear son; forgive them, for my sake." + +Toekoely was silent. He knew that Teleki was in the tent, he saw him, but +he would not take any notice of him. At last, without even looking +towards him, he said, in the most passionate, threatening voice: + +"Look, ye, Teleki, you have practised all sorts of devices against me, +but if you put your nose outside the tent of the Prince you will eat his +bread no more. You would be in my power now, and here your head would +lie, but for his Highness whom I look upon as a father." + +Michael Teleki was silent, but future events were to prove that he had +heard very well what was now spoken. + +After surrendering the fortress of Fuelek to the Turks, the Transylvanian +gentlemen returned home with their army; and Michael Teleki, when he got +home, paid a visit to the church where lay the ashes of Denis Banfy, and +hiding his face on the tomb, he wept bitterly over the noble patriot +whom he had sacrificed to his ambitious plans. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +A MAN ABANDONED BY HIS GUARDIAN-ANGEL. + + +One blow followed hard upon another. + +In the following year the Sultan assembled a formidable host against +Vienna, and the Transylvanian bands also had to go. Teleki would have +avoided the war, but his representations and pretexts fell not upon +listening ears. They asked him why he, who had hitherto urged on the +campaign, wanted to withdraw from it now that it was in full swing? If +he had liked the beginning, the end also should please him. + +But the end was exceedingly bitter. + +The formidable host surrounding Vienna was scattered in a single night +by the heroic sword of Sobieski, the gigantic military enterprise was +ruined. + +The Transylvanian forces took no part in these operations. During the +siege of Vienna they had been left at Raab, and Teleki did not let the +opportunity pass. While the stupid Turks were fighting in the trenches, +he entered into communication with the German commander at Raab and +attached himself to the winning side. + +Everything which the insane Feriz had prophesied in the Divan was +literally fulfilled. + +The Turkish armies were everywhere routed. They lost the fortresses of +Grand Visegrad and Ersekujvar one after the other. The fortress of +Nograd was struck by lightning, which fired the powder-magazine and blew +up the garrison. Finally Buda was besieged and captured in the sight of +the Grand Vizier, and after a domination of one hundred and fifty years, +the half-moons were hauled down from the bastions and crosses +re-occupied their places. + +And all those who were present at the Divan fulfilled, one by one, the +prophecy that they should see Paradise before long. + +Rislan Pasha fell beneath the walls of Buda at the head of the +Janissaries, the Vizier of Buda was throttled by order of Kara Mustafa +after the battle was lost, Rifa Aga was drowned in the Danube among the +fugitives, Kara Ogli fell defending the ramparts of Buda, Toekoely killed +Ajas Pasha at the Sultan's command; and, after the fall of Buda, Olaj +Beg brought to Kara Mustafa for his own use the silken cord and the +purple purse. It was the last purse which Kara Mustafa ever saw, for +after his decapitation his head was put inside it. + +And, finally, the people of Stambul, maddened by so many losses and +reinforced by the rebellious Janissaries, rushed upon the Seraglio, cut +down the counsellors of the Sultan, and threw the Sultan himself into +the same dungeon in which he had let his own brother languish for +thirty-nine years. The brother was now set on the throne, and the +dethroned Sultan died in the dungeon. + +And this also was fulfilled that those who had stirred up the Turks to +begin the war turned against them at the end of it. Transylvania +deposited its oath of homage in the hands of Caraffa, and Michael +Teleki, who became a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, opened the gates of +the towns and fortresses to German garrisons. The Prince paid the +victors thirteen thousand florins, which it took heavy wagons two weeks +to convey from Fogaras to Nagyszeben. But Michael Teleki, in addition to +his countly escutcheon, got a present of a silver table service which +cost ten thousand florins. So Transylvania became imperial territory, +and its alliance with the Porte was dissolved. + +And then it was that God called to Himself the last lovable figure in +our history, the virtuous and magnanimous Anna Bornemissza. + +Only after her death did Apafi feel what his wife had been to him, his +guardian-angel, his consoler in all his sorrows, the brightest part of +his life, and when that light set, everything around him was doubly +dark. Every misfortune, every trouble, now weighed doubly heavy on his +mind and heart; he had no longer any refuge against persecuting sorrow. +He fled from one town to another like a hunted wild beast which can find +no refuge from the dart which transfixes it. At last he barricaded +himself in his room, which he did not quit for six weeks; and if +visitors came to see him he complained to them like a child: + +"I am starving to death. I have lost everything. It is a year since I +got a farthing from my estates or my mines or my salt-works. If the +farrier comes I cannot pay him his bill for my mantle, for I haven't got +a stiver. What will become of my son when I am gone, poor little Prince? +There's not enough to send him to school." + +He began to get quite crazy, and could neither eat, drink, nor sleep. +The whole day he would stride up and down his room, and utter strange +things in a loud voice. What troubled him most was that he must die of +hunger. + +At last those about him hit upon a remedy. Every day they laid purses of +money before him and said: "This sum Stephen Apor has sent from your +property, and that amount Paul Inezedi has collected from your +salt-works. Why should your Highness be anxious when there is such lots +of money?" + +And the next day they presented the same purses to him over again, and +invented some fresh story. And this simple deceit somewhat pacified the +poor old man, but the old worries had so affected his mind, never very +strong at any time, that he could never recover his former spirits. He +grew duller and more stupid every day, and often when he lay down he +would sleep a couple of days at a stretch. + +And at last the Almighty had mercy upon him and called him away from +this vale of tears; and he went to that land where the Turks plunder +not, and there is no warfare. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE NEWLY-DRAWN SWORD. + + +The German armies were now in complete possession of Transylvania, the +Turks were everywhere driven back and trampled down, the hereditary +Prince of Bavaria took Belgrade by storm and put twelve thousand +Janissaries to the edge of the sword. Thus the gate of the Turkish +Empire was broken open, and the victoriously advancing host, under the +Prince of Baden, crushed the remains of the Turkish army at Nish. Then +Bulgaria and Albania were subjugated, the sea shore was reached, and +only the Haemus Mountains stood between the invaders and Stambul. + +The deluge left nothing untouched, even little Wallachia, whose +fortunate situation, wild mountains, and villainous roads had hitherto +saved it from invasion, saw the approach of the conquering banners. + +Old S---- was still the Prince, and he now gave a brilliant example of +the dexterity of Wallachian diplomacy, which at the same time +illustrates the simplicity of his character. + +The armies invading Wallachia were entrusted to the care of General +Heissler, who consequently wrote to Prince S---- informing him that he +was advancing on Bucharest through the Transylvanian Alps with ten +thousand men, therefore he was to provide winter quarters and provisions +for his army, as he intended to winter there. + +At exactly the same time the Tartar Khan gave the Prince to understand +that he intended to invade Moldavia in order that he might follow the +movements of the Transylvanian army close at hand. + +The Prince liked the one proposition as little as the other, so he sent +the Tartar Khan's letter to General Heissler bidding him beware, as a +great force was coming against him, and he sent Heissler's letter to the +Tartar Khan advising him in a friendly sort of way not to move too far +as Heissler was now advancing in his rear. + +Consequently both armies turned aside from the Principality, and +Wallachia had to support neither the Germans nor the Tartars. + +This is the diplomacy of little states. + + * * * * * + +Amidst the wildly romantic hills of Lebanon is a pleasant valley for +which Nature herself has a peculiar preference. Amidst the gigantic +mountains which encircle a vast hollow on every side of it, rises a +roundish mound. On level ground it would be accounted a hill, but in the +midst of such a range of snowy giants it emerges only like a tiny heap +of earth, and to this day nothing grows on it but the cedar--the finest, +darkest, most widely spreading specimens of that noble and fragrant tree +are here to be found. A foaming mountain stream gurgles down it on both +sides, a little wooden bridge connects the opposing banks, and in the +midst of the bridge a rock projecting from the water clings to the +mountain side. Far away among the blue forests shine forth the white +roofless little houses of the city of Edena, which, built against the +mountain side, peer forth like some card-built castle, and still farther +away through gaps in the hills the Syrian sea is visible. + +Here in former days on the heights stood the romantic and poetical kiosk +of Feriz Beg. + +The youth, with dogged persistence, continued to live for years in this +sublime solitude with the din of battle all around him. The prophecy +which he had once pronounced in the Divan was whispered abroad among +the people, ran through the army, and as every one of his sayings was +severally fulfilled, the more widely there spread in the hearts of the +soldiers the superstitious belief that till he seized his sword they +would everywhere be defeated, but when he should again appear on the +battlefield the fortune of war would turn and become favourable once +more to the Ottoman arms. + +Long ago the Divan had wished to profit by this blind belief, and +countless embassies had been sent to the youthful hermit in his solitude +announcing the fall of generals, the loss of battles, the pressure of +peril. + +Nothing could move Feriz. To all these tidings he replied: + +"Thus it must come to pass! Doves do not spring from serpents' eggs. +Your rulers are those who took it upon them to wipe out a sacred oath +from the patient pages, who tore up and burnt and scattered to the winds +the vow that was made before God, and now ye likewise shall be wiped +from the page of history and your memory shall be laden with reproaches. +Learn ye, therefore, that it is dangerous to play with the name of +Allah, and though many of you grow so high that his head touches the +Heavens--yet he is but a man, and the earth moves beneath his feet, and +presently he shall fall and perish." + +The men perceived that these words were not so bad as they seemed to be +at first sight, and after every fresh defeat, more and more of his old +acquaintances came to see him and begged and prayed him to seize his +sword once more and let himself be chosen leader of the host. + +He sternly rejected every offer. No allurement was capable of making him +change his resolution. + +"When the time comes for me to draw my sword," he said, "I will come +without asking. That time will come none the quicker for anyone's +beseeching, but come it will one day and not tarry." + +And, indeed, the advent of that time had become a matter of necessity +for the Ottoman Empire. The banners of the German Empire were waving in +the very heart of Turkey; the Poles had recovered Podolia, the Venetians +were on the Turkish islands, and at last Transylvania also broke with +the Porte and opened her fortresses to the enemies of the Padishah. + +The new Sultan collected fresh armies, military enthusiasm was +stimulated by great rewards, fresh alliances were formed, and among the +new allies the one who enjoyed the greatest confidence was Emeric +Toekoely, who was proclaimed Prince of Transylvania, and orders were given +to the Tartar Khan and the Prince of Moldavia to support him with their +forces. + +Toekoely, always avid of fame and glory, threw himself heart and soul into +this new enterprise, but it was only when he saw the army with which he +was to conquer Transylvania that he had misgivings. His soldiers were +good for robbing and burning, they had been used to that for a long +time, but when it came to fighting there was no power on earth capable +of keeping them together. What could he make of soldiers whose sole +knowledge of the art of warfare consisted in running backwards and +forwards, whose most sensible weapon was the dart, and who, whenever +they heard a gun go off, stuffed up their ears and bolted like so many +mice? And with these ragamuffins he was expected to fight regular, +highly-disciplined troops. + +Suddenly an idea occurred to him. He sat down and wrote a letter and +delivered it to a swift courier, enjoining him not to rest or tarry till +he had placed it in the proper hands. + +This letter was addressed to Feriz Beg. In it Toekoely informed him of the +course of events in Transylvania, and it concluded thus: + +"Behold, what you prophesied has come to pass, those who began the war +along with us now continue the war against us. Remember that you held +out the promise of joining us when such a time came; fulfil your +promise." + +Feriz Beg got this letter early in the morning, and the moment after he +had read it he ordered his stableman instantly to saddle his +war-charger, he chose from among his swords those which smote the +heaviest, exchanged his grey mantle for a splendid and costly costume, +gave a great banquet to all his retainers, and bade them make merry, for +in an hour's time, he would be off to the wars. + + * * * * * + +The imperial army was making itself quite at home in Albania. Beautiful +scenery and beautiful women smiled upon the victors; there was money +also and to spare. And soon came the rumour that a gigantic Tartar host +was approaching the Albanian mountains, in number exceeding sixty +thousand. The imperial army was no more than nine thousand; but they +only laughed at the rumour, they had seen far larger armies fly before +them. The pick of the Turkish host, the Spahis, the Janissaries, had +cast down their arms before them in thousands; while it was the talk of +the bazaars that all that the Tartars were good for was to devastate +conquered territory. Besides, reinforcements were expected from Hungary, +where the Prince of Baden was encamped beneath Nandor-Fehervar with a +numerous army. + +The leader of the Albanian forces was the Prince of Hanover. + +He was a pupil of the lately deceased Piccolomini, and though he +inherited his valour he was scarcely his equal in wisdom. + +On hearing of the approach of the Tartar army he assembled his captains +and held a council of war. The enemy was assumed to be the old mob which +used to turn tail at the first cannon-shot, and could not be overtaken +because of the superior swiftness of its horses. And indeed it was the +old mob, but a new spirit now inspired it; it followed a new leader +whom the enemy had never put to flight or beaten, and that leader was +Feriz Beg. + +Toekoely's letter had speedily brought the young hero all the way from +Syria to Stambul to offer his sword and his genius to the new Sultan, +and the Sultan had charged him to lead the Tartar hordes against the +imperial army. + +When Feriz, from the top of a hill, saw the forces of the Prince of +Hanover all wedged together in a compact mass on the plain before him +like a huge living machine only awaiting a propelling hand to set it in +motion, he quickly sent the Tartars who were with him back into the +fir-woods that they might well cover their darts with the tar and +turpentine exuding from the trees, and this done, he sent them to gallop +round the Prince's camp and take up their position well within range. + +The Prince observed the movement but left them alone; oftentimes had the +Turks attempted a simple assault upon the German camp; oftentimes had +their threefold superior forces surrounded the small, well-ordered camp +and assaulted it from every side, and the Germans used always politely +to allow them to come within range of their guns and then discharge all +their artillery at once--and generally that was the end of the whole +affair. + +Feriz, however, made no assault upon them, but got his Tartars to +surround them, commanding them to set their darts on fire and discharge +them into the air so that they might fall down into the German camp. +According to this plan they could fire at the enemy at a much greater +distance off than the enemy could fire upon them, for the dart, flying +in a curve could reach further than the straight-going musket balls of +those days, and wherever it fell its sharp point inflicted a wound, +whereas the bullet was often spent before it reached its mark. + +Suddenly a flaming flood of darts darkened the air and the burning +resinous bolts fell from all sides into the crowded ranks of the +imperial army; the points of the darts fastened in the backs of the +horses, the burning drops fell upon the faces and garments of the +warriors, burning through the texture and inflicting grievous wounds; +the horses began to rear violently at this unexpected attack; the +gunners, cursing and swearing, began to discharge their guns anyhow at +the enemy; nobody paid any attention to the orders of the general, +discipline was quite at an end; the burning darts were destructive of +all military tactics, for there was no refuge from them, and every dart +struck its man. + +Then Feriz Beg blew with the trumpets, and suddenly the imperial troops +were attacked from all sides. They were unable to repel the attack in +the regular way, but intermingled with their assailants, fought man to +man. The picked German troopers quitted themselves like men, not one of +them departed without taking another with him to the next world, but the +Turks outnumbered them, and just when the Prince's army was exhausted by +the attacks of the Tartars, Feriz brought forward his well-rested +reserves, who burned with the desire to wash out the shame of former +defeats. The Prince of Hanover fell on the battle-field with the rest of +his army. Not one escaped to tell the tale. + +This was the first victory which turned the fortunes of war once more in +favour of the Turks after so many defeats. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE LAST DAY. + + +It was well known in Transylvania that the Porte had proclaimed Toekoely +Prince and given into his hands armies wherewith he might invade the +Principality and conquer it, so General Heissler gave orders to the +counties and the Szeklers to rise up in defence of the realm, which they +accordingly did. + +The Hungarian forces were commanded by Balthasar Mackasi and Michael +Teleki himself; the leader of the Germans was Heissler, with Generals +Noscher and Magni, and Colonel Doria under him, all of them heroic +soldiers of fortune, who, all the way from Vienna to Wallachia, had +never seen the Turks otherwise than as corpses or fugitives. + +When Toekoely was approaching through Wallachia with his forces, Heissler +quickly closed all the passes, and placed three regiments at the Iron +Gates, while he himself took up a position in the Pass of Bozza, and +there pitched his camp amidst the mountains. + +The encamped forces were merry and sprightly enough, there was lots to +eat and drink of all sorts, and the Szeklers were quite close to their +wives and houses, so that they did not feel a bit homesick--only Teleki +was perpetually dissatisfied. He would have liked the forces to be +marching continually from one pass to another and sentinels to be +standing on guard night and day on every footpath which led into the +kingdom. + +The third week after the camp had been pitched at Bozza he suddenly +said to the general with a very anxious face: + +"Sir, what if Toekoely were to appear at some other gate of the kingdom +while we are lying here?" + +"Every avenue is closed against him," answered Heissler. + +"But suppose he got in before we came here?" + +"The trouble then would not be how he got in but how he could get out +again." + +But Teleki wanted to show that he also knew something of the science of +warfare, so he said with the grave face of an habitual counsellor: + +"I do not think it expedient that we worthy soldiers should be crammed +up into a corner of the kingdom. In my opinion it would be much safer +if, after guarding every pass, we took up a position equi-distant +between Toercsvar and Bozza." + +Now for once Teleki was right, but for that very reason Heissler was all +the more put out. It was intolerable that a lay-general should suggest +something to him which he could not gainsay. + +And the worst of it was Teleki would not leave the general alone. "I am +participating in nothing here," said he, "make use of me, give me +something to do, and I will do it--occupation is what I want." + +"I'll give it you at once," said Heissler, and putting his arm through +Teleki's he led him to his tent, there made him sit down beside him at a +round table, sent one of the yawning guards to summon Noscher, Magni, +Doria and the other generals, made them sit down by the side of Teleki, +sat down at the table himself, and drawing a pack of cards from his +pocket, gave it to Teleki with the words: + +"Here's some occupation for you--you deal!" + +"What, sir!" burst forth Teleki, quite upset by the jest, "play at cards +when the enemy stands before us?" + +"How can we be better employed when the enemy is _not_ before us? Do you +know how to play at landsknecht?" + +"I do not." + +"Then we'll teach you." + +And they did teach him, for in a couple of hours they had won from him a +couple of hundred ducats, whereupon Teleki, on the pretext that he had +no more money, retired from the game. + +It was not the loss of a little money which vexed him so much as the +scant respect paid to his counsels. + +The other gentlemen continued the game. Heissler suddenly by a grand +coup won all the ready-money of the other generals, so that at last +there was a great heap of thalers and ducats in front of him, and his +three-cornered hat was filled to the brim with money. + +The losing party tried to console itself with jests. + +"Well, well! lucky at cards, luckless in love!" + +"Eh!" said Heissler, sweeping together his winnings, "I have only had +one love in my life, and that is on a battlefield, but there I have +always been lucky." + +At that moment a rapid galloping was heard, and after a brief parley +with the guard outside, a dusty dragoon courier entered the tent and +whispered breathlessly in Heissler's ear: + +"Toekoely's advance guard is before Toercsvar, it attacked and cut down the +troops posted in the pass, only the Szeklers still hold out; if we don't +come quickly the pass will be taken." + +Heissler suddenly swept the cards from the table, and snatching up his +hat so that the money in it rolled away in every direction, he clapped +it on his head, and drawing his sword exclaimed: "To horse, gentlemen! +Quick! Towards Toercsvar! We shall arrive in good time, I know!" + +"Well! wasn't I right?" growled Teleki. + +"Oh, there's no harm done! Blow the trumpets, we must strike our tents; +let the camp fires burn, and at the third sound of the trumpet let +everyone advance towards Toercsvar. A company and a couple of mortars +will be enough to guard the pass. All right now, Mr. Michael Teleki!" + +Then he also took horse. Teleki too hastened back to his levies, and +soon the whole host was trotting on in the dark towards Toercsvar. + +It was the 19th August, such a silent summer night that not a leaf was +stirring. Against the beautiful starry sky rose the majestic snowy Alps +which encircle Transylvania within their mighty chain; everything was +still, only now and then through the melancholy night resounded the din +and bustle of the warriors hurrying towards Toercsvar. + +Here in the mountain-chasm a wide opening is visible which presently +contracts so much that two carriages can scarce advance along it +abreast. The road goes deep down between two rocks, and if a few hundred +resolute and determined men planted themselves in that place, they could +hold it against the largest armies. + +On the other side of Moldavia, looking downwards, could be seen the +camp-fires of the hosts of Toekoely, who was encamped on the farther side +of the Alps, occupying a vast extent of ground. + +In front all was dark. After the first surprise caused by some hundreds +of dragoons who had penetrated into Moldavia, the Szeklers had quickly +blocked the pass by felling trees across it, retired to the mountain +summits, and received the advancing Tartars with such showers of stones +that they were compelled to desist from any further advance and turn +back again. + +Great commotion was observable in the Turkish camp. The Tartars were +roasting a whole ox on a huge spit, and cut pieces off it while it was +roasting; some jovial Wallachians, a little elated by wine, began +dancing their national dances; on a hill the Hungarian hussars were +blaring their _farogatos_, whose penetrating voices frequently pierced +the most distant recess of the snowy Alps. + +But just because the camp had begun making merry the outposts had been +carefully disposed. The leaders of the host were youths in age but +veterans in military experience; they were keeping watch for everyone. + +They met as they were going their rounds and, without observing it, +strayed somewhat from the camp and advanced without a word along a +mountain path. + +At last Feriz broke the silence by remarking gravely to Toekoely: + +"Is it not desperating to see a mountain before you and not be able to +fly?" + +"Especially when your desires are on the other side of that mountain." + +"What are your desires?" said Feriz bitterly, "in comparison with mine; +you have only a thirst for glory, I have a thirst for blood." + +"But mine is a still stronger impulse," said Toekoely; "I have a wife." + +"Ah! I understand, and you want to see your wife? I also should like to +see her if I am not slain. And is the lady worthy of you?" + +"One must have lived very far from this kingdom not to have heard of +her," said Toekoely proudly. "My name has not given such glory to Helen as +her name has to me. When everyone in Hungary laid down their arms, and I +myself fled from the kingdom, she herself remained in the fortress of +Munkacs and defended it as valiantly as any man could do. Helen stood +like a man upon the bastions amidst the whirring of the bullets and the +thunder of the guns, extinguished the bombs cast into the fortress with +huge moistened buffalo-skins, fired off the cannons against the +besiegers with her own hands, and cut down the soldiers who attempted to +storm the walls, spiked their guns, and burnt their tents." + +At this Feriz grew enthusiastic. + +"We will save this brave woman; is she still defending herself?" + +"No. My chief confidant--a man whom I trusted would carry out my ideas, +a man whom I found a beggar and made a gentleman--betrayed her, and they +now hold her captive. Believe me, Feriz, if they gave her back to me I +would perchance for ever forget my dream of glory and renounce the crown +I seek, but to win her back I'll go through hell itself, and you will +see that I shall go through this mountain chain also, for though I have +not the strength to fly over it, I have the patience to crawl over it." + +Feriz Beg sighed gloomily. + +"Alas! I have no one for whose sake I might hasten into battle." + +Early next morning Toekoely came over to Feriz's quarters and told him +that he had just received tidings that Heissler had arrived during the +night, having galloped without stopping through Szent Peter to Toercsvar. +Teleki, too, was with him. + +That name seemed to electrify the young Turk. + +He leapt quickly from his couch, and, seizing his sword, raised it +towards Heaven and cried with a savage expression which had never been +on his face before: "I thank thee, Allah, that thou hast delivered him +into my hands!" + +The two young generals then consulted together in private for about an +hour, after sending everyone out of their tent. Then they came forth and +reviewed their forces. Feriz selected his best Janissaries and Spahis, +Toekoely the Hungarian hussars and the swiftest of the Tartars, and with +this little army, numbering about six thousand, they marched off without +saying whither. The vast camp meanwhile was intrusted to the care of the +Prince of Moldavia, who was charged to stand face to face night and day +over against the Transylvanian army, and not move from the spot. + +Meanwhile the two young leaders, with their picked band, made their way +among the hills by the dark, sylvan mountain paths, whose wilderness no +human foot had ever yet trod. Anyone looking down upon them from the +rocks above would have called their enterprise foolhardy. Now they had +to crawl down precipitous slopes on their hands and knees; now gigantic +rocks barred their way, which enclosed them within a narrow, mountainous +gorge whence there was no exit; here and there they had to cling on to +the roots of the stout shrubs growing out of the crevices of the rocks, +or pull themselves up, man by man, and horse by horse, by means of ropes +fastened to the trunks of trees. In these regions nought dwelt but +savage birds of prey, and the startled golden eagle looked down in +wonder from his stony lair at the panting, toiling host--what did such a +multitude of men seek in that desolate wilderness? + + * * * * * + +The Transylvanian gentlemen from the vantage-point of a lofty mountain +ridge watched the two opposing hosts facing each other in front of the +defiles. Now the Szeklers would burst forth from the woods on the +straying Tartars and drive them back to their tents, and now like a +disturbing swarm of wasps the Tartars and Wallachians would force the +Szeklers back to the very borders of the forest. It was great fun to +watch all this from the lofty ridge where stood Heissler, Doria, and +Teleki observing the manly sport through long telescopes. + +Suddenly the sentinels brought to Heissler a Wallachian who had given +the pickets to understand that he had brought a message from the Prince +of Wallachia to the commander-in-chief. + +"No doubt it is to tell you once more not to go into Wallachia again, +for the enemy has eaten it up," said Teleki, turning to Heissler, who +had got to the bottom of the Prince's former craftiness. "What is your +master's message?" he said, turning towards the Wallachian. + +"He sends his respects, and bids you be on your guard against Toekoely, +for he has a large army and is very crafty; but instead of opposing him +in the direction of Wallachia you would do better if you saw to it that +he did not break into Transylvania, and you ought to beware of this all +the more as only three days ago he departed from the main host along +with his chief Sirdar, with a picked army of six thousand men, which has +since vanished as completely as if the earth had swallowed it up." + +"What did I say?" remarked Heissler, with a smile to Teleki. "You may go +back, my son, from whence you came," he said to the Szekler. + +But Teleki shook his head at this. + +"It is quite possible," said he, "that while we are halting here, Toekoely +may issue forth somewhere behind our very backs." + +Heissler pointed at the snow-capped mountains. + +"Can anything but a bird get through those?" + +"If Toekoely lead the way--yes." + +"Your Excellency has a great respect for that gentleman." + +"Truly, Mr. General, I should advise you to summon hither the regiments +left at the iron gate, and bring up some more cannons." + +Heissler did not even reply, but beckoned to him to be silent. + +At that instant a wild yell suddenly struck upon the ear of the general, +and looking back towards Zernyest he saw a large column of smoke rising +heavenwards, while the outposts came galloping up towards the camp. + +"What is that?" + +"Toekoely has got through the mountains!" was the terrifying report, "the +Tartars have burnt Tohair and plundered the camp." + +"To horse, to arms, every man!" roared Heissler, and drawing his sword +leaped upon his horse. Doria, Noscher, and Magni quickly marshalled +their squadrons, Macskari quickly got together his squadrons, and +descended into the plain. + +They had scarce got into battle array when they were joined by the boyar +Balacsan, the refugee Moldavian nobleman, who kept on foot two regiments +of the Hungarians and Wallachians at his own expense. + +The cry of the ravaging Tartars was now audible close at hand in the +village of Tohair, which was blazing away under the very eyes of the +Transylvanian hosts. Balacsan's soldiers, eager for the fray, begged +leave of Heissler to drive them from the village, and rushing upon them +with a wild yell, quickly drove the Tartars back through the burning +streets; while Heissler, with the main body of the army, galloped +towards Zernyest with the greatest haste. He also succeeded in occupying +it before Toekoely had reached it. + +Here the soldiers rested after their tiring gallop. Heissler distributed +wine and brandy among them, then marshalled them, and sent to the front +the military chaplains. Two Jesuits, crucifix in hand, confessed all the +German soldiers, and the Rev. Mr. Gernyeszeg preached a pious discourse +to the Calvinists. + +Meanwhile Toekoely's army had advanced upon Zernyest. On one side of him +were the snowy Alps, on the other a reed-grown morass, which in the hot +days of August was quite dried up and could easily be crossed. + +As soon as the Szeklers saw the Turks, with their characteristic +pigheadedness they seized their pikes and would have rushed upon them +with their usual war-cry: "Jesus! Help, Jesus! Help!" + +Their leaders drove them back by beating them with their sword-blades, +and exhausted the whole vocabulary of abuse and condemnation before they +could prevent them prematurely from beginning the battle. + +Teleki meanwhile summoned to his side his trusty servant, and as he was +dressed in a black habit--for they were still in mourning for the +Prince--with few jewels on it, he detached his diamond aigrette and +gold chain, and adding his signet-ring to them, gave them to the servant +that he might take them before the battle to Gernyeszeg, and give them +to his daughter, Dame Michael Vay. + +The old servant would have asked why he did this, but Teleki turned away +from him and beckoned him to go away. + +Then he had his favourite charger, Kalman, brought forth, and after +stroking its neck tenderly, trotted off to the front of his forces and +addressed them in these words: + +"My brave Transylvanians, now is the time to fight together valiantly +for glory and liberty in the service of his Imperial Majesty in order to +deliver our country, our wives and children, from Turkish bondage and +the tyranny of that evil ally of theirs, Toekoely, for otherwise you and +your descendants have nought but eternal slavery to expect. Grieve not +for me if I, your general, fall on the field of battle. Behold, I bring +my white beard among you, and am ready to die." + +While he was saying these words his adjutant, Macskari, came to him and +began to explain that the Transylvanians had been placed in the rear and +were grumbling loudly at having been so set aside. + +On hearing this Teleki at once galloped up to Heissler. + +"Sir," said he, "you are a bad judge of the Hungarian temperament in +warfare if you place them in the rear; the Szekler, in particular, has a +great aptitude for the assault, but don't expect help from him if you +keep him waiting in the rear till the front ranks are broken." + +Generals, on the eve of a battle are, very naturally, somewhat impatient +of advice, especially if it be delivered by a civilian. Heissler +therefore snubbed the minister somewhat unmercifully, whereupon Teleki +galloped back to his men without saying another word. + +Meanwhile the Turkish army had slowly begun to move; on the left wing a +regiment of Tartars stealthily entered the reeds of the morass and began +to surround the right wing of the Transylvanians; but their experienced +general, perceiving their approach from the undulatory movement of the +reed-stalks, speedily ordered Doria to advance against them with six +squadrons of dragoons, whereupon Teleki also sent thirteen regiments of +Szeklers against them under Michael Henter, and soon the two stealthily +crouching hosts could be seen in collision. The Szeklers, with a wild +yell, rushed upon the Tartars, who turned tail after the first onset, +and fled still deeper among the reeds. Doria pursued them everywhere, +the discharge of the artillery fired the reeds in several places, and +they began to burn over the heads of the combatants. + +At that moment Toekoely suddenly blew the trumpets and advanced into the +plain with thirty-two squadrons, who rushed upon the foe with a +sky-rending howl. There was a roll of musketry as the assailants drew +near, and nine of the thirty-two squadrons bit the dust, hundreds of +riders fell from their horses. + +But the rest did not turn back as they used to do. Feriz Beg was leading +them, they saw his sword flashing in front of them, and felt sure of +victory. + +At the moment of the firing a bullet had struck the youth in the breast; +but he regarded it not, he only saw Teleki before him, dressed in black. +He recognised him from afar, and galloped straight towards him. + +Beneath the savage assault of the Turkish horsemen the German dragoons +gave way in a moment, their ranks were scattered; against the slim darts +of the Spahis and the light csakanyis of the hussars the straight sword +and the heavy cuirass were but a poor defence. The first line was cast +back upon the second, and when General Noscher was struck down by a dart +in the forehead, the centre also was broken. + +The Szeklers simply looked on at the battle from the rear. + +"What think you, comrades," they said to one another, "if they only +brought us here to look on, wouldn't it be better to look on from yonder +hill?" + +And with that they shouldered their pikes, and without doing the +slightest harm to the Turks, went off in a body. + +The cavalry, who still had some stomach in them, on perceiving the +flight of the infantry, also suddenly lost heart, and giving their +horses the reins, scampered off in every direction. + +Heissler thus was left alone on the battle-field, and up to the last +moment strenuously endeavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day. All +in vain. Balacsan fell before his very eyes on the left wing, and +shortly afterwards, General Magni staggered towards him scarce +recognisable, for he had a fearful slash right across his head, which +covered his face with blood, and his left arm was pierced by a dart. It +was not about himself that he was anxious, however, for he grasped +Heissler's bridle and dragged him away. + +Heissler, full of desperation, fought against his own men, who carried +him from the field by force. At last he reached the top of a hillock +and, looking back, perceived one division still fighting on the +battlefield. It was the picked division of Doria who, in its pursuit of +the Tartars, had been cut off from the rest of the army, and seeing that +it was isolated had hastily formed into a square and stood against the +whole of the victorious host, fighting obstinately and refusing to +surrender. This was too much for Heissler. He tore himself loose from +his escort, and returned alone to the battlefield. A few stray horsemen +followed him, and he tried to cut his way to Doria through the +intervening hussars. + +A tall and handsome cavalier intercepted him. + +"Surrender, general, it is no shame to you. I am Emeric Toekoely." + +Heissler returned no answer but galloped straight at him, and, whirling +his sword above his head, aimed a blow at the Hungarian leader. + +Toekoely called to those around him to stand back. Alone he fought against +so worthy an enemy till a violent blow broke in twain the sword of the +German general, and he was obliged to surrender. + +Meanwhile Doria's division was overborne by superior forces; he himself +fell beneath his horse, which was shot under him, and was taken +prisoner. + +The rest fled. + +Michael Teleki fled likewise, trusting in his good steed Kalman. He +heard behind him the cries of his pursuers; there was one form in +particular that he did not wish to have behind him, and it seemed to +Teleki as if he were about to see this form. + +This was the chief sirdar, Feriz Beg. Mortally wounded though he was, he +did not forget his mortal anger, and though his blood flowed in streams, +he still felt strength enough in his arm to shed the blood of his enemy. + +Suddenly Michael directed his flight towards a field of wheat, when his +horse stumbled and fell with him. + +Here Feriz Beg overtook the minister, and whirling around his sword, +exclaimed: + +"That blow is from Denis Banfy!" + +Teleki raised his sword to defend himself, but at that name his hand +shook and he received a slash across the face, whereupon his sword fell +from his hand; but he still held his hand before his streaming eyes and +only heard these words: + +"This blow is for Paul Beldi! This blow is for the children of Paul +Beldi! This blow is for Transylvania!" + +That last blow was the heaviest of all! + +Teleki sank down on the ground a corpse. + +Feriz Beg gazed upwards with a look of transport, sighed deeply, and +then drooped suddenly over his horse's neck. He was dead. + + * * * * * + +Next day when they found Teleki among the slain, and brought him to +Toekoely, the young Prince cried: + +"Heh! bald head! bald head! if you had never lived in Transylvania so +much blood would not have flowed here." + +Thus the prophecy of Magyari was fulfilled. + +Then Toekoely ordered the naked, plundered corpse to be clothed in +garments of his own and sent to his widow at Goergency. + +In exchange for the captured generals, Heissler and Doria, Toekoely got +back his wife Helen. This was his greatest gain from the war. + +Both of them now sleep far away from their native land in the valley of +Nicomedia. + + +THE END. + + +_Jarrold and Sons, Limited, The Empire Press, Norwich._ + + + + + Dr. Maurus Jokai's Novels + + _The Green Book_ + _Black Diamonds_ + _Pretty Michal_ + _The Lion of Janina_ + _A Hungarian Nabob_ + _Dr. Dumany's Wife_ + _The Poor Plutocrats_ + _The Nameless Castle_ + _Debts of Honor_ + _The Day of Wrath_ + _Eyes Like the Sea_ + _Halil the Pedlar (The White Rose)_ + _'Midst the Wild Carpathians_ + _The Slaves of the Padishah._ + + + + + NEW & RECENT FICTION. + + _Crown 8vo, 6s._ + + + =The Slaves of the Padishah=, or, "The Turks in + Hungary." By MAURUS JOKAI. + + =The Daughter of the Dawn.= By REGINALD HODDER. + Illustrated by HAROLD PIFFARD. + + ='Neath the Hoof of the Tartar=, or, "The Scourge of + God." By BARON NICHOLAS JOSIKA. Translated by SELINA + GAYE. With Preface by R. NISBET BAIN. + + =The Golden Dwarf.= By R. NORMAN SILVER. + + =More Tales from Tolstoi.= Translated from the Russian + by R. NISBET BAIN. With Biography brought up to date. + + =Distant Lamps.= By JESSIE REUSS. + + =The Jest of Fate.= By PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR. + + =Over Stony Ways:= A Romance of Tennyson-Land. By EMILY + M. BRYANT. + + =Liege Lady.= By LILIAN S. ARNOLD. + FOURTH EDITION. + + =Tales from Tolstoi.= Translated from the Russian by R. + NISBET BAIN. With Biography of COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. + SIXTH EDITION. + + =Tales from Gorky.= Translated from the Russian of MAXIM + GORKY by R. NISBET BAIN. + + =Halil the Pedlar.= By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. + NISBET BAIN. + + =Autumn Glory.= By RENE BAZIN. Translated by ELLEN + WAUGH. + + LONDON: JARROLD & SONS, + 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +The advertisements were moved from the front of the book to the back. A +period was added after "Distant Lamps". + +In Chapter I, "deposited it in front of the Divan" was changed to +"deposited it in front of the Divan". + +In Chapter III, "Feriz Beg grew quiet furious at Toekoely's cold repose" +was changed to "Feriz Beg grew quite furious at Toekoely's cold repose". + +In Chapter IV, a quotation mark was added after "commandants of the +fortress of Szathmar". + +In Chapter V, "as to everyone of which he was able to prove" was changed +to "as to every one of which he was able to prove", "found everthing +wasted and ravaged" was changed to "found everything wasted and +ravaged", and "we are have not come here for you to pepper us" was +changed to "we have not come here for you to pepper us". + +In Chapter VI, "s ized his shaggy little horse" was changed to "seized +his shaggy little horse". + +In Chapter VII, "he had put the Szathmarians" was changed to "he had put +the Szathmarians", "for the Szathmar army" was changed to "for the +Szathmar army", "he had only required of Kaszonyi" was changed to "he +had only required of Kaszonyi", and "kept them well supplied them with +drinking-water" was changed to "kept them well supplied with +drinking-water". + +In Chapter VIII, a malformed ellipsis in "That damsel's name is Azrael +... Allah is mighty!" was corrected. + +In Chapter IX, "they ward of with their bosoms" was changed to "they +ward off with their bosoms", and "a female Ibbis" was changed to "a +female Iblis". + +In Chapter X, a quotation mark was removed before "Eh, eh! worthy Beg, +thou must needs have been drinking". + +In Chapter XI, a quotation mark was added before "the camp is now +aroused". + +In Chapter XII, "Ersekujvar" was changed to "Ersekujvar". + +In Chapter XIII, "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags, entered the +courtyard" was changed to "a dirty Turkish cavasse in sordid rags +entered the courtyard", "without stopping from Szamosujvar" was changed +to "without stopping from Szamosujvar", and "she reached Szamosujvar in +the early morning" was changed to "she reached Szamosujvar in the early +morning". + +In Chapter XIV, "the panic of Nagyened" was changed to "the panic of +Nagyenyed", and "for Beldi lives at Bodola" was changed to "for Beldi +lives at Bodola". + +In Chapter XV, "well aquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot" was +changed to "well acquainted with the mood of an eastern Despot", "for +him it to level towns to the ground" was changed to "for him to level +towns to the ground", and a malformed ellipsis in "Mercy! ... Mercy!" +was corrected. + +In Chapter XVI, "the time when Haissar was burnt" was changed to "the +time when Hiassar was burnt", "I sware by Allah it is not to be done" +was changed to "I swear by Allah it is not to be done", "whispered in +her hear with malicious joy" was changed to "whispered in her ear with +malicious joy", "in all probabilty been helped" was changed to "in all +probability been helped", and "sorry matted coveyance" was changed to +"sorry matted conveyance". + +In Chapter XIX, a period was added after the chapter number, "Rest +to night?" was changed to "Rest to-night?", and "plunged over into the +abss" was changed to "plunged over into the abyss". + +In Chapter XX, "the muderris in his official capacity" was changed to +"the muederris in his official capacity". + +In Chapter XXI, a period was changed to a question mark after "where +have you put it", and "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyizeg" was changed +to "reached Michael Teleki at Gernyeszeg". + +In Chapter XXII, a period was changed to a comma after "shaking his +chains". + +In Chapter XXIV, "demanded an audience of the noble Dano Solymosi" was +changed to "demanded an audience of the noble Dano Solymosi". + +In Chapter XXV, "You, Zuefikar, my son" was changed to "You, Zuelfikar, my +son", and "Koertoerely, the old hound" was changed to "Koertoevely, the old +hound". + +In Chapter XXVII, "Thus Aranki's letter" was changed to "Thus Aranka's +letter", a missing period was added after "as if nothing had happened", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "we cannot now withdraw our +feet". + +In Chapter XXX, "Ersekujvar" was changed to "Ersekujvar", and "During +the seige of Vienna" was changed to "During the siege of Vienna". + +In Chapter XXXI, "always arid of fame and glory" was changed to "always +avid of fame and glory". + +In Chapter XXXII, a period was added after the chapter number, and a +period was changed to a question mark after "And is the lady worthy of +you". + +The original text contained numerous inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation, frequently reflecting inconsistent Anglicization of +Hungarian names. In some cases, when the translator's preferred form was +obvious, the spelling has been modified to reflect the dominant usage or +to conform with the original Hungarian text; in many cases, where no +single spelling was obviously preferred, inconsistent spellings have +been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Slaves of the Padishah, by Mor Jokai + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH *** + +***** This file should be named 39048.txt or 39048.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39048/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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