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diff --git a/37286.txt b/37286.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b27abbb --- /dev/null +++ b/37286.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10454 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales From Jokai, 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: Tales From Jokai + +Author: Mor Jokai + +Translator: R. Nisbet Bain + +Release Date: September 1, 2011 [EBook #37286] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM JOKAI *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: Dr. Jokai Mor] + + + + +TALES FROM JOKAI + +TRANSLATED FROM THE HUNGARIAN BY R. NISBET BAIN + +_WITH COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAIT OF MAURUS JOKAI_ + +[Illustration: SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE] + +THIRD EDITION. + +LONDON +JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C. + +[_All Rights Reserved_] + + + + +_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_ + + + + +JARROLD & SONS' +NEW AND RECENT FICTION. + + +=For Love and Ransom.= + +By ESME STUART. Author of "Harum Scarum," &c. Illustrated by HAROLD +PIFFARD. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + +=A Romance of Tennyson-Land.= +=Over Stony Ways.= + +By EMILY M. BRYANT. With Notes by T. F. LOCKYER, B.A. Also Six Full-page +Photographs of Somersby and other Bits of Tennyson-Land. 6_s._ + + +='Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; or, The Scourge of God.= + +By BARON NICOLAS JOSIKA--the Sir Walter Scott of Hungary. Translated by +SELINA GAYE. With Photogravure Portrait of Author, and Preface by R. +NISBET BAIN. 6_s._ + + +=Half in Jest.= + +By W. CLINTON ELLIS, Author of "Our Family Portraits." 6_s._ + + +=More Tales from Tolstoi.= + +Translated from the Russian by R. NISBET BAIN. With Biography brought up +to date, and Photogravure Portrait of COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. 6_s._ + + +=Tales from Tolstoi.= =(Fourth Edition.)= + +Translated from the Russian by R. NISBET BAIN. With Portrait and +Biography of COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. 6_s._ + + +=Tales from Gorky.= =(Sixth Edition.)= + +Translated from the Russian of MAXIM GORKY by R. NISBET BAIN. With +Photogravure Portrait and Biography of Author. 6_s._ + + +London +Jarrold & Sons +10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Besides his romances, Jokai has, from time to time, published volumes of +shorter stories which, in the opinion of many good Magyar critics, +contain some of his most notable work. The present selection will enable +English readers to judge of the merits of these stories for the first +time. It does not profess to be the best selection which might be made. +Many excellent tales could not be included within its narrow limits; +others again, equally good, suit Hungarian rather than British taste. +But, anyhow, it claims to be fairly representative, and to give a taste +of the many widely differing qualities of the most Protean of romancers. +Numbers I. and IX., for instance, are models of what historical tales +should be, and could only have been written by an author gifted with the +historical imagination; Numbers II. and V. are light comic sketches; +Number VIII. is a ghost story which Dickens might have written; Numbers +III. and IV. are narratives of a grimmer order, with touches of horror +not unworthy of the author of "Pretty Michal;" Number VI. is a faithful +and picturesque narrative of social life in old Poland--evidently +studied with care; while in Number VII. Jokai gives full rein to his +wondrous imagination, and his Pegasus actually carries the reader right +away to the capital of the lost island of Atlantis! + +Finally, a bibliographical note. The earliest in date of these stories +is Number VII., which was originally published, in 1856, under the title +of "Oceania." Next in chronological sequence come Numbers I.-IV., which +are to be found in the collection "Jokai Mor Dekameronja," published in +1858. Number VIII. first appeared in the collection "A Magyar vilagbol," +1879; Number V. is taken from "Humoristicus papirszeletek," 1880; Number +IX. from "Kis Dekameron," 1890; and Number VI. is the first story in the +volume entitled, "Ketszer Kettoe-negy," 1893. + +R. NISBET BAIN. + +_May, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + PAGE + PREFACE v + BIOGRAPHY OF JOKAI ix + I. THE CELESTIAL SLINGERS (1858) 1 + II. THE COMPULSORY DIVERSION (1858) 19 + III. THE SHERIFF OF CASCHAU (1858) 35 + IV. THE JUSTICE OF SOLIMAN (1858) 55 + V. LOVE AND THE LITTLE DOG (1880) 71 + VI. THE RED STAROSTA (1893) 74 + VII. THE CITY OF THE BEAST (1856) 141 + VIII. THE HOSTILE SKULLS (1879) 227 + IX. THE BAD OLD TIMES (1890) 244 + + + + +BIOGRAPHY OF JOKAI + +JOKAI MOR + + +At the general meeting of the Hungarian Academy on October 17, 1843, the +secretary reported that the 100-florin prize for the best drama of the +year had been awarded to Karoly Obernik's _Foeur es por_ (Squire and +Boor), but that another drama, entitled _Zsido fiu_ (The Jew Boy), had +been honourably mentioned, and, indeed, in the opinion of one of the +judges, Joseph Bajza, was scarcely inferior to the prize-play itself. +The author of the latter piece was a youth of eighteen, Maurus Jokai, a +law student at Kecskemet, whose literary essays had already begun to +attract some notice in the local papers. That name is now one of the +most illustrious in Hungary, and one of the best known in Europe. + +Maurus Jokai was born at Rev-Komarom on February 18, 1825. His father, +Joseph, a scion of the Asva branch of the old Calvinist Jokay family, +was a lawyer by profession, but a lawyer who had seen something of the +world, and loved art and letters. His mother came of the noble Pulays. +She was venerated by her son, and is the prototype of the downright, +masterful housewives, with warm hearts, capable heads, and truant sons, +who so frequently figure in his pages. Maurus was their third and +youngest child and the pet of the whole family. He seems to have been a +super-sensitive, very affectionate lad, always fonder of books than of +games, but liking best of all to listen to the innumerable tales his +father had to tell of the Napoleonic wars, in which he himself had borne +a humble part, or of the still more marvellous exploits and legends of +the old Magyar heroes. It was doubtless from his father that Maurus +inherited much of his literary and artistic talents. + +At a very early age little Maurus was remarkable for an extraordinarily +vivid imagination, but this quality, which, at a later day, was to bring +him both fame and fortune, made his childhood wretched. Naturally timid, +his nervous fancy was perpetually tormenting him. He had a morbid fear +of being buried alive; old, long-bearded Jews and stray dogs inspired +him with dread; his first visit to a day-school, at the age of four, was +a terrifying adventure, though his father went with him. Even now, +however, the child's precocity was prodigious. To him study was no toil, +but a passion. His masters could not teach him quickly enough. + +In his twelfth year occurred the first calamity of his life. He was +summoned from his studies to the death-bed of his beloved father, a +catastrophe which he took so much to heart that he fell seriously ill, +and for a time his own life was despaired of. He owed his recovery +entirely to "my good and blessed sister Esther," as he ever afterwards +called her, who nursed him through his illness with a rare and skilful +devotion. He recovered but slowly, and for the next five years was +haunted by a black melancholy which he endeavoured to combat by the most +intense application to study. At the Comorn Gymnasium, whither he was +first sent, he had the good fortune to have for his tutor Francis Valy, +subsequently his brother-in-law, a man of rigid puritan principles, +profound learning, and many-sided accomplishments, in every way an +excellent teacher, who instructed him in French, English, and Italian, +and prepared him for college. Valy's influence was decidedly bracing, +and his pupil rewarded his conscientious care with a lifelong gratitude. +It was Valy, too, who first taught Jokai the useful virtue of early +rising. Summer and winter he was obliged to be in his tutor's study at +five o'clock every morning. The habit so acquired was never abandoned, +and is the simplest explanation of Jokai's extraordinary productivity. +By far the greater part of his three hundred volumes has been written +before breakfast. + +From the Gymnasium of Comorn Jokai proceeded, in 1841, to the Calvinist +college at Papa. It was here that he fell in with a number of talented +young men of his own age, including that brilliant meteoric genius +Alexander Petoefi, who was presently to reveal himself as one of the +greatest lyric poets of the century. The young men founded a mutual +improvement society, whose members met regularly to criticise each +other's compositions, and Jokai was also one of the principal +contributors to the college magazine. Yet curiously enough he displayed +at this time so much skill as a painter, sculptor, and carver in ivory +that many seriously thought he would owe the future fame which every +one already predicted for him rather to his brush and chisel than to his +pen. + +In 1843, his mother sent him to Kecskemet to study jurisprudence, and in +the fine, bracing air of the Alfoeld, or great Hungarian plain, amidst +miles of orchards and vineyards, the delicate young student recovered +something like normal health. It was here, too, that he was first +brought into contact with the true Magyar folk-life and folk-humour, and +as he himself expressed it, "became a man and a Hungarian writer." +Forty-nine years later he was to record his impressions of the place in +the exquisite tale "A sarga rozsa" (The Yellow Rose), certainly one of +the finest of his later works. It was at Kecskemet, too, as already +mentioned, that he now wrote his first play, _The Jew Boy_. At the same +time he won a considerable local reputation as a portrait-painter. + +Yielding to the wishes of his friends, Jokai now resolved to follow his +father's profession, and for three years continued to study the law with +his usual assiduity at Comorn and Pest. In 1844 he obtained his +articles, and won his first action. It had needed no small heroism in an +ambitious youth of nineteen to submit to the drudgery of the law after +such a brilliant literary _debut_ as the honourable mention of his first +play by the Hungarian Academy in a prize competition (though his +admirers certainly never will begrudge the time thus spent in a lawyer's +office, where he picked up some of his best comical characters, mainly +of the Swiveller type); but, yielding now to natural bias, Jokai made up +his mind to go to the capital, and try his luck at literature. +Accordingly, in 1845, the youth (he was barely twenty), undismayed by +many previous terrifying examples of misery and ruin, cited _in +terrorem_ by his apprehensive kinsmen, flitted to Pest with a manuscript +romance in his pocket. His friend Petoefi, who had settled there before +him, and was becoming famous, received him with open arms, and +introduced him to the young army of _literati_ whom he had gathered +round him at the Cafe Pillwax, as "a true Frenchman." In those days such +a description was the highest conceivable praise. The face of every +liberty-loving nation was then turned towards France, and thence the +dawn of a new era was confidently anticipated. The young Magyars read +nothing but French books. Lamartine's "History of the Girondists" and +Tocquevelle's "Democracy" were their Bibles. Petoefi worshipped Beranger, +whom he was speedily to excel, while Jokai had found his ideal in Victor +Hugo. "This school might easily have become dangerous to us," says +Jokai, "had not its influence, fortunately, coincided with the opening +up of a new and hitherto unexplored field--the popular romance. Hitherto +it had been the endeavour of Magyar writers to write in a style distinct +from the language of ordinary life. Our group, on the other hand, +started with the idea that it was just the very expressions, +constructions, and modes of thought employed in everyday life that +Hungarian writers ought to take as the fundamental principle of their +writing, nay, that they should even develop ideally beautiful poetry +itself from the life of the common people. . . . My own ambition," he +adds, "was to explore those regions where the hoof of Pegasus had +hitherto left no trace." And in this he certainly succeeded when he +wrote his first considerable romance "Hetkoeznapok." + +The novel had been successfully cultivated in Hungary long before Jokai +appeared upon the scene. As early as 1794, Joseph Karman had written +"Fanni hagyomanyai" (Fanny's Legacies), obviously suggested by "Pamela," +and still one of the best purely analytical romances in the language. A +generation later, two noblemen, Baron Joseph Eoetvoes and Baron Michael +Josika, Jokai's elder contemporaries, respectively founded the didactic +novel with a purpose and the historical romance. Eoetvoes, one of the most +liberal and enlightened spirits of his age, fought, almost +single-handed, against the abuses of feudalism in his great "A falu +jegyzoeje" (The Village Notary), while Josika, an intelligent disciple of +Walter Scott, enriched the national literature with a whole series of +original historical romances which gave to Hungarian prose a new +elevation and a distinction. But "Hetkoeznapok" was something quite +new--so much so, indeed, that Jokai himself was doubtful about it, and +determined that it should stand or fall by the verdict of the +academician Ignatius Nagy, one of the most productive and ingenious +writers of his day, whose influence was then at its height, and who was +regarded as an oracle by literary "young Hungary." Jokai, who had never +seen the great man before, approached him with considerable trepidation, +which was not diminished by the very peculiar appearance of this +Aristarchus. "He had," Jokai tells us, "a most embarrassing face covered +with dark-red spots right up to his astonishingly lofty forehead, whose +shiny baldness was half cut in two, as it were, by a bright black +peruke. He had also an inconceivably big red nose, at which, however, +you had no time to be amazed, so instantly were you spell-bound by a +couple of squinting eyes--one of which glared as fixedly at you as if it +was made wholly of stone. His voice, on the other hand, was as the voice +of a little child. And within this repulsive frame dwelt the noblest of +souls, in this crippled body the most energetic of characters. From no +other strange face did I ever get a kinder glance than I got from those +stiff, fishy eyes, and that rich voice announced to me my first great +piece of good luck. Upon his recommendation, the publisher Hartleben +agreed to publish my first romance, and gave me 360 silver florins for +it--in those days an immense fortune to me. I had no further need now to +go scribbling all day long in a lawyer's office at six florins a month." + +"Hetkoeznapok" was published, in two volumes, in 1846. The book caused a +profound sensation. Its very extravagance suited the taste of an age +steeped in Eugene Sueism, and Petoefi, in introducing Jokai to Professor +Roye as "a writer who writes French romances in Magyar," hit off both +the book and its author to a nicety. It was just the brilliant, +exuberant, fanciful sort of thing that a clever youth with a boundless +imagination, and no knowledge whatever of the world, would be likely to +produce. Still, even the writers who pointed out its crudities and +morbidities, praised its striking originality and charm of style, and +though it gave but a faint indication of the real genius of the author +it brought him into notice, and editors began to look kindly upon him. +Thus Frankenburg, the editor of the literary review _Eletkepek_, who +had just parted with his dramatic critic for being a little too +unmerciful to the artistes, was induced to take on Jokai in his place. +By way of honorarium, he offered the young aspirant a free seat at the +theatre and ten florins a month. But Jokai's year of office came to an +end the very first week. To make up for his predecessor's want of +gallantry, and obeying the dictates of his youthful enthusiasm, he +lauded every lady _artiste_ to the skies. "I can honestly say," Jokai +tells us, with evident enjoyment of the laugh against himself, "that I +meant every word of it. It was then that I saw a ballet for the first +time in my life, and it was my solemn conviction that I was bound by a +debt of gratitude to say a good word for the excellent damsel who +exhibited her natural charms to the public eye with such magnanimous +frankness. And a pretty lecture Frankenburg read me for it, too. +'Delightful Sylphid, indeed!--a clumsy stork, I should say!' Still, +_that_ might have passed. But it was my magnifying of Lilla Szilagyi, +who took the part of Smike in _The Beggars of London_, which did the +business for me. I called her 'a lovely sapling!' and promised her a +brilliant future in her dramatic career. 'Leave her alone--she has no +reputation at all,' said the editor. 'Then she'll get one!' said I. 'But +you'll never get to be a critic,' said he. And so, for Lilla Szilagyi's +sake, I laid down my _role_ of critic; and yet I was right, after all, +for she really _did_ become a great artiste. I felt this snub very much +at the time, but now I bless my fate that things fell out as they did. +Fancy if _now_ my sole title to fame rested upon my reputation as a +dramatic critic!--terrible thought!" + +A few days afterwards a new career suddenly opened out before Jokai. +Paul Kiralyi, the editor of the _Jelenkor_, invited Jokai to join his +paper as a correspondent at a salary of thirty-five florins a month. Of +course he jumped at it; a newspaper contributor in Hungary was then a +personage of some importance. About the same time he passed his first +legal examination, and became a certificated lawyer. His diploma, if not +_praeclarus_, was, at any rate, _laudabilis_. The oral _rigorosum_ he +passed through brilliantly, but, oddly enough, his _Hungarian style_ was +not considered satisfactory. The publication of his diploma was a +sufficiently dignified excuse for a visit to his native place. He was +well received in the bosom of his family; the whole clan Jokai came +together for dinner at his mother's, and for supper at the house of his +brother-in-law, Francis Valy. The two Calvinist ministers of the place +were also invited, and one of them toasted him as "the ward of two +guardians, and guardian of Two Wards," the first allusion being to their +spiritual guardianship, and the second to his new drama, _The Two +Wards_. "It was the first toast that ever made me blush," says Jokai. +The next day was fixed for the meeting of the County Board, and at the +end of the proceedings his diploma was promulgated. On the same day his +mother gave him his father's silver-mounted sword and the cornelian +signet-ring with the old family crest upon it, which the elder Jokai had +been wont to wear. "Democrat as I am," says Jokai, "I frankly confess +that to me there was a soul-steeling thought in the reflection that with +this sword my worthy ancestors, much better men than I, had defended +their nation and constitution of yore, and that this signet-ring had +put the seal upon their covenanted rights for all time." + +On returning to Pest, he found awaiting him a letter from Petoefi, +informing him that he had just married Julia Szendrey, and begging Jokai +to seek out a convenient lodging where they and he could live together. +That a newly married husband should invite his faithful bachelor comrade +to live with him under the same roof was, as Jokai well remarks, a fact +belonging to the realm of fairy-tale. Jokai immediately hunted up a nice +first-floor apartment in Tobacco Street, consisting of three rooms and +their appurtenances, the first room being for the Petoefis, the second +for himself, while the intermediate one was to be a common dining-room, +each with a separate entrance. The young couple came in during the +autumn; they kept one maid, and Jokai had an old man-servant to wait +upon him. The furniture was primitive. Mrs. Petoefi, who had left the +mansion of her wealthy and eminent father without either dowry or +blessing--the family utterly opposing the match, and visiting the +enamoured young lady with the full weight of their heavy +displeasure--had not so much as a fashionable hat to put on, and sewed +together a sort of head-dress of her own invention, which, when +finished, she had not the courage to wear. They had nothing, and yet +were perfectly happy, and so was Jokai. Their dinners were sent in from +a tavern, the Golden Eagle, close at hand, and their chief amusement was +to learn English and laugh at each other's blunders. + +A quarrel with the naturally irritating and overbearing Petoefi put an +end to this symposium, and, doubtless to every one's relief, Jokai +started a bachelor establishment of his own, consisting of a couple of +rooms, which he furnished himself. Properly speaking, it only became a +bachelor's establishment when he entered it. Previously thereto it had +been occupied by a little old woman, popularly known as Mami, who kept a +well-known registry office for servants, and the consequence was that a +whole mob of cooks, parlour-maids, and nursery-maids invaded Jokai's +premises at all hours, under the persuasion that he could provide them +with places. This constant flow of petticoats to his door not only +disturbed his work terribly, but was sufficient to have brought a less +studious and conscientious man into disrepute. It was at this time that +Jokai became the responsible editor of the _Eletkepek_ during the +temporary absence of Frankenburg, and so began his political career. The +_Eletkepek_ was one of the most widely read journals of those days. +Under Frankenburg's able editorship it had become the leading radical +print, and it was no small glory for Jokai that, despite his youth, he +should have been thought worthy of directing it. It numbered among its +contributors some of the most brilliant names in the Hungarian +Literature, from Voeroesmarty to Arany. His literary colleagues assembled +regularly at Jokai's lodgings to discuss current political events, and +more than one idea of reform was hatched under the wing of the +_Eletkepek_. It was in this occupation that the stormy, headlong month +of March, 1848, found our hero. It was to tear him away from his +moorings and cast him upon a veritable sea of troubles; but it was also +to arouse and develop his capabilities in the school of life and +action. + +On February 23, 1848, a revolution broke out at Paris, and in a +couple of days Louis Philip was a dethroned exile. Such a facile +victory of liberal principles encouraged other liberty-loving nations +to follow the example of the mother of constitutions, and the +Hungarians were among the first to rise. In the Diet, Louis Kossuth +eloquently demanded equality before the law, a popular representative +parliament, and an independent, responsible ministry; but the new wine +of nineteenth-century liberalism speedily burst the old bottles of +obsolete, if picturesque, constitutional forms, and the direction of the +movement, which became more and more impetuous every moment, slipped +from the control of the cautious diplomatists and politicians at Vienna +into the hands of the enthusiastic journalists and demagogues of +Budapest. Amongst these, young Jokai, from the first, took a leading +part. Early in the morning of March 15, he and his friends, Petoefi, +Vasvary, and Bulyovszky, met in Jokai's room, by lamplight, and his +comrades entrusted him with the framing of a manifesto, based upon the +famous _Twelve Points_, or Articles of Pest, drawn up the day before by +Joseph Irinyi, embodying the wishes of the Hungarian nation. This done, +they rushed out into the public squares and harangued the mob, which had +assembled in thousands. But speech-making was not sufficient; they +wanted to _do_ something, and the first thing to be done was, obviously, +to give practical application to the doctrine of a free press. So they +determined to print forthwith the Twelve Articles, the Manifesto, and +Petoefi's incendiary song, "Talpra Magyar," without the consent of the +censor. What followed must be told in Jokai's own words:-- + +"The printing-press of Landerer and Heckenast was honoured with this +compulsory distinction. The printers, naturally, were not justified in +printing anything without the permission of the authorities, so we +turned up our sleeves and worked away at the hand-presses ourselves. The +name of the typewriter who set up the first word of freedom was +_Potemkin_! While Irinyi and other young authors were working away at +the press, it was my duty to harangue the mob which thronged the whole +length of Hatvani Street. I had no idea how to set about it, but it came +of its own accord. My worthy and loyal contemporary, Paul Szontagh, +occasionally quotes to me, even now, some of the heaven-storming phrases +which he heard me utter on that occasion, _e.g._ '. . . No, +fellow-citizens! he is no true hero who can only _die_ for his country; +he who can _slay_ for his country, he is the true hero!' That was the +sort of oratory I used to practise in those days. Meanwhile the rain was +beginning to fall, and rain is the most reactionary opponent of every +revolution. But my people were not to be dispersed by the rain, and all +at once the whole street was filled with expanded umbrellas. I was +outraged at the sight. 'What, gentlemen!' I thundered, from the corner +of the street, 'if you stick up your umbrellas now against mere +rain-drops, what will you stick up against the bullets which will +presently begin to fall?' It was only then that I noticed that there +were not only gentlemen around me, but ladies also. I exhorted the +ladies to go home. Here they would get dripping wet, I said, and some +other accident might befall them. 'We are no worse off here than you +are,' was the reply. They were determined to wait till the printed +broad-sides were ready. Not very long afterwards, Irinyi appeared at the +window of the printing-office, for to get out of the door was a sheer +impossibility. He held in his hands the first printed sheets from the +free press. Ah, that scene, when the very first few sheets were +distributed from hand to hand! . . . And now a young county official was +seen forcing his way through the dense crowd right to the very door of +the printing-office, and from thence he addressed me. The +Vice-Lieutenant of the county, Paul Nyary, sent word that I was to go to +him at the town hall. 'Why should _I_ go?' I cried, from my point of +vantage. 'I'll be shot if I do! If the Vice-Lieutenant of the county +wants to speaks to me, let _him_ come _here_! We are "the mountain" +now.' And Mohammed really _did_ come to 'the mountain,' and, . . . what +is more, he came to approve of what we had done hitherto, and then to go +along with us to the town hall to ratify the articles of the liberal +programme. . . . The town hall was crammed to suffocation. Those who +were called upon to speak, stood upon the green table, and remained +there afterwards, so that at last the whole magistracy of the county, +and I and all my colleagues, were standing on the table. The Burgomaster +announced from the balcony of the town hall that the town of Pest had +adopted the Twelve Articles, and with that the avalanche carried the +whole of the burgesses along with it. . . . In the evening the town was +illuminated, and a free performance was given at the theatre, _Bank +Ban_, Katona's celebrated historical drama, being the piece selected. +But the mob, which, by this time, was in a state of ecstasy, had no +longer the patience to listen to the sublime declamations of the Ban +Peter. It called for 'Talpra Magyar!' (Up, up, Magyars!), the Hungarian +Marseillaise. What was to be done? The brilliant court of King Andrew +II., with the Queen and _Bank Ban_ to boot, had to form a group round +Gabriel Egressy, who, in a simple _attila_, and with a sword by his +side, stood in the middle of the stage and declaimed, with magnificent +emphasis, Petoefi's inspiring poem. . . . Then the band struck up the +Rakoczy march, so long prohibited in Hungary because of its supposed +revolutionary tendency. This naturally increased the excitement instead +of extinguishing it. . . . Then a voice from the gallery suddenly cried, +'Long live Tancsis!'--Tancsis, by the way, was a political prisoner who +had been released that very morning from the citadel of Buda by the +mob--and with that the whole populace suddenly roared with one voice, +'Tancsis! Tancsis!' A frightful tumult arose. Tancsis was not at hand. +He lived somewhere in a distant suburb. But even had he been near, it +would have been a cruel thing to have dragged on to the stage a poor, +worn-out invalid, that he might merely make his bow to the public. But +what was to be done? 'Well, my sons,' said Nyary, with whom I was +standing in the same box, 'you have awakened this great monster; now see +if you can put him to sleep again!' All my young friends, one after the +other, attempted to address the people. . . . The curtain was let down, +but then the tumult grew more than ever, the gallery stamped like mad; +it was a perfect pandemonium. Then an idea occurred to me. I could get +on to the stage from Nyary's box. I rushed on through the side wings. A +pretty figure I cut, I must say. I was splashed up to the knees with +mud, from scouring the streets all day. I wore huge goloshes; my +battered cylinder, surmounted by a gigantic red feather, was drenched +with rain, so that I could easily have thrust it under my arm and made a +crush hat of it. I looked around me and perceived Egressy. I told him to +draw up the curtain; I would harangue the people from the stage. Rozsa +Laborfalvi, who played the part of 'Queen Gertrude,' came towards me. +She smiled upon me with truly majestic grace, greeted me, and pressed my +hand. She was wearing the Magyar tricolour cockade--red, white, and +green--on her bosom, and she took it off and pinned it on my breast. +Then the curtain was raised. When the mob beheld my muddy, saturated +figure, it began to shout afresh, and the uproar gradually became a call +for every one to hear me. When at last I was able to speak, I delivered +myself of this masterly piece of oratory: 'Brother citizens! Our friend +Tancsis is not here, he is at home in the bosom of his family. Allow the +poor blind man to taste the joy of seeing his family once more.' It was +only then that I became conscious of the nonsense I was talking. How +could a _blind_ man _see_ his family? If the mob began to laugh I was +done for! It was the tricoloured ribbon which saved me. 'Regard this +tricoloured cockade on my breast!' I cried. 'Let it be the badge of this +glorious day! Let every man who is freedom's warrior wear it! It will +distinguish us from the hirelings of slavery. These three colours +represent the three sacred words, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! Let +every one in whom Magyar blood and a free spirit burns wear them on his +breast.' And so the thing was done. The tricoloured cockade preserved +order. Whoever wished to pin on the tricoloured cockade had to hurry +home first. Ten minutes later the theatre was empty, and the next day +the tricoloured cockade was to be seen on every breast. . . . In the +intoxication of my triumph I hastened after Rozsa Laborfalvi as soon as +this scene was over and pressed her hand. And with that pressure our +engagement began. . . . And the honeymoon was in keeping with the +engagement. The roar of cannon and the clash of arms was the music that +played at _my_ wedding." + +The lady whose heart and hand Jokai won under such stimulating +circumstances was in every way worthy of him. Born at Miskolcz in 1817, +Judith Laborfalvi-Benke, to give her her full family name, was thus +eight years her husband's senior. Her father, Joseph Benke, a retired +actor, and subsequently a teacher at the Roman Catholic girls' school at +Miskolcz, permitted her, in her sixteenth year, to try her fortune on +the stage, at Budapest. But the first attempt was a decided failure, and +she returned home, apparently disillusioned. A second attempt proved +much more successful. Her fine figure, handsome face, and sweet voice +now made a great impression, and the experienced stage-manager, Egressy, +recognizing her great capabilities, encouraged her to proceed. By 1837 +she had superseded Madame Kantor, hitherto the chief heroine of the +Magyar stage, and henceforth, till her retirement from the stage in +1859, was accounted one of the leading Hungarian actresses. Her best +_roles_ were "Volumnia," "Lady Macbeth," "Adrienne Lecouvreur," "Mary +Stuart" in Schiller's play of that name, and "Queen Gertrude" in _Bank +Ban_. She had already reached the height of her fame when she gave her +hand to young Jokai, and it was her courage and devotion which sustained +him during the dark years of trial and depression upon which he was now +about to enter. + +But at first there was no thought of calamity. Jokai flung himself heart +and soul into the revolutionary movement. He converted the literary +_Eletkepek_ into a political organ of the most uncompromising character, +which he edited along with Petoefi; rejected the aristocratic terminal +"y" of his name for the more democratic "i,"[1] and adopted for his +journal the motto: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Yet Jokai was no +friend of unnecessary violence; and when his co-editor, Petoefi, during +Jokai's absence for a few days on his honeymoon (he married Rozsa +Laborfalvi on August 27, 1848), inserted, contrary to his solemn +promise, an abusive tirade against the poet Voeroesmarty, Jokai severely +blamed his friend's want of straightforwardness in an editorial in +_Eletkepek_. Petoefi instantly and most virulently attacked Jokai in the +columns of the same paper; accused him of ingratitude, declined to be +lectured, threw up his co-editorship, and broke off all intercourse with +him. Some coolness had previously arisen between the two friends owing +to Petoefi's taking it upon himself to disapprove of Jokai's marriage, +and communicating his views on the subject to Jokai's mother, who had +disapproved of it all along. Jokai naturally resented both the criticism +and the interference, and the rupture was unfortunately final, as +Petoefi perished mysteriously at the Battle of Segesvar, twelve months +later, before there had been any reconciliation. For now the Hungarian +revolution tore every true Magyar along with it, and wonderful, +incredible things were the order of the day. On September 24, 1848, +Kossuth received the permission of the Hungarian Parliament to organize +a rising of the population in the _Alfoeld_, or great Hungarian plain, +and young Jokai was sent down thither as one of his chief agents; but, +as if to illustrate that singular blend of common sense and exaltation +which has always characterized the Magyar in politics, the ardent author +of "Hetkoeznapok" was accompanied by a sort of bodyguard of soberer +youths, who were to cut him short without ceremony whenever his +eloquence carried him too far. It was on this occasion that Jokai +enlisted the services of the famous robber-chief, Alexander Rozsa,[2] +for the national cause, and obtained his pardon from the Government. On +the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution at the beginning of October, +Kossuth sent Jokai and Csernatonai to promise the Viennese assistance, +but the movement was crushed before any such assistance could be +rendered. In the beginning of December, Jokai accepted the invitation of +the publishers, Landerer and Heckenast, to edit the leading Pest +newspaper, _Pesti Hirlap_, in place of Csengery, who had become a member +of the Government. He announced, as the substance of his programme, the +bringing about of "the unity and independence of the Hungarian State." +After subjugating Vienna, the Austrian army advanced against Pest. On +December 30 the inhabitants threw up earthworks at the foot of the +Gilbert hill, working night and day without distinction of age or sex, +Jokai and his wife amongst them. After the battle of Moor, January 1, +1849, when the Imperialists defeated Perczel and his Honveds, the Jokais +followed the Hungarian Government to Debreczen. Here also Jokai +supported himself by journalism, and on February 22 started the _Esti +Lapok_ as the organ of the Constitutional Liberals as opposed to the +_Marczius Tizenoetoedike_, the organ of the extreme Radicals. Yet Jokai +himself was not infrequently carried away by his patriotism, and +actually proclaimed the republic in his newspaper two days before the +Diet unanimously dethroned the Hapsburgs (April 14, 1849). When the +Honveds recaptured the fortress of Buda, the Government and the Diet +returned to Pest, and Jokai, as editor of both the _Esti Lapok_ and the +_Pesti Hirlap_, powerfully contributed to encourage the nation in its +struggle for independence. In a month's time, however, the Hungarian +Government, now threatened by a combination of the Russians and +Austrians, were obliged to take refuge, first at Szegedin, and finally +at Arad, Jokai accompanying them to both places. He has described this +portion of his life in a few eloquent sentences. "Out into the desolate +world we went, in the depths of a Siberian winter, with everything +crackling with cold, forcing our way along through the snowy desert of +the _Alfoeld_, with the retreating Honved army, passing the night in an +inhospitable hut, where the closed door had frozen to the ground by the +morning, and the roll of drums and the blare of trumpets aroused us to +toil on still further. . . . My wife went everywhere with me. She +quitted a comfortable home, sacrificed a fortune, a brilliant career, to +endure hunger, cold, and hardship with me. And I never heard her utter +one word of complaint. When I was downhearted she comforted me. And, +when all _my_ hopes were stifled, she shared _her_ hopes with me. And +she worked like the wife of a Siberian convict. She did not _play the +part_ of a peasant girl now, she was a serving woman in grim earnest." + + [Footnote 1: One often sees the names of Hungarian + celebrities with prefixed "de's" or "von's" in English + newspapers. This is quite inaccurate, the Magyar + language admitting no such honorific particles.] + + [Footnote 2: Rozsa's doings are recorded in Jokai's + "Lelekidomar." An English translation of the book was + rejected by an eminent Scotch publisher a few years ago + as too improbable, yet the events there recorded are + literally true.] + +After the catastrophe of Vilagos, when the unconquerable Goergei +voluntarily surrendered the last fragments of his exhausted army to the +Russians so as to baulk the Austrians of a triumph they did not deserve, +Jokai was saved from captivity by the ingenious audacity of Janos +Rakoczy, Kossuth's secretary, who hired a carriage and horses, disguised +himself as a coachman, and, with the utmost nonchalance, drove right +through the advancing Muscovites. Picking up his wife again at Gyula, +Jokai set off for the remote little hamlet of Tardona, a place "walled +off from the rest of the world" by dense beech forests, where hundreds +of thousands of pigs were every year fattened for the Servian market. +Here Jokai lived at the house of his friend, the local magistrate, Beni +Csanyi, for nearly six months, principally occupied in landscape +painting, while his indefatigable wife hastened back to Pest to resume +her engagement at the National Theatre (they had for the time no other +means of subsistence), and attempt to save him from proscription. From +August to the middle of October Jokai knew absolutely nothing of what +was going on in the world. Tardona was a corner of the earth whither no +visitor ever came, and where the inhabitants themselves went nowhither. +At last his wife rejoined him, and told him that his hermit-like +seclusion would soon be over. She then took from her bosom a carefully +concealed tiny grey schedule, which was a great treasure in those days. +It was the guarantee of his liberation--a common passport. It should be +explained that when the fortress of Comorn capitulated, months after the +war was over everywhere else, it was on condition that every officer of +the garrison should be provided with a passport guaranteeing his life +and liberty, and dispensing him from enrolment in the Austrian army. +Jokai's wife had contrived to procure for him such a passport in the +simplest way in the world. A friend of hers, Vincent Szathmary, wrote +Jokai's name down on the list of the capitulating officers as a third +lieutenant, and handed the passport bearing his name to his wife. This +had been Madame Jokai's idea from the first, and was the reason why +Jokai had been hidden away so carefully by her among the beech forests +of Tardona till she had safely carried out her innocent conspiracy. + +Jokai's life was now safe, but extreme caution was still by no means +superfluous. It was not till some time later that he ventured to return +to Pest from Miskolcz under the pseudonym of Janos Kovacs,[3] living +most of the time at his wife's lodgings, or at an inn among the hills +of Buda. The military government (Hungary was then under martial law, +with Czechs in all the chief posts of trust) was inclined to be +indulgent to literature, but spies and traitors were about, and to his +eternal shame a Magyar lawyer, Hegyesi by name, hoping to curry favour +with the authorities at Vienna, informed against Jokai and thirty-four +other Hungarian writers, whom he pronounced worthy of death. They were +defended in a long memorial by their countryman, the advocate, Janos +Kossalko, who demonstrated that the Hungarian literature was not the +cause of the Hungarian revolution, but was only the echo of public +opinion. Not till 1850 was it possible for Jokai to follow a literary +career once more. His first works were written under the name of his dog +"Sajo;" but in 1851 he contributed under his own name to the columns of +the _Magyar Emlek Lapok_ and the _Remeny_, two of the new reviews, as +well as to the _Delibab_, founded by Count Leo Festetics. It was now +that Mrs. Jokai suggested the starting of a popular illustrated weekly, +to be called _Vasarnapi Ujsag_. But the difficulty was how to find an +editor for this new venture. Jokai's name was in such bad odour with the +Austrian Government that he himself was out of the question, but at last +a suitable editor was found in Albert Pakh, a popular humorist of great +merit, who had only been prevented from participating in the revolution +by a lingering illness, which had confined him to the hospital during +the whole of 1848-9, so that he escaped being amongst the proscribed. +But if Pakh was the editor, Jokai was the soul of the _Vasarnapi Ujsag_, +and it was his pen which quickly gave it vogue and celebrity. In +particular the extremely humorous dramatic criticisms, which he +contributed to the paper every week in the form of letters under the +pseudonym "Kakas Marton,"[4] were the chief delight of the reading +public. Kakas Marton's _obiter dicta_ were everywhere quoted. Kakas +Marton meerschaums and Kakas Marton clays, with bowls in the shape of +cock-headed men, were on sale at every shop in the capital. "_O tempi +passati_," cries Jokai, reviewing that period nearly forty years +afterwards, "what a popular character I was, to be sure! I really _was_ +in the mouth of the nation in those days." + + [Footnote 3: John Smith.] + + [Footnote 4: Martin Cock.] + +In 1856 Jokai broke entirely new ground by starting the first Hungarian +illustrated comic paper, under the title of _Nagy Tuekoer_ (Great Mirror), +but better known by its later title of _Uestoekoes_ (The Comet), which he +edited for the next fourteen years. Inestimable were the services which +_Uestoekoes_ rendered to Hungary. It taught the nation to laugh and live in +hope of better times. It was also the training school of the first +Magyar caricaturists and comic artists. Jokai himself contributed to it +with his pencil as well as his pen, and some of the best comic cuts in +the _Uestoekoes_ were by "Kakas Marton." In course of time all the comic +talent of the nation was attracted to the _Uestoekoes_, and a whole army of +notable humorists supported its editor. It was in the columns of the +_Uestoekoes_ that Arany's famous satire, "Poloska," first appeared; it was +the _Uestoekoes_ which discovered and educated Janos Janko, the prince of +Magyar caricaturists; it was the _Uestoekoes_ which refused to take the +gendarmes or the censorship too seriously, and scourged with its +satiric lash the blunders and absurdities of the Bach _regime_, which +laboured so hard to germanize Hungary. + +The _Uestoekoes_ had a literary supplement to which Jokai contributed +numerous novels. It was here that appeared his masterly little tale "A +debreceni lunatikus" and the great romance "Rab Raby," in which the +utter impossibility of reforming a high-spirited nation against its will +is so dramatically demonstrated. This story is also remarkable for the +best existing characterization of Kaiser Joseph II. + +Journalism and caricature indeed represent but a tithe of Jokai's work +during this period. The revolutionary war was no sooner over than he +began to write that series of novels and tales which was to make him +famous throughout Europe. Roughly speaking, these earlier novels fall +into two categories: (1) battle-pieces, descriptions of the vicissitudes +of the late war, recounted with all the vividness of an alert spectator, +who was also a born story-teller; and (2) historical romances of the +long Turkish captivity under which Hungary had groaned from the +beginning of the sixteenth to nearly the end of the eighteenth century. +Among the first set may be mentioned, "Forradalmi es csatakepek" +(Revolutionary and Battle-pieces) 1850, and "Egy bujdoso naploja" (Diary +of an Outlaw) 1851; while the latter set includes, "Erdely aranykora" +(The Golden Age of Transylvania) 1852, with its sequel, "Toroekvilag +Magyarorszagon" (The Turkish World in Hungary), 1853. These tales of the +Turkish rule in Magyarland, independently of their aesthetic value, were +veritable parables. Every one who read them when they first came out, +knew very well whom he was to understand by "The Turks." Every one knew +that the author had only given the griefs and grievances of the Magyars +an historical setting and an oriental colouring to evade the scrutiny of +the censorship. Every one knew that the author's patriotic allusions and +attacks applied as much to the Austrian tyranny of the nineteenth as to +the Ottoman tyranny of the seventeenth century. Through the woof of +these gorgeously oriental stories could be read the transparent reminder +and encouragement that the kingdom had survived a worse overthrow than +the present one, and that if Magyarland rose again from her grave, it +would not be the first time she had done so. Even the terrible Turkish +deluge had not swept away the Hungarian nation. Light had followed upon +darkness; there was hope in the future because the past had never been +desperate. As historical romances, moreover, both these tales stand very +high, higher even than the romances of Sienkiewicz, because they possess +humour, a quality in which the great Pole is deficient. In both cases, +Jokai based his narrative on the contemporary chronicles of Cserey, who +lived at Prince Michael Apafy's court. He found most of his characters +ready to hand, and where Cserey fails him, Jokai's own historical +imagination fills up the gaps. It is true that in the obviously invented +portions of these stories (_e.g._ the Azraele episodes), the daring +fancy of the author sometimes carries him far beyond the bounds of even +poetic licence. It is equally true that both stories suffer from want of +unity; they are rather loosely connected series of brilliant pictures +than one continuous narrative. But the dramatic force, the fascinating +style, and the inexhaustible inventiveness of the author, carry his +readers breathlessly over every obstacle, and they contain some of the +finest humour, and some of the most splendid descriptions of natural +scenery in modern literature. + +The admiration excited by these noble productions rose still higher, +when, in 1853-1854, Jokai published his two great social romances, "A +Magyar Nabob" (The Hungarian Nabob), and its sequel, "Karpathy Zoltan" +(Sultan Karpathy), which, in the opinion of some Hungarian critics, +indicate the high-water mark of his authorship. In my opinion the first +of these novels, which paints to the life the old Hungarian aristocracy +of the earlier part of the last century in the person of Janos Karpathy, +is incomparably the best. The sequel, besides the inevitable objection +that it is a sequel, suffers from ultra-sensibility and a moralizing +tendency. The hero of "Karpathy Zoltan" can scarce be said to belong to +real life at all, and he is plainly meant to be the model, the ideal of +the rising generation. The story is also far too long. But it contains +many brilliant episodes, amongst them the famous description of the +terrible overflow of the Danube in the thirties, and numerous passages +of almost faultless beauty. On December 11, 1858, Jokai was elected a +member of the Hungarian Academy, and his name was henceforth numbered +among the national classics. + +But now a new career, the career of politics, was about to be thrown +open to Jokai. At the beginning of 1860 it was becoming pretty evident +that that monstrously artificial amalgamation, the unified absolute +Austrian Monarchy of 1849, was weakening in every joint, and that no +amount of forcible riveting could keep it together much longer. Warned +by the loss of the Italian provinces, the statesmen of Vienna were now +inclined to follow different political principles, and recognizing that +the depressed and embittered Hungarian nation must be an important +factor in any political reconstruction, they were now prepared to make +certain substantial, if limited, concessions to the Magyars. The October +diploma of 1860 explained his Majesty's views on the subject, and the +Hungarian Estates were summoned in April, 1861, to consider the Imperial +offer of a new constitution, which would have degraded Hungary into a +mere province of the Austrian Empire. The Austrian statesmen imagined +that the spirit of the Hungarian nation had been broken by twelve years +of oppression. They were mistaken. The Magyars would have nothing to say +to the proposed central Reichstag, which was to assemble at Vienna as +the representative of all the lands of the Hapsburg monarchy, Hungary +included. Under the masterly guidance of Francis Deak, the Hungarians +insisted on the legal continuity of the Hungarian State, and would +accept nothing short of full autonomy. Jokai took part in the Diet of +1861 as deputy for Siklos, and a member of the uncompromising party +whose motto was: "All or nothing." On May 24 he delivered his maiden +speech, and was instantly recognized as one of the best debaters in the +House. He was no impassioned orator, as from his writings we might have +been led to suppose he would be; but adopted from the first a quiet, +conversational style, appealing generally to right feeling and common +sense; whilst his unfailing wit and humour invariably charmed his +audience, even when he took the unpopular side, which he sometimes felt +bound to do, for, though a consistent Liberal he was always far above +party prejudice. On the dissolution of the short-lived Diet of 1861, +which was far too independent for the Austrian Government, the +constitutional struggle was carried on in the public press, where Jokai +was one of the foremost champions of Magyar rights. In the most +dangerous times, when the sensitive central Government frequently flung +journalists into prison for a single word, Jokai in the _Uestoekoes_ +worried the authorities with all the darts and arrows of his wit and +humour, and in 1863, when he founded _Hon_ (The Country), as the +political organ of Coloman Tisza and his colleagues, he brought to bear +the heavier ordnance of reason and argument. He had to go to Vienna in +person to solicit permission to bring this journal out, and had first to +promise that he would not attack the Government. + +"I promise heartily to _support_ the Vienna Government," answered Jokai, +"if only it will endeavour to do justice to the Hungarian nation, and +fulfil its legitimate wishes." The _Hon_ had only been out a week when a +catastrophe occurred which must be told in Jokai's own words: "I had +founded a political paper. I was its responsible editor and publisher. +My assistants were the matadors of the Liberal party. We soon had a +large public. . . . One day an admirably written article was sent to me, +signed by one of the most illustrious of the Hungarian magnates (Count +Alexander Zichy). Without more ado I published it. It was a loyal, +patriotic article, on purely constitutional lines, showing, in the most +matter-of-fact way, the justice and the necessity of constitutional +government for Hungary. Because of this article the Governor brought +both the Count who wrote it, and the editor who inserted it, before a +court-martial. He signified to the pair of us beforehand that he meant +to make a three months' job of it. The court-martial consisted of a +colonel, a major, a captain, a senior and a junior lieutenant, a +sergeant, a corporal, and a private, the last four of whom were Czechs. +Before this 'areopagus' I delivered a powerful defence in German, to +which they naturally replied: 'March!' The tribunal condemned us to +twelve months' hard labour in irons, on bread and water, with loss of +nobility and a fine of eleven hundred florins. When the sentence was +read out, I said to the President: 'This is very odd, the Governor +promised us only three months.' To this the President replied, with a +smile: 'Yes, three months for the incriminatory article, but nine more +for your high-flying defence.' Our sentence was for no offence against +the press laws. Oh dear no! We were condemned for inciting to a breach +of the peace. Count Zichy and I had been throwing stones at the windows +and breaking the gas-lamps. It was as public brawlers that we were sent +to cool our heels in jail. . . . Nevertheless, the whole of my life in +prison was a mere joke. . . . The Commandant himself, with whom I +lodged, came every day to tell me funny stories, and then took me out +for long country walks. He had my writing-table, my books, my +carpentering and sculptural tools brought into my 'dungeon,' and there +it was that I turned out the bust of my wife. The Commandant, also, was +passionately fond of carpentering, so we worked together at our lathes +as if for a wager. I was also allowed to have _with my bread and water_ +the best that money could purchase from the inn. In the afternoon my +friends from the Casino Club looked in to play cards with me. . . . Once +I took my fellow prisoner and my jailor to my villa at Svabhegy, where +my wife had made ready for me a splendid supper. I tapped my new wine, +and we amused ourselves to such a very late hour, that when we returned +to my _dungeon_ it was as much as we could do to make them let us in +again. And then my visitors! In the whole course of my life I never +received so many visitors as during the _month_ that my _year's_ +captivity lasted. . . . I was sought out by all sorts of good friends, +who came from far--lords and ladies, countesses and actresses. . . . In +fact, I had too much of a good thing. How could I work when my admirers +were crowding at my lathe all day long? At last, with tears in my eyes, +I had to beg my jailor to sentence me to solitary confinement for a +couple of hours every day, and wrote on my door the hours when I was +free to receive company. 'Wasn't I in prison?' I asked." + +After the dissolution of the Diet, the provisional government did all in +its power to cajole the opposition and make the nation accept the +October diploma; but its efforts were frustrated by the tact and the +tenacity of Deak, and, in 1865, his Majesty was again obliged to summon +the Diet in which Jokai once more represented Siklos. Even now the +Austrian statesmen were very reluctant to compose their differences +with Hungary on equal terms; but the disasters of the intervening +Austro-Prussian war made them, at last, more compliant. After Sadowa, a +composition with Hungary became absolutely necessary for the very +existence of the Austrian Empire; the idea of a unified composite state +was definitely abandoned; the Hungarians, following the advice of Deak, +loyally co-operated in bringing about a composition[5] on equal terms +with Austria, and on June 8, 1867, the crown of St. Stephen was placed +upon the head of his Apostolic Majesty. Hungary had once more become +independent. + + [Footnote 5: Curiously enough the German word + _Ausgleich_ has generally been used in England to + designate this arrangement. Yet _Ausgleich_ and its + Hungarian equivalent _Kiegyezes_ simply mean + _composition_.] + +Independence was secured, but much had to be done in the way of +pacification and reconstruction after all that the nation had suffered. +Jokai contributed powerfully to readjust past differences and unite all +the forces of the nation for the nation's good. This is the chief object +of his romance "Uj foeldesur" (The New Landlord) published in 1863 +(memorable also as the first of his works that was translated into +English[6]), where the antagonisms of the old conservative Magyar +squirearchy, exemplified in Adam Garomvoelgyi, and the interloping German +landlords, as represented by Ankerschmidt, are finally adjusted by a +happy love-match between younger members of the long-clashing families. +In every respect this romance is one of Jokai's best works, and as a +truthful picture of the gloomy transitional period between 1850 and +1863, is of considerable historical importance. A fine symbolism, too, +runs through the story. The "fair Theiss," as purely an Hungarian as the +Volga is a purely Russian river, plays a leading part in the story. We +see her in all her moods, and when, in time of flood, she rises in her +wrath and sweeps away all the fetters laid upon her by the Austrian +surveyors and engineers, the reader guesses, as he was meant to guess, +that the days of such petty tyrants as the comic minor characters, +Mikwesek, Maxenpfutsch, and Strajf are numbered. To the same period +belong a whole dozen of Jokai's most notable stories, _e.g._ "Politikai +divatok" (Political Fashions), dealing with the triumphs and horrors of +the civil war, and containing a glowing eulogy of his heroic, +self-sacrificing wife; "Az arany ember" (A Man of Gold), one of the most +dramatic and stimulating novels ever penned with magnificent +descriptions of Danubian scenery; "Feketegyemantok" (Black Diamonds), +which caught the English fancy more, perhaps, than any of his other +works; and the wondrous "A joevoe szazad regenye" (The Romance of the +Coming Century), as ingenious and suggestive as the happiest of Jules +Verne's or Mr. Wells's semi-scientific romances. + + [Footnote 6: By Mr. Patterson in 1868.] + +And, at the same time, this indefatigable worker, not content with +throwing off literary masterpieces at the rate of two a year, was taking +a leading part in current politics. The Composition was, after all, but +the starting-point of modern Hungarian politics. It now became evident +that Deak's original programme was not thoroughgoing enough for the +needs of an independent Hungary, and every one looked upon the leader of +the opposition, Coloman Tisza, who first came into prominence as the +formulator of the famous "Bihar points" in 1868, as the coming man. To +this party, the Left Centre, Jokai at once attached himself, and became +its chief publicist, and one of its best speakers. For nine-and-twenty +years (1867-96) he was a member of the Diet; even when (as in 1872) he +was defeated in one constituency he was elected in another, and at the +very beginning of his political career (1869) he had the supreme +satisfaction of worsting a cabinet minister, Stephen Gorove, at the +polls. It was during the earlier years of the long administration +(1875-90) of his friend, Coloman Tisza, that Jokai exercised a constant +and considerable political influence, both as a parliamentary debater +and as editor of the Government organ, _Hon_ (The Country). His usual +seat was on the second ministerial bench, just behind the premier, and +whenever he rose to speak he always commanded the attention of a crowded +and expectant house. More than once his eloquence extricated the +Government from a tight place. Among his more notable speeches may be +mentioned: "What does the Opposition want--revolution or reform?" +delivered in 1869; "The Left Centre the true party of reform," spoken in +1872, and his celebrated speech on the Budget of February 26, 1880. In +those days he was a most ardent politician, ready, if necessary, to +fight as well as talk and write for his opinions. Thrice he has fought +duels, happily bloodless, with political opponents; but it was as the +editor of the _Hon_ (incorporated in 1882 with the _Ellenoer_, under the +title of _Nemzet_) that he rendered his party the most essential +service, and in most of the political cartoons of the day he is +generally represented waving the _Hon_ as a banner, or charging with it +as a bayonet. The ultra-Conservative comic paper, _Borszem Janko_, was +particularly fond of caricaturing this consistent and courageous +champion of enlightened Liberalism, and his earnest, gentle face, with +the honest eyes, ample beard and fierce moustache, is conspicuous in +nearly every number from 1868 onwards. Thus in the number for August 23, +1868, the coloured frontispiece represents Jokai as a huge +black-bearded, bald head, furiously editing four newspapers at the same +time, a nimble quill being stuck between each of its diminutive hands +and feet. His increasing baldness is an inexhaustible subject for the +raillery of this exceedingly clever print, especially on the occasion of +his dramatic jubilee (he is the author of numerous successful plays, +which are, however, inferior to his novels) at Klausenburg, in 1871, +when he is depicted in ancient Roman costume, with a Red Indian feather +head-dress, beating a huge drum on a Greek triumphal car. In 1896, Jokai +quitted active politics, and in the following year was made a member of +the House of Magnates. + +Jokai's career, on the whole, has been a singularly happy and successful +one. His worst misfortune was the death of his revered wife, on November +20, 1886, when he sought oblivion and consolation in travel, and visited +Italy for the second time.[7] His third visit was paid thirteen years +later, when he spent his honeymoon in Sicily with his second wife, the +comic actress, Bella Nagy, whom he married in September, 1899, when he +was already seventy-four years old. It is strange, considering his +linguistic attainments, manifold interests, and the vast range of his +writings, how seldom Jokai has quitted Hungary. Apart from his brief +Italian tours, a fortnight at Berlin and Prague in 1874, and a couple of +days in Bosnia, in 1886, represent the whole of his foreign touring. Yet +there is scarce a country in Europe which he has not made the scene of +one or other of his romances. He enjoyed the sovereign triumph of his +life in 1894, when the whole nation rendered homage to the nestor of +Magyar Letters by celebrating his golden jubilee as a national festival, +on which occasion he received the ribbon of St. Stephen from the King, +the freedom of every city in Hungary, and a cheque for 100,000 florins +from the Jubilee Committee on account of the profits derived from a +national _edition de luxe_ of his works in a hundred huge volumes, +illustrated by all the leading Hungarian artists. Since 1894, Jokai has +produced at least twenty-five fresh volumes, and their quality +demonstrates that the power and brilliance of the veteran are absolutely +unimpaired. There is no sign of decay or even of deterioration. "A +Tengerszemue Hoelgy" won the Academy's prize in 1890, as the best novel of +the year, while "A Sarga Rozsa" (The Yellow Rose), written three years +later, in the author's sixty-eighth year, is pronounced by so severe a +critic as Zoltan Beoethy to be one of the abiding ornaments of the +national literature. + + [Footnote 7: His first visit was in 1876, but he only + stayed a fortnight.] + +Out of Hungary, Jokai, even now is far less known than might have been +expected, though within the last six years no fewer than fifteen out of +his two hundred romances have been translated into English. But this +apparent neglect is readily to be accounted for. In the first place, +Jokai is so national, so thoroughly Magyar, that much of his finest, +most characteristic work was written entirely for Hungarians, or appeals +to them alone. This especially applies to his journalistic work and to +his satirico-political humoresks, which are excellent, unique even, of +their kind, and yet can have but little interest for foreigners. In the +second place, the fashion of modern fiction has changed since the author +of "A Hungarian Nabob" began to write. Jokai is a _conteur par +excellence_, a _conteur_ of the old school. Most of his novels are +tales, "yarns," if you like, not "documents" or "studies." He has also +all the faults of the romantic school to which he indisputably +belongs--excessive sensibility, fantastic exaggeration, and a penchant +towards melodrama, though in his masterpieces he can be as true to life +and draw character as cunningly as the best of the modern novelists. In +the third place, Jokai writes in a non-Aryan language of extraordinary +difficulty, whose peculiar idioms and constructions must necessarily +baffle the ingenuity of the most practised translator. It is very much +easier, for instance, to give an English reader a tolerably correct idea +of Tolstoi's style than of Jokai's. I speak from experience. Yet the +fact remains that Jokai is, at last, decidedly making way amongst us. +The tale proper, the novel of incident in all its varieties, is again +coming into vogue, and Jokai is one of the greatest tale-tellers of the +century. Moreover, there is a healthy, bracing, optimistic tone about +his romances which appeals irresistibly to normal English taste. He is +never dull, dirty, perverse, or obscure, and more fun (and that, too, +of the very best sort) is to be found in any half-dozen of his works +than in the whole range of modern Slavonic or Scandinavian literature. + +R. NISBET BAIN. + + +Since the above lines were written, the great Magyar writer has passed +away (May 5th), and Hungary can but show her respect to one of the +greatest of her sons by standing bareheaded at his grave. To the very +last his inexhaustible pen was busy. Only at the beginning of this very +year he published his 202nd novel: "Where money is, there God is not;" +and, still later, his name appeared for the last time in a collection of +brief autobiographies of living Hungarian authors. Jokai's sketch of +himself is of the briefest, but it contains two facts which cannot but +interest and touch English readers. He there tells us that he taught +himself the elements of English, without assistance, in order that he +might read Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" in the original language, and that +"Boy Dickens" (he is not the first foreigner by any means who has taken +"Boy" to be Dickens' Christian name) was the object of his youthful +admiration, and one of his earliest delights was the perusal of "The +Pickwick Papers." + +R. NISBET BAIN. + + + + +TALES FROM JOKAI + + + + +I + +THE CELESTIAL SLINGERS + + +In the days when Kuczuk was the Pasha of Grosswardein, the good city of +Debreczen had a very bad time of it. This whimsical Turk, whenever some +little trifle had put him out of humour with the citizens of Debreczen, +would threaten to ravage the town from end to end with fire and sword, +cut the men to mincemeat, carry off all the women into captivity, pack +up all the treasures of the town in sacks, and sow with salt the place +where once it had stood. + +At first the prudent and pacific magistrates of Debreczen used to soothe +the heavy displeasure of the whimsical Pasha with fair-spoken +entreaties, good words, and precious gifts; but one day Master Stephen +Dobozy was elected governor, and being a short-necked, fiery-tempered +man, it so happened that when, for some cause or other, Kuczuk Pasha +again began to murmur against them, and threatened the Debreczeners that +this time he really _would_ come to them, Dobozy sent back this message: +"Let him come if he likes." + +At this Kuczuk Pasha flew into a violent rage, immediately mounted all +his troops, set off that very night, and early next morning stood before +Debreczen. "Here I am!" cried he. + +The city had no ramparts, no trench, no drawbridge. Its whole defence +consisted of twelve rugged towers, in which the citizens were wont to +keep a look-out for nomadic freebooters--mouldering brick edifices with +rush roofs, which would have fallen to pieces at the first cannon-shot, +provided outside with crazy wooden ladders terminating in a +circumambient wooden corridor by which you could ascend into the towers, +so that if the ladders were plucked away from the towers nobody would be +able to get out of them again. + +Each of these tower-shaped shanties guarded a gate, standing at a +respectful distance therefrom, so as not to stand in the way of any +possible impetuous foe who might perhaps run his foolish head against a +tower and knock it down. + +Nothing testifies more clearly to the true nature of these _fortresses_ +than the fact that a stork's nest was planted on the summit of each one +of them, where the worthy animals, standing every evening on one leg, +clappered for hours at a time, as if it was they who guarded the city. + +Kuczuk had timed his arrival so well that at one and the same moment a +division of his army halted at every gate, and a large round cannon, +which he had taken the precaution to load, was planted opposite each of +the white-brick towers. It was thus that he wished to speak with the +Debreczeners. + +Meanwhile there came hastening out of the town a Greek named Panajoti, +a native of Stambul and an old acquaintance of Kuczuk Pasha. Whenever +the magistrates of the town had any particularly ticklish message to +deliver to the Pasha, they always sent Panajoti, well aware that he, at +any rate, would not be impaled straight away. + +"Well, what have the magistrates of Debreczen to say for themselves?" + +"Gracious, sir, surely this Master Stephen Dobozy is a little cracked, +for no sooner did thy threats reach us than he immediately packed all +the women-folk, girls, and children into waggons, and sent them off to +Tokai; then he proclaimed by roll of drum that whoever had anything of +value was to tear it to pieces, or cut it down and fling it into the +wells, and the moment the enemy attacked the town it was to be set on +fire at all four quarters, especial attention being given to every tower +and church, whereupon every one was to grasp the shaft of his lance, or +sit on his horse if he had one, and say by which gate he meant to +depart. And they were to take care never to show their faces again in +the neighbourhood of Debreczen, and thus Kuczuk Pasha would be afraid +when in the presence of the sublime Sultan they asked him what had +become of the great city of Debreczen, which had so faithfully paid so +much and so much tribute to the Porte, made presents to all the viziers +one after another, supplied the Turkish armies with meal and provender, +let him boast before the Divan that he has burnt it to ashes and sown +the site of it with salt in a fit of pique, simply because his pipe did +not draw, and see what they'll say to him then!" + +That was the message which Master Stephen Dobozy sent to the Pasha, and +Panajoti repeated it to him word for word. + +"Accursed stiff-necked Calvinist!" exclaimed the Pasha, wrathfully, +"he's quite capable of doing it, too, the rascal! But don't you be +afraid that a city like Debreczen will be extirpated from the face of +the earth simply because he chooses to lose his temper, for Debreczen is +so necessary to this spot that if it did not exist already the Turks +would have to build it. The dog knows very well that I don't want to +devastate the town, else he would not speak so big to me." + +Panajoti solemnly assured the Pasha that the inhabitants of Debreczen +were resolved to risk the uttermost, and that the moment the Pasha blew +a trumpet or aimed a gun at them, the whole place would instantly flame +up and be of no further use to anybody. All their treasures had already +been buried, the girls and women were safe away on the other side of the +Theiss, and the men were so furious that they had all laid hold of their +swords and scythes, and would be very difficult to manage, so embittered +were they. + +The Pasha perceived that Panajoti was right. For once the Debreczeners +had got the better of him. So he withdrew the squadrons that he had +marshalled before the gates, sent away his guns, and said that he would +be merciful to Debreczen. They might take his word for it that he meant +to hurt no one, and would henceforth deal graciously with them. +Moreover, he warmly praised Master Stephen Dobozy for his courageous and +determined conduct, and assured him that he should never have cause to +repent his behaviour. On the contrary, if ever he should be in trouble +let him have recourse to him, the Pasha; he might always rely on _his_ +patronage. And if ever he should come to Grosswardein, he was to make a +point of coming to see him, the Pasha; Master Dobozy might always be +quite sure that he would be made to feel perfectly at home. + +And with that he returned to Grosswardein, with his guns and his army in +the same order in which he had come. + +The Debreczeners breathed a great sigh of relief, and every one praised +and exalted his Honour the Sheriff for so valiantly showing all his +claws. The Turk evidently perceived that he was a man who would stand no +nonsense. + +Kuczuk Pasha had no sooner arrived at Grosswardein than he sent for +Badrul Beg, the vizier of the Moorish cavalry, and entrusted him with a +special mission. + +"This evening," said he, "before dusk, take five hundred horsemen and +set off in the direction of Dioszeg. Inquire of every person you meet +coming or going: 'Does this road lead to Nagy-Kallo?' and then let them +go again. This do before nightfall, and then turn suddenly away from the +Dioszeg road and wade about among the marshy meadows on the left-hand +side to obliterate your traces, and when you get out into the fields on +the other side you will find the shepherds who look after the sheep and +oxen, and take them off with you to Leta. When you perceive the towers +of Leta, cut down your guides, and, cautiously approaching the place, +turn off into the great forest there. In this forest you will come upon +a lime-burner, or a herdsman, who will lead you through the forest to +where it comes to an end at Hadhaz. There again trample your guides +beneath your feet, and remain in ambush. On the morrow, or the day after +that, or perhaps in a week's time--and till then you will stick to the +forest--you will perceive four or five hundred waggons going towards +Tokai. These waggons will be packed full with select girls and women, +and with lots of money and knickknacks, you may be sure. Seize every +blessed one of them. If there are any men with them, cut the men down. +What money you find with them distribute among your soldiers. The +women-folk, on the other hand, bring hither to me. You understand what I +say? Remember that you carry your head in your hands, so keep an eye +upon it." + +Badrul Beg understood the command and withdrew. The Moorish vizier was +just the man to execute the charge committed to him, for he was capable +of traversing the whole realm from end to end, through forest and +morass, till he came to his appointed place without once dismounting, +and there he would contentedly lounge about in ambush, with an empty +belly for weeks together, till he had done what he was told to the very +last iota. + +But Kuczuk Pasha thus apostrophized the good Debreczeners: "So you would +smile at me, you would laugh at me? You would rejoice over me, eh? Very +well, laugh your fill now while you can, for the day is at hand when it +will be your turn to weep." + + * * * * * + +On the broad highway leading to Tokai a long series of waggons was +approaching Hadhaz; it was the caravan of the Debreczen women. + +Five hundred waggons toiling one after another, filled with nothing but +women and children, not a single man among them--no, not so much as a +man's finger to raise a whip, for the women themselves even drove the +horses. Those among the fugitives whom God Himself had created of the +masculine gender had their hands nicely folded away under +swathing-bands, and were called--babies. + +Nothing but a pack of women and girls. Imagine the good humour, the +racket which accompanied them on the way! They were telling each other +how his Honour the Sheriff had driven the Turks from the town, how +frightened they had been, and all the rest of it; they had enough to +talk about for weeks to come. Rich indeed is the fancy of souls saved +from a great peril. + +At the head of every waggon as coachman sat a young woman driving the +horses on, and singing one of those melancholy old songs which were then +usually sung from the Theiss to Moldavia, perhaps this one, which +began-- + + "The little duck is bathing in the lake so black, + My mother in Poland gets ready the cooking-jack;" + +or perhaps this-- + + "If they ask thee for me, say + I'm a slave far, far away, + Hands and feet in irons bound;" + +which last was greatly in fashion then, God knows, and many a poor +Magyar sang it from his heart. + +And then a whole row of waggon-women would take up the song and make the +whole canopy of heaven ring with it; the poor little larks soaring up +there were quite vanquished in this singing contest. + +Towards evening the whole caravan halted by a green mound standing out +upon the level plain. Who knows who raised it? or whether our bones or +others were in it? Our bones certainly, for the whole plain around was a +blank desert. + +Not a village, not a town anywhere near; only a solitary hut surrounded +with ricks or stacks might be seen here and there, far apart from each +other; not a trace of arable land; the whole district is nothing but +pasturage for flocks and herds. + +From time to time the Fata Morgana exhibits her juggleries, but we are +accustomed to it now, and nobody is deceived thereby. She inundates the +distant landscape with an undulous sea, but nobody wishes to bathe in +it. She shows us umbrageous woods, but nobody hastens to refresh himself +there. She conjures up cities and palaces which nobody takes the trouble +to admire. We, the sober children of men, have discovered the meaning of +all these enchantments, and don't care a rap what sort of marvel this +faded old fairy lays before us. + +But on this particular day the Fata Morgana was in a peculiarly good +humour. Very rarely does the sun burn so fiercely as it did then. The +earth regularly cracked beneath it, and the beds of waterpools became +dried clayey hummocks. It was just the day for the Fata Morgana's elfin +extravagances. A pack of young girls, the dreamiest spectators +imaginable, were ascending a green hill to gaze down upon the marvels +of atmospheric phenomena. + +All round about surges the boundless sea full of swiftly advancing +waves; from time to time figures rise out of it silhouetted against the +sky. There are swimming blue islands, which grow up and swell out as the +women gaze at them, green forests overspread their shores, the shadows +of the trees are visible in the water; and then, suddenly, the island +sinks lower, the waves of the sea rise, and clash together over its +highest point. And now on the other side arise vast aerial palaces with +transparent towers and hazy blue temples, and these also are tossed up +and down by that elfin wag as if they were swimming upon it, and when +she has tired of them she makes endless havoc of them, and towers and +cities tumble together into a heap of ruins; and then the sea also +disappears, and the eye sees nothing but a flock of migratory cranes +coming slowly along. + +The girls on the hill begin explaining the phenomenon to each other. + +"Look! that building over there was just like the church at Debreczen +with the two towers. And that other one that has just fallen to pieces +is like the watch-tower at the gates of Grosswardein--it is just as +crazy looking." + +"Girls, girls!" scolded a young bride, who was suckling her plump little +baby at the foot of the hill, "one ought not to joke about such things. +It is not right to recognize any place in the Fata Morgana. Woe will +befall the town which she shows. Have done with such profane +prattling!" + +"Look!" suddenly cried they all, and the word died away on their lips; +every one looked, with eyes petrified by wonder and terror. + +What was it that had suddenly come to light in the sky? + +Towards Hadhaz, high above the aerial road, the misty shape of a +horseman was suddenly sketched out against the pallid sky--a real +warrior on horseback, with a quiver on his shoulder, a peaked turban on +his head, and his hand on his hip. The whole shape was magnified against +the distant horizon into gigantic proportions, which made one's heart +beat to look at it; the feet of the horse did not touch the ground, and +below and through them one could see the sky. The whole thing looked +like the bright-blue shape of an armed phantom cast upon the pale, +yellow sky. + +"O Lord, forsake us not!" murmured the terrified and helpless crowd at +the sight of this strange apparition, which natural philosophers have +seen so often and in so many places, and have since explained, though +they know neither the why nor the wherefore of it. + +The shapes of men far away swam forth into the sky, magnified into +gigantic spirits of the mist. Every moment fresh and fresh shapes +emerged from the aerial billows, all of them armed giants. Some only +emerged from the surface of the delusive sea as far as the bodies of +their horses; of others one could only see the heads and shoulders; some +had their shadows joined on to their bodies, others showed double +shadows glued together at different ends with heads, arms, and weapons +turned upwards and downwards, and suddenly the whole thing slowly +dissolved, and nought remained behind in the sky but two broad +wheel-like spokes, two bright-blue ribbons of light on a misty, +yellowish background, shining upwards from the earth. + +"Alas, alas! the Turks and Tartars are lying in wait for us," exclaimed +the women, confused, terrified, without friend or counsellor, in the +midst of the wilderness. + +The mothers clasped their children to their breasts, the girls scattered +about their precious kerchiefs and ornaments, that while the robbers +were picking them up they themselves might have time to escape. Every +one believed that the danger was at their very heels. + +"Let's be off! Let's be off! By the Boeszoermeny road! Let us fly through +the pasture lands! Hasten! hasten!" + +The mob of poor desperate creatures turned aside from the road; the +waggons, greatly to the damage of the horses, plunged along over the +fields where there was no sign of a track. Nobody sang any more now, +whether songs or hymns, but a pious soul here and there sighed in secret +as she looked behind her, first into the formidable distance, and then +up into the familiar sky. "Thou, O Almighty," they whispered, "Thou who +in Thy heaven hath marvellously revealed to us the lying-in-wait of our +evil foes, defend us, Thy poor weak servants, from our evil pursuers, +who have none to trust in save Thee alone, O God of heaven!" + +And, indeed, the Lord was to work yet other marvels that day. + +As the flying women were still looking timorously behind them, the +sportive phenomena suddenly disappeared from earth and sky; on the +break-up of the Fata Morgana the horizon became sharply visible again, +and the birch forests of Hadhaz loomed forth faintly blue in the +distance. Clouds with sharply defined silver linings arose in the sky +from that direction as if the tempest were puffing gigantic frothy +bubbles before it; gradually the horizon grew darker and darker, +dark-blue clouds came crowding up one on the top of another; it was as +though a deep voice in the distance were roaring: "Fly, fly!" + +And the waggons went jingling and clattering along towards the confines +of Szoermeny. + + * * * * * + +Badrul Beg had now been lying in ambush in the forest of Hadhaz for two +days. He had performed everything which Kuczuk Pasha had commanded him +in his own way. Every one from whom he had inquired the way he had cut +down immediately after he had done him that service, so that he should +not betray him. Every one of his band was forced to remain on the spot +where he stood, nobody was allowed to quit the forest, and every +inhabitant of the environs who happened to stray thither accidentally +died before he could betray what he had seen. They were all shot down by +arrows, arrows which utter no sound, and never brag of their heroic +deeds as the big-mouthed guns do. + +Nobody should betray them, nobody should carry tidings concerning them +to the women and girls of Debreczen. And God?--Ah! He sees these women +thus hastening to destruction, He looks at them through the mirror of +the Fata Morgana, and hides from them the crafty snare laid for them in +the very nick of time. Blessed be the name of the Lord! + +On the evening of the third day the sentinels stationed on the border of +the forest informed Badrul Beg that far off in the _puszta_ a long line +of dust could be seen, as if hundreds and hundreds of waggons were +coming along one after another. + +"It is they!" + +Badrul Beg mounted to the top of a hillock, that he might see for +himself--perchance he was the enormous giant whose misty form had first +appeared in the sky, with the quiver on his shoulder and the peaked +turban on his head. + +"It is they! Only let them come nearer! Nobody can warn them of their +danger--nobody!" + +But suddenly the approaching line of dust stops, remains stationary for +some moments, and then suddenly begins to start off sideways, and, so +far from slowly creeping on nearer, darts aside among the hedges with +dart-like rapidity. + +Badrul Beg looked furiously around him. "Which of you can have betrayed +us to them?" he cried. + +As if suddenly answering his question, the whole forest fell a-soughing. +The tall, slim birch trees began to rustle and shiver; a frightful +hurricane had arisen over the plain, howling and roaring, and enveloping +the whole firmament with clouds of yellow dust. + +Badrul was not used to fear the tempest--Kuczuk Pasha did not allow him +to. + +"Forward with your lances!" he cried to his horsemen. "Split the tempest +with the points of them! After those fugitives! Out upon the open +plain!" + +Hah! but out on the plain there it was another Master who commanded now. +In the midst of the open country, midway between pursuers and pursued, +came scudding along the bride of the tempest, the wild whirlwind, that +slim fairy who dances so majestically right over the smooth plain with +her comet-like head among the clouds, as if her scattered locks were +floating there, while her legs, like spindles, were twirling in the +dust. She sways to the left, curtseying with her slim body, and throwing +back her defiant head ever higher and higher. Woe to all frail and +perishable creatures who come in her way, for she will tear them to +pieces and scatter them abroad. The roofs of houses, haystacks, +prominent trees, if once they are caught in the savage sweep of her +garment, she hurls up to the sky, and then dashes to the earth again +with furious caprice. After her, murmuring and growling, comes her angry +bridegroom--the thunderstorm--who pursues his defiant bride with a fiery +whip in his hand; with his whip he will scourge her if he catches her. +Ah! the love of the elemental spirits is terrible. + +The whirlwind in an instant enveloped the band of Badrul Beg in such a +cloud of dust that nobody knew from thenceforth whether he were going +backwards or forwards. The air was darkened. One horseman could not see +his next fellow for the whirling dust, in whose murkiness he could not +even distinguish the lightning flashes, he could only hear the +approaching thunder as it rolled along the sky, shook the earth, and +silenced the savage howl of the tempest. + +Badrul Beg's charger reared beneath him, the wind took the turban from +his head and tore the pennant from his lance. + +"Ah, thou god--thou God of the Magyars!" thundered the Moor, shaking his +fist at the sky. "Thou hast taken the part of Thine own people, but for +all that Thou shalt not save them from me!" + +At the very moment when the presumptuous wretch uttered this blasphemy, +a stony substance smote his shoulder, so that his arm hung down benumbed +at his side. + +What was that? + +Nothing but a large piece of ice, coming before the rest by way of +warning. Immediately afterwards heaven discharged, as from slings, its +rattling, clattering stones, jagged lumps of ice came plunging down from +the sky. Some of them were like birds' eggs, others like transparent +nuts, others like the heads of spiked clubs, ten little pieces all glued +together, with a murderous lump in the middle of a pound's weight. The +lightning flashed incessantly, sending its messages from one quarter of +the heavens to the other, the ice-flogged earth in the distant plain +gave forth a sound as if it were about to collapse beneath the falling +sky. + +"Allah Kerim! Allah Akbar!" exclaimed the freebooters, vainly flying +from the pursuant hailstones, which smote them down from every side with +frightful velocity. The neighing of the tortured and terrified horses +made the din still more terrible, and the boldest were dismayed by the +sweeping lightning flashes which plunged down among them with fiery +heads, illuminating the dense body of hail which seemed to have +dissolved into millions of diamonds and silver bullets in its descent +from above. + +"There is no deliverance save with the 'Lord God!'" howled the Turks. +And off they plunged whithersoever their horses took them, some in the +direction of the forest they had just quitted, where the wind-shattered +trees received them, others galloped on still further, and plunged into +a stream which the water-spout within an hour had swollen into a raging +river. Others again, flying before the hurricane, fell right within its +path, were struck down and scattered about miles away. When the tempest +had passed over, Badrul Beg could only find fifty horsemen. Of these +about twenty lay dead on the ground, scattered far and wide, with +frightful wounds on their foreheads, twisted limbs and broken legs; in +some cases horse and rider had been struck dead together, others had +been so buried by the ice that only their hands appeared above the +frozen mass. The whole plain presented the spectacle of a desert strewn +over with stones and pebbles of different sizes, but all equally white +and cold. + +The sons of the Ethiopian palm desert had never seen ice before. + +"Lo! what wonders befall in this earth!" said Badrul Beg, in his dismay. +"Who can fight against Heaven? The God of the Magyars works miracles on +their behalf! Allah defend us from the wrath of this strange god!" + +Nevertheless, he was not quite certain whether Kuczuk Pasha would be +inclined to believe him if he were to return with a shattered host after +letting the women go. How _could_ he believe from mere hearsay a marvel +the like of which no true believer had ever heard? But he could have no +surer witness than these iron trunks, which he had brought with him to +hold the jewels of the captured women, if he filled them with the cold +white stones slung by the celestial slings; when he saw those the Pasha +must give credence even to a story bordering upon the marvellous. + +So he nicely filled four large trunks right up to the brim with ice, and +binding them on the backs of two horses, himself trotted after them. For +the sake of greater security, he kept the keys of all the boxes himself, +and sealed up their locks with sealing-wax. + +It took him a couple of days to get back to Grosswardein, for he went a +bit out of his way to collect together his scattered soldiers; and a +sorry lot they were, with their broken limbs, battered heads, and black +and blue bodies. All the time a burning sun shone down upon them from +morn to eve, and the water was dripping from under the iron trunks, and +exhaling in vapour from above them at the same time. On reaching +Grosswardein, he appeared before Kuczuk Pasha with a broken arm and a +downcast face, and told him the whole story, the very telling of which +made him tremble. + +Kuczuk Pasha's face grew very wrath at this fairy tale, and not a word +of it would he believe. Then Badrul Beg had the iron trunks brought +forward to corroborate him, that he might see with his own eyes the +stones of the celestial slingers. + +And lo! when the seals were broken and the locks were opened, there was +nothing at all in the trunks. There was not a trace of the celestial +stones. + +Badrul Beg rent his clothes. + +"Merciful Allah!" he cried, "lo! the God of the Magyars has caused to +disappear from the locked boxes the stones with which he stoned my +warriors to death!" + +"Miserable coward!" thundered Kuczuk Pasha, who did not believe a single +word of it all. "I suppose the meaning of it is that those valiant +amazons have given you a good drubbing?" + +Whereupon they led Badrul Beg forth from his presence, and hung him up +in front of the gate, and there he hung till evening. As for the Moors +who were with him, they were first decimated, and then the rest had +their ears cut off and were sent to Belgrade. + +But the women of Debreczen at the very same time returned unharmed to +the arms of their dear ones. To the very end of his life Kuczuk Pasha +firmly believed that it was they who had drubbed Badrul Beg so roundly, +and from henceforth he held them in the greatest respect. + + * * * * * + +This story is recorded in the archives of the noble city of Debreczen, +and ye who read thereof reflect that God still exists, and that He is +always able to defend His chosen from His high heaven, and now also His +arm is not shortened. + + + + +II + +THE COMPULSORY DIVERSION--AN OLD BARON'S YARN + + +I wonder, my dear fellows, if any of you know the Countess Stephen +Repey, the younger one I mean, not the old lady, that little Creole +princess--my little black-eyed cobold, as I call her? Mine indeed, pish! +I don't mean that, of course. That is only a _facon de parler_. All of +us, my dear fellows, as you very well know, have sighed after her +enough, at some time or other, but none of you have had, like me, the +luck to travel at night with her in the same coach. Well, naturally, her +maid was there too. Still it was a great bit of luck all the same. But +no more of such luck for me, thank you. + +One day, at her castle of Kerekvar, it suddenly occurred to the +Countess, quite late in the evening, that the Casino ball at Arad[8] was +coming off on the morrow, and she must be there at all hazards. No +sooner said than done. The horses were put to at once, and as there was +nobody with her but me, she said: "I pray you, my dear Baron, be so good +as to escort me to Arad." + + [Footnote 8: The Cheltenham of Hungary.] + +Well, when it came to "dear Baron," what on earth could I say? +"Countess! _ma deesse_, it is very dark; we shall only get upset and +break our legs, and how can we dance with broken legs? We shall have to +cross the three Koeroes rivers, the bridge over one of them is sure to be +crazy as usual, and in we shall plump. Then at Szalenta we shall have to +pass through the deuce of a wood, full of robbers, and I shall never be +able to defend you single-handed against the whole lot of them. And +besides, what need is there to hurry? Early to-morrow morning, after a +nice cup of tea, you have only to step into your carriage, your four bay +horses will fly with us to Arad, and by the evening you will be quite +ready with your toilet." + +That's what I said, but you know how it always is, try and persuade a +woman not to do a thing, and she'll insist on doing it all the more. She +didn't want to drive her horses to death, she said, and whoever heard of +wanting to rest after a short journey like that. Besides, she loved so +to travel by night. What with the stars and the frogs, it was so +beautiful, so romantic, and much more such stuff. But bless you, that +was a mere pretext. The fact was, she had suddenly got the idea into her +darling little noddle, and nothing in heaven or earth could turn her +from her purpose. + +_Enfin_, I was between two stools. I had either to go with her or remain +alone in the castle. Of course I chose the former alternative, +especially after she gave me permission to sit opposite to her in the +coach. + +I enjoyed myself splendidly, I can tell you. The Countess, by degrees, +absolutely loaded me with her favours. First of all she put her handbag +in my lap, to which she presently added a muff; next she hung a +reticule upon my arm; finally she entrusted to me a couple of +band-boxes, after that she fell asleep. I could have asked anything I +liked of her, especially when the coach stumbled and she awoke in terror +and began asking for all her belongings one after another, dozing off +again when she was quite sure they were all there. Later on, the +lady's-maid began to groan: "O Lord! how my head aches!"--whereupon I +also pretended to fall asleep. + +Suddenly we all started up in alarm, the coach had suddenly moved +sideways, and then come to a dead stop as if it had fallen into a ditch. + +My Countess also awoke and asked, stupidly, what was the matter. + +The lackey leaped from the box and came to the carriage window. + +"Your ladyship, I am afraid we have lost our way." + +"Well, what of that?" said the Countess; "we can't stop here; there's a +road in front of us, I suppose, and we are bound to arrive somewhere if +we only follow it." + +"Yes, but----" + +"Yes, but--what do you mean? The road must lead somewhere, I suppose?" + +"Saving your ladyship's presence, we are in the Szalenta wood." + +"Well, the Szalenta wood is no trackless wilderness. We shall get to the +end of it in a couple of hours." + +"Yes, your ladyship, but the coachman is afraid." + +"The coachman! What business has he to be afraid? there's nothing about +that in his contract, is there?" + +"He's afraid of some mischief befalling your ladyship." + +"What has the coachman to do with me, I should like to know?" + +Here I thought it my duty to intervene. + +"Countess, _ma deesse_, this is no joke. This comes, you see, of +nocturnal excursions. Here we are camping out in the middle of a forest, +and the robbers who abound in this forest will come and take our horses, +our money, and our lives. I only wish I had a revolver." + +But the little demon only laughed, and, before I could prevent it, she +had opened the coach door and leaped out. + +"Oh! what a splendid night. How fragrant the forest is; how the +glow-worms sparkle in the grass. Have you no eyes, Baron?" + +Eyes, indeed! when I couldn't see three paces before me for the +darkness. + +"But surely I see something shining through the trees over there," she +continued. + +My blood grew cold within me. We were approaching some robbers' den +evidently. + +The coachman answered the question from his box with the voice of a man +who is already being throttled. + +"That, your ladyship, is the pot-house which the country people call the +'guest-detaining _csarda_.'"[9] + + [Footnote 9: Inn.] + +"Guest detaining! Bravo! The very thing for us. Let's hasten thither." + +I was desperate. "For God's sake, Countess, what would you do? Why, that +_csarda_ is a notorious resort of thieves, where they would kill the +whole lot of us; a regular murder-hole, whose landlord is hand in glove +with all the ruffians of the district, and where numbers and numbers of +people have come to an evil end." + +The naughty girl only laughed at me. She told me I had read all these +horrors in the story-books, and there was not a word of truth in any of +them. She admitted, indeed, that if there had been another inn she would +have gone to that in preference, but as this was the only one we had no +choice. She then ordered the coachman to drive the horses along very +gingerly, while she went before on foot to show him the way. + +Every lamentation and objection was useless, we had to stumble along in +the direction of that cursed _csarda_, for she threatened to go alone if +we were afraid to come too. + +It is a fact that that naughty little fairy was afraid of nothing. + +When we drew nearer to the _csarda_, a merry hullabooing sort of music +suddenly struck upon our ears, though all the windows were closed by +shutters. + +"_Mon Dieu!_ it is absolutely _full_ of robbers." + +"You see how it is," remarked the Countess, mischievously; "we started +to go to a ball, and at a ball we have arrived. _No_ one, you see, can +avoid his fate"--and thereupon, with appalling foolhardiness, she +marched straight towards the door. + +For a moment I really thought I should have turned tail, left her there, +and made a bolt of it. But, _noblesse oblige_. And besides, I couldn't, +for Mademoiselle Cesarine, the lady's-maid, had gripped my arm so +tightly that I was powerless to release myself. The poor creature was +more than half dead with fright; at any rate, she was only half alive +when we followed the Countess together. + +Even outside the door we could hear quite distinctly the wild +dance-music and the merry uproar proceeding from a parcel of men inside; +but my Countess was not a bit put out by it. Boldly she opened the door +and stepped into the _csarda_. + +It was a large, long, dirty, whitewashed room, where in my first terror +I could see about fifty men dancing about. Subsequently, when I was able +to count them, there turned out to be only nine of them, including the +landlord, who did not dance, and three gipsies who provided the music. +But it seemed to me that five stalwart ruffians were quite enough to +deal with our little party. + +They were all tall fellows, who could easily hit the girders of the roof +with their clenched fists, and strapping fellows too, with big, broad +shoulders; their five muskets were piled up together in a corner. + +Well, we were in a pretty tight place, it seemed to me. The rascals when +they saw us instantly left off dancing, and seemed to be amazed at our +audacity. But my Countess said to them, with a charming smile-- + +"Forgive me, my friends, for interrupting your pastime. We have lost our +way, and as we couldn't go any further in the dark, we have come here +for shelter, if you will give it to us." + +At these words one of the fellows, sprucer and slimmer a good deal than +the others, gave his spiral moustache an extra twirl, took off his +vagabond's hat, clapped his heels together, and made my Countess a +profound bow. He assured her she was not inconveniencing them in the +least; on the contrary, they would be very glad of her society. "I am +the master here," he added, "Jozsi Fekete" (the famous robber, by the +way), "at your ladyship's service. But who, then, is your ladyship?" + +Before I could pull the Countess's mantilla to prevent her from blurting +out who she was, she had already replied: "I am the Countess Repey, from +Kerekvar." + +"Then I am indeed fortunate," said the rascal. "I knew the old Count. He +fired after me with a double musket on one occasion, though he did not +hit me. Pray sit down, Countess." + +A pleasant introduction, I must say. + +The Countess sat down on a bench, the fellow beside her; me they didn't +ask to take a seat at all. + +"And where did your ladyship think of going on such a night?" + +(I winked at her: "Don't tell him.") + +"We were going to Arad, to the Casino ball." + +("Adieu all our jewels," I thought.) + +"Oh, then you have come here just at the nick of time. Your ladyship +need not go a step further, for we are giving a ball here, if you do not +despise our invitation. We have very good gipsy musicians--the Szalenta +band, you know. They can play splendid _csardases_." + +The rascal didn't stand on ceremony in the least, but no sooner did +they begin dashing off the _csardas_, than he threw his buttoned dolman +half over his shoulder, and seizing the Countess round the waist, +twirled her off amidst the lot of them. + +Another fellow immediately hastened up to Mademoiselle Cesarine, and +ravished her away in a half-fainting condition; but she had no need to +think of herself, for she was passed from one hand to another so that +her feet never touched the ground. + +As for my Countess, she excelled herself. She danced with as much fire +and vivacity as if she were sweeping over the waxed floor of the +assembly rooms at Arad. Never have I seen her so amiable, so charming, +as she was at that moment. I have seen Hungarian dances at other times, +and have always been struck by their quaintness, but nobody ever showed +me how much there was really in them as that good-for-nothing rascal +showed me then. + +First of all he paced majestically round with his partner, as if this +were the proudest moment of his life, gazing haughtily down upon her +from over his shoulder; then he would shout down the music when at its +loudest--and it was pretty loud too--and emerge from the midst of the +throng after his partner, she all the time swaying modestly backwards +and forwards before him, like a butterfly which touches every flower but +lights on none; and, indeed, I am only speaking the truth when I say +that her feet never seemed to touch the earth. The fellow, foppishly +enough, would keep bending towards her as if he were about to embrace +her on the spot, and then would stop short, stamping with one foot and +flinging back his head haughtily, alluring the enchanting little fairy +hither and thither after him. Sometimes he would rush right up to her as +if about to cast himself upon her bosom, and then, with a sudden twirl, +would be far away from her again, and only the glances of their eyes +showed that they were partners. Presently, as if in high dudgeon, he +would turn away from his partner, plant himself right in front of the +gipsy musicians, and prance furiously up and down before them, and after +thus dancing away his anger, suddenly patter back to the Countess, and +seize and whirl her round and round as if he were a hurricane and she a +leaping flame. + +During this spacious pastime I was constantly agonized by the thought +that perhaps this mad rogue in his excitement might permit himself some +unbecoming demonstration towards the Countess. The temptation you know +was great. The Countess was entirely in his power, the fellow was a +gallows-bird, with the noose half round his neck already; an extra +misdeed or two, more or less, could do him no further harm. I was firmly +resolved that if he insulted the Countess by the least familiarity, I +would make a rush for the piled-up muskets, seize one of them, and shoot +the villainous trifler dead. I affirm on my honour that this I was +firmly resolved to do. + +But there was no necessity for it. The dancers finished the three +dances, the robber-chief politely conducted his partner back to her +place, and respectfully kissed her hand, after thanking her heartily for +her kindness; and with that he approached me, and amicably tapping me on +the shoulder, inquired-- + +"Well, old chap, can't _you_ dance?" + +Fancy calling me old chap. + +"Thank you," I said, "I cannot." + +"More's the pity;" and back he went to the Countess. + +"I beg your ladyship's pardon," he began, "for not being sufficiently +prepared for the reception of such distinguished guests, but I hope you +will indulgently accept what we have to offer you; it is not much, but +it is good." + +So he meant to give us not only the ball, but the supper after it. + +And a splendid banquet it was, I must say. A large caldron full of +stewed calf's flesh was produced, put upon the long table, and we all +took our places round it. Of plates and dishes there was no trace. Every +one used his own claws, by which I mean to say that, with a hunk of +bread in one hand, and a clasp-knife in the other, we fished up our +marrow-bones from the caldron itself. + +As for my Countess, she fell to as if she had been starving for three +days. The robber-chief fished up for her, with his brass-studded +clasp-knife, the reddest morsels of flesh (they literally swam in +pepper), and piled them up on her white roll. It was something splendid, +I can tell you. + +Suddenly it occurred to the rascal that _I_ was not eating. + +"Fall to, old chap," said he. "Stolen goods make the fattest dishes, you +know." + +Nice company, eh? + +"Thank you, I can't eat it; it is too much peppered," I said. + +"All right; so much the more for us." + +The wine, naturally, was sent round _in the flask_; not a glass was to +be seen. Jozsi Fekete, as is the way with boors, first drank from the +flask himself, and then, having wiped the mouth of it with his wide +shirt-sleeve, presented it to the Countess. And, bless my heart, she +took it, and drank out of it. An amazing woman, really! + +Then the flippant rogue turned to me, and offered me a drink. + +"Come, drink away, old chap," he said (why always harp upon my grey +hairs), "for of course you are going to make a night of it." + +"Thank you, I cannot drink. I'm a teetotaler," I said. + +I was now thoroughly convinced that they were going to drink themselves +mad drunk preparatory to knocking our brains out. And, indeed, they did +drink a cask of wine between the five of them, yet when they rose from +the table not one of them so much as staggered. + +While they were treating the gipsies, the robber-chief approached me +again. + +"Well, old chap" (devil take him with his old chap!), "so you neither +eat, nor drink, nor dance, eh? How, then, do you amuse yourself? Do you +play cards?" + +And with that he produced a pack from his pocket. So he wanted to find +out how much money I had in my pocket, eh? + +"I know no game at cards." + +"Well, I'll pretty soon teach you one. It is quite easy. Look, now! I +put one card here and another card there. You lay upon this, and I lay +upon that, and whichever of us draws a court card of the corresponding +suit takes the stake." + +The rascal was actually teaching _me_ _Landsknecht_, and I was obliged +to pretend to learn from him. + +What could I do? I was obliged to sit down and play with him. I had in +my pocket a lot of coppers. I thought I might as well risk them, so I +put them on the table. + +"What! We don't play for browns here! We are not bumpkins. Here's the +bank!" and with that he flung upon the table a whole heap of silver +florins and gold ducats. + +I also had a few small silver coins in my purse, and, with much fear and +trembling, I placed one of them on the first card. He dealt out, and I +won the stake. The rascal paid up. Not for the world would I have taken +up the money, I left it where it was. A second and a third time I won. +Again I did not gather my stakes. The fourth, fifth, sixth time, every +time, in fact, fortune smiled on me. I began to perspire. It is a +frightful situation when a man plays cards with a scoundrel and wins his +money continually. The seventh stake also was mine. By this time a whole +army of silver coins stood before me. A cold sweat began to trickle down +my temples. Why couldn't I be as lucky as this at Presburg, at the club, +during the session of the Diet? Again I staked the whole lot, inwardly +praying that I might lose it all. In vain, for the eighth time I won. I +was a doomed man, there could be no doubt about it. The rascal smiled, +and said: "Well, old chap, you cannot very well be in love with the +pretty Countess, for you win at cards so shamefully." The rascal even +dared to chaff me. I trembled in every limb when the ninth deal began. +Yes, sure enough, again it fell to my share. The robber struck the table +with his fist, and laughed aloud. "Well, old chap," he cried, "if you go +on winning like this I shall lose the whole county of Bihar in an hour's +time," and with that he pocketed what money remained and rose from the +table. I took my courage in both hands and ventured to offer him the +money I had won. The fellow looked me up and down as haughtily as a +Hidalgo. "What do you take me for?" said he; "pick up your winnings at +once or I'll pitch you and them out of doors." Good heavens! what was I +to do with all this money? money enough to be murdered for, and I had no +doubt they _would_ beat me to death for it presently. I took it all and +gave it to the gipsy musicians. And only after I had done it did I +reflect what a foolish thing it was to do. For how could I more clearly +have betrayed the fact that I was indeed a man of unlimited means? + +The silly gipsies thereupon gathered round me and insisted upon playing +me an air. What was my favourite air, they asked? I got out of it by +referring them to the Countess. I told them to play _her_ favourite air, +and she would accompany it with her voice. + +The Countess certainly did not require much pressing. She began to sing +with her delightful siren voice-- + + "Summer and winter, the _puszta_[10] is my dwelling," + + [Footnote 10: The Hungarian heath.] + +and so sweetly, so enchantingly did she sing, that I quite forgot my +surroundings and fancied I was in a private box at the Budapest casino. +I actually began to applaud. + +The robber-chief also applauded. And now he said he would teach the +Countess _his_ favourite song. And then the madcap rascal roared out +some rustic melody which certainly _I_ had never heard before. + +"Well, old chap," he said, when he had finished, "it is now your turn to +sing us something." + +I was in a terrible pother. _I_ sing? I _sing_ in that hour of mortal +anguish? I, who didn't know a single note except "Home, Sweet Home." + +"I can't sing at all," I said. And that wicked, frivolous woman began +laughing at me frightfully, as involuntarily I fell a-humming an air +from some opera. I may mention I have a horrible hoarse sort of voice, +not unlike a peacock's. + +"If you won't sing," she said to me in French, "we shall all be +insulted, see if we don't." + +What could I do? With the dart of terror in my heart, and the pressure +of mortal fear in my throat, I piped forth my "Home, Sweet Home." I felt +all along I was making a woeful mess of it. Up to the middle of the song +the Countess behaved with great decorum; but just as I was working my +way up to the most pathetic part, and brought out a most cruel flourish, +she burst out laughing, and the whole band of robbers began to laugh +with her, till at last I also was obliged to smile, though, oddly +enough, there was no joke in it at all, as far as I could see. + +Then they fell to dancing again. The Countess was indefatigable. And so +it went on till broad daylight. When the sun shone through the windows +she said to the robber how obliged she was for the entertainment, but +enough was as good as a feast, and would he, therefore, put to the +horses and let us be off? + +Well, now at last we shall all be knocked on the head straightway, I +thought. + +The robber went out, hunted up the coachman and the lackey, gave the +necessary orders, and came back to say the carriage was awaiting us. + +No doubt they meant to shoot us down on the road. + +I got into the carriage far more alarmed than I was when I got out of +it. It was a suspicious circumstance that he did not separate me from my +companion. Evidently they intended to make sure of us and murder us all +together. + +The rascal himself took horse, galloped along by the side of our +carriage, and conducted us to the turnpike-road, so as to put us on our +way. Then he raised his cap, wished us a merry evening, and galloped +back again. + +Only when we came to Zerind did I venture to believe that I was alive. +Only then did I begin to reproach the Countess for involving us in an +adventure which might have ended miserably enough. Suppose, I said, +these rascals had not been afraid of me? Why, then they might have +practised all sorts of _sottises_ upon her. And then to dance with +vagabonds in a _csarda_ till dawn of day! Unpardonable! + +All the way to Arad I was indulging myself with the hope that if I was +very civil to the Countess she would not give me away by revealing the +secret of this disreputable adventure. At six o'clock we reached Arad, +and as we dismounted at the door of the reception-room, she told three +of my acquaintances what had befallen us. Of course every one speedily +knew of our misadventure. So I was not even able to tell the story my +own way. + +And, again, she was the loveliest woman at the ball. And she knew it, +and that was one of the chief reasons why she came. It is true she did +not dance a step. She excused herself by saying she was tired to death. +I can well believe it. From midnight to dawn she had danced nineteen +_csardases_. Why, I, who hadn't danced at all, could hardly stand on my +legs. + +As for me, I hastened to the card-room. Now that fortune has embraced +you, hug her tight, I thought to myself. At one table they were playing +_Landsknecht_. "Now's your time--make a plunge," I said to myself. But I +had the most cursed luck. I lost a thousand florins straight off. +Fortune evidently only pursues you when she sees that you are afraid of +her. + +Six months later I came across a newspaper in which was an account of +the summary conviction and execution, by hanging, of the famous +robber-chief, Jozsi. + +I took the newspaper to the Countess Stephen Repey, and showed it to +her. + +"Fancy," she said, when she had read the case through, "and such a good +dancer as he was, too." + + + + +III + +THE SHERIFF OF CASCHAU--A FRAGMENT OF AN OLD CHRONICLE[11] + + + [Footnote 11: The idea of this story was subsequently + expanded into the novel "Pretty Michal."] + +It happened the same year that, in the place of old Tobias Kesmarki, the +hundred electors of the city of Caschau, to wit, forty-five Hungarians, +forty Germans, and fifteen Wends, after due deliberation and by common +consent, elected as Sheriff his Honour Michael Doronczius, as being a +man of understanding and blameless life, and respected by all men. + +The hundred burgesses, having so done, went forth in solemn procession, +headed by their Honours the Fuermenders[12] and the Conrector, to the +burial-ground outside the gates, where the whole ground was thickly +strewn with straw, it being Water Cross Day,[13] when it is sore cold, +and the feet of men grow numb in the very council chamber. + + [Footnote 12: Guardians of the orphans and poor.] + + [Footnote 13: The Feast of the Epiphany.] + +But it was the custom that the newly elected Sheriff should always be +dug into his office in the churchyard, where humanity is least of all +disturbed by official cares, nay, where, rather, the bulging tombs all +around bid him remember that righteousness and good deeds alone abide +upon the earth, while all else turns to dust. + +Wherefore, with no accompaniment of music, the Sheriff elect and the +retiring Sheriff, accompanied by the town councillors, proceed to the +churchyard to perform this ceremony, standing within the gate of the +churchyard, there to await the masters of the City Guilds coming with +their salutations. + +All of them came in procession to meet the Sheriff elect, with the +badges of their respective Guilds. One by one they salute the new +Sheriff, but none of them give him gifts; they do but show them to him, +and then take them back again, to signify that he hath first to deserve +these same gifts before he receive them. + +First of all the millers approach him and exhibit to him a fine white +loaf of well-winnowed wheat, and say-- + +"We will nourish thee with fine white loaves after this sort, if thou +wilt be a faithful Sheriff unto us." + +Then the vintners, who in those days were a rich and goodly Guild, +address him in like manner, and exhibit to him a cask of red wine. + +In like manner the weavers, the furriers, and the cobblers all allured +the new Sheriff with the hope of receiving of their masterpieces, to +wit, beautiful white pieces of cloth, rich cambric, shaggy furs, and +bravely embroidered shoes, if so be he remain faithful to their city to +the end of his term. + +Last of all come the carpenters, who exhibit to the new Sheriff a +brand-new waggon, to which horses are harnessed, filled with smoothly +planed boards. + +And when the master of the Guild of Carpenters stands before the +Sheriff, he thus addresses him-- + +"Behold, now, we have piled up this brave heap of hornbeams that we may +burn thee therewith if thou do betray us." + +It was usual to say this on the occasion of the election of a Sheriff in +the city of Caschau, and nobody was offended thereby. For in those sad +times we were often forced to defend our cities with fire and steel +against foes of three different nations, whilst as a fourth enemy we +reckoned the numerous freebooters, who had turned Turks after once being +Christians, and prowled in the environs of the city at night, to snap up +any women and children who might fall in their way and sell them to the +Turks. And our fifth enemy were the malefactors lurking in the town +itself; and our sixth enemy was the terrible pestilence which so often +visited our gates; while our seventh and most ancient adversary was the +infernal Evil One himself, from whom Heaven in its mercy defend us. Thus +in those days the Sheriff had to defend the city against seven divers +sorts of enemies, and see to it that they were all kept well outside the +gates, wherefore he had to sustain many sieges, guard the walls day and +night, cudgel in fist, persecute evildoers, or threaten them with the +terrible _harum palzarum_,[14] fumigate or steep in lye all goods +brought into the city by foreign chapmen, avert religious strife, +frustrate the wiles of Satan, always endeavouring to judge righteous +judgments, neither for the sake of lucre nor because of any interior +impulse pronouncing any sentence which might call to Heaven for +vengeance or make Hell applaud. + + [Footnote 14: Gradually compressing the skull between + three sharp stakes till it burst.] + +None feared lest his Honour Master Doronczius should not prove just such +a Sheriff as the town desired, for he was a man with no visible flaw, +and known to be a righteous, God-fearing man, of whom nobody could say +an ill word. + +Wherefore, after performing the usual time-honoured ceremony in the +churchyard, with great rejoicing and in solemn procession they brought +back his Honour into the council chamber of the town hall, where, having +set him down in a large velvet easy-chair, four aldermen, seizing the +four legs of the said easy-chair, raised it aloft, to the triumphant +musical accompaniment of the town trumpeters and the militia drums, +while the people present shouted a threefold hurrah. Whereupon the whole +town council went in solemn procession to the churches, both Protestant +and Roman Catholic, and everywhere sang a _Te Deum_ with great +enthusiasm, and after listening to a sermon in Hungarian and a sermon in +German, returned to the Sheriff's house to sit down to a great banquet, +during which the united choirs, conducted by the precentor, sang all +manner of delightful melodies, and towards evening platters of pitch +were ignited on the angles of the bastions, and the howitzers also were +fired off. + +And the city of Caschau felt fully justified on the day of the election +of its Sheriff in drinking so many barrels of wine and ditto beer with +great rejoicing, because his Honour, Master Doronczius, was quite +capable of so ordering every manner of business and difficulty that +nobody had the least cause for anxiety. + +Nevertheless, it so happened, late in the evening of the festival of St. +Peter and St. Paul (next evening), that a couple of watchmen, +Wurmdrucker and Kebluska by name, to whom had been assigned the +patrolling of the streets, while strolling round the large building +known as the Turkish lock-up house, perceived a figure enwrapped in a +black cloak come hastily out of a house, which figure, on perceiving +them, suddenly crouched down under the gate as if with the intent of +hiding from them. + +Now, as they had had strict orders to arrest and lock up for the night +in the nearest ward-house every living soul, good or bad, who should be +found in the streets without a lamp after the hour for closing the +gates, which was proclaimed by a blast of horns from the top of the +great tower--every such soul, if a gentleman, to be fined a thaler next +morning, or if a poor man, then half a thaler, or if he had nothing, +then to be well trounced--the two watchmen determined to seize and stop +the night wanderer thus confronting them. Wurmdrucker having a lamp made +of some paper-like, compressible membrane, thereupon held it in front of +him that he might see the face of the unknown person, while Kebluska +stretched his halberd out against him, and cried with a loud voice, +"Who's there?" in Hungarian, German, and Slavonic, that he might be able +to answer in one at least of the three languages of the town. + +But the person so addressed replied in no language at all, but, having a +long stick in his hand, knocked the paper lamp out of Wurmdrucker's +hand, so that it collapsed altogether, and would have run off then and +there had not Kebluska so thrust at him with his halberd that the point +thereof went right through his cloak, pinning to the door of the house +the would-be fugitive, whom the two watchmen then seized, and tying his +hands behind his back, urged him on before them to the ward-house hard +by the Turkish prison, and there locked him up in the dark room, where +they were wont to keep the ashes. + +The imprisoned vagabond would not tell his name, and the watchmen, not +having a lamp, could not see his face, but all along he begged and +prayed them to let him go free; he would give them ever so much money +for his freedom, he said. + +At this the watchmen were even more afraid. They fancied they had got +hold of some evil spy, and not for any amount of treasure would they +have let him out of their hands till morning, hoping to get a still +greater reward when they handed him over to the Sheriff. When he +promised them a hundred ducats they felt sure that the Sheriff would +reward them with two hundred, so in the morning they let out the +prisoner in order to take him to the Sheriff, and lo! the prisoner +was--the Sheriff himself. + +So much for their two hundred ducats. The two watchmen were speechless +with terror, they did not know what to say in their sudden amazement. +Master Doronczius said nothing to them, but hastened home, and the same +day, under some plausible pretext or other, perchance on a trumped-up +charge of brawling or blaspheming, seized and thrust both of them into +the prison called after Pontius Pilate, where so long as Master +Doronczius remained Sheriff they might be quite certain they would +remain. + +Nobody, therefore, at that time knew anything of their secret, for they +might just as well have been buried alive as imprisoned in the dungeon +of Pontius Pilate. + +In those days there lived in the city of Caschau a rich master-butcher, +whom they called Stephen Sandor, who had two houses, one in the high +town and the other next door to the apothecary's, which had no common +thatch, but instead of a roof a cupola made of pointed tiles, like an +Egyptian pyramid. In those days the whole of the principal square was +built of such houses, with pointed cupolas, the quadrangular stones with +which they were built being welded together with lead and iron clasps. + +This rich butcher had an only son, Joseph by name, who had also been +brought up to be a master-butcher, and had just given proof of his +mastery, and manfully too, for he had felled his bullock at the first +stroke, and thus escaped the fine of a ducat per extra stroke imposed on +bunglers. + +Joseph was indeed a stout, well-set-up fellow, yielding to none of his +fellows in mettle; at pike-tilting he always kept in his saddle, and +never failed to carry off the Shrove Tuesday goose in triumph. Withal he +was an honest, diligent youth, and a regular church-goer; and when it +came to psalm singing, he out-bawled the whole congregation. Moreover, +every man loved and respected him, and never could it be said that he +gave half an ounce less in the pound than he ought to have done. + +On the day when this Joseph achieved his master-stroke, his father said +to him: "Be off, my son; it is high time. Look about the town a bit, +and search for a befitting consort. Look not for property or wealth, but +rather for a good heart and a pure spirit. These two things every man +should bring home; God will give the rest." + +Then Joseph confessed to his father that he had already chosen for +himself a worthy and beautiful maiden, an orphan from Eperies, Catharine +by name, whose father and mother were dead, and who had put up at the +house of an elder sister in the town. He would shorten the days of her +orphanhood, he said. + +Old Stephen Sandor also knew personally the girl, as well as her +guardian elder sister; both of them were good and gentle souls; +Catharine, in particular, was such a mild and modest creature that one +had but to look at her to feel towards her an impulse of human +tenderness. + +Her only fault was her great pallor. But this trouble every foreign girl +was exposed to who came to dwell at Caschau from the surrounding country +or from other places, for there was something in the atmosphere of the +town or its drinking water from which the fair faces of foreigners +derived this pallid hue, which went by the name of the "Caschau +complexion." And there was no escape from it save by quitting Caschau +and going to other places, or else by taking to themselves a husband. + +So the "Caschau complexion" was no great defect in Catharine's face, +after all, so soon as Joseph's father had agreed that his son should +take her to wife. After the marriage festivities it would vanish of its +own accord, and the new wife would grow as rosy as the other pretty +girls of Caschau. + +So Joseph immediately sent his witnesses to the house of Catharine's +elder sister, and not long afterwards rings of espousal were exchanged +between them, and the wedding-day was fixed for the market-day before +the festival of St. Vincent. + +The wedding-day arrived, and the marriage took place with full +ceremonials. The bride was fetched from her sister's house, and conveyed +to the House of God in a carriage drawn by four horses, with plumes and +coloured kerchiefs on the horses' heads, and thence to the house of the +bridegroom through all the chief streets of the town, to the +accompaniment of merry music; and every young man who saw the bride +sitting in the beribboned carriage smiled and said to himself, "What a +Caschau complexion she has got." + +On that day Catharine was paler than usual. In the church itself her +sadness, her anguish, were observed generally. Once, when her bridegroom +took her hand, she burst into tears, and shrank timidly away from him. +Her pallor, her timidity, her weeping, were, all of them, not unbecoming +to a bride, so nobody was much struck thereby at the time. + +After the dancing came the ceremonial of conducting the bride and the +bridegroom to the marriage bed, when the bridesman seized Catharine's +hand, while two sword-girt youths went before them, two bridesmaids +following after with the bridegroom, and the musicians began to play a +gentle, dreamy melody, to the music of which the two torch-bearing +youths and the two bridesmaids danced round the bridegroom and the +bride, as if thereby the better to enlace them together, till they came +to the bedroom, and there also they danced round them once more, each +man taking his and each girl her fellow's hands, and then all together +they scampered out of the door, which they banged to behind them, +leaving the young couple alone; but the music droned on outside ever +more softly, ever more gently, at last scarce audibly, as if it would +imitate the whispering of the happy pair inside. + +But no sooner were the bride and the bridegroom alone in the bridal +chamber than Catharine quickly plucked the bridal wreath from her head, +tore it desperately to pieces, and then, opening the window looking on +to the courtyard, leaped out of it. + +The astonished bridegroom, in the first moment of his surprise, did not +know what to do, but looking out after the girl, and perceiving that she +was making straight for the well at the top of her speed, he quickly +rushed after her, and caught the wench at the very moment when she was +about to plunge down the well and kill herself outright. + +Joseph pressed the lass tightly in his strong arms so that she could do +herself no harm, and asked her anxiously what was the matter, and why +she wanted to run away from him. At first the girl only sobbed, and +begged him to let her die; but inasmuch as the bridegroom would by no +means consent thereto, the girl confessed something to him which made +the hairs of his head rise to heaven with horror; indeed, by the time +the girl had told him everything, the bridegroom also had fainted, and +lay there at her feet. + +And within there, in the house of dancing, they were playing the dreamy +melody which imitates the lisping of happy lovers, and stately maids and +stalwart lads were dancing together and singing:-- + + "Dance, dance, the stately dance, + Wave, wave the rosy chain, + To knit together bride and groom." + +The marriage came to nought. Catharine, half dead, was carried back to +her sister's house, the bridal guests scattered in dismay. Nevertheless, +Joseph said not a word of what Catharine had told him to any one, but +mounted his horse, took a cudgel in one hand and a lance with a streamer +to it in the other, and trotted off to the Sheriff's house. There, +without leaving the saddle, he rattled at the gate with the point of the +lance, and cried aloud in the hearing of all the people-- + +"Hearken, Michael Doronczius! Here am I, Joseph Sandor, sitting on +horseback, with lance and cudgel in my hands. Mount thy horse also, if +thou be a man; take thy lance and thy cudgel and come out with me in the +open, there to fight together; thou knowest wherefore, but tell it to +none. Let God judge betwixt us." + +It was an unheard-of audacity for a simple burgess to challenge the town +Sheriff himself to a tilting duel with cudgels and lances. The people +listened in amazement, but still more amazed were they when Master +Doronczius not only did not prosecute the audacious youth, but told the +watchmen to let him go in peace, as he must certainly be out of his +wits. + +But Joseph Sandor, when Doronczius would not come out of his house to +fight with him in God's name, took a bladder lantern, hung it on the +point of his lance, hung beside it a ragged sheep-skin jacket and a +pair of hose, and throwing the lance over his shoulder, galloped through +the town, exclaiming at every street corner-- + +"Hearken ye! old and young. Which of you hath seen this Michael +Doronczius, whom I am seeking with a lantern? Tell me, who hath seen +him? What hath become of him?" + +And in every crowd there is never any lack of merry roysterers ready to +give mocking answers to such scornful questions. + +"I have seen him. He is hiding just now in a mouse-hole, only his spur +is visible." + +"I have seen him. He is dressed up in his wife's clothes; he is selling +bacon in the market-place among the huckster wenches." + +"Never mind, Joe," cried another, "he is sitting behind the stove. He +would freeze up if he came out." + +"Nay, he would like to come," cried the fourth, "only his mother won't +let him. She wants him to skein her thread for her." + +"He'll come immediately," said a fifth, "only he's looking for his +lance; the fowls are sitting on it, and he durst not drive them away for +fear the cock might peck him." + +"Let him alone," cried a sixth, "he's lying sick; a gnat bit him +yesterday." + +And thus the heckling went from street to street, being the usual mode, +after the custom of those times, of shaming a backward combatant into +action. And, indeed, it was surprising that Michael Doronczius did not +come forward to fight with the youth who jeered at him so, nor even +sent to arrest him, inasmuch as he was quite able to do both, being both +a strong muscular man and, at the same time, chief magistrate of the +city. But, instead of doing either the one or the other, he said that +they were to let young Sandor depart in peace wherever he liked to go. + +Nevertheless, later on, when the first intoxication of rage had +evaporated from the head of Joseph, he bethought him that, after so much +heckling on his part, it was not perhaps very advisable for him to +remain in the near neighbourhood of so powerful an enemy, and +accordingly one night he privily escaped from the town, and not even his +father knew whither he had gone. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile time went on, and Catharine grew paler and paler, and no +medicine had power to help her. And suddenly the whole miserable mystery +was revealed. + +On the night before Ascension Day, just after the blowing of the +two-o'clock horn, a watchman perceived a woman's shape, wrapped in a +long cloak, hastening stealthily along the walls in the direction of the +city trench. The watchman followed in the traces of this figure, and saw +how this servant-wench--for such he judged her to be--on reaching the +trenches, placed on the ground something wrapped up in a bundle, and +then produced a spade and began to dig. + +When she had scooped out a good deep hole, she knelt down beside the +wrapped-up object, and, covering her face with her hands, began to weep +bitterly. Then she suddenly left off weeping, and looked timidly round +to see if any one was near. + +Then the night watchman went up to her and seized her hand, and bawled +loudly in her ear, "What art thou doing there?" + +The girl immediately fell back and fainted without answering him, but +the object lying open there before him plainly told him what was being +done. It was a little new-born baby, a pretty little chubby-faced child; +but dead and stiff. + +There was no wound upon it, but only a little pin-prick just over the +region of the heart, nor was there any blood on its little white shift, +save only a single drop, but that had been enough to make the innocent +creature die. + +At the cry of the night watchman, many people came running up, and they +were horrified to recognize in the murderess and mother of the child, +Catharine, the former bride of Joseph Sandor, who must certainly have +run away from her bridegroom's house on the night of the marriage +because she would not practise a vile deception on that worthy man. + +They immediately tied the girl's hands behind her, and fastening the +baby to her neck, put her in the lock-up, and there the inquiry began +early the next morning. + +The girl denied nothing. She _had_ killed her child and would have +buried it to conceal her shame. She made no excuses, she did not even +weep or beg for mercy. The one thing they could not get out of her was: +who was the child's father? On this point she remained doggedly silent, +and was ready to suffer threefold torture rather than speak. + +The Sheriff, Michael Doronczius, was the presiding judge who pronounced +sentence upon the criminal. For her great sin against God, he said, she +was to endure the punishment prescribed for such offences in the +statute-book of the town, without any mitigation. + +Within living memory no such crime had been committed in our town, so +that not even the people themselves knew what form the execution would +take, therefore an enormous multitude assembled on the appointed day at +the place of execution to see what manner of death she who had murdered +her child was to die. + +I also was there, and I shall never forget the spectacle, but I would +not go to such a sight again if they were to promise me the best part of +the town of Caschau for it. + +Beneath the scaffold a long trench had been dug about four feet in +depth, and beside it stood the executioner's two apprentices. + +In this trench Catharine was laid backwards, so that her head alone +emerged above it; it was just as if she were lying comfortably in bed. + +Then they bound her hands and feet tightly to stout pegs at the bottom +of the trench, and the executioner placed the point of a large stake +just above Catharine's heart, and held it there while the executioner's +assistants filled the whole trench with earth, so that at last only the +girl's head was visible above it. + +And when nothing more was to be seen but her head, with its pale face, +the chaplain approached her, and, kneeling down beside her, urged her +for the sake of the salvation of her soul and for the remission of her +sins to confess herself truly to him and tell him everything which might +relieve her heart of its heavy burden--for had she not two feet in the +grave already. + +The head visible above the earth looked sorrowfully around it in every +direction twice or thrice, as if it were waiting for some one, as if it +believed that at that consummate moment some one would appear to save +it, and when, after all, it saw no deliverer approaching, two heavy +tears dropped from its eyes and, trickling down its pale face, fell upon +the earth which now reached to its very chin. Then she, who was thus +buried before she was dead, whispered that she would confess everything, +and not in secret, but so that the whole world should hear it. + +And she began by saying that the father of the child whose young life +she had so mercilessly extinguished was none other than Michael +Doronczius, the Sheriff. + +It was he who had deceived the heart of the innocent girl by his +devilish artifices, so that when she heard and saw him she forgot +everything else. 'Twas he who, protected by the Prince of Darkness, came +to Catharine's house at night, who corrupted her with devilish potions, +and utterly turned her head. Once, too, he had been caught there by the +watchmen, Wurmdrucker and Kebluska, whom Doronczius, in order that they +might not say anything against him, had thrown into the Pontius Pilate +dungeon, where they were still languishing. For this cause Catharine had +escaped by night from her bridegroom, Joseph Sandor, and after that had +oftentimes implored Michael Doronczius not to drive her to despair, but +as he had made her unhappy, at least to take her to wife, especially as +up to that time she had always loved him greatly. But Doronczius always +made excuses; and when it was no longer possible to conceal her shame, +he had counselled Catharine, with devilish insinuations, to kill and +bury her child as soon as it was born. And when they had caught the girl +in the deed her destroyer had assured her that, if only she would not +betray him, he would save her at the very last moment. And now the very +last moment had come, but Doronczius was hugging himself at home with +the thought that the only witness of his evil deed was about to be put +to silence for ever. So now, therefore, his offence was revealed, and +let God judge him and let God judge her also, poor sinful girl that she +was. + +Every one heard these words with horror, and there was not one who did +not weep for the poor downtrodden girl and curse the man who had ruined +her. + +And then the clergyman gave her spiritual consolation, and, having +commended her poor oppressed soul to the infinite mercy of God, he +covered her head with a handkerchief so that she might not see the +things which were to happen next. + +For the headsman now drew forth the stake, which indicated the exact +place of the buried girl's heart through the intervening earth, and +taking a long, red-hot iron peg from a brazier of burning coals, let it +down through the place where the wooden stake had been. Then one of the +executioner's assistants seized a sledge-hammer with both hands and +drove the red-hot iron peg home, while the other quickly covered the +girl's head with a heap of earth. But even through the earth could be +heard a heart-rending scream, and the whole earthy tomb heaved up twice +or thrice in a manner horrible to behold, till the other apprentices of +the executioner had cast a great mound of earth over it and stamped it +well down with their feet, after which the grave remained quiet, not a +sound now came from it, and the earth ceased to move. + +Thereupon the crowd, loudly cursing, set off for the house of Michael +Doronczius, whom they would no doubt have torn to pieces on the spot had +not the Fuermenders taken him under their protection. + +Meanwhile it became the duty of the Syndics to bring an action against +him for fraud, sorcery, and murder. At first Doronczius obstinately +denied everything, but when Wurmdrucker and Kebluska, who were released +from their dungeon, testified against him, and said they had seized him +on the night when he had quitted Catharine's house, he began to perceive +that things were going badly with him, and, by way of saving his own +skin, devised an evil plan and sent a secret message to the Walloon +captain encamped at Eperies, that if he would come to Caschau by night +hard by the gate of the Green Springs, he might perchance find it open +and so obtain possession of the whole town. + +But the Almighty put to nought this vile device, inasmuch as Joseph +Sandor, who had quitted the town because of the Sheriff, and entered the +army of Prince John Sigismund, and there worked his way up to the rank +of captain, having heard through spies of the intentions of the Walloon +captain, galloped at breakneck pace all the way from Tokai to Caschau +with five hundred heydukes, and arrived just as the Walloons were +pressing through the gate into the town. + +A fierce and desperate fight thereupon ensued between the Walloons and +the Hungarians. The former had brought a cannon with them, and +entrenching themselves close to the Green Springs behind waggons, fired +mercilessly at the town, and into the ranks of the Hungarian warriors, +one ball even penetrating the principal entrance of the cathedral. +Nevertheless, Joseph Sandor, still further encouraging his warriors, +broke at last the ranks of the enemy, and, capturing their cannon +besides, flung them out of the town with great profusion of blood. +Indeed, if it had not been so dark, and the terrified inhabitants had +had time, after the treachery of the Sheriff, to set things in order and +succour Joseph, certainly not one of the Walloons would have escaped. + +As for Michael Doronczius, he was seized while attempting stealthily to +fly, and the whole treason was brought home to him. + +And it was exactly a year that day since they had elected him as Sheriff +and installed him in office in the churchyard. Wherefore the carpenters, +with the waggon drawn by six horses and laden with a heap of fine +hornbeams, again drew up in front of the churchyard, and there they made +a pile of the wood and burnt Michael Doronczius upon it, as they told +him they would beforehand. + +But, by way of a memorial of the sad treachery, they walled up the gate +of the Green Springs, and drew a couple of trenches in front of it, with +deep moats guarding them, so that none might get in that way again. + +After this event Joseph Sandor settled again in the city of Caschau, +and lived there for a long time till he became an old man, but he never +married. + +This also they said, at a later day, that one night Catharine's body was +dug up from its grave beneath the gibbet and buried in a more godly +place, which none wots of save he who buried it there. + +Whether it were true or not, nobody could say for certain, for that +which is under the earth is the secret of the dark earth known only to +the Almighty, and may His gracious protection rest over our poor town +and over our hundred-fold more unfortunate country! + + + + +IV + +THE JUSTICE OF SOLIMAN--A TURKISH STORY + + +In the days of Sultan Soliman the Magnificent there lived at Stambul a +rich merchant whose name was Muhzin, who traded in jewels and precious +stones. This man had a dear consort--Eminha--whom he loved better than +all his precious stones, whose red lips he prized beyond the brightness +of his rubies, the sparkle of whose eyes excelled the brilliance of his +diamonds, and the speech of whose lips was like a silver bell. He would +not have bartered those eyes and those lips for all the treasures of the +world. + +But, alas! those sparkling eyes, those sweet lips were but corruptible +treasures. The breath of a breeze from the Morea, which brought the +pestilence along with it, robbed Muhzin of his treasure, and cast a +cloud over those star-bright eyes, a dumbness upon those speaking lips. +What Muhzin would not have given away for all this world's goods he gave +to Death for nothing, and they buried his treasure in the ungrateful +Earth, which gives back nothing, not even thanks for what you give her. + +Worthy Muhzin wept sore because of this loss; he would neither eat nor +drink, and sleep forsook him. Night after night he went on to the roof +of his house, and wept and wept till dawn. + +Vainly did his friends and kinsfolk try to console him. They could do +nothing with him. He could not reconcile himself to the thought that +those lovely eyes would never smile upon him again, that that dear mouth +would never speak to him more. + +One night, when Muhzin was lying back gloomily on his sleepless couch, +suddenly, through the open door, a wondrous vision stood before him--a +grey-haired old man, whose beard and turban shone like bright white +flames. + +And the vision spoke to him thus, in a gentle, consolatory voice-- + +"Muhzin, I have compassion on thy bitter affliction and upon thy grief. +I see that thou art worthy of superhuman succour, because thou dost love +after a superhuman sort. Thy wife hath not died, for she was not a +mortal maid, but a peri. Eminha still lives, for she possesses the power +of the peris to die whensoever she desires so to do, and awake in +another realm, there to begin a new life, till she choose to die again, +and so pursue her metamorphoses. Therefore gird up thy loins and set out +forthwith on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and there sit down at the gate of +the burial-place, hard by the well of Zemzem, and wait there. Wait there +till a funeral procession comes thither, carrying a blue-painted coffin +covered by a pall of yellow silk, which pall will be embroidered with +blue letters and silver arabesques. Then thou shalt rush out, stop the +funeral procession, uncover the face of the dead, and thou shalt find +Eminha. The mourners will not believe that it is thy wife; but thou must +then take from thy girdle this little box, which contains a salve, and +touch the eyebrows and the lips of thy dead wife with thy anointed +finger-tips, and then her eyes will open and her lips will mutter, +'Muhzin!' and no one will doubt any longer that it is indeed thy wife, +and thou wilt bring her back to Stambul, and she will no longer desire +to leave thee. But in order that thy treasures may not be stolen during +the time of thy pilgrimage, take them not with thee, lest evildoers rob +thee of them by the way, but commit them to the keeping of thy faithful +friend, the honourable Ali Hojia, who is learned in the law, and an +interpreter of the Koran, so that thou mayest find them all safe when +thou returnest." + +And with these words the grey-bearded old man vanished from before the +eyes of Muhzin. + +The merchant awoke full of amazement. He rubbed his eyes with both hands +to see whether he was not still dreaming, lit a rushlight, and his +amazement increased when he found on his table the little box which the +old man from the other world had brought him; it was beautifully wrought +of ivory, richly set with turquoises and perforated with gold. Such a +masterpiece came from no human hand. + +The next day he told the matter to Ali Hojia, to whom the enigmatical +old man had referred him. The lawyer shook his head over it, as if he +did not like the business at all, made objections, and tried to persuade +Muhzin that he had dreamed it all, or imagined it with his eyes wide +open, and finally appealed to his doubts by reminding him that the body +of Eminha was now lying in the tomb where Muhzin had buried it--let him +break open the tomb and see for himself, quoth Ali. + +Muhzin hastened to perform the request of his friend, and behold--the +dead body of Eminha was _not_ in the desecrated tomb. + +And now no power in the world was capable of keeping Muhzin back from +following the voice of the heavenly vision. He put in his pouch whatever +of ready money he had by him, and confided his whole store of gems to +Ali Hojia, who was his nearest friend, and a worthy, honourable man to +boot, till he himself should return from Mecca. And Ali took the charge +upon him for friendship's sake. + +Muhzin, after many vicissitudes, reached Mecca. On the road robbers +attacked him, and robbed him of all his money, but, fortunately, the +little box with the magic unguent escaped; it was concealed within his +turban, and therefore they did not discover it. A beggar he entered the +holy city, and lived from hand to mouth on the alms of compassionate +pilgrims. + +Every day he could be seen at the gate of the cemetery near the well of +Zemzem, watching the funeral processions which passed before him day +after day, for Mecca is a populous place. + +A year had passed, and he was still waiting in vain--a coffin such as +that described by the nocturnal apparition had not yet passed before +him. Either the coffin was blue but the pall was not yellow, or the pall +lacked the necessary blue letters, or if it had the blue letters the +arabesques were not of silver, or if every requisite mark of +identification was there, the corpse was not the corpse of a woman, but +of a man, or a manchild of twelve years. + +Muhzin was slowly approaching that state of mind which we call madness, +when one day he heard from the other beggars that there was going to be +a splendid funeral that day--the wife of the Kadilesker, the beautiful +Eminha, had died. + +Eminha! + +That name put heart into Muhzin once more. All day long he did not +depart from the gate of the cemetery, and the beating of his heart +almost stifled him when he heard approaching him the funeral music which +always heads the funeral procession. + +Muhzin had no thought for the splendour of the funeral, no thought for +the dancing dervishes, nor for the wailing women-mourners, nor for the +_siligdars_ who scattered small silver coins among the mob of +mendicants. All he could do was to gaze upon the bier. + +Even from a distance he could see that the coffin was blue and the pall +a bright yellow. When they came nearer he could even distinguish the +blue letters on the pall, and when they came level with him he could see +the silver embroidery of arabesques quite well. + +Muhzin, wild with joy, violently pushed aside those standing in front of +him, forced his way through the procession right up to the coffin, and +cried-- + +"Stop! Stop! This is Eminha. This is my wife!" + +The attendants, the great men, the Kadilesker himself--the dead woman's +husband--looked with amazement upon this raving figure who had dared to +disturb the order of the funeral; but Muhzin regarded them not, but +stripped the pall from off the face of the dead woman. + +The young woman who lay there really resembled his Eminha. Death is a +great artist. With one cold breath she knows how to make all human faces +singularly alike. + +"She is not dead!" cried Muhzin to the dumfoundered crowd. "I can make +her arise, and then you will see that she will call me her husband. I +have been waiting for her here a whole year. Hence, all of you! for I +would kill and slay and scatter curses around me! Ye shall not bury the +living!" + +The people were alarmed at the sight of mad Muhzin, and still more by +his savage words. Moreover, the mourning Kadilesker dearly loved his +dead wife, and when Muhzin said that he would raise her up again, he +also was glad, and made place for him by the coffin that he might +perform this miracle. + +With the fervour of devotion, Muhzin drew from his girdle the little box +and opened it; a yellow-coloured ointment was inside it, speckled with +little green-gold points, of whose magical efficacy Muhzin himself was +quickly convinced when he dipped into it the index finger of his right +hand, for it burnt him as severely as if he had plunged it into boiling +oil. But this extraordinary quality of the ointment was only a greater +testimony to its marvellous origin, so that Muhzin did not hesitate to +thoroughly rub the eyebrows and the lips of the corpse with his anointed +finger-tip. + +Everybody was intently watching to see whether the breath of life would +return beneath the influence of the wondrous unguent, but nobody was so +devout a believer in it as Muhzin himself. + +But lo! instead of the eyes and lips of the dead woman opening, as was +expected of them, the places which Muhzin had anointed turned black, the +skin began to crackle and blister, and the face of the dead woman became +quite hideous. + +Horror seized upon Muhzin. This was not the effect he had anticipated. +The people around him murmured aloud, the Kadilesker rushed furiously +upon him, and, seizing him by the throat, cast him to the ground. + +"Accursed magician!" he cried, "so shamelessly to distort the face of my +dead wife, and make her, now that she is dead, just such an one as thou +thyself art while still alive!" + +"To the stake with him!" thundered the mob all around; they were furious +with Muhzin. "To the fiery pit with him--reserved for the +idol-worshippers and sorcerers--the wretch who would desecrate the +bodies of the dead!" + +And worthy Muhzin would have been burnt on the spot had not the Governor +of Damascus happened to be there, who, perceiving that they had to do +with a lunatic rather than an idolater, ordered his chiauses to seize +Muhzin, tie him to a pillar, give him two hundred strokes with a +camel-driver's whip, and then bring the man before him, that he might +confess what mad idea it was that had induced him to deform the features +of the dead wife of the Kadilesker. + +Muhzin told the Governor about the marvellous apparition which had sent +him thither. + +"My poor Muhzin," said the Governor, when he understood the whole +affair, "what a confounded fool thou art to allow thyself to be imposed +upon by such a lot of rubbish! Some one has been making a butt of thee. +Why, that Eminha who was the wife of the Kadilesker was born and lived +here from her childhood until now; how, then, could she be thy wife a +year ago? Moreover, that unguent of thine is a fraud. It is no magic +thing, but a corrosive poison with which they are wont to blister the +bodies of the poor in the times of pestilence. Every dervish knows of +it. Come to thy senses, man! Make an end of thy pilgrimage, return home +to Stambul, and follow thy trade. I hope that no greater trouble +awaiteth thee when thou gettest home." + +Muhzin kissed the hand of the humane Pasha, who gave him some dinars to +help him on his way, and turned back towards Stambul forthwith, with +ragged garments, a scarred body, a broken heart, and a half-crazy mind. + +Poor, and tormented by grief, he reached Stambul after many weeks, +picked up by one caravan in the place where a former one had dropped +him, bringing home with him a wound on the temples from the lance of a +Bedouin freebooter, the impression in his thigh of four teeth of a +panther, from which he had contrived to escape half alive, and a +terrible emptiness in his heart, in which all hope and faith had died. + +When he got back to Stambul he thought within himself that, after having +escaped from so many dangers, God would, at least, visit him with no +more affliction, but, content with what had already befallen him, would +suffer him to attend to his business in peace for the small remainder of +his days. + +Wherefore he at once sought out worthy Ali Hojia, his one faithful +friend, to whom he had confided the keeping of his treasures. + +Ali received him kindly. "Well, and so thou hast just come, Muhzin," +said he; "of a truth, I had given thee up for lost. Every evening have I +prayed that thou mightest return." + +And then Muhzin told him how ill he had fared, and what a fool the +vision had made of him, and said that henceforth, he would believe no +more in visions, even if their beards were made of moonbeams. + +"And that will be wise of thee, Muhzin," said Ali Hojia. "Did I not tell +thee not to go? If thou hadst remained at home here thou wouldst not +have been robbed and made a fool of. And now thou hast made of thyself a +laughing-stock and a beggar. Yet grieve not. For a week a table shall be +spread in my house for thee, and then other merciful Mussulmans will +care for thee to the end of thy days." + +"I thank thee for thy goodness, Ali," said Muhzin; "but I will not be a +beggar. Produce my hidden treasures, and I will trade with them as +before. I will live honourably." + +"Then, where are these treasures of thine?" asked Ali, exceedingly +amazed. + +"Why, with thee, of course," replied Muhzin. + +Ali Hojia shook his head. "Muhzin, my friend, thy misfortunes have +robbed thee of thy wits, so that thou knowest not what thou sayest. Thou +hast just told me that thou wert robbed on thy journey, and now thou +sayest I have treasures of thine which I have never seen. I tell thee +what--go now and have a little sleep and clear thy mind somewhat. After +that I will gladly see thee again." + +And with that worthy Hojia very gently pushed Muhzin from his door, and +shut it in his face. + +The unfortunate merchant now fell into absolute despair. He himself +began to doubt whether he was in his senses, or whether he had indeed +turned crazy, and the hidden treasure was a dream, a phantom, like the +rest. + +In his despair he flew to the Grand Vizier, cast himself at his feet, +and told him the whole story. + +"Hast thou a witness who saw thee give thy treasures to Hojia?" inquired +the Grand Vizier. + +"Allah alone, none other. Truly we were such good friends, one body and +one soul." + +"Then keep still till I have spoken to the Sultan." + +When the Grand Vizier had spoken to the Sultan about the matter, Soliman +commanded him to proclaim at every corner of every street, through the +public criers, that a certain merchant, Muhzin by name, recently +returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, had drowned himself at night in the +Bosphorus. His dead body had been found by the fishermen; if, therefore, +the dead man had any friends or relations who wished to bury him with +due respect, they were to come for him, otherwise the corpse would be +buried in the common cemetery reserved for the poor. + +Naturally Ali Hojia was the last person to come forward to bury Muhzin; +on the contrary, he did not show himself at all, but several days +afterwards he secretly visited the cemetery of the poor, and there +discovered the flat tomb on which two rough stones had been rolled, and +on one of these stones the name of Muhzin had been coarsely smeared. + +But Muhzin was cast by the Sultan into the prison of the Seven Towers, +so that he might not be able to show himself, even if he had a mind to. +There, however, he was well treated and lacked nothing. + +Soliman, moreover, got from the merchant an exact description of his +deposited treasures, piece by piece, with all their distinguishing +marks, and made an inventory of them. Then he commanded the Grand Vizier +to make friends with Hojia under some pretext or other. + +The Grand Vizier went very cautiously to work, and having frequently had +occasion to observe the wisdom of the learned lawyer, promised to +present him to the Sultan. + +The Sultan condescended to enter into conversation with the lawyer, and +expressed himself delighted at his dialectical skill. Presently he got +into the habit of asking his opinion concerning various ticklish points +of law in cases about which even the members of the Divan had different +opinions, and always he gave great weight to the words of Ali. At last +he so far extended his favour towards him as to appoint him Chief +Almoner, and raise him high among the dignitaries of the Seraglio. + +So much favour absolutely blinded Hojia, it was now six months since the +death of Muhzin had been proclaimed, and no doubt he thought no more +about it. + +One day the Sultan perceived in the girdle of Hojia a rosary just like +one which was mentioned in the inventory of the merchant's stolen +treasures. It was made of coral beads of the size of filberts, engraved +all round with sacred texts, and the larger beads were encrusted with +diamonds. + +The Sultan admired the string of beads. "What a splendid bead-string +thou hast," said he. "In the whole of my treasury I have not the like of +it. The coral is extraordinarily beautiful, and the workmanship +priceless." + +Ali was transported with joy, and made haste to offer to the Sultan the +jewel which was so fortunate as to have won the favour of the Grand +Signior. + +The Sultan graciously condescended to accept the present, and gave Hojia +instead of it three purses of gold, far more indeed than the jewel was +worth, and invited him the next day to the Dzsirid Square, where a +splendid entertainment was to be held. + +Hojia was even more delighted by this distinction than by the Sultan's +gift; he would be able to appear on the Dzsirid in the suite of the +Sultan. + +The Dzsirid was the one open space in the Seraglio where the Turkish +magnates diverted themselves with pike-casting, dart-throwing, and other +manly sports. The Sultan himself often took part in these pastimes. The +best of shooting grounds also formed part of the Dzsirid. + +On this occasion the Sultan also took part in the shooting; and very +badly he shot, not once did he hit the mark. Wherefore he began to grow +angry, and, as is the way with marksmen under such circumstances, he +blamed the mark, the bowstring, the quiver, and the burning sun for his +bad shooting, and at last burst forth against the ring on his finger as +the cause of all his wide shooting. For it was the custom of the archer +to wear on his finger a serpent-shaped spiral ring, so as to gain a +firmer hold of the bow-string, and be able to make the bow twang to its +full extent at the proper time. + +The Sultan kept on grumbling at his ring, saying that it was badly made +and caught in the bow-string every time, so that he could not let it go +quickly enough, and with that he snatched it off, and cried, "Give me +another ring!" + +His attendants hastened to offer their own rings to the Grand Signior. +The Sultan tried them all one after another. + +"That won't do, that won't do! Ah! nobody makes such good archery-rings +as the goldsmith Sulassan used to make, and he is dead now. But is there +none here who has a ring made by Sulassan?" + +At this question, Ali Hojia eagerly rushed up to the Sultan, and +signified that he possessed a ring which was a production of the dead +master. Would the Padishah deign to accept it from him? + +Soliman did deign to accept it. This was the choicest jewel which the +merchant had described to him. He accepted it from Hojia, put it on his +finger, and thenceforth shot so skilfully at the mark that every one +applauded him, and none more so than Ali Hojia. + +After the sports in the Dzsirid, the Sultan sent for Muhzin. In his hand +was the string of beads, and on his finger was the ring, and he was +praying with the Koran before him. + +Astonishment overcame the merchant when he saw his lost jewels in the +possession of Soliman. He cast himself at the Sultan's feet, and, +catching hold of the hem of his garment, exclaimed: "Oh, my lord, the +ring and the string of beads which thou holdest in thy hand are mine." + +The Sultan asked him what was written on each one of the beads and how +many stones were in the ring, and the merchant answered each question +exactly, whereupon the Sultan sent him back to the Seven Towers. + +On the following day he sent for Hojia. + +He discoursed with him on all manner of juridical questions which had +come before the Divan, and took the opinion of the learned lawyer upon +them all. Amongst other cases, he suddenly put this one to him: a +certain man had grossly abused the confidence of a friend, who had +confided his property to his care while he was on his travels, and +robbed him of everything; what did such a man deserve for such a +monstrous act of treachery? + +Now, it is notorious that the greatest sinners are the most rigorous +judges of offences similar to their own in others, and it is even +possible that it never occurred to Hojia that he himself had been guilty +of a like offence. Besides, his sin was buried deeply away in the tomb +of Muhzin, and nobody knew anything about it. + +So the jurist replied to the Sultan that such an extraordinary offence +demanded an extraordinary punishment, and the sinner deserved nothing +less than pounding to death in a mortar. + +"Thou hast pronounced thine own condemnation," cried the Sultan. Then +he clapped his hands, and four Izoglans came running in and bound Hojia +hand and foot, took from him his keys, searched his dwelling thoroughly, +and found in it the whole of the treasure which had been confided to him +by his friend the merchant. + +The confounded Hojia, who fancied he was bathing in the sunlight of the +highest favour, and never reflected that in the sunlight everything +becomes transparent, in his terror confessed everything, and also said +that he was the apparition who, after fastening on a beard smeared over +with a phosphorescent unguent, had come to the room of the sorrowing +Muhzin and practised on the unfortunate mourner the accursed trick which +had well-nigh robbed him of life and reason. It was he, too, who had +stolen the body of Eminha from its tomb. + +The Sultan immediately summoned a meeting of the Divan, laid the case +before the Viziers, and told them of the punishment which the Hojia +himself had said that a crime like his deserved. + +The Viziers answered that Hojia's opinion was just. The crime was indeed +of a new sort, and it was right, therefore, that he should be the first +to taste the proper punishment for it. + +By the Sultan's command, therefore, a huge mortar was cut out of marble, +a huge pounding pole with four handles thereto being at the same time +made to match the mortar. + +Ali Hojia, meanwhile, was attired in a purple robe, with a golden turban +on his head, and a bespangled girdle round his body, and so they cast +him into the mortar. Then four Bostanjis seized the pounding beetle, +and raising it by its four handles, rammed it with all their might into +the mortar at a sign from the Aga of the Bostanjis. A frightful yell +arose from the mortar, tapering off into an unspeakable, indescribable +whistling shriek. The Bostanjis raised the pounding beetle a second +time, and a second time they rammed it home. But now only a muffled +groan responded to the impact. The third stroke was followed by a +ghastly whimper, and after the fourth stroke there was no response but +the crunching of bones. + +And so they went pounding away with their pestle till they were tired +out, and by that time all that remained in the mortar was a shapeless +mash of blood and bones and silk and gold filigree. + +Thus did Sultan Soliman punish the deceiver. + + * * * * * + +Eighty years ago the French traveller Tavernier saw this very mortar, so +terrible a memorial of Ottoman justice, standing in the door of the Hall +of the Divan. + + + + +V + +LOVE AND THE LITTLE DOG + + +What can there be in common between love and a little dog? Well, listen! +and I'll tell you. + +My dear friend Toni was head over ears in love with a pretty little girl +whom I did not love at all. This was not because I prefer falling in +love with ugly little girls, or because I consider it superfluous to +love a girl who is already loved by another fellow, but simply because +one eye of this particular girl was black and the other blue. + +"Toni," I said, "look out for yourself! This double sort of eye bodes no +good. With one of them she'll ogle you, and with the other some one +else. The blue eye may be faithful to you, the black one may deceive." + +Toni replied I was quite wrong. In his opinion these two eyes harmonized +admirably; they reminded him, he said, of bright dawn and starry night. +Indeed, properly speaking, he alone would be the faithless one, as he +would now be loving a blue eye and a black one at the same time. + +Still, I did not like the business at all, and as I felt sure that Toni +would be considerably the loser by it, I was determined to save him if I +could. + +"It will be the worse for you if you take her," I said. "For one thing, +you will not be able even to call her your better _half_. With those +contradictory eyes she will, at the very utmost, only be your better +_two quarters_. Depend upon it, she must have been formed from the ribs +of two different men. Have nothing to do with her, Toni, my boy!" + +Whereupon Toni became abusive, and told me never to regard him as a +friend again. + +"Who are you to talk to me like that?" he cried. "You are not my father, +or my mother, or my elder brother, or my married sister, or even my +godfather, are you? Who are you to ride roughshod over my happiness? I +don't care a rap what you say, and stand out of my way, or I'll punch +your head. I mean to have her in any case now." + +So, as I certainly could not say that I was his father, or even his +godfather, I had to stand aside and let him go galloping headlong +downhill towards the Vale of Matrimony without the brake on. If he were +particularly fortunate, he might, perhaps, plump into a ditch when +halfway down, and so come off cheaply with a broken arm; if, however, he +were doomed to be unlucky, he would plunge to the bottom of the valley +and break his neck. + +Nevertheless, he was lucky, and fell off his high horse when he was only +halfway down. + +One evening he came to me full of a great resolution. + +"Well, old chap, I'm not going to marry Nelly after all." + +"She has jilted you, I suppose?" + +"No. Something happened when I was with her last, that's all." + +"Indeed! What was it?" + +"Well, we had been strolling in the garden for an hour or more, mooning +and spooning, and I had also been reciting verses to her, and she had +laughed at them, and it seemed to me that only the angels could laugh +like that, when suddenly there came bouncing towards us a little pet +puppy, a tiny beast about five weeks old, just able to patter along the +ground with his little paws, who wagged his little tail and fawned upon +Nelly in the most comical manner when he got up to her, at the same time +sticking up one little ear high in the air, and holding the other little +ear down. Why he should do so I didn't know; perhaps he had been taught +it, I thought. Nelly thereupon stooped down towards the little dog, and, +seizing the point of its little erected ear with two of her pretty +snow-white fingers, raised it into the air. The little puppy wriggled +and whined, but Nelly, smiling all the time, threatened it with the +index finger of the other hand. 'Come! stop it, stop it! no whining! +It's not pretty,' she said, till the poor little creature gradually grew +quiet, and remained suspended in the air by its ear. Then Nelly put it +on the ground again, and the little puppy, softly whimpering, tripped +off again, while Nelly never ceased smiling at it. Well, after that I +scarce waited to get into my overcoat and wish her good-bye. I think +that's all the leave-taking she deserves, and don't suppose I shall ever +meet her again. No, my friend, _my_ ears could never stand such +manoeuvres." + +Thus it was that the little puppy-dog saved my friend Toni from a +life-long danger. + + + + +VI + +THE RED STAROSTA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE JUDAS-MONEY + + +Have you ever heard of the Bialystok Dominion? There lie the huge Sylvan +wildernesses of Lithuania, the native home of the Ure-ox, the ancestor +of horned cattle, the king of all oxen; in every other part of Europe it +has been exterminated. They are now the quarry of the Russian Tsar, and +only the Romanovs and their guests possess the privilege of hunting them +down. + +But Bialystok is still more famous for its wondrously beautiful Palace, +which worthily bears the name of "the Polish Versailles." Built in the +Italian renaissance style, embellished within and without by the +sculptures and the paintings, the bronzes and the mosaics of the most +eminent masters, surrounded by the most lovely ornamental gardens in the +world, in which the exotic trees in winter time have whole wooden houses +built around them, so that pomegranate and citron trees bloom in the +open air during the spring, and Bruin comes from the depths of the +surrounding forests to pluck the citrons from the trees and roar over +his unaccustomed food--the Palace of Bialystok is one of the most +wonderful places in the world. + +And this famous Palace is connected with no one family name. At every +fresh human generation it carries a different family name on its +forehead. It has belonged successively to the Moskowskis, the Potoccy, +the Branickis, and the Czernuskis. And popular tradition says that +before it belonged to them it was the possession of the "Red Starosta." + +But whether purchased or won by confiscation it never descended from +father to son, for there was this odd thing about it, that its +proprietor never had male issue, and consequently it always passed +through his daughter to his son-in-law. To explain this condition of +things, popular tradition tells the following story:-- + +In the days of the Red Starosta, the Jews had great influence in the +Grodno district; indeed, it would be difficult to imagine Poland without +them. Bialystok was their head-quarters, and there they had their +synagogue. The Starostas allowed them to multiply and get rich, just as +a highly practical agriculturist allows the bees to collect their stores +throughout the summer, and when the autumn winds begin to blow does not +treat them after the manner of ungrateful and unreasonable bee-keepers, +who smoke out the industrious insects with sulphur, no, but in the most +approved modern fashion he subtracts the honey, leaves the bees just +enough to live upon, and then puts back the empty cells into the hive +that the bees may fill them full again. + +The bees themselves regard this method as perfectly normal, for +otherwise they would leave the hive and go into the forest and fill the +stumps of trees with honey. But then the bears would eat them and it, so +that, after all, it is very much better for the bees to have to do with +the bee-keepers. + +On one occasion the Red Starosta (he was just about to marry for the +third time, and wanted a lot of money rather badly for the wedding +feast) hit upon a new method of obtaining a voluntary contribution by +attacking the Jews in their synagogue on one of their holy days. Every +one of them was compelled to pay liberally. There were a good many +treasures concealed in the synagogue, and these also they had to hand +over. The Jews lamented and paid up; they had not even courage enough to +curse. + +But in the strong-box of the sanctuary there was a secret drawer, and in +this secret drawer there was a single piece of silver. Now, when this +secret drawer was opened by the Starosta, the Rabbi, Jitzchak Ben +Menachim, quickly seized the coin and thrust it into his mouth. They +could only get it out again by breaking his teeth, while a heyduke +squeezed his throat tightly the whole time so that he should not swallow +it. + +What merit could there be in suffering so much for the sake of a single +piece of silver? The whole thing was no bigger than a Mary-dollar, which +is only worth 5 polturas.[15] On one side of it was a fig-tree with the +inscription: "Jerusalem the Holy," in Hebrew letters, with a burning +altar beneath the fig-tree with the words: "Shekel: Israel." On the +obverse side was a crowned head with the inscription: "Melach Herodes." + + [Footnote 15: Worth about 6d.] + +When this silver piece had been taken from the Rabbi, the whole +congregation began to rend their garments and cast ashes on their heads. +Then they abased themselves before the Starosta and implored him to give +them back their one piece of silver. They promised to give him for it +twice as much, eight times as much as he had already extorted from them, +thereby betraying the secret that this piece of money was of great value +to them. + +"Why is this silver coin so precious to you?" inquired the Starosta. + +At this question every Jew present closed his mouth so tightly that not +even a sigh escaped from it. + +"Very well," said the Red Starosta, "you won't tell me, eh? Then I'll +find a way of making your Rabbi tell me." + +So the Red Starosta flung the Rabbi into a dungeon, and for a whole week +he experimented upon him with the latest and most approved instruments +of torture. But Rabbi Jitzchak Ben Menachim remained steadfast. Neither +fire, nor water, nor the Spanish boot could extract from him the secret +of the piece of silver. + +Now the Rabbi had a grown-up son, Jaikef by name. On the eighth day he +could endure no longer the spectacle of his father tortured there before +his eyes, so he went to the Starosta and said to him-- + +"Let my father go free, and I will tell you the secret of the silver +coin." + +And thus Jaikef told the story whose preliminaries are well known to us +all. + +There was once a Jew named Judas Iscariot, who sold to the Priests of +Jerusalem "The Son of Man," the "King of Nazareth," above whose head on +the cross was nailed the inscription "I.N.R.I." The price paid to him +for this was thirty pieces of silver. But when they crucified "the +Master" on Golgotha, he repented him of what he had done and brought +back the thirty pieces of silver to the Priests. They would not accept +them. Then he flung down the money in the Temple, and went and hanged +himself on a maple-tree. But the Priests resolved with the rejected +money to buy a portion of land from the Potters. The Priests entrusted +the business of the purchase to Kramoi-Chita Anselm, and this +enterprising man beat down the price to nine and twenty pieces of +silver, the thirtieth piece he kept for himself. His son Nathan +inherited it from him. Solomon, the son of Nathan, inherited it in his +turn, till at last, in the period of the exodus of the Jews from +Palestine, it fell into the possession of Joisef Zedek, who brought it +away with him. This one remaining piece of Judas-money puts power and +riches into the hands of the Jews. This is their living hope, their +talismanic treasure--and now Jaikef gave the secret away. + +"Then it is a very good thing that I have got it," said the Red +Starosta, and, as promised, he set free the Rabbi, at the same time +telling him that as he now knew the secret of the piece of silver, he +would not give it back to the Jews for all the treasures in the world. + +The Rabbi Jitzchak Ben Menachim thereupon, first of all, cursed his own +son: + +"As thou couldst not close thy mouth, henceforth thou shalt open it in +vain." + +And the curse was accomplished. From that time forth poor Jaikef was +expelled from every Jewish threshold, not a single Jew would thenceforth +give him meat and drink, whilst the law of the Talmud forbade him to eat +food prepared by Christians. So he starved to death. + +But upon the Red Starosta the Rabbi Jitzchak Ben Menachim pronounced +this curse-- + +"A manchild shall never be borne in thy family!" + +And this curse also took root and abided. + +Henceforth the mortars on the terrace in front of the Palace of +Bialystok never thundered forth in honour of the birth of an heir male. + +Of girls there were plenty and to spare, but what's the good of a girl +to an ancient Lithuanian ancestral house? Up to her twelfth year she is +allowed to trot about like other little kids, and then they clap her +into a convent, where she is taught gold and silver embroidery till she +reaches a marriageable age, when they bring her home again. What else +can _she_ talk about except saints and angels! + +How different with the male children. A boy is taught by his papa all +manner of sensible things. You can take him off with you to hunt bears +and wild boars and elks. He'll not learn much about the book of martyrs +from his chums, perhaps, but all the more knowing will he be in the +folklore of the chase, in the mythology of the ancient Lithuanian +deities. He will know all about Bagan, the protector of the brute +creation, who makes the cattle fruitful; about the White God, Belim, who +gives rich increase to the earth; about the goddess Vastrulia, who gives +luck in love; while in the day of battle and the hour of danger he must +call upon Father Dedka! At great banquets, too, Holyada will defend him +from the disgrace of being the first to fall down drunk, while Lado will +send him good dreams. + +A girl would not understand this--it is part of the lore of the +ancients. + +And besides that, a girl does not pass the name of her father on to her +children, so that if the grandson hears the name of his grandsire, he +will ask--who is that? + +So the curse of the Rabbi Jitzchak Ben Menachim was accomplished in the +families of the Castellans of Bialystok. At every great funeral, when +they carried forth the head of the family, they hung up his ancestral +shield on the corner of his tomb as a sign that the family history had +run out. And thus it went on through half a century, during which time +the lords of the Castle never let the Judas-money out of their hands. +The rich Jews of Grodno offered them a million for it, but in vain. They +would not give up the talisman even for that. + +The last magnate proprietor was Prince Moskowski. When his wife was in +good hopes of offspring he made a vow that if she bare him a son he +would give the Judas-money as a donation to the Blessed Virgin. And sure +enough a son _was_ born. + +The Prince, faithful to his vow, bestowed the Judas-money upon the +Monastery of Supraseli which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. + +And then the Rabbi of Bialystok, the descendant of Jitzchak Ben +Menachim, on the original curse thus becoming void, imposed a fresh +curse on the head of Prince Moskowski: "Thy son and thy son's son," +said he, "shall become the lowliest serfs in the Russian Empire!" + +And to a Lithuanian noble family this was an even more terrible curse +than the former one. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VACCINATIO SPIRITUALIS + + +The Starosta Prince Moskowski believed in the operation of a curse; it +was the only weapon of a homeless people. + +He had no other son but this one, and he himself remained a widower. + +If he had had five or six sons he would have snapped his fingers at the +whole thing as an old wife's story, for the curse could not have taken +effect on the whole lot of them. But as he only had one, Destiny might +very easily get the better of him. This one lord would inherit the vast +Bialystok estates, the splendid castle and its treasures, yet what if +all this would not save him and his descendants from becoming serfs in +the end. + +The Starosta guarded this son of his so jealously from his very cradle +that he never so much as cast eyes on a peasant. He did not even know +whether such a thing even existed. His servants were all chosen from the +Szlachta, or gentry. A Szlachzic, even in a menial livery, is still a +gentleman. + +But even then the father could not rid him of his fear. + +He went to take counsel of the Bishop. + +The Bishop told him to bring up his son for the priesthood, then he +could not possibly become a serf. But this solution did not please the +Starosta, although it would have been the very best way to break the +force of the curse. It is true that if his only son became a bishop he +could have no sons, and then of course no grandson of the Starosta could +become a serf, because he would have no grandsons at all. But he wanted +the branches of the Moskowski family tree to go on growing. + +So he consulted yet another dignitary, the High Treasurer of Cracow. +What was he to do, he asked, to stay the operation of the curse and +prevent his son and his grandsons from becoming the lowliest serfs in +the Russian Empire? + +The High Treasurer advised him to open a deposit account in the name of +his son to the amount of a million thalers at the Bank of England, where +no power on earth could get at it. He would thereby provide against +every eventuality. To whatever extremities his son and his grandsons +might be reduced, they would never be obliged to do the labour of serfs +so long as they had a million to their credit at the Bank of England. + +But the Starosta did not like that expedient either. He could produce +the million easily enough, but he had no confidence in the Bank of +England. Not very long before there had been a conspiracy to rob the +Bank of England, and it had been within a hair's breadth of succeeding. +Moreover it was a fact within living memory that on the occasion of the +invasion of the Stuart Pretender there had been such a run on the Bank +of England that it had been obliged to pay its customers over the +counter in shillings and sixpences. Why, at that rate, if any one +clean-shaved himself and went to the Bank to draw out the million, and +they were obliged to pay him down on the nail in Polish small change, he +might be able comfortably to tuck his beard within his girdle by the +time he was able to get home. + +Now, there happened to be a Protestant clergyman in the domains of the +Starosta who dwelt in the county town, the Rev. Gottlieb Klausner by +name. He was the pastor of the Lutheran community. His flock mostly +consisted of handicraftsmen and mechanics who had emigrated to Lithuania +from Brandenburg. + +The only thing the Starosta knew about the Lutheran clergyman was that +he never bothered him with inconvenient demands. He and his flock alike +were quiet, inoffensive persons. They never advertised their profession +of faith by anything in their outward dress and bearing; they never +prayed publicly in the streets; they never rang bells, for their +meeting-places had no belfries. + +Nevertheless, one day the pastor visited the Starosta in his splendid +princely palace. + +The Starosta received the reverend gentleman cordially. + +Gottlieb Klausner first of all apologized for the inconvenience he was +causing, and then craved permission to acquaint his Excellency with the +great errand which had emboldened him to appear before him. + +He was such a long time coming to the point that the Starosta fancied he +was going to beg for a church-tower full of bells at the very least. Yet +all that he wanted, after all, was permission to send his son abroad to +complete his studies. He had brought the deed of permission with him in +his pocket, written in the fairest caligraphy, it only needed the +hieroglyphics of the magnate at the bottom of it and the impression of +his seal. + +This was very quickly done, but to-day the great man was curious and +wanted to know all about it. + +"What is your son's Christian name, your Reverence?" + +"Henry." + +"How old is he?" + +"Sixteen." + +"Just as old as my lad. Then, how old may your Reverence be." + +"Forty-seven, by the favour of God." + +"Just my age. Perhaps we were born on the same day." + +"I came into the world on the festival of St. John Chrysostom." + +"So did I. That's very right. And why, then, do you want to send your +son abroad? And so far too? It is to the Sorbonne at Paris, isn't it?" + +"In order that he may perfect himself in the sciences." + +"And why need he perfect himself in the sciences?" + +"In order that he may not become a serf." + +At these words the heart of the Starosta began to beat fiercely. + +"Then he cannot be a serf if he becomes a scholar, eh?" + +"No. At all times and everywhere a scholar is a gentleman." + +"Your Reverence has no doubt heard of the curse with which a Rabbi +threatened me?" + +"Every one knows of it." + +"And do you suppose that it can be fulfilled?" + +"Everything is possible in this world." + +"But, according to your reasoning, a scholar can never become a serf." + +"And I maintain my contention. Great estates may be called in again by +those who bestowed them; brilliant escutcheons may be torn to pieces by +the hand which embellished them; but the knowledge which dwells in our +heads and our hearts neither king nor emperor can take away, and if we +leave knowledge to our sons as an inheritance, no power on earth can +make our sons serfs. Pardon me for elevating my words into such a bold +discourse." + +"You elevate me at the same time, my brother in the Lord! But come! you +have kindled a bright idea in my brain. I will educate _my_ son as a +scholar likewise. He has both the mind and the will for it. I have kept +him from poring over books hitherto, but now let us send him abroad with +your son. Let your Henry be his guardian and comrade. I shall know then +that he is in good hands. And I'll pay the expenses of the pair of them. +They shall live in the same room and eat off the same dish. My son and +your son shall be treated exactly alike. Let them fare as youths +studying abroad must fare, and let the best scholar be the best +gentleman. Is it agreed, brother?" + +Gottlieb Klausner gratefully stretched out his hand towards the +Starosta, who hastily drew back his own, fancying that the pastor was +about to kiss it. He might have spared himself the trouble. A Lutheran +pastor never kisses the hand of one of his own sex. The Starosta, +however, immediately afterwards embraced the pastor. + +"Good, my brother! We are agreed then. But I do this under one +condition. I ask a service of your Henry. I'll take care that there +shall be a regular postal service hither from France and Germany twice a +week, and your Henry must write to you every post about himself and my +son, and let us know how they are and what progress they are making." + +"My son will certainly not neglect to do so." + +"Bring your son hither that I may make his acquaintance." + +"This very day I will bring him." + +"And now, hearken, my brother. You and I are both old fellows, and +hitherto each of us has celebrated his birthday alone with his son. +Henceforth we shall be quite alone. Let us henceforth keep our birthday +in each other's company." + +But the two old men did not only keep their common birthday together, +but when their two sons had departed on the common path of learning, the +homely pastor went up to the Castle twice a week with the letter he had +received from his son, that he might read it aloud to the Starosta. And +the Starosta always compelled him to remain to dinner. And though he +might have a brilliant host of guests staying with him, the Rev. +Gottlieb Klausner, in his simple black cassock, always sat at the +Starosta's right hand. The only change took place when a priest of the +Starosta's own religion happened to be his guest. Then Klausner sat at +the left hand of the Starosta, but there also he was treated with great +distinction. And just before the bumpers began to go round, the latest +letter received from Henry was always read to the general delectation. + +And Henry's letters certainly were amusing. There was no frothy +effusiveness, no cheap claptrap in them as is generally the way with +students' productions, and for that very reason they were all the more +genuinely interesting. They were full, indeed, of the comical +adventures, without which a student's life is inconceivable, and no +mystery was made of the scrapes and exploits which fell to his lot, but +at the same time the distinctions which the two youths gained at the +Sorbonne were duly enumerated. + +It occurred to none of the guests to ask the reverend gentleman why he +had sent his son to the Sorbonne instead of to Heidelberg, where +Lutherans generally go to college. + +But once when these scholastic testimonials were passing from hand to +hand among the army of guests, an inquisitive guest remarked that in +young Moskowski's testimonial he was described as "eminent" in such +sciences as "mathematics," "geometry," "chemistry," and "mineralogy." +What need, he added, had a Moskowski to grub about amongst such things +as these. He was not going to be a miner, was he? Whereupon the reverend +pastor, with philosophical composure and prophetic inspiration, +replied: "A man never knows what sciences may be useful to him one day." + +This was the _vaccinatio spiritualis_, the inoculation of the +mind--against the infection of the serf distemper. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FACE TO FACE + + +The two youths spent two years in the foreign University. They studied +together and they caroused together. They fought for each other, and +they wrote each other's dissertations. When they spent all their money +they wrote verses, and whichever of them was able to borrow a livre or +two, always shared it with the other. And whenever the Philistines were +too much for them they bolted into the next town. + +Heinrich's last letter to his father was written from Utrecht. There +both of them gained their _promotio_. Casimir became a baccalaureat of +philosophy, Heinrich a doctor of medicine. + +The Rev. Mr. Klausner told the Starosta that his little Heinrich had +appropriated the new science, according to which doctors were no longer +to plague their unfortunate patients with bitter draughts at the rate of +a pint a dose; but went about with little white pillules, the size of +millet seeds, in their pockets, and wrought marvellous cures on the +principle of _similia similibus_. + +"Very well," said the Starosta, "as your son Heinrich has become a +doctor, I will make him my family physician, with a salary of 2000 +thalers, on condition that he bleeds me in the first quarter of every +month, and gives me some of his drugs. For I invented homoeopathy before +Herr Hahnemann, inasmuch as whenever wine gets into my head I drink +still more to get it out again. That's my view of _similia similibus_. +Tell your son what I say." + +Gottlieb Klausner thereupon took up his pen and informed his son what a +brilliant opening had thus come in his way at the very beginning of his +career. He would be sure of a post as soon as ever he got home, with a +nice salary of 2000 thalers. Moreover, he would ride in a carriage, and +give his orders to the cook, for he would have to taste of every dish +before it was presented to the Starosta, according to the wont of +princes, lest they be poisoned in their meat or drink. How many a man +would envy him such an office! + +And now the two accomplished young men were summoned back to Lithuania. + +All the way to the boundary hillock of the Bialystok domain they +travelled in a peasant's cart; but there a noble cavalcade awaited them, +with the Major Domo of the Starosta at their head. + +The great gilded carriage of the Starosta, which was only used on the +greatest occasions of State, was sent to meet the young men, and to it +the four most reliable nags from the Starosta's stables were harnessed, +which went at a slow, dignified, parade step. On the box sat a coachman +in the national costume, and a couple of heydukes clung on to the straps +behind. + +The Major Domo ought to have pronounced a solemn greeting; but he never +had the opportunity, for no sooner had the two youths leaped from the +cart, than a rush was made upon them by the mounted _Szlachta_, who took +possession of them uproariously, every one who could pressing up to, +embracing, and kissing them. Besides the youths, there leaped from the +cart a huge mastiff, the indispensable attribute of University students, +who seemed to be greatly attracted by the Major Domo, and kept taking +vigorous leaps at him. The gentleman in question was wearing a bear-skin +kaczagany, which the noble beast had evidently determined to tear from +his shoulder by hook or by crook, and in the mean time the fine oration +the poor Major Domo had prepared for the occasion escaped him +altogether. + +The new arrivals were really two very nice young fellows--both of them +heroic-looking figures, though entirely different from each other. + +Casimir was dark, with fiery-black eyes. His head was entirely covered +with curly hair, he had a luxuriant forelock hanging over his forehead, +and such a thick, luxuriant crop of hair that it would have blunted the +edge of a descending sword. His thick eyebrows drew near to each other +like bushy-headed serpents--perhaps, also, they would have seized each +other had they not been separated by the powerful authoritative nose, +which was the characteristic feature of the Moskowski family. Such an +aquiline nose you would not have met with in the whole Sarmatian race, +and it was fitly accompanied by the protuberant red mouth and the +pronounced double chin, which were also hereditary peculiarities. He was +his father's own son, though of a somewhat higher type. + +Heinrich, on the other hand, was an excellent specimen of the type of +masculine beauty peculiar to the German race. His thick, leonine, +dark-red hair rolled over his shoulders in luxuriant masses. His face +was ruddy, his forehead white, he had a small and delicate nose, with +sensitive nostrils, large bright-blue eyes, above which the thin +straight eyebrows seemed to have been added by a painter's brush. His +mouth was large, but his lips were finely chiselled, and a large brown +mole at the corner of the lips gave a peculiar expression to the mouth. + +There was no fear of mistaking one of them for the other. + +And the dog, too, was a fine dog. He belonged to that race of mastiffs +which in the Hungarian Corpus Juris bears the name of "sinkoran," the +keeping of which is forbidden in Hungary by a special paragraph of the +code. + +When the feted gentlemen had been released from the embraces of the +young cavaliers, and the Major Domo from the jaws of the sinkoran, the +next thing was for them to take their places in the State carriage. The +noble youths carried Casimir on their shoulders to the carriage, and set +him down on the back seat. Heinrich also was carried on men's shoulders +to the carriage--only in his case it was not the cavaliers, but the +heydukes who performed that office, and they placed him in the front +seat face to face with Casimir. + +"Why may I not sit by my friend's side?" asked Heinrich. + +"What an odd question!" said the Major Domo. "Here you have been to half +a dozen colleges, and learnt so much, and yet you don't know that! A +subject _cannot_ sit down by the side of his Prince; and when they ride +together in the same carriage his proper place is the front seat." + +Of course, it was the regular thing. + +Moreover, as the place beside Casimir on the back seat remained empty, +the big mastiff leaped into the carriage, and occupied the place of +honour by his master's side. + +"Then is a dog allowed to sit down by a nobleman?" inquired Heinrich, +indignantly. + +"Certainly, for the sinkoran is also a noble animal." + +And then the procession, amidst the crack of pistol-shots, proceeded +towards the castle. + +In the castle gate a triumphal arch awaited the new arrivals, and the +notabilities of the place were grouped around the entrance, the damsels +arrayed in white and the peasantry in gala costumes. + +When they reached the gate of the castle, it was not Heinrich's face +that was red, but his forehead, and his eyes seemed rather to be green +than blue. + +He saw his father among the deputation. He could easily make him +out--one black cassock was very prominent amidst the dazzling-bright +Polish parade costumes. + +He did not wait for the carriage to stop, but leaped from it, and rushed +up to the old man, embracing him again and again with great ostentation, +and kissing him in the sight of every one. The clergyman did not betray +the least emotion. + +When the congratulatory addresses came to an end, the Major Domo shouted +to Heinrich-- + +"Come, doctor! Get in!" + +"I am going with my father." + +"But I am going on foot," said the clergyman. + +"Then, I'll go on foot with you." + +They did not press him further. Every one's head was full of something +else. The ladies praised the young squire. What a fine fellow he was, +they said. The girls flung flowers into the carriage, which went so +slowly that the foot-passengers could easily keep up with it. + +Father and son trudged on together among the ranks of the pedestrians. + +Presently the old man began speaking to his son in the Latin tongue, so +that the people might not understand him. + +"My dear son, you well remember, no doubt, that I have always looked +upon lying and deception as the greatest of sins; and from your childish +years upwards you have always had a great inclination thereto. You know +how many hazel twigs I have worn out upon you in endeavouring to +eradicate that evil tendency. But I see that even now you are not cured +of it. Look, now! the moment you beheld your poor father amidst a group +of gentlemen, you immediately leaped from the gilded carriage, ran up to +me, embraced me, called me _carissime pater_, pinned yourself on to my +cassock, and accompanied me on foot. You thought you would deceive me by +all this hypocrisy. Yet all this ostentation of filial piety was only +because you were obliged to sit in the State carriage opposite to your +comrade, instead of by his side, and your pride was wounded in +consequence. That was why your heart suddenly conceived such a fondness +for your father. Look me straight in the face, and tell me if it was not +so." + +"Yes, it was." + +"Exactly; it was your pride that suffered. I do not count pride among +the more deadly sins, although I know that Petrus Lombardus elevated +this opinion into the rank of a dogma. We Protestants are content with +the definition of John the Evangelist, who saith that every falsehood is +a deadly sin. Yet pride is not falsehood, but the true image of every +man. It is the very eye of his soul. Moreover, as a philosopher, you +must know very well that whoever attaches himself to a master must make +submission his business. A colonel is a big man; but when the general +speaks it is for the colonel to listen; and if the general says to him, +'Go through fire,' or, 'Go through water,' he must submit and obey. If a +man who has been born poor would drink and make merry, he must first +renounce his pride. When you wanted to choose a career, I left you a +fine choice. You had only to please yourself. You might have become a +clergyman, like myself, in the usual way. True, we cook with water and +do not throw away our crusts, and when we wear out our clothes we turn +them, and so wear them again; but, on the other hand, the clergyman +always sits in the front seat, and gives place to no son of man, unless +it be the Son of God. But this haughty poverty seemingly is not to your +liking. You say to yourself, '_Dat Galerius opes, dat Justinianus +honores._' Well, you have got what you sought. Wealth, a life of comfort +is in your hands. Galerius has given them to you. He who wants to wear a +bedizened hat must be prepared to doff it right and left--to high and +low. _I_ need take off my _capillum_ to no man. Why do you oscillate +like a pendulum? A man must make his own position. If you don't like +subjection, turn back, go to Goettingen, go through a whole course of +theology--then come here, be my curate, and then perhaps in ten years' +time you may get a living somewhere. But if you want to live in +splendour and comfort, go back to the carriage, and sit on the back seat +face to face with your lord and master, for that is your proper place." + +Heinrich, very red in the face, went back to the slowly lumbering +carriage, and again took his place in it opposite his youthful comrade. +And thus they went to the town together, and right into the castle. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CDT-TABLE AND THE CHALLENGING GLOVES + + +The coming home of young Squire Casimir was celebrated with great +solemnity at the palace of the Starosta. The thunder of the mortars, the +roll of the drums, the blare of the trumpets, announced to the thronging +crowd the moment when the parade carriage rolled over the drawbridge. In +front of the gate stood a guard of honour of the assembled heydukes, +under the command of the Castellan. The Starosta himself had come as far +as the hall door to welcome his son. + +Casimir, according to ancient custom, received his father's greeting on +bended knee, and kissed his uplifted hand, whereupon the old man, +thrusting his powerful palm into his son's well-thatched poll, lugged +him to his feet by his hair, and, slapping his face gently at the same +time, said: "Come, come, you have put on a mighty fine fleece since last +I saw you." But immediately afterwards he kissed him on both cheeks, and +the kiss obliterated the slap. + +Heinrich got neither kisses nor slaps, he simply didn't count at all. + +A hundred guests were in the large hall, all of them prominent noblemen +and priests, and all of them embraced the young gentleman in turn, while +Heinrich they only patted on the shoulder, and while every one said: +"_Vitam pana!_"[16] to the nobleman's son, they only greeted the son of +the pastor with: "_Badz zdrow!_"[17] + + [Footnote 16: "Long live your honour!"] + + [Footnote 17: "Good health to you!"] + +Immediately after the first interchange of greetings the court tailor +took the two youths beneath his protection. It was his duty to give them +new clothes corresponding to their rank, they had ceased to belong to +the category of students. Heinrich got a brand-new black velvet jacket +with puff sleeves, a starched ruff, black atlas knee-breeches, with +stockings, and shoes with silver buckles--the whole get-up was completed +by a sword-belt, a broad silver chain wound round the breast with a +large medallion hanging to it, and a black flowered taffety mantle +fastened to the shoulder and reaching to the heels. When he had taken a +good all-round look at himself in the mirror, he was quite proud of his +costume. He fancied that it was a great distinction. + +But it was not a distinction, but only a difference. + +When he entered the great hall, its pomp and grandeur almost blinded +him. The walls of the room were embellished by the portraits of the +Lords of Bialystok. There were armorial shields everywhere, and in the +corners stood the figures of men in armour. The lofty pointed windows +perpetuated, in masterpieces of coloured glass, all manner of ancient +Polish legends. The long table was crowded with artistic plate and +drinking vessels of chased gold and silver, with confect-holders +mimicing the figures of giraffes and elephants. In the midst was a large +fountain, at the foot of which enamelled dolphins cast lavender-water +high up in the air; and the enchanting spectacle was but enhanced by the +costumes of a whole army of guests and the splendour of their weapons. +Heinrich hardly recognized his dear friend Casimir. He was resplendent +in such splendid raiment as the Polish magnates are only in the habit of +wearing at coronations or similar ceremonies. In the midst of so much +fur and velvet, Heinrich, in his simple black medical suit, felt almost +like the inhabitant of another and much humbler planet. While the army +of guests crowded round Casimir, so that every one might have a chance +of embracing him at least once, Heinrich was simply thrust aside by an +elbow or trodden on by one foot after another, and nobody even troubled +to say: "_Wymow mie Pan!_"[18] + + [Footnote 18: "Your pardon, sir!"] + +Great was the crushing and pushing to get into the banqueting-hall, +where every guest immediately sought out his proper place. This was +quite an easy matter. Every guest who had ever dined at the Palace of +Bialystok had his own beaker on which his name was engraved. As often as +he returned thither so often was his particular beaker produced from the +plate-chest. As for the spoons, knives, and forks, every guest brought +his own with him. Aristocratic pride laid down this rule: "From the +beaker out of which I drink none else may drink; the knife, fork, and +spoon which touches my mouth none else may swallow--neither may I serve +others so." + +Heinrich would also have very much liked to know where he was to sit. + +As a poor man he naturally began to look for his seat at the lowest end +of the table. + +At the head of the table a large armchair, carved with armorial +bearings, had been placed, this was obviously the seat of the Starosta. +On each side of it stood two smaller armchairs. All the other chairs +were armless. The arm of a chair is rather in the way when a man has to +drain his beaker to the very dregs. At the head of the opposite end of +the long table was the seat of "the little master." _His_ beaker was a +christening gift, a crystal goblet upon a golden base. + +Heinrich fancied that he would find his seat by the side of his +comrade's. But there he found a beaker with another name upon it. + +He had to seek higher. He went searching from chair to chair for a +silver beaker marked with his name. On the right-hand side of the table +there was no trace of it. Perhaps it was on the left-hand side? Of +course, it must be there. + +Again he began from the bottom and worked his way up, but he could find +no trace of his name. + +By this time he had got to the topmost armchair. Merely out of curiosity +he glanced at the silver beaker placed beside the plate. He couldn't +believe his eyes, and his heart began to beat violently, for on that +beaker he read the name--Klausner. But his wonder only lasted for a +moment. The Christian name was not Heinrich, but Gottlieb. This place of +honour by the side of the Starosta belonged to the Lutheran clergyman, +on the opposite side to him was the Catholic bishop. + +Thus did they exalt the simple curer of souls, while his son, the +doctor, was not even included among the guests. + +Much hurt he turned to the Major Domo. + +"Then am _I_ not invited to the banquet?" he asked. + +"Invited, doctorkin! What a question! Of course you are. Why, you are +the most important person here. Why, the banquet couldn't begin without +you." + +"But where am I to sit, then?" + +"I'll show you immediately. But you must first let all the other guests +take their places. All their honours are now assembled. We are only +waiting for his reverence, your dear father." + +"But he arrived along with us." + +"True for you. But their honours come in their coaches or on horseback, +so that they may not make their green or yellow boots muddy on the road, +while your dear father came all the way on foot, so that he has to have +his shoes polished before he can come in." + +This was honour indeed. First of all, however, the pastor had to go and +pay his respects to the Starosta, and he appeared along with him in the +banqueting-chamber when the heydukes threw open the folding-doors. It +was such a large door that three men could enter it abreast; and three +men _did_ enter now, the master of the house in the centre, with the +bishop on his right and the pastor on his left. + +At the appearance of the Starosta the trumpets blew a flourish, and +every guest took his proper place at the table. + +Then the bishop pronounced a long grace in Latin, every one present +murmuring the Doxology after him, except the Rev. Master Klausner, who +belonged to another confession, and who, after the Latin prayer was +over, pronounced a blessing in his own language:-- + +"_Der Herr segne euch und saettige euch!_"[19] + + [Footnote 19: "The Lord bless you and satisfy you!"] + +Then followed the creaking of chairs drawn forward, and every one +settled comfortably into his place. + +Heinrich wondered what was going to happen to _him_. + +He had not to wait long. A couple of bustling heydukes brought forward a +little three-legged table, covered with a fine linen cloth, and placed +it behind the armchair of the Starosta. They also placed a chair by the +side of this little table, and put upon it a silver trencher, a beaker, +and the usual dining apparatus. His knife, spoon, and fork were much +more costly than the knives, spoons, and forks of the other guests. The +Major Domo, with his ivory wand, indicated to the doctor that that was +his place. The body-physician always sits behind the Starosta. It is his +office to exercise a dietetical and gastronomical superintendence at +the magnate's table. + +And that he might have a board-fellow, the big mastiff Caro now came up, +and Heinrich being his best-known acquaintance, he put his head on the +table--he was a big dog, so he could just reach it. He was determined +that Heinrich should have a _vis-a-vis_, anyhow. + +Heinrich tried to perform the duties of his queer office with due +dignity. + +Every dish was put on his table first, and he had to taste each one of +them first of all. + +That of itself was a great dignity, surely! Every great man ought to +order his table after a similar fashion. He ought to have a +house-physician standing beside him at every dish, to say: "You are free +to fill your distinguished stomach with that; but this, on the other +hand, you are not so much as to look at." + +Monsieur Heinrich was a disciple of Hahnemann, so he began to raise +difficulties as early as the soup. + +"Don't touch it, your Excellency!" said he. "It is poison. As the verse +says: 'Ginger and saffron, nutmegs, cloves, and pepper only thicken the +blood and clog the stomach.'" + +The whole company laughed heartily, but they shovelled down their soup +all the same. + +The next dish was wild-boar's head stuffed with celery and truffles, and +flanked with cold jelly. + +Against this dish Heinrich was able to intone a whole litany when the +master who invented it presented him with a small slice of it on a +silver platter. + +"The head of every beast is forbidden food," he said; "and as for the +wild boar, no part of him is good, from hoof to scull. As for the +truffle, it grows under ground, and brings those who eat it under +ground; while celery inflames the blood, and gelatine neutralizes the +gastric juices; it is no fit food for men." + +At this the Starosta laughed more than ever. + +"But you must take me at my word, gentlemen," insisted Heinrich. "I eat +according to the principles of the immortal Hahnemann. That dish is +poison to you, I say." + +"It is a very slow poison. For the last fifty years I've been killing +myself with it, and yet here I am," cried the Starosta. + +"Yes; but it is the cause of the gout in your knees, the colic in your +stomach, the spasms in your side. You may also thank it for your +sleepless nights and the humming in your ears, as well as for heartburn, +erysipelas, and St. Vitus's dance. I, your house-doctor, certify that +you partook of this poisonous dish at your own table, and indigestion +and apoplexy are only a prayer apart." + +But Casimir spoilt everything by his intervention. From the other end of +the table he bawled to his comrade-- + +"Come, come, old chap! Surely you don't want to play the part of Doctor +Pedro Recio de Tiertafuera at the banquet given by Sancho Panza, in his +official capacity of Governor! All these gentlemen have read 'Don +Quixote,' you know." + +And with these words he regularly flung his comrade out of his doctorial +chair. The whole company laughed heartily at him, and even the Rev. +Pastor himself apostrophized his son with the facetious citation:-- + +"_Descende Philippe, non sunt hic ollae!_" + +"Then why have I been put here?" inquired Heinrich, in great wrath, of +the Major Domo. + +"Why? Why, to taste of every dish, to see that there is no deadly poison +in it which might make a man suddenly ill." + +"Then the dog Caro here could perform my office equally well." + +And henceforth Heinrich flung the cut-off portion of every dish +presented to him to taste into the jaws of the mastiff, who snapped them +up in an instant, and was highly delighted with his new duties. + +Thus the doctor himself absolutely starved during the sumptuous banquet, +for not a single dish was ever brought back to him, the remains being +sent into a side room, where, at a table without a table-cloth, sat the +lower order of guests, such as the begging friars, the clerks who acted +as secretaries, and the court poets. The latter usually went by the name +of "court fools" when they had more than common genius, but not every +poet merited this higher title, for there were bores among them too, and +these remained poets, and nothing but poets. + +The favourite amongst them all was the house-fool, Lupko, who had also +been invited into the gentlemen's dining-hall, and was there practising +every sort of tomfoolery, letting off literary squibs, imitating feline +and canine concerts, and the squeaking of stuck pigs, turning his hat +into twenty different shapes, tootling in a bottle, and drumming in the +hollow of his hand, and drinking glasses of wine at the same time that +he was imitating the scream of a peacock. + +Naturally, in these things Heinrich could by no means compete with him. + +All the guests treated Lupko with wine; but none of them said to the +doctor, "What will you drink? Fetch wine for the doctor." + +Casimir also joked familiarly with the jester--nay, he almost openly +urged him to go along and try conclusions with the doctor. + +Students love to heckle each other, especially if one of them has had a +full skin at table. + +So the fool skipped away to the doctor. + +"_Servus humillimus collega!_ For colleagues we really are. Yes, +_doctores ambo_! The only difference is that on your head is a college +cap, and on mine a cap with pointed hare's-ears. _Evoe Bacche!_" + +And with that he clapped Heinrich on the shoulder. + +At this Heinrich was very angry, but still angrier was the mastiff to +see his master hit on the shoulder by a hunch-backed rascal, so he +rushed at him incontinently, placed his paws on his neck, and snatched +from his head the fur cap adorned with the two projecting hare's-ears. + +The fool tried to recover his cap, but the dog would not give it up, so +a great debate began between the dog and the fool. The doctor's little +table was overthrown in the midst of the scrimmage, and finally the cap +was torn in two, half of it remaining in the hands of the fool, and the +other half in the jaws of the mastiff. + +"Silence, you God-forsaken rascals!" cried the Starosta; "don't you hear +that his reverence is trying to say grace?" And with that he seized the +Spanish cane which was standing beside his chair, and belaboured with it +the dog's back and the jester's body at the same time, and so restored +peace between them. + +And now the reverend gentleman stood up in his place, and, raising his +beaker unctuously aloft, pronounced a Latin grace full of graceful turns +of expression, invoking blessings on the heads of the Starosta, his son, +and their remotest posterity. The blessing was followed by a great +clinking of glasses, and every guest drained his goblet to the very +dregs. + +When the din of the vivats and the blast of the trumpets had subsided, +the Starosta spoke from his place at the head of the table. + +"Deo Gratias, my thanks for all these pretty wishes. And look now, to +show in what great respect my reverend neighbour here is held in heaven +above, I may mention that his kind wish that my family might flourish in +the days to come had scarce died away when an answer to his petition +that instant arrived. For I have just received, from the glorious city +of Vienna, a letter from my dear friend, Prince Maximilian Sonnenburg, +in which he informs me that the dearest wish of his Excellency, and of +his Excellency's consort, the Princess Ludmilla Rattenburg of Tannenfels +and Bunteviez, corresponds with mine, to wit, that their only daughter, +the Princess Ingola Sonnenburg and Rattenburg should be betrothed to my +son Casimir." + +This famous piece of news was instantly greeted with a vivat which made +the very rafters ring. Every guest hastened to congratulate Casimir. + +But he, from the other end of the table, bawled to his father-- + +"But is the lady beautiful?" + +"I have her portrait here. They sent it with the letter." + +And he drew from his side-pocket a little miniature in a jewelled frame. + +Naturally every one wished to look at it. + +But the Starosta would not let it go out of his hand. + +"Ho, ho! Softly, softly! It is only the bridegroom who has the right to +look at it." + +Then he turned round, knowing that Heinrich was behind him. "Look ye, my +son," said he to the doctor, "take this portrait to Casimir, but show it +only to him and to none other. You may look at it, too, because you are +a doctor. Do you understand physiognomies? Can you say, from looking at +this portrait, whether the little Princess is phlegmatic, or choleric, +or, which God forbid, of a melancholy temperament?" + +Well, this was a great distinction for Heinrich. He took the portrait to +Casimir, and showed the portrait to him first of all. + +The bride in the portrait was of mythological loveliness. She was +painted as Sappho, in a Greek chlamys, with her golden tresses flowing +down her shoulders, and her arms bare to the shoulder. The portrait, +painted on ivory, was a masterpiece of water-colouring. + +Casimir was unable to conceal his enthusiasm at the beauty of his bride. +"She is a veritable goddess!" he cried. + +"Worthy indeed of adorations!" cried Heinrich, with still greater +emphasis. + +Nobody else was allowed to look; only they two were so privileged. + +But the jester burrowed his way out from beneath the table, and thrust +his head between them that he might cast a glance at the portrait. + +Heinrich gave him a box on the ears, and hid the picture from him. + +"Would you?" said he; "this is no spectacle for fools." + +Now a fool, even in those days, drew the line at a box on the ear, and +did not take it kindly; on the contrary, it was apt to make him angry. + +So, instead of his torn and tattered pointed cap, he drew forth his +protean hat and placed it on his head, after forming it into the exact +shape of the biretta worn by the Rev. Master Klausner. Then he wound +round his neck a bed-curtain, making it take the guise of the reverend +gentleman's well-creased cassock. And in this guise he planted himself +beside the table and raised his glass. + +The guests made a clatter with their glasses by way of indicating that +Lupko was about to speak. At last there was silence, and the jester was +able to begin. + +In his voice and delivery he managed to throw an audacious imitation of +the pastor. He dismissed his words through his nose with the same +unctuous solemnity, and amplified the ends of his periods just as the +reverend gentleman was wont to do. + +"My worthy gentlemen," he began, "I also have to disemburden myself of a +joyful piece of intelligence which has just reached me through the +dog-post from Siberia, from the illustrious capital of mighty Siberia, +Irkutsk. I have got the letter written in Tungusian hieroglyphics on +reindeer parchment, and this letter informs me that the mighty Prince of +the Samoyeds, Pan Subagalleros, on behalf of himself and his consort, +her Highness Pana Csoroszlya, has this day betrothed his only daughter, +Panicza Kaczamajka, to my only son Heinrich." + +The army of guests burst into a loud ho, ho! at this farcical parody, +the trumpets blew a frightfully loud flourish, every one roared with +laughter, and even the worthy pastor himself smiled gently at the +fooling. + +For, after all, it was but fooling. Perhaps Heinrich would have laughed +at it likewise if he had been drinking all through the banquet with the +rest of the merry company. But remember that he had remained hungry and +thirsty throughout, and a sober man in a society that has well drunken +is a danger to mirth. + +Casimir also had guffawed at the words of the fool. It was a rough jest, +no doubt, but who would take the folly of a fool seriously? + +Only Heinrich remained pale and silent, and pressed his lips together +till the blood came. + +"Come, comrade, why so dumfoundered? Surely you are not angry?" bawled +Casimir. + +But Heinrich continued moody and sulky. + + * * * * * + +The grand banquet was not terminated, but interrupted by a ball. The +Starosta himself gave the signal by lighting his big meerschaum pipe, +whereupon the other gentlemen followed his example, and began their +beloved fumigation by the side of their black coffee. The musicians +thereupon quitted the dining-room, and a short time elapsed, during +which they also took a snack, and then the music began again over the +heads of the guests, in the upper story of the palace, which could be +reached from the dining-room by means of a spiral staircase. + +As soon as the inspiring notes of a mazurka burst forth from above, the +fiery youths spurned their chairs away, and without waiting for a +special invitation, hastened up the spiral staircase into the +dancing-room. Those of the elderly gentlemen whose feet were capable +(after dinner) of grappling with the tortuous stairs, followed them. + +On the upper floor was the dancing-room, brilliantly illuminated with +wax candles, where were now assembled the flower of the belles and the +pick of the stately matrons of the Lithuanian capital--a goodly company +who reached the ballroom by the opposite staircase. + +Heinrich, swallowing his wrath, and oblivious of the pangs of hunger, +also hastened up to the dancing-room, which was now quite full of +ladies. + +The girls were standing, the more mature women were sitting, according +to custom. + +Heinrich also found the idol of his heart among the girls. Six years +before she was a growing little lassie, now she was a damsel in full +bloom. In those days they had dearly loved each other, and had sworn +that they would belong to none else. There stood the beautiful and +charming Tatiana in front of her mamma. She was wearing the Russian +national costume, with an apron embroidered with pearls and a coif +adorned with precious stones. She was the daughter of a Russian +_chinovnik_[20] whose father had been sent from St. Petersburg to keep +the Poles in order. + + [Footnote 20: Official.] + +The beautiful girl had grown in a marvellous manner during these six +years, she was the tallest among the damsels present, and her lofty +Russian coif made her appear even taller than she was. + +Just then a good many couples were dancing a mazurka. + +Heinrich made his way up to his former ideal, and, bowing first of all +before her dear mamma, with a chivalrous flourish demanded the hand of +her daughter for a dance. It was six years since last he had seen her. + +The stately damsel proceeded deliberately to draw off her long, +embroidered gauntlet. + +Heinrich was amazed. What an odd custom for a lady to draw off her glove +when invited to dance! + +The young lady extended her hand towards Heinrich, her smile was +somewhat peculiar. + +"Miss Tatiana?" stammered Heinrich. + +"Well, doctor! I thought you wanted to feel my pulse!" + +Heinrich was crushed. They were making game of him. He was no cavalier, +but only a doctor, apparently. He rather wondered the lady did not +protrude her tongue as well, to make the consultation quite complete. It +only needed that. + +He seemed to have lost the use of his limbs, and stood there like a +stone idol. But some one speedily came to his assistance by shoving him +out of the way. It was Casimir. He signified that he desired a dance +with the lady by simply stamping the ground with his foot, as became a +cavalier, and she immediately gave herself up to him, and Casimir passed +his arm around her slim waist and flew with her among the maze of +dancers. + +Heinrich gazed after them in stupefaction. So that was his former +sweetheart, and this his former comrade! How the girl's eyes sparkled +when she gazed at the face of her partner! They seemed to hold one +another fast by the eyes. The mazurka has its charm, certainly. The +cavalier stands in the midst with his arms folded, after dismissing his +partner, who moves gracefully round him in a circle. Yet the damsel +gazes continually into the eyes of her cavalier, and the magic of his +eyes draws her back to him again. And then it is as though they were +whispering to each other. + +When the dance was over, Casimir led his partner to the credenz-table +and offered her refreshments. Thither also strolled Tatiana's papa, +worthy Nicholas Eskimov. The girl embraced her father, kissed him on the +cheek, and whispered something in his ear. Then she flew back into the +_colonne_ on the arm of her partner. There are many figures in the +mazurka, Heinrich had every opportunity of studying them to the end from +a window recess. + +When the dance was over, Casimir returned his partner to her mamma, and +after a good deal of genuflecting and hand-kissing, took his leave of +her. Heinrich at once hastened to his comrade and began to reproach +him. + +"Why did you take my sweetheart from me?" he asked. + +Casimir first of all regarded him with amazement, and then laughed in +his face. + +"What a foolish chap you are! Why, it was only natural that I should +have the first dance with the fair Tatiana in our own house. That is the +custom all the world over." + +"Why is it the custom all the world over?" + +"Why? It seems to me that you do not realize that during the six years +when you and I have been walking up and down the earth, not only the +little girl has grown something bigger, but her papa also. The +chinovnik, whom six years ago you helped to copy legal documents, is +nowadays Governor of Grodno. His Excellency now lives in the town, and +orders about even my father, the Starosta. And I am only my father's +little son. Little Tatiana has grown big while you weren't looking at +her, if you want her you must grow bigger yourself. Only don't make such +an ecce homo face; go, rather, and pay your respects to his Excellency, +the Governor. He is a very big wig now, I can tell you!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +EVERY ROAD LEADS TO ST. PETERSBURG--BUT WHITHER DOES ST. PETERSBURG +LEAD? + + +And now it suddenly dawned upon Heinrich why Tatiana's papa, Nicholas +Eskimov, was placed next to the Bishop. Truly he was a great potentate! + +A far-seeing idea popped into Heinrich's brain. He went to the +credenz-table, where refreshments were being distributed, and where also +the Governor was delighting his eyes with the spectacle of the pretty +girls dancing, and at the same time sipping a glass of iced sherbet. + +He bowed deeply before him, and saluted him in Russian-- + +"Zdorovuyte!"[21] he said. + + [Footnote 21: "Your health!"] + +The Governor tapped the doctor on the shoulder. + +"So you have come home! And got an appointment too, I hear?" said he. + +"But I don't want to keep it." + +"Then what _do_ you want?" asked Eskimov, regarding the youth through +his glass. + +"A wider career. Here at Bialystok there is no scope for a doctor, +especially if he be a homoeopathist. Here, if anybody is ill he wants the +doctor to drink the medicine with him in whacking tumblers, and won't +accept a recipe unless it covers a whole sheet of foolscap. True there +will be no end of bleedings and cataplasms, but the whole of modern +medical science is absolutely thrown away upon them. There is no getting +on here. The Pole lives in his traditions. I want to go to St. +Petersburg. There there is a fine open career for an enterprising +doctor. St. Petersburg is the new Rome. Every road leads to it. I beg +your Excellency to give me letters of introduction to your acquaintances +in the Tsar's capital, that beneath their protection I may go on to +prosper." + +"Well, I should like to pack you off myself and I'll give you the +letters of introduction at once. When do you want to go? To-morrow! +Immediately! So much the better. But hold! my son! We never give +anything gratis in our part of the world, we always like something in +exchange. Apparently you are the good comrade of young Squire Casimir, +eh?" + +"That depends." + +"But I noticed just now that when Squire Casimir finished dancing with +my daughter just now you had a private chat with him. At least answer me +this question: if a Pole gives his word to any one, does he keep it?" + +"Well, I can tell your Excellency so much: if a Pole gives his word to a +comrade, he will go through fire and water for him; if he gives his word +to an enemy, he will return to his prison; if he gives his word to a +tyrant, he will bear that tyrant's yoke;--but if he gives his word to a +pretty girl he will forget it as soon as he turns upon his heel." + +"It is not only the Poles who do the last thing. But just one more +question, and accordingly as you answer it truthfully I shall know what +to think of you. You heard the congratulations made to the Starosta when +he announced the betrothal of his son to a Viennese Princess; you saw +her portrait, for the Starosta let you have it. Tell me truly, on your +honour, which is the lovelier of the two, my Tatiana or the Viennese +Princess?" + +"Your Excellency! Paris never had so much difficulty in pronouncing +judgment when called upon to award the golden apple to one of three +goddesses, as I should have to decide which of the two girls is the +lovelier in my eyes. But one thing I _can_ tell you. In the background +of that portrait are painted two splendid castles. Those castles, with +all the appurtenances thereof, will be part of the bride's dowry. And +those two castles are very fine castles." + +"Good. I know everything. To-morrow, after dinner, come to me at the +fortress for your letters of introduction." + +After that Heinrich vanished from the dancing-room, he returned to his +own room to devise artful plans for the future. + +Every evil inclination was now aroused in his bosom: envy, shame, anger, +and slighted love--those four monsters who never close an eye and are +alert even when they are asleep. + +At dawn of day he was summoned by the Starosta. The old fellow was +sitting in an armchair with a mottled purple face and breathing heavily. + +"What ails your Excellency?" + +"I am waiting for a stroke or for a surgeon to open a vein, and the +question is which will be the quicker," replied the Starosta, +pleasantly. + +"Well, I've come first, you see." + +And then he performed the little surgical operation on the Starosta +which his constitution demanded after every banquet. + +"Well done, my son. You understand your business, I see. What a pity you +can't remain at my court here." + +"What does your Excellency mean?" + +"The Governor has been talking to me. He says you want to go to St. +Petersburg. You are right. But he also advised me to send my own Casimir +to the Russian court. There's a great career open there for such youths +as he who can read and even philosophize a bit. The Muscovites love +philosophy. Well, with us a little of it goes a long way. _We_ always do +what the warmth of our hearts suggests to our brains, and don't waste +much time in deliberation. Well, go together. I'll send after you the +salary I promised you for your official services here, and in return I +will only ask you to keep watch over my son, lest any evil befall him." + +Heinrich pressed the hand of his benefactor. He understood the allusion. + +It was the usual pretext: to advance a person in order to remove him. + +The Governor had observed that Casimir had brought the girl back to her +mother _by her left hand_. Let the young squire go to St. Petersburg! + +After dinner, Heinrich went to town, to the Governor's. He gave him the +promised letters of introduction and two passports, one for himself and +one for Casimir. + +"So Squire Casimir goes with you? Well, my son, I lay it upon your soul +to let me know everything that he does or intends to do during his stay +at St. Petersburg. Do you understand me?" + +"Perfectly, your Excellency." + +Scarce a year had passed since the two young men had departed for St. +Petersburg, when one night they returned home together to the Castle of +Bialystok. + +It was a dark night when they arrived, and they came to the gate of the +park, which they opened with the assistance of their keys and got into +the Castle without the knowledge of the family. They sought the +Starosta. + +The old man was sitting all alone in his bedroom, in a large armchair. +He was betwixt three tables, one in front of and one on each side of +him. On the table in front of him was a large book printed on vellum, +containing the history of Lithuania (each chapter beginning with +beautiful big illuminated letters), from the days of the first pagan +Grand Duke. On the other two tables were placed flasks of all shapes and +sizes, and of a religious character, coming as they did from Chartreuse +or Benedictine monasteries, not to mention other similar elixirs worthy +of equal praise. He was astonished when he saw the two young men enter. + +"Has the magic bird griffin brought you hither?" he cried. + +"Yes, the bird griffin has indeed brought us hither," said Casimir to +the Count. "I mean that griffin who clutches hold of the mightinesses of +this world and carries them to the mountains of Kaf." + +And then he told his father how a world-illuminating idea had come to +birth in the capital of the great Russian empire, which aimed at nothing +less than freeing all the nations of the earth from tyranny. A powerful +league had arisen, with the Grand Duke Constantine at its head, for the +annihilation of tyrants. The members of this league were all the nations +of the Russian Empire, and the fifth of these nations was Poland. The +sixth and seventh, who did not yet belong to the Russian world-empire, +were the Wallachians and the Magyars; but these also were going to join +on. Every member of this holy league carried by way of a symbol a +copper ring, whose sevenfold monogram contained the initial letters of +the seven nations. + +Old Moskowski welcomed the idea with great delight. + +Everything was ripe for a rupture. The army had been won over to the +cause of the Revolution. In the various provinces, administrative +details had already been arranged, and to every one his part had been +distributed. To Casimir Moskowski was assigned the insurrectionary +province of Volhynia. The signal was awaited from St. Petersburg. As +soon as the Revolution had broken out and gained ground there, the +signal would be given to all the other chief towns, to the South +Russians in Kiev, to the Tartars at Kazan, to the Crimean peoples in +Bogchiserai, to the Finns in Helsingfors, to the Poles at Warsaw--the +Revolution would raise its head simultaneously in all these places. And +before long the concerted outbreak would spread from Bialystok to Perm, +Odessa, and even to distant Tobolsk. + +The Starosta was ravished at the prospect. + +"But how about the Governor?" he said. + +"Nicholas Eskimov will be seized in the citadel, together with the +garrison." + +"And then he shall sweep the courtyard of the Palace of Bialystok," +cried the Starosta, "and that stuck-up little daughter of his, Tatiana, +shall wash the crockery in my scullery." + +"But all this must be kept secret till the signal arrives from St. +Petersburg for a general rising." + +There was only one thing which nettled the old Starosta. As the Holy +League had included Volhynia among its provinces, why did they not +confide the leadership of the insurrection to the man best entitled to +it; in other words, to himself, the father? Why give it to his son? + +"Well, you know, you are very old, and drink a great deal." + +At last the old man accommodated himself to the new order of things. +After all, if his son became the chief man in Volhynia, the glory of it +could not fail to rebound upon him. + +From that day forth the two young men remained hidden in the Castle; +none knew of their whereabouts. + +They were to receive the stipulated signal from St. Petersburg by +pigeon-post. + +And one day the post-pigeon really did arrive at the Castle. + +They found among its tail feathers a thin membrous letter, to whose +cipher Heinrich possessed the key. + +Heinrich took the letter and unhusked its contents. "Bad news--the very +worst," he cried; "the Revolution broke out at St. Petersburg, but was +instantly suppressed. All the leaders of the league have been seized. +_Sauve qui peut!_" + +"There you are," said the Starosta. "I'm old, and drink too much, eh? +But if I want to do anything, nobody shall stand in my way but myself. +You are young and wise; that is why you can talk so much and do +nothing." + +"Our sole safety is now in flight," said Heinrich. "The pigeon-post has +just brought us the bad news, but as yet the Governor knows nothing +about it. He will only be informed of it officially to-morrow +afternoon. We have the start of him by two days. We ought to take +refuge at once." + +"Where?" inquired the Starosta. + +"Our way is plain. Austria is quite close to us. Vienna will not deliver +up political refugees. There, too, is Casimir's future father-in-law, +and he is a man of great political influence. We must take shelter under +his wings. Only let the first fury pass away over our heads; the rest +will be a matter of high diplomacy." + +So the two young men resolved to fly towards the Austrian frontier. The +Russian Government would know nothing of their flight thither and their +stay there. + +A week later the Starosta received a letter written by Heinrich, in +which he was informed that the two young men had safely crossed the +border and arrived in the Austrian capital, proceeding at once to the +Prince's family mansion, where they had been very heartily welcomed. +There was no danger. They had simply denied any participation in the +revolution. The ambassadors would make all the rest easy. + +Moskowski hastened to communicate this joyful intelligence to the Rev. +Mr. Klausner, who, in the mean time, had again become the daily guest of +the Starosta's. + +Still greater satisfaction did it afford Moskowski when he read all +about the St. Petersburg rising in the newspapers and those implicated +therein; and at the same time he frequently met Governor Eskimov, who +continued to treat him most affably, and never once inquired about his +son or ever alluded to the conspiracy at St. Petersburg, treating it as +an affair which did not concern either of them the least bit in the +world. Naturally, Moskowski himself took good care to let the matter +alone. + +After a very short delay a letter arrived for the Starosta from the +Prince von Sonnenburg, in which he informed his dear friend that his +only daughter Ingola had that very day before the altar been united by +the insoluble bonds of holy matrimony to Squire Casimir, the Starosta's +son. Simultaneously, Heinrich sent a letter to his father, +circumstantially describing the pomp and splendour of the wedding, after +which the happy pair had retired to the ancestral Castle of Sonnenburg. +Thence they were to proceed to Italy for the honeymoon, and they +proposed to take him, as doctor, along with them. + +On hearing this joyful intelligence, old Moskowski attended a plain Mass +from mere thankfulness. + +Another year had elapsed, when Squire Casimir himself informed his +father by letter of a joyful family event. A little son had been born to +him, and both mother and child were doing excellently well. He was to be +named Maximilian, after his maternal grandfather. + +"There you are," cried old Moskowski in triumph to the Rev. Mr. +Klausner, "a grandson with the name of Maximilian, a grandson of an +Austrian prince! _He_ never _can_ become a boor. Was there ever a +Maximilian in the world who came down to that? Never! A fig for all your +Jewish prophesies!" + +After that there arrived frequent letters from the bride, letters +written in a fine, elegant hand, with a soft flowing pen. And in these +letters the highly cultured _grand dame_ drew, without end, idyllic +pictures of the bliss she shared with her Casimir. + +Presently there came an agreeable communication subscribed by the +Chancellor of the Imperial Court officially informing the Starosta that +his son Casimir had been promoted to the rank of major in the First +Imperial Uhlan regiment. + +A year later a second joyful family event was announced. "A second, eh?" +His name was Stanislaus. To him, at any rate, they gave a good old +Polish name. + +"Ah, how I should like to see them all!" sighed the old Starosta. + +But his old bones did not like the idea of a long carriage journey. The +City of Vienna is, alas! a terrible distance from Bialystok. + +Never mind, what one cannot see face to face can be presented fairly +well in a picture; and the loving daughter-in-law painted the two little +descendants in the act of embracing each other, with their two little +curly polls all mixed up together. The tears regularly flowed from the +eyes of the old Starosta as he gazed upon this pretty picture. + +"These never can become serfs; no, never!" + +And fresh presents arrived. + +They sent from Vienna the twofold family tree of the Moskowskis and the +Sonnenburgs, blended together in a harmonious whole. It was wrought in +copper-plate with masterly engravings. Not a fault could be found in it. + +Then the old Starosta wrote a letter with his own hand to his children, +to his son and daughter-in-law. He called them "my children" expressly +in this letter. He assured them he was longing for the time when he +should see them all in the ancient Castle of Bialystok. The Tsar would +certainly grant an amnesty to those who had been compromised in the +rising of 1824, and had taken refuge abroad. He trusted the Almighty +would permit him to see that time. He also thanked Heinrich for cleaving +so faithfully to Casimir. He was a worthy young man, who deserved all +respect. + +And a worthy young man he was indeed. He wrote his father a letter every +week, and every now and then he sent a little money home, although his +earnings were very small. + +And once more the Starosta received an official letter from Vienna, in +which the Lord High Steward informed him, in the most obliging manner, +that his Majesty, the Emperor and King, had advanced Casimir Moskowski +to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and at the same time decorated him +with the golden key of a Kammerherr. + +"What, my son a lieutenant-colonel!--in the mighty Imperial army! Ah, +how I should like to see him in his fur-bedizened red uniform! And I +wonder where he'll hang his Kammerherr key--on his breast or in his +girdle? If only I could see his face! My dear pastor, do write once more +to Heinrich, and urge him to say to my son, 'Have your portrait painted +for your father's sake, at full length, life size, sitting on horseback, +commanding your regiment, and send it on to him. It would be the very +best Christmas gift you could give him.'" + +So the Rev. Gottlieb Klausner wrote to his son, declaring the wish of +the affectionate father, and duly got an answer from him. + +But this answer greatly angered the two old gentlemen. + +"Casimir will not let himself be painted; he is tormented by the +suspicion that those who are painted in their youth will die young." + +"Did ever any one hear such rubbish?" growled the Starosta. "_My_ son +superstitious! And a superstition, too, the like of which I never heard +of! What was the good, then, of his learning philosophy, metaphysics, +and chemistry? _I_ never took my degree at Utrecht, yet even I don't +believe such nonsense. That comes of settling down in Vienna, you see. +He's got mumpish and stupid." + +"I'll soon find a remedy for all that," said Gottlieb Klausner. "I know +a famous painter at Vienna who has a peculiar talent. If once he has had +a good look at any one, he can go home and paint that person's portrait +to the life without the person so painted knowing anything about it. I +can certainly trust him with this commission." + +"Do it for me, by all means. I'll send him a thousand dollars in advance +on account, and if when the picture arrives I recognize my son, I'll +give the painter whatever he likes to ask for it." + +A few months afterwards Klausner got his answer from the painter. The +picture was already on its way, well packed up, frame and all. A +four-horse waggon would bring it from Vienna to Bialystok. Let them only +keep an eye on the frontier custom-house officers, lest they injured +it. + +The bringing of the picture to the house was a veritable triumphal +progress. It was packed in a gigantic case, and it required four master +carpenters to open it and disentangle it from all its swathing bands and +wrappings. + +On the same day on which the picture arrived, the Governor intimated to +the Starosta that he was inviting himself to dinner at the latter's +house. + +"So much the better," said the Starosta. "I should like him to be +present when they bring in the picture. Don't tell him anything about +it. Let it be a great surprise for him. How the chinovnik will stare +when he sees Casimir in the imperial uniform! I wonder if the painter +has painted his golden key?" + +"He cannot paint that," said Klausner, "because these Kammerherr +gentlemen wear it behind their backs." + +"What, wear a mark of distinction behind! Who ever heard of such a +thing?" + +Mr. Eskimov arrived punctually to dinner. There were only three at +table--the Starosta, the clergyman, and the Governor--and they very +pleasantly drank a few glasses of Tokai together. When the pipes were +produced, by way of winding up the repast, the Governor observed-- + +"Well, my good sir, we can now talk together about a very serious +business. I didn't want to put you out in any way during the meal. I +want to speak to you about your _poor_ son." + +"Oh, that won't put me out in the least; though I don't know why you +should call him _poor_. I, for one, don't consider my son's fate at all +a sorry one." + +"Come, now, that's very noble of you to be so content with the Tsar's +exalted measures, and not consider your son's fate so terrible, +especially as I may at once give you the assurance that his fate has now +come to an end; the Tsar has just issued a general amnesty for the +leaders of the rebellion of 1824." + +Moskowski shrugged his shoulders. "My son held no leading part in that +rebellion." + +"Come, come, my dear Starosta, don't tell me that. I am acquainted with +all the details of the process. I know exactly what part Casimir took in +it. I took a lot of trouble to get the capital sentence commuted to +lifelong transportation to Siberia." + +"My son in Siberia?" + +"Yes. The Tsar's clemency delivered him from it not so very long ago." + +"My friend, that little drop of Tokai has got into your head. You +shouldn't play with your glass; take bigger gulps, and cure yourself +that way. My son was never in Siberia." + +"Indeed! Why, I sent him there myself. I have about me my letter on the +subject to the Governor of Tobolsk, which I sent to him seven years +ago." + +"And I have a letter of congratulation from the Lord High Steward of the +Imperial Court, in which he informs me of the promotion of my son to the +rank of a major of Lancers." + +"Your son a major of Lancers! Why, he's a raskolnik." + +"A raskolnik? They would not be likely, I think, to give a Princess of +Sonnenburg in marriage to a raskolnik." + +"A Princess of Sonnenburg to your son! You're mad! Why, I seized him +myself when he was attempting to escape across the border. He could not +deny that he had taken part in the rebellion, for we found on his person +full powers from the revolutionary committee. It was a good job for him +that he also had about him his academic diploma, which certified that he +understood chemistry and mining. Those delinquents who understand the +science of mining are treated with particular favour: they do not get +the knout, and are not put in chains. But, on the other hand, they are +obliged to utilize their knowledge in the gold mines of the Urals." + +"My son in the gold mines of the Urals! You are beside yourself, +comrade." + +"On the contrary, I am a good deal in advance of you. This was in the +beginning of 1825." + +"What was in the beginning of 1825? At that very time my son was +enjoying his honeymoon in Italy. He wrote to me there, from the summit +of Vesuvius--he and his consort." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the Governor. "Your son's consort wrote to you! +The daughter of a Samoyede chief wrote to you from the summit of +Vesuvius! Ha, ha, ha!" + +"Don't enrage me, my son! Do you mean the Kamtschatka to which that mad +Vulko alluded?" + +"I don't know the name of your son's consort; but I do know that she is +the daughter of a Samoyede chief. The Governor of Siberia has sent me +regular reports about your son Casimir every year. I expressly asked him +to do so. One year your son spent in the gold-mines of the Urals, and +then, because of his good conduct, and also out of regard to his father, +he was permitted to devote himself to agriculture on the banks of the +Jenisei. There he fell in with a Samoyede stock, good, honest, +hospitable people. The chief's daughter fell in love with him, and they +gave her to him. Casimir built himself a _jurta_, as they call their +huts, reared reindeer, ploughed up a bit of land, and settled down there +with his Siberian rose, and in the mean time two children have been born +to them." + +"I know--I know it right well," said the Starosta, whose long-repressed +laughter now burst forth, "and he has sent his father their portraits." + +"His father? Their portraits?" + +"And two pretty little fair-haired chaps, too!" + +"Fair-haired! Has _he_ got fair-haired children, too?" + +"One of them has been christened Maximilian, after his maternal +grandfather; the other is called Stanislaus." + +"I had no idea there were ancestral Maximilians and Stanislauses among +the Samoyedes." + +But now the Starosta began to grow really angry. He struck the table +viciously with his fist. + +"In the name of St. Procopius, what do you mean? We have had about +enough of this Siberian joke and these Samoyede princes. You must not +jest so with me. D'ye hear?" + +"And I protest by St. Michael that I am not jesting at all, but that you +are jesting with me; and your jesting is very much out of place, and out +of season, too. D'ye hear?" + +"Very well. I'll fetch this instant the letter of the Lord High Steward +at Vienna, and that will open your eyes a bit." + +"And I'll produce letters from the Governors of Tobolsk, Irkutsk, and +Jeniseisk, and that will make you prick up your ears." + +The two distinguished gentlemen were on the point of coming to +fisticuffs when, fortunately, the pastor, always sober-minded, +intervened between them. + +"Pray be calm, your honours," said Gottlieb Klausner. "Why all this +barren strife? Have we not here the very portrait painted for his honour +the Starosta by a famous Viennese painter--the portrait, I mean, of +Squire Casimir in the uniform of a lieutenant-colonel of the Imperial +and Royal Uhlans? That picture will be the best means of deciding which +of you is right." + +Two heydukes thereupon brought the huge picture in its bronzed frame +into the room, and they leaned it up against the wall. + +And as they all three gazed at the picture--and, remember, they were all +of them strong-minded men--they bounced back in amazement, as if they +had seen a spectre. + +"Lord have mercy upon us!" + +And yet it was an extremely handsome picture, too, painted in a most +masterly manner--true to the life. An officer of Uhlans, a manly and +picturesque figure. Tawny, lion-like locks flowed over both shoulders; +his ruddy face, blue eyes, and light eyebrows went very well together. +At the corner of his smiling mouth there was a little mole. + +"That is my son," gasped the clergyman, and he fell senseless to the +ground. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE EXCHANGE + + +"'Tis the way of the world," Heinrich Klausner had said to himself when +he had locked himself into his attic after that memorable ball. "I am +nobody. I am not recognized among living beings. I am empty air; people +look through me without seeing me. In society I am alone with the +servants. At table I sit beside a big dog. I am the sport of the court +fool. If they think of me at all it is only to laugh at me. They promise +me the daughter of a Samoyede chief to wife. Pretty girls put out their +tongues at me when I ask them for a dance. And why? Because my name is +Heinrich Klausner, and by profession I am only a doctor. Casimir every +one kisses and embraces and exalts. Casimir's health is drunk. Casimir +carries the national standard. The dignity of Starosta will one day be +Casimir's. Casimir opens the ball. Casimir may do anything. All the +girls adore Casimir. Casimir gives his right hand to the daughter of a +prince at Vienna, and his left hand is good enough for my former +sweetheart. Why? Because his name is Casimir Moskowski, and he has a +noble title before his name. What if we were to change places? Then who +would have the daughter of the Samoyede chief to wife, the Kamskatka +lady?" + +It was thus that the demoniacal idea was first hatched in his breast. + +First of all, he induced the Starosta to send his son to St. +Petersburg. In the foreign Universities they had frequently come across +young democratic Russians belonging to the great league whose object it +was to depose Tsar Alexander and put in his place the Grand Duke +Constantine, and then to form from the provinces of Russia, Poland, +Hungary, and Wallachia a confederation of constitutional states. The +pillars of this project were the leading members of the Russian +aristocracy. + +Heinrich felt certain that if Casimir could be got to St. Petersburg he +could easily be inveigled into this league. His enthusiastic spirit, +responsive to every noble idea of liberty, would be unable to resist the +temptation which would be all the stronger as it sprang from its most +natural source, the love of the ardent and fanatical Poles for their +country. Such a grand part would satisfy all his desires. He would be +the Voivode of liberated Volhynia. His hands would hold the banner +emblazoned with the Ureox of Grodno. His birth, his rank, his +riches--everything would entitle him to the _role_ of leader. It was +impossible to conceive that he would refuse the offer. + +When, then, the plans of the conspirators had so far matured that the +day for the outbreak of the insurrection was already fixed upon, the +revolutionary committee authorized Casimir to begin the rising in the +Province of Volhynia, and, with this object, Casimir and Heinrich +proceeded to Bialystok. + +The St. Petersburg rising meanwhile was crushed as soon as it broke out. +In vain they made the Russian soldiers believe that the "Constitutsyd" +(the constitution) was the name of the consort of the Grand Duke +Constantine--they preferred the Tsar to any such lady. + +Thus all those who had been sent to provoke a popular rising in the +provinces were obliged to fly for their lives so long as the frontier +still remained open, and it was then that Heinrich betrayed his friend +to Eskimov, the Governor of Grodno. + +The pursuing Cossacks overtook them on the frontier. But the Cossacks +only had orders to seize Casimir, so they let the doctor go. + +Casimir, however, had taken the precaution to hand over all his papers +to Heinrich, not only those on account of which they might prosecute +him, such as the credentials of the revolutionary committee, but also +the letters of introduction from his father to the Vienna magnates, the +Sonnenburg princes. Nothing whatever was found upon him. + +But Heinrich sent the compromising documents to Eskimov by the first +post, together with Casimir's academical certificates. + +He himself continued his journey to Vienna without interruption. On +arriving at the imperial metropolis he announced himself wherever +Casimir's letters of introduction gained him an entry as Count Casimir +Moskowski. His refined, distinguished appearance, social charm, and +brilliant accomplishments made the fraud easy. The acquaintance with the +Starosta and his whole environment, but especially his intimacy with +Casimir, had placed him in possession of the deepest family secrets +which justified the false part he was playing. His chivalrous bearing, +moreover, completely won the heart of the young princess. The engagement +between them contracted from afar through other hands, became a +veritable love-match, and it soon won powerful supporters in Court +circles. He took part in all the court festivities, for he had no lack +of money wherewith to maintain a splendour corresponding with his +dignity. He quickly mounted the rungs of the ladder of rank. He was +free-handed with his money or rather with the Starosta's. In a very +short time the false Count Moskowski was one of the most feted, one of +the most envied personages at the Imperial Court. + +He had nothing to fear from anyone. In the whole empire none knew +anything of Heinrich Klausner. Who was he? Nothing at all! Empty air. +Those who looked at him did not see him. The deception could not be +unmasked. The old Starosta could not come from Bialystok to Vienna on +any account. Gout and corpulence would not let him. He himself could not +cross the Russian border with his consort to visit his father, for he +was proscribed and an exile, and even if he could get an amnesty, a +Polish refugee prefers to hate the Russian at a distance and avoid his +territory. + +But how about the genuine Casimir Moskowski? Well, he has very good +reasons not to come to Vienna. Even if he has not already died beneath +the blows of the knout, he may calculate upon lifelong imprisonment in +the mines of Siberia or on the endless snowfields, and while his good +comrade is making his fine charger caracole to the delight of the lovers +of sport at the Imperial Court, or guiding countesses through the mazes +of the minuet at Court balls, or receiving the congratulations of +foreign envoys, or responding to the toasts of his noble colleagues on +his name-day, and living out his days in an earthly paradise in the arms +of the loveliest woman in the world and choosing aristocratic names for +his children--in the mean time, the nameless man from whom he has +filched his family name, is known by no name at all, but simply by a +number fastened to or painted on the jacket which he wears on his +back--No. 13579. Why on earth should convict No. 13579 think of visiting +Vienna? All that _he_ sees before him is a huge piece of rock which he +has to break up in order to get at the vein of gold within. And even if +they release him from that, it will only be to conduct him still further +into the depths of Siberia, to the colonies of the skin-hunters. There +he will have to collect sufficient sable and ermine skins to enable him +to get permission to settle down somewhere by the banks of the river +where he may plough the land and wring bread from the earth by the +labour of his own hands, and in winter time tan leather and carve little +human figures out of walrus tusks for the Samoyedes. Perhaps also he may +get a consort from the chief of one of the tribes of these nomadic +tent-dwellers, a short-legged, tubby, seal-like beauty, with whom he may +taste the joys of family life. Find out the name of this new princess if +you can, but don't look for it in the Almanach de Gotha. Yes, the true +Casimir Moskowski has been very well disposed of. + +But suppose the White Tsar were one day to utter words of mercy and +grant an amnesty to the rebels deported to Siberia? Well, even then, +there will be no cause for anxiety. To those who receive permission to +return from Siberia to Russia is always assigned a particular town in +which they have to dwell, a good distance from the capital as well as +from their own homes. And this town they must never leave, nor are they +permitted to go abroad. + +Then, too, the Starosta cannot live for ever; he is bound to have a +stroke some day. Heinrich felt quite secure. He need fear nobody. Yet +stay; there was one man he _did_ fear. He did not feel sure of his own +dear father. It might occur to the clergyman one day to take a journey +to Vienna to _see his own son_. + +But this eventuality was also provided for. The false Moskowski had +provided on purpose for it a modest little lodging in the suburbs poorly +furnished, where the doctor might be able to receive his old father in +an austere environment. A special costume was held in reserve for that +occasion--should it ever occur. + +And if, perhaps, which was more than probable, Gottlieb Klausner wished +to see his distinguished patron in the Sonnenburg Castle, against that +danger also Heinrich had provided an antidote. In the later letters to +his father he had tried to make the old man believe that for some little +time he had good cause to be angry with his dear friend, Casimir, and, +in fact, things had come to such a pass between them that he had been +forbidden the Prince's door. If, on the other hand, the clergyman went +by himself to see the Princess, he knew very well that his consort would +not receive him. He had already explained to her pretty clearly that +Heinrich Klausner was the traitor whose treachery was the cause of his +exile, and consequently he was quite sure that the Princess would tell +her servants to show the father of the treacherous comrade the door. + +Meanwhile he kept up his correspondence with the Starosta, having learnt +to imitate Casimir's handwriting most exactly, and in all these letters +he was constantly complaining of Heinrich. So skilfully did he enwrap +himself in a spider's web of lies that it was impossible to catch a +clear glimpse of him through it. + +There was only one thing he had never thought of--that his picture might +be painted for the Starosta without his knowledge. And this was the very +idea which had occurred to his father. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NEMESIS + + +A great festival was being held in the Castle of Sonnenburg. It was the +sixth birthday of little Prince Maximilian. + +The little lad had just recovered from a severe illness; from one of +those epidemics especially dangerous to children. + +Heinrich during his son's illness had frequently been on the verge of +betraying himself. Three doctors had been summoned to the Castle, and +not one of them possessed his up-to-date knowledge. And all he could do +was to listen to their disputes while they were in consultation. How he +would have liked to exclaim: "You are charlatans, the whole lot of you! +Poisoners! Ignoramuses! I can diagnose the case quite well; you can't." + +He had to bury his knowledge out of sight. Two or three pillules +administered in homoeopathic doses would immediately have cured the +child's weakness, and he could not give them to him. He was not allowed +to save his own child. He was obliged to look on while _his colleagues_ +experimented with, tortured, the child. He could not reveal to them that +he was a physician. Ah, ah!--then where is your diploma? And his diploma +was in the name of Heinrich Klausner. + +And self love was stronger in him than paternal love. So he was silent, +and looked on cold-bloodedly at the torments of his child. + +And at last nature and a mother's prayers prevailed against the severity +of the disease. Little Max, despite the united operations of three +specialists, actually recovered. It was on his very birthday that he was +permitted to leave his room. + +That day was kept in the Castle as a joyful festival. The grandparents, +the Prince of Sonnenburg and his wife, had come to the house. The feast +had been a calm and quiet rejoicing from beginning to end. No guests +outside the family had been invited. + +At the end of the meal, just as the father, his face radiant with +happiness, had risen with a glass of foaming champagne to propose the +health of the grandparents, the Major Domo came in from the ante-chamber +and whispered something in the ear of the young Princess. + +For an instant, Ingola angrily contracted her brows, but the next moment +a benevolent smile lit up her face. + +"No. To-day I will be angry with no one. To-day I am ready to forgive my +mortal foe. Let him come in." + +But at the sight of the visitor, as he passed through the doorway, the +champagne glass which had been raised for the toast fell from +Heinrich's hand, and he himself collapsed into a chair. + +The visitor was Gottlieb Klausner; he had entered the banqueting-room in +his simple black cassock. + +He made straight for his son, and, placing his muscular hand on his +shoulder, shook him out of his benumbing stupefaction. + +"What do you want with Prince Casimir Moskowski?" exclaimed old Prince +Sonnenburg. + +The clergyman, in a dry, scornful voice, replied: "This man is not Count +Casimir Moskowski, but my son, Heinrich Klausner, betrayer, impostor, +thief." + +Then, scarcely audible, he murmured to his son: "Rise and follow me." + +Heinrich rose mechanically from the table and allowed his father to +seize his hand. + +Then the Princess Ingola, full of fear, shrieked: "My husband! What are +you doing with my husband?" + +The clergyman turned round, and with his long, lean, extended arm +indicated another visitor whom he had brought with him; and who, before +he made his appearance, had been leaning against the lintel of the door. + +"Your husband, Princess Sonnenburg, is standing there. That is Prince +Casimir Moskowski, your lawful consort." + +The creature standing against the door was the exile just returned from +Siberia; a creature broken down by oppression and suffering, with a mop +of tangled hair and a long beard prematurely grey; his face livid and +sunken, and prematurely aged by a network of wrinkles; bentbacked, with +hands purple, frost-bitten, and horny from hard labour. Six years in the +school of Siberia had reduced the stately son of the Starosta to this. +Just look at him! + +At the sight of this spectre, Heinrich quickly snatched a knife from the +table, but his father still more quickly wrenched it from his grasp +before Heinrich could draw it across his throat. + +"Oho! my son! You don't get out of it so easily. You must make an +exchange. The convict's coarse sheepskin awaits you. Your name is +'13579.' You can easily remember it; it is a perfectly straightforward +series of odd numbers. Your predecessor bore it for six years." + + * * * * * + +And the exchange really took place. Both the Austrian and the Russian +Governments agreed that this scandalous fraud must be kept a profound +secret, which would have ruined two of the most illustrious families of +both empires. They also compelled the party most interested in the +affair, the clever impostor, to make a late reparation. Moreover, +Casimir had his property returned to him on condition that he +acknowledged the Princess Ingola to be his consort. The Princess was +also obliged to take him for her husband in order to procure for her +children the family name, and the right of succession to the property. +They all went together to Bialystok, and there they lived, as well as +they could, joyless, cut off from the world, with their doors closed +against every one. + +But Heinrich they sent to the banks of the Jenisei. They shoved him into +the sheepskin which had been made expressly for convict No. 13579, and +gave him his predecessor's digging implements, sledge--and Samoyede +consort. + +And the old Starosta lived for a long time after that. He lived long +enough to see the death of the children bearing the name of Moskowski, +both Maximilian and Stanislaus; he lived long enough to see the family +name of the Moskowskis become extinct. No other offspring came to supply +their place. + +But the veritable offspring of his flesh and blood, the little +Samoyedes, increased and multiplied like sparrows. Their descendants now +people the plains of the Jenisei, and very careful and industrious +peasants they are. + + + + +VII + +THE CITY OF THE BEAST + +_A CHAPTER FROM THE HISTORY OF A VANISHED CONTINENT_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TABLES OF HANNO + + +Plato, the Sage of classical Greece, speaks in his writings of a strange +continent which, if historians and geologists are to be believed, must +have lain somewhere between the island of St. Helena and the coast of +Africa. The poets and philosophers of antiquity called it Atlantis, +Oceania, or the Fortunate Islands. + +In those days the earth was still a divinity to whom man raised altars. +In those days men had not arrived at the overpowering conviction that +the whole globe was nothing more than a wretched mite of a ball, which +the sun, out of regard for the equilibrium of the universe, or, perhaps +for the mere fun of the thing, twirls round and round. They had no idea +that you could sail completely round it; measure it; weigh it and +calculate exactly how long it has lasted and how much longer it is +likely to last. No! The Earth still retained the nimbus of divinity; +was still regarded as immeasurable, infinite, incomprehensible; and the +sun, moon, and stars were popularly supposed to be his vassals. + +Above the earth was heaven; below the earth was the Styx, and the +dwellers on the earth lived in intimate relations with them both. No one +had an inkling that the blue expanse above was only the reflection of +the sun's rays refracted through the vapours of the earth, and that +neither the gods, nor the blessed, could endure to live up there for the +intense cold. No one knew that only the upper rind of the earth was +solid, and that in the depths below the heat was so intense that the +devil himself could only exist there in a molten condition. + +In those days the earth was still an unappropriated domain. The poet +could picture to himself bright fairy worlds beyond the continents +already known, and the popular imagination was free to people the +uninhabited wilds with all manner of marvels and monsters. + +The wondrous thoughts of a poetic spirit betray themselves in these +ideas and guesses. The spirit of invention three thousand years ago +spoke of two gates which the then known world was said to have. One of +these gates lay in the far north-east, between the snow and ice-clad +Altai mountains, which set bounds to the wanderings of the nations. +Beyond this mountain chain it was said you could hear the din of Gog and +Magog, whom the mighty conqueror Alexander had thrust out of the world +behind gates of bronze, and who ever since have been baring and blasting +rock and mountain, and digging subterraneous ways in order to escape +from their prison. Woe betide the world and all that dwells therein if +ever they succeed in forcing their way through the woody Imaus and +appear, with their hairy faces, angular heads, unknown tongues, arms, +and clothing, and deluge the world from end to end like the stroke of a +great spirit paint-brush, which, after filling its canvas with mighty +nations, splendid cities, and world-renowned conquerors, should suddenly +wipe them off again at a single sweep in order to paint fresh subjects. + +At the opposite end of the world, in the warm south-west, where the gaze +of the dreamer loses itself in the endless blue mirror of ocean, the +poet pictured to himself that happier world which sprang from the +rapturous embrace of heaven and earth; a world where the air is balmier, +where love is sweeter, where man is more valiant and woman more +faithful; where the light knows no shadow, joy no grief, and the flower +no fading; where everything--herbs, trees, and the hearts of +men--rejoices in an eternal youth. + +It is an odd phenomenon in the psychology of nations, that popular fancy +should always have painted the North with the pale and sombre hues of +fear and terror, whilst she looked for the fulfilment of her +unattainable hopes to the equally dim and impenetrable South, and +constantly sent her dreams and her sighs in that direction. + + * * * * * + +In the days when Rome, still in her first bloom, had begun to be the +mistress of those regions which the geographers of antiquity called the +known world, there arose another young city on the opposite seashore, +almost over against that great boot which we call Italy, and which, when +once it had a good strong foot inside it, was to conquer the world with +such rapid strides. + +The new metropolis sprang from the ground as rapidly as Rome herself. +The legend still lives of its imperious foundress, who purchased from +the strange king as much land for her fugitive people as could be +covered with an oxhide, and now that plot of land, once meted out by a +buffalo-skin cut into strips, was already the seat of a great empire, +and of all the coast land round about, and might perhaps have won the +dominion of the whole world besides--if Rome had not chanced to be in +that very world at that very time. Two centres the world cannot have; +round two axles the earth cannot revolve. + +This young city was called Carthage. + +Men counted 330 years from the foundation of Carthage, which time +Christians call 550 B.C., when the following event took place in the +city of Carthage. + +The captain of a merchant vessel, who very often touched the African +coasts in the way of business, had been absent from his native land so +long that his funeral feast had been held; his wife had wedded a second +time, and another had succeeded to his office. Suddenly, when no one +ever expected to see him again, he reappeared at the entrance of the +great double harbour, which shut out the sea by means of huge chains, +and had not its equal in the whole world, not even in Tyre itself, the +oldest of all trading cities. + +The mariner's name was Hanno. The whole city knew all about him, and +every one now said how wonderful it was that Hanno should have come +back again, after remaining away so long. + +And he brought back with him treasures and curiosities such as no man +had ever seen before, not even in dreams. + +It was the custom at Carthage for the merchants who traversed distant +lands to record the sum and substance of their experiences on marble +tables, which tables were then preserved in the Temple of Kronos, which +was in the heart of the city, near to the circumvallated Byrza. That the +God of Time also possessed a temple there proves that, even in those +early days, the fact that time is the greatest of all treasures, that +time is money, was generally recognized at Carthage. + +So Hanno's tables were placed on the altar of Kronos. These tables the +people were not allowed to see. The inspection thereof was solely +reserved for the Council of Elders, the grey Senators whose business it +was to calculate how the information thus acquired could be turned to +the profit of the fatherland. + +The very next day after Hanno's tables had been placed on the altar, he +was summoned to the dwelling of the Governor, which stood on a little +island, midway between the two havens, exactly opposite the Gate of +Elephants. At that time Carthage had already 260 gates and 650,000 +inhabitants. A wall 180 feet high encircled the city on the land side; +the cupolas of her palaces sparkled with gold; and, high above all her +palaces, towered a temple whose walls were of black marble, whose +columns were of alabaster with silver capitals, and from the top of +whose domed roof rose a huge golden cupola, surmounted by four silver +wings. + +The Archon led Hanno over the scarlet, asphalted bridge, and, stopping +short midway in front of the huge statue of Baalti, bade him survey the +streets and public places of the huge city, along which a motley tide of +human beings was ebbing and flowing, while whole armies of elephants, +with heavy loads and gaily painted towers on their backs, were striding +along the thoroughfares. + +"Look, Hanno! Dost thou not see how great the city hath grown during thy +absence, and how the number of the people hath increased in like +measure?" + +"It hath indeed become as great again," replied the mariner. + +"Wouldst thou not be sad at heart if these palaces were one day to fall +to the ground, if nothing but bats and serpents were to dwell in the +place of these busy crowds, so that the stranger who heard tell of +Carthage must needs ask: 'But where, then, is this great city? Who is +there that can tell me anything about it?'" + +"God forbid." + +"And if one were then to make answer to the stranger, and say: 'That +city once ruled half the world, and her fall dates from the day when a +certain seafarer, called Hanno, returned from a long voyage,' wouldst +thou have that come to pass?" + +"Astarte and all the good gods preserve me from such a thought." + +"Then guard thy lips, and take heed to what thou sayest before the +Council." + +Soon afterwards Hanno stood in the council chamber. The elders of the +city sat round about the walls, and Hierkas, the eldest of the Senators, +with a white beard reaching down to his girdle, held in his lap the +large stone tables on which Hanno's experiences were recorded. + +"Hanno," said the eldest of the elders to the seafarer, "thou hast been +absent for years from thy native land; we waited for thee and thou +camest not. In thy native land palaces, treasures, beautiful gardens, +fruitful fields were thine; at home thou hadst a lovely wife and beloved +slaves, and yet thou couldst find it in thy heart to remain away so +long. Are the things true which thou hast recorded on these marble +tables?" + +"True every whit, and nought added thereto." + +"Is it true that thou wast tossed by tempests on to a great continent in +the far west, a continent larger than all the rest of the known world +put together?" + +"It is even so as I have said." + +"Is it true that the winter there is as warm as the summer here, the +grass as high as trees are with us, and the beasts as wise as men?" + +"So it is in very truth." + +"Is it true that there the women are fairer and fonder, and the men +braver and mightier than with us; that there the very air is a healing +balm, which heals the sick and makes the coward valiant, and the +ill-favoured comely?" + +"I have said it." + +"Is it true that gold abounds there like sand, that precious stones are +to be found on the mountain-tops, and pearls and purple on the +seashore?" + +"So have I found it." + +"Thou hast said that thou didst see a plant, the roots whereof yield +fruit sweeter than bread; that thou didst find a reed which yields +honey, bushes which furnish wool white as fallen snow, and a tree from +the pierced bark whereof flows streams of wine, while vessels full of +milk grow beneath its crown?" + +"All this have I seen, and to prove it I have brought of them all back +with me." + +"Hast thou not also brought back with thee a wonder-working bird with +human speech and man's understanding?" + +"I have it on my ship." + +"Hast thou spoken with others of these things?" + +"Only on the marble tables are my secrets recorded." + +"Thy sailors have not yet been in the town, then?" + +"None of them have left the harbour." + +"Then, Hanno, return to thy ship." + +They led the mariner back to his ship. Late the same evening the vessel +was escorted by four men-of-war into the open sea, where, after +stripping her of boats, sails, and helm, they deluged her on all four +sides with what was known long afterwards as Greek fire. In an instant +the inextinguishable flames had ignited the planks, and there, on the +open sea, Hanno's ship, with its owner, its crew, and the gold-dust, the +bread-fruit, the sugar-canes, the cocoa-nuts, and the talking-bird which +they had brought back with them, were utterly consumed. The fire burned +everything down to the very water's edge. + +And a proclamation went forth in the streets of Carthage, that whoever +presumed to say a word about Hanno's happy land should be instantly +offered up to the goddess Astarte, and if a Senator should dare to +betray a word of what was written on Hanno's marble tables, he should be +stoned at the entrance of the harbour, and his bones strewn in the sea. + +For if the men of Carthage had but learned that such a happy land +existed anywhere under the sun, they would have quitted their native +land in troops, the palaces would have fallen to pieces from decay, bats +and serpents would have dwelt within the gates, and thus the day would +have come when the stranger, on hearing the name of Carthage mentioned, +would have asked: "But where, then, is the site of that great city?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BAR NOEMI, THE BENJAMINITE + + +In the days when great Tyre still stood in all her glory, and her +merchant vessels left not even the East Indies unexplored, there dwelt +in that city a rich seaman, Bar Noemi by name. + +His name tells us at once that he was a native of Palestine. He was, +indeed, one of the few survivors of those Benjaminites who had been +extirpated, together with their city, by the men of the other eleven +tribes, to avenge the dishonour done to a single woman. And the +punishment was certainly deserved--the men of Benjamin had dishonoured a +woman who came to their city as a guest. It was a righteous deed to root +out such men. Bar Noemi was still a mere child when he escaped from +destruction; he had had no share, therefore, in the sins of his fathers, +and he knew besides that they had been put to the edge of the sword by +the Lord's command, the strong God, Jehova the avenger, who, midst the +thunders of Sinai, had written on the tables of stone with His own hand: +"The face of the strange woman shall be sacred to the strange man, and +whosoever trespasses against her shall die the death!" + +Bar Noemi knew very well that this sentence had been rigorously executed +upon the inhabitants of a whole city, yet he never renounced the faith +of his fathers on that account; but clave strictly to the traditions of +Holy Zion even in the midst of the city of delights, and sacrificed +continually to the strong avenging God who visits indeed the sins of the +fathers upon the children even to the fourth generation, but also +rewards their virtues down to the thousandth generation. + +Yet the gods of Tyre and Sidon were ever so much more agreeable. They +suffered the altar of Love to stand in their temples. Anybody was free +to offer thereon doves or goats, according as his love was chaste or +unchaste. No one was taken to task for the sins of love; on the +contrary, mortals were initiated into mysteries which taught them how to +approach, through insensible gradations of delight, the heaven of +bliss--or hopeless damnation. + +Bar Noemi neither visited Astarte's temple, nor allowed himself to be +initiated into her magical mysteries. He was satisfied with observing +his own religious feasts and fasts with prayer and thanksgiving, and +every year scoured all the boards of his house at the Passover, and +raised the green booths in his garden at the Feast of Tabernacles. And +the inhabitants of Tyre let him do as he chose. A trading nation is wont +to be tolerant in matters of religion. Besides, the religion of Israel +was nothing new to the Tyrians. The two nations had often come into +contact, sometimes with iron in their hands, but much more often with +gold and silver. As Bar Noemi reached man's estate, he was reckoned +among the richest merchants in Tyre. His fifty galleys conveyed purple +stuffs, real pearls, and oriental spices from continent to continent. + +He himself was the hardiest of mariners. He was frequently absent with +his ship twelve months at a time. His sailors were all of them picked +men of the tribe of Levi. + +Bar Noemi was the first to discover how to sail from the Red Sea to +Carthage without being obliged to transport one's wares on camels from +one coast to the other, thus avoiding the grievous, exorbitant tolls +imposed by the Egyptians upon the Phoenician merchants. None of the older +mariners had found out the secret. The Cape of Good Hope was still an +unknown point to the trading world, and men shrank back in terror from +the hostile winds and tempests which environed it. + +At Carthage, Bar Noemi had learnt to know the daughter of a merchant, +one of those Punic beauties whom the Roman ladies loved so much to +imitate. The fairest of complexions was made still more fair by +wonderful saffron locks; the large blue eyes had long black lashes; the +jet eyebrows were arched and bushy; the lips a deep purple, and the skin +as soft as velvet, and as white as alabaster. + +After the first Punic war, the Roman ladies, in order to win back their +husbands and lovers from these fascinating foreign belles, did all in +their power to make their own charms correspond with the charms of the +Carthaginian beauties. They coloured their locks with saffron, tied raw +flesh to their skins at night, and heightened the colour of their lips +with red salve. But Nature had given all these things gratis to the +Carthaginian beauties. Art could not supply those long golden locks from +which they manufactured bow-strings in the hour of their country's +mortal agony; or those voluptuous supple limbs which bled beneath the +weapons of Rome in the last evil hour of Carthage. + +Byssenia, Bar Noemi's bride, was one of these beauties. Her father was +satisfied with the marriage gift which Bar Noemi brought his daughter; +merchants always regard it as a great point to have the question of +dower settled before the conclusion of the match. + +And Bar Noemi was much more than a mere rich man. He was a handsome man, +and valiant and haughty to boot, a man who never humbly bowed his head, +and thought it a shame to cast down his eyes before any one. He was wont +to say that no one had a keener glance than the lightning, or a more +terrible manner of speech than the raging sea, and these he had long ago +learnt to defy. + +His acquaintances and all the great men of the city assembled on his +wedding-day at the house of the bride's father, while the Carthaginian +damsels led the bride into the grove of Astarte, that she might bathe +for the first time in the sacred spring whence she was to be led to the +altar of the goddess, there to be united to the bridegroom. When, +however, it came to the bridegroom's turn, according to Phoenician +custom, to offer to the gods of wood and stone the sacrifices which they +demand from all men, Bar Noemi, to every one's astonishment, answered: +"Our God is Jehovah," and refused to bring any offering to the idol. + +The elders and high priests were much offended by these bold words, and +conferred together in whispers as to what they should do with the +audacious stranger. + +First they led him into the halls of Astarte, whom the people adored in +the shape of a beautiful woman in white marble. They showed him the +mysteries of the ritual devoted to the Goddess of Love, the sweet, +seductive secrets which confound the human soul, the sense-bereaving, +voluptuous shapes which, under various names, have found worshippers in +all ages down to the latest times. + +Bar Noemi hastily turned away his eyes from the captivating sight, and +stammered: "Jehovah is our God." + +Shaking their heads, the elders and high priests proceeded further, and +led Bar Noemi into the temple of the great and glistening god Dagon, +resplendent with gold and silver, where the molten image of the God of +Riches sits in a ship of mother-o'-pearl, laden with pearls and precious +stones, and swimming in a basin of quicksilver instead of water. Then +they represented to Bar Noemi that even if he would not bow before the +magic of Love, he might well bend the knee before the terrible symbol of +Riches, for the mighty Dagon grants wealth and dominion to them who +honour him. + +Bar Noemi looked contemptuously at the treasures lying at his feet, and +answered boldly: "Our God is Jehovah." + +The elders and high priests exchanged angry glances, and led him next to +the temple of the war god Remphan, which rested on copper columns. The +idol itself was of dark, molten bronze; at its feet lay heaps and heaps +of broken weapons and armour, the trophies of battles won by the +Carthaginians, as well as the prows of those ships which had been +captured in naval victories. + +"Since thou wilt bow down to neither Love nor Riches, at least do +obeisance to the god in whose gift is Fame, the highest gift known to a +true man." + +But Bar Noemi gazed boldly into the hollow eyes of the molten idol, and +cried defiantly: "There is but one God--Jehovah, the Almighty." + +Last of all they brought him into the subterranean temple of Baal, the +god of the strong hell, who has dominion over eternal fire, and +distributes pains and torments both here and in the nether world. There +they showed the stranger the red-hot body of the huge, shapeless idol +which demanded a human victim every day, and they forced him to stay to +see the sacrifice. Then they hurled a great, strong man into the idol's +jaws, and the same instant a thick smoke gushed forth from Baal's eyes +and nostrils, whilst the yells of the dying victim roared forth from the +cavernous stomach like the laugh of a demon of hell, gradually growing +fainter and fainter, as when a wild beast has satisfied his hunger, and +settles quietly down to digest his food. + +"Bar Noemi," cried the elders, "the gates of death are open before thee. +Speak!" + +Full of unshakable faith, the young man raised his eyes towards the +invisible bright blue sky, the one thing pure enough to be imagined the +dwelling-place of the eternal God, and spake unmoved: "Jehovah alone is +God, the Ruler of earth and of the starry heavens, the Lord of life and +death. All else is but dust and ashes." + +The idol roared forth the death-agonies of a second victim, while the +officiating priests sought to drown the sickening shrieks with the din +of kettledrums and cymbals. In the midst of this hellish spectacle, Bar +Noemi folded his hands across his breast and prayed in silence. He had +quite made up his mind to breathe his last in the belly of the idol. + +Again the elders and high priests whispered together, then, with smiling +countenances, they spoke thus to Bar Noemi-- + +"Thou hast remained steadfast in thy faith. Cleave thereto henceforward +also, and never forswear thyself. Wed thee with thy betrothed after the +manner of thy nation, and take her with thee to thy distant dwelling; +live as long as thy God wills it." + +Bar Noemi obeyed their words, and secretly blessed Jehovah, who helps +His true servants to victory, and strengthens the hearts of those who +praise His Name. So he was married in the sight of all the people to the +beautiful Byssenia, gave to the father of the bride the marriage gift he +had brought with him in exchange for her, himself taking charge of his +wife's paraphernalia, settled various outstanding matters of business, +and embarking in his ship with his gallant crew, sailed out of the bay +amid the cheers of the people assembled in the harbour, and the blare of +the trumpets and clarions. An escort of four warships accompanied him +into the open sea. The decks of the splendid Carthaginian vessels were +hung with painted carpets, their prows were adorned with far-projecting +golden monsters, behind were the movable bridges used in battle to +grapple the enemy, amidships the high tower, whence stones and other +missiles were wont to be hurled. + +When the ocean was reached and land was no longer visible anywhere, the +Carthaginians suddenly let down their bridges upon the bridal ship and +held it fast. + +The elders spake yet again to Bar Noemi. + +"Bar Noemi, son of a strange land, below thee is the waste of waters, +above thee is the waste of sky, answer now, who is the God that can help +thee in this wilderness?" + +"Jehovah!" answered Bar Noemi. + +"Then Jehovah stand thee by," said the elders; whereupon they stripped +Bar Noemi's ship of sails, helm, and every instrument which enables the +mariner to find or make his way on the ocean. Then they bade the bride +return to her father at Carthage. But, clinging to her husband's breast, +Byssenia said she would liefer remain in the stormy sea, and would not +forsake in the hour of danger him to whom she had plighted her troth. + +"Then may Jehovah help thee," answered the elders; and with that they +quitted Bar Noemi's vessel, and, drawing back the bridges, left the +bridal ship there in the open sea, without sails or helm, devoted to the +tempest, abandoned to the waves. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DERELICT + + +On the becalmed ocean lies the forsaken ship, without sails, without +helm, drawn to one side by its own weight, not a single black point of +land, not a single white sail anywhere visible along the vast horizon. +And in the midst of this desolation stands Bar Noemi and his doomed +crew. But Bar Noemi has said that even in this desolation dwells the +Lord God, who rules over the heavens and the waters. + +And behold! as he prays there with outstretched arms, a dove comes +flying from the west on rapid wing, and alights upon the topmast. Never +had man seen such a dove before. Her feathers were of green, merging +here and there into pearly grey, the wide-extended tail was +gold-coloured, and sewn with stars like the tail of a peacock, and her +neck was striped with glowing purple. + +Bar Noemi took some rice in the palm of his hand and held it in the air, +and behold! to every one's astonishment, the wonderful bird flew from +the masthead on to the mariner's hand, and began to peck up the grains +of rice one by one, uttering each time the soft cooing note of the wild +dove, whereupon she flew back to the masthead, and remained there till +evening. + +"A miracle!" cried the ship's company; but Bar Noemi said: "Ye now see +that Jehovah has heard me, for He has sent His messenger from heaven as +a sign that He will deliver us from this present distress. Let us, +then, take our mantles, and whatever else can be spared from the ship, +the garments of the women, the precious gold stuffs, the Phrygian +velvets, and let us sew them together and make us a sail. A west wind is +arising which will drive us upon some coast; there will we refit our +ship and return to Tyre." + +The ship's company obeyed and set to work. They made them a large sail +of bright shreds and patches; they hoisted it up, not without sore +labour; and scarcely had the sun sunk down and melted away in his own +reflection at the extreme margin of the sky, when a light breeze arose +in the east which at first but lightly curled the waves, but gradually +made the whole sea heave and toss. The patched sail bulged out, the ship +righted herself, stood firm amidst the waves, and began to glide along +the watery mirror, and the ship's company, sinking on their knees, +stammered: "Jehovah is our God." + +All night long the wind blew in the same direction, and all night long +Bar Noemi scrutinized the stars. The constellations with which he was so +familiar, for he had diligently studied them during his long voyages, +remained constant at the same height, in an unaltered arch, right above +his head, a sign, he knew, that the ship was following a northerly +course. + +Three days and three nights the rudderless ship flew with a single sail +over the surface of the ocean. On the fourth day there appeared very +faintly on the distant horizon, like the forehead of some brown marine +monster, the ridge of the world-supporting Atlas mountains, the rock of +the unconquerable Gebel-al-Tarik, which we degenerate moderns call +Gibraltar. This point was familiar to the mariners. They knew that the +fortunate inhabitants of the golden apple-gardens of the Hesperides +would certainly welcome them with joy, though it would have been more +dangerous for the seafarers to have gazed into the eyes of the maidens +of the Atlas mountains than to have listened to the songs of the Sirens +or to have sailed between the coral-reefs of Scylla the accursed. The +joys of this outermost African haven had torn more sailors from the +rowing-benches than even famine or pestilence, the twin destroying +angels of antiquity. + +Shouting for joy, Bar Noemi's crew clambered up to the masthead, so as +to better survey from thence the promised land, which drew nearer to +them every moment. Already they began to make out the shadowy coastline; +already they could distinguish the fresh green of the woods against the +dark-blue mountain-side, the narrow strips of cornland, and the scarlet +bloom of the almond woods on the shore below. Already they perceived the +sky-blue enamel of the luxuriant sesame flowers in the meadows, and the +inviting smoke-wreaths arising from the hospitable huts on the +shore--when, suddenly, a small black cloud arose in the south-east, +which, in a moment, darkened the sun and changed the complexion of the +ocean. The waves took a murky, dark-green tinge, Atlas veiled himself in +dusky grey, the shores became dark blue, and seemed to draw further and +further away; and, all at once, as if fallen from the skies, the whole +surface of the water was covered by those white birds with black wings +whose vital element is the tempest, who live by the storm, and only come +forth from their nooks and crannies as harbingers of evil to the +mariner, circling round the ship with terrifying screams, as if only +sent forth to bewail the crew. + +Bar Noemi ordered the single sail to be furled, kissed first his lovely +wife, and then his faithful comrades, one after the other, for whom +there was no longer any hope of salvation save only in the mighty hand +of the Lord, and, falling upon his knees, he began to sing the psalm: +"In Thee, O Lord, do we put our trust," they all following his example. + +The raging of the waves, the howling of the wind, grew ever louder, the +song of the suppliants ever fainter; the awful crash of the thunder +mingled with the concert of Death; the black clouds veiled the sun with +an impenetrable veil, and only the lightning flashed out at intervals +like a spectral torch. At every flash the black outlines of Atlas were +visible like the terrible shape of a ghostly nightmare, and on the +foaming crests of the lurid wave-mountains swept a tiny nutshell, a +frail wooden pellet, the plaything of the storm, wherein some two +hundred or so of that species of worm which calls itself Lord of the +Universe were huddled together into a trembling, whining mass. + +The fury of the storm kept steadily increasing, the sullen day became a +yet more sullen night. Bar Noemi's crew saw the rocks of the Atlas range +drawing nearer every moment, and they cursed Bar Noemi and the God to +whom he prayed, without ceasing. Another instant and they will all be +dashed to pieces. + +Then the lightning flashes ceased, and long hours of gloom succeeded. +The storm tossed the ship about in its mad frolic; the minutes passed in +mortal anguish, and when, after many hours, a fresh lightning flash +lights up the whole horizon, the astonished mariners no longer see the +Atlas mountains. They have been driven far out into the Atlantic ocean. + +"Jehovah is our God alone." + +The Lord has saved His faithful ones from a terrible death, yet He has +cast them upon the immeasurable deep, and abandoned them to fresh +dangers. + +The night passed away, but the sky was still covered with wild, hurrying +clouds which seemed to be fighting among themselves so that their blood +flowed down in streams. And nowhere was the sun to be seen, and the +horizon had vanished in drifting clouds and floating vapours--and so +they fared for four days. The tempest is never weary. + +The ship was already a wreck, the masts were broken to pieces, the +glistening dragons on the prow, which had made such a brave show a few +days before, had been swept away by the waves; everything superfluous +had already been cast overboard, and yet it was as much as they could do +to keep the ship from sinking. + +As now the fourth day was already closing in storm and stress, the +eldest of the mariners stepped up to Bar Noemi, took him aside, and +said-- + +"Dost thou not pray to Jehovah every day, Bar Noemi?" + +"Every hour and with all my might!" + +"In the stern of thy ship stands the Ark of thy Covenant before which +thou dost kneel constantly. What does it contain? Jehovah dwells +therein, does He not?" + +"It contains the Commandments of the Lord engraved on stone, after the +pattern of the tables of Jerusalem." + +"Then thou prayest to Jehovah? It is well! But dost thou not know that +at the self-same time thy crew in the hold of the ship bewail Thammus, +kneeling beside the golden serpent which they have concealed there. +Thus, either two Divinities, one of whom would save, the other destroy +us, are striving above our heads for the mastery while we perish; or, +there is but one God, even Jehovah, as thou sayest, who prolongs our +days indeed out of compassion for thee--but who, in His wrath at the +wickedness of these men, will not deliver us from the storm. Look now, +this do! When, at night, the sound of wailing reaches thee through the +deck, know that they are worshipping their idol, and either throw the +Ark of the Covenant or the golden serpent into the sea, that at least +one God may befriend us." + +At these words Bar Noemi was very wrath, and did as the old mariner had +counselled. For when at night time he heard the mysterious wailing below +the deck, he went quickly down into the hold and there found his sailors +on their knees, smiting their breasts and cutting their naked limbs with +sharp knives, and in the midst stood a golden serpent, wound round a +column, whose large eyes, made of carbuncle stones, gleamed brightly +through the gloom. + +Bar Noemi approached the idol and dashed his sword against its head, +whereupon it broke into a thousand splinters which scattered in all +directions. + +"Behold now!" cried Bar Noemi, "how that magian lied who told you that +this was a god, and how that goldsmith lied who said it was of gold! It +was only so much gilded glass. He who wrought the thing was right in +supposing that if you could take it for a god, it might also pass for +gold!" + +The astonished mariners felt deeply ashamed at these words. The material +fraud was the strongest proof in their eyes of their spiritual +aberration also. They kissed the hem of Bar Noemi's mantle, and +collecting the splinters of the shattered idol, flung them into the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RAFT AND THE GREEN DOVE + + +No sooner had the idol collapsed, than like a whimpering child lulled to +sleep, the tempest suddenly abated. The howling of the wind died away; +the lightning flashed no longer; the black masses of cloud dispersed in +all directions; the agitated waves, after rocking the ship to and fro +for a time, grew smoother and smoother, till at last a perfect calm +reigned upon the waters. + +"A miracle! a miracle!" cried the astonished crew; but as in the still +night watches they raised their eyes to the cloudless sky, a fresh +astonishment fell upon them. This starry heaven was not the heaven they +were accustomed to. Those were other constellations. The seven stars of +the Great Bear were no longer to be seen; the bright and constant polar +star was no longer in its place; the mariner's guide, that double eye of +heaven and all the other constellations of the Northern firmament, +which the sailor regards in so poetic a light, whose going and coming he +knows so well and whose position tells him in what part of the world he +is--all these had vanished from the sky, and in their place were other +stars, still more brilliant than they, which no man was able to call to +mind. One of these stars shone with so intense a radiance that it cast +shadows on the deck. + +Amazed and anxious, the bewildered crew looked up into the unknown +heaven which thus disturbed all their calculations, and turning to Bar +Noemi, inquired timidly-- + +"Sir! where are we?" + +Bar Noemi himself, not without secret horror, examined these stars of +another world, and answered with a sigh-- + +"We are in God's hand!" + +"We are beyond the limits of the world!" cried a despairing voice; "we +are gliding into Nothingness!" Another maintained that they were +approaching the land of the great Rok-rok, the home of serpents and +amphibians, where beasts hunt men as men hunt beasts elsewhere. A third +told of the Magnet-mountain of the Indians, which drew ships to +destruction from afar, and all were terrified at finding themselves in a +position so queer that not even a single legend had anticipated it. + +For a while the crew whispered among themselves, then the boldest of +them stepped defiantly up to Bar Noemi, and said-- + +"Listen to our words, Bar Noemi! All thy continuous praying to Jehovah +has only brought trouble upon thyself and those who are with thee. Thou +makest us to be tossed of tempests and suffer grievous perils; thou hast +shattered the God Thammus; thou dost nought but praise and glorify +Jehovah, and now we are in the midst of a strange sea. How we got hither +we know not nor how we shall escape from thence; and what is the cause +of all this but thou and the Ark of thy Covenant and the name of Jehovah +that thou prayest to? So long as Thammus was with us, the storm howled, +but since thou didst break him to pieces a calm more terrible than a +storm has come upon us. Till then we at least moved along, but now we +are fast bound to one spot as if with double anchors. The crew, +therefore, will now abandon thee and the Ark of the Covenant to the +ocean. Depart from us whithersoever thou camest. We are not angry with +thee, but we fear thee. We will make thee a raft of planks; we will give +it a rudder and steering gear; we will share our sail with thee, and +give thee bread and water for six days. Be content, therefore, and in +Jehovah's name depart, and we too will go whithersoever the good or evil +humour of our devils may lead us." + +Bar Noemi answered nothing. This people was hurrying to its doom. For +the third time it denied its faith. The sea will surely swallow them up +as the earth did Dathan and Abiram. When the sins of Sodom exhausted the +patience of the Lord, He withdrew the one righteous man from the +abandoned city. Even now the angels of the Lord are many. + +When Byssenia, who had hitherto shared all the sufferings of the crew +without a murmur, saw how they were making ready a raft for Bar Noemi, +she embraced her sorrowing husband, and said, in an encouraging +whisper-- + +"Be at ease, Bar Noemi. Here is not the limit of the world. The men of +Carthage possess a secret which may not be named there, and yet is +handed down from father to son and thus never forgotten. Tossed by +storms, the courageous Hanno wandered once upon a time into these +regions. His whole course is recorded on huge stone tables which are +jealously preserved in the temple of the God of Death. For whoever +betrays this secret is a dead man. I learnt it from my father, who is +one of the guardians of this temple, and sits in the great council of +merchants. In the quarter where that dazzling star goes to rest, there +is a new continent much larger and more beautiful than ours. We shall +find it if we follow the course of the star. Two mighty geniuses are +with us and will help us: Jehovah is with thee and Love with me!" + +Bar Noemi kissed and embraced her whom God had sent as His angel to save +him in his extremity, and with that he himself helped his crew to make +ready the frail bark on which, with God's covenant of peace and the love +of his wife, he was to be committed to the ocean. + +The raft was now ready. A single upright plank formed its mast, a piece +of brocaded cloth, once the mantle of the bride, was fastened thereto by +way of sail. A leather skin of water, a basket of coarse wheat cakes +which the Carthaginians used for bread (and these much damaged by +sea-water), were all the victuals which Bar Noemi received from his +crew, and of all his countless treasures, he took with him but three: +the Ark of the Covenant of his God; his beloved, the faithful Byssenia; +and his good and trusty sword. + +As Bar Noemi went on board the raft, the crew shouted after him: +"Jehovah be with thee!" He gazed back sadly upon the forsaken ship from +which the one righteous man had thus been driven, and as he withdrew +further and further from it, and as the wilderness of water between them +became greater and greater, and he still stood and gazed sorrowfully +back upon his ship, lo! she suddenly began to settle down sideways, +then, slowly turning round and round for some minutes, finally sank +before his eyes. The breeze carried the last screams of the dying +sailors to Bar Noemi's ears. + +Thus he found himself quite alone in the midst of the unknown waters. + +But he did not remain alone long. The flapping of wings resounded on +high, and from the midst of the serene blue sky, descended that same +wondrous dove which had visited his ship on Africa's coasts, and now +lighted fearlessly on the top of his little mast. + +She, too, had fled from the storm. Her gold glittering plumage was all +rumpled and soiled, and she smoothed and composed it with her scarlet +bill; then fluttering on to Bar Noemi's arm, as if he were an old +acquaintance, she flew down from thence upon Byssenia's snowy shoulder +with a loud cooing, and when they offered her of the wheaten cakes, she +pecked at it but did not eat, and then flew away again with the gentle +coo of the wild dove. + +"I'll follow thee, thou heavenly messenger!" cried Bar Noemi, +trustfully; and unfurling his little sail to the wind, he steered the +raft in the direction taken by the dove. + +The heavenly guide never disappeared from view. When the raft was +becalmed, she flew down upon it and rested. At night she always roosted +on the summit of the mast, and in the early morning departed again, +flying constantly in one and the same direction. + +Three days and three nights the dove and the mariner travelled together. +On the morning of the fourth day, the dove flew joyously on to +Byssenia's knee, ate heartily of the wheaten cakes, and thereupon flew +so rapidly away that the eye could scarcely follow her: at last she +quite disappeared from the horizon. + +In the fourth night the ship sailed along alone, and the beloved, the +loving wife, laid her head on her husband's bosom, as if she were +resting on her bridal bed at home, so calmly did she sleep amidst the +waste of waters. + +But Bar Noemi could not sleep. There is a feeling in the sailor's +breast, the vibration of some hidden chord, one of those myriad secret +forebodings which the learned may perhaps deny, but can never explain, +which expresses itself in a feverish unrest whenever he is approaching +the green headland of his dreams, which he cannot yet see, and yet could +point out with his finger and say, "There it is!" when all around him is +nought but commingling sea and sky.--"There it is! There it must be!" + +The morning twilight suffuses heaven and ocean with gold and purple, +and, lo! where the gilded sky touches the water, a lofty rock stands out +against the horizon, its bepurpled summits shimmering through the azure +morning mists. + +"The Lord He is God alone!" exclaims Bar Noemi, and raised thankful +hands to heaven, while Byssenia sank down before the Ark of the +Covenant, and covered its silver-studded corners and angles with her +kisses. + +A new world? No! It is an old world already hastening to the end of its +history, just as the history of the known world has begun to take notice +of it. Ye who have fixed the duration of the Ages, how know ye how many +previous millenniums with a whole world of men, beasts, and plants have +already vanished hopelessly from your ken? Those skeletons which are +found in the beds of rivers, at the bottom of deep clefts; those remains +of unknown animals never seen by European eyes; those relics of a +primeval vegetation which amaze us in the coal layers, and the chalk +strata,--speak of an older, perhaps of a better, in any case of a +mightier, world than ours. And do not those gigantic ruined palaces, +with their wondrous architecture which adventurous travellers have +discovered in the land of the Incas, do not they point to a vanished +people, the masters of power and glory who, once upon a time, filled +half a world with their struggles and their joys; ruled the land and +waxed great, seeming to the inhabitants of that trans-oceanic continent +a race of very demigods, till their sins made them ripe for death, and +the luxuriant vegetation of a savage Nature disputed the possession of +the soil with the children of men? The calculations of the wise Plato +about the "Fortunate Islands" may indeed have only been a poetic dream, +perhaps the mere striving of an inspired philosophical soul to realize +its own ideals; but so much is certain: the relics which have survived +the ravages of centuries, relics which no sea can wear down, which no +forest can overgrow, no tempest can wash away, testify to the fact that +in the far distant ages before us, beings have existed who aimed at +perfection, and only perished when their pride reached its summit, and +they fancied in their insane presumption that there was no longer any +God above them. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PRIEST OF THE MEGATHERIUM + + +As far as the eye can reach, the shore is covered with a forest, such as +only the most extravagant fancy can picture to itself. Broad shadowy +trees, which take root again in the soil with their branches, seem to be +building huge temples, with living rows of columns, whose roof is the +thick dark foliage, whose ornaments are the flowers of the ivy-like +creepers which climb up the branches, and look down from their heights +with a thousand wide-open blue and scarlet shining eyes. The hedges +consist of tiny silvery bushes, with rosy red pointed branches, and the +lofty grasses with their woolly spear-heads shoot up so high, that a +tall man walking amongst them would not overtop them. Here and there +above the arcades of the dark bananas, tower groups of cocoanut palms, +those gigantic flowers, with their huge calices of fruit, most noble of +the Creator's works, for they only raise their heads the higher for +their heavy burdens, and bear with modesty the crown which He has given +them. + +On the top of one of these palms squats a human shape, engaged in +pitching down from thence the nuts, each as big as a child's head; but +below, at the foot of the trees, amongst the luxuriant grasses, lies a +gigantic megatherium, which in its recumbent position is scarcely +distinguishable from a shapeless mass of rock. Its length is fully four +and twenty feet; in shape it resembles a sloth, and its unshapely back +rises like a small hillock out of the lofty grasses whilst it thrusts +its huge head with the tiny eyes and the little round ears into the +thicket. The whole of the huge body is cased in a brown warty skin, +traversed by deep furrows, and covered round the loins by hundreds of +small sea-mussels, the fruits of its evening wallowings in the +sea-slime; only the beast's nostrils, ears, and the point of its short +tail are sprinkled with sharp, tough bristles. + +The sea-farer from Tyre had no sooner brought his beloved and the Ark of +the Covenant ashore, than he fell with his face to the ground, thanked +the Lord for his wondrous deliverance, and reverentially sang a song of +praise. + +At the sound of this song, the monster, prone in the grass, raised its +unwieldy head, and opening its frightful jaws, uttered a protracted, +screeching roar, which was more like a wail of distress than a note of +defiance. + +In his first alarm Bar Noemi grasped his sword, and his heart beat +quickly as he saw this huge head, with its neck twelve feet long, +stretched out towards him; but immediately afterwards he let his sword +glide back into its sheath, and stroking Byssenia's light locks as she +clung trembling to him, calmly soothed and encouraged her. "Fear not! +The teeth of this monster are blunt and black. He is a plant eater, and +does not attack men. Such like monsters live also in Migraim, in the +great ocean, where they are called 'Behemoth,' though they are not so +monstrously big." + +The man in the tree had, in the mean time, perceived the strangers, and +after throwing a few more cocoanuts into the jaws of the monster below, +he clambered down from the tree. + +The megatherium grew calmer; its jaws sank to the ground again, and it +crunched the hard nuts with its teeth as if they had been grains of +corn. + +The man threw a few more nuts into its jaws, which attention the monster +accepted with the same stupid helplessness with which fledglings, a day +or two old, allow their dam to feed them, uttering at the same time a +grunt of lazy satisfaction. + +And now the man approached Bar Noemi. + +He was a wretched-looking object. His head and cheeks were quite +hairless; his wrinkled face was of a sickly grey tinge; his limbs seemed +to be wasting away; his back was crooked; his knee was bent outwards, +his chest inwards. Although it was a hot summer day, he seemed to be +freezing, despite the thick fur mantle in which he was closely wrapped. + +Bar Noemi's astonishment increased when he was addressed by this strange +shape, in that out-of-the-way corner of the world, in a corrupt but +perfectly intelligible Carthaginian dialect. + +"Thou hast come from Carthage, eh?" + +"Yes, we come from Carthage," repeated Bar Noemi, "and have suffered +shipwreck. But who art thou, and how is it that thou dost address us in +our own language?" + +The man shivered in the warmth of the equinoctial summer, and wrapping +himself closer in his woollen mantle, which was interwoven with gold and +silver flowers, he came still closer. It was evidently a labour for him +to speak to them from a distance, for his voice was not strong enough to +do so without very great exertion. + +"If you come from Carthage, you must have heard of Hanno's tables, for +though it is forbidden to as much as mention them there under pain of +death, they must be known to every Carthaginian, for thousands have +already come from Africa's coasts to the Fortunate Islands as Hanno +called this continent." + +"Then we are on the Fortunate Islands?" cried Bar Noemi, who had often +heard the legend from the lips of his sailors. + +"This is no island, but a continent ten times as large as the continent +beyond the seas. Those who dwell on one side of it do not even know the +names of those who dwell on the other. The boldest travellers do not yet +know the boundaries of this continent, and whatsoever direction they +take they always come upon new lands, new mountains, and new peoples, a +hundred-fold more numerous than those of Rome and Greece put together, +as described by them who come from thence. The Fortunate Islands have no +limit, they are infinity itself." + +"And does the land really deserve to be called fortunate?" + +"Throw thyself to the ground and kiss it. This land is the Paradise +where everything for which men toil and labour elsewhere, grows of its +own accord. One tree bears wool whiter than the wool of sheep; in the +flowers of another tree you will find sweet honey; a third gives milk +and butter which is fatter than the milk of cows; and yon branches which +nod their heads towards thee supply in abundance wine and bread and +luscious fruits. And then, too, each one of our natural juices has its +own peculiar intoxicating joy. The sleep-compelling juice of the Areka +transports thee into very Paradise; drink thyself drunken with the sweet +juice of the Batata, and the love of a thousand women at once will burn +in thy breast; drink deeply of the burnt beans of the coffee plant, and +thou wilt feel two souls within thee instead of one; whilst all the +other joys of life are as nothing compared with the ecstatic vibrations +which thrill through every nerve when thou dost taste of the fermented +juice of the sugar-cane. Ah! stranger, here are a thousand different +kinds of bliss which other lands wot not of. Shame it is that one cannot +live longer. Shame that life vanishes like a dream. I myself am not far +from my dotage, for thirty summers have already passed over my head!" + +Bar Noemi felt very dejected. Thirty years in this place actually mean +old age! And certainly this man resembled a dotard of seventy; he was a +bent and broken-down old man with nothing of the dignity of age about +him. His own words seemed to have deeply afflicted him, and despite the +great heat, he was shivering. By his side hung a round ivory vessel the +gold stopper of which he unscrewed, and taking a good pull at it, handed +the bottle to Bar Noemi. + +But the young man would none of it. "I drink of the running stream," +said he. + +The native of the Fortunate Islands laughed. The liquor he had just +taken instantly flew to his cheeks and forehead, bringing out large red +patches which grew redder every moment. His eyes sparkled with that +offensive glare which betokens madness. With an embarrassed leer he +turned towards Byssenia, and regardless of her husband's presence, thus +addressed her: "Pretty lady! do not stay with that moody water-drinker! +Come with me, and I'll steep thee in delights. I am a beauteous, ardent +youth; my lips are honey, my heart a flaming fire. Forsake this beggar, +and come to me, for I am a rich man. I'll give thee a gold ring for +every one of thy golden hairs, and for thy glistening eyes thou shalt +have two gleaming carbuncle stones. I'll bring thee into my palace whose +top is lost in the clouds, whose lofty golden cupola compels the very +sun to change his course. Have no fear of this husband of thine. I am a +strong, invincible hero! With a single wave of my hand I can dash him to +the ground"--and for all these brave words, the wretched creature could +scarce keep his feet, and his hands trembled like aspens. + +Bar Noemi stepped back with a shudder, at the same time throwing his +arms round his beloved, who, full of disgust, concealed her face from +the repulsive figure before her. + +Again the megatherium raised his head and uttered a roar. He was +hungry. + +This roar brought the islander back to his senses. He quickly shut up +his drinking-flask and tottered back to the monster, which opened wide +its jaws while he was still a long way off, showed its large black +fangs, and patiently awaited the great cocoanuts which the man, +collecting from the earth, hurled into its jaws. + +Byssenia would have fled from the uncanny sight, but Bar Noemi +encouraged her to await the end of the scene. "The fellow is disgusting +when drunk," said he, "but there is no cause for alarm; perhaps he will +listen to reason when he is sober." + +The exertion of feeding the monster gradually drove the fumes of the +liquor out of the man's head. After a while, the megatherium stretched +itself in the grass and went to sleep, whereupon the man, now sober, +came back, showing the same pale and trembling countenance as before--in +fact, his labour had so exhausted him that he was almost in a state of +collapse, and in a faint voice he begged Bar Noemi to lend him his arm +and help him on his way to the city where he would entertain them as his +guests. Only with great repugnance did Bar Noemi take the arm of the +young old man, but, at the same time, he could not forbear from asking +the question: "What hideous beast is that which thou art at so much +pains to feed?" + +The old young man looked at him with consternation. + +"Oh, stranger, guard thy lips, and speak not so, for that which thou +callest a beast is a god!" + +"What!" cried Bar Noemi, wrathfully, "that bellowing monster, with +divided hoofs, blotched and cracked hide and loathsome body, a god!" + +"Yea, in very truth," answered the man, in a tone of awe and reverence. +"Every city here has a living god whom all the people serve in turn--I +to-day, another to-morrow. Each one of them has as many priests as there +are days in the year. When our fathers came hither, centuries ago, these +superhuman beings ruled the whole land and their favour could only be +won by sacrifice, submission, and prayer. Since then, all the +first-fruits of the land have belonged to them, the best of the bread, +of the fruit, nay, even the first-born of man and beast are offered to +them, for they are the Lords over this land who never die." + +Bar Noemi sighed. + +"Would that I were in a rudderless ship on a stormy sea rather than on +this accursed rock." + +Thereupon he reverentially raised the Ark of the Covenant on to his +head, seized Byssenia's arm with his right hand and the hilt of his +sword with his left, and when the old young man asked him what was +inside the case which he carried on his shoulders with so much care, he +answered-- + +"It contains a treasure, the like of which is not to be found in the +whole empire of the Fortunate Islands. This is the only treasure in the +whole land." + +And as he went, his thoughts ran on. "And she whom my right hand holds +is the only true woman, and the sword in my left hand is the only true +weapon in the whole of the Fortunate Islands, for my heart tells me that +there is not a single man beneath this sun." + +And the old young man led them towards the city. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CITY OF DELIGHT + + +Behold the huge city which stretches out before you. + +Neither ancient Rome nor modern London, nor yet the capital of the +Celestial Empire, not even Babylon, far famed of old, not one of the +congeries of houses of the known world, is to be compared with this +city. + +View it even from the top of this high hill, and you cannot take in half +of it. Formerly it was bounded by two great rivers, but now these also +are covered with houses, and have their course assigned to them out of +sight, beneath the town. + +A fantastic, extravagant architecture, all glitter and luxuriance, the +creation of a wild fancy, forms a striking contrast to the simplicity of +the classic and the sublimity of the Gothic style. + +The gates of the city consist of strange pyramidal structures formed of +gigantic layers of cubes, one above the other, the spaces between each +cube being wide enough to admit the passage of two heavily laden waggons +abreast. The lowermost layer consists of eleven cubes, the next layer of +ten, and so on, regularly diminishing by one up to the eleventh, +topmost, solitary cube towering high into the air, and surmounted by the +image of the unshapely Megatherium, the tutelary deity of the city. Each +of these dazzling cubic stones shows a bas relief representing a human +figure with a crown on its head, and a sceptre in its hand, whilst +wondrous hieroglyphics below record the six-and-sixty names of the +ancient rulers of the city. + +The first thing which strikes the stranger as he enters the city is the +intoxicating, voluptuous perfume which seems to form part of the +atmosphere, the exhalation whereof, like a golden mist, extends all over +the place, enveloping the towers and roofs of the loftiest palaces in a +romantic chiarooscuro. 'Tis the odour of ambergris and musk, and other +perfumes, now unknown, which the owners of these palaces have mingled +with the mortar of their walls so that the whole town may be bathed in +an eternal sea of fragrance. Every street spreads abroad its own +peculiar, pleasant odour. + +Viewed from afar, all these palaces seem like so many houses of cards. +One row of columns rises above another, and each row is encircled by +wondrous gossamer trellis-work, so that they look for all the world like +aerial, unsubstantial balconies. The lowest row of columns consists of +glittering, polished metal (mostly copper), the next rows of jasper or +alabaster, and the uppermost of transparent, prismatically fashioned +glass, the facets of which catch the morning and evening rays of the +tropical sun, and scatter fantastic rainbows on every side of them. + +None of the houses have external windows, as with us, so that it is +impossible to peep inside them. The whole facade is covered with +wonderful statuary--on whose extraordinary groups the eye would +willingly linger, if fresh wonders did not every moment divert its +attention at every step. + +The streets are spanned by arched bridges, which unite the roofs of the +opposite houses, so that the city can not only be traversed lengthways +by the streets, but crossways also by the roofs and bridges above--the +latter, in fact, being the night, as the former is the day route. No +sooner has the sinking of the star of day wrapped the streets in +darkness than the bridges become animated and populous. Laughing and +singing, the noisy groups crowd the bronze bridges and the gardened +house-tops. Every house is now open to all, and reveals its sweet +mysteries; every roof is bright with the glare of torches, and the +half-naked bands, flitting to and fro, revel tumultuously on high. + +If any one were to stand in the street below at such times he would hear +nothing but an indescribable, terrifying hubbub, occasioned by the +mysterious orgies above his head. + +In many places huge cupolas spring up amongst and above the palaces, +like gigantic eggs rising out of the ground. Wondrous, indeed, the +imagination which could devise such structures. The whole building seems +to be of a piece, yet it consists of millions of stones deftly joined +together with a single large lateral opening. + +In the midst of the city rises a temple of colossal proportions, the +eight sides of which are covered with silver plates polished to a +blinding brightness. In this gigantic mirror one sees reflected the +wondrous image of the far-extending city, and the repercussion of the +sunbeams therefrom fills the remotest corners of the city with a +dazzling refulgence. On the summit of the temple is a huge idol of +massive silver. The head is round, like a man's, and its hands and feet +have each five digits; but the long, squirrel-like tail behind seems to +deny its human origin. Diamonds as large as eggs supply the place of +eyes. This is the giant Triton, the supremest idol of that ancient +continent, exalted above all the other monsters whom men adore--a +millennial monster whose living original sits within the walls of that +temple, and utters a roar when it is hungry, and then the whole +city--the whole land--trembles before its wrath. It asks but one meal a +year, but then it must have a man and a woman to bury in its maw. After +that it is dumb again for another year, and sits in the midst of its +temple on a golden throne with its five-fingered hand resting on its +knees, and its immovable eyes blankly staring before it, just like its +silver effigy on the roof up yonder. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE TETZKATLEPOKA + + +In the broad streets a mass of men and women are surging to and fro. +What festival is being held to-day in Triton's city? + +The windows of the palaces are adorned with living flowers, wonderful +zoophytes, which belong partly to the rapacious, locomotive world, and +partly to the world that is rooted to the soil; huge green snakes, +winding up the slender columns and terminating in marvellously beautiful +tulip-like calices; but in the midst of each calix lurks a poisonous +sting, and the leaves, as they shrink together, greedily devour the bird +of paradise that has ventured into the calix while the tail of the +floral beast is rooted in the living earth. The balconies are adorned +with deep-sea vegetation, which the perverse ingenuity of man has +acclimatized to the tropical air. Between the bright ridges of the coral +the interlacing suckers of the tumid polypus grope their way, presenting +an eternally shifting maze of shapes and colours, whilst through the +thick, branching arms of the transparent mollusc the pulsation of its +vital juices is distinctly visible. The flowers of the field no longer +charm the senses of men; the blunted, unreceptive soul can only be +excited by the wondrous, the extraordinary, in Nature. + +The main street, from the gate to the Temple of Triton, is covered by a +carpet--a carpet woven entirely out of the locks of young damsels. +Ebony-coloured hair forms the groundwork of the pattern, and the figures +of wreaths, palaces, sacrifices, and all manner of groups are worked +into it with tresses of every shade of colour from the blondest blonde +to the deepest chestnut. No reigning prince of this world has ever +possessed a more costly carpet. Every year the girls cut off their +locks; every year the carpet grows longer and longer, and, although the +city itself increases every year, the carpet keeps pace with it, and +reaches from gate to gate. + +Over this gossamer net-work, more precious than gold, the festal host +sweeps like a flowing stream. + +More than 20,000 children--boys and girls--lead the way to the gorgeous +temple, singing merry songs, and as they sing they dance with quivering +limbs--a dance which flushes their cheeks with a feverish glow, and +fires their eyes with an ardour which has nothing childish in it. On the +morn of the feast of Triton an intoxicating potion was given to these +children, which has robbed them of all modesty, and, writhing hideously, +they dance and sing in honour of the god. + +After them come 20,000 women, their bodies covered with dazzling stuffs +and gorgeous plumage; women with painted cheeks, gilded eyelids and +eyebrows, and with dishevelled tresses rolling down their shoulders in +hundreds of ringlets entwined with gold wire. There is not a spot on +their bodies which reveals God's creating hand. Human madness has +covered, painted, and gilded everything. Only their sparkling eyes show +that they are human; only their languishing glances tell that they are +women. + +The women are followed by three hundred and sixty-five old men, the +priests of the god, with lofty, gold-embroidered, peaked caps, and long +trailing mantles, each holding in his hand a staff covered with silver +bells. These grave old men with the high caps and the long robes dance +with insane gestures round a golden car resting on six wheels. Each +wheel bears the image of the sun, and six pillars, surmounted by a +golden drapery, form a sort of baldachin over the car. + +In the midst of this lofty State chariot lies a human form, a pale +ghost, a living corpse, whose eyes are as dull and turbid as slimy +sea-water; the skin of whose face is earth-coloured and cleaves to the +bones, whilst his whole bearing speaks of utter weariness, semi-idiocy, +and disgust of life. His limbs are quite motionless; but, if you look +closely, you will see that now and then his lips slightly quiver. + +This shape is the Tetzkatlepoka. + +The chronicles of the Incas, whom the wise Spaniards, in league with the +redskins, destroyed root and branch, had also something to say about the +festivities of Tetzkatlepoka. Tetzkatlepoka was the name they gave to a +subordinate, annually elected deity, who presided over their ghastly +mysteries. The proudest and comeliest man that could be found was +annually selected and brought into Triton's city. In the midst of the +great market-place, the loveliest maidens of the city surrounded him +with unpainted cheeks, freely flowing tresses, and elfin garments spun +out of glass-thread, and thus they spoke to the elect of the people-- + +"This year thou art the god Tetzkatlepoka, the lord of all beauty, the +demi-god of bliss, the prince of women. Every flower blooms for thee, +every lip kisses thee. Wilt thou be the god Tetzkatlepoka? Wilt thou +consume away, expire, and vanish in the midst of joy?" + +And if the eyes of the elect god kindled at the sight of these +sense-bewitching beauties; if the blood flew seething up into his +temples; if he answered "Yes!" then he was anointed with balsamic +spices, swathed in robes of pearly silk, and carried to the Temple of +Tetzkatlepoka, and there he lived night and day in the sweet delirium of +bliss and intoxication. The maidens of the city with their long flowing +hair visit him one after the other, and when they quit him their locks +are cut off, and from these locks the carpet, which reaches from one end +of the town to the other, is made. This intoxication, this delirium of +joy, lasts a whole year. And on the last day of the year he, together +with the last maiden, whom he himself selects, is offered to the giant +Triton. The living idol consumes them both, and then a new Tetzkatlepoka +is chosen. + +Once in ten times, perhaps, the selected man resists the enchanting +spectacle, the most irresistible of all enchantments (or is there +anything more bewitching than a woman's charms?), and answers the +invitation with a "No!" + +Then they tear the golden garments from his body, and say to him: "Naked +thou camest into this blissful world, naked shalt thou depart into a +world of woe. Behold yonder those snow-covered mountains. There dwell +those twin voiceless beings: Wilderness and Nothingness. Go thither, +thither where neither man nor beast can thrive for horror and distress. +Live there in cold, wretchedness, and solitude, and if any love thee let +them follow thee." And with that, amidst the scorn and derision of the +daughters of Triton's city, they cast the perverse wretch out of that +gate which leads to the snowy mountains, and curse him that he may never +return again. Generally, however, some one human being is found to +accompany the exile; some one girl, more gentle and modest than the +rest, who would fain hide with her luxuriant tresses the charms which +her gossamer garments so ill-conceal, who, laying her hands on the +shoulders of the vagabond, follows him out of the city of bliss into the +cold and mysterious world beyond. But love alone, love pure and true, is +capable of such acts of renunciation, and such examples of true love +happen here only once in ten years. The derided, mud-bespattered lovers +immediately vanish into the misty, cloud-wrapped regions of the icy +mountains, and no human eye ever gloats over their misery, for no human +eye ever sees them more. + +Thus the festival of Triton is celebrated every year, when the roar of +the hungering monster is heard miles away, and the idiot victim of his +own lusts is placed on the golden triumphal car, and led to his doom +amidst music and dancing. + +Such is the history of the man who sits there on the golden car. + +The procession moves on. After the priests come the maidens of the city, +with chapleted brows and fluttering garments, and in their midst, on a +silver car, the girl devoted to the idol. + +After this half-elfin, half-infernal pageant, come the men of the city. + +And what men! Bent and crippled shapes with tottering knees, crooked +necks, nerveless arms, quenched eyes, and soulless faces, tottering +along like drunkards; a host of miserable, withered skeletons. If a +manlier, statelier shape appear here and there among the decrepit mob, +it is quite the exception; and the features of all, without exception, +handsome or hideous, bear the brand of a curse upon them, a spasmodic +twitching of the lips, that unmistakable, unconcealable trait which +marks the beast, the demon, and the maniac. + +The most incontrovertible token of the degeneracy of a race is when its +women are very fair and its men very hideous. There ruin already lurks +in the background. + +And the rear is brought up by an infernal, sense-bewildering throng of +monsters, for which human language has no names. Beasts with human +heads, and human shapes with repulsive bestial heads; a fearful +blasphemy of the sacred order of divine nature; terrifying, mongrel +monsters, half man, half beast; accursed witnesses of the insane +degeneracy of human nature; creatures of whom all antiquity records but +one example--the Minotaur. + +In the Fortunate Islands these abortions form a whole tribe, and those +who behold them are no longer shocked or terrified at the sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TRITON + + +A single large round window in the cupola above admits the light into +Triton's temple. + +Amidst the statues of grim, phantasmal figures which serve as the +pillars of the roof sits the wonder of the primaeval world, the creature +most resembling man, who existed before man was yet created, the _homo +diluvii_. + +Even as he sits he measures four-and-twenty feet in height. His feet are +disproportionately small, while his enormously long elbows rest upon his +knees. His whole body is covered with a bluish-green scaly skin, like +that of a sea-serpent wrinkled with age. The face resembles a man's. Its +skin is of a lighter colour than the rest of the body, and is drawn +quite tight and smooth round the flat, scarcely projecting nose. His +forehead is round and flat. Two eyeballs, seemingly perched upon fleshy +stalks, stare out of the vast eye-sockets. They are of a painfully vivid +scarlet, but cold as stone and surrounded by glittering gold rims such +as we meet with round the eyes of fishes. The mouth is lipless, and only +visible when it is open, but then it stretches on both sides as far as +the little round ears, which are covered with a thin film. A splendid +gold crown, with an upright pointed horn at each corner, adorns his +head. Round his loins winds a gold-embroidered cloth, fastened by a +girdle set with diamonds, and beneath the cloth extends a long, +comb-like backbone, terminating in a squirrel's tail. + +Thus, year after year, the monster sits motionless on his golden chair. +The only sign of life he gives is a sluggish twitching of his eyelids, +and the hunger fit which comes upon him once a year, when he opens his +mouth and roars till he is satisfied; immediately afterwards becoming +dumb again, and remaining so for another year, with his hands resting on +his knees, and his immovable, goggle eyes blankly staring at the stony +marvels of his own temple, impervious to every outward influence. + +The speech of men, the lowing of beasts, the loud-sounding music are +just as inaudible to him as the amatory whispers of snails, or the +philosophic discourses of the tiny ants are, perhaps, to us. He only +understands the voices of the primaeval beasts which stand on the same +level of creation as himself. + +The torpid monster owes all his power to his voice and his terrific +shape. He would be incapable of killing even a child that dared to tell +him it had no fear of him, and, nevertheless, the whole city trembles +before him; feeds his vassals, the plant-eating mammoths, megatheriums, +and iguanodons, with the first-fruits of its fields and the monster +himself with the blood of its best men and its loveliest damsels; lays +at his feet the gold of its mines, the pearls of its seas and the spices +of its heaths, and invokes as lord and god what is nothing but a +belated, primaeval monster, which has survived the centuries allotted to +it by Nature and abdicated its impotent, vegetating existence in favour +of another and a later world, whose generations are renewed every half +century, the world of short-lived, swiftly changing, greedily enjoying +man. + + * * * * * + +The ghastly feast is at an end. Tetzkatlepoka and his elect are led into +Triton's temple. The heavy copper doors close behind the three hundred +and sixty-five priests. + +What happened within the temple no one ever knew. The roar of the +monster lasted for a few minutes, and then all was still again; the +doors were re-opened, and the high priest, stepping forth, informed the +assembled multitude that, at the potent command of Triton, a gold-edged +cloud had descended from heaven, taken up the god Tetzkatlepoka and his +chosen bride, and transported them to an eternity as full of +deliciousness as the last year of their earthly life had been. Let him +who doubted count those who quitted the temple, and he would find there +were only three hundred and sixty-five persons, or two less than the +number which had entered in. + +In the temple itself there was no one but the tranquil stony-eyed +monster which had now closed its huge mouth and goblin eyes, like one +who has eaten his fill and would fain repose. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE CHOICE OF A GOD + + +And now for the election of a new god. + +A vast amphitheatre-like space accommodates all the inhabitants of the +city. There are four tiers of seats, supported by silvered copper +columns, the capital of each column ending in a bird's head, from which +an intoxicating liquid flows through a silver pipe into a circumambient +basin below. The myriad of glistening jets, which descend in spray from +a height of one hundred and twenty feet, give the whole interior space +an enchanting appearance. The people, as they make their way into the +galleries, hold up their heads and imbibe this intoxicating rain with +abandoned good humour, while the hideous half-human, half-bestial +monsters wallow in the basin below and take in the heady draught that +way. Whoever cannot drink any more holds his head under the downward +trickling juice till it soaks him through and through. Not unfrequently, +the injurious liquid sets some of these creatures on fire by spontaneous +combustion, and, roaring and bellowing, they plunge madly through the +mob vomiting forth flames of fire. + +A dais in the centre is occupied by children, who have been brought +hither to be taught to follow a good example and to participate in a +festival which cannot even be described without a shudder. + +On the top of a still higher platform, reached by twelve golden steps, +stand the three hundred and sixty-five priests, whilst on the lowest +steps sit the musicians with long silver trumpets and glass flutes, +whose sweetly tender notes go to one's very heart and intoxicate the +soul. At each of the four corners of the platform burns a fragrant +censer--huge basins of chased gold--which envelop the whole concourse in +a stupefying cloud of fragrant vapour. + +At a signal from the high priest the trellis doors of the amphitheatre +fly open, and just as formerly at ancient Rome the condemned gladiators +were led forth to die in the circus, so now two men are introduced, one +of whom the people must choose as a god, in order that they may +sacrifice to him for a whole year the most precious of their treasures, +the honour of their daughters. + +Two pre-eminently worthy candidates had been found. One had been +discovered by the priest of the megatherium, the other by the priest of +the ichthyosaurus, and the people have now to choose betwixt the twain. + +Both men were carried up to the top of the platform wrapped round with +thick veils. The inferior priests then withdrew; only the two high +priests remained behind with their _proteges_. + +The uproar of the people sinks into a low murmur. With rapt attention +every one regards the two veiled figures who stand in the midst of the +blue clouds of the four censers. + +And now the priest of the ichthyosaurus advances and draws away the veil +from the figure of the first man. + +"Behold and admire!" + +A terrible shape, seven feet high at the very least, the face rather +that of a wild beast than of a man; the strong, stubbly beard, the +connected eyebrows, the flat nose, the broad projecting lips and the +huge shapeless muscles, which run along the broad shoulders and the +thick arms, indicate enormous brute strength. The whole shape is +terrifying. Nevertheless, gorgeous garments make this sinister +apparition a splendid one. His mantle is lined with orient pearls and +embroidered with gold; the thick bristly hair is held together by a +golden helmet, the crest of which sparkles with diamonds and topazes. +His left hand holds a broad shield, hanging down from the rims whereof +are the scalps of the enemies whom he has vanquished in battle, while +his right hand rests upon a sword five feet long, the broad blade of +which is covered with symbols of magic potency. This weapon weighs half +a hundredweight. + +No sooner was the man unveiled than a shout of joy burst from the +people, a shout which died away in the bestial bellowing of the human +caricatures below. + +Then the priest of the megatherium approaches the second shape, and +slowly removing the veil from it exclaims to the people: "Behold and +adore!" + +The shape of the second man is bright with neither gold nor precious +stones. The stranger wears a simple white robe, which displays his +stately figure as it really is, without attempting to improve it by +exotic finery. The only decoration of his bare head are his luxuriant, +down-flowing locks, and the sole armament of his loins consists of a +short sword, which requires the foe who has anything to say for himself +to come to very close quarters. + +And now the priest spoke to the people. + +"Lo! here is a strange man from a distant land beyond the sea, who has +been drawn to our shores by Triton's mighty arm. In his eyes burns a +fiercer fire, in his veins flows a warmer blood than ours. Before the +expression of his visage the face of every man born on our shores quails +and blanches. I say no more. You have eyes to see. Make your choice." + +Then the other priest cried: "Who will have this hero?" + +At this invitation only a poor couple or so of wreaths fluttered down +from the crowd, wreaths which certain women of vicious taste had taken +from their heads and cast at the feet of the half-savage Hercules below. + +But when the priest of the megatherium cried: "Who will have this +stranger for a god?" there was a veritable tempest of falling wreaths. +The women tore the flowers from their hair and bosoms and threw them +with shouts of joy towards the stranger, so that the floor of the +amphitheatre resembled a garden in a rain of flowers. "Him only!" they +cried, "him only, and none other!" + +The diamond-garnished, gold-embroidered hero of many fights rose in +disdainful wrath with his priest, and throwing his glittering sword over +his shoulder, descended the steps of the platform and sat down moodily +on its lowest step. + +The stranger remained alone upon the platform with his priest, who +twined a fragrant wreath of roses among his locks and cried joyfully-- + +"Hail thou god Tetzkatlepoka! hail in the name of the fair dispensers of +bliss, thou elect of the people! Take thine own, thou king of all +beauty, thou prince of women! Take the flowers which bloom for thee, the +lips which smile at thee! Hail, thou god Tetzkatlepoka!" + +The people responded with a loud shout; but, in a dark corner of the +amphitheatre, sat a trembling woman, with a sorrowful countenance, +holding in her hands the Ark of the Covenant of the one true God, and +groaning and sighing, she cried in the bitterness of her heart-- + +"Oh, Bar Noemi! Bar Noemi!" + +Bar Noemi did not hear the feeble sound. The music of the glass flutes, +the soft harmony of the silver trumpets, mingled in his bosom with the +choruses of the children into an enchanting, intoxicating harmony, which +Byssenia's voice failed to penetrate. Seductive, sylph-like forms danced +before him in fluttering garments. Their dishevelled tresses waved +wildly in the air. Their flashing eyes shone brighter than the sun. Who +would not have lost his reason at the sight of so much beauty, so much +bliss? + +And again the plaintive, sobbing sound was heard-- + +"Oh, Bar Noemi! Bar Noemi!" + +And the young man seemed to feel a light shudder run through all his +limbs. What was that? + +Hast thou eyes? Hast thou a heart? Where are thy senses that thou +shouldst hesitate a moment? If a hundred years were thine allotted span +wouldst thou not give them all away for such glances, and forfeit thy +very soul's salvation in the next world for the possession of such an +earthly paradise? Thousands and thousands of fairy forms dance round him +in a bewitching, ensnaring circle, ever nearer, ever more lovely and +more numerous; their breath fans his cheeks; their eyes burn into his +very soul, their melodies take possession of his heart. It needs but one +word from his lips, and he will sink into this sea of sweetness, die the +most delicious of deaths, a death which is nought but a long, long kiss. + +The music, the singing, grows more and more enchanting; the odours of +the censers fill the air with a sweet intoxication; the snow-white arms +already touch the shoulders of the deified man, when again, for the +third time, and still more mournfully, still more appealingly resound +the words-- + +"Oh, Bar Noemi! Bar Noemi!" + +Suddenly he starts like one just awakened from sleep, a wondrously deep +sleep which has benumbed all his limbs. He makes a snatch at his head, +tears off the chaplet of roses, and, rending it in twain, throws it to +the ground, exclaiming, with a threatening voice-- + +"I am no god! Jehovah is God alone!" + +Instantly the music, the singing is dumb as when the strings of a lyre +are cut asunder by the stroke of a sword. The enchantment is broken; the +features of the seductive sylphs are distorted into the faces of Furies; +the sweet harmony vanishes in a deafening uproar; curses, gibes, mocking +laughter and the howling and bellowing of the men-beasts fill the vast +arena. + +But though the earth tremble beneath the hideous hubbub, Bar Noemi's +heart trembles not. He has found the name which gave him strength in the +midst of the raging elements, and drawing his sword, he stands in the +midst of the furious mob, like a god, or rather like a true man amongst +men who have lost every spark of manhood. + +And as they rush upon him, he speaks fearlessly to the people, speaks in +a voice which rises above their screams and curses-- + +"Ye inhabitants of the City of Triton! Ye coward worshippers of idols! +Ye living, painted coffins abandoned by your own souls even while still +in the flesh, listen to my words! My name is Bar Noemi. My strength is +the one true God, whose countenance no human eye has ever gazed upon. +I'll show my courage by my good sword, which no one has ever yet +despised. And I tell you, ye who make a mock of God and His noble image, +man, that I despise you all, and that there is not a youth nor an old +man within your walls before whom I tremble!" + +Shame and wrath made white the features of all who heard him. Everywhere +else, red is the colour of shame and wrath, but here, in Triton's City, +it was white. For Bar Noemi had spoken the truth, in the whole of that +great city, in the city of delight, not a man was to be found who dared +to raise his hand against the stranger! And there he stood on the dais, +with a terrible countenance, and his naked sword in his hand, like an +avenging angel who had come not to fight with men, but to chastise them. + +The warrior with the long broadsword, the herculean frame, and the +helmet set with diamonds, was sitting all this while on the lowermost +step of the dais, and did not once turn his head towards his rival. + +The priests and elders, filled with despair, rushed towards him and +urged him to arise and wipe away the insult thus offered to a whole +people. But the man moved not. The paralyzing, voluptuous draught he had +just partaken of still held captive both soul and body. The wise +pleasure-mongers of Triton's city had introduced this overpowering +potion into their mysteries to their own confusion, for it unnerves a +man, enfeebles his heart, divests him of his manhood, and pours into his +heart a sickly craving after pleasure so that Hercules himself becomes +the willing slave of the bright petticoat and the whirring spindle. + +At last they brought him another drink which they were wont to give to +those who went forth to battle. It was a strong, stimulating cordial, +prepared from the froth of wild beasts and the fruits of poisonous +trees, filling the heart with an inextinguishable thirst for blood. The +fiery drops of this battle potion stung the warrior's nerves. He arose +and stared around him with frenzied, bloodshot, rolling eyes. His +protruding lips were covered with a yellow foam and his dusky cheeks +seemed to be wrapped in burning flames. + +"Who calls?" he cried, in a voice of thunder, like the roar of a +ravening beast; and, expanding his bulky chest, he swung his ponderous +sword, like a reed, above his head whilst his eyes flashed green fire +and his trampling feet crushed the heavy stones into the hard earth. + +"Kill him! the accursed, hideous stranger, the despiser of the people!" +resounded from the galleries, and every hand pointed at Bar Noemi as he +stood on the topmost step of the platform which only a few moments +before they had covered with wreaths. + +With a frenzied howl, the giant swung his sword aloft and shaking his +shapeless head, rushed, like a bloodthirsty lion up the steps of the +dais. + +"Help, Triton!" roared the mob. Only one soft, almost expiring voice +behind one of the columns of the amphitheatre sighed: "Help, Jehovah!" + +Bar Noemi fell back not a single step. Motionless as a molten statue, he +awaited his antagonist on the top of the platform and avoiding his +furious blow, raised his own arm to strike. + +The two weapons clashed together in the air. The huge broadsword of the +giant split in two at the hilt, and after describing a wide circle fell +into the arena, while the sword in Bar Noemi's right hand did not even +take a scratch. + +The whole multitude was instantly dumb with astonishment. In that land +iron was unknown, every weapon was made of copper only, and the thin, +bluish-shimmering unknown metal had split in two the shining red sword +at the very first blow. + +"Woe to Triton, woe!" + +The terrified giant tried to protect himself with the broad silver +shield, from which the scalps of so many conquered enemies hung down. +The descending sword hissed, the uplifted shield groaned, and at the +second stroke the people saw the silver buckler split into two pieces +for all its potent magic symbols. + +"Woe to Triton, woe!" + +The stroke brought the giant to his knees. He could now only shield +himself with his huge strong arm; but Bar Noemi, with his left hand, +grasped his wrist so that the joints cracked, and dealt him, with his +right, a last tremendous blow. + +The diamonds and topazes scattered sparks beneath the swift glancing +steel which fell upon them like a thunderbolt, and as if struck by +lightning the corpse of the savage giant rolled down the steps of the +golden dais, his glazed eyes stupidly staring at the horror-stricken +multitude. The terrified mob fell with their faces to the ground while +the priests rent their clothes and flung themselves at Bar Noemi's feet. + +With meekly bowed head, the priest of the megatherium crawled towards +him, and asked with a trembling voice-- + +"Thou God from a strange land who dost carry thunderbolts in thy hand, +what dost thou require of us?" + +"My wife, whom you have taken from me, my Ark of the Covenant wherein +are the laws of Jehovah, and then I will leave the city." + +At these words Byssenia, with tears of joy in her eyes, stepped forth +from behind the pillar which had concealed her, and covered the hands of +Bar Noemi, the strong, the irresistible Bar Noemi, with hot kisses. + +"Oh, how blessed is this woman!" cried the women of Triton's city, for +it had never been their blissful lot to be able to say: "I am the wife +of one husband." + +None dared to molest Bar Noemi with gibes and taunts as he left the +city. The escort they gave him did not even venture to raise their eyes +to his face. + +"He is not a man," said the priests, "but the god of a strange people, +on whom no human hand has any power. A sinister, wrathful, and austere +divinity who has no place in Triton's city. Rejoice that he has quitted +you for ever!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PROPHETIC MIRAGE + + +Triton's city had one hundred gates from which paved roads led to every +corner of that vast continent; but through one of these gates passed a +road which led no whither. This gate looked upon the snowy mountains, +where dwelt the invisible God of Nothingness and Desolation. Thither +those only were wont to withdraw who became sick and weary of the +earthly felicity of the City of Delight. The very threshold of this gate +was overgrown with grass, for it was very seldom opened. + +Bar Noemi cast not a single glance behind him till he had reached the +mountains. There, where the vegetation of the south came to an end, and +the pine succeeded the palm; there, on the top of the nearest pine tree, +sat the beautiful bird, the dove with golden plumage, which flitted on +before Bar Noemi as he reached the mountains, just as she had done +before on the ocean, guiding the fugitive through the barren wilderness +of mountain and forest. + +The region of spontaneously growing trees and grasses soon came to an +end, and now began that inhospitable zone where the earth does not +willingly open her bosom, where she is a step-mother to lazy sons, +hiding her benefits from all but those who labour for them. This is +surely the spot whither God brought Adam out of Paradise, _blessed_ him, +and said: "Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy countenance!" +The wise men of old were in error when they called this a curse, for +labour is a blessing, and the sweat-drops on the brow are the noblest +jewels of him who was created after God's own image. + +Rock succeeded rock. Bar Noemi and Byssenia mounted higher and higher, +and the exhilaration with which they breathed the invigorating air made +them feel as if they were nearer heaven already. + +On the top of an elevated rocky plateau, the dove alighted on the ground +in front of them, as if it would say: "Halt here." The white and blue +bells, mingling with the fragrant grass, seemed to be nodding a welcome +to the new arrivals; the love-song of a little yellow bird resounded +from the green bushes opposite; everything around them seemed so +strangely fair and new. + +And now, for the first time, Bar Noemi threw a glance behind him. The +abandoned city lay beneath him in a thick, yellow mist, which gave to +the whole region a corpse-like hue, a mist not to be driven away by any +breeze that blows. On the high roofs of the cities lying in the plain, +burned sacrificial fires on gigantic altars; fires whose heavy, +dark-blue smoke could not rise up to Heaven; something seemed to press +it earthwards where, like a curse-laden cloud, it lodged immovably above +the houses, enshrouding the cupolas of the towers and the rigid +likenesses of the idols. + +Far away on the distant horizon, a delusive mirage performed its +juggling tricks, by sketching in the sky the outlines of an inverted +city. Towers and palaces stand in the dizzy height with their roofs +turned upside down, and the palms stretched down their crowns from +above. The next moment everything had melted away--the plain, right up +to the very gates of Triton's city, swam in a vast sea, over which the +overhanging palms and the inverted battlements seemed to throw down +far-stretching shadows, whilst the white sails of ships flitted across +the space where the city had been. In a few moments the sea also +vanished; the Fata Morgana withdrew her delusive spells. The land again +appeared with its woods, meadows, and cities. + +Bar Noemi and Byssenia gazed with astonishment at this marvel, whose +wondrous significance only they who could penetrate the secrets of the +divine counsels might interpret. Involuntarily they folded their hands +and prayed together from the very depths of their hearts that the +Almighty would turn away His strong, avenging arm from a people who had +forsaken Him, and not visit them with the furiousness of His heavy +displeasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE DWELLERS AMONG THE GLACIERS + + +Beyond the mountains quite another world began. + +At the foot of a group of eleven glaciers are populous villages, with +cultivated fields, and happy, peaceful dwellings. Here dwell those happy +ones who have from time to time withdrawn from the world of bliss +below, and sought the unfrequented mountains where solitude abides. Here +they have built their houses, and in the lapse of years have grown into +a people which passes its days in innocence and industry. The only +radiance and brightness visible there is in their bright and radiant +faces; they carry their treasures in their hearts, not on their +garments, and to listen to the prattling of their children is their +highest felicity. + +These stalwart men and tender women receive the new-comers with joy, and +employ their united strength in building them a hut by the side of the +other huts; give them a little garden; provide them, in the meantime, +with the necessaries of life, and lend them a helping hand in their +first labours, and when at last their house is finished, and everything +set in order; when their heart diffuses its genial warmth, and the oxen +low and stamp in their stalls, Bar Noemi and Byssenia are summoned to +the elders, who dwell in the midst of the highest mountain and there +judge and rule the people. + +The grey-headed chief of the little community dwelt in a hut like the +rest of the people; his wisdom alone distinguished him from his +subjects, and although he did not go about in purple, every little child +knew who he was. To him Bar Noemi related all his wonderful adventures, +his marvellous deliverance from the ocean on a sailless, rudderless +raft, the loathsome spectacles in Triton's corrupted city, and his fight +with the godless giant. He also told him of that mysterious sign in the +heavens which showed him the city turned upside down. + +Whilst Bar Noemi was speaking, the head of the aged man sank lower and +lower, and when he heard of these last scenes, he threw himself with his +face to the ground and began to weep bitterly. Much disturbed, Bar Noemi +inquired the cause of his grief. With tearful eyes, the old man replied: +"What thou, O youth, hast just told me, convinces me that the time is at +hand when the Lord will separate the righteous from the wicked, and +judge this evil world; when millions will vanish from the face of the +earth, and the earth herself will open her mouth and swallow them up +because she can endure no longer the sins of mankind." + +And the old man bitterly bewailed the doomed continent. + +Bar Noemi dried the old man's tears and raised him from the ground. + +"Weep not!" said he, "the Lord is not a man that His wrath should not be +appeased. In the history of my people have I read that the Lord had once +pronounced His judgment over a great city which He had doomed to perish. +And He sent His prophet to warn the people to repent them of their sins +if they would not be utterly destroyed, both they and their city. And +the city repented and so turned away the chastisement of the Lord, and +it was preserved. And again it came to pass that the Lord condemned +eight cities to be consumed by a fiery rain from heaven, and a fiery +torrent from out of the earth, which should change them into a lake of +sulphur. And near to one of these cities dwelt a single righteous man, +who carried God in his heart, and the Lord revealed His fearful judgment +to this man. Then this righteous man threw himself down before God and +prayed: 'O Lord! wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?'--And +God answered and said: 'If I find five righteous men in Sodom, I will +spare the city.'--Dost thou hear, my father, what God has spoken? He +doth ever keep His promise, for His word standeth faster than the stars +in heaven. And therefore I say to thee, choose me four men out of the +people who are righteous in all their ways, men of clean lips, who have +neither defrauded their neighbour nor lusted after the wife of the +stranger, nor denied their God in word or deed. Them will I take with me +to Triton's city, and God, for the sake of five righteous men, will not +let a whole city perish." + +The old man kissed Bar Noemi, and said: "Of a truth thou art that +prophet of the Lord of whom our traditions speak, for it is the Lord who +hath put these thoughts into thy heart. My own four sons shall go with +thee. Their souls are as pure as crystal and their hearts know no fear. +Five men shall save a people." + +With that the old man sent for his sons, who, after bathing together +with Bar Noemi in pure rain water, knelt down before the old man to +receive his blessing. + +Now as they were setting off, Byssenia threw her arms round the neck of +her husband and asked him-- + +"Whither goest thou?" + +Bar Noemi never lied, yet he did not wish to grieve his wife, so he +answered-- + +"To Paradise!" + +And he spoke the truth, for Triton's city was the Paradise of Bliss. + +Byssenia walked beside her husband, kissed him once more, and asked +again-- + +"If thou goest into Paradise, wherefore dost thou not take me with thee? +Speak the truth? Whither goest thou?" + +And now, too, Bar Noemi did not lie, as he answered his wife the second +time-- + +"I go to hell!" + +Triton's city was indeed a hell. + +But the woman threw herself weeping on his bosom, and asked a third +time-- + +"Oh, my husband! Oh, Bar Noemi, whither wouldst thou go?" + +And stretching out his hands towards heaven, Bar Noemi answered the +third time-- + +"I go into the presence of God!" + +And, indeed, the road that lay before him led even to God's +judgment-seat. + +When they came to that rocky plateau from whence they could survey the +whole plain, the wondrous phantom of the Fata Morgana again appeared +before them--the aerial palaces, the hanging gardens, and the toppling +towers which, as they dissolved away, left behind them a sea that +covered mountain and valley, so that only the distant pinnacles and the +heads of the idols emerged above the billowy flood. + +"'Tis the finger of God!" said the old man, with reverential awe, and he +blessed the five men and bade them be strong that they might wrestle +with God for a continent and the people of a continent. And pressing Bar +Noemi's hand to his lips, he breathed in his palm, and said: "Blessed be +he whom thou blessest and cursed whom thou cursedst!" + +The five men descended the mountain. + +But the old man led Byssenia back to his hut among his daughters, who +welcomed her as a sister, and when he saw that the woman secretly +bewailed her husband who had exposed himself to such dangers, he +comforted her, and said-- + +"Fear nothing, for I know that Bar Noemi will return." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DESTRUCTION OF A CONTINENT + + +The city shimmered from afar in the evening twilight as the five men +arrived at the gates. All the houses were lit up with bright torches and +coloured lamps. The feast of flowers had begun and here it lasted three +days. During that time all the streets and housetops were strewn with +fragrant flowers, the columns were intertwined with garlands gay and +festoons of wreaths hung across the market-place from one statue to the +other. + +But the feast of flowers is also the feast of Love. 'Tis the merry +springtime, the blushing rose, the flowery mead that charm the senses +most. This was well-known and recognized in Triton's city, and men +rejoiced when this festival began, the festival of flowers, of roses and +of the spring. + +Five doleful men, with their swords slung over their shoulders and long +lances in their hands, stride through the flower-strewn streets. The +passers-by eye them with amazement. On this day the men of Triton's +city do not walk the streets alone, every one of them has a gay +companion by his side. On this day, too, no weapon is borne within the +walls; these be certainly strangers who do not know the custom of the +land. + +In the midst of the flowery market-place stands an old, hollow, +olive-tree, whose branches touch the earth, and whose glistening green +leaves distribute their shade over a wide circle. + +The five morose strangers are greeted with friendly words by enticing +voices from every doorway. Smiling lips, seductive eyes, look down upon +them from the roofs, and flowers are scattered upon them from the +bridges which span the streets. + +Silently, with downcast eyes, the strangers make their way to the old +olive-tree, where they thrust their lances into the ground; spread their +mantles over the points and there make a primitive tent in which they +lay them down to rest. + +The more curious of the mob surround this strange tent, whispering at +first among themselves, then, presuming further, they cry aloud; boldly +pull aside the downward hanging curtains and provoke the strangers with +rude and shameful words. + +Bar Noemi rose from his couch and stepped among the crowd. + +"Ye men of Triton's city," he cried, "gather together unto me in your +thousands!" + +The men recognized him by his tremendous voice, and, in their terror, +gave place to the youth. + +Bar Noemi saw the multitude swaying to and fro in the flowery +market-place; there were as many heads as wreaths. + +"Go and fetch hither all your friends and kinsmen, that they may hear my +words!" + +Gradually the space around him was full to overflowing, and when all the +roofs were also thronged with people, Bar Noemi raised his voice and +spoke. + +"Ye men of Triton's city, listen to my words! The Lord, the only true +God, the Lord of heaven and earth and sea speaks thus to you. Five +righteous men came to-day into your city in order to stay the judgment +of the Lord which He has pronounced against you. Your years have come to +an end, only a few more days remain to you, for the measure of your +iniquities is full to overflowing, and no one will see another moon. +Cast your sins from you, therefore, that the number of your days may be +increased! Strew ashes on your locks and sand before your thresholds +instead of flowers and green boughs, for I say to you that the Lord has +but to beckon with His hand and not a flower, not a green leaf will +thenceforward grow upon the earth!" + +At these words the people burst into a roar of laughter. + +"The stranger knows not what he says! Such a beauteous youth and yet so +senseless; so strong and yet so cold! Oh the pity of it!" + +The blithesome groups danced and sang and did homage to the flowers +which grow on the green branches and--on the red lips of the women. + +And lo! that same night, as Bar Noemi raised his hands to curse, there +came from the west with a fearful roaring noise a large, dark cloud, a +multitude of locusts, not to be expressed in numbers, condensed into a +cloud, a pitch-black, evil host, hiding sun and stars and annihilating +grasses and flowers wherever it alighted. And then there came with rapid +writhings, like an army of infantry, long, hairy, brown caterpillars, +which covered the trees, crept up the houses and marched over the +bridges and through the streets, in infinite numbers, fell upon every +tree and shrub and devoured them all to the very roots. In one day the +whole region resembled a calcined stubble-field; palms robbed of their +crowns, woods with bare trees, every blade of grass consumed, +annihilated. Only the old olive-tree under which Bar Noemi and his +comrades had encamped, kept its strong, dark, glittering leaves. + +On the third day the terrified people hastened to the tent of the +strangers, and on their knees besought the youth, who had pronounced the +curse, to turn away this plague from them, and not let the land be any +more destroyed. + +Bar Noemi felt compassion for the desolated land, and turning the palm +of his hand heavenwards, he softly breathed thereon, and at the same +instant a strong west wind arose, which swept the countless millions of +the locusts into the sea, where they perished miserably, while a mighty +frost slew the caterpillars so that not one remained alive. Trees and +shrubs sprouted forth anew, and, after the first plague had been turned +away, the first terror disappeared from the hearts of men. + +And rankly as ever trees and flowers did the wild human passions spring +up again in their breasts. The rich man sat him down again at his +sumptuous table, and, puffed up with pride, the inhabitants of Triton's +city refused the five men the least nourishment, and commanded them to +quit the city. If no one dared to drive them therefrom, they should at +least be constrained to leave it by hunger. + +In his rage, Bar Noemi stretched out his hand for the second time, and +the words of the curse had scarce quitted his lips when, with a +thunderous sound, the sluices of heaven were opened; the great blue tent +of the firmament was wrapped in black; the dazzling lightning descended +upon the earth, and ravaging hail, with devastating fury, shot down from +the wrathful heaven and annihilated in a moment the insolent pride of +the people. + +This second plague made the inhabitants of the Fortunate Islands +tremble, and they hastened to bring the most tender of their sacrificial +offerings to the five righteous men, who would take nothing of their +bounty save unground grains of wheat, for they were forbidden to taste +anything prepared in the vessels, seethed in the pots, or baked in the +ovens of the sinful people. + +The prayers of the five men appeased the wrath of heaven, and no sooner +had the Lord withdrawn His chastening hand, than the impious pride of +the people returned to their hearts. The women painted their cheeks +anew, gilded their eyelids, put on again their glass-spun mantles, +walked defiantly through the streets, and mocked the youth who, despite +their ensnaring cajoleries, would not come forth from their tent. + +In the midst of the square in which their tent was pitched, stood a huge +spring with a broad marble basin; there, every morning and evening, +these seductive fairy shapes used to gambol and lave their snow-white +bodies in the sun-warmed waters. + +Bar Noemi hid his face in his mantle, and stretched out his right hand +towards them with a gesture of loathing, and this gesture was a curse. + +In one night the order of the seasons was changed. In the midst of the +most sultry summer, there arose an ice-cold wind, which raged through +the land and disturbed the equilibrium of Nature. In a land where ice +had never been seen before, the streams were covered with an icy coat of +mail, and the terrified people saw unknown white flakes fall from +heaven, which covered woods, fields, streets, and pinnacles with a white +winding-sheet. + +Ha! how the sounds of revelry suddenly died away. On the first day of +this wonderful visitation men did not know what to think; they marvelled +at the ice, the snow, the wonderful frost. But the very next day they +had recovered themselves, and were scouring through the hard, frozen +streets on sledges, hung with bells, to the sound of music and singing. +They protected themselves against the cold with fur pelisses; they built +them transparent palaces of ice, made monuments of the snow, and laughed +at the wrath of heaven. + +At a sign from Bar Noemi the third plague also came to an end. The sun +again appeared in his strength; ice and snow melted away; the earth grew +green once more. + +And even this third plague did not make the people amend. They laughed +already at the five youths, and Bar Noemi was challenged to do fresh +wonders in order to break the dull monotony, the sluggish slowness of +existence. + +Woe to the people whose children complain that life is dull and slow. + +Bar Noemi addressed them once more, and for the last time-- + +"Ye dwellers in Triton's city, and ye who inhabit the plains of the +Fortunate Islands, hear and spread abroad among you what I say. The Lord +will send terrible plagues upon you, through my hand, that ye may repent +and be converted. In the first week from now I will poison the waters; +in the second, the earth; in the third, the air, so that what has +hitherto been the source of life shall become the source of death; what +hitherto has been the bosom of a loving mother, shall become, from +to-day, a deep and open grave. Turn you back to God within three weeks +from now, to Him who is merciful towards the righteous, but a terrible +avenger of the wicked." + +The frenzied people laughed at his words, and mockingly bade him do his +worst. + +The heavy curse smote first the flowing waters. The surface of the +streams became coated with a thick film of small green beetles, whose +disgusting odour completely poisoned them. Every beast which drank +therefrom died in horrible torments; the fish floated, belly uppermost, +on the surface of the water, and were cast upon the shores by the green +foam. Next the water in the wells became infected. It grew salt, bitter, +and nauseating; the jets of the fountains were muddied by a subtle +slime, which they sucked up from the earth below, and all the springs +lost their fresh coldness, a disgusting, sickly lukewarmness made them +unfit for use, so that the thirsty beasts turned away from them with +loathing, and, looking up to heaven, moaned piteously. They had more +sense than men. For the men of Triton's city laughed at the wonder. If +the water was spoilt, was not the wine so much the sweeter? So every one +drank wine, nothing but wine--men, women, and children. Stubborn, +indeed, is the heart of man! + +And now the living, nourishing earth was smitten by the curse. The earth +felt the hand of the Lord, and quaked and sickened with a deadly fear. +Hard, dry chinks and flaws rent the soil asunder, and as the earth's +pangs increased, the hills, the rocks, and the bark of every tree were +coated with livid moulds and hideous, sallow excrescences. The fruitful +earth became a wretched cripple, whose horrible sufferings were visible +in the trees and grasses. Instead of the sweet fruit, there grew polypi +never seen before, poisonous funguses, loathsome gall-bladders. The ears +of corn were burnt black, the grapes dried and withered on their stems, +the honey-yielding reed was covered with wood-lice, the tubers of the +bread-dispensing roots rotted underground, and gave a curse instead of a +blessing. Every green thing sickened beneath the curse of God; only man +felt no sorrow. Oh! hard indeed was the heart of man! + +And now the curse infected the vivifying air. Thick, impenetrable +vapours, black, brown, and dun, descended. The sun became invisible, the +day became night. The stench of the vile, infecting mist oppressed the +lungs and provoked convulsive coughing fits; it was a burden to draw the +breath of life. There was no longer any staying in the streets. A fetid +dampness trickled down from the walls, and the thick brooding clouds, +which at other times traverse the air above men's heads, now moved along +the surface of the earth; crawling about the streets, and huddling +together over the fields and houses in a manner horrible to behold. + +"What ho, there! Bring hither the flutes, bring hither the trumpets. Let +every one sing who can. If the sun will not shine, the torches shall +burn all the brighter. If clouds float along the streets, the wine bowl +within will be all the more comforting. If life is to be short, let us +make the most of it; if death be at hand, may he find every cup of joy +and pleasure already drained to the dregs." + +These thoughts were rampant in every breast, and no one came to the five +men beneath the olive tree to beg for God's mercy. + +Sadly Bar Noemi watched the frenzy of the devoted people, till, in the +bitterness of his heart, he uttered another and still more grievous +curse. + +"Let everything which is dear to man become his abhorrence. Let the +sweet become bitter, and the bitter sweet. Let meat and drink turn to +poison. May your dreams haunt you with images of terror. May you find +sorrow where you seek for joy. May the plague lurk in every kiss. May +ulcers deform the flushing cheek and the smiling countenance, and may +loathing take the place of lust." + +And when, after seven days, the clouds passed away and the dwellers in +Triton's city came forth, they shrank back from one another with horror +and loathing. Ulcers and scabs disfigured every face. Noses and lips +had vanished; the hair of the damsels had fallen out; their bodies had +grown crooked. God had obliterated His own image in those whose creation +He had repented of. And the sky above their heads had lost its bright +blueness, and henceforth remained dull and livid, and men could gaze +without winking into the pale disc of the midday sun, and count the +spots thereon. + +Yet even all this was not enough. + +People had no longer any reason to find fault with their neighbours. As +they were all equally hideous, it became a point of honour to deny the +fact, so scorn grew all the more outrageous, and defiance all the more +determined. + +The domestic animals no longer recognized their masters. The tame beasts +with their mates escaped from the city, and fled with anxious, plaintive +cries to the mountains. The dogs and the little yellow birds forsook the +city in swarms, and fled to the mountains, where they agreed among +themselves never to utter another sound. The dogs will bark no more, the +yellow birds will sing no more, lest their loathsome owners discover +where they are. In their stead ravens and wolves came into the city. +There these natural scavengers held a great council, at which they +partitioned among themselves the inheritance of man. + +Bar Noemi raised his avenging hand for the eighth time, and cried with a +deeply sorrowful voice-- + +"Let there be death." + +And he came, that cruel angel, that terrible angel, Malach Hamovez, with +his two-edged sword of flame, the slayer of hosts, before whom nothing +in the height or in the depth can remain hidden, and began his awful +work of desolation. + +The small and the insignificant perished first. + +In one day, every little worm and beetle vanished from off the face of +the earth, just as if autumn had come and taken them away. + +On the second day the serpents and other reptiles came forth from their +holes to breathe their last in the plague-stricken sunshine. They lay in +thousands at the gates of the city. + +On the third day the fowls of the air fell down upon the earth. Stiff +and stark they whizzed down from the roofs and covered the streets with +their carcases. The wolves saw their companions, the ravens, stiffen out +before their eyes, and they had not the courage to fall upon the +carrion, but assembled in troops before the gates of the city and began +to howl for fear, as if they would say: "Is there then none to help?" + +On the fourth day the mammals perished; there they died at the very feet +of their masters. No other thing was now to be found in the city, but +man and the primeval monster. + +And even this last plague did not startle them; they did not shrink back +horror-stricken from the appalling solitude; every beast had already +fallen a prey to death, only they and their idol still lived on. + +There was still time for enjoyment; still they had days to look forward +to. Still God had not pronounced His most terrible judgment upon them. +"Let us wait!" said they. + +And at length the angel of death began his fearful work on this race, +which thus disowned their very consciences. A terrible epidemic went +from city to city; men died off helplessly, irremediably; a brief moment +put an end to their lives; the young and healthy to-day were corpses on +the morrow. Already there were more graves than houses; the living no +longer sufficed to bury their dead. A wail of anguish resounded through +the whole land. Lamentations went from province to province. Men writhed +convulsively in the dust. + +But wherefore in the dust? Must not God be sought for in heaven? Does He +dwell in the dust? Oh! they could not look up. They had prayers only for +their idols. They said: "These are our gods. We ourselves made them so." +And none of them had the courage to say: "Descend from your altars, ye +abortions of the earth, ye who are lower than the dust itself, and give +place to God, who is the only Lord." + +Instead of this, they rushed in their frenzied despair to the youths +encamped beneath the olive-tree, and, hoarsely bellowing, threatened Bar +Noemi, the author of all these evils, with poisoned arrows and instant +death. + +"Ye who have not bowed beneath the eighth plague, recognize the +Almighty's hand in the ninth miracle!" cried the ambassador of God, +stamping with his foot on the ground. + +And oh, wonder! the hard earth began to tremble beneath the feet of the +raging multitude. At first there was only a sound like a distant wailing +wind in the depths below, but soon it seemed as if a gigantic car were +thundering along underground, and shaking the palaces which rose above +the surface. + +Merciful Heaven! Surely some angry spirit of the depths, striving to +escape from his dungeon, is shaking the very foundations of the earth, +grinding the mountains to pieces, and hurling the rocks into the plains. +The surface of the earth resembles a billowy sea; the crowns of the +loftiest palms sweep the reeling earth, and towers and bastions sink +down in ruins. + +Who can now sustain those golden palaces? Thousands of columns collapse +on every side. The proud golden cupola topples, and crushes multitudes +beneath its falling fragments; the _debris_ of the gigantic pyramidal +gates cover the ground; the remains of the arched bridges strew the +ruined streets. Dust and rubbish where once was pomp and splendour. + +The terrified people, hastening to the temples of their idols, were +crushed by the falling rubbish; the houses of the besotted Bacchanalians +bury their own secrets; the sinner perishes in the secret haunts of +forbidden joys. + +The people fly in terror to Triton, the chief of all their idols. + +All around lay the rubbish of the eight walls of the temple; the silver +effigy of the god had been cast down and lay with its face to the earth. +But the living idol sat on its throne as immovable as ever, only the +large, cruel eyes seemed to roll in their sockets as if wondering why +the light of day had been withheld from them so long. + +The people threw themselves at the feet of the monster, and, folding +their hands over their heads, cried and howled: "Help us, O Triton!" + +The monster himself began to feel the earth trembling beneath his feet, +and there, on his left side, where a sluggish pulsation was visible +beneath the scaly skin, a fear, unfelt before, made his heart throb +quicker and quicker, and, arising from his throne and raising aloft his +frightful head, the monster stood like a tower among the people. + +The idolaters shrieked with joy: "Ha! God Triton has arisen! Triton has +heard our words. Triton will fight against the strange God. Now, show +thy countenance, thou strange God, and tremble before Triton, whose +height measures twenty cubits, and whose hand is stronger than the +lightning." + +The blasphemy penetrated to the tent of the five men. Then Bar Noemi +arose; the youths threw their swords over their shoulders, and boldly +advanced in the name of the one Almighty God to answer Triton's +challenge. + +The priests brought them face to face with the monster, and said-- + +"God Triton has arisen to protect us. He has stretched out his strong +arm, and opened his mouth, whose voice puts to silence the thunder. Ye +strangers, who have brought destruction upon us, cast yourselves in the +dust before him, and await the pouring out of his fury, which shall +destroy both you and your God!" + +In Bar Noemi's breast the flames of a superhuman enthusiasm began to +glow. Round about him swarmed the raging multitude; before him the +uncouth and unearthly monster towered up to heaven. With a +far-resounding voice he spoke to the crowd-- + +"Ye dwellers in the dust! Ye dust-worshippers, whom neither blessing, +nor cursing, neither good nor evil days, can turn from your sins. Ye +loathsome worms, let the tenth plague smite you that ye may have none to +pray to. Impotent monster, vile brood of hell, bow thee before the Name +of Him who created thee once, and now annihilates thee, and return to +thy forefathers--to the worms of the earth." + +Thus speaking, he swung his sharp spear around his head with all his +might, and hurled it at the monster. The spear flew hissing over the +heads of the priests, and there, where the beating of the heart was +visible on the left side of the monster, beneath its hard, scaly skin, +the spear penetrated, and remained quivering in its heart. + +Triton fell down upon his face with a frightful roar, vomiting forth +streams of black blood from his gaping jaws, shaking the earth beneath +the lashing of his tail, and tearing up the stones all around with his +claws. + +Bar Noemi and his comrades fled before the crowd had time to recover +from its consternation; and when the men of Triton's city at last +bethought themselves of pursuing the deicides, the ground burst asunder, +so that a broad gulf lay between the pursuers and the pursued, and a +stifling, infernal smoke rose up from the abyss. + +The five men reached their home among the glaciers in safety. A great +joy awaited Bar Noemi on the day of his return. His wife bare him a son, +who equally resembled its father and its mother. And this befell to the +great consolation of the dwellers among the glaciers; for it was as if +Heaven had told them that the spot where an innocent babe was born, on +this awful day, had nothing to fear from God's wrath. + +The eldest of the elders received from Bar Noemi's lips an account of +the events, and of the marvels which had taken place in the plains +below. Amongst the eleven glaciers, absolutely nothing of all this could +be discerned. Here warm summer, bright days, pure air prevailed; the +meadows were green, the brooks murmured merrily; here, from the gnat +buzzing in the air to the ox lowing in the stall, everything lived and +rejoiced to live, and a blessing rested on the trees and grasses. + +When the eldest of the elders had heard from Bar Noemi all these evil +things, he commanded that every one who dwelt near the valleys should +gather together all that he had, and, taking with him his animals, +migrate to the uplands and settle there. Heaven would certainly provide +for them, and make the dismal snow to melt, and give place to trees and +grasses for the nourishment of man and beast. + + * * * * * + +Three days and three nights did the mortally wounded Triton suffer +before he could breathe forth his millennial life in the dust. For three +days his fearful roaring could be heard from one mountain-top to the +other like incessant thunder, and these ghastly sounds brought forth +from their secret lurking-places the Earth's remaining monsters, the +hole-inhabiting, subterraneous beasts whose skeletons still excite the +wonder of a late posterity. The shuddering earth awoke from her slumber +of centuries, and forth they all came, with their misshapen bodies, +their gigantic heads, their enormous horns, and their dusky, mail-clad +bodies, to terrify the world once more. + +"Triton is dead! The earth has no longer a god!" was the furious wail +which ran through the whole land. "Only the God of the Glaciers still +lives. Let us go out against him! Let us kill him also! He, too, shall +live no more!" + +And the rabid millions seized their weapons and marched forth to fight +against God. The monsters that formed a separate people among them +whetted their teeth and horns, and rushed madly in their thousands +towards the glaciers; and the mammoths stormed their way through the +primaeval woods in order to stamp to pieces the people of the glaciers. + +The roar of battle re-echoed through the wide continent. The natural +order of things seemed to be suspended or abolished. Even the trees and +grasses began to fight against Heaven. The leaves of the palm-trees +stood out stiffly against the sky, like so many swords, and every blade +of grass, every leaf of every tree turned its point upwards. The rocks, +hurled one upon another, split asunder, discovering bottomless abysses, +and the mountains, hitherto so still and peaceful, hurled flames and +burning stones into the sky in impious anarchy. The earth burst asunder +in a hundred places, and vomited forth foul, stinking morasses and +loathsome, black slime into her own bosom, and the woods burst into +flame, colouring the heavens blood-red. + +Only the rocks of the glaciers still remained white and calm. + +As now the host of the rebel millions and the ghastly shapes of the +mongrel monsters stormed over the land of the God they blasphemed, vast +thunderclouds enveloped them on every side. The loud, rattling peals +rose above the battle din of the wild host, and the vivid lightnings +scattered death among them with their glowing darts, and scourged them +incessantly for three days and three nights with fiery scourges. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CONCLUSION + + +The people dwelling in the mountains prayed and praised God in the midst +of their peaceful habitations; only a faint echo of the terrible battle +below reached their ears. + +On the fourth day everything was silent. The clouds that had obscured +the sky dispersed, and as the dwellers among the glaciers looked down +from their mountains, lo! a great ocean extended before and around +them--a serene and silent watery mirror, whose wide horizon was +conterminous with the vast firmament--mountain, valley, continent, what +had become of them? whither had they vanished? + +The eleven glaciers were also separated by the waters, and had become +eleven islands. The whole mass had sank insensibly some thousands of +feet. The warmer atmosphere of the lower regions had begun to melt the +layers of eternal snow, and a new life--a new vegetation--was +developing. On the first spot left clear by the snow Bar Noemi planted a +linden--under the shadow of which he erected his hut, and the larger +the leafy tabernacle grew the greater grew Bar Noemi's family, and +God's blessing grew with it. + +The group of these eleven mountains form the Canary Islands. Of all that +vast continent, these mountains alone remain. Their fauna and flora, the +conformation of their coasts, prove that this group of islands is merely +the remnant of a submerged world. + +Their later discoverers perceived with astonishment that a peculiar race +of people inhabited these remotely situated islands--a race hardier and +comelier than the men of other nations; a race intelligent and virtuous, +which adored an invisible God, was chaste in its love, simple in its +life, and content with its lot. It believed in the resurrection of the +body, for it embalmed its dead, and laid them in funeral vaults. +Moreover, it possessed the arts, and had an alphabet of its own, unlike +that of any other people in the world. + +This group of islands, moreover, possessed two other most wondrous kinds +of inhabitants--a race of dogs and of yellow sparrows. Singular enough, +both these species of animals remain dumb in the place of their birth, +as if some vow prevented them from uttering a word; but they recover +their voices if removed to other climes. The tiny canary birds--those +gentle, amiable, sprightly songsters come from here. This is their +proper home. With us they sing as sweetly, as meltingly as once they +sang in Triton's luxurious city, and many a heart has been saddened by +their songs without exactly knowing why. + +The linden-tree planted by Bar Noemi still stands on the island of +Ferro, whence the geographers draw the first meridian. The tree, which +measures 160 feet in circumference, is already two thousand years old, +and whole communities repose beneath its branches. Travellers tell us +that the leaves of this tree imbibe the atmospheric vapours, and then +distil them upon the earth below, thus watering the waterless island +night and day. Even to this day the inhabitants hold the tree holy. + +Between Europe and the New World there now extends the infinity of a +vast ocean, and whoever thinks about it at all must needs say to himself +that a whole continent is missing there. Plato has described it; Solon +has sung of it; the Arabs speak of it in their fables, and the +Carthaginians forbade it to be mentioned under pain of death--what more +do we want? It must have existed! + +Now, however, white sails fly over it. + +But often, when a calm prevails on the ocean, and the dreamy mariner is +brooding over the past, wondrous phenomena reveal themselves in the +heated air before his eyes. On the dun-coloured horizon appear the dim +outlines of cities with towers turned upside down, whole palm-forests +with their crowns reversed. Wondrous, magnificent shapes are these, of +which the existing world knows nothing, and these inimitable edifices, +these boldly aspiring cupolas and domes undergo the strangest +metamorphoses before the eyes of the astonished seafarer, till a light +breeze in an instant dissolves the whole panorama, and nothing is +visible around the rocking ship but the endless, the interminable sea. + + + + +VIII + +THE HOSTILE SKULLS + + +As this story is of a somewhat horrible character, I would duly impress +it upon my more timid readers that, if possible, they had better leave +it unread. If, however, they have invested their money in the book in +which it appears, they might at least _not_ read it just before going to +bed, for I don't want the responsibility of their nightmares on my +shoulders. This, at any rate, I can say: the event recorded actually +happened. The fact that I have kept it a profound secret till now does +honour to my powers of self-control. + +When I was a young man, a budding novelist, in fact, as my printed +transgressions of that period sufficiently testify, I was much addicted +to subjects of a mystic, supernatural tendency; tales of mystery, gloomy +prognostications, fatal accidents, had a peculiar attraction for me. I +had a shorter beard, but longer hair, a smaller experience but a larger +credulity than now, _then_ it was just as well, _now_ it would not be +quite as well. + +I was thus a very young man when, in the course of a holiday ramble, I +arrived, quite alone, at night-time, at the mansion of one of our most +enlightened magnates, whom, for the sake of anonymity, I will simply +call Squire Gabriel. + +We had seen and heard something of each other. I was a belated traveller +far from any hostelry, while he was a householder and lived by the +roadside, I wanted a night's lodging, he had a castle. All these +circumstances gave me a right to call upon him, and he received me right +heartily, a guest, indeed, was no great rarity at _his_ house. + +Squire Gabriel was reputed to be a bit of an oddity, who dearly loved +his joke. He had a library, being a well-read man; he had a room full of +all sorts of stuffed birds and beasts which he had himself shot, and +whose names he knew; he had an expensive picture-gallery, interesting +family archives, and he was very much interested in machinery--not the +sort of machinery that may be applied to useful purposes, but that which +serves for pure amusement, and is meant to produce startling effects. +For instance, he had standing by the door an iron man, who, whenever +anybody opened the door, at once raised his musket and steadily took aim +at the intruder till the door was shut, when he respectfully lowered his +weapon again, to the mortal terror of timid visitors. On the hall table +mysterious clarionettes played all sorts of tunes whenever any one +leaned his elbows on it. There was a certain chair from which it was +impossible to rise up again if once you sat down again, with so firm a +grip did it hold you. + +I had often heard tell of these harmless jests, and was quite prepared +not to be surprised by them. But Squire Gabriel did not exhibit any of +his jests to me. On the contrary, his conversation was grave, and he +led me into the library, introduced me to his very curious and, indeed, +really valuable collection of manuscripts, and showed me his armoury, +his collection of seals, to which he ingeniously attached a good many +singular historical anecdotes. Indeed, I was so impressed that I begged +his permission to take notes of these anecdotes. + +"Certainly, do so by all means," he said, with the utmost courtesy, and, +indeed, it seemed to afford him great delight to see me recording in my +note-book what he had just told me of the dames and heroes of bygone +days, of whom all that remained was a spur or a slipper, actually before +our eyes. + +What a rich source of historical information. Certainly I had no reason +to regret my coming here. + +Squire Gabriel had every reason to be perfectly satisfied with the +interest I displayed in his historical recitals. His store, too, was +absolutely inexhaustible, fresh _data_ came pouring forth every moment. + +In such diversions we spent the whole evening. + +At supper-time we were joined by the squire's man of business and one of +his secretaries, who withdrew after the meal, and Squire Gabriel and I +remained alone again. + +He ordered tea to be brought into the Gothic chamber, and with the tea +beside us, we may have gone on talking for a small matter of another +hour or so, or, rather, he talked, but I listened. + +The Gothic Room was the largest chamber in the castle wing. It derived +its name from its curious old-fashioned furniture, and from a couple of +mediaeval niches in the Gothic style. The spacious fireplace in the +centre of it was piled up with crackling logs, and close beside it were +comfortable armchairs and sofas, in which we reclined at our ease and +sipped our fragrant Pekoe. + +The hearth was warm, the time was late, and the fatigues of travelling, +I must confess, had made me so drowsy, that more than once during the +cheerful conversation of my host, I caught myself in the act of +resolutely inclining my head towards the cushion of the sofa. + +Squire Gabriel observed my condition, and said, with a smile-- + +"You are very sleepy, I see." + +I had no reason to be insincere, so I replied that it was the very place +in which to go to sleep. + +"I should not advise you to do so, however," remarked Squire Gabriel, +gravely, "there is something queer about this room. I may tell you," he +added, "it is not very friendly to strangers, who have even died in it +now and then." + +These words completely cleared slumber from my eyes. + +"Ghosts visit it, perhaps?" + +"It would be more correct to say they dwell in it, and they are visible +day and night." + +Curiosity made me quite awake now. I began to look about me. + +"When I say ghosts, I would not have you imagine anything so stupid as +spectres wrapped in sheets and chained with fetters. The _thing_ that is +here is a perfectly simple object which can be held in your hand. +Perhaps you would like to see it?" + +What a question! I was immediately on my feet. + +"Where's your ghost? Let me see it!" + +Squire Gabriel led me to one of the niches which was covered by a green +curtain, and drawing aside the curtain, pointed out to me two skulls +which were covered by a round glass, and, curiously enough, were turned +back to back. + +I had seen something of the sort before, and was by no means inclined to +recognize anything ghostly in them. They were simply fragments of a +human skeleton, as little alarming as an extracted tooth, of which it +never occurs to anybody to be afraid. + +"These are the skulls of two brothers, the Counts Kalmanffy, to whom +this property formerly belonged, and who built a wing of the castle. +Their history is very tragic. They were constantly opposed to each other +and wrangling about the possession of the castle, and one day, soon +after a reconciliation, the elder brother suddenly invited the younger +one to be his guest, and when he had well filled him with strong wine, +drove a long nail into his head while he lay there in a drunken sleep. +The nail is also here. A servant who was privy to the evil deed +subsequently betrayed the elder brother, who was beheaded for his crime. +His body they buried as usual under the place of execution, but the +severed head they allowed to be buried in the family vault, where the +bones of the murdered brother were also deposited. The heads of the two +brothers were placed side by side in a niche, and so these mortal +enemies, who could not endure each other during their life-time, were +turned face to face. On one occasion, however, some one who had to do +some work or other in the vault, was amazed to perceive that the heads +of the two brothers were now turned back to back. The fellow was not +very frightened. He had had a good deal to do with human remains, and +fancied some truant rats might have effected the change, so he simply +put the two skulls face to face again. Next day he went down to have +another look at them, and again they were turned in the opposite +direction. + +"And so it went on for a whole week. The fellow turned the skulls round +every day, and every night they changed their positions of their own +accord. The guardian of the vault got quite ill over it. He began to +pine and grow melancholy mad, till at length the young chaplain took the +bull by the horns, and asked him what ailed him, or if he had anything +on his mind. + +"The old family retainer, with some agitation, confessed the ghostly +secret, on account of which he was in a fair way of becoming a ghost +himself. + +"The parson was an enlightened man, and was determined to convince the +superstitious old fellow that he was mistaken, so he went down into the +vault himself to look at this alleged marvel. + +"There, then, the two skulls were, turned back to back, and the old +servant solemnly swore that the evening before he had placed them cheek +by jowl. + +"'Impossible,' said the clergyman. 'A lifeless body has no volition. +These things are nothing but two pieces of bone, without nerves, without +muscles: they _cannot_ move of their own accord.' + +"And, to make his words the more impressive, he seized one of the skulls +in order to lift it, and show the doubter that it was merely an inert +mass, incapable of movement. + +"At that very instant the skull gave the clergyman's little finger such +a nip that he could scarce disengage it from its teeth. + +"After that the vault remained closed, and soon afterwards the old +family servant died. As for the clergyman, he carried about with him +till his death the mark of the bite on his little finger. + +"The matter was kept secret, and so well kept indeed, that not a soul +knew a word about it until I came into possession of the property. One +day, while I was rummaging about in the old library, I came across the +diary of the clergyman in question, in which he described the whole +case, concluding his mysterious tale with the assurance that the door of +the vault had been walled up in such and such a place. Since then a +granary had been built up close beside it, and the locality had been +completely forgotten. + +"I immediately searched for the walled-up door. It was easy to discover, +it had been so minutely described, broke it open and descended into it +myself, and at once discovered the two hostile skulls, just as they had +been placed, turned back to back. + +"I confess, despite my naturally cynical disposition of mind, I had not +the courage to lift up either of them; but I had the whole slab of stone +on which they reposed, raised just as it was and placed in this room. + +"Since then I have had many an unbelieving guest who has taken the whole +thing for a joke, and has tried to convince himself of its reality with +his own eyes. Although I don't very much like jesting with this sort of +thing, nevertheless when I really come upon a strong-minded man who is +not afraid of running the risk of becoming melancholy mad for the rest +of his days, I allow him to sleep in this room and persuade himself with +his own eyes that the skulls which have been placed face to face in the +evening, the next morning are found to be turned back to back again. + +"This takes place regularly. My visitors are constrained to believe in +this mysterious fact, and since the death of the clergyman already +alluded to, none has dared to ridicule it." + +Squire Gabriel could perceive from my eyes that I also had a great mind +to be convinced of this mysterious circumstance with my own eyes. Show +me the youth of two and twenty who would not be interested in such an +enigma! + +I begged and prayed him to allow me to sleep in this room, and turn the +skulls face to face. + +Squire Gabriel did not attempt to dissuade me. My curiosity gratified +him, he lifted the globular glass, very cautiously turned the two +death's heads face to face, and then covered them again with the glass. + +Then he indicated the alcove where I should find my couch, wished me a +good night, and left me alone. + +The squire and his secretaries lived alone in the top-floor of the +spacious castle. The servants slept in rooms on the ground floor. +Between the Gothic room and their dormitories lay two or three halls of +various sizes, so that I may be said to have been left alone in my wing, +and was as far as possible from every human being. + +Despite my excited fancy I had still philosophy enough left not to let +any one play pranks with me. First of all I examined the walls; there +was no visible means of entrance into the room. Then I thoroughly +investigated the niche; it was absolutely inaccessible. It was carved +out of a single slab of hard marble, and was all of a piece. The door I +bolted, and then drew the sofa before it and lay down on it. I was now +immediately opposite the curtained niche. + +Moreover I took an additional precaution. The silk curtain which covered +the niche was hitched upon some ornamental moulding, and hung down in +picturesque folds. I took out my pocket-book and made a sketch of the +curtain down to the very last detail. + +Now, that was a very artful idea of mine. + +If any being, clothed with a jacket, were to try to get at the skulls, +he was bound to disturb the curtain; but the slightest contact would +disturb its folds, and destroy its resemblance to the drawing of it in +my pocket-book. + +Then I piled some fresh logs on the fire, placed the candelabra beside +me on a little one-legged table, and flung myself on the sofa with the +firm purpose not to go to sleep. + +I knew that tea had the property of keeping a man awake, so I filled +myself another cup. I added to it a spoonful of rum. I hardly tasted it. +Yet at other times a spoonful of rum would have been quite enough to +upset me. I poured in still more. Even that did not make it stronger. +Then it suddenly occurred to me that there was a flask of cognac in the +cupboard beside the fireplace. Squire Gabriel had pointed it out to me +a short time before, but then I had not required it. It was very curious +I should feel the want of strong drinks just at that moment. + +I got up to fetch it. I tasted it. It certainly was strong, very much +so. I filled up my cup with it, and then it occurred to me that there +was no wire screen in front of the fire. A spark might pop out of it any +moment. I went to the fireplace straightway, and began pushing back the +burning embers with the poker. A spark popped out and burnt my hand. +Then I shut the iron register, and went back towards my tea-table. + +A nice surprise awaited me. + +On the very sofa which I had drawn up for my own use two gentlemen were +sitting whom I seemed to know very well, but whose names I could not +remember. One of them had short, light, curly hair, and an angry red +beard; the other had black hair and a long dangling moustache, but was +otherwise clean shaved, and a round bald patch was visible on the top of +his head. + +The first of these gentlemen, who was stripped to the shirt, wore a +silken vest with gold buttons; the other was dressed in a short linen +jacket, bravely embroidered at the back. + +These two gentlemen were sipping at their ease the cognaced tea which I +had prepared for myself. First one took a sip and then the other, the +pair of them out of one cup, quite fraternally. + +Amazement first, and then fear, seized me. I durst not approach them, +but sat down in a dark corner, from whence I watched to see what they +would do. + +The two gentlemen glared oddly enough at each other, and presently they +began to converse. + +"Good evening, Kalmanffy minor!" + +"Good evening, Kalmanffy major!" + +"Then you're here again, Kalmanffy minor?" + +"And here I remain, Kalmanffy major!" + +"This castle is too strait for the two of us." + +"There would be lots of room if one of us dwelt beneath it." + +"Beneath it? I suppose you mean in the cellar?" + +"No, deeper still; in the family vault." + +"We must settle this business once for all, Kalmanffy minor." + +"Yes, and now that we are quite alone is the time, Kalmanffy major?" + +"Do you prefer pistols or swords?" + +"I should like both; but I fear they might betray us." + +"True, firearms make a noise, and cold steel makes blood to flow; we +want no such witnesses." + +"A cup of poison, and drawing lots for it--that would be best." + +"Not bad; but it leaves corpse-marks on the face." + +"I've a better plan. Here is strong drink before us; let us drink each +other down." + +"And then?" + +"Then, whichever of us keeps sober shall do for the other. Here is a +long nail and a hammer. If it be driven well into the skull, none will +be a penny the wiser." + +"True, especially in your case, who have such thick hair; but I have a +moon on the top of my head." + +"Never fear. I'll make a good job of it." + +I'm bound to confess that a cold shiver ran through me as I listened to +this conversation. Even if I wanted to escape there was no means of +escaping, for they sat right in front of the door opposite which I had +drawn the chair and the sofa. + +Then they both began drinking out of the same cup, first one and then +the other. They filled it up for each other from the cognac flask right +up to the brim, so that the liquid flowed over the edge of the cup. + +"Your health, my brother!" + +"Your health!" + +Each of them always said this with such a devilish smile as he watched +his brother gasp and choke as he swallowed the intoxicating stuff, while +his head waggled backwards and forwards, and his face turned a ghastly +yellow or a flaming red, and the veins on his temples stood out in green +and blue knots like strained cords. + +"You are drunk, my brother!" + +"Nay, 'tis you." + +Meanwhile the candles burning on the table began to burn low. It seemed +as if a bloody mist were enveloping their flames, which gradually +assumed a dusky lilac hue. The two faces suddenly went quite pale, the +two heads suddenly grew quite shaky; it was hard to say which of them +would fall down first. + +The flames of the candles had now passed into the darkest green, and in +that green light the two faces seemed of a deadly pallor. They were no +longer able to converse, but glared at each other with stony eyes, and +kept offering each other the intoxicating drink. + +Suddenly the candles flared up, and then went out. The two figures +instantly disappeared. + +The moon was shining through the painted windows in all her glory; the +burning logs in the fireplace cast a rosy light into the semi-darkness. +I was alone in the room. + +I dreamt it all, I said, and I laughed at myself, though my teeth kept +on chattering. It was a dream, a dream, I kept on reassuring myself. Now +I will go and lie down. I'll take off my things, I'll get into bed, I'll +draw the bed-clothes over my head, and then let them go on haunting as +much as they like. They may rise from their graves and roam about to +their hearts' content. I shall simply take no notice. + +The moon shone with a beautiful white light; the fire gave forth a nice +rosy illumination. I had no need of the candles, which I could not have +lit had I wanted to, for they had burnt down to the very socket. I shall +be able to find the bed quite comfortably. So I undressed myself +leisurely, wound up my watch, and drew aside the curtains of the alcove +which contained the bed, in order to lie down on it. + +Horror rooted me to the spot. + +In the bed lay the two brothers side by side; two fearfully distorted +corpses. One of them lay on his back, but with his face looking down, +and in his bald head the head of the nail shone in the moonlight like a +dark blue spot; the other brother lay beside him with his head turned +towards the sky. + +Horror, I say, paralyzed me. I had not strength to move a limb. I would +have cried out, but I had no voice. I would have seized the bell-rope, +but my hand was powerless. I would have fled, but my legs weighed me +down like lead. My chest was oppressed, my legs were benumbed. At last, +with a most desperate effort of my will, and after frightful torments, I +pronounced something or other--and immediately awoke. + +Those who have suffered from nightmare will understand what a torture it +is under the circumstances to utter a word. + +It was morning, and the sun was shining through the tall poplars. There, +too, I was lying on the sofa in front of the closed door, where I had +laid down in order not to fall asleep. + +The candles really had burnt down to their sockets, and the teacup was +really empty. However, I was inclined to believe that I had put nothing +into it the night before, and that tea, rum, and cognac had all been +simply dreamt. + +But--now comes the most terrible part of this ghost story. + +What had been happening in the niche all this time? + +The curtain was precisely as I had sketched it, not a wrinkle of a fold +had been changed in it. + +Therefore, nobody could have laid hands upon it. + +Still completely possessed by the memory of my nightly visions, I +approached the mysterious niche, and I cannot deny that my hand trembled +as I drew aside the curtain. + +And, behold . . . the two mortally hostile skulls were turned back to +back! + +A cold shudder ran twice or thrice right down my body. + +This, at any rate, was no dream. I _saw_ it. It was broad daylight. +Outside, the usual daily noise and racket had begun, and at that very +time I saw before me the most frightful of phantoms. + +Then things really do happen beneath the sun which our philosophy cannot +account for? + +Then it is a fact that those two lifeless skulls live and hate and turn +from each other even after death? + +I don't believe it, it is impossible, it is not true. + +I see, I tremble at it, and yet it is not true. + +It _is_ true, and yet I don't believe it. + +I then bethought me of the story of the clergyman who was said to have +discovered the subterranean marvel, and dared to put his hand on the +head of the spectre, and then carried about the marks of its teeth to +his dying day. + +I don't care. + +I'll let it bite me too. + +I lifted the glass from the skulls. My heart may have beaten violently, +I don't deny it. I stretched out my arm. My hand came in contact with a +cold jaw-bone. I raised it and turned it round. + +Hah! + +What had happened? Had it bit me? + +I should have flung it away with all my heart if it had; but at that +instant I discovered that it was provided with a cunningly constructed +piece of clockwork, which made it turn round if you pressed a spring. +The other skull was provided with a similar contrivance. + +At the breakfast-table I encountered Squire Gabriel. As usual he was +very solemn, so was I. + +"How did you sleep?" he inquired, with sympathetic courtesy. + +"Thank you, very badly. I drank lots of tea yesterday evening, and it +plagued me with all manner of spectres." + +"And what did the skulls do?" + +"Well, they seem to have quite distinguished themselves for my special +edification, for they not only turned their backs on each other, but +even stood on their heads." + +At these words, Squire Gabriel laughed greatly. + +"So you looked inside them, eh?" + +"I did." + +"Now, look here! Forty persons have slept in that room; all of them have +had experience of the marvel, and not one of them has looked to see if +there was anything in the skulls." + +"They feared, perhaps, that it would fare with them as with the +adventurous clergyman." + +"Were you not afraid?" + +"Certainly, a little, but my curiosity was even greater than my fear. +And now I very much regret I did look." + +"Why?" + +"Because I am an historical anecdote the poorer." + +At this Squire Gabriel laughed more than ever. + +"And I will make free to ask another question. Are the anecdotes, which +I noted down in my memorandum-book yesterday, equally authentic?" + +"You may boldly light your pipe with them," replied the nobleman, with a +smile. + +I only did not do so because I am not in the habit of eating smoke. + +Only one thing Squire Gabriel begged of me. I was not to mention my +discovery to any one else, so that he might be able to give a salutary +shock of terror to others also. + +I promised that I would keep the secret for ten years. + +The ten years expired last week, so the story of the two ghostly skulls +can now become public property. + + + + +IX + +THE BAD OLD TIMES + + +In those sad times when the accursed, merciless Tatar was ravaging our +good country, two good Hungarian brother warriors and kinsmen, Simon and +Michael Koppand, after the devastation of Tamasfalu, of which great city +not a vestige remains to the present day, escaped somehow from the +burning and massacring, and taking refuge among the bulrushes, lay +concealed therein for many days and nights, often up to the tops of +their heads in water, for the evil, bloodthirsty enemy scoured even the +morasses in search of fugitives, with the firm determination of +extirpating every Magyar from the face of the earth once for all. + +Thus, hiding by day and skulking by night, they made their way gradually +but steadily towards the west, so far as the course of the stars pointed +it out to them, hoping still somewhere to find a refuge. They had no +other food but the eggs of wild ducks and moorhens, and whatever they +might find in the nests of the marsh-birds that they lived upon. + +One day, when they had already gone a long way and thought that they had +well distanced the Tatars, they ventured to emerge from the wilderness +of rushes, and by the beautiful light of the moon they then beheld, +some distance in front of them, a tower. + +That means there must be a town there, they thought, let us make for it, +there we shall be in safety, so far the Tatar has not come. For every +man in those days believed that then, as had been usual at other times, +every robber horde, bursting into a kingdom, when once it has well +loaded itself with booty, returns again as a matter of course to its own +country. + +All night, then, they proceeded in the direction of the tower before +them. When they drew close to it they perceived for the first time that +this tower had no roof; but when they got closer still they saw that all +the houses of the town had been levelled with the ground, and when they +entered the street they saw that none dwelt there, but wolves and savage +dogs bayed at them from behind the pillars of the gates, within which +every sort of human shape was lying, shapes without heads, women +transfixed with darts, mothers with long, dishevelled, black tresses +covering their children with their dead bodies. + +The youths covered their eyes with horror at this spectacle. + +But still there they must remain till the night of the following day, +concealed somewhere, for dawn was now close at hand and it was not good +to come out in the open in the bright sunlight. + +So they went into the church that they might hide themselves there, +either in the crypt or perhaps in a sacristy. + +Hah, the whole church was a funeral vault. There they had cut down the +pride, the flower of the nation. Women, men, and children lay heaped up +together among the burnt rafters, the pale moon shining through the +roofless and dilapidated building illuminated them. + +Inside they had to wield their swords with right good will to drive out +the wolves who had come hither to perform the office of grave-diggers, +and who as often as they were chased away came back and bayed at the +open door. + +Then said Simon, the elder of the two brethren: "Brother Michael, these +evil wolves will give us no peace, and because of them we shall get no +rest, and yet, for sheer weariness and want of sleep, we can go not a +step further. Lie you down, therefore--your best place will be close +beside the altar, for there God is not far from you, and I meanwhile +keep guard the door and keep the wild beasts away from you, and when I +am aweary, then you shall rise up and watch over me." + +Michael sought him out, therefore, a place near the altar, and lay down +beside the dead body of a warrior, it looked just as if the two of them +were sleeping, or as if the two of them were dead. Simon, meanwhile, +gathered together some fallen darts from the field of battle, found him +a bow, and leaned against the lintel of the doorway. Whenever the +hideous monsters approached, he shot an arrow among them, and every time +he did so a fight arose between the wounded wolf and the others, which +he thought had bitten him. This disgusting combat lasted amidst ugly +snarling and snapping for about an hour, when an old wolf began to howl +hideously, as if by way of signal to his fellows, who howled back again +from every part of the town, and then suddenly the whole lot of them +made off, scattering in every direction. + +Simon speedily conjectured the cause of this sudden flight, hastened +back to his brother and cried-- + +"Awake, little brother! I hear the hoot of the horns, the Tatars are +coming back." + +There was no other hope of escape than for the pair of them to lie down +among the dead bodies with their faces turned earthwards, thus quietly +to await the new-comers. + +Presently they appeared amidst the ruins of the church. + +Ofttimes it happened thus. The Tatars thought to themselves: The people +who have taken refuge fancy we have nothing more to seek in the +devastated towns, and will come out of their holes, let us go and hunt +them down. And in this way very many perished. + +It was a man of that very town who led them back. An inhabitant of a +Christian town had become a Tatar, joined himself to the enemies of his +faith and country, and went before to show them the best places to +plunder. + +And this wicked, accursed man was now wearing the Tatar dress, a +high-peaked fur cap, white breeches, and murdered the Tatar tongue to +give them pleasure--God grant the words may stick in his throat and +choke him. + +The two brethren could gather from their talk that the evil renegade had +led the enemy hither in order that he might show them the entrance to +the crypt in which the fugitive population had concealed their +treasures, and then walled up the door behind them. They immediately +broke it open, and with a great racket and uproar dispersed among the +discovered treasures, breaking in pieces whatever was too large to be +taken away whole. The renegade got for his share the cover of a pyx, +which the vile wretch stuck in front of his cap by way of ornament. + +"Let me once get a fair hold of you!" thought Simon the warrior to +himself. He was looking on at all this with half an eye as he lay among +the dead bodies. + +Then the murderous Tatars piled up a fire on the altar, slaughtered a +horse in the church, broiled it in hunks on huge spits, and squatted +down to devour it. It was an abomination to behold them. The Tatar +convert ate along with them. + +Suddenly a burning ember from the crackling fire lit upon Michael the +warrior's extended palm. Simon the warrior saw it well, and trembled +lest his younger brother might make some movement under this burning +torture, when both of them must needs perish. But warrior Michael, very +nicely and quietly, closed tightly the palm of his hand, so that nobody +noticed it, and stifled the burning ember so that not even its expiring +fizzle was audible. + +Towards dawn the Tatars began to set off again, mounted their barebacked +horses and scudded further on, never observing that they had left two +living men among the dead bodies. + +The two warriors were careful not to leave the church till late in the +evening, but went on fighting there with the beasts of the field, and, +in the daytime, they found yet other adversaries in the vultures who +hovered all day above their heads, and all but tore their eyes out with +their claws, because they stood between them and the dead bodies. They +gave thanks to God when at sundown they were able to quit the horrible +place and go on further. + +Along the level plain they went as quickly as they could hasten, not +even daring to look behind them, though there they would have seen +nothing but the black clouds of smoke from the burning towns, which the +wind drove over their heads. Behind them the Tatar was coming. + +Towards evening they reached a lofty hill, in which dwelt a gipsy. The +gipsy was doubly a foe, being both an alien and a heathen, he was, +therefore, just the sort of man to give good advice to fugitives. + +In those days all sorts of folks were flying from the Tatars, flying +whithersoever they saw light before them, some on foot, some on +horseback, some on cars, men, women, and children. + +"Alas! my dear creatures," wailed the gipsy, "you come to a bad place +when you come hither. You would do very much better to turn back in the +direction whence the Tatar bands are coming, for they, at least if you +surrender, will not cut you down, but will only make slaves of you. But, +alas! in front a far greater danger awaits you, for in yonder forest +dwell giants, terribly huge monsters with antlered heads and mouths so +wide that they can swallow a man down whole. They seize all those who +fly towards the forest and roast them on large spits. They don't hurt me +because I give them wine to drink when they come hither." + +Before now the refugees had heard from the warriors flying from the +direction of Grosswardein of these Tatar giants who had scattered a +whole host by simply appearing before it. Nay, a herdsman, a worthy man +of Cumanian origin, had sworn that he had seen them. They strode over +the fields, he said, four ells at one stride, and one of them had sat +down quite easily on the roof of a house, with his legs dangling down. + +At this rumour, the poor, terrified, common folks preferred to run back +into the jaws of the Tatars, rather than fall beneath the fangs of these +monsters; but the two Koppands said to one another very prudently-- + +"Look, now, there are far fewer of these monsters, whereas the Tatars +can be numbered by hundreds of thousands. The flesh of a giant is but +flesh, and a sword may pierce it. Goliath also was a giant, and a +shepherd's son slew him. Let us rather go against them." + +And they set off towards the forest. + +"Well, you will repent it," the gipsy cried after them. + +As the warriors drew near to the forest, there emerged from among the +trees twelve terrible forms, thrice as big as ordinary men. They had +heads as large as barrels, their moustaches were like horses' tails, +they covered two ells at each stride, and swords two ells in length hung +heavily on their shoulders. + +"Well, little brother," said Simon the warrior, grasping the hilt of his +sword at the sight, "either they are going to eat us or we will eat +them, choose your man and I'll choose mine." + +And they drew their swords and rushed upon the giants. + +The monstrous shapes at first raised a great shout at them, and +flourished their swords, but perceiving that they could by no means +terrify the two warriors, they turned tail, and with long strides +hastened back towards the forest. + +They were no giants from the hand of Nature after all, but only jugglers +of the Tatar khan who could stride about on long stilts, and dressed up +to ape God's wonders, so as to scare back the fugitive population into +the claws of its murderers. The gipsy knew this very well, for he was in +league with them. + +When Simon the warrior saw the giants take to flight, he encouraged his +brother still more against them. But they had no need to hunt for them +in the forest, for they could not move quickly enough on their stilts +among the trees and shrubs, their masques and wrappings also impeded +them, so that they could not make a proper use of their heavy swords, so +the two brothers cut down every one of them without mercy, and stuck +their painted monster heads on the tops of stakes on the borders of the +forest, that the flying people might take courage at the sight when they +beheld them from afar. And the name of the treacherous gipsy Simon the +warrior wrote down on the hilt of his sword. + +And then they again set out westward, till at length they reached the +waters of the Theiss, where they found a ferry, in front of which many +people were then waiting, all of whom had fled from before the Tatars. +The toll was in those days collected by certain of the Patarenes or +Albigenses, for in the days of King Andrew and the Palatine Dienes, all +the tolls had fallen into the hands of such-like oppressed people. It +might be supposed that in times of such great danger, when every one was +flying from fire amidst bloodshed, that the ferrymen would let the +fugitives over the rivers for nothing. And of a truth Christian Magyar +men would have so done, but the impious Patarenes laid heavier +contributions than usual on the refugees, who fled from before the +Tatars, carrying all they possessed on their persons, and these last +possessions they had to give up to the godless ferrymen. The women had +to give up their earrings, the men their shoe-buckles by way of ransom, +to the hard-hearted wretches to ferry them over. But those who had +nothing and were flying as beggars received godless usage at their +hands, for they were compelled to repeat after them a Manichaean prayer, +which was nothing but a frightful blasphemy against the one true God and +His saints in the Tatar tongue. And very many repeated it not thinking +at all in their deadly fear of the salvation of their souls. Those who +feared to utter the abomination searched elsewhere for a ford across the +Theiss, or, if they could swim, set about swimming, and so many perished +there. + +The two brethren had nought wherewith to pay the ferry-toll but the +blaspheming Tatar prayer. Simon the warrior said he would rather let +himself be cut in pieces by the Tatars than blaspheme the true God and +the Blessed Virgin, but Michael, having more _sang-froid_, assured him +that he would say it for them both, and made out that his brother was +dumb. He, therefore, repeated the horrible blasphemy twice, once for +himself and once for his elder brother, while Simon, with clenched +fists, repeated silently to himself an Our Father and a Hail Mary! Thus +they got ferried over to the opposite shore; and when Simon the warrior +reproached his brother for yielding to compulsion and repeating the +blasphemous verses, Michael reassured his elder brother by telling him +that after every verse he had said to himself: "Not true, not true." Yet +for all that it was a grievous sin. + +And warrior Simon marked the name of the Manichaean on the hilt of his +sword. + +But now the refugees plunged into the jaws of a fresh danger. The great +battle of the Sajo[22] had just been lost. The Tatar flood filled the +whole space between the Danube and the Theiss. When they emerged on the +border of a forest, the two brothers saw nothing all around them, right +up to the horizon, but the smoke of burning villages. They returned, +therefore, into the forest, and began to fare northwards, hearing on +every side of them the sound of the Tatar horns replying to each other; +seeking a refuge for the night in the trunks of hollow trees, and +finding no other sustenance than wild honey and beach-mast with which to +satisfy the cravings of hunger. + + [Footnote 22: On the Muhi _puszta_, near the river + Sajo, the Tatars defeated King Bela and the Magyars in + 1241.] + +On the fourth day they reached a respectable house in the midst of the +forest, which was defended neither by trench nor bastion, and yet was +not burnt down. + +The young warriors marvelled thereat; they did not know that in this +house dwelt a Moor, and the Moors were all on the side of the Tatars. +They brought them tidings, conducted them to the towns, and were their +spies and receivers. What the Tatars stole they bought of them cheaply, +and peddled it in Moravia, and even further still. This was the house of +one of these hucksters. A great red ox's head was painted on the door, +that the Tatars might recognize that the dweller therein was one of +their men. + +The Moor received them with great amiability when they crossed his +threshold, assured them that they might stay with him, and immediately +set about making ready a meal for them, which was a great consolation to +the honest, starving wanderers. While they were complaining to their +honest host of the hardships they had undergone, a noble lady came +panting up to the house, from whose ragged robes and unstitched sandals +one could see that she had fled afar for refuge, and asked whether her +beloved husband and her little boy had come thither. There were five of +them hiding in the forest, she said; her husband, with their little boy, +a faithful retainer, a nurse, and a little baby. All at once they had +heard the barking of dogs, and her husband had said that the other three +should remain behind in a cave, while he himself, with the little boy, +went on in front to look about, and see whether there were any human +dwelling near at hand. They had waited for him a long time, till at last +the wife, terrified at the long absence of her husband, had come forth +herself to seek him. Were they perchance here? + +"It is possible they may have come hither, my child," said the Moor, +with a shrug; "many seek refuge here nowadays. What were they like?" + +The woman described her husband's appearance and his garments, and then +the little boy. On the little boy's finger, she said, was a black +horsehair ring, with a little white cross. None could take it off, even +if they killed him for it; he could be recognized by that. + +The Moor replied that he had not cast eyes on them, and the poor woman, +wailing and ringing her hands, went further on to seek for her husband +and her little boy. + +Meanwhile, a meal had been served up for the young warriors--seethed +flesh in a huge caldron. The Moor also brought them wine, and, hoping +they would enjoy their food, left them to themselves. + +Sir Michael, who was very hungry, would have attacked the liberal repast +forthwith, but Sir Simon stopped him. + +"Had we not better first offer up our thanks, Michael?" said he. + +So they said a grace, as it becomes God-fearing men to do, and then only +did they turn to their meat. + +And behold! God had mercy on them, and was gracious to them, for when +Sir Michael plunged his curved eating-knife into the kettle, what think +you he brought out of it on the point of his knife? A tiny bone +encircled by a black horsehair ring, with a tiny white cross in the +midst of the ring. + +The youths leaped in terror to their feet, and, with no further thought +of either meat or drink, and without taking leave of host or hostess, +rushed from thence as fast as their legs could carry them, and only late +in the evening arrived in front of the cave of a poor hermit, to whom +they told the horrible thing that had befallen them. + +"Give thanks to God, my sons," said the old ascetic, "that He has +delivered you from that evil place, for the dwellers therein are none +other than the impious Moors, the spies of the Tatars, who give to the +refugees who seek a shelter there, stupefying drugs in their drink, and, +when sleep has overcome them, chop off their heads. For the heads they +get a denarius a piece from the Tatars, and the flesh of the bodies they +give to the refugees who come afterwards, thus most monstrously causing +the Magyars to eat the bodies of their own brethren. Rejoice that you +have not tasted thereof. Clear fresh water and dried roots will now be a +banquet to you, and we will share them together. Remain here till +morning, and then go even higher and higher towards the north; you +cannot miss your way. On whichever side of the trees you find moss, in +that direction the north will be. If you go a seven days' journey +through valleys and hills, you will see before you the highest mountains +on the borders of Hungary; there will you hear a bell, and it shall +guide you. There you will find a shelter--there are the Stones of +Refuge, which those who are skilled in war have provided with means of +defence, so that they may receive fugitives from every quarter. There +also will be a good place for you. You will find there an altar, bread, +strong bastions, which the good God and your good swords will defend +against a thousand enemies. Stop nowhere till you reach that place, for +danger and desolation are over all the land." + +The young warriors kissed the hand of the good old man for his good +counsel, and early in the morning, according to his directions, went all +alone through the dense forests. They went far, they went for a long +time, they left behind them the oak hills, they left the beech hills +behind them, and now they were among the dark, solemn pines, but further +and further still they had to go. + +But one morning, when they had sat down to rest among the lofty +mountains, the voice of a bell, coming from afar, struck upon their +ears. It was the voice of a very large bell, such bells as are only to +be found in such cities as Fehervar or Nagy Varad, in the cathedrals. + +Sir Michael leaped with joy at the sound. + +"Here must certainly be the Rocks of Refuge," he cried. + +But his brother Simon only shook his head. + +"We have still further to go, my brother. The holy man said it was at +least a seven days' journey from here." + +"Ah! no doubt he measured the distance with his own feet, and they are +old." + +"But the sound of this bell comes not from the north, but much more from +the west." + +"No doubt we have lost the proper direction." + +And Sir Michael persuaded his elder brother, Simon, not to go any +further, but turn aside and discover from whence came the sound of the +bell, for surely none but a Christian man would signal with a bell. No +doubt they did so to prevent folks from losing their way, so that they +might turn in thither and find a place of refuge from the enemy. + +Simon at last agreed, and they proceeded in the direction from whence +the sound of the bell came, and when they had emerged from the forest a +little pebbly valley opened out before them, through which wound a +little brook, and over the brook a great footbridge was cast. But the +bridge led up to a great rocky castle, with a large pointed tower in +each of its four corners, and a fifth tower in the middle. There were +bells in all five of these towers, and they were pulling them as if they +were ringing in a procession. + +"These be certainly the Rocks of Refuge!" cried Sir Michael, once more. + +"The hermit said nothing of such towers and bastions as these," remarked +his brother Simon, hesitating. + +"They may have been built since last he was here," replied his brother. + +And so they went on towards the castle. But it struck them as strange +that there were neither peasants' huts, nor a village, nor cottagers' +dwellings at the base of this strange castle, as there was wont to be +elsewhere. How was that? + +"No doubt they have gathered all the peasantry within the walls of the +castle." Thus did the credulous Sir Michael explain it all. + +The watchman on the tower, when he saw the travellers drawing near, +immediately sounded his horn, whereupon they let down the drawbridge +which connected the footbridge with the castle gate. Strong retainers +came forth to meet the new arrivals, and when the travellers gravely +told them that they had come from afar, from the midst of the devastated +kingdom, and knew not whether this was a good place of refuge or not, +the men laughed aloud and said: "Yes, you have indeed come to a good +place, comrades, for this is the castle of Sir Fulko, a famous and +well-known warrior. The Tatar cannot come hither, though he fill up the +whole valley. Here, too, there is no lack, for here is enough to eat and +drink and to spare. Have you any treasures which you want put into a +safe place?" + +"Of a truth we have nothing at all but our good swords." + +"Well, so much the better. You can enter into the knight's service, and +can win a good wage by fighting valiantly beneath his banner." + +"We want no money for our service; it suffices us if we can fight +against the pagans beneath a good leader." + +The lackeys laughed at the valorous way in which the youths spoke, and +led them into the castle, and soon afterwards they brought them scented +water in silver ewers, and made them wash and bathe themselves. Then +they brought them splendid velvet and flowered damask garments +embroidered with gold and crusted with diamonds. They also anointed +their locks with fragrant unguents. Sir Fulko, they said, had commanded +all these things to be done; he always received his guests with the like +hospitality. + +"But perchance we do not deserve this great honour," said Sir Simon, +blushing, who was always a shamefaced man when favours were forced upon +him. + +"Oh, you'll have your full share of far more than this," said the +servants, jocosely. "Our master has prepared a banquet for us all, and +the young ladies, the daughters of Sir Fulko, Meryza and Siona, will be +at the banquet also. You will sit beside them." + +"But what odd names they have!" cried Sir Simon. "Where were they +christened to get such names as these?" + +"Don't trouble your heads about that. To-morrow you will be able to say +which of the twain is the most beautiful." + +Sir Michael's heart was immediately interested in imagining which of the +two ladies was likely to be the fairest, but his elder brother, Simon, +was busy with very different thoughts. + +"Is there no chapel here?" he asked. "We should like to go there first +to give thanks to God for delivering us from the midst of so many +dangers. It is now many weeks since we had an altar before us, only in +the woods, at break of day, with the fowls of the air, have we been able +to pray to God." + +The lackeys again laughed at them. + +"Leave all that now, good friends, you can find your way about +to-morrow; a priest you can see at any time. Now come to the feast; they +must have sat down to table long ago." + +Sir Simon shook his head a good deal at this. He did not much like a +place where they spoke of the altar so lightly; but he did not want to +begin a brawl, so he allowed himself to accept the invitation, but he +reminded his younger brother that after their long fast it would be as +well to partake of the feast sparingly, and not drink too much wine, +lest harm might come of so sudden a repast. + +At the blast of a trumpet the inner folding doors of the castle were +thrown open, and the youths were conducted into the banqueting-room. + +The two honest young warriors felt the light of their eyes darkened by +the great splendour which now burst like enchantment upon them from all +sides. The tables were piled with silver plate and golden beakers; +chairs and benches were gorgeously carved and painted; the windows were +full of coloured glass; the chairs, at the heads of the tables, were +upholstered in velvet and surmounted by canopies as if they had been +placed there for princes. At the back of every chair stood a heyduke in +parade garments of cloth of gold, scarlet mantles, and with silver wine +pitchers in their hands. Then the folding doors at the opposite end of +the banqueting-room were thrown open, and through them came the guests +of the lord of the castle, each richly attired gentleman conducting a +beautiful damsel by the right hand. The ladies swept the floor with +their heavy silk dresses, and diamonds and carbuncles sparkled on their +foreheads and in their bosoms. They took their places in couples around +the long, loaded tables, a man and a woman side by side. Finally, three +fanfaronades announced the arrival of the master of the castle, Sir +Fulko, an obese figure almost collapsing beneath the weight of the +precious stones and gems he wore. He led a lady by each hand, his +daughters Meryza and Siona. + +The former, whom he led by the right hand, was a marvellously beautiful +damsel; a tall, stately, dignified figure, who lifted her head as +haughtily as one who knew that every one present was indeed her very +humble servant. + +The second damsel, whom Fulko led by the left hand, was small and +hump-backed: she never raised her eyes nor looked around her, like one +who knew right well that every one despised her. It was easy enough to +say which of the twain was the more beautiful. + +At this spectacle Sir Michael fancied he was dreaming, so blinded were +his eyes by the sheen of the precious stones, that he knew not whether +he was in earth or heaven. But Sir Simon, when he beheld all the +splendour before him, bethought him that at this very time King Bela[23] +was drinking out of his helmet water stained with bloods from the banks +of flowing streams. + + [Footnote 23: After losing the Battle of the Sajo, + where 65,000 Magyars vainly endeavoured to arrest the + march of 500,000 Mongols, Bela fled for a time into + Austria.] + +"Knights and dames to your places!" cried Sir Fulko. "Here beside me +will sit Sir Simon and Sir Michael; the latest guest always has the +first place at _my_ table. Sit down beside my daughters. This is my +daughter Meryza, and that my daughter Siona." + +Michael so contrived that the fair Meryza sat next to him, but Sir Simon +took his place next to the meek-eyed Siona, but first of all he said +grace to himself in a low voice, at which the other guests laughed +greatly; the good knight was making quite a scandal, they said. +Nevertheless, a voice beside him whispered softly: "Amen! Amen!" He +looked in that direction and saw the humpbacked Siona, and at that +moment the deformed damsel seemed lovelier to him than the stately +Meryza. + +The guests drank right gallantly; they required no very urgent +invitation thereto, and when they had all got pretty full skins, they +requested the new-comers to tell them the story of all that had +befallen them on their way thither. + +Sir Michael, not possessing the gift of eloquence himself, beckoned to +his elder brother to speak. Simon, therefore, got on his legs, and +imagining he had to do with honest patriots whose hearts could be +touched, he began to tell them of the mournful events he had seen. As +his narrative proceeded he was carried away more and more by his +emotions; the terrible scenes rising again before his eyes gave +inspiration to his lips, so that at last he spoke with such feeling that +the tears coursed down his own cheeks. + +But by the time he had dried his tears and looked round him again, he +perceived that the army of guests was neither sighing nor crying at his +melancholy oration; on the contrary, they were only listening by way of +diversion, like triflers listening to a singer of songs. + +So scandalized was he at the sight that he broke off abruptly. + +What annoyed him most of all were the eyes of the stately Meryza; they +regarded him so smilingly. + +When he stopped speaking the stately damsel addressed him-- + +"Tell us some more of those pretty tales!" said she. + +But a whimpering voice beside him--it was the pale Siona's--implored him +to cease for the love of God, for it made her heart bleed to hear such +horrible things. + +And Sir Simon listened to the words of Siona; he sighed deeply and sat +down. He was sorry that he had reproached his host and the army of +guests with heartlessness; he thought that it was only good manners on +their part, and that he had forgotten himself because he was so tired. + +But now arose Sir Saksin, a gigantic figure of a man, close beside +Simon, and asked him why he did not drink like the rest of them and why +he had left off speaking? Why had he insulted the company by this sudden +silence? Let him come out on the green, then, if he would! + +Sir Simon perceived that this would mean bloodshed, so he shoved away +his chair from beneath him and held himself ready for everything. This +was no unusual thing in the days when there had been much drinking among +many guests and the exhibition of strength was not considered a +disgrace, and therefore, before a banquet, all the guests were wont to +unload themselves of all their cutting and thrusting weapons, lest they +might injure one another and be sorry of it when they were sober again. + +Perceiving this, Sir Michael would also have leaped from his seat, but +the wine he had taken had tied him to it, and besides, those about him +said that in a quarrel between two men, it did not become a third person +to interfere. + +But Siona whispered to Simon. + +"Beware of letting yourself be hugged, for Saksin has spiked armour +beneath his dolman, and if he clip you tight it will mangle you." + +And this secret information was of great use to Simon, for when he was +wrestling with the big knight in the midst of the room, he never let +himself be clipt round the body, but seized him firmly by both arms, and +after thus giving his huge body a good shaking, tripped him up and +flung him to the ground so that his head hit the floor violently. + +At this, Saksin leaped furiously to his feet, and clutching a chair, +rushed upon Sir Simon; but the latter broke the impact of the chair with +one hand, while with the other he gave Sir Saksin such a buffet that he +saw and heard nothing more, for the blood burst suddenly from his nose, +mouth, and ears. So they carried him off wrapped up in a rug. + +At this the other guests laughed heartily, praised Sir Simon for his +strength and skill, and pressed his hand one after another. But he +noticed at the same time that they all tried to find out whether they +could hurt his hand by pressing it as hard as they could. "Let them do +as they like," he thought; "but I wonder what is going to happen next." + +Finally, the master of the house tapped him on the shoulder. He told him +too that he was a fine fellow for overthrowing so doughty a warrior with +whom none hitherto had ventured to cope, and inasmuch as he had resolved +that whoever was able to vanquish Sir Saksin was to be allowed to choose +one of his daughters for his consort, let him make his choice +straightway. + +Sir Simon fancied they were making sport with him by promising him such +a reward, which he had done nought to earn. But when he saw them summon +the chaplain, he perceived they were in real earnest. And, besides, he +was invited once more to make his choice. + +But Sir Michael, his brother, was greatly amazed at all this. He was +also grievously annoyed that _he_ had not contended with Saksin, for he +was no whit less doughty than his brother Simon. Alas! Simon would of +course choose Meryza, for if he had any eyes at all he could not fail to +see at a glance which was the loveliest. + +But Simon turned towards the pale Siona and said it was she who pleased +him best. + +Sir Fulko was greatly surprised. _He_ did not like the choice at all. He +scratched his head. He bit his lips. But the only objection he could +make was that Meryza was the eldest. + +"Well, if you don't want her married later than her younger sister, give +her to wife to my younger brother. He is just as good a warrior as I am, +and if he had fought with Saksin he would have flung him to the ground +not twice but thrice." + +Michael himself swore that he would indeed have done all that for +Meryza, and, if necessary, he would try conclusions with every gentleman +present one after the other; whereat they all laughed heartily. + +Sir Fulko thereupon took him at his word, and said that, as he was so +enamoured of his daughter, he might take her for his consort by all +means. + +Sir Michael was beside himself for joy. He could scarce stand upon his +legs for joy, and challenged the whole world to wrestle with him. + +But the soul of Sir Simon was steadied and cooled by the reflection: How +was it that such a rich lord disposed so readily of his lady-daughters, +and gave them to wife to the first comers without wooing or sueing? + +Nevertheless, it was a fact, whether he believed himself to be awake or +imagined himself to be asleep, it had happened all the same. Sir Fulko +joined their hands together; Meryza drew from her finger a diamond ring, +which she placed on the finger of Sir Michael; while Siona gave a thin +circlet to Sir Simon as a token of their espousals, the knights giving +them in exchange from their fingers old ancestral rings of great price; +whereupon the whole army of guests, suddenly converted into a bridal +party, proceeded forthwith to the castle chapel, where a priestly shape +united the two couples in holy matrimony according to the ritual of the +Catholic Faith, decently and in order to the accompaniment of hymns and +organ. + +Sir Michael and the fair Meryza withdrew to their appointed +bridal-chamber, but Sir Simon said to his bride: "I will remain here a +little while before the altar to thank God for His wondrous benefits, +inasmuch as He has delivered me out of jeopardy and guided my footsteps +into the path of liberty. It was but yesterday the wolves were lying in +wait for me, and now to-day I am blessed with a good consort like you. +Go back to your room, and I will shortly come after you." + +For about an hour Sir Simon remained there beside the altar, which was +embellished with the statues of the Saints; he felt inclined to bless +these holy images one after the other, but then he thought that perhaps +Siona might be growing impatient at his long delay. + +"Forgive me, Siona, for remaining so long in the chapel," said he, on +his return; "but I had so many thanks to render to God this day." + +"Indeed, you have many reasons to thank God," said Siona; "for +marvellously hath He delivered you from death this day. You may thank +God that you sat beside me instead of by Meryza, for Saksin would +assuredly have fastened a quarrel upon you in any case; and had you not +taken heed and avoided his grip, you would have been a dead man now. You +may also thank God that you drank not out of your own beaker, but out of +mine, in which there was water; for the rim of your beaker was smeared +with stupefying poison, and if your lips had touched it, you would have +been drugged and died before dawn. But you may thank God a hundred times +over that you did not stretch out your hand after Meryza when they +allowed you to choose between us, as hundreds have done before you, who +are all dead; for you most certainly would have followed them." + +"But what sort of a house can this be, then?" inquired the terrified +Simon. + +"A house of robbers and murderers. Sir Fulko is a bandit-chief; he is +not my father, but my step-father, who tormented my mother to death. +Meryza, on the contrary, _is_ his daughter, of whom they relate horrors. +These guests, who walk about in cloth of gold, the companions of Fulko +and his daughter, are every one of them murderers a hundred times over, +and accursed. Formerly, until last year, they scoured the counties far +and wide, in bands, on their predatory adventures. Sometimes Meryza +herself led them, and she is more merciless even than her father in +these nocturnal massacres. Since, however, Heaven in its wrath has +inflicted this great blow on our country, and let loose the Tatars upon +it, Fulko's bands have not gone forth plundering. They fear to fall in +with stronger robbers than themselves, so they hung large bells in +their towers, and the far-sounding voices of the bells decoy from afar +those who are seeking a refuge from the Tartars. When rich nobles or +chapmen come hither they are hospitably welcomed; their treasures are +taken charge of, and they themselves are disposed of the very first +night. If there are handsome youths amongst them they are made sport of, +as you were. Fulko offers them the choice of his daughters. The youth, +intoxicated by the drugged wine, demand the hand of Meryza, and they +conduct him to the altar. A robber, clothed in the vestments of some +murdered priest, unites them, and he finds himself her husband. When +Meryza gives the signal they ring the bell outside; an alarm of 'fire' +is raised; the young husband is aroused from his slumbers, and the +moment he rushes from the bedroom all trace of him is lost, and the next +day there is a fresh comer, another death, another sacrifice." + +"Horrible!" cried Sir Simon. "And is Michael there at this moment? Where +is he, I say?" + +"Speak softly! He is not there now. In the adjoining room gapes an abyss +twenty fathoms wide. Every day we walk over it. The floor on which we +walk turns downwards on a hinge, which is in the centre of it, and on +the withdrawal of a bolt is ready to yawn open from end to end. At this +moment the bolt is withdrawn. If any one were to tread upon the floor it +would give way beneath him, and precipitate him below into a deep well, +which leads into a long corridor, extending right away to the base of +the mountain, and only admitting the light of day through a narrow +opening. If by some miracle any one falls to the bottom of the dry well +without dashing out his brains, he is torn to pieces in the depths by +two bloodhounds of Fulko, Orcus and Erebus he calls them. On the +following day, Fulko and his men descend into the cave-like corridor, +scare away the dogs, and divide among them the gems and ornaments of the +dead men." + +"And my brother? What has happened to my brother?" + +Siona dried the tears from her eyes. + +"Listen, and I'll tell you the designs of your enemies. A hand will +begin tapping softly on the window of the bedroom, and then they will +whisper that your brother wants a word with you. They are tapping at +Michael's window now." + +"And he?" + +"Dead, without doubt. It was impossible to save him, for Meryza would +come with him to the very door, and kiss him there; and then there would +be a shout--and a great silence." + +Words failed Sir Simon for sheer sorrow of heart. + +"All you can do now is to save yourself. Here is a long rope; tie it +round your body. Here is a good sword; gird it on to your belt. Take +this burning torch in your left hand; don't wait till they call. Step +out upon the drawbridge. I will let you down softly by this cord, and +when you have got down I'll fling the cord after you. If you meet the +bloodhounds cry: 'Be off, Orcus and Erebus,' and dash the torch in their +eyes, and they will not hurt you. Kill them not, for then it will be +known that you have escaped, and Fulko and his men will go after you and +capture you. And now hasten. When you are in a place of safety, I wish +you a long life; and perhaps you will sometimes think that the poor +orphan whom you chose for your faithful consort really was faithful to +you." + +Sir Simon embraced and kissed Siona with great emotion. + +"I am really your husband, and will not leave you here; come along with +me!" + +"That would mean the destruction of us both. They would know in an hour +that I had betrayed them, and before dawn we should be again in their +hands. The whole neighbourhood is in league with them. In three days' +time they will not be able to make out which of the bones are yours. +Hasten! Tarry not!" + +Sir Simon thereupon vowed to God that if he escaped from thence, and the +realm ever righted itself again, he would return thither to release his +bride and take vengeance on the murderers of his brother. He did +everything that Siona wished. His sword in one hand, his torch in the +other, the card of deliverance round his body, he cautiously stepped +upon the bridge of sighs, and when it gave way beneath him, he softly +descended into the terrible abyss, from whose depths a dull howling +greeted him. + +"God be with you!" cried the voice of Siona above his head, when he +already stood at the bottom of the well. He lifted the torch and lit up +everything around him. There lay his brother Michael, his beautiful head +crushed to death. The two bloodhounds, which were licking up his blood, +fell back before the torch into the darkness; their blood-red eyes +sparkled in the distance. + +Sir Simon kissed the face of his dead brother, and suffered him not to +lie there for the wild beasts, but threw him over his shoulder and +carried him through the long corridor till he came to the forest. The +two dogs followed him all the way, but dare not attack him because of +the torch. + +In the forest beyond he dug a grave for the dead body, piled a great +heap of stones upon it, cut crosses in the bark of four trees which +towered above it so that he might recognize the spot, and earnestly +prayed God to allow him to rest there in peace. + +The north star now led him onwards towards the Carpathians. + +Two nights he travelled continuously; in the daytime he kept closely +under cover. On the third day at dawn he beheld in the distance the +simple cross on the hilltop, of which the hermit had told him. + +It was indeed the Stone of Refuge. + +The worthy and valiant Templars, the Red Brothers, as the common folks +called them, had built there a place of refuge for the fugitives of the +whole kingdom, and whenever a vagrant Tatar band came after them they +were bravely repulsed, and could not take them by force. + +And in the third year the hand of the Lord swept away from the bereaved +Magyar land the hordes of Gog and Magog, and every one returned to his +devastated fatherland. + +The King came back and re-created a nation and a kingdom, and laid an +iron hand on the traitors and malefactors who had competed with the +enemy in the devastation of their country. + +Ambulatory tribunals were formed which, under the presidency of the +Palatine, summoned the accused to appear at the bar on the borders of +every county. Those charged with such grievous crimes had to submit to +the judgments of God by means of the fire or water ordeal, or if they +were warriors they had to contend with the royal warriors, whose faces +were defended by helmets, and their bodies by coats of mail, while the +accused had no other weapons than sword and targe. + +Many an impious offender was caught in this way, to wit, renegades, +traitors, saracens, cannibals, highwaymen, and spies. And at last it +came to the turn of Sir Fulko. The royal herald fastened the accusing +iron-glove on his gates also, and so great was the confidence of the +robber chief that, though he might have fled, he did not fly, but +appeared with all his retainers, with his captain Saksin, and his +daughter Meryza, before the tribunal, only Siona remained behind in the +earth. + +Meryza put heart into Captain Saksin, who was a frightfully strong man +and experienced in duelling, and bade him have no fear, but embrace the +royal champion firmly, and to that end she had made for him a shirt of +mail which was a masterpiece of sorcery, for no weapon could pierce it, +and gave him a sword besides, which could pierce iron as if it were +velvet. + +Thus caparisoned, Sir Saksin planted himself in the lists where the +royal champion stood; over against him and in the midst of the lists sat +the Palatine beneath a canopy, with the Pristaldus standing below him, +and the Pristaldus recited from a long list, in a loud voice, the +charges brought against the accused, to wit, that they had faithlessly +murdered those who had sought refuge with them, and had profaned the +Holy Sacrament. + +The accused replied that the charges against them were lies, in the +belief that those who could testify against them were all dead. + +"I declare the accusation to be pure calumny, and I demand a duel with +the royal champion," cried Sir Saksin, defiantly. + +"Then recognize whom you fight with," said the champion, pulling off his +barred helmet; "I am Simon Koppand, whom Orcus and Erebus did not +devour." + +On hearing that name and seeing that face, the enchanted sword fell from +the hand of the big powerful man; he had no more stomach for fighting. +He stretched out his hand for the fetters, and promised to confess +everything. + +Sir Fulko, when he heard the names of Orcus and Erebus, swiftly flung +himself on his horse and galloped off; they pursued, but could not +overtake him. None to this day knows what became of him. + +Only Meryza remained defiant. When her father fled, and Saksin confessed +everything, even she denied her crimes, and refused to tell anything. +Then she was subjected to the water ordeal, and died beneath it. + +Saksin they quartered; the other robbers were beheaded. + +After this the King bestowed upon Simon Koppand the castle of Sir Fulko, +and Simon Koppand presented the enormous treasure he found there to the +Church, to the glory of God. + +But Siona he really took to wife, and was married to her a second time, +canonically, and she lived with him long and happily as his faithful +consort. And the name of Koppand continued for centuries. + +And may the Lord God bless the Magyars hereafter as He hath done +heretofore. + + +THE END + + +_Jarrold and Sons, Ltd., The Empire Press, Norwich._ + + + + +NEW & FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS. + +SHORTLY. + +THE BRAIN BOOK AND HOW TO READ IT. + +BY H. C. DONOVAN. + +A POPULAR EXPOSITION OF PHRENOLOGY. + +_With over Forty specially prepared Illustrations._ + + +Greatly helpful to the Student of Phrenology, and of interest to all +acquainted with the subject. The author has had the advantage of being +able to refer to notes of original investigations by his father, the +late Dr. Donovan, and the book now published is believed to embody the +most reliable and up-to-date teaching on the subject. It deals both with +theory and practice. The Illustrations will be valued by all interested +in the location of the various faculties. A portion of the work is +devoted to an account of certain independent investigations, and the +striking conclusions the author draws therefrom. 6s. nett. + + + + +FOURTH EDITION NOW READY. + +=THE KING'S ENGLISH & HOW TO WRITE IT.= + +For the use of Students and others. + + +A comprehensive text-book of Essay Writing, Precis Writing, and +Paraphrasing, with hints for a practical course of reading. By JOHN +BYGOTT (Double Medallist and First Prizeman of the Society of Arts--in +English, 1902, in Precis Writing, 1903; Master at Pitman's Metropolitan +School, London): and A. J. LAWFORD JONES, of H.M. Civil Service (Double +Medallist and First Prizeman Society of Arts--in Precis Writing, 1900, +in English, 1903; Senior Evening Tutor at Skerry's Civil Service and +University College; Editor of the Student's Column in the _Union +Observer_; and author of several text-books). The work is based upon the +comparative method, encourages the student to undertake a carefully +selected course in standard literature. Illustrative quotations are +given. The book covers the syllabus of the London Matriculation, the +Society of Arts, and the generality of Pupil Teachers', Civil Service, +and similar Examinations demanding a knowledge of English Composition. +Warmly commended by leading Educational Authorities. A copy has been +accepted by King Edward VII. 1s. 6d. nett. + + +JUST PUBLISHED + +=THE MANOR HOUSE.= + +By S. ELIZABETH HALL, Author of "Sybil Fairleigh," etc. 3s. 6d. + +"Has the greatest merit a story can have--it can be read aloud in a +family circle."--_Scotsman._ + +"Has plenty of cleverly managed incidents and sensations."--_Newcastle +Chronicle._ + + +SHORTLY. + +=DOG TAILS FROM CAMBRIDGE.= + +By C. KENT-HARKWAY, Author of "Celtic Waters," etc. With thirty +illustrations by FANNIE MOODY. 3s. 6d. + +A volume describing an undergraduate's life at Cambridge, his +companions, and more particularly his various dogs, with their +extraordinary characteristics, and the troubles into which his +dog-keeping tastes brought him in various parts of the country. Some +humorous love adventures also figure in the story. A book which will be +enjoyed by all lovers of fun, whether dog-lovers or not. + + +SHORTLY. + +_First Edition Subscribed for in advance of publication._ + +=A SCOTTISH BLUEBELL.= + +By ETTA BUCHANAN BENNETT. 3s. 6d. + +The heroine, Marjorie Linsday, resides at a little seaside town in +Scotland. She discovers a family secret, and in the end ascertains that +she is the heiress of the Earl of Lowrie. The story contains many +exciting episodes at home and abroad, and has a powerful plot. + + +SHORTLY. + +=OUTCASTS FROM CHOICE.= + +A Story of Klondyke. By Mr. GUSTIN AISH. 3s. 6d. + +The style is picturesque and vigorous, and describes the adventures and +life in a miners' camp of a party on their first visit to Klondyke. + + + + + +NEW SIX SHILLING NOVELS. + + +=THE GOLDEN DWARF.= + +By R. NORMAN SILVER, Author of "The Daughter of Mystery," "Hate the +Destroyer," etc. 6s. + +"A sensational romance of to-day . . . the surprises of this story are +terrific."--_The Daily Express._ + +"In the personality of Otto Hare, the Golden Dwarf, Mr. Silver has +created a character of considerable strength and originality. . . . The +story is one of great interest, and is maintained without a break from +commencement to finish."--_Court Journal._ + + +=THE JEST OF FATE.= + +By PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (The Negro Poet). With a Photogravure Portrait +of the Author. 6s. + +"Written with much power and originality."--_Bookseller._ + +"As a negro's view of the negro problem the book should be widely +read."--_Scotsman._ + +"A powerful drama of American negro life."--_Literary World._ + +"Mr. Dunbar tells a thrilling story; his style is quiet but +effective."--_Leeds Mercury._ + + +=DAVID MAXWELL.= By J. W. CROSBIE. 6s. + +"The story of incident is told in the first person, and well told, +individual and national characteristics being consistently +preserved."--_Athenaeum._ + +"It bristles with adventure of the most entertaining type. . . . The +attention is enchained as the writer unfolds his plot, which winds +itself like a charm around the reader's imagination. It is, furthermore, +a clever character sketch."--_Scotsman._ + + +=LIEGE LADY.= By LILIAN S. ARNOLD. 6s. + +"Both plot and characters are well conceived."--_The Times._ + +"A most enjoyable book. The characters are most deftly sketched, and the +interest in the story is well sustained from the first page to the +last."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"The descriptions of the German peasants and their surroundings are very +well done . . . it is well worth reading."--_Review of Reviews._ + + +=DISTANT LAMPS.= By JESSIE REUSS. 6s. + +"A clever, thoughtful, and well-written tale."--_Aberdeen Free Press._ + +"An interesting and promising novel."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"Is marked by ingenuity and cleverness in literary detail."--_Sheffield +Independent._ + + + + + +NEW HUMOROUS NOVELS BY POPULAR AUTHORS. + + +_Crown 8vo, Cloth Elegant, Profusely Illustrated._ + +=3s. 6d. EACH.= + + +_By the Author of "We Three and Troddles."_ JUST PUBLISHED. + +=THE CRUISE OF THE MOCK TURTLE.= By R. ANDOM, Author of "Troddles and Us +and Others," "Martha and I," etc. Humorously Illustrated by C. HARRISON. + +"A book of frank, boisterous humour, describing the sorrows of four men +who took a short holiday in a sailing boat. . . . Is quite as good as +the author's previous works."--_Morning Leader._ + +"It is positively refreshing to peruse so genuinely comic a book. The +four friends are full of life and fun, and their entertaining adventures +are sure to occasion merriment."--_Glasgow Herald._ + + +_By the Author of "Angling Done Here," etc._ + +=THE CRICKLETON CHRONICLES; or, That Cowboy's Courtship.= By W. CARTER +PLATTS. Illustrated. Relating the original methods adopted by a Colorado +ranchman, of wooing a Yorkshire squire's daughter. Fully Illustrated. + +"Not a page without a laugh. . . . The beat humorous book that Carter +Platts has written."--_Leeds Mercury._ + + +=MY FRIEND BILHOOLEY; or, A Moorish Nightmare.= By HENRY FIELD and BLARNEY +STONE. Humorously Illustrated. A humorous Story, more on the lines of +"Three Men in a Boat," with the same amount of fun, and will afford the +reader many a hearty laugh. + +"Abounds with humorous incidents. The archaic habits of the country are +caricatured with considerable cleverness."--_Scotsman._ + + +=NEW 3S. 6D. NOVELS.= + +=THE ROMANCE OF POISONS.= Being Weird Episodes from Life. By ROBERT +CROMIE, Author of "The Crack of Doom," etc. In collaboration with T. S. +WILSON. + +"Told with ingenuity and the resource of a practical pen. They are +indeed thoroughly well written."--_The Irish Times._ + +"A medical Sherlock Holmes. Those who like detective stories of the +Sherlock Holmes school, will find good measure in 'The Romance of +Poisons.'"--_Morning Post._ + +"The stories are weird in the extreme, but will be appreciated by those +who like literature of the 'creepy' sort."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + + + +JARROLD & SONS' +NEW AND FORTHCOMING BOOKS. + + +=For Love and Ransom.= + +By ESME STUART, Author of "Harum Scarum," &c. Illustrated by HAROLD +PIFFARD. 6_s._ + + +_A ROMANCE OF TENNYSON-LAND._ + +=Over Stony Ways.= (Just Published.) + +By EMILY M. BRYANT, Author of "Kitty Lonsdale and some Romsley Folk," +&c. 6s. With notes by T. F. LOCKYER, B.A. Also Six Full-page +Illustrations from Photographs of Somersby and other Bits of +Tennyson-Land. + +"Miss Bryant knows the country she describes, and the charm and +suggestion of it will linger long after the artificial incidents of the +story have faded from the recollection."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +"Has plenty of merit. . . . The situations are well framed."--_Pall Mall +Gazette._ + + +_A STORY OF ADVENTURE AND SMUGGLING._ + +=Gorry, Son of Orry, King of the Isle of Man.= + +By W. CLUCAS JOUGHIN. With Seven Illustrations by J. B. GREENE. 6_s._ + +"A stirring story of adventure . . . a book boys will read with +avidity."--_Saturday Review._ + +"A striking story of adventure in the Isle of Man."--_World._ + + +='Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; or, The Scourge of God.= + +By BARON NICOLAS JOSIKA--the Sir Walter Scott of Hungary. Translated by +SELINA GAYE. With Photogravure Portrait of Author, and Preface by R. +NISBET BAIN. 6_s._ + + +=Tales from Jokai.= + +Translated from the Hungarian by R. NISBET BAIN. With Biography of DR. +MAURUS JOKAI, also Photogravure Portrait. 6_s._ + +Besides his romances, Jokai has written a score or so of volumes of +short stories, which, in the opinion of many good Magyar critics, +contain some of his most notable work. The present selection claims to +be fully representative, and to give a taste of the many widely +differing qualities of the great romancer. + + +=The Slaves of the Padishah; or, The Turks in Hungary.= (Fourth Edition.) + +By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. NISBET BAIN. With Biography of DR. +MAURUS JOKAI, also Photogravure Portrait. 6_s._ + +"One of the great books of the brilliant Hungarian novelist. His plot is +full of episodes, each of which would form a complete picture in +itself."--_Daily News._ + +"Holds his readers spellbound."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + +_A STORY OF MAORI MAGIC AND SUPERSTITION._ + +=The Daughter of the Dawn.= +(Third Edition.) + +By REGINALD HODDER. With Illustrations by HAROLD PIFFARD. 6_s._ + +"A tale of Maori land, palpitating with excitement."--_Bookman._ + +"Full of a weird mystery and an atmosphere of enchantment which should +give it a definite and foremost place among the romances of the day +. . . a fascinating volume."--_Daily Graphic._ + + +=Among the Cranks.= + +By JAMES GREENWOOD (The Amateur Casual), Author of "Kerrison's Crime," +&c. 3_s._ 6_d._ + +In this humorous work the author introduces some unusual characters, and +tells of the extraordinary ideas with which they are possessed. + + + + +BOOKS FOR BOOK LOVERS. + + +=OLD DAYS IN DIPLOMACY.= By the Eldest Daughter of Sir Edward Cromwell +Disbrowe, G.C.G., En. Min. Plen. With Preface by M. Montgomery-Campbell; +several photogravure Portraits, and autograph letter from Queen +Charlotte. First Edition subscribed in advance of publication. 10/6 +nett. + + +=LONDON OF TO-DAY.= By Charles Eyre Pascoe. The first volume of a new +Series. The most complete, useful, and up-to-date guide published. +Should be in every Library. 534 pages. Copiously illustrated. Richly +gilt. Price 6/-. + + +=HISTORY OF THE 4th BATTALION NORFOLK REGIMENT.= By Col. Sir Charles +Harvey, Bart. Many illustrations. The Edition is limited to 250 copies. +Price 25/- nett. + + +=CHRONICLES OF THE GARNIERS OF HAMPSHIRE, 1530 to 1900.= With 25 portraits +and 5 other illustrations. 31/6. + + +=CHURCH BELLS OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.= By Alfred Heneage Cocks, M.A., F.Z.S., +F.R.G.S. With many illustrations. 21/- and 42/- nett. + + +=CHURCH BELLS OF HUNTINGDONSHIRE.= By Rev. T. M. N. Owen, M.A. 15/6 and +42/-. + +"A book of engrossing interest."--_Hunts County News._ + + +=CHURCH BELLS OF SUFFOLK.= By Rev. John James Raven, D.D., F.S.A., Hon. +Canon Norwich Cathedral. About 90 illustrations. 27/6 and 20/- nett. + + +=THE INDISPENSABLE REFERENCE GUIDE AND GAZETTEER.= By A. F. Harrod. Gives +particulars of 18,000 places, with nearest railway stations, crane +power, etc. Of great use to traders and travellers. 21/-. + + +=FRIESLAND MERES.= By H. M. Doughty, Author of "Our Wherry in Wendish +Lands." Fourth Edition. 7/6. + +"A most welcome and original volume." + + +=THE ROYAL PASTIME OF COCK FIGHTING.= By "R. H." Facsimile of the original +Edition of 1709. One hundred numbered copies. 10/6 nett. + + +=BOWLS, BOWLING GREENS, AND BOWL PLAYING.= By E. T. Ayres. Illustrated. +Most comprehensive. Second Edition. 2/6. + + +=LETTERS OF LADY HESKETH TO THE REV. JOHN JOHNSON, LL.D.=, concerning +their kinsman, William Cowper, the Poet (1790-1806). Illustrated. 5/- +and 6/6 nett. + + +=WAGNER, BAYREUTH AND THE FESTIVAL PLAYS.= By Frances Gerard. With +Illustrations and Portrait of Wagner. Third Edition. 3/6. + + +=THE ROMANCE OF KING LUDWIG THE SECOND OF BAVARIA AND HIS FAIRY PALACES.= +By Frances Gerard. Fourth Edition. Profusely illustrated. 6/-. + + +=THOMAS MOORE ANECDOTES AND EPIGRAMS.= With Notes by Wilmot Harrison, and +special Introduction by Richard Garnett, LL.D., with frontispiece +Portrait of Thomas Moore. 3/6. + + +=HUNGARIAN LITERATURE.= By Dr. Emil Reich, Author of "History of +Civilisation." With Map of Hungary. 6/-. + + +=CHRIST IN SACRED ART.= By Joseph Lewis French. With 33 full-page +reproductions from Painting by the Great Masters. 6/-. + + +=THREE CHILDREN OF GALILEE.= A Life of Christ. By John Gordon. With 100 +illustrations of Holy Land Scenery. Third Edition. 3/6 and 5/-. + + +=BY THE DEEP SEA.= By E. Step. With 113 illustrations. 5/-. Third Edition. + + +=EVERY-DAY BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY.= By J. C. Cundall. With 64 +illustrations. 3/6. Fourth Edition. + + +=AGRICULTURAL REVIVAL AND THE RURAL EXODUS.= By P. Anderson Graham, +Special Commissioner on Agriculture for the _Morning Post_. Third +Edition. 3/6. + + +=SOME REMINISCENCES OF A LECTURER.= By Dr. Andrew Wilson. With finely +engraved portrait of Author. 2/6. + + +=FIVE WORKS=, by Dr. Gordon Stables--(1) Sickness or Health, a book about +trifling ailments; (2) The Boys' Book of Health and Strength; (3) The +Girl's Own Book of Health and Beauty; (4) The Wife's Guide to Health and +Happiness; (5) The Mother's Book of Health and Family Adviser. 2/6 each; +or set of five complete in special case, 12/6 nett. Useful and +practical. + +"Such a book by Gordon Stables is more interesting than a novel."--_Vide +Press._ + + +=THE ROMANCE OF POISONS.= A novel of sensations. By Robert Cromie, Author +of "A Plunge into Space," etc. 3/6. + + +=THE POETS LAUREATE.= From the earliest times. By J. C. Wright, Author of +"Outline of English Literature." 2/6. + + +=THE DAUGHTER OF THE DAWN.= Second Edition. A remarkable work of Maori +Life and Legend. By Reginald Hodder. With twelve illustrations by Harold +Piffard. 6/-. + +"A tale of Maori Land, palpitating with excitement."--_Bookman._ + +"Full of an atmosphere of enchantment, which should give it a definite +and foremost place among the romances of the day."--_Daily Graphic_ + + +=THE TONE KING.= Second Edition. A Romance of the Life of Mozart. By +Heribert Rau. Translated by I. E. St. Quintin Rae. With a specially +engraved Portrait of Mozart. 6/-. + +"A lively story. Mozart was the wonder of the world, and the narrative +of his achievements, as boy and man, deftly built up to completeness by +Mr. Rau, is delightful reading throughout."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + +=TALES FROM TOLSTOI.= Fourth Edition. Translated from the Russian by R. +Nisbet Bain. With Biography and specially engraved Portrait of Count +Tolstoi. 6/-. + +"The stories are excellently well selected and show Tolstoi's wonderful +power of treating an astonishing variety of subjects with equal ease and +success."--_Westminster Gazette._ + +"The book is well worth reading, it is absorbing."--_Daily Express._ + + +=MORE TALES FROM TOLSTOI.= Translated from the Russian by R. Nisbet Bain. +With the latest photogravure Portrait of Count Leo Tolstoi, and +Biography brought up to date. 6/-. + +"No admirer of Tolstoi is likely to miss reading this book, and it would +form a good introduction to his works."--_Daily Mail._ + + +=TALES FROM GORKY.= Translated from the Russian by R. Nisbet Bain. With +photogravure Portrait and Biography of Maxim Gorky. 6/-. + +"The man has all the notes of genuine and unmistakable literary genius. +He has vision; he has the mastery of the phrase; half-a-dozen deft +touches and there is your picture; in a paragraph he has infected you +with the emotion he himself experienced at the moment he +presents."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + + + +MAURUS JOKAI'S FAMOUS NOVELS. + +AUTHORISED EDITIONS. + +_Crown 8vo Art Linen, with Photogravure Portrait of DR. JOKAI. 6s. +each._ + + +=THE GREEN BOOK; or, Freedom under the Snow.= Eighth Edition. + +Mr. Courtney, in the _Daily Telegraph_, says:--"It is truly an +astounding book. In force, fire, and prodigal variety he reminds one of +the elder Dumas." + + +=THE DAY OF WRATH.= Fourth Edition. + +"There is no novel in which Jokai's all-round forcefulness and daring +wealth of colour are more terrific."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + + +=BLACK DIAMONDS.= Fifth Edition. + +"Few living novelists rival Jokai in popularity. 'Black Diamonds' is one +of Jokai's most popular romances."--_Athenaeum._ + + +=EYES LIKE THE SEA.= Fourth Edition. + +"A brilliant story. . . . The wealth of incident and quaint situations +display the surprising fancy of the author."--_Pilot._ + + + +=THE LION OF JANINA.= Fifth Edition. + +"It is a fascinating story."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + +=DR. DUMANY'S WIFE.= Fourth Edition. + +"A good interesting novel. The characters live and move all through the +book."--_St. James' Gazette._ + + +=PRETTY MICHAL.= Fifth Edition. + +"We admire the work of Maurus Jokai. It is vivid and there is a +superabundance of incident."--_Times._ + + +='MIDST THE WILD CARPATHIANS.= Fourth Edition. + +"A succession of gorgeous tableaux. His canvas is crowded with striking +figures of irresistible charm."--_Spectator._ + + +=THE SLAVES OF THE PADISHAH; or, The Turks in Hungary.= Sequel to "'Midst +the Wild Carpathians." + +"One of the great books of the brilliant Hungarian Novelist."--_Daily +News._ + + +=A HUNGARIAN NABOB.= Fifth Edition. + +"A series of strong, vivid pictures of Hungarian life, executed by the +hand of a great master."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + +=THE NAMELESS CASTLE.= Fifth Edition. + +"An enthralling romance of adventure and intrigue."--_The Bookman._ + + +=THE POOR PLUTOCRATS.= Fifth Edition. + +"Full of exciting incidents and masterly studies of character."--_Court +Circular._ + + +=HALIL THE PEDLAR (The White Rose).= + +"The book is a brilliant picture of an almost increditable world."--_St. +James' Gazette._ + + +=DEBTS OF HONOR.= Fourth Edition. + +"A series of pictures, stirring, sorrowful, and gay, but always +beautiful."--_St. James' Gazette._ + + + + + +JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, LONDON, E.C. + +_And of all Booksellers._ + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected. Please note that the original text +was inconsistent in the spelling and hyphenation of many words, in +particular, in the use of accents. Except as noted below, these +variations have been retained. + +The title page was moved to the front of the book, ahead of the +advertising material which preceded it in the original edition. + +In the Biography of Jokai, "Janos Kovaes" was changed to "Janos Kovacs", +"A debreceni Sunatikus" was changed to "A debreceni lunatikus", and +"Deak's original programme" was changed to "Deak's original programme". + +In The Justice of Soliman, "who had stolen the body of Eminah" was +changed to "who had stolen the body of Eminha". + +In Love and the Little Dog, "without the break on" was changed to +"without the brake on". + +In The Red Starosta, "the descendant of Jitschak Ben Menachim" was +changed to "the descendant of Jitzchak Ben Menachim". + +In The City of the Beast, "stones and other missles" was changed to +"stones and other missiles", "mirky, dark-green tinge" was changed to +"murky, dark-green tinge", and "wot not off" was changed to "wot not +of". + +In The Hostile Skulls, "if had anything on his mind" was changed to "if +he had anything on his mind", and "a similiar contrivance" was changed +to "a similar contrivance". + +In The Bad Old Times, a quotation mark was added after "you shall rise +up and watch over me.", and "in which dwell a gipsy" was changed to "in +which dwelt a gipsy". + +In the advertisement for New and Forthcoming Books, "Tales from Jokai" +was changed to "Tales from Jokai", "cleft touches" was changed to "deft +touches", a quotation mark was added after "masterly studies of +character.", and one page of books was moved from after the list of +"Maurus Jokai's Famous Novels" to before. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales From Jokai, by Mor Jokai + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM JOKAI *** + +***** This file should be named 37286.txt or 37286.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/2/8/37286/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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