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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6848-h.zip b/6848-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dbc289 --- /dev/null +++ b/6848-h.zip diff --git a/6848-h/6848-h.htm b/6848-h/6848-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba83b3e --- /dev/null +++ b/6848-h/6848-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,21595 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Prince of India, Vol I, by Lew Wallace +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 4% } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +p.contents {text-indent: -3%; + margin-left: 5% } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 4em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume I, by Lew. Wallace + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Prince of India, Volume I + or, Why Constantinople Fell + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Posting Date: March 14, 2014 [EBook #6848] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 1, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA, VOLUME I *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version +by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<br /><br /><br /> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA<br /> +OR<br /> +WHY CONSTANTINOPLE FELL +</h1> + +<p class="t2"> +BY<br /> +LEW. WALLACE +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +VOL. I. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="poem"> + <i>Rise, too, ye Shapes and Shadows of the Past<br /> + Rise from your long forgotten grazes at last<br /> + Let us behold your faces, let us hear<br /> + The words you uttered in those days of fear<br /> + Revisit your familiar haunts again<br /> + The scenes of triumph and the scenes of pain<br /> + And leave the footprints of your bleeding feet<br /> + Once more upon the pavement of the street</i><br /> + LONGFELLOW<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK I +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0101">THE NAMELESS BAY</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0102">THE MIDNIGHT LANDING</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0103">THE HIDDEN TREASURE</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK II +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0201">A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0202">THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0203">THE YELLOW AIR</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#chap0204">EL ZARIBAH</a><br /> + V. <a href="#chap0205">THE PASSING OF THE CARAVAN</a><br /> + VI. <a href="#chap0206">THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR</a><br /> + VII. <a href="#chap0207">AT THE KAABA</a><br /> + VIII. <a href="#chap0208">THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE</a><br /> + IX. <a href="#chap0209">THE PRINCE AT HOME</a><br /> + X. <a href="#chap0210">THE ROSE OF SPRING</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK III +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE PRINCESS IRENE +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0301">MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0302">THE PRINCESS IRENE</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0303">THE HOMERIC PALACE</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#chap0304">THE RUSSIAN MONK</a><br /> + V. <a href="#chap0305">A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER</a><br /> + VI. <a href="#chap0306">WHAT DO THE STARS SAY?</a><br /> + VII. <a href="#chap0307">THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE</a><br /> + VIII. <a href="#chap0308">RACING WITH A STORM</a><br /> + IX. <a href="#chap0309">IN THE WHITE CASTLE</a><br /> + X. <a href="#chap0310">THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER</a><br /> + XI. <a href="#chap0311">THE TURQUOISE RING</a><br /> + XII. <a href="#chap0312">THE RING RETURNS</a><br /> + XIII. <a href="#chap0313">MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS</a><br /> + XIV. <a href="#chap0314">DREAMS AND VISIONS</a><br /> + XV. <a href="#chap0315">DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE</a><br /> + XVI. <a href="#chap0316">AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE</a><br /> + XVII. <a href="#chap0317">THE EMPEROR'S WOOING</a><br /> +XVIII. <a href="#chap0318">THE SINGING SHEIK</a><br /> + XIX. <a href="#chap0319">TWO TURKISH TALES</a><br /> + XX. <a href="#chap0320">MAHOMMED DREAMS</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK IV +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0401">THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0402">THE AUDIENCE</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0403">THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#chap0404">THE PANNYCHIDES</a><br /> + V. <a href="#chap0405">A PLAGUE OF CRIME</a><br /> + VI. <a href="#chap0406">A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD</a><br /> + VII. <a href="#chap0407">A BYZANTINE HERETIC</a><br /> + VIII. <a href="#chap0408">THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS</a><br /> + IX. <a href="#chap0409">A FISHERMAN'S FETE</a><br /> + X. <a href="#chap0410">THE HAMARI</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0101"></a></p> + +<h2> +BOOK I +</h2> + +<h2> +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t2"> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE NAMELESS BAY +</h3> + +<p> +In the noon of a September day in the year of our dear Lord 1395, a +merchant vessel nodded sleepily upon the gentle swells of warm water +flowing in upon the Syrian coast. A modern seafarer, looking from the +deck of one of the Messagerie steamers now plying the same line of +trade, would regard her curiously, thankful to the calm which held her +while he slaked his wonder, yet more thankful that he was not of her +passage. +</p> + +<p> +She could not have exceeded a hundred tons burthen. At the bow and stern +she was decked, and those quarters were fairly raised. Amidship she was +low and open, and pierced for twenty oars, ten to a side, all swaying +listlessly from the narrow ports in which they were hung. Sometimes they +knocked against each other. One sail, square and of a dingy white, +drooped from a broad yard-arm, which was itself tilted, and now and then +creaked against the yellow mast complainingly, unmindful of the simple +tackle designed to keep it in control. A watchman crouched in the meagre +shade of a fan-like structure overhanging the bow deck. The roofing and +the floor, where exposed, were clean, even bright; in all other parts +subject to the weather and the wash there was only the blackness of +pitch. The steersman sat on a bench at the stern. Occasionally, from +force of habit, he rested a hand upon the rudder-oar to be sure it was +yet in reach. With exception of the two, the lookout and the steersman, +all on board, officers, oarsmen, and sailors, were asleep—such +confidence could a Mediterranean calm inspire in those accustomed to +life on the beautiful sea. As if Neptune never became angry there, and +blowing his conch, and smiting with his trident, splashed the sky with +the yeast of waves! However, in 1395 Neptune had disappeared; like the +great god Pan, he was dead. +</p> + +<p> +The next remarkable thing about the ship was the absence of the signs of +business usual with merchantmen. There were no barrels, boxes, bales, or +packages visible. Nothing indicated a cargo. In her deepest undulations +the water-line was not once submerged. The leather shields of the +oar-ports were high and dry. Possibly she had passengers aboard. Ah, +yes! There under the awning, stretched halfway across the deck dominated +by the steersman, was a group of persons all unlike seamen. Pausing to +note them, we may find the motive of the voyage. +</p> + +<p> +Four men composed the group. One was lying upon a pallet, asleep yet +restless. A black velvet cap had slipped from his head, giving freedom +to thick black hair tinged with white. Starting from the temples, a +beard with scarce a suggestion of gray swept in dark waves upon the neck +and throat, and even invaded the pillow. Between the hair and beard +there was a narrow margin of sallow flesh for features somewhat crowded +by knots of wrinkle. His body was wrapped in a loose woollen gown of +brownish-black. A hand, apparently all bone, rested upon the breast, +clutching a fold of the gown. The feet twitched nervously in the +loosened thongs of old-fashioned sandals. Glancing at the others of the +group, it was plain this sleeper was master and they his slaves. Two of +them were stretched on the bare boards at the lower end of the pallet, +and they were white. The third was a son of Ethiopia of unmixed blood +and gigantic frame. He sat at the left of the couch, cross-legged, and, +like the rest, was in a doze; now and then, however, he raised his head, +and, without fully opening his eyes, shook a fan of peacock feathers +from head to foot over the recumbent figure. The two whites were clad in +gowns of coarse linen belted to their waists; while, saving a cincture +around his loins, the negro was naked. +</p> + +<p> +There is often much personal revelation to be gleaned from the +properties a man carries with him from home. Applying the rule here, by +the pallet there was a walking-stick of unusual length, and severely +hand-worn a little above the middle. In emergency it might have been +used as a weapon. Three bundles loosely wrapped had been cast against a +timber of the ship; presumably they contained the plunder of the slaves +reduced to the minimum allowance of travel. But the most noticeable item +was a leather roll of very ancient appearance, held by a number of broad +straps deeply stamped and secured by buckles of a metal blackened like +neglected silver. +</p> + +<p> +The attention of a close observer would have been attracted to this +parcel, not so much by its antique showing, as by the grip with which +its owner clung to it with his right hand. Even in sleep he held it of +infinite consequence. It could not have contained coin or any bulky +matter. Possibly the man was on some special commission, with his +credentials in the old roll. Ay, who was he? +</p> + +<p> +Thus started, the observer would have bent himself to study of the face; +and immediately something would have suggested that while the stranger +was of this period of the world he did not belong to it. Such were the +magicians of the story-loving Al-Raschid. Or he was of the type +Rabbinical that sat with Caiphas in judgment upon the gentle Nazarene. +Only the centuries could have evolved the apparition. Who was he? +</p> + +<p> +In the course of half an hour the man stirred, raised his head, looked +hurriedly at his attendants, then at the parts of the ship in view, then +at the steersman still dozing by the rudder; then he sat up, and brought +the roll to his lap, whereat the rigor of his expression relaxed. The +parcel was safe! And the conditions about him were as they should be! +</p> + +<p> +He next set about undoing the buckles of his treasure. The long fingers +were expert; but just when the roll was ready to open he lifted his +face, and fixed his eyes upon the section of blue expanse outside the +edge of the awning, and dropped into thought. And straightway it was +settled that he was not a diplomatist or a statesman or a man of +business of any kind. The reflection which occupied him had nothing to +do with intrigues or statecraft; its centre was in his heart as the look +proved. So, in tender moods, a father gazes upon his child, a husband at +the beloved wife, restfully, lovingly. +</p> + +<p> +And that moment the observer, continuing his study, would have forgotten +the parcel, the white slaves, the gigantic negro, the self-willed hair +and beard of pride—the face alone would have held him. The countenance +of the Sphinx has no beauty now; and standing before it, we feel no stir +of the admiration always a certificate that what we are beholding is +charming out of the common lines; yet we are drawn to it irresistibly, +and by a wish vague, foolish—so foolish we would hesitate long before +putting it in words to be heard by our best lover—a wish that the +monster would tell us all about itself. The feeling awakened by the face +of the traveller would have been similar, for it was distinctly +Israelitish, with exaggerated eyes set deeply in cavernous hollows—a +mobile mask, in fact, concealing a life in some way unlike other lives. +Unlike? That was the very attraction. If the man would only speak, what +a tale he could unfold! +</p> + +<p> +But he did not speak. Indeed, he seemed to have regarded speech a +weakness to be fortified against. Putting the pleasant thought aside, he +opened the roll, and with exceeding tenderness of touch brought forth a +sheet of vellum dry to brittleness, and yellow as a faded sycamore leaf. +There were lines upon it as of a geometrical drawing, and an inscription +in strange characters. He bent over the chart, if such it may be called, +eagerly, and read it through; then, with a satisfied expression, he +folded it back into the cover, rebuckled the straps, and placed the +parcel under the pillow. Evidently the business drawing him was +proceeding as he would have had it. Next he woke the negro with a touch. +The black in salute bent his body forward, and raised his hands palm +out, the thumbs at the forehead. Attention singularly intense settled +upon his countenance; he appeared to listen with his soul. It was time +for speech, yet the master merely pointed to one of the sleepers. The +watchful negro caught the idea, and going to the man, aroused him, then +resumed his place and posture by the pallet. The action revealed his +proportions. He looked as if he could have lifted the gates of Gaza, and +borne them easily away; and to the strength there were superadded the +grace, suppleness, and softness of motion of a cat. One could not have +helped thinking the slave might have all the elements to make him a +superior agent in fields of bad as well as good. +</p> + +<p> +The second slave arose, and waited respectfully. It would have been +difficult to determine his nationality. He had the lean face, the high +nose, sallow complexion, and low stature of an Armenian. His countenance +was pleasant and intelligent. In addressing him, the master made signs +with hand and finger; and they appeared sufficient, for the servant +walked away quickly as if on an errand. A short time, and he came back +bringing a companion of the genus sailor, very red-faced, heavily built, +stupid, his rolling gait unrelieved by a suggestion of good manners. +Taking position before the black-gowned personage, his feet wide apart, +the mariner said: +</p> + +<p> +"You sent for me?" +</p> + +<p> +The question was couched in Byzantine Greek. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," the passenger replied, in the same tongue, though with better +accent. "Where are we?" +</p> + +<p> +"But for this calm we should be at Sidon. The lookout reports the +mountains in view." +</p> + +<p> +The passenger reflected a moment, then asked, "Resorting to the oars, +when can we reach the city?" +</p> + +<p> +"By midnight." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. Listen now." +</p> + +<p> +The speaker's manner changed; fixing his big eyes upon the sailor's +lesser orbs, he continued: +</p> + +<p> +"A few stadia north of Sidon there is what may be called a bay. It is +about four miles across. Two little rivers empty into it, one on each +side. Near the middle of the bend of the shore there is a well of sweet +water, with flow enough to support a few villagers and their camels. Do +you know the bay?" +</p> + +<p> +The skipper would have become familiar. +</p> + +<p> +"You are well acquainted with this coast," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you know of such a bay?" the passenger repeated. +</p> + +<p> +"I have heard of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Could you find it at night?" +</p> + +<p> +"I believe so." +</p> + +<p> +"That is enough. Take me into the bay, and land me at midnight. I will +not go to the city. Get out all the oars now. At the proper time I will +tell you what further I wish. Remember I am to be set ashore at midnight +at a place which I will show you." +</p> + +<p> +The directions though few were clear. Having given them, the passenger +signed the negro to fan him, and stretched himself upon the pallet; and +thenceforth there was no longer a question who was in control. It became +the more interesting, however, to know the object of the landing at +midnight on the shore of a lonesome unnamed bay. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0102"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +THE MIDNIGHT LANDING +</h3> + +<p> +The skipper predicted like a prophet. The ship was in the bay, and it +was midnight or nearly so; for certain stars had climbed into certain +quarters of the sky, and after their fashion were striking the hour. +</p> + +<p> +The passenger was pleased. +</p> + +<p> +"You have done well," he said to the mariner. "Be silent now, and get +close in shore. There are no breakers. Have the small boat ready, and do +not let the anchors go." +</p> + +<p> +The calm still prevailed, and the swells of the sea were scarce +perceptible. Under the gentlest impulse of the oars the little vessel +drifted broadside on until the keel touched the sands. At the same +instant the small boat appeared. The skipper reported to the passenger. +Going to each of the slaves, the latter signed them to descend. The +negro swung himself down like a monkey, and received the baggage, which, +besides the bundles already mentioned, consisted of some tools, notably +a pick, a shovel, and a stout crowbar. An empty water-skin was also sent +down, followed by a basket suggestive of food. Then the passenger, with +a foot over the side of the vessel, gave his final directions. +</p> + +<p> +"You will run now," he said to the skipper, who, to his credit, had thus +far asked no questions, "down to the city, and lie there to-morrow, +and to-morrow night. Attract little notice as possible. It is not +necessary to pass the gate. Put out in time to be here at sunrise. I +will be waiting for you. Day after to-morrow at sunrise—remember." +</p> + +<p> +"But if you should not be here?" asked the sailor, thinking of extreme +probabilities. +</p> + +<p> +"Then wait for me," was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +The passenger, in turn, descended to the boat, and was caught in the +arms of the black, and seated carefully as he had been a child. In brief +time the party was ashore, and the boat returning to the ship; a little +later, the ship withdrew to where the night effectually curtained the +deep. +</p> + +<p> +The stay on the shore was long enough to apportion the baggage amongst +the slaves. The master then led the way. Crossing the road running from +Sidon along the coast to the up-country, they came to the foothills of +the mountain, all without habitation. +</p> + +<p> +Later they came upon signs of ancient life in splendor—broken columns, +and here and there Corinthian capitals in marble discolored and sunk +deeply in sand and mould. The patches of white on them had a ghastly +glimmer in the starlight. They were approaching the site of an old city, +a suburb probably of Palae-Tyre when she was one of the spectacles of +the world, sitting by the sea to rule it regally far and wide. +</p> + +<p> +On further a small stream, one of those emptying into the bay, had +ploughed a ravine for itself across the route the party was pursuing. +Descending to the water, a halt was made to drink, and fill the +water-skin, which the negro took on his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +On further there was another ancient site strewn with fragments +indicative of a cemetery. Hewn stones were frequent, and mixed with them +were occasional entablatures and vases from which the ages had not yet +entirely worn the fine chiselling. At length an immense uncovered +sarcophagus barred the way. The master stopped by it to study the +heavens; when he found the north star, he gave the signal to his +followers, and moved under the trail of the steadfast beacon. +</p> + +<p> +They came to a rising ground more definitely marked by sarcophagi hewn +from the solid rock, and covered by lids of such weight and solidity +that a number of them had never been disturbed. Doubtless the dead +within were lying as they had been left—but when, and by whom? What +disclosures there will be when at last the end is trumpeted in! +</p> + +<p> +On further, but still connected with the once magnificent funeral site, +they encountered a wall many feet thick, and short way beyond it, on the +mountain's side, there were two arches of a bridge of which all else had +been broken down; and these two had never spanned anything more +substantial than the air. Strange structure for such a locality! +Obviously the highway which once ran over it had begun in the city the +better to communicate with the cemetery through which the party had just +passed. So much was of easy understanding; but where was the other +terminus? At sight of the arches the master drew a long breath of +relief. They were the friends for whom he had been searching. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, without stopping, he led down into a hollow on all sides +sheltered from view; and there the unloading took place. The tools and +bundles were thrown down by a rock, and preparations made for the +remainder of the night. The pallet was spread for the master. The basket +gave up its contents, and the party refreshed themselves and slept the +sleep of the weary. +</p> + +<p> +The secluded bivouac was kept the next day. Only the master went forth +in the afternoon. Climbing the mountain, he found the line in +continuation of the bridge; a task the two arches serving as a base made +comparatively easy. He stood then upon a bench or terrace cumbered with +rocks, and so broad that few persons casually looking would have +suspected it artificial. Facing fully about from the piers, he walked +forward following the terrace which at places was out of line, and piled +with debris tumbled from the mountain on the right hand side; in a few +minutes that silent guide turned with an easy curve and disappeared in +what had yet the appearance hardly distinguishable of an area wrenched +with enormous labor from a low cliff of solid brown limestone. +</p> + +<p> +The visitor scanned the place again and again; then he said aloud: +</p> + +<p> +"No one has been here since"— +</p> + +<p> +The sentence was left unfinished. +</p> + +<p> +That he could thus identify the spot, and with such certainty pass upon +it in relation to a former period, proved he had been there before. +</p> + +<p> +Rocks, earth, and bushes filled the space. Picking footway through, he +examined the face of the cliff then in front of him, lingering longest +on the heap of breakage forming a bank over the meeting line of area and +hill. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," he repeated, this time with undisguised satisfaction, "no one has +been here since"— +</p> + +<p> +Again the sentence was unfinished. +</p> + +<p> +He ascended the bank next, and removed some of the stones at the top. A +carved line in low relief on the face of the rock was directly exposed; +seeing it he smiled, and replaced the stones, and descending, went back +to the terrace, and thence to the slaves in bivouac. +</p> + +<p> +From one of the packages he had two iron lamps of old Roman style +brought out, and supplied with oil and wicks; then, as if everything +necessary to his project was done, he took to the pallet. Some goats had +come to the place in his absence, but no living creature else. +</p> + +<p> +After nightfall the master woke the slaves, and made final preparation +for the venture upon which he had come. The tools he gave to one man, +the lamps to another, and the water-skin to the negro. Then he led out +of the hollow, and up the mountain to the terrace visited in the +afternoon; nor did he pause in the area mentioned as the abrupt terminus +of the highway over the skeleton piers. He climbed the bank of stones +covering the foot of the cliff up to the precise spot at which his +reconnoissance had ended. +</p> + +<p> +Directly the slaves were removing the bank at the top; not a difficult +task since they had only to roll the loose stones down a convenient +grade. They worked industriously. At length—in half an hour +probably—an opening into the cliff was discovered. The cavity, small at +first, rapidly enlarged, until it gave assurance of a doorway of immense +proportions. When the enlargement sufficed for his admission, the master +stayed the work, and passed in. The slaves followed. The interior +descent offered a grade corresponding with that of the bank +outside—another bank, in fact, of like composition, but more difficult +to pass on account of the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +With his foot the leading adventurer felt the way down to a floor; and +when his assistants came to him, he took from a pocket in his gown a +small case filled with a chemical powder which he poured at his feet; +then he produced a flint and steel, and struck them together. Some +sparks dropped upon the powder. Instantly a flame arose and filled the +place with a ruddy illumination. Lighting the lamps by the flame, the +party looked around them, the slaves with simple wonder. +</p> + +<p> +They were in a vault—a burial vault of great antiquity. Either it was +an imitation of like chambers in Egypt, or they were imitations of it. +The excavation had been done with chisels. The walls were niched, giving +them an appearance of panelling, and over each of the niches there had +been an inscription in raised letters, now mostly defaced. The floor was +a confusion of fragments knocked from sarcophagi, which, massive as they +were, had been tilted, overturned, uncovered, mutilated, and robbed. +Useless to inquire whose the vandalism. It may have been of Chaldeans of +the time of Almanezor, or of the Greeks who marched with Alexander, or +of Egyptians who were seldom regardful of the dead of the peoples they +overthrew as they were of their own, or of Saracens, thrice conquerors +along the Syrian coast, or of Christians. Few of the Crusaders were like +St. Louis. +</p> + +<p> +But of all this the master took no notice. With him it was right that +the vault should look the wreck it was. Careless of inscriptions, +indifferent to carving, his eyes ran rapidly along the foot of the +northern wall until they came to a sarcophagus of green marble. Thither +he proceeded. He laid his hand upon the half-turned lid, and observing +that the back of the great box—if such it may be termed—was against +the wall, he said again: +</p> + +<p> +"No one has been here since"— +</p> + +<p> +And again the sentence was left unfinished. +</p> + +<p> +Forthwith he became all energy. The negro brought the crowbar, and, by +direction, set it under the edge of the sarcophagus, which he held +raised while the master blocked it at the bottom with a stone chip. +Another bite, and a larger chip was inserted. Good hold being thus had, +a vase was placed for fulcrum; after which, at every downward pressure +of the iron, the ponderous coffin swung round a little to the left. +Slowly and with labor the movement was continued until the space behind +was uncovered. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the lamps had become the dependencies for light. With his +in hand, the master stooped and inspected the exposed wall. Involuntarily +the slaves bent forward and looked, but saw nothing different from the +general surface in that quarter. The master beckoned the negro, and +touching a stone not wider than his three fingers, but reddish in hue, +and looking like mere chinking lodged in an accidental crevice, signed +him to strike it with the end of the bar. Once—twice—the stone refused +to stir; with the third blow it was driven in out of sight, and, being +followed vigorously, was heard to drop on the other side. The wall +thereupon, to the height of the sarcophagus and the width of a broad +door, broke, and appeared about to tumble down. +</p> + +<p> +When the dust cleared away, there was a crevice unseen before, and wide +enough to admit a hand. The reader must remember there were masons in +the old time who amused themselves applying their mathematics to such +puzzles. Here obviously the intention had been to screen an entrance to +an adjoining chamber, and the key to the design had been the sliver of +red granite first displaced. +</p> + +<p> +A little patient use then of hand and bar enabled the workman to take +out the first large block of the combination. That the master numbered +with chalk, and had carefully set aside. A second block was taken out, +numbered, and set aside; finally the screen was demolished, and the way +stood open. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0103"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE HIDDEN TREASURE +</h3> + +<p> +The slaves looked dubiously at the dusty aperture, which held out no +invitation to them; the master, however, drew his robe closer about him, +and stooping went in, lamp in hand. They then followed. +</p> + +<p> +An ascending passage, low but of ample width, received them. It too had +been chiselled from the solid rock. The wheel marks of the cars used in +the work were still on the floor. The walls were bare but smoothly +dressed. Altogether the interest here lay in expectation of what was to +come; and possibly it was that which made the countenance of the master +look so grave and absorbed. He certainly was not listening to the +discordant echoes roused as he advanced. +</p> + +<p> +The ascent was easy. Twenty-five or thirty steps brought them to the end +of the passage. +</p> + +<p> +They then entered a spacious chamber circular and domed. The light of +the lamps was not enough to redeem the ceiling from obscurity; yet the +master led without pause to a sarcophagus standing under the centre of +the dome, and when he was come there everything else was forgotten by +him. +</p> + +<p> +The receptacle of the dead thus discovered had been hewn from the rock, +and was of unusual proportions. Standing broadside to the entrance, it +was the height of an ordinary man, and twice as long as high. The +exterior had been polished smoothly as the material would allow; +otherwise it was of absolute plainness, looking not unlike a dark brown +box. The lid was a slab of the finest white marble carven into a perfect +model of Solomon's Temple. While the master surveyed the lid he was +visibly affected. He passed the lamp over it slowly, letting the light +fall into the courts of the famous building; in like manner he +illuminated the corridors, and the tabernacle; and, as he did so, his +features trembled and his eyes were suffused. He walked around the +exquisite representation several times, pausing now and then to blow +away the dust that had in places accumulated upon it. He noticed the +effect of the transparent whiteness in the chamber; so in its day the +original had lit up the surrounding world. Undoubtedly the model had +peculiar hold upon his feelings. +</p> + +<p> +But shaking the weakness off he after a while addressed himself to work. +He had the negro thrust the edge of the bar under the lid, and raise it +gently. Having thoughtfully provided himself in the antechamber with +pieces of stone for the purpose, he placed one of them so as to hold the +vantage gained. Slowly, then, by working at the ends alternately, the +immense slab was turned upon its centre; slowly the hollow of the coffin +was flooded with light; slowly, and with seeming reluctance, it gave up +its secrets. +</p> + +<p> +In strong contrast to the plainness of the exterior, the interior of the +sarcophagus was lined with plates and panels of gold, on which there +were cartoons chased and beaten in, representing ships, and tall trees, +doubtless cedars of Lebanon, and masons at work, and two men armed and +in royal robes greeting each other with clasped hands; and so beautiful +were the cartoons that the eccentric medalleur, Cellini, would have +studied them long, if not enviously. Yet he who now peered into the +receptacle scarcely glanced at them. +</p> + +<p> +On a stone chair seated was the mummy of a man with a crown upon its +head, and over its body, for the most part covering—the linen wrappings, +was a robe of threads of gold in ample arrangement. The hands rested on +the lap; in one was a sceptre; the other held an inscribed silver tablet. +There were rings plain, and rings with jewels in setting, circling the +fingers and thumbs; the ears, ankles, even the great toes, were +ornamented in like manner. At the feet a sword of the fashion of a +cimeter had been laid. The blade was in its scabbard, but the scabbard +was a mass of jewels, and the handle a flaming ruby. The belt was webbed +with pearls and glistening brilliants. Under the sword were the +instruments sacred then and ever since to Master Masons—a square, a +gavel, a plummet, and an inscribing compass. +</p> + +<p> +The man had been a king—so much the first glance proclaimed. With him, +as with his royal brethren from the tombs along the Nile, death had +asserted itself triumphantly over the embalmer. The cheeks were +shrivelled and mouldy; across the forehead the skin was drawn tight; the +temples were hollows rimmed abruptly with the frontal bones; the eyes, +pits partially filled with dried ointments of a bituminous color. The +monarch had yielded his life in its full ripeness, for the white hair +and beard still adhered in stiffened plaits to the skull, cheeks, and +chin. The nose alone was natural; it stood up thin and hooked, like the +beak of an eagle. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the figure thus caparisoned and maintaining its seat in an +attitude of calm composure the slaves drew back startled. The negro +dropped his iron bar, making the chamber ring with a dissonant clangor. +</p> + +<p> +Around the mummy in careful arrangement were vessels heaped with coins +and pearls and precious stones, cut and ready for the goldsmith. Indeed, +the whole inner space of the sarcophagus was set with basins and urns, +each in itself a work of high art; and if their contents were to be +judged by what appeared overflowing them, they all held precious stones +of every variety. The corners had been draped with cloths of gold and +cloths embroidered with pearls, some of which were now falling to pieces +of their own weight. +</p> + +<p> +We know that kings and queens are but men and women subject to the same +passions of common people; that they are generous or sordid according to +their natures; that there have been misers amongst them; but this +one—did he imagine he could carry his amassments with him out of the +world? Had he so loved the gems in his life as to dream he could +illumine his tomb with them? If so, O royal idiot! +</p> + +<p> +The master, when an opening had been made sufficiently wide by turning +the lid upon the edge of the sarcophagus, took off his sandals, gave a +foot to one of his slaves, and swung himself into the interior. The lamp +was then given him, and he surveyed the wealth and splendor as the king +might never again. And as the king in his day had said with exultation, +Lo! it is all mine, the intruder now asserted title. +</p> + +<p> +Unable, had he so wished, to carry the whole collection off, he looked +around upon this and upon that, determining where to begin. Conscious he +had nothing to fear, and least of all from the owner in the chair, he +was slow and deliberate. From his robe he drew a number of bags of +coarse hempen cloth, and a broad white napkin. The latter he spread upon +the floor, first removing several of the urns to obtain space; then he +emptied one of the vessels upon it, and from the sparkling and +varicolored heap before him proceeded to make selection. +</p> + +<p> +His judgment was excellent, sure and swift. Not seldom he put the large +stones aside, giving preference to color and lustre. Those chosen he +dropped into a bag. When the lot was gone through, he returned the +rejected to the vessel, placing it back exactly in its place. Then he +betook himself to another of the vessels, and then another, until, in +course of a couple of hours, he had made choice from the collection, and +filled nine bags, and tied them securely. +</p> + +<p> +Greatly relieved, he arose, rubbed the benumbed joints of his limbs +awhile, then passed the packages out to the slaves. The occupation had +been wearisome and tensive; but it was finished, and he would now +retire. He lingered to give a last look at the interior, muttering the +sentence again, and leaving it unfinished as before: +</p> + +<p> +"No one has been here since"— +</p> + +<p> +From the face of the king, his eyes fell to the silver tablet in the +nerveless hand. Moving close, and holding the lamp in convenient +position, he knelt and read the inscription. +</p> + +<p> +I. +</p> + +<p> +"There is but one God, and He was from the beginning, and will be +without end. +</p> + +<p> +II. +</p> + +<p> +"In my lifetime, I prepared this vault and tomb to receive my body, and +keep it safely; yet it may be visited, for the earth and sea are always +giving up their secrets. +</p> + +<p> +III. +</p> + +<p> +"Therefore, O Stranger, first to find me, know thou! +</p> + +<p> +"That in all my days I kept intercourse with Solomon, King of the Jews, +wisest of men, and the richest and greatest. As is known, he set about +building a house to his Lord God, resolved that there should be nothing +like it in the world, nothing so spacious, so enriched, so perfect in +proportions, so in all things becoming the glory of his God. In sympathy +with him I gave him of the skill of my people, workers in brass, and +silver, and gold, and products of the quarries: and in their ships my +sailors brought him the yield of mines from the ends of the earth. At +last the house was finished; then he sent me the model of the house, and +the coins, and cloths of gold and pearl, and the precious stones, and +the vessels holding them, and the other things of value here. Ad if, O +Stranger, thou dost wonder at the greatness of the gift, know thou that +it was but a small part of what remained unto him of like kind, for he +was master of the earth, and of everything belonging to it which might +be of service to him, even the elements and their subtleties. +</p> + +<p> +IV. +</p> + +<p> +"Nor think, O Stranger, that I have taken the wealth into the tomb with +me, imagining it can serve me in the next life. I store it here because +I love him who gave it to me, and am jealous of his love; and that is +all. +</p> + +<p> +V. +</p> + +<p> +"So thou wilt use the wealth in ways pleasing in the sight of the Lord +God of Solomon, my royal friend, take thou of it in welcome. There is no +God but his God! +</p> + +<p> +"Thus say I—HIRAM, KING OF TYRE." +</p> + +<p> +"Rest thou thy soul, O wisest of pagan kings," said the master, rising. +"Being the first to find thee here, and basing my title to thy wealth on +that circumstance, I will use it in a way pleasing in the sight of the +Lord God of Solomon. Verily, verily, there is no God but his +God!" +</p> + +<p> +This, then, was the business that brought the man to the tomb of the +king whose glory was to have been the friend of Solomon. Pondering the +idea, we begin to realize how vast the latter's fame was; and it ceases +to be matter of wonder that his contemporaries, even the most royal, +could have been jealous of his love. +</p> + +<p> +Not only have we the man's business, but it is finished; and judging +from the satisfaction discernible on his face as he raised the lamp and +turned to depart, the result must have been according to his best hope. +He took off his robe, and tossed it to his slaves; then he laid a hand +upon the edge of the sarcophagus preparatory to climbing out. At the +moment, while giving a last look about him, an emerald, smoothly cut, +and of great size, larger indeed than a full-grown pomegranate, caught +his eyes in its place loose upon the floor. He turned back, and taking +it up, examined it carefully; while thus engaged his glance dropped to +the sword almost at his feet. The sparkle of the brilliants, and the +fire-flame of the great ruby in the grip, drew him irresistibly, and he +stood considering. +</p> + +<p> +Directly he spoke in a low voice: +</p> + +<p> +"No one has been here since"— +</p> + +<p> +He hesitated—glanced hurriedly around to again assure himself it was +not possible to be overheard—then finished the sentence: +</p> + +<p> +"No one has been here <i>since I came a thousand years ago</i>." +</p> + +<p> +At the words so strange, so inexplicable upon any theory of nature and +common experience, the lamp shook in his hand. Involuntarily he shrank +from the admission, though to himself. But recovering, he +repeated: +</p> + +<p> +"Since I came a thousand years ago." +</p> + +<p> +Then he added more firmly: +</p> + +<p> +"But the earth and the sea are always giving up their secrets. So saith +the good King Hiram; and since I am a witness proving the wisdom of the +speech, I at least must believe him. Wherefore it is for me to govern +myself as if another will shortly follow me. The saying of the king is +an injunction." +</p> + +<p> +With that, he turned the glittering sword over and over admiringly. +Loath to let it go, he drew the blade partly from the scabbard, and its +clearness had the depth peculiar to the sky between stars at night. +</p> + +<p> +"Is there anything it will not buy," he continued, reflectively. "What +king could refuse a sword once Solomon's? I will take it." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he passed both the emerald and the sword out to the slaves, +whom he presently joined. +</p> + +<p> +The conviction, but a moment before expressed, that another would follow +him to the tomb of the venerated Tyrian, was not strong enough to hinder +the master from attempting to hide every sign which might aid in the +discovery. The negro, under his direction, returned the lid exactly to +its former fitting place on the sarcophagus; the emerald and the sword +he wrapped in his gown; the bags and the tools were counted and +distributed among the slaves for easy carriage. Lamp in hand, he then +walked around to see that nothing was left behind. Incidentally he even +surveyed the brown walls and the dim dome overhead. Having reached the +certainty that everything was in its former state, he waved his hand, +and with one long look backward at the model, ghostly beautiful in its +shining white transparency, he led the way to the passage of entrance, +leaving the king to his solitude and stately sleep, unmindful of the +visitation and the despoilment. +</p> + +<p> +Out in the large reception room, he paused again to restore the wall. +Beginning with the insignificant key, one by one the stones, each of +which, as we have seen, had been numbered by him, were raised and reset. +Then handfuls of dust were collected and blown into the slight crevices +till they were invisible. The final step was the restoration of the +sarcophagus; this done, the gallery leading to the real vault of the +king was once more effectually concealed. +</p> + +<p> +"He who follows, come he soon or late, must have more than sharp eyes if +he would have audience with Hiram, my royal friend of Tyre," the +adventurer said, in his meditative way, feeling at the same time in the +folds of his gown for the chart so the object of solicitude on the ship. +The roll, the emerald, and the sword were also safe. Signing the slaves +to remain where they were, he moved slowly across the chamber, and by +aid of his lamp surveyed an aperture there so broad and lofty it was +suggestive of a gate rather than a door. +</p> + +<p> +"It is well," he said, smiling. "The hunter of spoils, hereafter as +heretofore, will pass this way instead of the other." +</p> + +<p> +The remark was shrewd. Probably nothing had so contributed to the long +concealment of the gallery just reclosed the second time in a thousand +years as the high doorway, with its invitation to rooms beyond it, all +now in iconoclastic confusion. +</p> + +<p> +Rejoining his workmen, he took a knife from the girdle of one of them, +and cut a slit in the gurglet large enough to admit the bags of precious +stones. The skin was roomy, and received them, though with the loss of +much of the water. Having thus disposed of that portion of the plunder +to the best advantage both for portage and concealment, he helped swing +it securely upon the negro's shoulder, and without other delay led from +the chamber to the great outdoors, where the lamps were extinguished. +</p> + +<p> +The pure sweet air, as may be imagined, was welcome to every one. While +the slaves stood breathing it in wholesome volumes, the master studied +the stars, and saw the night was not so far gone but that, with industry, +the sea-shore could be made in time for the ship. +</p> + +<p> +Still pursuing the policy of hiding the road to the tomb much as +possible, he waited while the men covered the entrance as before with +stones brought up from the bank. A last survey of the face of the rock, +minute as the starlight allowed, reassured him that, as to the rest of +the world, the treasure might remain with its ancient owner undisturbed +for yet another thousand years, if not forever; after which, in a +congratulatory mood, he descended the mountain side to the place of +bivouac, and thence in good time, and without adventure, arrived at the +landing by the sea. There the negro, wading far out, flung the tools +into the water. +</p> + +<p> +In the appointed time the galley came down from the city, and, under +impulsion of the oars, disappeared with the party up the coast +northward. +</p> + +<p> +The negro unrolled the pallet upon the deck, and brought some bread, +Smyrna figs, and wine of Prinkipo, and the four ate and drank heartily. +</p> + +<p> +The skipper was then summoned. +</p> + +<p> +"You have done well, my friend," said the master. "Spare not sail or oar +now, but make Byzantium without looking into any wayside port. I will +increase your pay in proportion as you shorten the time we are out. Look +to it—go—and speed you." +</p> + +<p> +Afterward the slaves in turn kept watch while he slept. And though the +coming and going of sailors was frequent, not one of them noticed the +oil-stained water-skin cast carelessly near the master's pillow, or the +negro's shaggy half-cloak, serving as a wrap for the roll, the emerald, +and the sword once Solomon's. +</p> + +<p> +The run of the galley from the nameless bay near Sidon was without stop +or so much as a headwind. Always the blue sky above the deck, and the +blue sea below. In daytime the master passenger would occasionally pause +in his walk along the white planks, and, his hand on the gunwale, give a +look at some of the landmarks studding the ancient Cycladean Sea, an +island here, or a tall promontory of the continent yonder, possibly an +Olympian height faintly gray in the vaster distance. His manner at such +moments did not indicate a traveller new to the highway. A glance at the +points such as business men closely pressed give the hands on the face +of a clock to determine the minute of the hour, and he would resume +walking. At night he slept right soundly. +</p> + +<p> +From the Dardanelles into the Hellespont; then the Marmora. The captain +would have coasted, but the passenger bade him keep in the open. "There +is nothing to fear from the weather," he said, "but there is time to be +saved." +</p> + +<p> +In an afternoon they sighted the great stones Oxia and Plati; the first, +arid and bare as a gray egg, and conical like an irregular pyramid; the +other, a plane on top, with verdure and scattering trees. A glance at +the map shows them the most westerly group of the Isles of the Princes. +</p> + +<p> +Now Nature is sometimes stupid, sometimes whimsical, doing unaccountable +things. One gazing at the other isles of the group from a softly rocking +caique out a little way on the sea divines instantly that she meant them +for summer retreats, but these two, Oxia and Plati, off by themselves, +bleak in winter, apparently always ready for spontaneous combustion in +the heated months, for what were they designed? No matter—uses were +found for them—fitting uses. Eremites in search of the hardest, +grimmest places, selected Oxia, and pecking holes and caves in its +sides, shared the abodes thus laboriously won with cormorants, the most +gluttonous of birds. In time a rude convent was built near the summit. +On the other hand, Plati was converted into a Gehenna for criminals, and +in the vats and dungeons with which it was provided, lives were spent +weeping for liberty. On this isle, tears and curses; on that, tears and +prayers. +</p> + +<p> +At sundown the galley was plying its oars between Oxia and the European +shore about where St. Stephano is now situated. The dome of Sta. Sophia +was in sight; behind it, in a line to the northwest, arose the tower of +Galata. "Home by lamplighting—Blessed be the Virgin!" the mariners said +to each other piously. But no! The master passenger sent for the captain. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not care to get into harbor before morning. The night is delicious, +and I will try it in the small boat. I was once a rower, and yet have a +fancy for the oars. Do thou lay off and on hereabouts. Put two lamps at +the masthead that I may know thy vessel when I desire to return. Now get +out the boat." +</p> + +<p> +The captain thought his voyager queer of taste; nevertheless he did as +told. In a short time the skiff—if the familiar word can be pardoned—put +off with the negro and his master, the latter at the oars. +</p> + +<p> +In preparation for the excursion the gurglet half full of water and the +sheepskin mantle of the black man were lowered into the little vessel. +The boat moved away in the direction of Prinkipo, the mother isle of the +group; and as the night deepened, it passed from view. +</p> + +<p> +When out of sight from the galley's deck, the master gave the rowing to +the negro, and taking seat by the rudder, changed direction to the +southeast; after which he kept on and on, until Plati lay directly in +his course. +</p> + +<p> +The southern extremity of Plati makes quite a bold bluff. In a period +long gone a stone tower had been constructed there, a lookout and +shelter for guardsmen on duty; and there being no earthly chance of +escape for prisoners, so securely were they immured, the duty must have +been against robbers from the mainland on the east, and from pirates +generally. Under the tower there was a climb difficult for most persons +in daylight, and from the manoeuvring of the boat, the climb was +obviously the object drawing the master. He at length found it, and +stepped out on a shelving stone. The gurglet and mantle were passed to +him, and soon he and his follower were feeling their way upward. +</p> + +<p> +On the summit, the chief walked once around the tower, now the merest +ruin, a tumbledown without form, in places overgrown with sickly vines. +Rejoining his attendant, and staying a moment to thoroughly empty the +gurglet of water, on his hands and knees he crawled into a passage much +obstructed by debris. The negro waited outside. +</p> + +<p> +The master made two trips; the first one, he took the gurglet in; the +second, he took the mantle wrapping the sword. At the end, he rubbed his +hands in self-congratulation. +</p> + +<p> +"They are safe—the precious stones of Hiram, and the sword of Solomon! +Three other stores have I like this one—in India, in Egypt, in +Jerusalem—and there is the tomb by Sidon. Oh, I shall not come to +want!" and he laughed well pleased. +</p> + +<p> +The descent to the small boat was effected without accident. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning toward sunrise the passengers disembarked at Port St. Peter +on the south side of the Golden Horn. A little later the master was +resting at home in Byzantium. +</p> + +<p> +Within three days the mysterious person whom we, wanting his proper name +and title, have termed the master, had sold his house and household +effects. In the night of the seventh day, with his servants, singular in +that all of them were deaf and dumb, he went aboard ship, and vanished +down the Marmora, going no one but himself knew whither. +</p> + +<p> +The visit to the tomb of the royal friend of Solomon had evidently been +to provide for the journey; and that he took precious stones in +preference to gold and silver signified a journey indefinite as to time +and place. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0201"></a></p> + +<h2> +BOOK II +</h2> + +<h2> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO +</h3> + +<p> +Just fifty-three years after the journey to the tomb of the Syrian +king—more particularly on the fifteenth day of May, fourteen hundred +and forty-eight—a man entered one of the stalls of a market in +Constantinople—to-day the market would be called a bazaar—and +presented a letter to the proprietor. +</p> + +<p> +The Israelite thus honored delayed opening the linen envelope while he +surveyed the messenger. The liberty, it must be remarked, was not a +usual preliminary in the great city, the cosmopolitanism of which had +been long established; that is to say, a face, a figure, or a mode, to +gain a second look from one of its denizens, had then, as it has now, to +be grossly outlandish. In this instance the owner of the stall indulged +a positive stare. He had seen, he thought, representatives of all known +nationalities, but never one like the present visitor—never one so +pinkish in complexion, and so very bias-eyed—never one who wrapped and +re-wrapped himself in a single shawl so entirely, making it answer all +the other vestments habitual to men. The latter peculiarity was more +conspicuous in consequence of a sack of brown silk hanging loosely from +the shoulder, with leaves and flowers done in dazzling embroidery down +the front and around the edges. And then the slippers were of silk not +less rich with embroidery, while over the bare head a sunshade of bamboo +and paper brilliantly painted was carried. +</p> + +<p> +Too well bred to persist in the stare or attempt to satisfy his +curiosity by a direct question, the proprietor opened the letter, and +began reading it. His neighbors less considerate ran together, and +formed a crowd around the stranger, who nevertheless bore the inspection +composedly, apparently unconscious of anything to make him such a +cynosure. +</p> + +<p> +The paper which the removal of the envelope gave to the stall-keeper's +hand excited him the more. The delicacy of its texture, its softness to +the touch, its semi-transparency, were unlike anything he had ever seen; +it was not only foreign, but very foreign. +</p> + +<p> +The lettering, however, was in Greek plainly done. He noticed first the +date; then, his curiosity becoming uncontrollable, and the missive being +of but one sheet, his eyes dropped to the place of signature. There was +no name there—only a seal—an impression on a surface of yellow wax of +the drooping figure of a man bound to a cross. +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration] +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the seal his eyes opened wider. He drew a long breath to +quiet a rising feeling, half astonishment, half awe. Retreating to a +bench near by, he seated himself, and presently became unmindful of the +messenger, of the crowd, of everything, indeed, except the letter and +the matters of which it treated. +</p> + +<p> +The demand of the reader for a sight of the paper which could produce +such an effect upon a person who was not more than an ordinary dealer in +an Eastern market may by this time have become imperious; wherefore it +is at once submitted in free translation. Only the date is modernized. +</p> + +<p> +"ISLAND IN THE OVER-SEA. FAR EAST. <i>May</i> 15, A.D. 1447. +</p> + +<p> +"Uel, Son of Jahdai. +</p> + +<p> +"Peace to thee and all thine! +</p> + +<p> +"If thou hast kept faithfully the heirlooms of thy progenitors, somewhere +in thy house there is now a duplication of the seal which thou wilt find +hereto attached; only that one is done in gold. The reference is to prove +to thee a matter I am pleased to assert, knowing it will at least put +thee upon inquiry—I knew thy father, thy grandfather, and his father, +and others of thy family further back than it is wise for me to declare; +and I loved them, for they were a virtuous and goodly race, studious to +do the will of the Lord God of Israel, and acknowledging no other; +therein manifesting the chiefest of human excellences. To which, as more +directly personal to thyself, I will add that qualities of men, like +qualities in plants, are transmissible, and go they unmixed through +many generations, they make a kind. Therefore, at this great distance, +and though I have never looked into thy face, or touched thy hand, or +heard thy voice, I know thee, and give thee trust confidently. The son +of thy father cannot tell the world what he has of me here, or that +there is a creature like unto me living, or that he has to do with me in +the least; and as the father would gladly undertake my requests, even +those I now reveal unto thee, not less willingly will his son undertake +them. Refusal would be the first step toward betrayal. +</p> + +<p> +"With this preface, O Son of Jahdai, I write without fear, and freely; +imparting, first, that it is now fifty years since I set foot upon the +shores of this Island, which, for want of a name likely to be known to +thee, I have located and described as 'In the Over-Sea. Far East.' Its +people are by nature kindly disposed to strangers, and live simply and +affectionately. Though they never heard of the Nazarene whom the world +persists in calling the Christ, it is truth to say they better illustrate +his teachings, especially in their dealings with each other, than the +so-called Christians amongst whom thy lot is cast. Withal, however, I +have become weary, the fault being more in myself than in them. Desire +for change is the universal law. Only God is the same yesterday, to-day, +and to-morrow eternally. So I am resolved to seek once more the land of +our fathers and Jerusalem, for which I yet have tears. In her perfection, +she was more than beautiful; in her ruin, she is more than sacred. +</p> + +<p> +"In the execution of my design, know thou next, O Son of Jahdai, that I +despatch my servant, Syama, intrusting him to deliver this letter. When +it is put into thy hand, note the day, and see if it be not exactly one +year from this 15 May, the time I have given him to make the journey, +which is more by sea than land. Thou mayst then know I am following him, +though with stoppages of uncertain duration; it being necessary for me +to cross from India to Mecca; thence to Kash-Cush, and down the Nile to +Cairo. Nevertheless I hope to greet thee in person within six months +after Syama hath given thee this report. +</p> + +<p> +"The sending a courier thus in advance is with a design of which I think +it of next importance to inform thee. +</p> + +<p> +"It is my purpose to resume residence in Constantinople; for that, I +must have a house. Syama, amongst other duties in my behalf, is charged +to purchase and furnish one, and have it ready to receive me when I +arrive. The day is long passed since a Khan had attractions for me. Much +more agreeable is it to think my own door will open instantly at my +knock. In this affair thou canst be of service which shall be both +remembered and gratefully recompensed. He hath no experience in the +matter of property in thy city; thou hast; it is but natural, therefore, +if I pray thou bring it into practice by assisting him in the selection, +in perfecting the title, and in all else the project may require doing; +remembering only that the tenement be plain and comfortable, not rich; +for, alas! the time is not yet when the children of Israel may live +conspicuously in the eye of the Christian world. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou wilt find Syama shrewd and of good judgment, older than he seemeth, +and quick to render loyalty for my sake. Be advised also that he is deaf +and dumb; yet, if in speaking thou turn thy face to him, and use the +Greek tongue, he will understand thee by the motion of thy lips, and make +answer by signs. +</p> + +<p> +"Finally, be not afraid to accept this commission on account of pecuniary +involvement. Syama hath means of procuring all the money he may require, +even to extravagance; at the same time he is forbidden to contract a +debt, except it be to thee for kindness done, all which he will report to +me so I may pay them fitly. +</p> + +<p> +"In all essential things Syama hath full instructions; besides, he is +acquainted with my habits and tastes; wherefore I conclude this writing +by saying I hope thou wilt render him aid as indicated, and that when I +come thou wilt allow me to relate myself to thee as father to son, in +all things a help, in nothing a burden. +</p> + +<p> +"Again, O Son of Jahdai, to thee and thine—Peace!" +</p> + +<p> +[Seal.] +</p> + +<p> +The son of Jahdai, at the conclusion of the reading, let his hands fall +heavily in his lap, while he plunged into a study which the messenger +with his foreign airs could not distract. +</p> + +<p> +Very great distance is one of the sublimities most powerful over the +imagination. The letter had come from an Island he had never heard +named. An Island in the Over-Sea which doubtless washed the Eastern end +of the earth, wherever that might be. And the writer! How did he get +there? And what impelled him to go? +</p> + +<p> +A chill shot the thinker's nerves. He suddenly remembered that in his +house there was a cupboard in a wall, with two shelves devoted to +storage of heirlooms; on the upper shelf lay the <i>torah</i> of immemorial +usage in his family; the second contained cups of horn and metal, old +phylacteries, amulets, and things of vertu in general, and of such +addition and multiplication through the ages that he himself could not +have made a list of them; in fact, now his attention was aroused, he +recalled them a mass of colorless and formless objects which had ceased +to have history or value. Amongst them, however, a seal in the form of a +medallion in gold recurred to him; but whether the impression upon it +was raised or sunken he could not have certainly said; nor could he have +told what the device was. His father and grandfather had esteemed it +highly, and the story they told him about it divers times when he was a +child upon their knees he could repeat quite substantially. +</p> + +<p> +A man committed an indignity to Jesus the pretended <i>Christ</i>, who, in +punishment, condemned him to linger on the earth until in the fulness +of time he should come again; and the man had gone on living through the +centuries. Both the father and grandfather affirmed the tale to be true; +they had known the unfortunate personally; yet more, they declared he +had been an intimate of the family, and had done its members through +generations friendlinesses without number; in consequence they had come +to consider him one of them in love. They had also said that to their +knowledge it was his custom to pray for death regularly as the days came +and went. He had repeatedly put himself in its way; yet curiously it +passed him by, until he at last reached a conviction he could not die. +</p> + +<p> +Many years had gone since the stall-keeper last heard the tale, and +still more might have been counted since the man disappeared, going no +one knew whither. +</p> + +<p> +But he was not dead! He was coming again! It was too strange to believe! +It could not be! Yet one thing was clear—whatever the messenger might +be, or presuming him a villain, whatever the lie he thought to make +profitable, appeal could be safely and cheaply made to the seal in the +cupboard. As a witness it, too, was deaf and dumb; on its face +nevertheless there was revelation and the truth. +</p> + +<p> +Through the momentary numbness of his faculties so much the son of +Jahdai saw, and he did not wait. Signing the messenger to follow, he +passed into a closet forming part of the stall, and the two being alone, +he spoke in Greek. +</p> + +<p> +"Be thou seated here," he said, "and wait till I return." +</p> + +<p> +The messenger smiled and bowed, and took seat; thereupon Uel drew his +turban down to his ears, and, letter in hand, started home. +</p> + +<p> +His going was rapid; sometimes he almost ran. Acquaintances met him on +the street, but he did not see them; if they spoke to him, he did not +hear. Arrived at his own door, he plunged into the house as if a mob +were at his heels. Now he was before the cupboard! Little mercy the +phylacteries and amulets, the bridle-spanglery of donkeys, the trinketry +of women, his ancestresses once famous for beauty or many children—little +mercy the motley collection on the second shelf received from his +hands. He tossed them here and there, and here and there again, but the +search was vain. Ah, good Lord! was the medalet lost? And of all times, +then? +</p> + +<p> +The failure made him the more anxious; his hands shook while he essayed +the search once more; and he reproached himself. The medal was valuable +for its gold, and besides it was a sacred souvenir. Conscience stung +him. Over and over he shifted and turned the various properties on the +shelf, the last time systematically and with fixed attention. When he +stopped to rest, the perspiration stood on his forehead in large drops, +and he fairly wrung his hands, crying, "It is not here—it is lost! My +God, how shall I know the truth now!" +</p> + +<p> +At this pause it is to be said that the son of Jahdai was wifeless. The +young woman whom he had taken as helpmeet in dying had left him a girl +baby who, at the time of our writing, was about thirteen years old. +Under the necessity thus imposed, he found a venerable daughter of +Jerusalem to serve him as housekeeper, and charge herself with care of +the child. Now he thought of that person; possibly she knew where the +seal was. He turned to seek her, and as he did so, the door of an +adjoining room opened, and the child appeared. +</p> + +<p> +He held her very dear, because she had the clear olive complexion of her +mother, and the same soft black eyes with which the latter used to smile +upon him in such manner that words were never required to assure him of +her love. And the little one was bright and affectionate, and had +prettinesses in speech, and sang low and contentedly the day long. Often +as he took her on his lap and studied her fondly, he was conscious she +promised to be gentle and beautiful as the departed one; beyond which it +never occurred to him there could be superior excellences. +</p> + +<p> +Distressed as the poor man was, he took the child in his arms, and +kissed her on the round cheek, and was putting her down when he saw the +medal at her throat, hanging from a string. She told him the housekeeper +had given it to her as a plaything. Untied at last—for his impatience +was nigh uncontrollable—he hurried with the recovered treasure to a +window, to look at the device raised upon it; then, his heart beating +rapidly, he made comparison with the impression sunk in the yellow wax +at the foot of the letter; he put them side by side—there could be no +mistake—the impression on the wax might have been made by the +medallion! +</p> + +<p> +Let it not be supposed now that the son of Jahdai did not appreciate the +circumstance which had befallen. The idea of a man suffering a doom so +strange affected him, while the doom itself, considered as a judgment, +was simply awful; but his thought did not stop there—it carried him +behind both the man and the doom. Who was He with power by a word, not +merely to change the most fixed of the decrees of nature, but, by +suspending it entirely, hold an offending wretch alive for a period +already encroaching upon the eternal? One less firmly rooted in the +faith of his fathers would have stood aghast at the conclusion to which +the answer as an argument led—a conclusion admitting no escape once it +was reached. The affair in hand, however, despite its speculative side, +was real and urgent; and the keeper of the stall, remembering the +messenger in half imprisonment, fell to thinking of the practical +questions before him; first of which was the treatment he should accord +his correspondent's requests. +</p> + +<p> +This did not occupy him long. His father, he reflected, would have +received the stranger cordially, and as became one of such close +intimacy; so should he. The requests were easy, and carried no pecuniary +liability with them; he was merely to aid an inexperienced servant in +the purchase of a dwelling-house, the servant having plenty of funds. +True, when the master presented himself in person, it would be necessary +to determine exactly the footing to be accorded him; but for the present +that might be deferred. If, in the connection, the son of Jahdai dwelt +briefly upon possible advantages to himself, the person being presumably +rich and powerful, it was human, and he is to be excused for it. +</p> + +<p> +The return to the market was less hurried than the going from it. There +Uel acted promptly. He took Syama to his house, and put him into the +guest-chamber, assuring him it was a pleasure. Yet when night came he +slept poorly. The incidents of the day were mixed with much that was +unaccountable, breaking the even tenor of his tradesman's life by +unwonted perplexities. He had not the will to control his thoughts; they +would go back to the excitement of the moment when he believed the +medallion lost; and as points run together in the half-awake state on +very slender threads, he had a vision of a mysterious old man coming +into his house, and in some way taking up and absorbing the life of his +child. When the world at last fell away and left him asleep, it was with +a dread tapping heavily at his heart. +</p> + +<p> +The purchase which Uel was requested to assist in making proved a light +affair. After diligent search through the city, Syama decided to take a +two-story house situated in a street running along the foot of the hill +to-day crowned by the mosque Sultan Selim, although it was then the site +of an unpretentious Christian church. Besides a direct eastern frontage, +it was in the divisional margin between the quarters of the Greeks, +which were always clean, and those of the Jews, which were always filthy. +It was also observed that neither the hill nor the church obstructed the +western view from the roof; that is to say, it was so far around the +upper curve of the hill that a thistle-down would be carried by a +south-east wind over many of the proudest Greek residences and dropped +by the Church of the Holy Virgin on Blacherne, or in the imperial garden +behind the Church. In addition to these advantages, the son of Jahdai was +not unmindful that his own dwelling, a small but comfortable structure +also of wood, was just opposite across the street. Everything considered, +the probabilities were that Syama's selection would prove satisfactory to +his master. The furnishment was a secondary matter. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be added that in course of the business there were two things +from which Uel extracted great pleasure; Syama always had money to pay +promptly for everything he bought; in the next place, communication with +him was astonishingly easy. His eyes made up for the deficiency in +hearing; while his signs, gestures, and looks were the perfection of +pantomime. Of evenings the child never tired watching him in +conversation. +</p> + +<p> +While we go now to bring the Wanderer up, it should not be forgotten +that the house, completely furnished, is awaiting him, and he has only +to knock at the door, enter, and be at home. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0202"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF +</h3> + +<p> +The bay of Bahrein indents the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Hard +by the point on the north at which it begins its inland bend rise the +whitewashed, one-story mud-houses of the town El Katif. Belonging to the +Arabs, the most unchangeable of peoples, both the town and the bay were +known in the period of our story by their present names. +</p> + +<p> +The old town in the old time derived importance chiefly from the road +which, leading thence westwardly through Hejr Yemameh, brought up, after +many devious stretches across waterless wastes of sand, at El Derayeh, a +tented capital of the Bedouins, and there forked, one branch going to +Medina, the other to Mecca. In other words, El Katif was to Mecca on the +east the gate Jeddo was to it on the west. +</p> + +<p> +When, in annual recurrence, the time for the indispensable Hajj, or +Pilgrimage, came, the name of the town was on the lips of men and women +beyond the Green Sea, and southwardly along the coast of Oman, and in +the villages and dowars back of the coast under the peaks of Akdar, only +a little less often than those of the holy cities. Then about the first +of July the same peoples as pilgrims from Irak, Afghanistan, India, and +beyond those countries even, there being an East and a Far East, and +pilgrims from Arabia, crowded together, noisy, quarrelsome, squalid, +accordant in but one thing—a determination to make the Hajj lest they +might die as Jews or Christians. +</p> + +<p> +The law required the pilgrim to be at Mecca in the month of Ramazan, the +time the Prophet himself had become a pilgrim. From El Katif the direct +journey might be made in sixty days, allowing an average march of twelve +miles. By way of Medina, it could be made to permit the votary to be +present and participate in the observances usual on the day of the +Mysterious Night of Destiny. +</p> + +<p> +The journey moreover was attended with dangers. Winds, drouth, sand +storms beset the way; and there were beasts always hungry, and robbers +always watchful. The sun beat upon the hills, curtained the levels with +mirage, and in the <i>fiumuras</i> kindled invisible fires; so in what +the unacclimated breathed and in what they drank of the waters of the +land there were diseases and death. +</p> + +<p> +The Prophet having fixed the month of Ramazan for the Hajj, pilgrims +accustomed themselves to assemblage at Constantinople, Damascus, Cairo +and Bagdad. If they could not avoid the trials of the road, they could +lessen them. Borrowing the term caravan as descriptive of the march, +they established markets at all convenient places. +</p> + +<p> +This is the accounting for one of the notable features of El Katif from +the incoming of June till the caravan extended itself on the road, and +finally disappeared in the yellow farness of the Desert. One could not +go amiss for purveyors in general. Dealers in horses, donkeys, camels, +and dromedaries abounded. The country for miles around appeared like a +great stock farm. Herds overran the lean earth. Makers of harness, +saddles, box-houdahs, and swinging litters of every variety and price, +and contractors of camels, horses, and trains complete did not wait to +be solicited; the competition between them was too lively for dignity. +Hither and thither shepherds drove fatted sheep in flocks, selling them +on the hoof. In shady places sandal merchants and clothiers were +established; while sample tents spotted the whole landscape. Hucksters +went about with figs, dates, dried meats and bread. In short, pilgrims +could be accommodated with every conceivable necessary. They had only to +cry out, and the commodity was at hand. +</p> + +<p> +Amongst the thousands who arrived at El Katif in the last of June, 1448, +was a man whose presence made him instantly an object of general +interest. He came from the south in a galley of eight oars manned by +Indian seamen, and lay at anchor three days before landing. His ship +bore nothing indicative of nationality except the sailors. She was +trim-looking and freshly painted; otherwise there was nothing uncommon +in her appearance. She was not for war—that was plain. She floated too +lightly to be laden; wherefore those who came to look at her said she +could not be in commercial service. +</p> + +<p> +Almost before furling sail, an awning was stretched over her from bow to +stern—an awning which from the shore appeared one great shawl of +variegated colors. Thereupon the wise in such matters decided the owner +was an Indian Prince vastly rich, come, like a good Mohammedan, to +approve his faith by pilgrimage. +</p> + +<p> +This opinion the stranger's conduct confirmed. While he did not himself +appear ashore, he kept up a busy communication by means of his small +boat. For three days, it carried contractors of camels and supplies +aboard, and brought them back. +</p> + +<p> +They described him of uncertain age; he might be sixty, he might be +seventy-five. While rather under medium height, he was active and +perfectly his own master. He sat in the shade of the awning cross-legged. +His rug was a marvel of sheeny silk. He talked Arabic, but with an Indian +accent. His dress was Indian—a silken shirt, a short jacket, large +trousers, and a tremendous white turban on a red tarbousche, held by an +aigrette in front that was a dazzle of precious stones such as only a +Rajah could own. His attendants were few, but they were gorgeously +attired, wore <i>shintyan</i> swung in rich belts from their shoulders, and +waited before him speechless and in servile posture. One at his back +upheld an umbrella of immense spread. He indulged few words, and they +were strictly business. He wanted a full outfit for the Hajj; could the +contractor furnish him twenty camels of burden, and four swift +dromedaries? Two of the latter were to carry a litter for himself; the +other two were for his personal attendants, whom he desired furnished +with well-shaded <i>shugdufs</i>. The camels he would load with provisions. +While speaking, he would keep his eyes upon the person addressed with an +expression uncomfortably searching. Most extraordinary, however, he did +not once ask about prices. +</p> + +<p> +One of the Shaykhs ventured an inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +"How great will his Highness' suite be?" +</p> + +<p> +"Four." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh threw up his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah! Four dromedaries and twenty camels for four men!" +</p> + +<p> +"Abuser of the salt," said the stranger calmly, "hast thou not heard of +the paschal charity, and of the fine to the poor? Shall I go empty +handed to the most sacred of cities?" +</p> + +<p> +Finally an agent was found who, in concert with associates, undertook to +furnish the high votary with all he asked complete. +</p> + +<p> +The morning of the fourth day after his arrival the Indian was pulled +ashore, and conducted out of town a short distance to where, on a rising +ground, a camp had been set up provisionally for his inspection. There +were tents, one for storage of goods and provisions; one for the suite; +one for the chief Shaykh, the armed guards, the tent pitchers, and the +camel drivers; and a fourth one, larger than the others, for the Prince +himself. With the dromedaries, camels, and horses, the camp was +accepted; then, as was the custom, the earnest money was paid. By set of +sun the baggage was removed from the ship, and its partition into +cargoes begun. The Prince of India had no difficulty in hiring all the +help he required. +</p> + +<p> +Of the thirty persons who constituted the train ten were armed horsemen, +whose appearance was such that, if it were answered by a commensurate +performance, the Prince might at his leisure march irrespective of the +caravan. Nor was he unmindful in the selection of stores for the +journey. Long before the sharp bargainers with whom he dealt were +through with him, he had won their best opinion, not less by his +liberality than for his sound judgment. They ceased speaking of him +sneeringly as the <i>miyan</i>. [Footnote: Barbarous Indian] +</p> + +<p> +Soon as the bargain was bound, the stranger's attendants set about the +furnishment of the master's tent. Outside they painted it green. The +interior they divided into two equal compartments; one for reception, +the other for a <i>maglis</i> or drawing-room; and besides giving the +latter divans and carpets, they draped the ceiling in the most tasteful +manner with the shawls which on the ship had served for awning. +</p> + +<p> +At length, everything in the catalogue of preparation having been +attended to, it remained only to wait the day of general departure; and +for that, as became his greatness, the Prince kept his own quarters, +paying no attention to what went on around him. He appeared a man who +loved solitude, and was averse to thinking in public. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0203"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE YELLOW AIR +</h3> + +<p class="noindent"> +[Footnote: The plague is known amongst Arabs as "the Yellow Air."] +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +One evening the reputed Indian sat by the door of his tent alone. The +red afterglow of the day hung in the western sky. Overhead the stars +were venturing timidly out. The camels were at rest, some chewing their +cuds, others asleep, their necks stretched full length upon the warm +earth. The watchmen in a group talked in low voices. Presently the cry +of a muezzin, calling to prayer, flew in long, quavering, swelling notes +through the hushed air. Others took up the call, clearer or fainter +according to the distance; and so was it attuned to the feeling invoked +by the conditions of the moment that no effort was required of a listener +to think it a refrain from the sky. The watchmen ceased debating, drew a +little apart from each other, spread their <i>abbas</i> on the ground, and +stepping upon them barefooted, their faces turned to where Mecca lay, +began the old unchangeable prayer of Islam—<i>God is God, and Mahomet is +His Prophet</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The pilgrim at the tent door arose, and when his rude employes were +absorbed in their devotions, like them, he too prayed, but very +differently. +</p> + +<p> +"God of Israel—my God!" he said, in a tone hardly more than speaking to +himself. "These about me, my fellow creatures, pray thee in the hope of +life, I pray thee in the hope of death. I have come up from the sea, and +the end was not there; now I will go into the Desert in search of it. Or +if I must live, Lord, give me the happiness there is in serving thee. +Thou hast need of instruments of good; let me henceforth be one of them, +that by working for thy honor, I may at last enjoy the peace of the +blessed—Amen." +</p> + +<p> +Timing his movements with those of the watchmen, he sank to his knees, +and repeated the prayer; when they fell forward, their faces to the +earth in the <i>rik'raths</i> so essential by the Mohammedan code, he +did the same. When they were through the service, he went on with it +that they might see him. A careful adherence to this conduct gained him +in a short time great repute for sanctity, making the pilgrimage +enjoyable as well as possible to him. +</p> + +<p> +The evening afterglow faded out, giving the world to night and the quiet +it affects; still the melancholy Indian walked before his tent, his +hands clasped behind him, his chin in the beard on his breast. Let us +presume to follow his reflections. +</p> + +<p> +"Fifty years! A lifetime to all but me. Lord, how heavy is thy hand when +thou art in anger!" +</p> + +<p> +He drew a long breath, and groaned. +</p> + +<p> +"Fifty years! That they are gone, let those mourn to whom time is +measured in scanty dole." +</p> + +<p> +He became retrospective. +</p> + +<p> +"The going to Cipango was like leaving the world. War had yielded to +contentions about religion. I wearied of them also. My curse is to weary +of everything. I wonder if the happiness found in the affection of women +is more lasting?" +</p> + +<p> +He pursued the thought awhile, finishing with a resolution. +</p> + +<p> +"If the opportunity comes my way, I will try it. I remember yet the +mother of my Lael, though I did not understand the measure of the +happiness she brought me until she died." +</p> + +<p> +He returned then to the first subject. +</p> + +<p> +"When will men learn that faith is a natural impulse, and pure religion +but faith refined of doubt?" +</p> + +<p> +The question was succeeded by a wordless lapse in his mind, the better +apparently to prolong the pleasure he found in the idea. +</p> + +<p> +"God help me," he presently resumed, "to bring about an agreement in +that definition of religion! There can be no reform or refinement of +faith except God be its exclusive subject; and so certainly it leads to +lopping off all parasitical worships such as are given to Christ and +Mahomet.... Fifty years ago the sects would have tortured me had I +mentioned God as a principle broad and holy enough for them to stand +upon in compromise of their disputes; they may not be better disposed +now, yet I will try them. If I succeed I will not be a vulgar monument +builder like Alexander; neither will I divide a doubtful fame with +Caesar. My glory will be unique. I will have restored mankind to their +true relations with God. I will be their Arbiter in Religion. Then +surely"—he lifted his face appealingly as to a person enthroned amidst +the stars—"surely thou wilt release me from this too long life.... If I +fail"—he clinched his hands—"if I fail, they may exile me, they may +imprison me, they may stretch me on the rack, but they cannot kill me." +</p> + +<p> +Then he walked rapidly, his head down, like a man driven. When he +stopped it was to say to himself uncertainly: +</p> + +<p> +"I feel weak at heart. Misgivings beset me. Lord, Lord, how long am I to +go on thus cheating myself? If thou wilt not pardon me, how can I hope +honor from my fellow men? Why should I struggle to serve them?" +</p> + +<p> +Again he clinched his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the fools, the fools! Will they never be done? When I went away +they were debating, Was Mahomet a Prophet? Was Christ the Messiah? And +they are debating yet. What miseries I have seen come of the dispute!" +</p> + +<p> +From this to the end, the monologue was an incoherent discursive medley, +now plaintive, now passionate, at times prayerful, then exultant. As he +proceeded, he seemed to lose sight of his present aim at doing good in +the hope of release from termless life, and become the Jew he was born. +</p> + +<p> +"The orators called in the sword, and they plied each other with it +through two hundred years and more. There were highways across Europe +blazoned with corpses.... But they were great days. I remember them. +remember Manuel's appeal to Gregory. I was present at the Council of +Clermont. I heard Urban's speech. I saw Walter, the beggar of Burgundy, +a fugitive in Constantinople; but his followers, those who went out with +him—where were they? I saw Peter, the eremite and coward, dragged back, +a deserter, to the plague-smitten camps of Antioch. I helped vote +Godfrey King of Jerusalem, and carried a candle at his coronation. I saw +the hosts of Louis VII and Conrad, a million and more, swallowed up in +Iconia and the Pisidian mountains. Then, that the persecutors of my race +might not have rest, I marched with Saladin to the re-conquest of the +Holy City, and heard Philip and Richard answer his challenge. The brave +Kurd, pitying the sorrows of men, at last agreed to tolerate Christians +in Jerusalem as pilgrims; and there the strife might have ended, but I +played upon the ambition of Baldwin, and set Europe in motion again. No +fault of mine that the knight stopped at Constantinople as King of the +East. Then the second Frederick presumed to make a Christian city of +Jerusalem. I resorted to the Turks, and they burned and pillaged it, and +captured St. Louis, the purest and best of the crusaders. He died in my +arms. Never before had I a tear for man or woman of his faith! Then came +Edward I., and with him the struggle as a contest of armies terminated. +By decision of the sword, Mahomet <i>was</i> the Prophet of God, and +Christ but the carpenter's son.... By permission of the Kaliphs, the +Christians might visit Jerusalem as pilgrims. A palmer's staff in place +of a sword! For shield, a beggar's scrip! But the bishops accepted, and +then ushered in an age of fraud, Christian against Christian.... The +knoll on which the Byzantine built his church of the Holy Sepulchre is +not the Calvary. That the cowled liars call the Sepulchre never held the +body of Christ. The tears of the millions of penitents have but watered +a monkish deceit.... Fools and blasphemers! The Via Dolorosa led out of +the Damascus gate on the north. The skull-shaped hill beyond that gate +is the Golgotha. Who should know it better than I? The Centurion asked +for a guide; I walked with him. Hyssop was the only green thing growing +upon the mount; nothing but hyssop has grown there since. At the base on +the west was a garden, and the Sepulchre was in the garden. From the +foot of the cross I looked toward the city, and there was a sea of men +extending down to the gate.... I know!—I know!—I and misery know!... +When I went out fifty years ago there was an agreement between the +ancient combatants; each vied with the other in hating and persecuting +the Jew, and there was no limit to the afflictions he endured from +them.... Speak thou, O Hebron, city of the patriarchs! By him who sits +afar, and by him near unto thee, by the stars this peaceful night, and +by the Everlasting who is above the stars, be thou heard a witness +testifying! There was a day when thou didst stand open to the children +of Israel; for the cave and the dead within it belonged to them. Then +Herod built over it, and shut it up, though without excluding the +tribes. The Christian followed Herod; yet the Hebrew might pay his way +in. After the Christian, the Moslem; and now nor David the King, nor son +of his, though they alighted at the doors from chariots, and beat upon +them with their crowns and sceptres, could pass in and live.... Kings +have come and gone, and generations, and there is a new map from which +old names have been dropped. As respects religion, alas! the divisions +remain—here a Mohammedan, there a Christian, yonder a Judean.... From +my door I study these men, the children of those in life at my going +into exile. Their ardor is not diminished. To kiss a stone in which +tradition has planted a saying of God, they will defy the terrors of the +Desert, heat, thirst, famine, disease, death. I bring them an old idea +in a new relation—God, giver of life and power to Son and Prophet—God, +alone entitled to worship—God, a principle of Supreme Holiness to which +believers can bring their creeds and doctrines for mergence in a treaty +of universal brotherhood. Will they accept it? ... Yesterday I saw a +Schiah and a Sunite meet, and the old hate darkened their faces as they +looked at each other. Between them there is only a feud of Islamites; +how much greater is their feud with Christians? How immeasurably greater +the feud between Christian and Jew? ... My heart misgives me! Lord! Can +it be I am but cherishing a dream?" +</p> + +<p> +At sight of a man approaching through the dusk, he calmed himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Peace to thee, Hadji," said the visitor, halting. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it thou, Shaykh?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is I, my father's son. I have a report to make." +</p> + +<p> +"I was thinking of certain holy things of priceless worth, sayings of +the Prophet. Tell me what thou hast?" +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh saluted him, and returned, "The caravan will depart to-morrow +at sunrise." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so. We are ready. I will designate our place in the movement. +Thou art dismissed." +</p> + +<p> +"O Prince! I have more to report." +</p> + +<p> +"More?" +</p> + +<p> +"A vessel came in to-day from Hormuz on the eastern shore, bringing a +horde of beggars." +</p> + +<p> +"Bismillah! It was well I hired of thee a herd of camels, and loaded +them with food. I shall pay my fine to the poor early." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"That they are beggars is nothing," he said. "Allah is good to all his +creatures. The jackals are his, and must be fed. For this perhaps the +unfortunates were blown here by the angel that rides the yellow air. +Four corpses were landed, and their clothes sold in the camp." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou wouldst say," the Prince rejoined, "that the plague will go with +us to the Kaaba. Content thee, Shaykh. Allah will have his +way." +</p> + +<p> +"But my men are afraid." +</p> + +<p> +"I will place a drop of sweetened water on their lips, and bring them +safe through, though they are dying. Tell them as much." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh was departing when the Prince, shrewdly suspecting it was he +who feared, called him back. +</p> + +<p> +"How call ye the afternoon prayer, O Shaykh?" +</p> + +<p> +"El Asr." +</p> + +<p> +"What didst thou when it was called?" +</p> + +<p> +"Am I not a believer? I prayed." +</p> + +<p> +"And thou hast heard the Arafat sermon?" +</p> + +<p> +"Even so, O Prince." +</p> + +<p> +"Then, as thou art a believer, and a hadji, O Shaykh, thou and all with +thee shalt see the Khatib on his dromedary, and hear him again. Only +promise me to stay till his last <i>Amin</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"I promise," said the Shaykh, solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +"Go—but remember prayer is the bread of faith." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh was comforted, and withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +With the rising of the sun next day the caravan, numbering about three +thousand souls, defiled confusedly out of the town. The Prince, who +might have been first, of choice fell in behind the rest. +</p> + +<p> +"Why dost thou take this place, O Prince?" asked the Shaykh, who was +proud of his company, and their comparative good order. +</p> + +<p> +He received for answer, "The blessings of Allah are with the dying whom +the well-to-do and selfish in front have passed unnoticed." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh repeated the saying to his men, and they replied: "Ebn-Hanife +was a Dervish: so is this Prince—exalted be his name!" +</p> + +<p> +Eulogy could go no further. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0204"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +EL ZARIBAH +</h3> + +<p> +"I will be their Arbiter in Religion," said the Indian Mystic in his +monologue. +</p> + +<p> +This is to be accepted as the motive of the scheme the singular man was +pursuing in the wastes of Arabia. +</p> + +<p> +It must be taken of course with his other declaration—"There can be no +reform or refinement of faith except God be its exclusive subject; and +so certainly it leads to lopping off all parasitical worships such as +are given to Christ and Mahomet." +</p> + +<p> +Fifty years prior, disgusted with the endless and inconsequential +debates and wars between Islam and Christianity, he had betaken himself +to Cipango, [Footnote: Supposably Japan.] wherever that might be. There, +in a repentant hour, he had conceived the idea of a Universal Religious +Brotherhood, with God for its accordant principle; and he was now +returned to present and urge the compromise. In more distinct statement, +he was making the pilgrimage to ascertain from personal observation if +the Mohammedan portion of the world was in a consenting mood. It was not +his first visit to Mecca; but the purpose in mind gave the journey a new +zest; and, as can be imagined, nothing in the least indicative of the +prevalent spirit of the Hajj escaped him. Readers following the +narrative should keep this explanation before them. +</p> + +<p> +From El Derayah the noble pilgrim had taken the longer route by way of +Medina, where he scrupulously performed the observances decreed for the +faithful at the Mosque of the Prophet. Thence he descended with the +caravan from Damascus. +</p> + +<p> +Dawn of the sixth of September broke over the rolling plain known as the +Valley of El Zaribah, disclosing four tents pitched on an eminence to +the right of a road running thence south-west. These tents, connected by +ropes, helped perfect an enclosure occupied by horses, donkeys, camels +and dromedaries, and their cumbrous equipments. Several armed men kept +watch over the camp. +</p> + +<p> +The Valley out to the pink granite hills rimming it round wore a fresh +green tint in charming contrast with the tawny-black complexion of the +region through which the day's journey had stretched. Water at a shallow +depth nourished camel grass in patches, and Theban palms, the latter +much scattered and too small to be termed trees. The water, and the +nearness of the Holy City—only one day distant—had, in a time long +gone, won for El Zaribah its double appointment of meeting place for the +caravans and place of the final ceremony of assumption of the costume +and vows <i>El Ihram</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The Prophet himself had prescribed the ceremony; so the pilgrims in the +camp on the eminence, the better to observe it and at the same time get +a needful rest, had come up during the night in advance of the caravans. +In other words, the Prince of India—the title by which he was now +generally known—might, at the opening hour of the day, have been found +asleep in the larger of the four tents; the one with the minaret in +miniature so handsomely gilded and of such happy effect over the centre +pole. +</p> + +<p> +Along the roadsides and on the high grounds of the Valley other tints +were visible, while faint columns of smoke arising out of the hollows +told of preparations for breakfast. These signified the presence of +hucksters, barbers, costume dealers, and traders generally, who, in +anticipation of the arrival of the caravans, had come from the city to +exercise their callings. Amongst them, worthy of special attention, was +a multitude of professional guides, [Footnote: <i>Mutawif</i>.] ready +for a trifling hire to take charge of uninitiated pilgrims, and lead +them regardfully through the numerous ceremonies to which they were +going. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after noon the Prince called in a guide, and several barbers, +men with long gowns, green turbans, brass basins, sharp knives, and +bright bladed scissors. The assumption of the real pilgrimage by his +people was then begun. Each man submitted his head, mustaches, and nails +to the experts, and bathed and perfumed himself, and was dusted with +musk. Next the whole party put off their old garments, and attired +themselves in the two white vestments <i>El Ihram</i>.[Footnote: A mantle and +skirt of white cloth unsewn.] The change of apparel was for the better. +Finally the votaries put on sandals peculiar in that nothing pertaining +to them might cover the instep; then they stood up in a row faced toward +Mecca, and repeated the ancient formula of dedication of the <i>Ihram</i> to +the Almighty slowly intoned for them by the guide. +</p> + +<p> +The solemn demeanor of the men during the ceremony, which was tedious +and interspersed with prayers and curious recitals, deeply impressed the +Prince, who at the end of the scene retired into his tent, with his +three mute attendants, and there performed the vows for himself and +them. There also they all assumed the indispensable costume. Then, as he +well might do, the law permitting him to seek the shade of a house or a +tent, he had a rug spread before his door, where, in the fresh white +attire, he seated himself, and with a jar of expressed juice of +pomegranates at his side made ready to witness the passing of the +caravans, the dust of which was reported visible in the east. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile the cloud of dust momentarily deepening over in that +direction was enlivened by a clash of cymbals and drums, blent with +peals of horns, the fine, high music yet cherished by warriors of the +Orient. Presently a body of horsemen appeared, their spear points +glistening in the sunlight. A glance at them, then his gaze fixed upon a +chief in leading. +</p> + +<p> +The sun had been hot all day; the profiles of the low hills were dim +with tremulous haze lying scorchingly upon them; the furred hulks of the +camels in the enclosure looked as if they were smoking; the sky held +nothing living except two kites which sailed the upper air slowly, their +broad wings at widest extension; yet the chief persisted in wearing his +arms and armor, like the soldiers behind him. Ere long he rode up and +halted in front of the Prince, and near by. +</p> + +<p> +His head was covered with a visorless casque, slightly conical, from the +edge of which, beginning about the temples, a cape of fine steel rings, +buckled under the chin, enveloped the neck and throat, and fell loosely +over the neck and shoulders, and part way down the back. A shirt of +linked mail, pliable as wool, defended the body and the arms to the +elbows; overalls of like material, save that the parts next the saddle +were leather, clothed the thighs and legs. As the casque and every other +link of the mail were plated with gold, the general effect at a distance +was as if the whole suit were gold. A surcoat of light green cloth hung +at the back half hiding a small round shield of burnished brass; at the +left side there was a cimeter, and in the right hand a lance. The saddle +was of the high-seated style yet affected by horsemen of Circassia; at +the pommel a bow and well-filled quiver were suspended, and as the +stirrups were in fact steel slippers the feet were amply protected by +them. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the martial figure, the Indian, in admiration, arose to a +sitting posture. Such, he thought, were the warriors who followed +Saladin! And when the stranger, reaching the summit of the eminence, +turned out of the road coming apparently to the door of the tent, he +involuntarily sprang to his feet ready to do him honor. +</p> + +<p> +The face, then plainly seen, though strong of feature, and thoroughly +bronzed, was that of a young man not more than twenty-two or three, +dark-eyed, mustached and bearded, and of a serious though pleasant +expression. He kept his seat with ease and grace; if he and the +broad-chested dark-bay horse were not really one, they were one in +spirit; together they wrought the impression which was the origin of +<i>majesty</i>, a title for kings. +</p> + +<p> +While the Prince was turning this in his mind, the soldier pulled rein, +and stopped long enough to glance at him and at the camp; then, turning +the horse, he looked the other way, making it apparent he had taken +position on the rise to overlook the plain, and observe the coming and +dispersion of the caravans. +</p> + +<p> +Another mounted man ascended the hill, armed and armored like the first +one, though not so richly, and bearing a standard of dulled yellow silk +hanging from a gilded staff. The ground of the standard was filled with +inscriptions in red lettering, leaving the golden crescent and star on +the point of the staff to speak of nationality. The bearer of the flag +dismounted, and at a sign planted it in the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing his Shaykh, the Prince called him: +</p> + +<p> +"Who is the warrior yonder?—He in the golden armor?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Emir El Hajj, [Footnote: Chief officer of the Pilgrimage. The +appointment was considered the highest favor in the Sultan's gift.] O +Prince." +</p> + +<p> +"He the Emir El Hajj!—And so young?—Oh! a hero of the Serail. The +Kislar Aga extolled him one day." +</p> + +<p> +"Thy remark and common report, O excellent Prince, could not journey +together on the same camel," said the Shaykh. "In the Khan at Medina I +heard his story. There is a famous enemy of the Turks, Iskander Bey, in +strength a Jinn, whose sword two men can scarcely lift. He appeared +before the army of the Sultan one day with a challenge. He whom thou +seest yonder alone dared go forth to meet him. The fought from morning +till noon; then they rested. 'Who art thou?' asked Iskander. 'I am a +slave of Amurath, the Commander of the Faithful, who hath commissioned +me to take thee to him dead or alive.' Iskander laughed, and said, 'I +know by thy tongue now thou art not a Turk; and to see if the Commander +of the Faithful, as thou callest him, hath it in soul to make much of +thy merit as a warrior, I will leave thee the honors of the combat, and +to go thy way.' Whereat they say he lifted his ponderous blade as not +heavier than the leaf of a dead palm, and strode from the field." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince listened, and at the end said, like a man in haste: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou knowest Nilo, my black man. Bring him hither." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh saluted gravely, and hurried away, leaving his patron with +eyes fixed on the Emir, and muttering: +</p> + +<p> +"So young!—and in such favor with the old Amurath! I will know him. If +I fail, he may be useful to me. Who knows? Who knows?" +</p> + +<p> +He looked upward as if speaking to some one there. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the Emir was questioning the ensign. +</p> + +<p> +"This pilgrim," he said, "appears well provided." +</p> + +<p> +And the ensign answered: +</p> + +<p> +"He is the Indian Prince of whom I have been hearing since we left +Medina." +</p> + +<p> +"What hast thou heard?" +</p> + +<p> +"That being rich, he is open-handed, making free with his aspers as +sowers with their seed." +</p> + +<p> +"What more?" +</p> + +<p> +"He is devout and learned as an Imam. His people call him Malik. Of the +prayers he knows everything. As the hours arrive, he lifts the curtains +of his litter, and calls them with a voice like Belal's. The students in +the mosque would expire of envy could they see him bend his back in the +benedictions." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Bismillah!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"They say also that in the journey from El Katif to Medina he travelled +behind the caravan when he might have been first." +</p> + +<p> +"I see not the virtue in that. The hill-men love best to attack the +van." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me, O Emir, which wouldst thou rather face, a hill-man or the +Yellow Air?" +</p> + +<p> +"The hill-man," said the other decidedly. +</p> + +<p> +"And thou knowest when those in front abandon a man struck with the +disease?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"And then?" +</p> + +<p> +"The vultures and the jackals have their rights." +</p> + +<p> +"True, O Emir, but listen. The caravan left El Katif three thousand +strong. Three hundred and more were struck with the plague, and left to +die; of those, over one hundred were brought in by the Indian. They say +it was for this he preferred to march in the rear. He himself teaches a +saying of the <i>Hadis</i>, that Allah leaves his choicest blessings to +be gathered from amidst the poor and the dying." +</p> + +<p> +"If he thou describest be not a Prince of India as he claims, he is a"— +</p> + +<p> +"A <i>Mashaikh</i>." [Footnote: Holier than a Dervish.] +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, by the Most Merciful! But how did he save the castaways?" +</p> + +<p> +"By a specific known only to kings and lords in his country. Can he but +reach the plague-struck before death, a drop on the tongue will work a +cure. Thou heardst what he did at Medina?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"The Masjid El Nabawi [Footnote: Tomb of the Prophet.] as thou knowest, +O Emir, hath many poor who somehow live in its holy shade." +</p> + +<p> +"I know it," said the Emir, with a laugh. "I went in the house rich, and +come out of it poorer than the poorest of the many who fell upon me at +the doors." +</p> + +<p> +"Well," the ensign continued, not heeding the interruption, "he called +them in, and fed them; not with rice, and leeks, and bread ten days +sour, but with dishes to rejoice a Kaliph; and they went away swearing +the soul of the Prophet was returned to the world." +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture a troop of horsemen ascending the hill brought the +conversation to a stop. The uniformity of arms and armor, the furniture +of the steeds, the order and regularity of the general movement, +identified the body as some favorite corps of the Turkish army; while +the music, the bristling lances, the many-folded turbans, and the +half-petticoated trousers threw about it a glamor of purest orientalism. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the troop, a vanguard in front, a rearguard behind them, +central objects of care and reverence, moved the sacred camels, tall, +powerful brutes, more gigantic in appearance because of their +caparisoning and the extraordinary burdens they bore. They too were in +full regalia, their faces visored in silk and gold, their heads +resplendent with coronets of drooping feathers, their ample neck cloths +heavy with tasselled metallic fringing falling to the knees. Each one +was covered with a mantle of brocaded silk arranged upon a crinoline +form to give the effect somewhat of the curved expansion on the rim of a +bell. On the humps rose pavilions of silk in flowing draperies, on some +of which the entire <i>Fatihah</i> was superbly embroidered. Over the +pavilions arose enormous aigrettes of green and black feathers. Such +were the <i>mahmals</i>, containing, among other things of splendor and +fabulous value, the <i>Kiswah</i> which the Sultan was forwarding to the +Scherif of Mecca to take the place of the worn curtains then draping the +Tabernacle or House of God. +</p> + +<p> +The plumed heads of the camels, and the yet more richly plumed pavilions, +exalted high above the horsemen, moved like things afloat. One may not +tell what calamities to body and soul would overtake the Emir El Hajj did +he fail to deliver the <i>mahmals</i> according to consignment. +</p> + +<p> +While the cavalry came up the hill the musicians exerted themselves; at +the top, the column turned and formed line left of the Emir, followed by +strings of camels loaded with military properties, and a horde of +camp-followers known as <i>farrash</i>. Presently another camp was reared upon +the eminence, its white roofs shining afar over the plain, and in their +midst one of unusual dimensions for the Sultan's gifts. +</p> + +<p> +The caravans in the meantime began to emerge from the dun cloud of their +own raising, and spread at large over the land; and when the young Emir +was most absorbed in the spectacle the Prince's Shaykh approached him. +</p> + +<p> +"O Emir!" the Arab said, after a salaam. +</p> + +<p> +A wild fanfare of clarions, cymbals, and drums drowning his voice, he +drew nearer, almost to the stirrup. +</p> + +<p> +"O Emir!" he said again. +</p> + +<p> +This time he was heard. +</p> + +<p> +"What wouldst thou?" +</p> + +<p> +There was the slightest irritation in the tone, and on the countenance +of the speaker as he looked down; but the feeling behind it vanished at +sight of a negro whose native blackness was intensified by the spotless +white of the Ihram in which he was clad. Perhaps the bright platter of +beaten copper the black man bore, and the earthen bottle upon it, +flanked by two cups, one of silver, the other of crystal, had something +to do with the Emir's change of manner and mind. +</p> + +<p> +"What wouldst thou?" he asked, slightly bending towards them. +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh answered: +</p> + +<p> + "The most excellent Hadji, my patron, whom thou mayst see reclining at<br /> +the door of his tent, sends thee greeting such as is lawful from one +true believer to another travelling for the good of their souls to the +most Holy of Cities; and he prays thou wilt accept from him a draught of +this water of pomegranates, which he vouches cooling to the tongue and +healthful to the spirit, since he bought it at the door of the House of +the Prophet—to whom be prayer and praise forever." +</p> + +<p> +During the speech, the negro, with a not unpractised hand, and conscious +doubtless of the persuasion there was in the sound and sparkle of the +beverage, especially to one not yet dismounted from a long ride on the +desert, filled the cups, and held them up for acceptance. +</p> + +<p> +Stripping the left hand of its steel-backed gauntlet, the Emir lifted +the glass, and, with a bow to the pilgrim then arisen and standing by +the tent-door, drank it at a draught; whereupon, leaving the ensign to +pay like honor to the offered hospitality, he wheeled his horse, and +rode to make acknowledgment in person. +</p> + +<p> +"The favor thou hast done me, O Hadji," he said, dismounted, "is in +keeping with the acts of mercy to thy fellow-men with which I hear thou +hast paved the road from El Katif as with mother-of-pearl." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak not of them, I pray," the Wanderer answered, returning the bow he +received. "Who shall refuse obedience to the law?" +</p> + +<p> +"I see plainly thou art a good man," the Emir said, bowing again. +</p> + +<p> +"It would not become me to say so. Turning to something better, this +tent in the wilderness is mine, and as the sun is not declined to its +evening quarter, perhaps, O gallant Emir, it would be more to thy +comfort were we to go within. I, and all I have, are at thy command." +</p> + +<p> +"I am grateful for the offer, most excellent Hadji—if the address be +lower than thy true entitlement, thou shouldst bring the Shaykh yonder +to account for misleading a stranger—but the sun and I have become +unmindful of each other, and duty is always the same in its demands at +least. Here, because the valley is the <i>micath</i>, [Footnote: Meeting +place.] the caravans are apt to run wild, and need a restraining hand. I +plead the circumstance in excuse for presuming to request that thou wilt +allow me to amend thy offer of courtesy." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir paused, waiting for the permission. +</p> + +<p> +"So thou dost accept the offer, amend it as thou wilt," and the Prince +smiled. +</p> + +<p> +Then the other returned, with evident satisfaction: "When our brethren +of the caravans are settled, and the plain is quiet, and I too have +taken the required vows, I will return to thee. My quarters are so close +to thine it would please me to be allowed to come alone." +</p> + +<p> +"Granted, O Emir, granted—if, on thy side, thou wilt consent to permit +me to give thee of the fare I may yet have at disposal. I can promise +thou shalt not go away hungry." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the Emir remounted, and went back to his stand overlooking the +plain, and the coming of the multitude. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0205"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PASSING OF THE CARAVANS +</h3> + +<p> +From his position the Wanderer could see the advancing caravans; but as +the spectacle would consume the afternoon, he called his three +attendants, and issued directions for the entertainment of the Emir in +the evening; this done, he cast himself upon the rug, and gave rein to +his curiosity, thinking, not unreasonably, to find in what would pass +before him something bearing on the subject ever present in his mind. +</p> + +<p> +The sky could not be called blue of any tint; it seemed rather to be +filled with common dust mixed with powder of crushed brick. The effect +was of a semi-transparent ceiling flushed with heat from the direct +down-beating action of the sun, itself a disk of flame. Low mountains, +purplish black in hue, made a horizon on which the ceiling appeared set, +like the crystal in the upper valve of a watch. Thus shut in, but still +fair to view east and south of the position the spectator occupied, lay +El Zaribah, whither, as the appointed meeting place, so many pilgrims +had for days and weeks ever wearier growing been "walking with their +eyes." In their thought the Valley was not so much a garden or landscape +of beauty as an ante-chamber of the House of Allah. As they neared it +now, journeying since the break of day, impatience seized them; so when +the cry sped down the irregular column—"It is here! It is here!" they +answered with a universal <i>labbayaki</i>, signifying, "Thou hast called +us—here we are, here we are!" Then breaking into a rabble, they rushed +multitudinously forward. To give the reader an idea of the pageant +advancing to possess itself of the Valley, it will be well to refresh his +memory with a few details. He should remember, in the first place, that +it was not merely the caravan which left El Katif over on the western +shore of the Green Sea, but two great caravans merged into one—<i>El +Shemi</i>, from Damascus, and <i>Misri</i>, from Cairo. To comprehend these, the +region they drained of pilgrims should be next considered. For example, +at Cairo there was a concentration from the two Egypts, Upper and Lower, +from the mysterious deserts of Africa, and from the cities and countries +along the southern shore of the Mediterranean far as Gibraltar; while the +whole East, using the term in its most comprehensive sense, emptied +contingents of the devout into Damascus. In forwarding the myriads thus +poured down upon them the Arabs were common carriers, like the Venetians +to the hordes of western Europe in some of the later crusades; so to +their thousands of votaries proper, the other thousands of them engaged +in the business are also to be computed. El Medina was the great +secondary rendezvous. Hardly could he be accounted of the Faithful who in +making the pilgrimage would turn his back upon the bones of the Prophet; +of such merit was the saying, "One prayer in this thy mosque is of more +virtue than a thousand in other places, save only the Masjid El Haram." +Once at Medina, how could the pilgrim refuse his presence, if not his +tears, at El Kuba, forever sacred to the Mohammedan heart as the first +place of public prayer in Islam? Finally, it should not be forgotten that +the year we write of belonged to a cycle when readers of the Koran and +worshippers at Mecca were more numerous than now, if not more zealous and +believing. And it was to witness the passing of this procession, so +numerous, so motley, so strangely furnished, so uncontrolled except as it +pleased, the Prince of India was seated at the door of his tent upon the +hill. Long before the spectacle was sighted in the distance, its approach +was announced by an overhanging pillar of cloud, not unlike that which +went before the Israelites in their exodus through similar wastes. +Shortly after the interview with the Emir, the Prince, looking under the +pillar, saw a darkening line appear, not more at first than a thread +stretched across a section of the east. +</p> + +<p> +The apparition was without a break; nor might he have said it was in +motion or of any depth. A sound came from the direction not unlike that +of a sibilant wind. Presently out of the perspective, which reduced the +many to one and all sizes to a level, the line developed into unequal +divisions, with intervals between them; about the same time the noise +became recognizable as the voices fiercely strained and inarticulate of +an innumerable host of men. Then the divisions broke into groups, some +larger than others; a little later individuals became discernible; +finally what had appeared a line resolved itself into a convulsing mass, +without front, without wings, but of a depth immeasurable. +</p> + +<p> +The pilgrims did not attempt to keep the road; having converted their +march into a race, they spread right and left over the country, each +seeking a near way; sometimes the object was attained, sometimes not; +the end was a confusion beyond description. The very inequalities of the +ground helped the confusion. A group was one moment visible on a height; +then it vanished in a hollow. Now there were thousands on a level; then, +as if sinking, they went down, down, and presently where they were there +was only dust or a single individual. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile, so wide was the inrolling tide, the field of vision +overflowed, and the eye was driven to ranging from point to point, +object to object. Then it was discernible that the mass was mixed of +animals and men—here horses, there camels—some with riders, some +without—all, the burdened as well as unburdened, straining forward +under urgency of shriek and stick—forward for life—forward as if of +the two "comforts," Success beckoned them in front, and Despair behind +plied them with spears. [Footnote: In the philosophy of the Arabs +Success and Despair are treated as comforts.] +</p> + +<p> +At length the eastern boundary of the Valley was reached. There one +would suppose the foremost of the racers, the happy victors, would rest +or, at their leisure, take of the many sites those they preferred; but +no—the penalty attaching to the triumph was the danger of being run +down by the thousands behind. In going on there was safety—and on they +went. +</p> + +<p> +To this time the spectacle had been a kind of panoramic generality; now +the details came to view, and accustomed as he was to marvels of +pageantry, the Prince exclaimed: "These are not men, but devils fleeing +from the wrath of God!" and involuntarily he went nearer, down to the +brink of the height. It seemed the land was being inundated with camels; +not the patient brutes we are used to thinking of by that name, with +which domestication means ill-treatment and suffering—the slow-going +burden-bearers, always appealing to our sympathy because always +apparently tired, hungry, sleepy, worn-out—always reeling on as if +looking for quiet places in which to slip their loads of whatever kind, +and lie down and die; but the camel aroused, enraged, frightened, +panic-struck, rebellious, sending forth strange cries, and running with +all its might—an army of camels hurling their gigantic hulks along at a +rate little less than blind impetus. And they went, singly, and in +strings, and yonder a mass. The slower, and those turned to the right or +left of the direct course, and all such as had hesitated upon coming to +a descent, were speedily distanced or lost to sight; so the ensemble was +constantly shifting. And then the rolling and tossing of the cargoes and +packages on the backs of the animals, and the streaming out of curtains, +scarfs, shawls, and loose draperies of every shape and color, lent +touches of drollery and bright contrasts to the scene. One instant the +spectator on the hill was disposed to laugh, then to admire, then to +shiver at the immensity of a danger; over and over again amidst his +quick variation of feeling, he repeated the exclamation: "These are not +men, but devils fleeing from the wrath of God!" +</p> + +<p> +Such was the spectacle in what may be called the second act; presently +it reached a third; and then the fury of the movement, so inconsistent +with the habits and patient nature of the camel, was explained. In the +midst of the hurly-burly, governing and directing it, were horsemen, an +army of themselves. Some rode in front, and the leading straps on which +they pulled with the combined strength of man and horse identified them +as drivers; others rode as assistants of the drivers, and they were +armed with goads which they used skilfully and without mercy. There were +many collisions, upsets, and entanglements; yet the danger did not deter +the riders from sharing the excitement, and helping it forward to their +utmost. They too used knotted ropes, and stabbed with sharpened sticks; +they also contributed to the unearthly tumult of sounds which travelled +with the mob, a compound of prayers, imprecations, and senseless +screams—the medley that may be occasionally heard from a modern +mad-house. +</p> + +<p> +In the height of the rush the Shaykh came up. +</p> + +<p> +"How long," said the Prince—"in the Prophet's name, how long will this +endure?" +</p> + +<p> +"Till night, O most excellent Hadji—if the caravans be so long in +coming." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it usual?" +</p> + +<p> +"It has been so from the beginning." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the curiosity of the Prince took another turn. A band of +horsemen galloped into view—free riders, with long lances carried +upright, their caftans flying, and altogether noble looking. +</p> + +<p> +"These are Arabs. I know by their horses and their bearing," said he, +with admiration; "but possibly thou canst give me the name of their +tribe." +</p> + +<p> +The Shaykh answered with pride: "Their horses are gray, and by the sign, +O lover of the Prophet, they are the Beni-Yarb. Every other one of them +is a poet; in the face of an enemy, they are all warriors." +</p> + +<p> +The camps on the hill, with the yellow flag giving notice of the Emir's +station, had effect upon others besides the Yarbis; all who wished to +draw out of the <i>melange</i> turned towards them, bringing the spectacle in +part to the very feet of the Wanderer; whereas he thought with a quicker +beating of the heart, "The followers of the Prophet are coming to show me +of what they are this day composed." Then he said to the Shaykh, "Stand +thou here, and tell me as I shall ask." +</p> + +<p> +The conversation between them may be thus summarized: +</p> + +<p> +The current which poured past then, its details in perfect view, carried +along with it all the conditions and nationalities of the pilgrimage. +Natives of the desert on bare-backed camels, clinging to the humps with +one hand, while they pounded with the other—natives on beautiful +horses, not needing whip or spur—natives on dromedaries so swift, +sure-footed, and strong there was no occasion for fear. Men, and often +women and children, on ragged saddle-cloths, others in pretentious +boxes, and now and then a person whose wealth and rank were published by +the magnificence of the litter in which he was borne, swinging +luxuriously between long-stepping dromedaries from El Sbark. +</p> + +<p> +"By Allah!" the Prince exclaimed. "Here hath barbarism its limit! +Behold!" +</p> + +<p> +They of whom he spoke came up in irregular array mounted on dromedaries +without housing. At their head rode one with a white lettered green +flag, and beating an immense drum. They were armed with long spears of +Indian bamboo, garnished below the slender points with swinging tufts of +ostrich feathers. Each carried a woman behind him disdainful of a veil. +The feminine screams of exultation rose high above the yells of the men, +helping not a little to the recklessness with which the latter bore +onward. +</p> + +<p> +Woe to such in their way as were poorly mounted. In a twinkling they +were ridden down. Nor did those fare better who were overtaken +struggling with a string of camels. The crash of bursting boxes, the +sharp report of rending ropes, the warning cry, the maddening cheer; a +battle of men, another of beasts—and when the collision had passed, the +earth was strewn with its wreck. +</p> + +<p> +"They are Wahabbas, O Hadji," said the Shaykh. "Thou seest the tufts on +their spears. Under them they carry <i>Jehannum</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"And these now coming?" asked the Prince. "Their long white hats remind +me of Persia." +</p> + +<p> +"Persians they are," replied the Shaykh, his lip curling, his eyes +gleaming. "They will tear their clothes, and cut their shaven crowns, +and wail, 'Woe's me, O Ali!' then kiss the Kaaba with defilement on +their beards. The curse of the <i>Shaykaim</i> is on them—may it stay +there!" +</p> + +<p> +Then the Prince knew it was a Sunite speaking of Schiahs. +</p> + +<p> +Yet others of the Cafila of Bagdad passed with the despised sons of +Iran; notably Deccanese, Hindoos, Afghans, and people from the +Himalayas, and beyond them far as Kathay, and China, and Siam, all +better known to the Prince than to his Shaykh, who spoke of them, +saying, "Thou shouldst know thine own, O Hadji! Thou art their father!" +</p> + +<p> +Next, in a blending that permitted no choice of associates, along swept +the chief constituents of the caravans—Moors and Blackamoors, +Egyptians, Syrians, Turks, Kurds, Caucasians, and Arabs of every tribe, +each a multitude of themselves, and their passing filled up the +afternoon. +</p> + +<p> +Towards sundown the hurry and rush of the movement perceptibly +slackened. Over in the west there were signs of a halt; tents were +rising, and the smoke of multiplying fires began to deepen the blue of +the distance. It actually appeared as if settlement for the night would +creep back upon the east, whence the irruption had burst. +</p> + +<p> +At a moment when the Prince's interest in the scene was commencing to +flag, and he was thinking of returning to his tent, the rearmost +divisions of the pilgrims entered the Valley. They were composed of +footmen and donkey-riders, for whom the speed of the advance bodies had +been too great. High-capped Persians, and Turks whose turbans were +reduced to faded fezes, marched in the van, followed closely by a rabble +of Takruris, ragged, moneyless, living upon meat of abandoned animals. +Last of all were the sick and dying, who yet persisted in dragging their +fainting limbs along as best they could. Might they but reach the Holy +City! Then if they died it would be as martyrs for whom the doors of +Paradise are always open. With them, expectants of easy prey, like the +<i>rakham</i> [Footnote: Vultures.] sailing in slow circles overhead, +flocked the beggars, thieves, outcasts and assassins; but night came +quickly, and covered them, and all the things they did, for evil and +night have been partners from the beginning. +</p> + +<p> +At last the Prince returned to his tent. He had seen the sun set over El +Zaribah; he had seen the passing of the caravans. Out there in the +Valley they lay. They—to him, and for his purposes, the Mohammedan +world unchanged—the same in composition, in practice, in creed—only he +felt now a consciousness of understanding them as never before. Mahomet, +in his re-introduction of God to man, had imposed himself upon their +faith, its master idea, its central figure, the superior in sanctity, +the essential condition—the ONE! Knowingly or unknowingly, he left a +standard of religious excellence behind him—Himself. And by that +standard the thief in the wake of the mighty caravans robbing the dead, +the Thug strangling a victim because he was too slow in dying, were +worthy Paradise, and would attain it, for they believed in him. Faith in +the Prophet of God was more essential than faith in God. Such was the +inspiration of Islam. A sinking of spirit fell upon the unhappy man. He +felt a twinge of the bitterness always waiting on failure, where the +undertaking, whatever it be, has enlisted the whole heart. At such times +instinctively we turn here and there for help, and in its absence, for +comfort and consolation; what should he do now but advert to +Christianity? What would Christians say of his idea? Was God lost in +Christ as he was here in Mahomet? +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0206"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR +</h3> + +<p> +In the reception room of the Prince's tent the lamps are lighted; one +fastened to the stout centre pole, and five others on as many palings +planted in the ground, all burning brightly. The illumination is +enriched by the admirable blending of colors in the canopy of shawls. +Within the space defined by the five lamps, on a tufted rug, the Mystic +and the Emir are seated, both in <i>Ihram</i>, and looking cool and +comfortable, though the night outside still testifies to the heat of the +day. +</p> + +<p> +A wooden trencher, scoured white as ivory, separates the friends, +leaving them face to face. In supping they have reached what we call the +dessert. +</p> + +<p> +On the trencher are slender baskets containing grapes, figs, and dates, +the choicest of the gardens of Medina. A jar of honey, an assortment of +dry biscuits, and two jugs, one of water, the other of juice of +pomegranates, with drinking cups, complete the board. +</p> + +<p> +At this age, Orientals lingering at table have the cheer of coffee and +tobacco; unhappily for the two of whom we are writing, neither of the +great narcotics was discovered. Nevertheless it should not be supposed +the fruits, the honey, and the waters failed to content them. Behind the +host is the negro we already know as Nilo. He is very watchful of his +master's every motion. +</p> + +<p> +As guest and host appear now the formalism of acquaintanceship just made +has somewhat disappeared, and they are talking easily and with freedom. +Occasionally a movement of one or the other brings his head to a +favorable angle, whereat the light, dropping on the freshly shaven +crown, is sharply glinted back. +</p> + +<p> +The Emir has been speaking of the plague. +</p> + +<p> +"At Medina I was told it had run its course," the host remarked. +</p> + +<p> +"True, O Hadji, but it has returned, and with greater violence. The +stragglers were its victims; now it attacks indiscriminately. Yesterday +the guard I keep in the rear came to a pilgrim of rank. His litter was +deserted, and he was lying in it dead." +</p> + +<p> +"The man may have been murdered." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," said the Emir, "gold in large amount was found on his person." +</p> + +<p> +"But he had other property doubtless?" +</p> + +<p> +"Of great value." +</p> + +<p> +"What disposition was made of it?" +</p> + +<p> +"It was brought to me, and is now with other stores in my tent; a law of +ancient institution vesting it in the Emir El Hajj." +</p> + +<p> +The countenance of the Jew became serious. +</p> + +<p> +"The ownership was not in my thought," he said, waving his hand. "I knew +the law; but this scourge of Allah has its laws also, and by one of them +we are enjoined to burn or bury whatever is found with the body." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir, seeing the kindly concern of his host, smiled as he +answered: +</p> + +<p> +"But there is a higher law, O Hadji." +</p> + +<p> +"I spoke without thinking danger of any kind could disturb thee." +</p> + +<p> +The host drew forward the date basket, and the Emir, fancying he +discerned something on his mind besides the fruit, waited his further +speech. +</p> + +<p> +"I am reminded of another matter, O brave Emir; but as it also is +personal I hesitate. Indeed I will not speak of it except with +permission." +</p> + +<p> +"As you will," the other replied, "I will answer—May the Prophet help +me!" +</p> + +<p> +"Blessed be the Prophet!" said the Prince, reverently. "Thy confidence +doeth me honor, and I thank thee; at the same time I would not presume +upon it if thy tongue were less suggestive of a land whose name is +music—Italy. It is in my knowledge, O Emir, that the Sultan, thy +master—may Allah keep him in countenance!—hath in his service many +excellent soldiers by birth of other countries than his own, broad as it +is—Christians, who are none the less of the true faith. Wherefore, wilt +thou tell me of thyself?" +</p> + +<p> +The question did not embarrass the Emir. +</p> + +<p> +"The answer must be brief," he answered, without hesitation, "because +there is little to tell. I do not know my native country. The +peculiarity of accent you have mentioned has been observed by others; +and as they agreed with you in assigning it to Italy, I am nothing loath +to account myself an Italian. The few shreds of circumstance which came +to me in course of time confirmed the opinion, and I availed myself of a +favorable opportunity to acquire the tongue. In our further speech, O +Hadji, you may prefer its use." +</p> + +<p> +"At thy pleasure," the host replied; "though there is no danger of our +being overheard. Nilo, the slave behind me, has been a mute from birth." +</p> + +<p> +Then, without the slightest interruption, the Emir changed his speech +from Greek to Italian. +</p> + +<p> +"My earliest remembrance is of being borne in a woman's arms out of +doors, under a blue sky, along a margin of white sand, an orchard on one +hand, the sea on the other. The report of the waves breaking upon the +shore lives distinctly in my memory; so does the color of the trees in +the orchard which has since become familiar to me as the green of +olives. Equally clear is the recollection that, returning in-doors, I +was carried into a house of stone so large it must have been a castle. I +speak of it, as of the orchard, and the sea, and the roar of the +breakers, quite as much by reference to what I have subsequently seen as +from trust in my memory." +</p> + +<p> +Here the host interrupted him to remark: +</p> + +<p> +"Though an Eastern, I have been a traveller in the west, and the +description reminds me of the eastern shore of Italy in the region of +Brindisi." +</p> + +<p> +"My next recollection," the Emir resumed, "is a child's fright, +occasioned by furious flames, and thick smoke, and noises familiar now +as of battle. There was then a voyage on the sea during which I saw +none but bearded men. The period of perfect knowledge so far as my +history is concerned began when I found myself an object of the love and +care of the wife of a renowned Pacha, governor of the city of Brousa. +She called me <i>Mirza</i>. My childhood was spent in a harem, and I +passed from it into a school to enter upon my training as a soldier. In +good time I became a Janissary. An opportunity presented itself one day, +and I distinguished myself. My master, the Sultan, rewarded me by +promotion and transfer to the <i>Silihdars</i>, [Footnote: D'Oheson.] the +most ancient and favored corps of the Imperial army, it being the +body-guard of the Padisha, and garrison of his palace. The yellow flag +my ensign carries belongs to that corps. As a further token of his +confidence, the Sultan appointed me Emir El Hajj. In these few words, O +Hadji, you have my history." +</p> + +<p> +The listener was impressed with the simplicity of the narrative, and the +speaker's freedom from regret, sorrow, or passion of any kind. +</p> + +<p> +"It is a sad story, O Emir," he said, sympathetically, "and I cannot +think it ended. Knowest thou not more?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing of incident," was the reply. "All that remains is inferential. +The castle was attacked at night by Turks landed from their galleys." +</p> + +<p> +"And thy father and mother?" +</p> + +<p> +"I never knew them." +</p> + +<p> +"There is another inference," said the Prince, suggestively—"they were +Christians." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, but unbelievers." +</p> + +<p> +The suppression of natural affection betrayed by the remark still more +astonished the host. +</p> + +<p> +"But they believed in God," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"They should have believed Mahomet was his Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +"I fear I am giving you pain, O Emir." +</p> + +<p> +"Dismiss the fear, O Hadji." +</p> + +<p> +Again the Jew sought the choicest date in the basket. The indifference +of his guest was quick fuel to the misgivings which we have already +noticed as taking form about his purpose, and sapping and weakening it. +To be arbiter in the religious disputes of men, the unique consummation +called for by his scheme, the disputants must concede him room and +hearing. Were all Mohammedans, from whom he hoped most, like this one +born of Christians, then the two conditions would be sternly refused +him. By the testimony of this witness, there was nothing in the heredity +of faith; and it went to his soul incisively that, in stimulating the +passions which made the crusades a recurrence of the centuries, he +himself had contributed to the defeat now threatening his latest +ambition. The sting went to his soul; yet, by force of will, always at +command in the presence of strangers, he repressed his feeling, and +said: +</p> + +<p> +"Everything is as Allah wills. Let us rejoice that he is our keeper. The +determination of our fate, in the sense of what shall happen to us, and +what we shall be, and when and where the end shall overtake us, is no +more to him than deciding the tint of the rose before the bud is formed. +O Emir, I congratulate you on the resignation with which you accept his +judgment. I congratulate you upon the age in which he has cast your +life. He who in a moment of uncertainty would inform himself of his +future should not heed his intentions and hopes; by studying his present +conditions, he will find himself an oracle unto himself. He should +address his best mind to the question, 'I am now in a road; if I keep +it, where will I arrive?' And wisdom will answer, 'What are thy desires? +For what art thou fitted? What are the opportunities of the time?' Most +fortunate, O Emir, if there be correspondence between the desire, the +fitness, and the opportunity!" +</p> + +<p> +The Emir did not comprehend, and seeing it, the host added with a +directness approaching the abrupt: +</p> + +<p> +"And now to make the reason of my congratulations clear, it is necessary +that thou consent to my putting a seal upon your lips. What sayest thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"If I engage my silence, O Hadji, it is because I believe you are a good +man." +</p> + +<p> +The dignity of the Emir's answer did not entirely hide the effect of the +Prince's manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Know thou then," the latter continued, with a steady, penetrating +gaze—"know thou then, there is a Brahman of my acquaintance who is a +Magus. I use the word to distinguish him from the necromancers whom the +Koran has set in everlasting prohibition. He keeps school in a chapel +hid away in the heart of jungles overgrowing a bank of the Bermapootra, +not far from the mountain gates of the river. He has many scholars, and +his intelligence has compassed all knowledge. He is familiar with the +supernatural as with the natural. On my way, I visited him.... Know thou +next, O Emir, I too have had occasion to make inquiries of the future. +The vulgar would call me an astrologer—not a professional practising +for profit, but an adept seeking information because it lifts me so much +nearer Allah and his sublimest mysteries. Very lately I found a celestial +horoscope announcing a change in the status of the world. The masterful +waves, as you may know, have for many ages flowed from the West; but now, +the old Roman impetus having at last spent itself, a refluence is to set +in, and the East in its turn pour a dominating flood upon the West. The +determining stars have slipped their influences. They are in motion. +<i>Constantinople is doomed!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +The guest drew a quick breath. Understanding was flooding him with +light. +</p> + +<p> +"And now, O Emir, say, if the revelation had stopped there—stopped, I +mean, with the overthrow of the Christian capital—wouldst thou have +been satisfied with it?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, by Allah, no!" +</p> + +<p> +"Further, Emir. The stars being communicable yet, what wouldst thou have +asked them next?" +</p> + +<p> +"I would not have rested until I had from them the name of him who is to +be leader in the movement." +</p> + +<p> +The Mystic smiled at the young man's fervor. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast saved me telling what I did, and affirmed the logic of our +human nature," he said. "Thy imperial master is old, and much worn by +wars and cares of government, is he not?" +</p> + +<p> +"Old in greatness," answered the Emir, diplomatically. +</p> + +<p> +"Hath he not a son?" +</p> + +<p> +"A son with all the royal qualities of the father." +</p> + +<p> +"But young—not more than eighteen." +</p> + +<p> +"Not more." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Prophet hath lent him his name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Even so." +</p> + +<p> +The host released the eager face of the Emir from his gaze, while he +sought a date in the basket. +</p> + +<p> +"Another horoscope—the second"—he then said, quietly, "revealed +everything but the hero's name. He is to be of kingly birth, and a Turk. +Though a lad, he is already used to arms and armor." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! by Allah, Hadji," cried the guest, his face flushed, his words +quick, his voice mandatory. "Release me from my pledge of silence. Tell +me who thou art, that I may report thee, and the things thou sayest. +There was never such news to warm a heroic heart." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince pursued his explanation without apparently noticing the +interruption noticing the interruption. +</p> + +<p> +"To verify the confidences of the stars, I sought the Magus in his +chapel by the sacred river. Together we consulted them, and made the +calculations. He embraced me; but it was agreed between us that absolute +verity of the finding could only be had by re-casting the horoscopes at +Constantinople. Thou must know, O Emir, there is an astral alphabet +which has its origin in the inter-relations of the heavenly bodies, +represented by lines impalpable to the common eye; know also that the +most favored adept cannot read the mystic letters with the assurance +best comporting with verity, except he be at the place of the destined +event or revolution. To possess myself of the advantage, I shall ere +long visit the ancient capital. More plainly, I am on the way thither +now." +</p> + +<p> +Instead of allaying the eagerness of the Emir, the words excited it the +more. +</p> + +<p> +"Release me from my pledge," he repeated, entreatingly, "and tell me who +thou art. Mahommed is my pupil; he rides, carries shield, lays lance, +draws arrow, and strikes with sword and axe as I have taught him. Thou +canst not name a quality characteristic of heroes he does not possess. +Doth Allah permit me safe return from the Hajj, he will be first to meet +me at his father's gate. Think what happiness I should have in saluting +him there with the title—Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of Constantinople!" +</p> + +<p> +The Jew answered: +</p> + +<p> +"I would gladly help thee, O Emir, to happiness and promotion; for I see +what afterwhile, if not presently, they would follow such a salutation +of thy pupil, if coupled with a sufficient explanation; but his +interests are paramount; at the same time it becomes me to be allegiant +to the divinatory stars. What rivalries the story might awaken! It is +not uncommon in history, as thou mayst know, that sons of promise have +been cut off by jealous fathers. I am not accusing the great Amurath; +nevertheless precautions are always proper." +</p> + +<p> +The speaker then became dramatic. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, brave Emir, the will to help thee has been already seconded by the +deed. I spoke but now of lines of correspondence between the shining +lights that are the life of the sky at night. Let me illustrate my +meaning. Observe the lamps about us. The five on the uprights. Between +them, in the air, two stars of interwoven form are drawn. Take the lamps +as determining points, and use thy fancy a moment." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir turned to the lamps; and the host, swift to understand the +impulse, gave him time to gratify it; then he resumed: +</p> + +<p> +"So the fields of Heaven between the stars, where the vulgar see only +darkness, are filled with traceries infinite in form yet separable as +the letters of the alphabet. They are the ciphers in which Allah writes +his reasons for every creation, and his will concerning it. There the +sands are numbered, and the plants and trees, and their leaves, and the +birds, and everything animate; there is thy history, and mine, and all +of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. +Death does not blot out the records. Everlastingly writ, they shall be +everlastingly read—for the shame of some, for the delight of others." +</p> + +<p> +"Allah is good," said the Emir, bending his head. +</p> + +<p> +"And now," the Mystic continued, "thou hast eaten and drunk with me in +the Pentagram of the Magii. Such is the astral drawing between the five +lamps. Henceforth in conflicts of interest, fortune against fortune, +influences undreamt of will come to thy assistance. So much have I +already done for thee." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir bowed lower than before. +</p> + +<p> +"Nor that alone," the Jew continued. "Henceforth our lives will run +together on lines never divergent, never crossing. Be not astonished, +if, within a week, I furnish, to thy full satisfaction, proof of what I +am saying." +</p> + +<p> +The expression could not be viewed except as of more than friendly +interest. +</p> + +<p> +"Should it so happen," the Emir said, with warmth, "consider how +unfortunate my situation would be, not knowing the name or country of my +benefactor." +</p> + +<p> +The host answered simply, though evasively: +</p> + +<p> +"There are reasons of state, O Emir, requiring me to make this +pilgrimage unknown to any one." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir apologized. +</p> + +<p> +"It is enough," the host added, "that thou remember me as the Prince of +India, whose greatest happiness is to believe in Allah and Mahomet his +Prophet; at the same time I concede we should have the means of +certainly knowing each other should communication become desirable +hereafter." +</p> + +<p> +He made a sign with his right hand which the negro in waiting responded +to by passing around in front of him. +</p> + +<p> +"Nilo," the master said in Greek, "bring me the two malachite +rings—those with the turquoise eyes." +</p> + +<p> +The slave disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +"Touching the request to be released from the promise of secrecy, pardon +me, O Emir, if I decline to grant it. The verification to be made in +Constantinople should advise thee that the revolution to which I referred +is not ripe for publication to the world. A son might be excused for +dishonoring his parents; but the Magus who would subject the divine +science to danger of ridicule or contempt by premature disclosure is +fallen past hope—he would betray Allah himself." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir bowed, but with evident discontent. At length the slave +returned with the rings. +</p> + +<p> +"Observe, O Emir," the Jew said, passing them both to his guest, "they +are rare, curious, and exactly alike." +</p> + +<p> +The circlets were of gold, with raised settings of deep green stone, cut +so as to leave a drop of pure turquoise on the top of each, suggestive +of birds' eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"They are exactly the same, O Prince," said the Emir, tendering them +back. +</p> + +<p> +The Jew waved his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Select one of them," he said, "and I will retain the other. Borne by +messengers, they will always identify us each to the other." +</p> + +<p> +The two grew more cordial, and there was much further conversation across +the board, interspersed with attentions to the fruit basket and +pomegranate water. About midnight the Emir took his departure. When he +was gone, the host walked to and fro a long time; once he halted, and +said aloud—"I hear his salute, 'Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of +Constantinople!' It is always well to have a store of strings for one's +bow." +</p> + +<p> +And to himself he laughed heartily. +</p> + +<p> +Next day at dawn the great caravan was afoot, every man, woman, and +child clad in <i>Ihram</i>, and whitening the pale green Valley. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0207"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +AT THE KAABA +</h3> + +<p> +The day before the pilgrimage. +</p> + +<p> +A cloud had hung over the valley where Mecca lies like drift in the bed +of a winding gorge. About ten o'clock in the morning the cloud +disappeared over the summit of Abu Kubays in the east. The promise of +rain was followed by a simoom so stifling that it plunged every +breathing thing into a struggle for air. The dogs burrowed in the shade +of old walls; birds flew about with open beaks; the herbage wilted, and +the leaves on the stunted shrubs ruffled, then rolled up, like drying +cinnamon. If the denizens of the city found no comfort in their houses +of stone and mud, what suffering was there for the multitude not yet +fully settled in the blistering plain beyond the bluffs of Arafat? +</p> + +<p> +The zealous pilgrim, obedient to the law, always makes haste to +celebrate his arrival at the Holy City by an immediate visit to the +Haram. If perchance he is to see the enclosure for the first time, his +curiosity, in itself pardonable, derives a tinge of piety from duty. The +Prince of India but illustrated the rule. He left his tents pitched +close to those of the Emir El Hajj and the Scherif of Mecca, under the +Mountain of Mercy, as Arafat was practically translated by the very +faithful. Having thus assured the safety of his property, for +conveniency and greater personal comfort he took a house with windows +looking into the Mosque. By so doing, he maintained the dignity of his +character as a Prince of India. The beggars thronging his door furnished +lively evidence of the expectations his title and greatness had already +excited. +</p> + +<p> +With a guide, his suite, and Nilo shading his head with an umbrella of +light green paper, the Prince appeared in front of the chief entrance to +the sacred square from the north. [Footnote: The Bab el Vzyadeh.] +</p> + +<p> +The heads of the party were bare; their countenances becomingly solemn; +their <i>Ihram</i> fresh and spotlessly white. Passing slowly on, they were +conducted under several outside arches, and down a stairway into a hall, +where they left the umbrella and their shoes. +</p> + +<p> +The visitor found himself then in a cloister of the Mosque with which +the area around the Kaaba is completely enclosed. There was a pavement +of undressed flags, and to the right and left a wilderness of tall +pillars tied together by arches, which in turn supported domes. Numbers +of people, bareheaded and barefooted, to whom the heat outside was +insupportable, were in refuge there; some, seated upon the stones, +revolved their rosaries; others walked slowly about. None spoke. The +silence was a tribute to the ineffable sanctity of the place. The +refreshing shade, the solemn hush, the whiteness of the garments were +suggestive of sepulchres and their spectral tenantry. +</p> + +<p> +In the square whither the Prince next passed, the first object to +challenge his attention was the Kaaba itself. At sight of it he +involuntarily stopped. +</p> + +<p> +The cloisters, seen from the square, were open colonnades. Seven +minarets, belted in red, blue and yellow, arose in columnar relief +against the sky and the mountains in the south. A gravelled plot +received from the cloisters; next that, toward the centre, was a narrow +pavement of rough stone in transverse extension down a shallow step to +another gravelled plot; then another pavement wider than the first, and +ending, like it, in a downward step; after which there was a third +sanded plot, and then a third pavement defined by gilded posts upholding +a continuous row of lamps, ready for lighting at the going down of the +sun. The last pavement was of gray granite polished mirror-like by the +friction of millions of bare feet; and upon it, like the pedestal of a +monument upon a plinth, rested the base of the Holy House, a structure +of glassy white marble about two feet in height, with a bench of sharp +inclination from the top. At intervals it was studded with massive brass +rings. Upon the base the Kaaba rose, an oblong cube forty feet tall, +eighteen paces lengthwise, and fourteen in breadth, shrouded all in +black silk wholly unrelieved, except by one broad band of the appearance +of gold, and inscriptions from the Koran, of a like appearance, wrought +in boldest lettering. The freshness of the great gloomy curtain told how +quickly the gift of the Sultan had been made available, and that +whatever else might betide him, the young Emir was already happily +discharged of his trust. +</p> + +<p> +Of the details, the only one the Jew actually coupled with a thought was +the Kaaba. A hundred millions of human beings pray five times every day, +their faces turned to this funereal object! The idea, though commonplace, +called up that other always in waiting with him. In a space too brief for +the formulation of words, he felt the Arbitership of his dreams blow +away. The work of the founder of Islam was too well done and now too far +gone to be disturbed, except with the sanction of God. Had he the +sanction? A writhing of the soul, accompanied with a glare, like +lightning, and followed, like lightning, by an engulfing darkness, wrung +his features, and instinctively he covered them with his hands. The guide +saw the action, and misjudged it. +</p> + +<p> +"Let us not be in haste," he said. "Others before you have found the +House at first sight blinding. Blessed be Allah!" +</p> + +<p> +The commiseration affected the Prince strangely. The darkness, under +pressure of his hands upon the eyeballs, gave place to an atmosphere of +roseate light, in the fulness of which he saw the House of God projected +by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod. The realism of the apparition was +absolute, and comparison unavoidable. That he, familiar with the glory +of the conception of the Israelite, should be thought blinded by this +<i>Beit Allah</i> of the Arab, so without grace of form or lines, so primitive +and expressionless, so palpably uninspired by taste, or genius, or the +Deity it was designed to honor, restored him at once: indeed, in the +succeeding reaction, he found it difficult to keep down resentment. +Dropping his hands, he took another survey of the shrouded pile, and +swept all the square under eye. +</p> + +<p> +He beheld a crowd of devotees at the northeast corner of the House, and +over their heads two small open structures which, from descriptions +often heard, he recognized as praying places. A stream of worshippers +was circling around the marble base of the Most Holy, some walking, +others trotting; these, arriving at the northeast corner, halted—the +Black Stone was there! A babel of voices kept the echoes of the +enclosure in unremitting exercise. The view taken, the Jew said, +calmly: +</p> + +<p> +"Blessed be Allah! I will go forward." +</p> + +<p> +In his heart he longed to be in Constantinople—Islam, it was clear, +would lend him no ear; Christendom might be more amenable. +</p> + +<p> +He was carried next through the Gate of the Sons of the Old Woman; +thence to the space in front of the well Zem-Zem; mindful of the prayers +and prostrations required at each place, and of the dumb servants who +went with him. +</p> + +<p> +The famous well was surrounded by a throng apparently impassable. +</p> + +<p> +"Room for the Royal Hadji—for the Prince of India!" the guide yelled. +"There are no poor where he is—make way!" +</p> + +<p> +A thousand eyes sought the noble pilgrim; and as a path opened for him, +a score of <i>Zem-Zemis</i> refilled their earthen cups with the bitter +water afresh. A Prince of Hind did not come to them every day. +</p> + +<p> +He tasted from a cup—his followers drank—and when the party turned +away there were jars paid for to help all the blind in the caravan back +to healthful vision. +</p> + +<p> +"There is no God but Allah! Be merciful to him, O Allah," the crowd +shouted, in approval of the charity. +</p> + +<p> +The press of pilgrims around the northeastern corner of the Kaaba, to +which the guide would have conducted the Prince next, was greater than +at the well. Each was waiting his turn to kiss the Black Stone before +beginning the seven circuits of the House. +</p> + +<p> +Never had the new-comer seen a concourse so wrought upon by fanaticism; +never had he seen a concourse so peculiarly constituted. All complexions, +even that of the interior African, were a reddish desert tan. Eyes +fiercely bright appeared unnaturally swollen from the colirium with which +they were generally stained. The diversities the penitential costume +would have masked were effectually exposed whenever mouths opened for +utterance. Many sang, regardless of time or melody, the <i>tilbiye</i> they +had hideously vocalized in their advance toward the city. For the most +part, however, the effort at expression spent itself in a long cry, +literally rendered—"Thou hast called me—I am here! I am here!" The +deliverance was in the vernacular of the devotee, and low or loud, shrill +or hoarse, according to the intensity of the passion possessing him. +</p> + +<p> +To realize the discordancy, the reader must recall the multiplicity of +the tribes and nations represented; then will he fancy the agitation of +the mass, the swaying of the white-clad bodies, the tossing of bare arms +and distended hands, the working of tearful faces turned up to the +black-curtained pile regardless of the smiting of the sun—here men on +their knees, there men grovelling on the pavement—yonder one beating +his breast till it resounds like an empty cask—some comprehension of +the living obstruction in front of the Jew can be had. +</p> + +<p> +Then the guide, calling him, tried the throng. +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince of India!" he shouted, at the top of his voice. "Room for +the beloved of the Prophet! Stand not in his way—Room, room!" +</p> + +<p> +After much persistence the object was achieved. A pilgrim, the last one +in front of the Prince, with arms extended along the two sides of the +angle of the wall where the curtain was looped up, seemed struggling to +embrace the House; suddenly, as in despair he beat his head frantically +against the sharp corner—a second thrust more desperate than the +first—then a groan, and he dropped blindly to the pavement. The guide +rejoicing made haste to push the Prince into the vacant place. +</p> + +<p> +Without the enthusiasm of a traveller, calmly as a philosopher, the Jew, +himself again, looked at the Stone which more nearly than any other +material thing commanded idolatrous regard from the Mohammedan world. He +had known personally most of the great men of that world—its poets, +lawmakers, warriors, ascetics, kings—even the Prophet. And now they +came one by one, as one by one they had come in their several days, and +kissed the insensate thing; and between the coming and going time was +scarcely perceptible. The mind has the faculty of compressing, by one +mighty effort, the incidents of a life, even of centuries, into a +flash-like reenactment. +</p> + +<p> +As all the way from the first view of the sanctuary to arrival at the +gate, and thence to this point, the Jew had promptly followed his guide, +especially in recitation of the prescribed prayers, he was about to do +so now; already his hands were raised. +</p> + +<p> +"Great God! O my God! I believe in Thee—I Believe in thy Book—I +believe in thy Word—I believe in thy Promise," the zealous prompter +said, and waited. +</p> + +<p> +For the first time the votary was slow to respond. How could he, at such +a juncture, refuse a thought to the Innumerables whose ghosts had been +rendered up in vain struggles to obey the law which required them to +come and make proof of faith before this Stone! The Innumerables, lost +at sea, lost in the desert—lost body and soul, as in their dying they +themselves had imagined! Symbolism! An invention of men—a necessity of +necromancers! God had his ministers and priests, the living media of his +will, but of symbols—nothing! +</p> + +<p> +"Great God! O my God!" the guide began again. A paroxysm of disgust +seized the votary. The Phariseeism in which he was born and bred, and +which he could no more outlive than he could outlive his body asserted +itself. +</p> + +<p> +In the crisis of the effort at self-control, he heard a groan, and, +looking down, saw the mad devotee at his feet. In sliding from the shelf +of the base, the man had been turned upon his back, so that he was lying +face upward. On the forehead there were two cruel wounds; and the blood, +yet flowing, had partially filled the hollows of the eyes, making the +countenance unrecognizable. +</p> + +<p> +"The wretch is dying," the Prince exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"Allah is merciful—let us attend to the prayers," the guide returned, +intent on business. +</p> + +<p> +"But he will die, if not helped." +</p> + +<p> +"When we have finished, the porters will come for him." +</p> + +<p> +The sufferer stirred, then raised a hand. +</p> + +<p> +"O Hadji—O Prince of India!" he said faintly, in Italian. +</p> + +<p> +The Wanderer bent down to get a nearer view. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the Yellow Air—save me!" +</p> + +<p> +Though hardly articulate, the words were full of light to the listener. +</p> + +<p> +"The virtues of the Pentagram endure," he said, with absolute +self-possession. "The week is not ended, and, lo!—I save him." +</p> + +<p> +Rising to his full stature, he glanced here and there over the throng, +as if commanding attention, and proclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"A mercy of the Most Merciful! It is the Emir El Hajj." +</p> + +<p> +There was a general silence. Every man had seen the martial figure of +the young chief in his arms and armor, and on horseback; many of them +had spoken to him. +</p> + +<p> +"The Emir El Hajj—dying," passed rapidly from mouth to mouth. +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah!" burst forth in general refrain; after which the ejaculations +were all excerpted from prayers. +</p> + +<p> +"'O Allah! This is the place of him who flies to thee from fire!—Shadow +him, O Allah, in thy shadow!—Give him drink from the cup of thy +Prophet!'" +</p> + +<p> +A Bedouin, tall, almost black, and with a tremendous mouth open until +the red lining was exposed between the white teeth down to the larynx, +shouted shrilly the inscription on the marble over the breast of the +Prophet—"In the name of Allah! Allah have mercy upon him!"—and every +man repeated the words, but not one so much as reached a hand in help. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince waited—still the <i>Amins</i>, and prayerful ejaculations. Then +his wonder ceased. Not a pilgrim but envied the Emir—that he should die +so young was a pity—that he should die at the base of the sanctuary, in +the crowning act of the Hajj, was a grace of God. Each felt Paradise +stooping low to receive a martyr, and that its beatitude was near. They +trembled with ecstasy at hearing the gates opening on their crystal +hinges, and seeing light as from the robe of the Prophet glimmering +through them. O happy Emir! +</p> + +<p> +The Jew drew within himself. Compromise with such fanaticism was +impossible. Then, with crushing distinctness, he saw what had not before +occurred to him. In the estimation of the Mohammedan world, the role of +Arbiter was already filled; that which he thought of being, Mahomet was. +Too late, too late! In bitterness of soul he flung his arms up and +shouted: +</p> + +<p> +"The Emir is dying of the plague!" +</p> + +<p> +He would have found satisfaction in seeing the blatant crowd take to its +heels, and hie away into the cloisters and the world outside; not one +moved! +</p> + +<p> +"By Allah!" he shouted, more vehemently than before. "The Yellow Air +hath blown upon the Emir—is blowing upon you—Fly!" +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Amin! Amin!</i>—Peace be with thee, O Prince of Martyrs! O Prince of the +Happy! Peace be with thee, O Lion of Allah! O Lion of the Prophet!" Such +the answers returned him. +</p> + +<p> +The general voice became a howl. Surely here was something more than +fanaticism. Then it entered his understanding. What he beheld was Faith +exulting above the horrors of disease, above the fear of death—Faith +bidding Death welcome! His arms fell down. The crowd, the sanctuary, the +hopes he had built on Islam, were no more to him. He signed to his three +attendants, and they advanced and raised the Emir from the pavement. +</p> + +<p> +"To-morrow I will return with thee, and complete my vows;" he said to +his guide. "For the present, lead out of the square to my house." +</p> + +<p> +The exit was effected without opposition. +</p> + +<p> +Next day the Emir, under treatment of the Prince, was strong enough to +tell his story. The plague had struck him about noon of the day +following the interview in the tent at El Zaribah. Determined to deliver +the gifts he had in keeping, and discharge his trust to the satisfaction +of his sovereign, he struggled resolutely with the disease. After +securing the Scherif's receipt he bore up long enough to superintend the +pitching his camp. Believing death inevitable, he was carried into his +tent, where he issued his final orders and bade his attendants farewell. +In the morning, though weak, half-delirious, his faith the strongest +surviving impulse, he called for his horse, and being lifted into the +saddle, rode to the city, resolved to assure himself of the blessings of +Allah by dying in the shadow of the sanctuary. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, listening to the explanation, was more than ever impressed +with the futility of attempting a compromise with people so devoted to +their religion. There was nothing for him but to make haste to +Constantinople, the centre of Christian sentiment and movement. There he +might meet encouragement and ultimate success. +</p> + +<p> +In the ensuing week, having performed the two pilgrimages, and seen the +Emir convalescent, he took the road again, and in good time reached +Jedda, where he found his ship waiting to convey him across the Red Sea +to the African coast. The embarkation was without incident, and he +departed, leaving a reputation odorous for sanctity, with numberless +witnesses to carry it into every quarter of Islam. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0208"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE +</h3> + +<p> +Uel, the son of Jahdai, was in the habit of carrying the letter received +from the mysterious stranger about with him in a breast pocket. How many +times a day he took it out for reexamination would be difficult to say. +Observing the appearance of signs of usage, he at length wrapped it in +an envelope of yellow silk. If he had thought less of it, he would have +resorted to plain linen. +</p> + +<p> +There were certain points in the missive which seemed of greater +interest to him than others. For example, the place whence it had been +addressed was an ever recurring puzzle; he also dwelt long upon the +sentence which referred so delicately to a paternal relationship. The +most exigent passages, however, were those relative to the time he might +look for the man's coming. As specially directed, he had taken note of +the day of the delivery of the letter, and was greatly surprised to find +the messenger had arrived the last day of the year permitted him. The +punctuality of the servant might be in imitation of a like virtue of the +master. If so, at the uttermost, the latter might be expected six months +after receipt of the letter. Or he might appear within the six months. +The journeys laid out were of vast distances, and through wild and +dangerous countries, and by sea as well. Only a good traveller could +survive them at all; to execute them in such brief space seemed +something superhuman. +</p> + +<p> +So it befell that the son of Jahdai was at first but little concerned. +The months—three, four, five—rolled away, and the sixth was close at +hand; then every day brought him an increase of interest. In fact, he +found himself looking for the arrival each morning, and at noon +promising it an event of the evening. +</p> + +<p> +November was the sixth and last month of the time fixed. The first of +that month passed without the stranger. Uel became anxious. The +fifteenth he turned the keeping of his shop over to a friend; and +knowing the passage from Alexandria must be by sea, he betook himself, +with Syama, to the port on the Golden Horn known as the Gate of St. +Peter, at the time most frequented by Egyptian sailing masters. In +waiting there, he saw the sun rise over the heights of Scutari, and it +was the morning of the very last day. Syama, meantime, occupied himself +in final preparation of the house for the reception. He was not excited, +like Uel, because he had no doubt of the arrival within the period set. +He was also positively certain of finding his master, when at length he +did appear, exactly as when he separated from him in Cipango. He was +used to seeing Time waste itself upon the changeless man; he had even +caught from him a kind of contempt for what other men shrank from as +dangers and difficulties. +</p> + +<p> +The site of the house has been described; it remains to give the reader +an idea of its interior. There were four rooms on the ground floor +furnished comfortably for servants, of whom the arrangement indicated +three besides Syama. The first floor was of three apartments communicable +by doorways with portieres of camel's hair. The furniture was Roman, +Greek, and Egyptian mixed. Of the three the middle chamber was largest, +and as its fittings were in a style of luxury supposed to be peculiar to +princes, the conclusion was fair that it was designed for the +proprietor's occupancy during his waking hours. A dark blue rug clothed +the floor. In the centre, upon a shield of clear copper, arose a silver +brazier. The arms and legs of the stools here and there on the rug were +carven in grotesque imitation of reptiles and animals of the ultra +dragonish mode. The divans against the walls were of striped silk. In +each corner stood a tall post of silvered bronze, holding at the end +of a graceful crook several lamps of Pompeiian model. A wide window in +the east end, filled with plants in bloom, admitted ample light, which, +glancing through the flowers, fell on a table dressed in elegant cloth, +and bearing a lacquered waiter garnished with cups of metal and glass, +and one hand-painted porcelain decanter for drinking water. An enormous +tiger-skin, the head intact and finished with extraordinary realism, was +spread on the floor in front of the table. The walls were brilliant with +fresh Byzantine frescoing. The air of the room was faintly pervaded with +a sweet incense of intoxicating effect upon one just admitted to it. +Indeed the whole interior partook of this sweetness. +</p> + +<p> +The care of the faithful servant had not been confined to the rooms; he +had constructed a summer house upon the roof, knowing that when the +weather permitted his master would pass the nights there in preference +to the chambers below. This structure looked not unlike a modern belfry, +except that the pillars and shallow dome of the top were of Moorish +lightness. Thence, to a familiar, the heavens in the absence of the sun +would be an unrolled map. +</p> + +<p> +When the last touch of the preparation had been given, and Syama said to +himself, "He may come now," one point was especially noticeable—nowhere +in the house was there provision for a woman. +</p> + +<p> +The morning of the last day Syama accompanied Uel to the port +reluctantly. Feeling sure his master had not arrived in the night, he +left his friend on the watch, and returned home early. +</p> + +<p> +The noise and stir of business at the ancient landing were engaging. +With a great outcry, a vessel would be drawn up, and made fast, and the +unloading begun. A drove of donkeys, or a string of camels, or a mob of +porters would issue from the gate, receive the cargo and disappear with +it. Now and then a ship rounded the classic Point, its square sail bent +and all the oars at work: sweeping past Galata on the north side of the +Horn, then past the Fish Market Gate on the south, up it would come +gracefully as a flying bird; if there was place for it at the quay, +well; if not, after hovering around awhile, it would push out to a berth +in the open water. Such incidents were crises to Uel. To this one and to +that he would run with the question: +</p> + +<p> +"Where is she from?" +</p> + +<p> +If from the upper sea, he subsided; but if from the Marmora, he kept +eager lookout upon her, hoping to recognize in every disembarkee the man +he was expecting. +</p> + +<p> +That he had never seen the person was of little consequence. He had +thought of him so much awake, and seen him so repeatedly in dreams, he +was confident of knowing him at sight. Imagining a stranger's appearance +is for the most part a gentle tribute of respect; the mistakes we make +are for the most part ludicrous. +</p> + +<p> +No one answering the preconception came. Noon, and still no one; then, +cast down and disappointed, Uel went home, ate something, held the usual +childish dialogue with his little girl, and about mid afternoon crossed +the street to the new residence. Great was his astonishment at finding a +pyramid of coals glowing in the silver brazier, and the chill already +driven from the sitting-room. Here—there—upstairs, downstairs—the +signs were of present occupancy. For a moment he thought the master had +slipped by him or landed at some other port of the city. +</p> + +<p> +"Is he here? Has he come?" he asked, excitedly, and Syama answered with +a shake of the head. +</p> + +<p> +"Then why the fire?" +</p> + +<p> +Syama, briefly waving his hand as if following the great Marmorean lake, +turned the finger ends into the other palm, saying plainly and +emphatically: +</p> + +<p> +"He is coming—he will be here directly." +</p> + +<p> +Uel smiled—faith could not be better illustrated—and it was so in +contrast with his own incredulity! +</p> + +<p> +He lingered awhile. Restlessness getting the mastery, he returned home, +reflecting on the folly of counting so implicitly upon the conclusion to +a day of a tour so vast. More likely, he thought, the traveller's bones +were somewhere whitening the desert, or the savages of Kash-Cush had +eaten him. He had heard of their cannibalism. +</p> + +<p> +Want of faith, however, did not prevent the shopkeeper from going to his +friend's house after supper. It was night, and dark, and the chilling +moisture of a winter wind blowing steadily from the Black Sea charged +the world outside with discomfort. The brazier with its heap of living +coals had astonished him before; now the house was all alight! He +hastened upstairs. In the sitting-room the lamps were burning, and the +illumination was brilliant. Syama was there, calm and smiling as usual. +</p> + +<p> +"What—he is here?" Uel said, looking from door to door. +</p> + +<p> +The servant shook his head, and waved his hand negatively, as to say: +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet—be patient—observe me." +</p> + +<p> +To indulge his wonder, Uel took seat. Later on he tried to get from +Syama an explanation of his amazing confidence, but the latter's +substitute for speech was too limited and uncertain to be satisfactory. +</p> + +<p> +About ten o'clock Syama went below, and presently returned with food and +drink on a large waiter. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, good Lord!" Uel thought. "He is making a meal ready. What a man! +What a master!" +</p> + +<p> +Then he gave attention to the fare, which was of wheaten wafers, cold +fowl, preserved fruits, and wine in a stoneware bottle. These Syama set +on a circular table not higher than the divan in front of which it was +drawn. A white napkin and a bowl for laving the fingers completed the +preparation, as Uel supposed. But no. Syama went below again, and +reappeared with a metal pot and a small wooden box. The pot he placed on +the coals in the brazier, and soon a delicate volume of steam was +pouring from the spout; after handling the box daintily as if the +contents were vastly precious, he deposited it unopened by the napkin +and bowl. Then, with an expression of content upon his face, he too took +seat, and surrendered himself to expectancy. The lisping of the steam +escaping from the pot on the fire was the only sound in the room. +</p> + +<p> +The assurance of the servant was contagious. Uel began to believe the +master would come. He was congratulating himself upon the precaution he +had taken in leaving a man at the port to conduct him rightly when he +heard a shuffling of feet below stairs. He listened startled. There were +several men in the company. Steps shook the floor. Uel and Syama arose. +</p> + +<p> +The latter's countenance flushed with pleasure; giving one triumphal +glance at his friend, much as to say, There—did I not tell you so? he +walked forward quickly, and reached the head of the steps just as a +stranger finished their ascent. In a moment Syama was on his knees, +kissing the hand held out to him. Uel needed no prompter—it was the +master! +</p> + +<p> +If only on account of the mutuality of affection shown between the two, +the meeting was a pleasant sight. That feature, however, was lost to the +shopkeeper, who had no thought except of the master's appearance. He had +imagined him modelled after the popular conceptions of kings and +warriors—tall, majestic, awe-inspiring. He saw instead a figure rather +undersized, slightly stoop-shouldered, thin; at least it seemed so then, +hid as it was under a dark brown burnoose of the amplitude affected by +Arab sheiks. The head was covered by a woollen handkerchief of reddish +tint, held by a scarlet cord. The edge of the handkerchief projected +over the forehead enough to cast the entire face in shade, leaving to +view only a mass of white beard overflowing the breast. +</p> + +<p> +The master ended the reception at the head of the stairs by gently +raising Syama to his feet. Then he subjected the room to a swift +inspection, and, in proof of satisfaction, he patted the happy retainer +on the shoulder. Invited by the fire, and the assurance of comfort in +its glow, he advanced to the brazier, and while extending his hands over +it, observed Uel. Without surprise or hesitation he walked to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Son of Jahdai!" he said, offering his hand. +</p> + +<p> +The voice was of exceeding kindness. As an overture to peace and +goodwill, it was reenforced by very large eyes, the intense blackness of +which was softened by a perceptible glow of pleasure. Uel was won on the +instant. A recollection of the one supreme singularity of the new +acquaintance—his immunity from death—recurred to him, and he could not +have escaped its effect had he wished. He was conscious also that the +eyes were impressing him. Without distinct thought, certainly without +the slightest courtierly design, he obeyed the impulse of the moment, +and stooped and touched the extended hand with his lips. And before +rising he heard the beginning of further speech: +</p> + +<p> +"I see the truth of my judgment. The family of my ancient friends has +trodden the ways of righteousness under the commandments of the Lord +until it has become a kind unto itself. I see too my trust has been +verified. O Son of Jahdai, you did assist my servant, as I requested, +and to your kindness, doubtless, I am indebted for this home full of +comforts after a long absence among strangers. I hold you my creditor." +</p> + +<p> +The tendency of the speech was to relieve Uel of embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not thank me," he answered. "The business was ordinary, and strictly +within Syama's capacity. Indeed, the good man could have finished it +without my help." +</p> + +<p> +The master, rich in experience, noticed the deferential manner of the +reply, and was agreeably assured on his side. +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. There will be no harm in reserving an opinion," he said. +"The good man, as you call him, is making ready a drink with which he +has preceded me from his country, and which you must stay and share, as +it is something unknown in the West." +</p> + +<p> +"Let me first welcome you here," Uel returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I saw the welcome in your face. But let us get nearer the fire. The +night is chilling. If I were owner of a garden under whatever hill along +the Bosphorus, verily I should tremble for my roses." +</p> + +<p> +Thus briefly, and in such simple manner, the wise Mystic put the +shopkeeper perfectly at ease. +</p> + +<p> +At the brazier they watched Syama in the operation since become of +universal knowledge under title of "drawing tea." The fragrance of the +decoction presently filled the room to the suppression of the incense, +and they drank, ate, and were sociable. The host outlined his travels. +Uel, in return, gave him information of the city. When the latter +departed, it was with a light heart, and an elastic step; the white +beard and patriarchal manner of the man had laid his fears, and the +future was to him like a cloudless sky. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile the master signified a wish to retire; whereupon his +household came, as was their wont, to bid him good-night. Of these there +were two white men. At sight of Syama, they rushed to embrace him as +became brethren of old acquaintance long in the same service. A third +one remained at the door. Syama looked at him, and then at the master; +for the man was a stranger. Then the Jew, with quick intuition of the +requirement of the time, went, and took him by the hand, and led him to +the others. Addressing Syama, he said gravely: +</p> + +<p> +"This is Nilo, son of the Nilo whom you knew. As you held the father in +love, so you shall hold the son." +</p> + +<p> +The man was young, very black, and gigantic in stature. Syama embraced +him as he had the others. +</p> + +<p> +In the great city there was not a more united household under roof than +that of the shopkeeper's friend. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0209"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE AT HOME +</h3> + +<p> +A wise man wishing to know another always attends him when he is in +narrative. The reader may be familiar with the principle, and a believer +in it; for his better satisfaction, therefore, a portion of the Prince's +conversation with Uel over the tea-table the night of his arrival in +Constantinople shall be reported nearly as possible in his own words. It +will be found helpful to the story as well as an expose of character. +</p> + +<p> +"I said in my letter, as thou mayst remember, O son of Jahdai"—the +voice of the speaker was low, but earnest, and admirably in harmony with +the sentiment, "that I hoped thou wouldst allow me to relate myself to +thee as father to son. Thou hast not forgotten it, I am sure." +</p> + +<p> +"I recall it distinctly," Uel answered, respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou wilt remember not less clearly then that I added the words, 'in +all things a help, in nothing a burden.'" +</p> + +<p> +Uel assented. +</p> + +<p> +"The addition I thought of great importance," the Prince continued; "for +it was very desirable that thou shouldst not imagine me coming to sit +down upon thee, and in idleness fatten upon the fruits of thy industry. +As something of even greater importance, thou shouldst know now, at this +earliest moment of our intercourse, that I am abundantly able from what +I have of goods and treasure to keep any condition I may choose to +assume. Indeed thou shouldst not be too much astonished did I practise +the style and manner of the nobles who are privileged in the palaces of +thy Caesar. At home I shall be as thou seest me now, thy friend of +simplest habits, because my tastes really incline to them; when I go +abroad, the officials of the Church and State whom I chance to encounter +shall be challenged to comparison of appearance, and be piqued to +inquire about me. Then when the city observes thou art intimate with me, +the demand for thy wares will increase; thou mayst even be put to stress +to keep apace with it. In speaking thus, I trust thy natural shrewdness, +sharpened as it must have become by much dealing as a merchant." +</p> + +<p> +He paused here to give his cup to Syama for replenishment; whereupon Uel +said: "I have followed thy discourse with interest, and I hope with +understanding; yet I am conscious of a disadvantage. I do not know thy +name, nor if thou hast a title." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and thou mightest have set down in the table of defaults," the +Wanderer began pleasantly in reply, but broke off to receive the cup +smoking hot from the servant, and say—"Thanks, Syama. I see thy hand +hath not lost its deftness; neither has the green leaf suffered from its +long journey over the sea." +</p> + +<p> +Uel noticed with what intentness Syama watched the master's lips while +he was speaking, and the gratification that beamed from his face in +answer to the compliment; and he thought, "Verily this must be a good +man to be so beloved by his dependents." +</p> + +<p> +"I was saying, O son of Jahdai, that thou mightest have set down the +other points of information equally necessary to our intercourse—Whence +I come? And why? And I will not leave thee in the dark respecting them. +Only let me caution thee—It is not required that the public should be +taken into our confidence. I have seen a flower good to look upon, but +viscous, and with a scent irresistible to insects. That flower represents +the world; and what is the folly of its victims but the madness of men +who yield themselves with too easy faith to the seductions of the world? +Nay, my son—observe thou the term—I use it to begin the relationship I +seek—observe also I begin the relationship by confidences which were +unwisely given without the injunction that they are intended to be put +away in thy inner-conscience. Tell me if I am understood." +</p> + +<p> +The question was emphasized by a look whose magnetism thrilled Uel's +every nerve. +</p> + +<p> +"I believe I understand you," he replied. +</p> + +<p> +Then, as if the Prince knew the effect he had wrought, and that it +relieved him from danger of betrayal, he returned to his former easy +manner. +</p> + +<p> +"And yet, as thou shalt see, my son, the confidences are not crimes—But +thy cup is empty, and Syama waiting for it." +</p> + +<p> +"The drink is new to me," Uel replied, yielding to the invitation. +</p> + +<p> +"New? And wilt thou not also say it is better than wine? The world of +which we are talking, will one day take up the admission, and be happier +of it." +</p> + +<p> +Turning then to serious matter: +</p> + +<p> +"Afterwhile," he said, "thou wilt be importuned by the curious to know +who I am, and thou shouldst be able to answer according to the fact—He +is a Prince of India. The vulgar will be satisfied with the reply. +Others will come demanding more. Refer them to me. As to thyself, O son +of Jahdai, call me as I have instructed thee to speak of me—call me +Prince. At the same time I would have thee know that on my eighth day I +was carried into a temple and registered a son of a son of Jerusalem. +The title I give thee for my designation did not ennoble me. The +birthright of a circumcised heritor under the covenant with Israel is +superior to every purely human dignity whatever its derivation." +</p> + +<p> +"In other words, O Prince, thou art"—Uel hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"A Jew!" the other answered promptly—"A Jew, as thy father was—as thou +art." +</p> + +<p> +The look of pleasure that appeared on the shopkeeper's face was swiftly +interpreted by the Prince, who felt he had indeed evoked a tie of blood, +and bound the man with it. +</p> + +<p> +"So much is despatched," he said, with evident satisfaction; then, after +a draught from the tea-cup, and a re-delivery to Syania for more, he +continued: "Possibly thou wilt also remember my letter mentions a +necessity for my crossing from India to Mecca on the way to Kash-Cush, +and that, despite the stoppage, I hoped to greet thee in person within +six months after Syama reported himself. How stands the time?" +</p> + +<p> +"This is the last day of the six months," Uel answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, there was never man"—the Prince paused, as if the thought were +attended with a painful recollection—"never a man," he presently +resumed, "who kept account of time more exactly than myself." +</p> + +<p> +A copious draught of tea assuaged the passing regret. +</p> + +<p> +"I wrote the letter while in Cipango, an island of the great eastern +sea. Thirty years after I set foot upon its shore, theretofore unvisited +by a white man, a countryman of ours from this city, the sole survivor of +a shipwreck, joined me. From him I heard of thy father's death. He also +gave me thy name.... My life on the island was comparatively untroubled. +Indeed, for thy perfect comprehension, my son, it is best to make an +explanation now; then thou wilt have a key to many things in my conduct +to come as well as conduct gone which would otherwise keep thee in +doubtful reflection. The study of greatest interest is religion. I have +travelled the world over—I mean the inhabited parts—and in its broad +extent there is not a people without worship of some kind. Wherefore my +assertion, that beyond the arts, above the sciences, above commerce, +above any or all other human concernments, religion is the superlative +interest. It alone is divine. The study of it is worship. Knowledge of +it is knowledge of God. Can as much be said of any other subject?" +</p> + +<p> +Uel did not answer; he was following the speech too intently, and the +Prince, seeing it, drank again, and proceeded: +</p> + +<p> +"The divine study took me to Cipango. Fifty years thou mayst say to +thyself was a long term in such a country. Not so, my son. I found there +two faiths; the one Sin-Siu, which I turned my back upon as mythologic, +without the poetry of the Greek and Roman; the other—well, a life given +to the laws of Buddha were well spent. To say truth, there is such +similitude between them and the teachings of him we are in the habit of +calling the carpenter's son that, if I did not know better, it were easy +to believe the latter spent the years of his disappearance in some +Buddhistic temple.... Leaving explanation to another time, the same +study carried me to Mecca. The binding of men, the putting yokes about +their necks, trampling them in the dust, are the events supposed most +important and therefore most noticeable in history; but they are as +nothing in comparison with winning belief in matters indeterminable by +familiar tests. The process there is so mysterious, the achievement so +miraculous that where the operator is vastly successful one may well +look under them for the permission of God. The day was when Islamism did +but stir contemptuous laughter; now it is the faith acceptable to more +men than any other. Is it not worthy the vigils of a student? And then +it happens, my son, that in the depths of their delusion, people +sometimes presume to make their own gods, and reform them or cast them +out. Deities have been set up or thrown down by their makers in the +changes of a moon. I wanted to see if such calamity had befallen the +Allah of Mahomet.... My going to Kash-Cush was on what thou wouldst call +business, and of it I will also tell thee. At Jedda, whither I betook +myself after making the pilgrimages at Mecca, I regained my ship, and +descended the Red Sea, landing at a village on the extreme inland shore +of the bay of Tajurrah, below the Straits of Bab-el-Mandel. I was then +in Kash-Cush. From the village on the coast, I passed into the interior, +travelling in a litter on the shoulders of native porters, and, after +many days, reached my destination—a collection of bungalows pitched on +the bank of a tributary of the Blue Nile called the Dedhesa. The journey +would have been difficult and tedious but that one of my attendants—a +black man—had been king of the tribe I sought. His name was Nilo, and +his tribe paramount throughout the uncivilized parts of Kash-Cush. More +than fifty years before,—prior, in fact, to my setting out for +Cipango,—I made the same tour, and found the king. He gave me welcome; +and so well did he please me that I invited him to share my wanderings. +He accepted the proposal upon condition that in his old age he should be +returned home, and exchanged for a younger man of his blood. I agreed, +provided one younger could be found who, besides the requisite physique +and the virtues of intellect and courage, was also deaf and dumb, like +himself. A treaty was thus perfected. I call it a treaty as distinct +from a purchase, for Nilo was my friend and attendant—my ally, if you +please—never my slave. There was a reception for us the like of which +for feasting and merriment was without mention in the traditions of the +tribe. A grandson filled my friend's throne; but he gave it back to him, +and voluntarily took his place with me. Thou shalt see him to-morrow. I +call him Nilo, and spend the morning hours teaching him to talk; for +while he keeps me reminded of a Greek demi-god—so tall, strong and +brave is he—he is yet deaf and dumb, and has to be taught as Syama was. +When thou hast to do with him be gentle and courteous. I wish it kept in +mind he is my friend and ally, bound to me by treaty as his grandfather +was.... The only part of the tour given thee in my letter which I +omitted was the descent of the Nile. Having performed it before, my +curiosity was sated, and I allowed my impatience to be in thy city here +to determine my course. I made way back to the village on the bay of +Tajurrah where, in anticipation of such a change, my vessel was held in +detention. Thence, up the sea and across the Isthmus, I proceeded to +Alexandria, and to-night happily find myself at home, in hope of rest +for my body and renewal of my spirit." +</p> + +<p> +With this, the explanation appeared concluded; for the Prince notified +Syama that he did not desire more tea, and lapsed into a thoughtful +silence. Presently Uel arose, saying: "You must be weary. With +permission I will take my leave now. I confess you have given me much to +think over, and made me happy by taking me into your confidence. If it +be agreeable, I will call at noon to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince went with him to the head of the stairs, and there bade him +peace and good-night. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0210"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ROSE OF SPRING +</h3> + +<p> +The Prince, as the Jew preferred to be called, kept his house closely +quite a month, resting, not hibernating. He took exercise daily on the +flat roof; and walking to and fro there, found three objects of +attraction: the hill to the southwest with the church upon it, the +Palace of Blacherne off further in the west, and the Tower of Galata. +The latter, across the Golden Horn in the north, arose boldly, like a +light-house on a cliff; yet, for a reason—probably because it had +connection with the subject of his incessant meditations—he paused +oftenest to gaze at the Palace. +</p> + +<p> +He was in his study one day deeply absorbed. The sun, nearing meridian, +poured a stream of white light through the south window, flooding the +table at which he sat. That the reader may know something of the paths +the Mystic most frequented when in meditation, we will make free with +one of the privileges belonging to us as a chronicler. +</p> + +<p> +The volume directly in front of him on the table, done in olive wood +strengthened at the corners with silver, was near two feet in length, +and one and a half in width; when closed, it would be about one foot +thick. Now he had many wonderful rare and rich <i>antiques</i>, but none +so the apple of his eye as this; for it was one of the fifty Holy Bibles +of Greek transcription ordered by Constantine the Great. +</p> + +<p> +At his right, held flat by weights, were the <i>Sacred Books</i> of China, in +form a roll of broad-leafed vellum. +</p> + +<p> +At his left, a roll somewhat similar in form and at the moment open, lay +the <i>Rig-Veda</i> of the Aryans in Sanscrit. +</p> + +<p> +The fourth book was the <i>Avesta</i> of Zoroaster—a collection of MSS. +stitched together, and exquisitely rendered by Parse devas into the Zend +language. +</p> + +<p> +A fifth book was the <i>Koran</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangement of the volumes around the Judean Bible was silently +expressive of the student's superior respect; and as from time to time, +after reading a paragraph from one of the others, he returned to the +great central treasure, it was apparent he was making a close comparison +of texts with reference to a particular theme, using the Scriptures as a +standard. Most of the time he kept the forefinger of his left hand on +what is now known as the fourteenth verse of the third chapter of +Exodus—"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus +shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." +If, as the Prince himself had declared, religion were indeed the study +of most interest to the greatest number of men, he was logically +consistent in comparing the definitions of <i>God</i> in the Bibles of +theistic nations. So had he occupied himself since morning. The shrewd +reader will at once discern the theme of his comparative study. +</p> + +<p> +At length he grew weary of bending over the books, and of the persistent +fixedness of attention required for the pursuit of fine shades of +meaning in many different languages. He threw his arms up in aid of a +yawn, and turned partly around, his eyes outrunning the movement of his +body. The half-introverted glance brightened with a gleam, and remained +fixed, while the arms dropped down. He could only look in wonder at what +he saw—eyes black and almost large as his own gazing at him in timid +surprise. Beholding nothing but the eyes, he had the awesome feeling +which attends imagining a spirit suddenly risen; then he saw a forehead +low, round, and white, half shaded by fluffs of dark hair; then a face +of cherubic color and regularity, to which the eyes gave an indefinable +innocency of expression. +</p> + +<p> +Every one knows the effect of trifles on the memory. A verse or a word, +the smell of a flower, a lock of hair, a turn in music, will not merely +bring the past back, but invest it with a miraculous recurrency of +events. The Prince's gaze endured. He stretched his hand out as if +fearful lest what he saw might vanish. The gesture was at once an +impulse and an expression. There was a time—tradition says it was the +year in which he provoked the curse—when he had wife and child. To one +of them, possibly both, the eyes then looking into his might have +belonged. The likeness unmanned him. The hand he stretched forth fell +lightly upon the head of the intruder. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you?" he said. +</p> + +<p> +The vagueness of the expression will serve excellently as a definition +of his condition; at the same time it plunged the child addressed into +doubt. Presently she answered: +</p> + +<p> +"I am a little girl." +</p> + +<p> +Accepting the simplicity of the reply as evidence of innocency too +extreme for fear, he took the visitor in his arms, and sat her on his +knee. +</p> + +<p> +"I did not mean to ask what you are, but who?" he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Uel is my father." +</p> + +<p> +"Uel? Well, he is my friend, and I am his; therefore you and I should be +friends. What is your name?" +</p> + +<p> +"He calls me Gul Bahar." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! That is Turkish, and means Rose of Spring. How came you by it?" +</p> + +<p> +"My mother was from Iconium." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—where the Sultans used to live." +</p> + +<p> +"And she could speak Turkish." +</p> + +<p> +"I see! Gul Bahar is an endearment, not a real name." +</p> + +<p> +"My real name is Lael." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince paled from cheek to brow; his lips trembled; the arm +encircling her shook; and looking into his eyes, she saw tears dim them. +After a long breath, he said, with inexpressible tenderness, and as if +speaking to one standing just behind her—"Lael!" Then, the tears full +formed, he laid his forehead on her shoulder so his white hair blent +freely with her chestnut locks; and sitting passively, but wondering, +she heard him sob and sob again and again, like another child. Soon, from +pure sympathy, unknowing why, she too began sobbing. Several minutes +passed thus; then, raising his face, and observing her responsive sorrow, +he felt the need of explanation. +</p> + +<p> +"Forgive me," he said, kissing her, "and do not wonder at me. I am +old—very old—older than thy father, and there have been so many things +to distress me which other men know nothing of, and never can. I had +once"— +</p> + +<p> +He stopped, repeated the long breath, and gazed as at a far object. +</p> + +<p> +"I too had once a little girl." +</p> + +<p> +Pausing, he dropped his eyes to hers. +</p> + +<p> +"How old are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Next spring I shall be fourteen," she answered. +</p> + +<p> +"And she was just your age, and so like you—so small, and with such +hair and eyes and face; and she was named Lael. I wanted to call her +<i>Rimah</i>, for she seemed a song to me; but her mother said, as she was a +gift from the Lord, she wanted in the fulness of days to give her back to +him, and that the wish might become a covenant, she insisted on calling +her Lael, which, in Hebrew—thy father's tongue and mine—means To God." +</p> + +<p> +The child, listening with all her soul, was now not in the least afraid +of him; without waiting, she made the application. +</p> + +<p> +"You loved her, I know," she said +</p> + +<p> +"How much—Oh, how much!" +</p> + +<p> +"Where is she now?" +</p> + +<p> +"At Jerusalem there was a gate called the Golden Gate. It looked to the +east. The sun, rising over the top of Mount Olivet, struck the plates of +gold and Corinthian brass more precious than gold, so it seemed one rosy +flame. The dust at its rocky sill, and the ground about it are holy. +There, deep down, my Lael lies. A stone that tasked many oxen to move it +covers her; yet, in the last day, she will be among the first to +rise—Of such excellence is it to be buried before that Golden Gate." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! she is dead!" the child exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"She is dead;" and seeing her much affected, he hastened to say, "I shed +many tears thinking of her. Ah, how gentle and truthful she was! And how +beautiful! I cannot forget her. I would not if I could; but you who look +so like her will take her place in my heart now, and love me as she did; +and I will love you even as I loved her. I will take you into my life, +believing she has come again. In the morning I will ask first, Where is +my Lael? At noon, I will demand if the day has been kind to her; and the +night shall not be half set in except I know it has brought her the +sweetness of sleep. Will you be my Lael?" +</p> + +<p> +The question perplexed the child, and she was silent. +</p> + +<p> +Again he asked, "Will you be my Lael?" +</p> + +<p> +The earnestness with which he put the question was that of a hunger less +for love than an object to love. The latter is not often accounted a +passion, yet it creates necessities which are peremptory as those of any +passion. One of the incidents of the curse he was suffering was that he +knew the certainty of the coming of a day when he must be a mourner for +whomsoever he should take into his heart, and in this way expiate +whatever happiness the indulgence might bring him. Nevertheless the +craving endured, at times a positive hunger. In other words, his was +still a human nature. The simplicity and beauty of the girl were enough +to win him of themselves; but when she reminded him of the other asleep +under a great rock before the gate of the Holy City, when the name of +the lost one was brought to him so unexpectedly, it seemed there had +been a resurrection, making it possible for him to go about once more as +he was accustomed to in his first household. A third time he asked, "You +will be my Lael?" +</p> + +<p> +"Can I have two fathers?" she returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes!" he answered quickly. "One in fact, the other by adoption; and +they can both love you the same." +</p> + +<p> +Immediately her face became a picture of childish trust. +</p> + +<p> +"Then I will be your Lael too." +</p> + +<p> +He clasped her close to his breast, and kissed her, crying: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lael has come back to me! God of my fathers, I thank thee!" +</p> + +<p> +She respected his emotion, but at length, with her hand upon his +shoulder, said: +</p> + +<p> +"You and my father are friends, and thinking he came here, I came too." +</p> + +<p> +"Is he at home?" +</p> + +<p> +"I think so." +</p> + +<p> +"Then we will go to him. You cannot be my Lael without his consent." +</p> + +<p> +Presently, hand in hand, they descended the stairs, crossed the street, +and were in the shopkeeper's presence. +</p> + +<p> +The room was plainly but comfortably furnished as became the proprietor's +fortune and occupation. Closer acquaintance, it is to be said, had +dissipated the latent dread, which, as has been seen, marked Uel's first +thought of intimacy between the stranger and the child. Seeing him old, +and rich, and given to study, not to say careless of ordinary things, the +father was beginning to entertain the idea that it might in some way be +of advantage to the child could she become an object of interest to him. +Wherefore, as they entered now, he received them with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +Traces of the emotion he had undergone were in the Prince's face, and +when he spoke his voice was tremulous. +</p> + +<p> +"Son of Jahdai," he said, standing, "I had once a wife and child. They +perished-how and when, I cannot trust myself to tell. I have been +faithful to their memory. From the day I lost them, I have gone up and +down the world hunting for many things which I imagined might renew the +happiness I had from them. I have been prodigal of gratitude, +admiration, friendship, and goodwill, and bestowed them singly and +together, and often; but never have I been without consciousness of +something else demanding to be given. Happiness is not all in receiving. +I passed on a long time before it came to me that we are rich in +affections not intended for hoarding, and that no one can be truly +content without at least one object on which to lavish them. Here"—and +he laid his hand on the child's head—"here is mine, found at last." +</p> + +<p> +"Lael is a good girl," Uel said with pride. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and as thou lovest her let me love her," the Prince responded. +Then, seeing Uel become serious, he added, "To help thee to my meaning, +Lael was my child's name, and she was the image of this one; and as she +died when fourteen, thy Lael's age, it is to me as if the tomb had +miraculously rendered its victim back to me." +</p> + +<p> +"Prince," said Uel, "had I thought she would not be agreeable to you, I +should have been sorry." +</p> + +<p> +"Understand, son of Jahdai," the other interposed, "I seek more of thee +than thy permission to love her. I want to do by her as though she were +mine naturally." +</p> + +<p> +"You would not take her from me?" +</p> + +<p> +"No. That would leave thee bereft as I have been. Like me, thou wouldst +then go up and down looking for some one to take her place in thy heart. +Be thou her father still; only let me help thee fashion her future." +</p> + +<p> +"Her birthrights are humble," the shopkeeper answered, doubtfully; for +while in his secret heart he was flattered, his paternal feeling started +a scruple hard to distinguish from fear. +</p> + +<p> +A light shone brightly in the eyes of the elder Jew, and his head arose. +</p> + +<p> +"Humble!" he said. "She is a daughter of Israel, an inheritor of the +favor of the Lord God, to whom all things are possible. He keeps the +destinies of his people. He—not thou or I—knows to what this little +one may come. As we love her, let us hope the happiest and the highest, +and prepare her for it. To this end it were best you allow her to come +to me as to another father. I who teach the deaf and dumb to speak—Syama +and Nilo the elder—will make her a scholar such as does not often grace +a palace. She shall speak the Mediterranean tongues. There shall be no +mysteries of India unknown to her. Mathematics shall bring the heavens to +her feet. Especially shall she become wise in the Chronicles of God. At +the same time, lest she be educated into unfitness for the present +conditions of life, and be unsexed, thou shalt find a woman familiar with +society, and instal her in thy house as governess and example. If the +woman be also of Israel, so much the better; for then we may expect +faithfulness without jealousy. And further, son of Jahdai, be niggardly +in nothing concerning our Lael. Clothe her as she were the King's +daughter. At going abroad, which she shall do with me in the street and +on the water, I would have her sparkle with jewels, the observed of +everybody, even the Emperor. And ask not doubtingly, 'Whence the money +for all this?' I will find it. What sayest thou now?" +</p> + +<p> +Uel did not hesitate. +</p> + +<p> +"O Prince, as thou dost these things for her—so far beyond the best I +can dream of—take her for thine, not less than mine." +</p> + +<p> +With a beaming countenance, the elder raised the child, and kissed her +on the forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Dost hear?" he said to her. "Now art thou my daughter." +</p> + +<p> +She put her arms about his neck, then held them out to Uel, who took +her, and kissed her, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh my Gul Bahar!" +</p> + +<p> +"Good!" cried the Prince. "I accept the name. To distinguish the living +from the dead, I too will call her my Gul Bahar." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the men sat, and arranged the new relation, omitting nothing +possible of anticipation. +</p> + +<p> +Next day the Prince's house was opened with every privilege to the +child. A little later on a woman of courtly accomplishment was found and +established under Uel's roof as governess. Thereupon the Mystic entered +upon a season during which he forgot the judgment upon him, and all else +save Gul Bahar, and the scheme he brought from Cipango. He was for the +time as other men. In the lavishment of his love, richer of its long +accumulation, he was faithful to his duty of teacher, and was amply +rewarded by her progress in study. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0301"></a></p> + +<h2> +BOOK III +</h2> + +<h2> +THE PRINCESS IRENE +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS +</h3> + +<p> +Our narrative proceeds now from a day in the third year after Lael, the +daughter of the son of Jahdai, dropped into the life of the Prince of +India—a day in the vernal freshness of June. +</p> + +<p> +From a low perch above the mountain behind Becos, the sun is delivering +the opposite European shore of the Bosphorus from the lingering shades +of night. Out on the bosom of the classic channel vessels are swinging +lazily at their anchorages. The masthead of each displays a flag +bespeaking the nationality of the owner; here a Venetian, there a +Genoese, yonder a Byzantine. Tremulous flares of mist, rising around the +dark hulls, become entangled in the cordage, and as if there were no +other escape, resolve themselves into air. Fisher boats are bringing +their owners home from night-work over in the shallows of Indjerkeui. +Gulls and cormorants in contentious flocks, drive hither and thither, +turning and tacking as the schools of small fish they are following turn +and tack down in the warm blue-green depths to which they are native. +The many wings, in quick eccentric motion, give sparkling life to the +empurpled distance. +</p> + +<p> +The bay of Therapia, on the same European shore over against Becos, was +not omitted from rescue by the sun. Within its lines this morning the +ships were in greater number than out in the channel—ships of all +grades, from the sea going commercial galley to the pleasure shallop +which, if not the modern <i>caique</i>, was at least its ante-type in +lightness and grace. +</p> + +<p> +And as to the town, one had but to look at it to be sure it had +undergone no recent change—that in the day of Constantine Dragases it +was the same summer resort it had been in the day of Medea the +sorceress—the same it yet is under sway of the benignant Abdul-Hamid. +</p> + +<p> +From the lower point northwardly jutting finger-like into the current of +the channel, the beach swept in a graceful curve around to the base of +the promontory on the south. Then as now children amused themselves +gathering the white and black pebbles with which it was strewn, and +danced in and out with the friendly foam-capped waves. Then as now the +houses seemed tied to the face of the hill one above another in +streetless disarrangement; insomuch that the stranger viewing them from +his boat below shuddered thinking of the wild play which would ensue did +an earthquake shake the hill ever so lightly. +</p> + +<p> +And then as now the promontory south served the bay as a partial +land-lock. Then as now it arose boldly a half mountain densely +verdurous, leaving barely space enough for a roadway around its base. +Then as now a descending terrace of easy grade and lined with rock pine +trees of broadest umbrella tops, slashed its whole townward front. +Sometime in the post-Medean period a sharp-eyed Greek discerned the +advantages it offered for aesthetic purposes, and availed himself of +them; so that in the age of our story its summit was tastefully +embellished with water basins, white-roofed pavilions, and tessellated +pavements Roman style. Alas, for the perishability of things human! And +twice alas, that the beautiful should ever be the most perishable! +</p> + +<p> +But it is now to be said we have spoken thus of the Bosphorus, and the +bay and town of Therapia, and the high promontory, as accessories merely +to a plot of ground under the promontory and linked to it by the +descending terrace. There is no word fitly descriptive of the place. +Ravine implies narrowness; gorge signifies depth; valley means width; +dell is too toylike. A summer retreat more delicious could not be +imagined. Except at noon the sun did but barely glance into it. Extending +hundreds of yards back from the bay toward the highlands west of the +town, it was a perfected garden of roses and flowering vines and shrubs, +with avenues of boxwood and acacias leading up to ample reservoirs hidden +away in a grove of beeches. The water flowing thence became brooks or was +diverted to enliven fountains. One pipe carried it in generous flow to +the summit of the promontory. In this leafy Eden the birds of the climate +made their home the year round. There the migratory nightingale came +earliest and lingered longest, singing in the day as well as in the +night. There one went regaled with the breath of roses commingled with +that of the jasmine. There the bloom of the pomegranate flashed through +the ordered thicket like red stars; there the luscious fig, ripening in +its "beggar's jacket," offered itself for the plucking; there the murmur +of the brooks was always in the listening ear. +</p> + +<p> +Along the whole front of the garden, so perfectly a poet's ideal, +stretched a landing defended from the incessant swash of the bay by a +stone revetment. There was then a pavement of smoothly laid flags, and +then a higher wall of dark rubble-work, coped with bevelled slabs. An +open pavilion, with a bell-fashioned dome on slender pillars, all of +wood red painted, gave admission to the garden. Then a roadway of gray +pebbles and flesh-tinted shells invited a visitor, whether afoot or on +horseback, through clumps of acacias undergrown with carefully tended +rosebushes, to a palace, which was to the garden what the central jewel +is to the cluster of stones on "my lady's" ring. +</p> + +<p> +Standing on a tumulus, a little removed from the foot of the promontory, +the palace could be seen from cornice to base by voyagers on the bay, a +quadrangular pile of dressed marble one story in height, its front +relieved by a portico of many pillars finished in the purest Corinthian +style. A stranger needed only to look at it once, glittering in the sun, +creamy white in the shade, to decide that its owner was of high +rank—possibly a noble—possibly the Emperor himself. +</p> + +<p> +It was the country palace of the Princess Irene, of whom we will now +speak.[Footnote: During the Crimean war a military hospital was built +over the basement vaults and cisterns of the palace here described. The +hospital was destroyed by fire. For years it was then known as the +"Khedive's Garden," being a favorite resort for festive parties from the +capital. At present the promontory and the retreat it shelters pertain +to the German Embassy, a munificent gift from His Majesty, Sultan +Abdul-Hamid.] +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0302"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCESS IRENE +</h3> + +<p class="noindent"> +[Footnote: This name is of three syllables, and is pronounced as if +spelled E-ren-ay; the last syllable to rhyme with day, say, may.] +</p> + +<p> +During the reign of the last Manuel, in 1412, as a writer has placed the +incident—that is to say, about thirty-nine years prior to the epoch +occupying us—a naval battle occurred between the Turks and Christians +off Plati, one of the Isles of the Princes. The issue was of interest to +all the peoples who were in the habit of commercial resort in the +region, to the Venetians and Genoese as well as the Byzantines. To the +latter it was of most vital moment, since defeat would have brought them +a serious interruption of communication with the islands which still +remained to the Emperor and the powers in the West upon which their +dependency grew as year after year their capacity for self-defence +diminished. +</p> + +<p> +The Turkish ships had been visible in the offing several days. At last +the Emperor concluded to allow his mariners to go out and engage them. +His indecision had been from a difficulty in naming a commander. The +admiral proper was old and inexperienced, and his fighting impulses, +admitting they had ever really existed, had been lost in the habitudes +of courtierly life. He had become little more than a ceremonial marker. +The need of the hour was a genuine sailor who could manoeuvre a +squadron. On that score there was but one voice among the seamen and +with the public— +</p> + +<p> +"Manuel—give us Manuel!" +</p> + +<p> +The cry, passing from the ships to the multitude in the city, assailed +the palace. +</p> + +<p> +The reader should understand the Manuel wanted was not the Emperor, but +one of his brothers who could lay no claim to birth in the purple. His +mother had not been a lawful spouse; yet the Manuel thus on the tongues +of the many had made a hero of himself. He proved his temper and +abilities in many successful affairs on the sea, and at length became a +popular idol; insomuch that the imperial jealousy descended upon him +like a cloud, and hid him away. Nor could his admirers say he lived; he +had a palace and a family, and it was not known that any of the +monasteries in the city or on the Isles of the Princes had opened to +receive him. +</p> + +<p> +On these shreds of evidence, affirmative and negative, slender as they +may appear, it was believed he was yet alive. Hence the clamor; and +sooth to say it sufficed to produce the favorite; so at least the +commonalty were pleased to think, though a sharper speculation would +have scored the advent quite as much to the emergency then holding the +Empire in its tightening grip. +</p> + +<p> +Restored to active life, Manuel the sailor was given a reception in the +Hippodrome; then after a moment of gladness with his family, and another +in which he was informed of the situation and trial before him, he +hurried to assume the command. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning, with the rising of the sun, the squadron under oar and +sail issued gallantly from its retreat in the Golden Horn, and in order +of battle sought the boastful enemy of Plati. The struggle was long and +desperate. Its circumstances were dimly under view from the seaward wall +in the vicinity of the Seven Towers. A cry of rejoicing from the anxious +people at last rose strong enough to shake the turrets massive as they +were—"Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" Christ had made his cause +victorious. His Cross was in the ascendant. The Turks drew out of the +defeat as best they could, and made haste to beach the galleys remaining +to them on the Asiatic shore behind the low-lying islands. +</p> + +<p> +Manuel the sailor became more than a hero; to the vulgar he was a +savior. All Byzantium and all Galata assembled on the walls and water +along the famous harbor to welcome him when, with many prizes and a +horde of prisoners, he sailed back under the sun newly risen over the +redeemed Propontis. Trumpets answered trumpets in brazen cheer as he +landed. A procession which was a reminder of the triumphs of the ancient +and better times of the Empire escorted him to the Hippodrome. The +overhanging gallery reserved for the Emperor there was crowded with the +dignitaries of the court; the factions were out with their symbols of +blue and green; the scene was gorgeous; yet the public looked in vain +for Manuel the Emperor; he alone was absent; and when the dispersion +took place, the Byzantine spectators sought their homes shaking their +heads and muttering of things in store for their idol worse than had yet +befallen him. Wherefore there was little or no surprise when the +unfortunate again disappeared, this time with his whole family. The +victory, the ensuing triumph, and the too evident popularity were more +than the jealous Emperor could overlook. +</p> + +<p> +There was then a long lapse of years. John Palaeologus succeeded Manuel +on the throne, and was in turn succeeded by Constantine, the last of the +Byzantine monarchs. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine signalized his advent, the great Greek event of 1448, by +numerous acts of clemency, for he was a just man. He opened many prison +doors long hopelessly shut. He conferred honors and rewards that had +been remorselessly erased from account. He condoned offences against his +predecessors, mercifully holding them wanting in evil against himself. +So it came to pass that Manuel, the hero of the sea fight off Plati, +attained a second release, or, in better speech, a second resurrection. +He had been all the years practically buried in certain cells of the +convent of St. Irene on the island of Prinkipo, and now he came forth an +old man, blind and too enfeebled to walk. Borne into private audience, +he was regarded by Constantine with tender sympathy. +</p> + +<p> +"And thou art that Manuel who made the good fight at Plati?" +</p> + +<p> +"Say rather I am he who was that Manuel," the ancient replied. "Death +despises me now because he could not call my decease a victory." +</p> + +<p> +The inquisitor, visibly affected, next spoke in an uncertain voice. +</p> + +<p> +"Is what I have heard true, that at thy going into the Monastery thou +hadst a family?" +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the unfortunate were not too far gone for tears; some rolled +down his cheeks; others apparently dropped into his throat. +</p> + +<p> +"I had a wife and three children. It is creditable to the feeling called +love that they chose to share my fate. One only survives, and"—he +paused as if feebly aware of the incoherency—"and she was born a +prisoner." +</p> + +<p> +"Born a prisoner!" exclaimed Constantine. "Where is she now?" +</p> + +<p> +"She ought to be here." +</p> + +<p> +The old man turned as he spoke, and called out anxiously: +</p> + +<p> +"Irene—Irene, where art thou, child?" +</p> + +<p> +An attendant, moved like his master, explained. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, his daughter is in the ante-room." +</p> + +<p> +"Bring her here." +</p> + +<p> +There was a painful hush in the chamber during the waiting. When the +daughter appeared, all eyes were directed to her—all but the father's, +and even he was instantly aware of her presence; for which, doubtless, +the sensibility known only to the long-time blind was sufficiently +alive. +</p> + +<p> +"Where hast thou been?" he asked, with a show of petulance. +</p> + +<p> +"Calm thee, father, I am here." +</p> + +<p> +She took his hand to assure him, and then returned the look of the +Emperor; only his was of open astonishment, while hers was +self-possessed. +</p> + +<p> +Two points were afterwards remembered against her by the courtiers +present; first, contrary to the custom of Byzantine women, she wore no +veil or other covering for the face; in the next place, she tendered no +salutation to the Emperor. Far from prostrating herself, as immemorial +etiquette required, she did not so much as kneel or bow her head. They, +however, excused her, saying truly her days had been passed in the +Monastery without opportunity to acquire courtly manners. In fact they +did not at the time notice the omissions. She was so beautiful, and her +beauty reposed so naturally in an air of grace, modesty, intelligence, +and purity that they saw nothing else. Constantine recovered himself, +and rising from his seat, advanced to the edge of the dais, which in +such audiences, almost wholly without state, raised him slightly above +his guests and attendants, and spoke to the father: +</p> + +<p> +"I know thy history, most noble Greek—noble in blood, noble in loyalty, +noble by virtue of what thou hast done for the Empire—and I honor thee. +I grieve for the suffering thou hast endured, and wish myself surrounded +with many more spirits like thine, for then, from my exalted place, I +could view the future and its portents with greater calmness of +expectation, if not with more of hope. Perhaps thou hast heard how sadly +my inheritance has been weakened by enemies without and within; how, +like limbs lopped from a stately tree, the themes [Footnote: Provinces.] +richest in their yield of revenue have been wrested from the body of our +State, until scarce more than the capital remains. I make the allusion +in apology and excuse for the meagreness of what I have to bestow for +thy many heroic services. Wert thou in the prime of manhood, I would +bring thee into the palace. That being impossible, I must confine myself +to amends within my power. First, take thou liberty." +</p> + +<p> +The sailor sunk to his knees; then he fell upon his hands, and touched +the floor with his forehead. In that posture, he waited the further +speech. Such was the prostration practised by the Greeks in formally +saluting their Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +"Take next the house here in the city which was thine when the judgment +fell upon thee. It has been tenantless since, and may be in need of +repairs; if so, report the cost they put thee to, and I will charge the +amount to my civil list." Looking then at the daughter, he added: "On +our Roumelian shore, up by Therapia, there is a summer house which once +belonged to a learned Greek who was the happy possessor of a Homer +written masterfully on stainless parchment. He had a saying that the +book should be opened only in a palace specially built for it; and, +being rich, he indulged the fancy. He brought the marble from the +Pentelic quarries; nothing grosser was permitted in the construction. In +the shade of a portico of many columns of Corinthian model he passed his +days reading to chosen friends, and living as the Athenians were wont to +live in the days of Pericles. In my youth I dwelt much with him, and he +so loved me that at dying he gave me the house, and the gardens and +groves around it. They will help me now to make partial amends for +injustice done; and when will a claimant appear with better right than +the daughter of this brave man? In speaking but now, did he not call +thee Irene?" +</p> + +<p> +A flush overspread her neck and face, but she answered without other +sign of feeling: +</p> + +<p> +"Irene." +</p> + +<p> +"The house—it may be called a palace—and all that pertains to it, are +thine," he continued. "Go thither at will, and begin thy life anew." +</p> + +<p> +She took one step forward, but stopped as suddenly, her color coming and +going. Never had Constantine seen wife or maid more beautiful. He almost +dreaded lest the spell she cast over him would be broken by the speech +trembling upon her lips. She moved quickly to the dais then, and taking +his hand, kissed it fervently, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"Almost I believe we have a Christian Emperor." +</p> + +<p> +She paused, retaining the hand, and looking up into his face. +</p> + +<p> +The spectators, mostly dignitaries of high degree, with their attendants, +were surprised. Some of them were shocked; for it should be remembered +the court was the most rigidly ceremonial in the world. The rules +governing it were the excerpt of an idea that the Basileus or Emperor was +the incarnation of power and majesty. When spoken to by him, the proudest +of his officials dropped their eyes to his embroidered slippers; when +required to speak to him, they fell to their knees, and kept the posture +till he was pleased to bid them rise. Not one of them had ever touched +his fingers, except when he deigned to hold them out to be most humbly +saluted. Their manner at such times was more than servility; in +appearance, at least, it was worship. This explanation will enable the +reader to understand the feeling with which they beheld the young woman +keep the royal hand a prisoner in hers. Some of them shuddered and turned +their faces not to witness a familiarity so closely resembling +profanation. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine, on his part, looked down into the eyes of his fair +kinswoman, knowing her speech was not finished. The slight inclination +of his person toward her was intended for encouragement. Indeed, he made +no attempt to conceal the interest possessing him. +</p> + +<p> +"The Empire may be shorn, even as thou hast said," she resumed presently, +in a voice slightly raised. "But is not this city of our fathers by site +and many advantages as much the capital of the world as ever? A Christian +Emperor founded it, and his name was Constantine; may it not be its +perfect restoration is reserved for another Constantine, also a Christian +Emperor? Search thy heart, O my Lord! I have heard how noble impulses are +often prophets without voices." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine was impressed. From a young person, bred in what were really +prison walls, the speech was amazing. He was pleased with the opinion +she was evidently forming of himself; he was pleased with the hope she +admitted touching the Empire; he was pleased with the Christian faith, +the strength of mind, the character manifested. Her loyalty to the old +Greek regime was unquestionable. The courtiers thought she might at +least have made some acknowledgment of his princely kindness; but if he +thought of the want of form, he passed it; enough for him that she was a +lovely enthusiast. In the uncertainty of the moment, he hesitated; then, +descending from the dais, he kissed her hand gracefully, courteously, +reverently, and said simply: +</p> + +<p> +"May thy hope be God's will." +</p> + +<p> +Turning from her, he helped the blind man to his feet, and declared the +audience dismissed. +</p> + +<p> +Alone with his secretary, the Grand <i>Logothete</i>, he sat awhile +musing. +</p> + +<p> +"Give ear," he at length said. "Write it, a decree. Fifty thousand gold +pieces annually for the maintenance of Manuel and Irene, his daughter." +</p> + +<p> +The secretary at the first word became absorbed in studying his master's +purple slippers; then, having a reply, he knelt. +</p> + +<p> +"Speak," said Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the secretary responded, "there are not one thousand +pieces in the treasury unappropriated." +</p> + +<p> +"Are we indeed so poor?" +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor sighed, but plucking spirit, went on bravely: +</p> + +<p> +"It may be God has reserved for me the restoration, not only of this +city, but of the Empire. I shall try to deserve the glory. And it may be +that noble impulses <i>are</i> speechless prophets. Let the decree stand. +Heaven willing, we will find a way to make it good." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0303"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE HOMERIC PALACE +</h3> + +<p> +The reader is now informed of the history of Irene, which is to he +remembered as of an important personage in the succeeding pages. Knowing +also how she became possessed of the palace we have been at some pains +to describe, he is prepared to see her at home. +</p> + +<p> +The night has retreated from the European shore of the Bosphorus, +although the morning is yet very young. The sun in the cloudless sky +beyond Becos, where it appears standing as if to rest from the fatigue +of climbing the hills, is lifting Therapia bodily out of its sparkling +waters. In the bay moreover there are many calls of mariner to mariner, +and much creaking of windlasses, and clashing of oars cast loose in +their leather slings. To make the scene perfectly realistic there is a +smell of breakfast cooking, not unpleasant to those within its waftage +who are yet to have their appetites appeased. These sights, these +sounds, these smells, none of them reach the palace in the garden under +the promontory opposite the town. There the birds are singing their +matin songs, the flowers loading the air with perfume, and vine and tree +drinking the moisture borne down to them from the unresting sea so near +in the north. [Footnote: The Black Sea.] +</p> + +<p> +Under the marble portico the mistress is sitting exactly in the place we +can imagine the old Greek loved most what time he read from his +masterful copy of Homer. Between columns she saw the Bosphorean expanse +clear to the wooded Asiatic shore. Below was a portion of the garden +through which the walk ran, with a graceful curve, to the red kiosk by +the front gate. Just beyond it the landing lay. Around her were palm and +rose trees in painted tubs, and in their midst, springing from a tall +vase carven over with mythologic figures, a jasmine vine affected all +the graces of its most delicate nature. Within reach of her right hand +there were platters of burnished brass on a table of ebony, its thin, +spider legs inlaid with silver in lines. One of the platters bore a heap +of white biscuits such as at this day are called crackers; the others +supported pitchers, and some drinking cups, all of silver. +</p> + +<p> +The mistress sat in an arm-chair very smooth in finish despite the +lineations sunk into its surfaces, and so roomy as to permit her to drop +easily into a half-reclining posture. A footstool dressed in dark +stamped leather was ready to lend its aid to gracefulness and comfort. +</p> + +<p> +We will presume now to introduce the reader to the Princess Irene, +though, as the introduction must be in the way of description, our +inability to render the subject adequately is admitted in advance. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment of first sight, she is sitting erect, her head turned +slightly to the left shoulder, and both hands resting on the dog's head +garnishing the right arm of the chair. She is gazing abstractedly out at +the landing, as if waiting for some one overdue. The face is uncovered; +and it is to be said here that, abhorring the custom which bound her +Byzantine sisterhood to veils, except when in the retiracy of their +chambers, she was at all times brave enough to emphasize the abhorrence +by discarding the encumbrance. She was never afraid of the effects of +the sun on her complexion, and had the art of moving modestly and with +composure among men, who, on their side, were used in meeting her to +conceal their admiration and wonder under cover of grave respect. +</p> + +<p> +Her figure, tall, slender, perfectly rounded, is clad in drapery of the +purest classic mode. Outwardly it consists of but two garments—a robe +of fine white woollen stuff, and over it a mantle of the same texture +and hue, hanging from a yoke of close-fitting flesh-colored silk richly +embroidered with Tyrian floss. A red rope loosely twisted girdles her +body close under the breasts, from which, when she is standing, the gown +in front falls to the feet, leaving a decided train. The mantle begins +at a point just in front of the arm, under which, and along the sides, +it hangs, like a long open sleeve, being cut away behind about half down +the figure. The contrivance of the yoke enabled the artist, by gathering +the drapery, to determine the lines in which it should drop, and they +were few but positive. In movement, the train was to draw the gown to +the form so its outlines could be easily followed from the girdle. +</p> + +<p> +The hair, of the tint of old gold, is dressed in the Grecian style; and +its abundance making the knot unusually ample, there was necessity for +the two fillets of pink silk to keep it securely in place. +</p> + +<p> +The real difficulty in the description is now reached. To a reader of +sharp imagination it might be sufficient to say the face of the Princess +Irene, seen the morning in question, was perfectly regular, the brows +like pencilling, the nose delicate, the eyes of violet shading into +blackness, the mouth small with deep corners and lips threads of +scarlet, the cheeks and brow precisely as the received law of beauty +would have them. This would authorize a conception of surpassing +loveliness; and perhaps it were better did we stop with the suggestions +given, since the fancy would then be left to do its own painting. But +patience is besought, for vastly more than a face of unrivalled +perfection, the conjuration is a woman who yet lives in history as such +a combination of intellect, spirit, character, and personal charm that +men, themselves rulers and conquerors, fell before her at sight. Under +necessity therefore of going on with the description, what words are at +command to convey an idea of the complexion—a property so wholly +unartificial with her that the veins at the temples were as transparent +shadows on snow, and the coloring of the cheeks like a wash of roses? +What more is there than to point to the eyes of the healthful freshness +peculiar to children of tender nurture; the teeth exquisitely regular +and of the whiteness of milk and the lustre of pearls; the ears small, +critically set, and tinted pink and white, like certain shells washed +ashore last night? What more? Ah, yes! There are the arms bare from the +shoulder, long and round as a woman's should be, and terminating in +flexile wrists, and hands so gracefully modelled we shrink from thought +of their doing more than making wreaths of flowers and playing with harp +strings. There too is the pose of the head expressive of breeding and +delicacy of thought and feeling, of pride and courage—the pose +unattainable by effort or affectation, and impossible except where the +head, itself faultless, is complemented by a neck long, slender, yet +round, pliant, always graceful, and set upon shoulders the despair of +every one but the master who found perfection of form and finish in the +lilies of the Madonna. Finally there is the correspondence, in action as +well as repose, of body, limbs, head, and face, to which, under +inspiration of the soul, the air and manner of lovely women are always +referable. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess was yet intensely observing the stretch of water before +her, and the rapid changes of the light upon its face, when a boat, +driven by a single oarsman, drew up to the landing, and disembarked a +passenger. That he was not the person she was expecting became instantly +apparent. She glanced at him once, and then, satisfied he was a stranger +in whom she had no interest, resumed study of the bay. He, however, +after dropping something in the boatman's hand, turned, and walked to +the gateway, and through it towards the palace. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long a servant, whose very venerable appearance belied the +steel-pointed javelin he carried, hobbled slowly along the floor of the +portico marshalling a visitor. She touched the golden knot at the back +of her head to be assured of its arrangement, arose, shook out the folds +of her gown and mantle, and was prepared for the interruption. +</p> + +<p> +The costume of the stranger was new to the Princess. A cassock of mixed +white and brown wool that had gone through a primitive loom with little +of any curative process except washing, hung from his neck to his heels. +Aside from the coarseness of warp and woof, it fitted so closely that +but for a slit on each side of the skirt walking would have been +seriously impeded. The sleeves were long and loose, and covered the +hands. From the girdle of untanned skin a double string of black horn +beads, each large as a walnut, dropped to his knees. The buckle of the +girdle, which might have been silver deeply oxidized, was conspicuously +large, and of the rudest workmanship. But withal much the most curious +part of the garb was the cowl, if such it may be called. Projecting over +the face so far as to cast the features in shadow, it carried on the +sides of the head broad flaps, not unlike the ears of an elephant. This +envelope was hideous, yet it served to exalt the man within to +giantesque proportions. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess surveyed the visitor with astonishment hardly concealed. +What part of the world could produce a creature so utterly barbarous? +What business could he have with her? Was he young or old? Twice she +scanned him from head to foot. He was a monk; so much the costume +certified; and while he stopped before her with one foot advanced from +the edge of the skirt, and resting lightly in the clasp of the thongs of +a very old-fashioned sandal, she saw it was white, and blue veined, and +at the edges pink, like a child's, and she said to herself, "He is +young—a young monastic." +</p> + +<p> +The stranger drew from his girdle a linen package carefully folded, +kissed it reverently, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"Would the Princess Irene be pleased if I open the favor for her?" +</p> + +<p> +The voice was manly, the manner deferential. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it a letter?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"A letter from the Holy Father, the Archimandrite of the greatest of the +northern Lavras." [Footnote: Monasteries.] +</p> + +<p> +"Its name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Bielo-Osero." +</p> + +<p> +"The Bielo-Osero? Where is it?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the country of the Great Prince." [Footnote: Russia.] +</p> + +<p> +"I knew not that I had an acquaintance in so distant a region as the +north of Russia. You may open the letter." +</p> + +<p> +Unmindful of the indifferent air of the Princess, the monk removed the +cloth, leaving its folds hanging loosely from his hand. A sheet of +vellum was exposed lying on the covered palm. +</p> + +<p> +"The Holy Father bade me when I delivered the writing, O Princess, to +deliver his blessing also; which—the saying is mine, not his—is of +more worth to the soul than a coffer of gold for the wants of the body." +</p> + +<p> +The pious comment was not lost; but without a word, she took the vellum, +and resuming her seat, addressed herself to the reading. First, her eyes +dropped to the signature. There was a look of surprise—another of +uncertainty—then an exclamation: +</p> + +<p> +"Hilarion! Not my Father Hilarion! He is but a sacred memory! He went +away and died—and yet this is his hand. I know it as I know my own." +</p> + +<p> +The monk essayed to remove the doubt. +</p> + +<p> +"Permit me," he said, then asked, "Is there not an island hereabouts +called Prinkipo?" +</p> + +<p> +She gave him instant attention. +</p> + +<p> +"And on the side of the island over against the Asiatic coast, under a +hill named Kamares, is there not a convent built centuries ago by an +Empress?" +</p> + +<p> +"Irene," she interposed. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Irene—and was not Father Hilarion for many years Abbot of the +convent? Then, on account of his fame for learning and piety, did not +the Patriarch exalt him to attendance on his own person as Doctor of the +Gospels? Still later, was he not summoned to serve the Emperor in the +capacity of Warden of the Purple Ink?" +</p> + +<p> +"From whom have you all these things?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Excellent Princess, from whom could I have them save the good Father +himself?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art then his messenger?" +</p> + +<p> +"It becomes me better to refer you to what he has there written." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the monk stepped backward, and stood a little way off in a +respectful attitude. She raised the missive, and kissed the signature +several times, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +"Now hath God taken care of his own!" +</p> + +<p> +Then she said to the monk, "Thou art indeed a messenger with good +tidings." +</p> + +<p> +And he, accepting the welcome, uncovered his head, by raising the +hideous <i>klobouk</i>, [Footnote: Cowl.] and letting it fall back pendant +from his shoulders. The violet eyes of the Princess opened wider, +brightening as with a sudden influx of light. She could not remember a +finer head or a face more perfect in manly beauty, and at the same time +so refined and gentle. +</p> + +<p> +And he was so young—young even as herself—certainly not more than +twenty. Such was her first general impression of him. For the pleasure +there was in the surprise, she would not allow it to be observed, but +said: +</p> + +<p> +"The Father in his letter, no doubt, tells me thy name, but since I wish +to reserve the reading, I hope thou wilt not be offended if I ask it +directly." +</p> + +<p> +"The name my mother gave me is Andre; but when I came to be a deacon in +our Bielo-Osero, Father Hilarion, who presided at the raising, asked me +how I wished to be known in the priesthood, and I answered him, Sergius. +Andre was a good christening, and serves well to remind me of my dear +mother; but Sergius is better, because at hearing it I am always +reminded that by vows and solemn rites of ordination I am a servant of +God." +</p> + +<p> +"I will endeavor to remember thy preference," the Princess said; "but +just now, good Sergius, it is of next importance to know if thou hast +yet had breakfast?" +</p> + +<p> +A smile helped his face to even more of pleasantness. +</p> + +<p> +"No," he answered, "but I am used to fasting, and the great city is not +more than two hours away." +</p> + +<p> +She looked concerned. +</p> + +<p> +"Thy patron Saint hath not deserted thee. Here is a table already set. +He for whom I held it is long on the road; thou shalt take his place, +and be not less welcome." To the old servant she added: "We have a +guest, not an enemy, Lysander. Put up thy javelin, and bring a seat for +him; then stand behind him, lest it happen one service of the cups be +not enough." +</p> + +<p> +Directly the two were at the table opposite each other. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0304"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE RUSSIAN MONK +</h3> + +<p> +Sergius took a glass of red wine from the old attendant, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"I should like your permission, O Princess, to make a confession." +</p> + +<p> +His manner was that of one unused to the society of women. He was +conscious she was studying him, and spoke to divert her. As she was slow +answering, he added: "That you may not think me disposed to abuse the +acquaintance you honor me with, especially as you have not yet read the +letter of the good Father Hilarion upon which I rely for your better +regard, I ask the permission rather to show the degree of your kindness +to me. It may interest you also to learn of the confirmation of a certain +faith you are perhaps unwittingly lending a novice in the ways of the +world." +</p> + +<p> +She had been studying him, and her first impression was now confirmed. +His head in shape and pose was a poet's; the long, wavy, flaxen hair, +parted in the middle, left small space for the forehead, which was +nevertheless broad and white, with high-arched, well-defined brows for +base. The eyes were gray. In repose they had a dreamy introspectional +expression. The mustache and beard, the first growth of youth spent +entirely indoors, were as yet too light to shade any part of the face. +The nose was not enough <i>retrousse</i> to be irregular. In brief, the +monk was of the type now well known as Russian. Aside from height and +apparent muscularity, he very nearly realized the Byzantine ideal of +Christ as seen in the cartoons excellently preserved in a mosque of +Stamboul not far from the gate anciently San Romain now <i>Top Kapoussi</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The appearance of the young monk, so strikingly suggestive of the being +most sacred in the estimation of the Princess, was at the moment less +curious to her than a certain habit observable in him. The look of +brightness attendant upon the thought he was putting into form would, +when the utterance was through, suffer a lapse which, for want of +strictly definite words, may be described as a sombering of the eyes +when they were widest open, a gazing beyond at something else than the +opposite speaker; implying that the soul was become mysteriously +occupied apart from the mind. The effect was as if she had before her +two widely different characters making themselves present at the same +time in one person. Unquestionably, though rarely, there is a duality of +nature in men, by which, to put it extremely, a seeming incapable may be +vastly capable, outward gentleness a mask for a spirit of Neronian +violence, dulness a low-lying cloud surcharged with genius. What shall +be done with such a nature? When may it be relied upon? Who shall ever +come to really know it? +</p> + +<p> +Occupied with the idea, the Princess heard but the conclusion of the +monk's somewhat awkward apology, and she answered: +</p> + +<p> +"The confession must be of something lighter than a sin. I will listen." +</p> + +<p> +"A sin!" he exclaimed, with a blush. "Pardon me, O Princess. It was a +trifle of which I spoke too seriously. I promise thou shalt take from it +nothing worse than a laugh at my simplicity. See thou these things?" +</p> + +<p> +He gave her a glance full of boyish humor, and from a breast pocket of +his cassock drew a bag of coarse yellow silk; thrusting a hand into its +mouth, he then brought out a number of square leathern chips stamped +with sunken letters, and laid them on the table before her. +</p> + +<p> +"This you must know is our money." The Princess examined the pieces, and +said: +</p> + +<p> +"I doubt if our tradesmen would accept them." +</p> + +<p> +"They will not. I am a witness to the fact. Nevertheless they will carry +a traveller, go he either way, from one end of our Great Prince's realm +to the other. When I left the Lavra, setting out on my journey, Father +Hilarion gave me the bag, saying, as he put it into my hand, 'Now upon +coming to the port where the ship awaits thee, be sure to exchange the +money with the merchants there for Byzantine gold; else, unless God come +to thy aid, thou wilt be turned into a mendicant.' And so I fully meant +to do; but when I reached the port, I found it a city large, and full of +people and sights wonderful to me, demanding to be seen. I forgot the +injunction. Indeed I never thought of it until this morning." +</p> + +<p> +Here he laughed at himself, proving he was not yet seriously alive to +the consequences of his negligence. Presently he resumed: +</p> + +<p> +"I landed only last night, and sick from the tossing of the sea, put up +at an inn in the town yonder. I ordered breakfast, and, according to a +custom of my people, offered to pay before tasting. The master of the +house looked at my money, and told me to show him coin of gold; if not +that, then copper or brass, or even iron, in pieces bearing the name of +the Emperor. Being told I had only this, he bade me look elsewhere for +breakfast. Now I had designed going to the great city to kiss the hand +of the Patriarch, of whom I have always heard as the wisest of men, +before coming to thee; but the strait I was in was hard. Could I expect +better of the innkeepers there? I had a button of gold—a memorial of my +entry into the Lavra. That day Father Hilarion blessed it three times; +and it bore a cross upon its face which I thought might make it +acceptable as if it were lettered with the name of Constantine. A +boatman consented to take it for rowing me to thy landing. Behold! Thou +hast my confession!" +</p> + +<p> +His speech to this time had been in Greek singularly pure and fluent; +now he hesitated, while his eyes, open to the full, sombered, as if from +a field in the brain back of them a shadow was being cast through his +face. When next he spoke it was in his native tongue. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess observed her guest with increasing interest; for she was +wholly unused to such artlessness in men. How could Father Hilarion have +intrusted business of importance to an envoy so negligent? His +confession, as he termed it, was an admission, neither more nor less, +that he had no money of the country into which he was come. And further, +how could the habit of lapsing in thought, or more simply, of passing +abruptly from the present subject, be explained except on the theory of +something to which he had so given himself it had become overmastering +and all absorbent? This, she saw intuitively, would prove the key to the +man; and she set about finding it out. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Greek, good Sergius, is excellent; yet I did not understand the +words with which you concluded." +</p> + +<p> +"I beg pardon," he replied, with a change of countenance. "In my +mother's tongue I repeated a saying of the Psalmist, which you shall +have voice and look as Father Hilarion has given it to me oftener than I +am days old." Then his voice lowered into a sweet intensity fitting the +text: "'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Those were the +words, Princess; and who shall say they do not comprehend all there is +of religion?" +</p> + +<p> +The answer was unexpected, the manner affecting; never had she heard +conviction and faith more perfectly affirmed. More than a monk, the +young man might be a preacher! And Father Hilarion might have grown +wiser of his years! Perhaps he knew, though at a vast distance, that the +need of the hour in Constantinople was not a new notable—a bishop or a +legate—so much as a voice with power of persuasion to still the +contentions with which her seven hills were then resounding. The idea, +though a surmise, was strong enough to excite a desire to read the holy +man's letter. She even reproached herself for not having done so. +</p> + +<p> +"The worthy priest gave me the same saying in the same words," she said, +rising, "and they lose nothing of their meaning by thy repetition. We +may speak of them hereafter. For the present, to keep thee from +breakfast were cruel. I will go and make terms with my conscience by +reading what thou hast brought me from the Father. Help thyself freely +as if thou wert the most favored of guests; or rather "—she paused to +emphasize the meaning—"as though I had been bidden to prepare for thy +coining. Should there be failure in anything before thee, scruple not to +ask for more. Lysander will be at thy service. I may return presently." +</p> + +<p> +The monk arose respectfully, and stood until she disappeared behind the +vases and flowers, leaving in his memory a fadeless recollection of +graciousness and beauty, which did not prevent him from immediately +addressing himself as became a hungry traveller. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0305"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER +</h3> + +<p> +While the Princess Irene traversed the portico, she repeated the words, +The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; and she could see how the +negligent, moneyless monk, turned away at the inn, was provided for in +his moment of need, and also that she was the chosen purveyor; if so, by +whom chosen? The young man had intended calling on the Patriarch first; +who brought him to her? The breakfast was set for an invited guest; what +held him back, if not the power that led the stranger to her gate? +</p> + +<p> +In saying now that one of the consequences of the religious passion +characteristic of the day in the East—particularly in Constantinople—a +passion so extreme as to induce the strongest minds to believe God, and +the Son, and even the Holy Mother discernible in the most commonplace +affairs—our hope is to save the Princess from misjudgment. Really the +most independent and fearless of spirits, if now and then she fell into +the habit of translating the natural into the supernatural, she is +entitled to mercy, since few things are harder to escape than those of +universal practice. +</p> + +<p> +Through a doorway, chiselled top and jambs, she entered a spacious hall +nude of furniture, though richly frescoed, and thence passed into a +plain open, court coolly shaded, having in the centre a jet of water +which arose and fell into a bowl of alabaster. The water overflowing the +bowl was caught again in a circular basin which, besides the ornamental +carving on the edge and outside, furnished an ample pool for the gold +fish disporting in it. +</p> + +<p> +In the court there were also a number of women, mostly young Greeks, +sewing, knitting, and embroidering vestments. Upon her entrance they +arose, let their work drop on the spotless white marble at their feet, +and received her in respectful silence. Signing them to resume their +labor, she took a reserved chair by the fountain. The letter was in her +hand, but a thought had the precedence. +</p> + +<p> +Admitting she had been chosen to fulfil the saying quoted, was the call +for the once only? When the monk went up to the city, was her ministry +to end? Would not that be a half-performance? How much farther should +she go? She felt a little pang of trouble, due to the uncertainty that +beset her, but quieted it by an appeal to the letter. Crossing herself, +and again kissing the signature, she began the reading, which, as the +hand was familiar to her, and the composition in the most faultless +Greek of the period, was in nowise a perplexity. +</p> + +<p> +"BIELO-OSERO, 3<i>d June</i>, 1452. +</p> + +<p> +"From Hilarion, the Hegumen, to Irene, his well-beloved daughter. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast thought of me this longtime as at rest forever—at rest with +the Redeemer. While there is nothing so the equivalent of death as +silence, there is no happiness so sweet as that which springs upon us +unexpectedly. In the same sense the resurrection was the perfect +complement of the crucifixion. More than all else, more than the sermon +on the mount, more than His miracles, more than His unexampled life, it +lifted our Lord above the repute of a mere philosopher like Socrates. We +have tears for His much suffering; but we sing as Miriam sang when we +think of His victory over the grave. I would not compare myself to Him; +yet it pleases me believing these lines, so unexpected, will give thee a +taste of the feeling the Marys had, when, with their spices in hand, +they sought the sepulchre and found only the Angels there. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me tell thee first of my disappearance from Constantinople. I +repented greatly my taking from the old convent by the Patriarch; partly +because it separated me from thee at a time when thy mind was opening to +receive the truth and understand it. Yet the call had a sound as if from +God. I feared to disobey it. +</p> + +<p> +"Then came the summons of the Emperor. He had heard of my life, and, as +a counteraction of vice, he wanted its example in the palace. I held +back. But the Patriarch prevailed on me, and I went up and suffered +myself to be installed Keeper of the Purple Ink. Then indeed I became +miserable. To such as I, what is sitting near the throne? What is power +when not an instrument of mercy, justice and charity? What is easy life, +except walking in danger of habits enervating to the hope of salvation? +Oh, the miseries I witnessed! And how wretched the sight of them, +knowing they were beyond my help! I saw moreover the wickedness of the +court. Did I speak, who listened except to revile me? Went I to +celebrations in this or that church, I beheld only hypocrisy in scarlet. +How often, knowing the sin-stains upon the hands of the celebrants at +the altar in Sta. Sophia, the house in holiness next to the temple of +Solomon—how often, seeing those hands raise the blood of Christ in the +cup before the altar, have I trembled, and looked for the dome above to +let consuming vengeance in upon us, the innocent with the guilty! +</p> + +<p> +"At last fear filled all my thoughts, and forbade sleep or any comfort. +I felt I must go, and quickly, or be lost for denial of covenants made +with Him, the ultimate Judge, in whose approval there is the peace that +passeth understanding. I was like one pursued by a spirit making its +presence known to me in sobs and plaints, stinging as conscience stings. +</p> + +<p> +"Consent to my departure was not to be expected; for great men dislike +to have their favors slighted. It was not less clear that formal +resignation of the official honor I was supposed to be enjoying would be +serviceable to the courtiers who were not so much my enemies personally +as they were enemies of religion and contemners of all holy observances. +And there were so many of them! Alas, for the admission! What then was +left but flight? +</p> + +<p> + "Whither? I thought first of Jerusalem; but who without abasement can<br /> +inhabit with infidels? Then Hagion Oras, the Holy Hill, occurred to me; +the same argument applied against it as against return to the convent of +Irene-I would be in reach of the Emperor's displeasure. One can study +his own heart. Holding mine off, and looking at it alive with desires +holy and unholy, I detected in it a yearning for hermitage. How +beautiful solitude appears! In what condition can one wishing to change +his nature for the better more certainly attain the end than without +companionship except of God always present? The spirit of prayer is a +delicate minister; where can we find purer nourishment for it than in +the silence which at noon is deep as at midnight? +</p> + +<p> +"In this mood the story of the Russian St. Sergius reverted to me. He +was born at Rostoff. Filled with pious impulses more than dissatisfied +with the world, of which he knew nothing, with a brother, he left his +father's house when yet a youth and betook himself to a great woods in +the region Radenego; there he dwelt among savage beasts and wild men, +fasting and praying and dependent like Elijah of old. His life became a +notoriety. Others drew to him. With his own hands he built a wooden +church for his disciples, giving it the name of Troitza or Thrice Holy +Trinity. Thither I wandered in thought. A call might be there for me, so +weary of the egotism, envy, detraction, greed, grind and battle of the +soulless artificiality called society. +</p> + +<p> +"I left Blacherne in the night, and crossing the sea in the north—no +wonder it is so terrible to the poor mariner who has to hunt his daily +bread upon its treacherous waves—I indulged no wait until, in the stone +church of the Holy Trinity, I knelt before the remains of the revered +Russian hermit, and thanked God for deliverance and freedom. +</p> + +<p> +"The Troitza was no longer the simple wooden church of its founder. I +found it a collection of monasteries. The solitude of my dreams was to +be sought northward further. Some years before, a disciple of +Sergius—Cyrill by name, since canonized—unterrified by winters which +dragged through three quarters of the year, wandered off to a secluded +place on the shore of the White Lake, where he dwelt until, in old age, +a holy house was required to accommodate his following. He called it +Bielo-Osero. There I installed myself, won by the warmth of my welcome. +</p> + +<p> +"Now when I departed from Blacherne, I took with me, besides the raiment +I wore, two pieces of property; a copy of the Rule of the Studium +Monastery, and a <i>panagia</i> given me by the Patriarch—a medallion +portrait of the Blessed Mother of our Lord the Saviour, framed in gold, +and set in brilliants. I carry it hanging from my neck. Even in sleep it +is always lying just above my heart. The day is not far now when my need +of it will be over; then I will send it to thee in notice that I am +indeed at rest, and that in dying I wished to lend thee a preservative +against ills of the soul and fear of death. +</p> + +<p> +"The Rule was acceptable to the Brotherhood. They adopted it, and its +letter and spirit prevailing, the house came in time to be odorous for +sanctity. Eventually, though against my will, they raised me their +Hegumen. And so my story reaches its end. May it find thee enjoying the +delight of the soul's rest I have been enjoying without interruption +since I began life anew in this retreat, where the days are days of +prayer, and the nights illuminated by visions of Paradise and Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +"In the next place, I pray thou wilt take the young brother by whom this +will be delivered into friendly care. I myself raised him to a deaconship +of our Monastery. His priestly name is Sergius. He was scarcely out of +boyhood when I came here; it was not long, however, before I discovered +in him the qualities which drew me to thee during thy prison life at the +old convent of Irene—a receptive mind, and a native proneness to love +God. I made his way easy. I became his teacher, as I had been thine; and +as the years flew by he reminded me more and more of thee, not merely +with respect to mental capacity, but purity of soul and aspiration as +well. Need I say how natural it was for me to love him? Had I not just +come from loving thee? +</p> + +<p> +"The brethren are good men, though unmannerly, and for the most part the +Word reaches them from some other's tongue. Filling the lad's mind was +like filling a lamp with oil. How precious the light it would one day +shed abroad! And how much darkness there was for it to dispel! And in +the darkness—Mercy, Mercy! How many are in danger of perishing! +</p> + +<p> +"Never did I think myself so clearly a servant of God as in the time +Sergius was under my instruction. Thou, alas! being a woman, wert like a +strong-winged bird doomed at best to a narrow cage. The whole world was +before him. +</p> + +<p> +"Of the many notes I have been compelled to take of the wants of +religion in this our age, none so amazes me as the lack of preachers. We +have priests and monks. Their name is Legion. Who of them can be said to +have been touched with the fire that fell upon the faithful of the +original twelve? Where among them is an Athanasius? Or a Chrysostom? Or +an Augustine? Slowly, yet apace with his growth, I became ambitious for +the young man. He showed quickness and astonishing courage. No task +appalled him. He mastered the tongues of the nationalities represented +around him as if he were born to them. He took in memory the Gospels, +the Psalms, and the prophetic books of the Bible. He replies to me in +Greek undistinguishable from mine. I began to dream of him a preacher +like St. Paul. I have heard him talking in the stone chapel, when the +sleet-ridden winds without had filled it with numbing frost, and seen +the Brotherhood rise from their knees, and shout, and sing, and wrestle +like madmen. It is not merely words, and ideas, and oratorical manner, +but all of them, and more—when aroused, he has the faculty of pouring +out his spirit, so that what he says takes hold of a hearer, making him +calm if in a passion, and excited if in a calm. The willing listen to +him from delight, the unwilling and opposite minded because he enchains +them. +</p> + +<p> +"The pearl seemed to me of great price. I tried to keep it free of the +dust of the world. With such skill as I possess, I have worn its stains +and roughnesses away, and added to its lustre. Now it goes from me. +</p> + +<p> +"You must not think because I fled to this corner of the earth, there is +any abatement of my affection for Constantinople; on the contrary, +absence has redoubled the love for it with which I was born. Is it not +still the capital of our holy religion? Occasionally a traveller comes +this way with news of the changes it has endured. Thus one came and +reported the death of the Emperor John, and the succession of +Constantine; another told of justice finally done thy heroic father, and +of thy prosperity; more lately a wandering monk, seeking solitude for +his soul's sake, joined our community, and from him I hear that the old +controversy with the Latins has broken out anew, and more hotly than +ever; that the new Emperor is an <i>azymite</i>, and disposed to adhere +to the compact of union of the churches east and west made with the Pope +of Rome by his predecessor, leaving heart-blisters burning as those +which divided the Jews. Indeed, I much fear the likeness may prove +absolute. It certainly will when the Turk appears before our holy city +as Titus before Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +"This latest intelligence induced me at last to yield to Sergius' +entreaties to go down to Constantinople, and finish there the courses +begun here. It is true he who would move the world must go into the +world; at the same time I confess my own great desire to be kept informed +of the progress of the discussion between the churches had much to do +with my consent to his departure. He has instructions to that effect, and +will obey them. Therefore I pray thee receive him kindly for his own +sake, for mine, and the promise of good in him to the cause of Jesus, our +beloved Master. +</p> + +<p> +"In conclusion, allow me, daughter—for such thou wert to thy father, to +thy mother, and to me—allow me to recur to circumstances which, after +calm review, I pronounce the most interesting, the most delightful, the +most cherished of my life. +</p> + +<p> +"The house under the Kameses hill at Prinkipo was a convent or refuge +for women rather than men; yet I was ordered thither when thy father was +consigned to it after his victory over the Turks. I was then +comparatively young, but still recollect the day he passed the gate +going in with his family. Thenceforward, until the Patriarch took me +away, I was his confessor. +</p> + +<p> +"Death is always shocking. I remember its visits to the convent while I +was of its people; but when it came and took thy sisters we were doubly +grieved. As if the ungrateful Emperor could not be sufficiently cruel, +it seemed Heaven must needs help him. The cloud of those sad events +overhung the community a long time; at length there was a burst of +sunshine. One came to my cell and said, 'Come, rejoice with us—a baby +is born in the house.' Thou wert the baby; and thy appearance was the +first of the great gladnesses to which I have referred. +</p> + +<p> +"And not less distinctly I live over the hour we met in the chapel to +christen thee. The Bishop was the chief celebrant; but not even the +splendor of his canonicals—the cope with the little bells sewn down the +sides and along the sleeves, the ompharium, the <i>panagia</i>, the cross, +the crozier—were enough to draw my eyes from the dimpled pink face +half-hidden in the pillow of down on which they held thee up before the +font. And now the Bishop dipped his fingers in the holy water—'By what +name is this daughter to be known?' And I answered, 'Irene.' Thy parents +had been casting about for a name. 'Why not call her after the convent?' +I asked. They accepted the suggestion; and when I gave it out that great +day—to the convent it was holiday—it seemed a door in my heart of which +I was unknowing opened of itself, and took thee into a love-lined chamber +to be sweet lady at home forever. Such was the second of my greatest +happinesses. +</p> + +<p> +"And then afterwhile thy father gave thee over to me to be educated. I +made thy first alphabet, illuminating each letter with my own hand. Dost +thou remember the earliest sentence I heard thee read? Or, if ever thou +dost think of it now, be reminded it was thy first lesson in writing and +thy first in religion—'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' And +thence what delight I found in helping thee each day a little further on +in knowledge until at length we came to where thou couldst do +independent thinking. +</p> + +<p> +"It was in Sta. Sophia—in my memory not more than an occurrence of +yesterday. Thou and I had gone from the island up to the holy house, +where we were spectators of a service at which the Emperor, as Basileus, +and the Patriarch were celebrants. The gold on cope and ompharium cast +the space about the altar into a splendor rich as sunshine. Then thou +asked me, 'Did Christ and His Disciples worship in a house like this? +And were they dressed as these are?' I was afraid of those around us, +and told thee to use eye and ear, but the time for questions and answers +would be when we were back safely in the old convent. +</p> + +<p> +"When we were there, thou didst renew the questions, and I did not +withhold the truth. I told thee of the lowliness and simple ways of +Jesus—how He was clothed—how the out-doors was temple sufficient for +Him. I told thee of His preaching to the multitude on the shore of the +Galilean sea—I told of His praying in the garden of Gethsemane—I told +of the attempt to make a King of Him whether He would or not, and how He +escaped from the people—of how He set no store by money or property, +titles, or worldly honors. +</p> + +<p> +"Then thou didst ask, 'Who made worship so formal?' And again I answered +truthfully, there was no Church until after the death of our Lord; that +in course of two hundred years kings, governors, nobles and the great of +the earth were converted to the faith, and took it under their +protection; that then, to conform it to their tastes and dignity, they +borrowed altars from pagans, and recast the worship so sumptuously in +purple and gold the Apostles would not have recognized it. Then, in +brief, I began telling thee of the Primitive Church of Christ, now +disowned, forgotten or lost in the humanism of religious pride. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the satisfaction and happiness in that teaching! At each lesson it +seemed I was taking thee closer to the dear Christ from whom the world +is every year making new roads to get further away—the dear Christ in +search of whom I plunged into this solitude. +</p> + +<p> +"How is it with thee now, my daughter? Dost thou still adhere to the +Primitive Church? Do not fear to speak thy mind to Sergius. He too is in +the secret of our faith, believing it best to love our Lord from what +our Lord hath Himself said. +</p> + +<p> +"Now I bring this letter to a close. Let me have reply by Sergius, who, +when he has seen Constantinople, will come back to me, unless He who +holds every man's future in keeping discovers for him a special use. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not forget me in thy prayers. +</p> + +<p> +"Blessings on thee! HILARION." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess read the letter a second time. When she came to the passage +referring to the Primitive Church, her hands dropped into her lap, and +she thought: +</p> + +<p> +"The Father planted right well—better than he was aware, as he himself +would say did he know my standing now." +</p> + +<p> +A glow which might have been variously taken for half-serious, +half-mocking defiance shone in her eyes as the thought ran on: +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, dear man! Did he know that for asserting the Primitive Church as he +taught it to me in the old convent, the Greeks and the Latins have alike +adjudged me a heretic; that nothing saves me from the lions of the +Cynegion, except my being a woman—a woman forever offending by going +when and where I wist with my face bare, and therefore harmless except +to myself. If he knew this, would he send me his blessing? He little +imagined—he who kept his opinion to himself because he could see no +good possible from its proclamation—that I, the prison-bred girl he so +loved, and whom he helped make extreme in courage as in conviction, +would one day forget my sex and condition, and protest with the +vehemence of a man against the religious madness into which the +Christian world is being swept. Oh, that I were a man!" +</p> + +<p> +Folding the letter hastily, she arose to return to her guest. There was +fixedness of purpose in her face. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that I were a man!" she repeated, while passing the frescoed hall +on the way out. +</p> + +<p> +In the portico, with the white light of the marble whitening her whole +person, and just as the monk, tall, strong, noble looking, despite the +grotesqueness of his attire, was rising from the table, she stopped, and +clasped her hands. +</p> + +<p> +"I have been heard!" she thought, trembling. "That which it refused to +make me, Heaven has sent me. Here is a man! And he is certified as of my +faith, and has the voice, the learning, the zeal and courage, the +passion of truth to challenge a hearing anywhere. Welcome Sergius! In +want thou camest; in want thou didst find me. The Lord <i>is</i> shepherd unto +us both." +</p> + +<p> +She went to him confidently, and offered her hand. Her manner was +irresistible; he had no choice but to yield to it. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art not a stranger, but Sergius, my brother. Father Hilarion has +explained everything." +</p> + +<p> +He kissed her hand, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I was overbold, Princess; but I knew the Father would report me kindly; +and I was hungry." +</p> + +<p> +"It is my part now to see the affliction comes not back again. So much +has the Shepherd already determined. But, speaking as thy sister, +Sergius, thy garments appear strange. Doubtless they were well enough in +the Bielo-Osero, where the Rule of the Studium is law instead of +fashion; but here we must consult customs or be laughed at, which would +be fatal to the role I have in mind for thee." Then with a smile, she +added, "Observe the dominion I have already assumed." +</p> + +<p> +He answered with a contented laugh: whereupon she went on, but more +gravely: +</p> + +<p> +"We have the world to talk over; but Lysander will now take you to your +room, and you will rest until about mid-afternoon, when my boat will +come to the landing to carry us to the city. The cowl you must exchange +for a hat and veil, the sandals for shoes, the coarse cassock for a +black gown; and, if we have time, I will go with you to the Patriarch." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius followed Lysander submissively as a child. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0306"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +WHAT DO THE STARS SAY? +</h3> + +<p> +The sun which relieved the bay of Therapia from the thraldom of night +did the same service for the Golden Horn; only, with a more potential +voice, it seemed to say to the cities which were the pride of the +latter, Awake! Arise! And presently they were astir indoor and out. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the souls who, obedient to the early summons, poured into the +street, and by the south window of the study of the Prince of India, +some going this direction, some that, yet each intent upon a particular +purpose, not one gave a thought to the Prince, or so much as wondered if +he were awake. And the indifference of the many was well for him; it +gave him immunity to pursue his specialty. But as we, the writer and the +reader, are not of the many, and have an interest in the man from +knowing more about him than they, what would have been intrusion in them +may be excused in us. +</p> + +<p> +Exactly at midnight the Prince, aroused by Syama, had gone to the roof, +where there was a table, with a lamp upon it which he could shade at +pleasure, an hour-glass, and writing materials. An easy chair was also +set for him. +</p> + +<p> +The view of the city offered for his inspection was circumscribed by the +night. The famous places conspicuous in daytime might as well have been +folded up and put away in a closet; he could not see so much as a +glimmer of light from any of them. Pleased thereby, and arguing that +even the wicked are good when asleep, he swept the heavens with a glance +so long and searching there could be no doubt of the purpose which had +brought him forth. +</p> + +<p> +Next, according to the habit of astrologers, he proceeded to divide the +firmament into Angles and Houses, and taking seat by the table, arranged +the lamp to suit him, started the hour-glass running, and drew a diagram +familiar to every adept in divinatory science—a diagram of the heavens +with the Houses numbered from one to twelve inclusive. +</p> + +<p> +In the Houses he then set the mystic symbols of the visible planets as +they were at the moment in position, mindful not merely of the +parallels, but of the degrees as well. Verifying the correctness of the +diagram by a second survey of the mighty overarch more careful even than +the first, he settled himself in the chair, saying complacently: +</p> + +<p> +"Now, O Saturn, thou, the coldest and highest! Thy Houses are +ready—come, and at least behold them. I wait the configurations." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon, perfectly at ease, he watched the stellar hosts while, to +their own music, they marched past the Thrones of the Most High Planets +unchallenged except by him. +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally he sat up to reverse the hour-glass, though more frequently +he made new diagrams, showing the changes in position of the several +influential bodies relatively to each other and to the benefic or +malific signs upon which so much of result depended; nor did his eyes +once weary or his zeal flag. +</p> + +<p> +Finally when the sun, yet under the horizon behind the heights of +Scutari, began to flood the sky with a brilliance exceeding that of the +bravest of the stars, he collected the drawings, extinguished the lamp, +and descended to his study, but not to rest. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately that the daylight was sufficient, he addressed himself to +mathematical calculations which appeared exhaustive of every rule and +branch of the disciplinary science. Hours flew by, and still he worked. +He received Syama's call to breakfast; returning from the meal, always +the simplest of the day with him, he resumed the problem. Either he was +prodigiously intent on a scheme in mind, or he was occupying himself +diligently in order to forget himself. +</p> + +<p> +About noon he was interrupted. +</p> + +<p> +"My father." +</p> + +<p> +Recognizing the voice, he pushed the proofs of labor from him almost to +the other side of the table, turned in his seat, and replied, his face +suffused with pleasure: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou enemy to labor! Did not some one tell thee of what I have on hand, +and how I am working to finish it in time to take the water with thee +this afternoon? Answer, O my Gul-Bahar, more beautiful growing as the +days multiply!" +</p> + +<p> +The Lael of the son of Jahdai, the Gul-Bahar of the mysterious Prince, +was much grown, and otherwise greatly changed since we saw her last. +Each intervening year had in passing left her a benediction. She was now +about sixteen, slight, and Jewish in eyes, hair, and complexion. The +blood enriched her olive cheeks; the lips took a double freshness from +health; the smile resting habitually on the oval face had a tale it was +always telling of a nature confiding, happy, satisfied with its +conditions, hopeful of the future, and unaware from any sad experience +that life ever admitted of changes. Her beauty bore the marks of +intelligence; her manner was not enough self-contained to be called +courtly; yet it was easy, and carried its own certificate of culture; it +yielded too much to natural affection to deserve the term dignified. One +listening to her, and noticing the variableness of her mood, which in +almost the same instant could pass from gay to serious without ever +reaching an extreme, would pronounce her too timid for achievement +outside the purely domestic; at the same time he would think she +appeared lovable to the last degree, and might be capable of loving in +equal measure. +</p> + +<p> +She was dressed in Byzantine fashion. In crossing the street from her +father's house, she had thrown a veil over her head, but it was now +lying carelessly about her neck. The wooden sandals with blocks under +them, like those yet worn by women in Levantine countries to raise them +out of the dust and mud when abroad, had been shaken lightly from her +feet at the top of the stairs. Perfectly at home, she advanced to the +table, and put one of her bare arms around the old man's neck, +regardless of the white locks it crushed close down, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou flatterer! Do I not know beauty is altogether in the eye of the +beholder, and that all persons do not see alike? Tell me why, knowing +the work was to be done, you did not send for me to help you? Was it for +nothing you made me acquainted with figures until—I have your authority +for the saying—I might have stood for professor of mathematics in the +best of the Alexandrian schools? Do not shake your head at me—or"— +</p> + +<p> +With the new idea all alight in her face, she ran around the table, and +caught up one of the diagrams. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, it is as I thought, father! The work I love best, and can do best! +Whose is the nativity? Not mine, I know; for I was born in the glad time +when Venus ruled the year. Anael, her angel, held his wings over me +against this very wry-faced, snow-chilled Saturn, whom I am so glad to +see in the Seventh House, which is the House of Woe. Whose the nativity, +I say?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, child—pretty child, and wilful—you have a trick of getting my +secrets from me. I sometimes think I am in thy hands no more than tawdry +lace just washed and being wrung preparatory to hanging in the air from +thy lattice. It is well for you to know there are some things out of +your reach—for the time at least." +</p> + +<p> +"That is saying you will tell me." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—some day." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I will be patient." +</p> + +<p> +Seeing him become thoughtful, and look abstractedly out of the window, +she laid the diagram down, went back, and again put her arm around his +neck. +</p> + +<p> +"I did not come to interrupt you, father, but to learn two things, and +run away." +</p> + +<p> +"You begin like a rhetorician. What subdivisions lie under those two +things? Speak!" +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you," she replied, quickly. "First, Syama told me you were at +some particular task, and I wanted to know if I could help you." +</p> + +<p> +"Dear heart!" he said, tenderly. +</p> + +<p> +"Next—and this is all—I did not want you to forget we are to go up the +Bosphorus this afternoon—up to Therapia, and possibly to the sea." +</p> + +<p> +"You wish to go?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"I dreamt of it all night." +</p> + +<p> +"Then we will; and to prove I did not forget, the boatmen have their +orders already. We go to the landing directly after noon." +</p> + +<p> +"Not too soon," she answered, laughing. "I have to dress, and make +myself gorgeous as an empress. The day is soft and kind, and there will +be many people on the water, where I am already known quite as well as +here in the city as the daughter of the Prince of India." +</p> + +<p> +He replied with an air of pride: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art good enough for an emperor." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I may go and get ready." +</p> + +<p> +She withdrew her arm, kissed him, and started to the door, but returned, +with a troubled look. +</p> + +<p> +"One thing more, father." +</p> + +<p> +He was recovering his work, but stopped, and gave her ear. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" +</p> + +<p> +"You have said, good father, that as my studies were too confining, it +would be well if I took the air every day in my sedan. So, sometimes +with Syama, sometimes with Nilo, I had the men carry me along the wall +in front of the Bucoleon. The view over the sea toward Mt. Ida is there +very beautiful; and if I look to the landward side, right at my feet are +the terraced gardens of the palace. Nowhere do the winds seem sweeter to +me. For their more perfect enjoyment I have at moments alighted from the +chair, and walked; always avoiding acquaintances new and old. The people +appear to understand my preference, and respect it. Of late, however, +one person—hardly a man—has followed me, and stopped near by when I +stopped; he has even persisted in attempts to speak to me. To avoid him, +I went to the Hippodrome yesterday, and taking seat in front of the +small obelisks in that quarter, was delighted with the exhibition of the +horsemen. Just when the entertainment was at its height, and most +interesting, the person of whom I am speaking came and sat on the same +bench with me. I arose at once. It is very annoying, father. What shall +I do?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince did not answer immediately, and when he did, it was to ask, +suggestively: +</p> + +<p> +"You say he is young?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"His dress?" +</p> + +<p> +"He seems to be fond of high colors." +</p> + +<p> +"You asked no question concerning him?" +</p> + +<p> +"No. Whom could I ask?" +</p> + +<p> +Again the Prince reflected. Outwardly he was unconcerned; yet his blood +was more than warm—the blood of pride which, as every one knows, is +easily started, and can go hissing hot. He did not wish her to think of +the affair too much; therefore his air of indifference; nevertheless it +awoke a new train of thought in him. +</p> + +<p> +If one were to insult this second Lael of his love, what could he do? +The idea of appeal to a magistrate was irritating. Were he to assume +punishment of the insolence, from whom could he hope justice or +sympathy—he, a stranger living a mysterious life? +</p> + +<p> +He ran hastily over the resorts at first sight open to him. Nilo was an +instrument always ready. A word would arouse the forces in that loyal +but savage nature, and they were forces subject to cunning which never +slept, never wearied, and was never in a hurry—a passionless cunning, +like that of the Fedavies of the Old Man of the Mountain. +</p> + +<p> +It may be thought the Prince was magnifying a fancied trouble; but the +certainty that sorrow <i>must</i> overtake him for every indulgence of +affection was a haunting shadow always attending the most trifling +circumstance to set his imagination conjuring calamities. That at such +times his first impulse was toward revenge is explicable; the old law, +an eye for an eye, was part of his religion; and coupling it with +personal pride which a thought could turn into consuming heat, how +natural if, while the anticipation was doing its work, his study should +be to make the revenge memorable! +</p> + +<p> +Feeling he was not entirely helpless in the affair, he thought best to +be patient awhile, and learn who was the offender; a conclusion followed +by a resolution to send Uel with the girl next time she went to take the +air. +</p> + +<p> +"The young men of the city are uncontrolled by respect or veneration," +he said, quietly. "The follies they commit are sometimes ludicrous. +Better things are not to be looked for in a generation given to dress as +a chief ambition. And then it may be, O my Gul-Bahar"—he kissed her as +he uttered the endearment—"it may be he of whom you complain does not +know who you are. A word may cure him of his bad manners. Do not appear +to notice him. Have eyes for everything in the world but him; that is +the virtuous woman's defence against vulgarity and insult under every +circumstance. Go now, and make ready for the boat. Put on your gayest; +forget not the last necklace I gave you—and the bracelets—and the +girdle with the rubies. The water from the flying oars shall not +outflash my little girl. There now—Of course we will go to the landing +in our chairs." +</p> + +<p> +When she disappeared down the stairs, he went back to his work. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0307"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE +</h3> + +<p> +It is to be remembered now, as very material to our story, that the day +the Prince of India resolved on the excursion up the Bosphorus with Lael +the exquisite stretch of water separated the territorial possessions of +the Greek Emperor and the Sultan of the Turks. +</p> + +<p> +In 1355 the utmost of the once vast Roman dominions was "a corner of +Thrace between the Propontis (Marmora) and the Black Sea, about fifty +miles in length and thirty in breadth." [Footnote: Gibbon.] +</p> + +<p> +When Constantine Dragases—he of whom we are writing—ascended the +throne, the realm was even more diminished. +</p> + +<p> +Galata, just across the Golden Horn, had become a Genoese stronghold. +</p> + +<p> +Scutari, on the Asiatic shore almost <i>vis-a-vis</i> with Constantinople, was +held by a Turkish garrison. +</p> + +<p> +With small trouble the Sultan could have converted the pitiful margin +between Galata and the Cyanean rocks on the Black Sea. +</p> + +<p> +Once indeed he set siege to Constantinople, but was beaten off, it was +said, by the Mother of God, who appeared upon the walls of the city, and +in person took part in the combat. Thereafter he contented himself with +a tribute from the Emperors Manuel and John Palaeologus. +</p> + +<p> +The relations of the Christian and Moslem potentates being thus +friendly, it can be seen how the Princess Irene could keep to her palace +by Therapia and the Prince of India plan jaunts along the Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +Still there is a point to be borne in mind. Ships under Christian flags +seldom touched at a landing upon the Asiatic shore. Their captains +preferred anchoring in the bays and close under the ivy-covered heights +of Europe. This was not from detestation or religious intolerance; at +bottom there was a doubt of the common honesty of the strong-handed Turk +amounting to fear. The air was rife with stories of his treachery. The +fishermen in the markets harrowed the feelings of their timid customers +with tales of surprises, captures, and abductions. Occasionally couriers +rushed through the gates of Constantinople to report red banners in +motion, and the sound of clarions and drums, signifying armies of +Moslems gathering for mysterious purposes. +</p> + +<p> +The Moslems, on their part, it is but fair to say, were possessed of the +same doubts of the Christians, and had answers to accusations always +ready. The surprises, captures, and abductions were the unlicensed +savageries of brigands, of whom they never knew one not a Greek; while +the music and flags belonged to the militia. +</p> + +<p> +Six or seven miles above Scutari a small river, born in the adjacent +highlands, runs merrily down to meet and mingle with the tideless +Bosphorus. The water it yields is clear and fresh; whence the name of +the stream, The Sweet Waters of Asia. On its south side there is a +prairie-like stretch, narrow, but green and besprent with an orchard of +sycamores old and gnarled, and now much frequented on Mohammedan Sundays +by ladies of the harems, who contrive to make it very gay. No doubt the +modest river, and the grass and great trees were just as attractive ages +before the first Amurath, with an army at his heels, halted there for a +night. From that time, however, it was banned by the Greeks; and for a +reason. +</p> + +<p> +On the north bank of the little river there was a fortress known as the +White Castle. An irregular, many-angled pile of undressed stone heavily +merloned on top, its remarkable feature was a tall donjon which a dingy +white complexion made visible a great distance, despite its freckling of +loopholes and apertures for machine artillery. Seeing its military +importance, the Sultan left a garrison to hold it. He was also pleased +to change its name to Acce-Chisar. +</p> + +<p> +The blood-red flag on this donjon was, at the era engaging us, the +disenchanter of the Greeks; insomuch that in passing the Sweet Waters of +Asia they hugged the opposite shore of the Bosphorus, crossing +themselves and muttering prayers often of irreligious compound. A stork +has a nest on the donjon now. As an apparition it is not nearly so +suggestive as the turbaned sentinel who used to occupy its outlook. +</p> + +<p> +The popular imagination located dungeons under the grim old Castle, +whence, of the many Christian men and women immured there, it was said +none ever came forth alive. +</p> + +<p> +But for these things, whether true or false, the Prince of India cared +little. He was not afraid of the Turks. If the Asiatic shore had been +festooned with red flags from the City of the Blind down by the Isles of +the Princes to the last of the gray fortresses overlooking the +Symplegades, it would not have altered a plan of his jot or tittle. +Enough that Lael wanted and needed an outing on the glorious Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, shortly after noon two chairs were brought and set down in +his house. That is to say, two upright boxes fixed centrally on poles, +and differing in nowise from the sedans still the mode of carriage +affected by ladies of Constantinople unless it might be in their richer +appointments. Inside, all was silk, lace and cushions; outside, the +inlaying of mother of pearl and vari-colored woods was suggestive of +modern papier-mache. The entrance was by a door in the front. A window +in the door, and lesser ones on the sides, afforded the inmate air and +opportunity for speech. Not wanting to be seen, she had only to draw the +curtains together. In this instance it must be said the decoration of +the carriages had been carried to an extreme. +</p> + +<p> +Soon as the chairs were set down in the house, the Prince and Lael +descended the stairs. The latter was attired in a semi-Greek costume, +very rich and becoming; to embroidery of gold, she added bracelets, and +a necklace of large pearls strung between spheres of gold equally large. +A coronet graced her head, and it was so bejewelled that in bright light +it seemed some one was sprinkling her with an incessant shower of +sparkles. +</p> + +<p> +The two took their seats. The carriers, two to each litter, stalwart +men, uniformly clad in loose white garments, raised the poles on their +shoulders. Syama threw the door of the house open, and at a signal from +the Prince the procession sallied into the street. The crowd, in +expectant waiting there, received it in silent wonder. +</p> + +<p> +It is due the truth to say now that the common eye was attracted by the +appearance of Nilo as much as by the rarities wrought in the panelling +of the carriages. He strode ten or twelve feet in advance of Lael who, +in the place of honor, was completely under the Prince's observation. +The negro's costume was of a King of Kash-Cush. The hair stood on end in +stiff cues, sharply pointed, and held by a chain of silver medals; an +immense ring of silver hung from the cartilage of his nose. The neck was +defended by a gorget of leather bristling with the fangs and claws of +tigers in alternating rows. A robe of scarlet cloth large enough to +envelop the man was thrown behind the massive shoulders. The body, black +as polished ebony, was naked to the waist, whence a white skirt fell to +the knees. The arms and legs were adorned with bracelets and anklets of +ivory, while the straps of the heavy sandals were bordered with +snail-shells. On the left arm he bore a round shield of rhinoceros hide +embossed in brass; in the right hand, a pointless lance. Towering high +above the heads of the crowd which opened before him with alacrity, the +admiration received by the Prince's ally and friend was but a +well-deserved tribute. +</p> + +<p> +"A tiger-hunter!" said one, to a friend at his elbow. +</p> + +<p> +"I should call him king of the tiger-hunters," the friend replied. +</p> + +<p> +"Only a Prince of India would carry such a pensioner with him," another +remarked. +</p> + +<p> +"What a man!" said a woman, half afraid. +</p> + +<p> +"An infidel, no doubt," was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not a Christian wish, I know," the first added; "still I should +like to see him face a lion in the Cynegion." +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, him they call Tamerlane, because he is shorn of two toes." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, casting a glance of scarce concealed contempt over the +throng, sighed, as he muttered, "If now I could meet the Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +The exclamation was from his heart. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen the idea which lured him to Mecca, and brought him to +Constantinople. In the years since flown, it was held subordinate to his +love of Lael—subordinate merely. Latterly it had revived with much of +its original force, and he was now for the first time seriously scheming +for an interview with the Emperor. No doubt a formal request would have +secured the honor; but it was in his view better policy to be sought +than seek, and with all his wealth, there was nothing he could so well +afford to pay for success as time. In his study, he was continually +saying to himself: +</p> + +<p> +"It cannot be that the extravagances to which I am going will fail. He +will hear of me, or we may meet—then the invitation!—And then I will +propose the Brotherhood—God help me! But it is for him to invite me. +Patience, O my soul!" +</p> + +<p> +Extravagances! +</p> + +<p> +The exclamation helps us to an understanding of the style he was +carrying before the public—the silvering on his own black velvet robe, +the jewels in Lael's coronet bursting with light, the gorgeous finish of +the sedans, the barbaric costuming of Nilo. They were not significant of +his taste. Except for what they might bring him, he did not care for +jewels. And as for Lael, he would have loved her for her name's sake, +and her honest, untarnished Jewish blood. Let us believe so at least +until we find otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +Nilo, by this time familiar with every quarter of the city, was told the +boat was in readiness for the party at a landing near the Grand Gate of +Blacherne; to make which, it being on the Golden Horn well up in the +northwest, he must turn the hill back of the Prince's residence, and +pursue one of the streets running parallel with the wall. Thither he +accordingly bent his steps, followed by the porters of the sedans, and +an increasing but respectful assemblage of curious citizens. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had the progress begun before the Prince, watching through his +front window, saw a man approach the side of Lael's chair, and peer into +it. His wit served him well and instantly. +</p> + +<p> +"'Tis he—the insolent!—Close up!" he cried, to his porters. +</p> + +<p> +The intruder at the sound of his voice looked at him once, then +disappeared in the throng. He was young, handsome, showily dressed, and +beyond question the person of whom Lael had complained. Though smarting +under the insult, and a suspicion, suddenly engendered, of a watch kept +over his house, the Prince concluded the stranger was of noble +connection, and that the warrant for his boldness was referable to +family influence. While his subtle mind was pothering with schemes of +detection, the affair presented itself in another light, and he laughed +at his own dulness. +</p> + +<p> +"'Tis nothing," he reflected—"nothing! The boy is in love, and allowing +his passion to make a fool of him. I have only to see my pretty +Gul-Bahar does not return the madness." +</p> + +<p> +Deciding then to make inquiry and satisfy himself who the young admirer +was, he dismissed the subject. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Nilo turned into a street of some width compared with the +generality of thoroughfares in the city. On the left hand were shops and +pretentious houses; on the right, towered the harbor wall. The people +attending the procession increased instead of dispersing; but as they +continued in good nature, they gave him no concern. Their comments +amongst themselves were about equally divided between Nilo and Lael. +</p> + +<p> +"Beautiful, beautiful!" one said, catching sight of the latter through +the windows of the chair. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is she?" +</p> + +<p> +"A daughter of a Prince of India." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Prince—Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ask some one who knows. There he is in the second chair." +</p> + +<p> +Once a woman went close to Lael, snatched a look, and stepped back, with +clasped hands, crying: +</p> + +<p> +"'Tis the Sweet Mother herself!" +</p> + +<p> +Without other incident, the procession passed the gate of St. Peter, and +was nearing that of Blacherne, when a flourish of trumpets announced a +counter pageant coming down the street from the opposite direction. A +man near by shouted: +</p> + +<p> +"The Emperor! The Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +Another seconded him. +</p> + +<p> +"Long live the good Constantine!" +</p> + +<p> +The words were hardly uttered before they were answered: +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>azymite</i>! The <i>azymite</i>! Down with the betrayer of Christ!" +</p> + +<p> +In less than a minute the Prince was being borne along in the midst of +two howling factions. Scarcely knowing whether to take Lael into a house +or go on, he tried to communicate with Nilo; but in unconsciousness of +the tempest so suddenly risen, that grandson of a king marched on in +unremitted stateliness, until directly a band of trumpeters in +magnificent livery confronted him. +</p> + +<p> +The astonishment was mutual. Nilo halted, dropping his headless lance in +defence; the trumpeters quit blowing, and, opening order, filed hastily +by him, their faces saying with a distinctness words could not have +helped: +</p> + +<p> +"A son of Satan! Beware!" +</p> + +<p> +The chairs were also brought to a halt. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the people, now a mob apparently ready to tear each other into +bloody ribbons, refused to give way to the trumpeters. Nilo finally +comprehending the situation returned to Lael just as the Prince on foot +came up to her. She was pale and trembling with fear. +</p> + +<p> +The deadlock between the musicians and the mob was brought to an end by +the appearance of a detachment of the Imperial guard. A mounted officer, +javelin in hand, rode up and shouted: +</p> + +<p> +"The Emperor! Make way for the Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +While he was speaking, the horsemen behind him came on steadily. There +was irresistible persuasion in the glitter of their spears; besides it +was matter of universal knowledge that the steel panoply of each rider +concealed a mercenary foreigner who was never so happy as when riding +over a Greek. One yell louder and more defiant than any yet +uttered—"The azymite, the azymite!"—and the mob broke and fled. At a +signal from the officer, the guards, as they came on, opened right and +left of the chairs, and passed them with scarce notice. +</p> + +<p> +A few words from the Prince to Lael dispelled her fears. +</p> + +<p> +"It is an every-day affair," he said, lightly; "an amusement of the +people, the Roman factionists against the Greek. Nobody is ever hurt, +except in howling he opens his jaws too wide." +</p> + +<p> +The levity was affected, but mastering the irritation he really felt, +the Prince was about to make acknowledgment to the officer for his +timely intervention, when another personage appeared, claiming his +attention. Indeed his heart began beating unusually fast, and in spite +of himself his face flushed—he knew he had his wish—the meeting with +Constantine was come! +</p> + +<p> +The last Emperor of the Byzantines sat in an open chair borne upon the +shoulders of eight carriers in striking livery—a handsome man in his +forty-sixth year, though apparently not more than thirty-eight or forty. +His costume was that of Basileus, which was a religious dignity. +</p> + +<p> +A close-fitting cap of red velvet covered his head, with a knot of +purple silk triply divided on the top; while a pliable circlet of golden +scales, clearing the brows, held the cap securely in place. On each +scale a ruby of great size sparkled in solitaire setting. The circlet +was further provided with four strings of pearls, two by each ear, +dangling well down below in front of the shoulders. A loose drab robe or +gown, drawn close at the waist, clothed him, neck, arms, body and nether +limbs, answering excellently as ground for a cope the color of the cap, +divided before and behind into embroidered squares defined by rows of +pearls. Boots of purple leather, also embroidered, gave finish to the +costume. Instead of sword or truncheon, he carried a plain ivory +crucifix. The people staring at him from the doors and windows knew he +was going to Sancta Sophia intent on some religious service. +</p> + +<p> +While the Emperor was thus borne down upon the Prince, his dark eyes, +kindly looking, glanced from Nilo to Lael, and finally came to rest full +upon the face of the master. The officer returned to him. A few paces +off, the imperial chair stopped, and a conversation ensued, during which +a number of high officials who were of the sovereign's suite on foot +closed up in position to separate their Lord from a mounted rear guard. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India kept his mind perfectly. Having exchanged glances +with the Emperor, he was satisfied an impression was made strong enough +to pique curiosity, and at the same time fix him in the royal memory. +With a quick sense of the proprieties, he thereupon addressed himself to +moving his carriages to the left, that when the conference with the +officers was concluded the Emperor might have the right of way with the +least possible obstruction. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the Acolyte—such the officer proved to be—approached the +Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"His Imperial Majesty," he said, courteously, "would be pleased could I +inform him the name and title of the stranger whose progress he has been +so unfortunate as to interrupt." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince answered with dignity: +</p> + +<p> +"I thank you, noble sir, for the fair terms in which you couch the +inquiry, not less than the rescue I and my daughter owe you from the +mob." +</p> + +<p> +The Acolyte bowed. +</p> + +<p> +"And not to keep his Imperial Majesty waiting," the Prince continued, +"return him the compliments of a Prince of India, at present a resident +of this royal and ancient capital. Say also it will give me happiness +far beyond the power of words when I am permitted to salute him, and +render the veneration and court to which his character and place amongst +the rulers of the earth entitle him." +</p> + +<p> +At the conclusion of the complex, though courtierly reply, the speaker +walked two steps forward, faced the Emperor, and touched the ground with +his palms, and rising, carried them to his forehead. +</p> + +<p> +The answer duly delivered, the Emperor responded to the salaam with a +bow and another message. +</p> + +<p> +"His Imperial Majesty," the Acolyte said, "is pleased at meeting the +Prince of India. He was not aware he had a guest of such distinction in +his capital. He desires to know the place of residence of his noble +friend, that he may communicate with him, and make amends for the +hindrance which has overtaken him to-day." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince gave his address, and the interview ended. +</p> + +<p> +It is of course the reader's privilege to pass judgment upon the +incidents of this rencounter; at least one of the parties to it was +greatly pleased, for he knew the coveted invitation would speedily +follow. +</p> + +<p> +While the Emperor was borne past, Lael received his notice more +especially than her guardian; when they were out of hearing, he called +the Acolyte to his side. +</p> + +<p> +"Didst thou observe the young person yonder?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The coronet she wears certifies the Prince of India to be vastly rich," +the other answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, the Princes of India, if we may judge by common report, are all +rich; wherefore I thought not of that, but rather of the beauty of his +daughter. She reminded me of the Madonna on the Panagia in the transept +of our church at Blacherne." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0308"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +RACING WITH A STORM +</h3> + +<p> +One who has seen the boats in which fishermen now work the eddies and +still waters of the Bosphorus will not require a description of the +vessel the Prince and Lael stepped into when they arrived at the Grand +Gate of Blacherne. He need only be told that instead of being +pitch-black outside and in, it was white, except the gunwale which was +freshly gilt. The untravelled reader, however, must imagine a long +narrow craft, upturned at both ends, graceful in every line, and +constructed for speed and beauty. Well aft there was a box without +cover, luxuriously cushioned, lined with chocolate velvet, and wide +enough to seat two persons comfortably; behind it, a decked space for a +servant, pilot or guard. This arrangement left all forward for the +rowers, each handling two oars. +</p> + +<p> +Ten rowers, trained, stout, and clad in white headkerchiefs, shirts and +trousers of the same hue, and Greek jackets of brilliant scarlet, +profusely figured over with yellow braid, sat stolidly, blades in hand +and ready dipped, when the passengers took their places, the Prince and +Lael in the box, and Nilo behind them as guard. The vessel was too light +to permit a ceremonious reception. +</p> + +<p> +In front of the party, on the northern shore of the famous harbor, were +the heights of Pera. The ravines and grass-green benches into which they +were broken, with here and there a garden hut enclosed in a patch of +filbert bushes—for Pera was not then the city it now is—were of no +interest to the Prince; dropping his eyes to the water, they took in a +medley of shipping, then involuntarily turned to the cold gray face of +the wall he was leaving. And while seeing in vivid recollection the +benignant countenance of Constantine bent upon him from the chair in the +street, he thought of the horoscope he had spent the night in taking and +the forenoon in calculating. With a darkened brow, he gave the word, and +the boat was pushed off and presently seeking the broader channel of the +Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +The day was delightful. A breeze danced merrily over the surface of the +water. Soft white summer clouds hung so sleepily in the southwest they +scarce suggested motion. Seeing the color deepen in Lael's cheeks, and +listening to her questions, he surrendered himself to the pleasures of +the situation, not the least being the admiration she attracted. +</p> + +<p> +By ships at anchor, and through lesser craft of every variety they sped, +followed by exclamations frequently outspoken: +</p> + +<p> +"Who is she? Who can she be?" +</p> + +<p> +Thus pursued, they flew past the gate of St. Peter, turned the point of +Galata, and left the Fish Market port behind; proceeding then in +parallelism with the north shore, they glided under the great round +tower so tall and up so far overhead it seemed a part of the sky. Off +Tophane, they were in the Bosphorus, with Scutari at their right, and +Point Serail at their backs. +</p> + +<p> +Viewed from the harbor on the sea, the old historic Point leaves upon +the well informed an impression that in a day long gone, yielding to a +spasm of justice, Asia cast it off into the waves. Its beauty is +Circean. Almost from the beginning it has been the chosen place in which +men ran rounds gay and grave, virtuous and wanton, foolish and +philosophic, brave and cowardly—where love, hate, jealousy, avarice, +ambition and envy have delighted to burn their lights before +Heaven—where, possibly with one exception, Providence has more +frequently come nearer lifting its veil than in any other spot of earth. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again, the Prince, loth to quit the view, turned and refilled +his eyes with Sancta Sophia, of which, from his position, the wall at +the water's edge, the lesser churches of the Virgin Hodegetria and St. +Irene, and the topmost sections far extending of the palaces of Bucoleon +seemed but foundations. The edifice, as he saw it then, depended on +itself for effect, the Turk having not yet, in sign of Mohammedan +conversion, broken the line of its marvellous dome with minarets. At +length he set about telling stories of the Point. +</p> + +<p> +Off the site of the present palace of Dolma-Batchi he told of Euphrosyne, +the daughter of the Empress Irene; and seeing how the sorrowful fortune +of the beautiful child engaged Lael's sympathies, he became interested as +a narrator, and failed to notice the unusual warmth tempering the air +about Tchiragan. Neither did he observe that the northern sky, before so +clear and blue, was whitening with haze. +</p> + +<p> +To avoid the current running past Arnoot-Kouy, the rowers crossed to the +Asiatic side under the promontory of Candilli. +</p> + +<p> +Other boats thronged the charming expanse; but as most of them were of a +humbler class sporting one rower, the Prince's, with its liveried ten, +was a surpassing attraction. Sometimes the strangers, to gratify their +curiosity, drew quite near, but always without affronting him; knowing +the homage was to Lael, he was happy when it was effusively rendered. +</p> + +<p> +His progress was most satisfactory until he rounded Candilli. Then a +flock of small boats came down upon him pell-mell, the rowers pulling +their uttermost, the passengers in panic. +</p> + +<p> +The urgency impelling them was equally recognized by the ships and +larger vessels out in the channel. Anchors were going down, sails +furling, and oars drawing in. Above them, moreover, much beyond their +usual levels of flight troops of gulls were circling on rapid wings +screaming excitedly. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince had reached the part of greatest interest in the story he was +telling—how the cruel and remorseless Emperor Michel, determined to wed +the innocent and helpless Euphrosyne, shamelessly cheated the Church and +cajoled the Senate—when Nilo touched his shoulder, and awoke him to the +situation. A glance over the water—another at the sky—and he +comprehended danger of some kind was impending. At the same moment Lael +commenced shivering and complaining of cold. The air had undergone a +sudden change. Presently Nilo's red cloak was sheltering her. +</p> + +<p> +The boat was in position to bring everything into view, and he spoke to +the rowers: +</p> + +<p> +"A storm is rising." +</p> + +<p> +They ceased work, and looked over their shoulders, each for himself. +</p> + +<p> +"A blow from the sea, and it comes fast. What we shall do is for my Lord +to say," one of them returned. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince grew anxious for Lael. What was done must be for her—he had +no thought else. +</p> + +<p> +A cloud was forming over the whole northeastern quarter of the sky, +along the horizon black, overhead a vast gray wave, in its heart +copper-hued, seething, interworking, now a distended sail, now a sail +bursted; and the wind could be heard whipping the shreds into fleece, +and whirling them a confusion of vaporous banners. Yet glassy, the water +reflected the tint of the cloud. The hush holding it was like the drawn +breath of a victim waiting the first turn of the torturous wheel. +</p> + +<p> +The Asiatic shore offered the Prince a long stretch, and he persisted in +coasting it until the donjon of the White Castle—that terror to +Christians—arrested his eye. There were houses much nearer, some of +them actually overhanging the water; but the donjon seemed specially +inviting; at all events, he coolly reflected, if the Governor of the +Castle denied him refuge, the little river near by known as the Sweet +Waters of Asia would receive him, and getting under its bank, he might +hope to escape the fury of the wind and waves. He shouted resolutely: +</p> + +<p> +"To the White Castle! Make it before the wind strikes, my men, and I +will double your hire." +</p> + +<p> +"We may make it," the rower answered, somewhat sullenly, "but"— +</p> + +<p> +"What?" asked the Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"The devil has his lodgings there. Many men have gone into its accursed +gates on errands of peace, and never been heard of again." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"We lose time—forward! If there be a fiend in the Castle, I promise you +he is not waiting for us." +</p> + +<p> +The twenty oars fell as one, and the boat jumped like a steed under a +stab of the spur. +</p> + +<p> +Thus boldly the race with the storm was begun. The judgment of the +challenger, assuming the Prince to be such, may be questioned. The river +was the goal. +</p> + +<p> +Could he reach it before the wind descended in dangerous force?—That +was the very point of contest. +</p> + +<p> +The chances, it is to be remembered next, were not of a kind to admit +weighing with any approach to certainty; it was difficult even to +marshal them for consideration. The distance was somewhat less than +three-quarters of a mile; on the other part, the competing cloud was +wrestling with the mountain height of Alem Daghy, about four miles away. +The dead calm was an advantage; unfortunately it was more than offset by +the velocity of the current which, though not so strong by the littoral +of Candilli as under the opposite bluffs of Roumeli-Hissar, was still a +serious opposing force. The boatmen were skilful, and could be relied +upon to pull loyally; for, passing the reward offered in the event of +their winning, the dangers of failure were to them alike. Treating the +contest as a race, with the storm and the boat as competitors, the +Prince was not without chances of success. +</p> + +<p> +But whatever the outcome of the venture, Lael would be put to discomfort. +His care of her was so habitually marked by tender solicitude one cannot +avoid wondering at him now. +</p> + +<p> +After all he may have judged the affair more closely than at first +appears. The sides of the boat were low, but danger from that cause +might be obviated by the skill of the rowers; and then Alem Daghy was +not a trifling obstacle in the path of the gale. It might be trusted to +hold the cloud awhile; after which a time would be required by the wind +to travel the miles intervening. +</p> + +<p> +Certainly it had been more prudent to make the shore, and seek refuge in +one of the houses there. But the retort of the spirited Jew of that day, +as in this, was a contemptuous refusal of assistance, and the degree to +which this son of Israel was governed by the eternal resentment can be +best appreciated by recalling the number of his days on earth. +</p> + +<p> +At the first response to the vigorous pull of the oarsmen, Lael drew the +red cloak over her face, and laid her head against the Prince. He put +his arm around her, and seeing nothing and saying nothing, she trusted +in him. +</p> + +<p> +The rowers, pulling with strength from the start, gradually quickened +the stroke, and were presently in perfect harmony of action. A short +sough accompanied each dip of the blades; an expiration, like that of +the woodman striking a blow with his axe, announced the movement +completed. The cords of their brawny necks played fast and free; the +perspiration ran down their faces like rain upon glass. Their teeth +clinched. They turned neither right nor left; but with their straining +eyes fixed upon him, by his looks they judged both their own well-doing +and the progress of their competitor. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the boat pointed directly toward the Castle, the Prince watched +the cloud. Occasionally he commended the rowers. +</p> + +<p> +"Well done, my men!—Hold to that, and we will win!" +</p> + +<p> +The unusual brightness of his eyes alone betrayed excitement. Once he +looked over the yet quiet upper field of water. His was the only vessel +in motion. Even the great ships were lying to. No—there was another +small boat like his own coming down along the Asiatic shore as if to +meet him. Its position appeared about as far above the mouth of the +river as his was below it; and its three or five rowers were plainly +doing their best. With grim pleasure, he accepted the stranger as +another competitor in the race. +</p> + +<p> +The friendly heights of Alem, seen from the Bosphorus, are one great +forest always beautifully green. Even as the Prince looked at them, they +lost color, as if a hand out of the cloud had suddenly dropped a curtain +of white gauze over them. He glanced back over the course, then forward. +The donjon was showing the loopholes that pitted its southern face. +Excellent as the speed had been, more was required. Half the distance +remained to be overcome—and the enemy not four miles away. +</p> + +<p> +"Faster, men!" he called out. "The gust has broken from the mountain. I +hear its roaring." +</p> + +<p> +They turned involuntarily, and with a look measured the space yet to be +covered, the distance of the foe, and the rate at which he was coming. +Nor less did they measure the danger. They too heard its warning, the +muffled roar as of rocks and trees snatched up and grinding to atoms in +the inner coils of the cloud. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not a blow," one said, speaking quick, "but a"— +</p> + +<p> +"Storm." +</p> + +<p> +The word was the Prince's. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +Just then the water by the boat was rippled by a breath, purring, +timorous, but icy. +</p> + +<p> +The effect on the oarsmen was stronger than any word from the master +could have been. They finished a pull long and united; then while the +oars swung forward taking reach for another, they all arose to their +feet, paused a moment, dipped the blades deeper, gave vent to a cry so +continuous it sounded like a wail, and at the same time sunk back into +their seats, pulling as they fell. This was their ultimate exertion. A +jet of water spurted from the foot of the sharp bow, and the bubbles and +oar eddies flew behind indistinguishably. +</p> + +<p> +"Well done!" said the Prince, his eyes glowing. +</p> + +<p> +Thenceforward the men continued to rise at the end of a stroke, and fall +as they commenced delivery of another. Their action was quick, steady, +machine-like; they gripped the water deep, and made no slips; with a +thought of the exhilaration an eagle must feel when swooping from his +eyrie, the Prince looked at the cloud defiantly as a challenger might. +Each moment the donjon loomed up more plainly. He saw now, not merely +the windows and loopholes, but the joinery of the stones in their +courses. Suddenly he beheld another wonder—an army of men mounted and +galloping along the river bank toward the Castle. +</p> + +<p> +The array stretched back into the woods. In its van were two flags borne +side by side, one green, the other red. Both were surrounded by a troop +in bright armor. No need for him to ask to whom they belonged. They told +him of Mecca and Mahomet—on the red, he doubted not seeing the old +Ottomanic symbols, in their meaning poetic, in their simplicity +beautiful as any ever appropriated for martial purposes. The riders were +Turks. But why the green flag? Where it went somebody more than the +chief of a sanjak, more than the governor of a castle, or even a +province, led the way. +</p> + +<p> +The number trailing after the flags was scarcely less mysterious. They +were too many to be of the garrison; and then the battlements of the +Castle were lined with men also under arms. Not daring to speak of this +new apparition lest his oarsmen might take alarm, the Prince smiled, +thinking of another party to the race—a fourth competitor. +</p> + +<p> +He sought the opposing boat next. It had made good time. There were five +oarsmen in it; and, like his own, they were rising and falling with each +stroke. In the passengers' place, he could make out two persons whom he +took to be women. +</p> + +<p> +A roll of thunder from the cloud startled the crew. Clear, angry, +majestic, it filled the mighty gorge of the Bosphorus. Under the sound +the water seemed to shrink away. Lael looked out from her hiding, but as +quickly drew back, crowding closer to the Prince. To calm her he said, +lightly, +</p> + +<p> +"Fear nothing, O my Gul Bahar! A pretty race we are having with the +cloud yonder; we are winning, and it is not pleased. There is no +danger." +</p> + +<p> +She answered by doubling the folds of the gown about her head. +</p> + +<p> +Steadily, lithely, and with never an error the rowers drove through the +waves—steadily, and in exact time, their cry arose cadencing each +stroke. They did their part truly. Well might the master cry them, +"Good, good." But all the while the wind was tugging mightily at its +cloudy car; every instant the rattle of its wheels sounded nearer. The +trees on the hills behind the Castle were bending and bowing; and not +merely around the boat, but far as could be seen the surface of the +ancient channel was a-shirr and a-shatter under beating of advance +gusts. +</p> + +<p> +And now the mouth of the Sweet Waters, shallowed by a wide extended +osier bank, came into view; and the Castle was visible from base to +upper merlon, the donjon, in relief against the blackened sky, rising +more ghostly than ever. And right at hand were the flags, and the riders +galloping with them. And there, coming bravely in, was the competing +boat. +</p> + +<p> +Over toward Roumeli-Hissar the sea birds congregated in noisy flocks, +alarmed at the long line of foam the wind was whisking down the current. +Behind the foam, the world seemed dissolving into spray. +</p> + +<p> +Then the boats were seen from the Castle, and a company of soldiers ran +out and down the bank. A noise like the rushing of a river sounded +directly overhead. The wind struck the Castle, and in the thick of the +mists and flying leaves hurled at it, the donjon disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +"We win, we win, my men!" the Prince shouted. "Courage—good +spirit—brave work—treble wages! Wine and wassail to-morrow!" +</p> + +<p> +The boat, with the last word, shot into the little river, and up to the +landing of the Castle just as the baffled wind burst over the refuge. +And simultaneously the van of the army galloped under the walls and the +competing boat arrived. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0309"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +IN THE WHITE CASTLE +</h3> + +<p> +The landing was in possession of dark-faced, heavily bearded men, with +white turbans, baggy trousers, gray and gathered at the ankles, and arms +of every kind, bows, javelins, and cimeters. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, stepping from his boat, recognized them as Turkish soldiers. +He had hardly time to make the inspection, brief as it was, before an +officer, distinguished by a turban, kettle-shaped and elaborately +infolded, approached him. +</p> + +<p> +"You will go with me to the Castle," he said. +</p> + +<p> +The official's tone and manner were imperative. Suppressing his +displeasure, the Prince replied, with dignity: +</p> + +<p> +"The Governor is courteous. Return to him with my thanks, and say that +when I decided to come on in the face of the storm, I made no doubt of +his giving me shelter until it would be safe to resume my journey. I +fear, however, his accommodations will be overtaxed; and since the river +is protected from the wind, it would be more agreeable if he would +permit me to remain here." +</p> + +<p> +The response betrayed no improvement in manner: +</p> + +<p> +"My order is to bring you to the Castle." +</p> + +<p> +Some of the boatmen at this raised their eyes and hands toward heaven; +others crossed themselves, and, like men taking leave of hope, cried +out, "O Holy Mother of God!" +</p> + +<p> +Yet the Prince restrained himself. He saw contention would be useless, +and said, to quiet the rowers: "I will go with you. The Governor will be +reasonable. We are unfortunates blown to his hands by a tempest, and to +make us prisoners under such circumstances would be an abuse of one of +the first and most sacred laws of the Prophet. The order did not +comprehend my men; they may remain here." +</p> + +<p> +Lael heard all this, her face white with fear. +</p> + +<p> +The conversation was in the Greek tongue. At mention of the law, the +Turk cast a contemptuous look at the Prince, much as to say, Dog of an +unbeliever, what dost thou with a saying of the Prophet? Then dropping +his eyes to Lael and the boatmen, he answered in disdain of argument or +explanation: +</p> + +<p> +"You—they—all must go." +</p> + +<p> +With that, he turned to the occupants of the other boat, and raising his +voice the better to be heard, for the howling of the wind was very +great, he called to them: +</p> + +<p> +"Come out." +</p> + +<p> +They were a woman in rich attire, but closely veiled, and a companion at +whom he gazed with astonishment. The costume of the latter perplexed +him; indeed, not until that person, in obedience to the order, erected +himself to his full stature upon the landing, was he assured of his sex. +</p> + +<p> +They were the Princess Irene and Sergius the monk. +</p> + +<p> +The conversation between them in the Homeric palace has only to be +recalled to account for their presence. Departing from Therapia at noon, +according to the custom of boatmen wishing to pass from the upper +Bosphorus, they had been carried obliquely across toward the Asiatic +shore where the current, because of its greater regularity, is supposed +to facilitate descent. When the storm began to fill the space above Alem +Daghy, they were in the usual course; and then the question that had +been put to the Prince of India was presented to the Princess Irene. +Would she land in Asia or recross to Europe? +</p> + +<p> +The general Greek distrust of the Turks belonged to her. From infancy +she had been horrified with stories of women prisoners in their hands. +She preferred making Roumeli-Hissar; but the boatmen protested it was +too late; they said the little river by the White Castle was open, and +they could reach it before the storm; and trusting in their better +judgment, she submitted to them. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius, on the landing, pushed the cowl back, and was about to speak, +but the wind caught his hair, tossing the long locks into tangle. Seeing +him thus in a manner blinded, the Princess took up the speech. Drawing +the veil aside, she addressed the officer: +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou the Governor of the Castle?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"Are we to be held guests or prisoners?" +</p> + +<p> +"That is not for me to say." +</p> + +<p> +"Carry thou then a message to him who may be the Governor. Tell him I am +the Princess Irene, by birth near akin to Constantine, Emperor of the +Greeks and Romans; that, admitting this soil is lawfully the property of +his master the Sultan, I have not invaded it, but am here in search of +temporary refuge. Tell him if I go to his Castle a prisoner, he must +answer for the trespass to my royal kinsman, who will not fail to demand +reparation; on the other hand, if I become his guest, it must be upon +condition that I shall be free to depart as I came, with my friend and +my people, the instant the wind and waves subside. Yes, and the further +condition, that he wait upon me as becomes my station, and personally +offer such hospitality as his Castle affords. I shall receive his reply +here." +</p> + +<p> +The officer, uncouth though he was, listened with astonishment not in +the least disguised; and it was not merely the speech which impressed +him, nor yet the spirit with which it was given; the spell was in the +unveiled face. Never in his best dream of the perfected Moslem Paradise +had he seen loveliness to compare with it. He stood staring at her. +</p> + +<p> +"Go," she repeated. "There will be rain presently." +</p> + +<p> +"Who am I to say thou art?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene, kinswoman of the Emperor Constantine." +</p> + +<p> +The officer made a low salaam to her, and walked hurriedly off to the +Castle. +</p> + +<p> +His soldiers stood in respectful remove from the prisoners—such the +refugees must for the present be considered—leaving them grouped in +close vicinity, the Prince and the monk ashore, the Princess and Lael +seated in their boats. +</p> + +<p> +Calamity is a rough master of ceremonies; it does not take its victims +by the hand, and name them in words, but bids them look to each other +for help. And that was precisely what the two parties now did. +</p> + +<p> +Unsophisticated, and backward through inexperience, Sergius was +nevertheless conscious of the embarrassing plight of the Princess. He +had also a man's quick sense of the uselessness of resistance, except in +the way of protest. To measure the stranger's probable influence with +the Turks, he looked first at the Prince, and was not, it must be said, +rewarded with a return on which to found hope or encouragement. The +small, stoop-shouldered old man, with a great white beard, appeared +respectable and well-to-do in his black velvet cap and pelisse; his eyes +were very bright, and his cheeks hectic with resentment at the annoyance +he was undergoing; but that he could help out of the difficulty appeared +absurd. +</p> + +<p> +Having by this time rescued his hair from the wind, and secured it under +his cowl, he looked next at Lael. His first thought was of the unfitness +of her costume for an outing in a boat under the quietest of skies. A +glance at the Princess, however, allayed the criticism; while the display +of jewelry was less conspicuous, her habit was quite as rich and +unsubstantial. It dawned upon him then that custom had something to do +with the attire of Greek women thus upon the water. That moment Lael +glanced up at him, and he saw how childlike her face was, and lovely +despite the anxiety and fear with which it was overcast. He became +interested in her at once. +</p> + +<p> +The monk's judgment of the little old man was unjust. That master of +subtlety had in mind run forward of the situation, and was already +providing for its consequences. +</p> + +<p> +He shared the surprise of the Turk when the Princess raised her veil. +Overhearing then her message to the Governor, delivered in a manner +calm, self-possessed, courageous, dignified, and withal adroit, he +resolved to place Lael under her protection. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," he said, doffing his cap unmindful of the wind, and advancing +to the side of her boat, "I crave audience of you, and in excuse for my +unceremoniousness, plead community in misfortune, and a desire to make my +daughter here safe as can be." +</p> + +<p> +She surveyed him from head to foot; then turned her eyes toward Lael, +sight of whom speedily exorcised the suspicion which for the instant +held her hesitant. +</p> + +<p> +"I acknowledge the obligation imposed by the situation." she replied; +"and being a Christian as well as a woman, I cannot without reason +justifiable in sight of Heaven deny the help you ask. But, good sir, +first tell me your name and country." +</p> + +<p> +"I am a Prince of India exercising a traveller's privilege of sojourning +in the imperial city." +</p> + +<p> +"The answer is well given; and if hereafter you return to this interview, +O Prince, I beg you will not lay my inquiry to common curiosity." +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not," the Prince answered; "for I learned long ago that in the +laws prescribed for right doing prudence is a primary virtue; and making +present application of the principle, I suggest, if it please you to +continue a discourse which must be necessarily brief, that we do so in +some other tongue than Greek." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it in Latin then," she said, with a quick glance at the soldiers, +and observing his bow of acquiescence, continued, "Thy reverend beard, O +Prince, and respectable appearance, are warranties of a wisdom greater +than I can ever attain; wherefore pray tell me how I, a feeble woman, +who may not be able to release herself from these robbers, remorseless +from religious prejudice, can be of assistance to thy daughter, now my +younger sister in affliction." +</p> + +<p> +She accompanied the speech with a look at Lael so kind and tender it +could not be misinterpreted. +</p> + +<p> +"Most fair and gentle Princess, I will straight to the matter. Out on +the water, midway this and the point yonder, when too late for me to +change direction or stay my rowers, I saw a body of horsemen, whom I +judged to be soldiers, moving hurriedly down the river bank toward the +Castle. A band richly caparisoned, carrying two flags, one green, the +other red, moved at their head. The former, you may know, has a +religious signification, and is seldom seen in the field except a person +of high rank be present. It is my opinion, therefore, that our arrest +has some reference to the arrival of such a personage. In confirmation +you may yet hear the musical flourish in his honor." +</p> + +<p> +"I hear drums and trumpets," she replied, "and admit the surmise an +ingenious accounting for an act otherwise unaccountable." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Princess, with respect to thyself at least, call it a deed +intolerable, and loud with provocation." +</p> + +<p> +"From your speech, O Prince, I infer familiarity with these faithless +barbarians. Perhaps you can make your knowledge of them so far +serviceable as to tell me the great man's name." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I have had somewhat to do with Turks; yet I cannot venture the +name, rank or purpose of the newcomer. Pursuing the argument, however, +if my conjecture be true, then the message borne the Governor, though +spirited, and most happily accordant with your high degree, will not +accomplish your release, simply because the reason of the capture in the +first place must remain a reason for detaining you in the next. In +brief, you may anticipate rejection of the protest." +</p> + +<p> +"What, think you they will hold me prisoner?" +</p> + +<p> +"They are crafty." +</p> + +<p> +"They dare not!" and the Princess' cheek reddened with indignation. "My +kinsman is not powerless—and even the great Amurath"— +</p> + +<p> +"Forgive me, I pray; but there was never mantle to cover so many crimes +as the conveniences kings call 'reasons of state.'" +</p> + +<p> +She looked vaguely up the river which the tempest was covering with +promiscuous air-blown drifting; but recovering, she said: "It is for me +to pray pardon, Prince. I detain you." +</p> + +<p> +"Not at all," he answered. "I have to remark next, if my conjecture +prove correct, a lady of imperial rank might find herself ill at ease +and solitary in a hold like this Castle, which, speaking by report, is +now kept to serve some design of war to come more particularly than +domestic or social life." +</p> + +<p> +The imagination of the Princess caught the idea eagerly, and, becoming +active, presented a picture of a Moslem lair without women or apartments +for women. Her mind filled with alarm. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that I could recall the message!" she exclaimed. "I should not have +tempted the Governor by offering to become his guest upon any +condition." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, do not accuse yourself. The decision was brave and excellent in +every view," he said, perceiving his purpose in such fair way. "For +see—the storm increases in strength; yonder"—he pointed toward Alem +Daghy—"the rain comes. Not by thy choice, O Princess, but the will of +God, thou art here!" +</p> + +<p> +He spoke impressively, and she bent her head, and crossed herself twice. +</p> + +<p> +"A sad plight truly," he continued. "Fortunately it may be in a measure +relieved. Here is my daughter, Lael by name. The years have scarcely +outrun her childhood. More at mercy than thyself, because without rank +to make the oppressor careful, or an imperial kinsman to revenge a wrong +done her, she is subject to whatever threatens you—a cell in this +infidel stronghold, ruffians for attendants, discomforts to cast her +into fever, separation from me to keep her afraid. Why not suffer her to +go with you? She can serve as tirewoman or companion. In villany the +boldest often hesitate when two are to be overcome." +</p> + +<p> +The speech was effective. +</p> + +<p> +"O Prince, I have not words to express my gratitude. I am thy debtor. +Heaven may have brought this crisis, but it has not altogether deserted +me—And in good time! See—my messenger, with a following! Let thy +daughter come, and sit with me now—and do thou stand by to lend me of +thy wisdom in case appeal to it become necessary. Quick! Nay, Prince, +Sergius is young and strong. Permit him to bring the child to me." +</p> + +<p> +The monk made haste. Drawing the boat close to the shore, he gave Lael +his strong hand. Directly she was delivered to the Princess, and seated +beside her. +</p> + +<p> +"Now they may come!" +</p> + +<p> +Thus the Princess acknowledged the strength derivable from companionship. +The result was perceptible in her voice once more clear, and her face +actually sparkling with confidence and courage. +</p> + +<p> +Then, drawn together in one group, the refugees awaited the officer. +</p> + +<p> +"The Governor is coming," that worthy said, saluting the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +Looking toward the Castle, the expectants beheld a score or more men +issuing from the gate on foot. They were all in armor, and each +complemented the buckler on his arm with a lance from which a colored +pennon blew out straight and stiff as a panel. One walked in front +singly, and immediately the Prince and Princess fixed upon him as the +Governor, and kept him in eye curiously and anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +That instant rain in large drops began to fall. The Governor appeared to +notice the premonition, for looking at the angry sky he halted, and +beckoned to his followers, several of whom ran to him, received an +order, and then hastily returned to the Castle. He came on in quickened +gait. +</p> + +<p> +Here the Prince, with his greater experience, noticed a point which +escaped his associates; and that was the extraordinary homage paid the +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +At the landing the officer and soldiers would have prostrated themselves, +but with an imperious gesture, he declined the salutation. +</p> + +<p> +The observers, it may be well believed, viewed the man afar with +interest; when near, they scanned him as persons under arraignment study +the judge, that from his appearance they may glean something of his +disposition. He was above the average height of men, slender, and in +armor—the armor of the East, adapted in every point to climate and +light service. A cope or hood, intricately woven of delicate steel wire, +and close enough to refuse an arrow or the point of a dagger, defended +head, throat, neck, and shoulders, while open at the face; a coat, of +the same artistic mail, beginning under the hood, followed closely the +contour of the body, terminating just above the knees as a skirt. Amongst +Teutonic and English knights, on account of its comparative lightness, it +would have been distinguished from an old-fashioned hauberk, and called +<i>haubergeon</i>. A sleeveless <i>surcoat</i> of velvet, plain green in color, +overlaid the mail without a crease or wrinkle, except at the edge of the +skirt. <i>Chausses</i>, or leggins, also of steel, clothed the nether limbs, +ending in shoes of thin lateral scales sharply pointed at the toes. A +slight convexity on top, and the bright gold-gilt band by which, with +regular interlacement, the cope was attached, gave the cap surmounting +the head a likeness to a crown. +</p> + +<p> +In style this armor was common. The preference Eastern cavaliers showed +it may have been due in part at least to the fact that when turned out +by a master armorer, after years of painstaking, it left the wearer his +natural graces of person. Such certainly was the case here. +</p> + +<p> +The further equipment of the man admits easy imagining. There were the +gauntlets of steel, articulated for the fingers and thumbs; a broad +flexible belt of burnished gold scales, intended for the cimeter, fell +from the waist diagonally to the left hip; light spurs graced the heels; +a dagger, sparkling with jewels, was his sole weapon, and it served +principally to denote the peacefulness of his errand. As there was +nothing about him to rattle or clank his steps were noiseless, and his +movements agile and easy. +</p> + +<p> +These martial points were naturally of chief attraction to the Prince of +India, whose vast acquaintanceship with heroes and famous warriors made +comparison a habit. On her side, the Princess, to whom accoutrement and +manner were mere accessories, pleasing or otherwise, and subordinate, +sought the stranger's face. She saw brown eyes, not very large, but +exceedingly bright, quick, sharp, flying from object to object with +flashes of bold inquiry, and quitting them as instantly; a round forehead +on brows high-arched; a nose with the curvature of a Roman's; mouth +deep-cornered, full-lipped, and somewhat imperfectly mustached and +bearded; clear, though sunburned complexion—in brief, a countenance +haughty, handsome, refined, imperious, telling in every line of +exceptional birth, royal usages, ambition, courage, passion, and +confidence. Most amazing, however, the stranger appeared yet a youth. +Surprised, hardly knowing whether to be pleased or alarmed, yet +attracted, she kept the face in steady gaze. +</p> + +<p> +Halting when a few steps from the group, the stranger looked at them as +if seeking one in especial. +</p> + +<p> +"Have a care, O Princess! This is not the Governor, but he of whom I +spoke—the great man." +</p> + +<p> +The warning was from the Prince of India and in Latin. As if to thank +him for a service done—possibly for identifying the person he sought—the +subject of the warning slightly bowed to him, then dropped his eyes +to the Princess. A light blown out does not vanish more instantly than +his expression changed. Wonder—incredulity—astonishment—admiration +chased each other over his face in succession. Calling them emotions, +each declared itself with absolute distinctness, and the one last to come +was most decided and enduring. Thus he met her gaze, and so ardent, +intense and continuous was his, that she reddened cheek and forehead, and +drew down the veil; but not, it should be understood, resentfully. +</p> + +<p> +The disappearance of the countenance, in effect like the sudden +extinguishment of a splendor, aroused him. Advancing a step, he said to +her, with lowered head and perceptible embarrassment: +</p> + +<p> +"I come to offer hospitality to the kinswoman of the Emperor Constantine. +The storm shows no sign of abatement, and until it does, my Castle yonder +is at her order. While not sumptuous in appointment as her own palace, +fortunately there are comfortable apartments in it where she can rest +securely and with reserve. The invitation I presume to make in the name +of my most exalted master Sultan Amurath, who takes delight in the amity +existing between him and the Lord of Byzantium. To lay all fear, to +dispel hesitation, in his name again, together with such earnest of good +faith as lies in an appeal to the most holy Prophet of God, I swear the +Princess Irene shall be safe from interruption while in the Castle, and +free to depart from it at her pleasure. If she chooses, this tender of +courtesy may, by agreement, here in the presence of these witnesses, be +taken as an affair of state. I await her answer." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India heard the speech more astonished by the +unexceptional Latin in which it was couched than the propriety of the +matter or the grace of its delivery, though, he was constrained to +admit, both were very great. He also understood the meaning of the look +the stranger had given him at the conclusion of his warning to the +Princess, and to conceal his vexation, he turned to her. +</p> + +<p> +That moment two covered chairs, brought from the Castle, were set down +near by, and the rain began to fall in earnest. +</p> + +<p> +"See," said the Governor, "the evidence of my care for the comfort of +the kinswoman of the most noble Emperor Constantine. I feared it would +rain before I could present myself to her; nor that alone, fair +Princess—the chair must convict me of a wholesome dread of accusation +in Constantinople; for what worse could be said than that I, a faithful +Moslem, to whom hospitality is an ordination of religion, refused to +open my gates to women in distress because they were Christians. Most +noble and fair lady, behold how much I should esteem acceptance of my +invitation!" +</p> + +<p> +Irene looked at the Prince of India, and seeing assent in his face, +answered: +</p> + +<p> +"I will ask leave to report this courtesy as an affair of state that my +royal kinsman may acknowledge it becomingly." +</p> + +<p> +The Governor bowed very low while saying: +</p> + +<p> +"I myself should have suggested the course." +</p> + +<p> +"Also that my friends"—she pointed to the Prince of India, and the +monk—"and all the boatmen, be included in the safeguard." +</p> + +<p> +This was also agreed to; whereupon she arose, and for assistance offered +her hand to Sergius. Lael was next helped from the boat. Then, taking to +the chairs, the two were carried into the Castle, followed by the Prince +and the monk afoot. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0310"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER +</h3> + +<p> +The reader will doubtless refer the circumstance to the jealousy which +is supposed to prompt the Faithful where women are required to pass +before men; yet the best evidence of the Governor's thoughtfulness for +his female guests met them at their approach to the Castle. There was +not a man visible except a sentinel on the battlement above the gate, +and he stood faced inwardly, making it impossible for him to see them +when they drew near. +</p> + +<p> +"Where are the horsemen of whom you spoke? And the garrison, where are +they?" Sergius asked the Prince. +</p> + +<p> +The latter shrugged his shoulders, as he answered: +</p> + +<p> +"They will return presently." +</p> + +<p> +Further proof of the same thoughtfulness was presented when the two +chairs were set down in the broad stone-paved passage receiving from the +front door. The sole occupant there was a man, tall as the monk, but +unnaturally slender; indeed, his legs resembled those of a lay figure, +so thin were they, while the residue of his person, although clad in a +burnoose gorgeously embroidered, would have reminded a modern of the +skeletons surgeons keep for office furniture. Besides blackness deep as +the unlighted corner of a cellar, he had no beard. The Prince of India +recognized him as one of the indispensables of an Eastern harem, and +made ready to obey him without dissent—only the extravagance of the +broidery on the burnoose confirmed him in the opinion that the chief +just arrived outranked the Governor. "This is the Kislar Aga of a +Prince," he said to himself. +</p> + +<p> +The eunuch, like one accustomed to the duty, superintended the placement +of the chairs; then, resting the point of a very bright crescent-shaped +sword on the floor, he said, in a voice more incisive than the ordinary +feminine tenor: +</p> + +<p> +"I will now conduct the ladies, and guard them. No one will presume to +follow." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince replied: "It is well; but they will be comforted if permitted +to abide together." +</p> + +<p> +He spoke with deference, and the black responded: +</p> + +<p> +"This is a fort, not a palace. There is but one chamber for the two." +</p> + +<p> +"And if I wish to communicate with them or they with me?" +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Bismillah!</i>" the eunuch replied. "They are not prisoners. I will +deliver what thou hast for them or they for thee." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the Princess and Lael stepped from the chairs, and went with +their guide. When they were gone, word sped through the Castle, and with +clamor and clangor, doors opened, and men poured forth in companies. And +again the Prince reflected: "Such discipline pertains to princes only." +</p> + +<p> +Now the office of eunuch was by no means an exclusive pagan institution; +time out of mind it had been a feature of Byzantine courts; and +Constantine Dragases, the last, and probably the most Christian of Greek +emperors, not only tolerated, but recognized it as honorable. With this +explanation the reader ought not to be surprised if the Princess Irene +accepted the guidance offered her without fear or even hesitation. +Doubtless she had been in similar keeping many times. +</p> + +<p> +Climbing a number of stairways, the eunuch brought his fair charges into +a part of the Castle where there were signs of refinement. The floors +were swept; the doors garnished with rugs; a delicate incense lingered +in the air; and to rescue the tenants, whoever they might be, from +darkness, lighted lamps swung from the ceiling, and were affixed to the +walls. Stopping finally before a portiere, he held it aside while +saying: +</p> + +<p> +"Enter here, and be at home. Upon the table yonder there is a little +bell; ring, and I will answer." +</p> + +<p> +And seeing Lael clinging closely to the Princess, he added: "Be not +afraid. Know ye rather that my master, when a child, heard the story of +Hatim, a warrior and poet of the Arabs, and ever since he has lived +believing hospitality a virtue without which there can be no godliness. +Do not forget the bell." +</p> + +<p> +They entered and were alone. +</p> + +<p> +To their amazement the room was more than comfortably furnished. What +may be termed a chandelier swung from the ceiling with many lamps ready +for lighting; under it there was a circular divan; then along the four +sides a divan extended continuously, with pillows at the corners in +heaps. Matting covered the floor, and here and there rugs of gay dyes +offered noticeable degrees of warmth and coloring. Large trays filled +the deep recesses of the windows, and though the smell of musk +overpowered the sweet outgivings of the roses blooming in them, they +sufficed to rouge the daylight somewhat scantily admitted. The roughness +and chill of the walls were provided against by woollen drapery +answering for arras. +</p> + +<p> +They went first to one of the windows, and peered out. Below them the +world was being deluged with fiercely driven rain. There was the +Bosphorus lashed into waves already whitened with foam. The European +shore was utterly curtained from sight. Gust after gust raved around the +Castle, whistling and moaning; and as she beheld the danger escaped, the +Princess thought of the saying of the Prince of India and repeated it in +a spirit of thanksgiving: "By the will of God thou art here." +</p> + +<p> +The reflection reconciled her to the situation, and led on till presently +the face and martial figure of the Governor reproduced themselves to her +fancy. How handsome he appeared—how courteous—how young!—scarcely +older than herself! How readily she had yielded to his invitation! She +blushed at the thought. +</p> + +<p> +Lael interrupted the revery, which was not without charm, and for that +reason would likely return, by bringing her a child's slipper found near +the central divan; and while examining the embroidery of many-colored +beads adorning it, she divined the truth. +</p> + +<p> +Isolated as the Castle was on a frontier of the Islamic world, and +crowded with men and material of war, yet the Governor was permitted his +harem, and this was its room in common. Here his wives, many or few, for +the time banished to some other quarters, were in the habit of meeting +for the enjoyment of the scant pleasantries afforded by life like +theirs. +</p> + +<p> +Again she was interrupted. The arras over one of the walls was pushed +aside, and two women came in with refreshments. A third followed with a +small table of Turkish pattern which she placed on the floor. The +viands, very light and simple, were set upon the table; then a fourth +one came bringing an armful of shawls and wraps. The last was a Greek, +and she explained that the Lord of the Castle, her master, was pleased +to make his guests comfortable. In the evening later a more substantial +repast would be served. Meantime she was appointed to wait on them. +</p> + +<p> +The guests, assured by the presence of other women in the Castle, +partook of the refection; after which the table was removed, and the +attendants for the present dismissed. Wrapping themselves then in +shawls, for they had not altogether escaped the rain, and were beginning +to feel the mists stealing into the chamber through the unglazed +windows, they took to the divan, piling the cushions about them +defensively. +</p> + +<p> +In this condition, comfortable, cosey, perfectly at rest, and with the +full enjoyment of the sensations common to every one in the midst of a +novel adventure, the Princess proceeded to draw from Lael an account of +herself; and the ingenuousness of the girl proved very charming, coupled +as it was with a most unexpected intelligence. The case was the not +unusual one of education wholly unsupported by experience. The real +marvel to the inquisitor was that she should have made discovery of two +such instances the same day, and been thrown into curious relation with +them. And as women always run parallels between persons who interest +them, the Princess was struck with the similarities between Sergius and +Lael. They were both young, both handsome, both unusually well informed +and at the same time singularly unsophisticated. In the old pagan style, +what did Fate mean by thus bringing them together? She determined to +keep watch of the event. +</p> + +<p> +And when, in course of her account, Lael spoke of the Prince of India, +Irene awoke at once to a mystery connected with him. Lacking the full +story, the narrator could give just enough of it to stimulate wonder. +Who was he? Where was Cipango? He was rich—learned—knew all the +sciences, all the languages—he had visited countries everywhere, even +the inhabited islands. To be sure, he had not appeared remarkable; +indeed, she gave him small attention when he was before her; she +recalled him chiefly by his eyes and velvet pelisse. While she was +mentally resolving to make better study of him, the eunuch appeared +under the portiere, and, coming forward, said, with a half salaam to the +Princess: +</p> + +<p> +"My master does not wish his guests to think themselves forgotten. The +kinswoman of the most august Emperor Constantine, he remembers, is +without employment to lighten the passage of a time which must be irksome +to her. He humbly prays her to accept his sympathy, and sends me to say +that a famous story-teller, going to the court of the Sultan at +Adrianople, arrived at the Castle to-day. Would the Princess be pleased +to hear him?" +</p> + +<p> +"In what tongue does he recite?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, a most wise man!" +</p> + +<p> +Irene consulted Lael, and thinking to offer her amusement, assented to +the suggestion, with thanks to the Governor. +</p> + +<p> +"Have the veils ready," the eunuch said, as he retreated backward to the +door. "The story-teller is a man, and he will come directly." +</p> + +<p> +The story-teller was ushered in. He walked to the divan where his +auditors sat, slowly, as if he knew himself under close observation, and +courted it. +</p> + +<p> +Now caravans were daily shows in Constantinople. The little bell of the +donkey leading its string of laden camels through the narrow streets +might be heard any hour, and the Shaykh in charge was almost invariably +an Arab. So the Princess had seen many of the desert-born, and was +familiar with their peculiarities; never, however, had chance brought a +nobler specimen of the race before her. As he approached, stepping as +modern stage heroes are wont, she saw the red slippers, the white shirt +falling to the ankles and girdled at the waist, its bosom a capacious +pocket, the white and red striped cloak over the shoulders. She marked +the material of which they were made, the shirt of selected Angora wool, +the cloak of camel's hair, in its fineness iridescent and soft as +velvet. She saw in the girdle an empty scabbard for a yatagan +elaborately covered with brilliants. She saw on the head a kerchief of +mixed silk and cotton, tasselled, heavily striated red and yellow, and +secured by the usual cord; but she scarcely more than noticed them—the +air of the man, high, stately, king-like, was a superior attraction, and +she gazed at his face unconscious that her own was uncovered. +</p> + +<p> +The features were regular, the complexion sunburned to the hue of +reddish copper, the beard thin, the nose sharp, the cheeks hollow, the +eyes, through the double shade of brows and kerchief, glittered like +balls of polished black amber. His hands were crossed above the girdle +after the manner of Eastern servants before acknowledged superiors; his +salutation was expressive of most abject homage; yet when he raised +himself, and met the glance of the Princess, his eyes lingered, and +brightened, and directly he cast off or forgot his humility, and looked +lordlier than an Emir boasting of his thousand tents, with ten spears to +each, and a score of camels to the spear. She endured the gaze awhile; +for it seemed she had seen the face before—where, she could not tell; +and when, as presently happened, she began to feel the brightness of the +eyes intenser growing, the sensation reminded her of the Governor at the +landing. Could this be he? No, the countenance here was of a man already +advanced in life. And why should the Governor resort to disguise? The +end, nevertheless, was the same as on the landing—she drew down the +veil. Then he became humble again, and spoke, his eyes downcast, his +hands crossed: +</p> + +<p> +"This faithful servant"—he pointed to the eunuch "my friend"—the +eunuch crossed his hands, and assumed an attitude of pleased +attention—"brought me from his master—may the most Merciful and +Compassionate continue a pillow to the good man here and to his soul +hereafter!—how a kinswoman of the Emperor whose capital is to the earth +a star, and he as the brightness thereof, had taken refuge with him from +the storm, and was now his guest, and languishing for want of amusement. +Would I tell her a story? I have a horde of parables, tales, and +traditions, and many nations have contributed to it; but, alas, O +Princess! they are simple, and such as beguile tentmen and tentwomen +shut in by the desert, their fancies tender as children's. I fear your +laughter. But here I am; and as the night bird sings when the moon is +risen, because the moon is beautiful and must be saluted, even so I am +obedient. Command me." +</p> + +<p> +The speech was in Greek, with the slightest imperfection of accent; at +the conclusion the Princess was silent. +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou"—she at length said—"knowest thou of one Hatim, renowned +as a warrior and poet of the Arabs?" +</p> + +<p> +The eunuch saw the reference, and smiled. Asking of Hatim now was only +another form of inquiry after his master; not merely had the latter been +in her mind; she wished to know more about him. On his part, the +story-teller arose from his servile posture, and asked with the animation +of one to whom a favorite theme is presented: +</p> + +<p> +"Noble lady, know you aught of the desert?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have never been there," the Princess answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Though not beautiful, it is the home of mysteries," he said, with +growing enthusiasm. "When he whom in the same breath you worship as God +and the Son of God—an opposition beyond the depth of our simple +faith—made ready to proclaim himself, he went for a time into the +Wilderness, and dwelt there. So likewise our Prophet, seeing the dawn of +his day, betook himself to Hiva, a rock, bleak, barren, waterless. Why, +O Princess, if not for purification, and because God of preference has +founded his dwelling there, wasting it indeed the better to nurse his +goodness in a perfected solitude? Granting this, why may I not assert +without shocking you that the sons of the desert are the noblest of +men?— +</p> + +<p> +"Such was Hatim! +</p> + +<p> +"In the Hijaz and the Nejd, they tell of him thus: +</p> + +<p> +"In the day the Compassionate set about world-making, which is but a +pastime with him, nor nearly so much as nest-building to a mother-dove, +he rested. The mountains and rivers and seas were in their beds, and the +land was variegated to please him, here a forest, there a grassy plain; +nothing remained unfinished except the sand oceans, and they only wanted +water. He rested. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, if, with their sky, a sun-field in the day, a gallery of stars at +night, and their winds, flying from sea to sea, but gathering no taint, +the deserts are treeless, and unknowing the sweetness of gardens and the +glory of grass, it was not by accident or forgetfulness; for with him, +the Compassionate, the Merciful, there are no accidents or lapses of any +kind. He is all attention and ever present. Thus the Throne +verse—'Drowsiness overcomes him not nor sleep.... His firmament spans +the Heaven and the Earth, and the care of them does not distress him.' +</p> + +<p> +"Why then the yellowness and the burning, the sameness and solitude, and +the earth intolerant of rain and running stream, and of roads and +paths—why, if there was neither accident nor forgetfulness? +</p> + +<p> +"He is the High and the Great! Accuse him not! +</p> + +<p> +"In that moment of rest, not from weariness or overburden, but to +approve the work done, and record the approval as a judgment, he said, +speaking to his Almightiness as to a familiar: 'As it is it shall stay. +A time will come when with men I, and the very name of me, shall go out +utterly like the green of last year's leaf. He who walks in a garden +thinks of it only; but he who abides in a desert, wanting to see the +beautiful, must look into the sky, and looking there he shall be +reminded of me, and say aloud and as a lover, 'There is no God but him, +the Compassionate, the Merciful.... The eyes see him not, but he seeth +the eyes; and He is the Gracious, the Knowing'.... So also comes a time +when religion shall be without heart, dead, and the quickening of +worship lost in idolatry; when men shall cry, God, my God, to stones and +graven images, and sing to hear their singing, and the loud music it +goes with. And that time shall be first in lands of growth and +freshness, in cities where comforts and luxuries are as honey in hives +after the flowering of palms. Wherefore—Lo, the need of deserts. There +I shall never be forgotten. And out of them, out of their hardness and +heat, out of their yellow distances and drouth, religion shall arise +again, and go forth purified unto universality; for I shall be always +present there, a life-giver. And against those days of evil, I shall +keep men there, the best of their kind, and their good qualities shall +not rust; they shall be brave, for I may want swords; they shall keep +the given word, for as I am the Truth, so shall my chosen be; there +shall be no end to charity among them, for in such lands charity is +life, and must take every form, friendship, love of one another, love of +giving, and hospitality, unto which are riches and plenty. And in their +worship, I shall be first, and honor next. And as Truth is the Soul of +the World, it being but another of my names, for its salvation they +shall speak with tongues of fire, this one an orator, that one a poet; +and living in the midst of death, they shall fear me not at all, but +dishonor more. Mine are the Sons of the Desert—the Word-Keepers!—the +Unconquered and Conquerless! For my name's sake, I nominate them Mine, +and I alone am the High and the Great.... And there shall be amongst +them exemplars of this virtue and that one singly; and at intervals +through the centuries standards for emulation among the many, a few, in +whom all the excellences shall be blent in indivisible comeliness.' +</p> + +<p> +"So came Hatim, of the Bene-Tayyi, lustrous as the moon of Ramazan to +eager watchers on high hilltops, and better than other men, even as all +the virtues together are better than any one of them, excepting charity +and love of God. +</p> + +<p> +"Now Hatim's mother was a widow, poor, and without relations, but +beloved by the Compassionate, and always in his care, because she was +wise beyond the men of her time, and kept his laws, as they were known, +and taught them to her son. One day a great cry arose in the village. +Everybody rushed to see the cause, and then joined in the clamor. +</p> + +<p> +"Up in the north there was an appearance the like of which had never +been beheld, nor were there any to tell what it was from hearsay. Some +pooh-poohed, saying, contemptuously: +</p> + +<p> +"'Tis only a cloud.' +</p> + +<p> +"Others, observing how rapidly it came, in movement like a bird sailing +on outspread motionless wings, said: +</p> + +<p> +"'A roc! A roc!' +</p> + +<p> +"When the object was nearer, a few of the villagers, in alarm, ran to +their houses, shrieking: +</p> + +<p> +"'Israfil, Israfil! He is bringing the end of time!' +</p> + +<p> +"Soon the sight was nearly overhead; then it was going by, its edge +overhead, the rest of it extending eastwardly; and it was long and broad +as a pasture for ten thousand camels, and horses ten thousand. It had no +likeness earthly except a carpet of green silk; nor could those standing +under describe what bore it along. They thought they heard the sound of +a strong wind, but as the air above far and near was full of birds great +and small, birds of the water as well as the land, all flying evenly +with the carpet, and making a canopy of their wings, and shade deeper +than a cloud's, the beholders were uncertain whether the birds or the +wind served it. In passing, it dipped gently, giving them a view of what +it carried—a throne of pearl and rainbow, and a crowned King sitting in +majesty; at his left hand, an army of spirits, at his right, an army of +men in martial sheen. +</p> + +<p> +"While the prodigy was before them, the spectators stirred not; nor was +there one brave enough to speak; most of them with their eyes devoured +it all, King and throne, birds, men and spirits; though afterwards there +was asking: +</p> + +<p> +"'Did you see the birds?' +</p> + +<p> +"'No.' +</p> + +<p> +"'The spirits?' +</p> + +<p> +"'No.' +</p> + +<p> +"'The men?' +</p> + +<p> +"'I saw only the King upon His throne.' +</p> + +<p> +"In the passing, also, a man, in splendor of apparel, stood on the +carpet's edge and shouted: +</p> + +<p> +"'God is great! I bear witness there is no God but God.' +</p> + +<p> +"The same instant something fell from his hand. When the marvel was out +of sight in the south, some bethought them, and went to see what it was +which fell. They came back laughing, 'It was only a gourd, and as we +have much better on our camel-saddles, we threw it away.' +</p> + +<p> +"But the mother of Hatim, listening to the report, was not content. In +her childhood she heard what was tradition then; how Solomon, at the +completion of his temple in Jerusalem, journeyed to Mecca upon a carpet +of silk wafted by the wind, with men, spirits, and birds. Wherefore, +saying to herself, 'It was Solomon going to Mecca. Not for nothing threw +he the gourd,' she went alone, and brought it in, and opened it, finding +three seeds—one red, like a ruby; a second blue, like a sapphire; the +third green, like an emerald. +</p> + +<p> +"Now she might have sold the seeds, for they were beautiful as gems cut +for a crown, and enriched herself; but Hatim was all the world to her. +They were for him, she said, and getting a brown nut such as washes up +from vines in the sea, she cut it, put the treasures into it, sealed +them there, and tied them around the boy's neck. +</p> + +<p> +"'Thanks, O Solomon,' she said. 'There is no God but God; and I shall +teach the lesson to my Hatim in the morning, when <i>al hudhud</i> flies +for water; at noon, when it whistles to itself in the shade; and at +night, when it draws a wing over its head to darken the darkness, and +sleep.' +</p> + +<p> +"And from that day through all his days Hatim wore the brown nut with +the three seeds in it; nor was there ever such an amulet before or +since; for, besides being defended by the genii who are Solomon's +servants, he grew one of the exemplars promised by God, having in +himself every virtue. No one braver than he; none so charitable; none so +generous and merciful; none so eloquent; none on whose lips poetry was +such sweet speech for the exalting of souls; above all, never had there +been such a keeper of his word of promise. +</p> + +<p> +"And of this judge you by some of the many things they tell of him. +</p> + +<p> +"A famine fell upon the land. It was when Hatim had become Sheik of his +tribe. The women and children were perishing. The men could no more than +witness their suffering. They knew not whom to accuse; they knew no one +to receive a prayer. The time predicted was come—the name of God had +gone out utterly, like the green of last year's leaf. In the Sheik's +tent even, as with the poorest, hunger could not be allayed—there was +nothing to eat. The last camel had been devoured—one horse remained. +More than once the good man went out to kill him, but the animal was so +beautiful—so affectionate—so fleet! And the desert was not wide enough +to hold his fame! How much easier to say, 'Another day—to-morrow it may +rain.' +</p> + +<p> +"He sat in his tent telling his wife and children stories, for he was +not merely the best warrior of his day; he was the most renowned poet +and storyteller. Riding into battle, his men would say, 'Sing to us, O +Hatim—sing, and we will fight.' And they he loved best, listening to +him, had nigh forgot their misery, when the curtain of the tent was +raised. +</p> + +<p> +"'Who is there?' he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"'Thy neighbor,' and the voice was a woman's. 'My children are anhungred +and crying, and I have nothing for them. Help, O Sheik, help or they +die.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Bring them here,' he said, rising. +</p> + +<p> +"'She is not worse off than we,' said his wife, 'nor are her children +more hungry than ours. What will you do?' +</p> + +<p> +"'The appeal was to me,' he answered. +</p> + +<p> +"And passing out, he slew the horse, and kindled a fire; then, while the +stranger and her children were sharing piece by piece with his own, +'Shame, shame!' he said, 'that ye alone should eat;' and going through +the dowar, he brought the neighbors together, and he only went hungry. +There was no more of the meat left. Was ever one merciful like Hatim? +In combat, he gave lives, but took none. Once an antagonist under his +foot, called to him: 'Give me thy spear, Hatim,' and he gave it. +</p> + +<p> +"'Foolish man!' his brethren exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"'What else was there?' he answered. 'Did not the poor man ask a gift of +me?' +</p> + +<p> +"Never a captive besought his help vainly. On a journey once, a prisoner +begged him to buy his liberty; but he was without the money required, +and on that account he was sorely distressed. To his entreaties, the +strangers listened hard-heartedly; at last he said to them: +</p> + +<p> +"Am not I—Hatim—good as he? Let him go, and take me.' +</p> + +<p> +"And knocking the chains from the unfortunate, he had them put on +himself, and wore them until the ransom came. +</p> + +<p> +"In his eyes a poet was greater than a king, and than singing a song +well the only thing better was being the subject of a song. Perpetuation +by tombs he thought vulgar; so the glory unremembered in verse deserved +oblivion. Was it wonderful he gave and kept giving to story-tellers, +careless often if what he thus disposed of was another's? +</p> + +<p> +"Once in his youth—and at hearing this, O Princess, the brown-faced +sons of the desert, old and young, laugh, and clap their hands—he gave +of his grandfather's store until the prudent old man, intending to cure +him of his extravagance, sent him to tend his herds in the country. +Alas! +</p> + +<p> +"Across the plain Hatim one day beheld a caravan, and finding it +escorting three poets to the court of the King of El-Herah, he invited +them to stop with him, and while he killed a camel for each of them, +they recited songs in his praise, and that of his kin. When they wished +to resume the journey, he detained them. +</p> + +<p> +"'There is no gift like the gift of song,' he said. 'I will do better by +you than will he, the King to whom you are going. Stay with me, and for +every verse you write I will give you a camel. Behold the herd!' +</p> + +<p> +"And at departing, they had each a hundred camels, and he three hundred +verses. +</p> + +<p> +"'Where is the herd?' the grandfather asked, when next he came to the +pasture. +</p> + +<p> +"'See thou. Here are songs in honor of our house,' Hatim answered, +proudly—'songs by great poets; and they will be repeated until all +Arabia is filled with our glory.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Alas! Thou hast ruined me!' the elder cried, beating his breast. +</p> + +<p> +"'What!' said Hatim, indignantly. 'Carest thou more for the dirty brutes +than for the crown of honor I bought with them?'" +</p> + +<p> +Here the Arab paused. The recitation, it is to be remarked, had been +without action, or facial assistance—a wholly unornate delivery; and +now he kept stately silence. His eyes, intensely bright in the shadow of +the <i>kufiyeh,</i> may have produced the spell which held the Princess +throughout; or it may have been the eyes and voice; or, quite as likely, +the character of Hatim touched a responsive chord in her breast. +</p> + +<p> +"I thank you," she said, adding presently: "In saying I regret the story +ended so soon, I pray you receive my opinion of its telling. I doubt if +Hatim himself could have rendered it better." +</p> + +<p> +The Arab recognized the compliment with the faintest of bows, but made +no reply in words. Irene then raised her veil, and spoke again. +</p> + +<p> +"Thy Hatim, O eloquent Arab, was warrior and poet, and, as thou hast +shown him to me, he was also a philosopher. In what age did he live?" +</p> + +<p> +"He was a shining light in the darkness preceding the appearance of the +Prophet. That period is dateless with us." +</p> + +<p> +"It is of little consequence," she continued. "Had he lived in our day, +he would have been more than poet, warrior and philosopher—he would be +a Christian. His charity and love of others, his denial of self, sound +like the Christ. Doubtless he could have died for his fellow-men. Hast +thou not more of him? Surely he lived long and happily." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the Arab, with a flash of the eyes to denote his appreciation +of the circumstance. "He is reported to have been the most wretched of +men. His wife—I pray you will observe I am speaking by the tradition—his wife had the power, so dreadful to husbands, of raising Iblis at +pleasure. It delighted her to beat him and chase him from his tent; at +last she abandoned him." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" the Princess exclaimed. "His charities were not admirable in her +eyes." +</p> + +<p> +"The better explanation, Princess, may be found in a saying we have in +the desert—'A tall man may wed a small woman, but a great soul shall +not enter into bonds with a common one.'" +</p> + +<p> +There was silence then, and as the gaze of the story-teller was again +finding a fascination in her face, Irene took refuge behind her veil, +but said, presently: +</p> + +<p> +"With permission, I will take the story of Hatim for mine; but here is +my friend—what hast thou for her?" +</p> + +<p> +The story-teller turned to Lael. +</p> + +<p> +"Her pleasure shall be mine," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"I should like something Indian," the girl answered, timidly, for the +eyes oppressed her also. +</p> + +<p> +"Alas! India has no tales of love. Her poetry is about gods and abstract +religions. Wherefore, if I may choose, I will a tale from Persia next. +In that country there was a verse-maker called Firdousi, and he wrote a +great poem, <i>The Shah Nameh</i>, with a warrior for hero. This is how +Rustem, in single combat, killed Sohrab, not knowing the youth was his +son until after the awful deed was done." +</p> + +<p> +The tale was full of melancholy interest, and told with singular grace; +but it continued until after nightfall; of which the party was +admonished by the attendants coming to light the lamps. At the +conclusion, the Arab courteously apologized for the time he had wrested +from them. +</p> + +<p> +"In dealing with us, O Princess," he said, "patience is full as lovely +as charity." +</p> + +<p> +Lifting the veil again, she extended her hand to him, saying, "The +obligation is with us. I thank you for making light and pleasant an +afternoon which else had been tedious." +</p> + +<p> +He kissed her hand, and followed the eunuch to the door. Then the supper +was announced. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0311"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE TURQUOISE RING +</h3> + +<p> +The Prince of India, left in the passage of the Castle with Sergius, was +not displeased with the course the adventure appeared to be taking. In +the first place, he felt no alarm for Lael; she might be uncomfortable +in the quarter to which she had been conducted, but that was all, and it +would not last long. The guardianship of the eunuch was in his view a +guaranty of her personal safety. In the next place, acquaintance with +the Princess might prove serviceable in the future. He believed Lael +fitted for the highest rank; she was already educated beyond the +requirements of the age for women; her beauty was indisputable; as a +consequence, he had thought of her a light in the court; and not +unpleasantly it occurred to him now that the fair Princess might carry +keys for both the inner and outer doors of the royal residence. +</p> + +<p> +Generally the affair which was of concern to Lael was an affair of +absorbing interest to the Prince; in this instance, however, another +theme offered itself for the moment a superior attraction. +</p> + +<p> +The impression left by the young master of ceremonies in the reception +at the landing was of a kind to arouse curiosity. His appearance, +manner, speech and the homage paid him denoted exalted rank; while the +confidence with which he spoke for Sultan Amurath was most remarkable. +His acceptance of the terms presented by the Princess Irene was little +short of downright treaty-making; and what common official dared carry +assumption to such a height? Finally the Prince fell to thinking if +there was any person the actual governor of the Castle would quietly +permit to go masquerading in his authority and title. +</p> + +<p> +Then everything pointed him to Prince Mahommed. The correspondence in +age was perfect; the martial array seen galloping down the bank was a +fitting escort for the heir-apparent of the gray Sultan; and he alone +might with propriety speak for his father in a matter of state. +</p> + +<p> +"A mistake cannot be serious," said the Prince to himself, at the end of +the review. "I will proceed upon the theory that the young man is Prince +Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +This was no sooner determined than the restless mind flew forward to an +audience. The time and place—midnight in the lonesome old Castle—were +propitious, and he was prepared for it. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed it was the very purpose he had in view the night of the repast in +his tent at El Zaribah where he so mysteriously intrusted the Emir Mirza +with revelations concerning the doom of Constantinople. +</p> + +<p> +Once more he ran over the scheme which had brought him from Cipango. If +Islam could not be brought to lead in the project, Christendom might be +more amenable to reason. The Moslem world was to be reached through the +Kaliph whom he expected to find in Egypt; wherefore his contemplated +trip down the Nile from Kash-Cush. If driven to the Christian, +Constantine was to be his operator. Such in broadest generality was the +plan of execution he had resolved upon. +</p> + +<p> +But to these possibilities he had appended another of which it is now +necessary to speak. +</p> + +<p> +Enough has been given to apprise the reader of the things to which the +Prince preferably devoted himself. These were international affairs, and +transcendently war. If indeed the latter were not the object he had +always specially in mind, it was the end to which his management usually +conducted. For mere enjoyment in the sight of men facing the death which +strangely passed him by, he delighted in hovering on the edge of battle +until there was a crisis, and then plunging into its heated heart. +</p> + +<p> +He had also a peculiar method of bringing war about. This consisted in +providing for punishments in case his enterprises miscarried. Invariably +somebody suffered for such failures. In that way he soothed the pangs of +wounded vanity. +</p> + +<p> +When he was inventing the means for executing his plots, and forming the +relations essential to them, it was his habit to select instruments of +punishment in advance. +</p> + +<p> +Probably no better illustration of this feature of his dealings can be +given than is furnished by the affair now engaging him. If he failed to +move the Kaliph to lead the reform, he would resort to Constantine; if +the Emperor also declined, he would make him pay the penalty; then came +the reservation. So soon after his arrival from Cipango as he could +inform himself of the political conditions of the world to which he was +returning, he fixed upon Mahommed to avenge him upon the offending +Greek. +</p> + +<p> +The meeting with Mirza at El Zaribah was a favorable opportunity to +begin operating upon the young Turk. The tale the Emir received that +night under solemn injunctions of secrecy was really intended for his +master. How well it was devised for the end in view the reader will be +able to judge from what is now to follow. +</p> + +<p> +The audience with Mahommed determined upon by the Prince of India, our +first point of interest is in observing how he set about accomplishing +it. His promptness was characteristic. +</p> + +<p> +Directly the ladies had disappeared with the eunuch, the soldiers poured +from their hiding places in the Castle, and seeing one whom he judged an +officer, the Prince called to him in Turkish: +</p> + +<p> +"Ho, my friend!" +</p> + +<p> +The man was obliging. +</p> + +<p> +"Present my salutations to the Governor of the Castle, and say the +Prince of India desires speech with him." +</p> + +<p> +The soldier hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"Understand," said the Prince, quickly, "my message is not to the great +Lord who received me at the landing. But the Governor in fact. Bring him +here." +</p> + +<p> +The confident manner prevailed. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the messenger returned with a burly, middle-aged person in +guidance. A green turban above a round face, large black eyes in +muffling of fleshy lids, pallid cheeks lost in dense beard, a drab gown +lined with yellow fur, a naked cimeter in a silk-embroidered sash, +bespoke the Turk; but how unlike the handsome, fateful-looking +masquerader at the river side! +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince of India has the honor of speech with the Governor of the +Castle?" +</p> + +<p> +"God be praised," the Governor replied. "I was seeking your Highness. +Besides wishing to join in your thanks for happy deliverance from the +storm, I thought to discharge my duty as a Moslem host by conducting you +to refreshments and repose. Follow me, I pray." +</p> + +<p> +A few steps on the way, the Governor stopped: +</p> + +<p> +"Was there not a companion—a younger man—a Dervish?" +</p> + +<p> +"A monk," said the Prince; "and the question reminds me of my attendant, +a negro. Send for him—or better, bring them both to me. I wish them to +share my apartment." +</p> + +<p> +In a short time the three were in quarters, if one small room may be so +dignified. The walls were cold gray stone; one oblong narrow port-hole +admitted scanty light; a rough bench, an immense kettle-drum shaped like +the half of an egg-shell, and propped broadside up, some piles of loose +straw, each with folded sheepskins on it, constituted the furnishment. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius made no sign of surprise or disappointment. Possibly the chamber +and its contents were reproductions of his cell up in Bielo-Osero. Nilo +gave himself to study of the drum, reminded, doubtless, of similar +warlike devices in Kash-Cush. The Prince alone expostulated. Taking a +stand between the Governor and the door, he said: +</p> + +<p> +"A question before thou goest hence." +</p> + +<p> +The Turk gazed at him silently. +</p> + +<p> +"To what accommodations have the Princess Irene and her attendant been +taken? Are they vile as these?" +</p> + +<p> +"The reception room of my harem is the most comfortable the Castle +affords," the Governor answered. +</p> + +<p> +"And they?" +</p> + +<p> +"They are occupying it." +</p> + +<p> +"Not by courtesy of thine. He who could put the hospitality of the +Prince Mahommed to shame by maltreating one of his guests." +</p> + +<p> +He paused, and grimly surveyed the room. +</p> + +<p> +"Such a servant would be as evil-minded to another guest; and that the +other is a woman, would not affect his imbruited soul." +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince Mahommed!" the Governor exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. What brings him here, matters not; his wish to keep the Romans in +ignorance of his near presence, I know as well as thou; none the less, +it was his royal word we accepted. As for thee—thou mightest have +promised faith and hospitality with thy hand on the Prophet's beard, yet +would I have bidden the Princess trust herself to the tempest sooner." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius was now standing by, but the conversation being in Turkish, he +listened without understanding. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou ass!" the Prince continued. "Not to know that the kinswoman of the +Roman Emperor, under this roof by treaty with the mighty Amurath, his +son the negotiator, is our guardian! When the storm shall have spent +itself, and the waters quieted down, she will resume her journey. +Then—it may be in the morning—she will first ask for us, and then thy +master will require to know how we have passed the night. Ah, thou +beginnest to see!" +</p> + +<p> +The Governor's head was drooping; his hands crossed themselves upon his +stomach; and when he raised his eyes, they were full of deprecation and +entreaty. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Highness—most noble Lord—condescend to hear me." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak. I am awake to hear the falsehood thou hast invented in excuse of +thy perfidy to us, and thy treason to him, the most generous of masters, +the most chivalrous of knights." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Highness has greatly misconceived me. In the first place you have +forgotten the crowded state of the Castle. Every room and passage is +filled with the suite and escort of"— +</p> + +<p> +He hesitated, and turned pale, like a man dropped suddenly into a great +danger. The shrewd guest caught at the broken sentence and finished it: +</p> + +<p> +"Of Prince Mahommed!" +</p> + +<p> +"With the suite and escort," the Governor repeated.... "In the next +place, it was not my intention to leave you unprovided. From my own +apartments, light, beds and seats were ordered to be brought here, with +meats for refreshment, and water for cleansing and draught. The order is +in course of execution now. Indeed, your Highness, I swear by the first +chapter of the Koran"— +</p> + +<p> +"Take something less holy to swear by," cried the Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"Then, by the bones of the Faithful, I swear I meant to make you +comfortable, even to my own deprivation." +</p> + +<p> +"By thy young master's bidding?" +</p> + +<p> +The Governor bent forward very low. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said the Prince, softening his manner—"the misconception was +natural." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—yes." +</p> + +<p> +"And now thou hast only to prove thy intention by making it good." +</p> + +<p> +"Trust me, your Highness." +</p> + +<p> +"Trust thee? Ay, on proof. I have a commission"— +</p> + +<p> +The Prince then drew a ring from his finger. +</p> + +<p> +"Take this," he said, "and deliver it to the Emir Mirza." +</p> + +<p> +The assurance of the speech was irresistible; so the Turk held out his +hand to receive the token. +</p> + +<p> +"And say to the Emir, that I desire him to thank the Most Compassionate +and Merciful for the salvation of which we were witnesses at the +southwest corner of the Kaaba." +</p> + +<p> +"What!" exclaimed the Governor. "Art thou a Moslem?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a Christian." +</p> + +<p> +The Governor, accepting the ring, kissed the hand offering it, and took +his departure, moving backward, and with downcast eyes, his manner +declarative of the most abject humility. +</p> + +<p> +Hardly was the door closed behind the outgoing official, when the Prince +began to laugh quietly and rub his hands together—quietly, we say, for +the feeling was not merriment so much as self-gratulation. +</p> + +<p> +There was cleverness in having doubted the personality of the individual +who received the refugees at the landing; there was greater cleverness +in the belief which converted the Governor into the Prince Mahommed; but +the play by which the fact was uncovered—if not a stroke of genius, how +may it be better described? The Prince of India thought as he laughed: +</p> + +<p> +"Not long now until Amurath joins his fathers, and then—Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +Presently he stopped, a step half taken, his gaze upon the floor, his +hands clasped behind him. He stood so still it would not have been amiss +to believe a thought was all the life there was in him. He certainly did +believe in astrology. Had not men been always ruled by what they +imagined heavenly signs? How distinctly he remembered the age of the +oracle and the augur! Upon their going out he became a believer in the +stars as prophets, and then an adept; afterwhile he reached a stage when +he habitually mistook the commonest natural results, even coincidences, +for confirmations of planetary forecasts. And now this halting and +breathlessness was from sudden recollection that the horoscope lying on +his table in Constantinople had relation to Mahommed in his capacity of +Conqueror. How marvellous also that from the meeting with Constantine in +the street of the city, he should have been blown by a tempest to a +meeting with Mahommed in the White Castle! +</p> + +<p> +These circumstances, trifling to the reader, were of deep influence to +the Prince of India. While he stands there rigid as a figure marbleized +in mid action, he is saying to himself: +</p> + +<p> +"The audience will take place—Heaven has ordered it. Would I knew what +manner of man this Mahommed is!" +</p> + +<p> +He had seen a handsome youth, graceful in bearing, quick and subtle in +speech, cultivated and evidently used to governing. Very good, but what +an advantage there would be in knowing the bents and inclinations of the +royal lad beforehand. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the schemer's head arose. The boyish Prince was going about in +armor when soft raiment would be excusable—and that meant ambition, +dreams of conquest, dedication to martial glory. Very good indeed! And +then his manner under the eyes of the girlish Princess—how quickly her +high-born grace had captivated him! Something impossible were he not of +a romantic turn, a poet, sentimentalist, knight errant. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince clapped his hands. He knew the appeals effective with such +natures. Let the audience come.... Ah, but— +</p> + +<p> +Again he sunk into thought. Youths like Mahommed were apt to be wilful. +How was he to be controlled? One expedient after another was swiftly +considered and as swiftly rejected. At last the right one! Like his +ancestors from Ertoghrul down, the young Turk was a believer in the +stars. Not unlikely he was then in the Castle by permission of his +astrologer. Indeed, if Mirza had repeated the conversation and +predictions at El Zaribah, the Prince of India was being waited for with +an impatience due a master of the astral craft. Again the Wanderer +cried, "Let the audience come!" and peace and confidence were possessing +him when a loud report and continuous rumble in the room set the solid +floor to quaking. He looked around in time to see the big drum quivering +under a blow from Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +From the negro his gaze wandered to Sergius standing before the one +loophole by which light and air were let into the dismal chamber; and +recalling the monk as the sole attendant of the Princess Irene, he +thought it best to speak to him. +</p> + +<p> +Drawing near, he observed the cowl thrown back, and that the face was +raised, the eyes closed, the hands palm to palm upon the breast. +Involuntarily he stopped, not because he was one of those who always +presume the most Holy Presence when prayer is being offered—he stopped, +wondering where he had seen that countenance. The delicate features, the +pallid complexion, the immature beard, the fair hair parted in the +middle, and falling in wavy locks over the shoulders, the aspect manly +yet womanly in its refinement, were strangely familiar to him. It was +his first view of the monk's face. Where had he seen it? His memory went +back, far back of the recent. A chill struck his heart. The features, +look, air, portrait, the expression indefinable except as a light of +outcoming spirit, were those of the man he had helped crucify before the +Damascus gate in the Holy City, and whom he could no more cast out of +mind than he could the bones from his body. His feet seemed rooting into +the flinty flags beneath them. He heard the centurion call to him: "Ho, +there! If thou knowest the Golgotha, come show it." He felt the +sorrowful eyes of the condemned upon him. He struck the bloody cheek, +and cried as to a beast: "Go faster, Jesus!" And then the words, wrung +from infinite patience at last broken: +</p> + +<p> +"I am going, but do thou TARRY TILL I COME." +</p> + +<p> +For relief, he spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"What dost thou, my friend?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius opened his eyes and answered simply, "I am praying." +</p> + +<p> +"To whom?" +</p> + +<p> +"To God." +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou a Christian?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"God is for the Jew and the Moslem." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," said Sergius, looking at the Prince without taking down his +hands, "all who believe in God find happiness and salvation in Him—the +Christian as well as the Jew and the Moslem." +</p> + +<p> +The questions had been put with abrupt intensity; now the inquisitor +drew back astonished. He heard the very postulate of the scheme to which +he was devoting himself—and from a boy so like the dead Christ he was +working to blot out of worship he seemed the Christ arisen! +</p> + +<p> +The amazement passed slowly, and with its going the habitual shrewdness +and capacity to make servants of circumstances apparently the most +untoward returned. The youth had intellect, impressiveness, aptitude in +words, and a sublime idea. But what of his spirit—his courage—his +endurance in the Faith? +</p> + +<p> +"How came this doctrine to thee?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince spoke deferentially. +</p> + +<p> +"From the good father Hilarion." +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Archimandrite of Bielo-Osero." +</p> + +<p> +"A monastery?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"How did he receive it?" +</p> + +<p> +"From the Spirit of God, whence Christ had his wisdom—whence all good +men have their goodness—by virtue of which they, like Him, become sons +of God." +</p> + +<p> +"What is thy name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius." +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius"—the Prince, now fully recovered, exerted his power of +will—"Sergius, thou art a heretic." +</p> + +<p> +At this accusation, so terrible in those days, the monk raised the +rosary of large beads dangling from his girdle, kissed the cross, and +stood surveying the accuser with pity. +</p> + +<p> +"That is," the Prince continued with greater severity, "speak thou thus +to the Patriarch yonder"—he waved a hand toward Constantinople—"dare +repeat the saying to a commission appointed to try thee for heresy, and +thou wilt thyself taste the pangs of crucifixion or be cast to the +beasts." +</p> + +<p> +The monk arose to his great height, and replied, fervently: +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou when death hath the sweetness of sleep? I will tell thee"—A +light certainly not from the narrow aperture in the wall collected upon +his countenance, and shone visibly—"It is when a martyr dies knowing +both of God's hands are a pillow under his head." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince dropped his eyes, for he was asking himself, was such +sweetness of sleep appointed for him? Resuming his natural manner, he +said: "I understand thee, Sergius. Probably no man in the world, go thou +East or West, will ever understand thee better. God's hands under my +head, welcome death!—Let us be friends." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius took his offered hand. +</p> + +<p> +Just then there was a noise at the door, and a troop of servants entered +with lighted lamps, rugs, a table, stools, and beds and bedding, and it +was not long until the apartment was made habitable. The Prince, +otherwise well satisfied, wanted nothing then but a reply from Mirza; +and in the midst of his wonder at the latter's delay, a page in +brilliant costume appeared, and called out: +</p> + +<p> +"The Emir Mirza!" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0312"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE RING RETURNS +</h3> + +<p> +The Prince, at the announcement of Mirza, took position near the centre +of the room where the light was ample. His black velvet pelisse +contrasting strongly with his white hair and beard, he looked a +mysterious Indian potentate to whom occult Nature was a familiar, and +the stars oracular friends. +</p> + +<p> +Mirza's cheeks were scarcely so sun and sand stained as when we first +beheld him in conduct of the caravan to Mecca; in other respects he was +unchanged. His attire, like the lord Mahommed's at the reception on the +landing, was of chain mail very light and flexible. He carried a dagger +in his belt, and to further signify confidence in the Prince, the flat +steel cap forming his headgear was swinging loosely from his left arm; +or he might have intended to help his friend to a more ready recognition +by presenting himself bareheaded. He met his survey with unaffected +pleasure, took the hand extended in greeting, and kissed it +reverentially. +</p> + +<p> +"Forgive me, O Prince, if my first greeting have the appearance of a +reproach," Mirza said, as he gave up the hand. "Why have you kept us +waiting so long?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince's countenance assumed a severe expression. +</p> + +<p> +"Emir, I gave you confidence under seal." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir flushed deeply. +</p> + +<p> +"Was it knightly to betray me? To whom have you told the secret? How +many have been waiting for my coming?" +</p> + +<p> +"Be merciful, I pray." +</p> + +<p> +"But the stars. You have made me culprit with them. I may pardon you; +can you assure me of their pardon?" +</p> + +<p> +The Emir raised his head, and with an expostulatory gesture, was about +to reply, when the Prince continued, "Put thy words in the tongue +coinage of Italy, for to be overheard now were to make me an offender +like unto thyself." +</p> + +<p> +Mirza glanced hastily at Sergius, still praying before the loophole, and +at Nilo; then he surveyed the cell critically, and said, in Italian, +"This is the prison of the Castle—and thou—can it be I see thee a +prisoner?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince smiled. "The Governor led me here with my friends; and what +you behold of accommodations he sent in afterwards, saying the better +rooms were filled with soldiery." +</p> + +<p> +"He will rue the deed. My Lord is swift at righting a wrong, and trust +me, O Prince, to make report. But to return"—Mirza paused, and looked +into the Prince's eyes earnestly—"Is your accusation just? Hear me; +then by the motive judge. When I stood before my master, Prince Mahommed, +a returned pilgrim, if not taller in fact, his bearing was more majestic. +I kissed his hand wondering if some servant of the Compassionate, some +angel or travelling Jinn, had not arrived before me, and whispered him of +what you told me, speaking for the stars. And when we were alone, he +would have account of the countries journeyed through, of the people met, +of Medina and Mecca, and the other holy places; nor would he rest until +he had from me the sayings I had heard on the way, everything from calls +to prayer to the Khatib's sermon. When I told him I had not heard the +sermon, nor seen the preacher or his camel, he demanded why, and—what +else was there to do, O Prince?—I related how we had been pursued by the +terrible Yellow Air; how it had overtaken me; how I fell down dying at +the corner of the Kaaba, and by whom I was saved even as the life was +departing. This last directed him to you. My efforts to put him off but +whetted his desire. He would not be diverted or denied. He +insisted—urged—threatened. At last I told him all—of your joining us with the +Hajj from El Khatif—your rank and train—your marches in the rear—the +hundreds of miserables you saved from the plague—of our meeting at +Zaribah, your hospitality, your learning in all that pertains to the +greatest of the prophets, your wisdom above the wisdom of other men. And +you grew upon him as I proceeded. 'Oh, a good man truly!' 'What courage!' +'What charity!' 'The Prophet himself!' 'Oh, that I had been you!' 'O +foolish Mirza, to suffer such a man to escape!' With such exclamations he +kept breaking up my story. It was not long until he fastened upon our +meeting in the tent. He plied me to know of what we talked—what you +said, and all you said. O Prince, if you did but know him; if you knew +the soul possessing him, the intellectual things he has mastered, his +sagacity, his art, his will, his day-dreams pursuing him in sleep, the +deeds he is prepared to do, the depth and strength of his passions, his +admiration for heroes, his resolve to ring the world with the greatness +of his name—Oh, knew you the man as I do, were you his lover as I am, +his confidant—had you, for teaching him to ride and strike with sword +and spear, his promise of a share in the glory beckoning him on, making +his mighty expectations a part of you even as they are of him, would +you—ah, Prince, could you have withheld the secret? Think of the +revelation! The old East to awake, and march against the West! +Constantinople doomed! And he the leader for whom the opportunity is +waiting! And to call my weakness betrayal! Unsay it, unsay it, Prince!" +</p> + +<p> +The face of the auditor as Mirza proceeded with his defence would have +been a profitable study. He saw himself succeeding in the purpose of his +affected severity; he was drawing from Mahommed's intimate the +information he most desired; and thus advised in advance, his role in +the interview coming would be of easy foresight and performance. Not to +appear too lightly satisfied, however, he said gravely, "I see the +strain you underwent, my gallant friend. I see also the earnestness of +your affection for your most noble pupil. He is to be congratulated upon +the possession of a servant capable of such discernment and devotion. +But I recall my question—How many are there waiting for me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your revelations, O Prince, were imparted to my master alone; and with +such certainty as you know yourself, you may believe them at rest in his +bosom. No one better than he appreciates the importance of keeping them +there under triple lock. More than one defeat—I think he would permit +the confession—has taught him that secrecy is the life of every +enterprise." +</p> + +<p> +"Say you so, Emir? I feel warmth returning to my hope. Nay, listening to +you, and not believing in improvised heroes, I see how your course may +have been for the best. The years gone since you yielded to his +importunities, wisely used, have doubtless served him providentially." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince extended his hand again, and it was ardently taken; then, on +his part, more than pleased, Mirza said, "I bring you a message from my +Lord Mahommed. I was with him when the Governor came and delivered your +ring to me—and, lest I forget a duty, Prince, here it is—take it at +some future time it may be serviceable as today." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, well thought!" the Jew exclaimed, replacing the signet on his +finger, and immediately, while looking at the turquoise eye, he dropped +his tone into the solemn, "Ay, the obligations of the Pentagram +endure—they are like a decree of God." +</p> + +<p> +The words and manner greatly impressed Mirza. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord Mahommed," he said, "observed the delivery of the ring to me by +the Governor; and when we were alone, and I had recounted the story of +the jewels, 'What!' my Lord cried, quite as transported as myself. 'That +wonderful man—he here—here in this Castle! He shall not escape me. +Send for him at once. I brook no delay.' He stamped his foot. 'Lest he +vanish in the storm—go!' When I was at the door, he bade me come back. +'The elder man with the white beard and black eyes, said you? It were +well for me to begin by consulting his comfort. He may be tired, and in +want of repose; his accommodations may be insufficient; wherefore go see +him first, and ascertain his state and wishes.' And as I was going, he +summoned me to return again. 'A moment—stay!' he said.'The circumstance +enlarges with thought. Thou knowest, Mirza, I did not come here with a +special object; I was drawn involuntarily; now I see it was to meet him. +It is a doing of the stars. I shall hear from them!' O Prince"—Mirza's +eyes sparkled, arid he threw up both his hands—"if ever man believed +what he said, my master did." +</p> + +<p> +"A wise master truly," said the Jew, struggling with his exultation. +"What said he next?" +</p> + +<p> +"'While I am honoring their messenger'—thus my Lord continued—'why not +honor the stars? Their hour is midnight, for then they are all out, from +this horizon and that calling unto each other, and merging their +influences into the harmony the preachers call the Will of the Most +Merciful. A good hour for the meeting. Hear, Mirza—at midnight—in this +room. Go now.' And so it is appointed." +</p> + +<p> +"And well appointed, Emir." +</p> + +<p> +"Shall I so report?" +</p> + +<p> +"With my most dutiful protestations." +</p> + +<p> +"Look for me then at midnight." +</p> + +<p> +"I shall be awake, and ready." +</p> + +<p> +"Meantime, Prince, I will seek an apartment more in correspondence with +the degree of my Lord's most honored guest." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, good Mirza, suffer me to advise in that matter. The bringing me +into this place was a mistake of the Governor's. He could not divine the +merit I have in your master's eyes. He took me for a Christian. I +forgive him, and pray he may not be disturbed. He may be useful to me. +Upon the springing of a mischance—there is one such this instant in my +mind's eye—I may be driven to come back to this Castle. In such an +event, I prefer him my servant rather than my enemy." +</p> + +<p> +"O Prince!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Emir, the idea is only a suggestion of one of the Prophets whom +Allah stations at the turns in every man's career." +</p> + +<p> +"But every man cannot see the Prophets." +</p> + +<p> +The Jew finished gravely: "Rather than disturb the Governor further, +soothe him for me; and when the Lord Mahommed goes hence, do thou see an +instruction is left putting the Castle and its chief at my order. Also, +as thou art a grateful friend, Mirza, serve me by looking into the +kettles out of which we are to have our refreshment, and order concerning +them as for thyself. I feel a stir of appetite." +</p> + +<p> +The Emir backed from the apartment, leaving a low salaam just outside +the door. +</p> + +<p> +If the reader thinks the Prince content now, he is not mistaken. True he +paced the floor long and rapidly; but, feeling himself close upon a turn +in his course, he was making ready for it perfectly as possible by +consulting the Prophet whom he saw waiting there. +</p> + +<p> +And as the Lord Mahommed failed not to remember them what time he betook +himself to supper, the three guests up in the prison fared well, nor +cared for the howling of the wind, and the bursting and beating of the +rain still rioting without the walls. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0313"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIII +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS +</h3> + +<p> +The second recall of the Emir Mirza departing with the appointment for +the Prince of India was remarkable, considering Mahommed's usual +quickness of conclusion and steadiness of purpose; and the accounting +for it is noteworthy. +</p> + +<p> +So completely had the young Turk been taken up by study and military +service that leisure for love had been denied him; else he either +despised the passion or had never met a woman to catch his fancy and +hold it seriously. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen him make the White Castle by hard galloping before the +bursting of the storm. While at the gate, and in the midst of his +reception there, the boats were reported making all speed to the river +landing; and not wishing his presence at the Castle to be known in +Constantinople, he despatched an under officer to seize the voyagers, +and detain them until he had crossed the Bosphorus <i>en route</i> to +Adrianople. However, directly the officer brought back the spirited +message of the Princess Irene to the Governor of the Castle, his mind +underwent a change. +</p> + +<p> +"What," he asked, "sayst thou the woman is akin to the Emperor +Constantine?" +</p> + +<p> +"Such is her claim, my Lord, and she looks it." +</p> + +<p> +"Is she old?" +</p> + +<p> +"Young, my Lord—not more than twenty." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed addressed the Governor: +</p> + +<p> +"Stay thou here. I will take thy office, and wait upon this Princess." +</p> + +<p> +Dismounting, then, in the capacity of Governor of the Castle, he +hastened to the landing, curious as well as desirous of offering refuge +to the noble lady. +</p> + +<p> +He saw her first a short way off, and was struck with her composed +demeanor. During the discussion of his tender of hospitality, her face +was in fair view, and it astonished him. When finally she stepped from +the boat, her form, delicately observable under the rich and graceful +drapery, and so exquisitely in correspondence with her face, still +further charmed him. +</p> + +<p> +Before the chairs were raised, he sent a messenger to the Castle with +orders to place everybody in hiding, and for his Kislar-Aga, or chief +eunuch, to be in the passage of entrance to receive and take charge of +the kinswoman of the Emperor and her attendant. By a further order the +Governor proper was directed to vacate his harem apartments for her +accommodation. +</p> + +<p> +In the Castle, after the Princess had been thus disposed of, the +impression she made upon him increased. +</p> + +<p> +"She is so high-born!—so beautiful!—She has such spirit and mind!—She +is so calm under trial—so courageous—so decorous—so used to courtly +life!" +</p> + +<p> +Such exclamations attested the unwonted ferment going on in his mind. +Gradually, as tints under the brush of a skilful painter lose themselves +in one effect, his undefined ideas took form. +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah! What a Sultana for a hero!" +</p> + +<p> +And by repetition this ran on into what may be termed the chorus of a +love song—the very first of the kind his soul had ever sung. +</p> + +<p> +Such was Mahommed's state when Mirza received the turquoise ring, and, +announcing the Prince of India, asked for orders. Was it strange he +changed his mind? Indeed he was at the moment determining to see again +the woman who had risen upon him like a moon above a lake; so, directly +he had despatched the Emir to the Prince of India with the appointment +for midnight, he sent for an Arab Sheik of his suite, arrayed himself in +the latter's best habit, and stained his hands, neck, and face-turned +himself, in brief, into the story-teller whom we have seen admitted to +amuse the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +At midnight, sharply as the hour could be determined by the uncertain +appliances resorted to by the inmates of the Castle, Mirza appeared at +his master's door with the mystical Indian, and, passing the sentinel +there, knocked like one knowing himself impatiently awaited. A voice +bade them enter. +</p> + +<p> +The young Turk, upon their entrance, arose from a couch of many cushions +prepared for him under a canopy in the centre of the room. +</p> + +<p> +"This, my Lord, is the Prince of India" said Mirza; then, almost without +pause, he turned to the supposed Indian, and added more ceremoniously: +"Be thou happy, O Prince! The East hath not borne a son so worthy to +take the flower from the tomb of Saladin, and wear it, as my master +here—the Lord Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +Then, his duty done, the Emir retired. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed was in the garb used indoors immemorially by his race—sharply +pointed slippers, immense trousers gathered at the ankles, a yellow +quilted gown dropping below the knees, and a turban of balloon shape, +its interfolding stayed by an aigrette of gold and diamonds. His head +was shaven up to the edge of the turban, so that, the light falling from +a cluster of lamps in suspension from the ceiling, every feature was in +plain exposure. Looking into the black eyes scarcely shaded by the +upraised arching brows, the Prince of India saw them sparkle with +invitation and pleasure, and was himself satisfied. +</p> + +<p> +He advanced, and saluted by falling upon his knees, and kissing the back +of his hands laid palm downward on the floor. Mahommed raised him to his +feet. +</p> + +<p> +"Rise, O Prince!" he said—"rise, and come sit with me." +</p> + +<p> +From behind the couch, the Turk dragged a chair of ample seat, railed +around except at the front, and provided with a cushion of camel's +hair—a chair such as teachers in the Mosques use when expounding to +their classes. This he placed so while he sat on the couch the visitor +would be directly before him, and but little removed. Soon the two were +sitting cross-legged face to face. +</p> + +<p> +"A man devout as the Prince of India is reported to me," Mahommed began, +in a voice admirably seconding the respectful look he fixed upon the +other, "must be of the rightly guided, who believe in God and the Last +Day, and observe prayer, and pay the alms, and dread none but God—who +therefore of right frequent the temples." +</p> + +<p> +"Your words, my Lord, are those of the veritable messenger of the most +high Heaven," the Wanderer responded, bending forward as if about to +perform a prostration. "I recognize them, and they give me the sensation +of being in a garden of perpetual abode, with a river running beneath +it." Mahommed, perceiving the quotation from the Koran, bent low in +turn, saying: "It is good to hear you, for as I listen I say to myself, +This one is of the servants of the Merciful who are to walk upon the +earth softly. I accost you in advance, Welcome and Peace." +</p> + +<p> +After a short silence, he continued: "A frequenter of mosques, you will +see, O Prince, I have put you in the teacher's place. I am the student. +Yours to open the book and read; mine to catch the pearls of your saying, +lest they fall in the dust, and be lost." +</p> + +<p> +"I fear my Lord does me honor overmuch; yet there is a beauty in +willingness even where one cannot meet expectation. Of what am I to +speak?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed knit his brows, and asked imperiously, "Who art thou? Of that +tell me first." +</p> + +<p> +Happily for the Prince, he had anticipated this demand, and, being +intensely watchful, was ready for it, and able to reply without +blenching: "The Emir introduced me rightly. I am a Prince of India." +</p> + +<p> +"Now of thy life something." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord's request is general—perhaps he framed it with design. Left +thus to my own judgment, I will be brief, and choose from the mass of my +life." +</p> + +<p> +There was not the slightest sign of discomposure discernible in the look +or tone of the speaker; his air was more than obliging—he seemed to be +responding to a compliment. +</p> + +<p> +"I began walk as a priest—a disciple of Siddhartha, whom my Lord, of +his great intelligence, will remember as born in Central India. Very +early, on account of my skill in translation, I was called to China, and +there put to rendering the Thirty-five Discourses of the father of the +Budhisattwa into Chinese and Thibettan. I also published a version of +the Lotus of the Good Law, and another of the Nirvana. These brought me +a great honor. To an ancestor of mine, Maha Kashiapa, Buddha happened to +have intrusted his innermost mysteries—that is, he made him Keeper of +the Pure Secret of the Eye of Right Doctrine. Behold the symbol of that +doctrine." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince drew a leaf of ivory, worn and yellow, from a pocket under +his pelisse, and passed it to Mahommed, saying, "Will my lord look?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed took the leaf, and in the silver sunk into it saw this sign: +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration] +</p> + +<p> +"I see," he said, gravely. "Give me its meaning." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my Lord, did I that, the doctrine of which, as successor of +Kashiapa, though far removed, they made me Keeper—the very highest of +Buddhistic honors—would then be no longer a secret. The symbol is of +vast sanctity. There is never a genuine image of Buddha without it over +his heart. It is the monogram of Vishnu and Siva; but as to its meaning, +I can only say every Brahman of learning views it worshipfully, knowing +it the compression of the whole mind of Buddha." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed respected the narrator's compunction, and returned the symbol, +saying simply, "I have heard of such things." +</p> + +<p> +"To pursue," the Prince then said, confident of the impression he was +producing: "At length I returned to my own country enriched beyond every +hope. A disposition to travel seized me. One day, passing the desert to +Baalbec, some Bedouin made me prisoner, and carrying me to Mecca, sold +me to the Scherif there; a good man who respected my misfortune and +learning—may the youths ever going in Paradise forget not his cup of +flowing wine!—and wrought with me over the Book of the One God until I +became a believer like himself. Then, as I had exchanged the hope of +Nirvana for the better and surer hope of Islam, he set me free.... Again +in my native land, I betook myself to astrologic studies, being the more +inclined thereto by reason of the years I had spent in contemplating the +abstrusities of Siddhartha. I became an adept—something, as my Lord may +already know, impossible to such as go about unknowing the whole earth +and heavens, and the powers superior, those of the sky, and those +lesser, meaning Kings, Emperors, and Sultans." +</p> + +<p> +"How!" exclaimed Mahommed. "Is not every astrologer an adept?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince answered softly, seeing the drift was toward the professor in +the young Turk's service. "There is always a better until we reach the +best. Even the stars differ from each other in degree." +</p> + +<p> +"But how may a man know the superior powers?" +</p> + +<p> +"The sum of the observations kept by the wise through the ages, and +recorded by them, is a legacy for the benefit of the chosen few. Had my +Lord the taste, and were he not already devoted by destiny, I could take +him to a college where what is now so curious to him is simple reading." +</p> + +<p> +The hard and doubting expression on Mahommed's face began to soften, yet +he persisted: "Knowing the superior, why is it needful to know the +inferior powers?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord trenches now upon the forbidden, yet I will answer as his +shrewdness deserves. Never man heard from the stars in direct speech—that +were almost like words with God. But as they are servants, they also +have servants. Moreover what we have from them is always in answer. They +love to be sought after by the diligent. Some ages ago an adept seeking +this and that of them conjecturally, had reply, 'Lo! A tribe of poor +wanderers in the East. Heed them, for they shall house their dominion in +palaces now the glory of the West, and they shall dig the pit to compass +the fall of the proud.' Is it this tribe? Is it that? But the seeker +never knew. The children of Ertoghrul were yet following their herds up +and down the pastures they had from Ala-ed-din, the Iconian. Not knowing +their name, he could not ask of them from the decree-makers?" +</p> + +<p> +The Mystic beheld the blood redden Mahommed's open countenance, and the +brightening of his eyes; and as he was speaking to his pride, he knew he +was not amiss. +</p> + +<p> +"The saying of the stars," he went on, "descended to succeeding adepts. +Time came to their aid. When at length your fathers seated themselves in +Broussa, the mystery was in part revealed. Anybody, even the low-browed +herdsman shivering in the currents blowing from the Trojan heights, +could then have named the fortunate tribe. Still the exposure was not +complete; a part remained for finding out. We knew the diggers of the +pit; but for whom was it? To this I devoted myself. Hear me closely +now—my Lord, I have traversed the earth, not once, but many times—so +often, you cannot name a people unknown to me, nor a land whither I have +not been—no, nor an island. As the grandson of Abd-el-Muttalib was a +Messenger of God, I am a Messenger of the Predicting Stars—not their +prophet, only their Interpreter and Messenger. The business of the stars +is my business." Mahommed's lips moved, and it was with an effort he +kept silent. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince proceeded, apparently unconscious of the interest he was +exciting: "Here and there while I travelled, I kept communication with +the planets; and though I had many of their predictions to solve, I +asked them oftenest after the unnamed proud one for whom thy Ottomanites +were charged to dig a pit. I presented names without number—names of +persons, names of peoples, and lest one should be overlooked, I kept a +record of royal and notable families. Was a man-child horn to any of +them, I wrote down the minute of the hour of his birth, and how he was +called. By visitations, I kept informed of the various countries, their +conditions, and their relations with each other; for as the state of the +earth points favorably or unfavorably to its vegetation, so do the +conditions of nations indicate the approach of changes, and give +encouragement to those predestined to bring the changes about. Again I +say, my Lord, as the stars are the servants of God, they have their +servants, whom you shall never know except as you are able to read the +signs their times offer you for reading. Moreover the servants are +sometimes priests, sometimes soldiers, sometimes kings; among them have +been women, and men of common origin; for the seed of genius falls +directly from God's hand, and He chooses the time and field for the +sowing; but whether high or low, white or black, good or bad, how shall +a Messenger interpret truly for the stars except by going before their +elect, and introducing them, and making their paths smooth? Must he not +know them first?" +</p> + +<p> +A mighty impulsion here struck Mahommed. Recurring rather to what he had +heard from Mirza of the revelation dropped by the strange person met by +him during the pilgrimage, he felt himself about to be declared of the +elect, and unable to control his eagerness, he asked abruptly: +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou me, O Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +The manner of the Mystic underwent a change. He had been deferential, +even submissive; seldom a teacher so amiable and unmasterful; now he +concentrated his power of spirit, and shot it a continuing flash from +his large eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Know thee, Lord Mahommed?" he answered, in a low voice, but clear and +searching, and best suited to the conflict he was ushering in—the +conflict of spirit and spirit. "Thou knowest not thyself as well." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed shrank perceptibly—he was astonished. +</p> + +<p> +"I mean not reference to thy father—nor to the Christian Princess, thy +mother,—nor to thy history, which is of an obedient son and brave +soldier,—nor to thy education, unusual in those born inheritors of +royal power—I mean none of these, for they are in mouths everywhere, +even of the beggars nursing their sores by the waysides.... In thy +father's palace there was a commotion one night—thou wert about to be +born. A gold-faced clock stood in the birth chamber, the gift of a +German King, and from the door of the chamber eunuchs were stationed. +Exactly as the clock proclaimed midnight, mouth and mouth carried the +cry to a man on the roof—'A Prince is born! A Prince is born! Praised +be Allah!' He on the roof was seated at a table studying a paper with +the signs of the Zodiac in the usual formulary of a nativity. At the +coming of the cry, he arose, and observed the heavens intently; then he +shouted, 'There is no God but God! Lo, Mars, Lord of the Ascendant—Mars, +with his friends, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in happy configuration, and +the moon nowhere visible. Hail the Prince!' And while his answer was +passing below, the man on the roof marked the planets in their Houses +exactly as they were that midnight between Monday and Tuesday in the year +1430. Have I in aught erred, my lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"In nothing, O Prince." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I proceed.... The nativity came to me, and I cast and recast it +for the aspects, familiarities, parallels and triplicities of the hour, +and always with the same result. I found the sun, the angles and the +quality of the ambient signs favorable to a career which, when run, is +to leave the East radiant with the glory of an unsetting sun." +</p> + +<p> +Here the Jew paused, and bowed—"Now doth my Lord doubt if I know him +best?" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0314"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIV +</h3> + +<h3> +DREAMS AND VISIONS +</h3> + +<p> +Mahommed sat awhile in deep abstraction, his face flushed, his hands +working nervously in their own clasp. The subject possessing him was +very pleasurable. How could it be else? +</p> + +<p> +On his side the Prince waited deferentially, but very observant. He was +confident of the impression made; he even thought he could follow the +young Turk's reflections point by point; still it was wisest to let him +alone, for the cooling time of the sober second thought would come, and +then how much better if there were room for him to believe the decision +his own. +</p> + +<p> +"It is very well, Prince," Mahommed said, finally, struggling to keep +down every sign of excitement. "I had accounts of you from Mirza the +Emir, and it is the truth, which neither of us will be the worse of +knowing, that I see nothing of disagreement in what he told me, and in +what you now tell me of yourself. The conceptions I formed of you are +justified: you are learned and of great experience; you are a good man +given to charity as the Prophet has ordered, and a believer in God. At +various times in the world's history, if we may trust the writers, great +men have had their greatness foretold them; now if I think myself in the +way of addition to the list of those so fortunate, it is because I put +faith in you as in a friendly Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +At this the Prince threw up both hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Friendly am I, my lord, more than friendly, but not a Prophet. I am +only a Messenger, an Interpreter of the Superior Powers." +</p> + +<p> +Much he feared the demands upon him if he permitted the impression that +he was a Prophet to go uncontradicted; as an astrologer, he could in +need thrust the stars between him and the unreasonable. And his judgment +was quickly affirmed. +</p> + +<p> +"As you will, O Prince," said Mahommed. "Messenger, interpreter, +prophet, whichever pleases you, the burden of what you bring me is +nevertheless of chiefest account. Comes a herald, we survey him, and ask +voucher for his pretensions; are we satisfied with them, why then he +gives place in our interest, and becomes secondary to the matter he +bears. Is it not so?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is righteously said, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"And when I take up this which you have brought me"—Mahommed laid a +hand upon his throat as if in aid of the effort he was making to keep +calm and talk with dignity—"I cannot deny its power; for when was there +an imaginative young man who first permitted ambition and love of glory +to build golden palaces for their abiding in his heart, with self-control +to stop his ears to promises apparently from Heaven? O Prince, if you are +indeed my friend, you will not laugh at me when you are alone!... +Moreover I would not you should believe your tidings received carelessly +or as a morsel sweet on my tongue; but as wine warms to the blood +coursing to the brain, it has started inquiries and anxieties you alone +can allay. And first, the great glory whose running is to fill the East, +like an unsetting sun, tell me of it; for, as we all know, glory is of +various kinds; there is one kind reserved for poets, orators, and +professors cunning in the arts, and another for cheer of such as find +delight in swords and bossy shields, and armor well bedight, and in +horses, and who exult in battle, and in setting armies afield, in +changing boundary lines, and in taking rest and giving respite in the +citadels of towns happily assaulted. And as of these the regard is +various, tell me the kind mine is to be." +</p> + +<p> +"The stars speak not doubtfully, my Lord. When Mars rises ascendant in +either of his Houses, they that moment born are devoted to war, and, +have they their bent, they shall be soldiers; nor soldiers merely, but +as the conjunctions are good, conquerors, and fortunate, and Samael, his +angel, becomes their angel. Has my Lord ever seen his nativity?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Then he knows whereof I speak." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed nodded affirmatively, and said, "The fame is to my taste, doubt +not; but, Prince, were thy words duly weighed, then my glory is to be +surpassing. Now, I am of a line of heroes. Othman, the founder; Orchan, +father of the Janissaries; Solyman, who accepted the crescent moon seen +in a dream by the sea at Cyzicus as Allah's bidding to pass the +Hellespont to Tzympe in Europe; Amurath, conqueror of Adrianople; +Bajazet, who put an end to Christian crusading in the field of +Nicopolis—these filled the East with their separate renowns; and my father +Amurath, did he not subdue Hunyades? Yet, Prince, you tell me my glory is +to transcend theirs. Now—because I am ready to believe you—say if it is +to burst upon me suddenly or to signalize a long career. The enjoyment of +immortality won in youth must be a pleasant thing." +</p> + +<p> +"I cannot answer, my Lord" +</p> + +<p> +"Cannot?" +</p> + +<p> +And Mahommed's eagerness came near getting the better of his will. +</p> + +<p> +"I have nothing from the stars by which to speak, and I dare not assume +to reply for myself." +</p> + +<p> +Then Mahommed's eyes became severely bright, and the bones of his hands +shone white through the skin, so hard did he compress them. +</p> + +<p> +"How long am I to wait before the glory you promise me ripens ready for +gathering? If it requires long campaigns, shall I summon the armies now?" +</p> + +<p> +A tone, a stress of voice in the question sent a shiver through the +Prince despite his self-command. His gaze upon Mahommed's countenance, +already settled, intensified, and almost before the last word passed he +saw the idea he was expected to satisfy, and that it was the point to +which his interrogator had been really tending from the commencement of +the interview. To gain a moment, he affected not to clearly understand; +after a repetition, he in turn asked, with a meaning look: +</p> + +<p> +"Is not thy father, O Prince, now in his eighty-fifth year?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed leaned further forward. +</p> + +<p> +"And is it not eight and twenty years since he began reigning wisely and +well?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed nodded assent. +</p> + +<p> +"Suffer me to answer now. Besides his age which pleads for him, your +father has not allowed greatness and power to shade the love he gave you +heartily the hour he first took you in his arms. Nature protests against +his cutting off, and in this instance, O Prince, the voice of Nature is +the voice of Allah. So say I speaking for myself." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed's face relaxed its hardness, and he moved and breathed freely +while replying: "I do not know what the influences require of me." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak you of the stars, my Lord," the other returned, "hear me, and +with distinctness. As yet they have intrusted me with the one +prediction, and that you have. In other words, they are committed to a +horoscope based upon your nativity, and from it your glory has been +rightly delivered. So much is permitted us by the astrologic law we +practise. But this now asked me, a circumstance in especial, appertains +to you as chief of forces not yet yours. Wherefore—heed well, my +Lord—I advise you to make note of the minute of the hour of the day you +gird yourself with the sword of sovereignty which, at this speaking, is +your great father's by sanction of Heaven; then will I cast a horoscope +for Mahommed the Sultan, not Mahommed, son of Amurath merely—then, by +virtue of my office of Interpreter of the Stars, having the proper +writing in my hand, I will tell you this you now seek, together with all +else pertaining to your sovereignty intrusted me for communication. I +will tell you when the glory is open to you, and the time for setting +forward to make it yours—even the dawning of the term of preparation +necessarily precedent to the movement itself. Now am I understood? Will +my Lord tell me I am understood?" +</p> + +<p> +An observation here may not be amiss. The reader will of course notice +the clever obtrusion of the stars in the speech; yet its real craft was +in the reservations covered. Presuming it possible for the Prince to +have fixed a time to Mahommed's satisfaction, telling it would have been +like giving away the meat of an apple, and retaining the rind. The wise +man who sets out to make himself a need to another will carefully +husband his capital. Moreover it is of importance to keep in mind +through this period of our story that with the Prince of India +everything was subsidiary to his scheme of unity in God. To which end it +was not enough to be a need to Mahommed; he must also bring the young +potentate to wait upon him for the signal to begin the movement against +Constantinople; for such in simplicity was the design scarcely concealed +under the glozing of "the East against the West." That is to say, until +he knew Constantine's disposition with respect to the superlative +project, his policy was delay. What, in illustration, if the Emperor +proved a friend? In falconry the hawk is carried into the field hooded, +and cast off only when the game is flushed. So the Prince of India +thought as he concluded his speech, and looked at the handsome face of +the Lord Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +The latter was disappointed, and showed it. He averted his eyes, knit +his brows, and took a little time before answering; then a flash of +passion seized him. +</p> + +<p> +"With all thy wisdom, Prince, thou knowest not how hard waiting will be. +There is nothing in Nature sweeter than glory, and on the other hand +nothing so intolerably bitter as hungering for it when it is in open +prospect. What irony in the providence which permits us to harvest +greatness in the days of our decline! I dream of it for my youth, for +then most can be made of it. There was a Greek—not of the Byzantine +breed in the imperial kennel yonder"—he emphasized the negative with a +contemptuous glance in the direction of Constantinople—"a Greek of the +old time of real heroes, he who has the first place in history as a +conqueror. Think you he was happy because he owned the world? Delight in +property merely, a horse, a palace, a ship, a kingdom, is vulgar: any +man can be owner of something; the beggar polishes his crutch for the +same reason the king gilds his throne—it belongs to him. Possession +means satiety. But achieve thou immortality in thy first manhood, and it +shall remain to thee as the ring to a bride or as his bride to the +bridegroom.—Let it be as you say. I bow to the stars. Between me and +the sovereignty my father stands, a good man to whom I give love for +love; and he shall not be disturbed by me or any of mine. In so far I +will honor your advice; and in the other matter also, there shall be one +ready to note the minute of the hour the succession falls to me. But +what if then you are absent?" +</p> + +<p> +"A word from my Lord will bring me to him; and His Majesty is liable to +go after his fathers at any moment"— +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, and alas!" Mahommed interposed, with unaffected sorrow, "a king may +keep his boundaries clean, and even extend them thitherward from the +centre, and be a fear unto men; yet shall death oblige him at last. All +is from God." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince was courtier enough to respect the feeling evinced. +</p> + +<p> +"But I interrupted you," Mahommed presently added. "I pray pardon." +</p> + +<p> +"I was about to say, my Lord, if I am not with you when His Majesty, +your father, bows to the final call—for the entertainment of such was +Paradise set upon its high hill!—let a messenger seek me in +Constantinople; and it may even serve well if the Governor of this +Castle be instructed to keep his gates always open to me, and himself +obedient to my requests." +</p> + +<p> +"A good suggestion! I will attend to it. But"— +</p> + +<p> +Again he lapsed into abstraction, and the Prince held his peace +watchfully. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince," Mahommed said at length, "it is not often I put myself at +another's bidding, for freedom to go where one pleases is not more to a +common man than is freedom to do what pleases him to a sovereign; yet so +will I with you in this matter; and as is the custom of Moslems setting +out on a voyage I say of our venture, 'In the name of God be its courses +and its moorings.' That settled, hearken further. What you have given me +is not all comprehensible. As I understand you, I am to find the +surpassing glory in a field of war. Tell me, lies the field far or near? +Where is it? And who is he I am to challenge? There will be room and +occasion for combat around me everywhere, or, if the occasion exist not, +my Spahis in a day's ride can make one. There is nothing stranger than +how small a cause suffices us to set man against man, life or death. +But—and now I come to the very difficulty—looking here and there I +cannot see a war new in any respect, either of parties, or objects, or +pretence, out of which such a prodigious fame is to be plucked. You +discern the darkness in which I am groping. Light, O Prince—give me +light!" +</p> + +<p> +For an instant the mind of the Jew, sown with subtlety as a mine with +fine ore, was stirred with admiration of the quality so strikingly +manifested in this demand; but collecting himself, he said, calmly, for +the question had been foreseen: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord was pleased to say a short while ago that the Emir Mirza, on +his return from the Hajj, told him of me. Did Mirza tell also of my +forbidding him to say anything of the predictions I then intrusted him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," Mahommed answered, smiling, "and I have loved him for the +disobedience. He satisfied me to whom he thought his duty was first +owing." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, if evil ensue from the disclosure, it may be justly charged to my +indiscretion. Let it pass—only, in reporting me, did not Mirza say, +Lord Mahommed, that the prohibition I laid upon him proceeded from a +prudent regard for your interests?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"And in speaking of the change in the status of the world I then +announced, and of the refluent wave the East was to pour upon the West"— +</p> + +<p> +"And of the doom of Constantinople!" Mahommed cried, in a sudden +transport of excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, and of the hero thou wert to be, my Lord! Said he nothing of the +other caution I gave him, how absolute verity could only be had by a +recast of the horoscope at the city itself? And how I was even then on +my way thither?" +</p> + +<p> +"Truly, O Prince. Mirza is a marvel!" +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, my Lord. The assurance prepares me to answer your last demand." +</p> + +<p> +Then, lowering his voice, the Prince returned to his ordinary manner. +</p> + +<p> +"The glory you are to look for will not depend upon conditions such as +parties to the war, or its immediate cause, or the place of its +wagement." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed listened with open mouth. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord knows of the dispute long in progress between the Pope of Rome +and the Patriarch of Constantinople; one claiming to be the head of the +Church of Christ, the other insisting on his equality. The dispute, my +Lord also knows, has been carried from East to West, and back and back +again, prelate replying to prelate, until the whole Church is falling to +pieces, and on every Christian tongue the 'Church East' and the 'Church +West' are common as morning salutations." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, my Lord," the Prince continued, the magnetic eyes intensely bright, +"you and I know the capital of Christianity is yonder "—he pointed +toward Constantinople—"and that conquering it is taking from Christ and +giving to Mahomet. What more of definition of thy glory wilt thou +require? Thus early I salute thee a Sword of God." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed sprang from his couch, and strode the floor, frequently clapping +his hands. Upon the passing of the ecstasy, he stopped in front of the +Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"I see it now—the feat of arms impossible to my father reserved for me." +</p> + +<p> +Again he walked, clapping his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"I pray your pardon," he said, when the fit was over. "In my great joy I +interrupted you." +</p> + +<p> +"I regret to try my Lord's patience further," the Prince answered, with +admirable diplomacy. "It were better, however, to take another step in +the explanation now. A few months after separating from Mirza in Mecca, +I arrived in Constantinople, and every night since, the heavens being +clear, I have questioned the stars early and late. I cannot repeat to my +Lord all the inquiries I made of them, so many were they, and so varied +in form, nor the bases I laid hold of for horoscopes, each having, as I +hoped, to do with the date of the founding of the city. What calculations +I have made—tables of figures to cover the sky with a tapestry of +algebraic and geometrical symbols: The walks of astrology are well known—I +mean those legitimate—nevertheless in my great anxiety, I have even +ventured into the arcana of magic forbidden to the Faithful. The seven +good angels, and the seven bad, beginning with Jubanladace, first of the +good, a celestial messenger, helmeted, sworded with flame, and otherwise +beautiful to behold, and ending with Barman, the lowest of the bad, the +consort and ally of witches—I besought them all for what they could tell +me. Is the time of the running of the city now, to-morrow, next week—when? +Such the burden of my inquiry. As yet, my Lord, no answer has been +given. I am merely bid keep watch on the schism of the Church. In some +way the end we hope has connection with that rancor, if, indeed, it be +not the grand result. With clear discernment of the tendencies, the Roman +Pontiff is striving to lay the quarrel; but he speaks to a rising tide. +We cannot hasten the event; neither can he delay it. Our role is +patience—patience. At last Europe will fall away, and leave the Greek to +care of himself; then, my Lord, you have but to be ready. The end is in +the throes of its beginning now." +</p> + +<p> +"Still you leave me in the dark," Mahommed cried, with a frown. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my Lord, there is a chance for us to make the stars speak." +</p> + +<p> +The beguiler appeared to hesitate. +</p> + +<p> +"A chance?" Mahommed asked. +</p> + +<p> +"It is dependent, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Upon what?" +</p> + +<p> +"The life of the Sultan, thy father." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak not in riddles, O Prince." +</p> + +<p> +"Upon his death, thou wilt enter on the sovereignty." +</p> + +<p> +"Still I see not clearly." +</p> + +<p> +"With the horoscope of Mahommed the Sultan in my hand, then certainly as +the stars perform their circuits, being set thereunto from the first +morning, they must respond to me; and then, find I Mars in the Ascendant, +well dignified essentially and accidentally, I can lead my Lord out of +the darkness." +</p> + +<p> +"Then, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"He may see the Christian capital at his mercy." +</p> + +<p> +"But if Mars be not in the Ascendant?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord must wait." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed sprang to his feet, gnashing his teeth. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," said the Prince, calmly, "a man's destiny is never +unalterable; it is like a pitcher filled with wine which he is carrying +to his lips—it may be broken on the way, and its contents spilled. Such +has often happened through impatience and pride. What is waiting but the +wise man's hour of preparation?" +</p> + +<p> +The quiet manner helped the sound philosophy. Mahommed took seat, +remarking, "You remind me, Prince, of the saying of the Koran, +'Whatsoever good betideth thee, O man, it is from God, and whatsoever +evil betideth, from thyself is it.' I am satisfied. Only"— +</p> + +<p> +The Prince summoned all his faculties again. +</p> + +<p> +"Only I see two periods of waiting before me; one from this until I take +up the sovereignty; the other thence till thou bringest me the mandate +of the stars. I fear not the second period, for, as thou sayest, I can +then lose myself in making ready; but the first, the meantime—ah, +Prince, speak of it. Tell me how I can find surcease of the chafing of +my spirit." +</p> + +<p> +The comprehension of the wily Hebrew did not fail him. His heart beat +violently. He was master! Once more he was in position to change the +world. A word though not more than "now," and he could marshal the East, +which he so loved, against the West, which he so hated. If Constantinople +failed him, Christianity must yield its seat to Islam. He saw it all +flash-like; yet at no time in the interview did his face betoken such +placidity of feeling. The <i>meantime</i> was his, not Mahommed's—his to +lengthen or shorten—his for preparation. He could afford to be placid. +</p> + +<p> +"There is much for my Lord to do," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"When, O Prince—now?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were his capital +temporarily in possession of another." +</p> + +<p> +The words caught attention, and it is hard saying what Mahommed's +countenance betokened. The reader must think of him as of a listener +just awakened to a new idea of infinite personal concern. +</p> + +<p> +"It is for him now to learn the city within and without," the Jew +proceeded; "its streets and edifices; its halls and walls; its strong +and weak places; its inhabitants, commerce, foreign relations; the +character of its ruler, his resources and policies; its daily events; +its cliques and clubs, and religious factions; especially is it for him +to foment the differences Latin and Greek." +</p> + +<p> +It is questionable if any of the things imparted had been so effective +upon Mahommed as this one. Not only did his last doubt of the man +talking disappear; it excited a boundless admiration for him, and the +freshest novitiate in human nature knows how almost impossible it is to +refuse trust when once we have been brought to admire. "Oh!" Mahommed +cried. "A pastime, a pastime, if I could be there!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my Lord," said the insidious counsellor, with a smile, "how do +kings manage to be everywhere at the same time?" +</p> + +<p> +"They have their Ambassadors. But I am not a king." +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet a king"—the speaker laid stress upon the adverb—"nevertheless +public representation is one thing; secret agency another." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed's voice sank almost to a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +"Wilt thou accept this agency?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is for me to observe the heavens at night, while calculations will +take my days. I trust my Lord in his wisdom will excuse me." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is one for the service? Name him, Prince—one as good." +</p> + +<p> +"There is one better. Bethink you, my Lord, the business is of a long +time; it may run through years." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed's brow knit darkly at the reminder. +</p> + +<p> +"And he who undertakes it should enter Constantinople and live there +above suspicion. He must be crafty, intelligent, courtly in manner, +accomplished in arms, of high rank, and with means to carry his state +bravely, for not only ought he to be conspicuous in the Hippodrome; he +should be welcome in the palace. Along with other facilities, he must be +provided to buy service in the Emperor's bedroom and council chamber—nay, +at his elbow. It is of prime importance that he possesses my Lord's +confidence unalterably. Am I understood?" +</p> + +<p> +"The man, Prince, the man!" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has already named him." +</p> + +<p> +"I?" +</p> + +<p> +"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him as a marvel." +</p> + +<p> +"Mirza!" exclaimed Mahommed, clapping his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Mirza," the Prince returned, and proceeded without pause: "Despatch him +to Italy; then let him appear in Constantinople, embarked from a galley, +habited like a Roman, and with a suitable Italian title. He speaks +Italian already, is fixed in his religion, and in knightly honor. Not +all the gifts at the despot's disposal, nor the blandishments of society +can shake his allegiance—he worships my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"My servant has found much favor with you, O Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +Accepting the remark as a question, the other answered: +</p> + +<p> +"Did I not spend the night with him at El Zaribah? Was I not witness of +his trial of faith at the Holy Kaaba? Have I not heard from my Lord +himself how, when put to choice, he ignored my prohibition respecting +the stars?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed arose, and again walked to and fro. +</p> + +<p> +"There is a trouble in this proposal, Prince," he said, halting abruptly. +"So has Mirza become a part of me, I am scarcely myself without him." +</p> + +<p> +Another turn across the floor, and he seemed to become reconciled. "Let +us have done for to-night," he next said. "The game is imperative, but it +will not be harmed by a full discussion. Stay with me to-morrow, Prince." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince remembered the Emperor. Not unlikely a message from that high +personage was at his house, received in course of the day. +</p> + +<p> +"True, very true, and the invitation is a great honor to me," he replied, +bowing; "but I am reminded that the gossips in Byzantium will feast each +other when to-morrow it passes from court to bazaar how the Princess +Irene and the Prince of India were driven by the storm to accept +hospitality in the White Castle. And if it get abroad, that Mahommed, son +of the great Amurath, came also to the Castle, who may foretell the +suspicions to hatch in the city? No, my Lord, I submit it is better for +me to depart with the Princess at the subsidence of the waters." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," Mahommed returned, cordially. "We understand each other. I +am to wait and you to communicate with me; and now, morning comes apace, +good night." +</p> + +<p> +He held his hand to the Jew; whereat the latter knelt and kissed the +hand, but retained it to say: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, if I know him rightly, will not sleep to-night; thought is an +enemy to sleep; and besides the inspiration there is in the destiny +promised, its achievement lies all before him. Yet I wish to leave +behind me one further topic, promising it is as much greater than any +other as the Heavens are higher than the earth." +</p> + +<p> +"Rise, Prince," said Mahommed, helping him to his feet. "Such +ceremonious salutation whether in reception or at departure may be +dispensed with hereafter; thou art not a stranger, but more than a +guest. I count thee my friend whom everything shall wait upon—even +myself. Speak now of what thou callest the greater scheme. I am most +curious." +</p> + +<p> +There was a silence while one might count ten slowly. The Jew in that +space concentrated the mysterious force of which he was master in great +store, so it shone in his eyes, gave tone to his voice, and was an +outgoing of WILL in overwhelming current. "Lord Mahommed," he said, "I +know you are a believer in God." +</p> + +<p> +The young Turk was conscious of a strange thrill passing through him +from brain to body. +</p> + +<p> +"In nature and every quality the God of the Jew, the Christian, and the +Moslem is the same. Take we their own sayings. Christ and Mahomet were +witnesses sent to testify of Him first, highest and alone—Him the +universal Father. Yet behold the perversity of man. God has been +deposed, and for ages believers in Him have been divided amongst +themselves; wherefore hate, jealousies, wars, battle and the smoke of +slaughter perpetually. But now is He at last minded to be restored. +Hear, Lord Mahommed, hear with soul and mortal ear!" +</p> + +<p> +The words and manner caught and exalted Mahommed's spirit. As Michael, +with a sweep of his wings, is supposed to pass the nether depths, an +impulsion bore the son of Amurath up to a higher and clearer plane. He +could not but hear. +</p> + +<p> +"Be it true now that God permits His presence to be known in human +affairs only when He has a purpose to justify His interposition; then, +as we dare not presume the capital of Christendom goes to its fall +without His permission, why your designation for the mighty work? That +you may be personally glorified, my Lord? Look higher. See yourself His +chosen instrument—and this the deed! From the seat of the Caesars, its +conquest an argument, He means you to bring men together in His name. +Titles may remain—Jew, Moslem, Christian, Buddhist—but there shall be +an end of wars for religion—all mankind are to be brethren in Him. This +the deed, my Lord—Unity in God, and from it, a miracle of the ages slow +to come but certain, the evolution of peace and goodwill amongst men. I +leave the idea with you. Good night!" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed remained so impressed and confounded that the seer was +permitted to walk out as from an empty room. Mirza received him outside +the door. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0315"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XV +</h3> + +<h3> +DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE +</h3> + +<p> +The storm continued till near daybreak. At sunrise the wind abated, and +was rapidly succeeded by a dead calm; about the same time the last cloud +disappeared, leaving the sky an azure wonder, and the shores of the +Bosphorus far and near refreshed and purified. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast, Mirza conducted the Prince of India to another private +audience with Mahommed. As the conference had relation to the subjects +gone over in the night, the colloquy may be dispensed with, and only the +conclusions given. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed admitted he had not been able to sleep; in good spirits, +however, he agreed, if the Prince were accountable for the wakefulness, +he was to be forgiven, since he had fairly foretold it, and, like other +prophets, was entitled to immunity. The invitation to remain at the +Castle was renewed, and again declined. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed next conceded the expediency of his waiting to hear what +further the stars might say with respect to the great business before +him, and voluntarily bound himself to passive conduct and silence; in +assuagement of the impatience he knew would torment him, he insisted, +however, upon establishing a line of couriers between his place of +residence, wherever it might be, and the White Castle. Intelligence +could thus be safely transmitted him from Constantinople. In furtherance +of this object the Governor of the Castle would be instructed to honor +the requests of the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed condescended next to approve the suggestion of a secret agency +in Constantinople. Respecting a person for the service, the delicacy of +which was conceded, he had reached the conclusion that there was no one +subject to his control so fitted in every respect as Mirza. The +selection of the Emir might prove troublesome since he was a favorite +with the Sultan; if investigations consequent on his continued absence +were instituted, there was danger of their resulting in disagreeable +exposure; nevertheless the venture was worth the while, and as time was +important, the Emir should be sent off forthwith under instructions in +harmony with the Prince's advice. Or more clearly, he was to betake +himself to Italy immediately, and thence to the Greek capital, a +nobleman amply provided with funds for his maintenance there in +essential state and condition. His first duty when in the city should be +to devise communication with the White Castle, where connection with the +proposed line of couriers should be made for safe transmission of his +own reports, and such intelligence as the Prince should from time to +time consider it advisable to forward. +</p> + +<p> +This of course contemplated recognition and concert between the Emir and +the Prince. In token of his confidence in the latter, Mahommed would +constitute him the superior in cases of difference of opinion; though +from his knowledge of Mirza's romantic affection acquired in Mecca and +on the road thither, he had little apprehension of such a difference. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed and the Prince were alike well satisfied with the conclusions +between them, and their leave-taking at the end of the audience was +marked with a degree of affection approaching that of father and son. +</p> + +<p> +About mid-afternoon the Prince and Sergius sallied from the Castle to +observe the water, and finding it quiet, they determined to embark. +</p> + +<p> +The formalities of reception in the Castle were not less rigidly +observed at the departure. In care of the eunuch the Princess and Lael +descended to the hall of entrance where they were received by the +supposed Governor, who was in armor thoroughly cleansed of dust and +skilfully furbished. His manner was even more gallant and dignified. He +offered his hand to assist the Princess to seat in the chair, and upon +taking it she glanced furtively at his face, but the light was too scant +for a distinct view. +</p> + +<p> +In the Castle and out there were no spectators. +</p> + +<p> +Passing the gate, the Princess bethought her of the story-teller, and +looked for him well as she could through the narrow windows. At the +landing, when the Governor had in silence, though with ease and grace, +helped her from the carriage, the porters being withdrawn, she proceeded +to acknowledgments. +</p> + +<p> +"I am sorry," she said, through her veil, "that I must depart without +knowing the name or rank of my host." +</p> + +<p> +"Had I greater rank. O Princess," he returned, gravely. "I should have +pleasure in introducing myself; for then there would be a hope that my +name supported by a title of dignity, would not be erased from your +memory by the gayeties of the city to which you are going. The White +Castle is a command suitable to one of humble grade, and to be saluted +Governor, because I am charged with its keeping, satisfies my pride for +the present. It is a convenient title, moreover, should you ever again +honor me with a thought or a word." +</p> + +<p> +"I submit perforce," she said. "Yet, Sir Governor, your name would have +saved me from the wonder of my kinsman, if not his open question, when, +as I am bound to, I tell him of the fair treatment and high courtesy you +have shown me and my friends here while in refuge in your Castle walls. +He knows it natural for the recipient of bounty to learn who the giver +is, with name and history; but how amazed and displeased he will be when +I barely describe your entertainment. Indeed, I fear he will think me +guilty of over description or condemn me for ingratitude." +</p> + +<p> +She saw the blood color his face, and noticed the air of sincerity with +which he replied. "Princess, if payment for what you have received at my +hands were worthy a thought, I should say now, and all my days through, +down to the very latest, that to have heard you speak so graciously is +an overprice out of computation." +</p> + +<p> +The veil hid her responsive blush; for there was something in his voice +and manner, possibly the earnestness marking them, which lifted the +words out of the commonplace and formal. She could not but see how much +more he left implied than actually expressed. For relief, she turned to +another subject. +</p> + +<p> +"If I may allude to a part of your generous attention, Sir Governor, +distinguishing it from the whole, I should like to admit the pleasure +had from the recitation of the Arabian story-teller. I will not ask his +name; still it must be a great happiness to traverse the world with +welcome everywhere, and everywhere and all the time accompanied and +inspired by a mind stored with themes and examples beautiful as the +history of El Hatim." +</p> + +<p> +A light singularly bright shone in the Governor's eyes, significant of a +happy idea, and with more haste than he had yet evinced, he replied: +</p> + +<p> +"O Princess, the name of the Arab is Aboo-Obeidah; in the desert they +call him the Singing Sheik, and among Moslems, city bred and tent born +alike, he is great and beloved. Such is his sanctity that all doors he +knocks at open to him, even those of harems zealously guarded. When he +arrives at Adrianople, in his first day there he will be conducted to +the Hanoum of the Sultan, and at her signal the ladies of the household +will flock to hear him. Now, would it please you, I will prevail on him +to delay his journey that he may visit you at your palace." +</p> + +<p> +"The adventure might distress him," she replied. +</p> + +<p> +"Say not so. In such a matter I dare represent and pledge him. Only give +me where you would have him come, and the time, O Princess, and he will +be there, not a star in the sky more constant." +</p> + +<p> +"With my promise of good welcome to him then," she said, well pleased, +"be my messenger, Sir Governor, and say in the morning day after +to-morrow at my palace by Therapia. And now thanks again, and farewell." +</p> + +<p> +So saying she held her hand to him, and he kissed it, and assisted her +into the boat. +</p> + +<p> +The adieux of the others, the Prince of India, Sergius and Lael, were +briefer. The Governor was polite to each of them; at the same time, his +eyes, refusing restraint, wandered to where the Princess sat looking at +him with unveiled face. +</p> + +<p> +In the mouth of the river the boats were brought together, and, while +drifting, she expressed the pleasure she had from the fortunate meeting +with the Prince; his presence, she doubted not, contributed greatly to +the good conclusion of what in its beginning seemed so unpromising. +</p> + +<p> +"Nor can I convey an idea of the confidence and comfortable feeling I +derived from the society of thy daughter," she added, speaking to the +Prince, but looking at Lael. "She was courageous and sensible, and I +cannot content myself until she is my guest at Therapia." +</p> + +<p> +"I would be greatly pleased," Lael said, modestly. +</p> + +<p> +"Will the Princess appoint a time?" the Wanderer asked. +</p> + +<p> +"To-morrow—or next week—at your convenience. These warm months are +delightful in the country by the water side. At Therapia, Prince—thou +and thine. The blessing of the Saints go with you—farewell." +</p> + +<p> +Then though the boats kept on down toward Constantinople, they +separated, and in good time the Prince of India and Lael were at home; +while the Princess carried Sergius to her palace in the city. Next day, +having provided him with the habit approved by metropolitan Greek +priests, she accompanied him to the patriarchal residence, introduced +him with expressions of interest, and left him in the holy keeping. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius was accepted and rated a neophyte, the vanity of the Byzantine +clergy scorning thought of excellence in a Russian provincial. He +entered upon the life, however, with humility and zeal, governed by a +friendly caution from the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +"Remember," she said to him, as they paused on the patriarchal doorsteps +for permission to enter, "remember Father Hilarion is regarded here as a +heretic. The stake, imprisonment in darkness for life, the lions in the +Cynegion, punishment in some form of approved cruelty awaits a follower +of his by open avowal. Patience then; and when endurance is tried most, +and you feel it must break, come to me at Therapia. Only hold yourself +in readiness, by reading and thought, to speak for our Christian faith +unsullied by human inventions, and bide my signal." +</p> + +<p> +And so did he observe everything and venture nothing that presently he +was on the road to high favor. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0316"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVI +</h3> + +<h3> +AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE +</h3> + +<p> +When the Princess Irene returned to Therapia next day, she found +awaiting her the Dean of the Court, an official of great importance to +whom the settlement of questions pertinent to rank was confided. The +state barge of fifteen oars in which he arrived was moored to the +marbles of the quay in front of her palace, a handsomely ornamented +vessel scarcely needing its richly liveried rowers to draw about it the +curious and idle of the town in staring groups. At sight of it, the +Princess knew there was a message for her from the Emperor. She lost no +time in notifying the Dean of her readiness to receive him. The +interview took place in the reception room. +</p> + +<p> +The Dean was a venerable man who, having served acceptably through the +preceding reign, was immensely discreet, and thoroughly indurate with +formalism and ceremony; wherefore, passing his speech and manner, it is +better worth the while to give, briefly as may be, the substance of the +communication he brought to the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +He was sure she remembered all the circumstances of the coronation of His +Majesty, the Emperor, and of His Majesty's entry into Constantinople; he +was not so certain, however, of her information touching some matters +distinguishable as domestic rather than administrative. Or she might know +of them, but not reliably. Thus she might not have heard authentically +that, immediately upon his becoming settled in the imperial seat, His +Majesty decided it of first importance to proceed to the selection of a +spouse. +</p> + +<p> +The Dean then expatiated on the difficulty of finding in all the world a +woman suitable for the incomparable honor. So many points entered into +the consideration—age, appearance, rank, education, religion, dowry, +politics—upon each of which he dwelt with the gravity of a philosopher, +the assurance of a favorite, and the garrulity of age. Having at length +presented the problem, and, he thought, sufficiently impressed the +Princess with its unexampled intricacies and perils, he next unfolded +the several things resolved upon and attempted in the way of solution. +</p> + +<p> +Every royal house in the West had been searched for its marriageable +females. At one time a daughter of the Doge of Venice was nearly chosen. +Unfortunately there were influential Greeks of greater pride than +judgment to object to the Doge. He was merely an elective chief. He +might die the very day after celebrating the espousals, and then—not +even the ducal robes were inheritable. No, the flower to deck the +Byzantine throne was not in the West. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the East was explored. For a time the election trembled between +a Princess of Trebizond and a Princess of Georgia. As usual the court +divided on the question, when, to quiet the factions, His Majesty ordered +Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, a courtier of learning and diplomatic +experience, who held the Emperor's confidence in greater degree than any +other court official, unless it might be the Dean himself, to go see the +rivals personally, and report with recommendation. The ambassador had +been gone two years. From Georgia he had travelled to Trebizond; still +nothing definite. The embassy, having been outfitted in a style to +adequately impress the semi-barbarians, was proving vastly expensive. His +Majesty, with characteristic wisdom, had determined to take the business +in his own keeping. There were many noble families in Constantinople. Why +not seek a consort among them? +</p> + +<p> +The scheme had advantages; not least, if a Byzantine could be found, the +Emperor would have the happiness of making the discovery and conducting +the negotiations himself—in common parlance, of doing his own courting. +There might be persons, the Dean facetiously remarked, who preferred +trusting the great affair of wife-choosing to ambassadors, but he had +never seen one of them. +</p> + +<p> +The ground covered by the ancient in his statement is poorly represented +by these paragraphs, ample as they may seem to the reader. Indeed, the +sun was falling swiftly into the lap of night when he thought of +concluding. Meantime the Princess listened silently, her patience +sustained by wonder at what it all meant. The enlightenment at last +came. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, my dear Princess," he said, lowering his voice, "you must know +"—he arose, and, as became one so endued with palace habits, peered +cautiously around. +</p> + +<p> +"Be seated, my Lord," she said; "there are no eyes in my doors nor ears +in my walls." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the matter is of importance—a state secret!" He drew the stool +nearer her. +</p> + +<p> +"You must know, dear Princess, that the Grand Chamberlain, Phranza, has +been negligent and remiss in the time he has consumed, saying nothing of +his lavishment of treasure so badly needed at home. Notaras, the Admiral, +and the Grand Domestic, are both pursuing His Majesty vigorously for +funds and supplies; worse still, the Patriarch lets slip no opportunity +to bid him look at the furniture of the churches going to ruin. The +imperial conscience being tender in whatever pertains to God and +religion, he has little peace left for prayers. Wherefore, there are +of us who think it would be loyalty to help secure a bride for His +Majesty at home, and thus make an end to the wasteful and inconclusive +touring of Phranza." +</p> + +<p> +The Dean drew yet nearer the Princess, and reduced his voice to a tone +slightly above a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +"Now you must know further—I am the author and suggestor of the idea of +His Majesty's choosing an Empress from the many noble and beautiful +dames and maidens of this our ancient city of Byzantium, in every +respect the equals, and in many points mentionable the superiors of the +best foreigner possible of finding." +</p> + +<p> +The Dean pursed his white-bearded mouth, and posed himself proudly; but +his auditor still holding her peace, he leaned forward further, and +whispered, "My dear Princess, I did more. I mentioned you to His +Majesty"— +</p> + +<p> +The Princess started to her feet, whiter than whitest marble in the +Pentelic panelling of the room; yet in total misapprehension of her +feeling, the venerable intriguant went on without pause: "Yes, I +mentioned you to His Majesty, and to-morrow, Princess—to-morrow—he +will come here in person to see you, and urge his suit." +</p> + +<p> +He dropped on his knees, and catching her hand, kissed it. +</p> + +<p> +"O Princess, fairest and most worthy, suffer me first of all the court +to congratulate you on the superlative honor to which you will he +invited. And when you are in the exalted position, may I hope to be +remembered"— +</p> + +<p> +He was not permitted to finish the petition. Withdrawing her hand with +decisive action, she bade him be silent or speak to her questions. And +he was silent through surprise. +</p> + +<p> +In such manner she gained an interval for thought. The predicament, as +she saw it, was troublesome and unfortunate. Honor was intended her, the +highest in the imperial gift, and the offer was coming with never a +doubt of its instantaneous and grateful acceptance. Remembering her +obligations to the Emperor, her eyes filled with tears. She respected +and venerated him, yet could not be his Empress. The great title was not +a sufficient inducement. But how manage the rejection? She called on the +Virgin for help. Directly there was a way exposed. First, she must save +her benefactor from rejection; second, the Dean and the court must never +know of the course of the affair or its conclusion. +</p> + +<p> +"Rise, my Lord," she said, kindly though with firmness. "The receiver of +great news, I thank you, and promise, if ever I attain the throne to +hold you in recollection. But now, so am I overwhelmed by the prospect, +I am not myself. Indeed, my Lord, would you increase my indebtedness to +its utmost limit, take every acknowledgment as said, and leave me—leave +me for preparation for the morrow's event. God, his Son and angels only +know the awfulness of my need of right direction and good judgment." +</p> + +<p> +He had the wit to see her agitation, and that it was wisest for him to +depart. +</p> + +<p> +"I will go, Princess," he said, "and may the Holy Mother give you of her +wisdom also." She detained him at the door to ask: "Only tell me, my +Lord, did His Majesty send you with this notice?" +</p> + +<p> +"His Majesty honored me with the message." +</p> + +<p> +"At what hour will he come?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the forenoon." +</p> + +<p> +"Report, I pray you then, that my house will be at his service." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0317"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE EMPEROR'S WOOING +</h3> + +<p> +About ten o'clock the day following the extraordinary announcement +given, a galley of three banks of oars, classed a <i>trireme</i>, rounded +the seaward jut of the promontory overhanging the property of the +Princess Irene at Therapia. +</p> + +<p> +The hull of the vessel was highly ornate with gilding and carving. At +the how, for figure-head, there was an image of the Madonna of the +<i>Panagia</i>, or Holy Banner of Constantinople. The broad square sail +was of cherry-red color, and in excellent correspondence, the oars, +sixty to a side, were painted a flaming scarlet. When filled, the sail +displayed a Greek cross in golden filament. The deck aft was covered +with a purple awning, in the shade of which, around a throne, sat a +grave and decorous company in gorgeous garments; and among them moved a +number of boys, white-shirted and bare of head, dispensing perfume from +swinging censers. Forward, a body guard, chosen from the household +troops and full armed, were standing at ease, and they, with a corps of +trumpeters and heralds in such splendor of golden horns and tabards of +gold as to pour enrichment over the whole ship, filled the space from +bulwark to bulwark. The Emperor occupied the throne. +</p> + +<p> +This galley, to which the harmonious movement of the oars gave a +semblance of life, in the distance reminding one of a great bird +fantastically feathered and in slow majestic motion, was no sooner hove +in sight than the townspeople were thrown into ferment. A flotilla of +small boats, hastily launched, put out in racing order to meet and +escort it into the bay, and before anchorage was found, the whole shore +was astir and in excited babblement. +</p> + +<p> +A detachment of the guard was first landed on the quay in front of the +Princess' gate. Accepting the indication, thither rushed the populace; +for in truth, since the occupation of the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus +by the Turks, the Emperor seldom extended his voyages far as Therapia. +Then, descending the sides by carpeted stairs, the suite disembarked, +and after them, amidst a tremendous flourish from the trumpet corps, +Constantine followed. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, in his light boat, remained standing during the passage to +the shore that he might be seen by the people; and as he then appeared, +helmed and in close-fitting cuirass, his arms in puffed sleeves of red +silk, his legs, below a heavily embroidered narrow skirt, clothed in +pliant chain mail intricately linked, his feet steel-shod, a purple +cloak hanging lightly at the back from neck to heel, and spurred and +magnificently sworded, and all agleam with jewels and gold, it must be +conceded he justified his entitlement. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of his noble countenance, visible under the raised visor, the +spectators lifted their voices in hearty acclamations—"God and +Constantine! Live the Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +It really seemed as if the deadly factiousness of the capital had not +reached Therapia. In the lifted head, the brightened eyes, the gracious +though stately bows cast right and left, Constantine published the +pleasure the reception was giving him. +</p> + +<p> +A long flourish timed his march through the kiosk of the gate, and along +the shell-strewn, winding road, to the broad steps leading to the +portico of the palace; there, ascending first, he was received by the +Princess. +</p> + +<p> +Amid a group of maids in attendance, all young, fair, high-born, she +stood, never more tastefully attired, never more graceful and +self-possessed, never more lovely, not even in childhood before the +flitting of its virginal bloom; and though the portico was garden-like +in decoration, vines, roses and flowering shrubs everywhere, the +sovereign had eyes for her alone. +</p> + +<p> +Just within the line of fluted pillars he halted, and drew himself up, +smiling as became a suitor, yet majestic as became a king. Then she +stepped forward, and knelt, and kissed his hand, and when he helped her +to her feet, and before the flush on her forehead was gone, she said: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art my sovereign and benefactor; nor less for the goodnesses thou +hast done to thy people, and art constantly doing, welcome, O my Lord, +to the house thou didst give me." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak not so," he replied. "Or if it please thee to give me credit, be +it for the things which in some way tried me, not those I did for +reward." +</p> + +<p> +"Reward!" +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, for such are pleasure and peace of mind." +</p> + +<p> +Then one by one, she naming them as they advanced, her attendants knelt, +and kissed the floor in front of him, and had each a pleasant word, for +he permitted none to excel him in decorous gallantry to good women. +</p> + +<p> +In return, he called the officers of his company according to their rank; +his brother, who had afterward the grace to die with him; the Grand +Domestic, general of the army; the Grand Duke Notaras, admiral of the +navy; the Grand Equerry (<i>Protostrator</i>); the Grand Chancellor of the +Empire (<i>Logothete</i>); the Superintendent of Finance; the Governor of the +Palace (<i>Curopalate</i>); the Keeper of the Purple Ink; the Keeper of the +Secret Seal; the First Valet; the Chief of the Night Guard (<i>Grand +Drumgaire</i>); the Chief of the Huntsmen (<i>Protocynege</i>); the Commander of +the Body Guard of Foreigners (<i>Acolyte</i>); the Professor of Philosophy; +the Professor of Elocution and Rhetoric; the Attorney General +(<i>Nornophylex</i>); the Chief Falconer (<i>Protojeracaire</i>) and others—these +he called one by one, and formally presented to the Princess, not minding +that with many of them she was already acquainted. +</p> + +<p> +They were for the most part men advanced in years, and right well +skilled in the arts of courtiership. The <i>empressement</i> of manner +with which they saluted her was not lost upon her woman's instinct; +infinitely quick and receptive, she knew without a word spoken, that +each left his salute on her hand believing it the hand of his future +Empress. Last of those presented was the Dean of the Court. He was +noticeably formal and distant; besides being under the eye of his +master, the wily diplomat was more doubtful of the outcome of the day's +visit than most of his colleagues. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," the Princess said, when the presentation was finished, "will my +most noble sovereign suffer me to conduct him to the reception room?" +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor stepped to her side, and offered his hand. "Pardon, Sire," +she added, taking the hand. "It is necessary that I speak to the Dean." +</p> + +<p> +And when the worthy came to her, she said to him: "Beyond this, under +the portico, are refreshments for His Majesty's suite. Serve me, I pray, +by leading thy colleagues thither, and representing me at the tables. +Command the servants whom thou wilt find there." +</p> + +<p> +Now the reader must not suppose he is having in the foregoing +descriptions examples of the style of ceremonials most in fashion at the +Greek court. Had formality been intended, the affair would have been the +subject of painstaking consideration at a meeting of officials in the +imperial residence, and every point within foresight arranged; after +which the revolution of the earth might have quickened, and darkness +been unnaturally precipitated, without inducing the slightest deviation +from the programme. +</p> + +<p> +When resolving upon the visit, Constantine considerately thought of the +Princess' abhorrence of formality, and not to surprise her, despatched +the Dean with notice of the honor intended. Whereupon she arranged the +reception to suit herself; that is, so as to remain directress of the +occasion. Hence the tables under the portico for the entertainment of +the great lords, with the garden open to them afterward. This management, +it will be perceived, left Constantine in her separate charge. +</p> + +<p> +So, while the other guests went with the Dean, she conducted the Emperor +to the reception room, where there were no flowers, and but one armless +chair. When he was seated, the two alone, she knelt before him, and +without giving him time to speak, said, her hands crossed upon her +bosom: "I thank my Lord for sending me notice of his coming, and of his +purpose to invite me to share his throne. All night I have kept the +honor he intended me in mind, believing the Blessed Mother would listen +to my prayers for wisdom and right direction; and the peace and +confidence I feel, now that I am at my Lord's feet, must be from her.... +Oh, my Lord, the trial has not been what I should do with the honor, +but how to defend you from humiliation in the eyes of your court. I wish +to be at the same time womanly and allegiant. How gentle and merciful +you have been to me! How like a benignant God to my poor father! If I am +in error, may Heaven forgive me; but I have led you here to say, without +waiting for the formal proposal, that while you have my love as a +kinswoman and subject, I cannot give you the love you should have from a +wife." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine was astonished. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" he said. +</p> + +<p> +Before he could get further, she continued, sinking lower at his feet: +</p> + +<p> +"Ah me, my Lord, if now thou art thinking me bold and forward, and +outcast from natural pride, what can I but plead the greater love I bear +you as my benefactor and sovereign? ... It may be immodest to thus +forestall my Lord's honorable intent, and decline being his wife before +he has himself proposed it; yet I pray him to consider that with this +avowal from me, he may go hence and affirm, God approving the truth, +that he thought better of his design, and did not make me any overture +of marriage, and there will be no one to suffer but me.... The +evil-minded will talk, and judge me punished for my presumption. Against +them I shall always have a pure conscience, and the knowledge of having +rescued my Lord from an associate on his throne who does not love him +with wifely devotion." +</p> + +<p> +Pausing there, the Princess looked into his face, her own suffused. His +head drooped; insomuch that the tall helmet with its glitter, and the +cuirass, and fine mail reenforced by the golden spurs and jewelled +sword and sword-harness, but deepened the impression of pain bewrayed on +his countenance. +</p> + +<p> +"Then it is as I have heard," he said, dejectedly. "The rustic hind may +have the mate of his choice, and there is preference allowed the bird +and wild wolf. The eye of faith beholds marriages of love in meeting +waters and in clouds brought together from diverse parts. Only Kings are +forbidden to select mates as their hearts declare. I, a master of life +and death, cannot woo, like other men." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess moved nearer him. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," she said, earnestly, "is it not better to be denied choice +than to be denied after choosing?" +</p> + +<p> +"Speakest thou from experience?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"No," she answered, "I have never known love except of all God's +creatures alike." +</p> + +<p> +"Whence thy wisdom then?" +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps it is only a whisper of pride." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps, perhaps! I only know the pain it was intended to relieve goes +on." Then, regarding her moodily, not angrily, nor even impatiently, he +continued: "Did I not know thee true as thou art fair, O Princess, and +good and sincere as thou art brave, I might suspect thee." +</p> + +<p> +"Of what, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"Of an intent to compass my misery. Thou dost stop my mouth. I may not +declare the purpose with which I came—I to whom it was of most interest—or +if I do, I am forestopped saying, 'I thought better of it, and told +her nothing.' Yet it was an honorable purpose nursed by sweet dreams, and +by hopes such as souls feed upon, strengthening themselves for trials of +life; I must carry it back with me, not for burial in my own breast, but +for gossips to rend and tear, and make laughter of—the wonder and +amusement of an unfeeling city. How many modes of punishment God keeps in +store for the chastening of those who love Him!" +</p> + +<p> +"It is beggarly saying I sympathize"— +</p> + +<p> +"No, no—wait!" he cried, passionately. "Now it breaks upon me. I may +not offer thee a seat on my throne, or give a hand to help thee up to +it; for the present I will not declare I love thee; yet harm cannot come +of telling thee what has been. Thou hadst my love at our first meeting. +I loved thee then. As a man I loved thee, nor less as an Emperor because +a man. Thou wast lovely with the loveliness of the angels. I saw thee in +a light not of earth, and thou wert transparent as the light. I descended +from the throne to thee thinking thou hadst collected all the radiance of +the sun wasting in the void between stars, and clothed thyself in it." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my Lord"— +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet, not yet"— +</p> + +<p> +"Blasphemy and madness!" +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so!" he answered, with greater intensity. "This once I speak as a +lover who was—a lover making last memories of the holy passion, to be +henceforth accounted dead. Dead? Ah, yes!—to me—dead to me!" +</p> + +<p> +She timidly took the hand he dropped upon his knee at the close of a +long sigh. +</p> + +<p> +"It may rest my Lord to hear me," she said, tearfully. "I never doubted +his fitness to be Emperor, or if ever I had such a doubt, it is no more. +He has conquered himself! Indeed, indeed, it is sweet to hear him tell +his love, for I am woman; and if I cannot give it back measure for +measure, this much may be accepted by him—I have never loved a man, and +if the future holds such a condition in store for me, I will think of my +Lord, and his strength and triumph, and in my humbler lot do as he has +so nobly done. He has his Empire to engage him, and fill his hours with +duties; I have God to serve and obey with singleness. Out of the prison +where my mother died, and in which my father grew old counting his years +as they slowly wore away, a shadow issued, and is always at hand to ask +me, 'Who art thou? What right hast thou to happiness?' And if ever I +fall into the thought so pleasant to woman, of loving and being loved, +and of marriage, the shadow intervenes, and abides with me until I +behold myself again bounden to religion, a servant vowed to my fellow +creatures sick, suffering, or in sorrow." +</p> + +<p> +Then the gentle Emperor fell to pitying her, and asked, forgetful of +himself, and thinking of things to lighten her lot, "Wilt thou never +marry?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will not say no, my Lord," she answered. "Who can foresee the turns +of life? Take thou this in reply—never will I surrender myself to +wedlock under urgency of love alone. But comes there some great +emergency, when, by such sacrifice, I may save my country, or my +countrymen in multitude, or restore our holy religion overthrown or in +danger, then, for the direct God-service there may be in it, I could +give myself in contract, and would." +</p> + +<p> +"Without love?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, without loving or being loved. This body is not mine, but God's, +and He may demand it of me for the good of my fellow-men; and, so there +be no tarnishment of the spirit, my Lord, why haggle about the husk in +which the spirit is hidden?" +</p> + +<p> +She spoke with enthusiasm. Doubt of her sincerity would have been +blasphemous. That such fate should be for her, so bright, pure and +heroic! Not while he had authority! And in the instant he vowed himself +to care of her by resolution strong as an oath. In thought of the +uncertainties lowering over his own future, he saw it was better she +should remain vowed to Heaven than to himself; thereupon he arose, and +standing at her side, laid a hand lightly upon her head, and said +solemnly: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast chosen wisely. May the Blessed Mother, and all the ministering +angels, in most holy company, keep guard lest thou be overtaken by +calamity, sorrow and disappointment. And, for me, O Irene!"—his voice +shook with emotion—"I shall be content if now thou wilt accept me for +thy father." +</p> + +<p> +She raised her eyes, as to Heaven, and said, smiling: "Dear God! How +Thou dost multiply goodnesses, and shower them upon me!" +</p> + +<p> +He stooped, and kissed her forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Amen, sweet daughter!" +</p> + +<p> +Then he helped her to her feet. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, while thou wert speaking, Irene, it was given me to see how the +betrothal I was determined upon would have been a crime aside from +wresting thee from the service of thy choice. Phranza is a true and +faithful servant. How know I but, within his powers, and as he lawfully +might, he has contracted me by treaty to acceptance of the Georgian? +Thou hast saved me, and my ancient Chamberlain. Those under the portico +are conspirators. But come, let us join them." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0318"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SINGING SHEIK +</h3> + +<p> +IT was about ten o'clock when the Emperor and Princess Irene appeared on +the portico, and, moving toward the northern side, wended slowly through +the labyrinth of flowers, palms, and shrubs. The courtiers and +dignitaries, upon their approach, received them in respectful silence, +standing in groups about the tables. +</p> + +<p> +A chair, with arms, high back, and a canopy, looking not unlike a +sedilium, had been set in an open space. The reservation was further +marked by a table in front of the chair, and two broad-branched palm +trees, one on each side. Thither the Princess conducted the sovereign; +and when he was seated, at a signal from her, some chosen attendants +came bearing refreshments, cold meats, bread, fruits, and wines in +crystal flagons, which they placed on the table, and retiring a little +way, remained in waiting, while their mistress, on a stool at the left +of the board, did the honors. +</p> + +<p> +The introduction of a queen into a palace is usually the signal for a +change of the existing domestic regime. Old placeholders go out; new +favorites come in; and not seldom the revolution reaches the highest +official circles of the government. The veterans of the suite, to some +of whom this bit of knowledge had come severely home, were very watchful +of the two superior personages. Had His Majesty really exposed his +intent to the Princess? Had he declared himself to her? Had she +accepted? The effect was to trebly sharpen the eyes past which the two +were required to go on their way to the reserved table. +</p> + +<p> +Mention has been made of Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, at the moment +absent on a diplomatic search for an imperial consort. Of all attaches +of the court, he was first in his master's regard; and the distinction, +it is but just to say, was due to his higher qualities and superior +character. The term <i>favorite</i>, as a definition of relationship +between a despot and a dependent, is historically cloudy; wherefore it +is in this instance of unfair application. Intimate or confidante is +much more exactly descriptive. But be that as it may, the good +understanding between the Emperor and his Grand Chamberlain was amply +sufficient to provoke the jealousy of many of the latter's colleagues, +of whom Duke Notaras, Grand Admiral, and the most powerful noble of the +Empire, was head and front. The scheme for the elevation of the Princess +to the throne originated with him, and was aimed malevolently at +Phranza, of whom he was envious, and Constantine, whom he hated on +religious grounds. Interest in the plot brought him to Therapia; yet he +held himself aloof, preferring the attitude of a spectator coldly polite +to that of an active partisan in the affair. He declined sitting at a +table, but took position between two of the columns whence the view of +the bay was best. There were numbers of the suite, however, who +discredited the motive with which he chose the place. +</p> + +<p> +"See Notaras," said one of a group, whispering to friends drinking wine +a little way off. "The scene before him is charming, but is he charmed +with it as he appears?" +</p> + +<p> +"There was an old demi-god with an eye in his forehead. Notaras' best +orb just now is in the back of his head. He may be looking at the bay; +he is really watching the portico"—such was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Out! He cares nothing for us." +</p> + +<p> +"Very true—we are not the Emperor." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord Duke is not happy to-day," was remarked in another coterie. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait, my dear friend. The day is young." +</p> + +<p> +"If this match should not be made after all"— +</p> + +<p> +"He will know it first." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, nothing from the lovers, neither smile nor sigh, can escape him." +</p> + +<p> +The Professor of Philosophy and his brother the Professor of Rhetoric +ate and drank together, illustrating the affinity of learning. +</p> + +<p> +"Our Phranza is in danger," said the latter, nervously. "As thou art a +subscriber to the doctrine of the <i>Phaedon</i>, I wish we could disembody +our souls, if only for an hour." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, a singular wish! What wouldst thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"Tell it not; but"—the voice dropped into a whisper—"I would despatch +mine in search of the wise Chamberlain to warn him of what is here in +practice." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, my brother, thou didst me the honor to read and approve my treatise +on the Philosophy of Conspiracy. Dost thou remember the confounding +elements given in the thesis?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—Goodness is one." +</p> + +<p> +"Under condition; that is, when the result is dependent upon a party of +virtuous disposition." +</p> + +<p> +"I remember now." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, we have the condition here." +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess!" +</p> + +<p> +"And therefore the Duke, not our Phranza, is in danger. She will +discomfit him." +</p> + +<p> +"May Heaven dispose so!" And the Rhetorician almost immediately added, +"Observe thou. Notaras has established himself within easy hearing of +the two. He has actually invaded the space reserved for them." +</p> + +<p> +"As if to confirm my forecast!" +</p> + +<p> +Then the Philosopher raised a cup. +</p> + +<p> +"To Phranza!" +</p> + +<p> +"To Phranza!" the Rhetorician responded. +</p> + +<p> +This episode hardly concluded when the Emperor's brother sauntered to +the Duke's side; and on the appearance of the Emperor and the Princess, +he exclaimed, enthusiastically: +</p> + +<p> +"Come of it what may, my Lord, the damsel is comely, and I fear not to +compare her with the best of Trebizond or Georgia." +</p> + +<p> +The Duke did not answer. Indeed, the lords were all intent upon exactly +the same subject. Whether there had been an overture and an acceptance, +or an overture and a declination, they believed the principals could not +conceal the result; a look, a gesture, or something in the manner of one +or both of them, would tell the tale to eyes of such practical +discernment. By the greater number the information would be treated as +news for discussion merely; a few had hopes or fears at stake; none of +them was so perilously involved as Notaras; in his view, failure meant +the promotion of Phranza, of all consequences, not excepting his own +loss of favor and prestige, the most intolerable. +</p> + +<p> +On the other part, Constantine was not less concerned in misleading his +court. At the proper time he would give out that he had changed his mind +at the last moment; before engaging himself to the Princess, he had +concluded it best to wait and hear from Phranza. Accordingly, in passing +along the portico, he endeavored to look and behave like a guest; he +conversed in an ordinary tone; he suffered his hostess to precede him; +and, well seconded by her, he was installed in the state chair, without +an argument yes or no for the sharp reviewers. At the table he appeared +chiefly solicitous to appease an unusual hunger, which he charged to the +early morning air on the Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +Notaras, whom nothing of incident, demeanor or remark escaped, began +very early to be apprehensive. Upon beholding his master's unlover-like +concession to appetite, he remarked sullenly, "Verily, either his +courage failed, and he did not submit a proposal, or she has rejected +him." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord Duke," the Emperor's brother replied, somewhat stung, "dost +thou believe it in woman to refuse such an honor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sir," the Duke retorted, "women who go about unveiled are above or +below judgment." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess, in her place at the table, began there to recount her +adventure at the White Castle, but when far enough in the recital to +indicate its course the Emperor interrupted her. +</p> + +<p> +"Stay, daughter," he said, gently. "The incident may prove of +international interest. If not objectionable to you, I should be pleased +to have some of my friends hear it." Then raising his voice, he called +out: "Notaras, and thou, my brother, come, stand here. Our fair hostess +had yesterday an astonishing experience with the Turks on the other +shore, and I have prevailed on her to narrate it." The two responded to +the invitation by drawing nearer the Emperor at his right hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Proceed now, daughter," the latter said. +</p> + +<p> +"Daughter, daughter, indeed!" the Duke repeated to himself, and so +bitterly it may be doubted if his master's diplomacy availed to put him +at rest. The paternalism of the address was decisive—Phranza had won. +</p> + +<p> +Then, presently overcoming her confusion, the Princess succeeded in +giving a simple but clear account of how she was driven to the Castle, +and of what befell her while there. When she finished, the entire suite +were standing about the table listening. +</p> + +<p> +Twice she had been interrupted by the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"A moment!" he said to her, while she was speaking of the Turkish +soldiery whose arrival at the ancient stronghold had been so nearly +simultaneous with her own. Then he addressed himself to the Grand +Domestic and the Admiral. "My Lords, in passing the Castle, on our way +up, you remember I bade the pilot take our ship near the shore there. It +seemed to me the garrison was showing unusually large, while the flags +on the donjon were strange, and the tents and horses around the walls +implied an army present. You remember?" +</p> + +<p> +"And we have now, Sire, the justification of your superior wisdom," the +Grand Domestic replied, rising from a low salutation. +</p> + +<p> +"I recall the circumstance, my Lords, to enjoin you not to suffer the +affair to slip attention when next we meet in council—I pray pardon, +daughter, for breaking the thread of your most interesting and important +narrative. I am prepared to listen further." +</p> + +<p> +Then, after description of the Governor, and his reception of the +fugitives on the landing, His Majesty, with apologies, asked permission +to offer another inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +"Of a truth, daughter, the picture thou hast given us under the title of +Governor beareth no likeness to him who hath heretofore responded to +that dignity. At various times I have had occasion to despatch messengers +to the commandant, and returning, they have reported him a coarse, +unrefined, brutish-looking person, of middle age and low rank; and much I +marvel to hear the freedom with which this person doth pledge my august +friend and ally, Sultan Amurath. My Lords, this will furnish us an +additional point of investigation. Obviously the Castle is of military +importance, requiring an old head full of experience to keep it regardful +of peace and clear understanding between the powers plying the Bosphorus. +We are always to be apprehensive of the fire there is in young blood." +</p> + +<p> +"With humility, Your Majesty," said the Grand Domestic, "I should like +to hear from the Princess, whose loveliness is now not more remarkable +than her courage and discretion, the evidence she has for the opinion +that the young man is really the Governor." +</p> + +<p> +She was about to reply when Lysander, the old servant, elbowed himself +through the brilliant circle, and dropped his javelin noisily by her +chair. +</p> + +<p> +"A stranger calling himself an Arab is at the gate," he said to her, +with the semblance of a salutation. +</p> + +<p> +The simplicity of the ancient, his zeal in the performance of his office, +his obliviousness to the imperial presence, caused a ripple of amusement. +</p> + +<p> +"An Arab!" the Princess exclaimed, in momentary forgetfulness. "How does +the man appear?" +</p> + +<p> +Lysander was in turn distraught; after a short delay, however, he +managed to answer: "His face is dark, almost black; his head is covered +with a great cloth of silk and gold; a gown hides him from neck to +heels; in his girdle there is a dagger. He has a lordly air, and does +not seem in the least afraid. In brief, my mistress, he looks as if he +might be king of all the camel drivers in the world." +</p> + +<p> +The description was unexpectedly graphic; even the Emperor smiled, while +many of the train, presuming license from his amusement, laughed aloud. +In the midst of the merriment, the Princess, calmly, and with scarce a +change from her ordinary tone, proceeded to an explanation. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," she said, "I am reminded of an invitation left with the +person whose identity was in discussion the instant of this announcement. +In the afternoon, while I was sojourning in the White Castle, an Arab +story-teller was presented to me under recommendation of my courteous +host. He was said to be of great professional renown in the East, a Sheik +travelling to Adrianople for the divertisement of the Hanoum of the +Sultan. In the desert they call him endearingly the <i>Singing Sheik</i>. I +was glad to have the hours assisted in their going, and he did not +disappoint me. So charmed was I by his tales and manner of telling them, +by his genius, that in taking my departure from what proved a most +agreeable retreat, and in acknowledging the hospitable entertainment +given me, I referred to the singer, and requested the Governor to prevail +on him to extend his journey here, in order to favor me with another +opportunity to hear him. Had I then known it was in my Lord's purposes to +visit me with such a company of most noble gentlemen, or could I have +even anticipated the honor, I should not have appointed to-day for the +audience with him. But he is in attendance; and now, with full +understanding of the circumstances, it is for Your Majesty to pronounce +upon his admission. Perhaps"—she paused with a look of deprecation +fairly divisible share and share alike between the Emperor and the Lords +around her—"perhaps time may hang heavy with my guests this morning; if +so, I shall hold myself obliged to the Singing Sheik if he can help me +entertain them." +</p> + +<p> +Now, was there one present to attach a criticism to the favor extended +the Arab, he dismissed it summarily, wondering at her easy grace. The +Emperor no doubt shared the admiration with his suite; but concealing +it, he said, with an air of uncertainty, "Thy recommendation, daughter, +is high; and if I remain, verily, it will be with expectation wrought up +to a dangerous degree; yet having often heard of the power of the +strolling poets of whom this one is in probability an excellent example, +I confess I should be pleased to have thee admit him." +</p> + +<p> +Of the Admiral, he then asked, "We were to set out in return about noon, +were we not?" +</p> + +<p> +"About noon, Your Majesty." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, the hour is hardly upon us. Let the man appear, daughter; only, +as thou lovest us, contrive that he keep to short recitals, which, +without holding us unwillingly, will yet suffice to give an idea of his +mind and methods. And keep thyself prepared for an announcement of our +departure, and when received, mistake it not for discontent with +thyself. Admit the Arab." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0319"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIX +</h3> + +<h3> +TWO TURKISH TALES +</h3> + +<p> +The situation now offered the reader is worth a pause, if only to fix it +in mind. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine and Mahommed, soon to be contestants in war, are coming face +to face, lovers both of the same woman. The romance is obvious; yet it +is heightened by another circumstance. One of them is in danger. +</p> + +<p> +We of course know Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, is Prince Mahommed in +disguise; we know the Prince also as heir of Amurath the Sultan, a very +old man liable to vacate place and life at any moment. Suppose now the +rash adventurer—the term fits the youth truly as if he were without +rank—should be discovered and denounced to the Emperor. The +consequences can only be treated conjecturally. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, to what extremities the Prince would be put in +explaining his presence there. He could plead the invitation of the +Princess Irene. But his rival would be his judge, and the judge might +find it convenient to laugh at the truth, and rest his decision on the +prisoner's disguise, in connection with his own presence—two facts +sufficiently important to serve the most extreme accusation. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine, next, was a knightly monarch who knew to live nobly, and +dared die as he lived; yet, thinking of what he might do with Mahommed +fallen into his hands under circumstances so peculiar, there was never a +Caesar not the slave of policy. In the audience to Manuel the sailor, we +have seen how keenly sensitive he was to the contraction the empire had +suffered. Since that day, to be sure, he had managed to keep the +territory he came to; none the less, he felt the Turk to whom the stolen +provinces invariably fell was his enemy, and that truce or treaty with +him did not avail to loosen the compression steadily growing around his +capital. Over and over, daytime and night, the unhappy Emperor pondered +the story of the daughter of Tantalus; and often, starting from dreams +in which the Ottoman power was a serpent slowly crawling to its victim, +he would cry in real agony—"O Constantinople—Niobe! Who can save thee +but God? And if He will not—alas, alas!" The feeling thus engendered +was not of a kind to yield readily to generosity. Mahommed once securely +his, everything might be let go—truth, honor, glory—everything but the +terms of advantage purchasable with such an hostage. +</p> + +<p> +The invitation to the imaginary Sheik had been a last act of grace by +Irene, about to embark for the city. Mahommed, when he accepted, knew +Therapia by report a village very ancient historically, but decaying, +and now little more than a summer resort and depot of supplies for +fishermen. That its proverbial quietude would be disturbed, and the +sleepy blood of its inhabitants aroused, by a royal galley anchoring in +the bay to discharge the personnel of the empire itself, could have had +no place in his anticipations. So when he stepped into a boat, the +Aboo-Obeidah of his eulogy, and suffered himself, without an attendant, +to be ferried across to Roumeli-Hissar; when he there took an humble +wherry of two oars, and bade the unliveried Greeks who served them pull +for Therapia, it was to see again the woman who was taking his fancy +into possession, not Constantine and his court bizarre in splendor and +habitude. In other words, Mahommed on setting out had no idea of danger. +Love, or something very like it, was his sole inspiration. +</p> + +<p> +The trireme, with the white cross on its red sail, its deck a martial +and courtly spectacle, had been reported to him as the hundred and +twenty flashing scarlet blades, in their operation a miracle of unity, +whisked it by the old Castle, and he had come forth to see it. Where are +they going? he asked those around him; and they, familiar with the +Bosphorus, its shipping and navigation, answered unanimously, To +exercise her crew up in the Black Sea; and thinking of the breadth of +the dark blue fields there, the reply commended itself, and he dismissed +the subject. +</p> + +<p> +The course chosen by his boatmen when they put off from Roumeli-Hissar +kept him close to the European shore, which he had leisure to study. +Then, as now, it was more favored than its Asiatic opposite. The winds +from the sea, southward blowing, unloaded their mists to vivify its ivy +and myrtle. The sunlight, tarrying longest over its pine-clad summits, +coaxed habitations along the shore; here, a palace; there, under an +overhanging cliff, a hamlet; yonder, a long extended village +complaisantly adapting itself to the curvatures of the brief margin left +it for occupancy. Wherever along the front of the heights and on the top +there was room for a field the advantage had been seized. So the Prince +had offered him the sight of all others most significant of peace among +men—sight of farmers tilling the soil. With the lucid sky above him +summer-laden, the water under and about him a liquid atmosphere, the +broken mountain-face changing from lovely to lovelier, and occasionally +awakening him with a superlative splendor, the abodes so near, and the +orchards and strawberry and melon patches overhead, symbolizing goodwill +and fraternity and happiness amongst the poor and humble—with these, +and the rhythmic beating of the oars to soothe his spirit, fierce and +mandatory even in youth, he went, the time divided between views fair +enough for the most rapturous dreams, and the Greek, of whom, with all +their brightness, they were but dim suggestions. Past the stream-riven +gorge of Balta-Liman he went; past Emirghian; past the haven of Stenia, +and the long shore-town of Yenikeui; then, half turning the Keuibachi +bend, lo! Therapia, draggling down the stony steep, like a heap of +bangles on a brown-red cheek. And there, in the soft embracement of the +bay, a bird with folded wings asleep—the <i>trireme</i>! +</p> + +<p> +The sight startled the Prince. He spoke to the rowers, and they ceased +fighting the current, and with their chins over their shoulders, looked +whither he pointed. From ship to shore he looked; then, pursuing the +curve inland to the bridge at the upper end; thence down what may be +called the western side, he beheld people crowding between a quay and a +red kiosk over which pended a wooded promontory. +</p> + +<p> +"There is a Princess living in this vicinity," said he to one of the +rowers, slightly lifting the handkerchief from his face. "Where is her +palace?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the garden yonder. You see the gate over the heads of the men and +women." +</p> + +<p> +"What is her name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Princess Irene. She is known on this shore as the Good Princess." +</p> + +<p> +"Irene—a sound pleasant to the ear"—Mahommed muttered. "Why is she +called good?" +</p> + +<p> +"Because she is an angel of mercy to the poor." +</p> + +<p> +"That is not usual with the great and rich," he said next, yielding to a +charm in the encomiums. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," the boatman responded, "she is great, being akin to the Emperor, +and rich, too, though"— +</p> + +<p> +Here the man broke off to assist in bringing the boat back from its +recession with the current, at this point boisterously swift. +</p> + +<p> +"You were saying the Princess is rich," Mahommed said, when the oars +were again at rest. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes! But I cannot tell you, my friend, how many are partners in her +wealth. Every widow and orphan who can get to her comes away with a +portion. Isn't it so?" +</p> + +<p> +His companion grunted affirmatively, adding: "Down yonder a man with a +crooked back lives in an arched cell opening on the water. Perhaps the +stranger saw it as he came up." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," Mahommed answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, in the back part of the cell he has an altar with a crucifix and +a picture of the Blessed Mother on it, and he keeps a candle burning +before them day and night—something he could not do if we did not help +him, for candles of wax are costly. He has named the altar after the +Princess, Sta. Irene. We often stop and go in there to pray; and I have +heard the blessings in the light of that candle are rich and many as the +Patriarch has for sale in Sta. Sophia." +</p> + +<p> +These praises touched Mahommed; for, exalted as he was in station, he +was aware of the proneness of the poor to berate the rich and grumble at +the great, and that such had been a habit with them from the commencement +of the world. Again the boat slipped down the current; when it was +brought back, he asked: "When did the ship yonder come up?" +</p> + +<p> +"This morning." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes! I saw it then, but thought the crew were being taken to the +sea for practice." +</p> + +<p> +"No," the boatman replied, "it is the state galley of His Majesty the +Emperor. Did you not see him? He sat on the throne with all his ministers +and court around him." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed was startled. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the Emperor now?" he inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"I should say, seeing the crowd yonder, that His Majesty is in the +palace with the Princess." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the second rower, "they are waiting to see him come out." +</p> + +<p> +"Row out into the bay. I should like to have the view from that quarter." +</p> + +<p> +While making the detour, Mahommed reflected. Naturally he remembered +himself the son of Amurath; after which it was easy to marshal the +consequences of exposure, if he persisted in his venture. He saw +distinctly how his capture would be a basis of vast bargaining with his +father, or, if the sturdy old warrior preferred revenge to payment of a +ruinous ransom, how the succession and throne might slip to another, +leaving him a prisoner for life. +</p> + +<p> +Yet another matter presented itself to him which the reader may decide +worthy a separate paragraph. Its mention has been waiting this +opportunity. The Prince from Magnesia, his seat of government, was on +the way to Adrianople, called thither by his father, who had chosen a +bride for him, daughter of a renowned Emir. Regularly he would have +crossed the Hellespont at Gallipoli; a whim, however, took him to the +White Castle—whim or destiny, one being about as satisfactory as the +other. Pondering silently whether it were not best to return, he +thought, apropos the Princess Irene, of the nuptials to be celebrated, +and of his bride expectant; and a Christian, pausing over the +suggestion, may be disposed to condemn him for inconstancy. +</p> + +<p> +In countries where many wives are allowed the same husband he is not +required to love any of them. Indeed, his fourth spouse may be the first +to command him; hers the eyes for his enslavement; hers the voice of the +charmer charming both wisely and forever. Mahommed did now think of the +Emir's daughter, but not with compunction, nor even in comparison. He +had never seen her face, and would not until after the wedding days. He +thought of her but to put her aside; she could not be as this Christian +was, neither so accomplished nor courtly; besides which, it was dawning +upon him that there were graces of mind and soul as well as of person, +while perfection was a combination of all the graces in equal degree. +Gleams of the latter had visited him while gazing into the radiant face +of the Emperor's kinswoman; and how, at such favoring times, his fancy +had gone out to her and come back warmed, enlivened, glorified! There is +a passion of the mind and a passion of the blood; and though one and one +make two, two is still a multiple of one. +</p> + +<p> +Looking thus at the galley, Mahommed thought of the tales in the East +not less common than in the West, and believed in them faithfully, for +chivalry was merely on the wane—tales of beauteous damsels shut up in +caves or adamantine castles, with guardian lions couchant at the gates, +and of well-sworded heroes who marched boldly up to the brutes, and slew +them, and delivered the captives always with reward. Of course, in +making the application, the Princess was the prisoner, the ship the +lion, and himself—well, in want of a sword, he laid hand upon his +dagger, precisely as a liberating knight up to the ideal would do. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this all. The revelations of the Prince of India were still +fresh to him. He wished to see his competitor. How did he look? Was +there enough of him to make battle? He smiled thinking of the pleasure +there would be in slyly studying the Princess and the Emperor at the +same time. He drew the handkerchief down, looked at his brown-stained +hands, and adjusted the folds of his burnoose. The disguise was perfect. +</p> + +<p> +"Take me to the landing—there before the gate of the Good Princess," he +said, with the air of a traveller above suspicion. +</p> + +<p> +His resolution was taken. Challenging all chances, he would respond to +the invitation of the Princess. And so completely were doubt and +hesitation dismissed with our adventurer, that it was not Mahommed who +stepped from the boat where the populace was in densest assemblage, but +Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, and as such we will speak of him. +</p> + +<p> +The guard at the gate, viewing him askance, detained him until he could +be reported. +</p> + +<p> +A fair conception of the scene presented when the Sheik stood on the +floor of the portico is probably in the reader's mind; yet a glance at +it may be pardoned. It was at first like a sudden introduction to an +oriental garden. There were the vines, flowering shrubs, fruiting trees, +many-fronded palms, and the effect of outdoors derived from the shadows +of the pillars, and the sunshine streaming brilliantly through the open +intervals. The tables bore proofs of the collation served upon them. +Overhead was the soft creaminess of pure marble in protected state +mellowed by friendly touches of time. At the end of the vista, the +company was indistinctly visible through the verdure of obtruding +branches. Voices came to him from that part, and gleams of bright +garments; and to get to them it seemed he must pass through a viridescent +atmosphere flecked with blooms, and faintly sweet with odors. For in +losing the masculinity of their race the Greeks devoted themselves more +and more to refined effeminacies. +</p> + +<p> +Moving slowly forward under the guidance of Lysander, whose javelin +beating the floor accentuated the rasping shuffle of his sandals, the +Sheik came presently to a full view of the concourse. +</p> + +<p> +He stopped, partly in obedience to a fine instinct of propriety teaching +him he was now subject to the pleasure of his hostess, and partly to +single out the royal enemy against whom he believed he was about to be +pitted by destiny. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine was sitting at ease, his left elbow resting on an arm of the +sedilium, his forefinger supporting his cheek, his cloak across his lap. +The attitude was reflective; the countenance exposed under the lifted +visor of the helmet, was calm and benignant; except there was no +suggestion of an evil revery holding the current of his thought, or +casting a shade of uncertainty over his soul, he looked not unlike the +famous Il Penseroso familiar to art-seekers in the Medici Chapel of +Florence. Then the eyes of the rivals met. The Greek was in no wise +moved. How it would have been with him could he have seen through the +disguise of the Sheik may never be said. On the other part, the Sheik +lifted his head, and seemed taking on increase of stature. A projecting +fold of the head-kerchief overhung his face, permitting nothing to be +seen but red-hued cheeks, a thin beard, and eyes black and glittering. +The review he felt himself undergoing did not daunt him; it only sent +his pride mounting, like a leap of flame. "By the Virgin!" said one of +the courtiers to another, in a louder tone than the occasion demanded. +"We may indeed congratulate ourselves upon having seen the king of camel +drivers." There was a disposition to laugh amongst the lighter-minded of +the guests, but the Princess checked it by rising. "Bid the Sheik +approach," she said, to the old domestic; and, at a sign from her, the +waiting-women drew closer about her chair. The figure of the Princess +clad all in white, a bracelet of plain gold upon her left arm, fillets +in her hair, one red, the other blue, a double strand of pearls about +her neck—this figure, with the small head, perfect in turn, set +matchlessly upon the sloping shoulders, the humid eyes full of violet +light, the cheeks flushed with feeling—this figure so bright in its +surroundings, admitted no rivalry in attention, none in admiration; the +courtiers, old and young, turned from the Sheik, and the Sheik from the +Emperor. In a word, every eye centred upon the Princess, every tongue +bade hush lest what she said might be lost. Etiquette required the +Sheik's presentation to the Emperor first, but seeing her about to +comply with the rule, he prostrated himself at her feet. As he arose, +she said: "When I invited you to come and give me more of the cheer +there is in your art, O Sheik, I did not know my gracious kinsman, to +whom every Greek is proud and happy to be allegiant, designed visiting +me to-day. I pray you will not suffer too much from his presence, but +regard him a royal auditor who delights in a tale well told, and in +verses when the theme and measure go lovingly together. His Majesty, the +Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +"Hist! Didst hear?" whispered the Professor of Philosophy to the +Professor of Rhetoric. "Thyself couldst not have spoken better." +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, truly," the other answered. "Save a trifle of stiffness, the speech +might have served Longinus." +</p> + +<p> +With her last word, the Princess stepped aside, leaving Mahommed and +Constantine front to front. +</p> + +<p> +Had the Sheik been observant of the monarch's dues, he would have +promptly prostrated himself; but the moment for the salutation passed, +and he remained standing, answering the look he received calmly as it +was given. The reader and the writer know the reason governing him; the +suite, however, were not so well informed, and they began to murmur. The +Princess herself appeared embarrassed. +</p> + +<p> +"Lord of Constantinople," the Sheik said, seeing speech was his, "were I +a Greek, or a Roman, or an Ottoman, I should make haste to kiss the +floor before you, happy of the privilege; for—be the concession well +noted"—he glanced deferentially around him as he spoke—"the report +which the world has of you is of a kind to make it your lover. After a +few days—Allah willing—I shall stand before Amurath the Sultan. Though +in reverencing him I yield not to any one simply his friend, he will +waive prostration from me, knowing what Your Majesty may not. In my +country we cleanse the ground with our beards before no one but God. Not +that we are unwilling to conform to the rules of the courts in which we +find ourselves; with us it is a law—To kiss a man's hand maketh him the +master; prostrate thyself to him, and without other act, thou becomest +his subject. I am an Arab!" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik was not in the least defiant; on the contrary, his manner was +straightforward, simple, sincere, as became one interposing conscience +against an observance in itself rightful enough. Only in the last +exclamation was there a perceptible emphasis, a little marked by a lift +of the head and a kindling of the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"I see Your Majesty comprehends me," he said, continuing; "yet to +further persuade your court, and especially the fair and high-born lady, +whose guest, with all my unworthiness, I am, from believing me moved in +this matter by disrespect for their sovereign, I say next, if by +prostration I made myself a Roman, the act would be binding on the tribe +whose Sheik I am by lawful election. And did I that, O thou whose +bounties serve thy people in lieu of rain! though my hand were white, +like the first Prophet's, when, to assure the Egyptian, he drew it from +his bosom, it would char blacker than dust of burned willow—then, O +thou, lovelier than the queen the lost lapwing reported to Solomon! +though my breath were as the odor of musk, it would poison, like an +exhalation from a leper's grave—then, O my lords! like Karoon in his +wickedness, I should hear Allah say of me, O Earth, swallow him! For as +there are crimes and crimes, verily the chief who betrays his brethren +born to the practice of freedom, shall wander between tents all his +days, crying, Oh, alas! oh, alas! Who now will defend me against God?" +</p> + +<p> +When the Sheik paused, as if for judgment, he was not only acquitted of +intentional disrespect; the last grumbler was anxious to hear him +further. +</p> + +<p> +"What astonishing figures!" the Philosopher whispered to the Rhetorician. +"I begin to think it true that the East hath a style of its own." +</p> + +<p> +"I commend thy sagacity, my brother," the other replied. "His peroration +was redolent of the Koran—A wonderful fellow nevertheless!" +</p> + +<p> +Presently the whole concourse was looking at the Emperor, with whom it +rested whether the Sheik should be dismissed or called on for +entertainment. +</p> + +<p> +"Daughter," said Constantine to the Princess, "I know not enough of the +tribal law of thy guest to have an opinion of the effect upon him and +his of the observance of our ancient ceremony; wherefore we are bound to +accept his statement. Moreover it does not become our dignity to acquire +subjects and dominion, were they ever so desirable, in a method justly +liable to impeachment for treachery and coercion. Besides which—and +quite as important, situated as we are—thy hospitality is to be +defended." +</p> + +<p> +Here the Sheik, who had been listening to the Emperor, and closely +observing him, thrice lightly clapped his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"It remains for us, therefore, to waive the salutation in this instance." +</p> + +<p> +A ripple of assent proceeded from the suite. +</p> + +<p> +"And now, daughter," Constantine pursued, "thy guest being present to +give thee of his lore, it may be he will be pleased to have us of his +audience as well. Having heard much of such performances, and +remembering their popularity when we were in our childhood, we will +esteem ourselves fortunate if now favored by one highly commended as a +master in his guild." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik's eyes sparkled brighter as he answered, "It is written for us +in our Holiest, the very Word of the Compassionate,—'If ye are greeted +with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or at least +return it.' Verily my Lord dispenseth honor with so light a hand as not +to appear aware of the doing. When my brethren under the black tents are +told of my having won the willing ear of their Majesties of Byzantium +and Adrianople, they will think of me as one who has been permitted to +walk in the light of two suns simultaneous in shining." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, he bowed very low. +</p> + +<p> +"My only unhappiness now is in not knowing the direction in which my +Lord's preferences run; for as a stream goes here and there, but all the +time keeps one general course, seeking the sea, so with taste; though it +yield a nod now, and then a smile, it hath always a deeper delight for +the singer's finding. I have the gay and serious—history, +traditions—the heroics of men and nations, their heart-throbs in verse +and prose—all or any for the Lord of Constantinople and his kinswoman, +my hostess,—may her life never end until the song of the dove ceases to +be heard in the land!" +</p> + +<p> +"What say you, my friends?" asked Constantine, glancing graciously at +those around him. +</p> + +<p> +Then they looked from him to the Princess, and in thought of the +betrothal, replied, "Love—something of love!" +</p> + +<p> +"No," he returned, unflinchingly. "We are youths no longer. There is +enlightenment in the traditions of nations. Our neighbors, the Turks—what +hast thou of them, Sheik?" +</p> + +<p> +"Didst thou hear?" said Notaras to one at his elbow. "He hath recanted; +the Empress will not be a Greek." +</p> + +<p> +There was no answer; for the Sheik, baring his head, hung the kerchief +and cord upon his arm, preliminaries which gave him perfectly to view. A +swarthy face; hair black, profuse, closely cut along the temples; +features delicate but manly—these the bystanders saw in a general way, +being more attracted by the repressed fire in the man's eyes, and his +air high and severely noble. +</p> + +<p> +When the Princess caught sight of the countenance, she fell into a +confusion. She had seen it, but where and when? The instant he was +beginning he gazed at her, and in the exchange of glances she was +reminded of the Governor bidding her adieu on the shore of the Sweet +Waters. But he was youthful, while this one—could it be he was old? The +feeling was a repetition of that she had in the Castle when the +storyteller appeared the first time. +</p> + +<p> +"I will tell how the Turks became a Nation." +</p> + +<p> +Then, in Greek but a little broken, the Sheik began a recital. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + ALAEDDIN AND ERTOGHRUL<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + I<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + A tale of Ertoghrul!—<br /> + How when the Chief<br /> + Lay one day nooning with his stolen herds,<br /> + A sound of drumming smote him from the East,<br /> + And while he stood to see what came of it,<br /> + The West with like notes fainter, echo-like,<br /> + Made answer; then two armies rode in view,<br /> + Horses and men in steel, the sheen of war<br /> + About them and above, and wheeling quick<br /> + From column into line, drew all their blades,<br /> + Shook all their flags, and charged and lost themselves<br /> + In depths of dusty clouds, which yet they tore<br /> + With blinding gleams of light, and yells of rage,<br /> + And cheers so high and hoarse they well might seem<br /> + The rolling thunder of a mountain storm.<br /> + Long time the hosts contended; but at last<br /> + The lesser one began to yield the ground,<br /> + Oppressed in front, and on its flanks o'erwhelmed:<br /> + And hasted then the end, a piteous sight,<br /> + Most piteous to the very brave who know<br /> + From lessons of their lives, how seldom 'tis<br /> + Despair can save where valor fails to win.<br /> + Then Ertoghrul aroused him, touched to heart.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "My children, mount, and out with cimeter!<br /> + I know not who these are, nor whence they come;<br /> + Nor need we care. 'Twas Allah led them here,<br /> + And we will honor Him—and this our law;<br /> + What though the weak may not be always right,<br /> + We'll make it always right to help the weak.<br /> + Deep take the stirrups now, and ride with me,<br /> + <i>Allah-il-Allah!"</i><br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Thus spake Ertoghrul;<br /> + And at the words, with flying reins, and all<br /> + His eager tribe, four hundred sworded men,<br /> + Headlong he rode against the winning host.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + II<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Beneath the captured flags, the spoils in heaps<br /> + Around him laid, the rescued warrior stood,<br /> + A man of kingly mien, while to him strode<br /> + His unexpected friend.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Now who art thou?"<br /> + The first was first to ask.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Sheik Ertoghrul<br /> + Am I."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "The herds I see—who calls them his?"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Laughed Ertoghrul, and showed his cimeter.<br /> + "The sword obeys my hand, the hand my will,<br /> + And given will and hand and sword, I pray<br /> + Thee tell me, why should any man be poor?"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "And whose the plain?"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Comes this way one a friend<br /> + Of mine, and leaves his slippers at my door,<br /> + Why then, 'tis his."<br /> + "And whose the hills that look<br /> + Upon the plain?"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "My flocks go there at morn,<br /> + And thence they come at night—I take my right<br /> + Of Allah."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "No," the stranger mildly said,<br /> + "'Twas Allah made them mine."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Frowned Ertoghrul,<br /> + While darkened all the air; but from his side<br /> + Full pleasantly the stranger took a sword,<br /> + Its carven hilt one royal emerald,<br /> + Its blade both sides with legends overwrought,<br /> + Some from the Koran, some from Solomon,<br /> + All by the cunning Eastern maker burned<br /> + Into the azure steel-his sword he took,<br /> + And held it, belt, and scabbard too, in sign<br /> + Of gift.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "The herds, the plain, the hills were mine;<br /> + But take thou them, and with them this in proof<br /> + Of title."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Lifted Ertoghrul his brows,<br /> + And opened wide his eyes.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Now who art thou?"<br /> + He asked in turn.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Oh, I am Alaeddin—<br /> + Sometimes they call me Alaeddin the Great."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "I take thy gifts—the herds, the plain, the hills,"<br /> + Said Ertoghrul; "and so I take the sword;<br /> + But none the less, if comes a need, 'tis thine.<br /> + Let others call thee Alaeddin the Great;<br /> + To me and mine thou'rt Alaeddin the Good<br /> + And Great."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + With that, he kissed the good King's hand;<br /> + And making merry, to the Sheik's dowar<br /> + They rode. And thus from nothing came the small;<br /> + And now the lonely vale which erst ye knew,<br /> + And scorned, because it nursed the mountain's feet,<br /> + Doth cradle mornings on the mountain's top.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <i>Mishallah!</i><br /> +</p> + +<p> +The quiet which held the company through the recitation endured a space +afterwards, and—if the expression be allowed—was in itself a +commentary upon the performance. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is our worthy Professor of Rhetoric?" asked Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, Your Majesty," answered the man of learning, rising. +</p> + +<p> +"Canst thou not give us a lecture upon the story with which thy Arabian +brother hath favored us?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, sire, criticism, to deal justly, waiteth until the blood is cool. +If the Sheik will honor me with a copy of his lines, I will scan and +measure them by the rules descended to us from Homer, and his Attic +successors." +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the Emperor fell next upon the moody, discontented face of +Duke Notaras. +</p> + +<p> +"My lord Admiral, what sayest thou of the tale?" +</p> + +<p> +"Of the tale, nothing; of the story-teller—I think him an insolent, and +had I my way, Your Majesty, he should have a plunge in the Bosphorus." +</p> + +<p> +Presuming the Sheik unfamiliar with Latin, the Duke couched his reply in +that tongue; yet the former raised his head, and looked at the speaker, +his eyes glittering with intelligence—and the day came, and soon, when +the utterance was relentlessly punished. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not agree with you, my Lord," Constantine said, in a melancholy +tone. "Our fathers, whether we look for them on the Roman or the Greek +side, might have played the part of Ertoghrul. His was the spirit of +conquest. Would we had enough of it left to get back our own!—Sheik," +he added, "what else hast thou in the same strain? I have yet a little +time to spare—though it shall be as our hostess saith." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," she answered, with deference, "there is but one will here." +</p> + +<p> +And taking assent from her, the Sheik began anew. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + EL JANN AND HIS PARABLE<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <i>Bismillah!</i><br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Ertoghrul pursued a wolf,<br /> + And slew it on the range's tallest peak,<br /> + Above the plain so high there was nor grass<br /> + Nor even mosses more. And there he sat<br /> + Him down awhile to rest; when from the sky,<br /> + Or the blue ambiency cold and pure,<br /> + Or maybe from the caverns of the earth<br /> + Where Solomon the King is wont to keep<br /> + The monster Genii hearkening his call,<br /> + El Jann, vast as a cloud, and thrice as black,<br /> + Appeared and spoke—<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Art thou Sheik Ertoghrul?"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + And he undaunted answered: "Even so."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Well, I would like to come and sit with thee."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Thou seest there is not room for both of us."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Then rise, I say, and get thee part way down<br /> + The peak."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "'Twere easier," laughed Ertoghrul,<br /> + "Madest thou thyself like me as thin and small;<br /> + And I am tired."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + A rushing sound ran round and up<br /> + And down the height, most like the whir of wings<br /> + Through tangled trees of forests old and dim.<br /> + A moment thus—the time a crisped leaf,<br /> + Held, armlength overhead, will take to fall—<br /> + And then a man was sitting face to face<br /> + With Ertoghrul.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "This is the realm of snow,"<br /> + He said, and smiled—"a place from men secure,<br /> + Where only eagles fearless come to nest,<br /> + And summer with their young."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + The Sheik replied,<br /> + "It was a wolf—a gaunt gray wolf, which long<br /> + Had fattened on my flocks—that lured me here.<br /> + I killed it."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "On thy spear I see no blood;<br /> + And where, O Sheik, the carcass of the slain?<br /> + I see it not."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Around looked Ertoghrul—<br /> + There was no wolf; and at his spear—<br /> + Upon its blade no blood. Then rose his wrath,<br /> + A mighty pulse.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "The spear hath failed its trust—<br /> + I'll try the cimeter."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + A gleam of light—<br /> + A flitting, wind-borne spark in murk of night—<br /> + Then fell the sword, the gift of Alaeddin;<br /> + Edge-first it smote the man upon his crown—<br /> + Between his eyes it shore, nor staying there,<br /> + It cut his smile in two—and not yet spent,<br /> + But rather gaining force, through chin and chine,<br /> + And to the very stone on which he sat<br /> + It clove, and finished with a bell-like clang<br /> + Of silvern steel 'gainst steel.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Aha! Aha!"—<br /> + But brief the shout; for lo! there was no stain<br /> + Upon the blade withdrawn, nor moved the man,<br /> + Nor changed he look or smile.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "I was the wolf<br /> + That ran before thee up the mountain side;<br /> + 'Twas I received thy spear as now thy sword;<br /> + And know thou further, Sheik, nor wolf nor man<br /> + Am I, nor mortal thing of any kind;<br /> + Only a thought of Allah's. Canst thou kill<br /> + A thought divine? Not Solomon himself<br /> + Could that, except with thought yet more divine.<br /> + Yield thee thy rage; and when thou think'st of me<br /> + Hereafter, be it as of one, a friend,<br /> + Who brought a parable, and made display<br /> + Before thee, saying—<br /> + "Lo! what Allah wills."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Therewith he dropped a seed scarce visible<br /> + Into a little heap of sand and loam<br /> + Between them drawn.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Lo! Allah wills."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + And straight<br /> + The dust began to stir as holding life.<br /> + Again El Jann—<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Behold what Allah wills!"<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + A tiny shoot appeared; a waxen point<br /> + Close shawled in many folds of wax as white,<br /> + It might have been a vine to humbly creep—<br /> + A lily soon to sunward flare its stars—<br /> + A shrub to briefly coquette with the winds.<br /> + Again the cabalism—<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Lo! Allah's will."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + The apparition budded, leafed, and branched,<br /> + And with a flame of living green lit all<br /> + The barrenness about. And still it grew—<br /> + Until it touched the pillars of the earth,<br /> + And lapped its boundaries, the far and near,<br /> + And under it, as brethren in a tent,<br /> + The nations made their home, and dwelt in peace<br /> + Forever.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Lo!"—<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + And Ertoghrul awoke.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <i>Mishallah!</i><br /> +</p> + +<p> +This recitation commanded closer attention than the first one. Each +listener had a feeling that the parable at the end, like all true +parables, was of continuous application, while its moral was in some way +aimed at him. +</p> + +<p> +The looks the Sheik received were by no means loving. The spell was +becoming unpleasant. Then the Emperor arose, as did the Princess, to +whom, as hostess, the privilege of sitting had been alone conceded. +</p> + +<p> +"Our playtime is up—indeed, I fear, it has been exceeded," he said, +glancing at the Dean, who was acting master of ceremonies. +</p> + +<p> +The Dean responded with a bow low as his surroundings admitted; +whereupon the Emperor went to the Princess, and said, "We will take +leave now, daughter, and for myself and my lords of the court, I +acknowledge a most agreeable visit, and thank you for it." +</p> + +<p> +She respectfully saluted the hand he extended to her. +</p> + +<p> +"Our gate and doors at Blacherne are always open to you." +</p> + +<p> +The adieu was specially observed by the courtiers, and they subsequently +pronounced it decorous for a sovereign, cordial as became a relative, +but most un-loverlike. Indeed, it was a strong point in the decision +subsequently of general acceptance, by which His Majesty was relieved of +the proposal of marriage to the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +The latter took his offered arm, and accompanied him to the steps of the +portico, where, when he had descended, the lords one by one left a kiss +on her hand. +</p> + +<p> +Nor should it be forgotten, that as Constantine was passing the Sheik, +he paused to say to him in his habitually kind and princely manner: "The +tree Sheik Ertoghrul saw in his dream has spread, and is yet spreading, +but its shadow has not compassed all the nations; and while God keeps +me, it will not. Had not I myself invited the parable, it might have +been offensive. For the instruction and entertainment given me, accept +thou this—and go in peace." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik took the ring offered him, and the gaze with which he followed +the imperial giver was suggestive of respect and pity. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0320"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XX +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED DREAMS +</h3> + +<p> +It was a trifle after noon. The trireme and the assemblage of admiring +townspeople had disappeared, leaving the bay and its shores to their +wonted quiet. The palace, however, nestling in the garden under the +promontory, must be permitted to hold our interest longer. +</p> + +<p> +Aboo-Obeidah had eaten and drunk, for being on a journey, he was within +the license of the law as respects wine; and now he sat with the +Princess alone at the end of the portico lately occupied by the Emperor +and his suite. A number of her attendants amused themselves out of +hearing of the two, though still within call. She occupied the sedilium; +he a seat by the table near her. Save a fine white veil on an arm and a +fan which she seldom used, her appearance was as in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be admitted now that the Princess was finding a pleasure in the +society of the Sheik. If aware of the fact, which was doubtful, it is +still more doubtful if she could have explained it. We are inclined to +think the mystery attaching to the man had as much to do with the +circumstance as the man himself. He was polite, engaging, and handsome; +the objection to his complexion, if such there were, was at least offset +by a very positive faculty of entertaining; besides which, the +unspeakable something in manner, always baffling disguises, always +whispering of other conditions, always exciting suggestions and +expectations, was present here. +</p> + +<p> +If she thought him the Bedouin he assumed to be, directly a word changed +the opinion; did she see the Governor of the old Castle in his face, an +allusion or a bit of information dropped by him unaware spoke of +association far beyond such a subordinate; most perplexing, however, +where got the man his intelligence? Did learning like his, avoiding +cloisters, academies, and teachers of classical taste, comport with +camel-driving and tent-life in deserts harried by winds and sand? +</p> + +<p> +The mystery, together with the effort to disentangle it, resolved the +Princess into an attentive auditor. The advantages in the conversation +were consequently with the Sheik; and he availed himself of them to lead +as he chose. +</p> + +<p> +"You have heard, O Princess, of the sacred fig-tree of the Hindus?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"In one of their poems—the Bhagavad Gita, I think—it is described as +having its roots above and its branches downward; thus drawing life from +the sky and offering its fruit most conveniently, it is to me the symbol +of a good and just king. It rose to my mind when thy kinsman—may Allah +be thrice merciful to him!—passed me with his speech of forgiveness, +and this gift "—he raised his hand, and looked at the ring on one of +the fingers-"in place of which I was more deserving burial in the +Bosphorus, as the black-browed Admiral said." +</p> + +<p> +A frown dark as the Admiral's roughened his smooth brow. +</p> + +<p> +"Why so?" she inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"The tales I told were of a kind to be spared a Greek, even one who may +not cover his instep with the embroidered buskin of an Emperor." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Sheik, they did not ruffle him. On the tongue of a Turk, I admit, +the traditions had been boastful, but you are not a Turk." +</p> + +<p> +The remark might have been interrogative; wherefore with admirable +address, he replied: "An Ottoman would see in me an Arab wholly +unrelated to him, except as I am a Moslem. Let it pass, O Princess—he +forgave me. The really great are always generous. When I took the ring, +I thought, Now would the young Mahommed have so lightly pardoned the +provocation?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mahommed!" she said. +</p> + +<p> +"Not the Prophet," he answered; "but the son of Amurath." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, you know him?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have sat with him, O Princess, and at table often helped him to meat +and bread. I have been his cupbearer and taster, and as frequently +shared his outdoor sports; now hunting with hawk, and now with hound. +Oh, it were worth a year of common days to gallop at his right hand, and +exult with him when the falcon, from its poise right under the sun, +drops itself like an arrow upon its enemy! I have discoursed with him +also on themes holy and profane, and given and taken views, and telling +him tales in prose and verse, have seen the day go out, then come again. +In knightly practice I have tilted with him, and more than once, by his +side in battle, loosened rein at the same cry and charged. His Sultana +mother knows him well; but, by the lions and the eagles who served +Solomon, I know him, beginning where her knowledge left off—that is, +where the horizon of manhood stretched itself to make room for his +enlarging soul." +</p> + +<p> +The awakening curiosity of his listener was not lost upon the Sheik. +</p> + +<p> +"You are surprised to hear a kindly speech of the son of Amurath," he +said. +</p> + +<p> +She flushed slightly. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a person, Sheik, whose opinions are dangerous to the peace of +States, and of whom diplomacy is required; yet it would grieve me to +give offence to you or your friend, the Prince Mahommed. If now I +concede a wish to have some further knowledge of one who is shortly to +inherit the most powerful of the Eastern Kingdoms, the circumstance +ought not to subject me to harsh judgment." +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," the Sheik said, "nothing so becomes a woman as care where +words may be the occasion of mischief. As a flower in a garden, such a +woman would rank as the sovereign rose; as a bird, she would be the +bulbul, the sweetest of singers, and in beauty, a heron with throat of +snow, and wings of pink and scarlet; as a star, she would be the first +of the evening, and the last to pale in the morning—nay, she would be a +perpetual morning. Of all fates what more nearly justifies reproach of +Allah than to have one's name and glory at the mercy of a rival or an +enemy? I am indeed Mahommed's friend—I know him—I will defend him, +where sacred truth permits defence. And then"—his glance fell, and he +hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"And what then?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +He gave her a grateful look, and answered: "I am going to Adrianople. +The Prince will be there, and can I tell him of this audience, and that +the Princess Irene regrets the evil reported of him in Constantinople, +and is not his enemy, straightway he will number himself of those the +most happy and divinely remembered, whose books are to be given them in +their right hands." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess looked at the singer, her countenance clear, serene, fair +as a child's, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"I am the enemy of no one living. Report me so to him. The Master I +follow left a law by which all men and women are neighbors whom I am to +love and pray for as I love and pray for myself. Deliver him the very +words, O Sheik, and he will not misunderstand me." +</p> + +<p> +A moment after she asked: +</p> + +<p> +"But tell me more of him. He is making the world very anxious." +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," the Sheik began, "Ebn Hanife was a father amongst Dervishes, +and he had a saying, 'Ye shall know a plant by its flower, a vine by its +fruit, and a man by his acts; what he does being to the man as the +flower to the plant, and the fruit to the vine; if he have done nothing, +prove him by his tastes and preferences, for what he likes best that he +will do when left to himself.' By these tests let us presume to try the +Prince Mahommed.... There is nothing which enthralls us like the +exercise of power—nothing we so nearly carry with us into the tomb to +be a motive there; for who shall say it has not a part in the promise of +resurrection? If so, O Princess, what praise is too great for him who, a +young man placed upon a throne by his father, comes down from it at his +father's call?" +</p> + +<p> +"Did Mahommed that?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not once, O Princess, but twice." +</p> + +<p> +"In so much at least his balance should be fair." +</p> + +<p> +"To whom is the pleasant life in a lofty garden, its clusters always +near at hand—to whom, if not to the just judges of their fellow-men?" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik saluted her twice by carrying his right hand to his beard, +then to his forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Attend again, O Princess," he continued, more warmly than in the +outset. "Mahommed is devoted to learning. At night in the field when the +watches are set, the story-tellers, poets, philosophers, lawyers, +preachers, experts in foreign tongues, and especially the inventors of +devices, a class by themselves, supposed generally to live on dreams as +others on bread—all these, finding welcome in his tent, congregate +there. His palace in the city is a college, with recitations and +lectures and instructive conversations. The objection his father +recognized the times he requested him to vacate the throne was that he +was a student. His ancestors having been verse makers, poetry is his +delight; and if he does not rival them in the gentle art, he surpasses +them in the number of his acquirements. The Arab, the Hebrew, the Greek, +the Latin address him and have answers each in his mother's tongue. Knew +you ever a scholar, O Princess, whose soul had utterly escaped the +softening influence of thought and study? It is not learning which tames +the barbarian so much as the diversion of mind from barbaric modes +required of him while in the pursuit of learning." +</p> + +<p> +She interrupted him, saying pleasantly: "I see, O Sheik, if to be at the +mercy of an enemy is sad, how fortunate where one's picture is intended +if the artist be a friend. Where had the Prince his instructors?" +</p> + +<p> +There was a lurking smile in the Sheik's eyes, as he replied: "The sands +in my country drink the clouds dry, and leave few fountains except of +knowledge. The Arab professors in Cordova, whom the Moorish Kaliphs +deemed themselves honored in honoring, were not despised by the Bishops +of Rome. Amurath, wanting teachers for Mahommed, invited the best of +them to his court. Ah—if I had the time!" +</p> + +<p> +Observing his sigh had not failed its mark, he continued: "I would speak +of some of the books I have seen on the Prince's table; for as a +licensed friend, I have been in his study. Indeed, but for fear of too +greatly recommending myself, I would have told you earlier, O Princess, +how he favoured me as one of his teachers." +</p> + +<p> +"Of poetry and story-telling, I suppose?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" he asked. "Our history is kept and taught in such forms. Have +we a hero not himself a poet, he keeps one.... Upon the Prince's table, +in the central place, objects of his reverence, the sources to which he +most frequently addresses himself when in need of words and happy turns +of expression, his standards of comparison for things beautiful in +writing and speech, mirrors of the Most Merciful, whispering galleries +wherein the voice of the Most Compassionate is never silent, are the +Koran, with illustrations in gold, and the Bible in Hebrew, copied from +<i>torahs</i> of daily use in the Synagogues." +</p> + +<p> +"The Bible in Hebrew! Does he read it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Like a Jewish elder." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Gospels?" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik's face became reproachful. +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou—even thou, O Princess—of those who believe a Moslem must +reject Christ because the Prophet of Islam succeeded him with later +teachings?" +</p> + +<p> +Dropping then into the passionless manner, he continued: +</p> + +<p> +"The Koran does not deny Christ or his Gospels. Hear what it says of +itself: 'And this Koran is not a forgery of one who is no God, but it +hath been sent down as a confirmation of those books which have been +before it, and an explanation of the Scriptures from the Lord of the +Worlds.' [Footnote: The Koran] ... That verse, O Princess, transcribed +by the Prince Mahommed himself, lies between the Bible and the Koran; +the two being, as I have said, always together upon his table." +</p> + +<p> +"What then is his faith?" she asked, undisguisedly interested. +</p> + +<p> +"Would he were here to declare it himself!" +</p> + +<p> +This was said disconsolately; then the Sheik broke out: +</p> + +<p> +"The truth now of the son of Amurath! Listen!—He believes in God. He +believes in the Scriptures and the Koran, holding them separate wings of +the divine Truth by which the world is to attain righteousness. He +believes there have been three Prophets specially in the confidence of +God: Moses, the first one; Jesus, who was greater than Moses; Mahomet, +the very greatest—not for speaking better or sublimer things, but +because he was last in their order of coming. Above all, O Princess, he +believes worship due to the Most High alone; therefore he prays the +prayer of Islam, God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet—meaning that +the Prophet is not to be mistaken for God." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik raised his dark eyes, and upon meeting them the Princess +looked out over the bay. That she was not displeased was the most he +could read in her face, the youthful light of which was a little shaded +by thinking. He waited for her to speak. +</p> + +<p> +"There were other books upon the Prince's table?" she presently asked. +</p> + +<p> +"There were others, O Princess." +</p> + +<p> +"Canst thou name some of them?" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik bowed profoundly. +</p> + +<p> +"I see the pearls of Ebn Hanife's saying were not wasted. Mahommed is +now to be tried by his tastes and preferences. Let it be so.... I saw +there, besides dictionaries Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, the Encyclopaedia +of Sciences, a rare and wonderful volume by a Granadian Moor, Ibn +Abdallah. I saw there the Astronomy and Astronomical Tables of Ibn +Junis, and with them a silver globe perfected from the calculations of +Almamon the Kaliph, which helps us to the geographical principle not yet +acknowledged in Rome, that the earth is round. I saw there the Book of +the Balance of Wisdom by Alhazan, who delved into the laws of nature +until there is nothing phenomenal left. I saw there the Philosophy of +Azazzali the Arab, for which both Christian and Moslem should be +grateful, since it has given Philosophy its true place by exalting it +into a handmaiden of Religion. I saw there books treating of trade and +commerce, of arms and armor, and machines for the assault and defence of +cities, of military engineering, and the conduct of armies in grand +campaigns, of engineering not military, dealing with surveying, and the +construction of highways, aqueducts, and bridges, and the laying out of +towns. There, also, because the soul of the student must have rest and +diversion, I saw volumes of songs and music loved by lovers in every +land, and drawings of mosques, churches and palaces, masterpieces of +Indian and Saracenic genius; and of gardens there was the Zebra, created +by Abderrahman for the best loved of his Sultanas. Of poetry, O Princess, +I saw many books, the lord of them a copy of Homer in Arabic, executed on +ivory from the translation ordered by Haroun Al-Raschid." +</p> + +<p> +During this recital the Princess scarcely moved. She was hearing a new +version of Mahommed; and the Sheik, like a master satisfied with his +premises, proceeded to conclusions. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has a habit of dreaming, and he does not deny it—he believes +in it. In his student days, he called it his rest. He used to say, when +his brain reeled in overtask dreaming was a pillow of down and lavender; +that in moments of despair, dreaming took his spirit in its hands softer +than air, and, nurse-like, whispered and sung to it, and presently it +was strong again. Not many mornings ago he awoke to find that in a deep +sleep some ministrant had come to him, and opened the doors of his +heart, and let out its flock of boyish fantasies. He has since known but +three visions. Would it please you, O Princess, to hear of them? They +may be useful as threads on which to hang the Dervish father's pearls of +saying." +</p> + +<p> +She re-settled herself, resting her cheek on her hand, and her elbow on +the arm of the chair, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I will hear of them." +</p> + +<p> +"The visions have all of them reference to the throne he is soon to +ascend, without which they would be the mere jingling of a jester's +rattle. +</p> + +<p> +"First Vision.... He will be a hero. If his soul turned from war, he +were not his father's son. But unlike his father, he holds war the +servant of peace, and peace the condition essential to his other +visions. +</p> + +<p> +"Second Vision.... He believes his people have the genius of the Moors, +and he will cultivate it in rivalry of that marvellous race." +</p> + +<p> +"Of the Moors, O Sheik?" the Princess said, interrupting him. "Of the +Moors? I have always heard of them as pillagers of sacred cities—infidels +sunk in ignorance, who stole the name of God to excuse invasions +and the spilling of rivers of blood." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik lifted his head haughtily. +</p> + +<p> +"I am an Arab, and the Moors are Arabs translated from the East to the +West." +</p> + +<p> +"I crave thy pardon," she said, gently. +</p> + +<p> +And calming himself, he rejoined: "If I weary you, O Princess, there are +other subjects to which I can turn. My memory is like the box of +sandal-wood a lady keeps for her jewelry. I can open it at will, and +always find something to please—better probably because I have it from +another." +</p> + +<p> +"No," she returned, artlessly, "a hero in actual life transcends the +best of fancies—and besides, Sheik, you spoke of a third vision of your +friend, the Prince Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +He dropped his eyes lest she should see the brightness with which they +filled. +</p> + +<p> +"War, my Lord says, is a necessity which, as Sultan, he cannot avoid. +Were he disposed to content himself with the empire descending from his +great father, envious neighbors would challenge him to the field. He +must prove his capacity in defence. That done, he vows to tread the path +made white and smooth by Abderrahman, the noblest and best of the +Western Kaliphs. He will set out by founding a capital somewhere on the +Bosphorus. Such, O Princess, is my Lord Mahommed's Third Vision." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Sheik—on the Marmora—at Broussa, perhaps." +</p> + +<p> +"I am giving the Vision as he gave it to me, Princess. For where else, +he asks, has the spreading earth diviner features than on the Bosphorus? +Where bends a softer sky above a friendlier channel by Nature moulded +for nobler uses? Where are there seas so bridled and reduced? Does not +the rose bloom here all the year? Yonder the East, here the West—must +they be strangers and enemies forever? His capital, he declares, shall +be for their entertainment as elder and younger brother. Within its +walls, which he will build strong as a mountain's base, with gates of +brass invulnerable, and towers to descry the clouds below the horizon, +he will collect unselfishly whatever is good and beautiful, remembering +he serves Allah best who serves his fellow-men." +</p> + +<p> +"All his fellow-men, Sheik?" +</p> + +<p> +"All of them." +</p> + +<p> +Then she glanced over the bay, and said very softly: +</p> + +<p> +"It is well; for 'if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than +others?'" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik smiled, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"And thus the latest Prophet, O Princess. 'Turn away evil by that which +is better; and lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall become +as though he were a warm friend.'" [Footnote: Koran] +</p> + +<p> +She answered, "A goodly echo." +</p> + +<p> +"Shall I proceed?" he then asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"I was speaking of the Third Vision.... To make his capital the centre +of the earth, he will have a harbor where ships from every country, and +all at once, can come and lie, oars slung and sails furled: and near by +for trade, a bazaar with streets of marble, and roofed with glass, and +broad and long enough for a city unto itself; and in the midst a khan +for lodging the merchants and travellers who have not other houses. And +as did Abderrahman, he will build a University of vast enclosure; here +temples, there groves; nor may a study be named without its teacher, and +he the most famous; so the votaries of Music and Poetry, Philosophy, +Science, and the Arts, and the hundred-handed Mechanics shall dwell +together like soldiers in a holy league. And comes that way one +religious, of him but a question, Believest thou in God? and if he +answer yes, then for him a ready welcome. For of what moment is it, my +Lord asks, whether God bear this name or that? Or be worshipped with or +without form? Or on foot or knee? Or whether the devout be called +together by voice or bell? Is not Faith everything?" +</p> + +<p> +The picture wrought upon the Princess. Her countenance was radiant, and +she said half to herself, but so the Sheik heard her: +</p> + +<p> +"It is a noble Vision." +</p> + +<p> +Then the Sheik lowered his voice: +</p> + +<p> +"If, with such schemes, excluding races and religions—hear me again, O +Princess!—if with such schemes or visions, as thou wilt, the Lord +Mahommed allows himself one selfish dream, wouldst thou condemn him?" +</p> + +<p> +"What is the selfish dream?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"He has an open saying, Princess, 'Light is the life of the world, while +Love is the light of life.' Didst thou ever hear how Othman wooed and +won his Malkatoon?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"It is a Turkish tale of love. Mahommed had it from his mother when he +was a lad, and he has been haunted ever since with a belief which, to +his dreaming, is like the high window in the eastern front of a palace, +outwardly the expression-giver, within the principal source of light. +The idea is strongest what times the moon is in the full; and then he +mounts a horse, and hies him, as did Othman, to some solitary place +where, with imagination for cup-bearer, he drinks himself into happy +drunkenness." The Sheik, bending forward, caught her eyes with his, and +held them so not a glance escaped him. +</p> + +<p> +"He thinks—and not all the Genii, the winged and the unwinged, of the +wisest of Kings could win him from the thought—that he will sometime +meet a woman who will have the mind, the soul of souls, and the beauty +of the most beautiful. When she will cross his vision is one of the +undelivered scriptories which Time is bringing him; yet he is looking +for her, and the more constantly because the first sight of her will be +his first lesson in the mystery called love. He will know her, for at +seeing her a lamp will light itself in his heart, and by it, not the +glare of the sun, his spirit will make sure of her spirit. Therefore in +his absoluteness of faith, O Princess, there is a place already provided +for her in his promised capital, and even now he calls it this House of +Love. Ah, what hours he has spent planning that abode! He will seat it +in the Garden of Perfection, for the glorifying which, trees, birds, +flowers, summer-houses, water, hill-tops and shaded vales shall be +conquered. Has he not studied the Zehra of Abderrahman? And divided it +as it was into halls, courts and chambers, and formed and proportioned +each, and set and reset its thousand and more columns, and restored the +pearls and gold on its walls, and over the wide Alhambran arches hung +silken doors sheened like Paradisean birds? And all that when he shall +have found her, his Queen, his Malkatoon, his Spirit of Song, his Breath +of Flowers, his Lily of Summer, his Pearl of Oman, his Moon of Radjeb, +monotony shall never come where she dwells nor shall she sigh except for +him absent. Such, O Princess Irene, is the one dream the Prince has +builded with the world shut out. Does it seem to you a vanity of +wickedness?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," she returned, and covered her face, for the Sheik's look was eager +and burning bright. +</p> + +<p> +He knelt then, and kissed the marble at her feet. +</p> + +<p> +"I am Prince Mahommed's ambassador, O Princess," he said, rising to his +knees. "Forgive me, if I have dared delay the announcement." +</p> + +<p> +"His ambassador! To what end?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am afraid and trembling." +</p> + +<p> +He kissed the floor again. +</p> + +<p> +"Assure me of pardon—if only to win me back my courage. It is miserable +to be shaken with fear." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast done nothing, Sheik, unless drawing thy master's portrait too +partially be an offence. Speak out." +</p> + +<p> +"It is not three days, Princess, since you were Mahommed's guest." +</p> + +<p> +"I his guest—Mahommed's!" +</p> + +<p> +She arose from her chair. +</p> + +<p> +"He received you at the White Castle." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Governor?" +</p> + +<p> +"He was the Governor." +</p> + +<p> +She sunk back overcome with astonishment. The Sheik recalled her +directly. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince Mahommed," he said, "arrived at the Castle when the boats were +discovered, and hastened to the landing to render assistance if the +peril required it.... And now, O Princess, my tongue falters. How can I +without offending tell of the excitement into which seeing you plunged +him? Suffer me to be direct. His first impression was supported by the +coincidences—your coming and his, so nearly at the same instant—the +place of the meeting so out of the way and strange—the storm seemingly +an urgency of Heaven. Beholding and hearing you, 'This is she! This is +she! My Queen, my Malkatoon!' he cried in his heart. And yesterday"— +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Sheik, allow the explanation to wait. Bearest thou a message from +him to me?" +</p> + +<p> +"He bade me salute thee, Princess Irene, as if thou wert now the Lady of +his House of Love in his Garden of Perfection, and to pray if he might +come and in person kiss thy hand, and tell thee his hopes, and pour out +at thy feet his love in heartfuls larger than ever woman had from man." +</p> + +<p> +While speaking, the Sheik would have given his birthright to have seen +her face. +</p> + +<p> +Then, in a low voice, she asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Does he doubt I am a Christian?" +</p> + +<p> +The tone was not of anger; with beatings of heart trebly quickened, he +hastened to reply: +</p> + +<p> +"'That she is a Christian'—may God abandon my mouth, if I quote him +unfaithfully!—'That she is a Christian, I love her the more. For see +you, Sheik'—by the faith of an Arab, Princess, I quote him yet, word +for word—'my mother was a Christian.'" +</p> + +<p> +In the morning of this very day we have seen her put to like question by +Constantine, and she did not hesitate; now the reply took a time. +</p> + +<p> +"Say to Prince Mahommed," she at length returned, "that his message +presents itself honorably, for which it is deserving a soft answer. His +fancy has played him false. I cannot be the woman of his dream. She is +young; I am old, though not with years. She is gay; I am serious. She is +in love with life, hopeful, joyous; I was born to sorrow, and in sorrow +brought up, and the religion which absorbed my youth is now life's hold +on me. She will be delighted with the splendors he has in store for her; +so might I, had not the wise man long since caught my ear and judgment +by the awful text, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. While her charms +endure she will keep him charmed with the world; I could not so much, +for the world to come has possession of me, and the days here are but so +many of a journey thither. Tell him, O Sheik, while he has been dreaming +of palaces and gardens in rivalry of Abderrahman the Kaliph, I have been +dreaming of a house in splendor beyond the conception of architects; and +asks he more about it, tell him I know it only as a house not made with +hands. Tell him I speak not in denial of possibilities; for by the love +I have never failed to accord the good and noble, I might bend my soul +to his; to this hour, however, God and His Son the Christ, and the Holy +Mother, and the Angels and deserving men and women have taken up my +heart and imagination, and in serving them I have not aspired to other +happiness. A wife I might become, not from temptation of gain or power, +or in surrender to love—I speak not in derision of the passion, since, +like the admitted virtues, it is from God—nay, Sheik, in illustration +of what may otherwise be of uncertain meaning to him, tell Prince +Mahommed I might become his wife could I by so doing save or help the +religion I profess. Then, if I brought him love, the sacrifice would +rescue it from every taint. Canst thou remember all this? And wilt thou +deliver it truly?" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik's demeanor when she ended was greatly changed; his head was +quite upon his breast; his attitude and whole appearance were +disconsolate to the last degree. +</p> + +<p> +"Alas, Princess! How can I carry such speech to him, whose soul is +consuming with hunger and thirst for thy favor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sheik," she said in pity, "no master, I think, had ever a more faithful +servant than thou hast proved thyself. Thy delivery of his message, +could it be preserved, would be a model for heralds in the future." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon she arose, extended her hand to him, and he kissed it; and as +she remained standing, he arose also. +</p> + +<p> +"Be seated," she then said, and immediately that they were both in their +chairs again, she took direction of the interview. +</p> + +<p> +"You asked me, Sheik, if I had heard how Othman wooed and won his +Malkatoon, and said it was a Turkish romance. The Othman, I take it, was +founder of Prince Mahommed's house. Now, if thou art not too weary, tell +me the story." +</p> + +<p> +As the recital afforded him the opportunities to give poetic expression +to his present feeling, he accepted the suggestion gladly, and, being in +the right mood, was singularly effective. Half the time listening she +was in tears. It was past three o'clock when he finished. The audience +then terminated. In no part of it had her manner been more gracious than +when she conducted him along the portico, or her loveliness so +overwhelming as when she bade him adieu at the head of the steps. +</p> + +<p> +Standing between columns near the sedilium, she saw him gain his boat, +take something from the sitting-box, step ashore again, and return to +her gate, where he remained awhile pounding with a stone. The action was +curious, and when he was out of sight rounding the water front of the +promontory, she sent Lysander to investigate. +</p> + +<p> +"The infidel has fixed a brass plate to the right-hand post of the +kiosk," the ancient reported, in bad humor. "It may be a curse." The +Princess then called her attendants, and went with them to see the brass +plate. There it was, an arm's reach overhead, and affixed firmly to the +post, the corners turned down to serve the tacking. Graven on its +polished surface was the following: +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration] +</p> + +<p> +Wholly unable to decipher it, she sent for a Dervish, long resident in +the town, and returned to the portico. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," the old man said, having viewed the mysterious plate, "he +who did the posting was a Turk; and if he were aged, I should say thou +hast entertained unaware the great Amurath, Sultan of Sultans." +</p> + +<p> +"But the man was young." +</p> + +<p> +"Then was he the son of Amurath, Prince Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess turned pale. +</p> + +<p> +"How canst thou speak so positively?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"It is a <i>teukra</i>; in the whole world, O Princess, there are but +two persons with authority to make use of it." +</p> + +<p> +"And who are they?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Sultan, and Mahommed, next him in the succession." +</p> + +<p> +In the silence which ensued, Lysander officiously proposed to remove the +sign. The Dervish interposed. +</p> + +<p> +"Wilt thou hear me, O Princess," he said, with a low reverence, "whether +the plate proceeded from Amurath or Mahommed, or by the order of either +of them, the leaving it behind signifies more than friendship or +favor—it is a safeguard—a proclamation that thou and thy people and +property here are under protection of the master of all the Turks. Were +war to break out to-morrow, thou mightest continue in thy palace and +garden with none to make thee afraid save thine own countrymen. +Wherefore consider well before acceding to the rancor of this ancient +madman." +</p> + +<p> +Thus the truth came to the Princess Irene. The Singing Sheik was Prince +Mahommed! +</p> + +<p> +Twice he had appeared before her; in the White Castle once, and now in +her palace; and having announced himself her lover, and proposed +marriage, he intended her to know him, and also that he was not +departing in despair. Hence the plate on the gate! The circumstance was +novel and surprising. Her present feelings were too vague and uncertain +for definition: but she was not angry. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Mahommed, returning to the old Castle, debated with himself. He +loved the Princess Irene with the passion of a soul unused to denial or +disappointment, and before he reached the Roumelian Hissar he swore a +Moslem oath to conquer Constantinople, less for Islam and glory, than +for her. And from that hour the great accomplishment took hold of him to +the exclusion of all else. +</p> + +<p> +At Hissar he ascended the mountain, and, standing on the terreplein of +the precipice in front of what is now Robert College, he marked the +narrowness of the Bosphorus below, and thinking of the military +necessity for a crossing defended on both shores, he selected a site for +a castle on the European side opposite the White Castle in Asia. In due +time we will have occasion to notice the creation of the walls and +towers of the stupendous fortification yet standing between Bebek and +Hissar, a monument to his energy and sagacity more imposing than +anything left by him in Constantinople. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0401"></a></p> + +<h2> +BOOK IV +</h2> + +<h2> +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE +</h3> + +<p> +The Prince of India was not given to idle expectations. He might deceive +others, but he seldom deceived himself. His experience served him +prophetically in matters largely dependent on motives ordinarily +influential with men. He was confident the Emperor would communicate +with him, and soon. +</p> + +<p> +The third day after the adventure at the White Castle, a stranger, +mounted, armed, and showily caparisoned, appeared at the Prince's door +under guidance of Uel. In the study, to which he was hidden, he announced +himself the bearer of a complimentary message from His Majesty, +concluding with an invitation to the palace of Blacherne. If agreeable, +His Majesty would be pleased to receive the Indian dignitary in the +afternoon at three o'clock. An officer of the guard would be at the Grand +Gate for his escort. The honor, needless to say, was accepted in becoming +terms. +</p> + +<p> +When the Prince descended to the hall of entry on the ground floor to +take the sedan there, the unusual care given his attire was apparent. +His beard was immaculately white. His turban of white silk, balloon in +shape, and with a dazzle of precious stones in front, was a study. Over +a shirt of finest linen, with ruffles of lace at the throat and breast, +there was a plain gown of heavy black velvet, buttoned at the neck, but +open down to a yellow sash around the waist. The sash was complemented +by a belt which was a mass of pearls in relief on a ground of gold +embroidery. The belt-plate and crescented sword scabbard were aflame +with brilliants on blue enamelling. His trousers, ample as a skirt, were +of white satin overflowing at the ankles. Pointed red slippers, +sparkling with embroidery of small golden beads, completed the costume. +</p> + +<p> +The procession in the street was most striking. First Nilo, as became a +king of Kash-Cush, barbarously magnificent; the sedan next, on the +shoulders of four carriers in white livery; at the rear, two domestics +arrayed <i>a la Cipango</i>, their strange blue garments fitting them so +close as to impede their walking; yet as one of them bore his master's +paper sunshade and ample cloak, and the other a cushion bloated into the +proportions of a huge pillow, they were by no means wanting in +self-importance. Syama, similarly attired, though in richer material, +walked at the side of the sedan, ready to open the door or answer such +signal as he might receive from within. +</p> + +<p> +The appearance of this retinue in the streets was a show to the idle and +curious, who came together as if rendered out of the earth, and in such +numbers that before fairly reaching the thoroughfare by which the Grand +Gate of Blacherne was usually approached from the city side, the gilded +box on the shoulders of its bearers looked, off a little way, not unlike +a boat rocking in waves. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately the people started in good humor, and meeting nothing to +break the mood, they permitted the Prince to accomplish his journey +without interruption. The companionship of the crowd was really agreeable +to him; he hardly knew whether it were pleasanter to be able to excite +such respectful curiosity than to gratify it successfully. It might have +been otherwise had Lael been with him. +</p> + +<p> +The Very High Residence, as the Palace of Blacherne was generally spoken +of by Greeks, was well known to the Prince of India. The exclamation +with which he settled himself in the sedan at setting out from his +house—"Again, again, O Blacherne!"—disclosed a previous personal +acquaintance with the royal property. And over and over again on the way +he kept repeating, "O Blacherne! Beautiful Blacherne! Bloom the roses +as of old in thy gardens? Do the rivulets in thy alabaster courts still +run singing to the mosaic angels on the walls?" +</p> + +<p> +As to the date of these recollections, if, as the poets tell us, time is +like a flowing river, and memory a bridge for the conveniency of the +soul returning to its experiences, how far had this man to travel the +structure before reaching the Blacherne he formerly knew? Over what +tremendous spaces between piers did it carry him! +</p> + +<p> +The street traversed by the Prince carried him first to the Grate of St. +Peter on the Golden Horn, and thence, almost parallel with the city +wall, to Balat, a private landing belonging to the Emperor, at present +known as the gate of Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +At the edge of an area marble paved, the people stopped, it being the +limit of their privilege. Crossing the pavement, the visitor was set +down in front of the Grand Gate of the Very High Residence. History, +always abominating lapses, is yet more tender of some places than +others. There, between flanking towers, an iron-plated valve strong +enough to defy attack by any of the ancient methods was swung wide open, +ready nevertheless to be rolled to at set of sun. The guard halted the +Prince, and an officer took his name, and apologizing for a brief delay, +disappeared with it. Alighting from his sedan, the worthy proceeded to +take observation and muse while waiting. +</p> + +<p> +The paved area on which he stood was really the bottom of a well-defined +valley which ran off and up irregularly toward the southeast, leaving an +ascent on its right memorable as the seventh hill of Constantinople. A +stone wall marked here and there by sentinel boxes, each with a red +pennon on its top, straggled down along the foot of the ascent to the +Grand Gate. There between octangular towers loopholed and finished +battlement style was a covered passage suggestive of Egypt. Two +Victories in high relief blew trumpets at each other across the entrance +front. Ponderous benches of porphyry, polished smooth by ages of usage, +sat one on each side for the guards; fellows in helmets of shining +brass, cuirasses of the same material inlaid with silver, greaves, and +shoes stoutly buckled. Those of them sitting sprawled their bulky limbs +broadly over the benches. The few standing seemed like selected giants, +with blond beards and blue eyes, and axes at least three spans in length +along their whetted edges. The Prince recognized the imperial +guards—Danes, Saxons, Germans, and Swiss—their nationalities merged +into the corps entitled <i>Varangians</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Conscious, but unmindful of their stare, he kept his stand, and swept +the hill from bottom to top, giving free rein to memory. +</p> + +<p> +In 449 A. D.—he remembered the year and the circumstance well—an +earthquake threw down the wall then enclosing the city. Theodosius +restored it, leaving the whole height outside of this northwestern part +a preserve wooded, rocky, but with one possession which had become so +infinitely sanctified in Byzantine estimation as to impart the quality +to all its appurtenances, that was the primitive but Very Holy Church of +Blacherne, dedicated to the Virgin. +</p> + +<p> +Near the church there was a pleasure house to which the Emperors, vainly +struggling to escape the ceremonies the clergy had fastened upon them to +the imbitterment of life, occasionally resorted, and down on the shore +of the Golden Horn a zoological garden termed the Cynegion had been +established. The latter afterwhile came to have a gallery in which the +public was sometimes treated to games and combats between lions, tigers, +and elephants. There also criminals and heretics were frequently carried +and flung to the beasts. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did the Prince fail to recall that in those cycles the sovereigns +resided preferably in the Bucoleon, eastwardly by the sea of Marmora. He +remembered some of them as acquaintances with whom he had been on close +terms—Justinian, Heraclius, Irene, and the Porphyrogentes. +</p> + +<p> +The iconoclastic masters of that cluster of magnificent tenements, the +Bucoleon, had especial claims upon his recollection. Had he not incited +them to many of their savageries? They were incidents, it is true, sadly +out of harmony with his present dream; still their return now was with a +certain fluttering of the spirit akin to satisfaction, for the victims +in nearly every case had been Christians, and his business of life then +was vengeance for the indignities and sufferings inflicted on his +countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +With a more decided flutter, he remembered a scheme he put into effect +just twenty years after the restoration of the wall by Theodosius. In +the character of a pious Christianized Israelite resident in Jerusalem, +he pretended to have found the vestments of the Holy Mother of Christ. +The discovery was of course miraculous, and he reported it +circumstantially to the Patriarchs Galvius and Candidus. For the glory +of God and the exaltation of the Faith, they brought the relics to +Constantinople. There, amidst most solemn pomp, the Emperor assisting, +they were deposited in the Church of Saints Peter and Mark, to be +transferred a little later to their final resting-place in the holier +Church of the Virgin of Blacherne. There was a world of pious propriety +in the idea that as the vestments belonged to the Mother of God they +would better become her own house. The <i>Himation</i> or <i>Maphorion</i>, as the +robe of the Virgin was called, brought the primitive edifice in the +woods above the Cynegion a boundless increase of sanctity, while the +discoverer received the freedom of the city, the reverence of the +clergy, and the confidence of the Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did the prodigious memory stay there. The hill facing the city was +of three terraces. On the second one, half hidden among cypress and +plane trees, he beheld a building, low, strong, and, from his direction, +showing but one window. Some sixteen years previous, during his absence +in Cipango, a fire had destroyed the Church of the Virgin, and owing to +the poverty of the people and empire, the edifice had not been rebuilt. +This lesser unpretentious structure was the Chapel of Blacherne which +the flames had considerately spared. He recognized it instantly, and +remembered it as full of inestimable relics—amongst them the <i>Himation</i>, +considered indestructible; the Holy Cross which Heraclius, in the year +635, had brought from Jerusalem, and delivered to Sergius; and the +<i>Panagia Blachernitissa</i>, or All Holy Banner of the Image of the Virgin. +Then rose another reminiscence, and though to reach him it had to fly +across a chasm of hundreds of years, it presented itself with the +distinctness of an affair of yesterday. In 626, Heraclius being Emperor, +a legion of Avars and Persians sacked Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the +Bosphorus, and laid siege to Constantinople. The Byzantines were in awful +panic; and they would have yielded themselves had not Sergius the +Patriarch been in control. With a presence of mind equal to the occasion, +he brought the <i>Panagia</i> forth, and supported by an army of clerics and +monks, traversed the walls, waving the All Holy Banner. A volley of +arrows from invisible archers fell upon the audacious infidels, and the +havoc was dreadful; they fled, and their prince, the Khagan, fled with +them, declaring he had seen a woman in shining garments but of awful +presence on the walls. The woman was the Holy Mother; and with a conceit +easily mistaken for gratitude, the Byzantines declared their capital +thenceforward guarded by God. When they went out to the Church in the +Woods and found it unharmed by the enemy, they were persuaded the Mother +had adopted them; in return, what could they else than adopt her? +Pisides, the poet, composed a hymn, to glorify her. The Church +consecrated the day of the miraculous deliverance a fete day observable +by Greeks forever. The Emperor removed the old building, and on its site +raised another of a beauty more expressive of devotion. To secure it from +ravage and profanation, he threw a strong wall around the whole venerated +hill, and by demolishing the ancient work of Theodosius, made Blacherne a +part of the city. +</p> + +<p> +By and by the Church required enlargement, and it was then cruci-formed +by the addition of transepts right and left. Still later, a Chapel was +erected specially for the relics and the All Holy Banner. This was +contiguous to the Church, and besides being fireproof, it covered a +spring of pure water, afterwards essential in many splendid ceremonies +civil as well as religious. The Chamber of Relics was prohibited to all +but the Basileus. He alone could enter it. By great favor, the Prince of +India was once permitted to look into the room, and he remembered it +large and dimly lighted, its shadows alive, however, with the glitter of +silver and gold in every conceivable form, offered there as the Wise Men +laid their gifts before the Child in the Cave of the Nativity. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again the Church was burned, yet the Chapel escaped. It seemed +an object of divine protection. The sea might deliver tempests against +the Seven Hills, earthquakes shake the walls down and crack the hanging +dome of St. Sophia, cinders whiten paths from the porphyry column over +by the Hippodrome to the upper terrace of Blacherne; yet the Chapel +escaped—yet the holy fountain in its crypt flowed on purer growing as +the centuries passed. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, whose memories we are but weaving into words, did not wonder +at the increase of veneration attaching to the Chapel and its precious +deposits—manuscripts, books, bones, flags, things personal to the +Apostles, the Saints, the Son and His Mother, parings of their nails, +locks of their hair, spikes and splinters of the Cross itself—he did +not wonder at it, or smile, for he knew there is a devotional side to +every man which wickedness may blur but cannot obliterate. He himself +was going about the world convinced that the temple of Solomon was the +House of God. +</p> + +<p> +The guards sprawling on the benches kept staring at him; one of them let +his axe fall without so much as attracting the Prince's attention. His +memory, with a hold on him too firm to be disturbed by such trifles, +insisted on its resurrectionary work, and returned him to the year 865. +Constantinople was again besieged, this time by a horde from the Russian +wilderness under the chiefs Dir and Askold. They had passed the upper +sea in hundreds of boats, and disembarking on the European shore, +marched down the Bosphorus, leaving all behind them desolate. Photius +was then Patriarch. When the fleet was descried from the walls, he +prevailed on the Emperor to ask the intervention of the Virgin. The +<i>Maphorion</i> or Sacred Robe was brought out, and in presence of the +people on their knees, the clergy singing the hymn of Pisides, the holy +man plunged it into the waves. +</p> + +<p> +A wind arose under which the water in its rocky trough was as water in a +shaken bowl. The ships of the invaders sunk each other. Not one survived. +Of the men, those who lived came up out of the vortexes praying to be +taken to the Church of Blacherne for baptism. This was two hundred years +and more after the first deliverance of the city, and yet the Mother was +faithful to her chosen!—Constantinople was still the guarded of God!—The +<i>Penagia</i> was still the All Holy! Having repulsed the Muscovite +invasion, what excuse for his blasphemy would there be left the next to +challenge its terrors? +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India saw the blackened walls of the burned Church, an +appealing spectacle which the surrounding trees tried to cover with +their foliage, but could not; then he lifted his eyes to the Palace upon +the third terrace. +</p> + +<p> +To the hour decay sets in the touches of Time are usually those of an +artist who loves his subject, and wishes merely to soften or ennoble its +expression. So had he dealt with the Very High Residence. +</p> + +<p> +It began in the low ground down by the Cynegion, and arose with the city +wall, which was in fact its southwestern front. Though always spoken of +in the singular, like the Bucoleon, it was a collection of palaces, +vast, irregular, and declarative of the taste of the different eras they +severally memorialized. The spaces between them formed courts and +<i>places</i> under cover; yet as the architects had adhered to the idea +of a main front toward the northeast, there appeared a certain unity of +design in the structures. +</p> + +<p> +This main front, now under the Prince's view, was frequently broken, +advancing here, retreating there; one section severely plain and sombre; +another relieved by porticos with figured friezes resting on tall +columns. The irregularities were pleasing; some of them were stately; +and they were all helped not a little by domes and pavilions without +which the roof lines would have been monotonous. +</p> + +<p> +Lifting his gaze up the ascent from the low ground, it rested presently +on a Tower built boldly upon the Heraclian wall. This was the highest +pinnacle of the Palace, first to attract the observer, longest to hold +his attention. No courier was required to tell its history to him +through whose eyes we are now looking—it was the tower of Isaac +Angelus. How clearly its outlines cut the cloudless sky! How strong it +seemed up there, as if built by giants! Yet with windows behind +balconies, how airy and graceful withal! The other hills of the city, +and the populated valleys between the hills, spread out below it, like +an unrolled map. The warders of the Bucoleon, or what is now Point +Serail, the home-returning mariner shipping oars off Scutari, the +captain of the helmeted column entering the Golden Gate down by the +Seven Towers, the insolent Genoese on the wharves of Galata, had only to +look up, and lo! the perch of Isaac. And when, as often must have +happened, the privileged lord himself sat midafternoons on the uppermost +balcony of the Tower, how the prospect soothed the fever of his spirit! +If he were weary of the city, there was the Marmora, always ready to +reiterate the hues of the sky, and in it the Isles of the Princes, their +verdurous shades permeated with dreamful welcome to the pleasure-seeker +as well as the monk; or if he longed for a further flight, old Asia made +haste with enticing invitation to some of the villas strewing its +littoral behind the Isles; and yonder, to the eye fainting in the +distance, scarce more than a pale blue boundary cloud, the mountain +beloved by the gods, whither they were wont to assemble at such times as +they wished to learn how it fared with Ilium and the sons of Priam, or +to enliven their immortality with loud symposia. A prospect so composed +would seem sufficient, if once seen, to make a blind man's darkness +perpetually luminous. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes, however, the superlative magnate preferred the balcony on the +western side of the Tower. There he could sit in the shade, cooled by +waftures from a wide campania southward, or, peering over the +balustrade, watch the peasantry flitting through the breaks of the +Kosmidion, now the purlieus of Eyoub. +</p> + +<p> +Again the Prince was carried back through centuries. It had been +determined to build at Blacherne; but the hill was steep. How could +spaces be gained for foundations, for courts and gardens? The architects +pondered the problem. At last one of bolder genius came forward. We will +accept the city wall for a western front, he said, and build from it; +and for levels, allow us to commence at the foot of the height, and rear +arches upon arches. The proposal was accepted; and thereafter for years +the quarter was cumbered with brick and skeleton frames, and workingmen +were numerous and incessantly busy as colonized ants. Thus the ancient +pleasure house disappeared, and the first formal High Residence took its +place; at the same time the Bucoleon, for so many ages the glory of +Constantinople, was abandoned by its masters. +</p> + +<p> +Who was the first permanent occupant of the Palace of Blacherne? The +memory, theretofore so prompt, had now no reply. No matter—the Prince +recalled sessions had with Angelus on the upper balcony yonder. He +remembered them on account of his host one day saying: "Here I am safe." +The next heard of him he was a captive and blind. +</p> + +<p> +Passing on rapidly, he remembered the appearance of Peter the Hermit in +the gorgeous reception room of the Palace in 1096. Quite as distinctly, +he also remembered the audience Alexis I. tendered Godfrey of Bouillon +and his Barons in the same High Residence. +</p> + +<p> +What a contrast the host and his guests presented that day! The latter +were steel clad from head to foot and armed for battle, while Alexis was +a spectacle of splendor unheard of in the barbarous West. How the +preachers and eunuchs in the silk-gowned train of the one trembled as +the redoubtables of the West mangled the velvet carpets with their cruel +spurs! How peculiarly the same redoubtables studied the pearls on the +yellow stole of the wily Comnene and the big jewels in his Basilean +mitre—as if they were counting and weighing them mentally, preliminary +to casting up at leisure a total of value! And the table ware—this +plate and yon bowl—were they really gold or some cunning deception? The +Greeks were so treacherous! And when the guests were gone, the Greeks, +on their part, were not in the least surprised at the list of spoons and +cups subtly disappeared—gifts, they supposed, intended by the noble +"Crosses" for the most Holy Altar in Jerusalem! +</p> + +<p> +Still other remembrances of the Prince revived at sight of the +Palace—many others—amongst them, how the Varangians beat the boastful +Montferrat and the burly Count of Flanders in the assault of 1203, +specially famous for the gallantry of old Dandolo, operating with his +galleys on the side of the Golden Horn. Brave fellows, those Varangians! +Was the corps well composed now as then? He glanced at the lusty +examples before him on the stone benches, thinking they might shortly +have to answer the question. +</p> + +<p> +These reminiscences, it must not be forgotten, were of brief passage +with the Prince, much briefer than the time taken in writing them. They +were interrupted by the appearance of a military official whose uniform +and easy manner bespoke palace life. He begged to be informed if he had +the honor of addressing the Prince of India; and being affirmatively +assured, he announced himself sent to conduct him to His Majesty. The +hill was steep, and the way somewhat circuitous; did the Prince need +assistance? The detention, he added, was owing to delay in getting +intelligence of the Prince's arrival to His Majesty, who had been +closely engaged, arranging for certain ceremonies which were to occur in +the evening. Perhaps His Majesty had appointed the audience imagining +the ceremonies might prove entertaining to the Prince. These civilities, +and others, were properly responded to, and presently the cortege was in +motion. +</p> + +<p> +The lower terrace was a garden of singular perfection. +</p> + +<p> +On the second terrace, the party came to the ruined Church where, during +a halt, the officer told of the fire. His Majesty had registered a vow, +he said, at the end of the story, to rebuild the edifice in a style +superior to any former restoration. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, while listening, observed the place. Excepting the Church, +it was as of old. There the grove of cypresses, very ancient, and tall +and dark. There, too, the Chapel of purplish stone, and at one side of +it the sentry box and bench, and what seemed the identical detail of +Varangians on duty. There the enclosed space between the edifices, and +the road across the pavement to the next terrace only a little deeper +worn. There the arched gateway of massive masonry through which the road +conducted, the carving about it handsome as ever; and there, finally, +from the base of the Chapel, the brook, undiminished in volume and song, +ran off out of sight into the grove, an old acquaintance of the +Prince's. +</p> + +<p> +Moving on through the arched way, the guide led up to the third and last +terrace. Near the top there was a cut, and on its right embankment a +party of workmen spreading and securing a canopy of red cloth. +</p> + +<p> +"Observe, O Prince," the officer said. "From this position, if I mistake +not, you will witness the ceremony I mentioned as in preparation." +</p> + +<p> +The guest had time to express his gratification, when the Palace of +Blacherne, the Very High Residence, burst upon him in long extended +view, a marvel of imperial prodigality and Byzantine genius. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0402"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +THE AUDIENCE +</h3> + +<p> +The sedan was set down before a marble gate on the third terrace. +</p> + +<p> +"My duty is hardly complete. Suffer me to conduct you farther," the +officer said, politely, as the Prince stepped from the box. +</p> + +<p> +"And my servants?" +</p> + +<p> +"They will await you." +</p> + +<p> +The speakers were near the left corner of a building which projected +considerably from the general front line of the Palace. The wall, the +gateway, and the building were of white marble smoothly dressed. +</p> + +<p> +After a few words with Syama, the Prince followed his guide into a +narrow enclosure on the right of which there was a flight of steps, and +on the left a guard house. Ascending the steps, the two traversed a +passage until they came to a door. +</p> + +<p> +"The waiting-room. Enter," said the conductor. +</p> + +<p> +Four heavily curtained windows lighted the apartment. In the centre +there were a massive table, and, slightly removed from it, a burnished +copper brazier. Bright-hued rugs covered the floor, and here and there +stools carven and upholstered were drawn against the painted walls. The +officer, having seen his charge comfortably seated, excused himself and +disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Hardly was he gone when two servants handsomely attired came in with +refreshments—fruits in natural state, fruits candied, sweetened bread, +sherbet, wine and water. A chief followed them, and, with much humility +of manner, led the Prince to a seat at the table, and invited him to +help himself. The guest was then left alone; and while he ate and drank +he wondered at the stillness prevalent; the very house seemed in awe. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long another official entered, and after apologizing for introducing +himself, said: "I am Dean of the Court. In the absence of my lord +Phranza, it has fallen to me to discharge, well as I can, the duties of +Grand Chamberlain." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, observant of the scrutinizing glance the Dean gave his +person, acknowledged the honor done him, and the pleasure he derived +from the acquaintance. The Dean ought to be happy; he had great fame in +the city and abroad as a most courteous, intelligent, and faithful +servant; there was no doubt he deserved preeminently the confidence his +royal master reposed in him. +</p> + +<p> +"I am come, O Prince," the old functionary said, after thanks for the +friendly words, "to ascertain if you are refreshed, and ready for the +audience." +</p> + +<p> +"I am ready." +</p> + +<p> +"Let us to His Majesty then. If I precede you, I pray pardon." +</p> + +<p> +Drawing the portiere aside, the Dean held it for the other's passage. +</p> + +<p> +They entered an extensive inner court, surrounded on three sides by a +gallery resting on pillars. On the fourth side, a magnificent staircase +ascended to a main landing, whence, parting right and left, it terminated +in the gallery. Floor, stairs, balustrading, pillars, everything here was +red marble flooded with light from a circular aperture in the roof open +to the sky. +</p> + +<p> +Along the stairs, at intervals, officers armed and in armor were +stationed, and keeping their positions faced inwardly, they seemed like +statues. Other armed men were in the galleries. The silence was +impressive. Coming presently to an arched door, the Prince glanced into +a deep chamber, and at the further end of it beheld the Emperor seated +in a chair of state on a dais curtained and canopied with purple velvet. +</p> + +<p> +"Take heed now, O Prince," said the Dean, in a low voice. "Yonder is His +Majesty. Do thou imitate me in all things. Come." +</p> + +<p> +With this kindly caution the Dean led into the chamber of public +audience. Just within the door, he halter, crossed hands upon his +breast, and dropped to his knees, his eyes downcast; rising, he kept on +about halfway to the dais, and again knelt; when near his person's +length from the dais, he knelt and fully prostrated himself. The Prince +punctiliously executed every motion, except that at the instant of +halting the last time he threw both hands up after the manner of +Orientals. A velvet carpet of the accepted imperial color stretched from +door to dais greatly facilitated the observances. +</p> + +<p> +A statuesque soldier, with lance and shield, stood at the left of the +dais, a guard against treachery; by the chair, bare-headed, bare-legged, +otherwise a figure in a yellow tunic lightly breastplated, appeared the +sword-bearer, his slippers stayed with bands of gold, a blade clasped to +his body by the left forearm, the hilt above his shoulder; and spacious +as the chamber was, a row of dignitaries civil, military, and +ecclesiastical lined the walls each in prescribed regalia. The hush +already noticed was observable here, indicative of rigid decorum and +awful reverence. "Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor said, without +movement. +</p> + +<p> +The visitor obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +The last of the Palaeologae was in Basilean costume; a golden circlet on +his head brilliantly jewelled and holding a purple velvet cap in place; +an overgown of the material of the cap but darker in tint, and belted at +the waist; a mantle stiff with embroidery of pearls hanging by narrow +bands so as to drop from the shoulder over the breast and back, leaving +the neck bare; an ample lap-robe of dark purple cloth sparkling with +precious stones covering his nether limbs. The chair was square in form +without back or arms; its front posts twined and intricately inlaid with +ivory and silver, and topped each with a golden cone for hand-rest. The +bareness of the neck was relieved by four strings of pearls dropped from +the circlet two on a side, and drawn from behind the ears forward so as +to lightly tip the upper edge of the mantle. The right hand rested at +the moment on the right cone of the chair; the left was free. The +attitude of the figure thus presented was easy and unconstrained, the +countenance high and noble, and altogether the guest admitted to himself +that he had seldom been introduced to royalty more really imposing. +</p> + +<p> +There was hardly an instant allowed for these observations. To set his +guest at ease, Constantine continued: "The way to our door is devious +and upward. I hope it has not too severely tried you." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, were the road many times more trying I would willingly +brave it to be the recipient of honors and attentions which have made +the Emperor of Constantinople famous in many far countries, and not +least in mine." +</p> + +<p> +The courtierly turn of the reply did not escape the Emperor. It had been +strange if he had not put the character of his guest to question; +indeed, an investigation had proceeded by his order, with the invitation +to audience as a result; and now the self-possession of the stranger, +together with his answer, swept the last doubt from, the imperial mind. +An attendant, responding to a sign, came forward. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring me wine," and as the servant disappeared with the order, +Constantine again addressed his visitor. "You maybe a Brahman or an +Islamite," he said, with a pleasant look to cover any possible mistake: +"in either case, O Prince, I take it for granted that the offer of a +draught of Chian will not be resented." +</p> + +<p> +"I am neither a Mohammedan, nor a devotee of the gentle son of Maya. I +am not even a Hindoo in religion. My faith leads me to be thankful for +all God's gifts to his creatures. I will take the cup Your Majesty +deigns to propose." +</p> + +<p> +The words were spoken with childlike simplicity of manner; yet nowhere +in these pages have we had a finer example of the subtlety which, +characteristic of the speaker, seemed inspiration rather than study. He +knew from general report how religion dominated his host, and on the +spur of the moment, thought to pique curiosity with respect to his own +faith; seeing, as he fancied, a clear path to another audience, with +ampler opportunity to submit and discuss the idea of Universal +Brotherhood in God. +</p> + +<p> +The glance with which he accompanied assent to the cup was taken as a +mere accentuation of gratitude; it was, however, for discovery. Had the +Emperor noticed the declaration of what he was not? Did his intelligence +suggest how unusual it was for an Indian to be neither a Mohammedan, nor +a Brahman, nor even a Buddhist in religion? He saw a sudden lifting of +the brows, generally the preliminary of a question; he even made an +answer ready; but the other's impulse seemed to spend itself in an +inquiring look, which, lingering slightly, might mean much or nothing. +The Prince resolved to wait. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine, as will be seen presently, did observe the negations, and +was moved to make them the subject of remark at the moment; but +inordinately sensitive respecting his own religious convictions, he +imagined others like himself in that respect, and upon the scruple, for +which the reader will not fail to duly credit him, deferred inquiry +until the visitor was somewhat better understood. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the cupbearer appeared with the wine; a girlish lad he was, +with long blond curls. Kneeling before the dais, he rested a silver +platter and the liquor sparkling on it in a crystal decanter upon his +right knee, waiting the imperial pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +Taking the sign given him, the Dean stepped forward and filled the two +cups of chased gold also on the platter, and delivered them. Then the +Emperor held his cup up while he said in a voice sufficiently raised for +general hearing: +</p> + +<p> +"Prince of India, I desired your presence to-day the rather to discharge +myself of obligations for important assistance rendered my kinswoman, +the Princess Irene of Therapia, during her detention at the White +Castle; a circumstance of such late occurrence it must be still fresh in +your memory. By her account the Governor was most courteous and +hospitable, and exerted himself to make her stay in his stronghold +agreeable as possible. Something truly extraordinary, considering the +forbidding exterior of the house, and the limited means of entertainment +it must have to offer, she declared he succeeded in converting what +threatened to be a serious situation into an adventure replete with +pleasant surprises. A delegate is now at the Castle assuring the +Governor of my appreciation of his friendly conduct. By her account, +also, I am bounden to you, Prince, scarcely less than to him." +</p> + +<p> +The gravity of the visitor at hearing this was severely attacked. Great +as was his self-control, he smiled at thought of the dilemma the +Governor was in, listening to a speech of royal thanks and receiving +rich presents in lieu of his young master Mahommed. When the envoy +returned and reported, if perchance he should describe the Turk whom he +found in actual keeping of the Castle, the discrepancy between his +picture of the man and that of the Princess would be both mysterious and +remarkable. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Prince returned, with a deprecating gesture, "the +storm menaced me quite as much as the Princess, and calls for confession +of my inability to see wherein I rendered her service free of regard for +myself. Indeed, it is my duty to inform Your Majesty, all these noble +witnesses hearing me, that I am more beholden to your noble kinswoman +for help and deliverance in the affair than she can be to me. But for +the courage and address, not to mention the dignity and force with which +she availed herself of her royal relationship, resolving what was at +first a simple invitation to refuge into a high treaty between the heads +of two great powers, I and my daughter"— +</p> + +<p> +"Daughter, said you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Your Majesty—Heaven has so favored me—I, my daughter, and my +frightened boatmen would have been committed to the river near the +Castle, without recourse except in prayer to Heaven. Nay, Your Majesty, +have I permission to say on, Charity had never a sweeter flowering than +when the Princess remembered to take the stranger under her protection. +I am past the age of enthusiasm and extravagance—my beard and dimming +eyes prove the admission—yet I declare, weighing each word, she has the +wit, the spirit, the goodness, the loveliness to be the noblest of +queens to the best of kings; and fails she such choice, it will be +because destiny has been struck by some unaccountable forgetfulness." +</p> + +<p> +By this time the courtiers, drawn in from the walls, composed a very +brilliant circle around the throne, each one curious to hear the +stranger as he had been to see him; and they were quick to point his +last sentence; for most of them had been with the Emperor in the voyage +to Therapia, which was still a theme of wager and wrangle scarcely less +interesting than in its first hour. By one impulse they ventured a +glance at the royal face, seeking a revelation; but the countenance was +steady as a mask. +</p> + +<p> +"The encomium is well bestowed, and approves thy experience, Prince, as +a reader of women," Constantine said, with just enough fervor. +"Henceforth I shall know the degree of trust to repose in thy judgment, +other problems as difficult being in controversy. Nevertheless, is the +lady to be believed, then, O Prince, I repeat my acknowledgment of +indebtedness. It pleases me to greatly estimate thy influence and good +judgment happily exerted. Mayst thou live long, Prince of India, and +always find thyself as now among friends who charge themselves to be +watchful for opportunities to befriend thee." +</p> + +<p> +He raised the cup. +</p> + +<p> +"It is Your Majesty's pleasure," the guest replied, and they drank +together. +</p> + +<p> +"A seat for the Prince of India," the Emperor next directed. +</p> + +<p> +The chair, when brought, was declined. +</p> + +<p> +"In my palace—for at home I exercise the functions of a king—it often +falls to me to give audiences; if public, we call them <i>durbars;</i> +and then an inferior may not sit in my presence. The rule, like all +governing the session, is of my own enactment. I see plainly how greatly +Your Majesty designs to heap me with honors; and if I dare decline this +one, it is not from disposition to do a teacher's part, but from habit +which has the sanction of heredity, and the argument self addressed: +Shall I despise my own ordinances? God forbid!" +</p> + +<p> +A murmur from the concourse was distinctly audible, which the Dean +interpreted by repeated affirmative nods. In other words, by this stroke +the able visitor won the court as he had already won its head; insomuch +that the most doubting of the doubters would not have refused to certify +him on belief the very Prince of India he claimed to be. The Emperor, on +his part, could not but defer to scruples so cogently and solemnly put; +at the same time, out of his very certainty respecting the guest, he +passed to a question which in probability the reader has been for some +time entertaining. +</p> + +<p> +"The makers of a law should be first to observe it; for having done so, +they then have God's license to exert themselves in its enforcement; and +when one is found observant of a principle which has root so perceptibly +in conscience, to deny him his pleasure were inexcusable. Have thy will, +Prince." +</p> + +<p> +The applause which greeted the decision of His Majesty was hardly out of +ear when he proceeded: +</p> + +<p> +"Again I pray you, Sir Guest—I greatly misapprehend the travellers who +tell of India, if the people of that venerable country are not given to +ceremonials religious as well as secular. Many of our own observances of +a sacred nature are traceable to study and discernment of the good +effects of form in worship, and since some of them are unquestionably +borrowed from temples of the Pagan gods, yet others may be of Hindoo +origin. Who shall say? Wherefore, speaking generally, I should fear to +ask you to any of our Church mysteries which I did not know were purely +Greek. One such we have this evening. We call it <i>Pannychides</i>. Its +principal feature is a procession of monastic brethren from the holy +houses of the city and Islands—all within the jurisdiction of our +Eastern Church, which, please God, is of broader lines than our State. +The fathers have been assembling for the celebration several days. They +will form in the city at set of sun, throwing the march into the night. +Here, within our grounds, more particularly at the door of the Chapel of +our Holy Virgin of Blacherne, I will meet them. They will pass the night +in prayer, an army on bended knees, sorrowing for the pains of our +Saviour in Gethsemane. I was uncertain what faith you profess; yet, +Prince, I thought—forgive me, if it was an error—a sight of the spirit +of our Churchmen as it will be manifested on this occasion might prove +interesting to you; so I have taken the liberty of ordering a stand +erected for your accommodation at a position favorable to witnessing the +procession in movement up the terraces. No one has seen the spectacle +without realizing as never before the firmness of the hold Christ has +taken upon the souls of men." The last words startled the Prince. +Christ's hold upon the souls of men! The very thing he wanted to learn, +and, if possible, measure. A cloud of thoughts fell about him; yet he +kept clear head, and answered quietly: +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty has done me great kindness. I am already interested in the +Mystery. Since we cannot hope ever to behold God with these mortal eyes, +the nearest amend for the deprivation is the privilege of seeing men in +multitudes demonstrating their love of Him." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine's eyes lingered on the Prince's face. The utterances +attracted him. The manner was so artfully reverential as not to leave a +suspicion of the guile behind it. Going down great galleries, every one +has had his attention suddenly arrested; he pauses, looks, and looks +again, then wakes to find the attraction was not a picture, but only a +flash within his own mind. So, with the guest before him, the Emperor +was thinking of the man rather than seeing him—thinking of him with +curiosity fully awakened, and a desire to know him better. And had he +followed up the desire, he would have found its source in the idea that +India was a region in which reflection and psychological experiment had +been exhausted—where if one appeared with a thought it turned old ere +it could be explained—where wisdom had fructified until there was no +knowledge more—where the teaching capacity was all there was remaining. +That is to say, in the day of the last Byzantine Emperor, centuries ago, +humanity in India was, as now, a clock stopped, but stopped in the act +of striking, leaving a glory in the air imaginable like the continuing +sound of hushed cathedral bells. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince," he at length said, "you will remain here until the procession +is announced at the Grand Gate. I will then give you a guide and a +guard. Our steward has orders to look after your comfort." Turning then +to the acting Chamberlain, he added: "Good Dean, have we not a little +time in which to hear our guest further?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, an hour at least." +</p> + +<p> +"You hear, O Prince? Provided always that it be not to your displeasure, +tell me what I am to understand by the disclaimer which, broadly +interpreted, leaves you either a Jew or a Christian?" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0403"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED +</h3> + +<p> +The question came earlier than the Prince expected, and in different +form. Those in position to observe his face saw it turn a trifle pale, +and he hesitated, and glanced around uneasily, as though not altogether +assured of his footing. This might have been by-play; if so, it was +successful; every countenance not sympathetic was serious. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty's inquiry must be for information. I am too humble for an +unfriendly design on the part of one so exalted as the Emperor of +Constantinople. It might be otherwise if I represented a church, a +denomination, or a recognized religion; as it is, my faith is my own." +</p> + +<p> +"But bethink thee, Prince, thou mayst have the truth—the very God's +truth," Constantine interposed, with kindly intent. "We all know thy +country hath been the cradle of divine ideas. So, speak, and fear not." +</p> + +<p> +The glance the Emperor received was winsomely grateful. +</p> + +<p> +"Indeed, Your Majesty, indeed I have need of good countenance. The +question put me has lured more men to bloody graves than fire, sword and +wave together. And then why I believe as I believe demands time in +excess of what we have; and I am the bolder in this because in limiting +me Your Majesty limits yourself. So I will now no more than define my +Faith. But first, it does not follow from my disclaimer that I can only +be a Jew or a Christian; for as air is a vehicle for a multitude of +subtleties in light, faith in like manner accommodates a multitude of +opinions." +</p> + +<p> +While speaking, the Prince's voice gradually gained strength; his color +returned, and his eyes enlarged and shone with strange light. Now his +right hand arose, the fingers all closed except the first one, and it +was long and thin, and he waved it overhead, like a conjuring wand. If +the concourse had been unwilling to hear him, they could not have turned +away. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a Hindoo, my Lord; because I cannot believe men can make their +own gods." +</p> + +<p> +The Father Confessor to the Emperor, at the left of the dais in a stole +of gold and crimson cloth, smiled broadly. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a Buddhist," the Prince continued; "because I cannot believe +the soul goes to nothingness after death." +</p> + +<p> +The Father Confessor clapped his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a Confucian; because I cannot reduce religion to philosophy or +elevate philosophy into religion." +</p> + +<p> +The blood of the audience began to warm. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not a Jew; because I believe God loves all peoples alike, or if he +makes distinctions, it is for righteousness' sake." +</p> + +<p> +Here the chamber rang with clapping. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not an Islamite; because when I raise my eyes to Heaven, I cannot +tolerate sight of a man standing between me and God—no, my Lord, not +though he be a Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +The hit was palpable, and from hate of the old enemy, the whole +assemblage broke into an uproar of acclamation. Only the Emperor kept +his gravity. Leaning heavily on the golden cone at the right of his +chair, his chin depressed, his eyes staring, scarcely breathing, he +waited, knowing, that having gone so far, there was before the speaker +an unavoidable climax; and seeing it in his face, and coming, he +presently aroused, and motioned for silence. +</p> + +<p> +"I am not"— +</p> + +<p> +The Prince stopped, but when the hush was deepest went on—"I am not a +Christian; because—because I believe—God is God." +</p> + +<p> +The Father Confessor's hands were ready to clap, but they stayed so; the +same spell took hold of the bystanders, except that they looked at the +Emperor, and he alone seemed to comprehend the concluding phrase. He +settled back easily in his seat, saying, "Thy Faith then is—" +</p> + +<p> +"God!" +</p> + +<p> +The monosyllable was the Prince's. +</p> + +<p> +And with clear sight of the many things reprobated—Images, Saints, the +Canonized, even the worship of Christ and the Holy Mother—with clear +sight also of the wisdom which in that presence bade the guest stop with +the mighty name—at the same time more curious than ever to hear in full +discourse the man who could reduce religion to a single word and leave +it comprehensible, Constantine drew a breath of relief, and said, +smiling, "Of a surety, O Prince, there was never a Faith which, with +such appearance of simplicity in definition, is capable of such infinity +of meaning. I am full of questions; and these listening, my lords of the +court, are doubtless in a similar mood. What sayest thou, O my most +orthodox Confessor?" The Father bowed until the hem of his blazing stole +overlaid the floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, we too are believers in God; but we also believe in much +beside; so, if but for comparison of creeds, which is never unprofitable +while in good nature, I should like to hear the noble and fair speaking +guest further." +</p> + +<p> +"And you, my Lords?" +</p> + +<p> +The throng around answered, "Yes, yes!" +</p> + +<p> +"We will have it so then. Look, good Logothete, for the nearest day +unoccupied." +</p> + +<p> +A handsome man of middle age approached the dais, and opening a +broad-backed book, evidently the record of the royal appointments, +turned a number of leaves, and replied: "Your Majesty, two weeks from +tomorrow." +</p> + +<p> +"Note the same set aside for the Prince of India.-Dost hear, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +The latter lowered his face the better to conceal his pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +"All days are alike to me," he answered. +</p> + +<p> +"In this our palace, then—two weeks from to-morrow at the hour of noon. +And now"—the rustle and general movement of the courtiers was instantly +stayed—"and now, Prince, didst thou not speak of exercising the +functions of a king at home? Thy capital must be in India, but where, +pray? And how callest thou thyself? And why is this city so fortunate as +to have attracted thy wandering feet? It is not every king so his own +master as to turn traveller, and go about making study of the world; +although, I admit, it would be better could every king do so." +</p> + +<p> +These questions were rapidly put, but as the Prince was prepared for +them, he responded pleasantly: +</p> + +<p> +"In answering the questions Your Majesty now honors me with. I am aware +how serious the mistake would be did I think of your curiosity alone. A +most excellent quality in a great man is patience. Alas, that it should +be one of the most abused! ... Among the oldest of Hindoo titles is +<i>Rajah</i>. It means King rather than Prince, and I was born to it. +Your Majesty may have heard of Oodeypoor, the bosom jewel of Rajpootana, +the white rose just bloomed of Indian cities. At the foot of a spur of +the Arawalli mountains, a river rises, and on its right bank reposes the +city; from which, southeast a little way, a lake lies outspread, like a +mirror fallen face upward. And around the lake are hills, tall and +broken as these of the Bosphorus; and seen from the water the hills are +masses of ivy and emerald woods thickly sprinkled with old fortresses +and temples, and seven-roofed red pagodas, each the home of a great +gold-decked Buddha, with lesser Buddhas in family. And in the lake are +islands all palaces springing from the water line in open arches, and +sculptured walls, and towered gates; and of still days their wondrous +cunning in the air is renewed afresh in the waveless depths below them. +If they are glorious then, what are they when reconstructed for festal +nights in shining lamps? For be it said, my Lord, if a stranger in the +walls of this centre of empire may speak a word which has the faintest +savor of criticism, the Indian genius analyzed beauty before there was a +West, and taking suggestions from spark and dewdrop, applied them to +architecture. Smile not, I pray, for you may see the one in the lamp +multiplied for outline traceries, and the other in the fountain, the +cascade, and the limpid margin at the base of walls. Or if still you +think me exaggerating, is not the offence one to be lightly forgiven +where the offender is telling of his birthplace? In one of the palaces +of that Lake of Palaces I was born, the oldest son of the Rajah of +Meywar, Oodeypoor his capital. In these words, which I hope may be +kindly judged, Your Majesty will find answers to one, if not two of the +questions you were pleased to ask me—Why I am here? And why making +study of the world? Will Your Majesty pardon my boldness, if I suggest +that a reply to those inquiries would be better at the audience set for +me next? I fear it is too long for telling now." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," said Constantine, "yet a hint of it may not be amiss. It may +set us to thinking; and, Prince, a mind prepared for an idea is like +ground broken and harrowed for seed." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty—my Lord"—he then said firmly, "the most sorrowful of men +are those with conceptions too great for them, and which they must carry +about with nothing better to sustain their sinking spirits than a poor +hope of having them one day adopted; for until that day they are like a +porter overladen and going from house to house unknowing the name of the +owner of his burden or where to look for him. I am such an +unfortunate.... Oodeypoor, you must understand, is more than comely to +the eye of a native; it is a city where all religions are tolerated. The +Taing, the Brahman, the Hindoo, the Mohammedan, the Buddhist live +together there, protected and in peace, with their worship and houses of +worship; nor is there any shutting of mouths, because controversy long +since attained finality amongst them; or perhaps it were better saying, +because opinions there have now their recognized grooves, and run in +them from generation to generation—opinions to which men are born as to +their property, only without right of change or modification; neither +can they break away from them. There is no excuse if an intelligent man +in such a situation does not comprehend all the religions thus in daily +practice; or if one does comprehend them he should not flatter himself +possessed of any superior intellect.... The Rajah, my father, died, and +I mounted his silver throne, and for ten years administered justice in +the Hall of Durbars to which he had been used, he and his father's +father, Children of the Sun, most pure of blood. By that time I was of +mature mind, and having given myself up to study, came to believe there +is but one doctrine—principle—call it what you will, my Lord—but one +of heavenly origin—one primarily comprehensible by all—too simple +indeed to satisfy the egotism of men; wherefore, without rejecting, they +converted it into a foundation, and built upon it each according to his +vanity, until, in course of ages, the foundation was overlaid with +systems of belief, childish, unnatural, ridiculous, indecent, or else +too complicated for common understanding"— +</p> + +<p> +"This principle—what is it, Prince?" Constantine asked nervously. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, I have already once named it." +</p> + +<p> +"Mean you God?" +</p> + +<p> +"And now, my Lord, thou hast pronounced it." +</p> + +<p> +The stillness in the chamber was very deep. Every man seemed to be +asking, what next? +</p> + +<p> +"One day, Your Majesty—it was in my tenth year of government—a function +was held in a tent erected for the purpose—a <i>shamiana</i> vastly larger +than any hall. I went up to it in state, passing through lines of +elephants, an hundred on either hand, covered with cloth of gold and with +houdahs of yellow silk roofed with the glory of peacocks. Behind the +mighty brutes soldiery blotted out the landscape, and the air between +them and the sky was a tawny cloud of flaunting yak-tails; nor had one +use for ears, so was he deafened by beat of drums and blowing of brazen +horns twice a tall man's height. I sat on a throne of silver and gold, +all my ministers present. My brother entered, he the next entitled. +Halfway down the aisle of chiefs I met him, and then led him to my seat, +and saluted him Rajah of Meywar. Your Majesty, so I parted with crown and +title—laid them down voluntarily to search the world for men in power in +love with God enough to accept him as their sum of faith. Behold why I +travel making the earth a study! Behold why I am in Constantinople!" +</p> + +<p> +Constantine was impressed. +</p> + +<p> +"Where hast thou been?" he at length asked—"where before coming here?" +</p> + +<p> +"It were easier did Your Majesty ask where I have not been. For then I +could answer, Everywhere, except Rome." +</p> + +<p> +"Dost thou impugn our devotion to God?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not so, not so, my Lord! I am seeking to know the degree of your love +of Him." +</p> + +<p> +"How, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"By a test." +</p> + +<p> +"What test?" +</p> + +<p> +No man listening could have said what mood the Emperor was in; yet the +guest replied with an appearance of rising courage: "A trial, to find +all the other things entering into Faith which Your Majesty and Your +Majesty's lords and subjects are willing to lay down for God's sake." +</p> + +<p> +With a peremptory gesture Constantine silenced the stir and rustle in +the chamber. "It is right boldly put," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"But none the less respectfully. My Lord, I am striving to be +understood." +</p> + +<p> +"You speak of a trial. To what end?" +</p> + +<p> +"One Article of Faith, the all-essential of Universal Brotherhood in +Religion." +</p> + +<p> +"A magnificent conception! But is it practicable?" +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately or unfortunately for the Prince, an officer that moment made +way through the courtiers, and whispered to the Dean, who at once +addressed himself to the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"I pray pardon, but it pleased Your Majesty to bid me notify you when it +is time to make ready for the Mystery to-night. The hour is come; +besides which a messenger from Scholarius waits for an interview." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine arose. +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, worthy Dean," he said; "we will not detain the messenger. The +audience is dismissed." +</p> + +<p> +Then descending from the dais, he gave his hand to the Prince. "I see +the idea you have in mind, and it is worthy the bravest effort. I shall +look forward to the next audience with concern. Forget not that the +guestship continues. My steward will take you in charge. Farewell." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, sinking to his knees, kissed the offered hand, whereupon the +Emperor said as if just reminded: "Was not your daughter with my +kinswoman in the White Castle?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, the Princess on that occasion most graciously consented +to accept my daughter as her attendant." +</p> + +<p> +"Were she to continue in the same attendance, Prince, we might hope to +have her at court some day." +</p> + +<p> +"I lay many thanks at Your Majesty's feet. She is most honored by the +suggestion." Constantine in lead of his officers then passed out, while, +in care of the steward, the Prince was conducted to the reception room, +and served with refreshments. Afterwhile through the windows he beheld +the day expiring, and the first audience finished, and the second +appointed, he was free to think of the approaching Mystery. +</p> + +<p> +Be it said now he was easy in feeling—satisfied with the management of +his cause—satisfied with the impression he had made on the Emperor and +the court as well. Had not the latter applauded and voted to hear him +again? When taken with the care habitually observed by leading +personages in audiences formal as that just passed, how broadly +sympathetic the expressions of the monarch had been. +</p> + +<p> +In great cheerfulness the Prince ate and drank, and even occupied the +wine-colored leisure conning an argument for the occasion in +prospect—noon, next day two weeks! And more clearly than ever his +scheme seemed good. Could he carry it through—could he succeed—the +good would be recognized—never a doubt of that. If men were sometimes +blind, God was always just. +</p> + +<p> +In thought he sped forward of the coming appointment, and saw himself +not only the apostle of the reform, but the chosen agent, the accredited +go-between of Constantine and the young Mahommed. He remembered the +points of negotiation between them. He would not require the Turk to +yield the prophetic character of Mahomet; neither should the Byzantine's +faith in Christ suffer curtailment; he would ask them, however, to agree +to a new relation between Mahomet and Christ on the one side and God on +the other—that, namely, long conceded, as having existed between God +and Elijah. And then, an article of the utmost materiality, the very +soul of the recast religion, he would insist that they obligate +themselves to worship God alone, worship being His exclusive prerogative, +and that this condition of exclusive worship be prescribed the only test +of fraternity in religion; all other worship to be punishable as heresy. +Nor stopped he with Mahommed and Constantine; he doubted not bringing the +Rabbis to such a treaty. How almost identical it was with the Judaism of +Moses. The Bishop of Rome might protest. What matter? Romanism segregated +must die. And so the isms of the Brahman and the Hindoo, so the Buddhist, +the Confucian, the Mencian—they would all perish under the hammering of +the union. Then, too, Time would make the work perfect, and gradually +wear Christ and Mahomet out of mind—he and Time together. What if the +task did take ages? He had an advantage over other reformers—he could +keep his reform in motion—he could guide and direct it—he could promise +himself life to see it in full acceptance. In the exuberance of +triumphant feeling, he actually rejoiced in his doom, and for the moment +imagined it more than a divine mercy. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0404"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PANNYCHIDES +</h3> + +<p> +An invitation from the Emperor to remain and view the procession +marching up the heights of Blacherne had been of itself a compliment; +but the erection of a stand for the Prince turned the compliment into a +personal honor. To say truth, however, he really desired to see the +Pannychides, or in plain parlance, the Vigils. He had often heard of +them as of prodigious effect upon the participants. Latterly they had +fallen into neglect; and knowing how difficult it is to revive a dying +custom, he imagined the spectacle would be poor and soon over. While +reflecting on it, he looked out of the window and was surprised to see +the night falling. He yielded then to restlessness, until suddenly an +idea arose and absorbed him. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose the Emperor won to his scheme; was its success assured? So used +was he to thinking of the power of kings and emperors as the sole +essential to the things he proposed that in this instance he had failed +to concede importance to the Church; and probably he would have gone on +in the delusion but for the Mysteries which were now to pass before him. +They forced him to think of the power religious organizations exercise +over men. +</p> + +<p> +And this Church—this old Byzantine Church! Ay, truly! The Byzantine +conscience was under its direction; it was the Father Confessor of the +Empire; its voice in the common ear was the voice of God. To cast Christ +out of its system would be like wrenching a man's heart out of his body. +It was here and there—everywhere in fact—in signs, trophies, monuments—in +crosses and images—in monasteries, convents, houses to the Saints, +houses to the Mother. What could the Emperor do, if it were obstinate and +defiant? The night beheld through the window crept into the Wanderer's +heart, and threatened to put out the light kindled there by the new-born +hope with which he had come from the audience. +</p> + +<p> +"The Church, the Church! It is the enemy I have to fear," he kept +muttering in dismal repetition, realizing, for the first time, the +magnitude of the campaign before him. With a wisdom in wickedness which +none of his successors in design have shown, he saw the Christian idea +in the bosom of the Church unassailable except a substitute satisfactory +to its professors could be found. Was God a sufficient substitute? +Perhaps—and he turned cold with the reflection—the Pannychides were +bringing him an answer. It was an ecclesiastical affair, literally a +meeting of Churchmen <i>en masse</i>. Where—when—how could the Church +present itself to any man more an actuality in the flesh? Perhaps—and a +chill set his very crown to crawling—perhaps the opportunity to study +the spectacle was more a mercy of God than a favor of Constantine. +</p> + +<p> +To his great relief, at length the officer who had escorted him from the +Grand Gate came into the room. +</p> + +<p> +"I am to have the honor," he said, cheerfully, "of conducting you to the +stand His Majesty has prepared that you may at ease behold the Mysteries +appointed for the night. The head of the procession is reported +appearing. If it please you, Prince of India, we will set out." +</p> + +<p> +"I am ready." +</p> + +<p> +The position chosen for the Prince was on the right bank of a cut +through which the road passed on its ascent from the arched gateway by +the Chapel to the third terrace, and he was borne thither in his sedan. +</p> + +<p> +Upon alighting, he found himself on a platform covered by a canopy, +carpeted and furnished with one chair comfortably cushioned. At the +right of the chair there was a pyramid of coals glowing in a brazier, +and lest that might not be a sufficient provision against the damps of +the hours, a great cloak was near at hand. In front of the platform he +observed a pole securely planted and bearing a basket of inflammables +ready for conversion into a torch. In short, everything needful to his +well-being, including wine and water on a small tripod, was within +reach. +</p> + +<p> +Before finally seating himself the Prince stepped out to the brow of the +terrace, whence he noticed the Chapel below him in the denser darkness +of the trees about it like a pool. The gleam of armor on the area by the +Grand Gate struck him with sinister effect. Flowers saluted him with +perfume, albeit he could not see them. Not less welcome was the low +music with which the brook cheered itself while dancing down to the +harbor. Besides a cresset burning on the landing outside the Port +entrance, two other lights were visible; one on the Pharos, the other on +the great Galata tower, looking in the distance like large stars. With +these exceptions, the valley and the hill opposite Blacherne, and the +wide-reaching Metropolis beyond them, were to appearances a blacker +cloud dropped from the clouded sky. A curious sound now came to him from +the direction of the city. Was it a rising wind? Or a muffled roll from +the sea? While wondering, some one behind him said: +</p> + +<p> +"They are coming." +</p> + +<p> +The voice was sepulchral and harsh, and the Prince turned quickly to the +speaker. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, Father Theophilus!" +</p> + +<p> +"They are coming," the Father repeated. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince shivered slightly. The noise beyond the valley arose more +distinctly. +</p> + +<p> +"Are they singing?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Chanting," the other answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do they chant?" +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou our Scriptures?" +</p> + +<p> +The Wanderer quieted a disdainful impulse, and answered: +</p> + +<p> +"I have read them." +</p> + +<p> +The Father continued: +</p> + +<p> +"Presently thou wilt hear the words of Job: 'Oh, that thou wouldst hide +me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me in secret, until thy wrath be +past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me.'" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince was startled. Why was one in speech so like a ghost selected +his companion? And that verse, of all to him most afflicting, and which +in hours of despair he had repeated until his very spirit had become +colored with its reproachful plaint—who put it in the man's mouth? +</p> + +<p> +The chant came nearer. Of melody it had nothing; nor did those engaged +in it appear in the slightest attentive to time. Yet it brought relief +to the Prince, willing as he was to admit he had never heard anything +similar—anything so sorrowful, so like the wail of the damned in +multitude. And rueful as the strain was, it helped him assign the +pageant a near distance, a middle distance, and then interminability. +</p> + +<p> +"There appear to be a great many of them," he remarked to the Father. +</p> + +<p> +"More than ever before in the observance," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Is there a reason for it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Our dissensions." +</p> + +<p> +The Father did not see the pleased expression of his auditor's face, but +proceeded: "Yes, our dissensions. They multiply. At first the jar was +between the Church and the throne; now it is the Church against the +Church—a Roman party and a Greek party. One man among us has +concentrated in himself the learning and devotion of the Christian East. +You will see him directly, George Scholarius. By visions, like those in +which the old prophets received the counsel of God, he was instructed to +revive the <i>Pannychides.</i> His messengers have gone hither and +thither, to the monasteries, the convents, and the eremitic colonies +wherever accessible. The greater the presence, he says, the greater the +influence." +</p> + +<p> +"Scholarius is a wise man," the Prince said, diplomatically. +</p> + +<p> +"His is the wisdom of the Prophets," the Father answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Is he the Patriarch?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, the Patriarch is of the Roman party—Scholarius of the Greek." +</p> + +<p> +"And Constantine?" +</p> + +<p> +"A good king, truly, but, alas; he is cumbered with care of the State." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes," said the Prince. "And the care leads to neglect of his soul. +Kings are sometimes to be pitied. But there is then a special object in +the Vigils?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Vigils to-night are for the restoration of the unities once more, +that the Church may find peace and the State its power and glory again. +God is in the habit of taking care of His own." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you, Father, I see the difference. Scholarius would intrust the +State to the Holy Virgin; but Constantine, with a worldlier inspiration, +adheres to the craft held by Kings immemorially. The object of the +Vigils is to bring the Emperor to abandon his policy and defer to +Scholarius?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Emperor assists in the Mystery," the Father answered, vaguely. +</p> + +<p> +The procession meantime came on, and when its head appeared in front of +the Grand Gate three trumpeters blew a flourish which called the guards +into line. A monk advanced and held parley with an officer; after which +he was given a lighted torch, and passed under the portal in lead of the +multitude. The trumpeters continued plying their horns, marking the slow +ascent. +</p> + +<p> +"Were this an army," said Father Theophilus, "it would not be so +laborious; but, alas! the going of youth is nowhere so rapid as in a +cloister; nor is age anywhere so feeble. Ten years kneeling on a stony +floor in a damp cell brings the anchorite to forget he ever walked with +ease." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince scarcely heard him; he was interested in the little to be +seen crossing the area below—a column four abreast, broken into unequal +divisions, each division with a leader, who, at the gate, received a +torch. Occasionally a square banner on a cross-stick appeared—occasionally +a section in light-colored garments; more frequently a +succession of heads without covering of any kind; otherwise the train was +monotonously rueful, and in its slow movement out of the darkness +reminded the spectator on the height of a serpent crawling endlessly from +an underground den. Afterwhile the dim white of the pavement was obscured +by masses stationary on the right and left of the column; these were the +people stopping there because for them there was no further pursuit of +the spectral parade. +</p> + +<p> +The horns gave sonorous notice of the progress during the ascent. Now +they were passing along the first terrace; still the divisions were +incessant down by the gate—still the chanting continued, a dismal +dissonance in the distance, a horrible discord near by. If it be true +that the human voice is music's aptest instrument, it is also true that +nothing vocalized in nature can excel it in the expression of diabolism. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the first torch gleamed on the second terrace scarce an hundred +yards from the Chapel. +</p> + +<p> +"See him now there, behind the trumpeters—Scholarius!" said Father +Theophilus, with a semblance of animation. +</p> + +<p> +"He with the torch?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ay!—And he might throw the torch away, and still be the light of the +Church." +</p> + +<p> +The remark did not escape the Prince. The man who could so impress +himself upon a member of the court must be a power with his brethren of +the gown generally. Reflecting thus, the discerning visitor watched the +figure stalking on under the torch. There are men who are causes in +great events, sometimes by superiority of nature, sometimes by +circumstances. What if this were one of them? And forthwith the observer +ceased fancying the mystical looking monk drawing the interminable train +after him by the invisible bonds of a will mightier than theirs in +combination—the fancy became a fact. "The procession will not stop at +the Chapel," the Father said; "but keep on to the palace, where the +Emperor will join it. If my Lord cares to see the passage distinctly, I +will fire the basket here." +</p> + +<p> +"Do so," the Prince replied. +</p> + +<p> +The flambeau was fired. +</p> + +<p> +It shed light over the lower terraces right and left, and brought the +palace in the upper space into view from the base of the forward +building to the Tower of Isaac; and here, close by, the Chapel with all +its appurtenances, paved enclosure, speeding brook, solemn cypresses, +and the wall and arched gateway at the hither side stood out in almost +daytime clearness. The road in the cut underfoot must bring the frocked +host near enough to expose its spirit. +</p> + +<p> +The bellowing of the horns frightened the birds at roost in the +melancholy grove, and taking wing, they flew blindly about. +</p> + +<p> +Then ensued the invasion of the enclosure in front of the Chapel—Scholarius +next the musicians. The Prince saw him plainly; a tall man, +stoop-shouldered, angular as a skeleton; his hood thrown back; head +tonsured; the whiteness of the scalp conspicuous on account of the +band of black hair at the base; the features high and thin, cheeks +hollow, temples pinched. The dark brown cassock, leaving an attenuated +neck completely exposed, hung from his frame apparently much too large +for it. His feet disdained sandals. At the brook he halted, and letting +the crucifix fall from his right hand, he stooped and dipped the member +thus freed into the water, and rising flung the drops in air. Resuming +the crucifix, he marched on. +</p> + +<p> +It cannot be said there was admiration in the steady gaze with which the +Prince kept the monk in eye; the attraction was stronger—he was looking +for a sign from him. He saw the tall, nervous figure cross the brook +with a faltering, uncertain step, pass the remainder of the pavement, +the torch in one hand, the holy symbol in the other; then it disappeared +under the arch of the gate; and when it had come through, the sharp +espial was beforehand with it, and waiting. It commenced ascending the +acute grade—now it was in the cut—and now, just below the Prince, it +had but to look up, and its face would be on a level with his feet. At +exactly the right moment, Scholarius did look up, and—stop. +</p> + +<p> +The interchange of glances between the men was brief, and can be likened +to nothing so aptly as sword blades crossing in a red light. +</p> + +<p> +Possibly the monk, trudging on, his mind intent upon something which was +part of a scene elsewhere, or on the objects and results of the +solemnities in celebration, as yet purely speculative, might have been +disagreeably surprised at discovering himself the subject of study by a +stranger whose dress proclaimed him a foreigner; possibly the Prince's +stare, which we have already seen was at times powerfully magnetic, +filled him with aversion and resentment; certain it is he raised his +head, showing a face full of abhorrence, and at the same time waved the +crucifix as if in exorcism. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince had time to see the image thus presented was of silver on a +cross of ivory wrought to wonderful realism. The face was dying, not +dead; there were the spikes in the hands and feet, the rent in the side, +the crown of thorns, and overhead the initials of the inscription: This +is the King of the Jews. There was the worn, buffeted, bloodspent body, +and the lips were parted so it was easy to think the sufferer in +mid-utterance of one of the exclamations which have placed his Divinity +forever beyond successful denial. The swift reversion of memory excited +in the beholder might have been succeeded by remorse, but for the cry: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou enemy of Jesus Christ—avaunt!" +</p> + +<p> +It was the voice of Scholarius, shrill and high; and before the Prince +could recover from the shock, before he could make answer, or think of +answering, the visionary was moving on; nor did he again look back. +</p> + +<p> +"What ails thee, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +The sepulchral tone of Father Theophilus was powerful over the benumbed +faculties of His Majesty's guest; and he answered with a question: +</p> + +<p> +"Is not thy friend Scholarius a great preacher?" +</p> + +<p> +"On his lips the truth is most unctuous." +</p> + +<p> +"It must be so—it must be so! For"—the Prince's manner was as if he +were settling a grave altercation in his own mind—"for never did a man +offer me the Presence so vitalized in an image. I am not yet sure but he +gave me to see the Holy Son of the Immaculate Mother in flesh and blood +exactly as when they put Him so cruelly to death. Or can it be, Father, +that the effect upon me was in greater measure due to the night, the +celebration, the cloud of ministrants, the serious objects of the +Vigils?" +</p> + +<p> +The answer made Father Theophilus happy as a man of his turn could +be—he was furnished additional evidence of the spiritual force of +Scholarius, his ideal. +</p> + +<p> +"No," he answered, "it was God in the man." +</p> + +<p> +All this time the chanting had been coming nearer, and now the grove +rang with it. A moment, and the head of the first division must present +itself in front of the Chapel. Could the Wanderer have elected then +whether to depart or stay, the <i>Pannychides</i> would have had no further +assistance from him—so badly had the rencounter with Scholarius shaken +him. Not that he was afraid in the vulgar sense of the term. Before a man +can habitually pray for death, he must be long lost to fear. If we can +imagine conscience gone, pride of achievement, without which there can be +no mortification or shame in defeat, may yet remain with him, a source of +dread and weakness. The chill which shook Brutus in his tent the evening +before Philippi was not in the least akin to terror. So with the Prince +at this juncture. There to measure the hold of the Christian idea upon +the Church, it seemed Scholarius had brought him an answer which finished +his interest in the passing Vigils. In brief, the Reformer's interest in +the Mystery was past, and he wished with his whole soul to retreat to the +sedan, but a fascination held him fast. +</p> + +<p> +"I think it would be pleasanter sitting," he said, and returned to the +platform. +</p> + +<p> +"If I presume to take the chair, Father," he added, "it is because I am +older than thou." +</p> + +<p> +Hardly was he thus at ease when a precentor, fat, and clad in a long +gown, stepped out of the grove to the clear lighted pavement in front of +the Chapel. His shaven head was thrown back, his mouth open to its +fullest stretch, and tossing a white stick energetically up and down in +the air, he intoned with awful distinctness: "The waters wear the +stones. Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the +earth, and Thou destroyest the hopes of man." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince covered his ears with his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou likest not the singing?" Father Theophilus asked, and continued: +"I admit the graces have little to do with musical practice in the holy +houses of the Fathers." But he for whom the comfort was meant made no +reply. He was repeating to himself: "Thou prevailest forever against +him, and he passeth." +</p> + +<p> +And to these words the head of the first division strode forward into +the light. The Prince dropped his hands in time to hear the last verse: +"But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall +mourn." +</p> + +<p> +For whom was this? Did the singers know the significancy of the text to +him? The answer was from God, and they were merely messengers bringing +it. He rose to his feet; in his rebellious passion the world seemed to +melt and swim about him. He felt a longing to burn, break, destroy—to +strike out and kill. When he came to himself, Father Theophilus, who +thought him merely wonder struck by the mass of monks in march, was +saying in his most rueful tone: "Good order required a careful +arrangement of the procession; for though the participants are pledged +to godly life, yet they sometimes put their vows aside temporarily. The +holiest of them have pride in their establishments, and are often too +ready to resort to arms of the flesh to assert their privileges. The +Fathers of the Islands have long been jealous of the Fathers of the +city, and to put them together would be a signal for riot. Accordingly +there are three grand divisions here—the monks of Constantinople, those +of the Islands, the shores of the Bosphorus and the three seas, and +finally the recluses and hermits from whatever quarter. Lo! first the +Fathers of the Studium—saintly men as thou wilt see anywhere." +</p> + +<p> +The speech was unusually long for the Father; a fortunate circumstance +of which the Prince availed himself to recover his self-possession. By +the time the brethren eulogized were moving up the rift at his feet, he +was able to observe them calmly. They were in long gowns of heavy gray +woollen stuff, with sleeves widening from the shoulders; their cowls, +besides covering head and visage, fell down like capes. Cleanly, +decent-looking men, they marched slowly and in order, their hands united +palm to palm below their chins. The precentor failed to inspire them +with his fury of song. +</p> + +<p> +"These now coming," Father Theophilus said of the second fraternity, +"are conventuals of Petrion, who have their house looking out on the +harbor here. And these," he said of the third, "are of the Monastery of +Anargyres—a very ancient society. The Emperor Michael, surnamed the +Paphlegonian, died in one of their cells in 1041. Brotherhood with them +is equivalent to saintship." +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile a somewhat tumultuous flock appeared in white skirts and +loose yellow cloaks, their hair and beard uncut and flying. The +historian apologized. +</p> + +<p> +"Bear with them," he said; "they are mendicants from the retreats of +Periblepte, in the quarter of Psammatica. You may see them on the street +corners and quays, and in all public places, sick, blind, lame and +covered with sores. They have St. Lazarus for patron. At night an angel +visits them with healing. They refuse to believe the age of miracles is +past." +</p> + +<p> +The city monastics were a great host carrying banners with the name of +their Brotherhoods inscribed in golden letters; and in every instance +the Hegumen, or Abbot, preceded his fraternity torch in hand. +</p> + +<p> +A company in unrelieved black marched across the brook, and their +chanting was lugubrious as their garb. +</p> + +<p> +"Petra sends us these Fathers," said Theophilus—"Petra over on the +south side. They sleep all day and watch at night. The second coming +they say will happen in the night, because they think that time most +favorable for the trumpeting herald and the splendor of the +manifestations." +</p> + +<p> +Half an hour of marching—men in gray and black and yellow, a few in +white—men cowled—men shorn and unshorn—barefooted men and men in +sandals—a river of men in all moods, except jovial and happy, toiling +by the observing stand, seldom an upturned face, spectral, morose, laden +body and mind—young and old looking as if just awakened after ages of +entombment;—a half hour of dismal chanting the one chapter from the +book of the man in the land of Uz, of all utterances the most dismal;—a +half hour of waiting by the Prince for one kindly sign, without +discovering it—a half hour, in which, if the comparison be not too +strong, he was like a soul keeping watch over its own abandoned body. +Then Father Theophilus said: +</p> + +<p> +"From the cloisters of St. James of Manganese! The richest of the +monasteries of Constantinople, and the most powerful. It furnishes +Sancta Sophia with renowned preachers. Its brethren cultivate learning. +Their library is unexcelled, and they boast that in the hundreds of +years of their society life, they had never an heretic. Before their +altars the candles are kept burning and trimmed forever. Their numbers +are recruited from the noblest families. Young men to whom the army is +open prefer God-service in the elegant retirement of St. James of +Manganese. They will interest you, Prince; and after them we will have +the second grand division." +</p> + +<p> +"Brethren of the Islands?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, of the Islands and the sea-shores." +</p> + +<p> +Upon the pavement then appeared a precentor attired like a Greek priest +of the present day; a rimless hat black and high, and turned slightly +outward at the top; a veil of the same hue; the hair gathered into a +roll behind, and secured under the hat; a woollen gown very dark, +glossy, and dropping in ample folds unconfined from neck to shoe. The +Hegumen followed next, and because of his age and infirmities a young +man carried the torch for him. The chanting was sweet, pure, and in +perfect time. All these evidences of refinement and respectability were +noticed by the Prince, and looking at the torch-bearer again, he +recognized the young monk, his room-mate in the White Castle. +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou the youth yonder?" he asked, pointing to Sergius. +</p> + +<p> +"A Russian recently arrived," the Father replied. "Day before yesterday +he was brought to the palace and presented to the Emperor by the +Princess Irene. He made a great impression." +</p> + +<p> +The two kept their eyes on the young man until he disappeared ascending +the hill. +</p> + +<p> +"He will be heard from;" and with the prediction the Prince gave +attention to the body of the Brotherhood. +</p> + +<p> +"These men have the bearing of soldiers," he said presently. +</p> + +<p> +"Their vows respecting war are liberal. If the <i>panagia</i> were carried to +the walls, they would accompany it in armor." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince smiled. He had not the faith in the Virgin of Blacherne which +the Father's answer implied. +</p> + +<p> +The St. James' were long in passing. The Prince kept them in sight to +the last four. They were the aristocracy of the Church, prim, proud; as +their opportunities were more frequent, doubtless they were more wicked +than their associates of the humbler fraternities; yet he could not +promise himself favor from their superior liberality. On the contrary, +having a great name for piety to defend, if a test offered, they were +the more certain to be hard and vindictive—to send a heretic to the +stake, and turn a trifling variation from the creed into heresy. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is this?" the Prince exclaimed, as a noble-looking man in full +canonicals stepped out of the cypress shadows, first of the next +division. +</p> + +<p> +"Master of Ceremonies for the Church," Father Theophilus replied. "He is +the wall between the Islanders and the Metropolitans." +</p> + +<p> +"And he who walks with him singing?" +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Protopsolete</i>—leader of the Patriarch's Choir." +</p> + +<p> +Behind this singer the monks of the Isles of the Princes! In movement, +order, dress, like their predecessors in the march—Hegumen with their +followers in gray, black and white—hands palm to palm prayerfully—chanting +sometimes better, sometimes worse—never a look upward but +always down, as if Heaven were a hollow in the earth, an abyss at their +feet, and they about to step into it. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince was beginning to tire. Suddenly he thought of the meeting of +pilgrims at El Zaribah. How unlike was the action there and here! That +had been a rush, an inundation, as it were, by the sea, fierce, mad, a +passion of Faith fostered by freedom; this, slow, solemn, sombre, +oppressive—what was it like? Death in Life, and burial by programme so +rigid there must not be a groan more or a tear less. He saw Law in it +all—or was it imposition, force, choice smothered by custom, fashion +masquerading in the guise of Faith? The hold of Christ upon the Church +began to look possible of measurement. +</p> + +<p> +"Roti first!" said the Father. "Rocky and bare, scarce a bush for a bird +or grass for a cricket. Ah, verily he shall love God dearly or hate the +world mortally who of free will chooses a cloister for life at Roti!" +</p> + +<p> +The brethren of the three convents of the Island marched past clad in +short brown frocks, bareheaded, barefooted. The comments of the +historian were few and brief. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor they look," he said of the first one, "and poor they are, yet +Michael Rhangabe and Romain Lacapene were glad to live and die with +them." Of the second: "When Romain Diogenes built the house these +inhabit, he little dreamed it would shelter him, a refugee from the +throne." Of the third: "Dardanes was a great general. In his fortunate +days he built a tower on Roti with one cell in it; in an evil hour he +aspired to the throne—failed—lost his eyes, retired to his lonesome +tower—by his sanctity there drew a fraternity to him, and died. That +was hundreds of years ago. The brethren still pray for his soul. Be it +that evil comes of good; not less does good come of evil—and so God +keeps the balances." +</p> + +<p> +In the same manner he descanted on the several contingents from Antigone +as they strode by; then of those from God's houses at Halki, the pearl +of the Marmora; amongst them the monastery of John the Precursor, and +the Convents of St. George, Hagia Trias, and lastly the Very Holy House +of the All Holy Mother of God, founded by John VIII. Palaeologus. After +them, in turn, the consecrated from Prinkipo, especially those from the +Kamares of the Basilissa, Irene, and the Convent of the Transfiguration. +</p> + +<p> +The faithful few from the solitary Convent on the Island of Oxia, and +the drab-gowned abstinents of the monastery of Plati, miserables given +to the abnormity of mixing prayer and penance with the cultivation of +snails for the market in Constantinople, were the last of the Islanders. +</p> + +<p> +Then in a kind of orderly disorganization the claustral inculpables from +holy houses on Olympus down by the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, and the +Bithynian shore behind the Isles of the Princes, and some from retreats +in the Egean and along the Peloponnesus, their walls now dust, their +names forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the procession going?" the Prince now asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Look behind you—up along the front of the palace." +</p> + +<p> +And casting his eyes thither, the questioner beheld the ground covered +with a mass of men not there before. +</p> + +<p> +"What are they doing?" +</p> + +<p> +"Awaiting the Emperor. Only the third grand division is wanting now; +when it is up His Majesty will appear." +</p> + +<p> +"And descend to the Chapel?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +For a time a noise more like the continuous, steady monotone of falling +water than a chant had been approaching from the valley, making its +darkness vocal. It threatened the gates awhile; now it was at the gates. +The Prince's wonder was great, and to appease it Father Theophilus +explained: +</p> + +<p> +"The last division is at hand." +</p> + +<p> +In the dim red light over the area by the gate below, the visitor beheld +figures hurriedly issuing from the night—figures in the distance so +wild and fantastic they did not at first seem human. They left no doubt, +however, whence the sound proceeded. The white sand of the road up the +terraces was beaten to dust under the friction and pressure of the +thousands of feet gone before; this third division raised it into an +attending cloud, and the cloud and the noise were incessant. +</p> + +<p> +Once more the Prince went out to the brink of the terrace. The monotony +of the pageant was broken; something new was announcing itself. +Spectres—devils—gnomes and jinn of the Islamitic Solomon—rakshakas +and hanumen of the Eastern Iliads—surely this miscellany was a +composition of them all. They danced along the way and swung themselves +and each other, howling like dervishes in frenzy. Again the birds took +wing and flew blindly above the cypresses, and the end of things seemed +about to burst when a yell articulate yet unintelligible shook the +guarded door of the venerable Chapel. +</p> + +<p> +Then the demoniacs—the Prince could not make else of them—leaping the +brook, crowding the pent enclosure, hasting to the arched exit, were +plainly in view. Men almost naked, burned to hue of brick-dust; men in +untanned sheepskin coats and mantles; men with every kind of headgear, +turbans, handkerchiefs, cowls; men with hair and beard matted and +flying; now one helped himself to a louder yell by tossing in air the +dirty garment he had torn from his body, hirsute as a goat's; now one +leaped up agile as a panther; now one turned topsy-turvy; now groups of +them swirled together like whimsical eddies in a pool. Some went slowly, +their arms outspread in silent ecstasy; some stalked on with parted lips +and staring eyes, trance-like or in dead drunkenness of soul; +nevertheless the great majority of them, too weary and far spent for +violent exertion, marched with their faces raised, and clapping their +hands or beating their breasts, now barking short and sharp, like old +hounds dreaming, then finishing with long-drawn cries not unlike the +ending of a sorrowful chorus. Through the gate they crowded, and at +sight of their faces full of joy unto madness, the Prince quit pitying +them, and, reminded of the Wahabbees at El Zaribah, turned to Father +Theophilus. +</p> + +<p> +"In God's name," he said, "who are these?" +</p> + +<p> +"A son of India thou, and not know them at sight?" +</p> + +<p> +There was surprise in the question, and a degree of unwarranted +familiarity, yet the Father immediately corrected himself, by solemnly +adding: "Look there at that one whirling his mantle of unshorn skin over +his head. He has a cave on Mt. Olympus furnished with a stool, a +crucifix, and a copy of the Holy Scriptures; he sleeps on the stone; the +mantle is his bedding by night, his clothing by day. He raises +vegetables, and they and snow-water seeping through a crevice in his +cavern subsist him.... And the next him—the large man with the great +coat of camel's hair which keeps him scratched as with thorns—he is +from the Monastery of St. Auxentius, the abode of a powerful fraternity +of ascetics. A large proportion of this wing of the celebrants is of the +same austere house. You will know them by the penitential, dun-colored +garment—they wear no other.... Yonder is a brother carrying his right +arm at a direct angle above his shoulder, stiff and straight as a stick +of seasoned oak. He is of a colony of Stylites settled on this shore of +the upper Bosphorus overlooking the Black Sea. He could not lower the +arm if he wished to; but since it is his certificate of devoutness, the +treasures of the earth laid at his feet in a heap would be insufficient +to induce him to drop it though for an instant. His colony is one of +many like it. Spare him thy pity. He believes the clinch of that hand +holds fast the latch of Heaven.... The shouters who have just entered +the arch in a body have hermitaries in close grouping around the one +failing monastery on Plati, and live on lentils and snails; aside from +which they commit themselves to Christ, and so abound in faith that the +Basileus in his purple would be very happy were he true master of a +tithe of their happiness.... Hast thou not enough, O Prince? Those +crossing the brook now?—Ah, yes! They are anchorites from Anderovithos, +the island. Pitiable creatures looked at from the curtained windows of a +palace—pitiable, and abandoned by men and angels! Be not sure. +Everything is as we happen to see it—a bit of philosophy, which, as +they despise the best things secularly considered of this life, steels +them to indifference for what you and I, and others not of their caste, +may think. They have arrived at a summit above the corrupting atmosphere +of the earth, where every one of them has already the mansion promised +him by our Blessed Lord, and where the angels abide and delight to serve +him.... For the rest, O Prince, call them indifferently recluses, +hermits, anticenobites, mystics, martyrs, these from Europe, those from +isolations deep somewhere in Asia. Who feeds them? Did not ravens feed +Elijah? Offer them white bread and robes of silk, yesterday's wear of a +king. 'What!' they will ask. 'Shall any man fare better than John the +Forerunner?' Speak to them of comfortable habitations, and they will +answer with the famous saying, 'Foxes have holes, and the birds of the +air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.' What +more is there to be said? Thou seest them, thou knowest them." +</p> + +<p> +Yes, the Prince knew them. Like the horde which stood by the Black Stone +envious of Mirza's dying, these were just as ready to die for Christ. He +smiled grimly, and thought of Mahommed, and how easy the Church had made +the conquest of which he was dreaming. +</p> + +<p> +It was with a sense of relief he beheld the tail of the division follow +its body up to the palace. +</p> + +<p> +Then, last of all, came the dignitaries of the Church, the Cartulaire, +least in rank, with many intermediates, up to the Cyncelle, who, next to +the absent Patriarch, represented him. If what had preceded in the +procession was poor and unpretentious, this part was splendid to excess. +They were not more than eighteen or twenty in number, but they walked +singly with considerable intervals between them; while on the right and +left of each, a liveried servant carried a torch which gave him to be +distinctly seen. And the flashing of gold on their persons was wonderful +to the spectator. Why not? This rare and anointed body was the Church +going in solemnity to assist the Basileus in a high ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile the Emperor appeared descending to the Chapel. +</p> + +<p> +To the Prince's amazement, he was in a plain, priestly black frock, +without crown, sword, sceptre or guard; and so did his guise compare +with the magnificence of the ecclesiastics surrounding him, he actually +seemed in their midst a prisoner or a penitent. He passed his visitor +like one going from the world forgetting and forgot. +</p> + +<p> +"An explanation, Father," said the Prince. "The Church is in its robes, +but my august friend, the Emperor, looks as if he had suffered +dethronement." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou wilt presently see His Majesty enter the Chapel alone. The legend +supposes him there in presence directly of God; if so, what merit would +there be in regalia? Would his sword or sceptre make his supplication +more impressive?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince bowed. +</p> + +<p> +And while he watched, the gold-clad escort halted before the Holy House, +the door opened, and Constantine went in unattended. Then, the door +being shut behind him, the clergy knelt, and remained kneeling. The +light from the torches was plenteous there, making the scene beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +And yet further, while he stood watching, the trumpeting and chanting on +the level in front of the palace behind him ceased, and a few minutes +afterwards, he was aware of the noise of many feet rushing in a scramble +from all directions to the Chapel. Here and there flambeaux streamed +out, with hundreds of dark-gowned excited figures speeding after them as +best they could. +</p> + +<p> +The bank the Prince occupied was overrun, like other contiguous spaces. +The object of the invaders was to secure a position near the revered +building as possible; for immediately on attaining it they dropped to +their knees, and began counting their rosaries and mumbling prayers. At +length it befell that the terraces far and near were densely crowded by +monks in low recitation. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," said Father Theophilus, in a tone of reserved depth, "the +Mystery is begun. There is no more to be seen. Good-night!" And without +ado, he too knelt where he stood, beads in hand, eyes fixed upon the one +point of devotional interest. +</p> + +<p> +When the sedan was brought, the Prince gave one last glance at the +scene, feeling it was to be thenceforward and forever a burden on his +memory. He took in and put away the weather-stained Chapel, centre of so +much travail; the narrow court in front of it brilliantly lighted and +covered with priests high and low in glittering vestments; the cypresses +looming skyward, stately and stiff, like conical monuments: the torches +scattered over the grounds, revealing patches of men kneeling, their +faces turned toward the Chapel: the mumbling and muttering from parts +unlighted telling of other thousands in like engagement. He had seen +battle-fields fresh in their horrors; decks of ships still bloody; +shores strewn with wreckage and drowned sailors, and the storm not +spent; populous cities shaken down by earthquakes, the helpless under +the ruins pleading for help; but withal never had he seen anything which +affected him as did that royal park at mid of night, given up to that +spectral multitude! +</p> + +<p> +It seemed he could not get away from the spectacle soon enough; for +after issuing from the Grand Gate, he kept calling to his carriers, +impatiently: "Faster, my men, faster!" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0405"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +A PLAGUE OF CRIME +</h3> + +<p> +Sergius' life in Constantinople had been almost void of incident. His +introduction to the Patriarch by the Princess Irene started him well +with that reverend official, whose confidence and love she commanded to +a singular degree. His personal qualities, however, were very helpful. +The gentleness of his nature, his youth, his simplicity, respectfulness, +intelligence and obvious piety were all in his favor; at the same time +the strongest attraction he possessed with the strangers amongst whom he +found himself was his likeness according to the received Byzantine ideal +to Christ. He had a habit, moreover, of walking slowly, and with a quiet +tread, his head lowered, his hands clasped before him. Coming in this +mood suddenly upon persons, he often startled them; at such times, +indeed, the disturbed parties were constrained to both observe and +forgive him—he reminded them so strikingly of the Nazarene as He must +have looked while in solitary walks by the sea or along the highways of +Galilee. Whatever the cause, it is very certain His Serenity, the +Patriarch, from mere attention to the young Russian, passed speedily to +interest in him, and manifested it in modes pleasant and noticeable. By +his advice, Sergius attached himself to the Brotherhood of the Monastery +of St. James of Manganese. This was the first incident in his city life +out of the usual. The second was his presentation at court, where he was +not less successful with the Emperor than he had been with the +Patriarch. Yet Sergius was not happy. His was the old case of a spirit +willing, even anxious, to do, but held in restraint. He saw about him +such strong need of saving action; and the Christian plan, as he +understood it, was so simple and efficacious. There was no difference in +the value of souls. Taking Christ's own words, everything was from the +Father, and He held the gates of Heaven open for the beggar and the +emperor alike. Why not return to the plan devised, practised, and +exemplified by the Saviour Himself? The idea bore heavily upon his mind, +and accounted for the bent head and slow step fast becoming habitudes. +At times the insurgent impulses seemed beyond control. This was +particularly when he walked in crowded places; for then the people +appeared an audience summoned and ready to hear him; he had only to go +into their midst, call to them, and begin speaking; but often as he +beheld the calm, patient, pleading face of the Princess Irene, and heard +her say ever so gently: "Wait, wait! I know the situation—you do not. +Our object is the most good. God will send the opportunity. Then +martyrdom, if it come, is going to Heaven. Wait—I will give you the +signal. You are to speak for me as well as yourself. You are to be my +voice"—so often he grew reconciled. +</p> + +<p> +There was another trouble more difficult of comprehension and +description. Under its influence the sky did not look so blue as +formerly; the breeze was less refreshing; the sun where it scattered its +golden largesse over the sea failed to relieve it of dulness; and in all +things, himself included, there was something wanting—exactly what he +could not tell. However, as he had been indulging comparisons of life in +Constantinople with life in Bielo-Osero, and longing for the holy quiet +of the latter, he concluded he was homesick, and was ashamed. It was +childishness! The Great Example had no home! And with that thought he +struggled manfully to be a man forever done with such weaknesses. +</p> + +<p> +It became his wont of afternoons when the weather was tolerable to seek +the city wall opposite the old Chalcedonian point. In going thither, he +sometimes passed through the Hippodrome and Sta. Sophia, both in such +contact to the collection of palaces known as the Bucoleon that each +might have been fairly considered an appurtenance of the other. The +exercises in the spacious palaestrae had small interest for him; there +was always such evident rancor between the factions Blue and Green. The +dome of the great Church he regarded man's best effort at construction, +beyond which there was nothing more attainable; but how it dwindled and +faded when from the wall he looked at the sky, the sea, and the land, +the handiworks of God! +</p> + +<p> +On the wall, at a point marked by a shallow angle, there was a cracked +stone bench, offering seawardly a view of the Isles of the Princes, and +the Asian domain beyond Broussa to the Olympian heights; westwardly, the +Bucoleon and its terraced gardens were near by, and above them in the +distance the Tower of Isaac Angelus arose over Blacherne, like a +sentinel on guard against the opposing summits of Galata and Pera. From +the bench, the walk, besides being wide and smooth, extended, with a +slight curvature northward to the Acropolis, now Point Serail, and on +the south to the Port of Julian. The airy promenade thus formed was +reached by several stairs intermediate the landmarks mentioned; yet the +main ascent was near the Imperial stables, and it consisted of a flight +of stone steps built against the inner face of the wall, like a broad +buttress. This latter was for the public, and of sunny days it was used +incessantly. Everybody in the category of invalids affected it in +especial, since litters and sedans were not inhibited there. In short, +the popularity of this mural saunter can be easily imagined. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon of the day the Prince of India was in audience by the +Emperor's invitation, Sergius was the sole occupant of the stone bench. +The hour was pleasant; the distant effects were perfect; birds and boats +enlivened the air and water; and in listening to the swish of waves +amongst the rocks and pebbles below, so like whisperings, he forgot +where he was, and his impatience and melancholy, and the people +strolling negligently past. One of his arms lay along the edge of the +bulwark before him, and he was not thinking so much as simply enjoying +existence. To such as noticed him he appeared a man in the drowsy stage +next to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile a voice aroused him, and, without moving, he became aware of +two men stopped and talking. He could not avoid hearing them. +</p> + +<p> +"She is coming," said one. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know?" the other asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Have I not told you I keep a spy on the old Prince's house? A messenger +from him has just reported the chair arrived for her; and this being her +favorite stroll, she will be here presently." +</p> + +<p> +"Have you considered the risks of your project?" +</p> + +<p> +"Risks? Pah!" +</p> + +<p> +The exclamation was with a contemptuous laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"But they have grown since last night," the other persisted. "The Indian +is now at the Palace, His Majesty's guest." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I had report of that also; but I have studied the game, and if you +fear to join me, I will see it through alone. As an offence against law, +it is abduction, not murder; and the penalty, imprisonment, can be +easily changed to banishment, which with me means at the utmost a short +absence to give friends an opportunity to prepare for my return. +Consider, moreover, the subject of the offence will be a woman. Can you +name an instance in which the kidnapper of a woman has been punished?—I +mean in our time?" +</p> + +<p> +"True, women are the cheapest commodity in the market; therefore"— +</p> + +<p> +"I understand," the first speaker interposed, a little impatiently, "but +Princes of India are not common in Constantinople, while their daughters +are less so. See the temptation! Besides, in the decadence of our +Byzantine empire, the criminal laws fail worse and worse of execution. +Only last night my father, delivering a lecture, said neglect in this +respect was one of the reasons of the Empire's going. Only the poor and +degraded suffer penalties now. And I—pah! What have I to fear? Or thou? +And from whom? When the girl's loss is discovered—you observe I am +viewing the affair in its most malignant aspect—I know the course the +Prince will take. He will run to the palace; there he will fall at the +Emperor's feet, tell his tale of woe, and"— +</p> + +<p> +"And if thou art denounced?" +</p> + +<p> +The conspirator laughed again. "The worse for the Prince," he at length +replied. "The Hegumen, my honored father, will follow him to the palace, +and—but let the details go! The relations between the Basileus and the +Church are strained to breaking; and the condition is not sanable while +the quarrel between the Patriarch and Scholarius waxes hotter." +</p> + +<p> +"The Patriarch and Scholarius quarrelling? I had not heard of that." +</p> + +<p> +"Openly, openly! His Majesty and the Patriarch are tenderly sympathetic. +What more is wanting to set the Prophet scolding? The Patriarch, it is +now known, will not be at the <i>Pannychides</i> to-night. His health began +failing when, over his objection, it was decided to hold the Mystery, and +last week he betook himself to the Holy Mountain. This morning the +Prophet"— +</p> + +<p> +"Thou meanest Scholarius?" +</p> + +<p> +"Scholarius denounced him as an <i>azymite</i>, which is bad, if true; +as unfaithful to God and the Church, which is worse; and as trying to +convert the Emperor into an adherent of the Bishop of Rome, which, +considering the Bishop is Satan unchained, will not admit of a further +descent in sin. The Mystery tonight is Scholarius' scheme in +contravention of His Serenity's efforts. Oh, it is a quarrel, and a big +one, involving Church and State, and the infallibility of our newly +risen Jeremiah. Thus full-handed, thinkest thou in a suit the Prince of +India against the venerable Hegumen of all the St. James', His Majesty +will hesitate? Is thy opinion of him as a politician so uncomplimentary? +Think again, I say—think again!" +</p> + +<p> +"Thy father's Brotherhood are His Majesty's friends!" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, the very point! They despise Scholarius now, and what an ado, what +a political display, to drive them into his arms! The Princes of India, +though they were numerous as the spectre caravan, could not carry +influence that far." +</p> + +<p> +Here there was a rest in the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, since thou wilt not be persuaded to let the enterprise go," the +protesting friend next said, "at least agree with me that it is +indiscreet to speak of it in a place public as this." +</p> + +<p> +The laugh of the conspirator was heartier than before. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, hadst thou warned me not to speak of it to the"— +</p> + +<p> +"Enough of that! The Prince of India is nothing to me—thou art my +friend." +</p> + +<p> +"Agree with me then that thou hast ears, while the public"— +</p> + +<p> +"Have not, thou wouldst say. Still there are things which may not be +whispered in a desert without being overheard." +</p> + +<p> +"The Pagans who went before us had a god of wisdom, and they called him +Hermes. I should say thou hast been to school to him. 'Twas he, +doubtless, who taught outlaws to seek safety in crowded cities. By the +same philosophy, where can one talk treason more securely than on this +wall? Afraid of discovery! Not I, unless thou mumblest in thy sleep. We +go about our good intents—the improvement of our fortune for instance—with +awful care, and step by step, fortifying. The practice is applicable +to wickedness. I am no bungler. I will tell thee a tale.... Thou knowest +the Brotherhood of the Monastery of St. James of Manganese is very +ancient, and that the house in which it is quartered is about as old as +the Brotherhood. Their archives are the richest in the empire. They have +a special chamber and a librarian. Were he of the mind, he might write a +history of Constantinople by original data without leaving his library. +Fortunately the mere keepers of books seldom write books.... My father's +office is in the Monastery, and I frequently find myself in his company +there. He never fails to improve the opportunity to lecture me, for he is +a good man. One day, by invitation, I accompanied the librarian to his +place of keeping, and saw it, and wondered how he could be willing to +give his days—he is now an old man—to such a mass of rot and smells. I +spare you mention of the many things he showed me; for there was but one +of real ado with what we are considering, an old document illuminated +with an untarnished chrysobula. 'Here,' said he, 'is something curious.' +The text was short—writers in those days knew the tricks of +condensation, and they practised them virtuously. I asked him to give it +to me—he refused—he would sooner have given me the last lock on his +head, which is a great deal, seeing that hair grows precious exactly as +it grows scantier. So I made him hold the lamp while I read.... The +document was dated about A.D. 1300—a century and a half gone, and proved +to be a formal report by the Patriarch to a council of Bishops and +Hegumen.... Thou knowest, I am sure, the great cistern; not the +Philoxenus, but the larger one, with an entrance west of Sta. Sophia, +sometimes called the Imperial, because built by the first Constantine and +enlarged by Justinian." +</p> + +<p> +"I know it." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, there was a great ceremony there one day; the same with which the +report was concerned. The clergy attended in force and panoply led by +His Serenity in person—monks, nuns, deacons and deaconesses—in a word, +the Church was present. The cistern had been profaned. A son of Satan, +moved by a most diabolical ingenuity, had converted it into a den of +wickedness surpassing sinful belief; and the procession and awful +conclave were to assist His Serenity in restoring the water to +wholesomeness, impossible, in the belief of consumers, except by solemn +exorcism.... Heed now, my friend—I am about to tap the heart of my +story. A plague struck the city—a plague of crime. A woman disappeared. +There was search for her, but without success. The affair would have +been dismissed within the three days usually allotted wonders of the +kind, had not another like it occurred—and then another. The victims, +it was noticed, were young and beautiful, and as the last one was of +noble family the sensation was universal. The whole capital organized +for rescue. While the hunt was at its height, a fourth unfortunate went +the way of the others. Sympathy and curiosity had been succeeded by +anxiety; now the public was aroused to anger, and the parents of +handsome girls were sore with fear. Schemes for discovery multiplied; +ingenuity was exhausted; the government took part in the chase—all in +vain. And there being then a remission in the disappearance, the theory +of suicide was generally accepted. Quiet and confidence were returning, +when, lo! the plague broke out afresh! Five times in five weeks Sta. +Sophia was given to funeral services. The ugly women, and the halt, and +those long hopeless of husbands shared the common terror. The theory of +suicide was discarded. It was the doing of the Turks, everybody said. +The Turks were systematically foraging Constantinople to supply their +harems with Christian beauty; or if the Turks were innocent, the devil +was the guilty party. On the latter presumption, the Church authorities +invented a prayer of special application. Could anything better signify +the despair of the community? A year passed—two years—three—and +though every one resolved himself into a watchman and hunter; though +heralds cried rewards in the Emperor's name three times each day on the +street corners, and in every place of common resort; though the fame of +the havoc, rapine, spoliation, or whatsoever it may please thee to call +the visitation, was carried abroad until everybody here and there knew +every particular come to light concerning it, with the pursuit, and the +dragging and fishing in the sea, never a clew was found. One—two—three +years, during which at intervals, some long, some short, the ancient +Christian centre kept on sealing its doors, and praying. Finally the +disappearances were about to be accepted as incidents liable to happen +at any time to any young and pretty woman. They were placed in the +category with death. There was mourning by friends—that was about all. +How much longer the mystery would have continued may not be said.... Now +accidents may not have brought the world about, yet the world could not +get along without accidents. To illustrate. A woman one day, wanting +water for her household, let a bucket down one of the wells of the +cistern, and drew up a sandal slippery and decaying. A sliver buckle +adhered to it. Upon inspecting the prize, a name was observed graven on +its underside. The curious came to see—there was discussion—at length +an examiner blessed with a good memory coupled the inscription with one +of the lost women. It was indeed her name! A clew to the great mystery +was at last obtained. The city was thrown into tumult, and an +exploration of the cistern demanded. The authorities at first laughed. +'What!' they said. 'The Royal reservoir turned into a den of murder and +crime unutterable by Christians!' But they yielded. A boat was launched +on the darkened waters—But hold!" +</p> + +<p> +The voice of the speaker changed. Something was occurring to stop the +story. Sergius had succumbed to interest in it; he was listening with +excited sense, yet kept his semblance of sleep. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold!" the narrator repeated, in an emphatic undertone. "See what there +is in knowing to choose faithful allies! My watchman was right. She +comes—she is here!" +</p> + +<p> +"Who is here?" +</p> + +<p> +"She—the daughter of the old Indian. In the sedan to my left—look!" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius, catching the reply, longed to take the direction to himself, +and look, for he was comprehending vaguely. A blindfolded man can +understand quite well, if he is first informed of the business in +progress, or if it be something with which he is familiar; imagination +seems then to take the place of eyes. A detective, having overheard the +conversation between the two men, had not required sight of them; but +the young monk was too recently from the cloisters of Bielo-Osero to be +quick in the discernment of villanies. He knew the world abounded in +crime, but he had never dealt with it personally; as yet it was a +destroying wolf howling in the distance. He yearned to see if what he +dimly surmised were true—if the object at the moment so attractive to +his dangerous neighbors were indeed the daughter of the strange Indian +he had met at the White Castle. His recollection of her was wonderfully +distinct. Her face and demeanor when he assisted her from the boat had +often reverted to his thought. They spoke to him so plainly of +simplicity and dependence, and she seemed so pure and beautiful! And +making the acknowledgment to himself, his heart took to beating quick +and drum-like. He heard the shuffle and slide of the chairmen going; +when they ceased a new and strange feeling came and possessed itself of +his spirit, and led it out after her. Still he managed to keep his head +upon his arm. +</p> + +<p> +"By the saintly patron of thy father's Brotherhood, she is more than +lovely! I am almost persuaded." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, I am not so mad as I was!" the conspirator replied, laughing; then +he changed to seriousness, and added, like one speaking between clinched +teeth—"I am resolved to go on. I will have her—come what may, I will +have her! I am neither a coward nor a bungler. Thou mayst stay behind, +but I have gone too far to retreat. Let us follow, and see her again—my +pretty Princess!" +</p> + +<p> +"Stay—a moment." +</p> + +<p> +Perception was breaking in on Sergius. He scarcely breathed. +</p> + +<p> +"Well?" was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +"You were saying that a boat was launched in the cistern. Then what?" +</p> + +<p> +"Of discovery? Oh, yes—the very point of my argument! A raft was found +moored between four of the great pillars in the cistern, and there was a +structure on it with furnished rooms. A small boat was used for going +and coming." +</p> + +<p> +"Wonderful!" +</p> + +<p> +"Come—or we will lose the sight of her." +</p> + +<p> +"But what else?" +</p> + +<p> +"Hooks, such as fishermen use in hunting lobsters were brought, and by +dragging and fishing the missing women were brought to light—that is, +their bones were brought to light. More I will tell as we go. I will not +stay longer." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius heard them depart, and presently he raised his head. His blood +was cold with horror. He was having the awful revelation which sooner or +later bursts upon every man who pursues a walk far in life. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0406"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD +</h3> + +<p> +Sergius kept his seat on the bench; but the charm of the glorious +prospect spread out before it was gone. +</p> + +<p> +Two points were swimming in his consciousness, like motes in a mist: +first, there was a conspiracy afoot; next, the conspiracy was against +the daughter of the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +When at the door of the old Lavra upon the snow-bound shore of the White +Lake, he bade Father Hilarion farewell and received his blessing, and +the commission of an Evangel, the idea furthest from him was to +signalize his arrival in Constantinople by dropping first thing into +love. And to be just, the idea was now as distant from him as ever; yet +he had a vision of the child-faced girl he met on the landing at the +White Castle in the hands of enemies, and to almost any other person the +shrinking it occasioned would have been strange, if not suspicious. His +most definite feeling was that something ought to be done in her behalf. +</p> + +<p> +Besides this the young monk had another incentive to action. In the +colloquy overheard by him the chief speaker described himself a son of +the Hegumen of the St. James'. The St. James'! His own Brotherhood! His +own Hegumen! Could a wicked son have been born to that excellent man? +Much easier to disbelieve the conspirator; still there were traditions +of the appearance of monsters permitted for reasons clear at least to +Providence. This might be an instance of the kind. Doubtless the +creature carried on its countenance or person evidences of a miracle of +evil. In any event there could be no harm in looking at him. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius accordingly arose, and set out in pursuit of the conspirators. +Could he overtake the sedan, they were quite certain to be in the +vicinity, and he doubted not discovering them. +</p> + +<p> +The steps of the sedan-carriers, peculiarly quick and sliding, seemed in +passing the bench to have been going northwardly toward Point Demetrius. +Thither he first betook himself. +</p> + +<p> +In the distance, over the heads of persons going and coming, he shortly +beheld the top of a chair in motion, and he followed it rapidly, fearing +its occupant might quit the wall by the stairs near the stables of the +Bucoleon. But when it was borne past that descent he went more +leisurely, knowing it must meet him on the return. +</p> + +<p> +Without making the Point, however, the chair was put about toward him. +Unable to discover any one so much as suggestive of the plotters, and +fearing a mistake, he peered into the front window of the painted box. A +woman past the noon of life gave him back in no amiable mood the stare +with which he saluted her. +</p> + +<p> +There was but one explanation: he should have gone down the wall +southwardly. What was to be done? Give up the chase? No, that would be +to desert his little friend. And besides he had not put himself within +hearing of the design against her—it was a doing of Providence. He +started back on his trace. +</p> + +<p> +The error but deepened his solicitude. What if the victim was then being +hurried away? +</p> + +<p> +At the head of the stairway by the stables he paused; as it was deserted, +he continued on almost running—on past the cracked bench—past the Cleft +Gate. Now, in front, he beheld the towers of the imperial residence +bearing the name Julian, and he was upbraiding himself for indecision, +and loading his conscience with whatever grief might happen the poor +girl, when he beheld a sedan coming toward him. It was very ornate, and +in the distance shone with burnishments—it was the chair—hers. By it, +on the right hand, strode the gigantic negro who had so astonished him at +the White Castle. He drew a long breath, and stopped. They would be bold +who in daylight assailed that king of men! +</p> + +<p> +And he was taking note of the fellow's barbaric finery, the solemn +stateliness of his air, and the superb indifference he manifested to the +stare of passers-by, when a man approached the chair on the opposite +side. The curtain of the front window was raised, and through it, +Sergius observed the inmate draw hastily away from the stranger, and +drop a veil over her face. +</p> + +<p> +Here was one of the parties for whom he was looking. Where was the +other? Then the man by the left window looked back over his shoulder as +if speaking, and out of the train of persons following the sedan, one +stepped briskly forward, joined the intruder, and walked with him long +enough to be spoken to, and reply briefly; after which he fell back and +disappeared. This answered the inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +Assured now of one of the conspirators in sight, the monk resolved to +await the coming up. Through the front window of the carriage, which was +truly a marvel of polish and glitter, the girl might recognize him; +perhaps she would speak; or possibly the negro might recall him; in +either event he would have an excuse for intervention. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, calmly as he could—for he was young, and warm blooded, and in +all respects a good instrument to be carried away by righteous +indignation—he took careful note of the stranger, who kept his place as +if by warrant, occasionally addressing the shrinking maiden. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius was now more curious than angry; and he cared less to know who +the conspirator was than how he looked. His surprise may be imagined +when, the subject of investigation having approached near enough to be +perfectly observed, instead of a monster marked, like Cain, he appeared +a graceful, though undersized person, with an agreeable countenance. The +most unfavorable criticism he provoked was the loudness—if the word can +be excused—of his dress. +</p> + +<p> +A bright red cloak, hanging in ample folds from an exaggerated buckle of +purple enamel on his left shoulder, draped his left side; falling open +on the right, it was caught by another buckle just outside the right +knee. The arrangement loosed the right arm, but was a serious hamper to +walking, and made it inconvenient to get out the rapier, the handle of +which was protrusively suggested through the cloak. A tunic of bright +orange color, short in sleeve and skirt, covered his body. Where +undraped, tight-fitting hose terminating in red shoes, flashed their +elongated black and yellow stripes with stunning effect. A red cap, +pointed at top, and rolled up behind, but with a long visor-like peak +shading the eyes, and a white heron feather slanted in the band, brought +the head into negligent harmony with the rest of the costume. The throat +and left arm were bare, the latter from halfway above the elbow. +</p> + +<p> +This was the monk's first view of a Byzantine gentleman of the period +abroad in full dress to dazzle such of the gentler sex as he might +chance to meet. +</p> + +<p> +If Sergius' anticipation had been fulfilled; if, in place of the +elegant, rakish-looking chevalier in florid garb, he had been confronted +by an individual awry in body or hideous in feature, he would not have +been confused, or stood repeating to himself, "My God, can this be a son +of the Hegumen?" +</p> + +<p> +That one so holy could have offspring so vicious stupefied him. The +young man's sins would find him out—thus it was written—and then, what +humiliation, what shame, what misery for the poor father! +</p> + +<p> +Speeding his sympathy thus in advance, Sergius waited until the foremost +of the sedan carriers gave him the customary cry of warning. As he +stepped aside, two things occurred. The occupant of the box lifted her +veil and held out a hand to him. He had barely time to observe the +gesture and the countenance more childlike because of the distress it +was showing, when the negro appeared on the left side of the carriage. +Staying a moment to swing the javelin with which he was armed across the +top of the buckler at his back, he leaped forward with the cry of an +animal, and caught the gallant, one hand at the shoulder, the other at +the knee. The cry and the seizure were parts of the same act. Resistance +had been useless had there been no surprise. The Greek had the briefest +instant to see the assailant—an instant to look up into the face +blacker of the transport of rage back of it, and to cry for help. The +mighty hands raised him bodily, and bore him swiftly toward the +sea-front of the wall. +</p> + +<p> +There were spectators near by; amongst them some men; but they were held +fast by terror. No one moved but Sergius. Having seen the provocation, +he alone comprehended the punishment intended. +</p> + +<p> +The few steps to the wall were taken almost on the run. There, in +keeping with his savage nature, the negro wished to see his victim fall, +but a puff of wind blew the red cloak over his eyes, and he stopped to +shake it aside. The Greek in the interval seeing the jagged rocks below, +and the waves rolling in and churning themselves into foam, caught at +his enemy's head, and the teeth of the gold-gilt iron crown cut his +palms, bringing the blood. He writhed, and into Nilo's ears—pitiless if +they had not been dead—poured screams for mercy. Then Sergius reached +out, and caught him. +</p> + +<p> +Nilo made no resistance. When he could free his eyes from the cloak he +looked at the rescuer, who, unaware of his infirmity, was imploring him: +</p> + +<p> +"As thou lovest God, and hopest mercy for thyself, do no murder!" +</p> + +<p> +Now, if not so powerful as Nilo, Sergius was quite as tall; and while +they stood looking at each other, their faces a little apart, the +contrast between them was many sided. And one might have seen the +ferocity of the black visage change first with pleased wonder; then +brighten with recognition. +</p> + +<p> +The Byzantine gained his feet quickly, and in his turn taken with a +murderous impulse, drew his sword. Nilo, however, was quickest; the +point of his javelin was magically promotive of Sergius' renewed efforts +to terminate the affair. A great many persons were now present. To bring +a multitude in hot assemblage, strife is generally more potential than +peace, assume what voice the latter may. These rallied to Sergius' +assistance; one brought the defeated youth his hat, fallen in the +struggle; others helped him rearrange his dress; and congratulating him +that he was alive, they took him in their midst, and carried him away. +To have drawn upon such a giant! What a brave spirit the lad must +possess! +</p> + +<p> +It pleased Sergius to think he had saved the Byzantine. His next duty +was to go to the relief of the little Princess. A dull fancy would have +taught how trying the situation must have been to her; but with him the +case was of a quick understanding quickened by solicitude. Taking Nilo +with him, he made haste to the sedan. +</p> + +<p> +If we pause here, venturing on the briefest break in the narrative, it +is for the reader's sake exclusively. He will be sure to see how fair +the conditions are for a romantic passage between Lael and Sergius, and +we fear lest he fly his imagination too high. It is true the period was +still roseate with knighterrantry; men wore armor, and did battle behind +shields; women were objects of devotion; conversation between lovers was +in the style of high-flown courtesy, chary on one side, energized on the +other by calls on the Saints to witness vows and declarations which no +Saint, however dubious his reputation, could have listened to, much less +excused; yet it were not well to overlook one or two qualifications. The +usages referred to were by no means prevalent amongst Christians in the +East; in Constantinople they had no footing at all. The two Comneni, +Isaac and Alexis, approached more nearly the Western ideal of Chivalry +than any of the Byzantine warriors; if not the only genuine Knights of +Byzantium, they were certainly the last of them; yet even they stood +aghast at the fantastic manners of the Frankish armigerents who camped +before their gates en route to the Holy Land. As a consequence, the +language of ordinary address and intercourse amongst natives in the +Orient was simple and less discolored by what may be called pious +profanity. Their discourse was often dull and prolix, but never a +composite of sacrilege and exaggeration. Only in their writings were +they pedantic. From this the reader can anticipate somewhat of the +meeting between Sergius and Lael. It is to be borne in mind additionally +that they were both young; she a child in years; he a child in lack of +worldly experience. Children cannot be other than natural. +</p> + +<p> +Approaching the sedan anxiously, he found the occupant pale and faint. +Nilo being close at his side, she saw them both in the same glance, and +reached her hand impulsively through the window. It was a question to +which the member was offered. Sergius hesitated. Then she brought her +face up unveiled. +</p> + +<p> +"I know you, I know you," she said, to Sergius. "Oh, I am so glad you +are come! I was so scared—so scared—I will never go from home again. +You will stay with me—say you will—it will be so kind of you.... I did +not want Nilo to kill the man. I only wanted him driven off and made let +me alone. He has followed and persecuted me day after day, often as I +came out. I could not set foot in the street without his appearing. My +father would have me bring Nilo along. He did not kill him, did he?" +</p> + +<p> +The hand remained held out during the speech, as if asking to be taken. +Meanwhile the words flowed like a torrent. The eyes were full of +beseechment, and irresistibly lovely. If her speech was innocent, so was +her appearance; and just as innocently, he took the hand, and held it +while answering: +</p> + +<p> +"He was not hurt. Friends have taken him away. Do not be afraid." +</p> + +<p> +"You saved him. I saw you—my heart was standing still in my throat. Oh, +I am glad he is safe! I am no longer afraid. My father will be grateful; +and he is generous—he loves me nearly as much as I love him. I will go +home now. Is not that best for me?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius had grown the tall man he was without having been so +entreated—nay, without an adventure in the least akin to this. The hand +lay in his folded lightly. He remembered once a dove flew into his cell. +The window was so small it no doubt suggested to the poor creature a +door to a nesting place. He remembered how he thought it a messenger +from the Heaven which he never gave over thinking of and longing for, +and he wanted to keep it, for afterwhile he was sure it would find a way +to tell him wherewith it was charged. And he took the gentle stray in +his hand, and nursed it with exceeding tenderness. There are times when +it seems such a blessing that memories lie shallow and easy to stir; and +now he recalled how the winged nuncio felt like the hand he was +holding—it was almost as soft, and had the same magnetism of life—ay, +and the same scarce perceptible tremble. To be sure it was merely for +the bird's sake he kept hold of the hand, while he answered: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I think it best, and I will go with you to your father's door." +</p> + +<p> +To the carriers he said: "You will quit the wall at the grand stairs. +The Princess wishes to be taken home." +</p> + +<p> +The sensation of manliness incident to caring for the weak was +refreshingly delightful. While the chair was passing he took place at +the window. The fingers of the little hand still rested on the silken +lining, like pinkish pearls. He beheld them longingly, but a restraint +fell upon him. The pinkish pearls became sacred. He would have had them +covered from the dust which the whisking breezes now blew up. The +breezes were insolent. The sun, sinking in gold over the Marmora, ought +to temper the rays it let fall on them. Long as the orb had shone, how +curious that it never acquired art enough to know the things which too +much of its splendor might spoil. Then too he desired to speak with +Lael—to ask if she was any longer afraid—he could not. Where had his +courage gone? When he caught the young Greek from Nilo, the shortest +while ago, he was wholly unconscious of timidity. The change was +wonderful. Nor was the awkwardness beginning to hamper his hands and +feet less incomprehensible. And why the embarrassment when people paused +to observe him? +</p> + +<p> +Thus the party pursued on until the descent from the wall; he on the +right side of the chair, and Nilo on the left. Down in the garden where +they were following a walk across the terrace toward Sta. Sophia, Lael +put her face to the window, and spoke to him. His eagerness lest a word +were lost was remarkable. He did not mind the stooping—and from his +height that was a great deal—nor care much if it subjected him to +remark. +</p> + +<p> +"Have you seen the Princess lately—she who lives at Therapia?" Lael +asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes," he answered. "She is my little mother. I go up there often. +She advises me in everything." +</p> + +<p> +"It must be sweet to have such a mother," Lael said, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +"It is sweet," he returned. +</p> + +<p> +"And how lovely she is, and brave and assuring," Lael added. "Why, I +forgot when with her to be afraid. I forgot we were in the hands of +those dreadful Turks. I kept thinking of her, and not of myself." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius waited for what more she had to say. +</p> + +<p> +"This afternoon a messenger came from her to my father, asking him to +let me visit her." +</p> + +<p> +The heart of the monk gave a jump of pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +"And you will go?" +</p> + +<p> +A little older and wiser, and she would have detected a certain urgency +there was in the tone with which he directed the inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +"I cannot say yet. I have not seen my father since the invitation was +received; he has been with the Emperor; but I know how greatly he +admires the Princess. I think he will consent; if so, I will go up to +Therapia to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius, silently resolving to betake himself thither early next +morning, replied with enthusiasm: "Have you seen the garden behind her +palace?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, of course I do not know what Paradise is, but if it be according +to my fancy, I should believe that garden is a piece of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I know I shall be pleased with the Princess, her garden—with +everything hers." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Lael settled back in her chair, and nothing more was said till +the sedan halted in front of the Prince's door. Appearing at the window +there, she extended a hand to her escort. The pinkish pearls did not +seem so far away as before, and they were now offered directly. He could +not resist taking them. +</p> + +<p> +"I want you to know how very, very grateful I am to you," she said, +allowing the hand to stay in his. "My father will speak to you about the +day's adventure. He will make the opportunity and early.—But—but"— +</p> + +<p> +She hesitated, and a blush overspread her face. +</p> + +<p> +"But what?" he said, encouragingly. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not know your name, or where you reside." +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius is my name." +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. And being a monk, I have a cell in the Monastery of St. James of +Manganese. I belong to that Brotherhood, and humbly pray God to keep me +in good standing. Now having told you who I am, may I ask"— +</p> + +<p> +He failed to finish the sentence. Happily she divined his wish. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh," she said, "I am called Gul-Bahar by those who love me dearest, +though my real name is Lael." +</p> + +<p> +"By which am I to call you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Good-by," she continued, passing his question, and the look of doubt +which accompanied it. "Good-by—the Princess will send for me +to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +When the chair was borne into the house, it seemed to Sergius the sun +had rushed suddenly down, leaving a twilight over the sky. He turned +homeward with more worldly matter to think of than ever before. For the +first time in his life the cloister whither he was wending seemed +lonesome and uncomfortable. He was accustomed to imagine it lighted and +warmed by a presence out of Heaven—that presence was in danger of +supersession. Occasionally, however, the girlish Princess whom he was +thus taking home with him gave place to wonder if the Greek he had saved +from Nilo could be a son of the saintly Hegumen; and the reflection +often as it returned brought a misgiving with it; for he saw to what +intrigues he might be subjected, if the claim were true, and the +claimant malicious in disposition. When at last he fell asleep on his +pillow of straw the vision which tarried with him was of walking with +Gul-Bahar in the garden behind the Homeric palace at Therapia, and it +was exceedingly pleasant. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0407"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +A BYZANTINE HERETIC +</h3> + +<p> +While the venerable Chapel on the way up the heights of Blacherne was +surrounded by the host of kneeling monastics, and the murmur of their +prayers swept it round about like the sound of moaning breezes, a +messenger found the Hegumen of the St. James' with the compliments of +the Basileus, and a request that he come forward to a place in front of +the door of the holy house. The good man obeyed; so the night long, +maugre his age and infirmities, he stayed there stooped and bent, +invoking blessings upon the Emperor and Empire; for he loved them both; +and by his side Sergius lingered dutifully torch in hand. Twelve hours +before he had engaged in the service worshipfully as his superior, nor +would his thoughts have once flown from the Mystery enacting; but +now—alas, for the inconstancy of youth!—now there were intervals when +his mind wandered. The round white face of the Princess came again and +again looking at him plainly as when in the window of the sedan on the +promenade between the Bucoleon and the sea. He tried to shut it out; but +often as he opened the book of prayers which he carried in common with +his brethren, trying to read them away; often as he shook the torch +thinking to hide them in the resinous smoke, the pretty, melting, +importunate eyes reappeared, their fascination renewed and unavoidable. +They seemed actually to take his efforts to get away for encouragement +to return. Never on any holy occasion had he been so negligent—never +had negligence on his part been so obstinate and nearly like sin. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately the night came to an end. A timid thing when first it peeped +over the hills of Scutari, the day emboldened, and at length filled the +East, and left of the torches alive on the opposing face of Blacherne +only the sticks, the cups, and the streaming smoke. Then the great host +stirred, arose, and in a time incredibly brief, silently gave itself +back to the city; while the Basileus issued from his solitary vigils in +the Chapel, and, in a chastened spirit doubtless, sought his couch in +one of the gilded interiors up somewhere under the Tower of Isaac. +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen of the St. James', overcome by the unwonted draughts upon +his scanty store of strength, not to mention the exhaustion of spirit he +had undergone, was carried home in a chair. Sergius was faithful +throughout. At the gate of the monastery he asked the elder's blessing. +</p> + +<p> +"Depart not, my son; stay with me a little longer. Thy presence is +comforting to me." +</p> + +<p> +The adjuration prevailed. Truth was, Sergius wished to set out for +Therapia; but banishing the face of the little Princess once more, he +helped the holy man out of the chair, through the dark-stained gate, +down along the passages, to his apartment, bare and penitential as that +of the humblest neophyte of the Brotherhood. Having divested the +superior of his robes, and, gently as he could, assisted him to lay his +spent body on the narrow cot serving for couch, he then received the +blessing. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art a good son, Sergius," the Hegumen said, with some cheer. "Thou +dost strengthen me. I feel thou art wholly given up to the Master and +His religion—nay, so dost thou look like the Master that when thou art +by I fancy it is He caring for me. Thou art at liberty now. I give thee +the blessing." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius knelt, received the trembling hands on his bowed head, and +kissed them with undissembled veneration. +</p> + +<p> +"Father," he said, "I beg permission to be gone a few days." +</p> + +<p> +"Whither?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thou knowest I regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I wish to +go and see her." +</p> + +<p> +"At Therapia?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Father." +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen averted his eyes, and by the twitching of the fingers +clasped upon his breast exposed a trouble at work in the depths of his +mind. +</p> + +<p> +"My son," he at length said, "I knew the father of the Princess Irene, +and was his sympathizer. I led the whole Brotherhood in the final demand +for his liberation from prison. When he was delivered, I rejoiced with a +satisfied soul, and took credit for a large part of the good done him +and his. It is not to magnify myself, or unduly publish my influence +that the occurrence is recalled, but to show you how unnatural it would +be were I unfriendly to his only child. So if now I say anything in the +least doubtful of her, set it down to conscience, and a sense of duty to +you whom I have received into the fraternity as one sent me specially by +God.... The life the Princess leads and her manners are outside the +sanctions of society. There is no positive wrong in a woman of her +degree going about in public places unveiled, and it must be admitted +she does it most modestly; yet the example is pernicious in its effect +upon women who are without the high qualities which distinguish her; at +the same time the habit, even as she illustrates it, wears an appearance +of defiant boldness, making her a subject of indelicate remark—making +her, in brief, a topic for discussion. The objection, I grant, is light, +being at worst an offence against taste and custom; much more serious is +her persistence in keeping up the establishment at Therapia. A husband +might furnish her an excuse; but the Turk is too near a neighbor—or +rather she, a single woman widely renowned for beauty, is too tempting +to the brutalized unbelievers infesting the other shore of the +Bosphorus. Feminine timidity is always becoming; especially is it so +when honor is more concerned than life or liberty. Unmarried and +unprotected, her place is in a holy house on the Islands, or here in the +city, where, aside from personal safety, she can have the benefit of +holy offices. Now rumor is free to accuse her of this and that, which +charity in multitude and without stint is an insufficient mantle to save +her from. They say she prefers guilty freedom to marriage; but no one, +himself of account, believes it—the constitution of her household +forbids the taint. They say she avails herself of seclusion to indulge +uncanonized worship. In plain terms, my son, it is said she is a +heretic." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius started and threw up his hands. Not that he was surprised at the +charge, for the Princess herself had repeatedly admitted it was in the +air against her; but coming from the venerated chief of his Brotherhood, +the statement, though a hearsay, sounded so dreadfully he was altogether +unprepared for it. Knowing the consequences of heresy, he was also +alarmed for her, and came near betraying himself. How interesting it +would be to learn precisely and from the excellent authority before him, +in what the heresy of the Princess consisted. If there was criminality +in her faith, what was to be said of his own? +</p> + +<p> +"Father," he remarked, calmly as possible, "I mind not the other +sayings, the reports which go to the Princess' honor—they are the +tarnishments which malice is always blowing on things white because they +are white—but if it be not too trying to your strength, tell me more. +Wherein is she a heretic?" +</p> + +<p> +Again, the gaunt fingers of the Hegumen worked nervously, while his eyes +averted themselves. +</p> + +<p> +"How can I satisfy your laudable question, my son, and be brief?" and +with the words he brought his look back, resting it on the young man's +face. "Give attention, however, and I will try.... I take it you know +the Creed is the test of orthodoxy, and"—he paused and searched the +eyes above his wistfully—"and that it has your unfaltering belief. You +know its history, I am sure—at least you know it had issue from the +Council of Nicaea over which Constantine, the greatest of ail Emperors, +condescended to preside in person. Never was proceeding more perfect; +its perfection proved the Divine Mind in its composition; yet, sad to +say, the centuries since the august Council have been fruitful of +disputes more or less related to those blessed canons, and sadder still, +some of the disputes continue to this day. Would to God there was no +more to be said of them!" +</p> + +<p> +The good man covered his face with his hands, like one who would shut +out a disagreeable sight. "But it is well to inform you, my son, of the +questions whose agitation has at last brought the Church down till only +Heaven can save it from rupture and ruin. Oh, that I should live to make +the acknowledgment—I who in my youth thought it founded on a rock +eternal as Nature itself!... A plain presentation of the subject in +contention may help you to a more lively understanding of the gravity +and untimeliness of the Princess' departure.... First, let me ask if you +know our parties by name. Verily I came near calling them +<i>factions</i>, and that I would not willingly, since it is an +opprobrious term, resort to which would be denunciatory of myself—I +being one of them." +</p> + +<p> +"I have heard of a Roman party and of a Greek party; but further, I am +so recently come to Constantinople, it would be safer did I take +information of you." +</p> + +<p> +"A prudent answer, by our most excellent and holy patron!" exclaimed the +Hegumen, his countenance relaxing into the semblance of a smile. "Be +always as wise, and the St. James' will bless themselves that thou wert +brought to us.... Attend now. The parties are Greek and Roman; though +most frequently its enemies speak of the latter as <i>azymites</i>, which you +will understand is but a nickname. I am a Romanist; the Brotherhood is +all Roman; and we mind not when Scholarius, and his arch-supporter, Duke +Notaras, howl <i>azymite</i> at us. A disputant never takes to contemptuous +speeches except when he is worsted in the argument." +</p> + +<p> +The moderation of the Hegumen had been thus far singularly becoming and +impressive; now a fierce light gleamed in his eyes, and he cried, with a +spasmodic clutch of the hands: "We are not of the forsworn! The curse of +the perjured is not on our souls!" +</p> + +<p> +The intensity of his superior astonished Sergius; yet he was shrewd +enough to see and appreciate the disclosures of the outburst; and from +that moment he was possessed of a feeling that the quarrel between the +parties was hopelessly past settlement. If the man before him, worn with +years, and actually laboring for the breath of life, could be so moved +by contempt for the enemy, what of his co-partisans? Age is ordinarily a +tamer of the passions. Here was an instance in which much contention +long continued had counteracted the benign effect. As a teacher and +example, how unlike this Hegumen was to Hilarion. The young man's heart +warmed with a sudden yearning for the exile of the dear old Lavra whose +unfailing sweetness of soul could keep the frigid wilderness upon the +White Lake in summer purple the year round. Never did love of man for +man look so lovely; never did it seem so comprehensive and all +sufficient! The nearest passion opposition could excite in that pure and +chastened nature was pity. But here! Quick as the reflection came, it +was shut out. There was more to be learned. God help the heretic in the +hands of this judge at this time! And with the mental exclamation +Sergius waited, his interest in the definition of heresy sharpened by +personal concern. +</p> + +<p> +"There are five questions dividing the two parties," the Hegumen +continued, when the paroxysm of hate was passed. "Listen and I will give +them to you in naked form, trusting time for an opportunity to deal with +them at large.... First then the Procession of the Holy Ghost. That is, +does the Holy Ghost proceed from the Son, or from the Father and the +Son? The Greeks say from the Son; the Romans say the Father and the Son +being One, the Procession must needs be from both of them +conjunctively.... Next the Nicene Creed, as originally published, did +undoubtedly make the Holy Ghost proceed from the Father alone. The +intent was to defend the unity of the Godhead. Subsequently the Latins, +designing to cast the assertion of the identity of the Spirit of the +Father and the Spirit of the Son in a form which they thought more +explicit, planted in the body of the Creed the word <i>filioque</i>, meaning +<i>from the Son.</i> This the Greeks declare an unwarranted addition. The +Latins, on their part, deny it an addition in any proper sense; they say +it is but an explanation of the principle proclaimed, and in +justification trace the usage from the Fathers, Greek and Latin, and from +Councils subsequent to the Nicene.... When we consider to what depths of +wrangle the two themes have carried the children of God who should be +brethren united in love, knowing rivalry only in zeal for the welfare of +the Church, that other subjects should creep in to help widen the already +dangerous breach has an appearance like a judgment of God; yet it would +be dealing unfairly with you, my son, to deny the pendency of three +others in particular. Of these we have first, Shall the bread in the +Eucharist be leavened or unleavened? About six hundred years ago the +Latins began the use of unleavened bread. The Greeks protested against +the innovation, and through the centuries arguments have been bandied to +and fro in good-natured freedom; but lately, within fifty years, the +debate has degenerated into quarrel, and now—ah, in what terms suitable +to a God-fearing servant can I speak of the temper signalizing the +discussion now? Let it pass, let it pass!... We have next a schism +respecting Purgatory. The Greeks deny the existence of such a state, +saying there are but two places awaiting the soul after death—Heaven and +Hell." +</p> + +<p> +Again the Hegumen paused, arrested, as it were, by a return of +vindictive passion. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the schismatics!" he exclaimed. "Not to see in the Latin idea of a +third place a mercy of God unto them especially! If only the righteous +are admitted to the All Holy Father immediately upon the final +separation of body and spirit; if there is no intermediate state for the +purgation of such of the baptized as die sodden in their sins, what +shall become of them?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius shuddered, but held his peace. +</p> + +<p> +"Yet another point," the superior continued, ere the ruffle in his voice +subsided—"another of which the wranglers have made the most; for as you +know, my son, the Greeks, thinking themselves teachers of all things +intellectual, philosophy, science, poetry, art, and especially religion, +and that at a period when the Latins were in the nakedness of barbarism, +are filled with pride, like empty bottles with air; and because in the +light of history their pride is not unreasonable, they drop the more +readily into the designs of the conspirators against the Unity of the +Church—I speak now of the Primacy. As if power and final judgment were +things for distribution amongst a number of equals! As if one body were +better of a hundred heads! Who does not know that two wills equally +authorized mean the absence of all will! Of the foundations of God Chaos +alone is unorganized; and to such likeness Scholarius would reduce +Christendom! God forbid! Say so, my son—let me hear you repeat it after +me—God forbid:" +</p> + +<p> +With an unction scarcely less fervid than his chief's, Sergius echoed +the exclamation; whereupon the elder looked at him, and said, with a +flush on his face, "I fear I have given rein too freely to disgust and +abhorrence. Passion is never becoming in old men. Lest you misjudge me, +my son, I shall take one further step in explanation; it will be for you +to then justify or condemn the feeling you have witnessed in me. A +deeper wound to conscience, a grosser provocation to the divine +vengeance, a perfidy more impious and inexcusable you shall never +overtake in this life, though you walk in it thrice the years of +Noah.... There have been repeated attempts to settle the doctrinal +differences to which I have referred. A little more than a hundred years +ago—it was in the reign of Andronicus III.—one Barlaam, a Hegumen, +like myself, was sent to Italy by the Emperor with a proposal of union; +but Benedict the Pope resolutely refused to entertain the proposition, +for the reason that it did not contemplate a final arrangement of the +question at issue between the Churches. Was he not right?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius assented. +</p> + +<p> +"In 1369, John V. Palaeologus, under heavy pressure of the Turks, +renewed overtures of reconciliation, and to effectuate his purpose, he +even became a Catholic. Then John VI., the late Emperor, more +necessitous than his predecessor, submitted such a presentation to the +Papal court that Nicolos of Cusa was despatched to Constantinople to +study and report upon the possibilities of a doctrinal settlement and +union. In November, 1437, the Emperor, accompanied by Joseph, the +Patriarch, Besserion, Archbishop of Nicaea, and deputies empowered to +represent the other Patriarchs, together with a train of learned +assistants and secretaries, seven hundred in all, set out for Italy in +response to the invitation of Eugenius IV, the Pope. Landing at Venice, +the Basileus was escorted to Ferrara, where Eugenius received him with +suitable pomp. The Council of Basle, having been adjourned to Ferrara +for the better accommodation of the imperial guest, was opened there in +April, 1438. But the plague broke out, and the sessions were transferred +to Florence where the Council sat for three years. Dost thou follow me, +my son?" +</p> + +<p> +"With all my mind, Father, and thankful for thy painstaking." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, good Sergius, thy attention more than repays me.... Observe now +the essentials of all the dogmatic questions I named to you as to-day +serving the conspiracy against the Unity of our beloved Church were +settled and accepted at the Council of Florence. The primacy of the +Roman Bishop was the last to be disposed of, because distinguishable +from the other differences by a certain political permeation; finally it +too was reconciled in these words—bear them in memory, I pray, that you +may comprehend their full import—'The Holy Apostolic See and Roman +Pontiff hold the Primacy over all the world; the Roman Pontiff is the +successor of Peter, Prince of Apostles, and he is the true Vicar of +Christ, the head of the whole Church, the Father and Teacher of all +Christians.' [Footnote: Addis and Arnold's Catholic Die. 349.] In Italy, +1439—mark you, son Sergius, but a trifle over eleven years ago—the +members of the Council from the East and West, the Greeks with the +Latins—Emperor, Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Deacons, and lesser +dignitaries of whatever title—signed a Decree of Union which we call +the <i>Hepnoticon</i>, and into which the above acceptances had been +incorporated. I said all signed the decree—there were two who did not, +Mark of Ephesus and the Bishop Stauropolis. The Patriarch of +Constantinople, Joseph, died during the Council; yet the signatures of +his colleagues collectively and of the Emperor perfected the Decree as +to Constantinople. What sayest thou, my son? As a student of holy +canons, what sayest thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am but a student," Sergius replied; "still to my imperfect perception +the Unity of the Church was certainly accomplished." +</p> + +<p> +"In law, yes," said the Hegumen, with difficulty rising to a sitting +posture—"yes, but it remained to make the accomplishment binding on the +consciences of the signatories. Hear now what was done. A form of oath +was draughted invoking the most awful maledictions on the parties who +should violate the decree, and it was sworn to." +</p> + +<p> +"Sworn to?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, son Sergius—sworn to by each and all of those attendant upon the +Council—from Basileus down to the humblest catechumen inclusive, they +took the oath, and by the taking bound their consciences under penalty +of the eternal wrath of God. I spoke of certain ones forsworn, did I +not?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius bowed. +</p> + +<p> +"And worse—I spoke of some whose souls were enduring the curse of the +perjured. That was extreme—it was passion—I saw thee shudder at it, +and I did not blame thee. Hear me now, and thou wilt not blame me.... +They came home, the Basileus and his seven hundred followers. Scarcely +were they disembarked before they were called to account. The city, +assembled on the quay, demanded of them: 'What have you done with us? +What of our Faith? Have you brought us the victory?' The Emperor hurried +to his palace; the prelates hung their heads, and trembling and in fear +answered: 'We have sold our Faith—we have betrayed the pure +sacrifice—we have become Azymites.' [Footnote: <i>Hist. de l'eglise</i> +(L'Abbe Rohrbacher), 3d ed. Vol. 22. 30. MICHEL DUCAS.] Thus spake +Bessarion; thus Balsamon, Archdeacon and Guardian of the Archives; thus +Gemiste of Lacedaemon; thus Antoine of Heraclius; thus spake they all, +the high and the low alike, even George Scholarius, whom thou didst see +marching last night first penitent of the Vigils. 'Why did you sign the +Decree?' And they answered, 'We were afraid of the Franks.' Perjury to +impiety—cowardice to perjury!... And now, son Sergius, it is said—all +said—with one exception. Some of the Metropolitans, when they were +summoned to sign the Decree, demurred, 'Without you pay us to our +satisfaction we shall not sign.' The silver was counted down to them. +Nay, son, look not so incredulous—I was there—I speak of what I saw. +What could be expected other than that the venals would repudiate +everything? And so they did, all save Metrophanes, the Syncelle, and +Gregory, by grace of God the present Patriarch. If I speak with heat, +dost thou blame me? If I called the recusants forsworn and perjured, +thinkest thou the pure in Heaven charged my soul with a sin? Answer as +thou lovest the right?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Father," Sergius replied, "the denunciation of impiety cannot be +sinful, else I have to unlearn all I have ever been taught; and being +the chief Shepherd of an honorable Brotherhood, is it not thy duty to +cry out at every appearance of wrong? That His Serenity, the Patriarch, +receives thy acquittal and is notably an exception to a recusancy so +universal, is comforting to me; to have to cast him out of my admiration +would be grievous. But pardon me, if from fear thou wilt overlook it, I +again ask thee to speak further of the heresy of the Princess Irene." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius, besides standing with his back to the door of the cell, was +listening to the Hegumen with an absorption of sense so entire that he +was unaware of the quiet entrance of a third party, who halted after a +step or two but within easy hearing. +</p> + +<p> +"The request is timely—most timely," the Hegumen replied, without +regarding the presence of the newcomer. "I had indeed almost forgotten +the Princess.... With controversies such as I have recounted raging in +the Church, like wolves in a sheepfold, comes one with new doctrines to +increase the bewilderment of the flock, how is he to be met? This is +what the Princess has done, and is doing." +</p> + +<p> +"Still, Father, you leave me in the dark." +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen faltered, but finally said: "Apart from her religious views +and novel habits, the Princess Irene is the noblest nature in Byzantium. +Were we overtaken by some great calamity, I should look for her to rise +by personal sacrifice into heroism. In acknowledgment of my fatherly +interest in her, she has often entertained me at her palace, and spoken +her mind with fearless freedom, leaving me to think her pursued by +presentiments of a fatality which is to try her with terrible demands, +and that she is already prepared to submit to them." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said Sergius, with an emphatic gesture, "there are who live +martyrs all their days, reserving nothing for death but to bring them +their crowns." +</p> + +<p> +The manner of the utterance, and the thought compelled the Hegumen's +notice. +</p> + +<p> +"My son," he said, presently, "thou hast a preacher's power. I wish I +foreknew thy future. But I must haste or"— +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Father, permit me to help you recline again." +</p> + +<p> +And with the words, Sergius helped the feeble body down. +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, my son," he received, in return, "I know thy soul is gentle." +</p> + +<p> +After a rest the speech was resumed. +</p> + +<p> +"Of the Princess—she is given to the Scriptures; in the reading, which +else would be a praiseworthy usage, she refuses light except it proceed +from her own understanding. We are accustomed when in doubt—thou +knowest it to be so—to take the interpretations of the Fathers; but she +insists the Son of God knew what He meant better than any whose good +intentions are lacking in the inspirations of the Holy Ghost." +</p> + +<p> +A gleam of pleasure flitted over the listener's countenance. +</p> + +<p> +"So," the Hegumen continued, "she hath gone the length of fabricating a +creed for herself, and substituting it for that which is the foundation +of the Church—I mean the Creed transmitted to us from the Council of +Nicaea." +</p> + +<p> +"Is the substitute in writing, Father?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have read it." +</p> + +<p> +"Then thou canst tell me whence she drew it." +</p> + +<p> +"From the Gospels word and word.... There now—I am too weak to enter +into discussion—I can only allude to effects." +</p> + +<p> +"Forgive another request"—Sergius spoke hastily—"Have I thy permission, +to look at what she hath written?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thou mayst try her with a request; but remember, my son"—the Hegumen +accompanied the warning with a menacious glance—"remember proselyting +is the tangible overt act in heresy which the Church cannot overlook.... +To proceed. The Princess' doctrines are damnatory of the Nicene; if +allowed, they would convert the Church into a stumbling-block in the way +of salvation. They cannot be tolerated.... I can no more—the night was +too much for me. Go, I pray, and order wine and food. To-morrow—or when +thou comest again—and delay not, for I love thee greatly—we will +return to the subject." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius saw the dew gathering on the Hegumen's pallid forehead, and +observed his failing voice. He stooped, took the wan hand from the +laboring breast, and kissed it; then turning about quickly to go for the +needed restoration, he found himself face to face with the young Greek +whom he rescued from Nilo in the encounter on the wall. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0408"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS +</h3> + +<p> +"I would have a word with you," the Greek said, in a low tone, as +Sergius was proceeding to the door. +</p> + +<p> +"But thy father is suffering, and I must make haste." +</p> + +<p> +"I will accompany thee." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius stopped while the young man went to the cot, removed his hat and +knelt, saying, "Thy blessing, father." +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen laid a hand on the petitioner's head. +</p> + +<p> +"My son, I have not seen thee for many days," he said; "yet in hope that +thou hast heard me, and abandoned the associates who have been +endangering thy soul and my good name, and because I love thee—God +knows how well—and remember thy mother, who lived illustrating every +beatitude, and died in grace, praying for thee, take thou my blessing." +</p> + +<p> +With tears starting in his own eyes, Sergius doubted not the effect of +the reproof upon the son; and he pitied him, and even regretted +remaining to witness the outburst of penitence and grief he imagined +forthcoming. The object of his sympathy took down the hand, kissed it in +a matter-of-fact way, arose, and said, carelessly: "This lamentation +should cease. Why can I not get you to understand, father, that there is +a new Byzantium? That even in the Hippodrome nothing is as it used to be +except the colors? How often have I explained to you the latest social +discovery admitted now by everybody outside the religious orders, and by +many within them—I mean the curative element in sin." +</p> + +<p> +"Curative element in sin!" exclaimed the father. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay—Pleasure." +</p> + +<p> +"O God!" sighed the old man, turning his face hopelessly to the wall, +"Whither are we drifting?" +</p> + +<p> +He hardly heard the prodigal's farewell. +</p> + +<p> +"If you wish to speak with me, stay here until I return." +</p> + +<p> +This Sergius said when the two passed out of the cell. Going down the +darkened passage, he glanced behind him, and saw the Greek outside the +door; and when he came back with the Hegumen's breakfast, and reentered +the apartment, he brushed by him still on the outside. At the cot, +Sergius offered the refreshment on his knees, and in that posture waited +while his superior partook of it; for he discerned how the aged heart +was doubly stricken—once for the Church, deserted by so many of its +children, and again for himself, forsaken by his own son. +</p> + +<p> +"What happiness to me, O Sergius, wert thou of my flesh and blood!" +</p> + +<p> +The expression covered every feeling evoked by the situation. Afterwhile +another of the Brotherhood appeared, permitting Sergius to retire. +</p> + +<p> +"I am ready to hear you now," he said, to the Greek at the door. +</p> + +<p> +"Let us to your cell then." +</p> + +<p> +In the cell, Sergius drew forth the one stool permitted him by the rules +of the Brotherhood. +</p> + +<p> +"Be seated," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"No," the visitor returned, "I shall be brief. You do not know my +father. The St. James' should relieve him of active duty. His years are +sadly enfeebling him." +</p> + +<p> +"But that would be ungrateful in them." +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven knows," the prodigal continued, complainingly, "how I have +labored to bring him up abreast of the time; he lives entirely in the +past. But pardon me; if I heard aright, my father called you Sergius." +</p> + +<p> +"That is my monastic name." +</p> + +<p> +"You are not a Greek?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Great Prince is my political sovereign." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I am Demedes. My father christened me Metrophanes, after the late +Patriarch; but it did not please me, and I have entitled myself. And now +we know each other, let us be friends." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius' veil had fallen over his face, and while replacing it under the +hat, he replied, "I shall strive, Demedes, to love you as I love +myself." +</p> + +<p> +The Greek, it should be remembered, was good featured, and of a pleasant +manner; so much so, indeed, as to partially recompense him for his +failure in stature; wherefore the overture was by no means repulsive. +</p> + +<p> +"You may wonder at my plucking you from my father's side; you may wonder +still more at my presumption in seeking to attach myself to you; but I +think my reasons good.... In the first place, it is my duty to +acknowledge that but for your interference yesterday the gigantic +energumen by whom I was unexpectedly beset would have slain me. In fact, +I had given myself up for lost. The rocks at the foot of the wall seemed +springing out of the water to catch me, and break every bone in my body. +You will accept my thanks, will you not?" +</p> + +<p> +"The saving two fellow beings, one from murder, the other from being +murdered, is not, in my opinion, an act for thanks; still, to ease you +of a sense of obligation, I consent to the acknowledgment." +</p> + +<p> +"It does relieve me," Demedes said, with a taking air; "and I am +encouraged to go on." +</p> + +<p> +He paused, and surveyed Sergius deliberately from head to foot, and the +admiration he permitted to be seen, taken as a second to his continuing +words, could not have been improved by a professed actor. +</p> + +<p> +"Are not flesh and blood of the same significance in all of us? With +youth and health superadded to a glorious physical structure, may we not +always conclude a man rich in spirit and lusty impulses? Is it possible +a gown and priestly hat can entirely suppress his human nature? I have +heard of Anthony the Anchorite." +</p> + +<p> +The idea excited his humor, and he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"I mean no irreverence," he resumed; "but you know, dear Sergius, it is +with laughter as with tears, we cannot always control it.... Anthony +resolved to be a Saint, but was troubled by visions of beautiful women. +To escape them, he followed some children of Islam into the desert. +Alas! the visions went with him. He burrowed then in a tomb—still the +visions. He hid next in the cellar of an old castle—in vain—the +visions found him out. He flagellated himself for eighty and nine years, +every day and night of which was a battle with the visions. He left two +sheepskins to as many bishops, and one haircloth shirt to two favorite +disciples—they had been his armor against the visions. Finally, lest +the seductive goblins should assail him in death, he bade the disciples +lose him by burial in an unknown place. Sergius, my good friend"—here +the Greek drew nearer, and laid a hand lightly on the monk's flowing +sleeve—"I heard some of your replies to my father, and respect your +genius too much to do more than ask why you should waste your youth"— +</p> + +<p> +"Forbear! Go not further—no, not a word!" Sergius exclaimed. "Dost thou +account the crown the Saint at last won nothing?" +</p> + +<p> +Demedes did not seem in the least put out by the demonstration; possibly +he expected it, and was satisfied with the hearing continued him. +</p> + +<p> +"I yield to you," he said, with a smile, "and willingly since you +convince me I was not mistaken in your perception.... My father is a +good man. His goodness, however, but serves to make him more sensitive +to opposition. The divisions of the Church give him downright suffering. +I have heard him go on about them hours at a time. Probably his +proneness to lamentation should be endured with respectful patience; but +there is a peculiarity in it—he is blind to everything save the loss of +power and influence the schisms are fated to entail upon the Church. He +fights valorously in season and out for the old orthodoxies, believing +that with the lapse of religion as at present organized the +respectability and dominion of the holy orders will also lapse. Nay, +Sergius, to say it plainly, he and the Brotherhood are fast keying +themselves up to a point in fanaticism when dissent appears blackest +heresy. To you, a straightforward seeker after information, it has never +occurred, I suspect, to inquire how far—or rather how close—beyond +that attainment lie punishments of summary infliction and most terrible +in kind? Torture—the stake—holocausts in the Hippodrome—spectacles in +the Cynegion—what are they to the enthused Churchmen but righteous +judgments mercifully executed on wayward heretics? I tell you, monk—and +as thou lovest her, heed me—I tell you the Princess Irene is in +danger." +</p> + +<p> +This was unexpected, and forcibly put; and thinking of the Princess, +Sergius lost the calmness he had up to this time successfully kept. +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess—tortured—God forbid!" +</p> + +<p> +"Recollect," the Greek continued—"for you will reflect upon +this—recollect I overheard the close of your interview with my father. +To-morrow, or upon your return from Therapia, be it when it may, he will +interrogate you with respect to whatever she may confide to you in the +least relative to the Creed, which, as he states, she has prepared for +herself. You stand warned. Consider also that now I have in part +acquitted myself of the obligation I am under to you for my life." +</p> + +<p> +The simple-mindedness of the monk, to whom the book of the world was +just beginning to open, was an immense advantage to the Greek. It should +not be surprising, therefore, if the former relaxed his air, and leaned +a little forward to hear what was further submitted to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Have you breakfasted?" the prodigal asked, in his easy manner. +</p> + +<p> +"I have not." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! In concern for my father, you have neglected yourself. Well, I must +not be inconsiderate. A hungry man is seldom a patient listener. Shall I +break off now?" +</p> + +<p> +"You have interested me, and I may be gone several days." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. I will make haste. It is but justice to the belligerents in +the spiritual war to admit the zeal they have shown; Gregory the +Patriarch, and his Latins, on the one side, and Scholarius and his +Greeks on the other. They have occupied the pulpits alternately, each +refusing presence to the other. They decline association in the +Sacramental rites. In Sta. Sophia, it is the Papal mass to-day; +to-morrow, it will be the Greek mass. It requires a sharp sense to +detect the opposition in smell between the incense with which the +parties respectively fumigate the altars of the ancient house. I suppose +there is a difference. Yesterday the parabaloni came to blows over a +body they were out burying, and in the struggle the bier was knocked +down, and the dead spilled out. The Greeks, being the most numerous, +captured the labarum of the Latins, and washed it in the mud; yet the +monogram on it was identical with that on their own. Still I suppose +there was a difference." +</p> + +<p> +Demedes laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"But seriously, Sergius, there is much more of the world outside of the +Church—or Churches, as you prefer—than on the inside. In the tearing +each other to pieces, the militants have lost sight of the major part, +and, as normally bound, it has engaged in thinking for itself. That is, +the shepherd is asleep, the dogs are fighting, and the sheep, left to +their individual conduct, are scattered in a hunt for fresher water and +greener pasturage. Have you heard of the Academy of Epicurus?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"I will tell you about it. But do you take the seat there. It is not +within my purpose to exhaust you in this first conference." +</p> + +<p> +"I am not tired." +</p> + +<p> +"Well"—and the Greek smiled pleasantly—"I was regardful of myself +somewhat in the suggestion. My neck is the worse of having to look up so +constantly.... The youth of Byzantium, you must know, are not +complaining of neglect; far from it—they esteem it a great privilege to +be permitted to think in freedom. Let me give you of their conclusions. +There is no God, they say, since a self-respecting God would not +tolerate the strife and babble carried on in his name to the discredit +of his laws. Religion, if not a deceit, is but the tinkling of brazen +cymbals. A priest is a professor eking out an allowance of fine clothes +and bread and wine; with respect to the multitude, he is a belled donkey +leading a string of submissive camels. Of what account are Creeds except +to set fools by the ears? Which—not what—<i>which</i> is the true Christian +Faith? The Patriarch tells us, 'Verily it is this,' and Scholarius +replies, 'Verily the Patriarch is a liar and a traitor to God for his +false teaching'—he then tells us it is that other thing just as +unintelligible. Left thus to ourselves—I acknowledge myself one of the +wandering flock—flung on our own resources—we resorted to counselling +each other, and agreed that a substitute for religion was a social +necessity. Our first thought was to revive Paganism; worshipping many +gods, we might peradventure stumble upon one really existent: whether +good or bad ought not to trouble us, provided he took intelligent +concern in the drift of things. To quarrel about his qualities would be +a useless repetition of the folly of our elders—the folly of swimming +awhile in a roaring swirl. Some one suggested how much easier and more +satisfactory it is to believe in one God than in many; besides which +Paganism is a fixed system intolerant of freedom. Who, it was argued, +would voluntarily forego making his own gods? The privilege was too +delightful. Then it was proposed that we resolve ourselves each into a +God unto himself. The idea was plausible; it would at least put an end +to wrangling, by giving us all an agreeable object to worship, while for +mental demands and social purposes generally we could fall back on +Philosophy. Had not our fathers tried Philosophy? When had society a +better well being than in the halcyon ages of Plato and Pythagoras? Yet +there was a term of indecision with us—or rather incubation. To what +school should we attach ourselves? A copy of the Enchiridion of +Epictetus fell into our hands, and after studying it faithfully, we +rejected Stoicism. The Cynics were proposed; we rejected them—there was +nothing admirable in Diogenes as a patron. We next passed upon Socratus. +<i>Sons of Sophroniscus</i> had a lofty sound; still his system of moral +philosophy was not acceptable, and as he believed in a creative God, his +doctrine was too like a religion. Though the Delphian oracle pronounced +him the wisest of mankind, we concluded to look further, and in so +doing, came to Epicurus. There we stopped. His promulgations, we +determined, had no application except to this life; and as they offered +choice between the gratification of the senses and the practice of +virtue, leaving us free to adopt either as a rule of conduct, we +formally enrolled ourselves Epicureans. Then, for protection against the +Church, we organized. The departure might send us to the stake, or to +Tamerlane, King of the Cynegion, or, infinitely worse, to the cloisters, +if we were few; but what if we took in the youths of Byzantium as an +entirety? The policy was clear. We founded an Academy—the Academy of +Epicurus—and lodged it handsomely in a temple; and three times every +week we have a session and lectures. Our membership is already up in the +thousands, selected from the best blood of the Empire; for we do not +confine our proselyting to the city." +</p> + +<p> +Here Sergius lifted his hand. He had heard the prodigal in silence, and +it had been difficult the while to say which dominated his feeling—disgust, +amazement, or pity. He was scarcely in condition to think; yet +he comprehended the despairing cry of the Hegumen, Oh, my God! whither +are we drifting? The possibilities of the scheme flew about him darkly, +like birds in a ghastly twilight. He had studied the oppositions to +religion enough to appreciate the attractive power there was for youth in +the pursuit of pleasure. He knew also something of the race Epicureanism +had run in the old competitions of philosophy—that it had been embraced +by more of the cultivated Pagan world than the other contemporary systems +together. It had been amongst the last, if not in fact the very last, of +the conquests of Christianity. But here it was again; nor that merely—here +it was once more a subject of organized effort. Who was responsible +for the resurrection? The Church? How wicked its divisions seemed to him! +Bishop fighting Bishop—the clergy distracted—altars discredited—sacred +ceremonies neglected—what did it all mean, if not an interregnum of the +Word? Men cannot fight Satan and each other at the same time. With such +self-collection as he could command, he asked: "What have you in +substitution of God and Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +"A Principle," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"What Principle?" +</p> + +<p> +"Pleasure, the Purpose of this Life, and its Pursuit, an ennobled +occupation." +</p> + +<p> +"Pleasure to one is not pleasure to another—it is of kinds." +</p> + +<p> +"Well said, O Sergius! Our kind is gratification of the senses. Few of +us think of the practice of virtue, which would be dreaming in the midst +of action." +</p> + +<p> +"And you make the pursuit an occupation?" +</p> + +<p> +"In our regard the heroic qualities of human nature are patience, courage +and judgment; hence our motto—Patience, Courage, Judgment. The pursuit +calls them all into exercise, ennobling the occupation." +</p> + +<p> +The Greek was evidently serious. Sergius ran him over from the pointed +shoes to the red feather in the conical red hat, and said in accents of +pity: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, alas! Thou didst wrong in re-entitling thyself. Depravity had been +better than Demedes." +</p> + +<p> +The Greek lifted his brows, and shrugged his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +"In the Academy we are used to taking as well as giving," he said, +wholly unembarrassed. "But, my dear Sergius, it remains for me to +discharge an agreeable commission. Last night, in full session, I told +of the affair on the wall. Could you have heard my description of your +intervention, and the eulogium with which I accompanied it, you would +not have accused me of ingratitude. The brethren were carried away; +there was a tempest of applause; they voted you a hero; and, without a +dissent, they directed me to inform you that the doors of the Academy +were open"— +</p> + +<p> +"Stop," said Sergius, with both hands up as if to avert a blow. After +looking at the commissioner a moment, his eyes fiercely bright, he +walked the floor of the cell twice. +</p> + +<p> +"Demedes," he said, halting in front of the Greek, a reactionary pallor +on his countenance, "the effort thou art making to get away from God +proves how greatly He is a terror to thee. The Academy is only a +multitude thou hast called together to help hide thee from Christ. Thou +art an organizer of Sin—a disciple of Satan"—he was speaking not loud +or threateningly, but with a force before which the other shrank +visibly—"I cannot say I thank thee for the invitation on thy tongue +unfinished, but I am better of not hearing it. Get thee behind me." +</p> + +<p> +He turned abruptly, and started for the door. +</p> + +<p> +The Greek sprang after him, and took hold of his gown. +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius, dear Sergius," he said, "I did not intend to offend you. There +is another thing I have to speak about. Stay!" +</p> + +<p> +"Is it something different?" Sergius asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay—as light and darkness are different." +</p> + +<p> +"Be quick then." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius was standing under the lintel of the door. Demedes slipped past +him, and on the outside stopped. +</p> + +<p> +"You are going to Therapia?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess of India will be there. She has already set out." +</p> + +<p> +"How knowest thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"She is always under my eyes." +</p> + +<p> +The mockery in the answer reminded Sergius of the Academy. The prodigal +was designing to impress him with an illustration of the Principle it +had adopted in lieu of God. The motto, he was having it thus early +understood, was not an empty formula, but an inspiring symbol, like the +Cross on the flag. This votary, the advertisement as much as said, was +in pursuit of the little Princess—he had chosen her for his next +offering to the Principle which, like another God, was insatiable of +gifts, sacrifices, and honors. Such the thoughts of the monk. +</p> + +<p> +"You know her?" Demedes asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"You believe her the daughter of the Prince of India?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you do not know her." +</p> + +<p> +The Greek laughed insolently. +</p> + +<p> +"The best of us, and the oldest can be at times as much obliged by +information as by a present of bezants. The Academy sends you its +compliments. The girl is the daughter of a booth-keeper in the bazaar—a +Jew, who has no princely blood to spare a descendant—a dog of a Jew, +who makes profit by lending his child to an impostor." +</p> + +<p> +"Whence hadst thou this—this—" +</p> + +<p> +The Greek paid no attention to the interruption. +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene gives a fete this afternoon. The fishermen of the +Bosphorus will be there in a body. I will be there. A pleasant time to +you, and a quick awakening, O Sergius!" +</p> + +<p> +Demedes proceeded up the passage, but turned about, and said: "Patience, +Courage, Judgment. When thou art witness to all there is in the motto. O +Sergius, it may be thou wilt be more placable. I shall see to it that +the doors of the Academy are kept open for thee." +</p> + +<p> +The monk stood awhile under the lintel bewildered; for the introduction +to wickedness is always stunning—a circumstance proving goodness to be +the natural order. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0409"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +A FISHERMAN'S FETE +</h3> + +<p> +The breakfast to which Sergius addressed himself was in strict observance +of the Rules of the Brotherhood; and being plain, it was quickly +despatched. Returning to his cell, he let his hair loose, and combed it +with care; then rolling it into a glistening mass, he tucked it under his +hat. Selecting a fresher veil next, he arranged that to fall down his +back and over the left shoulder. He also swept the dark gown free of +dust, and cleansing the crucifix and large black horn beads of his +rosary, lingered a moment while contemplating the five sublime mysteries +allotted to the third chaplet, beginning with the Resurrection of Christ +and ending with the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. In a calmness of +spirit such as follows absolution, he finally sallied from the Monastery, +and ere long arrived at the landing outside the Fish Market Gate on the +Golden Horn. The detentions had been long; so for speed he selected a +two-oared boat. +</p> + +<p> +"To Therapia—by noon," he said to the rower, and, dropping into the +passenger's box, surrendered himself to reflection. +</p> + +<p> +The waterway by which the monk proceeded is not unfamiliar to the reader, +a general idea of it having been given in the chapter devoted to the +adventures of the Prince of India in his outing up the Bosphorus to the +Sweet Waters of Asia. The impression there sought to be conveyed—how +feebly is again regretfully admitted—was of a panorama remarkable as a +composition of all the elements of scenic beauty blent together in +incomparable perfection. Now, however, it failed the tribute customary +from such as had happily to traverse it. +</p> + +<p> +The restfulness of the swift going; the shrinking of the flood under the +beating of the oars; the sky and the wooded heights, and the stretches +of shore, town and palace lined; the tearing through the blue veil +hanging over the retiring distances; the birds, the breezes, the ships +hither coming and yonder going, and the sparkles shooting up in myriad +recurrence on the breaking waves—all these pleasures of the most +delicate of the receiving senses were tyrannically forbidden him. +</p> + +<p> +The box in which he sat half reclining was wide enough for another +passenger side by side with him, and it seemed he imagined the vacant +place occupied now by Demedes, and now by Lael, and that he was speaking +to them; when to the former, it was with dislike, and a disposition to +avoid the touch of his red cloak, though on the sleeve ever so lightly; +when to the latter, his voice would lower, his eyes soften, and the +angry spots on his brow and cheeks go out—not more completely could +they have disappeared had she actually exorcised them with some of the +sweet confessions lovers keep for emergencies, and a touch of finger +besides. +</p> + +<p> +"So," he would say, Demedes for the time on the seat, "thou deniest God, +and hast a plot against Christ. Shameful in the son of a good father!... +What is thy Academy but defiance of the Eternal Majesty? As well curse +the Holy Ghost at once, for why should he who of preference seeketh a bed +with the damned he disappointed? Or is thy audacity a blasphemous trial +of the endurance of forgiveness?".... Exit Demedes, enter Lael.... "The +child—she is a child! By such proof as there is in innocence, and in the +loveliness of blushing cheeks, and eyes which answer the Heavenly light +they let in by light as Heavenly let out, she is a child! What does evil +see in her to set it hungering after her? Or is there in virtue a signal +to its enemies—Lo, here! A light to be blown out, lest it disperse our +darkness!".... Reenter Demedes.... "Abduct her!—How?—When? To that end +is it thou keepest her always under eye? The Princess Irene gives a +Fisherman's Fete—the child will be there—thou wilt be there. Is this +the day of the attempt? Bravos as fishermen, to seize her—boats to +carry her off—the Bosphorus wide and deep, and the hills beyond a +hiding-place, and in the sky over them the awful name Turk. The crime +and the opportunity hand in hand! Let them prosper now, and I who have +from the cradle's side despatched my soul faith in hand to lay it at +Heaven's gate may never again deny a merit in the invocation of Sin +virtuous as prayer".... To Lael in the seat.... "But be not afraid. +I will be there also. I"... A sudden fear fell upon him. If the abduction +were indeed arranged for the afternoon, to what might he not be led by an +open attempt to defeat it? Bloodshed—violence! He whose every dream had +been of a life in which his fellow-men might find encouragement to endure +their burdens, and of walking before them an example of love and +forbearance, submissive and meek that he might with the more unanswerable +grace preach obedience and fraternity to them—Merciful Heaven! And he +shuddered and drew the veil hastily over his face, as if, in a bloody +tumult, the ideal life, so the ultimate happiness, were vanishing before +his eyes. Taking the confessions of such as have been greatly tried, few +men, few even of those renowned for courage and fine achievement, ever +pass their critical moments of decision unassailed by alternative +suggestions due to fear. Sergius heard them now. "Return to thy cell, and +to thy beads, and prayer," they seemed to say. "What canst thou, a +stranger in a strange land, if once the Academy of which thou wert this +morning informed, becomes thy enemy? Ay, return to thy cell! Who is she +for whom thou art putting thyself in the way of temptation? The daughter +of a booth-keeper in the bazaar—a Jew, who hath no princely blood to +spare a descendant—a dog of a Jew, who maketh profit by lending his +child to an impostor." +</p> + +<p> +The suggestion was powerful. In the heat of the debate, however, an +almost forgotten voice reached him, reciting one of the consolations of +Father Hilarion: "Temptations are for all of us; nor shall any man be +free of them. The most we can hope is to be delivered from them. What +vanity to think we can travel threescore and ten years from our cradles, +if so long we live, without an overture of some kind from the common +enemy! On the other side, what a triumph to put his blandishments by! +The Great Exemplar did not fly from Satan; he stayed, and overcame him." +</p> + +<p> +"Be not afraid," Sergius said, as if to Lael, and firmly, like one +resolved of fear and hesitation. "I will be there also." +</p> + +<p> +Then looking about him, at his left hand he beheld the village of +Emirghian, bent round a mountain's base, in places actually invading the +water. In face of such a view a susceptible nature must needs be very +sick of soul to go blindly on. The brightly painted houses cast +tremulous reflections to a vast depth in the limpid flood, and where +they ceased, down immeasurably, the vivid green of the verdure on the +mountain's breast suggested the beginning of the next of the seven +Mohammedan earths. Above this borrowed glory he seemed afloat; and to +help the impression, the sound of many voices singing joyously was borne +to him. He waved his hand, and the rowers, resting from their labor, +joined him in listening. +</p> + +<p> +The little gulf of Stenia lies there landlocked, and out of it a boat +appeared, skimming around the intervening promontory. In a mass of +flowers, in a shade of garlands hanging from a low mast, its arms and +shrouds wreathed with roses, the singers sat timing their song with +their oars. The refrain was supported by zitheras, flutes and horns. The +vessel turned northwardly when fairly out in the strait; and then +another boat came round the point—and another—and another—and many +others, all decorated, and filled with men, women and children making +music. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius' boatmen recognized the craft, deep in the water, black and +long, and with graceful upturned ends. +</p> + +<p> +"Fishermen!" they said. +</p> + +<p> +And he rejoined: "Yes. The Princess Irene gives them a fete. Make haste. +I will go with them. Fall in behind." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes—a good woman! Of such are the Saints!" they said, signing the +cross on breast arid brow. +</p> + +<p> +The singing and the gala air of the party put Sergius in his wonted +spirits; and as here and there other boats fell into the line, similarly +decorated, their occupants adding to the volume of the singing, by the +time Therapia was sighted the good-natured, happy fishermen had given +him of their floral abundance, and adopted him. +</p> + +<p> +What a scene the Therapian bay presented! Boats, boats, boats—hundreds +of them in motion, hundreds lining the shore, the water faithfully +repeating every detail of ornature, and apparently a-quiver with +pleasure. The town was gay with colors; while on the summit and sides of +the opposite promontory every available point answered flaunt with +flaunt. And there were song and shouting, gladsome cries of children, +responses of mothers, and merriment of youth and maiden. Byzantium might +be in decadence, her provinces falling away, her glory wasting; the +follies of the court and emperors, the best manhood of the empire lost +in cloisters and hermitages, the preference of the nobility for intrigue +and diplomacy might be all working their deplorable results—nay, the +results might be at hand! Still the passion of the people for fetes and +holidays remained. Tastes are things of heredity. In nothing is a +Byzantine of this day so nearly a classic Greek as in his delicacy and +appreciation where permitted to indulge in the beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +The boatmen passed through the gay entanglement of the bay slowly and +skilfully, and finally discharged their passengers on the marble quay a +little below the regular landing in front of the red pavilion over the +entrance to the Princess' grounds. The people went in and out of the +gate without hindrance; nor was there guard or policeman visible. Their +amiability attested their happiness. +</p> + +<p> +The men were mostly black-bearded, sunburned, large-handed, brawny +fellows in breeches black and amply bagged, with red sashes and light +blue jackets heavily embroidered. The legs below the knees were exposed, +and the feet in sandals. White cloths covered their heads. Their eyes +were bright, their movements agile, their air animated. Many of them +sported amulets of shell or silver suspended by ribbons or silken cords +around their bare necks. The women wore little veils secured by combs, +but rather as a headdress, and for appearances. They also affected the +sleeveless short jacket over a snowy chemise; and what with bright +skirts bordered with worsted chenille, and sandal straps carried +artfully above the ankles, they were not wanting in picturesqueness. +Some of the very young amongst them justified the loveliness +traditionally ascribed to the nymphs of Hellas and the fair Cycladean +Isles. Much the greater number, however, were in outward seeming +prematurely old, and by their looks, their voices ungovernably shrill, +and the haste and energy with which they flung themselves into the +amusement of the hour unconsciously affirmed that fishermen's wives are +the same everywhere. One need not go far to find the frontiers of +society—too frequently they are close under the favorite balcony of the +king. +</p> + +<p> +Something on the right cheek of the gate under the pavilion furnished an +attraction to the visitors. When Sergius came up, he was detained by a +press of men and women in eager discussion; and following their eyes and +the pointing of their fingers, he observed a brazen plate overhead +curiously inscribed. The writing was unintelligible to him as to his +neighbors. It looked Turkish—or it might have been Arabic—or it might +not have been writing at all. He stayed awhile listening to the +conjectures advanced. Presently a gypsy approached leading a bear, +which, in its turn, was drawing a lot of noisy boys. He stopped, +careless of the unfriendly glances with which he was received, and at +sight of the plate saluted it with a low salaam several times unctuously +repeated. +</p> + +<p> +"Look at the hamari there. He can tell what the thing means." +</p> + +<p> +"Then ask him." +</p> + +<p> +"I will. See here, thou without a religion, consort of brutes! Canst +thou tell what this"—pointing to the plate—"is for? Come and look at +it!" +</p> + +<p> +"It is not needful for me to go nearer. I see it well enough. Neither am +I without a religion. I do not merely profess belief in God—I believe +in Him," the bear-keeper replied. +</p> + +<p> +The fisherman took the retort and the laugh it occasioned +good-humoredly, and answered: "Very well, we are even; and now perhaps +thou canst tell me what I asked." +</p> + +<p> +"Willingly, since thou canst be decent to a stranger.... The young +Mahommed, son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans"—the gypsy paused to salute +the title—"the young Mahommed, I say, is my friend." The bystanders +laughed derisively, but the man proceeded. "He has resided this long +time at Magnesia, the capital of a prosperous province assigned to his +governorship. There never was one of such station so civil to his +people, and much learning has had a good effect upon his judgment; it +has taught him that the real virtue of amusement lies in its variety. +Did he listen exclusively to his doctors discoursing of philosophy, or +to his professor of mathematics, or to his poets and historians, he +would go mad even as they are mad; wherefore, along with his studies, he +hunts with hawk and hound; he tilts and tourneys; he plays the wandering +minstrel; and not seldom Joqard and I—hey, fellow, is it not so?" he +gave the bear a tremendous jerk—"Joqard and I have been to audience +with him in his palace." +</p> + +<p> +"A wonderful prince no doubt; but I asked not of him. The plate, +man—what of this plate? If nothing, then give way to Joqard." +</p> + +<p> +"There are fools and fools—that is, there are plain fools and wise +fools. The wise fool answering the plain fool, is always more particular +with his premises than his argument." +</p> + +<p> +The laugh was with the hamari again; after which he continued: "So, +having done with explanation, now to satisfy you." +</p> + +<p> +From the breast of his gown, he brought forth a piece of bronze +considerably less than the plate on the gate, but in every other respect +its counterpart. +</p> + +<p> +"See you this?" he said, holding the bronze up to view. +</p> + +<p> +There was quick turning from plate to plate, and the conclusion was as +quick. +</p> + +<p> +"They are the same, but what of it?" +</p> + +<p> +"This—Joqard and I went up one day and danced for the Prince, and at +the end he dismissed us, giving me a red silk purse fat with gold +pieces, and to Joqard this passport. Mark you now. The evil minded used +to beat us with cudgels and stones—I mean among the Turk—but coming to +a town now, I tie this to Joqard's collar, and we have welcome. We eat +and drink, and are given good quarters, and sped from morning to morning +without charge." +</p> + +<p> +"There is some magic in the plate, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," said the hamari, "unless there is magic in the love of a people +for the Prince to be their ruler. It certifies Joqard and I are of +Prince Mahommed's friends, and that is enough for Turks; and the same +yonder. By the sign, I know this gate, these grounds, and the owner of +them are in his protection. But," said the bear-keeper, changing his +tone, "seeing one civil answer deserves another, when was Prince +Mahommed here?" +</p> + +<p> +"In person? Never." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, he must have been." +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you say so?" +</p> + +<p> +"Because of the brass plate yonder." +</p> + +<p> +"What does it prove?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, yes!" the man answered laughingly. "Joqard and I pick up many odd +things, and meet a world of people—don't we, fellow?" Another furious +jerk of the leading strap brought a whine from the bear, "But it is good +for us. We teach school as we go; and you know, my friend, for every +<i>solidus</i> its equivalent in <i>noumia</i> is somewhere." +</p> + +<p> +"I will give you a <i>noumia</i>, if you will give me an answer." +</p> + +<p> +"A bargain—a bargain, with witnesses!" +</p> + +<p> +Then after a glance into the faces around, as if summoning attention to +the offer, the hamari proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +"Listen. I say the brass up there proves Prince Mahommed was here in +person. Wishing to notify his people that he had taken in his care +everything belonging to this property, the owner included, the Prince +put his signature to the proclamation." +</p> + +<p> +"Proclamation?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—you may call it plain brass, if you prefer; none the less the +writing on it is <i>Mahommed:</i> and because such favors must bear his +name on them, they are reserved for his giving. No other man, except the +great Sultan, his father, would bestow one of them. Joqard had his from +the Prince's hand directly; wherefore—I hope, friend, you have the +<i>noumia</i> ready—the brass on this post must have been fixed there +by the Prince with his own hand." +</p> + +<p> +The fishermen were satisfied; and it was wonderful how interesting the +safeguard then became to them. By report they knew Mahommed the +prospective successor of the terrible Amurath; they knew him a soldier +conspicuous in many battles; and from the familiar principle by which we +admire or dread those possessed of qualities unlike and superior to our +own, their ideas and speculations concerning him were wild and generally +harsh. Making no doubt now that he had really been to the gate, they +asked themselves, What could have been his object? To look at the plate +was next thing to looking at the man. Even Sergius partook of the +feeling. To get a better view, he shifted his position, and was beset by +inquietudes not in the understanding of the fishermen. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess Irene, her property and dependents, were subjects of +protection by the Moslem; that much was clear; but did she know the +fact? Had she seen the Prince? Then the Hegumen's criticism upon the +persistence with which she kept her residence here, a temptation to the +brutalized unbeliever on the other shore, derived a point altogether +new. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius turned away, and passed into the well-tended grounds. While too +loyal to the little mother, as he tenderly called the Princess, to admit +a suspicion against her, with painful clearness, he perceived the +opportunity the affair offered her enemies for the most extreme +accusations; and he resolved to speak to her, and, if necessary, to +remonstrate. +</p> + +<p> +Traversing the shelled roadway up to the portico of the palace, he +looked back through the red pavilion, and caught a glimpse of Joqard +performing before a merry group of boys and elders male and female. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0410"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +THE HAMARI +</h3> + +<p> +The love of all things living which was so positively a trait of +character with the Princess Irene was never stinted in her dealings with +her own country folk. On this occasion her whole establishment at +Therapia was accorded her guests; yet, while they wandered at will +merry-making through the gardens, and flashed their gay colors along the +side and from the summit of the promontory, they seemed to have united +in holding the palace in respectful reserve. None of them, without a +special request, presumed to pass the first of the steps leading up into +the building. +</p> + +<p> +When Sergius, approaching from the outer gate, drew nigh the front of +the palace, he was brought to a stop by a throng of men and women packed +around a platform the purpose of which was declared by its use. It was +low, but of generous length and breadth, and covered with fresh +sail-cloth; at each corner a mast had been raised, with yard-arms well +squared, and dressed profusely in roses, ferns, and acacia fronds. On a +gallery swung to the base of the over-pending portico, a troupe of +musicians were making the most of flute, cithara, horn, and kettle-drum, +and not vainly, to judge from the flying feet of the dancers in +possession of the boards. +</p> + +<p> +Lifting his eyes above the joyous exhibition, he beheld the carven +capitals of the columns, tied together with festoonery of evergreens, +and relieved by garlands of shining flowers, and above the musicians, +under a canopy shading her from the meridian sun, the Princess Irene +herself. A bright carpet hanging down the wall enriched the position +chosen by her, and in the pleasant shade, surrounded by young women, she +sat with uncovered head and face, delighted with the music and the +dancing—delighted that it was in her power to bring together so many +souls to forget, though so briefly, the fretting of hard conditions +daily harder growing. None knew better than she the rapidity of the +national decadence. +</p> + +<p> +It was not long until the young hostess noticed Sergius, taller of his +high hat and long black gown; and careless as usual of the +conventionalities, she arose, and beckoned to him with her fan; and the +people, seeing whom she thus honored, opened right and left, and with +good-will made way for him. Upon his coming her attendants drew +aside—all but one, to whom for the moment he gave but a passing look. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess received him seated. The youthful loveliness of her +countenance seemed refined by the happiness she was deriving from the +spectacle before her. He took the hand she extended him, kissed it +respectfully, with only a glance at the simple but perfected Greek of +her costume, and immediately the doubts, and fears, and questions, and +lectures in outline he had brought with him from the city dropped out of +mind. Suspicion could not look at her and live. +</p> + +<p> +"Welcome, Sergius," she said, with dignity. "I was afraid you would not +come to-day." +</p> + +<p> +"Why not? If my little mother's lightest suggestions are laws with me, +what are her invitations?" +</p> + +<p> +For the first time he had addressed her by the affectionate term, and +the sound was startling. The faintest flush spread over her cheek, +admonishing him that the familiarity had not escaped attention. Greatly +to his relief, she quietly passed the matter. +</p> + +<p> +"You were at the <i>Pannychides?</i>" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, till daybreak." +</p> + +<p> +"I thought so, and concluded you would be too weary to see us to-day. +The Mystery is tedious." +</p> + +<p> +"It might become so if too frequently celebrated. As it was, I shall not +forget the hillside, and the multitude of frocked and cowled figures +kneeling in the dim red light of the torches. The scene was awful." +</p> + +<p> +"Did you see the Emperor?" +</p> + +<p> +She put the question in a low tone. +</p> + +<p> +"No," he returned. "His Majesty sent for our Hegumen to come to the +Chapel. The good man took me with him, his book and torch bearer; but +when we arrived, the Emperor had passed in and closed the door, and I +could only imagine him on his knees alone in the room, except as the +relics about him were company." +</p> + +<p> +"How unspeakably dismal!" she said with a shudder, adding in sorrowful +reflection, "I wish I could help him, for he is a prince with a tender +conscience; but there is no way—at least Heaven does not permit me to +see anything for him in my gift but prayer." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius followed her sympathetically, and was surprised when she +continued, the violet gray of her eyes changing into subtle fire. "A sky +all cloud; the air void of hope; enemies mustering everywhere on land; +the city, the court, the Church rent by contending factions—behold how +a Christian king, the first one in generations, is plagued! Ah, who can +interpret for Providence? And what a miracle is prophecy!" +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the Princess bethought herself, and cast a hurried glance out +over the garden. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no! If these poor souls can forget their condition and be happy, +why not we? Tell me good news, Sergius, if you have any—only the good. +But see! Who is he making way through the throng yonder? And what is it +he is leading?" +</p> + +<p> +The transition of feeling, though sudden and somewhat forced, was +successful; the Princess' countenance again brightened; and turning to +follow her direction, Sergius observed Lael, who had not fallen back +with the other attendants. The girl had been a modest listener; now +there was a timid half smile on her face, and a glistening welcome in +her eyes. His gaze stopped short of the object which had inspired his +hostess with such interest, and dropped to the figured carpet at the +guest's feet; for the feeling the recognition awakened was clouded with +the taunt Demedes had flung at him in the hall of the monastery, and he +questioned the rightfulness of this appearance. If she were not the +daughter of the Prince of India, she was an—impostor was the word in +his mind. +</p> + +<p> +"I was expecting you," she said to him, artlessly. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius raised his face, and was about to speak, when the Princess +started from her seat, and moved to the low balustrade of the portico. +</p> + +<p> +"Come," she called, "come, and tell me what this is." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius left a friendly glance with Lael. +</p> + +<p> +Where the roadway from the gate led up to the platform an opening had +been made in the close wall of spectators attracted by the music and +dancing. In the opening, the hamari was slowly coming forward, his +turban awry, his brown face overrun and shining with perspiration, his +sharp gypsy eyes full of merriment. With the leading strap over a +shoulder, he tugged at Joqard. Sergius laughed to see the surprise of +the men and women, and at the peculiar yells and screams with which they +struggled to escape. But everybody appearing in good nature, he said to +the Princess: "Do not be concerned. A Turk or Persian with a trained +bear. I passed him at the gate." +</p> + +<p> +He saw the opportunity of speaking about the brass plate on the post, +and while debating whether to avail himself of it, the hamari caught +sight of the party at the edge of the portico, stopped, surveyed them, +then prostrated himself in the abjectest Eastern manner. The homage was +of course to the Princess—so at least the assemblage concluded; and +jumping to the idea that the bear-keeper had been employed by her for +their divertisement, each man in the company resolved himself into an +ally and proceeded to assist him. The musicians were induced to suspend +their performance, and the dancers to vacate the platform; then, any +number of hands helping them up, Joqard and his master were promoted to +the boards, sole claimants of attention and favor. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was not in the least embarrassed. He took position on the +platform in front of the Princess, and again saluted her Orientally, and +with the greatest deliberation, omitting no point of the prostration. +Bringing the bear to a sitting posture with folded paws, he bowed right +and left to the spectators, and made a speech in laudation of Joqard. +His grimaces and gesticulation kept the crowd in a roar; when addressing +the Princess, his manner was respectful, even courtierly. Joqard and he +had travelled the world over; they had been through the Far East, and +through the lands of the Frank and Gaul; they had crossed Europe from +Paris to the Black Sea, and up to the Crimea; they had appeared before +the great everywhere—Indian Rajahs, Tartar Khans, Persian Shahs, +Turkish Sultans; there was no language they did not understand. The +bear, he insisted, was the wisest of animals, the most susceptible of +education, the most capable and willing in service. This the ancients +understood better than the moderns, for in recognition of his +superiority they had twice exalted him to the Heavens, and in both +instances near the star that knew no deviation. The hamari was a master +of amplification, and his anecdotes never failed their purpose. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," he said, "I do not care what the subject of discourse may be; one +thing is true—my audience is always composed of believers and +unbelievers; and as between them"—here he addressed himself to the +Princess—"as between them, O Most Illustrious of women, my difficulty +has been to determine which class is most to be feared. Every +philosopher must admit there is quite as much danger in the man who +withholds his faith when it ought to be given, as in his opposite who +hurries to yield it without reason. My rule as an auditor is to wait for +demonstration. So"—turning to the assemblage—"if here any man or woman +doubts that the bear is the wisest of animals, and Joqard the most +learned and accomplished of bears, I will prove it." Then Joqard was +called on. +</p> + +<p> +"For attend, O Illustrious Princess!—and look ye, O men and women, +pliers of net and boat!—look ye all! Now shall Joqard himself speak for +Joqard." +</p> + +<p> +The hamari began talking to the bear in a jargon utterly unintelligible +to his hearers, though they fell to listening with might and main, and +were silent that they might hear. Nothing could have been more earnest +than his communications, whatever they were; at times he put an arm +about the brute's neck; at times he whispered in its ear; and in return +it bowed and grunted assent, or growled and shook its head in refusal, +always in the most knowing manner. In this style, to appearance, he was +telling what he wanted done. Then retaining the leading strap, the +master stepped aside, and Joqard, left to himself, proceeded to prove +his intelligence and training by facing the palace, bringing his arms +overhead, and falling forward. Everybody understood the honor intended +for the Princess; the bystanders shouted; the attendants on the portico +clapped their hands, for indeed never in their remembrance had the +prostration been more profoundly executed. Arising nimbly the performer +wheeled about, reared on his hind feet, clasped his paws on his head, +and acknowledged the favor of the commonalty by resolving himself into a +great fur ball, and rolling a somersault. The acclamation became +tumultuous. One admirer ran off and returned with an armful of wreaths +and garlands, and presently Joqard was wearing them royally. +</p> + +<p> +With excellent judgment the hamari proceeded next to hurry the +exhibition, passing from one trick to another almost without pause until +the wrestling match was reached. This has been immemorially the reliable +point in performances of the kind he was giving, but he introduced it in +a manner of his own. +</p> + +<p> +Standing by the edge of the platform, as the friend and herald of +Joqard, he first loudly challenged the men before him, every one +ambitious of honor and renown, to come up and try a fall; and upon their +hanging back, he berated them. Wherever a tall man stood observable +above the level of heads, he singled him out. Failing to secure a +champion, he finally undertook the contest himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Ho, Joqard," he cried, while tying the leading strap around the brute's +neck, "thou fearest nothing. Thy dam up in the old Caucasian cave was +great of heart, and, like her, thou wouldst not quail before Hercules, +were he living. But thou shalt not lick thy paws and laugh, thinking +Hercules hath no descendant." +</p> + +<p> +Retiring a few steps he tightened the belt about his waist, and drew his +leathern jacket closer. +</p> + +<p> +"Get ready!" he cried. +</p> + +<p> +Joqard answered promptly and intelligently by standing up and facing +him, and in sign of satisfaction with the prospect of an encounter so to +his taste, he lolled the long red tongue out of his jaws. Was he licking +his chops in anticipation of a feast or merely laughing? The beholders +became quiet; and Sergius for the first time observed how very low in +stature the hamari seemed. +</p> + +<p> +"Look out, look out! O thou with the north star in the tip of thy tail! +I am coming—for the honor of mankind, I am coming." +</p> + +<p> +They danced around each other watching for an opening. "Aha! Now thou +thinkest to get the advantage. Thou art proud of thy fame, and cunning, +but I am a man. I have been in many schools. Look out!" +</p> + +<p> +The hamari leaped in and with both hands caught the strap looped around +Joqard's neck; at the same time he was himself caught in Joqard's ready +arms. The growl with which the latter received the attack was angry, and +lent the struggle much more than a mere semblance of danger. Round and +about they were borne; now forward, then back; sometimes they were +likely to tumble from the boards. The hamari's effort was to choke +Joqard into submission; Joqard's was to squeeze the breath out of the +hamari's body; and they both did their parts well. +</p> + +<p> +After some minutes the man's exertions became intermittent. A little +further on the certainty of triumph inspired Joqard to fierce +utterances; his growls were really terrible, and he hugged so +mercilessly his opponent grew livid in the face. The women and children +began to cry and scream, and many of the men shouted in genuine alarm: +"See, see! The poor fellow is choking to death!" The excitement and fear +extended to the portico; some of the attendants there, unable to endure +the sight, fled from it. Lael implored Sergius to save the hamari. Even +the Princess was undecided whether the acting was real or affected. +</p> + +<p> +Finally the crisis came. The man could hold out no longer; he let go his +grip on the strap, and, struggling feebly to loose his body from the +great black arms, shouted hoarsely: "Help, help!" As if he had not +strength to continue the cry, he threw his hands up, and his head back +gasping. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess Irene covered her eyes. Sergius stepped over the +balustrade; but before he could get further, a number of men were on the +stage making to the rescue. And seeing them come, the hamari laid one +hand on the strap, and with the other caught the tongue protruding from +Joqard's open jaws; as a further point in the offensive so suddenly +resumed, he planted a foot heavily on one of his antagonist's. +Immediately the son of the proud Caucasian dam was flat on the boards +simulating death. +</p> + +<p> +Then everybody understood the play, and the merriment was heightened by +the speech the hamari found opportunity to make his rescuers before they +could recover from their astonishment and break up the tableau they +formed. The Princess, laughing through her tears, flung the victor some +gold pieces, and Lael tossed her fan to him. The prostrations with which +he acknowledged the favors were marvels to behold. +</p> + +<p> +By and by, quiet being restored, Joqard was roused from his trance, and +the hamari, calling the musicians to strike up, concluded the +performance with a dance. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Prince of India, Volume I, by Lew. Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA, VOLUME I *** + +***** This file should be named 6848-h.htm or 6848-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/8/4/6848/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> + +</html> + + diff --git a/6848.txt b/6848.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88d47e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/6848.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15983 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume I, by Lew. Wallace + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Prince of India, Volume I + or, Why Constantinople Fell + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Posting Date: March 14, 2014 [EBook #6848] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 1, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA, VOLUME I *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version +by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + +OR + +WHY CONSTANTINOPLE FELL + + +BY LEW. WALLACE + + + +VOL. I. + + + + + _Rise, too, ye Shapes and Shadows of the Past + Rise from your long forgotten grazes at last + Let us behold your faces, let us hear + The words you uttered in those days of fear + Revisit your familiar haunts again + The scenes of triumph and the scenes of pain + And leave the footprints of your bleeding feet + Once more upon the pavement of the street_ + LONGFELLOW + + + + +CONTENTS + + +BOOK I + +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS + + I. THE NAMELESS BAY + II. THE MIDNIGHT LANDING + III. THE HIDDEN TREASURE + + +BOOK II + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + + I. A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO + II. THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF + III. THE YELLOW AIR + IV. EL ZARIBAH + V. THE PASSING OF THE CARAVAN + VI. THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR + VII. AT THE KAABA + VIII. THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE + IX. THE PRINCE AT HOME + X. THE ROSE OF SPRING + + +BOOK III + +THE PRINCESS IRENE + + I. MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS + II. THE PRINCESS IRENE + III. THE HOMERIC PALACE + IV. THE RUSSIAN MONK + V. A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER + VI. WHAT DO THE STARS SAY? + VII. THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE + VIII. RACING WITH A STORM + IX. IN THE WHITE CASTLE + X. THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER + XI. THE TURQUOISE RING + XII. THE RING RETURNS + XIII. MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS + XIV. DREAMS AND VISIONS + XV. DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE + XVI. AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE + XVII. THE EMPEROR'S WOOING + XVIII. THE SINGING SHEIK + XIX. TWO TURKISH TALES + XX. MAHOMMED DREAMS + + +BOOK IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + I. THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + II. THE AUDIENCE + III. THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED + IV. THE PANNYCHIDES + V. A PLAGUE OF CRIME + VI. A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD + VII. A BYZANTINE HERETIC + VIII. THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS + IX. A FISHERMAN'S FETE + X. THE HAMARI + + + + +BOOK I + +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS + + + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE NAMELESS BAY + + +In the noon of a September day in the year of our dear Lord 1395, a +merchant vessel nodded sleepily upon the gentle swells of warm water +flowing in upon the Syrian coast. A modern seafarer, looking from the +deck of one of the Messagerie steamers now plying the same line of +trade, would regard her curiously, thankful to the calm which held her +while he slaked his wonder, yet more thankful that he was not of her +passage. + +She could not have exceeded a hundred tons burthen. At the bow and +stern she was decked, and those quarters were fairly raised. Amidship +she was low and open, and pierced for twenty oars, ten to a side, all +swaying listlessly from the narrow ports in which they were hung. +Sometimes they knocked against each other. One sail, square and of a +dingy white, drooped from a broad yard-arm, which was itself tilted, +and now and then creaked against the yellow mast complainingly, +unmindful of the simple tackle designed to keep it in control. A +watchman crouched in the meagre shade of a fan-like structure +overhanging the bow deck. The roofing and the floor, where exposed, +were clean, even bright; in all other parts subject to the weather and +the wash there was only the blackness of pitch. The steersman sat on a +bench at the stern. Occasionally, from force of habit, he rested a hand +upon the rudder-oar to be sure it was yet in reach. With exception of +the two, the lookout and the steersman, all on board, officers, +oarsmen, and sailors, were asleep--such confidence could a +Mediterranean calm inspire in those accustomed to life on the beautiful +sea. As if Neptune never became angry there, and blowing his conch, and +smiting with his trident, splashed the sky with the yeast of waves! +However, in 1395 Neptune had disappeared; like the great god Pan, he +was dead. + +The next remarkable thing about the ship was the absence of the signs +of business usual with merchantmen. There were no barrels, boxes, +bales, or packages visible. Nothing indicated a cargo. In her deepest +undulations the water-line was not once submerged. The leather shields +of the oar-ports were high and dry. Possibly she had passengers aboard. +Ah, yes! There under the awning, stretched halfway across the deck +dominated by the steersman, was a group of persons all unlike seamen. +Pausing to note them, we may find the motive of the voyage. + +Four men composed the group. One was lying upon a pallet, asleep yet +restless. A black velvet cap had slipped from his head, giving freedom +to thick black hair tinged with white. Starting from the temples, a +beard with scarce a suggestion of gray swept in dark waves upon the +neck and throat, and even invaded the pillow. Between the hair and +beard there was a narrow margin of sallow flesh for features somewhat +crowded by knots of wrinkle. His body was wrapped in a loose woollen +gown of brownish-black. A hand, apparently all bone, rested upon the +breast, clutching a fold of the gown. The feet twitched nervously in +the loosened thongs of old-fashioned sandals. Glancing at the others of +the group, it was plain this sleeper was master and they his slaves. +Two of them were stretched on the bare boards at the lower end of the +pallet, and they were white. The third was a son of Ethiopia of unmixed +blood and gigantic frame. He sat at the left of the couch, +cross-legged, and, like the rest, was in a doze; now and then, however, +he raised his head, and, without fully opening his eyes, shook a fan of +peacock feathers from head to foot over the recumbent figure. The two +whites were clad in gowns of coarse linen belted to their waists; +while, saving a cincture around his loins, the negro was naked. + +There is often much personal revelation to be gleaned from the +properties a man carries with him from home. Applying the rule here, by +the pallet there was a walking-stick of unusual length, and severely +hand-worn a little above the middle. In emergency it might have been +used as a weapon. Three bundles loosely wrapped had been cast against a +timber of the ship; presumably they contained the plunder of the slaves +reduced to the minimum allowance of travel. But the most noticeable +item was a leather roll of very ancient appearance, held by a number of +broad straps deeply stamped and secured by buckles of a metal blackened +like neglected silver. + +The attention of a close observer would have been attracted to this +parcel, not so much by its antique showing, as by the grip with which +its owner clung to it with his right hand. Even in sleep he held it of +infinite consequence. It could not have contained coin or any bulky +matter. Possibly the man was on some special commission, with his +credentials in the old roll. Ay, who was he? + +Thus started, the observer would have bent himself to study of the +face; and immediately something would have suggested that while the +stranger was of this period of the world he did not belong to it. Such +were the magicians of the story-loving Al-Raschid. Or he was of the +type Rabbinical that sat with Caiphas in judgment upon the gentle +Nazarene. Only the centuries could have evolved the apparition. Who was +he? + +In the course of half an hour the man stirred, raised his head, looked +hurriedly at his attendants, then at the parts of the ship in view, +then at the steersman still dozing by the rudder; then he sat up, and +brought the roll to his lap, whereat the rigor of his expression +relaxed. The parcel was safe! And the conditions about him were as they +should be! + +He next set about undoing the buckles of his treasure. The long fingers +were expert; but just when the roll was ready to open he lifted his +face, and fixed his eyes upon the section of blue expanse outside the +edge of the awning, and dropped into thought. And straightway it was +settled that he was not a diplomatist or a statesman or a man of +business of any kind. The reflection which occupied him had nothing to +do with intrigues or statecraft; its centre was in his heart as the +look proved. So, in tender moods, a father gazes upon his child, a +husband at the beloved wife, restfully, lovingly. + +And that moment the observer, continuing his study, would have +forgotten the parcel, the white slaves, the gigantic negro, the +self-willed hair and beard of pride--the face alone would have held +him. The countenance of the Sphinx has no beauty now; and standing +before it, we feel no stir of the admiration always a certificate that +what we are beholding is charming out of the common lines; yet we are +drawn to it irresistibly, and by a wish vague, foolish--so foolish we +would hesitate long before putting it in words to be heard by our best +lover--a wish that the monster would tell us all about itself. The +feeling awakened by the face of the traveller would have been similar, +for it was distinctly Israelitish, with exaggerated eyes set deeply in +cavernous hollows--a mobile mask, in fact, concealing a life in some +way unlike other lives. Unlike? That was the very attraction. If the +man would only speak, what a tale he could unfold! + +But he did not speak. Indeed, he seemed to have regarded speech a +weakness to be fortified against. Putting the pleasant thought aside, +he opened the roll, and with exceeding tenderness of touch brought +forth a sheet of vellum dry to brittleness, and yellow as a faded +sycamore leaf. There were lines upon it as of a geometrical drawing, +and an inscription in strange characters. He bent over the chart, if +such it may be called, eagerly, and read it through; then, with a +satisfied expression, he folded it back into the cover, rebuckled the +straps, and placed the parcel under the pillow. Evidently the business +drawing him was proceeding as he would have had it. Next he woke the +negro with a touch. The black in salute bent his body forward, and +raised his hands palm out, the thumbs at the forehead. Attention +singularly intense settled upon his countenance; he appeared to listen +with his soul. It was time for speech, yet the master merely pointed to +one of the sleepers. The watchful negro caught the idea, and going to +the man, aroused him, then resumed his place and posture by the pallet. +The action revealed his proportions. He looked as if he could have +lifted the gates of Gaza, and borne them easily away; and to the +strength there were superadded the grace, suppleness, and softness of +motion of a cat. One could not have helped thinking the slave might +have all the elements to make him a superior agent in fields of bad as +well as good. + +The second slave arose, and waited respectfully. It would have been +difficult to determine his nationality. He had the lean face, the high +nose, sallow complexion, and low stature of an Armenian. His +countenance was pleasant and intelligent. In addressing him, the master +made signs with hand and finger; and they appeared sufficient, for the +servant walked away quickly as if on an errand. A short time, and he +came back bringing a companion of the genus sailor, very red-faced, +heavily built, stupid, his rolling gait unrelieved by a suggestion of +good manners. Taking position before the black-gowned personage, his +feet wide apart, the mariner said: + +"You sent for me?" + +The question was couched in Byzantine Greek. + +"Yes," the passenger replied, in the same tongue, though with better +accent. "Where are we?" + +"But for this calm we should be at Sidon. The lookout reports the +mountains in view." + +The passenger reflected a moment, then asked, "Resorting to the oars, +when can we reach the city?" + +"By midnight." + +"Very well. Listen now." + +The speaker's manner changed; fixing his big eyes upon the sailor's +lesser orbs, he continued: + +"A few stadia north of Sidon there is what may be called a bay. It is +about four miles across. Two little rivers empty into it, one on each +side. Near the middle of the bend of the shore there is a well of sweet +water, with flow enough to support a few villagers and their camels. Do +you know the bay?" + +The skipper would have become familiar. + +"You are well acquainted with this coast," he said. + +"Do you know of such a bay?" the passenger repeated. + +"I have heard of it." + +"Could you find it at night?" + +"I believe so." + +"That is enough. Take me into the bay, and land me at midnight. I will +not go to the city. Get out all the oars now. At the proper time I will +tell you what further I wish. Remember I am to be set ashore at +midnight at a place which I will show you." + +The directions though few were clear. Having given them, the passenger +signed the negro to fan him, and stretched himself upon the pallet; and +thenceforth there was no longer a question who was in control. It +became the more interesting, however, to know the object of the landing +at midnight on the shore of a lonesome unnamed bay. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MIDNIGHT LANDING + + +The skipper predicted like a prophet. The ship was in the bay, and it +was midnight or nearly so; for certain stars had climbed into certain +quarters of the sky, and after their fashion were striking the hour. + +The passenger was pleased. + +"You have done well," he said to the mariner. "Be silent now, and get +close in shore. There are no breakers. Have the small boat ready, and +do not let the anchors go." + +The calm still prevailed, and the swells of the sea were scarce +perceptible. Under the gentlest impulse of the oars the little vessel +drifted broadside on until the keel touched the sands. At the same +instant the small boat appeared. The skipper reported to the passenger. +Going to each of the slaves, the latter signed them to descend. The +negro swung himself down like a monkey, and received the baggage, +which, besides the bundles already mentioned, consisted of some tools, +notably a pick, a shovel, and a stout crowbar. An empty water-skin was +also sent down, followed by a basket suggestive of food. Then the +passenger, with a foot over the side of the vessel, gave his final +directions. + +"You will run now," he said to the skipper, who, to his credit, had +thus far asked no questions, "down to the city, and lie there +to-morrow, and to-morrow night. Attract little notice as possible. It +is not necessary to pass the gate. Put out in time to be here at +sunrise. I will be waiting for you. Day after to-morrow at +sunrise--remember." + +"But if you should not be here?" asked the sailor, thinking of extreme +probabilities. + +"Then wait for me," was the answer. + +The passenger, in turn, descended to the boat, and was caught in the +arms of the black, and seated carefully as he had been a child. In +brief time the party was ashore, and the boat returning to the ship; a +little later, the ship withdrew to where the night effectually +curtained the deep. + +The stay on the shore was long enough to apportion the baggage amongst +the slaves. The master then led the way. Crossing the road running from +Sidon along the coast to the up-country, they came to the foothills of +the mountain, all without habitation. + +Later they came upon signs of ancient life in splendor--broken columns, +and here and there Corinthian capitals in marble discolored and sunk +deeply in sand and mould. The patches of white on them had a ghastly +glimmer in the starlight. They were approaching the site of an old +city, a suburb probably of Palae-Tyre when she was one of the +spectacles of the world, sitting by the sea to rule it regally far and +wide. + +On further a small stream, one of those emptying into the bay, had +ploughed a ravine for itself across the route the party was pursuing. +Descending to the water, a halt was made to drink, and fill the +water-skin, which the negro took on his shoulder. + +On further there was another ancient site strewn with fragments +indicative of a cemetery. Hewn stones were frequent, and mixed with +them were occasional entablatures and vases from which the ages had not +yet entirely worn the fine chiselling. At length an immense uncovered +sarcophagus barred the way. The master stopped by it to study the +heavens; when he found the north star, he gave the signal to his +followers, and moved under the trail of the steadfast beacon. + +They came to a rising ground more definitely marked by sarcophagi hewn +from the solid rock, and covered by lids of such weight and solidity +that a number of them had never been disturbed. Doubtless the dead +within were lying as they had been left--but when, and by whom? What +disclosures there will be when at last the end is trumpeted in! + +On further, but still connected with the once magnificent funeral site, +they encountered a wall many feet thick, and short way beyond it, on +the mountain's side, there were two arches of a bridge of which all +else had been broken down; and these two had never spanned anything +more substantial than the air. Strange structure for such a locality! +Obviously the highway which once ran over it had begun in the city the +better to communicate with the cemetery through which the party had +just passed. So much was of easy understanding; but where was the other +terminus? At sight of the arches the master drew a long breath of +relief. They were the friends for whom he had been searching. + +Nevertheless, without stopping, he led down into a hollow on all sides +sheltered from view; and there the unloading took place. The tools and +bundles were thrown down by a rock, and preparations made for the +remainder of the night. The pallet was spread for the master. The +basket gave up its contents, and the party refreshed themselves and +slept the sleep of the weary. + +The secluded bivouac was kept the next day. Only the master went forth +in the afternoon. Climbing the mountain, he found the line in +continuation of the bridge; a task the two arches serving as a base +made comparatively easy. He stood then upon a bench or terrace cumbered +with rocks, and so broad that few persons casually looking would have +suspected it artificial. Facing fully about from the piers, he walked +forward following the terrace which at places was out of line, and +piled with debris tumbled from the mountain on the right hand side; in +a few minutes that silent guide turned with an easy curve and +disappeared in what had yet the appearance hardly distinguishable of an +area wrenched with enormous labor from a low cliff of solid brown +limestone. + +The visitor scanned the place again and again; then he said aloud: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +The sentence was left unfinished. + +That he could thus identify the spot, and with such certainty pass upon +it in relation to a former period, proved he had been there before. + +Rocks, earth, and bushes filled the space. Picking footway through, he +examined the face of the cliff then in front of him, lingering longest +on the heap of breakage forming a bank over the meeting line of area +and hill. + +"Yes," he repeated, this time with undisguised satisfaction, "no one +has been here since"-- + +Again the sentence was unfinished. + +He ascended the bank next, and removed some of the stones at the top. A +carved line in low relief on the face of the rock was directly exposed; +seeing it he smiled, and replaced the stones, and descending, went back +to the terrace, and thence to the slaves in bivouac. + +From one of the packages he had two iron lamps of old Roman style +brought out, and supplied with oil and wicks; then, as if everything +necessary to his project was done, he took to the pallet. Some goats +had come to the place in his absence, but no living creature else. + +After nightfall the master woke the slaves, and made final preparation +for the venture upon which he had come. The tools he gave to one man, +the lamps to another, and the water-skin to the negro. Then he led out +of the hollow, and up the mountain to the terrace visited in the +afternoon; nor did he pause in the area mentioned as the abrupt +terminus of the highway over the skeleton piers. He climbed the bank of +stones covering the foot of the cliff up to the precise spot at which +his reconnoissance had ended. + +Directly the slaves were removing the bank at the top; not a difficult +task since they had only to roll the loose stones down a convenient +grade. They worked industriously. At length--in half an hour +probably--an opening into the cliff was discovered. The cavity, small +at first, rapidly enlarged, until it gave assurance of a doorway of +immense proportions. When the enlargement sufficed for his admission, +the master stayed the work, and passed in. The slaves followed. The +interior descent offered a grade corresponding with that of the bank +outside--another bank, in fact, of like composition, but more difficult +to pass on account of the darkness. + +With his foot the leading adventurer felt the way down to a floor; and +when his assistants came to him, he took from a pocket in his gown a +small case filled with a chemical powder which he poured at his feet; +then he produced a flint and steel, and struck them together. Some +sparks dropped upon the powder. Instantly a flame arose and filled the +place with a ruddy illumination. Lighting the lamps by the flame, the +party looked around them, the slaves with simple wonder. + +They were in a vault--a burial vault of great antiquity. Either it was +an imitation of like chambers in Egypt, or they were imitations of it. +The excavation had been done with chisels. The walls were niched, +giving them an appearance of panelling, and over each of the niches +there had been an inscription in raised letters, now mostly defaced. +The floor was a confusion of fragments knocked from sarcophagi, which, +massive as they were, had been tilted, overturned, uncovered, +mutilated, and robbed. Useless to inquire whose the vandalism. It may +have been of Chaldeans of the time of Almanezor, or of the Greeks who +marched with Alexander, or of Egyptians who were seldom regardful of +the dead of the peoples they overthrew as they were of their own, or of +Saracens, thrice conquerors along the Syrian coast, or of Christians. +Few of the Crusaders were like St. Louis. + +But of all this the master took no notice. With him it was right that +the vault should look the wreck it was. Careless of inscriptions, +indifferent to carving, his eyes ran rapidly along the foot of the +northern wall until they came to a sarcophagus of green marble. Thither +he proceeded. He laid his hand upon the half-turned lid, and observing +that the back of the great box--if such it may be termed--was against +the wall, he said again: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +And again the sentence was left unfinished. + +Forthwith he became all energy. The negro brought the crowbar, and, by +direction, set it under the edge of the sarcophagus, which he held +raised while the master blocked it at the bottom with a stone chip. +Another bite, and a larger chip was inserted. Good hold being thus had, +a vase was placed for fulcrum; after which, at every downward pressure +of the iron, the ponderous coffin swung round a little to the left. +Slowly and with labor the movement was continued until the space behind +was uncovered. + +By this time the lamps had become the dependencies for light. With his +in hand, the master stooped and inspected the exposed wall. +Involuntarily the slaves bent forward and looked, but saw nothing +different from the general surface in that quarter. The master beckoned +the negro, and touching a stone not wider than his three fingers, but +reddish in hue, and looking like mere chinking lodged in an accidental +crevice, signed him to strike it with the end of the bar. +Once--twice--the stone refused to stir; with the third blow it was +driven in out of sight, and, being followed vigorously, was heard to +drop on the other side. The wall thereupon, to the height of the +sarcophagus and the width of a broad door, broke, and appeared about to +tumble down. + +When the dust cleared away, there was a crevice unseen before, and wide +enough to admit a hand. The reader must remember there were masons in +the old time who amused themselves applying their mathematics to such +puzzles. Here obviously the intention had been to screen an entrance to +an adjoining chamber, and the key to the design had been the sliver of +red granite first displaced. + +A little patient use then of hand and bar enabled the workman to take +out the first large block of the combination. That the master numbered +with chalk, and had carefully set aside. A second block was taken out, +numbered, and set aside; finally the screen was demolished, and the way +stood open. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HIDDEN TREASURE + + +The slaves looked dubiously at the dusty aperture, which held out no +invitation to them; the master, however, drew his robe closer about +him, and stooping went in, lamp in hand. They then followed. + +An ascending passage, low but of ample width, received them. It too had +been chiselled from the solid rock. The wheel marks of the cars used in +the work were still on the floor. The walls were bare but smoothly +dressed. Altogether the interest here lay in expectation of what was to +come; and possibly it was that which made the countenance of the master +look so grave and absorbed. He certainly was not listening to the +discordant echoes roused as he advanced. + +The ascent was easy. Twenty-five or thirty steps brought them to the +end of the passage. + +They then entered a spacious chamber circular and domed. The light of +the lamps was not enough to redeem the ceiling from obscurity; yet the +master led without pause to a sarcophagus standing under the centre of +the dome, and when he was come there everything else was forgotten by +him. + +The receptacle of the dead thus discovered had been hewn from the rock, +and was of unusual proportions. Standing broadside to the entrance, it +was the height of an ordinary man, and twice as long as high. The +exterior had been polished smoothly as the material would allow; +otherwise it was of absolute plainness, looking not unlike a dark brown +box. The lid was a slab of the finest white marble carven into a +perfect model of Solomon's Temple. While the master surveyed the lid he +was visibly affected. He passed the lamp over it slowly, letting the +light fall into the courts of the famous building; in like manner he +illuminated the corridors, and the tabernacle; and, as he did so, his +features trembled and his eyes were suffused. He walked around the +exquisite representation several times, pausing now and then to blow +away the dust that had in places accumulated upon it. He noticed the +effect of the transparent whiteness in the chamber; so in its day the +original had lit up the surrounding world. Undoubtedly the model had +peculiar hold upon his feelings. + +But shaking the weakness off he after a while addressed himself to +work. He had the negro thrust the edge of the bar under the lid, and +raise it gently. Having thoughtfully provided himself in the +antechamber with pieces of stone for the purpose, he placed one of them +so as to hold the vantage gained. Slowly, then, by working at the ends +alternately, the immense slab was turned upon its centre; slowly the +hollow of the coffin was flooded with light; slowly, and with seeming +reluctance, it gave up its secrets. + +In strong contrast to the plainness of the exterior, the interior of +the sarcophagus was lined with plates and panels of gold, on which +there were cartoons chased and beaten in, representing ships, and tall +trees, doubtless cedars of Lebanon, and masons at work, and two men +armed and in royal robes greeting each other with clasped hands; and so +beautiful were the cartoons that the eccentric medalleur, Cellini, +would have studied them long, if not enviously. Yet he who now peered +into the receptacle scarcely glanced at them. + +On a stone chair seated was the mummy of a man with a crown upon its +head, and over its body, for the most part covering--the linen +wrappings, was a robe of threads of gold in ample arrangement. The +hands rested on the lap; in one was a sceptre; the other held an +inscribed silver tablet. There were rings plain, and rings with jewels +in setting, circling the fingers and thumbs; the ears, ankles, even the +great toes, were ornamented in like manner. At the feet a sword of the +fashion of a cimeter had been laid. The blade was in its scabbard, but +the scabbard was a mass of jewels, and the handle a flaming ruby. The +belt was webbed with pearls and glistening brilliants. Under the sword +were the instruments sacred then and ever since to Master Masons--a +square, a gavel, a plummet, and an inscribing compass. + +The man had been a king--so much the first glance proclaimed. With him, +as with his royal brethren from the tombs along the Nile, death had +asserted itself triumphantly over the embalmer. The cheeks were +shrivelled and mouldy; across the forehead the skin was drawn tight; +the temples were hollows rimmed abruptly with the frontal bones; the +eyes, pits partially filled with dried ointments of a bituminous color. +The monarch had yielded his life in its full ripeness, for the white +hair and beard still adhered in stiffened plaits to the skull, cheeks, +and chin. The nose alone was natural; it stood up thin and hooked, like +the beak of an eagle. + +At sight of the figure thus caparisoned and maintaining its seat in an +attitude of calm composure the slaves drew back startled. The negro +dropped his iron bar, making the chamber ring with a dissonant clangor. + +Around the mummy in careful arrangement were vessels heaped with coins +and pearls and precious stones, cut and ready for the goldsmith. +Indeed, the whole inner space of the sarcophagus was set with basins +and urns, each in itself a work of high art; and if their contents were +to be judged by what appeared overflowing them, they all held precious +stones of every variety. The corners had been draped with cloths of +gold and cloths embroidered with pearls, some of which were now falling +to pieces of their own weight. + +We know that kings and queens are but men and women subject to the same +passions of common people; that they are generous or sordid according +to their natures; that there have been misers amongst them; but this +one--did he imagine he could carry his amassments with him out of the +world? Had he so loved the gems in his life as to dream he could +illumine his tomb with them? If so, O royal idiot! + +The master, when an opening had been made sufficiently wide by turning +the lid upon the edge of the sarcophagus, took off his sandals, gave a +foot to one of his slaves, and swung himself into the interior. The +lamp was then given him, and he surveyed the wealth and splendor as the +king might never again. And as the king in his day had said with +exultation, Lo! it is all mine, the intruder now asserted title. + +Unable, had he so wished, to carry the whole collection off, he looked +around upon this and upon that, determining where to begin. Conscious +he had nothing to fear, and least of all from the owner in the chair, +he was slow and deliberate. From his robe he drew a number of bags of +coarse hempen cloth, and a broad white napkin. The latter he spread +upon the floor, first removing several of the urns to obtain space; +then he emptied one of the vessels upon it, and from the sparkling and +varicolored heap before him proceeded to make selection. + +His judgment was excellent, sure and swift. Not seldom he put the large +stones aside, giving preference to color and lustre. Those chosen he +dropped into a bag. When the lot was gone through, he returned the +rejected to the vessel, placing it back exactly in its place. Then he +betook himself to another of the vessels, and then another, until, in +course of a couple of hours, he had made choice from the collection, +and filled nine bags, and tied them securely. + +Greatly relieved, he arose, rubbed the benumbed joints of his limbs +awhile, then passed the packages out to the slaves. The occupation had +been wearisome and tensive; but it was finished, and he would now +retire. He lingered to give a last look at the interior, muttering the +sentence again, and leaving it unfinished as before: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +From the face of the king, his eyes fell to the silver tablet in the +nerveless hand. Moving close, and holding the lamp in convenient +position, he knelt and read the inscription. + +I. + +"There is but one God, and He was from the beginning, and will be +without end. + +II. + +"In my lifetime, I prepared this vault and tomb to receive my body, and +keep it safely; yet it may be visited, for the earth and sea are always +giving up their secrets. + +III. + +"Therefore, O Stranger, first to find me, know thou! + +"That in all my days I kept intercourse with Solomon, King of the Jews, +wisest of men, and the richest and greatest. As is known, he set about +building a house to his Lord God, resolved that there should be nothing +like it in the world, nothing so spacious, so enriched, so perfect in +proportions, so in all things becoming the glory of his God. In +sympathy with him I gave him of the skill of my people, workers in +brass, and silver, and gold, and products of the quarries: and in their +ships my sailors brought him the yield of mines from the ends of the +earth. At last the house was finished; then he sent me the model of the +house, and the coins, and cloths of gold and pearl, and the precious +stones, and the vessels holding them, and the other things of value +here. Ad if, O Stranger, thou dost wonder at the greatness of the gift, +know thou that it was but a small part of what remained unto him of +like kind, for he was master of the earth, and of everything belonging +to it which might be of service to him, even the elements and their +subtleties. + +IV. + +"Nor think, O Stranger, that I have taken the wealth into the tomb with +me, imagining it can serve me in the next life. I store it here because +I love him who gave it to me, and am jealous of his love; and that is +all. + +V. + +"So thou wilt use the wealth in ways pleasing in the sight of the Lord +God of Solomon, my royal friend, take thou of it in welcome. There is +no God but his God! + +"Thus say I--HIRAM, KING OF TYRE." + +"Rest thou thy soul, O wisest of pagan kings," said the master, rising. +"Being the first to find thee here, and basing my title to thy wealth +on that circumstance, I will use it in a way pleasing in the sight of +the Lord God of Solomon. Verily, verily, there is no God but his God!" + +This, then, was the business that brought the man to the tomb of the +king whose glory was to have been the friend of Solomon. Pondering the +idea, we begin to realize how vast the latter's fame was; and it ceases +to be matter of wonder that his contemporaries, even the most royal, +could have been jealous of his love. + +Not only have we the man's business, but it is finished; and judging +from the satisfaction discernible on his face as he raised the lamp and +turned to depart, the result must have been according to his best hope. +He took off his robe, and tossed it to his slaves; then he laid a hand +upon the edge of the sarcophagus preparatory to climbing out. At the +moment, while giving a last look about him, an emerald, smoothly cut, +and of great size, larger indeed than a full-grown pomegranate, caught +his eyes in its place loose upon the floor. He turned back, and taking +it up, examined it carefully; while thus engaged his glance dropped to +the sword almost at his feet. The sparkle of the brilliants, and the +fire-flame of the great ruby in the grip, drew him irresistibly, and he +stood considering. + +Directly he spoke in a low voice: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +He hesitated--glanced hurriedly around to again assure himself it was +not possible to be overheard--then finished the sentence: + +"No one has been here _since I came a thousand years ago_." + +At the words so strange, so inexplicable upon any theory of nature and +common experience, the lamp shook in his hand. Involuntarily he shrank +from the admission, though to himself. But recovering, he repeated: + +"Since I came a thousand years ago." + +Then he added more firmly: + +"But the earth and the sea are always giving up their secrets. So saith +the good King Hiram; and since I am a witness proving the wisdom of the +speech, I at least must believe him. Wherefore it is for me to govern +myself as if another will shortly follow me. The saying of the king is +an injunction." + +With that, he turned the glittering sword over and over admiringly. +Loath to let it go, he drew the blade partly from the scabbard, and its +clearness had the depth peculiar to the sky between stars at night. + +"Is there anything it will not buy," he continued, reflectively. "What +king could refuse a sword once Solomon's? I will take it." + +Thereupon he passed both the emerald and the sword out to the slaves, +whom he presently joined. + +The conviction, but a moment before expressed, that another would +follow him to the tomb of the venerated Tyrian, was not strong enough +to hinder the master from attempting to hide every sign which might aid +in the discovery. The negro, under his direction, returned the lid +exactly to its former fitting place on the sarcophagus; the emerald and +the sword he wrapped in his gown; the bags and the tools were counted +and distributed among the slaves for easy carriage. Lamp in hand, he +then walked around to see that nothing was left behind. Incidentally he +even surveyed the brown walls and the dim dome overhead. Having reached +the certainty that everything was in its former state, he waved his +hand, and with one long look backward at the model, ghostly beautiful +in its shining white transparency, he led the way to the passage of +entrance, leaving the king to his solitude and stately sleep, unmindful +of the visitation and the despoilment. + +Out in the large reception room, he paused again to restore the wall. +Beginning with the insignificant key, one by one the stones, each of +which, as we have seen, had been numbered by him, were raised and +reset. Then handfuls of dust were collected and blown into the slight +crevices till they were invisible. The final step was the restoration +of the sarcophagus; this done, the gallery leading to the real vault of +the king was once more effectually concealed. + +"He who follows, come he soon or late, must have more than sharp eyes +if he would have audience with Hiram, my royal friend of Tyre," the +adventurer said, in his meditative way, feeling at the same time in the +folds of his gown for the chart so the object of solicitude on the +ship. The roll, the emerald, and the sword were also safe. Signing the +slaves to remain where they were, he moved slowly across the chamber, +and by aid of his lamp surveyed an aperture there so broad and lofty it +was suggestive of a gate rather than a door. + +"It is well," he said, smiling. "The hunter of spoils, hereafter as +heretofore, will pass this way instead of the other." + +The remark was shrewd. Probably nothing had so contributed to the long +concealment of the gallery just reclosed the second time in a thousand +years as the high doorway, with its invitation to rooms beyond it, all +now in iconoclastic confusion. + +Rejoining his workmen, he took a knife from the girdle of one of them, +and cut a slit in the gurglet large enough to admit the bags of +precious stones. The skin was roomy, and received them, though with the +loss of much of the water. Having thus disposed of that portion of the +plunder to the best advantage both for portage and concealment, he +helped swing it securely upon the negro's shoulder, and without other +delay led from the chamber to the great outdoors, where the lamps were +extinguished. + +The pure sweet air, as may be imagined, was welcome to every one. While +the slaves stood breathing it in wholesome volumes, the master studied +the stars, and saw the night was not so far gone but that, with +industry, the sea-shore could be made in time for the ship. + +Still pursuing the policy of hiding the road to the tomb much as +possible, he waited while the men covered the entrance as before with +stones brought up from the bank. A last survey of the face of the rock, +minute as the starlight allowed, reassured him that, as to the rest of +the world, the treasure might remain with its ancient owner undisturbed +for yet another thousand years, if not forever; after which, in a +congratulatory mood, he descended the mountain side to the place of +bivouac, and thence in good time, and without adventure, arrived at the +landing by the sea. There the negro, wading far out, flung the tools +into the water. + +In the appointed time the galley came down from the city, and, under +impulsion of the oars, disappeared with the party up the coast +northward. + +The negro unrolled the pallet upon the deck, and brought some bread, +Smyrna figs, and wine of Prinkipo, and the four ate and drank heartily. + +The skipper was then summoned. + +"You have done well, my friend," said the master. "Spare not sail or +oar now, but make Byzantium without looking into any wayside port. I +will increase your pay in proportion as you shorten the time we are +out. Look to it--go--and speed you." + +Afterward the slaves in turn kept watch while he slept. And though the +coming and going of sailors was frequent, not one of them noticed the +oil-stained water-skin cast carelessly near the master's pillow, or the +negro's shaggy half-cloak, serving as a wrap for the roll, the emerald, +and the sword once Solomon's. + +The run of the galley from the nameless bay near Sidon was without stop +or so much as a headwind. Always the blue sky above the deck, and the +blue sea below. In daytime the master passenger would occasionally +pause in his walk along the white planks, and, his hand on the gunwale, +give a look at some of the landmarks studding the ancient Cycladean +Sea, an island here, or a tall promontory of the continent yonder, +possibly an Olympian height faintly gray in the vaster distance. His +manner at such moments did not indicate a traveller new to the highway. +A glance at the points such as business men closely pressed give the +hands on the face of a clock to determine the minute of the hour, and +he would resume walking. At night he slept right soundly. + +From the Dardanelles into the Hellespont; then the Marmora. The captain +would have coasted, but the passenger bade him keep in the open. "There +is nothing to fear from the weather," he said, "but there is time to be +saved." + +In an afternoon they sighted the great stones Oxia and Plati; the +first, arid and bare as a gray egg, and conical like an irregular +pyramid; the other, a plane on top, with verdure and scattering trees. +A glance at the map shows them the most westerly group of the Isles of +the Princes. + +Now Nature is sometimes stupid, sometimes whimsical, doing +unaccountable things. One gazing at the other isles of the group from a +softly rocking caique out a little way on the sea divines instantly +that she meant them for summer retreats, but these two, Oxia and Plati, +off by themselves, bleak in winter, apparently always ready for +spontaneous combustion in the heated months, for what were they +designed? No matter--uses were found for them--fitting uses. Eremites +in search of the hardest, grimmest places, selected Oxia, and pecking +holes and caves in its sides, shared the abodes thus laboriously won +with cormorants, the most gluttonous of birds. In time a rude convent +was built near the summit. On the other hand, Plati was converted into +a Gehenna for criminals, and in the vats and dungeons with which it was +provided, lives were spent weeping for liberty. On this isle, tears and +curses; on that, tears and prayers. + +At sundown the galley was plying its oars between Oxia and the European +shore about where St. Stephano is now situated. The dome of Sta. Sophia +was in sight; behind it, in a line to the northwest, arose the tower of +Galata. "Home by lamplighting--Blessed be the Virgin!" the mariners +said to each other piously. But no! The master passenger sent for the +captain. + +"I do not care to get into harbor before morning. The night is +delicious, and I will try it in the small boat. I was once a rower, and +yet have a fancy for the oars. Do thou lay off and on hereabouts. Put +two lamps at the masthead that I may know thy vessel when I desire to +return. Now get out the boat." + +The captain thought his voyager queer of taste; nevertheless he did as +told. In a short time the skiff--if the familiar word can be +pardoned--put off with the negro and his master, the latter at the oars. + +In preparation for the excursion the gurglet half full of water and the +sheepskin mantle of the black man were lowered into the little vessel. +The boat moved away in the direction of Prinkipo, the mother isle of +the group; and as the night deepened, it passed from view. + +When out of sight from the galley's deck, the master gave the rowing to +the negro, and taking seat by the rudder, changed direction to the +southeast; after which he kept on and on, until Plati lay directly in +his course. + +The southern extremity of Plati makes quite a bold bluff. In a period +long gone a stone tower had been constructed there, a lookout and +shelter for guardsmen on duty; and there being no earthly chance of +escape for prisoners, so securely were they immured, the duty must have +been against robbers from the mainland on the east, and from pirates +generally. Under the tower there was a climb difficult for most persons +in daylight, and from the manoeuvring of the boat, the climb was +obviously the object drawing the master. He at length found it, and +stepped out on a shelving stone. The gurglet and mantle were passed to +him, and soon he and his follower were feeling their way upward. + +On the summit, the chief walked once around the tower, now the merest +ruin, a tumbledown without form, in places overgrown with sickly vines. +Rejoining his attendant, and staying a moment to thoroughly empty the +gurglet of water, on his hands and knees he crawled into a passage much +obstructed by debris. The negro waited outside. + +The master made two trips; the first one, he took the gurglet in; the +second, he took the mantle wrapping the sword. At the end, he rubbed +his hands in self-congratulation. + +"They are safe--the precious stones of Hiram, and the sword of Solomon! +Three other stores have I like this one--in India, in Egypt, in +Jerusalem--and there is the tomb by Sidon. Oh, I shall not come to +want!" and he laughed well pleased. + +The descent to the small boat was effected without accident. + +Next morning toward sunrise the passengers disembarked at Port St. +Peter on the south side of the Golden Horn. A little later the master +was resting at home in Byzantium. + +Within three days the mysterious person whom we, wanting his proper +name and title, have termed the master, had sold his house and +household effects. In the night of the seventh day, with his servants, +singular in that all of them were deaf and dumb, he went aboard ship, +and vanished down the Marmora, going no one but himself knew whither. + +The visit to the tomb of the royal friend of Solomon had evidently been +to provide for the journey; and that he took precious stones in +preference to gold and silver signified a journey indefinite as to time +and place. + + + + +BOOK II + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + + +CHAPTER I + +A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO + + +Just fifty-three years after the journey to the tomb of the Syrian +king--more particularly on the fifteenth day of May, fourteen hundred +and forty-eight--a man entered one of the stalls of a market in +Constantinople--to-day the market would be called a bazaar--and +presented a letter to the proprietor. + +The Israelite thus honored delayed opening the linen envelope while he +surveyed the messenger. The liberty, it must be remarked, was not a +usual preliminary in the great city, the cosmopolitanism of which had +been long established; that is to say, a face, a figure, or a mode, to +gain a second look from one of its denizens, had then, as it has now, +to be grossly outlandish. In this instance the owner of the stall +indulged a positive stare. He had seen, he thought, representatives of +all known nationalities, but never one like the present visitor--never +one so pinkish in complexion, and so very bias-eyed--never one who +wrapped and re-wrapped himself in a single shawl so entirely, making it +answer all the other vestments habitual to men. The latter peculiarity +was more conspicuous in consequence of a sack of brown silk hanging +loosely from the shoulder, with leaves and flowers done in dazzling +embroidery down the front and around the edges. And then the slippers +were of silk not less rich with embroidery, while over the bare head a +sunshade of bamboo and paper brilliantly painted was carried. + +Too well bred to persist in the stare or attempt to satisfy his +curiosity by a direct question, the proprietor opened the letter, and +began reading it. His neighbors less considerate ran together, and +formed a crowd around the stranger, who nevertheless bore the +inspection composedly, apparently unconscious of anything to make him +such a cynosure. + +The paper which the removal of the envelope gave to the stall-keeper's +hand excited him the more. The delicacy of its texture, its softness to +the touch, its semi-transparency, were unlike anything he had ever +seen; it was not only foreign, but very foreign. + +The lettering, however, was in Greek plainly done. He noticed first the +date; then, his curiosity becoming uncontrollable, and the missive +being of but one sheet, his eyes dropped to the place of signature. +There was no name there--only a seal--an impression on a surface of +yellow wax of the drooping figure of a man bound to a cross. + +[Illustration] + +At sight of the seal his eyes opened wider. He drew a long breath to +quiet a rising feeling, half astonishment, half awe. Retreating to a +bench near by, he seated himself, and presently became unmindful of the +messenger, of the crowd, of everything, indeed, except the letter and +the matters of which it treated. + +The demand of the reader for a sight of the paper which could produce +such an effect upon a person who was not more than an ordinary dealer +in an Eastern market may by this time have become imperious; wherefore +it is at once submitted in free translation. Only the date is +modernized. + +"ISLAND IN THE OVER-SEA. FAR EAST. _May_ 15, A.D. 1447. + +"Uel, Son of Jahdai. + +"Peace to thee and all thine! + +"If thou hast kept faithfully the heirlooms of thy progenitors, +somewhere in thy house there is now a duplication of the seal which +thou wilt find hereto attached; only that one is done in gold. The +reference is to prove to thee a matter I am pleased to assert, knowing +it will at least put thee upon inquiry--I knew thy father, thy +grandfather, and his father, and others of thy family further back than +it is wise for me to declare; and I loved them, for they were a +virtuous and goodly race, studious to do the will of the Lord God of +Israel, and acknowledging no other; therein manifesting the chiefest of +human excellences. To which, as more directly personal to thyself, I +will add that qualities of men, like qualities in plants, are +transmissible, and go they unmixed through many generations, they make +a kind. Therefore, at this great distance, and though I have never +looked into thy face, or touched thy hand, or heard thy voice, I know +thee, and give thee trust confidently. The son of thy father cannot +tell the world what he has of me here, or that there is a creature like +unto me living, or that he has to do with me in the least; and as the +father would gladly undertake my requests, even those I now reveal unto +thee, not less willingly will his son undertake them. Refusal would be +the first step toward betrayal. + +"With this preface, O Son of Jahdai, I write without fear, and freely; +imparting, first, that it is now fifty years since I set foot upon the +shores of this Island, which, for want of a name likely to be known to +thee, I have located and described as 'In the Over-Sea. Far East.' Its +people are by nature kindly disposed to strangers, and live simply and +affectionately. Though they never heard of the Nazarene whom the world +persists in calling the Christ, it is truth to say they better +illustrate his teachings, especially in their dealings with each other, +than the so-called Christians amongst whom thy lot is cast. Withal, +however, I have become weary, the fault being more in myself than in +them. Desire for change is the universal law. Only God is the same +yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow eternally. So I am resolved to seek +once more the land of our fathers and Jerusalem, for which I yet have +tears. In her perfection, she was more than beautiful; in her ruin, she +is more than sacred. + +"In the execution of my design, know thou next, O Son of Jahdai, that I +despatch my servant, Syama, intrusting him to deliver this letter. When +it is put into thy hand, note the day, and see if it be not exactly one +year from this 15 May, the time I have given him to make the journey, +which is more by sea than land. Thou mayst then know I am following +him, though with stoppages of uncertain duration; it being necessary +for me to cross from India to Mecca; thence to Kash-Cush, and down the +Nile to Cairo. Nevertheless I hope to greet thee in person within six +months after Syama hath given thee this report. + +"The sending a courier thus in advance is with a design of which I +think it of next importance to inform thee. + +"It is my purpose to resume residence in Constantinople; for that, I +must have a house. Syama, amongst other duties in my behalf, is charged +to purchase and furnish one, and have it ready to receive me when I +arrive. The day is long passed since a Khan had attractions for me. +Much more agreeable is it to think my own door will open instantly at +my knock. In this affair thou canst be of service which shall be both +remembered and gratefully recompensed. He hath no experience in the +matter of property in thy city; thou hast; it is but natural, +therefore, if I pray thou bring it into practice by assisting him in +the selection, in perfecting the title, and in all else the project may +require doing; remembering only that the tenement be plain and +comfortable, not rich; for, alas! the time is not yet when the children +of Israel may live conspicuously in the eye of the Christian world. + +"Thou wilt find Syama shrewd and of good judgment, older than he +seemeth, and quick to render loyalty for my sake. Be advised also that +he is deaf and dumb; yet, if in speaking thou turn thy face to him, and +use the Greek tongue, he will understand thee by the motion of thy +lips, and make answer by signs. + +"Finally, be not afraid to accept this commission on account of +pecuniary involvement. Syama hath means of procuring all the money he +may require, even to extravagance; at the same time he is forbidden to +contract a debt, except it be to thee for kindness done, all which he +will report to me so I may pay them fitly. + +"In all essential things Syama hath full instructions; besides, he is +acquainted with my habits and tastes; wherefore I conclude this writing +by saying I hope thou wilt render him aid as indicated, and that when I +come thou wilt allow me to relate myself to thee as father to son, in +all things a help, in nothing a burden. + +"Again, O Son of Jahdai, to thee and thine--Peace!" + +[Seal.] + +The son of Jahdai, at the conclusion of the reading, let his hands fall +heavily in his lap, while he plunged into a study which the messenger +with his foreign airs could not distract. + +Very great distance is one of the sublimities most powerful over the +imagination. The letter had come from an Island he had never heard +named. An Island in the Over-Sea which doubtless washed the Eastern end +of the earth, wherever that might be. And the writer! How did he get +there? And what impelled him to go? + +A chill shot the thinker's nerves. He suddenly remembered that in his +house there was a cupboard in a wall, with two shelves devoted to +storage of heirlooms; on the upper shelf lay the _torah_ of immemorial +usage in his family; the second contained cups of horn and metal, old +phylacteries, amulets, and things of vertu in general, and of such +addition and multiplication through the ages that he himself could not +have made a list of them; in fact, now his attention was aroused, he +recalled them a mass of colorless and formless objects which had ceased +to have history or value. Amongst them, however, a seal in the form of +a medallion in gold recurred to him; but whether the impression upon it +was raised or sunken he could not have certainly said; nor could he +have told what the device was. His father and grandfather had esteemed +it highly, and the story they told him about it divers times when he +was a child upon their knees he could repeat quite substantially. + +A man committed an indignity to Jesus the pretended _Christ_, who, in +punishment, condemned him to linger on the earth until in the fulness +of time he should come again; and the man had gone on living through +the centuries. Both the father and grandfather affirmed the tale to be +true; they had known the unfortunate personally; yet more, they +declared he had been an intimate of the family, and had done its +members through generations friendlinesses without number; in +consequence they had come to consider him one of them in love. They had +also said that to their knowledge it was his custom to pray for death +regularly as the days came and went. He had repeatedly put himself in +its way; yet curiously it passed him by, until he at last reached a +conviction he could not die. + +Many years had gone since the stall-keeper last heard the tale, and +still more might have been counted since the man disappeared, going no +one knew whither. + +But he was not dead! He was coming again! It was too strange to +believe! It could not be! Yet one thing was clear--whatever the +messenger might be, or presuming him a villain, whatever the lie he +thought to make profitable, appeal could be safely and cheaply made to +the seal in the cupboard. As a witness it, too, was deaf and dumb; on +its face nevertheless there was revelation and the truth. + +Through the momentary numbness of his faculties so much the son of +Jahdai saw, and he did not wait. Signing the messenger to follow, he +passed into a closet forming part of the stall, and the two being +alone, he spoke in Greek. + +"Be thou seated here," he said, "and wait till I return." + +The messenger smiled and bowed, and took seat; thereupon Uel drew his +turban down to his ears, and, letter in hand, started home. + +His going was rapid; sometimes he almost ran. Acquaintances met him on +the street, but he did not see them; if they spoke to him, he did not +hear. Arrived at his own door, he plunged into the house as if a mob +were at his heels. Now he was before the cupboard! Little mercy the +phylacteries and amulets, the bridle-spanglery of donkeys, the +trinketry of women, his ancestresses once famous for beauty or many +children--little mercy the motley collection on the second shelf +received from his hands. He tossed them here and there, and here and +there again, but the search was vain. Ah, good Lord! was the medalet +lost? And of all times, then? + +The failure made him the more anxious; his hands shook while he essayed +the search once more; and he reproached himself. The medal was valuable +for its gold, and besides it was a sacred souvenir. Conscience stung +him. Over and over he shifted and turned the various properties on the +shelf, the last time systematically and with fixed attention. When he +stopped to rest, the perspiration stood on his forehead in large drops, +and he fairly wrung his hands, crying, "It is not here--it is lost! My +God, how shall I know the truth now!" + +At this pause it is to be said that the son of Jahdai was wifeless. The +young woman whom he had taken as helpmeet in dying had left him a girl +baby who, at the time of our writing, was about thirteen years old. +Under the necessity thus imposed, he found a venerable daughter of +Jerusalem to serve him as housekeeper, and charge herself with care of +the child. Now he thought of that person; possibly she knew where the +seal was. He turned to seek her, and as he did so, the door of an +adjoining room opened, and the child appeared. + +He held her very dear, because she had the clear olive complexion of +her mother, and the same soft black eyes with which the latter used to +smile upon him in such manner that words were never required to assure +him of her love. And the little one was bright and affectionate, and +had prettinesses in speech, and sang low and contentedly the day long. +Often as he took her on his lap and studied her fondly, he was +conscious she promised to be gentle and beautiful as the departed one; +beyond which it never occurred to him there could be superior +excellences. + +Distressed as the poor man was, he took the child in his arms, and +kissed her on the round cheek, and was putting her down when he saw the +medal at her throat, hanging from a string. She told him the +housekeeper had given it to her as a plaything. Untied at last--for his +impatience was nigh uncontrollable--he hurried with the recovered +treasure to a window, to look at the device raised upon it; then, his +heart beating rapidly, he made comparison with the impression sunk in +the yellow wax at the foot of the letter; he put them side by +side--there could be no mistake--the impression on the wax might have +been made by the medallion! + +Let it not be supposed now that the son of Jahdai did not appreciate +the circumstance which had befallen. The idea of a man suffering a doom +so strange affected him, while the doom itself, considered as a +judgment, was simply awful; but his thought did not stop there--it +carried him behind both the man and the doom. Who was He with power by +a word, not merely to change the most fixed of the decrees of nature, +but, by suspending it entirely, hold an offending wretch alive for a +period already encroaching upon the eternal? One less firmly rooted in +the faith of his fathers would have stood aghast at the conclusion to +which the answer as an argument led--a conclusion admitting no escape +once it was reached. The affair in hand, however, despite its +speculative side, was real and urgent; and the keeper of the stall, +remembering the messenger in half imprisonment, fell to thinking of the +practical questions before him; first of which was the treatment he +should accord his correspondent's requests. + +This did not occupy him long. His father, he reflected, would have +received the stranger cordially, and as became one of such close +intimacy; so should he. The requests were easy, and carried no +pecuniary liability with them; he was merely to aid an inexperienced +servant in the purchase of a dwelling-house, the servant having plenty +of funds. True, when the master presented himself in person, it would +be necessary to determine exactly the footing to be accorded him; but +for the present that might be deferred. If, in the connection, the son +of Jahdai dwelt briefly upon possible advantages to himself, the person +being presumably rich and powerful, it was human, and he is to be +excused for it. + +The return to the market was less hurried than the going from it. There +Uel acted promptly. He took Syama to his house, and put him into the +guest-chamber, assuring him it was a pleasure. Yet when night came he +slept poorly. The incidents of the day were mixed with much that was +unaccountable, breaking the even tenor of his tradesman's life by +unwonted perplexities. He had not the will to control his thoughts; +they would go back to the excitement of the moment when he believed the +medallion lost; and as points run together in the half-awake state on +very slender threads, he had a vision of a mysterious old man coming +into his house, and in some way taking up and absorbing the life of his +child. When the world at last fell away and left him asleep, it was +with a dread tapping heavily at his heart. + +The purchase which Uel was requested to assist in making proved a light +affair. After diligent search through the city, Syama decided to take a +two-story house situated in a street running along the foot of the hill +to-day crowned by the mosque Sultan Selim, although it was then the +site of an unpretentious Christian church. Besides a direct eastern +frontage, it was in the divisional margin between the quarters of the +Greeks, which were always clean, and those of the Jews, which were +always filthy. It was also observed that neither the hill nor the +church obstructed the western view from the roof; that is to say, it +was so far around the upper curve of the hill that a thistle-down would +be carried by a south-east wind over many of the proudest Greek +residences and dropped by the Church of the Holy Virgin on Blacherne, +or in the imperial garden behind the Church. In addition to these +advantages, the son of Jahdai was not unmindful that his own dwelling, +a small but comfortable structure also of wood, was just opposite +across the street. Everything considered, the probabilities were that +Syama's selection would prove satisfactory to his master. The +furnishment was a secondary matter. + +It is to be added that in course of the business there were two things +from which Uel extracted great pleasure; Syama always had money to pay +promptly for everything he bought; in the next place, communication +with him was astonishingly easy. His eyes made up for the deficiency in +hearing; while his signs, gestures, and looks were the perfection of +pantomime. Of evenings the child never tired watching him in +conversation. + +While we go now to bring the Wanderer up, it should not be forgotten +that the house, completely furnished, is awaiting him, and he has only +to knock at the door, enter, and be at home. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF + + +The bay of Bahrein indents the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Hard +by the point on the north at which it begins its inland bend rise the +whitewashed, one-story mud-houses of the town El Katif. Belonging to +the Arabs, the most unchangeable of peoples, both the town and the bay +were known in the period of our story by their present names. + +The old town in the old time derived importance chiefly from the road +which, leading thence westwardly through Hejr Yemameh, brought up, +after many devious stretches across waterless wastes of sand, at El +Derayeh, a tented capital of the Bedouins, and there forked, one branch +going to Medina, the other to Mecca. In other words, El Katif was to +Mecca on the east the gate Jeddo was to it on the west. + +When, in annual recurrence, the time for the indispensable Hajj, or +Pilgrimage, came, the name of the town was on the lips of men and women +beyond the Green Sea, and southwardly along the coast of Oman, and in +the villages and dowars back of the coast under the peaks of Akdar, +only a little less often than those of the holy cities. Then about the +first of July the same peoples as pilgrims from Irak, Afghanistan, +India, and beyond those countries even, there being an East and a Far +East, and pilgrims from Arabia, crowded together, noisy, quarrelsome, +squalid, accordant in but one thing--a determination to make the Hajj +lest they might die as Jews or Christians. + +The law required the pilgrim to be at Mecca in the month of Ramazan, +the time the Prophet himself had become a pilgrim. From El Katif the +direct journey might be made in sixty days, allowing an average march +of twelve miles. By way of Medina, it could be made to permit the +votary to be present and participate in the observances usual on the +day of the Mysterious Night of Destiny. + +The journey moreover was attended with dangers. Winds, drouth, sand +storms beset the way; and there were beasts always hungry, and robbers +always watchful. The sun beat upon the hills, curtained the levels with +mirage, and in the _fiumuras_ kindled invisible fires; so in what the +unacclimated breathed and in what they drank of the waters of the land +there were diseases and death. + +The Prophet having fixed the month of Ramazan for the Hajj, pilgrims +accustomed themselves to assemblage at Constantinople, Damascus, Cairo +and Bagdad. If they could not avoid the trials of the road, they could +lessen them. Borrowing the term caravan as descriptive of the march, +they established markets at all convenient places. + +This is the accounting for one of the notable features of El Katif from +the incoming of June till the caravan extended itself on the road, and +finally disappeared in the yellow farness of the Desert. One could not +go amiss for purveyors in general. Dealers in horses, donkeys, camels, +and dromedaries abounded. The country for miles around appeared like a +great stock farm. Herds overran the lean earth. Makers of harness, +saddles, box-houdahs, and swinging litters of every variety and price, +and contractors of camels, horses, and trains complete did not wait to +be solicited; the competition between them was too lively for dignity. +Hither and thither shepherds drove fatted sheep in flocks, selling them +on the hoof. In shady places sandal merchants and clothiers were +established; while sample tents spotted the whole landscape. Hucksters +went about with figs, dates, dried meats and bread. In short, pilgrims +could be accommodated with every conceivable necessary. They had only +to cry out, and the commodity was at hand. + +Amongst the thousands who arrived at El Katif in the last of June, +1448, was a man whose presence made him instantly an object of general +interest. He came from the south in a galley of eight oars manned by +Indian seamen, and lay at anchor three days before landing. His ship +bore nothing indicative of nationality except the sailors. She was +trim-looking and freshly painted; otherwise there was nothing uncommon +in her appearance. She was not for war--that was plain. She floated too +lightly to be laden; wherefore those who came to look at her said she +could not be in commercial service. + +Almost before furling sail, an awning was stretched over her from bow +to stern--an awning which from the shore appeared one great shawl of +variegated colors. Thereupon the wise in such matters decided the owner +was an Indian Prince vastly rich, come, like a good Mohammedan, to +approve his faith by pilgrimage. + +This opinion the stranger's conduct confirmed. While he did not himself +appear ashore, he kept up a busy communication by means of his small +boat. For three days, it carried contractors of camels and supplies +aboard, and brought them back. + +They described him of uncertain age; he might be sixty, he might be +seventy-five. While rather under medium height, he was active and +perfectly his own master. He sat in the shade of the awning +cross-legged. His rug was a marvel of sheeny silk. He talked Arabic, +but with an Indian accent. His dress was Indian--a silken shirt, a +short jacket, large trousers, and a tremendous white turban on a red +tarbousche, held by an aigrette in front that was a dazzle of precious +stones such as only a Rajah could own. His attendants were few, but +they were gorgeously attired, wore _shintyan_ swung in rich belts from +their shoulders, and waited before him speechless and in servile +posture. One at his back upheld an umbrella of immense spread. He +indulged few words, and they were strictly business. He wanted a full +outfit for the Hajj; could the contractor furnish him twenty camels of +burden, and four swift dromedaries? Two of the latter were to carry a +litter for himself; the other two were for his personal attendants, +whom he desired furnished with well-shaded _shugdufs_. The camels he +would load with provisions. While speaking, he would keep his eyes upon +the person addressed with an expression uncomfortably searching. Most +extraordinary, however, he did not once ask about prices. + +One of the Shaykhs ventured an inquiry. + +"How great will his Highness' suite be?" + +"Four." + +The Shaykh threw up his hands. + +"O Allah! Four dromedaries and twenty camels for four men!" + +"Abuser of the salt," said the stranger calmly, "hast thou not heard of +the paschal charity, and of the fine to the poor? Shall I go empty +handed to the most sacred of cities?" + +Finally an agent was found who, in concert with associates, undertook +to furnish the high votary with all he asked complete. + +The morning of the fourth day after his arrival the Indian was pulled +ashore, and conducted out of town a short distance to where, on a +rising ground, a camp had been set up provisionally for his inspection. +There were tents, one for storage of goods and provisions; one for the +suite; one for the chief Shaykh, the armed guards, the tent pitchers, +and the camel drivers; and a fourth one, larger than the others, for +the Prince himself. With the dromedaries, camels, and horses, the camp +was accepted; then, as was the custom, the earnest money was paid. By +set of sun the baggage was removed from the ship, and its partition +into cargoes begun. The Prince of India had no difficulty in hiring all +the help he required. + +Of the thirty persons who constituted the train ten were armed +horsemen, whose appearance was such that, if it were answered by a +commensurate performance, the Prince might at his leisure march +irrespective of the caravan. Nor was he unmindful in the selection of +stores for the journey. Long before the sharp bargainers with whom he +dealt were through with him, he had won their best opinion, not less by +his liberality than for his sound judgment. They ceased speaking of him +sneeringly as the _miyan_. [Footnote: Barbarous Indian] + +Soon as the bargain was bound, the stranger's attendants set about the +furnishment of the master's tent. Outside they painted it green. The +interior they divided into two equal compartments; one for reception, +the other for a _maglis_ or drawing-room; and besides giving the latter +divans and carpets, they draped the ceiling in the most tasteful manner +with the shawls which on the ship had served for awning. + +At length, everything in the catalogue of preparation having been +attended to, it remained only to wait the day of general departure; and +for that, as became his greatness, the Prince kept his own quarters, +paying no attention to what went on around him. He appeared a man who +loved solitude, and was averse to thinking in public. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE YELLOW AIR [Footnote: The plague is known amongst Arabs as "the +Yellow Air."] + + +One evening the reputed Indian sat by the door of his tent alone. The +red afterglow of the day hung in the western sky. Overhead the stars +were venturing timidly out. The camels were at rest, some chewing their +cuds, others asleep, their necks stretched full length upon the warm +earth. The watchmen in a group talked in low voices. Presently the cry +of a muezzin, calling to prayer, flew in long, quavering, swelling +notes through the hushed air. Others took up the call, clearer or +fainter according to the distance; and so was it attuned to the feeling +invoked by the conditions of the moment that no effort was required of +a listener to think it a refrain from the sky. The watchmen ceased +debating, drew a little apart from each other, spread their _abbas_ on +the ground, and stepping upon them barefooted, their faces turned to +where Mecca lay, began the old unchangeable prayer of Islam--_God is +God, and Mahomet is His Prophet_. + +The pilgrim at the tent door arose, and when his rude employes were +absorbed in their devotions, like them, he too prayed, but very +differently. + +"God of Israel--my God!" he said, in a tone hardly more than speaking +to himself. "These about me, my fellow creatures, pray thee in the hope +of life, I pray thee in the hope of death. I have come up from the sea, +and the end was not there; now I will go into the Desert in search of +it. Or if I must live, Lord, give me the happiness there is in serving +thee. Thou hast need of instruments of good; let me henceforth be one +of them, that by working for thy honor, I may at last enjoy the peace +of the blessed--Amen." + +Timing his movements with those of the watchmen, he sank to his knees, +and repeated the prayer; when they fell forward, their faces to the +earth in the _rik'raths_ so essential by the Mohammedan code, he did +the same. When they were through the service, he went on with it that +they might see him. A careful adherence to this conduct gained him in a +short time great repute for sanctity, making the pilgrimage enjoyable +as well as possible to him. + +The evening afterglow faded out, giving the world to night and the +quiet it affects; still the melancholy Indian walked before his tent, +his hands clasped behind him, his chin in the beard on his breast. Let +us presume to follow his reflections. + +"Fifty years! A lifetime to all but me. Lord, how heavy is thy hand +when thou art in anger!" + +He drew a long breath, and groaned. + +"Fifty years! That they are gone, let those mourn to whom time is +measured in scanty dole." + +He became retrospective. + +"The going to Cipango was like leaving the world. War had yielded to +contentions about religion. I wearied of them also. My curse is to +weary of everything. I wonder if the happiness found in the affection +of women is more lasting?" + +He pursued the thought awhile, finishing with a resolution. + +"If the opportunity comes my way, I will try it. I remember yet the +mother of my Lael, though I did not understand the measure of the +happiness she brought me until she died." + +He returned then to the first subject. + +"When will men learn that faith is a natural impulse, and pure religion +but faith refined of doubt?" + +The question was succeeded by a wordless lapse in his mind, the better +apparently to prolong the pleasure he found in the idea. + +"God help me," he presently resumed, "to bring about an agreement in +that definition of religion! There can be no reform or refinement of +faith except God be its exclusive subject; and so certainly it leads to +lopping off all parasitical worships such as are given to Christ and +Mahomet.... Fifty years ago the sects would have tortured me had I +mentioned God as a principle broad and holy enough for them to stand +upon in compromise of their disputes; they may not be better disposed +now, yet I will try them. If I succeed I will not be a vulgar monument +builder like Alexander; neither will I divide a doubtful fame with +Caesar. My glory will be unique. I will have restored mankind to their +true relations with God. I will be their Arbiter in Religion. Then +surely"--he lifted his face appealingly as to a person enthroned amidst +the stars--"surely thou wilt release me from this too long life.... If +I fail"--he clinched his hands--"if I fail, they may exile me, they may +imprison me, they may stretch me on the rack, but they cannot kill me." + +Then he walked rapidly, his head down, like a man driven. When he +stopped it was to say to himself uncertainly: + +"I feel weak at heart. Misgivings beset me. Lord, Lord, how long am I +to go on thus cheating myself? If thou wilt not pardon me, how can I +hope honor from my fellow men? Why should I struggle to serve them?" + +Again he clinched his hands. + +"Oh, the fools, the fools! Will they never be done? When I went away +they were debating, Was Mahomet a Prophet? Was Christ the Messiah? And +they are debating yet. What miseries I have seen come of the dispute!" + +From this to the end, the monologue was an incoherent discursive +medley, now plaintive, now passionate, at times prayerful, then +exultant. As he proceeded, he seemed to lose sight of his present aim +at doing good in the hope of release from termless life, and become the +Jew he was born. + +"The orators called in the sword, and they plied each other with it +through two hundred years and more. There were highways across Europe +blazoned with corpses.... But they were great days. I remember them. +remember Manuel's appeal to Gregory. I was present at the Council of +Clermont. I heard Urban's speech. I saw Walter, the beggar of Burgundy, +a fugitive in Constantinople; but his followers, those who went out +with him--where were they? I saw Peter, the eremite and coward, dragged +back, a deserter, to the plague-smitten camps of Antioch. I helped vote +Godfrey King of Jerusalem, and carried a candle at his coronation. I +saw the hosts of Louis VII and Conrad, a million and more, swallowed up +in Iconia and the Pisidian mountains. Then, that the persecutors of my +race might not have rest, I marched with Saladin to the re-conquest of +the Holy City, and heard Philip and Richard answer his challenge. The +brave Kurd, pitying the sorrows of men, at last agreed to tolerate +Christians in Jerusalem as pilgrims; and there the strife might have +ended, but I played upon the ambition of Baldwin, and set Europe in +motion again. No fault of mine that the knight stopped at +Constantinople as King of the East. Then the second Frederick presumed +to make a Christian city of Jerusalem. I resorted to the Turks, and +they burned and pillaged it, and captured St. Louis, the purest and +best of the crusaders. He died in my arms. Never before had I a tear +for man or woman of his faith! Then came Edward I., and with him the +struggle as a contest of armies terminated. By decision of the sword, +Mahomet _was_ the Prophet of God, and Christ but the carpenter's +son.... By permission of the Kaliphs, the Christians might visit +Jerusalem as pilgrims. A palmer's staff in place of a sword! For +shield, a beggar's scrip! But the bishops accepted, and then ushered in +an age of fraud, Christian against Christian.... The knoll on which the +Byzantine built his church of the Holy Sepulchre is not the Calvary. +That the cowled liars call the Sepulchre never held the body of Christ. +The tears of the millions of penitents have but watered a monkish +deceit.... Fools and blasphemers! The Via Dolorosa led out of the +Damascus gate on the north. The skull-shaped hill beyond that gate is +the Golgotha. Who should know it better than I? The Centurion asked for +a guide; I walked with him. Hyssop was the only green thing growing +upon the mount; nothing but hyssop has grown there since. At the base +on the west was a garden, and the Sepulchre was in the garden. From the +foot of the cross I looked toward the city, and there was a sea of men +extending down to the gate.... I know!--I know!--I and misery know!... +When I went out fifty years ago there was an agreement between the +ancient combatants; each vied with the other in hating and persecuting +the Jew, and there was no limit to the afflictions he endured from +them.... Speak thou, O Hebron, city of the patriarchs! By him who sits +afar, and by him near unto thee, by the stars this peaceful night, and +by the Everlasting who is above the stars, be thou heard a witness +testifying! There was a day when thou didst stand open to the children +of Israel; for the cave and the dead within it belonged to them. Then +Herod built over it, and shut it up, though without excluding the +tribes. The Christian followed Herod; yet the Hebrew might pay his way +in. After the Christian, the Moslem; and now nor David the King, nor +son of his, though they alighted at the doors from chariots, and beat +upon them with their crowns and sceptres, could pass in and live.... +Kings have come and gone, and generations, and there is a new map from +which old names have been dropped. As respects religion, alas! the +divisions remain--here a Mohammedan, there a Christian, yonder a +Judean.... From my door I study these men, the children of those in +life at my going into exile. Their ardor is not diminished. To kiss a +stone in which tradition has planted a saying of God, they will defy +the terrors of the Desert, heat, thirst, famine, disease, death. I +bring them an old idea in a new relation--God, giver of life and power +to Son and Prophet--God, alone entitled to worship--God, a principle of +Supreme Holiness to which believers can bring their creeds and +doctrines for mergence in a treaty of universal brotherhood. Will they +accept it? ... Yesterday I saw a Schiah and a Sunite meet, and the old +hate darkened their faces as they looked at each other. Between them +there is only a feud of Islamites; how much greater is their feud with +Christians? How immeasurably greater the feud between Christian and +Jew? ... My heart misgives me! Lord! Can it be I am but cherishing a +dream?" + +At sight of a man approaching through the dusk, he calmed himself. + +"Peace to thee, Hadji," said the visitor, halting. + +"Is it thou, Shaykh?" + +"It is I, my father's son. I have a report to make." + +"I was thinking of certain holy things of priceless worth, sayings of +the Prophet. Tell me what thou hast?" + +The Shaykh saluted him, and returned, "The caravan will depart +to-morrow at sunrise." + +"Be it so. We are ready. I will designate our place in the movement. +Thou art dismissed." + +"O Prince! I have more to report." + +"More?" + +"A vessel came in to-day from Hormuz on the eastern shore, bringing a +horde of beggars." + +"Bismillah! It was well I hired of thee a herd of camels, and loaded +them with food. I shall pay my fine to the poor early." + +The Shaykh shook his head. + +"That they are beggars is nothing," he said. "Allah is good to all his +creatures. The jackals are his, and must be fed. For this perhaps the +unfortunates were blown here by the angel that rides the yellow air. +Four corpses were landed, and their clothes sold in the camp." + +"Thou wouldst say," the Prince rejoined, "that the plague will go with +us to the Kaaba. Content thee, Shaykh. Allah will have his way." + +"But my men are afraid." + +"I will place a drop of sweetened water on their lips, and bring them +safe through, though they are dying. Tell them as much." + +The Shaykh was departing when the Prince, shrewdly suspecting it was he +who feared, called him back. + +"How call ye the afternoon prayer, O Shaykh?" + +"El Asr." + +"What didst thou when it was called?" + +"Am I not a believer? I prayed." + +"And thou hast heard the Arafat sermon?" + +"Even so, O Prince." + +"Then, as thou art a believer, and a hadji, O Shaykh, thou and all with +thee shalt see the Khatib on his dromedary, and hear him again. Only +promise me to stay till his last _Amin_." + +"I promise," said the Shaykh, solemnly. + +"Go--but remember prayer is the bread of faith." + +The Shaykh was comforted, and withdrew. + +With the rising of the sun next day the caravan, numbering about three +thousand souls, defiled confusedly out of the town. The Prince, who +might have been first, of choice fell in behind the rest. + +"Why dost thou take this place, O Prince?" asked the Shaykh, who was +proud of his company, and their comparative good order. + +He received for answer, "The blessings of Allah are with the dying whom +the well-to-do and selfish in front have passed unnoticed." + +The Shaykh repeated the saying to his men, and they replied: +"Ebn-Hanife was a Dervish: so is this Prince--exalted be his name!" + +Eulogy could go no further. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EL ZARIBAH + + +"I will be their Arbiter in Religion," said the Indian Mystic in his +monologue. + +This is to be accepted as the motive of the scheme the singular man was +pursuing in the wastes of Arabia. + +It must be taken of course with his other declaration--"There can be no +reform or refinement of faith except God be its exclusive subject; and +so certainly it leads to lopping off all parasitical worships such as +are given to Christ and Mahomet." + +Fifty years prior, disgusted with the endless and inconsequential +debates and wars between Islam and Christianity, he had betaken himself +to Cipango, [Footnote: Supposably Japan.] wherever that might be. +There, in a repentant hour, he had conceived the idea of a Universal +Religious Brotherhood, with God for its accordant principle; and he was +now returned to present and urge the compromise. In more distinct +statement, he was making the pilgrimage to ascertain from personal +observation if the Mohammedan portion of the world was in a consenting +mood. It was not his first visit to Mecca; but the purpose in mind gave +the journey a new zest; and, as can be imagined, nothing in the least +indicative of the prevalent spirit of the Hajj escaped him. Readers +following the narrative should keep this explanation before them. + +From El Derayah the noble pilgrim had taken the longer route by way of +Medina, where he scrupulously performed the observances decreed for the +faithful at the Mosque of the Prophet. Thence he descended with the +caravan from Damascus. + +Dawn of the sixth of September broke over the rolling plain known as +the Valley of El Zaribah, disclosing four tents pitched on an eminence +to the right of a road running thence south-west. These tents, +connected by ropes, helped perfect an enclosure occupied by horses, +donkeys, camels and dromedaries, and their cumbrous equipments. Several +armed men kept watch over the camp. + +The Valley out to the pink granite hills rimming it round wore a fresh +green tint in charming contrast with the tawny-black complexion of the +region through which the day's journey had stretched. Water at a +shallow depth nourished camel grass in patches, and Theban palms, the +latter much scattered and too small to be termed trees. The water, and +the nearness of the Holy City--only one day distant--had, in a time +long gone, won for El Zaribah its double appointment of meeting place +for the caravans and place of the final ceremony of assumption of the +costume and vows _El Ihram_. + +The Prophet himself had prescribed the ceremony; so the pilgrims in the +camp on the eminence, the better to observe it and at the same time get +a needful rest, had come up during the night in advance of the +caravans. In other words, the Prince of India--the title by which he +was now generally known--might, at the opening hour of the day, have +been found asleep in the larger of the four tents; the one with the +minaret in miniature so handsomely gilded and of such happy effect over +the centre pole. + +Along the roadsides and on the high grounds of the Valley other tints +were visible, while faint columns of smoke arising out of the hollows +told of preparations for breakfast. These signified the presence of +hucksters, barbers, costume dealers, and traders generally, who, in +anticipation of the arrival of the caravans, had come from the city to +exercise their callings. Amongst them, worthy of special attention, was +a multitude of professional guides, [Footnote: _Mutawif_.] ready for a +trifling hire to take charge of uninitiated pilgrims, and lead them +regardfully through the numerous ceremonies to which they were going. + +Shortly after noon the Prince called in a guide, and several barbers, +men with long gowns, green turbans, brass basins, sharp knives, and +bright bladed scissors. The assumption of the real pilgrimage by his +people was then begun. Each man submitted his head, mustaches, and +nails to the experts, and bathed and perfumed himself, and was dusted +with musk. Next the whole party put off their old garments, and attired +themselves in the two white vestments _El Ihram_.[Footnote: A mantle +and skirt of white cloth unsewn.] The change of apparel was for the +better. Finally the votaries put on sandals peculiar in that nothing +pertaining to them might cover the instep; then they stood up in a row +faced toward Mecca, and repeated the ancient formula of dedication of +the _Ihram_ to the Almighty slowly intoned for them by the guide. + +The solemn demeanor of the men during the ceremony, which was tedious +and interspersed with prayers and curious recitals, deeply impressed +the Prince, who at the end of the scene retired into his tent, with his +three mute attendants, and there performed the vows for himself and +them. There also they all assumed the indispensable costume. Then, as +he well might do, the law permitting him to seek the shade of a house +or a tent, he had a rug spread before his door, where, in the fresh +white attire, he seated himself, and with a jar of expressed juice of +pomegranates at his side made ready to witness the passing of the +caravans, the dust of which was reported visible in the east. + +Afterwhile the cloud of dust momentarily deepening over in that +direction was enlivened by a clash of cymbals and drums, blent with +peals of horns, the fine, high music yet cherished by warriors of the +Orient. Presently a body of horsemen appeared, their spear points +glistening in the sunlight. A glance at them, then his gaze fixed upon +a chief in leading. + +The sun had been hot all day; the profiles of the low hills were dim +with tremulous haze lying scorchingly upon them; the furred hulks of +the camels in the enclosure looked as if they were smoking; the sky +held nothing living except two kites which sailed the upper air slowly, +their broad wings at widest extension; yet the chief persisted in +wearing his arms and armor, like the soldiers behind him. Ere long he +rode up and halted in front of the Prince, and near by. + +His head was covered with a visorless casque, slightly conical, from +the edge of which, beginning about the temples, a cape of fine steel +rings, buckled under the chin, enveloped the neck and throat, and fell +loosely over the neck and shoulders, and part way down the back. A +shirt of linked mail, pliable as wool, defended the body and the arms +to the elbows; overalls of like material, save that the parts next the +saddle were leather, clothed the thighs and legs. As the casque and +every other link of the mail were plated with gold, the general effect +at a distance was as if the whole suit were gold. A surcoat of light +green cloth hung at the back half hiding a small round shield of +burnished brass; at the left side there was a cimeter, and in the right +hand a lance. The saddle was of the high-seated style yet affected by +horsemen of Circassia; at the pommel a bow and well-filled quiver were +suspended, and as the stirrups were in fact steel slippers the feet +were amply protected by them. + +At sight of the martial figure, the Indian, in admiration, arose to a +sitting posture. Such, he thought, were the warriors who followed +Saladin! And when the stranger, reaching the summit of the eminence, +turned out of the road coming apparently to the door of the tent, he +involuntarily sprang to his feet ready to do him honor. + +The face, then plainly seen, though strong of feature, and thoroughly +bronzed, was that of a young man not more than twenty-two or three, +dark-eyed, mustached and bearded, and of a serious though pleasant +expression. He kept his seat with ease and grace; if he and the +broad-chested dark-bay horse were not really one, they were one in +spirit; together they wrought the impression which was the origin of +_majesty_, a title for kings. + +While the Prince was turning this in his mind, the soldier pulled rein, +and stopped long enough to glance at him and at the camp; then, turning +the horse, he looked the other way, making it apparent he had taken +position on the rise to overlook the plain, and observe the coming and +dispersion of the caravans. + +Another mounted man ascended the hill, armed and armored like the first +one, though not so richly, and bearing a standard of dulled yellow silk +hanging from a gilded staff. The ground of the standard was filled with +inscriptions in red lettering, leaving the golden crescent and star on +the point of the staff to speak of nationality. The bearer of the flag +dismounted, and at a sign planted it in the ground. + +Seeing his Shaykh, the Prince called him: + +"Who is the warrior yonder?--He in the golden armor?" + +"The Emir El Hajj, [Footnote: Chief officer of the Pilgrimage. The +appointment was considered the highest favor in the Sultan's gift.] O +Prince." + +"He the Emir El Hajj!--And so young?--Oh! a hero of the Serail. The +Kislar Aga extolled him one day." + +"Thy remark and common report, O excellent Prince, could not journey +together on the same camel," said the Shaykh. "In the Khan at Medina I +heard his story. There is a famous enemy of the Turks, Iskander Bey, in +strength a Jinn, whose sword two men can scarcely lift. He appeared +before the army of the Sultan one day with a challenge. He whom thou +seest yonder alone dared go forth to meet him. The fought from morning +till noon; then they rested. 'Who art thou?' asked Iskander. 'I am a +slave of Amurath, the Commander of the Faithful, who hath commissioned +me to take thee to him dead or alive.' Iskander laughed, and said, 'I +know by thy tongue now thou art not a Turk; and to see if the Commander +of the Faithful, as thou callest him, hath it in soul to make much of +thy merit as a warrior, I will leave thee the honors of the combat, and +to go thy way.' Whereat they say he lifted his ponderous blade as not +heavier than the leaf of a dead palm, and strode from the field." + +The Prince listened, and at the end said, like a man in haste: + +"Thou knowest Nilo, my black man. Bring him hither." + +The Shaykh saluted gravely, and hurried away, leaving his patron with +eyes fixed on the Emir, and muttering: + +"So young!--and in such favor with the old Amurath! I will know him. If +I fail, he may be useful to me. Who knows? Who knows?" + +He looked upward as if speaking to some one there. + +Meantime the Emir was questioning the ensign. + +"This pilgrim," he said, "appears well provided." + +And the ensign answered: + +"He is the Indian Prince of whom I have been hearing since we left +Medina." + +"What hast thou heard?" + +"That being rich, he is open-handed, making free with his aspers as +sowers with their seed." + +"What more?" + +"He is devout and learned as an Imam. His people call him Malik. Of the +prayers he knows everything. As the hours arrive, he lifts the curtains +of his litter, and calls them with a voice like Belal's. The students +in the mosque would expire of envy could they see him bend his back in +the benedictions." + +"_Bismillah!_" + +"They say also that in the journey from El Katif to Medina he travelled +behind the caravan when he might have been first." + +"I see not the virtue in that. The hill-men love best to attack the +van." + +"Tell me, O Emir, which wouldst thou rather face, a hill-man or the +Yellow Air?" + +"The hill-man," said the other decidedly. + +"And thou knowest when those in front abandon a man struck with the +disease?" + +"Yes." + +"And then?" + +"The vultures and the jackals have their rights." + +"True, O Emir, but listen. The caravan left El Katif three thousand +strong. Three hundred and more were struck with the plague, and left to +die; of those, over one hundred were brought in by the Indian. They say +it was for this he preferred to march in the rear. He himself teaches a +saying of the _Hadis_, that Allah leaves his choicest blessings to be +gathered from amidst the poor and the dying." + +"If he thou describest be not a Prince of India as he claims, he is a"-- + +"A _Mashaikh_." [Footnote: Holier than a Dervish.] + +"Ay, by the Most Merciful! But how did he save the castaways?" + +"By a specific known only to kings and lords in his country. Can he but +reach the plague-struck before death, a drop on the tongue will work a +cure. Thou heardst what he did at Medina?" + +"No." + +"The Masjid El Nabawi [Footnote: Tomb of the Prophet.] as thou knowest, +O Emir, hath many poor who somehow live in its holy shade." + +"I know it," said the Emir, with a laugh. "I went in the house rich, +and come out of it poorer than the poorest of the many who fell upon me +at the doors." + +"Well," the ensign continued, not heeding the interruption, "he called +them in, and fed them; not with rice, and leeks, and bread ten days +sour, but with dishes to rejoice a Kaliph; and they went away swearing +the soul of the Prophet was returned to the world." + +At this juncture a troop of horsemen ascending the hill brought the +conversation to a stop. The uniformity of arms and armor, the furniture +of the steeds, the order and regularity of the general movement, +identified the body as some favorite corps of the Turkish army; while +the music, the bristling lances, the many-folded turbans, and the +half-petticoated trousers threw about it a glamor of purest orientalism. + +In the midst of the troop, a vanguard in front, a rearguard behind +them, central objects of care and reverence, moved the sacred camels, +tall, powerful brutes, more gigantic in appearance because of their +caparisoning and the extraordinary burdens they bore. They too were in +full regalia, their faces visored in silk and gold, their heads +resplendent with coronets of drooping feathers, their ample neck cloths +heavy with tasselled metallic fringing falling to the knees. Each one +was covered with a mantle of brocaded silk arranged upon a crinoline +form to give the effect somewhat of the curved expansion on the rim of +a bell. On the humps rose pavilions of silk in flowing draperies, on +some of which the entire _Fatihah_ was superbly embroidered. Over the +pavilions arose enormous aigrettes of green and black feathers. Such +were the _mahmals_, containing, among other things of splendor and +fabulous value, the _Kiswah_ which the Sultan was forwarding to the +Scherif of Mecca to take the place of the worn curtains then draping +the Tabernacle or House of God. + +The plumed heads of the camels, and the yet more richly plumed +pavilions, exalted high above the horsemen, moved like things afloat. +One may not tell what calamities to body and soul would overtake the +Emir El Hajj did he fail to deliver the _mahmals_ according to +consignment. + +While the cavalry came up the hill the musicians exerted themselves; at +the top, the column turned and formed line left of the Emir, followed +by strings of camels loaded with military properties, and a horde of +camp-followers known as _farrash_. Presently another camp was reared +upon the eminence, its white roofs shining afar over the plain, and in +their midst one of unusual dimensions for the Sultan's gifts. + +The caravans in the meantime began to emerge from the dun cloud of +their own raising, and spread at large over the land; and when the +young Emir was most absorbed in the spectacle the Prince's Shaykh +approached him. + +"O Emir!" the Arab said, after a salaam. + +A wild fanfare of clarions, cymbals, and drums drowning his voice, he +drew nearer, almost to the stirrup. + +"O Emir!" he said again. + +This time he was heard. + +"What wouldst thou?" + +There was the slightest irritation in the tone, and on the countenance +of the speaker as he looked down; but the feeling behind it vanished at +sight of a negro whose native blackness was intensified by the spotless +white of the Ihram in which he was clad. Perhaps the bright platter of +beaten copper the black man bore, and the earthen bottle upon it, +flanked by two cups, one of silver, the other of crystal, had something +to do with the Emir's change of manner and mind. + +"What wouldst thou?" he asked, slightly bending towards them. + +The Shaykh answered: + + "The most excellent Hadji, my patron, whom thou mayst see reclining at +the door of his tent, sends thee greeting such as is lawful from one +true believer to another travelling for the good of their souls to the +most Holy of Cities; and he prays thou wilt accept from him a draught +of this water of pomegranates, which he vouches cooling to the tongue +and healthful to the spirit, since he bought it at the door of the +House of the Prophet--to whom be prayer and praise forever." + +During the speech, the negro, with a not unpractised hand, and +conscious doubtless of the persuasion there was in the sound and +sparkle of the beverage, especially to one not yet dismounted from a +long ride on the desert, filled the cups, and held them up for +acceptance. + +Stripping the left hand of its steel-backed gauntlet, the Emir lifted +the glass, and, with a bow to the pilgrim then arisen and standing by +the tent-door, drank it at a draught; whereupon, leaving the ensign to +pay like honor to the offered hospitality, he wheeled his horse, and +rode to make acknowledgment in person. + +"The favor thou hast done me, O Hadji," he said, dismounted, "is in +keeping with the acts of mercy to thy fellow-men with which I hear thou +hast paved the road from El Katif as with mother-of-pearl." + +"Speak not of them, I pray," the Wanderer answered, returning the bow +he received. "Who shall refuse obedience to the law?" + +"I see plainly thou art a good man," the Emir said, bowing again. + +"It would not become me to say so. Turning to something better, this +tent in the wilderness is mine, and as the sun is not declined to its +evening quarter, perhaps, O gallant Emir, it would be more to thy +comfort were we to go within. I, and all I have, are at thy command." + +"I am grateful for the offer, most excellent Hadji--if the address be +lower than thy true entitlement, thou shouldst bring the Shaykh yonder +to account for misleading a stranger--but the sun and I have become +unmindful of each other, and duty is always the same in its demands at +least. Here, because the valley is the _micath_, [Footnote: Meeting +place.] the caravans are apt to run wild, and need a restraining hand. +I plead the circumstance in excuse for presuming to request that thou +wilt allow me to amend thy offer of courtesy." + +The Emir paused, waiting for the permission. + +"So thou dost accept the offer, amend it as thou wilt," and the Prince +smiled. + +Then the other returned, with evident satisfaction: "When our brethren +of the caravans are settled, and the plain is quiet, and I too have +taken the required vows, I will return to thee. My quarters are so +close to thine it would please me to be allowed to come alone." + +"Granted, O Emir, granted--if, on thy side, thou wilt consent to permit +me to give thee of the fare I may yet have at disposal. I can promise +thou shalt not go away hungry." + +"Be it so." + +Thereupon the Emir remounted, and went back to his stand overlooking +the plain, and the coming of the multitude. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PASSING OF THE CARAVANS + + +From his position the Wanderer could see the advancing caravans; but as +the spectacle would consume the afternoon, he called his three +attendants, and issued directions for the entertainment of the Emir in +the evening; this done, he cast himself upon the rug, and gave rein to +his curiosity, thinking, not unreasonably, to find in what would pass +before him something bearing on the subject ever present in his mind. + +The sky could not be called blue of any tint; it seemed rather to be +filled with common dust mixed with powder of crushed brick. The effect +was of a semi-transparent ceiling flushed with heat from the direct +down-beating action of the sun, itself a disk of flame. Low mountains, +purplish black in hue, made a horizon on which the ceiling appeared +set, like the crystal in the upper valve of a watch. Thus shut in, but +still fair to view east and south of the position the spectator +occupied, lay El Zaribah, whither, as the appointed meeting place, so +many pilgrims had for days and weeks ever wearier growing been "walking +with their eyes." In their thought the Valley was not so much a garden +or landscape of beauty as an ante-chamber of the House of Allah. As +they neared it now, journeying since the break of day, impatience +seized them; so when the cry sped down the irregular column--"It is +here! It is here!" they answered with a universal _labbayaki_, +signifying, "Thou hast called us--here we are, here we are!" Then +breaking into a rabble, they rushed multitudinously forward. To give +the reader an idea of the pageant advancing to possess itself of the +Valley, it will be well to refresh his memory with a few details. He +should remember, in the first place, that it was not merely the caravan +which left El Katif over on the western shore of the Green Sea, but two +great caravans merged into one--_El Shemi_, from Damascus, and _Misri_, +from Cairo. To comprehend these, the region they drained of pilgrims +should be next considered. For example, at Cairo there was a +concentration from the two Egypts, Upper and Lower, from the mysterious +deserts of Africa, and from the cities and countries along the southern +shore of the Mediterranean far as Gibraltar; while the whole East, +using the term in its most comprehensive sense, emptied contingents of +the devout into Damascus. In forwarding the myriads thus poured down +upon them the Arabs were common carriers, like the Venetians to the +hordes of western Europe in some of the later crusades; so to their +thousands of votaries proper, the other thousands of them engaged in +the business are also to be computed. El Medina was the great secondary +rendezvous. Hardly could he be accounted of the Faithful who in making +the pilgrimage would turn his back upon the bones of the Prophet; of +such merit was the saying, "One prayer in this thy mosque is of more +virtue than a thousand in other places, save only the Masjid El Haram." +Once at Medina, how could the pilgrim refuse his presence, if not his +tears, at El Kuba, forever sacred to the Mohammedan heart as the first +place of public prayer in Islam? Finally, it should not be forgotten +that the year we write of belonged to a cycle when readers of the Koran +and worshippers at Mecca were more numerous than now, if not more +zealous and believing. And it was to witness the passing of this +procession, so numerous, so motley, so strangely furnished, so +uncontrolled except as it pleased, the Prince of India was seated at +the door of his tent upon the hill. Long before the spectacle was +sighted in the distance, its approach was announced by an overhanging +pillar of cloud, not unlike that which went before the Israelites in +their exodus through similar wastes. Shortly after the interview with +the Emir, the Prince, looking under the pillar, saw a darkening line +appear, not more at first than a thread stretched across a section of +the east. + +The apparition was without a break; nor might he have said it was in +motion or of any depth. A sound came from the direction not unlike that +of a sibilant wind. Presently out of the perspective, which reduced the +many to one and all sizes to a level, the line developed into unequal +divisions, with intervals between them; about the same time the noise +became recognizable as the voices fiercely strained and inarticulate of +an innumerable host of men. Then the divisions broke into groups, some +larger than others; a little later individuals became discernible; +finally what had appeared a line resolved itself into a convulsing +mass, without front, without wings, but of a depth immeasurable. + +The pilgrims did not attempt to keep the road; having converted their +march into a race, they spread right and left over the country, each +seeking a near way; sometimes the object was attained, sometimes not; +the end was a confusion beyond description. The very inequalities of +the ground helped the confusion. A group was one moment visible on a +height; then it vanished in a hollow. Now there were thousands on a +level; then, as if sinking, they went down, down, and presently where +they were there was only dust or a single individual. + +Afterwhile, so wide was the inrolling tide, the field of vision +overflowed, and the eye was driven to ranging from point to point, +object to object. Then it was discernible that the mass was mixed of +animals and men--here horses, there camels--some with riders, some +without--all, the burdened as well as unburdened, straining forward +under urgency of shriek and stick--forward for life--forward as if of +the two "comforts," Success beckoned them in front, and Despair behind +plied them with spears. [Footnote: In the philosophy of the Arabs +Success and Despair are treated as comforts.] + +At length the eastern boundary of the Valley was reached. There one +would suppose the foremost of the racers, the happy victors, would rest +or, at their leisure, take of the many sites those they preferred; but +no--the penalty attaching to the triumph was the danger of being run +down by the thousands behind. In going on there was safety--and on they +went. + +To this time the spectacle had been a kind of panoramic generality; now +the details came to view, and accustomed as he was to marvels of +pageantry, the Prince exclaimed: "These are not men, but devils fleeing +from the wrath of God!" and involuntarily he went nearer, down to the +brink of the height. It seemed the land was being inundated with +camels; not the patient brutes we are used to thinking of by that name, +with which domestication means ill-treatment and suffering--the +slow-going burden-bearers, always appealing to our sympathy because +always apparently tired, hungry, sleepy, worn-out--always reeling on as +if looking for quiet places in which to slip their loads of whatever +kind, and lie down and die; but the camel aroused, enraged, frightened, +panic-struck, rebellious, sending forth strange cries, and running with +all its might--an army of camels hurling their gigantic hulks along at +a rate little less than blind impetus. And they went, singly, and in +strings, and yonder a mass. The slower, and those turned to the right +or left of the direct course, and all such as had hesitated upon coming +to a descent, were speedily distanced or lost to sight; so the ensemble +was constantly shifting. And then the rolling and tossing of the +cargoes and packages on the backs of the animals, and the streaming out +of curtains, scarfs, shawls, and loose draperies of every shape and +color, lent touches of drollery and bright contrasts to the scene. One +instant the spectator on the hill was disposed to laugh, then to +admire, then to shiver at the immensity of a danger; over and over +again amidst his quick variation of feeling, he repeated the +exclamation: "These are not men, but devils fleeing from the wrath of +God!" + +Such was the spectacle in what may be called the second act; presently +it reached a third; and then the fury of the movement, so inconsistent +with the habits and patient nature of the camel, was explained. In the +midst of the hurly-burly, governing and directing it, were horsemen, an +army of themselves. Some rode in front, and the leading straps on which +they pulled with the combined strength of man and horse identified them +as drivers; others rode as assistants of the drivers, and they were +armed with goads which they used skilfully and without mercy. There +were many collisions, upsets, and entanglements; yet the danger did not +deter the riders from sharing the excitement, and helping it forward to +their utmost. They too used knotted ropes, and stabbed with sharpened +sticks; they also contributed to the unearthly tumult of sounds which +travelled with the mob, a compound of prayers, imprecations, and +senseless screams--the medley that may be occasionally heard from a +modern mad-house. + +In the height of the rush the Shaykh came up. + +"How long," said the Prince--"in the Prophet's name, how long will this +endure?" + +"Till night, O most excellent Hadji--if the caravans be so long in +coming." + +"Is it usual?" + +"It has been so from the beginning." + +Thereupon the curiosity of the Prince took another turn. A band of +horsemen galloped into view--free riders, with long lances carried +upright, their caftans flying, and altogether noble looking. + +"These are Arabs. I know by their horses and their bearing," said he, +with admiration; "but possibly thou canst give me the name of their +tribe." + +The Shaykh answered with pride: "Their horses are gray, and by the +sign, O lover of the Prophet, they are the Beni-Yarb. Every other one +of them is a poet; in the face of an enemy, they are all warriors." + +The camps on the hill, with the yellow flag giving notice of the Emir's +station, had effect upon others besides the Yarbis; all who wished to +draw out of the _melange_ turned towards them, bringing the spectacle +in part to the very feet of the Wanderer; whereas he thought with a +quicker beating of the heart, "The followers of the Prophet are coming +to show me of what they are this day composed." Then he said to the +Shaykh, "Stand thou here, and tell me as I shall ask." + +The conversation between them may be thus summarized: + +The current which poured past then, its details in perfect view, +carried along with it all the conditions and nationalities of the +pilgrimage. Natives of the desert on bare-backed camels, clinging to +the humps with one hand, while they pounded with the other--natives on +beautiful horses, not needing whip or spur--natives on dromedaries so +swift, sure-footed, and strong there was no occasion for fear. Men, and +often women and children, on ragged saddle-cloths, others in +pretentious boxes, and now and then a person whose wealth and rank were +published by the magnificence of the litter in which he was borne, +swinging luxuriously between long-stepping dromedaries from El Sbark. + +"By Allah!" the Prince exclaimed. "Here hath barbarism its limit! +Behold!" + +They of whom he spoke came up in irregular array mounted on dromedaries +without housing. At their head rode one with a white lettered green +flag, and beating an immense drum. They were armed with long spears of +Indian bamboo, garnished below the slender points with swinging tufts +of ostrich feathers. Each carried a woman behind him disdainful of a +veil. The feminine screams of exultation rose high above the yells of +the men, helping not a little to the recklessness with which the latter +bore onward. + +Woe to such in their way as were poorly mounted. In a twinkling they +were ridden down. Nor did those fare better who were overtaken +struggling with a string of camels. The crash of bursting boxes, the +sharp report of rending ropes, the warning cry, the maddening cheer; a +battle of men, another of beasts--and when the collision had passed, +the earth was strewn with its wreck. + +"They are Wahabbas, O Hadji," said the Shaykh. "Thou seest the tufts on +their spears. Under them they carry _Jehannum_." + +"And these now coming?" asked the Prince. "Their long white hats remind +me of Persia." + +"Persians they are," replied the Shaykh, his lip curling, his eyes +gleaming. "They will tear their clothes, and cut their shaven crowns, +and wail, 'Woe's me, O Ali!' then kiss the Kaaba with defilement on +their beards. The curse of the _Shaykaim_ is on them--may it stay +there!" + +Then the Prince knew it was a Sunite speaking of Schiahs. + +Yet others of the Cafila of Bagdad passed with the despised sons of +Iran; notably Deccanese, Hindoos, Afghans, and people from the +Himalayas, and beyond them far as Kathay, and China, and Siam, all +better known to the Prince than to his Shaykh, who spoke of them, +saying, "Thou shouldst know thine own, O Hadji! Thou art their father!" + +Next, in a blending that permitted no choice of associates, along swept +the chief constituents of the caravans--Moors and Blackamoors, +Egyptians, Syrians, Turks, Kurds, Caucasians, and Arabs of every tribe, +each a multitude of themselves, and their passing filled up the +afternoon. + +Towards sundown the hurry and rush of the movement perceptibly +slackened. Over in the west there were signs of a halt; tents were +rising, and the smoke of multiplying fires began to deepen the blue of +the distance. It actually appeared as if settlement for the night would +creep back upon the east, whence the irruption had burst. + +At a moment when the Prince's interest in the scene was commencing to +flag, and he was thinking of returning to his tent, the rearmost +divisions of the pilgrims entered the Valley. They were composed of +footmen and donkey-riders, for whom the speed of the advance bodies had +been too great. High-capped Persians, and Turks whose turbans were +reduced to faded fezes, marched in the van, followed closely by a +rabble of Takruris, ragged, moneyless, living upon meat of abandoned +animals. Last of all were the sick and dying, who yet persisted in +dragging their fainting limbs along as best they could. Might they but +reach the Holy City! Then if they died it would be as martyrs for whom +the doors of Paradise are always open. With them, expectants of easy +prey, like the _rakham_ [Footnote: Vultures.] sailing in slow circles +overhead, flocked the beggars, thieves, outcasts and assassins; but +night came quickly, and covered them, and all the things they did, for +evil and night have been partners from the beginning. + +At last the Prince returned to his tent. He had seen the sun set over +El Zaribah; he had seen the passing of the caravans. Out there in the +Valley they lay. They--to him, and for his purposes, the Mohammedan +world unchanged--the same in composition, in practice, in creed--only +he felt now a consciousness of understanding them as never before. +Mahomet, in his re-introduction of God to man, had imposed himself upon +their faith, its master idea, its central figure, the superior in +sanctity, the essential condition--the ONE! Knowingly or unknowingly, +he left a standard of religious excellence behind him--Himself. And by +that standard the thief in the wake of the mighty caravans robbing the +dead, the Thug strangling a victim because he was too slow in dying, +were worthy Paradise, and would attain it, for they believed in him. +Faith in the Prophet of God was more essential than faith in God. Such +was the inspiration of Islam. A sinking of spirit fell upon the unhappy +man. He felt a twinge of the bitterness always waiting on failure, +where the undertaking, whatever it be, has enlisted the whole heart. At +such times instinctively we turn here and there for help, and in its +absence, for comfort and consolation; what should he do now but advert +to Christianity? What would Christians say of his idea? Was God lost in +Christ as he was here in Mahomet? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR + + +In the reception room of the Prince's tent the lamps are lighted; one +fastened to the stout centre pole, and five others on as many palings +planted in the ground, all burning brightly. The illumination is +enriched by the admirable blending of colors in the canopy of shawls. +Within the space defined by the five lamps, on a tufted rug, the Mystic +and the Emir are seated, both in _Ihram_, and looking cool and +comfortable, though the night outside still testifies to the heat of +the day. + +A wooden trencher, scoured white as ivory, separates the friends, +leaving them face to face. In supping they have reached what we call +the dessert. + +On the trencher are slender baskets containing grapes, figs, and dates, +the choicest of the gardens of Medina. A jar of honey, an assortment of +dry biscuits, and two jugs, one of water, the other of juice of +pomegranates, with drinking cups, complete the board. + +At this age, Orientals lingering at table have the cheer of coffee and +tobacco; unhappily for the two of whom we are writing, neither of the +great narcotics was discovered. Nevertheless it should not be supposed +the fruits, the honey, and the waters failed to content them. Behind +the host is the negro we already know as Nilo. He is very watchful of +his master's every motion. + +As guest and host appear now the formalism of acquaintanceship just +made has somewhat disappeared, and they are talking easily and with +freedom. Occasionally a movement of one or the other brings his head to +a favorable angle, whereat the light, dropping on the freshly shaven +crown, is sharply glinted back. + +The Emir has been speaking of the plague. + +"At Medina I was told it had run its course," the host remarked. + +"True, O Hadji, but it has returned, and with greater violence. The +stragglers were its victims; now it attacks indiscriminately. Yesterday +the guard I keep in the rear came to a pilgrim of rank. His litter was +deserted, and he was lying in it dead." + +"The man may have been murdered." + +"Nay," said the Emir, "gold in large amount was found on his person." + +"But he had other property doubtless?" + +"Of great value." + +"What disposition was made of it?" + +"It was brought to me, and is now with other stores in my tent; a law +of ancient institution vesting it in the Emir El Hajj." + +The countenance of the Jew became serious. + +"The ownership was not in my thought," he said, waving his hand. "I +knew the law; but this scourge of Allah has its laws also, and by one +of them we are enjoined to burn or bury whatever is found with the +body." + +The Emir, seeing the kindly concern of his host, smiled as he answered: + +"But there is a higher law, O Hadji." + +"I spoke without thinking danger of any kind could disturb thee." + +The host drew forward the date basket, and the Emir, fancying he +discerned something on his mind besides the fruit, waited his further +speech. + +"I am reminded of another matter, O brave Emir; but as it also is +personal I hesitate. Indeed I will not speak of it except with +permission." + +"As you will," the other replied, "I will answer--May the Prophet help +me!" + +"Blessed be the Prophet!" said the Prince, reverently. "Thy confidence +doeth me honor, and I thank thee; at the same time I would not presume +upon it if thy tongue were less suggestive of a land whose name is +music--Italy. It is in my knowledge, O Emir, that the Sultan, thy +master--may Allah keep him in countenance!--hath in his service many +excellent soldiers by birth of other countries than his own, broad as +it is--Christians, who are none the less of the true faith. Wherefore, +wilt thou tell me of thyself?" + +The question did not embarrass the Emir. + +"The answer must be brief," he answered, without hesitation, "because +there is little to tell. I do not know my native country. The +peculiarity of accent you have mentioned has been observed by others; +and as they agreed with you in assigning it to Italy, I am nothing +loath to account myself an Italian. The few shreds of circumstance +which came to me in course of time confirmed the opinion, and I availed +myself of a favorable opportunity to acquire the tongue. In our further +speech, O Hadji, you may prefer its use." + +"At thy pleasure," the host replied; "though there is no danger of our +being overheard. Nilo, the slave behind me, has been a mute from birth." + +Then, without the slightest interruption, the Emir changed his speech +from Greek to Italian. + +"My earliest remembrance is of being borne in a woman's arms out of +doors, under a blue sky, along a margin of white sand, an orchard on +one hand, the sea on the other. The report of the waves breaking upon +the shore lives distinctly in my memory; so does the color of the trees +in the orchard which has since become familiar to me as the green of +olives. Equally clear is the recollection that, returning in-doors, I +was carried into a house of stone so large it must have been a castle. +I speak of it, as of the orchard, and the sea, and the roar of the +breakers, quite as much by reference to what I have subsequently seen +as from trust in my memory." + +Here the host interrupted him to remark: + +"Though an Eastern, I have been a traveller in the west, and the +description reminds me of the eastern shore of Italy in the region of +Brindisi." + +"My next recollection," the Emir resumed, "is a child's fright, +occasioned by furious flames, and thick smoke, and noises familiar now +as of battle. There was then a voyage on the sea during which I saw +none but bearded men. The period of perfect knowledge so far as my +history is concerned began when I found myself an object of the love +and care of the wife of a renowned Pacha, governor of the city of +Brousa. She called me _Mirza_. My childhood was spent in a harem, and I +passed from it into a school to enter upon my training as a soldier. In +good time I became a Janissary. An opportunity presented itself one +day, and I distinguished myself. My master, the Sultan, rewarded me by +promotion and transfer to the _Silihdars_, [Footnote: D'Oheson.] the +most ancient and favored corps of the Imperial army, it being the +body-guard of the Padisha, and garrison of his palace. The yellow flag +my ensign carries belongs to that corps. As a further token of his +confidence, the Sultan appointed me Emir El Hajj. In these few words, O +Hadji, you have my history." + +The listener was impressed with the simplicity of the narrative, and +the speaker's freedom from regret, sorrow, or passion of any kind. + +"It is a sad story, O Emir," he said, sympathetically, "and I cannot +think it ended. Knowest thou not more?" + +"Nothing of incident," was the reply. "All that remains is inferential. +The castle was attacked at night by Turks landed from their galleys." + +"And thy father and mother?" + +"I never knew them." + +"There is another inference," said the Prince, suggestively--"they were +Christians." + +"Yes, but unbelievers." + +The suppression of natural affection betrayed by the remark still more +astonished the host. + +"But they believed in God," he said. + +"They should have believed Mahomet was his Prophet." + +"I fear I am giving you pain, O Emir." + +"Dismiss the fear, O Hadji." + +Again the Jew sought the choicest date in the basket. The indifference +of his guest was quick fuel to the misgivings which we have already +noticed as taking form about his purpose, and sapping and weakening it. +To be arbiter in the religious disputes of men, the unique consummation +called for by his scheme, the disputants must concede him room and +hearing. Were all Mohammedans, from whom he hoped most, like this one +born of Christians, then the two conditions would be sternly refused +him. By the testimony of this witness, there was nothing in the +heredity of faith; and it went to his soul incisively that, in +stimulating the passions which made the crusades a recurrence of the +centuries, he himself had contributed to the defeat now threatening his +latest ambition. The sting went to his soul; yet, by force of will, +always at command in the presence of strangers, he repressed his +feeling, and said: + +"Everything is as Allah wills. Let us rejoice that he is our keeper. +The determination of our fate, in the sense of what shall happen to us, +and what we shall be, and when and where the end shall overtake us, is +no more to him than deciding the tint of the rose before the bud is +formed. O Emir, I congratulate you on the resignation with which you +accept his judgment. I congratulate you upon the age in which he has +cast your life. He who in a moment of uncertainty would inform himself +of his future should not heed his intentions and hopes; by studying his +present conditions, he will find himself an oracle unto himself. He +should address his best mind to the question, 'I am now in a road; if I +keep it, where will I arrive?' And wisdom will answer, 'What are thy +desires? For what art thou fitted? What are the opportunities of the +time?' Most fortunate, O Emir, if there be correspondence between the +desire, the fitness, and the opportunity!" + +The Emir did not comprehend, and seeing it, the host added with a +directness approaching the abrupt: + +"And now to make the reason of my congratulations clear, it is +necessary that thou consent to my putting a seal upon your lips. What +sayest thou?" + +"If I engage my silence, O Hadji, it is because I believe you are a +good man." + +The dignity of the Emir's answer did not entirely hide the effect of +the Prince's manner. + +"Know thou then," the latter continued, with a steady, penetrating +gaze--"know thou then, there is a Brahman of my acquaintance who is a +Magus. I use the word to distinguish him from the necromancers whom the +Koran has set in everlasting prohibition. He keeps school in a chapel +hid away in the heart of jungles overgrowing a bank of the Bermapootra, +not far from the mountain gates of the river. He has many scholars, and +his intelligence has compassed all knowledge. He is familiar with the +supernatural as with the natural. On my way, I visited him.... Know +thou next, O Emir, I too have had occasion to make inquiries of the +future. The vulgar would call me an astrologer--not a professional +practising for profit, but an adept seeking information because it +lifts me so much nearer Allah and his sublimest mysteries. Very lately +I found a celestial horoscope announcing a change in the status of the +world. The masterful waves, as you may know, have for many ages flowed +from the West; but now, the old Roman impetus having at last spent +itself, a refluence is to set in, and the East in its turn pour a +dominating flood upon the West. The determining stars have slipped +their influences. They are in motion. _Constantinople is doomed!_" + +The guest drew a quick breath. Understanding was flooding him with +light. + +"And now, O Emir, say, if the revelation had stopped there--stopped, I +mean, with the overthrow of the Christian capital--wouldst thou have +been satisfied with it?" + +"No, by Allah, no!" + +"Further, Emir. The stars being communicable yet, what wouldst thou +have asked them next?" + +"I would not have rested until I had from them the name of him who is +to be leader in the movement." + +The Mystic smiled at the young man's fervor. + +"Thou hast saved me telling what I did, and affirmed the logic of our +human nature," he said. "Thy imperial master is old, and much worn by +wars and cares of government, is he not?" + +"Old in greatness," answered the Emir, diplomatically. + +"Hath he not a son?" + +"A son with all the royal qualities of the father." + +"But young--not more than eighteen." + +"Not more." + +"And the Prophet hath lent him his name?" + +"Even so." + +The host released the eager face of the Emir from his gaze, while he +sought a date in the basket. + +"Another horoscope--the second"--he then said, quietly, "revealed +everything but the hero's name. He is to be of kingly birth, and a +Turk. Though a lad, he is already used to arms and armor." + +"Oh! by Allah, Hadji," cried the guest, his face flushed, his words +quick, his voice mandatory. "Release me from my pledge of silence. Tell +me who thou art, that I may report thee, and the things thou sayest. +There was never such news to warm a heroic heart." + +The Prince pursued his explanation without apparently noticing the +interruption noticing the interruption. + +"To verify the confidences of the stars, I sought the Magus in his +chapel by the sacred river. Together we consulted them, and made the +calculations. He embraced me; but it was agreed between us that +absolute verity of the finding could only be had by re-casting the +horoscopes at Constantinople. Thou must know, O Emir, there is an +astral alphabet which has its origin in the inter-relations of the +heavenly bodies, represented by lines impalpable to the common eye; +know also that the most favored adept cannot read the mystic letters +with the assurance best comporting with verity, except he be at the +place of the destined event or revolution. To possess myself of the +advantage, I shall ere long visit the ancient capital. More plainly, I +am on the way thither now." + +Instead of allaying the eagerness of the Emir, the words excited it the +more. + +"Release me from my pledge," he repeated, entreatingly, "and tell me +who thou art. Mahommed is my pupil; he rides, carries shield, lays +lance, draws arrow, and strikes with sword and axe as I have taught +him. Thou canst not name a quality characteristic of heroes he does not +possess. Doth Allah permit me safe return from the Hajj, he will be +first to meet me at his father's gate. Think what happiness I should +have in saluting him there with the title--Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of +Constantinople!" + +The Jew answered: + +"I would gladly help thee, O Emir, to happiness and promotion; for I +see what afterwhile, if not presently, they would follow such a +salutation of thy pupil, if coupled with a sufficient explanation; but +his interests are paramount; at the same time it becomes me to be +allegiant to the divinatory stars. What rivalries the story might +awaken! It is not uncommon in history, as thou mayst know, that sons of +promise have been cut off by jealous fathers. I am not accusing the +great Amurath; nevertheless precautions are always proper." + +The speaker then became dramatic. + +"Nay, brave Emir, the will to help thee has been already seconded by +the deed. I spoke but now of lines of correspondence between the +shining lights that are the life of the sky at night. Let me illustrate +my meaning. Observe the lamps about us. The five on the uprights. +Between them, in the air, two stars of interwoven form are drawn. Take +the lamps as determining points, and use thy fancy a moment." + +The Emir turned to the lamps; and the host, swift to understand the +impulse, gave him time to gratify it; then he resumed: + +"So the fields of Heaven between the stars, where the vulgar see only +darkness, are filled with traceries infinite in form yet separable as +the letters of the alphabet. They are the ciphers in which Allah writes +his reasons for every creation, and his will concerning it. There the +sands are numbered, and the plants and trees, and their leaves, and the +birds, and everything animate; there is thy history, and mine, and all +of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. +Death does not blot out the records. Everlastingly writ, they shall be +everlastingly read--for the shame of some, for the delight of others." + +"Allah is good," said the Emir, bending his head. + +"And now," the Mystic continued, "thou hast eaten and drunk with me in +the Pentagram of the Magii. Such is the astral drawing between the five +lamps. Henceforth in conflicts of interest, fortune against fortune, +influences undreamt of will come to thy assistance. So much have I +already done for thee." + +The Emir bowed lower than before. + +"Nor that alone," the Jew continued. "Henceforth our lives will run +together on lines never divergent, never crossing. Be not astonished, +if, within a week, I furnish, to thy full satisfaction, proof of what I +am saying." + +The expression could not be viewed except as of more than friendly +interest. + +"Should it so happen," the Emir said, with warmth, "consider how +unfortunate my situation would be, not knowing the name or country of +my benefactor." + +The host answered simply, though evasively: + +"There are reasons of state, O Emir, requiring me to make this +pilgrimage unknown to any one." + +The Emir apologized. + +"It is enough," the host added, "that thou remember me as the Prince of +India, whose greatest happiness is to believe in Allah and Mahomet his +Prophet; at the same time I concede we should have the means of +certainly knowing each other should communication become desirable +hereafter." + +He made a sign with his right hand which the negro in waiting responded +to by passing around in front of him. + +"Nilo," the master said in Greek, "bring me the two malachite +rings--those with the turquoise eyes." + +The slave disappeared. + +"Touching the request to be released from the promise of secrecy, +pardon me, O Emir, if I decline to grant it. The verification to be +made in Constantinople should advise thee that the revolution to which +I referred is not ripe for publication to the world. A son might be +excused for dishonoring his parents; but the Magus who would subject +the divine science to danger of ridicule or contempt by premature +disclosure is fallen past hope--he would betray Allah himself." + +The Emir bowed, but with evident discontent. At length the slave +returned with the rings. + +"Observe, O Emir," the Jew said, passing them both to his guest, "they +are rare, curious, and exactly alike." + +The circlets were of gold, with raised settings of deep green stone, +cut so as to leave a drop of pure turquoise on the top of each, +suggestive of birds' eyes. + +"They are exactly the same, O Prince," said the Emir, tendering them +back. + +The Jew waved his hand. + +"Select one of them," he said, "and I will retain the other. Borne by +messengers, they will always identify us each to the other." + +The two grew more cordial, and there was much further conversation +across the board, interspersed with attentions to the fruit basket and +pomegranate water. About midnight the Emir took his departure. When he +was gone, the host walked to and fro a long time; once he halted, and +said aloud--"I hear his salute, 'Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of +Constantinople!' It is always well to have a store of strings for one's +bow." + +And to himself he laughed heartily. + +Next day at dawn the great caravan was afoot, every man, woman, and +child clad in _Ihram_, and whitening the pale green Valley. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT THE KAABA + + +The day before the pilgrimage. + +A cloud had hung over the valley where Mecca lies like drift in the bed +of a winding gorge. About ten o'clock in the morning the cloud +disappeared over the summit of Abu Kubays in the east. The promise of +rain was followed by a simoom so stifling that it plunged every +breathing thing into a struggle for air. The dogs burrowed in the shade +of old walls; birds flew about with open beaks; the herbage wilted, and +the leaves on the stunted shrubs ruffled, then rolled up, like drying +cinnamon. If the denizens of the city found no comfort in their houses +of stone and mud, what suffering was there for the multitude not yet +fully settled in the blistering plain beyond the bluffs of Arafat? + +The zealous pilgrim, obedient to the law, always makes haste to +celebrate his arrival at the Holy City by an immediate visit to the +Haram. If perchance he is to see the enclosure for the first time, his +curiosity, in itself pardonable, derives a tinge of piety from duty. +The Prince of India but illustrated the rule. He left his tents pitched +close to those of the Emir El Hajj and the Scherif of Mecca, under the +Mountain of Mercy, as Arafat was practically translated by the very +faithful. Having thus assured the safety of his property, for +conveniency and greater personal comfort he took a house with windows +looking into the Mosque. By so doing, he maintained the dignity of his +character as a Prince of India. The beggars thronging his door +furnished lively evidence of the expectations his title and greatness +had already excited. + +With a guide, his suite, and Nilo shading his head with an umbrella of +light green paper, the Prince appeared in front of the chief entrance +to the sacred square from the north. [Footnote: The Bab el Vzyadeh.] + +The heads of the party were bare; their countenances becomingly solemn; +their _Ihram_ fresh and spotlessly white. Passing slowly on, they were +conducted under several outside arches, and down a stairway into a +hall, where they left the umbrella and their shoes. + +The visitor found himself then in a cloister of the Mosque with which +the area around the Kaaba is completely enclosed. There was a pavement +of undressed flags, and to the right and left a wilderness of tall +pillars tied together by arches, which in turn supported domes. Numbers +of people, bareheaded and barefooted, to whom the heat outside was +insupportable, were in refuge there; some, seated upon the stones, +revolved their rosaries; others walked slowly about. None spoke. The +silence was a tribute to the ineffable sanctity of the place. The +refreshing shade, the solemn hush, the whiteness of the garments were +suggestive of sepulchres and their spectral tenantry. + +In the square whither the Prince next passed, the first object to +challenge his attention was the Kaaba itself. At sight of it he +involuntarily stopped. + +The cloisters, seen from the square, were open colonnades. Seven +minarets, belted in red, blue and yellow, arose in columnar relief +against the sky and the mountains in the south. A gravelled plot +received from the cloisters; next that, toward the centre, was a narrow +pavement of rough stone in transverse extension down a shallow step to +another gravelled plot; then another pavement wider than the first, and +ending, like it, in a downward step; after which there was a third +sanded plot, and then a third pavement defined by gilded posts +upholding a continuous row of lamps, ready for lighting at the going +down of the sun. The last pavement was of gray granite polished +mirror-like by the friction of millions of bare feet; and upon it, like +the pedestal of a monument upon a plinth, rested the base of the Holy +House, a structure of glassy white marble about two feet in height, +with a bench of sharp inclination from the top. At intervals it was +studded with massive brass rings. Upon the base the Kaaba rose, an +oblong cube forty feet tall, eighteen paces lengthwise, and fourteen in +breadth, shrouded all in black silk wholly unrelieved, except by one +broad band of the appearance of gold, and inscriptions from the Koran, +of a like appearance, wrought in boldest lettering. The freshness of +the great gloomy curtain told how quickly the gift of the Sultan had +been made available, and that whatever else might betide him, the young +Emir was already happily discharged of his trust. + +Of the details, the only one the Jew actually coupled with a thought +was the Kaaba. A hundred millions of human beings pray five times every +day, their faces turned to this funereal object! The idea, though +commonplace, called up that other always in waiting with him. In a +space too brief for the formulation of words, he felt the Arbitership +of his dreams blow away. The work of the founder of Islam was too well +done and now too far gone to be disturbed, except with the sanction of +God. Had he the sanction? A writhing of the soul, accompanied with a +glare, like lightning, and followed, like lightning, by an engulfing +darkness, wrung his features, and instinctively he covered them with +his hands. The guide saw the action, and misjudged it. + +"Let us not be in haste," he said. "Others before you have found the +House at first sight blinding. Blessed be Allah!" + +The commiseration affected the Prince strangely. The darkness, under +pressure of his hands upon the eyeballs, gave place to an atmosphere of +roseate light, in the fulness of which he saw the House of God +projected by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod. The realism of the +apparition was absolute, and comparison unavoidable. That he, familiar +with the glory of the conception of the Israelite, should be thought +blinded by this _Beit Allah_ of the Arab, so without grace of form or +lines, so primitive and expressionless, so palpably uninspired by +taste, or genius, or the Deity it was designed to honor, restored him +at once: indeed, in the succeeding reaction, he found it difficult to +keep down resentment. Dropping his hands, he took another survey of the +shrouded pile, and swept all the square under eye. + +He beheld a crowd of devotees at the northeast corner of the House, and +over their heads two small open structures which, from descriptions +often heard, he recognized as praying places. A stream of worshippers +was circling around the marble base of the Most Holy, some walking, +others trotting; these, arriving at the northeast corner, halted--the +Black Stone was there! A babel of voices kept the echoes of the +enclosure in unremitting exercise. The view taken, the Jew said, calmly: + +"Blessed be Allah! I will go forward." + +In his heart he longed to be in Constantinople--Islam, it was clear, +would lend him no ear; Christendom might be more amenable. + +He was carried next through the Gate of the Sons of the Old Woman; +thence to the space in front of the well Zem-Zem; mindful of the +prayers and prostrations required at each place, and of the dumb +servants who went with him. + +The famous well was surrounded by a throng apparently impassable. + +"Room for the Royal Hadji--for the Prince of India!" the guide yelled. +"There are no poor where he is--make way!" + +A thousand eyes sought the noble pilgrim; and as a path opened for him, +a score of _Zem-Zemis_ refilled their earthen cups with the bitter +water afresh. A Prince of Hind did not come to them every day. + +He tasted from a cup--his followers drank--and when the party turned +away there were jars paid for to help all the blind in the caravan back +to healthful vision. + +"There is no God but Allah! Be merciful to him, O Allah," the crowd +shouted, in approval of the charity. + +The press of pilgrims around the northeastern corner of the Kaaba, to +which the guide would have conducted the Prince next, was greater than +at the well. Each was waiting his turn to kiss the Black Stone before +beginning the seven circuits of the House. + +Never had the new-comer seen a concourse so wrought upon by fanaticism; +never had he seen a concourse so peculiarly constituted. All +complexions, even that of the interior African, were a reddish desert +tan. Eyes fiercely bright appeared unnaturally swollen from the +colirium with which they were generally stained. The diversities the +penitential costume would have masked were effectually exposed whenever +mouths opened for utterance. Many sang, regardless of time or melody, +the _tilbiye_ they had hideously vocalized in their advance toward the +city. For the most part, however, the effort at expression spent itself +in a long cry, literally rendered--"Thou hast called me--I am here! I +am here!" The deliverance was in the vernacular of the devotee, and low +or loud, shrill or hoarse, according to the intensity of the passion +possessing him. + +To realize the discordancy, the reader must recall the multiplicity of +the tribes and nations represented; then will he fancy the agitation of +the mass, the swaying of the white-clad bodies, the tossing of bare +arms and distended hands, the working of tearful faces turned up to the +black-curtained pile regardless of the smiting of the sun--here men on +their knees, there men grovelling on the pavement--yonder one beating +his breast till it resounds like an empty cask--some comprehension of +the living obstruction in front of the Jew can be had. + +Then the guide, calling him, tried the throng. + +"The Prince of India!" he shouted, at the top of his voice. "Room for +the beloved of the Prophet! Stand not in his way--Room, room!" + +After much persistence the object was achieved. A pilgrim, the last one +in front of the Prince, with arms extended along the two sides of the +angle of the wall where the curtain was looped up, seemed struggling to +embrace the House; suddenly, as in despair he beat his head frantically +against the sharp corner--a second thrust more desperate than the +first--then a groan, and he dropped blindly to the pavement. The guide +rejoicing made haste to push the Prince into the vacant place. + +Without the enthusiasm of a traveller, calmly as a philosopher, the +Jew, himself again, looked at the Stone which more nearly than any +other material thing commanded idolatrous regard from the Mohammedan +world. He had known personally most of the great men of that world--its +poets, lawmakers, warriors, ascetics, kings--even the Prophet. And now +they came one by one, as one by one they had come in their several +days, and kissed the insensate thing; and between the coming and going +time was scarcely perceptible. The mind has the faculty of compressing, +by one mighty effort, the incidents of a life, even of centuries, into +a flash-like reenactment. + +As all the way from the first view of the sanctuary to arrival at the +gate, and thence to this point, the Jew had promptly followed his +guide, especially in recitation of the prescribed prayers, he was about +to do so now; already his hands were raised. + +"Great God! O my God! I believe in Thee--I Believe in thy Book--I +believe in thy Word--I believe in thy Promise," the zealous prompter +said, and waited. + +For the first time the votary was slow to respond. How could he, at +such a juncture, refuse a thought to the Innumerables whose ghosts had +been rendered up in vain struggles to obey the law which required them +to come and make proof of faith before this Stone! The Innumerables, +lost at sea, lost in the desert--lost body and soul, as in their dying +they themselves had imagined! Symbolism! An invention of men--a +necessity of necromancers! God had his ministers and priests, the +living media of his will, but of symbols--nothing! + +"Great God! O my God!" the guide began again. A paroxysm of disgust +seized the votary. The Phariseeism in which he was born and bred, and +which he could no more outlive than he could outlive his body asserted +itself. + +In the crisis of the effort at self-control, he heard a groan, and, +looking down, saw the mad devotee at his feet. In sliding from the +shelf of the base, the man had been turned upon his back, so that he +was lying face upward. On the forehead there were two cruel wounds; and +the blood, yet flowing, had partially filled the hollows of the eyes, +making the countenance unrecognizable. + +"The wretch is dying," the Prince exclaimed. + +"Allah is merciful--let us attend to the prayers," the guide returned, +intent on business. + +"But he will die, if not helped." + +"When we have finished, the porters will come for him." + +The sufferer stirred, then raised a hand. + +"O Hadji--O Prince of India!" he said faintly, in Italian. + +The Wanderer bent down to get a nearer view. + +"It is the Yellow Air--save me!" + +Though hardly articulate, the words were full of light to the listener. + +"The virtues of the Pentagram endure," he said, with absolute +self-possession. "The week is not ended, and, lo!--I save him." + +Rising to his full stature, he glanced here and there over the throng, +as if commanding attention, and proclaimed: + +"A mercy of the Most Merciful! It is the Emir El Hajj." + +There was a general silence. Every man had seen the martial figure of +the young chief in his arms and armor, and on horseback; many of them +had spoken to him. + +"The Emir El Hajj--dying," passed rapidly from mouth to mouth. + +"O Allah!" burst forth in general refrain; after which the ejaculations +were all excerpted from prayers. + +"'O Allah! This is the place of him who flies to thee from +fire!--Shadow him, O Allah, in thy shadow!--Give him drink from the cup +of thy Prophet!'" + +A Bedouin, tall, almost black, and with a tremendous mouth open until +the red lining was exposed between the white teeth down to the larynx, +shouted shrilly the inscription on the marble over the breast of the +Prophet--"In the name of Allah! Allah have mercy upon him!"--and every +man repeated the words, but not one so much as reached a hand in help. + +The Prince waited--still the _Amins_, and prayerful ejaculations. Then +his wonder ceased. Not a pilgrim but envied the Emir--that he should +die so young was a pity--that he should die at the base of the +sanctuary, in the crowning act of the Hajj, was a grace of God. Each +felt Paradise stooping low to receive a martyr, and that its beatitude +was near. They trembled with ecstasy at hearing the gates opening on +their crystal hinges, and seeing light as from the robe of the Prophet +glimmering through them. O happy Emir! + +The Jew drew within himself. Compromise with such fanaticism was +impossible. Then, with crushing distinctness, he saw what had not +before occurred to him. In the estimation of the Mohammedan world, the +role of Arbiter was already filled; that which he thought of being, +Mahomet was. Too late, too late! In bitterness of soul he flung his +arms up and shouted: + +"The Emir is dying of the plague!" + +He would have found satisfaction in seeing the blatant crowd take to +its heels, and hie away into the cloisters and the world outside; not +one moved! + +"By Allah!" he shouted, more vehemently than before. "The Yellow Air +hath blown upon the Emir--is blowing upon you--Fly!" + +"_Amin! Amin!_--Peace be with thee, O Prince of Martyrs! O Prince of +the Happy! Peace be with thee, O Lion of Allah! O Lion of the Prophet!" +Such the answers returned him. + +The general voice became a howl. Surely here was something more than +fanaticism. Then it entered his understanding. What he beheld was Faith +exulting above the horrors of disease, above the fear of death--Faith +bidding Death welcome! His arms fell down. The crowd, the sanctuary, +the hopes he had built on Islam, were no more to him. He signed to his +three attendants, and they advanced and raised the Emir from the +pavement. + +"To-morrow I will return with thee, and complete my vows;" he said to +his guide. "For the present, lead out of the square to my house." + +The exit was effected without opposition. + +Next day the Emir, under treatment of the Prince, was strong enough to +tell his story. The plague had struck him about noon of the day +following the interview in the tent at El Zaribah. Determined to +deliver the gifts he had in keeping, and discharge his trust to the +satisfaction of his sovereign, he struggled resolutely with the +disease. After securing the Scherif's receipt he bore up long enough to +superintend the pitching his camp. Believing death inevitable, he was +carried into his tent, where he issued his final orders and bade his +attendants farewell. In the morning, though weak, half-delirious, his +faith the strongest surviving impulse, he called for his horse, and +being lifted into the saddle, rode to the city, resolved to assure +himself of the blessings of Allah by dying in the shadow of the +sanctuary. + +The Prince, listening to the explanation, was more than ever impressed +with the futility of attempting a compromise with people so devoted to +their religion. There was nothing for him but to make haste to +Constantinople, the centre of Christian sentiment and movement. There +he might meet encouragement and ultimate success. + +In the ensuing week, having performed the two pilgrimages, and seen the +Emir convalescent, he took the road again, and in good time reached +Jedda, where he found his ship waiting to convey him across the Red Sea +to the African coast. The embarkation was without incident, and he +departed, leaving a reputation odorous for sanctity, with numberless +witnesses to carry it into every quarter of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE + + +Uel, the son of Jahdai, was in the habit of carrying the letter +received from the mysterious stranger about with him in a breast +pocket. How many times a day he took it out for reexamination would be +difficult to say. Observing the appearance of signs of usage, he at +length wrapped it in an envelope of yellow silk. If he had thought less +of it, he would have resorted to plain linen. + +There were certain points in the missive which seemed of greater +interest to him than others. For example, the place whence it had been +addressed was an ever recurring puzzle; he also dwelt long upon the +sentence which referred so delicately to a paternal relationship. The +most exigent passages, however, were those relative to the time he +might look for the man's coming. As specially directed, he had taken +note of the day of the delivery of the letter, and was greatly +surprised to find the messenger had arrived the last day of the year +permitted him. The punctuality of the servant might be in imitation of +a like virtue of the master. If so, at the uttermost, the latter might +be expected six months after receipt of the letter. Or he might appear +within the six months. The journeys laid out were of vast distances, +and through wild and dangerous countries, and by sea as well. Only a +good traveller could survive them at all; to execute them in such brief +space seemed something superhuman. + +So it befell that the son of Jahdai was at first but little concerned. +The months--three, four, five--rolled away, and the sixth was close at +hand; then every day brought him an increase of interest. In fact, he +found himself looking for the arrival each morning, and at noon +promising it an event of the evening. + +November was the sixth and last month of the time fixed. The first of +that month passed without the stranger. Uel became anxious. The +fifteenth he turned the keeping of his shop over to a friend; and +knowing the passage from Alexandria must be by sea, he betook himself, +with Syama, to the port on the Golden Horn known as the Gate of St. +Peter, at the time most frequented by Egyptian sailing masters. In +waiting there, he saw the sun rise over the heights of Scutari, and it +was the morning of the very last day. Syama, meantime, occupied himself +in final preparation of the house for the reception. He was not +excited, like Uel, because he had no doubt of the arrival within the +period set. He was also positively certain of finding his master, when +at length he did appear, exactly as when he separated from him in +Cipango. He was used to seeing Time waste itself upon the changeless +man; he had even caught from him a kind of contempt for what other men +shrank from as dangers and difficulties. + +The site of the house has been described; it remains to give the reader +an idea of its interior. There were four rooms on the ground floor +furnished comfortably for servants, of whom the arrangement indicated +three besides Syama. The first floor was of three apartments +communicable by doorways with portieres of camel's hair. The furniture +was Roman, Greek, and Egyptian mixed. Of the three the middle chamber +was largest, and as its fittings were in a style of luxury supposed to +be peculiar to princes, the conclusion was fair that it was designed +for the proprietor's occupancy during his waking hours. A dark blue rug +clothed the floor. In the centre, upon a shield of clear copper, arose +a silver brazier. The arms and legs of the stools here and there on the +rug were carven in grotesque imitation of reptiles and animals of the +ultra dragonish mode. The divans against the walls were of striped +silk. In each corner stood a tall post of silvered bronze, holding at +the end of a graceful crook several lamps of Pompeiian model. A wide +window in the east end, filled with plants in bloom, admitted ample +light, which, glancing through the flowers, fell on a table dressed in +elegant cloth, and bearing a lacquered waiter garnished with cups of +metal and glass, and one hand-painted porcelain decanter for drinking +water. An enormous tiger-skin, the head intact and finished with +extraordinary realism, was spread on the floor in front of the table. +The walls were brilliant with fresh Byzantine frescoing. The air of the +room was faintly pervaded with a sweet incense of intoxicating effect +upon one just admitted to it. Indeed the whole interior partook of this +sweetness. + +The care of the faithful servant had not been confined to the rooms; he +had constructed a summer house upon the roof, knowing that when the +weather permitted his master would pass the nights there in preference +to the chambers below. This structure looked not unlike a modern +belfry, except that the pillars and shallow dome of the top were of +Moorish lightness. Thence, to a familiar, the heavens in the absence of +the sun would be an unrolled map. + +When the last touch of the preparation had been given, and Syama said +to himself, "He may come now," one point was especially +noticeable--nowhere in the house was there provision for a woman. + +The morning of the last day Syama accompanied Uel to the port +reluctantly. Feeling sure his master had not arrived in the night, he +left his friend on the watch, and returned home early. + +The noise and stir of business at the ancient landing were engaging. +With a great outcry, a vessel would be drawn up, and made fast, and the +unloading begun. A drove of donkeys, or a string of camels, or a mob of +porters would issue from the gate, receive the cargo and disappear with +it. Now and then a ship rounded the classic Point, its square sail bent +and all the oars at work: sweeping past Galata on the north side of the +Horn, then past the Fish Market Gate on the south, up it would come +gracefully as a flying bird; if there was place for it at the quay, +well; if not, after hovering around awhile, it would push out to a +berth in the open water. Such incidents were crises to Uel. To this one +and to that he would run with the question: + +"Where is she from?" + +If from the upper sea, he subsided; but if from the Marmora, he kept +eager lookout upon her, hoping to recognize in every disembarkee the +man he was expecting. + +That he had never seen the person was of little consequence. He had +thought of him so much awake, and seen him so repeatedly in dreams, he +was confident of knowing him at sight. Imagining a stranger's +appearance is for the most part a gentle tribute of respect; the +mistakes we make are for the most part ludicrous. + +No one answering the preconception came. Noon, and still no one; then, +cast down and disappointed, Uel went home, ate something, held the +usual childish dialogue with his little girl, and about mid afternoon +crossed the street to the new residence. Great was his astonishment at +finding a pyramid of coals glowing in the silver brazier, and the chill +already driven from the sitting-room. Here--there--upstairs, +downstairs--the signs were of present occupancy. For a moment he +thought the master had slipped by him or landed at some other port of +the city. + +"Is he here? Has he come?" he asked, excitedly, and Syama answered with +a shake of the head. + +"Then why the fire?" + +Syama, briefly waving his hand as if following the great Marmorean +lake, turned the finger ends into the other palm, saying plainly and +emphatically: + +"He is coming--he will be here directly." + +Uel smiled--faith could not be better illustrated--and it was so in +contrast with his own incredulity! + +He lingered awhile. Restlessness getting the mastery, he returned home, +reflecting on the folly of counting so implicitly upon the conclusion +to a day of a tour so vast. More likely, he thought, the traveller's +bones were somewhere whitening the desert, or the savages of Kash-Cush +had eaten him. He had heard of their cannibalism. + +Want of faith, however, did not prevent the shopkeeper from going to +his friend's house after supper. It was night, and dark, and the +chilling moisture of a winter wind blowing steadily from the Black Sea +charged the world outside with discomfort. The brazier with its heap of +living coals had astonished him before; now the house was all alight! +He hastened upstairs. In the sitting-room the lamps were burning, and +the illumination was brilliant. Syama was there, calm and smiling as +usual. + +"What--he is here?" Uel said, looking from door to door. + +The servant shook his head, and waved his hand negatively, as to say: + +"Not yet--be patient--observe me." + +To indulge his wonder, Uel took seat. Later on he tried to get from +Syama an explanation of his amazing confidence, but the latter's +substitute for speech was too limited and uncertain to be satisfactory. + +About ten o'clock Syama went below, and presently returned with food +and drink on a large waiter. + +"Ah, good Lord!" Uel thought. "He is making a meal ready. What a man! +What a master!" + +Then he gave attention to the fare, which was of wheaten wafers, cold +fowl, preserved fruits, and wine in a stoneware bottle. These Syama set +on a circular table not higher than the divan in front of which it was +drawn. A white napkin and a bowl for laving the fingers completed the +preparation, as Uel supposed. But no. Syama went below again, and +reappeared with a metal pot and a small wooden box. The pot he placed +on the coals in the brazier, and soon a delicate volume of steam was +pouring from the spout; after handling the box daintily as if the +contents were vastly precious, he deposited it unopened by the napkin +and bowl. Then, with an expression of content upon his face, he too +took seat, and surrendered himself to expectancy. The lisping of the +steam escaping from the pot on the fire was the only sound in the room. + +The assurance of the servant was contagious. Uel began to believe the +master would come. He was congratulating himself upon the precaution he +had taken in leaving a man at the port to conduct him rightly when he +heard a shuffling of feet below stairs. He listened startled. There +were several men in the company. Steps shook the floor. Uel and Syama +arose. + +The latter's countenance flushed with pleasure; giving one triumphal +glance at his friend, much as to say, There--did I not tell you so? he +walked forward quickly, and reached the head of the steps just as a +stranger finished their ascent. In a moment Syama was on his knees, +kissing the hand held out to him. Uel needed no prompter--it was the +master! + +If only on account of the mutuality of affection shown between the two, +the meeting was a pleasant sight. That feature, however, was lost to +the shopkeeper, who had no thought except of the master's appearance. +He had imagined him modelled after the popular conceptions of kings and +warriors--tall, majestic, awe-inspiring. He saw instead a figure rather +undersized, slightly stoop-shouldered, thin; at least it seemed so +then, hid as it was under a dark brown burnoose of the amplitude +affected by Arab sheiks. The head was covered by a woollen handkerchief +of reddish tint, held by a scarlet cord. The edge of the handkerchief +projected over the forehead enough to cast the entire face in shade, +leaving to view only a mass of white beard overflowing the breast. + +The master ended the reception at the head of the stairs by gently +raising Syama to his feet. Then he subjected the room to a swift +inspection, and, in proof of satisfaction, he patted the happy retainer +on the shoulder. Invited by the fire, and the assurance of comfort in +its glow, he advanced to the brazier, and while extending his hands +over it, observed Uel. Without surprise or hesitation he walked to him. + +"Son of Jahdai!" he said, offering his hand. + +The voice was of exceeding kindness. As an overture to peace and +goodwill, it was reenforced by very large eyes, the intense blackness +of which was softened by a perceptible glow of pleasure. Uel was won on +the instant. A recollection of the one supreme singularity of the new +acquaintance--his immunity from death--recurred to him, and he could +not have escaped its effect had he wished. He was conscious also that +the eyes were impressing him. Without distinct thought, certainly +without the slightest courtierly design, he obeyed the impulse of the +moment, and stooped and touched the extended hand with his lips. And +before rising he heard the beginning of further speech: + +"I see the truth of my judgment. The family of my ancient friends has +trodden the ways of righteousness under the commandments of the Lord +until it has become a kind unto itself. I see too my trust has been +verified. O Son of Jahdai, you did assist my servant, as I requested, +and to your kindness, doubtless, I am indebted for this home full of +comforts after a long absence among strangers. I hold you my creditor." + +The tendency of the speech was to relieve Uel of embarrassment. + +"Do not thank me," he answered. "The business was ordinary, and +strictly within Syama's capacity. Indeed, the good man could have +finished it without my help." + +The master, rich in experience, noticed the deferential manner of the +reply, and was agreeably assured on his side. + +"Very well. There will be no harm in reserving an opinion," he said. +"The good man, as you call him, is making ready a drink with which he +has preceded me from his country, and which you must stay and share, as +it is something unknown in the West." + +"Let me first welcome you here," Uel returned. + +"Oh, I saw the welcome in your face. But let us get nearer the fire. +The night is chilling. If I were owner of a garden under whatever hill +along the Bosphorus, verily I should tremble for my roses." + +Thus briefly, and in such simple manner, the wise Mystic put the +shopkeeper perfectly at ease. + +At the brazier they watched Syama in the operation since become of +universal knowledge under title of "drawing tea." The fragrance of the +decoction presently filled the room to the suppression of the incense, +and they drank, ate, and were sociable. The host outlined his travels. +Uel, in return, gave him information of the city. When the latter +departed, it was with a light heart, and an elastic step; the white +beard and patriarchal manner of the man had laid his fears, and the +future was to him like a cloudless sky. + +Afterwhile the master signified a wish to retire; whereupon his +household came, as was their wont, to bid him good-night. Of these +there were two white men. At sight of Syama, they rushed to embrace him +as became brethren of old acquaintance long in the same service. A +third one remained at the door. Syama looked at him, and then at the +master; for the man was a stranger. Then the Jew, with quick intuition +of the requirement of the time, went, and took him by the hand, and led +him to the others. Addressing Syama, he said gravely: + +"This is Nilo, son of the Nilo whom you knew. As you held the father in +love, so you shall hold the son." + +The man was young, very black, and gigantic in stature. Syama embraced +him as he had the others. + +In the great city there was not a more united household under roof than +that of the shopkeeper's friend. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PRINCE AT HOME + + +A wise man wishing to know another always attends him when he is in +narrative. The reader may be familiar with the principle, and a +believer in it; for his better satisfaction, therefore, a portion of +the Prince's conversation with Uel over the tea-table the night of his +arrival in Constantinople shall be reported nearly as possible in his +own words. It will be found helpful to the story as well as an expose +of character. + +"I said in my letter, as thou mayst remember, O son of Jahdai"--the +voice of the speaker was low, but earnest, and admirably in harmony +with the sentiment, "that I hoped thou wouldst allow me to relate +myself to thee as father to son. Thou hast not forgotten it, I am sure." + +"I recall it distinctly," Uel answered, respectfully. + +"Thou wilt remember not less clearly then that I added the words, 'in +all things a help, in nothing a burden.'" + +Uel assented. + +"The addition I thought of great importance," the Prince continued; +"for it was very desirable that thou shouldst not imagine me coming to +sit down upon thee, and in idleness fatten upon the fruits of thy +industry. As something of even greater importance, thou shouldst know +now, at this earliest moment of our intercourse, that I am abundantly +able from what I have of goods and treasure to keep any condition I may +choose to assume. Indeed thou shouldst not be too much astonished did I +practise the style and manner of the nobles who are privileged in the +palaces of thy Caesar. At home I shall be as thou seest me now, thy +friend of simplest habits, because my tastes really incline to them; +when I go abroad, the officials of the Church and State whom I chance +to encounter shall be challenged to comparison of appearance, and be +piqued to inquire about me. Then when the city observes thou art +intimate with me, the demand for thy wares will increase; thou mayst +even be put to stress to keep apace with it. In speaking thus, I trust +thy natural shrewdness, sharpened as it must have become by much +dealing as a merchant." + +He paused here to give his cup to Syama for replenishment; whereupon +Uel said: "I have followed thy discourse with interest, and I hope with +understanding; yet I am conscious of a disadvantage. I do not know thy +name, nor if thou hast a title." + +"Yes, and thou mightest have set down in the table of defaults," the +Wanderer began pleasantly in reply, but broke off to receive the cup +smoking hot from the servant, and say--"Thanks, Syama. I see thy hand +hath not lost its deftness; neither has the green leaf suffered from +its long journey over the sea." + +Uel noticed with what intentness Syama watched the master's lips while +he was speaking, and the gratification that beamed from his face in +answer to the compliment; and he thought, "Verily this must be a good +man to be so beloved by his dependents." + +"I was saying, O son of Jahdai, that thou mightest have set down the +other points of information equally necessary to our +intercourse--Whence I come? And why? And I will not leave thee in the +dark respecting them. Only let me caution thee--It is not required that +the public should be taken into our confidence. I have seen a flower +good to look upon, but viscous, and with a scent irresistible to +insects. That flower represents the world; and what is the folly of its +victims but the madness of men who yield themselves with too easy faith +to the seductions of the world? Nay, my son--observe thou the term--I +use it to begin the relationship I seek--observe also I begin the +relationship by confidences which were unwisely given without the +injunction that they are intended to be put away in thy +inner-conscience. Tell me if I am understood." + +The question was emphasized by a look whose magnetism thrilled Uel's +every nerve. + +"I believe I understand you," he replied. + +Then, as if the Prince knew the effect he had wrought, and that it +relieved him from danger of betrayal, he returned to his former easy +manner. + +"And yet, as thou shalt see, my son, the confidences are not +crimes--But thy cup is empty, and Syama waiting for it." + +"The drink is new to me," Uel replied, yielding to the invitation. + +"New? And wilt thou not also say it is better than wine? The world of +which we are talking, will one day take up the admission, and be +happier of it." + +Turning then to serious matter: + +"Afterwhile," he said, "thou wilt be importuned by the curious to know +who I am, and thou shouldst be able to answer according to the fact--He +is a Prince of India. The vulgar will be satisfied with the reply. +Others will come demanding more. Refer them to me. As to thyself, O son +of Jahdai, call me as I have instructed thee to speak of me--call me +Prince. At the same time I would have thee know that on my eighth day I +was carried into a temple and registered a son of a son of Jerusalem. +The title I give thee for my designation did not ennoble me. The +birthright of a circumcised heritor under the covenant with Israel is +superior to every purely human dignity whatever its derivation." + +"In other words, O Prince, thou art"--Uel hesitated. + +"A Jew!" the other answered promptly--"A Jew, as thy father was--as +thou art." + +The look of pleasure that appeared on the shopkeeper's face was swiftly +interpreted by the Prince, who felt he had indeed evoked a tie of +blood, and bound the man with it. + +"So much is despatched," he said, with evident satisfaction; then, +after a draught from the tea-cup, and a re-delivery to Syania for more, +he continued: "Possibly thou wilt also remember my letter mentions a +necessity for my crossing from India to Mecca on the way to Kash-Cush, +and that, despite the stoppage, I hoped to greet thee in person within +six months after Syama reported himself. How stands the time?" + +"This is the last day of the six months," Uel answered. + +"Yes, there was never man"--the Prince paused, as if the thought were +attended with a painful recollection--"never a man," he presently +resumed, "who kept account of time more exactly than myself." + +A copious draught of tea assuaged the passing regret. + +"I wrote the letter while in Cipango, an island of the great eastern +sea. Thirty years after I set foot upon its shore, theretofore +unvisited by a white man, a countryman of ours from this city, the sole +survivor of a shipwreck, joined me. From him I heard of thy father's +death. He also gave me thy name.... My life on the island was +comparatively untroubled. Indeed, for thy perfect comprehension, my +son, it is best to make an explanation now; then thou wilt have a key +to many things in my conduct to come as well as conduct gone which +would otherwise keep thee in doubtful reflection. The study of greatest +interest is religion. I have travelled the world over--I mean the +inhabited parts--and in its broad extent there is not a people without +worship of some kind. Wherefore my assertion, that beyond the arts, +above the sciences, above commerce, above any or all other human +concernments, religion is the superlative interest. It alone is divine. +The study of it is worship. Knowledge of it is knowledge of God. Can as +much be said of any other subject?" + +Uel did not answer; he was following the speech too intently, and the +Prince, seeing it, drank again, and proceeded: + +"The divine study took me to Cipango. Fifty years thou mayst say to +thyself was a long term in such a country. Not so, my son. I found +there two faiths; the one Sin-Siu, which I turned my back upon as +mythologic, without the poetry of the Greek and Roman; the other--well, +a life given to the laws of Buddha were well spent. To say truth, there +is such similitude between them and the teachings of him we are in the +habit of calling the carpenter's son that, if I did not know better, it +were easy to believe the latter spent the years of his disappearance in +some Buddhistic temple.... Leaving explanation to another time, the +same study carried me to Mecca. The binding of men, the putting yokes +about their necks, trampling them in the dust, are the events supposed +most important and therefore most noticeable in history; but they are +as nothing in comparison with winning belief in matters indeterminable +by familiar tests. The process there is so mysterious, the achievement +so miraculous that where the operator is vastly successful one may well +look under them for the permission of God. The day was when Islamism +did but stir contemptuous laughter; now it is the faith acceptable to +more men than any other. Is it not worthy the vigils of a student? And +then it happens, my son, that in the depths of their delusion, people +sometimes presume to make their own gods, and reform them or cast them +out. Deities have been set up or thrown down by their makers in the +changes of a moon. I wanted to see if such calamity had befallen the +Allah of Mahomet.... My going to Kash-Cush was on what thou wouldst +call business, and of it I will also tell thee. At Jedda, whither I +betook myself after making the pilgrimages at Mecca, I regained my +ship, and descended the Red Sea, landing at a village on the extreme +inland shore of the bay of Tajurrah, below the Straits of +Bab-el-Mandel. I was then in Kash-Cush. From the village on the coast, +I passed into the interior, travelling in a litter on the shoulders of +native porters, and, after many days, reached my destination--a +collection of bungalows pitched on the bank of a tributary of the Blue +Nile called the Dedhesa. The journey would have been difficult and +tedious but that one of my attendants--a black man--had been king of +the tribe I sought. His name was Nilo, and his tribe paramount +throughout the uncivilized parts of Kash-Cush. More than fifty years +before,--prior, in fact, to my setting out for Cipango,--I made the +same tour, and found the king. He gave me welcome; and so well did he +please me that I invited him to share my wanderings. He accepted the +proposal upon condition that in his old age he should be returned home, +and exchanged for a younger man of his blood. I agreed, provided one +younger could be found who, besides the requisite physique and the +virtues of intellect and courage, was also deaf and dumb, like himself. +A treaty was thus perfected. I call it a treaty as distinct from a +purchase, for Nilo was my friend and attendant--my ally, if you +please--never my slave. There was a reception for us the like of which +for feasting and merriment was without mention in the traditions of the +tribe. A grandson filled my friend's throne; but he gave it back to +him, and voluntarily took his place with me. Thou shalt see him +to-morrow. I call him Nilo, and spend the morning hours teaching him to +talk; for while he keeps me reminded of a Greek demi-god--so tall, +strong and brave is he--he is yet deaf and dumb, and has to be taught +as Syama was. When thou hast to do with him be gentle and courteous. I +wish it kept in mind he is my friend and ally, bound to me by treaty as +his grandfather was.... The only part of the tour given thee in my +letter which I omitted was the descent of the Nile. Having performed it +before, my curiosity was sated, and I allowed my impatience to be in +thy city here to determine my course. I made way back to the village on +the bay of Tajurrah where, in anticipation of such a change, my vessel +was held in detention. Thence, up the sea and across the Isthmus, I +proceeded to Alexandria, and to-night happily find myself at home, in +hope of rest for my body and renewal of my spirit." + +With this, the explanation appeared concluded; for the Prince notified +Syama that he did not desire more tea, and lapsed into a thoughtful +silence. Presently Uel arose, saying: "You must be weary. With +permission I will take my leave now. I confess you have given me much +to think over, and made me happy by taking me into your confidence. If +it be agreeable, I will call at noon to-morrow." + +The Prince went with him to the head of the stairs, and there bade him +peace and good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROSE OF SPRING + + +The Prince, as the Jew preferred to be called, kept his house closely +quite a month, resting, not hibernating. He took exercise daily on the +flat roof; and walking to and fro there, found three objects of +attraction: the hill to the southwest with the church upon it, the +Palace of Blacherne off further in the west, and the Tower of Galata. +The latter, across the Golden Horn in the north, arose boldly, like a +light-house on a cliff; yet, for a reason--probably because it had +connection with the subject of his incessant meditations--he paused +oftenest to gaze at the Palace. + +He was in his study one day deeply absorbed. The sun, nearing meridian, +poured a stream of white light through the south window, flooding the +table at which he sat. That the reader may know something of the paths +the Mystic most frequented when in meditation, we will make free with +one of the privileges belonging to us as a chronicler. + +The volume directly in front of him on the table, done in olive wood +strengthened at the corners with silver, was near two feet in length, +and one and a half in width; when closed, it would be about one foot +thick. Now he had many wonderful rare and rich _antiques_, but none so +the apple of his eye as this; for it was one of the fifty Holy Bibles +of Greek transcription ordered by Constantine the Great. + +At his right, held flat by weights, were the _Sacred Books_ of China, +in form a roll of broad-leafed vellum. + +At his left, a roll somewhat similar in form and at the moment open, +lay the _Rig-Veda_ of the Aryans in Sanscrit. + +The fourth book was the _Avesta_ of Zoroaster--a collection of MSS. +stitched together, and exquisitely rendered by Parse devas into the +Zend language. + +A fifth book was the _Koran_. + +The arrangement of the volumes around the Judean Bible was silently +expressive of the student's superior respect; and as from time to time, +after reading a paragraph from one of the others, he returned to the +great central treasure, it was apparent he was making a close +comparison of texts with reference to a particular theme, using the +Scriptures as a standard. Most of the time he kept the forefinger of +his left hand on what is now known as the fourteenth verse of the third +chapter of Exodus--"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he +said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent +me unto you." If, as the Prince himself had declared, religion were +indeed the study of most interest to the greatest number of men, he was +logically consistent in comparing the definitions of _God_ in the +Bibles of theistic nations. So had he occupied himself since morning. +The shrewd reader will at once discern the theme of his comparative +study. + +At length he grew weary of bending over the books, and of the +persistent fixedness of attention required for the pursuit of fine +shades of meaning in many different languages. He threw his arms up in +aid of a yawn, and turned partly around, his eyes outrunning the +movement of his body. The half-introverted glance brightened with a +gleam, and remained fixed, while the arms dropped down. He could only +look in wonder at what he saw--eyes black and almost large as his own +gazing at him in timid surprise. Beholding nothing but the eyes, he had +the awesome feeling which attends imagining a spirit suddenly risen; +then he saw a forehead low, round, and white, half shaded by fluffs of +dark hair; then a face of cherubic color and regularity, to which the +eyes gave an indefinable innocency of expression. + +Every one knows the effect of trifles on the memory. A verse or a word, +the smell of a flower, a lock of hair, a turn in music, will not merely +bring the past back, but invest it with a miraculous recurrency of +events. The Prince's gaze endured. He stretched his hand out as if +fearful lest what he saw might vanish. The gesture was at once an +impulse and an expression. There was a time--tradition says it was the +year in which he provoked the curse--when he had wife and child. To one +of them, possibly both, the eyes then looking into his might have +belonged. The likeness unmanned him. The hand he stretched forth fell +lightly upon the head of the intruder. + +"What are you?" he said. + +The vagueness of the expression will serve excellently as a definition +of his condition; at the same time it plunged the child addressed into +doubt. Presently she answered: + +"I am a little girl." + +Accepting the simplicity of the reply as evidence of innocency too +extreme for fear, he took the visitor in his arms, and sat her on his +knee. + +"I did not mean to ask what you are, but who?" he said. + +"Uel is my father." + +"Uel? Well, he is my friend, and I am his; therefore you and I should +be friends. What is your name?" + +"He calls me Gul Bahar." + +"Oh! That is Turkish, and means Rose of Spring. How came you by it?" + +"My mother was from Iconium." + +"Yes--where the Sultans used to live." + +"And she could speak Turkish." + +"I see! Gul Bahar is an endearment, not a real name." + +"My real name is Lael." + +The Prince paled from cheek to brow; his lips trembled; the arm +encircling her shook; and looking into his eyes, she saw tears dim +them. After a long breath, he said, with inexpressible tenderness, and +as if speaking to one standing just behind her--"Lael!" Then, the tears +full formed, he laid his forehead on her shoulder so his white hair +blent freely with her chestnut locks; and sitting passively, but +wondering, she heard him sob and sob again and again, like another +child. Soon, from pure sympathy, unknowing why, she too began sobbing. +Several minutes passed thus; then, raising his face, and observing her +responsive sorrow, he felt the need of explanation. + +"Forgive me," he said, kissing her, "and do not wonder at me. I am +old--very old--older than thy father, and there have been so many +things to distress me which other men know nothing of, and never can. I +had once"-- + +He stopped, repeated the long breath, and gazed as at a far object. + +"I too had once a little girl." + +Pausing, he dropped his eyes to hers. + +"How old are you?" + +"Next spring I shall be fourteen," she answered. + +"And she was just your age, and so like you--so small, and with such +hair and eyes and face; and she was named Lael. I wanted to call her +_Rimah_, for she seemed a song to me; but her mother said, as she was a +gift from the Lord, she wanted in the fulness of days to give her back +to him, and that the wish might become a covenant, she insisted on +calling her Lael, which, in Hebrew--thy father's tongue and mine--means +To God." + +The child, listening with all her soul, was now not in the least afraid +of him; without waiting, she made the application. + +"You loved her, I know," she said + +"How much--Oh, how much!" + +"Where is she now?" + +"At Jerusalem there was a gate called the Golden Gate. It looked to the +east. The sun, rising over the top of Mount Olivet, struck the plates +of gold and Corinthian brass more precious than gold, so it seemed one +rosy flame. The dust at its rocky sill, and the ground about it are +holy. There, deep down, my Lael lies. A stone that tasked many oxen to +move it covers her; yet, in the last day, she will be among the first +to rise--Of such excellence is it to be buried before that Golden Gate." + +"Oh! she is dead!" the child exclaimed. + +"She is dead;" and seeing her much affected, he hastened to say, "I +shed many tears thinking of her. Ah, how gentle and truthful she was! +And how beautiful! I cannot forget her. I would not if I could; but you +who look so like her will take her place in my heart now, and love me +as she did; and I will love you even as I loved her. I will take you +into my life, believing she has come again. In the morning I will ask +first, Where is my Lael? At noon, I will demand if the day has been +kind to her; and the night shall not be half set in except I know it +has brought her the sweetness of sleep. Will you be my Lael?" + +The question perplexed the child, and she was silent. + +Again he asked, "Will you be my Lael?" + +The earnestness with which he put the question was that of a hunger +less for love than an object to love. The latter is not often accounted +a passion, yet it creates necessities which are peremptory as those of +any passion. One of the incidents of the curse he was suffering was +that he knew the certainty of the coming of a day when he must be a +mourner for whomsoever he should take into his heart, and in this way +expiate whatever happiness the indulgence might bring him. Nevertheless +the craving endured, at times a positive hunger. In other words, his +was still a human nature. The simplicity and beauty of the girl were +enough to win him of themselves; but when she reminded him of the other +asleep under a great rock before the gate of the Holy City, when the +name of the lost one was brought to him so unexpectedly, it seemed +there had been a resurrection, making it possible for him to go about +once more as he was accustomed to in his first household. A third time +he asked, "You will be my Lael?" + +"Can I have two fathers?" she returned. + +"Oh, yes!" he answered quickly. "One in fact, the other by adoption; +and they can both love you the same." + +Immediately her face became a picture of childish trust. + +"Then I will be your Lael too." + +He clasped her close to his breast, and kissed her, crying: + +"My Lael has come back to me! God of my fathers, I thank thee!" + +She respected his emotion, but at length, with her hand upon his +shoulder, said: + +"You and my father are friends, and thinking he came here, I came too." + +"Is he at home?" + +"I think so." + +"Then we will go to him. You cannot be my Lael without his consent." + +Presently, hand in hand, they descended the stairs, crossed the street, +and were in the shopkeeper's presence. + +The room was plainly but comfortably furnished as became the +proprietor's fortune and occupation. Closer acquaintance, it is to be +said, had dissipated the latent dread, which, as has been seen, marked +Uel's first thought of intimacy between the stranger and the child. +Seeing him old, and rich, and given to study, not to say careless of +ordinary things, the father was beginning to entertain the idea that it +might in some way be of advantage to the child could she become an +object of interest to him. Wherefore, as they entered now, he received +them with a smile. + +Traces of the emotion he had undergone were in the Prince's face, and +when he spoke his voice was tremulous. + +"Son of Jahdai," he said, standing, "I had once a wife and child. They +perished-how and when, I cannot trust myself to tell. I have been +faithful to their memory. From the day I lost them, I have gone up and +down the world hunting for many things which I imagined might renew the +happiness I had from them. I have been prodigal of gratitude, +admiration, friendship, and goodwill, and bestowed them singly and +together, and often; but never have I been without consciousness of +something else demanding to be given. Happiness is not all in +receiving. I passed on a long time before it came to me that we are +rich in affections not intended for hoarding, and that no one can be +truly content without at least one object on which to lavish them. +Here"--and he laid his hand on the child's head--"here is mine, found +at last." + +"Lael is a good girl," Uel said with pride. + +"Yes, and as thou lovest her let me love her," the Prince responded. +Then, seeing Uel become serious, he added, "To help thee to my meaning, +Lael was my child's name, and she was the image of this one; and as she +died when fourteen, thy Lael's age, it is to me as if the tomb had +miraculously rendered its victim back to me." + +"Prince," said Uel, "had I thought she would not be agreeable to you, I +should have been sorry." + +"Understand, son of Jahdai," the other interposed, "I seek more of thee +than thy permission to love her. I want to do by her as though she were +mine naturally." + +"You would not take her from me?" + +"No. That would leave thee bereft as I have been. Like me, thou wouldst +then go up and down looking for some one to take her place in thy +heart. Be thou her father still; only let me help thee fashion her +future." + +"Her birthrights are humble," the shopkeeper answered, doubtfully; for +while in his secret heart he was flattered, his paternal feeling +started a scruple hard to distinguish from fear. + +A light shone brightly in the eyes of the elder Jew, and his head arose. + +"Humble!" he said. "She is a daughter of Israel, an inheritor of the +favor of the Lord God, to whom all things are possible. He keeps the +destinies of his people. He--not thou or I--knows to what this little +one may come. As we love her, let us hope the happiest and the highest, +and prepare her for it. To this end it were best you allow her to come +to me as to another father. I who teach the deaf and dumb to +speak--Syama and Nilo the elder--will make her a scholar such as does +not often grace a palace. She shall speak the Mediterranean tongues. +There shall be no mysteries of India unknown to her. Mathematics shall +bring the heavens to her feet. Especially shall she become wise in the +Chronicles of God. At the same time, lest she be educated into +unfitness for the present conditions of life, and be unsexed, thou +shalt find a woman familiar with society, and instal her in thy house +as governess and example. If the woman be also of Israel, so much the +better; for then we may expect faithfulness without jealousy. And +further, son of Jahdai, be niggardly in nothing concerning our Lael. +Clothe her as she were the King's daughter. At going abroad, which she +shall do with me in the street and on the water, I would have her +sparkle with jewels, the observed of everybody, even the Emperor. And +ask not doubtingly, 'Whence the money for all this?' I will find it. +What sayest thou now?" + +Uel did not hesitate. + +"O Prince, as thou dost these things for her--so far beyond the best I +can dream of--take her for thine, not less than mine." + +With a beaming countenance, the elder raised the child, and kissed her +on the forehead. + +"Dost hear?" he said to her. "Now art thou my daughter." + +She put her arms about his neck, then held them out to Uel, who took +her, and kissed her, saying: + +"Oh my Gul Bahar!" + +"Good!" cried the Prince. "I accept the name. To distinguish the living +from the dead, I too will call her my Gul Bahar." + +Thereupon the men sat, and arranged the new relation, omitting nothing +possible of anticipation. + +Next day the Prince's house was opened with every privilege to the +child. A little later on a woman of courtly accomplishment was found +and established under Uel's roof as governess. Thereupon the Mystic +entered upon a season during which he forgot the judgment upon him, and +all else save Gul Bahar, and the scheme he brought from Cipango. He was +for the time as other men. In the lavishment of his love, richer of its +long accumulation, he was faithful to his duty of teacher, and was +amply rewarded by her progress in study. + + + + +BOOK III + +THE PRINCESS IRENE + + +CHAPTER I + +MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS + + +Our narrative proceeds now from a day in the third year after Lael, the +daughter of the son of Jahdai, dropped into the life of the Prince of +India--a day in the vernal freshness of June. + +From a low perch above the mountain behind Becos, the sun is delivering +the opposite European shore of the Bosphorus from the lingering shades +of night. Out on the bosom of the classic channel vessels are swinging +lazily at their anchorages. The masthead of each displays a flag +bespeaking the nationality of the owner; here a Venetian, there a +Genoese, yonder a Byzantine. Tremulous flares of mist, rising around +the dark hulls, become entangled in the cordage, and as if there were +no other escape, resolve themselves into air. Fisher boats are bringing +their owners home from night-work over in the shallows of Indjerkeui. +Gulls and cormorants in contentious flocks, drive hither and thither, +turning and tacking as the schools of small fish they are following +turn and tack down in the warm blue-green depths to which they are +native. The many wings, in quick eccentric motion, give sparkling life +to the empurpled distance. + +The bay of Therapia, on the same European shore over against Becos, was +not omitted from rescue by the sun. Within its lines this morning the +ships were in greater number than out in the channel--ships of all +grades, from the sea going commercial galley to the pleasure shallop +which, if not the modern _caique_, was at least its ante-type in +lightness and grace. + +And as to the town, one had but to look at it to be sure it had +undergone no recent change--that in the day of Constantine Dragases it +was the same summer resort it had been in the day of Medea the +sorceress--the same it yet is under sway of the benignant Abdul-Hamid. + +From the lower point northwardly jutting finger-like into the current +of the channel, the beach swept in a graceful curve around to the base +of the promontory on the south. Then as now children amused themselves +gathering the white and black pebbles with which it was strewn, and +danced in and out with the friendly foam-capped waves. Then as now the +houses seemed tied to the face of the hill one above another in +streetless disarrangement; insomuch that the stranger viewing them from +his boat below shuddered thinking of the wild play which would ensue +did an earthquake shake the hill ever so lightly. + +And then as now the promontory south served the bay as a partial +land-lock. Then as now it arose boldly a half mountain densely +verdurous, leaving barely space enough for a roadway around its base. +Then as now a descending terrace of easy grade and lined with rock pine +trees of broadest umbrella tops, slashed its whole townward front. +Sometime in the post-Medean period a sharp-eyed Greek discerned the +advantages it offered for aesthetic purposes, and availed himself of +them; so that in the age of our story its summit was tastefully +embellished with water basins, white-roofed pavilions, and tessellated +pavements Roman style. Alas, for the perishability of things human! And +twice alas, that the beautiful should ever be the most perishable! + +But it is now to be said we have spoken thus of the Bosphorus, and the +bay and town of Therapia, and the high promontory, as accessories +merely to a plot of ground under the promontory and linked to it by the +descending terrace. There is no word fitly descriptive of the place. +Ravine implies narrowness; gorge signifies depth; valley means width; +dell is too toylike. A summer retreat more delicious could not be +imagined. Except at noon the sun did but barely glance into it. +Extending hundreds of yards back from the bay toward the highlands west +of the town, it was a perfected garden of roses and flowering vines and +shrubs, with avenues of boxwood and acacias leading up to ample +reservoirs hidden away in a grove of beeches. The water flowing thence +became brooks or was diverted to enliven fountains. One pipe carried it +in generous flow to the summit of the promontory. In this leafy Eden +the birds of the climate made their home the year round. There the +migratory nightingale came earliest and lingered longest, singing in +the day as well as in the night. There one went regaled with the breath +of roses commingled with that of the jasmine. There the bloom of the +pomegranate flashed through the ordered thicket like red stars; there +the luscious fig, ripening in its "beggar's jacket," offered itself for +the plucking; there the murmur of the brooks was always in the +listening ear. + +Along the whole front of the garden, so perfectly a poet's ideal, +stretched a landing defended from the incessant swash of the bay by a +stone revetment. There was then a pavement of smoothly laid flags, and +then a higher wall of dark rubble-work, coped with bevelled slabs. An +open pavilion, with a bell-fashioned dome on slender pillars, all of +wood red painted, gave admission to the garden. Then a roadway of gray +pebbles and flesh-tinted shells invited a visitor, whether afoot or on +horseback, through clumps of acacias undergrown with carefully tended +rosebushes, to a palace, which was to the garden what the central jewel +is to the cluster of stones on "my lady's" ring. + +Standing on a tumulus, a little removed from the foot of the +promontory, the palace could be seen from cornice to base by voyagers +on the bay, a quadrangular pile of dressed marble one story in height, +its front relieved by a portico of many pillars finished in the purest +Corinthian style. A stranger needed only to look at it once, glittering +in the sun, creamy white in the shade, to decide that its owner was of +high rank--possibly a noble--possibly the Emperor himself. + +It was the country palace of the Princess Irene, of whom we will now +speak.[Footnote: During the Crimean war a military hospital was built +over the basement vaults and cisterns of the palace here described. The +hospital was destroyed by fire. For years it was then known as the +"Khedive's Garden," being a favorite resort for festive parties from +the capital. At present the promontory and the retreat it shelters +pertain to the German Embassy, a munificent gift from His Majesty, +Sultan Abdul-Hamid.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PRINCESS IRENE [Footnote: This name is of three syllables, and is +pronounced as if spelled E-ren-ay; the last syllable to rhyme with day, +say, may.] + + +During the reign of the last Manuel, in 1412, as a writer has placed +the incident--that is to say, about thirty-nine years prior to the +epoch occupying us--a naval battle occurred between the Turks and +Christians off Plati, one of the Isles of the Princes. The issue was of +interest to all the peoples who were in the habit of commercial resort +in the region, to the Venetians and Genoese as well as the Byzantines. +To the latter it was of most vital moment, since defeat would have +brought them a serious interruption of communication with the islands +which still remained to the Emperor and the powers in the West upon +which their dependency grew as year after year their capacity for +self-defence diminished. + +The Turkish ships had been visible in the offing several days. At last +the Emperor concluded to allow his mariners to go out and engage them. +His indecision had been from a difficulty in naming a commander. The +admiral proper was old and inexperienced, and his fighting impulses, +admitting they had ever really existed, had been lost in the habitudes +of courtierly life. He had become little more than a ceremonial marker. +The need of the hour was a genuine sailor who could manoeuvre a +squadron. On that score there was but one voice among the seamen and +with the public-- + +"Manuel--give us Manuel!" + +The cry, passing from the ships to the multitude in the city, assailed +the palace. + +The reader should understand the Manuel wanted was not the Emperor, but +one of his brothers who could lay no claim to birth in the purple. His +mother had not been a lawful spouse; yet the Manuel thus on the tongues +of the many had made a hero of himself. He proved his temper and +abilities in many successful affairs on the sea, and at length became a +popular idol; insomuch that the imperial jealousy descended upon him +like a cloud, and hid him away. Nor could his admirers say he lived; he +had a palace and a family, and it was not known that any of the +monasteries in the city or on the Isles of the Princes had opened to +receive him. + +On these shreds of evidence, affirmative and negative, slender as they +may appear, it was believed he was yet alive. Hence the clamor; and +sooth to say it sufficed to produce the favorite; so at least the +commonalty were pleased to think, though a sharper speculation would +have scored the advent quite as much to the emergency then holding the +Empire in its tightening grip. + +Restored to active life, Manuel the sailor was given a reception in the +Hippodrome; then after a moment of gladness with his family, and +another in which he was informed of the situation and trial before him, +he hurried to assume the command. + +Next morning, with the rising of the sun, the squadron under oar and +sail issued gallantly from its retreat in the Golden Horn, and in order +of battle sought the boastful enemy of Plati. The struggle was long and +desperate. Its circumstances were dimly under view from the seaward +wall in the vicinity of the Seven Towers. A cry of rejoicing from the +anxious people at last rose strong enough to shake the turrets massive +as they were--"Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" Christ had made his cause +victorious. His Cross was in the ascendant. The Turks drew out of the +defeat as best they could, and made haste to beach the galleys +remaining to them on the Asiatic shore behind the low-lying islands. + +Manuel the sailor became more than a hero; to the vulgar he was a +savior. All Byzantium and all Galata assembled on the walls and water +along the famous harbor to welcome him when, with many prizes and a +horde of prisoners, he sailed back under the sun newly risen over the +redeemed Propontis. Trumpets answered trumpets in brazen cheer as he +landed. A procession which was a reminder of the triumphs of the +ancient and better times of the Empire escorted him to the Hippodrome. +The overhanging gallery reserved for the Emperor there was crowded with +the dignitaries of the court; the factions were out with their symbols +of blue and green; the scene was gorgeous; yet the public looked in +vain for Manuel the Emperor; he alone was absent; and when the +dispersion took place, the Byzantine spectators sought their homes +shaking their heads and muttering of things in store for their idol +worse than had yet befallen him. Wherefore there was little or no +surprise when the unfortunate again disappeared, this time with his +whole family. The victory, the ensuing triumph, and the too evident +popularity were more than the jealous Emperor could overlook. + +There was then a long lapse of years. John Palaeologus succeeded Manuel +on the throne, and was in turn succeeded by Constantine, the last of +the Byzantine monarchs. + +Constantine signalized his advent, the great Greek event of 1448, by +numerous acts of clemency, for he was a just man. He opened many prison +doors long hopelessly shut. He conferred honors and rewards that had +been remorselessly erased from account. He condoned offences against +his predecessors, mercifully holding them wanting in evil against +himself. So it came to pass that Manuel, the hero of the sea fight off +Plati, attained a second release, or, in better speech, a second +resurrection. He had been all the years practically buried in certain +cells of the convent of St. Irene on the island of Prinkipo, and now he +came forth an old man, blind and too enfeebled to walk. Borne into +private audience, he was regarded by Constantine with tender sympathy. + +"And thou art that Manuel who made the good fight at Plati?" + +"Say rather I am he who was that Manuel," the ancient replied. "Death +despises me now because he could not call my decease a victory." + +The inquisitor, visibly affected, next spoke in an uncertain voice. + +"Is what I have heard true, that at thy going into the Monastery thou +hadst a family?" + +The eyes of the unfortunate were not too far gone for tears; some +rolled down his cheeks; others apparently dropped into his throat. + +"I had a wife and three children. It is creditable to the feeling +called love that they chose to share my fate. One only survives, +and"--he paused as if feebly aware of the incoherency--"and she was +born a prisoner." + +"Born a prisoner!" exclaimed Constantine. "Where is she now?" + +"She ought to be here." + +The old man turned as he spoke, and called out anxiously: + +"Irene--Irene, where art thou, child?" + +An attendant, moved like his master, explained. + +"Your Majesty, his daughter is in the ante-room." + +"Bring her here." + +There was a painful hush in the chamber during the waiting. When the +daughter appeared, all eyes were directed to her--all but the father's, +and even he was instantly aware of her presence; for which, doubtless, +the sensibility known only to the long-time blind was sufficiently +alive. + +"Where hast thou been?" he asked, with a show of petulance. + +"Calm thee, father, I am here." + +She took his hand to assure him, and then returned the look of the +Emperor; only his was of open astonishment, while hers was +self-possessed. + +Two points were afterwards remembered against her by the courtiers +present; first, contrary to the custom of Byzantine women, she wore no +veil or other covering for the face; in the next place, she tendered no +salutation to the Emperor. Far from prostrating herself, as immemorial +etiquette required, she did not so much as kneel or bow her head. They, +however, excused her, saying truly her days had been passed in the +Monastery without opportunity to acquire courtly manners. In fact they +did not at the time notice the omissions. She was so beautiful, and her +beauty reposed so naturally in an air of grace, modesty, intelligence, +and purity that they saw nothing else. Constantine recovered himself, +and rising from his seat, advanced to the edge of the dais, which in +such audiences, almost wholly without state, raised him slightly above +his guests and attendants, and spoke to the father: + +"I know thy history, most noble Greek--noble in blood, noble in +loyalty, noble by virtue of what thou hast done for the Empire--and I +honor thee. I grieve for the suffering thou hast endured, and wish +myself surrounded with many more spirits like thine, for then, from my +exalted place, I could view the future and its portents with greater +calmness of expectation, if not with more of hope. Perhaps thou hast +heard how sadly my inheritance has been weakened by enemies without and +within; how, like limbs lopped from a stately tree, the themes +[Footnote: Provinces.] richest in their yield of revenue have been +wrested from the body of our State, until scarce more than the capital +remains. I make the allusion in apology and excuse for the meagreness +of what I have to bestow for thy many heroic services. Wert thou in the +prime of manhood, I would bring thee into the palace. That being +impossible, I must confine myself to amends within my power. First, +take thou liberty." + +The sailor sunk to his knees; then he fell upon his hands, and touched +the floor with his forehead. In that posture, he waited the further +speech. Such was the prostration practised by the Greeks in formally +saluting their Basileus. + +Constantine proceeded. + +"Take next the house here in the city which was thine when the judgment +fell upon thee. It has been tenantless since, and may be in need of +repairs; if so, report the cost they put thee to, and I will charge the +amount to my civil list." Looking then at the daughter, he added: "On +our Roumelian shore, up by Therapia, there is a summer house which once +belonged to a learned Greek who was the happy possessor of a Homer +written masterfully on stainless parchment. He had a saying that the +book should be opened only in a palace specially built for it; and, +being rich, he indulged the fancy. He brought the marble from the +Pentelic quarries; nothing grosser was permitted in the construction. +In the shade of a portico of many columns of Corinthian model he passed +his days reading to chosen friends, and living as the Athenians were +wont to live in the days of Pericles. In my youth I dwelt much with +him, and he so loved me that at dying he gave me the house, and the +gardens and groves around it. They will help me now to make partial +amends for injustice done; and when will a claimant appear with better +right than the daughter of this brave man? In speaking but now, did he +not call thee Irene?" + +A flush overspread her neck and face, but she answered without other +sign of feeling: + +"Irene." + +"The house--it may be called a palace--and all that pertains to it, are +thine," he continued. "Go thither at will, and begin thy life anew." + +She took one step forward, but stopped as suddenly, her color coming +and going. Never had Constantine seen wife or maid more beautiful. He +almost dreaded lest the spell she cast over him would be broken by the +speech trembling upon her lips. She moved quickly to the dais then, and +taking his hand, kissed it fervently, saying: + +"Almost I believe we have a Christian Emperor." + +She paused, retaining the hand, and looking up into his face. + +The spectators, mostly dignitaries of high degree, with their +attendants, were surprised. Some of them were shocked; for it should be +remembered the court was the most rigidly ceremonial in the world. The +rules governing it were the excerpt of an idea that the Basileus or +Emperor was the incarnation of power and majesty. When spoken to by +him, the proudest of his officials dropped their eyes to his +embroidered slippers; when required to speak to him, they fell to their +knees, and kept the posture till he was pleased to bid them rise. Not +one of them had ever touched his fingers, except when he deigned to +hold them out to be most humbly saluted. Their manner at such times was +more than servility; in appearance, at least, it was worship. This +explanation will enable the reader to understand the feeling with which +they beheld the young woman keep the royal hand a prisoner in hers. +Some of them shuddered and turned their faces not to witness a +familiarity so closely resembling profanation. + +Constantine, on his part, looked down into the eyes of his fair +kinswoman, knowing her speech was not finished. The slight inclination +of his person toward her was intended for encouragement. Indeed, he +made no attempt to conceal the interest possessing him. + +"The Empire may be shorn, even as thou hast said," she resumed +presently, in a voice slightly raised. "But is not this city of our +fathers by site and many advantages as much the capital of the world as +ever? A Christian Emperor founded it, and his name was Constantine; may +it not be its perfect restoration is reserved for another Constantine, +also a Christian Emperor? Search thy heart, O my Lord! I have heard how +noble impulses are often prophets without voices." + +Constantine was impressed. From a young person, bred in what were +really prison walls, the speech was amazing. He was pleased with the +opinion she was evidently forming of himself; he was pleased with the +hope she admitted touching the Empire; he was pleased with the +Christian faith, the strength of mind, the character manifested. Her +loyalty to the old Greek regime was unquestionable. The courtiers +thought she might at least have made some acknowledgment of his +princely kindness; but if he thought of the want of form, he passed it; +enough for him that she was a lovely enthusiast. In the uncertainty of +the moment, he hesitated; then, descending from the dais, he kissed her +hand gracefully, courteously, reverently, and said simply: + +"May thy hope be God's will." + +Turning from her, he helped the blind man to his feet, and declared the +audience dismissed. + +Alone with his secretary, the Grand _Logothete_, he sat awhile musing. + +"Give ear," he at length said. "Write it, a decree. Fifty thousand gold +pieces annually for the maintenance of Manuel and Irene, his daughter." + +The secretary at the first word became absorbed in studying his +master's purple slippers; then, having a reply, he knelt. + +"Speak," said Constantine. + +"Your Majesty," the secretary responded, "there are not one thousand +pieces in the treasury unappropriated." + +"Are we indeed so poor?" + +The Emperor sighed, but plucking spirit, went on bravely: + +"It may be God has reserved for me the restoration, not only of this +city, but of the Empire. I shall try to deserve the glory. And it may +be that noble impulses _are_ speechless prophets. Let the decree stand. +Heaven willing, we will find a way to make it good." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HOMERIC PALACE + + +The reader is now informed of the history of Irene, which is to he +remembered as of an important personage in the succeeding pages. +Knowing also how she became possessed of the palace we have been at +some pains to describe, he is prepared to see her at home. + +The night has retreated from the European shore of the Bosphorus, +although the morning is yet very young. The sun in the cloudless sky +beyond Becos, where it appears standing as if to rest from the fatigue +of climbing the hills, is lifting Therapia bodily out of its sparkling +waters. In the bay moreover there are many calls of mariner to mariner, +and much creaking of windlasses, and clashing of oars cast loose in +their leather slings. To make the scene perfectly realistic there is a +smell of breakfast cooking, not unpleasant to those within its waftage +who are yet to have their appetites appeased. These sights, these +sounds, these smells, none of them reach the palace in the garden under +the promontory opposite the town. There the birds are singing their +matin songs, the flowers loading the air with perfume, and vine and +tree drinking the moisture borne down to them from the unresting sea so +near in the north. [Footnote: The Black Sea.] + +Under the marble portico the mistress is sitting exactly in the place +we can imagine the old Greek loved most what time he read from his +masterful copy of Homer. Between columns she saw the Bosphorean expanse +clear to the wooded Asiatic shore. Below was a portion of the garden +through which the walk ran, with a graceful curve, to the red kiosk by +the front gate. Just beyond it the landing lay. Around her were palm +and rose trees in painted tubs, and in their midst, springing from a +tall vase carven over with mythologic figures, a jasmine vine affected +all the graces of its most delicate nature. Within reach of her right +hand there were platters of burnished brass on a table of ebony, its +thin, spider legs inlaid with silver in lines. One of the platters bore +a heap of white biscuits such as at this day are called crackers; the +others supported pitchers, and some drinking cups, all of silver. + +The mistress sat in an arm-chair very smooth in finish despite the +lineations sunk into its surfaces, and so roomy as to permit her to +drop easily into a half-reclining posture. A footstool dressed in dark +stamped leather was ready to lend its aid to gracefulness and comfort. + +We will presume now to introduce the reader to the Princess Irene, +though, as the introduction must be in the way of description, our +inability to render the subject adequately is admitted in advance. + +At the moment of first sight, she is sitting erect, her head turned +slightly to the left shoulder, and both hands resting on the dog's head +garnishing the right arm of the chair. She is gazing abstractedly out +at the landing, as if waiting for some one overdue. The face is +uncovered; and it is to be said here that, abhorring the custom which +bound her Byzantine sisterhood to veils, except when in the retiracy of +their chambers, she was at all times brave enough to emphasize the +abhorrence by discarding the encumbrance. She was never afraid of the +effects of the sun on her complexion, and had the art of moving +modestly and with composure among men, who, on their side, were used in +meeting her to conceal their admiration and wonder under cover of grave +respect. + +Her figure, tall, slender, perfectly rounded, is clad in drapery of the +purest classic mode. Outwardly it consists of but two garments--a robe +of fine white woollen stuff, and over it a mantle of the same texture +and hue, hanging from a yoke of close-fitting flesh-colored silk richly +embroidered with Tyrian floss. A red rope loosely twisted girdles her +body close under the breasts, from which, when she is standing, the +gown in front falls to the feet, leaving a decided train. The mantle +begins at a point just in front of the arm, under which, and along the +sides, it hangs, like a long open sleeve, being cut away behind about +half down the figure. The contrivance of the yoke enabled the artist, +by gathering the drapery, to determine the lines in which it should +drop, and they were few but positive. In movement, the train was to +draw the gown to the form so its outlines could be easily followed from +the girdle. + +The hair, of the tint of old gold, is dressed in the Grecian style; and +its abundance making the knot unusually ample, there was necessity for +the two fillets of pink silk to keep it securely in place. + +The real difficulty in the description is now reached. To a reader of +sharp imagination it might be sufficient to say the face of the +Princess Irene, seen the morning in question, was perfectly regular, +the brows like pencilling, the nose delicate, the eyes of violet +shading into blackness, the mouth small with deep corners and lips +threads of scarlet, the cheeks and brow precisely as the received law +of beauty would have them. This would authorize a conception of +surpassing loveliness; and perhaps it were better did we stop with the +suggestions given, since the fancy would then be left to do its own +painting. But patience is besought, for vastly more than a face of +unrivalled perfection, the conjuration is a woman who yet lives in +history as such a combination of intellect, spirit, character, and +personal charm that men, themselves rulers and conquerors, fell before +her at sight. Under necessity therefore of going on with the +description, what words are at command to convey an idea of the +complexion--a property so wholly unartificial with her that the veins +at the temples were as transparent shadows on snow, and the coloring of +the cheeks like a wash of roses? What more is there than to point to +the eyes of the healthful freshness peculiar to children of tender +nurture; the teeth exquisitely regular and of the whiteness of milk and +the lustre of pearls; the ears small, critically set, and tinted pink +and white, like certain shells washed ashore last night? What more? Ah, +yes! There are the arms bare from the shoulder, long and round as a +woman's should be, and terminating in flexile wrists, and hands so +gracefully modelled we shrink from thought of their doing more than +making wreaths of flowers and playing with harp strings. There too is +the pose of the head expressive of breeding and delicacy of thought and +feeling, of pride and courage--the pose unattainable by effort or +affectation, and impossible except where the head, itself faultless, is +complemented by a neck long, slender, yet round, pliant, always +graceful, and set upon shoulders the despair of every one but the +master who found perfection of form and finish in the lilies of the +Madonna. Finally there is the correspondence, in action as well as +repose, of body, limbs, head, and face, to which, under inspiration of +the soul, the air and manner of lovely women are always referable. + +The Princess was yet intensely observing the stretch of water before +her, and the rapid changes of the light upon its face, when a boat, +driven by a single oarsman, drew up to the landing, and disembarked a +passenger. That he was not the person she was expecting became +instantly apparent. She glanced at him once, and then, satisfied he was +a stranger in whom she had no interest, resumed study of the bay. He, +however, after dropping something in the boatman's hand, turned, and +walked to the gateway, and through it towards the palace. + +Ere long a servant, whose very venerable appearance belied the +steel-pointed javelin he carried, hobbled slowly along the floor of the +portico marshalling a visitor. She touched the golden knot at the back +of her head to be assured of its arrangement, arose, shook out the +folds of her gown and mantle, and was prepared for the interruption. + +The costume of the stranger was new to the Princess. A cassock of mixed +white and brown wool that had gone through a primitive loom with little +of any curative process except washing, hung from his neck to his +heels. Aside from the coarseness of warp and woof, it fitted so closely +that but for a slit on each side of the skirt walking would have been +seriously impeded. The sleeves were long and loose, and covered the +hands. From the girdle of untanned skin a double string of black horn +beads, each large as a walnut, dropped to his knees. The buckle of the +girdle, which might have been silver deeply oxidized, was conspicuously +large, and of the rudest workmanship. But withal much the most curious +part of the garb was the cowl, if such it may be called. Projecting +over the face so far as to cast the features in shadow, it carried on +the sides of the head broad flaps, not unlike the ears of an elephant. +This envelope was hideous, yet it served to exalt the man within to +giantesque proportions. + +The Princess surveyed the visitor with astonishment hardly concealed. +What part of the world could produce a creature so utterly barbarous? +What business could he have with her? Was he young or old? Twice she +scanned him from head to foot. He was a monk; so much the costume +certified; and while he stopped before her with one foot advanced from +the edge of the skirt, and resting lightly in the clasp of the thongs +of a very old-fashioned sandal, she saw it was white, and blue veined, +and at the edges pink, like a child's, and she said to herself, "He is +young--a young monastic." + +The stranger drew from his girdle a linen package carefully folded, +kissed it reverently, and said: + +"Would the Princess Irene be pleased if I open the favor for her?" + +The voice was manly, the manner deferential. + +"Is it a letter?" she asked. + +"A letter from the Holy Father, the Archimandrite of the greatest of +the northern Lavras." [Footnote: Monasteries.] + +"Its name?" + +"Bielo-Osero." + +"The Bielo-Osero? Where is it?" + +"In the country of the Great Prince." [Footnote: Russia.] + +"I knew not that I had an acquaintance in so distant a region as the +north of Russia. You may open the letter." + +Unmindful of the indifferent air of the Princess, the monk removed the +cloth, leaving its folds hanging loosely from his hand. A sheet of +vellum was exposed lying on the covered palm. + +"The Holy Father bade me when I delivered the writing, O Princess, to +deliver his blessing also; which--the saying is mine, not his--is of +more worth to the soul than a coffer of gold for the wants of the body." + +The pious comment was not lost; but without a word, she took the +vellum, and resuming her seat, addressed herself to the reading. First, +her eyes dropped to the signature. There was a look of +surprise--another of uncertainty--then an exclamation: + +"Hilarion! Not my Father Hilarion! He is but a sacred memory! He went +away and died--and yet this is his hand. I know it as I know my own." + +The monk essayed to remove the doubt. + +"Permit me," he said, then asked, "Is there not an island hereabouts +called Prinkipo?" + +She gave him instant attention. + +"And on the side of the island over against the Asiatic coast, under a +hill named Kamares, is there not a convent built centuries ago by an +Empress?" + +"Irene," she interposed. + +"Yes, Irene--and was not Father Hilarion for many years Abbot of the +convent? Then, on account of his fame for learning and piety, did not +the Patriarch exalt him to attendance on his own person as Doctor of +the Gospels? Still later, was he not summoned to serve the Emperor in +the capacity of Warden of the Purple Ink?" + +"From whom have you all these things?" she asked. + +"Excellent Princess, from whom could I have them save the good Father +himself?" + +"Thou art then his messenger?" + +"It becomes me better to refer you to what he has there written." + +So saying, the monk stepped backward, and stood a little way off in a +respectful attitude. She raised the missive, and kissed the signature +several times, exclaiming: + +"Now hath God taken care of his own!" + +Then she said to the monk, "Thou art indeed a messenger with good +tidings." + +And he, accepting the welcome, uncovered his head, by raising the +hideous _klobouk_, [Footnote: Cowl.] and letting it fall back pendant +from his shoulders. The violet eyes of the Princess opened wider, +brightening as with a sudden influx of light. She could not remember a +finer head or a face more perfect in manly beauty, and at the same time +so refined and gentle. + +And he was so young--young even as herself--certainly not more than +twenty. Such was her first general impression of him. For the pleasure +there was in the surprise, she would not allow it to be observed, but +said: + +"The Father in his letter, no doubt, tells me thy name, but since I +wish to reserve the reading, I hope thou wilt not be offended if I ask +it directly." + +"The name my mother gave me is Andre; but when I came to be a deacon in +our Bielo-Osero, Father Hilarion, who presided at the raising, asked me +how I wished to be known in the priesthood, and I answered him, +Sergius. Andre was a good christening, and serves well to remind me of +my dear mother; but Sergius is better, because at hearing it I am +always reminded that by vows and solemn rites of ordination I am a +servant of God." + +"I will endeavor to remember thy preference," the Princess said; "but +just now, good Sergius, it is of next importance to know if thou hast +yet had breakfast?" + +A smile helped his face to even more of pleasantness. + +"No," he answered, "but I am used to fasting, and the great city is not +more than two hours away." + +She looked concerned. + +"Thy patron Saint hath not deserted thee. Here is a table already set. +He for whom I held it is long on the road; thou shalt take his place, +and be not less welcome." To the old servant she added: "We have a +guest, not an enemy, Lysander. Put up thy javelin, and bring a seat for +him; then stand behind him, lest it happen one service of the cups be +not enough." + +Directly the two were at the table opposite each other. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RUSSIAN MONK + + +Sergius took a glass of red wine from the old attendant, and said: + +"I should like your permission, O Princess, to make a confession." + +His manner was that of one unused to the society of women. He was +conscious she was studying him, and spoke to divert her. As she was +slow answering, he added: "That you may not think me disposed to abuse +the acquaintance you honor me with, especially as you have not yet read +the letter of the good Father Hilarion upon which I rely for your +better regard, I ask the permission rather to show the degree of your +kindness to me. It may interest you also to learn of the confirmation +of a certain faith you are perhaps unwittingly lending a novice in the +ways of the world." + +She had been studying him, and her first impression was now confirmed. +His head in shape and pose was a poet's; the long, wavy, flaxen hair, +parted in the middle, left small space for the forehead, which was +nevertheless broad and white, with high-arched, well-defined brows for +base. The eyes were gray. In repose they had a dreamy introspectional +expression. The mustache and beard, the first growth of youth spent +entirely indoors, were as yet too light to shade any part of the face. +The nose was not enough _retrousse_ to be irregular. In brief, the monk +was of the type now well known as Russian. Aside from height and +apparent muscularity, he very nearly realized the Byzantine ideal of +Christ as seen in the cartoons excellently preserved in a mosque of +Stamboul not far from the gate anciently San Romain now _Top Kapoussi_. + +The appearance of the young monk, so strikingly suggestive of the being +most sacred in the estimation of the Princess, was at the moment less +curious to her than a certain habit observable in him. The look of +brightness attendant upon the thought he was putting into form would, +when the utterance was through, suffer a lapse which, for want of +strictly definite words, may be described as a sombering of the eyes +when they were widest open, a gazing beyond at something else than the +opposite speaker; implying that the soul was become mysteriously +occupied apart from the mind. The effect was as if she had before her +two widely different characters making themselves present at the same +time in one person. Unquestionably, though rarely, there is a duality +of nature in men, by which, to put it extremely, a seeming incapable +may be vastly capable, outward gentleness a mask for a spirit of +Neronian violence, dulness a low-lying cloud surcharged with genius. +What shall be done with such a nature? When may it be relied upon? Who +shall ever come to really know it? + +Occupied with the idea, the Princess heard but the conclusion of the +monk's somewhat awkward apology, and she answered: + +"The confession must be of something lighter than a sin. I will listen." + +"A sin!" he exclaimed, with a blush. "Pardon me, O Princess. It was a +trifle of which I spoke too seriously. I promise thou shalt take from +it nothing worse than a laugh at my simplicity. See thou these things?" + +He gave her a glance full of boyish humor, and from a breast pocket of +his cassock drew a bag of coarse yellow silk; thrusting a hand into its +mouth, he then brought out a number of square leathern chips stamped +with sunken letters, and laid them on the table before her. + +"This you must know is our money." The Princess examined the pieces, +and said: + +"I doubt if our tradesmen would accept them." + +"They will not. I am a witness to the fact. Nevertheless they will +carry a traveller, go he either way, from one end of our Great Prince's +realm to the other. When I left the Lavra, setting out on my journey, +Father Hilarion gave me the bag, saying, as he put it into my hand, +'Now upon coming to the port where the ship awaits thee, be sure to +exchange the money with the merchants there for Byzantine gold; else, +unless God come to thy aid, thou wilt be turned into a mendicant.' And +so I fully meant to do; but when I reached the port, I found it a city +large, and full of people and sights wonderful to me, demanding to be +seen. I forgot the injunction. Indeed I never thought of it until this +morning." + +Here he laughed at himself, proving he was not yet seriously alive to +the consequences of his negligence. Presently he resumed: + +"I landed only last night, and sick from the tossing of the sea, put up +at an inn in the town yonder. I ordered breakfast, and, according to a +custom of my people, offered to pay before tasting. The master of the +house looked at my money, and told me to show him coin of gold; if not +that, then copper or brass, or even iron, in pieces bearing the name of +the Emperor. Being told I had only this, he bade me look elsewhere for +breakfast. Now I had designed going to the great city to kiss the hand +of the Patriarch, of whom I have always heard as the wisest of men, +before coming to thee; but the strait I was in was hard. Could I expect +better of the innkeepers there? I had a button of gold--a memorial of +my entry into the Lavra. That day Father Hilarion blessed it three +times; and it bore a cross upon its face which I thought might make it +acceptable as if it were lettered with the name of Constantine. A +boatman consented to take it for rowing me to thy landing. Behold! Thou +hast my confession!" + +His speech to this time had been in Greek singularly pure and fluent; +now he hesitated, while his eyes, open to the full, sombered, as if +from a field in the brain back of them a shadow was being cast through +his face. When next he spoke it was in his native tongue. + +The Princess observed her guest with increasing interest; for she was +wholly unused to such artlessness in men. How could Father Hilarion +have intrusted business of importance to an envoy so negligent? His +confession, as he termed it, was an admission, neither more nor less, +that he had no money of the country into which he was come. And +further, how could the habit of lapsing in thought, or more simply, of +passing abruptly from the present subject, be explained except on the +theory of something to which he had so given himself it had become +overmastering and all absorbent? This, she saw intuitively, would prove +the key to the man; and she set about finding it out. + +"Your Greek, good Sergius, is excellent; yet I did not understand the +words with which you concluded." + +"I beg pardon," he replied, with a change of countenance. "In my +mother's tongue I repeated a saying of the Psalmist, which you shall +have voice and look as Father Hilarion has given it to me oftener than +I am days old." Then his voice lowered into a sweet intensity fitting +the text: "'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Those were the +words, Princess; and who shall say they do not comprehend all there is +of religion?" + +The answer was unexpected, the manner affecting; never had she heard +conviction and faith more perfectly affirmed. More than a monk, the +young man might be a preacher! And Father Hilarion might have grown +wiser of his years! Perhaps he knew, though at a vast distance, that +the need of the hour in Constantinople was not a new notable--a bishop +or a legate--so much as a voice with power of persuasion to still the +contentions with which her seven hills were then resounding. The idea, +though a surmise, was strong enough to excite a desire to read the holy +man's letter. She even reproached herself for not having done so. + +"The worthy priest gave me the same saying in the same words," she +said, rising, "and they lose nothing of their meaning by thy +repetition. We may speak of them hereafter. For the present, to keep +thee from breakfast were cruel. I will go and make terms with my +conscience by reading what thou hast brought me from the Father. Help +thyself freely as if thou wert the most favored of guests; or rather +"--she paused to emphasize the meaning--"as though I had been bidden to +prepare for thy coining. Should there be failure in anything before +thee, scruple not to ask for more. Lysander will be at thy service. I +may return presently." + +The monk arose respectfully, and stood until she disappeared behind the +vases and flowers, leaving in his memory a fadeless recollection of +graciousness and beauty, which did not prevent him from immediately +addressing himself as became a hungry traveller. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER + + +While the Princess Irene traversed the portico, she repeated the words, +The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; and she could see how the +negligent, moneyless monk, turned away at the inn, was provided for in +his moment of need, and also that she was the chosen purveyor; if so, +by whom chosen? The young man had intended calling on the Patriarch +first; who brought him to her? The breakfast was set for an invited +guest; what held him back, if not the power that led the stranger to +her gate? + +In saying now that one of the consequences of the religious passion +characteristic of the day in the East--particularly in +Constantinople--a passion so extreme as to induce the strongest minds +to believe God, and the Son, and even the Holy Mother discernible in +the most commonplace affairs--our hope is to save the Princess from +misjudgment. Really the most independent and fearless of spirits, if +now and then she fell into the habit of translating the natural into +the supernatural, she is entitled to mercy, since few things are harder +to escape than those of universal practice. + +Through a doorway, chiselled top and jambs, she entered a spacious hall +nude of furniture, though richly frescoed, and thence passed into a +plain open, court coolly shaded, having in the centre a jet of water +which arose and fell into a bowl of alabaster. The water overflowing +the bowl was caught again in a circular basin which, besides the +ornamental carving on the edge and outside, furnished an ample pool for +the gold fish disporting in it. + +In the court there were also a number of women, mostly young Greeks, +sewing, knitting, and embroidering vestments. Upon her entrance they +arose, let their work drop on the spotless white marble at their feet, +and received her in respectful silence. Signing them to resume their +labor, she took a reserved chair by the fountain. The letter was in her +hand, but a thought had the precedence. + +Admitting she had been chosen to fulfil the saying quoted, was the call +for the once only? When the monk went up to the city, was her ministry +to end? Would not that be a half-performance? How much farther should +she go? She felt a little pang of trouble, due to the uncertainty that +beset her, but quieted it by an appeal to the letter. Crossing herself, +and again kissing the signature, she began the reading, which, as the +hand was familiar to her, and the composition in the most faultless +Greek of the period, was in nowise a perplexity. + +"BIELO-OSERO, 3_d June_, 1452. + +"From Hilarion, the Hegumen, to Irene, his well-beloved daughter. + +"Thou hast thought of me this longtime as at rest forever--at rest with +the Redeemer. While there is nothing so the equivalent of death as +silence, there is no happiness so sweet as that which springs upon us +unexpectedly. In the same sense the resurrection was the perfect +complement of the crucifixion. More than all else, more than the sermon +on the mount, more than His miracles, more than His unexampled life, it +lifted our Lord above the repute of a mere philosopher like Socrates. +We have tears for His much suffering; but we sing as Miriam sang when +we think of His victory over the grave. I would not compare myself to +Him; yet it pleases me believing these lines, so unexpected, will give +thee a taste of the feeling the Marys had, when, with their spices in +hand, they sought the sepulchre and found only the Angels there. + +"Let me tell thee first of my disappearance from Constantinople. I +repented greatly my taking from the old convent by the Patriarch; +partly because it separated me from thee at a time when thy mind was +opening to receive the truth and understand it. Yet the call had a +sound as if from God. I feared to disobey it. + +"Then came the summons of the Emperor. He had heard of my life, and, as +a counteraction of vice, he wanted its example in the palace. I held +back. But the Patriarch prevailed on me, and I went up and suffered +myself to be installed Keeper of the Purple Ink. Then indeed I became +miserable. To such as I, what is sitting near the throne? What is power +when not an instrument of mercy, justice and charity? What is easy +life, except walking in danger of habits enervating to the hope of +salvation? Oh, the miseries I witnessed! And how wretched the sight of +them, knowing they were beyond my help! I saw moreover the wickedness +of the court. Did I speak, who listened except to revile me? Went I to +celebrations in this or that church, I beheld only hypocrisy in +scarlet. How often, knowing the sin-stains upon the hands of the +celebrants at the altar in Sta. Sophia, the house in holiness next to +the temple of Solomon--how often, seeing those hands raise the blood of +Christ in the cup before the altar, have I trembled, and looked for the +dome above to let consuming vengeance in upon us, the innocent with the +guilty! + +"At last fear filled all my thoughts, and forbade sleep or any comfort. +I felt I must go, and quickly, or be lost for denial of covenants made +with Him, the ultimate Judge, in whose approval there is the peace that +passeth understanding. I was like one pursued by a spirit making its +presence known to me in sobs and plaints, stinging as conscience stings. + +"Consent to my departure was not to be expected; for great men dislike +to have their favors slighted. It was not less clear that formal +resignation of the official honor I was supposed to be enjoying would +be serviceable to the courtiers who were not so much my enemies +personally as they were enemies of religion and contemners of all holy +observances. And there were so many of them! Alas, for the admission! +What then was left but flight? + + "Whither? I thought first of Jerusalem; but who without abasement can +inhabit with infidels? Then Hagion Oras, the Holy Hill, occurred to me; +the same argument applied against it as against return to the convent +of Irene-I would be in reach of the Emperor's displeasure. One can +study his own heart. Holding mine off, and looking at it alive with +desires holy and unholy, I detected in it a yearning for hermitage. How +beautiful solitude appears! In what condition can one wishing to change +his nature for the better more certainly attain the end than without +companionship except of God always present? The spirit of prayer is a +delicate minister; where can we find purer nourishment for it than in +the silence which at noon is deep as at midnight? + +"In this mood the story of the Russian St. Sergius reverted to me. He +was born at Rostoff. Filled with pious impulses more than dissatisfied +with the world, of which he knew nothing, with a brother, he left his +father's house when yet a youth and betook himself to a great woods in +the region Radenego; there he dwelt among savage beasts and wild men, +fasting and praying and dependent like Elijah of old. His life became a +notoriety. Others drew to him. With his own hands he built a wooden +church for his disciples, giving it the name of Troitza or Thrice Holy +Trinity. Thither I wandered in thought. A call might be there for me, +so weary of the egotism, envy, detraction, greed, grind and battle of +the soulless artificiality called society. + +"I left Blacherne in the night, and crossing the sea in the north--no +wonder it is so terrible to the poor mariner who has to hunt his daily +bread upon its treacherous waves--I indulged no wait until, in the +stone church of the Holy Trinity, I knelt before the remains of the +revered Russian hermit, and thanked God for deliverance and freedom. + +"The Troitza was no longer the simple wooden church of its founder. I +found it a collection of monasteries. The solitude of my dreams was to +be sought northward further. Some years before, a disciple of +Sergius--Cyrill by name, since canonized--unterrified by winters which +dragged through three quarters of the year, wandered off to a secluded +place on the shore of the White Lake, where he dwelt until, in old age, +a holy house was required to accommodate his following. He called it +Bielo-Osero. There I installed myself, won by the warmth of my welcome. + +"Now when I departed from Blacherne, I took with me, besides the +raiment I wore, two pieces of property; a copy of the Rule of the +Studium Monastery, and a _panagia_ given me by the Patriarch--a +medallion portrait of the Blessed Mother of our Lord the Saviour, +framed in gold, and set in brilliants. I carry it hanging from my neck. +Even in sleep it is always lying just above my heart. The day is not +far now when my need of it will be over; then I will send it to thee in +notice that I am indeed at rest, and that in dying I wished to lend +thee a preservative against ills of the soul and fear of death. + +"The Rule was acceptable to the Brotherhood. They adopted it, and its +letter and spirit prevailing, the house came in time to be odorous for +sanctity. Eventually, though against my will, they raised me their +Hegumen. And so my story reaches its end. May it find thee enjoying the +delight of the soul's rest I have been enjoying without interruption +since I began life anew in this retreat, where the days are days of +prayer, and the nights illuminated by visions of Paradise and Heaven. + +"In the next place, I pray thou wilt take the young brother by whom +this will be delivered into friendly care. I myself raised him to a +deaconship of our Monastery. His priestly name is Sergius. He was +scarcely out of boyhood when I came here; it was not long, however, +before I discovered in him the qualities which drew me to thee during +thy prison life at the old convent of Irene--a receptive mind, and a +native proneness to love God. I made his way easy. I became his +teacher, as I had been thine; and as the years flew by he reminded me +more and more of thee, not merely with respect to mental capacity, but +purity of soul and aspiration as well. Need I say how natural it was +for me to love him? Had I not just come from loving thee? + +"The brethren are good men, though unmannerly, and for the most part +the Word reaches them from some other's tongue. Filling the lad's mind +was like filling a lamp with oil. How precious the light it would one +day shed abroad! And how much darkness there was for it to dispel! And +in the darkness--Mercy, Mercy! How many are in danger of perishing! + +"Never did I think myself so clearly a servant of God as in the time +Sergius was under my instruction. Thou, alas! being a woman, wert like +a strong-winged bird doomed at best to a narrow cage. The whole world +was before him. + +"Of the many notes I have been compelled to take of the wants of +religion in this our age, none so amazes me as the lack of preachers. +We have priests and monks. Their name is Legion. Who of them can be +said to have been touched with the fire that fell upon the faithful of +the original twelve? Where among them is an Athanasius? Or a +Chrysostom? Or an Augustine? Slowly, yet apace with his growth, I +became ambitious for the young man. He showed quickness and astonishing +courage. No task appalled him. He mastered the tongues of the +nationalities represented around him as if he were born to them. He +took in memory the Gospels, the Psalms, and the prophetic books of the +Bible. He replies to me in Greek undistinguishable from mine. I began +to dream of him a preacher like St. Paul. I have heard him talking in +the stone chapel, when the sleet-ridden winds without had filled it +with numbing frost, and seen the Brotherhood rise from their knees, and +shout, and sing, and wrestle like madmen. It is not merely words, and +ideas, and oratorical manner, but all of them, and more--when aroused, +he has the faculty of pouring out his spirit, so that what he says +takes hold of a hearer, making him calm if in a passion, and excited if +in a calm. The willing listen to him from delight, the unwilling and +opposite minded because he enchains them. + +"The pearl seemed to me of great price. I tried to keep it free of the +dust of the world. With such skill as I possess, I have worn its stains +and roughnesses away, and added to its lustre. Now it goes from me. + +"You must not think because I fled to this corner of the earth, there +is any abatement of my affection for Constantinople; on the contrary, +absence has redoubled the love for it with which I was born. Is it not +still the capital of our holy religion? Occasionally a traveller comes +this way with news of the changes it has endured. Thus one came and +reported the death of the Emperor John, and the succession of +Constantine; another told of justice finally done thy heroic father, +and of thy prosperity; more lately a wandering monk, seeking solitude +for his soul's sake, joined our community, and from him I hear that the +old controversy with the Latins has broken out anew, and more hotly +than ever; that the new Emperor is an _azymite_, and disposed to adhere +to the compact of union of the churches east and west made with the +Pope of Rome by his predecessor, leaving heart-blisters burning as +those which divided the Jews. Indeed, I much fear the likeness may +prove absolute. It certainly will when the Turk appears before our holy +city as Titus before Jerusalem. + +"This latest intelligence induced me at last to yield to Sergius' +entreaties to go down to Constantinople, and finish there the courses +begun here. It is true he who would move the world must go into the +world; at the same time I confess my own great desire to be kept +informed of the progress of the discussion between the churches had +much to do with my consent to his departure. He has instructions to +that effect, and will obey them. Therefore I pray thee receive him +kindly for his own sake, for mine, and the promise of good in him to +the cause of Jesus, our beloved Master. + +"In conclusion, allow me, daughter--for such thou wert to thy father, +to thy mother, and to me--allow me to recur to circumstances which, +after calm review, I pronounce the most interesting, the most +delightful, the most cherished of my life. + +"The house under the Kameses hill at Prinkipo was a convent or refuge +for women rather than men; yet I was ordered thither when thy father +was consigned to it after his victory over the Turks. I was then +comparatively young, but still recollect the day he passed the gate +going in with his family. Thenceforward, until the Patriarch took me +away, I was his confessor. + +"Death is always shocking. I remember its visits to the convent while I +was of its people; but when it came and took thy sisters we were doubly +grieved. As if the ungrateful Emperor could not be sufficiently cruel, +it seemed Heaven must needs help him. The cloud of those sad events +overhung the community a long time; at length there was a burst of +sunshine. One came to my cell and said, 'Come, rejoice with us--a baby +is born in the house.' Thou wert the baby; and thy appearance was the +first of the great gladnesses to which I have referred. + +"And not less distinctly I live over the hour we met in the chapel to +christen thee. The Bishop was the chief celebrant; but not even the +splendor of his canonicals--the cope with the little bells sewn down +the sides and along the sleeves, the ompharium, the _panagia_, the +cross, the crozier--were enough to draw my eyes from the dimpled pink +face half-hidden in the pillow of down on which they held thee up +before the font. And now the Bishop dipped his fingers in the holy +water--'By what name is this daughter to be known?' And I answered, +'Irene.' Thy parents had been casting about for a name. 'Why not call +her after the convent?' I asked. They accepted the suggestion; and when +I gave it out that great day--to the convent it was holiday--it seemed +a door in my heart of which I was unknowing opened of itself, and took +thee into a love-lined chamber to be sweet lady at home forever. Such +was the second of my greatest happinesses. + +"And then afterwhile thy father gave thee over to me to be educated. I +made thy first alphabet, illuminating each letter with my own hand. +Dost thou remember the earliest sentence I heard thee read? Or, if ever +thou dost think of it now, be reminded it was thy first lesson in +writing and thy first in religion--'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall +not want.' And thence what delight I found in helping thee each day a +little further on in knowledge until at length we came to where thou +couldst do independent thinking. + +"It was in Sta. Sophia--in my memory not more than an occurrence of +yesterday. Thou and I had gone from the island up to the holy house, +where we were spectators of a service at which the Emperor, as +Basileus, and the Patriarch were celebrants. The gold on cope and +ompharium cast the space about the altar into a splendor rich as +sunshine. Then thou asked me, 'Did Christ and His Disciples worship in +a house like this? And were they dressed as these are?' I was afraid of +those around us, and told thee to use eye and ear, but the time for +questions and answers would be when we were back safely in the old +convent. + +"When we were there, thou didst renew the questions, and I did not +withhold the truth. I told thee of the lowliness and simple ways of +Jesus--how He was clothed--how the out-doors was temple sufficient for +Him. I told thee of His preaching to the multitude on the shore of the +Galilean sea--I told of His praying in the garden of Gethsemane--I told +of the attempt to make a King of Him whether He would or not, and how +He escaped from the people--of how He set no store by money or +property, titles, or worldly honors. + +"Then thou didst ask, 'Who made worship so formal?' And again I +answered truthfully, there was no Church until after the death of our +Lord; that in course of two hundred years kings, governors, nobles and +the great of the earth were converted to the faith, and took it under +their protection; that then, to conform it to their tastes and dignity, +they borrowed altars from pagans, and recast the worship so sumptuously +in purple and gold the Apostles would not have recognized it. Then, in +brief, I began telling thee of the Primitive Church of Christ, now +disowned, forgotten or lost in the humanism of religious pride. + +"Oh, the satisfaction and happiness in that teaching! At each lesson it +seemed I was taking thee closer to the dear Christ from whom the world +is every year making new roads to get further away--the dear Christ in +search of whom I plunged into this solitude. + +"How is it with thee now, my daughter? Dost thou still adhere to the +Primitive Church? Do not fear to speak thy mind to Sergius. He too is +in the secret of our faith, believing it best to love our Lord from +what our Lord hath Himself said. + +"Now I bring this letter to a close. Let me have reply by Sergius, who, +when he has seen Constantinople, will come back to me, unless He who +holds every man's future in keeping discovers for him a special use. + +"Do not forget me in thy prayers. + +"Blessings on thee! HILARION." + +The Princess read the letter a second time. When she came to the +passage referring to the Primitive Church, her hands dropped into her +lap, and she thought: + +"The Father planted right well--better than he was aware, as he himself +would say did he know my standing now." + +A glow which might have been variously taken for half-serious, +half-mocking defiance shone in her eyes as the thought ran on: + +"Ay, dear man! Did he know that for asserting the Primitive Church as +he taught it to me in the old convent, the Greeks and the Latins have +alike adjudged me a heretic; that nothing saves me from the lions of +the Cynegion, except my being a woman--a woman forever offending by +going when and where I wist with my face bare, and therefore harmless +except to myself. If he knew this, would he send me his blessing? He +little imagined--he who kept his opinion to himself because he could +see no good possible from its proclamation--that I, the prison-bred +girl he so loved, and whom he helped make extreme in courage as in +conviction, would one day forget my sex and condition, and protest with +the vehemence of a man against the religious madness into which the +Christian world is being swept. Oh, that I were a man!" + +Folding the letter hastily, she arose to return to her guest. There was +fixedness of purpose in her face. + +"Oh, that I were a man!" she repeated, while passing the frescoed hall +on the way out. + +In the portico, with the white light of the marble whitening her whole +person, and just as the monk, tall, strong, noble looking, despite the +grotesqueness of his attire, was rising from the table, she stopped, +and clasped her hands. + +"I have been heard!" she thought, trembling. "That which it refused to +make me, Heaven has sent me. Here is a man! And he is certified as of +my faith, and has the voice, the learning, the zeal and courage, the +passion of truth to challenge a hearing anywhere. Welcome Sergius! In +want thou camest; in want thou didst find me. The Lord _is_ shepherd +unto us both." + +She went to him confidently, and offered her hand. Her manner was +irresistible; he had no choice but to yield to it. + +"Thou art not a stranger, but Sergius, my brother. Father Hilarion has +explained everything." + +He kissed her hand, and replied: + +"I was overbold, Princess; but I knew the Father would report me +kindly; and I was hungry." + +"It is my part now to see the affliction comes not back again. So much +has the Shepherd already determined. But, speaking as thy sister, +Sergius, thy garments appear strange. Doubtless they were well enough +in the Bielo-Osero, where the Rule of the Studium is law instead of +fashion; but here we must consult customs or be laughed at, which would +be fatal to the role I have in mind for thee." Then with a smile, she +added, "Observe the dominion I have already assumed." + +He answered with a contented laugh: whereupon she went on, but more +gravely: + +"We have the world to talk over; but Lysander will now take you to your +room, and you will rest until about mid-afternoon, when my boat will +come to the landing to carry us to the city. The cowl you must exchange +for a hat and veil, the sandals for shoes, the coarse cassock for a +black gown; and, if we have time, I will go with you to the Patriarch." + +Sergius followed Lysander submissively as a child. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHAT DO THE STARS SAY? + + +The sun which relieved the bay of Therapia from the thraldom of night +did the same service for the Golden Horn; only, with a more potential +voice, it seemed to say to the cities which were the pride of the +latter, Awake! Arise! And presently they were astir indoor and out. + +Of all the souls who, obedient to the early summons, poured into the +street, and by the south window of the study of the Prince of India, +some going this direction, some that, yet each intent upon a particular +purpose, not one gave a thought to the Prince, or so much as wondered +if he were awake. And the indifference of the many was well for him; it +gave him immunity to pursue his specialty. But as we, the writer and +the reader, are not of the many, and have an interest in the man from +knowing more about him than they, what would have been intrusion in +them may be excused in us. + +Exactly at midnight the Prince, aroused by Syama, had gone to the roof, +where there was a table, with a lamp upon it which he could shade at +pleasure, an hour-glass, and writing materials. An easy chair was also +set for him. + +The view of the city offered for his inspection was circumscribed by +the night. The famous places conspicuous in daytime might as well have +been folded up and put away in a closet; he could not see so much as a +glimmer of light from any of them. Pleased thereby, and arguing that +even the wicked are good when asleep, he swept the heavens with a +glance so long and searching there could be no doubt of the purpose +which had brought him forth. + +Next, according to the habit of astrologers, he proceeded to divide the +firmament into Angles and Houses, and taking seat by the table, +arranged the lamp to suit him, started the hour-glass running, and drew +a diagram familiar to every adept in divinatory science--a diagram of +the heavens with the Houses numbered from one to twelve inclusive. + +In the Houses he then set the mystic symbols of the visible planets as +they were at the moment in position, mindful not merely of the +parallels, but of the degrees as well. Verifying the correctness of the +diagram by a second survey of the mighty overarch more careful even +than the first, he settled himself in the chair, saying complacently: + +"Now, O Saturn, thou, the coldest and highest! Thy Houses are +ready--come, and at least behold them. I wait the configurations." + +Thereupon, perfectly at ease, he watched the stellar hosts while, to +their own music, they marched past the Thrones of the Most High Planets +unchallenged except by him. + +Occasionally he sat up to reverse the hour-glass, though more +frequently he made new diagrams, showing the changes in position of the +several influential bodies relatively to each other and to the benefic +or malific signs upon which so much of result depended; nor did his +eyes once weary or his zeal flag. + +Finally when the sun, yet under the horizon behind the heights of +Scutari, began to flood the sky with a brilliance exceeding that of the +bravest of the stars, he collected the drawings, extinguished the lamp, +and descended to his study, but not to rest. + +Immediately that the daylight was sufficient, he addressed himself to +mathematical calculations which appeared exhaustive of every rule and +branch of the disciplinary science. Hours flew by, and still he worked. +He received Syama's call to breakfast; returning from the meal, always +the simplest of the day with him, he resumed the problem. Either he was +prodigiously intent on a scheme in mind, or he was occupying himself +diligently in order to forget himself. + +About noon he was interrupted. + +"My father." + +Recognizing the voice, he pushed the proofs of labor from him almost to +the other side of the table, turned in his seat, and replied, his face +suffused with pleasure: + +"Thou enemy to labor! Did not some one tell thee of what I have on +hand, and how I am working to finish it in time to take the water with +thee this afternoon? Answer, O my Gul-Bahar, more beautiful growing as +the days multiply!" + +The Lael of the son of Jahdai, the Gul-Bahar of the mysterious Prince, +was much grown, and otherwise greatly changed since we saw her last. +Each intervening year had in passing left her a benediction. She was +now about sixteen, slight, and Jewish in eyes, hair, and complexion. +The blood enriched her olive cheeks; the lips took a double freshness +from health; the smile resting habitually on the oval face had a tale +it was always telling of a nature confiding, happy, satisfied with its +conditions, hopeful of the future, and unaware from any sad experience +that life ever admitted of changes. Her beauty bore the marks of +intelligence; her manner was not enough self-contained to be called +courtly; yet it was easy, and carried its own certificate of culture; +it yielded too much to natural affection to deserve the term dignified. +One listening to her, and noticing the variableness of her mood, which +in almost the same instant could pass from gay to serious without ever +reaching an extreme, would pronounce her too timid for achievement +outside the purely domestic; at the same time he would think she +appeared lovable to the last degree, and might be capable of loving in +equal measure. + +She was dressed in Byzantine fashion. In crossing the street from her +father's house, she had thrown a veil over her head, but it was now +lying carelessly about her neck. The wooden sandals with blocks under +them, like those yet worn by women in Levantine countries to raise them +out of the dust and mud when abroad, had been shaken lightly from her +feet at the top of the stairs. Perfectly at home, she advanced to the +table, and put one of her bare arms around the old man's neck, +regardless of the white locks it crushed close down, and replied: + +"Thou flatterer! Do I not know beauty is altogether in the eye of the +beholder, and that all persons do not see alike? Tell me why, knowing +the work was to be done, you did not send for me to help you? Was it +for nothing you made me acquainted with figures until--I have your +authority for the saying--I might have stood for professor of +mathematics in the best of the Alexandrian schools? Do not shake your +head at me--or"-- + +With the new idea all alight in her face, she ran around the table, and +caught up one of the diagrams. + +"Ah, it is as I thought, father! The work I love best, and can do best! +Whose is the nativity? Not mine, I know; for I was born in the glad +time when Venus ruled the year. Anael, her angel, held his wings over +me against this very wry-faced, snow-chilled Saturn, whom I am so glad +to see in the Seventh House, which is the House of Woe. Whose the +nativity, I say?" + +"Nay, child--pretty child, and wilful--you have a trick of getting my +secrets from me. I sometimes think I am in thy hands no more than +tawdry lace just washed and being wrung preparatory to hanging in the +air from thy lattice. It is well for you to know there are some things +out of your reach--for the time at least." + +"That is saying you will tell me." + +"Yes--some day." + +"Then I will be patient." + +Seeing him become thoughtful, and look abstractedly out of the window, +she laid the diagram down, went back, and again put her arm around his +neck. + +"I did not come to interrupt you, father, but to learn two things, and +run away." + +"You begin like a rhetorician. What subdivisions lie under those two +things? Speak!" + +"Thank you," she replied, quickly. "First, Syama told me you were at +some particular task, and I wanted to know if I could help you." + +"Dear heart!" he said, tenderly. + +"Next--and this is all--I did not want you to forget we are to go up +the Bosphorus this afternoon--up to Therapia, and possibly to the sea." + +"You wish to go?" he asked. + +"I dreamt of it all night." + +"Then we will; and to prove I did not forget, the boatmen have their +orders already. We go to the landing directly after noon." + +"Not too soon," she answered, laughing. "I have to dress, and make +myself gorgeous as an empress. The day is soft and kind, and there will +be many people on the water, where I am already known quite as well as +here in the city as the daughter of the Prince of India." + +He replied with an air of pride: + +"Thou art good enough for an emperor." + +"Then I may go and get ready." + +She withdrew her arm, kissed him, and started to the door, but +returned, with a troubled look. + +"One thing more, father." + +He was recovering his work, but stopped, and gave her ear. + +"What is it?" + +"You have said, good father, that as my studies were too confining, it +would be well if I took the air every day in my sedan. So, sometimes +with Syama, sometimes with Nilo, I had the men carry me along the wall +in front of the Bucoleon. The view over the sea toward Mt. Ida is there +very beautiful; and if I look to the landward side, right at my feet +are the terraced gardens of the palace. Nowhere do the winds seem +sweeter to me. For their more perfect enjoyment I have at moments +alighted from the chair, and walked; always avoiding acquaintances new +and old. The people appear to understand my preference, and respect it. +Of late, however, one person--hardly a man--has followed me, and +stopped near by when I stopped; he has even persisted in attempts to +speak to me. To avoid him, I went to the Hippodrome yesterday, and +taking seat in front of the small obelisks in that quarter, was +delighted with the exhibition of the horsemen. Just when the +entertainment was at its height, and most interesting, the person of +whom I am speaking came and sat on the same bench with me. I arose at +once. It is very annoying, father. What shall I do?" + +The Prince did not answer immediately, and when he did, it was to ask, +suggestively: + +"You say he is young?" + +"Yes." + +"His dress?" + +"He seems to be fond of high colors." + +"You asked no question concerning him?" + +"No. Whom could I ask?" + +Again the Prince reflected. Outwardly he was unconcerned; yet his blood +was more than warm--the blood of pride which, as every one knows, is +easily started, and can go hissing hot. He did not wish her to think of +the affair too much; therefore his air of indifference; nevertheless it +awoke a new train of thought in him. + +If one were to insult this second Lael of his love, what could he do? +The idea of appeal to a magistrate was irritating. Were he to assume +punishment of the insolence, from whom could he hope justice or +sympathy--he, a stranger living a mysterious life? + +He ran hastily over the resorts at first sight open to him. Nilo was an +instrument always ready. A word would arouse the forces in that loyal +but savage nature, and they were forces subject to cunning which never +slept, never wearied, and was never in a hurry--a passionless cunning, +like that of the Fedavies of the Old Man of the Mountain. + +It may be thought the Prince was magnifying a fancied trouble; but the +certainty that sorrow _must_ overtake him for every indulgence of +affection was a haunting shadow always attending the most trifling +circumstance to set his imagination conjuring calamities. That at such +times his first impulse was toward revenge is explicable; the old law, +an eye for an eye, was part of his religion; and coupling it with +personal pride which a thought could turn into consuming heat, how +natural if, while the anticipation was doing its work, his study should +be to make the revenge memorable! + +Feeling he was not entirely helpless in the affair, he thought best to +be patient awhile, and learn who was the offender; a conclusion +followed by a resolution to send Uel with the girl next time she went +to take the air. + +"The young men of the city are uncontrolled by respect or veneration," +he said, quietly. "The follies they commit are sometimes ludicrous. +Better things are not to be looked for in a generation given to dress +as a chief ambition. And then it may be, O my Gul-Bahar"--he kissed her +as he uttered the endearment--"it may be he of whom you complain does +not know who you are. A word may cure him of his bad manners. Do not +appear to notice him. Have eyes for everything in the world but him; +that is the virtuous woman's defence against vulgarity and insult under +every circumstance. Go now, and make ready for the boat. Put on your +gayest; forget not the last necklace I gave you--and the bracelets--and +the girdle with the rubies. The water from the flying oars shall not +outflash my little girl. There now--Of course we will go to the landing +in our chairs." + +When she disappeared down the stairs, he went back to his work. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE + + +It is to be remembered now, as very material to our story, that the day +the Prince of India resolved on the excursion up the Bosphorus with +Lael the exquisite stretch of water separated the territorial +possessions of the Greek Emperor and the Sultan of the Turks. + +In 1355 the utmost of the once vast Roman dominions was "a corner of +Thrace between the Propontis (Marmora) and the Black Sea, about fifty +miles in length and thirty in breadth." [Footnote: Gibbon.] + +When Constantine Dragases--he of whom we are writing--ascended the +throne, the realm was even more diminished. + +Galata, just across the Golden Horn, had become a Genoese stronghold. + +Scutari, on the Asiatic shore almost _vis-a-vis_ with Constantinople, +was held by a Turkish garrison. + +With small trouble the Sultan could have converted the pitiful margin +between Galata and the Cyanean rocks on the Black Sea. + +Once indeed he set siege to Constantinople, but was beaten off, it was +said, by the Mother of God, who appeared upon the walls of the city, +and in person took part in the combat. Thereafter he contented himself +with a tribute from the Emperors Manuel and John Palaeologus. + +The relations of the Christian and Moslem potentates being thus +friendly, it can be seen how the Princess Irene could keep to her +palace by Therapia and the Prince of India plan jaunts along the +Bosphorus. + +Still there is a point to be borne in mind. Ships under Christian flags +seldom touched at a landing upon the Asiatic shore. Their captains +preferred anchoring in the bays and close under the ivy-covered heights +of Europe. This was not from detestation or religious intolerance; at +bottom there was a doubt of the common honesty of the strong-handed +Turk amounting to fear. The air was rife with stories of his treachery. +The fishermen in the markets harrowed the feelings of their timid +customers with tales of surprises, captures, and abductions. +Occasionally couriers rushed through the gates of Constantinople to +report red banners in motion, and the sound of clarions and drums, +signifying armies of Moslems gathering for mysterious purposes. + +The Moslems, on their part, it is but fair to say, were possessed of +the same doubts of the Christians, and had answers to accusations +always ready. The surprises, captures, and abductions were the +unlicensed savageries of brigands, of whom they never knew one not a +Greek; while the music and flags belonged to the militia. + +Six or seven miles above Scutari a small river, born in the adjacent +highlands, runs merrily down to meet and mingle with the tideless +Bosphorus. The water it yields is clear and fresh; whence the name of +the stream, The Sweet Waters of Asia. On its south side there is a +prairie-like stretch, narrow, but green and besprent with an orchard of +sycamores old and gnarled, and now much frequented on Mohammedan +Sundays by ladies of the harems, who contrive to make it very gay. No +doubt the modest river, and the grass and great trees were just as +attractive ages before the first Amurath, with an army at his heels, +halted there for a night. From that time, however, it was banned by the +Greeks; and for a reason. + +On the north bank of the little river there was a fortress known as the +White Castle. An irregular, many-angled pile of undressed stone heavily +merloned on top, its remarkable feature was a tall donjon which a dingy +white complexion made visible a great distance, despite its freckling +of loopholes and apertures for machine artillery. Seeing its military +importance, the Sultan left a garrison to hold it. He was also pleased +to change its name to Acce-Chisar. + +The blood-red flag on this donjon was, at the era engaging us, the +disenchanter of the Greeks; insomuch that in passing the Sweet Waters +of Asia they hugged the opposite shore of the Bosphorus, crossing +themselves and muttering prayers often of irreligious compound. A stork +has a nest on the donjon now. As an apparition it is not nearly so +suggestive as the turbaned sentinel who used to occupy its outlook. + +The popular imagination located dungeons under the grim old Castle, +whence, of the many Christian men and women immured there, it was said +none ever came forth alive. + +But for these things, whether true or false, the Prince of India cared +little. He was not afraid of the Turks. If the Asiatic shore had been +festooned with red flags from the City of the Blind down by the Isles +of the Princes to the last of the gray fortresses overlooking the +Symplegades, it would not have altered a plan of his jot or tittle. +Enough that Lael wanted and needed an outing on the glorious Bosphorus. + +Accordingly, shortly after noon two chairs were brought and set down in +his house. That is to say, two upright boxes fixed centrally on poles, +and differing in nowise from the sedans still the mode of carriage +affected by ladies of Constantinople unless it might be in their richer +appointments. Inside, all was silk, lace and cushions; outside, the +inlaying of mother of pearl and vari-colored woods was suggestive of +modern papier-mache. The entrance was by a door in the front. A window +in the door, and lesser ones on the sides, afforded the inmate air and +opportunity for speech. Not wanting to be seen, she had only to draw +the curtains together. In this instance it must be said the decoration +of the carriages had been carried to an extreme. + +Soon as the chairs were set down in the house, the Prince and Lael +descended the stairs. The latter was attired in a semi-Greek costume, +very rich and becoming; to embroidery of gold, she added bracelets, and +a necklace of large pearls strung between spheres of gold equally +large. A coronet graced her head, and it was so bejewelled that in +bright light it seemed some one was sprinkling her with an incessant +shower of sparkles. + +The two took their seats. The carriers, two to each litter, stalwart +men, uniformly clad in loose white garments, raised the poles on their +shoulders. Syama threw the door of the house open, and at a signal from +the Prince the procession sallied into the street. The crowd, in +expectant waiting there, received it in silent wonder. + +It is due the truth to say now that the common eye was attracted by the +appearance of Nilo as much as by the rarities wrought in the panelling +of the carriages. He strode ten or twelve feet in advance of Lael who, +in the place of honor, was completely under the Prince's observation. +The negro's costume was of a King of Kash-Cush. The hair stood on end +in stiff cues, sharply pointed, and held by a chain of silver medals; +an immense ring of silver hung from the cartilage of his nose. The neck +was defended by a gorget of leather bristling with the fangs and claws +of tigers in alternating rows. A robe of scarlet cloth large enough to +envelop the man was thrown behind the massive shoulders. The body, +black as polished ebony, was naked to the waist, whence a white skirt +fell to the knees. The arms and legs were adorned with bracelets and +anklets of ivory, while the straps of the heavy sandals were bordered +with snail-shells. On the left arm he bore a round shield of rhinoceros +hide embossed in brass; in the right hand, a pointless lance. Towering +high above the heads of the crowd which opened before him with +alacrity, the admiration received by the Prince's ally and friend was +but a well-deserved tribute. + +"A tiger-hunter!" said one, to a friend at his elbow. + +"I should call him king of the tiger-hunters," the friend replied. + +"Only a Prince of India would carry such a pensioner with him," another +remarked. + +"What a man!" said a woman, half afraid. + +"An infidel, no doubt," was the answer. + +"It is not a Christian wish, I know," the first added; "still I should +like to see him face a lion in the Cynegion." + +"Ay, him they call Tamerlane, because he is shorn of two toes." + +The Prince, casting a glance of scarce concealed contempt over the +throng, sighed, as he muttered, "If now I could meet the Emperor!" + +The exclamation was from his heart. + +We have seen the idea which lured him to Mecca, and brought him to +Constantinople. In the years since flown, it was held subordinate to +his love of Lael--subordinate merely. Latterly it had revived with much +of its original force, and he was now for the first time seriously +scheming for an interview with the Emperor. No doubt a formal request +would have secured the honor; but it was in his view better policy to +be sought than seek, and with all his wealth, there was nothing he +could so well afford to pay for success as time. In his study, he was +continually saying to himself: + +"It cannot be that the extravagances to which I am going will fail. He +will hear of me, or we may meet--then the invitation!--And then I will +propose the Brotherhood--God help me! But it is for him to invite me. +Patience, O my soul!" + +Extravagances! + +The exclamation helps us to an understanding of the style he was +carrying before the public--the silvering on his own black velvet robe, +the jewels in Lael's coronet bursting with light, the gorgeous finish +of the sedans, the barbaric costuming of Nilo. They were not +significant of his taste. Except for what they might bring him, he did +not care for jewels. And as for Lael, he would have loved her for her +name's sake, and her honest, untarnished Jewish blood. Let us believe +so at least until we find otherwise. + +Nilo, by this time familiar with every quarter of the city, was told +the boat was in readiness for the party at a landing near the Grand +Gate of Blacherne; to make which, it being on the Golden Horn well up +in the northwest, he must turn the hill back of the Prince's residence, +and pursue one of the streets running parallel with the wall. Thither +he accordingly bent his steps, followed by the porters of the sedans, +and an increasing but respectful assemblage of curious citizens. + +Scarcely had the progress begun before the Prince, watching through his +front window, saw a man approach the side of Lael's chair, and peer +into it. His wit served him well and instantly. + +"'Tis he--the insolent!--Close up!" he cried, to his porters. + +The intruder at the sound of his voice looked at him once, then +disappeared in the throng. He was young, handsome, showily dressed, and +beyond question the person of whom Lael had complained. Though smarting +under the insult, and a suspicion, suddenly engendered, of a watch kept +over his house, the Prince concluded the stranger was of noble +connection, and that the warrant for his boldness was referable to +family influence. While his subtle mind was pothering with schemes of +detection, the affair presented itself in another light, and he laughed +at his own dulness. + +"'Tis nothing," he reflected--"nothing! The boy is in love, and +allowing his passion to make a fool of him. I have only to see my +pretty Gul-Bahar does not return the madness." + +Deciding then to make inquiry and satisfy himself who the young admirer +was, he dismissed the subject. + +Presently Nilo turned into a street of some width compared with the +generality of thoroughfares in the city. On the left hand were shops +and pretentious houses; on the right, towered the harbor wall. The +people attending the procession increased instead of dispersing; but as +they continued in good nature, they gave him no concern. Their comments +amongst themselves were about equally divided between Nilo and Lael. + +"Beautiful, beautiful!" one said, catching sight of the latter through +the windows of the chair. + +"Who is she?" + +"A daughter of a Prince of India." + +"And the Prince--Who is he?" + +"Ask some one who knows. There he is in the second chair." + +Once a woman went close to Lael, snatched a look, and stepped back, +with clasped hands, crying: + +"'Tis the Sweet Mother herself!" + +Without other incident, the procession passed the gate of St. Peter, +and was nearing that of Blacherne, when a flourish of trumpets +announced a counter pageant coming down the street from the opposite +direction. A man near by shouted: + +"The Emperor! The Emperor!" + +Another seconded him. + +"Long live the good Constantine!" + +The words were hardly uttered before they were answered: + +"The _azymite_! The _azymite_! Down with the betrayer of Christ!" + +In less than a minute the Prince was being borne along in the midst of +two howling factions. Scarcely knowing whether to take Lael into a +house or go on, he tried to communicate with Nilo; but in +unconsciousness of the tempest so suddenly risen, that grandson of a +king marched on in unremitted stateliness, until directly a band of +trumpeters in magnificent livery confronted him. + +The astonishment was mutual. Nilo halted, dropping his headless lance +in defence; the trumpeters quit blowing, and, opening order, filed +hastily by him, their faces saying with a distinctness words could not +have helped: + +"A son of Satan! Beware!" + +The chairs were also brought to a halt. + +Thereupon the people, now a mob apparently ready to tear each other +into bloody ribbons, refused to give way to the trumpeters. Nilo +finally comprehending the situation returned to Lael just as the Prince +on foot came up to her. She was pale and trembling with fear. + +The deadlock between the musicians and the mob was brought to an end by +the appearance of a detachment of the Imperial guard. A mounted +officer, javelin in hand, rode up and shouted: + +"The Emperor! Make way for the Emperor!" + +While he was speaking, the horsemen behind him came on steadily. There +was irresistible persuasion in the glitter of their spears; besides it +was matter of universal knowledge that the steel panoply of each rider +concealed a mercenary foreigner who was never so happy as when riding +over a Greek. One yell louder and more defiant than any yet +uttered--"The azymite, the azymite!"--and the mob broke and fled. At a +signal from the officer, the guards, as they came on, opened right and +left of the chairs, and passed them with scarce notice. + +A few words from the Prince to Lael dispelled her fears. + +"It is an every-day affair," he said, lightly; "an amusement of the +people, the Roman factionists against the Greek. Nobody is ever hurt, +except in howling he opens his jaws too wide." + +The levity was affected, but mastering the irritation he really felt, +the Prince was about to make acknowledgment to the officer for his +timely intervention, when another personage appeared, claiming his +attention. Indeed his heart began beating unusually fast, and in spite +of himself his face flushed--he knew he had his wish--the meeting with +Constantine was come! + +The last Emperor of the Byzantines sat in an open chair borne upon the +shoulders of eight carriers in striking livery--a handsome man in his +forty-sixth year, though apparently not more than thirty-eight or +forty. His costume was that of Basileus, which was a religious dignity. + +A close-fitting cap of red velvet covered his head, with a knot of +purple silk triply divided on the top; while a pliable circlet of +golden scales, clearing the brows, held the cap securely in place. On +each scale a ruby of great size sparkled in solitaire setting. The +circlet was further provided with four strings of pearls, two by each +ear, dangling well down below in front of the shoulders. A loose drab +robe or gown, drawn close at the waist, clothed him, neck, arms, body +and nether limbs, answering excellently as ground for a cope the color +of the cap, divided before and behind into embroidered squares defined +by rows of pearls. Boots of purple leather, also embroidered, gave +finish to the costume. Instead of sword or truncheon, he carried a +plain ivory crucifix. The people staring at him from the doors and +windows knew he was going to Sancta Sophia intent on some religious +service. + +While the Emperor was thus borne down upon the Prince, his dark eyes, +kindly looking, glanced from Nilo to Lael, and finally came to rest +full upon the face of the master. The officer returned to him. A few +paces off, the imperial chair stopped, and a conversation ensued, +during which a number of high officials who were of the sovereign's +suite on foot closed up in position to separate their Lord from a +mounted rear guard. + +The Prince of India kept his mind perfectly. Having exchanged glances +with the Emperor, he was satisfied an impression was made strong enough +to pique curiosity, and at the same time fix him in the royal memory. +With a quick sense of the proprieties, he thereupon addressed himself +to moving his carriages to the left, that when the conference with the +officers was concluded the Emperor might have the right of way with the +least possible obstruction. + +Presently the Acolyte--such the officer proved to be--approached the +Prince. + +"His Imperial Majesty," he said, courteously, "would be pleased could I +inform him the name and title of the stranger whose progress he has +been so unfortunate as to interrupt." + +The Prince answered with dignity: + +"I thank you, noble sir, for the fair terms in which you couch the +inquiry, not less than the rescue I and my daughter owe you from the +mob." + +The Acolyte bowed. + +"And not to keep his Imperial Majesty waiting," the Prince continued, +"return him the compliments of a Prince of India, at present a resident +of this royal and ancient capital. Say also it will give me happiness +far beyond the power of words when I am permitted to salute him, and +render the veneration and court to which his character and place +amongst the rulers of the earth entitle him." + +At the conclusion of the complex, though courtierly reply, the speaker +walked two steps forward, faced the Emperor, and touched the ground +with his palms, and rising, carried them to his forehead. + +The answer duly delivered, the Emperor responded to the salaam with a +bow and another message. + +"His Imperial Majesty," the Acolyte said, "is pleased at meeting the +Prince of India. He was not aware he had a guest of such distinction in +his capital. He desires to know the place of residence of his noble +friend, that he may communicate with him, and make amends for the +hindrance which has overtaken him to-day." + +The Prince gave his address, and the interview ended. + +It is of course the reader's privilege to pass judgment upon the +incidents of this rencounter; at least one of the parties to it was +greatly pleased, for he knew the coveted invitation would speedily +follow. + +While the Emperor was borne past, Lael received his notice more +especially than her guardian; when they were out of hearing, he called +the Acolyte to his side. + +"Didst thou observe the young person yonder?" he asked. + +"The coronet she wears certifies the Prince of India to be vastly +rich," the other answered. + +"Yes, the Princes of India, if we may judge by common report, are all +rich; wherefore I thought not of that, but rather of the beauty of his +daughter. She reminded me of the Madonna on the Panagia in the transept +of our church at Blacherne." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RACING WITH A STORM + + +One who has seen the boats in which fishermen now work the eddies and +still waters of the Bosphorus will not require a description of the +vessel the Prince and Lael stepped into when they arrived at the Grand +Gate of Blacherne. He need only be told that instead of being +pitch-black outside and in, it was white, except the gunwale which was +freshly gilt. The untravelled reader, however, must imagine a long +narrow craft, upturned at both ends, graceful in every line, and +constructed for speed and beauty. Well aft there was a box without +cover, luxuriously cushioned, lined with chocolate velvet, and wide +enough to seat two persons comfortably; behind it, a decked space for a +servant, pilot or guard. This arrangement left all forward for the +rowers, each handling two oars. + +Ten rowers, trained, stout, and clad in white headkerchiefs, shirts and +trousers of the same hue, and Greek jackets of brilliant scarlet, +profusely figured over with yellow braid, sat stolidly, blades in hand +and ready dipped, when the passengers took their places, the Prince and +Lael in the box, and Nilo behind them as guard. The vessel was too +light to permit a ceremonious reception. + +In front of the party, on the northern shore of the famous harbor, were +the heights of Pera. The ravines and grass-green benches into which +they were broken, with here and there a garden hut enclosed in a patch +of filbert bushes--for Pera was not then the city it now is--were of no +interest to the Prince; dropping his eyes to the water, they took in a +medley of shipping, then involuntarily turned to the cold gray face of +the wall he was leaving. And while seeing in vivid recollection the +benignant countenance of Constantine bent upon him from the chair in +the street, he thought of the horoscope he had spent the night in +taking and the forenoon in calculating. With a darkened brow, he gave +the word, and the boat was pushed off and presently seeking the broader +channel of the Bosphorus. + +The day was delightful. A breeze danced merrily over the surface of the +water. Soft white summer clouds hung so sleepily in the southwest they +scarce suggested motion. Seeing the color deepen in Lael's cheeks, and +listening to her questions, he surrendered himself to the pleasures of +the situation, not the least being the admiration she attracted. + +By ships at anchor, and through lesser craft of every variety they +sped, followed by exclamations frequently outspoken: + +"Who is she? Who can she be?" + +Thus pursued, they flew past the gate of St. Peter, turned the point of +Galata, and left the Fish Market port behind; proceeding then in +parallelism with the north shore, they glided under the great round +tower so tall and up so far overhead it seemed a part of the sky. Off +Tophane, they were in the Bosphorus, with Scutari at their right, and +Point Serail at their backs. + +Viewed from the harbor on the sea, the old historic Point leaves upon +the well informed an impression that in a day long gone, yielding to a +spasm of justice, Asia cast it off into the waves. Its beauty is +Circean. Almost from the beginning it has been the chosen place in +which men ran rounds gay and grave, virtuous and wanton, foolish and +philosophic, brave and cowardly--where love, hate, jealousy, avarice, +ambition and envy have delighted to burn their lights before +Heaven--where, possibly with one exception, Providence has more +frequently come nearer lifting its veil than in any other spot of earth. + +Again and again, the Prince, loth to quit the view, turned and refilled +his eyes with Sancta Sophia, of which, from his position, the wall at +the water's edge, the lesser churches of the Virgin Hodegetria and St. +Irene, and the topmost sections far extending of the palaces of +Bucoleon seemed but foundations. The edifice, as he saw it then, +depended on itself for effect, the Turk having not yet, in sign of +Mohammedan conversion, broken the line of its marvellous dome with +minarets. At length he set about telling stories of the Point. + +Off the site of the present palace of Dolma-Batchi he told of +Euphrosyne, the daughter of the Empress Irene; and seeing how the +sorrowful fortune of the beautiful child engaged Lael's sympathies, he +became interested as a narrator, and failed to notice the unusual +warmth tempering the air about Tchiragan. Neither did he observe that +the northern sky, before so clear and blue, was whitening with haze. + +To avoid the current running past Arnoot-Kouy, the rowers crossed to +the Asiatic side under the promontory of Candilli. + +Other boats thronged the charming expanse; but as most of them were of +a humbler class sporting one rower, the Prince's, with its liveried +ten, was a surpassing attraction. Sometimes the strangers, to gratify +their curiosity, drew quite near, but always without affronting him; +knowing the homage was to Lael, he was happy when it was effusively +rendered. + +His progress was most satisfactory until he rounded Candilli. Then a +flock of small boats came down upon him pell-mell, the rowers pulling +their uttermost, the passengers in panic. + +The urgency impelling them was equally recognized by the ships and +larger vessels out in the channel. Anchors were going down, sails +furling, and oars drawing in. Above them, moreover, much beyond their +usual levels of flight troops of gulls were circling on rapid wings +screaming excitedly. + +The Prince had reached the part of greatest interest in the story he +was telling--how the cruel and remorseless Emperor Michel, determined +to wed the innocent and helpless Euphrosyne, shamelessly cheated the +Church and cajoled the Senate--when Nilo touched his shoulder, and +awoke him to the situation. A glance over the water--another at the +sky--and he comprehended danger of some kind was impending. At the same +moment Lael commenced shivering and complaining of cold. The air had +undergone a sudden change. Presently Nilo's red cloak was sheltering +her. + +The boat was in position to bring everything into view, and he spoke to +the rowers: + +"A storm is rising." + +They ceased work, and looked over their shoulders, each for himself. + +"A blow from the sea, and it comes fast. What we shall do is for my +Lord to say," one of them returned. + +The Prince grew anxious for Lael. What was done must be for her--he had +no thought else. + +A cloud was forming over the whole northeastern quarter of the sky, +along the horizon black, overhead a vast gray wave, in its heart +copper-hued, seething, interworking, now a distended sail, now a sail +bursted; and the wind could be heard whipping the shreds into fleece, +and whirling them a confusion of vaporous banners. Yet glassy, the +water reflected the tint of the cloud. The hush holding it was like the +drawn breath of a victim waiting the first turn of the torturous wheel. + +The Asiatic shore offered the Prince a long stretch, and he persisted +in coasting it until the donjon of the White Castle--that terror to +Christians--arrested his eye. There were houses much nearer, some of +them actually overhanging the water; but the donjon seemed specially +inviting; at all events, he coolly reflected, if the Governor of the +Castle denied him refuge, the little river near by known as the Sweet +Waters of Asia would receive him, and getting under its bank, he might +hope to escape the fury of the wind and waves. He shouted resolutely: + +"To the White Castle! Make it before the wind strikes, my men, and I +will double your hire." + +"We may make it," the rower answered, somewhat sullenly, "but"-- + +"What?" asked the Prince. + +"The devil has his lodgings there. Many men have gone into its accursed +gates on errands of peace, and never been heard of again." + +The Prince laughed. + +"We lose time--forward! If there be a fiend in the Castle, I promise +you he is not waiting for us." + +The twenty oars fell as one, and the boat jumped like a steed under a +stab of the spur. + +Thus boldly the race with the storm was begun. The judgment of the +challenger, assuming the Prince to be such, may be questioned. The +river was the goal. + +Could he reach it before the wind descended in dangerous force?--That +was the very point of contest. + +The chances, it is to be remembered next, were not of a kind to admit +weighing with any approach to certainty; it was difficult even to +marshal them for consideration. The distance was somewhat less than +three-quarters of a mile; on the other part, the competing cloud was +wrestling with the mountain height of Alem Daghy, about four miles +away. The dead calm was an advantage; unfortunately it was more than +offset by the velocity of the current which, though not so strong by +the littoral of Candilli as under the opposite bluffs of +Roumeli-Hissar, was still a serious opposing force. The boatmen were +skilful, and could be relied upon to pull loyally; for, passing the +reward offered in the event of their winning, the dangers of failure +were to them alike. Treating the contest as a race, with the storm and +the boat as competitors, the Prince was not without chances of success. + +But whatever the outcome of the venture, Lael would be put to +discomfort. His care of her was so habitually marked by tender +solicitude one cannot avoid wondering at him now. + +After all he may have judged the affair more closely than at first +appears. The sides of the boat were low, but danger from that cause +might be obviated by the skill of the rowers; and then Alem Daghy was +not a trifling obstacle in the path of the gale. It might be trusted to +hold the cloud awhile; after which a time would be required by the wind +to travel the miles intervening. + +Certainly it had been more prudent to make the shore, and seek refuge +in one of the houses there. But the retort of the spirited Jew of that +day, as in this, was a contemptuous refusal of assistance, and the +degree to which this son of Israel was governed by the eternal +resentment can be best appreciated by recalling the number of his days +on earth. + +At the first response to the vigorous pull of the oarsmen, Lael drew +the red cloak over her face, and laid her head against the Prince. He +put his arm around her, and seeing nothing and saying nothing, she +trusted in him. + +The rowers, pulling with strength from the start, gradually quickened +the stroke, and were presently in perfect harmony of action. A short +sough accompanied each dip of the blades; an expiration, like that of +the woodman striking a blow with his axe, announced the movement +completed. The cords of their brawny necks played fast and free; the +perspiration ran down their faces like rain upon glass. Their teeth +clinched. They turned neither right nor left; but with their straining +eyes fixed upon him, by his looks they judged both their own well-doing +and the progress of their competitor. + +Seeing the boat pointed directly toward the Castle, the Prince watched +the cloud. Occasionally he commended the rowers. + +"Well done, my men!--Hold to that, and we will win!" + +The unusual brightness of his eyes alone betrayed excitement. Once he +looked over the yet quiet upper field of water. His was the only vessel +in motion. Even the great ships were lying to. No--there was another +small boat like his own coming down along the Asiatic shore as if to +meet him. Its position appeared about as far above the mouth of the +river as his was below it; and its three or five rowers were plainly +doing their best. With grim pleasure, he accepted the stranger as +another competitor in the race. + +The friendly heights of Alem, seen from the Bosphorus, are one great +forest always beautifully green. Even as the Prince looked at them, +they lost color, as if a hand out of the cloud had suddenly dropped a +curtain of white gauze over them. He glanced back over the course, then +forward. The donjon was showing the loopholes that pitted its southern +face. Excellent as the speed had been, more was required. Half the +distance remained to be overcome--and the enemy not four miles away. + +"Faster, men!" he called out. "The gust has broken from the mountain. I +hear its roaring." + +They turned involuntarily, and with a look measured the space yet to be +covered, the distance of the foe, and the rate at which he was coming. +Nor less did they measure the danger. They too heard its warning, the +muffled roar as of rocks and trees snatched up and grinding to atoms in +the inner coils of the cloud. + +"It is not a blow," one said, speaking quick, "but a"-- + +"Storm." + +The word was the Prince's. + +"Yes, my Lord." + +Just then the water by the boat was rippled by a breath, purring, +timorous, but icy. + +The effect on the oarsmen was stronger than any word from the master +could have been. They finished a pull long and united; then while the +oars swung forward taking reach for another, they all arose to their +feet, paused a moment, dipped the blades deeper, gave vent to a cry so +continuous it sounded like a wail, and at the same time sunk back into +their seats, pulling as they fell. This was their ultimate exertion. A +jet of water spurted from the foot of the sharp bow, and the bubbles +and oar eddies flew behind indistinguishably. + +"Well done!" said the Prince, his eyes glowing. + +Thenceforward the men continued to rise at the end of a stroke, and +fall as they commenced delivery of another. Their action was quick, +steady, machine-like; they gripped the water deep, and made no slips; +with a thought of the exhilaration an eagle must feel when swooping +from his eyrie, the Prince looked at the cloud defiantly as a +challenger might. Each moment the donjon loomed up more plainly. He saw +now, not merely the windows and loopholes, but the joinery of the +stones in their courses. Suddenly he beheld another wonder--an army of +men mounted and galloping along the river bank toward the Castle. + +The array stretched back into the woods. In its van were two flags +borne side by side, one green, the other red. Both were surrounded by a +troop in bright armor. No need for him to ask to whom they belonged. +They told him of Mecca and Mahomet--on the red, he doubted not seeing +the old Ottomanic symbols, in their meaning poetic, in their simplicity +beautiful as any ever appropriated for martial purposes. The riders +were Turks. But why the green flag? Where it went somebody more than +the chief of a sanjak, more than the governor of a castle, or even a +province, led the way. + +The number trailing after the flags was scarcely less mysterious. They +were too many to be of the garrison; and then the battlements of the +Castle were lined with men also under arms. Not daring to speak of this +new apparition lest his oarsmen might take alarm, the Prince smiled, +thinking of another party to the race--a fourth competitor. + +He sought the opposing boat next. It had made good time. There were +five oarsmen in it; and, like his own, they were rising and falling +with each stroke. In the passengers' place, he could make out two +persons whom he took to be women. + +A roll of thunder from the cloud startled the crew. Clear, angry, +majestic, it filled the mighty gorge of the Bosphorus. Under the sound +the water seemed to shrink away. Lael looked out from her hiding, but +as quickly drew back, crowding closer to the Prince. To calm her he +said, lightly, + +"Fear nothing, O my Gul Bahar! A pretty race we are having with the +cloud yonder; we are winning, and it is not pleased. There is no +danger." + +She answered by doubling the folds of the gown about her head. + +Steadily, lithely, and with never an error the rowers drove through the +waves--steadily, and in exact time, their cry arose cadencing each +stroke. They did their part truly. Well might the master cry them, +"Good, good." But all the while the wind was tugging mightily at its +cloudy car; every instant the rattle of its wheels sounded nearer. The +trees on the hills behind the Castle were bending and bowing; and not +merely around the boat, but far as could be seen the surface of the +ancient channel was a-shirr and a-shatter under beating of advance +gusts. + +And now the mouth of the Sweet Waters, shallowed by a wide extended +osier bank, came into view; and the Castle was visible from base to +upper merlon, the donjon, in relief against the blackened sky, rising +more ghostly than ever. And right at hand were the flags, and the +riders galloping with them. And there, coming bravely in, was the +competing boat. + +Over toward Roumeli-Hissar the sea birds congregated in noisy flocks, +alarmed at the long line of foam the wind was whisking down the +current. Behind the foam, the world seemed dissolving into spray. + +Then the boats were seen from the Castle, and a company of soldiers ran +out and down the bank. A noise like the rushing of a river sounded +directly overhead. The wind struck the Castle, and in the thick of the +mists and flying leaves hurled at it, the donjon disappeared. + +"We win, we win, my men!" the Prince shouted. "Courage--good +spirit--brave work--treble wages! Wine and wassail to-morrow!" + +The boat, with the last word, shot into the little river, and up to the +landing of the Castle just as the baffled wind burst over the refuge. +And simultaneously the van of the army galloped under the walls and the +competing boat arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE WHITE CASTLE + + +The landing was in possession of dark-faced, heavily bearded men, with +white turbans, baggy trousers, gray and gathered at the ankles, and +arms of every kind, bows, javelins, and cimeters. + +The Prince, stepping from his boat, recognized them as Turkish +soldiers. He had hardly time to make the inspection, brief as it was, +before an officer, distinguished by a turban, kettle-shaped and +elaborately infolded, approached him. + +"You will go with me to the Castle," he said. + +The official's tone and manner were imperative. Suppressing his +displeasure, the Prince replied, with dignity: + +"The Governor is courteous. Return to him with my thanks, and say that +when I decided to come on in the face of the storm, I made no doubt of +his giving me shelter until it would be safe to resume my journey. I +fear, however, his accommodations will be overtaxed; and since the +river is protected from the wind, it would be more agreeable if he +would permit me to remain here." + +The response betrayed no improvement in manner: + +"My order is to bring you to the Castle." + +Some of the boatmen at this raised their eyes and hands toward heaven; +others crossed themselves, and, like men taking leave of hope, cried +out, "O Holy Mother of God!" + +Yet the Prince restrained himself. He saw contention would be useless, +and said, to quiet the rowers: "I will go with you. The Governor will +be reasonable. We are unfortunates blown to his hands by a tempest, and +to make us prisoners under such circumstances would be an abuse of one +of the first and most sacred laws of the Prophet. The order did not +comprehend my men; they may remain here." + +Lael heard all this, her face white with fear. + +The conversation was in the Greek tongue. At mention of the law, the +Turk cast a contemptuous look at the Prince, much as to say, Dog of an +unbeliever, what dost thou with a saying of the Prophet? Then dropping +his eyes to Lael and the boatmen, he answered in disdain of argument or +explanation: + +"You--they--all must go." + +With that, he turned to the occupants of the other boat, and raising +his voice the better to be heard, for the howling of the wind was very +great, he called to them: + +"Come out." + +They were a woman in rich attire, but closely veiled, and a companion +at whom he gazed with astonishment. The costume of the latter perplexed +him; indeed, not until that person, in obedience to the order, erected +himself to his full stature upon the landing, was he assured of his sex. + +They were the Princess Irene and Sergius the monk. + +The conversation between them in the Homeric palace has only to be +recalled to account for their presence. Departing from Therapia at +noon, according to the custom of boatmen wishing to pass from the upper +Bosphorus, they had been carried obliquely across toward the Asiatic +shore where the current, because of its greater regularity, is supposed +to facilitate descent. When the storm began to fill the space above +Alem Daghy, they were in the usual course; and then the question that +had been put to the Prince of India was presented to the Princess +Irene. Would she land in Asia or recross to Europe? + +The general Greek distrust of the Turks belonged to her. From infancy +she had been horrified with stories of women prisoners in their hands. +She preferred making Roumeli-Hissar; but the boatmen protested it was +too late; they said the little river by the White Castle was open, and +they could reach it before the storm; and trusting in their better +judgment, she submitted to them. + +Sergius, on the landing, pushed the cowl back, and was about to speak, +but the wind caught his hair, tossing the long locks into tangle. +Seeing him thus in a manner blinded, the Princess took up the speech. +Drawing the veil aside, she addressed the officer: + +"Art thou the Governor of the Castle?" + +"No." + +"Are we to be held guests or prisoners?" + +"That is not for me to say." + +"Carry thou then a message to him who may be the Governor. Tell him I +am the Princess Irene, by birth near akin to Constantine, Emperor of +the Greeks and Romans; that, admitting this soil is lawfully the +property of his master the Sultan, I have not invaded it, but am here +in search of temporary refuge. Tell him if I go to his Castle a +prisoner, he must answer for the trespass to my royal kinsman, who will +not fail to demand reparation; on the other hand, if I become his +guest, it must be upon condition that I shall be free to depart as I +came, with my friend and my people, the instant the wind and waves +subside. Yes, and the further condition, that he wait upon me as +becomes my station, and personally offer such hospitality as his Castle +affords. I shall receive his reply here." + +The officer, uncouth though he was, listened with astonishment not in +the least disguised; and it was not merely the speech which impressed +him, nor yet the spirit with which it was given; the spell was in the +unveiled face. Never in his best dream of the perfected Moslem Paradise +had he seen loveliness to compare with it. He stood staring at her. + +"Go," she repeated. "There will be rain presently." + +"Who am I to say thou art?" he asked. + +"The Princess Irene, kinswoman of the Emperor Constantine." + +The officer made a low salaam to her, and walked hurriedly off to the +Castle. + +His soldiers stood in respectful remove from the prisoners--such the +refugees must for the present be considered--leaving them grouped in +close vicinity, the Prince and the monk ashore, the Princess and Lael +seated in their boats. + +Calamity is a rough master of ceremonies; it does not take its victims +by the hand, and name them in words, but bids them look to each other +for help. And that was precisely what the two parties now did. + +Unsophisticated, and backward through inexperience, Sergius was +nevertheless conscious of the embarrassing plight of the Princess. He +had also a man's quick sense of the uselessness of resistance, except +in the way of protest. To measure the stranger's probable influence +with the Turks, he looked first at the Prince, and was not, it must be +said, rewarded with a return on which to found hope or encouragement. +The small, stoop-shouldered old man, with a great white beard, appeared +respectable and well-to-do in his black velvet cap and pelisse; his +eyes were very bright, and his cheeks hectic with resentment at the +annoyance he was undergoing; but that he could help out of the +difficulty appeared absurd. + +Having by this time rescued his hair from the wind, and secured it +under his cowl, he looked next at Lael. His first thought was of the +unfitness of her costume for an outing in a boat under the quietest of +skies. A glance at the Princess, however, allayed the criticism; while +the display of jewelry was less conspicuous, her habit was quite as +rich and unsubstantial. It dawned upon him then that custom had +something to do with the attire of Greek women thus upon the water. +That moment Lael glanced up at him, and he saw how childlike her face +was, and lovely despite the anxiety and fear with which it was +overcast. He became interested in her at once. + +The monk's judgment of the little old man was unjust. That master of +subtlety had in mind run forward of the situation, and was already +providing for its consequences. + +He shared the surprise of the Turk when the Princess raised her veil. +Overhearing then her message to the Governor, delivered in a manner +calm, self-possessed, courageous, dignified, and withal adroit, he +resolved to place Lael under her protection. + +"Princess," he said, doffing his cap unmindful of the wind, and +advancing to the side of her boat, "I crave audience of you, and in +excuse for my unceremoniousness, plead community in misfortune, and a +desire to make my daughter here safe as can be." + +She surveyed him from head to foot; then turned her eyes toward Lael, +sight of whom speedily exorcised the suspicion which for the instant +held her hesitant. + +"I acknowledge the obligation imposed by the situation." she replied; +"and being a Christian as well as a woman, I cannot without reason +justifiable in sight of Heaven deny the help you ask. But, good sir, +first tell me your name and country." + +"I am a Prince of India exercising a traveller's privilege of +sojourning in the imperial city." + +"The answer is well given; and if hereafter you return to this +interview, O Prince, I beg you will not lay my inquiry to common +curiosity." + +"Fear not," the Prince answered; "for I learned long ago that in the +laws prescribed for right doing prudence is a primary virtue; and +making present application of the principle, I suggest, if it please +you to continue a discourse which must be necessarily brief, that we do +so in some other tongue than Greek." + +"Be it in Latin then," she said, with a quick glance at the soldiers, +and observing his bow of acquiescence, continued, "Thy reverend beard, +O Prince, and respectable appearance, are warranties of a wisdom +greater than I can ever attain; wherefore pray tell me how I, a feeble +woman, who may not be able to release herself from these robbers, +remorseless from religious prejudice, can be of assistance to thy +daughter, now my younger sister in affliction." + +She accompanied the speech with a look at Lael so kind and tender it +could not be misinterpreted. + +"Most fair and gentle Princess, I will straight to the matter. Out on +the water, midway this and the point yonder, when too late for me to +change direction or stay my rowers, I saw a body of horsemen, whom I +judged to be soldiers, moving hurriedly down the river bank toward the +Castle. A band richly caparisoned, carrying two flags, one green, the +other red, moved at their head. The former, you may know, has a +religious signification, and is seldom seen in the field except a +person of high rank be present. It is my opinion, therefore, that our +arrest has some reference to the arrival of such a personage. In +confirmation you may yet hear the musical flourish in his honor." + +"I hear drums and trumpets," she replied, "and admit the surmise an +ingenious accounting for an act otherwise unaccountable." + +"Nay, Princess, with respect to thyself at least, call it a deed +intolerable, and loud with provocation." + +"From your speech, O Prince, I infer familiarity with these faithless +barbarians. Perhaps you can make your knowledge of them so far +serviceable as to tell me the great man's name." + +"Yes, I have had somewhat to do with Turks; yet I cannot venture the +name, rank or purpose of the newcomer. Pursuing the argument, however, +if my conjecture be true, then the message borne the Governor, though +spirited, and most happily accordant with your high degree, will not +accomplish your release, simply because the reason of the capture in +the first place must remain a reason for detaining you in the next. In +brief, you may anticipate rejection of the protest." + +"What, think you they will hold me prisoner?" + +"They are crafty." + +"They dare not!" and the Princess' cheek reddened with indignation. "My +kinsman is not powerless--and even the great Amurath"-- + +"Forgive me, I pray; but there was never mantle to cover so many crimes +as the conveniences kings call 'reasons of state.'" + +She looked vaguely up the river which the tempest was covering with +promiscuous air-blown drifting; but recovering, she said: "It is for me +to pray pardon, Prince. I detain you." + +"Not at all," he answered. "I have to remark next, if my conjecture +prove correct, a lady of imperial rank might find herself ill at ease +and solitary in a hold like this Castle, which, speaking by report, is +now kept to serve some design of war to come more particularly than +domestic or social life." + +The imagination of the Princess caught the idea eagerly, and, becoming +active, presented a picture of a Moslem lair without women or +apartments for women. Her mind filled with alarm. + +"Oh, that I could recall the message!" she exclaimed. "I should not +have tempted the Governor by offering to become his guest upon any +condition." + +"Nay, do not accuse yourself. The decision was brave and excellent in +every view," he said, perceiving his purpose in such fair way. "For +see--the storm increases in strength; yonder"--he pointed toward Alem +Daghy--"the rain comes. Not by thy choice, O Princess, but the will of +God, thou art here!" + +He spoke impressively, and she bent her head, and crossed herself twice. + +"A sad plight truly," he continued. "Fortunately it may be in a measure +relieved. Here is my daughter, Lael by name. The years have scarcely +outrun her childhood. More at mercy than thyself, because without rank +to make the oppressor careful, or an imperial kinsman to revenge a +wrong done her, she is subject to whatever threatens you--a cell in +this infidel stronghold, ruffians for attendants, discomforts to cast +her into fever, separation from me to keep her afraid. Why not suffer +her to go with you? She can serve as tirewoman or companion. In villany +the boldest often hesitate when two are to be overcome." + +The speech was effective. + +"O Prince, I have not words to express my gratitude. I am thy debtor. +Heaven may have brought this crisis, but it has not altogether deserted +me--And in good time! See--my messenger, with a following! Let thy +daughter come, and sit with me now--and do thou stand by to lend me of +thy wisdom in case appeal to it become necessary. Quick! Nay, Prince, +Sergius is young and strong. Permit him to bring the child to me." + +The monk made haste. Drawing the boat close to the shore, he gave Lael +his strong hand. Directly she was delivered to the Princess, and seated +beside her. + +"Now they may come!" + +Thus the Princess acknowledged the strength derivable from +companionship. The result was perceptible in her voice once more clear, +and her face actually sparkling with confidence and courage. + +Then, drawn together in one group, the refugees awaited the officer. + +"The Governor is coming," that worthy said, saluting the Princess. + +Looking toward the Castle, the expectants beheld a score or more men +issuing from the gate on foot. They were all in armor, and each +complemented the buckler on his arm with a lance from which a colored +pennon blew out straight and stiff as a panel. One walked in front +singly, and immediately the Prince and Princess fixed upon him as the +Governor, and kept him in eye curiously and anxiously. + +That instant rain in large drops began to fall. The Governor appeared +to notice the premonition, for looking at the angry sky he halted, and +beckoned to his followers, several of whom ran to him, received an +order, and then hastily returned to the Castle. He came on in quickened +gait. + +Here the Prince, with his greater experience, noticed a point which +escaped his associates; and that was the extraordinary homage paid the +stranger. + +At the landing the officer and soldiers would have prostrated +themselves, but with an imperious gesture, he declined the salutation. + +The observers, it may be well believed, viewed the man afar with +interest; when near, they scanned him as persons under arraignment +study the judge, that from his appearance they may glean something of +his disposition. He was above the average height of men, slender, and +in armor--the armor of the East, adapted in every point to climate and +light service. A cope or hood, intricately woven of delicate steel +wire, and close enough to refuse an arrow or the point of a dagger, +defended head, throat, neck, and shoulders, while open at the face; a +coat, of the same artistic mail, beginning under the hood, followed +closely the contour of the body, terminating just above the knees as a +skirt. Amongst Teutonic and English knights, on account of its +comparative lightness, it would have been distinguished from an +old-fashioned hauberk, and called _haubergeon_. A sleeveless _surcoat_ +of velvet, plain green in color, overlaid the mail without a crease or +wrinkle, except at the edge of the skirt. _Chausses_, or leggins, also +of steel, clothed the nether limbs, ending in shoes of thin lateral +scales sharply pointed at the toes. A slight convexity on top, and the +bright gold-gilt band by which, with regular interlacement, the cope +was attached, gave the cap surmounting the head a likeness to a crown. + +In style this armor was common. The preference Eastern cavaliers showed +it may have been due in part at least to the fact that when turned out +by a master armorer, after years of painstaking, it left the wearer his +natural graces of person. Such certainly was the case here. + +The further equipment of the man admits easy imagining. There were the +gauntlets of steel, articulated for the fingers and thumbs; a broad +flexible belt of burnished gold scales, intended for the cimeter, fell +from the waist diagonally to the left hip; light spurs graced the +heels; a dagger, sparkling with jewels, was his sole weapon, and it +served principally to denote the peacefulness of his errand. As there +was nothing about him to rattle or clank his steps were noiseless, and +his movements agile and easy. + +These martial points were naturally of chief attraction to the Prince +of India, whose vast acquaintanceship with heroes and famous warriors +made comparison a habit. On her side, the Princess, to whom +accoutrement and manner were mere accessories, pleasing or otherwise, +and subordinate, sought the stranger's face. She saw brown eyes, not +very large, but exceedingly bright, quick, sharp, flying from object to +object with flashes of bold inquiry, and quitting them as instantly; a +round forehead on brows high-arched; a nose with the curvature of a +Roman's; mouth deep-cornered, full-lipped, and somewhat imperfectly +mustached and bearded; clear, though sunburned complexion--in brief, a +countenance haughty, handsome, refined, imperious, telling in every +line of exceptional birth, royal usages, ambition, courage, passion, +and confidence. Most amazing, however, the stranger appeared yet a +youth. Surprised, hardly knowing whether to be pleased or alarmed, yet +attracted, she kept the face in steady gaze. + +Halting when a few steps from the group, the stranger looked at them as +if seeking one in especial. + +"Have a care, O Princess! This is not the Governor, but he of whom I +spoke--the great man." + +The warning was from the Prince of India and in Latin. As if to thank +him for a service done--possibly for identifying the person he +sought--the subject of the warning slightly bowed to him, then dropped +his eyes to the Princess. A light blown out does not vanish more +instantly than his expression changed. +Wonder--incredulity--astonishment--admiration chased each other over +his face in succession. Calling them emotions, each declared itself +with absolute distinctness, and the one last to come was most decided +and enduring. Thus he met her gaze, and so ardent, intense and +continuous was his, that she reddened cheek and forehead, and drew down +the veil; but not, it should be understood, resentfully. + +The disappearance of the countenance, in effect like the sudden +extinguishment of a splendor, aroused him. Advancing a step, he said to +her, with lowered head and perceptible embarrassment: + +"I come to offer hospitality to the kinswoman of the Emperor +Constantine. The storm shows no sign of abatement, and until it does, +my Castle yonder is at her order. While not sumptuous in appointment as +her own palace, fortunately there are comfortable apartments in it +where she can rest securely and with reserve. The invitation I presume +to make in the name of my most exalted master Sultan Amurath, who takes +delight in the amity existing between him and the Lord of Byzantium. To +lay all fear, to dispel hesitation, in his name again, together with +such earnest of good faith as lies in an appeal to the most holy +Prophet of God, I swear the Princess Irene shall be safe from +interruption while in the Castle, and free to depart from it at her +pleasure. If she chooses, this tender of courtesy may, by agreement, +here in the presence of these witnesses, be taken as an affair of +state. I await her answer." + +The Prince of India heard the speech more astonished by the +unexceptional Latin in which it was couched than the propriety of the +matter or the grace of its delivery, though, he was constrained to +admit, both were very great. He also understood the meaning of the look +the stranger had given him at the conclusion of his warning to the +Princess, and to conceal his vexation, he turned to her. + +That moment two covered chairs, brought from the Castle, were set down +near by, and the rain began to fall in earnest. + +"See," said the Governor, "the evidence of my care for the comfort of +the kinswoman of the most noble Emperor Constantine. I feared it would +rain before I could present myself to her; nor that alone, fair +Princess--the chair must convict me of a wholesome dread of accusation +in Constantinople; for what worse could be said than that I, a faithful +Moslem, to whom hospitality is an ordination of religion, refused to +open my gates to women in distress because they were Christians. Most +noble and fair lady, behold how much I should esteem acceptance of my +invitation!" + +Irene looked at the Prince of India, and seeing assent in his face, +answered: + +"I will ask leave to report this courtesy as an affair of state that my +royal kinsman may acknowledge it becomingly." + +The Governor bowed very low while saying: + +"I myself should have suggested the course." + +"Also that my friends"--she pointed to the Prince of India, and the +monk--"and all the boatmen, be included in the safeguard." + +This was also agreed to; whereupon she arose, and for assistance +offered her hand to Sergius. Lael was next helped from the boat. Then, +taking to the chairs, the two were carried into the Castle, followed by +the Prince and the monk afoot. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER + + +The reader will doubtless refer the circumstance to the jealousy which +is supposed to prompt the Faithful where women are required to pass +before men; yet the best evidence of the Governor's thoughtfulness for +his female guests met them at their approach to the Castle. There was +not a man visible except a sentinel on the battlement above the gate, +and he stood faced inwardly, making it impossible for him to see them +when they drew near. + +"Where are the horsemen of whom you spoke? And the garrison, where are +they?" Sergius asked the Prince. + +The latter shrugged his shoulders, as he answered: + +"They will return presently." + +Further proof of the same thoughtfulness was presented when the two +chairs were set down in the broad stone-paved passage receiving from +the front door. The sole occupant there was a man, tall as the monk, +but unnaturally slender; indeed, his legs resembled those of a lay +figure, so thin were they, while the residue of his person, although +clad in a burnoose gorgeously embroidered, would have reminded a modern +of the skeletons surgeons keep for office furniture. Besides blackness +deep as the unlighted corner of a cellar, he had no beard. The Prince +of India recognized him as one of the indispensables of an Eastern +harem, and made ready to obey him without dissent--only the +extravagance of the broidery on the burnoose confirmed him in the +opinion that the chief just arrived outranked the Governor. "This is +the Kislar Aga of a Prince," he said to himself. + +The eunuch, like one accustomed to the duty, superintended the +placement of the chairs; then, resting the point of a very bright +crescent-shaped sword on the floor, he said, in a voice more incisive +than the ordinary feminine tenor: + +"I will now conduct the ladies, and guard them. No one will presume to +follow." + +The Prince replied: "It is well; but they will be comforted if +permitted to abide together." + +He spoke with deference, and the black responded: + +"This is a fort, not a palace. There is but one chamber for the two." + +"And if I wish to communicate with them or they with me?" + +"_Bismillah!_" the eunuch replied. "They are not prisoners. I will +deliver what thou hast for them or they for thee." + +Thereupon the Princess and Lael stepped from the chairs, and went with +their guide. When they were gone, word sped through the Castle, and +with clamor and clangor, doors opened, and men poured forth in +companies. And again the Prince reflected: "Such discipline pertains to +princes only." + +Now the office of eunuch was by no means an exclusive pagan +institution; time out of mind it had been a feature of Byzantine +courts; and Constantine Dragases, the last, and probably the most +Christian of Greek emperors, not only tolerated, but recognized it as +honorable. With this explanation the reader ought not to be surprised +if the Princess Irene accepted the guidance offered her without fear or +even hesitation. Doubtless she had been in similar keeping many times. + +Climbing a number of stairways, the eunuch brought his fair charges +into a part of the Castle where there were signs of refinement. The +floors were swept; the doors garnished with rugs; a delicate incense +lingered in the air; and to rescue the tenants, whoever they might be, +from darkness, lighted lamps swung from the ceiling, and were affixed +to the walls. Stopping finally before a portiere, he held it aside +while saying: + +"Enter here, and be at home. Upon the table yonder there is a little +bell; ring, and I will answer." + +And seeing Lael clinging closely to the Princess, he added: "Be not +afraid. Know ye rather that my master, when a child, heard the story of +Hatim, a warrior and poet of the Arabs, and ever since he has lived +believing hospitality a virtue without which there can be no godliness. +Do not forget the bell." + +They entered and were alone. + +To their amazement the room was more than comfortably furnished. What +may be termed a chandelier swung from the ceiling with many lamps ready +for lighting; under it there was a circular divan; then along the four +sides a divan extended continuously, with pillows at the corners in +heaps. Matting covered the floor, and here and there rugs of gay dyes +offered noticeable degrees of warmth and coloring. Large trays filled +the deep recesses of the windows, and though the smell of musk +overpowered the sweet outgivings of the roses blooming in them, they +sufficed to rouge the daylight somewhat scantily admitted. The +roughness and chill of the walls were provided against by woollen +drapery answering for arras. + +They went first to one of the windows, and peered out. Below them the +world was being deluged with fiercely driven rain. There was the +Bosphorus lashed into waves already whitened with foam. The European +shore was utterly curtained from sight. Gust after gust raved around +the Castle, whistling and moaning; and as she beheld the danger +escaped, the Princess thought of the saying of the Prince of India and +repeated it in a spirit of thanksgiving: "By the will of God thou art +here." + +The reflection reconciled her to the situation, and led on till +presently the face and martial figure of the Governor reproduced +themselves to her fancy. How handsome he appeared--how courteous--how +young!--scarcely older than herself! How readily she had yielded to his +invitation! She blushed at the thought. + +Lael interrupted the revery, which was not without charm, and for that +reason would likely return, by bringing her a child's slipper found +near the central divan; and while examining the embroidery of +many-colored beads adorning it, she divined the truth. + +Isolated as the Castle was on a frontier of the Islamic world, and +crowded with men and material of war, yet the Governor was permitted +his harem, and this was its room in common. Here his wives, many or +few, for the time banished to some other quarters, were in the habit of +meeting for the enjoyment of the scant pleasantries afforded by life +like theirs. + +Again she was interrupted. The arras over one of the walls was pushed +aside, and two women came in with refreshments. A third followed with a +small table of Turkish pattern which she placed on the floor. The +viands, very light and simple, were set upon the table; then a fourth +one came bringing an armful of shawls and wraps. The last was a Greek, +and she explained that the Lord of the Castle, her master, was pleased +to make his guests comfortable. In the evening later a more substantial +repast would be served. Meantime she was appointed to wait on them. + +The guests, assured by the presence of other women in the Castle, +partook of the refection; after which the table was removed, and the +attendants for the present dismissed. Wrapping themselves then in +shawls, for they had not altogether escaped the rain, and were +beginning to feel the mists stealing into the chamber through the +unglazed windows, they took to the divan, piling the cushions about +them defensively. + +In this condition, comfortable, cosey, perfectly at rest, and with the +full enjoyment of the sensations common to every one in the midst of a +novel adventure, the Princess proceeded to draw from Lael an account of +herself; and the ingenuousness of the girl proved very charming, +coupled as it was with a most unexpected intelligence. The case was the +not unusual one of education wholly unsupported by experience. The real +marvel to the inquisitor was that she should have made discovery of two +such instances the same day, and been thrown into curious relation with +them. And as women always run parallels between persons who interest +them, the Princess was struck with the similarities between Sergius and +Lael. They were both young, both handsome, both unusually well informed +and at the same time singularly unsophisticated. In the old pagan +style, what did Fate mean by thus bringing them together? She +determined to keep watch of the event. + +And when, in course of her account, Lael spoke of the Prince of India, +Irene awoke at once to a mystery connected with him. Lacking the full +story, the narrator could give just enough of it to stimulate wonder. +Who was he? Where was Cipango? He was rich--learned--knew all the +sciences, all the languages--he had visited countries everywhere, even +the inhabited islands. To be sure, he had not appeared remarkable; +indeed, she gave him small attention when he was before her; she +recalled him chiefly by his eyes and velvet pelisse. While she was +mentally resolving to make better study of him, the eunuch appeared +under the portiere, and, coming forward, said, with a half salaam to +the Princess: + +"My master does not wish his guests to think themselves forgotten. The +kinswoman of the most august Emperor Constantine, he remembers, is +without employment to lighten the passage of a time which must be +irksome to her. He humbly prays her to accept his sympathy, and sends +me to say that a famous story-teller, going to the court of the Sultan +at Adrianople, arrived at the Castle to-day. Would the Princess be +pleased to hear him?" + +"In what tongue does he recite?" she asked. + +"Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew," was the reply. + +"Oh, a most wise man!" + +Irene consulted Lael, and thinking to offer her amusement, assented to +the suggestion, with thanks to the Governor. + +"Have the veils ready," the eunuch said, as he retreated backward to +the door. "The story-teller is a man, and he will come directly." + +The story-teller was ushered in. He walked to the divan where his +auditors sat, slowly, as if he knew himself under close observation, +and courted it. + +Now caravans were daily shows in Constantinople. The little bell of the +donkey leading its string of laden camels through the narrow streets +might be heard any hour, and the Shaykh in charge was almost invariably +an Arab. So the Princess had seen many of the desert-born, and was +familiar with their peculiarities; never, however, had chance brought a +nobler specimen of the race before her. As he approached, stepping as +modern stage heroes are wont, she saw the red slippers, the white shirt +falling to the ankles and girdled at the waist, its bosom a capacious +pocket, the white and red striped cloak over the shoulders. She marked +the material of which they were made, the shirt of selected Angora +wool, the cloak of camel's hair, in its fineness iridescent and soft as +velvet. She saw in the girdle an empty scabbard for a yatagan +elaborately covered with brilliants. She saw on the head a kerchief of +mixed silk and cotton, tasselled, heavily striated red and yellow, and +secured by the usual cord; but she scarcely more than noticed them--the +air of the man, high, stately, king-like, was a superior attraction, +and she gazed at his face unconscious that her own was uncovered. + +The features were regular, the complexion sunburned to the hue of +reddish copper, the beard thin, the nose sharp, the cheeks hollow, the +eyes, through the double shade of brows and kerchief, glittered like +balls of polished black amber. His hands were crossed above the girdle +after the manner of Eastern servants before acknowledged superiors; his +salutation was expressive of most abject homage; yet when he raised +himself, and met the glance of the Princess, his eyes lingered, and +brightened, and directly he cast off or forgot his humility, and looked +lordlier than an Emir boasting of his thousand tents, with ten spears +to each, and a score of camels to the spear. She endured the gaze +awhile; for it seemed she had seen the face before--where, she could +not tell; and when, as presently happened, she began to feel the +brightness of the eyes intenser growing, the sensation reminded her of +the Governor at the landing. Could this be he? No, the countenance here +was of a man already advanced in life. And why should the Governor +resort to disguise? The end, nevertheless, was the same as on the +landing--she drew down the veil. Then he became humble again, and +spoke, his eyes downcast, his hands crossed: + +"This faithful servant"--he pointed to the eunuch "my friend"--the +eunuch crossed his hands, and assumed an attitude of pleased +attention--"brought me from his master--may the most Merciful and +Compassionate continue a pillow to the good man here and to his soul +hereafter!--how a kinswoman of the Emperor whose capital is to the +earth a star, and he as the brightness thereof, had taken refuge with +him from the storm, and was now his guest, and languishing for want of +amusement. Would I tell her a story? I have a horde of parables, tales, +and traditions, and many nations have contributed to it; but, alas, O +Princess! they are simple, and such as beguile tentmen and tentwomen +shut in by the desert, their fancies tender as children's. I fear your +laughter. But here I am; and as the night bird sings when the moon is +risen, because the moon is beautiful and must be saluted, even so I am +obedient. Command me." + +The speech was in Greek, with the slightest imperfection of accent; at +the conclusion the Princess was silent. + +"Knowest thou"--she at length said--"knowest thou of one Hatim, +renowned as a warrior and poet of the Arabs?" + +The eunuch saw the reference, and smiled. Asking of Hatim now was only +another form of inquiry after his master; not merely had the latter +been in her mind; she wished to know more about him. On his part, the +story-teller arose from his servile posture, and asked with the +animation of one to whom a favorite theme is presented: + +"Noble lady, know you aught of the desert?" + +"I have never been there," the Princess answered. + +"Though not beautiful, it is the home of mysteries," he said, with +growing enthusiasm. "When he whom in the same breath you worship as God +and the Son of God--an opposition beyond the depth of our simple +faith--made ready to proclaim himself, he went for a time into the +Wilderness, and dwelt there. So likewise our Prophet, seeing the dawn +of his day, betook himself to Hiva, a rock, bleak, barren, waterless. +Why, O Princess, if not for purification, and because God of preference +has founded his dwelling there, wasting it indeed the better to nurse +his goodness in a perfected solitude? Granting this, why may I not +assert without shocking you that the sons of the desert are the noblest +of men?-- + +"Such was Hatim! + +"In the Hijaz and the Nejd, they tell of him thus: + +"In the day the Compassionate set about world-making, which is but a +pastime with him, nor nearly so much as nest-building to a mother-dove, +he rested. The mountains and rivers and seas were in their beds, and +the land was variegated to please him, here a forest, there a grassy +plain; nothing remained unfinished except the sand oceans, and they +only wanted water. He rested. + +"Now, if, with their sky, a sun-field in the day, a gallery of stars at +night, and their winds, flying from sea to sea, but gathering no taint, +the deserts are treeless, and unknowing the sweetness of gardens and +the glory of grass, it was not by accident or forgetfulness; for with +him, the Compassionate, the Merciful, there are no accidents or lapses +of any kind. He is all attention and ever present. Thus the Throne +verse--'Drowsiness overcomes him not nor sleep.... His firmament spans +the Heaven and the Earth, and the care of them does not distress him.' + +"Why then the yellowness and the burning, the sameness and solitude, +and the earth intolerant of rain and running stream, and of roads and +paths--why, if there was neither accident nor forgetfulness? + +"He is the High and the Great! Accuse him not! + +"In that moment of rest, not from weariness or overburden, but to +approve the work done, and record the approval as a judgment, he said, +speaking to his Almightiness as to a familiar: 'As it is it shall stay. +A time will come when with men I, and the very name of me, shall go out +utterly like the green of last year's leaf. He who walks in a garden +thinks of it only; but he who abides in a desert, wanting to see the +beautiful, must look into the sky, and looking there he shall be +reminded of me, and say aloud and as a lover, 'There is no God but him, +the Compassionate, the Merciful.... The eyes see him not, but he seeth +the eyes; and He is the Gracious, the Knowing'.... So also comes a time +when religion shall be without heart, dead, and the quickening of +worship lost in idolatry; when men shall cry, God, my God, to stones +and graven images, and sing to hear their singing, and the loud music +it goes with. And that time shall be first in lands of growth and +freshness, in cities where comforts and luxuries are as honey in hives +after the flowering of palms. Wherefore--Lo, the need of deserts. There +I shall never be forgotten. And out of them, out of their hardness and +heat, out of their yellow distances and drouth, religion shall arise +again, and go forth purified unto universality; for I shall be always +present there, a life-giver. And against those days of evil, I shall +keep men there, the best of their kind, and their good qualities shall +not rust; they shall be brave, for I may want swords; they shall keep +the given word, for as I am the Truth, so shall my chosen be; there +shall be no end to charity among them, for in such lands charity is +life, and must take every form, friendship, love of one another, love +of giving, and hospitality, unto which are riches and plenty. And in +their worship, I shall be first, and honor next. And as Truth is the +Soul of the World, it being but another of my names, for its salvation +they shall speak with tongues of fire, this one an orator, that one a +poet; and living in the midst of death, they shall fear me not at all, +but dishonor more. Mine are the Sons of the Desert--the +Word-Keepers!--the Unconquered and Conquerless! For my name's sake, I +nominate them Mine, and I alone am the High and the Great.... And there +shall be amongst them exemplars of this virtue and that one singly; and +at intervals through the centuries standards for emulation among the +many, a few, in whom all the excellences shall be blent in indivisible +comeliness.' + +"So came Hatim, of the Bene-Tayyi, lustrous as the moon of Ramazan to +eager watchers on high hilltops, and better than other men, even as all +the virtues together are better than any one of them, excepting charity +and love of God. + +"Now Hatim's mother was a widow, poor, and without relations, but +beloved by the Compassionate, and always in his care, because she was +wise beyond the men of her time, and kept his laws, as they were known, +and taught them to her son. One day a great cry arose in the village. +Everybody rushed to see the cause, and then joined in the clamor. + +"Up in the north there was an appearance the like of which had never +been beheld, nor were there any to tell what it was from hearsay. Some +pooh-poohed, saying, contemptuously: + +"'Tis only a cloud.' + +"Others, observing how rapidly it came, in movement like a bird sailing +on outspread motionless wings, said: + +"'A roc! A roc!' + +"When the object was nearer, a few of the villagers, in alarm, ran to +their houses, shrieking: + +"'Israfil, Israfil! He is bringing the end of time!' + +"Soon the sight was nearly overhead; then it was going by, its edge +overhead, the rest of it extending eastwardly; and it was long and +broad as a pasture for ten thousand camels, and horses ten thousand. It +had no likeness earthly except a carpet of green silk; nor could those +standing under describe what bore it along. They thought they heard the +sound of a strong wind, but as the air above far and near was full of +birds great and small, birds of the water as well as the land, all +flying evenly with the carpet, and making a canopy of their wings, and +shade deeper than a cloud's, the beholders were uncertain whether the +birds or the wind served it. In passing, it dipped gently, giving them +a view of what it carried--a throne of pearl and rainbow, and a crowned +King sitting in majesty; at his left hand, an army of spirits, at his +right, an army of men in martial sheen. + +"While the prodigy was before them, the spectators stirred not; nor was +there one brave enough to speak; most of them with their eyes devoured +it all, King and throne, birds, men and spirits; though afterwards +there was asking: + +"'Did you see the birds?' + +"'No.' + +"'The spirits?' + +"'No.' + +"'The men?' + +"'I saw only the King upon His throne.' + +"In the passing, also, a man, in splendor of apparel, stood on the +carpet's edge and shouted: + +"'God is great! I bear witness there is no God but God.' + +"The same instant something fell from his hand. When the marvel was out +of sight in the south, some bethought them, and went to see what it was +which fell. They came back laughing, 'It was only a gourd, and as we +have much better on our camel-saddles, we threw it away.' + +"But the mother of Hatim, listening to the report, was not content. In +her childhood she heard what was tradition then; how Solomon, at the +completion of his temple in Jerusalem, journeyed to Mecca upon a carpet +of silk wafted by the wind, with men, spirits, and birds. Wherefore, +saying to herself, 'It was Solomon going to Mecca. Not for nothing +threw he the gourd,' she went alone, and brought it in, and opened it, +finding three seeds--one red, like a ruby; a second blue, like a +sapphire; the third green, like an emerald. + +"Now she might have sold the seeds, for they were beautiful as gems cut +for a crown, and enriched herself; but Hatim was all the world to her. +They were for him, she said, and getting a brown nut such as washes up +from vines in the sea, she cut it, put the treasures into it, sealed +them there, and tied them around the boy's neck. + +"'Thanks, O Solomon,' she said. 'There is no God but God; and I shall +teach the lesson to my Hatim in the morning, when _al hudhud_ flies for +water; at noon, when it whistles to itself in the shade; and at night, +when it draws a wing over its head to darken the darkness, and sleep.' + +"And from that day through all his days Hatim wore the brown nut with +the three seeds in it; nor was there ever such an amulet before or +since; for, besides being defended by the genii who are Solomon's +servants, he grew one of the exemplars promised by God, having in +himself every virtue. No one braver than he; none so charitable; none +so generous and merciful; none so eloquent; none on whose lips poetry +was such sweet speech for the exalting of souls; above all, never had +there been such a keeper of his word of promise. + +"And of this judge you by some of the many things they tell of him. + +"A famine fell upon the land. It was when Hatim had become Sheik of his +tribe. The women and children were perishing. The men could no more +than witness their suffering. They knew not whom to accuse; they knew +no one to receive a prayer. The time predicted was come--the name of +God had gone out utterly, like the green of last year's leaf. In the +Sheik's tent even, as with the poorest, hunger could not be +allayed--there was nothing to eat. The last camel had been +devoured--one horse remained. More than once the good man went out to +kill him, but the animal was so beautiful--so affectionate--so fleet! +And the desert was not wide enough to hold his fame! How much easier to +say, 'Another day--to-morrow it may rain.' + +"He sat in his tent telling his wife and children stories, for he was +not merely the best warrior of his day; he was the most renowned poet +and storyteller. Riding into battle, his men would say, 'Sing to us, O +Hatim--sing, and we will fight.' And they he loved best, listening to +him, had nigh forgot their misery, when the curtain of the tent was +raised. + +"'Who is there?' he asked. + +"'Thy neighbor,' and the voice was a woman's. 'My children are +anhungred and crying, and I have nothing for them. Help, O Sheik, help +or they die.' + +"'Bring them here,' he said, rising. + +"'She is not worse off than we,' said his wife, 'nor are her children +more hungry than ours. What will you do?' + +"'The appeal was to me,' he answered. + +"And passing out, he slew the horse, and kindled a fire; then, while +the stranger and her children were sharing piece by piece with his own, +'Shame, shame!' he said, 'that ye alone should eat;' and going through +the dowar, he brought the neighbors together, and he only went hungry. +There was no more of the meat left. Was ever one merciful like Hatim? +In combat, he gave lives, but took none. Once an antagonist under his +foot, called to him: 'Give me thy spear, Hatim,' and he gave it. + +"'Foolish man!' his brethren exclaimed. + +"'What else was there?' he answered. 'Did not the poor man ask a gift +of me?' + +"Never a captive besought his help vainly. On a journey once, a +prisoner begged him to buy his liberty; but he was without the money +required, and on that account he was sorely distressed. To his +entreaties, the strangers listened hard-heartedly; at last he said to +them: + +"Am not I--Hatim--good as he? Let him go, and take me.' + +"And knocking the chains from the unfortunate, he had them put on +himself, and wore them until the ransom came. + +"In his eyes a poet was greater than a king, and than singing a song +well the only thing better was being the subject of a song. +Perpetuation by tombs he thought vulgar; so the glory unremembered in +verse deserved oblivion. Was it wonderful he gave and kept giving to +story-tellers, careless often if what he thus disposed of was another's? + +"Once in his youth--and at hearing this, O Princess, the brown-faced +sons of the desert, old and young, laugh, and clap their hands--he gave +of his grandfather's store until the prudent old man, intending to cure +him of his extravagance, sent him to tend his herds in the country. +Alas! + +"Across the plain Hatim one day beheld a caravan, and finding it +escorting three poets to the court of the King of El-Herah, he invited +them to stop with him, and while he killed a camel for each of them, +they recited songs in his praise, and that of his kin. When they wished +to resume the journey, he detained them. + +"'There is no gift like the gift of song,' he said. 'I will do better +by you than will he, the King to whom you are going. Stay with me, and +for every verse you write I will give you a camel. Behold the herd!' + +"And at departing, they had each a hundred camels, and he three hundred +verses. + +"'Where is the herd?' the grandfather asked, when next he came to the +pasture. + +"'See thou. Here are songs in honor of our house,' Hatim answered, +proudly--'songs by great poets; and they will be repeated until all +Arabia is filled with our glory.' + +"'Alas! Thou hast ruined me!' the elder cried, beating his breast. + +"'What!' said Hatim, indignantly. 'Carest thou more for the dirty +brutes than for the crown of honor I bought with them?'" + +Here the Arab paused. The recitation, it is to be remarked, had been +without action, or facial assistance--a wholly unornate delivery; and +now he kept stately silence. His eyes, intensely bright in the shadow +of the _kufiyeh,_ may have produced the spell which held the Princess +throughout; or it may have been the eyes and voice; or, quite as +likely, the character of Hatim touched a responsive chord in her breast. + +"I thank you," she said, adding presently: "In saying I regret the +story ended so soon, I pray you receive my opinion of its telling. I +doubt if Hatim himself could have rendered it better." + +The Arab recognized the compliment with the faintest of bows, but made +no reply in words. Irene then raised her veil, and spoke again. + +"Thy Hatim, O eloquent Arab, was warrior and poet, and, as thou hast +shown him to me, he was also a philosopher. In what age did he live?" + +"He was a shining light in the darkness preceding the appearance of the +Prophet. That period is dateless with us." + +"It is of little consequence," she continued. "Had he lived in our day, +he would have been more than poet, warrior and philosopher--he would be +a Christian. His charity and love of others, his denial of self, sound +like the Christ. Doubtless he could have died for his fellow-men. Hast +thou not more of him? Surely he lived long and happily." + +"Yes," said the Arab, with a flash of the eyes to denote his +appreciation of the circumstance. "He is reported to have been the most +wretched of men. His wife--I pray you will observe I am speaking by the +tradition--his wife had the power, so dreadful to husbands, of raising +Iblis at pleasure. It delighted her to beat him and chase him from his +tent; at last she abandoned him." + +"Ah!" the Princess exclaimed. "His charities were not admirable in her +eyes." + +"The better explanation, Princess, may be found in a saying we have in +the desert--'A tall man may wed a small woman, but a great soul shall +not enter into bonds with a common one.'" + +There was silence then, and as the gaze of the story-teller was again +finding a fascination in her face, Irene took refuge behind her veil, +but said, presently: + +"With permission, I will take the story of Hatim for mine; but here is +my friend--what hast thou for her?" + +The story-teller turned to Lael. + +"Her pleasure shall be mine," he said. + +"I should like something Indian," the girl answered, timidly, for the +eyes oppressed her also. + +"Alas! India has no tales of love. Her poetry is about gods and +abstract religions. Wherefore, if I may choose, I will a tale from +Persia next. In that country there was a verse-maker called Firdousi, +and he wrote a great poem, _The Shah Nameh_, with a warrior for hero. +This is how Rustem, in single combat, killed Sohrab, not knowing the +youth was his son until after the awful deed was done." + +The tale was full of melancholy interest, and told with singular grace; +but it continued until after nightfall; of which the party was +admonished by the attendants coming to light the lamps. At the +conclusion, the Arab courteously apologized for the time he had wrested +from them. + +"In dealing with us, O Princess," he said, "patience is full as lovely +as charity." + +Lifting the veil again, she extended her hand to him, saying, "The +obligation is with us. I thank you for making light and pleasant an +afternoon which else had been tedious." + +He kissed her hand, and followed the eunuch to the door. Then the +supper was announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE TURQUOISE RING + + +The Prince of India, left in the passage of the Castle with Sergius, +was not displeased with the course the adventure appeared to be taking. +In the first place, he felt no alarm for Lael; she might be +uncomfortable in the quarter to which she had been conducted, but that +was all, and it would not last long. The guardianship of the eunuch was +in his view a guaranty of her personal safety. In the next place, +acquaintance with the Princess might prove serviceable in the future. +He believed Lael fitted for the highest rank; she was already educated +beyond the requirements of the age for women; her beauty was +indisputable; as a consequence, he had thought of her a light in the +court; and not unpleasantly it occurred to him now that the fair +Princess might carry keys for both the inner and outer doors of the +royal residence. + +Generally the affair which was of concern to Lael was an affair of +absorbing interest to the Prince; in this instance, however, another +theme offered itself for the moment a superior attraction. + +The impression left by the young master of ceremonies in the reception +at the landing was of a kind to arouse curiosity. His appearance, +manner, speech and the homage paid him denoted exalted rank; while the +confidence with which he spoke for Sultan Amurath was most remarkable. +His acceptance of the terms presented by the Princess Irene was little +short of downright treaty-making; and what common official dared carry +assumption to such a height? Finally the Prince fell to thinking if +there was any person the actual governor of the Castle would quietly +permit to go masquerading in his authority and title. + +Then everything pointed him to Prince Mahommed. The correspondence in +age was perfect; the martial array seen galloping down the bank was a +fitting escort for the heir-apparent of the gray Sultan; and he alone +might with propriety speak for his father in a matter of state. + +"A mistake cannot be serious," said the Prince to himself, at the end +of the review. "I will proceed upon the theory that the young man is +Prince Mahommed." + +This was no sooner determined than the restless mind flew forward to an +audience. The time and place--midnight in the lonesome old Castle--were +propitious, and he was prepared for it. + +Indeed it was the very purpose he had in view the night of the repast +in his tent at El Zaribah where he so mysteriously intrusted the Emir +Mirza with revelations concerning the doom of Constantinople. + +Once more he ran over the scheme which had brought him from Cipango. If +Islam could not be brought to lead in the project, Christendom might be +more amenable to reason. The Moslem world was to be reached through the +Kaliph whom he expected to find in Egypt; wherefore his contemplated +trip down the Nile from Kash-Cush. If driven to the Christian, +Constantine was to be his operator. Such in broadest generality was the +plan of execution he had resolved upon. + +But to these possibilities he had appended another of which it is now +necessary to speak. + +Enough has been given to apprise the reader of the things to which the +Prince preferably devoted himself. These were international affairs, +and transcendently war. If indeed the latter were not the object he had +always specially in mind, it was the end to which his management +usually conducted. For mere enjoyment in the sight of men facing the +death which strangely passed him by, he delighted in hovering on the +edge of battle until there was a crisis, and then plunging into its +heated heart. + +He had also a peculiar method of bringing war about. This consisted in +providing for punishments in case his enterprises miscarried. +Invariably somebody suffered for such failures. In that way he soothed +the pangs of wounded vanity. + +When he was inventing the means for executing his plots, and forming +the relations essential to them, it was his habit to select instruments +of punishment in advance. + +Probably no better illustration of this feature of his dealings can be +given than is furnished by the affair now engaging him. If he failed to +move the Kaliph to lead the reform, he would resort to Constantine; if +the Emperor also declined, he would make him pay the penalty; then came +the reservation. So soon after his arrival from Cipango as he could +inform himself of the political conditions of the world to which he was +returning, he fixed upon Mahommed to avenge him upon the offending +Greek. + +The meeting with Mirza at El Zaribah was a favorable opportunity to +begin operating upon the young Turk. The tale the Emir received that +night under solemn injunctions of secrecy was really intended for his +master. How well it was devised for the end in view the reader will be +able to judge from what is now to follow. + +The audience with Mahommed determined upon by the Prince of India, our +first point of interest is in observing how he set about accomplishing +it. His promptness was characteristic. + +Directly the ladies had disappeared with the eunuch, the soldiers +poured from their hiding places in the Castle, and seeing one whom he +judged an officer, the Prince called to him in Turkish: + +"Ho, my friend!" + +The man was obliging. + +"Present my salutations to the Governor of the Castle, and say the +Prince of India desires speech with him." + +The soldier hesitated. + +"Understand," said the Prince, quickly, "my message is not to the great +Lord who received me at the landing. But the Governor in fact. Bring +him here." + +The confident manner prevailed. + +Presently the messenger returned with a burly, middle-aged person in +guidance. A green turban above a round face, large black eyes in +muffling of fleshy lids, pallid cheeks lost in dense beard, a drab gown +lined with yellow fur, a naked cimeter in a silk-embroidered sash, +bespoke the Turk; but how unlike the handsome, fateful-looking +masquerader at the river side! + +"The Prince of India has the honor of speech with the Governor of the +Castle?" + +"God be praised," the Governor replied. "I was seeking your Highness. +Besides wishing to join in your thanks for happy deliverance from the +storm, I thought to discharge my duty as a Moslem host by conducting +you to refreshments and repose. Follow me, I pray." + +A few steps on the way, the Governor stopped: + +"Was there not a companion--a younger man--a Dervish?" + +"A monk," said the Prince; "and the question reminds me of my +attendant, a negro. Send for him--or better, bring them both to me. I +wish them to share my apartment." + +In a short time the three were in quarters, if one small room may be so +dignified. The walls were cold gray stone; one oblong narrow port-hole +admitted scanty light; a rough bench, an immense kettle-drum shaped +like the half of an egg-shell, and propped broadside up, some piles of +loose straw, each with folded sheepskins on it, constituted the +furnishment. + +Sergius made no sign of surprise or disappointment. Possibly the +chamber and its contents were reproductions of his cell up in +Bielo-Osero. Nilo gave himself to study of the drum, reminded, +doubtless, of similar warlike devices in Kash-Cush. The Prince alone +expostulated. Taking a stand between the Governor and the door, he said: + +"A question before thou goest hence." + +The Turk gazed at him silently. + +"To what accommodations have the Princess Irene and her attendant been +taken? Are they vile as these?" + +"The reception room of my harem is the most comfortable the Castle +affords," the Governor answered. + +"And they?" + +"They are occupying it." + +"Not by courtesy of thine. He who could put the hospitality of the +Prince Mahommed to shame by maltreating one of his guests." + +He paused, and grimly surveyed the room. + +"Such a servant would be as evil-minded to another guest; and that the +other is a woman, would not affect his imbruited soul." + +"The Prince Mahommed!" the Governor exclaimed. + +"Yes. What brings him here, matters not; his wish to keep the Romans in +ignorance of his near presence, I know as well as thou; none the less, +it was his royal word we accepted. As for thee--thou mightest have +promised faith and hospitality with thy hand on the Prophet's beard, +yet would I have bidden the Princess trust herself to the tempest +sooner." + +Sergius was now standing by, but the conversation being in Turkish, he +listened without understanding. + +"Thou ass!" the Prince continued. "Not to know that the kinswoman of +the Roman Emperor, under this roof by treaty with the mighty Amurath, +his son the negotiator, is our guardian! When the storm shall have +spent itself, and the waters quieted down, she will resume her journey. +Then--it may be in the morning--she will first ask for us, and then thy +master will require to know how we have passed the night. Ah, thou +beginnest to see!" + +The Governor's head was drooping; his hands crossed themselves upon his +stomach; and when he raised his eyes, they were full of deprecation and +entreaty. + +"Your Highness--most noble Lord--condescend to hear me." + +"Speak. I am awake to hear the falsehood thou hast invented in excuse +of thy perfidy to us, and thy treason to him, the most generous of +masters, the most chivalrous of knights." + +"Your Highness has greatly misconceived me. In the first place you have +forgotten the crowded state of the Castle. Every room and passage is +filled with the suite and escort of"-- + +He hesitated, and turned pale, like a man dropped suddenly into a great +danger. The shrewd guest caught at the broken sentence and finished it: + +"Of Prince Mahommed!" + +"With the suite and escort," the Governor repeated.... "In the next +place, it was not my intention to leave you unprovided. From my own +apartments, light, beds and seats were ordered to be brought here, with +meats for refreshment, and water for cleansing and draught. The order +is in course of execution now. Indeed, your Highness, I swear by the +first chapter of the Koran"-- + +"Take something less holy to swear by," cried the Prince. + +"Then, by the bones of the Faithful, I swear I meant to make you +comfortable, even to my own deprivation." + +"By thy young master's bidding?" + +The Governor bent forward very low. + +"Well," said the Prince, softening his manner--"the misconception was +natural." + +"Yes--yes." + +"And now thou hast only to prove thy intention by making it good." + +"Trust me, your Highness." + +"Trust thee? Ay, on proof. I have a commission"-- + +The Prince then drew a ring from his finger. + +"Take this," he said, "and deliver it to the Emir Mirza." + +The assurance of the speech was irresistible; so the Turk held out his +hand to receive the token. + +"And say to the Emir, that I desire him to thank the Most Compassionate +and Merciful for the salvation of which we were witnesses at the +southwest corner of the Kaaba." + +"What!" exclaimed the Governor. "Art thou a Moslem?" + +"I am not a Christian." + +The Governor, accepting the ring, kissed the hand offering it, and took +his departure, moving backward, and with downcast eyes, his manner +declarative of the most abject humility. + +Hardly was the door closed behind the outgoing official, when the +Prince began to laugh quietly and rub his hands together--quietly, we +say, for the feeling was not merriment so much as self-gratulation. + +There was cleverness in having doubted the personality of the +individual who received the refugees at the landing; there was greater +cleverness in the belief which converted the Governor into the Prince +Mahommed; but the play by which the fact was uncovered--if not a stroke +of genius, how may it be better described? The Prince of India thought +as he laughed: + +"Not long now until Amurath joins his fathers, and then--Mahommed." + +Presently he stopped, a step half taken, his gaze upon the floor, his +hands clasped behind him. He stood so still it would not have been +amiss to believe a thought was all the life there was in him. He +certainly did believe in astrology. Had not men been always ruled by +what they imagined heavenly signs? How distinctly he remembered the age +of the oracle and the augur! Upon their going out he became a believer +in the stars as prophets, and then an adept; afterwhile he reached a +stage when he habitually mistook the commonest natural results, even +coincidences, for confirmations of planetary forecasts. And now this +halting and breathlessness was from sudden recollection that the +horoscope lying on his table in Constantinople had relation to Mahommed +in his capacity of Conqueror. How marvellous also that from the meeting +with Constantine in the street of the city, he should have been blown +by a tempest to a meeting with Mahommed in the White Castle! + +These circumstances, trifling to the reader, were of deep influence to +the Prince of India. While he stands there rigid as a figure marbleized +in mid action, he is saying to himself: + +"The audience will take place--Heaven has ordered it. Would I knew what +manner of man this Mahommed is!" + +He had seen a handsome youth, graceful in bearing, quick and subtle in +speech, cultivated and evidently used to governing. Very good, but what +an advantage there would be in knowing the bents and inclinations of +the royal lad beforehand. + +Presently the schemer's head arose. The boyish Prince was going about +in armor when soft raiment would be excusable--and that meant ambition, +dreams of conquest, dedication to martial glory. Very good indeed! And +then his manner under the eyes of the girlish Princess--how quickly her +high-born grace had captivated him! Something impossible were he not of +a romantic turn, a poet, sentimentalist, knight errant. + +The Prince clapped his hands. He knew the appeals effective with such +natures. Let the audience come.... Ah, but-- + +Again he sunk into thought. Youths like Mahommed were apt to be wilful. +How was he to be controlled? One expedient after another was swiftly +considered and as swiftly rejected. At last the right one! Like his +ancestors from Ertoghrul down, the young Turk was a believer in the +stars. Not unlikely he was then in the Castle by permission of his +astrologer. Indeed, if Mirza had repeated the conversation and +predictions at El Zaribah, the Prince of India was being waited for +with an impatience due a master of the astral craft. Again the Wanderer +cried, "Let the audience come!" and peace and confidence were +possessing him when a loud report and continuous rumble in the room set +the solid floor to quaking. He looked around in time to see the big +drum quivering under a blow from Nilo. + +From the negro his gaze wandered to Sergius standing before the one +loophole by which light and air were let into the dismal chamber; and +recalling the monk as the sole attendant of the Princess Irene, he +thought it best to speak to him. + +Drawing near, he observed the cowl thrown back, and that the face was +raised, the eyes closed, the hands palm to palm upon the breast. +Involuntarily he stopped, not because he was one of those who always +presume the most Holy Presence when prayer is being offered--he +stopped, wondering where he had seen that countenance. The delicate +features, the pallid complexion, the immature beard, the fair hair +parted in the middle, and falling in wavy locks over the shoulders, the +aspect manly yet womanly in its refinement, were strangely familiar to +him. It was his first view of the monk's face. Where had he seen it? +His memory went back, far back of the recent. A chill struck his heart. +The features, look, air, portrait, the expression indefinable except as +a light of outcoming spirit, were those of the man he had helped +crucify before the Damascus gate in the Holy City, and whom he could no +more cast out of mind than he could the bones from his body. His feet +seemed rooting into the flinty flags beneath them. He heard the +centurion call to him: "Ho, there! If thou knowest the Golgotha, come +show it." He felt the sorrowful eyes of the condemned upon him. He +struck the bloody cheek, and cried as to a beast: "Go faster, Jesus!" +And then the words, wrung from infinite patience at last broken: + +"I am going, but do thou TARRY TILL I COME." + +For relief, he spoke: + +"What dost thou, my friend?" + +Sergius opened his eyes and answered simply, "I am praying." + +"To whom?" + +"To God." + +"Art thou a Christian?" + +"Yes." + +"God is for the Jew and the Moslem." + +"Nay," said Sergius, looking at the Prince without taking down his +hands, "all who believe in God find happiness and salvation in Him--the +Christian as well as the Jew and the Moslem." + +The questions had been put with abrupt intensity; now the inquisitor +drew back astonished. He heard the very postulate of the scheme to +which he was devoting himself--and from a boy so like the dead Christ +he was working to blot out of worship he seemed the Christ arisen! + +The amazement passed slowly, and with its going the habitual shrewdness +and capacity to make servants of circumstances apparently the most +untoward returned. The youth had intellect, impressiveness, aptitude in +words, and a sublime idea. But what of his spirit--his courage--his +endurance in the Faith? + +"How came this doctrine to thee?" + +The Prince spoke deferentially. + +"From the good father Hilarion." + +"Who is he?" + +"The Archimandrite of Bielo-Osero." + +"A monastery?" + +"Yes." + +"How did he receive it?" + +"From the Spirit of God, whence Christ had his wisdom--whence all good +men have their goodness--by virtue of which they, like Him, become sons +of God." + +"What is thy name?" + +"Sergius." + +"Sergius"--the Prince, now fully recovered, exerted his power of +will--"Sergius, thou art a heretic." + +At this accusation, so terrible in those days, the monk raised the +rosary of large beads dangling from his girdle, kissed the cross, and +stood surveying the accuser with pity. + +"That is," the Prince continued with greater severity, "speak thou thus +to the Patriarch yonder"--he waved a hand toward Constantinople--"dare +repeat the saying to a commission appointed to try thee for heresy, and +thou wilt thyself taste the pangs of crucifixion or be cast to the +beasts." + +The monk arose to his great height, and replied, fervently: + +"Knowest thou when death hath the sweetness of sleep? I will tell +thee"--A light certainly not from the narrow aperture in the wall +collected upon his countenance, and shone visibly--"It is when a martyr +dies knowing both of God's hands are a pillow under his head." + +The Prince dropped his eyes, for he was asking himself, was such +sweetness of sleep appointed for him? Resuming his natural manner, he +said: "I understand thee, Sergius. Probably no man in the world, go +thou East or West, will ever understand thee better. God's hands under +my head, welcome death!--Let us be friends." + +Sergius took his offered hand. + +Just then there was a noise at the door, and a troop of servants +entered with lighted lamps, rugs, a table, stools, and beds and +bedding, and it was not long until the apartment was made habitable. +The Prince, otherwise well satisfied, wanted nothing then but a reply +from Mirza; and in the midst of his wonder at the latter's delay, a +page in brilliant costume appeared, and called out: + +"The Emir Mirza!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RING RETURNS + + +The Prince, at the announcement of Mirza, took position near the centre +of the room where the light was ample. His black velvet pelisse +contrasting strongly with his white hair and beard, he looked a +mysterious Indian potentate to whom occult Nature was a familiar, and +the stars oracular friends. + +Mirza's cheeks were scarcely so sun and sand stained as when we first +beheld him in conduct of the caravan to Mecca; in other respects he was +unchanged. His attire, like the lord Mahommed's at the reception on the +landing, was of chain mail very light and flexible. He carried a dagger +in his belt, and to further signify confidence in the Prince, the flat +steel cap forming his headgear was swinging loosely from his left arm; +or he might have intended to help his friend to a more ready +recognition by presenting himself bareheaded. He met his survey with +unaffected pleasure, took the hand extended in greeting, and kissed it +reverentially. + +"Forgive me, O Prince, if my first greeting have the appearance of a +reproach," Mirza said, as he gave up the hand. "Why have you kept us +waiting so long?" + +The Prince's countenance assumed a severe expression. + +"Emir, I gave you confidence under seal." + +The Emir flushed deeply. + +"Was it knightly to betray me? To whom have you told the secret? How +many have been waiting for my coming?" + +"Be merciful, I pray." + +"But the stars. You have made me culprit with them. I may pardon you; +can you assure me of their pardon?" + +The Emir raised his head, and with an expostulatory gesture, was about +to reply, when the Prince continued, "Put thy words in the tongue +coinage of Italy, for to be overheard now were to make me an offender +like unto thyself." + +Mirza glanced hastily at Sergius, still praying before the loophole, +and at Nilo; then he surveyed the cell critically, and said, in +Italian, "This is the prison of the Castle--and thou--can it be I see +thee a prisoner?" + +The Prince smiled. "The Governor led me here with my friends; and what +you behold of accommodations he sent in afterwards, saying the better +rooms were filled with soldiery." + +"He will rue the deed. My Lord is swift at righting a wrong, and trust +me, O Prince, to make report. But to return"--Mirza paused, and looked +into the Prince's eyes earnestly--"Is your accusation just? Hear me; +then by the motive judge. When I stood before my master, Prince +Mahommed, a returned pilgrim, if not taller in fact, his bearing was +more majestic. I kissed his hand wondering if some servant of the +Compassionate, some angel or travelling Jinn, had not arrived before +me, and whispered him of what you told me, speaking for the stars. And +when we were alone, he would have account of the countries journeyed +through, of the people met, of Medina and Mecca, and the other holy +places; nor would he rest until he had from me the sayings I had heard +on the way, everything from calls to prayer to the Khatib's sermon. +When I told him I had not heard the sermon, nor seen the preacher or +his camel, he demanded why, and--what else was there to do, O +Prince?--I related how we had been pursued by the terrible Yellow Air; +how it had overtaken me; how I fell down dying at the corner of the +Kaaba, and by whom I was saved even as the life was departing. This +last directed him to you. My efforts to put him off but whetted his +desire. He would not be diverted or denied. He +insisted--urged--threatened. At last I told him all--of your joining us +with the Hajj from El Khatif--your rank and train--your marches in the +rear--the hundreds of miserables you saved from the plague--of our +meeting at Zaribah, your hospitality, your learning in all that +pertains to the greatest of the prophets, your wisdom above the wisdom +of other men. And you grew upon him as I proceeded. 'Oh, a good man +truly!' 'What courage!' 'What charity!' 'The Prophet himself!' 'Oh, +that I had been you!' 'O foolish Mirza, to suffer such a man to +escape!' With such exclamations he kept breaking up my story. It was +not long until he fastened upon our meeting in the tent. He plied me to +know of what we talked--what you said, and all you said. O Prince, if +you did but know him; if you knew the soul possessing him, the +intellectual things he has mastered, his sagacity, his art, his will, +his day-dreams pursuing him in sleep, the deeds he is prepared to do, +the depth and strength of his passions, his admiration for heroes, his +resolve to ring the world with the greatness of his name--Oh, knew you +the man as I do, were you his lover as I am, his confidant--had you, +for teaching him to ride and strike with sword and spear, his promise +of a share in the glory beckoning him on, making his mighty +expectations a part of you even as they are of him, would you--ah, +Prince, could you have withheld the secret? Think of the revelation! +The old East to awake, and march against the West! Constantinople +doomed! And he the leader for whom the opportunity is waiting! And to +call my weakness betrayal! Unsay it, unsay it, Prince!" + +The face of the auditor as Mirza proceeded with his defence would have +been a profitable study. He saw himself succeeding in the purpose of +his affected severity; he was drawing from Mahommed's intimate the +information he most desired; and thus advised in advance, his role in +the interview coming would be of easy foresight and performance. Not to +appear too lightly satisfied, however, he said gravely, "I see the +strain you underwent, my gallant friend. I see also the earnestness of +your affection for your most noble pupil. He is to be congratulated +upon the possession of a servant capable of such discernment and +devotion. But I recall my question--How many are there waiting for me?" + +"Your revelations, O Prince, were imparted to my master alone; and with +such certainty as you know yourself, you may believe them at rest in +his bosom. No one better than he appreciates the importance of keeping +them there under triple lock. More than one defeat--I think he would +permit the confession--has taught him that secrecy is the life of every +enterprise." + +"Say you so, Emir? I feel warmth returning to my hope. Nay, listening +to you, and not believing in improvised heroes, I see how your course +may have been for the best. The years gone since you yielded to his +importunities, wisely used, have doubtless served him providentially." + +The Prince extended his hand again, and it was ardently taken; then, on +his part, more than pleased, Mirza said, "I bring you a message from my +Lord Mahommed. I was with him when the Governor came and delivered your +ring to me--and, lest I forget a duty, Prince, here it is--take it at +some future time it may be serviceable as today." + +"Yes, well thought!" the Jew exclaimed, replacing the signet on his +finger, and immediately, while looking at the turquoise eye, he dropped +his tone into the solemn, "Ay, the obligations of the Pentagram +endure--they are like a decree of God." + +The words and manner greatly impressed Mirza. + +"My Lord Mahommed," he said, "observed the delivery of the ring to me +by the Governor; and when we were alone, and I had recounted the story +of the jewels, 'What!' my Lord cried, quite as transported as myself. +'That wonderful man--he here--here in this Castle! He shall not escape +me. Send for him at once. I brook no delay.' He stamped his foot. 'Lest +he vanish in the storm--go!' When I was at the door, he bade me come +back. 'The elder man with the white beard and black eyes, said you? It +were well for me to begin by consulting his comfort. He may be tired, +and in want of repose; his accommodations may be insufficient; +wherefore go see him first, and ascertain his state and wishes.' And as +I was going, he summoned me to return again. 'A moment--stay!' he +said.'The circumstance enlarges with thought. Thou knowest, Mirza, I +did not come here with a special object; I was drawn involuntarily; now +I see it was to meet him. It is a doing of the stars. I shall hear from +them!' O Prince"--Mirza's eyes sparkled, arid he threw up both his +hands--"if ever man believed what he said, my master did." + +"A wise master truly," said the Jew, struggling with his exultation. +"What said he next?" + +"'While I am honoring their messenger'--thus my Lord continued--'why +not honor the stars? Their hour is midnight, for then they are all out, +from this horizon and that calling unto each other, and merging their +influences into the harmony the preachers call the Will of the Most +Merciful. A good hour for the meeting. Hear, Mirza--at midnight--in +this room. Go now.' And so it is appointed." + +"And well appointed, Emir." + +"Shall I so report?" + +"With my most dutiful protestations." + +"Look for me then at midnight." + +"I shall be awake, and ready." + +"Meantime, Prince, I will seek an apartment more in correspondence with +the degree of my Lord's most honored guest." + +"Nay, good Mirza, suffer me to advise in that matter. The bringing me +into this place was a mistake of the Governor's. He could not divine +the merit I have in your master's eyes. He took me for a Christian. I +forgive him, and pray he may not be disturbed. He may be useful to me. +Upon the springing of a mischance--there is one such this instant in my +mind's eye--I may be driven to come back to this Castle. In such an +event, I prefer him my servant rather than my enemy." + +"O Prince!" + +"Nay, Emir, the idea is only a suggestion of one of the Prophets whom +Allah stations at the turns in every man's career." + +"But every man cannot see the Prophets." + +The Jew finished gravely: "Rather than disturb the Governor further, +soothe him for me; and when the Lord Mahommed goes hence, do thou see +an instruction is left putting the Castle and its chief at my order. +Also, as thou art a grateful friend, Mirza, serve me by looking into +the kettles out of which we are to have our refreshment, and order +concerning them as for thyself. I feel a stir of appetite." + +The Emir backed from the apartment, leaving a low salaam just outside +the door. + +If the reader thinks the Prince content now, he is not mistaken. True +he paced the floor long and rapidly; but, feeling himself close upon a +turn in his course, he was making ready for it perfectly as possible by +consulting the Prophet whom he saw waiting there. + +And as the Lord Mahommed failed not to remember them what time he +betook himself to supper, the three guests up in the prison fared well, +nor cared for the howling of the wind, and the bursting and beating of +the rain still rioting without the walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS + + +The second recall of the Emir Mirza departing with the appointment for +the Prince of India was remarkable, considering Mahommed's usual +quickness of conclusion and steadiness of purpose; and the accounting +for it is noteworthy. + +So completely had the young Turk been taken up by study and military +service that leisure for love had been denied him; else he either +despised the passion or had never met a woman to catch his fancy and +hold it seriously. + +We have seen him make the White Castle by hard galloping before the +bursting of the storm. While at the gate, and in the midst of his +reception there, the boats were reported making all speed to the river +landing; and not wishing his presence at the Castle to be known in +Constantinople, he despatched an under officer to seize the voyagers, +and detain them until he had crossed the Bosphorus _en route_ to +Adrianople. However, directly the officer brought back the spirited +message of the Princess Irene to the Governor of the Castle, his mind +underwent a change. + +"What," he asked, "sayst thou the woman is akin to the Emperor +Constantine?" + +"Such is her claim, my Lord, and she looks it." + +"Is she old?" + +"Young, my Lord--not more than twenty." + +Mahommed addressed the Governor: + +"Stay thou here. I will take thy office, and wait upon this Princess." + +Dismounting, then, in the capacity of Governor of the Castle, he +hastened to the landing, curious as well as desirous of offering refuge +to the noble lady. + +He saw her first a short way off, and was struck with her composed +demeanor. During the discussion of his tender of hospitality, her face +was in fair view, and it astonished him. When finally she stepped from +the boat, her form, delicately observable under the rich and graceful +drapery, and so exquisitely in correspondence with her face, still +further charmed him. + +Before the chairs were raised, he sent a messenger to the Castle with +orders to place everybody in hiding, and for his Kislar-Aga, or chief +eunuch, to be in the passage of entrance to receive and take charge of +the kinswoman of the Emperor and her attendant. By a further order the +Governor proper was directed to vacate his harem apartments for her +accommodation. + +In the Castle, after the Princess had been thus disposed of, the +impression she made upon him increased. + +"She is so high-born!--so beautiful!--She has such spirit and +mind!--She is so calm under trial--so courageous--so decorous--so used +to courtly life!" + +Such exclamations attested the unwonted ferment going on in his mind. +Gradually, as tints under the brush of a skilful painter lose +themselves in one effect, his undefined ideas took form. + +"O Allah! What a Sultana for a hero!" + +And by repetition this ran on into what may be termed the chorus of a +love song--the very first of the kind his soul had ever sung. + +Such was Mahommed's state when Mirza received the turquoise ring, and, +announcing the Prince of India, asked for orders. Was it strange he +changed his mind? Indeed he was at the moment determining to see again +the woman who had risen upon him like a moon above a lake; so, directly +he had despatched the Emir to the Prince of India with the appointment +for midnight, he sent for an Arab Sheik of his suite, arrayed himself +in the latter's best habit, and stained his hands, neck, and +face-turned himself, in brief, into the story-teller whom we have seen +admitted to amuse the Princess Irene. + +At midnight, sharply as the hour could be determined by the uncertain +appliances resorted to by the inmates of the Castle, Mirza appeared at +his master's door with the mystical Indian, and, passing the sentinel +there, knocked like one knowing himself impatiently awaited. A voice +bade them enter. + +The young Turk, upon their entrance, arose from a couch of many +cushions prepared for him under a canopy in the centre of the room. + +"This, my Lord, is the Prince of India" said Mirza; then, almost +without pause, he turned to the supposed Indian, and added more +ceremoniously: "Be thou happy, O Prince! The East hath not borne a son +so worthy to take the flower from the tomb of Saladin, and wear it, as +my master here--the Lord Mahommed." + +Then, his duty done, the Emir retired. + +Mahommed was in the garb used indoors immemorially by his race--sharply +pointed slippers, immense trousers gathered at the ankles, a yellow +quilted gown dropping below the knees, and a turban of balloon shape, +its interfolding stayed by an aigrette of gold and diamonds. His head +was shaven up to the edge of the turban, so that, the light falling +from a cluster of lamps in suspension from the ceiling, every feature +was in plain exposure. Looking into the black eyes scarcely shaded by +the upraised arching brows, the Prince of India saw them sparkle with +invitation and pleasure, and was himself satisfied. + +He advanced, and saluted by falling upon his knees, and kissing the +back of his hands laid palm downward on the floor. Mahommed raised him +to his feet. + +"Rise, O Prince!" he said--"rise, and come sit with me." + +From behind the couch, the Turk dragged a chair of ample seat, railed +around except at the front, and provided with a cushion of camel's +hair--a chair such as teachers in the Mosques use when expounding to +their classes. This he placed so while he sat on the couch the visitor +would be directly before him, and but little removed. Soon the two were +sitting cross-legged face to face. + +"A man devout as the Prince of India is reported to me," Mahommed +began, in a voice admirably seconding the respectful look he fixed upon +the other, "must be of the rightly guided, who believe in God and the +Last Day, and observe prayer, and pay the alms, and dread none but +God--who therefore of right frequent the temples." + +"Your words, my Lord, are those of the veritable messenger of the most +high Heaven," the Wanderer responded, bending forward as if about to +perform a prostration. "I recognize them, and they give me the +sensation of being in a garden of perpetual abode, with a river running +beneath it." Mahommed, perceiving the quotation from the Koran, bent +low in turn, saying: "It is good to hear you, for as I listen I say to +myself, This one is of the servants of the Merciful who are to walk +upon the earth softly. I accost you in advance, Welcome and Peace." + +After a short silence, he continued: "A frequenter of mosques, you will +see, O Prince, I have put you in the teacher's place. I am the student. +Yours to open the book and read; mine to catch the pearls of your +saying, lest they fall in the dust, and be lost." + +"I fear my Lord does me honor overmuch; yet there is a beauty in +willingness even where one cannot meet expectation. Of what am I to +speak?" + +Mahommed knit his brows, and asked imperiously, "Who art thou? Of that +tell me first." + +Happily for the Prince, he had anticipated this demand, and, being +intensely watchful, was ready for it, and able to reply without +blenching: "The Emir introduced me rightly. I am a Prince of India." + +"Now of thy life something." + +"My Lord's request is general--perhaps he framed it with design. Left +thus to my own judgment, I will be brief, and choose from the mass of +my life." + +There was not the slightest sign of discomposure discernible in the +look or tone of the speaker; his air was more than obliging--he seemed +to be responding to a compliment. + +"I began walk as a priest--a disciple of Siddhartha, whom my Lord, of +his great intelligence, will remember as born in Central India. Very +early, on account of my skill in translation, I was called to China, +and there put to rendering the Thirty-five Discourses of the father of +the Budhisattwa into Chinese and Thibettan. I also published a version +of the Lotus of the Good Law, and another of the Nirvana. These brought +me a great honor. To an ancestor of mine, Maha Kashiapa, Buddha +happened to have intrusted his innermost mysteries--that is, he made +him Keeper of the Pure Secret of the Eye of Right Doctrine. Behold the +symbol of that doctrine." + +The Prince drew a leaf of ivory, worn and yellow, from a pocket under +his pelisse, and passed it to Mahommed, saying, "Will my lord look?" + +Mahommed took the leaf, and in the silver sunk into it saw this sign: + +[Illustration] + +"I see," he said, gravely. "Give me its meaning." + +"Nay, my Lord, did I that, the doctrine of which, as successor of +Kashiapa, though far removed, they made me Keeper--the very highest of +Buddhistic honors--would then be no longer a secret. The symbol is of +vast sanctity. There is never a genuine image of Buddha without it over +his heart. It is the monogram of Vishnu and Siva; but as to its +meaning, I can only say every Brahman of learning views it +worshipfully, knowing it the compression of the whole mind of Buddha." + +Mahommed respected the narrator's compunction, and returned the symbol, +saying simply, "I have heard of such things." + +"To pursue," the Prince then said, confident of the impression he was +producing: "At length I returned to my own country enriched beyond +every hope. A disposition to travel seized me. One day, passing the +desert to Baalbec, some Bedouin made me prisoner, and carrying me to +Mecca, sold me to the Scherif there; a good man who respected my +misfortune and learning--may the youths ever going in Paradise forget +not his cup of flowing wine!--and wrought with me over the Book of the +One God until I became a believer like himself. Then, as I had +exchanged the hope of Nirvana for the better and surer hope of Islam, +he set me free.... Again in my native land, I betook myself to +astrologic studies, being the more inclined thereto by reason of the +years I had spent in contemplating the abstrusities of Siddhartha. I +became an adept--something, as my Lord may already know, impossible to +such as go about unknowing the whole earth and heavens, and the powers +superior, those of the sky, and those lesser, meaning Kings, Emperors, +and Sultans." + +"How!" exclaimed Mahommed. "Is not every astrologer an adept?" + +The Prince answered softly, seeing the drift was toward the professor +in the young Turk's service. "There is always a better until we reach +the best. Even the stars differ from each other in degree." + +"But how may a man know the superior powers?" + +"The sum of the observations kept by the wise through the ages, and +recorded by them, is a legacy for the benefit of the chosen few. Had my +Lord the taste, and were he not already devoted by destiny, I could +take him to a college where what is now so curious to him is simple +reading." + +The hard and doubting expression on Mahommed's face began to soften, +yet he persisted: "Knowing the superior, why is it needful to know the +inferior powers?" + +"My Lord trenches now upon the forbidden, yet I will answer as his +shrewdness deserves. Never man heard from the stars in direct +speech--that were almost like words with God. But as they are servants, +they also have servants. Moreover what we have from them is always in +answer. They love to be sought after by the diligent. Some ages ago an +adept seeking this and that of them conjecturally, had reply, 'Lo! A +tribe of poor wanderers in the East. Heed them, for they shall house +their dominion in palaces now the glory of the West, and they shall dig +the pit to compass the fall of the proud.' Is it this tribe? Is it +that? But the seeker never knew. The children of Ertoghrul were yet +following their herds up and down the pastures they had from +Ala-ed-din, the Iconian. Not knowing their name, he could not ask of +them from the decree-makers?" + +The Mystic beheld the blood redden Mahommed's open countenance, and the +brightening of his eyes; and as he was speaking to his pride, he knew +he was not amiss. + +"The saying of the stars," he went on, "descended to succeeding adepts. +Time came to their aid. When at length your fathers seated themselves +in Broussa, the mystery was in part revealed. Anybody, even the +low-browed herdsman shivering in the currents blowing from the Trojan +heights, could then have named the fortunate tribe. Still the exposure +was not complete; a part remained for finding out. We knew the diggers +of the pit; but for whom was it? To this I devoted myself. Hear me +closely now--my Lord, I have traversed the earth, not once, but many +times--so often, you cannot name a people unknown to me, nor a land +whither I have not been--no, nor an island. As the grandson of +Abd-el-Muttalib was a Messenger of God, I am a Messenger of the +Predicting Stars--not their prophet, only their Interpreter and +Messenger. The business of the stars is my business." Mahommed's lips +moved, and it was with an effort he kept silent. + +The Prince proceeded, apparently unconscious of the interest he was +exciting: "Here and there while I travelled, I kept communication with +the planets; and though I had many of their predictions to solve, I +asked them oftenest after the unnamed proud one for whom thy +Ottomanites were charged to dig a pit. I presented names without +number--names of persons, names of peoples, and lest one should be +overlooked, I kept a record of royal and notable families. Was a +man-child horn to any of them, I wrote down the minute of the hour of +his birth, and how he was called. By visitations, I kept informed of +the various countries, their conditions, and their relations with each +other; for as the state of the earth points favorably or unfavorably to +its vegetation, so do the conditions of nations indicate the approach +of changes, and give encouragement to those predestined to bring the +changes about. Again I say, my Lord, as the stars are the servants of +God, they have their servants, whom you shall never know except as you +are able to read the signs their times offer you for reading. Moreover +the servants are sometimes priests, sometimes soldiers, sometimes +kings; among them have been women, and men of common origin; for the +seed of genius falls directly from God's hand, and He chooses the time +and field for the sowing; but whether high or low, white or black, good +or bad, how shall a Messenger interpret truly for the stars except by +going before their elect, and introducing them, and making their paths +smooth? Must he not know them first?" + +A mighty impulsion here struck Mahommed. Recurring rather to what he +had heard from Mirza of the revelation dropped by the strange person +met by him during the pilgrimage, he felt himself about to be declared +of the elect, and unable to control his eagerness, he asked abruptly: + +"Knowest thou me, O Prince?" + +The manner of the Mystic underwent a change. He had been deferential, +even submissive; seldom a teacher so amiable and unmasterful; now he +concentrated his power of spirit, and shot it a continuing flash from +his large eyes. + +"Know thee, Lord Mahommed?" he answered, in a low voice, but clear and +searching, and best suited to the conflict he was ushering in--the +conflict of spirit and spirit. "Thou knowest not thyself as well." + +Mahommed shrank perceptibly--he was astonished. + +"I mean not reference to thy father--nor to the Christian Princess, thy +mother,--nor to thy history, which is of an obedient son and brave +soldier,--nor to thy education, unusual in those born inheritors of +royal power--I mean none of these, for they are in mouths everywhere, +even of the beggars nursing their sores by the waysides.... In thy +father's palace there was a commotion one night--thou wert about to be +born. A gold-faced clock stood in the birth chamber, the gift of a +German King, and from the door of the chamber eunuchs were stationed. +Exactly as the clock proclaimed midnight, mouth and mouth carried the +cry to a man on the roof--'A Prince is born! A Prince is born! Praised +be Allah!' He on the roof was seated at a table studying a paper with +the signs of the Zodiac in the usual formulary of a nativity. At the +coming of the cry, he arose, and observed the heavens intently; then he +shouted, 'There is no God but God! Lo, Mars, Lord of the +Ascendant--Mars, with his friends, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in happy +configuration, and the moon nowhere visible. Hail the Prince!' And +while his answer was passing below, the man on the roof marked the +planets in their Houses exactly as they were that midnight between +Monday and Tuesday in the year 1430. Have I in aught erred, my lord?" + +"In nothing, O Prince." + +"Then I proceed.... The nativity came to me, and I cast and recast it +for the aspects, familiarities, parallels and triplicities of the hour, +and always with the same result. I found the sun, the angles and the +quality of the ambient signs favorable to a career which, when run, is +to leave the East radiant with the glory of an unsetting sun." + +Here the Jew paused, and bowed--"Now doth my Lord doubt if I know him +best?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DREAMS AND VISIONS + + +Mahommed sat awhile in deep abstraction, his face flushed, his hands +working nervously in their own clasp. The subject possessing him was +very pleasurable. How could it be else? + +On his side the Prince waited deferentially, but very observant. He was +confident of the impression made; he even thought he could follow the +young Turk's reflections point by point; still it was wisest to let him +alone, for the cooling time of the sober second thought would come, and +then how much better if there were room for him to believe the decision +his own. + +"It is very well, Prince," Mahommed said, finally, struggling to keep +down every sign of excitement. "I had accounts of you from Mirza the +Emir, and it is the truth, which neither of us will be the worse of +knowing, that I see nothing of disagreement in what he told me, and in +what you now tell me of yourself. The conceptions I formed of you are +justified: you are learned and of great experience; you are a good man +given to charity as the Prophet has ordered, and a believer in God. At +various times in the world's history, if we may trust the writers, +great men have had their greatness foretold them; now if I think myself +in the way of addition to the list of those so fortunate, it is because +I put faith in you as in a friendly Prophet." + +At this the Prince threw up both hands. + +"Friendly am I, my lord, more than friendly, but not a Prophet. I am +only a Messenger, an Interpreter of the Superior Powers." + +Much he feared the demands upon him if he permitted the impression that +he was a Prophet to go uncontradicted; as an astrologer, he could in +need thrust the stars between him and the unreasonable. And his +judgment was quickly affirmed. + +"As you will, O Prince," said Mahommed. "Messenger, interpreter, +prophet, whichever pleases you, the burden of what you bring me is +nevertheless of chiefest account. Comes a herald, we survey him, and +ask voucher for his pretensions; are we satisfied with them, why then +he gives place in our interest, and becomes secondary to the matter he +bears. Is it not so?" + +"It is righteously said, my Lord." + +"And when I take up this which you have brought me"--Mahommed laid a +hand upon his throat as if in aid of the effort he was making to keep +calm and talk with dignity--"I cannot deny its power; for when was +there an imaginative young man who first permitted ambition and love of +glory to build golden palaces for their abiding in his heart, with +self-control to stop his ears to promises apparently from Heaven? O +Prince, if you are indeed my friend, you will not laugh at me when you +are alone!... Moreover I would not you should believe your tidings +received carelessly or as a morsel sweet on my tongue; but as wine +warms to the blood coursing to the brain, it has started inquiries and +anxieties you alone can allay. And first, the great glory whose running +is to fill the East, like an unsetting sun, tell me of it; for, as we +all know, glory is of various kinds; there is one kind reserved for +poets, orators, and professors cunning in the arts, and another for +cheer of such as find delight in swords and bossy shields, and armor +well bedight, and in horses, and who exult in battle, and in setting +armies afield, in changing boundary lines, and in taking rest and +giving respite in the citadels of towns happily assaulted. And as of +these the regard is various, tell me the kind mine is to be." + +"The stars speak not doubtfully, my Lord. When Mars rises ascendant in +either of his Houses, they that moment born are devoted to war, and, +have they their bent, they shall be soldiers; nor soldiers merely, but +as the conjunctions are good, conquerors, and fortunate, and Samael, +his angel, becomes their angel. Has my Lord ever seen his nativity?" + +"Yes." + +"Then he knows whereof I speak." + +Mahommed nodded affirmatively, and said, "The fame is to my taste, +doubt not; but, Prince, were thy words duly weighed, then my glory is +to be surpassing. Now, I am of a line of heroes. Othman, the founder; +Orchan, father of the Janissaries; Solyman, who accepted the crescent +moon seen in a dream by the sea at Cyzicus as Allah's bidding to pass +the Hellespont to Tzympe in Europe; Amurath, conqueror of Adrianople; +Bajazet, who put an end to Christian crusading in the field of +Nicopolis--these filled the East with their separate renowns; and my +father Amurath, did he not subdue Hunyades? Yet, Prince, you tell me my +glory is to transcend theirs. Now--because I am ready to believe +you--say if it is to burst upon me suddenly or to signalize a long +career. The enjoyment of immortality won in youth must be a pleasant +thing." + +"I cannot answer, my Lord" + +"Cannot?" + +And Mahommed's eagerness came near getting the better of his will. + +"I have nothing from the stars by which to speak, and I dare not assume +to reply for myself." + +Then Mahommed's eyes became severely bright, and the bones of his hands +shone white through the skin, so hard did he compress them. + +"How long am I to wait before the glory you promise me ripens ready for +gathering? If it requires long campaigns, shall I summon the armies +now?" + +A tone, a stress of voice in the question sent a shiver through the +Prince despite his self-command. His gaze upon Mahommed's countenance, +already settled, intensified, and almost before the last word passed he +saw the idea he was expected to satisfy, and that it was the point to +which his interrogator had been really tending from the commencement of +the interview. To gain a moment, he affected not to clearly understand; +after a repetition, he in turn asked, with a meaning look: + +"Is not thy father, O Prince, now in his eighty-fifth year?" + +Mahommed leaned further forward. + +"And is it not eight and twenty years since he began reigning wisely +and well?" + +Mahommed nodded assent. + +"Suffer me to answer now. Besides his age which pleads for him, your +father has not allowed greatness and power to shade the love he gave +you heartily the hour he first took you in his arms. Nature protests +against his cutting off, and in this instance, O Prince, the voice of +Nature is the voice of Allah. So say I speaking for myself." + +Mahommed's face relaxed its hardness, and he moved and breathed freely +while replying: "I do not know what the influences require of me." + +"Speak you of the stars, my Lord," the other returned, "hear me, and +with distinctness. As yet they have intrusted me with the one +prediction, and that you have. In other words, they are committed to a +horoscope based upon your nativity, and from it your glory has been +rightly delivered. So much is permitted us by the astrologic law we +practise. But this now asked me, a circumstance in especial, appertains +to you as chief of forces not yet yours. Wherefore--heed well, my +Lord--I advise you to make note of the minute of the hour of the day +you gird yourself with the sword of sovereignty which, at this +speaking, is your great father's by sanction of Heaven; then will I +cast a horoscope for Mahommed the Sultan, not Mahommed, son of Amurath +merely--then, by virtue of my office of Interpreter of the Stars, +having the proper writing in my hand, I will tell you this you now +seek, together with all else pertaining to your sovereignty intrusted +me for communication. I will tell you when the glory is open to you, +and the time for setting forward to make it yours--even the dawning of +the term of preparation necessarily precedent to the movement itself. +Now am I understood? Will my Lord tell me I am understood?" + +An observation here may not be amiss. The reader will of course notice +the clever obtrusion of the stars in the speech; yet its real craft was +in the reservations covered. Presuming it possible for the Prince to +have fixed a time to Mahommed's satisfaction, telling it would have +been like giving away the meat of an apple, and retaining the rind. The +wise man who sets out to make himself a need to another will carefully +husband his capital. Moreover it is of importance to keep in mind +through this period of our story that with the Prince of India +everything was subsidiary to his scheme of unity in God. To which end +it was not enough to be a need to Mahommed; he must also bring the +young potentate to wait upon him for the signal to begin the movement +against Constantinople; for such in simplicity was the design scarcely +concealed under the glozing of "the East against the West." That is to +say, until he knew Constantine's disposition with respect to the +superlative project, his policy was delay. What, in illustration, if +the Emperor proved a friend? In falconry the hawk is carried into the +field hooded, and cast off only when the game is flushed. So the Prince +of India thought as he concluded his speech, and looked at the handsome +face of the Lord Mahommed. + +The latter was disappointed, and showed it. He averted his eyes, knit +his brows, and took a little time before answering; then a flash of +passion seized him. + +"With all thy wisdom, Prince, thou knowest not how hard waiting will +be. There is nothing in Nature sweeter than glory, and on the other +hand nothing so intolerably bitter as hungering for it when it is in +open prospect. What irony in the providence which permits us to harvest +greatness in the days of our decline! I dream of it for my youth, for +then most can be made of it. There was a Greek--not of the Byzantine +breed in the imperial kennel yonder"--he emphasized the negative with a +contemptuous glance in the direction of Constantinople--"a Greek of the +old time of real heroes, he who has the first place in history as a +conqueror. Think you he was happy because he owned the world? Delight +in property merely, a horse, a palace, a ship, a kingdom, is vulgar: +any man can be owner of something; the beggar polishes his crutch for +the same reason the king gilds his throne--it belongs to him. +Possession means satiety. But achieve thou immortality in thy first +manhood, and it shall remain to thee as the ring to a bride or as his +bride to the bridegroom.--Let it be as you say. I bow to the stars. +Between me and the sovereignty my father stands, a good man to whom I +give love for love; and he shall not be disturbed by me or any of mine. +In so far I will honor your advice; and in the other matter also, there +shall be one ready to note the minute of the hour the succession falls +to me. But what if then you are absent?" + +"A word from my Lord will bring me to him; and His Majesty is liable to +go after his fathers at any moment"-- + +"Ay, and alas!" Mahommed interposed, with unaffected sorrow, "a king +may keep his boundaries clean, and even extend them thitherward from +the centre, and be a fear unto men; yet shall death oblige him at last. +All is from God." + +The Prince was courtier enough to respect the feeling evinced. + +"But I interrupted you," Mahommed presently added. "I pray pardon." + +"I was about to say, my Lord, if I am not with you when His Majesty, +your father, bows to the final call--for the entertainment of such was +Paradise set upon its high hill!--let a messenger seek me in +Constantinople; and it may even serve well if the Governor of this +Castle be instructed to keep his gates always open to me, and himself +obedient to my requests." + +"A good suggestion! I will attend to it. But"-- + +Again he lapsed into abstraction, and the Prince held his peace +watchfully. + +"Prince," Mahommed said at length, "it is not often I put myself at +another's bidding, for freedom to go where one pleases is not more to a +common man than is freedom to do what pleases him to a sovereign; yet +so will I with you in this matter; and as is the custom of Moslems +setting out on a voyage I say of our venture, 'In the name of God be +its courses and its moorings.' That settled, hearken further. What you +have given me is not all comprehensible. As I understand you, I am to +find the surpassing glory in a field of war. Tell me, lies the field +far or near? Where is it? And who is he I am to challenge? There will +be room and occasion for combat around me everywhere, or, if the +occasion exist not, my Spahis in a day's ride can make one. There is +nothing stranger than how small a cause suffices us to set man against +man, life or death. But--and now I come to the very difficulty--looking +here and there I cannot see a war new in any respect, either of +parties, or objects, or pretence, out of which such a prodigious fame +is to be plucked. You discern the darkness in which I am groping. +Light, O Prince--give me light!" + +For an instant the mind of the Jew, sown with subtlety as a mine with +fine ore, was stirred with admiration of the quality so strikingly +manifested in this demand; but collecting himself, he said, calmly, for +the question had been foreseen: + +"My Lord was pleased to say a short while ago that the Emir Mirza, on +his return from the Hajj, told him of me. Did Mirza tell also of my +forbidding him to say anything of the predictions I then intrusted him?" + +"Yes," Mahommed answered, smiling, "and I have loved him for the +disobedience. He satisfied me to whom he thought his duty was first +owing." + +"Well, if evil ensue from the disclosure, it may be justly charged to +my indiscretion. Let it pass--only, in reporting me, did not Mirza say, +Lord Mahommed, that the prohibition I laid upon him proceeded from a +prudent regard for your interests?" + +"Yes." + +"And in speaking of the change in the status of the world I then +announced, and of the refluent wave the East was to pour upon the +West"-- + +"And of the doom of Constantinople!" Mahommed cried, in a sudden +transport of excitement. + +"Ay, and of the hero thou wert to be, my Lord! Said he nothing of the +other caution I gave him, how absolute verity could only be had by a +recast of the horoscope at the city itself? And how I was even then on +my way thither?" + +"Truly, O Prince. Mirza is a marvel!" + +"Thanks, my Lord. The assurance prepares me to answer your last demand." + +Then, lowering his voice, the Prince returned to his ordinary manner. + +"The glory you are to look for will not depend upon conditions such as +parties to the war, or its immediate cause, or the place of its +wagement." + +Mahommed listened with open mouth. + +"My Lord knows of the dispute long in progress between the Pope of Rome +and the Patriarch of Constantinople; one claiming to be the head of the +Church of Christ, the other insisting on his equality. The dispute, my +Lord also knows, has been carried from East to West, and back and back +again, prelate replying to prelate, until the whole Church is falling +to pieces, and on every Christian tongue the 'Church East' and the +'Church West' are common as morning salutations." + +Mahommed nodded. + +"Now, my Lord," the Prince continued, the magnetic eyes intensely +bright, "you and I know the capital of Christianity is yonder "--he +pointed toward Constantinople--"and that conquering it is taking from +Christ and giving to Mahomet. What more of definition of thy glory wilt +thou require? Thus early I salute thee a Sword of God." + +Mahommed sprang from his couch, and strode the floor, frequently +clapping his hands. Upon the passing of the ecstasy, he stopped in +front of the Prince. + +"I see it now--the feat of arms impossible to my father reserved for +me." + +Again he walked, clapping his hands. + +"I pray your pardon," he said, when the fit was over. "In my great joy +I interrupted you." + +"I regret to try my Lord's patience further," the Prince answered, with +admirable diplomacy. "It were better, however, to take another step in +the explanation now. A few months after separating from Mirza in Mecca, +I arrived in Constantinople, and every night since, the heavens being +clear, I have questioned the stars early and late. I cannot repeat to +my Lord all the inquiries I made of them, so many were they, and so +varied in form, nor the bases I laid hold of for horoscopes, each +having, as I hoped, to do with the date of the founding of the city. +What calculations I have made--tables of figures to cover the sky with +a tapestry of algebraic and geometrical symbols: The walks of astrology +are well known--I mean those legitimate--nevertheless in my great +anxiety, I have even ventured into the arcana of magic forbidden to the +Faithful. The seven good angels, and the seven bad, beginning with +Jubanladace, first of the good, a celestial messenger, helmeted, +sworded with flame, and otherwise beautiful to behold, and ending with +Barman, the lowest of the bad, the consort and ally of witches--I +besought them all for what they could tell me. Is the time of the +running of the city now, to-morrow, next week--when? Such the burden of +my inquiry. As yet, my Lord, no answer has been given. I am merely bid +keep watch on the schism of the Church. In some way the end we hope has +connection with that rancor, if, indeed, it be not the grand result. +With clear discernment of the tendencies, the Roman Pontiff is striving +to lay the quarrel; but he speaks to a rising tide. We cannot hasten +the event; neither can he delay it. Our role is patience--patience. At +last Europe will fall away, and leave the Greek to care of himself; +then, my Lord, you have but to be ready. The end is in the throes of +its beginning now." + +"Still you leave me in the dark," Mahommed cried, with a frown. + +"Nay, my Lord, there is a chance for us to make the stars speak." + +The beguiler appeared to hesitate. + +"A chance?" Mahommed asked. + +"It is dependent, my Lord." + +"Upon what?" + +"The life of the Sultan, thy father." + +"Speak not in riddles, O Prince." + +"Upon his death, thou wilt enter on the sovereignty." + +"Still I see not clearly." + +"With the horoscope of Mahommed the Sultan in my hand, then certainly +as the stars perform their circuits, being set thereunto from the first +morning, they must respond to me; and then, find I Mars in the +Ascendant, well dignified essentially and accidentally, I can lead my +Lord out of the darkness." + +"Then, Prince?" + +"He may see the Christian capital at his mercy." + +"But if Mars be not in the Ascendant?" + +"My Lord must wait." + +Mahommed sprang to his feet, gnashing his teeth. + +"My Lord," said the Prince, calmly, "a man's destiny is never +unalterable; it is like a pitcher filled with wine which he is carrying +to his lips--it may be broken on the way, and its contents spilled. +Such has often happened through impatience and pride. What is waiting +but the wise man's hour of preparation?" + +The quiet manner helped the sound philosophy. Mahommed took seat, +remarking, "You remind me, Prince, of the saying of the Koran, +'Whatsoever good betideth thee, O man, it is from God, and whatsoever +evil betideth, from thyself is it.' I am satisfied. Only"-- + +The Prince summoned all his faculties again. + +"Only I see two periods of waiting before me; one from this until I +take up the sovereignty; the other thence till thou bringest me the +mandate of the stars. I fear not the second period, for, as thou +sayest, I can then lose myself in making ready; but the first, the +meantime--ah, Prince, speak of it. Tell me how I can find surcease of +the chafing of my spirit." + +The comprehension of the wily Hebrew did not fail him. His heart beat +violently. He was master! Once more he was in position to change the +world. A word though not more than "now," and he could marshal the +East, which he so loved, against the West, which he so hated. If +Constantinople failed him, Christianity must yield its seat to Islam. +He saw it all flash-like; yet at no time in the interview did his face +betoken such placidity of feeling. The _meantime_ was his, not +Mahommed's--his to lengthen or shorten--his for preparation. He could +afford to be placid. + +"There is much for my Lord to do," he said. + +"When, O Prince--now?" + +"It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were his capital +temporarily in possession of another." + +The words caught attention, and it is hard saying what Mahommed's +countenance betokened. The reader must think of him as of a listener +just awakened to a new idea of infinite personal concern. + +"It is for him now to learn the city within and without," the Jew +proceeded; "its streets and edifices; its halls and walls; its strong +and weak places; its inhabitants, commerce, foreign relations; the +character of its ruler, his resources and policies; its daily events; +its cliques and clubs, and religious factions; especially is it for him +to foment the differences Latin and Greek." + +It is questionable if any of the things imparted had been so effective +upon Mahommed as this one. Not only did his last doubt of the man +talking disappear; it excited a boundless admiration for him, and the +freshest novitiate in human nature knows how almost impossible it is to +refuse trust when once we have been brought to admire. "Oh!" Mahommed +cried. "A pastime, a pastime, if I could be there!" + +"Nay, my Lord," said the insidious counsellor, with a smile, "how do +kings manage to be everywhere at the same time?" + +"They have their Ambassadors. But I am not a king." + +"Not yet a king"--the speaker laid stress upon the +adverb--"nevertheless public representation is one thing; secret agency +another." + +Mahommed's voice sank almost to a whisper. + +"Wilt thou accept this agency?" + +"It is for me to observe the heavens at night, while calculations will +take my days. I trust my Lord in his wisdom will excuse me." + +"Where is one for the service? Name him, Prince--one as good." + +"There is one better. Bethink you, my Lord, the business is of a long +time; it may run through years." + +Mahommed's brow knit darkly at the reminder. + +"And he who undertakes it should enter Constantinople and live there +above suspicion. He must be crafty, intelligent, courtly in manner, +accomplished in arms, of high rank, and with means to carry his state +bravely, for not only ought he to be conspicuous in the Hippodrome; he +should be welcome in the palace. Along with other facilities, he must +be provided to buy service in the Emperor's bedroom and council +chamber--nay, at his elbow. It is of prime importance that he possesses +my Lord's confidence unalterably. Am I understood?" + +"The man, Prince, the man!" + +"My Lord has already named him." + +"I?" + +"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him as a marvel." + +"Mirza!" exclaimed Mahommed, clapping his hands. + +"Mirza," the Prince returned, and proceeded without pause: "Despatch +him to Italy; then let him appear in Constantinople, embarked from a +galley, habited like a Roman, and with a suitable Italian title. He +speaks Italian already, is fixed in his religion, and in knightly +honor. Not all the gifts at the despot's disposal, nor the +blandishments of society can shake his allegiance--he worships my Lord." + +"My servant has found much favor with you, O Prince?" + +Accepting the remark as a question, the other answered: + +"Did I not spend the night with him at El Zaribah? Was I not witness of +his trial of faith at the Holy Kaaba? Have I not heard from my Lord +himself how, when put to choice, he ignored my prohibition respecting +the stars?" + +Mahommed arose, and again walked to and fro. + +"There is a trouble in this proposal, Prince," he said, halting +abruptly. "So has Mirza become a part of me, I am scarcely myself +without him." + +Another turn across the floor, and he seemed to become reconciled. "Let +us have done for to-night," he next said. "The game is imperative, but +it will not be harmed by a full discussion. Stay with me to-morrow, +Prince." + +The Prince remembered the Emperor. Not unlikely a message from that +high personage was at his house, received in course of the day. + +"True, very true, and the invitation is a great honor to me," he +replied, bowing; "but I am reminded that the gossips in Byzantium will +feast each other when to-morrow it passes from court to bazaar how the +Princess Irene and the Prince of India were driven by the storm to +accept hospitality in the White Castle. And if it get abroad, that +Mahommed, son of the great Amurath, came also to the Castle, who may +foretell the suspicions to hatch in the city? No, my Lord, I submit it +is better for me to depart with the Princess at the subsidence of the +waters." + +"Be it so," Mahommed returned, cordially. "We understand each other. I +am to wait and you to communicate with me; and now, morning comes +apace, good night." + +He held his hand to the Jew; whereat the latter knelt and kissed the +hand, but retained it to say: + +"My Lord, if I know him rightly, will not sleep to-night; thought is an +enemy to sleep; and besides the inspiration there is in the destiny +promised, its achievement lies all before him. Yet I wish to leave +behind me one further topic, promising it is as much greater than any +other as the Heavens are higher than the earth." + +"Rise, Prince," said Mahommed, helping him to his feet. "Such +ceremonious salutation whether in reception or at departure may be +dispensed with hereafter; thou art not a stranger, but more than a +guest. I count thee my friend whom everything shall wait upon--even +myself. Speak now of what thou callest the greater scheme. I am most +curious." + +There was a silence while one might count ten slowly. The Jew in that +space concentrated the mysterious force of which he was master in great +store, so it shone in his eyes, gave tone to his voice, and was an +outgoing of WILL in overwhelming current. "Lord Mahommed," he said, "I +know you are a believer in God." + +The young Turk was conscious of a strange thrill passing through him +from brain to body. + +"In nature and every quality the God of the Jew, the Christian, and the +Moslem is the same. Take we their own sayings. Christ and Mahomet were +witnesses sent to testify of Him first, highest and alone--Him the +universal Father. Yet behold the perversity of man. God has been +deposed, and for ages believers in Him have been divided amongst +themselves; wherefore hate, jealousies, wars, battle and the smoke of +slaughter perpetually. But now is He at last minded to be restored. +Hear, Lord Mahommed, hear with soul and mortal ear!" + +The words and manner caught and exalted Mahommed's spirit. As Michael, +with a sweep of his wings, is supposed to pass the nether depths, an +impulsion bore the son of Amurath up to a higher and clearer plane. He +could not but hear. + +"Be it true now that God permits His presence to be known in human +affairs only when He has a purpose to justify His interposition; then, +as we dare not presume the capital of Christendom goes to its fall +without His permission, why your designation for the mighty work? That +you may be personally glorified, my Lord? Look higher. See yourself His +chosen instrument--and this the deed! From the seat of the Caesars, its +conquest an argument, He means you to bring men together in His name. +Titles may remain--Jew, Moslem, Christian, Buddhist--but there shall be +an end of wars for religion--all mankind are to be brethren in Him. +This the deed, my Lord--Unity in God, and from it, a miracle of the +ages slow to come but certain, the evolution of peace and goodwill +amongst men. I leave the idea with you. Good night!" + +Mahommed remained so impressed and confounded that the seer was +permitted to walk out as from an empty room. Mirza received him outside +the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE + + +The storm continued till near daybreak. At sunrise the wind abated, and +was rapidly succeeded by a dead calm; about the same time the last +cloud disappeared, leaving the sky an azure wonder, and the shores of +the Bosphorus far and near refreshed and purified. + +After breakfast, Mirza conducted the Prince of India to another private +audience with Mahommed. As the conference had relation to the subjects +gone over in the night, the colloquy may be dispensed with, and only +the conclusions given. + +Mahommed admitted he had not been able to sleep; in good spirits, +however, he agreed, if the Prince were accountable for the wakefulness, +he was to be forgiven, since he had fairly foretold it, and, like other +prophets, was entitled to immunity. The invitation to remain at the +Castle was renewed, and again declined. + +Mahommed next conceded the expediency of his waiting to hear what +further the stars might say with respect to the great business before +him, and voluntarily bound himself to passive conduct and silence; in +assuagement of the impatience he knew would torment him, he insisted, +however, upon establishing a line of couriers between his place of +residence, wherever it might be, and the White Castle. Intelligence +could thus be safely transmitted him from Constantinople. In +furtherance of this object the Governor of the Castle would be +instructed to honor the requests of the Prince of India. + +Mahommed condescended next to approve the suggestion of a secret agency +in Constantinople. Respecting a person for the service, the delicacy of +which was conceded, he had reached the conclusion that there was no one +subject to his control so fitted in every respect as Mirza. The +selection of the Emir might prove troublesome since he was a favorite +with the Sultan; if investigations consequent on his continued absence +were instituted, there was danger of their resulting in disagreeable +exposure; nevertheless the venture was worth the while, and as time was +important, the Emir should be sent off forthwith under instructions in +harmony with the Prince's advice. Or more clearly, he was to betake +himself to Italy immediately, and thence to the Greek capital, a +nobleman amply provided with funds for his maintenance there in +essential state and condition. His first duty when in the city should +be to devise communication with the White Castle, where connection with +the proposed line of couriers should be made for safe transmission of +his own reports, and such intelligence as the Prince should from time +to time consider it advisable to forward. + +This of course contemplated recognition and concert between the Emir +and the Prince. In token of his confidence in the latter, Mahommed +would constitute him the superior in cases of difference of opinion; +though from his knowledge of Mirza's romantic affection acquired in +Mecca and on the road thither, he had little apprehension of such a +difference. + +Mahommed and the Prince were alike well satisfied with the conclusions +between them, and their leave-taking at the end of the audience was +marked with a degree of affection approaching that of father and son. + +About mid-afternoon the Prince and Sergius sallied from the Castle to +observe the water, and finding it quiet, they determined to embark. + +The formalities of reception in the Castle were not less rigidly +observed at the departure. In care of the eunuch the Princess and Lael +descended to the hall of entrance where they were received by the +supposed Governor, who was in armor thoroughly cleansed of dust and +skilfully furbished. His manner was even more gallant and dignified. He +offered his hand to assist the Princess to seat in the chair, and upon +taking it she glanced furtively at his face, but the light was too +scant for a distinct view. + +In the Castle and out there were no spectators. + +Passing the gate, the Princess bethought her of the story-teller, and +looked for him well as she could through the narrow windows. At the +landing, when the Governor had in silence, though with ease and grace, +helped her from the carriage, the porters being withdrawn, she +proceeded to acknowledgments. + +"I am sorry," she said, through her veil, "that I must depart without +knowing the name or rank of my host." + +"Had I greater rank. O Princess," he returned, gravely. "I should have +pleasure in introducing myself; for then there would be a hope that my +name supported by a title of dignity, would not be erased from your +memory by the gayeties of the city to which you are going. The White +Castle is a command suitable to one of humble grade, and to be saluted +Governor, because I am charged with its keeping, satisfies my pride for +the present. It is a convenient title, moreover, should you ever again +honor me with a thought or a word." + +"I submit perforce," she said. "Yet, Sir Governor, your name would have +saved me from the wonder of my kinsman, if not his open question, when, +as I am bound to, I tell him of the fair treatment and high courtesy +you have shown me and my friends here while in refuge in your Castle +walls. He knows it natural for the recipient of bounty to learn who the +giver is, with name and history; but how amazed and displeased he will +be when I barely describe your entertainment. Indeed, I fear he will +think me guilty of over description or condemn me for ingratitude." + +She saw the blood color his face, and noticed the air of sincerity with +which he replied. "Princess, if payment for what you have received at +my hands were worthy a thought, I should say now, and all my days +through, down to the very latest, that to have heard you speak so +graciously is an overprice out of computation." + +The veil hid her responsive blush; for there was something in his voice +and manner, possibly the earnestness marking them, which lifted the +words out of the commonplace and formal. She could not but see how much +more he left implied than actually expressed. For relief, she turned to +another subject. + +"If I may allude to a part of your generous attention, Sir Governor, +distinguishing it from the whole, I should like to admit the pleasure +had from the recitation of the Arabian story-teller. I will not ask his +name; still it must be a great happiness to traverse the world with +welcome everywhere, and everywhere and all the time accompanied and +inspired by a mind stored with themes and examples beautiful as the +history of El Hatim." + +A light singularly bright shone in the Governor's eyes, significant of +a happy idea, and with more haste than he had yet evinced, he replied: + +"O Princess, the name of the Arab is Aboo-Obeidah; in the desert they +call him the Singing Sheik, and among Moslems, city bred and tent born +alike, he is great and beloved. Such is his sanctity that all doors he +knocks at open to him, even those of harems zealously guarded. When he +arrives at Adrianople, in his first day there he will be conducted to +the Hanoum of the Sultan, and at her signal the ladies of the household +will flock to hear him. Now, would it please you, I will prevail on him +to delay his journey that he may visit you at your palace." + +"The adventure might distress him," she replied. + +"Say not so. In such a matter I dare represent and pledge him. Only +give me where you would have him come, and the time, O Princess, and he +will be there, not a star in the sky more constant." + +"With my promise of good welcome to him then," she said, well pleased, +"be my messenger, Sir Governor, and say in the morning day after +to-morrow at my palace by Therapia. And now thanks again, and farewell." + +So saying she held her hand to him, and he kissed it, and assisted her +into the boat. + +The adieux of the others, the Prince of India, Sergius and Lael, were +briefer. The Governor was polite to each of them; at the same time, his +eyes, refusing restraint, wandered to where the Princess sat looking at +him with unveiled face. + +In the mouth of the river the boats were brought together, and, while +drifting, she expressed the pleasure she had from the fortunate meeting +with the Prince; his presence, she doubted not, contributed greatly to +the good conclusion of what in its beginning seemed so unpromising. + +"Nor can I convey an idea of the confidence and comfortable feeling I +derived from the society of thy daughter," she added, speaking to the +Prince, but looking at Lael. "She was courageous and sensible, and I +cannot content myself until she is my guest at Therapia." + +"I would be greatly pleased," Lael said, modestly. + +"Will the Princess appoint a time?" the Wanderer asked. + +"To-morrow--or next week--at your convenience. These warm months are +delightful in the country by the water side. At Therapia, Prince--thou +and thine. The blessing of the Saints go with you--farewell." + +Then though the boats kept on down toward Constantinople, they +separated, and in good time the Prince of India and Lael were at home; +while the Princess carried Sergius to her palace in the city. Next day, +having provided him with the habit approved by metropolitan Greek +priests, she accompanied him to the patriarchal residence, introduced +him with expressions of interest, and left him in the holy keeping. + +Sergius was accepted and rated a neophyte, the vanity of the Byzantine +clergy scorning thought of excellence in a Russian provincial. He +entered upon the life, however, with humility and zeal, governed by a +friendly caution from the Princess. + +"Remember," she said to him, as they paused on the patriarchal +doorsteps for permission to enter, "remember Father Hilarion is +regarded here as a heretic. The stake, imprisonment in darkness for +life, the lions in the Cynegion, punishment in some form of approved +cruelty awaits a follower of his by open avowal. Patience then; and +when endurance is tried most, and you feel it must break, come to me at +Therapia. Only hold yourself in readiness, by reading and thought, to +speak for our Christian faith unsullied by human inventions, and bide +my signal." + +And so did he observe everything and venture nothing that presently he +was on the road to high favor. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE + + +When the Princess Irene returned to Therapia next day, she found +awaiting her the Dean of the Court, an official of great importance to +whom the settlement of questions pertinent to rank was confided. The +state barge of fifteen oars in which he arrived was moored to the +marbles of the quay in front of her palace, a handsomely ornamented +vessel scarcely needing its richly liveried rowers to draw about it the +curious and idle of the town in staring groups. At sight of it, the +Princess knew there was a message for her from the Emperor. She lost no +time in notifying the Dean of her readiness to receive him. The +interview took place in the reception room. + +The Dean was a venerable man who, having served acceptably through the +preceding reign, was immensely discreet, and thoroughly indurate with +formalism and ceremony; wherefore, passing his speech and manner, it is +better worth the while to give, briefly as may be, the substance of the +communication he brought to the Princess. + +He was sure she remembered all the circumstances of the coronation of +His Majesty, the Emperor, and of His Majesty's entry into +Constantinople; he was not so certain, however, of her information +touching some matters distinguishable as domestic rather than +administrative. Or she might know of them, but not reliably. Thus she +might not have heard authentically that, immediately upon his becoming +settled in the imperial seat, His Majesty decided it of first +importance to proceed to the selection of a spouse. + +The Dean then expatiated on the difficulty of finding in all the world +a woman suitable for the incomparable honor. So many points entered +into the consideration--age, appearance, rank, education, religion, +dowry, politics--upon each of which he dwelt with the gravity of a +philosopher, the assurance of a favorite, and the garrulity of age. +Having at length presented the problem, and, he thought, sufficiently +impressed the Princess with its unexampled intricacies and perils, he +next unfolded the several things resolved upon and attempted in the way +of solution. + +Every royal house in the West had been searched for its marriageable +females. At one time a daughter of the Doge of Venice was nearly +chosen. Unfortunately there were influential Greeks of greater pride +than judgment to object to the Doge. He was merely an elective chief. +He might die the very day after celebrating the espousals, and +then--not even the ducal robes were inheritable. No, the flower to deck +the Byzantine throne was not in the West. + +Thereupon the East was explored. For a time the election trembled +between a Princess of Trebizond and a Princess of Georgia. As usual the +court divided on the question, when, to quiet the factions, His Majesty +ordered Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, a courtier of learning and +diplomatic experience, who held the Emperor's confidence in greater +degree than any other court official, unless it might be the Dean +himself, to go see the rivals personally, and report with +recommendation. The ambassador had been gone two years. From Georgia he +had travelled to Trebizond; still nothing definite. The embassy, having +been outfitted in a style to adequately impress the semi-barbarians, +was proving vastly expensive. His Majesty, with characteristic wisdom, +had determined to take the business in his own keeping. There were many +noble families in Constantinople. Why not seek a consort among them? + +The scheme had advantages; not least, if a Byzantine could be found, +the Emperor would have the happiness of making the discovery and +conducting the negotiations himself--in common parlance, of doing his +own courting. There might be persons, the Dean facetiously remarked, +who preferred trusting the great affair of wife-choosing to +ambassadors, but he had never seen one of them. + +The ground covered by the ancient in his statement is poorly +represented by these paragraphs, ample as they may seem to the reader. +Indeed, the sun was falling swiftly into the lap of night when he +thought of concluding. Meantime the Princess listened silently, her +patience sustained by wonder at what it all meant. The enlightenment at +last came. + +"Now, my dear Princess," he said, lowering his voice, "you must know +"--he arose, and, as became one so endued with palace habits, peered +cautiously around. + +"Be seated, my Lord," she said; "there are no eyes in my doors nor ears +in my walls." + +"Oh, the matter is of importance--a state secret!" He drew the stool +nearer her. + +"You must know, dear Princess, that the Grand Chamberlain, Phranza, has +been negligent and remiss in the time he has consumed, saying nothing +of his lavishment of treasure so badly needed at home. Notaras, the +Admiral, and the Grand Domestic, are both pursuing His Majesty +vigorously for funds and supplies; worse still, the Patriarch lets slip +no opportunity to bid him look at the furniture of the churches going +to ruin. The imperial conscience being tender in whatever pertains to +God and religion, he has little peace left for prayers. Wherefore, +there are of us who think it would be loyalty to help secure a bride +for His Majesty at home, and thus make an end to the wasteful and +inconclusive touring of Phranza." + +The Dean drew yet nearer the Princess, and reduced his voice to a tone +slightly above a whisper. + +"Now you must know further--I am the author and suggestor of the idea +of His Majesty's choosing an Empress from the many noble and beautiful +dames and maidens of this our ancient city of Byzantium, in every +respect the equals, and in many points mentionable the superiors of the +best foreigner possible of finding." + +The Dean pursed his white-bearded mouth, and posed himself proudly; but +his auditor still holding her peace, he leaned forward further, and +whispered, "My dear Princess, I did more. I mentioned you to His +Majesty"-- + +The Princess started to her feet, whiter than whitest marble in the +Pentelic panelling of the room; yet in total misapprehension of her +feeling, the venerable intriguant went on without pause: "Yes, I +mentioned you to His Majesty, and to-morrow, Princess--to-morrow--he +will come here in person to see you, and urge his suit." + +He dropped on his knees, and catching her hand, kissed it. + +"O Princess, fairest and most worthy, suffer me first of all the court +to congratulate you on the superlative honor to which you will he +invited. And when you are in the exalted position, may I hope to be +remembered"-- + +He was not permitted to finish the petition. Withdrawing her hand with +decisive action, she bade him be silent or speak to her questions. And +he was silent through surprise. + +In such manner she gained an interval for thought. The predicament, as +she saw it, was troublesome and unfortunate. Honor was intended her, +the highest in the imperial gift, and the offer was coming with never a +doubt of its instantaneous and grateful acceptance. Remembering her +obligations to the Emperor, her eyes filled with tears. She respected +and venerated him, yet could not be his Empress. The great title was +not a sufficient inducement. But how manage the rejection? She called +on the Virgin for help. Directly there was a way exposed. First, she +must save her benefactor from rejection; second, the Dean and the court +must never know of the course of the affair or its conclusion. + +"Rise, my Lord," she said, kindly though with firmness. "The receiver +of great news, I thank you, and promise, if ever I attain the throne to +hold you in recollection. But now, so am I overwhelmed by the prospect, +I am not myself. Indeed, my Lord, would you increase my indebtedness to +its utmost limit, take every acknowledgment as said, and leave +me--leave me for preparation for the morrow's event. God, his Son and +angels only know the awfulness of my need of right direction and good +judgment." + +He had the wit to see her agitation, and that it was wisest for him to +depart. + +"I will go, Princess," he said, "and may the Holy Mother give you of +her wisdom also." She detained him at the door to ask: "Only tell me, +my Lord, did His Majesty send you with this notice?" + +"His Majesty honored me with the message." + +"At what hour will he come?" + +"In the forenoon." + +"Report, I pray you then, that my house will be at his service." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE EMPEROR'S WOOING + + +About ten o'clock the day following the extraordinary announcement +given, a galley of three banks of oars, classed a _trireme_, rounded +the seaward jut of the promontory overhanging the property of the +Princess Irene at Therapia. + +The hull of the vessel was highly ornate with gilding and carving. At +the how, for figure-head, there was an image of the Madonna of the +_Panagia_, or Holy Banner of Constantinople. The broad square sail was +of cherry-red color, and in excellent correspondence, the oars, sixty +to a side, were painted a flaming scarlet. When filled, the sail +displayed a Greek cross in golden filament. The deck aft was covered +with a purple awning, in the shade of which, around a throne, sat a +grave and decorous company in gorgeous garments; and among them moved a +number of boys, white-shirted and bare of head, dispensing perfume from +swinging censers. Forward, a body guard, chosen from the household +troops and full armed, were standing at ease, and they, with a corps of +trumpeters and heralds in such splendor of golden horns and tabards of +gold as to pour enrichment over the whole ship, filled the space from +bulwark to bulwark. The Emperor occupied the throne. + +This galley, to which the harmonious movement of the oars gave a +semblance of life, in the distance reminding one of a great bird +fantastically feathered and in slow majestic motion, was no sooner hove +in sight than the townspeople were thrown into ferment. A flotilla of +small boats, hastily launched, put out in racing order to meet and +escort it into the bay, and before anchorage was found, the whole shore +was astir and in excited babblement. + +A detachment of the guard was first landed on the quay in front of the +Princess' gate. Accepting the indication, thither rushed the populace; +for in truth, since the occupation of the Asiatic shore of the +Bosphorus by the Turks, the Emperor seldom extended his voyages far as +Therapia. Then, descending the sides by carpeted stairs, the suite +disembarked, and after them, amidst a tremendous flourish from the +trumpet corps, Constantine followed. + +The Emperor, in his light boat, remained standing during the passage to +the shore that he might be seen by the people; and as he then appeared, +helmed and in close-fitting cuirass, his arms in puffed sleeves of red +silk, his legs, below a heavily embroidered narrow skirt, clothed in +pliant chain mail intricately linked, his feet steel-shod, a purple +cloak hanging lightly at the back from neck to heel, and spurred and +magnificently sworded, and all agleam with jewels and gold, it must be +conceded he justified his entitlement. + +At sight of his noble countenance, visible under the raised visor, the +spectators lifted their voices in hearty acclamations--"God and +Constantine! Live the Emperor!" + +It really seemed as if the deadly factiousness of the capital had not +reached Therapia. In the lifted head, the brightened eyes, the gracious +though stately bows cast right and left, Constantine published the +pleasure the reception was giving him. + +A long flourish timed his march through the kiosk of the gate, and +along the shell-strewn, winding road, to the broad steps leading to the +portico of the palace; there, ascending first, he was received by the +Princess. + +Amid a group of maids in attendance, all young, fair, high-born, she +stood, never more tastefully attired, never more graceful and +self-possessed, never more lovely, not even in childhood before the +flitting of its virginal bloom; and though the portico was garden-like +in decoration, vines, roses and flowering shrubs everywhere, the +sovereign had eyes for her alone. + +Just within the line of fluted pillars he halted, and drew himself up, +smiling as became a suitor, yet majestic as became a king. Then she +stepped forward, and knelt, and kissed his hand, and when he helped her +to her feet, and before the flush on her forehead was gone, she said: + +"Thou art my sovereign and benefactor; nor less for the goodnesses thou +hast done to thy people, and art constantly doing, welcome, O my Lord, +to the house thou didst give me." + +"Speak not so," he replied. "Or if it please thee to give me credit, be +it for the things which in some way tried me, not those I did for +reward." + +"Reward!" + +"Ay, for such are pleasure and peace of mind." + +Then one by one, she naming them as they advanced, her attendants +knelt, and kissed the floor in front of him, and had each a pleasant +word, for he permitted none to excel him in decorous gallantry to good +women. + +In return, he called the officers of his company according to their +rank; his brother, who had afterward the grace to die with him; the +Grand Domestic, general of the army; the Grand Duke Notaras, admiral of +the navy; the Grand Equerry (_Protostrator_); the Grand Chancellor of +the Empire (_Logothete_); the Superintendent of Finance; the Governor +of the Palace (_Curopalate_); the Keeper of the Purple Ink; the Keeper +of the Secret Seal; the First Valet; the Chief of the Night Guard +(_Grand Drumgaire_); the Chief of the Huntsmen (_Protocynege_); the +Commander of the Body Guard of Foreigners (_Acolyte_); the Professor of +Philosophy; the Professor of Elocution and Rhetoric; the Attorney +General (_Nornophylex_); the Chief Falconer (_Protojeracaire_) and +others--these he called one by one, and formally presented to the +Princess, not minding that with many of them she was already acquainted. + +They were for the most part men advanced in years, and right well +skilled in the arts of courtiership. The _empressement_ of manner with +which they saluted her was not lost upon her woman's instinct; +infinitely quick and receptive, she knew without a word spoken, that +each left his salute on her hand believing it the hand of his future +Empress. Last of those presented was the Dean of the Court. He was +noticeably formal and distant; besides being under the eye of his +master, the wily diplomat was more doubtful of the outcome of the day's +visit than most of his colleagues. + +"Now," the Princess said, when the presentation was finished, "will my +most noble sovereign suffer me to conduct him to the reception room?" + +The Emperor stepped to her side, and offered his hand. "Pardon, Sire," +she added, taking the hand. "It is necessary that I speak to the Dean." + +And when the worthy came to her, she said to him: "Beyond this, under +the portico, are refreshments for His Majesty's suite. Serve me, I +pray, by leading thy colleagues thither, and representing me at the +tables. Command the servants whom thou wilt find there." + +Now the reader must not suppose he is having in the foregoing +descriptions examples of the style of ceremonials most in fashion at +the Greek court. Had formality been intended, the affair would have +been the subject of painstaking consideration at a meeting of officials +in the imperial residence, and every point within foresight arranged; +after which the revolution of the earth might have quickened, and +darkness been unnaturally precipitated, without inducing the slightest +deviation from the programme. + +When resolving upon the visit, Constantine considerately thought of the +Princess' abhorrence of formality, and not to surprise her, despatched +the Dean with notice of the honor intended. Whereupon she arranged the +reception to suit herself; that is, so as to remain directress of the +occasion. Hence the tables under the portico for the entertainment of +the great lords, with the garden open to them afterward. This +management, it will be perceived, left Constantine in her separate +charge. + +So, while the other guests went with the Dean, she conducted the +Emperor to the reception room, where there were no flowers, and but one +armless chair. When he was seated, the two alone, she knelt before him, +and without giving him time to speak, said, her hands crossed upon her +bosom: "I thank my Lord for sending me notice of his coming, and of his +purpose to invite me to share his throne. All night I have kept the +honor he intended me in mind, believing the Blessed Mother would listen +to my prayers for wisdom and right direction; and the peace and +confidence I feel, now that I am at my Lord's feet, must be from +her.... Oh, my Lord, the trial has not been what I should do with the +honor, but how to defend you from humiliation in the eyes of your +court. I wish to be at the same time womanly and allegiant. How gentle +and merciful you have been to me! How like a benignant God to my poor +father! If I am in error, may Heaven forgive me; but I have led you +here to say, without waiting for the formal proposal, that while you +have my love as a kinswoman and subject, I cannot give you the love you +should have from a wife." + +Constantine was astonished. + +"What!" he said. + +Before he could get further, she continued, sinking lower at his feet: + +"Ah me, my Lord, if now thou art thinking me bold and forward, and +outcast from natural pride, what can I but plead the greater love I +bear you as my benefactor and sovereign? ... It may be immodest to thus +forestall my Lord's honorable intent, and decline being his wife before +he has himself proposed it; yet I pray him to consider that with this +avowal from me, he may go hence and affirm, God approving the truth, +that he thought better of his design, and did not make me any overture +of marriage, and there will be no one to suffer but me.... The +evil-minded will talk, and judge me punished for my presumption. +Against them I shall always have a pure conscience, and the knowledge +of having rescued my Lord from an associate on his throne who does not +love him with wifely devotion." + +Pausing there, the Princess looked into his face, her own suffused. His +head drooped; insomuch that the tall helmet with its glitter, and the +cuirass, and fine mail reenforced by the golden spurs and jewelled +sword and sword-harness, but deepened the impression of pain bewrayed +on his countenance. + +"Then it is as I have heard," he said, dejectedly. "The rustic hind may +have the mate of his choice, and there is preference allowed the bird +and wild wolf. The eye of faith beholds marriages of love in meeting +waters and in clouds brought together from diverse parts. Only Kings +are forbidden to select mates as their hearts declare. I, a master of +life and death, cannot woo, like other men." + +The Princess moved nearer him. + +"My Lord," she said, earnestly, "is it not better to be denied choice +than to be denied after choosing?" + +"Speakest thou from experience?" he asked. + +"No," she answered, "I have never known love except of all God's +creatures alike." + +"Whence thy wisdom then?" + +"Perhaps it is only a whisper of pride." + +"Perhaps, perhaps! I only know the pain it was intended to relieve goes +on." Then, regarding her moodily, not angrily, nor even impatiently, he +continued: "Did I not know thee true as thou art fair, O Princess, and +good and sincere as thou art brave, I might suspect thee." + +"Of what, my Lord?" + +"Of an intent to compass my misery. Thou dost stop my mouth. I may not +declare the purpose with which I came--I to whom it was of most +interest--or if I do, I am forestopped saying, 'I thought better of it, +and told her nothing.' Yet it was an honorable purpose nursed by sweet +dreams, and by hopes such as souls feed upon, strengthening themselves +for trials of life; I must carry it back with me, not for burial in my +own breast, but for gossips to rend and tear, and make laughter of--the +wonder and amusement of an unfeeling city. How many modes of punishment +God keeps in store for the chastening of those who love Him!" + +"It is beggarly saying I sympathize"-- + +"No, no--wait!" he cried, passionately. "Now it breaks upon me. I may +not offer thee a seat on my throne, or give a hand to help thee up to +it; for the present I will not declare I love thee; yet harm cannot +come of telling thee what has been. Thou hadst my love at our first +meeting. I loved thee then. As a man I loved thee, nor less as an +Emperor because a man. Thou wast lovely with the loveliness of the +angels. I saw thee in a light not of earth, and thou wert transparent +as the light. I descended from the throne to thee thinking thou hadst +collected all the radiance of the sun wasting in the void between +stars, and clothed thyself in it." + +"Oh, my Lord"-- + +"Not yet, not yet"-- + +"Blasphemy and madness!" + +"Be it so!" he answered, with greater intensity. "This once I speak as +a lover who was--a lover making last memories of the holy passion, to +be henceforth accounted dead. Dead? Ah, yes!--to me--dead to me!" + +She timidly took the hand he dropped upon his knee at the close of a +long sigh. + +"It may rest my Lord to hear me," she said, tearfully. "I never doubted +his fitness to be Emperor, or if ever I had such a doubt, it is no +more. He has conquered himself! Indeed, indeed, it is sweet to hear him +tell his love, for I am woman; and if I cannot give it back measure for +measure, this much may be accepted by him--I have never loved a man, +and if the future holds such a condition in store for me, I will think +of my Lord, and his strength and triumph, and in my humbler lot do as +he has so nobly done. He has his Empire to engage him, and fill his +hours with duties; I have God to serve and obey with singleness. Out of +the prison where my mother died, and in which my father grew old +counting his years as they slowly wore away, a shadow issued, and is +always at hand to ask me, 'Who art thou? What right hast thou to +happiness?' And if ever I fall into the thought so pleasant to woman, +of loving and being loved, and of marriage, the shadow intervenes, and +abides with me until I behold myself again bounden to religion, a +servant vowed to my fellow creatures sick, suffering, or in sorrow." + +Then the gentle Emperor fell to pitying her, and asked, forgetful of +himself, and thinking of things to lighten her lot, "Wilt thou never +marry?" + +"I will not say no, my Lord," she answered. "Who can foresee the turns +of life? Take thou this in reply--never will I surrender myself to +wedlock under urgency of love alone. But comes there some great +emergency, when, by such sacrifice, I may save my country, or my +countrymen in multitude, or restore our holy religion overthrown or in +danger, then, for the direct God-service there may be in it, I could +give myself in contract, and would." + +"Without love?" he asked. + +"Yes, without loving or being loved. This body is not mine, but God's, +and He may demand it of me for the good of my fellow-men; and, so there +be no tarnishment of the spirit, my Lord, why haggle about the husk in +which the spirit is hidden?" + +She spoke with enthusiasm. Doubt of her sincerity would have been +blasphemous. That such fate should be for her, so bright, pure and +heroic! Not while he had authority! And in the instant he vowed himself +to care of her by resolution strong as an oath. In thought of the +uncertainties lowering over his own future, he saw it was better she +should remain vowed to Heaven than to himself; thereupon he arose, and +standing at her side, laid a hand lightly upon her head, and said +solemnly: + +"Thou hast chosen wisely. May the Blessed Mother, and all the +ministering angels, in most holy company, keep guard lest thou be +overtaken by calamity, sorrow and disappointment. And, for me, O +Irene!"--his voice shook with emotion--"I shall be content if now thou +wilt accept me for thy father." + +She raised her eyes, as to Heaven, and said, smiling: "Dear God! How +Thou dost multiply goodnesses, and shower them upon me!" + +He stooped, and kissed her forehead. + +"Amen, sweet daughter!" + +Then he helped her to her feet. + +"Now, while thou wert speaking, Irene, it was given me to see how the +betrothal I was determined upon would have been a crime aside from +wresting thee from the service of thy choice. Phranza is a true and +faithful servant. How know I but, within his powers, and as he lawfully +might, he has contracted me by treaty to acceptance of the Georgian? +Thou hast saved me, and my ancient Chamberlain. Those under the portico +are conspirators. But come, let us join them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SINGING SHEIK + + +IT was about ten o'clock when the Emperor and Princess Irene appeared +on the portico, and, moving toward the northern side, wended slowly +through the labyrinth of flowers, palms, and shrubs. The courtiers and +dignitaries, upon their approach, received them in respectful silence, +standing in groups about the tables. + +A chair, with arms, high back, and a canopy, looking not unlike a +sedilium, had been set in an open space. The reservation was further +marked by a table in front of the chair, and two broad-branched palm +trees, one on each side. Thither the Princess conducted the sovereign; +and when he was seated, at a signal from her, some chosen attendants +came bearing refreshments, cold meats, bread, fruits, and wines in +crystal flagons, which they placed on the table, and retiring a little +way, remained in waiting, while their mistress, on a stool at the left +of the board, did the honors. + +The introduction of a queen into a palace is usually the signal for a +change of the existing domestic regime. Old placeholders go out; new +favorites come in; and not seldom the revolution reaches the highest +official circles of the government. The veterans of the suite, to some +of whom this bit of knowledge had come severely home, were very +watchful of the two superior personages. Had His Majesty really exposed +his intent to the Princess? Had he declared himself to her? Had she +accepted? The effect was to trebly sharpen the eyes past which the two +were required to go on their way to the reserved table. + +Mention has been made of Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, at the moment +absent on a diplomatic search for an imperial consort. Of all attaches +of the court, he was first in his master's regard; and the distinction, +it is but just to say, was due to his higher qualities and superior +character. The term _favorite_, as a definition of relationship between +a despot and a dependent, is historically cloudy; wherefore it is in +this instance of unfair application. Intimate or confidante is much +more exactly descriptive. But be that as it may, the good understanding +between the Emperor and his Grand Chamberlain was amply sufficient to +provoke the jealousy of many of the latter's colleagues, of whom Duke +Notaras, Grand Admiral, and the most powerful noble of the Empire, was +head and front. The scheme for the elevation of the Princess to the +throne originated with him, and was aimed malevolently at Phranza, of +whom he was envious, and Constantine, whom he hated on religious +grounds. Interest in the plot brought him to Therapia; yet he held +himself aloof, preferring the attitude of a spectator coldly polite to +that of an active partisan in the affair. He declined sitting at a +table, but took position between two of the columns whence the view of +the bay was best. There were numbers of the suite, however, who +discredited the motive with which he chose the place. + +"See Notaras," said one of a group, whispering to friends drinking wine +a little way off. "The scene before him is charming, but is he charmed +with it as he appears?" + +"There was an old demi-god with an eye in his forehead. Notaras' best +orb just now is in the back of his head. He may be looking at the bay; +he is really watching the portico"--such was the reply. + +"Out! He cares nothing for us." + +"Very true--we are not the Emperor." + +"My Lord Duke is not happy to-day," was remarked in another coterie. + +"Wait, my dear friend. The day is young." + +"If this match should not be made after all"-- + +"He will know it first." + +"Yes, nothing from the lovers, neither smile nor sigh, can escape him." + +The Professor of Philosophy and his brother the Professor of Rhetoric +ate and drank together, illustrating the affinity of learning. + +"Our Phranza is in danger," said the latter, nervously. "As thou art a +subscriber to the doctrine of the _Phaedon_, I wish we could disembody +our souls, if only for an hour." + +"Oh, a singular wish! What wouldst thou?" + +"Tell it not; but"--the voice dropped into a whisper--"I would despatch +mine in search of the wise Chamberlain to warn him of what is here in +practice." + +"Ah, my brother, thou didst me the honor to read and approve my +treatise on the Philosophy of Conspiracy. Dost thou remember the +confounding elements given in the thesis?" + +"Yes--Goodness is one." + +"Under condition; that is, when the result is dependent upon a party of +virtuous disposition." + +"I remember now." + +"Well, we have the condition here." + +"The Princess!" + +"And therefore the Duke, not our Phranza, is in danger. She will +discomfit him." + +"May Heaven dispose so!" And the Rhetorician almost immediately added, +"Observe thou. Notaras has established himself within easy hearing of +the two. He has actually invaded the space reserved for them." + +"As if to confirm my forecast!" + +Then the Philosopher raised a cup. + +"To Phranza!" + +"To Phranza!" the Rhetorician responded. + +This episode hardly concluded when the Emperor's brother sauntered to +the Duke's side; and on the appearance of the Emperor and the Princess, +he exclaimed, enthusiastically: + +"Come of it what may, my Lord, the damsel is comely, and I fear not to +compare her with the best of Trebizond or Georgia." + +The Duke did not answer. Indeed, the lords were all intent upon exactly +the same subject. Whether there had been an overture and an acceptance, +or an overture and a declination, they believed the principals could +not conceal the result; a look, a gesture, or something in the manner +of one or both of them, would tell the tale to eyes of such practical +discernment. By the greater number the information would be treated as +news for discussion merely; a few had hopes or fears at stake; none of +them was so perilously involved as Notaras; in his view, failure meant +the promotion of Phranza, of all consequences, not excepting his own +loss of favor and prestige, the most intolerable. + +On the other part, Constantine was not less concerned in misleading his +court. At the proper time he would give out that he had changed his +mind at the last moment; before engaging himself to the Princess, he +had concluded it best to wait and hear from Phranza. Accordingly, in +passing along the portico, he endeavored to look and behave like a +guest; he conversed in an ordinary tone; he suffered his hostess to +precede him; and, well seconded by her, he was installed in the state +chair, without an argument yes or no for the sharp reviewers. At the +table he appeared chiefly solicitous to appease an unusual hunger, +which he charged to the early morning air on the Bosphorus. + +Notaras, whom nothing of incident, demeanor or remark escaped, began +very early to be apprehensive. Upon beholding his master's unlover-like +concession to appetite, he remarked sullenly, "Verily, either his +courage failed, and he did not submit a proposal, or she has rejected +him." + +"My Lord Duke," the Emperor's brother replied, somewhat stung, "dost +thou believe it in woman to refuse such an honor?" + +"Sir," the Duke retorted, "women who go about unveiled are above or +below judgment." + +The Princess, in her place at the table, began there to recount her +adventure at the White Castle, but when far enough in the recital to +indicate its course the Emperor interrupted her. + +"Stay, daughter," he said, gently. "The incident may prove of +international interest. If not objectionable to you, I should be +pleased to have some of my friends hear it." Then raising his voice, he +called out: "Notaras, and thou, my brother, come, stand here. Our fair +hostess had yesterday an astonishing experience with the Turks on the +other shore, and I have prevailed on her to narrate it." The two +responded to the invitation by drawing nearer the Emperor at his right +hand. + +"Proceed now, daughter," the latter said. + +"Daughter, daughter, indeed!" the Duke repeated to himself, and so +bitterly it may be doubted if his master's diplomacy availed to put him +at rest. The paternalism of the address was decisive--Phranza had won. + +Then, presently overcoming her confusion, the Princess succeeded in +giving a simple but clear account of how she was driven to the Castle, +and of what befell her while there. When she finished, the entire suite +were standing about the table listening. + +Twice she had been interrupted by the Emperor. + +"A moment!" he said to her, while she was speaking of the Turkish +soldiery whose arrival at the ancient stronghold had been so nearly +simultaneous with her own. Then he addressed himself to the Grand +Domestic and the Admiral. "My Lords, in passing the Castle, on our way +up, you remember I bade the pilot take our ship near the shore there. +It seemed to me the garrison was showing unusually large, while the +flags on the donjon were strange, and the tents and horses around the +walls implied an army present. You remember?" + +"And we have now, Sire, the justification of your superior wisdom," the +Grand Domestic replied, rising from a low salutation. + +"I recall the circumstance, my Lords, to enjoin you not to suffer the +affair to slip attention when next we meet in council--I pray pardon, +daughter, for breaking the thread of your most interesting and +important narrative. I am prepared to listen further." + +Then, after description of the Governor, and his reception of the +fugitives on the landing, His Majesty, with apologies, asked permission +to offer another inquiry. + +"Of a truth, daughter, the picture thou hast given us under the title +of Governor beareth no likeness to him who hath heretofore responded to +that dignity. At various times I have had occasion to despatch +messengers to the commandant, and returning, they have reported him a +coarse, unrefined, brutish-looking person, of middle age and low rank; +and much I marvel to hear the freedom with which this person doth +pledge my august friend and ally, Sultan Amurath. My Lords, this will +furnish us an additional point of investigation. Obviously the Castle +is of military importance, requiring an old head full of experience to +keep it regardful of peace and clear understanding between the powers +plying the Bosphorus. We are always to be apprehensive of the fire +there is in young blood." + +"With humility, Your Majesty," said the Grand Domestic, "I should like +to hear from the Princess, whose loveliness is now not more remarkable +than her courage and discretion, the evidence she has for the opinion +that the young man is really the Governor." + +She was about to reply when Lysander, the old servant, elbowed himself +through the brilliant circle, and dropped his javelin noisily by her +chair. + +"A stranger calling himself an Arab is at the gate," he said to her, +with the semblance of a salutation. + +The simplicity of the ancient, his zeal in the performance of his +office, his obliviousness to the imperial presence, caused a ripple of +amusement. + +"An Arab!" the Princess exclaimed, in momentary forgetfulness. "How +does the man appear?" + +Lysander was in turn distraught; after a short delay, however, he +managed to answer: "His face is dark, almost black; his head is covered +with a great cloth of silk and gold; a gown hides him from neck to +heels; in his girdle there is a dagger. He has a lordly air, and does +not seem in the least afraid. In brief, my mistress, he looks as if he +might be king of all the camel drivers in the world." + +The description was unexpectedly graphic; even the Emperor smiled, +while many of the train, presuming license from his amusement, laughed +aloud. In the midst of the merriment, the Princess, calmly, and with +scarce a change from her ordinary tone, proceeded to an explanation. + +"Your Majesty," she said, "I am reminded of an invitation left with the +person whose identity was in discussion the instant of this +announcement. In the afternoon, while I was sojourning in the White +Castle, an Arab story-teller was presented to me under recommendation +of my courteous host. He was said to be of great professional renown in +the East, a Sheik travelling to Adrianople for the divertisement of the +Hanoum of the Sultan. In the desert they call him endearingly the +_Singing Sheik_. I was glad to have the hours assisted in their going, +and he did not disappoint me. So charmed was I by his tales and manner +of telling them, by his genius, that in taking my departure from what +proved a most agreeable retreat, and in acknowledging the hospitable +entertainment given me, I referred to the singer, and requested the +Governor to prevail on him to extend his journey here, in order to +favor me with another opportunity to hear him. Had I then known it was +in my Lord's purposes to visit me with such a company of most noble +gentlemen, or could I have even anticipated the honor, I should not +have appointed to-day for the audience with him. But he is in +attendance; and now, with full understanding of the circumstances, it +is for Your Majesty to pronounce upon his admission. Perhaps"--she +paused with a look of deprecation fairly divisible share and share +alike between the Emperor and the Lords around her--"perhaps time may +hang heavy with my guests this morning; if so, I shall hold myself +obliged to the Singing Sheik if he can help me entertain them." + +Now, was there one present to attach a criticism to the favor extended +the Arab, he dismissed it summarily, wondering at her easy grace. The +Emperor no doubt shared the admiration with his suite; but concealing +it, he said, with an air of uncertainty, "Thy recommendation, daughter, +is high; and if I remain, verily, it will be with expectation wrought +up to a dangerous degree; yet having often heard of the power of the +strolling poets of whom this one is in probability an excellent +example, I confess I should be pleased to have thee admit him." + +Of the Admiral, he then asked, "We were to set out in return about +noon, were we not?" + +"About noon, Your Majesty." + +"Well, the hour is hardly upon us. Let the man appear, daughter; only, +as thou lovest us, contrive that he keep to short recitals, which, +without holding us unwillingly, will yet suffice to give an idea of his +mind and methods. And keep thyself prepared for an announcement of our +departure, and when received, mistake it not for discontent with +thyself. Admit the Arab." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TWO TURKISH TALES + + +The situation now offered the reader is worth a pause, if only to fix +it in mind. + +Constantine and Mahommed, soon to be contestants in war, are coming +face to face, lovers both of the same woman. The romance is obvious; +yet it is heightened by another circumstance. One of them is in danger. + +We of course know Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, is Prince Mahommed +in disguise; we know the Prince also as heir of Amurath the Sultan, a +very old man liable to vacate place and life at any moment. Suppose now +the rash adventurer--the term fits the youth truly as if he were +without rank--should be discovered and denounced to the Emperor. The +consequences can only be treated conjecturally. + +In the first place, to what extremities the Prince would be put in +explaining his presence there. He could plead the invitation of the +Princess Irene. But his rival would be his judge, and the judge might +find it convenient to laugh at the truth, and rest his decision on the +prisoner's disguise, in connection with his own presence--two facts +sufficiently important to serve the most extreme accusation. + +Constantine, next, was a knightly monarch who knew to live nobly, and +dared die as he lived; yet, thinking of what he might do with Mahommed +fallen into his hands under circumstances so peculiar, there was never +a Caesar not the slave of policy. In the audience to Manuel the sailor, +we have seen how keenly sensitive he was to the contraction the empire +had suffered. Since that day, to be sure, he had managed to keep the +territory he came to; none the less, he felt the Turk to whom the +stolen provinces invariably fell was his enemy, and that truce or +treaty with him did not avail to loosen the compression steadily +growing around his capital. Over and over, daytime and night, the +unhappy Emperor pondered the story of the daughter of Tantalus; and +often, starting from dreams in which the Ottoman power was a serpent +slowly crawling to its victim, he would cry in real agony--"O +Constantinople--Niobe! Who can save thee but God? And if He will +not--alas, alas!" The feeling thus engendered was not of a kind to +yield readily to generosity. Mahommed once securely his, everything +might be let go--truth, honor, glory--everything but the terms of +advantage purchasable with such an hostage. + +The invitation to the imaginary Sheik had been a last act of grace by +Irene, about to embark for the city. Mahommed, when he accepted, knew +Therapia by report a village very ancient historically, but decaying, +and now little more than a summer resort and depot of supplies for +fishermen. That its proverbial quietude would be disturbed, and the +sleepy blood of its inhabitants aroused, by a royal galley anchoring in +the bay to discharge the personnel of the empire itself, could have had +no place in his anticipations. So when he stepped into a boat, the +Aboo-Obeidah of his eulogy, and suffered himself, without an attendant, +to be ferried across to Roumeli-Hissar; when he there took an humble +wherry of two oars, and bade the unliveried Greeks who served them pull +for Therapia, it was to see again the woman who was taking his fancy +into possession, not Constantine and his court bizarre in splendor and +habitude. In other words, Mahommed on setting out had no idea of +danger. Love, or something very like it, was his sole inspiration. + +The trireme, with the white cross on its red sail, its deck a martial +and courtly spectacle, had been reported to him as the hundred and +twenty flashing scarlet blades, in their operation a miracle of unity, +whisked it by the old Castle, and he had come forth to see it. Where +are they going? he asked those around him; and they, familiar with the +Bosphorus, its shipping and navigation, answered unanimously, To +exercise her crew up in the Black Sea; and thinking of the breadth of +the dark blue fields there, the reply commended itself, and he +dismissed the subject. + +The course chosen by his boatmen when they put off from Roumeli-Hissar +kept him close to the European shore, which he had leisure to study. +Then, as now, it was more favored than its Asiatic opposite. The winds +from the sea, southward blowing, unloaded their mists to vivify its ivy +and myrtle. The sunlight, tarrying longest over its pine-clad summits, +coaxed habitations along the shore; here, a palace; there, under an +overhanging cliff, a hamlet; yonder, a long extended village +complaisantly adapting itself to the curvatures of the brief margin +left it for occupancy. Wherever along the front of the heights and on +the top there was room for a field the advantage had been seized. So +the Prince had offered him the sight of all others most significant of +peace among men--sight of farmers tilling the soil. With the lucid sky +above him summer-laden, the water under and about him a liquid +atmosphere, the broken mountain-face changing from lovely to lovelier, +and occasionally awakening him with a superlative splendor, the abodes +so near, and the orchards and strawberry and melon patches overhead, +symbolizing goodwill and fraternity and happiness amongst the poor and +humble--with these, and the rhythmic beating of the oars to soothe his +spirit, fierce and mandatory even in youth, he went, the time divided +between views fair enough for the most rapturous dreams, and the Greek, +of whom, with all their brightness, they were but dim suggestions. Past +the stream-riven gorge of Balta-Liman he went; past Emirghian; past the +haven of Stenia, and the long shore-town of Yenikeui; then, half +turning the Keuibachi bend, lo! Therapia, draggling down the stony +steep, like a heap of bangles on a brown-red cheek. And there, in the +soft embracement of the bay, a bird with folded wings asleep--the +_trireme_! + +The sight startled the Prince. He spoke to the rowers, and they ceased +fighting the current, and with their chins over their shoulders, looked +whither he pointed. From ship to shore he looked; then, pursuing the +curve inland to the bridge at the upper end; thence down what may be +called the western side, he beheld people crowding between a quay and a +red kiosk over which pended a wooded promontory. + +"There is a Princess living in this vicinity," said he to one of the +rowers, slightly lifting the handkerchief from his face. "Where is her +palace?" + +"In the garden yonder. You see the gate over the heads of the men and +women." + +"What is her name?" + +"Princess Irene. She is known on this shore as the Good Princess." + +"Irene--a sound pleasant to the ear"--Mahommed muttered. "Why is she +called good?" + +"Because she is an angel of mercy to the poor." + +"That is not usual with the great and rich," he said next, yielding to +a charm in the encomiums. + +"Yes," the boatman responded, "she is great, being akin to the Emperor, +and rich, too, though"-- + +Here the man broke off to assist in bringing the boat back from its +recession with the current, at this point boisterously swift. + +"You were saying the Princess is rich," Mahommed said, when the oars +were again at rest. + +"Oh, yes! But I cannot tell you, my friend, how many are partners in +her wealth. Every widow and orphan who can get to her comes away with a +portion. Isn't it so?" + +His companion grunted affirmatively, adding: "Down yonder a man with a +crooked back lives in an arched cell opening on the water. Perhaps the +stranger saw it as he came up." + +"Yes," Mahommed answered. + +"Well, in the back part of the cell he has an altar with a crucifix and +a picture of the Blessed Mother on it, and he keeps a candle burning +before them day and night--something he could not do if we did not help +him, for candles of wax are costly. He has named the altar after the +Princess, Sta. Irene. We often stop and go in there to pray; and I have +heard the blessings in the light of that candle are rich and many as +the Patriarch has for sale in Sta. Sophia." + +These praises touched Mahommed; for, exalted as he was in station, he +was aware of the proneness of the poor to berate the rich and grumble +at the great, and that such had been a habit with them from the +commencement of the world. Again the boat slipped down the current; +when it was brought back, he asked: "When did the ship yonder come up?" + +"This morning." + +"Oh, yes! I saw it then, but thought the crew were being taken to the +sea for practice." + +"No," the boatman replied, "it is the state galley of His Majesty the +Emperor. Did you not see him? He sat on the throne with all his +ministers and court around him." + +Mahommed was startled. + +"Where is the Emperor now?" he inquired. + +"I should say, seeing the crowd yonder, that His Majesty is in the +palace with the Princess." + +"Yes," said the second rower, "they are waiting to see him come out." + +"Row out into the bay. I should like to have the view from that +quarter." + +While making the detour, Mahommed reflected. Naturally he remembered +himself the son of Amurath; after which it was easy to marshal the +consequences of exposure, if he persisted in his venture. He saw +distinctly how his capture would be a basis of vast bargaining with his +father, or, if the sturdy old warrior preferred revenge to payment of a +ruinous ransom, how the succession and throne might slip to another, +leaving him a prisoner for life. + +Yet another matter presented itself to him which the reader may decide +worthy a separate paragraph. Its mention has been waiting this +opportunity. The Prince from Magnesia, his seat of government, was on +the way to Adrianople, called thither by his father, who had chosen a +bride for him, daughter of a renowned Emir. Regularly he would have +crossed the Hellespont at Gallipoli; a whim, however, took him to the +White Castle--whim or destiny, one being about as satisfactory as the +other. Pondering silently whether it were not best to return, he +thought, apropos the Princess Irene, of the nuptials to be celebrated, +and of his bride expectant; and a Christian, pausing over the +suggestion, may be disposed to condemn him for inconstancy. + +In countries where many wives are allowed the same husband he is not +required to love any of them. Indeed, his fourth spouse may be the +first to command him; hers the eyes for his enslavement; hers the voice +of the charmer charming both wisely and forever. Mahommed did now think +of the Emir's daughter, but not with compunction, nor even in +comparison. He had never seen her face, and would not until after the +wedding days. He thought of her but to put her aside; she could not be +as this Christian was, neither so accomplished nor courtly; besides +which, it was dawning upon him that there were graces of mind and soul +as well as of person, while perfection was a combination of all the +graces in equal degree. Gleams of the latter had visited him while +gazing into the radiant face of the Emperor's kinswoman; and how, at +such favoring times, his fancy had gone out to her and come back +warmed, enlivened, glorified! There is a passion of the mind and a +passion of the blood; and though one and one make two, two is still a +multiple of one. + +Looking thus at the galley, Mahommed thought of the tales in the East +not less common than in the West, and believed in them faithfully, for +chivalry was merely on the wane--tales of beauteous damsels shut up in +caves or adamantine castles, with guardian lions couchant at the gates, +and of well-sworded heroes who marched boldly up to the brutes, and +slew them, and delivered the captives always with reward. Of course, in +making the application, the Princess was the prisoner, the ship the +lion, and himself--well, in want of a sword, he laid hand upon his +dagger, precisely as a liberating knight up to the ideal would do. + +Nor was this all. The revelations of the Prince of India were still +fresh to him. He wished to see his competitor. How did he look? Was +there enough of him to make battle? He smiled thinking of the pleasure +there would be in slyly studying the Princess and the Emperor at the +same time. He drew the handkerchief down, looked at his brown-stained +hands, and adjusted the folds of his burnoose. The disguise was perfect. + +"Take me to the landing--there before the gate of the Good Princess," +he said, with the air of a traveller above suspicion. + +His resolution was taken. Challenging all chances, he would respond to +the invitation of the Princess. And so completely were doubt and +hesitation dismissed with our adventurer, that it was not Mahommed who +stepped from the boat where the populace was in densest assemblage, but +Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, and as such we will speak of him. + +The guard at the gate, viewing him askance, detained him until he could +be reported. + +A fair conception of the scene presented when the Sheik stood on the +floor of the portico is probably in the reader's mind; yet a glance at +it may be pardoned. It was at first like a sudden introduction to an +oriental garden. There were the vines, flowering shrubs, fruiting +trees, many-fronded palms, and the effect of outdoors derived from the +shadows of the pillars, and the sunshine streaming brilliantly through +the open intervals. The tables bore proofs of the collation served upon +them. Overhead was the soft creaminess of pure marble in protected +state mellowed by friendly touches of time. At the end of the vista, +the company was indistinctly visible through the verdure of obtruding +branches. Voices came to him from that part, and gleams of bright +garments; and to get to them it seemed he must pass through a +viridescent atmosphere flecked with blooms, and faintly sweet with +odors. For in losing the masculinity of their race the Greeks devoted +themselves more and more to refined effeminacies. + +Moving slowly forward under the guidance of Lysander, whose javelin +beating the floor accentuated the rasping shuffle of his sandals, the +Sheik came presently to a full view of the concourse. + +He stopped, partly in obedience to a fine instinct of propriety +teaching him he was now subject to the pleasure of his hostess, and +partly to single out the royal enemy against whom he believed he was +about to be pitted by destiny. + +Constantine was sitting at ease, his left elbow resting on an arm of +the sedilium, his forefinger supporting his cheek, his cloak across his +lap. The attitude was reflective; the countenance exposed under the +lifted visor of the helmet, was calm and benignant; except there was no +suggestion of an evil revery holding the current of his thought, or +casting a shade of uncertainty over his soul, he looked not unlike the +famous Il Penseroso familiar to art-seekers in the Medici Chapel of +Florence. Then the eyes of the rivals met. The Greek was in no wise +moved. How it would have been with him could he have seen through the +disguise of the Sheik may never be said. On the other part, the Sheik +lifted his head, and seemed taking on increase of stature. A projecting +fold of the head-kerchief overhung his face, permitting nothing to be +seen but red-hued cheeks, a thin beard, and eyes black and glittering. +The review he felt himself undergoing did not daunt him; it only sent +his pride mounting, like a leap of flame. "By the Virgin!" said one of +the courtiers to another, in a louder tone than the occasion demanded. +"We may indeed congratulate ourselves upon having seen the king of +camel drivers." There was a disposition to laugh amongst the +lighter-minded of the guests, but the Princess checked it by rising. +"Bid the Sheik approach," she said, to the old domestic; and, at a sign +from her, the waiting-women drew closer about her chair. The figure of +the Princess clad all in white, a bracelet of plain gold upon her left +arm, fillets in her hair, one red, the other blue, a double strand of +pearls about her neck--this figure, with the small head, perfect in +turn, set matchlessly upon the sloping shoulders, the humid eyes full +of violet light, the cheeks flushed with feeling--this figure so bright +in its surroundings, admitted no rivalry in attention, none in +admiration; the courtiers, old and young, turned from the Sheik, and +the Sheik from the Emperor. In a word, every eye centred upon the +Princess, every tongue bade hush lest what she said might be lost. +Etiquette required the Sheik's presentation to the Emperor first, but +seeing her about to comply with the rule, he prostrated himself at her +feet. As he arose, she said: "When I invited you to come and give me +more of the cheer there is in your art, O Sheik, I did not know my +gracious kinsman, to whom every Greek is proud and happy to be +allegiant, designed visiting me to-day. I pray you will not suffer too +much from his presence, but regard him a royal auditor who delights in +a tale well told, and in verses when the theme and measure go lovingly +together. His Majesty, the Emperor!" + +"Hist! Didst hear?" whispered the Professor of Philosophy to the +Professor of Rhetoric. "Thyself couldst not have spoken better." + +"Ay, truly," the other answered. "Save a trifle of stiffness, the +speech might have served Longinus." + +With her last word, the Princess stepped aside, leaving Mahommed and +Constantine front to front. + +Had the Sheik been observant of the monarch's dues, he would have +promptly prostrated himself; but the moment for the salutation passed, +and he remained standing, answering the look he received calmly as it +was given. The reader and the writer know the reason governing him; the +suite, however, were not so well informed, and they began to murmur. +The Princess herself appeared embarrassed. + +"Lord of Constantinople," the Sheik said, seeing speech was his, "were +I a Greek, or a Roman, or an Ottoman, I should make haste to kiss the +floor before you, happy of the privilege; for--be the concession well +noted"--he glanced deferentially around him as he spoke--"the report +which the world has of you is of a kind to make it your lover. After a +few days--Allah willing--I shall stand before Amurath the Sultan. +Though in reverencing him I yield not to any one simply his friend, he +will waive prostration from me, knowing what Your Majesty may not. In +my country we cleanse the ground with our beards before no one but God. +Not that we are unwilling to conform to the rules of the courts in +which we find ourselves; with us it is a law--To kiss a man's hand +maketh him the master; prostrate thyself to him, and without other act, +thou becomest his subject. I am an Arab!" + +The Sheik was not in the least defiant; on the contrary, his manner was +straightforward, simple, sincere, as became one interposing conscience +against an observance in itself rightful enough. Only in the last +exclamation was there a perceptible emphasis, a little marked by a lift +of the head and a kindling of the eyes. + +"I see Your Majesty comprehends me," he said, continuing; "yet to +further persuade your court, and especially the fair and high-born +lady, whose guest, with all my unworthiness, I am, from believing me +moved in this matter by disrespect for their sovereign, I say next, if +by prostration I made myself a Roman, the act would be binding on the +tribe whose Sheik I am by lawful election. And did I that, O thou whose +bounties serve thy people in lieu of rain! though my hand were white, +like the first Prophet's, when, to assure the Egyptian, he drew it from +his bosom, it would char blacker than dust of burned willow--then, O +thou, lovelier than the queen the lost lapwing reported to Solomon! +though my breath were as the odor of musk, it would poison, like an +exhalation from a leper's grave--then, O my lords! like Karoon in his +wickedness, I should hear Allah say of me, O Earth, swallow him! For as +there are crimes and crimes, verily the chief who betrays his brethren +born to the practice of freedom, shall wander between tents all his +days, crying, Oh, alas! oh, alas! Who now will defend me against God?" + +When the Sheik paused, as if for judgment, he was not only acquitted of +intentional disrespect; the last grumbler was anxious to hear him +further. + +"What astonishing figures!" the Philosopher whispered to the +Rhetorician. "I begin to think it true that the East hath a style of +its own." + +"I commend thy sagacity, my brother," the other replied. "His +peroration was redolent of the Koran--A wonderful fellow nevertheless!" + +Presently the whole concourse was looking at the Emperor, with whom it +rested whether the Sheik should be dismissed or called on for +entertainment. + +"Daughter," said Constantine to the Princess, "I know not enough of the +tribal law of thy guest to have an opinion of the effect upon him and +his of the observance of our ancient ceremony; wherefore we are bound +to accept his statement. Moreover it does not become our dignity to +acquire subjects and dominion, were they ever so desirable, in a method +justly liable to impeachment for treachery and coercion. Besides +which--and quite as important, situated as we are--thy hospitality is +to be defended." + +Here the Sheik, who had been listening to the Emperor, and closely +observing him, thrice lightly clapped his hands. + +"It remains for us, therefore, to waive the salutation in this +instance." + +A ripple of assent proceeded from the suite. + +"And now, daughter," Constantine pursued, "thy guest being present to +give thee of his lore, it may be he will be pleased to have us of his +audience as well. Having heard much of such performances, and +remembering their popularity when we were in our childhood, we will +esteem ourselves fortunate if now favored by one highly commended as a +master in his guild." + +The Sheik's eyes sparkled brighter as he answered, "It is written for +us in our Holiest, the very Word of the Compassionate,--'If ye are +greeted with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or at +least return it.' Verily my Lord dispenseth honor with so light a hand +as not to appear aware of the doing. When my brethren under the black +tents are told of my having won the willing ear of their Majesties of +Byzantium and Adrianople, they will think of me as one who has been +permitted to walk in the light of two suns simultaneous in shining." + +So saying, he bowed very low. + +"My only unhappiness now is in not knowing the direction in which my +Lord's preferences run; for as a stream goes here and there, but all +the time keeps one general course, seeking the sea, so with taste; +though it yield a nod now, and then a smile, it hath always a deeper +delight for the singer's finding. I have the gay and serious--history, +traditions--the heroics of men and nations, their heart-throbs in verse +and prose--all or any for the Lord of Constantinople and his kinswoman, +my hostess,--may her life never end until the song of the dove ceases +to be heard in the land!" + +"What say you, my friends?" asked Constantine, glancing graciously at +those around him. + +Then they looked from him to the Princess, and in thought of the +betrothal, replied, "Love--something of love!" + +"No," he returned, unflinchingly. "We are youths no longer. There is +enlightenment in the traditions of nations. Our neighbors, the +Turks--what hast thou of them, Sheik?" + +"Didst thou hear?" said Notaras to one at his elbow. "He hath recanted; +the Empress will not be a Greek." + +There was no answer; for the Sheik, baring his head, hung the kerchief +and cord upon his arm, preliminaries which gave him perfectly to view. +A swarthy face; hair black, profuse, closely cut along the temples; +features delicate but manly--these the bystanders saw in a general way, +being more attracted by the repressed fire in the man's eyes, and his +air high and severely noble. + +When the Princess caught sight of the countenance, she fell into a +confusion. She had seen it, but where and when? The instant he was +beginning he gazed at her, and in the exchange of glances she was +reminded of the Governor bidding her adieu on the shore of the Sweet +Waters. But he was youthful, while this one--could it be he was old? +The feeling was a repetition of that she had in the Castle when the +storyteller appeared the first time. + +"I will tell how the Turks became a Nation." + +Then, in Greek but a little broken, the Sheik began a recital. + + ALAEDDIN AND ERTOGHRUL + + I + + A tale of Ertoghrul!-- + How when the Chief + Lay one day nooning with his stolen herds, + A sound of drumming smote him from the East, + And while he stood to see what came of it, + The West with like notes fainter, echo-like, + Made answer; then two armies rode in view, + Horses and men in steel, the sheen of war + About them and above, and wheeling quick + From column into line, drew all their blades, + Shook all their flags, and charged and lost themselves + In depths of dusty clouds, which yet they tore + With blinding gleams of light, and yells of rage, + And cheers so high and hoarse they well might seem + The rolling thunder of a mountain storm. + Long time the hosts contended; but at last + The lesser one began to yield the ground, + Oppressed in front, and on its flanks o'erwhelmed: + And hasted then the end, a piteous sight, + Most piteous to the very brave who know + From lessons of their lives, how seldom 'tis + Despair can save where valor fails to win. + Then Ertoghrul aroused him, touched to heart. + + "My children, mount, and out with cimeter! + I know not who these are, nor whence they come; + Nor need we care. 'Twas Allah led them here, + And we will honor Him--and this our law; + What though the weak may not be always right, + We'll make it always right to help the weak. + Deep take the stirrups now, and ride with me, + _Allah-il-Allah!"_ + + Thus spake Ertoghrul; + And at the words, with flying reins, and all + His eager tribe, four hundred sworded men, + Headlong he rode against the winning host. + + II + + Beneath the captured flags, the spoils in heaps + Around him laid, the rescued warrior stood, + A man of kingly mien, while to him strode + His unexpected friend. + + "Now who art thou?" + The first was first to ask. + + "Sheik Ertoghrul + Am I." + + "The herds I see--who calls them his?" + + Laughed Ertoghrul, and showed his cimeter. + "The sword obeys my hand, the hand my will, + And given will and hand and sword, I pray + Thee tell me, why should any man be poor?" + + "And whose the plain?" + + "Comes this way one a friend + Of mine, and leaves his slippers at my door, + Why then, 'tis his." + "And whose the hills that look + Upon the plain?" + + "My flocks go there at morn, + And thence they come at night--I take my right + Of Allah." + + "No," the stranger mildly said, + "'Twas Allah made them mine." + + Frowned Ertoghrul, + While darkened all the air; but from his side + Full pleasantly the stranger took a sword, + Its carven hilt one royal emerald, + Its blade both sides with legends overwrought, + Some from the Koran, some from Solomon, + All by the cunning Eastern maker burned + Into the azure steel-his sword he took, + And held it, belt, and scabbard too, in sign + Of gift. + + "The herds, the plain, the hills were mine; + But take thou them, and with them this in proof + Of title." + + Lifted Ertoghrul his brows, + And opened wide his eyes. + + "Now who art thou?" + He asked in turn. + + "Oh, I am Alaeddin-- + Sometimes they call me Alaeddin the Great." + + "I take thy gifts--the herds, the plain, the hills," + Said Ertoghrul; "and so I take the sword; + But none the less, if comes a need, 'tis thine. + Let others call thee Alaeddin the Great; + To me and mine thou'rt Alaeddin the Good + And Great." + + With that, he kissed the good King's hand; + And making merry, to the Sheik's dowar + They rode. And thus from nothing came the small; + And now the lonely vale which erst ye knew, + And scorned, because it nursed the mountain's feet, + Doth cradle mornings on the mountain's top. + + _Mishallah!_ + +The quiet which held the company through the recitation endured a space +afterwards, and--if the expression be allowed--was in itself a +commentary upon the performance. + +"Where is our worthy Professor of Rhetoric?" asked Constantine. + +"Here, Your Majesty," answered the man of learning, rising. + +"Canst thou not give us a lecture upon the story with which thy Arabian +brother hath favored us?" + +"Nay, sire, criticism, to deal justly, waiteth until the blood is cool. +If the Sheik will honor me with a copy of his lines, I will scan and +measure them by the rules descended to us from Homer, and his Attic +successors." + +The eyes of the Emperor fell next upon the moody, discontented face of +Duke Notaras. + +"My lord Admiral, what sayest thou of the tale?" + +"Of the tale, nothing; of the story-teller--I think him an insolent, +and had I my way, Your Majesty, he should have a plunge in the +Bosphorus." + +Presuming the Sheik unfamiliar with Latin, the Duke couched his reply +in that tongue; yet the former raised his head, and looked at the +speaker, his eyes glittering with intelligence--and the day came, and +soon, when the utterance was relentlessly punished. + +"I do not agree with you, my Lord," Constantine said, in a melancholy +tone. "Our fathers, whether we look for them on the Roman or the Greek +side, might have played the part of Ertoghrul. His was the spirit of +conquest. Would we had enough of it left to get back our own!--Sheik," +he added, "what else hast thou in the same strain? I have yet a little +time to spare--though it shall be as our hostess saith." + +"Nay," she answered, with deference, "there is but one will here." + +And taking assent from her, the Sheik began anew. + + EL JANN AND HIS PARABLE + + _Bismillah!_ + + Ertoghrul pursued a wolf, + And slew it on the range's tallest peak, + Above the plain so high there was nor grass + Nor even mosses more. And there he sat + Him down awhile to rest; when from the sky, + Or the blue ambiency cold and pure, + Or maybe from the caverns of the earth + Where Solomon the King is wont to keep + The monster Genii hearkening his call, + El Jann, vast as a cloud, and thrice as black, + Appeared and spoke-- + + "Art thou Sheik Ertoghrul?" + + And he undaunted answered: "Even so." + + "Well, I would like to come and sit with thee." + + "Thou seest there is not room for both of us." + + "Then rise, I say, and get thee part way down + The peak." + + "'Twere easier," laughed Ertoghrul, + "Madest thou thyself like me as thin and small; + And I am tired." + + A rushing sound ran round and up + And down the height, most like the whir of wings + Through tangled trees of forests old and dim. + A moment thus--the time a crisped leaf, + Held, armlength overhead, will take to fall-- + And then a man was sitting face to face + With Ertoghrul. + + "This is the realm of snow," + He said, and smiled--"a place from men secure, + Where only eagles fearless come to nest, + And summer with their young." + + The Sheik replied, + "It was a wolf--a gaunt gray wolf, which long + Had fattened on my flocks--that lured me here. + I killed it." + + "On thy spear I see no blood; + And where, O Sheik, the carcass of the slain? + I see it not." + + Around looked Ertoghrul-- + There was no wolf; and at his spear-- + Upon its blade no blood. Then rose his wrath, + A mighty pulse. + + "The spear hath failed its trust-- + I'll try the cimeter." + + A gleam of light-- + A flitting, wind-borne spark in murk of night-- + Then fell the sword, the gift of Alaeddin; + Edge-first it smote the man upon his crown-- + Between his eyes it shore, nor staying there, + It cut his smile in two--and not yet spent, + But rather gaining force, through chin and chine, + And to the very stone on which he sat + It clove, and finished with a bell-like clang + Of silvern steel 'gainst steel. + + "Aha! Aha!"-- + But brief the shout; for lo! there was no stain + Upon the blade withdrawn, nor moved the man, + Nor changed he look or smile. + + "I was the wolf + That ran before thee up the mountain side; + 'Twas I received thy spear as now thy sword; + And know thou further, Sheik, nor wolf nor man + Am I, nor mortal thing of any kind; + Only a thought of Allah's. Canst thou kill + A thought divine? Not Solomon himself + Could that, except with thought yet more divine. + Yield thee thy rage; and when thou think'st of me + Hereafter, be it as of one, a friend, + Who brought a parable, and made display + Before thee, saying-- + "Lo! what Allah wills." + + Therewith he dropped a seed scarce visible + Into a little heap of sand and loam + Between them drawn. + + "Lo! Allah wills." + + And straight + The dust began to stir as holding life. + Again El Jann-- + + "Behold what Allah wills!" + + A tiny shoot appeared; a waxen point + Close shawled in many folds of wax as white, + It might have been a vine to humbly creep-- + A lily soon to sunward flare its stars-- + A shrub to briefly coquette with the winds. + Again the cabalism-- + + "Lo! Allah's will." + + The apparition budded, leafed, and branched, + And with a flame of living green lit all + The barrenness about. And still it grew-- + Until it touched the pillars of the earth, + And lapped its boundaries, the far and near, + And under it, as brethren in a tent, + The nations made their home, and dwelt in peace + Forever. + + "Lo!"-- + + And Ertoghrul awoke. + + _Mishallah!_ + +This recitation commanded closer attention than the first one. Each +listener had a feeling that the parable at the end, like all true +parables, was of continuous application, while its moral was in some +way aimed at him. + +The looks the Sheik received were by no means loving. The spell was +becoming unpleasant. Then the Emperor arose, as did the Princess, to +whom, as hostess, the privilege of sitting had been alone conceded. + +"Our playtime is up--indeed, I fear, it has been exceeded," he said, +glancing at the Dean, who was acting master of ceremonies. + +The Dean responded with a bow low as his surroundings admitted; +whereupon the Emperor went to the Princess, and said, "We will take +leave now, daughter, and for myself and my lords of the court, I +acknowledge a most agreeable visit, and thank you for it." + +She respectfully saluted the hand he extended to her. + +"Our gate and doors at Blacherne are always open to you." + +The adieu was specially observed by the courtiers, and they +subsequently pronounced it decorous for a sovereign, cordial as became +a relative, but most un-loverlike. Indeed, it was a strong point in the +decision subsequently of general acceptance, by which His Majesty was +relieved of the proposal of marriage to the Princess. + +The latter took his offered arm, and accompanied him to the steps of +the portico, where, when he had descended, the lords one by one left a +kiss on her hand. + +Nor should it be forgotten, that as Constantine was passing the Sheik, +he paused to say to him in his habitually kind and princely manner: +"The tree Sheik Ertoghrul saw in his dream has spread, and is yet +spreading, but its shadow has not compassed all the nations; and while +God keeps me, it will not. Had not I myself invited the parable, it +might have been offensive. For the instruction and entertainment given +me, accept thou this--and go in peace." + +The Sheik took the ring offered him, and the gaze with which he +followed the imperial giver was suggestive of respect and pity. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MAHOMMED DREAMS + + +It was a trifle after noon. The trireme and the assemblage of admiring +townspeople had disappeared, leaving the bay and its shores to their +wonted quiet. The palace, however, nestling in the garden under the +promontory, must be permitted to hold our interest longer. + +Aboo-Obeidah had eaten and drunk, for being on a journey, he was within +the license of the law as respects wine; and now he sat with the +Princess alone at the end of the portico lately occupied by the Emperor +and his suite. A number of her attendants amused themselves out of +hearing of the two, though still within call. She occupied the +sedilium; he a seat by the table near her. Save a fine white veil on an +arm and a fan which she seldom used, her appearance was as in the +morning. + +It is to be admitted now that the Princess was finding a pleasure in +the society of the Sheik. If aware of the fact, which was doubtful, it +is still more doubtful if she could have explained it. We are inclined +to think the mystery attaching to the man had as much to do with the +circumstance as the man himself. He was polite, engaging, and handsome; +the objection to his complexion, if such there were, was at least +offset by a very positive faculty of entertaining; besides which, the +unspeakable something in manner, always baffling disguises, always +whispering of other conditions, always exciting suggestions and +expectations, was present here. + +If she thought him the Bedouin he assumed to be, directly a word +changed the opinion; did she see the Governor of the old Castle in his +face, an allusion or a bit of information dropped by him unaware spoke +of association far beyond such a subordinate; most perplexing, however, +where got the man his intelligence? Did learning like his, avoiding +cloisters, academies, and teachers of classical taste, comport with +camel-driving and tent-life in deserts harried by winds and sand? + +The mystery, together with the effort to disentangle it, resolved the +Princess into an attentive auditor. The advantages in the conversation +were consequently with the Sheik; and he availed himself of them to +lead as he chose. + +"You have heard, O Princess, of the sacred fig-tree of the Hindus?" + +"No." + +"In one of their poems--the Bhagavad Gita, I think--it is described as +having its roots above and its branches downward; thus drawing life +from the sky and offering its fruit most conveniently, it is to me the +symbol of a good and just king. It rose to my mind when thy +kinsman--may Allah be thrice merciful to him!--passed me with his +speech of forgiveness, and this gift "--he raised his hand, and looked +at the ring on one of the fingers-"in place of which I was more +deserving burial in the Bosphorus, as the black-browed Admiral said." + +A frown dark as the Admiral's roughened his smooth brow. + +"Why so?" she inquired. + +"The tales I told were of a kind to be spared a Greek, even one who may +not cover his instep with the embroidered buskin of an Emperor." + +"Nay, Sheik, they did not ruffle him. On the tongue of a Turk, I admit, +the traditions had been boastful, but you are not a Turk." + +The remark might have been interrogative; wherefore with admirable +address, he replied: "An Ottoman would see in me an Arab wholly +unrelated to him, except as I am a Moslem. Let it pass, O Princess--he +forgave me. The really great are always generous. When I took the ring, +I thought, Now would the young Mahommed have so lightly pardoned the +provocation?" + +"Mahommed!" she said. + +"Not the Prophet," he answered; "but the son of Amurath." + +"Ah, you know him?" + +"I have sat with him, O Princess, and at table often helped him to meat +and bread. I have been his cupbearer and taster, and as frequently +shared his outdoor sports; now hunting with hawk, and now with hound. +Oh, it were worth a year of common days to gallop at his right hand, +and exult with him when the falcon, from its poise right under the sun, +drops itself like an arrow upon its enemy! I have discoursed with him +also on themes holy and profane, and given and taken views, and telling +him tales in prose and verse, have seen the day go out, then come +again. In knightly practice I have tilted with him, and more than once, +by his side in battle, loosened rein at the same cry and charged. His +Sultana mother knows him well; but, by the lions and the eagles who +served Solomon, I know him, beginning where her knowledge left +off--that is, where the horizon of manhood stretched itself to make +room for his enlarging soul." + +The awakening curiosity of his listener was not lost upon the Sheik. + +"You are surprised to hear a kindly speech of the son of Amurath," he +said. + +She flushed slightly. + +"I am not a person, Sheik, whose opinions are dangerous to the peace of +States, and of whom diplomacy is required; yet it would grieve me to +give offence to you or your friend, the Prince Mahommed. If now I +concede a wish to have some further knowledge of one who is shortly to +inherit the most powerful of the Eastern Kingdoms, the circumstance +ought not to subject me to harsh judgment." + +"Princess," the Sheik said, "nothing so becomes a woman as care where +words may be the occasion of mischief. As a flower in a garden, such a +woman would rank as the sovereign rose; as a bird, she would be the +bulbul, the sweetest of singers, and in beauty, a heron with throat of +snow, and wings of pink and scarlet; as a star, she would be the first +of the evening, and the last to pale in the morning--nay, she would be +a perpetual morning. Of all fates what more nearly justifies reproach +of Allah than to have one's name and glory at the mercy of a rival or +an enemy? I am indeed Mahommed's friend--I know him--I will defend him, +where sacred truth permits defence. And then"--his glance fell, and he +hesitated. + +"And what then?" she asked. + +He gave her a grateful look, and answered: "I am going to Adrianople. +The Prince will be there, and can I tell him of this audience, and that +the Princess Irene regrets the evil reported of him in Constantinople, +and is not his enemy, straightway he will number himself of those the +most happy and divinely remembered, whose books are to be given them in +their right hands." + +The Princess looked at the singer, her countenance clear, serene, fair +as a child's, and said: + +"I am the enemy of no one living. Report me so to him. The Master I +follow left a law by which all men and women are neighbors whom I am to +love and pray for as I love and pray for myself. Deliver him the very +words, O Sheik, and he will not misunderstand me." + +A moment after she asked: + +"But tell me more of him. He is making the world very anxious." + +"Princess," the Sheik began, "Ebn Hanife was a father amongst +Dervishes, and he had a saying, 'Ye shall know a plant by its flower, a +vine by its fruit, and a man by his acts; what he does being to the man +as the flower to the plant, and the fruit to the vine; if he have done +nothing, prove him by his tastes and preferences, for what he likes +best that he will do when left to himself.' By these tests let us +presume to try the Prince Mahommed.... There is nothing which enthralls +us like the exercise of power--nothing we so nearly carry with us into +the tomb to be a motive there; for who shall say it has not a part in +the promise of resurrection? If so, O Princess, what praise is too +great for him who, a young man placed upon a throne by his father, +comes down from it at his father's call?" + +"Did Mahommed that?" + +"Not once, O Princess, but twice." + +"In so much at least his balance should be fair." + +"To whom is the pleasant life in a lofty garden, its clusters always +near at hand--to whom, if not to the just judges of their fellow-men?" + +The Sheik saluted her twice by carrying his right hand to his beard, +then to his forehead. + +"Attend again, O Princess," he continued, more warmly than in the +outset. "Mahommed is devoted to learning. At night in the field when +the watches are set, the story-tellers, poets, philosophers, lawyers, +preachers, experts in foreign tongues, and especially the inventors of +devices, a class by themselves, supposed generally to live on dreams as +others on bread--all these, finding welcome in his tent, congregate +there. His palace in the city is a college, with recitations and +lectures and instructive conversations. The objection his father +recognized the times he requested him to vacate the throne was that he +was a student. His ancestors having been verse makers, poetry is his +delight; and if he does not rival them in the gentle art, he surpasses +them in the number of his acquirements. The Arab, the Hebrew, the +Greek, the Latin address him and have answers each in his mother's +tongue. Knew you ever a scholar, O Princess, whose soul had utterly +escaped the softening influence of thought and study? It is not +learning which tames the barbarian so much as the diversion of mind +from barbaric modes required of him while in the pursuit of learning." + +She interrupted him, saying pleasantly: "I see, O Sheik, if to be at +the mercy of an enemy is sad, how fortunate where one's picture is +intended if the artist be a friend. Where had the Prince his +instructors?" + +There was a lurking smile in the Sheik's eyes, as he replied: "The +sands in my country drink the clouds dry, and leave few fountains +except of knowledge. The Arab professors in Cordova, whom the Moorish +Kaliphs deemed themselves honored in honoring, were not despised by the +Bishops of Rome. Amurath, wanting teachers for Mahommed, invited the +best of them to his court. Ah--if I had the time!" + +Observing his sigh had not failed its mark, he continued: "I would +speak of some of the books I have seen on the Prince's table; for as a +licensed friend, I have been in his study. Indeed, but for fear of too +greatly recommending myself, I would have told you earlier, O Princess, +how he favoured me as one of his teachers." + +"Of poetry and story-telling, I suppose?" + +"Why not?" he asked. "Our history is kept and taught in such forms. +Have we a hero not himself a poet, he keeps one.... Upon the Prince's +table, in the central place, objects of his reverence, the sources to +which he most frequently addresses himself when in need of words and +happy turns of expression, his standards of comparison for things +beautiful in writing and speech, mirrors of the Most Merciful, +whispering galleries wherein the voice of the Most Compassionate is +never silent, are the Koran, with illustrations in gold, and the Bible +in Hebrew, copied from _torahs_ of daily use in the Synagogues." + +"The Bible in Hebrew! Does he read it?" + +"Like a Jewish elder." + +"And the Gospels?" + +The Sheik's face became reproachful. + +"Art thou--even thou, O Princess--of those who believe a Moslem must +reject Christ because the Prophet of Islam succeeded him with later +teachings?" + +Dropping then into the passionless manner, he continued: + +"The Koran does not deny Christ or his Gospels. Hear what it says of +itself: 'And this Koran is not a forgery of one who is no God, but it +hath been sent down as a confirmation of those books which have been +before it, and an explanation of the Scriptures from the Lord of the +Worlds.' [Footnote: The Koran] ... That verse, O Princess, transcribed +by the Prince Mahommed himself, lies between the Bible and the Koran; +the two being, as I have said, always together upon his table." + +"What then is his faith?" she asked, undisguisedly interested. + +"Would he were here to declare it himself!" + +This was said disconsolately; then the Sheik broke out: + +"The truth now of the son of Amurath! Listen!--He believes in God. He +believes in the Scriptures and the Koran, holding them separate wings +of the divine Truth by which the world is to attain righteousness. He +believes there have been three Prophets specially in the confidence of +God: Moses, the first one; Jesus, who was greater than Moses; Mahomet, +the very greatest--not for speaking better or sublimer things, but +because he was last in their order of coming. Above all, O Princess, he +believes worship due to the Most High alone; therefore he prays the +prayer of Islam, God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet--meaning that +the Prophet is not to be mistaken for God." + +The Sheik raised his dark eyes, and upon meeting them the Princess +looked out over the bay. That she was not displeased was the most he +could read in her face, the youthful light of which was a little shaded +by thinking. He waited for her to speak. + +"There were other books upon the Prince's table?" she presently asked. + +"There were others, O Princess." + +"Canst thou name some of them?" + +The Sheik bowed profoundly. + +"I see the pearls of Ebn Hanife's saying were not wasted. Mahommed is +now to be tried by his tastes and preferences. Let it be so.... I saw +there, besides dictionaries Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, the Encyclopaedia +of Sciences, a rare and wonderful volume by a Granadian Moor, Ibn +Abdallah. I saw there the Astronomy and Astronomical Tables of Ibn +Junis, and with them a silver globe perfected from the calculations of +Almamon the Kaliph, which helps us to the geographical principle not +yet acknowledged in Rome, that the earth is round. I saw there the Book +of the Balance of Wisdom by Alhazan, who delved into the laws of nature +until there is nothing phenomenal left. I saw there the Philosophy of +Azazzali the Arab, for which both Christian and Moslem should be +grateful, since it has given Philosophy its true place by exalting it +into a handmaiden of Religion. I saw there books treating of trade and +commerce, of arms and armor, and machines for the assault and defence +of cities, of military engineering, and the conduct of armies in grand +campaigns, of engineering not military, dealing with surveying, and the +construction of highways, aqueducts, and bridges, and the laying out of +towns. There, also, because the soul of the student must have rest and +diversion, I saw volumes of songs and music loved by lovers in every +land, and drawings of mosques, churches and palaces, masterpieces of +Indian and Saracenic genius; and of gardens there was the Zebra, +created by Abderrahman for the best loved of his Sultanas. Of poetry, O +Princess, I saw many books, the lord of them a copy of Homer in Arabic, +executed on ivory from the translation ordered by Haroun Al-Raschid." + +During this recital the Princess scarcely moved. She was hearing a new +version of Mahommed; and the Sheik, like a master satisfied with his +premises, proceeded to conclusions. + +"My Lord has a habit of dreaming, and he does not deny it--he believes +in it. In his student days, he called it his rest. He used to say, when +his brain reeled in overtask dreaming was a pillow of down and +lavender; that in moments of despair, dreaming took his spirit in its +hands softer than air, and, nurse-like, whispered and sung to it, and +presently it was strong again. Not many mornings ago he awoke to find +that in a deep sleep some ministrant had come to him, and opened the +doors of his heart, and let out its flock of boyish fantasies. He has +since known but three visions. Would it please you, O Princess, to hear +of them? They may be useful as threads on which to hang the Dervish +father's pearls of saying." + +She re-settled herself, resting her cheek on her hand, and her elbow on +the arm of the chair, and replied: + +"I will hear of them." + +"The visions have all of them reference to the throne he is soon to +ascend, without which they would be the mere jingling of a jester's +rattle. + +"First Vision.... He will be a hero. If his soul turned from war, he +were not his father's son. But unlike his father, he holds war the +servant of peace, and peace the condition essential to his other +visions. + +"Second Vision.... He believes his people have the genius of the Moors, +and he will cultivate it in rivalry of that marvellous race." + +"Of the Moors, O Sheik?" the Princess said, interrupting him. "Of the +Moors? I have always heard of them as pillagers of sacred +cities--infidels sunk in ignorance, who stole the name of God to excuse +invasions and the spilling of rivers of blood." + +The Sheik lifted his head haughtily. + +"I am an Arab, and the Moors are Arabs translated from the East to the +West." + +"I crave thy pardon," she said, gently. + +And calming himself, he rejoined: "If I weary you, O Princess, there +are other subjects to which I can turn. My memory is like the box of +sandal-wood a lady keeps for her jewelry. I can open it at will, and +always find something to please--better probably because I have it from +another." + +"No," she returned, artlessly, "a hero in actual life transcends the +best of fancies--and besides, Sheik, you spoke of a third vision of +your friend, the Prince Mahommed." + +He dropped his eyes lest she should see the brightness with which they +filled. + +"War, my Lord says, is a necessity which, as Sultan, he cannot avoid. +Were he disposed to content himself with the empire descending from his +great father, envious neighbors would challenge him to the field. He +must prove his capacity in defence. That done, he vows to tread the +path made white and smooth by Abderrahman, the noblest and best of the +Western Kaliphs. He will set out by founding a capital somewhere on the +Bosphorus. Such, O Princess, is my Lord Mahommed's Third Vision." + +"Nay, Sheik--on the Marmora--at Broussa, perhaps." + +"I am giving the Vision as he gave it to me, Princess. For where else, +he asks, has the spreading earth diviner features than on the +Bosphorus? Where bends a softer sky above a friendlier channel by +Nature moulded for nobler uses? Where are there seas so bridled and +reduced? Does not the rose bloom here all the year? Yonder the East, +here the West--must they be strangers and enemies forever? His capital, +he declares, shall be for their entertainment as elder and younger +brother. Within its walls, which he will build strong as a mountain's +base, with gates of brass invulnerable, and towers to descry the clouds +below the horizon, he will collect unselfishly whatever is good and +beautiful, remembering he serves Allah best who serves his fellow-men." + +"All his fellow-men, Sheik?" + +"All of them." + +Then she glanced over the bay, and said very softly: + +"It is well; for 'if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than +others?'" + +The Sheik smiled, saying: + +"And thus the latest Prophet, O Princess. 'Turn away evil by that which +is better; and lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall become +as though he were a warm friend.'" [Footnote: Koran] + +She answered, "A goodly echo." + +"Shall I proceed?" he then asked. + +"Yes." + +"I was speaking of the Third Vision.... To make his capital the centre +of the earth, he will have a harbor where ships from every country, and +all at once, can come and lie, oars slung and sails furled: and near by +for trade, a bazaar with streets of marble, and roofed with glass, and +broad and long enough for a city unto itself; and in the midst a khan +for lodging the merchants and travellers who have not other houses. And +as did Abderrahman, he will build a University of vast enclosure; here +temples, there groves; nor may a study be named without its teacher, +and he the most famous; so the votaries of Music and Poetry, +Philosophy, Science, and the Arts, and the hundred-handed Mechanics +shall dwell together like soldiers in a holy league. And comes that way +one religious, of him but a question, Believest thou in God? and if he +answer yes, then for him a ready welcome. For of what moment is it, my +Lord asks, whether God bear this name or that? Or be worshipped with or +without form? Or on foot or knee? Or whether the devout be called +together by voice or bell? Is not Faith everything?" + +The picture wrought upon the Princess. Her countenance was radiant, and +she said half to herself, but so the Sheik heard her: + +"It is a noble Vision." + +Then the Sheik lowered his voice: + +"If, with such schemes, excluding races and religions--hear me again, O +Princess!--if with such schemes or visions, as thou wilt, the Lord +Mahommed allows himself one selfish dream, wouldst thou condemn him?" + +"What is the selfish dream?" she asked. + +"He has an open saying, Princess, 'Light is the life of the world, +while Love is the light of life.' Didst thou ever hear how Othman wooed +and won his Malkatoon?" + +"No." + +"It is a Turkish tale of love. Mahommed had it from his mother when he +was a lad, and he has been haunted ever since with a belief which, to +his dreaming, is like the high window in the eastern front of a palace, +outwardly the expression-giver, within the principal source of light. +The idea is strongest what times the moon is in the full; and then he +mounts a horse, and hies him, as did Othman, to some solitary place +where, with imagination for cup-bearer, he drinks himself into happy +drunkenness." The Sheik, bending forward, caught her eyes with his, and +held them so not a glance escaped him. + +"He thinks--and not all the Genii, the winged and the unwinged, of the +wisest of Kings could win him from the thought--that he will sometime +meet a woman who will have the mind, the soul of souls, and the beauty +of the most beautiful. When she will cross his vision is one of the +undelivered scriptories which Time is bringing him; yet he is looking +for her, and the more constantly because the first sight of her will be +his first lesson in the mystery called love. He will know her, for at +seeing her a lamp will light itself in his heart, and by it, not the +glare of the sun, his spirit will make sure of her spirit. Therefore in +his absoluteness of faith, O Princess, there is a place already +provided for her in his promised capital, and even now he calls it this +House of Love. Ah, what hours he has spent planning that abode! He will +seat it in the Garden of Perfection, for the glorifying which, trees, +birds, flowers, summer-houses, water, hill-tops and shaded vales shall +be conquered. Has he not studied the Zehra of Abderrahman? And divided +it as it was into halls, courts and chambers, and formed and +proportioned each, and set and reset its thousand and more columns, and +restored the pearls and gold on its walls, and over the wide Alhambran +arches hung silken doors sheened like Paradisean birds? And all that +when he shall have found her, his Queen, his Malkatoon, his Spirit of +Song, his Breath of Flowers, his Lily of Summer, his Pearl of Oman, his +Moon of Radjeb, monotony shall never come where she dwells nor shall +she sigh except for him absent. Such, O Princess Irene, is the one +dream the Prince has builded with the world shut out. Does it seem to +you a vanity of wickedness?" + +"No," she returned, and covered her face, for the Sheik's look was +eager and burning bright. + +He knelt then, and kissed the marble at her feet. + +"I am Prince Mahommed's ambassador, O Princess," he said, rising to his +knees. "Forgive me, if I have dared delay the announcement." + +"His ambassador! To what end?" + +"I am afraid and trembling." + +He kissed the floor again. + +"Assure me of pardon--if only to win me back my courage. It is +miserable to be shaken with fear." + +"Thou hast done nothing, Sheik, unless drawing thy master's portrait +too partially be an offence. Speak out." + +"It is not three days, Princess, since you were Mahommed's guest." + +"I his guest--Mahommed's!" + +She arose from her chair. + +"He received you at the White Castle." + +"And the Governor?" + +"He was the Governor." + +She sunk back overcome with astonishment. The Sheik recalled her +directly. + +"Prince Mahommed," he said, "arrived at the Castle when the boats were +discovered, and hastened to the landing to render assistance if the +peril required it.... And now, O Princess, my tongue falters. How can I +without offending tell of the excitement into which seeing you plunged +him? Suffer me to be direct. His first impression was supported by the +coincidences--your coming and his, so nearly at the same instant--the +place of the meeting so out of the way and strange--the storm seemingly +an urgency of Heaven. Beholding and hearing you, 'This is she! This is +she! My Queen, my Malkatoon!' he cried in his heart. And yesterday"-- + +"Nay, Sheik, allow the explanation to wait. Bearest thou a message from +him to me?" + +"He bade me salute thee, Princess Irene, as if thou wert now the Lady +of his House of Love in his Garden of Perfection, and to pray if he +might come and in person kiss thy hand, and tell thee his hopes, and +pour out at thy feet his love in heartfuls larger than ever woman had +from man." + +While speaking, the Sheik would have given his birthright to have seen +her face. + +Then, in a low voice, she asked: + +"Does he doubt I am a Christian?" + +The tone was not of anger; with beatings of heart trebly quickened, he +hastened to reply: + +"'That she is a Christian'--may God abandon my mouth, if I quote him +unfaithfully!--'That she is a Christian, I love her the more. For see +you, Sheik'--by the faith of an Arab, Princess, I quote him yet, word +for word--'my mother was a Christian.'" + +In the morning of this very day we have seen her put to like question +by Constantine, and she did not hesitate; now the reply took a time. + +"Say to Prince Mahommed," she at length returned, "that his message +presents itself honorably, for which it is deserving a soft answer. His +fancy has played him false. I cannot be the woman of his dream. She is +young; I am old, though not with years. She is gay; I am serious. She +is in love with life, hopeful, joyous; I was born to sorrow, and in +sorrow brought up, and the religion which absorbed my youth is now +life's hold on me. She will be delighted with the splendors he has in +store for her; so might I, had not the wise man long since caught my +ear and judgment by the awful text, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. +While her charms endure she will keep him charmed with the world; I +could not so much, for the world to come has possession of me, and the +days here are but so many of a journey thither. Tell him, O Sheik, +while he has been dreaming of palaces and gardens in rivalry of +Abderrahman the Kaliph, I have been dreaming of a house in splendor +beyond the conception of architects; and asks he more about it, tell +him I know it only as a house not made with hands. Tell him I speak not +in denial of possibilities; for by the love I have never failed to +accord the good and noble, I might bend my soul to his; to this hour, +however, God and His Son the Christ, and the Holy Mother, and the +Angels and deserving men and women have taken up my heart and +imagination, and in serving them I have not aspired to other happiness. +A wife I might become, not from temptation of gain or power, or in +surrender to love--I speak not in derision of the passion, since, like +the admitted virtues, it is from God--nay, Sheik, in illustration of +what may otherwise be of uncertain meaning to him, tell Prince Mahommed +I might become his wife could I by so doing save or help the religion I +profess. Then, if I brought him love, the sacrifice would rescue it +from every taint. Canst thou remember all this? And wilt thou deliver +it truly?" + +The Sheik's demeanor when she ended was greatly changed; his head was +quite upon his breast; his attitude and whole appearance were +disconsolate to the last degree. + +"Alas, Princess! How can I carry such speech to him, whose soul is +consuming with hunger and thirst for thy favor?" + +"Sheik," she said in pity, "no master, I think, had ever a more +faithful servant than thou hast proved thyself. Thy delivery of his +message, could it be preserved, would be a model for heralds in the +future." + +Thereupon she arose, extended her hand to him, and he kissed it; and as +she remained standing, he arose also. + +"Be seated," she then said, and immediately that they were both in +their chairs again, she took direction of the interview. + +"You asked me, Sheik, if I had heard how Othman wooed and won his +Malkatoon, and said it was a Turkish romance. The Othman, I take it, +was founder of Prince Mahommed's house. Now, if thou art not too weary, +tell me the story." + +As the recital afforded him the opportunities to give poetic expression +to his present feeling, he accepted the suggestion gladly, and, being +in the right mood, was singularly effective. Half the time listening +she was in tears. It was past three o'clock when he finished. The +audience then terminated. In no part of it had her manner been more +gracious than when she conducted him along the portico, or her +loveliness so overwhelming as when she bade him adieu at the head of +the steps. + +Standing between columns near the sedilium, she saw him gain his boat, +take something from the sitting-box, step ashore again, and return to +her gate, where he remained awhile pounding with a stone. The action +was curious, and when he was out of sight rounding the water front of +the promontory, she sent Lysander to investigate. + +"The infidel has fixed a brass plate to the right-hand post of the +kiosk," the ancient reported, in bad humor. "It may be a curse." The +Princess then called her attendants, and went with them to see the +brass plate. There it was, an arm's reach overhead, and affixed firmly +to the post, the corners turned down to serve the tacking. Graven on +its polished surface was the following: + +[Illustration] + +Wholly unable to decipher it, she sent for a Dervish, long resident in +the town, and returned to the portico. + +"Princess," the old man said, having viewed the mysterious plate, "he +who did the posting was a Turk; and if he were aged, I should say thou +hast entertained unaware the great Amurath, Sultan of Sultans." + +"But the man was young." + +"Then was he the son of Amurath, Prince Mahommed." + +The Princess turned pale. + +"How canst thou speak so positively?" she asked. + +"It is a _teukra_; in the whole world, O Princess, there are but two +persons with authority to make use of it." + +"And who are they?" + +"The Sultan, and Mahommed, next him in the succession." + +In the silence which ensued, Lysander officiously proposed to remove +the sign. The Dervish interposed. + +"Wilt thou hear me, O Princess," he said, with a low reverence, +"whether the plate proceeded from Amurath or Mahommed, or by the order +of either of them, the leaving it behind signifies more than friendship +or favor--it is a safeguard--a proclamation that thou and thy people +and property here are under protection of the master of all the Turks. +Were war to break out to-morrow, thou mightest continue in thy palace +and garden with none to make thee afraid save thine own countrymen. +Wherefore consider well before acceding to the rancor of this ancient +madman." + +Thus the truth came to the Princess Irene. The Singing Sheik was Prince +Mahommed! + +Twice he had appeared before her; in the White Castle once, and now in +her palace; and having announced himself her lover, and proposed +marriage, he intended her to know him, and also that he was not +departing in despair. Hence the plate on the gate! The circumstance was +novel and surprising. Her present feelings were too vague and uncertain +for definition: but she was not angry. + +Meantime Mahommed, returning to the old Castle, debated with himself. +He loved the Princess Irene with the passion of a soul unused to denial +or disappointment, and before he reached the Roumelian Hissar he swore +a Moslem oath to conquer Constantinople, less for Islam and glory, than +for her. And from that hour the great accomplishment took hold of him +to the exclusion of all else. + +At Hissar he ascended the mountain, and, standing on the terreplein of +the precipice in front of what is now Robert College, he marked the +narrowness of the Bosphorus below, and thinking of the military +necessity for a crossing defended on both shores, he selected a site +for a castle on the European side opposite the White Castle in Asia. In +due time we will have occasion to notice the creation of the walls and +towers of the stupendous fortification yet standing between Bebek and +Hissar, a monument to his energy and sagacity more imposing than +anything left by him in Constantinople. + + + + + +BOOK IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + +The Prince of India was not given to idle expectations. He might +deceive others, but he seldom deceived himself. His experience served +him prophetically in matters largely dependent on motives ordinarily +influential with men. He was confident the Emperor would communicate +with him, and soon. + +The third day after the adventure at the White Castle, a stranger, +mounted, armed, and showily caparisoned, appeared at the Prince's door +under guidance of Uel. In the study, to which he was hidden, he +announced himself the bearer of a complimentary message from His +Majesty, concluding with an invitation to the palace of Blacherne. If +agreeable, His Majesty would be pleased to receive the Indian dignitary +in the afternoon at three o'clock. An officer of the guard would be at +the Grand Gate for his escort. The honor, needless to say, was accepted +in becoming terms. + +When the Prince descended to the hall of entry on the ground floor to +take the sedan there, the unusual care given his attire was apparent. +His beard was immaculately white. His turban of white silk, balloon in +shape, and with a dazzle of precious stones in front, was a study. Over +a shirt of finest linen, with ruffles of lace at the throat and breast, +there was a plain gown of heavy black velvet, buttoned at the neck, but +open down to a yellow sash around the waist. The sash was complemented +by a belt which was a mass of pearls in relief on a ground of gold +embroidery. The belt-plate and crescented sword scabbard were aflame +with brilliants on blue enamelling. His trousers, ample as a skirt, +were of white satin overflowing at the ankles. Pointed red slippers, +sparkling with embroidery of small golden beads, completed the costume. + +The procession in the street was most striking. First Nilo, as became a +king of Kash-Cush, barbarously magnificent; the sedan next, on the +shoulders of four carriers in white livery; at the rear, two domestics +arrayed _a la Cipango_, their strange blue garments fitting them so +close as to impede their walking; yet as one of them bore his master's +paper sunshade and ample cloak, and the other a cushion bloated into +the proportions of a huge pillow, they were by no means wanting in +self-importance. Syama, similarly attired, though in richer material, +walked at the side of the sedan, ready to open the door or answer such +signal as he might receive from within. + +The appearance of this retinue in the streets was a show to the idle +and curious, who came together as if rendered out of the earth, and in +such numbers that before fairly reaching the thoroughfare by which the +Grand Gate of Blacherne was usually approached from the city side, the +gilded box on the shoulders of its bearers looked, off a little way, +not unlike a boat rocking in waves. + +Fortunately the people started in good humor, and meeting nothing to +break the mood, they permitted the Prince to accomplish his journey +without interruption. The companionship of the crowd was really +agreeable to him; he hardly knew whether it were pleasanter to be able +to excite such respectful curiosity than to gratify it successfully. It +might have been otherwise had Lael been with him. + +The Very High Residence, as the Palace of Blacherne was generally +spoken of by Greeks, was well known to the Prince of India. The +exclamation with which he settled himself in the sedan at setting out +from his house--"Again, again, O Blacherne!"--disclosed a previous +personal acquaintance with the royal property. And over and over again +on the way he kept repeating, "O Blacherne! Beautiful Blacherne! Bloom +the roses as of old in thy gardens? Do the rivulets in thy alabaster +courts still run singing to the mosaic angels on the walls?" + +As to the date of these recollections, if, as the poets tell us, time +is like a flowing river, and memory a bridge for the conveniency of the +soul returning to its experiences, how far had this man to travel the +structure before reaching the Blacherne he formerly knew? Over what +tremendous spaces between piers did it carry him! + +The street traversed by the Prince carried him first to the Grate of +St. Peter on the Golden Horn, and thence, almost parallel with the city +wall, to Balat, a private landing belonging to the Emperor, at present +known as the gate of Blacherne. + +At the edge of an area marble paved, the people stopped, it being the +limit of their privilege. Crossing the pavement, the visitor was set +down in front of the Grand Gate of the Very High Residence. History, +always abominating lapses, is yet more tender of some places than +others. There, between flanking towers, an iron-plated valve strong +enough to defy attack by any of the ancient methods was swung wide +open, ready nevertheless to be rolled to at set of sun. The guard +halted the Prince, and an officer took his name, and apologizing for a +brief delay, disappeared with it. Alighting from his sedan, the worthy +proceeded to take observation and muse while waiting. + +The paved area on which he stood was really the bottom of a +well-defined valley which ran off and up irregularly toward the +southeast, leaving an ascent on its right memorable as the seventh hill +of Constantinople. A stone wall marked here and there by sentinel +boxes, each with a red pennon on its top, straggled down along the foot +of the ascent to the Grand Gate. There between octangular towers +loopholed and finished battlement style was a covered passage +suggestive of Egypt. Two Victories in high relief blew trumpets at each +other across the entrance front. Ponderous benches of porphyry, +polished smooth by ages of usage, sat one on each side for the guards; +fellows in helmets of shining brass, cuirasses of the same material +inlaid with silver, greaves, and shoes stoutly buckled. Those of them +sitting sprawled their bulky limbs broadly over the benches. The few +standing seemed like selected giants, with blond beards and blue eyes, +and axes at least three spans in length along their whetted edges. The +Prince recognized the imperial guards--Danes, Saxons, Germans, and +Swiss--their nationalities merged into the corps entitled _Varangians_. + +Conscious, but unmindful of their stare, he kept his stand, and swept +the hill from bottom to top, giving free rein to memory. + +In 449 A. D.--he remembered the year and the circumstance well--an +earthquake threw down the wall then enclosing the city. Theodosius +restored it, leaving the whole height outside of this northwestern part +a preserve wooded, rocky, but with one possession which had become so +infinitely sanctified in Byzantine estimation as to impart the quality +to all its appurtenances, that was the primitive but Very Holy Church +of Blacherne, dedicated to the Virgin. + +Near the church there was a pleasure house to which the Emperors, +vainly struggling to escape the ceremonies the clergy had fastened upon +them to the imbitterment of life, occasionally resorted, and down on +the shore of the Golden Horn a zoological garden termed the Cynegion +had been established. The latter afterwhile came to have a gallery in +which the public was sometimes treated to games and combats between +lions, tigers, and elephants. There also criminals and heretics were +frequently carried and flung to the beasts. + +Nor did the Prince fail to recall that in those cycles the sovereigns +resided preferably in the Bucoleon, eastwardly by the sea of Marmora. +He remembered some of them as acquaintances with whom he had been on +close terms--Justinian, Heraclius, Irene, and the Porphyrogentes. + +The iconoclastic masters of that cluster of magnificent tenements, the +Bucoleon, had especial claims upon his recollection. Had he not incited +them to many of their savageries? They were incidents, it is true, +sadly out of harmony with his present dream; still their return now was +with a certain fluttering of the spirit akin to satisfaction, for the +victims in nearly every case had been Christians, and his business of +life then was vengeance for the indignities and sufferings inflicted on +his countrymen. + +With a more decided flutter, he remembered a scheme he put into effect +just twenty years after the restoration of the wall by Theodosius. In +the character of a pious Christianized Israelite resident in Jerusalem, +he pretended to have found the vestments of the Holy Mother of Christ. +The discovery was of course miraculous, and he reported it +circumstantially to the Patriarchs Galvius and Candidus. For the glory +of God and the exaltation of the Faith, they brought the relics to +Constantinople. There, amidst most solemn pomp, the Emperor assisting, +they were deposited in the Church of Saints Peter and Mark, to be +transferred a little later to their final resting-place in the holier +Church of the Virgin of Blacherne. There was a world of pious propriety +in the idea that as the vestments belonged to the Mother of God they +would better become her own house. The _Himation_ or _Maphorion_, as +the robe of the Virgin was called, brought the primitive edifice in the +woods above the Cynegion a boundless increase of sanctity, while the +discoverer received the freedom of the city, the reverence of the +clergy, and the confidence of the Basileus. + +Nor did the prodigious memory stay there. The hill facing the city was +of three terraces. On the second one, half hidden among cypress and +plane trees, he beheld a building, low, strong, and, from his +direction, showing but one window. Some sixteen years previous, during +his absence in Cipango, a fire had destroyed the Church of the Virgin, +and owing to the poverty of the people and empire, the edifice had not +been rebuilt. This lesser unpretentious structure was the Chapel of +Blacherne which the flames had considerately spared. He recognized it +instantly, and remembered it as full of inestimable relics--amongst +them the _Himation_, considered indestructible; the Holy Cross which +Heraclius, in the year 635, had brought from Jerusalem, and delivered +to Sergius; and the _Panagia Blachernitissa_, or All Holy Banner of the +Image of the Virgin. Then rose another reminiscence, and though to +reach him it had to fly across a chasm of hundreds of years, it +presented itself with the distinctness of an affair of yesterday. In +626, Heraclius being Emperor, a legion of Avars and Persians sacked +Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, and laid siege to +Constantinople. The Byzantines were in awful panic; and they would have +yielded themselves had not Sergius the Patriarch been in control. With +a presence of mind equal to the occasion, he brought the _Panagia_ +forth, and supported by an army of clerics and monks, traversed the +walls, waving the All Holy Banner. A volley of arrows from invisible +archers fell upon the audacious infidels, and the havoc was dreadful; +they fled, and their prince, the Khagan, fled with them, declaring he +had seen a woman in shining garments but of awful presence on the +walls. The woman was the Holy Mother; and with a conceit easily +mistaken for gratitude, the Byzantines declared their capital +thenceforward guarded by God. When they went out to the Church in the +Woods and found it unharmed by the enemy, they were persuaded the +Mother had adopted them; in return, what could they else than adopt +her? Pisides, the poet, composed a hymn, to glorify her. The Church +consecrated the day of the miraculous deliverance a fete day observable +by Greeks forever. The Emperor removed the old building, and on its +site raised another of a beauty more expressive of devotion. To secure +it from ravage and profanation, he threw a strong wall around the whole +venerated hill, and by demolishing the ancient work of Theodosius, made +Blacherne a part of the city. + +By and by the Church required enlargement, and it was then cruci-formed +by the addition of transepts right and left. Still later, a Chapel was +erected specially for the relics and the All Holy Banner. This was +contiguous to the Church, and besides being fireproof, it covered a +spring of pure water, afterwards essential in many splendid ceremonies +civil as well as religious. The Chamber of Relics was prohibited to all +but the Basileus. He alone could enter it. By great favor, the Prince +of India was once permitted to look into the room, and he remembered it +large and dimly lighted, its shadows alive, however, with the glitter +of silver and gold in every conceivable form, offered there as the Wise +Men laid their gifts before the Child in the Cave of the Nativity. + +Again and again the Church was burned, yet the Chapel escaped. It +seemed an object of divine protection. The sea might deliver tempests +against the Seven Hills, earthquakes shake the walls down and crack the +hanging dome of St. Sophia, cinders whiten paths from the porphyry +column over by the Hippodrome to the upper terrace of Blacherne; yet +the Chapel escaped--yet the holy fountain in its crypt flowed on purer +growing as the centuries passed. + +The Prince, whose memories we are but weaving into words, did not +wonder at the increase of veneration attaching to the Chapel and its +precious deposits--manuscripts, books, bones, flags, things personal to +the Apostles, the Saints, the Son and His Mother, parings of their +nails, locks of their hair, spikes and splinters of the Cross +itself--he did not wonder at it, or smile, for he knew there is a +devotional side to every man which wickedness may blur but cannot +obliterate. He himself was going about the world convinced that the +temple of Solomon was the House of God. + +The guards sprawling on the benches kept staring at him; one of them +let his axe fall without so much as attracting the Prince's attention. +His memory, with a hold on him too firm to be disturbed by such +trifles, insisted on its resurrectionary work, and returned him to the +year 865. Constantinople was again besieged, this time by a horde from +the Russian wilderness under the chiefs Dir and Askold. They had passed +the upper sea in hundreds of boats, and disembarking on the European +shore, marched down the Bosphorus, leaving all behind them desolate. +Photius was then Patriarch. When the fleet was descried from the walls, +he prevailed on the Emperor to ask the intervention of the Virgin. The +_Maphorion_ or Sacred Robe was brought out, and in presence of the +people on their knees, the clergy singing the hymn of Pisides, the holy +man plunged it into the waves. + +A wind arose under which the water in its rocky trough was as water in +a shaken bowl. The ships of the invaders sunk each other. Not one +survived. Of the men, those who lived came up out of the vortexes +praying to be taken to the Church of Blacherne for baptism. This was +two hundred years and more after the first deliverance of the city, and +yet the Mother was faithful to her chosen!--Constantinople was still +the guarded of God!--The _Penagia_ was still the All Holy! Having +repulsed the Muscovite invasion, what excuse for his blasphemy would +there be left the next to challenge its terrors? + +The Prince of India saw the blackened walls of the burned Church, an +appealing spectacle which the surrounding trees tried to cover with +their foliage, but could not; then he lifted his eyes to the Palace +upon the third terrace. + +To the hour decay sets in the touches of Time are usually those of an +artist who loves his subject, and wishes merely to soften or ennoble +its expression. So had he dealt with the Very High Residence. + +It began in the low ground down by the Cynegion, and arose with the +city wall, which was in fact its southwestern front. Though always +spoken of in the singular, like the Bucoleon, it was a collection of +palaces, vast, irregular, and declarative of the taste of the different +eras they severally memorialized. The spaces between them formed courts +and _places_ under cover; yet as the architects had adhered to the idea +of a main front toward the northeast, there appeared a certain unity of +design in the structures. + +This main front, now under the Prince's view, was frequently broken, +advancing here, retreating there; one section severely plain and +sombre; another relieved by porticos with figured friezes resting on +tall columns. The irregularities were pleasing; some of them were +stately; and they were all helped not a little by domes and pavilions +without which the roof lines would have been monotonous. + +Lifting his gaze up the ascent from the low ground, it rested presently +on a Tower built boldly upon the Heraclian wall. This was the highest +pinnacle of the Palace, first to attract the observer, longest to hold +his attention. No courier was required to tell its history to him +through whose eyes we are now looking--it was the tower of Isaac +Angelus. How clearly its outlines cut the cloudless sky! How strong it +seemed up there, as if built by giants! Yet with windows behind +balconies, how airy and graceful withal! The other hills of the city, +and the populated valleys between the hills, spread out below it, like +an unrolled map. The warders of the Bucoleon, or what is now Point +Serail, the home-returning mariner shipping oars off Scutari, the +captain of the helmeted column entering the Golden Gate down by the +Seven Towers, the insolent Genoese on the wharves of Galata, had only +to look up, and lo! the perch of Isaac. And when, as often must have +happened, the privileged lord himself sat midafternoons on the +uppermost balcony of the Tower, how the prospect soothed the fever of +his spirit! If he were weary of the city, there was the Marmora, always +ready to reiterate the hues of the sky, and in it the Isles of the +Princes, their verdurous shades permeated with dreamful welcome to the +pleasure-seeker as well as the monk; or if he longed for a further +flight, old Asia made haste with enticing invitation to some of the +villas strewing its littoral behind the Isles; and yonder, to the eye +fainting in the distance, scarce more than a pale blue boundary cloud, +the mountain beloved by the gods, whither they were wont to assemble at +such times as they wished to learn how it fared with Ilium and the sons +of Priam, or to enliven their immortality with loud symposia. A +prospect so composed would seem sufficient, if once seen, to make a +blind man's darkness perpetually luminous. + +Sometimes, however, the superlative magnate preferred the balcony on +the western side of the Tower. There he could sit in the shade, cooled +by waftures from a wide campania southward, or, peering over the +balustrade, watch the peasantry flitting through the breaks of the +Kosmidion, now the purlieus of Eyoub. + +Again the Prince was carried back through centuries. It had been +determined to build at Blacherne; but the hill was steep. How could +spaces be gained for foundations, for courts and gardens? The +architects pondered the problem. At last one of bolder genius came +forward. We will accept the city wall for a western front, he said, and +build from it; and for levels, allow us to commence at the foot of the +height, and rear arches upon arches. The proposal was accepted; and +thereafter for years the quarter was cumbered with brick and skeleton +frames, and workingmen were numerous and incessantly busy as colonized +ants. Thus the ancient pleasure house disappeared, and the first formal +High Residence took its place; at the same time the Bucoleon, for so +many ages the glory of Constantinople, was abandoned by its masters. + +Who was the first permanent occupant of the Palace of Blacherne? The +memory, theretofore so prompt, had now no reply. No matter--the Prince +recalled sessions had with Angelus on the upper balcony yonder. He +remembered them on account of his host one day saying: "Here I am +safe." The next heard of him he was a captive and blind. + +Passing on rapidly, he remembered the appearance of Peter the Hermit in +the gorgeous reception room of the Palace in 1096. Quite as distinctly, +he also remembered the audience Alexis I. tendered Godfrey of Bouillon +and his Barons in the same High Residence. + +What a contrast the host and his guests presented that day! The latter +were steel clad from head to foot and armed for battle, while Alexis +was a spectacle of splendor unheard of in the barbarous West. How the +preachers and eunuchs in the silk-gowned train of the one trembled as +the redoubtables of the West mangled the velvet carpets with their +cruel spurs! How peculiarly the same redoubtables studied the pearls on +the yellow stole of the wily Comnene and the big jewels in his Basilean +mitre--as if they were counting and weighing them mentally, preliminary +to casting up at leisure a total of value! And the table ware--this +plate and yon bowl--were they really gold or some cunning deception? +The Greeks were so treacherous! And when the guests were gone, the +Greeks, on their part, were not in the least surprised at the list of +spoons and cups subtly disappeared--gifts, they supposed, intended by +the noble "Crosses" for the most Holy Altar in Jerusalem! + +Still other remembrances of the Prince revived at sight of the +Palace--many others--amongst them, how the Varangians beat the boastful +Montferrat and the burly Count of Flanders in the assault of 1203, +specially famous for the gallantry of old Dandolo, operating with his +galleys on the side of the Golden Horn. Brave fellows, those +Varangians! Was the corps well composed now as then? He glanced at the +lusty examples before him on the stone benches, thinking they might +shortly have to answer the question. + +These reminiscences, it must not be forgotten, were of brief passage +with the Prince, much briefer than the time taken in writing them. They +were interrupted by the appearance of a military official whose uniform +and easy manner bespoke palace life. He begged to be informed if he had +the honor of addressing the Prince of India; and being affirmatively +assured, he announced himself sent to conduct him to His Majesty. The +hill was steep, and the way somewhat circuitous; did the Prince need +assistance? The detention, he added, was owing to delay in getting +intelligence of the Prince's arrival to His Majesty, who had been +closely engaged, arranging for certain ceremonies which were to occur +in the evening. Perhaps His Majesty had appointed the audience +imagining the ceremonies might prove entertaining to the Prince. These +civilities, and others, were properly responded to, and presently the +cortege was in motion. + +The lower terrace was a garden of singular perfection. + +On the second terrace, the party came to the ruined Church where, +during a halt, the officer told of the fire. His Majesty had registered +a vow, he said, at the end of the story, to rebuild the edifice in a +style superior to any former restoration. + +The Prince, while listening, observed the place. Excepting the Church, +it was as of old. There the grove of cypresses, very ancient, and tall +and dark. There, too, the Chapel of purplish stone, and at one side of +it the sentry box and bench, and what seemed the identical detail of +Varangians on duty. There the enclosed space between the edifices, and +the road across the pavement to the next terrace only a little deeper +worn. There the arched gateway of massive masonry through which the +road conducted, the carving about it handsome as ever; and there, +finally, from the base of the Chapel, the brook, undiminished in volume +and song, ran off out of sight into the grove, an old acquaintance of +the Prince's. + +Moving on through the arched way, the guide led up to the third and +last terrace. Near the top there was a cut, and on its right embankment +a party of workmen spreading and securing a canopy of red cloth. + +"Observe, O Prince," the officer said. "From this position, if I +mistake not, you will witness the ceremony I mentioned as in +preparation." + +The guest had time to express his gratification, when the Palace of +Blacherne, the Very High Residence, burst upon him in long extended +view, a marvel of imperial prodigality and Byzantine genius. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AUDIENCE + + +The sedan was set down before a marble gate on the third terrace. + +"My duty is hardly complete. Suffer me to conduct you farther," the +officer said, politely, as the Prince stepped from the box. + +"And my servants?" + +"They will await you." + +The speakers were near the left corner of a building which projected +considerably from the general front line of the Palace. The wall, the +gateway, and the building were of white marble smoothly dressed. + +After a few words with Syama, the Prince followed his guide into a +narrow enclosure on the right of which there was a flight of steps, and +on the left a guard house. Ascending the steps, the two traversed a +passage until they came to a door. + +"The waiting-room. Enter," said the conductor. + +Four heavily curtained windows lighted the apartment. In the centre +there were a massive table, and, slightly removed from it, a burnished +copper brazier. Bright-hued rugs covered the floor, and here and there +stools carven and upholstered were drawn against the painted walls. The +officer, having seen his charge comfortably seated, excused himself and +disappeared. + +Hardly was he gone when two servants handsomely attired came in with +refreshments--fruits in natural state, fruits candied, sweetened bread, +sherbet, wine and water. A chief followed them, and, with much humility +of manner, led the Prince to a seat at the table, and invited him to +help himself. The guest was then left alone; and while he ate and drank +he wondered at the stillness prevalent; the very house seemed in awe. + +Ere long another official entered, and after apologizing for +introducing himself, said: "I am Dean of the Court. In the absence of +my lord Phranza, it has fallen to me to discharge, well as I can, the +duties of Grand Chamberlain." + +The Prince, observant of the scrutinizing glance the Dean gave his +person, acknowledged the honor done him, and the pleasure he derived +from the acquaintance. The Dean ought to be happy; he had great fame in +the city and abroad as a most courteous, intelligent, and faithful +servant; there was no doubt he deserved preeminently the confidence his +royal master reposed in him. + +"I am come, O Prince," the old functionary said, after thanks for the +friendly words, "to ascertain if you are refreshed, and ready for the +audience." + +"I am ready." + +"Let us to His Majesty then. If I precede you, I pray pardon." + +Drawing the portiere aside, the Dean held it for the other's passage. + +They entered an extensive inner court, surrounded on three sides by a +gallery resting on pillars. On the fourth side, a magnificent staircase +ascended to a main landing, whence, parting right and left, it +terminated in the gallery. Floor, stairs, balustrading, pillars, +everything here was red marble flooded with light from a circular +aperture in the roof open to the sky. + +Along the stairs, at intervals, officers armed and in armor were +stationed, and keeping their positions faced inwardly, they seemed like +statues. Other armed men were in the galleries. The silence was +impressive. Coming presently to an arched door, the Prince glanced into +a deep chamber, and at the further end of it beheld the Emperor seated +in a chair of state on a dais curtained and canopied with purple velvet. + +"Take heed now, O Prince," said the Dean, in a low voice. "Yonder is +His Majesty. Do thou imitate me in all things. Come." + +With this kindly caution the Dean led into the chamber of public +audience. Just within the door, he halter, crossed hands upon his +breast, and dropped to his knees, his eyes downcast; rising, he kept on +about halfway to the dais, and again knelt; when near his person's +length from the dais, he knelt and fully prostrated himself. The Prince +punctiliously executed every motion, except that at the instant of +halting the last time he threw both hands up after the manner of +Orientals. A velvet carpet of the accepted imperial color stretched +from door to dais greatly facilitated the observances. + +A statuesque soldier, with lance and shield, stood at the left of the +dais, a guard against treachery; by the chair, bare-headed, +bare-legged, otherwise a figure in a yellow tunic lightly breastplated, +appeared the sword-bearer, his slippers stayed with bands of gold, a +blade clasped to his body by the left forearm, the hilt above his +shoulder; and spacious as the chamber was, a row of dignitaries civil, +military, and ecclesiastical lined the walls each in prescribed +regalia. The hush already noticed was observable here, indicative of +rigid decorum and awful reverence. "Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor +said, without movement. + +The visitor obeyed. + +The last of the Palaeologae was in Basilean costume; a golden circlet +on his head brilliantly jewelled and holding a purple velvet cap in +place; an overgown of the material of the cap but darker in tint, and +belted at the waist; a mantle stiff with embroidery of pearls hanging +by narrow bands so as to drop from the shoulder over the breast and +back, leaving the neck bare; an ample lap-robe of dark purple cloth +sparkling with precious stones covering his nether limbs. The chair was +square in form without back or arms; its front posts twined and +intricately inlaid with ivory and silver, and topped each with a golden +cone for hand-rest. The bareness of the neck was relieved by four +strings of pearls dropped from the circlet two on a side, and drawn +from behind the ears forward so as to lightly tip the upper edge of the +mantle. The right hand rested at the moment on the right cone of the +chair; the left was free. The attitude of the figure thus presented was +easy and unconstrained, the countenance high and noble, and altogether +the guest admitted to himself that he had seldom been introduced to +royalty more really imposing. + +There was hardly an instant allowed for these observations. To set his +guest at ease, Constantine continued: "The way to our door is devious +and upward. I hope it has not too severely tried you." + +"Your Majesty, were the road many times more trying I would willingly +brave it to be the recipient of honors and attentions which have made +the Emperor of Constantinople famous in many far countries, and not +least in mine." + +The courtierly turn of the reply did not escape the Emperor. It had +been strange if he had not put the character of his guest to question; +indeed, an investigation had proceeded by his order, with the +invitation to audience as a result; and now the self-possession of the +stranger, together with his answer, swept the last doubt from, the +imperial mind. An attendant, responding to a sign, came forward. + +"Bring me wine," and as the servant disappeared with the order, +Constantine again addressed his visitor. "You maybe a Brahman or an +Islamite," he said, with a pleasant look to cover any possible mistake: +"in either case, O Prince, I take it for granted that the offer of a +draught of Chian will not be resented." + +"I am neither a Mohammedan, nor a devotee of the gentle son of Maya. I +am not even a Hindoo in religion. My faith leads me to be thankful for +all God's gifts to his creatures. I will take the cup Your Majesty +deigns to propose." + +The words were spoken with childlike simplicity of manner; yet nowhere +in these pages have we had a finer example of the subtlety which, +characteristic of the speaker, seemed inspiration rather than study. He +knew from general report how religion dominated his host, and on the +spur of the moment, thought to pique curiosity with respect to his own +faith; seeing, as he fancied, a clear path to another audience, with +ampler opportunity to submit and discuss the idea of Universal +Brotherhood in God. + +The glance with which he accompanied assent to the cup was taken as a +mere accentuation of gratitude; it was, however, for discovery. Had the +Emperor noticed the declaration of what he was not? Did his +intelligence suggest how unusual it was for an Indian to be neither a +Mohammedan, nor a Brahman, nor even a Buddhist in religion? He saw a +sudden lifting of the brows, generally the preliminary of a question; +he even made an answer ready; but the other's impulse seemed to spend +itself in an inquiring look, which, lingering slightly, might mean much +or nothing. The Prince resolved to wait. + +Constantine, as will be seen presently, did observe the negations, and +was moved to make them the subject of remark at the moment; but +inordinately sensitive respecting his own religious convictions, he +imagined others like himself in that respect, and upon the scruple, for +which the reader will not fail to duly credit him, deferred inquiry +until the visitor was somewhat better understood. + +Just then the cupbearer appeared with the wine; a girlish lad he was, +with long blond curls. Kneeling before the dais, he rested a silver +platter and the liquor sparkling on it in a crystal decanter upon his +right knee, waiting the imperial pleasure. + +Taking the sign given him, the Dean stepped forward and filled the two +cups of chased gold also on the platter, and delivered them. Then the +Emperor held his cup up while he said in a voice sufficiently raised +for general hearing: + +"Prince of India, I desired your presence to-day the rather to +discharge myself of obligations for important assistance rendered my +kinswoman, the Princess Irene of Therapia, during her detention at the +White Castle; a circumstance of such late occurrence it must be still +fresh in your memory. By her account the Governor was most courteous +and hospitable, and exerted himself to make her stay in his stronghold +agreeable as possible. Something truly extraordinary, considering the +forbidding exterior of the house, and the limited means of +entertainment it must have to offer, she declared he succeeded in +converting what threatened to be a serious situation into an adventure +replete with pleasant surprises. A delegate is now at the Castle +assuring the Governor of my appreciation of his friendly conduct. By +her account, also, I am bounden to you, Prince, scarcely less than to +him." + +The gravity of the visitor at hearing this was severely attacked. Great +as was his self-control, he smiled at thought of the dilemma the +Governor was in, listening to a speech of royal thanks and receiving +rich presents in lieu of his young master Mahommed. When the envoy +returned and reported, if perchance he should describe the Turk whom he +found in actual keeping of the Castle, the discrepancy between his +picture of the man and that of the Princess would be both mysterious +and remarkable. + +"Your Majesty," the Prince returned, with a deprecating gesture, "the +storm menaced me quite as much as the Princess, and calls for +confession of my inability to see wherein I rendered her service free +of regard for myself. Indeed, it is my duty to inform Your Majesty, all +these noble witnesses hearing me, that I am more beholden to your noble +kinswoman for help and deliverance in the affair than she can be to me. +But for the courage and address, not to mention the dignity and force +with which she availed herself of her royal relationship, resolving +what was at first a simple invitation to refuge into a high treaty +between the heads of two great powers, I and my daughter"-- + +"Daughter, said you?" + +"Yes, Your Majesty--Heaven has so favored me--I, my daughter, and my +frightened boatmen would have been committed to the river near the +Castle, without recourse except in prayer to Heaven. Nay, Your Majesty, +have I permission to say on, Charity had never a sweeter flowering than +when the Princess remembered to take the stranger under her protection. +I am past the age of enthusiasm and extravagance--my beard and dimming +eyes prove the admission--yet I declare, weighing each word, she has +the wit, the spirit, the goodness, the loveliness to be the noblest of +queens to the best of kings; and fails she such choice, it will be +because destiny has been struck by some unaccountable forgetfulness." + +By this time the courtiers, drawn in from the walls, composed a very +brilliant circle around the throne, each one curious to hear the +stranger as he had been to see him; and they were quick to point his +last sentence; for most of them had been with the Emperor in the voyage +to Therapia, which was still a theme of wager and wrangle scarcely less +interesting than in its first hour. By one impulse they ventured a +glance at the royal face, seeking a revelation; but the countenance was +steady as a mask. + +"The encomium is well bestowed, and approves thy experience, Prince, as +a reader of women," Constantine said, with just enough fervor. +"Henceforth I shall know the degree of trust to repose in thy judgment, +other problems as difficult being in controversy. Nevertheless, is the +lady to be believed, then, O Prince, I repeat my acknowledgment of +indebtedness. It pleases me to greatly estimate thy influence and good +judgment happily exerted. Mayst thou live long, Prince of India, and +always find thyself as now among friends who charge themselves to be +watchful for opportunities to befriend thee." + +He raised the cup. + +"It is Your Majesty's pleasure," the guest replied, and they drank +together. + +"A seat for the Prince of India," the Emperor next directed. + +The chair, when brought, was declined. + +"In my palace--for at home I exercise the functions of a king--it often +falls to me to give audiences; if public, we call them _durbars;_ and +then an inferior may not sit in my presence. The rule, like all +governing the session, is of my own enactment. I see plainly how +greatly Your Majesty designs to heap me with honors; and if I dare +decline this one, it is not from disposition to do a teacher's part, +but from habit which has the sanction of heredity, and the argument +self addressed: Shall I despise my own ordinances? God forbid!" + +A murmur from the concourse was distinctly audible, which the Dean +interpreted by repeated affirmative nods. In other words, by this +stroke the able visitor won the court as he had already won its head; +insomuch that the most doubting of the doubters would not have refused +to certify him on belief the very Prince of India he claimed to be. The +Emperor, on his part, could not but defer to scruples so cogently and +solemnly put; at the same time, out of his very certainty respecting +the guest, he passed to a question which in probability the reader has +been for some time entertaining. + +"The makers of a law should be first to observe it; for having done so, +they then have God's license to exert themselves in its enforcement; +and when one is found observant of a principle which has root so +perceptibly in conscience, to deny him his pleasure were inexcusable. +Have thy will, Prince." + +The applause which greeted the decision of His Majesty was hardly out +of ear when he proceeded: + +"Again I pray you, Sir Guest--I greatly misapprehend the travellers who +tell of India, if the people of that venerable country are not given to +ceremonials religious as well as secular. Many of our own observances +of a sacred nature are traceable to study and discernment of the good +effects of form in worship, and since some of them are unquestionably +borrowed from temples of the Pagan gods, yet others may be of Hindoo +origin. Who shall say? Wherefore, speaking generally, I should fear to +ask you to any of our Church mysteries which I did not know were purely +Greek. One such we have this evening. We call it _Pannychides_. Its +principal feature is a procession of monastic brethren from the holy +houses of the city and Islands--all within the jurisdiction of our +Eastern Church, which, please God, is of broader lines than our State. +The fathers have been assembling for the celebration several days. They +will form in the city at set of sun, throwing the march into the night. +Here, within our grounds, more particularly at the door of the Chapel +of our Holy Virgin of Blacherne, I will meet them. They will pass the +night in prayer, an army on bended knees, sorrowing for the pains of +our Saviour in Gethsemane. I was uncertain what faith you profess; yet, +Prince, I thought--forgive me, if it was an error--a sight of the +spirit of our Churchmen as it will be manifested on this occasion might +prove interesting to you; so I have taken the liberty of ordering a +stand erected for your accommodation at a position favorable to +witnessing the procession in movement up the terraces. No one has seen +the spectacle without realizing as never before the firmness of the +hold Christ has taken upon the souls of men." The last words startled +the Prince. Christ's hold upon the souls of men! The very thing he +wanted to learn, and, if possible, measure. A cloud of thoughts fell +about him; yet he kept clear head, and answered quietly: + +"Your Majesty has done me great kindness. I am already interested in +the Mystery. Since we cannot hope ever to behold God with these mortal +eyes, the nearest amend for the deprivation is the privilege of seeing +men in multitudes demonstrating their love of Him." + +Constantine's eyes lingered on the Prince's face. The utterances +attracted him. The manner was so artfully reverential as not to leave a +suspicion of the guile behind it. Going down great galleries, every one +has had his attention suddenly arrested; he pauses, looks, and looks +again, then wakes to find the attraction was not a picture, but only a +flash within his own mind. So, with the guest before him, the Emperor +was thinking of the man rather than seeing him--thinking of him with +curiosity fully awakened, and a desire to know him better. And had he +followed up the desire, he would have found its source in the idea that +India was a region in which reflection and psychological experiment had +been exhausted--where if one appeared with a thought it turned old ere +it could be explained--where wisdom had fructified until there was no +knowledge more--where the teaching capacity was all there was +remaining. That is to say, in the day of the last Byzantine Emperor, +centuries ago, humanity in India was, as now, a clock stopped, but +stopped in the act of striking, leaving a glory in the air imaginable +like the continuing sound of hushed cathedral bells. + +"Prince," he at length said, "you will remain here until the procession +is announced at the Grand Gate. I will then give you a guide and a +guard. Our steward has orders to look after your comfort." Turning then +to the acting Chamberlain, he added: "Good Dean, have we not a little +time in which to hear our guest further?" + +"Your Majesty, an hour at least." + +"You hear, O Prince? Provided always that it be not to your +displeasure, tell me what I am to understand by the disclaimer which, +broadly interpreted, leaves you either a Jew or a Christian?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED + + +The question came earlier than the Prince expected, and in different +form. Those in position to observe his face saw it turn a trifle pale, +and he hesitated, and glanced around uneasily, as though not altogether +assured of his footing. This might have been by-play; if so, it was +successful; every countenance not sympathetic was serious. + +"Your Majesty's inquiry must be for information. I am too humble for an +unfriendly design on the part of one so exalted as the Emperor of +Constantinople. It might be otherwise if I represented a church, a +denomination, or a recognized religion; as it is, my faith is my own." + +"But bethink thee, Prince, thou mayst have the truth--the very God's +truth," Constantine interposed, with kindly intent. "We all know thy +country hath been the cradle of divine ideas. So, speak, and fear not." + +The glance the Emperor received was winsomely grateful. + +"Indeed, Your Majesty, indeed I have need of good countenance. The +question put me has lured more men to bloody graves than fire, sword +and wave together. And then why I believe as I believe demands time in +excess of what we have; and I am the bolder in this because in limiting +me Your Majesty limits yourself. So I will now no more than define my +Faith. But first, it does not follow from my disclaimer that I can only +be a Jew or a Christian; for as air is a vehicle for a multitude of +subtleties in light, faith in like manner accommodates a multitude of +opinions." + +While speaking, the Prince's voice gradually gained strength; his color +returned, and his eyes enlarged and shone with strange light. Now his +right hand arose, the fingers all closed except the first one, and it +was long and thin, and he waved it overhead, like a conjuring wand. If +the concourse had been unwilling to hear him, they could not have +turned away. + +"I am not a Hindoo, my Lord; because I cannot believe men can make +their own gods." + +The Father Confessor to the Emperor, at the left of the dais in a stole +of gold and crimson cloth, smiled broadly. + +"I am not a Buddhist," the Prince continued; "because I cannot believe +the soul goes to nothingness after death." + +The Father Confessor clapped his hands. + +"I am not a Confucian; because I cannot reduce religion to philosophy +or elevate philosophy into religion." + +The blood of the audience began to warm. + +"I am not a Jew; because I believe God loves all peoples alike, or if +he makes distinctions, it is for righteousness' sake." + +Here the chamber rang with clapping. + +"I am not an Islamite; because when I raise my eyes to Heaven, I cannot +tolerate sight of a man standing between me and God--no, my Lord, not +though he be a Prophet." + +The hit was palpable, and from hate of the old enemy, the whole +assemblage broke into an uproar of acclamation. Only the Emperor kept +his gravity. Leaning heavily on the golden cone at the right of his +chair, his chin depressed, his eyes staring, scarcely breathing, he +waited, knowing, that having gone so far, there was before the speaker +an unavoidable climax; and seeing it in his face, and coming, he +presently aroused, and motioned for silence. + +"I am not"-- + +The Prince stopped, but when the hush was deepest went on--"I am not a +Christian; because--because I believe--God is God." + +The Father Confessor's hands were ready to clap, but they stayed so; +the same spell took hold of the bystanders, except that they looked at +the Emperor, and he alone seemed to comprehend the concluding phrase. +He settled back easily in his seat, saying, "Thy Faith then is--" + +"God!" + +The monosyllable was the Prince's. + +And with clear sight of the many things reprobated--Images, Saints, the +Canonized, even the worship of Christ and the Holy Mother--with clear +sight also of the wisdom which in that presence bade the guest stop +with the mighty name--at the same time more curious than ever to hear +in full discourse the man who could reduce religion to a single word +and leave it comprehensible, Constantine drew a breath of relief, and +said, smiling, "Of a surety, O Prince, there was never a Faith which, +with such appearance of simplicity in definition, is capable of such +infinity of meaning. I am full of questions; and these listening, my +lords of the court, are doubtless in a similar mood. What sayest thou, +O my most orthodox Confessor?" The Father bowed until the hem of his +blazing stole overlaid the floor. + +"Your Majesty, we too are believers in God; but we also believe in much +beside; so, if but for comparison of creeds, which is never +unprofitable while in good nature, I should like to hear the noble and +fair speaking guest further." + +"And you, my Lords?" + +The throng around answered, "Yes, yes!" + +"We will have it so then. Look, good Logothete, for the nearest day +unoccupied." + +A handsome man of middle age approached the dais, and opening a +broad-backed book, evidently the record of the royal appointments, +turned a number of leaves, and replied: "Your Majesty, two weeks from +tomorrow." + +"Note the same set aside for the Prince of India.-Dost hear, Prince?" + +The latter lowered his face the better to conceal his pleasure. + +"All days are alike to me," he answered. + +"In this our palace, then--two weeks from to-morrow at the hour of +noon. And now"--the rustle and general movement of the courtiers was +instantly stayed--"and now, Prince, didst thou not speak of exercising +the functions of a king at home? Thy capital must be in India, but +where, pray? And how callest thou thyself? And why is this city so +fortunate as to have attracted thy wandering feet? It is not every king +so his own master as to turn traveller, and go about making study of +the world; although, I admit, it would be better could every king do +so." + +These questions were rapidly put, but as the Prince was prepared for +them, he responded pleasantly: + +"In answering the questions Your Majesty now honors me with. I am aware +how serious the mistake would be did I think of your curiosity alone. A +most excellent quality in a great man is patience. Alas, that it should +be one of the most abused! ... Among the oldest of Hindoo titles is +_Rajah_. It means King rather than Prince, and I was born to it. Your +Majesty may have heard of Oodeypoor, the bosom jewel of Rajpootana, the +white rose just bloomed of Indian cities. At the foot of a spur of the +Arawalli mountains, a river rises, and on its right bank reposes the +city; from which, southeast a little way, a lake lies outspread, like a +mirror fallen face upward. And around the lake are hills, tall and +broken as these of the Bosphorus; and seen from the water the hills are +masses of ivy and emerald woods thickly sprinkled with old fortresses +and temples, and seven-roofed red pagodas, each the home of a great +gold-decked Buddha, with lesser Buddhas in family. And in the lake are +islands all palaces springing from the water line in open arches, and +sculptured walls, and towered gates; and of still days their wondrous +cunning in the air is renewed afresh in the waveless depths below them. +If they are glorious then, what are they when reconstructed for festal +nights in shining lamps? For be it said, my Lord, if a stranger in the +walls of this centre of empire may speak a word which has the faintest +savor of criticism, the Indian genius analyzed beauty before there was +a West, and taking suggestions from spark and dewdrop, applied them to +architecture. Smile not, I pray, for you may see the one in the lamp +multiplied for outline traceries, and the other in the fountain, the +cascade, and the limpid margin at the base of walls. Or if still you +think me exaggerating, is not the offence one to be lightly forgiven +where the offender is telling of his birthplace? In one of the palaces +of that Lake of Palaces I was born, the oldest son of the Rajah of +Meywar, Oodeypoor his capital. In these words, which I hope may be +kindly judged, Your Majesty will find answers to one, if not two of the +questions you were pleased to ask me--Why I am here? And why making +study of the world? Will Your Majesty pardon my boldness, if I suggest +that a reply to those inquiries would be better at the audience set for +me next? I fear it is too long for telling now." + +"Be it so," said Constantine, "yet a hint of it may not be amiss. It +may set us to thinking; and, Prince, a mind prepared for an idea is +like ground broken and harrowed for seed." + +The Prince hesitated. + +"Your Majesty--my Lord"--he then said firmly, "the most sorrowful of +men are those with conceptions too great for them, and which they must +carry about with nothing better to sustain their sinking spirits than a +poor hope of having them one day adopted; for until that day they are +like a porter overladen and going from house to house unknowing the +name of the owner of his burden or where to look for him. I am such an +unfortunate.... Oodeypoor, you must understand, is more than comely to +the eye of a native; it is a city where all religions are tolerated. +The Taing, the Brahman, the Hindoo, the Mohammedan, the Buddhist live +together there, protected and in peace, with their worship and houses +of worship; nor is there any shutting of mouths, because controversy +long since attained finality amongst them; or perhaps it were better +saying, because opinions there have now their recognized grooves, and +run in them from generation to generation--opinions to which men are +born as to their property, only without right of change or +modification; neither can they break away from them. There is no excuse +if an intelligent man in such a situation does not comprehend all the +religions thus in daily practice; or if one does comprehend them he +should not flatter himself possessed of any superior intellect.... The +Rajah, my father, died, and I mounted his silver throne, and for ten +years administered justice in the Hall of Durbars to which he had been +used, he and his father's father, Children of the Sun, most pure of +blood. By that time I was of mature mind, and having given myself up to +study, came to believe there is but one doctrine--principle--call it +what you will, my Lord--but one of heavenly origin--one primarily +comprehensible by all--too simple indeed to satisfy the egotism of men; +wherefore, without rejecting, they converted it into a foundation, and +built upon it each according to his vanity, until, in course of ages, +the foundation was overlaid with systems of belief, childish, +unnatural, ridiculous, indecent, or else too complicated for common +understanding"-- + +"This principle--what is it, Prince?" Constantine asked nervously. + +"Your Majesty, I have already once named it." + +"Mean you God?" + +"And now, my Lord, thou hast pronounced it." + +The stillness in the chamber was very deep. Every man seemed to be +asking, what next? + +"One day, Your Majesty--it was in my tenth year of government--a +function was held in a tent erected for the purpose--a _shamiana_ +vastly larger than any hall. I went up to it in state, passing through +lines of elephants, an hundred on either hand, covered with cloth of +gold and with houdahs of yellow silk roofed with the glory of peacocks. +Behind the mighty brutes soldiery blotted out the landscape, and the +air between them and the sky was a tawny cloud of flaunting yak-tails; +nor had one use for ears, so was he deafened by beat of drums and +blowing of brazen horns twice a tall man's height. I sat on a throne of +silver and gold, all my ministers present. My brother entered, he the +next entitled. Halfway down the aisle of chiefs I met him, and then led +him to my seat, and saluted him Rajah of Meywar. Your Majesty, so I +parted with crown and title--laid them down voluntarily to search the +world for men in power in love with God enough to accept him as their +sum of faith. Behold why I travel making the earth a study! Behold why +I am in Constantinople!" + +Constantine was impressed. + +"Where hast thou been?" he at length asked--"where before coming here?" + +"It were easier did Your Majesty ask where I have not been. For then I +could answer, Everywhere, except Rome." + +"Dost thou impugn our devotion to God?" + +"Not so, not so, my Lord! I am seeking to know the degree of your love +of Him." + +"How, Prince?" + +"By a test." + +"What test?" + +No man listening could have said what mood the Emperor was in; yet the +guest replied with an appearance of rising courage: "A trial, to find +all the other things entering into Faith which Your Majesty and Your +Majesty's lords and subjects are willing to lay down for God's sake." + +With a peremptory gesture Constantine silenced the stir and rustle in +the chamber. "It is right boldly put," he said. + +"But none the less respectfully. My Lord, I am striving to be +understood." + +"You speak of a trial. To what end?" + +"One Article of Faith, the all-essential of Universal Brotherhood in +Religion." + +"A magnificent conception! But is it practicable?" + +Fortunately or unfortunately for the Prince, an officer that moment +made way through the courtiers, and whispered to the Dean, who at once +addressed himself to the Emperor. + +"I pray pardon, but it pleased Your Majesty to bid me notify you when +it is time to make ready for the Mystery to-night. The hour is come; +besides which a messenger from Scholarius waits for an interview." + +Constantine arose. + +"Thanks, worthy Dean," he said; "we will not detain the messenger. The +audience is dismissed." + +Then descending from the dais, he gave his hand to the Prince. "I see +the idea you have in mind, and it is worthy the bravest effort. I shall +look forward to the next audience with concern. Forget not that the +guestship continues. My steward will take you in charge. Farewell." + +The Prince, sinking to his knees, kissed the offered hand, whereupon +the Emperor said as if just reminded: "Was not your daughter with my +kinswoman in the White Castle?" + +"Your Majesty, the Princess on that occasion most graciously consented +to accept my daughter as her attendant." + +"Were she to continue in the same attendance, Prince, we might hope to +have her at court some day." + +"I lay many thanks at Your Majesty's feet. She is most honored by the +suggestion." Constantine in lead of his officers then passed out, +while, in care of the steward, the Prince was conducted to the +reception room, and served with refreshments. Afterwhile through the +windows he beheld the day expiring, and the first audience finished, +and the second appointed, he was free to think of the approaching +Mystery. + +Be it said now he was easy in feeling--satisfied with the management of +his cause--satisfied with the impression he had made on the Emperor and +the court as well. Had not the latter applauded and voted to hear him +again? When taken with the care habitually observed by leading +personages in audiences formal as that just passed, how broadly +sympathetic the expressions of the monarch had been. + +In great cheerfulness the Prince ate and drank, and even occupied the +wine-colored leisure conning an argument for the occasion in +prospect--noon, next day two weeks! And more clearly than ever his +scheme seemed good. Could he carry it through--could he succeed--the +good would be recognized--never a doubt of that. If men were sometimes +blind, God was always just. + +In thought he sped forward of the coming appointment, and saw himself +not only the apostle of the reform, but the chosen agent, the +accredited go-between of Constantine and the young Mahommed. He +remembered the points of negotiation between them. He would not require +the Turk to yield the prophetic character of Mahomet; neither should +the Byzantine's faith in Christ suffer curtailment; he would ask them, +however, to agree to a new relation between Mahomet and Christ on the +one side and God on the other--that, namely, long conceded, as having +existed between God and Elijah. And then, an article of the utmost +materiality, the very soul of the recast religion, he would insist that +they obligate themselves to worship God alone, worship being His +exclusive prerogative, and that this condition of exclusive worship be +prescribed the only test of fraternity in religion; all other worship +to be punishable as heresy. Nor stopped he with Mahommed and +Constantine; he doubted not bringing the Rabbis to such a treaty. How +almost identical it was with the Judaism of Moses. The Bishop of Rome +might protest. What matter? Romanism segregated must die. And so the +isms of the Brahman and the Hindoo, so the Buddhist, the Confucian, the +Mencian--they would all perish under the hammering of the union. Then, +too, Time would make the work perfect, and gradually wear Christ and +Mahomet out of mind--he and Time together. What if the task did take +ages? He had an advantage over other reformers--he could keep his +reform in motion--he could guide and direct it--he could promise +himself life to see it in full acceptance. In the exuberance of +triumphant feeling, he actually rejoiced in his doom, and for the +moment imagined it more than a divine mercy. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PANNYCHIDES + + +An invitation from the Emperor to remain and view the procession +marching up the heights of Blacherne had been of itself a compliment; +but the erection of a stand for the Prince turned the compliment into a +personal honor. To say truth, however, he really desired to see the +Pannychides, or in plain parlance, the Vigils. He had often heard of +them as of prodigious effect upon the participants. Latterly they had +fallen into neglect; and knowing how difficult it is to revive a dying +custom, he imagined the spectacle would be poor and soon over. While +reflecting on it, he looked out of the window and was surprised to see +the night falling. He yielded then to restlessness, until suddenly an +idea arose and absorbed him. + +Suppose the Emperor won to his scheme; was its success assured? So used +was he to thinking of the power of kings and emperors as the sole +essential to the things he proposed that in this instance he had failed +to concede importance to the Church; and probably he would have gone on +in the delusion but for the Mysteries which were now to pass before +him. They forced him to think of the power religious organizations +exercise over men. + +And this Church--this old Byzantine Church! Ay, truly! The Byzantine +conscience was under its direction; it was the Father Confessor of the +Empire; its voice in the common ear was the voice of God. To cast +Christ out of its system would be like wrenching a man's heart out of +his body. It was here and there--everywhere in fact--in signs, +trophies, monuments--in crosses and images--in monasteries, convents, +houses to the Saints, houses to the Mother. What could the Emperor do, +if it were obstinate and defiant? The night beheld through the window +crept into the Wanderer's heart, and threatened to put out the light +kindled there by the new-born hope with which he had come from the +audience. + +"The Church, the Church! It is the enemy I have to fear," he kept +muttering in dismal repetition, realizing, for the first time, the +magnitude of the campaign before him. With a wisdom in wickedness which +none of his successors in design have shown, he saw the Christian idea +in the bosom of the Church unassailable except a substitute +satisfactory to its professors could be found. Was God a sufficient +substitute? Perhaps--and he turned cold with the reflection--the +Pannychides were bringing him an answer. It was an ecclesiastical +affair, literally a meeting of Churchmen _en masse_. Where--when--how +could the Church present itself to any man more an actuality in the +flesh? Perhaps--and a chill set his very crown to crawling--perhaps the +opportunity to study the spectacle was more a mercy of God than a favor +of Constantine. + +To his great relief, at length the officer who had escorted him from +the Grand Gate came into the room. + +"I am to have the honor," he said, cheerfully, "of conducting you to +the stand His Majesty has prepared that you may at ease behold the +Mysteries appointed for the night. The head of the procession is +reported appearing. If it please you, Prince of India, we will set out." + +"I am ready." + +The position chosen for the Prince was on the right bank of a cut +through which the road passed on its ascent from the arched gateway by +the Chapel to the third terrace, and he was borne thither in his sedan. + +Upon alighting, he found himself on a platform covered by a canopy, +carpeted and furnished with one chair comfortably cushioned. At the +right of the chair there was a pyramid of coals glowing in a brazier, +and lest that might not be a sufficient provision against the damps of +the hours, a great cloak was near at hand. In front of the platform he +observed a pole securely planted and bearing a basket of inflammables +ready for conversion into a torch. In short, everything needful to his +well-being, including wine and water on a small tripod, was within +reach. + +Before finally seating himself the Prince stepped out to the brow of +the terrace, whence he noticed the Chapel below him in the denser +darkness of the trees about it like a pool. The gleam of armor on the +area by the Grand Gate struck him with sinister effect. Flowers saluted +him with perfume, albeit he could not see them. Not less welcome was +the low music with which the brook cheered itself while dancing down to +the harbor. Besides a cresset burning on the landing outside the Port +entrance, two other lights were visible; one on the Pharos, the other +on the great Galata tower, looking in the distance like large stars. +With these exceptions, the valley and the hill opposite Blacherne, and +the wide-reaching Metropolis beyond them, were to appearances a blacker +cloud dropped from the clouded sky. A curious sound now came to him +from the direction of the city. Was it a rising wind? Or a muffled roll +from the sea? While wondering, some one behind him said: + +"They are coming." + +The voice was sepulchral and harsh, and the Prince turned quickly to +the speaker. + +"Ah, Father Theophilus!" + +"They are coming," the Father repeated. + +The Prince shivered slightly. The noise beyond the valley arose more +distinctly. + +"Are they singing?" he asked. + +"Chanting," the other answered. + +"Why do they chant?" + +"Knowest thou our Scriptures?" + +The Wanderer quieted a disdainful impulse, and answered: + +"I have read them." + +The Father continued: + +"Presently thou wilt hear the words of Job: 'Oh, that thou wouldst hide +me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me in secret, until thy wrath +be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me.'" + +The Prince was startled. Why was one in speech so like a ghost selected +his companion? And that verse, of all to him most afflicting, and which +in hours of despair he had repeated until his very spirit had become +colored with its reproachful plaint--who put it in the man's mouth? + +The chant came nearer. Of melody it had nothing; nor did those engaged +in it appear in the slightest attentive to time. Yet it brought relief +to the Prince, willing as he was to admit he had never heard anything +similar--anything so sorrowful, so like the wail of the damned in +multitude. And rueful as the strain was, it helped him assign the +pageant a near distance, a middle distance, and then interminability. + +"There appear to be a great many of them," he remarked to the Father. + +"More than ever before in the observance," was the reply. + +"Is there a reason for it?" + +"Our dissensions." + +The Father did not see the pleased expression of his auditor's face, +but proceeded: "Yes, our dissensions. They multiply. At first the jar +was between the Church and the throne; now it is the Church against the +Church--a Roman party and a Greek party. One man among us has +concentrated in himself the learning and devotion of the Christian +East. You will see him directly, George Scholarius. By visions, like +those in which the old prophets received the counsel of God, he was +instructed to revive the _Pannychides._ His messengers have gone hither +and thither, to the monasteries, the convents, and the eremitic +colonies wherever accessible. The greater the presence, he says, the +greater the influence." + +"Scholarius is a wise man," the Prince said, diplomatically. + +"His is the wisdom of the Prophets," the Father answered. + +"Is he the Patriarch?" + +"No, the Patriarch is of the Roman party--Scholarius of the Greek." + +"And Constantine?" + +"A good king, truly, but, alas; he is cumbered with care of the State." + +"Yes, yes," said the Prince. "And the care leads to neglect of his +soul. Kings are sometimes to be pitied. But there is then a special +object in the Vigils?" + +"The Vigils to-night are for the restoration of the unities once more, +that the Church may find peace and the State its power and glory again. +God is in the habit of taking care of His own." + +"Thank you, Father, I see the difference. Scholarius would intrust the +State to the Holy Virgin; but Constantine, with a worldlier +inspiration, adheres to the craft held by Kings immemorially. The +object of the Vigils is to bring the Emperor to abandon his policy and +defer to Scholarius?" + +"The Emperor assists in the Mystery," the Father answered, vaguely. + +The procession meantime came on, and when its head appeared in front of +the Grand Gate three trumpeters blew a flourish which called the guards +into line. A monk advanced and held parley with an officer; after which +he was given a lighted torch, and passed under the portal in lead of +the multitude. The trumpeters continued plying their horns, marking the +slow ascent. + +"Were this an army," said Father Theophilus, "it would not be so +laborious; but, alas! the going of youth is nowhere so rapid as in a +cloister; nor is age anywhere so feeble. Ten years kneeling on a stony +floor in a damp cell brings the anchorite to forget he ever walked with +ease." + +The Prince scarcely heard him; he was interested in the little to be +seen crossing the area below--a column four abreast, broken into +unequal divisions, each division with a leader, who, at the gate, +received a torch. Occasionally a square banner on a cross-stick +appeared--occasionally a section in light-colored garments; more +frequently a succession of heads without covering of any kind; +otherwise the train was monotonously rueful, and in its slow movement +out of the darkness reminded the spectator on the height of a serpent +crawling endlessly from an underground den. Afterwhile the dim white of +the pavement was obscured by masses stationary on the right and left of +the column; these were the people stopping there because for them there +was no further pursuit of the spectral parade. + +The horns gave sonorous notice of the progress during the ascent. Now +they were passing along the first terrace; still the divisions were +incessant down by the gate--still the chanting continued, a dismal +dissonance in the distance, a horrible discord near by. If it be true +that the human voice is music's aptest instrument, it is also true that +nothing vocalized in nature can excel it in the expression of diabolism. + +Suddenly the first torch gleamed on the second terrace scarce an +hundred yards from the Chapel. + +"See him now there, behind the trumpeters--Scholarius!" said Father +Theophilus, with a semblance of animation. + +"He with the torch?" + +"Ay!--And he might throw the torch away, and still be the light of the +Church." + +The remark did not escape the Prince. The man who could so impress +himself upon a member of the court must be a power with his brethren of +the gown generally. Reflecting thus, the discerning visitor watched the +figure stalking on under the torch. There are men who are causes in +great events, sometimes by superiority of nature, sometimes by +circumstances. What if this were one of them? And forthwith the +observer ceased fancying the mystical looking monk drawing the +interminable train after him by the invisible bonds of a will mightier +than theirs in combination--the fancy became a fact. "The procession +will not stop at the Chapel," the Father said; "but keep on to the +palace, where the Emperor will join it. If my Lord cares to see the +passage distinctly, I will fire the basket here." + +"Do so," the Prince replied. + +The flambeau was fired. + +It shed light over the lower terraces right and left, and brought the +palace in the upper space into view from the base of the forward +building to the Tower of Isaac; and here, close by, the Chapel with all +its appurtenances, paved enclosure, speeding brook, solemn cypresses, +and the wall and arched gateway at the hither side stood out in almost +daytime clearness. The road in the cut underfoot must bring the frocked +host near enough to expose its spirit. + +The bellowing of the horns frightened the birds at roost in the +melancholy grove, and taking wing, they flew blindly about. + +Then ensued the invasion of the enclosure in front of the +Chapel--Scholarius next the musicians. The Prince saw him plainly; a +tall man, stoop-shouldered, angular as a skeleton; his hood thrown +back; head tonsured; the whiteness of the scalp conspicuous on account +of the band of black hair at the base; the features high and thin, +cheeks hollow, temples pinched. The dark brown cassock, leaving an +attenuated neck completely exposed, hung from his frame apparently much +too large for it. His feet disdained sandals. At the brook he halted, +and letting the crucifix fall from his right hand, he stooped and +dipped the member thus freed into the water, and rising flung the drops +in air. Resuming the crucifix, he marched on. + +It cannot be said there was admiration in the steady gaze with which +the Prince kept the monk in eye; the attraction was stronger--he was +looking for a sign from him. He saw the tall, nervous figure cross the +brook with a faltering, uncertain step, pass the remainder of the +pavement, the torch in one hand, the holy symbol in the other; then it +disappeared under the arch of the gate; and when it had come through, +the sharp espial was beforehand with it, and waiting. It commenced +ascending the acute grade--now it was in the cut--and now, just below +the Prince, it had but to look up, and its face would be on a level +with his feet. At exactly the right moment, Scholarius did look up, +and--stop. + +The interchange of glances between the men was brief, and can be +likened to nothing so aptly as sword blades crossing in a red light. + +Possibly the monk, trudging on, his mind intent upon something which +was part of a scene elsewhere, or on the objects and results of the +solemnities in celebration, as yet purely speculative, might have been +disagreeably surprised at discovering himself the subject of study by a +stranger whose dress proclaimed him a foreigner; possibly the Prince's +stare, which we have already seen was at times powerfully magnetic, +filled him with aversion and resentment; certain it is he raised his +head, showing a face full of abhorrence, and at the same time waved the +crucifix as if in exorcism. + +The Prince had time to see the image thus presented was of silver on a +cross of ivory wrought to wonderful realism. The face was dying, not +dead; there were the spikes in the hands and feet, the rent in the +side, the crown of thorns, and overhead the initials of the +inscription: This is the King of the Jews. There was the worn, +buffeted, bloodspent body, and the lips were parted so it was easy to +think the sufferer in mid-utterance of one of the exclamations which +have placed his Divinity forever beyond successful denial. The swift +reversion of memory excited in the beholder might have been succeeded +by remorse, but for the cry: + +"Thou enemy of Jesus Christ--avaunt!" + +It was the voice of Scholarius, shrill and high; and before the Prince +could recover from the shock, before he could make answer, or think of +answering, the visionary was moving on; nor did he again look back. + +"What ails thee, Prince?" + +The sepulchral tone of Father Theophilus was powerful over the benumbed +faculties of His Majesty's guest; and he answered with a question: + +"Is not thy friend Scholarius a great preacher?" + +"On his lips the truth is most unctuous." + +"It must be so--it must be so! For"--the Prince's manner was as if he +were settling a grave altercation in his own mind--"for never did a man +offer me the Presence so vitalized in an image. I am not yet sure but +he gave me to see the Holy Son of the Immaculate Mother in flesh and +blood exactly as when they put Him so cruelly to death. Or can it be, +Father, that the effect upon me was in greater measure due to the +night, the celebration, the cloud of ministrants, the serious objects +of the Vigils?" + +The answer made Father Theophilus happy as a man of his turn could +be--he was furnished additional evidence of the spiritual force of +Scholarius, his ideal. + +"No," he answered, "it was God in the man." + +All this time the chanting had been coming nearer, and now the grove +rang with it. A moment, and the head of the first division must present +itself in front of the Chapel. Could the Wanderer have elected then +whether to depart or stay, the _Pannychides_ would have had no further +assistance from him--so badly had the rencounter with Scholarius shaken +him. Not that he was afraid in the vulgar sense of the term. Before a +man can habitually pray for death, he must be long lost to fear. If we +can imagine conscience gone, pride of achievement, without which there +can be no mortification or shame in defeat, may yet remain with him, a +source of dread and weakness. The chill which shook Brutus in his tent +the evening before Philippi was not in the least akin to terror. So +with the Prince at this juncture. There to measure the hold of the +Christian idea upon the Church, it seemed Scholarius had brought him an +answer which finished his interest in the passing Vigils. In brief, the +Reformer's interest in the Mystery was past, and he wished with his +whole soul to retreat to the sedan, but a fascination held him fast. + +"I think it would be pleasanter sitting," he said, and returned to the +platform. + +"If I presume to take the chair, Father," he added, "it is because I am +older than thou." + +Hardly was he thus at ease when a precentor, fat, and clad in a long +gown, stepped out of the grove to the clear lighted pavement in front +of the Chapel. His shaven head was thrown back, his mouth open to its +fullest stretch, and tossing a white stick energetically up and down in +the air, he intoned with awful distinctness: "The waters wear the +stones. Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the +earth, and Thou destroyest the hopes of man." + +The Prince covered his ears with his hands. + +"Thou likest not the singing?" Father Theophilus asked, and continued: +"I admit the graces have little to do with musical practice in the holy +houses of the Fathers." But he for whom the comfort was meant made no +reply. He was repeating to himself: "Thou prevailest forever against +him, and he passeth." + +And to these words the head of the first division strode forward into +the light. The Prince dropped his hands in time to hear the last verse: +"But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall +mourn." + +For whom was this? Did the singers know the significancy of the text to +him? The answer was from God, and they were merely messengers bringing +it. He rose to his feet; in his rebellious passion the world seemed to +melt and swim about him. He felt a longing to burn, break, destroy--to +strike out and kill. When he came to himself, Father Theophilus, who +thought him merely wonder struck by the mass of monks in march, was +saying in his most rueful tone: "Good order required a careful +arrangement of the procession; for though the participants are pledged +to godly life, yet they sometimes put their vows aside temporarily. The +holiest of them have pride in their establishments, and are often too +ready to resort to arms of the flesh to assert their privileges. The +Fathers of the Islands have long been jealous of the Fathers of the +city, and to put them together would be a signal for riot. Accordingly +there are three grand divisions here--the monks of Constantinople, +those of the Islands, the shores of the Bosphorus and the three seas, +and finally the recluses and hermits from whatever quarter. Lo! first +the Fathers of the Studium--saintly men as thou wilt see anywhere." + +The speech was unusually long for the Father; a fortunate circumstance +of which the Prince availed himself to recover his self-possession. By +the time the brethren eulogized were moving up the rift at his feet, he +was able to observe them calmly. They were in long gowns of heavy gray +woollen stuff, with sleeves widening from the shoulders; their cowls, +besides covering head and visage, fell down like capes. Cleanly, +decent-looking men, they marched slowly and in order, their hands +united palm to palm below their chins. The precentor failed to inspire +them with his fury of song. + +"These now coming," Father Theophilus said of the second fraternity, +"are conventuals of Petrion, who have their house looking out on the +harbor here. And these," he said of the third, "are of the Monastery of +Anargyres--a very ancient society. The Emperor Michael, surnamed the +Paphlegonian, died in one of their cells in 1041. Brotherhood with them +is equivalent to saintship." + +Afterwhile a somewhat tumultuous flock appeared in white skirts and +loose yellow cloaks, their hair and beard uncut and flying. The +historian apologized. + +"Bear with them," he said; "they are mendicants from the retreats of +Periblepte, in the quarter of Psammatica. You may see them on the +street corners and quays, and in all public places, sick, blind, lame +and covered with sores. They have St. Lazarus for patron. At night an +angel visits them with healing. They refuse to believe the age of +miracles is past." + +The city monastics were a great host carrying banners with the name of +their Brotherhoods inscribed in golden letters; and in every instance +the Hegumen, or Abbot, preceded his fraternity torch in hand. + +A company in unrelieved black marched across the brook, and their +chanting was lugubrious as their garb. + +"Petra sends us these Fathers," said Theophilus--"Petra over on the +south side. They sleep all day and watch at night. The second coming +they say will happen in the night, because they think that time most +favorable for the trumpeting herald and the splendor of the +manifestations." + +Half an hour of marching--men in gray and black and yellow, a few in +white--men cowled--men shorn and unshorn--barefooted men and men in +sandals--a river of men in all moods, except jovial and happy, toiling +by the observing stand, seldom an upturned face, spectral, morose, +laden body and mind--young and old looking as if just awakened after +ages of entombment;--a half hour of dismal chanting the one chapter +from the book of the man in the land of Uz, of all utterances the most +dismal;--a half hour of waiting by the Prince for one kindly sign, +without discovering it--a half hour, in which, if the comparison be not +too strong, he was like a soul keeping watch over its own abandoned +body. Then Father Theophilus said: + +"From the cloisters of St. James of Manganese! The richest of the +monasteries of Constantinople, and the most powerful. It furnishes +Sancta Sophia with renowned preachers. Its brethren cultivate learning. +Their library is unexcelled, and they boast that in the hundreds of +years of their society life, they had never an heretic. Before their +altars the candles are kept burning and trimmed forever. Their numbers +are recruited from the noblest families. Young men to whom the army is +open prefer God-service in the elegant retirement of St. James of +Manganese. They will interest you, Prince; and after them we will have +the second grand division." + +"Brethren of the Islands?" + +"Yes, of the Islands and the sea-shores." + +Upon the pavement then appeared a precentor attired like a Greek priest +of the present day; a rimless hat black and high, and turned slightly +outward at the top; a veil of the same hue; the hair gathered into a +roll behind, and secured under the hat; a woollen gown very dark, +glossy, and dropping in ample folds unconfined from neck to shoe. The +Hegumen followed next, and because of his age and infirmities a young +man carried the torch for him. The chanting was sweet, pure, and in +perfect time. All these evidences of refinement and respectability were +noticed by the Prince, and looking at the torch-bearer again, he +recognized the young monk, his room-mate in the White Castle. + +"Knowest thou the youth yonder?" he asked, pointing to Sergius. + +"A Russian recently arrived," the Father replied. "Day before yesterday +he was brought to the palace and presented to the Emperor by the +Princess Irene. He made a great impression." + +The two kept their eyes on the young man until he disappeared ascending +the hill. + +"He will be heard from;" and with the prediction the Prince gave +attention to the body of the Brotherhood. + +"These men have the bearing of soldiers," he said presently. + +"Their vows respecting war are liberal. If the _panagia_ were carried +to the walls, they would accompany it in armor." + +The Prince smiled. He had not the faith in the Virgin of Blacherne +which the Father's answer implied. + +The St. James' were long in passing. The Prince kept them in sight to +the last four. They were the aristocracy of the Church, prim, proud; as +their opportunities were more frequent, doubtless they were more wicked +than their associates of the humbler fraternities; yet he could not +promise himself favor from their superior liberality. On the contrary, +having a great name for piety to defend, if a test offered, they were +the more certain to be hard and vindictive--to send a heretic to the +stake, and turn a trifling variation from the creed into heresy. + +"Who is this?" the Prince exclaimed, as a noble-looking man in full +canonicals stepped out of the cypress shadows, first of the next +division. + +"Master of Ceremonies for the Church," Father Theophilus replied. "He +is the wall between the Islanders and the Metropolitans." + +"And he who walks with him singing?" + +"The _Protopsolete_--leader of the Patriarch's Choir." + +Behind this singer the monks of the Isles of the Princes! In movement, +order, dress, like their predecessors in the march--Hegumen with their +followers in gray, black and white--hands palm to palm +prayerfully--chanting sometimes better, sometimes worse--never a look +upward but always down, as if Heaven were a hollow in the earth, an +abyss at their feet, and they about to step into it. + +The Prince was beginning to tire. Suddenly he thought of the meeting of +pilgrims at El Zaribah. How unlike was the action there and here! That +had been a rush, an inundation, as it were, by the sea, fierce, mad, a +passion of Faith fostered by freedom; this, slow, solemn, sombre, +oppressive--what was it like? Death in Life, and burial by programme so +rigid there must not be a groan more or a tear less. He saw Law in it +all--or was it imposition, force, choice smothered by custom, fashion +masquerading in the guise of Faith? The hold of Christ upon the Church +began to look possible of measurement. + +"Roti first!" said the Father. "Rocky and bare, scarce a bush for a +bird or grass for a cricket. Ah, verily he shall love God dearly or +hate the world mortally who of free will chooses a cloister for life at +Roti!" + +The brethren of the three convents of the Island marched past clad in +short brown frocks, bareheaded, barefooted. The comments of the +historian were few and brief. + +"Poor they look," he said of the first one, "and poor they are, yet +Michael Rhangabe and Romain Lacapene were glad to live and die with +them." Of the second: "When Romain Diogenes built the house these +inhabit, he little dreamed it would shelter him, a refugee from the +throne." Of the third: "Dardanes was a great general. In his fortunate +days he built a tower on Roti with one cell in it; in an evil hour he +aspired to the throne--failed--lost his eyes, retired to his lonesome +tower--by his sanctity there drew a fraternity to him, and died. That +was hundreds of years ago. The brethren still pray for his soul. Be it +that evil comes of good; not less does good come of evil--and so God +keeps the balances." + +In the same manner he descanted on the several contingents from +Antigone as they strode by; then of those from God's houses at Halki, +the pearl of the Marmora; amongst them the monastery of John the +Precursor, and the Convents of St. George, Hagia Trias, and lastly the +Very Holy House of the All Holy Mother of God, founded by John VIII. +Palaeologus. After them, in turn, the consecrated from Prinkipo, +especially those from the Kamares of the Basilissa, Irene, and the +Convent of the Transfiguration. + +The faithful few from the solitary Convent on the Island of Oxia, and +the drab-gowned abstinents of the monastery of Plati, miserables given +to the abnormity of mixing prayer and penance with the cultivation of +snails for the market in Constantinople, were the last of the Islanders. + +Then in a kind of orderly disorganization the claustral inculpables +from holy houses on Olympus down by the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, and +the Bithynian shore behind the Isles of the Princes, and some from +retreats in the Egean and along the Peloponnesus, their walls now dust, +their names forgotten. + +"Where is the procession going?" the Prince now asked. + +"Look behind you--up along the front of the palace." + +And casting his eyes thither, the questioner beheld the ground covered +with a mass of men not there before. + +"What are they doing?" + +"Awaiting the Emperor. Only the third grand division is wanting now; +when it is up His Majesty will appear." + +"And descend to the Chapel?" + +"Yes." + +For a time a noise more like the continuous, steady monotone of falling +water than a chant had been approaching from the valley, making its +darkness vocal. It threatened the gates awhile; now it was at the +gates. The Prince's wonder was great, and to appease it Father +Theophilus explained: + +"The last division is at hand." + +In the dim red light over the area by the gate below, the visitor +beheld figures hurriedly issuing from the night--figures in the +distance so wild and fantastic they did not at first seem human. They +left no doubt, however, whence the sound proceeded. The white sand of +the road up the terraces was beaten to dust under the friction and +pressure of the thousands of feet gone before; this third division +raised it into an attending cloud, and the cloud and the noise were +incessant. + +Once more the Prince went out to the brink of the terrace. The monotony +of the pageant was broken; something new was announcing itself. +Spectres--devils--gnomes and jinn of the Islamitic Solomon--rakshakas +and hanumen of the Eastern Iliads--surely this miscellany was a +composition of them all. They danced along the way and swung themselves +and each other, howling like dervishes in frenzy. Again the birds took +wing and flew blindly above the cypresses, and the end of things seemed +about to burst when a yell articulate yet unintelligible shook the +guarded door of the venerable Chapel. + +Then the demoniacs--the Prince could not make else of them--leaping the +brook, crowding the pent enclosure, hasting to the arched exit, were +plainly in view. Men almost naked, burned to hue of brick-dust; men in +untanned sheepskin coats and mantles; men with every kind of headgear, +turbans, handkerchiefs, cowls; men with hair and beard matted and +flying; now one helped himself to a louder yell by tossing in air the +dirty garment he had torn from his body, hirsute as a goat's; now one +leaped up agile as a panther; now one turned topsy-turvy; now groups of +them swirled together like whimsical eddies in a pool. Some went +slowly, their arms outspread in silent ecstasy; some stalked on with +parted lips and staring eyes, trance-like or in dead drunkenness of +soul; nevertheless the great majority of them, too weary and far spent +for violent exertion, marched with their faces raised, and clapping +their hands or beating their breasts, now barking short and sharp, like +old hounds dreaming, then finishing with long-drawn cries not unlike +the ending of a sorrowful chorus. Through the gate they crowded, and at +sight of their faces full of joy unto madness, the Prince quit pitying +them, and, reminded of the Wahabbees at El Zaribah, turned to Father +Theophilus. + +"In God's name," he said, "who are these?" + +"A son of India thou, and not know them at sight?" + +There was surprise in the question, and a degree of unwarranted +familiarity, yet the Father immediately corrected himself, by solemnly +adding: "Look there at that one whirling his mantle of unshorn skin +over his head. He has a cave on Mt. Olympus furnished with a stool, a +crucifix, and a copy of the Holy Scriptures; he sleeps on the stone; +the mantle is his bedding by night, his clothing by day. He raises +vegetables, and they and snow-water seeping through a crevice in his +cavern subsist him.... And the next him--the large man with the great +coat of camel's hair which keeps him scratched as with thorns--he is +from the Monastery of St. Auxentius, the abode of a powerful fraternity +of ascetics. A large proportion of this wing of the celebrants is of +the same austere house. You will know them by the penitential, +dun-colored garment--they wear no other.... Yonder is a brother +carrying his right arm at a direct angle above his shoulder, stiff and +straight as a stick of seasoned oak. He is of a colony of Stylites +settled on this shore of the upper Bosphorus overlooking the Black Sea. +He could not lower the arm if he wished to; but since it is his +certificate of devoutness, the treasures of the earth laid at his feet +in a heap would be insufficient to induce him to drop it though for an +instant. His colony is one of many like it. Spare him thy pity. He +believes the clinch of that hand holds fast the latch of Heaven.... The +shouters who have just entered the arch in a body have hermitaries in +close grouping around the one failing monastery on Plati, and live on +lentils and snails; aside from which they commit themselves to Christ, +and so abound in faith that the Basileus in his purple would be very +happy were he true master of a tithe of their happiness.... Hast thou +not enough, O Prince? Those crossing the brook now?--Ah, yes! They are +anchorites from Anderovithos, the island. Pitiable creatures looked at +from the curtained windows of a palace--pitiable, and abandoned by men +and angels! Be not sure. Everything is as we happen to see it--a bit of +philosophy, which, as they despise the best things secularly considered +of this life, steels them to indifference for what you and I, and +others not of their caste, may think. They have arrived at a summit +above the corrupting atmosphere of the earth, where every one of them +has already the mansion promised him by our Blessed Lord, and where the +angels abide and delight to serve him.... For the rest, O Prince, call +them indifferently recluses, hermits, anticenobites, mystics, martyrs, +these from Europe, those from isolations deep somewhere in Asia. Who +feeds them? Did not ravens feed Elijah? Offer them white bread and +robes of silk, yesterday's wear of a king. 'What!' they will ask. +'Shall any man fare better than John the Forerunner?' Speak to them of +comfortable habitations, and they will answer with the famous saying, +'Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of +Man hath not where to lay His head.' What more is there to be said? +Thou seest them, thou knowest them." + +Yes, the Prince knew them. Like the horde which stood by the Black +Stone envious of Mirza's dying, these were just as ready to die for +Christ. He smiled grimly, and thought of Mahommed, and how easy the +Church had made the conquest of which he was dreaming. + +It was with a sense of relief he beheld the tail of the division follow +its body up to the palace. + +Then, last of all, came the dignitaries of the Church, the Cartulaire, +least in rank, with many intermediates, up to the Cyncelle, who, next +to the absent Patriarch, represented him. If what had preceded in the +procession was poor and unpretentious, this part was splendid to +excess. They were not more than eighteen or twenty in number, but they +walked singly with considerable intervals between them; while on the +right and left of each, a liveried servant carried a torch which gave +him to be distinctly seen. And the flashing of gold on their persons +was wonderful to the spectator. Why not? This rare and anointed body +was the Church going in solemnity to assist the Basileus in a high +ceremony. + +Afterwhile the Emperor appeared descending to the Chapel. + +To the Prince's amazement, he was in a plain, priestly black frock, +without crown, sword, sceptre or guard; and so did his guise compare +with the magnificence of the ecclesiastics surrounding him, he actually +seemed in their midst a prisoner or a penitent. He passed his visitor +like one going from the world forgetting and forgot. + +"An explanation, Father," said the Prince. "The Church is in its robes, +but my august friend, the Emperor, looks as if he had suffered +dethronement." + +"Thou wilt presently see His Majesty enter the Chapel alone. The legend +supposes him there in presence directly of God; if so, what merit would +there be in regalia? Would his sword or sceptre make his supplication +more impressive?" + +The Prince bowed. + +And while he watched, the gold-clad escort halted before the Holy +House, the door opened, and Constantine went in unattended. Then, the +door being shut behind him, the clergy knelt, and remained kneeling. +The light from the torches was plenteous there, making the scene +beautiful. + +And yet further, while he stood watching, the trumpeting and chanting +on the level in front of the palace behind him ceased, and a few +minutes afterwards, he was aware of the noise of many feet rushing in a +scramble from all directions to the Chapel. Here and there flambeaux +streamed out, with hundreds of dark-gowned excited figures speeding +after them as best they could. + +The bank the Prince occupied was overrun, like other contiguous spaces. +The object of the invaders was to secure a position near the revered +building as possible; for immediately on attaining it they dropped to +their knees, and began counting their rosaries and mumbling prayers. At +length it befell that the terraces far and near were densely crowded by +monks in low recitation. + +"My Lord," said Father Theophilus, in a tone of reserved depth, "the +Mystery is begun. There is no more to be seen. Good-night!" And without +ado, he too knelt where he stood, beads in hand, eyes fixed upon the +one point of devotional interest. + +When the sedan was brought, the Prince gave one last glance at the +scene, feeling it was to be thenceforward and forever a burden on his +memory. He took in and put away the weather-stained Chapel, centre of +so much travail; the narrow court in front of it brilliantly lighted +and covered with priests high and low in glittering vestments; the +cypresses looming skyward, stately and stiff, like conical monuments: +the torches scattered over the grounds, revealing patches of men +kneeling, their faces turned toward the Chapel: the mumbling and +muttering from parts unlighted telling of other thousands in like +engagement. He had seen battle-fields fresh in their horrors; decks of +ships still bloody; shores strewn with wreckage and drowned sailors, +and the storm not spent; populous cities shaken down by earthquakes, +the helpless under the ruins pleading for help; but withal never had he +seen anything which affected him as did that royal park at mid of +night, given up to that spectral multitude! + +It seemed he could not get away from the spectacle soon enough; for +after issuing from the Grand Gate, he kept calling to his carriers, +impatiently: "Faster, my men, faster!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PLAGUE OF CRIME + + +Sergius' life in Constantinople had been almost void of incident. His +introduction to the Patriarch by the Princess Irene started him well +with that reverend official, whose confidence and love she commanded to +a singular degree. His personal qualities, however, were very helpful. +The gentleness of his nature, his youth, his simplicity, +respectfulness, intelligence and obvious piety were all in his favor; +at the same time the strongest attraction he possessed with the +strangers amongst whom he found himself was his likeness according to +the received Byzantine ideal to Christ. He had a habit, moreover, of +walking slowly, and with a quiet tread, his head lowered, his hands +clasped before him. Coming in this mood suddenly upon persons, he often +startled them; at such times, indeed, the disturbed parties were +constrained to both observe and forgive him--he reminded them so +strikingly of the Nazarene as He must have looked while in solitary +walks by the sea or along the highways of Galilee. Whatever the cause, +it is very certain His Serenity, the Patriarch, from mere attention to +the young Russian, passed speedily to interest in him, and manifested +it in modes pleasant and noticeable. By his advice, Sergius attached +himself to the Brotherhood of the Monastery of St. James of Manganese. +This was the first incident in his city life out of the usual. The +second was his presentation at court, where he was not less successful +with the Emperor than he had been with the Patriarch. Yet Sergius was +not happy. His was the old case of a spirit willing, even anxious, to +do, but held in restraint. He saw about him such strong need of saving +action; and the Christian plan, as he understood it, was so simple and +efficacious. There was no difference in the value of souls. Taking +Christ's own words, everything was from the Father, and He held the +gates of Heaven open for the beggar and the emperor alike. Why not +return to the plan devised, practised, and exemplified by the Saviour +Himself? The idea bore heavily upon his mind, and accounted for the +bent head and slow step fast becoming habitudes. At times the insurgent +impulses seemed beyond control. This was particularly when he walked in +crowded places; for then the people appeared an audience summoned and +ready to hear him; he had only to go into their midst, call to them, +and begin speaking; but often as he beheld the calm, patient, pleading +face of the Princess Irene, and heard her say ever so gently: "Wait, +wait! I know the situation--you do not. Our object is the most good. +God will send the opportunity. Then martyrdom, if it come, is going to +Heaven. Wait--I will give you the signal. You are to speak for me as +well as yourself. You are to be my voice"--so often he grew reconciled. + +There was another trouble more difficult of comprehension and +description. Under its influence the sky did not look so blue as +formerly; the breeze was less refreshing; the sun where it scattered +its golden largesse over the sea failed to relieve it of dulness; and +in all things, himself included, there was something wanting--exactly +what he could not tell. However, as he had been indulging comparisons +of life in Constantinople with life in Bielo-Osero, and longing for the +holy quiet of the latter, he concluded he was homesick, and was +ashamed. It was childishness! The Great Example had no home! And with +that thought he struggled manfully to be a man forever done with such +weaknesses. + +It became his wont of afternoons when the weather was tolerable to seek +the city wall opposite the old Chalcedonian point. In going thither, he +sometimes passed through the Hippodrome and Sta. Sophia, both in such +contact to the collection of palaces known as the Bucoleon that each +might have been fairly considered an appurtenance of the other. The +exercises in the spacious palaestrae had small interest for him; there +was always such evident rancor between the factions Blue and Green. The +dome of the great Church he regarded man's best effort at construction, +beyond which there was nothing more attainable; but how it dwindled and +faded when from the wall he looked at the sky, the sea, and the land, +the handiworks of God! + +On the wall, at a point marked by a shallow angle, there was a cracked +stone bench, offering seawardly a view of the Isles of the Princes, and +the Asian domain beyond Broussa to the Olympian heights; westwardly, +the Bucoleon and its terraced gardens were near by, and above them in +the distance the Tower of Isaac Angelus arose over Blacherne, like a +sentinel on guard against the opposing summits of Galata and Pera. From +the bench, the walk, besides being wide and smooth, extended, with a +slight curvature northward to the Acropolis, now Point Serail, and on +the south to the Port of Julian. The airy promenade thus formed was +reached by several stairs intermediate the landmarks mentioned; yet the +main ascent was near the Imperial stables, and it consisted of a flight +of stone steps built against the inner face of the wall, like a broad +buttress. This latter was for the public, and of sunny days it was used +incessantly. Everybody in the category of invalids affected it in +especial, since litters and sedans were not inhibited there. In short, +the popularity of this mural saunter can be easily imagined. + +The afternoon of the day the Prince of India was in audience by the +Emperor's invitation, Sergius was the sole occupant of the stone bench. +The hour was pleasant; the distant effects were perfect; birds and +boats enlivened the air and water; and in listening to the swish of +waves amongst the rocks and pebbles below, so like whisperings, he +forgot where he was, and his impatience and melancholy, and the people +strolling negligently past. One of his arms lay along the edge of the +bulwark before him, and he was not thinking so much as simply enjoying +existence. To such as noticed him he appeared a man in the drowsy stage +next to sleep. + +Afterwhile a voice aroused him, and, without moving, he became aware of +two men stopped and talking. He could not avoid hearing them. + +"She is coming," said one. + +"How do you know?" the other asked. + +"Have I not told you I keep a spy on the old Prince's house? A +messenger from him has just reported the chair arrived for her; and +this being her favorite stroll, she will be here presently." + +"Have you considered the risks of your project?" + +"Risks? Pah!" + +The exclamation was with a contemptuous laugh. + +"But they have grown since last night," the other persisted. "The +Indian is now at the Palace, His Majesty's guest." + +"Yes, I had report of that also; but I have studied the game, and if +you fear to join me, I will see it through alone. As an offence against +law, it is abduction, not murder; and the penalty, imprisonment, can be +easily changed to banishment, which with me means at the utmost a short +absence to give friends an opportunity to prepare for my return. +Consider, moreover, the subject of the offence will be a woman. Can you +name an instance in which the kidnapper of a woman has been +punished?--I mean in our time?" + +"True, women are the cheapest commodity in the market; therefore"-- + +"I understand," the first speaker interposed, a little impatiently, +"but Princes of India are not common in Constantinople, while their +daughters are less so. See the temptation! Besides, in the decadence of +our Byzantine empire, the criminal laws fail worse and worse of +execution. Only last night my father, delivering a lecture, said +neglect in this respect was one of the reasons of the Empire's going. +Only the poor and degraded suffer penalties now. And I--pah! What have +I to fear? Or thou? And from whom? When the girl's loss is +discovered--you observe I am viewing the affair in its most malignant +aspect--I know the course the Prince will take. He will run to the +palace; there he will fall at the Emperor's feet, tell his tale of woe, +and"-- + +"And if thou art denounced?" + +The conspirator laughed again. "The worse for the Prince," he at length +replied. "The Hegumen, my honored father, will follow him to the +palace, and--but let the details go! The relations between the Basileus +and the Church are strained to breaking; and the condition is not +sanable while the quarrel between the Patriarch and Scholarius waxes +hotter." + +"The Patriarch and Scholarius quarrelling? I had not heard of that." + +"Openly, openly! His Majesty and the Patriarch are tenderly +sympathetic. What more is wanting to set the Prophet scolding? The +Patriarch, it is now known, will not be at the _Pannychides_ to-night. +His health began failing when, over his objection, it was decided to +hold the Mystery, and last week he betook himself to the Holy Mountain. +This morning the Prophet"-- + +"Thou meanest Scholarius?" + +"Scholarius denounced him as an _azymite_, which is bad, if true; as +unfaithful to God and the Church, which is worse; and as trying to +convert the Emperor into an adherent of the Bishop of Rome, which, +considering the Bishop is Satan unchained, will not admit of a further +descent in sin. The Mystery tonight is Scholarius' scheme in +contravention of His Serenity's efforts. Oh, it is a quarrel, and a big +one, involving Church and State, and the infallibility of our newly +risen Jeremiah. Thus full-handed, thinkest thou in a suit the Prince of +India against the venerable Hegumen of all the St. James', His Majesty +will hesitate? Is thy opinion of him as a politician so +uncomplimentary? Think again, I say--think again!" + +"Thy father's Brotherhood are His Majesty's friends!" + +"Ah, the very point! They despise Scholarius now, and what an ado, what +a political display, to drive them into his arms! The Princes of India, +though they were numerous as the spectre caravan, could not carry +influence that far." + +Here there was a rest in the conversation. + +"Well, since thou wilt not be persuaded to let the enterprise go," the +protesting friend next said, "at least agree with me that it is +indiscreet to speak of it in a place public as this." + +The laugh of the conspirator was heartier than before. + +"Ah, hadst thou warned me not to speak of it to the"-- + +"Enough of that! The Prince of India is nothing to me--thou art my +friend." + +"Agree with me then that thou hast ears, while the public"-- + +"Have not, thou wouldst say. Still there are things which may not be +whispered in a desert without being overheard." + +"The Pagans who went before us had a god of wisdom, and they called him +Hermes. I should say thou hast been to school to him. 'Twas he, +doubtless, who taught outlaws to seek safety in crowded cities. By the +same philosophy, where can one talk treason more securely than on this +wall? Afraid of discovery! Not I, unless thou mumblest in thy sleep. We +go about our good intents--the improvement of our fortune for +instance--with awful care, and step by step, fortifying. The practice +is applicable to wickedness. I am no bungler. I will tell thee a +tale.... Thou knowest the Brotherhood of the Monastery of St. James of +Manganese is very ancient, and that the house in which it is quartered +is about as old as the Brotherhood. Their archives are the richest in +the empire. They have a special chamber and a librarian. Were he of the +mind, he might write a history of Constantinople by original data +without leaving his library. Fortunately the mere keepers of books +seldom write books.... My father's office is in the Monastery, and I +frequently find myself in his company there. He never fails to improve +the opportunity to lecture me, for he is a good man. One day, by +invitation, I accompanied the librarian to his place of keeping, and +saw it, and wondered how he could be willing to give his days--he is +now an old man--to such a mass of rot and smells. I spare you mention +of the many things he showed me; for there was but one of real ado with +what we are considering, an old document illuminated with an +untarnished chrysobula. 'Here,' said he, 'is something curious.' The +text was short--writers in those days knew the tricks of condensation, +and they practised them virtuously. I asked him to give it to me--he +refused--he would sooner have given me the last lock on his head, which +is a great deal, seeing that hair grows precious exactly as it grows +scantier. So I made him hold the lamp while I read.... The document was +dated about A.D. 1300--a century and a half gone, and proved to be a +formal report by the Patriarch to a council of Bishops and Hegumen.... +Thou knowest, I am sure, the great cistern; not the Philoxenus, but the +larger one, with an entrance west of Sta. Sophia, sometimes called the +Imperial, because built by the first Constantine and enlarged by +Justinian." + +"I know it." + +"Well, there was a great ceremony there one day; the same with which +the report was concerned. The clergy attended in force and panoply led +by His Serenity in person--monks, nuns, deacons and deaconesses--in a +word, the Church was present. The cistern had been profaned. A son of +Satan, moved by a most diabolical ingenuity, had converted it into a +den of wickedness surpassing sinful belief; and the procession and +awful conclave were to assist His Serenity in restoring the water to +wholesomeness, impossible, in the belief of consumers, except by solemn +exorcism.... Heed now, my friend--I am about to tap the heart of my +story. A plague struck the city--a plague of crime. A woman +disappeared. There was search for her, but without success. The affair +would have been dismissed within the three days usually allotted +wonders of the kind, had not another like it occurred--and then +another. The victims, it was noticed, were young and beautiful, and as +the last one was of noble family the sensation was universal. The whole +capital organized for rescue. While the hunt was at its height, a +fourth unfortunate went the way of the others. Sympathy and curiosity +had been succeeded by anxiety; now the public was aroused to anger, and +the parents of handsome girls were sore with fear. Schemes for +discovery multiplied; ingenuity was exhausted; the government took part +in the chase--all in vain. And there being then a remission in the +disappearance, the theory of suicide was generally accepted. Quiet and +confidence were returning, when, lo! the plague broke out afresh! Five +times in five weeks Sta. Sophia was given to funeral services. The ugly +women, and the halt, and those long hopeless of husbands shared the +common terror. The theory of suicide was discarded. It was the doing of +the Turks, everybody said. The Turks were systematically foraging +Constantinople to supply their harems with Christian beauty; or if the +Turks were innocent, the devil was the guilty party. On the latter +presumption, the Church authorities invented a prayer of special +application. Could anything better signify the despair of the +community? A year passed--two years--three--and though every one +resolved himself into a watchman and hunter; though heralds cried +rewards in the Emperor's name three times each day on the street +corners, and in every place of common resort; though the fame of the +havoc, rapine, spoliation, or whatsoever it may please thee to call the +visitation, was carried abroad until everybody here and there knew +every particular come to light concerning it, with the pursuit, and the +dragging and fishing in the sea, never a clew was found. +One--two--three years, during which at intervals, some long, some +short, the ancient Christian centre kept on sealing its doors, and +praying. Finally the disappearances were about to be accepted as +incidents liable to happen at any time to any young and pretty woman. +They were placed in the category with death. There was mourning by +friends--that was about all. How much longer the mystery would have +continued may not be said.... Now accidents may not have brought the +world about, yet the world could not get along without accidents. To +illustrate. A woman one day, wanting water for her household, let a +bucket down one of the wells of the cistern, and drew up a sandal +slippery and decaying. A sliver buckle adhered to it. Upon inspecting +the prize, a name was observed graven on its underside. The curious +came to see--there was discussion--at length an examiner blessed with a +good memory coupled the inscription with one of the lost women. It was +indeed her name! A clew to the great mystery was at last obtained. The +city was thrown into tumult, and an exploration of the cistern +demanded. The authorities at first laughed. 'What!' they said. 'The +Royal reservoir turned into a den of murder and crime unutterable by +Christians!' But they yielded. A boat was launched on the darkened +waters--But hold!" + +The voice of the speaker changed. Something was occurring to stop the +story. Sergius had succumbed to interest in it; he was listening with +excited sense, yet kept his semblance of sleep. + +"Hold!" the narrator repeated, in an emphatic undertone. "See what +there is in knowing to choose faithful allies! My watchman was right. +She comes--she is here!" + +"Who is here?" + +"She--the daughter of the old Indian. In the sedan to my left--look!" + +Sergius, catching the reply, longed to take the direction to himself, +and look, for he was comprehending vaguely. A blindfolded man can +understand quite well, if he is first informed of the business in +progress, or if it be something with which he is familiar; imagination +seems then to take the place of eyes. A detective, having overheard the +conversation between the two men, had not required sight of them; but +the young monk was too recently from the cloisters of Bielo-Osero to be +quick in the discernment of villanies. He knew the world abounded in +crime, but he had never dealt with it personally; as yet it was a +destroying wolf howling in the distance. He yearned to see if what he +dimly surmised were true--if the object at the moment so attractive to +his dangerous neighbors were indeed the daughter of the strange Indian +he had met at the White Castle. His recollection of her was wonderfully +distinct. Her face and demeanor when he assisted her from the boat had +often reverted to his thought. They spoke to him so plainly of +simplicity and dependence, and she seemed so pure and beautiful! And +making the acknowledgment to himself, his heart took to beating quick +and drum-like. He heard the shuffle and slide of the chairmen going; +when they ceased a new and strange feeling came and possessed itself of +his spirit, and led it out after her. Still he managed to keep his head +upon his arm. + +"By the saintly patron of thy father's Brotherhood, she is more than +lovely! I am almost persuaded." + +"Ah, I am not so mad as I was!" the conspirator replied, laughing; then +he changed to seriousness, and added, like one speaking between +clinched teeth--"I am resolved to go on. I will have her--come what +may, I will have her! I am neither a coward nor a bungler. Thou mayst +stay behind, but I have gone too far to retreat. Let us follow, and see +her again--my pretty Princess!" + +"Stay--a moment." + +Perception was breaking in on Sergius. He scarcely breathed. + +"Well?" was the answer. + +"You were saying that a boat was launched in the cistern. Then what?" + +"Of discovery? Oh, yes--the very point of my argument! A raft was found +moored between four of the great pillars in the cistern, and there was +a structure on it with furnished rooms. A small boat was used for going +and coming." + +"Wonderful!" + +"Come--or we will lose the sight of her." + +"But what else?" + +"Hooks, such as fishermen use in hunting lobsters were brought, and by +dragging and fishing the missing women were brought to light--that is, +their bones were brought to light. More I will tell as we go. I will +not stay longer." + +Sergius heard them depart, and presently he raised his head. His blood +was cold with horror. He was having the awful revelation which sooner +or later bursts upon every man who pursues a walk far in life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD + + +Sergius kept his seat on the bench; but the charm of the glorious +prospect spread out before it was gone. + +Two points were swimming in his consciousness, like motes in a mist: +first, there was a conspiracy afoot; next, the conspiracy was against +the daughter of the Prince of India. + +When at the door of the old Lavra upon the snow-bound shore of the +White Lake, he bade Father Hilarion farewell and received his blessing, +and the commission of an Evangel, the idea furthest from him was to +signalize his arrival in Constantinople by dropping first thing into +love. And to be just, the idea was now as distant from him as ever; yet +he had a vision of the child-faced girl he met on the landing at the +White Castle in the hands of enemies, and to almost any other person +the shrinking it occasioned would have been strange, if not suspicious. +His most definite feeling was that something ought to be done in her +behalf. + +Besides this the young monk had another incentive to action. In the +colloquy overheard by him the chief speaker described himself a son of +the Hegumen of the St. James'. The St. James'! His own Brotherhood! His +own Hegumen! Could a wicked son have been born to that excellent man? +Much easier to disbelieve the conspirator; still there were traditions +of the appearance of monsters permitted for reasons clear at least to +Providence. This might be an instance of the kind. Doubtless the +creature carried on its countenance or person evidences of a miracle of +evil. In any event there could be no harm in looking at him. + +Sergius accordingly arose, and set out in pursuit of the conspirators. +Could he overtake the sedan, they were quite certain to be in the +vicinity, and he doubted not discovering them. + +The steps of the sedan-carriers, peculiarly quick and sliding, seemed +in passing the bench to have been going northwardly toward Point +Demetrius. Thither he first betook himself. + +In the distance, over the heads of persons going and coming, he shortly +beheld the top of a chair in motion, and he followed it rapidly, +fearing its occupant might quit the wall by the stairs near the stables +of the Bucoleon. But when it was borne past that descent he went more +leisurely, knowing it must meet him on the return. + +Without making the Point, however, the chair was put about toward him. +Unable to discover any one so much as suggestive of the plotters, and +fearing a mistake, he peered into the front window of the painted box. +A woman past the noon of life gave him back in no amiable mood the +stare with which he saluted her. + +There was but one explanation: he should have gone down the wall +southwardly. What was to be done? Give up the chase? No, that would be +to desert his little friend. And besides he had not put himself within +hearing of the design against her--it was a doing of Providence. He +started back on his trace. + +The error but deepened his solicitude. What if the victim was then +being hurried away? + +At the head of the stairway by the stables he paused; as it was +deserted, he continued on almost running--on past the cracked +bench--past the Cleft Gate. Now, in front, he beheld the towers of the +imperial residence bearing the name Julian, and he was upbraiding +himself for indecision, and loading his conscience with whatever grief +might happen the poor girl, when he beheld a sedan coming toward him. +It was very ornate, and in the distance shone with burnishments--it was +the chair--hers. By it, on the right hand, strode the gigantic negro +who had so astonished him at the White Castle. He drew a long breath, +and stopped. They would be bold who in daylight assailed that king of +men! + +And he was taking note of the fellow's barbaric finery, the solemn +stateliness of his air, and the superb indifference he manifested to +the stare of passers-by, when a man approached the chair on the +opposite side. The curtain of the front window was raised, and through +it, Sergius observed the inmate draw hastily away from the stranger, +and drop a veil over her face. + +Here was one of the parties for whom he was looking. Where was the +other? Then the man by the left window looked back over his shoulder as +if speaking, and out of the train of persons following the sedan, one +stepped briskly forward, joined the intruder, and walked with him long +enough to be spoken to, and reply briefly; after which he fell back and +disappeared. This answered the inquiry. + +Assured now of one of the conspirators in sight, the monk resolved to +await the coming up. Through the front window of the carriage, which +was truly a marvel of polish and glitter, the girl might recognize him; +perhaps she would speak; or possibly the negro might recall him; in +either event he would have an excuse for intervention. + +Meantime, calmly as he could--for he was young, and warm blooded, and +in all respects a good instrument to be carried away by righteous +indignation--he took careful note of the stranger, who kept his place +as if by warrant, occasionally addressing the shrinking maiden. + +Sergius was now more curious than angry; and he cared less to know who +the conspirator was than how he looked. His surprise may be imagined +when, the subject of investigation having approached near enough to be +perfectly observed, instead of a monster marked, like Cain, he appeared +a graceful, though undersized person, with an agreeable countenance. +The most unfavorable criticism he provoked was the loudness--if the +word can be excused--of his dress. + +A bright red cloak, hanging in ample folds from an exaggerated buckle +of purple enamel on his left shoulder, draped his left side; falling +open on the right, it was caught by another buckle just outside the +right knee. The arrangement loosed the right arm, but was a serious +hamper to walking, and made it inconvenient to get out the rapier, the +handle of which was protrusively suggested through the cloak. A tunic +of bright orange color, short in sleeve and skirt, covered his body. +Where undraped, tight-fitting hose terminating in red shoes, flashed +their elongated black and yellow stripes with stunning effect. A red +cap, pointed at top, and rolled up behind, but with a long visor-like +peak shading the eyes, and a white heron feather slanted in the band, +brought the head into negligent harmony with the rest of the costume. +The throat and left arm were bare, the latter from halfway above the +elbow. + +This was the monk's first view of a Byzantine gentleman of the period +abroad in full dress to dazzle such of the gentler sex as he might +chance to meet. + +If Sergius' anticipation had been fulfilled; if, in place of the +elegant, rakish-looking chevalier in florid garb, he had been +confronted by an individual awry in body or hideous in feature, he +would not have been confused, or stood repeating to himself, "My God, +can this be a son of the Hegumen?" + +That one so holy could have offspring so vicious stupefied him. The +young man's sins would find him out--thus it was written--and then, +what humiliation, what shame, what misery for the poor father! + +Speeding his sympathy thus in advance, Sergius waited until the +foremost of the sedan carriers gave him the customary cry of warning. +As he stepped aside, two things occurred. The occupant of the box +lifted her veil and held out a hand to him. He had barely time to +observe the gesture and the countenance more childlike because of the +distress it was showing, when the negro appeared on the left side of +the carriage. Staying a moment to swing the javelin with which he was +armed across the top of the buckler at his back, he leaped forward with +the cry of an animal, and caught the gallant, one hand at the shoulder, +the other at the knee. The cry and the seizure were parts of the same +act. Resistance had been useless had there been no surprise. The Greek +had the briefest instant to see the assailant--an instant to look up +into the face blacker of the transport of rage back of it, and to cry +for help. The mighty hands raised him bodily, and bore him swiftly +toward the sea-front of the wall. + +There were spectators near by; amongst them some men; but they were +held fast by terror. No one moved but Sergius. Having seen the +provocation, he alone comprehended the punishment intended. + +The few steps to the wall were taken almost on the run. There, in +keeping with his savage nature, the negro wished to see his victim +fall, but a puff of wind blew the red cloak over his eyes, and he +stopped to shake it aside. The Greek in the interval seeing the jagged +rocks below, and the waves rolling in and churning themselves into +foam, caught at his enemy's head, and the teeth of the gold-gilt iron +crown cut his palms, bringing the blood. He writhed, and into Nilo's +ears--pitiless if they had not been dead--poured screams for mercy. +Then Sergius reached out, and caught him. + +Nilo made no resistance. When he could free his eyes from the cloak he +looked at the rescuer, who, unaware of his infirmity, was imploring him: + +"As thou lovest God, and hopest mercy for thyself, do no murder!" + +Now, if not so powerful as Nilo, Sergius was quite as tall; and while +they stood looking at each other, their faces a little apart, the +contrast between them was many sided. And one might have seen the +ferocity of the black visage change first with pleased wonder; then +brighten with recognition. + +The Byzantine gained his feet quickly, and in his turn taken with a +murderous impulse, drew his sword. Nilo, however, was quickest; the +point of his javelin was magically promotive of Sergius' renewed +efforts to terminate the affair. A great many persons were now present. +To bring a multitude in hot assemblage, strife is generally more +potential than peace, assume what voice the latter may. These rallied +to Sergius' assistance; one brought the defeated youth his hat, fallen +in the struggle; others helped him rearrange his dress; and +congratulating him that he was alive, they took him in their midst, and +carried him away. To have drawn upon such a giant! What a brave spirit +the lad must possess! + +It pleased Sergius to think he had saved the Byzantine. His next duty +was to go to the relief of the little Princess. A dull fancy would have +taught how trying the situation must have been to her; but with him the +case was of a quick understanding quickened by solicitude. Taking Nilo +with him, he made haste to the sedan. + +If we pause here, venturing on the briefest break in the narrative, it +is for the reader's sake exclusively. He will be sure to see how fair +the conditions are for a romantic passage between Lael and Sergius, and +we fear lest he fly his imagination too high. It is true the period was +still roseate with knighterrantry; men wore armor, and did battle +behind shields; women were objects of devotion; conversation between +lovers was in the style of high-flown courtesy, chary on one side, +energized on the other by calls on the Saints to witness vows and +declarations which no Saint, however dubious his reputation, could have +listened to, much less excused; yet it were not well to overlook one or +two qualifications. The usages referred to were by no means prevalent +amongst Christians in the East; in Constantinople they had no footing +at all. The two Comneni, Isaac and Alexis, approached more nearly the +Western ideal of Chivalry than any of the Byzantine warriors; if not +the only genuine Knights of Byzantium, they were certainly the last of +them; yet even they stood aghast at the fantastic manners of the +Frankish armigerents who camped before their gates en route to the Holy +Land. As a consequence, the language of ordinary address and +intercourse amongst natives in the Orient was simple and less +discolored by what may be called pious profanity. Their discourse was +often dull and prolix, but never a composite of sacrilege and +exaggeration. Only in their writings were they pedantic. From this the +reader can anticipate somewhat of the meeting between Sergius and Lael. +It is to be borne in mind additionally that they were both young; she a +child in years; he a child in lack of worldly experience. Children +cannot be other than natural. + +Approaching the sedan anxiously, he found the occupant pale and faint. +Nilo being close at his side, she saw them both in the same glance, and +reached her hand impulsively through the window. It was a question to +which the member was offered. Sergius hesitated. Then she brought her +face up unveiled. + +"I know you, I know you," she said, to Sergius. "Oh, I am so glad you +are come! I was so scared--so scared--I will never go from home again. +You will stay with me--say you will--it will be so kind of you.... I +did not want Nilo to kill the man. I only wanted him driven off and +made let me alone. He has followed and persecuted me day after day, +often as I came out. I could not set foot in the street without his +appearing. My father would have me bring Nilo along. He did not kill +him, did he?" + +The hand remained held out during the speech, as if asking to be taken. +Meanwhile the words flowed like a torrent. The eyes were full of +beseechment, and irresistibly lovely. If her speech was innocent, so +was her appearance; and just as innocently, he took the hand, and held +it while answering: + +"He was not hurt. Friends have taken him away. Do not be afraid." + +"You saved him. I saw you--my heart was standing still in my throat. +Oh, I am glad he is safe! I am no longer afraid. My father will be +grateful; and he is generous--he loves me nearly as much as I love him. +I will go home now. Is not that best for me?" + +Sergius had grown the tall man he was without having been so +entreated--nay, without an adventure in the least akin to this. The +hand lay in his folded lightly. He remembered once a dove flew into his +cell. The window was so small it no doubt suggested to the poor +creature a door to a nesting place. He remembered how he thought it a +messenger from the Heaven which he never gave over thinking of and +longing for, and he wanted to keep it, for afterwhile he was sure it +would find a way to tell him wherewith it was charged. And he took the +gentle stray in his hand, and nursed it with exceeding tenderness. +There are times when it seems such a blessing that memories lie shallow +and easy to stir; and now he recalled how the winged nuncio felt like +the hand he was holding--it was almost as soft, and had the same +magnetism of life--ay, and the same scarce perceptible tremble. To be +sure it was merely for the bird's sake he kept hold of the hand, while +he answered: + +"Yes, I think it best, and I will go with you to your father's door." + +To the carriers he said: "You will quit the wall at the grand stairs. +The Princess wishes to be taken home." + +The sensation of manliness incident to caring for the weak was +refreshingly delightful. While the chair was passing he took place at +the window. The fingers of the little hand still rested on the silken +lining, like pinkish pearls. He beheld them longingly, but a restraint +fell upon him. The pinkish pearls became sacred. He would have had them +covered from the dust which the whisking breezes now blew up. The +breezes were insolent. The sun, sinking in gold over the Marmora, ought +to temper the rays it let fall on them. Long as the orb had shone, how +curious that it never acquired art enough to know the things which too +much of its splendor might spoil. Then too he desired to speak with +Lael--to ask if she was any longer afraid--he could not. Where had his +courage gone? When he caught the young Greek from Nilo, the shortest +while ago, he was wholly unconscious of timidity. The change was +wonderful. Nor was the awkwardness beginning to hamper his hands and +feet less incomprehensible. And why the embarrassment when people +paused to observe him? + +Thus the party pursued on until the descent from the wall; he on the +right side of the chair, and Nilo on the left. Down in the garden where +they were following a walk across the terrace toward Sta. Sophia, Lael +put her face to the window, and spoke to him. His eagerness lest a word +were lost was remarkable. He did not mind the stooping--and from his +height that was a great deal--nor care much if it subjected him to +remark. + +"Have you seen the Princess lately--she who lives at Therapia?" Lael +asked. + +"Oh, yes," he answered. "She is my little mother. I go up there often. +She advises me in everything." + +"It must be sweet to have such a mother," Lael said, with a smile. + +"It is sweet," he returned. + +"And how lovely she is, and brave and assuring," Lael added. "Why, I +forgot when with her to be afraid. I forgot we were in the hands of +those dreadful Turks. I kept thinking of her, and not of myself." + +Sergius waited for what more she had to say. + +"This afternoon a messenger came from her to my father, asking him to +let me visit her." + +The heart of the monk gave a jump of pleasure. + +"And you will go?" + +A little older and wiser, and she would have detected a certain urgency +there was in the tone with which he directed the inquiry. + +"I cannot say yet. I have not seen my father since the invitation was +received; he has been with the Emperor; but I know how greatly he +admires the Princess. I think he will consent; if so, I will go up to +Therapia to-morrow." + +Sergius, silently resolving to betake himself thither early next +morning, replied with enthusiasm: "Have you seen the garden behind her +palace?" + +"No." + +"Well, of course I do not know what Paradise is, but if it be according +to my fancy, I should believe that garden is a piece of it." + +"Oh, I know I shall be pleased with the Princess, her garden--with +everything hers." + +Thereupon Lael settled back in her chair, and nothing more was said +till the sedan halted in front of the Prince's door. Appearing at the +window there, she extended a hand to her escort. The pinkish pearls did +not seem so far away as before, and they were now offered directly. He +could not resist taking them. + +"I want you to know how very, very grateful I am to you," she said, +allowing the hand to stay in his. "My father will speak to you about +the day's adventure. He will make the opportunity and +early.--But--but"-- + +She hesitated, and a blush overspread her face. + +"But what?" he said, encouragingly. + +"I do not know your name, or where you reside." + +"Sergius is my name." + +"Sergius?" + +"Yes. And being a monk, I have a cell in the Monastery of St. James of +Manganese. I belong to that Brotherhood, and humbly pray God to keep me +in good standing. Now having told you who I am, may I ask"-- + +He failed to finish the sentence. Happily she divined his wish. + +"Oh," she said, "I am called Gul-Bahar by those who love me dearest, +though my real name is Lael." + +"By which am I to call you?" + +"Good-by," she continued, passing his question, and the look of doubt +which accompanied it. "Good-by--the Princess will send for me +to-morrow." + +When the chair was borne into the house, it seemed to Sergius the sun +had rushed suddenly down, leaving a twilight over the sky. He turned +homeward with more worldly matter to think of than ever before. For the +first time in his life the cloister whither he was wending seemed +lonesome and uncomfortable. He was accustomed to imagine it lighted and +warmed by a presence out of Heaven--that presence was in danger of +supersession. Occasionally, however, the girlish Princess whom he was +thus taking home with him gave place to wonder if the Greek he had +saved from Nilo could be a son of the saintly Hegumen; and the +reflection often as it returned brought a misgiving with it; for he saw +to what intrigues he might be subjected, if the claim were true, and +the claimant malicious in disposition. When at last he fell asleep on +his pillow of straw the vision which tarried with him was of walking +with Gul-Bahar in the garden behind the Homeric palace at Therapia, and +it was exceedingly pleasant. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BYZANTINE HERETIC + + +While the venerable Chapel on the way up the heights of Blacherne was +surrounded by the host of kneeling monastics, and the murmur of their +prayers swept it round about like the sound of moaning breezes, a +messenger found the Hegumen of the St. James' with the compliments of +the Basileus, and a request that he come forward to a place in front of +the door of the holy house. The good man obeyed; so the night long, +maugre his age and infirmities, he stayed there stooped and bent, +invoking blessings upon the Emperor and Empire; for he loved them both; +and by his side Sergius lingered dutifully torch in hand. Twelve hours +before he had engaged in the service worshipfully as his superior, nor +would his thoughts have once flown from the Mystery enacting; but +now--alas, for the inconstancy of youth!--now there were intervals when +his mind wandered. The round white face of the Princess came again and +again looking at him plainly as when in the window of the sedan on the +promenade between the Bucoleon and the sea. He tried to shut it out; +but often as he opened the book of prayers which he carried in common +with his brethren, trying to read them away; often as he shook the +torch thinking to hide them in the resinous smoke, the pretty, melting, +importunate eyes reappeared, their fascination renewed and unavoidable. +They seemed actually to take his efforts to get away for encouragement +to return. Never on any holy occasion had he been so negligent--never +had negligence on his part been so obstinate and nearly like sin. + +Fortunately the night came to an end. A timid thing when first it +peeped over the hills of Scutari, the day emboldened, and at length +filled the East, and left of the torches alive on the opposing face of +Blacherne only the sticks, the cups, and the streaming smoke. Then the +great host stirred, arose, and in a time incredibly brief, silently +gave itself back to the city; while the Basileus issued from his +solitary vigils in the Chapel, and, in a chastened spirit doubtless, +sought his couch in one of the gilded interiors up somewhere under the +Tower of Isaac. + +The Hegumen of the St. James', overcome by the unwonted draughts upon +his scanty store of strength, not to mention the exhaustion of spirit +he had undergone, was carried home in a chair. Sergius was faithful +throughout. At the gate of the monastery he asked the elder's blessing. + +"Depart not, my son; stay with me a little longer. Thy presence is +comforting to me." + +The adjuration prevailed. Truth was, Sergius wished to set out for +Therapia; but banishing the face of the little Princess once more, he +helped the holy man out of the chair, through the dark-stained gate, +down along the passages, to his apartment, bare and penitential as that +of the humblest neophyte of the Brotherhood. Having divested the +superior of his robes, and, gently as he could, assisted him to lay his +spent body on the narrow cot serving for couch, he then received the +blessing. + +"Thou art a good son, Sergius," the Hegumen said, with some cheer. +"Thou dost strengthen me. I feel thou art wholly given up to the Master +and His religion--nay, so dost thou look like the Master that when thou +art by I fancy it is He caring for me. Thou art at liberty now. I give +thee the blessing." + +Sergius knelt, received the trembling hands on his bowed head, and +kissed them with undissembled veneration. + +"Father," he said, "I beg permission to be gone a few days." + +"Whither?" + +"Thou knowest I regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I wish +to go and see her." + +"At Therapia?" + +"Yes, Father." + +The Hegumen averted his eyes, and by the twitching of the fingers +clasped upon his breast exposed a trouble at work in the depths of his +mind. + +"My son," he at length said, "I knew the father of the Princess Irene, +and was his sympathizer. I led the whole Brotherhood in the final +demand for his liberation from prison. When he was delivered, I +rejoiced with a satisfied soul, and took credit for a large part of the +good done him and his. It is not to magnify myself, or unduly publish +my influence that the occurrence is recalled, but to show you how +unnatural it would be were I unfriendly to his only child. So if now I +say anything in the least doubtful of her, set it down to conscience, +and a sense of duty to you whom I have received into the fraternity as +one sent me specially by God.... The life the Princess leads and her +manners are outside the sanctions of society. There is no positive +wrong in a woman of her degree going about in public places unveiled, +and it must be admitted she does it most modestly; yet the example is +pernicious in its effect upon women who are without the high qualities +which distinguish her; at the same time the habit, even as she +illustrates it, wears an appearance of defiant boldness, making her a +subject of indelicate remark--making her, in brief, a topic for +discussion. The objection, I grant, is light, being at worst an offence +against taste and custom; much more serious is her persistence in +keeping up the establishment at Therapia. A husband might furnish her +an excuse; but the Turk is too near a neighbor--or rather she, a single +woman widely renowned for beauty, is too tempting to the brutalized +unbelievers infesting the other shore of the Bosphorus. Feminine +timidity is always becoming; especially is it so when honor is more +concerned than life or liberty. Unmarried and unprotected, her place is +in a holy house on the Islands, or here in the city, where, aside from +personal safety, she can have the benefit of holy offices. Now rumor is +free to accuse her of this and that, which charity in multitude and +without stint is an insufficient mantle to save her from. They say she +prefers guilty freedom to marriage; but no one, himself of account, +believes it--the constitution of her household forbids the taint. They +say she avails herself of seclusion to indulge uncanonized worship. In +plain terms, my son, it is said she is a heretic." + +Sergius started and threw up his hands. Not that he was surprised at +the charge, for the Princess herself had repeatedly admitted it was in +the air against her; but coming from the venerated chief of his +Brotherhood, the statement, though a hearsay, sounded so dreadfully he +was altogether unprepared for it. Knowing the consequences of heresy, +he was also alarmed for her, and came near betraying himself. How +interesting it would be to learn precisely and from the excellent +authority before him, in what the heresy of the Princess consisted. If +there was criminality in her faith, what was to be said of his own? + +"Father," he remarked, calmly as possible, "I mind not the other +sayings, the reports which go to the Princess' honor--they are the +tarnishments which malice is always blowing on things white because +they are white--but if it be not too trying to your strength, tell me +more. Wherein is she a heretic?" + +Again, the gaunt fingers of the Hegumen worked nervously, while his +eyes averted themselves. + +"How can I satisfy your laudable question, my son, and be brief?" and +with the words he brought his look back, resting it on the young man's +face. "Give attention, however, and I will try.... I take it you know +the Creed is the test of orthodoxy, and"--he paused and searched the +eyes above his wistfully--"and that it has your unfaltering belief. You +know its history, I am sure--at least you know it had issue from the +Council of Nicaea over which Constantine, the greatest of ail Emperors, +condescended to preside in person. Never was proceeding more perfect; +its perfection proved the Divine Mind in its composition; yet, sad to +say, the centuries since the august Council have been fruitful of +disputes more or less related to those blessed canons, and sadder +still, some of the disputes continue to this day. Would to God there +was no more to be said of them!" + +The good man covered his face with his hands, like one who would shut +out a disagreeable sight. "But it is well to inform you, my son, of the +questions whose agitation has at last brought the Church down till only +Heaven can save it from rupture and ruin. Oh, that I should live to +make the acknowledgment--I who in my youth thought it founded on a rock +eternal as Nature itself!... A plain presentation of the subject in +contention may help you to a more lively understanding of the gravity +and untimeliness of the Princess' departure.... First, let me ask if +you know our parties by name. Verily I came near calling them +_factions_, and that I would not willingly, since it is an opprobrious +term, resort to which would be denunciatory of myself--I being one of +them." + +"I have heard of a Roman party and of a Greek party; but further, I am +so recently come to Constantinople, it would be safer did I take +information of you." + +"A prudent answer, by our most excellent and holy patron!" exclaimed +the Hegumen, his countenance relaxing into the semblance of a smile. +"Be always as wise, and the St. James' will bless themselves that thou +wert brought to us.... Attend now. The parties are Greek and Roman; +though most frequently its enemies speak of the latter as _azymites_, +which you will understand is but a nickname. I am a Romanist; the +Brotherhood is all Roman; and we mind not when Scholarius, and his +arch-supporter, Duke Notaras, howl _azymite_ at us. A disputant never +takes to contemptuous speeches except when he is worsted in the +argument." + +The moderation of the Hegumen had been thus far singularly becoming and +impressive; now a fierce light gleamed in his eyes, and he cried, with +a spasmodic clutch of the hands: "We are not of the forsworn! The curse +of the perjured is not on our souls!" + +The intensity of his superior astonished Sergius; yet he was shrewd +enough to see and appreciate the disclosures of the outburst; and from +that moment he was possessed of a feeling that the quarrel between the +parties was hopelessly past settlement. If the man before him, worn +with years, and actually laboring for the breath of life, could be so +moved by contempt for the enemy, what of his co-partisans? Age is +ordinarily a tamer of the passions. Here was an instance in which much +contention long continued had counteracted the benign effect. As a +teacher and example, how unlike this Hegumen was to Hilarion. The young +man's heart warmed with a sudden yearning for the exile of the dear old +Lavra whose unfailing sweetness of soul could keep the frigid +wilderness upon the White Lake in summer purple the year round. Never +did love of man for man look so lovely; never did it seem so +comprehensive and all sufficient! The nearest passion opposition could +excite in that pure and chastened nature was pity. But here! Quick as +the reflection came, it was shut out. There was more to be learned. God +help the heretic in the hands of this judge at this time! And with the +mental exclamation Sergius waited, his interest in the definition of +heresy sharpened by personal concern. + +"There are five questions dividing the two parties," the Hegumen +continued, when the paroxysm of hate was passed. "Listen and I will +give them to you in naked form, trusting time for an opportunity to +deal with them at large.... First then the Procession of the Holy +Ghost. That is, does the Holy Ghost proceed from the Son, or from the +Father and the Son? The Greeks say from the Son; the Romans say the +Father and the Son being One, the Procession must needs be from both of +them conjunctively.... Next the Nicene Creed, as originally published, +did undoubtedly make the Holy Ghost proceed from the Father alone. The +intent was to defend the unity of the Godhead. Subsequently the Latins, +designing to cast the assertion of the identity of the Spirit of the +Father and the Spirit of the Son in a form which they thought more +explicit, planted in the body of the Creed the word _filioque_, meaning +_from the Son._ This the Greeks declare an unwarranted addition. The +Latins, on their part, deny it an addition in any proper sense; they +say it is but an explanation of the principle proclaimed, and in +justification trace the usage from the Fathers, Greek and Latin, and +from Councils subsequent to the Nicene.... When we consider to what +depths of wrangle the two themes have carried the children of God who +should be brethren united in love, knowing rivalry only in zeal for the +welfare of the Church, that other subjects should creep in to help +widen the already dangerous breach has an appearance like a judgment of +God; yet it would be dealing unfairly with you, my son, to deny the +pendency of three others in particular. Of these we have first, Shall +the bread in the Eucharist be leavened or unleavened? About six hundred +years ago the Latins began the use of unleavened bread. The Greeks +protested against the innovation, and through the centuries arguments +have been bandied to and fro in good-natured freedom; but lately, +within fifty years, the debate has degenerated into quarrel, and +now--ah, in what terms suitable to a God-fearing servant can I speak of +the temper signalizing the discussion now? Let it pass, let it pass!... +We have next a schism respecting Purgatory. The Greeks deny the +existence of such a state, saying there are but two places awaiting the +soul after death--Heaven and Hell." + +Again the Hegumen paused, arrested, as it were, by a return of +vindictive passion. + +"Oh, the schismatics!" he exclaimed. "Not to see in the Latin idea of a +third place a mercy of God unto them especially! If only the righteous +are admitted to the All Holy Father immediately upon the final +separation of body and spirit; if there is no intermediate state for +the purgation of such of the baptized as die sodden in their sins, what +shall become of them?" + +Sergius shuddered, but held his peace. + +"Yet another point," the superior continued, ere the ruffle in his +voice subsided--"another of which the wranglers have made the most; for +as you know, my son, the Greeks, thinking themselves teachers of all +things intellectual, philosophy, science, poetry, art, and especially +religion, and that at a period when the Latins were in the nakedness of +barbarism, are filled with pride, like empty bottles with air; and +because in the light of history their pride is not unreasonable, they +drop the more readily into the designs of the conspirators against the +Unity of the Church--I speak now of the Primacy. As if power and final +judgment were things for distribution amongst a number of equals! As if +one body were better of a hundred heads! Who does not know that two +wills equally authorized mean the absence of all will! Of the +foundations of God Chaos alone is unorganized; and to such likeness +Scholarius would reduce Christendom! God forbid! Say so, my son--let me +hear you repeat it after me--God forbid:" + +With an unction scarcely less fervid than his chief's, Sergius echoed +the exclamation; whereupon the elder looked at him, and said, with a +flush on his face, "I fear I have given rein too freely to disgust and +abhorrence. Passion is never becoming in old men. Lest you misjudge me, +my son, I shall take one further step in explanation; it will be for +you to then justify or condemn the feeling you have witnessed in me. A +deeper wound to conscience, a grosser provocation to the divine +vengeance, a perfidy more impious and inexcusable you shall never +overtake in this life, though you walk in it thrice the years of +Noah.... There have been repeated attempts to settle the doctrinal +differences to which I have referred. A little more than a hundred +years ago--it was in the reign of Andronicus III.--one Barlaam, a +Hegumen, like myself, was sent to Italy by the Emperor with a proposal +of union; but Benedict the Pope resolutely refused to entertain the +proposition, for the reason that it did not contemplate a final +arrangement of the question at issue between the Churches. Was he not +right?" + +Sergius assented. + +"In 1369, John V. Palaeologus, under heavy pressure of the Turks, +renewed overtures of reconciliation, and to effectuate his purpose, he +even became a Catholic. Then John VI., the late Emperor, more +necessitous than his predecessor, submitted such a presentation to the +Papal court that Nicolos of Cusa was despatched to Constantinople to +study and report upon the possibilities of a doctrinal settlement and +union. In November, 1437, the Emperor, accompanied by Joseph, the +Patriarch, Besserion, Archbishop of Nicaea, and deputies empowered to +represent the other Patriarchs, together with a train of learned +assistants and secretaries, seven hundred in all, set out for Italy in +response to the invitation of Eugenius IV, the Pope. Landing at Venice, +the Basileus was escorted to Ferrara, where Eugenius received him with +suitable pomp. The Council of Basle, having been adjourned to Ferrara +for the better accommodation of the imperial guest, was opened there in +April, 1438. But the plague broke out, and the sessions were +transferred to Florence where the Council sat for three years. Dost +thou follow me, my son?" + +"With all my mind, Father, and thankful for thy painstaking." + +"Nay, good Sergius, thy attention more than repays me.... Observe now +the essentials of all the dogmatic questions I named to you as to-day +serving the conspiracy against the Unity of our beloved Church were +settled and accepted at the Council of Florence. The primacy of the +Roman Bishop was the last to be disposed of, because distinguishable +from the other differences by a certain political permeation; finally +it too was reconciled in these words--bear them in memory, I pray, that +you may comprehend their full import--'The Holy Apostolic See and Roman +Pontiff hold the Primacy over all the world; the Roman Pontiff is the +successor of Peter, Prince of Apostles, and he is the true Vicar of +Christ, the head of the whole Church, the Father and Teacher of all +Christians.' [Footnote: Addis and Arnold's Catholic Die. 349.] In +Italy, 1439--mark you, son Sergius, but a trifle over eleven years +ago--the members of the Council from the East and West, the Greeks with +the Latins--Emperor, Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Deacons, and lesser +dignitaries of whatever title--signed a Decree of Union which we call +the _Hepnoticon_, and into which the above acceptances had been +incorporated. I said all signed the decree--there were two who did not, +Mark of Ephesus and the Bishop Stauropolis. The Patriarch of +Constantinople, Joseph, died during the Council; yet the signatures of +his colleagues collectively and of the Emperor perfected the Decree as +to Constantinople. What sayest thou, my son? As a student of holy +canons, what sayest thou?" + +"I am but a student," Sergius replied; "still to my imperfect +perception the Unity of the Church was certainly accomplished." + +"In law, yes," said the Hegumen, with difficulty rising to a sitting +posture--"yes, but it remained to make the accomplishment binding on +the consciences of the signatories. Hear now what was done. A form of +oath was draughted invoking the most awful maledictions on the parties +who should violate the decree, and it was sworn to." + +"Sworn to?" + +"Ay, son Sergius--sworn to by each and all of those attendant upon the +Council--from Basileus down to the humblest catechumen inclusive, they +took the oath, and by the taking bound their consciences under penalty +of the eternal wrath of God. I spoke of certain ones forsworn, did I +not?" + +Sergius bowed. + +"And worse--I spoke of some whose souls were enduring the curse of the +perjured. That was extreme--it was passion--I saw thee shudder at it, +and I did not blame thee. Hear me now, and thou wilt not blame me.... +They came home, the Basileus and his seven hundred followers. Scarcely +were they disembarked before they were called to account. The city, +assembled on the quay, demanded of them: 'What have you done with us? +What of our Faith? Have you brought us the victory?' The Emperor +hurried to his palace; the prelates hung their heads, and trembling and +in fear answered: 'We have sold our Faith--we have betrayed the pure +sacrifice--we have become Azymites.' [Footnote: _Hist. de l'eglise_ +(L'Abbe Rohrbacher), 3d ed. Vol. 22. 30. MICHEL DUCAS.] Thus spake +Bessarion; thus Balsamon, Archdeacon and Guardian of the Archives; thus +Gemiste of Lacedaemon; thus Antoine of Heraclius; thus spake they all, +the high and the low alike, even George Scholarius, whom thou didst see +marching last night first penitent of the Vigils. 'Why did you sign the +Decree?' And they answered, 'We were afraid of the Franks.' Perjury to +impiety--cowardice to perjury!... And now, son Sergius, it is said--all +said--with one exception. Some of the Metropolitans, when they were +summoned to sign the Decree, demurred, 'Without you pay us to our +satisfaction we shall not sign.' The silver was counted down to them. +Nay, son, look not so incredulous--I was there--I speak of what I saw. +What could be expected other than that the venals would repudiate +everything? And so they did, all save Metrophanes, the Syncelle, and +Gregory, by grace of God the present Patriarch. If I speak with heat, +dost thou blame me? If I called the recusants forsworn and perjured, +thinkest thou the pure in Heaven charged my soul with a sin? Answer as +thou lovest the right?" + +"My Father," Sergius replied, "the denunciation of impiety cannot be +sinful, else I have to unlearn all I have ever been taught; and being +the chief Shepherd of an honorable Brotherhood, is it not thy duty to +cry out at every appearance of wrong? That His Serenity, the Patriarch, +receives thy acquittal and is notably an exception to a recusancy so +universal, is comforting to me; to have to cast him out of my +admiration would be grievous. But pardon me, if from fear thou wilt +overlook it, I again ask thee to speak further of the heresy of the +Princess Irene." + +Sergius, besides standing with his back to the door of the cell, was +listening to the Hegumen with an absorption of sense so entire that he +was unaware of the quiet entrance of a third party, who halted after a +step or two but within easy hearing. + +"The request is timely--most timely," the Hegumen replied, without +regarding the presence of the newcomer. "I had indeed almost forgotten +the Princess.... With controversies such as I have recounted raging in +the Church, like wolves in a sheepfold, comes one with new doctrines to +increase the bewilderment of the flock, how is he to be met? This is +what the Princess has done, and is doing." + +"Still, Father, you leave me in the dark." + +The Hegumen faltered, but finally said: "Apart from her religious views +and novel habits, the Princess Irene is the noblest nature in +Byzantium. Were we overtaken by some great calamity, I should look for +her to rise by personal sacrifice into heroism. In acknowledgment of my +fatherly interest in her, she has often entertained me at her palace, +and spoken her mind with fearless freedom, leaving me to think her +pursued by presentiments of a fatality which is to try her with +terrible demands, and that she is already prepared to submit to them." + +"Yes," said Sergius, with an emphatic gesture, "there are who live +martyrs all their days, reserving nothing for death but to bring them +their crowns." + +The manner of the utterance, and the thought compelled the Hegumen's +notice. + +"My son," he said, presently, "thou hast a preacher's power. I wish I +foreknew thy future. But I must haste or"-- + +"Nay, Father, permit me to help you recline again." + +And with the words, Sergius helped the feeble body down. + +"Thanks, my son," he received, in return, "I know thy soul is gentle." + +After a rest the speech was resumed. + +"Of the Princess--she is given to the Scriptures; in the reading, which +else would be a praiseworthy usage, she refuses light except it proceed +from her own understanding. We are accustomed when in doubt--thou +knowest it to be so--to take the interpretations of the Fathers; but +she insists the Son of God knew what He meant better than any whose +good intentions are lacking in the inspirations of the Holy Ghost." + +A gleam of pleasure flitted over the listener's countenance. + +"So," the Hegumen continued, "she hath gone the length of fabricating a +creed for herself, and substituting it for that which is the foundation +of the Church--I mean the Creed transmitted to us from the Council of +Nicaea." + +"Is the substitute in writing, Father?" + +"I have read it." + +"Then thou canst tell me whence she drew it." + +"From the Gospels word and word.... There now--I am too weak to enter +into discussion--I can only allude to effects." + +"Forgive another request"--Sergius spoke hastily--"Have I thy +permission, to look at what she hath written?" + +"Thou mayst try her with a request; but remember, my son"--the Hegumen +accompanied the warning with a menacious glance--"remember proselyting +is the tangible overt act in heresy which the Church cannot +overlook.... To proceed. The Princess' doctrines are damnatory of the +Nicene; if allowed, they would convert the Church into a +stumbling-block in the way of salvation. They cannot be tolerated.... I +can no more--the night was too much for me. Go, I pray, and order wine +and food. To-morrow--or when thou comest again--and delay not, for I +love thee greatly--we will return to the subject." + +Sergius saw the dew gathering on the Hegumen's pallid forehead, and +observed his failing voice. He stooped, took the wan hand from the +laboring breast, and kissed it; then turning about quickly to go for +the needed restoration, he found himself face to face with the young +Greek whom he rescued from Nilo in the encounter on the wall. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS + + +"I would have a word with you," the Greek said, in a low tone, as +Sergius was proceeding to the door. + +"But thy father is suffering, and I must make haste." + +"I will accompany thee." + +Sergius stopped while the young man went to the cot, removed his hat +and knelt, saying, "Thy blessing, father." + +The Hegumen laid a hand on the petitioner's head. + +"My son, I have not seen thee for many days," he said; "yet in hope +that thou hast heard me, and abandoned the associates who have been +endangering thy soul and my good name, and because I love thee--God +knows how well--and remember thy mother, who lived illustrating every +beatitude, and died in grace, praying for thee, take thou my blessing." + +With tears starting in his own eyes, Sergius doubted not the effect of +the reproof upon the son; and he pitied him, and even regretted +remaining to witness the outburst of penitence and grief he imagined +forthcoming. The object of his sympathy took down the hand, kissed it +in a matter-of-fact way, arose, and said, carelessly: "This lamentation +should cease. Why can I not get you to understand, father, that there +is a new Byzantium? That even in the Hippodrome nothing is as it used +to be except the colors? How often have I explained to you the latest +social discovery admitted now by everybody outside the religious +orders, and by many within them--I mean the curative element in sin." + +"Curative element in sin!" exclaimed the father. + +"Ay--Pleasure." + +"O God!" sighed the old man, turning his face hopelessly to the wall, +"Whither are we drifting?" + +He hardly heard the prodigal's farewell. + +"If you wish to speak with me, stay here until I return." + +This Sergius said when the two passed out of the cell. Going down the +darkened passage, he glanced behind him, and saw the Greek outside the +door; and when he came back with the Hegumen's breakfast, and reentered +the apartment, he brushed by him still on the outside. At the cot, +Sergius offered the refreshment on his knees, and in that posture +waited while his superior partook of it; for he discerned how the aged +heart was doubly stricken--once for the Church, deserted by so many of +its children, and again for himself, forsaken by his own son. + +"What happiness to me, O Sergius, wert thou of my flesh and blood!" + +The expression covered every feeling evoked by the situation. +Afterwhile another of the Brotherhood appeared, permitting Sergius to +retire. + +"I am ready to hear you now," he said, to the Greek at the door. + +"Let us to your cell then." + +In the cell, Sergius drew forth the one stool permitted him by the +rules of the Brotherhood. + +"Be seated," he said. + +"No," the visitor returned, "I shall be brief. You do not know my +father. The St. James' should relieve him of active duty. His years are +sadly enfeebling him." + +"But that would be ungrateful in them." + +"Heaven knows," the prodigal continued, complainingly, "how I have +labored to bring him up abreast of the time; he lives entirely in the +past. But pardon me; if I heard aright, my father called you Sergius." + +"That is my monastic name." + +"You are not a Greek?" + +"The Great Prince is my political sovereign." + +"Well, I am Demedes. My father christened me Metrophanes, after the +late Patriarch; but it did not please me, and I have entitled myself. +And now we know each other, let us be friends." + +Sergius' veil had fallen over his face, and while replacing it under +the hat, he replied, "I shall strive, Demedes, to love you as I love +myself." + +The Greek, it should be remembered, was good featured, and of a +pleasant manner; so much so, indeed, as to partially recompense him for +his failure in stature; wherefore the overture was by no means +repulsive. + +"You may wonder at my plucking you from my father's side; you may +wonder still more at my presumption in seeking to attach myself to you; +but I think my reasons good.... In the first place, it is my duty to +acknowledge that but for your interference yesterday the gigantic +energumen by whom I was unexpectedly beset would have slain me. In +fact, I had given myself up for lost. The rocks at the foot of the wall +seemed springing out of the water to catch me, and break every bone in +my body. You will accept my thanks, will you not?" + +"The saving two fellow beings, one from murder, the other from being +murdered, is not, in my opinion, an act for thanks; still, to ease you +of a sense of obligation, I consent to the acknowledgment." + +"It does relieve me," Demedes said, with a taking air; "and I am +encouraged to go on." + +He paused, and surveyed Sergius deliberately from head to foot, and the +admiration he permitted to be seen, taken as a second to his continuing +words, could not have been improved by a professed actor. + +"Are not flesh and blood of the same significance in all of us? With +youth and health superadded to a glorious physical structure, may we +not always conclude a man rich in spirit and lusty impulses? Is it +possible a gown and priestly hat can entirely suppress his human +nature? I have heard of Anthony the Anchorite." + +The idea excited his humor, and he laughed. + +"I mean no irreverence," he resumed; "but you know, dear Sergius, it is +with laughter as with tears, we cannot always control it.... Anthony +resolved to be a Saint, but was troubled by visions of beautiful women. +To escape them, he followed some children of Islam into the desert. +Alas! the visions went with him. He burrowed then in a tomb--still the +visions. He hid next in the cellar of an old castle--in vain--the +visions found him out. He flagellated himself for eighty and nine +years, every day and night of which was a battle with the visions. He +left two sheepskins to as many bishops, and one haircloth shirt to two +favorite disciples--they had been his armor against the visions. +Finally, lest the seductive goblins should assail him in death, he bade +the disciples lose him by burial in an unknown place. Sergius, my good +friend"--here the Greek drew nearer, and laid a hand lightly on the +monk's flowing sleeve--"I heard some of your replies to my father, and +respect your genius too much to do more than ask why you should waste +your youth"-- + +"Forbear! Go not further--no, not a word!" Sergius exclaimed. "Dost +thou account the crown the Saint at last won nothing?" + +Demedes did not seem in the least put out by the demonstration; +possibly he expected it, and was satisfied with the hearing continued +him. + +"I yield to you," he said, with a smile, "and willingly since you +convince me I was not mistaken in your perception.... My father is a +good man. His goodness, however, but serves to make him more sensitive +to opposition. The divisions of the Church give him downright +suffering. I have heard him go on about them hours at a time. Probably +his proneness to lamentation should be endured with respectful +patience; but there is a peculiarity in it--he is blind to everything +save the loss of power and influence the schisms are fated to entail +upon the Church. He fights valorously in season and out for the old +orthodoxies, believing that with the lapse of religion as at present +organized the respectability and dominion of the holy orders will also +lapse. Nay, Sergius, to say it plainly, he and the Brotherhood are fast +keying themselves up to a point in fanaticism when dissent appears +blackest heresy. To you, a straightforward seeker after information, it +has never occurred, I suspect, to inquire how far--or rather how +close--beyond that attainment lie punishments of summary infliction and +most terrible in kind? Torture--the stake--holocausts in the +Hippodrome--spectacles in the Cynegion--what are they to the enthused +Churchmen but righteous judgments mercifully executed on wayward +heretics? I tell you, monk--and as thou lovest her, heed me--I tell you +the Princess Irene is in danger." + +This was unexpected, and forcibly put; and thinking of the Princess, +Sergius lost the calmness he had up to this time successfully kept. + +"The Princess--tortured--God forbid!" + +"Recollect," the Greek continued--"for you will reflect upon +this--recollect I overheard the close of your interview with my father. +To-morrow, or upon your return from Therapia, be it when it may, he +will interrogate you with respect to whatever she may confide to you in +the least relative to the Creed, which, as he states, she has prepared +for herself. You stand warned. Consider also that now I have in part +acquitted myself of the obligation I am under to you for my life." + +The simple-mindedness of the monk, to whom the book of the world was +just beginning to open, was an immense advantage to the Greek. It +should not be surprising, therefore, if the former relaxed his air, and +leaned a little forward to hear what was further submitted to him. + +"Have you breakfasted?" the prodigal asked, in his easy manner. + +"I have not." + +"Ah! In concern for my father, you have neglected yourself. Well, I +must not be inconsiderate. A hungry man is seldom a patient listener. +Shall I break off now?" + +"You have interested me, and I may be gone several days." + +"Very well. I will make haste. It is but justice to the belligerents in +the spiritual war to admit the zeal they have shown; Gregory the +Patriarch, and his Latins, on the one side, and Scholarius and his +Greeks on the other. They have occupied the pulpits alternately, each +refusing presence to the other. They decline association in the +Sacramental rites. In Sta. Sophia, it is the Papal mass to-day; +to-morrow, it will be the Greek mass. It requires a sharp sense to +detect the opposition in smell between the incense with which the +parties respectively fumigate the altars of the ancient house. I +suppose there is a difference. Yesterday the parabaloni came to blows +over a body they were out burying, and in the struggle the bier was +knocked down, and the dead spilled out. The Greeks, being the most +numerous, captured the labarum of the Latins, and washed it in the mud; +yet the monogram on it was identical with that on their own. Still I +suppose there was a difference." + +Demedes laughed. + +"But seriously, Sergius, there is much more of the world outside of the +Church--or Churches, as you prefer--than on the inside. In the tearing +each other to pieces, the militants have lost sight of the major part, +and, as normally bound, it has engaged in thinking for itself. That is, +the shepherd is asleep, the dogs are fighting, and the sheep, left to +their individual conduct, are scattered in a hunt for fresher water and +greener pasturage. Have you heard of the Academy of Epicurus?" + +"No." + +"I will tell you about it. But do you take the seat there. It is not +within my purpose to exhaust you in this first conference." + +"I am not tired." + +"Well"--and the Greek smiled pleasantly--"I was regardful of myself +somewhat in the suggestion. My neck is the worse of having to look up +so constantly.... The youth of Byzantium, you must know, are not +complaining of neglect; far from it--they esteem it a great privilege +to be permitted to think in freedom. Let me give you of their +conclusions. There is no God, they say, since a self-respecting God +would not tolerate the strife and babble carried on in his name to the +discredit of his laws. Religion, if not a deceit, is but the tinkling +of brazen cymbals. A priest is a professor eking out an allowance of +fine clothes and bread and wine; with respect to the multitude, he is a +belled donkey leading a string of submissive camels. Of what account +are Creeds except to set fools by the ears? Which--not what--_which_ is +the true Christian Faith? The Patriarch tells us, 'Verily it is this,' +and Scholarius replies, 'Verily the Patriarch is a liar and a traitor +to God for his false teaching'--he then tells us it is that other thing +just as unintelligible. Left thus to ourselves--I acknowledge myself +one of the wandering flock--flung on our own resources--we resorted to +counselling each other, and agreed that a substitute for religion was a +social necessity. Our first thought was to revive Paganism; worshipping +many gods, we might peradventure stumble upon one really existent: +whether good or bad ought not to trouble us, provided he took +intelligent concern in the drift of things. To quarrel about his +qualities would be a useless repetition of the folly of our elders--the +folly of swimming awhile in a roaring swirl. Some one suggested how +much easier and more satisfactory it is to believe in one God than in +many; besides which Paganism is a fixed system intolerant of freedom. +Who, it was argued, would voluntarily forego making his own gods? The +privilege was too delightful. Then it was proposed that we resolve +ourselves each into a God unto himself. The idea was plausible; it +would at least put an end to wrangling, by giving us all an agreeable +object to worship, while for mental demands and social purposes +generally we could fall back on Philosophy. Had not our fathers tried +Philosophy? When had society a better well being than in the halcyon +ages of Plato and Pythagoras? Yet there was a term of indecision with +us--or rather incubation. To what school should we attach ourselves? A +copy of the Enchiridion of Epictetus fell into our hands, and after +studying it faithfully, we rejected Stoicism. The Cynics were proposed; +we rejected them--there was nothing admirable in Diogenes as a patron. +We next passed upon Socratus. _Sons of Sophroniscus_ had a lofty sound; +still his system of moral philosophy was not acceptable, and as he +believed in a creative God, his doctrine was too like a religion. +Though the Delphian oracle pronounced him the wisest of mankind, we +concluded to look further, and in so doing, came to Epicurus. There we +stopped. His promulgations, we determined, had no application except to +this life; and as they offered choice between the gratification of the +senses and the practice of virtue, leaving us free to adopt either as a +rule of conduct, we formally enrolled ourselves Epicureans. Then, for +protection against the Church, we organized. The departure might send +us to the stake, or to Tamerlane, King of the Cynegion, or, infinitely +worse, to the cloisters, if we were few; but what if we took in the +youths of Byzantium as an entirety? The policy was clear. We founded an +Academy--the Academy of Epicurus--and lodged it handsomely in a temple; +and three times every week we have a session and lectures. Our +membership is already up in the thousands, selected from the best blood +of the Empire; for we do not confine our proselyting to the city." + +Here Sergius lifted his hand. He had heard the prodigal in silence, and +it had been difficult the while to say which dominated his +feeling--disgust, amazement, or pity. He was scarcely in condition to +think; yet he comprehended the despairing cry of the Hegumen, Oh, my +God! whither are we drifting? The possibilities of the scheme flew +about him darkly, like birds in a ghastly twilight. He had studied the +oppositions to religion enough to appreciate the attractive power there +was for youth in the pursuit of pleasure. He knew also something of the +race Epicureanism had run in the old competitions of philosophy--that +it had been embraced by more of the cultivated Pagan world than the +other contemporary systems together. It had been amongst the last, if +not in fact the very last, of the conquests of Christianity. But here +it was again; nor that merely--here it was once more a subject of +organized effort. Who was responsible for the resurrection? The Church? +How wicked its divisions seemed to him! Bishop fighting Bishop--the +clergy distracted--altars discredited--sacred ceremonies +neglected--what did it all mean, if not an interregnum of the Word? Men +cannot fight Satan and each other at the same time. With such +self-collection as he could command, he asked: "What have you in +substitution of God and Christ?" + +"A Principle," was the reply. + +"What Principle?" + +"Pleasure, the Purpose of this Life, and its Pursuit, an ennobled +occupation." + +"Pleasure to one is not pleasure to another--it is of kinds." + +"Well said, O Sergius! Our kind is gratification of the senses. Few of +us think of the practice of virtue, which would be dreaming in the +midst of action." + +"And you make the pursuit an occupation?" + +"In our regard the heroic qualities of human nature are patience, +courage and judgment; hence our motto--Patience, Courage, Judgment. The +pursuit calls them all into exercise, ennobling the occupation." + +The Greek was evidently serious. Sergius ran him over from the pointed +shoes to the red feather in the conical red hat, and said in accents of +pity: + +"Oh, alas! Thou didst wrong in re-entitling thyself. Depravity had been +better than Demedes." + +The Greek lifted his brows, and shrugged his shoulders. + +"In the Academy we are used to taking as well as giving," he said, +wholly unembarrassed. "But, my dear Sergius, it remains for me to +discharge an agreeable commission. Last night, in full session, I told +of the affair on the wall. Could you have heard my description of your +intervention, and the eulogium with which I accompanied it, you would +not have accused me of ingratitude. The brethren were carried away; +there was a tempest of applause; they voted you a hero; and, without a +dissent, they directed me to inform you that the doors of the Academy +were open"-- + +"Stop," said Sergius, with both hands up as if to avert a blow. After +looking at the commissioner a moment, his eyes fiercely bright, he +walked the floor of the cell twice. + +"Demedes," he said, halting in front of the Greek, a reactionary pallor +on his countenance, "the effort thou art making to get away from God +proves how greatly He is a terror to thee. The Academy is only a +multitude thou hast called together to help hide thee from Christ. Thou +art an organizer of Sin--a disciple of Satan"--he was speaking not loud +or threateningly, but with a force before which the other shrank +visibly--"I cannot say I thank thee for the invitation on thy tongue +unfinished, but I am better of not hearing it. Get thee behind me." + +He turned abruptly, and started for the door. + +The Greek sprang after him, and took hold of his gown. + +"Sergius, dear Sergius," he said, "I did not intend to offend you. +There is another thing I have to speak about. Stay!" + +"Is it something different?" Sergius asked. + +"Ay--as light and darkness are different." + +"Be quick then." + +Sergius was standing under the lintel of the door. Demedes slipped past +him, and on the outside stopped. + +"You are going to Therapia?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"The Princess of India will be there. She has already set out." + +"How knowest thou?" + +"She is always under my eyes." + +The mockery in the answer reminded Sergius of the Academy. The prodigal +was designing to impress him with an illustration of the Principle it +had adopted in lieu of God. The motto, he was having it thus early +understood, was not an empty formula, but an inspiring symbol, like the +Cross on the flag. This votary, the advertisement as much as said, was +in pursuit of the little Princess--he had chosen her for his next +offering to the Principle which, like another God, was insatiable of +gifts, sacrifices, and honors. Such the thoughts of the monk. + +"You know her?" Demedes asked. + +"Yes." + +"You believe her the daughter of the Prince of India?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you do not know her." + +The Greek laughed insolently. + +"The best of us, and the oldest can be at times as much obliged by +information as by a present of bezants. The Academy sends you its +compliments. The girl is the daughter of a booth-keeper in the +bazaar--a Jew, who has no princely blood to spare a descendant--a dog +of a Jew, who makes profit by lending his child to an impostor." + +"Whence hadst thou this--this--" + +The Greek paid no attention to the interruption. + +"The Princess Irene gives a fete this afternoon. The fishermen of the +Bosphorus will be there in a body. I will be there. A pleasant time to +you, and a quick awakening, O Sergius!" + +Demedes proceeded up the passage, but turned about, and said: +"Patience, Courage, Judgment. When thou art witness to all there is in +the motto. O Sergius, it may be thou wilt be more placable. I shall see +to it that the doors of the Academy are kept open for thee." + +The monk stood awhile under the lintel bewildered; for the introduction +to wickedness is always stunning--a circumstance proving goodness to be +the natural order. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A FISHERMAN'S FETE + + +The breakfast to which Sergius addressed himself was in strict +observance of the Rules of the Brotherhood; and being plain, it was +quickly despatched. Returning to his cell, he let his hair loose, and +combed it with care; then rolling it into a glistening mass, he tucked +it under his hat. Selecting a fresher veil next, he arranged that to +fall down his back and over the left shoulder. He also swept the dark +gown free of dust, and cleansing the crucifix and large black horn +beads of his rosary, lingered a moment while contemplating the five +sublime mysteries allotted to the third chaplet, beginning with the +Resurrection of Christ and ending with the Coronation of the Blessed +Virgin. In a calmness of spirit such as follows absolution, he finally +sallied from the Monastery, and ere long arrived at the landing outside +the Fish Market Gate on the Golden Horn. The detentions had been long; +so for speed he selected a two-oared boat. + +"To Therapia--by noon," he said to the rower, and, dropping into the +passenger's box, surrendered himself to reflection. + +The waterway by which the monk proceeded is not unfamiliar to the +reader, a general idea of it having been given in the chapter devoted +to the adventures of the Prince of India in his outing up the Bosphorus +to the Sweet Waters of Asia. The impression there sought to be +conveyed--how feebly is again regretfully admitted--was of a panorama +remarkable as a composition of all the elements of scenic beauty blent +together in incomparable perfection. Now, however, it failed the +tribute customary from such as had happily to traverse it. + +The restfulness of the swift going; the shrinking of the flood under +the beating of the oars; the sky and the wooded heights, and the +stretches of shore, town and palace lined; the tearing through the blue +veil hanging over the retiring distances; the birds, the breezes, the +ships hither coming and yonder going, and the sparkles shooting up in +myriad recurrence on the breaking waves--all these pleasures of the +most delicate of the receiving senses were tyrannically forbidden him. + +The box in which he sat half reclining was wide enough for another +passenger side by side with him, and it seemed he imagined the vacant +place occupied now by Demedes, and now by Lael, and that he was +speaking to them; when to the former, it was with dislike, and a +disposition to avoid the touch of his red cloak, though on the sleeve +ever so lightly; when to the latter, his voice would lower, his eyes +soften, and the angry spots on his brow and cheeks go out--not more +completely could they have disappeared had she actually exorcised them +with some of the sweet confessions lovers keep for emergencies, and a +touch of finger besides. + +"So," he would say, Demedes for the time on the seat, "thou deniest +God, and hast a plot against Christ. Shameful in the son of a good +father!... What is thy Academy but defiance of the Eternal Majesty? As +well curse the Holy Ghost at once, for why should he who of preference +seeketh a bed with the damned he disappointed? Or is thy audacity a +blasphemous trial of the endurance of forgiveness?".... Exit Demedes, +enter Lael.... "The child--she is a child! By such proof as there is in +innocence, and in the loveliness of blushing cheeks, and eyes which +answer the Heavenly light they let in by light as Heavenly let out, she +is a child! What does evil see in her to set it hungering after her? Or +is there in virtue a signal to its enemies--Lo, here! A light to be +blown out, lest it disperse our darkness!".... Reenter Demedes.... +"Abduct her!--How?--When? To that end is it thou keepest her always +under eye? The Princess Irene gives a Fisherman's Fete--the child will +be there--thou wilt be there. Is this the day of the attempt? Bravos as +fishermen, to seize her--boats to carry her off--the Bosphorus wide and +deep, and the hills beyond a hiding-place, and in the sky over them the +awful name Turk. The crime and the opportunity hand in hand! Let them +prosper now, and I who have from the cradle's side despatched my soul +faith in hand to lay it at Heaven's gate may never again deny a merit +in the invocation of Sin virtuous as prayer".... To Lael in the +seat.... "But be not afraid. I will be there also. I"... A sudden fear +fell upon him. If the abduction were indeed arranged for the afternoon, +to what might he not be led by an open attempt to defeat it? +Bloodshed--violence! He whose every dream had been of a life in which +his fellow-men might find encouragement to endure their burdens, and of +walking before them an example of love and forbearance, submissive and +meek that he might with the more unanswerable grace preach obedience +and fraternity to them--Merciful Heaven! And he shuddered and drew the +veil hastily over his face, as if, in a bloody tumult, the ideal life, +so the ultimate happiness, were vanishing before his eyes. Taking the +confessions of such as have been greatly tried, few men, few even of +those renowned for courage and fine achievement, ever pass their +critical moments of decision unassailed by alternative suggestions due +to fear. Sergius heard them now. "Return to thy cell, and to thy beads, +and prayer," they seemed to say. "What canst thou, a stranger in a +strange land, if once the Academy of which thou wert this morning +informed, becomes thy enemy? Ay, return to thy cell! Who is she for +whom thou art putting thyself in the way of temptation? The daughter of +a booth-keeper in the bazaar--a Jew, who hath no princely blood to +spare a descendant--a dog of a Jew, who maketh profit by lending his +child to an impostor." + +The suggestion was powerful. In the heat of the debate, however, an +almost forgotten voice reached him, reciting one of the consolations of +Father Hilarion: "Temptations are for all of us; nor shall any man be +free of them. The most we can hope is to be delivered from them. What +vanity to think we can travel threescore and ten years from our +cradles, if so long we live, without an overture of some kind from the +common enemy! On the other side, what a triumph to put his +blandishments by! The Great Exemplar did not fly from Satan; he stayed, +and overcame him." + +"Be not afraid," Sergius said, as if to Lael, and firmly, like one +resolved of fear and hesitation. "I will be there also." + +Then looking about him, at his left hand he beheld the village of +Emirghian, bent round a mountain's base, in places actually invading +the water. In face of such a view a susceptible nature must needs be +very sick of soul to go blindly on. The brightly painted houses cast +tremulous reflections to a vast depth in the limpid flood, and where +they ceased, down immeasurably, the vivid green of the verdure on the +mountain's breast suggested the beginning of the next of the seven +Mohammedan earths. Above this borrowed glory he seemed afloat; and to +help the impression, the sound of many voices singing joyously was +borne to him. He waved his hand, and the rowers, resting from their +labor, joined him in listening. + +The little gulf of Stenia lies there landlocked, and out of it a boat +appeared, skimming around the intervening promontory. In a mass of +flowers, in a shade of garlands hanging from a low mast, its arms and +shrouds wreathed with roses, the singers sat timing their song with +their oars. The refrain was supported by zitheras, flutes and horns. +The vessel turned northwardly when fairly out in the strait; and then +another boat came round the point--and another--and another--and many +others, all decorated, and filled with men, women and children making +music. + +Sergius' boatmen recognized the craft, deep in the water, black and +long, and with graceful upturned ends. + +"Fishermen!" they said. + +And he rejoined: "Yes. The Princess Irene gives them a fete. Make +haste. I will go with them. Fall in behind." + +"Yes, yes--a good woman! Of such are the Saints!" they said, signing +the cross on breast arid brow. + +The singing and the gala air of the party put Sergius in his wonted +spirits; and as here and there other boats fell into the line, +similarly decorated, their occupants adding to the volume of the +singing, by the time Therapia was sighted the good-natured, happy +fishermen had given him of their floral abundance, and adopted him. + +What a scene the Therapian bay presented! Boats, boats, boats--hundreds +of them in motion, hundreds lining the shore, the water faithfully +repeating every detail of ornature, and apparently a-quiver with +pleasure. The town was gay with colors; while on the summit and sides +of the opposite promontory every available point answered flaunt with +flaunt. And there were song and shouting, gladsome cries of children, +responses of mothers, and merriment of youth and maiden. Byzantium +might be in decadence, her provinces falling away, her glory wasting; +the follies of the court and emperors, the best manhood of the empire +lost in cloisters and hermitages, the preference of the nobility for +intrigue and diplomacy might be all working their deplorable +results--nay, the results might be at hand! Still the passion of the +people for fetes and holidays remained. Tastes are things of heredity. +In nothing is a Byzantine of this day so nearly a classic Greek as in +his delicacy and appreciation where permitted to indulge in the +beautiful. + +The boatmen passed through the gay entanglement of the bay slowly and +skilfully, and finally discharged their passengers on the marble quay a +little below the regular landing in front of the red pavilion over the +entrance to the Princess' grounds. The people went in and out of the +gate without hindrance; nor was there guard or policeman visible. Their +amiability attested their happiness. + +The men were mostly black-bearded, sunburned, large-handed, brawny +fellows in breeches black and amply bagged, with red sashes and light +blue jackets heavily embroidered. The legs below the knees were +exposed, and the feet in sandals. White cloths covered their heads. +Their eyes were bright, their movements agile, their air animated. Many +of them sported amulets of shell or silver suspended by ribbons or +silken cords around their bare necks. The women wore little veils +secured by combs, but rather as a headdress, and for appearances. They +also affected the sleeveless short jacket over a snowy chemise; and +what with bright skirts bordered with worsted chenille, and sandal +straps carried artfully above the ankles, they were not wanting in +picturesqueness. Some of the very young amongst them justified the +loveliness traditionally ascribed to the nymphs of Hellas and the fair +Cycladean Isles. Much the greater number, however, were in outward +seeming prematurely old, and by their looks, their voices ungovernably +shrill, and the haste and energy with which they flung themselves into +the amusement of the hour unconsciously affirmed that fishermen's wives +are the same everywhere. One need not go far to find the frontiers of +society--too frequently they are close under the favorite balcony of +the king. + +Something on the right cheek of the gate under the pavilion furnished +an attraction to the visitors. When Sergius came up, he was detained by +a press of men and women in eager discussion; and following their eyes +and the pointing of their fingers, he observed a brazen plate overhead +curiously inscribed. The writing was unintelligible to him as to his +neighbors. It looked Turkish--or it might have been Arabic--or it might +not have been writing at all. He stayed awhile listening to the +conjectures advanced. Presently a gypsy approached leading a bear, +which, in its turn, was drawing a lot of noisy boys. He stopped, +careless of the unfriendly glances with which he was received, and at +sight of the plate saluted it with a low salaam several times +unctuously repeated. + +"Look at the hamari there. He can tell what the thing means." + +"Then ask him." + +"I will. See here, thou without a religion, consort of brutes! Canst +thou tell what this"--pointing to the plate--"is for? Come and look at +it!" + +"It is not needful for me to go nearer. I see it well enough. Neither +am I without a religion. I do not merely profess belief in God--I +believe in Him," the bear-keeper replied. + +The fisherman took the retort and the laugh it occasioned +good-humoredly, and answered: "Very well, we are even; and now perhaps +thou canst tell me what I asked." + +"Willingly, since thou canst be decent to a stranger.... The young +Mahommed, son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans"--the gypsy paused to +salute the title--"the young Mahommed, I say, is my friend." The +bystanders laughed derisively, but the man proceeded. "He has resided +this long time at Magnesia, the capital of a prosperous province +assigned to his governorship. There never was one of such station so +civil to his people, and much learning has had a good effect upon his +judgment; it has taught him that the real virtue of amusement lies in +its variety. Did he listen exclusively to his doctors discoursing of +philosophy, or to his professor of mathematics, or to his poets and +historians, he would go mad even as they are mad; wherefore, along with +his studies, he hunts with hawk and hound; he tilts and tourneys; he +plays the wandering minstrel; and not seldom Joqard and I--hey, fellow, +is it not so?" he gave the bear a tremendous jerk--"Joqard and I have +been to audience with him in his palace." + +"A wonderful prince no doubt; but I asked not of him. The plate, +man--what of this plate? If nothing, then give way to Joqard." + +"There are fools and fools--that is, there are plain fools and wise +fools. The wise fool answering the plain fool, is always more +particular with his premises than his argument." + +The laugh was with the hamari again; after which he continued: "So, +having done with explanation, now to satisfy you." + +From the breast of his gown, he brought forth a piece of bronze +considerably less than the plate on the gate, but in every other +respect its counterpart. + +"See you this?" he said, holding the bronze up to view. + +There was quick turning from plate to plate, and the conclusion was as +quick. + +"They are the same, but what of it?" + +"This--Joqard and I went up one day and danced for the Prince, and at +the end he dismissed us, giving me a red silk purse fat with gold +pieces, and to Joqard this passport. Mark you now. The evil minded used +to beat us with cudgels and stones--I mean among the Turk--but coming +to a town now, I tie this to Joqard's collar, and we have welcome. We +eat and drink, and are given good quarters, and sped from morning to +morning without charge." + +"There is some magic in the plate, then?" + +"No," said the hamari, "unless there is magic in the love of a people +for the Prince to be their ruler. It certifies Joqard and I are of +Prince Mahommed's friends, and that is enough for Turks; and the same +yonder. By the sign, I know this gate, these grounds, and the owner of +them are in his protection. But," said the bear-keeper, changing his +tone, "seeing one civil answer deserves another, when was Prince +Mahommed here?" + +"In person? Never." + +"Oh, he must have been." + +"Why do you say so?" + +"Because of the brass plate yonder." + +"What does it prove?" + +"Ah, yes!" the man answered laughingly. "Joqard and I pick up many odd +things, and meet a world of people--don't we, fellow?" Another furious +jerk of the leading strap brought a whine from the bear, "But it is +good for us. We teach school as we go; and you know, my friend, for +every _solidus_ its equivalent in _noumia_ is somewhere." + +"I will give you a _noumia_, if you will give me an answer." + +"A bargain--a bargain, with witnesses!" + +Then after a glance into the faces around, as if summoning attention to +the offer, the hamari proceeded. + +"Listen. I say the brass up there proves Prince Mahommed was here in +person. Wishing to notify his people that he had taken in his care +everything belonging to this property, the owner included, the Prince +put his signature to the proclamation." + +"Proclamation?" + +"Yes--you may call it plain brass, if you prefer; none the less the +writing on it is _Mahommed:_ and because such favors must bear his name +on them, they are reserved for his giving. No other man, except the +great Sultan, his father, would bestow one of them. Joqard had his from +the Prince's hand directly; wherefore--I hope, friend, you have the +_noumia_ ready--the brass on this post must have been fixed there by +the Prince with his own hand." + +The fishermen were satisfied; and it was wonderful how interesting the +safeguard then became to them. By report they knew Mahommed the +prospective successor of the terrible Amurath; they knew him a soldier +conspicuous in many battles; and from the familiar principle by which +we admire or dread those possessed of qualities unlike and superior to +our own, their ideas and speculations concerning him were wild and +generally harsh. Making no doubt now that he had really been to the +gate, they asked themselves, What could have been his object? To look +at the plate was next thing to looking at the man. Even Sergius partook +of the feeling. To get a better view, he shifted his position, and was +beset by inquietudes not in the understanding of the fishermen. + +The Princess Irene, her property and dependents, were subjects of +protection by the Moslem; that much was clear; but did she know the +fact? Had she seen the Prince? Then the Hegumen's criticism upon the +persistence with which she kept her residence here, a temptation to the +brutalized unbeliever on the other shore, derived a point altogether +new. + +Sergius turned away, and passed into the well-tended grounds. While too +loyal to the little mother, as he tenderly called the Princess, to +admit a suspicion against her, with painful clearness, he perceived the +opportunity the affair offered her enemies for the most extreme +accusations; and he resolved to speak to her, and, if necessary, to +remonstrate. + +Traversing the shelled roadway up to the portico of the palace, he +looked back through the red pavilion, and caught a glimpse of Joqard +performing before a merry group of boys and elders male and female. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HAMARI + + +The love of all things living which was so positively a trait of +character with the Princess Irene was never stinted in her dealings +with her own country folk. On this occasion her whole establishment at +Therapia was accorded her guests; yet, while they wandered at will +merry-making through the gardens, and flashed their gay colors along +the side and from the summit of the promontory, they seemed to have +united in holding the palace in respectful reserve. None of them, +without a special request, presumed to pass the first of the steps +leading up into the building. + +When Sergius, approaching from the outer gate, drew nigh the front of +the palace, he was brought to a stop by a throng of men and women +packed around a platform the purpose of which was declared by its use. +It was low, but of generous length and breadth, and covered with fresh +sail-cloth; at each corner a mast had been raised, with yard-arms well +squared, and dressed profusely in roses, ferns, and acacia fronds. On a +gallery swung to the base of the over-pending portico, a troupe of +musicians were making the most of flute, cithara, horn, and +kettle-drum, and not vainly, to judge from the flying feet of the +dancers in possession of the boards. + +Lifting his eyes above the joyous exhibition, he beheld the carven +capitals of the columns, tied together with festoonery of evergreens, +and relieved by garlands of shining flowers, and above the musicians, +under a canopy shading her from the meridian sun, the Princess Irene +herself. A bright carpet hanging down the wall enriched the position +chosen by her, and in the pleasant shade, surrounded by young women, +she sat with uncovered head and face, delighted with the music and the +dancing--delighted that it was in her power to bring together so many +souls to forget, though so briefly, the fretting of hard conditions +daily harder growing. None knew better than she the rapidity of the +national decadence. + +It was not long until the young hostess noticed Sergius, taller of his +high hat and long black gown; and careless as usual of the +conventionalities, she arose, and beckoned to him with her fan; and the +people, seeing whom she thus honored, opened right and left, and with +good-will made way for him. Upon his coming her attendants drew +aside--all but one, to whom for the moment he gave but a passing look. + +The Princess received him seated. The youthful loveliness of her +countenance seemed refined by the happiness she was deriving from the +spectacle before her. He took the hand she extended him, kissed it +respectfully, with only a glance at the simple but perfected Greek of +her costume, and immediately the doubts, and fears, and questions, and +lectures in outline he had brought with him from the city dropped out +of mind. Suspicion could not look at her and live. + +"Welcome, Sergius," she said, with dignity. "I was afraid you would not +come to-day." + +"Why not? If my little mother's lightest suggestions are laws with me, +what are her invitations?" + +For the first time he had addressed her by the affectionate term, and +the sound was startling. The faintest flush spread over her cheek, +admonishing him that the familiarity had not escaped attention. Greatly +to his relief, she quietly passed the matter. + +"You were at the _Pannychides?_" she asked. + +"Yes, till daybreak." + +"I thought so, and concluded you would be too weary to see us to-day. +The Mystery is tedious." + +"It might become so if too frequently celebrated. As it was, I shall +not forget the hillside, and the multitude of frocked and cowled +figures kneeling in the dim red light of the torches. The scene was +awful." + +"Did you see the Emperor?" + +She put the question in a low tone. + +"No," he returned. "His Majesty sent for our Hegumen to come to the +Chapel. The good man took me with him, his book and torch bearer; but +when we arrived, the Emperor had passed in and closed the door, and I +could only imagine him on his knees alone in the room, except as the +relics about him were company." + +"How unspeakably dismal!" she said with a shudder, adding in sorrowful +reflection, "I wish I could help him, for he is a prince with a tender +conscience; but there is no way--at least Heaven does not permit me to +see anything for him in my gift but prayer." + +Sergius followed her sympathetically, and was surprised when she +continued, the violet gray of her eyes changing into subtle fire. "A +sky all cloud; the air void of hope; enemies mustering everywhere on +land; the city, the court, the Church rent by contending +factions--behold how a Christian king, the first one in generations, is +plagued! Ah, who can interpret for Providence? And what a miracle is +prophecy!" + +Thereupon the Princess bethought herself, and cast a hurried glance out +over the garden. + +"No, no! If these poor souls can forget their condition and be happy, +why not we? Tell me good news, Sergius, if you have any--only the good. +But see! Who is he making way through the throng yonder? And what is it +he is leading?" + +The transition of feeling, though sudden and somewhat forced, was +successful; the Princess' countenance again brightened; and turning to +follow her direction, Sergius observed Lael, who had not fallen back +with the other attendants. The girl had been a modest listener; now +there was a timid half smile on her face, and a glistening welcome in +her eyes. His gaze stopped short of the object which had inspired his +hostess with such interest, and dropped to the figured carpet at the +guest's feet; for the feeling the recognition awakened was clouded with +the taunt Demedes had flung at him in the hall of the monastery, and he +questioned the rightfulness of this appearance. If she were not the +daughter of the Prince of India, she was an--impostor was the word in +his mind. + +"I was expecting you," she said to him, artlessly. + +Sergius raised his face, and was about to speak, when the Princess +started from her seat, and moved to the low balustrade of the portico. + +"Come," she called, "come, and tell me what this is." + +Sergius left a friendly glance with Lael. + +Where the roadway from the gate led up to the platform an opening had +been made in the close wall of spectators attracted by the music and +dancing. In the opening, the hamari was slowly coming forward, his +turban awry, his brown face overrun and shining with perspiration, his +sharp gypsy eyes full of merriment. With the leading strap over a +shoulder, he tugged at Joqard. Sergius laughed to see the surprise of +the men and women, and at the peculiar yells and screams with which +they struggled to escape. But everybody appearing in good nature, he +said to the Princess: "Do not be concerned. A Turk or Persian with a +trained bear. I passed him at the gate." + +He saw the opportunity of speaking about the brass plate on the post, +and while debating whether to avail himself of it, the hamari caught +sight of the party at the edge of the portico, stopped, surveyed them, +then prostrated himself in the abjectest Eastern manner. The homage was +of course to the Princess--so at least the assemblage concluded; and +jumping to the idea that the bear-keeper had been employed by her for +their divertisement, each man in the company resolved himself into an +ally and proceeded to assist him. The musicians were induced to suspend +their performance, and the dancers to vacate the platform; then, any +number of hands helping them up, Joqard and his master were promoted to +the boards, sole claimants of attention and favor. + +The fellow was not in the least embarrassed. He took position on the +platform in front of the Princess, and again saluted her Orientally, +and with the greatest deliberation, omitting no point of the +prostration. Bringing the bear to a sitting posture with folded paws, +he bowed right and left to the spectators, and made a speech in +laudation of Joqard. His grimaces and gesticulation kept the crowd in a +roar; when addressing the Princess, his manner was respectful, even +courtierly. Joqard and he had travelled the world over; they had been +through the Far East, and through the lands of the Frank and Gaul; they +had crossed Europe from Paris to the Black Sea, and up to the Crimea; +they had appeared before the great everywhere--Indian Rajahs, Tartar +Khans, Persian Shahs, Turkish Sultans; there was no language they did +not understand. The bear, he insisted, was the wisest of animals, the +most susceptible of education, the most capable and willing in service. +This the ancients understood better than the moderns, for in +recognition of his superiority they had twice exalted him to the +Heavens, and in both instances near the star that knew no deviation. +The hamari was a master of amplification, and his anecdotes never +failed their purpose. + +"Now," he said, "I do not care what the subject of discourse may be; +one thing is true--my audience is always composed of believers and +unbelievers; and as between them"--here he addressed himself to the +Princess--"as between them, O Most Illustrious of women, my difficulty +has been to determine which class is most to be feared. Every +philosopher must admit there is quite as much danger in the man who +withholds his faith when it ought to be given, as in his opposite who +hurries to yield it without reason. My rule as an auditor is to wait +for demonstration. So"--turning to the assemblage--"if here any man or +woman doubts that the bear is the wisest of animals, and Joqard the +most learned and accomplished of bears, I will prove it." Then Joqard +was called on. + +"For attend, O Illustrious Princess!--and look ye, O men and women, +pliers of net and boat!--look ye all! Now shall Joqard himself speak +for Joqard." + +The hamari began talking to the bear in a jargon utterly unintelligible +to his hearers, though they fell to listening with might and main, and +were silent that they might hear. Nothing could have been more earnest +than his communications, whatever they were; at times he put an arm +about the brute's neck; at times he whispered in its ear; and in return +it bowed and grunted assent, or growled and shook its head in refusal, +always in the most knowing manner. In this style, to appearance, he was +telling what he wanted done. Then retaining the leading strap, the +master stepped aside, and Joqard, left to himself, proceeded to prove +his intelligence and training by facing the palace, bringing his arms +overhead, and falling forward. Everybody understood the honor intended +for the Princess; the bystanders shouted; the attendants on the portico +clapped their hands, for indeed never in their remembrance had the +prostration been more profoundly executed. Arising nimbly the performer +wheeled about, reared on his hind feet, clasped his paws on his head, +and acknowledged the favor of the commonalty by resolving himself into +a great fur ball, and rolling a somersault. The acclamation became +tumultuous. One admirer ran off and returned with an armful of wreaths +and garlands, and presently Joqard was wearing them royally. + +With excellent judgment the hamari proceeded next to hurry the +exhibition, passing from one trick to another almost without pause +until the wrestling match was reached. This has been immemorially the +reliable point in performances of the kind he was giving, but he +introduced it in a manner of his own. + +Standing by the edge of the platform, as the friend and herald of +Joqard, he first loudly challenged the men before him, every one +ambitious of honor and renown, to come up and try a fall; and upon +their hanging back, he berated them. Wherever a tall man stood +observable above the level of heads, he singled him out. Failing to +secure a champion, he finally undertook the contest himself. + +"Ho, Joqard," he cried, while tying the leading strap around the +brute's neck, "thou fearest nothing. Thy dam up in the old Caucasian +cave was great of heart, and, like her, thou wouldst not quail before +Hercules, were he living. But thou shalt not lick thy paws and laugh, +thinking Hercules hath no descendant." + +Retiring a few steps he tightened the belt about his waist, and drew +his leathern jacket closer. + +"Get ready!" he cried. + +Joqard answered promptly and intelligently by standing up and facing +him, and in sign of satisfaction with the prospect of an encounter so +to his taste, he lolled the long red tongue out of his jaws. Was he +licking his chops in anticipation of a feast or merely laughing? The +beholders became quiet; and Sergius for the first time observed how +very low in stature the hamari seemed. + +"Look out, look out! O thou with the north star in the tip of thy tail! +I am coming--for the honor of mankind, I am coming." + +They danced around each other watching for an opening. "Aha! Now thou +thinkest to get the advantage. Thou art proud of thy fame, and cunning, +but I am a man. I have been in many schools. Look out!" + +The hamari leaped in and with both hands caught the strap looped around +Joqard's neck; at the same time he was himself caught in Joqard's ready +arms. The growl with which the latter received the attack was angry, +and lent the struggle much more than a mere semblance of danger. Round +and about they were borne; now forward, then back; sometimes they were +likely to tumble from the boards. The hamari's effort was to choke +Joqard into submission; Joqard's was to squeeze the breath out of the +hamari's body; and they both did their parts well. + +After some minutes the man's exertions became intermittent. A little +further on the certainty of triumph inspired Joqard to fierce +utterances; his growls were really terrible, and he hugged so +mercilessly his opponent grew livid in the face. The women and children +began to cry and scream, and many of the men shouted in genuine alarm: +"See, see! The poor fellow is choking to death!" The excitement and +fear extended to the portico; some of the attendants there, unable to +endure the sight, fled from it. Lael implored Sergius to save the +hamari. Even the Princess was undecided whether the acting was real or +affected. + +Finally the crisis came. The man could hold out no longer; he let go +his grip on the strap, and, struggling feebly to loose his body from +the great black arms, shouted hoarsely: "Help, help!" As if he had not +strength to continue the cry, he threw his hands up, and his head back +gasping. + +The Princess Irene covered her eyes. Sergius stepped over the +balustrade; but before he could get further, a number of men were on +the stage making to the rescue. And seeing them come, the hamari laid +one hand on the strap, and with the other caught the tongue protruding +from Joqard's open jaws; as a further point in the offensive so +suddenly resumed, he planted a foot heavily on one of his antagonist's. +Immediately the son of the proud Caucasian dam was flat on the boards +simulating death. + +Then everybody understood the play, and the merriment was heightened by +the speech the hamari found opportunity to make his rescuers before +they could recover from their astonishment and break up the tableau +they formed. The Princess, laughing through her tears, flung the victor +some gold pieces, and Lael tossed her fan to him. The prostrations with +which he acknowledged the favors were marvels to behold. + +By and by, quiet being restored, Joqard was roused from his trance, and +the hamari, calling the musicians to strike up, concluded the +performance with a dance. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Prince of India, Volume I, by Lew. Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA, VOLUME I *** + +***** This file should be named 6848.txt or 6848.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/8/4/6848/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9e2e2f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6848 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6848) diff --git a/old/tpin110.txt b/old/tpin110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7bf3a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tpin110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15787 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume 1 +by Lew. Wallace + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!**** + + +Title: The Prince of India + Or + Why Constantinople Fell + Volume 1 + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6848] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 1, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA +VOlume 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA +OR +WHY CONSTANTINOPLE FELL + +BY +LEW. WALLACE + +VOL. I. + + + + + _Rise, too, ye Shapes and Shadows of the Past + Rise from your long forgotten grazes at last + Let us behold your faces, let us hear + The words you uttered in those days of fear + Revisit your familiar haunts again + The scenes of triumph and the scenes of pain + And leave the footprints of your bleeding feet + Once more upon the pavement of the street_ + LONGFELLOW + + + + +CONTENTS + + +BOOK I +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS + + I. THE NAMELESS BAY + II. THE MIDNIGHT LANDING + III. THE HIDDEN TREASURE + +BOOK II +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + + I. A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO + II. THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF + III. THE YELLOW AIR + IV. EL ZARIBAH + V. THE PASSING OF THE CARAVAN + VI. THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR + VII. AT THE KAABA + VIII. THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE + IX. THE PRINCE AT HOME + X. THE ROSE OF SPRING + +BOOK III +THE PRINCESS IRENE + + I. MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS + II. THE PRINCESS IRENE + III. THE HOMERIC PALACE + IV. THE RUSSIAN MONK + V. A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER + VI. WHAT DO THE STARS SAY? + VII. THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE + VIII. RACING WITH A STORM + IX. IN THE WHITE CASTLE + X. THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER + XI. THE TURQUOISE RING + XII. THE RING RETURNS + XIII. MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS + XIV. DREAMS AND VISIONS + XV. DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE + XVI. AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE + XVII. THE EMPEROR'S WOOING +XVIII. THE SINGING SHEIK + XIX. TWO TURKISH TALES + XX. MAHOMMED DREAMS + +BOOK IV +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + I. THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + II. THE AUDIENCE + III. THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED + IV. THE PANNYCHIDES + V. A PLAGUE OF CRIME + VI. A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD + VII. A BYZANTINE HERETIC + VIII. THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS + IX. A FISHERMAN'S FETE + X. THE HAMARI + + + + +BOOK I + +THE EARTH AND THE SEA ARE ALWAYS GIVING UP THEIR SECRETS THE +PRINCE OF INDIA + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE NAMELESS BAY + + +In the noon of a September day in the year of our dear Lord 1395, a +merchant vessel nodded sleepily upon the gentle swells of warm water +flowing in upon the Syrian coast. A modern seafarer, looking from the +deck of one of the Messagerie steamers now plying the same line of +trade, would regard her curiously, thankful to the calm which held her +while he slaked his wonder, yet more thankful that he was not of her +passage. + +She could not have exceeded a hundred tons burthen. At the bow and stern +she was decked, and those quarters were fairly raised. Amidship she was +low and open, and pierced for twenty oars, ten to a side, all swaying +listlessly from the narrow ports in which they were hung. Sometimes they +knocked against each other. One sail, square and of a dingy white, +drooped from a broad yard-arm, which was itself tilted, and now and then +creaked against the yellow mast complainingly, unmindful of the simple +tackle designed to keep it in control. A watchman crouched in the meagre +shade of a fan-like structure overhanging the bow deck. The roofing and +the floor, where exposed, were clean, even bright; in all other parts +subject to the weather and the wash there was only the blackness of +pitch. The steersman sat on a bench at the stern. Occasionally, from +force of habit, he rested a hand upon the rudder-oar to be sure it was +yet in reach. With exception of the two, the lookout and the steersman, +all on board, officers, oarsmen, and sailors, were asleep--such +confidence could a Mediterranean calm inspire in those accustomed to +life on the beautiful sea. As if Neptune never became angry there, and +blowing his conch, and smiting with his trident, splashed the sky with +the yeast of waves! However, in 1395 Neptune had disappeared; like the +great god Pan, he was dead. + +The next remarkable thing about the ship was the absence of the signs of +business usual with merchantmen. There were no barrels, boxes, bales, or +packages visible. Nothing indicated a cargo. In her deepest undulations +the water-line was not once submerged. The leather shields of the +oar-ports were high and dry. Possibly she had passengers aboard. Ah, +yes! There under the awning, stretched halfway across the deck dominated +by the steersman, was a group of persons all unlike seamen. Pausing to +note them, we may find the motive of the voyage. + +Four men composed the group. One was lying upon a pallet, asleep yet +restless. A black velvet cap had slipped from his head, giving freedom +to thick black hair tinged with white. Starting from the temples, a +beard with scarce a suggestion of gray swept in dark waves upon the neck +and throat, and even invaded the pillow. Between the hair and beard +there was a narrow margin of sallow flesh for features somewhat crowded +by knots of wrinkle. His body was wrapped in a loose woollen gown of +brownish-black. A hand, apparently all bone, rested upon the breast, +clutching a fold of the gown. The feet twitched nervously in the +loosened thongs of old-fashioned sandals. Glancing at the others of the +group, it was plain this sleeper was master and they his slaves. Two of +them were stretched on the bare boards at the lower end of the pallet, +and they were white. The third was a son of Ethiopia of unmixed blood +and gigantic frame. He sat at the left of the couch, cross-legged, and, +like the rest, was in a doze; now and then, however, he raised his head, +and, without fully opening his eyes, shook a fan of peacock feathers +from head to foot over the recumbent figure. The two whites were clad in +gowns of coarse linen belted to their waists; while, saving a cincture +around his loins, the negro was naked. + +There is often much personal revelation to be gleaned from the +properties a man carries with him from home. Applying the rule here, by +the pallet there was a walking-stick of unusual length, and severely +hand-worn a little above the middle. In emergency it might have been +used as a weapon. Three bundles loosely wrapped had been cast against a +timber of the ship; presumably they contained the plunder of the slaves +reduced to the minimum allowance of travel. But the most noticeable item +was a leather roll of very ancient appearance, held by a number of broad +straps deeply stamped and secured by buckles of a metal blackened like +neglected silver. + +The attention of a close observer would have been attracted to this +parcel, not so much by its antique showing, as by the grip with which +its owner clung to it with his right hand. Even in sleep he held it of +infinite consequence. It could not have contained coin or any bulky +matter. Possibly the man was on some special commission, with his +credentials in the old roll. Ay, who was he? + +Thus started, the observer would have bent himself to study of the face; +and immediately something would have suggested that while the stranger +was of this period of the world he did not belong to it. Such were the +magicians of the story-loving Al-Raschid. Or he was of the type +Rabbinical that sat with Caiphas in judgment upon the gentle Nazarene. +Only the centuries could have evolved the apparition. Who was he? + +In the course of half an hour the man stirred, raised his head, looked +hurriedly at his attendants, then at the parts of the ship in view, then +at the steersman still dozing by the rudder; then he sat up, and brought +the roll to his lap, whereat the rigor of his expression relaxed. The +parcel was safe! And the conditions about him were as they should be! + +He next set about undoing the buckles of his treasure. The long fingers +were expert; but just when the roll was ready to open he lifted his +face, and fixed his eyes upon the section of blue expanse outside the +edge of the awning, and dropped into thought. And straightway it was +settled that he was not a diplomatist or a statesman or a man of +business of any kind. The reflection which occupied him had nothing to +do with intrigues or statecraft; its centre was in his heart as the look +proved. So, in tender moods, a father gazes upon his child, a husband at +the beloved wife, restfully, lovingly. + +And that moment the observer, continuing his study, would have forgotten +the parcel, the white slaves, the gigantic negro, the self-willed hair +and beard of pride--the face alone would have held him. The countenance +of the Sphinx has no beauty now; and standing before it, we feel no stir +of the admiration always a certificate that what we are beholding is +charming out of the common lines; yet we are drawn to it irresistibly, +and by a wish vague, foolish--so foolish we would hesitate long before +putting it in words to be heard by our best lover--a wish that the +monster would tell us all about itself. The feeling awakened by the face +of the traveller would have been similar, for it was distinctly +Israelitish, with exaggerated eyes set deeply in cavernous hollows--a +mobile mask, in fact, concealing a life in some way unlike other lives. +Unlike? That was the very attraction. If the man would only speak, what +a tale he could unfold! + +But he did not speak. Indeed, he seemed to have regarded speech a +weakness to be fortified against. Putting the pleasant thought aside, he +opened the roll, and with exceeding tenderness of touch brought forth a +sheet of vellum dry to brittleness, and yellow as a faded sycamore leaf. +There were lines upon it as of a geometrical drawing, and an inscription +in strange characters. He bent over the chart, if such it may be called, +eagerly, and read it through; then, with a satisfied expression, he +folded it back into the cover, rebuckled the straps, and placed the +parcel under the pillow. Evidently the business drawing him was +proceeding as he would have had it. Next he woke the negro with a touch. +The black in salute bent his body forward, and raised his hands palm +out, the thumbs at the forehead. Attention singularly intense settled +upon his countenance; he appeared to listen with his soul. It was time +for speech, yet the master merely pointed to one of the sleepers. The +watchful negro caught the idea, and going to the man, aroused him, then +resumed his place and posture by the pallet. The action revealed his +proportions. He looked as if he could have lifted the gates of Gaza, and +borne them easily away; and to the strength there were superadded the +grace, suppleness, and softness of motion of a cat. One could not have +helped thinking the slave might have all the elements to make him a +superior agent in fields of bad as well as good. + +The second slave arose, and waited respectfully. It would have been +difficult to determine his nationality. He had the lean face, the high +nose, sallow complexion, and low stature of an Armenian. His countenance +was pleasant and intelligent. In addressing him, the master made signs +with hand and finger; and they appeared sufficient, for the servant +walked away quickly as if on an errand. A short time, and he came back +bringing a companion of the genus sailor, very red-faced, heavily built, +stupid, his rolling gait unrelieved by a suggestion of good manners. +Taking position before the black-gowned personage, his feet wide apart, +the mariner said: + +"You sent for me?" + +The question was couched in Byzantine Greek. + +"Yes," the passenger replied, in the same tongue, though with better +accent. "Where are we?" + +"But for this calm we should be at Sidon. The lookout reports the +mountains in view." + +The passenger reflected a moment, then asked, "Resorting to the oars, +when can we reach the city?" + +"By midnight." + +"Very well. Listen now." + +The speaker's manner changed; fixing his big eyes upon the sailor's +lesser orbs, he continued: + +"A few stadia north of Sidon there is what may be called a bay. It is +about four miles across. Two little rivers empty into it, one on each +side. Near the middle of the bend of the shore there is a well of sweet +water, with flow enough to support a few villagers and their camels. Do +you know the bay?" + +The skipper would have become familiar. + +"You are well acquainted with this coast," he said. + +"Do you know of such a bay?" the passenger repeated. + +"I have heard of it." + +"Could you find it at night?" + +"I believe so." + +"That is enough. Take me into the bay, and land me at midnight. I will +not go to the city. Get out all the oars now. At the proper time I will +tell you what further I wish. Remember I am to be set ashore at midnight +at a place which I will show you." + +The directions though few were clear. Having given them, the passenger +signed the negro to fan him, and stretched himself upon the pallet; and +thenceforth there was no longer a question who was in control. It became +the more interesting, however, to know the object of the landing at +midnight on the shore of a lonesome unnamed bay. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MIDNIGHT LANDING + + +The skipper predicted like a prophet. The ship was in the bay, and it +was midnight or nearly so; for certain stars had climbed into certain +quarters of the sky, and after their fashion were striking the hour. + +The passenger was pleased. + +"You have done well," he said to the mariner. "Be silent now, and get +close in shore. There are no breakers. Have the small boat ready, and do +not let the anchors go." + +The calm still prevailed, and the swells of the sea were scarce +perceptible. Under the gentlest impulse of the oars the little vessel +drifted broadside on until the keel touched the sands. At the same +instant the small boat appeared. The skipper reported to the passenger. +Going to each of the slaves, the latter signed them to descend. The +negro swung himself down like a monkey, and received the baggage, which, +besides the bundles already mentioned, consisted of some tools, notably +a pick, a shovel, and a stout crowbar. An empty water-skin was also sent +down, followed by a basket suggestive of food. Then the passenger, with +a foot over the side of the vessel, gave his final directions. + +"You will run now," he said to the skipper, who, to his credit, had thus +far asked no questions, "down to the city, and lie there to-morrow, +and to-morrow night. Attract little notice as possible. It is not +necessary to pass the gate. Put out in time to be here at sunrise. I +will be waiting for you. Day after to-morrow at sunrise--remember." + +"But if you should not be here?" asked the sailor, thinking of extreme +probabilities. + +"Then wait for me," was the answer. + +The passenger, in turn, descended to the boat, and was caught in the +arms of the black, and seated carefully as he had been a child. In brief +time the party was ashore, and the boat returning to the ship; a little +later, the ship withdrew to where the night effectually curtained the +deep. + +The stay on the shore was long enough to apportion the baggage amongst +the slaves. The master then led the way. Crossing the road running from +Sidon along the coast to the up-country, they came to the foothills of +the mountain, all without habitation. + +Later they came upon signs of ancient life in splendor--broken columns, +and here and there Corinthian capitals in marble discolored and sunk +deeply in sand and mould. The patches of white on them had a ghastly +glimmer in the starlight. They were approaching the site of an old city, +a suburb probably of Palae-Tyre when she was one of the spectacles of +the world, sitting by the sea to rule it regally far and wide. + +On further a small stream, one of those emptying into the bay, had +ploughed a ravine for itself across the route the party was pursuing. +Descending to the water, a halt was made to drink, and fill the +water-skin, which the negro took on his shoulder. + +On further there was another ancient site strewn with fragments +indicative of a cemetery. Hewn stones were frequent, and mixed with them +were occasional entablatures and vases from which the ages had not yet +entirely worn the fine chiselling. At length an immense uncovered +sarcophagus barred the way. The master stopped by it to study the +heavens; when he found the north star, he gave the signal to his +followers, and moved under the trail of the steadfast beacon. + +They came to a rising ground more definitely marked by sarcophagi hewn +from the solid rock, and covered by lids of such weight and solidity +that a number of them had never been disturbed. Doubtless the dead +within were lying as they had been left--but when, and by whom? What +disclosures there will be when at last the end is trumpeted in! + +On further, but still connected with the once magnificent funeral site, +they encountered a wall many feet thick, and shortway beyond it, on the +mountain's side, there were two arches of a bridge of which all else had +been broken down; and these two had never spanned anything more +substantial than the air. Strange structure for such a locality! +Obviously the highway which once ran over it had begun in the city the +better to communicate with the cemetery through which the party had just +passed. So much was of easy understanding; but where was the other +terminus? At sight of the arches the master drew a long breath of +relief. They were the friends for whom he had been searching. + +Nevertheless, without stopping, he led down into a hollow on all sides +sheltered from view; and there the unloading took place. The tools and +bundles were thrown down by a rock, and preparations made for the +remainder of the night. The pallet was spread for the master. The basket +gave up its contents, and the party refreshed themselves and slept the +sleep of the weary. + +The secluded bivouac was kept the next day. Only the master went forth +in the afternoon. Climbing the mountain, he found the line in +continuation of the bridge; a task the two arches serving as a base made +comparatively easy. He stood then upon a bench or terrace cumbered with +rocks, and so broad that few persons casually looking would have +suspected it artificial. Facing fully about from the piers, he walked +forward following the terrace which at places was out of line, and piled +with debris tumbled from the mountain on the right hand side; in a few +minutes that silent guide turned with an easy curve and disappeared in +what had yet the appearance hardly distinguishable of an area wrenched +with enormous labor from a low cliff of solid brown limestone. + +The visitor scanned the place again and again; then he said aloud: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +The sentence was left unfinished. + +That he could thus identify the spot, and with such certainty pass upon +it in relation to a former period, proved he had been there before. + +Rocks, earth, and bushes filled the space. Picking footway through, he +examined the face of the cliff then in front of him, lingering longest +on the heap of breakage forming a bank over the meeting line of area and +hill. + +"Yes," he repeated, this time with undisguised satisfaction, "no one has +been here since"-- + +Again the sentence was unfinished. + +He ascended the bank next, and removed some of the stones at the top. A +carved line in low relief on the face of the rock was directly exposed; +seeing it he smiled, and replaced the stones, and descending, went back +to the terrace, and thence to the slaves in bivouac. + +From one of the packages he had two iron lamps of old Roman style +brought out, and supplied with oil and wicks; then, as if everything +necessary to his project was done, he took to the pallet. Some goats had +come to the place in his absence, but no living creature else. + +After nightfall the master woke the slaves, and made final preparation +for the venture upon which he had come. The tools he gave to one man, +the lamps to another, and the water-skin to the negro. Then he led out +of the hollow, and up the mountain to the terrace visited in the +afternoon; nor did he pause in the area mentioned as the abrupt terminus +of the highway over the skeleton piers. He climbed the bank of stones +covering the foot of the cliff up to the precise spot at which his +reconnoissance had ended. + +Directly the slaves were removing the bank at the top; not a difficult +task since they had only to roll the loose stones down a convenient +grade. They worked industriously. At length--in half an hour +probably--an opening into the cliff was discovered. The cavity, small at +first, rapidly enlarged, until it gave assurance of a doorway of immense +proportions. When the enlargement sufficed for his admission, the master +stayed the work, and passed in. The slaves followed. The interior +descent offered a grade corresponding with that of the bank +outside--another bank, in fact, of like composition, but more difficult +to pass on account of the darkness. + +With his foot the leading adventurer felt the way down to a floor; and +when his assistants came to him, he took from a pocket in his gown a +small case filled with a chemical powder which he poured at his feet; +then he produced a flint and steel, and struck them together. Some +sparks dropped upon the powder. Instantly a flame arose and filled the +place with a ruddy illumination. Lighting the lamps by the flame, the +party looked around them, the slaves with simple wonder. + +They were in a vault--a burial vault of great antiquity. Either it was +an imitation of like chambers in Egypt, or they were imitations of it. +The excavation had been done with chisels. The walls were niched, giving +them an appearance of panelling, and over each of the niches there had +been an inscription in raised letters, now mostly defaced. The floor was +a confusion of fragments knocked from sarcophagi, which, massive as they +were, had been tilted, overturned, uncovered, mutilated, and robbed. +Useless to inquire whose the vandalism. It may have been of Chaldeans of +the time of Almanezor, or of the Greeks who marched with Alexander, or +of Egyptians who were seldom regardful of the dead of the peoples they +overthrew as they were of their own, or of Saracens, thrice conquerors +along the Syrian coast, or of Christians. Few of the Crusaders were like +St. Louis. + +But of all this the master took no notice. With him it was right that +the vault should look the wreck it was. Careless of inscriptions, +indifferent to carving, his eyes ran rapidly along the foot of the +northern wall until they came to a sarcophagus of green marble. Thither +he proceeded. He laid his hand upon the half-turned lid, and observing +that the back of the great box--if such it may be termed--was against +the wall, he said again: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +And again the sentence was left unfinished. + +Forthwith he became all energy. The negro brought the crowbar, and, by +direction, set it under the edge of the sarcophagus, which he held +raised while the master blocked it at the bottom with a stone chip. +Another bite, and a larger chip was inserted. Good hold being thus had, +a vase was placed for fulcrum; after which, at every downward pressure +of the iron, the ponderous coffin swung round a little to the left. +Slowly and with labor the movement was continued until the space behind +was uncovered. + +By this time the lamps had become the dependencies for light. With his +in hand, the master stooped and inspected the exposed wall. Involuntarily +the slaves bent forward and looked, but saw nothing different from the +general surface in that quarter. The master beckoned the negro, and +touching a stone not wider than his three fingers, but reddish in hue, +and looking like mere chinking lodged in an accidental crevice, signed +him to strike it with the end of the bar. Once--twice--the stone refused +to stir; with the third blow it was driven in out of sight, and, being +followed vigorously, was heard to drop on the other side. The wall +thereupon, to the height of the sarcophagus and the width of a broad +door, broke, and appeared about to tumble down. + +When the dust cleared away, there was a crevice unseen before, and wide +enough to admit a hand. The reader must remember there were masons in +the old time who amused themselves applying their mathematics to such +puzzles. Here obviously the intention had been to screen an entrance to +an adjoining chamber, and the key to the design had been the sliver of +red granite first displaced. + +A little patient use then of hand and bar enabled the workman to take +out the first large block of the combination. That the master numbered +with chalk, and had carefully set aside. A second block was taken out, +numbered, and set aside; finally the screen was demolished, and the way +stood open. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HIDDEN TREASURE + + +The slaves looked dubiously at the dusty aperture, which held out no +invitation to them; the master, however, drew his robe closer about him, +and stooping went in, lamp in hand. They then followed. + +An ascending passage, low but of ample width, received them. It too had +been chiselled from the solid rock. The wheel marks of the cars used in +the work were still on the floor. The walls were bare but smoothly +dressed. Altogether the interest here lay in expectation of what was to +come; and possibly it was that which made the countenance of the master +look so grave and absorbed. He certainly was not listening to the +discordant echoes roused as he advanced. + +The ascent was easy. Twenty-five or thirty steps brought them to the end +of the passage. + +They then entered a spacious chamber circular and domed. The light of +the lamps was not enough to redeem the ceiling from obscurity; yet the +master led without pause to a sarcophagus standing under the centre of +the dome, and when he was come there everything else was forgotten by +him. + +The receptacle of the dead thus discovered had been hewn from the rock, +and was of unusual proportions. Standing broadside to the entrance, it +was the height of an ordinary man, and twice as long as high. The +exterior had been polished smoothly as the material would allow; +otherwise it was of absolute plainness, looking not unlike a dark brown +box. The lid was a slab of the finest white marble carven into a perfect +model of Solomon's Temple. While the master surveyed the lid he was +visibly affected. He passed the lamp over it slowly, letting the light +fall into the courts of the famous building; in like manner he +illuminated the corridors, and the tabernacle; and, as he did so, his +features trembled and his eyes were suffused. He walked around the +exquisite representation several times, pausing now and then to blow +away the dust that had in places accumulated upon it. He noticed the +effect of the transparent whiteness in the chamber; so in its day the +original had lit up the surrounding world. Undoubtedly the model had +peculiar hold upon his feelings. + +But shaking the weakness off he after a while addressed himself to work. +He had the negro thrust the edge of the bar under the lid, and raise it +gently. Having thoughtfully provided himself in the antechamber with +pieces of stone for the purpose, he placed one of them so as to hold the +vantage gained. Slowly, then, by working at the ends alternately, the +immense slab was turned upon its centre; slowly the hollow of the coffin +was flooded with light; slowly, and with seeming reluctance, it gave up +its secrets. + +In strong contrast to the plainness of the exterior, the interior of the +sarcophagus was lined with plates and panels of gold, on which there +were cartoons chased and beaten in, representing ships, and tall trees, +doubtless cedars of Lebanon, and masons at work, and two men armed and +in royal robes greeting each other with clasped hands; and so beautiful +were the cartoons that the eccentric medalleur, Cellini, would have +studied them long, if not enviously. Yet he who now peered into the +receptacle scarcely glanced at them. + +On a stone chair seated was the mummy of a man with a crown upon its +head, and over its body, for the most part covering--the linen wrappings, +was a robe of threads of gold in ample arrangement. The hands rested on +the lap; in one was a sceptre; the other held an inscribed silver tablet. +There were rings plain, and rings with jewels in setting, circling the +fingers and thumbs; the ears, ankles, even the great toes, were +ornamented in like manner. At the feet a sword of the fashion of a +cimeter had been laid. The blade was in its scabbard, but the scabbard +was a mass of jewels, and the handle a flaming ruby. The belt was webbed +with pearls and glistening brilliants. Under the sword were the +instruments sacred then and ever since to Master Masons--a square, a +gavel, a plummet, and an inscribing compass. + +The man had been a king--so much the first glance proclaimed. With him, +as with his royal brethren from the tombs along the Nile, death had +asserted itself triumphantly over the embalmer. The cheeks were +shrivelled and mouldy; across the forehead the skin was drawn tight; the +temples were hollows rimmed abruptly with the frontal bones; the eyes, +pits partially filled with dried ointments of a bituminous color. The +monarch had yielded his life in its full ripeness, for the white hair +and beard still adhered in stiffened plaits to the skull, cheeks, and +chin. The nose alone was natural; it stood up thin and hooked, like the +beak of an eagle. + +At sight of the figure thus caparisoned and maintaining its seat in an +attitude of calm composure the slaves drew back startled. The negro +dropped his iron bar, making the chamber ring with a dissonant clangor. + +Around the mummy in careful arrangement were vessels heaped with coins +and pearls and precious stones, cut and ready for the goldsmith. Indeed, +the whole inner space of the sarcophagus was set with basins and urns, +each in itself a work of high art; and if their contents were to be +judged by what appeared overflowing them, they all held precious stones +of every variety. The corners had been draped with cloths of gold and +cloths embroidered with pearls, some of which were now falling to pieces +of their own weight. + +We know that kings and queens are but men and women subject to the same +passions of common people; that they are generous or sordid according to +their natures; that there have been misers amongst them; but this +one--did he imagine he could carry his amassments with him out of the +world? Had he so loved the gems in his life as to dream he could +illumine his tomb with them? If so, O royal idiot! + +The master, when an opening had been made sufficiently wide by turning +the lid upon the edge of the sarcophagus, took off his sandals, gave a +foot to one of his slaves, and swung himself into the interior. The lamp +was then given him, and he surveyed the wealth and splendor as the king +might never again. And as the king in his day had said with exultation, +Lo! it is all mine, the intruder now asserted title. + +Unable, had he so wished, to carry the whole collection off, he looked +around upon this and upon that, determining where to begin. Conscious he +had nothing to fear, and least of all from the owner in the chair, he +was slow and deliberate. From his robe he drew a number of bags of +coarse hempen cloth, and a broad white napkin. The latter he spread upon +the floor, first removing several of the urns to obtain space; then he +emptied one of the vessels upon it, and from the sparkling and +varicolored heap before him proceeded to make selection. + +His judgment was excellent, sure and swift. Not seldom he put the large +stones aside, giving preference to color and lustre. Those chosen he +dropped into a bag. When the lot was gone through, he returned the +rejected to the vessel, placing it back exactly in its place. Then he +betook himself to another of the vessels, and then another, until, in +course of a couple of hours, he had made choice from the collection, and +filled nine bags, and tied them securely. + +Greatly relieved, he arose, rubbed the benumbed joints of his limbs +awhile, then passed the packages out to the slaves. The occupation had +been wearisome and tensive; but it was finished, and he would now +retire. He lingered to give a last look at the interior, muttering the +sentence again, and leaving it unfinished as before: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +From the face of the king, his eyes fell to the silver tablet in the +nerveless hand. Moving close, and holding the lamp in convenient +position, he knelt and read the inscription. + +I. + +"There is but one God, and He was from the beginning, and will be +without end. + +II. + +"In my lifetime, I prepared this vault and tomb to receive my body, and +keep it safely; yet it may be visited, for the earth and sea are always +giving up their secrets. + +III. + +"Therefore, O Stranger, first to find me, know thou! + +"That in all my days I kept intercourse with Solomon, King of the Jews, +wisest of men, and the richest and greatest. As is known, he set about +building a house to his Lord God, resolved that there should be nothing +like it in the world, nothing so spacious, so enriched, so perfect in +proportions, so in all things becoming the glory of his God. In sympathy +with him I gave him of the skill of my people, workers in brass, and +silver, and gold, and products of the quarries: and in their ships my +sailors brought him the yield of mines from the ends of the earth. At +last the house was finished; then he sent me the model of the house, and +the coins, and cloths of gold and pearl, and the precious stones, and +the vessels holding them, and the other things of value here. Ad if, O +Stranger, thou dost wonder at the greatness of the gift, know thou that +it was but a small part of what remained unto him of like kind, for he +was master of the earth, and of everything belonging to it which might +be of service to him, even the elements and their subtleties. + +IV. + +"Nor think, O Stranger, that I have taken the wealth into the tomb with +me, imagining it can serve me in the next life. I store it here because +I love him who gave it to me, and am jealous of his love; and that is +all. + +V. + +"So thou wilt use the wealth in ways pleasing in the sight of the Lord +God of Solomon, my royal friend, take thou of it in welcome. There is no +God but his God! + +"Thus say I--HIRAM, KING OF TYRE." + +"Rest thou thy soul, O wisest of pagan kings," said the master, rising. +"Being the first to find thee here, and basing my title to thy wealth on +that circumstance, I will use it in a way pleasing in the sight of the +Lord God of Solomon. Verily, verily, there is no God but his +God!" + +This, then, was the business that brought the man to the tomb of the +king whose glory was to have been the friend of Solomon. Pondering the +idea, we begin to realize how vast the latter's fame was; and it ceases +to be matter of wonder that his contemporaries, even the most royal, +could have been jealous of his love. + +Not only have we the man's business, but it is finished; and judging +from the satisfaction discernible on his face as he raised the lamp and +turned to depart, the result must have been according to his best hope. +He took off his robe, and tossed it to his slaves; then he laid a hand +upon the edge of the sarcophagus preparatory to climbing out. At the +moment, while giving a last look about him, an emerald, smoothly cut, +and of great size, larger indeed than a full-grown pomegranate, caught +his eyes in its place loose upon the floor. He turned back, and taking +it up, examined it carefully; while thus engaged his glance dropped to +the sword almost at his feet. The sparkle of the brilliants, and the +fire-flame of the great ruby in the grip, drew him irresistibly, and he +stood considering. + +Directly he spoke in a low voice: + +"No one has been here since"-- + +He hesitated--glanced hurriedly around to again assure himself it was +not possible to be overheard--then finished the sentence: + +"No one has been here _since I came a thousand years ago_." + +At the words so strange, so inexplicable upon any theory of nature and +common experience, the lamp shook in his hand. Involuntarily he shrank +from the admission, though to himself. But recovering, he +repeated: + +"Since I came a thousand years ago." + +Then he added more firmly: + +"But the earth and the sea are always giving up their secrets. So saith +the good King Hiram; and since I am a witness proving the wisdom of the +speech, I at least must believe him. Wherefore it is for me to govern +myself as if another will shortly follow me. The saying of the king is +an injunction." + +With that, he turned the glittering sword over and over admiringly. +Loath to let it go, he drew the blade partly from the scabbard, and its +clearness had the depth peculiar to the sky between stars at night. + +"Is there anything it will not buy," he continued, reflectively. "What +king could refuse a sword once Solomon's? I will take it." + +Thereupon he passed both the emerald and the sword out to the slaves, +whom he presently joined. + +The conviction, but a moment before expressed, that another would follow +him to the tomb of the venerated Tyrian, was not strong enough to hinder +the master from attempting to hide every sign which might aid in the +discovery. The negro, under his direction, returned the lid exactly to +its former fitting place on the sarcophagus; the emerald and the sword +he wrapped in his gown; the bags and the tools were counted and +distributed among the slaves for easy carriage. Lamp in hand, he then +walked around to see that nothing was left behind. Incidentally he even +surveyed the brown walls and the dim dome overhead. Having reached the +certainty that everything was in its former state, he waved his hand, +and with one long look backward at the model, ghostly beautiful in its +shining white transparency, he led the way to the passage of entrance, +leaving the king to his solitude and stately sleep, unmindful of the +visitation and the despoilment. + +Out in the large reception room, he paused again to restore the wall. +Beginning with the insignificant key, one by one the stones, each of +which, as we have seen, had been numbered by him, were raised and reset. +Then handfuls of dust were collected and blown into the slight crevices +till they were invisible. The final step was the restoration of the +sarcophagus; this done, the gallery leading to the real vault of the +king was once more effectually concealed. + +"He who follows, come he soon or late, must have more than sharp eyes if +he would have audience with Hiram, my royal friend of Tyre," the +adventurer said, in his meditative way, feeling at the same time in the +folds of his gown for the chart so the object of solicitude on the ship. +The roll, the emerald, and the sword were also safe. Signing the slaves +to remain where they were, he moved slowly across the chamber, and by +aid of his lamp surveyed an aperture there so broad and lofty it was +suggestive of a gate rather than a door. + +"It is well," he said, smiling. "The hunter of spoils, hereafter as +heretofore, will pass this way instead of the other." + +The remark was shrewd. Probably nothing had so contributed to the long +concealment of the gallery just reclosed the second time in a thousand +years as the high doorway, with its invitation to rooms beyond it, all +now in iconoclastic confusion. + +Rejoining his workmen, he took a knife from the girdle of one of them, +and cut a slit in the gurglet large enough to admit the bags of precious +stones. The skin was roomy, and received them, though with the loss of +much of the water. Having thus disposed of that portion of the plunder +to the best advantage both for portage and concealment, he helped swing +it securely upon the negro's shoulder, and without other delay led from +the chamber to the great outdoors, where the lamps were extinguished. + +The pure sweet air, as may be imagined, was welcome to every one. While +the slaves stood breathing it in wholesome volumes, the master studied +the stars, and saw the night was not so far gone but that, with industry, +the sea-shore could be made in time for the ship. + +Still pursuing the policy of hiding the road to the tomb much as +possible, he waited while the men covered the entrance as before with +stones brought up from the bank. A last survey of the face of the rock, +minute as the starlight allowed, reassured him that, as to the rest of +the world, the treasure might remain with its ancient owner undisturbed +for yet another thousand years, if not forever; after which, in a +congratulatory mood, he descended the mountain side to the place of +bivouac, and thence in good time, and without adventure, arrived at the +landing by the sea. There the negro, wading far out, flung the tools +into the water. + +In the appointed time the galley came down from the city, and, under +impulsion of the oars, disappeared with the party up the coast +northward. + +The negro unrolled the pallet upon the deck, and brought some bread, +Smyrna figs, and wine of Prinkipo, and the four ate and drank heartily. + +The skipper was then summoned. + +"You have done well, my friend," said the master. "Spare not sail or oar +now, but make Byzantium without looking into any wayside port. I will +increase your pay in proportion as you shorten the time we are out. Look +to it--go--and speed you." + +Afterward the slaves in turn kept watch while he slept. And though the +coming and going of sailors was frequent, not one of them noticed the +oil-stained water-skin cast carelessly near the master's pillow, or the +negro's shaggy half-cloak, serving as a wrap for the roll, the emerald, +and the sword once Solomon's. + +The run of the galley from the nameless bay near Sidon was without stop +or so much as a headwind. Always the blue sky above the deck, and the +blue sea below. In daytime the master passenger would occasionally pause +in his walk along the white planks, and, his hand on the gunwale, give a +look at some of the landmarks studding the ancient Cycladean Sea, an +island here, or a tall promontory of the continent yonder, possibly an +Olympian height faintly gray in the vaster distance. His manner at such +moments did not indicate a traveller new to the highway. A glance at the +points such as business men closely pressed give the hands on the face +of a clock to determine the minute of the hour, and he would resume +walking. At night he slept right soundly. + +From the Dardanelles into the Hellespont; then the Marmora. The captain +would have coasted, but the passenger bade him keep in the open. "There +is nothing to fear from the weather," he said, "but there is time to be +saved." + +In an afternoon they sighted the great stones Oxia and Plati; the first, +arid and bare as a gray egg, and conical like an irregular pyramid; the +other, a plane on top, with verdure and scattering trees. A glance at +the map shows them the most westerly group of the Isles of the Princes. + +Now Nature is sometimes stupid, sometimes whimsical, doing unaccountable +things. One gazing at the other isles of the group from a softly rocking +caique out a little way on the sea divines instantly that she meant them +for summer retreats, but these two, Oxia and Plati, off by themselves, +bleak in winter, apparently always ready for spontaneous combustion in +the heated months, for what were they designed? No matter--uses were +found for them--fitting uses. Eremites in search of the hardest, +grimmest places, selected Oxia, and pecking holes and caves in its +sides, shared the abodes thus laboriously won with cormorants, the most +gluttonous of birds. In time a rude convent was built near the summit. +On the other hand, Plati was converted into a Gehenna for criminals, and +in the vats and dungeons with which it was provided, lives were spent +weeping for liberty. On this isle, tears and curses; on that, tears and +prayers. + +At sundown the galley was plying its oars between Oxia and the European +shore about where St. Stephano is now situated. The dome of Sta. Sophia +was in sight; behind it, in a line to the northwest, arose the tower of +Galata. "Home by lamplighting--Blessed be the Virgin!" the mariners said +to each other piously. But no! The master passenger sent for the captain. + +"I do not care to get into harbor before morning. The night is delicious, +and I will try it in the small boat. I was once a rower, and yet have a +fancy for the oars. Do thou lay off and on hereabouts. Put two lamps at +the masthead that I may know thy vessel when I desire to return. Now get +out the boat." + +The captain thought his voyager queer of taste; nevertheless he did as +told. In a short time the skiff--if the familiar word can be pardoned-- +put off with the negro and his master, the latter at the oars. + +In preparation for the excursion the gurglet half full of water and the +sheepskin mantle of the black man were lowered into the little vessel. +The boat moved away in the direction of Prinkipo, the mother isle of the +group; and as the night deepened, it passed from view. + +When out of sight from the galley's deck, the master gave the rowing to +the negro, and taking seat by the rudder, changed direction to the +southeast; after which he kept on and on, until Plati lay directly in +his course. + +The southern extremity of Plati makes quite a bold bluff. In a period +long gone a stone tower had been constructed there, a lookout and +shelter for guardsmen on duty; and there being no earthly chance of +escape for prisoners, so securely were they immured, the duty must have +been against robbers from the mainland on the east, and from pirates +generally. Under the tower there was a climb difficult for most persons +in daylight, and from the manoeuvring of the boat, the climb was +obviously the object drawing the master. He at length found it, and +stepped out on a shelving stone. The gurglet and mantle were passed to +him, and soon he and his follower were feeling their way upward. + +On the summit, the chief walked once around the tower, now the merest +ruin, a tumbledown without form, in places overgrown with sickly vines. +Rejoining his attendant, and staying a moment to thoroughly empty the +gurglet of water, on his hands and knees he crawled into a passage much +obstructed by debris. The negro waited outside. + +The master made two trips; the first one, he took the gurglet in; the +second, he took the mantle wrapping the sword. At the end, he rubbed his +hands in self-congratulation. + +"They are safe--the precious stones of Hiram, and the sword of Solomon! +Three other stores have I like this one--in India, in Egypt, in +Jerusalem--and there is the tomb by Sidon. Oh, I shall not come to +want!" and he laughed well pleased. + +The descent to the small boat was effected without accident. + +Next morning toward sunrise the passengers disembarked at Port St. Peter +on the south side of the Golden Horn. A little later the master was +resting at home in Byzantium. + +Within three days the mysterious person whom we, wanting his proper name +and title, have termed the master, had sold his house and household +effects. In the night of the seventh day, with his servants, singular in +that all of them were deaf and dumb, he went aboard ship, and vanished +down the Marmora, going no one but himself knew whither. + +The visit to the tomb of the royal friend of Solomon had evidently been +to provide for the journey; and that he took precious stones in +preference to gold and silver signified a journey indefinite as to time +and place. + + + + +BOOK II + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA + + +CHAPTER I + +A MESSENGER FROM CIPANGO + + +Just fifty-three years after the journey to the tomb of the Syrian +king--more particularly on the fifteenth day of May, fourteen hundred +and forty-eight--a man entered one of the stalls of a market in +Constantinople--to-day the market would be called a bazaar--and +presented a letter to the proprietor. + +The Israelite thus honored delayed opening the linen envelope while he +surveyed the messenger. The liberty, it must be remarked, was not a +usual preliminary in the great city, the cosmopolitanism of which had +been long established; that is to say, a face, a figure, or a mode, to +gain a second look from one of its denizens, had then, as it has now, to +be grossly outlandish. In this instance the owner of the stall indulged +a positive stare. He had seen, he thought, representatives of all known +nationalities, but never one like the present visitor--never one so +pinkish in complexion, and so very bias-eyed--never one who wrapped and +re-wrapped himself in a single shawl so entirely, making it answer all +the other vestments habitual to men. The latter peculiarity was more +conspicuous in consequence of a sack of brown silk hanging loosely from +the shoulder, with leaves and flowers done in dazzling embroidery down +the front and around the edges. And then the slippers were of silk not +less rich with embroidery, while over the bare head a sunshade of bamboo +and paper brilliantly painted was carried. + +Too well bred to persist in the stare or attempt to satisfy his +curiosity by a direct question, the proprietor opened the letter, and +began reading it. His neighbors less considerate ran together, and +formed a crowd around the stranger, who nevertheless bore the inspection +composedly, apparently unconscious of anything to make him such a +cynosure. + +The paper which the removal of the envelope gave to the stall-keeper's +hand excited him the more. The delicacy of its texture, its softness to +the touch, its semi-transparency, were unlike anything he had ever seen; +it was not only foreign, but very foreign. + +The lettering, however, was in Greek plainly done. He noticed first the +date; then, his curiosity becoming uncontrollable, and the missive being +of but one sheet, his eyes dropped to the place of signature. There was +no name there--only a seal--an impression on a surface of yellow wax of +the drooping figure of a man bound to a cross. + +[Illustration] + +At sight of the seal his eyes opened wider. He drew a long breath to +quiet a rising feeling, half astonishment, half awe. Retreating to a +bench near by, he seated himself, and presently became unmindful of the +messenger, of the crowd, of everything, indeed, except the letter and +the matters of which it treated. + +The demand of the reader for a sight of the paper which could produce +such an effect upon a person who was not more than an ordinary dealer in +an Eastern market may by this time have become imperious; wherefore it +is at once submitted in free translation. Only the date is modernized. + +"ISLAND IN THE OVER-SEA. FAR EAST. _May_ 15, A.D. 1447. + +"Uel, Son of Jahdai. + +"Peace to thee and all thine! + +"If thou hast kept faithfully the heirlooms of thy progenitors, somewhere +in thy house there is now a duplication of the seal which thou wilt find +hereto attached; only that one is done in gold. The reference is to prove +to thee a matter I am pleased to assert, knowing it will at least put +thee upon inquiry--I knew thy father, thy grandfather, and his father, +and others of thy family further back than it is wise for me to declare; +and I loved them, for they were a virtuous and goodly race, studious to +do the will of the Lord God of Israel, and acknowledging no other; +therein manifesting the chiefest of human excellences. To which, as more +directly personal to thyself, I will add that qualities of men, like +qualities in plants, are transmissible, and go they unmixed through +many generations, they make a kind. Therefore, at this great distance, +and though I have never looked into thy face, or touched thy hand, or +heard thy voice, I know thee, and give thee trust confidently. The son +of thy father cannot tell the world what he has of me here, or that +there is a creature like unto me living, or that he has to do with me in +the least; and as the father would gladly undertake my requests, even +those I now reveal unto thee, not less willingly will his son undertake +them. Refusal would be the first step toward betrayal. + +"With this preface, O Son of Jahdai, I write without fear, and freely; +imparting, first, that it is now fifty years since I set foot upon the +shores of this Island, which, for want of a name likely to be known to +thee, I have located and described as 'In the Over-Sea. Far East.' Its +people are by nature kindly disposed to strangers, and live simply and +affectionately. Though they never heard of the Nazarene whom the world +persists in calling the Christ, it is truth to say they better illustrate +his teachings, especially in their dealings with each other, than the +so-called Christians amongst whom thy lot is cast. Withal, however, I +have become weary, the fault being more in myself than in them. Desire +for change is the universal law. Only God is the same yesterday, to-day, +and to-morrow eternally. So I am resolved to seek once more the land of +our fathers and Jerusalem, for which I yet have tears. In her perfection, +she was more than beautiful; in her ruin, she is more than sacred. + +"In the execution of my design, know thou next, O Son of Jahdai, that I +despatch my servant, Syama, intrusting him to deliver this letter. When +it is put into thy hand, note the day, and see if it be not exactly one +year from this 15 May, the time I have given him to make the journey, +which is more by sea than land. Thou mayst then know I am following him, +though with stoppages of uncertain duration; it being necessary for me +to cross from India to Mecca; thence to Kash-Cush, and down the Nile to +Cairo. Nevertheless I hope to greet thee in person within six months +after Syama hath given thee this report. + +"The sending a courier thus in advance is with a design of which I think +it of next importance to inform thee. + +"It is my purpose to resume residence in Constantinople; for that, I +must have a house. Syama, amongst other duties in my behalf, is charged +to purchase and furnish one, and have it ready to receive me when I +arrive. The day is long passed since a Khan had attractions for me. Much +more agreeable is it to think my own door will open instantly at my +knock. In this affair thou canst be of service which shall be both +remembered and gratefully recompensed. He hath no experience in the +matter of property in thy city; thou hast; it is but natural, therefore, +if I pray thou bring it into practice by assisting him in the selection, +in perfecting the title, and in all else the project may require doing; +remembering only that the tenement be plain and comfortable, not rich; +for, alas! the time is not yet when the children of Israel may live +conspicuously in the eye of the Christian world. + +"Thou wilt find Syama shrewd and of good judgment, older than he seemeth, +and quick to render loyalty for my sake. Be advised also that he is deaf +and dumb; yet, if in speaking thou turn thy face to him, and use the +Greek tongue, he will understand thee by the motion of thy lips, and make +answer by signs. + +"Finally, be not afraid to accept this commission on account of pecuniary +involvement. Syama hath means of procuring all the money he may require, +even to extravagance; at the same time he is forbidden to contract a +debt, except it be to thee for kindness done, all which he will report to +me so I may pay them fitly. + +"In all essential things Syama hath full instructions; besides, he is +acquainted with my habits and tastes; wherefore I conclude this writing +by saying I hope thou wilt render him aid as indicated, and that when I +come thou wilt allow me to relate myself to thee as father to son, in +all things a help, in nothing a burden. + +"Again, O Son of Jahdai, to thee and thine--Peace!" + +[Seal.] + +The son of Jahdai, at the conclusion of the reading, let his hands fall +heavily in his lap, while he plunged into a study which the messenger +with his foreign airs could not distract. + +Very great distance is one of the sublimities most powerful over the +imagination. The letter had come from an Island he had never heard +named. An Island in the Over-Sea which doubtless washed the Eastern end +of the earth, wherever that might be. And the writer! How did he get +there? And what impelled him to go? + +A chill shot the thinker's nerves. He suddenly remembered that in his +house there was a cupboard in a wall, with two shelves devoted to +storage of heirlooms; on the upper shelf lay the _torah_ of immemorial +usage in his family; the second contained cups of horn and metal, old +phylacteries, amulets, and things of vertu in general, and of such +addition and multiplication through the ages that he himself could not +have made a list of them; in fact, now his attention was aroused, he +recalled them a mass of colorless and formless objects which had ceased +to have history or value. Amongst them, however, a seal in the form of a +medallion in gold recurred to him; but whether the impression upon it +was raised or sunken he could not have certainly said; nor could he have +told what the device was. His father and grandfather had esteemed it +highly, and the story they told him about it divers times when he was a +child upon their knees he could repeat quite substantially. + +A man committed an indignity to Jesus the pretended _Christ_, who, in +punishment, condemned him to linger on the earth until in the fulness +of time he should come again; and the man had gone on living through the +centuries. Both the father and grandfather affirmed the tale to be true; +they had known the unfortunate personally; yet more, they declared he +had been an intimate of the family, and had done its members through +generations friendlinesses without number; in consequence they had come +to consider him one of them in love. They had also said that to their +knowledge it was his custom to pray for death regularly as the days came +and went. He had repeatedly put himself in its way; yet curiously it +passed him by, until he at last reached a conviction he could not die. + +Many years had gone since the stall-keeper last heard the tale, and +still more might have been counted since the man disappeared, going no +one knew whither. + +But he was not dead! He was coming again! It was too strange to believe! +It could not be! Yet one thing was clear--whatever the messenger might +be, or presuming him a villain, whatever the lie he thought to make +profitable, appeal could be safely and cheaply made to the seal in the +cupboard. As a witness it, too, was deaf and dumb; on its face +nevertheless there was revelation and the truth. + +Through the momentary numbness of his faculties so much the son of +Jahdai saw, and he did not wait. Signing the messenger to follow, he +passed into a closet forming part of the stall, and the two being alone, +he spoke in Greek. + +"Be thou seated here," he said, "and wait till I return." + +The messenger smiled and bowed, and took seat; thereupon Uel drew his +turban down to his ears, and, letter in hand, started home. + +His going was rapid; sometimes he almost ran. Acquaintances met him on +the street, but he did not see them; if they spoke to him, he did not +hear. Arrived at his own door, he plunged into the house as if a mob +were at his heels. Now he was before the cupboard! Little mercy the +phylacteries and amulets, the bridle-spanglery of donkeys, the trinketry +of women, his ancestresses once famous for beauty or many children-- +little mercy the motley collection on the second shelf received from his +hands. He tossed them here and there, and here and there again, but the +search was vain. Ah, good Lord! was the medalet lost? And of all times, +then? + +The failure made him the more anxious; his hands shook while he essayed +the search once more; and he reproached himself. The medal was valuable +for its gold, and besides it was a sacred souvenir. Conscience stung +him. Over and over he shifted and turned the various properties on the +shelf, the last time systematically and with fixed attention. When he +stopped to rest, the perspiration stood on his forehead in large drops, +and he fairly wrung his hands, crying, "It is not here--it is lost! My +God, how shall I know the truth now!" + +At this pause it is to be said that the son of Jahdai was wifeless. The +young woman whom he had taken as helpmeet in dying had left him a girl +baby who, at the time of our writing, was about thirteen years old. +Under the necessity thus imposed, he found a venerable daughter of +Jerusalem to serve him as housekeeper, and charge herself with care of +the child. Now he thought of that person; possibly she knew where the +seal was. He turned to seek her, and as he did so, the door of an +adjoining room opened, and the child appeared. + +He held her very dear, because she had the clear olive complexion of her +mother, and the same soft black eyes with which the latter used to smile +upon him in such manner that words were never required to assure him of +her love. And the little one was bright and affectionate, and had +prettinesses in speech, and sang low and contentedly the day long. Often +as he took her on his lap and studied her fondly, he was conscious she +promised to be gentle and beautiful as the departed one; beyond which it +never occurred to him there could be superior excellences. + +Distressed as the poor man was, he took the child in his arms, and +kissed her on the round cheek, and was putting her down when he saw the +medal at her throat, hanging from a string. She told him the housekeeper +had given it to her as a plaything. Untied at last--for his impatience +was nigh uncontrollable--he hurried with the recovered treasure to a +window, to look at the device raised upon it; then, his heart beating +rapidly, he made comparison with the impression sunk in the yellow wax +at the foot of the letter; he put them side by side--there could be no +mistake--the impression on the wax might have been made by the +medallion! + +Let it not be supposed now that the son of Jahdai did not appreciate the +circumstance which had befallen. The idea of a man suffering a doom so +strange affected him, while the doom itself, considered as a judgment, +was simply awful; but his thought did not stop there--it carried him +behind both the man and the doom. Who was He with power by a word, not +merely to change the most fixed of the decrees of nature, but, by +suspending it entirely, hold an offending wretch alive for a period +already encroaching upon the eternal? One less firmly rooted in the +faith of his fathers would have stood aghast at the conclusion to which +the answer as an argument led--a conclusion admitting no escape once it +was reached. The affair in hand, however, despite its speculative side, +was real and urgent; and the keeper of the stall, remembering the +messenger in half imprisonment, fell to thinking of the practical +questions before him; first of which was the treatment he should accord +his correspondent's requests. + +This did not occupy him long. His father, he reflected, would have +received the stranger cordially, and as became one of such close +intimacy; so should he. The requests were easy, and carried no pecuniary +liability with them; he was merely to aid an inexperienced servant in +the purchase of a dwelling-house, the servant having plenty of funds. +True, when the master presented himself in person, it would be necessary +to determine exactly the footing to be accorded him; but for the present +that might be deferred. If, in the connection, the son of Jahdai dwelt +briefly upon possible advantages to himself, the person being presumably +rich and powerful, it was human, and he is to be excused for it. + +The return to the market was less hurried than the going from it. There +Uel acted promptly. He took Syama to his house, and put him into the +guest-chamber, assuring him it was a pleasure. Yet when night came he +slept poorly. The incidents of the day were mixed with much that was +unaccountable, breaking the even tenor of his tradesman's life by +unwonted perplexities. He had not the will to control his thoughts; they +would go back to the excitement of the moment when he believed the +medallion lost; and as points run together in the half-awake state on +very slender threads, he had a vision of a mysterious old man coming +into his house, and in some way taking up and absorbing the life of his +child. When the world at last fell away and left him asleep, it was with +a dread tapping heavily at his heart. + +The purchase which Uel was requested to assist in making proved a light +affair. After diligent search through the city, Syama decided to take a +two-story house situated in a street running along the foot of the hill +to-day crowned by the mosque Sultan Selim, although it was then the site +of an unpretentious Christian church. Besides a direct eastern frontage, +it was in the divisional margin between the quarters of the Greeks, +which were always clean, and those of the Jews, which were always filthy. +It was also observed that neither the hill nor the church obstructed the +western view from the roof; that is to say, it was so far around the +upper curve of the hill that a thistle-down would be carried by a +south-east wind over many of the proudest Greek residences and dropped +by the Church of the Holy Virgin on Blacherne, or in the imperial garden +behind the Church. In addition to these advantages, the son of Jahdai was +not unmindful that his own dwelling, a small but comfortable structure +also of wood, was just opposite across the street. Everything considered, +the probabilities were that Syama's selection would prove satisfactory to +his master. The furnishment was a secondary matter. + +It is to be added that in course of the business there were two things +from which Uel extracted great pleasure; Syama always had money to pay +promptly for everything he bought; in the next place, communication with +him was astonishingly easy. His eyes made up for the deficiency in +hearing; while his signs, gestures, and looks were the perfection of +pantomime. Of evenings the child never tired watching him in +conversation. + +While we go now to bring the Wanderer up, it should not be forgotten +that the house, completely furnished, is awaiting him, and he has only +to knock at the door, enter, and be at home. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PILGRIM AT EL KATIF + + +The bay of Bahrein indents the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Hard +by the point on the north at which it begins its inland bend rise the +whitewashed, one-story mud-houses of the town El Katif. Belonging to the +Arabs, the most unchangeable of peoples, both the town and the bay were +known in the period of our story by their present names. + +The old town in the old time derived importance chiefly from the road +which, leading thence westwardly through Hejr Yemameh, brought up, after +many devious stretches across waterless wastes of sand, at El Derayeh, a +tented capital of the Bedouins, and there forked, one branch going to +Medina, the other to Mecca. In other words, El Katif was to Mecca on the +east the gate Jeddo was to it on the west. + +When, in annual recurrence, the time for the indispensable Hajj, or +Pilgrimage, came, the name of the town was on the lips of men and women +beyond the Green Sea, and southwardly along the coast of Oman, and in +the villages and dowars back of the coast under the peaks of Akdar, only +a little less often than those of the holy cities. Then about the first +of July the same peoples as pilgrims from Irak, Afghanistan, India, and +beyond those countries even, there being an East and a Far East, and +pilgrims from Arabia, crowded together, noisy, quarrelsome, squalid, +accordant in but one thing--a determination to make the Hajj lest they +might die as Jews or Christians. + +The law required the pilgrim to be at Mecca in the month of Ramazan, the +time the Prophet himself had become a pilgrim. From El Katif the direct +journey might be made in sixty days, allowing an average march of twelve +miles. By way of Medina, it could be made to permit the votary to be +present and participate in the observances usual on the day of the +Mysterious Night of Destiny. + +The journey moreover was attended with dangers. Winds, drouth, sand +storms beset the way; and there were beasts always hungry, and robbers +always watchful. The sun beat upon the hills, curtained the levels with +mirage, and in the _fiumuras_ kindled invisible fires; so in what +the unacclimated breathed and in what they drank of the waters of the +land there were diseases and death. + +The Prophet having fixed the month of Ramazan for the Hajj, pilgrims +accustomed themselves to assemblage at Constantinople, Damascus, Cairo +and Bagdad. If they could not avoid the trials of the road, they could +lessen them. Borrowing the term caravan as descriptive of the march, +they established markets at all convenient places. + +This is the accounting for one of the notable features of El Katif from +the incoming of June till the caravan extended itself on the road, and +finally disappeared in the yellow farness of the Desert. One could not +go amiss for purveyors in general. Dealers in horses, donkeys, camels, +and dromedaries abounded. The country for miles around appeared like a +great stock farm. Herds overran the lean earth. Makers of harness, +saddles, box-houdahs, and swinging litters of every variety and price, +and contractors of camels, horses, and trains complete did not wait to +be solicited; the competition between them was too lively for dignity. +Hither and thither shepherds drove fatted sheep in flocks, selling them +on the hoof. In shady places sandal merchants and clothiers were +established; while sample tents spotted the whole landscape. Hucksters +went about with figs, dates, dried meats and bread. In short, pilgrims +could be accommodated with every conceivable necessary. They had only to +cry out, and the commodity was at hand. + +Amongst the thousands who arrived at El Katif in the last of June, 1448, +was a man whose presence made him instantly an object of general +interest. He came from the south in a galley of eight oars manned by +Indian seamen, and lay at anchor three days before landing. His ship +bore nothing indicative of nationality except the sailors. She was +trim-looking and freshly painted; otherwise there was nothing uncommon +in her appearance. She was not for war--that was plain. She floated too +lightly to be laden; wherefore those who came to look at her said she +could not be in commercial service. + +Almost before furling sail, an awning was stretched over her from bow to +stern--an awning which from the shore appeared one great shawl of +variegated colors. Thereupon the wise in such matters decided the owner +was an Indian Prince vastly rich, come, like a good Mohammedan, to +approve his faith by pilgrimage. + +This opinion the stranger's conduct confirmed. While he did not himself +appear ashore, he kept up a busy communication by means of his small +boat. For three days, it carried contractors of camels and supplies +aboard, and brought them back. + +They described him of uncertain age; he might be sixty, he might be +seventy-five. While rather under medium height, he was active and +perfectly his own master. He sat in the shade of the awning cross-legged. +His rug was a marvel of sheeny silk. He talked Arabic, but with an Indian +accent. His dress was Indian--a silken shirt, a short jacket, large +trousers, and a tremendous white turban on a red tarbousche, held by an +aigrette in front that was a dazzle of precious stones such as only a +Rajah could own. His attendants were few, but they were gorgeously +attired, wore _shintyan_ swung in rich belts from their shoulders, and +waited before him speechless and in servile posture. One at his back +upheld an umbrella of immense spread. He indulged few words, and they +were strictly business. He wanted a full outfit for the Hajj; could the +contractor furnish him twenty camels of burden, and four swift +dromedaries? Two of the latter were to carry a litter for himself; the +other two were for his personal attendants, whom he desired furnished +with well-shaded _shugdufs_. The camels he would load with provisions. +While speaking, he would keep his eyes upon the person addressed with an +expression uncomfortably searching. Most extraordinary, however, he did +not once ask about prices. + +One of the Shaykhs ventured an inquiry. + +"How great will his Highness' suite be?" + +"Four." + +The Shaykh threw up his hands. + +"O Allah! Four dromedaries and twenty camels for four men!" + +"Abuser of the salt," said the stranger calmly, "hast thou not heard of +the paschal charity, and of the fine to the poor? Shall I go empty +handed to the most sacred of cities?" + +Finally an agent was found who, in concert with associates, undertook to +furnish the high votary with all he asked complete. + +The morning of the fourth day after his arrival the Indian was pulled +ashore, and conducted out of town a short distance to where, on a rising +ground, a camp had been set up provisionally for his inspection. There +were tents, one for storage of goods and provisions; one for the suite; +one for the chief Shaykh, the armed guards, the tent pitchers, and the +camel drivers; and a fourth one, larger than the others, for the Prince +himself. With the dromedaries, camels, and horses, the camp was +accepted; then, as was the custom, the earnest money was paid. By set of +sun the baggage was removed from the ship, and its partition into +cargoes begun. The Prince of India had no difficulty in hiring all the +help he required. + +Of the thirty persons who constituted the train ten were armed horsemen, +whose appearance was such that, if it were answered by a commensurate +performance, the Prince might at his leisure march irrespective of the +caravan. Nor was he unmindful in the selection of stores for the +journey. Long before the sharp bargainers with whom he dealt were +through with him, he had won their best opinion, not less by his +liberality than for his sound judgment. They ceased speaking of him +sneeringly as the _miyan_. [Footnote: Barbarous Indian] + +Soon as the bargain was bound, the stranger's attendants set about the +furnishment of the master's tent. Outside they painted it green. The +interior they divided into two equal compartments; one for reception, +the other for a _maglis_ or drawing-room; and besides giving the +latter divans and carpets, they draped the ceiling in the most tasteful +manner with the shawls which on the ship had served for awning. + +At length, everything in the catalogue of preparation having been +attended to, it remained only to wait the day of general departure; and +for that, as became his greatness, the Prince kept his own quarters, +paying no attention to what went on around him. He appeared a man who +loved solitude, and was averse to thinking in public. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE YELLOW AIR +[Footnote: The plague is known amongst Arabs as "the Yellow Air."] + + +One evening the reputed Indian sat by the door of his tent alone. The +red afterglow of the day hung in the western sky. Overhead the stars +were venturing timidly out. The camels were at rest, some chewing their +cuds, others asleep, their necks stretched full length upon the warm +earth. The watchmen in a group talked in low voices. Presently the cry +of a muezzin, calling to prayer, flew in long, quavering, swelling notes +through the hushed air. Others took up the call, clearer or fainter +according to the distance; and so was it attuned to the feeling invoked +by the conditions of the moment that no effort was required of a listener +to think it a refrain from the sky. The watchmen ceased debating, drew a +little apart from each other, spread their _abbas_ on the ground, and +stepping upon them barefooted, their faces turned to where Mecca lay, +began the old unchangeable prayer of Islam--_God is God, and Mahomet is +His Prophet_. + +The pilgrim at the tent door arose, and when his rude employes were +absorbed in their devotions, like them, he too prayed, but very +differently. + +"God of Israel--my God!" he said, in a tone hardly more than speaking to +himself. "These about me, my fellow creatures, pray thee in the hope of +life, I pray thee in the hope of death. I have come up from the sea, and +the end was not there; now I will go into the Desert in search of it. Or +if I must live, Lord, give me the happiness there is in serving thee. +Thou hast need of instruments of good; let me henceforth be one of them, +that by working for thy honor, I may at last enjoy the peace of the +blessed--Amen." + +Timing his movements with those of the watchmen, he sank to his knees, +and repeated the prayer; when they fell forward, their faces to the +earth in the _rik'raths_ so essential by the Mohammedan code, he +did the same. When they were through the service, he went on with it +that they might see him. A careful adherence to this conduct gained him +in a short time great repute for sanctity, making the pilgrimage +enjoyable as well as possible to him. + +The evening afterglow faded out, giving the world to night and the quiet +it affects; still the melancholy Indian walked before his tent, his +hands clasped behind him, his chin in the beard on his breast. Let us +presume to follow his reflections. + +"Fifty years! A lifetime to all but me. Lord, how heavy is thy hand when +thou art in anger!" + +He drew a long breath, and groaned. + +"Fifty years! That they are gone, let those mourn to whom time is +measured in scanty dole." + +He became retrospective. + +"The going to Cipango was like leaving the world. War had yielded to +contentions about religion. I wearied of them also. My curse is to weary +of everything. I wonder if the happiness found in the affection of women +is more lasting?" + +He pursued the thought awhile, finishing with a resolution. + +"If the opportunity comes my way, I will try it. I remember yet the +mother of my Lael, though I did not understand the measure of the +happiness she brought me until she died." + +He returned then to the first subject. + +"When will men learn that faith is a natural impulse, and pure religion +but faith refined of doubt?" + +The question was succeeded by a wordless lapse in his mind, the better +apparently to prolong the pleasure he found in the idea. + +"God help me," he presently resumed, "to bring about an agreement in +that definition of religion! There can be no reform or refinement of +faith except God be its exclusive subject; and so certainly it leads to +lopping off all parasitical worships such as are given to Christ and +Mahomet.... Fifty years ago the sects would have tortured me had I +mentioned God as a principle broad and holy enough for them to stand +upon in compromise of their disputes; they may not be better disposed +now, yet I will try them. If I succeed I will not be a vulgar monument +builder like Alexander; neither will I divide a doubtful fame with +Caesar. My glory will be unique. I will have restored mankind to their +true relations with God. I will be their Arbiter in Religion. Then +surely"--he lifted his face appealingly as to a person enthroned amidst +the stars--"surely thou wilt release me from this too long life.... If I +fail"--he clinched his hands--"if I fail, they may exile me, they may +imprison me, they may stretch me on the rack, but they cannot kill me." + +Then he walked rapidly, his head down, like a man driven. When he +stopped it was to say to himself uncertainly: + +"I feel weak at heart. Misgivings beset me. Lord, Lord, how long am I to +go on thus cheating myself? If thou wilt not pardon me, how can I hope +honor from my fellow men? Why should I struggle to serve them?" + +Again he clinched his hands. + +"Oh, the fools, the fools! Will they never be done? When I went away +they were debating, Was Mahomet a Prophet? Was Christ the Messiah? And +they are debating yet. What miseries I have seen come of the dispute!" + +From this to the end, the monologue was an incoherent discursive medley, +now plaintive, now passionate, at times prayerful, then exultant. As he +proceeded, he seemed to lose sight of his present aim at doing good in +the hope of release from termless life, and become the Jew he was born. + +"The orators called in the sword, and they plied each other with it +through two hundred years and more. There were highways across Europe +blazoned with corpses.... But they were great days. I remember them. +remember Manuel's appeal to Gregory. I was present at the Council of +Clermont. I heard Urban's speech. I saw Walter, the beggar of Burgundy, +a fugitive in Constantinople; but his followers, those who went out with +him--where were they? I saw Peter, the eremite and coward, dragged back, +a deserter, to the plague-smitten camps of Antioch. I helped vote +Godfrey King of Jerusalem, and carried a candle at his coronation. I saw +the hosts of Louis VII and Conrad, a million and more, swallowed up in +Iconia and the Pisidian mountains. Then, that the persecutors of my race +might not have rest, I marched with Saladin to the re-conquest of the +Holy City, and heard Philip and Richard answer his challenge. The brave +Kurd, pitying the sorrows of men, at last agreed to tolerate Christians +in Jerusalem as pilgrims; and there the strife might have ended, but I +played upon the ambition of Baldwin, and set Europe in motion again. No +fault of mine that the knight stopped at Constantinople as King of the +East. Then the second Frederick presumed to make a Christian city of +Jerusalem. I resorted to the Turks, and they burned and pillaged it, and +captured St. Louis, the purest and best of the crusaders. He died in my +arms. Never before had I a tear for man or woman of his faith! Then came +Edward I., and with him the struggle as a contest of armies terminated. +By decision of the sword, Mahomet _was_ the Prophet of God, and +Christ but the carpenter's son.... By permission of the Kaliphs, the +Christians might visit Jerusalem as pilgrims. A palmer's staff in place +of a sword! For shield, a beggar's scrip! But the bishops accepted, and +then ushered in an age of fraud, Christian against Christian.... The +knoll on which the Byzantine built his church of the Holy Sepulchre is +not the Calvary. That the cowled liars call the Sepulchre never held the +body of Christ. The tears of the millions of penitents have but watered +a monkish deceit.... Fools and blasphemers! The Via Dolorosa led out of +the Damascus gate on the north. The skull-shaped hill beyond that gate +is the Golgotha. Who should know it better than I? The Centurion asked +for a guide; I walked with him. Hyssop was the only green thing growing +upon the mount; nothing but hyssop has grown there since. At the base on +the west was a garden, and the Sepulchre was in the garden. From the +foot of the cross I looked toward the city, and there was a sea of men +extending down to the gate.... I know!--I know!--I and misery know!... +When I went out fifty years ago there was an agreement between the +ancient combatants; each vied with the other in hating and persecuting +the Jew, and there was no limit to the afflictions he endured from +them.... Speak thou, O Hebron, city of the patriarchs! By him who sits +afar, and by him near unto thee, by the stars this peaceful night, and +by the Everlasting who is above the stars, be thou heard a witness +testifying! There was a day when thou didst stand open to the children +of Israel; for the cave and the dead within it belonged to them. Then +Herod built over it, and shut it up, though without excluding the +tribes. The Christian followed Herod; yet the Hebrew might pay his way +in. After the Christian, the Moslem; and now nor David the King, nor son +of his, though they alighted at the doors from chariots, and beat upon +them with their crowns and sceptres, could pass in and live.... Kings +have come and gone, and generations, and there is a new map from which +old names have been dropped. As respects religion, alas! the divisions +remain--here a Mohammedan, there a Christian, yonder a Judean.... From +my door I study these men, the children of those in life at my going +into exile. Their ardor is not diminished. To kiss a stone in which +tradition has planted a saying of God, they will defy the terrors of the +Desert, heat, thirst, famine, disease, death. I bring them an old idea +in a new relation--God, giver of life and power to Son and Prophet--God, +alone entitled to worship--God, a principle of Supreme Holiness to which +believers can bring their creeds and doctrines for mergence in a treaty +of universal brotherhood. Will they accept it? ... Yesterday I saw a +Schiah and a Sunite meet, and the old hate darkened their faces as they +looked at each other. Between them there is only a feud of Islamites; +how much greater is their feud with Christians? How immeasurably greater +the feud between Christian and Jew? ... My heart misgives me! Lord! Can +it be I am but cherishing a dream?" + +At sight of a man approaching through the dusk, he calmed himself. + +"Peace to thee, Hadji," said the visitor, halting. + +"Is it thou, Shaykh?" + +"It is I, my father's son. I have a report to make." + +"I was thinking of certain holy things of priceless worth, sayings of +the Prophet. Tell me what thou hast?" + +The Shaykh saluted him, and returned, "The caravan will depart to-morrow +at sunrise." + +"Be it so. We are ready. I will designate our place in the movement. +Thou art dismissed." + +"O Prince! I have more to report." + +"More?" + +"A vessel came in to-day from Hormuz on the eastern shore, bringing a +horde of beggars." + +"Bismillah! It was well I hired of thee a herd of camels, and loaded +them with food. I shall pay my fine to the poor early." + +The Shaykh shook his head. + +"That they are beggars is nothing," he said. "Allah is good to all his +creatures. The jackals are his, and must be fed. For this perhaps the +unfortunates were blown here by the angel that rides the yellow air. +Four corpses were landed, and their clothes sold in the camp." + +"Thou wouldst say," the Prince rejoined, "that the plague will go with +us to the Kaaba. Content thee, Shaykh. Allah will have his +way." + +"But my men are afraid." + +"I will place a drop of sweetened water on their lips, and bring them +safe through, though they are dying. Tell them as much." + +The Shaykh was departing when the Prince, shrewdly suspecting it was he +who feared, called him back. + +"How call ye the afternoon prayer, O Shaykh?" + +"El Asr." + +"What didst thou when it was called?" + +"Am I not a believer? I prayed." + +"And thou hast heard the Arafat sermon?" + +"Even so, O Prince." + +"Then, as thou art a believer, and a hadji, O Shaykh, thou and all with +thee shalt see the Khatib on his dromedary, and hear him again. Only +promise me to stay till his last _Amin_." + +"I promise," said the Shaykh, solemnly. + +"Go--but remember prayer is the bread of faith." + +The Shaykh was comforted, and withdrew. + +With the rising of the sun next day the caravan, numbering about three +thousand souls, defiled confusedly out of the town. The Prince, who +might have been first, of choice fell in behind the rest. + +"Why dost thou take this place, O Prince?" asked the Shaykh, who was +proud of his company, and their comparative good order. + +He received for answer, "The blessings of Allah are with the dying whom +the well-to-do and selfish in front have passed unnoticed." + +The Shaykh repeated the saying to his men, and they replied: "Ebn-Hanife +was a Dervish: so is this Prince--exalted be his name!" + +Eulogy could go no further. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EL ZARIBAH + + +"I will be their Arbiter in Religion," said the Indian Mystic in his +monologue. + +This is to be accepted as the motive of the scheme the singular man was +pursuing in the wastes of Arabia. + +It must be taken of course with his other declaration--"There can be no +reform or refinement of faith except God be its exclusive subject; and +so certainly it leads to lopping off all parasitical worships such as +are given to Christ and Mahomet." + +Fifty years prior, disgusted with the endless and inconsequential +debates and wars between Islam and Christianity, he had betaken himself +to Cipango, [Footnote: Supposably Japan.] wherever that might be. There, +in a repentant hour, he had conceived the idea of a Universal Religious +Brotherhood, with God for its accordant principle; and he was now +returned to present and urge the compromise. In more distinct statement, +he was making the pilgrimage to ascertain from personal observation if +the Mohammedan portion of the world was in a consenting mood. It was not +his first visit to Mecca; but the purpose in mind gave the journey a new +zest; and, as can be imagined, nothing in the least indicative of the +prevalent spirit of the Hajj escaped him. Readers following the +narrative should keep this explanation before them. + +From El Derayah the noble pilgrim had taken the longer route by way of +Medina, where he scrupulously performed the observances decreed for the +faithful at the Mosque of the Prophet. Thence he descended with the +caravan from Damascus. + +Dawn of the sixth of September broke over the rolling plain known as the +Valley of El Zaribah, disclosing four tents pitched on an eminence to +the right of a road running thence south-west. These tents, connected by +ropes, helped perfect an enclosure occupied by horses, donkeys, camels +and dromedaries, and their cumbrous equipments. Several armed men kept +watch over the camp. + +The Valley out to the pink granite hills rimming it round wore a fresh +green tint in charming contrast with the tawny-black complexion of the +region through which the day's journey had stretched. Water at a shallow +depth nourished camel grass in patches, and Theban palms, the latter +much scattered and too small to be termed trees. The water, and the +nearness of the Holy City--only one day distant--had, in a time long +gone, won for El Zaribah its double appointment of meeting place for the +caravans and place of the final ceremony of assumption of the costume +and vows _El Ihram_. + +The Prophet himself had prescribed the ceremony; so the pilgrims in the +camp on the eminence, the better to observe it and at the same time get +a needful rest, had come up during the night in advance of the caravans. +In other words, the Prince of India--the title by which he was now +generally known--might, at the opening hour of the day, have been found +asleep in the larger of the four tents; the one with the minaret in +miniature so handsomely gilded and of such happy effect over the centre +pole. + +Along the roadsides and on the high grounds of the Valley other tints +were visible, while faint columns of smoke arising out of the hollows +told of preparations for breakfast. These signified the presence of +hucksters, barbers, costume dealers, and traders generally, who, in +anticipation of the arrival of the caravans, had come from the city to +exercise their callings. Amongst them, worthy of special attention, was +a multitude of professional guides, [Footnote: _Mutawif_.] ready +for a trifling hire to take charge of uninitiated pilgrims, and lead +them regardfully through the numerous ceremonies to which they were +going. + +Shortly after noon the Prince called in a guide, and several barbers, +men with long gowns, green turbans, brass basins, sharp knives, and +bright bladed scissors. The assumption of the real pilgrimage by his +people was then begun. Each man submitted his head, mustaches, and nails +to the experts, and bathed and perfumed himself, and was dusted with +musk. Next the whole party put off their old garments, and attired +themselves in the two white vestments _El Ihram_.[Footnote: A mantle and +skirt of white cloth unsewn.] The change of apparel was for the better. +Finally the votaries put on sandals peculiar in that nothing pertaining +to them might cover the instep; then they stood up in a row faced toward +Mecca, and repeated the ancient formula of dedication of the _Ihram_ to +the Almighty slowly intoned for them by the guide. + +The solemn demeanor of the men during the ceremony, which was tedious +and interspersed with prayers and curious recitals, deeply impressed the +Prince, who at the end of the scene retired into his tent, with his +three mute attendants, and there performed the vows for himself and +them. There also they all assumed the indispensable costume. Then, as he +well might do, the law permitting him to seek the shade of a house or a +tent, he had a rug spread before his door, where, in the fresh white +attire, he seated himself, and with a jar of expressed juice of +pomegranates at his side made ready to witness the passing of the +caravans, the dust of which was reported visible in the east. + +Afterwhile the cloud of dust momentarily deepening over in that +direction was enlivened by a clash of cymbals and drums, blent with +peals of horns, the fine, high music yet cherished by warriors of the +Orient. Presently a body of horsemen appeared, their spear points +glistening in the sunlight. A glance at them, then his gaze fixed upon a +chief in leading. + +The sun had been hot all day; the profiles of the low hills were dim +with tremulous haze lying scorchingly upon them; the furred hulks of the +camels in the enclosure looked as if they were smoking; the sky held +nothing living except two kites which sailed the upper air slowly, their +broad wings at widest extension; yet the chief persisted in wearing his +arms and armor, like the soldiers behind him. Ere long he rode up and +halted in front of the Prince, and near by. + +His head was covered with a visorless casque, slightly conical, from the +edge of which, beginning about the temples, a cape of fine steel rings, +buckled under the chin, enveloped the neck and throat, and fell loosely +over the neck and shoulders, and part way down the back. A shirt of +linked mail, pliable as wool, defended the body and the arms to the +elbows; overalls of like material, save that the parts next the saddle +were leather, clothed the thighs and legs. As the casque and every other +link of the mail were plated with gold, the general effect at a distance +was as if the whole suit were gold. A surcoat of light green cloth hung +at the back half hiding a small round shield of burnished brass; at the +left side there was a cimeter, and in the right hand a lance. The saddle +was of the high-seated style yet affected by horsemen of Circassia; at +the pommel a bow and well-filled quiver were suspended, and as the +stirrups were in fact steel slippers the feet were amply protected by +them. + +At sight of the martial figure, the Indian, in admiration, arose to a +sitting posture. Such, he thought, were the warriors who followed +Saladin! And when the stranger, reaching the summit of the eminence, +turned out of the road coming apparently to the door of the tent, he +involuntarily sprang to his feet ready to do him honor. + +The face, then plainly seen, though strong of feature, and thoroughly +bronzed, was that of a young man not more than twenty-two or three, +dark-eyed, mustached and bearded, and of a serious though pleasant +expression. He kept his seat with ease and grace; if he and the +broad-chested dark-bay horse were not really one, they were one in +spirit; together they wrought the impression which was the origin of +_majesty_, a title for kings. + +While the Prince was turning this in his mind, the soldier pulled rein, +and stopped long enough to glance at him and at the camp; then, turning +the horse, he looked the other way, making it apparent he had taken +position on the rise to overlook the plain, and observe the coming and +dispersion of the caravans. + +Another mounted man ascended the hill, armed and armored like the first +one, though not so richly, and bearing a standard of dulled yellow silk +hanging from a gilded staff. The ground of the standard was filled with +inscriptions in red lettering, leaving the golden crescent and star on +the point of the staff to speak of nationality. The bearer of the flag +dismounted, and at a sign planted it in the ground. + +Seeing his Shaykh, the Prince called him: + +"Who is the warrior yonder?--He in the golden armor?" + +"The Emir El Hajj, [Footnote: Chief officer of the Pilgrimage. The +appointment was considered the highest favor in the Sultan's gift.] O +Prince." + +"He the Emir El Hajj!--And so young?--Oh! a hero of the Serail. The +Kislar Aga extolled him one day." + +"Thy remark and common report, O excellent Prince, could not journey +together on the same camel," said the Shaykh. "In the Khan at Medina I +heard his story. There is a famous enemy of the Turks, Iskander Bey, in +strength a Jinn, whose sword two men can scarcely lift. He appeared +before the army of the Sultan one day with a challenge. He whom thou +seest yonder alone dared go forth to meet him. The fought from morning +till noon; then they rested. 'Who art thou?' asked Iskander. 'I am a +slave of Amurath, the Commander of the Faithful, who hath commissioned +me to take thee to him dead or alive.' Iskander laughed, and said, 'I +know by thy tongue now thou art not a Turk; and to see if the Commander +of the Faithful, as thou callest him, hath it in soul to make much of +thy merit as a warrior, I will leave thee the honors of the combat, and +to go thy way.' Whereat they say he lifted his ponderous blade as not +heavier than the leaf of a dead palm, and strode from the field." + +The Prince listened, and at the end said, like a man in haste: + +"Thou knowest Nilo, my black man. Bring him hither." + +The Shaykh saluted gravely, and hurried away, leaving his patron with +eyes fixed on the Emir, and muttering: + +"So young!--and in such favor with the old Amurath! I will know him. If +I fail, he may be useful to me. Who knows? Who knows?" + +He looked upward as if speaking to some one there. + +Meantime the Emir was questioning the ensign. + +"This pilgrim," he said, "appears well provided." + +And the ensign answered: + +"He is the Indian Prince of whom I have been hearing since we left +Medina." + +"What hast thou heard?" + +"That being rich, he is open-handed, making free with his aspers as +sowers with their seed." + +"What more?" + +"He is devout and learned as an Imam. His people call him Malik. Of the +prayers he knows everything. As the hours arrive, he lifts the curtains +of his litter, and calls them with a voice like Belal's. The students in +the mosque would expire of envy could they see him bend his back in the +benedictions." + +"_Bismillah!_" + +"They say also that in the journey from El Katif to Medina he travelled +behind the caravan when he might have been first." + +"I see not the virtue in that. The hill-men love best to attack the +van." + +"Tell me, O Emir, which wouldst thou rather face, a hill-man or the +Yellow Air?" + +"The hill-man," said the other decidedly. + +"And thou knowest when those in front abandon a man struck with the +disease?" + +"Yes." + +"And then?" + +"The vultures and the jackals have their rights." + +"True, O Emir, but listen. The caravan left El Katif three thousand +strong. Three hundred and more were struck with the plague, and left to +die; of those, over one hundred were brought in by the Indian. They say +it was for this he preferred to march in the rear. He himself teaches a +saying of the _Hadis_, that Allah leaves his choicest blessings to +be gathered from amidst the poor and the dying." + +"If he thou describest be not a Prince of India as he claims, he is a"-- + +"A _Mashaikh_." [Footnote: Holier than a Dervish.] + +"Ay, by the Most Merciful! But how did he save the castaways?" + +"By a specific known only to kings and lords in his country. Can he but +reach the plague-struck before death, a drop on the tongue will work a +cure. Thou heardst what he did at Medina?" + +"No." + +"The Masjid El Nabawi [Footnote: Tomb of the Prophet.] as thou knowest, +O Emir, hath many poor who somehow live in its holy shade." + +"I know it," said the Emir, with a laugh. "I went in the house rich, and +come out of it poorer than the poorest of the many who fell upon me at +the doors." + +"Well," the ensign continued, not heeding the interruption, "he called +them in, and fed them; not with rice, and leeks, and bread ten days +sour, but with dishes to rejoice a Kaliph; and they went away swearing +the soul of the Prophet was returned to the world." + +At this juncture a troop of horsemen ascending the hill brought the +conversation to a stop. The uniformity of arms and armor, the furniture +of the steeds, the order and regularity of the general movement, +identified the body as some favorite corps of the Turkish army; while +the music, the bristling lances, the many-folded turbans, and the +half-petticoated trousers threw about it a glamor of purest orientalism. + +In the midst of the troop, a vanguard in front, a rearguard behind them, +central objects of care and reverence, moved the sacred camels, tall, +powerful brutes, more gigantic in appearance because of their +caparisoning and the extraordinary burdens they bore. They too were in +full regalia, their faces visored in silk and gold, their heads +resplendent with coronets of drooping feathers, their ample neck cloths +heavy with tasselled metallic fringing falling to the knees. Each one +was covered with a mantle of brocaded silk arranged upon a crinoline +form to give the effect somewhat of the curved expansion on the rim of a +bell. On the humps rose pavilions of silk in flowing draperies, on some +of which the entire _Fatihah_ was superbly embroidered. Over the +pavilions arose enormous aigrettes of green and black feathers. Such +were the _mahmals_, containing, among other things of splendor and +fabulous value, the _Kiswah_ which the Sultan was forwarding to the +Scherif of Mecca to take the place of the worn curtains then draping the +Tabernacle or House of God. + +The plumed heads of the camels, and the yet more richly plumed pavilions, +exalted high above the horsemen, moved like things afloat. One may not +tell what calamities to body and soul would overtake the Emir El Hajj did +he fail to deliver the _mahmals_ according to consignment. + +While the cavalry came up the hill the musicians exerted themselves; at +the top, the column turned and formed line left of the Emir, followed by +strings of camels loaded with military properties, and a horde of +camp-followers known as _farrash_. Presently another camp was reared upon +the eminence, its white roofs shining afar over the plain, and in their +midst one of unusual dimensions for the Sultan's gifts. + +The caravans in the meantime began to emerge from the dun cloud of their +own raising, and spread at large over the land; and when the young Emir +was most absorbed in the spectacle the Prince's Shaykh approached him. + +"O Emir!" the Arab said, after a salaam. + +A wild fanfare of clarions, cymbals, and drums drowning his voice, he +drew nearer, almost to the stirrup. + +"O Emir!" he said again. + +This time he was heard. + +"What wouldst thou?" + +There was the slightest irritation in the tone, and on the countenance +of the speaker as he looked down; but the feeling behind it vanished at +sight of a negro whose native blackness was intensified by the spotless +white of the Ihram in which he was clad. Perhaps the bright platter of +beaten copper the black man bore, and the earthen bottle upon it, +flanked by two cups, one of silver, the other of crystal, had something +to do with the Emir's change of manner and mind. + +"What wouldst thou?" he asked, slightly bending towards them. + +The Shaykh answered: + + "The most excellent Hadji, my patron, whom thou mayst see reclining at +the door of his tent, sends thee greeting such as is lawful from one +true believer to another travelling for the good of their souls to the +most Holy of Cities; and he prays thou wilt accept from him a draught of +this water of pomegranates, which he vouches cooling to the tongue and +healthful to the spirit, since he bought it at the door of the House of +the Prophet--to whom be prayer and praise forever." + +During the speech, the negro, with a not unpractised hand, and conscious +doubtless of the persuasion there was in the sound and sparkle of the +beverage, especially to one not yet dismounted from a long ride on the +desert, filled the cups, and held them up for acceptance. + +Stripping the left hand of its steel-backed gauntlet, the Emir lifted +the glass, and, with a bow to the pilgrim then arisen and standing by +the tent-door, drank it at a draught; whereupon, leaving the ensign to +pay like honor to the offered hospitality, he wheeled his horse, and +rode to make acknowledgment in person. + +"The favor thou hast done me, O Hadji," he said, dismounted, "is in +keeping with the acts of mercy to thy fellow-men with which I hear thou +hast paved the road from El Katif as with mother-of-pearl." + +"Speak not of them, I pray," the Wanderer answered, returning the bow he +received. "Who shall refuse obedience to the law?" + +"I see plainly thou art a good man," the Emir said, bowing again. + +"It would not become me to say so. Turning to something better, this +tent in the wilderness is mine, and as the sun is not declined to its +evening quarter, perhaps, O gallant Emir, it would be more to thy +comfort were we to go within. I, and all I have, are at thy command." + +"I am grateful for the offer, most excellent Hadji--if the address be +lower than thy true entitlement, thou shouldst bring the Shaykh yonder +to account for misleading a stranger--but the sun and I have become +unmindful of each other, and duty is always the same in its demands at +least. Here, because the valley is the _micath_, [Footnote: Meeting +place.] the caravans are apt to run wild, and need a restraining hand. I +plead the circumstance in excuse for presuming to request that thou wilt +allow me to amend thy offer of courtesy." + +The Emir paused, waiting for the permission. + +"So thou dost accept the offer, amend it as thou wilt," and the Prince +smiled. + +Then the other returned, with evident satisfaction: "When our brethren +of the caravans are settled, and the plain is quiet, and I too have +taken the required vows, I will return to thee. My quarters are so close +to thine it would please me to be allowed to come alone." + +"Granted, O Emir, granted--if, on thy side, thou wilt consent to permit +me to give thee of the fare I may yet have at disposal. I can promise +thou shalt not go away hungry." + +"Be it so." + +Thereupon the Emir remounted, and went back to his stand overlooking the +plain, and the coming of the multitude. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PASSING OF THE CARAVANS + + +From his position the Wanderer could see the advancing caravans; but as +the spectacle would consume the afternoon, he called his three +attendants, and issued directions for the entertainment of the Emir in +the evening; this done, he cast himself upon the rug, and gave rein to +his curiosity, thinking, not unreasonably, to find in what would pass +before him something bearing on the subject ever present in his mind. + +The sky could not be called blue of any tint; it seemed rather to be +filled with common dust mixed with powder of crushed brick. The effect +was of a semi-transparent ceiling flushed with heat from the direct +down-beating action of the sun, itself a disk of flame. Low mountains, +purplish black in hue, made a horizon on which the ceiling appeared set, +like the crystal in the upper valve of a watch. Thus shut in, but still +fair to view east and south of the position the spectator occupied, lay +El Zaribah, whither, as the appointed meeting place, so many pilgrims +had for days and weeks ever wearier growing been "walking with their +eyes." In their thought the Valley was not so much a garden or landscape +of beauty as an ante-chamber of the House of Allah. As they neared it +now, journeying since the break of day, impatience seized them; so when +the cry sped down the irregular column--"It is here! It is here!" they +answered with a universal _labbayaki_, signifying, "Thou hast called us-- +here we are, here we are!" Then breaking into a rabble, they rushed +multitudinously forward. To give the reader an idea of the pageant +advancing to possess itself of the Valley, it will be well to refresh his +memory with a few details. He should remember, in the first place, that +it was not merely the caravan which left El Katif over on the western +shore of the Green Sea, but two great caravans merged into one--_El +Shemi_, from Damascus, and _Misri_, from Cairo. To comprehend these, the +region they drained of pilgrims should be next considered. For example, +at Cairo there was a concentration from the two Egypts, Upper and Lower, +from the mysterious deserts of Africa, and from the cities and countries +along the southern shore of the Mediterranean far as Gibraltar; while the +whole East, using the term in its most comprehensive sense, emptied +contingents of the devout into Damascus. In forwarding the myriads thus +poured down upon them the Arabs were common carriers, like the Venetians +to the hordes of western Europe in some of the later crusades; so to +their thousands of votaries proper, the other thousands of them engaged +in the business are also to be computed. El Medina was the great +secondary rendezvous. Hardly could he be accounted of the Faithful who in +making the pilgrimage would turn his back upon the bones of the Prophet; +of such merit was the saying, "One prayer in this thy mosque is of more +virtue than a thousand in other places, save only the Masjid El Haram." +Once at Medina, how could the pilgrim refuse his presence, if not his +tears, at El Kuba, forever sacred to the Mohammedan heart as the first +place of public prayer in Islam? Finally, it should not be forgotten that +the year we write of belonged to a cycle when readers of the Koran and +worshippers at Mecca were more numerous than now, if not more zealous and +believing. And it was to witness the passing of this procession, so +numerous, so motley, so strangely furnished, so uncontrolled except as it +pleased, the Prince of India was seated at the door of his tent upon the +hill. Long before the spectacle was sighted in the distance, its approach +was announced by an overhanging pillar of cloud, not unlike that which +went before the Israelites in their exodus through similar wastes. +Shortly after the interview with the Emir, the Prince, looking under the +pillar, saw a darkening line appear, not more at first than a thread +stretched across a section of the east. + +The apparition was without a break; nor might he have said it was in +motion or of any depth. A sound came from the direction not unlike that +of a sibilant wind. Presently out of the perspective, which reduced the +many to one and all sizes to a level, the line developed into unequal +divisions, with intervals between them; about the same time the noise +became recognizable as the voices fiercely strained and inarticulate of +an innumerable host of men. Then the divisions broke into groups, some +larger than others; a little later individuals became discernible; +finally what had appeared a line resolved itself into a convulsing mass, +without front, without wings, but of a depth immeasurable. + +The pilgrims did not attempt to keep the road; having converted their +march into a race, they spread right and left over the country, each +seeking a near way; sometimes the object was attained, sometimes not; +the end was a confusion beyond description. The very inequalities of the +ground helped the confusion. A group was one moment visible on a height; +then it vanished in a hollow. Now there were thousands on a level; then, +as if sinking, they went down, down, and presently where they were there +was only dust or a single individual. + +Afterwhile, so wide was the inrolling tide, the field of vision +overflowed, and the eye was driven to ranging from point to point, +object to object. Then it was discernible that the mass was mixed of +animals and men--here horses, there camels--some with riders, some +without--all, the burdened as well as unburdened, straining forward +under urgency of shriek and stick--forward for life--forward as if of +the two "comforts," Success beckoned them in front, and Despair behind +plied them with spears. [Footnote: In the philosophy of the Arabs +Success and Despair are treated as comforts.] + +At length the eastern boundary of the Valley was reached. There one +would suppose the foremost of the racers, the happy victors, would rest +or, at their leisure, take of the many sites those they preferred; but +no--the penalty attaching to the triumph was the danger of being run +down by the thousands behind. In going on there was safety--and on they +went. + +To this time the spectacle had been a kind of panoramic generality; now +the details came to view, and accustomed as he was to marvels of +pageantry, the Prince exclaimed: "These are not men, but devils fleeing +from the wrath of God!" and involuntarily he went nearer, down to the +brink of the height. It seemed the land was being inundated with camels; +not the patient brutes we are used to thinking of by that name, with +which domestication means ill-treatment and suffering--the slow-going +burden-bearers, always appealing to our sympathy because always +apparently tired, hungry, sleepy, worn-out--always reeling on as if +looking for quiet places in which to slip their loads of whatever kind, +and lie down and die; but the camel aroused, enraged, frightened, +panic-struck, rebellious, sending forth strange cries, and running with +all its might--an army of camels hurling their gigantic hulks along at a +rate little less than blind impetus. And they went, singly, and in +strings, and yonder a mass. The slower, and those turned to the right or +left of the direct course, and all such as had hesitated upon coming to +a descent, were speedily distanced or lost to sight; so the ensemble was +constantly shifting. And then the rolling and tossing of the cargoes and +packages on the backs of the animals, and the streaming out of curtains, +scarfs, shawls, and loose draperies of every shape and color, lent +touches of drollery and bright contrasts to the scene. One instant the +spectator on the hill was disposed to laugh, then to admire, then to +shiver at the immensity of a danger; over and over again amidst his +quick variation of feeling, he repeated the exclamation: "These are not +men, but devils fleeing from the wrath of God!" + +Such was the spectacle in what may be called the second act; presently +it reached a third; and then the fury of the movement, so inconsistent +with the habits and patient nature of the camel, was explained. In the +midst of the hurly-burly, governing and directing it, were horsemen, an +army of themselves. Some rode in front, and the leading straps on which +they pulled with the combined strength of man and horse identified them +as drivers; others rode as assistants of the drivers, and they were +armed with goads which they used skilfully and without mercy. There were +many collisions, upsets, and entanglements; yet the danger did not deter +the riders from sharing the excitement, and helping it forward to their +utmost. They too used knotted ropes, and stabbed with sharpened sticks; +they also contributed to the unearthly tumult of sounds which travelled +with the mob, a compound of prayers, imprecations, and senseless +screams--the medley that may be occasionally heard from a modern +mad-house. + +In the height of the rush the Shaykh came up. + +"How long," said the Prince--"in the Prophet's name, how long will this +endure?" + +"Till night, O most excellent Hadji--if the caravans be so long in +coming." + +"Is it usual?" + +"It has been so from the beginning." + +Thereupon the curiosity of the Prince took another turn. A band of +horsemen galloped into view--free riders, with long lances carried +upright, their caftans flying, and altogether noble looking. + +"These are Arabs. I know by their horses and their bearing," said he, +with admiration; "but possibly thou canst give me the name of their +tribe." + +The Shaykh answered with pride: "Their horses are gray, and by the sign, +O lover of the Prophet, they are the Beni-Yarb. Every other one of them +is a poet; in the face of an enemy, they are all warriors." + +The camps on the hill, with the yellow flag giving notice of the Emir's +station, had effect upon others besides the Yarbis; all who wished to +draw out of the _melange_ turned towards them, bringing the spectacle in +part to the very feet of the Wanderer; whereas he thought with a quicker +beating of the heart, "The followers of the Prophet are coming to show me +of what they are this day composed." Then he said to the Shaykh, "Stand +thou here, and tell me as I shall ask." + +The conversation between them may be thus summarized: + +The current which poured past then, its details in perfect view, carried +along with it all the conditions and nationalities of the pilgrimage. +Natives of the desert on bare-backed camels, clinging to the humps with +one hand, while they pounded with the other--natives on beautiful +horses, not needing whip or spur--natives on dromedaries so swift, +sure-footed, and strong there was no occasion for fear. Men, and often +women and children, on ragged saddle-cloths, others in pretentious +boxes, and now and then a person whose wealth and rank were published by +the magnificence of the litter in which he was borne, swinging +luxuriously between long-stepping dromedaries from El Sbark. + +"By Allah!" the Prince exclaimed. "Here hath barbarism its limit! +Behold!" + +They of whom he spoke came up in irregular array mounted on dromedaries +without housing. At their head rode one with a white lettered green +flag, and beating an immense drum. They were armed with long spears of +Indian bamboo, garnished below the slender points with swinging tufts of +ostrich feathers. Each carried a woman behind him disdainful of a veil. +The feminine screams of exultation rose high above the yells of the men, +helping not a little to the recklessness with which the latter bore +onward. + +Woe to such in their way as were poorly mounted. In a twinkling they +were ridden down. Nor did those fare better who were overtaken +struggling with a string of camels. The crash of bursting boxes, the +sharp report of rending ropes, the warning cry, the maddening cheer; a +battle of men, another of beasts--and when the collision had passed, the +earth was strewn with its wreck. + +"They are Wahabbas, O Hadji," said the Shaykh. "Thou seest the tufts on +their spears. Under them they carry _Jehannum_." + +"And these now coming?" asked the Prince. "Their long white hats remind +me of Persia." + +"Persians they are," replied the Shaykh, his lip curling, his eyes +gleaming. "They will tear their clothes, and cut their shaven crowns, +and wail, 'Woe's me, O Ali!' then kiss the Kaaba with defilement on +their beards. The curse of the _Shaykaim_ is on them--may it stay +there!" + +Then the Prince knew it was a Sunite speaking of Schiahs. + +Yet others of the Cafila of Bagdad passed with the despised sons of +Iran; notably Deccanese, Hindoos, Afghans, and people from the +Himalayas, and beyond them far as Kathay, and China, and Siam, all +better known to the Prince than to his Shaykh, who spoke of them, +saying, "Thou shouldst know thine own, O Hadji! Thou art their father!" + +Next, in a blending that permitted no choice of associates, along swept +the chief constituents of the caravans--Moors and Blackamoors, +Egyptians, Syrians, Turks, Kurds, Caucasians, and Arabs of every tribe, +each a multitude of themselves, and their passing filled up the +afternoon. + +Towards sundown the hurry and rush of the movement perceptibly +slackened. Over in the west there were signs of a halt; tents were +rising, and the smoke of multiplying fires began to deepen the blue of +the distance. It actually appeared as if settlement for the night would +creep back upon the east, whence the irruption had burst. + +At a moment when the Prince's interest in the scene was commencing to +flag, and he was thinking of returning to his tent, the rearmost +divisions of the pilgrims entered the Valley. They were composed of +footmen and donkey-riders, for whom the speed of the advance bodies had +been too great. High-capped Persians, and Turks whose turbans were +reduced to faded fezes, marched in the van, followed closely by a rabble +of Takruris, ragged, moneyless, living upon meat of abandoned animals. +Last of all were the sick and dying, who yet persisted in dragging their +fainting limbs along as best they could. Might they but reach the Holy +City! Then if they died it would be as martyrs for whom the doors of +Paradise are always open. With them, expectants of easy prey, like the +_rakham_ [Footnote: Vultures.] sailing in slow circles overhead, +flocked the beggars, thieves, outcasts and assassins; but night came +quickly, and covered them, and all the things they did, for evil and +night have been partners from the beginning. + +At last the Prince returned to his tent. He had seen the sun set over El +Zaribah; he had seen the passing of the caravans. Out there in the +Valley they lay. They--to him, and for his purposes, the Mohammedan +world unchanged--the same in composition, in practice, in creed--only he +felt now a consciousness of understanding them as never before. Mahomet, +in his re-introduction of God to man, had imposed himself upon their +faith, its master idea, its central figure, the superior in sanctity, +the essential condition--the ONE! Knowingly or unknowingly, he left a +standard of religious excellence behind him--Himself. And by that +standard the thief in the wake of the mighty caravans robbing the dead, +the Thug strangling a victim because he was too slow in dying, were +worthy Paradise, and would attain it, for they believed in him. Faith in +the Prophet of God was more essential than faith in God. Such was the +inspiration of Islam. A sinking of spirit fell upon the unhappy man. He +felt a twinge of the bitterness always waiting on failure, where the +undertaking, whatever it be, has enlisted the whole heart. At such times +instinctively we turn here and there for help, and in its absence, for +comfort and consolation; what should he do now but advert to +Christianity? What would Christians say of his idea? Was God lost in +Christ as he was here in Mahomet? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PRINCE AND THE EMIR + + +In the reception room of the Prince's tent the lamps are lighted; one +fastened to the stout centre pole, and five others on as many palings +planted in the ground, all burning brightly. The illumination is +enriched by the admirable blending of colors in the canopy of shawls. +Within the space defined by the five lamps, on a tufted rug, the Mystic +and the Emir are seated, both in _Ihram_, and looking cool and +comfortable, though the night outside still testifies to the heat of the +day. + +A wooden trencher, scoured white as ivory, separates the friends, +leaving them face to face. In supping they have reached what we call the +dessert. + +On the trencher are slender baskets containing grapes, figs, and dates, +the choicest of the gardens of Medina. A jar of honey, an assortment of +dry biscuits, and two jugs, one of water, the other of juice of +pomegranates, with drinking cups, complete the board. + +At this age, Orientals lingering at table have the cheer of coffee and +tobacco; unhappily for the two of whom we are writing, neither of the +great narcotics was discovered. Nevertheless it should not be supposed +the fruits, the honey, and the waters failed to content them. Behind the +host is the negro we already know as Nilo. He is very watchful of his +master's every motion. + +As guest and host appear now the formalism of acquaintanceship just made +has somewhat disappeared, and they are talking easily and with freedom. +Occasionally a movement of one or the other brings his head to a +favorable angle, whereat the light, dropping on the freshly shaven +crown, is sharply glinted back. + +The Emir has been speaking of the plague. + +"At Medina I was told it had run its course," the host remarked. + +"True, O Hadji, but it has returned, and with greater violence. The +stragglers were its victims; now it attacks indiscriminately. Yesterday +the guard I keep in the rear came to a pilgrim of rank. His litter was +deserted, and he was lying in it dead." + +"The man may have been murdered." + +"Nay," said the Emir, "gold in large amount was found on his person." + +"But he had other property doubtless?" + +"Of great value." + +"What disposition was made of it?" + +"It was brought to me, and is now with other stores in my tent; a law of +ancient institution vesting it in the Emir El Hajj." + +The countenance of the Jew became serious. + +"The ownership was not in my thought," he said, waving his hand. "I knew +the law; but this scourge of Allah has its laws also, and by one of them +we are enjoined to burn or bury whatever is found with the body." + +The Emir, seeing the kindly concern of his host, smiled as he +answered: + +"But there is a higher law, O Hadji." + +"I spoke without thinking danger of any kind could disturb thee." + +The host drew forward the date basket, and the Emir, fancying he +discerned something on his mind besides the fruit, waited his further +speech. + +"I am reminded of another matter, O brave Emir; but as it also is +personal I hesitate. Indeed I will not speak of it except with +permission." + +"As you will," the other replied, "I will answer--May the Prophet help +me!" + +"Blessed be the Prophet!" said the Prince, reverently. "Thy confidence +doeth me honor, and I thank thee; at the same time I would not presume +upon it if thy tongue were less suggestive of a land whose name is +music--Italy. It is in my knowledge, O Emir, that the Sultan, thy +master--may Allah keep him in countenance!--hath in his service many +excellent soldiers by birth of other countries than his own, broad as it +is--Christians, who are none the less of the true faith. Wherefore, wilt +thou tell me of thyself?" + +The question did not embarrass the Emir. + +"The answer must be brief," he answered, without hesitation, "because +there is little to tell. I do not know my native country. The +peculiarity of accent you have mentioned has been observed by others; +and as they agreed with you in assigning it to Italy, I am nothing loath +to account myself an Italian. The few shreds of circumstance which came +to me in course of time confirmed the opinion, and I availed myself of a +favorable opportunity to acquire the tongue. In our further speech, O +Hadji, you may prefer its use." + +"At thy pleasure," the host replied; "though there is no danger of our +being overheard. Nilo, the slave behind me, has been a mute from birth." + +Then, without the slightest interruption, the Emir changed his speech +from Greek to Italian. + +"My earliest remembrance is of being borne in a woman's arms out of +doors, under a blue sky, along a margin of white sand, an orchard on one +hand, the sea on the other. The report of the waves breaking upon the +shore lives distinctly in my memory; so does the color of the trees in +the orchard which has since become familiar to me as the green of +olives. Equally clear is the recollection that, returning in-doors, I +was carried into a house of stone so large it must have been a castle. I +speak of it, as of the orchard, and the sea, and the roar of the +breakers, quite as much by reference to what I have subsequently seen as +from trust in my memory." + +Here the host interrupted him to remark: + +"Though an Eastern, I have been a traveller in the west, and the +description reminds me of the eastern shore of Italy in the region of +Brindisi." + +"My next recollection," the Emir resumed, "is a child's fright, +occasioned by furious flames, and thick smoke, and noises familiar now +as of battle. There was then a voyage on the sea during which I saw +none but bearded men. The period of perfect knowledge so far as my +history is concerned began when I found myself an object of the love and +care of the wife of a renowned Pacha, governor of the city of Brousa. +She called me _Mirza_. My childhood was spent in a harem, and I +passed from it into a school to enter upon my training as a soldier. In +good time I became a Janissary. An opportunity presented itself one day, +and I distinguished myself. My master, the Sultan, rewarded me by +promotion and transfer to the _Silihdars_, [Footnote: D'Oheson.] the +most ancient and favored corps of the Imperial army, it being the +body-guard of the Padisha, and garrison of his palace. The yellow flag +my ensign carries belongs to that corps. As a further token of his +confidence, the Sultan appointed me Emir El Hajj. In these few words, O +Hadji, you have my history." + +The listener was impressed with the simplicity of the narrative, and the +speaker's freedom from regret, sorrow, or passion of any kind. + +"It is a sad story, O Emir," he said, sympathetically, "and I cannot +think it ended. Knowest thou not more?" + +"Nothing of incident," was the reply. "All that remains is inferential. +The castle was attacked at night by Turks landed from their galleys." + +"And thy father and mother?" + +"I never knew them." + +"There is another inference," said the Prince, suggestively--"they were +Christians." + +"Yes, but unbelievers." + +The suppression of natural affection betrayed by the remark still more +astonished the host. + +"But they believed in God," he said. + +"They should have believed Mahomet was his Prophet." + +"I fear I am giving you pain, O Emir." + +"Dismiss the fear, O Hadji." + +Again the Jew sought the choicest date in the basket. The indifference +of his guest was quick fuel to the misgivings which we have already +noticed as taking form about his purpose, and sapping and weakening it. +To be arbiter in the religious disputes of men, the unique consummation +called for by his scheme, the disputants must concede him room and +hearing. Were all Mohammedans, from whom he hoped most, like this one +born of Christians, then the two conditions would be sternly refused +him. By the testimony of this witness, there was nothing in the heredity +of faith; and it went to his soul incisively that, in stimulating the +passions which made the crusades a recurrence of the centuries, he +himself had contributed to the defeat now threatening his latest +ambition. The sting went to his soul; yet, by force of will, always at +command in the presence of strangers, he repressed his feeling, and +said: + +"Everything is as Allah wills. Let us rejoice that he is our keeper. The +determination of our fate, in the sense of what shall happen to us, and +what we shall be, and when and where the end shall overtake us, is no +more to him than deciding the tint of the rose before the bud is formed. +O Emir, I congratulate you on the resignation with which you accept his +judgment. I congratulate you upon the age in which he has cast your +life. He who in a moment of uncertainty would inform himself of his +future should not heed his intentions and hopes; by studying his present +conditions, he will find himself an oracle unto himself. He should +address his best mind to the question, 'I am now in a road; if I keep +it, where will I arrive?' And wisdom will answer, 'What are thy desires? +For what art thou fitted? What are the opportunities of the time?' Most +fortunate, O Emir, if there be correspondence between the desire, the +fitness, and the opportunity!" + +The Emir did not comprehend, and seeing it, the host added with a +directness approaching the abrupt: + +"And now to make the reason of my congratulations clear, it is necessary +that thou consent to my putting a seal upon your lips. What sayest thou?" + +"If I engage my silence, O Hadji, it is because I believe you are a good +man." + +The dignity of the Emir's answer did not entirely hide the effect of the +Prince's manner. + +"Know thou then," the latter continued, with a steady, penetrating +gaze--"know thou then, there is a Brahman of my acquaintance who is a +Magus. I use the word to distinguish him from the necromancers whom the +Koran has set in everlasting prohibition. He keeps school in a chapel +hid away in the heart of jungles overgrowing a bank of the Bermapootra, +not far from the mountain gates of the river. He has many scholars, and +his intelligence has compassed all knowledge. He is familiar with the +supernatural as with the natural. On my way, I visited him.... Know thou +next, O Emir, I too have had occasion to make inquiries of the future. +The vulgar would call me an astrologer--not a professional practising +for profit, but an adept seeking information because it lifts me so much +nearer Allah and his sublimest mysteries. Very lately I found a celestial +horoscope announcing a change in the status of the world. The masterful +waves, as you may know, have for many ages flowed from the West; but now, +the old Roman impetus having at last spent itself, a refluence is to set +in, and the East in its turn pour a dominating flood upon the West. The +determining stars have slipped their influences. They are in motion. +_Constantinople is doomed!_" + +The guest drew a quick breath. Understanding was flooding him with +light. + +"And now, O Emir, say, if the revelation had stopped there--stopped, I +mean, with the overthrow of the Christian capital--wouldst thou have +been satisfied with it?" + +"No, by Allah, no!" + +"Further, Emir. The stars being communicable yet, what wouldst thou have +asked them next?" + +"I would not have rested until I had from them the name of him who is to +be leader in the movement." + +The Mystic smiled at the young man's fervor. + +"Thou hast saved me telling what I did, and affirmed the logic of our +human nature," he said. "Thy imperial master is old, and much worn by +wars and cares of government, is he not?" + +"Old in greatness," answered the Emir, diplomatically. + +"Hath he not a son?" + +"A son with all the royal qualities of the father." + +"But young--not more than eighteen." + +"Not more." + +"And the Prophet hath lent him his name?" + +"Even so." + +The host released the eager face of the Emir from his gaze, while he +sought a date in the basket. + +"Another horoscope--the second"--he then said, quietly, "revealed +everything but the hero's name. He is to be of kingly birth, and a Turk. +Though a lad, he is already used to arms and armor." + +"Oh! by Allah, Hadji," cried the guest, his face flushed, his words +quick, his voice mandatory. "Release me from my pledge of silence. Tell +me who thou art, that I may report thee, and the things thou sayest. +There was never such news to warm a heroic heart." + +The Prince pursued his explanation without apparently noticing the +interruption noticing the interruption. + +"To verify the confidences of the stars, I sought the Magus in his +chapel by the sacred river. Together we consulted them, and made the +calculations. He embraced me; but it was agreed between us that absolute +verity of the finding could only be had by re-casting the horoscopes at +Constantinople. Thou must know, O Emir, there is an astral alphabet +which has its origin in the inter-relations of the heavenly bodies, +represented by lines impalpable to the common eye; know also that the +most favored adept cannot read the mystic letters with the assurance +best comporting with verity, except he be at the place of the destined +event or revolution. To possess myself of the advantage, I shall ere +long visit the ancient capital. More plainly, I am on the way thither +now." + +Instead of allaying the eagerness of the Emir, the words excited it the +more. + +"Release me from my pledge," he repeated, entreatingly, "and tell me who +thou art. Mahommed is my pupil; he rides, carries shield, lays lance, +draws arrow, and strikes with sword and axe as I have taught him. Thou +canst not name a quality characteristic of heroes he does not possess. +Doth Allah permit me safe return from the Hajj, he will be first to meet +me at his father's gate. Think what happiness I should have in saluting +him there with the title--Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of Constantinople!" + +The Jew answered: + +"I would gladly help thee, O Emir, to happiness and promotion; for I see +what afterwhile, if not presently, they would follow such a salutation +of thy pupil, if coupled with a sufficient explanation; but his +interests are paramount; at the same time it becomes me to be allegiant +to the divinatory stars. What rivalries the story might awaken! It is +not uncommon in history, as thou mayst know, that sons of promise have +been cut off by jealous fathers. I am not accusing the great Amurath; +nevertheless precautions are always proper." + +The speaker then became dramatic. + +"Nay, brave Emir, the will to help thee has been already seconded by the +deed. I spoke but now of lines of correspondence between the shining +lights that are the life of the sky at night. Let me illustrate my +meaning. Observe the lamps about us. The five on the uprights. Between +them, in the air, two stars of interwoven form are drawn. Take the lamps +as determining points, and use thy fancy a moment." + +The Emir turned to the lamps; and the host, swift to understand the +impulse, gave him time to gratify it; then he resumed: + +"So the fields of Heaven between the stars, where the vulgar see only +darkness, are filled with traceries infinite in form yet separable as +the letters of the alphabet. They are the ciphers in which Allah writes +his reasons for every creation, and his will concerning it. There the +sands are numbered, and the plants and trees, and their leaves, and the +birds, and everything animate; there is thy history, and mine, and all +of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. +Death does not blot out the records. Everlastingly writ, they shall be +everlastingly read--for the shame of some, for the delight of others." + +"Allah is good," said the Emir, bending his head. + +"And now," the Mystic continued, "thou hast eaten and drunk with me in +the Pentagram of the Magii. Such is the astral drawing between the five +lamps. Henceforth in conflicts of interest, fortune against fortune, +influences undreamt of will come to thy assistance. So much have I +already done for thee." + +The Emir bowed lower than before. + +"Nor that alone," the Jew continued. "Henceforth our lives will run +together on lines never divergent, never crossing. Be not astonished, +if, within a week, I furnish, to thy full satisfaction, proof of what I +am saying." + +The expression could not be viewed except as of more than friendly +interest. + +"Should it so happen," the Emir said, with warmth, "consider how +unfortunate my situation would be, not knowing the name or country of my +benefactor." + +The host answered simply, though evasively: + +"There are reasons of state, O Emir, requiring me to make this +pilgrimage unknown to any one." + +The Emir apologized. + +"It is enough," the host added, "that thou remember me as the Prince of +India, whose greatest happiness is to believe in Allah and Mahomet his +Prophet; at the same time I concede we should have the means of +certainly knowing each other should communication become desirable +hereafter." + +He made a sign with his right hand which the negro in waiting responded +to by passing around in front of him. + +"Nilo," the master said in Greek, "bring me the two malachite +rings--those with the turquoise eyes." + +The slave disappeared. + +"Touching the request to be released from the promise of secrecy, pardon +me, O Emir, if I decline to grant it. The verification to be made in +Constantinople should advise thee that the revolution to which I referred +is not ripe for publication to the world. A son might be excused for +dishonoring his parents; but the Magus who would subject the divine +science to danger of ridicule or contempt by premature disclosure is +fallen past hope--he would betray Allah himself." + +The Emir bowed, but with evident discontent. At length the slave +returned with the rings. + +"Observe, O Emir," the Jew said, passing them both to his guest, "they +are rare, curious, and exactly alike." + +The circlets were of gold, with raised settings of deep green stone, cut +so as to leave a drop of pure turquoise on the top of each, suggestive +of birds' eyes. + +"They are exactly the same, O Prince," said the Emir, tendering them +back. + +The Jew waved his hand. + +"Select one of them," he said, "and I will retain the other. Borne by +messengers, they will always identify us each to the other." + +The two grew more cordial, and there was much further conversation across +the board, interspersed with attentions to the fruit basket and +pomegranate water. About midnight the Emir took his departure. When he +was gone, the host walked to and fro a long time; once he halted, and +said aloud--"I hear his salute, 'Hail Mahommed, Conqueror of +Constantinople !' It is always well to have a store of strings for one's +bow." + +And to himself he laughed heartily. + +Next day at dawn the great caravan was afoot, every man, woman, and +child clad in _Ihram_, and whitening the pale green Valley. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT THE KAABA + + +The day before the pilgrimage. + +A cloud had hung over the valley where Mecca lies like drift in the bed +of a winding gorge. About ten o'clock in the morning the cloud +disappeared over the summit of Abu Kubays in the east. The promise of +rain was followed by a simoom so stifling that it plunged every +breathing thing into a struggle for air. The dogs burrowed in the shade +of old walls; birds flew about with open beaks; the herbage wilted, and +the leaves on the stunted shrubs ruffled, then rolled up, like drying +cinnamon. If the denizens of the city found no comfort in their houses +of stone and mud, what suffering was there for the multitude not yet +fully settled in the blistering plain beyond the bluffs of Arafat? + +The zealous pilgrim, obedient to the law, always makes haste to +celebrate his arrival at the Holy City by an immediate visit to the +Haram. If perchance he is to see the enclosure for the first time, his +curiosity, in itself pardonable, derives a tinge of piety from duty. The +Prince of India but illustrated the rule. He left his tents pitched +close to those of the Emir El Hajj and the Scherif of Mecca, under the +Mountain of Mercy, as Arafat was practically translated by the very +faithful. Having thus assured the safety of his property, for +conveniency and greater personal comfort he took a house with windows +looking into the Mosque. By so doing, he maintained the dignity of his +character as a Prince of India. The beggars thronging his door furnished +lively evidence of the expectations his title and greatness had already +excited. + +With a guide, his suite, and Nilo shading his head with an umbrella of +light green paper, the Prince appeared in front of the chief entrance to +the sacred square from the north. [Footnote: The Bab el Vzyadeh.] + +The heads of the party were bare; their countenances becomingly solemn; +their _Ihram_ fresh and spotlessly white. Passing slowly on, they were +conducted under several outside arches, and down a stairway into a hall, +where they left the umbrella and their shoes. + +The visitor found himself then in a cloister of the Mosque with which +the area around the Kaaba is completely enclosed. There was a pavement +of undressed flags, and to the right and left a wilderness of tall +pillars tied together by arches, which in turn supported domes. Numbers +of people, bareheaded and barefooted, to whom the heat outside was +insupportable, were in refuge there; some, seated upon the stones, +revolved their rosaries; others walked slowly about. None spoke. The +silence was a tribute to the ineffable sanctity of the place. The +refreshing shade, the solemn hush, the whiteness of the garments were +suggestive of sepulchres and their spectral tenantry. + +In the square whither the Prince next passed, the first object to +challenge his attention was the Kaaba itself. At sight of it he +involuntarily stopped. + +The cloisters, seen from the square, were open colonnades. Seven +minarets, belted in red, blue and yellow, arose in columnar relief +against the sky and the mountains in the south. A gravelled plot +received from the cloisters; next that, toward the centre, was a narrow +pavement of rough stone in transverse extension down a shallow step to +another gravelled plot; then another pavement wider than the first, and +ending, like it, in a downward step; after which there was a third +sanded plot, and then a third pavement defined by gilded posts upholding +a continuous row of lamps, ready for lighting at the going down of the +sun. The last pavement was of gray granite polished mirror-like by the +friction of millions of bare feet; and upon it, like the pedestal of a +monument upon a plinth, rested the base of the Holy House, a structure +of glassy white marble about two feet in height, with a bench of sharp +inclination from the top. At intervals it was studded with massive brass +rings. Upon the base the Kaaba rose, an oblong cube forty feet tall, +eighteen paces lengthwise, and fourteen in breadth, shrouded all in +black silk wholly unrelieved, except by one broad band of the appearance +of gold, and inscriptions from the Koran, of a like appearance, wrought +in boldest lettering. The freshness of the great gloomy curtain told how +quickly the gift of the Sultan had been made available, and that +whatever else might betide him, the young Emir was already happily +discharged of his trust. + +Of the details, the only one the Jew actually coupled with a thought was +the Kaaba. A hundred millions of human beings pray five times every day, +their faces turned to this funereal object! The idea, though commonplace, +called up that other always in waiting with him. In a space too brief for +the formulation of words, he felt the Arbitership of his dreams blow +away. The work of the founder of Islam was too well done and now too far +gone to be disturbed, except with the sanction of God. Had he the +sanction? A writhing of the soul, accompanied with a glare, like +lightning, and followed, like lightning, by an engulfing darkness, wrung +his features, and instinctively he covered them with his hands. The guide +saw the action, and misjudged it. + +"Let us not be in haste," he said. "Others before you have found the +House at first sight blinding. Blessed be Allah!" + +The commiseration affected the Prince strangely. The darkness, under +pressure of his hands upon the eyeballs, gave place to an atmosphere of +roseate light, in the fulness of which he saw the House of God projected +by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod. The realism of the apparition was +absolute, and comparison unavoidable. That he, familiar with the glory +of the conception of the Israelite, should be thought blinded by this +_Beit Allah_ of the Arab, so without grace of form or lines, so primitive +and expressionless, so palpably uninspired by taste, or genius, or the +Deity it was designed to honor, restored him at once: indeed, in the +succeeding reaction, he found it difficult to keep down resentment. +Dropping his hands, he took another survey of the shrouded pile, and +swept all the square under eye. + +He beheld a crowd of devotees at the northeast corner of the House, and +over their heads two small open structures which, from descriptions +often heard, he recognized as praying places. A stream of worshippers +was circling around the marble base of the Most Holy, some walking, +others trotting; these, arriving at the northeast corner, halted--the +Black Stone was there! A babel of voices kept the echoes of the +enclosure in unremitting exercise. The view taken, the Jew said, +calmly: + +"Blessed be Allah! I will go forward." + +In his heart he longed to be in Constantinople--Islam, it was clear, +would lend him no ear; Christendom might be more amenable. + +He was carried next through the Gate of the Sons of the Old Woman; +thence to the space in front of the well Zem-Zem; mindful of the prayers +and prostrations required at each place, and of the dumb servants who +went with him. + +The famous well was surrounded by a throng apparently impassable. + +"Room for the Royal Hadji--for the Prince of India!" the guide yelled. +"There are no poor where he is--make way!" + +A thousand eyes sought the noble pilgrim; and as a path opened for him, +a score of _Zem-Zemis_ refilled their earthen cups with the bitter +water afresh. A Prince of Hind did not come to them every day. + +He tasted from a cup--his followers drank--and when the party turned +away there were jars paid for to help all the blind in the caravan back +to healthful vision. + +"There is no God but Allah! Be merciful to him, O Allah," the crowd +shouted, in approval of the charity. + +The press of pilgrims around the northeastern corner of the Kaaba, to +which the guide would have conducted the Prince next, was greater than +at the well. Each was waiting his turn to kiss the Black Stone before +beginning the seven circuits of the House. + +Never had the new-comer seen a concourse so wrought upon by fanaticism; +never had he seen a concourse so peculiarly constituted. All complexions, +even that of the interior African, were a reddish desert tan. Eyes +fiercely bright appeared unnaturally swollen from the colirium with which +they were generally stained. The diversities the penitential costume +would have masked were effectually exposed whenever mouths opened for +utterance. Many sang, regardless of time or melody, the _tilbiye_ they +had hideously vocalized in their advance toward the city. For the most +part, however, the effort at expression spent itself in a long cry, +literally rendered--"Thou hast called me--I am here! I am here!" The +deliverance was in the vernacular of the devotee, and low or loud, shrill +or hoarse, according to the intensity of the passion possessing him. + +To realize the discordancy, the reader must recall the multiplicity of +the tribes and nations represented; then will he fancy the agitation of +the mass, the swaying of the white-clad bodies, the tossing of bare arms +and distended hands, the working of tearful faces turned up to the +black-curtained pile regardless of the smiting of the sun--here men on +their knees, there men grovelling on the pavement--yonder one beating +his breast till it resounds like an empty cask--some comprehension of +the living obstruction in front of the Jew can be had. + +Then the guide, calling him, tried the throng. + +"The Prince of India!" he shouted, at the top of his voice. "Room for +the beloved of the Prophet! Stand not in his way--Room, room!" + +After much persistence the object was achieved. A pilgrim, the last one +in front of the Prince, with arms extended along the two sides of the +angle of the wall where the curtain was looped up, seemed struggling to +embrace the House; suddenly, as in despair he beat his head frantically +against the sharp corner--a second thrust more desperate than the +first--then a groan, and he dropped blindly to the pavement. The guide +rejoicing made haste to push the Prince into the vacant place. + +Without the enthusiasm of a traveller, calmly as a philosopher, the Jew, +himself again, looked at the Stone which more nearly than any other +material thing commanded idolatrous regard from the Mohammedan world. He +had known personally most of the great men of that world--its poets, +lawmakers, warriors, ascetics, kings--even the Prophet. And now they +came one by one, as one by one they had come in their several days, and +kissed the insensate thing; and between the coming and going time was +scarcely perceptible. The mind has the faculty of compressing, by one +mighty effort, the incidents of a life, even of centuries, into a +flash-like reenactment. + +As all the way from the first view of the sanctuary to arrival at the +gate, and thence to this point, the Jew had promptly followed his guide, +especially in recitation of the prescribed prayers, he was about to do +so now; already his hands were raised. + +"Great God! O my God! I believe in Thee--I Believe in thy Book--I +believe in thy Word--I believe in thy Promise," the zealous prompter +said, and waited. + +For the first time the votary was slow to respond. How could he, at such +a juncture, refuse a thought to the Innumerables whose ghosts had been +rendered up in vain struggles to obey the law which required them to +come and make proof of faith before this Stone! The Innumerables, lost +at sea, lost in the desert--lost body and soul, as in their dying they +themselves had imagined! Symbolism! An invention of men--a necessity of +necromancers! God had his ministers and priests, the living media of his +will, but of symbols--nothing! + +"Great God! O my God!" the guide began again. A paroxysm of disgust +seized the votary. The Phariseeism in which he was born and bred, and +which he could no more outlive than he could outlive his body asserted +itself. + +In the crisis of the effort at self-control, he heard a groan, and, +looking down, saw the mad devotee at his feet. In sliding from the shelf +of the base, the man had been turned upon his back, so that he was lying +face upward. On the forehead there were two cruel wounds; and the blood, +yet flowing, had partially filled the hollows of the eyes, making the +countenance unrecognizable. + +"The wretch is dying," the Prince exclaimed. + +"Allah is merciful--let us attend to the prayers," the guide returned, +intent on business. + +"But he will die, if not helped." + +"When we have finished, the porters will come for him." + +The sufferer stirred, then raised a hand. + +"O Hadji--O Prince of India!" he said faintly, in Italian. + +The Wanderer bent down to get a nearer view. + +"It is the Yellow Air--save me!" + +Though hardly articulate, the words were full of light to the listener. + +"The virtues of the Pentagram endure," he said, with absolute +self-possession. "The week is not ended, and, lo!--I save him." + +Rising to his full stature, he glanced here and there over the throng, +as if commanding attention, and proclaimed: + +"A mercy of the Most Merciful! It is the Emir El Hajj." + +There was a general silence. Every man had seen the martial figure of +the young chief in his arms and armor, and on horseback; many of them +had spoken to him. + +"The Emir El Hajj--dying," passed rapidly from mouth to mouth. + +"O Allah!" burst forth in general refrain; after which the ejaculations +were all excerpted from prayers. + +"'O Allah! This is the place of him who flies to thee from fire!--Shadow +him, O Allah, in thy shadow!--Give him drink from the cup of thy +Prophet!'" + +A Bedouin, tall, almost black, and with a tremendous mouth open until +the red lining was exposed between the white teeth down to the larynx, +shouted shrilly the inscription on the marble over the breast of the +Prophet--"In the name of Allah! Allah have mercy upon him!"--and every +man repeated the words, but not one so much as reached a hand in help. + +The Prince waited--still the _Amins_, and prayerful ejaculations. Then +his wonder ceased. Not a pilgrim but envied the Emir--that he should die +so young was a pity--that he should die at the base of the sanctuary, in +the crowning act of the Hajj, was a grace of God. Each felt Paradise +stooping low to receive a martyr, and that its beatitude was near. They +trembled with ecstasy at hearing the gates opening on their crystal +hinges, and seeing light as from the robe of the Prophet glimmering +through them. O happy Emir! + +The Jew drew within himself. Compromise with such fanaticism was +impossible. Then, with crushing distinctness, he saw what had not before +occurred to him. In the estimation of the Mohammedan world, the role of +Arbiter was already filled; that which he thought of being, Mahomet was. +Too late, too late! In bitterness of soul he flung his arms up and +shouted: + +"The Emir is dying of the plague!" + +He would have found satisfaction in seeing the blatant crowd take to its +heels, and hie away into the cloisters and the world outside; not one +moved! + +"By Allah!" he shouted, more vehemently than before. "The Yellow Air +hath blown upon the Emir--is blowing upon you--Fly!" + +"_Amin! Amin!_--Peace be with thee, O Prince of Martyrs! O Prince of the +Happy! Peace be with thee, O Lion of Allah! O Lion of the Prophet!" Such +the answers returned him. + +The general voice became a howl. Surely here was something more than +fanaticism. Then it entered his understanding. What he beheld was Faith +exulting above the horrors of disease, above the fear of death--Faith +bidding Death welcome! His arms fell down. The crowd, the sanctuary, the +hopes he had built on Islam, were no more to him. He signed to his three +attendants, and they advanced and raised the Emir from the pavement. + +"To-morrow I will return with thee, and complete my vows;" he said to +his guide. "For the present, lead out of the square to my house." + +The exit was effected without opposition. + +Next day the Emir, under treatment of the Prince, was strong enough to +tell his story. The plague had struck him about noon of the day +following the interview in the tent at El Zaribah. Determined to deliver +the gifts he had in keeping, and discharge his trust to the satisfaction +of his sovereign, he struggled resolutely with the disease. After +securing the Scherif's receipt he bore up long enough to superintend the +pitching his camp. Believing death inevitable, he was carried into his +tent, where he issued his final orders and bade his attendants farewell. +In the morning, though weak, half-delirious, his faith the strongest +surviving impulse, he called for his horse, and being lifted into the +saddle, rode to the city, resolved to assure himself of the blessings of +Allah by dying in the shadow of the sanctuary. + +The Prince, listening to the explanation, was more than ever impressed +with the futility of attempting a compromise with people so devoted to +their religion. There was nothing for him but to make haste to +Constantinople, the centre of Christian sentiment and movement. There he +might meet encouragement and ultimate success. + +In the ensuing week, having performed the two pilgrimages, and seen the +Emir convalescent, he took the road again, and in good time reached +Jedda, where he found his ship waiting to convey him across the Red Sea +to the African coast. The embarkation was without incident, and he +departed, leaving a reputation odorous for sanctity, with numberless +witnesses to carry it into every quarter of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE + + +Uel, the son of Jahdai, was in the habit of carrying the letter received +from the mysterious stranger about with him in a breast pocket. How many +times a day he took it out for reexamination would be difficult to say. +Observing the appearance of signs of usage, he at length wrapped it in +an envelope of yellow silk. If he had thought less of it, he would have +resorted to plain linen. + +There were certain points in the missive which seemed of greater +interest to him than others. For example, the place whence it had been +addressed was an ever recurring puzzle; he also dwelt long upon the +sentence which referred so delicately to a paternal relationship. The +most exigent passages, however, were those relative to the time he might +look for the man's coming. As specially directed, he had taken note of +the day of the delivery of the letter, and was greatly surprised to find +the messenger had arrived the last day of the year permitted him. The +punctuality of the servant might be in imitation of a like virtue of the +master. If so, at the uttermost, the latter might be expected six months +after receipt of the letter. Or he might appear within the six months. +The journeys laid out were of vast distances, and through wild and +dangerous countries, and by sea as well. Only a good traveller could +survive them at all; to execute them in such brief space seemed +something superhuman. + +So it befell that the son of Jahdai was at first but little concerned. +The months--three, four, five--rolled away, and the sixth was close at +hand; then every day brought him an increase of interest. In fact, he +found himself looking for the arrival each morning, and at noon +promising it an event of the evening. + +November was the sixth and last month of the time fixed. The first of +that month passed without the stranger. Uel became anxious. The +fifteenth he turned the keeping of his shop over to a friend; and +knowing the passage from Alexandria must be by sea, he betook himself, +with Syama, to the port on the Golden Horn known as the Gate of St. +Peter, at the time most frequented by Egyptian sailing masters. In +waiting there, he saw the sun rise over the heights of Scutari, and it +was the morning of the very last day. Syama, meantime, occupied himself +in final preparation of the house for the reception. He was not excited, +like Uel, because he had no doubt of the arrival within the period set. +He was also positively certain of finding his master, when at length he +did appear, exactly as when he separated from him in Cipango. He was +used to seeing Time waste itself upon the changeless man; he had even +caught from him a kind of contempt for what other men shrank from as +dangers and difficulties. + +The site of the house has been described; it remains to give the reader +an idea of its interior. There were four rooms on the ground floor +furnished comfortably for servants, of whom the arrangement indicated +three besides Syama. The first floor was of three apartments communicable +by doorways with portieres of camel's hair. The furniture was Roman, +Greek, and Egyptian mixed. Of the three the middle chamber was largest, +and as its fittings were in a style of luxury supposed to be peculiar to +princes, the conclusion was fair that it was designed for the +proprietor's occupancy during his waking hours. A dark blue rug clothed +the floor. In the centre, upon a shield of clear copper, arose a silver +brazier. The arms and legs of the stools here and there on the rug were +carven in grotesque imitation of reptiles and animals of the ultra +dragonish mode. The divans against the walls were of striped silk. In +each corner stood a tall post of silvered bronze, holding at the end +of a graceful crook several lamps of Pompeiian model. A wide window in +the east end, filled with plants in bloom, admitted ample light, which, +glancing through the flowers, fell on a table dressed in elegant cloth, +and bearing a lacquered waiter garnished with cups of metal and glass, +and one hand-painted porcelain decanter for drinking water. An enormous +tiger-skin, the head intact and finished with extraordinary realism, was +spread on the floor in front of the table. The walls were brilliant with +fresh Byzantine frescoing. The air of the room was faintly pervaded with +a sweet incense of intoxicating effect upon one just admitted to it. +Indeed the whole interior partook of this sweetness. + +The care of the faithful servant had not been confined to the rooms; he +had constructed a summer house upon the roof, knowing that when the +weather permitted his master would pass the nights there in preference +to the chambers below. This structure looked not unlike a modern belfry, +except that the pillars and shallow dome of the top were of Moorish +lightness. Thence, to a familiar, the heavens in the absence of the sun +would be an unrolled map. + +When the last touch of the preparation had been given, and Syama said to +himself, "He may come now," one point was especially noticeable--nowhere +in the house was there provision for a woman. + +The morning of the last day Syama accompanied Uel to the port +reluctantly. Feeling sure his master had not arrived in the night, he +left his friend on the watch, and returned home early. + +The noise and stir of business at the ancient landing were engaging. +With a great outcry, a vessel would be drawn up, and made fast, and the +unloading begun. A drove of donkeys, or a string of camels, or a mob of +porters would issue from the gate, receive the cargo and disappear with +it. Now and then a ship rounded the classic Point, its square sail bent +and all the oars at work: sweeping past Galata on the north side of the +Horn, then past the Fish Market Gate on the south, up it would come +gracefully as a flying bird; if there was place for it at the quay, +well; if not, after hovering around awhile, it would push out to a berth +in the open water. Such incidents were crises to Uel. To this one and to +that he would run with the question: + +"Where is she from?" + +If from the upper sea, he subsided; but if from the Marmora, he kept +eager lookout upon her, hoping to recognize in every disembarkee the man +he was expecting. + +That he had never seen the person was of little consequence. He had +thought of him so much awake, and seen him so repeatedly in dreams, he +was confident of knowing him at sight. Imagining a stranger's appearance +is for the most part a gentle tribute of respect; the mistakes we make +are for the most part ludicrous. + +No one answering the preconception came. Noon, and still no one; then, +cast down and disappointed, Uel went home, ate something, held the usual +childish dialogue with his little girl, and about mid afternoon crossed +the street to the new residence. Great was his astonishment at finding a +pyramid of coals glowing in the silver brazier, and the chill already +driven from the sitting-room. Here--there--upstairs, downstairs--the +signs were of present occupancy. For a moment he thought the master had +slipped by him or landed at some other port of the city. + +"Is he here? Has he come?" he asked, excitedly, and Syama answered with +a shake of the head. + +"Then why the fire?" + +Syama, briefly waving his hand as if following the great Marmorean lake, +turned the finger ends into the other palm, saying plainly and +emphatically: + +"He is coming--he will be here directly." + +Uel smiled--faith could not be better illustrated--and it was so in +contrast with his own incredulity! + +He lingered awhile. Restlessness getting the mastery, he returned home, +reflecting on the folly of counting so implicitly upon the conclusion to +a day of a tour so vast. More likely, he thought, the traveller's bones +were somewhere whitening the desert, or the savages of Kash-Cush had +eaten him. He had heard of their cannibalism. + +Want of faith, however, did not prevent the shopkeeper from going to his +friend's house after supper. It was night, and dark, and the chilling +moisture of a winter wind blowing steadily from the Black Sea charged +the world outside with discomfort. The brazier with its heap of living +coals had astonished him before; now the house was all alight! He +hastened upstairs. In the sitting-room the lamps were burning, and the +illumination was brilliant. Syama was there, calm and smiling as usual. + +"What--he is here?" Uel said, looking from door to door. + +The servant shook his head, and waved his hand negatively, as to say: + +"Not yet--be patient--observe me." + +To indulge his wonder, Uel took seat. Later on he tried to get from +Syama an explanation of his amazing confidence, but the latter's +substitute for speech was too limited and uncertain to be satisfactory. + +About ten o'clock Syama went below, and presently returned with food and +drink on a large waiter. + +"Ah, good Lord!" Uel thought. "He is making a meal ready. What a man! +What a master!" + +Then he gave attention to the fare, which was of wheaten wafers, cold +fowl, preserved fruits, and wine in a stoneware bottle. These Syama set +on a circular table not higher than the divan in front of which it was +drawn. A white napkin and a bowl for laving the fingers completed the +preparation, as Uel supposed. But no. Syama went below again, and +reappeared with a metal pot and a small wooden box. The pot he placed on +the coals in the brazier, and soon a delicate volume of steam was +pouring from the spout; after handling the box daintily as if the +contents were vastly precious, he deposited it unopened by the napkin +and bowl. Then, with an expression of content upon his face, he too took +seat, and surrendered himself to expectancy. The lisping of the steam +escaping from the pot on the fire was the only sound in the room. + +The assurance of the servant was contagious. Uel began to believe the +master would come. He was congratulating himself upon the precaution he +had taken in leaving a man at the port to conduct him rightly when he +heard a shuffling of feet below stairs. He listened startled. There were +several men in the company. Steps shook the floor. Uel and Syama arose. + +The latter's countenance flushed with pleasure; giving one triumphal +glance at his friend, much as to say, There--did I not tell you so? he +walked forward quickly, and reached the head of the steps just as a +stranger finished their ascent. In a moment Syama was on his knees, +kissing the hand held out to him. Uel needed no prompter--it was the +master! + +If only on account of the mutuality of affection shown between the two, +the meeting was a pleasant sight. That feature, however, was lost to the +shopkeeper, who had no thought except of the master's appearance. He had +imagined him modelled after the popular conceptions of kings and +warriors--tall, majestic, awe-inspiring. He saw instead a figure rather +undersized, slightly stoop-shouldered, thin; at least it seemed so then, +hid as it was under a dark brown burnoose of the amplitude affected by +Arab sheiks. The head was covered by a woollen handkerchief of reddish +tint, held by a scarlet cord. The edge of the handkerchief projected +over the forehead enough to cast the entire face in shade, leaving to +view only a mass of white beard overflowing the breast. + +The master ended the reception at the head of the stairs by gently +raising Syama to his feet. Then he subjected the room to a swift +inspection, and, in proof of satisfaction, he patted the happy retainer +on the shoulder. Invited by the fire, and the assurance of comfort in +its glow, he advanced to the brazier, and while extending his hands over +it, observed Uel. Without surprise or hesitation he walked to him. + +"Son of Jahdai!" he said, offering his hand. + +The voice was of exceeding kindness. As an overture to peace and +goodwill, it was reenforced by very large eyes, the intense blackness of +which was softened by a perceptible glow of pleasure. Uel was won on the +instant. A recollection of the one supreme singularity of the new +acquaintance--his immunity from death--recurred to him, and he could not +have escaped its effect had he wished. He was conscious also that the +eyes were impressing him. Without distinct thought, certainly without +the slightest courtierly design, he obeyed the impulse of the moment, +and stooped and touched the extended hand with his lips. And before +rising he heard the beginning of further speech: + +"I see the truth of my judgment. The family of my ancient friends has +trodden the ways of righteousness under the commandments of the Lord +until it has become a kind unto itself. I see too my trust has been +verified. O Son of Jahdai, you did assist my servant, as I requested, +and to your kindness, doubtless, I am indebted for this home full of +comforts after a long absence among strangers. I hold you my creditor." + +The tendency of the speech was to relieve Uel of embarrassment. + +"Do not thank me," he answered. "The business was ordinary, and strictly +within Syama's capacity. Indeed, the good man could have finished it +without my help." + +The master, rich in experience, noticed the deferential manner of the +reply, and was agreeably assured on his side. + +"Very well. There will be no harm in reserving an opinion," he said. +"The good man, as you call him, is making ready a drink with which he +has preceded me from his country, and which you must stay and share, as +it is something unknown in the West." + +"Let me first welcome you here," Uel returned. + +"Oh, I saw the welcome in your face. But let us get nearer the fire. The +night is chilling. If I were owner of a garden under whatever hill along +the Bosphorus, verily I should tremble for my roses." + +Thus briefly, and in such simple manner, the wise Mystic put the +shopkeeper perfectly at ease. + +At the brazier they watched Syama in the operation since become of +universal knowledge under title of "drawing tea." The fragrance of the +decoction presently filled the room to the suppression of the incense, +and they drank, ate, and were sociable. The host outlined his travels. +Uel, in return, gave him information of the city. When the latter +departed, it was with a light heart, and an elastic step; the white +beard and patriarchal manner of the man had laid his fears, and the +future was to him like a cloudless sky. + +Afterwhile the master signified a wish to retire; whereupon his +household came, as was their wont, to bid him good-night. Of these there +were two white men. At sight of Syama, they rushed to embrace him as +became brethren of old acquaintance long in the same service. A third +one remained at the door. Syama looked at him, and then at the master; +for the man was a stranger. Then the Jew, with quick intuition of the +requirement of the time, went, and took him by the hand, and led him to +the others. Addressing Syama, he said gravely: + +"This is Nilo, son of the Nilo whom you knew. As you held the father in +love, so you shall hold the son." + +The man was young, very black, and gigantic in stature. Syama embraced +him as he had the others. + +In the great city there was not a more united household under roof than +that of the shopkeeper's friend. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PRINCE AT HOME + +A wise man wishing to know another always attends him when he is in +narrative. The reader may be familiar with the principle, and a believer +in it; for his better satisfaction, therefore, a portion of the Prince's +conversation with Uel over the tea-table the night of his arrival in +Constantinople shall be reported nearly as possible in his own words. It +will be found helpful to the story as well as an expose of character. + +"I said in my letter, as thou mayst remember, O son of Jahdai"--the +voice of the speaker was low, but earnest, and admirably in harmony with +the sentiment, "that I hoped thou wouldst allow me to relate myself to +thee as father to son. Thou hast not forgotten it, I am sure." + +"I recall it distinctly," Uel answered, respectfully. + +"Thou wilt remember not less clearly then that I added the words, 'in +all things a help, in nothing a burden.'" + +Uel assented. + +"The addition I thought of great importance," the Prince continued; "for +it was very desirable that thou shouldst not imagine me coming to sit +down upon thee, and in idleness fatten upon the fruits of thy industry. +As something of even greater importance, thou shouldst know now, at this +earliest moment of our intercourse, that I am abundantly able from what +I have of goods and treasure to keep any condition I may choose to +assume. Indeed thou shouldst not be too much astonished did I practise +the style and manner of the nobles who are privileged in the palaces of +thy Caesar. At home I shall be as thou seest me now, thy friend of +simplest habits, because my tastes really incline to them; when I go +abroad, the officials of the Church and State whom I chance to encounter +shall be challenged to comparison of appearance, and be piqued to +inquire about me. Then when the city observes thou art intimate with me, +the demand for thy wares will increase; thou mayst even be put to stress +to keep apace with it. In speaking thus, I trust thy natural shrewdness, +sharpened as it must have become by much dealing as a merchant." + +He paused here to give his cup to Syama for replenishment; whereupon Uel +said: "I have followed thy discourse with interest, and I hope with +understanding; yet I am conscious of a disadvantage. I do not know thy +name, nor if thou hast a title." + +"Yes, and thou mightest have set down in the table of defaults," the +Wanderer began pleasantly in reply, but broke off to receive the cup +smoking hot from the servant, and say--"Thanks, Syama. I see thy hand +hath not lost its deftness; neither has the green leaf suffered from its +long journey over the sea." + +Uel noticed with what intentness Syama watched the master's lips while +he was speaking, and the gratification that beamed from his face in +answer to the compliment; and he thought, "Verily this must be a good +man to be so beloved by his dependents." + +"I was saying, O son of Jahdai, that thou mightest have set down the +other points of information equally necessary to our intercourse--Whence +I come? And why? And I will not leave thee in the dark respecting them. +Only let me caution thee--It is not required that the public should be +taken into our confidence. I have seen a flower good to look upon, but +viscous, and with a scent irresistible to insects. That flower represents +the world; and what is the folly of its victims but the madness of men +who yield themselves with too easy faith to the seductions of the world? +Nay, my son--observe thou the term--I use it to begin the relationship I +seek--observe also I begin the relationship by confidences which were +unwisely given without the injunction that they are intended to be put +away in thy inner-conscience. Tell me if I am understood." + +The question was emphasized by a look whose magnetism thrilled Uel's +every nerve. + +"I believe I understand you," he replied. + +Then, as if the Prince knew the effect he had wrought, and that it +relieved him from danger of betrayal, he returned to his former easy +manner. + +"And yet, as thou shalt see, my son, the confidences are not crimes--But +thy cup is empty, and Syama waiting for it." + +"The drink is new to me," Uel replied, yielding to the invitation. + +"New? And wilt thou not also say it is better than wine? The world of +which we are talking, will one day take up the admission, and be happier +of it." + +Turning then to serious matter: + +"Afterwhile," he said, "thou wilt be importuned by the curious to know +who I am, and thou shouldst be able to answer according to the fact--He +is a Prince of India. The vulgar will be satisfied with the reply. +Others will come demanding more. Refer them to me. As to thyself, O son +of Jahdai, call me as I have instructed thee to speak of me--call me +Prince. At the same time I would have thee know that on my eighth day I +was carried into a temple and registered a son of a son of Jerusalem. +The title I give thee for my designation did not ennoble me. The +birthright of a circumcised heritor under the covenant with Israel is +superior to every purely human dignity whatever its derivation." + +"In other words, O Prince, thou art"--Uel hesitated. + +"A Jew!" the other answered promptly--"A Jew, as thy father was--as thou +art." + +The look of pleasure that appeared on the shopkeeper's face was swiftly +interpreted by the Prince, who felt he had indeed evoked a tie of blood, +and bound the man with it. + +"So much is despatched," he said, with evident satisfaction; then, after +a draught from the tea-cup, and a re-delivery to Syania for more, he +continued: "Possibly thou wilt also remember my letter mentions a +necessity for my crossing from India to Mecca on the way to Kash-Cush, +and that, despite the stoppage, I hoped to greet thee in person within +six months after Syama reported himself. How stands the time?" + +"This is the last day of the six months," Uel answered. + +"Yes, there was never man"--the Prince paused, as if the thought were +attended with a painful recollection--"never a man," he presently +resumed, "who kept account of time more exactly than myself." + +A copious draught of tea assuaged the passing regret. + +"I wrote the letter while in Cipango, an island of the great eastern +sea. Thirty years after I set foot upon its shore, theretofore unvisited +by a white man, a countryman of ours from this city, the sole survivor of +a shipwreck, joined me. From him I heard of thy father's death. He also +gave me thy name.... My life on the island was comparatively untroubled. +Indeed, for thy perfect comprehension, my son, it is best to make an +explanation now; then thou wilt have a key to many things in my conduct +to come as well as conduct gone which would otherwise keep thee in +doubtful reflection. The study of greatest interest is religion. I have +travelled the world over--I mean the inhabited parts--and in its broad +extent there is not a people without worship of some kind. Wherefore my +assertion, that beyond the arts, above the sciences, above commerce, +above any or all other human concernments, religion is the superlative +interest. It alone is divine. The study of it is worship. Knowledge of +it is knowledge of God. Can as much be said of any other subject?" + +Uel did not answer; he was following the speech too intently, and the +Prince, seeing it, drank again, and proceeded: + +"The divine study took me to Cipango. Fifty years thou mayst say to +thyself was a long term in such a country. Not so, my son. I found there +two faiths; the one Sin-Siu, which I turned my back upon as mythologic, +without the poetry of the Greek and Roman; the other--well, a life given +to the laws of Buddha were well spent. To say truth, there is such +similitude between them and the teachings of him we are in the habit of +calling the carpenter's son that, if I did not know better, it were easy +to believe the latter spent the years of his disappearance in some +Buddhistic temple.... Leaving explanation to another time, the same +study carried me to Mecca. The binding of men, the putting yokes about +their necks, trampling them in the dust, are the events supposed most +important and therefore most noticeable in history; but they are as +nothing in comparison with winning belief in matters indeterminable by +familiar tests. The process there is so mysterious, the achievement so +miraculous that where the operator is vastly successful one may well +look under them for the permission of God. The day was when Islamism did +but stir contemptuous laughter; now it is the faith acceptable to more +men than any other. Is it not worthy the vigils of a student? And then +it happens, my son, that in the depths of their delusion, people +sometimes presume to make their own gods, and reform them or cast them +out. Deities have been set up or thrown down by their makers in the +changes of a moon. I wanted to see if such calamity had befallen the +Allah of Mahomet.... My going to Kash-Cush was on what thou wouldst call +business, and of it I will also tell thee. At Jedda, whither I betook +myself after making the pilgrimages at Mecca, I regained my ship, and +descended the Red Sea, landing at a village on the extreme inland shore +of the bay of Tajurrah, below the Straits of Bab-el-Mandel. I was then +in Kash-Cush. From the village on the coast, I passed into the interior, +travelling in a litter on the shoulders of native porters, and, after +many days, reached my destination--a collection of bungalows pitched on +the bank of a tributary of the Blue Nile called the Dedhesa. The journey +would have been difficult and tedious but that one of my attendants--a +black man--had been king of the tribe I sought. His name was Nilo, and +his tribe paramount throughout the uncivilized parts of Kash-Cush. More +than fifty years before,--prior, in fact, to my setting out for +Cipango,--I made the same tour, and found the king. He gave me welcome; +and so well did he please me that I invited him to share my wanderings. +He accepted the proposal upon condition that in his old age he should be +returned home, and exchanged for a younger man of his blood. I agreed, +provided one younger could be found who, besides the requisite physique +and the virtues of intellect and courage, was also deaf and dumb, like +himself. A treaty was thus perfected. I call it a treaty as distinct +from a purchase, for Nilo was my friend and attendant--my ally, if you +please--never my slave. There was a reception for us the like of which +for feasting and merriment was without mention in the traditions of the +tribe. A grandson filled my friend's throne; but he gave it back to him, +and voluntarily took his place with me. Thou shalt see him to-morrow. I +call him Nilo, and spend the morning hours teaching him to talk; for +while he keeps me reminded of a Greek demi-god--so tall, strong and +brave is he--he is yet deaf and dumb, and has to be taught as Syama was. +When thou hast to do with him be gentle and courteous. I wish it kept in +mind he is my friend and ally, bound to me by treaty as his grandfather +was.... The only part of the tour given thee in my letter which I +omitted was the descent of the Nile. Having performed it before, my +curiosity was sated, and I allowed my impatience to be in thy city here +to determine my course. I made way back to the village on the bay of +Tajurrah where, in anticipation of such a change, my vessel was held in +detention. Thence, up the sea and across the Isthmus, I proceeded to +Alexandria, and to-night happily find myself at home, in hope of rest +for my body and renewal of my spirit." + +With this, the explanation appeared concluded; for the Prince notified +Syama that he did not desire more tea, and lapsed into a thoughtful +silence. Presently Uel arose, saying: "You must be weary. With +permission I will take my leave now. I confess you have given me much to +think over, and made me happy by taking me into your confidence. If it +be agreeable, I will call at noon to-morrow." + +The Prince went with him to the head of the stairs, and there bade him +peace and good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROSE OF SPRING + + +The Prince, as the Jew preferred to be called, kept his house closely +quite a month, resting, not hibernating. He took exercise daily on the +flat roof; and walking to and fro there, found three objects of +attraction: the hill to the southwest with the church upon it, the +Palace of Blacherne off further in the west, and the Tower of Galata. +The latter, across the Golden Horn in the north, arose boldly, like a +light-house on a cliff; yet, for a reason--probably because it had +connection with the subject of his incessant meditations--he paused +oftenest to gaze at the Palace. + +He was in his study one day deeply absorbed. The sun, nearing meridian, +poured a stream of white light through the south window, flooding the +table at which he sat. That the reader may know something of the paths +the Mystic most frequented when in meditation, we will make free with +one of the privileges belonging to us as a chronicler. + +The volume directly in front of him on the table, done in olive wood +strengthened at the corners with silver, was near two feet in length, +and one and a half in width; when closed, it would be about one foot +thick. Now he had many wonderful rare and rich _antiques_, but none +so the apple of his eye as this; for it was one of the fifty Holy Bibles +of Greek transcription ordered by Constantine the Great. + +At his right, held flat by weights, were the _Sacred Books_ of China, in +form a roll of broad-leafed vellum. + +At his left, a roll somewhat similar in form and at the moment open, lay +the _Rig-Veda_ of the Aryans in Sanscrit. + +The fourth book was the _Avesta_ of Zoroaster--a collection of MSS. +stitched together, and exquisitely rendered by Parse devas into the Zend +language. + +A fifth book was the _Koran_. + +The arrangement of the volumes around the Judean Bible was silently +expressive of the student's superior respect; and as from time to time, +after reading a paragraph from one of the others, he returned to the +great central treasure, it was apparent he was making a close comparison +of texts with reference to a particular theme, using the Scriptures as a +standard. Most of the time he kept the forefinger of his left hand on +what is now known as the fourteenth verse of the third chapter of +Exodus--"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus +shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." +If, as the Prince himself had declared, religion were indeed the study +of most interest to the greatest number of men, he was logically +consistent in comparing the definitions of _God_ in the Bibles of +theistic nations. So had he occupied himself since morning. The shrewd +reader will at once discern the theme of his comparative study. + +At length he grew weary of bending over the books, and of the persistent +fixedness of attention required for the pursuit of fine shades of +meaning in many different languages. He threw his arms up in aid of a +yawn, and turned partly around, his eyes outrunning the movement of his +body. The half-introverted glance brightened with a gleam, and remained +fixed, while the arms dropped down. He could only look in wonder at what +he saw--eyes black and almost large as his own gazing at him in timid +surprise. Beholding nothing but the eyes, he had the awesome feeling +which attends imagining a spirit suddenly risen; then he saw a forehead +low, round, and white, half shaded by fluffs of dark hair; then a face +of cherubic color and regularity, to which the eyes gave an indefinable +innocency of expression. + +Every one knows the effect of trifles on the memory. A verse or a word, +the smell of a flower, a lock of hair, a turn in music, will not merely +bring the past back, but invest it with a miraculous recurrency of +events. The Prince's gaze endured. He stretched his hand out as if +fearful lest what he saw might vanish. The gesture was at once an +impulse and an expression. There was a time--tradition says it was the +year in which he provoked the curse--when he had wife and child. To one +of them, possibly both, the eyes then looking into his might have +belonged. The likeness unmanned him. The hand he stretched forth fell +lightly upon the head of the intruder. + +"What are you?" he said. + +The vagueness of the expression will serve excellently as a definition +of his condition; at the same time it plunged the child addressed into +doubt. Presently she answered: + +"I am a little girl." + +Accepting the simplicity of the reply as evidence of innocency too +extreme for fear, he took the visitor in his arms, and sat her on his +knee. + +"I did not mean to ask what you are, but who?" he said. + +"Uel is my father." + +"Uel? Well, he is my friend, and I am his; therefore you and I should be +friends. What is your name?" + +"He calls me Gul Bahar." + +"Oh! That is Turkish, and means Rose of Spring. How came you by it?" + +"My mother was from Iconium." + +"Yes--where the Sultans used to live." + +"And she could speak Turkish." + +"I see! Gul Bahar is an endearment, not a real name." + +"My real name is Lael." + +The Prince paled from cheek to brow; his lips trembled; the arm +encircling her shook; and looking into his eyes, she saw tears dim them. +After a long breath, he said, with inexpressible tenderness, and as if +speaking to one standing just behind her--"Lael!" Then, the tears full +formed, he laid his forehead on her shoulder so his white hair blent +freely with her chestnut locks; and sitting passively, but wondering, +she heard him sob and sob again and again, like another child. Soon, from +pure sympathy, unknowing why, she too began sobbing. Several minutes +passed thus; then, raising his face, and observing her responsive sorrow, +he felt the need of explanation. + +"Forgive me," he said, kissing her, "and do not wonder at me. I am +old--very old--older than thy father, and there have been so many things +to distress me which other men know nothing of, and never can. I had +once"-- + +He stopped, repeated the long breath, and gazed as at a far object. + +"I too had once a little girl." + +Pausing, he dropped his eyes to hers. + +"How old are you?" + +"Next spring I shall be fourteen," she answered. + +"And she was just your age, and so like you--so small, and with such +hair and eyes and face; and she was named Lael. I wanted to call her +_Rimah_, for she seemed a song to me; but her mother said, as she was a +gift from the Lord, she wanted in the fulness of days to give her back to +him, and that the wish might become a covenant, she insisted on calling +her Lael, which, in Hebrew--thy father's tongue and mine--means To God." + +The child, listening with all her soul, was now not in the least afraid +of him; without waiting, she made the application. + +"You loved her, I know," she said + +"How much--Oh, how much!" + +"Where is she now?" + +"At Jerusalem there was a gate called the Golden Gate. It looked to the +east. The sun, rising over the top of Mount Olivet, struck the plates of +gold and Corinthian brass more precious than gold, so it seemed one rosy +flame. The dust at its rocky sill, and the ground about it are holy. +There, deep down, my Lael lies. A stone that tasked many oxen to move it +covers her; yet, in the last day, she will be among the first to +rise--Of such excellence is it to be buried before that Golden Gate." + +"Oh! she is dead!" the child exclaimed. + +"She is dead;" and seeing her much affected, he hastened to say, "I shed +many tears thinking of her. Ah, how gentle and truthful she was! And how +beautiful! I cannot forget her. I would not if I could; but you who look +so like her will take her place in my heart now, and love me as she did; +and I will love you even as I loved her. I will take you into my life, +believing she has come again. In the morning I will ask first, Where is +my Lael? At noon, I will demand if the day has been kind to her; and the +night shall not be half set in except I know it has brought her the +sweetness of sleep. Will you be my Lael?" + +The question perplexed the child, and she was silent. + +Again he asked, "Will you be my Lael?" + +The earnestness with which he put the question was that of a hunger less +for love than an object to love. The latter is not often accounted a +passion, yet it creates necessities which are peremptory as those of any +passion. One of the incidents of the curse he was suffering was that he +knew the certainty of the coming of a day when he must be a mourner for +whomsoever he should take into his heart, and in this way expiate +whatever happiness the indulgence might bring him. Nevertheless the +craving endured, at times a positive hunger. In other words, his was +still a human nature. The simplicity and beauty of the girl were enough +to win him of themselves; but when she reminded him of the other asleep +under a great rock before the gate of the Holy City, when the name of +the lost one was brought to him so unexpectedly, it seemed there had +been a resurrection, making it possible for him to go about once more as +he was accustomed to in his first household. A third time he asked, "You +will be my Lael?" + +"Can I have two fathers?" she returned. + +"Oh, yes!" he answered quickly. "One in fact, the other by adoption; and +they can both love you the same." + +Immediately her face became a picture of childish trust. + +"Then I will be your Lael too." + +He clasped her close to his breast, and kissed her, crying: + +"My Lael has come back to me! God of my fathers, I thank thee!" + +She respected his emotion, but at length, with her hand upon his +shoulder, said: + +"You and my father are friends, and thinking he came here, I came too." + +"Is he at home?" + +"I think so." + +"Then we will go to him. You cannot be my Lael without his consent." + +Presently, hand in hand, they descended the stairs, crossed the street, +and were in the shopkeeper's presence. + +The room was plainly but comfortably furnished as became the proprietor's +fortune and occupation. Closer acquaintance, it is to be said, had +dissipated the latent dread, which, as has been seen, marked Uel's first +thought of intimacy between the stranger and the child. Seeing him old, +and rich, and given to study, not to say careless of ordinary things, the +father was beginning to entertain the idea that it might in some way be +of advantage to the child could she become an object of interest to him. +Wherefore, as they entered now, he received them with a smile. + +Traces of the emotion he had undergone were in the Prince's face, and +when he spoke his voice was tremulous. + +"Son of Jahdai," he said, standing, "I had once a wife and child. They +perished-how and when, I cannot trust myself to tell. I have been +faithful to their memory. From the day I lost them, I have gone up and +down the world hunting for many things which I imagined might renew the +happiness I had from them. I have been prodigal of gratitude, +admiration, friendship, and goodwill, and bestowed them singly and +together, and often; but never have I been without consciousness of +something else demanding to be given. Happiness is not all in receiving. +I passed on a long time before it came to me that we are rich in +affections not intended for hoarding, and that no one can be truly +content without at least one object on which to lavish them. Here"--and +he laid his hand on the child's head--"here is mine, found at last." + +"Lael is a good girl," Uel said with pride. + +"Yes, and as thou lovest her let me love her," the Prince responded. +Then, seeing Uel become serious, he added, "To help thee to my meaning, +Lael was my child's name, and she was the image of this one; and as she +died when fourteen, thy Lael's age, it is to me as if the tomb had +miraculously rendered its victim back to me." + +"Prince," said Uel, "had I thought she would not be agreeable to you, I +should have been sorry." + +"Understand, son of Jahdai," the other interposed, "I seek more of thee +than thy permission to love her. I want to do by her as though she were +mine naturally." + +"You would not take her from me?" + +"No. That would leave thee bereft as I have been. Like me, thou wouldst +then go up and down looking for some one to take her place in thy heart. +Be thou her father still; only let me help thee fashion her future." + +"Her birthrights are humble," the shopkeeper answered, doubtfully; for +while in his secret heart he was flattered, his paternal feeling started +a scruple hard to distinguish from fear. + +A light shone brightly in the eyes of the elder Jew, and his head arose. + +"Humble!" he said. "She is a daughter of Israel, an inheritor of the +favor of the Lord God, to whom all things are possible. He keeps the +destinies of his people. He--not thou or I--knows to what this little +one may come. As we love her, let us hope the happiest and the highest, +and prepare her for it. To this end it were best you allow her to come +to me as to another father. I who teach the deaf and dumb to speak--Syama +and Nilo the elder--will make her a scholar such as does not often grace +a palace. She shall speak the Mediterranean tongues. There shall be no +mysteries of India unknown to her. Mathematics shall bring the heavens to +her feet. Especially shall she become wise in the Chronicles of God. At +the same time, lest she be educated into unfitness for the present +conditions of life, and be unsexed, thou shalt find a woman familiar with +society, and instal her in thy house as governess and example. If the +woman be also of Israel, so much the better; for then we may expect +faithfulness without jealousy. And further, son of Jahdai, be niggardly +in nothing concerning our Lael. Clothe her as she were the King's +daughter. At going abroad, which she shall do with me in the street and +on the water, I would have her sparkle with jewels, the observed of +everybody, even the Emperor. And ask not doubtingly, 'Whence the money +for all this?' I will find it. What sayest thou now?" + +Uel did not hesitate. + +"O Prince, as thou dost these things for her--so far beyond the best I +can dream of--take her for thine, not less than mine." + +With a beaming countenance, the elder raised the child, and kissed her +on the forehead. + +"Dost hear?" he said to her. "Now art thou my daughter." + +She put her arms about his neck, then held them out to Uel, who took +her, and kissed her, saying: + +"Oh my Gul Bahar!" + +"Good!" cried the Prince. "I accept the name. To distinguish the living +from the dead, I too will call her my Gul Bahar." + +Thereupon the men sat, and arranged the new relation, omitting nothing +possible of anticipation. + +Next day the Prince's house was opened with every privilege to the +child. A little later on a woman of courtly accomplishment was found and +established under Uel's roof as governess. Thereupon the Mystic entered +upon a season during which he forgot the judgment upon him, and all else +save Gul Bahar, and the scheme he brought from Cipango. He was for the +time as other men. In the lavishment of his love, richer of its long +accumulation, he was faithful to his duty of teacher, and was amply +rewarded by her progress in study. + + + + +BOOK III + +THE PRINCESS IRENE + + +CHAPTER I + +MORNING ON THE BOSPHORUS + + +Our narrative proceeds now from a day in the third year after Lael, the +daughter of the son of Jahdai, dropped into the life of the Prince of +India--a day in the vernal freshness of June. + +From a low perch above the mountain behind Becos, the sun is delivering +the opposite European shore of the Bosphorus from the lingering shades +of night. Out on the bosom of the classic channel vessels are swinging +lazily at their anchorages. The masthead of each displays a flag +bespeaking the nationality of the owner; here a Venetian, there a +Genoese, yonder a Byzantine. Tremulous flares of mist, rising around the +dark hulls, become entangled in the cordage, and as if there were no +other escape, resolve themselves into air. Fisher boats are bringing +their owners home from night-work over in the shallows of Indjerkeui. +Gulls and cormorants in contentious flocks, drive hither and thither, +turning and tacking as the schools of small fish they are following turn +and tack down in the warm blue-green depths to which they are native. +The many wings, in quick eccentric motion, give sparkling life to the +empurpled distance. + +The bay of Therapia, on the same European shore over against Becos, was +not omitted from rescue by the sun. Within its lines this morning the +ships were in greater number than out in the channel--ships of all +grades, from the sea going commercial galley to the pleasure shallop +which, if not the modern _caique_, was at least its ante-type in +lightness and grace. + +And as to the town, one had but to look at it to be sure it had +undergone no recent change--that in the day of Constantine Dragases it +was the same summer resort it had been in the day of Medea the +sorceress--the same it yet is under sway of the benignant Abdul-Hamid. + +From the lower point northwardly jutting finger-like into the current of +the channel, the beach swept in a graceful curve around to the base of +the promontory on the south. Then as now children amused themselves +gathering the white and black pebbles with which it was strewn, and +danced in and out with the friendly foam-capped waves. Then as now the +houses seemed tied to the face of the hill one above another in +streetless disarrangement; insomuch that the stranger viewing them from +his boat below shuddered thinking of the wild play which would ensue did +an earthquake shake the hill ever so lightly. + +And then as now the promontory south served the bay as a partial +land-lock. Then as now it arose boldly a half mountain densely +verdurous, leaving barely space enough for a roadway around its base. +Then as now a descending terrace of easy grade and lined with rock pine +trees of broadest umbrella tops, slashed its whole townward front. +Sometime in the post-Medean period a sharp-eyed Greek discerned the +advantages it offered for aesthetic purposes, and availed himself of +them; so that in the age of our story its summit was tastefully +embellished with water basins, white-roofed pavilions, and tessellated +pavements Roman style. Alas, for the perishability of things human! And +twice alas, that the beautiful should ever be the most perishable! + +But it is now to be said we have spoken thus of the Bosphorus, and the +bay and town of Therapia, and the high promontory, as accessories merely +to a plot of ground under the promontory and linked to it by the +descending terrace. There is no word fitly descriptive of the place. +Ravine implies narrowness; gorge signifies depth; valley means width; +dell is too toylike. A summer retreat more delicious could not be +imagined. Except at noon the sun did but barely glance into it. Extending +hundreds of yards back from the bay toward the highlands west of the +town, it was a perfected garden of roses and flowering vines and shrubs, +with avenues of boxwood and acacias leading up to ample reservoirs hidden +away in a grove of beeches. The water flowing thence became brooks or was +diverted to enliven fountains. One pipe carried it in generous flow to +the summit of the promontory. In this leafy Eden the birds of the climate +made their home the year round. There the migratory nightingale came +earliest and lingered longest, singing in the day as well as in the +night. There one went regaled with the breath of roses commingled with +that of the jasmine. There the bloom of the pomegranate flashed through +the ordered thicket like red stars; there the luscious fig, ripening in +its "beggar's jacket," offered itself for the plucking; there the murmur +of the brooks was always in the listening ear. + +Along the whole front of the garden, so perfectly a poet's ideal, +stretched a landing defended from the incessant swash of the bay by a +stone revetment. There was then a pavement of smoothly laid flags, and +then a higher wall of dark rubble-work, coped with bevelled slabs. An +open pavilion, with a bell-fashioned dome on slender pillars, all of +wood red painted, gave admission to the garden. Then a roadway of gray +pebbles and flesh-tinted shells invited a visitor, whether afoot or on +horseback, through clumps of acacias undergrown with carefully tended +rosebushes, to a palace, which was to the garden what the central jewel +is to the cluster of stones on "my lady's" ring. + +Standing on a tumulus, a little removed from the foot of the promontory, +the palace could be seen from cornice to base by voyagers on the bay, a +quadrangular pile of dressed marble one story in height, its front +relieved by a portico of many pillars finished in the purest Corinthian +style. A stranger needed only to look at it once, glittering in the sun, +creamy white in the shade, to decide that its owner was of high +rank--possibly a noble--possibly the Emperor himself. + +It was the country palace of the Princess Irene, of whom we will now +speak.[Footnote: During the Crimean war a military hospital was built +over the basement vaults and cisterns of the palace here described. The +hospital was destroyed by fire. For years it was then known as the +"Khedive's Garden," being a favorite resort for festive parties from the +capital. At present the promontory and the retreat it shelters pertain +to the German Embassy, a munificent gift from His Majesty, Sultan +Abdul-Hamid.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PRINCESS IRENE +[Footnote: This name is of three syllables, and is pronounced as if +spelled E-ren-ay; the last syllable to rhyme with day, say, may.] + + +During the reign of the last Manuel, in 1412, as a writer has placed the +incident--that is to say, about thirty-nine years prior to the epoch +occupying us--a naval battle occurred between the Turks and Christians +off Plati, one of the Isles of the Princes. The issue was of interest to +all the peoples who were in the habit of commercial resort in the +region, to the Venetians and Genoese as well as the Byzantines. To the +latter it was of most vital moment, since defeat would have brought them +a serious interruption of communication with the islands which still +remained to the Emperor and the powers in the West upon which their +dependency grew as year after year their capacity for self-defence +diminished. + +The Turkish ships had been visible in the offing several days. At last +the Emperor concluded to allow his mariners to go out and engage them. +His indecision had been from a difficulty in naming a commander. The +admiral proper was old and inexperienced, and his fighting impulses, +admitting they had ever really existed, had been lost in the habitudes +of courtierly life. He had become little more than a ceremonial marker. +The need of the hour was a genuine sailor who could manoeuvre a +squadron. On that score there was but one voice among the seamen and +with the public-- + +"Manuel--give us Manuel!" + +The cry, passing from the ships to the multitude in the city, assailed +the palace. + +The reader should understand the Manuel wanted was not the Emperor, but +one of his brothers who could lay no claim to birth in the purple. His +mother had not been a lawful spouse; yet the Manuel thus on the tongues +of the many had made a hero of himself. He proved his temper and +abilities in many successful affairs on the sea, and at length became a +popular idol; insomuch that the imperial jealousy descended upon him +like a cloud, and hid him away. Nor could his admirers say he lived; he +had a palace and a family, and it was not known that any of the +monasteries in the city or on the Isles of the Princes had opened to +receive him. + +On these shreds of evidence, affirmative and negative, slender as they +may appear, it was believed he was yet alive. Hence the clamor; and +sooth to say it sufficed to produce the favorite; so at least the +commonalty were pleased to think, though a sharper speculation would +have scored the advent quite as much to the emergency then holding the +Empire in its tightening grip. + +Restored to active life, Manuel the sailor was given a reception in the +Hippodrome; then after a moment of gladness with his family, and another +in which he was informed of the situation and trial before him, he +hurried to assume the command. + +Next morning, with the rising of the sun, the squadron under oar and +sail issued gallantly from its retreat in the Golden Horn, and in order +of battle sought the boastful enemy of Plati. The struggle was long and +desperate. Its circumstances were dimly under view from the seaward wall +in the vicinity of the Seven Towers. A cry of rejoicing from the anxious +people at last rose strong enough to shake the turrets massive as they +were--"Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" Christ had made his cause +victorious. His Cross was in the ascendant. The Turks drew out of the +defeat as best they could, and made haste to beach the galleys remaining +to them on the Asiatic shore behind the low-lying islands. + +Manuel the sailor became more than a hero; to the vulgar he was a +savior. All Byzantium and all Galata assembled on the walls and water +along the famous harbor to welcome him when, with many prizes and a +horde of prisoners, he sailed back under the sun newly risen over the +redeemed Propontis. Trumpets answered trumpets in brazen cheer as he +landed. A procession which was a reminder of the triumphs of the ancient +and better times of the Empire escorted him to the Hippodrome. The +overhanging gallery reserved for the Emperor there was crowded with the +dignitaries of the court; the factions were out with their symbols of +blue and green; the scene was gorgeous; yet the public looked in vain +for Manuel the Emperor; he alone was absent; and when the dispersion +took place, the Byzantine spectators sought their homes shaking their +heads and muttering of things in store for their idol worse than had yet +befallen him. Wherefore there was little or no surprise when the +unfortunate again disappeared, this time with his whole family. The +victory, the ensuing triumph, and the too evident popularity were more +than the jealous Emperor could overlook. + +There was then a long lapse of years. John Palaeologus succeeded Manuel +on the throne, and was in turn succeeded by Constantine, the last of the +Byzantine monarchs. + +Constantine signalized his advent, the great Greek event of 1448, by +numerous acts of clemency, for he was a just man. He opened many prison +doors long hopelessly shut. He conferred honors and rewards that had +been remorselessly erased from account. He condoned offences against his +predecessors, mercifully holding them wanting in evil against himself. +So it came to pass that Manuel, the hero of the sea fight off Plati, +attained a second release, or, in better speech, a second resurrection. +He had been all the years practically buried in certain cells of the +convent of St. Irene on the island of Prinkipo, and now he came forth an +old man, blind and too enfeebled to walk. Borne into private audience, +he was regarded by Constantine with tender sympathy. + +"And thou art that Manuel who made the good fight at Plati?" + +"Say rather I am he who was that Manuel," the ancient replied. "Death +despises me now because he could not call my decease a victory." + +The inquisitor, visibly affected, next spoke in an uncertain voice. + +"Is what I have heard true, that at thy going into the Monastery thou +hadst a family?" + +The eyes of the unfortunate were not too far gone for tears; some rolled +down his cheeks; others apparently dropped into his throat. + +"I had a wife and three children. It is creditable to the feeling called +love that they chose to share my fate. One only survives, and"--he +paused as if feebly aware of the incoherency--"and she was born a +prisoner." + +"Born a prisoner!" exclaimed Constantine. "Where is she now?" + +"She ought to be here." + +The old man turned as he spoke, and called out anxiously: + +"Irene--Irene, where art thou, child?" + +An attendant, moved like his master, explained. + +"Your Majesty, his daughter is in the ante-room." + +"Bring her here." + +There was a painful hush in the chamber during the waiting. When the +daughter appeared, all eyes were directed to her--all but the father's, +and even he was instantly aware of her presence; for which, doubtless, +the sensibility known only to the long-time blind was sufficiently +alive. + +"Where hast thou been?" he asked, with a show of petulance. + +"Calm thee, father, I am here." + +She took his hand to assure him, and then returned the look of the +Emperor; only his was of open astonishment, while hers was +self-possessed. + +Two points were afterwards remembered against her by the courtiers +present; first, contrary to the custom of Byzantine women, she wore no +veil or other covering for the face; in the next place, she tendered no +salutation to the Emperor. Far from prostrating herself, as immemorial +etiquette required, she did not so much as kneel or bow her head. They, +however, excused her, saying truly her days had been passed in the +Monastery without opportunity to acquire courtly manners. In fact they +did not at the time notice the omissions. She was so beautiful, and her +beauty reposed so naturally in an air of grace, modesty, intelligence, +and purity that they saw nothing else. Constantine recovered himself, +and rising from his seat, advanced to the edge of the dais, which in +such audiences, almost wholly without state, raised him slightly above +his guests and attendants, and spoke to the father: + +"I know thy history, most noble Greek--noble in blood, noble in loyalty, +noble by virtue of what thou hast done for the Empire--and I honor thee. +I grieve for the suffering thou hast endured, and wish myself surrounded +with many more spirits like thine, for then, from my exalted place, I +could view the future and its portents with greater calmness of +expectation, if not with more of hope. Perhaps thou hast heard how sadly +my inheritance has been weakened by enemies without and within; how, +like limbs lopped from a stately tree, the themes [Footnote: Provinces.] +richest in their yield of revenue have been wrested from the body of our +State, until scarce more than the capital remains. I make the allusion +in apology and excuse for the meagreness of what I have to bestow for +thy many heroic services. Wert thou in the prime of manhood, I would +bring thee into the palace. That being impossible, I must confine myself +to amends within my power. First, take thou liberty." + +The sailor sunk to his knees; then he fell upon his hands, and touched +the floor with his forehead. In that posture, he waited the further +speech. Such was the prostration practised by the Greeks in formally +saluting their Basileus. + +Constantine proceeded. + +"Take next the house here in the city which was thine when the judgment +fell upon thee. It has been tenantless since, and may be in need of +repairs; if so, report the cost they put thee to, and I will charge the +amount to my civil list." Looking then at the daughter, he added: "On +our Roumelian shore, up by Therapia, there is a summer house which once +belonged to a learned Greek who was the happy possessor of a Homer +written masterfully on stainless parchment. He had a saying that the +book should be opened only in a palace specially built for it; and, +being rich, he indulged the fancy. He brought the marble from the +Pentelic quarries; nothing grosser was permitted in the construction. In +the shade of a portico of many columns of Corinthian model he passed his +days reading to chosen friends, and living as the Athenians were wont to +live in the days of Pericles. In my youth I dwelt much with him, and he +so loved me that at dying he gave me the house, and the gardens and +groves around it. They will help me now to make partial amends for +injustice done; and when will a claimant appear with better right than +the daughter of this brave man? In speaking but now, did he not call +thee Irene?" + +A flush overspread her neck and face, but she answered without other +sign of feeling: + +"Irene." + +"The house--it may be called a palace--and all that pertains to it, are +thine," he continued. "Go thither at will, and begin thy life anew." + +She took one step forward, but stopped as suddenly, her color coming and +going. Never had Constantine seen wife or maid more beautiful. He almost +dreaded lest the spell she cast over him would be broken by the speech +trembling upon her lips. She moved quickly to the dais then, and taking +his hand, kissed it fervently, saying: + +"Almost I believe we have a Christian Emperor." + +She paused, retaining the hand, and looking up into his face. + +The spectators, mostly dignitaries of high degree, with their attendants, +were surprised. Some of them were shocked; for it should be remembered +the court was the most rigidly ceremonial in the world. The rules +governing it were the excerpt of an idea that the Basileus or Emperor was +the incarnation of power and majesty. When spoken to by him, the proudest +of his officials dropped their eyes to his embroidered slippers; when +required to speak to him, they fell to their knees, and kept the posture +till he was pleased to bid them rise. Not one of them had ever touched +his fingers, except when he deigned to hold them out to be most humbly +saluted. Their manner at such times was more than servility; in +appearance, at least, it was worship. This explanation will enable the +reader to understand the feeling with which they beheld the young woman +keep the royal hand a prisoner in hers. Some of them shuddered and turned +their faces not to witness a familiarity so closely resembling +profanation. + +Constantine, on his part, looked down into the eyes of his fair +kinswoman, knowing her speech was not finished. The slight inclination +of his person toward her was intended for encouragement. Indeed, he made +no attempt to conceal the interest possessing him. + +"The Empire may be shorn, even as thou hast said," she resumed presently, +in a voice slightly raised. "But is not this city of our fathers by site +and many advantages as much the capital of the world as ever? A Christian +Emperor founded it, and his name was Constantine; may it not be its +perfect restoration is reserved for another Constantine, also a Christian +Emperor? Search thy heart, O my Lord! I have heard how noble impulses are +often prophets without voices." + +Constantine was impressed. From a young person, bred in what were really +prison walls, the speech was amazing. He was pleased with the opinion +she was evidently forming of himself; he was pleased with the hope she +admitted touching the Empire; he was pleased with the Christian faith, +the strength of mind, the character manifested. Her loyalty to the old +Greek regime was unquestionable. The courtiers thought she might at +least have made some acknowledgment of his princely kindness; but if he +thought of the want of form, he passed it; enough for him that she was a +lovely enthusiast. In the uncertainty of the moment, he hesitated; then, +descending from the dais, he kissed her hand gracefully, courteously, +reverently, and said simply: + +"May thy hope be God's will." + +Turning from her, he helped the blind man to his feet, and declared the +audience dismissed. + +Alone with his secretary, the Grand _Logothete_, he sat awhile +musing. + +"Give ear," he at length said. "Write it, a decree. Fifty thousand gold +pieces annually for the maintenance of Manuel and Irene, his daughter." + +The secretary at the first word became absorbed in studying his master's +purple slippers; then, having a reply, he knelt. + +"Speak," said Constantine. + +"Your Majesty," the secretary responded, "there are not one thousand +pieces in the treasury unappropriated." + +"Are we indeed so poor?" + +The Emperor sighed, but plucking spirit, went on bravely: + +"It may be God has reserved for me the restoration, not only of this +city, but of the Empire. I shall try to deserve the glory. And it may be +that noble impulses _are_ speechless prophets. Let the decree stand. +Heaven willing, we will find a way to make it good." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HOMERIC PALACE + + +The reader is now informed of the history of Irene, which is to he +remembered as of an important personage in the succeeding pages. Knowing +also how she became possessed of the palace we have been at some pains +to describe, he is prepared to see her at home. + +The night has retreated from the European shore of the Bosphorus, +although the morning is yet very young. The sun in the cloudless sky +beyond Becos, where it appears standing as if to rest from the fatigue +of climbing the hills, is lifting Therapia bodily out of its sparkling +waters. In the bay moreover there are many calls of mariner to mariner, +and much creaking of windlasses, and clashing of oars cast loose in +their leather slings. To make the scene perfectly realistic there is a +smell of breakfast cooking, not unpleasant to those within its waftage +who are yet to have their appetites appeased. These sights, these +sounds, these smells, none of them reach the palace in the garden under +the promontory opposite the town. There the birds are singing their +matin songs, the flowers loading the air with perfume, and vine and tree +drinking the moisture borne down to them from the unresting sea so near +in the north. [Footnote: The Black Sea.] + +Under the marble portico the mistress is sitting exactly in the place we +can imagine the old Greek loved most what time he read from his +masterful copy of Homer. Between columns she saw the Bosphorean expanse +clear to the wooded Asiatic shore. Below was a portion of the garden +through which the walk ran, with a graceful curve, to the red kiosk by +the front gate. Just beyond it the landing lay. Around her were palm and +rose trees in painted tubs, and in their midst, springing from a tall +vase carven over with mythologic figures, a jasmine vine affected all +the graces of its most delicate nature. Within reach of her right hand +there were platters of burnished brass on a table of ebony, its thin, +spider legs inlaid with silver in lines. One of the platters bore a heap +of white biscuits such as at this day are called crackers; the others +supported pitchers, and some drinking cups, all of silver. + +The mistress sat in an arm-chair very smooth in finish despite the +lineations sunk into its surfaces, and so roomy as to permit her to drop +easily into a half-reclining posture. A footstool dressed in dark +stamped leather was ready to lend its aid to gracefulness and comfort. + +We will presume now to introduce the reader to the Princess Irene, +though, as the introduction must be in the way of description, our +inability to render the subject adequately is admitted in advance. + +At the moment of first sight, she is sitting erect, her head turned +slightly to the left shoulder, and both hands resting on the dog's head +garnishing the right arm of the chair. She is gazing abstractedly out at +the landing, as if waiting for some one overdue. The face is uncovered; +and it is to be said here that, abhorring the custom which bound her +Byzantine sisterhood to veils, except when in the retiracy of their +chambers, she was at all times brave enough to emphasize the abhorrence +by discarding the encumbrance. She was never afraid of the effects of +the sun on her complexion, and had the art of moving modestly and with +composure among men, who, on their side, were used in meeting her to +conceal their admiration and wonder under cover of grave respect. + +Her figure, tall, slender, perfectly rounded, is clad in drapery of the +purest classic mode. Outwardly it consists of but two garments--a robe +of fine white woollen stuff, and over it a mantle of the same texture +and hue, hanging from a yoke of close-fitting flesh-colored silk richly +embroidered with Tyrian floss. A red rope loosely twisted girdles her +body close under the breasts, from which, when she is standing, the gown +in front falls to the feet, leaving a decided train. The mantle begins +at a point just in front of the arm, under which, and along the sides, +it hangs, like a long open sleeve, being cut away behind about half down +the figure. The contrivance of the yoke enabled the artist, by gathering +the drapery, to determine the lines in which it should drop, and they +were few but positive. In movement, the train was to draw the gown to +the form so its outlines could be easily followed from the girdle. + +The hair, of the tint of old gold, is dressed in the Grecian style; and +its abundance making the knot unusually ample, there was necessity for +the two fillets of pink silk to keep it securely in place. + +The real difficulty in the description is now reached. To a reader of +sharp imagination it might be sufficient to say the face of the Princess +Irene, seen the morning in question, was perfectly regular, the brows +like pencilling, the nose delicate, the eyes of violet shading into +blackness, the mouth small with deep corners and lips threads of +scarlet, the cheeks and brow precisely as the received law of beauty +would have them. This would authorize a conception of surpassing +loveliness; and perhaps it were better did we stop with the suggestions +given, since the fancy would then be left to do its own painting. But +patience is besought, for vastly more than a face of unrivalled +perfection, the conjuration is a woman who yet lives in history as such +a combination of intellect, spirit, character, and personal charm that +men, themselves rulers and conquerors, fell before her at sight. Under +necessity therefore of going on with the description, what words are at +command to convey an idea of the complexion--a property so wholly +unartificial with her that the veins at the temples were as transparent +shadows on snow, and the coloring of the cheeks like a wash of roses? +What more is there than to point to the eyes of the healthful freshness +peculiar to children of tender nurture; the teeth exquisitely regular +and of the whiteness of milk and the lustre of pearls; the ears small, +critically set, and tinted pink and white, like certain shells washed +ashore last night? What more? Ah, yes! There are the arms bare from the +shoulder, long and round as a woman's should be, and terminating in +flexile wrists, and hands so gracefully modelled we shrink from thought +of their doing more than making wreaths of flowers and playing with harp +strings. There too is the pose of the head expressive of breeding and +delicacy of thought and feeling, of pride and courage--the pose +unattainable by effort or affectation, and impossible except where the +head, itself faultless, is complemented by a neck long, slender, yet +round, pliant, always graceful, and set upon shoulders the despair of +every one but the master who found perfection of form and finish in the +lilies of the Madonna. Finally there is the correspondence, in action as +well as repose, of body, limbs, head, and face, to which, under +inspiration of the soul, the air and manner of lovely women are always +referable. + +The Princess was yet intensely observing the stretch of water before +her, and the rapid changes of the light upon its face, when a boat, +driven by a single oarsman, drew up to the landing, and disembarked a +passenger. That he was not the person she was expecting became instantly +apparent. She glanced at him once, and then, satisfied he was a stranger +in whom she had no interest, resumed study of the bay. He, however, +after dropping something in the boatman's hand, turned, and walked to +the gateway, and through it towards the palace. + +Ere long a servant, whose very venerable appearance belied the +steel-pointed javelin he carried, hobbled slowly along the floor of the +portico marshalling a visitor. She touched the golden knot at the back +of her head to be assured of its arrangement, arose, shook out the folds +of her gown and mantle, and was prepared for the interruption. + +The costume of the stranger was new to the Princess. A cassock of mixed +white and brown wool that had gone through a primitive loom with little +of any curative process except washing, hung from his neck to his heels. +Aside from the coarseness of warp and woof, it fitted so closely that +but for a slit on each side of the skirt walking would have been +seriously impeded. The sleeves were long and loose, and covered the +hands. From the girdle of untanned skin a double string of black horn +beads, each large as a walnut, dropped to his knees. The buckle of the +girdle, which might have been silver deeply oxidized, was conspicuously +large, and of the rudest workmanship. But withal much the most curious +part of the garb was the cowl, if such it may be called. Projecting over +the face so far as to cast the features in shadow, it carried on the +sides of the head broad flaps, not unlike the ears of an elephant. This +envelope was hideous, yet it served to exalt the man within to +giantesque proportions. + +The Princess surveyed the visitor with astonishment hardly concealed. +What part of the world could produce a creature so utterly barbarous? +What business could he have with her? Was he young or old? Twice she +scanned him from head to foot. He was a monk; so much the costume +certified; and while he stopped before her with one foot advanced from +the edge of the skirt, and resting lightly in the clasp of the thongs of +a very old-fashioned sandal, she saw it was white, and blue veined, and +at the edges pink, like a child's, and she said to herself, "He is +young--a young monastic." + +The stranger drew from his girdle a linen package carefully folded, +kissed it reverently, and said: + +"Would the Princess Irene be pleased if I open the favor for her?" + +The voice was manly, the manner deferential. + +"Is it a letter?" she asked. + +"A letter from the Holy Father, the Archimandrite of the greatest of the +northern Lavras." [Footnote: Monasteries.] + +"Its name?" + +"Bielo-Osero." + +"The Bielo-Osero? Where is it?" + +"In the country of the Great Prince." [Footnote: Russia.] + +"I knew not that I had an acquaintance in so distant a region as the +north of Russia. You may open the letter." + +Unmindful of the indifferent air of the Princess, the monk removed the +cloth, leaving its folds hanging loosely from his hand. A sheet of +vellum was exposed lying on the covered palm. + +"The Holy Father bade me when I delivered the writing, O Princess, to +deliver his blessing also; which--the saying is mine, not his--is of +more worth to the soul than a coffer of gold for the wants of the body." + +The pious comment was not lost; but without a word, she took the vellum, +and resuming her seat, addressed herself to the reading. First, her eyes +dropped to the signature. There was a look of surprise--another of +uncertainty--then an exclamation: + +"Hilarion! Not my Father Hilarion! He is but a sacred memory! He went +away and died--and yet this is his hand. I know it as I know my own." + +The monk essayed to remove the doubt. + +"Permit me," he said, then asked, "Is there not an island hereabouts +called Prinkipo?" + +She gave him instant attention. + +"And on the side of the island over against the Asiatic coast, under a +hill named Kamares, is there not a convent built centuries ago by an +Empress?" + +"Irene," she interposed. + +"Yes, Irene--and was not Father Hilarion for many years Abbot of the +convent? Then, on account of his fame for learning and piety, did not +the Patriarch exalt him to attendance on his own person as Doctor of the +Gospels? Still later, was he not summoned to serve the Emperor in the +capacity of Warden of the Purple Ink?" + +"From whom have you all these things?" she asked. + +"Excellent Princess, from whom could I have them save the good Father +himself?" + +"Thou art then his messenger?" + +"It becomes me better to refer you to what he has there written." + +So saying, the monk stepped backward, and stood a little way off in a +respectful attitude. She raised the missive, and kissed the signature +several times, exclaiming: + +"Now hath God taken care of his own!" + +Then she said to the monk, "Thou art indeed a messenger with good +tidings." + +And he, accepting the welcome, uncovered his head, by raising the +hideous _klobouk_, [Footnote: Cowl.] and letting it fall back pendant +from his shoulders. The violet eyes of the Princess opened wider, +brightening as with a sudden influx of light. She could not remember a +finer head or a face more perfect in manly beauty, and at the same time +so refined and gentle. + +And he was so young--young even as herself--certainly not more than +twenty. Such was her first general impression of him. For the pleasure +there was in the surprise, she would not allow it to be observed, but +said: + +"The Father in his letter, no doubt, tells me thy name, but since I wish +to reserve the reading, I hope thou wilt not be offended if I ask it +directly." + +"The name my mother gave me is Andre; but when I came to be a deacon in +our Bielo-Osero, Father Hilarion, who presided at the raising, asked me +how I wished to be known in the priesthood, and I answered him, Sergius. +Andre was a good christening, and serves well to remind me of my dear +mother; but Sergius is better, because at hearing it I am always +reminded that by vows and solemn rites of ordination I am a servant of +God." + +"I will endeavor to remember thy preference," the Princess said; "but +just now, good Sergius, it is of next importance to know if thou hast +yet had breakfast?" + +A smile helped his face to even more of pleasantness. + +"No," he answered, "but I am used to fasting, and the great city is not +more than two hours away." + +She looked concerned. + +"Thy patron Saint hath not deserted thee. Here is a table already set. +He for whom I held it is long on the road; thou shalt take his place, +and be not less welcome." To the old servant she added: "We have a +guest, not an enemy, Lysander. Put up thy javelin, and bring a seat for +him; then stand behind him, lest it happen one service of the cups be +not enough." + +Directly the two were at the table opposite each other. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RUSSIAN MONK + + +Sergius took a glass of red wine from the old attendant, and said: + +"I should like your permission, O Princess, to make a confession." + +His manner was that of one unused to the society of women. He was +conscious she was studying him, and spoke to divert her. As she was slow +answering, he added: "That you may not think me disposed to abuse the +acquaintance you honor me with, especially as you have not yet read the +letter of the good Father Hilarion upon which I rely for your better +regard, I ask the permission rather to show the degree of your kindness +to me. It may interest you also to learn of the confirmation of a certain +faith you are perhaps unwittingly lending a novice in the ways of the +world." + +She had been studying him, and her first impression was now confirmed. +His head in shape and pose was a poet's; the long, wavy, flaxen hair, +parted in the middle, left small space for the forehead, which was +nevertheless broad and white, with high-arched, well-defined brows for +base. The eyes were gray. In repose they had a dreamy introspectional +expression. The mustache and beard, the first growth of youth spent +entirely indoors, were as yet too light to shade any part of the face. +The nose was not enough _retrousse_ to be irregular. In brief, the +monk was of the type now well known as Russian. Aside from height and +apparent muscularity, he very nearly realized the Byzantine ideal of +Christ as seen in the cartoons excellently preserved in a mosque of +Stamboul not far from the gate anciently San Romain now _Top Kapoussi_. + +The appearance of the young monk, so strikingly suggestive of the being +most sacred in the estimation of the Princess, was at the moment less +curious to her than a certain habit observable in him. The look of +brightness attendant upon the thought he was putting into form would, +when the utterance was through, suffer a lapse which, for want of +strictly definite words, may be described as a sombering of the eyes +when they were widest open, a gazing beyond at something else than the +opposite speaker; implying that the soul was become mysteriously +occupied apart from the mind. The effect was as if she had before her +two widely different characters making themselves present at the same +time in one person. Unquestionably, though rarely, there is a duality of +nature in men, by which, to put it extremely, a seeming incapable may be +vastly capable, outward gentleness a mask for a spirit of Neronian +violence, dulness a low-lying cloud surcharged with genius. What shall +be done with such a nature? When may it be relied upon? Who shall ever +come to really know it? + +Occupied with the idea, the Princess heard but the conclusion of the +monk's somewhat awkward apology, and she answered: + +"The confession must be of something lighter than a sin. I will listen." + +"A sin!" he exclaimed, with a blush. "Pardon me, O Princess. It was a +trifle of which I spoke too seriously. I promise thou shalt take from it +nothing worse than a laugh at my simplicity. See thou these things?" + +He gave her a glance full of boyish humor, and from a breast pocket of +his cassock drew a bag of coarse yellow silk; thrusting a hand into its +mouth, he then brought out a number of square leathern chips stamped +with sunken letters, and laid them on the table before her. + +"This you must know is our money." The Princess examined the pieces, and +said: + +"I doubt if our tradesmen would accept them." + +"They will not. I am a witness to the fact. Nevertheless they will carry +a traveller, go he either way, from one end of our Great Prince's realm +to the other. When I left the Lavra, setting out on my journey, Father +Hilarion gave me the bag, saying, as he put it into my hand, 'Now upon +coming to the port where the ship awaits thee, be sure to exchange the +money with the merchants there for Byzantine gold; else, unless God come +to thy aid, thou wilt be turned into a mendicant.' And so I fully meant +to do; but when I reached the port, I found it a city large, and full of +people and sights wonderful to me, demanding to be seen. I forgot the +injunction. Indeed I never thought of it until this morning." + +Here he laughed at himself, proving he was not yet seriously alive to +the consequences of his negligence. Presently he resumed: + +"I landed only last night, and sick from the tossing of the sea, put up +at an inn in the town yonder. I ordered breakfast, and, according to a +custom of my people, offered to pay before tasting. The master of the +house looked at my money, and told me to show him coin of gold; if not +that, then copper or brass, or even iron, in pieces bearing the name of +the Emperor. Being told I had only this, he bade me look elsewhere for +breakfast. Now I had designed going to the great city to kiss the hand +of the Patriarch, of whom I have always heard as the wisest of men, +before coming to thee; but the strait I was in was hard. Could I expect +better of the innkeepers there? I had a button of gold--a memorial of my +entry into the Lavra. That day Father Hilarion blessed it three times; +and it bore a cross upon its face which I thought might make it +acceptable as if it were lettered with the name of Constantine. A +boatman consented to take it for rowing me to thy landing. Behold! Thou +hast my confession!" + +His speech to this time had been in Greek singularly pure and fluent; +now he hesitated, while his eyes, open to the full, sombered, as if from +a field in the brain back of them a shadow was being cast through his +face. When next he spoke it was in his native tongue. + +The Princess observed her guest with increasing interest; for she was +wholly unused to such artlessness in men. How could Father Hilarion have +intrusted business of importance to an envoy so negligent? His +confession, as he termed it, was an admission, neither more nor less, +that he had no money of the country into which he was come. And further, +how could the habit of lapsing in thought, or more simply, of passing +abruptly from the present subject, be explained except on the theory of +something to which he had so given himself it had become overmastering +and all absorbent? This, she saw intuitively, would prove the key to the +man; and she set about finding it out. + +"Your Greek, good Sergius, is excellent; yet I did not understand the +words with which you concluded." + +"I beg pardon," he replied, with a change of countenance. "In my +mother's tongue I repeated a saying of the Psalmist, which you shall +have voice and look as Father Hilarion has given it to me oftener than I +am days old." Then his voice lowered into a sweet intensity fitting the +text: "'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Those were the +words, Princess; and who shall say they do not comprehend all there is +of religion?" + +The answer was unexpected, the manner affecting; never had she heard +conviction and faith more perfectly affirmed. More than a monk, the +young man might be a preacher! And Father Hilarion might have grown +wiser of his years! Perhaps he knew, though at a vast distance, that the +need of the hour in Constantinople was not a new notable--a bishop or a +legate--so much as a voice with power of persuasion to still the +contentions with which her seven hills were then resounding. The idea, +though a surmise, was strong enough to excite a desire to read the holy +man's letter. She even reproached herself for not having done so. + +"The worthy priest gave me the same saying in the same words," she said, +rising, "and they lose nothing of their meaning by thy repetition. We +may speak of them hereafter. For the present, to keep thee from +breakfast were cruel. I will go and make terms with my conscience by +reading what thou hast brought me from the Father. Help thyself freely +as if thou wert the most favored of guests; or rather "--she paused to +emphasize the meaning--"as though I had been bidden to prepare for thy +coining. Should there be failure in anything before thee, scruple not to +ask for more. Lysander will be at thy service. I may return presently." + +The monk arose respectfully, and stood until she disappeared behind the +vases and flowers, leaving in his memory a fadeless recollection of +graciousness and beauty, which did not prevent him from immediately +addressing himself as became a hungry traveller. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A VOICE FROM THE CLOISTER + + +While the Princess Irene traversed the portico, she repeated the words, +The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; and she could see how the +negligent, moneyless monk, turned away at the inn, was provided for in +his moment of need, and also that she was the chosen purveyor; if so, by +whom chosen? The young man had intended calling on the Patriarch first; +who brought him to her? The breakfast was set for an invited guest; what +held him back, if not the power that led the stranger to her gate? + +In saying now that one of the consequences of the religious passion +characteristic of the day in the East--particularly in Constantinople--a +passion so extreme as to induce the strongest minds to believe God, and +the Son, and even the Holy Mother discernible in the most commonplace +affairs--our hope is to save the Princess from misjudgment. Really the +most independent and fearless of spirits, if now and then she fell into +the habit of translating the natural into the supernatural, she is +entitled to mercy, since few things are harder to escape than those of +universal practice. + +Through a doorway, chiselled top and jambs, she entered a spacious hall +nude of furniture, though richly frescoed, and thence passed into a +plain open, court coolly shaded, having in the centre a jet of water +which arose and fell into a bowl of alabaster. The water overflowing the +bowl was caught again in a circular basin which, besides the ornamental +carving on the edge and outside, furnished an ample pool for the gold +fish disporting in it. + +In the court there were also a number of women, mostly young Greeks, +sewing, knitting, and embroidering vestments. Upon her entrance they +arose, let their work drop on the spotless white marble at their feet, +and received her in respectful silence. Signing them to resume their +labor, she took a reserved chair by the fountain. The letter was in her +hand, but a thought had the precedence. + +Admitting she had been chosen to fulfil the saying quoted, was the call +for the once only? When the monk went up to the city, was her ministry +to end? Would not that be a half-performance? How much farther should +she go? She felt a little pang of trouble, due to the uncertainty that +beset her, but quieted it by an appeal to the letter. Crossing herself, +and again kissing the signature, she began the reading, which, as the +hand was familiar to her, and the composition in the most faultless +Greek of the period, was in nowise a perplexity. + +"BIELO-OSERO, 3_d June_, 1452. + +"From Hilarion, the Hegumen, to Irene, his well-beloved daughter. + +"Thou hast thought of me this longtime as at rest forever--at rest with +the Redeemer. While there is nothing so the equivalent of death as +silence, there is no happiness so sweet as that which springs upon us +unexpectedly. In the same sense the resurrection was the perfect +complement of the crucifixion. More than all else, more than the sermon +on the mount, more than His miracles, more than His unexampled life, it +lifted our Lord above the repute of a mere philosopher like Socrates. We +have tears for His much suffering; but we sing as Miriam sang when we +think of His victory over the grave. I would not compare myself to Him; +yet it pleases me believing these lines, so unexpected, will give thee a +taste of the feeling the Marys had, when, with their spices in hand, +they sought the sepulchre and found only the Angels there. + +"Let me tell thee first of my disappearance from Constantinople. I +repented greatly my taking from the old convent by the Patriarch; partly +because it separated me from thee at a time when thy mind was opening to +receive the truth and understand it. Yet the call had a sound as if from +God. I feared to disobey it. + +"Then came the summons of the Emperor. He had heard of my life, and, as +a counteraction of vice, he wanted its example in the palace. I held +back. But the Patriarch prevailed on me, and I went up and suffered +myself to be installed Keeper of the Purple Ink. Then indeed I became +miserable. To such as I, what is sitting near the throne? What is power +when not an instrument of mercy, justice and charity? What is easy life, +except walking in danger of habits enervating to the hope of salvation? +Oh, the miseries I witnessed! And how wretched the sight of them, +knowing they were beyond my help! I saw moreover the wickedness of the +court. Did I speak, who listened except to revile me? Went I to +celebrations in this or that church, I beheld only hypocrisy in scarlet. +How often, knowing the sin-stains upon the hands of the celebrants at +the altar in Sta. Sophia, the house in holiness next to the temple of +Solomon--how often, seeing those hands raise the blood of Christ in the +cup before the altar, have I trembled, and looked for the dome above to +let consuming vengeance in upon us, the innocent with the guilty! + +"At last fear filled all my thoughts, and forbade sleep or any comfort. +I felt I must go, and quickly, or be lost for denial of covenants made +with Him, the ultimate Judge, in whose approval there is the peace that +passeth understanding. I was like one pursued by a spirit making its +presence known to me in sobs and plaints, stinging as conscience stings. + +"Consent to my departure was not to be expected; for great men dislike +to have their favors slighted. It was not less clear that formal +resignation of the official honor I was supposed to be enjoying would be +serviceable to the courtiers who were not so much my enemies personally +as they were enemies of religion and contemners of all holy observances. +And there were so many of them! Alas, for the admission! What then was +left but flight? + + "Whither? I thought first of Jerusalem; but who without abasement can +inhabit with infidels? Then Hagion Oras, the Holy Hill, occurred to me; +the same argument applied against it as against return to the convent of +Irene-I would be in reach of the Emperor's displeasure. One can study +his own heart. Holding mine off, and looking at it alive with desires +holy and unholy, I detected in it a yearning for hermitage. How +beautiful solitude appears! In what condition can one wishing to change +his nature for the better more certainly attain the end than without +companionship except of God always present? The spirit of prayer is a +delicate minister; where can we find purer nourishment for it than in +the silence which at noon is deep as at midnight? + +"In this mood the story of the Russian St. Sergius reverted to me. He +was born at Rostoff. Filled with pious impulses more than dissatisfied +with the world, of which he knew nothing, with a brother, he left his +father's house when yet a youth and betook himself to a great woods in +the region Radenego; there he dwelt among savage beasts and wild men, +fasting and praying and dependent like Elijah of old. His life became a +notoriety. Others drew to him. With his own hands he built a wooden +church for his disciples, giving it the name of Troitza or Thrice Holy +Trinity. Thither I wandered in thought. A call might be there for me, so +weary of the egotism, envy, detraction, greed, grind and battle of the +soulless artificiality called society. + +"I left Blacherne in the night, and crossing the sea in the north--no +wonder it is so terrible to the poor mariner who has to hunt his daily +bread upon its treacherous waves--I indulged no wait until, in the stone +church of the Holy Trinity, I knelt before the remains of the revered +Russian hermit, and thanked God for deliverance and freedom. + +"The Troitza was no longer the simple wooden church of its founder. I +found it a collection of monasteries. The solitude of my dreams was to +be sought northward further. Some years before, a disciple of +Sergius--Cyrill by name, since canonized--unterrified by winters which +dragged through three quarters of the year, wandered off to a secluded +place on the shore of the White Lake, where he dwelt until, in old age, +a holy house was required to accommodate his following. He called it +Bielo-Osero. There I installed myself, won by the warmth of my welcome. + +"Now when I departed from Blacherne, I took with me, besides the raiment +I wore, two pieces of property; a copy of the Rule of the Studium +Monastery, and a _panagia_ given me by the Patriarch--a medallion +portrait of the Blessed Mother of our Lord the Saviour, framed in gold, +and set in brilliants. I carry it hanging from my neck. Even in sleep it +is always lying just above my heart. The day is not far now when my need +of it will be over; then I will send it to thee in notice that I am +indeed at rest, and that in dying I wished to lend thee a preservative +against ills of the soul and fear of death. + +"The Rule was acceptable to the Brotherhood. They adopted it, and its +letter and spirit prevailing, the house came in time to be odorous for +sanctity. Eventually, though against my will, they raised me their +Hegumen. And so my story reaches its end. May it find thee enjoying the +delight of the soul's rest I have been enjoying without interruption +since I began life anew in this retreat, where the days are days of +prayer, and the nights illuminated by visions of Paradise and Heaven. + +"In the next place, I pray thou wilt take the young brother by whom this +will be delivered into friendly care. I myself raised him to a deaconship +of our Monastery. His priestly name is Sergius. He was scarcely out of +boyhood when I came here; it was not long, however, before I discovered +in him the qualities which drew me to thee during thy prison life at the +old convent of Irene--a receptive mind, and a native proneness to love +God. I made his way easy. I became his teacher, as I had been thine; and +as the years flew by he reminded me more and more of thee, not merely +with respect to mental capacity, but purity of soul and aspiration as +well. Need I say how natural it was for me to love him? Had I not just +come from loving thee? + +"The brethren are good men, though unmannerly, and for the most part the +Word reaches them from some other's tongue. Filling the lad's mind was +like filling a lamp with oil. How precious the light it would one day +shed abroad! And how much darkness there was for it to dispel! And in +the darkness--Mercy, Mercy! How many are in danger of perishing! + +"Never did I think myself so clearly a servant of God as in the time +Sergius was under my instruction. Thou, alas! being a woman, wert like a +strong-winged bird doomed at best to a narrow cage. The whole world was +before him. + +"Of the many notes I have been compelled to take of the wants of +religion in this our age, none so amazes me as the lack of preachers. We +have priests and monks. Their name is Legion. Who of them can be said to +have been touched with the fire that fell upon the faithful of the +original twelve? Where among them is an Athanasius? Or a Chrysostom? Or +an Augustine? Slowly, yet apace with his growth, I became ambitious for +the young man. He showed quickness and astonishing courage. No task +appalled him. He mastered the tongues of the nationalities represented +around him as if he were born to them. He took in memory the Gospels, +the Psalms, and the prophetic books of the Bible. He replies to me in +Greek undistinguishable from mine. I began to dream of him a preacher +like St. Paul. I have heard him talking in the stone chapel, when the +sleet-ridden winds without had filled it with numbing frost, and seen +the Brotherhood rise from their knees, and shout, and sing, and wrestle +like madmen. It is not merely words, and ideas, and oratorical manner, +but all of them, and more--when aroused, he has the faculty of pouring +out his spirit, so that what he says takes hold of a hearer, making him +calm if in a passion, and excited if in a calm. The willing listen to +him from delight, the unwilling and opposite minded because he enchains +them. + +"The pearl seemed to me of great price. I tried to keep it free of the +dust of the world. With such skill as I possess, I have worn its stains +and roughnesses away, and added to its lustre. Now it goes from me. + +"You must not think because I fled to this corner of the earth, there is +any abatement of my affection for Constantinople; on the contrary, +absence has redoubled the love for it with which I was born. Is it not +still the capital of our holy religion? Occasionally a traveller comes +this way with news of the changes it has endured. Thus one came and +reported the death of the Emperor John, and the succession of +Constantine; another told of justice finally done thy heroic father, and +of thy prosperity; more lately a wandering monk, seeking solitude for +his soul's sake, joined our community, and from him I hear that the old +controversy with the Latins has broken out anew, and more hotly than +ever; that the new Emperor is an _azymite_, and disposed to adhere +to the compact of union of the churches east and west made with the Pope +of Rome by his predecessor, leaving heart-blisters burning as those +which divided the Jews. Indeed, I much fear the likeness may prove +absolute. It certainly will when the Turk appears before our holy city +as Titus before Jerusalem. + +"This latest intelligence induced me at last to yield to Sergius' +entreaties to go down to Constantinople, and finish there the courses +begun here. It is true he who would move the world must go into the +world; at the same time I confess my own great desire to be kept informed +of the progress of the discussion between the churches had much to do +with my consent to his departure. He has instructions to that effect, and +will obey them. Therefore I pray thee receive him kindly for his own +sake, for mine, and the promise of good in him to the cause of Jesus, our +beloved Master. + +"In conclusion, allow me, daughter--for such thou wert to thy father, to +thy mother, and to me--allow me to recur to circumstances which, after +calm review, I pronounce the most interesting, the most delightful, the +most cherished of my life. + +"The house under the Kameses hill at Prinkipo was a convent or refuge +for women rather than men; yet I was ordered thither when thy father was +consigned to it after his victory over the Turks. I was then +comparatively young, but still recollect the day he passed the gate +going in with his family. Thenceforward, until the Patriarch took me +away, I was his confessor. + +"Death is always shocking. I remember its visits to the convent while I +was of its people; but when it came and took thy sisters we were doubly +grieved. As if the ungrateful Emperor could not be sufficiently cruel, +it seemed Heaven must needs help him. The cloud of those sad events +overhung the community a long time; at length there was a burst of +sunshine. One came to my cell and said, 'Come, rejoice with us--a baby +is born in the house.' Thou wert the baby; and thy appearance was the +first of the great gladnesses to which I have referred. + +"And not less distinctly I live over the hour we met in the chapel to +christen thee. The Bishop was the chief celebrant; but not even the +splendor of his canonicals--the cope with the little bells sewn down the +sides and along the sleeves, the ompharium, the _panagia_, the cross, +the crozier--were enough to draw my eyes from the dimpled pink face +half-hidden in the pillow of down on which they held thee up before the +font. And now the Bishop dipped his fingers in the holy water--'By what +name is this daughter to be known?' And I answered, 'Irene.' Thy parents +had been casting about for a name. 'Why not call her after the convent?' +I asked. They accepted the suggestion; and when I gave it out that great +day--to the convent it was holiday--it seemed a door in my heart of which +I was unknowing opened of itself, and took thee into a love-lined chamber +to be sweet lady at home forever. Such was the second of my greatest +happinesses. + +"And then afterwhile thy father gave thee over to me to be educated. I +made thy first alphabet, illuminating each letter with my own hand. Dost +thou remember the earliest sentence I heard thee read? Or, if ever thou +dost think of it now, be reminded it was thy first lesson in writing and +thy first in religion--'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' And +thence what delight I found in helping thee each day a little further on +in knowledge until at length we came to where thou couldst do +independent thinking. + +"It was in Sta. Sophia--in my memory not more than an occurrence of +yesterday. Thou and I had gone from the island up to the holy house, +where we were spectators of a service at which the Emperor, as Basileus, +and the Patriarch were celebrants. The gold on cope and ompharium cast +the space about the altar into a splendor rich as sunshine. Then thou +asked me, 'Did Christ and His Disciples worship in a house like this? +And were they dressed as these are?' I was afraid of those around us, +and told thee to use eye and ear, but the time for questions and answers +would be when we were back safely in the old convent. + +"When we were there, thou didst renew the questions, and I did not +withhold the truth. I told thee of the lowliness and simple ways of +Jesus--how He was clothed--how the out-doors was temple sufficient for +Him. I told thee of His preaching to the multitude on the shore of the +Galilean sea--I told of His praying in the garden of Gethsemane--I told +of the attempt to make a King of Him whether He would or not, and how He +escaped from the people--of how He set no store by money or property, +titles, or worldly honors. + +"Then thou didst ask, 'Who made worship so formal?' And again I answered +truthfully, there was no Church until after the death of our Lord; that +in course of two hundred years kings, governors, nobles and the great of +the earth were converted to the faith, and took it under their +protection; that then, to conform it to their tastes and dignity, they +borrowed altars from pagans, and recast the worship so sumptuously in +purple and gold the Apostles would not have recognized it. Then, in +brief, I began telling thee of the Primitive Church of Christ, now +disowned, forgotten or lost in the humanism of religious pride. + +"Oh, the satisfaction and happiness in that teaching! At each lesson it +seemed I was taking thee closer to the dear Christ from whom the world +is every year making new roads to get further away--the dear Christ in +search of whom I plunged into this solitude. + +"How is it with thee now, my daughter? Dost thou still adhere to the +Primitive Church? Do not fear to speak thy mind to Sergius. He too is in +the secret of our faith, believing it best to love our Lord from what +our Lord hath Himself said. + +"Now I bring this letter to a close. Let me have reply by Sergius, who, +when he has seen Constantinople, will come back to me, unless He who +holds every man's future in keeping discovers for him a special use. + +"Do not forget me in thy prayers. + +"Blessings on thee! HILARION." + +The Princess read the letter a second time. When she came to the passage +referring to the Primitive Church, her hands dropped into her lap, and +she thought: + +"The Father planted right well--better than he was aware, as he himself +would say did he know my standing now." + +A glow which might have been variously taken for half-serious, +half-mocking defiance shone in her eyes as the thought ran on: + +"Ay, dear man! Did he know that for asserting the Primitive Church as he +taught it to me in the old convent, the Greeks and the Latins have alike +adjudged me a heretic; that nothing saves me from the lions of the +Cynegion, except my being a woman--a woman forever offending by going +when and where I wist with my face bare, and therefore harmless except +to myself. If he knew this, would he send me his blessing? He little +imagined--he who kept his opinion to himself because he could see no +good possible from its proclamation--that I, the prison-bred girl he so +loved, and whom he helped make extreme in courage as in conviction, +would one day forget my sex and condition, and protest with the +vehemence of a man against the religious madness into which the +Christian world is being swept. Oh, that I were a man!" + +Folding the letter hastily, she arose to return to her guest. There was +fixedness of purpose in her face. + +"Oh, that I were a man!" she repeated, while passing the frescoed hall +on the way out. + +In the portico, with the white light of the marble whitening her whole +person, and just as the monk, tall, strong, noble looking, despite the +grotesqueness of his attire, was rising from the table, she stopped, and +clasped her hands. + +"I have been heard!" she thought, trembling. "That which it refused to +make me, Heaven has sent me. Here is a man! And he is certified as of my +faith, and has the voice, the learning, the zeal and courage, the +passion of truth to challenge a hearing anywhere. Welcome Sergius! In +want thou camest; in want thou didst find me. The Lord _is_ shepherd unto +us both." + +She went to him confidently, and offered her hand. Her manner was +irresistible; he had no choice but to yield to it. + +"Thou art not a stranger, but Sergius, my brother. Father Hilarion has +explained everything." + +He kissed her hand, and replied: + +"I was overbold, Princess; but I knew the Father would report me kindly; +and I was hungry." + +"It is my part now to see the affliction comes not back again. So much +has the Shepherd already determined. But, speaking as thy sister, +Sergius, thy garments appear strange. Doubtless they were well enough in +the Bielo-Osero, where the Rule of the Studium is law instead of +fashion; but here we must consult customs or be laughed at, which would +be fatal to the role I have in mind for thee." Then with a smile, she +added, "Observe the dominion I have already assumed." + +He answered with a contented laugh: whereupon she went on, but more +gravely: + +"We have the world to talk over; but Lysander will now take you to your +room, and you will rest until about mid-afternoon, when my boat will +come to the landing to carry us to the city. The cowl you must exchange +for a hat and veil, the sandals for shoes, the coarse cassock for a +black gown; and, if we have time, I will go with you to the Patriarch." + +Sergius followed Lysander submissively as a child. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHAT DO THE STARS SAY? + + +The sun which relieved the bay of Therapia from the thraldom of night +did the same service for the Golden Horn; only, with a more potential +voice, it seemed to say to the cities which were the pride of the +latter, Awake! Arise! And presently they were astir indoor and out. + +Of all the souls who, obedient to the early summons, poured into the +street, and by the south window of the study of the Prince of India, +some going this direction, some that, yet each intent upon a particular +purpose, not one gave a thought to the Prince, or so much as wondered if +he were awake. And the indifference of the many was well for him; it +gave him immunity to pursue his specialty. But as we, the writer and the +reader, are not of the many, and have an interest in the man from +knowing more about him than they, what would have been intrusion in them +may be excused in us. + +Exactly at midnight the Prince, aroused by Syama, had gone to the roof, +where there was a table, with a lamp upon it which he could shade at +pleasure, an hour-glass, and writing materials. An easy chair was also +set for him. + +The view of the city offered for his inspection was circumscribed by the +night. The famous places conspicuous in daytime might as well have been +folded up and put away in a closet; he could not see so much as a +glimmer of light from any of them. Pleased thereby, and arguing that +even the wicked are good when asleep, he swept the heavens with a glance +so long and searching there could be no doubt of the purpose which had +brought him forth. + +Next, according to the habit of astrologers, he proceeded to divide the +firmament into Angles and Houses, and taking seat by the table, arranged +the lamp to suit him, started the hour-glass running, and drew a diagram +familiar to every adept in divinatory science--a diagram of the heavens +with the Houses numbered from one to twelve inclusive. + +In the Houses he then set the mystic symbols of the visible planets as +they were at the moment in position, mindful not merely of the +parallels, but of the degrees as well. Verifying the correctness of the +diagram by a second survey of the mighty overarch more careful even than +the first, he settled himself in the chair, saying complacently: + +"Now, O Saturn, thou, the coldest and highest! Thy Houses are +ready--come, and at least behold them. I wait the configurations." + +Thereupon, perfectly at ease, he watched the stellar hosts while, to +their own music, they marched past the Thrones of the Most High Planets +unchallenged except by him. + +Occasionally he sat up to reverse the hour-glass, though more frequently +he made new diagrams, showing the changes in position of the several +influential bodies relatively to each other and to the benefic or +malific signs upon which so much of result depended; nor did his eyes +once weary or his zeal flag. + +Finally when the sun, yet under the horizon behind the heights of +Scutari, began to flood the sky with a brilliance exceeding that of the +bravest of the stars, he collected the drawings, extinguished the lamp, +and descended to his study, but not to rest. + +Immediately that the daylight was sufficient, he addressed himself to +mathematical calculations which appeared exhaustive of every rule and +branch of the disciplinary science. Hours flew by, and still he worked. +He received Syama's call to breakfast; returning from the meal, always +the simplest of the day with him, he resumed the problem. Either he was +prodigiously intent on a scheme in mind, or he was occupying himself +diligently in order to forget himself. + +About noon he was interrupted. + +"My father." + +Recognizing the voice, he pushed the proofs of labor from him almost to +the other side of the table, turned in his seat, and replied, his face +suffused with pleasure: + +"Thou enemy to labor! Did not some one tell thee of what I have on hand, +and how I am working to finish it in time to take the water with thee +this afternoon? Answer, O my Gul-Bahar, more beautiful growing as the +days multiply!" + +The Lael of the son of Jahdai, the Gul-Bahar of the mysterious Prince, +was much grown, and otherwise greatly changed since we saw her last. +Each intervening year had in passing left her a benediction. She was now +about sixteen, slight, and Jewish in eyes, hair, and complexion. The +blood enriched her olive cheeks; the lips took a double freshness from +health; the smile resting habitually on the oval face had a tale it was +always telling of a nature confiding, happy, satisfied with its +conditions, hopeful of the future, and unaware from any sad experience +that life ever admitted of changes. Her beauty bore the marks of +intelligence; her manner was not enough self-contained to be called +courtly; yet it was easy, and carried its own certificate of culture; it +yielded too much to natural affection to deserve the term dignified. One +listening to her, and noticing the variableness of her mood, which in +almost the same instant could pass from gay to serious without ever +reaching an extreme, would pronounce her too timid for achievement +outside the purely domestic; at the same time he would think she +appeared lovable to the last degree, and might be capable of loving in +equal measure. + +She was dressed in Byzantine fashion. In crossing the street from her +father's house, she had thrown a veil over her head, but it was now +lying carelessly about her neck. The wooden sandals with blocks under +them, like those yet worn by women in Levantine countries to raise them +out of the dust and mud when abroad, had been shaken lightly from her +feet at the top of the stairs. Perfectly at home, she advanced to the +table, and put one of her bare arms around the old man's neck, +regardless of the white locks it crushed close down, and replied: + +"Thou flatterer! Do I not know beauty is altogether in the eye of the +beholder, and that all persons do not see alike? Tell me why, knowing +the work was to be done, you did not send for me to help you? Was it for +nothing you made me acquainted with figures until--I have your authority +for the saying--I might have stood for professor of mathematics in the +best of the Alexandrian schools? Do not shake your head at me--or"-- + +With the new idea all alight in her face, she ran around the table, and +caught up one of the diagrams. + +"Ah, it is as I thought, father! The work I love best, and can do best! +Whose is the nativity? Not mine, I know; for I was born in the glad time +when Venus ruled the year. Anael, her angel, held his wings over me +against this very wry-faced, snow-chilled Saturn, whom I am so glad to +see in the Seventh House, which is the House of Woe. Whose the nativity, +I say?" + +"Nay, child--pretty child, and wilful--you have a trick of getting my +secrets from me. I sometimes think I am in thy hands no more than tawdry +lace just washed and being wrung preparatory to hanging in the air from +thy lattice. It is well for you to know there are some things out of +your reach--for the time at least." + +"That is saying you will tell me." + +"Yes--some day." + +"Then I will be patient." + +Seeing him become thoughtful, and look abstractedly out of the window, +she laid the diagram down, went back, and again put her arm around his +neck. + +"I did not come to interrupt you, father, but to learn two things, and +run away." + +"You begin like a rhetorician. What subdivisions lie under those two +things? Speak!" + +"Thank you," she replied, quickly. "First, Syama told me you were at +some particular task, and I wanted to know if I could help you." + +"Dear heart!" he said, tenderly. + +"Next--and this is all--I did not want you to forget we are to go up the +Bosphorus this afternoon--up to Therapia, and possibly to the sea." + +"You wish to go?" he asked. + +"I dreamt of it all night." + +"Then we will; and to prove I did not forget, the boatmen have their +orders already. We go to the landing directly after noon." + +"Not too soon," she answered, laughing. "I have to dress, and make +myself gorgeous as an empress. The day is soft and kind, and there will +he many people on the water, where I am already known quite as well as +here in the city as the daughter of the Prince of India." + +He replied with an air of pride: + +"Thou art good enough for an emperor." + +"Then I may go and get ready." + +She withdrew her arm, kissed him, and started to the door, but returned, +with a troubled look. + +"One thing more, father." + +He was recovering his work, but stopped, and gave her ear. + +"What is it?" + +"You have said, good father, that as my studies were too confining, it +would be well if I took the air every day in my sedan. So, sometimes +with Syama, sometimes with Nilo, I had the men carry me along the wall +in front of the Bucoleon. The view over the sea toward Mt. Ida is there +very beautiful; and if I look to the landward side, right at my feet are +the terraced gardens of the palace. Nowhere do the winds seem sweeter to +me. For their more perfect enjoyment I have at moments alighted from the +chair, and walked; always avoiding acquaintances new and old. The people +appear to understand my preference, and respect it. Of late, however, +one person--hardly a man--has followed me, and stopped near by when I +stopped; he has even persisted in attempts to speak to me. To avoid him, +I went to the Hippodrome yesterday, and taking seat in front of the +small obelisks in that quarter, was delighted with the exhibition of the +horsemen. Just when the entertainment was at its height, and most +interesting, the person of whom I am speaking came and sat on the same +bench with me. I arose at once. It is very annoying, father. What shall +I do?" + +The Prince did not answer immediately, and when he did, it was to ask, +suggestively: + +"You say he is young?" + +"Yes." + +"His dress?" + +"He seems to be fond of high colors." + +"You asked no question concerning him?" + +"No. Whom could I ask?" + +Again the Prince reflected. Outwardly he was unconcerned; yet his blood +was more than warm--the blood of pride which, as every one knows, is +easily started, and can go hissing hot. He did not wish her to think of +the affair too much; therefore his air of indifference; nevertheless it +awoke a new train of thought in him. + +If one were to insult this second Lael of his love, what could he do? +The idea of appeal to a magistrate was irritating. Were he to assume +punishment of the insolence, from whom could he hope justice or +sympathy--he, a stranger living a mysterious life? + +He ran hastily over the resorts at first sight open to him. Nilo was an +instrument always ready. A word would arouse the forces in that loyal +but savage nature, and they were forces subject to cunning which never +slept, never wearied, and was never in a hurry--a passionless cunning, +like that of the Fedavies of the Old Man of the Mountain. + +It may be thought the Prince was magnifying a fancied trouble; but the +certainty that sorrow _must_ overtake him for every indulgence of +affection was a haunting shadow always attending the most trifling +circumstance to set his imagination conjuring calamities. That at such +times his first impulse was toward revenge is explicable; the old law, +an eye for an eye, was part of his religion; and coupling it with +personal pride which a thought could turn into consuming heat, how +natural if, while the anticipation was doing its work, his study should +be to make the revenge memorable! + +Feeling he was not entirely helpless in the affair, he thought best to +be patient awhile, and learn who was the offender; a conclusion followed +by a resolution to send Uel with the girl next time she went to take the +air. + +"The young men of the city are uncontrolled by respect or veneration," +he said, quietly. "The follies they commit are sometimes ludicrous. +Better things are not to be looked for in a generation given to dress as +a chief ambition. And then it may be, O my Gul-Bahar"--he kissed her as +he uttered the endearment--"it may be he of whom you complain does not +know who you are. A word may cure him of his bad manners. Do not appear +to notice him. Have eyes for everything in the world but him; that is +the virtuous woman's defence against vulgarity and insult under every +circumstance. Go now, and make ready for the boat. Put on your gayest; +forget not the last necklace I gave you--and the bracelets--and the +girdle with the rubies. The water from the flying oars shall not +outflash my little girl. There now--Of course we will go to the landing +in our chairs." + +When she disappeared down the stairs, he went back to his work. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA MEETS CONSTANTINE + + +It is to be remembered now, as very material to our story, that the day +the Prince of India resolved on the excursion up the Bosphorus with Lael +the exquisite stretch of water separated the territorial possessions of +the Greek Emperor and the Sultan of the Turks. + +In 1355 the utmost of the once vast Roman dominions was "a corner of +Thrace between the Propontis (Marmora) and the Black Sea, about fifty +miles in length and thirty in breadth." [Footnote: Gibbon.] + +When Constantine Dragases--he of whom we are writing--ascended the +throne, the realm was even more diminished. + +Galata, just across the Golden Horn, had become a Genoese stronghold. + +Scutari, on the Asiatic shore almost _vis-a-vis_ with Constantinople, was +held by a Turkish garrison. + +With small trouble the Sultan could have converted the pitiful margin +between Galata and the Cyanean rocks on the Black Sea. + +Once indeed he set siege to Constantinople, but was beaten off, it was +said, by the Mother of God, who appeared upon the walls of the city, and +in person took part in the combat. Thereafter he contented himself with +a tribute from the Emperors Manuel and John Palaeologus. + +The relations of the Christian and Moslem potentates being thus +friendly, it can be seen how the Princess Irene could keep to her palace +by Therapia and the Prince of India plan jaunts along the Bosphorus. + +Still there is a point to be borne in mind. Ships under Christian flags +seldom touched at a landing upon the Asiatic shore. Their captains +preferred anchoring in the bays and close under the ivy-covered heights +of Europe. This was not from detestation or religious intolerance; at +bottom there was a doubt of the common honesty of the strong-handed Turk +amounting to fear. The air was rife with stories of his treachery. The +fishermen in the markets harrowed the feelings of their timid customers +with tales of surprises, captures, and abductions. Occasionally couriers +rushed through the gates of Constantinople to report red banners in +motion, and the sound of clarions and drums, signifying armies of +Moslems gathering for mysterious purposes. + +The Moslems, on their part, it is but fair to say, were possessed of the +same doubts of the Christians, and had answers to accusations always +ready. The surprises, captures, and abductions were the unlicensed +savageries of brigands, of whom they never knew one not a Greek; while +the music and flags belonged to the militia. + +Six or seven miles above Scutari a small river, born in the adjacent +highlands, runs merrily down to meet and mingle with the tideless +Bosphorus. The water it yields is clear and fresh; whence the name of +the stream, The Sweet Waters of Asia. On its south side there is a +prairie-like stretch, narrow, but green and besprent with an orchard of +sycamores old and gnarled, and now much frequented on Mohammedan Sundays +by ladies of the harems, who contrive to make it very gay. No doubt the +modest river, and the grass and great trees were just as attractive ages +before the first Amurath, with an army at his heels, halted there for a +night. From that time, however, it was banned by the Greeks; and for a +reason. + +On the north bank of the little river there was a fortress known as the +White Castle. An irregular, many-angled pile of undressed stone heavily +merloned on top, its remarkable feature was a tall donjon which a dingy +white complexion made visible a great distance, despite its freckling of +loopholes and apertures for machine artillery. Seeing its military +importance, the Sultan left a garrison to hold it. He was also pleased +to change its name to Acce-Chisar. + +The blood-red flag on this donjon was, at the era engaging us, the +disenchanter of the Greeks; insomuch that in passing the Sweet Waters of +Asia they hugged the opposite shore of the Bosphorus, crossing +themselves and muttering prayers often of irreligious compound. A stork +has a nest on the donjon now. As an apparition it is not nearly so +suggestive as the turbaned sentinel who used to occupy its outlook. + +The popular imagination located dungeons under the grim old Castle, +whence, of the many Christian men and women immured there, it was said +none ever came forth alive. + +But for these things, whether true or false, the Prince of India cared +little. He was not afraid of the Turks. If the Asiatic shore had been +festooned with red flags from the City of the Blind down by the Isles of +the Princes to the last of the gray fortresses overlooking the +Symplegades, it would not have altered a plan of his jot or tittle. +Enough that Lael wanted and needed an outing on the glorious Bosphorus. + +Accordingly, shortly after noon two chairs were brought and set down in +his house. That is to say, two upright boxes fixed centrally on poles, +and differing in nowise from the sedans still the mode of carriage +affected by ladies of Constantinople unless it might be in their richer +appointments. Inside, all was silk, lace and cushions; outside, the +inlaying of mother of pearl and vari-colored woods was suggestive of +modern papier-mache. The entrance was by a door in the front. A window +in the door, and lesser ones on the sides, afforded the inmate air and +opportunity for speech. Not wanting to be seen, she had only to draw the +curtains together. In this instance it must be said the decoration of +the carriages had been carried to an extreme. + +Soon as the chairs were set down in the house, the Prince and Lael +descended the stairs. The latter was attired in a semi-Greek costume, +very rich and becoming; to embroidery of gold, she added bracelets, and +a necklace of large pearls strung between spheres of gold equally large. +A coronet graced her head, and it was so bejewelled that in bright light +it seemed some one was sprinkling her with an incessant shower of +sparkles. + +The two took their seats. The carriers, two to each litter, stalwart +men, uniformly clad in loose white garments, raised the poles on their +shoulders. Syama threw the door of the house open, and at a signal from +the Prince the procession sallied into the street. The crowd, in +expectant waiting there, received it in silent wonder. + +It is due the truth to say now that the common eye was attracted by the +appearance of Nilo as much as by the rarities wrought in the panelling +of the carriages. He strode ten or twelve feet in advance of Lael who, +in the place of honor, was completely under the Prince's observation. +The negro's costume was of a King of Kash-Cush. The hair stood on end in +stiff cues, sharply pointed, and held by a chain of silver medals; an +immense ring of silver hung from the cartilage of his nose. The neck was +defended by a gorget of leather bristling with the fangs and claws of +tigers in alternating rows. A robe of scarlet cloth large enough to +envelop the man was thrown behind the massive shoulders. The body, black +as polished ebony, was naked to the waist, whence a white skirt fell to +the knees. The arms and legs were adorned with bracelets and anklets of +ivory, while the straps of the heavy sandals were bordered with +snail-shells. On the left arm he bore a round shield of rhinoceros hide +embossed in brass; in the right hand, a pointless lance. Towering high +above the heads of the crowd which opened before him with alacrity, the +admiration received by the Prince's ally and friend was but a +well-deserved tribute. + +"A tiger-hunter!" said one, to a friend at his elbow. + +"I should call him king of the tiger-hunters," the friend replied. + +"Only a Prince of India would carry such a pensioner with him," another +remarked. + +"What a man!" said a woman, half afraid. + +"An infidel, no doubt," was the answer. + +"It is not a Christian wish, I know," the first added; "still I should +like to see him face a lion in the Cynegion." + +"Ay, him they call Tamerlane, because he is shorn of two toes." + +The Prince, casting a glance of scarce concealed contempt over the +throng, sighed, as he muttered, "If now I could meet the Emperor!" + +The exclamation was from his heart. + +We have seen the idea which lured him to Mecca, and brought him to +Constantinople. In the years since flown, it was held subordinate to his +love of Lael--subordinate merely. Latterly it had revived with much of +its original force, and he was now for the first time seriously scheming +for an interview with the Emperor. No doubt a formal request would have +secured the honor; but it was in his view better policy to be sought +than seek, and with all his wealth, there was nothing he could so well +afford to pay for success as time. In his study, he was continually +saying to himself: + +"It cannot be that the extravagances to which I am going will fail. He +will hear of me, or we may meet--then the invitation!--And then I will +propose the Brotherhood--God help me! But it is for him to invite me. +Patience, O my soul!" + +Extravagances! + +The exclamation helps us to an understanding of the style he was +carrying before the public--the silvering on his own black velvet robe, +the jewels in Lael's coronet bursting with light, the gorgeous finish of +the sedans, the barbaric costuming of Nilo. They were not significant of +his taste. Except for what they might bring him, he did not care for +jewels. And as for Lael, he would have loved her for her name's sake, +and her honest, untarnished Jewish blood. Let us believe so at least +until we find otherwise. + +Nilo, by this time familiar with every quarter of the city, was told the +boat was in readiness for the party at a landing near the Grand Gate of +Blacherne; to make which, it being on the Golden Horn well up in the +northwest, he must turn the hill back of the Prince's residence, and +pursue one of the streets running parallel with the wall. Thither he +accordingly bent his steps, followed by the porters of the sedans, and +an increasing but respectful assemblage of curious citizens. + +Scarcely had the progress begun before the Prince, watching through his +front window, saw a man approach the side of Lael's chair, and peer into +it. His wit served him well and instantly. + +"'Tis he--the insolent!--Close up!" he cried, to his porters. + +The intruder at the sound of his voice looked at him once, then +disappeared in the throng. He was young, handsome, showily dressed, and +beyond question the person of whom Lael had complained. Though smarting +under the insult, and a suspicion, suddenly engendered, of a watch kept +over his house, the Prince concluded the stranger was of noble +connection, and that the warrant for his boldness was referable to +family influence. While his subtle mind was pothering with schemes of +detection, the affair presented itself in another light, and he laughed +at his own dulness. + +"'Tis nothing," he reflected--"nothing! The boy is in love, and allowing +his passion to make a fool of him. I have only to see my pretty +Gul-Bahar does not return the madness." + +Deciding then to make inquiry and satisfy himself who the young admirer +was, he dismissed the subject. + +Presently Nilo turned into a street of some width compared with the +generality of thoroughfares in the city. On the left hand were shops and +pretentious houses; on the right, towered the harbor wall. The people +attending the procession increased instead of dispersing; but as they +continued in good nature, they gave him no concern. Their comments +amongst themselves were about equally divided between Nilo and Lael. + +"Beautiful, beautiful!" one said, catching sight of the latter through +the windows of the chair. + +"Who is she?" + +"A daughter of a Prince of India." + +"And the Prince--Who is he?" + +"Ask some one who knows. There he is in the second chair." + +Once a woman went close to Lael, snatched a look, and stepped back, with +clasped hands, crying: + +"'Tis the Sweet Mother herself!" + +Without other incident, the procession passed the gate of St. Peter, and +was nearing that of Blacherne, when a flourish of trumpets announced a +counter pageant coming down the street from the opposite direction. A +man near by shouted: + +"The Emperor! The Emperor!" + +Another seconded him. + +"Long live the good Constantine!" + +The words were hardly uttered before they were answered: + +"The _azymite_! The _azymite_! Down with the betrayer of Christ!" + +In less than a minute the Prince was being borne along in the midst of +two howling factions. Scarcely knowing whether to take Lael into a house +or go on, he tried to communicate with Nilo; but in unconsciousness of +the tempest so suddenly risen, that grandson of a king marched on in +unremitted stateliness, until directly a band of trumpeters in +magnificent livery confronted him. + +The astonishment was mutual. Nilo halted, dropping his headless lance in +defence; the trumpeters quit blowing, and, opening order, filed hastily +by him, their faces saying with a distinctness words could not have +helped: + +"A son of Satan! Beware!" + +The chairs were also brought to a halt. + +Thereupon the people, now a mob apparently ready to tear each other into +bloody ribbons, refused to give way to the trumpeters. Nilo finally +comprehending the situation returned to Lael just as the Prince on foot +came up to her. She was pale and trembling with fear. + +The deadlock between the musicians and the mob was brought to an end by +the appearance of a detachment of the Imperial guard. A mounted officer, +javelin in hand, rode up and shouted: + +"The Emperor! Make way for the Emperor!" + +While he was speaking, the horsemen behind him came on steadily. There +was irresistible persuasion in the glitter of their spears; besides it +was matter of universal knowledge that the steel panoply of each rider +concealed a mercenary foreigner who was never so happy as when riding +over a Greek. One yell louder and more defiant than any yet +uttered--"The azymite, the azymite!"--and the mob broke and fled. At a +signal from the officer, the guards, as they came on, opened right and +left of the chairs, and passed them with scarce notice. + +A few words from the Prince to Lael dispelled her fears. + +"It is an every-day affair," he said, lightly; "an amusement of the +people, the Roman factionists against the Greek. Nobody is ever hurt, +except in howling he opens his jaws too wide." + +The levity was affected, but mastering the irritation he really felt, +the Prince was about to make acknowledgment to the officer for his +timely intervention, when another personage appeared, claiming his +attention. Indeed his heart began beating unusually fast, and in spite +of himself his face flushed--he knew he had his wish--the meeting with +Constantine was come! + +The last Emperor of the Byzantines sat in an open chair borne upon the +shoulders of eight carriers in striking livery--a handsome man in his +forty-sixth year, though apparently not more than thirty-eight or forty. +His costume was that of Basileus, which was a religious dignity. + +A close-fitting cap of red velvet covered his head, with a knot of +purple silk triply divided on the top; while a pliable circlet of golden +scales, clearing the brows, held the cap securely in place. On each +scale a ruby of great size sparkled in solitaire setting. The circlet +was further provided with four strings of pearls, two by each ear, +dangling well down below in front of the shoulders. A loose drab robe or +gown, drawn close at the waist, clothed him, neck, arms, body and nether +limbs, answering excellently as ground for a cope the color of the cap, +divided before and behind into embroidered squares defined by rows of +pearls. Boots of purple leather, also embroidered, gave finish to the +costume. Instead of sword or truncheon, he carried a plain ivory +crucifix. The people staring at him from the doors and windows knew he +was going to Sancta Sophia intent on some religious service. + +While the Emperor was thus borne down upon the Prince, his dark eyes, +kindly looking, glanced from Nilo to Lael, and finally came to rest full +upon the face of the master. The officer returned to him. A few paces +off, the imperial chair stopped, and a conversation ensued, during which +a number of high officials who were of the sovereign's suite on foot +closed up in position to separate their Lord from a mounted rear guard. + +The Prince of India kept his mind perfectly. Having exchanged glances +with the Emperor, he was satisfied an impression was made strong enough +to pique curiosity, and at the same time fix him in the royal memory. +With a quick sense of the proprieties, he thereupon addressed himself to +moving his carriages to the left, that when the conference with the +officers was concluded the Emperor might have the right of way with the +least possible obstruction. + +Presently the Acolyte--such the officer proved to be--approached the +Prince. + +"His Imperial Majesty," he said, courteously, "would be pleased could I +inform him the name and title of the stranger whose progress he has been +so unfortunate as to interrupt." + +The Prince answered with dignity: + +"I thank you, noble sir, for the fair terms in which you couch the +inquiry, not less than the rescue I and my daughter owe you from the +mob." + +The Acolyte bowed. + +"And not to keep his Imperial Majesty waiting," the Prince continued, +"return him the compliments of a Prince of India, at present a resident +of this royal and ancient capital. Say also it will give me happiness +far beyond the power of words when I am permitted to salute him, and +render the veneration and court to which his character and place amongst +the rulers of the earth entitle him." + +At the conclusion of the complex, though courtierly reply, the speaker +walked two steps forward, faced the Emperor, and touched the ground with +his palms, and rising, carried them to his forehead. + +The answer duly delivered, the Emperor responded to the salaam with a +bow and another message. + +"His Imperial Majesty," the Acolyte said, "is pleased at meeting the +Prince of India. He was not aware he had a guest of such distinction in +his capital. He desires to know the place of residence of his noble +friend, that he may communicate with him, and make amends for the +hindrance which has overtaken him to-day." + +The Prince gave his address, and the interview ended. + +It is of course the reader's privilege to pass judgment upon the +incidents of this rencounter; at least one of the parties to it was +greatly pleased, for he knew the coveted invitation would speedily +follow. + +While the Emperor was borne past, Lael received his notice more +especially than her guardian; when they were out of hearing, he called +the Acolyte to his side. + +"Didst thou observe the young person yonder?" he asked. + +"The coronet she wears certifies the Prince of India to be vastly rich," +the other answered. + +"Yes, the Princes of India, if we may judge by common report, are all +rich; wherefore I thought not of that, but rather of the beauty of his +daughter. She reminded me of the Madonna on the Panagia in the transept +of our church at Blacherne." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RACING WITH A STORM + + +One who has seen the boats in which fishermen now work the eddies and +still waters of the Bosphorus will not require a description of the +vessel the Prince and Lael stepped into when they arrived at the Grand +Gate of Blacherne. He need only be told that instead of being +pitch-black outside and in, it was white, except the gunwale which was +freshly gilt. The untravelled reader, however, must imagine a long +narrow craft, upturned at both ends, graceful in every line, and +constructed for speed and beauty. Well aft there was a box without +cover, luxuriously cushioned, lined with chocolate velvet, and wide +enough to seat two persons comfortably; behind it, a decked space for a +servant, pilot or guard. This arrangement left all forward for the +rowers, each handling two oars. + +Ten rowers, trained, stout, and clad in white headkerchiefs, shirts and +trousers of the same hue, and Greek jackets of brilliant scarlet, +profusely figured over with yellow braid, sat stolidly, blades in hand +and ready dipped, when the passengers took their places, the Prince and +Lael in the box, and Nilo behind them as guard. The vessel was too light +to permit a ceremonious reception. + +In front of the party, on the northern shore of the famous harbor, were +the heights of Pera. The ravines and grass-green benches into which they +were broken, with here and there a garden hut enclosed in a patch of +filbert bushes--for Pera was not then the city it now is--were of no +interest to the Prince; dropping his eyes to the water, they took in a +medley of shipping, then involuntarily turned to the cold gray face of +the wall he was leaving. And while seeing in vivid recollection the +benignant countenance of Constantine bent upon him from the chair in the +street, he thought of the horoscope he had spent the night in taking and +the forenoon in calculating. With a darkened brow, he gave the word, and +the boat was pushed off and presently seeking the broader channel of the +Bosphorus. + +The day was delightful. A breeze danced merrily over the surface of the +water. Soft white summer clouds hung so sleepily in the southwest they +scarce suggested motion. Seeing the color deepen in Lael's cheeks, and +listening to her questions, he surrendered himself to the pleasures of +the situation, not the least being the admiration she attracted. + +By ships at anchor, and through lesser craft of every variety they sped, +followed by exclamations frequently outspoken: + +"Who is she? Who can she be?" + +Thus pursued, they flew past the gate of St. Peter, turned the point of +Galata, and left the Fish Market port behind; proceeding then in +parallelism with the north shore, they glided under the great round +tower so tall and up so far overhead it seemed a part of the sky. Off +Tophane, they were in the Bosphorus, with Scutari at their right, and +Point Serail at their backs. + +Viewed from the harbor on the sea, the old historic Point leaves upon +the well informed an impression that in a day long gone, yielding to a +spasm of justice, Asia cast it off into the waves. Its beauty is +Circean. Almost from the beginning it has been the chosen place in which +men ran rounds gay and grave, virtuous and wanton, foolish and +philosophic, brave and cowardly--where love, hate, jealousy, avarice, +ambition and envy have delighted to burn their lights before +Heaven--where, possibly with one exception, Providence has more +frequently come nearer lifting its veil than in any other spot of earth. + +Again and again, the Prince, loth to quit the view, turned and refilled +his eyes with Sancta Sophia, of which, from his position, the wall at +the water's edge, the lesser churches of the Virgin Hodegetria and St. +Irene, and the topmost sections far extending of the palaces of Bucoleon +seemed but foundations. The edifice, as he saw it then, depended on +itself for effect, the Turk having not yet, in sign of Mohammedan +conversion, broken the line of its marvellous dome with minarets. At +length he set about telling stories of the Point. + +Off the site of the present palace of Dolma-Batchi he told of Euphrosyne, +the daughter of the Empress Irene; and seeing how the sorrowful fortune +of the beautiful child engaged Lael's sympathies, he became interested as +a narrator, and failed to notice the unusual warmth tempering the air +about Tchiragan. Neither did he observe that the northern sky, before so +clear and blue, was whitening with haze. + +To avoid the current running past Arnoot-Kouy, the rowers crossed to the +Asiatic side under the promontory of Candilli. + +Other boats thronged the charming expanse; but as most of them were of a +humbler class sporting one rower, the Prince's, with its liveried ten, +was a surpassing attraction. Sometimes the strangers, to gratify their +curiosity, drew quite near, but always without affronting him; knowing +the homage was to Lael, he was happy when it was effusively rendered. + +His progress was most satisfactory until he rounded Candilli. Then a +flock of small boats came down upon him pell-mell, the rowers pulling +their uttermost, the passengers in panic. + +The urgency impelling them was equally recognized by the ships and +larger vessels out in the channel. Anchors were going down, sails +furling, and oars drawing in. Above them, moreover, much beyond their +usual levels of flight troops of gulls were circling on rapid wings +screaming excitedly. + +The Prince had reached the part of greatest interest in the story he was +telling--how the cruel and remorseless Emperor Michel, determined to wed +the innocent and helpless Euphrosyne, shamelessly cheated the Church and +cajoled the Senate--when Nilo touched his shoulder, and awoke him to the +situation. A glance over the water--another at the sky--and he +comprehended danger of some kind was impending. At the same moment Lael +commenced shivering and complaining of cold. The air had undergone a +sudden change. Presently Nilo's red cloak was sheltering her. + +The boat was in position to bring everything into view, and he spoke to +the rowers: + +"A storm is rising." + +They ceased work, and looked over their shoulders, each for himself. + +"A blow from the sea, and it comes fast. What we shall do is for my Lord +to say," one of them returned. + +The Prince grew anxious for Lael. What was done must be for her--he had +no thought else. + +A cloud was forming over the whole northeastern quarter of the sky, +along the horizon black, overhead a vast gray wave, in its heart +copper-hued, seething, interworking, now a distended sail, now a sail +bursted; and the wind could he heard whipping the shreds into fleece, +and whirling them a confusion of vaporous banners. Yet glassy, the water +reflected the tint of the cloud. The hush holding it was like the drawn +breath of a victim waiting the first turn of the torturous wheel. + +The Asiatic shore offered the Prince a long stretch, and he persisted in +coasting it until the donjon of the White Castle--that terror to +Christians--arrested his eye. There were houses much nearer, some of +them actually overhanging the water; but the donjon seemed specially +inviting; at all events, he coolly reflected, if the Governor of the +Castle denied him refuge, the little river near by known as the Sweet +Waters of Asia would receive him, and getting under its bank, he might +hope to escape the fury of the wind and waves. He shouted resolutely: + +"To the White Castle! Make it before the wind strikes, my men, and I +will double your hire." + +"We may make it," the rower answered, somewhat sullenly, "but"-- + +"What?" asked the Prince. + +"The devil has his lodgings there. Many men have gone into its accursed +gates on errands of peace, and never been heard of again." + +The Prince laughed. + +"We lose time--forward! If there be a fiend in the Castle, I promise you +he is not waiting for us." + +The twenty oars fell as one, and the boat jumped like a steed under a +stab of the spur. + +Thus boldly the race with the storm was begun. The judgment of the +challenger, assuming the Prince to be such, may be questioned. The river +was the goal. + +Could he reach it before the wind descended in dangerous force?--That +was the very point of contest. + +The chances, it is to be remembered next, were not of a kind to admit +weighing with any approach to certainty; it was difficult even to +marshal them for consideration. The distance was somewhat less than +three-quarters of a mile; on the other part, the competing cloud was +wrestling with the mountain height of Alem Daghy, about four miles away. +The dead calm was an advantage; unfortunately it was more than offset by +the velocity of the current which, though not so strong by the littoral +of Candilli as under the opposite bluffs of Roumeli-Hissar, was still a +serious opposing force. The boatmen were skilful, and could be relied +upon to pull loyally; for, passing the reward offered in the event of +their winning, the dangers of failure were to them alike. Treating the +contest as a race, with the storm and the boat as competitors, the +Prince was not without chances of success. + +But whatever the outcome of the venture, Lael would be put to discomfort. +His care of her was so habitually marked by tender solicitude one cannot +avoid wondering at him now. + +After all he may have judged the affair more closely than at first +appears. The sides of the boat were low, but danger from that cause +might be obviated by the skill of the rowers; and then Alem Daghy was +not a trifling obstacle in the path of the gale. It might be trusted to +hold the cloud awhile; after which a time would be required by the wind +to travel the miles intervening. + +Certainly it had been more prudent to make the shore, and seek refuge in +one of the houses there. But the retort of the spirited Jew of that day, +as in this, was a contemptuous refusal of assistance, and the degree to +which this son of Israel was governed by the eternal resentment can be +best appreciated by recalling the number of his days on earth. + +At the first response to the vigorous pull of the oarsmen, Lael drew the +red cloak over her face, and laid her head against the Prince. He put +his arm around her, and seeing nothing and saying nothing, she trusted +in him. + +The rowers, pulling with strength from the start, gradually quickened +the stroke, and were presently in perfect harmony of action. A short +sough accompanied each dip of the blades; an expiration, like that of +the woodman striking a blow with his axe, announced the movement +completed. The cords of their brawny necks played fast and free; the +perspiration ran down their faces like rain upon glass. Their teeth +clinched. They turned neither right nor left; but with their straining +eyes fixed upon him, by his looks they judged both their own well-doing +and the progress of their competitor. + +Seeing the boat pointed directly toward the Castle, the Prince watched +the cloud. Occasionally he commended the rowers. + +"Well done, my men!--Hold to that, and we will win!" + +The unusual brightness of his eyes alone betrayed excitement. Once he +looked over the yet quiet upper field of water. His was the only vessel +in motion. Even the great ships were lying to. No--there was another +small boat like his own coming down along the Asiatic shore as if to +meet him. Its position appeared about as far above the mouth of the +river as his was below it; and its three or five rowers were plainly +doing their best. With grim pleasure, he accepted the stranger as +another competitor in the race. + +The friendly heights of Alem, seen from the Bosphorus, are one great +forest always beautifully green. Even as the Prince looked at them, they +lost color, as if a hand out of the cloud had suddenly dropped a curtain +of white gauze over them. He glanced back over the course, then forward. +The donjon was showing the loopholes that pitted its southern face. +Excellent as the speed had been, more was required. Half the distance +remained to be overcome--and the enemy not four miles away. + +"Faster, men!" he called out. "The gust has broken from the mountain. I +hear its roaring." + +They turned involuntarily, and with a look measured the space yet to be +covered, the distance of the foe, and the rate at which he was coming. +Nor less did they measure the danger. They too heard its warning, the +muffled roar as of rocks and trees snatched up and grinding to atoms in +the inner coils of the cloud. + +"It is not a blow," one said, speaking quick, "but a"-- + +"Storm." + +The word was the Prince's. + +"Yes, my Lord." + +Just then the water by the boat was rippled by a breath, purring, +timorous, but icy. + +The effect on the oarsmen was stronger than any word from the master +could have been. They finished a pull long and united; then while the +oars swung forward taking reach for another, they all arose to their +feet, paused a moment, dipped the blades deeper, gave vent to a cry so +continuous it sounded like a wail, and at the same time sunk back into +their seats, pulling as they fell. This was their ultimate exertion. A +jet of water spurted from the foot of the sharp bow, and the bubbles and +oar eddies flew behind indistinguishably. + +"Well done!" said the Prince, his eyes glowing. + +Thenceforward the men continued to rise at the end of a stroke, and fall +as they commenced delivery of another. Their action was quick, steady, +machine-like; they gripped the water deep, and made no slips; with a +thought of the exhilaration an eagle must feel when swooping from his +eyrie, the Prince looked at the cloud defiantly as a challenger might. +Each moment the donjon loomed up more plainly. He saw now, not merely +the windows and loopholes, but the joinery of the stones in their +courses. Suddenly he beheld another wonder--an army of men mounted and +galloping along the river bank toward the Castle. + +The array stretched back into the woods. In its van were two flags borne +side by side, one green, the other red. Both were surrounded by a troop +in bright armor. No need for him to ask to whom they belonged. They told +him of Mecca and Mahomet--on the red, he doubted not seeing the old +Ottomanic symbols, in their meaning poetic, in their simplicity +beautiful as any ever appropriated for martial purposes. The riders were +Turks. But why the green flag? Where it went somebody more than the +chief of a sanjak, more than the governor of a castle, or even a +province, led the way. + +The number trailing after the flags was scarcely less mysterious. They +were too many to be of the garrison; and then the battlements of the +Castle were lined with men also under arms. Not daring to speak of this +new apparition lest his oarsmen might take alarm, the Prince smiled, +thinking of another party to the race--a fourth competitor. + +He sought the opposing boat next. It had made good time. There were five +oarsmen in it; and, like his own, they were rising and falling with each +stroke. In the passengers' place, he could make out two persons whom he +took to be women. + +A roll of thunder from the cloud startled the crew. Clear, angry, +majestic, it filled the mighty gorge of the Bosphorus. Under the sound +the water seemed to shrink away. Lael looked out from her hiding, but as +quickly drew back, crowding closer to the Prince. To calm her he said, +lightly, + +"Fear nothing, O my Gul Bahar! A pretty race we are having with the +cloud yonder; we are winning, and it is not pleased. There is no +danger." + +She answered by doubling the folds of the gown about her head. + +Steadily, lithely, and with never an error the rowers drove through the +waves--steadily, and in exact time, their cry arose cadencing each +stroke. They did their part truly. Well might the master cry them, +"Good, good." But all the while the wind was tugging mightily at its +cloudy car; every instant the rattle of its wheels sounded nearer. The +trees on the hills behind the Castle were bending and bowing; and not +merely around the boat, but far as could be seen the surface of the +ancient channel was a-shirr and a-shatter under beating of advance +gusts. + +And now the mouth of the Sweet Waters, shallowed by a wide extended +osier bank, came into view; and the Castle was visible from base to +upper merlon, the donjon, in relief against the blackened sky, rising +more ghostly than ever. And right at hand were the flags, and the riders +galloping with them. And there, coming bravely in, was the competing +boat. + +Over toward Roumeli-Hissar the sea birds congregated in noisy flocks, +alarmed at the long line of foam the wind was whisking down the current. +Behind the foam, the world seemed dissolving into spray. + +Then the boats were seen from the Castle, and a company of soldiers ran +out and down the bank. A noise like the rushing of a river sounded +directly overhead. The wind struck the Castle, and in the thick of the +mists and flying leaves hurled at it, the donjon disappeared. + +"We win, we win, my men!" the Prince shouted. "Courage--good +spirit--brave work--treble wages! Wine and wassail to-morrow!" + +The boat, with the last word, shot into the little river, and up to the +landing of the Castle just as the baffled wind burst over the refuge. +And simultaneously the van of the army galloped under the walls and the +competing boat arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE WHITE CASTLE + + +The landing was in possession of dark-faced, heavily bearded men, with +white turbans, baggy trousers, gray and gathered at the ankles, and arms +of every kind, bows, javelins, and cimeters. + +The Prince, stepping from his boat, recognized them as Turkish soldiers. +He had hardly time to make the inspection, brief as it was, before an +officer, distinguished by a turban, kettle-shaped and elaborately +infolded, approached him. + +"You will go with me to the Castle," he said. + +The official's tone and manner were imperative. Suppressing his +displeasure, the Prince replied, with dignity: + +"The Governor is courteous. Return to him with my thanks, and say that +when I decided to come on in the face of the storm, I made no doubt of +his giving me shelter until it would be safe to resume my journey. I +fear, however, his accommodations will be overtaxed; and since the river +is protected from the wind, it would be more agreeable if he would +permit me to remain here." + +The response betrayed no improvement in manner: + +"My order is to bring you to the Castle." + +Some of the boatmen at this raised their eyes and hands toward heaven; +others crossed themselves, and, like men taking leave of hope, cried +out, "O Holy Mother of God!" + +Yet the Prince restrained himself. He saw contention would be useless, +and said, to quiet the rowers: "I will go with you. The Governor will be +reasonable. We are unfortunates blown to his hands by a tempest, and to +make us prisoners under such circumstances would be an abuse of one of +the first and most sacred laws of the Prophet. The order did not +comprehend my men; they may remain here." + +Lael heard all this, her face white with fear. + +The conversation was in the Greek tongue. At mention of the law, the +Turk cast a contemptuous look at the Prince, much as to say, Dog of an +unbeliever, what dost thou with a saying of the Prophet? Then dropping +his eyes to Lael and the boatmen, he answered in disdain of argument or +explanation: + +"You--they--all must go." + +With that, he turned to the occupants of the other boat, and raising his +voice the better to be heard, for the howling of the wind was very +great, he called to them: + +"Come out." + +They were a woman in rich attire, but closely veiled, and a companion at +whom he gazed with astonishment. The costume of the latter perplexed +him; indeed, not until that person, in obedience to the order, erected +himself to his full stature upon the landing, was he assured of his sex. + +They were the Princess Irene and Sergius the monk. + +The conversation between them in the Homeric palace has only to be +recalled to account for their presence. Departing from Therapia at noon, +according to the custom of boatmen wishing to pass from the upper +Bosphorus, they had been carried obliquely across toward the Asiatic +shore where the current, because of its greater regularity, is supposed +to facilitate descent. When the storm began to fill the space above Alem +Daghy, they were in the usual course; and then the question that had +been put to the Prince of India was presented to the Princess Irene. +Would she land in Asia or recross to Europe? + +The general Greek distrust of the Turks belonged to her. From infancy +she had been horrified with stories of women prisoners in their hands. +She preferred making Roumeli-Hissar; but the boatmen protested it was +too late; they said the little river by the White Castle was open, and +they could reach it before the storm; and trusting in their better +judgment, she submitted to them. + +Sergius, on the landing, pushed the cowl back, and was about to speak, +but the wind caught his hair, tossing the long locks into tangle. Seeing +him thus in a manner blinded, the Princess took up the speech. Drawing +the veil aside, she addressed the officer: + +"Art thou the Governor of the Castle?" + +"No." + +"Are we to be held guests or prisoners?" + +"That is not for me to say." + +"Carry thou then a message to him who may be the Governor. Tell him I am +the Princess Irene, by birth near akin to Constantine, Emperor of the +Greeks and Romans; that, admitting this soil is lawfully the property of +his master the Sultan, I have not invaded it, but am here in search of +temporary refuge. Tell him if I go to his Castle a prisoner, he must +answer for the trespass to my royal kinsman, who will not fail to demand +reparation; on the other hand, if I become his guest, it must be upon +condition that I shall be free to depart as I came, with my friend and +my people, the instant the wind and waves subside. Yes, and the further +condition, that he wait upon me as becomes my station, and personally +offer such hospitality as his Castle affords. I shall receive his reply +here." + +The officer, uncouth though he was, listened with astonishment not in +the least disguised; and it was not merely the speech which impressed +him, nor yet the spirit with which it was given; the spell was in the +unveiled face. Never in his best dream of the perfected Moslem Paradise +had he seen loveliness to compare with it. He stood staring at her. + +"Go," she repeated. "There will be rain presently." + +"Who am I to say thou art?" he asked. + +"The Princess Irene, kinswoman of the Emperor Constantine." + +The officer made a low salaam to her, and walked hurriedly off to the +Castle. + +His soldiers stood in respectful remove from the prisoners--such the +refugees must for the present be considered--leaving them grouped in +close vicinity, the Prince and the monk ashore, the Princess and Lael +seated in their boats. + +Calamity is a rough master of ceremonies; it does not take its victims +by the hand, and name them in words, but bids them look to each other +for help. And that was precisely what the two parties now did. + +Unsophisticated, and backward through inexperience, Sergius was +nevertheless conscious of the embarrassing plight of the Princess. He +had also a man's quick sense of the uselessness of resistance, except in +the way of protest. To measure the stranger's probable influence with +the Turks, he looked first at the Prince, and was not, it must be said, +rewarded with a return on which to found hope or encouragement. The +small, stoop-shouldered old man, with a great white beard, appeared +respectable and well-to-do in his black velvet cap and pelisse; his eyes +were very bright, and his cheeks hectic with resentment at the annoyance +he was undergoing; but that he could help out of the difficulty appeared +absurd. + +Having by this time rescued his hair from the wind, and secured it under +his cowl, he looked next at Lael. His first thought was of the unfitness +of her costume for an outing in a boat under the quietest of skies. A +glance at the Princess, however, allayed the criticism; while the display +of jewelry was less conspicuous, her habit was quite as rich and +unsubstantial. It dawned upon him then that custom had something to do +with the attire of Greek women thus upon the water. That moment Lael +glanced up at him, and he saw how childlike her face was, and lovely +despite the anxiety and fear with which it was overcast. He became +interested in her at once. + +The monk's judgment of the little old man was unjust. That master of +subtlety had in mind run forward of the situation, and was already +providing for its consequences. + +He shared the surprise of the Turk when the Princess raised her veil. +Overhearing then her message to the Governor, delivered in a manner +calm, self-possessed, courageous, dignified, and withal adroit, he +resolved to place Lael under her protection. + +"Princess," he said, doffing his cap unmindful of the wind, and advancing +to the side of her boat, "I crave audience of you, and in excuse for my +unceremoniousness, plead community in misfortune, and a desire to make my +daughter here safe as can be." + +She surveyed him from head to foot; then turned her eyes toward Lael, +sight of whom speedily exorcised the suspicion which for the instant +held her hesitant. + +"I acknowledge the obligation imposed by the situation." she replied; +"and being a Christian as well as a woman, I cannot without reason +justifiable in sight of Heaven deny the help you ask. But, good sir, +first tell me your name and country." + +"I am a Prince of India exercising a traveller's privilege of sojourning +in the imperial city." + +"The answer is well given; and if hereafter you return to this interview, +O Prince, I beg you will not lay my inquiry to common curiosity." + +"Fear not," the Prince answered; "for I learned long ago that in the +laws prescribed for right doing prudence is a primary virtue; and making +present application of the principle, I suggest, if it please you to +continue a discourse which must be necessarily brief, that we do so in +some other tongue than Greek." + +"Be it in Latin then," she said, with a quick glance at the soldiers, +and observing his bow of acquiescence, continued, "Thy reverend beard, O +Prince, and respectable appearance, are warranties of a wisdom greater +than I can ever attain; wherefore pray tell me how I, a feeble woman, +who may not be able to release herself from these robbers, remorseless +from religious prejudice, can be of assistance to thy daughter, now my +younger sister in affliction." + +She accompanied the speech with a look at Lael so kind and tender it +could not be misinterpreted. + +"Most fair and gentle Princess, I will straight to the matter. Out on +the water, midway this and the point yonder, when too late for me to +change direction or stay my rowers, I saw a body of horsemen, whom I +judged to be soldiers, moving hurriedly down the river bank toward the +Castle. A band richly caparisoned, carrying two flags, one green, the +other red, moved at their head. The former, you may know, has a +religious signification, and is seldom seen in the field except a person +of high rank be present. It is my opinion, therefore, that our arrest +has some reference to the arrival of such a personage. In confirmation +you may yet hear the musical flourish in his honor." + +"I hear drums and trumpets," she replied, "and admit the surmise an +ingenious accounting for an act otherwise unaccountable." + +"Nay, Princess, with respect to thyself at least, call it a deed +intolerable, and loud with provocation." + +"From your speech, O Prince, I infer familiarity with these faithless +barbarians. Perhaps you can make your knowledge of them so far +serviceable as to tell me the great man's name." + +"Yes, I have had somewhat to do with Turks; yet I cannot venture the +name, rank or purpose of the newcomer. Pursuing the argument, however, +if my conjecture be true, then the message borne the Governor, though +spirited, and most happily accordant with your high degree, will not +accomplish your release, simply because the reason of the capture in the +first place must remain a reason for detaining you in the next. In +brief, you may anticipate rejection of the protest." + +"What, think you they will hold me prisoner?" + +"They are crafty." + +"They dare not!" and the Princess' cheek reddened with indignation. "My +kinsman is not powerless--and even the great Amurath"-- + +"Forgive me, I pray; but there was never mantle to cover so many crimes +as the conveniences kings call 'reasons of state.'" + +She looked vaguely up the river which the tempest was covering with +promiscuous air-blown drifting; but recovering, she said: "It is for me +to pray pardon, Prince. I detain you." + +"Not at all," he answered. "I have to remark next, if my conjecture +prove correct, a lady of imperial rank might find herself ill at ease +and solitary in a hold like this Castle, which, speaking by report, is +now kept to serve some design of war to come more particularly than +domestic or social life." + +The imagination of the Princess caught the idea eagerly, and, becoming +active, presented a picture of a Moslem lair without women or apartments +for women. Her mind filled with alarm. + +"Oh, that I could recall the message!" she exclaimed. "I should not have +tempted the Governor by offering to become his guest upon any +condition." + +"Nay, do not accuse yourself. The decision was brave and excellent in +every view," he said, perceiving his purpose in such fair way. "For +see--the storm increases in strength; yonder"--he pointed toward Alem +Daghy--"the rain comes. Not by thy choice, O Princess, but the will of +God, thou art here!" + +He spoke impressively, and she bent her head, and crossed herself twice. + +"A sad plight truly," he continued. "Fortunately it may be in a measure +relieved. Here is my daughter, Lael by name. The years have scarcely +outrun her childhood. More at mercy than thyself, because without rank +to make the oppressor careful, or an imperial kinsman to revenge a wrong +done her, she is subject to whatever threatens you--a cell in this +infidel stronghold, ruffians for attendants, discomforts to cast her +into fever, separation from me to keep her afraid. Why not suffer her to +go with you? She can serve as tirewoman or companion. In villany the +boldest often hesitate when two are to be overcome." + +The speech was effective. + +"O Prince, I have not words to express my gratitude. I am thy debtor. +Heaven may have brought this crisis, but it has not altogether deserted +me--And in good time! See--my messenger, with a following! Let thy +daughter come, and sit with me now--and do thou stand by to lend me of +thy wisdom in case appeal to it become necessary. Quick! Nay, Prince, +Sergius is young and strong. Permit him to bring the child to me." + +The monk made haste. Drawing the boat close to the shore, he gave Lael +his strong hand. Directly she was delivered to the Princess, and seated +beside her. + +"Now they may come!" + +Thus the Princess acknowledged the strength derivable from companionship. +The result was perceptible in her voice once more clear, and her face +actually sparkling with confidence and courage. + +Then, drawn together in one group, the refugees awaited the officer. + +"The Governor is coming," that worthy said, saluting the Princess. + +Looking toward the Castle, the expectants beheld a score or more men +issuing from the gate on foot. They were all in armor, and each +complemented the buckler on his arm with a lance from which a colored +pennon blew out straight and stiff as a panel. One walked in front +singly, and immediately the Prince and Princess fixed upon him as the +Governor, and kept him in eye curiously and anxiously. + +That instant rain in large drops began to fall. The Governor appeared to +notice the premonition, for looking at the angry sky he halted, and +beckoned to his followers, several of whom ran to him, received an +order, and then hastily returned to the Castle. He came on in quickened +gait. + +Here the Prince, with his greater experience, noticed a point which +escaped his associates; and that was the extraordinary homage paid the +stranger. + +At the landing the officer and soldiers would have prostrated themselves, +but with an imperious gesture, he declined the salutation. + +The observers, it may be well believed, viewed the man afar with +interest; when near, they scanned him as persons under arraignment study +the judge, that from his appearance they may glean something of his +disposition. He was above the average height of men, slender, and in +armor--the armor of the East, adapted in every point to climate and +light service. A cope or hood, intricately woven of delicate steel wire, +and close enough to refuse an arrow or the point of a dagger, defended +head, throat, neck, and shoulders, while open at the face; a coat, of +the same artistic mail, beginning under the hood, followed closely the +contour of the body, terminating just above the knees as a skirt. Amongst +Teutonic and English knights, on account of its comparative lightness, it +would have been distinguished from an old-fashioned hauberk, and called +_haubergeon_. A sleeveless _surcoat_ of velvet, plain green in color, +overlaid the mail without a crease or wrinkle, except at the edge of the +skirt. _Chausses_, or leggins, also of steel, clothed the nether limbs, +ending in shoes of thin lateral scales sharply pointed at the toes. A +slight convexity on top, and the bright gold-gilt band by which, with +regular interlacement, the cope was attached, gave the cap surmounting +the head a likeness to a crown. + +In style this armor was common. The preference Eastern cavaliers showed +it may have been due in part at least to the fact that when turned out +by a master armorer, after years of painstaking, it left the wearer his +natural graces of person. Such certainly was the case here. + +The further equipment of the man admits easy imagining. There were the +gauntlets of steel, articulated for the fingers and thumbs; a broad +flexible belt of burnished gold scales, intended for the cimeter, fell +from the waist diagonally to the left hip; light spurs graced the heels; +a dagger, sparkling with jewels, was his sole weapon, and it served +principally to denote the peacefulness of his errand. As there was +nothing about him to rattle or clank his steps were noiseless, and his +movements agile and easy. + +These martial points were naturally of chief attraction to the Prince of +India, whose vast acquaintanceship with heroes and famous warriors made +comparison a habit. On her side, the Princess, to whom accoutrement and +manner were mere accessories, pleasing or otherwise, and subordinate, +sought the stranger's face. She saw brown eyes, not very large, but +exceedingly bright, quick, sharp, flying from object to object with +flashes of bold inquiry, and quitting them as instantly; a round forehead +on brows high-arched; a nose with the curvature of a Roman's; mouth +deep-cornered, full-lipped, and somewhat imperfectly mustached and +bearded; clear, though sunburned complexion--in brief, a countenance +haughty, handsome, refined, imperious, telling in every line of +exceptional birth, royal usages, ambition, courage, passion, and +confidence. Most amazing, however, the stranger appeared yet a youth. +Surprised, hardly knowing whether to be pleased or alarmed, yet +attracted, she kept the face in steady gaze. + +Halting when a few steps from the group, the stranger looked at them as +if seeking one in especial. + +"Have a care, O Princess! This is not the Governor, but he of whom I +spoke--the great man." + +The warning was from the Prince of India and in Latin. As if to thank +him for a service done--possibly for identifying the person he sought-- +the subject of the warning slightly bowed to him, then dropped his eyes +to the Princess. A light blown out does not vanish more instantly than +his expression changed. Wonder--incredulity--astonishment--admiration +chased each other over his face in succession. Calling them emotions, +each declared itself with absolute distinctness, and the one last to come +was most decided and enduring. Thus he met her gaze, and so ardent, +intense and continuous was his, that she reddened cheek and forehead, and +drew down the veil; but not, it should be understood, resentfully. + +The disappearance of the countenance, in effect like the sudden +extinguishment of a splendor, aroused him. Advancing a step, he said to +her, with lowered head and perceptible embarrassment: + +"I come to offer hospitality to the kinswoman of the Emperor Constantine. +The storm shows no sign of abatement, and until it does, my Castle yonder +is at her order. While not sumptuous in appointment as her own palace, +fortunately there are comfortable apartments in it where she can rest +securely and with reserve. The invitation I presume to make in the name +of my most exalted master Sultan Amurath, who takes delight in the amity +existing between him and the Lord of Byzantium. To lay all fear, to +dispel hesitation, in his name again, together with such earnest of good +faith as lies in an appeal to the most holy Prophet of God, I swear the +Princess Irene shall be safe from interruption while in the Castle, and +free to depart from it at her pleasure. If she chooses, this tender of +courtesy may, by agreement, here in the presence of these witnesses, be +taken as an affair of state. I await her answer." + +The Prince of India heard the speech more astonished by the +unexceptional Latin in which it was couched than the propriety of the +matter or the grace of its delivery, though, he was constrained to +admit, both were very great. He also understood the meaning of the look +the stranger had given him at the conclusion of his warning to the +Princess, and to conceal his vexation, he turned to her. + +That moment two covered chairs, brought from the Castle, were set down +near by, and the rain began to fall in earnest. + +"See," said the Governor, "the evidence of my care for the comfort of +the kinswoman of the most noble Emperor Constantine. I feared it would +rain before I could present myself to her; nor that alone, fair +Princess--the chair must convict me of a wholesome dread of accusation +in Constantinople; for what worse could be said than that I, a faithful +Moslem, to whom hospitality is an ordination of religion, refused to +open my gates to women in distress because they were Christians. Most +noble and fair lady, behold how much I should esteem acceptance of my +invitation!" + +Irene looked at the Prince of India, and seeing assent in his face, +answered: + +"I will ask leave to report this courtesy as an affair of state that my +royal kinsman may acknowledge it becomingly." + +The Governor bowed very low while saying: + +"I myself should have suggested the course." + +"Also that my friends"--she pointed to the Prince of India, and the +monk--"and all the boatmen, be included in the safeguard." + +This was also agreed to; whereupon she arose, and for assistance offered +her hand to Sergius. Lael was next helped from the boat. Then, taking to +the chairs, the two were carried into the Castle, followed by the Prince +and the monk afoot. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ARABIAN STORY-TELLER + + +The reader will doubtless refer the circumstance to the jealousy which +is supposed to prompt the Faithful where women are required to pass +before men; yet the best evidence of the Governor's thoughtfulness for +his female guests met them at their approach to the Castle. There was +not a man visible except a sentinel on the battlement above the gate, +and he stood faced inwardly, making it impossible for him to see them +when they drew near. + +"Where are the horsemen of whom you spoke? And the garrison, where are +they?" Sergius asked the Prince. + +The latter shrugged his shoulders, as he answered: + +"They will return presently." + +Further proof of the same thoughtfulness was presented when the two +chairs were set down in the broad stone-paved passage receiving from the +front door. The sole occupant there was a man, tall as the monk, but +unnaturally slender; indeed, his legs resembled those of a lay figure, +so thin were they, while the residue of his person, although clad in a +burnoose gorgeously embroidered, would have reminded a modern of the +skeletons surgeons keep for office furniture. Besides blackness deep as +the unlighted corner of a cellar, he had no beard. The Prince of India +recognized him as one of the indispensables of an Eastern harem, and +made ready to obey him without dissent--only the extravagance of the +broidery on the burnoose confirmed him in the opinion that the chief +just arrived outranked the Governor. "This is the Kislar Aga of a +Prince," he said to himself. + +The eunuch, like one accustomed to the duty, superintended the placement +of the chairs; then, resting the point of a very bright crescent-shaped +sword on the floor, he said, in a voice more incisive than the ordinary +feminine tenor: + +"I will now conduct the ladies, and guard them. No one will presume to +follow." + +The Prince replied: "It is well; but they will be comforted if permitted +to abide together." + +He spoke with deference, and the black responded: + +"This is a fort, not a palace. There is but one chamber for the two." + +"And if I wish to communicate with them or they with me?" + +"_Bismillah!_" the eunuch replied. "They are not prisoners. I will +deliver what thou hast for them or they for thee." + +Thereupon the Princess and Lael stepped from the chairs, and went with +their guide. When they were gone, word sped through the Castle, and with +clamor and clangor, doors opened, and men poured forth in companies. And +again the Prince reflected: "Such discipline pertains to princes only." + +Now the office of eunuch was by no means an exclusive pagan institution; +time out of mind it had been a feature of Byzantine courts; and +Constantine Dragases, the last, and probably the most Christian of Greek +emperors, not only tolerated, but recognized it as honorable. With this +explanation the reader ought not to be surprised if the Princess Irene +accepted the guidance offered her without fear or even hesitation. +Doubtless she had been in similar keeping many times. + +Climbing a number of stairways, the eunuch brought his fair charges into +a part of the Castle where there were signs of refinement. The floors +were swept; the doors garnished with rugs; a delicate incense lingered +in the air; and to rescue the tenants, whoever they might be, from +darkness, lighted lamps swung from the ceiling, and were affixed to the +walls. Stopping finally before a portiere, he held it aside while +saying: + +"Enter here, and be at home. Upon the table yonder there is a little +bell; ring, and I will answer." + +And seeing Lael clinging closely to the Princess, he added: "Be not +afraid. Know ye rather that my master, when a child, heard the story of +Hatim, a warrior and poet of the Arabs, and ever since he has lived +believing hospitality a virtue without which there can be no godliness. +Do not forget the bell." + +They entered and were alone. + +To their amazement the room was more than comfortably furnished. What +may be termed a chandelier swung from the ceiling with many lamps ready +for lighting; under it there was a circular divan; then along the four +sides a divan extended continuously, with pillows at the corners in +heaps. Matting covered the floor, and here and there rugs of gay dyes +offered noticeable degrees of warmth and coloring. Large trays filled +the deep recesses of the windows, and though the smell of musk +overpowered the sweet outgivings of the roses blooming in them, they +sufficed to rouge the daylight somewhat scantily admitted. The roughness +and chill of the walls were provided against by woollen drapery +answering for arras. + +They went first to one of the windows, and peered out. Below them the +world was being deluged with fiercely driven rain. There was the +Bosphorus lashed into waves already whitened with foam. The European +shore was utterly curtained from sight. Gust after gust raved around the +Castle, whistling and moaning; and as she beheld the danger escaped, the +Princess thought of the saying of the Prince of India and repeated it in +a spirit of thanksgiving: "By the will of God thou art here." + +The reflection reconciled her to the situation, and led on till presently +the face and martial figure of the Governor reproduced themselves to her +fancy. How handsome he appeared--how courteous--how young!--scarcely +older than herself! How readily she had yielded to his invitation! She +blushed at the thought. + +Lael interrupted the revery, which was not without charm, and for that +reason would likely return, by bringing her a child's slipper found near +the central divan; and while examining the embroidery of many-colored +beads adorning it, she divined the truth. + +Isolated as the Castle was on a frontier of the Islamic world, and +crowded with men and material of war, yet the Governor was permitted his +harem, and this was its room in common. Here his wives, many or few, for +the time banished to some other quarters, were in the habit of meeting +for the enjoyment of the scant pleasantries afforded by life like +theirs. + +Again she was interrupted. The arras over one of the walls was pushed +aside, and two women came in with refreshments. A third followed with a +small table of Turkish pattern which she placed on the floor. The +viands, very light and simple, were set upon the table; then a fourth +one came bringing an armful of shawls and wraps. The last was a Greek, +and she explained that the Lord of the Castle, her master, was pleased +to make his guests comfortable. In the evening later a more substantial +repast would be served. Meantime she was appointed to wait on them. + +The guests, assured by the presence of other women in the Castle, +partook of the refection; after which the table was removed, and the +attendants for the present dismissed. Wrapping themselves then in +shawls, for they had not altogether escaped the rain, and were beginning +to feel the mists stealing into the chamber through the unglazed +windows, they took to the divan, piling the cushions about them +defensively. + +In this condition, comfortable, cosey, perfectly at rest, and with the +full enjoyment of the sensations common to every one in the midst of a +novel adventure, the Princess proceeded to draw from Lael an account of +herself; and the ingenuousness of the girl proved very charming, coupled +as it was with a most unexpected intelligence. The case was the not +unusual one of education wholly unsupported by experience. The real +marvel to the inquisitor was that she should have made discovery of two +such instances the same day, and been thrown into curious relation with +them. And as women always run parallels between persons who interest +them, the Princess was struck with the similarities between Sergius and +Lael. They were both young, both handsome, both unusually well informed +and at the same time singularly unsophisticated. In the old pagan style, +what did Fate mean by thus bringing them together? She determined to +keep watch of the event. + +And when, in course of her account, Lael spoke of the Prince of India, +Irene awoke at once to a mystery connected with him. Lacking the full +story, the narrator could give just enough of it to stimulate wonder. +Who was he? Where was Cipango? He was rich--learned--knew all the +sciences, all the languages--he had visited countries everywhere, even +the inhabited islands. To be sure, he had not appeared remarkable; +indeed, she gave him small attention when he was before her; she +recalled him chiefly by his eyes and velvet pelisse. While she was +mentally resolving to make better study of him, the eunuch appeared +under the portiere, and, coming forward, said, with a half salaam to the +Princess: + +"My master does not wish his guests to think themselves forgotten. The +kinswoman of the most august Emperor Constantine, he remembers, is +without employment to lighten the passage of a time which must be irksome +to her. He humbly prays her to accept his sympathy, and sends me to say +that a famous story-teller, going to the court of the Sultan at +Adrianople, arrived at the Castle to-day. Would the Princess be pleased +to hear him?" + +"In what tongue does he recite?" she asked. + +"Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew," was the reply. + +"Oh, a most wise man!" + +Irene consulted Lael, and thinking to offer her amusement, assented to +the suggestion, with thanks to the Governor. + +"Have the veils ready," the eunuch said, as he retreated backward to the +door. "The story-teller is a man, and he will come directly." + +The story-teller was ushered in. He walked to the divan where his +auditors sat, slowly, as if he knew himself under close observation, and +courted it. + +Now caravans were daily shows in Constantinople. The little bell of the +donkey leading its string of laden camels through the narrow streets +might be heard any hour, and the Shaykh in charge was almost invariably +an Arab. So the Princess had seen many of the desert-born, and was +familiar with their peculiarities; never, however, had chance brought a +nobler specimen of the race before her. As he approached, stepping as +modern stage heroes are wont, she saw the red slippers, the white shirt +falling to the ankles and girdled at the waist, its bosom a capacious +pocket, the white and red striped cloak over the shoulders. She marked +the material of which they were made, the shirt of selected Angora wool, +the cloak of camel's hair, in its fineness iridescent and soft as +velvet. She saw in the girdle an empty scabbard for a yatagan +elaborately covered with brilliants. She saw on the head a kerchief of +mixed silk and cotton, tasselled, heavily striated red and yellow, and +secured by the usual cord; but she scarcely more than noticed them--the +air of the man, high, stately, king-like, was a superior attraction, and +she gazed at his face unconscious that her own was uncovered. + +The features were regular, the complexion sunburned to the hue of +reddish copper, the beard thin, the nose sharp, the cheeks hollow, the +eyes, through the double shade of brows and kerchief, glittered like +balls of polished black amber. His hands were crossed above the girdle +after the manner of Eastern servants before acknowledged superiors; his +salutation was expressive of most abject homage; yet when he raised +himself, and met the glance of the Princess, his eyes lingered, and +brightened, and directly he cast off or forgot his humility, and looked +lordlier than an Emir boasting of his thousand tents, with ten spears to +each, and a score of camels to the spear. She endured the gaze awhile; +for it seemed she had seen the face before--where, she could not tell; +and when, as presently happened, she began to feel the brightness of the +eyes intenser growing, the sensation reminded her of the Governor at the +landing. Could this be he? No, the countenance here was of a man already +advanced in life. And why should the Governor resort to disguise? The +end, nevertheless, was the same as on the landing--she drew down the +veil. Then he became humble again, and spoke, his eyes downcast, his +hands crossed: + +"This faithful servant"--he pointed to the eunuch "my friend"--the +eunuch crossed his hands, and assumed an attitude of pleased +attention--"brought me from his master--may the most Merciful and +Compassionate continue a pillow to the good man here and to his soul +hereafter!--how a kinswoman of the Emperor whose capital is to the earth +a star, and he as the brightness thereof, had taken refuge with him from +the storm, and was now his guest, and languishing for want of amusement. +Would I tell her a story? I have a horde of parables, tales, and +traditions, and many nations have contributed to it; but, alas, O +Princess! they are simple, and such as beguile tentmen and tentwomen +shut in by the desert, their fancies tender as children's. I fear your +laughter. But here I am; and as the night bird sings when the moon is +risen, because the moon is beautiful and must be saluted, even so I am +obedient. Command me." + +The speech was in Greek, with the slightest imperfection of accent; at +the conclusion the Princess was silent. + +"Knowest thou"--she at length said--"knowest thou of one Hatim, renowned +as a warrior and poet of the Arabs?" + +The eunuch saw the reference, and smiled. Asking of Hatim now was only +another form of inquiry after his master; not merely had the latter been +in her mind; she wished to know more about him. On his part, the +story-teller arose from his servile posture, and asked with the animation +of one to whom a favorite theme is presented: + +"Noble lady, know you aught of the desert?" + +"I have never been there," the Princess answered. + +"Though not beautiful, it is the home of mysteries," he said, with +growing enthusiasm. "When he whom in the same breath you worship as God +and the Son of God--an opposition beyond the depth of our simple +faith--made ready to proclaim himself, he went for a time into the +Wilderness, and dwelt there. So likewise our Prophet, seeing the dawn of +his day, betook himself to Hiva, a rock, bleak, barren, waterless. Why, +O Princess, if not for purification, and because God of preference has +founded his dwelling there, wasting it indeed the better to nurse his +goodness in a perfected solitude? Granting this, why may I not assert +without shocking you that the sons of the desert are the noblest of +men?-- + +"Such was Hatim! + +"In the Hijaz and the Nejd, they tell of him thus: + +"In the day the Compassionate set about world-making, which is but a +pastime with him, nor nearly so much as nest-building to a mother-dove, +he rested. The mountains and rivers and seas were in their beds, and the +land was variegated to please him, here a forest, there a grassy plain; +nothing remained unfinished except the sand oceans, and they only wanted +water. He rested. + +"Now, if, with their sky, a sun-field in the day, a gallery of stars at +night, and their winds, flying from sea to sea, but gathering no taint, +the deserts are treeless, and unknowing the sweetness of gardens and the +glory of grass, it was not by accident or forgetfulness; for with him, +the Compassionate, the Merciful, there are no accidents or lapses of any +kind. He is all attention and ever present. Thus the Throne +verse--'Drowsiness overcomes him not nor sleep.... His firmament spans +the Heaven and the Earth, and the care of them does not distress him.' + +"Why then the yellowness and the burning, the sameness and solitude, and +the earth intolerant of rain and running stream, and of roads and +paths--why, if there was neither accident nor forgetfulness? + +"He is the High and the Great! Accuse him not! + +"In that moment of rest, not from weariness or overburden, but to +approve the work done, and record the approval as a judgment, he said, +speaking to his Almightiness as to a familiar: 'As it is it shall stay. +A time will come when with men I, and the very name of me, shall go out +utterly like the green of last year's leaf. He who walks in a garden +thinks of it only; but he who abides in a desert, wanting to see the +beautiful, must look into the sky, and looking there he shall be +reminded of me, and say aloud and as a lover, 'There is no God but him, +the Compassionate, the Merciful.... The eyes see him not, but he seeth +the eyes; and He is the Gracious, the Knowing'.... So also comes a time +when religion shall be without heart, dead, and the quickening of +worship lost in idolatry; when men shall cry, God, my God, to stones and +graven images, and sing to hear their singing, and the loud music it +goes with. And that time shall be first in lands of growth and +freshness, in cities where comforts and luxuries are as honey in hives +after the flowering of palms. Wherefore--Lo, the need of deserts. There +I shall never be forgotten. And out of them, out of their hardness and +heat, out of their yellow distances and drouth, religion shall arise +again, and go forth purified unto universality; for I shall be always +present there, a life-giver. And against those days of evil, I shall +keep men there, the best of their kind, and their good qualities shall +not rust; they shall be brave, for I may want swords; they shall keep +the given word, for as I am the Truth, so shall my chosen be; there +shall be no end to charity among them, for in such lands charity is +life, and must take every form, friendship, love of one another, love of +giving, and hospitality, unto which are riches and plenty. And in their +worship, I shall be first, and honor next. And as Truth is the Soul of +the World, it being but another of my names, for its salvation they +shall speak with tongues of fire, this one an orator, that one a poet; +and living in the midst of death, they shall fear me not at all, but +dishonor more. Mine are the Sons of the Desert--the Word-Keepers!--the +Unconquered and Conquerless! For my name's sake, I nominate them Mine, +and I alone am the High and the Great.... And there shall be amongst +them exemplars of this virtue and that one singly; and at intervals +through the centuries standards for emulation among the many, a few, in +whom all the excellences shall be blent in indivisible comeliness.' + +"So came Hatim, of the Bene-Tayyi, lustrous as the moon of Ramazan to +eager watchers on high hilltops, and better than other men, even as all +the virtues together are better than any one of them, excepting charity +and love of God. + +"Now Hatim's mother was a widow, poor, and without relations, but +beloved by the Compassionate, and always in his care, because she was +wise beyond the men of her time, and kept his laws, as they were known, +and taught them to her son. One day a great cry arose in the village. +Everybody rushed to see the cause, and then joined in the clamor. + +"Up in the north there was an appearance the like of which had never +been beheld, nor were there any to tell what it was from hearsay. Some +pooh-poohed, saying, contemptuously: + +"'Tis only a cloud.' + +"Others, observing how rapidly it came, in movement like a bird sailing +on outspread motionless wings, said: + +"'A roc! A roc!' + +"When the object was nearer, a few of the villagers, in alarm, ran to +their houses, shrieking: + +"'Israfil, Israfil! He is bringing the end of time!' + +"Soon the sight was nearly overhead; then it was going by, its edge +overhead, the rest of it extending eastwardly; and it was long and broad +as a pasture for ten thousand camels, and horses ten thousand. It had no +likeness earthly except a carpet of green silk; nor could those standing +under describe what bore it along. They thought they heard the sound of +a strong wind, but as the air above far and near was full of birds great +and small, birds of the water as well as the land, all flying evenly +with the carpet, and making a canopy of their wings, and shade deeper +than a cloud's, the beholders were uncertain whether the birds or the +wind served it. In passing, it dipped gently, giving them a view of what +it carried--a throne of pearl and rainbow, and a crowned King sitting in +majesty; at his left hand, an army of spirits, at his right, an army of +men in martial sheen. + +"While the prodigy was before them, the spectators stirred not; nor was +there one brave enough to speak; most of them with their eyes devoured +it all, King and throne, birds, men and spirits; though afterwards there +was asking: + +"'Did you see the birds?' + +"'No.' + +"'The spirits?' + +"'No.' + +"'The men?' + +"'I saw only the King upon His throne.' + +"In the passing, also, a man, in splendor of apparel, stood on the +carpet's edge and shouted: + +"'God is great! I bear witness there is no God but God.' + +"The same instant something fell from his hand. When the marvel was out +of sight in the south, some bethought them, and went to see what it was +which fell. They came back laughing, 'It was only a gourd, and as we +have much better on our camel-saddles, we threw it away.' + +"But the mother of Hatim, listening to the report, was not content. In +her childhood she heard what was tradition then; how Solomon, at the +completion of his temple in Jerusalem, journeyed to Mecca upon a carpet +of silk wafted by the wind, with men, spirits, and birds. Wherefore, +saying to herself, 'It was Solomon going to Mecca. Not for nothing threw +he the gourd,' she went alone, and brought it in, and opened it, finding +three seeds--one red, like a ruby; a second blue, like a sapphire; the +third green, like an emerald. + +"Now she might have sold the seeds, for they were beautiful as gems cut +for a crown, and enriched herself; but Hatim was all the world to her. +They were for him, she said, and getting a brown nut such as washes up +from vines in the sea, she cut it, put the treasures into it, sealed +them there, and tied them around the boy's neck. + +"'Thanks, O Solomon,' she said. 'There is no God but God; and I shall +teach the lesson to my Hatim in the morning, when _al hudhud_ flies +for water; at noon, when it whistles to itself in the shade; and at +night, when it draws a wing over its head to darken the darkness, and +sleep.' + +"And from that day through all his days Hatim wore the brown nut with +the three seeds in it; nor was there ever such an amulet before or +since; for, besides being defended by the genii who are Solomon's +servants, he grew one of the exemplars promised by God, having in +himself every virtue. No one braver than he; none so charitable; none so +generous and merciful; none so eloquent; none on whose lips poetry was +such sweet speech for the exalting of souls; above all, never had there +been such a keeper of his word of promise. + +"And of this judge you by some of the many things they tell of him. + +"A famine fell upon the land. It was when Hatim had become Sheik of his +tribe. The women and children were perishing. The men could no more than +witness their suffering. They knew not whom to accuse; they knew no one +to receive a prayer. The time predicted was come--the name of God had +gone out utterly, like the green of last year's leaf. In the Sheik's +tent even, as with the poorest, hunger could not be allayed--there was +nothing to eat. The last camel had been devoured--one horse remained. +More than once the good man went out to kill him, but the animal was so +beautiful--so affectionate--so fleet! And the desert was not wide enough +to hold his fame! How much easier to say, 'Another day--to-morrow it may +rain.' + +"He sat in his tent telling his wife and children stories, for he was +not merely the best warrior of his day; he was the most renowned poet +and storyteller. Riding into battle, his men would say, 'Sing to us, O +Hatim--sing, and we will fight.' And they he loved best, listening to +him, had nigh forgot their misery, when the curtain of the tent was +raised. + +"'Who is there?' he asked. + +"'Thy neighbor,' and the voice was a woman's. 'My children are anhungred +and crying, and I have nothing for them. Help, O Sheik, help or they +die.' + +"'Bring them here,' he said, rising. + +"'She is not worse off than we,' said his wife, 'nor are her children +more hungry than ours. What will you do?' + +"'The appeal was to me,' he answered. + +"And passing out, he slew the horse, and kindled a fire; then, while the +stranger and her children were sharing piece by piece with his own, +'Shame, shame!' he said, 'that ye alone should eat;' and going through +the dowar, he brought the neighbors together, and he only went hungry. +There was no more of the meat left. Was ever one merciful like Hatim? +In combat, he gave lives, but took none. Once an antagonist under his +foot, called to him: 'Give me thy spear, Hatim,' and he gave it. + +"'Foolish man!' his brethren exclaimed. + +"'What else was there?' he answered. 'Did not the poor man ask a gift of +me?' + +"Never a captive besought his help vainly. On a journey once, a prisoner +begged him to buy his liberty; but he was without the money required, +and on that account he was sorely distressed. To his entreaties, the +strangers listened hard-heartedly; at last he said to them: + +"Am not I--Hatim--good as he? Let him go, and take me.' + +"And knocking the chains from the unfortunate, he had them put on +himself, and wore them until the ransom came. + +"In his eyes a poet was greater than a king, and than singing a song +well the only thing better was being the subject of a song. Perpetuation +by tombs he thought vulgar; so the glory unremembered in verse deserved +oblivion. Was it wonderful he gave and kept giving to story-tellers, +careless often if what he thus disposed of was another's? + +"Once in his youth--and at hearing this, O Princess, the brown-faced +sons of the desert, old and young, laugh, and clap their hands--he gave +of his grandfather's store until the prudent old man, intending to cure +him of his extravagance, sent him to tend his herds in the country. +Alas! + +"Across the plain Hatim one day beheld a caravan, and finding it +escorting three poets to the court of the King of El-Herah, he invited +them to stop with him, and while he killed a camel for each of them, +they recited songs in his praise, and that of his kin. When they wished +to resume the journey, he detained them. + +"'There is no gift like the gift of song,' he said. 'I will do better by +you than will he, the King to whom you are going. Stay with me, and for +every verse you write I will give you a camel. Behold the herd!' + +"And at departing, they had each a hundred camels, and he three hundred +verses. + +"'Where is the herd?' the grandfather asked, when next he came to the +pasture. + +"'See thou. Here are songs in honor of our house,' Hatim answered, +proudly--'songs by great poets; and they will be repeated until all +Arabia is filled with our glory.' + +"'Alas! Thou hast ruined me!' the elder cried, beating his breast. + +"'What!' said Hatim, indignantly. 'Carest thou more for the dirty brutes +than for the crown of honor I bought with them?'" + +Here the Arab paused. The recitation, it is to be remarked, had been +without action, or facial assistance--a wholly unornate delivery; and +now he kept stately silence. His eyes, intensely bright in the shadow of +the _kufiyeh,_ may have produced the spell which held the Princess +throughout; or it may have been the eyes and voice; or, quite as likely, +the character of Hatim touched a responsive chord in her breast. + +"I thank you," she said, adding presently: "In saying I regret the story +ended so soon, I pray you receive my opinion of its telling. I doubt if +Hatim himself could have rendered it better." + +The Arab recognized the compliment with the faintest of bows, but made +no reply in words. Irene then raised her veil, and spoke again. + +"Thy Hatim, O eloquent Arab, was warrior and poet, and, as thou hast +shown him to me, he was also a philosopher. In what age did he live?" + +"He was a shining light in the darkness preceding the appearance of the +Prophet. That period is dateless with us." + +"It is of little consequence," she continued. "Had he lived in our day, +he would have been more than poet, warrior and philosopher--he would be +a Christian. His charity and love of others, his denial of self, sound +like the Christ. Doubtless he could have died for his fellow-men. Hast +thou not more of him? Surely he lived long and happily." + +"Yes," said the Arab, with a flash of the eyes to denote his appreciation +of the circumstance. "He is reported to have been the most wretched of +men. His wife--I pray you will observe I am speaking by the tradition-- +his wife had the power, so dreadful to husbands, of raising Iblis at +pleasure. It delighted her to beat him and chase him from his tent; at +last she abandoned him." + +"Ah!" the Princess exclaimed. "His charities were not admirable in her +eyes." + +"The better explanation, Princess, may be found in a saying we have in +the desert--'A tall man may wed a small woman, but a great soul shall +not enter into bonds with a common one.'" + +There was silence then, and as the gaze of the story-teller was again +finding a fascination in her face, Irene took refuge behind her veil, +but said, presently: + +"With permission, I will take the story of Hatim for mine; but here is +my friend--what hast thou for her?" + +The story-teller turned to Lael. + +"Her pleasure shall be mine," he said. + +"I should like something Indian," the girl answered, timidly, for the +eyes oppressed her also. + +"Alas! India has no tales of love. Her poetry is about gods and abstract +religions. Wherefore, if I may choose, I will a tale from Persia next. +In that country there was a verse-maker called Firdousi, and he wrote a +great poem, _The Shah Nameh_, with a warrior for hero. This is how +Rustem, in single combat, killed Sohrab, not knowing the youth was his +son until after the awful deed was done." + +The tale was full of melancholy interest, and told with singular grace; +but it continued until after nightfall; of which the party was +admonished by the attendants coming to light the lamps. At the +conclusion, the Arab courteously apologized for the time he had wrested +from them. + +"In dealing with us, O Princess," he said, "patience is full as lovely +as charity." + +Lifting the veil again, she extended her hand to him, saying, "The +obligation is with us. I thank you for making light and pleasant an +afternoon which else had been tedious." + +He kissed her hand, and followed the eunuch to the door. Then the supper +was announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE TURQUOISE RING + + +The Prince of India, left in the passage of the Castle with Sergius, was +not displeased with the course the adventure appeared to be taking. In +the first place, he felt no alarm for Lael; she might be uncomfortable +in the quarter to which she had been conducted, but that was all, and it +would not last long. The guardianship of the eunuch was in his view a +guaranty of her personal safety. In the next place, acquaintance with +the Princess might prove serviceable in the future. He believed Lael +fitted for the highest rank; she was already educated beyond the +requirements of the age for women; her beauty was indisputable; as a +consequence, he had thought of her a light in the court; and not +unpleasantly it occurred to him now that the fair Princess might carry +keys for both the inner and outer doors of the royal residence. + +Generally the affair which was of concern to Lael was an affair of +absorbing interest to the Prince; in this instance, however, another +theme offered itself for the moment a superior attraction. + +The impression left by the young master of ceremonies in the reception +at the landing was of a kind to arouse curiosity. His appearance, +manner, speech and the homage paid him denoted exalted rank; while the +confidence with which he spoke for Sultan Amurath was most remarkable. +His acceptance of the terms presented by the Princess Irene was little +short of downright treaty-making; and what common official dared carry +assumption to such a height? Finally the Prince fell to thinking if +there was any person the actual governor of the Castle would quietly +permit to go masquerading in his authority and title. + +Then everything pointed him to Prince Mahommed. The correspondence in +age was perfect; the martial array seen galloping down the bank was a +fitting escort for the heir-apparent of the gray Sultan; and he alone +might with propriety speak for his father in a matter of state. + +"A mistake cannot be serious," said the Prince to himself, at the end of +the review. "I will proceed upon the theory that the young man is Prince +Mahommed." + +This was no sooner determined than the restless mind flew forward to an +audience. The time and place--midnight in the lonesome old Castle--were +propitious, and he was prepared for it. + +Indeed it was the very purpose he had in view the night of the repast in +his tent at El Zaribah where he so mysteriously intrusted the Emir Mirza +with revelations concerning the doom of Constantinople. + +Once more he ran over the scheme which had brought him from Cipango. If +Islam could not be brought to lead in the project, Christendom might be +more amenable to reason. The Moslem world was to be reached through the +Kaliph whom he expected to find in Egypt; wherefore his contemplated +trip down the Nile from Kash-Cush. If driven to the Christian, +Constantine was to be his operator. Such in broadest generality was the +plan of execution he had resolved upon. + +But to these possibilities he had appended another of which it is now +necessary to speak. + +Enough has been given to apprise the reader of the things to which the +Prince preferably devoted himself. These were international affairs, and +transcendently war. If indeed the latter were not the object he had +always specially in mind, it was the end to which his management usually +conducted. For mere enjoyment in the sight of men facing the death which +strangely passed him by, he delighted in hovering on the edge of battle +until there was a crisis, and then plunging into its heated heart. + +He had also a peculiar method of bringing war about. This consisted in +providing for punishments in case his enterprises miscarried. Invariably +somebody suffered for such failures. In that way he soothed the pangs of +wounded vanity. + +When he was inventing the means for executing his plots, and forming the +relations essential to them, it was his habit to select instruments of +punishment in advance. + +Probably no better illustration of this feature of his dealings can be +given than is furnished by the affair now engaging him. If he failed to +move the Kaliph to lead the reform, he would resort to Constantine; if +the Emperor also declined, he would make him pay the penalty; then came +the reservation. So soon after his arrival from Cipango as he could +inform himself of the political conditions of the world to which he was +returning, he fixed upon Mahommed to avenge him upon the offending +Greek. + +The meeting with Mirza at El Zaribah was a favorable opportunity to +begin operating upon the young Turk. The tale the Emir received that +night under solemn injunctions of secrecy was really intended for his +master. How well it was devised for the end in view the reader will be +able to judge from what is now to follow. + +The audience with Mahommed determined upon by the Prince of India, our +first point of interest is in observing how he set about accomplishing +it. His promptness was characteristic. + +Directly the ladies had disappeared with the eunuch, the soldiers poured +from their hiding places in the Castle, and seeing one whom he judged an +officer, the Prince called to him in Turkish: + +"Ho, my friend!" + +The man was obliging. + +"Present my salutations to the Governor of the Castle, and say the +Prince of India desires speech with him." + +The soldier hesitated. + +"Understand," said the Prince, quickly, "my message is not to the great +Lord who received me at the landing. But the Governor in fact. Bring him +here." + +The confident manner prevailed. + +Presently the messenger returned with a burly, middle-aged person in +guidance. A green turban above a round face, large black eyes in +muffling of fleshy lids, pallid cheeks lost in dense beard, a drab gown +lined with yellow fur, a naked cimeter in a silk-embroidered sash, +bespoke the Turk; but how unlike the handsome, fateful-looking +masquerader at the river side! + +"The Prince of India has the honor of speech with the Governor of the +Castle?" + +"God be praised," the Governor replied. "I was seeking your Highness. +Besides wishing to join in your thanks for happy deliverance from the +storm, I thought to discharge my duty as a Moslem host by conducting you +to refreshments and repose. Follow me, I pray." + +A few steps on the way, the Governor stopped: + +"Was there not a companion--a younger man--a Dervish?" + +"A monk," said the Prince; "and the question reminds me of my attendant, +a negro. Send for him--or better, bring them both to me. I wish them to +share my apartment." + +In a short time the three were in quarters, if one small room may be so +dignified. The walls were cold gray stone; one oblong narrow port-hole +admitted scanty light; a rough bench, an immense kettle-drum shaped like +the half of an egg-shell, and propped broadside up, some piles of loose +straw, each with folded sheepskins on it, constituted the furnishment. + +Sergius made no sign of surprise or disappointment. Possibly the chamber +and its contents were reproductions of his cell up in Bielo-Osero. Nilo +gave himself to study of the drum, reminded, doubtless, of similar +warlike devices in Kash-Cush. The Prince alone expostulated. Taking a +stand between the Governor and the door, he said: + +"A question before thou goest hence." + +The Turk gazed at him silently. + +"To what accommodations have the Princess Irene and her attendant been +taken? Are they vile as these?" + +"The reception room of my harem is the most comfortable the Castle +affords," the Governor answered. + +"And they?" + +"They are occupying it." + +"Not by courtesy of thine. He who could put the hospitality of the +Prince Mahommed to shame by maltreating one of his guests." + +He paused, and grimly surveyed the room. + +"Such a servant would be as evil-minded to another guest; and that the +other is a woman, would not affect his imbruited soul." + +"The Prince Mahommed!" the Governor exclaimed. + +"Yes. What brings him here, matters not; his wish to keep the Romans in +ignorance of his near presence, I know as well as thou; none the less, +it was his royal word we accepted. As for thee--thou mightest have +promised faith and hospitality with thy hand on the Prophet's beard, yet +would I have bidden the Princess trust herself to the tempest sooner." + +Sergius was now standing by, but the conversation being in Turkish, he +listened without understanding. + +"Thou ass!" the Prince continued. "Not to know that the kinswoman of the +Roman Emperor, under this roof by treaty with the mighty Amurath, his +son the negotiator, is our guardian! When the storm shall have spent +itself, and the waters quieted down, she will resume her journey. +Then--it may be in the morning--she will first ask for us, and then thy +master will require to know how we have passed the night. Ah, thou +beginnest to see!" + +The Governor's head was drooping; his hands crossed themselves upon his +stomach; and when he raised his eyes, they were full of deprecation and +entreaty. + +"Your Highness--most noble Lord--condescend to hear me." + +"Speak. I am awake to hear the falsehood thou hast invented in excuse of +thy perfidy to us, and thy treason to him, the most generous of masters, +the most chivalrous of knights." + +"Your Highness has greatly misconceived me. In the first place you have +forgotten the crowded state of the Castle. Every room and passage is +filled with the suite and escort of"-- + +He hesitated, and turned pale, like a man dropped suddenly into a great +danger. The shrewd guest caught at the broken sentence and finished it: + +"Of Prince Mahommed!" + +"With the suite and escort," the Governor repeated.... "In the next +place, it was not my intention to leave you unprovided. From my own +apartments, light, beds and seats were ordered to be brought here, with +meats for refreshment, and water for cleansing and draught. The order is +in course of execution now. Indeed, your Highness, I swear by the first +chapter of the Koran"-- + +"Take something less holy to swear by," cried the Prince. + +"Then, by the bones of the Faithful, I swear I meant to make you +comfortable, even to my own deprivation." + +"By thy young master's bidding?" + +The Governor bent forward very low. + +"Well," said the Prince, softening his manner--"the misconception was +natural." + +"Yes--yes." + +"And now thou hast only to prove thy intention by making it good." + +"Trust me, your Highness." + +"Trust thee? Ay, on proof. I have a commission"-- + +The Prince then drew a ring from his finger. + +"Take this," he said, "and deliver it to the Emir Mirza." + +The assurance of the speech was irresistible; so the Turk held out his +hand to receive the token. + +"And say to the Emir, that I desire him to thank the Most Compassionate +and Merciful for the salvation of which we were witnesses at the +southwest corner of the Kaaba." + +"What!" exclaimed the Governor. "Art thou a Moslem?" + +"I am not a Christian." + +The Governor, accepting the ring, kissed the hand offering it, and took +his departure, moving backward, and with downcast eyes, his manner +declarative of the most abject humility. + +Hardly was the door closed behind the outgoing official, when the Prince +began to laugh quietly and rub his hands together--quietly, we say, for +the feeling was not merriment so much as self-gratulation. + +There was cleverness in having doubted the personality of the individual +who received the refugees at the landing; there was greater cleverness +in the belief which converted the Governor into the Prince Mahommed; but +the play by which the fact was uncovered--if not a stroke of genius, how +may it be better described? The Prince of India thought as he laughed: + +"Not long now until Amurath joins his fathers, and then--Mahommed." + +Presently he stopped, a step half taken, his gaze upon the floor, his +hands clasped behind him. He stood so still it would not have been amiss +to believe a thought was all the life there was in him. He certainly did +believe in astrology. Had not men been always ruled by what they +imagined heavenly signs? How distinctly he remembered the age of the +oracle and the augur! Upon their going out he became a believer in the +stars as prophets, and then an adept; afterwhile he reached a stage when +he habitually mistook the commonest natural results, even coincidences, +for confirmations of planetary forecasts. And now this halting and +breathlessness was from sudden recollection that the horoscope lying on +his table in Constantinople had relation to Mahommed in his capacity of +Conqueror. How marvellous also that from the meeting with Constantine in +the street of the city, he should have been blown by a tempest to a +meeting with Mahommed in the White Castle! + +These circumstances, trifling to the reader, were of deep influence to +the Prince of India. While he stands there rigid as a figure marbleized +in mid action, he is saying to himself: + +"The audience will take place--Heaven has ordered it. Would I knew what +manner of man this Mahommed is!" + +He had seen a handsome youth, graceful in bearing, quick and subtle in +speech, cultivated and evidently used to governing. Very good, but what +an advantage there would be in knowing the bents and inclinations of the +royal lad beforehand. + +Presently the schemer's head arose. The boyish Prince was going about in +armor when soft raiment would be excusable--and that meant ambition, +dreams of conquest, dedication to martial glory. Very good indeed! And +then his manner under the eyes of the girlish Princess--how quickly her +high-born grace had captivated him! Something impossible were he not of +a romantic turn, a poet, sentimentalist, knight errant. + +The Prince clapped his hands. He knew the appeals effective with such +natures. Let the audience come.... Ah, but-- + +Again he sunk into thought. Youths like Mahommed were apt to be wilful. +How was he to be controlled? One expedient after another was swiftly +considered and as swiftly rejected. At last the right one! Like his +ancestors from Ertoghrul down, the young Turk was a believer in the +stars. Not unlikely he was then in the Castle by permission of his +astrologer. Indeed, if Mirza had repeated the conversation and +predictions at El Zaribah, the Prince of India was being waited for with +an impatience due a master of the astral craft. Again the Wanderer +cried, "Let the audience come!" and peace and confidence were possessing +him when a loud report and continuous rumble in the room set the solid +floor to quaking. He looked around in time to see the big drum quivering +under a blow from Nilo. + +From the negro his gaze wandered to Sergius standing before the one +loophole by which light and air were let into the dismal chamber; and +recalling the monk as the sole attendant of the Princess Irene, he +thought it best to speak to him. + +Drawing near, he observed the cowl thrown back, and that the face was +raised, the eyes closed, the hands palm to palm upon the breast. +Involuntarily he stopped, not because he was one of those who always +presume the most Holy Presence when prayer is being offered--he stopped, +wondering where he had seen that countenance. The delicate features, the +pallid complexion, the immature beard, the fair hair parted in the +middle, and falling in wavy locks over the shoulders, the aspect manly +yet womanly in its refinement, were strangely familiar to him. It was +his first view of the monk's face. Where had he seen it? His memory went +back, far back of the recent. A chill struck his heart. The features, +look, air, portrait, the expression indefinable except as a light of +outcoming spirit, were those of the man he had helped crucify before the +Damascus gate in the Holy City, and whom he could no more cast out of +mind than he could the bones from his body. His feet seemed rooting into +the flinty flags beneath them. He heard the centurion call to him: "Ho, +there! If thou knowest the Golgotha, come show it." He felt the +sorrowful eyes of the condemned upon him. He struck the bloody cheek, +and cried as to a beast: "Go faster, Jesus!" And then the words, wrung +from infinite patience at last broken: + +"I am going, but do thou TARRY TILL I COME." + +For relief, he spoke: + +"What dost thou, my friend?" + +Sergius opened his eyes and answered simply, "I am praying." + +"To whom?" + +"To God." + +"Art thou a Christian?" + +"Yes." + +"God is for the Jew and the Moslem." + +"Nay," said Sergius, looking at the Prince without taking down his +hands, "all who believe in God find happiness and salvation in Him--the +Christian as well as the Jew and the Moslem." + +The questions had been put with abrupt intensity; now the inquisitor +drew back astonished. He heard the very postulate of the scheme to which +he was devoting himself--and from a boy so like the dead Christ he was +working to blot out of worship he seemed the Christ arisen! + +The amazement passed slowly, and with its going the habitual shrewdness +and capacity to make servants of circumstances apparently the most +untoward returned. The youth had intellect, impressiveness, aptitude in +words, and a sublime idea. But what of his spirit--his courage--his +endurance in the Faith? + +"How came this doctrine to thee?" + +The Prince spoke deferentially. + +"From the good father Hilarion." + +"Who is he?" + +"The Archimandrite of Bielo-Osero." + +"A monastery?" + +"Yes." + +"How did he receive it?" + +"From the Spirit of God, whence Christ had his wisdom--whence all good +men have their goodness--by virtue of which they, like Him, become sons +of God." + +"What is thy name?" + +"Sergius." + +"Sergius"--the Prince, now fully recovered, exerted his power of will-- +"Sergius, thou art a heretic." + +At this accusation, so terrible in those days, the monk raised the +rosary of large beads dangling from his girdle, kissed the cross, and +stood surveying the accuser with pity. + +"That is," the Prince continued with greater severity, "speak thou thus +to the Patriarch yonder"--he waved a hand toward Constantinople--"dare +repeat the saying to a commission appointed to try thee for heresy, and +thou wilt thyself taste the pangs of crucifixion or be cast to the +beasts." + +The monk arose to his great height, and replied, fervently: + +"Knowest thou when death hath the sweetness of sleep? I will tell thee"-- +A light certainly not from the narrow aperture in the wall collected upon +his countenance, and shone visibly--"It is when a martyr dies knowing +both of God's hands are a pillow under his head." + +The Prince dropped his eyes, for he was asking himself, was such +sweetness of sleep appointed for him? Resuming his natural manner, he +said: "I understand thee, Sergius. Probably no man in the world, go thou +East or West, will ever understand thee better. God's hands under my +head, welcome death!--Let us be friends." + +Sergius took his offered hand. + +Just then there was a noise at the door, and a troop of servants entered +with lighted lamps, rugs, a table, stools, and beds and bedding, and it +was not long until the apartment was made habitable. The Prince, +otherwise well satisfied, wanted nothing then but a reply from Mirza; +and in the midst of his wonder at the latter's delay, a page in +brilliant costume appeared, and called out: + +"The Emir Mirza!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RING RETURNS + + +The Prince, at the announcement of Mirza, took position near the centre +of the room where the light was ample. His black velvet pelisse +contrasting strongly with his white hair and beard, he looked a +mysterious Indian potentate to whom occult Nature was a familiar, and +the stars oracular friends. + +Mirza's cheeks were scarcely so sun and sand stained as when we first +beheld him in conduct of the caravan to Mecca; in other respects he was +unchanged. His attire, like the lord Mahommed's at the reception on the +landing, was of chain mail very light and flexible. He carried a dagger +in his belt, and to further signify confidence in the Prince, the flat +steel cap forming his headgear was swinging loosely from his left arm; +or he might have intended to help his friend to a more ready recognition +by presenting himself bareheaded. He met his survey with unaffected +pleasure, took the hand extended in greeting, and kissed it +reverentially. + +"Forgive me, O Prince, if my first greeting have the appearance of a +reproach," Mirza said, as he gave up the hand. "Why have you kept us +waiting so long?" + +The Prince's countenance assumed a severe expression. + +"Emir, I gave you confidence under seal." + +The Emir flushed deeply. + +"Was it knightly to betray me? To whom have you told the secret? How +many have been waiting for my coming?" + +"Be merciful, I pray." + +"But the stars. You have made me culprit with them. I may pardon you; +can you assure me of their pardon?" + +The Emir raised his head, and with an expostulatory gesture, was about +to reply, when the Prince continued, "Put thy words in the tongue +coinage of Italy, for to be overheard now were to make me an offender +like unto thyself." + +Mirza glanced hastily at Sergius, still praying before the loophole, and +at Nilo; then he surveyed the cell critically, and said, in Italian, +"This is the prison of the Castle--and thou--can it be I see thee a +prisoner?" + +The Prince smiled. "The Governor led me here with my friends; and what +you behold of accommodations he sent in afterwards, saying the better +rooms were filled with soldiery." + +"He will rue the deed. My Lord is swift at righting a wrong, and trust +me, O Prince, to make report. But to return"--Mirza paused, and looked +into the Prince's eyes earnestly--"Is your accusation just? Hear me; +then by the motive judge. When I stood before my master, Prince Mahommed, +a returned pilgrim, if not taller in fact, his bearing was more majestic. +I kissed his hand wondering if some servant of the Compassionate, some +angel or travelling Jinn, had not arrived before me, and whispered him of +what you told me, speaking for the stars. And when we were alone, he +would have account of the countries journeyed through, of the people met, +of Medina and Mecca, and the other holy places; nor would he rest until +he had from me the sayings I had heard on the way, everything from calls +to prayer to the Khatib's sermon. When I told him I had not heard the +sermon, nor seen the preacher or his camel, he demanded why, and--what +else was there to do, O Prince?--I related how we had been pursued by the +terrible Yellow Air; how it had overtaken me; how I fell down dying at +the corner of the Kaaba, and by whom I was saved even as the life was +departing. This last directed him to you. My efforts to put him off but +whetted his desire. He would not be diverted or denied. He insisted-- +urged--threatened. At last I told him all--of your joining us with the +Hajj from El Khatif--your rank and train--your marches in the rear--the +hundreds of miserables you saved from the plague--of our meeting at +Zaribah, your hospitality, your learning in all that pertains to the +greatest of the prophets, your wisdom above the wisdom of other men. And +you grew upon him as I proceeded. 'Oh, a good man truly!' 'What courage!' +'What charity!' 'The Prophet himself!' 'Oh, that I had been you!' 'O +foolish Mirza, to suffer such a man to escape!' With such exclamations he +kept breaking up my story. It was not long until he fastened upon our +meeting in the tent. He plied me to know of what we talked--what you +said, and all you said. O Prince, if you did but know him; if you knew +the soul possessing him, the intellectual things he has mastered, his +sagacity, his art, his will, his day-dreams pursuing him in sleep, the +deeds he is prepared to do, the depth and strength of his passions, his +admiration for heroes, his resolve to ring the world with the greatness +of his name--Oh, knew you the man as I do, were you his lover as I am, +his confidant--had you, for teaching him to ride and strike with sword +and spear, his promise of a share in the glory beckoning him on, making +his mighty expectations a part of you even as they are of him, would you +--ah, Prince, could you have withheld the secret? Think of the +revelation! The old East to awake, and march against the West! +Constantinople doomed! And he the leader for whom the opportunity is +waiting! And to call my weakness betrayal! Unsay it, unsay it, Prince!" + +The face of the auditor as Mirza proceeded with his defence would have +been a profitable study. He saw himself succeeding in the purpose of his +affected severity; he was drawing from Mahommed's intimate the +information he most desired; and thus advised in advance, his role in +the interview coming would be of easy foresight and performance. Not to +appear too lightly satisfied, however, he said gravely, "I see the +strain you underwent, my gallant friend. I see also the earnestness of +your affection for your most noble pupil. He is to be congratulated upon +the possession of a servant capable of such discernment and devotion. +But I recall my question--How many are there waiting for me?" + +"Your revelations, O Prince, were imparted to my master alone; and with +such certainty as you know yourself, you may believe them at rest in his +bosom. No one better than he appreciates the importance of keeping them +there under triple lock. More than one defeat--I think he would permit +the confession--has taught him that secrecy is the life of every +enterprise." + +"Say you so, Emir? I feel warmth returning to my hope. Nay, listening to +you, and not believing in improvised heroes, I see how your course may +have been for the best. The years gone since you yielded to his +importunities, wisely used, have doubtless served him providentially." + +The Prince extended his hand again, and it was ardently taken; then, on +his part, more than pleased, Mirza said, "I bring you a message from my +Lord Mahommed. I was with him when the Governor came and delivered your +ring to me--and, lest I forget a duty, Prince, here it is--take it at +some future time it may be serviceable as today." + +"Yes, well thought!" the Jew exclaimed, replacing the signet on his +finger, and immediately, while looking at the turquoise eye, he dropped +his tone into the solemn, "Ay, the obligations of the Pentagram +endure--they are like a decree of God." + +The words and manner greatly impressed Mirza. + +"My Lord Mahommed," he said, "observed the delivery of the ring to me by +the Governor; and when we were alone, and I had recounted the story of +the jewels, 'What!' my Lord cried, quite as transported as myself. 'That +wonderful man--he here--here in this Castle! He shall not escape me. +Send for him at once. I brook no delay.' He stamped his foot. 'Lest he +vanish in the storm--go!' When I was at the door, he bade me come back. +'The elder man with the white beard and black eyes, said you? It were +well for me to begin by consulting his comfort. He may be tired, and in +want of repose; his accommodations may be insufficient; wherefore go see +him first, and ascertain his state and wishes.' And as I was going, he +summoned me to return again. 'A moment--stay!' he said.'The circumstance +enlarges with thought. Thou knowest, Mirza, I did not come here with a +special object; I was drawn involuntarily; now I see it was to meet him. +It is a doing of the stars. I shall hear from them!' O Prince"--Mirza's +eyes sparkled, arid he threw up both his hands--"if ever man believed +what he said, my master did." + +"A wise master truly," said the Jew, struggling with his exultation. +"What said he next?" + +"'While I am honoring their messenger'--thus my Lord continued--'why not +honor the stars? Their hour is midnight, for then they are all out, from +this horizon and that calling unto each other, and merging their +influences into the harmony the preachers call the Will of the Most +Merciful. A good hour for the meeting. Hear, Mirza--at midnight--in this +room. Go now.' And so it is appointed." + +"And well appointed, Emir." + +"Shall I so report?" + +"With my most dutiful protestations." + +"Look for me then at midnight." + +"I shall be awake, and ready." + +"Meantime, Prince, I will seek an apartment more in correspondence with +the degree of my Lord's most honored guest." + +"Nay, good Mirza, suffer me to advise in that matter. The bringing me +into this place was a mistake of the Governor's. He could not divine the +merit I have in your master's eyes. He took me for a Christian. I +forgive him, and pray he may not be disturbed. He may be useful to me. +Upon the springing of a mischance--there is one such this instant in my +mind's eye--I may be driven to come back to this Castle. In such an +event, I prefer him my servant rather than my enemy." + +"O Prince!" + +"Nay, Emir, the idea is only a suggestion of one of the Prophets whom +Allah stations at the turns in every man's career." + +"But every man cannot see the Prophets." + +The Jew finished gravely: "Rather than disturb the Governor further, +soothe him for me; and when the Lord Mahommed goes hence, do thou see an +instruction is left putting the Castle and its chief at my order. Also, +as thou art a grateful friend, Mirza, serve me by looking into the +kettles out of which we are to have our refreshment, and order concerning +them as for thyself. I feel a stir of appetite." + +The Emir backed from the apartment, leaving a low salaam just outside +the door. + +If the reader thinks the Prince content now, he is not mistaken. True he +paced the floor long and rapidly; but, feeling himself close upon a turn +in his course, he was making ready for it perfectly as possible by +consulting the Prophet whom he saw waiting there. + +And as the Lord Mahommed failed not to remember them what time he betook +himself to supper, the three guests up in the prison fared well, nor +cared for the howling of the wind, and the bursting and beating of the +rain still rioting without the walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MAHOMMED HEARS FROM THE STARS + + +The second recall of the Emir Mirza departing with the appointment for +the Prince of India was remarkable, considering Mahommed's usual +quickness of conclusion and steadiness of purpose; and the accounting +for it is noteworthy. + +So completely had the young Turk been taken up by study and military +service that leisure for love had been denied him; else he either +despised the passion or had never met a woman to catch his fancy and +hold it seriously. + +We have seen him make the White Castle by hard galloping before the +bursting of the storm. While at the gate, and in the midst of his +reception there, the boats were reported making all speed to the river +landing; and not wishing his presence at the Castle to be known in +Constantinople, he despatched an under officer to seize the voyagers, +and detain them until he had crossed the Bosphorus _en route_ to +Adrianople. However, directly the officer brought back the spirited +message of the Princess Irene to the Governor of the Castle, his mind +underwent a change. + +"What," he asked, "sayst thou the woman is akin to the Emperor +Constantine?" + +"Such is her claim, my Lord, and she looks it." + +"Is she old?" + +"Young, my Lord--not more than twenty." + +Mahommed addressed the Governor: + +"Stay thou here. I will take thy office, and wait upon this Princess." + +Dismounting, then, in the capacity of Governor of the Castle, he +hastened to the landing, curious as well as desirous of offering refuge +to the noble lady. + +He saw her first a short way off, and was struck with her composed +demeanor. During the discussion of his tender of hospitality, her face +was in fair view, and it astonished him. When finally she stepped from +the boat, her form, delicately observable under the rich and graceful +drapery, and so exquisitely in correspondence with her face, still +further charmed him. + +Before the chairs were raised, he sent a messenger to the Castle with +orders to place everybody in hiding, and for his Kislar-Aga, or chief +eunuch, to be in the passage of entrance to receive and take charge of +the kinswoman of the Emperor and her attendant. By a further order the +Governor proper was directed to vacate his harem apartments for her +accommodation. + +In the Castle, after the Princess had been thus disposed of, the +impression she made upon him increased. + +"She is so high-born!--so beautiful!--She has such spirit and mind!--She +is so calm under trial--so courageous--so decorous--so used to courtly +life!" + +Such exclamations attested the unwonted ferment going on in his mind. +Gradually, as tints under the brush of a skilful painter lose themselves +in one effect, his undefined ideas took form. + +"O Allah! What a Sultana for a hero!" + +And by repetition this ran on into what may be termed the chorus of a +love song--the very first of the kind his soul had ever sung. + +Such was Mahommed's state when Mirza received the turquoise ring, and, +announcing the Prince of India, asked for orders. Was it strange he +changed his mind? Indeed he was at the moment determining to see again +the woman who had risen upon him like a moon above a lake; so, directly +he had despatched the Emir to the Prince of India with the appointment +for midnight, he sent for an Arab Sheik of his suite, arrayed himself in +the latter's best habit, and stained his hands, neck, and face-turned +himself, in brief, into the story-teller whom we have seen admitted to +amuse the Princess Irene. + +At midnight, sharply as the hour could be determined by the uncertain +appliances resorted to by the inmates of the Castle, Mirza appeared at +his master's door with the mystical Indian, and, passing the sentinel +there, knocked like one knowing himself impatiently awaited. A voice +bade them enter. + +The young Turk, upon their entrance, arose from a couch of many cushions +prepared for him under a canopy in the centre of the room. + +"This, my Lord, is the Prince of India" said Mirza; then, almost without +pause, he turned to the supposed Indian, and added more ceremoniously: +"Be thou happy, O Prince! The East hath not borne a son so worthy to +take the flower from the tomb of Saladin, and wear it, as my master here +--the Lord Mahommed." + +Then, his duty done, the Emir retired. + +Mahommed was in the garb used indoors immemorially by his race--sharply +pointed slippers, immense trousers gathered at the ankles, a yellow +quilted gown dropping below the knees, and a turban of balloon shape, +its interfolding stayed by an aigrette of gold and diamonds. His head +was shaven up to the edge of the turban, so that, the light falling from +a cluster of lamps in suspension from the ceiling, every feature was in +plain exposure. Looking into the black eyes scarcely shaded by the +upraised arching brows, the Prince of India saw them sparkle with +invitation and pleasure, and was himself satisfied. + +He advanced, and saluted by falling upon his knees, and kissing the back +of his hands laid palm downward on the floor. Mahommed raised him to his +feet. + +"Rise, O Prince!" he said--"rise, and come sit with me." + +From behind the couch, the Turk dragged a chair of ample seat, railed +around except at the front, and provided with a cushion of camel's +hair--a chair such as teachers in the Mosques use when expounding to +their classes. This he placed so while he sat on the couch the visitor +would be directly before him, and but little removed. Soon the two were +sitting cross-legged face to face. + +"A man devout as the Prince of India is reported to me," Mahommed began, +in a voice admirably seconding the respectful look he fixed upon the +other, "must be of the rightly guided, who believe in God and the Last +Day, and observe prayer, and pay the alms, and dread none but God--who +therefore of right frequent the temples." + +"Your words, my Lord, are those of the veritable messenger of the most +high Heaven," the Wanderer responded, bending forward as if about to +perform a prostration. "I recognize them, and they give me the sensation +of being in a garden of perpetual abode, with a river running beneath +it." Mahommed, perceiving the quotation from the Koran, bent low in +turn, saying: "It is good to hear you, for as I listen I say to myself, +This one is of the servants of the Merciful who are to walk upon the +earth softly. I accost you in advance, Welcome and Peace." + +After a short silence, he continued: "A frequenter of mosques, you will +see, O Prince, I have put you in the teacher's place. I am the student. +Yours to open the book and read; mine to catch the pearls of your saying, +lest they fall in the dust, and be lost." + +"I fear my Lord does me honor overmuch; yet there is a beauty in +willingness even where one cannot meet expectation. Of what am I to +speak?" + +Mahommed knit his brows, and asked imperiously, "Who art thou? Of that +tell me first." + +Happily for the Prince, he had anticipated this demand, and, being +intensely watchful, was ready for it, and able to reply without +blenching: "The Emir introduced me rightly. I am a Prince of India." + +"Now of thy life something." + +"My Lord's request is general--perhaps he framed it with design. Left +thus to my own judgment, I will be brief, and choose from the mass of my +life." + +There was not the slightest sign of discomposure discernible in the look +or tone of the speaker; his air was more than obliging--he seemed to be +responding to a compliment. + +"I began walk as a priest--a disciple of Siddhartha, whom my Lord, of +his great intelligence, will remember as born in Central India. Very +early, on account of my skill in translation, I was called to China, and +there put to rendering the Thirty-five Discourses of the father of the +Budhisattwa into Chinese and Thibettan. I also published a version of +the Lotus of the Good Law, and another of the Nirvana. These brought me +a great honor. To an ancestor of mine, Maha Kashiapa, Buddha happened to +have intrusted his innermost mysteries--that is, he made him Keeper of +the Pure Secret of the Eye of Right Doctrine. Behold the symbol of that +doctrine." + +The Prince drew a leaf of ivory, worn and yellow, from a pocket under +his pelisse, and passed it to Mahommed, saying, "Will my lord look?" + +Mahommed took the leaf, and in the silver sunk into it saw this sign: + +[Illustration] + +"I see," he said, gravely. "Give me its meaning." + +"Nay, my Lord, did I that, the doctrine of which, as successor of +Kashiapa, though far removed, they made me Keeper--the very highest of +Buddhistic honors--would then be no longer a secret. The symbol is of +vast sanctity. There is never a genuine image of Buddha without it over +his heart. It is the monogram of Vishnu and Siva; but as to its meaning, +I can only say every Brahman of learning views it worshipfully, knowing +it the compression of the whole mind of Buddha." + +Mahommed respected the narrator's compunction, and returned the symbol, +saying simply, "I have heard of such things." + +"To pursue," the Prince then said, confident of the impression he was +producing: "At length I returned to my own country enriched beyond every +hope. A disposition to travel seized me. One day, passing the desert to +Baalbec, some Bedouin made me prisoner, and carrying me to Mecca, sold +me to the Scherif there; a good man who respected my misfortune and +learning--may the youths ever going in Paradise forget not his cup of +flowing wine!--and wrought with me over the Book of the One God until I +became a believer like himself. Then, as I had exchanged the hope of +Nirvana for the better and surer hope of Islam, he set me free.... Again +in my native land, I betook myself to astrologic studies, being the more +inclined thereto by reason of the years I had spent in contemplating the +abstrusities of Siddhartha. I became an adept--something, as my Lord may +already know, impossible to such as go about unknowing the whole earth +and heavens, and the powers superior, those of the sky, and those +lesser, meaning Kings, Emperors, and Sultans." + +"How!" exclaimed Mahommed. "Is not every astrologer an adept?" + +The Prince answered softly, seeing the drift was toward the professor in +the young Turk's service. "There is always a better until we reach the +best. Even the stars differ from each other in degree." + +"But how may a man know the superior powers?" + +"The sum of the observations kept by the wise through the ages, and +recorded by them, is a legacy for the benefit of the chosen few. Had my +Lord the taste, and were he not already devoted by destiny, I could take +him to a college where what is now so curious to him is simple reading." + +The hard and doubting expression on Mahommed's face began to soften, yet +he persisted: "Knowing the superior, why is it needful to know the +inferior powers?" + +"My Lord trenches now upon the forbidden, yet I will answer as his +shrewdness deserves. Never man heard from the stars in direct speech-- +that were almost like words with God. But as they are servants, they also +have servants. Moreover what we have from them is always in answer. They +love to be sought after by the diligent. Some ages ago an adept seeking +this and that of them conjecturally, had reply, 'Lo! A tribe of poor +wanderers in the East. Heed them, for they shall house their dominion in +palaces now the glory of the West, and they shall dig the pit to compass +the fall of the proud.' Is it this tribe? Is it that? But the seeker +never knew. The children of Ertoghrul were yet following their herds up +and down the pastures they had from Ala-ed-din, the Iconian. Not knowing +their name, he could not ask of them from the decree-makers?" + +The Mystic beheld the blood redden Mahommed's open countenance, and the +brightening of his eyes; and as he was speaking to his pride, he knew he +was not amiss. + +"The saying of the stars," he went on, "descended to succeeding adepts. +Time came to their aid. When at length your fathers seated themselves in +Broussa, the mystery was in part revealed. Anybody, even the low-browed +herdsman shivering in the currents blowing from the Trojan heights, +could then have named the fortunate tribe. Still the exposure was not +complete; a part remained for finding out. We knew the diggers of the +pit; but for whom was it? To this I devoted myself. Hear me closely +now--my Lord, I have traversed the earth, not once, but many times--so +often, you cannot name a people unknown to me, nor a land whither I have +not been--no, nor an island. As the grandson of Abd-el-Muttalib was a +Messenger of God, I am a Messenger of the Predicting Stars--not their +prophet, only their Interpreter and Messenger. The business of the stars +is my business." Mahommed's lips moved, and it was with an effort he +kept silent. + +The Prince proceeded, apparently unconscious of the interest he was +exciting: "Here and there while I travelled, I kept communication with +the planets; and though I had many of their predictions to solve, I +asked them oftenest after the unnamed proud one for whom thy Ottomanites +were charged to dig a pit. I presented names without number--names of +persons, names of peoples, and lest one should he overlooked, I kept a +record of royal and notable families. Was a man-child horn to any of +them, I wrote down the minute of the hour of his birth, and how he was +called. By visitations, I kept informed of the various countries, their +conditions, and their relations with each other; for as the state of the +earth points favorably or unfavorably to its vegetation, so do the +conditions of nations indicate the approach of changes, and give +encouragement to those predestined to bring the changes about. Again I +say, my Lord, as the stars are the servants of God, they have their +servants, whom you shall never know except as you are able to read the +signs their times offer you for reading. Moreover the servants are +sometimes priests, sometimes soldiers, sometimes kings; among them have +been women, and men of common origin; for the seed of genius falls +directly from God's hand, and He chooses the time and field for the +sowing; but whether high or low, white or black, good or bad, how shall +a Messenger interpret truly for the stars except by going before their +elect, and introducing them, and making their paths smooth? Must he not +know them first?" + +A mighty impulsion here struck Mahommed. Recurring rather to what he had +heard from Mirza of the revelation dropped by the strange person met by +him during the pilgrimage, he felt himself about to be declared of the +elect, and unable to control his eagerness, he asked abruptly: + +"Knowest thou me, O Prince?" + +The manner of the Mystic underwent a change. He had been deferential, +even submissive; seldom a teacher so amiable and unmasterful; now he +concentrated his power of spirit, and shot it a continuing flash from +his large eyes. + +"Know thee, Lord Mahommed?" he answered, in a low voice, but clear and +searching, and best suited to the conflict he was ushering in--the +conflict of spirit and spirit. "Thou knowest not thyself as well." + +Mahommed shrank perceptibly--he was astonished. + +"I mean not reference to thy father--nor to the Christian Princess, thy +mother,--nor to thy history, which is of an obedient son and brave +soldier,--nor to thy education, unusual in those born inheritors of +royal power--I mean none of these, for they are in mouths everywhere, +even of the beggars nursing their sores by the waysides.... In thy +father's palace there was a commotion one night--thou wert about to be +born. A gold-faced clock stood in the birth chamber, the gift of a +German King, and from the door of the chamber eunuchs were stationed. +Exactly as the clock proclaimed midnight, mouth and mouth carried the +cry to a man on the roof--'A Prince is born! A Prince is born! Praised +be Allah!' He on the roof was seated at a table studying a paper with +the signs of the Zodiac in the usual formulary of a nativity. At the +coming of the cry, he arose, and observed the heavens intently; then he +shouted, 'There is no God but God! Lo, Mars, Lord of the Ascendant--Mars, +with his friends, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in happy configuration, and +the moon nowhere visible. Hail the Prince!' And while his answer was +passing below, the man on the roof marked the planets in their Houses +exactly as they were that midnight between Monday and Tuesday in the year +1430. Have I in aught erred, my lord?" + +"In nothing, O Prince." + +"Then I proceed.... The nativity came to me, and I cast and recast it +for the aspects, familiarities, parallels and triplicities of the hour, +and always with the same result. I found the sun, the angles and the +quality of the ambient signs favorable to a career which, when run, is +to leave the East radiant with the glory of an unsetting sun." + +Here the Jew paused, and bowed--"Now doth my Lord doubt if I know him +best?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DREAMS AND VISIONS + + +Mahommed sat awhile in deep abstraction, his face flushed, his hands +working nervously in their own clasp. The subject possessing him was +very pleasurable. How could it be else? + +On his side the Prince waited deferentially, but very observant. He was +confident of the impression made; he even thought he could follow the +young Turk's reflections point by point; still it was wisest to let him +alone, for the cooling time of the sober second thought would come, and +then how much better if there were room for him to believe the decision +his own. + +"It is very well, Prince," Mahommed said, finally, struggling to keep +down every sign of excitement. "I had accounts of you from Mirza the +Emir, and it is the truth, which neither of us will be the worse of +knowing, that I see nothing of disagreement in what he told me, and in +what you now tell me of yourself. The conceptions I formed of you are +justified: you are learned and of great experience; you are a good man +given to charity as the Prophet has ordered, and a believer in God. At +various times in the world's history, if we may trust the writers, great +men have had their greatness foretold them; now if I think myself in the +way of addition to the list of those so fortunate, it is because I put +faith in you as in a friendly Prophet." + +At this the Prince threw up both hands. + +"Friendly am I, my lord, more than friendly, but not a Prophet. I am +only a Messenger, an Interpreter of the Superior Powers." + +Much he feared the demands upon him if he permitted the impression that +he was a Prophet to go uncontradicted; as an astrologer, he could in +need thrust the stars between him and the unreasonable. And his judgment +was quickly affirmed. + +"As you will, O Prince," said Mahommed. "Messenger, interpreter, +prophet, whichever pleases you, the burden of what you bring me is +nevertheless of chiefest account. Comes a herald, we survey him, and ask +voucher for his pretensions; are we satisfied with them, why then he +gives place in our interest, and becomes secondary to the matter he +bears. Is it not so?" + +"It is righteously said, my Lord." + +"And when I take up this which you have brought me"--Mahommed laid a +hand upon his throat as if in aid of the effort he was making to keep +calm and talk with dignity--"I cannot deny its power; for when was there +an imaginative young man who first permitted ambition and love of glory +to build golden palaces for their abiding in his heart, with self-control +to stop his ears to promises apparently from Heaven? O Prince, if you are +indeed my friend, you will not laugh at me when you are alone!... +Moreover I would not you should believe your tidings received carelessly +or as a morsel sweet on my tongue; but as wine warms to the blood +coursing to the brain, it has started inquiries and anxieties you alone +can allay. And first, the great glory whose running is to fill the East, +like an unsetting sun, tell me of it; for, as we all know, glory is of +various kinds; there is one kind reserved for poets, orators, and +professors cunning in the arts, and another for cheer of such as find +delight in swords and bossy shields, and armor well bedight, and in +horses, and who exult in battle, and in setting armies afield, in +changing boundary lines, and in taking rest and giving respite in the +citadels of towns happily assaulted. And as of these the regard is +various, tell me the kind mine is to be." + +"The stars speak not doubtfully, my Lord. When Mars rises ascendant in +either of his Houses, they that moment born are devoted to war, and, +have they their bent, they shall be soldiers; nor soldiers merely, but +as the conjunctions are good, conquerors, and fortunate, and Samael, his +angel, becomes their angel. Has my Lord ever seen his nativity?" + +"Yes." + +"Then he knows whereof I speak." + +Mahommed nodded affirmatively, and said, "The fame is to my taste, doubt +not; but, Prince, were thy words duly weighed, then my glory is to be +surpassing. Now, I am of a line of heroes. Othman, the founder; Orchan, +father of the Janissaries; Solyman, who accepted the crescent moon seen +in a dream by the sea at Cyzicus as Allah's bidding to pass the +Hellespont to Tzympe in Europe; Amurath, conqueror of Adrianople; +Bajazet, who put an end to Christian crusading in the field of Nicopolis +--these filled the East with their separate renowns; and my father +Amurath, did he not subdue Hunyades? Yet, Prince, you tell me my glory is +to transcend theirs. Now--because I am ready to believe you--say if it is +to burst upon me suddenly or to signalize a long career. The enjoyment of +immortality won in youth must be a pleasant thing." + +"I cannot answer, my Lord" + +"Cannot?" + +And Mahommed's eagerness came near getting the better of his will. + +"I have nothing from the stars by which to speak, and I dare not assume +to reply for myself." + +Then Mahommed's eyes became severely bright, and the bones of his hands +shone white through the skin, so hard did he compress them. + +"How long am I to wait before the glory you promise me ripens ready for +gathering? If it requires long campaigns, shall I summon the armies now?" + +A tone, a stress of voice in the question sent a shiver through the +Prince despite his self-command. His gaze upon Mahommed's countenance, +already settled, intensified, and almost before the last word passed he +saw the idea he was expected to satisfy, and that it was the point to +which his interrogator had been really tending from the commencement of +the interview. To gain a moment, he affected not to clearly understand; +after a repetition, he in turn asked, with a meaning look: + +"Is not thy father, O Prince, now in his eighty-fifth year?" + +Mahommed leaned further forward. + +"And is it not eight and twenty years since he began reigning wisely and +well?" + +Mahommed nodded assent. + +"Suffer me to answer now. Besides his age which pleads for him, your +father has not allowed greatness and power to shade the love he gave you +heartily the hour he first took you in his arms. Nature protests against +his cutting off, and in this instance, O Prince, the voice of Nature is +the voice of Allah. So say I speaking for myself." + +Mahommed's face relaxed its hardness, and he moved and breathed freely +while replying: "I do not know what the influences require of me." + +"Speak you of the stars, my Lord," the other returned, "hear me, and +with distinctness. As yet they have intrusted me with the one +prediction, and that you have. In other words, they are committed to a +horoscope based upon your nativity, and from it your glory has been +rightly delivered. So much is permitted us by the astrologic law we +practise. But this now asked me, a circumstance in especial, appertains +to you as chief of forces not yet yours. Wherefore--heed well, my +Lord--I advise you to make note of the minute of the hour of the day you +gird yourself with the sword of sovereignty which, at this speaking, is +your great father's by sanction of Heaven; then will I cast a horoscope +for Mahommed the Sultan, not Mahommed, son of Amurath merely--then, by +virtue of my office of Interpreter of the Stars, having the proper +writing in my hand, I will tell you this you now seek, together with all +else pertaining to your sovereignty intrusted me for communication. I +will tell you when the glory is open to you, and the time for setting +forward to make it yours--even the dawning of the term of preparation +necessarily precedent to the movement itself. Now am I understood? Will +my Lord tell me I am understood?" + +An observation here may not be amiss. The reader will of course notice +the clever obtrusion of the stars in the speech; yet its real craft was +in the reservations covered. Presuming it possible for the Prince to +have fixed a time to Mahommed's satisfaction, telling it would have been +like giving away the meat of an apple, and retaining the rind. The wise +man who sets out to make himself a need to another will carefully +husband his capital. Moreover it is of importance to keep in mind +through this period of our story that with the Prince of India +everything was subsidiary to his scheme of unity in God. To which end it +was not enough to be a need to Mahommed; he must also bring the young +potentate to wait upon him for the signal to begin the movement against +Constantinople; for such in simplicity was the design scarcely concealed +under the glozing of "the East against the West." That is to say, until +he knew Constantine's disposition with respect to the superlative +project, his policy was delay. What, in illustration, if the Emperor +proved a friend? In falconry the hawk is carried into the field hooded, +and cast off only when the game is flushed. So the Prince of India +thought as he concluded his speech, and looked at the handsome face of +the Lord Mahommed. + +The latter was disappointed, and showed it. He averted his eyes, knit +his brows, and took a little time before answering; then a flash of +passion seized him. + +"With all thy wisdom, Prince, thou knowest not how hard waiting will be. +There is nothing in Nature sweeter than glory, and on the other hand +nothing so intolerably bitter as hungering for it when it is in open +prospect. What irony in the providence which permits us to harvest +greatness in the days of our decline! I dream of it for my youth, for +then most can be made of it. There was a Greek--not of the Byzantine +breed in the imperial kennel yonder"--he emphasized the negative with a +contemptuous glance in the direction of Constantinople--"a Greek of the +old time of real heroes, he who has the first place in history as a +conqueror. Think you he was happy because he owned the world? Delight in +property merely, a horse, a palace, a ship, a kingdom, is vulgar: any +man can be owner of something; the beggar polishes his crutch for the +same reason the king gilds his throne--it belongs to him. Possession +means satiety. But achieve thou immortality in thy first manhood, and it +shall remain to thee as the ring to a bride or as his bride to the +bridegroom.--Let it be as you say. I bow to the stars. Between me and +the sovereignty my father stands, a good man to whom I give love for +love; and he shall not be disturbed by me or any of mine. In so far I +will honor your advice; and in the other matter also, there shall be one +ready to note the minute of the hour the succession falls to me. But +what if then you are absent?" + +"A word from my Lord will bring me to him; and His Majesty is liable to +go after his fathers at any moment"-- + +"Ay, and alas!" Mahommed interposed, with unaffected sorrow, "a king may +keep his boundaries clean, and even extend them thitherward from the +centre, and be a fear unto men; yet shall death oblige him at last. All +is from God." + +The Prince was courtier enough to respect the feeling evinced. + +"But I interrupted you," Mahommed presently added. "I pray pardon." + +"I was about to say, my Lord, if I am not with you when His Majesty, +your father, bows to the final call--for the entertainment of such was +Paradise set upon its high hill!--let a messenger seek me in +Constantinople; and it may even serve well if the Governor of this +Castle be instructed to keep his gates always open to me, and himself +obedient to my requests." + +"A good suggestion! I will attend to it. But"-- + +Again he lapsed into abstraction, and the Prince held his peace +watchfully. + +"Prince," Mahommed said at length, "it is not often I put myself at +another's bidding, for freedom to go where one pleases is not more to a +common man than is freedom to do what pleases him to a sovereign; yet so +will I with you in this matter; and as is the custom of Moslems setting +out on a voyage I say of our venture, 'In the name of God be its courses +and its moorings.' That settled, hearken further. What you have given me +is not all comprehensible. As I understand you, I am to find the +surpassing glory in a field of war. Tell me, lies the field far or near? +Where is it? And who is he I am to challenge? There will be room and +occasion for combat around me everywhere, or, if the occasion exist not, +my Spahis in a day's ride can make one. There is nothing stranger than +how small a cause suffices us to set man against man, life or death. +But--and now I come to the very difficulty--looking here and there I +cannot see a war new in any respect, either of parties, or objects, or +pretence, out of which such a prodigious fame is to be plucked. You +discern the darkness in which I am groping. Light, O Prince--give me +light!" + +For an instant the mind of the Jew, sown with subtlety as a mine with +fine ore, was stirred with admiration of the quality so strikingly +manifested in this demand; but collecting himself, he said, calmly, for +the question had been foreseen: + +"My Lord was pleased to say a short while ago that the Emir Mirza, on +his return from the Hajj, told him of me. Did Mirza tell also of my +forbidding him to say anything of the predictions I then intrusted him?" + +"Yes," Mahommed answered, smiling, "and I have loved him for the +disobedience. He satisfied me to whom he thought his duty was first +owing." + +"Well, if evil ensue from the disclosure, it may be justly charged to my +indiscretion. Let it pass--only, in reporting me, did not Mirza say, +Lord Mahommed, that the prohibition I laid upon him proceeded from a +prudent regard for your interests?" + +"Yes." + +"And in speaking of the change in the status of the world I then +announced, and of the refluent wave the East was to pour upon the West"-- + +"And of the doom of Constantinople!" Mahommed cried, in a sudden +transport of excitement. + +"Ay, and of the hero thou wert to be, my Lord! Said he nothing of the +other caution I gave him, how absolute verity could only be had by a +recast of the horoscope at the city itself? And how I was even then on +my way thither?" + +"Truly, O Prince. Mirza is a marvel!" + +"Thanks, my Lord. The assurance prepares me to answer your last demand." + +Then, lowering his voice, the Prince returned to his ordinary manner. + +"The glory you are to look for will not depend upon conditions such as +parties to the war, or its immediate cause, or the place of its +wagement." + +Mahommed listened with open mouth. + +"My Lord knows of the dispute long in progress between the Pope of Rome +and the Patriarch of Constantinople; one claiming to be the head of the +Church of Christ, the other insisting on his equality. The dispute, my +Lord also knows, has been carried from East to West, and back and back +again, prelate replying to prelate, until the whole Church is falling to +pieces, and on every Christian tongue the 'Church East' and the 'Church +West' are common as morning salutations." + +Mahommed nodded. + +"Now, my Lord," the Prince continued, the magnetic eyes intensely bright, +"you and I know the capital of Christianity is yonder "--he pointed +toward Constantinople--"and that conquering it is taking from Christ and +giving to Mahomet. What more of definition of thy glory wilt thou +require? Thus early I salute thee a Sword of God." + +Mahommed sprang from his couch, and strode the floor, frequently clapping +his hands. Upon the passing of the ecstasy, he stopped in front of the +Prince. + +"I see it now--the feat of arms impossible to my father reserved for me." + +Again he walked, clapping his hands. + +"I pray your pardon," he said, when the fit was over. "In my great joy I +interrupted you." + +"I regret to try my Lord's patience further," the Prince answered, with +admirable diplomacy. "It were better, however, to take another step in +the explanation now. A few months after separating from Mirza in Mecca, +I arrived in Constantinople, and every night since, the heavens being +clear, I have questioned the stars early and late. I cannot repeat to my +Lord all the inquiries I made of them, so many were they, and so varied +in form, nor the bases I laid hold of for horoscopes, each having, as I +hoped, to do with the date of the founding of the city. What calculations +I have made--tables of figures to cover the sky with a tapestry of +algebraic and geometrical symbols: The walks of astrology are well known +--I mean those legitimate--nevertheless in my great anxiety, I have even +ventured into the arcana of magic forbidden to the Faithful. The seven +good angels, and the seven bad, beginning with Jubanladace, first of the +good, a celestial messenger, helmeted, sworded with flame, and otherwise +beautiful to behold, and ending with Barman, the lowest of the bad, the +consort and ally of witches--I besought them all for what they could tell +me. Is the time of the running of the city now, to-morrow, next week-- +when? Such the burden of my inquiry. As yet, my Lord, no answer has been +given. I am merely bid keep watch on the schism of the Church. In some +way the end we hope has connection with that rancor, if, indeed, it be +not the grand result. With clear discernment of the tendencies, the Roman +Pontiff is striving to lay the quarrel; but he speaks to a rising tide. +We cannot hasten the event; neither can he delay it. Our role is +patience--patience. At last Europe will fall away, and leave the Greek to +care of himself; then, my Lord, you have but to be ready. The end is in +the throes of its beginning now." + +"Still you leave me in the dark," Mahommed cried, with a frown. + +"Nay, my Lord, there is a chance for us to make the stars speak." + +The beguiler appeared to hesitate. + +"A chance?" Mahommed asked. + +"It is dependent, my Lord." + +"Upon what?" + +"The life of the Sultan, thy father." + +"Speak not in riddles, O Prince." + +"Upon his death, thou wilt enter on the sovereignty." + +"Still I see not clearly." + +"With the horoscope of Mahommed the Sultan in my hand, then certainly as +the stars perform their circuits, being set thereunto from the first +morning, they must respond to me; and then, find I Mars in the Ascendant, +well dignified essentially and accidentally, I can lead my Lord out of +the darkness." + +"Then, Prince?" + +"He may see the Christian capital at his mercy." + +"But if Mars be not in the Ascendant?" + +"My Lord must wait." + +Mahommed sprang to his feet, gnashing his teeth. + +"My Lord," said the Prince, calmly, "a man's destiny is never +unalterable; it is like a pitcher filled with wine which he is carrying +to his lips--it may be broken on the way, and its contents spilled. Such +has often happened through impatience and pride. What is waiting but the +wise man's hour of preparation?" + +The quiet manner helped the sound philosophy. Mahommed took seat, +remarking, "You remind me, Prince, of the saying of the Koran, +'Whatsoever good betideth thee, O man, it is from God, and whatsoever +evil betideth, from thyself is it.' I am satisfied. Only"-- + +The Prince summoned all his faculties again. + +"Only I see two periods of waiting before me; one from this until I take +up the sovereignty; the other thence till thou bringest me the mandate +of the stars. I fear not the second period, for, as thou sayest, I can +then lose myself in making ready; but the first, the meantime--ah, +Prince, speak of it. Tell me how I can find surcease of the chafing of +my spirit." + +The comprehension of the wily Hebrew did not fail him. His heart beat +violently. He was master! Once more he was in position to change the +world. A word though not more than "now," and he could marshal the East, +which he so loved, against the West, which he so hated. If Constantinople +failed him, Christianity must yield its seat to Islam. He saw it all +flash-like; yet at no time in the interview did his face betoken such +placidity of feeling. The _meantime_ was his, not Mahommed's--his to +lengthen or shorten--his for preparation. He could afford to be placid. + +"There is much for my Lord to do," he said. + +"When, O Prince--now?" + +"It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were his capital +temporarily in possession of another." + +The words caught attention, and it is hard saying what Mahommed's +countenance betokened. The reader must think of him as of a listener +just awakened to a new idea of infinite personal concern. + +"It is for him now to learn the city within and without," the Jew +proceeded; "its streets and edifices; its halls and walls; its strong +and weak places; its inhabitants, commerce, foreign relations; the +character of its ruler, his resources and policies; its daily events; +its cliques and clubs, and religious factions; especially is it for him +to foment the differences Latin and Greek." + +It is questionable if any of the things imparted had been so effective +upon Mahommed as this one. Not only did his last doubt of the man +talking disappear; it excited a boundless admiration for him, and the +freshest novitiate in human nature knows how almost impossible it is to +refuse trust when once we have been brought to admire. "Oh!" Mahommed +cried. "A pastime, a pastime, if I could be there!" + +"Nay, my Lord," said the insidious counsellor, with a smile, "how do +kings manage to be everywhere at the same time?" + +"They have their Ambassadors. But I am not a king." + +"Not yet a king"--the speaker laid stress upon the adverb--"nevertheless +public representation is one thing; secret agency another." + +Mahommed's voice sank almost to a whisper. + +"Wilt thou accept this agency?" + +"It is for me to observe the heavens at night, while calculations will +take my days. I trust my Lord in his wisdom will excuse me." + +"Where is one for the service? Name him, Prince--one as good." + +"There is one better. Bethink you, my Lord, the business is of a long +time; it may run through years." + +Mahommed's brow knit darkly at the reminder. + +"And he who undertakes it should enter Constantinople and live there +above suspicion. He must be crafty, intelligent, courtly in manner, +accomplished in arms, of high rank, and with means to carry his state +bravely, for not only ought he to be conspicuous in the Hippodrome; he +should be welcome in the palace. Along with other facilities, he must be +provided to buy service in the Emperor's bedroom and council chamber-- +nay, at his elbow. It is of prime importance that he possesses my Lord's +confidence unalterably. Am I understood?" + +"The man, Prince, the man!" + +"My Lord has already named him." + +"I?" + +"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him as a marvel." + +"Mirza!" exclaimed Mahommed, clapping his hands. + +"Mirza," the Prince returned, and proceeded without pause: "Despatch him +to Italy; then let him appear in Constantinople, embarked from a galley, +habited like a Roman, and with a suitable Italian title. He speaks +Italian already, is fixed in his religion, and in knightly honor. Not +all the gifts at the despot's disposal, nor the blandishments of society +can shake his allegiance--he worships my Lord." + +"My servant has found much favor with you, O Prince?" + +Accepting the remark as a question, the other answered: + +"Did I not spend the night with him at El Zaribah? Was I not witness of +his trial of faith at the Holy Kaaba? Have I not heard from my Lord +himself how, when put to choice, he ignored my prohibition respecting +the stars?" + +Mahommed arose, and again walked to and fro. + +"There is a trouble in this proposal, Prince," he said, halting abruptly. +"So has Mirza become a part of me, I am scarcely myself without him." + +Another turn across the floor, and he seemed to become reconciled. "Let +us have done for to-night," he next said. "The game is imperative, but it +will not be harmed by a full discussion. Stay with me to-morrow, Prince." + +The Prince remembered the Emperor. Not unlikely a message from that high +personage was at his house, received in course of the day. + +"True, very true, and the invitation is a great honor to me," he replied, +bowing; "but I am reminded that the gossips in Byzantium will feast each +other when to-morrow it passes from court to bazaar how the Princess +Irene and the Prince of India were driven by the storm to accept +hospitality in the White Castle. And if it get abroad, that Mahommed, son +of the great Amurath, came also to the Castle, who may foretell the +suspicions to hatch in the city? No, my Lord, I submit it is better for +me to depart with the Princess at the subsidence of the waters." + +"Be it so," Mahommed returned, cordially. "We understand each other. I +am to wait and you to communicate with me; and now, morning comes apace, +good night." + +He held his hand to the Jew; whereat the latter knelt and kissed the +hand, but retained it to say: + +"My Lord, if I know him rightly, will not sleep to-night; thought is an +enemy to sleep; and besides the inspiration there is in the destiny +promised, its achievement lies all before him. Yet I wish to leave +behind me one further topic, promising it is as much greater than any +other as the Heavens are higher than the earth." + +"Rise, Prince," said Mahommed, helping him to his feet. "Such +ceremonious salutation whether in reception or at departure may be +dispensed with hereafter; thou art not a stranger, but more than a +guest. I count thee my friend whom everything shall wait upon--even +myself. Speak now of what thou callest the greater scheme. I am most +curious." + +There was a silence while one might count ten slowly. The Jew in that +space concentrated the mysterious force of which he was master in great +store, so it shone in his eyes, gave tone to his voice, and was an +outgoing of WILL in overwhelming current. "Lord Mahommed," he said, "I +know you are a believer in God." + +The young Turk was conscious of a strange thrill passing through him +from brain to body. + +"In nature and every quality the God of the Jew, the Christian, and the +Moslem is the same. Take we their own sayings. Christ and Mahomet were +witnesses sent to testify of Him first, highest and alone--Him the +universal Father. Yet behold the perversity of man. God has been +deposed, and for ages believers in Him have been divided amongst +themselves; wherefore hate, jealousies, wars, battle and the smoke of +slaughter perpetually. But now is He at last minded to be restored. +Hear, Lord Mahommed, hear with soul and mortal ear!" + +The words and manner caught and exalted Mahommed's spirit. As Michael, +with a sweep of his wings, is supposed to pass the nether depths, an +impulsion bore the son of Amurath up to a higher and clearer plane. He +could not but hear. + +"Be it true now that God permits His presence to be known in human +affairs only when He has a purpose to justify His interposition; then, +as we dare not presume the capital of Christendom goes to its fall +without His permission, why your designation for the mighty work? That +you may be personally glorified, my Lord? Look higher. See yourself His +chosen instrument--and this the deed! From the seat of the Caesars, its +conquest an argument, He means you to bring men together in His name. +Titles may remain--Jew, Moslem, Christian, Buddhist--but there shall be +an end of wars for religion--all mankind are to be brethren in Him. This +the deed, my Lord--Unity in God, and from it, a miracle of the ages slow +to come but certain, the evolution of peace and goodwill amongst men. I +leave the idea with you. Good night!" + +Mahommed remained so impressed and confounded that the seer was +permitted to walk out as from an empty room. Mirza received him outside +the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DEPARTURE FROM THE WHITE CASTLE + + +The storm continued till near daybreak. At sunrise the wind abated, and +was rapidly succeeded by a dead calm; about the same time the last cloud +disappeared, leaving the sky an azure wonder, and the shores of the +Bosphorus far and near refreshed and purified. + +After breakfast, Mirza conducted the Prince of India to another private +audience with Mahommed. As the conference had relation to the subjects +gone over in the night, the colloquy may be dispensed with, and only the +conclusions given. + +Mahommed admitted he had not been able to sleep; in good spirits, +however, he agreed, if the Prince were accountable for the wakefulness, +he was to be forgiven, since he had fairly foretold it, and, like other +prophets, was entitled to immunity. The invitation to remain at the +Castle was renewed, and again declined. + +Mahommed next conceded the expediency of his waiting to hear what +further the stars might say with respect to the great business before +him, and voluntarily bound himself to passive conduct and silence; in +assuagement of the impatience he knew would torment him, he insisted, +however, upon establishing a line of couriers between his place of +residence, wherever it might be, and the White Castle. Intelligence +could thus be safely transmitted him from Constantinople. In furtherance +of this object the Governor of the Castle would be instructed to honor +the requests of the Prince of India. + +Mahommed condescended next to approve the suggestion of a secret agency +in Constantinople. Respecting a person for the service, the delicacy of +which was conceded, he had reached the conclusion that there was no one +subject to his control so fitted in every respect as Mirza. The +selection of the Emir might prove troublesome since he was a favorite +with the Sultan; if investigations consequent on his continued absence +were instituted, there was danger of their resulting in disagreeable +exposure; nevertheless the venture was worth the while, and as time was +important, the Emir should be sent off forthwith under instructions in +harmony with the Prince's advice. Or more clearly, he was to betake +himself to Italy immediately, and thence to the Greek capital, a +nobleman amply provided with funds for his maintenance there in +essential state and condition. His first duty when in the city should be +to devise communication with the White Castle, where connection with the +proposed line of couriers should be made for safe transmission of his +own reports, and such intelligence as the Prince should from time to +time consider it advisable to forward. + +This of course contemplated recognition and concert between the Emir and +the Prince. In token of his confidence in the latter, Mahommed would +constitute him the superior in cases of difference of opinion; though +from his knowledge of Mirza's romantic affection acquired in Mecca and +on the road thither, he had little apprehension of such a difference. + +Mahommed and the Prince were alike well satisfied with the conclusions +between them, and their leave-taking at the end of the audience was +marked with a degree of affection approaching that of father and son. + +About mid-afternoon the Prince and Sergius sallied from the Castle to +observe the water, and finding it quiet, they determined to embark. + +The formalities of reception in the Castle were not less rigidly +observed at the departure. In care of the eunuch the Princess and Lael +descended to the hall of entrance where they were received by the +supposed Governor, who was in armor thoroughly cleansed of dust and +skilfully furbished. His manner was even more gallant and dignified. He +offered his hand to assist the Princess to seat in the chair, and upon +taking it she glanced furtively at his face, but the light was too scant +for a distinct view. + +In the Castle and out there were no spectators. + +Passing the gate, the Princess bethought her of the story-teller, and +looked for him well as she could through the narrow windows. At the +landing, when the Governor had in silence, though with ease and grace, +helped her from the carriage, the porters being withdrawn, she proceeded +to acknowledgments. + +"I am sorry," she said, through her veil, "that I must depart without +knowing the name or rank of my host." + +"Had I greater rank. O Princess," he returned, gravely. "I should have +pleasure in introducing myself; for then there would be a hope that my +name supported by a title of dignity, would not be erased from your +memory by the gayeties of the city to which you are going. The White +Castle is a command suitable to one of humble grade, and to be saluted +Governor, because I am charged with its keeping, satisfies my pride for +the present. It is a convenient title, moreover, should you ever again +honor me with a thought or a word." + +"I submit perforce," she said. "Yet, Sir Governor, your name would have +saved me from the wonder of my kinsman, if not his open question, when, +as I am bound to, I tell him of the fair treatment and high courtesy you +have shown me and my friends here while in refuge in your Castle walls. +He knows it natural for the recipient of bounty to learn who the giver +is, with name and history; but how amazed and displeased he will be when +I barely describe your entertainment. Indeed, I fear he will think me +guilty of over description or condemn me for ingratitude." + +She saw the blood color his face, and noticed the air of sincerity with +which he replied. "Princess, if payment for what you have received at my +hands were worthy a thought, I should say now, and all my days through, +down to the very latest, that to have heard you speak so graciously is +an overprice out of computation." + +The veil hid her responsive blush; for there was something in his voice +and manner, possibly the earnestness marking them, which lifted the +words out of the commonplace and formal. She could not but see how much +more he left implied than actually expressed. For relief, she turned to +another subject. + +"If I may allude to a part of your generous attention, Sir Governor, +distinguishing it from the whole, I should like to admit the pleasure +had from the recitation of the Arabian story-teller. I will not ask his +name; still it must be a great happiness to traverse the world with +welcome everywhere, and everywhere and all the time accompanied and +inspired by a mind stored with themes and examples beautiful as the +history of El Hatim." + +A light singularly bright shone in the Governor's eyes, significant of a +happy idea, and with more haste than he had yet evinced, he replied: + +"O Princess, the name of the Arab is Aboo-Obeidah; in the desert they +call him the Singing Sheik, and among Moslems, city bred and tent born +alike, he is great and beloved. Such is his sanctity that all doors he +knocks at open to him, even those of harems zealously guarded. When he +arrives at Adrianople, in his first day there he will be conducted to +the Hanoum of the Sultan, and at her signal the ladies of the household +will flock to hear him. Now, would it please you, I will prevail on him +to delay his journey that he may visit you at your palace." + +"The adventure might distress him," she replied. + +"Say not so. In such a matter I dare represent and pledge him. Only give +me where you would have him come, and the time, O Princess, and he will +be there, not a star in the sky more constant." + +"With my promise of good welcome to him then," she said, well pleased, +"be my messenger, Sir Governor, and say in the morning day after +to-morrow at my palace by Therapia. And now thanks again, and farewell." + +So saying she held her hand to him, and he kissed it, and assisted her +into the boat. + +The adieux of the others, the Prince of India, Sergius and Lael, were +briefer. The Governor was polite to each of them; at the same time, his +eyes, refusing restraint, wandered to where the Princess sat looking at +him with unveiled face. + +In the mouth of the river the boats were brought together, and, while +drifting, she expressed the pleasure she had from the fortunate meeting +with the Prince; his presence, she doubted not, contributed greatly to +the good conclusion of what in its beginning seemed so unpromising. + +"Nor can I convey an idea of the confidence and comfortable feeling I +derived from the society of thy daughter," she added, speaking to the +Prince, but looking at Lael. "She was courageous and sensible, and I +cannot content myself until she is my guest at Therapia." + +"I would be greatly pleased," Lael said, modestly. + +"Will the Princess appoint a time?" the Wanderer asked. + +"To-morrow--or next week--at your convenience. These warm months are +delightful in the country by the water side. At Therapia, Prince--thou +and thine. The blessing of the Saints go with you--farewell." + +Then though the boats kept on down toward Constantinople, they +separated, and in good time the Prince of India and Lael were at home; +while the Princess carried Sergius to her palace in the city. Next day, +having provided him with the habit approved by metropolitan Greek +priests, she accompanied him to the patriarchal residence, introduced +him with expressions of interest, and left him in the holy keeping. + +Sergius was accepted and rated a neophyte, the vanity of the Byzantine +clergy scorning thought of excellence in a Russian provincial. He +entered upon the life, however, with humility and zeal, governed by a +friendly caution from the Princess. + +"Remember," she said to him, as they paused on the patriarchal doorsteps +for permission to enter, "remember Father Hilarion is regarded here as a +heretic. The stake, imprisonment in darkness for life, the lions in the +Cynegion, punishment in some form of approved cruelty awaits a follower +of his by open avowal. Patience then; and when endurance is tried most, +and you feel it must break, come to me at Therapia. Only hold yourself +in readiness, by reading and thought, to speak for our Christian faith +unsullied by human inventions, and bide my signal." + +And so did he observe everything and venture nothing that presently he +was on the road to high favor. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN EMBASSY TO THE PRINCESS IRENE + + +When the Princess Irene returned to Therapia next day, she found +awaiting her the Dean of the Court, an official of great importance to +whom the settlement of questions pertinent to rank was confided. The +state barge of fifteen oars in which he arrived was moored to the +marbles of the quay in front of her palace, a handsomely ornamented +vessel scarcely needing its richly liveried rowers to draw about it the +curious and idle of the town in staring groups. At sight of it, the +Princess knew there was a message for her from the Emperor. She lost no +time in notifying the Dean of her readiness to receive him. The +interview took place in the reception room. + +The Dean was a venerable man who, having served acceptably through the +preceding reign, was immensely discreet, and thoroughly indurate with +formalism and ceremony; wherefore, passing his speech and manner, it is +better worth the while to give, briefly as may be, the substance of the +communication he brought to the Princess. + +He was sure she remembered all the circumstances of the coronation of His +Majesty, the Emperor, and of His Majesty's entry into Constantinople; he +was not so certain, however, of her information touching some matters +distinguishable as domestic rather than administrative. Or she might know +of them, but not reliably. Thus she might not have heard authentically +that, immediately upon his becoming settled in the imperial seat, His +Majesty decided it of first importance to proceed to the selection of a +spouse. + +The Dean then expatiated on the difficulty of finding in all the world a +woman suitable for the incomparable honor. So many points entered into +the consideration--age, appearance, rank, education, religion, dowry, +politics--upon each of which he dwelt with the gravity of a philosopher, +the assurance of a favorite, and the garrulity of age. Having at length +presented the problem, and, he thought, sufficiently impressed the +Princess with its unexampled intricacies and perils, he next unfolded +the several things resolved upon and attempted in the way of solution. + +Every royal house in the West had been searched for its marriageable +females. At one time a daughter of the Doge of Venice was nearly chosen. +Unfortunately there were influential Greeks of greater pride than +judgment to object to the Doge. He was merely an elective chief. He +might die the very day after celebrating the espousals, and then--not +even the ducal robes were inheritable. No, the flower to deck the +Byzantine throne was not in the West. + +Thereupon the East was explored. For a time the election trembled between +a Princess of Trebizond and a Princess of Georgia. As usual the court +divided on the question, when, to quiet the factions, His Majesty ordered +Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, a courtier of learning and diplomatic +experience, who held the Emperor's confidence in greater degree than any +other court official, unless it might be the Dean himself, to go see the +rivals personally, and report with recommendation. The ambassador had +been gone two years. From Georgia he had travelled to Trebizond; still +nothing definite. The embassy, having been outfitted in a style to +adequately impress the semi-barbarians, was proving vastly expensive. His +Majesty, with characteristic wisdom, had determined to take the business +in his own keeping. There were many noble families in Constantinople. Why +not seek a consort among them? + +The scheme had advantages; not least, if a Byzantine could be found, the +Emperor would have the happiness of making the discovery and conducting +the negotiations himself--in common parlance, of doing his own courting. +There might be persons, the Dean facetiously remarked, who preferred +trusting the great affair of wife-choosing to ambassadors, but he had +never seen one of them. + +The ground covered by the ancient in his statement is poorly represented +by these paragraphs, ample as they may seem to the reader. Indeed, the +sun was falling swiftly into the lap of night when he thought of +concluding. Meantime the Princess listened silently, her patience +sustained by wonder at what it all meant. The enlightenment at last +came. + +"Now, my dear Princess," he said, lowering his voice, "you must know +"--he arose, and, as became one so endued with palace habits, peered +cautiously around. + +"Be seated, my Lord," she said; "there are no eyes in my doors nor ears +in my walls." + +"Oh, the matter is of importance--a state secret!" He drew the stool +nearer her. + +"You must know, dear Princess, that the Grand Chamberlain, Phranza, has +been negligent and remiss in the time he has consumed, saying nothing of +his lavishment of treasure so badly needed at home. Notaras, the Admiral, +and the Grand Domestic, are both pursuing His Majesty vigorously for +funds and supplies; worse still, the Patriarch lets slip no opportunity +to bid him look at the furniture of the churches going to ruin. The +imperial conscience being tender in whatever pertains to God and +religion, he has little peace left for prayers. Wherefore, there are +of us who think it would be loyalty to help secure a bride for His +Majesty at home, and thus make an end to the wasteful and inconclusive +touring of Phranza." + +The Dean drew yet nearer the Princess, and reduced his voice to a tone +slightly above a whisper. + +"Now you must know further--I am the author and suggestor of the idea of +His Majesty's choosing an Empress from the many noble and beautiful +dames and maidens of this our ancient city of Byzantium, in every +respect the equals, and in many points mentionable the superiors of the +best foreigner possible of finding." + +The Dean pursed his white-bearded mouth, and posed himself proudly; but +his auditor still holding her peace, he leaned forward further, and +whispered, "My dear Princess, I did more. I mentioned you to His +Majesty"-- + +The Princess started to her feet, whiter than whitest marble in the +Pentelic panelling of the room; yet in total misapprehension of her +feeling, the venerable intriguant went on without pause: "Yes, I +mentioned you to His Majesty, and to-morrow, Princess--to-morrow--he +will come here in person to see you, and urge his suit." + +He dropped on his knees, and catching her hand, kissed it. + +"O Princess, fairest and most worthy, suffer me first of all the court +to congratulate you on the superlative honor to which you will he +invited. And when you are in the exalted position, may I hope to he +remembered"-- + +He was not permitted to finish the petition. Withdrawing her hand with +decisive action, she bade him be silent or speak to her questions. And +he was silent through surprise. + +In such manner she gained an interval for thought. The predicament, as +she saw it, was troublesome and unfortunate. Honor was intended her, the +highest in the imperial gift, and the offer was coming with never a +doubt of its instantaneous and grateful acceptance. Remembering her +obligations to the Emperor, her eyes filled with tears. She respected +and venerated him, yet could not be his Empress. The great title was not +a sufficient inducement. But how manage the rejection? She called on the +Virgin for help. Directly there was a way exposed. First, she must save +her benefactor from rejection; second, the Dean and the court must never +know of the course of the affair or its conclusion. + +"Rise, my Lord," she said, kindly though with firmness. "The receiver of +great news, I thank you, and promise, if ever I attain the throne to +hold you in recollection. But now, so am I overwhelmed by the prospect, +I am not myself. Indeed, my Lord, would you increase my indebtedness to +its utmost limit, take every acknowledgment as said, and leave me--leave +me for preparation for the morrow's event. God, his Son and angels only +know the awfulness of my need of right direction and good judgment." + +He had the wit to see her agitation, and that it was wisest for him to +depart. + +"I will go, Princess," he said, "and may the Holy Mother give you of her +wisdom also." She detained him at the door to ask: "Only tell me, my +Lord, did His Majesty send you with this notice?" + +"His Majesty honored me with the message." + +"At what hour will he come?" + +"In the forenoon." + +"Report, I pray you then, that my house will be at his service." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE EMPEROR'S WOOING + + +About ten o'clock the day following the extraordinary announcement +given, a galley of three banks of oars, classed a _trireme_, rounded +the seaward jut of the promontory overhanging the property of the +Princess Irene at Therapia. + +The hull of the vessel was highly ornate with gilding and carving. At +the how, for figure-head, there was an image of the Madonna of the +_Panagia_, or Holy Banner of Constantinople. The broad square sail +was of cherry-red color, and in excellent correspondence, the oars, +sixty to a side, were painted a flaming scarlet. When filled, the sail +displayed a Greek cross in golden filament. The deck aft was covered +with a purple awning, in the shade of which, around a throne, sat a +grave and decorous company in gorgeous garments; and among them moved a +number of boys, white-shirted and bare of head, dispensing perfume from +swinging censers. Forward, a body guard, chosen from the household +troops and full armed, were standing at ease, and they, with a corps of +trumpeters and heralds in such splendor of golden horns and tabards of +gold as to pour enrichment over the whole ship, filled the space from +bulwark to bulwark. The Emperor occupied the throne. + +This galley, to which the harmonious movement of the oars gave a +semblance of life, in the distance reminding one of a great bird +fantastically feathered and in slow majestic motion, was no sooner hove +in sight than the townspeople were thrown into ferment. A flotilla of +small boats, hastily launched, put out in racing order to meet and +escort it into the bay, and before anchorage was found, the whole shore +was astir and in excited babblement. + +A detachment of the guard was first landed on the quay in front of the +Princess' gate. Accepting the indication, thither rushed the populace; +for in truth, since the occupation of the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus +by the Turks, the Emperor seldom extended his voyages far as Therapia. +Then, descending the sides by carpeted stairs, the suite disembarked, +and after them, amidst a tremendous flourish from the trumpet corps, +Constantine followed. + +The Emperor, in his light boat, remained standing during the passage to +the shore that he might be seen by the people; and as he then appeared, +helmed and in close-fitting cuirass, his arms in puffed sleeves of red +silk, his legs, below a heavily embroidered narrow skirt, clothed in +pliant chain mail intricately linked, his feet steel-shod, a purple +cloak hanging lightly at the back from neck to heel, and spurred and +magnificently sworded, and all agleam with jewels and gold, it must be +conceded he justified his entitlement. + +At sight of his noble countenance, visible under the raised visor, the +spectators lifted their voices in hearty acclamations--"God and +Constantine! Live the Emperor!" + +It really seemed as if the deadly factiousness of the capital had not +reached Therapia. In the lifted head, the brightened eyes, the gracious +though stately bows cast right and left, Constantine published the +pleasure the reception was giving him. + +A long flourish timed his march through the kiosk of the gate, and along +the shell-strewn, winding road, to the broad steps leading to the +portico of the palace; there, ascending first, he was received by the +Princess. + +Amid a group of maids in attendance, all young, fair, high-born, she +stood, never more tastefully attired, never more graceful and +self-possessed, never more lovely, not even in childhood before the +flitting of its virginal bloom; and though the portico was garden-like +in decoration, vines, roses and flowering shrubs everywhere, the +sovereign had eyes for her alone. + +Just within the line of fluted pillars he halted, and drew himself up, +smiling as became a suitor, yet majestic as became a king. Then she +stepped forward, and knelt, and kissed his hand, and when he helped her +to her feet, and before the flush on her forehead was gone, she said: + +"Thou art my sovereign and benefactor; nor less for the goodnesses thou +hast done to thy people, and art constantly doing, welcome, O my Lord, +to the house thou didst give me." + +"Speak not so," he replied. "Or if it please thee to give me credit, be +it for the things which in some way tried me, not those I did for +reward." + +"Reward!" + +"Ay, for such are pleasure and peace of mind." + +Then one by one, she naming them as they advanced, her attendants knelt, +and kissed the floor in front of him, and had each a pleasant word, for +he permitted none to excel him in decorous gallantry to good women. + +In return, he called the officers of his company according to their rank; +his brother, who had afterward the grace to die with him; the Grand +Domestic, general of the army; the Grand Duke Notaras, admiral of the +navy; the Grand Equerry (_Protostrator_); the Grand Chancellor of the +Empire (_Logothete_); the Superintendent of Finance; the Governor of the +Palace (_Curopalate_); the Keeper of the Purple Ink; the Keeper of the +Secret Seal; the First Valet; the Chief of the Night Guard (_Grand +Drumgaire_); the Chief of the Huntsmen (_Protocynege_); the Commander of +the Body Guard of Foreigners (_Acolyte_); the Professor of Philosophy; +the Professor of Elocution and Rhetoric; the Attorney General +(_Nornophylex_); the Chief Falconer (_Protojeracaire_) and others--these +he called one by one, and formally presented to the Princess, not minding +that with many of them she was already acquainted. + +They were for the most part men advanced in years, and right well +skilled in the arts of courtiership. The _empressement_ of manner +with which they saluted her was not lost upon her woman's instinct; +infinitely quick and receptive, she knew without a word spoken, that +each left his salute on her hand believing it the hand of his future +Empress. Last of those presented was the Dean of the Court. He was +noticeably formal and distant; besides being under the eye of his +master, the wily diplomat was more doubtful of the outcome of the day's +visit than most of his colleagues. + +"Now," the Princess said, when the presentation was finished, "will my +most noble sovereign suffer me to conduct him to the reception room?" + +The Emperor stepped to her side, and offered his hand. "Pardon, Sire," +she added, taking the hand. "It is necessary that I speak to the Dean." + +And when the worthy came to her, she said to him: "Beyond this, under +the portico, are refreshments for His Majesty's suite. Serve me, I pray, +by leading thy colleagues thither, and representing me at the tables. +Command the servants whom thou wilt find there." + +Now the reader must not suppose he is having in the foregoing +descriptions examples of the style of ceremonials most in fashion at the +Greek court. Had formality been intended, the affair would have been the +subject of painstaking consideration at a meeting of officials in the +imperial residence, and every point within foresight arranged; after +which the revolution of the earth might have quickened, and darkness +been unnaturally precipitated, without inducing the slightest deviation +from the programme. + +When resolving upon the visit, Constantine considerately thought of the +Princess' abhorrence of formality, and not to surprise her, despatched +the Dean with notice of the honor intended. Whereupon she arranged the +reception to suit herself; that is, so as to remain directress of the +occasion. Hence the tables under the portico for the entertainment of +the great lords, with the garden open to them afterward. This management, +it will be perceived, left Constantine in her separate charge. + +So, while the other guests went with the Dean, she conducted the Emperor +to the reception room, where there were no flowers, and but one armless +chair. When he was seated, the two alone, she knelt before him, and +without giving him time to speak, said, her hands crossed upon her +bosom: "I thank my Lord for sending me notice of his coming, and of his +purpose to invite me to share his throne. All night I have kept the +honor he intended me in mind, believing the Blessed Mother would listen +to my prayers for wisdom and right direction; and the peace and +confidence I feel, now that I am at my Lord's feet, must be from her.... +Oh, my Lord, the trial has not been what I should do with the honor, +but how to defend you from humiliation in the eyes of your court. I wish +to be at the same time womanly and allegiant. How gentle and merciful +you have been to me! How like a benignant God to my poor father! If I am +in error, may Heaven forgive me; but I have led you here to say, without +waiting for the formal proposal, that while you have my love as a +kinswoman and subject, I cannot give you the love you should have from a +wife." + +Constantine was astonished. + +"What!" he said. + +Before he could get further, she continued, sinking lower at his feet: + +"Ah me, my Lord, if now thou art thinking me bold and forward, and +outcast from natural pride, what can I but plead the greater love I bear +you as my benefactor and sovereign? ... It may be immodest to thus +forestall my Lord's honorable intent, and decline being his wife before +he has himself proposed it; yet I pray him to consider that with this +avowal from me, he may go hence and affirm, God approving the truth, +that he thought better of his design, and did not make me any overture +of marriage, and there will be no one to suffer but me.... The +evil-minded will talk, and judge me punished for my presumption. Against +them I shall always have a pure conscience, and the knowledge of having +rescued my Lord from an associate on his throne who does not love him +with wifely devotion." + +Pausing there, the Princess looked into his face, her own suffused. His +head drooped; insomuch that the tall helmet with its glitter, and the +cuirass, and fine mail reenforced by the golden spurs and jewelled +sword and sword-harness, but deepened the impression of pain bewrayed on +his countenance. + +"Then it is as I have heard," he said, dejectedly. "The rustic hind may +have the mate of his choice, and there is preference allowed the bird +and wild wolf. The eye of faith beholds marriages of love in meeting +waters and in clouds brought together from diverse parts. Only Kings are +forbidden to select mates as their hearts declare. I, a master of life +and death, cannot woo, like other men." + +The Princess moved nearer him. + +"My Lord," she said, earnestly, "is it not better to be denied choice +than to be denied after choosing?" + +"Speakest thou from experience?" he asked. + +"No," she answered, "I have never known love except of all God's +creatures alike." + +"Whence thy wisdom then?" + +"Perhaps it is only a whisper of pride." + +"Perhaps, perhaps! I only know the pain it was intended to relieve goes +on." Then, regarding her moodily, not angrily, nor even impatiently, he +continued: "Did I not know thee true as thou art fair, O Princess, and +good and sincere as thou art brave, I might suspect thee." + +"Of what, my Lord?" + +"Of an intent to compass my misery. Thou dost stop my mouth. I may not +declare the purpose with which I came--I to whom it was of most interest +--or if I do, I am forestopped saying, 'I thought better of it, and told +her nothing.' Yet it was an honorable purpose nursed by sweet dreams, and +by hopes such as souls feed upon, strengthening themselves for trials of +life; I must carry it back with me, not for burial in my own breast, but +for gossips to rend and tear, and make laughter of--the wonder and +amusement of an unfeeling city. How many modes of punishment God keeps in +store for the chastening of those who love Him!" + +"It is beggarly saying I sympathize"-- + +"No, no--wait!" he cried, passionately. "Now it breaks upon me. I may +not offer thee a seat on my throne, or give a hand to help thee up to +it; for the present I will not declare I love thee; yet harm cannot come +of telling thee what has been. Thou hadst my love at our first meeting. +I loved thee then. As a man I loved thee, nor less as an Emperor because +a man. Thou wast lovely with the loveliness of the angels. I saw thee in +a light not of earth, and thou wert transparent as the light. I descended +from the throne to thee thinking thou hadst collected all the radiance of +the sun wasting in the void between stars, and clothed thyself in it." + +"Oh, my Lord"-- + +"Not yet, not yet"-- + +"Blasphemy and madness!" + +"Be it so!" he answered, with greater intensity. "This once I speak as a +lover who was--a lover making last memories of the holy passion, to be +henceforth accounted dead. Dead? Ah, yes!--to me--dead to me!" + +She timidly took the hand he dropped upon his knee at the close of a +long sigh. + +"It may rest my Lord to hear me," she said, tearfully. "I never doubted +his fitness to be Emperor, or if ever I had such a doubt, it is no more. +He has conquered himself! Indeed, indeed, it is sweet to hear him tell +his love, for I am woman; and if I cannot give it back measure for +measure, this much may be accepted by him--I have never loved a man, and +if the future holds such a condition in store for me, I will think of my +Lord, and his strength and triumph, and in my humbler lot do as he has +so nobly done. He has his Empire to engage him, and fill his hours with +duties; I have God to serve and obey with singleness. Out of the prison +where my mother died, and in which my father grew old counting his years +as they slowly wore away, a shadow issued, and is always at hand to ask +me, 'Who art thou? What right hast thou to happiness?' And if ever I +fall into the thought so pleasant to woman, of loving and being loved, +and of marriage, the shadow intervenes, and abides with me until I +behold myself again bounden to religion, a servant vowed to my fellow +creatures sick, suffering, or in sorrow." + +Then the gentle Emperor fell to pitying her, and asked, forgetful of +himself, and thinking of things to lighten her lot, "Wilt thou never +marry?" + +"I will not say no, my Lord," she answered. "Who can foresee the turns +of life? Take thou this in reply--never will I surrender myself to +wedlock under urgency of love alone. But comes there some great +emergency, when, by such sacrifice, I may save my country, or my +countrymen in multitude, or restore our holy religion overthrown or in +danger, then, for the direct God-service there may be in it, I could +give myself in contract, and would." + +"Without love?" he asked. + +"Yes, without loving or being loved. This body is not mine, but God's, +and He may demand it of me for the good of my fellow-men; and, so there +be no tarnishment of the spirit, my Lord, why haggle about the husk in +which the spirit is hidden?" + +She spoke with enthusiasm. Doubt of her sincerity would have been +blasphemous. That such fate should be for her, so bright, pure and +heroic! Not while he had authority! And in the instant he vowed himself +to care of her by resolution strong as an oath. In thought of the +uncertainties lowering over his own future, he saw it was better she +should remain vowed to Heaven than to himself; thereupon he arose, and +standing at her side, laid a hand lightly upon her head, and said +solemnly: + +"Thou hast chosen wisely. May the Blessed Mother, and all the ministering +angels, in most holy company, keep guard lest thou be overtaken by +calamity, sorrow and disappointment. And, for me, O Irene!"--his voice +shook with emotion--"I shall be content if now thou wilt accept me for +thy father." + +She raised her eyes, as to Heaven, and said, smiling: "Dear God! How +Thou dost multiply goodnesses, and shower them upon me!" + +He stooped, and kissed her forehead. + +"Amen, sweet daughter!" + +Then he helped her to her feet. + +"Now, while thou wert speaking, Irene, it was given me to see how the +betrothal I was determined upon would have been a crime aside from +wresting thee from the service of thy choice. Phranza is a true and +faithful servant. How know I but, within his powers, and as he lawfully +might, he has contracted me by treaty to acceptance of the Georgian? +Thou hast saved me, and my ancient Chamberlain. Those under the portico +are conspirators. But come, let us join them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SINGING SHEIK + + +IT was about ten o'clock when the Emperor and Princess Irene appeared on +the portico, and, moving toward the northern side, wended slowly through +the labyrinth of flowers, palms, and shrubs. The courtiers and +dignitaries, upon their approach, received them in respectful silence, +standing in groups about the tables. + +A chair, with arms, high back, and a canopy, looking not unlike a +sedilium, had been set in an open space. The reservation was further +marked by a table in front of the chair, and two broad-branched palm +trees, one on each side. Thither the Princess conducted the sovereign; +and when he was seated, at a signal from her, some chosen attendants +came bearing refreshments, cold meats, bread, fruits, and wines in +crystal flagons, which they placed on the table, and retiring a little +way, remained in waiting, while their mistress, on a stool at the left +of the board, did the honors. + +The introduction of a queen into a palace is usually the signal for a +change of the existing domestic regime. Old placeholders go out; new +favorites come in; and not seldom the revolution reaches the highest +official circles of the government. The veterans of the suite, to some +of whom this bit of knowledge had come severely home, were very watchful +of the two superior personages. Had His Majesty really exposed his +intent to the Princess? Had he declared himself to her? Had she +accepted? The effect was to trebly sharpen the eyes past which the two +were required to go on their way to the reserved table. + +Mention has been made of Phranza, the Grand Chamberlain, at the moment +absent on a diplomatic search for an imperial consort. Of all attaches +of the court, he was first in his master's regard; and the distinction, +it is but just to say, was due to his higher qualities and superior +character. The term _favorite_, as a definition of relationship +between a despot and a dependent, is historically cloudy; wherefore it +is in this instance of unfair application. Intimate or confidante is +much more exactly descriptive. But be that as it may, the good +understanding between the Emperor and his Grand Chamberlain was amply +sufficient to provoke the jealousy of many of the latter's colleagues, +of whom Duke Notaras, Grand Admiral, and the most powerful noble of the +Empire, was head and front. The scheme for the elevation of the Princess +to the throne originated with him, and was aimed malevolently at +Phranza, of whom he was envious, and Constantine, whom he hated on +religious grounds. Interest in the plot brought him to Therapia; yet he +held himself aloof, preferring the attitude of a spectator coldly polite +to that of an active partisan in the affair. He declined sitting at a +table, but took position between two of the columns whence the view of +the bay was best. There were numbers of the suite, however, who +discredited the motive with which he chose the place. + +"See Notaras," said one of a group, whispering to friends drinking wine +a little way off. "The scene before him is charming, but is he charmed +with it as he appears?" + +"There was an old demi-god with an eye in his forehead. Notaras' best +orb just now is in the back of his head. He may be looking at the bay; +he is really watching the portico"--such was the reply. + +"Out! He cares nothing for us." + +"Very true--we are not the Emperor." + +"My Lord Duke is not happy to-day," was remarked in another coterie. + +"Wait, my dear friend. The day is young." + +"If this match should not be made after all"-- + +"He will know it first." + +"Yes, nothing from the lovers, neither smile nor sigh, can escape him." + +The Professor of Philosophy and his brother the Professor of Rhetoric +ate and drank together, illustrating the affinity of learning. + +"Our Phranza is in danger," said the latter, nervously. "As thou art a +subscriber to the doctrine of the _Phaedon_, I wish we could disembody +our souls, if only for an hour." + +"Oh, a singular wish! What wouldst thou?" + +"Tell it not; but"--the voice dropped into a whisper--"I would despatch +mine in search of the wise Chamberlain to warn him of what is here in +practice." + +"Ah, my brother, thou didst me the honor to read and approve my treatise +on the Philosophy of Conspiracy. Dost thou remember the confounding +elements given in the thesis?" + +"Yes--Goodness is one." + +"Under condition; that is, when the result is dependent upon a party of +virtuous disposition." + +"I remember now." + +"Well, we have the condition here." + +"The Princess!" + +"And therefore the Duke, not our Phranza, is in danger. She will +discomfit him." + +"May Heaven dispose so!" And the Rhetorician almost immediately added, +"Observe thou. Notaras has established himself within easy hearing of +the two. He has actually invaded the space reserved for them." + +"As if to confirm my forecast!" + +Then the Philosopher raised a cup. + +"To Phranza!" + +"To Phranza!" the Rhetorician responded. + +This episode hardly concluded when the Emperor's brother sauntered to +the Duke's side; and on the appearance of the Emperor and the Princess, +he exclaimed, enthusiastically: + +"Come of it what may, my Lord, the damsel is comely, and I fear not to +compare her with the best of Trebizond or Georgia." + +The Duke did not answer. Indeed, the lords were all intent upon exactly +the same subject. Whether there had been an overture and an acceptance, +or an overture and a declination, they believed the principals could not +conceal the result; a look, a gesture, or something in the manner of one +or both of them, would tell the tale to eyes of such practical +discernment. By the greater number the information would be treated as +news for discussion merely; a few had hopes or fears at stake; none of +them was so perilously involved as Notaras; in his view, failure meant +the promotion of Phranza, of all consequences, not excepting his own +loss of favor and prestige, the most intolerable. + +On the other part, Constantine was not less concerned in misleading his +court. At the proper time he would give out that he had changed his mind +at the last moment; before engaging himself to the Princess, he had +concluded it best to wait and hear from Phranza. Accordingly, in passing +along the portico, he endeavored to look and behave like a guest; he +conversed in an ordinary tone; he suffered his hostess to precede him; +and, well seconded by her, he was installed in the state chair, without +an argument yes or no for the sharp reviewers. At the table he appeared +chiefly solicitous to appease an unusual hunger, which he charged to the +early morning air on the Bosphorus. + +Notaras, whom nothing of incident, demeanor or remark escaped, began +very early to be apprehensive. Upon beholding his master's unlover-like +concession to appetite, he remarked sullenly, "Verily, either his +courage failed, and he did not submit a proposal, or she has rejected +him." + +"My Lord Duke," the Emperor's brother replied, somewhat stung, "dost +thou believe it in woman to refuse such an honor?" + +"Sir," the Duke retorted, "women who go about unveiled are above or +below judgment." + +The Princess, in her place at the table, began there to recount her +adventure at the White Castle, but when far enough in the recital to +indicate its course the Emperor interrupted her. + +"Stay, daughter," he said, gently. "The incident may prove of +international interest. If not objectionable to you, I should be pleased +to have some of my friends hear it." Then raising his voice, he called +out: "Notaras, and thou, my brother, come, stand here. Our fair hostess +had yesterday an astonishing experience with the Turks on the other +shore, and I have prevailed on her to narrate it." The two responded to +the invitation by drawing nearer the Emperor at his right hand. + +"Proceed now, daughter," the latter said. + +"Daughter, daughter, indeed!" the Duke repeated to himself, and so +bitterly it may be doubted if his master's diplomacy availed to put him +at rest. The paternalism of the address was decisive--Phranza had won. + +Then, presently overcoming her confusion, the Princess succeeded in +giving a simple but clear account of how she was driven to the Castle, +and of what befell her while there. When she finished, the entire suite +were standing about the table listening. + +Twice she had been interrupted by the Emperor. + +"A moment!" he said to her, while she was speaking of the Turkish +soldiery whose arrival at the ancient stronghold had been so nearly +simultaneous with her own. Then he addressed himself to the Grand +Domestic and the Admiral. "My Lords, in passing the Castle, on our way +up, you remember I bade the pilot take our ship near the shore there. It +seemed to me the garrison was showing unusually large, while the flags +on the donjon were strange, and the tents and horses around the walls +implied an army present. You remember?" + +"And we have now, Sire, the justification of your superior wisdom," the +Grand Domestic replied, rising from a low salutation. + +"I recall the circumstance, my Lords, to enjoin you not to suffer the +affair to slip attention when next we meet in council--I pray pardon, +daughter, for breaking the thread of your most interesting and important +narrative. I am prepared to listen further." + +Then, after description of the Governor, and his reception of the +fugitives on the landing, His Majesty, with apologies, asked permission +to offer another inquiry. + +"Of a truth, daughter, the picture thou hast given us under the title of +Governor beareth no likeness to him who hath heretofore responded to +that dignity. At various times I have had occasion to despatch messengers +to the commandant, and returning, they have reported him a coarse, +unrefined, brutish-looking person, of middle age and low rank; and much I +marvel to hear the freedom with which this person doth pledge my august +friend and ally, Sultan Amurath. My Lords, this will furnish us an +additional point of investigation. Obviously the Castle is of military +importance, requiring an old head full of experience to keep it regardful +of peace and clear understanding between the powers plying the Bosphorus. +We are always to be apprehensive of the fire there is in young blood." + +"With humility, Your Majesty," said the Grand Domestic, "I should like +to hear from the Princess, whose loveliness is now not more remarkable +than her courage and discretion, the evidence she has for the opinion +that the young man is really the Governor." + +She was about to reply when Lysander, the old servant, elbowed himself +through the brilliant circle, and dropped his javelin noisily by her +chair. + +"A stranger calling himself an Arab is at the gate," he said to her, +with the semblance of a salutation. + +The simplicity of the ancient, his zeal in the performance of his office, +his obliviousness to the imperial presence, caused a ripple of amusement. + +"An Arab!" the Princess exclaimed, in momentary forgetfulness. "How does +the man appear?" + +Lysander was in turn distraught; after a short delay, however, he +managed to answer: "His face is dark, almost black; his head is covered +with a great cloth of silk and gold; a gown hides him from neck to +heels; in his girdle there is a dagger. He has a lordly air, and does +not seem in the least afraid. In brief, my mistress, he looks as if he +might be king of all the camel drivers in the world." + +The description was unexpectedly graphic; even the Emperor smiled, while +many of the train, presuming license from his amusement, laughed aloud. +In the midst of the merriment, the Princess, calmly, and with scarce a +change from her ordinary tone, proceeded to an explanation. + +"Your Majesty," she said, "I am reminded of an invitation left with the +person whose identity was in discussion the instant of this announcement. +In the afternoon, while I was sojourning in the White Castle, an Arab +story-teller was presented to me under recommendation of my courteous +host. He was said to be of great professional renown in the East, a Sheik +travelling to Adrianople for the divertisement of the Hanoum of the +Sultan. In the desert they call him endearingly the _Singing Sheik_. I +was glad to have the hours assisted in their going, and he did not +disappoint me. So charmed was I by his tales and manner of telling them, +by his genius, that in taking my departure from what proved a most +agreeable retreat, and in acknowledging the hospitable entertainment +given me, I referred to the singer, and requested the Governor to prevail +on him to extend his journey here, in order to favor me with another +opportunity to hear him. Had I then known it was in my Lord's purposes to +visit me with such a company of most noble gentlemen, or could I have +even anticipated the honor, I should not have appointed to-day for the +audience with him. But he is in attendance; and now, with full +understanding of the circumstances, it is for Your Majesty to pronounce +upon his admission. Perhaps"--she paused with a look of deprecation +fairly divisible share and share alike between the Emperor and the Lords +around her--"perhaps time may hang heavy with my guests this morning; if +so, I shall hold myself obliged to the Singing Sheik if he can help me +entertain them." + +Now, was there one present to attach a criticism to the favor extended +the Arab, he dismissed it summarily, wondering at her easy grace. The +Emperor no doubt shared the admiration with his suite; but concealing +it, he said, with an air of uncertainty, "Thy recommendation, daughter, +is high; and if I remain, verily, it will be with expectation wrought up +to a dangerous degree; yet having often heard of the power of the +strolling poets of whom this one is in probability an excellent example, +I confess I should be pleased to have thee admit him." + +Of the Admiral, he then asked, "We were to set out in return about noon, +were we not?" + +"About noon, Your Majesty." + +"Well, the hour is hardly upon us. Let the man appear, daughter; only, +as thou lovest us, contrive that he keep to short recitals, which, +without holding us unwillingly, will yet suffice to give an idea of his +mind and methods. And keep thyself prepared for an announcement of our +departure, and when received, mistake it not for discontent with +thyself. Admit the Arab." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TWO TURKISH TALES + + +The situation now offered the reader is worth a pause, if only to fix it +in mind. + +Constantine and Mahommed, soon to be contestants in war, are coming face +to face, lovers both of the same woman. The romance is obvious; yet it +is heightened by another circumstance. One of them is in danger. + +We of course know Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, is Prince Mahommed in +disguise; we know the Prince also as heir of Amurath the Sultan, a very +old man liable to vacate place and life at any moment. Suppose now the +rash adventurer--the term fits the youth truly as if he were without +rank--should be discovered and denounced to the Emperor. The +consequences can only be treated conjecturally. + +In the first place, to what extremities the Prince would be put in +explaining his presence there. He could plead the invitation of the +Princess Irene. But his rival would be his judge, and the judge might +find it convenient to laugh at the truth, and rest his decision on the +prisoner's disguise, in connection with his own presence--two facts +sufficiently important to serve the most extreme accusation. + +Constantine, next, was a knightly monarch who knew to live nobly, and +dared die as he lived; yet, thinking of what he might do with Mahommed +fallen into his hands under circumstances so peculiar, there was never a +Caesar not the slave of policy. In the audience to Manuel the sailor, we +have seen how keenly sensitive he was to the contraction the empire had +suffered. Since that day, to be sure, he had managed to keep the +territory he came to; none the less, he felt the Turk to whom the stolen +provinces invariably fell was his enemy, and that truce or treaty with +him did not avail to loosen the compression steadily growing around his +capital. Over and over, daytime and night, the unhappy Emperor pondered +the story of the daughter of Tantalus; and often, starting from dreams +in which the Ottoman power was a serpent slowly crawling to its victim, +he would cry in real agony--"O Constantinople--Niobe! Who can save thee +but God? And if He will not--alas, alas!" The feeling thus engendered +was not of a kind to yield readily to generosity. Mahommed once securely +his, everything might be let go--truth, honor, glory--everything but the +terms of advantage purchasable with such an hostage. + +The invitation to the imaginary Sheik had been a last act of grace by +Irene, about to embark for the city. Mahommed, when he accepted, knew +Therapia by report a village very ancient historically, but decaying, +and now little more than a summer resort and depot of supplies for +fishermen. That its proverbial quietude would be disturbed, and the +sleepy blood of its inhabitants aroused, by a royal galley anchoring in +the bay to discharge the personnel of the empire itself, could have had +no place in his anticipations. So when he stepped into a boat, the +Aboo-Obeidah of his eulogy, and suffered himself, without an attendant, +to be ferried across to Roumeli-Hissar; when he there took an humble +wherry of two oars, and bade the unliveried Greeks who served them pull +for Therapia, it was to see again the woman who was taking his fancy +into possession, not Constantine and his court bizarre in splendor and +habitude. In other words, Mahommed on setting out had no idea of danger. +Love, or something very like it, was his sole inspiration. + +The trireme, with the white cross on its red sail, its deck a martial +and courtly spectacle, had been reported to him as the hundred and +twenty flashing scarlet blades, in their operation a miracle of unity, +whisked it by the old Castle, and he had come forth to see it. Where are +they going? he asked those around him; and they, familiar with the +Bosphorus, its shipping and navigation, answered unanimously, To +exercise her crew up in the Black Sea; and thinking of the breadth of +the dark blue fields there, the reply commended itself, and he dismissed +the subject. + +The course chosen by his boatmen when they put off from Roumeli-Hissar +kept him close to the European shore, which he had leisure to study. +Then, as now, it was more favored than its Asiatic opposite. The winds +from the sea, southward blowing, unloaded their mists to vivify its ivy +and myrtle. The sunlight, tarrying longest over its pine-clad summits, +coaxed habitations along the shore; here, a palace; there, under an +overhanging cliff, a hamlet; yonder, a long extended village +complaisantly adapting itself to the curvatures of the brief margin left +it for occupancy. Wherever along the front of the heights and on the top +there was room for a field the advantage had been seized. So the Prince +had offered him the sight of all others most significant of peace among +men--sight of farmers tilling the soil. With the lucid sky above him +summer-laden, the water under and about him a liquid atmosphere, the +broken mountain-face changing from lovely to lovelier, and occasionally +awakening him with a superlative splendor, the abodes so near, and the +orchards and strawberry and melon patches overhead, symbolizing goodwill +and fraternity and happiness amongst the poor and humble--with these, +and the rhythmic beating of the oars to soothe his spirit, fierce and +mandatory even in youth, he went, the time divided between views fair +enough for the most rapturous dreams, and the Greek, of whom, with all +their brightness, they were but dim suggestions. Past the stream-riven +gorge of Balta-Liman he went; past Emirghian; past the haven of Stenia, +and the long shore-town of Yenikeui; then, half turning the Keuibachi +bend, lo! Therapia, draggling down the stony steep, like a heap of +bangles on a brown-red cheek. And there, in the soft embracement of the +bay, a bird with folded wings asleep--the _trireme_! + +The sight startled the Prince. He spoke to the rowers, and they ceased +fighting the current, and with their chins over their shoulders, looked +whither he pointed. From ship to shore he looked; then, pursuing the +curve inland to the bridge at the upper end; thence down what may be +called the western side, he beheld people crowding between a quay and a +red kiosk over which pended a wooded promontory. + +"There is a Princess living in this vicinity," said he to one of the +rowers, slightly lifting the handkerchief from his face. "Where is her +palace?" + +"In the garden yonder. You see the gate over the heads of the men and +women." + +"What is her name?" + +"Princess Irene. She is known on this shore as the Good Princess." + +"Irene--a sound pleasant to the ear"--Mahommed muttered. "Why is she +called good?" + +"Because she is an angel of mercy to the poor." + +"That is not usual with the great and rich," he said next, yielding to a +charm in the encomiums. + +"Yes," the boatman responded, "she is great, being akin to the Emperor, +and rich, too, though"-- + +Here the man broke off to assist in bringing the boat back from its +recession with the current, at this point boisterously swift. + +"You were saying the Princess is rich," Mahommed said, when the oars +were again at rest. + +"Oh, yes! But I cannot tell you, my friend, how many are partners in her +wealth. Every widow and orphan who can get to her comes away with a +portion. Isn't it so?" + +His companion grunted affirmatively, adding: "Down yonder a man with a +crooked back lives in an arched cell opening on the water. Perhaps the +stranger saw it as he came up." + +"Yes," Mahommed answered. + +"Well, in the back part of the cell he has an altar with a crucifix and +a picture of the Blessed Mother on it, and he keeps a candle burning +before them day and night--something he could not do if we did not help +him, for candles of wax are costly. He has named the altar after the +Princess, Sta. Irene. We often stop and go in there to pray; and I have +heard the blessings in the light of that candle are rich and many as the +Patriarch has for sale in Sta. Sophia." + +These praises touched Mahommed; for, exalted as he was in station, he +was aware of the proneness of the poor to berate the rich and grumble at +the great, and that such had been a habit with them from the commencement +of the world. Again the boat slipped down the current; when it was +brought back, he asked: "When did the ship yonder come up?" + +"This morning." + +"Oh, yes! I saw it then, but thought the crew were being taken to the +sea for practice." + +"No," the boatman replied, "it is the state galley of His Majesty the +Emperor. Did you not see him? He sat on the throne with all his ministers +and court around him." + +Mahommed was startled. + +"Where is the Emperor now?" he inquired. + +"I should say, seeing the crowd yonder, that His Majesty is in the +palace with the Princess." + +"Yes," said the second rower, "they are waiting to see him come out." + +"Row out into the bay. I should like to have the view from that quarter." + +While making the detour, Mahommed reflected. Naturally he remembered +himself the son of Amurath; after which it was easy to marshal the +consequences of exposure, if he persisted in his venture. He saw +distinctly how his capture would be a basis of vast bargaining with his +father, or, if the sturdy old warrior preferred revenge to payment of a +ruinous ransom, how the succession and throne might slip to another, +leaving him a prisoner for life. + +Yet another matter presented itself to him which the reader may decide +worthy a separate paragraph. Its mention has been waiting this +opportunity. The Prince from Magnesia, his seat of government, was on +the way to Adrianople, called thither by his father, who had chosen a +bride for him, daughter of a renowned Emir. Regularly he would have +crossed the Hellespont at Gallipoli; a whim, however, took him to the +White Castle--whim or destiny, one being about as satisfactory as the +other. Pondering silently whether it were not best to return, he +thought, apropos the Princess Irene, of the nuptials to be celebrated, +and of his bride expectant; and a Christian, pausing over the +suggestion, may be disposed to condemn him for inconstancy. + +In countries where many wives are allowed the same husband he is not +required to love any of them. Indeed, his fourth spouse may be the first +to command him; hers the eyes for his enslavement; hers the voice of the +charmer charming both wisely and forever. Mahommed did now think of the +Emir's daughter, but not with compunction, nor even in comparison. He +had never seen her face, and would not until after the wedding days. He +thought of her but to put her aside; she could not be as this Christian +was, neither so accomplished nor courtly; besides which, it was dawning +upon him that there were graces of mind and soul as well as of person, +while perfection was a combination of all the graces in equal degree. +Gleams of the latter had visited him while gazing into the radiant face +of the Emperor's kinswoman; and how, at such favoring times, his fancy +had gone out to her and come back warmed, enlivened, glorified! There is +a passion of the mind and a passion of the blood; and though one and one +make two, two is still a multiple of one. + +Looking thus at the galley, Mahommed thought of the tales in the East +not less common than in the West, and believed in them faithfully, for +chivalry was merely on the wane--tales of beauteous damsels shut up in +caves or adamantine castles, with guardian lions couchant at the gates, +and of well-sworded heroes who marched boldly up to the brutes, and slew +them, and delivered the captives always with reward. Of course, in +making the application, the Princess was the prisoner, the ship the +lion, and himself--well, in want of a sword, he laid hand upon his +dagger, precisely as a liberating knight up to the ideal would do. + +Nor was this all. The revelations of the Prince of India were still +fresh to him. He wished to see his competitor. How did he look? Was +there enough of him to make battle? He smiled thinking of the pleasure +there would be in slyly studying the Princess and the Emperor at the +same time. He drew the handkerchief down, looked at his brown-stained +hands, and adjusted the folds of his burnoose. The disguise was perfect. + +"Take me to the landing--there before the gate of the Good Princess," he +said, with the air of a traveller above suspicion. + +His resolution was taken. Challenging all chances, he would respond to +the invitation of the Princess. And so completely were doubt and +hesitation dismissed with our adventurer, that it was not Mahommed who +stepped from the boat where the populace was in densest assemblage, but +Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik, and as such we will speak of him. + +The guard at the gate, viewing him askance, detained him until he could +be reported. + +A fair conception of the scene presented when the Sheik stood on the +floor of the portico is probably in the reader's mind; yet a glance at +it may be pardoned. It was at first like a sudden introduction to an +oriental garden. There were the vines, flowering shrubs, fruiting trees, +many-fronded palms, and the effect of outdoors derived from the shadows +of the pillars, and the sunshine streaming brilliantly through the open +intervals. The tables bore proofs of the collation served upon them. +Overhead was the soft creaminess of pure marble in protected state +mellowed by friendly touches of time. At the end of the vista, the +company was indistinctly visible through the verdure of obtruding +branches. Voices came to him from that part, and gleams of bright +garments; and to get to them it seemed he must pass through a viridescent +atmosphere flecked with blooms, and faintly sweet with odors. For in +losing the masculinity of their race the Greeks devoted themselves more +and more to refined effeminacies. + +Moving slowly forward under the guidance of Lysander, whose javelin +beating the floor accentuated the rasping shuffle of his sandals, the +Sheik came presently to a full view of the concourse. + +He stopped, partly in obedience to a fine instinct of propriety teaching +him he was now subject to the pleasure of his hostess, and partly to +single out the royal enemy against whom he believed he was about to be +pitted by destiny. + +Constantine was sitting at ease, his left elbow resting on an arm of the +sedilium, his forefinger supporting his cheek, his cloak across his lap. +The attitude was reflective; the countenance exposed under the lifted +visor of the helmet, was calm and benignant; except there was no +suggestion of an evil revery holding the current of his thought, or +casting a shade of uncertainty over his soul, he looked not unlike the +famous Il Penseroso familiar to art-seekers in the Medici Chapel of +Florence. Then the eyes of the rivals met. The Greek was in no wise +moved. How it would have been with him could he have seen through the +disguise of the Sheik may never be said. On the other part, the Sheik +lifted his head, and seemed taking on increase of stature. A projecting +fold of the head-kerchief overhung his face, permitting nothing to be +seen but red-hued cheeks, a thin beard, and eyes black and glittering. +The review he felt himself undergoing did not daunt him; it only sent +his pride mounting, like a leap of flame. "By the Virgin!" said one of +the courtiers to another, in a louder tone than the occasion demanded. +"We may indeed congratulate ourselves upon having seen the king of camel +drivers." There was a disposition to laugh amongst the lighter-minded of +the guests, but the Princess checked it by rising. "Bid the Sheik +approach," she said, to the old domestic; and, at a sign from her, the +waiting-women drew closer about her chair. The figure of the Princess +clad all in white, a bracelet of plain gold upon her left arm, fillets +in her hair, one red, the other blue, a double strand of pearls about +her neck--this figure, with the small head, perfect in turn, set +matchlessly upon the sloping shoulders, the humid eyes full of violet +light, the cheeks flushed with feeling--this figure so bright in its +surroundings, admitted no rivalry in attention, none in admiration; the +courtiers, old and young, turned from the Sheik, and the Sheik from the +Emperor. In a word, every eye centred upon the Princess, every tongue +bade hush lest what she said might be lost. Etiquette required the +Sheik's presentation to the Emperor first, but seeing her about to +comply with the rule, he prostrated himself at her feet. As he arose, +she said: "When I invited you to come and give me more of the cheer +there is in your art, O Sheik, I did not know my gracious kinsman, to +whom every Greek is proud and happy to be allegiant, designed visiting +me to-day. I pray you will not suffer too much from his presence, but +regard him a royal auditor who delights in a tale well told, and in +verses when the theme and measure go lovingly together. His Majesty, the +Emperor!" + +"Hist! Didst hear?" whispered the Professor of Philosophy to the +Professor of Rhetoric. "Thyself couldst not have spoken better." + +"Ay, truly," the other answered. "Save a trifle of stiffness, the speech +might have served Longinus." + +With her last word, the Princess stepped aside, leaving Mahommed and +Constantine front to front. + +Had the Sheik been observant of the monarch's dues, he would have +promptly prostrated himself; but the moment for the salutation passed, +and he remained standing, answering the look he received calmly as it +was given. The reader and the writer know the reason governing him; the +suite, however, were not so well informed, and they began to murmur. The +Princess herself appeared embarrassed. + +"Lord of Constantinople," the Sheik said, seeing speech was his, "were I +a Greek, or a Roman, or an Ottoman, I should make haste to kiss the +floor before you, happy of the privilege; for--be the concession well +noted"--he glanced deferentially around him as he spoke--"the report +which the world has of you is of a kind to make it your lover. After a +few days--Allah willing--I shall stand before Amurath the Sultan. Though +in reverencing him I yield not to any one simply his friend, he will +waive prostration from me, knowing what Your Majesty may not. In my +country we cleanse the ground with our beards before no one but God. Not +that we are unwilling to conform to the rules of the courts in which we +find ourselves; with us it is a law--To kiss a man's hand maketh him the +master; prostrate thyself to him, and without other act, thou becomest +his subject. I am an Arab!" + +The Sheik was not in the least defiant; on the contrary, his manner was +straightforward, simple, sincere, as became one interposing conscience +against an observance in itself rightful enough. Only in the last +exclamation was there a perceptible emphasis, a little marked by a lift +of the head and a kindling of the eyes. + +"I see Your Majesty comprehends me," he said, continuing; "yet to +further persuade your court, and especially the fair and high-born lady, +whose guest, with all my unworthiness, I am, from believing me moved in +this matter by disrespect for their sovereign, I say next, if by +prostration I made myself a Roman, the act would be binding on the tribe +whose Sheik I am by lawful election. And did I that, O thou whose +bounties serve thy people in lieu of rain! though my hand were white, +like the first Prophet's, when, to assure the Egyptian, he drew it from +his bosom, it would char blacker than dust of burned willow--then, O +thou, lovelier than the queen the lost lapwing reported to Solomon! +though my breath were as the odor of musk, it would poison, like an +exhalation from a leper's grave--then, O my lords! like Karoon in his +wickedness, I should hear Allah say of me, O Earth, swallow him! For as +there are crimes and crimes, verily the chief who betrays his brethren +born to the practice of freedom, shall wander between tents all his +days, crying, Oh, alas! oh, alas! Who now will defend me against God?" + +When the Sheik paused, as if for judgment, he was not only acquitted of +intentional disrespect; the last grumbler was anxious to hear him +further. + +"What astonishing figures!" the Philosopher whispered to the Rhetorician. +"I begin to think it true that the East hath a style of its own." + +"I commend thy sagacity, my brother," the other replied. "His peroration +was redolent of the Koran--A wonderful fellow nevertheless!" + +Presently the whole concourse was looking at the Emperor, with whom it +rested whether the Sheik should be dismissed or called on for +entertainment. + +"Daughter," said Constantine to the Princess, "I know not enough of the +tribal law of thy guest to have an opinion of the effect upon him and +his of the observance of our ancient ceremony; wherefore we are bound to +accept his statement. Moreover it does not become our dignity to acquire +subjects and dominion, were they ever so desirable, in a method justly +liable to impeachment for treachery and coercion. Besides which--and +quite as important, situated as we are--thy hospitality is to be +defended." + +Here the Sheik, who had been listening to the Emperor, and closely +observing him, thrice lightly clapped his hands. + +"It remains for us, therefore, to waive the salutation in this instance." + +A ripple of assent proceeded from the suite. + +"And now, daughter," Constantine pursued, "thy guest being present to +give thee of his lore, it may be he will be pleased to have us of his +audience as well. Having heard much of such performances, and +remembering their popularity when we were in our childhood, we will +esteem ourselves fortunate if now favored by one highly commended as a +master in his guild." + +The Sheik's eyes sparkled brighter as he answered, "It is written for us +in our Holiest, the very Word of the Compassionate,--'If ye are greeted +with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or at least +return it.' Verily my Lord dispenseth honor with so light a hand as not +to appear aware of the doing. When my brethren under the black tents are +told of my having won the willing ear of their Majesties of Byzantium +and Adrianople, they will think of me as one who has been permitted to +walk in the light of two suns simultaneous in shining." + +So saying, he bowed very low. + +"My only unhappiness now is in not knowing the direction in which my +Lord's preferences run; for as a stream goes here and there, but all the +time keeps one general course, seeking the sea, so with taste; though it +yield a nod now, and then a smile, it hath always a deeper delight for +the singer's finding. I have the gay and serious--history, +traditions--the heroics of men and nations, their heart-throbs in verse +and prose--all or any for the Lord of Constantinople and his kinswoman, +my hostess,--may her life never end until the song of the dove ceases to +be heard in the land!" + +"What say you, my friends?" asked Constantine, glancing graciously at +those around him. + +Then they looked from him to the Princess, and in thought of the +betrothal, replied, "Love--something of love!" + +"No," he returned, unflinchingly. "We are youths no longer. There is +enlightenment in the traditions of nations. Our neighbors, the Turks-- +what hast thou of them, Sheik?" + +"Didst thou hear?" said Notaras to one at his elbow. "He hath recanted; +the Empress will not be a Greek." + +There was no answer; for the Sheik, baring his head, hung the kerchief +and cord upon his arm, preliminaries which gave him perfectly to view. A +swarthy face; hair black, profuse, closely cut along the temples; +features delicate but manly--these the bystanders saw in a general way, +being more attracted by the repressed fire in the man's eyes, and his +air high and severely noble. + +When the Princess caught sight of the countenance, she fell into a +confusion. She had seen it, but where and when? The instant he was +beginning he gazed at her, and in the exchange of glances she was +reminded of the Governor bidding her adieu on the shore of the Sweet +Waters. But he was youthful, while this one--could it be he was old? The +feeling was a repetition of that she had in the Castle when the +storyteller appeared the first time. + +"I will tell how the Turks became a Nation." + +Then, in Greek but a little broken, the Sheik began a recital. + + ALAEDDIN AND ERTOGHRUL + + I + + A tale of Ertoghrul!-- + How when the Chief + Lay one day nooning with his stolen herds, + A sound of drumming smote him from the East, + And while he stood to see what came of it, + The West with like notes fainter, echo-like, + Made answer; then two armies rode in view, + Horses and men in steel, the sheen of war + About them and above, and wheeling quick + From column into line, drew all their blades, + Shook all their flags, and charged and lost themselves + In depths of dusty clouds, which yet they tore + With blinding gleams of light, and yells of rage, + And cheers so high and hoarse they well might seem + The rolling thunder of a mountain storm. + Long time the hosts contended; but at last + The lesser one began to yield the ground, + Oppressed in front, and on its flanks o'erwhelmed: + And hasted then the end, a piteous sight, + Most piteous to the very brave who know + From lessons of their lives, how seldom 'tis + Despair can save where valor fails to win. + Then Ertoghrul aroused him, touched to heart. + + "My children, mount, and out with cimeter! + I know not who these are, nor whence they come; + Nor need we care. 'Twas Allah led them here, + And we will honor Him--and this our law; + What though the weak may not be always right, + We'll make it always right to help the weak. + Deep take the stirrups now, and ride with me, + _Allah-il-Allah!"_ + + Thus spake Ertoghrul; + And at the words, with flying reins, and all + His eager tribe, four hundred sworded men, + Headlong he rode against the winning host. + + II + + Beneath the captured flags, the spoils in heaps + Around him laid, the rescued warrior stood, + A man of kingly mien, while to him strode + His unexpected friend. + + "Now who art thou?" + The first was first to ask. + + "Sheik Ertoghrul + Am I." + + "The herds I see--who calls them his?" + + Laughed Ertoghrul, and showed his cimeter. + "The sword obeys my hand, the hand my will, + And given will and hand and sword, I pray + Thee tell me, why should any man be poor?" + + "And whose the plain?" + + "Comes this way one a friend + Of mine, and leaves his slippers at my door, + Why then, 'tis his." + "And whose the hills that look + Upon the plain?" + + "My flocks go there at morn, + And thence they come at night--I take my right + Of Allah." + + "No," the stranger mildly said, + "'Twas Allah made them mine." + + Frowned Ertoghrul, + While darkened all the air; but from his side + Full pleasantly the stranger took a sword, + Its carven hilt one royal emerald, + Its blade both sides with legends overwrought, + Some from the Koran, some from Solomon, + All by the cunning Eastern maker burned + Into the azure steel-his sword he took, + And held it, belt, and scabbard too, in sign + Of gift. + + "The herds, the plain, the hills were mine; + But take thou them, and with them this in proof + Of title." + + Lifted Ertoghrul his brows, + And opened wide his eyes. + + "Now who art thou?" + He asked in turn. + + "Oh, I am Alaeddin-- + Sometimes they call me Alaeddin the Great." + + "I take thy gifts--the herds, the plain, the hills," + Said Ertoghrul; "and so I take the sword; + But none the less, if comes a need, 'tis thine. + Let others call thee Alaeddin the Great; + To me and mine thou'rt Alaeddin the Good + And Great." + + With that, he kissed the good King's hand; + And making merry, to the Sheik's dowar + They rode. And thus from nothing came the small; + And now the lonely vale which erst ye knew, + And scorned, because it nursed the mountain's feet, + Doth cradle mornings on the mountain's top. + + _Mishallah!_ + +The quiet which held the company through the recitation endured a space +afterwards, and--if the expression be allowed--was in itself a +commentary upon the performance. + +"Where is our worthy Professor of Rhetoric?" asked Constantine. + +"Here, Your Majesty," answered the man of learning, rising. + +"Canst thou not give us a lecture upon the story with which thy Arabian +brother hath favored us?" + +"Nay, sire, criticism, to deal justly, waiteth until the blood is cool. +If the Sheik will honor me with a copy of his lines, I will scan and +measure them by the rules descended to us from Homer, and his Attic +successors." + +The eyes of the Emperor fell next upon the moody, discontented face of +Duke Notaras. + +"My lord Admiral, what sayest thou of the tale?" + +"Of the tale, nothing; of the story-teller--I think him an insolent, and +had I my way, Your Majesty, he should have a plunge in the Bosphorus." + +Presuming the Sheik unfamiliar with Latin, the Duke couched his reply in +that tongue; yet the former raised his head, and looked at the speaker, +his eyes glittering with intelligence--and the day came, and soon, when +the utterance was relentlessly punished. + +"I do not agree with you, my Lord," Constantine said, in a melancholy +tone. "Our fathers, whether we look for them on the Roman or the Greek +side, might have played the part of Ertoghrul. His was the spirit of +conquest. Would we had enough of it left to get back our own!--Sheik," +he added, "what else hast thou in the same strain? I have yet a little +time to spare--though it shall be as our hostess saith." + +"Nay," she answered, with deference, "there is but one will here." + +And taking assent from her, the Sheik began anew. + + EL JANN AND HIS PARABLE + + _Bismillah!_ + + Ertoghrul pursued a wolf, + And slew it on the range's tallest peak, + Above the plain so high there was nor grass + Nor even mosses more. And there he sat + Him down awhile to rest; when from the sky, + Or the blue ambiency cold and pure, + Or maybe from the caverns of the earth + Where Solomon the King is wont to keep + The monster Genii hearkening his call, + El Jann, vast as a cloud, and thrice as black, + Appeared and spoke-- + + "Art thou Sheik Ertoghrul?" + + And he undaunted answered: "Even so." + + "Well, I would like to come and sit with thee." + + "Thou seest there is not room for both of us." + + "Then rise, I say, and get thee part way down + The peak." + + "'Twere easier," laughed Ertoghrul, + "Madest thou thyself like me as thin and small; + And I am tired." + + A rushing sound ran round and up + And down the height, most like the whir of wings + Through tangled trees of forests old and dim. + A moment thus--the time a crisped leaf, + Held, armlength overhead, will take to fall-- + And then a man was sitting face to face + With Ertoghrul. + + "This is the realm of snow," + He said, and smiled--"a place from men secure, + Where only eagles fearless come to nest, + And summer with their young." + + The Sheik replied, + "It was a wolf--a gaunt gray wolf, which long + Had fattened on my flocks--that lured me here. + I killed it." + + "On thy spear I see no blood; + And where, O Sheik, the carcass of the slain? + I see it not." + + Around looked Ertoghrul-- + There was no wolf; and at his spear-- + Upon its blade no blood. Then rose his wrath, + A mighty pulse. + + "The spear hath failed its trust-- + I'll try the cimeter." + + A gleam of light-- + A flitting, wind-borne spark in murk of night-- + Then fell the sword, the gift of Alaeddin; + Edge-first it smote the man upon his crown-- + Between his eyes it shore, nor staying there, + It cut his smile in two--and not yet spent, + But rather gaining force, through chin and chine, + And to the very stone on which he sat + It clove, and finished with a bell-like clang + Of silvern steel 'gainst steel. + + "Aha! Aha!"-- + But brief the shout; for lo! there was no stain + Upon the blade withdrawn, nor moved the man, + Nor changed he look or smile. + + "I was the wolf + That ran before thee up the mountain side; + 'Twas I received thy spear as now thy sword; + And know thou further, Sheik, nor wolf nor man + Am I, nor mortal thing of any kind; + Only a thought of Allah's. Canst thou kill + A thought divine? Not Solomon himself + Could that, except with thought yet more divine. + Yield thee thy rage; and when thou think'st of me + Hereafter, be it as of one, a friend, + Who brought a parable, and made display + Before thee, saying-- + "Lo! what Allah wills." + + Therewith he dropped a seed scarce visible + Into a little heap of sand and loam + Between them drawn. + + "Lo! Allah wills." + + And straight + The dust began to stir as holding life. + Again El Jann-- + + "Behold what Allah wills!" + + A tiny shoot appeared; a waxen point + Close shawled in many folds of wax as white, + It might have been a vine to humbly creep-- + A lily soon to sunward flare its stars-- + A shrub to briefly coquette with the winds. + Again the cabalism-- + + "Lo! Allah's will." + + The apparition budded, leafed, and branched, + And with a flame of living green lit all + The barrenness about. And still it grew-- + Until it touched the pillars of the earth, + And lapped its boundaries, the far and near, + And under it, as brethren in a tent, + The nations made their home, and dwelt in peace + Forever. + + "Lo!"-- + + And Ertoghrul awoke. + + _Mishallah!_ + +This recitation commanded closer attention than the first one. Each +listener had a feeling that the parable at the end, like all true +parables, was of continuous application, while its moral was in some way +aimed at him. + +The looks the Sheik received were by no means loving. The spell was +becoming unpleasant. Then the Emperor arose, as did the Princess, to +whom, as hostess, the privilege of sitting had been alone conceded. + +"Our playtime is up--indeed, I fear, it has been exceeded," he said, +glancing at the Dean, who was acting master of ceremonies. + +The Dean responded with a bow low as his surroundings admitted; +whereupon the Emperor went to the Princess, and said, "We will take +leave now, daughter, and for myself and my lords of the court, I +acknowledge a most agreeable visit, and thank you for it." + +She respectfully saluted the hand he extended to her. + +"Our gate and doors at Blacherne are always open to you." + +The adieu was specially observed by the courtiers, and they subsequently +pronounced it decorous for a sovereign, cordial as became a relative, +but most un-loverlike. Indeed, it was a strong point in the decision +subsequently of general acceptance, by which His Majesty was relieved of +the proposal of marriage to the Princess. + +The latter took his offered arm, and accompanied him to the steps of the +portico, where, when he had descended, the lords one by one left a kiss +on her hand. + +Nor should it be forgotten, that as Constantine was passing the Sheik, +he paused to say to him in his habitually kind and princely manner: "The +tree Sheik Ertoghrul saw in his dream has spread, and is yet spreading, +but its shadow has not compassed all the nations; and while God keeps +me, it will not. Had not I myself invited the parable, it might have +been offensive. For the instruction and entertainment given me, accept +thou this--and go in peace." + +The Sheik took the ring offered him, and the gaze with which he followed +the imperial giver was suggestive of respect and pity. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MAHOMMED DREAMS + + +It was a trifle after noon. The trireme and the assemblage of admiring +townspeople had disappeared, leaving the bay and its shores to their +wonted quiet. The palace, however, nestling in the garden under the +promontory, must be permitted to hold our interest longer. + +Aboo-Obeidah had eaten and drunk, for being on a journey, he was within +the license of the law as respects wine; and now he sat with the +Princess alone at the end of the portico lately occupied by the Emperor +and his suite. A number of her attendants amused themselves out of +hearing of the two, though still within call. She occupied the sedilium; +he a seat by the table near her. Save a fine white veil on an arm and a +fan which she seldom used, her appearance was as in the morning. + +It is to be admitted now that the Princess was finding a pleasure in the +society of the Sheik. If aware of the fact, which was doubtful, it is +still more doubtful if she could have explained it. We are inclined to +think the mystery attaching to the man had as much to do with the +circumstance as the man himself. He was polite, engaging, and handsome; +the objection to his complexion, if such there were, was at least offset +by a very positive faculty of entertaining; besides which, the +unspeakable something in manner, always baffling disguises, always +whispering of other conditions, always exciting suggestions and +expectations, was present here. + +If she thought him the Bedouin he assumed to be, directly a word changed +the opinion; did she see the Governor of the old Castle in his face, an +allusion or a bit of information dropped by him unaware spoke of +association far beyond such a subordinate; most perplexing, however, +where got the man his intelligence? Did learning like his, avoiding +cloisters, academies, and teachers of classical taste, comport with +camel-driving and tent-life in deserts harried by winds and sand? + +The mystery, together with the effort to disentangle it, resolved the +Princess into an attentive auditor. The advantages in the conversation +were consequently with the Sheik; and he availed himself of them to lead +as he chose. + +"You have heard, O Princess, of the sacred fig-tree of the Hindus?" + +"No." + +"In one of their poems--the Bhagavad Gita, I think--it is described as +having its roots above and its branches downward; thus drawing life from +the sky and offering its fruit most conveniently, it is to me the symbol +of a good and just king. It rose to my mind when thy kinsman--may Allah +be thrice merciful to him!--passed me with his speech of forgiveness, +and this gift "--he raised his hand, and looked at the ring on one of +the fingers-"in place of which I was more deserving burial in the +Bosphorus, as the black-browed Admiral said." + +A frown dark as the Admiral's roughened his smooth brow. + +"Why so?" she inquired. + +"The tales I told were of a kind to be spared a Greek, even one who may +not cover his instep with the embroidered buskin of an Emperor." + +"Nay, Sheik, they did not ruffle him. On the tongue of a Turk, I admit, +the traditions had been boastful, but you are not a Turk." + +The remark might have been interrogative; wherefore with admirable +address, he replied: "An Ottoman would see in me an Arab wholly +unrelated to him, except as I am a Moslem. Let it pass, O Princess--he +forgave me. The really great are always generous. When I took the ring, +I thought, Now would the young Mahommed have so lightly pardoned the +provocation?" + +"Mahommed!" she said. + +"Not the Prophet," he answered; "but the son of Amurath." + +"Ah, you know him?" + +"I have sat with him, O Princess, and at table often helped him to meat +and bread. I have been his cupbearer and taster, and as frequently +shared his outdoor sports; now hunting with hawk, and now with hound. +Oh, it were worth a year of common days to gallop at his right hand, and +exult with him when the falcon, from its poise right under the sun, +drops itself like an arrow upon its enemy! I have discoursed with him +also on themes holy and profane, and given and taken views, and telling +him tales in prose and verse, have seen the day go out, then come again. +In knightly practice I have tilted with him, and more than once, by his +side in battle, loosened rein at the same cry and charged. His Sultana +mother knows him well; but, by the lions and the eagles who served +Solomon, I know him, beginning where her knowledge left off--that is, +where the horizon of manhood stretched itself to make room for his +enlarging soul." + +The awakening curiosity of his listener was not lost upon the Sheik. + +"You are surprised to hear a kindly speech of the son of Amurath," he +said. + +She flushed slightly. + +"I am not a person, Sheik, whose opinions are dangerous to the peace of +States, and of whom diplomacy is required; yet it would grieve me to +give offence to you or your friend, the Prince Mahommed. If now I +concede a wish to have some further knowledge of one who is shortly to +inherit the most powerful of the Eastern Kingdoms, the circumstance +ought not to subject me to harsh judgment." + +"Princess," the Sheik said, "nothing so becomes a woman as care where +words may be the occasion of mischief. As a flower in a garden, such a +woman would rank as the sovereign rose; as a bird, she would be the +bulbul, the sweetest of singers, and in beauty, a heron with throat of +snow, and wings of pink and scarlet; as a star, she would be the first +of the evening, and the last to pale in the morning--nay, she would be a +perpetual morning. Of all fates what more nearly justifies reproach of +Allah than to have one's name and glory at the mercy of a rival or an +enemy? I am indeed Mahommed's friend--I know him--I will defend him, +where sacred truth permits defence. And then"--his glance fell, and he +hesitated. + +"And what then?" she asked. + +He gave her a grateful look, and answered: "I am going to Adrianople. +The Prince will be there, and can I tell him of this audience, and that +the Princess Irene regrets the evil reported of him in Constantinople, +and is not his enemy, straightway he will number himself of those the +most happy and divinely remembered, whose books are to be given them in +their right hands." + +The Princess looked at the singer, her countenance clear, serene, fair +as a child's, and said: + +"I am the enemy of no one living. Report me so to him. The Master I +follow left a law by which all men and women are neighbors whom I am to +love and pray for as I love and pray for myself. Deliver him the very +words, O Sheik, and he will not misunderstand me." + +A moment after she asked: + +"But tell me more of him. He is making the world very anxious." + +"Princess," the Sheik began, "Ebn Hanife was a father amongst Dervishes, +and he had a saying, 'Ye shall know a plant by its flower, a vine by its +fruit, and a man by his acts; what he does being to the man as the +flower to the plant, and the fruit to the vine; if he have done nothing, +prove him by his tastes and preferences, for what he likes best that he +will do when left to himself.' By these tests let us presume to try the +Prince Mahommed.... There is nothing which enthralls us like the +exercise of power--nothing we so nearly carry with us into the tomb to +be a motive there; for who shall say it has not a part in the promise of +resurrection? If so, O Princess, what praise is too great for him who, a +young man placed upon a throne by his father, comes down from it at his +father's call?" + +"Did Mahommed that?" + +"Not once, O Princess, but twice." + +"In so much at least his balance should be fair." + +"To whom is the pleasant life in a lofty garden, its clusters always +near at hand--to whom, if not to the just judges of their fellow-men?" + +The Sheik saluted her twice by carrying his right hand to his beard, +then to his forehead. + +"Attend again, O Princess," he continued, more warmly than in the +outset. "Mahommed is devoted to learning. At night in the field when the +watches are set, the story-tellers, poets, philosophers, lawyers, +preachers, experts in foreign tongues, and especially the inventors of +devices, a class by themselves, supposed generally to live on dreams as +others on bread--all these, finding welcome in his tent, congregate +there. His palace in the city is a college, with recitations and +lectures and instructive conversations. The objection his father +recognized the times he requested him to vacate the throne was that he +was a student. His ancestors having been verse makers, poetry is his +delight; and if he does not rival them in the gentle art, he surpasses +them in the number of his acquirements. The Arab, the Hebrew, the Greek, +the Latin address him and have answers each in his mother's tongue. Knew +you ever a scholar, O Princess, whose soul had utterly escaped the +softening influence of thought and study? It is not learning which tames +the barbarian so much as the diversion of mind from barbaric modes +required of him while in the pursuit of learning." + +She interrupted him, saying pleasantly: "I see, O Sheik, if to be at the +mercy of an enemy is sad, how fortunate where one's picture is intended +if the artist be a friend. Where had the Prince his instructors?" + +There was a lurking smile in the Sheik's eyes, as he replied: "The sands +in my country drink the clouds dry, and leave few fountains except of +knowledge. The Arab professors in Cordova, whom the Moorish Kaliphs +deemed themselves honored in honoring, were not despised by the Bishops +of Rome. Amurath, wanting teachers for Mahommed, invited the best of +them to his court. Ah--if I had the time!" + +Observing his sigh had not failed its mark, he continued: "I would speak +of some of the books I have seen on the Prince's table; for as a +licensed friend, I have been in his study. Indeed, but for fear of too +greatly recommending myself, I would have told you earlier, O Princess, +how he favoured me as one of his teachers." + +"Of poetry and story-telling, I suppose?" + +"Why not?" he asked. "Our history is kept and taught in such forms. Have +we a hero not himself a poet, he keeps one.... Upon the Prince's table, +in the central place, objects of his reverence, the sources to which he +most frequently addresses himself when in need of words and happy turns +of expression, his standards of comparison for things beautiful in +writing and speech, mirrors of the Most Merciful, whispering galleries +wherein the voice of the Most Compassionate is never silent, are the +Koran, with illustrations in gold, and the Bible in Hebrew, copied from +_torahs_ of daily use in the Synagogues." + +"The Bible in Hebrew! Does he read it?" + +"Like a Jewish elder." + +"And the Gospels?" + +The Sheik's face became reproachful. + +"Art thou--even thou, O Princess--of those who believe a Moslem must +reject Christ because the Prophet of Islam succeeded him with later +teachings?" + +Dropping then into the passionless manner, he continued: + +"The Koran does not deny Christ or his Gospels. Hear what it says of +itself: 'And this Koran is not a forgery of one who is no God, but it +hath been sent down as a confirmation of those books which have been +before it, and an explanation of the Scriptures from the Lord of the +Worlds.' [Footnote: The Koran] ... That verse, O Princess, transcribed +by the Prince Mahommed himself, lies between the Bible and the Koran; +the two being, as I have said, always together upon his table." + +"What then is his faith?" she asked, undisguisedly interested. + +"Would he were here to declare it himself!" + +This was said disconsolately; then the Sheik broke out: + +"The truth now of the son of Amurath! Listen!--He believes in God. He +believes in the Scriptures and the Koran, holding them separate wings of +the divine Truth by which the world is to attain righteousness. He +believes there have been three Prophets specially in the confidence of +God: Moses, the first one; Jesus, who was greater than Moses; Mahomet, +the very greatest--not for speaking better or sublimer things, but +because he was last in their order of coming. Above all, O Princess, he +believes worship due to the Most High alone; therefore he prays the +prayer of Islam, God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet--meaning that +the Prophet is not to be mistaken for God." + +The Sheik raised his dark eyes, and upon meeting them the Princess +looked out over the bay. That she was not displeased was the most he +could read in her face, the youthful light of which was a little shaded +by thinking. He waited for her to speak. + +"There were other books upon the Prince's table?" she presently asked. + +"There were others, O Princess." + +"Canst thou name some of them?" + +The Sheik bowed profoundly. + +"I see the pearls of Ebn Hanife's saying were not wasted. Mahommed is +now to be tried by his tastes and preferences. Let it be so.... I saw +there, besides dictionaries Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, the Encyclopaedia +of Sciences, a rare and wonderful volume by a Granadian Moor, Ibn +Abdallah. I saw there the Astronomy and Astronomical Tables of Ibn +Junis, and with them a silver globe perfected from the calculations of +Almamon the Kaliph, which helps us to the geographical principle not yet +acknowledged in Rome, that the earth is round. I saw there the Book of +the Balance of Wisdom by Alhazan, who delved into the laws of nature +until there is nothing phenomenal left. I saw there the Philosophy of +Azazzali the Arab, for which both Christian and Moslem should be +grateful, since it has given Philosophy its true place by exalting it +into a handmaiden of Religion. I saw there books treating of trade and +commerce, of arms and armor, and machines for the assault and defence of +cities, of military engineering, and the conduct of armies in grand +campaigns, of engineering not military, dealing with surveying, and the +construction of highways, aqueducts, and bridges, and the laying out of +towns. There, also, because the soul of the student must have rest and +diversion, I saw volumes of songs and music loved by lovers in every +land, and drawings of mosques, churches and palaces, masterpieces of +Indian and Saracenic genius; and of gardens there was the Zebra, created +by Abderrahman for the best loved of his Sultanas. Of poetry, O Princess, +I saw many books, the lord of them a copy of Homer in Arabic, executed on +ivory from the translation ordered by Haroun Al-Raschid." + +During this recital the Princess scarcely moved. She was hearing a new +version of Mahommed; and the Sheik, like a master satisfied with his +premises, proceeded to conclusions. + +"My Lord has a habit of dreaming, and he does not deny it--he believes +in it. In his student days, he called it his rest. He used to say, when +his brain reeled in overtask dreaming was a pillow of down and lavender; +that in moments of despair, dreaming took his spirit in its hands softer +than air, and, nurse-like, whispered and sung to it, and presently it +was strong again. Not many mornings ago he awoke to find that in a deep +sleep some ministrant had come to him, and opened the doors of his +heart, and let out its flock of boyish fantasies. He has since known but +three visions. Would it please you, O Princess, to hear of them? They +may be useful as threads on which to hang the Dervish father's pearls of +saying." + +She re-settled herself, resting her cheek on her hand, and her elbow on +the arm of the chair, and replied: + +"I will hear of them." + +"The visions have all of them reference to the throne he is soon to +ascend, without which they would be the mere jingling of a jester's +rattle. + +"First Vision.... He will be a hero. If his soul turned from war, he +were not his father's son. But unlike his father, he holds war the +servant of peace, and peace the condition essential to his other +visions. + +"Second Vision.... He believes his people have the genius of the Moors, +and he will cultivate it in rivalry of that marvellous race." + +"Of the Moors, O Sheik?" the Princess said, interrupting him. "Of the +Moors? I have always heard of them as pillagers of sacred cities-- +infidels sunk in ignorance, who stole the name of God to excuse invasions +and the spilling of rivers of blood." + +The Sheik lifted his head haughtily. + +"I am an Arab, and the Moors are Arabs translated from the East to the +West." + +"I crave thy pardon," she said, gently. + +And calming himself, he rejoined: "If I weary you, O Princess, there are +other subjects to which I can turn. My memory is like the box of +sandal-wood a lady keeps for her jewelry. I can open it at will, and +always find something to please--better probably because I have it from +another." + +"No," she returned, artlessly, "a hero in actual life transcends the +best of fancies--and besides, Sheik, you spoke of a third vision of your +friend, the Prince Mahommed." + +He dropped his eyes lest she should see the brightness with which they +filled. + +"War, my Lord says, is a necessity which, as Sultan, he cannot avoid. +Were he disposed to content himself with the empire descending from his +great father, envious neighbors would challenge him to the field. He +must prove his capacity in defence. That done, he vows to tread the path +made white and smooth by Abderrahman, the noblest and best of the +Western Kaliphs. He will set out by founding a capital somewhere on the +Bosphorus. Such, O Princess, is my Lord Mahommed's Third Vision." + +"Nay, Sheik--on the Marmora--at Broussa, perhaps." + +"I am giving the Vision as he gave it to me, Princess. For where else, +he asks, has the spreading earth diviner features than on the Bosphorus? +Where bends a softer sky above a friendlier channel by Nature moulded +for nobler uses? Where are there seas so bridled and reduced? Does not +the rose bloom here all the year? Yonder the East, here the West--must +they be strangers and enemies forever? His capital, he declares, shall +be for their entertainment as elder and younger brother. Within its +walls, which he will build strong as a mountain's base, with gates of +brass invulnerable, and towers to descry the clouds below the horizon, +he will collect unselfishly whatever is good and beautiful, remembering +he serves Allah best who serves his fellow-men." + +"All his fellow-men, Sheik?" + +"All of them." + +Then she glanced over the bay, and said very softly: + +"It is well; for 'if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than +others?'" + +The Sheik smiled, saying: + +"And thus the latest Prophet, O Princess. 'Turn away evil by that which +is better; and lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall become +as though he were a warm friend.'" [Footnote: Koran] + +She answered, "A goodly echo." + +"Shall I proceed?" he then asked. + +"Yes." + +"I was speaking of the Third Vision.... To make his capital the centre +of the earth, he will have a harbor where ships from every country, and +all at once, can come and lie, oars slung and sails furled: and near by +for trade, a bazaar with streets of marble, and roofed with glass, and +broad and long enough for a city unto itself; and in the midst a khan +for lodging the merchants and travellers who have not other houses. And +as did Abderrahman, he will build a University of vast enclosure; here +temples, there groves; nor may a study be named without its teacher, and +he the most famous; so the votaries of Music and Poetry, Philosophy, +Science, and the Arts, and the hundred-handed Mechanics shall dwell +together like soldiers in a holy league. And comes that way one +religious, of him but a question, Believest thou in God? and if he +answer yes, then for him a ready welcome. For of what moment is it, my +Lord asks, whether God bear this name or that? Or be worshipped with or +without form? Or on foot or knee? Or whether the devout be called +together by voice or bell? Is not Faith everything?" + +The picture wrought upon the Princess. Her countenance was radiant, and +she said half to herself, but so the Sheik heard her: + +"It is a noble Vision." + +Then the Sheik lowered his voice: + +"If, with such schemes, excluding races and religions--hear me again, O +Princess!--if with such schemes or visions, as thou wilt, the Lord +Mahommed allows himself one selfish dream, wouldst thou condemn him?" + +"What is the selfish dream?" she asked. + +"He has an open saying, Princess, 'Light is the life of the world, while +Love is the light of life.' Didst thou ever hear how Othman wooed and +won his Malkatoon?" + +"No." + +"It is a Turkish tale of love. Mahommed had it from his mother when he +was a lad, and he has been haunted ever since with a belief which, to +his dreaming, is like the high window in the eastern front of a palace, +outwardly the expression-giver, within the principal source of light. +The idea is strongest what times the moon is in the full; and then he +mounts a horse, and hies him, as did Othman, to some solitary place +where, with imagination for cup-bearer, he drinks himself into happy +drunkenness." The Sheik, bending forward, caught her eyes with his, and +held them so not a glance escaped him. + +"He thinks--and not all the Genii, the winged and the unwinged, of the +wisest of Kings could win him from the thought--that he will sometime +meet a woman who will have the mind, the soul of souls, and the beauty +of the most beautiful. When she will cross his vision is one of the +undelivered scriptories which Time is bringing him; yet he is looking +for her, and the more constantly because the first sight of her will be +his first lesson in the mystery called love. He will know her, for at +seeing her a lamp will light itself in his heart, and by it, not the +glare of the sun, his spirit will make sure of her spirit. Therefore in +his absoluteness of faith, O Princess, there is a place already provided +for her in his promised capital, and even now he calls it this House of +Love. Ah, what hours he has spent planning that abode! He will seat it +in the Garden of Perfection, for the glorifying which, trees, birds, +flowers, summer-houses, water, hill-tops and shaded vales shall be +conquered. Has he not studied the Zehra of Abderrahman? And divided it +as it was into halls, courts and chambers, and formed and proportioned +each, and set and reset its thousand and more columns, and restored the +pearls and gold on its walls, and over the wide Alhambran arches hung +silken doors sheened like Paradisean birds? And all that when he shall +have found her, his Queen, his Malkatoon, his Spirit of Song, his Breath +of Flowers, his Lily of Summer, his Pearl of Oman, his Moon of Radjeb, +monotony shall never come where she dwells nor shall she sigh except for +him absent. Such, O Princess Irene, is the one dream the Prince has +builded with the world shut out. Does it seem to you a vanity of +wickedness?" + +"No," she returned, and covered her face, for the Sheik's look was eager +and burning bright. + +He knelt then, and kissed the marble at her feet. + +"I am Prince Mahommed's ambassador, O Princess," he said, rising to his +knees. "Forgive me, if I have dared delay the announcement." + +"His ambassador! To what end?" + +"I am afraid and trembling." + +He kissed the floor again. + +"Assure me of pardon--if only to win me back my courage. It is miserable +to be shaken with fear." + +"Thou hast done nothing, Sheik, unless drawing thy master's portrait too +partially be an offence. Speak out." + +"It is not three days, Princess, since you were Mahommed's guest." + +"I his guest--Mahommed's!" + +She arose from her chair. + +"He received you at the White Castle." + +"And the Governor?" + +"He was the Governor." + +She sunk back overcome with astonishment. The Sheik recalled her +directly. + +"Prince Mahommed," he said, "arrived at the Castle when the boats were +discovered, and hastened to the landing to render assistance if the +peril required it.... And now, O Princess, my tongue falters. How can I +without offending tell of the excitement into which seeing you plunged +him? Suffer me to be direct. His first impression was supported by the +coincidences--your coming and his, so nearly at the same instant--the +place of the meeting so out of the way and strange--the storm seemingly +an urgency of Heaven. Beholding and hearing you, 'This is she! This is +she! My Queen, my Malkatoon!' he cried in his heart. And yesterday"-- + +"Nay, Sheik, allow the explanation to wait. Bearest thou a message from +him to me?" + +"He bade me salute thee, Princess Irene, as if thou wert now the Lady of +his House of Love in his Garden of Perfection, and to pray if he might +come and in person kiss thy hand, and tell thee his hopes, and pour out +at thy feet his love in heartfuls larger than ever woman had from man." + +While speaking, the Sheik would have given his birthright to have seen +her face. + +Then, in a low voice, she asked: + +"Does he doubt I am a Christian?" + +The tone was not of anger; with beatings of heart trebly quickened, he +hastened to reply: + +"'That she is a Christian'--may God abandon my mouth, if I quote him +unfaithfully!--'That she is a Christian, I love her the more. For see +you, Sheik'--by the faith of an Arab, Princess, I quote him yet, word +for word--'my mother was a Christian.'" + +In the morning of this very day we have seen her put to like question by +Constantine, and she did not hesitate; now the reply took a time. + +"Say to Prince Mahommed," she at length returned, "that his message +presents itself honorably, for which it is deserving a soft answer. His +fancy has played him false. I cannot be the woman of his dream. She is +young; I am old, though not with years. She is gay; I am serious. She is +in love with life, hopeful, joyous; I was born to sorrow, and in sorrow +brought up, and the religion which absorbed my youth is now life's hold +on me. She will be delighted with the splendors he has in store for her; +so might I, had not the wise man long since caught my ear and judgment +by the awful text, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. While her charms +endure she will keep him charmed with the world; I could not so much, +for the world to come has possession of me, and the days here are but so +many of a journey thither. Tell him, O Sheik, while he has been dreaming +of palaces and gardens in rivalry of Abderrahman the Kaliph, I have been +dreaming of a house in splendor beyond the conception of architects; and +asks he more about it, tell him I know it only as a house not made with +hands. Tell him I speak not in denial of possibilities; for by the love +I have never failed to accord the good and noble, I might bend my soul +to his; to this hour, however, God and His Son the Christ, and the Holy +Mother, and the Angels and deserving men and women have taken up my +heart and imagination, and in serving them I have not aspired to other +happiness. A wife I might become, not from temptation of gain or power, +or in surrender to love--I speak not in derision of the passion, since, +like the admitted virtues, it is from God--nay, Sheik, in illustration +of what may otherwise be of uncertain meaning to him, tell Prince +Mahommed I might become his wife could I by so doing save or help the +religion I profess. Then, if I brought him love, the sacrifice would +rescue it from every taint. Canst thou remember all this? And wilt thou +deliver it truly?" + +The Sheik's demeanor when she ended was greatly changed; his head was +quite upon his breast; his attitude and whole appearance were +disconsolate to the last degree. + +"Alas, Princess! How can I carry such speech to him, whose soul is +consuming with hunger and thirst for thy favor?" + +"Sheik," she said in pity, "no master, I think, had ever a more faithful +servant than thou hast proved thyself. Thy delivery of his message, +could it be preserved, would be a model for heralds in the future." + +Thereupon she arose, extended her hand to him, and he kissed it; and as +she remained standing, he arose also. + +"Be seated," she then said, and immediately that they were both in their +chairs again, she took direction of the interview. + +"You asked me, Sheik, if I had heard how Othman wooed and won his +Malkatoon, and said it was a Turkish romance. The Othman, I take it, was +founder of Prince Mahommed's house. Now, if thou art not too weary, tell +me the story." + +As the recital afforded him the opportunities to give poetic expression +to his present feeling, he accepted the suggestion gladly, and, being in +the right mood, was singularly effective. Half the time listening she +was in tears. It was past three o'clock when he finished. The audience +then terminated. In no part of it had her manner been more gracious than +when she conducted him along the portico, or her loveliness so +overwhelming as when she bade him adieu at the head of the steps. + +Standing between columns near the sedilium, she saw him gain his boat, +take something from the sitting-box, step ashore again, and return to +her gate, where he remained awhile pounding with a stone. The action was +curious, and when he was out of sight rounding the water front of the +promontory, she sent Lysander to investigate. + +"The infidel has fixed a brass plate to the right-hand post of the +kiosk," the ancient reported, in bad humor. "It may be a curse." The +Princess then called her attendants, and went with them to see the brass +plate. There it was, an arm's reach overhead, and affixed firmly to the +post, the corners turned down to serve the tacking. Graven on its +polished surface was the following: + +[Illustration] + +Wholly unable to decipher it, she sent for a Dervish, long resident in +the town, and returned to the portico. + +"Princess," the old man said, having viewed the mysterious plate, "he +who did the posting was a Turk; and if he were aged, I should say thou +hast entertained unaware the great Amurath, Sultan of Sultans." + +"But the man was young." + +"Then was he the son of Amurath, Prince Mahommed." + +The Princess turned pale. + +"How canst thou speak so positively?" she asked. + +"It is a _teukra_; in the whole world, O Princess, there are but +two persons with authority to make use of it." + +"And who are they?" + +"The Sultan, and Mahommed, next him in the succession." + +In the silence which ensued, Lysander officiously proposed to remove the +sign. The Dervish interposed. + +"Wilt thou hear me, O Princess," he said, with a low reverence, "whether +the plate proceeded from Amurath or Mahommed, or by the order of either +of them, the leaving it behind signifies more than friendship or +favor--it is a safeguard--a proclamation that thou and thy people and +property here are under protection of the master of all the Turks. Were +war to break out to-morrow, thou mightest continue in thy palace and +garden with none to make thee afraid save thine own countrymen. +Wherefore consider well before acceding to the rancor of this ancient +madman." + +Thus the truth came to the Princess Irene. The Singing Sheik was Prince +Mahommed! + +Twice he had appeared before her; in the White Castle once, and now in +her palace; and having announced himself her lover, and proposed +marriage, he intended her to know him, and also that he was not +departing in despair. Hence the plate on the gate! The circumstance was +novel and surprising. Her present feelings were too vague and uncertain +for definition: but she was not angry. + +Meantime Mahommed, returning to the old Castle, debated with himself. He +loved the Princess Irene with the passion of a soul unused to denial or +disappointment, and before he reached the Roumelian Hissar he swore a +Moslem oath to conquer Constantinople, less for Islam and glory, than +for her. And from that hour the great accomplishment took hold of him to +the exclusion of all else. + +At Hissar he ascended the mountain, and, standing on the terreplein of +the precipice in front of what is now Robert College, he marked the +narrowness of the Bosphorus below, and thinking of the military +necessity for a crossing defended on both shores, he selected a site for +a castle on the European side opposite the White Castle in Asia. In due +time we will have occasion to notice the creation of the walls and +towers of the stupendous fortification yet standing between Bebek and +Hissar, a monument to his energy and sagacity more imposing than +anything left by him in Constantinople. + + + + + +BOOK IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE + + +The Prince of India was not given to idle expectations. He might deceive +others, but he seldom deceived himself. His experience served him +prophetically in matters largely dependent on motives ordinarily +influential with men. He was confident the Emperor would communicate +with him, and soon. + +The third day after the adventure at the White Castle, a stranger, +mounted, armed, and showily caparisoned, appeared at the Prince's door +under guidance of Uel. In the study, to which he was hidden, he announced +himself the bearer of a complimentary message from His Majesty, +concluding with an invitation to the palace of Blacherne. If agreeable, +His Majesty would be pleased to receive the Indian dignitary in the +afternoon at three o'clock. An officer of the guard would be at the Grand +Gate for his escort. The honor, needless to say, was accepted in becoming +terms. + +When the Prince descended to the hall of entry on the ground floor to +take the sedan there, the unusual care given his attire was apparent. +His beard was immaculately white. His turban of white silk, balloon in +shape, and with a dazzle of precious stones in front, was a study. Over +a shirt of finest linen, with ruffles of lace at the throat and breast, +there was a plain gown of heavy black velvet, buttoned at the neck, but +open down to a yellow sash around the waist. The sash was complemented +by a belt which was a mass of pearls in relief on a ground of gold +embroidery. The belt-plate and crescented sword scabbard were aflame +with brilliants on blue enamelling. His trousers, ample as a skirt, were +of white satin overflowing at the ankles. Pointed red slippers, +sparkling with embroidery of small golden beads, completed the costume. + +The procession in the street was most striking. First Nilo, as became a +king of Kash-Cush, barbarously magnificent; the sedan next, on the +shoulders of four carriers in white livery; at the rear, two domestics +arrayed _a la Cipango_, their strange blue garments fitting them so +close as to impede their walking; yet as one of them bore his master's +paper sunshade and ample cloak, and the other a cushion bloated into the +proportions of a huge pillow, they were by no means wanting in +self-importance. Syama, similarly attired, though in richer material, +walked at the side of the sedan, ready to open the door or answer such +signal as he might receive from within. + +The appearance of this retinue in the streets was a show to the idle and +curious, who came together as if rendered out of the earth, and in such +numbers that before fairly reaching the thoroughfare by which the Grand +Gate of Blacherne was usually approached from the city side, the gilded +box on the shoulders of its bearers looked, off a little way, not unlike +a boat rocking in waves. + +Fortunately the people started in good humor, and meeting nothing to +break the mood, they permitted the Prince to accomplish his journey +without interruption. The companionship of the crowd was really agreeable +to him; he hardly knew whether it were pleasanter to be able to excite +such respectful curiosity than to gratify it successfully. It might have +been otherwise had Lael been with him. + +The Very High Residence, as the Palace of Blacherne was generally spoken +of by Greeks, was well known to the Prince of India. The exclamation +with which he settled himself in the sedan at setting out from his +house--"Again, again, O Blacherne!"--disclosed a previous personal +acquaintance with the royal property. And over and over again on the way +he kept repeating, "O Blacherne! Beautiful Blacherne! Bloom the roses +as of old in thy gardens? Do the rivulets in thy alabaster courts still +run singing to the mosaic angels on the walls?" + +As to the date of these recollections, if, as the poets tell us, time is +like a flowing river, and memory a bridge for the conveniency of the +soul returning to its experiences, how far had this man to travel the +structure before reaching the Blacherne he formerly knew? Over what +tremendous spaces between piers did it carry him! + +The street traversed by the Prince carried him first to the Grate of St. +Peter on the Golden Horn, and thence, almost parallel with the city +wall, to Balat, a private landing belonging to the Emperor, at present +known as the gate of Blacherne. + +At the edge of an area marble paved, the people stopped, it being the +limit of their privilege. Crossing the pavement, the visitor was set +down in front of the Grand Gate of the Very High Residence. History, +always abominating lapses, is yet more tender of some places than +others. There, between flanking towers, an iron-plated valve strong +enough to defy attack by any of the ancient methods was swung wide open, +ready nevertheless to be rolled to at set of sun. The guard halted the +Prince, and an officer took his name, and apologizing for a brief delay, +disappeared with it. Alighting from his sedan, the worthy proceeded to +take observation and muse while waiting. + +The paved area on which he stood was really the bottom of a well-defined +valley which ran off and up irregularly toward the southeast, leaving an +ascent on its right memorable as the seventh hill of Constantinople. A +stone wall marked here and there by sentinel boxes, each with a red +pennon on its top, straggled down along the foot of the ascent to the +Grand Gate. There between octangular towers loopholed and finished +battlement style was a covered passage suggestive of Egypt. Two +Victories in high relief blew trumpets at each other across the entrance +front. Ponderous benches of porphyry, polished smooth by ages of usage, +sat one on each side for the guards; fellows in helmets of shining +brass, cuirasses of the same material inlaid with silver, greaves, and +shoes stoutly buckled. Those of them sitting sprawled their bulky limbs +broadly over the benches. The few standing seemed like selected giants, +with blond beards and blue eyes, and axes at least three spans in length +along their whetted edges. The Prince recognized the imperial +guards--Danes, Saxons, Germans, and Swiss--their nationalities merged +into the corps entitled _Varangians_. + +Conscious, but unmindful of their stare, he kept his stand, and swept +the hill from bottom to top, giving free rein to memory. + +In 449 A. D.--he remembered the year and the circumstance well--an +earthquake threw down the wall then enclosing the city. Theodosius +restored it, leaving the whole height outside of this northwestern part +a preserve wooded, rocky, but with one possession which had become so +infinitely sanctified in Byzantine estimation as to impart the quality +to all its appurtenances, that was the primitive but Very Holy Church of +Blacherne, dedicated to the Virgin. + +Near the church there was a pleasure house to which the Emperors, vainly +struggling to escape the ceremonies the clergy had fastened upon them to +the imbitterment of life, occasionally resorted, and down on the shore +of the Golden Horn a zoological garden termed the Cynegion had been +established. The latter afterwhile came to have a gallery in which the +public was sometimes treated to games and combats between lions, tigers, +and elephants. There also criminals and heretics were frequently carried +and flung to the beasts. + +Nor did the Prince fail to recall that in those cycles the sovereigns +resided preferably in the Bucoleon, eastwardly by the sea of Marmora. He +remembered some of them as acquaintances with whom he had been on close +terms--Justinian, Heraclius, Irene, and the Porphyrogentes. + +The iconoclastic masters of that cluster of magnificent tenements, the +Bucoleon, had especial claims upon his recollection. Had he not incited +them to many of their savageries? They were incidents, it is true, sadly +out of harmony with his present dream; still their return now was with a +certain fluttering of the spirit akin to satisfaction, for the victims +in nearly every case had been Christians, and his business of life then +was vengeance for the indignities and sufferings inflicted on his +countrymen. + +With a more decided flutter, he remembered a scheme he put into effect +just twenty years after the restoration of the wall by Theodosius. In +the character of a pious Christianized Israelite resident in Jerusalem, +he pretended to have found the vestments of the Holy Mother of Christ. +The discovery was of course miraculous, and he reported it +circumstantially to the Patriarchs Galvius and Candidus. For the glory +of God and the exaltation of the Faith, they brought the relics to +Constantinople. There, amidst most solemn pomp, the Emperor assisting, +they were deposited in the Church of Saints Peter and Mark, to be +transferred a little later to their final resting-place in the holier +Church of the Virgin of Blacherne. There was a world of pious propriety +in the idea that as the vestments belonged to the Mother of God they +would better become her own house. The _Himation_ or _Maphorion_, as the +robe of the Virgin was called, brought the primitive edifice in the +woods above the Cynegion a boundless increase of sanctity, while the +discoverer received the freedom of the city, the reverence of the +clergy, and the confidence of the Basileus. + +Nor did the prodigious memory stay there. The hill facing the city was +of three terraces. On the second one, half hidden among cypress and +plane trees, he beheld a building, low, strong, and, from his direction, +showing but one window. Some sixteen years previous, during his absence +in Cipango, a fire had destroyed the Church of the Virgin, and owing to +the poverty of the people and empire, the edifice had not been rebuilt. +This lesser unpretentious structure was the Chapel of Blacherne which +the flames had considerately spared. He recognized it instantly, and +remembered it as full of inestimable relics--amongst them the _Himation_, +considered indestructible; the Holy Cross which Heraclius, in the year +635, had brought from Jerusalem, and delivered to Sergius; and the +_Panagia Blachernitissa_, or All Holy Banner of the Image of the Virgin. +Then rose another reminiscence, and though to reach him it had to fly +across a chasm of hundreds of years, it presented itself with the +distinctness of an affair of yesterday. In 626, Heraclius being Emperor, +a legion of Avars and Persians sacked Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the +Bosphorus, and laid siege to Constantinople. The Byzantines were in awful +panic; and they would have yielded themselves had not Sergius the +Patriarch been in control. With a presence of mind equal to the occasion, +he brought the _Panagia_ forth, and supported by an army of clerics and +monks, traversed the walls, waving the All Holy Banner. A volley of +arrows from invisible archers fell upon the audacious infidels, and the +havoc was dreadful; they fled, and their prince, the Khagan, fled with +them, declaring he had seen a woman in shining garments but of awful +presence on the walls. The woman was the Holy Mother; and with a conceit +easily mistaken for gratitude, the Byzantines declared their capital +thenceforward guarded by God. When they went out to the Church in the +Woods and found it unharmed by the enemy, they were persuaded the Mother +had adopted them; in return, what could they else than adopt her? +Pisides, the poet, composed a hymn, to glorify her. The Church +consecrated the day of the miraculous deliverance a fete day observable +by Greeks forever. The Emperor removed the old building, and on its site +raised another of a beauty more expressive of devotion. To secure it from +ravage and profanation, he threw a strong wall around the whole venerated +hill, and by demolishing the ancient work of Theodosius, made Blacherne a +part of the city. + +By and by the Church required enlargement, and it was then cruci-formed +by the addition of transepts right and left. Still later, a Chapel was +erected specially for the relics and the All Holy Banner. This was +contiguous to the Church, and besides being fireproof, it covered a +spring of pure water, afterwards essential in many splendid ceremonies +civil as well as religious. The Chamber of Relics was prohibited to all +but the Basileus. He alone could enter it. By great favor, the Prince of +India was once permitted to look into the room, and he remembered it +large and dimly lighted, its shadows alive, however, with the glitter of +silver and gold in every conceivable form, offered there as the Wise Men +laid their gifts before the Child in the Cave of the Nativity. + +Again and again the Church was burned, yet the Chapel escaped. It seemed +an object of divine protection. The sea might deliver tempests against +the Seven Hills, earthquakes shake the walls down and crack the hanging +dome of St. Sophia, cinders whiten paths from the porphyry column over +by the Hippodrome to the upper terrace of Blacherne; yet the Chapel +escaped--yet the holy fountain in its crypt flowed on purer growing as +the centuries passed. + +The Prince, whose memories we are but weaving into words, did not wonder +at the increase of veneration attaching to the Chapel and its precious +deposits--manuscripts, books, bones, flags, things personal to the +Apostles, the Saints, the Son and His Mother, parings of their nails, +locks of their hair, spikes and splinters of the Cross itself--he did +not wonder at it, or smile, for he knew there is a devotional side to +every man which wickedness may blur but cannot obliterate. He himself +was going about the world convinced that the temple of Solomon was the +House of God. + +The guards sprawling on the benches kept staring at him; one of them let +his axe fall without so much as attracting the Prince's attention. His +memory, with a hold on him too firm to be disturbed by such trifles, +insisted on its resurrectionary work, and returned him to the year 865. +Constantinople was again besieged, this time by a horde from the Russian +wilderness under the chiefs Dir and Askold. They had passed the upper +sea in hundreds of boats, and disembarking on the European shore, +marched down the Bosphorus, leaving all behind them desolate. Photius +was then Patriarch. When the fleet was descried from the walls, he +prevailed on the Emperor to ask the intervention of the Virgin. The +_Maphorion_ or Sacred Eobe was brought out, and in presence of the +people on their knees, the clergy singing the hymn of Pisides, the holy +man plunged it into the waves. + +A wind arose under which the water in its rocky trough was as water in a +shaken bowl. The ships of the invaders sunk each other. Not one survived. +Of the men, those who lived came up out of the vortexes praying to be +taken to the Church of Blacherne for baptism. This was two hundred years +and more after the first deliverance of the city, and yet the Mother was +faithful to her chosen!--Constantinople was still the guarded of God!-- +The _Penagia_ was still the All Holy! Having repulsed the Muscovite +invasion, what excuse for his blasphemy would there be left the next to +challenge its terrors? + +The Prince of India saw the blackened walls of the burned Church, an +appealing spectacle which the surrounding trees tried to cover with +their foliage, but could not; then he lifted his eyes to the Palace upon +the third terrace. + +To the hour decay sets in the touches of Time are usually those of an +artist who loves his subject, and wishes merely to soften or ennoble its +expression. So had he dealt with the Very High Residence. + +It began in the low ground down by the Cynegion, and arose with the city +wall, which was in fact its southwestern front. Though always spoken of +in the singular, like the Bucoleon, it was a collection of palaces, +vast, irregular, and declarative of the taste of the different eras they +severally memorialized. The spaces between them formed courts and +_places_ under cover; yet as the architects had adhered to the idea +of a main front toward the northeast, there appeared a certain unity of +design in the structures. + +This main front, now under the Prince's view, was frequently broken, +advancing here, retreating there; one section severely plain and sombre; +another relieved by porticos with figured friezes resting on tall +columns. The irregularities were pleasing; some of them were stately; +and they were all helped not a little by domes and pavilions without +which the roof lines would have been monotonous. + +Lifting his gaze up the ascent from the low ground, it rested presently +on a Tower built boldly upon the Heraclian wall. This was the highest +pinnacle of the Palace, first to attract the observer, longest to hold +his attention. No courier was required to tell its history to him +through whose eyes we are now looking--it was the tower of Isaac +Angelus. How clearly its outlines cut the cloudless sky! How strong it +seemed up there, as if built by giants! Yet with windows behind +balconies, how airy and graceful withal! The other hills of the city, +and the populated valleys between the hills, spread out below it, like +an unrolled map. The warders of the Bucoleon, or what is now Point +Serail, the home-returning mariner shipping oars off Scutari, the +captain of the helmeted column entering the Golden Gate down by the +Seven Towers, the insolent Genoese on the wharves of Galata, had only to +look up, and lo! the perch of Isaac. And when, as often must have +happened, the privileged lord himself sat midafternoons on the uppermost +balcony of the Tower, how the prospect soothed the fever of his spirit! +If he were weary of the city, there was the Marmora, always ready to +reiterate the hues of the sky, and in it the Isles of the Princes, their +verdurous shades permeated with dreamful welcome to the pleasure-seeker +as well as the monk; or if he longed for a further flight, old Asia made +haste with enticing invitation to some of the villas strewing its +littoral behind the Isles; and yonder, to the eye fainting in the +distance, scarce more than a pale blue boundary cloud, the mountain +beloved by the gods, whither they were wont to assemble at such times as +they wished to learn how it fared with Ilium and the sons of Priam, or +to enliven their immortality with loud symposia. A prospect so composed +would seem sufficient, if once seen, to make a blind man's darkness +perpetually luminous. + +Sometimes, however, the superlative magnate preferred the balcony on the +western side of the Tower. There he could sit in the shade, cooled by +waftures from a wide campania southward, or, peering over the +balustrade, watch the peasantry flitting through the breaks of the +Kosmidion, now the purlieus of Eyoub. + +Again the Prince was carried back through centuries. It had been +determined to build at Blacherne; but the hill was steep. How could +spaces be gained for foundations, for courts and gardens? The architects +pondered the problem. At last one of bolder genius came forward. We will +accept the city wall for a western front, he said, and build from it; +and for levels, allow us to commence at the foot of the height, and rear +arches upon arches. The proposal was accepted; and thereafter for years +the quarter was cumbered with brick and skeleton frames, and workingmen +were numerous and incessantly busy as colonized ants. Thus the ancient +pleasure house disappeared, and the first formal High Residence took its +place; at the same time the Bucoleon, for so many ages the glory of +Constantinople, was abandoned by its masters. + +Who was the first permanent occupant of the Palace of Blacherne? The +memory, theretofore so prompt, had now no reply. No matter--the Prince +recalled sessions had with Angelus on the upper balcony yonder. He +remembered them on account of his host one day saying: "Here I am safe." +The next heard of him he was a captive and blind. + +Passing on rapidly, he remembered the appearance of Peter the Hermit in +the gorgeous reception room of the Palace in 1096. Quite as distinctly, +he also remembered the audience Alexis I. tendered Godfrey of Bouillon +and his Barons in the same High Residence. + +What a contrast the host and his guests presented that day! The latter +were steel clad from head to foot and armed for battle, while Alexis was +a spectacle of splendor unheard of in the barbarous West. How the +preachers and eunuchs in the silk-gowned train of the one trembled as +the redoubtables of the West mangled the velvet carpets with their cruel +spurs! How peculiarly the same redoubtables studied the pearls on the +yellow stole of the wily Comnene and the big jewels in his Basilean +mitre--as if they were counting and weighing them mentally, preliminary +to casting up at leisure a total of value! And the table ware--this +plate and yon bowl--were they really gold or some cunning deception? The +Greeks were so treacherous! And when the guests were gone, the Greeks, +on their part, were not in the least surprised at the list of spoons and +cups subtly disappeared--gifts, they supposed, intended by the noble +"Crosses" for the most Holy Altar in Jerusalem! + +Still other remembrances of the Prince revived at sight of the +Palace--many others--amongst them, how the Varangians beat the boastful +Montferrat and the burly Count of Flanders in the assault of 1203, +specially famous for the gallantry of old Dandolo, operating with his +galleys on the side of the Golden Horn. Brave fellows, those Varangians! +Was the corps well composed now as then? He glanced at the lusty +examples before him on the stone benches, thinking they might shortly +have to answer the question. + +These reminiscences, it must not be forgotten, were of brief passage +with the Prince, much briefer than the time taken in writing them. They +were interrupted by the appearance of a military official whose uniform +and easy manner bespoke palace life. He begged to be informed if he had +the honor of addressing the Prince of India; and being affirmatively +assured, he announced himself sent to conduct him to His Majesty. The +hill was steep, and the way somewhat circuitous; did the Prince need +assistance? The detention, he added, was owing to delay in getting +intelligence of the Prince's arrival to His Majesty, who had been +closely engaged, arranging for certain ceremonies which were to occur in +the evening. Perhaps His Majesty had appointed the audience imagining +the ceremonies might prove entertaining to the Prince. These civilities, +and others, were properly responded to, and presently the cortege was in +motion. + +The lower terrace was a garden of singular perfection. + +On the second terrace, the party came to the ruined Church where, during +a halt, the officer told of the fire. His Majesty had registered a vow, +he said, at the end of the story, to rebuild the edifice in a style +superior to any former restoration. + +The Prince, while listening, observed the place. Excepting the Church, +it was as of old. There the grove of cypresses, very ancient, and tall +and dark. There, too, the Chapel of purplish stone, and at one side of +it the sentry box and bench, and what seemed the identical detail of +Varangians on duty. There the enclosed space between the edifices, and +the road across the pavement to the next terrace only a little deeper +worn. There the arched gateway of massive masonry through which the road +conducted, the carving about it handsome as ever; and there, finally, +from the base of the Chapel, the brook, undiminished in volume and song, +ran off out of sight into the grove, an old acquaintance of the +Prince's. + +Moving on through the arched way, the guide led up to the third and last +terrace. Near the top there was a cut, and on its right embankment a +party of workmen spreading and securing a canopy of red cloth. + +"Observe, O Prince," the officer said. "From this position, if I mistake +not, you will witness the ceremony I mentioned as in preparation." + +The guest had time to express his gratification, when the Palace of +Blacherne, the Very High Residence, burst upon him in long extended +view, a marvel of imperial prodigality and Byzantine genius. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AUDIENCE + + +The sedan was set down before a marble gate on the third terrace. + +"My duty is hardly complete. Suffer me to conduct you farther," the +officer said, politely, as the Prince stepped from the box. + +"And my servants?" + +"They will await you." + +The speakers were near the left corner of a building which projected +considerably from the general front line of the Palace. The wall, the +gateway, and the building were of white marble smoothly dressed. + +After a few words with Syama, the Prince followed his guide into a +narrow enclosure on the right of which there was a flight of steps, and +on the left a guard house. Ascending the steps, the two traversed a +passage until they came to a door. + +"The waiting-room. Enter," said the conductor. + +Four heavily curtained windows lighted the apartment. In the centre +there were a massive table, and, slightly removed from it, a burnished +copper brazier. Bright-hued rugs covered the floor, and here and there +stools carven and upholstered were drawn against the painted walls. The +officer, having seen his charge comfortably seated, excused himself and +disappeared. + +Hardly was he gone when two servants handsomely attired came in with +refreshments--fruits in natural state, fruits candied, sweetened bread, +sherbet, wine and water. A chief followed them, and, with much humility +of manner, led the Prince to a seat at the table, and invited him to +help himself. The guest was then left alone; and while he ate and drank +he wondered at the stillness prevalent; the very house seemed in awe. + +Ere long another official entered, and after apologizing for introducing +himself, said: "I am Dean of the Court. In the absence of my lord +Phranza, it has fallen to me to discharge, well as I can, the duties of +Grand Chamberlain." + +The Prince, observant of the scrutinizing glance the Dean gave his +person, acknowledged the honor done him, and the pleasure he derived +from the acquaintance. The Dean ought to be happy; he had great fame in +the city and abroad as a most courteous, intelligent, and faithful +servant; there was no doubt he deserved preeminently the confidence his +royal master reposed in him. + +"I am come, O Prince," the old functionary said, after thanks for the +friendly words, "to ascertain if you are refreshed, and ready for the +audience." + +"I am ready." + +"Let us to His Majesty then. If I precede you, I pray pardon." + +Drawing the portiere aside, the Dean held it for the other's passage. + +They entered an extensive inner court, surrounded on three sides by a +gallery resting on pillars. On the fourth side, a magnificent staircase +ascended to a main landing, whence, parting right and left, it terminated +in the gallery. Floor, stairs, balustrading, pillars, everything here was +red marble flooded with light from a circular aperture in the roof open +to the sky. + +Along the stairs, at intervals, officers armed and in armor were +stationed, and keeping their positions faced inwardly, they seemed like +statues. Other armed men were in the galleries. The silence was +impressive. Coming presently to an arched door, the Prince glanced into +a deep chamber, and at the further end of it beheld the Emperor seated +in a chair of state on a dais curtained and canopied with purple velvet. + +"Take heed now, O Prince," said the Dean, in a low voice. "Yonder is His +Majesty. Do thou imitate me in all things. Come." + +With this kindly caution the Dean led into the chamber of public +audience. Just within the door, he halter, crossed hands upon his +breast, and dropped to his knees, his eyes downcast; rising, he kept on +about halfway to the dais, and again knelt; when near his person's +length from the dais, he knelt and fully prostrated himself. The Prince +punctiliously executed every motion, except that at the instant of +halting the last time he threw both hands up after the manner of +Orientals. A velvet carpet of the accepted imperial color stretched from +door to dais greatly facilitated the observances. + +A statuesque soldier, with lance and shield, stood at the left of the +dais, a guard against treachery; by the chair, bare-headed, bare-legged, +otherwise a figure in a yellow tunic lightly breastplated, appeared the +sword-bearer, his slippers stayed with bands of gold, a blade clasped to +his body by the left forearm, the hilt above his shoulder; and spacious +as the chamber was, a row of dignitaries civil, military, and +ecclesiastical lined the walls each in prescribed regalia. The hush +already noticed was observable here, indicative of rigid decorum and +awful reverence. "Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor said, without +movement. + +The visitor obeyed. + +The last of the Palaeologae was in Basilean costume; a golden circlet on +his head brilliantly jewelled and holding a purple velvet cap in place; +an overgown of the material of the cap but darker in tint, and belted at +the waist; a mantle stiff with embroidery of pearls hanging by narrow +bands so as to drop from the shoulder over the breast and back, leaving +the neck bare; an ample lap-robe of dark purple cloth sparkling with +precious stones covering his nether limbs. The chair was square in form +without back or arms; its front posts twined and intricately inlaid with +ivory and silver, and topped each with a golden cone for hand-rest. The +bareness of the neck was relieved by four strings of pearls dropped from +the circlet two on a side, and drawn from behind the ears forward so as +to lightly tip the upper edge of the mantle. The right hand rested at +the moment on the right cone of the chair; the left was free. The +attitude of the figure thus presented was easy and unconstrained, the +countenance high and noble, and altogether the guest admitted to himself +that he had seldom been introduced to royalty more really imposing. + +There was hardly an instant allowed for these observations. To set his +guest at ease, Constantine continued: "The way to our door is devious +and upward. I hope it has not too severely tried you." + +"Your Majesty, were the road many times more trying I would willingly +brave it to be the recipient of honors and attentions which have made +the Emperor of Constantinople famous in many far countries, and not +least in mine." + +The courtierly turn of the reply did not escape the Emperor. It had been +strange if he had not put the character of his guest to question; +indeed, an investigation had proceeded by his order, with the invitation +to audience as a result; and now the self-possession of the stranger, +together with his answer, swept the last doubt from, the imperial mind. +An attendant, responding to a sign, came forward. + +"Bring me wine," and as the servant disappeared with the order, +Constantine again addressed his visitor. "You maybe a Brahman or an +Islamite," he said, with a pleasant look to cover any possible mistake: +"in either case, O Prince, I take it for granted that the offer of a +draught of Chian will not be resented." + +"I am neither a Mohammedan, nor a devotee of the gentle son of Maya. I +am not even a Hindoo in religion. My faith leads me to be thankful for +all God's gifts to his creatures. I will take the cup Your Majesty +deigns to propose." + +The words were spoken with childlike simplicity of manner; yet nowhere +in these pages have we had a finer example of the subtlety which, +characteristic of the speaker, seemed inspiration rather than study. He +knew from general report how religion dominated his host, and on the +spur of the moment, thought to pique curiosity with respect to his own +faith; seeing, as he fancied, a clear path to another audience, with +ampler opportunity to submit and discuss the idea of Universal +Brotherhood in God. + +The glance with which he accompanied assent to the cup was taken as a +mere accentuation of gratitude; it was, however, for discovery. Had the +Emperor noticed the declaration of what he was not? Did his intelligence +suggest how unusual it was for an Indian to be neither a Mohammedan, nor +a Brahman, nor even a Buddhist in religion? He saw a sudden lifting of +the brows, generally the preliminary of a question; he even made an +answer ready; but the other's impulse seemed to spend itself in an +inquiring look, which, lingering slightly, might mean much or nothing. +The Prince resolved to wait. + +Constantine, as will be seen presently, did observe the negations, and +was moved to make them the subject of remark at the moment; but +inordinately sensitive respecting his own religious convictions, he +imagined others like himself in that respect, and upon the scruple, for +which the reader will not fail to duly credit him, deferred inquiry +until the visitor was somewhat better understood. + +Just then the cupbearer appeared with the wine; a girlish lad he was, +with long blond curls. Kneeling before the dais, he rested a silver +platter and the liquor sparkling on it in a crystal decanter upon his +right knee, waiting the imperial pleasure. + +Taking the sign given him, the Dean stepped forward and filled the two +cups of chased gold also on the platter, and delivered them. Then the +Emperor held his cup up while he said in a voice sufficiently raised for +general hearing: + +"Prince of India, I desired your presence to-day the rather to discharge +myself of obligations for important assistance rendered my kinswoman, +the Princess Irene of Therapia, during her detention at the White +Castle; a circumstance of such late occurrence it must be still fresh in +your memory. By her account the Governor was most courteous and +hospitable, and exerted himself to make her stay in his stronghold +agreeable as possible. Something truly extraordinary, considering the +forbidding exterior of the house, and the limited means of entertainment +it must have to offer, she declared he succeeded in converting what +threatened to be a serious situation into an adventure replete with +pleasant surprises. A delegate is now at the Castle assuring the +Governor of my appreciation of his friendly conduct. By her account, +also, I am bounden to you, Prince, scarcely less than to him." + +The gravity of the visitor at hearing this was severely attacked. Great +as was his self-control, he smiled at thought of the dilemma the +Governor was in, listening to a speech of royal thanks and receiving +rich presents in lieu of his young master Mahommed. When the envoy +returned and reported, if perchance he should describe the Turk whom he +found in actual keeping of the Castle, the discrepancy between his +picture of the man and that of the Princess would be both mysterious and +remarkable. + +"Your Majesty," the Prince returned, with a deprecating gesture, "the +storm menaced me quite as much as the Princess, and calls for confession +of my inability to see wherein I rendered her service free of regard for +myself. Indeed, it is my duty to inform Your Majesty, all these noble +witnesses hearing me, that I am more beholden to your noble kinswoman +for help and deliverance in the affair than she can be to me. But for +the courage and address, not to mention the dignity and force with which +she availed herself of her royal relationship, resolving what was at +first a simple invitation to refuge into a high treaty between the heads +of two great powers, I and my daughter"-- + +"Daughter, said you?" + +"Yes, Your Majesty--Heaven has so favored me--I, my daughter, and my +frightened boatmen would have been committed to the river near the +Castle, without recourse except in prayer to Heaven. Nay, Your Majesty, +have I permission to say on, Charity had never a sweeter flowering than +when the Princess remembered to take the stranger under her protection. +I am past the age of enthusiasm and extravagance--my beard and dimming +eyes prove the admission--yet I declare, weighing each word, she has the +wit, the spirit, the goodness, the loveliness to be the noblest of +queens to the best of kings; and fails she such choice, it will be +because destiny has been struck by some unaccountable forgetfulness." + +By this time the courtiers, drawn in from the walls, composed a very +brilliant circle around the throne, each one curious to hear the +stranger as he had been to see him; and they were quick to point his +last sentence; for most of them had been with the Emperor in the voyage +to Therapia, which was still a theme of wager and wrangle scarcely less +interesting than in its first hour. By one impulse they ventured a +glance at the royal face, seeking a revelation; but the countenance was +steady as a mask. + +"The encomium is well bestowed, and approves thy experience, Prince, as +a reader of women," Constantine said, with just enough fervor. +"Henceforth I shall know the degree of trust to repose in thy judgment, +other problems as difficult being in controversy. Nevertheless, is the +lady to be believed, then, O Prince, I repeat my acknowledgment of +indebtedness. It pleases me to greatly estimate thy influence and good +judgment happily exerted. Mayst thou live long, Prince of India, and +always find thyself as now among friends who charge themselves to be +watchful for opportunities to befriend thee." + +He raised the cup. + +"It is Your Majesty's pleasure," the guest replied, and they drank +together. + +"A seat for the Prince of India," the Emperor next directed. + +The chair, when brought, was declined. + +"In my palace--for at home I exercise the functions of a king--it often +falls to me to give audiences; if public, we call them _durbars;_ +and then an inferior may not sit in my presence. The rule, like all +governing the session, is of my own enactment. I see plainly how greatly +Your Majesty designs to heap me with honors; and if I dare decline this +one, it is not from disposition to do a teacher's part, but from habit +which has the sanction of heredity, and the argument self addressed: +Shall I despise my own ordinances? God forbid!" + +A murmur from the concourse was distinctly audible, which the Dean +interpreted by repeated affirmative nods. In other words, by this stroke +the able visitor won the court as he had already won its head; insomuch +that the most doubting of the doubters would not have refused to certify +him on belief the very Prince of India he claimed to be. The Emperor, on +his part, could not but defer to scruples so cogently and solemnly put; +at the same time, out of his very certainty respecting the guest, he +passed to a question which in probability the reader has been for some +time entertaining. + +"The makers of a law should be first to observe it; for having done so, +they then have God's license to exert themselves in its enforcement; and +when one is found observant of a principle which has root so perceptibly +in conscience, to deny him his pleasure were inexcusable. Have thy will, +Prince." + +The applause which greeted the decision of His Majesty was hardly out of +ear when he proceeded: + +"Again I pray you, Sir Guest--I greatly misapprehend the travellers who +tell of India, if the people of that venerable country are not given to +ceremonials religious as well as secular. Many of our own observances of +a sacred nature are traceable to study and discernment of the good +effects of form in worship, and since some of them are unquestionably +borrowed from temples of the Pagan gods, yet others may be of Hindoo +origin. Who shall say? Wherefore, speaking generally, I should fear to +ask you to any of our Church mysteries which I did not know were purely +Greek. One such we have this evening. We call it _Pannychides_. Its +principal feature is a procession of monastic brethren from the holy +houses of the city and Islands--all within the jurisdiction of our +Eastern Church, which, please God, is of broader lines than our State. +The fathers have been assembling for the celebration several days. They +will form in the city at set of sun, throwing the march into the night. +Here, within our grounds, more particularly at the door of the Chapel of +our Holy Virgin of Blacherne, I will meet them. They will pass the night +in prayer, an army on bended knees, sorrowing for the pains of our +Saviour in Gethsemane. I was uncertain what faith you profess; yet, +Prince, I thought--forgive me, if it was an error--a sight of the spirit +of our Churchmen as it will be manifested on this occasion might prove +interesting to you; so I have taken the liberty of ordering a stand +erected for your accommodation at a position favorable to witnessing the +procession in movement up the terraces. No one has seen the spectacle +without realizing as never before the firmness of the hold Christ has +taken upon the souls of men." The last words startled the Prince. +Christ's hold upon the souls of men! The very thing he wanted to learn, +and, if possible, measure. A cloud of thoughts fell about him; yet he +kept clear head, and answered quietly: + +"Your Majesty has done me great kindness. I am already interested in the +Mystery. Since we cannot hope ever to behold God with these mortal eyes, +the nearest amend for the deprivation is the privilege of seeing men in +multitudes demonstrating their love of Him." + +Constantine's eyes lingered on the Prince's face. The utterances +attracted him. The manner was so artfully reverential as not to leave a +suspicion of the guile behind it. Going down great galleries, every one +has had his attention suddenly arrested; he pauses, looks, and looks +again, then wakes to find the attraction was not a picture, but only a +flash within his own mind. So, with the guest before him, the Emperor +was thinking of the man rather than seeing him--thinking of him with +curiosity fully awakened, and a desire to know him better. And had he +followed up the desire, he would have found its source in the idea that +India was a region in which reflection and psychological experiment had +been exhausted--where if one appeared with a thought it turned old ere +it could be explained--where wisdom had fructified until there was no +knowledge more--where the teaching capacity was all there was remaining. +That is to say, in the day of the last Byzantine Emperor, centuries ago, +humanity in India was, as now, a clock stopped, but stopped in the act +of striking, leaving a glory in the air imaginable like the continuing +sound of hushed cathedral bells. + +"Prince," he at length said, "you will remain here until the procession +is announced at the Grand Gate. I will then give you a guide and a +guard. Our steward has orders to look after your comfort." Turning then +to the acting Chamberlain, he added: "Good Dean, have we not a little +time in which to hear our guest further?" + +"Your Majesty, an hour at least." + +"You hear, O Prince? Provided always that it be not to your displeasure, +tell me what I am to understand by the disclaimer which, broadly +interpreted, leaves you either a Jew or a Christian?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NEW FAITH PROCLAIMED + + +The question came earlier than the Prince expected, and in different +form. Those in position to observe his face saw it turn a trifle pale, +and he hesitated, and glanced around uneasily, as though not altogether +assured of his footing. This might have been by-play; if so, it was +successful; every countenance not sympathetic was serious. + +"Your Majesty's inquiry must be for information. I am too humble for an +unfriendly design on the part of one so exalted as the Emperor of +Constantinople. It might be otherwise if I represented a church, a +denomination, or a recognized religion; as it is, my faith is my own." + +"But bethink thee, Prince, thou mayst have the truth--the very God's +truth," Constantine interposed, with kindly intent. "We all know thy +country hath been the cradle of divine ideas. So, speak, and fear not." + +The glance the Emperor received was winsomely grateful. + +"Indeed, Your Majesty, indeed I have need of good countenance. The +question put me has lured more men to bloody graves than fire, sword and +wave together. And then why I believe as I believe demands time in +excess of what we have; and I am the bolder in this because in limiting +me Your Majesty limits yourself. So I will now no more than define my +Faith. But first, it does not follow from my disclaimer that I can only +be a Jew or a Christian; for as air is a vehicle for a multitude of +subtleties in light, faith in like manner accommodates a multitude of +opinions." + +While speaking, the Prince's voice gradually gained strength; his color +returned, and his eyes enlarged and shone with strange light. Now his +right hand arose, the fingers all closed except the first one, and it +was long and thin, and he waved it overhead, like a conjuring wand. If +the concourse had been unwilling to hear him, they could not have turned +away. + +"I am not a Hindoo, my Lord; because I cannot believe men can make their +own gods." + +The Father Confessor to the Emperor, at the left of the dais in a stole +of gold and crimson cloth, smiled broadly. + +"I am not a Buddhist," the Prince continued; "because I cannot believe +the soul goes to nothingness after death." + +The Father Confessor clapped his hands. + +"I am not a Confucian; because I cannot reduce religion to philosophy or +elevate philosophy into religion." + +The blood of the audience began to warm. + +"I am not a Jew; because I believe God loves all peoples alike, or if he +makes distinctions, it is for righteousness' sake." + +Here the chamber rang with clapping. + +"I am not an Islamite; because when I raise my eyes to Heaven, I cannot +tolerate sight of a man standing between me and God--no, my Lord, not +though he be a Prophet." + +The hit was palpable, and from hate of the old enemy, the whole +assemblage broke into an uproar of acclamation. Only the Emperor kept +his gravity. Leaning heavily on the golden cone at the right of his +chair, his chin depressed, his eyes staring, scarcely breathing, he +waited, knowing, that having gone so far, there was before the speaker +an unavoidable climax; and seeing it in his face, and coming, he +presently aroused, and motioned for silence. + +"I am not"-- + +The Prince stopped, but when the hush was deepest went on--"I am not a +Christian; because--because I believe--God is God." + +The Father Confessor's hands were ready to clap, but they stayed so; the +same spell took hold of the bystanders, except that they looked at the +Emperor, and he alone seemed to comprehend the concluding phrase. He +settled back easily in his seat, saying, "Thy Faith then is--" + +"God!" + +The monosyllable was the Prince's. + +And with clear sight of the many things reprobated--Images, Saints, the +Canonized, even the worship of Christ and the Holy Mother--with clear +sight also of the wisdom which in that presence bade the guest stop with +the mighty name--at the same time more curious than ever to hear in full +discourse the man who could reduce religion to a single word and leave +it comprehensible, Constantine drew a breath of relief, and said, +smiling, "Of a surety, O Prince, there was never a Faith which, with +such appearance of simplicity in definition, is capable of such infinity +of meaning. I am full of questions; and these listening, my lords of the +court, are doubtless in a similar mood. What sayest thou, O my most +orthodox Confessor?" The Father bowed until the hem of his blazing stole +overlaid the floor. + +"Your Majesty, we too are believers in God; but we also believe in much +beside; so, if but for comparison of creeds, which is never unprofitable +while in good nature, I should like to hear the noble and fair speaking +guest further." + +"And you, my Lords?" + +The throng around answered, "Yes, yes!" + +"We will have it so then. Look, good Logothete, for the nearest day +unoccupied." + +A handsome man of middle age approached the dais, and opening a +broad-backed book, evidently the record of the royal appointments, +turned a number of leaves, and replied: "Your Majesty, two weeks from +tomorrow." + +"Note the same set aside for the Prince of India.-Dost hear, Prince?" + +The latter lowered his face the better to conceal his pleasure. + +"All days are alike to me," he answered. + +"In this our palace, then--two weeks from to-morrow at the hour of noon. +And now"--the rustle and general movement of the courtiers was instantly +stayed--"and now, Prince, didst thou not speak of exercising the +functions of a king at home? Thy capital must be in India, but where, +pray? And how callest thou thyself? And why is this city so fortunate as +to have attracted thy wandering feet? It is not every king so his own +master as to turn traveller, and go about making study of the world; +although, I admit, it would be better could every king do so." + +These questions were rapidly put, but as the Prince was prepared for +them, he responded pleasantly: + +"In answering the questions Your Majesty now honors me with. I am aware +how serious the mistake would be did I think of your curiosity alone. A +most excellent quality in a great man is patience. Alas, that it should +be one of the most abused! ... Among the oldest of Hindoo titles is +_Rajah_. It means King rather than Prince, and I was born to it. +Your Majesty may have heard of Oodeypoor, the bosom jewel of Rajpootana, +the white rose just bloomed of Indian cities. At the foot of a spur of +the Arawalli mountains, a river rises, and on its right bank reposes the +city; from which, southeast a little way, a lake lies outspread, like a +mirror fallen face upward. And around the lake are hills, tall and +broken as these of the Bosphorus; and seen from the water the hills are +masses of ivy and emerald woods thickly sprinkled with old fortresses +and temples, and seven-roofed red pagodas, each the home of a great +gold-decked Buddha, with lesser Buddhas in family. And in the lake are +islands all palaces springing from the water line in open arches, and +sculptured walls, and towered gates; and of still days their wondrous +cunning in the air is renewed afresh in the waveless depths below them. +If they are glorious then, what are they when reconstructed for festal +nights in shining lamps? For be it said, my Lord, if a stranger in the +walls of this centre of empire may speak a word which has the faintest +savor of criticism, the Indian genius analyzed beauty before there was a +West, and taking suggestions from spark and dewdrop, applied them to +architecture. Smile not, I pray, for you may see the one in the lamp +multiplied for outline traceries, and the other in the fountain, the +cascade, and the limpid margin at the base of walls. Or if still you +think me exaggerating, is not the offence one to be lightly forgiven +where the offender is telling of his birthplace? In one of the palaces +of that Lake of Palaces I was born, the oldest son of the Rajah of +Meywar, Oodeypoor his capital. In these words, which I hope may be +kindly judged, Your Majesty will find answers to one, if not two of the +questions you were pleased to ask me--Why I am here? And why making +study of the world? Will Your Majesty pardon my boldness, if I suggest +that a reply to those inquiries would be better at the audience set for +me next? I fear it is too long for telling now." + +"Be it so," said Constantine, "yet a hint of it may not be amiss. It may +set us to thinking; and, Prince, a mind prepared for an idea is like +ground broken and harrowed for seed." + +The Prince hesitated. + +"Your Majesty--my Lord"--he then said firmly, "the most sorrowful of men +are those with conceptions too great for them, and which they must carry +about with nothing better to sustain their sinking spirits than a poor +hope of having them one day adopted; for until that day they are like a +porter overladen and going from house to house unknowing the name of the +owner of his burden or where to look for him. I am such an +unfortunate.... Oodeypoor, you must understand, is more than comely to +the eye of a native; it is a city where all religions are tolerated. The +Taing, the Brahman, the Hindoo, the Mohammedan, the Buddhist live +together there, protected and in peace, with their worship and houses of +worship; nor is there any shutting of mouths, because controversy long +since attained finality amongst them; or perhaps it were better saying, +because opinions there have now their recognized grooves, and run in +them from generation to generation--opinions to which men are born as to +their property, only without right of change or modification; neither +can they break away from them. There is no excuse if an intelligent man +in such a situation does not comprehend all the religions thus in daily +practice; or if one does comprehend them he should not flatter himself +possessed of any superior intellect.... The Rajah, my father, died, and +I mounted his silver throne, and for ten years administered justice in +the Hall of Durbars to which he had been used, he and his father's +father, Children of the Sun, most pure of blood. By that time I was of +mature mind, and having given myself up to study, came to believe there +is but one doctrine--principle--call it what you will, my Lord--but one +of heavenly origin--one primarily comprehensible by all--too simple +indeed to satisfy the egotism of men; wherefore, without rejecting, they +converted it into a foundation, and built upon it each according to his +vanity, until, in course of ages, the foundation was overlaid with +systems of belief, childish, unnatural, ridiculous, indecent, or else +too complicated for common understanding"-- + +"This principle--what is it, Prince?" Constantine asked nervously. + +"Your Majesty, I have already once named it." + +"Mean you God?" + +"And now, my Lord, thou hast pronounced it." + +The stillness in the chamber was very deep. Every man seemed to be +asking, what next? + +"One day, Your Majesty--it was in my tenth year of government--a function +was held in a tent erected for the purpose--a _shamiana_ vastly larger +than any hall. I went up to it in state, passing through lines of +elephants, an hundred on either hand, covered with cloth of gold and with +houdahs of yellow silk roofed with the glory of peacocks. Behind the +mighty brutes soldiery blotted out the landscape, and the air between +them and the sky was a tawny cloud of flaunting yak-tails; nor had one +use for ears, so was he deafened by beat of drums and blowing of brazen +horns twice a tall man's height. I sat on a throne of silver and gold, +all my ministers present. My brother entered, he the next entitled. +Halfway down the aisle of chiefs I met him, and then led him to my seat, +and saluted him Rajah of Meywar. Your Majesty, so I parted with crown and +title--laid them down voluntarily to search the world for men in power in +love with God enough to accept him as their sum of faith. Behold why I +travel making the earth a study! Behold why I am in Constantinople!" + +Constantine was impressed. + +"Where hast thou been?" he at length asked--"where before coming here?" + +"It were easier did Your Majesty ask where I have not been. For then I +could answer, Everywhere, except Rome." + +"Dost thou impugn our devotion to God?" + +"Not so, not so, my Lord! I am seeking to know the degree of your love +of Him." + +"How, Prince?" + +"By a test." + +"What test?" + +No man listening could have said what mood the Emperor was in; yet the +guest replied with an appearance of rising courage: "A trial, to find +all the other things entering into Faith which Your Majesty and Your +Majesty's lords and subjects are willing to lay down for God's sake." + +With a peremptory gesture Constantine silenced the stir and rustle in +the chamber. "It is right boldly put," he said. + +"But none the less respectfully. My Lord, I am striving to he +understood." + +"You speak of a trial. To what end?" + +"One Article of Faith, the all-essential of Universal Brotherhood in +Religion." + +"A magnificent conception! But is it practicable?" + +Fortunately or unfortunately for the Prince, an officer that moment made +way through the courtiers, and whispered to the Dean, who at once +addressed himself to the Emperor. + +"I pray pardon, but it pleased Your Majesty to bid me notify you when it +is time to make ready for the Mystery to-night. The hour is come; +besides which a messenger from Scholarius waits for an interview." + +Constantine arose. + +"Thanks, worthy Dean," he said; "we will not detain the messenger. The +audience is dismissed." + +Then descending from the dais, he gave his hand to the Prince. "I see +the idea you have in mind, and it is worthy the bravest effort. I shall +look forward to the next audience with concern. Forget not that the +guestship continues. My steward will take you in charge. Farewell." + +The Prince, sinking to his knees, kissed the offered hand, whereupon the +Emperor said as if just reminded: "Was not your daughter with my +kinswoman in the White Castle?" + +"Your Majesty, the Princess on that occasion most graciously consented +to accept my daughter as her attendant." + +"Were she to continue in the same attendance, Prince, we might hope to +have her at court some day." + +"I lay many thanks at Your Majesty's feet. She is most honored by the +suggestion." Constantine in lead of his officers then passed out, while, +in care of the steward, the Prince was conducted to the reception room, +and served with refreshments. Afterwhile through the windows he beheld +the day expiring, and the first audience finished, and the second +appointed, he was free to think of the approaching Mystery. + +Be it said now he was easy in feeling--satisfied with the management of +his cause--satisfied with the impression he had made on the Emperor and +the court as well. Had not the latter applauded and voted to hear him +again? When taken with the care habitually observed by leading +personages in audiences formal as that just passed, how broadly +sympathetic the expressions of the monarch had been. + +In great cheerfulness the Prince ate and drank, and even occupied the +wine-colored leisure conning an argument for the occasion in +prospect--noon, next day two weeks! And more clearly than ever his +scheme seemed good. Could he carry it through--could he succeed--the +good would be recognized--never a doubt of that. If men were sometimes +blind, God was always just. + +In thought he sped forward of the coming appointment, and saw himself +not only the apostle of the reform, but the chosen agent, the accredited +go-between of Constantine and the young Mahommed. He remembered the +points of negotiation between them. He would not require the Turk to +yield the prophetic character of Mahomet; neither should the Byzantine's +faith in Christ suffer curtailment; he would ask them, however, to agree +to a new relation between Mahomet and Christ on the one side and God on +the other--that, namely, long conceded, as having existed between God +and Elijah. And then, an article of the utmost materiality, the very +soul of the recast religion, he would insist that they obligate +themselves to worship God alone, worship being His exclusive prerogative, +and that this condition of exclusive worship be prescribed the only test +of fraternity in religion; all other worship to be punishable as heresy. +Nor stopped he with Mahommed and Constantine; he doubted not bringing the +Rabbis to such a treaty. How almost identical it was with the Judaism of +Moses. The Bishop of Rome might protest. What matter? Romanism segregated +must die. And so the isms of the Brahman and the Hindoo, so the Buddhist, +the Confucian, the Mencian--they would all perish under the hammering of +the union. Then, too, Time would make the work perfect, and gradually +wear Christ and Mahomet out of mind--he and Time together. What if the +task did take ages? He had an advantage over other reformers--he could +keep his reform in motion--he could guide and direct it--he could promise +himself life to see it in full acceptance. In the exuberance of +triumphant feeling, he actually rejoiced in his doom, and for the moment +imagined it more than a divine mercy. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PANNYCHIDES + + +An invitation from the Emperor to remain and view the procession +marching up the heights of Blacherne had been of itself a compliment; +but the erection of a stand for the Prince turned the compliment into a +personal honor. To say truth, however, he really desired to see the +Pannychides, or in plain parlance, the Vigils. He had often heard of +them as of prodigious effect upon the participants. Latterly they had +fallen into neglect; and knowing how difficult it is to revive a dying +custom, he imagined the spectacle would be poor and soon over. While +reflecting on it, he looked out of the window and was surprised to see +the night falling. He yielded then to restlessness, until suddenly an +idea arose and absorbed him. + +Suppose the Emperor won to his scheme; was its success assured? So used +was he to thinking of the power of kings and emperors as the sole +essential to the things he proposed that in this instance he had failed +to concede importance to the Church; and probably he would have gone on +in the delusion but for the Mysteries which were now to pass before him. +They forced him to think of the power religious organizations exercise +over men. + +And this Church--this old Byzantine Church! Ay, truly! The Byzantine +conscience was under its direction; it was the Father Confessor of the +Empire; its voice in the common ear was the voice of God. To cast Christ +out of its system would be like wrenching a man's heart out of his body. +It was here and there--everywhere in fact--in signs, trophies, monuments +--in crosses and images--in monasteries, convents, houses to the Saints, +houses to the Mother. What could the Emperor do, if it were obstinate and +defiant? The night beheld through the window crept into the Wanderer's +heart, and threatened to put out the light kindled there by the new-born +hope with which he had come from the audience. + +"The Church, the Church! It is the enemy I have to fear," he kept +muttering in dismal repetition, realizing, for the first time, the +magnitude of the campaign before him. With a wisdom in wickedness which +none of his successors in design have shown, he saw the Christian idea +in the bosom of the Church unassailable except a substitute satisfactory +to its professors could be found. Was God a sufficient substitute? +Perhaps--and he turned cold with the reflection--the Pannychides were +bringing him an answer. It was an ecclesiastical affair, literally a +meeting of Churchmen _en masse_. Where--when--how could the Church +present itself to any man more an actuality in the flesh? Perhaps--and a +chill set his very crown to crawling--perhaps the opportunity to study +the spectacle was more a mercy of God than a favor of Constantine. + +To his great relief, at length the officer who had escorted him from the +Grand Gate came into the room. + +"I am to have the honor," he said, cheerfully, "of conducting you to the +stand His Majesty has prepared that you may at ease behold the Mysteries +appointed for the night. The head of the procession is reported +appearing. If it please you, Prince of India, we will set out." + +"I am ready." + +The position chosen for the Prince was on the right bank of a cut +through which the road passed on its ascent from the arched gateway by +the Chapel to the third terrace, and he was borne thither in his sedan. + +Upon alighting, he found himself on a platform covered by a canopy, +carpeted and furnished with one chair comfortably cushioned. At the +right of the chair there was a pyramid of coals glowing in a brazier, +and lest that might not be a sufficient provision against the damps of +the hours, a great cloak was near at hand. In front of the platform he +observed a pole securely planted and bearing a basket of inflammables +ready for conversion into a torch. In short, everything needful to his +well-being, including wine and water on a small tripod, was within +reach. + +Before finally seating himself the Prince stepped out to the brow of the +terrace, whence he noticed the Chapel below him in the denser darkness +of the trees about it like a pool. The gleam of armor on the area by the +Grand Gate struck him with sinister effect. Flowers saluted him with +perfume, albeit he could not see them. Not less welcome was the low +music with which the brook cheered itself while dancing down to the +harbor. Besides a cresset burning on the landing outside the Port +entrance, two other lights were visible; one on the Pharos, the other on +the great Galata tower, looking in the distance like large stars. With +these exceptions, the valley and the hill opposite Blacherne, and the +wide-reaching Metropolis beyond them, were to appearances a blacker +cloud dropped from the clouded sky. A curious sound now came to him from +the direction of the city. Was it a rising wind? Or a muffled roll from +the sea? While wondering, some one behind him said: + +"They are coming." + +The voice was sepulchral and harsh, and the Prince turned quickly to the +speaker. + +"Ah, Father Theophilus!" + +"They are coming," the Father repeated. + +The Prince shivered slightly. The noise beyond the valley arose more +distinctly. + +"Are they singing?" he asked. + +"Chanting," the other answered. + +"Why do they chant?" + +"Knowest thou our Scriptures?" + +The Wanderer quieted a disdainful impulse, and answered: + +"I have read them." + +The Father continued: + +"Presently thou wilt hear the words of Job: 'Oh, that thou wouldst hide +me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me in secret, until thy wrath be +past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me.'" + +The Prince was startled. Why was one in speech so like a ghost selected +his companion? And that verse, of all to him most afflicting, and which +in hours of despair he had repeated until his very spirit had become +colored with its reproachful plaint--who put it in the man's mouth? + +The chant came nearer. Of melody it had nothing; nor did those engaged +in it appear in the slightest attentive to time. Yet it brought relief +to the Prince, willing as he was to admit he had never heard anything +similar--anything so sorrowful, so like the wail of the damned in +multitude. And rueful as the strain was, it helped him assign the +pageant a near distance, a middle distance, and then interminability. + +"There appear to be a great many of them," he remarked to the Father. + +"More than ever before in the observance," was the reply. + +"Is there a reason for it?" + +"Our dissensions." + +The Father did not see the pleased expression of his auditor's face, but +proceeded: "Yes, our dissensions. They multiply. At first the jar was +between the Church and the throne; now it is the Church against the +Church--a Roman party and a Greek party. One man among us has +concentrated in himself the learning and devotion of the Christian East. +You will see him directly, George Scholarius. By visions, like those in +which the old prophets received the counsel of God, he was instructed to +revive the _Pannychides._ His messengers have gone hither and +thither, to the monasteries, the convents, and the eremitic colonies +wherever accessible. The greater the presence, he says, the greater the +influence." + +"Scholarius is a wise man," the Prince said, diplomatically. + +"His is the wisdom of the Prophets," the Father answered. + +"Is he the Patriarch?" + +"No, the Patriarch is of the Roman party--Scholarius of the Greek." + +"And Constantine?" + +"A good king, truly, but, alas; he is cumbered with care of the State." + +"Yes, yes," said the Prince. "And the care leads to neglect of his soul. +Kings are sometimes to be pitied. But there is then a special object in +the Vigils?" + +"The Vigils to-night are for the restoration of the unities once more, +that the Church may find peace and the State its power and glory again. +God is in the habit of taking care of His own." + +"Thank you, Father, I see the difference. Scholarius would intrust the +State to the Holy Virgin; but Constantine, with a worldlier inspiration, +adheres to the craft held by Kings immemorially. The object of the +Vigils is to bring the Emperor to abandon his policy and defer to +Scholarius?" + +"The Emperor assists in the Mystery," the Father answered, vaguely. + +The procession meantime came on, and when its head appeared in front of +the Grand Gate three trumpeters blew a flourish which called the guards +into line. A monk advanced and held parley with an officer; after which +he was given a lighted torch, and passed under the portal in lead of the +multitude. The trumpeters continued plying their horns, marking the slow +ascent. + +"Were this an army," said Father Theophilus, "it would not be so +laborious; but, alas! the going of youth is nowhere so rapid as in a +cloister; nor is age anywhere so feeble. Ten years kneeling on a stony +floor in a damp cell brings the anchorite to forget he ever walked with +ease." + +The Prince scarcely heard him; he was interested in the little to be +seen crossing the area below--a column four abreast, broken into unequal +divisions, each division with a leader, who, at the gate, received a +torch. Occasionally a square banner on a cross-stick appeared-- +occasionally a section in light-colored garments; more frequently a +succession of heads without covering of any kind; otherwise the train was +monotonously rueful, and in its slow movement out of the darkness +reminded the spectator on the height of a serpent crawling endlessly from +an underground den. Afterwhile the dim white of the pavement was obscured +by masses stationary on the right and left of the column; these were the +people stopping there because for them there was no further pursuit of +the spectral parade. + +The horns gave sonorous notice of the progress during the ascent. Now +they were passing along the first terrace; still the divisions were +incessant down by the gate--still the chanting continued, a dismal +dissonance in the distance, a horrible discord near by. If it be true +that the human voice is music's aptest instrument, it is also true that +nothing vocalized in nature can excel it in the expression of diabolism. + +Suddenly the first torch gleamed on the second terrace scarce an hundred +yards from the Chapel. + +"See him now there, behind the trumpeters--Scholarius!" said Father +Theophilus, with a semblance of animation. + +"He with the torch?" + +"Ay!--And he might throw the torch away, and still be the light of the +Church." + +The remark did not escape the Prince. The man who could so impress +himself upon a member of the court must be a power with his brethren of +the gown generally. Reflecting thus, the discerning visitor watched the +figure stalking on under the torch. There are men who are causes in +great events, sometimes by superiority of nature, sometimes by +circumstances. What if this were one of them? And forthwith the observer +ceased fancying the mystical looking monk drawing the interminable train +after him by the invisible bonds of a will mightier than theirs in +combination--the fancy became a fact. "The procession will not stop at +the Chapel," the Father said; "but keep on to the palace, where the +Emperor will join it. If my Lord cares to see the passage distinctly, I +will fire the basket here." + +"Do so," the Prince replied. + +The flambeau was fired. + +It shed light over the lower terraces right and left, and brought the +palace in the upper space into view from the base of the forward +building to the Tower of Isaac; and here, close by, the Chapel with all +its appurtenances, paved enclosure, speeding brook, solemn cypresses, +and the wall and arched gateway at the hither side stood out in almost +daytime clearness. The road in the cut underfoot must bring the frocked +host near enough to expose its spirit. + +The bellowing of the horns frightened the birds at roost in the +melancholy grove, and taking wing, they flew blindly about. + +Then ensued the invasion of the enclosure in front of the Chapel-- +Scholarius next the musicians. The Prince saw him plainly; a tall man, +stoop-shouldered, angular as a skeleton; his hood thrown back; head +tonsured; the whiteness of the scalp conspicuous on account of the +band of black hair at the base; the features high and thin, cheeks +hollow, temples pinched. The dark brown cassock, leaving an attenuated +neck completely exposed, hung from his frame apparently much too large +for it. His feet disdained sandals. At the brook he halted, and letting +the crucifix fall from his right hand, he stooped and dipped the member +thus freed into the water, and rising flung the drops in air. Resuming +the crucifix, he marched on. + +It cannot be said there was admiration in the steady gaze with which the +Prince kept the monk in eye; the attraction was stronger--he was looking +for a sign from him. He saw the tall, nervous figure cross the brook +with a faltering, uncertain step, pass the remainder of the pavement, +the torch in one hand, the holy symbol in the other; then it disappeared +under the arch of the gate; and when it had come through, the sharp +espial was beforehand with it, and waiting. It commenced ascending the +acute grade--now it was in the cut--and now, just below the Prince, it +had but to look up, and its face would be on a level with his feet. At +exactly the right moment, Scholarius did look up, and--stop. + +The interchange of glances between the men was brief, and can be likened +to nothing so aptly as sword blades crossing in a red light. + +Possibly the monk, trudging on, his mind intent upon something which was +part of a scene elsewhere, or on the objects and results of the +solemnities in celebration, as yet purely speculative, might have been +disagreeably surprised at discovering himself the subject of study by a +stranger whose dress proclaimed him a foreigner; possibly the Prince's +stare, which we have already seen was at times powerfully magnetic, +filled him with aversion and resentment; certain it is he raised his +head, showing a face full of abhorrence, and at the same time waved the +crucifix as if in exorcism. + +The Prince had time to see the image thus presented was of silver on a +cross of ivory wrought to wonderful realism. The face was dying, not +dead; there were the spikes in the hands and feet, the rent in the side, +the crown of thorns, and overhead the initials of the inscription: This +is the King of the Jews. There was the worn, buffeted, bloodspent body, +and the lips were parted so it was easy to think the sufferer in +mid-utterance of one of the exclamations which have placed his Divinity +forever beyond successful denial. The swift reversion of memory excited +in the beholder might have been succeeded by remorse, but for the cry: + +"Thou enemy of Jesus Christ--avaunt!" + +It was the voice of Scholarius, shrill and high; and before the Prince +could recover from the shock, before he could make answer, or think of +answering, the visionary was moving on; nor did he again look back. + +"What ails thee, Prince?" + +The sepulchral tone of Father Theophilus was powerful over the benumbed +faculties of His Majesty's guest; and he answered with a question: + +"Is not thy friend Scholarius a great preacher?" + +"On his lips the truth is most unctuous." + +"It must be so--it must be so! For"--the Prince's manner was as if he +were settling a grave altercation in his own mind--"for never did a man +offer me the Presence so vitalized in an image. I am not yet sure but he +gave me to see the Holy Son of the Immaculate Mother in flesh and blood +exactly as when they put Him so cruelly to death. Or can it be, Father, +that the effect upon me was in greater measure due to the night, the +celebration, the cloud of ministrants, the serious objects of the +Vigils?" + +The answer made Father Theophilus happy as a man of his turn could +be--he was furnished additional evidence of the spiritual force of +Scholarius, his ideal. + +"No," he answered, "it was God in the man." + +All this time the chanting had been coming nearer, and now the grove +rang with it. A moment, and the head of the first division must present +itself in front of the Chapel. Could the Wanderer have elected then +whether to depart or stay, the _Pannychides_ would have had no further +assistance from him--so badly had the rencounter with Scholarius shaken +him. Not that he was afraid in the vulgar sense of the term. Before a man +can habitually pray for death, he must be long lost to fear. If we can +imagine conscience gone, pride of achievement, without which there can be +no mortification or shame in defeat, may yet remain with him, a source of +dread and weakness. The chill which shook Brutus in his tent the evening +before Philippi was not in the least akin to terror. So with the Prince +at this juncture. There to measure the hold of the Christian idea upon +the Church, it seemed Scholarius had brought him an answer which finished +his interest in the passing Vigils. In brief, the Reformer's interest in +the Mystery was past, and he wished with his whole soul to retreat to the +sedan, but a fascination held him fast. + +"I think it would be pleasanter sitting," he said, and returned to the +platform. + +"If I presume to take the chair, Father," he added, "it is because I am +older than thou." + +Hardly was he thus at ease when a precentor, fat, and clad in a long +gown, stepped out of the grove to the clear lighted pavement in front of +the Chapel. His shaven head was thrown back, his mouth open to its +fullest stretch, and tossing a white stick energetically up and down in +the air, he intoned with awful distinctness: "The waters wear the +stones. Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the +earth, and Thou destroyest the hopes of man." + +The Prince covered his ears with his hands. + +"Thou likest not the singing?" Father Theophilus asked, and continued: +"I admit the graces have little to do with musical practice in the holy +houses of the Fathers." But he for whom the comfort was meant made no +reply. He was repeating to himself: "Thou prevailest forever against +him, and he passeth." + +And to these words the head of the first division strode forward into +the light. The Prince dropped his hands in time to hear the last verse: +"But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall +mourn." + +For whom was this? Did the singers know the significancy of the text to +him? The answer was from God, and they were merely messengers bringing +it. He rose to his feet; in his rebellious passion the world seemed to +melt and swim about him. He felt a longing to burn, break, destroy--to +strike out and kill. When he came to himself, Father Theophilus, who +thought him merely wonder struck by the mass of monks in march, was +saying in his most rueful tone: "Good order required a careful +arrangement of the procession; for though the participants are pledged +to godly life, yet they sometimes put their vows aside temporarily. The +holiest of them have pride in their establishments, and are often too +ready to resort to arms of the flesh to assert their privileges. The +Fathers of the Islands have long been jealous of the Fathers of the +city, and to put them together would be a signal for riot. Accordingly +there are three grand divisions here--the monks of Constantinople, those +of the Islands, the shores of the Bosphorus and the three seas, and +finally the recluses and hermits from whatever quarter. Lo! first the +Fathers of the Studium--saintly men as thou wilt see anywhere." + +The speech was unusually long for the Father; a fortunate circumstance +of which the Prince availed himself to recover his self-possession. By +the time the brethren eulogized were moving up the rift at his feet, he +was able to observe them calmly. They were in long gowns of heavy gray +woollen stuff, with sleeves widening from the shoulders; their cowls, +besides covering head and visage, fell down like capes. Cleanly, +decent-looking men, they marched slowly and in order, their hands united +palm to palm below their chins. The precentor failed to inspire them +with his fury of song. + +"These now coming," Father Theophilus said of the second fraternity," +are conventuals of Petrion, who have their house looking out on the +harbor here. And these," he said of the third, "are of the Monastery of +Anargyres--a very ancient society. The Emperor Michael, surnamed the +Paphlegonian, died in one of their cells in 1041. Brotherhood with them +is equivalent to saintship." + +Afterwhile a somewhat tumultuous flock appeared in white skirts and +loose yellow cloaks, their hair and beard uncut and flying. The +historian apologized. + +"Bear with them," he said; "they are mendicants from the retreats of +Periblepte, in the quarter of Psammatica. You may see them on the street +corners and quays, and in all public places, sick, blind, lame and +covered with sores. They have St. Lazarus for patron. At night an angel +visits them with healing. They refuse to believe the age of miracles is +past." + +The city monastics were a great host carrying banners with the name of +their Brotherhoods inscribed in golden letters; and in every instance +the Hegumen, or Abbot, preceded his fraternity torch in hand. + +A company in unrelieved black marched across the brook, and their +chanting was lugubrious as their garb. + +"Petra sends us these Fathers," said Theophilus--"Petra over on the +south side. They sleep all day and watch at night. The second coming +they say will happen in the night, because they think that time most +favorable for the trumpeting herald and the splendor of the +manifestations." + +Half an hour of marching--men in gray and black and yellow, a few in +white--men cowled--men shorn and unshorn--barefooted men and men in +sandals--a river of men in all moods, except jovial and happy, toiling +by the observing stand, seldom an upturned face, spectral, morose, laden +body and mind--young and old looking as if just awakened after ages of +entombment;--a half hour of dismal chanting the one chapter from the +book of the man in the land of Uz, of all utterances the most dismal;--a +half hour of waiting by the Prince for one kindly sign, without +discovering it--a half hour, in which, if the comparison be not too +strong, he was like a soul keeping watch over its own abandoned body. +Then Father Theophilus said: + +"From the cloisters of St. James of Manganese! The richest of the +monasteries of Constantinople, and the most powerful. It furnishes +Sancta Sophia with renowned preachers. Its brethren cultivate learning. +Their library is unexcelled, and they boast that in the hundreds of +years of their society life, they had never an heretic. Before their +altars the candles are kept burning and trimmed forever. Their numbers +are recruited from the noblest families. Young men to whom the army is +open prefer God-service in the elegant retirement of St. James of +Manganese. They will interest you, Prince; and after them we will have +the second grand division." + +"Brethren of the Islands?" + +"Yes, of the Islands and the sea-shores." + +Upon the pavement then appeared a precentor attired like a Greek priest +of the present day; a rimless hat black and high, and turned slightly +outward at the top; a veil of the same hue; the hair gathered into a +roll behind, and secured under the hat; a woollen gown very dark, +glossy, and dropping in ample folds unconfined from neck to shoe. The +Hegumen followed next, and because of his age and infirmities a young +man carried the torch for him. The chanting was sweet, pure, and in +perfect time. All these evidences of refinement and respectability were +noticed by the Prince, and looking at the torch-bearer again, he +recognized the young monk, his room-mate in the White Castle. + +"Knowest thou the youth yonder?" he asked, pointing to Sergius. + +"A Russian recently arrived," the Father replied. "Day before yesterday +he was brought to the palace and presented to the Emperor by the +Princess Irene. He made a great impression." + +The two kept their eyes on the young man until he disappeared ascending +the hill. + +"He will be heard from;" and with the prediction the Prince gave +attention to the body of the Brotherhood. + +"These men have the bearing of soldiers," he said presently. + +"Their vows respecting war are liberal. If the _panagia_ were carried to +the walls, they would accompany it in armor." + +The Prince smiled. He had not the faith in the Virgin of Blacherne which +the Father's answer implied. + +The St. James' were long in passing. The Prince kept them in sight to +the last four. They were the aristocracy of the Church, prim, proud; as +their opportunities were more frequent, doubtless they were more wicked +than their associates of the humbler fraternities; yet he could not +promise himself favor from their superior liberality. On the contrary, +having a great name for piety to defend, if a test offered, they were +the more certain to be hard and vindictive--to send a heretic to the +stake, and turn a trifling variation from the creed into heresy. + +"Who is this?" the Prince exclaimed, as a noble-looking man in full +canonicals stepped out of the cypress shadows, first of the next +division. + +"Master of Ceremonies for the Church," Father Theophilus replied. "He is +the wall between the Islanders and the Metropolitans." + +"And he who walks with him singing?" + +"The _Protopsolete_--leader of the Patriarch's Choir." + +Behind this singer the monks of the Isles of the Princes! In movement, +order, dress, like their predecessors in the march--Hegumen with their +followers in gray, black and white--hands palm to palm prayerfully-- +chanting sometimes better, sometimes worse--never a look upward but +always down, as if Heaven were a hollow in the earth, an abyss at their +feet, and they about to step into it. + +The Prince was beginning to tire. Suddenly he thought of the meeting of +pilgrims at El Zaribah. How unlike was the action there and here! That +had been a rush, an inundation, as it were, by the sea, fierce, mad, a +passion of Faith fostered by freedom; this, slow, solemn, sombre, +oppressive--what was it like? Death in Life, and burial by programme so +rigid there must not be a groan more or a tear less. He saw Law in it +all--or was it imposition, force, choice smothered by custom, fashion +masquerading in the guise of Faith? The hold of Christ upon the Church +began to look possible of measurement. + +"Roti first!" said the Father. "Rocky and bare, scarce a bush for a bird +or grass for a cricket. Ah, verily he shall love God dearly or hate the +world mortally who of free will chooses a cloister for life at Roti!" + +The brethren of the three convents of the Island marched past clad in +short brown frocks, bareheaded, barefooted. The comments of the +historian were few and brief. + +"Poor they look," he said of the first one, "and poor they are, yet +Michael Rhangabe and Romain Lacapene were glad to live and die with +them." Of the second: "When Romain Diogenes built the house these +inhabit, he little dreamed it would shelter him, a refugee from the +throne." Of the third: "Dardanes was a great general. In his fortunate +days he built a tower on Roti with one cell in it; in an evil hour he +aspired to the throne--failed--lost his eyes, retired to his lonesome +tower--by his sanctity there drew a fraternity to him, and died. That +was hundreds of years ago. The brethren still pray for his soul. Be it +that evil comes of good; not less does good come of evil--and so God +keeps the balances." + +In the same manner he descanted on the several contingents from Antigone +as they strode by; then of those from God's houses at Halki, the pearl +of the Marmora; amongst them the monastery of John the Precursor, and +the Convents of St. George, Hagia Trias, and lastly the Very Holy House +of the All Holy Mother of God, founded by John VIII. Palaeologus. After +them, in turn, the consecrated from Prinkipo, especially those from the +Kamares of the Basilissa, Irene, and the Convent of the Transfiguration. + +The faithful few from the solitary Convent on the Island of Oxia, and +the drab-gowned abstinents of the monastery of Plati, miserables given +to the abnormity of mixing prayer and penance with the cultivation of +snails for the market in Constantinople, were the last of the Islanders. + +Then in a kind of orderly disorganization the claustral inculpables from +holy houses on Olympus down by the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, and the +Bithynian shore behind the Isles of the Princes, and some from retreats +in the Egean and along the Peloponnesus, their walls now dust, their +names forgotten. + +"Where is the procession going?" the Prince now asked. + +"Look behind you--up along the front of the palace." + +And casting his eyes thither, the questioner beheld the ground covered +with a mass of men not there before. + +"What are they doing?" + +"Awaiting the Emperor. Only the third grand division is wanting now; +when it is up His Majesty will appear." + +"And descend to the Chapel?" + +"Yes." + +For a time a noise more like the continuous, steady monotone of falling +water than a chant had been approaching from the valley, making its +darkness vocal. It threatened the gates awhile; now it was at the gates. +The Prince's wonder was great, and to appease it Father Theophilus +explained: + +"The last division is at hand." + +In the dim red light over the area by the gate below, the visitor beheld +figures hurriedly issuing from the night--figures in the distance so +wild and fantastic they did not at first seem human. They left no doubt, +however, whence the sound proceeded. The white sand of the road up the +terraces was beaten to dust under the friction and pressure of the +thousands of feet gone before; this third division raised it into an +attending cloud, and the cloud and the noise were incessant. + +Once more the Prince went out to the brink of the terrace. The monotony +of the pageant was broken; something new was announcing itself. +Spectres--devils--gnomes and jinn of the Islamitic Solomon--rakshakas +and hanumen of the Eastern Iliads--surely this miscellany was a +composition of them all. They danced along the way and swung themselves +and each other, howling like dervishes in frenzy. Again the birds took +wing and flew blindly above the cypresses, and the end of things seemed +about to burst when a yell articulate yet unintelligible shook the +guarded door of the venerable Chapel. + +Then the demoniacs--the Prince could not make else of them--leaping the +brook, crowding the pent enclosure, hasting to the arched exit, were +plainly in view. Men almost naked, burned to hue of brick-dust; men in +untanned sheepskin coats and mantles; men with every kind of headgear, +turbans, handkerchiefs, cowls; men with hair and beard matted and +flying; now one helped himself to a louder yell by tossing in air the +dirty garment he had torn from his body, hirsute as a goat's; now one +leaped up agile as a panther; now one turned topsy-turvy; now groups of +them swirled together like whimsical eddies in a pool. Some went slowly, +their arms outspread in silent ecstasy; some stalked on with parted lips +and staring eyes, trance-like or in dead drunkenness of soul; +nevertheless the great majority of them, too weary and far spent for +violent exertion, marched with their faces raised, and clapping their +hands or beating their breasts, now barking short and sharp, like old +hounds dreaming, then finishing with long-drawn cries not unlike the +ending of a sorrowful chorus. Through the gate they crowded, and at +sight of their faces full of joy unto madness, the Prince quit pitying +them, and, reminded of the Wahabbees at El Zaribah, turned to Father +Theophilus. + +"In God's name," he said, "who are these?" + +"A son of India thou, and not know them at sight?" + +There was surprise in the question, and a degree of unwarranted +familiarity, yet the Father immediately corrected himself, by solemnly +adding: "Look there at that one whirling his mantle of unshorn skin over +his head. He has a cave on Mt. Olympus furnished with a stool, a +crucifix, and a copy of the Holy Scriptures; he sleeps on the stone; the +mantle is his bedding by night, his clothing by day. He raises +vegetables, and they and snow-water seeping through a crevice in his +cavern subsist him.... And the next him--the large man with the great +coat of camel's hair which keeps him scratched as with thorns--he is +from the Monastery of St. Auxentius, the abode of a powerful fraternity +of ascetics. A large proportion of this wing of the celebrants is of the +same austere house. You will know them by the penitential, dun-colored +garment--they wear no other.... Yonder is a brother carrying his right +arm at a direct angle above his shoulder, stiff and straight as a stick +of seasoned oak. He is of a colony of Stylites settled on this shore of +the upper Bosphorus overlooking the Black Sea. He could not lower the +arm if he wished to; but since it is his certificate of devoutness, the +treasures of the earth laid at his feet in a heap would be insufficient +to induce him to drop it though for an instant. His colony is one of +many like it. Spare him thy pity. He believes the clinch of that hand +holds fast the latch of Heaven.... The shouters who have just entered +the arch in a body have hermitaries in close grouping around the one +failing monastery on Plati, and live on lentils and snails; aside from +which they commit themselves to Christ, and so abound in faith that the +Basileus in his purple would be very happy were he true master of a +tithe of their happiness.... Hast thou not enough, O Prince? Those +crossing the brook now?--Ah, yes! They are anchorites from Anderovithos, +the island. Pitiable creatures looked at from the curtained windows of a +palace--pitiable, and abandoned by men and angels! Be not sure. +Everything is as we happen to see it--a bit of philosophy, which, as +they despise the best things secularly considered of this life, steels +them to indifference for what you and I, and others not of their caste, +may think. They have arrived at a summit above the corrupting atmosphere +of the earth, where every one of them has already the mansion promised +him by our Blessed Lord, and where the angels abide and delight to serve +him.... For the rest, O Prince, call them indifferently recluses, +hermits, anticenobites, mystics, martyrs, these from Europe, those from +isolations deep somewhere in Asia. Who feeds them? Did not ravens feed +Elijah? Offer them white bread and robes of silk, yesterday's wear of a +king. 'What!' they will ask. 'Shall any man fare better than John the +Forerunner?' Speak to them of comfortable habitations, and they will +answer with the famous saying, 'Foxes have holes, and the birds of the +air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.' What +more is there to be said? Thou seest them, thou knowest them." + +Yes, the Prince knew them. Like the horde which stood by the Black Stone +envious of Mirza's dying, these were just as ready to die for Christ. He +smiled grimly, and thought of Mahommed, and how easy the Church had made +the conquest of which he was dreaming. + +It was with a sense of relief he beheld the tail of the division follow +its body up to the palace. + +Then, last of all, came the dignitaries of the Church, the Cartulaire, +least in rank, with many intermediates, up to the Cyncelle, who, next to +the absent Patriarch, represented him. If what had preceded in the +procession was poor and unpretentious, this part was splendid to excess. +They were not more than eighteen or twenty in number, but they walked +singly with considerable intervals between them; while on the right and +left of each, a liveried servant carried a torch which gave him to be +distinctly seen. And the flashing of gold on their persons was wonderful +to the spectator. Why not? This rare and anointed body was the Church +going in solemnity to assist the Basileus in a high ceremony. + +Afterwhile the Emperor appeared descending to the Chapel. + +To the Prince's amazement, he was in a plain, priestly black frock, +without crown, sword, sceptre or guard; and so did his guise compare +with the magnificence of the ecclesiastics surrounding him, he actually +seemed in their midst a prisoner or a penitent. He passed his visitor +like one going from the world forgetting and forgot. + +"An explanation, Father," said the Prince. "The Church is in its robes, +but my august friend, the Emperor, looks as if he had suffered +dethronement." + +"Thou wilt presently see His Majesty enter the Chapel alone. The legend +supposes him there in presence directly of God; if so, what merit would +there be in regalia? Would his sword or sceptre make his supplication +more impressive?" + +The Prince bowed. + +And while he watched, the gold-clad escort halted before the Holy House, +the door opened, and Constantine went in unattended. Then, the door +being shut behind him, the clergy knelt, and remained kneeling. The +light from the torches was plenteous there, making the scene beautiful. + +And yet further, while he stood watching, the trumpeting and chanting on +the level in front of the palace behind him ceased, and a few minutes +afterwards, he was aware of the noise of many feet rushing in a scramble +from all directions to the Chapel. Here and there flambeaux streamed +out, with hundreds of dark-gowned excited figures speeding after them as +best they could. + +The bank the Prince occupied was overrun, like other contiguous spaces. +The object of the invaders was to secure a position near the revered +building as possible; for immediately on attaining it they dropped to +their knees, and began counting their rosaries and mumbling prayers. At +length it befell that the terraces far and near were densely crowded by +monks in low recitation. + +"My Lord," said Father Theophilus, in a tone of reserved depth, "the +Mystery is begun. There is no more to be seen. Good-night!" And without +ado, he too knelt where he stood, beads in hand, eyes fixed upon the one +point of devotional interest. + +When the sedan was brought, the Prince gave one last glance at the +scene, feeling it was to be thenceforward and forever a burden on his +memory. He took in and put away the weather-stained Chapel, centre of so +much travail; the narrow court in front of it brilliantly lighted and +covered with priests high and low in glittering vestments; the cypresses +looming skyward, stately and stiff, like conical monuments: the torches +scattered over the grounds, revealing patches of men kneeling, their +faces turned toward the Chapel: the mumbling and muttering from parts +unlighted telling of other thousands in like engagement. He had seen +battle-fields fresh in their horrors; decks of ships still bloody; +shores strewn with wreckage and drowned sailors, and the storm not +spent; populous cities shaken down by earthquakes, the helpless under +the ruins pleading for help; but withal never had he seen anything which +affected him as did that royal park at mid of night, given up to that +spectral multitude! + +It seemed he could not get away from the spectacle soon enough; for +after issuing from the Grand Gate, he kept calling to his carriers, +impatiently: "Faster, my men, faster!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PLAGUE OF CRIME + + +Sergius' life in Constantinople had been almost void of incident. His +introduction to the Patriarch by the Princess Irene started him well +with that reverend official, whose confidence and love she commanded to +a singular degree. His personal qualities, however, were very helpful. +The gentleness of his nature, his youth, his simplicity, respectfulness, +intelligence and obvious piety were all in his favor; at the same time +the strongest attraction he possessed with the strangers amongst whom he +found himself was his likeness according to the received Byzantine ideal +to Christ. He had a habit, moreover, of walking slowly, and with a quiet +tread, his head lowered, his hands clasped before him. Coming in this +mood suddenly upon persons, he often startled them; at such times, +indeed, the disturbed parties were constrained to both observe and +forgive him--he reminded them so strikingly of the Nazarene as He must +have looked while in solitary walks by the sea or along the highways of +Galilee. Whatever the cause, it is very certain His Serenity, the +Patriarch, from mere attention to the young Russian, passed speedily to +interest in him, and manifested it in modes pleasant and noticeable. By +his advice, Sergius attached himself to the Brotherhood of the Monastery +of St. James of Manganese. This was the first incident in his city life +out of the usual. The second was his presentation at court, where he was +not less successful with the Emperor than he had been with the +Patriarch. Yet Sergius was not happy. His was the old case of a spirit +willing, even anxious, to do, but held in restraint. He saw about him +such strong need of saving action; and the Christian plan, as he +understood it, was so simple and efficacious. There was no difference in +the value of souls. Taking Christ's own words, everything was from the +Father, and He held the gates of Heaven open for the beggar and the +emperor alike. Why not return to the plan devised, practised, and +exemplified by the Saviour Himself? The idea bore heavily upon his mind, +and accounted for the bent head and slow step fast becoming habitudes. +At times the insurgent impulses seemed beyond control. This was +particularly when he walked in crowded places; for then the people +appeared an audience summoned and ready to hear him; he had only to go +into their midst, call to them, and begin speaking; but often as he +beheld the calm, patient, pleading face of the Princess Irene, and heard +her say ever so gently: "Wait, wait! I know the situation--you do not. +Our object is the most good. God will send the opportunity. Then +martyrdom, if it come, is going to Heaven. Wait--I will give you the +signal. You are to speak for me as well as yourself. You are to be my +voice"--so often he grew reconciled. + +There was another trouble more difficult of comprehension and +description. Under its influence the sky did not look so blue as +formerly; the breeze was less refreshing; the sun where it scattered its +golden largesse over the sea failed to relieve it of dulness; and in all +things, himself included, there was something wanting--exactly what he +could not tell. However, as he had been indulging comparisons of life in +Constantinople with life in Bielo-Osero, and longing for the holy quiet +of the latter, he concluded he was homesick, and was ashamed. It was +childishness! The Great Example had no home! And with that thought he +struggled manfully to be a man forever done with such weaknesses. + +It became his wont of afternoons when the weather was tolerable to seek +the city wall opposite the old Chalcedonian point. In going thither, he +sometimes passed through the Hippodrome and Sta. Sophia, both in such +contact to the collection of palaces known as the Bucoleon that each +might have been fairly considered an appurtenance of the other. The +exercises in the spacious palaestrae had small interest for him; there +was always such evident rancor between the factions Blue and Green. The +dome of the great Church he regarded man's best effort at construction, +beyond which there was nothing more attainable; but how it dwindled and +faded when from the wall he looked at the sky, the sea, and the land, +the handiworks of God! + +On the wall, at a point marked by a shallow angle, there was a cracked +stone bench, offering seawardly a view of the Isles of the Princes, and +the Asian domain beyond Broussa to the Olympian heights; westwardly, the +Bucoleon and its terraced gardens were near by, and above them in the +distance the Tower of Isaac Angelus arose over Blacherne, like a +sentinel on guard against the opposing summits of Galata and Pera. From +the bench, the walk, besides being wide and smooth, extended, with a +slight curvature northward to the Acropolis, now Point Serail, and on +the south to the Port of Julian. The airy promenade thus formed was +reached by several stairs intermediate the landmarks mentioned; yet the +main ascent was near the Imperial stables, and it consisted of a flight +of stone steps built against the inner face of the wall, like a broad +buttress. This latter was for the public, and of sunny days it was used +incessantly. Everybody in the category of invalids affected it in +especial, since litters and sedans were not inhibited there. In short, +the popularity of this mural saunter can be easily imagined. + +The afternoon of the day the Prince of India was in audience by the +Emperor's invitation, Sergius was the sole occupant of the stone bench. +The hour was pleasant; the distant effects were perfect; birds and boats +enlivened the air and water; and in listening to the swish of waves +amongst the rocks and pebbles below, so like whisperings, he forgot +where he was, and his impatience and melancholy, and the people +strolling negligently past. One of his arms lay along the edge of the +bulwark before him, and he was not thinking so much as simply enjoying +existence. To such as noticed him he appeared a man in the drowsy stage +next to sleep. + +Afterwhile a voice aroused him, and, without moving, he became aware of +two men stopped and talking. He could not avoid hearing them. + +"She is coming," said one. + +"How do you know?" the other asked. + +"Have I not told you I keep a spy on the old Prince's house? A messenger +from him has just reported the chair arrived for her; and this being her +favorite stroll, she will be here presently." + +"Have you considered the risks of your project?" + +"Risks? Pah!" + +The exclamation was with a contemptuous laugh. + +"But they have grown since last night," the other persisted. "The Indian +is now at the Palace, His Majesty's guest." + +"Yes, I had report of that also; but I have studied the game, and if you +fear to join me, I will see it through alone. As an offence against law, +it is abduction, not murder; and the penalty, imprisonment, can be +easily changed to banishment, which with me means at the utmost a short +absence to give friends an opportunity to prepare for my return. +Consider, moreover, the subject of the offence will be a woman. Can you +name an instance in which the kidnapper of a woman has been punished?--I +mean in our time?" + +"True, women are the cheapest commodity in the market; therefore"-- + +"I understand," the first speaker interposed, a little impatiently, "but +Princes of India are not common in Constantinople, while their daughters +are less so. See the temptation! Besides, in the decadence of our +Byzantine empire, the criminal laws fail worse and worse of execution. +Only last night my father, delivering a lecture, said neglect in this +respect was one of the reasons of the Empire's going. Only the poor and +degraded suffer penalties now. And I--pah! What have I to fear? Or thou? +And from whom? When the girl's loss is discovered--you observe I am +viewing the affair in its most malignant aspect--I know the course the +Prince will take. He will run to the palace; there he will fall at the +Emperor's feet, tell his tale of woe, and"-- + +"And if thou art denounced?" + +The conspirator laughed again. "The worse for the Prince," he at length +replied. "The Hegumen, my honored father, will follow him to the palace, +and--but let the details go! The relations between the Basileus and the +Church are strained to breaking; and the condition is not sanable while +the quarrel between the Patriarch and Scholarius waxes hotter." + +"The Patriarch and Scholarius quarrelling? I had not heard of that." + +"Openly, openly! His Majesty and the Patriarch are tenderly sympathetic. +What more is wanting to set the Prophet scolding? The Patriarch, it is +now known, will not be at the _Pannychides_ to-night. His health began +failing when, over his objection, it was decided to hold the Mystery, and +last week he betook himself to the Holy Mountain. This morning the +Prophet"-- + +"Thou meanest Scholarius?" + +"Scholarius denounced him as an _azymite_, which is bad, if true; +as unfaithful to God and the Church, which is worse; and as trying to +convert the Emperor into an adherent of the Bishop of Rome, which, +considering the Bishop is Satan unchained, will not admit of a further +descent in sin. The Mystery tonight is Scholarius' scheme in +contravention of His Serenity's efforts. Oh, it is a quarrel, and a big +one, involving Church and State, and the infallibility of our newly +risen Jeremiah. Thus full-handed, thinkest thou in a suit the Prince of +India against the venerable Hegumen of all the St. James', His Majesty +will hesitate? Is thy opinion of him as a politician so uncomplimentary? +Think again, I say--think again!" + +"Thy father's Brotherhood are His Majesty's friends!" + +"Ah, the very point! They despise Scholarius now, and what an ado, what +a political display, to drive them into his arms! The Princes of India, +though they were numerous as the spectre caravan, could not carry +influence that far." + +Here there was a rest in the conversation. + +"Well, since thou wilt not be persuaded to let the enterprise go," the +protesting friend next said, "at least agree with me that it is +indiscreet to speak of it in a place public as this." + +The laugh of the conspirator was heartier than before. + +"Ah, hadst thou warned me not to speak of it to the"-- + +"Enough of that! The Prince of India is nothing to me--thou art my +friend." + +"Agree with me then that thou hast ears, while the public"-- + +"Have not, thou wouldst say. Still there are things which may not be +whispered in a desert without being overheard." + +"The Pagans who went before us had a god of wisdom, and they called him +Hermes. I should say thou hast been to school to him. 'Twas he, +doubtless, who taught outlaws to seek safety in crowded cities. By the +same philosophy, where can one talk treason more securely than on this +wall? Afraid of discovery! Not I, unless thou mumblest in thy sleep. We +go about our good intents--the improvement of our fortune for instance-- +with awful care, and step by step, fortifying. The practice is applicable +to wickedness. I am no bungler. I will tell thee a tale.... Thou knowest +the Brotherhood of the Monastery of St. James of Manganese is very +ancient, and that the house in which it is quartered is about as old as +the Brotherhood. Their archives are the richest in the empire. They have +a special chamber and a librarian. Were he of the mind, he might write a +history of Constantinople by original data without leaving his library. +Fortunately the mere keepers of books seldom write books.... My father's +office is in the Monastery, and I frequently find myself in his company +there. He never fails to improve the opportunity to lecture me, for he is +a good man. One day, by invitation, I accompanied the librarian to his +place of keeping, and saw it, and wondered how he could be willing to +give his days--he is now an old man--to such a mass of rot and smells. I +spare you mention of the many things he showed me; for there was but one +of real ado with what we are considering, an old document illuminated +with an untarnished chrysobula. 'Here,' said he, 'is something curious.' +The text was short--writers in those days knew the tricks of +condensation, and they practised them virtuously. I asked him to give it +to me--he refused--he would sooner have given me the last lock on his +head, which is a great deal, seeing that hair grows precious exactly as +it grows scantier. So I made him hold the lamp while I read.... The +document was dated about A.D. 1300--a century and a half gone, and proved +to be a formal report by the Patriarch to a council of Bishops and +Hegumen.... Thou knowest, I am sure, the great cistern; not the +Philoxenus, but the larger one, with an entrance west of Sta. Sophia, +sometimes called the Imperial, because built by the first Constantine and +enlarged by Justinian." + +"I know it." + +"Well, there was a great ceremony there one day; the same with which the +report was concerned. The clergy attended in force and panoply led by +His Serenity in person--monks, nuns, deacons and deaconesses--in a word, +the Church was present. The cistern had been profaned. A son of Satan, +moved by a most diabolical ingenuity, had converted it into a den of +wickedness surpassing sinful belief; and the procession and awful +conclave were to assist His Serenity in restoring the water to +wholesomeness, impossible, in the belief of consumers, except by solemn +exorcism.... Heed now, my friend--I am about to tap the heart of my +story. A plague struck the city--a plague of crime. A woman disappeared. +There was search for her, but without success. The affair would have +been dismissed within the three days usually allotted wonders of the +kind, had not another like it occurred--and then another. The victims, +it was noticed, were young and beautiful, and as the last one was of +noble family the sensation was universal. The whole capital organized +for rescue. While the hunt was at its height, a fourth unfortunate went +the way of the others. Sympathy and curiosity had been succeeded by +anxiety; now the public was aroused to anger, and the parents of +handsome girls were sore with fear. Schemes for discovery multiplied; +ingenuity was exhausted; the government took part in the chase--all in +vain. And there being then a remission in the disappearance, the theory +of suicide was generally accepted. Quiet and confidence were returning, +when, lo! the plague broke out afresh! Five times in five weeks Sta. +Sophia was given to funeral services. The ugly women, and the halt, and +those long hopeless of husbands shared the common terror. The theory of +suicide was discarded. It was the doing of the Turks, everybody said. +The Turks were systematically foraging Constantinople to supply their +harems with Christian beauty; or if the Turks were innocent, the devil +was the guilty party. On the latter presumption, the Church authorities +invented a prayer of special application. Could anything better signify +the despair of the community? A year passed--two years--three--and +though every one resolved himself into a watchman and hunter; though +heralds cried rewards in the Emperor's name three times each day on the +street corners, and in every place of common resort; though the fame of +the havoc, rapine, spoliation, or whatsoever it may please thee to call +the visitation, was carried abroad until everybody here and there knew +every particular come to light concerning it, with the pursuit, and the +dragging and fishing in the sea, never a clew was found. One--two--three +years, during which at intervals, some long, some short, the ancient +Christian centre kept on sealing its doors, and praying. Finally the +disappearances were about to be accepted as incidents liable to happen +at any time to any young and pretty woman. They were placed in the +category with death. There was mourning by friends--that was about all. +How much longer the mystery would have continued may not be said.... Now +accidents may not have brought the world about, yet the world could not +get along without accidents. To illustrate. A woman one day, wanting +water for her household, let a bucket down one of the wells of the +cistern, and drew up a sandal slippery and decaying. A sliver buckle +adhered to it. Upon inspecting the prize, a name was observed graven on +its underside. The curious came to see--there was discussion--at length +an examiner blessed with a good memory coupled the inscription with one +of the lost women. It was indeed her name! A clew to the great mystery +was at last obtained. The city was thrown into tumult, and an +exploration of the cistern demanded. The authorities at first laughed. +'What!' they said. 'The Royal reservoir turned into a den of murder and +crime unutterable by Christians!' But they yielded. A boat was launched +on the darkened waters--But hold!" + +The voice of the speaker changed. Something was occurring to stop the +story. Sergius had succumbed to interest in it; he was listening with +excited sense, yet kept his semblance of sleep. + +"Hold!" the narrator repeated, in an emphatic undertone. "See what there +is in knowing to choose faithful allies! My watchman was right. She +comes--she is here!" + +"Who is here?" + +"She--the daughter of the old Indian. In the sedan to my left--look!" + +Sergius, catching the reply, longed to take the direction to himself, +and look, for he was comprehending vaguely. A blindfolded man can +understand quite well, if he is first informed of the business in +progress, or if it be something with which he is familiar; imagination +seems then to take the place of eyes. A detective, having overheard the +conversation between the two men, had not required sight of them; but +the young monk was too recently from the cloisters of Bielo-Osero to be +quick in the discernment of villanies. He knew the world abounded in +crime, but he had never dealt with it personally; as yet it was a +destroying wolf howling in the distance. He yearned to see if what he +dimly surmised were true--if the object at the moment so attractive to +his dangerous neighbors were indeed the daughter of the strange Indian +he had met at the White Castle. His recollection of her was wonderfully +distinct. Her face and demeanor when he assisted her from the boat had +often reverted to his thought. They spoke to him so plainly of +simplicity and dependence, and she seemed so pure and beautiful! And +making the acknowledgment to himself, his heart took to beating quick +and drum-like. He heard the shuffle and slide of the chairmen going; +when they ceased a new and strange feeling came and possessed itself of +his spirit, and led it out after her. Still he managed to keep his head +upon his arm. + +"By the saintly patron of thy father's Brotherhood, she is more than +lovely! I am almost persuaded." + +"Ah, I am not so mad as I was!" the conspirator replied, laughing; then +he changed to seriousness, and added, like one speaking between clinched +teeth--"I am resolved to go on. I will have her--come what may, I will +have her! I am neither a coward nor a bungler. Thou mayst stay behind, +but I have gone too far to retreat. Let us follow, and see her again--my +pretty Princess!" + +"Stay--a moment." + +Perception was breaking in on Sergius. He scarcely breathed. + +"Well?" was the answer. + +"You were saying that a boat was launched in the cistern. Then what?" + +"Of discovery? Oh, yes--the very point of my argument! A raft was found +moored between four of the great pillars in the cistern, and there was a +structure on it with furnished rooms. A small boat was used for going +and coming." + +"Wonderful!" + +"Come--or we will lose the sight of her." + +"But what else?" + +"Hooks, such as fishermen use in hunting lobsters were brought, and by +dragging and fishing the missing women were brought to light--that is, +their bones were brought to light. More I will tell as we go. I will not +stay longer." + +Sergius heard them depart, and presently he raised his head. His blood +was cold with horror. He was having the awful revelation which sooner or +later bursts upon every man who pursues a walk far in life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A BYZANTINE GENTLEMAN OF THE PERIOD + + +Sergius kept his seat on the bench; but the charm of the glorious +prospect spread out before it was gone. + +Two points were swimming in his consciousness, like motes in a mist: +first, there was a conspiracy afoot; next, the conspiracy was against +the daughter of the Prince of India. + +When at the door of the old Lavra upon the snow-bound shore of the White +Lake, he bade Father Hilarion farewell and received his blessing, and +the commission of an Evangel, the idea furthest from him was to +signalize his arrival in Constantinople by dropping first thing into +love. And to be just, the idea was now as distant from him as ever; yet +he had a vision of the child-faced girl he met on the landing at the +White Castle in the hands of enemies, and to almost any other person the +shrinking it occasioned would have been strange, if not suspicious. His +most definite feeling was that something ought to be done in her behalf. + +Besides this the young monk had another incentive to action. In the +colloquy overheard by him the chief speaker described himself a son of +the Hegumen of the St. James'. The St. James'! His own Brotherhood! His +own Hegumen! Could a wicked son have been born to that excellent man? +Much easier to disbelieve the conspirator; still there were traditions +of the appearance of monsters permitted for reasons clear at least to +Providence. This might be an instance of the kind. Doubtless the +creature carried on its countenance or person evidences of a miracle of +evil. In any event there could be no harm in looking at him. + +Sergius accordingly arose, and set out in pursuit of the conspirators. +Could he overtake the sedan, they were quite certain to be in the +vicinity, and he doubted not discovering them. + +The steps of the sedan-carriers, peculiarly quick and sliding, seemed in +passing the bench to have been going northwardly toward Point Demetrius. +Thither he first betook himself. + +In the distance, over the heads of persons going and coming, he shortly +beheld the top of a chair in motion, and he followed it rapidly, fearing +its occupant might quit the wall by the stairs near the stables of the +Bucoleon. But when it was borne past that descent he went more +leisurely, knowing it must meet him on the return. + +Without making the Point, however, the chair was put about toward him. +Unable to discover any one so much as suggestive of the plotters, and +fearing a mistake, he peered into the front window of the painted box. A +woman past the noon of life gave him back in no amiable mood the stare +with which he saluted her. + +There was but one explanation: he should have gone down the wall +southwardly. What was to be done? Give up the chase? No, that would be +to desert his little friend. And besides he had not put himself within +hearing of the design against her--it was a doing of Providence. He +started back on his trace. + +The error but deepened his solicitude. What if the victim was then being +hurried away? + +At the head of the stairway by the stables he paused; as it was deserted, +he continued on almost running--on past the cracked bench--past the Cleft +Gate. Now, in front, he beheld the towers of the imperial residence +bearing the name Julian, and he was upbraiding himself for indecision, +and loading his conscience with whatever grief might happen the poor +girl, when he beheld a sedan coming toward him. It was very ornate, and +in the distance shone with burnishments--it was the chair--hers. By it, +on the right hand, strode the gigantic negro who had so astonished him at +the White Castle. He drew a long breath, and stopped. They would be bold +who in daylight assailed that king of men! + +And he was taking note of the fellow's barbaric finery, the solemn +stateliness of his air, and the superb indifference he manifested to the +stare of passers-by, when a man approached the chair on the opposite +side. The curtain of the front window was raised, and through it, +Sergius observed the inmate draw hastily away from the stranger, and +drop a veil over her face. + +Here was one of the parties for whom he was looking. Where was the +other? Then the man by the left window looked back over his shoulder as +if speaking, and out of the train of persons following the sedan, one +stepped briskly forward, joined the intruder, and walked with him long +enough to be spoken to, and reply briefly; after which he fell back and +disappeared. This answered the inquiry. + +Assured now of one of the conspirators in sight, the monk resolved to +await the coming up. Through the front window of the carriage, which was +truly a marvel of polish and glitter, the girl might recognize him; +perhaps she would speak; or possibly the negro might recall him; in +either event he would have an excuse for intervention. + +Meantime, calmly as he could--for he was young, and warm blooded, and in +all respects a good instrument to be carried away by righteous +indignation--he took careful note of the stranger, who kept his place as +if by warrant, occasionally addressing the shrinking maiden. + +Sergius was now more curious than angry; and he cared less to know who +the conspirator was than how he looked. His surprise may be imagined +when, the subject of investigation having approached near enough to be +perfectly observed, instead of a monster marked, like Cain, he appeared +a graceful, though undersized person, with an agreeable countenance. The +most unfavorable criticism he provoked was the loudness--if the word can +be excused--of his dress. + +A bright red cloak, hanging in ample folds from an exaggerated buckle of +purple enamel on his left shoulder, draped his left side; falling open +on the right, it was caught by another buckle just outside the right +knee. The arrangement loosed the right arm, but was a serious hamper to +walking, and made it inconvenient to get out the rapier, the handle of +which was protrusively suggested through the cloak. A tunic of bright +orange color, short in sleeve and skirt, covered his body. Where +undraped, tight-fitting hose terminating in red shoes, flashed their +elongated black and yellow stripes with stunning effect. A red cap, +pointed at top, and rolled up behind, but with a long visor-like peak +shading the eyes, and a white heron feather slanted in the band, brought +the head into negligent harmony with the rest of the costume. The throat +and left arm were bare, the latter from halfway above the elbow. + +This was the monk's first view of a Byzantine gentleman of the period +abroad in full dress to dazzle such of the gentler sex as he might +chance to meet. + +If Sergius' anticipation had been fulfilled; if, in place of the +elegant, rakish-looking chevalier in florid garb, he had been confronted +by an individual awry in body or hideous in feature, he would not have +been confused, or stood repeating to himself, "My God, can this be a son +of the Hegumen?" + +That one so holy could have offspring so vicious stupefied him. The +young man's sins would find him out--thus it was written--and then, what +humiliation, what shame, what misery for the poor father! + +Speeding his sympathy thus in advance, Sergius waited until the foremost +of the sedan carriers gave him the customary cry of warning. As he +stepped aside, two things occurred. The occupant of the box lifted her +veil and held out a hand to him. He had barely time to observe the +gesture and the countenance more childlike because of the distress it +was showing, when the negro appeared on the left side of the carriage. +Staying a moment to swing the javelin with which he was armed across the +top of the buckler at his back, he leaped forward with the cry of an +animal, and caught the gallant, one hand at the shoulder, the other at +the knee. The cry and the seizure were parts of the same act. Resistance +had been useless had there been no surprise. The Greek had the briefest +instant to see the assailant--an instant to look up into the face +blacker of the transport of rage back of it, and to cry for help. The +mighty hands raised him bodily, and bore him swiftly toward the +sea-front of the wall. + +There were spectators near by; amongst them some men; but they were held +fast by terror. No one moved but Sergius. Having seen the provocation, +he alone comprehended the punishment intended. + +The few steps to the wall were taken almost on the run. There, in +keeping with his savage nature, the negro wished to see his victim fall, +but a puff of wind blew the red cloak over his eyes, and he stopped to +shake it aside. The Greek in the interval seeing the jagged rocks below, +and the waves rolling in and churning themselves into foam, caught at +his enemy's head, and the teeth of the gold-gilt iron crown cut his +palms, bringing the blood. He writhed, and into Nilo's ears--pitiless if +they had not been dead--poured screams for mercy. Then Sergius reached +out, and caught him. + +Nilo made no resistance. When he could free his eyes from the cloak he +looked at the rescuer, who, unaware of his infirmity, was imploring him: + +"As thou lovest God, and hopest mercy for thyself, do no murder!" + +Now, if not so powerful as Nilo, Sergius was quite as tall; and while +they stood looking at each other, their faces a little apart, the +contrast between them was many sided. And one might have seen the +ferocity of the black visage change first with pleased wonder; then +brighten with recognition. + +The Byzantine gained his feet quickly, and in his turn taken with a +murderous impulse, drew his sword. Nilo, however, was quickest; the +point of his javelin was magically promotive of Sergius' renewed efforts +to terminate the affair. A great many persons were now present. To bring +a multitude in hot assemblage, strife is generally more potential than +peace, assume what voice the latter may. These rallied to Sergius' +assistance; one brought the defeated youth his hat, fallen in the +struggle; others helped him rearrange his dress; and congratulating him +that he was alive, they took him in their midst, and carried him away. +To have drawn upon such a giant! What a brave spirit the lad must +possess! + +It pleased Sergius to think he had saved the Byzantine. His next duty +was to go to the relief of the little Princess. A dull fancy would have +taught how trying the situation must have been to her; but with him the +case was of a quick understanding quickened by solicitude. Taking Nilo +with him, he made haste to the sedan. + +If we pause here, venturing on the briefest break in the narrative, it +is for the reader's sake exclusively. He will be sure to see how fair +the conditions are for a romantic passage between Lael and Sergius, and +we fear lest he fly his imagination too high. It is true the period was +still roseate with knighterrantry; men wore armor, and did battle behind +shields; women were objects of devotion; conversation between lovers was +in the style of high-flown courtesy, chary on one side, energized on the +other by calls on the Saints to witness vows and declarations which no +Saint, however dubious his reputation, could have listened to, much less +excused; yet it were not well to overlook one or two qualifications. The +usages referred to were by no means prevalent amongst Christians in the +East; in Constantinople they had no footing at all. The two Comneni, +Isaac and Alexis, approached more nearly the Western ideal of Chivalry +than any of the Byzantine warriors; if not the only genuine Knights of +Byzantium, they were certainly the last of them; yet even they stood +aghast at the fantastic manners of the Frankish armigerents who camped +before their gates en route to the Holy Land. As a consequence, the +language of ordinary address and intercourse amongst natives in the +Orient was simple and less discolored by what may be called pious +profanity. Their discourse was often dull and prolix, but never a +composite of sacrilege and exaggeration. Only in their writings were +they pedantic. From this the reader can anticipate somewhat of the +meeting between Sergius and Lael. It is to be borne in mind additionally +that they were both young; she a child in years; he a child in lack of +worldly experience. Children cannot be other than natural. + +Approaching the sedan anxiously, he found the occupant pale and faint. +Nilo being close at his side, she saw them both in the same glance, and +reached her hand impulsively through the window. It was a question to +which the member was offered. Sergius hesitated. Then she brought her +face up unveiled. + +"I know you, I know you," she said, to Sergius. "Oh, I am so glad you +are come! I was so scared--so scared--I will never go from home again. +You will stay with me--say you will--it will be so kind of you.... I did +not want Nilo to kill the man. I only wanted him driven off and made let +me alone. He has followed and persecuted me day after day, often as I +came out. I could not set foot in the street without his appearing. My +father would have me bring Nilo along. He did not kill him, did he?" + +The hand remained held out during the speech, as if asking to be taken. +Meanwhile the words flowed like a torrent. The eyes were full of +beseechment, and irresistibly lovely. If her speech was innocent, so was +her appearance; and just as innocently, he took the hand, and held it +while answering: + +"He was not hurt. Friends have taken him away. Do not be afraid." + +"You saved him. I saw you--my heart was standing still in my throat. Oh, +I am glad he is safe! I am no longer afraid. My father will be grateful; +and he is generous--he loves me nearly as much as I love him. I will go +home now. Is not that best for me?" + +Sergius had grown the tall man he was without having been so +entreated--nay, without an adventure in the least akin to this. The hand +lay in his folded lightly. He remembered once a dove flew into his cell. +The window was so small it no doubt suggested to the poor creature a +door to a nesting place. He remembered how he thought it a messenger +from the Heaven which he never gave over thinking of and longing for, +and he wanted to keep it, for afterwhile he was sure it would find a way +to tell him wherewith it was charged. And he took the gentle stray in +his hand, and nursed it with exceeding tenderness. There are times when +it seems such a blessing that memories lie shallow and easy to stir; and +now he recalled how the winged nuncio felt like the hand he was +holding--it was almost as soft, and had the same magnetism of life--ay, +and the same scarce perceptible tremble. To be sure it was merely for +the bird's sake he kept hold of the hand, while he answered: + +"Yes, I think it best, and I will go with you to your father's door." + +To the carriers he said: "You will quit the wall at the grand stairs. +The Princess wishes to be taken home." + +The sensation of manliness incident to caring for the weak was +refreshingly delightful. While the chair was passing he took place at +the window. The fingers of the little hand still rested on the silken +lining, like pinkish pearls. He beheld them longingly, but a restraint +fell upon him. The pinkish pearls became sacred. He would have had them +covered from the dust which the whisking breezes now blew up. The +breezes were insolent. The sun, sinking in gold over the Marmora, ought +to temper the rays it let fall on them. Long as the orb had shone, how +curious that it never acquired art enough to know the things which too +much of its splendor might spoil. Then too he desired to speak with +Lael--to ask if she was any longer afraid--he could not. Where had his +courage gone? When he caught the young Greek from Nilo, the shortest +while ago, he was wholly unconscious of timidity. The change was +wonderful. Nor was the awkwardness beginning to hamper his hands and +feet less incomprehensible. And why the embarrassment when people paused +to observe him? + +Thus the party pursued on until the descent from the wall; he on the +right side of the chair, and Nilo on the left. Down in the garden where +they were following a walk across the terrace toward Sta. Sophia, Lael +put her face to the window, and spoke to him. His eagerness lest a word +were lost was remarkable. He did not mind the stooping--and from his +height that was a great deal--nor care much if it subjected him to +remark. + +"Have you seen the Princess lately--she who lives at Therapia?" Lael +asked. + +"Oh, yes," he answered. "She is my little mother. I go up there often. +She advises me in everything." + +"It must be sweet to have such a mother," Lael said, with a smile. + +"It is sweet," he returned. + +"And how lovely she is, and brave and assuring," Lael added. "Why, I +forgot when with her to be afraid. I forgot we were in the hands of +those dreadful Turks. I kept thinking of her, and not of myself." + +Sergius waited for what more she had to say. + +"This afternoon a messenger came from her to my father, asking him to +let me visit her." + +The heart of the monk gave a jump of pleasure. + +"And you will go?" + +A little older and wiser, and she would have detected a certain urgency +there was in the tone with which he directed the inquiry. + +"I cannot say yet. I have not seen my father since the invitation was +received; he has been with the Emperor; but I know how greatly he +admires the Princess. I think he will consent; if so, I will go up to +Therapia to-morrow." + +Sergius, silently resolving to betake himself thither early next +morning, replied with enthusiasm: "Have you seen the garden behind her +palace?" + +"No." + +"Well, of course I do not know what Paradise is, but if it be according +to my fancy, I should believe that garden is a piece of it." + +"Oh, I know I shall be pleased with the Princess, her garden--with +everything hers." + +Thereupon Lael settled back in her chair, and nothing more was said till +the sedan halted in front of the Prince's door. Appearing at the window +there, she extended a hand to her escort. The pinkish pearls did not +seem so far away as before, and they were now offered directly. He could +not resist taking them. + +"I want you to know how very, very grateful I am to you," she said, +allowing the hand to stay in his. "My father will speak to you about the +day's adventure. He will make the opportunity and early.--But--but"-- + +She hesitated, and a blush overspread her face. + +"But what?" he said, encouragingly. + +"I do not know your name, or where you reside." + +"Sergius is my name." + +"Sergius?" + +"Yes. And being a monk, I have a cell in the Monastery of St. James of +Manganese. I belong to that Brotherhood, and humbly pray God to keep me +in good standing. Now having told you who I am, may I ask"-- + +He failed to finish the sentence. Happily she divined his wish. + +"Oh," she said, "I am called Gul-Bahar by those who love me dearest, +though my real name is Lael." + +"By which am I to call you?" + +"Good-by," she continued, passing his question, and the look of doubt +which accompanied it. "Good-by--the Princess will send for me +to-morrow." + +When the chair was borne into the house, it seemed to Sergius the sun +had rushed suddenly down, leaving a twilight over the sky. He turned +homeward with more worldly matter to think of than ever before. For the +first time in his life the cloister whither he was wending seemed +lonesome and uncomfortable. He was accustomed to imagine it lighted and +warmed by a presence out of Heaven--that presence was in danger of +supersession. Occasionally, however, the girlish Princess whom he was +thus taking home with him gave place to wonder if the Greek he had saved +from Nilo could be a son of the saintly Hegumen; and the reflection +often as it returned brought a misgiving with it; for he saw to what +intrigues he might be subjected, if the claim were true, and the +claimant malicious in disposition. When at last he fell asleep on his +pillow of straw the vision which tarried with him was of walking with +Gul-Bahar in the garden behind the Homeric palace at Therapia, and it +was exceedingly pleasant. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BYZANTINE HERETIC + + +While the venerable Chapel on the way up the heights of Blacherne was +surrounded by the host of kneeling monastics, and the murmur of their +prayers swept it round about like the sound of moaning breezes, a +messenger found the Hegumen of the St. James' with the compliments of +the Basileus, and a request that he come forward to a place in front of +the door of the holy house. The good man obeyed; so the night long, +maugre his age and infirmities, he stayed there stooped and bent, +invoking blessings upon the Emperor and Empire; for he loved them both; +and by his side Sergius lingered dutifully torch in hand. Twelve hours +before he had engaged in the service worshipfully as his superior, nor +would his thoughts have once flown from the Mystery enacting; but +now--alas, for the inconstancy of youth!--now there were intervals when +his mind wandered. The round white face of the Princess came again and +again looking at him plainly as when in the window of the sedan on the +promenade between the Bucoleon and the sea. He tried to shut it out; but +often as he opened the book of prayers which he carried in common with +his brethren, trying to read them away; often as he shook the torch +thinking to hide them in the resinous smoke, the pretty, melting, +importunate eyes reappeared, their fascination renewed and unavoidable. +They seemed actually to take his efforts to get away for encouragement +to return. Never on any holy occasion had he been so negligent--never +had negligence on his part been so obstinate and nearly like sin. + +Fortunately the night came to an end. A timid thing when first it peeped +over the hills of Scutari, the day emboldened, and at length filled the +East, and left of the torches alive on the opposing face of Blacherne +only the sticks, the cups, and the streaming smoke. Then the great host +stirred, arose, and in a time incredibly brief, silently gave itself +back to the city; while the Basileus issued from his solitary vigils in +the Chapel, and, in a chastened spirit doubtless, sought his couch in +one of the gilded interiors up somewhere under the Tower of Isaac. + +The Hegumen of the St. James', overcome by the unwonted draughts upon +his scanty store of strength, not to mention the exhaustion of spirit he +had undergone, was carried home in a chair. Sergius was faithful +throughout. At the gate of the monastery he asked the elder's blessing. + +"Depart not, my son; stay with me a little longer. Thy presence is +comforting to me." + +The adjuration prevailed. Truth was, Sergius wished to set out for +Therapia; but banishing the face of the little Princess once more, he +helped the holy man out of the chair, through the dark-stained gate, +down along the passages, to his apartment, bare and penitential as that +of the humblest neophyte of the Brotherhood. Having divested the +superior of his robes, and, gently as he could, assisted him to lay his +spent body on the narrow cot serving for couch, he then received the +blessing. + +"Thou art a good son, Sergius," the Hegumen said, with some cheer. "Thou +dost strengthen me. I feel thou art wholly given up to the Master and +His religion--nay, so dost thou look like the Master that when thou art +by I fancy it is He caring for me. Thou art at liberty now. I give thee +the blessing." + +Sergius knelt, received the trembling hands on his bowed head, and +kissed them with undissembled veneration. + +"Father," he said, "I beg permission to be gone a few days." + +"Whither?" + +"Thou knowest I regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I wish to +go and see her." + +"At Therapia?" + +"Yes, Father." + +The Hegumen averted his eyes, and by the twitching of the fingers +clasped upon his breast exposed a trouble at work in the depths of his +mind. + +"My son," he at length said, "I knew the father of the Princess Irene, +and was his sympathizer. I led the whole Brotherhood in the final demand +for his liberation from prison. When he was delivered, I rejoiced with a +satisfied soul, and took credit for a large part of the good done him +and his. It is not to magnify myself, or unduly publish my influence +that the occurrence is recalled, but to show you how unnatural it would +be were I unfriendly to his only child. So if now I say anything in the +least doubtful of her, set it down to conscience, and a sense of duty to +you whom I have received into the fraternity as one sent me specially by +God.... The life the Princess leads and her manners are outside the +sanctions of society. There is no positive wrong in a woman of her +degree going about in public places unveiled, and it must be admitted +she does it most modestly; yet the example is pernicious in its effect +upon women who are without the high qualities which distinguish her; at +the same time the habit, even as she illustrates it, wears an appearance +of defiant boldness, making her a subject of indelicate remark--making +her, in brief, a topic for discussion. The objection, I grant, is light, +being at worst an offence against taste and custom; much more serious is +her persistence in keeping up the establishment at Therapia. A husband +might furnish her an excuse; but the Turk is too near a neighbor--or +rather she, a single woman widely renowned for beauty, is too tempting +to the brutalized unbelievers infesting the other shore of the +Bosphorus. Feminine timidity is always becoming; especially is it so +when honor is more concerned than life or liberty. Unmarried and +unprotected, her place is in a holy house on the Islands, or here in the +city, where, aside from personal safety, she can have the benefit of +holy offices. Now rumor is free to accuse her of this and that, which +charity in multitude and without stint is an insufficient mantle to save +her from. They say she prefers guilty freedom to marriage; but no one, +himself of account, believes it--the constitution of her household +forbids the taint. They say she avails herself of seclusion to indulge +uncanonized worship. In plain terms, my son, it is said she is a +heretic." + +Sergius started and threw up his hands. Not that he was surprised at the +charge, for the Princess herself had repeatedly admitted it was in the +air against her; but coming from the venerated chief of his Brotherhood, +the statement, though a hearsay, sounded so dreadfully he was altogether +unprepared for it. Knowing the consequences of heresy, he was also +alarmed for her, and came near betraying himself. How interesting it +would be to learn precisely and from the excellent authority before him, +in what the heresy of the Princess consisted. If there was criminality +in her faith, what was to be said of his own? + +"Father," he remarked, calmly as possible, "I mind not the other +sayings, the reports which go to the Princess' honor--they are the +tarnishments which malice is always blowing on things white because they +are white--but if it be not too trying to your strength, tell me more. +Wherein is she a heretic?" + +Again, the gaunt fingers of the Hegumen worked nervously, while his eyes +averted themselves. + +"How can I satisfy your laudable question, my son, and be brief?" and +with the words he brought his look back, resting it on the young man's +face. "Give attention, however, and I will try.... I take it you know +the Creed is the test of orthodoxy, and"--he paused and searched the +eyes above his wistfully--"and that it has your unfaltering belief. You +know its history, I am sure--at least you know it had issue from the +Council of Nicaea over which Constantine, the greatest of ail Emperors, +condescended to preside in person. Never was proceeding more perfect; +its perfection proved the Divine Mind in its composition; yet, sad to +say, the centuries since the august Council have been fruitful of +disputes more or less related to those blessed canons, and sadder still, +some of the disputes continue to this day. Would to God there was no +more to be said of them!" + +The good man covered his face with his hands, like one who would shut +out a disagreeable sight. "But it is well to inform you, my son, of the +questions whose agitation has at last brought the Church down till only +Heaven can save it from rupture and ruin. Oh, that I should live to make +the acknowledgment--I who in my youth thought it founded on a rock +eternal as Nature itself!... A plain presentation of the subject in +contention may help you to a more lively understanding of the gravity +and untimeliness of the Princess' departure.... First, let me ask if you +know our parties by name. Verily I came near calling them +_factions_, and that I would not willingly, since it is an +opprobrious term, resort to which would be denunciatory of myself--I +being one of them." + +"I have heard of a Roman party and of a Greek party; but further, I am +so recently come to Constantinople, it would be safer did I take +information of you." + +"A prudent answer, by our most excellent and holy patron!" exclaimed the +Hegumen, his countenance relaxing into the semblance of a smile. "Be +always as wise, and the St. James' will bless themselves that thou wert +brought to us.... Attend now. The parties are Greek and Roman; though +most frequently its enemies speak of the latter as _azymites_, which you +will understand is but a nickname. I am a Romanist; the Brotherhood is +all Roman; and we mind not when Scholarius, and his arch-supporter, Duke +Notaras, howl _azymite_ at us. A disputant never takes to contemptuous +speeches except when he is worsted in the argument." + +The moderation of the Hegumen had been thus far singularly becoming and +impressive; now a fierce light gleamed in his eyes, and he cried, with a +spasmodic clutch of the hands: "We are not of the forsworn! The curse of +the perjured is not on our souls!" + +The intensity of his superior astonished Sergius; yet he was shrewd +enough to see and appreciate the disclosures of the outburst; and from +that moment he was possessed of a feeling that the quarrel between the +parties was hopelessly past settlement. If the man before him, worn with +years, and actually laboring for the breath of life, could be so moved +by contempt for the enemy, what of his co-partisans? Age is ordinarily a +tamer of the passions. Here was an instance in which much contention +long continued had counteracted the benign effect. As a teacher and +example, how unlike this Hegumen was to Hilarion. The young man's heart +warmed with a sudden yearning for the exile of the dear old Lavra whose +unfailing sweetness of soul could keep the frigid wilderness upon the +White Lake in summer purple the year round. Never did love of man for +man look so lovely; never did it seem so comprehensive and all +sufficient! The nearest passion opposition could excite in that pure and +chastened nature was pity. But here! Quick as the reflection came, it +was shut out. There was more to be learned. God help the heretic in the +hands of this judge at this time! And with the mental exclamation +Sergius waited, his interest in the definition of heresy sharpened by +personal concern. + +"There are five questions dividing the two parties," the Hegumen +continued, when the paroxysm of hate was passed. "Listen and I will give +them to you in naked form, trusting time for an opportunity to deal with +them at large.... First then the Procession of the Holy Ghost. That is, +does the Holy Ghost proceed from the Son, or from the Father and the +Son? The Greeks say from the Son; the Romans say the Father and the Son +being One, the Procession must needs be from both of them +conjunctively.... Next the Nicene Creed, as originally published, did +undoubtedly make the Holy Ghost proceed from the Father alone. The +intent was to defend the unity of the Godhead. Subsequently the Latins, +designing to cast the assertion of the identity of the Spirit of the +Father and the Spirit of the Son in a form which they thought more +explicit, planted in the body of the Creed the word _filioque_, meaning +_from the Son._ This the Greeks declare an unwarranted addition. The +Latins, on their part, deny it an addition in any proper sense; they say +it is but an explanation of the principle proclaimed, and in +justification trace the usage from the Fathers, Greek and Latin, and from +Councils subsequent to the Nicene.... When we consider to what depths of +wrangle the two themes have carried the children of God who should be +brethren united in love, knowing rivalry only in zeal for the welfare of +the Church, that other subjects should creep in to help widen the already +dangerous breach has an appearance like a judgment of God; yet it would +be dealing unfairly with you, my son, to deny the pendency of three +others in particular. Of these we have first, Shall the bread in the +Eucharist be leavened or unleavened? About six hundred years ago the +Latins began the use of unleavened bread. The Greeks protested against +the innovation, and through the centuries arguments have been bandied to +and fro in good-natured freedom; but lately, within fifty years, the +debate has degenerated into quarrel, and now--ah, in what terms suitable +to a God-fearing servant can I speak of the temper signalizing the +discussion now? Let it pass, let it pass!... We have next a schism +respecting Purgatory. The Greeks deny the existence of such a state, +saying there are but two places awaiting the soul after death--Heaven and +Hell." + +Again the Hegumen paused, arrested, as it were, by a return of +vindictive passion. + +"Oh, the schismatics!" he exclaimed. "Not to see in the Latin idea of a +third place a mercy of God unto them especially! If only the righteous +are admitted to the All Holy Father immediately upon the final +separation of body and spirit; if there is no intermediate state for the +purgation of such of the baptized as die sodden in their sins, what +shall become of them?" + +Sergius shuddered, but held his peace. + +"Yet another point," the superior continued, ere the ruffle in his voice +subsided--"another of which the wranglers have made the most; for as you +know, my son, the Greeks, thinking themselves teachers of all things +intellectual, philosophy, science, poetry, art, and especially religion, +and that at a period when the Latins were in the nakedness of barbarism, +are filled with pride, like empty bottles with air; and because in the +light of history their pride is not unreasonable, they drop the more +readily into the designs of the conspirators against the Unity of the +Church--I speak now of the Primacy. As if power and final judgment were +things for distribution amongst a number of equals! As if one body were +better of a hundred heads! Who does not know that two wills equally +authorized mean the absence of all will! Of the foundations of God Chaos +alone is unorganized; and to such likeness Scholarius would reduce +Christendom! God forbid! Say so, my son--let me hear you repeat it after +me--God forbid:" + +With an unction scarcely less fervid than his chief's, Sergius echoed +the exclamation; whereupon the elder looked at him, and said, with a +flush on his face, "I fear I have given rein too freely to disgust and +abhorrence. Passion is never becoming in old men. Lest you misjudge me, +my son, I shall take one further step in explanation; it will be for you +to then justify or condemn the feeling you have witnessed in me. A +deeper wound to conscience, a grosser provocation to the divine +vengeance, a perfidy more impious and inexcusable you shall never +overtake in this life, though you walk in it thrice the years of +Noah.... There have been repeated attempts to settle the doctrinal +differences to which I have referred. A little more than a hundred years +ago--it was in the reign of Andronicus III.--one Barlaam, a Hegumen, +like myself, was sent to Italy by the Emperor with a proposal of union; +but Benedict the Pope resolutely refused to entertain the proposition, +for the reason that it did not contemplate a final arrangement of the +question at issue between the Churches. Was he not right?" + +Sergius assented. + +"In 1369, John V. Palaeologus, under heavy pressure of the Turks, +renewed overtures of reconciliation, and to effectuate his purpose, he +even became a Catholic. Then John VI., the late Emperor, more +necessitous than his predecessor, submitted such a presentation to the +Papal court that Nicolos of Cusa was despatched to Constantinople to +study and report upon the possibilities of a doctrinal settlement and +union. In November, 1437, the Emperor, accompanied by Joseph, the +Patriarch, Besserion, Archbishop of Nicaea, and deputies empowered to +represent the other Patriarchs, together with a train of learned +assistants and secretaries, seven hundred in all, set out for Italy in +response to the invitation of Eugenius IV, the Pope. Landing at Venice, +the Basileus was escorted to Ferrara, where Eugenius received him with +suitable pomp. The Council of Basle, having been adjourned to Ferrara +for the better accommodation of the imperial guest, was opened there in +April, 1438. But the plague broke out, and the sessions were transferred +to Florence where the Council sat for three years. Dost thou follow me, +my son?" + +"With all my mind, Father, and thankful for thy painstaking." + +"Nay, good Sergius, thy attention more than repays me.... Observe now +the essentials of all the dogmatic questions I named to you as to-day +serving the conspiracy against the Unity of our beloved Church were +settled and accepted at the Council of Florence. The primacy of the +Roman Bishop was the last to be disposed of, because distinguishable +from the other differences by a certain political permeation; finally it +too was reconciled in these words--bear them in memory, I pray, that you +may comprehend their full import--'The Holy Apostolic See and Roman +Pontiff hold the Primacy over all the world; the Roman Pontiff is the +successor of Peter, Prince of Apostles, and he is the true Vicar of +Christ, the head of the whole Church, the Father and Teacher of all +Christians.' [Footnote: Addis and Arnold's Catholic Die. 349.] In Italy, +1439--mark you, son Sergius, but a trifle over eleven years ago--the +members of the Council from the East and West, the Greeks with the +Latins--Emperor, Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Deacons, and lesser +dignitaries of whatever title--signed a Decree of Union which we call +the _Hepnoticon_, and into which the above acceptances had been +incorporated. I said all signed the decree--there were two who did not, +Mark of Ephesus and the Bishop Stauropolis. The Patriarch of +Constantinople, Joseph, died during the Council; yet the signatures of +his colleagues collectively and of the Emperor perfected the Decree as +to Constantinople. What sayest thou, my son? As a student of holy +canons, what sayest thou?" + +"I am but a student," Sergius replied; "still to my imperfect perception +the Unity of the Church was certainly accomplished." + +"In law, yes," said the Hegumen, with difficulty rising to a sitting +posture--"yes, but it remained to make the accomplishment binding on the +consciences of the signatories. Hear now what was done. A form of oath +was draughted invoking the most awful maledictions on the parties who +should violate the decree, and it was sworn to." + +"Sworn to?" + +"Ay, son Sergius--sworn to by each and all of those attendant upon the +Council--from Basileus down to the humblest catechumen inclusive, they +took the oath, and by the taking bound their consciences under penalty +of the eternal wrath of God. I spoke of certain ones forsworn, did I +not?" + +Sergius bowed. + +"And worse--I spoke of some whose souls were enduring the curse of the +perjured. That was extreme--it was passion--I saw thee shudder at it, +and I did not blame thee. Hear me now, and thou wilt not blame me.... +They came home, the Basileus and his seven hundred followers. Scarcely +were they disembarked before they were called to account. The city, +assembled on the quay, demanded of them: 'What have you done with us? +What of our Faith? Have you brought us the victory?' The Emperor hurried +to his palace; the prelates hung their heads, and trembling and in fear +answered: 'We have sold our Faith--we have betrayed the pure +sacrifice--we have become Azymites.' [Footnote: _Hist. de l'eglise_ +(L'Abbe Rohrbacher), 3d ed. Vol. 22. 30. MICHEL DUCAS.] Thus spake +Bessarion; thus Balsamon, Archdeacon and Guardian of the Archives; thus +Gemiste of Lacedaemon; thus Antoine of Heraclius; thus spake they all, +the high and the low alike, even George Scholarius, whom thou didst see +marching last night first penitent of the Vigils. 'Why did you sign the +Decree?' And they answered, 'We were afraid of the Franks.' Perjury to +impiety--cowardice to perjury!... And now, son Sergius, it is said--all +said--with one exception. Some of the Metropolitans, when they were +summoned to sign the Decree, demurred, 'Without you pay us to our +satisfaction we shall not sign.' The silver was counted down to them. +Nay, son, look not so incredulous--I was there--I speak of what I saw. +What could be expected other than that the venals would repudiate +everything? And so they did, all save Metrophanes, the Syncelle, and +Gregory, by grace of God the present Patriarch. If I speak with heat, +dost thou blame me? If I called the recusants forsworn and perjured, +thinkest thou the pure in Heaven charged my soul with a sin? Answer as +thou lovest the right?" + +"My Father," Sergius replied, "the denunciation of impiety cannot be +sinful, else I have to unlearn all I have ever been taught; and being +the chief Shepherd of an honorable Brotherhood, is it not thy duty to +cry out at every appearance of wrong? That His Serenity, the Patriarch, +receives thy acquittal and is notably an exception to a recusancy so +universal, is comforting to me; to have to cast him out of my admiration +would be grievous. But pardon me, if from fear thou wilt overlook it, I +again ask thee to speak further of the heresy of the Princess Irene." + +Sergius, besides standing with his back to the door of the cell, was +listening to the Hegumen with an absorption of sense so entire that he +was unaware of the quiet entrance of a third party, who halted after a +step or two but within easy hearing. + +"The request is timely--most timely," the Hegumen replied, without +regarding the presence of the newcomer. "I had indeed almost forgotten +the Princess.... With controversies such as I have recounted raging in +the Church, like wolves in a sheepfold, comes one with new doctrines to +increase the bewilderment of the flock, how is he to be met? This is +what the Princess has done, and is doing." + +"Still, Father, you leave me in the dark." + +The Hegumen faltered, but finally said: "Apart from her religious views +and novel habits, the Princess Irene is the noblest nature in Byzantium. +Were we overtaken by some great calamity, I should look for her to rise +by personal sacrifice into heroism. In acknowledgment of my fatherly +interest in her, she has often entertained me at her palace, and spoken +her mind with fearless freedom, leaving me to think her pursued by +presentiments of a fatality which is to try her with terrible demands, +and that she is already prepared to submit to them." + +"Yes," said Sergius, with an emphatic gesture, "there are who live +martyrs all their days, reserving nothing for death but to bring them +their crowns." + +The manner of the utterance, and the thought compelled the Hegumen's +notice. + +"My son," he said, presently, "thou hast a preacher's power. I wish I +foreknew thy future. But I must haste or"-- + +"Nay, Father, permit me to help you recline again." + +And with the words, Sergius helped the feeble body down. + +"Thanks, my son," he received, in return, "I know thy soul is gentle." + +After a rest the speech was resumed. + +"Of the Princess--she is given to the Scriptures; in the reading, which +else would be a praiseworthy usage, she refuses light except it proceed +from her own understanding. We are accustomed when in doubt--thou +knowest it to be so--to take the interpretations of the Fathers; but she +insists the Son of God knew what He meant better than any whose good +intentions are lacking in the inspirations of the Holy Ghost." + +A gleam of pleasure flitted over the listener's countenance. + +"So," the Hegumen continued, "she hath gone the length of fabricating a +creed for herself, and substituting it for that which is the foundation +of the Church--I mean the Creed transmitted to us from the Council of +Nicaea." + +"Is the substitute in writing, Father?" + +"I have read it." + +"Then thou canst tell me whence she drew it." + +"From the Gospels word and word.... There now--I am too weak to enter +into discussion--I can only allude to effects." + +"Forgive another request"--Sergius spoke hastily--"Have I thy permission, +to look at what she hath written?" + +"Thou mayst try her with a request; but remember, my son"--the Hegumen +accompanied the warning with a menacious glance--"remember proselyting +is the tangible overt act in heresy which the Church cannot overlook.... +To proceed. The Princess' doctrines are damnatory of the Nicene; if +allowed, they would convert the Church into a stumbling-block in the way +of salvation. They cannot be tolerated.... I can no more--the night was +too much for me. Go, I pray, and order wine and food. To-morrow--or when +thou comest again--and delay not, for I love thee greatly--we will +return to the subject." + +Sergius saw the dew gathering on the Hegumen's pallid forehead, and +observed his failing voice. He stooped, took the wan hand from the +laboring breast, and kissed it; then turning about quickly to go for the +needed restoration, he found himself face to face with the young Greek +whom he rescued from Nilo in the encounter on the wall. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ACADEMY OF EPICURUS + + +"I would have a word with you," the Greek said, in a low tone, as +Sergius was proceeding to the door. + +"But thy father is suffering, and I must make haste." + +"I will accompany thee." + +Sergius stopped while the young man went to the cot, removed his hat and +knelt, saying, "Thy blessing, father." + +The Hegumen laid a hand on the petitioner's head. + +"My son, I have not seen thee for many days," he said; "yet in hope that +thou hast heard me, and abandoned the associates who have been +endangering thy soul and my good name, and because I love thee--God +knows how well--and remember thy mother, who lived illustrating every +beatitude, and died in grace, praying for thee, take thou my blessing." + +With tears starting in his own eyes, Sergius doubted not the effect of +the reproof upon the son; and he pitied him, and even regretted +remaining to witness the outburst of penitence and grief he imagined +forthcoming. The object of his sympathy took down the hand, kissed it in +a matter-of-fact way, arose, and said, carelessly: "This lamentation +should cease. Why can I not get you to understand, father, that there is +a new Byzantium? That even in the Hippodrome nothing is as it used to be +except the colors? How often have I explained to you the latest social +discovery admitted now by everybody outside the religious orders, and by +many within them--I mean the curative element in sin." + +"Curative element in sin!" exclaimed the father. + +"Ay--Pleasure." + +"O God!" sighed the old man, turning his face hopelessly to the wall, +"Whither are we drifting?" + +He hardly heard the prodigal's farewell. + +"If you wish to speak with me, stay here until I return." + +This Sergius said when the two passed out of the cell. Going down the +darkened passage, he glanced behind him, and saw the Greek outside the +door; and when he came back with the Hegumen's breakfast, and reentered +the apartment, he brushed by him still on the outside. At the cot, +Sergius offered the refreshment on his knees, and in that posture waited +while his superior partook of it; for he discerned how the aged heart +was doubly stricken--once for the Church, deserted by so many of its +children, and again for himself, forsaken by his own son. + +"What happiness to me, O Sergius, wert thou of my flesh and blood!" + +The expression covered every feeling evoked by the situation. Afterwhile +another of the Brotherhood appeared, permitting Sergius to retire. + +"I am ready to hear you now," he said, to the Greek at the door. + +"Let us to your cell then." + +In the cell, Sergius drew forth the one stool permitted him by the rules +of the Brotherhood. + +"Be seated," he said. + +"No," the visitor returned, "I shall be brief. You do not know my +father. The St. James' should relieve him of active duty. His years are +sadly enfeebling him." + +"But that would he ungrateful in them." + +"Heaven knows," the prodigal continued, complainingly, "how I have +labored to bring him up abreast of the time; he lives entirely in the +past. But pardon me; if I heard aright, my father called you Sergius." + +"That is my monastic name." + +"You are not a Greek?" + +"The Great Prince is my political sovereign." + +"Well, I am Demedes. My father christened me Metrophanes, after the late +Patriarch; but it did not please me, and I have entitled myself. And now +we know each other, let us be friends." + +Sergius' veil had fallen over his face, and while replacing it under the +hat, he replied, "I shall strive, Demedes, to love you as I love +myself." + +The Greek, it should be remembered, was good featured, and of a pleasant +manner; so much so, indeed, as to partially recompense him for his +failure in stature; wherefore the overture was by no means repulsive. + +"You may wonder at my plucking you from my father's side; you may wonder +still more at my presumption in seeking to attach myself to you; but I +think my reasons good.... In the first place, it is my duty to +acknowledge that but for your interference yesterday the gigantic +energumen by whom I was unexpectedly beset would have slain me. In fact, +I had given myself up for lost. The rocks at the foot of the wall seemed +springing out of the water to catch me, and break every bone in my body. +You will accept my thanks, will you not?" + +"The saving two fellow beings, one from murder, the other from being +murdered, is not, in my opinion, an act for thanks; still, to ease you +of a sense of obligation, I consent to the acknowledgment." + +"It does relieve me," Demedes said, with a taking air; "and I am +encouraged to go on." + +He paused, and surveyed Sergius deliberately from head to foot, and the +admiration he permitted to be seen, taken as a second to his continuing +words, could not have been improved by a professed actor. + +"Are not flesh and blood of the same significance in all of us? With +youth and health superadded to a glorious physical structure, may we not +always conclude a man rich in spirit and lusty impulses? Is it possible +a gown and priestly hat can entirely suppress his human nature? I have +heard of Anthony the Anchorite." + +The idea excited his humor, and he laughed. + +"I mean no irreverence," he resumed; "but you know, dear Sergius, it is +with laughter as with tears, we cannot always control it.... Anthony +resolved to be a Saint, but was troubled by visions of beautiful women. +To escape them, he followed some children of Islam into the desert. +Alas! the visions went with him. He burrowed then in a tomb--still the +visions. He hid next in the cellar of an old castle--in vain--the +visions found him out. He flagellated himself for eighty and nine years, +every day and night of which was a battle with the visions. He left two +sheepskins to as many bishops, and one haircloth shirt to two favorite +disciples--they had been his armor against the visions. Finally, lest +the seductive goblins should assail him in death, he bade the disciples +lose him by burial in an unknown place. Sergius, my good friend"--here +the Greek drew nearer, and laid a hand lightly on the monk's flowing +sleeve--"I heard some of your replies to my father, and respect your +genius too much to do more than ask why you should waste your youth"-- + +"Forbear! Go not further--no, not a word!" Sergius exclaimed. "Dost thou +account the crown the Saint at last won nothing?" + +Demedes did not seem in the least put out by the demonstration; possibly +he expected it, and was satisfied with the hearing continued him. + +"I yield to you," he said, with a smile, "and willingly since you +convince me I was not mistaken in your perception.... My father is a +good man. His goodness, however, but serves to make him more sensitive +to opposition. The divisions of the Church give him downright suffering. +I have heard him go on about them hours at a time. Probably his +proneness to lamentation should be endured with respectful patience; but +there is a peculiarity in it--he is blind to everything save the loss of +power and influence the schisms are fated to entail upon the Church. He +fights valorously in season and out for the old orthodoxies, believing +that with the lapse of religion as at present organized the +respectability and dominion of the holy orders will also lapse. Nay, +Sergius, to say it plainly, he and the Brotherhood are fast keying +themselves up to a point in fanaticism when dissent appears blackest +heresy. To you, a straightforward seeker after information, it has never +occurred, I suspect, to inquire how far--or rather how close--beyond +that attainment lie punishments of summary infliction and most terrible +in kind? Torture--the stake--holocausts in the Hippodrome--spectacles in +the Cynegion--what are they to the enthused Churchmen but righteous +judgments mercifully executed on wayward heretics? I tell you, monk--and +as thou lovest her, heed me--I tell you the Princess Irene is in +danger." + +This was unexpected, and forcibly put; and thinking of the Princess, +Sergius lost the calmness he had up to this time successfully kept. + +"The Princess--tortured--God forbid!" + +"Recollect," the Greek continued--"for you will reflect upon +this--recollect I overheard the close of your interview with my father. +To-morrow, or upon your return from Therapia, be it when it may, he will +interrogate you with respect to whatever she may confide to you in the +least relative to the Creed, which, as he states, she has prepared for +herself. You stand warned. Consider also that now I have in part +acquitted myself of the obligation I am under to you for my life." + +The simple-mindedness of the monk, to whom the book of the world was +just beginning to open, was an immense advantage to the Greek. It should +not be surprising, therefore, if the former relaxed his air, and leaned +a little forward to hear what was further submitted to him. + +"Have you breakfasted?" the prodigal asked, in his easy manner. + +"I have not." + +"Ah! In concern for my father, you have neglected yourself. Well, I must +not be inconsiderate. A hungry man is seldom a patient listener. Shall I +break off now?" + +"You have interested me, and I may be gone several days." + +"Very well. I will make haste. It is but justice to the belligerents in +the spiritual war to admit the zeal they have shown; Gregory the +Patriarch, and his Latins, on the one side, and Scholarius and his +Greeks on the other. They have occupied the pulpits alternately, each +refusing presence to the other. They decline association in the +Sacramental rites. In Sta. Sophia, it is the Papal mass to-day; +to-morrow, it will be the Greek mass. It requires a sharp sense to +detect the opposition in smell between the incense with which the +parties respectively fumigate the altars of the ancient house. I suppose +there is a difference. Yesterday the parabaloni came to blows over a +body they were out burying, and in the struggle the bier was knocked +down, and the dead spilled out. The Greeks, being the most numerous, +captured the labarum of the Latins, and washed it in the mud; yet the +monogram on it was identical with that on their own. Still I suppose +there was a difference." + +Demedes laughed. + +"But seriously, Sergius, there is much more of the world outside of the +Church--or Churches, as you prefer--than on the inside. In the tearing +each other to pieces, the militants have lost sight of the major part, +and, as normally bound, it has engaged in thinking for itself. That is, +the shepherd is asleep, the dogs are fighting, and the sheep, left to +their individual conduct, are scattered in a hunt for fresher water and +greener pasturage. Have you heard of the Academy of Epicurus?" + +"No." + +"I will tell you about it. But do you take the seat there. It is not +within my purpose to exhaust you in this first conference." + +"I am not tired." + +"Well"--and the Greek smiled pleasantly--"I was regardful of myself +somewhat in the suggestion. My neck is the worse of having to look up so +constantly.... The youth of Byzantium, you must know, are not +complaining of neglect; far from it--they esteem it a great privilege to +be permitted to think in freedom. Let me give you of their conclusions. +There is no God, they say, since a self-respecting God would not +tolerate the strife and babble carried on in his name to the discredit +of his laws. Religion, if not a deceit, is but the tinkling of brazen +cymbals. A priest is a professor eking out an allowance of fine clothes +and bread and wine; with respect to the multitude, he is a belled donkey +leading a string of submissive camels. Of what account are Creeds except +to set fools by the ears? Which--not what--_which_ is the true Christian +Faith? The Patriarch tells us, 'Verily it is this,' and Scholarius +replies, 'Verily the Patriarch is a liar and a traitor to God for his +false teaching'--he then tells us it is that other thing just as +unintelligible. Left thus to ourselves--I acknowledge myself one of the +wandering flock--flung on our own resources--we resorted to counselling +each other, and agreed that a substitute for religion was a social +necessity. Our first thought was to revive Paganism; worshipping many +gods, we might peradventure stumble upon one really existent: whether +good or bad ought not to trouble us, provided he took intelligent +concern in the drift of things. To quarrel about his qualities would be +a useless repetition of the folly of our elders--the folly of swimming +awhile in a roaring swirl. Some one suggested how much easier and more +satisfactory it is to believe in one God than in many; besides which +Paganism is a fixed system intolerant of freedom. Who, it was argued, +would voluntarily forego making his own gods? The privilege was too +delightful. Then it was proposed that we resolve ourselves each into a +God unto himself. The idea was plausible; it would at least put an end +to wrangling, by giving us all an agreeable object to worship, while for +mental demands and social purposes generally we could fall back on +Philosophy. Had not our fathers tried Philosophy? When had society a +better well being than in the halcyon ages of Plato and Pythagoras? Yet +there was a term of indecision with us--or rather incubation. To what +school should we attach ourselves? A copy of the Enchiridion of +Epictetus fell into our hands, and after studying it faithfully, we +rejected Stoicism. The Cynics were proposed; we rejected them--there was +nothing admirable in Diogenes as a patron. We next passed upon Socratus. +_Sons of Sophroniscus_ had a lofty sound; still his system of moral +philosophy was not acceptable, and as he believed in a creative God, his +doctrine was too like a religion. Though the Delphian oracle pronounced +him the wisest of mankind, we concluded to look further, and in so +doing, came to Epicurus. There we stopped. His promulgations, we +determined, had no application except to this life; and as they offered +choice between the gratification of the senses and the practice of +virtue, leaving us free to adopt either as a rule of conduct, we +formally enrolled ourselves Epicureans. Then, for protection against the +Church, we organized. The departure might send us to the stake, or to +Tamerlane, King of the Cynegion, or, infinitely worse, to the cloisters, +if we were few; but what if we took in the youths of Byzantium as an +entirety? The policy was clear. We founded an Academy--the Academy of +Epicurus--and lodged it handsomely in a temple; and three times every +week we have a session and lectures. Our membership is already up in the +thousands, selected from the best blood of the Empire; for we do not +confine our proselyting to the city." + +Here Sergius lifted his hand. He had heard the prodigal in silence, and +it had been difficult the while to say which dominated his feeling-- +disgust, amazement, or pity. He was scarcely in condition to think; yet +he comprehended the despairing cry of the Hegumen, Oh, my God! whither +are we drifting? The possibilities of the scheme flew about him darkly, +like birds in a ghastly twilight. He had studied the oppositions to +religion enough to appreciate the attractive power there was for youth in +the pursuit of pleasure. He knew also something of the race Epicureanism +had run in the old competitions of philosophy--that it had been embraced +by more of the cultivated Pagan world than the other contemporary systems +together. It had been amongst the last, if not in fact the very last, of +the conquests of Christianity. But here it was again; nor that merely-- +here it was once more a subject of organized effort. Who was responsible +for the resurrection? The Church? How wicked its divisions seemed to him! +Bishop fighting Bishop--the clergy distracted--altars discredited--sacred +ceremonies neglected--what did it all mean, if not an interregnum of the +Word? Men cannot fight Satan and each other at the same time. With such +self-collection as he could command, he asked: "What have you in +substitution of God and Christ?" + +"A Principle," was the reply. + +"What Principle?" + +"Pleasure, the Purpose of this Life, and its Pursuit, an ennobled +occupation." + +"Pleasure to one is not pleasure to another--it is of kinds." + +"Well said, O Sergius! Our kind is gratification of the senses. Few of +us think of the practice of virtue, which would be dreaming in the midst +of action." + +"And you make the pursuit an occupation?" + +"In our regard the heroic qualities of human nature are patience, courage +and judgment; hence our motto--Patience, Courage, Judgment. The pursuit +calls them all into exercise, ennobling the occupation." + +The Greek was evidently serious. Sergius ran him over from the pointed +shoes to the red feather in the conical red hat, and said in accents of +pity: + +"Oh, alas! Thou didst wrong in re-entitling thyself. Depravity had been +better than Demedes." + +The Greek lifted his brows, and shrugged his shoulders. + +"In the Academy we are used to taking as well as giving," he said, +wholly unembarrassed. "But, my dear Sergius, it remains for me to +discharge an agreeable commission. Last night, in full session, I told +of the affair on the wall. Could you have heard my description of your +intervention, and the eulogium with which I accompanied it, you would +not have accused me of ingratitude. The brethren were carried away; +there was a tempest of applause; they voted you a hero; and, without a +dissent, they directed me to inform you that the doors of the Academy +were open"-- + +"Stop," said Sergius, with both hands up as if to avert a blow. After +looking at the commissioner a moment, his eyes fiercely bright, he +walked the floor of the cell twice. + +"Demedes," he said, halting in front of the Greek, a reactionary pallor +on his countenance, "the effort thou art making to get away from God +proves how greatly He is a terror to thee. The Academy is only a +multitude thou hast called together to help hide thee from Christ. Thou +art an organizer of Sin--a disciple of Satan"--he was speaking not loud +or threateningly, but with a force before which the other shrank +visibly--"I cannot say I thank thee for the invitation on thy tongue +unfinished, but I am better of not hearing it. Get thee behind me." + +He turned abruptly, and started for the door. + +The Greek sprang after him, and took hold of his gown. + +"Sergius, dear Sergius," he said, "I did not intend to offend you. There +is another thing I have to speak about. Stay!" + +"Is it something different?" Sergius asked. + +"Ay--as light and darkness are different." + +"Be quick then." + +Sergius was standing under the lintel of the door. Demedes slipped past +him, and on the outside stopped. + +"You are going to Therapia?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"The Princess of India will be there. She has already set out." + +"How knowest thou?" + +"She is always under my eyes." + +The mockery in the answer reminded Sergius of the Academy. The prodigal +was designing to impress him with an illustration of the Principle it +had adopted in lieu of God. The motto, he was having it thus early +understood, was not an empty formula, but an inspiring symbol, like the +Cross on the flag. This votary, the advertisement as much as said, was +in pursuit of the little Princess--he had chosen her for his next +offering to the Principle which, like another God, was insatiable of +gifts, sacrifices, and honors. Such the thoughts of the monk. + +"You know her?" Demedes asked. + +"Yes." + +"You believe her the daughter of the Prince of India?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you do not know her." + +The Greek laughed insolently. + +"The best of us, and the oldest can be at times as much obliged by +information as by a present of bezants. The Academy sends you its +compliments. The girl is the daughter of a booth-keeper in the bazaar--a +Jew, who has no princely blood to spare a descendant--a dog of a Jew, +who makes profit by lending his child to an impostor." + +"Whence hadst thou this--this--" + +The Greek paid no attention to the interruption. + +"The Princess Irene gives a fete this afternoon. The fishermen of the +Bosphorus will be there in a body. I will be there. A pleasant time to +you, and a quick awakening, O Sergius!" + +Demedes proceeded up the passage, but turned about, and said: "Patience, +Courage, Judgment. When thou art witness to all there is in the motto. O +Sergius, it may be thou wilt be more placable. I shall see to it that +the doors of the Academy are kept open for thee." + +The monk stood awhile under the lintel bewildered; for the introduction +to wickedness is always stunning--a circumstance proving goodness to be +the natural order. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A FISHERMAN'S FETE + + +The breakfast to which Sergius addressed himself was in strict observance +of the Rules of the Brotherhood; and being plain, it was quickly +despatched. Returning to his cell, he let his hair loose, and combed it +with care; then rolling it into a glistening mass, he tucked it under his +hat. Selecting a fresher veil next, he arranged that to fall down his +back and over the left shoulder. He also swept the dark gown free of +dust, and cleansing the crucifix and large black horn beads of his +rosary, lingered a moment while contemplating the five sublime mysteries +allotted to the third chaplet, beginning with the Resurrection of Christ +and ending with the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. In a calmness of +spirit such as follows absolution, he finally sallied from the Monastery, +and ere long arrived at the landing outside the Fish Market Gate on the +Golden Horn. The detentions had been long; so for speed he selected a +two-oared boat. + +"To Therapia--by noon," he said to the rower, and, dropping into the +passenger's box, surrendered himself to reflection. + +The waterway by which the monk proceeded is not unfamiliar to the reader, +a general idea of it having been given in the chapter devoted to the +adventures of the Prince of India in his outing up the Bosphorus to the +Sweet Waters of Asia. The impression there sought to be conveyed--how +feebly is again regretfully admitted--was of a panorama remarkable as a +composition of all the elements of scenic beauty blent together in +incomparable perfection. Now, however, it failed the tribute customary +from such as had happily to traverse it. + +The restfulness of the swift going; the shrinking of the flood under the +beating of the oars; the sky and the wooded heights, and the stretches +of shore, town and palace lined; the tearing through the blue veil +hanging over the retiring distances; the birds, the breezes, the ships +hither coming and yonder going, and the sparkles shooting up in myriad +recurrence on the breaking waves--all these pleasures of the most +delicate of the receiving senses were tyrannically forbidden him. + +The box in which he sat half reclining was wide enough for another +passenger side by side with him, and it seemed he imagined the vacant +place occupied now by Demedes, and now by Lael, and that he was speaking +to them; when to the former, it was with dislike, and a disposition to +avoid the touch of his red cloak, though on the sleeve ever so lightly; +when to the latter, his voice would lower, his eyes soften, and the +angry spots on his brow and cheeks go out--not more completely could +they have disappeared had she actually exorcised them with some of the +sweet confessions lovers keep for emergencies, and a touch of finger +besides. + +"So," he would say, Demedes for the time on the seat, "thou deniest God, +and hast a plot against Christ. Shameful in the son of a good father!... +What is thy Academy but defiance of the Eternal Majesty? As well curse +the Holy Ghost at once, for why should he who of preference seeketh a bed +with the damned he disappointed? Or is thy audacity a blasphemous trial +of the endurance of forgiveness?".... Exit Demedes, enter Lael.... "The +child--she is a child! By such proof as there is in innocence, and in the +loveliness of blushing cheeks, and eyes which answer the Heavenly light +they let in by light as Heavenly let out, she is a child! What does evil +see in her to set it hungering after her? Or is there in virtue a signal +to its enemies--Lo, here! A light to be blown out, lest it disperse our +darkness!".... Reenter Demedes.... "Abduct her!--How?--When? To that end +is it thou keepest her always under eye? The Princess Irene gives a +Fisherman's Fete--the child will be there--thou wilt be there. Is this +the day of the attempt? Bravos as fishermen, to seize her--boats to +carry her off--the Bosphorus wide and deep, and the hills beyond a +hiding-place, and in the sky over them the awful name Turk. The crime +and the opportunity hand in hand! Let them prosper now, and I who have +from the cradle's side despatched my soul faith in hand to lay it at +Heaven's gate may never again deny a merit in the invocation of Sin +virtuous as prayer".... To Lael in the seat.... "But be not afraid. +I will be there also. I"... A sudden fear fell upon him. If the abduction +were indeed arranged for the afternoon, to what might he not be led by an +open attempt to defeat it? Bloodshed--violence! He whose every dream had +been of a life in which his fellow-men might find encouragement to endure +their burdens, and of walking before them an example of love and +forbearance, submissive and meek that he might with the more unanswerable +grace preach obedience and fraternity to them--Merciful Heaven! And he +shuddered and drew the veil hastily over his face, as if, in a bloody +tumult, the ideal life, so the ultimate happiness, were vanishing before +his eyes. Taking the confessions of such as have been greatly tried, few +men, few even of those renowned for courage and fine achievement, ever +pass their critical moments of decision unassailed by alternative +suggestions due to fear. Sergius heard them now. "Return to thy cell, and +to thy beads, and prayer," they seemed to say. "What canst thou, a +stranger in a strange land, if once the Academy of which thou wert this +morning informed, becomes thy enemy? Ay, return to thy cell! Who is she +for whom thou art putting thyself in the way of temptation? The daughter +of a booth-keeper in the bazaar--a Jew, who hath no princely blood to +spare a descendant--a dog of a Jew, who maketh profit by lending his +child to an impostor." + +The suggestion was powerful. In the heat of the debate, however, an +almost forgotten voice reached him, reciting one of the consolations of +Father Hilarion: "Temptations are for all of us; nor shall any man be +free of them. The most we can hope is to be delivered from them. What +vanity to think we can travel threescore and ten years from our cradles, +if so long we live, without an overture of some kind from the common +enemy! On the other side, what a triumph to put his blandishments by! +The Great Exemplar did not fly from Satan; he stayed, and overcame him." + +"Be not afraid," Sergius said, as if to Lael, and firmly, like one +resolved of fear and hesitation. "I will be there also." + +Then looking about him, at his left hand he beheld the village of +Emirghian, bent round a mountain's base, in places actually invading the +water. In face of such a view a susceptible nature must needs be very +sick of soul to go blindly on. The brightly painted houses cast +tremulous reflections to a vast depth in the limpid flood, and where +they ceased, down immeasurably, the vivid green of the verdure on the +mountain's breast suggested the beginning of the next of the seven +Mohammedan earths. Above this borrowed glory he seemed afloat; and to +help the impression, the sound of many voices singing joyously was borne +to him. He waved his hand, and the rowers, resting from their labor, +joined him in listening. + +The little gulf of Stenia lies there landlocked, and out of it a boat +appeared, skimming around the intervening promontory. In a mass of +flowers, in a shade of garlands hanging from a low mast, its arms and +shrouds wreathed with roses, the singers sat timing their song with +their oars. The refrain was supported by zitheras, flutes and horns. The +vessel turned northwardly when fairly out in the strait; and then +another boat came round the point--and another--and another--and many +others, all decorated, and filled with men, women and children making +music. + +Sergius' boatmen recognized the craft, deep in the water, black and +long, and with graceful upturned ends. + +"Fishermen!" they said. + +And he rejoined: "Yes. The Princess Irene gives them a fete. Make haste. +I will go with them. Fall in behind." + +"Yes, yes--a good woman! Of such are the Saints!" they said, signing the +cross on breast arid brow. + +The singing and the gala air of the party put Sergius in his wonted +spirits; and as here and there other boats fell into the line, similarly +decorated, their occupants adding to the volume of the singing, by the +time Therapia was sighted the good-natured, happy fishermen had given +him of their floral abundance, and adopted him. + +What a scene the Therapian bay presented! Boats, boats, boats--hundreds +of them in motion, hundreds lining the shore, the water faithfully +repeating every detail of ornature, and apparently a-quiver with +pleasure. The town was gay with colors; while on the summit and sides of +the opposite promontory every available point answered flaunt with +flaunt. And there were song and shouting, gladsome cries of children, +responses of mothers, and merriment of youth and maiden. Byzantium might +be in decadence, her provinces falling away, her glory wasting; the +follies of the court and emperors, the best manhood of the empire lost +in cloisters and hermitages, the preference of the nobility for intrigue +and diplomacy might be all working their deplorable results--nay, the +results might be at hand! Still the passion of the people for fetes and +holidays remained. Tastes are things of heredity. In nothing is a +Byzantine of this day so nearly a classic Greek as in his delicacy and +appreciation where permitted to indulge in the beautiful. + +The boatmen passed through the gay entanglement of the bay slowly and +skilfully, and finally discharged their passengers on the marble quay a +little below the regular landing in front of the red pavilion over the +entrance to the Princess' grounds. The people went in and out of the +gate without hindrance; nor was there guard or policeman visible. Their +amiability attested their happiness. + +The men were mostly black-bearded, sunburned, large-handed, brawny +fellows in breeches black and amply bagged, with red sashes and light +blue jackets heavily embroidered. The legs below the knees were exposed, +and the feet in sandals. White cloths covered their heads. Their eyes +were bright, their movements agile, their air animated. Many of them +sported amulets of shell or silver suspended by ribbons or silken cords +around their bare necks. The women wore little veils secured by combs, +but rather as a headdress, and for appearances. They also affected the +sleeveless short jacket over a snowy chemise; and what with bright +skirts bordered with worsted chenille, and sandal straps carried +artfully above the ankles, they were not wanting in picturesqueness. +Some of the very young amongst them justified the loveliness +traditionally ascribed to the nymphs of Hellas and the fair Cycladean +Isles. Much the greater number, however, were in outward seeming +prematurely old, and by their looks, their voices ungovernably shrill, +and the haste and energy with which they flung themselves into the +amusement of the hour unconsciously affirmed that fishermen's wives are +the same everywhere. One need not go far to find the frontiers of +society--too frequently they are close under the favorite balcony of the +king. + +Something on the right cheek of the gate under the pavilion furnished an +attraction to the visitors. When Sergius came up, he was detained by a +press of men and women in eager discussion; and following their eyes and +the pointing of their fingers, he observed a brazen plate overhead +curiously inscribed. The writing was unintelligible to him as to his +neighbors. It looked Turkish--or it might have been Arabic--or it might +not have been writing at all. He stayed awhile listening to the +conjectures advanced. Presently a gypsy approached leading a bear, +which, in its turn, was drawing a lot of noisy boys. He stopped, +careless of the unfriendly glances with which he was received, and at +sight of the plate saluted it with a low salaam several times unctuously +repeated. + +"Look at the hamari there. He can tell what the thing means." + +"Then ask him." + +"I will. See here, thou without a religion, consort of brutes! Canst +thou tell what this"--pointing to the plate--"is for? Come and look at +it!" + +"It is not needful for me to go nearer. I see it well enough. Neither am +I without a religion. I do not merely profess belief in God--I believe +in Him," the bear-keeper replied. + +The fisherman took the retort and the laugh it occasioned +good-humoredly, and answered: "Very well, we are even; and now perhaps +thou canst tell me what I asked." + +"Willingly, since thou canst be decent to a stranger.... The young +Mahommed, son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans"--the gypsy paused to salute +the title--"the young Mahommed, I say, is my friend." The bystanders +laughed derisively, but the man proceeded. "He has resided this long +time at Magnesia, the capital of a prosperous province assigned to his +governorship. There never was one of such station so civil to his +people, and much learning has had a good effect upon his judgment; it +has taught him that the real virtue of amusement lies in its variety. +Did he listen exclusively to his doctors discoursing of philosophy, or +to his professor of mathematics, or to his poets and historians, he +would go mad even as they are mad; wherefore, along with his studies, he +hunts with hawk and hound; he tilts and tourneys; he plays the wandering +minstrel; and not seldom Joqard and I--hey, fellow, is it not so?" he +gave the bear a tremendous jerk--"Joqard and I have been to audience +with him in his palace." + +"A wonderful prince no doubt; but I asked not of him. The plate, +man--what of this plate? If nothing, then give way to Joqard." + +"There are fools and fools--that is, there are plain fools and wise +fools. The wise fool answering the plain fool, is always more particular +with his premises than his argument." + +The laugh was with the hamari again; after which he continued: "So, +having done with explanation, now to satisfy you." + +From the breast of his gown, he brought forth a piece of bronze +considerably less than the plate on the gate, but in every other respect +its counterpart. + +"See you this?" he said, holding the bronze up to view. + +There was quick turning from plate to plate, and the conclusion was as +quick. + +"They are the same, but what of it?" + +"This--Joqard and I went up one day and danced for the Prince, and at +the end he dismissed us, giving me a red silk purse fat with gold +pieces, and to Joqard this passport. Mark you now. The evil minded used +to beat us with cudgels and stones--I mean among the Turk--but coming to +a town now, I tie this to Joqard's collar, and we have welcome. We eat +and drink, and are given good quarters, and sped from morning to morning +without charge." + +"There is some magic in the plate, then?" + +"No," said the hamari, "unless there is magic in the love of a people +for the Prince to be their ruler. It certifies Joqard and I are of +Prince Mahommed's friends, and that is enough for Turks; and the same +yonder. By the sign, I know this gate, these grounds, and the owner of +them are in his protection. But," said the bear-keeper, changing his +tone, "seeing one civil answer deserves another, when was Prince +Mahommed here?" + +"In person? Never." + +"Oh, he must have been." + +"Why do you say so?" + +"Because of the brass plate yonder." + +"What does it prove?" + +"Ah, yes!" the man answered laughingly. "Joqard and I pick up many odd +things, and meet a world of people--don't we, fellow?" Another furious +jerk of the leading strap brought a whine from the bear, "But it is good +for us. We teach school as we go; and you know, my friend, for every +_solidus_ its equivalent in _noumia_ is somewhere." + +"I will give you a _noumia_, if you will give me an answer." + +"A bargain--a bargain, with witnesses!" + +Then after a glance into the faces around, as if summoning attention to +the offer, the hamari proceeded. + +"Listen. I say the brass up there proves Prince Mahommed was here in +person. Wishing to notify his people that he had taken in his care +everything belonging to this property, the owner included, the Prince +put his signature to the proclamation." + +"Proclamation?" + +"Yes--you may call it plain brass, if you prefer; none the less the +writing on it is _Mahommed:_ and because such favors must bear his +name on them, they are reserved for his giving. No other man, except the +great Sultan, his father, would bestow one of them. Joqard had his from +the Prince's hand directly; wherefore--I hope, friend, you have the +_noumia_ ready--the brass on this post must have been fixed there +by the Prince with his own hand." + +The fishermen were satisfied; and it was wonderful how interesting the +safeguard then became to them. By report they knew Mahommed the +prospective successor of the terrible Amurath; they knew him a soldier +conspicuous in many battles; and from the familiar principle by which we +admire or dread those possessed of qualities unlike and superior to our +own, their ideas and speculations concerning him were wild and generally +harsh. Making no doubt now that he had really been to the gate, they +asked themselves, What could have been his object? To look at the plate +was next thing to looking at the man. Even Sergius partook of the +feeling. To get a better view, he shifted his position, and was beset by +inquietudes not in the understanding of the fishermen. + +The Princess Irene, her property and dependents, were subjects of +protection by the Moslem; that much was clear; but did she know the +fact? Had she seen the Prince? Then the Hegumen's criticism upon the +persistence with which she kept her residence here, a temptation to the +brutalized unbeliever on the other shore, derived a point altogether +new. + +Sergius turned away, and passed into the well-tended grounds. While too +loyal to the little mother, as he tenderly called the Princess, to admit +a suspicion against her, with painful clearness, he perceived the +opportunity the affair offered her enemies for the most extreme +accusations; and he resolved to speak to her, and, if necessary, to +remonstrate. + +Traversing the shelled roadway up to the portico of the palace, he +looked back through the red pavilion, and caught a glimpse of Joqard +performing before a merry group of boys and elders male and female. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HAMARI + + +The love of all things living which was so positively a trait of +character with the Princess Irene was never stinted in her dealings with +her own country folk. On this occasion her whole establishment at +Therapia was accorded her guests; yet, while they wandered at will +merry-making through the gardens, and flashed their gay colors along the +side and from the summit of the promontory, they seemed to have united +in holding the palace in respectful reserve. None of them, without a +special request, presumed to pass the first of the steps leading up into +the building. + +When Sergius, approaching from the outer gate, drew nigh the front of +the palace, he was brought to a stop by a throng of men and women packed +around a platform the purpose of which was declared by its use. It was +low, but of generous length and breadth, and covered with fresh +sail-cloth; at each corner a mast had been raised, with yard-arms well +squared, and dressed profusely in roses, ferns, and acacia fronds. On a +gallery swung to the base of the over-pending portico, a troupe of +musicians were making the most of flute, cithara, horn, and kettle-drum, +and not vainly, to judge from the flying feet of the dancers in +possession of the boards. + +Lifting his eyes above the joyous exhibition, he beheld the carven +capitals of the columns, tied together with festoonery of evergreens, +and relieved by garlands of shining flowers, and above the musicians, +under a canopy shading her from the meridian sun, the Princess Irene +herself. A bright carpet hanging down the wall enriched the position +chosen by her, and in the pleasant shade, surrounded by young women, she +sat with uncovered head and face, delighted with the music and the +dancing--delighted that it was in her power to bring together so many +souls to forget, though so briefly, the fretting of hard conditions +daily harder growing. None knew better than she the rapidity of the +national decadence. + +It was not long until the young hostess noticed Sergius, taller of his +high hat and long black gown; and careless as usual of the +conventionalities, she arose, and beckoned to him with her fan; and the +people, seeing whom she thus honored, opened right and left, and with +good-will made way for him. Upon his coming her attendants drew +aside--all but one, to whom for the moment he gave but a passing look. + +The Princess received him seated. The youthful loveliness of her +countenance seemed refined by the happiness she was deriving from the +spectacle before her. He took the hand she extended him, kissed it +respectfully, with only a glance at the simple but perfected Greek of +her costume, and immediately the doubts, and fears, and questions, and +lectures in outline he had brought with him from the city dropped out of +mind. Suspicion could not look at her and live. + +"Welcome, Sergius," she said, with dignity. "I was afraid you would not +come to-day." + +"Why not? If my little mother's lightest suggestions are laws with me, +what are her invitations?" + +For the first time he had addressed her by the affectionate term, and +the sound was startling. The faintest flush spread over her cheek, +admonishing him that the familiarity had not escaped attention. Greatly +to his relief, she quietly passed the matter. + +"You were at the _Pannychides?_" she asked. + +"Yes, till daybreak." + +"I thought so, and concluded you would be too weary to see us to-day. +The Mystery is tedious." + +"It might become so if too frequently celebrated. As it was, I shall not +forget the hillside, and the multitude of frocked and cowled figures +kneeling in the dim red light of the torches. The scene was awful." + +"Did you see the Emperor?" + +She put the question in a low tone. + +"No," he returned. "His Majesty sent for our Hegumen to come to the +Chapel. The good man took me with him, his book and torch bearer; but +when we arrived, the Emperor had passed in and closed the door, and I +could only imagine him on his knees alone in the room, except as the +relics about him were company." + +"How unspeakably dismal!" she said with a shudder, adding in sorrowful +reflection, "I wish I could help him, for he is a prince with a tender +conscience; but there is no way--at least Heaven does not permit me to +see anything for him in my gift but prayer." + +Sergius followed her sympathetically, and was surprised when she +continued, the violet gray of her eyes changing into subtle fire. "A sky +all cloud; the air void of hope; enemies mustering everywhere on land; +the city, the court, the Church rent by contending factions--behold how +a Christian king, the first one in generations, is plagued! Ah, who can +interpret for Providence? And what a miracle is prophecy!" + +Thereupon the Princess bethought herself, and cast a hurried glance out +over the garden. + +"No, no! If these poor souls can forget their condition and be happy, +why not we? Tell me good news, Sergius, if you have any--only the good. +But see! Who is he making way through the throng yonder? And what is it +he is leading?" + +The transition of feeling, though sudden and somewhat forced, was +successful; the Princess' countenance again brightened; and turning to +follow her direction, Sergius observed Lael, who had not fallen back +with the other attendants. The girl had been a modest listener; now +there was a timid half smile on her face, and a glistening welcome in +her eyes. His gaze stopped short of the object which had inspired his +hostess with such interest, and dropped to the figured carpet at the +guest's feet; for the feeling the recognition awakened was clouded with +the taunt Demedes had flung at him in the hall of the monastery, and he +questioned the rightfulness of this appearance. If she were not the +daughter of the Prince of India, she was an--impostor was the word in +his mind. + +"I was expecting you," she said to him, artlessly. + +Sergius raised his face, and was about to speak, when the Princess +started from her seat, and moved to the low balustrade of the portico. + +"Come," she called, "come, and tell me what this is." + +Sergius left a friendly glance with Lael. + +Where the roadway from the gate led up to the platform an opening had +been made in the close wall of spectators attracted by the music and +dancing. In the opening, the hamari was slowly coming forward, his +turban awry, his brown face overrun and shining with perspiration, his +sharp gypsy eyes full of merriment. With the leading strap over a +shoulder, he tugged at Joqard. Sergius laughed to see the surprise of +the men and women, and at the peculiar yells and screams with which they +struggled to escape. But everybody appearing in good nature, he said to +the Princess: "Do not be concerned. A Turk or Persian with a trained +bear. I passed him at the gate." + +He saw the opportunity of speaking about the brass plate on the post, +and while debating whether to avail himself of it, the hamari caught +sight of the party at the edge of the portico, stopped, surveyed them, +then prostrated himself in the abjectest Eastern manner. The homage was +of course to the Princess--so at least the assemblage concluded; and +jumping to the idea that the bear-keeper had been employed by her for +their divertisement, each man in the company resolved himself into an +ally and proceeded to assist him. The musicians were induced to suspend +their performance, and the dancers to vacate the platform; then, any +number of hands helping them up, Joqard and his master were promoted to +the boards, sole claimants of attention and favor. + +The fellow was not in the least embarrassed. He took position on the +platform in front of the Princess, and again saluted her Orientally, and +with the greatest deliberation, omitting no point of the prostration. +Bringing the bear to a sitting posture with folded paws, he bowed right +and left to the spectators, and made a speech in laudation of Joqard. +His grimaces and gesticulation kept the crowd in a roar; when addressing +the Princess, his manner was respectful, even courtierly. Joqard and he +had travelled the world over; they had been through the Far East, and +through the lands of the Frank and Gaul; they had crossed Europe from +Paris to the Black Sea, and up to the Crimea; they had appeared before +the great everywhere--Indian Rajahs, Tartar Khans, Persian Shahs, +Turkish Sultans; there was no language they did not understand. The +bear, he insisted, was the wisest of animals, the most susceptible of +education, the most capable and willing in service. This the ancients +understood better than the moderns, for in recognition of his +superiority they had twice exalted him to the Heavens, and in both +instances near the star that knew no deviation. The hamari was a master +of amplification, and his anecdotes never failed their purpose. + +"Now," he said, "I do not care what the subject of discourse may be; one +thing is true--my audience is always composed of believers and +unbelievers; and as between them"--here he addressed himself to the +Princess--"as between them, O Most Illustrious of women, my difficulty +has been to determine which class is most to be feared. Every +philosopher must admit there is quite as much danger in the man who +withholds his faith when it ought to be given, as in his opposite who +hurries to yield it without reason. My rule as an auditor is to wait for +demonstration. So"--turning to the assemblage--"if here any man or woman +doubts that the bear is the wisest of animals, and Joqard the most +learned and accomplished of bears, I will prove it." Then Joqard was +called on. + +"For attend, O Illustrious Princess!--and look ye, O men and women, +pliers of net and boat!--look ye all! Now shall Joqard himself speak for +Joqard." + +The hamari began talking to the bear in a jargon utterly unintelligible +to his hearers, though they fell to listening with might and main, and +were silent that they might hear. Nothing could have been more earnest +than his communications, whatever they were; at times he put an arm +about the brute's neck; at times he whispered in its ear; and in return +it bowed and grunted assent, or growled and shook its head in refusal, +always in the most knowing manner. In this style, to appearance, he was +telling what he wanted done. Then retaining the leading strap, the +master stepped aside, and Joqard, left to himself, proceeded to prove +his intelligence and training by facing the palace, bringing his arms +overhead, and falling forward. Everybody understood the honor intended +for the Princess; the bystanders shouted; the attendants on the portico +clapped their hands, for indeed never in their remembrance had the +prostration been more profoundly executed. Arising nimbly the performer +wheeled about, reared on his hind feet, clasped his paws on his head, +and acknowledged the favor of the commonalty by resolving himself into a +great fur ball, and rolling a somersault. The acclamation became +tumultuous. One admirer ran off and returned with an armful of wreaths +and garlands, and presently Joqard was wearing them royally. + +With excellent judgment the hamari proceeded next to hurry the +exhibition, passing from one trick to another almost without pause until +the wrestling match was reached. This has been immemorially the reliable +point in performances of the kind he was giving, but he introduced it in +a manner of his own. + +Standing by the edge of the platform, as the friend and herald of +Joqard, he first loudly challenged the men before him, every one +ambitious of honor and renown, to come up and try a fall; and upon their +hanging back, he berated them. Wherever a tall man stood observable +above the level of heads, he singled him out. Failing to secure a +champion, he finally undertook the contest himself. + +"Ho, Joqard," he cried, while tying the leading strap around the brute's +neck, "thou fearest nothing. Thy dam up in the old Caucasian cave was +great of heart, and, like her, thou wouldst not quail before Hercules, +were he living. But thou shalt not lick thy paws and laugh, thinking +Hercules hath no descendant." + +Retiring a few steps he tightened the belt about his waist, and drew his +leathern jacket closer. + +"Get ready!" he cried. + +Joqard answered promptly and intelligently by standing up and facing +him, and in sign of satisfaction with the prospect of an encounter so to +his taste, he lolled the long red tongue out of his jaws. Was he licking +his chops in anticipation of a feast or merely laughing? The beholders +became quiet; and Sergius for the first time observed how very low in +stature the hamari seemed. + +"Look out, look out! O thou with the north star in the tip of thy tail! +I am coming--for the honor of mankind, I am coming." + +They danced around each other watching for an opening. "Aha! Now thou +thinkest to get the advantage. Thou art proud of thy fame, and cunning, +but I am a man. I have been in many schools. Look out!" + +The hamari leaped in and with both hands caught the strap looped around +Joqard's neck; at the same time he was himself caught in Joqard's ready +arms. The growl with which the latter received the attack was angry, and +lent the struggle much more than a mere semblance of danger. Round and +about they were borne; now forward, then back; sometimes they were +likely to tumble from the boards. The hamari's effort was to choke +Joqard into submission; Joqard's was to squeeze the breath out of the +hamari's body; and they both did their parts well. + +After some minutes the man's exertions became intermittent. A little +further on the certainty of triumph inspired Joqard to fierce +utterances; his growls were really terrible, and he hugged so +mercilessly his opponent grew livid in the face. The women and children +began to cry and scream, and many of the men shouted in genuine alarm: +"See, see! The poor fellow is choking to death!" The excitement and fear +extended to the portico; some of the attendants there, unable to endure +the sight, fled from it. Lael implored Sergius to save the hamari. Even +the Princess was undecided whether the acting was real or affected. + +Finally the crisis came. The man could hold out no longer; he let go his +grip on the strap, and, struggling feebly to loose his body from the +great black arms, shouted hoarsely: "Help, help!" As if he had not +strength to continue the cry, he threw his hands up, and his head back +gasping. + +The Princess Irene covered her eyes. Sergius stepped over the +balustrade; but before he could get further, a number of men were on the +stage making to the rescue. And seeing them come, the hamari laid one +hand on the strap, and with the other caught the tongue protruding from +Joqard's open jaws; as a further point in the offensive so suddenly +resumed, he planted a foot heavily on one of his antagonist's. +Immediately the son of the proud Caucasian dam was flat on the boards +simulating death. + +Then everybody understood the play, and the merriment was heightened by +the speech the hamari found opportunity to make his rescuers before they +could recover from their astonishment and break up the tableau they +formed. The Princess, laughing through her tears, flung the victor some +gold pieces, and Lael tossed her fan to him. The prostrations with which +he acknowledged the favors were marvels to behold. + +By and by, quiet being restored, Joqard was roused from his trance, and +the hamari, calling the musicians to strike up, concluded the +performance with a dance. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume 1 +by Lew. Wallace + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE OF INDIA +VOLUME 1 *** + +This file should be named tpin110.txt or tpin110.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, tpin111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tpin110a.txt + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Naomi Parkhurst, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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