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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/6849-h.zip b/6849-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4012099 --- /dev/null +++ b/6849-h.zip diff --git a/6849-h/6849-h.htm b/6849-h/6849-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..875ba68 --- /dev/null +++ b/6849-h/6849-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,25722 @@ +<!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 II, 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> + +Project Gutenberg's The Prince of India, Volume II, 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 II + or, Why Constantinople Fell + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Posting Date: March 14, 2014 [EBook #6849] +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 II *** + + + + +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><br /></p> + +<p class="t2"> +BY LEW. WALLACE +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t2"> +VOL. II. +</p> + +<p><br /><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 IV +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE (<i>Continued</i>) +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +CHAPTER +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + XI. <a href="#chap0411">THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD</a><br /> + XII. <a href="#chap0412">LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS</a><br /> + XIII. <a href="#chap0413">THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN</a><br /> + XIV. <a href="#chap0414">THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED</a><br /> + XV. <a href="#chap0415">THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS</a><br /> + XVI. <a href="#chap0416">HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED</a><br /> + XVII. <a href="#chap0417">LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON</a><br /> + XVIII. <a href="#chap0418">THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS</a><br /> + XIX. <a href="#chap0419">THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR</a><br /> + XX. <a href="#chap0420">THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME</a><br /> + XXI. <a href="#chap0421">SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON</a><br /> + XXII. <a href="#chap0422">THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED</a><br /> + XXIII. <a href="#chap0423">SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT</a><br /> + XXIV. <a href="#chap0424">THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK V +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +MIRZA +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0501">A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0502">A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0503">MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#chap0504">THE EMIR IN ITALY</a><br /> + V. <a href="#chap0505">THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN</a><br /> + VI. <a href="#chap0506">COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA</a><br /> + VII. <a href="#chap0507">COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED</a><br /> + VIII. <a href="#chap0508">OUR LORD'S CREED</a><br /> + IX. <a href="#chap0509">COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED</a><br /> + X. <a href="#chap0510">SERGIUS TO THE LION</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +BOOK VI +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONSTANTINE +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I. <a href="#chap0601">THE SWORD OF SOLOMON</a><br /> + II. <a href="#chap0602">MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER</a><br /> + III. <a href="#chap0603">THE BLOODY HARVEST</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#chap0604">EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP</a><br /> + V. <a href="#chap0605">COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR</a><br /> + VI. <a href="#chap0606">MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN</a><br /> + VII. <a href="#chap0607">THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS</a><br /> + VIII. <a href="#chap0608">MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN</a><br /> + IX. <a href="#chap0609">THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE</a><br /> + X. <a href="#chap0610">THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT</a><br /> + XI. <a href="#chap0611">COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA</a><br /> + XII. <a href="#chap0612">THE ASSAULT</a><br /> + XIII. <a href="#chap0613">MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h2> +BOOK IV +</h2> + +<h2> +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE (<i>Continued</i>) +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0411"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD +</h3> + +<p> +The sun shone clear and hot, and the guests in the garden were glad to +rest in the shaded places of promenade along the brooksides and under +the beeches and soaring pines of the avenues. Far up the extended +hollow there was a basin first to receive the water from the conduit +supposed to tap the aqueduct leading down from the forest of Belgrade. +The noise of the little cataract there was strong enough to draw a +quota of visitors. From the front gate to the basin, from the basin to +the summit of the promontory, the company in lingering groups amused +each other detailing what of fortune good and bad the year had brought +them. The main features of such meetings are always alike. There were +games by the children, lovers in retired places, and old people plying +each other with reminiscences. The faculty of enjoyment changes but +never expires. +</p> + +<p> +An array of men chosen for the purpose sallied from the basement of the +palace carrying baskets of bread, fruits in season, and wine of the +country in water-skins. Dispersing themselves through the garden, they +waited on the guests, and made distribution without stint or +discrimination. The heartiness of their welcome may be imagined; while +the thoughtful reader will see in the liberality thus characterizing +her hospitality one of the secrets of the Princess's popularity with +the poor along the Bosphorus. Nor that merely. A little reflection will +lead up to an explanation of her preference for the Homeric residence +by Therapia. The commonalty, especially the unfortunate amongst them, +were a kind of constituency of hers, and she loved living where she +could most readily communicate with them. +</p> + +<p> +This was the hour she chose to go out and personally visit her guests. +Descending from the portico, she led her household attendants into the +garden. She alone appeared unveiled. The happiness of the many amongst +whom she immediately stepped touched every spring of enjoyment in her +being; her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy, her spirit high; in a +word, the beauty so peculiarly hers, and which no one could look on +without consciousness of its influence, shone with singular enhancement. +</p> + +<p> +News that she was in the garden spread rapidly, and where she went +everyone arose and remained standing. Now and then, while making +acknowledgments to groups along the way, she recognized acquaintances, +and for such, whether men or women, she had a smile, sometimes a word. +Upon her passing, they pursued with benisons, "God bless you!" "May the +Holy Mother keep her!" Not unfrequently children ran flinging flowers +at her feet, and mothers knelt and begged her blessing. They had lively +recollection of a sickness or other overtaking by sorrow, and of her +boat drawing to the landing laden with delicacies, and bringing what +was quite as welcome, the charm of her presence, with words inspiring +hope and trust. The vast, vociferous, premeditated Roman ovation, +sonorously the Triumph, never brought a Consular hero the satisfaction +this Christian woman now derived. +</p> + +<p> +She was aware of the admiration which went with her, and the sensation +was of walking through a purer and brighter sunshine. Nor did she +affect to put aside the triumph there certainly was in the +demonstration; but she accounted it the due of charity—a triumph of +good work done for the pleasure there was in the doing. +</p> + +<p> +At the basin mentioned as the landward terminus of the garden the +progress in that direction stopped. Thence, after gracious attentions +to the women and children there, the Princess set out for the summit of +the promontory. The road taken was broad and smooth, and on the left +hand lined from bottom to top with pine trees, some of which are yet +standing. +</p> + +<p> +The summit had been a place of interest time out of mind. From its +woody cover, the first inhabitants beheld the Argonauts anchor off the +town of Amycus, king of the Bebryces; there the vengeful Medea +practised her incantations; and descending to acknowledged history, it +were long telling the notable events of the ages landmarked by the +hoary height. When the builder of the palace below threw his scheme of +improvement over the brow of the hill, he constructed water basins on +different levels, surrounding them with raised walls artistically +sculptured; between the basins he pitched marble pavilions, looking in +the distance like airy domes on a Cyclopean temple; then he drew the +work together by a tesselated pavement identical with the floor of the +house of Caesar hard by the Forum in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Giving little heed to the other guests in occupancy of the summit, the +attendants of the Princess broke into parties sight seeing; while she +called Sergius to her, and conducted him to a point commanding the +Bosphorus for leagues. A favorite lookout, in fact, the spot had been +provided with a pavement and a capacious chair cut from a block of the +coarse brown limestone native to the locality. There she took seat, and +the ascent, though all in shade, having been wearisome, she was glad of +the blowing of the fresh upper air. +</p> + +<p> +From a place in the rear Sergius had witnessed the progress to the +present halt. Every incident and demonstration had been in his view and +hearing. The expressions of affection showered upon the Princess were +delightful to him; they seemed so spontaneous and genuine. As testimony +to her character in the popular estimate at least, they left nothing +doubtful. His first impression of her was confirmed. She was a woman to +whom Heaven had confided every grace and virtue. Such marvels had been +before. He had heard of them in tradition, and always in a strain to +lift those thus favored above the hardened commonplace of human life, +creatures not exactly angels, yet moving in the same atmosphere with +angels. The monasteries, even those into whose gates women are +forbidden to look, all have stories of womanly excellence which the +monks tell each other in pauses from labor in the lentil patch, and in +their cells after vesper prayers. In brief, so did Sergius' estimate of +the Princess increase that he was unaware of impropriety when, trudging +slowly after the train of attendants, he associated her with heroines +most odorous in Church and Scriptural memories; with Mothers Superior +famous for sanctity; with Saints, like Theckla and Cecilia; with the +Prophetess who was left by the wayside in the desert of Zin, and the +later seer and singer, she who had her judgment-seat under the palm +tree of Deborah. +</p> + +<p> +Withal, however, the monk was uncomfortable. The words of his Hegumen +pursued him. Should he tell the Princess? Assailed by doubts, he +followed her to the lookout on the edge of the promontory. +</p> + +<p> +Seating herself, she glanced over the wide field of water below; from +the vessels there, she gazed across to Asia; then up at the sky, full +to its bluest depth with the glory of day. At length she asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Have you heard from Father Hilarion?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet," Sergius replied. +</p> + +<p> +"I was thinking of him," she continued. "He used to tell me of the +primitive church—the Church of the Disciples. One of his lessons +returns to me. He seems to be standing where you are. I hear his voice. +I see his countenance. I remember his words: 'The brethren while of one +faith, because the creed was too simple for division, were of two +classes, as they now are and will always be'—ay, Sergius, as they will +always be!—'But,' he said, 'it is worthy remembrance, my dear child, +unlike the present habit, the rich held their riches with the +understanding that the brethren all had shares in them. The owner was +more than owner; he was a trustee charged with the safe-keeping of his +property, and with farming it to the best advantage, that he might be +in condition to help the greatest number of the Christian brotherhood +according to their necessities.' I wondered greatly at the time, but +not now. The delight I have today confirms the Father; for it is not in +my palace and garden, nor in my gold, but in the power I derive from +them to give respite from the grind of poverty to so many less +fortunate than myself. 'The divine order was not to desist from getting +wealth'—thus the Father continued—'for Christ knew there were who, +labor as they might, could not accumulate or retain; circumstances +would be against them, or the genius might be wanting. Poor without +fault, were they to suffer, and curse God with the curse of the sick, +the cold, the naked, the hungry? Oh, no! Christ was the representative +of the Infinitely Merciful. Under his dispensation they were to be +partners of the more favored.' Who can tell, who can begin to measure +the reward there is to me in the laughter of children at play under the +trees by the brooks, and in the cheer and smiles of women whom I have +been able to draw from the unvarying routine of toil like theirs?" +</p> + +<p> +There was a ship with full spread sail speeding along so close in shore +Sergius could have thrown a stone on its deck. He affected to be deeply +interested in it. The ruse did not avail him. +</p> + +<p> +"What is the matter?" +</p> + +<p> +Receiving no reply, she repeated the question. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear friend, you are not old enough in concealment to deceive me. +You are in trouble. Come sit here.... True, I am not an authorized +confessor; yet I know the principle on which the Church defends the +confessional. Let me share your burden. Insomuch as you give me, you +shall be relieved." +</p> + +<p> +It came to him then that he must speak. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," he began, striving to keep his voice firm, "you know not +what you ask." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it what a woman may hear?" +</p> + +<p> +A step nearer brought him on the tesselated square. +</p> + +<p> +"I hesitate, Princess, because a judgment is required of me. Hear, and +help me first." +</p> + +<p> +Then he proceeded rapidly: +</p> + +<p> +"There is one just entered holy service. He is a member of an ancient +and honorable Brotherhood, and by reason of his inexperience, +doubtless, its obligations rest the heavier on his conscience. His +superior has declared to him how glad he would be had he a son like +him, and confiding in his loyalty, he intrusted him with gravest +secrets; amongst others, that a person well known and greatly beloved +is under watch for the highest of religious crimes. Pause now, O +Princess, and consider the obligations inseparable from the relation +and trust here disclosed.... Look then to this other circumstance. The +person accused condescended to be the friend and patron of the same +neophyte, and by vouching for him to the head of the Church, put him on +the road to favor and quick promotion. Briefly, O Princess, to which is +obligation first owing? The father superior or the patron in danger?" +</p> + +<p> +The Princess replied calmly, but with feeling: "It is not a +supposition, Sergius." +</p> + +<p> +Though surprised, he returned: "Without it I could not have your +decision first." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou, Sergius, art the distressed neophyte." +</p> + +<p> +He held his hands out to her: "Give me thy judgment." +</p> + +<p> +"The Hegumen of the St. James' is the accuser." +</p> + +<p> +"Be just, O Princess! To which is the obligation first owing?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am the accused," she continued, in the same tone. +</p> + +<p> +He would have fallen on his knees. "No, keep thy feet. A watchman may +be behind me now." +</p> + +<p> +He had scarcely resumed his position before she asked, still in the +quiet searching manner: "What is the highest religious crime? Or +rather, to men in authority, like the Hegumen of your Brotherhood, what +is the highest of all crimes?" +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her in mute supplication. +</p> + +<p> +"I will tell you—HERESY." +</p> + +<p> +Then, compassionating his suffering, she added: "My poor Sergius! I am +not upbraiding you. You are showing me your soul. I see it in its first +serious trial.... I will forget that I am the denounced, and try to +help you. Is there no principle to which we can refer the matter—no +Christian principle? The Hegumen claims silence from you; on the other +side, your conscience—I would like to say preference—impels you to +speak a word of warning for the benefit of your patroness. There, now, +we have both the dispute and the disputants. Is it not so?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius bowed his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Father Hilarion once said to me: 'Daughter, I give you the ultimate +criterion of the divineness of our religion—there cannot be an +instance of human trial for which it does not furnish a rule of conduct +and consolation.' A profound saying truly! Now is it possible we have +here at last an exception? I do not seek to know on which side the +honors lie. Where are the humanities? Ideas of honor are of men +conventional. On the other hand, the humanities stand for Charity. If +thou wert the denounced, O Sergius, how wouldst thou wish to be done +by?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius' face brightened. +</p> + +<p> +"We are not seeking to save a heretic—we are in search of quiet for +our consciences. So why not ask and answer further: What would befall +the Hegumen, did you tell the accused all you had from him? Would he +suffer? Is there a tribunal to sentence him? Or a prison agape for him? +Or torture in readiness? Or a King of Lions? In these respects how is +it with the friend who vouched for you to the head of the Church? Alas!" +</p> + +<p> +"Enough—say no more!" Sergius cried impulsively. "Say no more. O +Princess, I will tell everything—I will save you, if I can—if not, +and the worst come, I will die with you." +</p> + +<p> +Womanlike the Princess signalized her triumph with tears. At length she +asked: "Wouldst thou like to know if I am indeed a heretic?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, for what thou art, that am I; and then"— +</p> + +<p> +"The same fire in the Hippodrome may light us both out of the world." +</p> + +<p> +There was a ring of prophecy in the words. +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid!" he ejaculated, with a shiver. +</p> + +<p> +"God's will be done, were better! ... So, if it please you," she went +on, "tell me all the Hegumen told you about me." +</p> + +<p> +"Everything?" he asked doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> + +<p> +"Part of it is too wicked for repetition." +</p> + +<p> +"Yet it was an accusation." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius, you are no match in cunning for my enemies. They are Greeks +trained to diplomacy; you are"—she paused and half smiled—"only a +pupil of Hilarion's. See now—if they mean to kill me, how important to +invent a tale which shall rob me of sympathy, and reconcile the public +to my sacrifice. They who do much good, and no harm"—she cast a glance +at the people swarming around the pavilions—"always have friends. Such +is the law of kindness, and it never failed but once; but today a +splinter of the Cross is worth a kingdom." +</p> + +<p> +"Princess, I will hold nothing back." +</p> + +<p> +"And I, Sergius—God witnessing for me—will speak to each denunciation +thou givest me." +</p> + +<p> +"There were two matters in the Hegumen's mind," Sergius began, but +struck with the abruptness, he added apologetically: "I pray you, +Princess, remember I speak at your insistence, and that I am not in any +sense an accuser. It may be well to say also the Hegumen returned from +last night's Mystery low in spirits, and much spent bodily, and before +speaking of you, declared he had been an active partisan of your +father's. I do not think him your personal enemy." +</p> + +<p> +A mist of tears dimmed her eyes while the Princess replied: "He was my +father's friend, and I am grateful to him; but alas! that he is +naturally kind and just is now of small consequence." +</p> + +<p> +"It grieves me"— +</p> + +<p> +"Do not stop," she said, interrupting him. +</p> + +<p> +"At the Father's bedside I received his blessing; and asked leave to be +absent a few days. 'Where?' he inquired, and I answered: 'Thou knowest +I regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I should like to go +see her.'" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius sought his auditor's face at this, and observing no sign of +objection to the familiarity, was greatly strengthened. +</p> + +<p> +"The Father endeavored to persuade me not to come, and it was with that +purpose he entered upon the disclosures you ask.... 'The life the +Princess leads'—thus he commenced—'and her manners, are outside the +sanctions of society.'" +</p> + +<p> +Here, from resting on her elbow, the listener sat upright, grasping the +massive arm of the chair. +</p> + +<p> +"Shall I proceed, O Princess?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"This place is very public"—he glanced at the people above them. +</p> + +<p> +"I will hear you here." +</p> + +<p> +"At your pleasure.... The Hegumen referred next to your going about +publicly unveiled. While not positively wrong, he condemned the +practice as a pernicious example; besides which there was a defiant +boldness in it, he said, tending to make you a subject of discussion +and indelicate remark." +</p> + +<p> +The hand on the stony arm trembled. +</p> + +<p> +"I fear, O Princess," Sergius continued, with downcast look, "that my +words are giving you pain." +</p> + +<p> +"But they are not yours. Go on." +</p> + +<p> +"Then the Father came to what was much more serious." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius again hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"I am listening," she said. +</p> + +<p> +"He termed it your persistence in keeping up the establishment here at +Therapia." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess grew red and white by turns. +</p> + +<p> +"He said the Turk was too near you; that unmarried and unprotected your +proper place was in some house of God on the Islands, or in the city, +where you could have the benefit of holy offices. As it was, rumor was +free to accuse you of preferring guilty freedom to marriage." +</p> + +<p> +The breeze fell off that moment, leaving the Princess in the centre of +a profound hush; except for the unwonted labor of her heart, the leaves +overhead were not more still. The sight of her was too +oppressive—Sergius turned away. Presently he heard her say, as if to +herself: "I am indeed in danger. If my death were not in meditation, +the boldest of them would not dare think so foul a falsehood.... +Sergius," she said. +</p> + +<p> +He turned to her, but she broke off diverted by another idea. Had this +last accusation reference to the Emperor's dream of making her his +wife? Could the Emperor have published what took place between them? +Impossible! +</p> + +<p> +"Sergius, did the Hegumen tell you whence this calumny had origin?" +</p> + +<p> +"He laid it to rumor merely." +</p> + +<p> +"Surely he disclosed some ground for it. A dignitary of his rank and +profession cannot lend himself to shaming a helpless woman without +reason or excuse." +</p> + +<p> +"Except your residence at Therapia, he gave no reason." +</p> + +<p> +Here she looked at Sergius, and the pain in the glance was pitiful. "My +friend, is there anything in your knowledge which might serve such a +rumor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," he replied, letting his eyes fall. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" and she lifted her head, and opened her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +He stood silent and evidently suffering. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Sergius! The punishment is yours. I am sorry for you—sorry we +entered on this subject—but it is too late to retire from it. Speak +bravely. What is it you know against me? It cannot be a crime; much I +doubt if it be a sin; my walk has been very strait and altogether in +God's view. Speak!" +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," he answered, "coming down from the landing, I was stopped +by a concourse studying a brass plate nailed to the right-hand pillar +of your gate. It was inscribed, but none of them knew the import of the +inscription. The hamari came up, and at sight of it fell to saluting, +like the abject Eastern he is. The bystanders chaffered him, and he +retorted, and, amongst other things, said the brass was a safeguard +directed to all Turks, notifying them that this property, its owner, +and inmates were under protection of the Prince Mahommed. Give heed +now, I pray you, O Princess, to this other thing of the man's saying. +The notice was the Prince Mahommed's, the inscription his signature, +and the Prince himself fixed the plate on the pillar with his own hand." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius paused. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The inferences—consider them." +</p> + +<p> +"State them." +</p> + +<p> +"My tongue refuses. Or if I must, O Princess, I will use the form of +accusation others are likely to have adopted. 'The Princess Irene lives +at Therapia because Prince Mahommed is her lover, and it is a +convenient place of meeting. Therefore his safeguard on her gate.'" +</p> + +<p> +"No one could be bold enough to"— +</p> + +<p> +"One has been bold enough." +</p> + +<p> +"One?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Hegumen of my Brotherhood." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess was very pale. +</p> + +<p> +"It is cruel—cruel!" she exclaimed. "What ought I to do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Treat the safeguard as a discovery of to-day, and have it removed +while the people are all present." She looked at him searchingly. On +her forehead between the brows, he beheld a line never there before. +More surprising was the failure of self-reliance observable in her +request for counsel. Heretofore her courage and sufficiency had been +remarkable. In all dealings with him she had proved herself the +directress, quick yet decided. The change astonished him, so little was +he acquainted with the feminine nature; and in reply he spoke hastily, +hardly knowing what he had said. The words were not straightforward and +honest; they were not becoming him any more than the conduct suggested +was becoming her; they lingered in his ear, a wicked sound, and he +would have recalled them—but he hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +Here a voice in fierce malediction was heard up at the pavilions, +together with a prodigious splashing of water. Laughter, clapping of +hands, and other expressions of delight succeeded. +</p> + +<p> +"Go, Sergius, and see what is taking place," said the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +Glad of the opportunity to terminate the painful scene, he hastened to +the reservoirs and returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Your presence will restore quiet at once." +</p> + +<p> +The people made way for their hostess with alacrity. The hamari, it +appeared, had just arrived from the garden. Observing Lael in the midst +of the suite of fair ladies, he advanced to her with many strange +salutations. Alarmed, she would have run away had not Joqard broken +from his master, and leaped with a roar into the water. The poor beast +seemed determined to enjoy the bath. He swam, and dived, and played +antics without number. In vain the showman, resorting to every known +language, coaxed and threatened by turns—Joqard was self-willed and +happy, and it were hard saying which appreciated his liberty most, he +or the spectators of the scene. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess, for the time conquering her pain of heart, interceded for +the brute; whereupon the hamari, like a philosopher used to making the +best of surprises, joined in the sport until Joqard grew tired, and +voluntarily returned to control. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0412"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XII +</h3> + +<h3> +LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS +</h3> + +<p> +Word passed from the garden to the knots of people on the height: "Come +down quickly. They are making ready for the boat race." Directly the +reservoirs, the pavilions, and the tesselation about them were deserted. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess Irene, with her suite, made the descent to the garden more +at leisure, knowing the regatta would wait for her. So it happened she +was at length in charge of what seemed a rear guard; but how it befell +that Sergius and Lael drew together, the very last of that rear guard, +is not of such easy explanation. +</p> + +<p> +Whether by accident or mutual seeking, side by side the two moved +slowly down the hill, one moment in the shade of the kingly pines, then +in the glowing sunshine. The noises of the celebration, the shouting, +singing, calling, and merry outcries of children ascended to them, and +through the verdurousness below, lucent as a lake, gleams of color +flashed from scarfs, mantles, embroidered jackets, and flaming +petticoats. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope you are enjoying yourself," he said to Lael, upon their meeting. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes! How could I help it—everything is delightful. And the +Princess—she is so good and gracious. Oh, if I were a man, I should go +mad with loving her!" +</p> + +<p> +She spoke with enthusiasm; she even drew her veil partially aside; yet +Sergius did not respond; he was asking himself if it were possible the +girl could be an impostor. Presently he resolved to try her with +questions. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me of your father. Is he well?" +</p> + +<p> +At this she raised her veil entirely, and in turn asked: "Which father +do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"Which father," he repeated, stopping. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I have the advantage of everybody else! I have two fathers." +</p> + +<p> +He could do no more than repeat after her: "Two fathers!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; Uel the merchant is one of them, and the Prince of India is the +other. I suppose you mean the Prince, since you know him. He +accompanied me to the landing this morning, and seated me in the boat. +He was then well." +</p> + +<p> +There was no concealment here. Yet Sergius saw the disclosure was not +complete. He was tempted to go on. +</p> + +<p> +"Two fathers! How can such thing be?" +</p> + +<p> +She met the question with a laugh. "Oh! If it depended on which of them +is the kinder to me, I could not tell you the real father." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius stood looking at her, much as to say: "That is no answer; you +are playing with me." +</p> + +<p> +"See how we are falling behind," she then said. "Come, let us go on. I +can talk while walking." +</p> + +<p> +They set forward briskly, but it was noticeable that he moved nearer +her, stooping from his great height to hear further. +</p> + +<p> +"This is the way of it," she continued of her own prompting. "Some +years ago, my father, Uel, the merchant, received a letter from an old +friend of his father's, telling him that he was about to return to +Constantinople after a long absence in the East somewhere, and asking +if he, Uel, would assist the servant who was bearer of the note in +buying and furnishing a house. Uel did so, and when the stranger +arrived, his home was ready for him. I was then a little girl, and went +one day to see the Prince of India, his residence being opposite Uel's +on the other side of the street. He was studying some big books, but +quit them, and picked me up, and asked me who I was? I told him Uel was +my father. What was my name? Lael, I said. How old was I? And when I +answered that also, he kissed me, and cried, and, to my wonder, +declared how he had once a child named Lael; she looked like me, and +was just my age when she died"— +</p> + +<p> +"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sergius. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and he then said Heaven had sent me to take her place. Would I be +his Lael? I answered I would, if Uel consented. He took me in his arms, +carried me across the street and talked so Uel could not have refused +had he wanted to." +</p> + +<p> +The manner of the telling was irresistible. At the conclusion, she +turned to him and said, with emotion: "There, now. You see I really +have two fathers, and you know how I came by them: and were I to +recount their goodness to me, and how they both love me, and how happy +each one of them is in believing me the object of the other's +affection, you would understand just as well how I know no difference +between them." +</p> + +<p> +"It is strange; yet as you tell it, little friend, it is not strange," +he returned, seriously. They were at the instant in a bar of brightest +sunlight projected across the road; and had she asked him the cause of +the frown on his face, he could not have told her he was thinking of +Demedes. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I see it—I see it, and congratulate you upon being so doubly +blessed. Tell me next who the Prince of India is." +</p> + +<p> +She looked now here, now there, he watching her narrowly. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! I never thought of asking him about himself." +</p> + +<p> +She was merely puzzled by an unexpected question. +</p> + +<p> +"But you know something of him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Let me think," she replied. "Yes, he was the intimate of my father +Uel's father, and of his father before him." +</p> + +<p> +"Is he so old then?" +</p> + +<p> +"I cannot say how long he has been a family acquaintance. Of my +knowledge he is very learned in everything. He speaks all the languages +I ever heard of; he passes the nights alone on the roof of his house"— +</p> + +<p> +"Alone on the roof of his house!" +</p> + +<p> +"Only of clear nights, you understand. A servant carries a chair and +table up for him, and a roll of papers, with pen and ink, and a clock +of brass and gold. The paper is a map of the heavens; and he sits there +watching the stars, marking them in position on the map, the clock +telling him the exact time." +</p> + +<p> +"An astronomer," said Sergius. +</p> + +<p> +"And an astrologer," she added; "and besides these things he is a +doctor, but goes only amongst the poor, taking nothing from them. He is +also a chemist; and he has tables of the plants curative and deadly, +and can extract their qualities, and reduce them from fluids to solids, +and proportionate them. He is also a master of figures, a science, he +always terms it, the first of creative principles without which God +could not be God. So, too, he is a traveller—indeed I think he has +been over the known world. You cannot speak of a capital or of an +island, or a tribe which he has not visited. He has servants from the +farthest East. One of his attendants is an African King; and what is +the strangest to me, Sergius, his domestics are all deaf and dumb." +</p> + +<p> +"Impossible!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing appears impossible to him." +</p> + +<p> +"How does he communicate with them?" +</p> + +<p> +"They catch his meaning from the motion of his lips. He says signs are +too slow and uncertain for close explanations." +</p> + +<p> +"Still he must resort to some language." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes, the Greek." +</p> + +<p> +"But if they have somewhat to impart to him?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is theirs to obey, and pantomime seems sufficient to convey the +little they have to return to him, for it is seldom more than, 'My +Lord, I have done the thing you gave me to do.' If the matter be +complex, he too resorts to the lip-speech, which he could not teach +without first being proficient in it himself. Thus, for instance, to +Nilo"— +</p> + +<p> +"The black giant who defended you against the Greek?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—a wonderful man—an ally, not a servant. On the journey to +Constantinople, the Prince turned aside into an African Kingdom called +Kash-Cush. I cannot tell where it is. Nilo was the King, and a mighty +hunter and warrior. His trappings hang in his room now—shields, +spears, knives, bows and arrows, and among them a net of linen threads. +When he took the field for lions, his favorite game, the net and a +short sword were all he cared for. His throne room, I have heard my +father the Prince say, was carpeted with skins taken by him in single +combats." +</p> + +<p> +"What could he do with the net, little Princess?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will give you his account; perhaps you can see it clearly—I cannot. +When the monster makes his leap, the corners of the net are tossed up +in the air, and he is in some way caught and tangled... Well, as I was +saying, Nilo, though deaf and dumb, of choice left his people and +throne to follow the Prince, he knew not where." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, little friend! Do you know you are talking the incredible to me? +Who ever heard of such thing before?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius' blue eyes were astare with wonder. +</p> + +<p> +"I only speak what I have heard recounted by my father, the Prince, to +my other father, Uel.... What I intended saying was that directly the +Prince established himself at home he began teaching Nilo to converse. +The work was slow at first; but there is no end to the master's skill +and patience; he and the King now talk without hindrance. He has even +made him a believer in God." +</p> + +<p> +"A Christian, you mean." +</p> + +<p> +"No. In my father's opinion the mind of a wild man cannot comprehend +modern Christianity; nobody can explain the Trinity; yet a child can be +taught the almightiness of God, and won to faith in him." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you speak for yourself or the Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince," she replied. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius was struck with the idea, and wished to go further with it, but +they were at the foot of the hill, and Lael exclaimed, "The garden is +deserted. We may lose the starting of the race. Let us hurry." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, little friend, you forget how narrow my skirts are. I cannot run. +Let us walk fast. Give me a hand. There now—we will arrive in time." +</p> + +<p> +Near the palace, however, Sergius dropped into his ordinary gait; then +coming to a halt, he asked: "Tell me to whom else you have related this +pretty tale of the two fathers?" +</p> + +<p> +His look and tone were exceedingly grave, and she studied his face, and +questioned him in turn: "You are very serious—why?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I was wondering if the story is public?" More plainly, he was +wondering whence Demedes had his information. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose it is generally known; at least I cannot see why it should +not be." +</p> + +<p> +The few words swept the last doubt from his mind; yet she continued: +"My father Uel is well known to the merchants of the city. I have heard +him say gratefully that since the coming of the Prince of India his +business has greatly increased. He used to deal in many kinds of goods; +now he sells nothing but precious stones. His patrons are not alone the +nobles of Byzantium; traders over in Galata buy of him for the western +markets, especially Italy and France. My other father, the Prince, is +an expert in such things, and does not disdain to help Uel with advice." +</p> + +<p> +Lael might have added that the Prince, in course of his travels, had +ascertained the conveniency of jewels as a currency familiar and +acceptable to almost every people, and always kept a store of them by +him, from which he frequently replenished his protege's stock, allowing +him the profits. That she did not make this further disclosure was +probably due to ignorance of the circumstances; in other words, her +artlessness was extreme enough to render her a dangerous confidant, and +both her fathers were aware of it. +</p> + +<p> +"Everybody in the bazaar is friendly to my father Uel, and the Prince +visits him there, going in state; and he and his train are an +attraction"—thus Lael proceeded. "On his departure, the questions +about him are countless, and Uel holds nothing back. Indeed, it is more +than likely he has put the whole mart and city in possession of the +history of my adoption by the Prince." +</p> + +<p> +In front of the palace she broke off abruptly: "But see! The landing is +covered with men and women. Let us hurry." +</p> + +<p> +Presently they issued from the garden, and were permitted to join the +Princess. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0413"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN +</h3> + +<p> +The boatmen had taken up some of the marble blocks of the landing, and +planting long oars upright in the ground, and fixing other oars +crosswise on them, constructed a secure frame covered with fresh +sail-cloth. From their vessels they had also brought material for a +dais under the shelter thus improvised; another sail for carpet, and a +chair on the dais completed the stand whence the Princess was to view +and judge the race. +</p> + +<p> +A way was opened for her through the throng, and with her attendants, +she passed to the stand; and as she went, all the women near reached +out their hands and reverently touched the skirt of her gown—so did +their love for her trench on adoration. +</p> + +<p> +The shore from the stand to the town, and from the stand again around +the promontory on the south, was thronged with spectators, while every +vantage point fairly in view was occupied by them; even the ships were +pressed into the service; and somehow the air over and about the bay +seemed to give back and tremble with the eagerness of interest +everywhere discernible. +</p> + +<p> +Between Fanar, the last northern point of lookout over the Black Sea, +and Galata, down on the Golden Horn, there are about thirty hamlets, +villages and cities specking the European shore of the Bosphorus. Each +of them has its settlement of fishermen. Aside from a voluminous net, +the prime necessity for successful pursuit of the ancient and honorable +calling is a boat. Like most things of use amongst men, the vessel of +preferred model here came of evolution. The modern tourist may yet see +its kind drawn up at every landing he passes. +</p> + +<p> +Proper handling, inclusive of running out and hauling in the seine, +demanded a skilful crew of at least five men; and as whole lives were +devoted to rowing, the proficiency finally attained in it can be +fancied. It was only natural, therefore, that the thirty communities +should each insist upon having the crew of greatest excellence—the +crew which could outrow any other five on the Bosphorus; and as every +Byzantine Greek was a passionate gambler, the wagers were without end. +Vauntings of the sort, like the Black Sea birds of unresting wings, +went up and down the famous waterway. +</p> + +<p> +At long intervals occasions presented for the proof of these men of +pride; after which, for a period there was an admitted champion crew, +and a consequent hush of the babble and brawl. +</p> + +<p> +In determining to conclude the fete with a boat-race open to all Greek +comers from the capital to the Cyanian rocks, the Princess Irene did +more than secure a desirable climax; unconsciously, perhaps, she hit +upon the measure most certain to bring peace to the thirty villages. +</p> + +<p> +She imposed but two conditions on the competitors—they should be +fishermen and Greeks. +</p> + +<p> +The interval between the announcement of the race and the day set for +it had been filled with boasting, from which one would have supposed +the bay of Therapia at the hour of starting would be too contracted to +hold the adversaries. When the hour came there were six crews present +actually prepared to contest for the prize—a tall ebony crucifix, with +a gilded image, to be displayed of holidays on the winning prow. The +shrinkage told the usual tale of courage oozed out. There was of course +no end of explanation. +</p> + +<p> +About three o'clock, the six boats, each with a crew of five men, were +held in front of the Princess' stand, representative of as many towns. +Their prows were decorated with banderoles large enough to be easily +distinguished at a distance—one yellow, chosen for Yenimahale; one +blue, for Buyukdere; one white, for Therapia; one red, for Stenia; one +green, for Balta-Liman; and one half white and half scarlet, for Bebek. +The crews were in their seats—fellows with knotted arms bare to the +shoulder; white shirts under jackets the color of the flags, trousers +in width like petticoats. The feet were uncovered that, while the pull +was in delivery, they might the better clinch the cleats across the +bottom of the boat. +</p> + +<p> +The fresh black paint with which the vessels had been smeared from end +to end on the outside was stoned smoothly down until it glistened like +varnish. Inside there was not a superfluity to be seen of the weight of +a feather. +</p> + +<p> +The contestants knew every point of advantage, and, not less clearly, +they were there to win or be beaten doing their best. They were cool +and quiet; much more so, indeed, than the respective clansmen and +clanswomen. +</p> + +<p> +From these near objects of interest, the Princess directed a glance +over the spreading field of dimpled water to a galley moored under a +wooded point across on the Asiatic shore. The point is now crowned with +the graceful but neglected Kiosk of the Viceroy of Egypt. That galley +was the thither terminus of the race course, and the winners turning +it, and coming back to the place of starting, must row in all about +three miles. +</p> + +<p> +A little to the right of the Princess' stand stood a pole of height to +be seen by the multitude as well as the rival oarsmen, and a rope for +hoisting a white flag to the top connected it with the chair on the +dais. At the appearance of the flag the boats were to start; while it +was flying, the race was on. +</p> + +<p> +And now the competitors are in position by lot from right to left. On +bay and shore the shouting is sunk to a murmur. A moment more—but in +that critical period an interruption occurred. +</p> + +<p> +A yell from a number of voices in sharpest unison drew attention to the +point of land jutting into the water on the north side not inaptly +called the toe of Therapia, and a boat, turning the point, bore down +with speed toward the sail-covered stand. There were four rowers in it; +yet its glossy sides and air of trimness were significant of a seventh +competitor for some reason behind time. The black flag at the prow and +the black uniform of the oarsmen confirmed the idea. The hand of the +Princess was on the signal rope; but she paused. +</p> + +<p> +As the boat-hook of the newcomers fell on the edge of the landing, one +of them dropped upon his knees, crying: "Grace, O Princess! Grace, and +a little time!" +</p> + +<p> +The four were swarthy men, and, unlike the Greeks they were seeking to +oppose, their swart was a peculiarity of birth, a racial sign. +Recognizing them, the spectators near by shouted: "Gypsies! Gypsies!" +and the jeer passed from mouth to mouth far as the bridge over the +creek at the corner of the bay; yet it was not ill-natured. That these +unbelievers of unknown origin, separatists like the Jews, could offer +serious opposition to the chosen of the towns was ridiculous. Since +they excited no apprehension, their welcome was general. +</p> + +<p> +"Why the need of grace? Who are you?" the Princess replied, gravely. +</p> + +<p> +"We are from the valley by Buyukdere," the man returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you fishermen?" +</p> + +<p> +"Judged by our catches the year through, and the prices we get in the +market, O Princess, it is not boasting to say our betters cannot be +found, though you search both shores between Fanar and the Isles of the +Princes." +</p> + +<p> +This was too much for the bystanders. The presence they were in was not +sufficient to restrain an outburst of derision. +</p> + +<p> +"But the conditions of the race shut you out. You are not Greeks," the +judge continued. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Princess, that is according to the ground of judgment. If it +please you to decide by birth and residence rather than ancestry, then +are we to be preferred over many of the nobles who go in and out of His +Majesty's gates unchallenged. Has not the sweet water that comes down +from the hills seeking the sea through our meadow furnished drink for +our fathers hundreds of years? And as it knew them, it knows us." +</p> + +<p> +"Well answered, I must admit. Now, my friend, do as wisely with what I +ask next, and you shall have a place. Say you come out winners, what +will you do with the prize? I have heard you are not Christians." +</p> + +<p> +The man raised his face the first time. +</p> + +<p> +"Not Christians! Were the charge true, then, argument being for the +hearing, I would say the matter of religion is not among the +conditions. But I am a petitioner, not lawyer, and to my rude thinking +it is better that I hold on as I began. Trust us, O Princess! There is +a plane tree, wondrous old, and with seven twin trunks, standing before +our tents, and in it there is a hollow which shelters securely as a +house. Attend me now, I pray. If happily we win, we will convert the +tree into a cathedral, and build an altar in it, and set the prize +above the altar in such style that all who love the handiworks of +nature better than the artfulness of men may come and worship there +reverently as in the holiest of houses, Sancta Sophia not excepted." +</p> + +<p> +"I will trust you. With such a promise overheard by so many of this +concourse, to refuse you a part in the race were a shame to the +Immaculate Mother. But how is it you are but four?" +</p> + +<p> +"We were five, O Princess; now one is sick. It was at his bidding we +come; he thought of the hundreds of oarsmen who would be here one at +least could be induced to share our fortune." +</p> + +<p> +"You have leave to try them." +</p> + +<p> +The man arose, and looked at the bystanders, but they turned away. +</p> + +<p> +"A hundred noumiae for two willing hands!" he shouted. +</p> + +<p> +There was no reply. "If not for the money, then in honor of the noble +lady who has feasted you and your wives and children." +</p> + +<p> +A voice answered out of the throng: "Here am I!" and presently the +hamari appeared with the bear behind him. +</p> + +<p> +"Here," he said, "take care of Joqard for me. I will row in the sick +man's place, and"— +</p> + +<p> +The remainder of the sentence was lost in an outburst of gibing—and +laughter. Finally the Princess asked the rowers if they were satisfied +with the volunteer. +</p> + +<p> +They surveyed him doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou an oarsman?" one of them asked. +</p> + +<p> +"There is not a better on the Bosphorus. And I will prove it. Here, +some of you—take the beast off my hands. Fear not, friend, Joqard's +worst growl is inoffensive as thunder without lightning. That's a good +man." +</p> + +<p> +And with the words the hamari released the leading strap, sprang into +the boat, and without giving time for protest or remonstrance, threw +off his jacket and sandals, tucked up his shirt-sleeves, and dropped +into the vacant fifth seat. The dexterity with which he then unshipped +the oars and took them in hand measurably quieted the associates thus +audaciously adopted; his action was a kind of certificate that the +right man had been sent them. +</p> + +<p> +"Believe in me," he said, in a low tone. "I have the two qualities +which will bring us home winners—skill and endurance." Then he spoke +to the Princess: "Noble lady, have I your consent to make a +proclamation?" +</p> + +<p> +The manner of the request was singularly deferential. Sergius observed +the change, and took a closer look at him while the Princess was giving +the permission. +</p> + +<p> +Standing upon the seat, the hamari raised his voice: "Ho, +here—there—every one!" and drawing a purse from his bosom, he waved +it overhead, with a louder shout, "See!—a hundred noumiae, and not all +copper either. Piece against piece weighed or counted, I put them in +wager! Speak one or all. Who dares the chance?" +</p> + +<p> +Takers of the offer not appearing on the shore, he shook the purse at +his competitors. +</p> + +<p> +"If we are not Christians," he said to them, "we are oarsmen and not +afraid. See—I stake this purse—if you win, it is yours." +</p> + +<p> +They only gaped at him. +</p> + +<p> +He put the purse back slowly, and recounting the several towns of his +opponents by their proper names in Greek, he cried: "Buyukdere, +Therapia, Stenia, Bebek, Balta-Liman, Yenimahale—your women will sing +you low to-night!" Then to the Princess: "Allow us now to take our +place seventh on the left." +</p> + +<p> +The bystanders were in a maze. Had they been served with a mess of +brag, or was the fellow really capable? One thing was clear—the +interest in the race had taken a rise perceptible in the judge's stand +not less than on the crowded shore. +</p> + +<p> +The four Gypsies, on their part, were content with the volunteer. In +fact, they were more than satisfied when he said to them, as their +vessel turned into position: +</p> + +<p> +"Now, comrades, be governed by me; and besides the prize, if we win, +you shall have my purse to divide amongst you man and man. Is it +agreed?" And they answered, foreman and all, yes. "Very well," he +returned. "Do you watch, and get the time and force from me. Now for +the signal." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess sent the starting flag to the top of the pole, and the +boats were off together. A great shout went up from the spectators—a +shout of men mingled with the screams of women to whom a hurrah or +cheer of any kind appears impossible. +</p> + +<p> +To warm the blood, there is nothing after all like the plaudits of a +multitude looking on and mightily concerned. This was now noticeable. +The eyes of all the rowers enlarged; their teeth set hard; the arteries +of the neck swelled; and even in their tension the muscles of the arms +quivered. +</p> + +<p> +A much better arrangement would have been to allow the passage of the +racers broadside to the shore; for then the shiftings of position, and +the strategies resorted to would have been plain to the beholders; as +it was, each foreshortened vessel soon became to them a black body, +with but a man and one pair of oars in motion; and sometimes +provokingly indistinguishable, the banderoles blew backward squarely in +a line with the direction of the movement. Then the friends on land +gave over exercising their throats; finally drawn down to the water's +edge, and pressing on each other, they steadied and welded into a mass, +like a wall. +</p> + +<p> +Once there was a general shout. Gradually the boats had lost the +formation of the start, and falling in behind each other, assumed an +order comparable to a string. While this change was going on, a breeze +unusually strong blew from the south, bringing every flag into view at +the same time: when it was perceived that the red was in the lead. +Forthwith the clansmen of Stenia united in a triumphant yell, followed +immediately, however, by another yet louder. It was discovered, thanks +to the same breeze, that the black banderole of the Gypsies was the +last of the seven. Then even those who had been most impressed by the +bravado of the hamari, surrendered themselves to laughter and sarcasm. +</p> + +<p> +"See the infidels!" "They had better be at home taking care of their +kettles and goats!" "Turn the seven twins into a cathedral, will they? +The devil will turn them into porpoises first!" "Where is the hamari +now—where? By St. Michael, the father of fishermen, he is finding what +it is to have more noumiae than brains! Ha, ha, ha!" +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless the coolest of the thirty-five men then scudding the +slippery waterway was the hamari—he had started the coolest—he was +the coolest now. +</p> + +<p> +For a half mile he allowed his crew to do their best, and with them he +had done his best. The effort sufficed to carry them to the front, +where he next satisfied himself they could stay, if they had the +endurance. He called to them: +</p> + +<p> +"Well done, comrades! The prize and the money are yours! But ease up a +little. Let them pass. We will catch them again at the turn. Keep your +eyes on me." +</p> + +<p> +Insensibly he lessened the dip and reach of his oars; at last, as the +thousands on the Therapian shore would have had it, the Gypsy racer was +the hinderling of the pack. Afterwards there were but trifling changes +of position until the terminal galley was reached. +</p> + +<p> +By a rule of the race, the contestants were required to turn the +galley, keeping it on the right; and it was a great advantage to be a +clear first there, since the fortunate party could then make the round +unhindered and in the least space. The struggle for the point began +quite a quarter of a mile away. Each crew applied itself to quickening +the speed—every oar dipped deeper, and swept a wider span;—on a +little, and the keepers of the galley could hear the half groan, half +grunt with which the coming toilers relieved the extra exertion now +demanded of them;—yet later, they saw them spring to their feet, reach +far back, and finish the long deep draw by falling, or rather toppling +backward to their seats. +</p> + +<p> +Only the hamari eschewed the resort for the present. He cast a look +forward, and said quickly: "Attend, comrades!" Thereupon he added +weight to his left delivery, altering the course to an angle which, if +pursued, must widen the circle around the galley instead of contracting +it. +</p> + +<p> +On nearing the goal the rush of the boats grew fiercer; each foreman, +considering it honor lost, if not a fatal mischance, did he fail to be +first at the turning-point, persisted in driving straight forward—a +madness which the furious yelling of the people on the marker's deck +intensified. This was exactly what the hamari had foreseen. When the +turn began five of the opposing vessels ran into each other. The boil +and splash of water, breaking of oars, splintering of boatsides; the +infuriate cries, oaths, and blind striving of the rowers, some intent +on getting through at all hazards, some turned combatants, striking or +parrying with their heavy oaken blades; the sound of blows on breaking +heads; plunges into the foaming brine; blood trickling down faces and +necks, and reddening naked arms—such was the catastrophe seen in its +details from the overhanging gunwale of the galley. And while it went +on, the worse than confused mass drifted away from the ship's side, +leaving a clear space through which, with the first shout heard from +him during the race, the hamari urged his crew, and rounded the goal. +</p> + +<p> +On the far Therapian shore the multitude were silent. They could dimly +see every incident at the turn—the collision, fighting, and manifold +mishaps, and the confounding of the banderoles. Then the Stenia colors +flashed round the galley, with the black behind it a close second. +</p> + +<p> +"Is that the hamari's boat next the leader?" +</p> + +<p> +Thus the Princess, and upon the answer, she added: "It looks as if the +Holy One might find servants among the irreclaimables in the valley." +</p> + +<p> +Had the Gypsies at last a partisan? +</p> + +<p> +The two rivals were now clear of the galley. For a time there was but +one cry heard—"Stenia! Stenia!" The five oarsmen of that charming town +had been carefully selected; they were vigorous, skilful, and had a +chief well-balanced in judgment. The race seemed theirs. Suddenly—it +was when the homestretch was about half covered—the black flag rushed +past them. +</p> + +<p> +Then the life went out of the multitude. "St. Peter is dead!" they +cried—"St. Peter is dead! It is nothing to be a Greek now!" and they +hung their heads, refusing to be comforted. +</p> + +<p> +The Gypsies came in first; and amidst the profoundest silence, they +dropped their oars with a triumphant crash on the marble revetment. The +hamari wiped the sweat from his face, and put on his jacket and +sandals; pausing then to toss his purse to the foreman, and say: "Take +it in welcome, my friends. I am content with my share of the victory," +he stepped ashore. In front of the judge's stand, he knelt, and said: +"Should there be a dispute touching the prize, O Princess, be a witness +unto thyself. Thine eyes have seen the going and the coming; and if the +world belie thee not—sometimes it can be too friendly—thou art fair, +just and fearless." +</p> + +<p> +On foot again, his courtierly manner vanished in a twinkling. +</p> + +<p> +"Joqard, Joqard? Where are you?" +</p> + +<p> +Some one answered: "Here he is." +</p> + +<p> +"Bring him quickly. For Joqard is an example to men—he is honest, and +tells no lies. He has made much money, and allowed me to keep it all, +and spend it on myself. Women are jealous of him, but with reason—he +is lovely enough to have been a love of Solomon's; his teeth are as +pearls of great price; his lips scarlet as a bride's; his voice is the +voice of a nightingale singing to the full moon from an acacia tree +fronded last night; in motion, he is now a running wave, now a blossom +on a swaying branch, now a girl dancing before a king—all the graces +are his. Yes, bring me Joqard, and keep the world; without him, it is +nothing to me." +</p> + +<p> +While speaking, from a jacket pocket he brought out the fan Lael had +thrown him from the portico, and used it somewhat ostentatiously to +cool himself. The Princess and her attendants laughed heartily. +Sergius, however, watched the man with a scarcely defined feeling that +he had seen him. But where? And he was serious because he could not +answer. +</p> + +<p> +Taking the leading strap, when Joqard was brought, the hamari scrupled +not to give the brute a hearty cuff, whereat the fishermen shook the +sails of the pavilion with laughter; then, standing Joqard up, he +placed one of the huge paws on his arm, and, with the mincing step of a +lady's page, they disappeared. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0414"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED +</h3> + +<p> +"I shall ask you, Sergius, to return to the city to-night, for inquiry +about the fete will be lively tomorrow in the holy houses. And if you +have the disposition to defend me"— +</p> + +<p> +"You doubt me, O Princess?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"O little mother, let me once for all be admitted to your confidence, +that in talking to me there may never be a question of my loyalty." +</p> + +<p> +This, with what follows, was part of a conversation between the +Princess Irene and Sergius of occurrence the evening of the fete in the +court heretofore described, being that to which she retired to read the +letter of introduction brought her by the young monk from Father +Hilarion. +</p> + +<p> +From an apartment adjoining, the voices of her attendants were +occasionally heard blent with the monotonous tinkle of water +overflowing the bowls of the fountain. In the shadowy depths of the +opening above the court the stars might have been seen had not a number +of lamps suspended from a silken cord stretched from wall to wall +flooded the marble enclosure with their nearer light. +</p> + +<p> +There was a color, so to speak, in the declaration addressed to her—a +warmth and earnestness—which drew a serious look from the +Princess—the look, in a word, with which a woman admits a fear lest +the man speaking to her may be a lover. +</p> + +<p> +To say of her who habitually discouraged the tender passion, and the +thought of it, that she moved in an atmosphere charged with attractions +irresistible to the other sex sounds strangely: yet it was true; and as +a consequence she had grown miraculously quick with respect to +appearances. +</p> + +<p> +However, she now dismissed the suspicion, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I believe you, Sergius, I believe you. The Holy Virgin sees how +completely and gladly." +</p> + +<p> +She went on presently, a tremulous light in her eyes making him think +of tears. "You call me little mother. There are some who might laugh, +did they hear you, yet I agree to the term. It implies a relation of +trust without embarrassment, and a promise of mutual faithfulness +warranting me to call you in return, Sergius, and sometimes 'dear +Sergius.' ... Yes, I think it better that you go back immediately. The +Hegumen will want to speak to you in the morning about what you have +seen and heard to-day. My boatmen can take you down, and arrived there, +they will stay the night. My house is always open to them." +</p> + +<p> +After telling her how glad he was for the permission to address her in +a style usual in his country, he moved to depart, but she detained him. +</p> + +<p> +"Stay a moment. To-day I had not time to deal as I wished with the +charges the Hegumen prefers against me. You remember I promised to +speak to you about them frankly, and I think it better to do so now; +for with my confessions always present you cannot be surprised by +misrepresentations, nor can doubt take hold of you so readily. You +shall go hence possessed of every circumstance essential to judge how +guilty I am." +</p> + +<p> +"They must do more than talk," the monk returned, with emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +"Beware, Sergius! Do not provoke them into argument—or if you must +talk, stop when you have set them to talking. The listener is he who +can best be wise as a serpent.... And now, dear friend, lend me your +good sense. Thanks to the generosity of a kinsman, I am mistress of a +residence in the city and this palace; and it is mine to choose between +them. How healthful and charming life is with surroundings like +these—here, the gardens; yonder, the verdurous hills; and there, +before my door, a channel of the seas always borrowing from the sky, +never deserted by men. Guilt seeks exclusion, does it not? Well, +whether you come in the day or the night, my gate is open; nor have I a +warder other than Lysander; and his javelin is but a staff with which +to steady his failing steps. There are no prohibitions shutting me in. +Christian, Turk, Gypsy—the world in fact—is welcome to see what all I +have; and as to danger, I am defended better than with guards. I strive +diligently to love my neighbors as I love myself, and they know it.... +Coming nearer the accusation now. I find here a freedom which not a +religious house in the city can give me, nor one on the Isles, not +Halki itself. Here I am never disturbed by sectaries or partisans; the +Greek and the Latin wrangle before the Emperor and at the altars; but +they spare me in this beloved retiracy. Freedom! Ah, yes, I find it in +this retreat—this escape from temptations—freedom to work and sleep, +and praise God as seems best to me—freedom to be myself in defiance of +deplorable social customs—and there is no guilt in it.... Coming still +nearer the very charge, hear, O Sergius, and I will tell you of the +brass on my gate, and why I suffer it to stay there; since you, with +your partialities, account it a witness against me, it is in likelihood +the foundation of the calumny associating me with the Turk. Let me ask +first, did the Hegumen mention the name of one such associate?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess with difficulty repressed her feelings. +</p> + +<p> +"Bear with me a moment," she said; "you cannot know the self-mastery I +require to thus defend myself. Can I ever again be confident of my +judgment? How doubts and fears will beset me when hereafter upon my own +responsibility I choose a course, whatever the affair! Ah, God, whom I +have sought to make my reliance, seems so far away! It will be for Him +in the great day to declare if my purpose in living here be not escape +from guiltiness in thought, from wrong and temptation, from taint to +character. For further security, I keep myself surrounded with good +women, and from the beginning took the public into confidence, giving +it privileges, and inviting it to a study of my daily life. And this is +the outcome! ... I will proceed now. The plate on the gate is a +safeguard"— +</p> + +<p> +"Then Mahommed has visited you?" +</p> + +<p> +The slightest discernible pallor overspread her face. +</p> + +<p> +"Does it surprise you so much? ... This is the way it came about. You +remember our stay at the White Castle, and doubtless you remember the +knight in armor who received us at the landing—a gallant, +fair-speaking, chivalrous person whom we supposed the Governor, and who +prevailed upon us to become his guests while the storm endured. You +recollect him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. He impressed me greatly." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, let me now bring up an incident not in your knowledge. The +eunuch in whose care I was placed for the time with Lael, daughter of +the Prince of India, as my companion, to afford us agreeable diversion, +obtained my consent to introduce an Arab story-teller of great repute +among the tribes of the desert and other Eastern people. He gave us the +name of the man—Sheik Aboo-Obeidah. The Sheik proved worthy his fame. +So entertaining was he, in fact, I invited him here, and he came." +</p> + +<p> +"Did I understand you to say the entertainment took place in Lael's +presence?" +</p> + +<p> +"She was my companion throughout." +</p> + +<p> +"Let us be thankful, little mother." +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, Sergius, and that I have witnesses down to the last incident. You +may have heard how the Emperor and his court did me the high honor of a +visit in state." +</p> + +<p> +"The visit was notorious." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, while the royal company were at table, Lysander appeared and +announced Aboo-Obeidah, and, by permission of the Emperor, the +story-teller was admitted, and remained during the repast. Now I come +to the surprising event—Aboo-Obeidah was Mahommed!" +</p> + +<p> +"Prince Mahommed—son of the terrible Amurath?" exclaimed Sergius. "How +did you know him?" +</p> + +<p> +"By the brass plate. When he went to his boat, he stopped and nailed +the plate to the pillar. I went to look at it, and not understanding +the inscription, sent to town for a Turk who enlightened me." +</p> + +<p> +"Then the hamari was not gasconading?" +</p> + +<p> +"What did he say?" +</p> + +<p> +"He confirmed your Turk." +</p> + +<p> +She gazed awhile at the overflowing of the fountain, giving a thought +perhaps to the masquerader and his description of himself what time he +was alone with her on the portico; presently she resumed: +</p> + +<p> +"One word more now, and I dismiss the brass plate.... I cannot blind +myself, dear friend, to the condition of my kinsman's empire. It creeps +in closer and closer to the walls of Constantinople. Presently there +will be nothing of it left save the little the gates of the capital can +keep. The peace we have is by the grace of an unbeliever too old for +another great military enterprise; and when it breaks, then, O Sergius, +yon safeguard may be for others besides myself—for many +others—farmers, fishermen and townspeople caught in the storm. Say +such anticipation followed you, Sergius—what would you do with the +plate?" +</p> + +<p> +"What would I do with it? O little mother, I too should take counsel of +my fears." +</p> + +<p> +"You approve my keeping it where it is, then? Thank you.... What +remains for explanation? Ah, yes—my heresy. That you shall dispose of +yourself. Remain here a moment." +</p> + +<p> +She arose, and passing through a doorway heavily draped with cloth, +left him to the entertainment of the fountain. Returning soon, she +placed a roll of paper in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"There," she said, "is the creed which your Hegumen makes such a sin. +It may be heresy; yet, God helping me, and Christ and the Holy Mother +lending their awful help, I dare die for it. Take it, dear Sergius. You +will find it simple—nine words in all—and take this cover for it." +</p> + +<p> +He wrapped the parcel in the white silken cover she gave him, making +mental comparison, nevertheless, with the old Nicaean ordinances. +</p> + +<p> +"Only nine words—O little mother!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nine," she returned. +</p> + +<p> +"They should be of gold." +</p> + +<p> +"I leave them to speak for themselves." +</p> + +<p> +"Shall I return the paper?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, it is a copy.... But it is time you were going. Fortunately the +night is pleasant and starlit; and if you are tired, the speeding of +the boat will rest you. Let me have an opinion of the creed at your +leisure." +</p> + +<p> +They bade each other good-night. +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +About eight o'clock next morning Sergius awoke. He had dropped on his +cot undressed, and slept the sweet sleep of healthful youth; now, +glancing about, he thought of the yesterday and the spacious garden, of +the palace in the garden, of the Princess Irene, and of the +conversation she held with him in the bright inner court. And the creed +of nine words! He felt for it, and found it safe. Then his thought flew +to Lael. She had exonerated herself. Demedes was a liar—Demedes, the +presumptuous knave! He was to have been at the fete, but had not dared +go. There was a limit to his audacity; and in great thankfulness for +the discovery, Sergius tossed an arm over the edge of the narrow cot, +and struck the stool, his solitary item of furniture. He raised his +head, and looked at the stool, wondering how it came there so close to +his cot. What was that he saw? A fan?—And in his chamber? Somebody had +brought it in. He examined it cautiously. Whose was it? Whose could it +be?—How!—No—but it <i>was</i> the very fan he had seen Lael toss to the +hamari from the portico! And the hamari? +</p> + +<p> +A bit of folded paper on the settle attracted his attention. He +snatched it up, opened, and read it, and while he read his brows knit, +his eyes opened to their full. +</p> + +<p> +"PATIENCE—COURAGE—JUDGMENT! +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art better apprised of the meaning of the motto than thou wert +yesterday. +</p> + +<p> +"Thy seat in the Academy is still reserved for thee. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou mayst find the fan of the Princess of India useful; with me it is +embalmed in sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +"Be wise. THE HAMARI." +</p> + +<p> +He read the scrap twice, the second time slowly; then it fell rustling +to the floor, while he clasped his hands and looked to Heaven. A murmur +was all he could accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards, prostrate on the cot, his face to the wall, he debated with +himself, and concluded: +</p> + +<p> +"The Greek is capable of any villany he sets about—of abduction and +murder—and now indeed must Lael beware!" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0415"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS +</h3> + +<p> +We will now take the liberty of reopening the audience chamber of the +palace of Blacherne, presuming the reader holds it in recollection. It +is the day when, by special appointment, the Prince of India appears +before the Emperor Constantine to present his idea of a basis for +Universal Religious Union. The hour is exactly noon. +</p> + +<p> +A report of the Prince's former audience with His Majesty had awakened +general curiosity to see the stranger and hear his discourse. This was +particularly the feeling in spiritual circles; by which term the most +influential makers of public opinion are meant. A sharp though decorous +rivalry for invitations to be present on the occasion ensued. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, in robes varied but little from those he wore the day of +the Prince's first audience, occupied the throne on the dais. On both +sides of him the company sat in a semicircular arrangement which left +them all facing the door of the main entrance, and permitted the +placement of a table in a central position under every eye. +</p> + +<p> +The appearance of the assemblage would have disappointed the reader; +for while the court was numerously represented, with every functionary +in his utmost splendor of decoration, it was outnumbered by the +brethren of the Holy Orders, whose gowns, for the most part of gray and +black material unrelieved by gayety in color, imparted a sombreness to +the scene which the ample light of the chamber could not entirely +dissipate, assisted though it was by refractions in plenitude from +heads bald and heads merely tonsured. +</p> + +<p> +It should be observed now that besides a very striking exterior, the +Emperor fancied he discerned in the Prince of India an idea enriched by +an extraordinary experience. At loss to make him out, impressed, not +unpleasantly, with the mystery the stranger had managed, as usual, to +leave behind him, His Majesty had looked forward to this second +appearance with interest, and turned it over with a view to squeezing +out all of profit there might be in it. Why not, he asked himself, make +use of the opportunity to bring the chiefs of the religious factions +once more together? The explosive tendency which it seemed impossible +for them to leave in their cells with their old dalmatics had made it +politic to keep them apart widely and often as circumstances would +permit; here, however, he thought the danger might be averted, since +they would attend as auditors from whom speech or even the asking a +question would be out of order unless by permission. The imperial +presence, it was also judged, would restrain the boldest of them from +resolving himself into a disputant. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangement of the chamber for the audience had been a knotty +problem to our venerable acquaintance, the Dean; but at last he +submitted his plan, giving every invitee a place by ticket; the +Emperor, however, blotted it out mercilessly. "Ah, my old friend," he +said, with a smile which assuaged the pang of disapproval, "you have +loaded yourself with unnecessary trouble. There was never a mass +performed with stricter observance of propriety than we will now have. +Fix the chairs thus"—and with a finger-sweep he described a +semicircle—"here the table for the Prince. Having notified me of his +intention to read from some ancient books, he must have a table—and +let there be no reserved seat, except one for the Patriarch. Set a +sedilium, high and well clothed, for him here on my right—and forget +not a stool for his feet; for now to the bitterness of controversy long +continued he has added a constriction of the lungs, and together they +are grievous to old age." +</p> + +<p> +"And Scholarius?" +</p> + +<p> +"Scholarius is an orator; some say he is a prophet; I know he is not an +official; so of the seats vacant when he arrives, let him choose for +himself." +</p> + +<p> +The company began coming early. Every Churchman of prominence in the +city was in attendance. The reception was unusually ceremonious. When +the bustle was over, and His Majesty at ease, the pages having arranged +the folds of his embroidered vestments, he rested his hand lightly on +the golden cone of the right arm of the throne, and surveyed the +audience with a quiet assurance becoming his birth in the purple, +looking first to the Patriarch, and bowing to him, and receiving a +salute in return. To the others on the right he glanced next, with a +gracious bend of the head, and then to those on the left. In. the +latter quarter he recognized Scholarius, and covertly smiled; if +Gregory had taken seat on the left, Scholarius would certainly have +crossed to the right. There was no such thing as compromise in his +intolerant nature. +</p> + +<p> +One further look the Emperor gave to where, near the door, a group of +women was standing, in attendance evidently upon the Princess Irene, +who was the only one of them seated. Their heads were covered by veils +which had the appearance of finely woven silver. This jealous +precaution, of course, cut off recognition; nevertheless such of the +audience as had the temerity to cast their eyes at the fair array were +consoled by a view of jewelled hands, bare arms inimitably round and +graceful, and figures in drapery of delicate colors, and of designs to +tempt the imagination without offence to modesty—a respect in which +the Greek costume has never been excelled. The Emperor recognized the +Princess, and slightly inclined his head to her. He then spoke to the +Dean: +</p> + +<p> +"Wait on the Prince of India, and if he is prepared, accompany him +hither." +</p> + +<p> +Passing out a side door, the master of ceremonies presently reappeared +with Nilo in guidance. The black giant was as usual barbarously +magnificent in attire; and staring at him, the company did not observe +the burden he brought in, and laid on the table. He retired +immediately; then they looked, and saw a heap of books and MSS. in +rolls left behind him—quaint, curious volumes, so to speak, yellow +with age and exposure, and suggestive of strange countries, and a +wisdom new, if not of more than golden worth. And they continued to +gaze and wonder at them, giving warrant to the intelligent forethought +of the Prince of India which sent Nilo in advance of his own entry. +</p> + +<p> +Again the door was thrown open, and this time the Dean ushered the +Prince into the chamber, and conducted him toward the dais. Thrice the +foreigner prostrated himself; the last time within easy speaking +distance of His Majesty, who silently agreed with the observant +lookers-on, that he had never seen the salutations better executed. +</p> + +<p> +"Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor said, blandly, and well pleased. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince arose, and stood before him, his eyes downcast, his hands +upon his breast—suppliancy in excellent pantomime. +</p> + +<p> +"Be not surprised, Prince of India, at the assemblage you behold." Thus +His Majesty proceeded. "Its presence is due, I declare to you, not so +much to design of mine as to the report the city has had of your former +audience, and the theme of which you then promised to discourse." +Without apparently noticing the low reverence in acknowledgment of the +compliment, he addressed himself to the body of listeners. "I regard it +courtesy to our noble Indian guest to advise you, my Lords of the +Court, and you, devotees of Christ and the Father, whose prayers are +now the chief stay of my empire, that he is present by my appointment. +On a previous occasion, he interested us—I speak of many of my very +honorable assistants in Government—he interested us, I say, with an +account of his resignation of the Kingship in his country, moved by a +desire to surrender himself exclusively to study of religion. Under my +urgency, he bravely declared he was neither Jew, Moslem, Hindoo, +Buddhist nor Christian; that his travels and investigation had led him +to a faith which he summed up by pronouncing the most holy name of God; +giving us to understand he meant the God to whom our hearts have long +been delivered. He also referred to the denominations into which +believers are divided, and said his one motive in life was the bringing +them together in united brotherhood; and as I cannot imagine a result +more desirable, provided its basis obtain the sanction of our +conscience, I will now ask him to proceed, if it be his pleasure, and +speak to us freely." +</p> + +<p> +Again the visitor prostrated himself in his best oriental manner; after +which, moving backward, he went to the table and took a few minutes +arranging the books and rolls. The spectators availed themselves of the +opportunity to gratify their curiosity well as they could from mere +inspection of the man; and as the liberty was within his anticipations, +it gave him but slight concern. +</p> + +<p> +We about know how he appeared to them. We remember his figure, low, +slightly stooped, and deficiently slender;—we remember the thin yet +healthful looking face, even rosy of cheek;—we can see him in his +pointed red slippers, his ample trousers of glossy white satin, his +long black gown, relieved at the collar and cuffs with fine laces, his +hair fallen on his shoulders, beard overflowing his breast;—we can +even see the fingers, transparent, singularly flexible in operation, +turning leaves, running down pages and smoothing them out, and placing +this roll or that book as convenience required, all so lithe, swift, +certain, they in a manner exposed the mind which controlled them. At +length, the preliminaries finished, the Prince raised his eyes, and +turned them slowly about—those large, deep, searching eyes—wells from +which, without discoverable effort, he drew magnetism at his pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +He began simply, his voice distinct, and cast to make itself heard, and +not more. +</p> + +<p> +"This"—his second finger was on a page of the large volume heretofore +described—"this is the Bible, the most Holy of Bibles. I call it the +rock on which your faith and mine are castled." There was a stretching +of necks to see, and he did not allow the sensation to pass. +</p> + +<p> +"And more—it is one of the fifty copies of the Bible translated by +order of the first Constantine, under supervision of his minister +Eusebius, well known to you for piety and learning." +</p> + +<p> +It seemed at first every Churchman was on his feet, but directly the +Emperor observed Scholarius and the Patriarch seated, the latter +diligently crossing himself. The excitement can be readily comprehended +by considering the assemblage and its composition of zealots and +relic-worshippers, and that, while the tradition respecting the fifty +copies was familiar, not a man there could have truly declared he had +ever seen one of them—so had they disappeared from the earth. +</p> + +<p> +"These are Bibles, also," the speaker resumed, upon the restoration of +order—"Bibles sacred to those unto whom they were given as that +imperishable monument to Moses and David is to us; for they too are +Revelations from God—ay, the very same God! This is the <i>Koran</i>—and +these, the <i>Kings</i> of the Chinese—and these, the <i>Avesta</i> of the +Magians of Persia—and these, the <i>Sutras</i> well preserved of +Buddha—and these, the <i>Vedas</i> of the patient Hindoos, my countrymen." +</p> + +<p> +He carefully designated each book and roll by placing his finger on it. +</p> + +<p> +"I thank Your Majesty for the gracious words of introduction you were +pleased to give me. They set before my noble and most reverend auditors +my history and the subject of my discourse; leaving me, without wrong +to their understanding, or waste of time or words, to invite them to +think of the years it took to fit myself to read these Books—for so I +will term them—years spent among the peoples to whom they are divine. +And when that thought is in mind, stored there past loss, they will +understand what I mean by Religion, and the methods I adopted and +pursued for its study. Then also the value of the assertions I make can +be intelligently weighed.... This first—Have not all men hands and +eyes? We may not be able to read the future in our palms; but there is +no excuse for us if we do not at least see God in them. Similarity is +law, and the law of Nature is the will of God. Keep the argument with +you, O my Lord, for it is the earliest lesson I had from my travels.... +Animals when called to, the caller being on a height over them, never +look for him above the level of their eyes; even so some men are +incapable of thinking of the mysteries hidden out of sight in the sky; +but it is not so with all; and therein behold the partiality of God. +The reason of the difference between the leaves of trees not of the +same species, is the reason of the inequality of genius among races of +men. The Infinite prefers variety because He is more certainly to be +perceived in it. At this stop now, my Lord, mark the second lesson of +my travels. God, wishing above all things to manifest Himself and His +character to all humanity, made choice amongst the races, selecting +those superior in genius, and intrusted them with special revelations; +whence we have the two kinds of religion, natural and revealed. Seeing +God in a stone, and worshipping it, is natural religion; the +consciousness of God in the heart, an excitant of love and gratitude +inexpressible except by prayer and hymns of praise—that, O my Lord, is +the work and the proof of revealed religion.... I next submit the third +of the lessons I have had; but, if I may have your attention to the +distinction, it is remarkable as derived from my reading"—here he +covered all the books on the table with a comprehensive gesture—"my +reading more than my travels; and I call it the purest wisdom because +it is not sentiment, at the same time that it is without so much as a +strain of philosophy, being a fact clear as any fact deducible from +history—yes, my Lord, clearer, more distinct, more positive, most +undeniable—an incident of the love the Universal Maker has borne his +noblest creatures from their first morning—a Godly incident which I +have had from the study of these Bibles in comparison with each other. +In brief, my Lord, a revelation not intended for me above the +generality of men; nevertheless a revelation to me, since I went +seeking it—or shall I call it a recompense for the crown and throne I +voluntarily gave away?" +</p> + +<p> +The feeling the Prince threw into these words took hold of his +auditors. Not a few of them were struck with awe, somewhat as if he +were a saint or prophet, or a missionary from the dead returned with +secrets theretofore locked up fast in the grave. They waited for his +next saying—his third lesson, as he termed it—with anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +"The Holy Father of Light and Life," the speaker went on, after a pause +referable to his consummate knowledge of men, "has sent His Spirit down +to the world, not once merely, or unto one people, but repeatedly, in +ages sometimes near together, sometimes wide apart, and to races +diverse, yet in every instance remarkable for genius." +</p> + +<p> +There was a murmur at this, but he gave it no time. +</p> + +<p> +"Ask you now how I could identify the Spirit so as to be able to +declare to you solemnly, as I do in fear of God, that in the several +repeated appearances of which I speak it was the very same Spirit? How +do you know the man you met at set of sun yesterday was the man you +saluted and had salute from this morning? Well, I tell you the Father +has given the Spirit features by which it may be known—features +distinct as those of the neighbors nearest you there at your right and +left hands. Wherever in my reading Holy Books, like these, I hear of a +man, himself a shining example of righteousness, teaching God and the +way to God, by those signs I say to my soul: 'Oh, the Spirit, the +Spirit! Blessed is the man appointed to carry it about!'" +</p> + +<p> +Again the murmur, but again he passed on. +</p> + +<p> +"The Spirit dwelt in the Holy of Holies set apart for it in the +Tabernacle; yet no man ever saw it there, a thing of sight. The soul is +not to be seen; still less is the Spirit of the Most High; or if one +did see it, its brightness would kill him. In great mercy, therefore, +it has always come and done its good works in the world veiled; now in +one form, now in another; at one time, a voice in the air; at another, +a vision in sleep; at another, a burning bush; at another, an angel; at +another, a descending dove"— +</p> + +<p> +"Bethabara!" shouted a cowled brother, tossing both hands up. +</p> + +<p> +"Be quiet!" the Patriarch ordered. +</p> + +<p> +"Thus always when its errand was of quick despatch," the Prince +continued. "But if its coming were for residence on earth, then its +habit has been to adopt a man for its outward form, and enter into him, +and speak by him; such was Moses, such Elijah, such were all the +Prophets, and such"—he paused, then exclaimed shrilly—"such was Jesus +Christ!" +</p> + +<p> +In his study at home, the Prince had undoubtedly thought out his +present delivery with the care due an occasion likely to be a +turning-point in his projects, if not his life; and it must at that +time have required of him a supreme effort of will to resolve upon this +climax; as it was, he hesitated, and turned the hue of ashes; none the +less his unknowing auditors renewed their plaudits. Even the Emperor +nodded approvingly. None of them divined the cunning of the speaker; +not one thought he was pledging himself by his applause to a kindly +hearing of the next point in the speech. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, my Lord, he who lives in a close vale shut in by great mountains, +and goes not thence so much as to the top of one of the mountains, to +him the vastness and beauty of the world beyond his pent sky-line shall +be secret in his old age as they were when he was a child. He has +denied himself to them. Like him is the man who, thinking to know God, +spends his days reading one Holy Book. I care not if it be this +one"—he laid his finger on the <i>Avesta</i>—"or this one"—in the same +manner he signified the <i>Vedas</i>—"or this one"—touching the +<i>Koran</i>—"or this one"—laying his whole hand tenderly palm down on the +most Holy Bible. "He shall know God—yes, my Lord, but not all God has +done for men.... I have been to the mountain's top; that is to say, I +know these books, O reverend brethren, as you know the beads of your +rosaries and what each bead stands for. They did not teach me all there +is in the Infinite—I am in too much awe for such a folly of the +tongue—yet through them I know His Spirit has dwelt on earth in men of +different races and times; and whether the Spirit was the same Spirit, +I fear not leaving you to judge. If we find in those bearing it about +likenesses in ideas, aims, and methods—a Supreme God and an Evil One, +a Heaven and a Hell, Sin and a Way to Salvation, a Soul immortal +whether lost or saved—what are we to think? If then, besides these +likenesses, we find the other signs of divine authority, acknowledged +such from the beginning of the world—Mysteries of Birth, Sinlessness, +Sacrifices, Miracles done—which of you will rise in his place, and +rebuke me for saying there were Sons of God in Spirit before the Spirit +descended upon Jesus Christ? Nevertheless, that is what I say." +</p> + +<p> +Here the Prince bent over the table pretending to be in search of a +page in the most Holy Book, while—if the expression be pardonable—he +watched the audience with his ears. He heard the rustle as the men +turned to each other in mute inquiry; he almost heard their question, +though they but looked it; otherwise, if it had been dark, the silence +would have been tomb-like. At length, raising his head, he beheld a +tall, gaunt, sallow person, clad in a monkish gown of the coarsest gray +wool, standing and looking at him; the eyes seemed two lights burning +in darkened depths; the air was haughty and menacing; and altogether he +could not avoid noticing the man. He waited, but the stranger silently +kept his feet. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Prince began again, perfectly composed, "these are +but secondary matters; yet there is such light in them with respect to +my main argument, that I think best to make them good by proofs, lest +my reverend brethren dismiss me as an idler in words.... Behold the +Bible of the Bodhisattwa"—he held up a roll of broad-leafed vellum, +and turned it dextrously for better exhibition—"and hear, while I read +from it, of a Birth, Life and Death which took place a thousand and +twenty-seven years before Jesus Christ was born." And he read: +</p> + +<p> +"'Strong and calm of purpose as the earth, pure in mind as the +water-lily, her name figuratively assumed, Maya, she was in truth above +comparison. On her in likeness as the heavenly queen the Spirit +descended. A mother, but free from grief or pain, she was without +deceit.'" The Prince stopped reading to ask: "Will not my Lord see in +these words a Mary also 'blessed above other women'?" Then he read on: +..."'And now the queen Maya knew her time for the birth had come. It +was the eighth day of the fourth moon, a serene and agreeable season. +While she thus religiously observed the rules of a pure discipline, +Bodhisattwa was born from her right side, come to deliver the world, +constrained by great pity, without causing his mother pain or +anguish.'" Again the Prince lifted his eyes from the roll. "What is +this, my Lord, but an Incarnation? Hear now of the Child: ... 'As one +born from recumbent space, and not through the gates of life, men +indeed regarded his exceeding great glory, yet their sight remained +uninjured; he allowed them to gaze, the brightness of his person +concealed for a time, as when we look upon the moon in heaven. His body +nevertheless was effulgent with light, and, like the sun which eclipses +the shining of the lamp, so the true gold-like beauty of Bodhisattwa +shone forth and was everywhere diffused. Upright and firm, and +unconfused in mind, he deliberately took seven steps, the soles of his +feet resting evenly upon the ground as he went, his footmarks remained +bright as seven stars. Moving like the lion, king of beasts, and +looking earnestly toward the four quarters, penetrating to the centre +the principles of truth, he spoke thus with the fullest assurance: This +birth is in the condition of Buddha; after this I have done with +renewed birth; <i>now only am I born this once, for the purpose of saving +all the world.</i>'" A third time the Prince stopped, and, throwing up his +hand to command attention, he asked: "My Lord, who will say this was +not also a Redeemer? See now what next ensued"—and he read on: "'And +now from the midst of Heaven there descended two streams of pure water, +one warm, the other cold, and baptized his head.'" Pausing again, the +speaker searched the faces of his auditors on the right and left, while +he exclaimed in magnetic repetition: "Baptism—<i>Baptism</i>—BAPTISM AND +MIRACLE!" +</p> + +<p> +Constantine sat, like the rest, his attention fixed; but the gray-clad +monk still standing grimly raised a crucifix before him as if taking +refuge behind it. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord is seeing the likenesses these things bear to the conception, +birth and mission of Jesus Christ, the later Blessed One, who is +nevertheless his first in love. He is comparing the incidents of the +two Incarnations of the Spirit or Holy Ghost; he is asking himself: +'Can there have been several Sons of God?' and he is replying: 'That +were indeed merciful—Blessed be God!'" +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor made no sign one way or the other. +</p> + +<p> +"Suffer me to help my Lord yet a little more," the Prince continued, +apparently unobservant of the lowering face behind the crucifix. "He +remembers angels came down the night of the nativity in the cave by +Bethlehem; he cannot forget the song they sung to the shepherds. How +like these honors to the Bodhisattwa!"—and he read from the roll: ... +"'Meanwhile the Devas'—angels, if my Lord pleases—'the Devas in +space, seizing their jewelled canopies, attending, raise in responsive +harmony their heavenly songs to encourage him.' Nor was this all, my +Lord," and he continued reading: "'On every hand the world was greatly +shaken.... The minutest atoms of sandal perfume, and the hidden +sweetness of precious lilies, floated on the air, and rose through +space, and then commingling came back to earth.... All cruel and +malevolent kinds of beings together conceived a loving heart; all +diseases and afflictions amongst men, without a cure applied, of +themselves were healed; the cries of beasts were hushed; the stagnant +waters of the river courses flowed apace; no clouds gathered on the +heavens, while angelic music, self-caused, was heard around.... So when +Bodhisattwa was born, he came to remove the sorrows of all living +things. Mara alone was grieved.' O my reverend brethren!" cried the +Prince, fervently, "who was this Mara that he should not share in the +rejoicing of all nature else? In Christian phrase, Satan, and Mara +alone was grieved." +</p> + +<p> +"Do the likenesses stop with the births, my brethren are now asking. +Let us follow the Bodhisattwa. On reaching the stage of manhood, he +also retired into the wilderness. 'The valley of the Se-na was level +and full of fruit trees, with no noxious insects,' say these +Scriptures: 'and there he dwelt under a sala tree. And he fasted nigh +to death. The Devas offered him sweet dew, but he rejected it, and took +but a grain of millet a day.' Now what think you of this as a parallel +incident of his sojourn in the wilderness?" And he read: ... "'Mara +Devaraga, enemy of religion, alone was grieved, and rejoiced not. He +had three daughters, mincingly beautiful, and of a pleasant +countenance. With them, and all his retinue, he went to the grove of +"fortunate rest," vowing the world should not find peace, and +there'"—the Prince forsook the roll—"'and there he tempted +Bodhisattwa, and menaced him, a legion of devils assisting.' The +daughters, it is related, were changed to old women, and of the battle +this is written: ... 'And now the demon host waxed fiercer, and added +force to force, grasping at stones they could not lift, or lifting them +they could not let them go; their flying spears stuck fast in space +refusing to descend; the angry thunder-drops and mighty hail, with +them, were changed into five-colored lotus flowers; while the foul +poison of the dragon snakes was turned into spicy-breathing air'—and +Mara fled, say the Scriptures, fled gnashing his teeth, while +Bodhisattwa reposed peacefully under a fall of heavenly flowers." The +Prince, looking about him after this, said calmly: "Now judge I by +myself; not a heart here but hears in the intervals of its beating, the +text: 'Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be +tempted of the devil'—and that other text: 'Then the devil leaveth +him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.' Verily, my Lord, +was not the Spirit the same Spirit, and did it not in both incarnations +take care of its own?" +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the Prince again sought for a page on the roll, watching the +while with his ears, and the audience drew long breaths, and rested +from their rigor of attention. Then also the Emperor spoke to the +Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"I pray you, Prince of India, take a little rest. Your labor is of the +kind exhaustive to mind and body: and in thought of it, I ordered +refreshments for you and these, my other guests. Is not this a good +time to renew thyself?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, rising from a low reverence, replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Indeed Your Majesty has the kingly heart; but I pray you, in return, +hear me until I have brought the parallel, my present point of +argument, to an end; then I will most gladly avail myself of your great +courtesy; after which—your patience, and the goodwill of these +reverend fathers, holding on—I will resume and speedily finish my +discourse." +</p> + +<p> +"As you will. We are most interested. Or"—and the Emperor, glancing +over toward the monk on his feet, said coldly: "Or, if my declaration +does not fairly vouch the feeling of all present, those objecting have +permission to retire upon the adjournment. We will hear you, Prince." +</p> + +<p> +The ascetic answered by lifting his crucifix higher. Then, having found +the page he wanted, the Prince, holding his finger upon it, proceeded: +</p> + +<p> +"It would not become me, my Lord, to assume an appearance of teaching +you and this audience, most learned in the Gospels, concerning them, +especially the things said by the Blessed One of the later Incarnation, +whom we call The Christ. We all know the Spirit for which he was both +habitation and tongue, came down to save the world from sin and hell; +we also know what he required for the salvation. So, even so, did +Bodhisattwa. Listen to him now—he is talking to his Disciples: ... 'I +will teach you,' he said, to the faithful Ananda, 'a way of Truth, +called the Mirror of Truth, which, if an elect disciple possess, he may +himself predict of himself, "Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as +an animal, or a ghost, or any place of woe. I am converted. I am no +longer liable to be reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of +final salvation."'... Ah, Your Majesty is asking, will the parallel +never end? Not yet, not yet! For the Bodhisattwa did miracles as well. +I read again: ... 'And the Blessed One came once to the river Ganges, +and found it overflowing. Those with him, designing to cross, began to +seek for boats, some for rafts of wood, while some made rafts of +basket-work. Then the Blessed One, as instantaneously as a strong man +would stretch forth his arm and draw it back again when he had +stretched it forth, vanished from this side of the river, and stood on +the further bank with the company of his brethren.'" +</p> + +<p> +The stir the quotation gave rise to being quieted, the Prince, quitting +the roll, said: "Like that, my Lord, was the Bodhisattwa's habit on +entering assemblies of men, to become of their color—he, you remember, +was from birth of the color of gold just flashed in the crucible—and +in a voice like theirs instructing them. Then, say the Scriptures, +they, not knowing him, would ask, Who may this be that speaks? A man or +a God? Then he would vanish away. Like that again was his purifying the +water which had been stirred up by the wheels of five hundred carts +passing through it. He was thirsty, and at his bidding his companion +filled a cup, and lo! the water was clear and delightful. Still more +decided, when he was dying there was a mighty earthquake, and the +thunders of heaven broke forth, and the spirits stood about to see him +until there was no spot, say the Scriptures, in size even as the +pricking of the point of the tip of a hair not pervaded with them; and +he saw them, though they were invisible to his disciples; and then when +the last reverence of his five hundred brethren was paid at his feet, +the pyre being ready, it took fire of itself, and there was left of his +body neither soot nor ashes—only the bones for relics. Then, again, as +the pyre had kindled itself, so when the body was burned up streams of +water descended from the skies, and other streams burst from the earth, +and extinguished the fire. Finally, my Lord, the parallel ends in the +modes of death. Bodhisattwa chose the time and place for himself, and +the circumstances of his going were in harmony with his heavenly +character. Death was never arrayed in such beauty. The twin Sala trees, +one at the head of his couch, the other at the foot, though out of +season, sprinkled him with their flowers, and the sky rained powder of +sandal-wood, and trembled softly with the incessant music and singing +of the floating Gandharvis. But he whose soul was the Spirit, last +incarnate, the Christ"—the Prince stopped—the blood forsook his +face—he took hold of the table to keep from falling—and the audience +arose in alarm. +</p> + +<p> +"Look to the Prince!" the Emperor commanded. +</p> + +<p> +Those nearest the ailing man offered him their arms, but with a mighty +effort he spoke to them naturally: "Thank you, good friends—it is +nothing." Then he said louder: "It is nothing, my Lord—it is gone now. +I was about to say of the Christ, how different was his dying, and with +that ends the parallel between him and the Bodhisattwa as Sons of +God.... Now, if it please Your Majesty, I will not longer detain your +guests from the refreshments awaiting them." +</p> + +<p> +A chair was brought for him; and when he was seated, a long line of +servants in livery appeared with the collation. +</p> + +<p> +In a short time the Prince was himself again. The mention of the +Saviour, in connection with his death, had suddenly projected the scene +of the Crucifixion before him, and the sight of the Cross and the +sufferer upon it had for the moment overcome him. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0416"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVI +</h3> + +<h3> +HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED +</h3> + +<p> +It had been better for the Prince of India if he had not consented to +the intermission graciously suggested by the Emperor. The monk with the +hollow eyes who had arisen and posed behind his crucifix, like an +exorcist, was no other than George Scholarius, whom, for the sake of +historical conformity, we shall from this call Gennadius; and far from +availing himself of His Majesty's permission to retire, that person was +observed to pass industriously from chair to chair circulating some +kind of notice. Of the refreshments he would none; his words were few, +his manner earnest; and to him, beyond question, it was due that when +order was again called, the pleasure the Prince drew from seeing every +seat occupied was dashed by the scowling looks which met him from all +sides. The divining faculty, peculiarly sharpened in him, apprised him +instantly of an influence unfriendly to his project—a circumstance the +more remarkable since he had not as yet actually stated any project. +</p> + +<p> +Upon taking the floor, the Prince placed the large Judean Bible before +him opened, and around it his other references, impressing the audience +with an idea that in his own view the latter were of secondary +importance. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, and Reverend Sirs," he began, with a low salutation to the +Emperor, "the fulness of the parallel I have run between the +Bodhisattwa, Son of Maya, and Jesus Christ, Son of Mary, may lead to a +supposition that they were the only Blessed Ones who have appeared in +the world honored above men because they were chosen for the +Incarnation of the Spirit. In these Scriptures," unrolling the <i>Sutra</i> +or <i>Book of the Great Decease</i>—"frequent statements imply a number of +Tathagatas or Buddhas of irregular coming. In this"—putting a finger +on a Chinese <i>King</i>—"time is divided into periods termed <i>Kalpas</i>, and +in one place it is said ninety-eight Buddhas illuminated one Kalpa +[Footnote: EAKIN'S Chinese Buddhism, 14.]—that is, came and taught as +Saviours. Nor shall any man deny the Spirit manifest in each of them +was the same Spirit. They preached the same holy doctrine, pointed out +the same road to salvation, lived the same pure unworldly lives, and +all alike made a declaration of which I shall presently speak; in other +words, my Lord, the features of the Spirit were the same in all of +them.... Here in these rolls, parts of the Sacred Books of the East, we +read of Shun. I cannot fix his days, they were so long ago. Indeed, I +only know he must have been an adopted of the Spirit by his leaving +behind him the Tao, or Law, still observed among the Chinese as their +standard of virtue.... Here also is the <i>Avesta</i>, most revered remains +of the Magi, from whom, as many suppose, the Wise Men who came up to +Jerusalem witnesses of the birth of the new King of the Jews were +sent." This too he identified with his finger. "Its teacher is +Zarathustra, and, in my faith, the Spirit descended upon him and abode +with him while he was on the earth. The features all showed themselves +in him—in his life, his instruction, and in the honors paid him +through succeeding generations. His religion yet lives, though founded +hundreds of years before your gentle Nazarene walked the waters of +Galilee.... And here, O my Lord, is a book abhorred by Christians"—he +laid his whole hand on the Koran—"How shall it be judged? By the +indifferent manner too many of those ready to die defending its divine +origin observe it? Alas! What religion shall survive that test? In the +visions of Mahomet I read of God, Moses, the Patriarchs—nay, my Lord, +I read of him called the Christ. Shall we not beware lest in condemning +Mahomet we divest this other Bible"—he reverently touched the great +Eusebian volume—"of some of its superior holiness? He calls himself a +Prophet. Can a man prophesy except he have in him the light of the +Spirit?" +</p> + +<p> +The question awoke the assemblage. A general signing of the Cross was +indulged in by the Fathers, and there was groaning hard to distinguish +from growls. Gennadius kept his seat, nervously playing with his +rosary. The countenance of the Patriarch was unusually grave. In all +his experience it is doubtful if the Prince ever touched a subject +requiring more address than this dealing with the Koran. He resumed +without embarrassment: +</p> + +<p> +"Now, my Lord, I shall advance a step nearer my real subject. Think +not, I pray, that the things I have spoken of the Bodhisattwa, of Shun, +of Zarathustra, of Mahomet, likening them in their entertainment of the +Spirit to Jesus, was to excite comparisons; such as which was the +holiest, which did the most godly things, which is most worthy to be +accounted the best beloved of the Father; for I come to bury all strife +of the kind.... I said I had been to the mountain's top; and now, my +Lord, did you demand of me to single out and name the greatest of the +wonders I thence beheld, I should answer: Neither on the sea, nor on +the land, nor in the sky is there a wonder like unto the perversity +which impels men to invent and go on inventing religions and sects, and +then persecute each other on account of them. And when I prayed to be +shown the reason of it, I thought I heard a voice, 'Open thine +eyes—See!' ... And the first thing given me to see was that the +Blessed Ones who went about speaking for the Spirit which possessed +them were divine; yet they walked the earth, not as Gods, but witnesses +of God; asking hearing and belief, not worship; begging men to come +unto them as guides sent to show them the only certain way to +everlasting life in glory—only that and nothing more.... The next +thing I saw, a bright light in a white glass set on a dark hill, was +the waste of worship men are guilty of in bestowing it on inferior and +often unworthy objects. When Jesus prayed, it was to our Father in +Heaven, was it not?—meaning not to himself, or anything human, or +anything less than human.... One other thing I was permitted to see; +and the reserving it last is because it lies nearest the proposal I +have come a great distance to submit to my Lord and these most reverend +brethren in holiness. Every place I have been in which men are not left +to their own imaginings of life and religion—in every land and island +touched by revelation—a supreme God is recognized, the same in +qualities—Creator, Protector, Father—Infinite in Power, Infinite in +Love—the Indivisible One! Asked you never, my Lord, the object he had +in intrusting his revelation to us, and why the Blessed Ones, his Sons +in the Spirit, were bid come here and go yonder by stony paths? Let me +answer with what force is left me. There is in such permissions but one +intention which a respectful mind can assign to a being great and good +as God—one altar, one worship, one prayer, and He the soul of them. +With a flash of his beneficent thought he saw in one religion peace +amongst men. Strange—most strange! In human history no other such +marvel! There has been nothing so fruitful of bickering, hate, murder +and war. Such is the seeming, and so I thought, my Lord, until on the +mountain's highest peak, whence all concerns lie in view below, I +opened my eyes and perceived the wrestling of tongues and fighting were +not about God, but about forms, and immaterialities, more especially +the Blessed Ones to whom he had intrusted his Spirit. From the +Ceylonesian: 'Who is worthy praise but Buddha?' 'No,' the Islamite +answers: 'Who but Mahomet?' And from the Parsee; 'No—Who but +Zarathustra?' 'Have done with your vanities,' the Christian thunders: +'Who has told the truth like Jesus?' Then the flame of swords, and the +cruelty of blows—all in God's name!" +</p> + +<p> +This was bold speaking. +</p> + +<p> +"And now, my Lord," the Prince went on, his appearance of exceeding +calmness belied only by the exceeding brightness of his eyes, "God +wills an end to controversy and wars blasphemously waged in his name, +and I am sent to tell you of it; and for that the Spirit is in me." +</p> + +<p> +Here Gennadius again arose, crucifix in hand. +</p> + +<p> +"I am returned from visiting many of the nations," the Prince +continued, nothing daunted. "They demanded of me a faith broad enough +for them to stand upon while holding fast the lesser ideas grown up in +their consciences; and, on my giving them such a faith, they said they +were ready to do the will, but raised a new condition. Some one must +move first. 'Go find that one,' they bade me, 'and we will follow +after.' In saying now I am ambassador appointed to bring the affair to +Your Majesty and Your Majesty's people, enlightened enough to see the +will of the Supreme Master, and of a courage to lead in the movement, +with influence and credit to carry it peacefully forward to a glorious +end, I well know how idle recommendation and entreaty are except I +satisfy you in the beginning that they have the sanction of Heaven; and +thereto now.... I take no honor to myself as author of the faith +presented in answer to the demand of the nations. In old cities there +are houses under houses, along streets underlying streets, and to find +them, the long buried, men dig deep and laboriously; that did I, until +in these old Testaments"—he cast a loving glance at all the Sacred +Books—"I made a precious discovery. I pray Your Majesty's patience +while I read from them.... This from the Judean Bible: 'And God said +unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, This shalt thou say unto the +children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' Thus did God, of whom +we have no doubt, name himself to one chosen race.... Next from a holy +man of China who lived nearly five hundred years before the Christ was +born: 'Although any one be a bad man, if he fasts and is collected, he +may indeed offer sacrifices unto God.' [Footnote: FABER'S <i>Mind of +Mencius</i>]... And from the <i>Avesta</i>, this of the creed of the Magi: 'The +world is twofold, being the work of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu: all +that is good in the world comes from the First Principle (which is God) +and all that is bad from the latter (which is Satan). Angra Mainyu +invaded the world after it was made by Ahura Mazda and polluted it, but +the conflict will some day end.' [Footnote: Sir William Jones.] The +First Principle here is God. But most marvellous, because of the +comparison it will excite, hearken to this from the same Magian creed: +'When the time is full, a son of the lawgiver still unborn, named +Saoshyant, will appear; then Angra Mainyu (Satan) and Hell will be +destroyed, men will arise from the dead, and everlasting happiness +reign over the world.' Here again the Lawgiver is God; but the Son—who +is he? Has he come? Is he gone? ... Next, take these several things +from the <i>Vedas</i>: 'By One Supreme Ruler is the universe pervaded, even +every world in the whole circle of nature. There is One Supreme Spirit +which nothing can shake, more swift than the thought of man. The +Primeval Mover even divine intelligence cannot reach; that Spirit, +though unmoved, infinitely transcends others, how rapid soever their +course; it is distant from us, yet very near; it pervades the whole +system of worlds, yet is infinitely beyond it.' [Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i> Vol. +XIII.] Now, my Lord, and very reverend sirs, do not the words quoted +come to us clean of mystery? Or have you the shadow of a doubt whom +they mean, accept and consider the prayer I read you now from the same +<i>Vedas:</i> 'O Thou who givest sustenance to the world, Thou sole mover of +all, Thou who restrainest sinners, who pervadest yon great luminary +which appearest as the Son of the Creator; hide thy struggling beams +and expand thy spiritual brightness that I may view thy most +auspicious, most glorious, real form. OM, remember me, divine Spirit! +OM, remember my deeds! Let my soul return to the immortal Spirit of +God, and then let my body, which ends in ashes, return to dust.' Who is +OM? Or is my Lord yet uncertain, let him heed this from the <i>Holiest +Verse of the Vedas</i>: 'Without hand or foot, he runs rapidly, and grasps +firmly; without eyes, he sees; without ears, he hears all; he knows +whatever can be known, but there is none who knows him: Him the wise +call the Great, Supreme, Pervading Spirit.' [Footnote: Sir William +Jones. Vol. XIII.] ... Now once more, O my Lord, and I am done with +citation and argument. Ananda asked the Bodhisattwa what was the Mirror +of Truth, and he had this answer: 'It is the consciousness that the +elect disciple is in this world possessed of faith in Buddha, believing +the Blessed One to be the Holy One, the Fully Enlightened One, Wise, +Upright, Happy, World-knowing, Supreme, the bridler of men's wayward +hearts, the Teacher of Gods and men—the Blessed Buddha.' [Footnote: +REHYS DAVID'S <i>Buddhist Sutras</i>.] Oh, good my Lord, a child with +intellect barely to name the mother who bore him, should see and say, +Here God is described!" ... +</p> + +<p> +The Prince came to a full stop, and taking a fine silken cloth from a +pocket in his gown, he carefully wiped the open pages of the Eusebian +Bible, and shut it. Of the other books he made a separate heap, first +dusting each of them. The assemblage watched him expectantly. The +Fathers had been treated to strange ideas, matter for thought through +many days and nights ahead; still each of them felt the application was +wanting. "The purpose—give it us—and quickly!" would have been a fair +expression of their impatience. At length he proceeded: +</p> + +<p> +"Dealing with children, my Lord, and reverend sirs," he began, "it is +needful to stop frequently, and repeat the things we have said; but you +are men trained in argument: wherefore, with respect to the faith asked +of me as I have told you by the nations, I say simply it is God; and +touching his sanction of it, you may wrest these Testaments from me and +make ashes of them, but you shall not now deny his approval of the +Faith I bring you. It is not in the divine nature for God to abjure +himself. Who of you can conceive him shrunk to so small a measure?" +</p> + +<p> +The dogmatic vehemence amazed the listeners. +</p> + +<p> +"Whether this idea of God is broad enough to accommodate all the +religions grown up on the earth, I will not argue; for I desire to be +most respectful"—thus the speaker went on in his natural manner. "But +should you accept it as enough, you need not be at loss for a form in +which to put it. 'Master,' the lawyer asked, 'which is the great +commandment in the law?' And the Master answered: 'Thou shalt love the +Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all +thy mind;' and he added: 'This is the first and great commandment.' My +Lord, no man else ever invented, nor shall any man ever invent an +expression more perfectly definitive of the highest human duty—the +total of doctrine. I will not tell you who the master uttering it was; +neither will I urge its adoption; only if the world were to adopt it, +and abide by it, there would be an end to wars and rumors of war, and +God would have his own. If the Church here in your ancient capital were +first to accept it, what happiness I should have carrying the glad +tidings to the peoples"— +</p> + +<p> +The Prince was not allowed to finish the sentence. +</p> + +<p> +"What do I understand, O Prince, by the term 'total of doctrine'?" +</p> + +<p> +It was the Patriarch speaking. +</p> + +<p> +"Belief in God." +</p> + +<p> +In a moment the assemblage became uproarious, astounding the Emperor; +and in the midst of the excitement, Gennadius was seen on tip-toe, +waving his crucifix with the energy of command. +</p> + +<p> +"Question—a question!" he cried. +</p> + +<p> +Quiet was presently given him. +</p> + +<p> +"In thy total of doctrine, what is Jesus Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +The voice of the Patriarch, enfeebled by age and disease, had been +scarcely heard; his rival's penetrated to the most distant corner; and +the question happening to be the very thought pervading the assemblage, +the churchmen, the courtiers, and most of the high officials arose to +hear the reply. +</p> + +<p> +In a tone distinct as his interlocutor's, but wholly without passion, +the master actor returned: +</p> + +<p> +"A Son of God." +</p> + +<p> +"And Mahomet, the Father of Islam—what is he?" +</p> + +<p> +If the ascetic had put the name of Siddartha, the Bodhisattwa, in his +second question, his probing had not been so deep, nor the effect so +quick and great; but Mahomet, the camel-driver! Centuries of feud, +hate, crimination, and wars—rapine, battles, sieges, massacres, +humiliations, lopping of territory, treaties broken, desecration of +churches, spoliation of altars, were evoked by the name Mahomet. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen it a peculiarity of the Prince of India never to forget a +relation once formed by him. Now behind Constantine he beheld young +Mahommed waiting for him—Mahommed and revenge. If his scheme were +rejected by the Greeks, very well—going to the Turks would be the old +exchange with which he was familiar, Cross for Crescent. To be sure +there was little time to think this; nor did he think it—it appeared +and went a glare of light—and he answered: +</p> + +<p> +"He will remain, in the Spirit another of the Sons of God." +</p> + +<p> +Then Gennadius, beating the air with his crucifix: +"Liar—impostor—traitor! Ambassador of Satan thou! Behind thee Hell +uncurtained! Mahomet himself were more tolerable! Thou mayst turn black +white, quench water with fire, make ice of the blood in our hearts, all +in a winking or slowly, our reason resisting, but depose the pure and +blessed Saviour, or double his throne in the invisible kingdom with +Mahomet, prince of liars, man of blood, adulterer, monster for whom +Hell had to be enlarged—that shalt thou never! A body without a soul, +an eye its light gone out, a tomb rifled of its dead—such the Church +without its Christ! ... Ho, brethren! Shame on us that we are guests in +common with this fiend in cunning! We are not hosts to bid him begone; +yet we can ourselves begone. Follow me, O lovers of Christ and the +Church! To your tents, O Israel!" +</p> + +<p> +The speaker's face was purple with passion; his voice filled the +chamber; many of the monks broke from their seats and rushed howling +and blindly eager to get nearer him. The Patriarch sat ashy white, +helplessly crossing himself. Constantine excellently and rapidly +judging what became him as Emperor and host, sent four armed officers +to protect the Prince, who held his appointed place apparently +surprised but really interested in the scene—to him it was an +exhibition of unreasoning human nature replying to an old-fashioned +impulse of bigotry. +</p> + +<p> +Hardly were the guards by the table, when Gennadius rushed past going +to the door, the schismatics at his heels in a panic. The pulling and +hauling, the hurry-skurry of the mad exit must be left to the +imagination. It was great enough to frighten thoroughly the attendants +of the Princess Irene. Directly there remained in the chamber with His +Majesty, the attaches of the court, the Patriarch and his adherents. +Then Constantine quietly asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Where is Duke Notaras?" +</p> + +<p> +There was much looking around, but no response. +</p> + +<p> +The countenance of the monarch was observed to change, but still +mindful, he bade the Dean conduct the Prince to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Be not alarmed, Prince. My people are quick of temper, and sometimes +they act hastily. If you have more to say, we are of a mind to hear you +to the end." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince could not but admire the composure of his august host. After +a low reverence, he returned: +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps I tried the reverend Fathers unreasonably; yet it would be a +much greater grief to me if their impatience extended to Your Majesty. +I was not alarmed; neither have I aught to add to my discourse, unless +it pleases you to ask of anything in it which may have been left +obscure or uncertain." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine signed to the Patriarch and all present to draw nearer. +</p> + +<p> +"Good Dean, a chair for His Serenity." +</p> + +<p> +In a short time the space in front of the dais was occupied. +</p> + +<p> +"I understand the Prince of India has submitted to us a proposal +looking to a reform of our religion," His Majesty said, to the +Patriarch; "and courtesy requiring an answer, the violence to which we +have just been subjected, and the spirit of insubordination manifested, +make it imperative that you listen to what I now return him, and with +attention, lest a misquotation or false report lead to further +trouble.... Prince," he continued, "I think I comprehend you. The world +is sadly divided with respect to religion, and out of its divisions +have proceeded the mischiefs to which you have referred. Your project +is not to be despised. It reminds me of the song, the sweetest ear ever +listened to—'Peace and good will toward men.' Its adoption, +nevertheless, is another matter. I have not power to alter the worship +of my empire. Our present Creed was a conclusion reached by a Council +too famous in history not to be conspicuously within your knowledge. +Every word of it is infinitely sacred. It fixed the relations between +God the Father, Christ the Son, and men to my satisfaction, and that of +my subjects. Serenity, do thou say if I may apply the remark to the +Church." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Patriarch replied, "the Holy Greek Church can never +consent to omit the Lord Jesus Christ from its worship. You have spoken +well, and it had been better if the brethren had remained to hear you." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, O most venerated—thanks," said the Emperor, inclining his +head. "A council having established the creed of the Church," he +resumed, to the Prince of India, "the creed is above change to the +extent of a letter except by another council solemnly and +authoritatively convoked. Wherefore, O Prince, I admit myself wiser of +the views you have presented; I admit having been greatly entertained +by your eloquence and rhetoric; and I promise myself further happiness +and profit in drawing upon the stores of knowledge with which you +appear so amply provided, results doubtless of your study and +travel—yet you have my answer." +</p> + +<p> +The faculty of retiring his thoughts and feelings deeper in his heart +as occasion demanded, was never of greater service to the Prince than +now; he bowed, and asked if he had permission to retire; and receiving +it, he made the usual prostrations, and began moving backwards. +</p> + +<p> +"A moment, Prince," said Constantine. "I hope your residence is +permanently fixed in our capital." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty is very gracious, and I thank you. If I leave the city, +it will be to return again, and speedily." +</p> + +<p> +At the door of the palace the Prince found an escort waiting for him, +and taking his chair, he departed from Blacherne. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0417"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVII +</h3> + +<h3> +LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON +</h3> + +<p> +Alone in his house, the Prince of India was unhappy, but not, as the +reader may hurriedly conclude, on account of the rejection by the +Christians of his proposal looking to brotherhood in the bonds of +religion. He was a trifle sore over the failure, but not disappointed. +A reasonable man, and, what times his temper left him liberty to think, +a philosopher, he could not hope after the observations he brought from +Mecca to find the followers of the Nazarene more relaxed in their faith +than the adherents of Mahomet. In short, he had gone to the palace +warned of what would happen. +</p> + +<p> +It was not an easy thing for him to fold up his grand design +preparatory to putting it away forever; still there was no choice left +him; and now he would move for vengeance. Away with hesitation. +</p> + +<p> +Descending the heights of Blacherne, he had felt pity for Constantine +who, though severely tried in the day's affair, had borne himself with +dignity throughout; but it was Mahommed's hour. Welcome Mahommed! +</p> + +<p> +Between the two, the Prince's predilections were all for the Turk, and +they had been from the meeting at the White Castle. Besides personal +accomplishments and military prestige, besides youth, itself a mighty +preponderant, there was the other argument—separating Mahommed from +the strongest power in the world, there stood only an ancient whose +death was a daily expectation. "What opportunities the young man will +have to offer me! I have but to make the most of his ambition—to loan +myself to it—to direct it." +</p> + +<p> +Thus the Seer reasoned, returning from Blacherne to his house. +</p> + +<p> +At the door, however, he made a discovery. There the first time during +the day he thought of her in all things the image of the Lael whom he +had buried under the great stone in front of the Golden Gate at +Jerusalem. We drop a grain in the ground, and asking nothing of us but +to be let alone, it grows, and flowers, and at length amazes us with +fruit. Such had been the outcome of his adoption of the daughter of the +son of Jahdai. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince called Syama. +</p> + +<p> +"Make ready the chair and table on the roof," he said. +</p> + +<p> +While waiting, he ate some bread dipped in wine: then walked the room +rubbing his hands as if washing them. +</p> + +<p> +He sighed frequently. Even the servants could see he was in trouble. +</p> + +<p> +At length he went to the roof. Evening was approaching. On the table +were the lamp, the clock, the customary writing materials, a fresh map +of the heavens, and a perfect diagram of a nativity to be cast. +</p> + +<p> +He took the map in his hand, and smiled—it was Lael's work. "How she +has improved!—and how rapidly!" he said aloud, ending a retrospect +which began with the hour Uel consented to her becoming his daughter. +She was unlettered then, but how helpful now. He felt an artist's pride +in her growth in knowledge. There were tedious calculations which she +took off his hands; his geometrical drawings of the planets in their +Houses were frequently done in haste; she perfected them next day. She +had numberless daughterly ways which none but those unused to them like +him would have observed. What delight she took in watching the sky for +the first appearance of the stars. In this work she lent him her young +eyes, and there was such enthusiasm in the exclamations with which she +greeted the earliest wink of splendor from the far-off orbs. And he had +ailing days; then she would open the great Eusebian Scriptures at the +page he asked for, and read—sometimes from Job, sometimes from Isaiah, +but generally from Exodus, for in his view there was never man like +Moses. The contest with Pharaoh—how prodigious! The battles in +magic—what glory in the triumphs won! The luring the haughty King into +the Red Sea, and bringing him under the walls of water suddenly let +loose! What majestic vengeance! +</p> + +<p> +Of the idle dreams of aged persons the possibility of attaching the +young to them in sentimental bonds of strength to insure resistance to +every other attachment is the idlest. Positive, practical, experienced +though he was, the childless man had permitted this fantasy to get +possession of him. He actually brought himself to believe Lael's love +of him was of that enduring kind. With no impure purpose, yet +selfishly, and to bring her under his influence until of preference she +could devote her life to him, with its riches of affection, admiration, +and dutiful service, he had surrendered himself to her; therefore the +boundless pains taken by him personally in her education, the +surrounding her with priceless luxuries which he alone could afford—in +brief, the attempt to fasten himself upon her youthful fancy as a +titled sage and master of many mysteries. So at length it came to pass, +while he was happy in his affection for her, he was even happier in her +affection for himself; indeed he cultivated the latter sentiment and +encouraged it in winding about his being until, in utter +unconsciousness, he belonged to it, and, in repetition of experiences +common to others, instead of Lael's sacrificing herself for him, he was +ready to sacrifice everything for her. This was the discovery he made +at the door of his house. +</p> + +<p> +The reader should try to fancy him in the chair by the table on the +roof. Evening has passed into night. The city gives out no sound, and +the stars have the heavens to themselves. He is lost in thought—or +rather, accepting the poetic fancy of a division of the heart into +chambers, in that apartment of the palpitating organ of the Prince of +India supposed to be the abode of the passions, a very noisy parliament +was in full session. The speaker—that is, the Prince +himself—submitted the question: Shall I remain here, or go to Mahommed? +</p> + +<p> +Awhile he listened to Revenge, whose speech in favor of the latter +alternative may be imagined; and not often had its appeals been more +effective. Ambition spoke on the same side. It pointed out the +opportunities offered, and dwelt upon them until the chairman nodded +like one both convinced and determined. These had an assistant not +exactly a passion but a kinsman collaterally—Love of Mischief—and +when the others ceased, it insisted upon being heard. +</p> + +<p> +On the other side, Lael led the opposition. She stood by the +president's chair while her opponents were arguing, her arms round his +neck; when they were most urgent, she would nurse his hand, and make +use of some trifling endearment; upon their conclusion, she would gaze +at him mutely, and with tears. Not once did she say anything. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this debate, Lael herself appeared, and kissed him on +the forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou here!" he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing—only"— +</p> + +<p> +She did not give him time to finish, but caught up the map, and seeing +it fresh and unmarked, exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"You did so greatly to-day, you ought to rest." +</p> + +<p> +He was surprised. +</p> + +<p> +"Did so greatly?" +</p> + +<p> +"At the palace." +</p> + +<p> +"Put the paper down. Now, O my Gul Bahar"—and he took her hand, and +carried it to his cheek, and pressed it softly there—"deal me no +riddle. What is it you say? One may do well, yet come out badly." +</p> + +<p> +"I was at the market in my father Uel's this afternoon," she began, +"when Sergius came in." +</p> + +<p> +A face wonderfully like the face of the man he helped lead out to +Golgotha flashed before the Prince, a briefest passing gleam. +</p> + +<p> +"He heard you discourse before the Emperor. How wickedly that +disgusting Gennadius behaved!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," the Prince responded darkly, "a sovereign beset with such +spirits is to be pitied. But what did the young man think of my +proposal to the Emperor?" +</p> + +<p> +"But for one verse in the Testament of Christ"— +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, dear, say Jesus of Nazareth." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, of Jesus—but for one verse he could have accepted your argument +of many Sons of God in the Spirit." +</p> + +<p> +"What is the verse?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is where a disciple speaks of Jesus as the only begotten. Son." +</p> + +<p> +The Wanderer smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"The young man is too literal. He forgets that the Only Begotten Son +may have had many Incarnations." +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene was also present," Lael went on. "Sergius said she +too could accept your argument did you alter it"— +</p> + +<p> +"Alter it!"—A bitter look wrung the Prince's countenance—"Sergius, a +monk not yet come to orders, and Irene, a Princess without a husband. +Oh, a small return for my surrender! ... I am tired—very tired," he +said impatiently—"and I have so much, so much to think of. Come, good +night." +</p> + +<p> +"Can I do nothing for you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, tell Syama to bring me some water." +</p> + +<p> +"And wine?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, some wine." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. Good night." +</p> + +<p> +He drew her to his breast. +</p> + +<p> +"Good night. O my Gul Bahar!" +</p> + +<p> +She went lightly away, never dreaming of the parliament to which she +left him. +</p> + +<p> +When she was gone, he sat motionless for near an hour, seeing nothing +in the time, although Syama set water and wine on the table. And it may +be questioned if he heard anything, except the fierce debate going on +in his heart. Finally he aroused, looked at the sky, arose, and walked +around the table; and his expression of face, his actions, were those +of a man who had been treading difficult ground, but was safely come +out of it. Filling a small crystal cup, and holding the red liquor, +rich with garnet sparkles, between his eyes and the lamp, he said: +</p> + +<p> +"It is over. She has won. If there were for me but the years of one +life, the threescore and ten of the Psalmist, it had been different. +The centuries will bring me a Mahommed gallant as this one, and +opportunities great as he offers; but never another Lael. Farewell +Ambition! Farewell Revenge! The world may take care of itself. I will +turn looker-on, and be amused, and sleep.... To hold her, I will live +for her, but in redoubled state. So will I hurry her from splendor to +splendor, and so fill her days with moving incidents, she shall not +have leisure to think of another love. I will be powerful and famous +for her sake. Here in this old centre of civilization there shall be +two themes for constant talk, Constantine and myself. Against his rank +and patronage, I will set my wealth. Ay, for her sake! And I will begin +to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +The next day he spent in making drawings and specifications for a +palace. The second day he traversed the city looking for a building +site. The third day he bought the site most to his fancy. The fourth +day he completed a design for a galley of a hundred oars, that it might +be sea-going far as the Pillars of Hercules. Nothing ever launched from +the imperial docks should surpass it in magnificence. When he went +sailing on the Bosphorus, Byzantium should assemble to witness his +going, and with equal eagerness wait the day through to behold him +return. And for the four days, Lael was present and consulted in every +particular. They talked like two children. +</p> + +<p> +The schemes filled him with a delight which would have been remarkable +in a boy. He packed his books and put away his whole paraphernalia of +study—through Lael's days he would be an actor in the social world, +not a student. +</p> + +<p> +Of course he recurred frequently to the engagements with Mahommed. They +did not disturb him. The Turk might clamor—no matter, there was the +ever ready answer about the unready stars. The veteran intriguer even +laughed, thinking how cunningly he had provided against contingencies. +But there was a present practical requirement begotten of these +schemes—he must have money—soldans by the bag full. +</p> + +<p> +Very early in the morning of the fifth day, having studied the weather +signs from his housetop, he went with Nilo to the harbor gate of +Blacherne, seeking a galley suitable for an outing of a few days on the +Marmora. He found one, and by noon she was fitted out, and with him and +Nilo aboard, flying swiftly around Point Serail. +</p> + +<p> +Under an awning over the rudder-deck, he sat observing the brown-faced +wall of the city, and the pillars and cornices of the noble structures +towering above it. As the vessel was about passing the Seven Towers, +now a ruin with a most melancholy history, but in that day a +well-garrisoned fortress, he conversed with the master of the galley. +</p> + +<p> +"I have no business in the strict meaning of the term," he said, in +good humor. "The city has become tiresome to me, and I have fancied a +run on the water would be bracing to body and restful to mind. So keep +on down the sea. When I desire a change of direction, I will tell you." +The mariner was retiring. "Stay," the Prince continued, his attention +apparently caught by two immense gray rocks rising bluffly out of the +blue rippling in which the Isles of the Princes seemed afloat—"What +are those yonder? Islands, of course, but their names?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oxia and Plati—the one nearest us is Oxia." +</p> + +<p> +"Are they inhabited?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes and no," the captain replied, smiling. "Oxia used to have a +convent, but it is abandoned now. There may be some hermits in the +caves on the other side, but I doubt if the poor wretches have noumias +to keep their altars in candles. It was so hard to coax visitors into +believing God had ever anything to do with the dreary place that +patrons concluded to give it over to the bad. Plati is a trifle more +cheerful. Three or four monks keep what used to be the prison there; +but they are strays from unknown orders, and live by herding a few +starving goats and cultivating snails for the market." +</p> + +<p> +"Have you been on either of them recently?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, on Plati." +</p> + +<p> +"When?" +</p> + +<p> +"Within the year." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you excite my curiosity. It is incredible that there can be two +such desolations in such close vicinity to yon famous capital. Turn and +row me around them." +</p> + +<p> +The captain was pleased to gratify his passenger, and stood by him +while the galley encircled Oxia, telling legends, and pointing out the +caves to which celebrated anchorites had lent their names. He gave in +full the story of Basil and Prusien, who quarrelled, and fought a duel +to the scandal of the Church; whereupon Constantine VIII., then +emperor, exiled them, the former to Oxia, the latter to Plati, where +their sole consolation the remainder of their lives was gazing at each +other from the mouths of their respective caverns. For some reason, +Plati, to which he next crossed, was of more interest to the Prince +than its sister isle. What a cruel exterior the prison at the north end +had! Wolves and bats might live in it, but men—impossible! He drew +back horrified when told circumstantially of the underground cells. +</p> + +<p> +While yet on the eastern side, the passenger said he would like to go +up to the summit. +</p> + +<p> +"There," he exclaimed, pointing to a part of the bluff which appeared +to offer a climb, "put me on that shelving rock. I think I can go up by +it." +</p> + +<p> +The small boat was lowered, and directly he set foot on the identical +spot which received him when, in the night fifty-six years before, he +made the ascent with the treasures of Hiram King of Tyre. +</p> + +<p> +Almost any other man would have given at least a thought to that +adventure; the slice out of some lives would have justified a tear; but +he was too intent thinking about the jewels and the sword of Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +His affected awkwardness in climbing amused the captain, watching him +from the deck, but at last he gained the top of the bluff. +</p> + +<p> +The plain there was the same field of sickly weeds and perishing vines, +with here and there a shrub, and yonder a stunted olive tree, covered +trunk and branches with edible snails. If it brought anything in the +market, the crop, singular only to the Western mind, was plenteous +enough to be profitable to its farmers. There too was the debris of the +tower. With some anxiety he went to the stone which the reader will +probably remember as having to be rolled away from the mouth of the +hiding-place. It had not been disturbed. These observations taken, he +descended the bluff, and was received aboard the galley. +</p> + +<p> +A very cautious man was the Prince of India. In commercial parlance, he +was out to cash a draft on the Plati branch of his quadruple bank. He +was not down to assist the captain of the galley to partnership with +him in the business. So, after completing the circuit of Plati, the +vessel bore away for Prinkipo and Halki, which Greek wealth and taste +had converted into dreamful Paradises. There it lay the night and next +day, while the easy-going passenger, out for air and rest, amused +himself making excursions to the convents and neighboring hills. +</p> + +<p> +The second night, a perfect calm prevailing, he took the small boat, +and went out on the sea drifting, having provided himself with wine and +water, the latter in a new gurglet bought for the trip. The captain +need not be uneasy if he were late returning, he said on departing. +Nilo was an excellent sailor, and had muscle and spirit to contend +against a blow. +</p> + +<p> +The tranquil environments of Prinkipo were enlivened by other parties +also drifting. Their singing was borne far along the starlit sea. Once +beyond sight and hearing, Nilo plied the oars diligently, bringing up +an hour or two after midnight at the shelving rock under the eastern +bluff of Plati. The way to the ruined tower was then clear. +</p> + +<p> +Precisely as at the first visit when burial was the object, the +concealing stone was pushed aside; after which the Prince entered the +narrow passage crawling on his hands and knees. He was anxious. If the +precious stones had been discovered and carried away, he would have to +extend the voyage to Jaffa in order to draw from the Jerusalem branch +of his bank. But the sword of Solomon—that was not in the power of man +to duplicate—its loss would be irreparable. +</p> + +<p> +The stones were mouldy, the passage dark, the progress slow. He had +literally to feel every inch in front of him, using his hands as a +caterpillar uses its antennae; but he did not complain—the +difficulties were the inducements which led him to choose the +hiding-place in the first instance. At length he went down a broken +step, and, rising to his knees, slipped his left hand along the face of +the wall until his fingers dropped into a crack between rocks. It was +the spot he sought; he knew it, and breathed easily. In murky +lamplight, with mallet and chisel—ah, how long ago!—he had worked a +shelf there, finishing it with an oblong pocket in the bottom. To mask +the hole was simple. Three or four easy-fitting blocks were removed, +and thrusting a hand in, he drew forth the sheepskin mantle of the +elder Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the darkness, he could not refrain from unrolling the +mildewed cover. The sword was safe! He drew the blade and shot it +sharply back into the scabbard, then kissed the ruby handle, thinking +again of the purchasing power there was in the relic which was yet more +than a relic. The leather of the water-gurglet, stiff as wood, +responded to a touch. The jewels were also safe, the great emerald with +the rest. He touched the bags, counting from one to nine inclusively. +Then remembering the ten times he had crawled into the passage to put +the treasures away, he began their removal, and kept at it until every +article was safely deposited in the boat. +</p> + +<p> +On the way back to the galley he made new packages, using his mantle as +a wrap for the sword, and the new gurglet for the bags of jewels. +</p> + +<p> +"I have had enough," he exclaimed to the captain, dropping wearily on +the deck about noon. "Take me to the city." After a moment of +reflection, he added: "Land me after nightfall." +</p> + +<p> +"We will reach the harbor before sundown." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, well! There is the Bosphorus—go to Buyukdere, and come back." +</p> + +<p> +"But, my Lord, the captain of the gate may decline to allow you to +pass." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince smiled, and rejoined, with a thought of the bags in the +gurglet thrown carelessly down by him: "Up with the anchor." +</p> + +<p> +The sailor's surmise was groundless. Disembarking about midnight, he +whispered his name to the captain at the gate of Blacherne, and, +leaving a soldan in the official palm, was admitted without +examination. On the street there was nothing curious in an old man +carrying a mantle under his arm, followed by a porter with a +half-filled gurglet on his shoulder. Finally, the adventure safely +accomplished, the Prince of India was home again, and in excellent +humor. +</p> + +<p> +One doubt assailed him—one only. He had just seen the height of +Candilli, an aerial wonder in a burst of moonlight, and straightway his +fancy had crowned it with a structure Indian in style, and of material +to shine afar delicate as snow against the black bosomed mountain +behind it. He was not a Greek to fear the Turks. Nay, in Turkish +protection there was for him a guaranty of peaceable ownership which he +could not see under Constantine. And as he was bringing now the +wherewith to realize his latest dream, he gave his imagination a +loosened rein. +</p> + +<p> +He built the house; he heard the tinkling of fountains in its courts, +and the echoes in the pillared recession of its halls; free of care, +happy once more, with Lael he walked in gardens where roses of Persia +exchanged perfumes with roses of Araby, and the daylong singing of +birds extended into noon of night; yet, after all, to the worn, weary, +droughted heart nothing was so soothing as the fancy which had been his +chief attendant from the gate of Blacherne—that he heard strangers +speaking to each other: "Have you seen the Palace of Lael?" "No, where +is it?" "On the crest of Candilli." The Palace of Lael! The name +confirmed itself sweeter and sweeter by repetition. And the doubt grew. +Should he build in the city or amidst the grove of Judas trees on the +crest of Candilli? +</p> + +<p> +Just as he arrived before his door, he glanced casually across the +street, and was surprised by observing light in Uel's house. It was +very unusual. He would put the treasure away, and go over and inquire +into the matter. Hardly was he past his own lintel when Syama met him. +The face of the faithful servant showed unwonted excitement, and, +casting himself at his master's feet, he embraced his knees, uttering +the hoarse unintelligible cries with which the dumb are wont to make +their suffering known. The Master felt a chill of fear—something had +happened—something terrible—but to whom? He pushed the poor man's +head back until he caught the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +Syama arose, took the Prince's hand, and led him out of the door, +across the street, and into Uel's house. The merchant, at sight of +them, rushed forward and hid his face in the master's breast, crying: +</p> + +<p> +"She is gone—lost!—The God of our fathers be with her!" +</p> + +<p> +"Who is gone? Who lost?" +</p> + +<p> +"Lael, Lael—our child—our Gul Bahar." +</p> + +<p> +The blood of the elder Jew flew to his heart, leaving him pale as a +dead man; yet such was his acquired control of himself, he asked +steadily: "Gone!—Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"We do not know. She has been snatched from us—that is all we know." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me of it—and quickly." +</p> + +<p> +The tone was imperious, and he pushed Uel from him. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! my friend—and my father's friend—I will tell you all. You are +powerful, and love her, and may help where I am helpless." Then by +piecemeal he dealt out the explanation. "This afternoon she took her +chair and went to the wall in front of the Bucoleon—sunset, and she +was not back. I saw Syama—she was not in your house. He and I set out +in search of her. She was seen on the wall—later she was seen to +descend the steps as if starting home—she was seen in the garden going +about on the terrace—she was seen coming out of the front gate of the +old palace. We traced her down the street—then she returned to the +garden, through the Hippodrome, and there she was last seen. I called +my friends in the market to my aid—hundreds are now looking for her." +</p> + +<p> +"She went out in her chair, did you say?" +</p> + +<p> +The steady voice of the Prince was in singular contrast with his +bloodless face. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Who carried it?" +</p> + +<p> +"The men we have long had." +</p> + +<p> +"Where are they?" +</p> + +<p> +"We sought for them—they cannot be found." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince kept his eyes on Uel's face. They were intensely, fiercely +bright. He was not in a rage, but thinking, if a man can be said to +think when his mind projects itself in a shower. Lael's disappearance +was not voluntary; she was in detention somewhere in the city. If the +purpose of the abduction were money, she would be held in scrupulous +safety, and a day or two would bring the demand; but if—he did not +finish the idea—it overpowered him. Pure steel in utmost flexion +breaks into pieces without warning; so with this man now. He threw both +hands up, and cried hoarsely: "Lend me, O God, of thy vengeance!" and +staggering blindly, he would have fallen but for Syama. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0418"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS +</h3> + +<p> +The Academy of Epicurus was by no means a trifle spun for vainglory in +the fertile fancy of Demedes; but a fact just as the Brotherhoods of +the City were facts, and much more notorious than many of them. +</p> + +<p> +Wiseacres are generally pessimistic. Academy of Epicurus indeed! For +once there was a great deal in a name. The class mentioned repeated it +sneeringly; it spoke to them, and loudly, of some philosophical +wickedness. +</p> + +<p> +Stories of the miraculous growth of the society were at first amusing; +then the announcement of its housing excited loud laughter; but when +its votaries attached the high sounding term <i>Temple</i> to their place of +meeting, the clergy and all the devoutly inclined looked sober. In +their view the word savored of outright paganism. Temple of the Academy +of Epicurus! Church had been better—Church was at least Christian. +</p> + +<p> +At length, in ease of the increasing interest, notice was +authoritatively issued of a Festival of Flowers by the Academicians, +their first public appearance, and great were the anticipations aroused +by the further advertisement that they would march from their Temple to +the Hippodrome. +</p> + +<p> +The festival took place the afternoon of the third day of the Prince of +India's voyage to Plati. More particularly, while that distinguished +foreigner on the deck of the galley was quietly sleeping off the +fatigue and wear of body and spirit consequent on the visit to the +desolate island, the philosophers were on parade with an immense quota +of Byzantines of both sexes in observation. About three thousand were +in the procession, and from head to foot it was a mass of flowers. +</p> + +<p> +The extravaganza deserved the applause it drew. Some of its features +nevertheless were doubtfully regarded. Between the sections into which +the column was divided there marched small groups, apparently officers, +clad in gowns and vestments, carrying insignia and smoking tripods well +known to have belonged to various priesthoods of mythologic fame. When +the cortege reached the Hippodrome every one in the galleries was +reminded of the glory the first Constantine gained from his merciless +forays upon those identical properties. +</p> + +<p> +In the next place, the motto of the society—Patience, Courage, +Judgment—was too frequently and ostentatiously exhibited not to +attract attention. The words, it was observed, were not merely on +banners lettered in gold, but illustrated by portable tableaux of +exquisite appositeness and beauty. They troubled the wiseacres; for +while they might mean a world of good, they might also stand for +several worlds of bad. Withal, however, the youthfulness of the +Academicians wrought the profoundest sensation upon the multitude of +spectators. The march was three times round the interior, affording +excellent opportunity to study the appearances; and the sober thinking, +whom the rarity and tastefulness of the display did not hoodwink, when +they discovered that much the greater number participating were +beardless lads, shook their heads while saying to each other, At the +rate these are going what is to become of the Empire? As if the +decadence were not already in progress, and they, the croakers, +responsible for it! +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the first round, upon the arrival of the sections in +front of the triple-headed bronze serpent, one of the wonders of the +Hippodrome then as now, the bearers of the tripods turned out, and set +them down, until at length the impious relic was partially veiled in +perfumed smoke, as was the wont in its better Delphian days. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing more shocking to the religionists could have been invented; +they united in denouncing the defiant indecency. Hundreds of persons, +not all of them venerable and frocked, were seen to rise and depart, +shaking the dust from their feet. In course of tile third circuit, the +tripods were coolly picked up and returned to their several places in +the procession. +</p> + +<p> +From a seat directly over the course, Sergius beheld the gay spectacle +from its earliest appearance through the portal of the Blues to its +exit by the portal of the Greens. [Footnote: The Blues and the +Greens—two celebrated factions of Constantinople. See Gibbon, vii. pp. +79-89. Four gates, each flanked with towers, gave entrance to the +Hippodrome from the city. The northwestern was called the gate of the +Blues; the northeastern of the Greens; the southeastern gate bore the +sullen title, "Gate of the Dead."—Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor.] His +interest, the reader will bear reminding, was peculiar. He had been +honored by a special invitation to become a member of the Academy—in +fact, there was a seat in the Temple at the moment reserved for him. He +had the great advantage, moreover, of exact knowledge of the objects of +the order. Godless itself, it had been organized to promote +godlessness. He had given much thought to it since Demedes unfolded the +scheme to him, and found it impossible to believe persons of sound +sense could undertake a sin so elaborate. If for any reason the State +and Church were unmindful of it, Heaven certainly could not be. +</p> + +<p> +Aside from the desire to satisfy himself of the strength of the +Academy, Sergius was drawn to the Hippodrome to learn, if possible, the +position Demedes held in it. His sympathy with the venerable Hegumen, +with whom mourning for the boy astray was incessant, and sometimes +pathetic as the Jewish king's, gradually became a grief for the +prodigal himself, and he revolved plans for his reformation. What +happiness could he one day lead the son to the father, and say: "Your +prayers and lamentations have been heard; see—God's kiss of peace on +his forehead!" +</p> + +<p> +And then in what he had seen of Demedes—what courage, dash, and +audacity—what efficiency—what store of resources! The last play of +his—attending the fete of the Princess Irene as a bear tender—who but +Demedes would have thought of such a role? Who else could have made +himself the hero of the occasion, with none to divide honors with him +except Joqard? And what a bold ready transition from bear tender to +captain in the boat race! Demedes writhing in the grip of Nilo over the +edge of the wall, death in the swish of waves beneath, had been an +object of pity tinged with contempt—Demedes winner of the prize at +Therapia was a very different person. +</p> + +<p> +This feeling for the Greek, it is to be said next, was dashed with a +lurking dread of him. If he had a design against Lael, what was there +to prevent him from attempting it? That he had such a design, Sergius +could not deny. How often he repeated the close of the note left on the +stool after the Fisherman's fete. "Thou mayst find the fan of the +Princess of India useful; with me it is embalmed in sentiment." He +shall write with a pen wondrous fine who makes the difference between +love and sentiment clear. Behind the fete, moreover, there was the +confession heard on the wall, illustrated by the story of the plague of +crime. Instead of fading out in the Russian's mind it had become better +understood—a consequence of the brightening process of residence in +the city. +</p> + +<p> +Twice the procession rounded the great curriculum. Twice Sergius had +opportunity to look for the Greek, but without avail. So were the +celebrants literally clothed in flowers that recognition of individuals +was almost impossible. The first time, he sought him in the body of +each passing section; the second time, he scanned the bearers of the +standards and symbols; the third time, he was successful. +</p> + +<p> +At the head of the parade, six or eight persons were moving on +horseback. It was singular Sergius had not looked for Demedes amongst +them, since the idea of him would have entitled the Greek to a chief +seat in the Temple and a leading place when in the eye of the public. +As it was, he could not repress an exclamation on making the discovery. +</p> + +<p> +Like his associates, Demedes was in armor <i>cap-a-pie</i>. He also carried +an unshod lance, a shield on arm, and a bow and quiver at his back; but +helmet, breastplate, shield, lance and bow were masked in flowers, and +only now and then a glint betrayed the underdress of polished steel. +The steed he bestrode was housed in cloth which dragged the ground; but +of the color of the cloth or its material not a word can be said, so +entirely was it covered with floral embroidery of diverse hues and +figures. +</p> + +<p> +The decoration contributed little of grace to man or beast; +nevertheless its richness was undeniable. To the spendthrifts in the +galleries the effect was indescribably attractive. They studied its +elaboration, conjecturing how many gardens along the Bosphorus, and out +in the Isles of the Princes, had been laid under contribution for the +accomplishment of the splendor. Thus in the saddle, Demedes could not +have been accused of diminutiveness; he appeared tall, even burly; +indeed, Sergius would never have recognized him had he not been going +with raised visor, and at the instant of passing turned his face up, +permitting it to be distinctly seen. +</p> + +<p> +The exclamation wrung from the monk was not merely because of his +finding the man; in sober truth, it was an unconventional expression +provoked by finding him in the place he occupied, and a quick jump to +the logical conclusion that the foremost person in the march was also +the chief priest—if such were the title—in the Academy. +</p> + +<p> +Thenceforward Sergius beheld little else of the show than Demedes. He +forgot the impiety of the honors to the bronze serpent. There is no +enigma to us like him who is broadly our antipodes in moral being, and +whether ours is the good or the bad nature does not affect the saying. +His feelings the while were strangely diverse. The election of the evil +genius to the first place in the insidious movement was well done for +the Academy; there would be no failure with him in control; but the +poor Hegumen! +</p> + +<p> +And now, the last circuit completed, the head of the bright array +approached the Gate of the Greens. There the horsemen drew out and +formed line on the right hand to permit the brethren to march past +them. The afternoon was going rapidly. The shadow of the building on +the west crept more noticeably across the carefully kept field. Still +Sergius retained his seat watchful of Demedes. He saw him signal the +riders to turn out—he saw the line form, and the sections begin to +march past it—then an incident occurred of no appreciable importance +at the moment, but replete with significancy a little later. +</p> + +<p> +A man appeared on the cornice above the Gate—the Grate on the interior +having a face resembling a very tall but shallow portico resting on +slender pillars—and commenced lowering himself as if he meant to +descend. The danger of the attempt drew all eyes to him. Demedes looked +up, and hastily rode through the column toward the spot where the +adventurer must alight. The spectators credited the young chief with a +generous intent to be of assistance; but agile as a cat, and master of +every nerve and muscle, the man gained one of the pillars and slid to +the ground. The galleries of the Hippodrome found voice immediately. +</p> + +<p> +While the acrobat hung from the cornice striving to get hold of the +pillar with his feet and legs, Sergius was wrestling with the question, +what could impel a fellow being to tempt Providence so rashly? If a +messenger with intelligence for some one in the procession, why not +wait for him outside? In short, the monk was a trifle vexed; but doubly +observant now, he saw the man hasten to Demedes, and Demedes bend low +in the saddle to receive a communication from him. The courier then +hurried away through the Gate, while the chief returned to his place; +but, instructed probably by some power of divination proceeding from +sympathy and often from suspicion, one of the many psychological +mysteries about which we keep promising ourselves a day of +enlightenment, Sergius observed a change in the latter. He was +restless, impatient, and somewhat too imperative in hastening the +retirement of the brethren. The message had obviously excited him. +</p> + +<p> +Now Sergius would have freely given the best of his earthly possessions +to have known at that moment the subject of the communication delivered +by a route so extraordinary; but leaving him to his conjectures, there +is no reason why the reader should not be more confidentially treated. +</p> + +<p> +"Sir," the messenger had whispered to Demedes, "she has left her +father's, and is coming this way." +</p> + +<p> +"How is she coming?" +</p> + +<p> +"In her sedan." +</p> + +<p> +"Who is with her?" +</p> + +<p> +"She is alone." +</p> + +<p> +"And her porters?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Bulgarians." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you. Go now—out by the Gate—to the keeper of the Imperial +Cistern. Tell him to await me under the wall in the Bucoleon garden +with my chair. He will understand. Come to the Temple tomorrow for your +salary." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0419"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR +</h3> + +<p> +The words between Demedes and his courier may have the effect of +additionally exciting the reader's curiosity; for better understanding, +therefore, we will take the liberty of carrying him from the Hippodrome +to the house of Uel the merchant. +</p> + +<p> +Much has been said about the Prince of India's affection for Lael; so +much indeed that there is danger of its being thought one sided. A +greater mistake could scarcely be. She returned his love as became a +daughter attentive, tender and obedient. Without knowing anything of +his past life except as it was indistinctly connected with her family, +she regarded him a hero and a sage whose devotion to her, multiform and +unwearied, was both a delight and an honor. She was very sympathetic, +and in everything of interest to him responded with interest. His word +in request or direction was law to her. Such in brief was the charming +mutuality between them. +</p> + +<p> +The night before he started for Plati, Lael sat with him on the roof. +He was happy of his resolution to stay with her. The moonlight was +ample for them. Looking up into his face, her chin in a palm, an elbow +on his knee, she listened while he talked of his plans, and was the +more interested because he made her understand she was the inspiration +of them all. +</p> + +<p> +"The time for my return home is up," he said, forgetting to specify +where the home was, "and I should have been off before this but for my +little girl—my Gul Bahar"—and he patted her head fondly. "I cannot go +and leave her; neither can I take her with me, for what would then +become of father Uel? When she was a child it might not have been so +hard for me to lose sight of her, but now—ah, have I not seen you grow +day by day taller, stronger, wiser, fairer of person, sweeter of soul, +until you are all I fancied you would be—until you are my ideal of a +young woman of our dear old Israel, the loveliness of Judah in your +eyes and on your cheek, and of a spirit to sit in the presence of the +Lord like one invited and welcome? Oh, I am very happy!" +</p> + +<p> +He kept silence awhile, indulging in retrospect. If she could have +followed him! Better probably that she could not. +</p> + +<p> +"It is a day of ease to me, dear, and I cannot see any unlawfulness in +extending the day into months, or a year, or years indefinitely, and in +making the most of it. Can you?" he asked, smiling at her. +</p> + +<p> +"I am but a handmaiden, and my master's eyes are mine," she replied. +</p> + +<p> +"That was well said—ever so well said," he returned. "The words would +have become Ruth speaking to her lord who was of the kindred of +Elimelech... Yes, I will stay with my Gul Bahar, my most precious one. +I am resolved. She loves me now, but can I not make her love me still +more—Oh, doubt not, doubt not! Her happiness shall be the measure of +her love for me. That is the right way, is it not?" +</p> + +<p> +"My father is never wrong," Lael answered, laughing. +</p> + +<p> +"Flatterer!" he exclaimed, pressing her cheeks between his hands.... +"Oh, I have it marked out already! In the dry lands of my country, I +have seen a farmer, wanting to lead water to a perishing field, go +digging along the ground, while the stream bubbled and leaped behind +him, tame and glad as a petted lamb. My heart is the field to be +watered—your love, O my pretty, pretty Gul Bahar, is the refreshing +stream, and I will lead it after me—never fear!... Listen, and I will +tell you how I will lead it. I will make you a Princess. These Greeks +are a proud race, but they shall bow to you; for we will live amongst +them, and you shall have things richer than their richest—trinkets of +gold and jewels, a palace, and a train of women equal to that of the +Queen who went visiting Solomon. They praise themselves when they look +at their buildings, but I tell you they know nothing of the art which +turns dreams into stones. The crags and stones have helped them to +their models. I will teach them better—to look higher—to find +vastness with grace and color in the sky. The dome of Sancta +Sophia—what is it in comparison with the Hindoo masterpieces copied +from the domes of God on the low-lying clouds in the distance opposite +the sun?" +</p> + +<p> +Then he told her of his palace in detail—of the fronts, no two of them +alike—the pillars, those of red granite, those of porphyry, and the +others of marble—windows which could not be glutted with light—arches +such as the Western Kaliphs transplanted from Damascus and Bagdad, in +form first seen in a print of the hoof of Borak. Then he described the +interior, courts, halls; passages, fountains: and when he had thus set +the structure before her, he said, softly smoothing her hair: +</p> + +<p> +"There now—you have it all—and verily, as Hiram, King of Tyre, helped +Solomon in his building, he shall help me also." +</p> + +<p> +"How can he help you?" she asked, shaking her finger at him. "He has +been dead this thousand years, and more." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, dear, to everybody but me," he answered, lightly, and asked in +turn: "How do you like the palace?" +</p> + +<p> +"It will be wonderful!" +</p> + +<p> +"I have named it. Would you like to hear the name?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is something pretty, I know." +</p> + +<p> +"The Palace of Lael." +</p> + +<p> +Her cry of delighted surprise, given with clasped hands and wide-open +eyes, would have been tenfold payment were he putting her in possession +of the finished house. +</p> + +<p> +The sensation over, he told her of his design for a galley. +</p> + +<p> +"We know how tiresome the town becomes. In winter, it is cheerless and +damp; in summer, it is hot, dusty and in every way trying. Weariness +will invade our palace—yes, dear, though we hide from it in the shady +heart of our Hall of Fountains. We can provide against everything but +the craving for change. Not being birds to fly, and unable to compel +the eagles to lend us their wings, the best resort is a galley; then +the sea is ours—the sea, wide, mysterious, crowded with marvels. I am +never so near the stars as there. When a wave is bearing me up, they +seem descending to meet me. Times have been when I thought the Pleiades +were about to drop into my palm.... Here is my galley. You see, child, +the palace is to be yours, the galley mine." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he described a trireme of a hundred and twenty oars, sixty on +a side, and ended, saying: "Yes, the peerless ship will be mine, but +every morning it shall be yours to say Take it here or there, until we +have seen every city by the sea; and there are enough of them, I +promise, to keep us going and going forever were it not that the +weariness which drove us from our palace will afterwhile drive us back +to it. How think you I have named my galley?" +</p> + +<p> +"Lael," she answered. +</p> + +<p> +"No, try again." +</p> + +<p> +"The world is too full of names for me. Tell me." +</p> + +<p> +"Gul Bahar," he returned. +</p> + +<p> +Again she clasped her hands, and gave the little cry in his ears so +pleasant. +</p> + +<p> +Certainly the Prince was pleading with effect, and laying up happiness +in great store to cheer him through unnumbered sterile years inevitably +before him after time had resolved this Lael into a faint and fading +memory, like the other Lael gone to dust under the stone at Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +The first half of the night was nearly spent when he arose to conduct +her across the street to Uel's house. The last words at the head of the +steps were these: "Now, dear, to-morrow I must go a journey on business +which will keep me three days and nights—possibly three weeks. Tell +father Uel what I say. Tell him also that I have ordered you to stay +indoors while I am absent, unless he can accompany you. Do you hear me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Three weeks!" she cried, protestingly. "Oh, it will be so lonesome! +Why may I not go with Syama?" +</p> + +<p> +"Syama would be a wisp of straw in the hands of a ruffian. He could not +even call for help." +</p> + +<p> +"Then why not with Nilo?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nilo is to attend me." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I see," she said, with a merry laugh. "It is the Greek, the Greek, +my persecutor! Why, he has not recovered from his fright yet; he has +deserted me." +</p> + +<p> +He answered gravely: "Do you remember a bear tender, one of the +amusements at the fisherman's fete?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, yes." +</p> + +<p> +"He was the Greek." +</p> + +<p> +"He!" she cried, astonished. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. I have it from Sergius the monk; and further, my child, he was +there in pursuit of you." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the monster! I threw him my fan!" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince knew by the tremulous voice she was wounded, and hastened to +say: "It was nothing. He deceived everybody but Sergius. I spoke of the +pestilent fellow because you wanted a reason for my keeping you close +at home. Perhaps I exacted too much of you. If I only knew certainly +how long I shall be detained! The three weeks will be hard—and it may +be Uel cannot go with you—his business is confining. So if you do +venture out, take your sedan—everybody knows to whom it belongs—and +the old Bulgarian porters. I have paid them enough to be faithful to +us. Are you listening, child?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes—and I am so glad!" +</p> + +<p> +He walked down the stairs half repenting the withdrawal of his +prohibition. +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," he said, crossing the street. "The confinement might be +hurtful. Only go seldom as you can; then be sure you return before +sunset, and that you take and keep the most public streets. That is all +now." +</p> + +<p> +"You are so good to me!" she said, putting her arm round his neck, and +kissing him. "I will try and stay in the house. Come back early. +Farewell." +</p> + +<p> +Next day about noon the Prince of India took the galley, and set out +for Plati. +</p> + +<p> +The day succeeding his departure was long with Lael. She occupied +herself with her governess, however, and did a number of little tasks +such as women always have in reserve for a more convenient season. +</p> + +<p> +The second day was much more tedious. The forenoon was her usual time +for recitations to the Prince; she also read with him then, and +practised talking some of the many languages of which he was master. +That part of the day she accordingly whiled through struggling with her +books. +</p> + +<p> +She was earnest in the attempt at study; but naturally, the +circumstances considered, she dropped into thinking of the palace and +galley. What a delightful glorious existence they prefigured! And it +was not a dream! Her father, the Prince of India, as she proudly and +affectionately called him, did not deal in idle promises, but did what +he said. And besides being a master of design in many branches of art, +he had an amazing faculty of describing the things he designed. That is +saying he had the mind's eye to see his conceptions precisely as they +would appear in finished state. So in talking his subjects always +seemed before him for portraiture. One can readily perceive the +capacity he must have had for making the unreal appear real to a +listener, and also how he could lead Lael, her hand in his, through a +house more princely than anything of the kind in Constantinople, and on +board a ship such as never sailed unless on a painted ocean—a house +like the Taj Mahal, a vessel like that which burned on the Cydnus. She +decided what notable city by the sea she wanted most to look at next, +and in naming them over, smiled at her own indecision. +</p> + +<p> +The giving herself to such fancies was exactly what the Prince +intended; only he was to be the central figure throughout. Whether in +the palace or on the ship, she was to think of him alone, and always as +the author of the splendor and the happiness. Of almost any other +person we would speak compassionately; but he had lived long enough to +know better than dream so childishly—long enough at least to know +there is a law for everything except the vagaries of a girl scarcely +sixteen. +</p> + +<p> +After all, however, if his scheme was purely selfish, perhaps it may be +pleasing to the philosophers who insist that relations cannot exist +without carrying along with them their own balance of compensations, to +hear how Lael filled the regal prospect set before her with visions in +which Sergius, young, fair, tall and beautiful, was the hero, and the +Prince only a paternal contributor. If the latter led her by the hand +here and there, Sergius went with them so close behind she could hear +his feet along the marble, and in the voyages she took, he was always a +passenger. +</p> + +<p> +The trial of the third day proved too much for the prisoner. The +weather was delightfully clear and warm, and in the afternoon she fell +to thinking of the promenade on the wall by the Bucoleon, and of the +waftures over the Sea from the Asian Olympus. They were sweet in her +remembrance, and the longing for them was stronger of a hope the +presence of which she scarcely admitted to herself—a hope of meeting +Sergius. She wanted to ask him if the bear-tender at the fete could +have been the Greek. Often as she thought of that odious creature with +her fan, she blushed, and feared Sergius might seriously misunderstand +her. +</p> + +<p> +About three o'clock she ordered her chair brought to father Uel's door +at exactly four, having first dutifully run over the conditions the +Prince had imposed upon her. Uel was too busy to be her escort. Syama, +if he went, would be no protection; but she would return early. To be +certain, she made a calculation. It would take about half an hour to +get to the wall; the sun would set soon after seven; by starting home +at six she could have fully an hour and a half for the airing, which +meant a possible hour and a half with Sergius. +</p> + +<p> +At four o'clock the sedan was set down before the merchant's house, +and, for a reason presently apparent, the reader to whom vehicles of +the kind are unfamiliar is advised to acquaint himself somewhat +thoroughly with them. In idea, as heretofore observed, this one was a +box constructed with a seat for a single passenger; a door in front +allowed exit and entrance; besides the window in the door, there was a +smaller opening on each side. For portage, it was affixed centrally and +in an upright position to two long poles; these, a porter in front and +another behind grasped at the ends, easing the burden by straps passed +over the shoulders. The box was high enough for the passenger to stand +in it. +</p> + +<p> +Lest this plain description should impose an erroneous idea of the +appearance of the carriage, we again advert to its upholstery in +silk-velvet orange-tinted; to the cushions covering the seat; to the +lace curtaining the windows in a manner to permit view from within +while screening the occupant from obtrusive eyes without; and to the +elaborate decoration of the exterior, literally a mosaic of +vari-colored woods, mother-of-pearl and gold, the latter in lines and +flourishes. In fine, to such a pitch of gorgeousness had the Prince +designed the chair, intending the public should receive it as an +attestation of his love for the child to whom it was specially set +apart, that it became a notoriety and avouched its ownership everywhere +in the city. +</p> + +<p> +The reader would do well in the next place to give a glance at the men +who brought the chair to the door—two burly fellows, broad-faced, +shock-headed, small-eyed, sandalled, clad in semi-turbans, gray shirts, +and gray trousers immensely bagged behind—professional porters; for +the service demanded skill. A look by one accustomed to the compound of +races hived in Constantinople would have determined them Bulgarians in +extraction, and subjects of the Sultan by right of recent conquest. +They had settled upon the Prince of India in a kind of retainership. As +the chair belonged to Lael, from long employment as carriers they +belonged to the chair. Their patron dealt very liberally with them, and +for that reason had confidence in their honesty and faithfulness. That +they should have pride in the service, he dressed them in a livery. On +this occasion, however, they presented themselves in every-day +costume—a circumstance which would not have escaped the Prince, or +Uel, or Syama. +</p> + +<p> +The only witness of the departure was the governess, who came out and +affectionately settled her charge in the chair, and heard her name the +streets which the Bulgarians were to pursue, all of them amongst the +most frequented of the city. Gazing at her through the window the +moment the chair was raised, she thought Lael never appeared lovelier +and was herself pleased and lulled with the words she received at +parting: +</p> + +<p> +"I will be home before sunset." +</p> + +<p> +The carriers in going followed instructions, except that upon arrival +at the Hippodrome, observing it already in possession of a concourse of +people waiting for the Epicureans, they passed around the enormous +pile, and entered the imperial gardens by a gate north of Sancta Sophia. +</p> + +<p> +Lael found the promenade thronged with habitues, and falling into the +current moving toward Point Serail, she permitted her chair to become +part of it; after which she was borne backward and forward from the +Serail to the Port of Julian, stopping occasionally to gaze at the +Isles of the Princes seemingly afloat and drifting through the purple +haze of the distance. +</p> + +<p> +Where, she persisted in asking herself, is Sergius? Lest he might pass +unobserved, she kept the curtains of all the windows aside, and every +long gown and tall hat she beheld set her heart to fluttering. Her +eagerness to meet the monk at length absorbed her. +</p> + +<p> +The sun marked five o'clock—then half after five—then, in more rapid +declension, six, and still she went pendulously to and fro along the +wall—six o'clock, the hour for starting home; but she had not seen +Sergius. On land the shadows were lengthening rapidly; over the sea, +the brightness was dulling, and the air perceptibly freshening. She +awoke finally to the passage of time, and giving up the hope which had +been holding her to the promenade, reluctantly bade the carriers take +her home. "Shall we go by the streets we came?" the forward man asked, +respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," she returned. +</p> + +<p> +Then, as he closed the door, she was startled by noticing the promenade +almost deserted; the going and coming were no longer in two decided +currents; groups had given place to individual loiterers. These things +she noticed, but not the glance the porters threw to each other +telegraphic of some understanding between them. +</p> + +<p> +At the foot of the stairs descending the wall she rapped on the front +window. +</p> + +<p> +"Make haste," she said, to the leading man; "make haste, and take the +nearest way." +</p> + +<p> +This, it will be perceived, left him to choose the route in return, and +he halted long enough to again telegraph his companion by look and nod. +</p> + +<p> +Between the eastern front of the Bucoleon and the sea-wall the entire +space was a garden. From the wall the ascent to the considerable +plateau crowned by the famous buildings was made easy by four graceful +terraces, irregular in width, and provided with zigzag roads securely +paved. +</p> + +<p> +Roses and lilies were not the only products of the terraces; vines and +trees of delicate leafage and limited growth flourished upon them in +artistic arrangement. Here and there were statues and lofty pillars, +and fountains in the open, and fountains under tasteful pavilions, +planted advantageously at the angles. Except where the trees and +shrubbery formed groups dense enough to serve as obstructions, the wall +commanded the whole slope. Time was when all this loveliness was +jealously guarded for the lords and ladies of the court; but when +Blacherne became the Very High Residence the Bucoleon lapsed to the +public. His Majesty maintained it; the people enjoyed it. +</p> + +<p> +Following the zigzags, the carriers mounted two of the terraces without +meeting a soul. The garden was deserted. Hastening on, they turned the +Y at the beginning of the third terrace. A hundred or more yards along +the latter there was a copse of oleander and luxuriant filbert bushes +over-ridden by fig trees. As the sedan drew near this obstruction, its +bearers flung quick glances above and below them, and along the wall, +and descrying another sedan off a little distance but descending toward +them, they quickened their pace as if to pass the copse first. In the +midst of it, at the exact point where the view from every direction was +cut off, the man in the rear stumbled, struggled to recover himself, +then fell flat. His ends of the poles struck the pavement with a +crash—the chair toppled backward—Lael screamed. The leader slipped +the strap from his shoulder, and righted the carriage by letting it go +to the ground, floor down. He then opened the door. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not be scared," he said to Lael, whose impulse was to scramble out. +"Keep your seat—my comrade has had a fall—that is nothing—keep your +seat. I will get him up, and we will be going on in a minute." +</p> + +<p> +Lael became calm. +</p> + +<p> +The man walked briskly around, and assisted his partner to his feet. +There was a hurried consultation between them, of which the passenger +heard only the voices. Presently they both came to the door, looking +much mortified. +</p> + +<p> +"The accident is more than I thought," the leader said, humbly. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the chill of the first fear was over with Lael, and she +asked: "Can we go on?" +</p> + +<p> +"If the Princess can walk—yes." +</p> + +<p> +She turned pale. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it? Why must I walk?" +</p> + +<p> +"Our right-hand pole is broken, and we have nothing to tie it with." +</p> + +<p> +And the other man added: "If we only had a rope!" +</p> + +<p> +Now the mishap was not uncommon, and remembering the fact, Lael grew +cooler, and bethought herself of the silken scarf about her waist. To +take it off was the work of a moment. +</p> + +<p> +"Here," she said, rather pleased at her presence of mind; "you can make +a rope of this." +</p> + +<p> +They took the scarf, and busied themselves, she thought, trying to +bandage the fractured shaft. Again they stood before the door. +</p> + +<p> +"We have done the best we can. The pole will hold the chair, but not +with the Princess. She must walk—there is nothing else for her." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the assistant interposed a suggestion: "One of us can go for +another chair, and overtake the Princess before she reaches the gate." +</p> + +<p> +This was plausible, and Lael stepped forth. She sought the sun first; +the palace hid it, yet she was cheered by its last rays redly +enlivening the heights of Scutari across the Bosphorus, and felicitated +herself thinking it still possible to get home before the night was +completely fallen. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, one of you may seek another"— +</p> + +<p> +That instant the sedan her porters had descried before they entered the +copse caught her eyes. Doubt, fear, suspicion vanished; her face +brightened: "A chair! A chair!—and no one in it!" she cried, with the +vivacity of a child. "Bring it here, and let us be gone." +</p> + +<p> +The carriage so heartily welcomed was of the ordinary class, and the +carriers were poorly clad, hard-featured men, but stout and well +trained. They came at call. +</p> + +<p> +"Where are you going?" +</p> + +<p> +"To the wall." +</p> + +<p> +"Are you engaged?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, we hoped to find some one belated there." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you know Uel the merchant?" +</p> + +<p> +"We have heard of him. He has a stall in the market, and deals in +diamonds." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you know where his house is?" +</p> + +<p> +"On the street from St. Peter's Gate, under the church by the old +cistern." +</p> + +<p> +"We have a passenger here, his daughter, and want you to carry her +home. One of our poles is broken." +</p> + +<p> +"Will she pay us our price?" +</p> + +<p> +"How much do you want?" +</p> + +<p> +Here Lael interposed: "Stand not on the price. My father will pay +whatever they demand." +</p> + +<p> +The Bulgarians seemed to consider a moment. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the best we can do," the leader said. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, the very best," the other returned. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the first one went to the new sedan, and opened the door. "If +the Princess will take seat," he said, respectfully, "we will pick up, +and follow close after her." +</p> + +<p> +Lael stepped in, saying as the door closed upon her: "Make haste, for +the night is near." +</p> + +<p> +The strangers without further ado faced about, and started up the road. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait, wait," she heard her old leader call out. +</p> + +<p> +There was a silence during which she imagined the Bulgarians were +adjusting the straps upon their shoulders; then there came a quick: +"Now go, and hurry, or we will pass you." +</p> + +<p> +These were the last words she heard from them, for the new men put +themselves in motion. She missed the cushions of her own carriage, but +was content—she was returning home, and going fast. This latter she +judged by the slide and shuffle of the loose-sandalled feet under her, +and the responsive springing of the poles. +</p> + +<p> +The reaction of spirit which overtook her was simply the swing of +nature back to its normal lightness. She ceased thinking of the +accident, except as an excuse for the delay to which she had been +subjected. She was glad the Prince's old retainer had escaped without +injury. There was no window back through which she could look, yet she +fancied she heard the feet of the faithful Bulgarians; they said +nothing, therefore everything was proceeding well. Now and then she +peered out through the side windows to notice the deepening of the +shades of evening. Once a temporary darkness filled the narrow box, but +it gave her no uneasiness—the men were passing out of the garden +through a covered gate. Now they were in a street, and the travelling +plain. +</p> + +<p> +Thus assured and tranquil, maiden-like, she again fell to thinking of +Sergius. Where could he have been? What kept him from the promenade? He +might have known she would be there. Was the Hegumen so exacting? Old +people are always forgetting they cannot make young people old like +themselves; and it was so inconvenient, especially now she wanted to +hear of the bear tender. Then she adverted to the monk more directly. +How tall he was! How noble and good of face! And his religion—she +wished ever so quietly that he could be brought over to the Judean +faith—she wished it, but did not ask herself why. To say truth, there +was a great deal more feeling in undertone, as it were, touching these +points than thought; and while she kept it going, the carriers forgot +not to be swift, nor did the night tarry. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly there was an awakening. From twilight deeply shaded, she +passed into utter darkness. While, with her face to a window, she tried +to see where she was and make out what had happened, the chair stopped, +and next moment was let drop to the ground. The jar and the blank +blackness about renewed her fears, and she called out: +</p> + +<p> +"What is the matter? Where are we? This is not my father Uel's." +</p> + +<p> +And what time an answer should have been forthcoming had there been +good faith and honesty in the situation, she heard a rush of feet which +had every likeness to a precipitate flight, and then a banging noise, +like the slamming to of a ponderous door. +</p> + +<p> +She had time to think of the wisdom of her father, the Prince of India, +and of her own wilfulness—time to think of the Greek—time to call +once on Sergius—then a flutter of consciousness—an agony of +fright—and it was as if she died. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0420"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME +</h3> + +<p> +A genius thoroughly wicked—such was Demedes. +</p> + +<p> +Quick to see the disgust the young men of Constantinople had fallen +into for the disputes their elders were indulging about the Churches, +he proposed that they should discard religion, and reinstate +philosophy; and at their request he formulated the following: +</p> + +<p> +"Nature is the lawgiver; the happiness of man is the primary object of +Nature: hence for youth, Pleasure; for old age, Repentance and Piety, +the life hereafter being a respectable conjecture." +</p> + +<p> +The principles thus tersely stated were eagerly adopted, and going +forward with his scheme, it may be said the Academy was his design, and +its organization his work. In recognition of his superior abilities, +the grateful Academicians elected him their High Priest. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen how the public received the motto of the society. +Patience, Courage, Judgment looked fair and disclosed nothing wrong; +but there was an important reservation to it really the only secret +observed. This was the motto in full, known only to the +initiated—Patience, Courage, Judgment <i>in the pursuit of Pleasure</i>. +</p> + +<p> +From the hour of his installation as High Priest, Demedes was consumed +by an ambition to illustrate the motto in its entirety, by doing +something which should develop the three virtues in connection with +unheard of daring and originality. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be added here that to his own fortune, he had now the treasury +of the Academy to draw upon, and it was full. In other words, he had +ample means to carry out any project his <i>judgment</i> might approve. +</p> + +<p> +He pondered the matter long. One day Lael chanced to fall under his +observation. She was beautiful and the town talk. Here, he thought, was +a subject worth studying, and speedily two mysteries presented +themselves to him: Who was the Prince of India? And what was her true +relationship to the Prince? +</p> + +<p> +We pass over his resorts in unravelling the mysteries; they were many +and cunning, and thoroughly tried the first virtue of the Academical +motto; still the sum of his finding with respect to the Prince was a +mere theory—he was a Jew and rich—beyond this Demedes took nothing +for his pains. +</p> + +<p> +He proceeded next to investigate Lael. She too was of Jewish origin, +but unlike other Jewesses, wonderful to say, she had two fathers, the +diamond merchant and the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing better could be asked—so his judgment, the third virtue of the +motto, decreed. In Byzantine opinion, Jews were socially outside decent +regard. In brief, if he should pursue the girl to her ruin, there was +little to fear from an appeal by either of her fathers to the +authorities. Exile might be the extremest penalty of discovery. +</p> + +<p> +He began operations by putting into circulation the calumny, too +infamous for repetition, with which we have seen him attempt to poison +Sergius. Robbing the victim of character would deprive her of sympathy, +and that, in the event of failure, would be a half defence for himself +with the public. +</p> + +<p> +He gave himself next to finding what to do with the little Princess, as +he termed her. All his schemes respecting her fell short in that they +lacked originality. At last the story of the Plague of Crime, stumbled +on in the library of the St. James', furnished a suggestion novel, if +not original, and he accepted it. +</p> + +<p> +Proceeding systematically, he first examined the cistern, paddling +through it in a boat with a flambeau at the bow. He sounded the depth +of the water, counted the pillars, and measured the spaces between +them; he tested the purity of the air; and when the reconnoissance was +through, he laughed at the simplicity of the idea, and embodied his +decision in a saying eminently becoming his philosophic character—the +best of every new thing is that it was once old. +</p> + +<p> +Next he reduced the affair to its elements. He must steal her—such was +the deed in simplest term—and he must have assistants, but prudence +whispered just as few of them as possible. He commenced a list, heading +it with the keeper of the cistern, whom he found poor, necessitous, and +anxious to better his condition. Upon a payment received, that worthy +became warmly interested, and surprised his employer with suggestions +of practical utility. +</p> + +<p> +Coming then to the abduction, he undertook a study of her daily life, +hoping it would disclose something available. A second name was +thereupon entered in his list of accomplices. +</p> + +<p> +One day a beggar with sore eyes and a foot swollen with +elephantiasis—an awful object to sight—set a stool in an angle of the +street a few doors from Uel's house; and thenceforward the girl's every +appearance was communicated to Demedes, who never forgot the great jump +of heart with which he heard of the gorgeous chair presented her by the +Prince, and of the visit she forthwith made to the wall of the Bucoleon. +</p> + +<p> +Soon as he satisfied himself that the Bulgarians were in the Prince's +pay, he sounded them. They too were willing to permit him to make them +comfortable the remainder of their days, especially as, after the +betrayal asked of them, they had only to take boat to the Turkish side +of the Bosphorus, beyond pursuit and demand. His list of assistants was +then increased to four. +</p> + +<p> +Now indeed the game seemed secure, and he prepared for the hour which +was to bring the Jewess to him. +</p> + +<p> +The keeper of the cistern was the solitary occupant of a house built +round a small court from which a flight of stone steps admitted to the +darkened water. He had a felicitous turn for mechanics, and undertook +the building of a raft with commodious rooms on it. Demedes went with +him to select a place of anchorage, and afterward planned the structure +to fit between four of the pillars in form thus: +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration] +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the design on paper, Demedes smiled—it was so like a cross; the +part in lines being the landing, and the rest a room divisible at +pleasure into three rooms. A boat was provided for communication, and +to keep it hid from visitors, a cord was fixed to a pillar off in the +darkness beyond ken, helped though it might be by torches; so standing +on the stone steps, one could draw the vessel to and fro, exactly as a +flag is hoisted or lowered on a staff. +</p> + +<p> +The work took a long time, but was at last finished. The High Priest of +the Epicureans came meantime to have something akin to tender feeling +for his intended victim. He indulged many florid dreams of when she +should grace his bower in the Imperial Cistern; and as the time of her +detention might peradventure extend into months, he vowed to enrich the +bower until the most wilful spirit would settle into contentment. +</p> + +<p> +Neither the money nor the time spent in this part of the preparation +was begrudged; on the contrary, Demedes took delight in the occupation; +it was exercise for ingenuity, taste, and judgment, always a pleasure +to such as possess the qualities. In fact, the whole way through he +likened himself to a bird building a nest for its mate. +</p> + +<p> +After all, however, the part of the project most troublesome of +arrangement by the schemer, was getting the Princess into the cistern +keeper's house—that is, without noise, scuffle, witnesses, or a clew +left behind. To this he gave more hours of reflection than to the rest +altogether. The method we have seen executed was decided upon when he +arrived at two conclusions; that the attempt was most likely to succeed +in the garden of the Bucoleon, and that the Princess must be lured from +her chair into another less conspicuous and not so well known. Greatly +to his regret, but of necessity, he then saw himself compelled to +increase his list of accessories to six. Yet he derived peace +remembering none of them, with exception of the keeper, knew aught of +the affair beyond their immediate connection with it. The porters, for +instance, who dropped the unfortunate and fled, leaving her in the +sedan to intents dead, had not the slightest idea of what was to become +of her afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +The conjunctions needful to success in the enterprise were numerous; +yet the Greek accepted the waiting they put him to as a trial of the +Patience to which the motto pledged him. He believed in being ready. +When the house was built and furnished, he drilled the Bulgarians with +such particularity that the scene in the garden may be said to have +been literally to order. Probably the nearest approach to the mythical +sixth sense is the power of casting one's mind forward to a coming +event, and arranging its occurrence; and whether some have it a gift of +nature, while others derive it from cultivation, this much is +certain—without it, no man will ever create anything originally. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if the reader pleases, Demedes was too liberally endowed with the +faculty, trait or sense of which we have just spoken to permit the +sedan to be broken; such an accident would have been very inconvenient +at the critical moment succeeding the exchange of chairs. The prompter +ever at the elbow of a bad man instructed him that, aside from what the +Prince of India could not do, it was in his power to arouse the city, +and set it going hue and cry; and then the carriage, rich, glittering, +and known to so many, would draw pursuit, like a flaming torch at +night. So it occurred to Demedes, the main object being to conceal the +going to the cistern keeper's, why not use the sedan to deceive the +pursuers? He scored the idea with an exultant laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Returning now to the narrative of the enactment, directly the strange +porters moved out of the copse with their unsuspecting passenger, the +Bulgarians slung the poles to their shoulders, and followed up the +zigzag to the Y of the fourth terrace; there they turned, and retraced +their steps to the promenade; whence, after reaching Point Serail, they +doubled on their track, descended the wall, traversed the garden, and, +passing the gate by which they came, paraded their empty burden around +the Hippodrome and down a thronged street. And again doubling, they +returned to the wall, and finding it forsaken, and the night having +fallen, they abandoned the chair at a spot where the water on the +seaward side was deep and favorable for whatever violence theory might +require. In the course of this progress they were met by numberless +people, many of whom stopped to observe the gay turnout, doubting not +that the little Princess was within directing its movements. Finally, +their task thoroughly done, the Bulgarians hurried to where a boat was +in readiness, and crossing to Scutari, lost themselves in the growing +dominions of their rightful Lord, the Sultan. +</p> + +<p> +One casually reading this silhouette of a crime in act is likely to +rest here, thinking there was nothing more possible of doing either to +forward the deed or facilitate the escape of those engaged in it; yet +Demedes was not content. There were who had heard him talk of the +girl—who knew she had been much in his thought—to whom he had +furnished ground for suspecting him of following her with evil +intent—Sergius amongst others. In a word, he saw a necessity for +averting attention from himself in the connection. Here also his wit +was willing and helpful. The moment the myrmidon dropped from the +portico with news that the Princess was out in her chair unattended, he +decided she was proceeding to the wall. +</p> + +<p> +"The gods are mindful of me!" he said, his blood leaping quick. "Now is +the time ripe, and the opportunity come!" +</p> + +<p> +Looking at the sun, he fixed the hour, and reflected: +</p> + +<p> +"Five o'clock—she is on the wall. Six o'clock—she is still there. +Half after six—making up her mind to go home. Oh, but the air will be +sweet, and the sea lovely! Seven o'clock—she gives order, and the +Bulgarians signal my men on the fourth terrace. Pray Heaven the Russian +keep to his prayers or stay hearkening for my father's bell!... Here am +I seen of these thousands. Later on—about the time she forsakes the +wall—my presence shall be notorious along the streets from the Temple +to Blacherne. Then what if the monk talks? May the fiend pave his path +with stumbling-blocks and breaknecks! The city will not discredit its +own eyes." +</p> + +<p> +The Epicureans, returning from the Hippodrome, reached their Temple +about half after five o'clock. The dispersal occupied another hour; +shortly after, the regalia having been put away, and the tripods and +banners stored, Demedes called to his mounted assistants: +</p> + +<p> +"My brothers, we have worked hard, but the sowing has been bounteous +and well done. Philosophy in flowers, religion in sackcloth—that is +the comparison we have given the city. There will be no end to our +harvest. To-morrow our doors open to stay open. To-day I have one +further service for you. To your horses and ride with me to the gate of +Blacherne. We may meet the Emperor." +</p> + +<p> +They answered him shouting: "Live the Emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," cried Demedes, when the cheering was over, "by this time he +should be tired of the priests; and what is that but the change of +heart needful to an Epicurean?" +</p> + +<p> +Laughing and joking, they mounted, eight of them, in flowers as when in +the Hippodrome. The sun was going down, but the streets were yet bright +with day. It was the hour when balconies overhanging the narrow +thoroughfares were crowded with women and children, and the doors beset +with servants—the hour Byzantine gossips were abroad filling and +unfilling their budgets. How the wooden houses trembled while the +cavalcade went galloping by! What thousands of bright eyes peered down +upon the cavaliers, attracted by the shouting and laughter! Now and +then some person would be a little late in attempting to cross before +him; then with what grace Demedes would spur after him, his bow and +bowstring for whip! And how the spectators shrieked with delight when +he overtook the culprit, and wore the flowers out flogging him! And +when a balcony was low, and illuminated with a face fairer than common, +how the gallant young riders plucked roses from their helms and +shields, and tossed them in shouting: +</p> + +<p> +"Largesse, Lady—largesse of thy smiles!" +</p> + +<p> +"Look again! Another rose for another look!" +</p> + +<p> +"From the brave to the fair!" +</p> + +<p> +Thus to the gate of Blacherne. There they drew up, and saluted the +officer of the guard, and cheered: "Live Constantine! To the good +Emperor, long life!" +</p> + +<p> +All the way Demedes rode with lifted visor. Returning through the +twilight, earlier in the close streets than in the open, he led his +company by the houses of Uel and the Prince of India. Something might +be learned of what was going on with the little Princess by what was +going on there; and the many persons he saw in the street signified +alarm and commotion. +</p> + +<p> +"Ho, here!" he shouted, drawing rein. "What does this mean? Somebody +dead or dying?" +</p> + +<p> +"Uel, the master of the house, is afraid for his child. She should have +been home before sundown. He is sending friends out to look for her." +</p> + +<p> +There was a whole story in the answer, and the conspirator repressed a +cry of triumph, and rode on. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0421"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXI +</h3> + +<h3> +SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON +</h3> + +<p> +Syama, always thoughtful, took care of the treasure brought from Plati, +and standing by the door watched his master through the night, +wondering what the outcome of his agitation would be. +</p> + +<p> +It were useless attempting to describe how the gloomy soul of the Jew +exercised itself. His now ungovernable passions ran riot within him. He +who had seen so much of life, who had made history as the loomsmen of +Bokhara make carpets, who dealt with kings and kingdoms, and the +superlatives of every kind canonized in the human imagination—he to be +so demeaned! Yet it was not the disrespect to himself personally that +did the keenest stinging, nor even the enmity of Heaven denying him the +love permitted every other creature, bird, beast, crawling reptile, +monster of the sea—these were as the ruffling of the weather feathers +of a fighting eagle, compared with the torture he endured from +consciousness of impotency to punish the wrongdoers as he would like to +punish them. +</p> + +<p> +That Lael was immured somewhere in the city, he doubted not; and he +would find her, for what door could stand shut against knocking by a +hand with money in it? But might it not be too late? The flower he +could recover, but the fragrance and purity of bloom—what of them? How +his breast enlarged and shrank under the electric touch of that idea! +The devil who did the deed might escape him, for hell was vast and +deep; yet the city remained, even the Byzantium ancient of days like +himself, and he would hold it a hostage for the safe return of his Gul +Bahar. +</p> + +<p> +All the night long he walked without pause; it seemed unending to him; +at length the faintest rosy tint, a reflection from morning's palette +of splendor, lodged on the glass of his eastern window, and woke him +from his misery. At the door he found Syama. +</p> + +<p> +"Syama," he said, kindly, "bring me the little case which has in it my +choicest drugs." +</p> + +<p> +It was brought him, an oblong gold box encrusted with brilliants. +Opening it, he found a spatula of fine silver on a crystal lid, and +under the lid, in compartments, pellets differently colored, one of +which he selected, and dropped in his throat. +</p> + +<p> +"There, put it back," he said, returning the box to Syama, who went out +with it. Looking then at the brightness brighter growing through the +window, "Welcome," he continued, speaking to the day as it were a +person: "Thou wert slow coming, yet welcome. I am ready for this new +labor imposed on me, and shall not rest, or sleep, or hunger, or thirst +until it is done. Thou shalt see I have not lived fourteen centuries +for nothing; that in a hunt for vengeance I have not lost my cunning. I +will give them till thou hast twice run thy course; then, if they bring +her not, they will find the God they worship once more the Lord God of +Israel." +</p> + +<p> +Syama returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art a faithful man, Syama, and I love thee. Get me a cup of the +Cipango leaves—no bread, the cup alone." +</p> + +<p> +While waiting, the Prince continued his silent walk; but when the tea +was brought, he said: "Good! It shall go after the meat of the +poppies"—adding to Syama—"While I drink, do thou seek Uel, and bring +him to me." +</p> + +<p> +When the son of Jahdai entered, the Prince looked at him a moment, and +asked: "Hast thou word of her?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not a word, not one word," and with the reply the merchant's face sunk +until the chin rested on his breast. The hopelessness observable in the +voice, joined to the signs of suffering apparent in the manner, was +irresistibly touching. Another instant, then the elder advanced to him, +and took his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"We are brothers," he said, with exceeding gentleness. "She was our +child—ours—thine, yet mine. She loved us both. We loved her, thou not +more, I not less. She went not willingly from us; we know that much, +because we know she loved us, me not less, thee not more. A pitfall was +digged for her. Let us find it. She is calling for us from the +bottom—I hear her—now thy name, now mine—and there is no time to be +lost. Wilt thou do as I say?" +</p> + +<p> +"You are strong, and I weak; be it entirely as you say," Uel answered, +without looking up, for there were tears in his eyes, and a great groan +growing in his throat. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, see thou now. We will find the child, be the pit ever so deep; +but—it is well bethinking—we may not find her the undefiled she was, +or we may find her dead. I believe she had a spirit to prefer death to +dishonor—but dead or dishonored, wilt thou merge thy interest in her +into mine?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"I alone am to decide then what best becomes us to do. Is it agreed?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—such faith have I in you." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, but understand thee, son of Jahdai! I speak not merely as a +father, but as an Israelite." +</p> + +<p> +Uel looked at the speaker's face, and was startled. The calm voice, low +and evenly toned, to which he had been listening, had not prepared him +for the livid pursing he saw under the eyes, and the pupils lurid and +unnaturally dilated—effects we know, good reader, of the meat of the +poppies assisted by the friendly Cipango leaves. Yet the merchant +replied, strong in the other's strength: "Am not I, too, an +Israelite?—Only do not take her from me." +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not. Now, son of Jahdai, let us to work. Let us first find our +pretty child." +</p> + +<p> +Again Uel was astonished. The countenance was bright and beaming with +confidence. A world of energy seemed to have taken possession of the +man. He looked inspired—looked as if a tap of his finger could fetch +the extremities of the continent rolling like a carpet to his feet. +</p> + +<p> +"Go now, my brother Uel, and bring hither all the clerks in the market." +</p> + +<p> +"All of them—all? Consider the expense." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, son of Jahdai, be thou a true Israelite. In trade, this for that, +consider the profits and stand on them closely, getting all thou canst. +But here is no trade—here is honor—our honor—thine, mine. Shall a +Christian beat us, and wear the virtue of our daughter as it were a +leman's favor? No, by Abraham—by the mother of Israel"—a returning +surge of passion blackened his face again, and quickened his +speech—"by Rachael and Sarah, and all the God-loving asleep in Hebron, +in this cause our money shall flow like water—even as the Euphrates in +swollen tide goes bellowing to the sea, it shall flow. I will fill the +mouths and eyes as well as the pockets of this Byzantium with it, until +there shall not be a dune on the beach, a cranny in the wall, a rathole +in its accursed seven hills unexamined. Yes, the say is mine—so thou +didst agree—deny it not! Bid the clerks come, and quickly—only see to +it that each brings his writing material, and a piece of paper large as +his two hands. This house for their assemblage. Haste. Time flies—and +from the pit, out of the shadows in the bottom of the pit, I hear the +voice of Lael calling now to thee, now to me." +</p> + +<p> +Uel was not deficient in strength of purpose, nor for that matter in +judgment; he went and in haste; and the clerks flocked to the Prince, +and wrote at his dictation. Before half the breakfasts in the city were +eaten, vacant places at the church doors, the cheeks of all the gates, +and the fronts of houses blazed with handbills, each with a reader +before it proclaiming to listening groups: +</p> + +<p> +"BYZANTINES! +</p> + +<p> +"FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF BYZANTIUM! +</p> + +<p> +"Last evening the daughter of Uel the merchant, a child of sixteen, +small in stature, with dark hair and eyes, and fair to see, was set +upon in the garden of the Bucoleon, and stolen out of her sedan chair. +Neither she, nor the Bulgarians carrying her have been heard of since. +</p> + +<p> +"REWARDS. +</p> + +<p> +"Out of love of the child, whose name was Lael, I will pay him who +returns her to me living or dead +</p> + +<p> +"6,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. +</p> + +<p> +"And to him who brings me the abductor, or the name of any one engaged +in the crime, with proof to convict him, +</p> + +<p> +"5,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. +</p> + +<p> +"Inquire of me at Uel's stall in the Market. +</p> + +<p> +"PRINCE OF INDIA." +</p> + +<p> +Thus the Jew began his campaign of discovery, meaning to follow it up +with punishment first, and then vengeance, the latter in conditional +mood. +</p> + +<p> +Let us not stop to ask about motives. This much is certain, the city +arose with one mind. Such a running here and there had never been +known, except possibly the times enemies in force sat down before the +gates. The walls landwardly by the sea and harbor, and the towers of +the walls above and below; old houses whose solitariness and decay were +suspicious; new houses and their cellars; churches from crypt to pulpit +and gallery; barracks and magazines, even the baker's ovens attached to +them; the wharves and vessels tied up and the ships at anchor—all +underwent a search. Hunting parties invaded the woods. Scorpions were +unnested, and bats and owls made unhappy by daylight where daylight had +never been before. Convents and monasteries were not exempt. The sea +was dragged, and the great moat from the Golden Gate to the Cynegion +raked for traces of a new-made grave. Nor less were the cemeteries +overhauled, and tombs and sarcophagi opened, and Saints' Rests dug into +and profaned. In short, but one property in Byzantium was +respected—that of the Emperor. By noon the excitement had crossed to +Galata, and was at high tide in the Isles of the Princes. Such power +was there in the offer of bezants in gold—six thousand for the girl, +five thousand for one of her captors—singly, a fortune to stir the +cupidity of a Duke—together, enough to enlist a King in the work. And +everywhere the two questions—Has she been found? and who is the Prince +of India? Poor Uel had not space to think of his loss or yield to +sorrow; the questions kept him so busy. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed now in this all but universal search, nobody +thought of the public cisterns. They were visited. Frequently through +the day parties followed each other to the Imperial reservoir; but the +keeper was always in his place, cool, wary, and prepared for them. He +kept open door and offered no hindrance to inspection of his house. To +interrogators he gave ready replies: +</p> + +<p> +"I was at home last night from sunset to sunrise. At dark I closed up, +and no one could have come in afterwards without my seeing him.... I +know the chair of the merchant's daughter. It is the finest in the +city. The Bulgarians have carried it past my house, but they never +stopped.... Oh, yes, you are welcome to do with the cistern what you +please. There is the doorway to the court, and in the court is the +descent to the water." Sometimes he would treat the subject +facetiously: "If the girl were here, I should know it, and if I knew +it—ha, ha, ha!—are bezants in gold by the thousand more precious to +you than to me? Do you think I too would not like to be rich?—I who +live doggedly on three noumias, helped now and then by scanty +palm-salves from travellers?" +</p> + +<p> +This treatment was successful. One party did insist on going beyond the +court. They descended the steps about half way, looked at the great +gray pillars in ghostly rows receding off into a blackness of silence +thick with damps and cellar smells, each a reminder of contagion; then +at the motionless opaque water, into which the pillars sank to an +unknown depth: and they shivered, and cried: "Ugh! how cold and ugly!" +and hastened to get out. +</p> + +<p> +Undoubtedly appearances helped save the ancient cistern from +examination; yet there were other influences to the same end. Its +vastness was a deterrent. A thorough survey required organization and +expensive means, such as torches, boats, fishing tongs and drag-nets; +and why scour it at all, if not thoroughly and over every inch? Well, +well—such was the decision—the trouble is great, and the uncertainty +greater. Another class was restrained by a sentiment possibly the +oldest and most general amongst men; that which casts a spell of +sanctity around wells and springs, and stays the hand about to toss an +impurity into a running stream; which impels the North American Indian +to replace the gourd, and the Bedouin to spare the bucket for the next +comer, though an enemy. In other words, the cistern was in daily use. +</p> + +<p> +One can imagine the scene at the Prince's through the day. To bring a +familiar term into service, his house was headquarters. +</p> + +<p> +About eight o'clock the sedan was brought home empty, and without a +sign of defacement inside or out. It told no tale. +</p> + +<p> +Noon, and still no clew. +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon there was an observable cessation of vigor in the +quest. Thousands broke off, and went about their ordinary business, +giving the reason. +</p> + +<p> +"Which way now?" would be asked them. +</p> + +<p> +"Home." +</p> + +<p> +"What! Has she been found?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not that we know." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, you have given up." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Why?" +</p> + +<p> +"We are satisfied the Bulgarians stole the girl. The Turks have her; +and now for a third part of either of the rewards he offers, the Prince +of India, whoever he is, can ransom her. He will have plenty of time. +There is no such thing as haste in a harem." +</p> + +<p> +By lamplighting in the evening, the capital resumed its customary +quiet, and of the turmoil of the day, the rush and eager halloo, the +promiscuous delving into secret places, and upturning of things strange +and suspicious, there remained nothing but a vast regret—vast in the +collective sense—for the rewards lost. +</p> + +<p> +Quiet crept into headquarters. To the Prince's insistence that the hunt +go on, he was advised to prosecute the inquest on the other side of the +Bosphorus. The argument presented him was plausible; either—thus it +ran—the Bulgarians carried the child away with them or she was taken +from them. They were stout men, yet there is no sign of a struggle. If +they were killed, we should find their bodies; if they are alive and +innocent, why are they not here? They would be entitled to the rewards +along with the best of us. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the drift, the Prince refrained from debate. He only looked more +grim and determined. When the house was cleared, he took the floor +again fiercely restless as before. Later on Uel came in, tired, +spirit-worn, and apparently in the last stage of despondency. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, son of Jahdai, my poor brother," said the Prince, much moved, +and speaking tenderly. "It is night, and what bringest thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"Alas! Nothing, except the people say the Bulgarians did it." +</p> + +<p> +"The Bulgarians! Would it were so; for look thee, in their hands she +would be safe. Their worst of villany would be a ransom wrung from us. +Ah, no! They might have been drawn into the conspiracy; but take her, +they did not. How could they have passed the gates unseen? The night +was against them. And besides, they have not the soul to devise or dare +the deed. This is no common criminal, my brother. When he is found—and +he will be, or hell hath entered into partnership with him—thou wilt +see a Greek of title, bold from breeding and association, behind him an +influence to guarantee him against the law and the Emperor. Of the +classes in Byzantium to-day, who are the kings? Who but the monks? And +here is a morsel of wisdom, true, else my experience is a delusion: In +decaying and half-organized states, the boldest in defying public +opinion are they who have the most to do in making it." +</p> + +<p> +"I do not understand you," Uel interposed. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art right, my brother. I know not why I am arguing; yet I ought +not to leave thee in the dark now; therefore I will go a step further. +Thou art a Jew—not a Hebrew, or an Israelite, mark thee—but in the +contemptuous Gentile sense, a Jew. She, our gentle Gul-Bahar, hath her +beating of heart from blood thou gavest her. I also am a Jew. Now, of +the classes in Byzantium, which is it by whom hate of Jews is the +article of religion most faithfully practised? Think if it be not the +same from whose shops proceed the right and wrong of the time—the same +I myself scarce three days gone saw insult and mortify the man they +chose Emperor, and not privately, in the depths of a monastery or +chapel, but publicly, his court present.... Ah, now thou seest my +meaning! In plainest speech, my brother, when he who invented this +crime is set down before us, look not for a soldier, or a sailor, or +one of thy occupation—look not for a beggar, or a laborer, or an +Islamite—look rather for a Greek, with a right from relationship near +or remote to summon the whole priestly craft to hold up his hands +against us, Jews that we are. But I am not discouraged. I shall find +her, and the titled outlaw who stole her. Or—but threats now are idle. +They shall have tomorrow to bring her home. I pray pardon for keeping +thee from rest and sleep. Go now. In the morning betimes see thou that +the clerks come back to me here. I will have need of them again, +for"—he mused a moment—"yes, if that I purpose must be, then, the +worst betiding us, they shall not say I was hard and merciless, and cut +their chances scant." +</p> + +<p> +Uel was at the door going, when the Prince called him back. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait—I do not need rest. Thou dost. Is Syama there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Send him to me." +</p> + +<p> +When the slave was come, "Go," the master said, "and bring me the +golden case." +</p> + +<p> +And when it was brought, he took out a pellet, and gave it to Uel. +</p> + +<p> +"There—take it, and thou shalt sleep sound as the dead, and have never +a dream—sound, yet healthfully. To-morrow we must work. To-morrow," he +repeated when Uel was gone—"to-morrow! Till then, eternity." +</p> + +<p> +Let us now shift the scene to the Monastery of the St. James'. +</p> + +<p> +It is eight o'clock in the morning—about the time the empty sedan was +being brought to the Prince's house. Sergius had been hearkening for +the Hegumen's bell, and at the moment we look in upon him, he is with +the venerable superior, helping him to breakfast, if a meal so frugal +deserves the name. +</p> + +<p> +The young Russian, it is to be said, retired to his cell immediately +upon the conclusion of the Festival of Flowers the evening before. +Awaking early, he made personal preparation for the day, and with the +Brotherhood in the chapel, performed the matinal breviary services, +consisting of lauds, psalms, lections and prayers. Then he took seat by +his superior's door. By and by the bell called him in, and +thenceforward he was occupied in the kitchen or at the elder's elbow. +In brief, he knew nothing of the occurrence which had so overwhelmed +the merchant and the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen sat on a broad armless chair, very pale and weak—so +poorly, indeed, that the brethren had excused him from chapel duties. +Having filled a flagon with water, Sergius was offering it to him, when +the door opened without knock, or other warning, and Demedes entered. +Moving silently to his father, he stooped, and kissed his hand with an +unction which brought a smile to the sunken face. +</p> + +<p> +"God's benison on you, my boy. I was thinking of the airs of Prinkipo +or Halki, and that they might help me somewhat; but now you are here, I +will put them off. Bring the bench to my right hand, and partake with +me, if but to break a crust." +</p> + +<p> +"The crust has the appearance of leaven in it, and you know the party +to which I belong. I am not an <i>azymite</i>." +</p> + +<p> +There was scarcely an attempt to conceal the sneer with which the young +man glanced at the brown loaf gracing the platter on the Hegumen's +knees. Seeing then a look of pain on the paternal countenance, he +continued: "No, I have had breakfast, and came to see how you are, and +to apprise you that the city is being stirred from the foam on top to +the dregs at the bottom, all because of an occurrence last evening, so +incredible, so strange, so audacious, and so wicked it weakens +confidence in society, and almost forces one to look up and wonder if +God does not sometimes sleep." +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen and his attendant were aroused. Both gazed at Demedes +looking the same question. +</p> + +<p> +"I hesitate to tell you, my dear father, of the affair, it is so +shocking. The chill of the first hearing has not left me. I am excited +body and mind, and you know how faithfully I have tried to school +myself against excitement—it is unbecoming—only the weak suffer it. +Rather than trust myself to the narrative—though as yet there are no +details—I plucked a notice from a wall while coming, and as it was the +first I had of the news, and contains all I know, I brought it along; +and if you care to hear, perhaps our friend Sergius will kindly give +you the contents. His voice is better than mine, and he is perfectly +calm." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Sergius will read. Give him the paper." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Demedes passed to Sergius one of the handbills with which the +Prince of India had sown the city. After the first line, the monk began +stammering and stumbling; at the close of the first sentence, he +stopped. Then he threw a glance at the Greek, and from the gaze with +which he was met, he drew understanding and self-control. "I ask thy +grace, Father," he said, raising the paper, and looking at the +signature. "I am acquainted with Uel the merchant, and with the child +said to be stolen. I also know the man whose title is here attached. He +calls himself Prince of India, but by what right I cannot say. The +circumstance is a great surprise to me; so, with thy pardon, I will try +the reading again." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius finished the paper, and returned it to Demedes. +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen folded his hands, and said: "Oh, the flow of mercy cannot +endure forever!" +</p> + +<p> +Then the young men looked at each other. +</p> + +<p> +To be surprised when off guard, is to give our enemy his best +opportunity. This was the advantage the Greek then had. He was +satisfied with the working of his scheme; yet one dread had disturbed +him through the night. What would the Russian do? And when he read the +Prince's proclamation, and saw the rewards offered, in amounts undreamt +of, he shivered; not, as he told the Hegumen, from horror at the crime; +still less from fear that the multitude might blunder on discovery; and +least of all from apprehension of betrayal from his assistants, for, +with exception of the cistern-keeper, they were all in flight, and a +night's journey gone. Be the mass of enemies ever so great, there is +always one to inspire us with liveliest concern. Here it was Sergius. +He had come so recently into the world—descent from a monastery in the +far north was to the metropolitan much like being born again—there was +no telling what he might do. Thus moved and uncertain, the conspirator +resolved to seek his adversary, if such he were, and boldly try him. In +what spirit would he receive the news? That was the thought behind the +gaze Demedes now bent on the unsophisticated pupil of the saintly +Father Hilarion. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius returned the look without an effort to hide the pain he really +felt. His utmost endeavor was to control his feelings. With no idea of +simulation, he wanted time to think. Altogether it would have been +impossible for him to have chosen a course more perplexing to Demedes, +who found himself driven to his next play. +</p> + +<p> +"You know now," he said to his father, "why I decline to break a crust +with you. I must go and help uncover this wicked deed. The rewards are +great"—he smiled blandly—"and I should like to win one of them at +least—the first one, for I have seen the girl called Lael. She +interested me, and I was in danger from her. On one occasion"—he +paused to throw a glance to Sergius—"I even made advances to become +acquainted with her, but she repulsed me. As the Prince of India says, +she was fair to see. I am sure I have your permission to engage in the +hunt." +</p> + +<p> +"Go, and God speed you," the Hegumen responded. +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you; yet another request." +</p> + +<p> +He turned to the Russian. +</p> + +<p> +"Now is Sergius here tall, and, if his gown belie him not, stout, and +there may be need of muscle as well as spirit; for who can tell where +our feet will take us in a game like this, or what or whom we may +confront? I ask you to permit him to go with me." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," said the Hegumen, "I will urge him to go." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius answered simply: +</p> + +<p> +"Not now. I am under penance, and to-day bound to the third breviary +prayers. When they are finished, I will gladly go." +</p> + +<p> +"I am disappointed," Demedes rejoined. "But I must make haste." +</p> + +<p> +He kissed the Hegumen's hand and retired; after which, the meal +speedily concluded, Sergius gathered the few articles of service on the +platter, and raised it, but stopped to say: "After prayers, with your +consent, reverend Father, I will take part in this affair." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast my consent." +</p> + +<p> +"It may take several days." +</p> + +<p> +"Give thyself all the time required. The errand is of mercy." +</p> + +<p> +And the holy man extended his hand, and Sergius saluted it reverently, +and went out. +</p> + +<p> +If the young monastic kept not fast hold of the holy forms prescribed +immemorially for the third hour's service, there is little doubt he was +forgiven in the higher court before which he was supposed present, for +never had he been more nearly shaken out of his better self than by the +Prince's proclamation. He had managed to appear composed while under +Demedes' observation. In the language of the time, some protecting +Saint prompted him to beware of the Greek, and keeping the admonition, +he had come well out of the interview; but hardly did the Hegumen's +door close behind him before Lael's untoward fate struck him with +effect. He hurried to his cell, thinking to recover himself; but it was +as if he were pursued by a voice calling him, and directly the voice +seemed hers, sharp and piercing from terror. A little later he took to +answering the appeal—I hear, but where art thou? His agitation grew +until the bell summoned him to the chapel, and the sound was gladdening +on account of the companionship it promised. Surely the voice would be +lost in the full-toned responses of the brethren. Not so. He heard it +even more clearly. Then, to place himself certainly beyond it, he +begged an ancient worshipper at his side to loan him his triptych. For +once, however, the sorrowful figure of the Christ on the central tablet +was of no avail, hold it close as he might; strange to say, the face of +the graven image assumed her likeness; so he was worse off than before, +for now her suffering look was added to her sorrowful cry. +</p> + +<p> +At last the service was over. Rushing back to his cell he exchanged his +black gown for the coarse gray garment with which he had sallied from +Bielo-Osero. Folding the veil, and putting it carefully away in his +hat, he went forth, a hunter as the multitude were hunters; only, as we +shall presently see, his zeal was more lasting than theirs, and he was +owner of an invaluable secret. +</p> + +<p> +On the street he heard everywhere of the rewards, and everywhere the +question, Has she been found? The population, women and children +included, appeared to have been turned out of their houses. The corners +were possessed by them, and it will be easy for readers who have once +listened to Greeks in hot debate to fancy how on this occasion they +were heard afar. Yet Sergius went his way unobservant of the remarks +drawn by the elephantine ears of his outlandish hood, his tall form, +and impeded step. +</p> + +<p> +Had one stopped him to ask, Where are you going? it is doubtful if he +could have told. He had no plan; he was being pulled along by a pain of +heart rather than a purpose—moving somnolently through a light which +was also a revelation, for now he knew he loved the lost girl—knew it, +not by something past, such as recollections of her sweetness and +beauty, but by a sense of present bereavement, an agonizing impulsion, +a fierce desire to find the robber, a murderous longing the like of +which had never assailed him. The going was nearest an answer he could +make to the voice calling him, equivalent to, I am coming. +</p> + +<p> +He sped through the Hippodrome outwalking everybody; then through the +enclosure of Sancta Sophia; then down the garden terraces—Oh, that the +copse could have told him the chapter it had witnessed!—then up the +broad stairway to the promenade, and along it toward Port St. Julian, +never pausing until he was at the bench in the angle of the wall from +which he had overheard Demedes' story of the Plague of Crime. +</p> + +<p> +Now the bench was not in his mind when he started from the monastery; +neither had he thought of it on the way, or of the dark history it had +helped him to; in a freak, he took the seat he had formerly occupied, +placed his arm along the coping of the parapet, and closed his eyes. +And strange to say, the conversation of that day repeated itself almost +word for word. Stranger still, it had now a significancy not then +observed; and as he listened, he interpreted, and the fever of spirit +left him. +</p> + +<p> +About an hour before noon, he arose from the bench like one refreshed +by sleep, cool, thoughtful, capable. In the interval he had put off +boyishness, and taken on manhood replete with a faculty for worldly +thinking that would have alarmed Father Hilarion. In other words, he +was seeing things as they were; that bad and good, for instance, were +coexistent, one as much a part of the plan of creation as the other; +that religion could only regulate and reform; that the end of days +would find good men striving with bad men—in brief, that Demedes was +performing the role to which his nature and aptitude assigned him, just +as the venerable Hegumen, his father, was feebly essaying a +counterpart. Nor was that all. The new ideas to which he had been +converted facilitated reflection along the lines of wickedness. In the +Plague of Crime, told the second time, he believed he had found what +had befallen Lael. Demedes, he remembered, gave the historic episode to +convince his protesting friend how easy it would be to steal and +dispose of her. The argument pointed to the Imperial cistern as the +hiding-place. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius' first prompting was to enlist the aid of the Prince of India, +and go straight to the deliverance; but he had arisen from the bench a +person very different from a blind lover. Not that his love had +cooled—ah, no! But there were things to be done before exposing his +secret. Thus, his curiosity had never been strong enough to induce him +to look into the cistern. Was it not worth while to assure himself of +the possibility of its conversion to the use suspected? He turned, and +walked back rapidly—down the stairway, up the terraces, and through +the Hippodrome. Suddenly he was struck with the impolicy of presenting +himself to the cistern-keeper in his present costume—it would be such +a help to identification by Demedes. So he continued on to the +monastery, and resumed the black gown and tall hat. +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen's door, which he had to pass in going out again, served him +with another admonition. If Demedes were exposed through his endeavor, +what of the father? If, in the conflict certain of precipitation, the +latter sided with his son—and what could be more natural?—would not +the Brotherhood follow him? How then could he, Sergius, a foreigner, +young, and without influence, combat a fraternity powerful in the city +and most powerful up at Blacherne? +</p> + +<p> +At this, it must be confessed, the young man's step lost its +elasticity; his head sunk visibly, and the love just found was driven +to divide its dominion with a well-grounded practical apprehension. Yet +he walked on, out of the gate, and thence in the direction of the +cistern. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived there, he surveyed the wooden structure doubtfully. The door +was open, and just inside of it the keeper sat stick in hand drumming +upon the brick pavement, a man of medium height and rather pleasant +demeanor. +</p> + +<p> +"I am a stranger here," Sergius said to him. "The cistern is public, I +believe; may I see it?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is public, and you may look at it all you want. The door there at +the end of the passage will let you into the court. If you have trouble +in finding the stairway down, call me." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius dropped some small coin into the keeper's hand. +</p> + +<p> +The court was paved with yellow Roman brick, and moderately spacious. +An oblong curbing in the centre without rails marked the place of +descent to the water. Overhead there was nothing to interfere with the +fall of light from the blue sky, except that in one corner a shed had +been constructed barely sufficient to protect a sedan chair deposited +there, its poles on end leant against the wall. Sergius noticed the +chair and the poles, then looked down over the curbing into a doorway, +and saw four stone steps leading to a platform three or four feet +square. Observing a further descent, he went down to the landing, where +he paused long enough to be satisfied that the whole stairway was built +into the eastern wall of the cistern. The light was already dim. +Proceeding carefully, for the stones were slippery, he counted fourteen +steps to another landing, the width of the first but quite ten feet +long, and slightly submerged with water. Here, as he could go no +further, he stopped to look about him. +</p> + +<p> +It is true there was not much to be seen, yet he was at once impressed +with a sense of vastness and durability. A dark and waveless sheet lay +stretched before him, merging speedily into general blackness. About +four yards away and as many apart, two gigantic pillars arose out of +the motionless flood stark and ghostly gray. Behind them, suggestive of +rows with an aisle between, other pillars were seen, mere upright +streaks of uncertain hue fainter growing in the shadowy perspective. +Below there was nothing to arrest a glance. Raising his eyes to the +roof above him, out of the semi-obscurity, he presently defined a brick +vault springing boldly from the Corinthian capitals of the nearest +pillars, and he knew straightway the roof was supported by a system of +vaults susceptible of indefinite extension. But how was he, standing on +a platform at the eastern edge of the reservoir, mighty in so many +senses, to determine its shape, width, length? Stooping he looked down +the vista straining his vision, but there was no opposite wall—only +darkness and impenetrability. He filled his lungs trying the air, and +it was damp but sweet. He stamped with force—there was a rumble in the +vault overhead—that was all. He called: "Lael, Lael"—there was no +answer, though he listened, his soul in his ears. Therewith he gave +over trying to sound the great handmade cavern, and lingered awhile +muttering: +</p> + +<p> +"It is possible, it is possible! At the end of this row of pillars"—he +made a last vain effort to discover the end—"there may be a house +afloat, and she"—he clinched his hands, and shook with a return of +murderous passion—"God help her! Nay, God help me! If she is here, as +I believe, I will find her." +</p> + +<p> +In the court he again noticed the sedan in the corner. +</p> + +<p> +"I am obliged to you," he said to the keeper by the door. "How old is +the cistern?" +</p> + +<p> +"Constantine begun it, and Justinian finished it, they say." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it in use now?" +</p> + +<p> +"They let buckets down through traps in the roof." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you know how large it is?" [Footnote: Yere Batan Serai, or the +Underground Palace, the ancient Royal Cistern, or cistern of +Constantine, is in rank, as well as in interest and beauty, the chief +Byzantine cistern. It is on the right-hand side of the tramway street, +west of St. Sophia. The entrance is in the yard of a large Ottoman +house in last street on the right of tramway street before the tramway +turns abruptly west (to right) after passing St. Sophia. +</p> + +<p> +This cistern was built by Constantine the Great, and deepened and +enlarged by Justinian the Great in 527, the first year of his reign. It +has been in constant use ever since. The water is supplied from unknown +and subterranean sources, sometimes rising nearly to the capitals of +the columns. It is still in admirable preservation: all its columns are +in position, and almost the entire roof is intact. The columns are +arranged in twelve rows of twenty-eight, there being in all three +hundred and thirty-six, which are twelve feet distant from each other +or from the wall. Some of the capitals are Corinthian; others plain, +hardly more than truncated pyramids. The roof consists of a succession +of brick vaults. +</p> + +<p> +On left side in yard of the large Ottoman house already mentioned is a +trap-door. One is let down over a rickety ladder about four feet to the +top of four high stone steps, which descend on the left to a platform +about three and one-half feet square which projects without railing +over the water. Thence fourteen steps, also without railing, conduct to +another platform below, about three and one-half feet wide and ten feet +long. Sometimes this lower platform and the nearer steps are covered +with water, though seldom in summer and early fall. These steps are +uneven—in places are broken and almost wanting; and they as well as +both platforms are exceedingly slippery. The place is absolutely dark +save for the feeble rays which glimmer from the lantern of the guide. +One should remember there is no railing or barrier of any sort, and not +advance an inch without seeing where he puts his foot. Then there is no +danger. Moreover, the platform below is less slippery than the steps or +the platform above. Visitors will do well to each bring his own candle +or small lantern, not for illumination but for safety. When the +visitors have arrived on the lower platform, which is near the middle +of the eastern side against the wall, the guide, who has not descended +the steps, lights a basket of shavings or other quick combustible on +the platform above. The effect is instantaneous and magical. Suddenly +from an obscurity so profound that only the outline of the nearest +columns can be faintly discerned by the flicker of a candle, the entire +maze of columns flashes into being resplendent and white. The roof and +the water send the light back to each other. Not a sound is heard save +distant splashes here and there as a bucket descends to supply the +necessities of some house above. Nowhere can be beheld a scene more +weird and enchanting. It will remain printed on the memory when many +another experience of Stamboul is dim or forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +PROFESSOR GROSVENOR. CONSTANTINOPLE.] +</p> + +<p> +The keeper laughed, and pommelled the pavement vigorously: "I was never +through it—haven't the courage—nor do I know anybody who has been. +They say it has a thousand pillars, and that it is supplied by a river. +They tell too how people have gone into it with boats, and never come +out, and that it is alive with ghosts; but of these stories I say +nothing, because I know nothing." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius thereupon departed. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0422"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED +</h3> + +<p> +All the next night, Syama, his ear against his master's door, felt the +jar of the machine-like tread in the study. At intervals it would slow, +but not once did it stop. The poor slave was himself nearly worn out. +Sympathy has a fashion of burdening us without in the least lightening +the burden which occasions it. +</p> + +<p> +To-morrows may be long coming, but they keep coming. Time is a mill, +and to-morrows are but the dust of its grinding. Uel arose early. He +had slept soundly. His first move was to send the Prince all the clerks +he could find in the market, and shortly afterwards the city was +re-blazoned with bills. +</p> + +<p> +"BYZANTINES! +</p> + +<p> +"Fathers and mothers of Byzantium! +</p> + +<p> +"Lael, the daughter of Uel the merchant, has not been found. Wherefore +I now offer 10,000 bezants in gold for her dead or alive, and 6,000 +bezants in gold for evidence which will lead to the discovery and +conviction of her abductors. +</p> + +<p> +"The offers will conclude with to-day. +</p> + +<p> +"PRINCE OF INDIA." +</p> + +<p> +There was a sensation when the new placards had been generally read; +yet the hunt of the day before was not resumed. It was considered +exhausted. Men and women poured into the streets and talked and +talked—about the Prince of India. By ten o'clock all known of him and +a great deal more had gone through numberless discussions; and could he +have heard the conclusions reached he had never smiled again. By a +consensus singularly unanimous, he was an Indian, vastly rich, but not +a Prince, and his interest in the stolen girl was owing to forbidden +relations. This latter part of the judgment, by far the most cruel, +might have been traced to Demedes. +</p> + +<p> +In all the city there had not been a more tireless hunter than Demedes. +He seemed everywhere present—on the ships, on the walls, in the +gardens and churches—nay, it were easier telling where he had not +been. And by whomsoever met, he was in good spirits, fertile in +suggestions, and sure of success. He in fact distinguished himself in +the search, and gave proof of a knowledge of the capital amazing to the +oldest inhabitants. Of course his role was to waste the energy of the +mass. In every pack of beagles it is said there is one particularly +gifted in the discovery of false scents. Such was Demedes that first +day, until about two o'clock. The results of the quest were then in, +and of the theories to which he listened, nothing pleased him like the +absence of a suggestion of the second sedan. There were witnesses to +tell of the gorgeous chair, and its flitting here and yonder through +the twilight; none saw the other. This seems to have sufficed him, and +he suddenly gave up the chase; appearing in the garden of the Bucoleon, +he declared the uselessness of further effort. The Jewess, he said, was +not in Byzantium; she had been carried off by the Bulgarians, and was +then on the road to some Turkish harem. From that moment the search +began to fall off, and by evening it was entirely discontinued. +</p> + +<p> +Upon appearance of the placards the second day, Demedes was again equal +to the emergency. He collected his brethren in the Temple, organized +them into parties, and sent them everywhere—to Galata, to the towns +along the Bosphorus, down the western shore of the Marmora, over to the +Islands, and up to the forest of Belgrade—to every place, in short, +except the right one. And this conduct, apparently sincere, certainly +energetic, bore its expected fruit; by noon he was the hero of the +occasion, the admiration of the city. +</p> + +<p> +When very early in the second day the disinclination of the people to +renew the search was reported to the Prince of India, he looked +incredulous, and broke out: +</p> + +<p> +"What! Not for ten thousand bezants!—more gold than they have had in +their treasury at one time in ten years!—enough to set up three +empires of such dwindle! To what is the world coming?" +</p> + +<p> +An hour or so later, he was told of the total failure of his second +proclamation. The information drove him with increased speed across the +floor. +</p> + +<p> +"I have an adversary somewhere," he was saying to himself—"an +adversary more powerful than gold in quantity. Are there two such in +Byzantium?" +</p> + +<p> +An account of Demedes' action gave him some comfort. +</p> + +<p> +About the third hour, Sergius asked to see him, and was admitted. After +a simple expression of sympathy, the heartiness of which was attested +by his sad voice and dejected countenance, the monk said: "Prince of +India, I cannot tell you the reasons of my opinion; yet I believe the +young woman is a prisoner here in this city. I will also beg you not to +ask me where I think she is held, or by whom. It may turn out that I am +mistaken; I will then feel better of having had no confidant. With this +statement—submitted with acknowledged uncertainty—can you trust me?" +</p> + +<p> +"You are Sergius, the monk?" +</p> + +<p> +"So they call me; though here I have not been raised to the priesthood." +</p> + +<p> +"I have heard the poor child speak of you. You were a favorite with +her." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince spoke with trouble. +</p> + +<p> +"I am greatly pleased to hear it." +</p> + +<p> +The trouble of the Prince was contagious, but Sergius presently +recovered. +</p> + +<p> +"Probably the best certificate of my sincerity, Prince—the best I can +furnish you—is that your gold is no incentive to the trial at finding +her which I have a mind to make. If I succeed, a semblance of pay or +reward would spoil my happiness." +</p> + +<p> +The Jew surveyed him curiously. "Almost I doubt you," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I can understand. Avarice is so common, and disinterestedness, +friendship, and love so uncommon." +</p> + +<p> +"Verily, a great truth has struck you early." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, hear what I have to ask." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak." +</p> + +<p> +"You have in your service an African"— +</p> + +<p> +"Nilo?" +</p> + +<p> +"That is his name. He is strong, faithful, and brave, qualities I may +need more than gold. Will you allow him to go with me?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince's look and manner changed, and he took the monk's hand. +"Forgive me," he said warmly—"forgive me, if I spoke +doubtfully—forgive me, if I misunderstood you." +</p> + +<p> +Then, with his usual promptitude, he went to the door, and bade Syama +bring Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +"You know my method of speech with him?" the Prince asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," Sergius replied. +</p> + +<p> +"If you have instructions for him, see they are given in a good light, +for in the dark he cannot comprehend." +</p> + +<p> +Nilo came, and kissed his master's hand. He understood the trouble +which had befallen. +</p> + +<p> +"This," the Prince said to him, "is Sergius, the monk. He believes he +knows where the little Princess is, and has asked that you may go with +him. Are you willing?" +</p> + +<p> +The King looked assent. +</p> + +<p> +"It is arranged," the master added to Sergius. "Have you other +suggestion?" +</p> + +<p> +"It were better he put off his African costume." +</p> + +<p> +"For the Greek?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Greek will excite less attention." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well." +</p> + +<p> +In a short time Nilo presented himself in Byzantine dress, with +exception of a bright blue handkerchief on his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, I pray you, Prince, give me a room. I wish to talk with the man +privately." +</p> + +<p> +The request was granted, the instructions given, and Sergius reappeared +to take leave. +</p> + +<p> +"Nilo and I are good friends, Prince. He understands me." +</p> + +<p> +"He may be too eager. Remember I found him a savage." +</p> + +<p> +With these words, the Prince and the young Russian parted. +</p> + +<p> +After this nobody came to the house. The excitement had been a flash. +Now it seemed entirely dead, and dead without a clew. When Time goes +afoot his feet are of lead; and in this instance his walk was over the +Prince's heart. By noon he was dreadfully wrought up. +</p> + +<p> +"Let them look to it, let them look to it!" he kept repeating, +sometimes shaking a clinched hand. Occasionally the idea to which he +thus darkly referred had power to bring him to a halt. "I have an +adversary. Who is he?" Ere long the question possessed him entirely. It +was then as if he despaired of recovering Lael, and had but one earthly +object—vengeance. "Ah, my God, my God! Am I to lose her, and never +know my enemy? Action, action, or I will go mad!" Uel came with his +usual report: "Alas! I have nothing." The Prince scarcely heard or saw +him. "There are but two places where this enemy can harbor," he was +repeating to himself—"but two; the palace and"—he brought his hands +together vehemently—"the church. Where else are they who have power to +arrest a whole people in earnest movement? Whom else have I offended? +Ay, there it is! I preached God; therefore the child must perish. So +much for Christian pity!" +</p> + +<p> +All the forces in his nature became active. +</p> + +<p> +"Go," he said to Uel, "order two men for my chair. Syama will attend +me." +</p> + +<p> +The merchant left him on the floor patting one hand with another. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes, I will try it—I will see if there is such thing as +Christian pity—I will see. It may have swarmed, and gone to hive at +Blacherne." In going to the palace, he continually exhorted the porters: +</p> + +<p> +"Faster, faster, my men!" +</p> + +<p> +The officer at the gate received him kindly, and came back with the +answer, "His Majesty will see you." +</p> + +<p> +Again the audience chamber, Constantine on the dais, his courtiers each +in place; again the Dean in his role of Grand Chamberlain; again the +prostrations. Ceremony at Blacherne was never remitted. There is a +poverty which makes kings miserable. +</p> + +<p> +"Draw nearer, Prince," said Constantine, benignly. "I am very busy. A +courier arrived this morning from Adrianople with report that my august +friend, the Sultan Amurath, is sick, and his physicians think him sick +unto death. I was not prepared for the responsibilities which are +rising; but I have heard of thy great misfortune, and out of sympathy +bade my officer bring thee hither. By accounts the child was rarely +intelligent and lovely, and I did not believe there was in my capital a +man to do her such inhuman wrong. The progress of the search thou didst +institute so wisely I have watched with solicitude little less than +thine own. My officials everywhere have orders to spare no effort or +expense to discover the guilty parties; for if the conspiracy succeed +once, it will derive courage and try again, thus menacing every family +in my Empire. If thou knowest aught else in my power to do, I will +gladly hear it." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, intent upon his expressions, failed to observe the gleam +which shone in the Wanderer's eyes, excited by mention of the condition +of the Sultan. +</p> + +<p> +"I will not try Your Majesty's patience, since I know the +responsibilities to which you have referred concern the welfare of an +Empire, while I am troubled not knowing if one poor soul be dead or +alive; yet she was the world to me"—thus the Prince began, and the +knightly soul of the Emperor was touched, for his look softened, and +with his hand he gently tapped the golden cone of the right arm of his +throne. +</p> + +<p> +"That which brought me to your feet," the Prince continued, "is partly +answered. The orders to your officers exhaust your personal endeavor, +unless—unless"— +</p> + +<p> +"Speak, Prince." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, I shrink from giving offence, and yet I have in this +terrible affair an enemy who is my master. Yesterday Byzantium adopted +my cause, and lent me her eyes and hands; before the sun went down her +ardor cooled; to-day she will not go a rood. What are we to think, what +do, my Lord, when gold and pity alike lose their influence? ... I will +not stop to say what he must be who is so much my enemy as to lay an +icy finger on the warm pulse of the people. When we who have grown old +cast about for a hidden foe, where do we habitually look? Where, except +among those whom we have offended? Whom have I offended? Here in the +audience you honored me with, I ventured to argue in favor of universal +brotherhood in faith, and God the principle of agreement; and there +were present some who dealt me insult, and menaced me, until Your +Majesty sent armed men to protect me from their violence. They have the +ear of the public—they are my adversaries. Shall I call them the +Church?" +</p> + +<p> +Constantine replied calmly: "The head of the Church sat here at my +right hand that day, Prince, and he did not interrupt you; neither did +he menace you. But say you are right—that they of whom you speak are +the Church—what can I do?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Church has thunders to terrify and subdue the wicked, and Your +Majesty is the head of the Church." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Prince, I fear thou hast studied us unfairly. I am a member—a +follower—a subscriber to the faith—its thunders are not mine." +</p> + +<p> +A despairing look overcast the countenance of the visitor, and he +trembled. "Oh, my God! There is no hope further—she is lost—lost!" +But recovering directly, he said: "I crave pardon for interrupting Your +Majesty. Give me permission to retire. I have much work to do." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine bowed, and on raising his head, declared with feeling to +his officers: "The wrong to this man is great." +</p> + +<p> +The Wanderer moved backward slowly, his eyes emitting uncertain light; +pausing, he pointed to the Emperor, and said, solemnly: "My Lord, thou +hadst thy power to do justice from God; it hath slipped from thee. The +choice was thine, to rule the Church or be ruled by it; thou hast +chosen, and art lost, and thy Empire with thee." +</p> + +<p> +He was at the door before any one present could arouse from surprise; +then while they were looking at each other, and making ready to cry +out, he came back clear to the dais, and knelt. There was in his manner +and countenance so much of utter hopelessness, that the whole court +stood still, each man in the attitude the return found him. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," he said, "thou mightest have saved me—I forgive thee that +thou didst not. See—here"—he thrust a hand in the bosom of his gown, +and from a pocket drew the great emerald—"I will leave thee this +talisman—it belonged to King Solomon, the son of David—I found it in +the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre—it is thine, my Lord, so thou fitly +punish the robber of the lost daughter of my soul, my Gul Bahar. +Farewell." +</p> + +<p> +He laid the jewel on the edge of the dais, and rising, betook himself +to the door again, and disappeared before the Dean was sufficiently +mindful of his duty. +</p> + +<p> +"The man is mad," the Emperor exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"Take up the stone"—he spoke to the Dean—"and return it to him +to-morrow." [Footnote: This identical stone, or one very like it, may +be seen in the "Treasury" which is part of the old Serail in Stamboul. +It is in the first room of entrance, on the second shelf of the great +case of curios, right-hand side.] For a time then the emerald was kept +passing from hand to hand by the courtiers, none of whom had ever seen +its peer for size and brilliance; more than one of them touched it with +awe, for despite a disposition to be incredulous in the matter of +traditions incident to precious stones, the legend here, left behind +him by the mysterious old man, was accepted—this was a talisman—it +had belonged to Solomon—it had been found by the Prince of India—and +he was a Prince—nobody but Indian Princes had such emeralds to give +away. But while they bandied the talisman about, the Emperor sat, his +chin in the palm of his right hand, the elbow on the golden cone, not +seeing as much as thinking, nor thinking as much as silently repeating +the strange words of the stranger: "Thou hadst thy power to do justice +from God; it hath slipped from thee. The choice was thine to rule the +Church or be ruled by it. Thou hast chosen, and art lost, and thy +Empire with thee." Was this prophetic? What did it mean? And by and by +he found a meaning. The first Constantine made the Church; now the +Church will unmake the last Constantine. How many there are who spend +their youth yearning and fighting to write their names in history, then +spend their old age shuddering to read them there! +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India was scarcely in his study, certainly he was not yet +calmed down from the passion into which he had been thrown at +Blacherne, when Syama informed him there was a man below waiting to see +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +The servant shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, bring him here." +</p> + +<p> +Presently a gypsy, at least in right of his mother, and tent-born in +the valley of Buyukdere, slender, dark-skinned, and by occupation a +fisherman, presented himself. From the strength of the odor he brought +with him, the yield of his net during the night must have been +unusually large. +</p> + +<p> +"Am I in presence of the Prince of India?" the man asked, in excellent +Arabic, and a manner impossible of acquisition except in the daily life +of a court of the period. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince bowed. +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince of India who is the friend of the Sultan Mahommed?" the +other inquired, with greater particularity. "Sultan Mahommed? Prince +Mahommed, you mean." +</p> + +<p> +"No—Mahommed the Sultan." +</p> + +<p> +A flash of joy leaped from the Prince's eyes—the first of the kind in +two days. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger addressed himself to explanation. +</p> + +<p> +"Forgive my bringing the smell of mullet and mackerel into your house. +I am obeying instructions which require me to communicate with you in +disguise. I have a despatch to tell who I am, and more of my business +than I know myself." +</p> + +<p> +The messenger took from his head the dirty cloth covering it, and from +its folds produced a slip of paper; with a salute of hand to breast and +forehead, declarative of a Turk to the habit born, he delivered the +slip, and walked apart to give opportunity for its reading. This was +the writing in free translation: +</p> + +<p> +"Mahommed, Son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans, to the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +"I am about returning to Magnesia. My father—may the prayers of the +Prophet, almighty with God, preserve him from long suffering!—is fast +falling into weakness of body and mind. Ali, son of Abed-din the +Faithful, is charged instantly the great soul is departed on its way to +Paradise to ride as the north wind flies, and give thee a record which +Abed-din is to make on peril of his soul, abating not the fraction of a +second. Thou wilt understand it, and the purpose of the sending." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India, with the slip in his hand, walked the floor once +from west to east to regain the mastery of himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful," he then said, "has a record for +me." +</p> + +<p> +Now the thongs of Ali's sandals were united just below the instep with +brass buttons; stooping he took off that of the left sandal, and gave +it a sharp twist; whereupon the top came off, disclosing a cavity, and +a ribbon of the finest satin snugly folded in it. He gave the ribbon to +the Prince, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"The button of the plane tree planted has not in promise any great +thing like this I take from the button of my sandal. Now is my mission +done. Praised be Allah!" And while the Prince read, he recapped the +button, and restored it in place. +</p> + +<p> +The bit of yellow satin, when unfolded, presented a diagram which the +Prince at first thought a nativity; upon closer inspection, he asked +the courier: +</p> + +<p> +"Son of Abed-din, did thy father draw this?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, it is the handiwork of my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +"But it is a record of death, not of birth." +</p> + +<p> +"Insomuch is my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed, wiser in his youth than many +men in their age"—Ali paused to formally salute the opinion. "He +selected the ribbon, and drew the figure—did all you behold, indeed, +except the writing in the square; that he intrusted to my father, +saying at the time: 'The Prince of India, when he sees the minute in +the square, will say it is not a nativity; have one there to tell him +I, Mahommed, avouch, 'Twice in his life I had the throne from my august +father; now has he given it to me again, this third time with death to +certify it mine in perpetuity; wherefore it is but righteous holding +that the instant of his final secession must be counted the beginning +of my reign; for often as a man has back the property he parted from as +a loan, is it not his? What ceremony is then needed to perfect his +title?" +</p> + +<p> +"If one have wisdom, O son of Abed-din, whence is it except from Allah? +Let not thy opinion of thy young master escape thee. Were he to die +to-morrow"— +</p> + +<p> +"Allah forbid!" exclaimed Ali. +</p> + +<p> +"Fear it not," returned the Prince, smiling at the young man's +earnestness: "for is it not written, 'A soul cannot die unless by +permission of God, according to a writing definite as to time'? +[Footnote: Koran, III. 139.]—I was about to say, there is not in his +generation another to lie as close in the bosom of the Prophet. Where +is he now?" +</p> + +<p> +"He rides doubtless to Adrianople. The moment I set out hither, which +was next minute after the great decease, a despatch was started for him +by Khalil the Grand Vizier." +</p> + +<p> +"Knowest thou the road he will take?" +</p> + +<p> +"By Gallipoli." +</p> + +<p> +"Behold, Ali!"—from his finger the Prince took a ring. "This for thy +good news. Now to the road again, the White Castle first. Tell the +Governor there to keep ward to-night with unlocked gates, for I may +seek them in haste. Then put thyself in the Lord Mahommed's way coming +from Gallipoli, and when thou hast kissed his sandals for me, and given +him my love and duty, tell him I have perfect understanding of the +nativity, and will meet him in Adrianople. Hast thou eaten and drunk?" +</p> + +<p> +"Eaten, not drunk, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Come then, and I will put thee in the way to some red wine; for art +thou not a traveller?" +</p> + +<p> +The son of Abed-din saluted, saying simply: "<i>Meshallah!</i>" and was +presently in care of Syama; after which the Prince took the ribbon to +the table, spread it out carefully, and stood over it in the strong +light, studying the symbols and writing in the square of +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration: THE DIAGRAM.] +</p> + +<p> +"It is the nativity of an Empire, [Footnote: Since the conquest of +Constantinople by Mahommed, Turkey has been historically counted an +Empire.] not a man," the Prince said, his gaze still on the figure—"an +Empire which I will make great for the punishment of these robbers of +children." +</p> + +<p> +He stood up at the last word, and continued, excitedly: "It is the word +of God, else it had not come to me now nigh overcome and perishing in +bitter waters; and it calls me to do His will. Give over the child, it +says—she is lost to thee. Go up now, and be thou my instrument this +once again—I AM THE I AM whom Moses knew, the Lord God of Israel who +covenanted with Abraham, and with whom there is no forgetting—no, not +though the world follow the leaf blown into the mouth of a roaring +furnace. I hear, O God! I hear—I am going!" +</p> + +<p> +This, it will be observed, is the second of the two days of grace the +Prince appears to have given the city for the return of Lael; and as it +is rapidly going without a token of performance, our curiosity +increases to know the terrible thing in reserve of which some of his +outbursts have vaguely apprised us. +</p> + +<p> +A few turns across the floor brought him back to apparent calmness; +indeed, but for the fitful light in his eyes and the swollen veins +about his temples, it might be supposed he had been successful in +putting his distresses by. He brought Syama in, and, for the first time +in two days, took a seat. +</p> + +<p> +"Listen, and closely," he said; "for I would be sure you comprehend me. +Have you laid the Sacred Books in the boxes?" +</p> + +<p> +Syama, in his way, answered, yes. +</p> + +<p> +"Are the boxes secure? They may have to go a long journey." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Did you place the jewels in new bags? The old ones were well nigh +gone." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Are they in the gurglet now?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"You know we will have to keep it filled with water." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"My medicines—are they ready for packing?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Return them to their cases carefully. I cannot afford to leave or lose +them. And the sword—is it with the books?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. Attend again. On my return from the voyage I made the other +day for the treasure you have in care"—he paused for a sign of +comprehension—"I retained the vessel in my service, and directed the +captain to be at anchor in the harbor before St. Peter's gate"—another +pause—"I also charged him to keep lookout for a signal to bring the +galley to the landing; in the day, the signal would be a blue +handkerchief waved; at night, a lantern swung four times thus"—he gave +the illustration. "Now to the purpose of all this. Give heed. I may +wish to go aboard to-night, but at what hour I cannot tell. In +preparation, however, you will get the porters who took me to the +palace to-day, and have them take the boxes and gurglet of which I have +been speaking to St. Peter's gate. You will go with them, make the +signal to the captain, and see they are safely shipped. The other +servants will accompany you. You understand?" +</p> + +<p> +Syama nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"Attend further. When the goods are on the galley, you will stay and +guard them. All the other property you will leave in the house here +just as it is. You are certain you comprehend?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Then set about the work at once. Everything must be on the ship before +dark." +</p> + +<p> +The master offered his hand, and the slave kissed it, and went softly +out. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately that he was alone, the Prince ascended to the roof. He +stood by the table a moment, giving a thought to the many times his Gul +Bahar had kept watch on the stars for him. They would come and go +regularly as of old, but she?—He shook with sudden passion, and walked +around taking what might have answered for last looks at familiar +landmarks in the wide environment—at the old church near by and the +small section of Blacherne in the west, the heights of Galata and the +shapely tower northwardly, the fainter glimpses of Scutari in the east. +Then he looked to the southwest where, under a vast expanse of sky, he +knew the Marmora was lying asleep; and at once his face brightened. In +that quarter a bank of lead-colored clouds stretched far along the +horizon, sending rifts lighter hued upward like a fan opening toward +the zenith. He raised his hand, and held it palm thitherward, and +smiled at feeling a breath of air. Somehow the cloud associated itself +with the purpose of which he was dreaming, for he said audibly, his +eyes fiercely lighted: +</p> + +<p> +"O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent +men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. But +now hast thou thy hand under my head; now the wind cometh, and their +punishment; and it is for me to scourge them." +</p> + +<p> +He lingered on the roof, walking sometimes, but for the most part +seated. The cloud in the southwest seemed the great attraction. Assured +it was still coming, he would drop awhile into deep thought. If there +were calls at the street door, he did not hear them. At length the sun, +going down, was met and covered out of sight by the curtain beyond the +Marmora. About the same time a wave of cold February air rolled into +the city, and to escape it he went below. +</p> + +<p> +The silence there was observable; for now Syama had finished, and the +house was deserted. Through the rooms upper and lower he stalked gloomy +and restless, pausing now and then to listen to a sufflation noisier +and more portentous than its predecessors; and the moans with which the +intermittent blast turned the corners and occasionally surged through +the windows he received smilingly, much as hospitable men welcome +friends, or as conspirators greet each other; and often as they +recurred, he replied to them in the sonorous words of the Psalm, and +the refrain, "Now the wind cometh, and the punishment." +</p> + +<p> +When night was fallen, he crossed the street to Uel's. After the first +greeting, the conversation between the two was remarkable chiefly for +its lapses. It is always so with persons who have a sorrow in +common—the pleasure is in their society, not in exchange of words. +</p> + +<p> +In one thing the brethren were agreed—Lael was lost. By and by the +Prince concluded it time for him to depart. There was a lamp burning +above the table; he went to it, and called Uel; and when he was come, +the elder drew out a sealed purse, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"Our pretty Gul Bahar may yet be found. The methods of the Lord we +believe in are past finding out. If it should be that I am not in the +city when she is brought home, I would not she should have cause to say +I ceased thinking of her with a love equal to yours—a father's love. +Wherefore, O son of Jahdai, I give you this. It is full of jewels, each +a fortune in itself. If she comes, they are hers; if a year passes, and +she is not found, they are yours to keep, give or sell, as you please. +You have furnished me happiness which this sorrow is not strong enough +to efface. I will not pay you, for acceptance in such kind were +shameful to you as the offer would be to me; yet if she comes not in +the year, break the seal. We sometimes wear rings in help of pleasant +memories." +</p> + +<p> +"Is your going so certain?" Uel asked. +</p> + +<p> +"O my youngest brother, I am a traveller even as you are a merchant, +with the difference, I have no home. So the Lord be with you. Farewell." +</p> + +<p> +Then they kissed each other tenderly. +</p> + +<p> +"Will I not hear from you?" Uel inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, thank you," and the Wanderer returned to him and said, as if to +show who was first in his very farewell thought: +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you for the reminder. If peradventure you too should be gone +when she is found, she will then be in want of a home. Provide against +that; for she is such a sweet stranger to the world." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me how, and I will keep your wish as it were part of the Law." +</p> + +<p> +"There is a woman in Byzantium worthy to have Good follow her name +whenever it is spoken or written." +</p> + +<p> +"Give me her name, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene." +</p> + +<p> +"But she is a Christian!" +</p> + +<p> +Uel spoke in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, son of Jahdai, she is a Christian. Nevertheless send Lael to her. +Again I leave you where I rest myself—with God—our God." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he went out finally, and between gusts of wind regained his +own house. He stopped on entering, and barred the door behind him; then +he groped his way to the kitchen, and taking a lamp from its place, +raked together the embers smothering in a brazier habitually kept for +retention of fire, and lighted the lamp. He next broke up some stools +and small tables, and with the pieces made a pile under the grand +stairway to the second floor, muttering as he worked: "The proud are +risen against me; and now the wind cometh, and punishment." +</p> + +<p> +Once more he walked through the rooms, and ascended to the roof. There, +just as he cleared the door, as if it were saluting him, and determined +to give him a trial of its force, a blast leaped upon him, like an +embodiment out of the cloud in full possession of both world and sky, +and started his gown astream, and twisting his hair and beard into +lashes whipped his eyes and ears with them, and howled, and snatched +his breath nearly out of his mouth. Wind it was, and darkness somewhat +like that Egypt knew what time the deliverer, with God behind him, was +trying strength with the King's sorcerers—wind and darkness, but not a +drop of rain. He grasped the door-post, and listened to the crashing of +heavy things on the neighboring roofs, and the rattle of light things +for the finding of which loose here and there the gust of a storm may +be trusted where eyes are useless. And noticing that obstructions +served merely to break the flying forces into eddies, he laughed and +shouted by turns so the inmates of the houses near might have heard had +they been out as he was instead of cowering in their beds: "The proud +are risen against me, and the assembly of violent men have sought after +my soul; and now—ha, ha, ha!—the wind cometh and the punishment!" +</p> + +<p> +Availing himself of a respite in the blowing, he ran across the roof +and looked over into the street, and seeing nothing, neither light nor +living thing, he repeated the refrain with a slight variation: "And the +wind—ha, ha!—the wind <i>is</i> come, and the punishment!"—then he fled +back, and down from the roof. +</p> + +<p> +And now the purpose in reserve must have revelation. +</p> + +<p> +The grand staircase sprang from the floor open beneath like a bridge. +Passing under it, he set the lamp against the heap of kindling there, +and the smell of scorching wood spread abroad, followed by smoke and +the crackle and snap of wood beginning to burn. +</p> + +<p> +It was not long until the flames, gathering life and strength, were +beyond him to stay or extinguish them, had he been taken with sudden +repentance. From step to step they leaped, the room meantime filling +fast with suffocating gases. When he knew they were beyond the efforts +of any and all whom they might attract, and must burst into +conflagration the instant they reached the lightest of the gusts +playing havoc outside, he went down on his hands and knees, for else it +had been difficult for him to breathe, and crawled to the door. Drawing +himself up there, he undid the bar, and edged through into the street; +nor was there a soul to see the puff of smoke and murky gleam which +passed out with him. +</p> + +<p> +His spirit was too drunken with glee to trouble itself with precautions +now; yet he stopped long enough to repeat the refrain, with a hideous +spasm of laughter: "And now—ha, ha!—the wind <i>is</i> come, and the fire, +and the punishment." Then he wrapped his gown closer about his form +bending to meet the gale, and went leisurely down the street, intending +to make St. Peter's gate. +</p> + +<p> +Where the intersections left openings, the Jew, now a fugitive rather +than a wanderer—a fugitive nevertheless who knew perfectly where he +was going, and that welcome awaited him there—halted to scan the +cloudy floor of the sky above the site of the house he had just +abandoned. A redness flickering and unsteady over in that quarter was +the first assurance he had of the growth of the flame of small +beginning under the grand staircase. +</p> + +<p> +"Now the meeting of wind and fire!—Now speedily these hypocrites and +tongue-servers, bastards of Byzantium, shall know Israel has a God in +whom they have no lot, and in what regard he holds conniving at the +rape of his daughters. Blow, Wind, blow harder! Rise, Fire, and +spread—be a thousand lions in roaring till these tremble like hunted +curs! The few innocent are not more in the account than moths burrowed +in woven wool and feeding on its fineness. Already the guilty begin to +pray—but to whom? Blow, O Wind! Spread and spare not, O Fire!" +</p> + +<p> +Thus he exulted; and as if it heard him and were making answer to his +imprecations, a column, pinked by the liberated fire below it, a burst +of sparks in its core, shot up in sudden vastness like a Titan rushing +to seizure of the world; but presently the gale struck and toppled it +over toward Blacherne in the northwest. +</p> + +<p> +"That way points the punishment? I remember I offered him God and peace +and good-will to men, and he rejected them. Blow, Winds! Now are ye but +breezes from the south, spice-laden to me, but in his ears be as +chariots descending. And thou, O Fire! Forget not the justice to be +done, and whose servant thou art. Leave Heaven to say which is +guiltier; they who work at the deflowerment of the innocent, or he who +answers no to the Everlasting offering him love. Unto him be thou as +banners above the chariots!" +</p> + +<p> +Now a noise began—at first faint and uncertain, then, as the red +column sprang up, it strengthened, and ere long defined itself—Fire, +Fire! +</p> + +<p> +It seemed the city awoke with that cry. And there was peering from +windows, opening of doors, rushing from houses, and hurrying to where +the angry spot on the floor of the cloud which shut Heaven off was +widening and deepening. In a space incredibly quick, the streets—those +leading to the corner occupied by the Jew as well—became rivulets +flowing with people, and then blatant rivers. +</p> + +<p> +"My God, what a night for a fire!" +</p> + +<p> +"There will be nothing left of us by morning, not even ashes." +</p> + +<p> +"And the women and children—think of them!" +</p> + +<p> +"Fire—fire—fire!" +</p> + +<p> +Exchanges like these dinned the Jew until, finding himself an +obstruction, he moved on. Not a phase of the awful excitement escaped +him—the racing of men—half-clad women assembling—children staring +wild-eyed at the smoke extending luridly across the fifth and sixth +hills to the seventh—white faces, exclamations, and not seldom resort +to crucifixes and prayers to the Blessed Lady of Blacherne—he heard +and saw them all—yet kept on toward St. Peter's gate, now an easy +thing, since the thoroughfares were so aglow he could neither stumble +nor miss the right one. A company of soldiers running nearly knocked +him down; but finally he reached the portal, and passed out without +challenge. A brief search then for his galley; and going aboard, after +replying to a few questions about the fire, he bade the captain cast +off, and run for the Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +"It looks as if the city would all go," he said; and the mariner, +thinking him afraid, summoned his oarsmen, and to please him made +haste, as he too well might, for the light of the burning projected +over the wall, and, flung back from the cloud overhead far as the eye +could penetrate, illuminated the harbor as it did the streets, bringing +the ships to view, their crews on deck, and Galata, wall, housetops and +tower, crowded with people awestruck by the immensity of the calamity. +</p> + +<p> +When the galley outgoing cleared Point Serail, the wind and the long +swells beating in from the Marmora white with foam struck it with such +force that keeping firm grip of their oars was hard for the rowers, and +they began to cry out; whereupon the captain sought his passenger. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," he said, "I have plied these waters from boyhood, and never +saw them in a night like this. Let me return to the harbor." +</p> + +<p> +"What, is it not light enough?" +</p> + +<p> +The sailor crossed himself, and replied: "There is light enough—such +as it is!" and he shuddered. "But the wind, and the running sea, my +Lord"— +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! for them, keep on. Under the mountain height of Scutari the +sailing will be plain." +</p> + +<p> +And with much wonder how one so afraid of fire could be so indifferent +to danger from flood and gale, the captain addressed himself to +manoeuvring his vessel. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," said the Jew, when at last they were well in under the Asiatic +shore—"now bear away up the Bosphorus." +</p> + +<p> +The light kept following him the hour and more required to make the +Sweet Waters and the White Castle; and even there the reflection from +the cloud above the ill-fated city was strong enough to cast half the +stream in shadow from the sycamores lining its left bank. +</p> + +<p> +The Governor of the Castle received the friend of his master, the new +Sultan, at the landing; and from the wall just before retiring, the +latter took a last look at the signs down where the ancient capital was +struggling against annihilation. Glutted with imaginings of all that +was transpiring there, he clapped his hands, and repeated the refrain +in its past form: +</p> + +<p> +"Now have the winds come, and the fire, and the punishment. So be it +ever unto all who encourage violence to children, and reject God." +</p> + +<p> +An hour afterwards, he was asleep peacefully as if there were no such +thing as conscience, or a misery like remorse. +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after midnight an officer of the guard ventured to approach the +couch of the Emperor Constantine; in his great excitement he even shook +the sacred person. +</p> + +<p> +"Awake, Your Majesty, awake, and save the city. It is a sea of fire." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine was quickly attired, and went first to the top of the Tower +of Isaac. He was filled with horror by what he beheld; but he had +soldierly qualities—amongst others the faculty of keeping a clear head +in crises. He saw the conflagration was taking direction with the wind +and coming straight toward Blacherne, where, for want of aliment, it +needs must stop. Everything in its line of progress was doomed; but he +decided it possible to prevent extension right and left of that line, +and acting promptly, he brought the entire military force from the +barracks to cooperate with the people. The strategy was successful. +</p> + +<p> +Gazing from the pinnacle as the sun rose, he easily traced a blackened +swath cut from the fifth hill up to the eastward wall of the imperial +grounds; and, in proof of the fury of the gale, the terraces of the +garden were covered inches deep with ashes and scoriac-looking flakes +of what at sunset had been happy homes. And the dead? Ascertainment of +the many who perished was never had; neither did closest inquiry +discover the origin of the fire. The volume of iniquities awaiting +exposure Judgment Day must be immeasurable, if it is of the book +material in favor among mortals. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of India was supposed to have been one of the victims of the +fire, and not a little sympathy was expended for the mysterious +foreigner. But in refuge at the White Castle, that worthy greedily +devoured the intelligence he had the Governor send for next day. One +piece of news, however, did more than dash the satisfaction he secretly +indulged—Uel, the son of Jahdai, was dead—and dead of injuries +suffered the night of the catastrophe. +</p> + +<p> +A horrible foreboding struck the grim incendiary. Was the old destiny +still pursuing him? Was it still a part of the Judgment that every +human being who had to do with him in love, friendship or business, +every one on whom he looked in favor, must be overtaken soon or late +with a doom of some kind? From that moment, moved by an inscrutable +prompting of spirit, he began a list of those thus unfortunate—Lael +first, then Uel. Who next? +</p> + +<p> +The reader will remember the merchant's house was opposite the +Prince's, with a street between them. Unfortunately the street was +narrow; the heat from one building beat across it and attacked the +other. Uel managed to get out safely; but recollecting the jewels +intrusted to him for Lael, he rushed back to recover them. Staggering +out again blind and roasting, he fell on the pave, and was carried off, +but with the purse intact. Next day he succumbed to the injuries. In +his last hour, he dictated a letter to the Princess Irene, begging her +to accept the guardianship of his daughter, if God willed her return. +Such, he said, was his wish, and the Prince of India's; and with the +missive, he forwarded the jewels, and a statement of the property he +was leaving in the market. They and all his were for the child—so the +disposition ran, concluding with a paragraph remarkable for the +confidence it manifested in the Christian trustee. "But if she is not +returned alive within a year from this date, then, O excellent +Princess, I pray you to be my heir, holding everything of mine yours +unconditionally. And may God keep you!" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0423"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIII +</h3> + +<h3> +SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT +</h3> + +<p> +We have seen the result of Sergius' interview with the Prince of India, +and remember that it was yet early in the morning after Lael's +disappearance when, in company with Nilo, he bade the eccentric +stranger adieu, and set forth to try his theory respecting the lost +girl. +</p> + +<p> +About noon he appeared southwest of the Hippodrome in the street +leading past the cistern-keeper's abode. Nilo, by arrangement, followed +at a distance, keeping him in sight. By his side there was a fruit +peddler, one of the every-day class whose successors are banes of life +to all with whom in the modern Byzantium a morning nap is the sweetest +preparation for the day. +</p> + +<p> +The peddler carried a huge basket strapped to his forehead. He was also +equipped with a wooden platter for the display of samples of his stock; +and it must be said the medlars, oranges, figs of Smyrna, and the +luscious green grapes in enormous clusters freshly plucked in the +vineyards on the Asiatic shore over against the Isles of the Princes, +were very tempting; especially so as the hour was when the whole world +acknowledges the utility of lunching as a stay for dinner. +</p> + +<p> +It is not necessary to give the conversation between the man of fruits +and the young Russian. The former was endeavoring to sell. Presently +they reached a point from which the cistern-keeper was visible, seated, +as usual, just within the door pommelling the pavement. Sergius stopped +there, and affected to examine his companion's stock; then, as if of a +mind, he said: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, well! Let us cross the street, and if the man yonder will give me +a room in which I can eat to my content, I will buy of you. Let us try +him." +</p> + +<p> +The two made their way to the door. +</p> + +<p> +"Good day, my friend," Sergius said, to the keeper, who recognized him, +and rising, returned the salutation pleasantly enough. +</p> + +<p> +"You were here yesterday," he said, "I am glad to see you again. Come +in." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you," Sergius returned. "I am hungry, and should like some of +this man's store; but it is uncomfortable eating in the street; so I +thought you might not be offended if I asked a room for the purpose; +particularly as I give you a hearty invitation to share the repast with +me." +</p> + +<p> +In support of the request the peddler held the platter to the keeper. +The argument was good, and straightway, assuming the air of a +connoisseur, the master of the house squeezed a medlar, and raising an +orange to his nose smelt it, calculated its weight, and answered: "Why, +yes—come right along to my sitting-room. I will get some knives; and +when we are through, we will have a bowl of water, and a napkin. Things +are not inviting out here as they might be." +</p> + +<p> +"And the peddler?" Sergius inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring him along. We will make him show us the bottom of his basket. I +believe you said you are a stranger?" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I am not," the keeper continued, complacently. "I know these +fellows. They all have tricks. Bring him in. I have no family. I live +alone." +</p> + +<p> +The monk acknowledged the invitation, but pausing to allow the peddler +to enter first, he at the same time lifted his hat as if to readjust +it; then a moment was taken to make a roll of the long fair hair, and +tuck it securely under the hat. That finished, he stepped into the +passage, and pursued after his host through a door on the left hand; +whereupon the passage to the court was clear. +</p> + +<p> +Now the play with the hat was a signal to Nilo. Rendered into words, it +would have run thus: "The keeper is employed, and the way open. Come!" +And the King, on the lookout, answered by sauntering slowly down, +mindful if he hurried he might be followed, there being a number of +persons in the vicinity. +</p> + +<p> +At the door, he took time to examine the front of the house; then he, +too, stepped into the passage and through it, and out into the court, +where, with a glance, he took everything in—paved area, the curbing +about the stairway to the water, the faces of the three sides of the +square opposite that of the entrance, all unbroken by door, window, or +panel, the sedan in the corner, the two poles lashed together and on +end by the sedan. He looked behind him—the passage was yet clear—if +seen coming in, he was not pursued. There was a smile on his shining +black face; and his teeth, serrated along the edges after the military +fashion in Kash-Cush, displayed themselves white as dressed coral. +Evidently he was pleased and confident. Next he went to the curb, shot +a quick look down the steps far as could be seen; thence he crossed to +the sedan, surveyed its exterior, and opened the door. The interior +appearing in good order, he entered and sat down, and closing the door, +arranged the curtain in front, drew it slightly aside and peeped out, +now to the door admitting from the passage, then to the curbing. Both +were perfectly under view. +</p> + +<p> +When the King issued from the chair, his smile was broader than before, +and his teeth seemed to have received a fresh enamelling. Without +pausing again, he proceeded to the opening of the cistern, and with his +hands on the curbing right and left, let himself lightly down on the +four stones of the first landing; a moment, and he began descent of the +steps, taking time to inspect everything discernible in the shadowy +space. At length he stood on the lower platform. +</p> + +<p> +He was now in serious mood. The white pillars were wondrous vast, and +the darkness—it may be doubted if night in its natural aspects is more +impressive to the savage than the enlightened man; yet it is certain +the former will take alarm quicker when shut in by walls of artful +contrivance. His imagination then peoples the darkness with spirits, +and what is most strange, the spirits are always unfriendly. To say now +that Nilo, standing on the lower platform, was wholly unmoved, would be +to deny him the sensibilities without which there can be none of the +effects usually incident to courage and cowardice. The vastness of the +receptacle stupefied him. The silence was a curtain he could feel; the +water, deep and dark, looked so suggestive of death that the +superstitious soul required a little time to be itself again. But +relief came, and he watched intently to see if there was a current in +the black pool; he could discover none; then, having gained all the +information he could, he ascended the steps and lifted himself out into +the court. A glance through the passage—another at the sky—and he +entered the sedan, and shut himself in. +</p> + +<p> +The discussion of the fruit in the keeper's sitting-room meantime was +interesting to the parties engaged in it. With excellent understanding +of Nilo's occupation in the court, Sergius exerted himself to detain +his host—if the term be acceptable—long as possible. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately no visitors came. Settling the score, and leaving a +profusion of thanks behind him, he at length made his farewell, and +spent the remainder of the afternoon on a bench in the Hippodrome. +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally he went back to the street conducting to the cistern, and +walked down it far enough to get a view of the keeper still at the door. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening he ate at a confectionery near by, prolonging the meal +till near dusk, and thence, business being suspended, he idled along +the same thoroughfare in a manner to avoid attracting attention. +</p> + +<p> +Still later, he found a seat in the recess of an unused doorway nearly +in front of the house of such interest to him. +</p> + +<p> +The manoeuvres thus detailed advise the reader somewhat of the +particulars of the programme in execution by the monk and Nilo; nor +that only—they notify him of the arrival of a very interesting part of +the arrangement. In short, it is time to say that, one in the recess of +the door, the other shut up in the sedan, they are both on the lookout +for Demedes. Would he come? And when? +</p> + +<p> +Anticipating a little, we may remark, if he comes, and goes into the +cistern, Nilo is to open the street door and admit Sergius, who is then +to take control of the after operations. +</p> + +<p> +A little before sunset the keeper shut his front door. Sergius heard +the iron bolt shoot into the mortice. He believed Demedes had not seen +Lael since the abduction, and that he would not try to see her while +the excitement was up and the hunt going forward. But now the city was +settled back into quiet—now, if she were indeed in the cistern, he +would come, the night being in his favor. And further, if he merely +appeared at the house, the circumstance would be strongly corroborative +of the monk's theory; if he did more—if he actually entered the +cistern, there would be an end of doubt, and Nilo could keep him there, +while Sergius was bringing the authorities to the scene. Such was the +scheme; and he who looks at it with proper understanding must perceive +it did not contemplate unnecessary violence. On this score, indeed, the +Prince of India's significant reminder that he had found Nilo a savage, +had led Sergius to redoubled care in his instructions. +</p> + +<p> +The first development in the affair took place under the King's eye. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting in ambush was by no means new to him. He was not in the least +troubled by impatience. To be sure, he would have felt more comfortable +with a piece of bread and a cup of water; yet deprivations of the kind +were within the expectations; and while there was a hope of good issue +for the enterprise, he could endure them indefinitely. The charge given +him pertained particularly to Demedes. No fear of his not recognizing +the Greek. Had he not enjoyed the delight of holding him out over the +wall to be dropped to death? +</p> + +<p> +He was eager, but not impatient. His chief dependence was in the sense +of feeling, which had been cultivated so the slightest vibration along +the ground served him in lieu of hearing. The closing of the front door +by the keeper—felt, not heard—apprised him the day was over. +</p> + +<p> +Not long afterward the pavement was again jarred, bringing a return of +the sensations he used to have when, stalking lions in Kash-Cush, he +felt the earth thrill under the galloping of the camelopards stampeded. +</p> + +<p> +He drew the curtain aside slightly, just as a man stepped into the +court from the passage. The person carried a lighted lamp, and was not +Demedes. +</p> + +<p> +The cistern-keeper—for he it was—went to the curbing slowly, for the +advance airs of the gale were threatening his lamp, and dropped +dextrously through the aperture to the upper landing. +</p> + +<p> +In ambush the King never admitted anything like curiosity. Presently he +felt the pavement again jar. Nobody appeared at the passage. Another +tremor more decided—then the King stepped softly from the sedan, and +stealing barefooted to the curbing looked down the yawning hole. +</p> + +<p> +The lamp on the platform enabled him to see a boat drawn up to the +lower step, and the stranger in the act of stepping into it. Then the +lamp was shifted to the bow of the boat—oars taken in hand—a push +off, and swift evanishment. +</p> + +<p> +We, with our better information of the devices employed, know what a +simple trick it was on the keeper's part to bring the vessel to him—he +had but to pull the right string in the right direction—but Nilo was +left to his astonishment. Stealing back to his cover, he drew the door +to, and struggled with the mystery. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile, the mist dissipated, and a fact arose plainer to him than +the mighty hand on his knee. The cistern was inhabited—some person was +down there to be communicated with. What should the King do now? +</p> + +<p> +The quandary was trying. Finally he concluded to stay where he was. The +stranger might bring somebody back with him—possibly the lost +child—such Lael was in his thoughts of her. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile—he had no idea of time—he felt a shake run along the +pavement, and saw the stranger appear coming up the steps, lamp in +hand. Next instant the person crawled out of the curbing, and went into +the house through the passage doorway. The King never took eye from the +curbing—nobody followed after—the secret of the old reservatory was +yet a secret. +</p> + +<p> +Again Nilo debated whether to bring Sergius in, and again he decided to +stay where he was. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the cloud which the Prince of India had descried from the roof +of his house arrived on the wings of the gale. Ere long Sergius was +shivering in the recess of the door. For relief he counted the beads of +his rosary, and there was scarcely a Saint in the calendar omitted from +his recitals. If there was potency in prayers the angels were in the +cistern ministering to Lael. +</p> + +<p> +The street became deserted. Everything living which had a refuge sought +it; yet the gale increased: it howled and sang dirges; it started the +innumerable loose trifles in its way to waltzing over the bowlders; +every hinged fixture on the exposed house-fronts creaked and banged. +Only a lover would voluntarily endure the outdoors of such a night—a +lover or a villain unusually bold. +</p> + +<p> +Near midnight—so Sergius judged—a dull redness began to tinge the +cloud overhead, and brightening rapidly, it ere long cast a strong +reflection downward. At first he was grateful for the light; +afterwhile, however, he detected an uproar distinguishable from the +wind; it had no rest or lulls, and in its rise became more and more a +human tone. When shortly people rushed past his cover crying fire, he +comprehended what it was. The illumination intensified. The whole city +seemed in danger. There were women and children exposed; yet here he +was waiting on a mere hope; there he could do something. Why not go? +</p> + +<p> +While he debated, down the street from the direction of the Hippodrome +he beheld a man coming fast despite the strength of the gusts. A cloak +wrapped him from head to foot, somewhat after the fashion of a toga, +and the face was buried in its folds; yet the air and manner suggested +Demedes. Instantly the watcher quit arguing; and forgetful of the fire, +and of the city in danger, he shrank closer into the recess. +</p> + +<p> +The thoroughfare was wider than common, and the person approaching on +the side opposite Sergius; when nearer, his low stature was observable. +Would he stop at the cistern-keeper's? +</p> + +<p> +Now he was at the door! +</p> + +<p> +The Russian's heart was in his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Right in front of the door the man halted and knocked. The sound was so +sharp a stone must have been used. Immediately the bolt inside was +drawn, and the visitor passed in. +</p> + +<p> +Was it Demedes? The monk breathed again—he believed it was—anyhow the +King would determine the question, and there was nothing to do meantime +but bide the event. +</p> + +<p> +The sedan, it hardly requires saying, was a much more comfortable +ambush than the recess of the door. Nilo merely felt the shaking the +gale now and then gave the house. So, too, he bade welcome to the glare +in the sky for the flushing it transmitted to the court. Only a wraith +could have come from or gone into the cistern unseen by him. +</p> + +<p> +The clapping to of the front door on the street was not lost to the +King. Presently the person he had seen in the boat at the foot of the +steps again issued from the passage, lamp in hand as before; but as he +kept looking back deferentially, a gust leaped down, and extinguished +the flame, compelling him to return; whereupon another man stepped out +into the court, halting immediately. Nilo opened a little wider the gap +in the curtain through which he was peeping. +</p> + +<p> +It may be well to say here that the newcomer thus unwittingly exposing +himself to observation was the same individual Sergius had seen +admitted into the house. The keeper had taken him to a room for the +rearrangement of his attire. Standing forth in the light now filling +the court, he was still wrapped in the cloak, all except the head, +which was jauntily covered with a white cap, in style not unlike a +Scotch bonnet, garnished with two long red ostrich feathers held in +place by a brooch that shot forth gleams of precious stones in artful +arrangement. Once the man opened the cloak, exposing a vest of +fine-linked mail, white with silver washing, and furnished with +epaulettes or triangular plates, fitted gracefully to the shoulders. A +ruff, which was but the complement of a cape of heavy lace, clothed the +neck. +</p> + +<p> +To call the feeling which now shot through the King's every fibre a +sudden pleasure would scarcely be a sufficient description; it was +rather the delight with which soldiers old in war acknowledge the +presence of their foemen. In other words, the brave black recognized +Demedes, and was strong minded enough to understand and appreciate the +circumstances under which the discovery was made. If the savage arose +in him, it should be remembered he was there to revenge a master's +wrongs quite as much as to rescue a stolen girl. Moreover, the +education he had received from his master was not in the direction of +mercy to enemies. +</p> + +<p> +The two—Demedes and the keeper—lost no time in entering the cistern, +the latter going first. When the King thought they had reached the +lower platform, he issued from the chair barefooted, and bending over +the curbing beheld what went on below. +</p> + +<p> +The Greek was holding the lamp. The occupation of his assistant was +beyond comprehension until the boat moved slowly into view. Demedes +then set the lamp down, divested himself of his heavy wrap, and taking +the rower's seat, unshipped the oars. There was a brief conference; at +the conclusion the subordinate joined his chief; whereupon the boat +pushed off. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far the affair was singularly in the line of Sergius' +anticipations; and now to call him in! +</p> + +<p> +There is little room for doubt that Nilo was in perfect recollection of +the instructions he had received, and that his first intention was to +obey them; for, standing by the curbing long enough to be assured the +Greek was indeed in the gloomy cavern, whence escape was impossible +except by some unknown exit, he walked slowly away, and was in the +passage door when, looking back, he saw the keeper leaping out into the +court. +</p> + +<p> +To say truth, the King had witnessed the departure of the boat with +misgivings. Catching the robbers was then easy; yet rescue of the girl +was a different thing. What might they not do with her in the meantime? +As he understood his master, her safety was even more in purpose than +their seizure; wherefore his impulse was to keep them in sight without +reference to Sergius. He could swim—yes, but the water was cold, and +the darkness terrible to his imagination. It might be hours before he +found the hiding-place of the thieves—indeed, he might never overtake +them. His regret when he stepped into the passage was mighty; it +enables us, however, to comprehend the rush of impetuous joy which now +took possession of him. A step to the right, and he was behind the +cheek of the door. +</p> + +<p> +All unsuspicious of danger, the keeper came on; a few minutes, and he +would be in bed and asleep, so easy was he in conscience. The ancient +cistern had many secrets. What did another one matter? His foot was on +the lintel—he heard a rustle close at his side—before he could dart +back—ere he could look or scream, two powerful hands were around his +throat. He was not devoid of courage or strength, and resisted, +struggling for breath. He merely succeeded in drawing his assailant out +into the light far enough to get a glimpse of a giant and a face black +and horrible to behold. A goblin from the cistern! And with this idea, +he quit fighting, and sank to the floor. Nilo kept his grip +needlessly—the fellow was dead of terror. +</p> + +<p> +Here was a contingency not provided for in the arrangement Sergius had +laid out with such care. +</p> + +<p> +And what now? +</p> + +<p> +It was for the King to answer. +</p> + +<p> +He dragged the victim out in the court, and set a foot on his throat. +All the savage in him was awake, and his thoughts pursued Demedes. +Hungering for that life more than this one, he forgot the monk utterly. +Had he a plank—anything in the least serviceable as a float—he would +go after the master. He looked the enclosure over, and the sedan caught +his eye, its door ajar. The door would suffice. He took hold of the +limp body of the keeper, drew it after him, set it on the seat, and was +about wrenching the door away, when he saw the poles. They were twelve +or fourteen feet long and lashed together. On rafts not half so good he +had in Kash-Cush crossed swollen streams, paddling with his hands. To +take them to the cistern—to descend the steps with them—to launch +himself on them—to push out into the darkness, were as one act, so +swiftly were they accomplished. And going he knew not whither, but +scorning the thought of another man betaking himself where he dared +not, sustained by a feeling that he was in pursuit, and would have the +advantage of a surprise when at last he overtook the enemy, we must +leave the King awhile in order to bring up a dropped thread of our +story. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0424"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET +</h3> + +<p> +The reader will return—not unwillingly, it is hoped—to Lael. +</p> + +<p> +The keeper, on watch for her, made haste to bar the door behind the +carriers of the sedan, who, on their part, made greater haste to take +boat and fly the city. From his sitting-room he brought a lamp, and +opening the chair found the passenger in a corner to appearance dead. +The head was hanging low; through the dishevelled hair the slightest +margin of forehead shone marble white; a scarce perceptible rise and +fall of the girlish bosom testified of the life still there. A woman at +mercy, though dumb, is always eloquent. +</p> + +<p> +"Here she is at last!" the keeper thought, while making a profane +survey of the victim.... "Well, if beauty was his object—beauty +without love—he may be satisfied. That's as the man is. I would rather +have the bezants she has cost him. The market's full of just such +beauty in health and strength—beauty matured and alive, not wilted +like this! ... But every fish to its net, every man to his fate, as the +infidels on the other shore say. To the cistern she must go, and I must +put her there. Oh, how lucky! Her wits are out—prayers, tears, +resistance would be uncomfortable. May the Saints keep her!" Closing +the door of the sedan, he hurried out into the court, and thence down +the cistern stairs to the lower platform, where he drew the boat in, +and fixed it stationary by laying the oars across the gunwale from a +step. The going and return were quick. +</p> + +<p> +"The blood of doves, or the tears of women—I am not yet decided which +is hardest on a soul.... Come along!... There is a palace at the +further end of the road."... +</p> + +<p> +He lifted her from the chair. In the dead faint she was more an +inconvenient burden than a heavy one. +</p> + +<p> +At the curbing he sat her down while he returned for the lamp. The +steps within were slippery, and he dared take no risks. To get her into +the boat was trying: yet he was gentle as possible—that, however, was +from regard for the patron he was serving. He laid her head against a +seat, and arranged her garments respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +"O sweet Mother of Blacherne!" he then said, looking at the face for +the first time fully exposed. "That pin on the shoulder—Heavens, how +the stone flashes! It invites me." Unfastening the trinket, he secured +it under his jacket, then ran on: "She is so white! I must hurry—or +drop her overboard. If she dies"—his countenance showed concern, but +brightened immediately. "Oh, of course she jumped overboard to escape!" +</p> + +<p> +There was no further delay. With the lamp at the bow, he pushed off, +and rowed vigorously. Through the pillared space he went, with many +quick turns. It were vain saying exactly which direction he took, or +how long he was going; after a time, the more considerable on account +of the obstructions to be avoided, he reached the raft heretofore +described as in the form of a cross and anchored securely between four +of the immense columns by which the roof of the cistern was upheld. +Still Lael slept the merciful sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Next the keeper carried the unresisting body to a door of what in the +feeble light seemed a low, one-storied house—possibly hut were a +better word—thence into an interior where the blackness may be likened +to a blindfold many times multiplied. Yet he went to a couch, and laid +her upon it. +</p> + +<p> +"There—my part is done!" he muttered, with a long-drawn breath.... +"Now to illuminate the Palace! If she were to awake in this +pitch-black"—something like a laugh interrupted the speech—"it would +strangle her—oil from the press is not thicker." +</p> + +<p> +He brought in the light—in such essential midnight it was +indispensable, and must needs be always thought of—and amongst the +things which began to sparkle was a circlet of furbished metal +suspended from the centre of the ceiling. It proved to be a chandelier, +provided with a number of lamps ready for lighting; and when they were +all lit, the revelation which ensued while a lesson in extravagance was +not less a tribute to the good taste of the reckless genius by which it +was conceived. +</p> + +<p> +It were long reading the inventory of articles he had brought together +there for the edification and amusement of such as might become his +idols. They were everywhere apparently—books, pictures, musical +instruments—on the floor, a carpet to delight a Sultana mother—over +the walls, arras of silk and gold in alternate threads—the ceiling an +elaboration of wooden panels. +</p> + +<p> +By referring to the diagram of the raft, it will be seen one quarter +was reserved for a landing, while the others supported what may be +termed pavilions, leaving an interior susceptible of division into +three rooms. Standing under the circlet of light, an inmate could see +into the three open quarters, each designed and furnished for a special +use; this at the right hand, for eating and drinking; that at the left, +for sleeping; the third, opposite the door, for lounging and reading. +In the first one, a table already set glittered with ware in glass and +precious metals; in the second, a mass of pink plush and fairy-like +lace bespoke a bed; in the third were chairs, a lounge, and footrests +which had the appearance of having been brought from a Ptolemaic palace +only yesterday; and on these, strewn with an eye to artistic effect, +lay fans and shawls for which the harem-queens of Persia and Hindostan +might have contended. The "crown-jewel" of this latter apartment, +however, was undoubtedly a sheet of copper burnished to answer the +purpose of a looking-glass with a full-length view. On stands next the +mirror, was a collection of toilet necessaries. +</p> + +<p> +Elsewhere we have heard of a Palace of Love lying as yet in the high +intent of Mahommed; here we have a Palace of Pleasure illustrative of +Epicureanism according to Demedes. The expense and care required to +make it an actuality beget the inference that the float, rough outside, +splendid within, was not for Lael alone. A Princess of India might +inaugurate it, but others as fair and highborn were to come after her, +recipients of the same worship. Whosoever the favorite of the hour +might be, the three pavilions were certainly the assigned limits of her +being; while the getting rid of her would be never so easy—the water +flowing, no one knew whence or whither, was horribly suggestive. Once +installed there, it was supposed that longings for the upper world +would go gradually out. The mistress, with nothing to wish for not at +hand, was to be a Queen, with Demedes and his chosen of the philosophic +circle for her ministers. In other words, the Academic Temple in the +upper world was but a place of meeting; this was the Temple in fact. +There the gentle priests talked business; here they worshipped; and of +their psalter and litany, their faith and ceremonial practices, enough +that the new substitute for religion was only a reembodiment of an old +philosophy with the narrowest psychical idea for creed; namely, that +the principle of Present Life was all there was in man worth culture +and gratification. +</p> + +<p> +The keeper cared little for the furnishments and curios. He was much +more concerned in the restoration of his charge, being curious to see +how she would behave on waking. He sprinkled her face with water, and +fanned her energetically, using an ostrich wing of the whiteness of +snow, overlaid about the handle with scarab-gems. Nor did he forget to +pray. +</p> + +<p> +"O Holy Mother! O sweet Madonna of Blacherne! Do not let her die. +Darkness is nothing to thee. Thou art clothed in brightness. Oh, as +thou lovest all thy children, descend hither, and open her eyes, and +give her speech!" +</p> + +<p> +The man was in earnest. +</p> + +<p> +Greatly to his delight, he beheld the blood at length redden the pretty +mouth, and the eyelids begin to tremble. Then a long, deep inhalation, +and an uncertain fearful looking about; first at the circlet of the +lamps, and next at the keeper, who, as became a pious Byzantine, burst +into exclamation: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh Holy Mother! I owe you a candle!" +</p> + +<p> +Directly, having risen to a sitting posture, Lael found her tongue: +</p> + +<p> +"You are not my father Uel, or my father the Prince of India?" +</p> + +<p> +"No," he returned, plying the fan. +</p> + +<p> +"Where are they? Where is Sergius?" +</p> + +<p> +"I do not know." +</p> + +<p> +"Who are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am appointed to see that no harm comes to you." +</p> + +<p> +This was intended kindly enough; it had, however, the opposite effect. +She arose, and with both hands holding the hair from her eyes, stared +wildly at objects in the three rooms, and fell to the couch again +insensible. And again the water, the ostrich-wing, and the prayer to +the Lady of Blacherne—again an awakening. +</p> + +<p> +"Where am I?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"In the Palace of"— +</p> + +<p> +He had not time to finish; with tears, and moans, and wringing of hands +she sat up: "Oh, my father! Oh, that I had heeded him! ... You will +take me to him, will you not? He is rich, and loves me, and he will +give you gold and jewels until you are rich. Only take me to him.... +See—I am praying to you!"—and she cast herself at his feet. +</p> + +<p> +Now the keeper was not used to so much loveliness in great distress, +and he moved away; but she tried to follow him on her knees, crying: +"Oh, as you hope mercy for yourself, take me home!" And beginning to +doubt his strength, he affected harshness. +</p> + +<p> +"It is useless praying to me. I could not take you out if your father +rained gold on me for a month—I could not if I wished to.... Be +sensible, and listen to me." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you did not bring me here." +</p> + +<p> +"Listen to me, I say.... You will get hungry and thirsty—there are +bread, fruit, and water and wine—and when you are sleepy, yonder is +the bed. Use your eyes, and you are certain to find in one room or the +other everything you can need; and whatever you put hand on is yours. +Only be sensible, and quit taking on so. Quit praying to me. Prayer is +for the Madonna and the Blessed Saints. Hush and hear. No? Well, I am +going now." +</p> + +<p> +"Going?—and without telling me where I am? Or why I was brought here? +Or by whom? Oh, my God!" +</p> + +<p> +She flung herself on the floor distracted; and he, apparently not +minding, went on: +</p> + +<p> +"I am going now, but will come back for your orders in the morning, and +again in the evening. Do not be afraid; it is not intended to hurt you; +and if you get tired of yourself, there are books; or if you do not +read, maybe you sing—there are musical instruments, and you can choose +amongst them. Now I grant you I am not a waiting-maid, having had no +education in that line; still, if I may advise, wash your face, and +dress your hair, and be beautiful as you can, for by and by he will +come"— +</p> + +<p> +"Who will come?" she asked, rising to her knees, and clasping her hands. +</p> + +<p> +The sight was more than enough for him. He fled incontinently, saying: +"I will be back in the morning." As he went he snatched up the +indispensable lamp; outside, he locked the door; then rowed away, +repeating, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of women!" +</p> + +<p> +Left thus alone, the unfortunate girl lay on the floor a long time, +sobbing, and gradually finding the virtue there is in tears—especially +tears of repentance. Afterwhile, with the return of reason—meaning +power to think—the silence of the place became noticeable. Listening +closely, she could detect no sign of life—nothing indicative of a +street, or a house adjoining, or a neighbor, or that there was any +outdoors about her at all. The noise of an insect, the note of a bird, +a sough of wind, the gurgle of water, would have relieved her from the +sense of having in some way fallen off the earth, and been caught by a +far away uninhabited planet. That would certainly have been hard; but +worse—the idea of being doomed to stay there took possession of her, +and becoming intolerable, she walked from room to room, and even tried +to take interest in the things around. Will it ever be that a woman can +pass a mirror without being arrested by it? Before the tall copper +plate she finally stopped. At first, the figure she saw startled her. +The air of general discomfiture—hair loose, features tear-stained, +eyes red and swollen, garments disarranged—made it look like a +stranger. The notion exaggerated itself, and further on she found a +positive comfort in the society of the image, which not only looked +somebody else, but more and more somebody else who was lost like +herself, and, being in the same miserable condition, would be happy to +exchange sympathy for sympathy. +</p> + +<p> +Now the spectacle of a person in distress is never pleasant; wherefore +permission is begged to dismiss the passage of that night in the +cistern briefly as possible. From the couch to the mirror; fearing now, +then despairing; one moment calling for help, listening next, her +distracted fancy caught by an imaginary sound; too much fevered to care +for refreshments; so overwhelmed by the awful sense of being hopelessly +and forever lost, she could neither sleep nor control herself mentally. +Thus tortured, there were no minutes or hours to her, only a time, that +being a peculiarity of the strange planet her habitat. To be sure, she +explored her prison intent upon escape, but was as often beaten back by +walls without window, loophole or skylight—walls in which there was +but one door, fastened outside. +</p> + +<p> +The day following was to the captive in nothing different from the +night—a time divisionless, and filled with fear, suspense, and +horrible imaginings—a monotony unbroken by a sound. If she could have +heard a bell, though ever so faint, or a voice, to whomsoever +addressed, it would yet prove her in an inhabited world—nay, could she +but have heard a cricket singing! +</p> + +<p> +In the morning the keeper kept his appointment. He came alone and +without business except to renew the oil in the lamps. After a careful +survey of the palace, as he called it, probably in sarcasm, and as he +was about to leave, he offered, if she wanted anything, to bring it +upon his return. Was there ever prisoner not in want of liberty? The +proposal did but reopen the scene of the evening previous; and he fled +from it, repeating as before, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of +women!" +</p> + +<p> +In the evening he found her more tractable; so at least he thought; and +she was in fact quieter from exhaustion. None the less he again fled to +escape the entreaties with which she beset him. +</p> + +<p> +She took to the couch the second night. The need of nature was too +strong for both grief and fear, and she slept. Of course she knew not +of the hunt going on, or of the difficulties in the way of finding her; +and in this ignorance the sensation of being lost gradually yielded to +the more poignant idea of desertion. Where was Sergius? Would there +ever be a fitter opportunity for display of the superhuman intelligence +with which, up to this time, she had invested her father, the Prince of +India? The stars could tell him everything; so, if now they were silent +respecting her, it could only be because he had not consulted them. +Situations such as she was in are right quarters of the moon for +unreasonable fantasies; and she fell asleep oppressed by a conviction +that all the friendly planets, even Jupiter, for whose appearance she +had so often watched with the delight of a lover, were hastening to +their Houses to tell him where she was, but for some reason he ignored +them. +</p> + +<p> +Still later, she fell into a defiant sullenness, one of the many +aspects of despair. +</p> + +<p> +In this mood, while lying on the couch, she heard the sound of oars, +and almost immediately after felt the floor jar. She sat up, wondering +what had brought the keeper back so soon. Steps then approached the +door; but the lock there proving troublesome, suggested one +unaccustomed to it; whereupon she remembered the rude advice to wash +her face and dress her hair, for by and by somebody was coming. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," she thought, "I shall learn who brought me here, and why." +</p> + +<p> +A hope returned to her. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, it may be my father has at last found me!" +</p> + +<p> +She arose—a volume of joy gathered in her heart ready to burst into +expression—when the door was pushed open, and Demedes entered. +</p> + +<p> +We know the figure he thus introduced to her. With averted face he +reinserted the key in the lock. She saw the key, heavy enough in +emergency for an aggressive weapon—she saw a gloved hand turn it, and +heard the bolt plunge obediently into its socket—and the flicker of +hope went out. She sunk upon the couch again, sullenly observant. +</p> + +<p> +The visitor—at first unrecognized by her—behaved as if at home, and +confident of an agreeable reception. Having made the door safe on the +outside, he next secured it inside, by taking the key out. Still +averting his face, he went to the mirror, shook the great cloak from +his shoulders, and coolly surveyed himself, turning this way and that. +He rearranged his cape, took off the cap, and, putting the plumes in +better relation, restored it to his head—thrust his gloves on one side +under a swordless belt, and the ponderous key under the same belt but +on the other side, where it had for company a straight dagger of +threatening proportions. +</p> + +<p> +Lael kept watch on these movements, doubtful if the stranger were aware +of her presence. Uncertainty on that score was presently removed. +Turning from the mirror, he advanced slowly toward her. When under the +circlet, just at the point where the light was most favorable for an +exhibition of himself, he stopped, doffed the cap, and said to her: +</p> + +<p> +"The daughter of the Prince of India cannot have forgotten me." +</p> + +<p> +Now if, from something said in this chronicle, the reader has been led +to exalt the little Jewess into a Bradamante, it were just to undeceive +him. She was a woman in promise, of fair intellect subordinate to a +pure heart. Any great thing said or done by her would be certain to +have its origin in her affections. The circumstances in which she would +be other than simple and unaffected are inconceivable. In the beautiful +armor, Demedes was handsome, particularly as there was no other man +near to force a comparison of stature; yet she did not see any of his +braveries—she saw his face alone, and with what feeling may be +inferred from the fact that she now knew who brought her where she was, +and the purpose of the bringing. +</p> + +<p> +Instead of replying, she shrank visibly further and further from him, +until she was an apt reminder of a hare cornered by a hound, or a dove +at last overtaken by a hawk. +</p> + +<p> +The suffering she had undergone was discernible in her appearance, for +she had not taken the advice of the keeper; in a word, she was at the +moment shockingly unlike the lissome, happy, radiant creature whom we +saw set out for a promenade two days before. Her posture was crouching; +the hair was falling all ways; both hands pressed hard upon her bosom; +and the eyes were in fixed gaze, staring at him as at death. She was in +the last extremity of fear, and he could not but see it. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not be afraid," he said, hurriedly, and in a tone of pity. "You +were never safer than you are here—I swear it, O Princess!" +</p> + +<p> +Observing no change in her or indication of reply, he continued: "I see +your fear, and it may be I am its object. Let me come and sit by you, +and I will explain everything—where you are—why you were brought +here—and by whom.... Or give me a place at your feet.... I will not +speak for myself, except as I love you—nay, I will speak for love." +</p> + +<p> +Still not a word from her—only a sullenness in which he fancied there +was a threat.... A threat? What could she do? To him, nothing; he was +in shirt of steel; but to herself much.... And he thought of suicide, +and then of—madness. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me, O Princess, if you have received any disrespect since you +entered this palace? There is but one person from whom it could have +proceeded. I know him; and if, against his solemn oath, he has dared an +unseemly look or word—if he has touched you profanely—you may choose +the dog's death he shall die, and I will give it him. For that I wear +this dagger. See!" +</p> + +<p> +In this he was sincere; yet he shall be a student very recently come to +lessons in human nature who fails to perceive the reason of his +sincerity; possibly she saw it; we speak with uncertainty, for she +still kept silent. Again he cast about to make her speak. Reproach, +abuse, rage, tears in torrents, fury in any form were preferable to +that look, so like an animal's conscious of its last moment. +</p> + +<p> +"Must I talk to you from this distance? I can, as you see, but it is +cruel; and if you fear me"—he smiled, as if the idea were amusing. +"Oh! if you still fear me, what is there to prevent my compelling the +favors I beg?" +</p> + +<p> +The menace was of no more effect than entreaty. Paralysis of spirit +from fright was new to him; yet the resources of his wit were without +end. Going to the table, he looked it over carefully. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" he cried, turning to her with well-dissembled astonishment. +"Hast thou eaten nothing? Two days, and not a crumb of bread in thy +pretty throat?—not a drop of wine? This shall not go on—no, by all +the goodness there is in Heaven!" +</p> + +<p> +On a plate he then placed a biscuit and a goblet filled with red wine +of the clearest sparkle, and taking them to her, knelt at her feet. +</p> + +<p> +"I will tell you truly, Princess—I built this palace for you, and +brought you here under urgency of love. God deny me forever, if I once +dreamed of starving you! Eat and drink, if only to give me ease of +conscience." +</p> + +<p> +He offered the plate to her. +</p> + +<p> +She arose, her face, if possible, whiter than before. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not come near me—keep off!" Her voice was sharp and high. "Keep +off!... Or take me to my father's house. This palace is yours—you have +the key. Oh, be merciful!" +</p> + +<p> +Madness was very near her. +</p> + +<p> +"I will obey you in all things but one," he said, and returned the +plate to the table, content with having brought her to speech. "In all +things but one," he repeated peremptorily, standing under the circlet. +"I will not take you to your father's house. I brought you here to +teach you what I would never have a chance to teach you there—that you +are the idol for whom I have dared every earthly risk, and imperilled +my soul.... Sit down and rest yourself. I will not come near you +to-night, nor ever without your consent.... Yes, that is well. And now +you are seated, and have shown a little faith in my word—for which I +thank you and kiss your hand—hear me further and be reasonable.... You +shall love me." +</p> + +<p> +Into this declaration he flung all the passion of his nature. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no! Draw not away believing yourself in peril. You shall love me, +but not as a scourged victim. I am not a brute. I may be won too +lightly, by a voice, by bright eyes, by graces of person, by +faithfulness where faithfulness is owing, by a soul created for love +and aglow with it as a star with light; but I am not of those who kill +the beloved, and justify the deed, pleading coldness, scorn, preference +for another. Be reasonable, I say, O Princess, and hear how I will +conquer you.... Are not the better years of life ours? Why should I +struggle or make haste, or be impatient? Are you not where I have +chosen to put you?—where I can visit you day and night to assure +myself of your health and spirits?—all in the world, yet out of its +sight?... You may not know what a physician Time is. I do. He has a +medicine for almost every ailment of the mind, every distemper of the +soul. He may not set my lady's broken finger, but he will knit it so, +when sound again, the hurt shall be forgotten. He drops a month—in +extreme cases, a year or years—on a grief, or a bereavement, and it +becomes as if it had never been. So he lets the sun in on prejudices +and hates, and they wither, and where they were, we go and gather the +fruits and flowers of admiration, respect—ay, Princess, of love. Now, +in this cause, I have chosen Time for my best friend; he and I will +come together, and stay"— +</p> + +<p> +The conclusion of the speech must be left to the reader, for with the +last word some weighty solid crashed against the raft until it trembled +throughout. Demedes stopped. Involuntarily his hand sought the dagger; +and the action was a confession of surprise. An interval of quiet +ensued; then came a trial of the lock—at first, gentle—another, with +energy—a third one rattled the strong leaf in its frame. +</p> + +<p> +"The villain! I will teach him—No, it cannot be—he would not +dare—and besides I have the boat." +</p> + +<p> +As Demedes thus acquitted the keeper, he cast a serious glance around +him, evidently in thought of defence. +</p> + +<p> +Again the raft was shaken, as if by feet moving rapidly under a heavy +burden. Crash!—and the door was splintered. Once more—crash!—and +door and framework shot in—a thunderbolt had not wrought the wreck +more completely. +</p> + +<p> +Justice now to the Greek. Though a genius all bad, he was manly. +Retiring to a position in front of Lael, he waited, dagger in hand. And +he had not breathed twice, before Nilo thrust his magnificent person +through the breach, and advanced under the circlet. +</p> + +<p> +Returning now. Had the King been in toils, and hard pressed, he would +not have committed himself to the flood and darkness of the cistern in +the manner narrated; at least the probabilities are he would have +preferred battle in the court, and light, though of the city on fire, +by which to conquer or die. But his blood was up, and he was in +pursuit, not at bay; to the genuine fighting man, moreover, a taste of +victory is as a taste of blood to tigers. He was not in humor to bother +himself with practical considerations such as—If I come upon the +hiding-place of the Greek, how, being deaf and dumb, am I to know it? +Of what use are eyes in a hollow rayless as this? Whether he considered +the obvious personal dangers of the adventure—drowning, for +instance—is another matter. +</p> + +<p> +The water was cold, and his teeth chattered; for it will be recollected +he was astride the poles of the sedan, lashed together. That his body +was half submerged was a circumstance he little heeded, since it was +rather helpful than otherwise to the hand strokes with which he +propelled himself. Nor need it be supposed he moved slowly. The speed +attainable by such primitive means in still water is wonderful. +</p> + +<p> +Going straight from the lower platform of the stair, he was presently +in total darkness. With a row of columns on either hand, he managed to +keep direction; and how constantly and eagerly he employed the one +available sense left him may be imagined. His project was to push on +until stayed by a boundary wall—then he would take another course, and +so on to the end. The enemy, by his theory, was in a boat or floating +house. Hopeful, determined, inspirited by the prospect of combat, he +made haste as best he could. At last, looking over his left shoulder, +he beheld a ruddy illumination, and changed direction thither. +Presently he swept into the radius of a stationary light, broken, of +course, by intervening pillars and the shadows they cast; then, at his +right, a hand lamp in front of what had the appearance of a house +rising out of the water, startled him. +</p> + +<p> +Was it a signal? +</p> + +<p> +The King approached warily, until satisfied no ambush was +intended—until, in short, the palace of the Greek was before him. +</p> + +<p> +It was his then to surprise; so he drove the ends of the poles against +the landing with force sufficient, as we have seen, to interrupt +Demedes explaining how he meant to compel the love of Lael. +</p> + +<p> +With all his nicety of contrivance, the Greek had at the last moment +forgotten to extinguish the lamp or take it into the house with him. +The King recognized it and the boat, yet circumspectly drew his humble +craft up out of the water. He next tried the lock, and then the door; +finally he used the poles as a ram. +</p> + +<p> +Taking stand under the circlet, there was scant room between it and the +blue handkerchief on his head; while the figure he presented, nude to +the waist, his black skin glistening with water, his trousers clinging +to his limbs, his nostrils dilating, his eyes jets of flame, his cruel +white teeth exposed—this figure the dullest fancy can evoke—and it +must have appeared to the guilty Greek a very genius of vengeance. +</p> + +<p> +Withal, however, the armor and the dagger brought Demedes up to a +certain equality; and, as he showed no flinching, the promise of combat +was excellent. It happened, however, that while the two silently +regarded each other, Lael recognized the King, and unable to control +herself, gave a cry of joy, and started to him. Instinctively Demedes +extended a hand to hold her back; the giant saw the opening; two steps +so nearly simultaneous the movement was like a leap—and he had the +wrist of the other's armed hand in his grip. Words can convey no idea +of the outburst attending the assault—it was the hoarse inarticulate +falsetto of a dumb man signalizing a triumph. If the reader can think +of a tiger standing over him, its breath on his cheek, its roar in his +ears, something approximate to the effect is possible. +</p> + +<p> +The Greek's cap fell off, and the dagger rattled to the floor. His +countenance knit with sudden pain—the terrible grip was crushing the +bones—yet he did not submit. With the free hand, he snatched the key +from his belt, and swung it to strike—the blow was intercepted—the +key wrenched away. Then Demedes' spirit forsook him—mortal terror +showed in his face turned gray as ashes, and in his eyes, enlarged yet +ready to burst from their sockets. He had not the gladiator's +resignation under judgment of death. +</p> + +<p> +"Save me, O Princess, save me!... He is killing me.... My +God—see—hear—he is crushing my bones!... Save me!" +</p> + +<p> +Lael was then behind the King, on her knees, thanking Heaven for +rescue. She heard the imploration, and, woman-like, sight of the awful +agony extinguished the memory of her wrongs. +</p> + +<p> +"Spare him, Nilo, for my sake, spare him!" she cried. +</p> + +<p> +It was not alone her wrongs that were forgotten—she forgot that the +avenger could not hear. +</p> + +<p> +Had he heard, it is doubtful if he had obeyed; for we again remark he +was fighting less for her than for his master—or rather for her in his +master's interest. And besides, it was the moment of victory, when, of +all moments, the difference between the man born and reared under +Christian influences and the savage is most impressible. +</p> + +<p> +While she was entreating him, he repeated the indescribable howl, and +catching Demedes bore him to the door and out of it. At the edge of the +landing, he twisted his fingers in the long locks of the screaming +wretch, whose boasted philosophy was of so little worth to him now that +he never thought of it—then he plunged him in the water, and held him +under until—enough, dear reader! +</p> + +<p> +Lael did not go out. The inevitable was in the negro's face. Retreating +to the couch, she there covered her ears with her hands, trying to +escape the prayers the doomed man persisted to the last in addressing +her. +</p> + +<p> +By and by Nilo returned alone. +</p> + +<p> +He took the cloak from the floor, wrapped her in it, and signed her to +go with him; but the distresses she had endured, together with the +horrors of the scene just finished, left her half fainting. In his arms +she was a child. Almost before she knew it, he had placed her in the +boat. With a cord found in the house, he tied the poles behind the +vessel, and set out to find the stairs, the tell-tale lamp twinkling at +the bow. +</p> + +<p> +Safely arrived there, the good fellow carried his fair charge up the +steps to the court—descending again, he brought the poles—going back +once more, he drew the boat on the lower platform. Then to hasten to +the street door, unbar it, and admit Sergius were scarce a minute's +work. +</p> + +<p> +The monk's amazement and delight at beholding Lael, and hers at sight +of him, require no labored telling. At that meeting, conventionalities +were not observed. He carried her into the passage, and gave her the +keeper's chair; after which, reminded of the programme so carefully +laid out by him, he returned with Nilo to the court, where the +illumination in the sky still dropped its relucent flush. Turning the +King face to him he asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the keeper?" +</p> + +<p> +The King walked to the sedan, opened the door, and dragging the dead +man forth, flung him sprawling on the pavement. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius stood speechless, seeing what the victor had not—arrests, +official inquests, and the dread machinery of the law started, with +results not in foresight except by Heaven. Before he had fairly +recovered, Nilo had the sedan out and the poles fixed to it, and in the +most cheerful, matter-of-fact manner signed him to take up the forward +ends. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the Greek?" the monk asked. +</p> + +<p> +That also the King managed to answer. +</p> + +<p> +"In the cistern—drowned!" exclaimed Sergius, converting the reply into +words. +</p> + +<p> +The King drew himself up proudly. +</p> + +<p> +"O Heavens! What will become of us?" +</p> + +<p> +The exclamation signified a curtain rising upon a scene of prosecution +against which the Christian covered his face with his hands.... Again +Nilo brought him back to present duty.... In a short time Lael was in +the chair, and they bearing her off. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius set out first for Uel's house. The time was near morning; but +for the conflagration the indications of dawn might have been seen in +the east. He was not long in getting to understand the awfulness of the +calamity the city had suffered, and that, with thousands of others, the +dwellings of Uel and the Prince of India were heaps of ashes on which +the gale was expending its undiminished strength. +</p> + +<p> +What was to be done with Lael? +</p> + +<p> +This Sergius answered by leading the way to the town residence of the +Princess Irene. There the little Jewess was received, while he took +boat and hurried to Therapia. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess came down, and under her roof, Lael found sympathy, rest, +and safety. In due time also Uel's last testament reached her, with the +purse of jewels left by the Prince of India, and she then assumed +guardianship of the bereaved girl. +</p> + +<h2> +BOOK V +</h2> + +<h2> +MIRZA +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0501"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE +</h3> + +<p> +It is now the middle of February, 1451. Constantine has been Emperor a +trifle over three years, and proven himself a just man and a +conscientious ruler. How great he is remains for demonstration, since +nothing has occurred to him—nothing properly a trial of his higher +qualities. +</p> + +<p> +In one respect the situation of the Emperor was peculiar. The highway +from Gallipoli to Adrianople, passing the ancient capital on the south, +belonged to the Turks, and they used it for every purpose—military, +commercial, governmental—used it as undisputedly within their domain, +leaving Constantine territorially surrounded, and with but one +neighbor, the Sultan Amurath. +</p> + +<p> +Age had transformed the great Moslem; from dreams of conquest, he had +descended to dreams of peace in shaded halls and rose-sprent gardens, +with singers, story-tellers, and philosophers for companions, and +women, cousins of the houris, to carpet the way to Paradise; but for +George Castriot, [Footnote: Iskander-beg—Scanderbeg. <i>Vide</i> GIBBON's +<i>Roman Empire.</i>] he had abandoned the cimeter. Keeping terms of amity +with such a neighbor was easy—the Emperor had merely to be himself +peaceful. Moreover, when John Palaeologus died, the succession was +disputed by Demetrius, a brother to Constantine. Amurath was chosen +arbitrator, and he decided in favor of the latter, placing him under a +bond of gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +Thus secure in his foreign relations, the Emperor, on taking the +throne, addressed himself to finding a consort; of his efforts in that +quest the reader is already informed, leaving it to be remarked that +the Georgian Princess at last selected for him by Phranza died while +journeying to Constantinople. This, however, was business of the +Emperor's own inauguration, and in point of seriousness could not stand +comparison with another affair imposed upon him by inheritance—keeping +the religious factions domiciled in the capital from tearing each other +to pieces. The latter called for qualities he does not seem to have +possessed. He permitted the sectaries to bombard each other with +sermons, bulletins and excommunications which, on the ground of scandal +to religion, he should have promptly suppressed; his failure to do so +led to its inevitable result—the sectaries presently dominated him. +</p> + +<p> +Now, however, the easy administration of the hitherto fortunate Emperor +is to vanish; two additional matters of the gravest import are thrust +upon him simultaneously, one domestic, the other foreign; and as both +of them become turning points in our story, it is advisable to attend +to them here. +</p> + +<p> +When the reins of government fell from the hands of Amurath, they were +caught up by Mahommed; in other words, Mahommed is Sultan, and the old +regime, with its friendly policies and stately courtesies, is at an +end, imposing the necessity for a recast of the relations between the +Empires. What shall they be? Such is the foreign question. +</p> + +<p> +Obviously, the subject being of vital interest to the Greek, it was for +him to take the initiative in bringing about the definitions desired. +With keen appreciation of the danger of the situation he addressed +himself to the task. Replying to a request presented through the +ambassador resident at Adrianople, Mahommed gave him solemn assurances +of his disposition to observe every existing treaty. The response seems +to have made him over-confident. Into the gilded council chamber at +Blacherne he drew his personal friends and official advisers, and heard +them with patience and dignity. At the close of a series of +deliberative sessions which had almost the continuity of one session, +two measures met his approval. Of these, the first was so extraordinary +it is impossible not to attribute its suggestion to Phranza, who, to +the immeasurable grief and disgust of our friend the venerable Dean, +was now returned, and in the exercise of his high office of Grand +Chamberlain. +</p> + +<p> +Allusion has been already made to the religious faith of the mother of +Mahommed. [Footnote: "For it was thought that his (Amurath's) eldest +son Mahomet, after the death of his father, would have embraced the +Christian Religion, being in his childhood instructed therein, as was +supposed, by his mother, the daughter of the Prince of Servia, a +Christian."—KNOLLES' <i>Turk. Hist.</i>, 239, Vol. I. +</p> + +<p> +"He (Mahommed) also entered into league with Constantinus Palaeologus, +the Emperor of Constantinople, and the other Princes of Grecia; as also +with the Despot of Servia, his Grandfather by the mother's side, as +some will have it; howbeit some others write that the Despot his +daughter, Amurath his wife (the Despot's daughter, Amurath's wife) was +but his Mother-in-law, whom he, under colour of Friendship, sent back +again unto her Father, after the death of Amurath, still allowing her a +Princely Dowery."—<i>Ibid</i>. 230. +</p> + +<p> +On this very interesting point both Von Hammer and Gibbon are somewhat +obscure; the final argument, however, is from Phranza: "After the +taking of Constantinople, she (the Princess) fled to Mahomet II." +(GIBBON'S <i>Rom. Emp.</i>, Note 52, 12.) The action is significant of a +mother. Mothers-in-law are not usually so doting.] The daughter of a +Servian prince, she is supposed to have been a Christian. After the +interment of Amurath, she had been returned to her native land. Her age +was about fifty. Clothed with full powers, the Grand Chamberlain was +despatched to Adrianople to propose a marriage between His Majesty, the +Emperor, and the Sultana mother. The fears and uncertainties besetting +the Greek must have been overwhelming. +</p> + +<p> +The veteran diplomat was at the same time entrusted with another affair +which one would naturally think called for much less delicacy in +negotiation. There was in Constantinople then a refugee named Orchan, +of whose history little is known beyond the fact that he was a grandson +of Sultan Solyman. Sometime presumably in the reign of John +Palaeologus, the Prince appeared in the Greek capital as a pretender to +the Sultanate; and his claim must have had color of right, at least, +since he became the subject of a treaty between Amurath and his +Byzantine contemporary, the former binding himself to pay the latter an +annual stipend in aspers in consideration of the detention of the +fugitive. +</p> + +<p> +With respect to this mysterious person, the time was favorable, in the +opinion of the council, for demanding an increase of the stipend. +Instructions concerning the project were accordingly delivered to Lord +Phranza. +</p> + +<p> +The High Commissioner was received with flattering distinction at +Adrianople. He of course presented himself first to the Grand Vizier, +Kalil Pacha, of whom the reader may take note, since, aside from his +reappearances in these pages, he is a genuine historic character. To +further acquaintance with him, it may be added that he was truly a +veteran in public affairs, a member of the great family to which the +vizierat descended almost in birthright, and a friend to the Greeks, +most likely from long association with Amurath, although he has +suffered severe aspersion on their account. Kalil advised Phranza to +drop the stipend. His master, he said, was not afraid of Orchan, if the +latter took the field as an open claimant, short work would be made of +him. The warning was disregarded. Phranza submitted his proposals to +Mahommed directly, and was surprised by his gentleness and suavity. +There was no scene whatever. On the contrary, the marriage overture was +forwarded to the Sultana with every indication of approval, nor was the +demand touching the stipend rejected; it was simply deferred. Phranza +lingered at the Turkish capital, pleased with the attentions shown him, +and still more with the character of the Sultan. +</p> + +<p> +In the judgment of the Envoy the youthful monarch was the incarnation +of peace. What time he was not mourning the loss of his royal father, +he was studying designs for a palace, probably the Watch Tower of the +World (<i>Jehan Numa</i>), which he subsequently built in Adrianople. +</p> + +<p> +Well for the trusting master in Blacherne, well for Christianity in the +East, could the credulous Phranza have looked in upon the amiable young +potentate during one of the nights of his residence in the Moslem +capital! He would have found him in a chamber of impenetrable privacy, +listening while the Prince of India proved the calculations of a +horoscope decisive of the favorable time for beginning war with the +Byzantines. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, my Lord," he could have heard the Prince say, when the last of +the many tables had been refooted for the tenth time—"now we are ready +for the ultimate. We are agreed, if I mistake not"—this was not merely +a complimentary form of speech, for Mahommed, it should be borne in +mind, was himself deeply versed in the intricate and subtle science of +planetary prediction—"we are agreed that as thou art to essay the war +as its beginner, we should have the most favorable Ascendant, +determinable by the Lord, and the Planet or Planets therein or in +conjunction or aspect with the Lord; we are also agreed that the Lord +of the Seventh House is the Emperor of Constantinople; we are also +agreed that to have thee overcome thy adversary, the Emperor, it is +better to have the Ascendant in the House of one of the Superior +Planets, Saturn, Jupiter or Mars"— +</p> + +<p> +"Jupiter would be good, O Prince," said Mahommed, intensely interested, +"yet I prefer Mars." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord is right again." The Seer hesitated slightly, then explained +with a deferential nod and smile: "I was near saying my Lord is always +right. Though some of the adepts have preferred Scorpio for the +Ascendant, because it is a fixed sign, Mars pleases me best; wherefore +toward him have I directed all my observations, seeking a time when he +shall certainly be better fortified than the Lord of the Seventh House, +as well as elevated above him in our figure of the Heavens." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed leaned far over toward the Prince, and said imperiously, his +eyes singularly bright: "And the ultimate—the time, the time, O +Prince! Hast thou found it? Allah forbid it be too soon!—There is so +much to be done—so much of preparation." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince smiled while answering: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord is seeing a field of glory—his by reservation of destiny—and +I do not wonder at his impatience to go reaping in it; but" (he became +serious) "it is never to be forgotten—no, not even by the most exalted +of men—that the Planets march by order of Allah alone." ... Then +taking the last of the calculations from the table at his right hand, +he continued: "The Ascendant permits my Lord to begin the war next +year." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed heard with hands clinched till the nails seemed burrowing in +the flesh of the palms. +</p> + +<p> +"The day, O Prince!—the day—the hour!" he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +Looking at the calculation, the Prince appeared to reply from it: "At +four o'clock, March twenty-sixth"— +</p> + +<p> +"And the year?" +</p> + +<p> +"Fourteen hundred and fifty-two." +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Four o'clock, March twenty-sixth, fourteen hundred and fifty-two</i>," +Mahommed repeated slowly, as if writing and verifying each word. Then +he cried with fervor: "There is no God but God!" +</p> + +<p> +Twice he crossed the floor; after which, unwilling probably to submit +himself at that moment to observation by any man, he returned to the +Prince: +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast leave to retire; but keep within call. In this mighty +business who is worthier to be the first help of my hands than the +Messenger of the Stars?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince saluted and withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +At length Phranza wearied of waiting, and being summoned home left the +two affairs in charge of an ambassador instructed to forego no +opportunity which might offer to press them to conclusions. Afterwhile +Mahommed went into Asia to suppress an insurrection in Caramania. The +Greek followed him from town to camp, until, tiring of the importunity, +the Sultan one day summoned him to his tent. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell my excellent friend, the Lord of Constantinople, thy master, that +the Sultana Maria declines his offer of marriage." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, my Lord," said the ambassador, touched by the brevity of the +communication, "did not the great lady deign an explanation?" +</p> + +<p> +"She declined—that is all." +</p> + +<p> +The ambassador hurried a courier to Constantinople with the answer. For +the first time he ventured to express a doubt of the Turk's sincerity. +</p> + +<p> +He would have been a wiser man and infinitely more useful to his +sovereign, could he have heard Mahommed again in colloquy with the +Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +"How long am I to endure this dog of a <i>Gabour?</i>" [Footnote: Mahommed +always wrote and spoke of Byzantines as <i>Romans</i>, except when in +passion; then he called them <i>Gabours</i>.] asked the Sultan, angrily. "It +was not enough to waylay me in my palace; he pursued me into the field; +now he imbitters my bread, now at my bedside he drives sleep from me, +now he begrudges me time for prayer. How long, I say?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince answered quietly: "Until March twenty-sixth, fourteen +hundred and fifty-two." +</p> + +<p> +"But if I put him to sleep, O Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"His master will send another in his place." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, but the interval! Will it not be so many days of rest?—so many +nights of unbroken sleep?" +</p> + +<p> +"Has my Lord finished his census yet? Are his arsenals full? Has he his +ships, and sailors, and soldiers? Has he money according to the +estimate?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has said he must have cannon. Has he found an artificer to his +mind?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed frowned. +</p> + +<p> +"I will give my Lord a suggestion. Does it suit him to reply now to the +proposal of marriage, keeping the matter of the stipend open, he may +give half relief and still hold the Emperor, who stands more in need of +bezants than of a consort." +</p> + +<p> +"Prince," said Mahommed, quickly, "as you go out send my secretary in." +</p> + +<p> +"Despatch a messenger for the ambassador of my brother of +Constantinople. I will see him immediately." +</p> + +<p> +This to the secretary. +</p> + +<p> +And presently the ambassador had the matter for report above recited. +In the report he might have said with truth—a person styling himself +<i>Prince of India</i> has risen to be Grand Vizier in fact, leaving the +title to Kalil. +</p> + +<p> +These negotiations, lamentably barren of good results, were stretched +through half the year. But it is necessary to leave them for the time, +that we may return and see if the Emperor had better success in the +management of the domestic problem referred to as an inheritance. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0502"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB +</h3> + +<p> +The great fire burned its way broadly over two hills of the city, +stopping at the wall of the garden on the eastern front of Blacherne. +How it originated, how many houses were destroyed, how many of the +people perished in the flames and in the battle waged to extinguish +them, were subjects of unavailing inquiry through many days. +</p> + +<p> +For relief of the homeless, Constantine opened his private coffers. He +also assumed personal direction of the removal of the debris cumbering +the unsightly blackened districts, and, animated by his example, the +whole population engaged zealously in the melancholy work. When Galata, +laying her jealousies aside, contributed money and sent companies of +laborers over to the assistance of her neighbor, it actually seemed as +if the long-forgotten age of Christian brotherhood was to be renewed. +But, alas! This unity, bred of so much suffering, so delightful as a +rest from factious alarms, so suggestive of angelic society and +heavenly conditions in general, disappeared—not slowly, but almost in +a twinkling. +</p> + +<p> +It was afternoon of the second day after the fire. Having been on +horseback since early morning, the Emperor, in need of repose, had +returned to his palace; but met at the portal by an urgent request for +audience from the Princess Irene, he received her forthwith. The reader +can surmise the business she brought for consideration, and also the +amazement with which her royal kinsman heard of the discovery and +rescue of Lael. For a spell his self-possession forsook him. In +anticipation of the popular excitement likely to be aroused by the +news, he summoned his councillors, and after consultation, appointed a +commission to investigate the incident, first sending a guard to take +possession of the cistern. +</p> + +<p> +Like their master, the commissioners had never heard of the first +profanation of the ancient reservoir; as a crime, consequently, this +repetition was to them original in all its aspects, and they addressed +themselves to the inquiry incredulously; but after listening to +Sergius, and to the details the little Jewess was able to give them, +the occurrence forced itself on their comprehension as more than a +crime at law—it took on the proportions and color of a conspiracy +against society and religion. Then its relative consequences presented +themselves. Who were concerned in it? +</p> + +<p> +The name of Demedes startled them by suddenly opening a wide horizon of +conjecture. Some were primarily disposed to welcome the intelligence +for the opportunity it offered His Majesty to crush the Academy of +Epicurus, but a second thought cooled their ardor; insomuch that they +began drawing back in alarm. The Brotherhood of the St. James' was +powerful, and it would certainly resent any humiliation their venerable +Hegumen might sustain through the ignominious exposure of his son. +</p> + +<p> +In great uncertainty, and not a little confusion, the commissionate +body hied from the Princess Irene to the cistern. While careful to hide +it from his associates, each of them went with a scarce admitted hope +that there would be a failure of the confirmations at least with +respect to the misguided Demedes; and not to lose sight of Nilo, in +whom they already discerned a serviceable scapegoat, they required him +to go with them. +</p> + +<p> +The revelations call for a passing notice. In the court the body of the +keeper was found upon the pavement. The countenance looked the terror +of which the man died, and as a spectacle grimly prepared the beholders +for the disclosures which were to follow. +</p> + +<p> +There was need of resolution to make the dismal ferriage from the lower +platform in the cistern, but it was done, Nilo at the oars. When the +visitors stepped on the landing of the "palace," their wonder was +unbounded. When they passed through the battered doorway, and standing +under the circlet, in which the lights were dead, gazed about them, +they knew not which was most astonishing, the courage of the majestic +black or the audacity of the projector of the villanous scheme. But +where was he? We may be sure there was no delay in the demand for him. +While the fishing tongs were being brought, the apartments were +inspected, and a list of their contents made. Then the party collected +at the edge of the landing. The secret hope was faint within them, for +the confirmations so far were positive, and the terrible negro, not in +the least abashed, was showing them where his enemy went down. They +gave him the tongs, and at the first plunge he grappled the body, and +commenced raising it. They crowded closer around him, awe-struck yet +silently praying: Holy Mother, grant it be any but the Hegumen's son! A +white hand, the fingers gay with rings, appeared above the water. The +fisherman took hold of it, and with a triumphant smile, drew the corpse +out, and laid it face up for better viewing. The garments were still +bright, the gilded mail sparkled bravely. One stooped with the light, +and said immediately: +</p> + +<p> +"It is he—Demedes!" +</p> + +<p> +Then the commissioners looked at each other—there was no need of +speech—a fortunate thing, for at that instant there was nothing of +which they were more afraid. +</p> + +<p> +Avoidance of the dreaded complications was now impossible—so at least +it seemed to them. Up in the keeper's room, whither they hurriedly +adjourned, it was resolved to despatch a messenger to His Majesty with +an informal statement of the discoveries, and a request for orders. The +unwillingness to assume responsibility was natural. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine acted promptly, and with sharp discernment of the +opportunity afforded the mischief-makers. The offence was to the city, +and it should see the contempt in which the conspirators held it, the +danger escaped, and the provocation to the Most Righteous; if then +there were seditions, his conscience was acquit. He sent Phranza to +break the news to the Hegumen, and went in person to the Monastery, +arriving barely in time to receive the blessings of his reverend +friend, who, overcome by the shock, died in his arms. Returning sadly +to Blacherne, he ordered the corpses of the guilty men to be exposed +for two days before the door of the keeper's house, and the cistern +thrown open for visitation by all who desired to inspect the Palace of +Darkness, as he appropriately termed the floating tenement constructed +with such wicked intents. He also issued a proclamation for the +suppression of the Epicurean Academy, and appointed a day of +Thanksgiving to God for the early exposure of the conspiracy. Nilo he +sent to a cell in the Cynegion, ostensibly for future trial, but really +to secure him from danger; in his heart he admired the King's spirit, +and hoped a day would come when he could safely and suitably reward him. +</p> + +<p> +On the part of the people the commotion which ensued was extraordinary. +They left the fire to its smouldering, and in steady currents marched +past the ghastly exhibits prepared for them in the street, looked at +them, shuddered, crossed themselves, and went their ways apparently +thankful for the swiftness of the judgment which had befallen; nor was +there one heard to criticise the Emperor's course. The malefactors were +dropped, like unclean clods, into the earth at night, without ceremony +or a mourner in attendance. Thus far all well. +</p> + +<p> +At length the day of thanksgiving arrived. By general agreement, there +was not a sign of dissatisfaction to be seen. The most timorous of the +commissioners rested easy. Sancta Sophia was the place appointed for +the services, and Constantine had published his intention to be +present. He had donned the Basilean robes; his litter was at the door +of the palace; his guard of horse and foot was formed, when the officer +on duty at the gate down by the Port of Blacherne arrived with a +startling report. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he said, unusually regardless of the ancient +salutation, "there is a great tumult in the city." +</p> + +<p> +The imperial countenance became stern. +</p> + +<p> +"This is a day of thanks to God for a great mercy; who dares profane it +by tumult?" +</p> + +<p> +"I must speak from hearsay," the officer answered.... "The funeral of +the Hegumen of the St. James took place at daylight this morning"— +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said Constantine, sighing at the sad reminder, "I had intended +to assist the Brotherhood. But proceed." +</p> + +<p> +"The Brothers, with large delegations from the other Monasteries, were +assembled at the tomb, when Gennadius appeared, and began to preach, +and he wrought upon his hearers until they pushed the coffin into the +vault, and dispersed through the streets, stirring up the people." +</p> + +<p> +At this the Emperor yielded to his indignation. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, by the trials and sufferings of the Most Christian Mother, are we +beasts insensible to destruction? Or idiots exempt from the penalties +of sin and impiety? And he—that genius of unrest—that master of +foment—God o' Mercy, what has he laid hold of to lead so many better +men to betray their vows and the beads at their belts? Tell +me—speak—my patience is nearly gone." +</p> + +<p> +For an instant, be it said, the much tried Sovereign beheld a strong +hand move within reach, as offering itself for acceptance. No doubt he +saw it as it was intended, the symbol and suggestion of a policy. Pity +he did not take it! For then how much of mischance had been averted +from himself—Constantinople might not have been lost to the Christian +world—the Greek Church had saved its integrity by recognizing the +union with the Latins consummated at the Council of +Florence—Christianity had not been flung back for centuries in the +East, its birthplace. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the officer returned, "I can report what I heard, +leaving its truth to investigation.... In his speech by the tomb +Gennadius admitted the awfulness of the crime attempted by Demedes, and +the justice of the punishment the young man suffered, its swiftness +proving it to have been directed by Heaven; but he declared its +conception was due to the Academy of Epicurus, and that there remained +nothing deserving study and penance except the continued toleration +without which the ungodly institution had passed quickly, as plagues +fly over cities purified against them. The crime, he said, was ended. +Let the dead bury the dead. But who were they responsible for grace to +the Academy? And he answered himself, my Lord, by naming the Church and +the State." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! He attacked the Church then?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, my Lord, he excused it by saying it had been debauched by an +<i>azymite</i> Patriarch, and while that servant of prostitution and heresy +controlled it, wickedness would be protected and go on increasing." +</p> + +<p> +"And the State—how dealt he with the State?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Church he described as Samson; the Patriarch, as an uncomely +Delilah who had speciously shorn it of its strength and beauty; the +State, as a political prompter and coadjutor of the Delilah; and Rome, +a false God seeking to promote worship unto itself through the debased +Church and State." +</p> + +<p> +"God o' Mercy!" Constantine exclaimed, involuntarily signing to the +sword-bearer at his back; but recovering himself, he asked with forced +moderation: "To the purpose of it all—the object. What did he propose +to the Brothers?" +</p> + +<p> +"He called them lovers of God in the livery of Christ, and implored +them to gird up their loins, and stand for the religion of the Fathers, +lest it perish entirely." +</p> + +<p> +"Did he tell them what to do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +A wistful, eager look appeared on the royal face, and behind it an +expectation that now there would be something to justify arrest and +exile at least—something politically treasonable. +</p> + +<p> +"He referred next to the thanksgiving services appointed to-day in +Sancta Sophia, and declared it an opportunity from Heaven, sent them +and all the faithful in the city, to begin a crusade for reform; not by +resort to sword and spear, for they were weapons of hell, but by +refusing to assist the Patriarch with their presence. A vision had come +to him in the night, he said—an angel of the Lord with the Madonna of +Blacherne—advising him of the Divine will. Under his further +urgency—and my Lord knows his power of speech—the Brothers listening, +the St. James' and all present from the other Orders, broke up and took +to the streets, where they are now, exhorting the people not to go to +the Church, and there is reason to believe they will"— +</p> + +<p> +"Enough," said the Emperor, with sudden resolution. "The good Gregory +shall not pray God singly and alone." +</p> + +<p> +Turning to Phranza, he ordered him to summon the court for the +occasion. "Let not one stay away," he continued; "and they shall put on +their best robes and whole regalia; for, going in state myself, I have +need of their utmost splendor. It is my will, further, that the army be +drawn from their quarters to the Church, men, music, and flags, and the +navies from their ships. And give greeting to the Patriarch, and notify +him, lest he make haste. Aside from these preparations, I desire the +grumblers be left to pursue their course unmolested. The sincere and +holy amongst them will presently have return of clear light." +</p> + +<p> +This counter project was entered upon energetically. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after noon the military bore down to the old Church, braying +the streets with horns, drums and cymbals, and when they were at order +in the immense auditorium, their banners hanging unfurled from the +galleries, the Emperor entered, with his court; in a word, the brave, +honest, white-haired Patriarch had company multitudinous and noble as +he could desire. None the less, however, Gennadius had his way +also—<i>the people took no part in the ceremony</i>. +</p> + +<p> +After the celebration, Constantine, in his chambers up in Blacherne, +meditated upon the day and its outcome. Phranza was his sole attendant. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear friend," the Emperor began, breaking a long silence, and much +disquieted, "was not my predecessor, the first Constantine, beset with +religious dissensions?" +</p> + +<p> +"If we may credit history, my Lord, he certainly was." +</p> + +<p> +"How did he manage them?" +</p> + +<p> +"He called a Council." +</p> + +<p> +"A Council truly—was that all?" +</p> + +<p> +"I do not recollect anything more." +</p> + +<p> +"It was this way, I think. He first settled the faith, and then +provided against dispute." +</p> + +<p> +"How, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, there was one Arius, a Libyan, Presbyter of a little church in +Alexandria called Baucalis, preacher of the Unity of God"— +</p> + +<p> +"I remember him now." +</p> + +<p> +"Of the Unity of God as opposed to the Trinity. Him the first +Constantine sent to prison for life, did he not?" +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Phranza understood the subject of his master's meditation; +but being of a timid soul, emasculated by much practice of diplomacy, +usually a tedious, waiting occupation, he hastened to reply: "Even so, +my Lord. Yet he could afford to be heroic. He had consolidated the +Church, and was holding the world in the hollow of his hand." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine allowed a sigh to escape him, and lapsed into silence; when +next he spoke, it was to say slowly: +</p> + +<p> +"Alas, my dear friend! The people were not there"—meaning at Sancta +Sophia. "I fear, I fear"— +</p> + +<p> +"What, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +Another sigh deeper than the first one: "I fear I am not a statesman, +but only a soldier, with nothing to give God and my Empire except a +sword and one poor life." +</p> + +<p> +These details will help the reader to a fair understanding of the +domestic involvements which overtook the Emperor about the time +Mahommed ascended the Turkish throne, and they are to be considered in +addition to the negotiations in progress with the Sultan. And as it is +important to give an idea of their speeding, we remark further, that +from the afternoon of the solemnity in Sancta Sophia the discussion +then forced upon him went from bad to worse, until he was seriously +deprived both of popular sympathy and the support of the organized +religious orders. The success of the solemnity in point of display, and +the measures resorted to, were not merely offensive to Gennadius and +his ally, the Duke Notaras; they construed them as a challenge to a +trial of strength, and so vigorously did they avail themselves of their +advantages that, before the Emperor was aware of it, there were two +distinct parties in the city, one headed by Gennadius, the other by +himself and Gregory the Patriarch. +</p> + +<p> +Month by month the bitterness intensified; month by month the imperial +party fell away until there was little of it left outside the court and +the army and navy, and even they were subjected to incessant +inroads—until, finally, it came to pass that the Emperor was doubtful +whom to trust. Thereupon, of course, the season for energetic +repressive measures vanished, never to return. +</p> + +<p> +Personalities, abuse, denunciation, lying, and sometimes downright +blows took the place of debate in the struggle. One day religion was an +exciting cause; next day, politics. Throughout it all, however, +Gennadius was obviously the master-spirit. His methods were +consummately adapted to the genius of the Byzantines. By confining +himself strictly to the Church wrangle, he avoided furnishing the +Emperor pretexts for legal prosecution; at the same time he wrought +with such cunning that in the monasteries the very High Residence of +Blacherne was spoken of as a den of <i>azymites</i>, while Sancta Sophia was +abandoned to the Patriarch. To be seen in the purlieus of the latter +was a signal for vulgar anathemas and social ostracism. His habits +meantime were of a sort to make him a popular idol. He grew, if +possible, more severely penitential; he fasted and flagellated himself; +he slept on the stony floor before his crucifix; he seldom issued from +his cell, and when visited there, was always surprised at prayers, the +burden of which was forgiveness for signing the detested Articles of +Union with the Latins. The physical suffering he endured was not +without solace; he had heavenly visions and was attended by angels. If +in his solitude he fainted, the Holy Virgin of Blacherne ministered to +him, and brought him back to life and labor. First an ascetic, then a +Prophet—such was his progression. +</p> + +<p> +And Constantine was a witness to the imposture, and smarted under it; +still he held there was nothing for him but to temporize, for if he +ordered the seizure and banishment of the all-powerful hypocrite, he +could trust no one with the order. The time was dark as a starless +night to the high-spirited but too amiable monarch, and he watched and +waited, or rather watched and drifted, extending confidence to but two +counsellors, Phranza and the Princess Irene. Even in their company he +was not always comfortable, for, strange to say, the advice of the +woman was invariably heroic, and that of the man invariably weak and +accommodating. +</p> + +<p> +From this sketch the tendencies of the government can be right plainly +estimated, leaving the suspicion of a difference between the first +Constantine and the last to grow as the evils grew. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0503"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED +</h3> + +<p> +Vegetation along the Bosphorus was just issuing from what may be called +its budded state. In the gardens and protected spots on the European +side white and yellow winged butterflies now and then appeared without +lighting, for as yet there was nothing attractive enough to keep them. +Like some great men of whom we occasionally hear, they were in the +world before their time. In other words the month of May was about a +week old, and there was a bright day to recommend it—bright, only a +little too much tinctured with March and April to be all enjoyable. The +earth was still spongy, the water cold, the air crisp, and the sun +deceitful. +</p> + +<p> +About ten o'clock in the morning Constantinopolitans lounging on the +sea-wall were surprised by explosive sounds from down the Marmora. +Afterwhile they located them, so to speak, on a galley off St. +Stephano. At stated intervals, pale blue smoke would burst from the +vessel, followed by a hurry-skurry of gulls in the vicinity, and then +the roar, muffled by distance. The age of artillery had not yet +arrived; nevertheless, cannon were quite well known to fame. +Enterprising traders from the West had sailed into the Golden Horn with +samples of the new arm on their decks; they were of such rude +construction as to be unfit for service other than saluting. [Footnote: +Cannon were first made of hooped iron, widest at the mouth. The process +of casting them was just coming in.] So, now, while the idlers on the +wall were not alarmed, they were curious to make out who the +extravagant fellows were, and waited for the flag to tell them. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger passed swiftly, firing as it went; and as the canvas was +new and the hull freshly painted in white, it rode the waves to +appearances a very beautiful "thing of life;" but the flag told nothing +of its nationality. There were stripes on it diagonally set, green, +yellow, and red, the yellow in the middle. +</p> + +<p> +"The owners are not Genoese"—such was the judgment on the wall. +</p> + +<p> +"No, nor Venetian, for that is not a lion in the yellow." +</p> + +<p> +"What, then, is it?" +</p> + +<p> +Pursued thus, the galley, at length rounding Point Serail (Demetrius), +turned into the harbor. When opposite the tower of Galata, a last +salute was fired from her deck; then the two cities caught up the +interest, and being able to make out decisively that the sign in the +yellow field of the flag was but a coat-of-arms, they said emphatically: +</p> + +<p> +"It is not a national ship—only a great Lord;" and thereupon the +question became self-inciting: +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +Hardly had the anchor taken hold in the muddy bed of the harbor in +front of the port of Blacherne, before a small boat put off from the +strange ship, manned by sailors clad in flowing white trousers, short +sleeveless jackets, and red turbans of a style remarkable for +amplitude. An officer, probably the sailing-master, went with them, and +he, too, was heavily turbaned. A gaping crowd on the landing received +the visitor when he stepped ashore and asked to see the captain of the +guard. To that dignitary he delivered a despatch handsomely enveloped +in yellow silk, saying, in imperfect Greek: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, just arrived, prays you to read the enclosure, and send it +forward by suitable hand. He trusts to your knowledge of what the +proprieties require. He will await the reply on his galley." +</p> + +<p> +The sailing-master saluted profoundly, resumed seat in his boat, and +started back to the ship, leaving the captain of the guard to open the +envelope and read the communication, which was substantially as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"From the galley, St. Agostino, May 5, Year of our Blessed Saviour, +1451. +</p> + +<p> +"The undersigned is a Christian Noble of Italy, more particularly from +his strong Castle Corti on the eastern coast of Italy, near the ancient +city of Brindisi. He offers lealty to His Most Christian Majesty, the +Emperor of Constantinople, Defender of the Faith according to the +crucified Son of God (to whom be honor and praise forevermore), and +humbly represents that he is a well-knighted soldier by profession, +having won his spurs in battle, and taken the accolade from the hand of +Calixtus the Third, Bishop of Rome, and, yet more worthily, His +Holiness the Pope: that the time being peaceful in his country, except +as it was rent by baronial feuds and forays not to his taste, he left +it in search of employment and honors abroad; that he made the +pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre first, and secured there a number of +precious relics, which he is solicitous of presenting to His Imperial +Majesty; that from long association with the Moslems, whom Heaven, in +its wisdom impenetrable to the understanding of men, permits to profane +the Holy Land with their presence and wicked guardianship, he acquired +a speaking knowledge of the Arabic and Turkish languages; that he +engaged in warfare against those enemies of God, having the powerful +sanction therefor of His Holiness aforesaid, by whose direction he +occupied himself chiefly with chastising the Berber pirates of Tripoli, +from whom he took prisoners, putting them at his oars, where some of +them now are. With the august city of Byzantium he has been acquainted +many years through report, and, if its fame be truly published, he +desires to reside in it, possibly to the end of his days. Wherefore he +presumes to address this his respectful petition, praying its +submission to His Most Christian Majesty, that he may be assured if the +proposal be agreeable to the royal pleasure, and in the meantime have +quiet anchorage for his galley. +</p> + +<p> +UGO, COUNT CORTI." +</p> + +<p> +In the eyes of the captain of the guard the paper was singular, but +explicit; moreover, the request seemed superfluous, considering the +laxity prevalent with respect to the coming and going of persons of all +nativities and callings. To be sure, trade was not as it used to be, +and, thanks to the enterprise and cunning of the Galatanese across the +harbor, the revenues from importations were sadly curtailed; still the +old city had its markets, and the world was welcome to them. The +argument, however, which silenced the custodian's doubt was, that of +the few who rode to the gates in their own galleys and kept them there +ready to depart if their reception were in the least chilling, how many +signed themselves as did this one? Italian counts were famous fighters, +and generally had audiences wherever they knocked. So he concluded to +send the enclosure up to the Palace without the intermediation of the +High Admiral, a course which would at least save time. +</p> + +<p> +While the affair is thus pending, we may return to Count Corti, and say +an essential word or two of him. +</p> + +<p> +The cannon, it is to be remarked, was not the only novelty of the +galley. Over the stern, where the aplustre cast its shadow in ordinary +crafts, there was a pavilion-like structure, high-raised, flat-roofed, +and with small round windows in the sides. Quite likely the progressive +ship-builders at Palos and Genoa would have termed the new feature a +cabin. It was beyond cavil an improvement; and on this occasion the +proprietor utilized it as he well might. Since the first gun off St. +Stephano, he had held the roof, finding it the best position to get and +enjoy a view of the capital, or rather of the walls and crowned +eminences they had so long and all-sufficiently defended. A chair had +been considerately brought up and put at his service, but in witness of +the charm the spectacle had for him from the beginning, he did not once +resort to it. +</p> + +<p> +If only to save ourselves description of the man, and rescue him from a +charge of intrusion into the body of our story, we think it better to +take the reader into confidence at once, and inform him that Count +Corti is in fact our former acquaintance Mirza, the Emir of the Hajj. +The difference between his situation now, and when we first had sight +of him on his horse under the yellow flag in the valley of Zaribah is +remarkable; yet he is the same in one particular at least—he was in +armor then, and he is still in armor—that is, he affects the same +visorless casque, with its cape of fine rings buckled under the chin, +the same shirt and overalls of pliable mail, the same shoes of +transverse iron scales working into each other telescopically when the +feet are in movement, the same golden spurs, and a surcoat in every +particular like the Emir's, except it is brick-dust red instead of +green. And this constancy in armor should not be accounted a vanity; it +was a habit acquired in the school of arms which graduated him, and +which he persisted in partly for the inurement, and partly as a mark of +respect for Mahommed, with whom the gleam and clink of steel well +fashioned and gracefully worn was a passion, out of which he evolved a +suite rivalling those kinsmen of the Buccleuch who— +</p> + +<p> +"—quitted not their harness bright, Neither by day nor yet by night." +</p> + +<p> +Returning once again. It was hoped when Mirza was first introduced that +every one who might chance to spend an evening over these pages would +perceive the possibilities he prefigured, and adopt him as a favorite; +wherefore the interest may be more pressing to know what he, an +Islamite supposably without guile, a Janissary of rank, lately so high +in his master's confidence, is doing here, offering lealty to the Most +Christian Emperor, and denouncing the followers of the Prophet as +enemies of God. The appearances are certainly against him. +</p> + +<p> +The explanation due, if only for coherence in our narrative, would be +clearer did the reader review the part of the last conversation in the +White Castle between the Prince of India and Mahommed, in which the +latter is paternally advised to study the Greek capital, and keep +himself informed of events within its walls. Yet, inasmuch as there is +a current in reading which one once fairly into is loath to be pushed +out of, we may be forgiven for quoting a material passage or two.... +"There is much for my Lord to do"—the Prince says, speaking to his +noble eleve. "It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were +his capital temporarily in possession of another.... It is for him to +learn the city within and without; its streets and edifices; its hills +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, clubs, and religious factions; +especially is it for him to foment the differences Latin and Greek +already a fire which has long been eating out to air in an inflammable +house."... Mahommed, it will be recollected, acceded to the counsel, +and in discussing the selection of a person suitable for the secret +agency, the Prince said: ... "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 salons and +palaces; along with other facilities, he must be provided to buy +service in the Emperor's bedroom and council chamber—nay, at his +elbow. Mature of judgment, it is of prime importance that he possess my +Lord's confidence unalterably."... And when the ambitious Turk +demanded: "The man, Prince, the man!"—the wily tutor responded: "My +Lord has already named him."—"I?"—"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him +as a marvel."—"Mirza?"... The Jew then proceeded: "Despatch him to +Italy; let him appear in Constantinople, embarked from a galley, +habited like an Italian, 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> +Mahommed demurred to the proposal, saying: "So has Mirza become a part +of me, I am scarcely myself without him." +</p> + +<p> +Now he who has allowed himself to become interested in the bright young +Emir, and pauses to digest these excerpts, will be aware of a grave +concern for him. He foresees the outcome of the devotion to Mahommed +dwelt upon so strongly by the Prince of India. An order to undertake +the secret service will be accepted certainly as it is given. The very +assurance that it will be accepted begets solicitude in the affair. Did +Mahommed decide affirmatively? What were the instructions given? Having +thus settled the coherences, we move on with the narrative. +</p> + +<p> +It will be remembered, further, that close after the departure of the +Princess Irene from the old Castle, Mahommed followed her to Therapia, +and, as an Arab story-teller, was favored with an extended private +audience in which he extolled himself to her at great length, and +actually assumed the role of a lover. What is yet more romantic, he +came away a lover in fact. +</p> + +<p> +The circumstance is not to be lightly dismissed, for it was of +immeasurable effect upon the fortunes of the Emir, and—if we can be +excused for connecting an interest so stupendous with one so +comparatively trifling—the fate of Constantinople. Theretofore the +Turk's ambition had been the sole motive of his designs against that +city, and, though vigorous, driving, and possibly enough of itself to +have pushed him on, there might yet have been some delay in the +achievement. Ambition derived from genius is cautious in its first +movements, counts the cost, ponders the marches to be made and the +means to be employed, and is at times paralyzed by the simple +contemplation of failure; in other words, dread of loss of glory is not +seldom more powerful than the hope of glory. After the visit to +Therapia, however, love reenforced ambition; or rather the two passions +possessed Mahommed, and together they murdered his sleep. He became +impatient and irritable; the days were too short, the months too long. +Constantinople absorbed him. He thought of nothing else waking, and +dreamed of nothing else. Well for him his faith in astrology, for by it +the Prince of India was able to hold him to methodic preparation. +</p> + +<p> +There were times when he was tempted to seize the Princess, and carry +her off. Her palace was undefended, and he had but to raid it at night. +Why not? There were two reasons, either of them sufficient: first, the +stern old Sultan, his father, was a just man, and friendly to the +Emperor Constantine; but still stronger, and probably the deterrent in +fact, he actually loved the Princess with a genuine romantic sentiment, +her happiness an equal motive—loved her for herself—a thing perfectly +consistent, for in the Oriental idea there is always One the Highest. +</p> + +<p> +Now, it was very lover-like in Mahommed, his giving himself up to +thought of the Princess while gliding down the Bosphorus, after leaving +his safeguard on her gate. He closed his eyes against the mellow light +on the water, and, silently admitting her the perfection of womanhood, +held her image before him until it was indelible in memory—face, +figure, manner, even her dress and ornaments—until his longing for her +became a positive hunger of soul. +</p> + +<p> +As if to give us an illustration of the mal-apropos in coincidence, his +august father had selected a bride for him, and he was on the road to +Adrianople to celebrate the nuptials when he stopped at the White +Castle. The maiden chosen was of a noble Turkish family, but harem born +and bred. She might be charming, a very queen in the Seraglio; but, +alas! the kinswoman of the Christian Emperor had furnished a glimpse of +attractions which the fiancee to whom he was going could never +attain—attractions of mind and manner more lasting than those of mere +person; and as he finished the comparison, he beat his breast, and +cried out: "Ah, the partiality of the Most Merciful! To clothe this +Greek with all the perfections, and deny her to me!" +</p> + +<p> +Withal, there was a method in Mahommed's passion. Setting his face +sternly against violating his own safeguard by abducting the Princess, +he fell into revision of her conversation; and then a light broke in +upon him—a light and a road to his object. +</p> + +<p> +He recalled with particularity her reply to the message delivered to +her, supposably from himself, containing his avowal that he loved her +the more because she was a Christian, and singled out of it these +words: ... "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." +</p> + +<p> +This he took to pieces.... "'She might become a wife.' Good!... 'She +might become my wife'—on condition.... What condition?" ... He beat +his breast again, this time with a laugh. +</p> + +<p> +The rowers looked at him in wonder. What cared he for them? He had +discovered a way to make her his.... "Constantinople is the Greek +Church," he muttered, with flashing eyes. "I will take the city for my +own glory—to her then the glory of saving the Church! On to +Constantinople!" +</p> + +<p> +And from that moment the fate of the venerable metropolis may be said +to have been finally sealed. +</p> + +<p> +Within an hour after his return to the White Castle, he summoned Mirza, +and surprised him by the exuberance of his joy. He threw his arm over +the Emir's shoulder, and walked with him, laughing and talking, like a +man in wine. His nature was of the kind which, for the escape of +feeling, required action as well as words. At length he sobered down. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, Mirza," he said. "Stand here before me.... Thou lovest me, I +believe?" +</p> + +<p> +Mirza answered upon his knee: "My Lord has said it." +</p> + +<p> +"I believe thee.... Rise and take pen and paper, and write, standing +here before me." [Footnote: A Turkish calligraphist works on his feet +as frequently as on a chair, using a pen made of reed and India ink +reduced to fluid.] +</p> + +<p> +From a table near by the materials were brought, and the Emir, again +upon his knees, wrote as his master dictated. +</p> + +<p> +The paper need not be given in full. Enough that it covered with +uncommon literalness—for the Conqueror's memory was prodigious—the +suggestions of the Prince of India already quoted respecting the duties +of the agent in Constantinople. While writing, the Emir was variously +moved; one instant, his countenance was deeply flushed, and in the next +very pale; sometimes his hand trembled. Mahommed meantime kept close +watch upon him, and now he asked: +</p> + +<p> +"What ails thee?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord's will is my will," was the answer—"yet"— +</p> + +<p> +"Out—speak out." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord is sending me from him, and I dread losing my place at his +right hand." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed laughed heartily. +</p> + +<p> +"Lay the fear betime," he then said, gravely. "Where thou goest, though +out of reach of my right hand, there will my thought be. Hear—nay, at +my knee." +</p> + +<p> +He laid the hand spoken of on Mirza's shoulder, and stooped towards +him. "Ah, my Saladin, thou wert never in love, I take it? Well—I am. +Look not up now, lest—lest thou think my bearded cheek hath changed to +a girl's." +</p> + +<p> +Mirza did not look up, yet he knew his master was blushing. +</p> + +<p> +"Where thou goest, I would give everything but the sword of Othman to +be every hour of the day, for she abideth there.... I see a ring on thy +hand—the ruby ring I gave thee the day thou didst unhorse the +uncircumcised deputy of Hunyades. Give it back to me. 'Tis well. See, I +place it on the third finger of my left hand. They say whoever looketh +at her is thenceforth her lover. I caution thee, and so long as this +ruby keepeth color unchanged, I shall know thou art keeping honor +bright with me—that thou lovest her, because thou canst not help it, +yet for my sake, and because I love her.... Look up now, my +falcon—look up, and pledge me." +</p> + +<p> +"I pledge my Lord," Mirza answered. +</p> + +<p> +"Now I will tell thee. She is that kinswoman of the <i>Gabour</i> Emperor +Constantine whom we saw here the day of our arrival. Or didst thou see +her? I have forgotten." +</p> + +<p> +"I did not, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, thou wilt know her at sight; for in grace and beauty I think she +must be a daughter of the houri this moment giving immortal drink to +the beloved of Allah, even the Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed changed his tone. +</p> + +<p> +"The paper and the pen." +</p> + +<p> +And taking them he signed the instructions, and the signature was the +same as that on the safeguard on the gate at Therapia. +</p> + +<p> +"There—keep it well; for when thou gettest to Constantinople, thou +wilt become a Christian." He laughed again. "Mirza—the Mirza Mahommed +swore by, and appointed keeper of his heart's secret—he a Christian! +This will shift the sin of the apostasy to me." +</p> + +<p> +Mirza took the paper. +</p> + +<p> +"I have not chosen to write of the other matter. In what should it be +written, if at all, except in my blood—so close is it to me?... These +are the things I expect of thee. Art thou listening? She shall be to +thee as thine eye. Advise me of her health, and where she goes; with +whom she consorts; what she does and says; save her from harm: does one +speak ill of her, kill him, only do it in my name—and forget not, O my +Saladin!—as thou hopest a garden and a couch in Paradise—forget not +that in Constantinople, when I come, I am to receive her from thy hand +peerless in all things as I left her to-day.... Thou hast my will all +told. I will send money to thy room to-night, and thou wilt leave +to-night, lest, being seen making ready in the morning, some idiot +pursue thee with his wonder.... As thou art to be my other self, be it +royally. Kings never account to themselves.... Thou wantest now nothing +but this signet." +</p> + +<p> +From his breast he drew a large ring, its emerald setting graven with +the signature at the bottom of the instructions, and gave it to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Is there a Pacha or a Begler-bey, Governor of a city or a province, +property of my father, who refuseth thy demand after showing him this, +report him, and <i>Shintan</i> will be more tolerable unto him than I, when +I have my own. It is all said. Go now.... We will speak of rewards when +next we meet.... Or stay! Thou art to communicate by way of this +Castle, and for that I will despatch a man to thee in Constantinople. +Remember—for every word thou sendest me of the city, I look for two of +her.... Here is my hand." Mirza kissed it, and departed. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0504"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE EMIR IN ITALY +</h3> + +<p> +We know now who Count Corti is, and the objects of his coming to +Constantinople—that he is a secret agent of Mahommed—that, summed up +in the fewest words, his business is to keep the city in observation, +and furnish reports which will be useful to his master in the +preparation the latter is making for its conquest. We also know he is +charged with very peculiar duties respecting the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +The most casual consideration of these revelations will make it +apparent, in the next place, that hereafter the Emir must be designated +by his Italian appellative in full or abbreviated. Before forsaking the +old name, there is lively need of information, whether as he now stands +on the deck of his galley, waiting the permissions prayed by him of the +Emperor Constantine, he is, aside from title, the same Mirza lately so +honored by Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +From the time the ship hove in sight of the city, he had kept his place +on the cabin. The sailors, looking up to him occasionally, supposed him +bound by the view, so motionless he stood, so steadfastly he gazed. Yet +in fact his countenance was not expressive of admiration or rapture. A +man with sound vision may have a mountain just before him and not see +it; he may be in the vortex of a battle deaf to its voices; a thought +or a feeling can occupy him in the crisis of his life to the exclusion +of every sense. If perchance it be so with the Emir now, he must have +undergone a change which only a powerful cause could have brought +about. He had been so content with his condition, so proud of his fame +already won, so happy in keeping prepared for the opportunities plainly +in his sight, so satisfied with his place in his master's confidence, +so delighted when that master laid a hand upon his shoulder and called +him familiarly, now his Saladin, and now his falcon. +</p> + +<p> +Faithfully, as bidden, Mirza sallied from the White Castle the night of +his appointment to the agency in Constantinople. He spoke to no one of +his intention, for he well knew secrecy was the soul of the enterprise. +For the same reason, he bought of a dervish travelling with the Lord +Mahommed's suite a complete outfit, including the man's donkey and +donkey furniture. At break of day he was beyond the hills of the +Bosphorus, resolved to skirt the eastern shore of the Marmora and +Hellespont, from which the Greek population had been almost entirely +driven by the Turks, and at the Dardanelles take ship for Italy direct +as possible—a long route and trying—yet there was in it the total +disappearance from the eyes of acquaintances needful to success in his +venture. His disguise insured him from interruption on the road, +dervishes being sacred characters in the estimation of the Faithful, +and generally too poor to excite cupidity. A gray-frocked man, hooded, +coarsely sandalled, and with a blackened gourd at his girdle for the +alms he might receive from the devout, no Islamite meeting him would +ever suspect a large treasure in the ragged bundle on the back of the +patient animal plodding behind him like a tired dog. +</p> + +<p> +The Dardanelles was a great stopping-place for merchants and tradesmen, +Greek, Venetian, Genoese. There Mirza provided himself with an Italian +suit, adopted the Italian tongue, and became Italian. He borrowed a +chart of the coast of Italy from a sailor, to determine the port at +which it would be advisable for him to land. +</p> + +<p> +While settling this point, the conversation had with the Prince of +India in the latter's tent at Zaribah arose to mind, and he recalled +with particularity all that singular person said with reference to the +accent observable in his speech. He also went over the description he +himself had given the Prince of the house or castle from which he had +been taken in childhood. A woman had borne him outdoors, under a blue +sky, along a margin of white sand, an orchard on one hand, the sea on +the other. He remembered the report of the waves breaking on the shore, +the olive-green color of the trees in the orchard, and the battlemented +gate of the castle; whereupon the Prince said the description reminded +him of the eastern shore of Italy in the region of Brindisi. +</p> + +<p> +It was a vague remark certainly; but now it made a deeper impression on +the Emir than at the moment of its utterance and pointed his attention +to Brindisi. The going to Italy, he argued, was really to get a warrant +for the character he was to assume in Constantinople; that is, to +obtain some knowledge of the country, its geography, political +divisions, cities, rulers, and present conditions generally, without +which the slightest cross-examination by any of the well-informed +personages about the Emperor would shatter his pretensions in an +instant. Then it was he fell into a most unusual mood. +</p> + +<p> +Since the hour the turbaned rovers captured him he had not been +assailed by a desire to see or seek his country and family. Who was his +father? Was his mother living? Probably nothing could better define the +profundity of the system underlying the organization of the Janissaries +than that he had never asked those questions with a genuine care to +have them solved. What a suppression of the most ordinary instincts of +nature! How could it have been accomplished so completely? As a +circumstance, its tendency is to confirm the theory that men are +creatures of education and association.... Was his mother living? Did +she remember him? Had she wept for him? What sort of being was she? If +living, how old would she be? And he actually attempted a calculation. +Calling himself twenty-six she might not be over forty-five. That was +not enough to dim her eyes or more than slightly silver her hair; and +as respects her heart, are not the affections of a mother flowers for +culling by Death alone? +</p> + +<p> +Such reflections never fail effect. A tenderness of spirit is the first +token of their presence; then memory and imagination begin striving; +the latter to bring the beloved object back, and the former to surround +it with sweetest circumstances. They wrought with Mirza as with +everybody else. The yearning they excited in him was a surprise; +presently he determined to act on the Prince of India's suggestion, and +betake himself to the eastern coast of Italy. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the sack of a castle was of a kind to have wide +circulation; at the same time this one was recent enough to be still in +the memory of persons living. Finding the place of its occurrence was +the difficulty. If in the vicinity of Brindisi—well, he would go and +ask. The yearning spoken of did not come alone; it had for companion, +Conscience, as yet in the background. +</p> + +<p> +There were vessels bound for Venice. One was taking in water, after +which it would sail for Otranto. It seemed a fleet craft, with a fair +crew, and a complement of stout rowers. Otranto was south of Brindisi a +little way, and the castle he wanted to hear of might have been +situated between those cities. Who could tell? Besides, as an Italian +nobleman, to answer inquiry in Constantinople, he would have to locate +himself somewhere, and possibly the coast in question might accommodate +him with both a location and a title. The result was he took passage to +Otranto. +</p> + +<p> +While there he kept his role of traveller, but was studious, and picked +up a great fund of information bearing upon the part awaiting him. He +lived and dressed well, and affected religious circles. It was the day +when Italy was given over to the nobles—the day of robbers, fighting, +intrigues and usurpations—of free lances and bold banditti—of +government by the strong hand, of right determinable by might, of +ensanguined Guelphs and Ghibellines. Of these the Emir kept clear. +</p> + +<p> +By chance he fell in with an old man of secondary rank in the city much +given to learning, an habitue of a library belonging to one of the +monasteries. It came out ere long that the venerable person was +familiar with the coast from Otranto to Brindisi, and beyond far as +Polignano. +</p> + +<p> +"It was in my sturdier days," the veteran said, with a dismal glance at +his shrunken hands. "The people along the shore were much harried by +Moslem pirates. Landing from their galleys, the depredators burned +habitations, slew the men, and carried off such women as they thought +would fetch a price. They even assaulted castles. At last we were +driven to the employment of a defensive guard cooperative on land and +water. I was a captain. Our fights with the rovers were frequent and +fierce. Neither side showed quarter." +</p> + +<p> +The reminiscence stimulated Mirza to inquiry. He asked the old man if +he could mention a castle thus attacked. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, there was one belonging to Count Corti, a few leagues beyond +Brindisi. The Count defended himself, but was slain." +</p> + +<p> +"Had he a family?" +</p> + +<p> +"A wife and a boy child." +</p> + +<p> +"What became of them?" +</p> + +<p> +"By good chance the Countess was in Brindisi attending a fete; she +escaped, of course. The boy, two or three years of age, was made +prisoner, and never heard of afterwards." +</p> + +<p> +A premonition seized Mirza. +</p> + +<p> +"Is the Countess living?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. She never entirely recovered from the shock, but built a house +near the site of the castle, and clearing a room in the ruins, turned +it into a chapel. Every morning and evening she goes there, and prays +for the soul of her husband, and the return of her lost boy." +</p> + +<p> +"How long is it since the poor lady was so bereft?" +</p> + +<p> +The narrator reflected, and replied: "Twenty-two or three years." +</p> + +<p> +"May the castle be found?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Have you been to it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Many times." +</p> + +<p> +"How was it named?" +</p> + +<p> +"After the Count—<i>Il Castillo di Corti</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me something of its site." +</p> + +<p> +"It is down close by the sea. A stone wall separates its front +enclosure from the beach. Sometimes the foam of the waves is dashed +upon the wall. Through a covered gate one looks out, and all is water. +Standing on the tower, all landward is orchard and orchard—olive and +almond trees intermixed. A great estate it was and is. The Countess, it +is understood, has a will executed; if the boy does not return before +her death, the Church is to be her legatee." +</p> + +<p> +There was more of the conversation, covering a history of the Corti +family, honorable as it was old—the men famous warriors, the women +famous beauties. +</p> + +<p> +Mirza dreamed through the night of the Countess, and awoke with a vague +consciousness that the wife of the Pacha, the grace of whose care had +been about him in childhood—a good woman, gentle and tender—was after +all but a representative of the mother who had given him birth, just as +on her part every mother is mercifully representative of God. Under +strong feeling he took boat for Brindisi. +</p> + +<p> +There he had no trouble in confirming the statements of his Otranto +acquaintance. The Countess was still living, and the coast road +northwardly would bring him to the ruins of her castle. The journey did +not exceed five leagues. +</p> + +<p> +What he might find at the castle, how long he would stay, what do, were +so uncertain—indeed everything in the connection was so dependent upon +conditions impossible of foresight, that he resolved to set out on +foot. To this course he was the more inclined by the mildness of the +weather, and the reputation of the region for freshness and beauty. +</p> + +<p> +About noon he was fairly on the road. Persons whom he met—and they +were not all of the peasant class—seeing a traveller jaunty in plumed +cap, light blue camail, pointed buskins, and close-fitting hose the +color of the camail, sword at his side, and javelin in hand, stayed to +observe him long as he was in sight, never dreaming they were permitted +to behold a favorite of one of the bloody Mahounds of the East. +</p> + +<p> +Over hill and down shallow vales: through stone-fenced lanes; now in +the shade of old trees; now along a seashore partially overflowed by +languid waves, he went, lighter in step than heart, for he was in the +mood by no means uncommon, when the spirit is prophesying evil unto +itself. He was sensible of the feeling, and for shame would catch the +javelin in the middle and whirl it about him defensively until it sung +like a spinning-wheel; at times he stopped and, with his fingers in his +mouth, whistled to a small bird as if it were a hunting hawk high in +air. +</p> + +<p> +Once, seeing a herd of goats around a house thatched and half-hidden in +vines, he asked for milk. A woman brought it to him, with a slice of +brown bread; and while he ate and drank, she stared at him in +respectful admiration; and when he paid her in gold, she said, +courtesying low: "A glad life to my Lord! I will pray the Madonna to +make the wish good." Poor creature! She had no idea she was blessing +one in whose faith the Prophet was nearer God than God's own Son. +</p> + +<p> +At length the road made an abrupt turn to the right, bringing him to a +long stretch of sandy beach. Nearly as he could judge, it was time for +the castle to appear, and he was anxious to make it before sundown. Yet +in the angle of the wood he saw a wayside box of stone sheltering an +image of the Virgin, with the Holy Child in its arms. Besides being +sculptured better than usual, the figures were covered with flowers in +wreath and bouquet. A dressed slab in front of the structure, evidently +for the accommodation of worshippers, invited him to rest, and he took +the seat, and looking up at the mother, she appeared to be looking at +him. He continued his gaze, and presently the face lost its stony +appearance—stranger still, it smiled. It was illusion, of course, but +he arose startled, and moved on with quickened step. The impression +went with him. Why the smile? He did not believe in images: much less +did he believe in the Virgin, except as she was the subject of a goodly +story. And absorbed in the thought, he plodded on, leaving the sun to +go down unnoticed. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the shadows thickened in the woods at his left hand, while +the sound of the incoming waves at his right increased as silence laid +its velvet finger with a stronger compress on all other pulsations. +Here and there a star peeped timidly through the purpling sky—now it +was dusk—a little later, it would be night—and yet no castle! +</p> + +<p> +He pushed on more vigorously; not that he was afraid—fear and the +falcon of Mahommed had never made acquaintance—but he began to think +of a bed in the woods, and worse yet, he wanted the fast-going daylight +to help him decide if the castle when he came to it were indeed the +castle of his fathers. He had believed all along, if he could see the +pile once, his memory would revive and help him to recognition. +</p> + +<p> +At last night fell, and there was darkness trebled on the land, and on +the sea darkness, except where ghostly lines of light stretched +themselves along the restless water. Should he go on?... +</p> + +<p> +Then he heard a bell—one soft tone near by and silvery clear. He +halted. Was it of the earth? A hush deeper of the sound—and he was +wondering if another illusion were not upon him, when again the bell! +</p> + +<p> +"Oh!" he muttered, "a trick of the monks in Otranto! Some soul is +passing." +</p> + +<p> +He pressed forward, guided by the tolling. Suddenly the trees fell +away, and the road brought him to a stone wall heavily coped. On +further, a blackened mass arose in dim relief against the sky, with +heavy merlons on its top. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the embattled gate!" he exclaimed, to himself—"the embattled +gate!—and here the beach!—and, O Allah! the waves there are making +the reports they used to!" +</p> + +<p> +The bell now tolled with awful distinctness, filling him with unwonted +chills—tolled, as if to discourage his memory in its struggle to lift +itself out of a lapse apparently intended to be final as the +grave—tolled solemnly, as if his were the soul being rung into the +next life. A rush of forebodings threatened him with paralysis of will, +and it was only by a strong exertion he overcame it, and brought +himself back to the situation, and the question, What next? +</p> + +<p> +Now Mirza was not a man to forego a purpose lightly. Emotional, but not +superstitious, he tried the sword, if it were loose in the scabbard, +and then, advancing the point of his javelin, entered the darkened +gallery of the gate. Just as he emerged from it on the inner side, the +bell tolled. +</p> + +<p> +"A Moslem doth not well," he thought, silently repeating a saying of +the <i>jadis</i>, "to accept a Christian call to prayer; but," he answered +in self-excuse, "I am not going to prayer—I am seeking"—he stopped, +for very oddly, the face of the Virgin in the stone box back in the +angle of the road presented itself to him, and still more oddly, he +felt firmer of purpose seeing again the smile on the face. Then he +finished the sentence aloud—"my mother <i>who is a Christian.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +There was a jar in the conclusion, and he went back to find it, and +having found it, he was surprised. Up to that moment, he had not +thought of his mother a Christian. How came the words in his mouth now? +Who prompted them? And while he was hastily pondering the effect upon +her of the discovery that he himself was an Islamite, the image in the +box reoccurred to him, this time with the child in its arms; and +thereupon the mystery seemed to clear itself at once. "Mother and +mother!" he said. "What if my coming were the answer of one of them to +the other's prayer?" +</p> + +<p> +The idea affected him; his spirit softened; the heat of tears sprang to +his eyelids; and the effort he made to rise above the unmanliness +engaged him so he failed to see the other severer and more lasting +struggle inevitable if the Countess were indeed the being to whom he +owed the highest earthly obligations—the struggle between natural +affection and honor, as the latter lay coiled up in the ties binding +him to Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +The condition, be it remarked, is ours; for from that last appearance +of the image by the wayside—from that instant, marking a new era in +his life—often as the night and its incidents recurred to him, he had +never a doubt of his relationship to the Countess. Indeed, not only was +she thenceforward his mother, but all the ground within the gate was +his by natal right, and the castle was the very castle from which he +had been carried away, over the body of his heroic father—<i>he was the +Count Corti</i>! +</p> + +<p> +These observations will bring the reader to see more distinctly the +Emir's state after passing the gate. Of the surroundings, he beheld +nothing but shadows more or less dense and voluminous; the mournful +murmuring of the wind told him they belonged to trees and shrubbery in +clumps. The road he was on, although blurred, was serviceable as a +guide, and he pursued it until brought to a building so masked by night +the details were invisible. Following its upper line, relieved against +the gray sky, he made out a broken front and one tower massively +battlemented. A pavement split the road in two; crossing it, he came to +an opening, choked with timbers and bars of iron; surmisably the front +portal at present in disuse. He needed no explanation of its condition. +Fire and battle were familiars of his. +</p> + +<p> +The bell tolled on. The sound, so passing sweet elsewhere, seemed to +issue from the yawning portal, leaving him to fancy the interior a +lumber of floors, galleries, and roofs in charred tumble down. +</p> + +<p> +Mirza turned away presently, and took the left branch of the road; +since he could not get into the castle, he would go around it; and in +doing so, he borrowed from the distance traversed a conception of its +immensity, as well as of the importance the countship must have enjoyed +in its palmy days. +</p> + +<p> +At length he gained the rear of the great pile. The wood there was more +open, and he was pleased with the sight of lights apparently gleaming +through windows, from which he inferred a hamlet pitched on a broken +site. Then he heard singing; and listening, never had human voices +seemed to him so impressively solemn. Were they coming or going? +</p> + +<p> +Ere long a number of candles, very tall, and screened from the wind by +small lanterns of transparent paper, appeared on the summit of an +ascent; next moment the bearers of the candles were in view—boys +bareheaded and white frocked. As they began to descend the height, a +bevy of friars succeeded them, their round faces and tonsured crowns +glistening in ruddy contrast with their black habits. A choir of four +singers, three men and one woman, followed the monks. Then a linkman in +half armor strode across the summit, lighting the way for a figure, +also in black, which at once claimed Mirza's gaze. +</p> + +<p> +As he stared at the figure, the account given him by the old captain in +Otranto flashed upon his memory. The widow of the murdered count had +cleared a room in the castle, and fitted it up as a chapel, and every +morning and evening she went thither to pray for the soul of her +husband and the return of her lost boy. +</p> + +<p> +The words were alive with suggestions; but suggestions imply +uncertainty; wherefore they are not a reason for the absolute +conviction with which the Emir now said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +"It is she—the Countess—my mother!" +</p> + +<p> +There must be in every heart a store of prevision of which we are not +aware—occasions bring it out with such sudden and bewildering effect. +</p> + +<p> +Everything—hymn, tolling bell, lights, boys, friars, procession—was +accessory to that veiled, slow-marching figure. And in habiliment, +movement, air, with what telling force it impersonated sorrow! On the +other hand, how deep and consuming the sorrow itself must be! +</p> + +<p> +She—he beheld only her—descended the height without looking up or +around—a little stooped, yet tall and of dignified carriage—not old +nor yet young—a noble woman worthy reverence. +</p> + +<p> +While he was making these comments, the procession reached the foot of +the ascent; then the boys and friars came between, and hid her from his +view. +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah! and thou his Prophet!" he exclaimed. "Am I not to see her +face? Is she not to know me?" +</p> + +<p> +Curiously the question had not presented itself before; neither when he +resolved to come, nor while on the way. To say truth, he had been all +the while intent on the one partial object—to see her. He had not +anticipated the awakening the sight might have upon his feelings. +</p> + +<p> +"Am I not to discover myself to her? Is she never to know me?" he +repeated. +</p> + +<p> +The lights in the hands of the boys were beginning to gleam along a +beaten road a short distance in front of the agitated Emir conducting +to the castle. He divined at once that the Countess was coming to the +chapel for the usual evening service, and that, by advancing to the +side of the road, he could get a near view of her as she passed. He +started forward impulsively, but after a few steps stopped, trembling +like a child imagining a ghost. +</p> + +<p> +Now our conception of the man forbids us thinking him overcome by a +trifle, whether of the air or in the flesh. A change so extreme must +have been the work of a revelation of quick and powerful +consequence—and it was, although the first mention may excite a smile. +In the gleam of mental lightning—we venture on the term for want of +another more descriptive—he had been reminded of the business which +brought him to Italy. +</p> + +<p> +Let us pause here, and see what the reminder means; if only because the +debonair Mirza, with whom we have been well pleased, is now to become +another person in name and character, commanding our sympathies as +before, but for a very different reason. +</p> + +<p> +This was what the lightning gave him to see, and not darkly: If he +discovered himself to the Countess, he must expose his history from the +night the rovers carried him away. True, the tale might be given +generally, leaving its romance to thrill the motherly heart, and exalt +him the more; for to whom are heroes always the greatest heroes? +Unhappily steps in confession are like links in a chain, one leads to +another.... Could he, a Christian born, tell her he was an apostate? Or +if he told her, would it not be one more grief to the many she was +already breaking under—one, the most unendurable? And as to himself, +how could he more certainly provoke a forfeiture of her love?... She +would ask—if but to thank God for mercies—to what joyful accident his +return was owing? And then? Alas! with her kiss on his brow, could he +stand silent? More grievous yet, could he deceive her? If nothing is so +murderous of self-respect as falsehood, a new life begun with a lie +needs no prophet to predict its end. No, he must answer the truth. This +conviction was the ghost which set him trembling. An admission that he +was a Moslem would wound her, yet the hope of his conversion would +remain—nay, the labor in making the hope good might even renew her +interest in life; but to tell her he was in Italy to assist in the +overthrow of a Christian Emperor for the exaltation of an infidel—God +help him! Was ever such a monster as he would then become in her +eyes?... The consequences of that disclosure, moreover, were not to the +Countess and himself merely. With a sweep of wing one's fancy is alone +capable of, he was borne back to the White Castle, and beheld Mahommed. +When before did a Prince, contemplating an achievement which was to +ring the world, give trust with such absoluteness of faith? Poor Mirza! +The sea rolled indefinitely wide between the White Castle and this one +of his fathers; across it, nevertheless, he again heard the words: "As +thou art to be my other self, be it royally. Kings never account to +themselves." If they made betrayal horrible in thought, what would the +fact be?... +</p> + +<p> +Finally, last but not least of the reflections the lightning laid bare, +the Emir had been bred a soldier, and he loved war for itself and for +the glory it offered unlike every other glory. Was he to bid them both +a long farewell? +</p> + +<p> +Poor Mirza! A few paragraphs back allusion was made to a struggle +before him between natural affection on one hand and honor on the +other. Perhaps it was obscurely stated; if so, here it is amended, and +stripped of conditions. He has found his mother. She is coming down the +road—there, behind the dancing lights, behind the friars, she is +coming to pray for him. Should he fly her recognition or betray his +confiding master? Room there may be to say the alternatives were a +judgment upon him, but who will deny him pity? ... There is often a +suffering, sometimes an agony, in indecision more wearing than disease, +deadlier than sword-cuts. +</p> + +<p> +The mournful pageant was now where its lights brought out parts of the +face of the smoke-stained building. With a loud clang a door was thrown +open, and a friar, in the black vestments usual in masses for the dead, +came out to receive the Countess. The interior behind him was dully +illuminated. A few minutes more, and the opportunity to see her face +would be lost. Still the Emir stood irresolute. Judge the fierceness of +the conflict in his breast! +</p> + +<p> +At last he moved forward. The acolytes, with their great candles of +yellow wax, were going by as he gained the edge of the road. They +looked at him wonderingly. The friars, in Dominican cassocks, stared at +him also. Then the choir took its turn. The linkman at sight of him +stopped an instant, then marched on. The Emir really beheld none of +them; his eyes and thoughts were in waiting; and now—how his heart +beat!—how wistfully he gazed!—the Countess was before him, not three +yards away. +</p> + +<p> +Her garments, as said, were all black. A thick veil enveloped her head; +upon her breast her crossed hands shone ivory white. Two or three times +the right hand, in signing the cross, uncovered a ring upon the +left—the wedding ring probably. Her bearing was of a person not so old +as persecuted by an engrossing anguish. She did not once raise her face. +</p> + +<p> +The Emir's heart was full of prayer. +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah! It is my mother! If I may not speak to her, or kiss her +feet—if I may not call her mother—if I may not say, mother, mother, +behold, I am thy son come back—still, as thou art the Most Merciful! +let me see her face, and suffer her to see mine—once, O Allah! once, +if nevermore!" +</p> + +<p> +But the face remained covered—and so she passed, but in passing she +prayed. Though the voice was low, lie heard these words: "Oh, sweet +Mother! By the Blessed Son of thy love and passion, remember mine, I +beseech thee. Be with him, and bring him to me quickly. Miserable woman +that I am!" +</p> + +<p> +The world, and she with it, swam in the tears he no longer tried to +stay. Stretching his arms toward her, he fell upon his knees, then upon +his face; and that the face was in the dust, he never minded. When he +looked up, she was gone on, the last of the procession. And he knew she +had not seen him. +</p> + +<p> +He followed after. Everybody stood aside to let her enter the door +first. The friar received her; she went in, and directly the linkman +stood alone outside. +</p> + +<p> +"Stay!" said the linkman, peremptorily. "Who art thou?" +</p> + +<p> +Thus rudely challenged, the Emir awoke from his daze—awoke with all +his faculties clear. +</p> + +<p> +"A gentleman of Otranto," he replied. +</p> + +<p> +"What is thy pleasure?" +</p> + +<p> +"Admit me to the chapel." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art a stranger, and the service is private. Or hast thou been +invited?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou canst not enter." +</p> + +<p> +Again the world dropped into darkness before Mirza; but this time it +was from anger. The linkman never suspected his peril. Fortunately for +him, the voice of the female chorister issued from the doorway in +tremulous melody. Mirza listened, and became tranquillized. The voice +sank next into a sweet unearthly pleading, and completely subdued, he +began arguing with himself.... She had not seen him while he was in the +dust at her side, and now this repulse at the door—how were they to be +taken except as expressions of the will of Heaven?... There was plenty +of time—better go away, and return—perhaps to-morrow. He was not +prepared to prove his identity, if it were questioned.... There would +be a scene, and he shrank from it.... Yes, better retire now.... And he +turned to go. Not six steps away, the Countess reappeared to his +excited mind, exactly as she had passed praying for him—reappeared— +</p> + +<p> + ... "like the painting of a sorrow."<br /> +</p> + +<p> +A revulsion of feeling seized him—he halted. Oh, the years she had +mourned for him! Her love was deep as the sea! Tears again—and without +thought of what he did—all aimlessly—he returned to the door. +</p> + +<p> +"This castle was sacked and burned by pirates, was it not?" he asked +the linkman. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"They slew the Count Corti?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"And carried off his son?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Had he other children?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +"What was the name of the boy?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ugo." +</p> + +<p> +"Well—in thy ear now—thou didst not well in shutting me out—<i>I am +that Ugo.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the Emir walked resolutely away. +</p> + +<p> +A cry, shrill and broken, overtook him, issuing apparently from the +door of the chapel—a second time he heard it, more a moan than a +shriek—and thinking the linkman had given the alarm, he quickened his +pace to a run, and was soon out on the beach. +</p> + +<p> +The breath of the sea was pleasant and assuring, and falling into a +walk, he turned his face toward Brindisi. But the cry pursued him. He +imagined the scene in the chapel—the distress of the Countess—the +breaking up of the service—the hurry of question—a consultation, and +possibly search for him. Every person in the procession but the +Countess had seen him; so the only open point in the affair was the one +of directest interest to her: Was it her son? +</p> + +<p> +Undoubtedly the suffering lady would not rest until investigation was +exhausted. Failing to find the stranger about the castle, horsemen +might be sent out on the road. There is terrible energy in mother-love. +These reflections stimulated the Emir to haste. Sometimes he even ran; +only at the shrine of the Virgin and Child in the angle of the road did +he halt. There he cast himself upon the friendly slab to recover breath. +</p> + +<p> +All this of course indicated a preference for Mahommed. And now he came +to a decision. He would proceed with the duty assigned him by the young +master; then, at the end, he would come back, and assert himself in his +native land. +</p> + +<p> +He sat on the slab an hour or more. At intervals the outcry, which he +doubted not was his mother's, rang in his ears, and every time he heard +it, conscience attacked him with its whip of countless stings. Why +subject her to more misery? For what other outcome could there be to +the ceaseless contention of fears and hopes now hers? Oh, if she had +only seen him when he was so near her in the road! That she did not, +was the will of Allah, and the fatalistic Mohammedan teaching brought +him a measure of comfort. In further sooth, he had found a location and +a title. Thenceforward, and not fictitiously, he was the <i>Count Corti</i>; +and so entitling himself, he determined to make Brindisi, and take ship +for Genoa or Venice in the morning before a messenger could arrive from +the castle. +</p> + +<p> +As he arose from the slab, a bird in housel for the night flew out of +the box. Its small cheep reminded him of the smile he had fancied on +the face of the Madonna, and how, a little later, the smile had, with +such timely suggestion of approval, woven itself into his thought of +the Countess. He looked up at the face again; but the night was over it +like a veil, and he went nearer, and laid his hand softly on the Child. +That which followed was not a miracle; only a consequence of the wisdom +which permits the enshrinement of a saintly woman and Holy Child as +witnesses of the Divine Goodness to humanity. He raised himself higher +in the box, and pushing aside a heap of faded floral offerings, kissed +the foot of the taller image, saying: "Thus would I have done to my +mother." And when he had climbed down, and was in the road, it seemed +some one answered him: "Go thy way! God and Allah are the same." We may +now urge the narrative. From Brindisi the Emir sailed to Venice. Two +weeks in "the glorious city in the sea" informed him of it thoroughly. +While there, he found, on the "ways" of an Adriatic builder, the galley +in which we have seen him at anchor in the Golden Horn. Leaving an +order for the employment of a sailing-master and crew when the vessel +was complete, he departed next for Rome. At Padua he procured the +harness of a man-at-arms of the period, and recruited a company of +<i>condottieri</i>—mercenary soldiers of every nationality. With all his +sacerdotal authority, Nicholas V., the Holy Father, was sorely tried in +keeping his States. The freebooters who unctuously kissed his hand +to-day, did not scruple, if opportunity favored, to plunder one of his +towns tomorrow. It befell that Count Corti—so the Emir styled +himself—found a Papal castle beleaguered by marauders, whom he +dispersed, slaying their chief with his own hand. Nicholas, in public +audience, asked him to name the reward he preferred. +</p> + +<p> +"Knighthood at thy hands, first of all things," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Father took a sword from one of his officers, and gave him the +<i>accolade</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"What next, my son?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am tired fighting men who ought to be Christians. Give me, I pray, +thy commission to make war upon the Barbary pirates who infest the +seas." +</p> + +<p> +This was granted him. +</p> + +<p> +"What next?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing, Holy Father, but thy blessing, and a certificate in good +form, and under seal, of these favors thou hast done me." +</p> + +<p> +The certificate and the blessing were also granted. +</p> + +<p> +The Count then dismissed his lances, and, hastening to Naples, embarked +for Venice. There he supplied himself with suits of the finest Milanese +armor he could obtain, and a wardrobe consisting of costumes such as +were in vogue with the gay gallants along the Grand Canal. Crossing to +Tripoli, he boarded a Moorish merchantman, and made prisoners of the +crew and rowers. The prize he gave to his Christian sailors, and sent +them home. Summoning his prisoners on deck, he addressed them in +Arabic, offering them high pay if they would serve him, and they +gratefully accepted his terms. +</p> + +<p> +The Count then directed his prow to what is now Aleppo, with the +purpose of procuring Arab horses; and having purchased five of the +purest blood, he made sail for Constantinople. +</p> + +<p> +We shall now, for a time, permit the title <i>Emir</i> to lapse. The knight +we have seen on the deck of the new arrival in the Golden Horn viewing +with melancholy interest the cities on either side of the fairest +harbor on earth, is in easy English speech, <i>Count Corti</i>, the Italian. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far the Count had been successful in his extraordinary mission, +yet he was not happy. He had made three discoveries during his +journey—his mother, his country, his religion. Ordinarily these +relations—if we may so call them—furnish men their greatest sum of +contentment; sadly for him, however, he had made a fourth finding, of +itself sufficient to dash all the others—in briefest term, he was not +in condition to acknowledge either of them. Unable to still the cry +heard while retiring from his father's ruined castle, he surrendered +himself more and more to the wisdom brought away from the box of the +Madonna and Child in the angle of the road to Brindisi—<i>God and Allah +are the same.</i> Conscience and a growing sense of misappropriated life +were making Count Corti a very different person from the light-hearted +Emir of Mahommed. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0505"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN +</h3> + +<p> +An oblong room divided in the middle crosswise by two fluted pillars of +pink-stained marble, light, delicately capped, and very +graceful—between the pillars a segmental arch—between the walls and +the pillars square ties;—the wall above the pillars elaborately +scrolled;—three curtains of woollen stuff uniformly Tyrian dyed +filling the open places—the central curtain drawn to the pillars, and +held there by silken ropes richly tasselled—the side curtains +dropped;—a skylight for each division of the room, and under each +skylight an ample brazier dispensing a comfortable degree of +warmth;—floor laid in pink and saffron tiles;—chairs with and without +arms, some upholstered, all quaintly carved—to each chair a rug +harmoniously colored;—massive tables of carven wood, the tops of +burnished copper inlaid with blocks of jasper, mostly red and +yellow—on the tables murrhine pitchers vase-shaped, with crystal +drinking goblets about them;—the skylights conical and of clear +glass;—the walls panelled, a picture in every panel, and the raised +margins and the whole space outside done in arabesque of studied +involution;—doors opposite each other and bare;—such was the +reception-room in the town-house of the Princess Irene arranged for the +winter. +</p> + +<p> +On an armless chair in one of the divisions of the beautiful room, the +Princess sat, slightly bending over a piece of embroidery stretched +upon a frame. What with the accessories about her—the chair, a small +table at her right covered with the bright materials in use, the +slanted frame, and a flexible lion's skin under her feet—she was a +picture once seen never forgotten. The wonderful setting of the head +and neck upon the Phidian shoulders was admirably complemented by the +long arms, bare, round, and of the whiteness of an almond kernel +freshly broken, the hands, blue-veined and dimpled, and the fingers, +tapering, pliant, nimble, rapid, each seemingly possessed of a separate +intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +To the left of the Princess, a little removed, Lael half reclined +against a heap of cushions, pale, languid, and not wholly recovered +from the effects of the abduction by Demedes, the terrible doom which +had overtaken her father, and the disappearance of the Prince of India, +the latter unaccountable except upon the hypothesis of death in the +great fire. The dying prayer of the son of Jahdai had not failed with +the Princess Irene. Receiving the unfortunate girl from Sergius the day +after the rescue from the cistern, she accepted the guardianship, and +from that hour watched and tended her with maternal solicitude. +</p> + +<p> +The other division of the room was occupied by attendants. They were +visible through the opening left by the drawn curtain; yet it is not to +be supposed they were under surveillance; on the contrary, their +presence in the house was purely voluntary. They read, sang, accepted +tasks in embroidery from their mistress, accompanied her abroad, loved +her—in a word, their service was in every respect compatible with high +rank, and in return they derived a certain education from her. For by +universal acknowledgment she was queen and arbiter in the social world +of Byzantium; in manner the mirror, in taste and fashion its very form. +Indeed, she was the subject of but one objection—her persistent +protest against the encumbrance of a veil. +</p> + +<p> +With all her grave meditation, she never lectured her attendants, +knowing probably that sermons in example are more impressive than +sermons in words. In illustration of the freedom they enjoyed in her +presence and hearing, one of them, behind the curtain, touched a +stringed instrument—a cithern—and followed the prelude with a song of +Anacreontic vein. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + THE GOLDEN NOON.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + If my life were but a day—<br /> + One morn, one night,<br /> + With a golden noon for play,<br /> + And I, of right,<br /> + Could say what I would do<br /> + With it—what would I do?<br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + Penance to me—e'en the stake,<br /> + And late or soon!—<br /> + Yet would Love remain to make<br /> + That golden noon<br /> + Delightful—I would do—<br /> + Ah, Love, what would I do?<br /> +</p> + +<p> +And when the singer ceased there was a merry round of applause. +</p> + +<p> +The ripple thus awakened had scarcely subsided, when the ancient +Lysander opened one of the doors, and, after ringing the tiled floor +with the butt of his javelin, and bowing statelywise, announced +Sergius. Taking a nod from the Princess, he withdrew to give the +visitor place. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius went first to Irene, and silently kissed her hand; then, +leaving her to resume work, he drew a chair to Lael's side. +</p> + +<p> +Under his respectful manner there was an ease which only an assurance +of welcome could have brought him. This is not to be taken in the sense +of familiarity; if he ever indulged that vulgarism—something quite out +of character with him—it was not in his intercourse with the Princess. +She did not require formality; she simply received courtesy from +everybody, even the Emperor, as a natural tribute. At the same time, +Sergius was nearer in her regard than any other person, for special +reasons. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen the sympathetic understanding between the two in the +matter of religion. We have seen, also, why she viewed him as a +protege. Never had one presented himself to her so gentle and +unconventional never one knowing so little of the world. With life all +before him, with its ways to learn, she saw he required an adviser +through a period of tutelage, and assumed the relation partly through a +sense of duty, partly from reverent recollection of Father Hilarion. +These were arguments sound in themselves; but two others had recently +offered. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place she was aware of the love which had arisen between +the monk and Lael. She had not striven to spy it out. Like children, +they had affected no disguise of their feeling; and while disallowing +the passion a place in her own breast, she did not deprecate or seek to +smother it in others. Far from that, in these, her wards, so to speak, +it was with her an affair of permissive interest. They were so lovable, +it seemed an order of nature they should love each other. +</p> + +<p> +Next, the world was dealing harshly with Sergius; and though he strove +manfully to hide the fact, she saw he was suffering. He deserved well, +she thought, for his rescue of Lael, and for the opportunity given the +Emperor to break up the impiety founded by Demedes. Unhappily her +opinion was not subscribed in certain quarters. The powerful +Brotherhood of the St. James' amongst others was in an extreme state of +exasperation with him. They insisted he could have achieved the rescue +without the death of the Greek. They went so far as to accuse him of a +double murder—of the son first, then of the father. A terrible +indictment! And they were bold and open-mouthed. Out of respect for the +Emperor, who was equally outspoken in commendation of Sergius, they had +not proceeded to the point of expulsion. The young man was still of the +Brotherhood; nevertheless he did not venture to exercise any of the +privileges of a member. His cell was vacant. The five services of the +day were held in the chapel without him. In short, the Brotherhood were +in wait for an opportunity to visit him with their vengeance. In hope +of a favorable turn in the situation, he wore the habit of the Order, +but it was his only outward sign of fraternity. Without employment, +miserable, he found lodgment in the residence of the Patriarch, and +what time he was not studying, he haunted the old churches of the city, +Sancta Sophia in especial, and spent many hours a dreaming voyager on +the Bosphorus. +</p> + +<p> +The glad look which shone in the eyes of the invalid when Sergius took +seat by her was very noticeable; and when she reached him her hand, the +kiss he left upon it was of itself a declaration of tender feeling. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope my little friend is better, to-day," he said, gravely. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, much better. The Princess says I may go out soon—the first real +spring day." +</p> + +<p> +"That is good news. I wish I could hurry the spring. I have everything +ready to take you on the water—a perfect boat, and two master rowers. +Yesterday they carried me to the Black Sea and back, stopping for a +lunch of bread and figs at the foot of the Giants' Mountain. They boast +they can repeat the trip often as there are days in the week." +</p> + +<p> +"Did you stop at the White Castle?" she asked, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +"No. Our noble Princess was not with me; and in her absence, I feared +the Governor might forget to be polite as formerly." +</p> + +<p> +The gracious lady, listening, bent lower over the frame before her. She +knew so much more of the Governor than Lael did! But Lael then inquired: +</p> + +<p> +"Where have you been to-day?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, my little friend, let me see if I can interest you.... This +morning I awoke betimes, and set myself to study. Oh, those chapters of +John—the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth. There is no need of +religious knowledge beyond them. Of the many things they make clear, +this is the clearest—the joys of eternal life lie in the saying of the +Lord, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto +the Father but by Me.' ... After my hours of study, I went to see an +old church over in the low garden grounds beyond the aqueduct. Before I +could get through the doorway, a flock of goats had to pass out. I will +tell His Serenity what I beheld. Better the wreck be cleaned from the +face of the earth than desecrated. Holy ground once, holy ground +forever." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the Church?" the Princess inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"In the low grounds between the aqueduct, and the gates of St. Romain +and Adrianople." +</p> + +<p> +"It belongs to one of the Brotherhoods. They have farming right in the +soil." +</p> + +<p> +"I am sorry to hear it." +</p> + +<p> +As she turned to her work again, he went on with his account of himself. +</p> + +<p> +"I had then two hours and more till noon, and was at loss what to do. +Finally I decided to go to the Port of Blacherne—a long walk, but not +too long, considering my motive.... Princess, have you heard of the +Italian newly arrived?" +</p> + +<p> +"What of him, pray?" +</p> + +<p> +"He is the talk of the city, and if the half told of him be true, we +must needs wonder. He travels in his own ship. Merchants have that +habit, but he is not a merchant. Kings do so, but he is not a king. He +came in saluting with a gun, in style becoming a great admiral; but if +he is an admiral, his nationality is a secret. He also flies an unknown +flag. They report him further as standing much on his deck in a suit of +armor glistening like silver. And what is he? Mouth speaketh unto +mouth, with no one to answer. They go then to his ship, pronouncing it +the most perfect thing of the kind ever seen in the harbor. Those who +have rowed around it say the sailors are not white men, but dark-faced +creatures in turbans and black beards, un-Christian and ugly-looking. +Fishermen and fruiterers have been permitted on deck—nobody else—and +they, returning alive, say the rowers, of whom they caught glimpses, +are blacker than the sailors. They also overheard strange noises +below—voices not human." +</p> + +<p> +The countenance of the Princess during this recital gradually changed; +she seemed disposed to laugh at the exaggerations of the populace. +</p> + +<p> +"So much for town-talk," Sergius continued. "To get sight of the ship, +and of the mysterious magnate, I walked across the city to the Port of +Blacherne, and was well rewarded. I found the ship drawn in to the +quay, and the work of unloading her in progress. Parties of porters +were attacking heaps of the cargo already on the landing. Where they +were taking the goods I could not learn. I saw five horses lifted out +of the hold, and led ashore over a bridge dropped from the vessel's +side. Such horses I never before beheld. Two were grays, two bays, and +one chestnut-colored. They looked at the sun with wide-open unwinking +eyes; they inhaled the air as it were something to drink; their coats +shone like silk; their manes were soft like the hair of children; their +tails flared out in the breeze like flags; and everybody exclaimed: +'Arabs, Arabs!' There was a groom for each horse—tall men, lean, +dust-hued, turbaned, and in black gowns. At sight of the animals, an +old Persian who, from his appearance, might have been grandfather of +the grooms, begged permission—I could not understand the tongue he +used—put his arms around the necks of the animals, and kissed them +between the eyes, his own full of tears the while. I suppose they +reminded him of his own country.... Then two officers from the palace, +representatives doubtless of the Emperor, rode out of the gate in +armor, and immediately the stranger issued from his cabin, and came +ashore. I confess I lost interest in the horses, although he went to +them and scanned them over, lifting their feet and tapping their hoofs +with the handle of a dagger. By that time the two officers were +dismounted; and approaching with great ceremony, they notified him they +had been sent by His Majesty to receive and conduct him to assigned +quarters. He replied to them in excellent Greek, acknowledging His +Majesty's graciousness, and the pleasure he would have in their escort. +From the cabin, two of his men brought a complete equipment, and placed +it on the chestnut steed. The furniture was all sheen of satin and +gold. Another attendant brought his sword and shield; and after the +sword was buckled around him, and the shield at his back, he took hold +of the saddle with both hands, and swung himself into the seat with an +ease remarkably in contrast with the action of his Greek conductors, +who, in mounting, were compelled to make use of their stirrups. The +cavalcade then passed the gate into the city." +</p> + +<p> +"You saw him closely?" Lael asked. +</p> + +<p> +"To get to his horse, he passed near me as I am to you, my little +friend." +</p> + +<p> +"What did he wear?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, he was in armor. A cap of blue steel, with a silver spike on the +crown—neck and shoulders covered with a hood of mail—body in a shirt +of mail, a bead of silver in each link—limbs to the knees in mail. +From the knees down there were splints of steel inlaid with silver; his +shoes were of steel, and on the heels long golden spurs. The hood was +clasped under the chin, leaving the face exposed—a handsome face, eyes +black and bright, complexion olive, though slightly bloodless, +expression pleasant." +</p> + +<p> +"How old is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"Twenty-six or seven. Altogether he reminded me of what I have heard of +the warriors who used to go crusading." +</p> + +<p> +"What following had he?" +</p> + +<p> +This was from the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +"I can only speak of what I saw—of the keepers of the horses, and of +the other men, whom, in my unfamiliarity with military fashions, I will +call equerry, armorer, and squire or page. What accounting is to be +made of the ship's company, I leave, O Princess, to your better +knowledge." +</p> + +<p> +"My inquiry was of his personal suite." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I cannot give you a better answer; but if I may say so much, the +most unusual thing observable in his followers was, they were all +Orientals—not one of them had a Christian appearance." +</p> + +<p> +"Well"—and the Princess laid her needle down for the first time—"I +see how easily a misunderstanding of the stranger may get abroad. Let +me tell what I know of him.... Directly he arrived, he despatched a +letter to His Majesty, giving an account of himself. He is a soldier by +profession, and a Christian; has spent much time in the Holy Land, +where he acquired several Eastern languages; obtained permission from +the Pontiff Nicholas to make war on the African pirates; manned his +galley with captives; and, not wishing to return to his native land and +engage in the baronial wars which prevail there at present, he offered +his services to His Majesty. He is an Italian nobleman, entitled <i>Count +Corti,</i> and submitted to His Majesty a certificate, under the hand and +seal of the Holy Father, showing that the Holy Father knighted him, and +authorized his crusade against the infidels. The preference for a +following composed of Orientals is singular; but after all, it is only +a matter of taste. The day may come, dear Sergius, when the Christian +world will disapprove his method of getting title to servants; but it +is not here now.... If further discussion of the Count takes place in +your presence, you are at liberty to tell what I tell you. At Blacherne +yesterday I had the particulars, together with the other circumstance, +that the Emperor gladly accepted the Italian's overture, and assigned +him quarters in the Palace of Julian, with leave to moor his galley in +the port there. Few noble foreigners have sought our Empire bringing +better recommendations." +</p> + +<p> +The fair lady then took up her needle, and was resuming work, when +Lysander entered, and, after thumping the floor, announced: "Three +o'clock." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess silently arose, and passed out of the room; at the same +time there was a commotion behind the curtain, and presently the other +apartment was vacated. Sergius lingered a moment. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me now of yourself," Lael said, giving him her hand. +</p> + +<p> +He kissed the hand fondly, and replied: "The clouds still hang low and +dark over me; but my faith is not shaken; they will blow away; and in +the meantime, dear little friend, the world is not all cheerless—you +love me." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I love you," she said, with childish simplicity. +</p> + +<p> +"The Brotherhood has elected a new Hegumen," he continued. +</p> + +<p> +"A good man, I hope." +</p> + +<p> +"The violence with which he denounced me was the chief argument in his +favor. But God is good. The Emperor, the Patriarch, and the Princess +Irene remain steadfast. Against them the Hegumen will be slow in +proceeding to my expulsion. I am not afraid. I will go on doing what I +think right. Time and patience are good angels to the unjustly accused. +But that any one should hold it a crime to have rescued you—O little +friend, dear soul! See the live coal which does not cease burning!" +</p> + +<p> +"And Nilo?" +</p> + +<p> +"He wants nothing in the way of comforts." +</p> + +<p> +"I will go see the poor man the first thing when I get out." +</p> + +<p> +"His cell in the Cynegion is well furnished. The officer in charge has +orders direct from the Emperor to see that he suffers no harm. I saw +him day before yesterday. He does not know why he is a prisoner, but +behaves quietly. I took him a supply of tools, and he passes the time +making things in use in his country, mostly implements of war and +hunting. The walls of his cell are hung with bows, arrows and lances of +such curious form that there is always quite a throng to see them. He +actually divides honor with Tamerlane, the king of the lions." +</p> + +<p> +"It should be a very noble lion, for that." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius, seeing her humor, went on: "You say truly, little friend. He +has in hand a net of strong thread and thousands of meshes already. +'What is it for?' I asked. In his pantomimic way he gave me to +understand: 'In my country we hunt lions with it.' 'How?' said I. And +he showed me two balls of lead, one in each corner of the net. Taking +the balls in his hands: 'Now we are in front of the game—now it +springs at us—up they go this way.' He gave the balls a peculiar toss +which sent them up and forward on separating lines. The woven threads +spread out in the air like a yellow mist, and I could see the +result—the brute caught in the meshes, and entangled. Then the brave +fellow proceeded with his pantomime. He threw himself to one side out +of the way of the leap—drew a sword, and stabbed and stabbed—and the +triumph in his face told me plainly enough. 'There—he is dead!' Just +now he is engaged on another work scarcely less interesting to him. A +dealer in ivory sent him an elephant's tusk, and he is covering it with +the story of a campaign. You see the warriors setting out on the +march—in another picture they are in battle—a cloud of arrows in +flight—shields on arm—bows bent—and a forest of spears. From the +large end he is working down toward the point. The finish will be a +victory, and a return with captives and plunder immeasurable.... He is +well cared for; yet he keeps asking me about his master the Prince of +India. Where is he? When will he come? When he turns to that subject I +do not need words from him. His soul gets into his eyes. I tell him the +Prince is dead. He shakes his head: 'No, no!' and sweeping a circle in +the air, he brings his hands to his breast, as to say: 'No, he is +travelling—he will come back for me.'" +</p> + +<p> +Sergius had become so intent upon the description that he lost sight of +his hearer; but now a sob recalled him. Bending lower over the hand, he +caressed it more assiduously than ever, afraid to look into her face. +When at length the sobbing ceased, he arose and said, shamefacedly: +</p> + +<p> +"O dear little friend, you forgive me, do you not?" +</p> + +<p> +From his manner one would have thought he had committed an offence far +out of the pale of condonement. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Sergius," she said. "It is for me to think of you, not you of +me." He tried to look cheerful. +</p> + +<p> +"It was stupid in me. I will be more careful. Your pardon is a sweet +gift to take away.... The Princess is going to Sancta Sophia, and she +may want me. To-morrow—until to-morrow—good-by." +</p> + +<p> +This time he stooped, and kissed her on the forehead; next moment she +was alone. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0506"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA +</h3> + +<p> +The Palace of Julian arose the chief embellishment of a large square +enclosure on the sea front southeast of the landmark at present called +the Burnt Column, and, like other imperial properties of the kind, it +was an aggregation of buildings irregular in form and style, and more +or less ornate and imposing. A garden stretched around it. The founder, +wanting private harborage for his galleys and swarm of lesser boats, +dug a basin just inside the city wall, and flooded it with pure +Marmoran water; then, for ingress and egress at his sovereign will, he +slashed the wall, and of the breach made the <i>Port of Julian</i>. +[Footnote: Only a shallow depression in the ground, faintly +perpetuating the outlines of the harbor, now marks the site of this +royal residence.] +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti found the Palace well preserved in and out. He had not +purposed hiding himself, yet it was desirable to keep his followers +apart much as possible; and for that a situation more to his wish could +scarcely have been chosen in the capital. +</p> + +<p> +Issuing from the front door, a minute's walk through a section of the +garden brought him to a stairway defended on both sides with massive +balustrading. The flight ended in a spacious paved landing; whence, +looking back and up, he could see two immense columnar pedestals +surmounted by statues, while forward extended the basin, a sheet of +water on which, white and light as a gull, his galley rested. He had +but to call the watchman on its deck, and a small boat would come to +him in a trice. He congratulated himself upon the lodgement. +</p> + +<p> +The portion of the Palace assigned him was in the south end; and, +although he enlisted a number of skilful upholsterers, a week and more +was industriously taken with interior arrangements for himself, and in +providing for the comfort and well-being of his horses; for it is to be +said in passing, he had caught enough of the spirit of the nomadic Turk +to rate the courser which was to bear him possibly through foughten +fields amongst the first in his affections. In this preparation, +keeping the scheme to which his master had devoted him ever present, he +required no teaching to point out the policy of giving his +establishment an air of permanence as well as splendor. +</p> + +<p> +Occupied as he was, he had nevertheless snatched time to look in upon +the Hippodrome, and walk once around the Bucoleon and Sancta Sophia. +From a high pavilion overhanging his quarters, he had surveyed the +stretches of city in the west and southwest, sensible of a lively +desire to become intimately acquainted with the bizarre panorama of +hills behind hills, so wonderfully house and church crowned. +</p> + +<p> +To say truth, however, the Count was anxious to hear from the Sultan +before beginning a career. The man who was to be sent to him might +appear any hour, making it advisable to keep close home. He had a +report of the journey to Italy, and of succeeding events, including his +arrival at Constantinople, ready draughted, and was impatient to +forward it. A word of approval from Mahommed would be to him like a new +spirit given. He counted upon it as a cure for his melancholia. +</p> + +<p> +Viewing the galley one day, he looked across the basin to where the +guard of the Port was being changed, and was struck with the foreign +air of the officer of the relief. This, it happened, was singularly +pertinent to a problem which had been disturbing his active mind—how +he could most safely keep in communication with Mahommed, or, more +particularly, how the Sultan's messenger could come with the most +freedom and go with the least hindrance. A solution now presented +itself. If the Emperor intrusted the guardianship of the gate to one +foreigner, why not to another? In other words, why not have the duty +committed to himself and his people? Not improbably the charge might be +proposed to him; he would wait awhile, and see; if, however, he had to +formally request it, could anything be more plausibly suggestive than +the relation between the captaincy of that Port and residence in the +Palace of Julian? The idea was too natural to be refused; if granted, +he was master of the situation. It would be like holding the keys of +the city. He could send out and admit as need demanded; and then, if +flight became imperative, behold a line of retreat! Here was his +galley—yonder the way out. +</p> + +<p> +While he pondered the matter, a servant brought him notice of an +officer from Blacherne in waiting. Responding immediately, he found our +ancient friend the Dean in the reception room, bringing the +announcement that His Majesty the Emperor had appointed audience for +him next day at noon; or, if the hour was not entirely convenient, +would the Count be pleased to designate another? His Majesty was aware +of the attention needful to a satisfactory settlement in strange +quarters, and had not interrupted him earlier; for which he prayed +pardon. +</p> + +<p> +The Count accepted the time set; after which he conducted his visitor +through his apartments, omitting none of them; from the kitchen he even +carried him to the stable, whence he had the horses brought one by one. +Hospitality and confidence could go no further, and he was amply +rewarded. The important functionary was pleased with all he saw, and +with nothing more than Corti himself. There could not be a doubt of the +friendliness of the report he would take back to Blacherne. In short, +the Count's training in a court dominated by suspicion to a greater +degree even than the court in Constantinople was drawn upon most +successfully. A glass of wine at parting redolent with the perfume of +the richest Italian vintage fixed the new-comer's standing in the +Dean's heart. If there had been the least insufficiency in the +emblazoned certificate of the Holy Father, here was a swift witness in +confirmation. +</p> + +<p> +The day was destined to be eventful to the Count. While he was +entertaining the Dean, the men on the deck of the galley, unused to +Byzantine customs, were startled by a cry, long, swelling, then +mournfully decadent. Glancing in the direction from which it came, they +saw a black boat sweeping through the water-way of the Port. A man of +dubious complexion, tall and lithe, his scant garments originally +white, now stiff with dirt of many hues, a ragged red head-cloth illy +confining his coarse black hair, stood in the bow shouting, and holding +up a wooden tray covered with fish. The sentinel to whom he thus +offered the stock shook his head, but allowed him to pass. At the +galley's side there was an interchange of stares between the sailors +and the fishermen—such the tenants of the black craft were—leaving it +doubtful which side was most astonished. Straightway the fellow in the +bow opened conversation, trying several tongues, till finally he +essayed the Arabic. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sailors." +</p> + +<p> +"Where from?" +</p> + +<p> +"Tripoli." +</p> + +<p> +"Children of the Prophet?" +</p> + +<p> +"We believe in Allah and the Last Day, and observe prayer, and pay the +appointed alms, and dread none but Allah; we are among the rightly +guided." [Footnote: Koran, IX. 18.] +</p> + +<p> +"Blessed be Allah! May his name be exalted here and everywhere!" the +fisherman returned; adding immediately: "Whom serve you?" +</p> + +<p> +"A <i>Scherif</i> from Italy." +</p> + +<p> +"How is he called?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Count." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the Palace yonder." +</p> + +<p> +"A Christian?" +</p> + +<p> +"A Christian with an Eastern tongue; and he knows the hours of prayer, +and observes them." +</p> + +<p> +"Does he reside here?" +</p> + +<p> +"He is Lord of the Palace." +</p> + +<p> +"When did he arrive?" +</p> + +<p> +"Since the moon fulled." +</p> + +<p> +"Does he want fish?" +</p> + +<p> +The men on the ship laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"Go ask him." +</p> + +<p> +"That is his landing there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"All men who live down by the sea eat fish—when they can get them," +the dealer said, solemnly. Turning then to his rowers, he bade them: +"Forward to the landing." +</p> + +<p> +There he stepped out, dextrously balanced the tray on his head, +ascended the stairs, and in front of the great house went persistently +from door to door until he came to that of the Count. +</p> + +<p> +"Fish?" he asked the man who answered his knock. +</p> + +<p> +"I will see." +</p> + +<p> +The doorkeeper returned shortly, and said, "No." +</p> + +<p> +"Are you a Moslem?" the fisherman inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Blessed be Allah for the right understanding!" +</p> + +<p> +"So am I. Now let me see the master. I want to furnish him with fish +for the season." +</p> + +<p> +"He is engaged." +</p> + +<p> +"I will wait for him. Tell him my catch is this morning's—red mullets +and choice cuts from a royal sword-fish that leaped ten feet in the air +with the spear in his back." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he deposited the tray, and took seat by it, much as to say, +Time is of no consequence to me. Ere long the Count appeared with the +Dean. He glanced at the tray, then at the fisherman—to the latter he +gave a second look. +</p> + +<p> +"What beautiful fish!" he said, to the Dean. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes—there are no fish pastures like those of our Bosphorus." +</p> + +<p> +"How do you call this kind?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mullets—red mullets. The old Romans used to fatten them in tanks." +</p> + +<p> +"I thought I had seen their like on our Italian coasts. How do you +prepare them for the table?" +</p> + +<p> +"We fry them, Count, in olive oil—pure oil." +</p> + +<p> +All this time Corti was studying the fisherman. +</p> + +<p> +"What meal, pray, will fashion allow them to me dished?" he went on. +</p> + +<p> +"For breakfast especially; though when you come to dine with His +Majesty do not be surprised to see them early in course." +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon the detention, my Lord—I will make trial of these in the +morning." Then to the fisherman the Count said, carelessly: "Keep thy +place until I return." +</p> + +<p> +Corti saw the Dean out of the eastern gate of the enclosure, and +returned. +</p> + +<p> +"What, still here!" he said, to the dealer. "Well, go with the +doorkeeper to the kitchen. The cook will take what he needs for +to-morrow." Speaking to the doorkeeper then: "Bring the man to me. I am +fond of fishing, and should like to talk with him about his methods. +Sometime he may be willing to take me with him." +</p> + +<p> +By and by the monger was shown into the Count's room, where there was a +table, with books and writing material—a corner room full lighted by +windows in the south and east. When they were alone, the two gazed at +each other. +</p> + +<p> +"Ali, son of Abed-din!" said the Count. "Is it thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"O Emir! All of me that is not fish is the Ali thou hast named." +</p> + +<p> +"God is great!" the first exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +"Blessed be God!" the other answered. +</p> + +<p> +They were acquaintances of long standing. +</p> + +<p> +Then Ali took the red rag from his head, and from its folds produced a +strip of fine parchment with writing on it impervious to water. +"Behold, Emir! It is for thee." +</p> + +<p> +The Count received the scrip and read: +</p> + +<p> +"This is he I promised to send. He has money for thee. Thou mayst trust +him. Tell me this time of thyself first; then of her; but always after +of her first. My soul is scorching with impatience." +</p> + +<p> +There was no date to the screed nor was it signed; yet the Count put it +to his forehead and lips. He knew the writing as he knew his own hand. +</p> + +<p> +"O Ali!" he said, his eyes aglow. "Hereafter thou shalt be Ali the +Faithful, son of Abed-din the Faithful." +</p> + +<p> +Ali replied with a rueful look: "It is well. What a time I have had +waiting for you! Much I fear my bones will never void the damps blown +into them by the winter winds, and I perched on the cross-sticks of a +floating <i>dallyan</i>.... I have money for you, O Emir! and the keeping it +has given me care more than enough to turn another man older than his +mother. I will bring it to-morrow; after which I shall say twenty +prayers to the Prophet—blessed be his name!—where now I say one." +</p> + +<p> +"No, not to-morrow, Ali, but the day after when thou bringest me +another supply of fish. There is danger in coming too often—and for +that, thou must go now. Staying too long is dangerous as coming too +often.... But tell me of our master. Is he indeed the Sultan of Sultans +he promised to be? Is he well? Where is he? What is he doing?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not so fast, O Emir, not so fast, I pray you! Better a double mouthful +of stale porpoise fat, with a fin bone in it, than so many questions at +once." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, but I have been so long in the slow-moving Christian world without +news!" +</p> + +<p> +"Verily, O Emir, Padishah Mahommed will be greatest of the <i>Gabour</i> +eaters since Padishah Othman—that to your first. He is well. His bones +have reached their utmost limit, but his soul keeps growing—that to +your second. He holds himself at Adrianople. Men say he is building +mosques. I say he is building cannon to shoot bullets big as his +father's tomb; when they are fired, the faithful at Medina will hear +the noise, and think it thunder—that to your third. And as to his +doing—getting ready for war, meaning business for everybody, from the +Shiek-ul-Islam to the thieving tax-farmers of Bagdad—to the +Kislar-Jinn of Abad-on with them. He has the census finished, and now +the Pachas go listing the able-bodied, of whom they have half a +million, with as many more behind. They say the young master means to +make a <i>sandjak</i> of unbelieving Europe." +</p> + +<p> +"Enough, Ali!—the rest next time." +</p> + +<p> +The Count went to the table, and from a secret drawer brought a package +wrapped in leather, and sealed carefully. +</p> + +<p> +"This for our Lord—exalted be his name! How wilt thou take it?" +</p> + +<p> +Ali laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"In my tray to the boat, but the fish are fresh, and there are flowers +of worse odor in Cashmere. So, O Emir, for this once. Next time, and +thereafter, I will have a hiding-place ready." +</p> + +<p> +"Now, Ali, farewell. Thy name shall be sweet in our master's ears as a +girl-song to the moon of Ramazan. I will see to it." +</p> + +<p> +Ali took the package, and hid it in the bosom of his dirty shirt. When +he passed out of the front door, it lay undistinguishable under the +fish and fish meat; and he whispered to the Count in going: "I have an +order from the Governor of the White Castle for my unsold stock. God is +great!" +</p> + +<p> +Corti, left alone, flung himself on a chair. He had word from +Mahommed—that upon which he counted so certainly as a charm in +counteraction of the depression taking possession of his spirit. There +it was in his hand, a declaration of confidence unheard of in an +Oriental despot. Yet the effect was wanting. Even as he sat thinking +the despondency deepened. He groped for the reason in vain. He strove +for cheer in the big war of which Ali had spoken—in the roar of +cannon, like thunder in Medina—in Europe a Sultanic <i>sandjak</i>. He +could only smile at the exaggeration. In fact, his trouble was the one +common to every fine nature in a false position. His business was to +deceive and betray—whom? The degradation was casting its shadow +before. Heaven help when the eclipse should be full! +</p> + +<p> +For relief he read the screed again: "Tell me this time of thyself +first; then of <i>her</i>." ... Ah, yes, the kinswoman of the Emperor! He +must devise a way to her acquaintance, and speedily. And casting about +for it, he became restless, and finally resolved to go out into the +city. He sent for the chestnut Arab, and putting on the steel cap and +golden spurs had from the Holy Father was soon in the saddle. +</p> + +<p> +It was about three o'clock afternoon, with a wind tempered to mildness +by a bright sun. The streets were thronged, while the balconies and +overhanging windows had their groups on the lookout for entertainment +and gossip. As may be fancied the knightly rider and gallant barb, +followed by a dark-skinned, turbaned servant in Moorish costume, +attracted attention. Neither master nor man appeared to give heed to +the eager looks and sometimes over-loud questions with which they were +pursued. +</p> + +<p> +Turning northward presently, the Count caught sight of the dome of +Sancta Sophia. It seemed to him a vast, upturned silver bowl glistening +in the sky, and he drew rein involuntarily, wondering how it could be +upheld; then he was taken with a wish to go in, and study the problem. +Having heard from Mahommed, he was lord of his time, and here was noble +diversion. +</p> + +<p> +In front of the venerable edifice, he gave his horse to the dark-faced +servant, and entered the outer court unattended. +</p> + +<p> +A company, mixed apparently of every variety of persons, soldiers, +civilians, monks, and women, held the pavement in scattered groups; and +while he halted a moment to survey the exterior of the building, cold +and grimly plain from cornice to base, he became himself an object of +remark to them. About the same time a train of monastics, bareheaded, +and in long gray gowns, turned in from the street, chanting +monotonously, and in most intensely nasal tones. The Count, attracted +by their pale faces, hollow eyes and unkept beards, waited for them to +cross the court. Unkept their beards certainly were, but not white. +This was the beginning of the observation he afterward despatched to +Mahommed: Only the walls of Byzantium remain for her defence; the +Church has absorbed her young men; the sword is discarded for the +rosary. Nor could he help remarking that whereas the <i>frati</i> of Italy +were fat, rubicund, and jolly, these seemed in search of death through +the severest penitential methods. His thought recurring to the house +again, he remembered having heard how every hour of every day from five +o'clock in the morning to midnight was filled with religious service of +some kind in Sancta Sophia. +</p> + +<p> +A few stone steps the full length of the court led up to five great +doors of bronze standing wide open; and as the train took one of the +latter and began to disappear, he chose another, and walked fast in +order to witness the entry. Brought thus into the immense vestibule, he +stopped, and at once forgot the gray brethren. Look where he might, at +the walls, and now up to the ceiling, every inch of space wore the +mellowed brightness of mosaic wrought in cubes of glass exquisitely +graduated in color. What could he do but stand and gaze at the Christ +in the act of judging the world? Such a cartoon had never entered his +imagination. The train was gone when he awoke ready to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +There were then nine doors also of bronze conducting from the +vestibule. The central and larger one was nearest him. Pushed lightly, +it swung open on noiseless hinges; a step or two, and he stood in the +nave or auditorium of the Holy House. +</p> + +<p> +The reader will doubtless remember how Duke Vlodomir, the grandson of +Olga, the Russian, coming to Constantinople to receive a bride, entered +Sancta Sophia the first time, and from being transfixed by what he saw +and heard, fell down a convert to Christianity. Not unlike was the +effect upon Corti. In a sense he, too, was an unbeliever semi-barbaric +in education. Many were the hours he had spent with Mahommed while the +latter, indulging his taste, built palaces and mosques on paper, +striving for vastness and original splendor. But what was the Prince's +utmost achievement in comparison with this interior? Had it been an +ocean grotto, another Caprian cave, bursting with all imaginable +revelations of light and color, he could not have been more deeply +impressed. Without architectural knowledge; acquainted with few of the +devices employed in edificial construction, and still less with the +mysterious power of combination peculiar to genius groping for effects +in form, dimensions, and arrangement of stone on stone with beautiful +and sublime intent; yet he had a soul to be intensely moved by such +effects when actually set before his eyes. He walked forward slowly +four or five steps from the door, looking with excited vision—not at +details or to detect the composition of any of the world of objects +constituting the view, or with a thought of height, breadth, depth, or +value—the marbles of the floor rich in multiformity and hues, and +reflective as motionless water, the historic pillars, the varied +arches, the extending galleries, the cornices, friezes, balustrades, +crosses of gold, mosaics, the windows and interlacing rays of light, +brilliance here, shadows yonder—the apse in the east, and the altar +built up in it starry with burning candles and glittering with +prismatic gleams shot from precious stones and metals in every +conceivable form of grace—lamps, cups, vases, candlesticks, cloths, +banners, crucifixes, canopies, chairs, Madonnas, Child Christs and +Christs Crucified—and over all, over lesser domes, over arches +apparently swinging in the air, broad, high, near yet far away, the +dome of Sancta Sophia, defiant of imitation, like unto itself alone, a +younger sky within the elder—these, while he took those few steps, +merged and ran together in a unity which set his senses to reeling, and +made question and thought alike impossible. +</p> + +<p> +How long the Count stood thus lost to himself in the glory and +greatness of the place, he never knew. The awakening was brought about +by a strain of choral music, which, pouring from the vicinity of the +altar somewhere, flooded the nave, vast as it was, from floor to dome. +No voice more fitting could be imagined; and it seemed addressing +itself to him especially. He trembled, and began to think. +</p> + +<p> +First there came to him a comparison in which the Kaaba was a relative. +He recalled the day he fell dying at the corner under the Black Stone. +He saw the draped heap funereally dismal in the midst of the cloisters. +How bare and poor it seemed to him now! He remembered the visages and +howling of the demoniac wretches struggling to kiss the stone, though +with his own kiss he had just planted it with death. How different the +worship here! ... This, he thought next, was his mother's religion. And +what more natural than that he should see that mother descending to the +chapel in her widow's weeds to pray for him? Tears filled his eyes. His +heart arose chokingly in his throat. Why should not her religion be +his? It was the first time he had put the question to himself directly; +and he went further with it. What though Allah of the Islamite and +Jehovah of the Hebrew were the same?—What though the Koran and the +Bible proceeded from the same inspiration?—What though Mahomet and +Christ were alike Sons of God? There were differences in the worship, +differences in the personality of the worshippers. Why, except to allow +every man a choice according to his ideas of the proper and best in +form and companionship? And the spirit swelled within him as he asked, +Who are my brethren? They who stole me from my father's house, who slew +my father, who robbed my mother of the lights of life, and left her to +the darkness of mourning and the bitterness of ungratified hope—were +not they the brethren of my brethren? +</p> + +<p> +At that moment an old man appeared before the altar with assistants in +rich canonicals. One placed on the elder's head what seemed a crown all +a mass of flaming jewels; another laid upon him a cloak of cloth of +gold; a third slipped a ring over one of his fingers; whereupon the +venerable celebrant drew nearer the altar, and, after a prayer, took up +a chalice and raised it as if in honor to an image of Christ on a cross +in the agonies of crucifixion. Then suddenly the choir poured its +triumphal thunder abroad until the floor, and galleries, and pendant +lamps seemed to vibrate. The assistants and worshippers sank upon their +knees, and ere he was aware the Count was in the same attitude of +devotion. +</p> + +<p> +The posture consisted perfectly with policy, his mission considered. +Soon or late he would have to adopt every form and observance of +Christian worship. In this performance, however, there was no +premeditation, no calculation. In his exaltation of soul he fancied he +heard a voice passing with the tempestuous jubilation of the singers: +"On thy knees, O apostate! On thy knees! God is here!" +</p> + +<p> +But his was a combative nature; and coming to himself, and not +understanding clearly the cause of his prostration, he presently arose. +Of the worshippers in sight, he alone was then standing, and the +sonorous music ringing on, he was beginning to doubt the propriety of +his action, when a number of women, unobserved before, issued from a +shaded corner at the right of the apse, fell into processional order, +and advanced slowly toward him. +</p> + +<p> +One moved by herself in front. A reflection of her form upon the +polished floor lent uncertainty to her stature, and gave her an +appearance of walking on water. Those following were plainly her +attendants. They were all veiled; while a white mantle fell from her +left shoulder, its ends lost in the folds of the train of her gown, +leaving the head, face, and neck bare. Her manner, noticeable in the +distance even, was dignified without hauteur, simple, serious, free of +affectation. She was not thinking of herself.... Nearer—he heard no +foot-fall. Now and then she glided through slanting rays of soft, white +light cast from upper windows, and they seemed to derive ethereality +from her.... Nearer—and he could see the marvellous pose of the head, +and the action of the figure, never incarnation more graceful.... Yet +nearer—he beheld her face, in complexion a child's, in expression a +woman's. The eyes were downcast, the lips moved. She might have been +the theme of the music sweeping around her in acclamatory waves, +drowning the part she was carrying in suppressed murmur. He gazed +steadfastly at the countenance. The light upon the forehead was an +increasing radiance, like a star's refined by passage through the +atmospheres of infinite space. A man insensitive to beauty in woman +never was, never will be. Vows cannot alter nature; neither can monkish +garbs nor years; and it is knowledge of this which makes every woman +willing to last sacrifices for the gift; it is power to her, +vulgarizing accessories like wealth, coronets and thrones. With this +confession in mind, words are not needed to inform the reader of the +thrills which assailed the Count while the marvel approached. +</p> + +<p> +The service was over as to her, and she was evidently seeking to retire +by the main door; but as he stood in front of it, she came within two +or three steps before noticing him. Then she stopped suddenly, +astonished by the figure in shining armor. A flush overspread her face; +smiling at her alarm, she spoke: "I pray pardon, Sir Knight, for +disturbing thy devotions." +</p> + +<p> +"And I, fair lady, am grateful to Heaven that it placed me in thy way +to the door unintentionally." +</p> + +<p> +He stepped aside, and she passed on and out. +</p> + +<p> +The interior of the church, but a minute before so overwhelmingly +magnificent and impressive, became commonplace and dull. The singing +rolled on unheard. His eyes fixed on the door through which she went; +his sensations were as if awakening from a dream in which he had seen a +heavenly visitant, and been permitted to speak to it. +</p> + +<p> +The spell ceased with the music; then, with swift returning sense, he +remembered Mahommed's saying: "Thou wilt know her at sight." +</p> + +<p> +And he knew her—the <i>Her</i> of the screed brought only that day by Ali. +</p> + +<p> +Nor less distinctly did he recall every incident of the parting with +Mahommed, every word, every injunction—the return of the ruby ring, +even then doubtless upon the imperious master's third finger, a subject +of hourly study—the further speech, "They say whoever looketh at her +is thenceforward her lover"—and the final charge, with its +particulars, concluding: "Forget not that in Constantinople, when I +come, I am to receive her from thy hand peerless in all things as I +left her." +</p> + +<p> +His shoes of steel were strangely heavy when he regained his horse at +the edge of the court. For the first time in years, he climbed into the +saddle using the stirrup like a man reft of youth. He would love the +woman—he could not help it. Did not every man love her at sight? +</p> + +<p> +The idea colored everything as he rode slowly back to his quarters. +</p> + +<p> +Dismounting at the door, it plied him with the repetition, <i>Every man +loves her at sight</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He thought of training himself to hate her, but none the less through +the hours of the night he heard the refrain, <i>Every man loves her at +sight</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In a clearer condition, his very inability to shut her out of mind, +despite his thousand efforts of will, would have taught him that +another judgment was upon him. +</p> + +<p> +HE LOVED HER. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0507"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED +</h3> + +<p> +At noon the days are a little more yellow, and the shadows a trifle +longer, while at evening the snows on the far mountains give the air a +coolness gently admonitory of the changing season; with these +exceptions there is scarcely a difference between the September to +which we now come and the closing stages of June. +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti is fully settled in his position. Withal, however, he is +very miserable. A new light has been let in upon his being. He finds it +a severe trial to serve a Mahommedan, knowing himself a Christian born, +and still more difficult trying to be a Turk, knowing himself an +Italian. The stings grow sharper as experience makes it plainer that he +is nefariously helping those whom he ought to regard enemies destroy an +Emperor and people who never gave him offence. Worst of all, most +crushing to spirit, is his passion for the Princess Irene while under +obligations to Mahommed prohibitory of every hope, dream, and +self-promise ordinarily the sweetest incidents of love. +</p> + +<p> +The person with a mental ailment curable by prompt decision, who yet +goes about debating what to do, will ere long find his will power so +weakened as to leave him a confirmed wreck. Count Corti seemed likely +to become an instance in point. The months since his visit to the +paternal castle in Italy, really the beginning of the conflicts tossing +him now here, now there, were full of warnings he could but hear; still +he continued his course. +</p> + +<p> +His reports to Mahommed were frequent, and as they are of importance to +our story, we think it advisable to quote from some of them. +</p> + +<p> +The following is from his first communication after the visit to Sancta +Sophia: +</p> + +<p> +"I cast myself at your feet, O my Lord, praying Allah to keep you in +health, and strengthen the wise designs which occupy you +incessantly.... You bade me always speak first of the kinswoman of the +Emperor. Yesterday I rode to the Church supreme in the veneration of +the Greeks, erected, it is said, by the Emperor Justinian. Its vastness +amazed me, and, knowing my Lord's love for such creations, I declare, +were there no other incentive to the conquest of this unbelieving city +than the reduction of Sancta Sophia to the religious usages of Islam, +its possession would alone justify my Lord's best effort, regardless of +life and treasure. The riches accumulated in it through the ages are +incalculable; nevertheless its splendors, dazzling as the sun, varied +as a rainbow, sunk out of sight when the Princess Irene passed me so +near that I had a perfect view of her. Her face is composed of the +light of unnumbered stars. The union of all the graces in her person is +so far above words that Hafiz, my Lord's prince of poets, would have +been dumb before her, or, if he had spoken, it would have been to say, +She is the Song of Songs impossible to verse. She spoke to me as she +moved by, and her voice was the voice of Love. Yet she had the dignity +of a Queen governing the world through a conqueror such as my Lord is +to be. Then, the door having closed upon her, I was ready to declare, +as I now do, were there no other incentive to the conquest of this +unbelieving city than the possession of the womanly perfections +belonging to her, she would justify war to the exhaustion of the +universe. O my Lord, thou only art worthy of her! And how infinite will +be my happiness, if the Prophet through his powerful intercessions with +the Most Merciful, permits me to be the servant instrumental in +bringing her safely to thy arms!" This report concluded: +</p> + +<p> +"By appointment of His Majesty, the Emperor, I had audience with him +yesterday at his High Residence, the Palace of Blacherne. The Court was +in full attendance, and, after my presentation to His Majesty, I was +introduced to its members. The ceremony was in charge of the Grand +Chamberlain, that Phranza with whom my Lord is acquainted. Much I +feared lest he should recognize me. Fortunately he is dull and +philosophical, and too much given to study of things abstract and far +away to be mindful of those close under his nose. Duke Notaras was +there also. He conversed with me about Italy. Fortunately I knew more +about the <i>Gabour</i> country than he—its nobles, cities, manners, and +present conditions. He thanked me for information, and when he had my +account of the affair which brought me the invaluable certificate of +the Bishop of Rome he gave over sounding me. I have more reason to be +watchful of him than all the rest of the court; <i>so has the Emperor</i>. +Phranza is a man to be spared. Notaras is a man to be bowstrung.... I +flatter myself the Emperor is my friend. In another month I shall be +intrenched in his confidence. He is brave, but weak. An excellent +general without lieutenants, without soldiers, and too generous and +trustful for a politician, too religious for a statesman. His time is +occupied entirely with priests and priestly ceremonies. My Lord will +appreciate the resort which enabled me to encamp myself in his trust. +Of the five Arab horses I brought with me from Aleppo, I gave him +one—a gray, superior to the best he has in his stables. He and his +courtiers descended in a body to look at the barb and admire it." +</p> + +<p> +From the third report: +</p> + +<p> +"A dinner at the High Residence. There were present officers of the +army and navy, members of the Court, the Patriarch, a number of the +Clergy—Hegumen, as they are called—and the Princess Irene, with a +large suite of highborn ladies married and unmarried. His Majesty was +the Sun of the occasion, the Princess was the Moon. He sat on a raised +seat at one side of the table; she opposite him; the company according +to rank, on their right and left. I had eyes for the Moon only, +thinking how soon my Lord would be her source of light, and that her +loveliness, made up of every loveliness else in the world, would then +be the fitting complement of my Lord's glory.... His Majesty did me the +honor to lead me to her, and she did me the higher honor of permitting +me to kiss her hand. In further thought of what she was to my Lord, I +was about making her a salaam, but remembered myself—Italians are not +given to that mode of salutation, while the Greeks reserve it for the +Emperor, or Basileus as he is sometimes called.... She condescended to +talk with me. Her graces of mind are like those of her +person—adorable.... I was very deferent, and yielded the choice of +topics. She chose two—religion and arms. Had she been a man, she would +have been a soldier; being a woman, she is a religious devotee. There +is nothing of which she is more desirous than the restoration of the +Holy Sepulchre to the Christian powers. She asked me if it were true +the Holy Father commissioned me to make war on the Tripolitan pirates, +and when I said yes, she replied with a fervor truly engaging: 'The +practice of arms would be the noblest of occupations if it were given +solely to crusading.' ... She then adverted to the Holy Father. I infer +from her speaking of the Bishop of Rome as the Holy Father that she +inclines to the party which believes the Bishop rightfully the head of +the Church. How did he look? Was he a learned man? Did he set a +becoming example to his Clergy? Was he liberal and tolerant? If great +calamity were to threaten Christianity in the East, would he lend it +material help?... My Lord will have a time winning the Princess over to +the Right Understanding; but in the fields of Love who ever repented +him of his labor? When my Lord was a boy, he once amused himself +training a raven and a bird of paradise to talk. The raven at length +came to say, 'O Allah, Allah!' The other bird was beyond teaching, yet +my Lord loved it the best, and excused his partiality: 'Oh, its +feathers are so brilliant!'" +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"A few days ago, I rode out of the Golden Gate, and turning to the +right, pursued along the great moat to the Gate St. Romain. The wall, +or rather the walls, of the city were on my right hand, and it is an +imposing work. The moat is in places so cumbered I doubt if it can be +everywhere flooded.... I bought some snow-water of a peddler, and +examined the Gate in and out. Its central position makes it a key of +first importance. Thence I journeyed on surveying the road and adjacent +country up far as the Adrianople gate.... I hope my Lord will find the +enclosed map of my reconnoissance satisfactory. It is at least +reliable." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"His Majesty indulged us with a hawking party. We rode to the Belgrade +forest from which Constantinople is chiefly though not entirely +supplied with water.... My Lord's Flower of Flowers, the Princess, was +of the company. I offered her my chestnut courser, but she preferred a +jennet. Remembering your instructions, O my Lord, I kept close to her +bridle. She rides wonderfully well; yet if she had fallen, how many +prayers to the Prophet, what amount of alms to the poor, would have +availed me with my Lord?... Riding is a lost art with the Greeks, if +the ever possessed it. The falcon killed a heron beyond a hill which +none of them, except the Emperor, dared cross in their saddles. Some +day I will show them how we of my Lord's loving ride.... The Princess +came safely home." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord in duty always!... I paid the usual daily visit to the +Princess, and kissed her hand upon my admission and departing. She has +this quality above other women—she is always the same. The planets +differ from her in that they are sometimes overcast by clouds.... From +her house, I rode to the imperial arsenal, situated in the ground story +of the Hippodrome, northern side. [Footnote: Professor E A Grosvenor.] +It is well stored with implements of offence and defence—mangonels, +balistas, arbalists, rams—cranes for repairing breaches—lances, +javelins, swords, axes, shields, scutums, pavises, armor—timber for +ships—cressets for night work—ironmonger machines—arquebuses, but of +antique patterns—quarrels and arrows in countless sheaves—bows of +every style. In brief, as my Lord's soul is dauntless, as he is an +eagle, which does not abandon the firmament scared by the gleam of a +huntsman's helmet in the valley, he can bear to hear that the Emperor +keeps prepared for the emergencies of war. Indeed, were His Majesty as +watchful in other respects, he would be dangerous. Who are to serve all +these stores? His native soldiers are not enough to make a bodyguard +for my Lord. Only the walls of Byzantium remain for her defence. The +Church has swallowed the young men; the sword is discarded for the +rosary. Unless the warriors of the West succor her, she will be an easy +prey." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord enjoined me to be royal.... I have just returned from a sail +up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in my galley. The decks were crowded +with guests. Under a silken pavilion pitched on the roof of my cabin, +there was a throne for the Princess Irene, and she shone as the central +jewel in a kingly crown.... We cast anchor in the bay of Therapia, and +went ashore to her palace and gardens. On the outside face of one of +the gate-columns, she showed me a brass plate. I recognized my Lord's +signature and safeguard, and came near saluting them with a <i>rik'rath</i>, +but restraining myself, asked her innocently, 'What it was?' O my Lord, +verily I congratulate you! She blushed, and cast down her eyes, and her +voice trembled while she answered: 'They say the Prince Mahommed nailed +it there.' 'What Prince Mahommed?' 'He who is now Sultan of the Turks.' +'He has been here, then? Did you see him?' 'I saw an Arab +story-teller.' Her face was the hue of a scarlet poppy, and I feared to +go further than ask concerning the plate: 'What does it mean?' And she +returned: 'The Turks never go by without prostrating themselves before +it. They say it is notice to them that I, and my house and grounds, are +sacred from their intrusion.' And then I said: 'Amongst peoples of the +East and the Desert, down far as the Barbary coast, the Sultan Mahommed +has high fame for chivalry. His bounties to those once fortunate enough +to excite his regard are inexhaustible.' She would have had me speak +further of you, but out of caution, I was driven to declare I knew +nothing beyond the hearsay of the Islamites among whom I had been here +and there cast.... My Lord will not require me to describe the palace +by Therapia. He has seen it.... The Princess remained there. I was at +sore loss, not knowing how I could continue to make report of her to my +Lord, until, to my relief she invited me to visit her." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"I am glad to say, for my Lord's sake, that the October winds, sweeping +down from the Black Sea, have compelled his Princess to return to her +house in the city, where she will abide till the summer comes again. I +saw her to-day. The country life has retouched her cheeks with a +just-sufficient stain of red roses; her lips are scarlet, as if she had +been mincing fresh-blown bloom of pomegranates; her eyes are clear as a +crooning baby's; her neck is downy—round as a white dove's; in her +movements afoot, she reminds me of the swaying of a lily-stalk brushed +softly by butterflies and humming-birds, attracted to its open cup of +paradisean wax. Oh, if I could but tell her of my Lord!"... +</p> + +<p> +This report was lengthy, and included the account of an episode more +personal to the Sultanic emissary than any before given his master. It +was dated October. The subjoined extracts may prove interesting. +</p> + +<p> +... "Everybody in the East has heard of the Hippodrome, whither I went +one day last week, and again yesterday. It was the mighty edifice in +which Byzantine vanity aired itself through hundreds of years. But +little of it is now left standing. At the north end of an area probably +seventy paces wide, and four hundred long, is a defaced structure with +a ground floor containing the arsenal, and on that, boxes filled with +seats. A lesser building rises above the boxes which is said to have +been a palace called the <i>Kathisma</i>, from which the Emperor looked down +upon the various amusements of the people, such as chariot racing, and +battles between the Blue and Green factions. Around the area from the +<i>Kathisma</i> lie hills of brick and marble—enough to build the Palace as +yet hid in my Lord's dreams, and a mosque to becomingly house our +Mohammedan religion. In the midst, marking a line central of the +race-course, are three relics—a square pillar quite a hundred feet +high, bare now, but covered once with plates of brass—an obelisk from +Egypt—and a twisted bronze column, representing three writhing +serpents, their heads in air. [Footnote: The Hippodrome was the popular +pleasure resort in Constantinople. Besides accommodating one hundred +thousand spectators, it was the most complete building for the purposes +of its erection ever known. The world—including old Rome—had been +robbed of statuary for the adornment of this extravaganza. Its enormous +level posed in great part upon a substructure of arches on arches, +which still exist. The opinion is quite general that it was destroyed +by the Turks, and that much of its material went to construct the +Mosque Sulymanie. The latter averment is doubtless correct; but it is +only justice to say that the Crusaders, so called Christians, who +encamped in Constantinople in 1204 were the real vandals. For pastime, +merely, they plied their battle-axes on the carvings, inscriptions, and +vast collection of statuary in marble and bronze found by them on the +spinet, and elsewhere in the edifice. When they departed, the +Hippodrome was an irreparable ruin—a convenient and lawful quarry.]... +The present Emperor does not honor the ruin with his presence; but the +people come, and sitting in the boxes under the KATHISMA, and standing +on the heaps near by, find diversion watching the officers and soldiers +exercising their horses along the area.... My Lord must know, in the +next place, that there is in the city a son of the Orchan who terms +himself lawful heir of Solyman of blessed memory—the Orchan pretender +to my Lord's throne, whom the Greeks have been keeping in mock +confinement—the Orchan who is the subject of the present Emperor's +demand on my Lord for an increase of the stipend heretofore paid for +the impostor's support. The son of the pretender, being a Turk, affects +the martial practices prevalent with us, and enjoys notoriety for +accomplishments as a horseman, and in the tourney play djerid. He is +even accredited with an intention of one day taking the field against +my Lord—this when his father, the old Orchan, dies.... When I entered +the Hippodrome one day last week, Orchan the younger occupied the arena +before the Kathisma. The boxes were well filled with spectators. Some +officers of my acquaintance were present, mounted like myself, and they +accosted me politely, and eulogized the performance. Afterwhile I +joined in their commendation, but ventured to say I had seen better +exercise during my sojourn among the infidels in the Holy Land. They +asked me if I had any skill. 'I cannot call it skill,' I said; 'but my +instruction was from a noble master, the Sheik of the Jordan.' Nothing +would rest them then but a trial. At length I assented on condition +that the Turk would engage me in a tourney or a combat without +quarter—bow, cimeter, spear—on horseback and in Moslem armor. They +were astonished, but agreed to carry the challenge.... Now, O my Lord, +do not condemn me. My residence here has extended into months, without +an incident to break the peace. Your pleasure is still my rule. I keep +the custom of going about on horseback and in armor. Once only—at His +Majesty's dinner—I appeared in a Venetian suit—a red mantle and hose, +one leg black, the other yellow—red-feathered cap, shoes with the long +points chained to my knees. Was there not danger of being mistaken for +a strutting bird of show? If my hand is cunning with weapons, should +not the Greeks be taught it? How better recommend myself to His Majesty +of Blacherne? Then, what an opportunity to rid my Lord of future +annoyance! Old Orchan cannot live much longer, while this cheeping +chicken is young.... The son of the pretender, being told I was an +Italian, replied he would try a tourney with me; if I proved worthy, he +would consider the combat.... Yesterday was the time for the meeting. +There was a multitude out as witnesses, the Emperor amongst others. He +did not resort to the <i>Kathisma,</i> but kept his saddle, with a bodyguard +of horsemen at his back. His mount was my gray Arab.... We began with +volting, demi-volting, jumping, wheeling in retreat, throwing the +horse. Orchan was a fumbler.... We took to bows next, twelve arrows +each. At full speed he put two bolts in the target, and I twelve, all +in the white ring.... Then spear against cimeter. I offered him choice, +and he took the spear. In the first career, the blunted head of his +weapon fell to the ground shorn off close behind the ferrule. The +spectators cheered and laughed, and growing angry, Orchan shouted it +was an accident, and challenged me to combat. I accepted, but His +Majesty interposed—we might conclude with the spear and sword in +tourney again.... My antagonist, charged with malicious intent, +resolved to kill me. I avoided his shaft, and as his horse bolted past +on my left, I pushed him with my shield, and knocked him from the +saddle. They picked him up bleeding nose and ears. His Majesty invited +me to accompany him to Blacherne.... I left the Hippodrome sorry not to +have been permitted to fight the vain fool; yet my repute in +Constantinople is now undoubtedly good—I am a soldier to be +cultivated." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"His Majesty has placed me formally in charge of the gate in front of +my quarters. Communication with my Lord is now at all times easy. <i>The +keys of the city are in effect mine.</i> Nevertheless I shall continue to +patronize Ali. His fish are the freshest brought to market." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord, the Princess Irene is well and keeps the morning colors in +her cheeks for you. Yet I found her quite distraught. There was +unwelcome news at the Palace from His Majesty's ambassador at +Adrianople. The Sultan had at last answered the demand for increase of +the Orchan stipend—not only was the increase refused, but the stipend +itself was withdrawn, and a peremptory order to that effect sent to the +province whence the fund has been all along collected.... I made a +calculation, with conclusion that my report of the tourney with young +Orchan reached my Lord's hand, and I now am patting myself on the back, +happy to believe it had something to do with my Lord's decision. The +imposition deserved to have its head blown off. Orchan is a dotard. His +son's ears are still impaired. In the fall the ground caught him crown +first. He will never ride again. The pretension is over.... I rode from +the Princess' house directly to Blacherne. The Grand Council was in +session: yet the Prefect of the Palace admitted me.... O my Lord, this +Constantine is a man, a warrior, an Emperor, surrounded by old women +afraid of their shadows. The subject of discussion when I went in was +the news from Adrianople. His Majesty was of opinion that your +decision, coupled with the order discontinuing the stipend, was sign of +a hostile intent. He was in favor of preparing for war. Phranza thought +diplomacy not yet spent. Notaras asked what preparations His Majesty +had in mind. His Majesty replied, buying cannon and powder, stocking +the magazines with provisions for a siege, increasing the navy, +repairing the walls, clearing out the moat. He would also send an +embassy to the Bishop of Rome, and through him appeal to the Christian +powers of Europe for assistance in men and money. Notaras rejoined +instantly: 'Rather than a Papal Legate in Constantinople, he would +prefer a turbaned Turk.' The Council broke up in confusion.... Verily, +O my Lord, I pitied the Emperor. So much courage, so much weakness! His +capital and the slender remnant of his empire are lost unless the +<i>Gabours</i> of Venice and Italy come to his aid. Will they? The Holy +Father, using the opportunity, will try once more to bring the Eastern +Church to its knees, and failing, will leave it to its fate. If my Lord +knocked at these gates to-morrow, Notaras would open one of them, and I +another.... Yet the Emperor will fight. He has the soul of a hero." +</p> + +<p> +Again: +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene is inconsolable. Intensely Greek, and patriotic, +and not a little versed in politics, she sees nothing cheering in the +situation of the Empire. The vigils of night in her oratory are leaving +their traces on her face. Her eyes are worn with weeping. I find it +impossible not to sympathize with so much beauty tempered by so many +virtues. When the worst has befallen, perhaps my Lord will know how to +comfort her." +</p> + +<p> +Finally: +</p> + +<p> +"It is a week since I last wrote my Lord. Ali has been sick but keeps +in good humor, and says he will be well when Christian winds cease +blowing from Constantinople. He prays you to come and stop them.... The +diplomatic mishaps of the Emperor have quickened the religious feuds of +his subjects. The Latins everywhere quote the speech of Notaras in the +Council: 'Rather than a Papal Legate in Constantinople, I prefer a +turbaned Turk'—and denounce it as treason to God and the State. It +certainly represents the true feeling of the Greek clergy; yet they are +chary in defending the Duke.... The Princess is somewhat recovered, +although perceptibly paler than is her wont. She is longing for the +return of spring, and promises herself health and happiness in the +palace at Therapia.... To-morrow, she informs me, there is to be a +special grand service in Sancta Sophia. The Brotherhoods here and +elsewhere will be present. I will be there also. She hopes peace and +rest from doctrinal disputes will follow. We will see." +</p> + +<p> +The extracts above given will help the reader to an idea of life in +Constantinople; more especially they portray the peculiar service +rendered by Corti during the months they cover. +</p> + +<p> +There are two points in them deserving special notice: The warmth of +description indulged with respect to the Princess Irene and the +betrayal of the Emperor. It must not be supposed the Count was unaware +of his perfidy. He did his writing after night, when the city and his +own household were asleep; and the time was chosen, not merely for +greater security from discovery, but that no eye might see the remorse +he suffered. How often he broke off in the composition to pray for +strength to rescue his honor, and save himself from the inflictions of +conscience! There were caverns in the mountains and islands off in the +mid-seas: why not fly to them? Alas! He was now in a bondage which made +him weak as water. It was possible to desert Mahommed, but not the +Princess. The dangers thickening around the city were to her as well. +Telling her of them were useless; she would never abandon the old +Capital; and it was the perpetually recurring comparison of her +strength with his own weakness which wrought him his sharpest pangs. +Writing of her in poetic strain was easy, for he loved her above every +earthly consideration: but when he thought of the intent with which he +wrote—that he was serving the love of another, and basely scheming to +deliver her to him—there was no refuge in flight; recollection would +go with him to the ends of the earth—better death. Not yet—not +yet—he would argue. Heaven might send him a happy chance. So the weeks +melted into months, and he kept the weary way hoping against reason, +conspiring, betraying, demoralizing, sinking into despair. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0508"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +OUR LORD'S CREED +</h3> + +<p> +Proceeding now to the special service mentioned in the extract from the +last report of Count Corti to Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +The nave of Sancta Sophia was in possession of a multitude composed of +all the Brotherhoods of the city, interspersed with visiting +delegations from the monasteries of the Islands and many of the +hermitic colonies settled in the mountains along the Asiatic shore of +the Marmora. In the galleries were many women; amongst them, on the +right-hand side, the Princess Irene. Her chair rested on a carpeted box +a little removed from the immense pilaster, and raised thus nearly to a +level with the top of the balustrade directly before her, she could +easily overlook the floor below, including the apse. From her position +everybody appeared dwarfed; yet she could see each figure quite well in +the light of the forty arched windows above the galleries. +</p> + +<p> +On the floor the chancel, or space devoted to the altar, was separated +from the body of the nave by a railing of Corinthian brass, inside +which, at the left, she beheld the Emperor, in Basilean regalia, seated +on a throne—a very stately and imposing figure. Opposite him was the +chair of the Patriarch. Between the altar and the railing arose a +baldacchino, the canopy of white silk, the four supporting columns of +shining silver. Under the canopy, suspended by a cord, hung the vessel +of gold containing the Blessed Sacraments; and to the initiated it was +a sufficient publication of the object of the assemblage. +</p> + +<p> +Outside the railing, facing the altar, stood the multitude. To get an +idea of its appearance, the reader has merely to remember the +description of the bands marching into the garden of Blacherne the +night of the <i>Pannychides</i>. There were the same gowns black and gray; +the same tonsured heads, and heads shock-haired; the same hoods and +glistening rosaries; the same gloomy, bearded faces; the same banners, +oriflammes, and ecclesiastical gonfalons, each with its community under +it in a distinctive group. Back further towards the entrances from the +vestibule was a promiscuous host of soldiers and civilians; having no +part in the service, they were there as spectators. +</p> + +<p> +The ceremony was under the personal conduct of the Patriarch. Silence +being complete, the choir, invisible from the body of the nave, began +its magnificent rendition of the <i>Sanctus</i>—"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God +of Sabaoth. Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna +in the highest"—and during the singing, His Serenity was clothed for +the rite. Over his cassock, the deacons placed the surplice of white +linen, and over that again a stole stiff with gold embroidery. He then +walked slowly to the altar, and prayed; and when he had himself +communicated, he was led to the baldacchino, where he blessed the Body +and the Blood, and mixed them together in chalices, ready for delivery +to the company of servers kneeling about him. The Emperor, who, in +common with the communicants within and without the railing, had been +on his knees, arose now and took position before the altar in a +prayerful attitude; whereupon the Patriarch brought him a chalice on a +small paten, and he put it to his lips, while the choir rang the dome +with triumphal symphony. +</p> + +<p> +His Serenity next returned to the baldacchino, and commenced giving the +cups to the servers; at the same time the gate leading from the chancel +to the nave was thrown open. Nor rustle of garment, nor stir of foot +was heard. +</p> + +<p> +Then a black-gowned figure arose amidst a group not far from the gate, +and said, in a hoarse voice, muffled by the flaps of the hood covering +his head and face: +</p> + +<p> +"We are here, O Serenity, by thy invitation—here to partake of the +Holy Eucharist—and I see thou art about sending it to us. Now not a +few present believe there is no grace in leavened bread, and others +hold it impiety to partake thereof. Wherefore tell us"— +</p> + +<p> +The Patriarch looked once at the speaker; then, delivering the chalice, +signed the servers to follow him; next instant, he stood in the open +gateway, and with raised hands, cried out: +</p> + +<p> +"Holy things to the holy!" +</p> + +<p> +Repeating the ancient formula, he stepped aside to allow the +cup-bearers to pass into the nave; but they stood still, for there came +a skurry of sound not possible of location, so did it at the same +moment seem to be from the dome descending and from the floor going up +to the dome. It was the multitude rising from their knees. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Patriarch, though feeble in body, was stout of soul and +ready-witted, as they usually are whose lives pass in combat and fierce +debate. Regarding the risen audience calmly, he betook himself to his +chair, and spoke to his assistants, who brought a plain chasuble, and +put it on him, covering the golden stole completely. When he again +appeared in the spaceway of the open gate, as he presently did, every +cleric and every layman in the church to whom he was visible understood +he took the interruption as a sacrilege from which he sought by the +change of attire to save himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Whoso disturbs the Sacrament in celebration has need of cause for that +he does; for great is his offence whatever the cause." +</p> + +<p> +The Patriarch's look and manner were void of provocation, except as +one, himself rudely disposed, might discover it in the humility +somewhat too studied. +</p> + +<p> +"I heard my Brother—it would be an untruth to say I did not—and to go +acquit of deceit, I will answer him, God helping me. Let me say first, +while we have some differences in our faith, there are many things +about which we are agreed, the things in agreement outnumbering those +in difference; and of them not the least is the Real Presence once the +Sacraments are consecrated. Take heed, O Brethren! Do any of you deny +the Real Presence in the bread and wine of communion?" +</p> + +<p> +No man made answer. +</p> + +<p> +"It is as I said—not one. Look you, then, if I or you—if any of us be +tempted to anger or passionate speech, and this house, long dedicated +to the worship of God, and its traditions of holiness too numerous for +memory, and therefore of record only in the Books of Heaven, fail the +restraints due them, lo, Christ is here—Christ in Real +Presence—Christ our Lord in Body and Blood!" +</p> + +<p> +The old man stood aside, pointing to the vessel under the baldacchino, +and there were sighs and sobs. Some shouted: "Blessed be the Son of +God!" +</p> + +<p> +The sensation over, the Patriarch continued: +</p> + +<p> +"O my Brother, take thou answer now. The bread is leavened. Is it +therefore less grace-giving?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" But the response was drowned by an affirmative yell so strong +there could be no doubt of the majority. The minority, however, was +obstinate, and ere long the groups disrupted, and it seemed every man +became a disputant. Now nothing serves anger like vain striving to be +heard. The Patriarch in deep concern stood in the gateway, exclaiming: +"Have a care, O Brethren, have a care! For now is Christ here!" And as +the babble kept increasing, the Emperor came to him. +</p> + +<p> +"They are like to carry it to blows, O Serenity." +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not, my son, God is here, and He is separating the wheat from the +chaff." +</p> + +<p> +"But the blood shed will be on my conscience, and the <i>Panagia</i>"— +</p> + +<p> +The aged Prelate was inflexible. "Nay, nay, not yet! They are Greeks. +Let them have it out. The day is young; and how often is shame the +miraculous parent of repentance." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine returned to his throne, and remained there standing. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the tumult went on until, with shouting and gesticulating, and +running about, it seemed the assemblage was getting mad with drink. +Whether the contention was of one or many things, who may say? Well as +could be ascertained, one party, taking cue from the Patriarch, +denounced the interruption of the most sacred rite; the other +anathematized the attempt to impose leavened bread upon orthodox +communicants as a scheme of the devil and his arch-legate, the Bishop +of Rome. Men of the same opinions argued blindly with each other; while +genuine opposition was conducted with glaring eyes, swollen veins, +clinched hands, and voices high up in the leger lines of hate and +defiance. The timorous and disinclined were caught and held forcibly. +In a word, the scene was purely Byzantine, incredible of any other +people. +</p> + +<p> +The excitement afterwhile extended to the galleries, where, but that +the women were almost universally of the Greek faction, the same +passion would have prevailed; as it was, the gentle creatures screamed +<i>azymite, azymite</i> in amazing disregard of the proprieties. The +Princess Irene, at first pained and mortified, kept her seat until +appearances became threatening; then she scanned the vast pit long and +anxiously; finally her wandering eyes fell upon the tall figure of +Sergius drawn out of the mass, but facing it from a position near the +gate of the brazen railing. Immediately she settled back in her chair. +</p> + +<p> +To justify the emotion now possessing her, the reader must return to +the day the monk first presented himself at her palace near Therapia. +He must read again the confession, extorted from her by the second +perusal of Father Hilarion's letter, and be reminded of her education +in the venerated Father's religious ideas, by which her whole soul was +adherent to his conceptions of the Primitive Church of the Apostles. +Nor less must the reader suffer himself to be reminded of the +consequences to her—of the judgment of heresy upon her by both Latins +and Greeks—of her disposition to protest against the very madness now +enacting before her—of her longing, Oh, that I were a man!—of the +fantasy that Heaven had sent Sergius to her with the voice, learning, +zeal, courage, and passion of truth to enable her to challenge a +hearing anywhere-of the persistence with which she had since cared for +and defended him, and watched him in his studies, and shared them with +him. Nor must the later incident, the giving him a copy of the creed +she had formulated—the Creed of Nine Words—be omitted in the +consideration. +</p> + +<p> +Now indeed the reader can comprehend the Princess, and the emotions +with which she beheld the scene at her feet. The Patriarch's dramatic +warning of the Real Presence found in her a ready second; for keeping +strictly to Father Hilarion's distinction between a right Creed and a +form or ceremony for pious observance, the former essential to +salvation, the latter merely helpful to continence in the Creed, it was +with her as if Christ in glorified person stood there under the +baldacchino. What wonder if, from indignation at the madness of the +assembly, the insensate howling, the blasphemous rage, she passed to +exaltation of spirit, and fancied the time good for a reproclamation of +the Primitive Church? +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a sharper, fiercer explosion of rage arose from the floor, and +a rush ensued—the factions had come to blows! +</p> + +<p> +Then the Patriarch yielded, and at a sign from the Emperor the choir +sang the <i>Sanctus</i> anew. High and long sustained, the sublime anthem +rolled above the battle and its brutalism. The thousands heard it, and +halting, faced toward the apse, wondering what could be coming. It even +reached into the vortex of combat, and turned all the unengaged there +into peacemakers. +</p> + +<p> +Another surprise still more effective succeeded. Boys with lighted +candles, followed by bearers of smoking censers, bareheaded and in +white, marched slowly from behind the altar toward the open gate, +outside which they parted right and left, and stopped fronting the +multitude. A broad banner hung to a cross-stick of gold, heavy with +fringing of gold, the top of the staff overhung with fresh flowers in +wreaths and garlands, the lower corners stayed by many streaming white +ribbons in the hands of as many holy men in white woollen chasubles +extending to the bare feet, appeared from the same retreat, carried by +two brethren known to every one as janitors of the sacred chapel on the +hill-front of Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, the Patriarch, the servers of the chalices, the whole body +of assistants inside the railing, fell upon their knees while the +banner was borne through the gate, and planted on the floor there. Its +face was frayed and dim with age, yet the figure of the woman upon it +was plain to sight, except as the faint gray smoke from the censers +veiled it in a vanishing cloud. +</p> + +<p> +Then there was an outburst of many voices: +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Panagia!</i> The <i>Panagia!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +The feeling this time was reactionary. +</p> + +<p> +"O Blessed Madonna!—Guardian of Constantinople!—Mother of +God!—Christ is here!—Hosannas to the Son and to the Immaculate +Mother!" With these, and other like exclamations, the mass precipitated +itself forward, and, crowding near the historic symbol, flung +themselves on the floor before it, grovelling and contrite, if not +conquered. +</p> + +<p> +The movement of the candle and censer bearers outside the gate forced +Sergius nearer it; so when the <i>Panagia</i> was brought to a rest, he, +being much taller than its guardians, became an object of general +observation, and wishing to escape it if possible, he took off his high +hat; whereupon his hair, parted in the middle, dropped down his neck +and back fair and shining in the down-beating light. +</p> + +<p> +This drew attention the more. Did any of the prostrate raise their eyes +to the Madonna on the banner, they must needs turn to him next; and +presently the superstitious souls, in the mood for miracles, began +whispering to each other: +</p> + +<p> +"See—it is the Son—it is the Lord himself!" +</p> + +<p> +And of a truth the likeness was startling; although in saying this, the +reader must remember the difference heretofore remarked between the +Greek and Latin ideals. +</p> + +<p> +About that time Sergius looked up to the Princess, whose face shone out +of the shadows of the gallery with a positive radiance, and he was +electrified seeing her rise from her chair, and wave a hand to him. +</p> + +<p> +He understood her. The hour long talked of, long prepared for, was at +last come—the hour of speech. The blood surged to his heart, leaving +him pallid as a dead man. He stooped lower, covered his eyes with his +hands, and prayed the wordless prayer of one who hastily commits +himself to God; and in the darkness behind his hands there was an +illumination, and in the midst of it a sentence in letters each a +lambent flame—the Creed of Father Hilarion and the Princess Irene—our +Lord's Creed: +</p> + +<p> +"I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON." +</p> + +<p> +This was his theme! +</p> + +<p> +With no thought of self, no consciousness but of duty to be done, +trusting in God, he stood up, pushed gently through the kneeling boys +and guardians of the <i>Panagia</i>, and took position where all eyes could +look at the Blessed Mother slightly above him, and then to himself, in +such seeming the very Son. It might have been awe, it might have been +astonishment, it might have been presentiment; at all events, the +moaning, sobbing, praying, tossing of arms, beating of breasts, with +the other outward signs of remorse, grief and contrition grotesque and +pitiful alike subsided, and the Church, apse, nave and gallery, grew +silent—as if a wave had rushed in, and washed the life out of it. +</p> + +<p> +"Men and brethren," he began, "I know not whence this courage to do +comes, unless it be from Heaven, nor at whose word I speak, if not that +Jesus of Nazareth, worker of miracles which God did by him anciently, +yet now here in Real Presence of Body and Blood, hearing what we say, +seeing what we do." +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou not He?" asked a hermit, half risen in front of him, his wrap +of undressed goatskin fallen away from his naked shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +"No; his servant only am I, even as thou art—his servant who would not +have forsaken him at Gethsemane, who would have given him drink on the +Cross, who would have watched at the door of his tomb until laid to +sleep by the Delivering Angel—his servant not afraid of Death, which, +being also his servant, will not pass me by for the work I now do, if +the work be not by his word." +</p> + +<p> +The voice in this delivery was tremulous, and the manner so humble as +to take from the answer every trace of boastfulness. His face, when he +raised it, and looked out over the audience, was beautiful. The +spectacle offered him in return was thousands of people on their knees, +gazing at him undetermined whether to resent an intrusion or welcome a +messenger with glad tidings. +</p> + +<p> +"Men and brethren," he continued, more firmly, casting the old +Scriptural address to the farthest auditor, "now are you in the anguish +of remorse; but who told you that you had offended to such a degree? +See you not the Spirit, sometimes called the Comforter, in you? Be at +ease, for unto us are repentance and pardon. There were who beat our +dear Lord, and spit upon him, and tore his beard; who laid him on a +cross, and nailed him to it with nails in his hands and feet; one +wounded him in the side with a spear; yet what did he, the Holy One and +the Just? Oh! if he forgave them glorying in their offences, will he be +less merciful to us repentant?" +</p> + +<p> +Raising his head a little higher, the preacher proceeded, with +increased assurance: +</p> + +<p> +"Let me speak freely unto you; for how can a man repent wholly, if the +cause of his sin be not laid bare that he may see and hate it? +</p> + +<p> +"Now before our dear Lord departed out of the world, he left sayings, +simple even to children, instructing such as would be saved unto +everlasting life what they must do to be saved. Those sayings I call +our Lord's Creed, by him delivered unto his disciples, from whom we +have them: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, +and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.' So we have +the First Article—belief in God. Again: 'Verily, verily, I say unto +you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' Behold the Second +Article—belief in Christ. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, for that the Son, and he who sent him, are at least in purpose +one, belief in either of them is declared sufficient; nevertheless it +may be simpler, if not safer, for us to cast the Two Articles together +in a single phrase; we have then a Creed which we may affirm was made +and left behind him by our Lord himself: +</p> + +<p> +I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON. +</p> + +<p> +And when we sound it, lo! two conditions in all; and he who embraces +them, more is not required of him; he is already passed from death unto +life—everlasting life. +</p> + +<p> +"This, brethren, is the citadel of our Christian faith; wherefore, to +strengthen it. What was the mission of Jesus Christ our Lord to the +world? Hear every one! What was the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ? +Why was he sent of God, and born into the world? Hearing the question, +take heed of the answer: He was sent of God for the salvation of men. +You have ears, hear; minds, think; nor shall one of you, the richest in +understanding of the Scriptures, in walk nearest the Sinless Example, +ever find another mission for him which is not an arraignment of the +love of his Father. +</p> + +<p> +"Then, if it be true, as we all say, not one denying it, that our Lord +brought to his mission the perfected wisdom of his Father, how could he +have departed from the world leaving the way of salvation unmarked and +unlighted? Or, sent expressly to show us the way, himself the appointed +guide, what welcome can we suppose he would have had from his Father in +Heaven, if he had given the duty over to the angels? Or, knowing the +deceitfulness of the human heart, and its weakness and liability to +temptation, whence the necessity for his coming to us, what if he had +given the duty over to men, so much lower than the angels, and then +gone away? Rather than such a thought of him, let us believe, if the +way had been along the land, he would have planted it with inscribed +hills; if over the seas, he would have sown the seas with pillars of +direction above the waves; if through the air, he would have made it a +path effulgent with suns numerous as the stars. 'I am the Way,' he +said—meaning the way lies through me; and you may come to me in the +place I go to prepare for you, if only you believe in God and me. Men +and brethren, our Lord was true to his mission, and wise in the wisdom +of his Father." +</p> + +<p> +At this the hermit in front of the preacher, uttering a shill cry, +spread his arms abroad, and quivered from head to foot. Many of those +near sprang forward to catch him. +</p> + +<p> +"No, leave him alone," cried Sergius, "leave him alone. The cross he +took was heavy of itself; but upon the cross you heaped conditions +without sanction, making a burden of which he was like to die. At last +he sees how easy it is to go to his Master; that he has only to believe +in God and the Master. Leave him with the truth; it was sent to save, +not to kill." +</p> + +<p> +The excitement over, Sergius resumed: +</p> + +<p> +"I come now, brethren, to the cause of your affliction. I will show it +to you; that is to say, I will show you why you are divided amongst +yourselves, and resort to cruelty one unto another; as if murder would +help either side of the quarrel. I will show your disputes do not come +from anything said or done by our Lord, whose almost last prayer was +that all who believed in him might be made perfect in one. +</p> + +<p> +"It is well known to you that our Lord did not found a Church during +his life on earth, but gave authority for it to his Apostles. It is +known to you also that what his Apostles founded was but a community: +for such is the description: 'And all that believed were together, and +had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted +them to all men, as every man had need.' [Footnote: Acts ii. 44, 45.] +And again: 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart +and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things +which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' +'Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were +possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the +things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and +distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.' +[Footnote: Acts iv. 32, 34, 35.] But in time this community became +known as the Church; and there was nothing of it except our Lord's +Creed, in definition of the Faith, and two ordinances for the +Church—Baptism for the remission of sins, that the baptized might +receive the Comforter, and the Sacraments, that believers, often as +they partook of the Body and Blood of Christ, might be reminded of him. +</p> + +<p> +"Lo, now! In the space of three generations this Church, based upon +this simple Creed, became a power from Alexandria to Lodinum; and +though kings banded to tread it out; though day and night the smell of +the blood of the righteous spilt by them was an offence to God; though +there was no ingenuity more amongst men except to devise methods for +the torture of the steadfast—still the Church grew; and if you dig +deep enough for the reasons of its triumphant resistance, these are +they: there was Divine Life in the Creed, and the Community was perfect +in one; insomuch that the brethren quarrelled not among themselves; +neither was there jealousy, envy or rivalry among them; neither did +they dispute about immaterial things, such as which was the right mode +of baptism, or whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened, or +whence the Holy Ghost proceeded, whether from the Father or from the +Father and Son together; neither did the elders preach for a price, nor +forsake a poor flock for a rich one that their salaries might be +increased, nor engage in building costly tabernacles for the sweets of +vanity in tall spires; neither did any study the Scriptures seeking a +text, or a form, or an observance, on which to go out and draw from the +life of the old Community that they might set up a new one; and in +their houses of God there were never places for the men and yet other +separate places for the women of the congregation; neither did a +supplicant for the mercy of God look first at the garments of the +neighbor next him lest the mercy might lose a virtue because of a patch +or a tatter. The Creed was too plain for quibble or dispute; and there +was no ambition in the Church except who should best glorify Christ by +living most obedient to his commands. Thence came the perfection of +unity in faith and works; and all went well with the Primitive Church +of the Apostles; and the Creed was like unto the white horse seen by +the seer of the final visions, and the Church was like him who sat upon +the horse, with a bow in his hand, unto whom a crown was given; and he +went forth conquering and to conquer." +</p> + +<p> +Here the audience was stirred uncontrollably; many fell forward upon +their faces; others wept, and the nave resounded with rejoicing. In one +quarter alone there was a hasty drawing together of men with frowning +brows, and that was where the gonfalon of the Brotherhood of the St. +James' was planted. The Hegumen, in the midst of the group, talked +excitedly, though in a low tone. +</p> + +<p> +"I will not ask, brethren," Sergius said, in continuance, "if this +account of the Primitive Church be true; you all do know it true; yet I +will ask if one of you holds that the offending of which you would +repent—the anger, and bitter words, and the blows—was moved by +anything in our Lord's Creed, let him arise, before the Presence is +withdrawn, and say that he thinks. These, lending their ears, will hear +him, and so will God. What, will not one arise? +</p> + +<p> +"It is not necessary that I remind you to what your silence commits +you. Rather suffer me to ask next, which of you will arise and declare, +our Lord his witness, that the Church of his present adherence is the +same Church the Apostles founded? You have minds, think; tongues, +speak." +</p> + +<p> +There was not so much as a rustle on the floor. +</p> + +<p> +"It was well, brethren, that you kept silence; for, if one had said his +Church was the same Church the Apostles founded, how could he have +absolved himself of the fact that there are nowhere two parties each +claiming to be of the only true Church? Or did he assert both claimants +to be of the same Church, and it the only true one, then why the +refusal to partake of the Sacraments? Why a division amongst them at +all? Have you not heard the aforetime saying, 'Every kingdom divided +against itself is brought to desolation'? +</p> + +<p> +"Men and brethren, let no man go hence thinking his Church, whichever +it be, is the Church of the Apostles. If he look for the community +which was the law of the old brotherhood, his search will be vain. If +he look for the unity, offspring of our Lord's last prayer, lo! +jealousies, hates, revilements, blows instead. No, your Creed is of +men, not Christ, and the semblance of Christ in it is a delusion and a +snare." At this the gonfalon of the St. James' was suddenly lifted up, +and borne forward to within a few feet of the gate, and the Hegumen, +standing in front of it, cried out: +</p> + +<p> +"Serenity, the preacher is a heretic! I denounce"— +</p> + +<p> +He could get no further; the multitude sprang to foot howling. The +Princess Irene, and the women in the galleries, also arose, she pale +and trembling. Peril to Sergius had not occurred to her when she gave +him the signal to speak. The calmness and resignation with which he +looked at his accuser reminded her of his Master before Pilate, and +taking seat again, she prayed for him, and the cause he was pleading. +</p> + +<p> +At length, the Patriarch, waving his hand, said: +</p> + +<p> +"Brethren, it may be Sergius, to whom we have been listening, has his +impulse of speech from the Spirit, even as he has declared. Let us be +patient and hear him." +</p> + +<p> +Turning to Sergius, he bade him proceed. +</p> + +<p> +"The three hundred Bishops and Presbyters from whom you have your +Creeds, [Footnote: <i>Encyclopedia Brit.,</i> VI. 560.] O men and +brethren"—so the preacher continued—"took the Two Articles from our +Lord's Creed, and then they added others. Thus, which of you can find a +text of our Lord treating of his procession from the substance of God? +Again, in what passage has our Lord required belief in the personage of +the Holy Ghost as an article of faith essential to salvation? +[Footnote: Four Creeds are at present used in the Roman Catholic +Church; viz., the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, the Athanasian, that of +Pius IV—ADD. and AR., <i>Catholic Dictionary,</i> 232.] 'I am the Way,' +said our Lord. 'No,' say the three hundred, 'we are the way; and would +you be saved, you must believe in us not less than in God and his Son.'" +</p> + +<p> +The auditors a moment before so fierce, even the Hegumen, gazed at the +preacher in a kind of awe; and there was no lessening of effect when +his manner underwent a change, his head slightly drooping and his voice +plaintive. +</p> + +<p> +"The Spirit by whose support and urgency I have dared address you, +brethren, admonishes me that my task is nearly finished." +</p> + +<p> +He took hold of the corner of the <i>Panagia;</i> so all in view were more +than ever impressed with his likeness to their ideal of the Blessed +Master. +</p> + +<p> +"The urgency seemed to me on account of your offence to the Real +Presence so graciously in our midst; for truly when we are in the +depths of penitence it is our nature to listen more kindly to what is +imparted for our good; wherefore, as you have minds, I beg you to +think. If our Lord did indeed leave a Creed containing the all in all +for our salvation, what meant he if not that it should stand in saving +purity until he came again in the glory of his going? And if he so +intended, and yet uninspired men have added other Articles to the +simple faith he asked of us, making it so much the harder for us to go +to him in the place he has prepared for us, are they not usurpers? And +are not the Articles which they have imposed to be passed by us as +stratagems dangerous to our souls? +</p> + +<p> +"Again. The excellence of our Lord's Creed by which it may be always +known when in question, its wisdom superior to the devices of men, is +that it permits us to differ about matters outside of the faith without +weakening our relations to the Blessed Master or imperilling our lot in +his promises. Such matters, for example, as works, which are but +evidences of faith and forms of worship, and the administration of the +two ordinances of the Church, and God and his origin, and whether +Heaven be here or there, or like unto this or that. For truly our Lord +knew us, and that it was our nature to deal in subtleties and speculate +of things not intended we should know during this life; the thought of +our minds being restless and always running, like the waters of a river +on their way to the sea. +</p> + +<p> +"Again, brethren. If the Church of the Apostles brought peace to its +members, so that they dwelt together, no one of them lacking or in +need, do not your experiences of to-day teach you wherein your +Churches, being those built upon the Creed of the three hundred +Bishops, are unlike it? Moreover, see you not if now you have several +Churches, some amongst you, the carping and ambitious, will go out and +in turn set up new Confessions of Faith, and at length so fill the +earth with rival Churches that religion will become a burden to the +poor and a byword with fools who delight in saying there is no God? In +a village, how much better one House of God, with one elder for its +service, and always open, than five or ten, each with a preacher for a +price, and closed from Sabbath to Sabbath? For that there must be +discipline to keep the faithful together, and to carry on the holy war +against sin and its strongholds and captains, how much better one +Church in the strength of unity than a hundred diversely named and +divided against themselves? +</p> + +<p> +"The Revelator, even that John who while in the Spirit was bidden. +'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and +the things which shall be hereafter,' wrote, and at the end of his book +set a warning: 'If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add +unto him the plagues that are written in this book.' I cannot see, +brethren, wherein that crime is greater than the addition of Articles +to our Lord's Creed; nor do I know any who have more reason to be +afraid of those threatened plagues than the priest or preacher who from +pride or ambition, or dread of losing his place or living, shall +wilfully stand in the way of a return to the Church of the Apostles and +its unity. Forasmuch as I also know what penitential life is, and how +your minds engage themselves in the solitude of your cells, I give you +whereof to think. Men and brethren, peace unto you all!" +</p> + +<p> +The hermit knelt to the preacher, and kissed his hand, sobbing the +while; the auditors stared at each other doubtfully; but the Hegumen's +time was come. Advancing to the gate, he said: +</p> + +<p> +"This man, O Serenity, is ours by right of fraternity. In thy hearing +he hath defamed the Creed which is the rock the Fathers chose for the +foundation of our most holy Church. He hath even essayed to make a +Creed of his own, and present it for our acceptance—thy acceptance, O +Serenity, and that of His Majesty, the only Christian Emperor, as well +as ours. And for those things, and because never before in the history +of our ancient and most notable Brotherhood hath there been an instance +of heresy so much as in thought, we demand the custody of this apostate +for trial and judgment. Give him to us to do with." +</p> + +<p> +The Patriarch clasped his hands, and, shaking like a man struck with +palsy, turned his eyes upward as if asking counsel of Heaven. His doubt +and hesitation were obvious; and neighbor heard his neighbor's heart +beat; so did silence once more possess itself of the great auditorium. +The Princess Irene arose white with fear, and strove to catch the +Emperor's attention; but he, too, was in the bonds waiting on the +Patriarch. +</p> + +<p> +Then from his place behind the Hegumen, Sergius spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"Let not your heart be troubled, O Serenity. Give me to my Brotherhood. +If I am wrong, I deserve to die; but if I have spoken as the Spirit +directed me, God is powerful to save. I am not afraid of the trial." +</p> + +<p> +The Patriarch gazed at him, his withered cheeks glistening with tears; +still he hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"Suffer me, O Serenity!"—thus Sergius again—"I would that thy +conscience may never be disquieted on my account; and now I ask not +that thou give me to my Brotherhood—I will go with them freely and of +my own accord." Speaking then to the Hegumen, he said: "No more, I +pray. See, I am ready to be taken as thou wilt." +</p> + +<p> +The Hegumen gave him in charge of the brethren; and at his signal, the +gonfalon was raised and carried through the concourse, and out of one +of the doors, followed closely by the Brotherhood. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment of starting, Sergius lifted his hands, and shouted so as +to be heard above the confusion: "Bear witness, O Serenity—and thou, O +Emperor! That no man may judge me an apostate, hear my confession: I +believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son." +</p> + +<p> +Many of those present remained and partook of the Sacraments; far the +greater number hurried away, and it was not long until the house was +vacated. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0509"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED +</h3> + +<p> +Extract: +</p> + +<p> +"God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet! May they keep my Lord in +health, and help him to all his heart's desires! ... It is now three +days since my eyes were gladdened by the presence of the Princess +Irene; yet I have been duteously regular in my calls at her house. To +my inquiries, her domestic has returned the same answer: 'The Princess +is in her chapel praying. She is sadly disturbed in mind, and excuses +herself to every one.' Knowing this information will excite my Lord's +apprehension, I beg him to accept the explanation of her ailments which +I think most probable.... My Lord will gratify me by graciously +referring to the account of the special meeting in Sancta Sophia which +I had the honor to forward the evening of the day of its occurrence. +The conjecture there advanced that the celebration of the Sacrament in +highest form was a stratagem of the Patriarch's looking to a +reconciliation of the factions, has been confirmed; and more—it has +proved a failure. Its effect has inflamed the fanaticism of the Greek +party as never before. Notaras, moved doubtless by Gennadius, induced +them to suspect His Majesty and the Patriarch of conniving at the +wonderful sermon of the monk Sergius; and, as the best rebuke in their +power, the Brotherhood of the St. James' erected a Tribunal of Judgment +in their monastery last night, and placed the preacher on trial. He +defended himself, and drove them to admit his points; that their Church +is not the Primitive Church of the Apostles, and that their Creed is an +unwarranted enlargement of the two Articles of Faith left by Jesus +Christ for the salvation of the world. Yet they pronounced him an +apostate and a heretic of incendiary purpose, and condemned him to the +old lion in the Cynegion, Tamerlane, famous these many years as a +man-eater.... My Lord should also know of the rumor in the city which +attributes the Creed of Nine Words—'I believe in God, and Jesus +Christ, his Son'—to the Princess Irene; and her action would seem to +justify the story. Directly the meeting in Sancta Sophia was over, she +hastened to the Palace, and entreated His Majesty to save the monk from +his brethren. My Lord may well think the Emperor disposed to grant her +prayer; his feeling for her is warmer than friendship. The gossips say +he at one time proposed marriage to her. At all events, being a +tender-hearted man—too tender indeed for his high position—it is easy +imagining how such unparalleled beauty in tearful distress must have +moved him. Unhappily the political situation holds him as in a vice. +The Church is almost solidly against him; while of the Brotherhoods +this one of the St. James' has been his only stanch adherent. What +shall the poor man do? If he saves the preacher, he is himself lost. It +appears now she has been brought to understand he cannot interfere. +Thrown thus upon the mercy of Heaven, she has buried herself in her +oratory. Oh, the full Moon of full Moons! And alas! that she should +ever be overcast by a cloud, though it be not heavier than the +just-risen morning mist. My Lord—or Allah must come quickly! +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord! In duty again and always!... Ali did not come yesterday. I +suppose the high winds were too unfriendly. So the despatch of that +date remained on my hands; and I now open it, and include a +supplement.... This morning as usual I rode to the Princess' door. The +servant gave me the same report—his mistress was not receiving. It +befalls therefore that my Lord must take refuge in his work or in +dreams of her—and may I lay a suggestion at his feet, I advise the +latter, for truly, if the world is a garden, she is its Queen of +Roses.... For the sake of the love my Lord bears the Princess, and the +love I bear my Lord, I did not sleep last night, being haunted with +thinking how I could be of service to her. What is the use of strength +and skill in arms if I cannot turn them to account in her behalf as my +Lord would have me?... On my way to the Princess', I was told that the +monk, who is the occasion of her sorrow, his sentence being on her +conscience, is to be turned in with the lion to-morrow. As I rode away +from her house in desperate strait, not having it in power to tell my +Lord anything of her, it occurred to me to go see the Cynegion, where +the judgment is to be publicly executed. What if the Most Merciful +should offer me an opportunity to do the unhappy Princess something +helpful? If I shrank from the lion, when killing it would save her a +grief, my Lord would never forgive me ... . Here is a description of +the Cynegion: The northwest wall of the city drops from the height of +Blacherne into a valley next the harbor or Golden Horn, near which it +meets the wall coming from the east. Right in the angle formed by the +intersection of the walls there is a gate, low, very strong, and always +closely guarded. Passing the gate, I found myself in an enclosed field, +the city wall on the east, wooded hills south, and the harbor north. +How far the enclosure extends up the shore of the harbor, I cannot say +exactly—possibly a half or three quarters of a mile. The surface is +level and grassy. Roads wind in and out of clumps of selected +shrubbery, with here and there an oak tree. Kiosk-looking houses, +generally red painted, are frequent, some with roofs, some without. +Upon examination I discovered the houses were for the keeping of +animals and birds. In one there was an exhibition of fish and reptiles. +But much the largest structure, called the Gallery, is situated nearly +in the centre of the enclosure; and it astonished me with an interior +in general arrangement like a Greek theatre, except it is entirely +circular and without a stage division. There is an arena, like a sanded +floor, apparently fifty paces in diameter, bounded by a brick wall +eighteen or twenty feet in height, and from the top of the wall seats +rise one above another for the accommodation of common people; while +for the Emperor I noticed a covered stand over on the eastern side. The +wall of the arena is broken at regular intervals by doors heavily +barred, leading into chambers anciently dens for ferocious animals, but +at present prisons for criminals of desperate character. There are also +a number of gates, one under the grand stand, the others forming +northern, southern and eastern entrances. From this, I am sure my Lord +can, if he cares to, draught the Cynegion, literally the Menagerie, +comprehending the whole enclosure, and the arena in the middle of it, +where the monk will to-morrow expiate his heresy. Formerly combats in +the nature of wagers of battle were appointed for the place, and beasts +were pitted against each other; but now the only bloody amusement +permitted in it is when a criminal or an offender against God is given +to the lion. On such occasions, they tell me, the open seats and grand +stands are crowded to their utmost capacities.... If the description is +tedious, I hope my Lord's pardon, for besides wishing to give him an +idea of the scene of the execution to-morrow, I thought to serve him in +the day he is looking forward to with so much interest, when the +locality will have to be considered with a view to military approach. +In furtherance of the latter object, I beg to put my Lord in possession +of the accompanying diagram of the Cynegion, observing particularly its +relation to the city; by attaching it to the drawings heretofore sent +him, he will be enabled to make a complete map of the country adjacent +to the landward wall.... Ali has just come in. As I supposed, he was +detained by the high winds. His mullets are perfection. With them he +brings a young sword-fish yet alive. I look at the mess, and grieve +that I cannot send a portion to my Lord for his breakfast. However, a +few days now, and he will come to his own; the sea with its fish, and +the land and all that belongs to it. The child of destiny can afford to +wait." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0510"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +SERGIUS TO THE LION +</h3> + +<p> +About ten o'clock the day after the date of Count Corti's last +despatch—ten of the morning—a woman appeared on the landing in front +of Port St. Peter, and applied to a boatman for passage to the Cynegion. +</p> + +<p> +She was thickly veiled, and wore an every-day overcloak of brown stuff +closely buttoned from her throat down. Her hands were gloved, and her +feet coarsely shod. In a word, her appearance was that of a female of +the middle class, poor but respectable. +</p> + +<p> +The landing was thronged at the time. It seemed everybody wanted to get +to the menagerie at once. Boatmen were not lacking. Their craft, of all +known models, lay in solid block yards out, waiting turns to get in; +and while they waited, the lusty, half-naked fellows flirted their +oars, quarrelled with each other in good nature, Greek-like, and yelled +volleys at the slow bargain makers whose turns had arrived. +</p> + +<p> +Twice the woman asked if she could have a seat. +</p> + +<p> +"How many of you are there?" she was asked in reply. +</p> + +<p> +"I am alone." +</p> + +<p> +"You want the boat alone?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, that can't be. I have seats for several—and wife and four +babies at home told me to make the most I could out of them. It has +been some time since one has tried to look old Tamerlane in the eye, +thinking to scare him out of his dinner. The game used to be common; +it's not so now." +</p> + +<p> +"But I will pay you for all the seats." +</p> + +<p> +"Full five?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"In advance?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Jump in, then—and get out your money—fifty-five noumias—while I +push through these howling water-dogs." +</p> + +<p> +By the time the boat was clear of the pack, truly enough the passenger +was with the fare in hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Look," she said, "here is a bezant." +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the gold piece, the man's countenance darkened, and he +stopped rowing. +</p> + +<p> +"I can't change that. You might as well have no money at all." +</p> + +<p> +"Friend," she returned, "row me swiftly to the first gate of the +Cynegion, and the piece is yours." +</p> + +<p> +"By my blessed patron! I'll make you think you are on a bird, and that +these oars are wings. Sit in the middle—that will do. Now!" +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was stout, skilful, and in earnest. In a trice he was under +headway, going at racing speed. The boats in the harbor were moving in +two currents, one up, the other down; and it was noticeable those in +the first were laden with passengers, those of the latter empty. +Evidently the interest was at the further end of the line, and the day +a holiday to the two cities, Byzantium and Galata. Yet of the +attractions on the water and the shores, the woman took no heed; she +said never a word after the start; but sat with head bowed, and her +face buried in her hands. Occasionally, if the boatman had not been so +intent on earning the gold piece, he might have heard her sob. For some +reason, the day was not a holiday to her. +</p> + +<p> +"We are nearly there," he at length said. +</p> + +<p> +Without lifting the veil, she glanced at a low wall on the left-hand +shore, then at a landing, shaky from age and neglect, in front of a +gate in the wall; and seeing it densely blockaded, she spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"Please put me ashore here. I have no time to lose." +</p> + +<p> +The bank was soft and steep. +</p> + +<p> +"You cannot make it." +</p> + +<p> +"I can if you will give me your oar for a step." +</p> + +<p> +"I will." +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes she was on land. Pausing then to toss the gold piece +to the boatman, she heard his thanks, and started hastily for the gate. +Within the Cynegion, she fell in with some persons walking rapidly, and +talking of the coming event as if it were a comedy. +</p> + +<p> +"He is a Russian, you say?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and what is strange, he is the very man who got the Prince of +India's negro"— +</p> + +<p> +"The giant?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—who got him to drown that fine young fellow Demedes." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the negro now?" +</p> + +<p> +"In a cell here." +</p> + +<p> +"Why didn't they give him to the lion?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, he had a friend—the Princess Irene." +</p> + +<p> +"What is to be done with him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Afterwhile, when the affair of the cistern is forgotten, he will be +given a purse, and set free." +</p> + +<p> +"Pity! For what sport to have seen him in front of the old Tartar!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, he's a fighter." In the midst of this conversation, the party +came in sight of the central building, externally a series of arches +supporting a deep cornice handsomely balustraded, and called the +Gallery. +</p> + +<p> +"Here we are!—But see the people on the top! I was afraid we would be +too late. Let us hurry." +</p> + +<p> +"Which gate?" +</p> + +<p> +"The western—it's the nearest." +</p> + +<p> +"Can't we get in under the grand stand?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, it's guarded." +</p> + +<p> +These loquacious persons turned off to make the western gate; but the +woman in brown kept on, and ere long was brought to the grand stand on +the north. An arched tunnel, amply wide, ran under it, with a gate at +the further end admitting directly to the arena. A soldier of the +foreign legion held the mouth of the tunnel. +</p> + +<p> +"Good friend," she began, in a low, beseeching tone, "is the heretic +who is to suffer here yet?" +</p> + +<p> +"He was brought out last night." +</p> + +<p> +"Poor man! I am a friend of his"—her voice trembled—"may I see him?" +</p> + +<p> +"My orders are to admit no one—and I do not know which cell he is in." +</p> + +<p> +The supplicant, sobbing and wringing her hands, stood awhile silent. +Then a roar, very deep and hoarse, apparently from the arena, startled +her and she trembled. +</p> + +<p> +"Tamerlane!" said the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +"O God!" she exclaimed. "Is the lion turned in already?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet. He is in his den. They have not fed him for three days." +</p> + +<p> +She stayed her agitation, and asked: "What are your orders?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not to admit any one." +</p> + +<p> +"To the cells?" +</p> + +<p> +"The cells, and the arena also." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I see! You can let me stand at the gate yonder?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well—yes. But if you are the monk's friend, why do you want to see +him die?" +</p> + +<p> +She made no reply, but took from a pocket a bezant, and contrived to +throw its yellow gleam in the sentinel's eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Is the gate locked?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, it is barred on this side." +</p> + +<p> +"Does it open into the arena?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"I do not ask you to violate your orders," she continued, calmly; "only +let me go to the gate, and see the man when he is brought out." +</p> + +<p> +She offered him the money, and he took it, saying: "Very well. I can +see no harm in that. Go." +</p> + +<p> +The gate in question was open barred, and permitted a view of nearly +the whole circular interior. The spectacle presented was so startling +she caught one of the bars for support. Throwing back the veil, she +looked, breathing sighs which were almost gasps. The arena was clear, +and thickly strewn with wet sand. There were the walls shutting it in, +like a pit, and on top of them, on the ascending seats back to the last +one—was it a cloud she beheld? A second glance, and she recognized the +body of spectators, men, women and children, compacted against the sky. +How many of them there were! Thousands and thousands! She clasped her +hands, and prayed. +</p> + +<p> +Twelve o'clock was the hour for the expiation. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting so wearily there at the gate—praying, sighing, weeping by +turns—the woman was soon forgotten by the sentinel. She had bought his +pity. In his eyes she was only a lover of the doomed monk. An hour +passed thus. If the soldier's theory were correct, if she were indeed a +poor love-lorn creature come to steal a last look at the unfortunate, +she eked small comfort from her study of the cloud of humanity on the +benches. Their jollity, their frequent laughter and hand-clapping +reached her in her retreat. "Merciful God!" she kept crying. "Are these +beings indeed in thy likeness?" +</p> + +<p> +In a moment of wandering thought, she gave attention to the fastenings +of the gate, and observed the ends of the bar across it rested in +double iron sockets on the side toward her; to pass it, she had only to +raise the bar clear of the socket and push. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile the door of a chamber nearly opposite her opened, and a man +stood in the aperture. He was very tall, gigantic even; and apparently +surprised by what he beheld, he stepped out to look at the benches, +whereat the light fell upon him and she saw he was black. His +appearance called for a roar of groans, and he retired, closing the +door behind him. Then there was an answering roar from a cell near by +at her left. The occupants of the benches applauded long and merrily, +crying, "Tamerlane! Tamerlane!" The woman shrank back terrified. +</p> + +<p> +A little later another man entered the arena, from the western gate. +Going to the centre he looked carefully around him; as if content with +the inspection, he went next to a cell and knocked. Two persons +responded by coming out of the door; one an armed guardsman, the other +a monk. The latter wore a hat of clerical style, and a black gown +dropping to his bare feet, its sleeves of immoderate length completely +muffling his hands. Instantly the concourse on the benches arose. There +was no shouting—one might have supposed them all suddenly seized with +shuddering sympathy. But directly a word began passing from mouth to +mouth; at first, it was scarcely more than a murmur; soon it was a +byname on every tongue: +</p> + +<p> +"The heretic! The heretic!" +</p> + +<p> +The monk was Sergius. +</p> + +<p> +His guard conducted him to the centre of the field, and, taking off his +hat, left him there. In going he let his gauntlet fall. Sergius picked +it up, and gave it to him; then calm, resigned, fearless, he turned to +the east, rested his hands on his breast palm to palm, closed his eyes, +and raised his face. He may have had a hope of rescue in reserve; +certain it is, they who saw him, taller of his long gown, his hair on +his shoulders and down his back, his head upturned, the sunlight a +radiant imprint on his forehead, and wanting only a nimbus to be the +Christ in apparition, ceased jeering him; it seemed to them that in a +moment, without effort, he had withdrawn his thoughts from this world, +and surrendered himself. They could see his lips move; but what they +supposed his last prayer was only a quiet recitation: "I believe in +God, and Jesus Christ, his Son." +</p> + +<p> +The guard withdrawn, three sharp mots of a trumpet rang out from the +stand. A door at the left of the tunnel gate was then slowly raised; +whereupon a lion stalked out of the darkened depths, and stopped on the +edge of the den thus exposed, winking to accustom his eyes to the +day-splendor. He lingered there very leisurely, turning his ponderous +head from right to left and up and down, like a prisoner questioning if +he were indeed at liberty. Having viewed the sky and the benches, and +filled his deep chest with ample draughts of fresh air, suddenly +Tamerlane noticed the monk. The head rose higher, the ears erected, +and, snuffing like a hound, he fretted his shaggy mane; his yellow eyes +changed to coals alive, and he growled and lashed his sides with his +tail. A majestic figure was he now. "What is it?" he appeared asking +himself. "Prey or combat?" Still in a maze, he stepped out into the +arena, and shrinking close to the sand, inched forward creeping toward +the object of his wonder. +</p> + +<p> +The spectators had opportunity to measure him, and drink their fill of +terror. The monk was a goodly specimen of manhood, young, tall, strong; +but a fig for his chances once this enemy struck him or set its teeth +in his flesh! An ox could not stand the momentum of that bulk of bone +and brawn. It were vain telling how many—not all of them women and +children—furtively studied the height of the wall enclosing the pit to +make sure of their own safety upon the seats. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius meantime remained in prayer and recitation; he was prepared for +the attack, but as a non-resistant; if indeed he thought of battle, he +was not merely unarmed—the sleeves of his gown deprived him of the use +of his hands. From the man to the lion, from the lion to the man, the +multitude turned shivering, unable nevertheless to look away. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the lion stopped, whined, and behaved uneasily. Was he +afraid? Such was the appearance when he began trotting around at the +base of the wall, halting before the gates, and seeking an escape. +Under the urgency, whatever it was, from the trot he broke into a +gallop, without so much as a glance at the monk. +</p> + +<p> +A murmur descended from the benches. It was the people recovering from +their horror, and impatient. Ere long they became positive in +expression; in dread doubtless of losing the catastrophe of the show, +they yelled at the cowardly beast. +</p> + +<p> +In the height of this tempest, the gate of the tunnel under the grand +stand opened quickly, and was as quickly shut. Death brings no deeper +hush than fell upon the assemblage then. A woman was crossing the sand +toward the monk! Round sped the lion, forward she went! Two victims! +Well worth the monster's hunger through the three days to be so +banqueted on the fourth! +</p> + +<p> +There are no laws of behavior for such situations. Impulse and instinct +rush in and take possession. While the thousands held their breath, +they were all quickened to know who the intruder was. +</p> + +<p> +She was robed in white, was bareheaded and barefooted. The dress, the +action, the seraphic face were not infrequent on the water, and +especially in the churches; recognition was instantaneous, and through +the eager crowded ranks the whisper flew: +</p> + +<p> +"God o' Mercy! It is the Princess—the Princess Irene!" +</p> + +<p> +Strong men covered their eyes, women fainted. +</p> + +<p> +The grand stand had been given up to the St. James', and they and their +intimates filled it from the top seat to the bottom; and now directly +the identity became assured, toward them, or rather to the Hegumen +conspicuous in their midst, innumerable arms were outstretched, +seconding the cry: "Save her! Save her! Let the lion be killed!" +</p> + +<p> +Easier said than done. Crediting the Brotherhood with lingering sparks +of humanity, the game was beyond their interference. The brute was +lord. Who dared go in and confront him? +</p> + +<p> +About this time, the black man, of whom we have spoken, looked out of +his cell again. To him the pleading arms were turned. He saw the monk, +the Princess, and the lion making its furious circuit—saw them and +retreated, but a moment after reappeared, attired in the savageries +which were his delight. In the waist-belt he had a short sword, and +over his left shoulder a roll like a fisherman's net. And now he did +not retreat. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess reached Sergius safely, and placing a hand on his arm, +brought him back, as it were, to life and the situation. +</p> + +<p> +"Fly, little mother—by the way you came—fly!" he cried, in mighty +anguish. "O God! it is too late—too late." +</p> + +<p> +Wringing his hands, he gave way to tears. +</p> + +<p> +"No, I will not fly. Did I not bring you to this? Let death come to us +both. Better the quick work of the lion than the slow torture of +conscience. I will not fly! We will die together. I too believe in God +and Jesus Christ his Son." +</p> + +<p> +She reached up, and rested her hand upon his shoulder. The repetition +of the Creed, and her companionship restored his courage, and smiling, +despite the tears on his cheeks, he said: +</p> + +<p> +"Very well, little mother. The army of the martyrs will receive us, and +the dear Lord is at his mansion door to let us in." +</p> + +<p> +The lion now ceased galloping. Stopping over in the west quarter of the +field, he turned his big burning eyes on the two thus resigning +themselves, and crouching, put himself in motion toward them; his mane +all on end; his jaws agape, their white armature whiter of the crimson +tongue lolling adrip below the lips. He had given up escape, and, his +curiosity sated, was bent upon his prey. The charge of cowardice had +been premature. The near thunder of his roaring was exultant and awful. +</p> + +<p> +There was great ease of heart to the people when Nilo—for he it +was—taking position between the devoted pair and their enemy, shook +the net from his shoulder, and proceeded to give an example of his +practice with lions in the jungles of Kash-Cush. +</p> + +<p> +Keeping the brute steadily eye to eye, he managed so that while +retaining the leaden balls tied to its disengaged corners one in each +hand, the net was presently in an extended roll on the ground before +him. Leaning forward then, his hands bent inwardly knuckle to knuckle +at his breast, his right foot advanced, the left behind the right ready +to carry him by a step left aside, he waited the attack—to the +beholders, a figure in shining ebony, giantesque in proportions, +Phidian in grace. +</p> + +<p> +Tamerlane stopped. What new wonder was this? And while making the +study, he settled flat on the sand, and sunk his roaring into uneasy +whines and growls. +</p> + +<p> +By this time every one looking on understood Nilo's intent—that he +meant to bide the lion's leap, and catch and entangle him in the net. +What nerve and nicety of calculation—what certainty of eye—what +knowledge of the savage nature dealt with—what mastery of self, limb +and soul were required for the feat! +</p> + +<p> +Just at this crisis there was a tumult in the grand stand. Those who +turned that way saw a man in glistening armor pushing through the +brethren there in most unceremonious sort. In haste to reach the front, +he stepped from bench to bench, knocking the gowned Churchmen right and +left as if they were but so many lay figures. On the edge of the wall, +he tossed his sword and shield into the arena, and next instant leaped +after them. Before astonishment was spent, before the dull of faculties +could comprehend the intruder, before minds could be made up to so much +as yell, he had fitted the shield to his arm, snatched up the sword, +and run to the point of danger. There, with quick understanding of the +negro's strategy, he took place behind him, but in front of the +Princess and the monk. His agility, cumbered though he was, his amazing +spirit, together with the thought that the fair woman had yet another +champion over whom the lion must go ere reaching her, wrought the whole +multitude into ecstasy. They sprang upon the benches, and their +shouting was impossible of interpretation except as an indication of a +complete revulsion of feeling. In fact, many who but a little before +had cheered the lion or cursed him for cowardice now prayed aloud for +his victims. +</p> + +<p> +The noise was not without effect on the veteran Tamerlane. He surveyed +the benches haughtily once, then set forward again, intent on Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +The movement, in its sinuous, flexile gliding, resembled somewhat a +serpent's crawl. And now he neither roared nor growled. The lolling +tongue dragged the sand; the beating of the tail was like pounding with +a flail; the mane all erect trebly enlarged the head; and the eyes were +like live coals in a burning bush. The people hushed. Nilo stood firm; +thunder could as easily have diverted a statue; and behind him, not +less steadfast and watchful, Count Corti kept guard. Thirty feet +away—twenty-five—twenty—then the great beast stopped, collected +himself, and with an indescribable roar launched clear of the ground. +Up, at the same instant, and forward on divergent lines, went the +leaden balls; the netting they dragged after them had the appearance of +yellow spray blown suddenly in the air. When the monster touched the +sand again, he was completely enveloped. +</p> + +<p> +The struggle which ensued—the gnashing of teeth, the bellowing, the +rolling and blind tossing and pitching, the labor with the mighty +limbs, the snapping of the net, the burrowing into the sand, the +further and more inextricable entanglement of the enraged brute may be +left to imagination. Almost before the spectators realized the altered +condition, Nilo was stabbing him with the short sword. +</p> + +<p> +The well-directed steel at length accomplished the work, and the pride +of the Cynegion lay still in the bloody tangle—then the benches found +voice. +</p> + +<p> +Amidst the uproar Count Corti went to Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +"Who art thou?" he asked, in admiration. +</p> + +<p> +The King smiled, and signified his inability to hear or speak. +Whereupon the Count led him to the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +"Take heart, fair saint," he said. "The lion is dead, and thou art +safe." +</p> + +<p> +She scarcely heard him. +</p> + +<p> +He dropped upon his knee. +</p> + +<p> +"The lion is dead, O Princess, and here is the hand which slew +him—here thy rescuer." +</p> + +<p> +She looked her gratitude to Nilo—speak she could not. +</p> + +<p> +"And thou, too," the Count continued, to the monk, "must have thanks +for him." +</p> + +<p> +Sergius replied: "I give thee thanks, Nilo—and thou, noble Italian—I +am only a little less obliged to thee—thou wast ready with thy sword." +</p> + +<p> +He paused, glanced at the grand stand, and went on: "It is plain to me, +Count Corti, that thou thinkest my trial happily ended. The beast is +dead truly; but yonder are some not less thirsty for blood. It is for +them to say what I must further endure. I am still the heretic they +adjudged me. Do thou therefore banish me from thy generous mind; then +thou canst give it entirely to her who is most in need of it. Remove +the Princess—find a chair for her, and leave me to God." +</p> + +<p> +"What further can they do?" asked the Count. "Heaven hath decided the +trial in thy favor. Have they another lion?" +</p> + +<p> +The propriety of the monk's suggestion was obvious; it was not becoming +for the Princess to remain in the public eye; besides, under reaction +of spirit, she was suffering. +</p> + +<p> +"Have they another lion?" the Count repeated. +</p> + +<p> +Anxious as he was to assist the Princess, he was not less anxious, if +there was further combat, to take part in it. The Count was essentially +a fighting man. The open door of Nilo's cell speedily attracted his +attention. +</p> + +<p> +"Help me, sir monk. Yonder is a refuge for the Princess. Let us place +her in safety. I will return, and stay with thee. If the reverend +Christians, thy brethren in the grand stand, are not content, by +Allah"—he checked himself—"their cruelty would turn the stomach of a +Mohammedan." +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes, and she was comfortably housed in the cell. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, go to thy place; I will send for a chair, and rejoin thee." +</p> + +<p> +At the tunnel gate, the Count was met by a number of the St. James', +and he forgot his errand. +</p> + +<p> +"We have come," said one of them to Sergius, "to renew thy arrest." +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," Sergius replied; "lead on." +</p> + +<p> +But Count Corti strode forward. +</p> + +<p> +"By whose authority is this arrest renewed?" he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +"Our Hegumen hath so ordered." +</p> + +<p> +"It shall not be—no, by the Mother of your Christ, it shall not be +unless you bring me the written word of His Majesty making it lawful." +</p> + +<p> +"The Hegumen"— +</p> + +<p> +"I have said it, and I carry a sword"—the Count struck the hilt of the +weapon with his mailed hand, so the clang was heard on the benches. "I +have said it, and my sword says it. Go, tell thy Hegumen." +</p> + +<p> +Then Sergius spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"I pray you interfere not. The Heavenly Father who saved me this once +is powerful to save me often." +</p> + +<p> +"Have done, sir monk," the Count returned, with increasing earnestness. +"Did I not hear thee say the same in thy holy Sancta Sophia, in such +wise that these deserved to cast themselves at thy feet? Instead, lo! +the lion there. And for the truth, which is the soul of the world as +God is its Maker—the Truth and the Maker being the same—it is not +interest in thee alone which moves me. She, thy patroness yonder, is my +motive as well. There are who will say she followed thee hither being +thy lover; but thou knowest better, and so do I. She came bidden by +conscience, and except thou live, there will be no ease of conscience +for her—never. Wherefore, sir monk, hold thy peace. Thou shalt no more +go hence of thine own will than these shall take thee against it.... +Return, ye men of blood—return to him who sent you, and tell him my +sword vouches my word, being so accustomed all these years I have been +a man. Bring they the written word of His Majesty, I will give way. Let +them send to him." +</p> + +<p> +The brethren stared at the Count. Had he not been willing to meet old +Tamerlane with that same sword? They turned about, and were near the +tunnel gate going to report, when it was thrown open with great force, +and the Emperor Constantine appeared on horseback, the horse bloody +with spurring and necked with foam. Riding to the Count he drew rein. +</p> + +<p> +"Sir Count, where is my kinswoman?" +</p> + +<p> +Corti kissed his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"She is safe, Your Majesty—she is in the cell yonder." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor's eye fell upon the carcass of the lion. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou didst it, Count?" +</p> + +<p> +"No—this man did it." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor gazed at Nilo, thus designated, and taking a golden chain +of fine workmanship from his neck, he threw it over the black King's. +At the door of the cell, he dismounted; within, he kissed the Princess +on the forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"A chair will be here directly." +</p> + +<p> +"And Sergius?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The Brotherhood must forego their claim now. Heaven has signified its +will." +</p> + +<p> +He thereupon entered into explanation. The necessity upon him was sore +and trying, else he had never surrendered Sergius to the Brotherhood. +He expected the Hegumen would subject him to discipline—imprisonment +or penance. He had even signed the order placing the lion at service, +supposing they meant merely a trial of the monk's constancy. Withal the +proceeding was so offensive he had refused to witness it. An officer +came to the palace with intelligence which led him to believe the worst +was really intended. To stop it summarily, he had ordered a horse and a +guard. Another officer reported the Princess in the arena with Sergius +and the lion. With that His Majesty had come at speed. And he was +grateful to God for the issue. +</p> + +<p> +In a short time the sedan was brought, and the Princess borne to her +house. +</p> + +<p> +Summoning the Brotherhood from the grand stand, the Emperor forbade +their pursuing Sergius further; the punishment had already been too +severe. The Hegumen protested. Constantine arose in genuine majesty, +and denouncing all clerical usurpations, he declared that for the +future he would be governed by his own judgment in whatever concerned +the lives of his subjects and the welfare of his empire. The +declaration was heard by the people on the benches. +</p> + +<p> +By his order, Sergius was conducted to Blacherne, and next day +installed a janitor of the imperial Chapel; thus ending his connection +with the Brotherhood of the St. James'. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," said Count Corti, at the conclusion of the scene in the +arena, "I pray a favor." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine, by this time apprised of the Count's gallantry, bade him +speak. +</p> + +<p> +"Give me the keeping of this negro." +</p> + +<p> +"If you mean his release from prison, Sir Count, take him. He can have +no more suitable guardian. But it is to be remembered he came to the +city with one calling himself the Prince of India, and if at any time +that mysterious person reappears, the man is to be given back to his +master." +</p> + +<p> +The Count regarded Nilo curiously—he was merely recalling the Prince. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty is most gracious. I accept the condition." +</p> + +<p> +The captain of the guard, coming to the tunnel under the grand stand, +was addressed by the sentinel there. +</p> + +<p> +"See—here are a dress, a pair of shoes, and a veil. I found them by +the gate there." +</p> + +<p> +"How came they there?" +</p> + +<p> +"A woman asked me to let her stand by the gate, and see the heretic +when they brought him out, and I gave her permission. She wore these +things." +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene!" exclaimed the officer. "Very well. Send them to +me, and I will have her pleasure taken concerning them." +</p> + +<p> +The Cynegion speedily returned to its customary state. But the +expiation remained in the public mind a date to which all manner of +events in city life was referred; none of them, however, of such +consequence as the loss to the Emperor of the allegiance of the St. +James'. Thenceforth the Brotherhoods were united against him. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h2> +BOOK VI +</h2> + +<h2> +CONSTANTINE +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0601"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SWORD OF SOLOMON +</h3> + +<p> +The current of our story takes us once more to the White Castle at the +mouth of the Sweet Waters of Asia. +</p> + +<p> +It is the twenty-fifth of March, 1452. The weather, for some days +cloudy and tending to the tempestuous, changed at noon, permitting the +sun to show himself in a field of spotless blue. At the edge of the +mountainous steep above Roumeli Hissar, the day-giver lingered in his +going down, as loath to leave the life concentrated in the famous +narrows in front of the old Castle. +</p> + +<p> +On the land, there was an army in waiting; therefore the city of tents +and brushwood booths extending from the shore back to the hills, and +the smoke pervading the perspective in every direction. +</p> + +<p> +On the water, swinging to each other, crowding all the shallows of the +delta of the little river, reaching out into the sweep of the +Bosphorus, boats open and boats roofed—scows, barges, galleys oared +and galleys with masts—ships—a vast conglomerate raft. +</p> + +<p> +About the camp, and to and fro on the raft, men went and came, like +ants in storing time. Two things, besides the locality, identified +them—their turbans, and the crescent and star in the red field of the +flags they displayed. +</p> + +<p> +History, it would appear, takes pleasure in repetition. Full a thousand +years before this, a greater army had encamped on the banks of the same +Sweet Waters. Then it was of Persians; now it is of Turks; and +curiously there are no soldiers to be seen, but only working men, while +the flotilla is composed of carrying vessels; here boats laden with +stone; there boats with lime; yonder boats piled high with timber. +</p> + +<p> +At length the sun, drawing the last ravelling of light after it, +disappeared. About that time, the sea gate in front of the Palace of +Julian down at Constantinople opened, and a boat passed out into the +Marmora. Five men plied the oars. Two sat near the stern. These latter +were Count Corti and Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful. +</p> + +<p> +Two hours prior, Ali, with a fresh catch of fish, entered the gate, and +finding no purchaser in the galley, pushed on to the landing, and +thence to the Palace. +</p> + +<p> +"O Emir," he said, when admitted to the Count, "the Light of the World, +our Lord Mahommed is arrived." +</p> + +<p> +The intelligence seemed to strike the Count with a sudden ague. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is he?" he asked, his voice hollow as from a closed helmet. Ere +the other could answer, he added a saving clause: "May the love of +Allah be to him a staff of life!" +</p> + +<p> +"He is at the White Castle with Mollahs, Pachas, and engineers a +host.... What a way they were in, rushing here and there, like +squealing swine, and hunting quarters, if but a crib to lie in and +blow! Shintan take them, beards, boots, and turbans! So have they lived +on fat things, slept on divans of down under hangings of silk, breathed +perfumed airs in crowded harems, Heaven knows if now they are even fit +to stop an arrow. They thought the old Castle of Bajazet-Ilderim +another Jehan-Numa. By the delights of Paradise, O Emir—ha, ha, +ha!—it was good to see how little the Light of the World cared for +them! At the Castle, he took in with him for household the ancient +<i>Gabour</i> Ortachi-Khalil and a Prince of India, whom he calls his +Messenger of the Stars; the rest were left to shift for themselves till +their tents arrive. Halting the Incomparables, [Footnote: Janissaries.] +out beyond Roumeli-Hissar, he summoned the Three Tails, [Footnote: +Pachas.] nearly dead from fatigue, having been in the saddle since +morning, and rode off with them fast as his Arab could gallop across +the country, and down the long hill behind Therapia, drawing rein at +the gate before the Palace of the Princess Irene." +</p> + +<p> +"The Palace of the Princess Irene," the Count repeated. "What did he +there?" +</p> + +<p> +"He dismounted, looked at the brass plate on the gate-post, went in, +and asked if she were at home. Being told she was yet in the city, he +said: 'A message for her to be delivered to-night. Here is a purse to +pay for going. Tell her Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik'—only the +Prophet knows of such a Sheik—'has been here, bidden by Sultan +Mahommed to see if her house had been respected, and inquire if she has +yet her health and happiness.' With that, he called for his horse, and +went through the garden and up to the top of the promontory; then he +returned to Hissar faster than he went to Therapia; and when, to take +boat for the White Castle, he walked down the height, two of the Three +Tails had to be lifted from their saddles, so nearly dead were they." +</p> + +<p> +Here Ali stopped to laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"Pardon me, O Emir," he resumed, "if I say last what I should have said +first, it being the marrow of the bone I bring you.... Before sitting +to his pilaf, our Lord Mahommed sent me here. 'Thou knowest to get in +and out of the unbelieving city,' he said. 'Go privily to the Emir +Mirza, and bid him come to me to-night.'" +</p> + +<p> +"What now, Ali?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord was too wise to tell me." +</p> + +<p> +"It is a great honor, Ali. I shall get ready immediately." +</p> + +<p> +When the night was deep enough to veil the departure, the Count seated +himself in the fisher's boat, a great cloak covering his armor. Half a +mile below the Sweet Waters the party was halted. +</p> + +<p> +"What is this, Ali?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Lord Mahommed's galleys of war are down from the Black Sea. These +are their outlyers." +</p> + +<p> +At the side of one of the vessels, the Count showed the Sultan's +signet, and there was no further interruption. +</p> + +<p> +A few words now with respect to Corti. +</p> + +<p> +He had become a Christian. Next, the bewilderment into which the first +sight of the Princess Irene had thrown him instead of passing off had +deepened into hopeless love. +</p> + +<p> +And farther—Constantine, a genuine knight himself; in fact more knight +than statesman; delighting in arms, armor, hounds, horses, and martial +exercises, including tournaments, hawking, and hunting, found one +abiding regret on his throne—he could have a favorite but never a +comrade. The denial only stimulated the desire, until finally he +concluded to bring the Italian to Court for observation and trial, his +advancement to depend upon the fitness, tact, and capacity he might +develop. +</p> + +<p> +One day an order was placed in the Count's hand, directing him to find +quarters at Blacherne. The Count saw the honor intended, and discerned +that acceptance would place him in better position to get information +for Mahommed, but what would the advantage avail if he were hindered in +forwarding his budget promptly? +</p> + +<p> +No, the mastership of the gate was of most importance; besides which +the seclusion of the Julian residence was so favorable to the part he +was playing; literally he had no one there to make him afraid. +</p> + +<p> +Upon receipt of the order he called for his horse, and rode to +Blacherne, where his argument of the necessity of keeping the Moslem +crew of his galley apart brought about a compromise. His Majesty would +require the Count's presence during the day, but permit him the nights +at Julian. He was also allowed to retain command of the gate. +</p> + +<p> +A few months then found him in Constantine's confidence, the imperial +favorite. Yet more surprising as a coincidence, he actually became to +the Emperor what he had been to Mahommed. He fenced and jousted with +him, instructed him in riding, trained him to sword and bow. Every day +during certain hours he had his new master's life at mercy. With a +thrust of sword, stroke of battle-axe, or flash of an arrow, it was in +his power to rid Mahommed of an opponent concerning whom he wrote: "O +my Lord, I think you are his better, yet if ever you meet him in +personal encounter, have a care." +</p> + +<p> +But the unexpected now happened to the Count. He came to have an +affection for this second lord which seriously interfered with his +obligations to the first one. Its coming about was simple. Association +with the Greek forced a comparison with the Turk. The latter's passion +was a tide before which the better gifts of God to rulers—mercy, +justice, discrimination, recognition of truth, loyalty, services—were +as willows in the sweep of a wave. Constantine, on the other hand, was +thoughtful, just, merciful, tender-hearted, indisposed to offend or to +fancy provocation intended. The difference between a man with and a man +without conscience—between a king all whose actuations are dominated +by religion and a king void of both conscience and religion—slowly but +surely, we say, the difference became apparent to the Count, and had +its inevitable consequences. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the Count's new footing in Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +The changes wrought in his feeling were forwarded more than he was +aware by the standing accorded him in the reception-room of the +Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +After the affair at the Cynegion he had the delicacy not to push +himself upon the attention of the noble lady. In preference he sent a +servant every morning to inquire after her health. Ere long he was the +recipient of an invitation to come in person; after which his visits +increased in frequency. Going to Blacherne, and coming from it, he +stopped at her house, and with every interview it seemed his passion +for her intensified. +</p> + +<p> +Now it were not creditable to the young Princess' discernment to say +she was blind to his feeling; yet she was careful to conceal the +discovery from him, and still more careful not to encourage his hope. +She placed the favor shown him to the account of gratitude; at the same +time she admired him, and was deeply interested in the religious +sentiment he was beginning to manifest. +</p> + +<p> +In the Count's first audience after the rescue from the lion, she +explained how she came to be drawn to the Cynegion. This led to detail +of her relations with Sergius, concluding with the declaration: "I gave +him the signal to speak in Sancta Sophia, and felt I could not live if +he died the death, sent to it by me." +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," the Count replied, "I heard the monk's sermon in Sancta +Sophia, but did not know of your giving the signal. Has any one +impugned your motive in going to the Cynegion? Give me his name. My +sword says you did well." +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti, the Lord has taken care of His own." +</p> + +<p> +"As you say, Princess Irene. Hear me before addressing yourself to +something else.... I remember the words of the Creed—or if I have them +wrong correct me: 'I believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son.'" +</p> + +<p> +"It is word for word." +</p> + +<p> +"Am I to understand you gave him the form?" +</p> + +<p> +"The idea is Father Hilarion's." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Two Articles. Are they indeed sayings of Jesus Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +"Even so." +</p> + +<p> +"Give me the book containing them." +</p> + +<p> +Taking a New Testament from the table, she gave it to him. +</p> + +<p> +"You will find the sayings easily. On the margins opposite them there +are markings illuminated in gold." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, O Princess, most humbly. I will return the book." +</p> + +<p> +"No, Count, it is yours." +</p> + +<p> +An expression she did not understand darkened his face. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you a Christian?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +He flushed deeply, and bowed while answering: +</p> + +<p> +"My mother is a Christian." +</p> + +<p> +That night Count Corti searched the book, and found that the strength +of faith underlying his mother's prayers for his return to her, and the +Princess' determination to die with the monk, were but Christian lights. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess Irene," he said one day, "I have studied the book you gave +me; and knowing now who Christ is, I am ready to accept your Creed. +Tell me how I may know myself a believer?" +</p> + +<p> +A lamp in the hollow of an alabaster vase glows through the +transparency; so her countenance responded to the joy behind it. +</p> + +<p> +"Render obedience to His commands—do His will, O Count—then wilt thou +be a believer in Christ, and know it." +</p> + +<p> +The darkness she had observed fall once before on his face obscured it +again, and he arose and went out in silence. +</p> + +<p> +Brave he certainly was, and strong. Who could strike like him? He loved +opposition for the delight there was in overcoming it; yet in his +chamber that night he was never so weak. He resorted to the book, but +could not read. It seemed to accuse him. "Thou Islamite—thou son of +Mahomet, though born of a Christian, whom servest thou? Judas, what +dost thou in this city? Hypocrite—traitor—which is thy master, +Mahomet or Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +He fell upon his knees, tore at his beard, buried his head in his arms. +He essayed prayer to Christ. +</p> + +<p> +"Jesus—Mother of Jesus—O my mother!" he cried in agony. +</p> + +<p> +The hour he was accustomed to give to Mahommed came round. He drew out +the writing materials. "The Princess"—thus he began a sentence, but +stopped—something caught hold of his heart—the speaking face of the +beloved woman appeared to him—her eyes were reproachful—her lips +moved—she spoke: "Count Corti, I am she whom thou lovest; but what +dost thou? Is it not enough to betray my kinsman? Thy courage—what +makest thou of it but wickedness? ... Write of me to thy master. Come +every day, and contrive that I speak, then tell him of it. Am I sick? +Tell him of it. Do I hold to this or that? Tell him. Am I shaken by +visions of ruin to my country? Tell him of them. What is thy love if +not the servant for hire of his love? Traitor—panderer!" +</p> + +<p> +The Count pushed the table from him, and sprang to foot writhing. To +shut out the word abhorrent above all other words, he clapped his hands +tight over his ears—in vain. +</p> + +<p> +"Panderer!"—he heard with his soul—"Panderer! When thou hast +delivered me to Mahommed, what is he to give thee? How much?" +</p> + +<p> +Thus shame, like a wild dog, bayed at him. For relief he ran out into +the garden. And it was only the beginning of misery. Such the +introduction or first chapter, what of the catastrophe? He could not +sleep for shame. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning he ordered his horse, but had not courage to go to +Blacherne. How could he look at the kindly face of the master he was +betraying? He thought of the Princess. Could he endure her salutation? +She whom he was under compact to deliver to Mahommed? A paroxysm of +despair seized him. +</p> + +<p> +He rode to the Gate St. Romain, and out of it into the country. Gallop, +gallop—the steed was good—his best Arab, fleet and tireless. Noon +overtook him—few things else could—still he galloped. The earth +turned into a green ribbon under the flying hoofs, and there was relief +in the speed. The air, whisked through, was soothing. At length he came +to a wood, wild and interminable, Belgrade, though he knew it not, and +dismounting by a stream, he spent the day there. If now and then the +steed turned its eyes upon him, attracted by his sighs, groans and +prayer, there was at least no accusation in them. The solitude was +restful; and returning after nightfall, he entered the city through the +sortie under the Palace of Blacherne known as the Cercoporta. +</p> + +<p> +It is well pain of spirit has its intermissions; otherwise long life +could not be; and if sleep bring them, so much the better. +</p> + +<p> +Next day betimes, the Count was at Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +"I pray grace, O my Lord!" he said, speaking to the question in the +Emperor's look. "Yesterday I had to ride. This confinement in the city +deadens me. I rode all day." +</p> + +<p> +The good, easy master sighed: "Would I had been with you, Count." +</p> + +<p> +Thus he dismissed the truancy. But with the Princess it was a lengthy +chapter. If the Emperor was never so gracious, she seemed never so +charming. He wrote to Mahommed in the evening, and walked the garden +the residue of the night. +</p> + +<p> +So weeks and months passed, and March came—even the night of the +twenty-fifth, with its order from the Sultan to the White Castle—an +interval of indecision, shame, and self-indictment. How many plans of +relief he formed who can say? Suicide he put by, a very last resort. +There was also a temptation to cut loose from Mahommed, and go boldly +over to the Emperor. That would be a truly Christian enlistment for the +approaching war; and aside from conformity to his present sympathies, +it would give him a right to wear the Princess' favor on his helmet. +But a fear shook the resort out of mind. Mahommed, whether successful +or defeated, would demand an explanation of him, possibly an +accounting. He knew the Sultan. Of all the schemes presented, the most +plausible was flight. There was the gate, and he its keeper, and beyond +the gate, the sunny Italian shore, and his father's castle. The seas +and sailing between were as green landscapes to a weary prisoner, and +he saw in them only the joy of going and freedom to do. Welcome, and to +God the praise! More than once he locked his portables of greatest +value in the cabin of the galley. But alas! He was in bonds. Life in +Constantinople now comprehended two of the ultimate excellencies to +him, Princess Irene and Christ—and their joinder in the argument he +took to be no offence. +</p> + +<p> +From one to another of these projects he passed, and they but served to +hide the flight of time. He was drifting—ahead, and not far, he heard +the thunder of coming events—yet he drifted. +</p> + +<p> +In this condition, the most envied man in Constantinople and the most +wretched, the Sultan's order was delivered to him by Ali. +</p> + +<p> +The time for decision was come. Tired—ashamed—angry with himself, he +determined to force the end. +</p> + +<p> +The Count arrived at the Castle, was immediately admitted to the +Sultan; indeed, had he been less resolute, his master's promptitude +would have been a circumstance of disturbing significance. +</p> + +<p> +Observation satisfied him Mahommed was in the field; for with all his +Epicureanism in times of peace, when a campaign was in progress the +Conqueror resolved himself into a soldierly example of indifference to +luxury. In other words, with respect to furnishment, the interior of +the old Castle presented its every day ruggedness. +</p> + +<p> +One lamp fixed to the wall near the door of the audience chamber +struggled with the murk of a narrow passage, giving to view an +assistant chamberlain, an armed sentinel, and two jauntily attired +pages in waiting. Surrendering his sword to the chamberlain, the Count +halted before the door, while being announced; at the same time, he +noticed a man come out of a neighboring apartment clad in black velvet +from head to foot, followed closely by a servant. It was the Prince of +India. +</p> + +<p> +The mysterious person advanced slowly, his eyes fixed on the floor, his +velvet-shod feet giving out no sound. His air indicated deep +reflection. In previous encounters with him, the Count had been +pleased; now his sensations were of repugnance mixed with doubt and +suspicion. He had not time to account for the change. It may have had +origin in the higher prescience sometimes an endowment of the spirit by +which we stand advised of a friend or an enemy; most likely, however, +it was a consequence of the curious tales abroad in Constantinople; for +at the recognition up sprang the history of the Prince's connection +with Lael, and her abandonment by him, the more extraordinary from the +evidences of his attachment to her. Up sprang also the opinion of +universal prevalence in the city that he had perished in the great +fire. What did it all mean? What kind of man was he? +</p> + +<p> +The servant carried a package wrapped in gold-embroidered green silk. +</p> + +<p> +Coming near, the Prince raised his eyes—stopped—smiled—and said: +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti—or Mirza the Emir—which have I the honor of meeting?" +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the offence he felt, Corti blushed, such a flood of light +did the salutation let in upon the falsity of his position. Far from +losing presence of mind, he perceived at once how intimately the Prince +stood in the councils of the Sultan. +</p> + +<p> +"The Lord Mahommed must be heard before I can answer," he returned, +calmly. +</p> + +<p> +In an instant the Prince became cordial. +</p> + +<p> +"That was well answered," he said. "I am pleased to have my judgment of +you confirmed. Your mission has been a trying one, but you have +conducted it like a master. The Lord Mahommed has thanked me many times +that I suggested you for it. He is impatient to see you. We will go in +together." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed, in armor, was standing by a table on which were a bare +cimeter, a lamp brightly burning, and two large unrolled maps. In one +of the latter, the Count recognized Constantinople and its environs +cast together from his own surveys. +</p> + +<p> +Retired a few steps were the two Viziers, Kalil Pacha and his rival, +Saganos Pacha, the Mollah Kourani, and the Sheik Akschem-sed-din. The +preaching of the Mollah had powerfully contributed to arousing the +fanatical spirit of the Sultan's Mohammedan subjects. The four were +standing in the attitude usual to Turkish officials in presence of a +superior, their heads bowed, their hands upon their stomachs. In +speaking, if they raised their eyes from the floor it was to shoot a +furtive glance, then drop them again. +</p> + +<p> +"This is the grand design of the work by which you will be governed," +Mahommed said to the counsellors, laying the finger points of his right +hand upon the map unknown to the Count, and speaking earnestly. "You +will take it, and make copies tonight; for if the stars fail not, I +will send the masons and their workmen to the other shore in the +morning." +</p> + +<p> +The advisers saluted—it would be difficult to say which of them with +the greatest unction. +</p> + +<p> +Looking sharply at Kalil, the master asked: "You say you superintended +the running of the lines in person?" +</p> + +<p> +Kalil saluted separately, and returned: "My Lord may depend upon the +survey." +</p> + +<p> +"Very well. I wait now only the indication of Heaven that the time is +ripe for the movement. Is the Prince of India coming?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am here, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed turned as the Prince spoke, and let his eyes rest a moment +upon Count Corti, without a sign of recognition. +</p> + +<p> +"Come forward, Prince," he said. "What is the message you bring me?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," the Prince replied, after prostration, "in the Hebrew +Scriptures there is a saying in proof of the influence the planets have +in the affairs of men: 'Then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by +the waters of Megiddo; they fought from heaven; the stars in their +courses fought against Sisera.' Now art thou truly Sultan of Sultans. +To-morrow—the twenty-sixth of March—will be memorable amongst days, +for then thou mayst begin the war with the perfidious Greek. From four +o'clock in the morning the stars which fought against Sisera will fight +for Mahommed. Let those who love him salute and rejoice." +</p> + +<p> +The counsellors, dropping on their knees, fell forward, their faces on +their hands. The Prince of India did the same. Count Corti alone +remained standing, and Mahommed again observed him. +</p> + +<p> +"Hear you," the latter said, to his officers. "Go assemble the masons +and their workmen, the masters of boats, and the chiefs charged with +duties. At four o'clock in the morning I will move against Europe. The +stars have said it, and their permission is my law. Rise!" +</p> + +<p> +As his associates were moving backward with repeated genuflections, the +Prince of India spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"O most favored of men! Let them stay a moment." +</p> + +<p> +At a sign from the Sultan they halted; thereupon the Prince of India +beckoned Syama to come, and taking the package from his hands, he laid +it on the table. +</p> + +<p> +"For my Lord Mahommed," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" Mahommed demanded. +</p> + +<p> +"A sign of conquest.... My Lord knows King Solomon ruled the world in +his day, its soul of wisdom. At his death dominion did not depart from +him. The secret ministers in the earth, the air and the waters, +obedient to Allah, became his slaves. My Lord knows of whom I speak. +Who can resist them? ... In the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre, the friend +of King Solomon, I found a sarcophagus. It was covered with a model in +marble of the Temple of the Hebrew Almighty God. Removing the lid, lo! +the mummy of Hiram, a crown upon its head, and at its feet the sword of +Solomon, a present without price. I brought it away, resolved to give +it to him whom the stars should elect for the overthrow of the +superstitions devised by Jesus, the bastard son of Joseph the carpenter +of Nazareth.... Undo the wrappings, Lord Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan obeyed, and laying the last fold of the cloth aside, drew +back staring, and with uplifted hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Kalil—Kourani—Akschem-sed-din—all of you, come look. Tell me what +it is—it blinds me." +</p> + +<p> +The sword of Solomon lay before them; its curved blade a gleam of +splendor, its scabbard a mass of brilliants, its hilt a ruby so pure we +may say it retained in its heart the life of a flame. +</p> + +<p> +"Take it in hand, Lord Mahommed," said the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +The young Sultan lifted the sword, and as he did so down a groove in +its back a stream of pearls started and ran, ringing musically, and +would not rest while he kept the blade in motion. He was speechless +from wonder. +</p> + +<p> +"Now may my Lord march upon Constantinople, for the stars and every +secret minister of Solomon will fight for him." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the Prince knelt before the Sultan, and laid his lips on the +instep of his foot, adding: "Oh, my Lord! with that symbol in hand, +march, and surely as Tabor is among the mountains and Carmel by the +sea, so surely Christ will give place to Mahomet in Sancta Sophia. +March at four o'clock." +</p> + +<p> +And the counsellors left kisses on the same instep, and departed. +</p> + +<p> +Thence through the night the noises of preparation kept the space +between the hills of the narrows alive with echoes. At the hour +permitted by the stars—four o'clock—a cloud of boats cast loose from +the Asiatic shore, and with six thousand laborers, handmen to a +thousand master masons, crossed at racing speed to Europe. "God is God, +and Mahomet is his Prophet," they shouted. The vessels of burden, those +with lime, those with stone, those with wood, followed as they were +called, and unloading, hauled out, to give place to others. +</p> + +<p> +Before sun up the lines of the triangular fort whose walls near +Roumeli-Hissar are yet intact, prospectively a landmark enduring as the +Pyramids, were defined and swarming with laborers. The three Pachas, +Kalil, Sarudje, and Saganos, superintended each a side of the work, and +over them all, active and fiercely zealous, moved Mahommed, the sword +of Solomon in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +And there was no lack of material for the structure extensive as it +was. Asia furnished its quota, and Christian towns and churches on the +Bosphorus were remorselessly levelled for the stones in them; wherefore +the outer faces of the curtains and towers are yet speckled with +marbles in block, capital and column. +</p> + +<p> +Thus Mahommed, taking his first step in the war so long a fervid dream, +made sure of his base of operations. +</p> + +<p> +On the twenty-eighth of August, the work completed, from his camp on +the old Asometon promontory he reconnoitred the country up to the ditch +of Constantinople, and on the first of September betook himself to +Adrianople. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0602"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER +</h3> + +<p> +Upon the retirement of the Prince of India and the counsellors, +Mahommed took seat by the table, and played with the sword of Solomon, +making the pearls travel up and down the groove in the blade, listening +to their low ringing, and searching for inscriptions. This went on +until Count Corti began to think himself forgotten. At length the +Sultan, looking under the guard, uttered an exclamation—looked +again—and cried out: +</p> + +<p> +"O Allah! It is true!—May I be forgiven for doubting him!—Come, +Mirza, come see if my eyes deceive me. Here at my side!" +</p> + +<p> +The Count mastered his surprise, and was presently leaning over the +Sultan's shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +"You remember, Mirza, we set out together studying Hebrew. Against your +will I carried you along with me until you knew the alphabet, and could +read a little. You preferred Italian, and when I brought the learned +men, and submitted to them that Hebrew was one of a family of tongues +more or less alike, and would have sent you with them to the Sidonian +coast for inscriptions, you refused. Do you remember?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, those were the happiest days of my life." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed laughed. "I kept you three days on bread and water, and let +you off then because I could not do without you.... But for the matter +now. Under this guard—look—are not the brilliants set in the form of +letters?" +</p> + +<p> +Corti examined closely. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes; there are letters—I see them plainly—a name." +</p> + +<p> +"Spell it." +</p> + +<p> +"S-O-L-O-M-O-N." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I have not deceived myself," Mahommed exclaimed. "Nor less has +the Prince of India deceived me." He grew more serious. "A marvellous +man! I cannot make him out. The more I do with him the more +incomprehensible he becomes. The long past is familiar to him as the +present to me. He is continually digging up things ages old, and +amazing me with them. Several times I have asked him when he was born, +and he has always made the same reply: 'I will tell when you are Lord +of Constantinople.' ... How he hates Christ and the Christians! ... +This is indeed the sword of Solomon—and he found it in the tomb of +Hiram, and gives it to me as the elect of the stars now. Ponder it, O +Mirza! Now at the mid of the night in which I whistle up my dogs of war +to loose them on the <i>Gabour</i>—How, Mirza—what ails you? Why that +change of countenance? Is he not a dog of an unbeliever? On your knees +before me—I have more to tell you than to ask. No, spurs are +troublesome. To the door and bid the keeper there bring a stool—and +look lest the lock have an ear hanging to it. Old Kalil, going out, +though bowing, and lip-handing me, never took his eyes off you." +</p> + +<p> +The stool brought, Corti was about to sit. +</p> + +<p> +"Take off your cap"—Mahommed spoke sternly—"for as you are not the +Mirza I sent away, I want to see your face while we talk. Sit here, in +the full of the light." +</p> + +<p> +The Count seated, placed his hooded cap on the floor. He was perfectly +collected. Mahommed fingered the ruby hilt while searching the eyes +which as calmly searched his. +</p> + +<p> +"How brave you are!" the Sultan began, but stopped. "Poor Mirza!" he +began again, his countenance softened. One would have said some tender +recollection was melting the shell of his heart. "Poor Mirza! I loved +you better than I loved my father, better than I loved my brothers, +well as I loved my mother—with a love surpassing all I ever knew but +one, and of that we will presently speak. If honor has a soul, it lives +in you, and the breath you draw is its wine, purer than the first +expressage of grapes from the Prophet's garden down by Medina. Your +eyes look truth, your tongue drips it as a broken honey-comb drips +honey. You are truth as God is God." +</p> + +<p> +He was speaking sincerely. +</p> + +<p> +"Fool—fool—that I let you go!—and I would not—no, by the rose-door +of Paradise and the golden stairs to the House of Allah, I would not +had I loved my full moon of full moons less. She was parted from me; +and with whose eyes could I see her so well as with yours, O my falcon? +Who else would report to me so truly her words? Love makes men and +lions mad; it possessed me; and I should have died of it but for your +ministering. Wherefore, O Mirza"— +</p> + +<p> +The Count had been growing restive; now he spoke. "My Lord is about +committing himself to some pledge. He were wise, did he hear me first." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps so," the Sultan rejoined, uncertainly, but added immediately: +"I will hear you." +</p> + +<p> +"It is true, as my Lord said, I am not the Mirza he despatched to +Italy. The changes I have undergone are material; and in recounting +them I anticipate his anger. He sees before him the most wretched of +men to whom death would be mercy." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it so bad? You were happy when you went away. Was not the mission +to your content?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord's memory is a crystal cup from which nothing escapes—a cup +without a leak. He must recall how I prayed to stay with him." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes." +</p> + +<p> +"My dread was prophetic." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me of the changes." +</p> + +<p> +"I will—and truly as there is but one God, and he the father of life +and maker of things. First, then, the affection which at my going was +my Lord's, and which gave me to see him as the Light of the World, and +the perfection of glory in promise, is now divided." +</p> + +<p> +"You mean there is another Light of the World? Be it so, and still you +leave me flattered. How far you had to travel before finding the other! +Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Emperor of the Greeks." +</p> + +<p> +"Constantine? Are his gifts so many and rich? The next." +</p> + +<p> +"I am a Christian." +</p> + +<p> +"Indeed? Perhaps you can tell me the difference between God and Allah. +Yesterday Kourani said they were the same." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my Lord, the difference is between Christ and Mahomet." +</p> + +<p> +"The mother of the one was a Jewess, the mother of the other an Arab—I +see. Go on." +</p> + +<p> +The Count did not flinch. "My Lord, great as is your love of the +Princess Irene"—Mahommed half raised his hands, his brows knit, his +eyes filled with fire, but the Count continued composedly—"mine is +greater." +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan recovered himself. +</p> + +<p> +"The proof, the proof!" he said, his voice a little raised. "My love of +her is consuming me, but I see you alive." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord's demand is reasonable. I came here to make the avowal, and +die. Would my Lord so much?" +</p> + +<p> +"You would die for the Princess?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has said it." +</p> + +<p> +"Is there not something else in the urgency?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—honor." +</p> + +<p> +The Count's astonishment was unspeakable. He expected an outburst of +wrath unappeasable, a summons for an executioner; instead, Mahommed's +eyes became humid, and resting his elbow on the table, and his face on +the thumb and forefinger, he said, gazing sorrowfully: +</p> + +<p> +"Ahmed was my little brother. His mother published before my father's +death, that my mother was a slave. She was working for her child +already, and I had him smothered in a bath. Cruel? God forgive me! It +was my duty to provide for the peace of my people. I had a right to +take care of myself; yet will I never be forgiven. Kismet!... I have +had many men slain since. I travel, going to mighty events beckoned by +destiny. The ordinary cheap soul cannot understand how necessary it is +that my path should be smooth and clear; for sometime I may want to +run; and he will amuse or avenge himself by stamping me in history a +monster without a soul. Kismet! ... But you, my poor Mirza, you should +know me better. You are my brother without guile. I am not afraid to +love you. I do love you. Let us see.... Your letters from +Constantinople—I have them all—told me so much more than you +intended, I could not suspect your fidelity. They prepared me for +everything you have confessed. Hear how in my mind I disposed of them +point by point.... 'Mirza,' I said, 'pities the <i>Gabour</i> Emperor; in +the end he will love him. Loving a hundred men is less miraculous in a +man than loving one. He will make comparisons. Why not? The <i>Gabour</i> +appeals to him through his weakness, I through my strength. I would +rather be feared than pitied. Moreover, the <i>Gabour's</i> day runs to its +close, and as it closes, mine opens. Pity never justified treason.' ... +And I said, too, on reading the despatch detailing your adventures in +Italy: 'Poor Mirza! now has he discovered he is an Italian, stolen when +a child, and having found his father's castle and his mother, a noble +woman, he will become a Christian, for so would I in his place.' Did I +stop there? The wife of the Pacha who received you from your abductors +is in Broussa. I sent to her asking if she had a keepsake or memento +which would help prove your family and country. See what she returned +to me." +</p> + +<p> +From under a cloth at the further end of the table, Mahommed drew a +box, and opening it, produced a collar of lace fastened with a cameo +pin. On the pin there was a graven figure. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me, Mirza, if you recognize the engraving." The Count took the +cameo, looked at it, and replied, with a shaking voice: +</p> + +<p> +"The arms of the Corti! God be praised!" +</p> + +<p> +"And here—what are these, and what the name on them?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed gave him a pair of red morocco half-boots for a child, on +which, near the tops, a name was worked in silk. +</p> + +<p> +"It is mine, my Lord—my name—'Ugo.'" +</p> + +<p> +He cast himself before the Sultan, and embraced his knees, saying, in +snatches as best he could: +</p> + +<p> +"I do not know what my Lord intends—whether he means I am to die or +live—if it be death, I pray him to complete his mercy by sending these +proofs to my mother"— +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Mirza, arise! I prefer to have your face before me." +</p> + +<p> +Directly the Count was reseated, Mahommed continued: +</p> + +<p> +"And you, too, love the Princess Irene? You say you love her more than +I? And you thought I could not endure hearing you tell it? That I would +summon black Hassan with his bowstring? With all your opportunities, +your seeing and hearing her, as the days multiplied from tens to +hundreds, is it for me to teach you she will come to no man except as a +sacrifice? What great thing have you to offer her? While I—well, by +this sword of Solomon, to-morrow morning I set out to say to her: 'For +thy love, O my full Moon of full Moons, for thy love thou shalt have +the redemption of thy Church.'... And besides, did I not foresee your +passion? Courtiers stoop low and take pains to win favor; but no +courtier, not even a professional, intending merely to please me, could +have written of her as you did; and by that sign, O Mirza, I knew you +were in the extremity of passion. Offended? Not so, not so! I sent you +to take care of her—fight for her—die, if her need were so great. Of +whom might I expect such service but a lover? Did I not, the night of +our parting, foretell what would happen?" He paused gazing at the ruby +of the ring on his finger. +</p> + +<p> +"See, Mirza! There has not been a waking hour since you left me but I +have looked at this jewel; and it has kept color faithfully. Often as I +beheld it, I said: 'Mirza loves her because he cannot help it; yet he +is keeping honor with me. Mirza is truth, as God is God. From his hand +will I receive her in Constantinople'"— +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord"— +</p> + +<p> +"Peace, peace! The night wanes, and you have to return. Of what was I +speaking? Oh, yes"— +</p> + +<p> +"But hear me, my Lord. At the risk of your displeasure I must speak." +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" +</p> + +<p> +"In her presence my heart is always like to burst, yet, as I am to be +judged in the last great day, I have kept faith with my Lord. Once she +thanked me—it was after I offered myself to the lion—O Heaven! how +nearly I lost my honor! Oh, the agony of that silence! The anguish of +that remembrance! I have kept the faith, my Lord. But day by day now +the will to keep it grows weaker. All that holds me steadfast is my +position in Constantinople. What am I there?" +</p> + +<p> +The Count buried his face in his hands, and through the links in his +surcoat the tremor which shook his body was apparent. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed waited. +</p> + +<p> +"What am I there? Having come to see the goodness of the Emperor, I +must run daily to betray him. I am a Christian; yet as Judas sold his +Master, I am under compact to sell my religion. I love a noble woman, +yet am pledged to keep her safely, and deliver her to another. O my +Lord, my Lord! This cannot go on. Shame is a vulture, and it is tearing +me—my heart bleeds in its beak. Release me, or give me to death. If +you love me, release me." +</p> + +<p> +"Poor Mirza!" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, I am not afraid." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed struck the table violently, and his eyes glittered. "That ever +one should think I loved a coward! Yet more intolerable, that he whom I +have called brother should know me so little! Can it be, O Mirza, can +it be, you tell me these things imagining them new to me? ... Let me +have done. What we are saying would have become us ten years ago, not +now. It is unmanly. I had a purpose in sending for you.... Your mission +in Constantinople ends in the morning at four o'clock. In other words, +O Mirza, the condition passes from preparation for war with the +<i>Gabour</i> to war. Observe now. You are a fighting man—a knight of skill +and courage. In the rencounters to which I am going—the sorties, the +assaults, the duels single and in force, the exchanges with all arms, +bow, arbalist, guns small and great, the mines and countermines—you +cannot stay out. You must fight. Is it not so?" +</p> + +<p> +Corti's head arose, his countenance brightened. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, I fear I run forward of your words—forgive me." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, give ear.... The question now is, whom will you fight—me or the +<i>Gabour?</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord"— +</p> + +<p> +"Be quiet, I say. The issue is not whether you love me less. I prefer +you give him your best service." +</p> + +<p> +"How, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am not speaking in contempt, but with full knowledge of your +superiority with weapons—of the many of mine who must go down before +you. And that you may not be under restraint of conscience or arm-tied +in the melee, I not only conclude your mission, but release you from +every obligation to me." +</p> + +<p> +"Every obligation!" +</p> + +<p> +"I know my words, Emir, yet I will leave nothing uncertain.... You will +go back to the city free of every obligation to me—arm-free, +mind-free. Be a Christian, if you like. Send me no more despatches +advisory of the Emperor"— +</p> + +<p> +"And the Princess Irene, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed smiled at the Count's eagerness. +</p> + +<p> +"Have patience, Mirza.... Of the moneys had from me, and the properties +heretofore mine in trust, goods, horses, arms, armor, the galley and +its crew, I give them to you without an accounting. You cannot deliver +them to me or dispose of them, except with an explanation which would +weaken your standing in Blacherne, if not undo you utterly. You have +earned them." +</p> + +<p> +Corti's face reddened. +</p> + +<p> +"With all my Lord's generosity, I cannot accept this favor. Honor"— +</p> + +<p> +"Silence, Emir, and hear me. I have never been careless of your honor. +When you set out for Italy, preparatory to the mission at +Constantinople, you owed me duty, and there was no shame in the +performance; but now—so have the changes wrought—that which was +honorable to Mirza the Emir is scandalous to Count Corti. After four +o'clock you will owe me no duty; neither will you be in my service. +From that hour Mirza, my falcon, will cease to be. He will have +vanished. Or if ever I know him more, it will be as Count Corti, +Christian, stranger, and enemy." +</p> + +<p> +"Enemy—my Lord's enemy? Never!" +</p> + +<p> +The Count protested with extended arms. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, circumstances will govern. And now the Princess Irene." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed paused; then, summoning his might of will, and giving it +expression in a look, he laid a forcible hand on the listener's +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +"Of her now.... I have devised a promotion for you, Emir. After +to-night we will be rivals." +</p> + +<p> +Corti was speechless—he could only stare. +</p> + +<p> +"By the rose-door of Paradise—the only oath fit for a lover—or, as +more becoming a knight, by this sword of Solomon, Emir, I mean the +rivalry to be becoming and just. I have an advantage of you. With women +rank and riches are as candles to moths. On the other side your +advantage is double; you are a Christian, and may be in her eyes day +after day. And not to leave you in mean condition, I give you the +moneys and property now in your possession; not as a payment—God +forbid!—but for pride's sake—my pride. Mahommed the Sultan may not +dispute with a knight who has only a sword." +</p> + +<p> +"I have estates in Italy." +</p> + +<p> +"They might as well be in the moon. I shall enclose Constantinople +before you could arrange with the Jews, and have money enough to buy a +feather for your cap. If this were less true, comes then the argument: +How can you dispose of the properties in hand, and quiet the gossips in +the <i>Gabour's</i> palace? 'Where are your horses?' they will ask. What +answer have you? 'Where your galley?' Answer. 'Where your Mohammedan +crew?' Answer." +</p> + +<p> +The Count yielded the debate, saying: "I cannot comprehend my Lord. +Such thing was never heard of before." +</p> + +<p> +"Must men be restrained because the thing they wish to do was never +heard of before? Shall I not build a mosque with five minarets because +other builders stopped with three? ... To the sum of it all now. +Christian or Moslem, are you willing to refer our rivalry for the young +woman to God?" +</p> + +<p> +"My wonder grows with listening to my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, this surprises you because it is new. I have had it in mind for +months. It did not come to me easily. It demanded +self-denial—something I am unused to.... Here it is—I am willing to +call Heaven in, and let it decide whether she shall be mine or +yours—this lily of Paradise whom all men love at sight. Dare you as +much?" +</p> + +<p> +The soldier spirit arose in the Count. +</p> + +<p> +"Now or then, here or there, as my Lord may appoint. I am ready. He has +but to name his champion." +</p> + +<p> +"I protest. The duel would be unequal. As well match a heron and a +hawk. There is a better way of making our appeal. Listen.... The walls +of Constantinople have never succumbed to attack. Hosts have dashed +against them, and fled or been lost. It may be so with me; but I will +march, and in my turn assault them, and thou defending with thy best +might. If I am beaten, if I retire, be the cause of failure this or +that, we—you and I, O Mirza—will call it a judgment of Heaven, and +the Princess shall be yours; but if I success and enter the city, it +shall be a judgment no less, and then"—Mahommed's eyes were full of +fire—"then"— +</p> + +<p> +"What then, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thou shalt see to her safety in the last struggle, and conduct her to +Sancta Sophia, and there deliver her to me as ordered by God." +</p> + +<p> +Corti was never so agitated. He turned pale and red—he trembled +visibly. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed asked mockingly: "Is it Mirza I am treating with, or Count +Corti? Are Christians so unwilling to trust God?" +</p> + +<p> +"But, my Lord, it is a wager you offer me." +</p> + +<p> +"Call it so." +</p> + +<p> +"And its conditions imply slavery for the Princess. Change them, my +Lord—allow her to be consulted and have her will, be the judgment this +or that." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed clinched his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"Am I a brute? Did ever woman lay her head on my breast perforce?" +</p> + +<p> +The Count replied, firmly: +</p> + +<p> +"Such a condition would be against us both alike." +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan struggled with himself a moment. +</p> + +<p> +"Be it so," he rejoined. "The wager is my proposal, and I will go +through with it. Take the condition, Emir. If I win, she shall come to +me of her free will or not at all." +</p> + +<p> +"A wife, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"In my love first, and in my household first—my Sultana." +</p> + +<p> +The animation which then came to the Count was wonderful. He kissed +Mahommed's hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Now has my Lord outdone himself in generosity. I accept. In no other +mode could the issue be made so absolutely a determination of Heaven." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed arose. +</p> + +<p> +"We are agreed.—The interview is finished.—Ali is waiting for you." +</p> + +<p> +He replaced the cover on the box containing the collar and the +half-boots. +</p> + +<p> +"I will send these to the Countess your mother; for hereafter you are +to be to me Ugo, Count Corti.... My falcon hath cast its jess and hood. +Mirza is no more. Farewell Mirza." +</p> + +<p> +Corti was deeply moved. Prostrating himself, he arose, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I go hence more my Lord's lover than ever. Death to the stranger who +in my presence takes his name in vain." +</p> + +<p> +As he was retiring, Mahommed spoke again: +</p> + +<p> +"A word, Count.... In what we are going to, the comfort and safety of +the Princess Irene may require you to communicate with me. You have +ready wit for such emergencies. Leave me a suggestion." +</p> + +<p> +Corti reflected an instant. +</p> + +<p> +"The signal must proceed from me," he said. "My Lord will pitch his +tent in sight"— +</p> + +<p> +"By Solomon, and this his sword, yes! Every <i>Gabour</i> who dares look +over the wall shall see it while there is a hill abiding." +</p> + +<p> +The Count bowed. +</p> + +<p> +"I know my Lord, and give him this—God helping me, I will make myself +notorious to the besiegers as he will be to the besieged. If at any +time he sees my banderole, or if it be reported to him, let him look if +my shield be black; if so, he shall come himself with a shield the +color of mine, and place himself in my view. My Lord knows I make my +own arrows. If I shoot one black feathered, he must pick it up. The +ferrule will be of hollow lead covering a bit of scrip." +</p> + +<p> +"Once more, Count Corti, the issue is with God. Good night." +</p> + +<p> +Traversing the passage outside the door, the Count met the Prince of +India. +</p> + +<p> +"An hour ago I would have entitled you Emir: but now"—the Prince +smiled while speaking—"I have stayed to thank Count Corti for his +kindness to my black friend Nilo." +</p> + +<p> +"Your servant?" +</p> + +<p> +"My friend and ally—Nilo the King.... If the Count desires to add to +the obligation, he will send the royal person to me with Ali when he +returns to-night." +</p> + +<p> +"I will send him." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, Count Corti." +</p> + +<p> +The latter lingered, gazing into the large eyes and ruddy face, +expecting at least an inquiry after Lael. He received merely a bow, and +the words: "We will meet again." +</p> + +<p> +Night was yet over the city, when Ali, having landed the Count, drew +out of the gate with Nilo. The gladness of the King at being restored +to his master can be easily fancied. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0603"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE BLOODY HARVEST +</h3> + +<p> +In June, a few days after the completion of the enormous work begun by +Mahommed on the Asometon promontory, out of a gate attached to the High +Residence of Blacherne, familiarly known as the Caligaria, there issued +a small troop of horsemen of the imperial military establishment. +</p> + +<p> +The leader of this party—ten in all—was Count Corti. Quite a body of +spectators witnessed the exit, and in their eyes he was the most +gallant knight they had ever seen. They cheered him as, turning to the +right after issuance from the gate, he plunged at a lively trot into +the ravine at the foot of the wall, practically an immense natural +fosse. "God and our Lady of Blacherne," they shouted, and continued +shouting while he was in sight, notwithstanding he did not so much as +shake the banderole on his lance in reply. +</p> + +<p> +Of the Count's appearance this morning it is unnecessary to say more +than that he was in the suit of light armor habitual to him, and as an +indication of serious intent, bore, besides the lance, a hammer or +battle-axe fixed to his saddle-bow, a curved sword considerably longer, +though not so broad as a cimeter, a bow and quiver of arrows at his +back, and a small shield or buckler over the quiver. The favorite +chestnut Arab served him for mount, its head and neck clothed in +flexible mail. The nine men following were equipped like himself in +every particular, except that their heads were protected by +close-fitting conical caps, and instead of armor on their legs, they +wore flowing red trousers. +</p> + +<p> +Of them it may be further remarked, their mode of riding, due to their +short stirrups, was indicative of folk akin to the Bedouin of the +Desert. +</p> + +<p> +Upon returning from the last interview with Mahommed in the White +Castle, the Count had subjected the crew of his galley to rigorous +trial of fitness for land service. Nine of them he found excellent +riders after their fashion, and selecting them as the most promising, +he proceeded to instruct them in the use of the arms they were now +bearing. His object in this small organization was a support to rush in +after him rather than a battle front. That is, in a charge he was to be +the lance's point, and they the broadening of the lance's blade; while +he was engaged, intent on the foe before him, eight of them were to +guard him right and left, and, as the exigencies of combat might +demand, open and close in fan-like movement. The ninth man was a +fighter in their rear. In the simple manoeuvring of this order of +battle he had practised them diligently through the months. The skill +attained was remarkable; and the drilling having been in the +Hippodrome, open to the public, the concourse to see it had been +encouraging. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, the wager with Mahommed had supplied the Count with energy of +body and mind. He studied the chances of the contest, knowing how +swiftly it was coming, and believed it possible to defend the city +successfully. At all events, he would do his best, and if the judgment +were adverse, it should not be through default on his part. +</p> + +<p> +The danger—and he discerned it with painful clearness—was in the +religious dissensions of the Greeks; still he fancied the first serious +blow struck by the Turks, the first bloodshed, would bring the factions +together, if only for the common safety. +</p> + +<p> +It is well worth while here to ascertain the views and feelings of the +people whom Count Corti was thus making ready to defend. This may be +said of them generally: It seemed impossible to bring them to believe +the Sultan really intended war against the city. +</p> + +<p> +"What if he does?" they argued. "Who but a young fool would think of +such a thing? If he comes, we will show him the banner of the Blessed +Lady from the walls." +</p> + +<p> +If in the argument there was allusion to the tower on the Asometon +heights, so tall one could stand on its lead-covered roof, and looking +over the intermediate hills, almost see into Constantinople, the +careless populace hooted at the exaggeration: "There be royal idiots as +well as every-day idiots. Staring at us is one thing, shooting at us is +another. Towers with walls thirty feet thick are not movable." +</p> + +<p> +One day a report was wafted through the gates that a gun in the water +battery of the new Turkish fort had sunk a passing ship. "What flag was +the ship flying?" "The Venetian." "Ah, that settles it," the public +cried. "The Sultan wants to keep the Venetians out of the Black Sea. +The Turks and the Venetians have always been at war." +</p> + +<p> +A trifle later intelligence came that the Sultan, lingering at +Basch-Kegan, supposably because the air along the Bosphorus was better +than the air at Adrianople, had effected a treaty by which the Podesta +of Galata bound his city to neutrality; still the complacency of the +Byzantines was in no wise disturbed. "Score one for the Genoese. It is +good to hear of their beating the Venetians." +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally a wanderer—possibly a merchant, more likely a +spy—passing the bazaars of Byzantium, entertained the booth-keepers +with stories of cannon being cast for the Sultan so big that six men +tied together might be fired from them at once. The Greeks only jeered. +Some said: "Oh, the Mahound must be intending a salute for the man in +the moon of Ramazan!" Others decided: "Well, he is crazier than we +thought him. There are many hills on the road to Adrianople, and at the +foot of every hill there is a bridge. To get here he must invent wings +for his guns, and even then it will be long before they can be taught +to fly." +</p> + +<p> +At times, too, the old city was set agog with rumors from the Asiatic +provinces opposite that the Sultan was levying unheard-of armies; he +had half a million recruits already, but wanted a million. "Oh, he +means to put a lasting quietus on Huniades and his Hungarians. He is +sensible in taking so many men." +</p> + +<p> +In compliment to the intelligence of the public, this obliviousness to +danger had one fostering circumstance—the gates of the city on land +and water stood open day and night. +</p> + +<p> +"See," it was everywhere said, "the Emperor is not alarmed. Who has +more at stake than he? He is a soldier, if he is an <i>azymite</i>. He keeps +ambassadors with the Sultan—what for, if not to be advised?" +</p> + +<p> +And there was a great deal in the argument. +</p> + +<p> +At length the Greek ambassadors were expelled by Mahommed. It was while +he lay at Basch-Kegan. They themselves brought the news. This was +ominous, yet the public kept its spirits. The churches, notably Sancta +Sophia, were more than usually crowded with women; that was all, for +the gates not only remained open, but traffic went in and out of them +unhindered—out even to the Turkish camp, the Byzantines actually +competing with their neighbors of Galata in the furnishment of +supplies. Nay, at this very period every morning a troop of the +Imperial guard convoyed a wagon from Blacherne out to Basch-Kegan laden +with the choicest food and wines; and to the officer receiving them the +captain of the convoy invariably delivered himself: "From His Majesty, +the Emperor of the Romans and Greeks, to the Lord Mahommed, Sultan of +the Turks. Prosperity and long life to the Sultan." +</p> + +<p> +If these were empty compliments, if the relations between the +potentates were slippery, if war were hatching, what was the Emperor +about? +</p> + +<p> +Six months before the fort opposite the White Castle was begun, +Constantine had been warned of Mahommed's projected movement against +his capital. The warning was from Kalil Pacha; and whether Kalil was +moved by pity, friendship, or avarice is of no moment; certain it is +the Emperor acted upon the advice. He summoned a council, and proposed +war; but was advised to send a protesting embassy to the enemy. A +scornful answer was returned. Seeing the timidity of his cabinet, cast +upon himself, he resolved to effect a policy, and accordingly +expostulated, prayed, sent presents, offered tribute, and by such means +managed to satisfy his advisers; yet all the time he was straining his +resources in preparation. +</p> + +<p> +In the outset, he forced himself to face two facts of the gravest +import: first, of his people, those of age and thews for fighting were +in frocks, burrowing in monasteries; next, the clergy and their +affiliates were his enemies, many openly preferring a Turk to an +<i>azymite</i>. A more discouraging prospect it is difficult to imagine. +There was but one hope left him. Europe was full of professional +soldiers. Perhaps the Pope had influence to send him a sufficient +contingent. Would His Holiness interest himself so far? The brave +Emperor despatched an embassy to Rome, promising submission to the +Papacy, and praying help in Christ's name. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime his agents dispersed themselves through the Aegean, buying +provisions and arms, enginery, and war material of all kinds. This +business kept his remnant of a navy occupied. Every few days a vessel +would arrive with stores for the magazine under the Hippodrome. By the +time the fort at Roumeli Hissar was finished, one of his anxieties was +in a measure relieved. The other was more serious. Then the frequency +with which he climbed the Tower of Isaac, the hours he passed there +gazing wistfully southward down the mirror of the Marmora, became +observable. The valorous, knightly heart, groaning under the +humiliations of the haughty Turk, weary not less of the incapacity of +his own people to perceive their peril, and arise heroically to meet +it, found opportunity to meditate while he was pacing the lofty +lookout, and struggling to descry the advance of the expected succor. +</p> + +<p> +In this apology the reader who has wondered at the inaction of the +Emperor what time the Sultan was perfecting his Asiatic communications +is answered. There was nothing for him but a siege. To that alternative +the last of the Romans was reduced. He could not promise himself enough +of his own subjects to keep the gates, much less take the field. +</p> + +<p> +The country around Constantinople was given to agriculture. During the +planting season, and the growing, the Greek husbandmen received neither +offence nor alarm from the Turks. But in June, when the emerald of the +cornfields was turning to gold, herds of mules and cavalry horses began +to ravage the fields, and the watchmen, hastening from their little +huts on the hills to drive them out, were set upon by the soldiers and +beaten. They complained to the Emperor, and he sent an embassy to the +Sultan praying him to save the crops from ruin. In reply, Mahommed +ordered the son of Isfendiar, a relative, to destroy the harvest. The +peasants resisted, and not unsuccessfully. In the South, and in the +fields near Hissar on the north, there were deaths on both sides. +Intelligence of the affair coming to Constantine, he summoned Count +Corti. +</p> + +<p> +"The long expected has arrived," he said. "Blood has been shed. My +people have been attacked and slain in their fields; their bodies lie +out unburied. The war cannot be longer deferred. It is true the succors +from the Holy Father have not arrived; but they are on the way, and +until they come we must defend ourselves. Cold and indifferent my +people have certainly been. Now I will make a last effort to arouse +them. Go out toward Hissar, and recover the dead. Have the bodies +brought in just as they are. I will expose them in the Hippodrome. +Perhaps their bruises and blood may have an effect; if not, God help +this Christian city. I will give you a force." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Count replied, "such an expedition might provoke an +advance upon the city before you are entirely prepared. Permit me to +select a party from my own men." "As you choose. A guide will accompany +you." +</p> + +<p> +To get to the uplands, so to speak, over which, north of Galata, the +road to Hissar stretched, Corti was conducted past the Cynegion and +through the districts of Eyoub to the Sweet Waters of Europe, which he +crossed by a bridge below the site of the present neglected country +palace of the Sultan. Up on the heights he turned left of Pera, and +after half an hour's rapid movement was trending northward parallel +with the Bosphorus, reaches of which were occasionally visible through +cleftings of the mountainous shore. Straw-thatched farmhouses dotted +the hills and slopes, and the harvest spread right and left in cheerful +prospect. +</p> + +<p> +The adventurer had ample time to think; but did little of it, being too +full of self-gratulation at having before him an opportunity to +recommend himself to the Emperor, with a possibility of earning +distinction creditable in the opinion of the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +At length an exclamation of his guide aroused him to action. +</p> + +<p> +"The Turks, the Turks!" +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"See that smoke." +</p> + +<p> +Over a hilltop in his front, the Count beheld the sign of alarm +crawling slowly into the sky. +</p> + +<p> +"Here is a village—to our left, but"— +</p> + +<p> +"Have done," said Corti, "and get me to the fire. Is there a nearer way +than this?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, under the hill yonder." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it broken?" +</p> + +<p> +"It narrows to a path, but is clear." +</p> + +<p> +The Count spoke in Arabic to his followers, and taking the gallop, +pushed the guide forward. Shortly a party of terror-stricken peasants +ran down toward him. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you run? What is the matter?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the Turks, the Turks!" +</p> + +<p> +"What of them? Stand, and tell me." +</p> + +<p> +"We went to work this morning cutting corn, for it is now ripe enough. +The Mahounds broke in on us. We were a dozen to their fifty or more. We +only escaped, and they set fire to the field. O Christ, and the Most +Holy Mother! Let us pass, or we too will be slain!" +</p> + +<p> +"Are they mounted?" +</p> + +<p> +"Some have horses, some are afoot." +</p> + +<p> +"Where are they now?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the field on the hill." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, go to the village fast as you can, and tell the men there to +come and pick up their dead. Tell them not to fear, for the Emperor has +sent me to take care of them." +</p> + +<p> +With that the Count rode on. +</p> + +<p> +This was the sight presented him when he made the ascent: A wheat field +sloping gradually to the northeast; fire creeping across it crackling, +smoking, momentarily widening; through the cloud a company of Turkish +soldiers halted, mostly horsemen, their arms glinting brightly in the +noon sun; blackened objects, unmistakably dead men, lying here and +there. Thus the tale of the survivors of the massacre was confirmed. +</p> + +<p> +Corti gave his lance with the banderole on it to the guide. By +direction his Berbers drove their lances into the earth that they might +leave them standing, drew their swords, and brought their bucklers +forward. Then he led them into the field. A few words more, directions +probably, and he started toward the enemy, his followers close behind +two and two, with a rear-guardsman. He allowed no outcry, but gradually +increased the pace. +</p> + +<p> +There were two hundred and more yards to be crossed, level, except the +slope, and with only the moving line of fire as an impediment. The +crop, short and thin, was no obstacle under the hoofs. +</p> + +<p> +The Turks watched the movement herded, like astonished sheep. They may +not have comprehended that they were being charged, or they may have +despised the assailants on account of their inferiority in numbers, or +they may have relied on the fire as a defensive wall; whatever the +reason, they stood passively waiting. +</p> + +<p> +When the Count came to the fire, he gave his horse the spur, and +plunging into the smoke and through the flame full speed, appeared on +the other side, shouting: "Christ and Our Lady of Blacherne!" His long +sword flashed seemingly brighter of the passage just made. Fleckings of +flame clung to the horses. What the battle-cry of the Berbers we may +not tell. They screamed something un-Christian, echoes of the Desert. +Then the enemy stirred; some drew their blades, some strung their bows; +the footmen amongst them caught their javelins or half-spears in the +middle, and facing to the rear, fled, and kept flying, without once +looking over their shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +One man mounted, and in brighter armor than the others, his steel cap +surmounted with an immense white turban, a sparkling aigrette pinned to +the turban, cimeter in hand, strove to form his companions—but it was +too late. "Christ and our Lady of Blacherne!"—and with that Corti was +in their midst; and after him, into the lane he opened, his Berbers +drove pell-mell, knocking Turks from their saddles, and overthrowing +horses—and there was cutting and thrusting, and wounds given, and +souls rendered up through darkened eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The killing was all on one side; then as a bowl splinters under a +stroke, the Turkish mass flew apart, and went helter-skelter off, each +man striving to take care of himself. The Berbers spared none of the +overtaken. +</p> + +<p> +Spying the man with the showy armor, the Count made a dash to get to +him, and succeeded, for to say truth, he was not an unwilling foeman. A +brief combat took place, scarcely more than a blow, and the Turk was +disarmed and at mercy. +</p> + +<p> +"Son of Isfendiar," said Corti, "the slaying these poor people with +only their harvest knives for weapons was murder. Why should I spare +your life?" +</p> + +<p> +"I was ordered to punish them." +</p> + +<p> +"By whom?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord the Sultan." +</p> + +<p> +"Do your master no shame. I know and honor him." +</p> + +<p> +"Yesterday they slew our Moslems." +</p> + +<p> +"They but defended their own.... You deserve death, but I have a +message for the Lord Mahommed. Swear by the bones of the Prophet to +deliver it, and I will spare you." +</p> + +<p> +"If you know my master, as you say, he is quick and fierce of temper, +and if I must die, the stroke may be preferable at your hand. Give me +the message first." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, come with me." +</p> + +<p> +The two remained together until the flight and pursuit were ended; +then, the fire reduced to patches for want of stalks to feed it, the +Count led the way back to the point at which he entered the field. +Taking his lance from the guide, he passed it to the prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +"This is what I would have you do," he said. "The lance is mine. Carry +it to your master, the Lord Mahommed, and say to him, Ugo, Count Corti, +salute him, and prays him to look at the banderole, and fix it in his +memory. He will understand the message, and be grateful for it. Now +will you swear?" +</p> + +<p> +The banderole was a small flag of yellow silk, with a red moon in the +centre, and on the face of the moon a white cross. Glancing at it, the +son of Isfendiar replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Take off the cross, and you show me a miniature standard of the +<i>Silihdars</i>, my Lord's guard of the Palace." Then looking the Count +full in the face, he added: "Under other conditions I should salute you +Mirza, Emir of the Hajj." +</p> + +<p> +"I have given you my name and title. Answer." +</p> + +<p> +"I will deliver the lance and message to my Lord—I swear it by the +bones of the Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had the Turk disappeared in the direction of Hissar, when a +crowd of peasants, men and women, were seen coming timorously from the +direction of the village. The Count rode to meet them, and as they were +provided with all manner of litters, by his direction the dead Greeks +were collected, and soon, with piteous lamentations, a funeral cortege +was on the road moving slowly to Constantinople. Anticipating a speedy +reappearance of the Turks, hostilities being now unavoidable, Count +Corti despatched messengers everywhere along the Bosphorus, warning the +farmers and villagers to let their fields go, and seek refuge in the +city. So it came about that the escort of the murdered peasants +momentarily increased until at the bridge over the Sweet Waters of +Europe it became a column composed for the most part of women, +children, and old men. Many of the women carried babies. The old men +staggered under such goods as they could lay their hands on in haste. +The able-bodied straggled far in the rear with herds of goats, sheep, +and cattle; the air above the road rang with cries and prayers, and the +road itself was sprinkled with tears. In a word, the movement was a +flight. +</p> + +<p> +Corti, with his Berbers, lingered in the vicinity of the field of fight +watchful of the enemy. In the evening, having forwarded a messenger to +the Emperor, he took stand at the bridge; and well enough, for about +dusk a horde of Turkish militia swept down from the heights in search +of plunder and belated victims. At the first bite of his sword, they +took to their heels, and were not again seen. +</p> + +<p> +By midnight the settlements and farmhouses of the up-country were +abandoned; almost the entire district from Galata to Fanar on the Black +Sea was reduced to ashes. The Greek Emperor had no longer a frontier or +a province—all that remained to him was his capital. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the fugitives, under quickening of the demonstration at the +bridge, threw their burdens away; so the greater part of them at an +early hour after nightfall appeared at the Adrianople gate objects of +harrowing appeal, empty-handed, broken down, miserable. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine had the funeral escort met at the gate by torch-bearers, +and the sextons of the Blacherne Chapel. Intelligence of the massacre, +and that the corpses of the harvesters would be conveyed to the +Hippodrome for public exposure, having been proclaimed generally +through the city, a vast multitude was also assembled at the gate. The +sensation was prodigious. +</p> + +<p> +There were twenty litters, each with a body upon it unwashed and in +bloody garments, exactly as brought in. On the right and left of the +litters the torchmen took their places. The sextons lit their long +candles, and formed in front. Behind trudged the worn, dust-covered, +wretched fugitives; and as they failed to realize their rescue, and +that they were at last in safety, they did not abate their +lamentations. When the innumerable procession passed the gate, and +commenced its laborious progress along the narrow streets, seldom, if +ever, has anything of the kind more pathetic and funereally impressive +been witnessed. +</p> + +<p> +Let be said what may, after all nothing shall stir the human heart like +the faces of fellowmen done to death by a common enemy. There was no +misjudgment of the power of the appeal in this instance. It is no +exaggeration to say Byzantium was out assisting—so did the people +throng the thoroughfares, block the street intersections, and look down +from the windows and balconies. Afar they heard the chanting of the +sextons, monotonous, yet solemnly effective; afar they saw the swaying +candles and torches; and an awful silence signalized the approach of +the pageant; but when it was up, and the bodies were borne past, +especially when the ghastly countenances of the sufferers were under +eye plainly visible in the red torchlight, the outburst of grief and +rage in every form, groans, curses, prayers, was terrible, and the +amazing voice, such by unity of utterance, went with the dead, and +followed after them until at last the Hippodrome was reached. There the +Emperor, on horseback, and with his court and guards, was waiting, and +his presence lent nationality to the mournful spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +Conducting the bearers of the litters to the middle of the oblong area, +he bade them lay their burdens down, and summoned the city to the view. +</p> + +<p> +"Let there be no haste," he said, "for, in want of their souls, the +bruised bodies of our poor countrymen shall lie here all tomorrow, +every gaping wound crying for vengeance. Then on the next day it will +be for us to say what we will do—fight, fly, or surrender." +</p> + +<p> +Through the remainder of the night the work of closing the gates and +making them secure continued without cessation. The guards were +strengthened at each of them, and no one permitted to pass out. +Singular to say, a number of eunuchs belonging to the Sultan were +caught and held. Some of the enraged Greeks insisted on their death; +but the good heart of the Emperor prevailed, and the prisoners were +escorted to their master. The embassy which went with them announced +the closing of the gates. +</p> + +<p> +"Since neither oaths, nor treaty, nor submission can secure peace, +pursue your impious warfare"—thus Constantine despatched to Mahommed. +"My trust is in God; if it shall please him to mollify your heart, I +shall rejoice in the change; if he delivers the city in your hands, I +submit without a murmur to his holy will. But until he shall pronounce +between us, it is my duty to live and die in defence of my people." +[Footnote: Gibbon] +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed answered with a formal declaration of war. +</p> + +<p> +It remains to say that the bodies of the harvesters were viewed as +promised. They lay in a row near the Twisted Serpent, and the people +passed them tearfully; in the night they were taken away and buried. +</p> + +<p> +Sadder still, the result did not answer the Emperor's hope. The +feeling, mixed of sorrow and rage, was loudly manifested; but it was +succeeded by fear, and when the organization of companies was +attempted, the exodus was shameful. Thousands fled, leaving about one +hundred thousand behind, not to fight, but firm in the faith that +Heaven would take care of the city. +</p> + +<p> +After weeks of effort, five thousand Greeks took the arms offered them, +and were enrolled. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0604"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP +</h3> + +<p> +A man in love, though the hero of many battles, shall be afraid in the +presence of his beloved, and it shall be easier for him to challenge an +enemy than to ask her love in return. +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti's eagerness to face the lion in the gallery of the Cynegion +had established his reputation in Constantinople for courage; his +recent defence of the harvesters raised it yet higher; now his name was +on every tongue. +</p> + +<p> +His habit of going about in armor had in the first days of his coming +subjected him to criticism; for the eyes before which he passed +belonged for the most part to a generation more given to prospecting +for bezants in fields of peace than the pursuit of glory in the +ruggeder fields of war. But the custom was now accepted, and at sight +of him, mounted and in glistening armor, even the critics smiled, and +showered his head with silent good wishes, or if they spoke it was to +say to each other: "Oh, that the Blessed Mother would send us more like +him!" And the Count knew he had the general favor. We somehow learn +such things without their being told us. +</p> + +<p> +Up in the empyrean courtly circles his relations were quite as +gratifying. The Emperor made no concealment of his partiality, and +again insisted on bringing him to Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Count said one day, "I have no further need of my +galley and its crew. I beg you to do with them as you think best." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine received the offer gratefully. +</p> + +<p> +"The galley is a godsend. I will order payment for it. Duke Notaras, +the Grand Admiral, will agree with you about the price." +</p> + +<p> +"If Your Majesty will permit me to have my way," the Count rejoined, +"you will order the vessel into the harbor with the fleet, and if the +result of the war is with Your Majesty, the Grand Admiral can arrange +for the payment; if otherwise"—he smiled at the alternative—"I think +neither Your Majesty nor myself will have occasion for a ship." +</p> + +<p> +The galley was transferred from the Bay of Julian to anchorage in the +Golden Horn. That night, speaking of the tender, the Emperor said to +Phranza: "Count Corti has cast his lot with us. As I interpret him, he +does not mean to survive our defeat. See that he be charged to select a +bodyguard to accompany me in action." +</p> + +<p> +"Is he to be Captain of the guard?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +The duty brought the Count to Blacherne. In a few days he had fifty +men, including his nine Berbers. +</p> + +<p> +These circumstances made him happy. He found peace of mind also in his +release from Mahommed. Not an hour of the day passed without his +silently thanking the Sultan for his magnanimity. +</p> + +<p> +But no matter for rejoicing came to him like the privilege of freely +attending the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +Not only was her reception-room open to him; whether she went to +Blacherne or Sancta Sophia, he appeared in her train. Often when the +hour of prayer arrived, she invited him as one of her household to +accompany her to the apartment she had set apart for chapel exercises; +and at such times he strove to be devout, but in taking her for his +pattern of conduct—as yet he hardly knew when to arise or kneel, or +cross himself—if his thoughts wandered from the Madonna and Child to +her, if sometimes he fell to making comparisons in which the Madonna +suffered as lacking beauty—nay, if not infrequently he caught himself +worshipping the living woman at the foot of the altar rather than the +divinity above it, few there were who would have been in haste to +condemn him even in that day. There is nothing modern in the world's +love of a lover. +</p> + +<p> +By the treaty with Mahommed he was free to tell the Princess of his +passion; and there were moments in which it seemed he must cast himself +at her feet and speak; but then he would be seized with a trembling, +his tongue would unaccountably refuse its office, and he would quiet +himself with the weakling's plea—another time—to-morrow, to-morrow. +And always upon the passing of the opportunity, the impulse being laid +with so many of its predecessors in the graveyard of broken +resolutions—every swain afraid keeps such a graveyard—always he +sallied from her door eager for an enemy on whom to vent his vexation. +"Ah," he would say, with prolonged emphasis upon the exclamation—"if +Mahommed were only at the gate! Is he never coming?" +</p> + +<p> +One day he dismounted at the Princess' door, and was ushered into the +reception-room by Lysander. "I bring you good news," he said, in course +of the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +"What now?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Every sword counts. I am just from the Port of Blacherne, whither I +accompanied the Grand Equerry to assist in receiving one John Grant, +who has arrived with a following of Free Lances, mostly my own +countrymen." +</p> + +<p> +"Who is John Grant?" +</p> + +<p> +"A German old in Eastern service; more particularly an expert in making +and throwing hollow iron balls filled with inflammable liquid. On +striking, the balls burst, after which the fire is unquenchable with +water." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! our Greek fire rediscovered!" +</p> + +<p> +"So he declares. His Majesty has ordered him the materials he asks, and +that he go to work to-morrow getting a store of his missiles ready. The +man declares also, if His Holiness would only proclaim a crusade +against the Turks. Constantinople has not space on her walls to hold +the volunteers who would hasten to her defence. He says Genoa, Venice, +all Italy, is aroused and waiting." +</p> + +<p> +"John Grant is welcome," the Princess returned; "the more so that His +Holiness is slow." +</p> + +<p> +Afterward, about the first of December, the Count again dismounted at +her door with news. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it now?" she inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Noble Princess, His Holiness has been heard from." +</p> + +<p> +"At last?" +</p> + +<p> +"A Legate will arrive to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +"Only a Legate! What is his name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Isidore, Grand Metropolitan of Russia." +</p> + +<p> +"Brings he a following?" +</p> + +<p> +"No soldiers; only a suite of priests high and low." +</p> + +<p> +"I see. He comes to negotiate. Alas!" +</p> + +<p> +"Why alas?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, the factions, the factions!" she exclaimed, disconsolately; then, +seeing the Count still in wonder, she added: "Know you not that +Isidore, familiarly called the Cardinal, was appointed Metropolitan of +the Russian Greek Church by the Pope, and, rejected by it, was driven +to refuge in Poland? What welcome can we suppose he will receive here?" +</p> + +<p> +"Is he not a Greek?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, truly; but being a Latin Churchman, the Brotherhoods hold him an +apostate. His first demand will be to celebrate mass in Sancta Sophia. +If the world were about shaking itself to pieces, the commotion would +be but little greater than the breaking of things we will then hear. +Oh, it is an ill wind which blows him to our gates!" Meantime the +Hippodrome had been converted into a Campus Martius, where at all hours +of the day the newly enlisted men were being drilled in the arms to +which they were assigned; now as archers, now as slingers; now with +balistas and catapults and arquebuses; now to the small artillery +especially constructed for service on the walls. And as trade was at an +end in the city, as in fact martial preparation occupied attention to +the exclusion of business in the commercial sense, the ancient site was +a centre of resort. Thither the Count hastened to work off the +disheartenment into which the comments of the Princess had thrown him. +</p> + +<p> +That same week, however, he and the loyal population of Constantinople +in general, were cheered by a coming of real importance. Early one +morning some vessels of war hove in sight down the Marmora. Their flags +proclaimed them Christian. Simultaneously the lookouts at Point +Demetrius reported a number of Turkish galleys plying to and fro up the +Bosphorus. It was concluded that a naval battle was imminent. The walls +in the vicinity of the Point were speedily crowded with spectators. In +fact, the anxiety was great enough to draw the Emperor from his High +Residence. Not doubting the galleys were bringing him stores, possibly +reinforcements, he directed his small fleet in the Golden Horn to be +ready to go to their assistance. His conjecture was right; yet more +happily the Turks made no attempt upon them. Turning into the harbor, +the strangers ran up the flags of Venice and Genoa, and never did they +appear so beautiful, seen by Byzantines—never were they more welcome. +The decks were crowded with helmed men who responded vigorously to the +cheering with which they were saluted. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine in person received the newcomers at the Port of Blacherne. +From the wall over the gate the Princess Irene, with an escort of noble +ladies, witnessed the landing. +</p> + +<p> +A knight of excellent presence stepped from a boat, and announced +himself. +</p> + +<p> +"I am John Justiniani of Genoa," he said, "come with two thousand +companions in arms to the succor of the most Christian Emperor +Constantine. Guide me to him, I pray." +</p> + +<p> +"The Emperor is here—I am he." +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani kissed the hand extended to him, and returned with fervor: +</p> + +<p> +"Christ and the Mother be praised! Much have I been disquieted lest we +should be too late. Your Majesty, command me." +</p> + +<p> +"Duke Notaras," said the Emperor, "assist this noble gentleman and his +companions. When they are disembarked, conduct them to me. For the +present I will lodge them in my residence." Then he addressed the +Genoese: "Duke Notaras, High Admiral of the Empire, will answer your +every demand. In God's name, and for the imperilled religion of our +Redeeming Lord, I bid you welcome." +</p> + +<p> +It seemed the waving of scarfs and white hands on the wall, and the +noisy salutations of the people present, were not agreeable to the +Duke; although coldly polite, he impressed Justiniani as an ill second +to the stately but courteous Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +At night there was an audience in the Very High Residence, and +Justiniani assisted Phranza in the presentation of his companions; and +though the banquet which shortly succeeded the audience may not, in the +courses served or in its table splendors, have vied with those Alexis +resorted to for the dazzlement of the chiefs of the first crusade, it +was not entirely wanting in such particulars; for it has often +happened, if the chronicles may be trusted, that the expiring light of +great countries has lingered longest in their festive halls, just as +old families have been known to nurture their pride in sparkling +heirlooms, all else having been swept away. The failings on this +occasion, if any there were, Constantine more than amended by his +engaging demeanor. Soldier not less than Emperor, he knew to win the +sympathy and devotion of soldiers. Of his foreign guests that evening +many afterwards died hardly distinguishing between him and the Holy +Cause which led them to their fate. +</p> + +<p> +The table was long, and without head or foot. On one side, in the +middle, the Emperor presided; opposite him sat the Princess Irene; and +on their right and left, in gallant interspersion, other ladies, the +wives and daughters of senators, nobles, and officials of the court, +helped charm the Western chivalry. +</p> + +<p> +And of the guests, the names of a few have been preserved by history, +together with the commands to which they were assigned in the siege. +</p> + +<p> +There was Andrew Dinia, under Duke Notaras, a captain of galleys. +</p> + +<p> +There was the Venetian Contarino, intrusted with the defence of the +Golden Grate. +</p> + +<p> +There was Maurice Cataneo, a soldier of Genoa, commandant of the walls +on the landward side between the Golden Gate and the Gate Selimbria. +</p> + +<p> +There were two brothers, gentlemen of Genoa, +</p> + +<p> +Paul Bochiardi and Antonin Troilus Bochiardi, defendants of the +Adrianople Gate. +</p> + +<p> +There was Jerome Minotte, Bayle of Venice, charged with safe keeping +the walls between the Adrianople Gate and the Cerco Portas. +</p> + +<p> +There was the artillerist, German John Grant, who, with Theodore +Carystos, made sure of the Gate Charsias. +</p> + +<p> +There was Leonardo de Langasco, another Genoese, keeper of the Wood +Gate. +</p> + +<p> +There was Gabriel Travisan; with four hundred other Venetians, he +maintained the stretch of wall on the harbor front between Point +Demetrius and the Port St. Peter. +</p> + +<p> +There was Pedro Guiliani, the Spanish Consul, assigned to the +guardianship of the wall on the sea side from Point Demetrius to the +Port of Julian. +</p> + +<p> +There also was stout Nicholas Gudelli; with the Emperor's brother, he +commanded the force in reserve. +</p> + +<p> +Now these, or the major part of them, may have been Free Lances; yet +they did not await the motion of Nicholas, the dilatory Pope, and were +faithful, and to-day exemplify the saying: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "That men may rise on stepping-stones<br /> + Of their dead selves to higher things."<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0605"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR +</h3> + +<p> +"Gracious Princess, the Italian, Count Corti, is at the door. He prays +you to hear a request from him." +</p> + +<p> +"Return, Lysander, and bring the Count." +</p> + +<p> +It was early morning, with February in its last days. +</p> + +<p> +The visitor's iron shoes clanked sharply on the marble floor of the +reception room, and the absence of everything like ornament in his +equipment bespoke preparation for immediate hard service. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope the Mother is keeping you well," she said, presenting her hand +to him. +</p> + +<p> +With a fervor somewhat more marked than common, he kissed the white +offering, and awaited her bidding. +</p> + +<p> +"My attendants are gone to the chapel, but I will hear you—or will you +lend us your presence at the service, and have the audience afterwards?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am in armor, and my steed is at the door, and my men biding at the +Adrianople Gate; wherefore, fair Princess, if it be your pleasure, I +will present my petition now." +</p> + +<p> +In grave mistrust, she returned: +</p> + +<p> +"God help us, Count! I doubt you have something ill to relate. Since +the good Gregory fled into exile to escape his persecutors, but more +especially since Cardinal Isidore attempted Latin mass in Sancta +Sophia, and the madman Gennadius so frightened the people with his +senseless anathemas, [Footnote: The scene here alluded to by the +Princess Irene is doubtless the one so vividly described by Gibbon as +having taken place in Sancta Sophia, the 12th of December, 1452, being +the mass celebrated by Cardinal Isidore in an attempt to reconcile the +Latin and Greek factions. +</p> + +<p> +Enumerating the consequences of the same futile effort at compromise, +Von Hammer says: "Instead of uniting for the common defence, the Greeks +and Latins fled, leaving the churches empty; the priests refused the +sacrament to the dying who were not of their faith; the monks and nuns +repudiated confessors who acknowledged the <i>henoticon</i> (decree +ordaining the reunion of the two churches); a spirit of frenzy took +possession of the convents; one <i>religieuse</i>, to the great scandal of +all the faithful, adopted the faith and costume of the Mussulmans, +eating meat and adoring the Prophet. Thus Lent passed." (Vol. II., p. +397.) +</p> + +<p> +To the same effect we read in the Universal History of the Catholic +Church (Vol. XXII., p. 103): "The religious who affected to surpass +others in sanctity of life and purity of faith, following the advice of +Gennadius and their spiritual advisers, as well as that of the +preachers and laity of their party, condemned the decree of union, and +anathematized those who approved or might approve it. The common +people, sallying from the monasteries, betook themselves to the +taverns; there flourishing glasses of wine, they reviled all who had +consented to the union, and drinking in honor of an image of the Mother +of God, prayed her to protect and defend the city against Mahomet, as +she had formerly defended it against Chosroes and the Kagan. We will +have nothing to do with assistance from the Latins or a union with +them. Far from us be the worship of the <i>azymites</i>."] I have been beset +with forebodings until I startle at my own thoughts. It were gentle, +did you go to your request at once." +</p> + +<p> +She permitted him to lead her to an armless chair, and, standing before +her, he spoke with decision: +</p> + +<p> +"Princess Irene, now that you have resolved finally to remain in the +city, and abide the issue of the siege, rightly judging it an affair +determinable by God, it is but saying the truth as I see it, that no +one is more interested in what betides us from day to day than you; for +if Heaven frowns upon our efforts at defence, and there comes an +assault, and we are taken, the Conqueror, by a cruel law of war, has at +disposal the property both public and private he gains, and every +living thing as well. We who fight may die the death he pleases; +you—alas, most noble and virtuous lady, my tongue refuses the words +that rise to it for utterance!" +</p> + +<p> +The rose tints in her cheeks faded, yet she answered: "I know what you +would say, and confess it has appalled me. Sometimes it tempts me to +fly while yet I can; then I remember I am a Palaeologus. I remember +also my kinsman the Emperor is to be sustained in the trial confronting +him. I remember too the other women, high and low, who will stay and +share the fortunes of their fighting husbands and brothers. If I have +less at stake than they, Count Corti, the demands of honor are more +rigorous upon me." +</p> + +<p> +The count's eyes glowed with admiration, but next moment the light in +them went out. +</p> + +<p> +"Noble lady," he began, "I hope it will not be judged too great a +familiarity to say I have some days been troubled on your account. I +have feared you might be too confident of our ability to beat the +enemy. It seems my duty to warn you of the real outlook that you may +permit us to provide for your safety while opportunities favor." +</p> + +<p> +"For my flight, Count Corti?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Princess Irene, your retirement from the city." +</p> + +<p> +She smiled at the distinction he made, but replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I will hear you, Count." +</p> + +<p> +"It is for you to consider, O Princess—if reports of the Sultan's +preparation are true—this assault in one feature at least will be +unparalleled. The great guns for which he has been delaying are said to +be larger than ever before used against walls. They may destroy our +defences at once; they may command all the space within those defences; +they may search every hiding-place; the uncertainties they bring with +them are not to be disregarded by the bravest soldier, much less the +unresisting classes.... In the next place, I think it warrantable from +the mass of rumors which has filled the month to believe the city will +be assailed by a force much greater than was ever drawn together under +her walls. Suffer me to refer to them, O Princess... The Sultan is yet +at Adrianople assembling his army. Large bodies of footmen are crossing +the Hellespont at Gallipolis and the Bosphorus at Hissar; in the region +of Adrianople the country is covered with hordes of horsemen speaking +all known tongues and armed with every known weapon—Cossacks from the +north, Arabs from the south, Koords and Tartars from the east, +Roumanians and Slavs from beyond the Balkans. The roads from the +northwest are lined with trains bringing supplies and siege-machinery. +The cities along the shores of the Black Sea have yielded to Mahommed; +those which defied him are in ruins. An army is devastating Morea. The +brother whom His Majesty the Emperor installed ruler there is dead or a +wanderer, no man can say in what parts. Assistance cannot be expected +from him. Above us, far as the sea, the bays are crowded with ships of +all classes; four hundred hostile sail have been counted from the +hill-tops. And now that there is no longer a hope of further aid from +the Christians of Europe, the effect of the news upon our garrison is +dispiriting. Our garrison! Alas, Princess, with the foreigners come to +our aid, it is not sufficient to man the walls on the landward side +alone." +</p> + +<p> +"The picture is gloomy, Count, but if you have drawn it to shake my +purpose, it is not enough. I have put myself in the hands of the +Blessed Mother. I shall stay, and be done with as God orders." +</p> + +<p> +Again the Count's face glowed with admiration. +</p> + +<p> +"I thought as much, O Princess," he said warmly; "yet it seemed to me a +duty to advise you of the odds against us; and now, the duty done, I +pray you hear me as graciously upon another matter.... Last night, +seeing the need of information of the enemy, I besought His Majesty to +allow me to ride toward Adrianople. He consented, and I set out +immediately; but before going, before bidding you adieu, noble Princess +and dear lady, I have a prayer to offer you." +</p> + +<p> +He hesitated; then plucking courage from the embarrassment of silence, +went on: +</p> + +<p> +"Dear lady, your resolution to stay and face the dangers of the siege +and assault fills me with alarm for your safety." +</p> + +<p> +He cast himself upon his knees, and stretched his hands to her. +</p> + +<p> +"Give me permission to protect you. I devote my sword to you, and the +skill of my hands—my life, my soul. Let me be your knight." +</p> + +<p> +She arose, but he continued: +</p> + +<p> +"Some day, deeds done for your country and religion may give me courage +to speak more boldly of what I feel and hope; but now I dare go no +further than ask what you have just heard. Let me be your protector and +knight through the perils of the siege at least." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess was pleased with the turn his speech had taken. She +thought rapidly. A knight in battle, foremost in the press, her name a +conquering cry on his lips were but the constituents of a right womanly +ambition. She answered: +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti, I accept thy offer." +</p> + +<p> +Taking the hand she extended, he kissed it reverently, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"I am happy above other men. Now, O Princess, give me a favor—a glove, +a scarf—something I may wear, to prove me thy knight." +</p> + +<p> +She took from her neck a net of knitted silk, pinkish in hue, and large +enough for a kerchief or waist sash. +</p> + +<p> +"If I go about this gift," she said, her face deeply suffused, "in a +way to provoke a smile hereafter; if in placing it around thy neck with +my own hands"—with the words, she bent over him, and dropped the net +outside the hood so the ends hung loosely down his breast—"I overstep +any rule of modesty, I pray you will not misunderstand me. I am +thinking of my country, my kinsman, of religion and God, and the +service even unto noble deeds thou mayst do them. Rise, Count Corti. In +the ride before thee now, in the perils to come, thou shalt have my +prayers." +</p> + +<p> +The Count arose, but afraid to trust himself in further speech, he +carried her hand to his lips again, and with a simple farewell, hurried +out, and mounting his horse rode at speed for the Adrianople Gate. +</p> + +<p> +Four days after, he reentered the gate, bringing a prisoner, and +passing straight to the Very High Residence, made report to the +Emperor, Justiniani and Duke Notaras in council. +</p> + +<p> +"I have been greatly concerned for you, Count," said Constantine; "and +not merely because a good sword can be poorly spared just now." +</p> + +<p> +The imperial pleasure was unfeigned. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty's grace is full reward for my performance," the Count +replied, and rising from the salutation, he began his recital. +</p> + +<p> +"Stay," said the Emperor, "I will have a seat brought that you may be +at ease." +</p> + +<p> +Corti declined: "The Arabs have a saying, Your Majesty—'A nest for a +setting bird, a saddle for a warrior.' The jaunt has but rested me, and +there was barely enough danger in it.... The Turk is an old +acquaintance. I have lived with him, and been his guest in house and +tent, and as a comrade tempted Providence at his side under countless +conditions, until I know his speech and usages, himself scarcely +better. My African Berbers are all Mohammedans who have performed the +Pilgrimage. One of them is a muezzin by profession; and if he can but +catch sight of the sun, he will never miss the five hours of prayer. +None of them requires telling the direction to Mecca.... I issued from +Your Majesty's great gate about the third hour, and taking the road to +Adrianople, journeyed till near midday before meeting a human being. +There were farms and farmhouses on my right and left, and the fields +had been planted in good season; but the growing grain was wasted; and +when I sought the houses to have speech with their tenants they were +forsaken. Twice we were driven off by the stench of bodies rotting +before the doors." +</p> + +<p> +"Greeks?" +</p> + +<p> +"Greeks, Your Majesty.... There were wild hogs in the thickets which +fled at sight of us, and vultures devouring the corpses." +</p> + +<p> +"Were there no other animals, no horses or oxen?" asked Justiniani. +</p> + +<p> +"None, noble Genoese—none seen by us, and the swine were spared, I +apprehend, because their meat is prohibited to the children of +Islam.... At length Hadifah, whom I have raised to be a Sheik—Your +Majesty permitting—and whose eyes discover the small things with which +space is crowded as he were a falcon making circles up near the +sun—Hadifah saw a man in the reeds hiding; and we pursued the wretch, +and caught him, and he too was a Greek; and when his fright allowed him +to talk, he told us a band of strange people, the like of whom he had +never seen, attacked his hut, burned it, carried off his goats and she +buffaloes; and since that hour, five weeks gone, he had been hunting +for his wife and three girl-children. God be merciful to them! Of the +Turks he could tell nothing except that now, everything of value gone, +they too had disappeared. I gave the poor man a measure of oaten cakes, +and left him to his misery. God be merciful to him also!" +</p> + +<p> +"Did you not advise him to come to me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, he was a husband and father seeking his family; with all +humility, what else is there for him to do?" +</p> + +<p> +"I give your judgment credit, Count. There is nothing else." +</p> + +<p> +"I rode on till night, meeting nobody, friend or foe—on through a wide +district, lately inhabited, now a wilderness. The creatures of the +Sultan had passed through it, and there was fire in their breath. We +discovered a dried-up stream, and by sinking in its bed obtained water +for our horses. There, in a hollow, we spent the night.... Next +morning, after an hour's ride, we met a train of carts drawn by oxen. +The groaning and creaking of the distraught wheels warned me of the +encounter before the advance guard of mounted men, quite a thousand +strong, were in view. I did not draw rein"— +</p> + +<p> +"What!" cried Justiniani, astonished. "With but a company of nine?" +</p> + +<p> +The Count smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"I crave your pardon, gallant Captain. In my camp the night before, I +prepared my Berbers for the meeting." +</p> + +<p> +"By the bones of the saints, Count Corti, thou dost confuse me the +more! With such odds against thee, what preparations were at thy +command?" +</p> + +<p> +"'There was never amulet like a grain of wit in a purse under thy cap.' +Good Captain, the saying is not worse of having proceeded from a +Persian. I told my followers we were likely at any moment to be +overtaken by a force too strong for us to fight; but instead of running +away, we must meet them heartily, as friends enlisted in the same +cause; and if they asked whence we were, we must be sure of agreement +in our reply. I was to be a Turk; they, Egyptians from west of the +Nile. We had come in by the new fortress opposite the White Castle, and +were going to the mighty Lord Mahommed in Adrianople. Beyond that, I +bade them be silent, leaving the entertainment of words to me." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor and Justiniani laughed, but Notaras asked: "If thy Berbers +are Mohammedans, as thou sayest, Count Corti, how canst thou rely on +them against Mohammedans?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord the High Admiral may not have heard of the law by which, if +one Arab kills another, the relatives of the dead man are bound to kill +him, unless there be composition. So I had merely to remind Hadifah and +his companions of the Turks we slew in the field near Basch-Kegan." +</p> + +<p> +Corti continued: "After parley with the captain of the advance guard, I +was allowed to ride on; and coming to the train, I found the carts +freighted with military engines and tools for digging trenches and +fortifying camps. There were hundreds of them, and the drivers were a +multitude. Indeed, Your Majesty, from head to foot the caravan was +miles in reach, its flanks well guarded by groups of horsemen at +convenient intervals." +</p> + +<p> +This statement excited the three counsellors. +</p> + +<p> +"After passing the train," the Count was at length permitted to resume, +"my way was through bodies of troops continuously—all irregulars. It +must have been about three o'clock in the afternoon when I came upon +the most surprising sight. Much I doubt if ever the noble Captain +Justiniani, with all his experience, can recall anything like it. +</p> + +<p> +"First there was a great company of pioneers with tools for grading the +hills and levelling the road; then on a four-wheeled carriage two men +stood beating a drum; their sticks looked like the enlarged end of a +galley oar. The drum responded to their blows in rumbles like dull +thunder from distant clouds. While I sat wondering why they beat it, +there came up next sixty oxen yoked in pairs. Your Majesty can in fancy +measure the space they covered. On the right and left of each yoke +strode drivers with sharpened goads, and their yelling harmonized +curiously with the thunder of the drum. The straining of the brutes was +pitiful to behold. And while I wondered yet more, a log of bronze was +drawn toward me big at one end as the trunk of a great plane tree, and +so long that thirty carts chained together as one wagon, were required +to support it laid lengthwise; and to steady the piece on its rolling +bed, two hundred and fifty stout laborers kept pace with it +unremittingly watchful. The movement was tedious, but at last I saw"— +</p> + +<p> +"A cannon!" exclaimed the Genoese. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, noble Captain, the gun said to be the largest ever cast." +</p> + +<p> +"Didst thou see any of the balls?" +</p> + +<p> +"Other carts followed directly loaded with gray limestones chiselled +round; and to my inquiry what the stones were for, I was told they were +bullets twelve spans in circumference, and that the charge of powder +used would cast them a mile." +</p> + +<p> +The inquisitors gazed at each other mutely, and their thoughts may be +gathered from the action of the Emperor. He touched a bell on a table, +and to Phranza, who answered the call, he said: "Lord Chamberlain, have +two men well skilled in the construction of walls report to me in the +morning. There is work for them which they must set about at once. I +will furnish the money." [Footnote: Before the siege by the Turks, two +monks, Manuel Giagari and Neophytus of Rhodes, were charged with +repairing the walls, but they buried the sums intrusted to them for +these works; and in the pillage of the city seventy thousand pieces of +gold thus advanced by the Emperor were unearthed.—VON HAMMER, Vol. +II., p. 417.] +</p> + +<p> +"I have but little more of importance to engage Your Majesty's +attention.... Behind the monster cannon, two others somewhat smaller +were brought up in the same careful manner. I counted seventeen pieces +all brass, the least of them exceeding in workmanship and power the +best in the Hippodrome." +</p> + +<p> +"Were there more?" Justiniani asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Many more, brave Captain, but ancient, and unworthy mention.... The +day was done when, by sharp riding, I gained the rear of the train. At +sunrise on the third day, I set out in return.... I have a prisoner +whom this august council may examine with profit. He will, at least, +confirm my report." +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he?" +</p> + +<p> +"The captain of the advance guard." +</p> + +<p> +"How came you by him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, I induced him to ride a little way with me, and at a +convenient time gave his bridle rein to Hadifah. In his boyhood the +Sheik was trained to leading camels, and he assures me it is much +easier to lead a horse." +</p> + +<p> +The sally served to lighten the sombre character of the Count's report, +and in the midst of the merriment, he was dismissed. The prisoner was +then brought in, and put to question; next day the final preparation +for the reception of Mahommed was begun. +</p> + +<p> +With a care equal to the importance of the business, Constantine +divided the walls into sections, beginning on the landward side of the +Golden Gate or Seven Towers, and ending at the Cynegion. Of the harbor +front he made one division, with the Grand Gate of Blacherne and the +Acropolis or Point Serail for termini; from Point Serail to the Seven +Towers he stationed patrols and lookouts, thinking the sea and rocks +sufficient to discourage assault in that quarter. +</p> + +<p> +His next care was the designation of commandants of the several +divisions. The individuals thus honored have been already mentioned; +though it may be well to add how the Papal Legate, Cardinal Isidore, +doffing his frock and donning armor, voluntarily accepted chief +direction along the harbor—an example of martial gallantry which ought +to have shamed the lukewarm Greeks morosely skulking in their cells. +</p> + +<p> +Shrewdly anticipating a concentration of effort against the Gate St. +Romain, and its two auxiliary towers, Bagdad and St. Romain, the former +on the right hand and the latter on the left, he assigned Justiniani to +its defence. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the walls, and in the towers numerously garnishing them, the +gallant Emperor next brought up his guns and machines, with profuse +supplies of missiles. +</p> + +<p> +Then, after flooding the immense ditch, he held a review in the +Hippodrome, whence the several detachments marched to their stations. +</p> + +<p> +Riding with his captains, and viewing the walls, now gay with banners +and warlike tricking, Constantine took heart, and told how Amurath, the +peerless warrior, had dashed his Janissaries against them, and rued the +day. +</p> + +<p> +"Is this boy Mahommed greater than his father?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"God knows," Isidore responded, crossing himself breast and forehead. +</p> + +<p> +And well content, the cavalcade repassed the ponderous Gate St. Romain. +All that could be done had been done. There was nothing more but to +wait. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0606"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN +</h3> + +<p> +In the city April seemed to have borrowed from the delays of Mahommed; +never month so slow in coming. At last, however, its first day, dulled +by a sky all clouds, and with winds from the Balkans. +</p> + +<p> +The inertness of the young Sultan was not from want of will or zeal. It +took two months to drag his guns from Adrianople; but with them the +army moved, and as it moved it took possession, or rather covered the +land. At length, he too arrived, bringing, as it were, the month with +him; and then he lost no more time. +</p> + +<p> +About five miles from the walls on the south or landward side, he drew +his hordes together in the likeness of a line of battle, and at a +trumpet call they advanced in three bodies simultaneously. So a tidal +wave, far extending, broken, noisy, terrible, rises out of the deep, +and rolls upon a shore of stony cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +Near ten o'clock in the forenoon of the sixth of April the Emperor +mounted the roof of the tower of St. Romain, mentioned as at the left +of the gate bearing the same name. There were with him Justiniani, the +Cardinal Isidore, John Grant, Phranza, Theophilus Palaeologus, Duke +Notaras, and a number of inferior persons native and foreign. He had +come to see all there was to be seen of the Turks going into position. +</p> + +<p> +The day was spring-like, with just enough breeze to blow the mists away. +</p> + +<p> +The reader must think of the roof as an immense platform accessible by +means of a wooden stairway in the interior of the tower, and +battlemented on the four sides, the merlons of stone in massive blocks, +and of a height to protect a tall man, the embrasures requiring +banquettes to make them serviceable. In arrangement somewhat like a +ship's battery, there are stoutly framed arbalists and mangonels on the +platform, and behind them, with convenient spaces between, arquebuses +on tripods, cumbrous catapults, and small cannon on high axles ready +for wheeling into position between the merlons. Near each machine its +munitions lie in order. Leaning against the walls there are also +spears, javelins, and long and cross bows; while over the corner next +the gate floats an imperial standard, its white field emblazoned with +the immemorial Greek cross in gold. The defenders of the tower are +present; and as they are mostly Byzantines, their attitudes betray much +more than cold military respect, for they are receiving the Emperor, +whom they have been taught to regard worshipfully. +</p> + +<p> +They study him, and take not a little pride in observing that, clad in +steel cap-a-pie, he in no wise suffers by comparison with the best of +his attendants, not excepting Justiniani, the renowned Genoese captain. +Not more to see than be seen, the visor of his helmet is raised; and +stealing furtive glances at his countenance, noble by nature, but just +now more than ordinarily inspiring, they are better and stronger for +what they read in it. +</p> + +<p> +On the right and left the nearest towers obstruct the view of the walls +in prolongation; but southward the country spreads before the party a +campania rolling and fertile, dotted with trees scattered and in thin +groves, and here and there an abandoned house. The tender green of +vegetation upon the slopes reminds those long familiar with them that +grass is already invading what were lately gardens and cultivated +fields. Constantine makes the survey in silence, for he knows how soon +even the grass must disappear. Just beyond the flooded ditch at the +foot of the first or outward wall is a road, and next beyond the road a +cemetery crowded with tombs and tombstones, and brown and white +mausolean edifices; indeed, the chronicles run not back to a time when +that marginal space was unallotted to the dead. From the far skyline +the eyes of the fated Emperor drop to the cemetery, and linger there. +</p> + +<p> +Presently one of his suite calls out: "Hark! What sound is that?" +</p> + +<p> +They all give attention. +</p> + +<p> +"It is thunder." +</p> + +<p> +"No—thunder rolls. This is a beat." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine and Justiniani remembered Count Corti's description of the +great drum hauled before the artillery train of the Turks, and the +former said calmly: +</p> + +<p> +"They are coming." +</p> + +<p> +Almost as he spoke the sunlight mildly tinting the land in the farness +seemed to be troubled, and on the tops of the remote hillocks there +appeared to be giants rolling them up, as children roll snow-balls—and +the movement was toward the city. +</p> + +<p> +The drum ceased not its beating or coming. Justiniani by virtue of his +greater experience, was at length able to say: +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, it is here in front of us; and as this Gate St. Romain +marks the centre of your defences, so that drum marks the centre of an +advancing line, and regulates the movement from wing to wing." +</p> + +<p> +"It must be so, Captain; for see—there to the left—those are bodies +of men." +</p> + +<p> +"And now, Your Majesty, I hear trumpets." +</p> + +<p> +A little later some one cried out: +</p> + +<p> +"Now I hear shouting." +</p> + +<p> +And another: "I see gleams of metal." +</p> + +<p> +Ere long footmen and horsemen were in view, and the Byzantines, brought +to the wall by thousands, gazed and listened in nervous wonder; for +look where they might over the campania, they saw the enemy closing in +upon them, and heard his shouting, and the neighing of horses, the +blaring of horns, and the palpitant beating of drums. +</p> + +<p> +"By our Lady of Blacherne," said the Emperor, after a long study of the +spectacle, "it is a great multitude, reaching to the sea here on our +left, and, from the noise, to the Golden Horn on our right; none the +less I am disappointed. I imagined much splendor of harness and shields +and banners, but see only blackness and dust. I cannot make out amongst +them one Sultanic flag. Tell me, most worthy John Grant—it being +reported that thou hast great experience combating with and against +these hordes—tell me if this poverty of appearance is usual with them." +</p> + +<p> +The sturdy German, in a jargon difficult to follow, answered: "These at +our left are the scum of Asia. They are here because they have nothing; +their hope is to better their condition, to return rich, to exchange +ragged turbans for crowns, and goatskin jackets for robes of silk. +Look, Your Majesty, the tombs in front of us are well kept; to-morrow +if there be one left standing, it will have been rifled. Of the lately +buried there will not be a ring on a finger or a coin under a tongue. +Oh, yes, the ghouls will look better next week! Only give them time to +convert the clothes they will strip from the dead into fresh turbans. +But when the Janissaries come Your Majesty will not be disappointed. +See—their advance guard now—there on the rising ground in front of +the gate." +</p> + +<p> +There was a swell of ground to the right of the gate rather than in +front of it, and as the party looked thither, a company of horsemen +were seen riding slowly but in excellent order, and the sheen of their +arms and armor silvered the air about them. Immediately other companies +deployed on the right and left of the first one; then the thunderous +drum ceased; whereat, from the hordes out on the campania, brought to a +sudden standstill, detachments dashed forward at full speed, and +dismounting, began digging a trench. +</p> + +<p> +"Be this Sultan like or unlike his father, he is a soldier. He means to +cover his army, and at the same time enclose us from sea to harbor. +To-morrow, my Lord, only high-flying hawks can communicate with us from +the outside." +</p> + +<p> +This, from Justiniani to the Emperor, was scarcely noticed, for behind +the deploying Janissaries, there arose an outburst of music in deep +volume, the combination of clarions and cymbals so delightful to +warriors of the East; at the same instant a yellow flag was displayed. +Then old John Grant exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"The colors of the <i>Silihdars!</i> Mahommed is not far away. Nay, Your +Majesty, look—the Sultan himself!" +</p> + +<p> +Through an interval of the guard, a man in chain mail shooting golden +sparkles, helmed, and with spear in hand and shield at his back, +trotted forth, his steed covered with flowing cloths. Behind him +appeared a suite mixed of soldiers and civilians, the former in warlike +panoply, the latter in robes and enormous turbans. Down the slope the +foremost rider led as if to knock at the gate. On the tower the cannon +were loaded, and run into the embrasures. +</p> + +<p> +"Mahommed, saidst thou, John Grant?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mahommed, Your Majesty." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I call him rash; but as we are not ashamed of our gates and +walls, let him have his look in peace.... Hear you, men, let him look, +and go in peace." +</p> + +<p> +The repetition was in restraint of the eager gunners. +</p> + +<p> +Further remark was cut short by a trumpet sounded at the foot of the +tower. An officer peered over the wall, and reported: "Your Majesty, a +knight just issued from the gate is riding forth. I take him to be the +Italian, Count Corti." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine became a spectator of what ensued. +</p> + +<p> +Ordinarily the roadway from the country was carried over the deep moat +in front of the Gate St. Romain by a floor of stout timbers well +balustraded at the sides, and resting on brick piers. Of the bridge +nothing now remained but a few loose planks side by side ready to be +hastily snatched from their places. To pass them afoot was a venture; +yet Count Corti, when the Emperor looked at him from the height, was +making the crossing mounted, and blowing a trumpet as he went. +</p> + +<p> +"Is the man mad?" asked the Emperor, in deep concern. +</p> + +<p> +"Mad? No, he is challenging the Mahounds to single combat; and, my +lords and gentlemen, if he be skilful as he is bold, then, by the Three +Kings of Cologne, we will see some pretty work in pattern for the rest +of us." +</p> + +<p> +Thus Grant replied. +</p> + +<p> +Corti made the passage safely, and in the road beyond the moat halted, +and drove the staff of his banderole firmly in the ground. A broad +opening through the cemetery permitted him to see and be seen by the +Turks, scarcely a hundred yards away. Standing in his stirrups, he +sounded the trumpet again—a clear call ringing with defiance. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed gave over studying the tower and deep-sunken gate, and +presently beckoned to his suite. +</p> + +<p> +"What is the device on yon pennon?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"A moon with a cross on its face." +</p> + +<p> +"Say you so?" +</p> + +<p> +Twice the defiance was repeated, and so long the young Sultan, sat +still, his countenance unusually grave. He recognized the Count; only +he thought of him by the dearer Oriental name, Mirza. He knew also how +much more than common ambition there was in the blatant challenge—that +it was a reminder of the treaty between them, and, truly interpreted, +said, in effect: "Lo, my Lord! she is well, and for fear thou judge me +unworthy of her, send thy bravest to try me." And he hesitated—an +accident might quench the high soul. Alas, then, for the Princess Irene +in the day of final assault! Who would deliver her to him? The hordes, +and the machinery, all the mighty preparation, were, in fact, less for +conquest and glory than love. Sore the test had there been one in +authority to say to him: "She is thine, Lord Mahommed; thine, so thou +take her, and leave the city." +</p> + +<p> +A third time the challenge was delivered, and from the walls a taunting +cheer descended. Then the son of Isfendiar, recognizing the banderole, +and not yet done with chafing over his former defeat, pushed through +the throng about Mahommed, and prayed: +</p> + +<p> +"O my Lord, suffer me to punish yon braggart." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed replied: "Thou hast felt his hand already, but go—I commend +thee to thy houris." +</p> + +<p> +He settled in his saddle smiling. The danger was not to the Count. +</p> + +<p> +The arms, armor, weapons, and horse-furniture of the Moslem were +identical with the Italian's; and it being for the challenged party to +determine with what the duel should be fought, whether with axe, sword, +lance or bow, the son of Isfendiar chose the latter, and made ready +while advancing. The Count was not slow in imitating him. +</p> + +<p> +Each held his weapon—short for saddle service—in the left hand, the +arrow in place, and the shield on the left forearm. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had they reached the open ground in the cemetery than they +commenced moving in circles, careful to keep the enemy on the shield +side at a distance of probably twenty paces. The spectators became +silent. Besides the skill which masters in such affrays should possess, +they were looking for portents of the result. +</p> + +<p> +Three times the foemen encircled each other with shield guard so well +kept that neither saw an opening to attack; then the Turk discharged +his arrow, intending to lodge it in the shoulder of the other's horse, +the buckling attachments of the neck mail being always more or less +imperfect. The Count interposed his shield, and shouted in Osmanli: +"Out on thee, son of Isfendiar! I am thy antagonist, not my horse. Thou +shalt pay for the cowardice." +</p> + +<p> +He then narrowed the circle of his movement, and spurring full speed, +compelled the Turk to turn on a pivot so reduced it was almost a halt. +The exposure while taking a second shaft from the quiver behind the +right shoulder was dangerously increased. "Beware!" the Count cried +again, launching his arrow through the face opening of the hood. +</p> + +<p> +The son of Isfendiar might never attain his father's Pachalik. There +was not voice left him for a groan. He reeled in his saddle, clutching +the empty air, then tumbled to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +The property of the dead man, his steed, arms, and armor, were lawful +spoils; but without heeding them, the Count retired to his banderole, +and, amidst the shouts of the Greeks on the walls and towers, renewed +the challenge. A score of chiefs beset the Sultan for permission to +engage the insolent <i>Gabour</i>. +</p> + +<p> +To an Arab Sheik, loudest in importunity, he said: "What has happened +since yesterday to dissatisfy thee with life?" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik raised a lance with a flexible shaft twenty feet in length, +made of a cane peculiar to the valley of the Jordan, and shaking it +stoutly, replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Allah, and the honor of my tribe!" +</p> + +<p> +Perceiving the man's reliance in his weapon, Mahommed returned: "How +many times didst thou pray yesterday?" +</p> + +<p> +"Five times, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"And to-day?" +</p> + +<p> +"Twice." +</p> + +<p> +"Go, then; but as yon champion hath not a lance to put him on equality +with thee, he will be justified in taking to the sword." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik's steed was of the most precious strain of El-Hejaz; and +sitting high in the saddle, a turban of many folds on his head, a +striped robe drawn close to the waist, his face thin, coffee-colored, +hawk-nosed, and lightning-eyed, he looked a king of the desert. +Galloping down on the Christian, he twirled the formidable lance +dextrously, until it seemed not more than a stalk of dried papyrus. +</p> + +<p> +The Count beheld in the performance a trick of the <i>djerid</i> he had +often practised with Mahommed. Uncertain if the man's robe covered +armor, he met him with an arrow, and seeing it fall off harmless, +tossed the bow on his back, drew sword, and put his horse in forward +movement, caracoling right and left to disturb the enemy's aim. Nothing +could be more graceful than this action. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the Sheik stopped playing, and balancing the lance overhead, +point to the foe, rushed with a shrill cry upon him. Corti's friends on +the tower held their breath; even the Emperor said: "It is too unequal. +God help him!" At the last moment, however—the moment of the +thrust—changing his horse to the right, the Count laid himself flat +upon its side, under cover of his shield. The thrust, only a little +less quick, passed him in the air, and before the Sheik could recover +or shorten his weapon, the trained foeman was within its sweep. In a +word, the Arab was at mercy. Riding with him side by side, hand on his +shoulder, the Count shouted: "Yield thee!" +</p> + +<p> +"Dog of a Christian, never! Do thy worst." +</p> + +<p> +The sword twirled once—a flash—then it descended, severing the lance +in front of the owner's grip. The fragment fell to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +"Now yield thee!" +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik drew rein. +</p> + +<p> +"Why dost thou not kill me?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have a message for thy master yonder, the Lord Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak it then." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell him he is in range of the cannon on the towers, and only the +Emperor's presence there restrains the gunners. There is much need for +thee to haste." +</p> + +<p> +"Who art thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am an Italian knight who, though thy Lord's enemy, hath reason to +love him. Wilt thou go?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will do as thou sayest." +</p> + +<p> +"Alight, then. Thy horse is mine." +</p> + +<p> +"For ransom?" +</p> + +<p> +"No." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik dismounted grumblingly, and was walking off when the cheering +of the Greeks stung him to the soul. +</p> + +<p> +"A chance—O Christian, another chance—to-day—to-morrow!" +</p> + +<p> +"Deliver the message; it shall be as thy Lord may then appoint. Bestir +thyself." +</p> + +<p> +The Count led the prize to the banderole, and flinging the reins over +it, faced the gleaming line of Janissaries once more, trumpet at mouth. +He saw the Sheik salute Mahommed; then the attendants closed around +them. "A courteous dog, by the Prophet!" said the Sultan. "In what +tongue did he speak?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, he might have been bred under my own tent." +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan's countenance changed. +</p> + +<p> +"Was there not more of his message?" +</p> + +<p> +He was thinking of the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Repeat it." +</p> + +<p> +"He will fight me again to-day or to-morrow, as my Lord may +appoint—and I want my horse. Without him, El-Hejaz will be a widow." +</p> + +<p> +A red spot appeared on Mahommed's forehead. +</p> + +<p> +"Begone!" he cried angrily. "Seest thou not, O fool, that when we take +the city we will recover thy horse? Fight thou shalt not, for in that +day I shall have need of thee." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he bade them open for him, and rode slowly back up the +eminence, and when he disappeared Corti was vainly sounding his trumpet. +</p> + +<p> +The two horses were led across the dismantled bridge, and into the gate. +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven hath sent me a good soldier," said the Emperor to the Count, +upon descending from the tower. +</p> + +<p> +Then Justiniani asked: "Why didst thou spare thy last antagonist?" +</p> + +<p> +Corti answered truthfully. +</p> + +<p> +"It was well done," the Genoese returned, offering his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay," said Constantine, cordially, "well done. But mount now, and ride +with us." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, a favor first.... A man is in the road dead. Let his +body be placed on a bier, and carried to his friends." +</p> + +<p> +"A most Christian request! My Lord Chamberlain, attend to it." +</p> + +<p> +The cavalcade betook itself then to other parts, the better to see the +disposition of the Turks; and everywhere on the landward side it was +the same—troops in masses, and intrenchments in progress. Closing the +inspection at set of sun, the Emperor beheld the sea and the Bosphorus +in front of the Golden Horn covered with hundreds of sails. +</p> + +<p> +"The leaguer is perfected," said the Genoese. +</p> + +<p> +"And the issue with God," Constantine replied. "Let us to Hagia St. +Sophia." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0607"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS +</h3> + +<p> +The first sufficient gleam of light next morning revealed to the +watchmen on the towers an ominous spectacle. Through the night they had +heard a medley of noises peculiar to a multitude at work with all their +might; now, just out of range of their own guns, they beheld a +continuous rampart of fresh earth grotesquely spotted with marbles from +the cemetery. +</p> + +<p> +In no previous siege of the Byzantine capital was there reference to +such a preliminary step. To the newly enlisted, viewing for the first +time an enemy bodily present, it seemed like the world being pared down +to the smallest dimensions; while their associate veterans, to whom +they naturally turned for comfort, admitted an appreciable respect for +the Sultan. Either he had a wise adviser, they said, or he was himself +a genius. +</p> + +<p> +Noon—and still the workmen seemed inexhaustible—still the rampart +grew in height—still the hordes out on the campania multiplied, and +the horizon line west of the Gate St. Romain was lost in the increasing +smoke of a vast bivouac. +</p> + +<p> +Nightfall—and still the labor. +</p> + +<p> +About midnight, judging by the sounds, the sentinels fancied the enemy +approached nearer the walls; and they were not mistaken. With the +advent of the second morning, here and there at intervals, ill-defined +mounds of earth were seen so much in advance of the intrenched line +that, by a general order, a fire of stones and darts was opened upon +them; and straightway bodies of bowmen and slingers rushed forward, and +returned the fire, seeking to cover the mound builders. This was battle. +</p> + +<p> +Noon again—and battle. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening—battle. +</p> + +<p> +The advantage of course was with the besieged. +</p> + +<p> +The work on the mounds meanwhile continued, while the campania behind +the intrenchment was alive with a creaking of wheels burdened by +machinery, and a shouting of ox-drivers; and the veterans on the walls +said the enemy was bringing up his balistas and mangonels. +</p> + +<p> +The third morning showed the mounds finished, and crowned with +mantelets, behind which, in working order and well manned, every sort +of engine known in sieges from Alexander to the Crusaders was in +operation. Thenceforward, it is to be observed, the battle was by no +means one-sided. +</p> + +<p> +In this opening there was no heat or furore of combat; it was rather +the action of novices trying their machines, or, in modern artillery +parlance, finding the range. Many minutes often intervened between +shots, and as the preliminary object on the part of the besiegers was +to destroy the merlons sheltering the warders, did a stone strike +either wall near the top, the crash was saluted by cheers. +</p> + +<p> +Now the foreigners defending were professionals who had graduated in +all the arts of town and castle taking. These met the successes of +their antagonists with derision. "Apprentices," they would say, +"nothing but apprentices."... "See those fellows by the big springal +there turning the winch the wrong way!" ... "The turbaned sons of +Satan! Have they no eyes? I'll give them a lesson. Look!" And if the +bolt fell truly, there was loud laughter on the walls. +</p> + +<p> +The captains, moreover, were incessantly encouraging the raw men under +them. "Two walls, and a hundred feet of flooded ditch! There will be +merry Christmas in the next century before the Mahounds get to us at +the rate they are coming. Shoot leisurely, men—leisurely. An infidel +for every bolt!" +</p> + +<p> +Now on the outer wall, which was the lower of the two, and naturally +first to draw the enemy's ire, and then along the inner, the Emperor +went, indifferent to danger or fatigue, and always with words of cheer. +</p> + +<p> +"The stones under our feet are honest," he would say. "The Persian came +thinking to batter them down, but after many days he fled; and search +as we will, no man can lay a finger on the face of one of them, and +say, 'Here Chosroes left a scar.' So Amurath, sometimes called Murad, +this young man's father, wasted months, and the souls of his subjects +without count; but when he fled not a coping block had been disturbed +in its bed. What has been will be again. God is with us." +</p> + +<p> +When the three days were spent, the Greeks under arms began to be +accustomed to the usage, and make merry of it, like the veterans. +</p> + +<p> +The fourth day about noon the Emperor, returning from a round of the +walls, ascended the Bagdad tower mentioned as overlooking the Gate St. +Romain on the right hand; and finding Justiniani on the roof, he said +to him: "This fighting, if it may be so called, Captain, is without +heart. But two of our people have been killed; not a stone is shaken. +To me it seems the Sultan is amusing us while preparing something more +serious." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," the Genoese returned, soberly, "now has Heaven given +you the spirit of a soldier and the eyes as well. Old John Grant told +me within an hour that the yellow flag on the rising ground before us +denotes the Sultan's quarters in the field, and is not to be confounded +with his battle flag. It follows, I think, could we get behind the +Janissaries dismounted on the further slope of the rise, yet in +position to meet a sally, we would discover the royal tent not unwisely +pitched, if, as I surmise, this gate is indeed his point of main +attack. And besides here are none of the old-time machines as elsewhere +along our front; not a catapult, or bricole, or bible—as some, with +wicked facetiousness, have named a certain invention for casting huge +stones; nor have we yet heard the report of a cannon, or arquebus, or +bombard, although we know the enemy has them in numbers. Wherefore, +keeping in mind the circumstance of his presence here, the omissions +satisfy me the Sultan relies on his great guns, and that, while amusing +us, as Your Majesty has said, he is mounting them. To-morrow, or +perhaps next day, he will open with them, and then"— +</p> + +<p> +"What then?" Constantine asked. +</p> + +<p> +"The world will have a new lesson in warfare." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor's countenance, visible under his raised visor, knit hard. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear, dear God!" he said, half to himself. "If this old Christian +empire should be lost through folly of mine, who will there be to +forgive me if not Thou?" +</p> + +<p> +Then, seeing the Genoese observing him with surprise, he continued: +</p> + +<p> +"It is a simple tale, Captain.... A Dacian, calling himself Urban, +asked audience of me one day, and being admitted, said he was an +artificer of cannon; that he had plied his art in the foundries of +Germany, and from study of powder was convinced of the practicality of +applying it to guns of heavier calibre than any in use. He had +discovered a composition of metals, he said, which was his secret, and +capable, when properly cast, of an immeasurable strain. Would I furnish +him the materials, and a place, with appliances for the work such as he +would name, I might collect the machines in my arsenal, and burn them +or throw them into the sea. I might even level my walls, and in their +stead throw up ramparts of common earth, and by mounting his guns upon +them secure my capital against the combined powers of the world. He +refused to give me details of his processes. I asked him what reward he +wanted, and he set it so high I laughed. Thinking to sound him further, +I kept him in my service a few days; but becoming weary of his +importunities, I dismissed him. I next heard of him at Adrianople. The +Sultan Mahommed entertained his propositions, built him a foundry, and +tried one of his guns, with results the fame of which is a wonder to +the whole East. It was the log of bronze Count Corti saw on the +road—now it is here—and Heaven sent it to me first." +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," returned the Genoese, impressed by the circumstance, +and the evident remorse of the Emperor, "Heaven does not hold us +accountable for errors of judgment. There is not a monarch in Europe +who would have accepted the man's terms, and it remains to be seen if +Mahommed, as yet but a callow youth, has not been cheated. But look +yonder!" +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the Janissaries in front of the gate mounted and rode +forward, probably a hundred yards, pursued by a riotous shouting and +cracking of whips. Presently a train of buffaloes, yoked and tugging +laboriously at something almost too heavy for them, appeared on the +swell of earth; and there was a driver for every yoke, and every driver +whirled a long stick with a longer lash fixed to it, and howled lustily. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the great gun," said Constantine. "They are putting it in +position." +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani spoke to the men standing by the machines: "Make ready bolt +and stone." +</p> + +<p> +The balistiers took to their wheels eagerly, and discharged a shower of +missiles at the Janissaries and ox-drivers. +</p> + +<p> +"Too short, my men—more range." +</p> + +<p> +The elevation was increased; still the bolts fell short. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring forward the guns!" shouted Justiniani. +</p> + +<p> +The guns were small bell-mouthed barrels of hooped iron, muzzle +loading, mounted on high wheels, and each shooting half a dozen balls +of lead large as walnuts. They were carefully aimed. The shot whistled +and sang viciously. +</p> + +<p> +"Higher, men!" shouted the Genoese, from a merlon. "Give the pieces +their utmost range." +</p> + +<p> +The Janissaries replied with a yell. The second volley also failed. +Then Justiniani descended from his perch. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he said, "to stop the planting of the gun there is +nothing for us but a sally." +</p> + +<p> +"We are few, they are many," was the thoughtful reply. "One of us on +the wall is worth a score of them in the field. Their gun is an +experiment. Let them try it first." +</p> + +<p> +The Genoese replied: "Your Majesty is right." +</p> + +<p> +The Turks toiled on, backing and shifting their belabored trains, until +the monster at last threatened the city with its great black Cyclopean +eye. +</p> + +<p> +"The Dacian is not a bad engineer," said the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"See, he is planting other pieces." +</p> + +<p> +Thus Justiniani; for oxen in trains similar to the first one came up +tugging mightily, until by mid-afternoon on each flank of the first +monster three other glistening yellow logs lay on their carriages in a +like dubious quiet, leaving no doubt that St. Romain was to be +overwhelmed, if the new agencies answered expectations. +</p> + +<p> +If there was anxiety here, over the way there was impatience too fierce +for control. Urban, the Dacian, in superintendency of the preparation, +was naturally disposed to be careful, so much, in his view, depended on +the right placement of the guns; but Mahommed, on foot, and whip in +hand, was intolerant, and, not scrupling to mix with the workmen, urged +them vehemently, now with threats, now with promises of reward. +</p> + +<p> +"Thy beasts are snails! Give me the goad," he cried, snatching one from +a driver. Then to Urban: "Bring the powder, and a bullet, for when the +sun goes down thou shalt fire the great gun. Demur not. By the sword of +Solomon, there shall be no sleep this night in yon <i>Gabour</i> city, least +of all in the palace they call Blacherne." +</p> + +<p> +The Dacian brought his experts together. The powder in a bag was rammed +home; with the help of a stout slab, a stone ball was next rolled into +the muzzle, then pushed nakedly down on the bag. Of a truth there was +need of measureless strength in the composition of the piece. Finally +the vent was primed, and a slow-match applied, after which Urban +reported: +</p> + +<p> +"The gun is ready, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Then watch the sun, and—<i>Bismillah!</i>—at its going down, fire.... Aim +at the gate—this one before us—and if thou hit it or a tower on +either hand, I will make thee a <i>begler-bey</i>." +</p> + +<p> +The gun-planting continued. Finally the sun paused in cloudy splendor +ready to carry the day down with it. The Sultan, from his tent of many +annexes Bedouin fashion, walked to where Urban and his assistants stood +by the carriage of the larger piece. +</p> + +<p> +"Fire!" he said. +</p> + +<p> +Urban knelt before him. +</p> + +<p> +"Will my Lord please retire?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why should I retire?" +</p> + +<p> +"There is danger." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed smiled haughtily. +</p> + +<p> +"Is the piece trained on the gate?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is; but I pray"— +</p> + +<p> +"Now if thou wilt not have me believe thee a dog not less than an +unbeliever, rise, and do my bidding." +</p> + +<p> +The Dacian, without more ado, put the loose end of the slow-match into +a pot of live coals near by, and when it began to spit and sputter, he +cast it off. His experts fled. Only Mahommed remained with him; and no +feat of daring in battle could have won the young Padishah a name for +courage comparable to that the thousands looking on from a safe +distance now gave him. +</p> + +<p> +"Will my Lord walk with me a little aside? He can then see the ball +going." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed accepted the suggestion. +</p> + +<p> +"Look now in a line with the gate, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +The match was at last spent. A flash at the vent—a spreading white +cloud—a rending of the air—the rattle of wheels obedient to the +recoil of the gun—a sound thunder in volume, but with a crackle +sharper than any thunder—and we may almost say that, with a new voice, +and an additional terror, war underwent a second birth. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed's ears endured a wrench, and for a time he heard nothing; but +he was too intent following the flight of the ball to mind whether the +report of the gun died on the heights of Galata or across the Bosphorus +at Scutari. He saw the blackened sphere pass between the towers +flanking the gate, and speed on into the city—how far, or with what +effect, he could not tell, nor did he care. +</p> + +<p> +Urban fell on his knees. +</p> + +<p> +"Mercy, my Lord, mercy!" +</p> + +<p> +"For what? That thou didst not hit the gate? Rise, man, and see if the +gun is safe." And when it was so reported, he called to Kalil, the +Vizier, now come up: "Give the man a purse, and not a lean one, for, by +Allah! he is bringing Constantinople to me." +</p> + +<p> +And despite the ringing in his ears, he went to his tent confident and +happy. On the tower meantime Constantine and the Genoese beheld the +smoke leap forth and curtain the gun, and right afterward they heard +the huge ball go tearing past them, like an invisible meteor. Their +eyes pursued the sound—where the missile fell they could not say—they +heard a crash, as if a house midway the city had been struck—then they +gazed at each other, and crossed themselves. +</p> + +<p> +"There is nothing for us now but the sally," said the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing," replied Justiniani. "We must disable the guns." +</p> + +<p> +"Let us go and arrange it." +</p> + +<p> +There being no indication of further firing, the two descended from the +tower. +</p> + +<p> +The plan of sortie agreed upon was not without ingenuity. The gate +under the palace of Blacherne called <i>Cercoporta</i> was to be opened in +the night. [Footnote: In the basement of the palace of Blacherne there +was an underground exit, Cercoporta or gate of the Circus; but Isaac +Comnenus had walled it up in order to avoid the accomplishment of a +prediction which announced that the Emperor Frederick would enter +Constantinople through it.... But before the siege by Mahommed the exit +was restored, and it was through it the Turks passed into the +city.—VON HAMMER, <i>Hist. de l'Empire Ottoman.</i>] Count Corti, with the +body-guard mounted, was to pass out by it, and surprise the Janissaries +defending the battery. Simultaneously Justiniani should sally by the +Gate St. Romain, cross the moat temporarily bridged for the purpose, +and, with the footmen composing the force in reserve, throw himself +upon the guns. +</p> + +<p> +The scheme was faithfully attempted. The Count, stealing out of the +ancient exit in the uncertain light preceding the dawn, gained a +position unobserved, and charged the careless Turks. By this time it +had become a general report that the net about his neck was a favor of +the Princess Irene, and his battle cry confirmed it—<i>For God and +Irene!</i> Bursting through the half-formed opposition, he passed to the +rear of the guns, and planted his banderole at the door of Mahommed's +tent. Had his men held together, he might have returned with a royal +prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +While attention was thus wholly given the Count, Justiniani overthrew +the guns by demolishing the carriages. A better acquaintance with the +operation known to moderns as "spiking a piece," would have enabled him +to make the blow irreparable. The loss of Janissaries was severe; that +of the besieged trifling. The latter, foot and horse, returned by the +Gate St. Romain unpursued. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed, aroused by the tumult, threw on his light armor, and rushed +out in time to hear the cry of his assailant, and pluck the banderole +from its place. At sight of the moon with the cross on its face, his +wrath was uncontrollable. The Aga in command and all his assistants +were relentlessly impaled. +</p> + +<p> +There were other sorties in course of the siege, but never another +surprise. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0608"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN +</h3> + +<p> +Hardly had the bodies making the sortie retired within the gate when +the Janissaries on the eminence were trebly strengthened, and the +noises in that quarter, the cracking of whips, the shouting of +ox-drivers, the hammering betokened a prodigious activity. The +besieged, under delusion that the guns had been destroyed, could not +understand the enemy. Not until the second ensuing morning was the +mystery solved. The watchmen on the towers, straining to pierce the +early light, then beheld the great bronze monster remounted and gaping +at them through an embrasure, and other monsters of a like kind on +either side of it, fourteen in all, similarly mounted and defended. +</p> + +<p> +The warders on the towers, in high excitement, sent for Justiniani, and +he in turn despatched a messenger to the Emperor. Together on the +Bagdad tower the two discussed the outlook. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," said the Genoese, much chagrined, "the apostate Dacian +must be master of his art. He has restored the cannon I overthrew." +</p> + +<p> +After a time Constantine replied: "I fear we have underrated the new +Sultan. Great as a father may be, it is possible for a son to be +greater." +</p> + +<p> +Perceiving the Emperor was again repenting the dismissal of Urban, the +Captain held his peace until asked: "What shall we now do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he returned, "it is apparent our sally was a failure. +We slew a number of the infidels, and put their master—may God +confound him!—to inconvenience, and nothing more. Now he is on guard, +we may not repeat our attempt. My judgment is that we let him try his +armament upon our walls. They may withstand his utmost effort." +</p> + +<p> +The patience this required was not put to a long test. There was a +sudden clamor of trumpets, and the Janissaries, taking to their +saddles, and breaking right and left into divisions, cleared the +battery front. Immediately a vast volume of smoke hid the whole ground, +followed by a series of explosions. Some balls passing over the +defences ploughed into the city; and as definitions of force, the +sounds they made in going were awful; yet they were the least of the +terrors. Both the towers were hit, and they shook as if an earthquake +were wrestling with them. The air whitened with dust and fragments of +crushed stone. The men at the machines and culverins cowered to the +floor. Constantine and the Genoese gazed at each other until the latter +bethought him, and ordered the fire returned. And it was well done, for +there is nothing which shall bring men round from fright like action. +</p> + +<p> +Then, before there could be an exchange of opinion between the high +parties on the tower, a man in half armor issued from the slowly rising +cloud, and walked leisurely forward. Instead of weapons, he carried an +armful of stakes, and something which had the appearance of a heavy +gavel. After a careful examination of the ground to the gate, he halted +and drove a stake, and from that point commenced zigzagging down the +slope, marking each angle. +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani drew nearer the Emperor, and said, in a low voice: "With new +agencies come new methods. The assault is deferred." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Captain, our enemy must attack; otherwise he cannot make the moat +passable." +</p> + +<p> +"That, Your Majesty, was the practice. Now he will gain the ditch by a +trench." +</p> + +<p> +"With what object?" +</p> + +<p> +"Under cover of the trench, he will fill the ditch." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine viewed the operation with increased gravity. He could see +how feasible it was to dig a covered way under fire of the guns, making +the approach and the bombardment simultaneous; and he would have +replied, but that instant a mob of laborers—so the spades and picks +they bore bespoke them—poured from the embrasure of the larger gun, +and, distributing themselves at easy working intervals along the staked +line, began throwing up the earth on the side next the city. Officers +with whips accompanied and stood over them. +</p> + +<p> +The engineer—if we may apply the modern term—was at length under fire +of the besieged; still he kept on; only when he exhausted his supply of +stakes did he retire, leaving it inferrible that the trench was to run +through the opening in the cemetery to the bridge way before the gate. +</p> + +<p> +At noon, the laborers being well sunk in the ground, the cannon again +vomited fire and smoke, and with thunderous reports launched their +heavy bullets at the towers. Again the ancient piles shook from top to +base. Some of the balistiers were thrown down. The Emperor staggered +under the shock. One ball struck a few feet below a merlon of the +Bagdad, and when the dust blew away, an ugly crack was seen in the +exposed face of the wall, extending below the roof. +</p> + +<p> +While the inspection of damages immediately ordered is in progress, we +take the liberty of transporting the reader elsewhere, that he may see +the effect of this amazing warfare on other parties of interest in the +tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti was with his guard at the foot of the tower when the first +discharge of artillery took place. He heard the loud reports and the +blows of the shot which failed not their aim; he heard also the sound +of the bullets flying on into the city, and being of a quick +imagination, shuddered to think of the havoc they might inflict should +they fall in a thickly inhabited district. Then it came to him that the +residence of the Princess Irene must be exposed to the danger. Like a +Christian and a lover, he, sought to allay the chill he felt by signing +the cross repeatedly, and with unction, on brow and breast. The pious +performance brought no relief. His dread increased. Finally he sent a +man with a message informing the Emperor that he was gone to see what +damage the guns had done in the city. +</p> + +<p> +He had not ridden far when he was made aware of the prevalence of an +extraordinary excitement. It seemed the entire population had been +brought from their houses by the strange thunder, and the appalling +flight of meteoric bodies over their roofs. Men and women were running +about asking each other what had happened. At the corners he was +appealed to: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, for Christ's sake, stop, and tell us if the world is coming to an +end!" Arid in pity lie answered: "Do not be so afraid, good people. It +is the Turks. They are trying to scare us by making a great noise. Go +back into your houses." +</p> + +<p> +"But the bullets which passed over us. What of them?" +</p> + +<p> +"Where did they strike?" +</p> + +<p> +"On further. God help the sufferers!" +</p> + +<p> +One cry he heard so often it made an impression upon him: +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Panagia!</i> Tell His Majesty, as he is a Christian, to bring the +Blessed Madonna from the Chapel." +</p> + +<p> +With each leap of his horse he was now nearing the alighting places of +the missiles, and naturally the multiplying signs of terror he +observed, together with a growing assurance that the abode of the +Princess was in the range of danger, quickened his alarm for her. The +white faces of the women he met and passed without a word reminded him +the more that she was subject to the same peril, and in thought of her +he forgot to sympathize with them. +</p> + +<p> +In Byzantium one might be near a given point yet far away; so did the +streets run up and down, and here and there, their eccentricities in +width and direction proving how much more accident and whim had to do +with them originally than art or science. Knowing this, the Count was +not sparing of his horse, and as his blood heated so did his fancy. If +the fair Princess were unhurt, it was scarcely possible she had escaped +the universal terror. He imagined her the object of tearful attention +from her attendants. Or perhaps they had run away, and left her in +keeping of the tender Madonna of Blacherne. +</p> + +<p> +At last he reached a quarter where the throng of people compelled him +to slacken his gait, then halt and dismount. It was but a few doors +from the Princess'. One house—a frame, two stories—appeared the +object of interest. +</p> + +<p> +"What has happened?" he asked, addressing a tall man, who stood +trembling and praying to a crucifix in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"God protect us, Sir Knight! See how clear the sky is, but a great +stone—some say it was a meteor—struck this house. There is the hole +it made. Others say it was a bullet from the Turks.—Save us, O Son of +Mary!" and he fell to kissing the crucifix. +</p> + +<p> +"Was anybody hurt?" the Count asked, shaking the devotee. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—two women and a child were killed.—Save us, O Son of God! Thou +hast the power from the Father." +</p> + +<p> +The Count picked his way toward the house till he could get no further, +so was it blocked by a mass of women on their knees, crying, praying, +and in agony of fright. There, sure enough, was a front beaten in, +exposing the wrecked interior. But who was the young woman at the door +calmly directing some men bringing out the body of one apparently dead? +Her back was to him, but the sunlight was tangled in her uncovered +hair, making gold of it. Her figure was tall and slender, and there was +a marvellous grace in her action. Who was she? The Count's heart was +prophetic. He gave the bridle rein to a man near by, and holding his +sword up, pushed through the kneeling mass. He might have been more +considerate in going; but he was in haste, and never paused until at +the woman's side. "God's mercy, Princess Irene!" he cried, "what dost +thou here? Are there not men to take this charge upon them?" +</p> + +<p> +And in his joy at finding her safe, he fell upon his knees, and, +without waiting for her to offer the favor, took one of her hands, and +carried it to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Count Corti, is it not for me to ask what thou dost here?" +</p> + +<p> +Her face was solemn, and he could hardly determine if the eyes she +turned to him were not chiding; yet they were full of humid violet +light, and she permitted him to keep the hand while he replied: +</p> + +<p> +"The Turk is for the time having his own way. We cannot get to him.... +I came in haste to—to see what his guns have done—or—why should I +not say it? Princess, I galloped here fearing thou wert in need of +protection and help. I remembered that I was thy accepted knight." +</p> + +<p> +She understood him perfectly, and, withdrawing her hand, returned: +"Rise, Count Corti, thou art in the way of these bearing the dead." +</p> + +<p> +He stood aside, and the men passed him with their burden—a woman +drenched in blood. +</p> + +<p> +"Is this the last one?" she asked them. +</p> + +<p> +"We could find no other." +</p> + +<p> +"Poor creature! ... Yet God's will be done! ... Bear her to my house, +and lay her with the others." Then to the Count she said: "Come with +me." +</p> + +<p> +The Princess set out after the men. Immediately the women about raised +a loud lamentation; such as were nearest her cried out: "Blessings on +you!" and they kissed the hem of her gown, and followed her moaning and +weeping. The body was borne into the house, and to the chapel, and all +who wished went in. Before the altar, two others were lying lifeless on +improvised biers, an elderly woman and a half-grown girl. The Lady in +picture above the altar looked down on them, as did the Holy Child in +her arms; and there was much comfort to the spectators in the look. +Then, when the third victim was decently laid out, Sergius began the +service for the dead. The Count stood by the Princess, her attendants +in group a little removed from them. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the holy ministration, a sound like distant rolling +thunder penetrated the chapel. Every one present knew what it was by +this time—knew at least it was not thunder—and they cried out, and +clasped each other—from their knees many fell grovelling on the floor. +Sergius' voice never wavered. Corti would have extended his arms to +give the Princess support; but she did not so much as change color; her +hands holding a silver triptych remained firm. The deadly bullets were +in the air and might alight on the house; yet her mind was too +steadfast, her soul too high, her faith too exalted for alarm; and if +the Count had been prone to love her for her graces of person, now he +was prompted to adore her for her courage. +</p> + +<p> +Outside near by, there was a crash as of a flying solid smiting another +dwelling, and, without perceptible interval, an outcry so shrill and +unintermitted it required no explanation. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess was the first to speak. +</p> + +<p> +"Proceed, Sergius," she said; nor might one familiar with her voice +have perceived any alteration in it from the ordinary; then to the +Count again: "Let us go out; there may be others needing my care." +</p> + +<p> +At the door Corti said: "Stay, O Princess—a word, I pray." +</p> + +<p> +She had only to look at his face to discover he was the subject of a +fierce conflict of spirit. +</p> + +<p> +"Have pity on me, I conjure you. Honor and duty call me to the gate; +the Emperor may be calling me; but how can I go, leaving you in the +midst of such peril and horrors?" +</p> + +<p> +"What would you have me do?" +</p> + +<p> +"Fly to a place of safety." +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will find a place; if not within these walls, then"— +</p> + +<p> +He stopped, and his eyes, bright with passion, fell before hers; for +the idea he was about giving his tongue would be a doubly dishonorable +coinage, since it included desertion of the beleaguered city, and +violation of his compact with Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +"And then?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +And love got the better of honor. +</p> + +<p> +"I have a ship in the harbor, O Princess Irene, and a crew devoted to +me, and I will place you on its deck, and fly with you. Doubt not my +making the sea; there are not Christians and Mohammedans enough to stay +me once my anchor is lifted, and my oars out; and on the sea freedom +lives, and we will follow the stars to Italy, and find a home." +</p> + +<p> +Again he stopped, his face this time wrung with sudden anguish; then he +continued: +</p> + +<p> +"God forgive, and deal with me mercifully! I am mad! ... And thou, O +Princess—do thou forgive me also, and my words and weakness. Oh, if +not for my sake, then for that which carried me away! Or if thou canst +not forget, pity me, pity me, and think of the wretchedness now my +portion. I had thy respect, if not thy love; now both are lost—gone +after my honor. Oh! I am most miserable—miserable!" +</p> + +<p> +And wringing his hands, he turned his face from her. +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti," she replied gently, "thou hast saved thyself. Let the +affair rest here. I forgive the proposal, and shall never remind thee +of it. Love is madness. Return to duty; and for me"—she hesitated—"I +hold myself ready for the sacrifice to which I was born. God is +fashioning it; in His own time, and in the form He chooses, He will +send it to me.... I am not afraid, and be thou not afraid for me. My +father was a hero, and he left me his spirit. I too have my duty born +within the hour—it is to share the danger of my kinsman's people, to +give them my presence, to comfort them all I can. I will show thee what +thou seemest not to have credited—that a woman can be brave as any +man. I will attend the sick, the wounded, and suffering. To the dying I +will carry such consolation as I possess—all of them I can reach—and +the dead shall have ministration. My goods and values have long been +held for the poor and unfortunate; now to the same service I consecrate +myself, my house, my chapel, and altar.... There is my hand in sign of +forgiveness, and that I believe thee a true knight. I will go with thee +to thy horse." +</p> + +<p> +He bowed his head, and silently struggling for composure, carried the +hand to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Let us go now," she said. +</p> + +<p> +They went out together. +</p> + +<p> +Another dwelling had been struck; fortunately it was unoccupied. +</p> + +<p> +In the saddle, he stayed to say: "Thy soul, O Princess Irene, is +angelic as thy face. Thou hast devoted thyself to the suffering. Am I +left out? What word wilt thou give me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Be the true knight thou art, Count Corti, and come to me as before." +</p> + +<p> +He rode away with a revelation; that in womanly purity and goodness +there is a power and inspiration beyond the claims of beauty. +</p> + +<p> +The firing continued. Seven times that day the Turks assailed the Gate +St. Romain with their guns; and while a few of the stones discharged +flew amiss into the city, there were enough to still further terrorize +the inhabitants. By night all who could had retreated to vaults, +cellars, and such hiding-places as were safe, and took up their abodes +in them. In the city but one woman went abroad without fear, and she +bore bread and medicines, and dressed wounds, and assuaged sorrows, and +as a Madonna in fact divided worship with the Madonna in the chapel up +by the High Residence. Whereat Count Corti's love grew apace, though +the recollection of the near fall he had kept him humble and +circumspect. +</p> + +<p> +The same day, but after the second discharge of the guns, Mahommed +entered the part of his tent which, with some freedom, may be termed +his office and reception-room, since it was furnished with seats and a +large table, the latter set upon a heavily tufted rug, and littered +over with maps and writing and drawing materials. Notable amongst the +litter was the sword of Solomon. Near it lay a pair of steel gauntlets +elegantly gilt. One stout centre-tree, the main support of the roof of +camel's hair, appeared gayly dressed with lances, shields, arms, and +armor; and against it, strange to say, the companion of a bright red +battle-flag, leant the banderole Count Corti had planted before the +door the morning of the sally. A sliding flap overhead, managed by +cords in the interior, was drawn up, admitting light and air. +</p> + +<p> +The office, it may be added, communicated by gay portieres with four +other apartments, each having its separate centre-tree; one occupied by +Kalil, the Vizier; one, a bed-chamber, so to speak; one, a stable for +the imperial stud; the fourth belonged to no less a person than our +ancient and mysterious acquaintance, the Prince of India. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed was in half-armor; that is, his neck, arms, and body were in +chain mail, the lightest and most flexible of the East, exquisitely +gold-washed, and as respects fashion exactly like the suit habitually +affected by Count Corti. His nether limbs were clad in wide trousers of +yellow silk, drawn close at the ankles. Pointed shoes of red leather +completed his equipment, unless we may include a whip with heavy handle +and long lash. Could Constantine have seen him at the moment, he would +have recognized the engineer whose performance in tracing the trench he +had witnessed with so much interest in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +The Grand Chamberlain received him with the usual prostration, and in +that posture waited his pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring me water. I am thirsty." +</p> + +<p> +The water was brought. +</p> + +<p> +"The Prince of India now." +</p> + +<p> +Presently the Prince appeared in the costume peculiar to him—a cap and +gown of black velvet, loose trousers, and slippers. His hair and beard +were longer than when we knew him a denizen of Constantinople, making +his figure seem more spare and old; otherwise he was unchanged. He too +prostrated himself; yet as he sank upon his knees, he gave the Sultan a +quick glance, intended doubtless to discover his temper more than his +purpose. +</p> + +<p> +"You may retire." +</p> + +<p> +This to the Chamberlain. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the disappearance of the official, Mahommed addressed the Prince, +his countenance flushed, his eyes actually sparkling. +</p> + +<p> +"God is great. All things are possible to him. Who shall say no when he +says yes? Who resist when he bids strike? Salute me, and rejoice with +me, O Prince. He is on my side. It was he who spoke in the thunder of +my guns. Salute me, and rejoice. Constantinople is mine! The towers +which have outlasted the ages, the walls which have mocked so many +conquerors—behold them tottering to their fall! I will make dust of +them. The city which has been a stumbling-block to the true faith shall +be converted in a night. Of the churches I will make mosques. Salute me +and rejoice! How may a soul contain itself knowing God has chosen it +for such mighty things? Rise, O Prince and rejoice with me!" +</p> + +<p> +He caught up the sword of Solomon, and in a kind of ecstasy strode +about flourishing it. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince, arisen, replied simply: "I rejoice with my Lord;" and +folding his arms across his breast, he waited, knowing he had been +summoned for something more serious than to witness an outburst so +wild—that directly this froth would disappear, as bubbles vanish from +wine just poured. The most absolute of men have their ways—this was +one of Mahommed's. And behind his composed countenance the Jew smiled, +for, as he read it, the byplay was an acknowledgment of his influence +over the chosen of God. +</p> + +<p> +And he was right. Suddenly Mahommed replaced the sword, and standing +before him, asked abruptly: +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me, have the stars fixed the day when I may assault the Gabours?" +</p> + +<p> +"They have, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Give it to me." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince returned to his apartment, and came back with a horoscope. +</p> + +<p> +"This is their decision, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +In his character of Messenger of the Stars, the Prince of India +dispensed with every observance implying inferiority. +</p> + +<p> +Without looking at the Signs, or at the planets in their Houses; +without noticing the calculations accompanying the chart; glancing +merely at the date in the central place, Mahommed frowned, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"The twenty-ninth of May! Fifty-three days! By Allah and Mahomet arid +Christ—all in one—if by the compound the oath will derive an extra +virtue—what is there to consume so much time? In three days I will +have the towers lording this gate they call St. Romain in the ditch, +and the ditch filled. In three days, I say." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps my Lord is too sanguine—perhaps he does not sufficiently +credit the skill and resources of the enemy behind the gate—perhaps +there is more to do than he has admitted into his anticipations." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed darted a look at the speaker. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps the stars have been confidential with their messenger, and +told him some of the things wanting to be done." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my Lord." The calmness of the Prince astonished Mahommed. +</p> + +<p> +"And art thou permitted to be confidential with me?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord must break up this collection of his guns, and plant some of +them against the other gates; say two at the Golden Gate, one at the +Caligaria, and before the Selimbria and the Adrianople two each. He +will have seven left.... Nor must my Lord confine his attack to the +landward side; the weakest front of the city is the harbor front, and +it must be subjected. He should carry there at least two of his guns." +</p> + +<p> +"Sword of Solomon!" cried Mahommed. "Will the stars show me a road to +possession of the harbor? Will they break the chain which defends its +entrance? Will they sink or burn the enemy's fleet?" +</p> + +<p> +"No; those are heroisms left for my Lord's endeavor." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou dost taunt me with the impossible." +</p> + +<p> +The Prince smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"Is my Lord less able than the Crusaders? I know he is not too proud to +be taught by them. Once, marching upon the Holy City, they laid siege +to Nicea, and after a time discovered they could not master it without +first mastering Lake Ascanius. Thereupon they hauled their ships three +leagues overland, and launched them in the lake." [Footnote: VON +HAMMER, <i>Hist. de l'Emp. Ottoman.</i>] +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed became thoughtful. +</p> + +<p> +"If my Lord does not distribute the guns; if he confines his attack to +St. Romain, the enemy, in the day of assault, can meet him at the +breach with his whole garrison. More serious, if the harbor is left to +the Greeks, how can he prevent the Genoese in Galata from succoring +them? My Lord derives information from those treacherous people in the +day; does he know of the intercourse between the towns by boats in the +night? If they betray one side, will they be true to the other? My +Lord, they are Christians; so are these with whom we are at war." +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan sank into a seat; and satisfied with the impression he had +made, the Prince wisely allowed him his thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +"It is enough!" said the former, rising. Then fixing his eye on his +confederate, he asked: "What stars told thee these things, O Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord, the firmament above is God's, and the sun and planets there +are his mercifully to our common use. But we have each of us a +firmament of our own. In mine, Reason is the sun, and of its stars I +mention two—Experience and Faith. By the light of the three, I +succeed; when I refuse them, one or all, I surrender to chance." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed caught up the sword, and played with its ruby handle, turning +it at angles to catch its radiations; at length he said: +</p> + +<p> +"Prince of India, thou hast spoken like a Prophet. Go call Kalil and +Saganos." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0609"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE +</h3> + +<p> +We have given the opening of the siege of Byzantium by Mahommed with +dangerous minuteness, the danger of course being from the critic. We +have posted the warders on their walls, and over against them set the +enemy in an intrenched line covering the whole landward side of the +city. We have planted Mahommed's guns, and exhibited their power, +making it a certainty that a breach in the wall must be sooner or later +accomplished. We have shown the effect of the fire of the guns, not +only on the towers abutting the gate which was the main object of +attack, but on the non-combatants, the women and children, in their +terror seeking safety in cellars, vaults, and accessible underground +retreats. We have carefully assembled and grouped those of our +characters who have survived to this trying time; and the reader is +informed where they are, the side with which their fortunes are cast, +their present relations to each other, and the conditions which environ +them. In a word, the reader knows their several fates are upon them, +and the favors we now most earnestly pray are to be permitted to pass +the daily occurrences of the siege, and advance quickly to the end. +Even battles can become monotonous in narrative. +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan, we remark, adopted the suggestions of the Prince of India. +He distributed his guns, planting some of them in front of the several +gates of the city. To control the harbor, he, in modern parlance, +erected a battery on a hill by Galata; then in a night, he drew a part +of his fleet, including a number of his largest vessels, from +Besich-tasch on the Bosphorus over the heights and hollows of Pera, a +distance of about two leagues, and dropped them in the Golden Horn. +These Constantine attacked. Justiniani led the enterprise, but was +repulsed. A stone bullet sunk his ship, and he barely escaped with his +life. Most of his companions were drowned; those taken were pitilessly +hung. Mahommed next collected great earthen jars—their like may yet be +seen in the East—and, after making them air-tight, laid a bridge upon +them out toward the single wall defending the harbor front. At the +further end of this unique approach he placed a large gun; and so +destructive was the bombardment thus opened that fire-ships were sent +against the bridge and battery. But the Genoese of Galata betrayed the +scheme, and it was baffled. The prisoners captured were hanged in view +of the Greeks, and in retaliation Constantine exposed the heads of a +hundred and sixty Turks from the wall. +</p> + +<p> +On the landward side Mahommed was not less fortunate. The zigzag trench +was completed, and a footing obtained for his men in the moat, whence +they strove to undermine the walls. +</p> + +<p> +Of the lives lost during these operations no account was taken, since +the hordes were the victims. Their bodies were left as debris in the +roadway so expensively constructed. Day after day the towers Bagdad and +St. Romain were more and more reduced. Immense sections of them +tumbling into the ditch were there utilized. Day after day the exchange +of bullets, bolts, stones, and arrows was incessant. The shouting in +many tongues, heating of drums, and blowing of horns not seldom +continued far into the night. +</p> + +<p> +The Greeks on their side bore up bravely. Old John Grant plied the +assailants with his inextinguishable fire. Constantine, in seeming +always cheerful, never shirking, visited the walls; at night, he +seconded Justiniani in hastening needful repairs. Finally the steady +drain upon the stores in magazine began to tell. Provisions became +scarce, and the diminution of powder threatened to silence the +culverins and arquebuses. Then the Emperor divided his time between the +defences and Sancta Sophia—between duty as a military commander, and +prayer as a Christian trustful in God. And it was noticeable that the +services at which he assisted in the ancient church were according to +Latin rites; whereat the malcontents in the monasteries fell into +deeper sullenness, and refused the dying the consolation of their +presence. Gennadius assumed the authority of the absent Patriarch, and +was influential as a prophet. The powerful Brotherhood of the St. +James', composed of able-bodied gentry and nobles who should have been +militant at the gates, regarded the Emperor as under ban. Notaras and +Justiniani quarrelled, and the feud spread to their respective +followers. +</p> + +<p> +One day, about the time the Turkish ships dropped, as it were, from the +sky into the harbor, when the store of powder was almost exhausted, and +famine menaced the city, five galleys were reported in the offing down +the Marmora. About the same time the Turkish flotilla was observed +making ready for action. The hungry people crowded the wall from the +Seven Towers to Point Serail. The Emperor rode thither in haste, while +Mahommed betook himself to the shore of the sea. A naval battle ensued +under the eyes of the two. [Footnote: The following is a translation of +Von Hammer's spirited account of this battle: +</p> + +<p> +"The 15th of April, 1453, the Turkish fleet, of more than four hundred +sails, issued from the bay of Phidalia, and directing itself toward the +mouth of the Bosphorus on the western side, cast anchor near the two +villages to-day Besich-tasch. A few days afterward five vessels +appeared in the Marmora, one belonging to the Emperor, and four to the +Genoese. During the month of March they had been unable to issue from +Scio; but a favorable wind arising, they arrived before Constantinople, +all their sails unfurled. A division of the Turkish fleet, more than a +hundred and fifty in number, advanced to bar the passage of the +Christian squadron and guard the entrance to the harbor. The sky was +clear, the sea tranquil, the walls crowded with spectators. The Sultan +himself was on the shore to enjoy the spectacle of a combat in which +the superiority of his fleet seemed to promise him a certain victory. +But the eighteen galleys at the head of the division, manned by +inexperienced soldiers, and too low at the sides, were instantly +covered with arrows, pots of Greek fire, and a rain of stones launched +by the enemy. They were twice repulsed. The Greeks and the Genoese +emulated each other in zeal. Flectanelli, captain of the imperial +galley, fought like a lion; Cataneo, Novarro, Balaneri, commanding the +Genoese, imitated his example. The Turkish ships could not row under +the arrows with which the water was covered; they fouled each other, +and two took fire. At this sight Mahommed could not contain himself; as +if he would arrest the victory of the Greeks, he spurred his horse in +the midst of the ships. His officers followed him trying to reach the +vessels combating only a stone's throw away. The soldiers, excited by +shame or by fear, renewed the attack, but without success, and the five +vessels, favored by a rising wind, forced a passage through the +opposition, and happily entered the harbor."] The Christian squadron +made the Golden Horn, and passed triumphantly behind the chain +defending it. They brought supplies of corn and powder. The relief had +the appearance of a merciful Providence, and forthwith the fighting was +renewed with increased ardor. Kalil the Vizier exhorted Mahommed to +abandon the siege. +</p> + +<p> +"What, retire now? Now that the gate St. Romain is in ruins and the +ditch filled?" the Sultan cried in rage. "No, my bones to Eyoub, my +soul to Eblis first. Allah sent me here to conquer." +</p> + +<p> +Those around attributed his firmness, some to religious zeal, some to +ambition; none of them suspected how much the compact with Count Corti +had to do with his decision. +</p> + +<p> +To the lasting shame of Christian Europe, the arrival of the five +galleys, and the victory they achieved, were all of succor and cheer +permitted the heroic Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +But the unequal struggle wore on, and with each set of sun Mahommed's +hopes replumed themselves. From much fondling and kissing the sword of +Solomon, and swearing by it, the steel communicated itself to his will; +while on the side of the besieged, failures, dissensions, watching and +labor, disparity in numbers, inferiority in arms, the ravages of death, +and the neglect of Christendom, slowly but surely invited despair. +</p> + +<p> +Weeks passed thus. April went out; and now it is the twenty-third of +May. On the twenty-ninth—six days off—the stars, so we have seen, +will permit an assault. +</p> + +<p> +And on this day the time is verging midnight. Between the sky and the +beleaguered town a pall of clouds is hanging thick. At intervals light +showers filter through the pall, and the drops fall perpendicularly, +for there is no wind. And the earth has its wrap of darkness, only over +the seven hills of the old capital it appears to be in double folds +oppressively close. Darkness and silence and vacancy, which do not +require permission to enter by a gate, have possession of the streets +and houses; except that now and then a solitary figure, gliding +swiftly, turns a corner, pauses to hear, moves on again, and disappears +as if it dropped a curtain behind it. Desertion is the rule. The hush +is awful. Where are the people? +</p> + +<p> +To find each other friends go from cellar to cellar. There are vaults +and arched passages, crypts under churches and lordly habitations, +deep, damp, mouldy, and smelling of rotten air, sheltering families. In +many districts all life is underground. Sociality, because it cannot +exist under such conditions save amongst rats and reptiles, ceased some +time ago. Yet love is not dead—thanks, O Heaven, for the divine +impulse!—it has merely taken on new modes of expression; it shows +itself in tears, never in laughter; it has quit singing, it moans; and +what moments mothers are not on their knees praying, they sit crouched, +and clasping their little ones, and listen pale with fear and want. +Listening is the universal habit; and the start and exclamation with +which in the day the poor creatures recognize the explosive thunder of +Mahommed's guns explain the origin of the habit. +</p> + +<p> +At this particular hour of the twenty-third of May there are two +notable exceptions to the statement that darkness, silence and vacancy +have possession of the streets and houses. +</p> + +<p> +By a combination of streets most favorable for the purpose, a +thoroughfare had come into use along which traffic preferably drove its +bulky commodities from St. Peter's on the harbor to the Gates St. +Romain and Adrianople; its greater distance between terminal points +being offset by advantages such as solidity, width and gentler grades. +In one of the turns of this very crooked way there is now a murky flush +cast by flambeaux sputtering and borne in hand. On either side one may +see the fronts of houses without tenants, and in the way itself long +lines of men tugging with united effort at some cumbrous body behind +them. There is no clamor. The labor is heavy, and the laborers in +earnest. Some of them wear round steel caps, but the majority are +civilians with here and there a monk, the latter by the Latin cross at +his girdle an <i>azymite</i>. Now and then the light flashes back from a +naked torso streaming with perspiration. One man in armor rides up and +down the lines on horseback. He too is in earnest. He speaks low when +he has occasion to stop and give a direction, but his face seen in +flashes of the light is serious, and knit with purpose. The movement of +the lines is slow; at times they come to a dead stand-still. If the +halt appears too long the horseman rides back and comes presently to +the black hull of a dismantled galley on rollers. The stoppages are to +shift the rollers forward. When the shifting is done, he calls out: +"Make ready, men!" Whereupon every one in the lines catches hold of a +rope, and at his "Now—for love of Christ!" there follows a pull with +might, and the hull drags on. +</p> + +<p> +In these later days of the siege there are two persons actively engaged +in the defence who are more wrought upon by the untowardness of the +situation than any or all their associates—they are the Emperor and +Count Corti. +</p> + +<p> +There should be no difficulty in divining the cause of the former's +distress. It was too apparent to him that his empire was in desperate +straits; that as St. Romain underwent its daily reduction so his +remnant of State and power declined. And beholding the dissolution was +very like being an enforced witness of his own dying. +</p> + +<p> +But Count Corti with the deepening of the danger only exerted himself +the more. He seemed everywhere present—now on the ruins of the towers, +now in the moat, now foremost in a countermine, and daily his +recklessness increased. His feats with bow and sword amazed his +friends. He became a terror to the enemy. He never tired. No one knew +when he slept. And as note was taken of him, the question was +continually on the lip, What possesses the man? He is a foreigner—this +is not his home—he has no kindred here—what can be his motive? And +there were who said it was Christian zeal; others surmised it was +soldier habit; others again, that for some reason he was disgusted with +life; yet others, themselves of sordid natures, said the Emperor +affected him, and that he was striving for a great reward in promise. +As in the camps of the besiegers none knew the actual reason of +Mahommed's persistence, so here the secret of the activity which left +the Count without a peer in performance and daring went without +explanation. +</p> + +<p> +A few—amongst them the Emperor—were aware of the meaning of the red +net about the Italian's neck—it shone so frequently through the smoke +and dust of hourly conflict as to have become a subject of general +observation—yet in the common opinion he was only the lady's knight; +and his battle cry, <i>For Christ and Irene—Now!</i> did but confirm the +opinion. Time and time again, Mahommed beheld the doughty deeds of his +rival, heard his shout, saw the flash of his blade, sometimes near, +sometimes afar, but always where the press was thickest. Strange was it +that of the two hosts he alone understood the other's inspiration? He +had only to look into his own heart, and measure the force of the +passion there. +</p> + +<p> +The horseman we see in charge of the removal of the galley-hulk this +night of the twenty-third of May is Count Corti. It is wanted at St. +Romain. The gate is a hill of stone and mortar, without form; the moat +almost level from side to side; and Justiniani has decided upon a +barricade behind a new ditch. He will fill the hull with stones, and +defend from its deck; and it must be on the ground by break of day. +</p> + +<p> +Precisely as Count Corti was bringing the galley around the turn of the +thoroughfare, Constantine was at the altar in Sancta Sophia where +preparations for mass were making; that is, the priests were changing +their vestments, and the acolytes lighting the tall candles. The +Emperor sat in his chair of state just inside the brass railing, +unattended except by his sword-bearer. His hands were on his knees, his +head bowed low. He was acknowledging a positive need of prayer. The +ruin at the gate was palpable; but God reigned, and might be reserving +his power for a miraculous demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +The preparation was about finished when, from the entrances of the +Church opposite the nave, a shuffling of many feet was heard. The light +in that quarter was weak, and some moments passed before the Emperor +perceived a small procession advancing, and arose. The garbs were of +orthodox Brotherhoods which had been most bitter in their denunciation. +None of them had approached the door of the holy house for weeks. +</p> + +<p> +The imperial mind was greatly agitated by the sight. Were the brethren +recanting their unpatriotic resolutions? Had Heaven at last given them +an understanding of the peril of the city? Had it brought to them a +realization of the consequences if it fell under the yoke of the +Turk?—That the whole East would then be lost to Christendom, with no +date for its return? A miracle!—and to God the glory! And without a +thought of himself the devoted man walked to the gate of the railing, +and opening it, waited to receive the penitents. +</p> + +<p> +Before him in front of the gate they knelt—in so far they yielded to +custom. +</p> + +<p> +"Brethren," he said, "this high altar has not been honored with your +presence for many days. As Basileus, I bid you welcome back, and dare +urge the welcome in God's holy name. Reason instructs me that your +return is for a purpose in some manner connected with the unhappy +condition in which our city and empire, not to mention our religion, +are plunged. Rise, one of you, and tell me to what your appearance at +this solemn hour is due." +</p> + +<p> +A brother in gray, old and stooped, arose, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, it cannot be that you are unacquainted with the +traditions of ancient origin concerning Constantinople and Hagia +Sophia; forgive us, however, if we fear you are not equally well +informed of a more recent prophecy, creditably derived, we think, and +presume to speak of its terms. 'The infidels'—so the prediction +runs—'will enter the city; but the instant they arrive at the column +of Constantine the Great, an angel will descend from Heaven, and put a +sword in the hands of a man of low estate seated at the foot of the +column, and order him to avenge the people of God with it. Overcome by +sudden terror, the Turks will then take to flight, and be driven, not +only from the city, but to the frontier of Persia.' [Footnote: Von +Hammer.] This prediction relieves us, and all who believe in it, from +fear of Mahommed and his impious hordes, and we are grateful to Heaven +for the Divine intervention. But, Your Majesty, we think to be +forgiven, if we desire the honor of the deliverance to be accounted to +the Holy Mother who has had our fathers in care for so many ages, and +redeemed them miraculously in instances within Your Majesty's +knowledge. Wherefore to our purpose.... We have been deputed by the +Brotherhoods in Constantinople, united in devotion to the Most Blessed +Madonna of Blacherne, to pray your permission to take the <i>Panagia</i> +from the Church of the Virgin of Hodegetria, where it has been since +the week of the Passover, and intrust it to the pious women of the +city. To-morrow at noon, Your Majesty consenting, they will assemble at +the Acropolis, and with the banner at their head, go in procession +along the walls and to every threatened gate, never doubting that at +the sight of it the Sultan and his unbaptized hordes will be reft of +breath of body or take to flight.... This we pray of Your Majesty, that +the Mother of God may in these degenerate days have back the honor and +worship accorded her by the Emperors and Greeks of former times." +</p> + +<p> +The old man ceased, and again fell upon his knees, while his associate +deputies rang the space with loud <i>Amens</i>. +</p> + +<p> +It was well the light was dim, and the Emperor's face in shadow; it was +well the posture of the petitioners helped hide him from close study; a +feeling mixed of pity, contempt, and unutterable indignation seized +him, distorting his features, and shaking his whole person. Recantation +and repentance!—Pledge of loyalty!—Offer of service at the gates and +on the shattered walls!—Heaven help him! There was no word of apology +for their errors and remissness—not a syllable in acknowledgment of +his labors and services—and he about to pray God for strength to die +if the need were, as became the Emperor of a brave and noble people! +</p> + +<p> +An instant he stood gazing at them—an instant of grief, shame, +mortification, indignation, all heightened by a burning sense of +personal wrong. Ay, God help him! +</p> + +<p> +"Bear with me a little," he said quietly, and passing the waiting +priests, went and knelt upon a step of the altar in position to lay his +head upon the upper step. Minutes passed thus. The deputies supposed +him praying for the success of the morrow's display; he was in fact +praying for self-possession to answer them as his judgment of policy +demanded. +</p> + +<p> +At length he arose, and returned to them, and had calmness to say: +</p> + +<p> +"Arise, brethren, and go in peace. The keeper of the Church will +deliver the sacred banner to the pious women. Only I insist upon a +condition; if any of them are slain by the enemy, whom you and they +know to have been bred in denial of womanly virtue, scorning their own +mothers and wives, and making merchandise of their daughters—if any of +them be slain, I say, then you shall bear witness to those who sent you +to me that I am innocent of the blood-guilt. Arise, and go in peace." +</p> + +<p> +They marched out of the Church as they had come in, and he proceeded +with the service. +</p> + +<p> +Next day about ten o'clock in the morning there was a lull in the +fighting at the Gate St. Romain. It were probably better to say the +Turks for some reason rested from their work of bringing stones, +tree-trunks, earth in hand carts, and timbers wrenched from +houses—everything, in fact, which would serve to substantially fill +the moat in that quarter. Then upon the highest heap of what had been +the tower of Bagdad Count Corti appeared, a black shield on his arm, +his bow in one hand, his banderole in the other. +</p> + +<p> +"Have a care, have a care!" his friends halloed. "They are about firing +the great gun." +</p> + +<p> +Corti seemed not to hear, but deliberately planted the banderole, and +blowing his trumpet three times, drew an arrow from the quiver at his +back. The gun was discharged, the bullet striking below him. When the +dust cleared away, he replied with his trumpet. Then the Turks, keeping +their distance, set up a cry. Most of the arrows shot at him fell +short. Seeing their indisposition to accept his challenge, he took seat +upon a stone. +</p> + +<p> +Not long then until a horseman rode out from the line of Janissaries +still guarding the eminence, and advanced down the left of the zigzag +galloping. +</p> + +<p> +He was in chain mail glistening like gold, but wore flowing yellow +trousers, while his feet were buried in shoe-stirrups of the royal +metal. Looking over the small round black shield on his left arm, and +holding a bow in the right hand, easy in the saddle, calm, confident, +the champion slackened speed when within arrow flight, but commenced +caracoling immediately. A prolonged hoarse cry arose behind him. Of the +Christians, the Count alone recognized the salute of the Janissaries, +still an utterance amongst Turkish soldiers, in literal translation: +<i>The Padishah! Live the Padishah!</i> The warrior was Mahommed himself! +</p> + +<p> +Arising, the Count placed an arrow at the string, and shouted, "<i>For +Christ and Irene—Now!</i>" With the last word, he loosed the shaft. +</p> + +<p> +Catching the missile lightly on his shield, Mahommed shouted back: +"<i>Allah-il-Allah!</i>" and sent a shaft in return. The exchange continued +some minutes. In truth, the Count was not a little proud of the enemy's +performance. If there was any weakness on his part, if his clutch of +the notch at the instant of drawing the string was a trifle light, the +fault was chargeable to a passing memory. This antagonist had been his +pupil. How often in the school field, practising with blunted arrows, +the two had joyously mimicked the encounter they were now holding. At +last a bolt, clanging dully, dropped from the Sultan's shield, and +observing that it was black feathered, he swung from his seat to the +ground, and, shifting the horse between him and the foe, secured the +missile, and remounted. +</p> + +<p> +<i>"Allah-il-Allah!"</i> he cried, slowly backing the charger out of range. +</p> + +<p> +The Count repeated the challenge through his trumpet, and sat upon the +stone again; but no other antagonist showing himself, he at length +descended from the heap. +</p> + +<p> +In his tent Mahommed examined the bolt; and finding the head was of +lead, he cut it open, and extracted a scrip inscribed thus: +</p> + +<p> +"To-day at noon a procession of women will appear on the walls. You may +know it by the white banner a monk will bear, with a picture of the +Madonna painted on it. <i>The Princess Irene marches next after the +banner.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed asked for the time. It was half after ten o'clock. In a few +minutes the door was thronged by mounted officers, who, upon receiving +a verbal message from him, sped away fast as they could go. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the conflict was reopened. Indeed, it raged more fiercely +than at any previous time, the slingers and bowmen being pushed up to +the outer edge of the moat, and the machines of every kind plied over +their heads. In his ignorance of the miracle expected of the Lady of +the Banner, Mahommed had a hope of deterring the extraordinary march. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless at the appointed hour, ten o'clock, the Church of the +Virgin of Hodegetria was surrounded by nuns and monks; and presently +the choir of Sancta Sophia issued from the house, executing a solemn +chant; the Emperor followed in Basilean vestments; then the <i>Panagia</i> +appeared. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the picture of the Very Holy Virgin painted front view, the +eyes upraised, the hands in posture of prayer, the breast covered by a +portrait of the Child, the heads encircled by the usual nimbus, the +mass knelt, uttering cries of adoration. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess Irene, lightly veiled and attired in black, advanced, and, +kissing the fringed corners of the hallowed relic, gathered the white +staying ribbons in her hands; thereupon the monk appointed to carry it +moved after the choir, and the nuns took places. And there were tears +and sighs, but not of fear. The Mother of God would now assume the +deliverance of her beloved capital. As it had been to the Avars, and +later to the Russians under Askold and Dir, it would be now to Mahommed +and his ferocious hordes—all Heaven would arm to punish them. They +would not dare look at the picture twice, or if they did—well, there +are many modes of death, and it will be for the dear Mother to choose. +Thus the women argued. Possibly a perception of the failure in the +defence, sharpened by a consciousness of the horrors in store for them +if the city fell by assault, turned them to this. There is no relief +from despair like faith. +</p> + +<p> +From the little church, the devotees of the Very Holy Virgin took their +way on foot to the southeast, chanting as they went, and as they went +their number grew. Whence the accessions, none inquired. +</p> + +<p> +They first reached a flight of steps leading to the banquette or +footway along the wall near the Golden Gate. The noise of the conflict, +the shouting and roar of an uncounted multitude of men in the heat and +fury of combat, not to more than mention the evidences of the +conflict—arrows, bolts, and stones in overflight and falling in +remittent showers—would have dispersed them in ordinary mood; but they +were under protection—the Madonna was leading them—to be afraid was +to deny her saving grace. And then there was no shrinking on the part +of the Princess Irene. Even as she took time and song from the choir, +they borrowed of her trust. +</p> + +<p> +At the foot of the steps the singers turned aside to allow the +<i>Panagia</i> to go first. The moment of miracle was come! What form would +the manifestation take? Perhaps the doors and windows of Heaven would +open for a rain of fire—perhaps the fighting angels who keep the +throne of the Father would appear with swords of lightning—perhaps the +Mother and Son would show themselves. Had they not spared and converted +the Khagan of the Avars? Whatever the form, it were not becoming to +stand between the <i>Panagia</i> and the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +The holy man carrying the ensign was trustful as the women, and he +ascended the steps without faltering. Gathering the ribbons a little +more firmly in her hands, the Princess kept her place. Up—up they were +borne—Mother and Son. Then the white banner was on the height—seen +first by the Greeks keeping the wall, and in the places it discovered +them, they fell upon their faces, next by the hordes. And they—oh, a +miracle, a miracle truly!—they stood still. The bowman drawing his +bow, the slinger whirling his sling, the arquebusers taking aim matches +in hand, the strong men at the winches of the mangonels, all +stopped—an arresting hand fell on them—they might have been changed +to pillars of stone, so motionlessly did they stand and look at the +white apparition. <i>Kyrie Eleison</i>, thrice repeated, then <i>Christie +Eleison</i>, also thrice repeated, descended to them in the voices of +women, shrilled by excitement. +</p> + +<p> +And the banner moved along the wall, not swiftly as if terror had to do +with its passing, but slowly, the image turned outwardly, the Princess +next it, the ribbons in her hands; after her the choir in full chant; +and then the long array of women in ecstasy of faith and triumph; for +before they were all ascended, the hordes at the edge of the moat, and +those at a distance—or rather such of them as death or wounds would +permit—were retreating to their entrenchment. Nor that merely—the +arrest which had fallen at the Golden Gate extended along the front of +leaguerment from the sea to Blacherne, from Blacherne to the Acropolis. +</p> + +<p> +So it happened that in advance of the display of the picture, without +waiting for the <i>Kyrie Eleison</i> of the glad procession, the Turks took +to their defences; and through the city, from cellar, and vault, and +crypt, and darkened passage, the wonderful story flew; and there being +none to gainsay or explain it, the miracle was accepted, and the +streets actually showed signs of a quick return to their old life. Even +the very timid took heart, and went about thanking God and the <i>Panagia +Blachernitissa</i>. +</p> + +<p> +And here and there the monks passed, sleek and blithe, and complacently +twirling the Greek crosses at the whip-ends of their rosaries of +polished horn buttons large as walnuts, saying: +</p> + +<p> +"The danger is gone. See what it is to have faith! Had we kept on +trusting the <i>azymites</i>, whether Roman cardinal or apostate Emperor, a +muezzin would ere long, perhaps to-morrow, be calling to prayer from +the dome of Hagia Sophia. Blessed be the <i>Panagia!</i> To-night let us +sleep; and then—then we will dismiss the mercenaries with their Latin +tongues." +</p> + +<p> +But there will be skeptics to the last hour of the last day; so is the +world made of kinds of men. Constantine and Justiniani did not disarm +or lay aside their care. In unpatriotic distrust, they kept post behind +the ruins of St. Romain, and saw to it that the labor of planting the +hull of the galley for a new wall, strengthened with another ditch of +dangerous depth and width, was continued. +</p> + +<p> +And they were wise; for about four o'clock in the afternoon, there was +a blowing of horns on the parapet by the monster gun, and five heralds +in tunics stiff with gold embroidery, and trousers to +correspond—splendid fellows, under turbans like balloons, each with a +trumpet of shining silver—set out for the gate, preceding a stately +unarmed official. +</p> + +<p> +The heralds halted now and then to execute a flourish. Constantine, +recognizing an envoy, sent Justiniani and Count Corti to meet him +beyond the moat, and they returned with the Sultan's formal demand for +the surrender of the city. The message was threatening and imperious. +The Emperor replied offering to pay tribute. Mahommed rejected the +proposal, and announced an assault. +</p> + +<p> +The retirement of the hordes at sight of the <i>Panagia</i> on the wall was +by Mahommed's order. His wilfulness extended to his love—he did not +intend the Princess Irene should suffer harm. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0610"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT +</h3> + +<p> +The artillery of Mahommed had been effective, though not to the same +degree, elsewhere than at St. Romain. Jerome the Italian and Leonardo +di Langasco the Genoese, defending the port of Blacherne in the +lowland, had not been able to save the Xiloporta or Wood Gate on the +harbor front harmless; under pounding of the floating battery it lay in +the dust, like a battered helmet. +</p> + +<p> +John Grant and Theodore de Carystos looked at the green hills of Eyoub +in front of the gate Caligaria or Charsias, assigned to them, through +fissures and tumbles-down which made their hearts sore. The Bochiardi +brothers, Paul and Antonin, had fared no better in their defence of the +gate Adrianople. At the gate Selimbria, Theophilus Palaeologus kept the +Imperial flag flying, but the outer faces of the towers there were in +the ditch serving the uses of the enemy. Contarino the Venetian, on the +roof of the Golden Gate, was separated from the wall reaching northward +to Selimbria by a breach wide enough to admit a chariot. Gabriel +Trevisan, with his noble four hundred Venetians, kept good his grip on +the harbor wall from the Acropolis to the gate of St. Peter's. Through +the incapacity or treason of Duke Notaras, the upper portion of the +Golden Horn was entirely lost to the Christians. From the Seven Towers +to Galata the Ottoman fleet held the wall facing the Marmora as a net +of close meshes holds the space of water it is to drag. In a word, the +hour for assault had arrived, and from the twenty-fourth to evening of +the twenty-eighth of May Mahommed diligently prepared for the event. +</p> + +<p> +The attack he reduced to a bombardment barely sufficient to deter the +besiegers from systematic repairs. The reports of his guns were but +occasionally heard. At no time, however, was the energy of the man more +conspicuous. Previously his orders to chief officers in command along +the line had been despatched to them; now he bade them to personal +attendance; and, as may be fancied, the scene at his tent was +orientally picturesque from sunrise to sunset. Such an abounding of +Moslem princes and princes not Moslem, of Pachas, and Beys, and +Governors of Castles, of Sheiks, and Captains of hordes without titles; +such a medley of costumes, and armor, and strange ensigns; such a +forest of tall shafts flying red horse-tails; such a herding of +caparisoned steeds; such a company of trumpeters and heralds—had +seldom if ever been seen. It seemed the East from the Euphrates and Red +Sea to the Caspian, and the West far as the Iron Gates of the Danube, +were there in warlike presence. Yet for the most part these selected +lions of tribes kept in separate groups and regarded each other +askance, having feuds and jealousies amongst themselves; and there was +reason for their good behavior—around them, under arms, were fifteen +thousand watchful Janissaries, the flower of the Sultan's host, of whom +an old chronicler has said, Each one is a giant in stature, and the +equal of ten ordinary men. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout those four days but one man had place always at Mahommed's +back, his confidant and adviser—not Kalil, it is to be remarked, or +Saganos, or the Mollah Kourani, or Akschem-sed-din the Dervish. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," the Prince of India had argued when the Sultan resolved to +summon his vassal chiefs to personal conference, "all men love +splendor; pleasing the eye is an inducement to the intelligent; +exciting the astonishment of the vulgar disposes them to submit to +superiority in another without wounding their vanity. The Rajahs in my +country practise this philosophy with a thorough understanding. Having +frequently to hold council with their officials, into the tent or hall +of ceremony they bring their utmost riches. The lesson is open to my +Lord." +</p> + +<p> +So when his leaders of men were ushered into the audience, the interior +of Mahommed's tent was extravagantly furnished, and their prostrations +were at the step of a throne. Nevertheless in consenting to the +suggestion, the Sultan had insisted upon a condition. +</p> + +<p> +"They shall not mistake me for something else than a warrior—a +politician or a diplomatist, for instance—or think the heaviest blow I +can deal is with the tongue or a pen. Art thou hearing, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"I hear, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"So, by the tomb of the Prophet—may his name be exalted!—my +household, viziers and all, shall stand at my left; but here on my +right I will have my horse in panoply; and he shall bear my mace and +champ his golden bit, and be ready to tread on such of the beggars as +behave unseemly." +</p> + +<p> +And over the blue and yellow silken rugs of Khorassan, with which the +space at the right of the throne was spread, the horse, bitted and +house led, had free range, an impressive reminder of the master's +business of life. +</p> + +<p> +As they were Christians or Moslems, Mahommed addressed the vassals +honored by his summons, and admitted separately to his presence; for +the same arguments might not be pleasing to both. +</p> + +<p> +"I give you trust," he would say to the Christian, "and look for brave +and loyal service from you.... I shall be present with you, and as an +eyewitness judge of your valor, and never had men such incentives. The +wealth of ages is in the walls before us, and it shall be yours—money, +jewels, goods and people—all yours as you can lay hands on it. I +reserve only the houses and churches. Are you poor, you may go away +rich; if rich, you may be richer; for what you get will be honorable +earnings of your right hand of which none shall dispossess you—and to +that treaty I swear.... Rise now, and put your men in readiness. The +stars have promised me this city, and their promises are as the breath +of the God we both adore." +</p> + +<p> +Very different in style and matter were his utterances to a Moslem. +</p> + +<p> +"What is that hanging from thy belt?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is a sword, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"God is God, and there is no other God—<i>Amin!</i> And he it was who +planted iron in the earth, and showed the miner where it was hid, and +taught the armorer to give it form, and harden it, even the blade at +thy belt; for God had need of an instrument for the punishment of those +who say 'God hath partners.' ... And who are they that say 'God hath +partners—a Son and his Mother'? Here have they their stronghold; and +here have we been brought to make roads through its walls, and turn +their palaces of unbelief into harems. For that thou hast thy sword, +and I mine—<i>Amin!</i>... It is the will of God that we despoil these +<i>Gabours</i> of their wealth and their women; for are they not of those of +whom it is said: 'In their hearts is a disease, and God hath increased +their disease, and for them is ordained a painful punishment, because +they have charged the Prophet of God with falsehood'? That they who +escape the sharpness of our swords shall be as beggars, and slaves, and +homeless wanderers—such is the punishment, and it is the judgment of +God—<i>Amin!</i> ... That they shall leave all they have behind them—so +also hath God willed, and I say it shall be. I swear it. And that they +leave behind them is for us who were appointed from the beginning of +the world to take it; that also God wills, and I say it shall be. I +swear it. <i>Amin!</i> ... What if the way be perilous, as I grant it is? Is +it not written: 'A soul cannot die except by permission of God, +according to a writing of God, definite as to time'? And if a man die, +is it not also written: 'Repute not those slain in God's cause to be +dead; nay, alive with God, they are provided for'? They are people of +the 'right hand,' of whom it is written: 'They shall be brought nigh +God in the gardens of delight, upon inwrought couches reclining face to +face. Youths ever young shall go unto them round about with goblets and +ewers, and a cup of flowing wine; and fruits of the sort which they +shall choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind which they shall +desire, and damsels with eyes like pearls laid up, we will give them as +a reward for that which they have done.' ... But the appointed time is +not yet for all of us—nay, it is for the fewest—<i>Amin!</i> ... And when +the will of God is done, then for such as live, lo! over the walls +yonder are gold refined and coined, and gold in vessels, and damsels on +silken couches, their cheeks like roses of Damascus, their arms whiter +and cooler than lilies, and as pearls laid up are their eyes, and their +bodies sweeter than musk on the wings of the south wind in a grove of +palms. With the gold we can make gardens of delight; and the damsels +set down in the gardens, ours the fault if the promise be not made good +as it was spoken by the Prophet—'Paradise shall be brought near unto +the pious, to a place not distant from them, so they shall see it!' ... +Being of those who shall 'receive their books in the right hand,' more +need not be said unto you. I only reserve for myself the houses when +you have despoiled them, and the churches. Make ready yourself and your +people, and tell them faithfully what I say, and swear to. I will come +to you with final orders. Arise!" [Footnote: For the quotations in this +speech, see <i>Selections from the Koran</i>, by EDWARD WILLIAM LANE.] +</p> + +<p> +From sunrise to sunset of the twenty-seventh Mahommed was in the saddle +going with the retinue of a conqueror from chief to chief. From each he +drew a detachment to be held in reserve. One hundred thousand men were +thus detached. +</p> + +<p> +"See to it," he said finally, "that you direct your main effort against +the gate in front of you.... Put the wild men in the advance. The dead +will be useful in the ditch.... Have the ladders at hand.... At the +sound of my trumpets, charge.... Proclaim for me that he who is first +upon the walls shall have choice of a province. I will make him +governor. God is God. I am his servant, ordering as he has ordered." +</p> + +<p> +On the twenty-eighth, he sent all the dervishes in camp to preach to +the Moslems in arms; and of such effect were their promises of pillage +and Paradise that after the hour of the fifth prayer, the multitude, in +all quite two hundred and fifty thousand, abandoned themselves to +transports of fanaticism. Of their huts and booths they made heaps, and +at night set fire to them; and the tents of the Pachas and great +officers being illuminated, and the ships perfecting the blockade +dressed in lights, the entrenchment from Blacherne to the Seven Towers, +and the sea thence to the Acropolis, were in a continued brilliance +reaching up to the sky. Even the campania was invaded by the dazzlement +of countless bonfires. +</p> + +<p> +And from the walls the besieged, if they looked, beheld the antics of +the hordes; if they listened, they heard the noise, in the distance, a +prolonged, inarticulate, irregular clamor of voices, near by, a +confusion of songs and cries. At times the bray of trumpets and the +roll of drums great and small shook the air, and smothered every rival +sound. And where the dervishes came, in their passage from group to +group, the excitement arose out of bounds, while their dancing lent +diablerie to the scene. +</p> + +<p> +Assuredly there was enough in what they beheld to sink the spirit of +the besieged, even the boldest of them. The cry <i>Allah-il-Allah</i> +shouted from the moat was trifling in comparison with what they might +have overheard around the bonfires. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you burn your huts?" asked a prudent officer of his men. +</p> + +<p> +"Because we will not need them more. The city is for us to-morrow. The +Padishah has promised and sworn." +</p> + +<p> +"Did he swear it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, by the bones of the Three in the Tomb of the Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +At another fire, the following: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I have chosen my palace already. It is on the hill over there in +the west." +</p> + +<p> +And again: +</p> + +<p> +"Tell us, O son of Mousa, when we are in the town what will you look +for?" +</p> + +<p> +"The things I most want." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what things?" +</p> + +<p> +"May the Jinn fill thy stomach with green figs for such a question of +my mother's son! What things? Two horses out of the Emperor's stable. +And thou—what wilt thou put thy hand to first?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I have not made up my mind! I am thinking of a load of gold for my +camel—enough to take my father and his three wives to Mecca, and buy +water for them from the Zem-zem. Praised be Allah!" +</p> + +<p> +"Bah! Gold will be cheap." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, as bezants; but I have heard of a bucket the unbelieving Greeks +use at times for mixing wine and bread in. It is when they eat the body +of their God. They say the bucket is so big it takes six fat priests to +lift it." +</p> + +<p> +"It is too big. I'll gather the bezants." +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said a third, with a loud Moslem oath, "keep to your gold, +whether in pots or coin. For me—for me"— +</p> + +<p> +"Ha, ha!—he don't know." +</p> + +<p> +"Don't I? Thou grinning son of a Hindoo ape." +</p> + +<p> +"What is it, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"The thing which is first in thy mind." +</p> + +<p> +"Name it." +</p> + +<p> +"A string of women." +</p> + +<p> +"Old or young?" +</p> + +<p> +"An <i>hoo-rey-yeh</i> is never old." +</p> + +<p> +"What judgment!" sneered the other. "I will take some of the old ones +as well." +</p> + +<p> +"What for?" +</p> + +<p> +"For slaves to wait on the young. Was it not said by a wise man, 'Sweet +water in the jar is not more precious than peace in the family'?" +</p> + +<p> +Undoubtedly the evil genius of Byzantium in this peril was the Prince +of India. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord," he had said, cynically, "of a truth a man brave in the day +can be turned into a quaking coward at night; you have but to present +him a danger substantial enough to quicken his imagination. These +Greeks have withstood you stoutly; try them now with your power a +vision of darkness." +</p> + +<p> +"How, Prince?" +</p> + +<p> +"In view and hearing from the walls let the hordes kindle fires +to-night. Multiply the fires, if need be, and keep the thousands in +motion about them, making a spectacle such as this generation has not +seen; then"— +</p> + +<p> +The singular man stopped to laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed gazed at him in silent wonder. +</p> + +<p> +"Then," he continued, "so will distorted fancy do its work, that by +midnight the city will be on its knees praying to the Mother of God, +and every armed man on the walls who has a wife or daughter will think +he hears himself called to for protection. Try it, my Lord, and thou +mayst whack my flesh into ribbons if by dawn the general fear have not +left but a half task for thy sword." +</p> + +<p> +It was as the Jew said. +</p> + +<p> +Attracted by the illumination in the sky, suggestive of something vast +and terrible going on outside the walls, and still full of faith in a +miraculous deliverance, thousands hastened to see the mercy. What an +awakening was in store for them! Enemies seemed to have arisen out of +the earth—devils, not men. The world to the horizon's rim appeared +oppressed with them. Nor was it possible to misapprehend the meaning of +what they beheld. "To-morrow—to-morrow"—they whispered to each +other—"God keep us!" and pouring back into the streets, they became +each a preacher of despair. Yet—marvelous to say—the monks sallied +from their cells with words of cheer. +</p> + +<p> +"Have faith," they said. "See, we are not afraid. The Blessed Mother +has not deserted her children. Believe in her. She is resolved to allow +the <i>azymite</i> Emperor to exhaust his vanity that in the last hour he +and his Latin myrmidons may not deny her the merit of the salvation. +Compose yourselves, and fear not. The angel will find the poor man at +the column of Constantine." +</p> + +<p> +The ordinary soul beset with fears, and sinking into hopelessness, is +always ready to accept a promise of rest. The people listened to the +priestly soothsayers. Nay, the too comforting assurance made its way to +the defenders at the gates, and hundreds of them deserted their posts; +leaving the enemy to creep in from the moat, and, with hooks on long +poles, actually pull down some of the new defences. +</p> + +<p> +It scarcely requires telling how these complications added weight to +the cares with which the Emperor was already overladen. Through the +afternoon he sat by the open window of a room above the Cercoporta, or +sunken gate under the southern face of his High Residence, [Footnote: +This room is still to be seen. The writer once visited it. Arriving +near, his Turkish <i>cavass</i> requested him to wait a moment. The man then +advanced alone and cautiously, and knocked at the door. There was a +conference, and a little delay; after which the <i>cavass</i> announced it +was safe to go in. The mystery was revealed upon entering. A half dozen +steaming tubs were scattered over the paved floor, and by each of them +stood a scantily attired woman with a dirty <i>yashmak</i> covering her +face. The chamber which should have been very sacred if only because +there the last of the Byzantine Emperors composedly resigned himself to +the inevitable, had become a filthy den devoted to one of the most +ignoble of uses. The shame is, of course, to the Greeks of +Constantinople.] watching the movements of the Turks. The subtle +prophet which sometimes mercifully goes before death had discharged its +office with him. He had dismissed his last hope. Beyond peradventure +the hardest task to one pondering his fate uprisen and standing before +him with all its attending circumstances, is to make peace with +himself; which is simply viewing the attractions of this life as birds +of plumage in a golden cage, and deliberately opening the door, and +letting them loose, knowing they can never return. This the purest and +noblest of the imperial Greeks—the evil times in which his race as a +ruler was run prevent us from terming him the greatest—had done. +</p> + +<p> +He was in armor, and his sword rested against the cheek of a window. +His faithful attendants came in occasionally, and spoke to him in low +tones; but for the most part he was alone. +</p> + +<p> +The view of the enemy was fair. He could see their intrenchment, and +the tents and ruder quarters behind it. He could see the standards, +many of them without meaning to him, the detachments on duty and +watchful, the horsemen coming and going, and now and then a column in +movement. He could hear the shouting, and he knew the meaning of it +all—the final tempest was gathering. +</p> + +<p> +About four o'clock in the afternoon, Phranza entered the room, and +going to his master's right hand, was in the act of prostrating himself. +</p> + +<p> +"No, my Lord," said the Emperor, reaching out to stay him, and smiling +pleasantly, "let us have done with ceremony. Thou hast been true +servant to me—I testify it, God hearing—and now I promote thee. Be as +my other self. Speak to me standing. To-morrow is my end of days. In +death no man is greater than another. Tell me what thou bringest." +</p> + +<p> +On his knees, the Grand Chamberlain took the steel-gloved hand nearest +him, and carried it to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, no servant had ever a more considerate and loving +master." +</p> + +<p> +An oppressive silence followed. They were both thinking the same +thought, and it was too sad for speech. +</p> + +<p> +"The duty Your Majesty charged me with this morning "—thus Phranza +upon recovery of his composure—"I attended to." +</p> + +<p> +"And you found it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Even as Your Majesty had warning. The Hegumens of the Brotherhoods"— +</p> + +<p> +"All of them, O Phranza?" +</p> + +<p> +"All of them, Your Majesty—assembled in a cloister of the Pantocrator." +</p> + +<p> +"Gennadius again!" +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor's hands closed, and there was an impatient twitching of his +lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Though why should I be astonished? Hark, my friend! I will tell thee +what I have as yet spoken to no man else. Thou knowest Kalil the Vizier +has been these many years my tributary, and that he hath done me many +kindly acts, not always in his master's interest. The night of the day +our Christian ships beat the Turks the Grand Vizier sent me an account +of a stormy scene in Mahommed's tent, and advised me to beware of +Gennadius. Ah, I had fancied myself prepared to drink the cup Heaven +hath in store for me, lees and all, without a murmur, but men will be +men until their second birth. It is nature! ... Oh, my Phranza, what +thinkest thou the false monk is carrying under his hood?" +</p> + +<p> +"Some egg of treason, I doubt not." +</p> + +<p> +"Having driven His Serenity, the pious and venerable Gregory, into +exile, he aspires to succeed him." +</p> + +<p> +"The hypocrite!—the impostor!—the perjured!—He, Patriarch!" cried +Phranza, with upraised eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"And from whose hands thinkest thou he dreams of deriving the honor?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not Your Majesty's." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor smiled faintly. "No—he regards Mahommed the Sultan a +better patron, if not a better Christian." +</p> + +<p> +"Forbid it Heaven!" and Phranza crossed himself repeatedly. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, good friend, hear his scheme, then thou mayst call the forbidding +powers with undeniable reason....He undertook—so Kalil privily +declared—if Mahommed would invest him with the Patriarchate, to +deliver Constantinople to him." +</p> + +<p> +"By what means? He has no gate in keeping—he is not even a soldier." +</p> + +<p> +"My poor Phranza! Hast thou yet to learn that perfidy is not a trait of +any class? This gowned traitor hath a key to all the gates. Hear him—I +will ply the superstition of the Greeks, and draw them from the walls +with a prophecy." +</p> + +<p> +Phranza was able to cry out: "Oh! that so brave a prince, so good a +master should be at the mercy of—of such a"— +</p> + +<p> +"With all thy learning, I see thou lackest a word. Let it pass, let it +pass—I understand thee....But what further hast thou from the meeting?" +</p> + +<p> +Phranza caught the hand again, and laid his forehead upon it while he +replied: "To-night the Brotherhoods are to go out, and renew the story +of the angel, and the man at the foot of the column of Constantine." +The calmness of the Emperor was wonderful. He gazed at the Turks +through the window, and, after reflection, said tranquilly: +</p> + +<p> +"I would have saved it—this old empire of our fathers; but my utmost +now is to die for it—ay, as if I were blind to its unworthiness. God's +will be done, not mine!" +</p> + +<p> +"Talk not of dying—O beloved Lord and master, talk not so! It is not +too late for composition. Give me your terms, and I will go with them +to"— +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, friend, I have done better—I have made peace with myself.... I +shall be no man's slave. There is nothing more for me—nothing except +an honorable death. How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much +glory in dying! A day of Greek regeneration may come—then there may be +some to do me honor—some to find worthy lessons in my life—perchance +another Emperor of Byzantium to remember how the last of the +Palaeologae accepted the will of God revealed to him in treachery and +treason.... But there is one at the door knocking as he were in haste. +Let him enter." +</p> + +<p> +An officer of the guard was admitted. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he said, after salutation, "the Captain Justiniani, and +the Genoese, his friends, are preparing to abandon the gates." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine seized his sword, and arose. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me about it," he said, simply. +</p> + +<p> +"Justiniani has the new ditch at St. Romain nearly completed, and +wanting some cannon, he made request for them of the High Admiral, who +refused, saying, 'The foreign cowards must take care of themselves.'" +</p> + +<p> +"Ride, sir, to the noble Captain, and tell him I am at thy heels." +</p> + +<p> +"Is the Duke mad?" Constantine continued, the messenger having +departed. "What can he want? He is rich, and hath a family—boys +verging on manhood, and of excellent promise. Ah, my dear friend in +need, what canst thou see of gain for him from Mahommed?" +</p> + +<p> +"Life, your Majesty—life, and greater riches." +</p> + +<p> +"How? I did not suppose thou thoughtest so ill of men." +</p> + +<p> +"Of some—of some—not all." Then Phranza raised his head, and asked, +bitterly: "If five galleys won the harbor, every Moslem sail opposing, +why could not twelve or more do better? Does not Mahommed draw his +supplies by sea?" +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor looked out of the window again, but not at the Turks. +</p> + +<p> +"Lord Phranza," he said, presently, "thou mayst survive to-morrow's +calamity; if so, being as thou art skilful with the pen, write of me in +thy day of leisure two things; first, I dared not break with Duke +Notaras while Mahommed was striving for my gates—he could and would +have seized my throne—the Church, the Brotherhoods, and the people are +with him—I am an <i>azymite.</i> Say of me next that I have always held the +decree of union proclaimed by the Council of Florence binding upon +Greek conscience, and had I lived, God helping me roll back this flood +of Islam, it should have been enforced.... Hither—look hither, Lord +Phranza"—he pointed out of the window—"and thou wilt see an argument +of as many divisions as there are infidels beleaguering us why the +Church of Christ should have one head; and as to whether the head +should be Patriarch or Bishop, is it not enough that we are perishing +for want of Western swords?"—He would have fallen into silence again, +but roused himself: "So much for the place I would have in the world's +memory.... But to the present affair. Reparation is due Justiniani and +his associates. Do thou prepare a repast in the great dining hall. Our +resources are so reduced I may not speak of it as a banquet; but as +thou lovest me do thy best with what we have. For my part, I will ride +and summon every noble Greek in arms for Church and State, and the +foreign captains. In such cheer, perhaps, we can heal the wounds +inflicted by Notaras. We can at least make ready to die with grace." +</p> + +<p> +He went out, and taking horse, rode at speed to the Gate St. Romain, +and succeeded in soothing the offended Genoese. +</p> + +<p> +At ten o'clock the banquet was held. The chroniclers say of it that +there were speeches, embraces, and a fresh resolution to fight, and +endure the worst or conquer. And they chose a battle-cry—<i>Christ and +Holy Church.</i> At separating, the Emperor, with infinite tenderness, but +never more knightly, prayed forgiveness of any he might have wronged or +affronted; and the guests came one by one to bid him adieu, and he +commended them to God, and the gratitude of Christians in the ages to +come, and his hands were drenched with their tears. +</p> + +<p> +From the Very High Residence he visited the gates, and was partially +successful in arresting the desertions actually in progress. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, all other duties done, his mind turning once more to God, he +rode to Sancta Sophia, heard mass, partook of the Communion, and +received absolution according to Latin rite; after which the morrow +could hold no surprise for him. And he found comfort repeating his own +word: How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much glory in dying. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0611"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XI +</h3> + +<h3> +COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA +</h3> + +<p> +From the repast at Blacherne—festive it was in no sense—Count Corti +escorted the Emperor to the door of Sancta Sophia; whence, by +permission, and taking with him his nine Berbers, he rode slowly to the +residence of the Princess Irene. Slowly, we say, for nowhere in the +pent area of Byzantium was there a soul more oppressed. +</p> + +<p> +If he looked up, it was to fancy all the fortunate planets seated in +their Houses helping Mahommed's star to a fullest flood of splendor; if +he looked down, it was to see the wager—and his soul cried out, Lost! +Lost! Though one be rich, or great, or superior in his calling, wherein +is the profit of it if he have lost his love? +</p> + +<p> +Besides the anguish of a perception of his rival's better fortune, the +Count was bowed by the necessity of deciding certain consequences +unforeseen at the time the wager was made. The place of the surrender +of the Princess was fixed. Thinking forward now, he could anticipate +the scene in the great church—the pack of fugitives, their terror and +despair, the hordes raging amongst them. How was he single-handed to +save her unharmed in the scramble of the hour? Thoughts of her youth, +beauty, and rank, theretofore inspirations out of Heaven, set him to +shivering with an ague more like fear than any he had ever known. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this all. The surrender was by the terms to be to Mahommed +himself. The Sultan was to demand her of him. He groaned aloud: "Oh, +dear God and Holy Mother, be merciful, and let me die!" For the first +time it was given him to see, not alone that he might lose the woman to +his soul all the sun is to the world, but her respect as well. By what +management was he to make the surrender without exposing the +understanding between the conqueror and himself? She would be +present—she would see what took place—she would hear what was said. +And she would not be frightened. The image of the Madonna above the +altar in the nave would not be more calm. The vaguest suspicion of a +compact, and she the subject, would put her upon inquiry; then—"Oh, +fool—idiot—insensate as my sword-grip!" Thus, between groans, he +scourged himself. +</p> + +<p> +It was late, but her home was now a hospital filled with wounded men, +and she its sleepless angel. Old Lysander admitted him. +</p> + +<p> +"The Princess Irene is in the chapel." +</p> + +<p> +Thus directed, the Count went thither well knowing the way. +</p> + +<p> +A soldier just dead was the theme of a solemn recital by Sergius. The +room was crowded with women in the deepest excitement of fear. Corti +understood the cause. Poor creatures! They had need of religious +comfort. A thousand ghosts in one view could not have overcome them as +did the approach of the morrow. +</p> + +<p> +At the right of the altar, he discovered the Princess in the midst of +her attendants, who kept close to her, like young birds to the mother +in alarm. She was quiet and self-contained. Apparently she alone heard +the words of the reader; and whereas the Count came in a +penitent—doubtful—in a maze—unknowing what to do or where to turn, +one glance at her face restored him. He resolved to tell her his +history, omitting only the character in which he entered her kinsman's +service, and the odious compact with Mahommed. Her consent to accompany +him to Sancta Sophia must be obtained; for that he was come. +</p> + +<p> +His presence in the chapel awakened a suppressed excitement, and +directly the Princess came to him. +</p> + +<p> +"What has happened, Count Corti? Why are you here?" +</p> + +<p> +"To speak with you, O Princess Irene' +</p> + +<p> +"Go with me, then." +</p> + +<p> +She conducted him into a passage, and closed the door behind them. +</p> + +<p> +"The floor of my reception room is overlaid with the sick and +suffering—my whole house is given up to them. Speak here; and if the +news be bad, dear Count, it were mercy not to permit the unfortunates +to hear you." +</p> + +<p> +She was not thinking of herself. He took the hand extended to him, and +kissed it—to him it was the hand of more than the most beautiful woman +in the world—it was the hand of a saint in white transfigurement. +</p> + +<p> +"Thy imperial kinsman, O Princess, is at the church partaking of the +Holy Communion, and receiving absolution." +</p> + +<p> +"At this hour? Why is he there, Count?" +</p> + +<p> +Corti told her of the repast at the palace, and recounted the scene at +parting. +</p> + +<p> +"It looks like despair. Can it be the Emperor is making ready to die? +Answer, and fear not for me. My life has been a long preparation. He +believes the defence is lost—the captains believe so—and thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"O Princess, it is terrible saying, but I too expect the judgment of +God in the morning." +</p> + +<p> +The hall was so dimly lighted he could not see her face; but the nerve +of sympathy is fine—he felt she trembled. Only a moment—scarcely +longer than taking a breath—then she answered: +</p> + +<p> +"Judgment is for us all. It will find me here." +</p> + +<p> +She moved as if to return to the chapel; but he stepped before her, and +drawing out a chair standing by the door, said, firmly, yet tenderly: +</p> + +<p> +"You are weary. The labor of helping the unfortunate these many +days—the watching and anxiety—have been trying upon you. Sit, I pray, +and hear me." +</p> + +<p> +She yielded with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +"The judgment which would find you here, O Princes, would not be death, +but something more terrible, so terrible words burn in thinking of it. +I have sworn to defend you: and the oath, and the will to keep it, give +me the right to determine where and how the defence shall be made. If +there are advantages, I want them, for your sweet sake." +</p> + +<p> +He stopped to master his feeling. +</p> + +<p> +"You have never stood on the deck of a ship in wreck, and seen the sea +rush in to overwhelm it," he went on presently: "I have; and I declare +to you, O beloved lady, nothing can be so like to-morrow when the +hordes break into the city, as that triumph of waters; and as on the +deck there was no place of safety for the perishing crew, neither will +there be place of safety for man, woman, or child in Byzantium +then—least of all for the kinswoman of the Emperor—for her—permit me +to say it—whose loveliness and virtue are themes for story-tellers +throughout the East. As a prize—whether for ransom or dishonor—richer +than the churches and the palaces, and their belongings, be they jewels +or gold, or anointed crown, or bone of Saint, or splinter of the True +Cross, or shred from the shirt of Christ—to him who loves her, a prize +of such excellence that glory, even the glory Mahommed is now dreaming +of when he shall have wrenched the keys of the gates from their +rightful owner dead in the bloody breach, would pale if set beside it +for comparison, and sink out of sight—think you she will not be +hunted? Or that the painted Mother above the altar, though it spoke +through a miraculous halo, could save her when found? No, no, Princess, +not here, not here!... You know I love you; in an unreasoning moment I +dared tell you so; and you may think me passion-blind, and that I hung +the vow to defend you upon my soul's neck, thinking it light as this +favor you were pleased to give me; that love being a braggart, +therefore I am a braggart. Let me set myself right in your +opinion—your good opinion, O Princess, for it is to me a world of such +fair shining I dream of it as of a garden in Paradise.... If you do not +know how hardly I have striven in this war, send, I pray, and ask any +of the captains, or the most Christian sovereign I have just left +making his peace with God. Some of them called me mad, but I pardoned +them—they did not know the meaning of my battle-cry—'For Christ and +Irene'—that I was venturing life less for Constantinople, less for +religion—I almost said, less for Christ—than for you, who are all +things in one to me, the fairest on earth, the best in Heaven.... At +last, at last I am driven to admit we may fail—that to-morrow, whether +I am here or there, at your side or under the trampling, you may be a +prisoner at mercy." +</p> + +<p> +At these words, of infinite anguish in utterance, the Princess +shuddered, and looked up in silent appeal. +</p> + +<p> +"Attend me now. You have courage above the courage of women; therefore +I may speak with plainness.... What will become of you—I give the +conclusion of many wrangles with myself—what will become of you +depends upon the hands which happen to be laid on you first. O +Princess, are you giving me heed? Do you comprehend me?" +</p> + +<p> +"The words concern me more than life, Count." +</p> + +<p> +"I may go on then.... I have hope of saving your life and honor. You +have but to do what I advise. If you cannot trust me, further speech +were idleness, and I might as well take leave of you. Death in many +forms will be abroad to-morrow—nothing so easily found." +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti," she returned, "if I hesitate pledging myself, it is not +because of distrust. I will hear you." +</p> + +<p> +"It is well said, dear lady." +</p> + +<p> +He stopped—a pleasant warmth was in his heart—a perception, like dim +light, began breaking through the obscurities in his mind. To this +moment, in fact, he had trouble gaining his own consent to the proposal +on his tongue; it seemed so like treachery to the noble woman—so like +a cunning inveiglement to deliver her to Mahommed under the hated +compact. Now suddenly the proposal assumed another appearance—it was +the best course—the best had there been no wager, no compact, no +obligation but knightly duty to her. As he proceeded, this conviction +grew clearer, bringing him ease of conscience and the subtle influence +of a master arguing right. He told her his history then, holding +nothing back but the two points mentioned. Twice only she interrupted +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Your mother, Count Corti—poor lady—how she has suffered! But what +happiness there is in store for her!" And again: "How wonderful the +escape from the falsehoods of the Prophet! There is no love like +Christ's love unless—unless it be a mother's." +</p> + +<p> +At the conclusion, her chin rested in the soft palm of her hand, and +the hand, unjewelled, was white as marble just carven, and, like the +arm, a wonder of grace. Of what was she thinking?—Of him? Had he at +last made an impression upon her? What trifles serve the hope of +lovers! At length she asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Then, O Count, thou wert his playmate in childhood?" +</p> + +<p> +A bitter pang struck him—that pensiveness was for Mahommed—yet he +answered: "I was nearest him until he took up his father's sword." +</p> + +<p> +"Is he the monster they call him?" +</p> + +<p> +"To his enemies, yes—and to all in the road to his desires, yes—but +to his friends there was never such a friend." +</p> + +<p> +"Has he heart to"— +</p> + +<p> +The omission, rather than the question, hurt him—still he returned: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, once he really loves." +</p> + +<p> +Then she appeared to awake. +</p> + +<p> +"To the narrative now—Forgive my wandering." +</p> + +<p> +The opportunity to return was a relief to him, and he hastened to +improve it. +</p> + +<p> +"I thank you for grace, O Princess, and am reminded of the pressure of +time. I must to the gate again with the Emperor.... This is my +proposal. Instead of biding here to be taken by some rapacious +hordesman, go with me to Sancta Sophia, and when the Sultan comes +thither—as he certainly will—deliver yourself to him. If, before his +arrival, the plunderers force the doors of the holy house, I will stand +with you, not, Princess, as Count Corti the Italian, but Mirza the Emir +and Janissary, appointed by the Sultan to guard you. My Berbers will +help the assumption." +</p> + +<p> +He had spoken clearly, yet she hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah," he said, "you doubt Mahommed. He will be upon honor. The +glory-winners, Princess, are those always most in awe of the judgment +of the world." +</p> + +<p> +Yet she sat silent. +</p> + +<p> +"Or is it I who am in your doubt?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, Count. But my household—my attendants—the poor creatures are +trembling now—some of them, I was about saying, are of the noblest +families in Byzantium, daughters of senators and lords of the court. I +cannot desert them—no, Count Corti, not to save myself. The baseness +would be on my soul forever. They must share my fortune, or I their +fate." +</p> + +<p> +Still she was thinking of others! +</p> + +<p> +More as a worshipper than lover, the Count replied: "I will include +them in my attempt to save you. Surely Heaven will help me, for your +sake, O Princess." +</p> + +<p> +"And I can plead for them with him. Count Corti, I will go with you." +</p> + +<p> +The animation with which she spoke faded in an instant. +</p> + +<p> +"But thou—O my friend, if thou shouldst fall?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, let us be confident. If Heaven does not intend your escape, it +would be merciful, O beloved lady, did it place me where no report of +your mischance and sorrows can reach me. Looking at the darkest side, +should I not come for you, go nevertheless to the Church. Doubt not +hearing of the entry of the Turks. Seek Mahommed, if possible, and +demand his protection. Tell him, I, Mirza the Emir, counselled you. On +the other side, be ready to accompany me. Make preparation +to-night—have a chair at hand, and your household assembled—for when +I come, time will be scant.... And now, God be with you! I will not say +be brave—be trustful." +</p> + +<p> +She extended her hand, and he knelt, and kissed it. +</p> + +<p> +"I will pray for you, Count Corti." +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven will hear you." +</p> + +<p> +He went out, and rejoining the Emperor, rode with him from the Church +to Blacherne. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0612"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ASSAULT +</h3> + +<p> +The bonfires of the hordes were extinguished about the time the +Christian company said their farewells after the last supper in the +Very High Residence, and the hordes themselves appeared to be at rest, +leaving Night to reset her stars serenely bright over the city, the +sea, and the campania. +</p> + +<p> +To the everlasting honor of that company, be it now said, they could +under cover of the darkness have betaken themselves to the ships and +escaped; yet they went to their several posts. Having laid their heads +upon the breast of the fated Emperor, and pledged him their lives, +there is no account of one in craven refuge at the break of day. The +Emperor's devotion seems to have been a communicable flame. +</p> + +<p> +This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that in the beginning +the walls were relied upon to offset the superiority of the enemy in +numbers, while now each knight and man-at-arms knew the vanity of that +reliance—knew himself, in other words, one of scant five thousand +men—to such diminished roll had the besieged been reduced by wounds, +death and desertion—who were to muster on the ruins of the outer wall, +or in the breaches of the inner, and strive against two hundred and +fifty thousand goaded by influences justly considered the most powerful +over ferocious natures—religious fanaticism and the assurance of booty +without limit. The silence into which the Turkish host was sunk did not +continue a great while. The Greeks on the landward walls became aware +of a general murmur, followed shortly by a rumble at times vibrant—so +the earth complains of the beating it receives from vast bodies of men +and animals in hurried passage. +</p> + +<p> +"The enemy is forming," said John Grant to his associate Carystos, the +archer. +</p> + +<p> +Minotle, the Venetian bayle, listening from the shattered gate of +Adrianople, gave order: "Arouse the men. The Turks are coming." +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani, putting the finishing touches upon his masked repairs +behind what had been the alley or passage between the towers Bagdad and +St. Romain, was called to by his lookout: "Come up, Captain—the +infidels are stirring—they seem disposed to attack." +</p> + +<p> +"No," the Captain returned, after a brief observation, "they will not +attack to-night—they are getting ready." +</p> + +<p> +None the less, without relieving his working parties, he placed his +command in station. +</p> + +<p> +At Selimbria and the Golden Gate the Christians stood to arms. So also +between the gates. Then a deep hush descended upon the mighty +works—mighty despite the slugging they had endured—and the silence +was loaded with anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +For such of my readers as have held a night-watch expectant of battle +at disadvantage in the morning it will be easy putting themselves in +the place of these warders at bay; they can think their thoughts, and +hear the heavy beating of their hearts; they will remember how long the +hours were, and how the monotony of the waiting gnawed at their spirits +until they prayed for action, action. On the other hand, those without +the experience will wonder how men can bear up bravely in such +conditions—and that is a wonder. +</p> + +<p> +In furtherance of his plan, Mahommed drew in his irregulars, and massed +them in the space between the intrenchment and the ditch; and by +bringing his machines and small guns nearer the walls, he menaced the +whole front of defence with a line amply provided with scaling ladders +and mantelets. Behind the line he stationed bodies of horsemen to +arrest fugitives, and turn them back to the fight. His reserves +occupied the intrenchments. The Janissaries were retained at his +quarters opposite St. Romain. +</p> + +<p> +The hordes were clever enough to see what the arrangement portended for +them, and they at first complained. +</p> + +<p> +"What, grumble, do they?" Mahommed answered. "Ride, and tell them I say +the first choice in the capture belongs to the first over the walls. +Theirs the fault if the city be not an empty nest to all who come after +them." +</p> + +<p> +The earth in its forward movement overtook the moon just before +daybreak; then in the deep hush of expectancy and readiness, the light +being sufficient to reveal to the besieged the assault couchant below +them, a long-blown flourish was sounded by the Turkish heralds from the +embrasure of the great gun. +</p> + +<p> +Other trumpeters took up the signal, and in a space incredibly short it +was repeated everywhere along the line of attack. A thunder of drums +broke in upon the music. Up rose the hordes, the archers and slingers, +and the ladder bearers, and forward, like a bristling wave, they +rushed, shouting every man as he pleased. In the same instant the +machines and light guns were set in operation. Never had the old walls +been assailed by such a tempest of bolts, arrows, stones and +bullets—never had their echoes been awakened by an equal explosion of +human voices, instruments of martial music, and cannon. The warders +were not surprised by the assault so much as by its din and fury; and +when directly the missiles struck them, thickening into an +uninterrupted pouring rain, they cowered behind the merlons, and such +other shelters as they could find. +</p> + +<p> +This did not last long—it was like the shiver and gasp of one plunged +suddenly into icy water. The fugitives were rallied, and brought back +to their weapons, and to replying in kind; and having no longer to +shoot with care, the rabble fusing into a compact target, especially on +the outer edge of the ditch, not a shaft, or bolt, or stone, or ball +from culverin went amiss. Afterwhile, their blood warming with the +work, and the dawn breaking, they could see their advantage of +position, and the awful havoc they were playing; then they too knew the +delight in killing which more than anything else proves man the most +ferocious of brutes. +</p> + +<p> +The movement of the hordes was not a dash wholly without system—such +an inference would be a great mistake. There was no pretence of +alignment or order—there never is in such attacks—forlorn hopes, +receiving the signal, rush on, each individual to his own endeavor; +here, nevertheless, the Pachas and Beys directed the assault, +permitting no blind waste of effort. They hurled their mobs at none but +the weak places—here a breach, there a dismantled gate. +</p> + +<p> +Thousands were pushed headlong into the moat. The ladders then passed +down to such of them as had footing were heavy, but they were caught +willingly; if too short, were spliced; once planted so as to bring the +coping of the wall in reach, they swarmed with eager adventurers, who, +holding their shields and pikes overhead, climbed as best they could. +Those below cheered their comrades above, and even pushed them up. +</p> + +<p> +"The spoils—think of the spoils—the gold, the women!... +<i>Allah-il-Allah!</i>... Up, up—it is the way to Paradise!" +</p> + +<p> +Darts and javelins literally cast the climbers in a thickened shade. +Sometimes a ponderous stone plunging down cleaned a ladder from top to +bottom; sometimes, waiting until the rounds were filled, the besieged +applied levers, and swung a score and more off helpless and shrieking. +No matter—<i>Allah-il-Allah!</i> The living were swift to restore and +attempt the fatal ascents. +</p> + +<p> +Every one dead and every one wounded became a serviceable clod; rapidly +as the dump and cumber of humanity filled the moat the ladders extended +their upward reach; while drum-beat, battle-cry, trumpet's blare, and +the roar of cannon answering cannon blent into one steady +all-smothering sound. +</p> + +<p> +In the stretches of space between gates, where the walls and towers +were intact, the strife of the archers and slingers was to keep the +Greeks occupied, lest they should reenforce the defenders hard pressed +elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +During the night the blockading vessels had been warped close into the +shore, and, the wall of the seafront being lower than those on the land +side, the crews, by means of platforms erected on the decks, engaged +the besieged from a better level. There also, though attempts at +escalade were frequent, the object was chiefly to hold the garrison in +place. +</p> + +<p> +In the harbor, particularly at the Wood Gate, already mentioned as +battered out of semblance to itself by the large gun on the floating +battery, the Turks exerted themselves to effect a landing; but the +Christian fleet interposed, and there was a naval battle of varying +fortune. +</p> + +<p> +So, speaking generally, the city was wrapped in assault; and when the +sun at last rode up into the clear sky above the Asiatic heights, +streets, houses, palaces, churches—the hills, in fact, from the sea to +the Tower of Isaac—were shrouded in ominous vapor, through which such +of the people as dared go abroad flitted pale and trembling; or if they +spoke to each other, it was to ask in husky voices, What have you from +the gates? +</p> + +<p> +Passing now to the leading actors in this terrible tragedy. Mahommed +retired to his couch early the night previous. He knew his orders were +in course of execution by chiefs who, on their part, knew the +consequences of failure. The example made of the Admiral in command of +the fleet the day the five relieving Christian galleys won the port was +fresh in memory. [Footnote: He was stretched on the ground and whipped +like a common malefactor.] +</p> + +<p> +"To-morrow, to-morrow," he kept repeating, while his pages took off his +armor, and laid the pieces aside. "To-morrow, to-morrow," lingered in +his thoughts, when, his limbs stretched out comfortably on the broad +bronze cot which served him for couch, sleep crept in as to a tired +child, and laid its finger of forgetfulness upon his eyelids. The +repetition was as when we run through the verse of a cheerful song, +thinking it out silently, and then recite the chorus aloud. Once he +awoke, and, sitting up, listened. The mighty host which had its life by +his permission was quiet—even the horses in their apartment seemed +mindful that the hour was sacred to their master. Falling to sleep +again, he muttered: "To-morrow, to-morrow—Irene and glory. I have the +promise of the stars." +</p> + +<p> +To Mahommed the morrow was obviously but a holiday which was bringing +him the kingly part in a joyous game—a holiday too slow in coming. +</p> + +<p> +About the third hour after midnight he was again awakened. A man stood +by his cot imperfectly shading the light of a lamp with his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince of India!" exclaimed Mahommed, rising to a sitting posture. +</p> + +<p> +"It is I, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"What time is it?" +</p> + +<p> +The Prince gave him the hour. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it so near the break of day?" Mahommed yawned. "Tell me"—he fixed +his eyes darkly on the visitor—"tell me first why thou art here?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will, my Lord, and truly. I wished to see if you could sleep. A +common soul could not. It is well the world has no premonitory sense." +</p> + +<p> +"Why so?" +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has all the qualities of a conqueror." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed was pleased. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I will make a great day of to-morrow. But, Prince of India, what +shadows are disturbing thee? Why art thou not asleep?" +</p> + +<p> +"I too have a part in the day, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"What part?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will fight, and"— +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed interrupted him with a laugh. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou!" and he looked the stooped figure over from head to foot. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has two hands—I have four—I will show them." +</p> + +<p> +Returning to his apartment, the Prince reappeared with Nilo. +</p> + +<p> +"Behold, my Lord!" +</p> + +<p> +The black was in the martial attire of a king of Kash-Cush—feathered +coronet, robe of blue and red hanging from shoulder to heel, body under +the robe naked to the waist, assegai in the oft-wrapped white sash, +skirt to the knees glittering with crescents and buttons of silver, +sandals beaded with pearls. On his left arm depended a shield rimmed +and embossed with brass; in his right hand he bore a club knotted, and +of weight to fell a bull at a blow. Without the slightest abashment, +but rather as a superior, the King looked down at the young Sultan. +</p> + +<p> +"I see—I understand—I welcome the four hands of the Prince of India," +Mahommed said, vivaciously; then, giving a few moments of admiration to +the negro, he turned, and asked: +</p> + +<p> +"Prince, I have a motive for to-morrow—nay, by the cool waters of +Paradise, I have many motives. Tell me thine. In thy speech and action +I have observed a hate for these Greeks deep as the Shintan's for God. +Why? What have they done to thee?" +</p> + +<p> +"They are Christians," the Jew returned, sullenly. +</p> + +<p> +"That is good, Prince, very good—even the Prophet judged it a +justification for cleaning the earth of the detestable sect—yet it is +not enough. I am not old as thou"—Mahommed lost the curious gleam +which shone in the visitor's eyes—"I am not old as thou art; still I +know hate like thine must be from a private grievance." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord is right. To-morrow I will leave the herd to the herd. In the +currents of the fight I will hunt but one enemy—Constantine. Judge +thou my cause." +</p> + +<p> +Then he told of Lael—of his love for her—of her abduction by +Demedes—his supplication for the Emperor's assistance—the refusal. +</p> + +<p> +"She was the child of my soul," he continued, passionately. "My +interest in life was going out; she reinspired it. She was the promise +of a future for me, as the morning star is of a gladsome day. I dreamed +dreams of her, and upon her love builded hopes, like shining castles on +high hills. Yet it was not enough that the Greek refused me his power +to discover and restore her. She is now in restraint, and set apart to +become the wife of a Christian—a Christian priest—may the fiends +juggle for his ghost!—To-morrow I will punish the tyrant—I will give +him a dog's death, and then seek her. Oh! I will find her—I will find +her—and by the light there is in love, I will show him what all of +hell there can be in one man's hate!" +</p> + +<p> +For once the cunning of the Prince overreached itself. In the rush of +passion he forgot the exquisite sensory gifts of the potentate with +whom he was dealing; and Mahommed, observant even while shrinking from +the malignant fire in the large eyes, discerned incoherencies in the +tale, and that it was but half told; and while he was resolving to push +his Messenger of the Stars to a full confession, a distant rumble +invaded the tent, accompanied by a trample of feet outside. +</p> + +<p> +"It is here, Prince of India—the day of Destiny. Let us get ready, +thou for thy revenge, I for glory and"—Irene was on his tongue, but he +suppressed the name. "Call my chamberlain and equerry.... On the table +there thou mayst see my arms—a mace my ancestor Ilderim [Footnote: +Bajazet.] bore at Nicopolis, and thy sword of Solomon.... God is great, +and the Jinn and the Stars on my side, what have we to fear?" +</p> + +<p> +Within half an hour he rode out of the tent. +</p> + +<p> +"Blows the wind to the city or from it?" he asked his chief Aga of +Janissaries. +</p> + +<p> +"Toward the city, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Exalted be the name of the Prophet! Set the Flower of the Faithful in +order—a column of front wide as the breach in the gate—and bring the +heralds. I shall be by the great gun." +</p> + +<p> +Pushing his horse on the parapet, he beheld the space before him, down +quite to the moat—every trace of the cemetery had disappeared—dark +with hordes assembled and awaiting the signal. Satisfied, happy, he +looked then toward the east. None better than he knew the stars +appointed to go before the sun—their names were familiar to him—now +they were his friends. At last a violet corona infinitely soft +glimmered along the hill tops beyond Scutari. +</p> + +<p> +"Stand out now," he cried to the five in their tabards of gold—"stand +out now, and as ye hope couches in Paradise, blow—blow the stones out +of their beds yonder—God was never so great!" +</p> + +<p> +Then ensued the general advance which has been described, except that +here, in front of St. Romain, there was no covering the assailants with +slingers and archers. The fill in the ditch was nearly level with the +outer bank, from which it may be described as an ascending causeway. +This advantage encouraged the idea of pouring the hordesmen <i>en masse</i> +over the hill composed of the ruins of what had been the towers of the +gate. +</p> + +<p> +There was an impulsive dash under incitement of a mighty drumming and +trumpeting—a race, every man of the thousands engaged in it making for +the causeway—a jam—a mob paralyzed by its numbers. They trampled on +each other—they fought, and in the rebound were pitched in heaps down +the perpendicular revetment on the right and left of the fill. Of those +thus unfortunate the most remained where they fell, alive, perhaps, but +none the less an increasing dump of pikes, shields, and crushed bodies; +and in the roar above them, cries for help, groans, and prayers were +alike unheard and unnoticed. +</p> + +<p> +All this Justiniani had foreseen. Behind loose stones on top of the +hill, he had collected culverins, making, in modern phrase, a masked +battery, and trained the pieces to sweep the causeway; with them, as a +support, he mixed archers and pikemen. On either flank, moreover, he +stationed companies similarly armed, extending them to the unbroken +wall, so there was not a space in the breach undefended. +</p> + +<p> +The Captain, on watch and expectant, heard the signal. +</p> + +<p> +"To the Emperor at Blacherne," he bade; "and say the storm is about to +break. Make haste." Then to his men: "Light the matches, and be ready +to throw the stones down." +</p> + +<p> +The hordesmen reached the edge of the ditch; that moment the guns were +unmasked, and the Genoese leader shouted: +</p> + +<p> +"Fire, my men!—<i>Christ and Holy Church!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Then from the Christian works it was bullet, bolt, stone, and shaft, +making light of flimsy shield and surcoat of hide; still the hordesmen +pushed on, a river breasting an obstruction. Now they were on the +causeway. Useless facing about—behind them an advancing wall—on both +sides the ditch. Useless lying down—that was to be smothered in bloody +mire. Forward, forward, or die. What though the causeway was packed +with dead and wounded?—though there was no foothold not +slippery?—though the smell of hot blood filled every nostril?—though +hands thrice strengthened by despair grappled the feet making stepping +blocks of face and breast? The living pressed on leaping, stumbling, +staggering; their howl, "Gold—spoils—women—slaves," answered from +the smoking hill, "<i>Christ and Holy Church.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +And now, the causeway crossed, the leading assailants gain the foot of +the rough ascent. No time to catch breath—none to look for +advantage—none to profit by a glance at the preparation to receive +them—up they must go, and up they went. Arrows and javelins pierce +them; stones crush them; the culverins spout fire in their faces, and, +lifting them off their uncertain footing, hurl them bodily back upon +the heads and shields of their comrades. Along the brow of the rocky +hill a mound of bodies arises wondrous quick, an obstacle to the +warders of the pass who would shoot, and to the hordesmen a barrier. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the corona on the Scutarian hills deepened into dawn. The +Emperor joined Justiniani. Count Corti came with him. There was an +affectionate greeting. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, the day is scarcely full born, yet see how Islam is +rueing it." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine, following Justiniani's pointing, peered once through the +smoke; then the necessity of the moment caught him, and, taking post +between guns, he plied his long lance upon the wretches climbing the +rising mound, some without shields, some weaponless, most of them +incapable of combat. +</p> + +<p> +With the brightening of day the mound grew in height and width, until +at length the Christians sallied out upon it to meet the enemy still +pouring on. +</p> + +<p> +An hour thus. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, seized with a comprehension of the futility of their effort, +the hordesmen turned, and rushed from the hill and the causeway. +</p> + +<p> +The Christians suffered but few casualties; yet they would have gladly +rested. Then, from the wall above the breach, whence he had used his +bow, Count Corti descended hastily. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he said, his countenance kindled with enthusiasm, "the +Janissaries are making ready." +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani was prompt. "Come!" he shouted. "Come every one! We must +have clear range for the guns. Down with these dead! Down with the +living. No time for pity!" +</p> + +<p> +Setting the example, presently the defenders were tossing the bodies of +their enemies down the face of the hill. +</p> + +<p> +On his horse, by the great gun, Mahommed had observed the assault, +listening while the night yet lingered. Occasionally a courier rode to +him with news from this Pacha or that one. He heard without excitement, +and returned invariably the same reply: +</p> + +<p> +"Tell him to pour the hordes in." +</p> + +<p> +At last an officer came at speed. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my Lord, I salute you. The city is won." +</p> + +<p> +It was clear day then, yet a light not of the morning sparkled in +Mahommed's eyes. Stooping in his saddle, he asked: "What sayest thou? +Tell me of it, but beware—if thou speakest falsely, neither God nor +Prophet shall save thee from impalement to the roots of thy tongue." +</p> + +<p> +"As I have to tell my Lord what I saw with my own eyes, I am not +afraid.... My Lord knows that where the palace of Blacherne begins on +the south there is an angle in the wall. There, while our people were +feigning an assault to amuse the Greeks, they came upon a sunken gate"— +</p> + +<p> +"The Cercoporta—I have heard of it." +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord has the name. Trying it, they found it unfastened and +unguarded, and, pushing through a darkened passage, discovered they +were in the Palace. Mounting to the upper floor, they attacked the +unbelievers. The fighting goes on. From room to room the Christians +resist. They are now cut off, and in a little time the quarter will be +in our possession." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed spoke to Kalil: "Take this man, and keep him safely. If he has +spoken truly, great shall be his reward; if falsely, better he were not +his mother's son." Then to one of his household: "Come hither.... Go to +the sunken gate Cercoporta, pass in, and find the chief now fighting in +the palace of Blacherne. Tell him I, Mahommed, require that he leave +the Palace to such as may follow him, and march and attack the +defenders of this gate, St. Romain, in the rear. He shall not stop to +plunder. I give him one hour in which to do my bidding. Ride thou now +as if a falcon led thee. For Allah and life!" +</p> + +<p> +Next he called his Aga of Janissaries. +</p> + +<p> +"Have the hordes before this gate retired. They have served their turn; +they have made the ditch passable, and the <i>Gabours</i> are faint with +killing them. Observe, and when the road is cleared let go with the +Flower of the Faithful. A province to the first through; and this the +battle-cry: <i>Allah-il-Allah!</i> They will fight under my eye. Minutes are +worth kingdoms. Go thou, and let go." +</p> + +<p> +Always in reserve, always the last resort in doubtful battle, always +the arm with which the Sultans struck the finishing blow, the +Janissaries thus summoned to take up the assault were in discipline, +spirit, and splendor of appearance the <i>elite</i> corps of the martial +world. +</p> + +<p> +Riding to the front, the Aga halted to communicate Mahommed's orders. +Down the columns the speech was passed. +</p> + +<p> +The Flower of the Faithful were in three divisions dismounted. Throwing +off their clumsy gowns, they stood forth in glittering mail, and +shaking their brassy shields in air, shouted the old salute: "<i>Live the +Padishah! Live the Padishah!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +The road to the gate was cleared; then the Aga galloped back, and when +abreast of the yellow flag of the first division, he cried: +"<i>Allah-il-Allah!</i> Forward!" +</p> + +<p> +And drum and trumpet breaking forth, a division moved down in column of +fifties. Slowly at first, but solidly, and with a vast stateliness it +moved. So at Pharsalia marched the legion Caesar loved—so in decision +of heady fights strode the Old Guard of the world's last Conqueror. +</p> + +<p> +Approaching the ditch, the fresh assailants set up the appointed +battle-cry, and quickening the step to double time rushed over the +terrible causeway. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed then descended to the ditch, and remained there mounted, the +sword of Solomon in his hand, the mace of Ilderim at his saddle bow; +and though hearing him was impossible, the Faithful took fire from his +fire—enough that they were under his eye. +</p> + +<p> +The feat attempted by the hordes was then repeated, except now there +was order in disorder. The machine, though shaken and disarranged, kept +working on, working up. Somehow its weight endured. Slowly, with all +its drench and cumber, the hill was surmounted. Again a mound arose in +front of the battery—again the sally, and the deadly ply of pikes from +the top of the mound. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor's lance splintered; he fought with a pole-axe; still even +he became sensible of a whelming pressure. In the gorge, the smoke, +loaded with lime-dust, dragged rather than lifted; no man saw down it +to the causeway; yet the ascending din and clamor, possessed of the +smiting power of a gust of wind, told of an endless array coming. +</p> + +<p> +There was not time to take account of time; but at last a Turkish +shield appeared over the ghastly rampart, glimmering as the moon +glimmers through thick vapor. Thrusts in scores were made at it, yet it +arose; then a Janissary sprang up on the heap, singing like a muezzin, +and shearing off the heads of pikes as reapers shear green rye. He was +a giant in stature and strength. Both Genoese and Greeks were disposed +to give him way. The Emperor rallied them. Still the Turk held his +footing, and other Turks were climbing to his support. Now it looked as +if the crisis were come, now as if the breach were lost. +</p> + +<p> +In the last second a cry <i>For Christ and Irene</i> rang through the melee, +and Count Corti, leaping from a gun, confronted the Turk. +</p> + +<p> +"Ho, Son of Ouloubad! Hassan, Hassan!" [Footnote: One of the +Janissaries, Hassan d'Ouloubad, of gigantic stature and prodigious +strength, mounted to the assault under cover of his shield, his cimeter +in the right hand. He reached the rampart with thirty of his +companions. Nineteen of them were cast down, and Hassan himself fell +struck by a stone.—VON HAMMER.] he shouted, in the familiar tongue. +</p> + +<p> +"Who calls me?" the giant asked, lowering his shield, and gazing about +in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"I call you—I, Mirza the Emir. Thy time has come. <i>Christ and Irene. +Now!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +With the word the Count struck the Janissary fairly on the flat cap +with his axe, bringing him to his knees. Almost simultaneously a heavy +stone descended upon the dazed man from a higher part of the wall, and +he rolled backward down the steep. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine and Justiniani, with others, joined the Count, but too +late. Of the fifty comrades composing Hassan's file, thirty mounted the +rampart. Eighteen of them were slain in the bout. Corti raged like a +lion; but up rushed the survivors of the next file—and the next—and +the vantage-point was lost. The Genoese, seeing it, said: +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty, let us retire." +</p> + +<p> +"Is it time?" +</p> + +<p> +"We must get a ditch between us and this new horde, or we are all dead +men." +</p> + +<p> +Then the Emperor shouted: "Back, every one! For love of Christ and Holy +Church, back to the galley!" +</p> + +<p> +The guns, machines, store of missiles, and space occupied by the +battery were at once abandoned. Constantine and Corti went last, facing +the foe, who warily paused to see what they had next to encounter. +</p> + +<p> +The secondary defence to which the Greeks resorted consisted of the +hulk brought up, as we have seen, by Count Corti, planted on its keel +squarely in rear of the breach, and filled with stones. From the hulk, +on right and left, wings of uncemented masonry extended to the main +wall in form thus: +</p> + +<p> +[Illustration] +</p> + +<p> +A ditch fronted the line fifteen feet in width and twelve in depth, +provided with movable planks for hasty passage. Culverins were on the +hulk, with ammunition in store. +</p> + +<p> +Greatly to the relief of the jaded Christians, who, it is easy +believing, stood not on the order of going, they beheld the reserves, +under Demetrius Palaeologus and Nicholas Giudalli, in readiness behind +the refuge. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, on the deck, raised the visor of his helmet, and looked up +at an Imperial flag drooping in the stagnant air from a stump of the +mast. Whatever his thought or feeling, no one could discern on his +countenance an unbecoming expression. The fact, of which he must have +been aware, that this stand taken ended his empire forever, had not +shaken his resolution or confidence. To Demetrius Palaeologus, who had +lent a hand helping him up the galley's side, he said: "Thank you, +kinsman. God may still be trusted. Open fire." +</p> + +<p> +The Janissaries, astonished at the new and strange defence, would have +retreated, but could not; the files ascending behind drove them +forward. At the edge of the ditch the foremost of them made a +despairing effort to resist the pressure rushing them to their +fate—down they went in mass, in their last service no better than the +hordesmen—clods they became—clods in bright harness instead of +bull-hide and shaggy astrakhan. +</p> + +<p> +From the wings, bolts and stones; from the height of the wall, bolts +and stones; from the hulk, grapeshot; and the rattle upon the shields +of the Faithful was as the passing of empty chariots over a Pompeiian +street. Imprecations, prayers, yells, groans, shrieks, had lodgement +only in the ear of the Most Merciful. The open maw of a ravenous +monster swallowing the column fast as Mahommed down by the great moat +drove it on—such was the new ditch. +</p> + +<p> +Yet another, the final horror. When the ditch was partially filled, the +Christians brought jugs of the inflammable liquid contributed to the +defence by John Grant; and cast them down on the writhing heap. +Straightway the trench became a pocket of flame, or rather an oven from +which the smell of roasting human flesh issued along with a choking +cloud! +</p> + +<p> +The besieged were exultant, as they well might be—they were more than +holding the redoubtable Flower of the Faithful at bay—there was even a +merry tone in their battle-cry. About that time a man dismounted from a +foaming horse, climbed the rough steps to the deck of the galley, and +delivered a message to the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty. John Grant, Minotle the bayle, Carystos, Langasco, and +Jerome the Italian are slain. Blacherne is in possession of the Turks, +and they are marching this way. The hordes are in the streets. I saw +them, and heard the bursting of doors, and the screams of women." +</p> + +<p> +Constantine crossed himself three times, and bowed his head. +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani turned the color of ashes, and exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"We are undone—undone! All is lost!" And that his voice was hoarse did +not prevent the words being overheard. The fire slackened—ceased. Men +fighting jubilantly dropped their arms, and took up the cry—"All is +lost! The hordes are in, the hordes are in!" +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless Count Corti's thought sped to the fair woman waiting for him +in the chapel, yet he kept clear head. +</p> + +<p> +"Your Majesty," he said, "my Berbers are without. I will take them, and +hold the Turks in check while you draw assistance from the walls. +Or"—he hesitated, "or I will defend your person to the ships. It is +not too late." +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, there was ample time for the Emperor's escape. The Berbers were +keeping his horse with Corti's. He had but to mount, and ride away. No +doubt he was tempted. There is always some sweetness in life, +especially to the blameless. He raised his head, and said to Justiniani: +</p> + +<p> +"Captain, my guard will remain here. To keep the galley they have only +to keep the fire alive in the ditch. You and I will go out to meet the +enemy." ... Then he addressed himself to Corti: "To horse, Count, and +bring Theophilus Palaeologus. He is on the wall between this gate and +the gate Selimbria.... Ho, Christian gentlemen," he continued, to the +soldiers closing around him, "all is not lost. The Bochiardi at the +Adrianople gate have not been heard from. To fly from an unseen foe +were shameful, We are still hundreds strong. Let us descend, and form. +God cannot"— +</p> + +<p> +That instant Justiniani uttered a loud cry, and dropped the axe he was +holding. An arrow had pierced the scales of his gauntlet, and disabled +his hand. The pain, doubtless, was great, and he started hastily as if +to descend from the deck. Constantine called out: +</p> + +<p> +"Captain, Captain!" +</p> + +<p> +"Give me leave, Your Majesty, to go and have this wound dressed." +</p> + +<p> +"Where, Captain?" +</p> + +<p> +"To my ship." +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor threw his visor up—his face was flushed—in his soul +indignation contended with astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +"No, Captain, the wound cannot be serious; and besides, how canst thou +get to thy ships?" +</p> + +<p> +Justiniani looked over the bulwark of the vessel. The alley from the +gate ran on between houses abutting the towers. A ball from one of +Mahommed's largest guns had passed through the right-hand building, +leaving a ragged fissure. Thither the Captain now pointed. +</p> + +<p> +"God opened that breach to let the Turks in. I will go out by it." +</p> + +<p> +He stayed no longer, but went down the steps, and in haste little short +of a run disappeared through the fissure so like a breach. +</p> + +<p> +The desertion was in view of his Genoese, of whom a few followed him, +but not all. Many who had been serving the guns took swords and pikes, +and gathering about the Emperor, cried out: +</p> + +<p> +"Give orders, Your Majesty. We will bide with you." +</p> + +<p> +He returned them a look full of gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +"I thank you, gentlemen. Let us go down, and join our shields across +the street. To my guard I commit defence of the galley." +</p> + +<p> +Unfastening the purple half-cloak at his back, and taking off his +helmet, he called to his sword-bearer: "Here, take thou these, and give +me my sword.... Now, gallant gentlemen—now, my brave countrymen—we +will put ourselves in the keeping of Heaven. Come!" +</p> + +<p> +They had not all gained the ground, however, when there arose a clamor +in their front, and the hordesmen appeared, and blocking up the +passage, opened upon them with arrows and stones, while such as had +javelins and swords attacked them hand to hand. +</p> + +<p> +The Christians behaved well, but none better than Constantine. He +fought with strength, and in good countenance; his blade quickly +reddened to the hilt. +</p> + +<p> +"Strike, my countrymen, for city and home. Strike, every one, for +<i>Christ and Holy Church!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +And answering him: "<i>Christ and Holy Church!</i>" they all fought as they +had strength, and their swords were also reddened to the hilt. Quarter +was not asked; neither was it given. Theirs to hold the ground, and +they held it. They laid the hordesmen out over it in scattered heaps +which grew, and presently became one long heap the width of the alley; +and they too fell, but, as we are willing to believe, unconscious of +pain because lapped in the delirium of battle-fever. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes—ten—fifteen—then through the breach by which Justiniani +ingloriously fled Theophilus Palaeologus came with bared brand to +vindicate his imperial blood by nobly dying; and with him came Count +Corti, Francesco de Toledo, John the Dalmatian, and a score and more +Christian gentlemen who well knew the difference between an honorable +death and a dishonored life. +</p> + +<p> +Steadily the sun arose. Half the street was in its light, the other +half in its shade; yet the struggle endured; nor could any man have +said God was not with the Christians. Suddenly a louder shouting arose +behind them. They who could, looked to see what it meant, and the +bravest stood stone still at sight of the Janissaries swarming on the +galley. Over the roasting bodies of their comrades, undeterred by the +inextinguishable fire, they had crossed the ditch, and were slaying the +imperial body-guard. A moment, and they would be in the alley, and +then— +</p> + +<p> +Up rose a wail: "The Janissaries, the Janissaries! <i>Kyrie Eleison!</i>" +Through the knot of Christians it passed—it reached Constantine in the +forefront, and he gave way to the antagonist with whom he was engaged. +</p> + +<p> +"God receive my soul!" he exclaimed; and dropping his sword, he turned +about, and rushed back with wide extended arms. +</p> + +<p> +"Friends—countrymen!—Is there no Christian to kill me?" +</p> + +<p> +Then they understood why he had left his helmet off. +</p> + +<p> +While those nearest stared at him, their hearts too full of pity to do +him the last favor one can ask of another, from the midst of the +hordesmen there came a man of singular unfitness for such a +scene—indeed a delicate woman had not been more out of place—for he +was small, stooped, withered, very white haired, very pale, and much +bearded—a black velvet cap on his head, and a gown of the like about +his body, unarmed, and in every respect unmartial. He seemed to glide +in amongst the Christians as he had glided through the close press of +the Turks; and as the latter had given him way, so now the sword points +of the Christians went down—men in the heat of action forgot +themselves, and became bystanders—such power was there in the +unearthly eyes of the apparition. +</p> + +<p> +"Is there no Christian to kill me?" cried the Emperor again. +</p> + +<p> +The man in velvet stood before him. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince of India!" +</p> + +<p> +"You know me? It is well; for now I know you are not beyond +remembering." The voice was shrill and cutting, yet it shrilled and cut +the sharper. +</p> + +<p> +"Remember the day I called on you to acknowledge God, and give him his +due of worship. Remember the day I prayed you on my knees to lend me +your power to save my child, stolen for a purpose by all peoples held +unholy. Behold your executioner!" +</p> + +<p> +He stepped back, and raised a hand; and ere one of those standing by +could so much as cry to God, Nilo, who, in the absorption of interest +in his master, had followed him unnoticed—Nilo, gorgeous in his +barbarisms of Kash-Cush, sprang into the master's place. He did not +strike; but with infinite cruel cunning of hand—no measurable lapse of +time ensuing—drew the assegai across the face of the astonished +Emperor. Constantine—never great till that moment of death, but then +great forever—fell forward upon his shield, calling in strangled +utterance: "God receive my soul!" +</p> + +<p> +The savage set his foot upon the mutilated countenance, crushing it +into a pool of blood. An instant, then through the petrified throng, +knocking them right and left, Count Corti appeared. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>For Christ and Irene!</i>" he shouted, dashing the spiked boss of his +shield into Nilo's eyes—down upon the feathered coronal he brought his +sword—and the negro fell sprawling upon the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +Oblivious to the surroundings, Count Corti, on his knees, raised the +Emperor's head, slightly turning the face—one look was enough. "His +soul is sped!" he said; and while he was tenderly replacing the head, a +hand grasped his cap. He sprang to his feet. Woe to the intruder, if an +enemy! The sword which had known no failure was drawn back to +thrust—above the advanced foot the shield hung in ready poise—between +him and the challenger there was only a margin of air and the briefest +interval of time—his breath was drawn, and his eyes gleamed with +vengeful murder—but—some power invisible stayed his arm, and into his +memory flashed the lightning of recognition. +</p> + +<p> +"Prince of India," he shouted, "never wert thou nearer death!" +</p> + +<p> +"Thou—liest! Death—and—I"— +</p> + +<p> +The words were long drawn between gasps, and the speech was never +finished. The tongue thickened, then paralyzed. The features, already +distorted with passion, swelled, and blackened horribly. The eyes +rolled back—the hands flew up, the fingers apart and rigid—the body +rocked—stiffened—then fell, sliding from the Count's shield across +the dead Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +The combat meantime had gone on. Corti, with a vague feeling that the +Prince's flight of soul was a mystery in keeping with his life, took a +second to observe him, and muttered: "Peace to him also!" +</p> + +<p> +Looking about him then, he was made aware that the Christians, attacked +in front and rear, were drawing together around the body of +Constantine—that their resistance was become the last effort of brave +men hopeless except of the fullest possible payment for their lives. +This was succeeded by a conviction of duty done on his part, and of +every requirement of honor fulfilled; thereupon with a great throb of +heart, his mind reverted to the Princess Irene waiting for him in the +chapel. He must go to her. But how? And was it not too late? +</p> + +<p> +There are men whose wits are supernaturally quickened by danger. The +Count, pushing through the intervening throng, boldly presented himself +to the Janissaries, shouting while warding the blows they aimed at him: +</p> + +<p> +"Have done, O madmen! See you not I am your comrade, Mirza the Emir? +Have done, I say, and let me pass. I have a message for the Padishah!" +</p> + +<p> +He spoke Turkish, and having been an idol in the barracks—their best +swordsman—envied, and at the same time beloved—they knew him, and +with acclamations opened their files, and let him pass. +</p> + +<p> +By the fissure which had served Justiniani, he escaped from the +terrible alley, and finding his Berbers and his horse, rode with speed +for the residence of the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +Not a Christian survived the combat. Greek, Genoese, Italian lay in +ghastly composite with hordesmen and mailed Moslems around the Emperor. +In dying they had made good their battle-cry—<i>For Christ and Holy +Church!</i> Let us believe they will yet have their guerdon. +</p> + +<p> +About an hour after the last of them had fallen, when the narrow +passage was deserted by the living—the conquerors having moved on in +search of their hire—the Prince of India aroused, and shook himself +free of the corpses cumbering him. Upon his knees he gazed at the +dead—then at the place—then at the sky. He rubbed his hands—made +sure he was sound of person—he seemed uncertain, not of life, but of +himself. In fact, he was asking, Who am I? And the question had +reference to the novel sensations of which he was conscious. What was +it coursing through his veins? Wine?—Elixir?—Some new principle +which, hidden away amongst the stores of nature, had suddenly evolved +for him? The weights of age were gone. In his body—bones, arms, limbs, +muscles—he recognized once more the glorious impulses of youth; but +his mind—he started—the ideas which had dominated him were beginning +to return—and memory! It surged back upon him, and into its wonted +chambers, like a wave which, under pressure of a violent wind, has been +momentarily driven from a familiar shore. He saw, somewhat faintly at +first, the events which had been promontories and lofty peaks cast up +out of the level of his long existence. Then THAT DAY and THAT EVENT! +How distinctly they reappeared to him! They must be the same—must +be—for he beheld the multitude on its way to Calvary, and the Victim +tottering under the Cross; he heard the Tribune ask, "Ho, is this the +street to Golgotha?" He heard his own answer, "I will guide you;" and +he spit upon the fainting Man of Sorrows, and struck him. And then the +words—"TARRY THOU TILL I COME!" identified him to himself. He looked +at his hands—they were black with what had been some other man's +life-blood, but under the stain the skin was smooth—a little water +would make them white. And what was that upon his breast? Beard—beard +black as a raven's wing! He plucked a lock of hair from his head. It, +too, was thick with blood, but it was black. Youth—youth—joyous, +bounding, eager, hopeful youth was his once more! He stood up, and +there was no creak of rust in the hinges of his joints; he knew he was +standing inches higher in the sunlit air; and a cry burst from him—"O +God, I give thanks!" The hymn stopped there, for between him and the +sky, as if it were ascending transfigured, he beheld the Victim of the +Crucifixion; and the eyes, no longer sad, but full of accusing majesty, +were looking downward at him, and the lips were in speech: "TARRY THOU +TILL I COME!" He covered his face with his hands. Yes, yes, he had his +youth back again, but it was with the old mind and nature—youth, that +the curse upon him might, in the mortal sense, be eternal! And pulling +his black hair with his young hands, wrenching at his black beard, it +was given him to see he had undergone his fourteenth transformation, +and that between this one and the last there was no lapse of +connection. Old age had passed, leaving the conditions and +circumstances of its going to the youth which succeeded. The new life +in starting picked up and loaded itself with every burden and all the +misery of the old. So now while burrowing, as it were, amongst dead +men, his head upon the breast of the Emperor whom, treating Nilo as an +instrument in his grip, he had slain, he thought most humanly of the +effects of the transformation. +</p> + +<p> +First of all, his personal identity was lost, and he was once more a +Wanderer without an acquaintance, a friend, or a sympathizer on the +earth. To whom could he now address himself with a hope of recognition? +His heart went out primarily to Lael—he loved her. Suppose he found +her, and offered to take her in his arms; she would repulse him. "Thou +art not my father. He was old—thou art young." And Syama, whose +bereavements of sense had recommended him for confidant in the event of +his witnessing the dreaded circumstance just befallen—if he addressed +himself to Syama, the faithful creature would deny him. "No; my master +was old—his hair and beard were white—thou art a youth. Go hence." +And then Mahommed, to whom he had been so useful in bringing additional +empire, and a glory which time would make its own forever—did he seek +Mahommed again—"Thou art not the Prince of India, my peerless +Messenger of the Stars. He was old—his hair and beard were white—thou +art a boy. Ho, guards, take this impostor, and do with him as ye did +with Balta-Ogli stretch him on the ground, and beat the breath out of +him." +</p> + +<p> +There is nothing comes to us, whether in childhood or age, so crushing +as a sense of isolation. Who will deny it had to do with the +marshalling of worlds, and the peopling them—with creation? +</p> + +<p> +These reflections did but wait upon the impulse which still further +identified him to himself—the impulse to go and keep going—and he +cast about for solaces. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the Judgment," he said, with a grim smile; "but my stores +remain, and Hiram of Tyre is yet my friend. I have my experience of +more than a thousand years, and with it youth again. I cannot make men +better, and God refuses my services. Nevertheless I will devise new +opportunities. The earth is round, and upon its other side there must +be another world. Perhaps I can find some daring spirit equal to the +voyage and discovery—some one Heaven may be more willing to favor. But +this meeting place of the old continents"—he looked around him, and +then to the sky—"with my farewell, I leave it the curse of the most +accursed. The desired of nations, it shall be a trouble to them +forever." +</p> + +<p> +Then he saw Nilo under a load of corpses, and touched by remembrance of +the poor savage's devotion, he uncovered him to get at his heart, which +was still beating. Next he threw away his cap and gown, replaced them +with a bloody tarbousche and a shaggy Angora mantle, selected a +javelin, and sauntered leisurely on into the city. Having seen +Constantinople pillaged by Christians, he was curious to see it now +sacked by Moslems—there might be a further solace in the comparison. +</p> + +<p> +[Footnote: According to the earliest legends, the Wandering Jew was +about thirty years old when he stood in the road to Golgotha, and +struck the Saviour, and ordered him to go forward. At the end of every +hundred years, the undying man falls into a trance, during which his +body returns to the age it was when the curse was pronounced. In all +other respects he remains unchanged.] +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap0613"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIII +</h3> + +<h3> +MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA +</h3> + +<p> +Count Corti, we may well believe, did not spare his own steed, or those +of his Berbers; and there was a need of haste of which he was not aware +upon setting out from St. Romain. The Turks had broken through the +resistance of the Christian fleet in the harbor, and were surging into +the city by the gate St. Peter (Phanar), which was perilously near the +residence of the Princess Irene. +</p> + +<p> +Already the spoil-seekers were making sure of their hire. More than +once he dashed by groups of them hurrying along the streets in search +of houses most likely to repay plundering. There were instances when he +overtook hordesmen already happy in the possession of "strings of +slaves;" that is to say, of Greeks, mostly women and children, tied by +their hands to ropes, and driven mercilessly on. The wailing and +prayers of the unfortunate smote the Count to the heart; he longed to +deliver them; but he had given his best efforts to save them in the +struggle to save the city, and had failed; now it would be a providence +of Heaven could he rescue the woman waiting for him in such faith as +was due his word and honor specially plighted to her. As the pillagers +showed no disposition to interfere with him, he closed his eyes and +ears to their brutalities, and sped forward. +</p> + +<p> +The district in which the Princess dwelt was being overrun when he at +last drew rein at her door. With a horrible dread, he alighted, and +pushed in unceremoniously. The reception-room was empty. Was he too +late? Or was she then in Sancta Sophia? He flew to the chapel, and +blessed God and Christ and the Mother, all in a breath. She was before +the altar in the midst of her attendants. Sergius stood at her side, +and of the company they alone were perfectly self-possessed. A white +veil lay fallen over her shoulders; save that, she was in unrelieved +black. The pallor of her countenance, caused, doubtless, by weeks of +care and unrest, detracted slightly from the marvelous beauty which was +hers by nature; but it seemed sorrow and danger only increased the +gentle dignity always observable in her speech and manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess Irene," he said, hastening forward, and reverently saluting +her hand, "if you are still of the mind to seek refuge in Sancta +Sophia, I pray you, let us go thither." +</p> + +<p> +"We are ready," she returned. "But tell me of the Emperor." +</p> + +<p> +The Count bent very low. +</p> + +<p> +"Your kinsman is beyond insult and further humiliation. His soul is +with God." +</p> + +<p> +Her eyes glistened with tears, and partly to conceal her emotion she +turned to the picture above the altar, and said, in a low voice, and +brokenly: +</p> + +<p> +"O Holy Mother, have thou his soul in thy tender care, and be with me +now, going to what fate I know not." +</p> + +<p> +The young women surrounded her, and on their knees filled the chapel +with sobbing and suppressed wails. Striving for composure himself, the +Count observed them, and was at once assailed by an embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +They were twenty and more. Each had a veil over her head; yet from the +delicacy of their hands he could imagine their faces, while their rank +was all too plainly certified by the elegance of their garments. As a +temptation to the savages, their like was not within the walls. How was +he to get them safely to the Church, and defend them there? He was used +to military problems, and decision was a habit with him; still he was +sorely tried—indeed, he was never so perplexed. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess finished her invocation to the Holy Mother. +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti," she said, "I now place myself and these, my sisters in +misfortune, under thy knightly care. Only suffer me to send for one +other.—Go, Sergius, and bring Lael." +</p> + +<p> +One other! +</p> + +<p> +"Now God help me!" he cried, involuntarily; and it seemed he was heard. +</p> + +<p> +"Princess," he returned, "the Turks have possession of the streets. On +my way I passed them with prisoners whom they were driving, and they +appeared to respect a right of property acquired. Perhaps they will be +not less observant to me; wherefore bring other veils here—enough to +bind these ladies two and two." +</p> + +<p> +As she seemed hesitant, he added: "Pardon me, but in the streets you +must all go afoot, to appearances captives just taken." +</p> + +<p> +The veils were speedily produced, and the Princess bound her trembling +companions in couples hand to hand; submitting finally to be herself +tied to Lael. Then when Sergius was more substantially joined to the +ancient Lysander, the household sallied forth. +</p> + +<p> +A keener realization of the situation seized the gentler portion of the +procession once they were in the street, and they there gave way to +tears, sobs, and loud appeals to the Saints and Angels of Mercy. +</p> + +<p> +The Count rode in front; four of his Berbers moved on each side; Sheik +Hadifah guarded the rear; and altogether a more disconsolate company of +captives it were hard imagining. A rope passing from the first couple +to the last was the only want required to perfect the resemblance to +the actual slave droves at the moment on nearly every thoroughfare in +Constantinople. +</p> + +<p> +The weeping cortege passed bands of pillagers repeatedly. +</p> + +<p> +Once what may be termed a string in fact was met going in the opposite +direction; women and children, and men and women were lashed together, +like animals, and their lamentations were piteous. If they fell or +faltered, they were beaten. It seemed barbarity could go no further. +</p> + +<p> +Once the Count was halted. A man of rank, with a following at his +heels, congratulated him in Turkish: +</p> + +<p> +"O friend, thou hast a goodly capture." +</p> + +<p> +The stranger came nearer. +</p> + +<p> +"I will give you twenty gold pieces for this one," pointing to the +Princess Irene, who, fortunately, could not understand him—"and +fifteen for this one." +</p> + +<p> +"Go thy way, and quickly," said Corti, sternly. +</p> + +<p> +"Dost thou threaten me?" +</p> + +<p> +"By the Prophet, yes—with my sword, and the Padishah." +</p> + +<p> +"The Padishah! Oh, ho!" and the man turned pale. "God is great—I give +him praise." +</p> + +<p> +At last the Count alighted before the main entrance of the Church. By +friendly chance, also—probably because the site was far down toward +the sea, in a district not yet reached by the hordesmen—the space in +front of the vestibule was clear of all but incoming fugitives; and he +had but to knock at the door, and give the name of the Princess Irene +to gain admission. +</p> + +<p> +In the vestibule the party were relieved of their bonds; after which +they passed into the body of the building, where they embraced each +other, and gave praise aloud for what they considered a final +deliverance from death and danger; in their transports, they kissed the +marbles of the floor again and again. +</p> + +<p> +While this affecting scene was going on, Corti surveyed the interior. +The freest pen cannot do more than give the view with a clearness to +barely stimulate the reader's imagination. +</p> + +<p> +It was about eleven o'clock. The smoke of battle which had overlain the +hills of the city was dissipated; so the sun, nearing high noon, poured +its full of splendor across the vast nave in rays slanted from south to +north, and a fine, almost impalpable dust hanging from the dome in the +still air, each ray shone through it in vivid, half-prismatic relief +against the shadowy parts of the structure. Such pillars in the +galleries as stood in the paths of the sunbeams seemed effulgent, like +emeralds and rubies. His eyes, however, refused everything except the +congregation of people. +</p> + +<p> +"O Heaven!" he exclaimed. "What is to become of these poor souls!" +</p> + +<p> +Byzantium, it must be recalled, had had its triumphal days, when Greeks +drew together, like Jews on certain of their holy occasions; +undoubtedly the assemblages then were more numerous, but never had +there been one so marked by circumstances. This was the funeral day of +the Empire! +</p> + +<p> +Let the reader try to recompose the congregation the Count +beheld—civilians—soldiers—nuns—monks—monks bearded, monks shaven, +monks tonsured—monks in high hats and loose veils, monks in gowns +scarce distinguishable from gowns of women—monks by the thousand. Ah, +had they but dared a manly part on the walls, the cause of the Christ +for whom they affected such devotion would not have suffered the +humiliation to which it was now going! As to the mass in general, let +the reader think of the rich jostled by the poor—fine ladies careless +if their robes took taint from the Lazarus' next them—servants for +once at least on a plane with haughty masters—Senators and +slaves—grandsires—mothers with their infants—old and young, high and +low, all in promiscuous presence—society at an end—Sancta Sophia a +universal last refuge. And by no means least strange, let the reader +fancy the refugees on their knees, silent as ghosts in a tomb, except +that now and then the wail of a child broke the awful hush, and gazing +over their shoulders, not at the altar, but toward the doors of +entrance; then let him understand that every one in the smother of +assemblage—every one capable of thought—was in momentary expectation +of a miracle. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there moved priestly figures, holding crucifixes aloft, and +halting at times to exhort in low voices: "Be not troubled, O dearly +beloved of Christ! The angel will appear by the old column. If the +powers of hell are not to prevail against the Church, what may men do +against the sword of God?" +</p> + +<p> +The congregation was waiting for the promised angel to rescue them from +the Barbarians. +</p> + +<p> +Of opinion that the chancel, or space within the railing of the apse +opposite him, was a better position for his charge than the crowded +auditorium, partly because he could more easily defend them there, and +partly because Mahommed when he arrived would naturally look for the +Princess near the altar, the Count, with some trouble, secured a place +within it behind the brazen balustrade at the right of the gate. The +invasion of the holy reserve by the Berbers was viewed askance, but +submitted to; thereupon the Princess and her suite took to waiting and +praying. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwhile the doors in the east were barred by the janitor. +</p> + +<p> +Still later there was knocking at them loud enough to be by authority. +The janitor had become deaf. +</p> + +<p> +Later still a yelling as of a mob out in the vestibule penetrated to +the interior, and a shiver struck the expectant throng, less from a +presentiment of evil at hand than a horrible doubt. An angel of the +Lord would hardly adopt such an incongruous method of proclaiming the +miracle done. A murmur of invocation began with those nearest the +entrances, and ran from the floor to the galleries. As it spread, the +shouting increased in volume and temper. Ere long the doors were +assailed. The noise of a blow given with determination rang dreadful +warning through the whole building, and the concourse arose. +</p> + +<p> +The women shrieked: "The Turks! The Turks!" +</p> + +<p> +Even the nuns who had been practising faith for years joined their lay +sisters in crying: "The Turks! The Turks!" +</p> + +<p> +The great, gowned, cowardly monks dropped their crucifixes, and, like +the commoner sons of the Church, howled: "The Turks! The Turks!" +</p> + +<p> +Finally the doors were battered in, and sure enough—there stood the +hordesmen, armed and panoplied each according to his tribe or personal +preference—each a most unlikely delivering angel. +</p> + +<p> +This completed the panic. +</p> + +<p> +In the vicinity of the ruined doors everybody, overcome by terror, +threw himself upon those behind, and the impulsion thus started gained +force while sweeping on. As ever in such cases, the weak were the +sufferers. Children were overrun—infants dashed from the arms of +mothers—men had need of their utmost strength—and the wisdom of the +Count in seeking the chancel was proved. The massive brazen railing +hardly endured the pressure when the surge reached it; but it stood, +and the Princess and her household—all, in fact, within the +chancel—escaped the crushing, but not the horror. +</p> + +<p> +The spoilsmen were in strength, but they were prudently slow in +persuading themselves that the Greeks were unarmed, and incapable of +defending the Church. Ere long they streamed in, and for the first time +in the history of the edifice the colossal Christ on the ceiling above +the altar was affronted by the slogan of Islam—<i>Allah-il-Allah</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Strange now as it may appear to the reader, there is no mention in the +chronicles of a life lost that day within the walls of Sancta Sophia. +The victors were there for plunder, not vengeance, and believing there +was more profit in slaves than any other kind of property, their effort +was to save rather than kill. The scene was beyond peradventure one of +the cruelest in history, but the cruelty was altogether in taking +possession of captives. +</p> + +<p> +Tossing their arms of whatever kind upon their backs, the savages +pushed into the pack of Christians to select whom they would have. We +may be sure the old, sick, weakly, crippled, and very young were +discarded, and the strong and vigorous chosen. Remembering also how +almost universally the hordes were from the East, we may be sure a +woman was preferred to a man, and a pretty woman to an ugly one. +</p> + +<p> +The hand shrinks from trying to depict the agonies of separation which +ensued—mothers torn from their children, wives from husbands—their +shrieks, entreaties, despair—the mirthful brutality with which their +pitiful attempts at resistance were met—the binding and dragging +away—the last clutch of love—the final disappearance. It is only +needful to add that the rapine involved the galleries no less than the +floor. All things considered, the marvel is that the cry—there was but +one, just as the sounds of many waters are but one to the ear—which +then tore the habitual silence of the august temple should have ever +ceased—and it would not if, in its duration, human sympathy were less +like a flitting echo. +</p> + +<p> +Next to women, the monks were preferred, and the treatment they +received was not without its touches of grim humor. Their cowls were +snatched off, and bandied about, their hats crushed over their ears, +their veils stuffed in their mouths to stifle their outcries, their +rosaries converted into scourges; and the laughter when a string of +them passed to the doors was long and loud. They had pulled their +monasteries down upon themselves. If the Emperor, then lying in the +bloody alley of St. Romain, dead through their bigotry, superstition, +and cowardice, had been vengeful in the slightest degree, a knowledge +of the judgment come upon them so soon would have been at least restful +to his spirit. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed Count Corti was indifferent while this +appalling scene was in progress. The chancel, he foresaw, could not +escape the foray. There was the altar, loaded with donatives in gold +and precious stones, a blazing pyramidal invitation. When the doors +were burst in, he paused a moment to see if Mahommed were coming. +</p> + +<p> +"The hordes are here, O Princess, but not the Sultan." +</p> + +<p> +She raised her veil, and regarded him silently. +</p> + +<p> +"I see now but one resort. As Mirza the Emir, I must meet the pillagers +by claiming the Sultan sent me in advance to capture and guard you for +him." +</p> + +<p> +"We are at mercy, Count Corti," she replied. "Heaven deal with you as +you deal with us." +</p> + +<p> +"If the ruse fails, Princess, I can die for you. Now tie yourselves as +before—two and two, hand to hand. It may be they will call on me to +distinguish such as are my charge." +</p> + +<p> +She cast a glance of pity about her. +</p> + +<p> +"And these, Count—these poor women not of my house, and the +children—can you not save them also?" +</p> + +<p> +"Alas, dear lady! The Blessed Mother must be their shield." +</p> + +<p> +While the veils were being applied, the surge against the railing took +place, leaving a number of dead and fainting across it. +</p> + +<p> +"Hadifah," the Count called out, "clear the way to yon chair against +the wall." +</p> + +<p> +The Sheik set about removing the persons blockading the space, and +greatly affected by their condition, the Princess interceded for them. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Count, disturb them not. Add not to their terror, I pray." +</p> + +<p> +But the Count was a soldier; in case of an affray, he wanted the +advantage of a wall at his back. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear lady, it was the throne of your fathers, now yours. I will seat +you there. From it you can best treat with the Lord Mahommed." +</p> + +<p> +Ere long some of the hordes—half a dozen or more—came to the chancel +gate. They were of the rudest class of Anatolian shepherds, clad +principally in half-cloaks of shaggy goat skin. Each bore at his back a +round buckler, a bow, and a clumsy quiver of feathered arrows. Awed by +the splendor of the altar and its surroundings, they stopped; then, +with shouts, they rushed at the tempting display, unmindful of the +living spoils crouched on the floor dumb with terror. Others of a like +kind reenforced them, and there was a fierce scramble. The latest +comers turned to the women, and presently discovered the Princess Irene +sitting upon the throne. One, more eager than the rest, was indisposed +to respect the Berbers. +</p> + +<p> +"Here are slaves worth having. Get your ropes," he shouted to his +companions. +</p> + +<p> +The Count interposed. +</p> + +<p> +"Art thou a believer?" he asked in Turkish. +</p> + +<p> +They surveyed him doubtfully, and then turned to Hadifah and his men, +tall, imperturbable looking, their dark faces visible through their +open hoods of steel. They looked at their shields also, and at their +bare cimeters resting points to the floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you ask?" the man returned. +</p> + +<p> +"Because, as thou mayst see, we also are of the Faithful, and do not +wish harm to any whose mothers have taught them to begin the day with +the Fah-hat." +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was impressed. +</p> + +<p> +"Who art thou?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am the Emir Mirza, of the household of our Lord the Padishah—to +whom be all the promises of the Koran! These are slaves I selected for +him—all these thou seest in bonds. I am keeping them till he arrives. +He will be here directly. He is now coming." +</p> + +<p> +A man wearing a bloody tarbousche joined the pillagers, during this +colloquy, and pressing in, heard the Emir's name passing from mouth to +mouth. +</p> + +<p> +"The Emir Mirza! I knew him, brethren. He commanded the caravan, and +kept the <i>mahmals,</i> the year I made the pilgrimage.... Stand off, and +let me see." After a short inspection, he continued: "Truly as there is +no God but God, this is he. I was next him at the most holy corner of +the Kaaba when he fell down struck by the plague. I saw him kiss the +Black Stone, and by virtue of the kiss he lived.... Ay, stand back—or +if you touch him, or one of these in his charge, and escape his hand, +ye shall not escape the Padishah, whose first sword he is, even as +Khalid was first sword for the Prophet—exalted be his name!... Give me +thy hand, O valiant Emir." +</p> + +<p> +He kissed the Count's hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Arise, O son of thy father," said Corti; "and when our master, the +Lord Mahommed, hath set up his court and harem, seek me for reward." +</p> + +<p> +The man stayed awhile, although there was no further show of +interference; and he looked past the Princess to Lael cowering near +her. He took no interest in what was going on around him—Lael alone +attracted him. At last he shifted his sheepskin covering higher upon +his shoulders, and left these words with the Count: +</p> + +<p> +"The women are not for the harem. I understand thee, O Mirza. When the +Lord Mahommed hath set up his court, do thou tell the little Jewess +yonder that her father the Prince of India charged thee to give her his +undying love." +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti was wonder struck—he could not speak—and so the Wandering +Jew vanished from his sight as he now vanishes from our story. +</p> + +<p> +The selection among the other refugees in the chancel proceeded until +there was left of them only such as were considered not worth the +having. +</p> + +<p> +A long time passed, during which the Princess Irene sat with veil drawn +close, trying to shut out the horror of the scene. Her attendants, +clinging to the throne and to each other, seemed a heap of dead women. +At last a crash of music was heard in the vestibule—drums, cymbals, +and trumpets in blatant flourish. Four runners, slender lads, in short, +sleeveless jackets over white shirts, and wide trousers of yellow silk, +barefooted and bareheaded, stepped lightly through the central doorway, +and, waving wands tipped with silver balls, cried, in long-toned shrill +iteration: "The Lord Mahommed—Mahommed, Sultan of Sultans." +</p> + +<p> +The spoilsmen suspended their hideous labor—the victims, moved +doubtless by a hope of rescue, gave over their lamentations and +struggling—only the young children, and the wounded, and suffering +persisted in vexing the floor and galleries. +</p> + +<p> +Next to enter were the five official heralds. Halting, they blew a +triumphant refrain, at which the thousands of eyes not too blinded by +misery turned to them. +</p> + +<p> +And Mahommed appeared! +</p> + +<p> +He too had escaped the Angel of the false monks! +</p> + +<p> +When the fighting ceased in the harbor, and report assured him of the +city at mercy, Mahommed gave order to make the Gate St. Romain passable +for horsemen, and with clever diplomacy summoned the Pachas and other +military chiefs to his tent; it was his pleasure that they should +assist him in taking possession of the prize to which he had been +helped by their valor. With a rout so constituted at his back, and an +escort of <i>Silihdars</i> mounted, the runners and musicians preceding him, +he made his triumphal entry into Constantinople, traversing the ruins +of the towers Bagdad and St. Romain. +</p> + +<p> +He was impatient and restless. In their ignorance of his passion for +the Grecian Princess, his ministers excused his behavior on account of +his youth [Footnote: He was in his twenty-third year.] and the +greatness of his achievement. Passing St. Romain, it was also observed +he took no interest in the relics of combat still there. He gave his +guides but one order: +</p> + +<p> +"Take me to the house the <i>Gabours</i> call the Glory of God." +</p> + +<p> +"Sancta Sophia, my Lord?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sancta Sophia—and bid the runners run." +</p> + +<p> +His Sheik-ul-Islam was pleased. +</p> + +<p> +"Hear!" he said to the dervishes with him. "The Lord Mahommed will make +mosques of the houses of Christ before sitting down in one of the +palaces. His first honors are to God and the Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +And they dutifully responded: "Great are God and his Prophet! Great is +Mahommed, who conquers in their names!" +</p> + +<p> +The public edifices by which he was guided—churches, palaces, and +especially the high aqueduct, excited his admiration; but he did not +slacken the fast trot in which he carried his loud cavalcade past them +until at the Hippodrome. +</p> + +<p> +"What thing of devilish craft is here?" he exclaimed, stopping in front +of the Twisted Serpents. "Thus the Prophet bids me!" and with a blow of +his mace, he struck off the lower jaw of one of the Pythons. +</p> + +<p> +Again the dervishes shouted: "Great is Mahommed, the servant of God!" +</p> + +<p> +It was his preference to be taken to the eastern front of Sancta +Sophia, and in going the guides led him by the corner of the Bucoleon. +At sight of the vast buildings, their incomparable colonnades and +cornices, their domeless stretches of marble and porphyry, he halted +the second time, and in thought of the vanity of human glory, recited: +</p> + +<p> + "The spider hath woven his web in the imperial palace;<br /> + And the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of<br /> + Afrasiab."<br /> +</p> + +<p> +In the space before the Church, as elsewhere along the route he had +come, the hordes were busy carrying off their wretched captives; but he +affected not to see them. They had bought the license of him, many of +them with their blood. +</p> + +<p> +At the door the suite dismounted. Mahommed however, kept his saddle +while surveying the gloomy exterior. Presently he bade: +</p> + +<p> +"Let the runners and the heralds enter." +</p> + +<p> +Hardly were they gone in, when he spoke to one of his pages: "Here, +take thou this, and give me my cimeter." And then, receiving the +ruby-hilted sword of Solomon in exchange for the mace of Ilderim, +without more ado he spurred his horse up the few broad stone steps, and +into the vestibule. Thence, the contemptuous impulse yet possessing +him, he said loudly: "The house is defiled with idolatrous images. +Islam is in the saddle." +</p> + +<p> +In such manner—mounted, sword in hand, shield behind him—clad in +beautiful gold-washed chain mail, the very ideal of the immortal Emir +who won Jerusalem from the Crusaders, and restored it to Allah and the +Prophet—Mahommed made his first appearance in Sancta Sophia. +</p> + +<p> +Astonishment seized him. He checked his horse. Slowly his gaze ranged +over the floor—up to the galleries—up—up to the swinging dome—in +all architecture nothing so nearly a self-depending sky. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, take the sword—give me back my mace," he said. +</p> + +<p> +And in a fit of enthusiasm, not seeing, not caring for the screaming +wretches under hoof, he rode forward, and, standing at full height in +his stirrups, shouted: "Idolatry be done! Down with the Trinity. Let +Christ give way for the last and greatest of the Prophets! To God the +one God, I dedicate this house!" +</p> + +<p> +Therewith he dashed the mace against a pillar; and as the steel +rebounded, the pillar trembled. [Footnote: The guides, if good Moslems, +take great pleasure in showing tourists the considerable dent left by +this blow in the face of the pillar.] +</p> + +<p> +"Now give me the sword again, and call Achmet, my muezzin—Achmet with +the flute in his throat." +</p> + +<p> +The moods of Mahommed were swift going and coming. Riding out a few +steps, he again halted to give the floor a look. This time evidently +the house was not in his mind. The expression on his face became +anxious. He was searching for some one, and moved forward so slowly the +people could get out of his way, and his suite overtake him. At length +he observed the half-stripped altar in the apse, and went to it. +</p> + +<p> +The colossal Christ on the ceiling peered down on him through the +shades beginning to faintly fill the whole west end. +</p> + +<p> +Now he neared the brazen railing of the chancel—now he was at the +gate—his countenance changed—his eyes brightened—he had discovered +Count Corti. Swinging lightly from his saddle, he passed with steps of +glad impatience through the gateway. +</p> + +<p> +Then to Count Corti came the most consuming trial of his adventurous +life. +</p> + +<p> +The light was still strong enough to enable him to see across the +Church. Comprehending the flourish of the heralds, he saw the man on +horseback enter; and the mien, the pose in the saddle, the rider's +whole outward expose of spirit, informed him with such certainty as +follows long and familiar association, that Mahommed was +come—Mahommed, his ideal of romantic orientalism in arms. A tremor +shook him—his cheek whitened. To that moment anxiety for the Princess +had held him so entirely he had not once thought of the consequences of +the wager lost; now they were let loose upon him. Having saved her from +the hordes, now he must surrender her to a rival—now she was to go +from him forever. Verily it had been easier parting with his soul. He +held to his cimeter as men instantly slain sometimes keep grip on their +weapons; yet his head sunk upon his breast, and he saw nothing more of +Mahommed until he stood before him inside the chancel. +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti, where is"— +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed caught sight of the Count's face. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my poor Mirza!" +</p> + +<p> +A volume of words could not have so delicately expressed sympathy as +did that altered tone. +</p> + +<p> +Taking off his steel glove, the fitful Conqueror extended the bare +hand, and the Count, partially recalled to the situation by the +gracious offer, sunk to his knees, and carried the hand to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +"I have kept the faith, my Lord," he said in Turkish, his voice +scarcely audible. "This is she behind me—upon the throne of her +fathers. Receive her from me, and let me depart." +</p> + +<p> +"My poor Mirza! We left the decision to God, and he has decided. Arise, +and hear me now." +</p> + +<p> +To the notables closing around, he said, imperiously: "Stand not back. +Come up, and hear me." +</p> + +<p> +Stepping past the Count, then, he stood before the Princess. She arose +without removing her veil, and would have knelt; but Mahommed moved +nearer, and prevented her. +</p> + +<p> +The training of the politest court in Europe was in her action, and the +suite looking on, used to slavishness in captives, and tearful humility +in women, he held her with amazement; nor could one of them have said +which most attracted him, her queenly composure or her simple grace. +</p> + +<p> +"Suffer me, my Lord," she said to him; then to her attendants: "This is +Mahommed the Sultan. Let us pray him for honorable treatment." +</p> + +<p> +Presently they were kneeling, and she would have joined them, but +Mahommed again interfered. +</p> + +<p> +"Your hand, O Princess Irene! I wish to salute it." +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes a wind blows out of the sky, and swinging the bell in the +cupola, starts it to ringing itself; so now, at sight of the only woman +he ever really loved overtaken by so many misfortunes, and actually +threatened by a rabble of howling slave-hunters, Mahommed's better +nature thrilled with pity and remorse, and it was only by an effort of +will he refrained from kneeling to her, and giving his passion tongue. +Nevertheless a kiss, though on the hand, can be made tell a tale of +love, and that was what the youthful Conqueror did. +</p> + +<p> +"I pray next that you resume your seat," he continued. "It has pleased +God, O daughter of a Palaeologus, to leave you the head of the Greek +people; and as I have the terms of a treaty to submit of great concern +to them and you, it were more becoming did you hear me from a +throne.... And first, in this presence, I declare you a free +woman—free to go or stay, to reject or to accept—for a treaty is +impossible except to sovereigns. If it be your pleasure to go, I pledge +conveyance, whether by sea or land, to you and yours—attendants, +slaves, and property; nor shall there be in any event a failure of +moneys to keep you in the state to which you have been used." +</p> + +<p> +"For your grace, Lord Mahommed, I shall beseech Heaven to reward you." +</p> + +<p> +"As the God of your faith is the God of mine, O Princess Irene, I shall +be grateful for your prayers.... In the next place, I entreat you to +abide here; and to this I am moved by regard for your happiness. The +conditions will be strange to you, and in your going about there will +be much to excite comparisons of the old with the new; but the Arabs +had once a wise man, El Hatim by name—you may have heard of him"—he +cast a quick look at the eyes behind the veil—"El Hatim, a poet, a +warrior, a physician, and he left a saying: 'Herbs for fevers, amulets +for mischances, and occupation for distempers of memory.' If it should +be that time proves powerless over your sorrows, I would bring +employment to its aid.... Heed me now right well. It pains me to think +of Constantinople without inhabitants or commerce, its splendors +decaying, its palaces given over to owls, its harbor void of ships, its +churches vacant except of spiders, its hills desolations to eyes afar +on the sea. If it become not once more the capital city of Europe and +Asia, some one shall have defeated the will of God; and I cannot endure +that guilt or the thought of it. 'Sins are many in kind and degree, +differing as the leaves and grasses differ,' says a dervish of my +people; 'but for him who stands wilfully in the eyes of the Most +Merciful—for him only shall there be no mercy in the Great Day.'... +Yes, heed me right well—I am not the enemy of the Greeks, O Princess +Irene. Their power could not agree with mine, and I made war upon it; +but now that Heaven has decided the issue, I wish to recall them. They +will not listen to me. Though I call loudly and often, they will +remember the violence inflicted on them in my name. Their restoration +is a noble work in promise. Is there a Greek of trust, and so truly a +lover of his race, to help me make the promise a deed done? The man is +not; but thou, O Princess—thou art. Behold the employment I offer you! +I will commission you to bring them home—even these sorrowful +creatures going hence in bonds. Or do you not love them so much?... +Religion shall not hinder you. In the presence of these, my ministers +of state, I swear to divide houses of God with you; half of them shall +be Christian, the other half Moslem; arid neither sect shall interfere +with the other's worship. This I will seal, reserving only this house, +and that the Patriarch be chosen subject to my approval. Or do you not +love your religion so much?".... +</p> + +<p> +During the discourse the Princess listened intently; now she would have +spoken, but he lifted his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet, not yet! it is not well for you to answer now. I desire that +you have time to consider—and besides, I come to terms of more +immediate concern to you.... Here, in the presence of these witnesses, +O Princess Irene, I offer you honorable marriage." +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed bowed very low at the conclusion of this proposal. +</p> + +<p> +"And wishing the union in conscience agreeable to you, I undertake to +celebrate it according to Christian rite and Moslem. So shall you +become Queen of the Greeks—their intercessor—the restorer and +protector of their Church and worship—so shall you be placed in a way +to serve God purely and unselfishly; and if a thirst for glory has ever +moved you, O Princess, I present it to you a cupful larger than woman +ever drank.... You may reside here or in Therapia, and keep your +private chapel and altar, and choose whom you will to serve them. And +these things I will also swear to and seal." +</p> + +<p> +Again she would have interrupted him. +</p> + +<p> +"No—bear with me for the once. I invoke your patience," he said. "In +the making of treaties, O Princess, one of the parties must first +propose terms; then it is for the other to accept or reject, and in +turn propose. And this"—he glanced hurriedly around—"this is no time +nor place for argument. Be content rather to return to your home in the +city or your country-house at Therapia. In three days, with your +permission, I will come for your answer; and whatever it be, I swear by +Him who is God of the world, it shall be respected.... When I come, +will you receive me?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Lord Mahommed will be welcome." +</p> + +<p> +"Where may I wait on you?" +</p> + +<p> +"At Therapia," she answered. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed turned about then. +</p> + +<p> +"Count Corti, go thou with the Princess Irene to Therapia. I know thou +wilt keep her safely.—And thou, Kalil, have a galley suitable for a +Queen of the Greeks made ready on the instant, and let there be no lack +of guards despatched with it, subject to the orders of Count Corti, for +the time once more Mirza the Emir.... O Princess, if I have been +peremptory, forgive me, and lend me thy hand again. I wish to salute +it." +</p> + +<p> +Again she silently yielded to his request. +</p> + +<p> +Kalil, seeing only politics in the scene, marched before the Princess +clearing the way, and directly she was out of the Church. At the +suggestion of the Count, sedan chairs were brought, and she and her +half-stupefied companions carried to a galley, arriving at Therapia +about the fourth hour after sunset. +</p> + +<p> +Mahommed had indeed been imperious in the interview; but, as he +afterward explained to her, with many humble protestations, he had a +part to play before his ministers. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner was she removed than he gave orders to clear the building of +people and idolatrous symbols; and while the work was in progress, he +made a tour of inspection going from the floor to the galleries. His +wonder and admiration were unbounded. +</p> + +<p> +Passing along the right-hand gallery, he overtook a pilferer with a +tarbousche full of glass cubes picked from one of the mosaic pictures. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou despicable!" he cried, in rage. "Knowest thou not that I have +devoted this house to Allah? Profane a Mosque, wilt thou?" +</p> + +<p> +And he struck the wretch with the flat of his sword. Hastening then to +the chancel, he summoned Achmet, the muezzin. +</p> + +<p> +"What is the hour?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the hour of the fourth prayer, my Lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Ascend thou then to the highest turret of the house, and call the +Faithful to pious acknowledgment of the favors of God and his +Prophet—may their names be forever exalted." +</p> + +<p> +Thus Sancta Sophia passed from Christ to Mahomet; and from that hour to +this Islam has had sway within its walls. Not once since have its +echoes been permitted to respond to a Christian prayer or a hymn to the +Virgin. Nor was this the first instance when, to adequately punish a +people for the debasement and perversions of his revelations, God, in +righteous anger, tolerated their destruction. +</p> + +<p> +To-day there are two cities, lights once of the whole earth, under +curses so deeply graven in their remains—sites, walls, ruins—that +every man and woman visiting them should be brought to know why they +fell. +</p> + +<p> +Alas, for Jerusalem! +</p> + +<p> +Alas, for Constantinople! +</p> + +<p> +POSTSCRIPTS. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning of the third day after the fall of the city, a common +carrier galley drew alongside the marble quay in front of the Princess' +garden at Therapia, and landed a passenger—an old, decrepit man, +cowled and gowned like a monk. With tottering steps he passed the gate, +and on to the portico of the classic palace. Of Lysander, he asked: "Is +the Princess Irene here or in the city?" +</p> + +<p> +"She is here." +</p> + +<p> +"I am a Greek, tired and hungry. Will she see me?" +</p> + +<p> +The ancient doorkeeper disappeared, but soon returned. +</p> + +<p> +"She will see you. This way." +</p> + +<p> +The stranger was ushered into the reception room. Standing before the +Princess, he threw back his cowl. She gazed at him a moment, then went +to him and, taking his hands, cried, her eyes streaming with tears: +"Father Hilarion! Now praised be God for sending you to me in this hour +of uncertainty and affliction!" +</p> + +<p> +Needless saying the poor man's trials ended there, and that he never +again went cold, or hungry, or in want of a place to lay his head. +</p> + +<p> +But this morning, after breaking fast, he was taken into council, and +the proposal of marriage being submitted to him, he asked first: +</p> + +<p> +"What are thy inclinations, daughter?" +</p> + +<p> +And she made unreserved confession. +</p> + +<p> +The aged priest spread his hands paternally over her head, and, looking +upward, said solemnly: "I think I see the Great Designer's purpose. He +gave thee, O daughter, thy beauties of person and spirit, and raised +thee up out of unspeakable sorrows, that the religion of Christ should +not perish utterly in the East. Go forward in the way He has opened +unto thee. Only insist that Mahommed present himself at thy altar, and +there swear honorable dealing with thee as his wife, and to keep the +treaty proposed by him in spirit and letter. Doth he those things +without reservation, then fear not. The old Greek Church is not all we +would have it, but how much better it is than irreligion; and who can +now say what will happen once our people are returned to the city?" +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon, a boat with one rower touched at the same marble +quay, and disembarked an Arab. His face was a dusty brown, and he wore +an <i>abba</i> such as children of the Desert affect. His dark eyes were +wonderfully bright, and his bearing was high, as might be expected in +the Sheik of a tribe whose camels were thousands to the man, and who +dwelt in dowars with streets after the style of cities. On his right +forearm he carried a crescent-shaped harp of five strings, inlaid with +colored woods and mother of pearl. +</p> + +<p> +"Does not the Princess Irene dwell here?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +Lysander, viewing him suspiciously, answered: "The Princess Irene +dwells here." +</p> + +<p> +"Wilt thou tell her one Aboo-Obeidah is at the door with a blessing and +a story for her?" +</p> + +<p> +The doorkeeper again disappeared, and, returning, answered, with +evident misgivings, "The Princess Irene prays you to come in." +</p> + +<p> +Aboo-Obeidah tarried at the Therapian palace till night fell; and his +story was an old one then, but he contrived to make it new; even as at +this day, though four hundred and fifty years older than when he told +it to the Princess, women of white souls, like hers, still listen to it +with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks—the only story which Time has +kept and will forever keep fresh and persuasive as in the beginning'. +</p> + +<p> +They were married in her chapel at Therapia, Father Hilarion +officiating. Thence, when the city was cleansed of its stains of war, +she went thither with Mahommed, and he proclaimed her his Sultana at a +feast lasting through many days. +</p> + +<p> +And in due time he built for her the palace behind Point Demetrius, yet +known as the Seraglio. In other words, Mahommed the Sultan abided +faithfully by the vows Aboo-Obeidah made for him. [Footnote: The throne +of Mahommed was guarded by the numbers and fidelity of his Moslem +subjects; but his national policy aspired to collect the remnant of the +Greeks; and they returned in crowds as soon as they were assured of +their lives, their liberties, and the free exercise of their +religion.... The churches of Constantinople were shared between the two +religions. GIBBON. ] +</p> + +<p> +And so, with ampler means, and encouraged by Mahommed, the Princess +Irene spent her life doing good, and earned the title by which she +became known amongst her countrymen—The Most Gracious Queen of the +Greeks. +</p> + +<p> +Sergius never took orders formally. With the Sultana Irene and Father +Hilarion, he preferred the enjoyment and practice of the simple creed +preached by him in Sancta Sophia, though as between the Latins and the +orthodox Greeks he leaned to the former. The active agent dispensing +the charities of his imperial benefactress, he endeared himself to the +people of both religions. Ere long, he married Lael, and they lived +happily to old age. +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +Nilo was found alive, and recovering, joined Count Corti. +</p> + +<p> + * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +Count Corti retained the fraternal affection of Mahommed to the last. +The Conqueror strove to keep him. He first offered to send him +ambassador to John Sobieski; that being declined, he proposed promoting +him chief Aga of Janissaries, but the Count declared it his duty to +hasten to Italy, and devote himself to his mother. The Sultan finally +assenting, he took leave of the Princess Irene the day before her +marriage. +</p> + +<p> +An officer of the court representing Mahommed conducted the Count to +the galley built in Venice. Upon mounting the deck he was met by the +Tripolitans, her crew, and Sheik Hadifah, with his fighting Berbers. He +was then informed that the vessel and all it contained belonged to him. +</p> + +<p> +The passage was safely made. From Brindisi he rode to Castle Corti. To +his amazement, it was completely restored. Not so much as a trace of +the fire and pillage it had suffered was to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +His reception by the Countess can be imagined. The proofs he brought +were sufficient with her, and she welcomed him with a joy heightened by +recollections of the years he had been lost to her, and the manifest +goodness of the Blessed Madonna in at last restoring him—the joy one +can suppose a Christian mother would show for a son returned to her, as +it were, from the grave. +</p> + +<p> +The first transports of the meeting over, he reverted to the night he +saw her enter the chapel: "The Castle was then in ruins; how is it I +now find it rebuilt?" +</p> + +<p> +"Did you not order the rebuilding?" +</p> + +<p> +"I knew nothing of it." +</p> + +<p> +Then the Countess told him a man had presented himself some months +prior, with a letter purporting to be from him, containing directions +to repair the Castle, and spare no expense in the work. +</p> + +<p> +"Fortunately," she said, "the man is yet in Brindisi." +</p> + +<p> +The Count lost no time in sending for the stranger, who presented him a +package sealed and enveloped in oriental style, only on the upper side +there was a <i>tughra</i>, or imperial seal, which he at once recognized as +Mahommed's. With eager fingers he took off the silken wraps, and found +a note in translation as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"Mahommed the Sultan to Ugo, Count Corti, formerly Mirza the Emir. +</p> + +<p> +"The wager we made, O my friend, who should have been the son of my +mother, is not yet decided, and as it is not given a mortal to know the +will of the Most Compassionate until he is pleased to expose it, I +cannot say what the end will be. Yet I love you, and have faith in you; +and wishing you to be so assured whether I win or lose, I send Mustapha +to your country in advance with proofs of your heirship, and to notify +the noble lady, your mother, that you are alive, and about returning to +her. Also, forasmuch as a Turk destroyed it, he is ordered to rebuild +your father's castle, and add to the estate all the adjacent lands he +can buy; for verily no Countship can be too rich for the Mirza who was +my brother. And these things he will do in your name, not mine. And +when it is done, if to your satisfaction, O Count, give him a statement +that he may come to me with evidence of his mission discharged. +</p> + +<p> +"I commend you to the favor of the Compassionate. MAHOMMED." +</p> + +<p> +When the missive was read, Mustapha knelt to the Count, and saluted +him. Then he conducted him into the chapel of the castle, and going to +the altar, showed him an iron door, and said: +</p> + +<p> +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, instructed me to deposit here certain +treasure with which he graciously intrusted me. Receive the key, I +pray, and search the vault, and view the contents, and, if it please +you, give me a certificate which will enable me to go back to my +country, and live there a faithful servant of my master, the Lord +Mahommed—may he be exalted as the Faithful are!" +</p> + +<p> +Now when the Count came to inspect the contents of the vault he was +displeased; and seeing it, Mustapha proceeded: +</p> + +<p> +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, anticipated that you might protest +against receiving the treasure; if so, I was to tell you it was to make +good in some measure the sums the noble lady your mother has paid in +searching for you, and in masses said for the repose of your father's +soul." +</p> + +<p> +Corti could not do else than accept. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, to complete the narrative, he never married. The reasonable +inference is, he never met a woman with graces sufficient to drive the +Princess Irene from his memory. +</p> + +<p> +After the death of the Countess, his mother, he went up to Rome, and +crowned a long service as chief of the Papal Guard by dying of a wound +received in a moment of victory. Hadifah, the Berbers, and Nilo chose +to stay with him throughout. The Tripolitans were returned to their +country; after which the galley was presented to the Holy Father. +</p> + +<p> +Once every year there came to the Count a special messenger from +Constantinople with souvenirs; sometimes a sword royally enriched, +sometimes a suit of rare armor, sometimes horses of El Hajez—these +were from Mahommed. Sometimes the gifts were precious relics, or +illuminated Scriptures, or rosaries, or crosses, or triptychs +wonderfully executed—so Irene the Sultana chose to remind him of her +gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +Syama wandered around Constantinople a few days after the fall of the +city, looking for his master, whom he refused to believe dead. Lael +offered him asylum for life. Suddenly he disappeared, and was never +seen or heard of more. It may be presumed, we think, that the Prince of +India succeeded in convincing him of his identity, and took him to +other parts of the world—possibly back to Cipango. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="finis"> +THE END. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Prince of India, Volume II, by Lew. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Prince of India, Volume II + or, Why Constantinople Fell + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Posting Date: March 14, 2014 [EBook #6849] +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 II *** + + + + +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. II. + + + + + _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 IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE (_Continued_) + +CHAPTER + + XI. THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD + XII. LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS + XIII. THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN + XIV. THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED + XV. THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS + XVI. HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED + XVII. LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + XVIII. THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS + XIX. THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR + XX. THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME + XXI. SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON + XXII. THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED + XXIII. SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT + XXIV. THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET + + +BOOK V + +MIRZA + + I. A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE + II. A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB + III. MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED + IV. THE EMIR IN ITALY + V. THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN + VI. COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA + VII. COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + VIII. OUR LORD'S CREED + IX. COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + X. SERGIUS TO THE LION + + +BOOK VI + +CONSTANTINE + + I. THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + II. MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER + III. THE BLOODY HARVEST + IV. EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP + V. COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR + VI. MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN + VII. THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS + VIII. MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN + IX. THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE + X. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT + XI. COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA + XII. THE ASSAULT + XIII. MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + + + +BOOK IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE (_Continued_) + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD + + +The sun shone clear and hot, and the guests in the garden were glad to +rest in the shaded places of promenade along the brooksides and under +the beeches and soaring pines of the avenues. Far up the extended +hollow there was a basin first to receive the water from the conduit +supposed to tap the aqueduct leading down from the forest of Belgrade. +The noise of the little cataract there was strong enough to draw a +quota of visitors. From the front gate to the basin, from the basin to +the summit of the promontory, the company in lingering groups amused +each other detailing what of fortune good and bad the year had brought +them. The main features of such meetings are always alike. There were +games by the children, lovers in retired places, and old people plying +each other with reminiscences. The faculty of enjoyment changes but +never expires. + +An array of men chosen for the purpose sallied from the basement of the +palace carrying baskets of bread, fruits in season, and wine of the +country in water-skins. Dispersing themselves through the garden, they +waited on the guests, and made distribution without stint or +discrimination. The heartiness of their welcome may be imagined; while +the thoughtful reader will see in the liberality thus characterizing +her hospitality one of the secrets of the Princess's popularity with +the poor along the Bosphorus. Nor that merely. A little reflection will +lead up to an explanation of her preference for the Homeric residence +by Therapia. The commonalty, especially the unfortunate amongst them, +were a kind of constituency of hers, and she loved living where she +could most readily communicate with them. + +This was the hour she chose to go out and personally visit her guests. +Descending from the portico, she led her household attendants into the +garden. She alone appeared unveiled. The happiness of the many amongst +whom she immediately stepped touched every spring of enjoyment in her +being; her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy, her spirit high; in a +word, the beauty so peculiarly hers, and which no one could look on +without consciousness of its influence, shone with singular enhancement. + +News that she was in the garden spread rapidly, and where she went +everyone arose and remained standing. Now and then, while making +acknowledgments to groups along the way, she recognized acquaintances, +and for such, whether men or women, she had a smile, sometimes a word. +Upon her passing, they pursued with benisons, "God bless you!" "May the +Holy Mother keep her!" Not unfrequently children ran flinging flowers +at her feet, and mothers knelt and begged her blessing. They had lively +recollection of a sickness or other overtaking by sorrow, and of her +boat drawing to the landing laden with delicacies, and bringing what +was quite as welcome, the charm of her presence, with words inspiring +hope and trust. The vast, vociferous, premeditated Roman ovation, +sonorously the Triumph, never brought a Consular hero the satisfaction +this Christian woman now derived. + +She was aware of the admiration which went with her, and the sensation +was of walking through a purer and brighter sunshine. Nor did she +affect to put aside the triumph there certainly was in the +demonstration; but she accounted it the due of charity--a triumph of +good work done for the pleasure there was in the doing. + +At the basin mentioned as the landward terminus of the garden the +progress in that direction stopped. Thence, after gracious attentions +to the women and children there, the Princess set out for the summit of +the promontory. The road taken was broad and smooth, and on the left +hand lined from bottom to top with pine trees, some of which are yet +standing. + +The summit had been a place of interest time out of mind. From its +woody cover, the first inhabitants beheld the Argonauts anchor off the +town of Amycus, king of the Bebryces; there the vengeful Medea +practised her incantations; and descending to acknowledged history, it +were long telling the notable events of the ages landmarked by the +hoary height. When the builder of the palace below threw his scheme of +improvement over the brow of the hill, he constructed water basins on +different levels, surrounding them with raised walls artistically +sculptured; between the basins he pitched marble pavilions, looking in +the distance like airy domes on a Cyclopean temple; then he drew the +work together by a tesselated pavement identical with the floor of the +house of Caesar hard by the Forum in Rome. + +Giving little heed to the other guests in occupancy of the summit, the +attendants of the Princess broke into parties sight seeing; while she +called Sergius to her, and conducted him to a point commanding the +Bosphorus for leagues. A favorite lookout, in fact, the spot had been +provided with a pavement and a capacious chair cut from a block of the +coarse brown limestone native to the locality. There she took seat, and +the ascent, though all in shade, having been wearisome, she was glad of +the blowing of the fresh upper air. + +From a place in the rear Sergius had witnessed the progress to the +present halt. Every incident and demonstration had been in his view and +hearing. The expressions of affection showered upon the Princess were +delightful to him; they seemed so spontaneous and genuine. As testimony +to her character in the popular estimate at least, they left nothing +doubtful. His first impression of her was confirmed. She was a woman to +whom Heaven had confided every grace and virtue. Such marvels had been +before. He had heard of them in tradition, and always in a strain to +lift those thus favored above the hardened commonplace of human life, +creatures not exactly angels, yet moving in the same atmosphere with +angels. The monasteries, even those into whose gates women are +forbidden to look, all have stories of womanly excellence which the +monks tell each other in pauses from labor in the lentil patch, and in +their cells after vesper prayers. In brief, so did Sergius' estimate of +the Princess increase that he was unaware of impropriety when, trudging +slowly after the train of attendants, he associated her with heroines +most odorous in Church and Scriptural memories; with Mothers Superior +famous for sanctity; with Saints, like Theckla and Cecilia; with the +Prophetess who was left by the wayside in the desert of Zin, and the +later seer and singer, she who had her judgment-seat under the palm +tree of Deborah. + +Withal, however, the monk was uncomfortable. The words of his Hegumen +pursued him. Should he tell the Princess? Assailed by doubts, he +followed her to the lookout on the edge of the promontory. + +Seating herself, she glanced over the wide field of water below; from +the vessels there, she gazed across to Asia; then up at the sky, full +to its bluest depth with the glory of day. At length she asked: + +"Have you heard from Father Hilarion?" + +"Not yet," Sergius replied. + +"I was thinking of him," she continued. "He used to tell me of the +primitive church--the Church of the Disciples. One of his lessons +returns to me. He seems to be standing where you are. I hear his voice. +I see his countenance. I remember his words: 'The brethren while of one +faith, because the creed was too simple for division, were of two +classes, as they now are and will always be'--ay, Sergius, as they will +always be!--'But,' he said, 'it is worthy remembrance, my dear child, +unlike the present habit, the rich held their riches with the +understanding that the brethren all had shares in them. The owner was +more than owner; he was a trustee charged with the safe-keeping of his +property, and with farming it to the best advantage, that he might be +in condition to help the greatest number of the Christian brotherhood +according to their necessities.' I wondered greatly at the time, but +not now. The delight I have today confirms the Father; for it is not in +my palace and garden, nor in my gold, but in the power I derive from +them to give respite from the grind of poverty to so many less +fortunate than myself. 'The divine order was not to desist from getting +wealth'--thus the Father continued--'for Christ knew there were who, +labor as they might, could not accumulate or retain; circumstances +would be against them, or the genius might be wanting. Poor without +fault, were they to suffer, and curse God with the curse of the sick, +the cold, the naked, the hungry? Oh, no! Christ was the representative +of the Infinitely Merciful. Under his dispensation they were to be +partners of the more favored.' Who can tell, who can begin to measure +the reward there is to me in the laughter of children at play under the +trees by the brooks, and in the cheer and smiles of women whom I have +been able to draw from the unvarying routine of toil like theirs?" + +There was a ship with full spread sail speeding along so close in shore +Sergius could have thrown a stone on its deck. He affected to be deeply +interested in it. The ruse did not avail him. + +"What is the matter?" + +Receiving no reply, she repeated the question. + +"My dear friend, you are not old enough in concealment to deceive me. +You are in trouble. Come sit here.... True, I am not an authorized +confessor; yet I know the principle on which the Church defends the +confessional. Let me share your burden. Insomuch as you give me, you +shall be relieved." + +It came to him then that he must speak. + +"Princess," he began, striving to keep his voice firm, "you know not +what you ask." + +"Is it what a woman may hear?" + +A step nearer brought him on the tesselated square. + +"I hesitate, Princess, because a judgment is required of me. Hear, and +help me first." + +Then he proceeded rapidly: + +"There is one just entered holy service. He is a member of an ancient +and honorable Brotherhood, and by reason of his inexperience, +doubtless, its obligations rest the heavier on his conscience. His +superior has declared to him how glad he would be had he a son like +him, and confiding in his loyalty, he intrusted him with gravest +secrets; amongst others, that a person well known and greatly beloved +is under watch for the highest of religious crimes. Pause now, O +Princess, and consider the obligations inseparable from the relation +and trust here disclosed.... Look then to this other circumstance. The +person accused condescended to be the friend and patron of the same +neophyte, and by vouching for him to the head of the Church, put him on +the road to favor and quick promotion. Briefly, O Princess, to which is +obligation first owing? The father superior or the patron in danger?" + +The Princess replied calmly, but with feeling: "It is not a +supposition, Sergius." + +Though surprised, he returned: "Without it I could not have your +decision first." + +"Thou, Sergius, art the distressed neophyte." + +He held his hands out to her: "Give me thy judgment." + +"The Hegumen of the St. James' is the accuser." + +"Be just, O Princess! To which is the obligation first owing?" + +"I am the accused," she continued, in the same tone. + +He would have fallen on his knees. "No, keep thy feet. A watchman may +be behind me now." + +He had scarcely resumed his position before she asked, still in the +quiet searching manner: "What is the highest religious crime? Or +rather, to men in authority, like the Hegumen of your Brotherhood, what +is the highest of all crimes?" + +He looked at her in mute supplication. + +"I will tell you--HERESY." + +Then, compassionating his suffering, she added: "My poor Sergius! I am +not upbraiding you. You are showing me your soul. I see it in its first +serious trial.... I will forget that I am the denounced, and try to +help you. Is there no principle to which we can refer the matter--no +Christian principle? The Hegumen claims silence from you; on the other +side, your conscience--I would like to say preference--impels you to +speak a word of warning for the benefit of your patroness. There, now, +we have both the dispute and the disputants. Is it not so?" + +Sergius bowed his head. + +"Father Hilarion once said to me: 'Daughter, I give you the ultimate +criterion of the divineness of our religion--there cannot be an +instance of human trial for which it does not furnish a rule of conduct +and consolation.' A profound saying truly! Now is it possible we have +here at last an exception? I do not seek to know on which side the +honors lie. Where are the humanities? Ideas of honor are of men +conventional. On the other hand, the humanities stand for Charity. If +thou wert the denounced, O Sergius, how wouldst thou wish to be done +by?" + +Sergius' face brightened. + +"We are not seeking to save a heretic--we are in search of quiet for +our consciences. So why not ask and answer further: What would befall +the Hegumen, did you tell the accused all you had from him? Would he +suffer? Is there a tribunal to sentence him? Or a prison agape for him? +Or torture in readiness? Or a King of Lions? In these respects how is +it with the friend who vouched for you to the head of the Church? Alas!" + +"Enough--say no more!" Sergius cried impulsively. "Say no more. O +Princess, I will tell everything--I will save you, if I can--if not, +and the worst come, I will die with you." + +Womanlike the Princess signalized her triumph with tears. At length she +asked: "Wouldst thou like to know if I am indeed a heretic?" + +"Yes, for what thou art, that am I; and then"-- + +"The same fire in the Hippodrome may light us both out of the world." + +There was a ring of prophecy in the words. + +"God forbid!" he ejaculated, with a shiver. + +"God's will be done, were better! ... So, if it please you," she went +on, "tell me all the Hegumen told you about me." + +"Everything?" he asked doubtfully. + +"Why not?" + +"Part of it is too wicked for repetition." + +"Yet it was an accusation." + +"Yes." + +"Sergius, you are no match in cunning for my enemies. They are Greeks +trained to diplomacy; you are"--she paused and half smiled--"only a +pupil of Hilarion's. See now--if they mean to kill me, how important to +invent a tale which shall rob me of sympathy, and reconcile the public +to my sacrifice. They who do much good, and no harm"--she cast a glance +at the people swarming around the pavilions--"always have friends. Such +is the law of kindness, and it never failed but once; but today a +splinter of the Cross is worth a kingdom." + +"Princess, I will hold nothing back." + +"And I, Sergius--God witnessing for me--will speak to each denunciation +thou givest me." + +"There were two matters in the Hegumen's mind," Sergius began, but +struck with the abruptness, he added apologetically: "I pray you, +Princess, remember I speak at your insistence, and that I am not in any +sense an accuser. It may be well to say also the Hegumen returned from +last night's Mystery low in spirits, and much spent bodily, and before +speaking of you, declared he had been an active partisan of your +father's. I do not think him your personal enemy." + +A mist of tears dimmed her eyes while the Princess replied: "He was my +father's friend, and I am grateful to him; but alas! that he is +naturally kind and just is now of small consequence." + +"It grieves me"-- + +"Do not stop," she said, interrupting him. + +"At the Father's bedside I received his blessing; and asked leave to be +absent a few days. 'Where?' he inquired, and I answered: 'Thou knowest +I regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I should like to go +see her.'" + +Sergius sought his auditor's face at this, and observing no sign of +objection to the familiarity, was greatly strengthened. + +"The Father endeavored to persuade me not to come, and it was with that +purpose he entered upon the disclosures you ask.... 'The life the +Princess leads'--thus he commenced--'and her manners, are outside the +sanctions of society.'" + +Here, from resting on her elbow, the listener sat upright, grasping the +massive arm of the chair. + +"Shall I proceed, O Princess?" + +"Yes." + +"This place is very public"--he glanced at the people above them. + +"I will hear you here." + +"At your pleasure.... The Hegumen referred next to your going about +publicly unveiled. While not positively wrong, he condemned the +practice as a pernicious example; besides which there was a defiant +boldness in it, he said, tending to make you a subject of discussion +and indelicate remark." + +The hand on the stony arm trembled. + +"I fear, O Princess," Sergius continued, with downcast look, "that my +words are giving you pain." + +"But they are not yours. Go on." + +"Then the Father came to what was much more serious." + +Sergius again hesitated. + +"I am listening," she said. + +"He termed it your persistence in keeping up the establishment here at +Therapia." + +The Princess grew red and white by turns. + +"He said the Turk was too near you; that unmarried and unprotected your +proper place was in some house of God on the Islands, or in the city, +where you could have the benefit of holy offices. As it was, rumor was +free to accuse you of preferring guilty freedom to marriage." + +The breeze fell off that moment, leaving the Princess in the centre of +a profound hush; except for the unwonted labor of her heart, the leaves +overhead were not more still. The sight of her was too +oppressive--Sergius turned away. Presently he heard her say, as if to +herself: "I am indeed in danger. If my death were not in meditation, +the boldest of them would not dare think so foul a falsehood.... +Sergius," she said. + +He turned to her, but she broke off diverted by another idea. Had this +last accusation reference to the Emperor's dream of making her his +wife? Could the Emperor have published what took place between them? +Impossible! + +"Sergius, did the Hegumen tell you whence this calumny had origin?" + +"He laid it to rumor merely." + +"Surely he disclosed some ground for it. A dignitary of his rank and +profession cannot lend himself to shaming a helpless woman without +reason or excuse." + +"Except your residence at Therapia, he gave no reason." + +Here she looked at Sergius, and the pain in the glance was pitiful. "My +friend, is there anything in your knowledge which might serve such a +rumor?" + +"Yes," he replied, letting his eyes fall. + +"What!" and she lifted her head, and opened her eyes. + +He stood silent and evidently suffering. + +"Poor Sergius! The punishment is yours. I am sorry for you--sorry we +entered on this subject--but it is too late to retire from it. Speak +bravely. What is it you know against me? It cannot be a crime; much I +doubt if it be a sin; my walk has been very strait and altogether in +God's view. Speak!" + +"Princess," he answered, "coming down from the landing, I was stopped +by a concourse studying a brass plate nailed to the right-hand pillar +of your gate. It was inscribed, but none of them knew the import of the +inscription. The hamari came up, and at sight of it fell to saluting, +like the abject Eastern he is. The bystanders chaffered him, and he +retorted, and, amongst other things, said the brass was a safeguard +directed to all Turks, notifying them that this property, its owner, +and inmates were under protection of the Prince Mahommed. Give heed +now, I pray you, O Princess, to this other thing of the man's saying. +The notice was the Prince Mahommed's, the inscription his signature, +and the Prince himself fixed the plate on the pillar with his own hand." + +Sergius paused. + +"Well," she asked. + +"The inferences--consider them." + +"State them." + +"My tongue refuses. Or if I must, O Princess, I will use the form of +accusation others are likely to have adopted. 'The Princess Irene lives +at Therapia because Prince Mahommed is her lover, and it is a +convenient place of meeting. Therefore his safeguard on her gate.'" + +"No one could be bold enough to"-- + +"One has been bold enough." + +"One?" + +"The Hegumen of my Brotherhood." + +The Princess was very pale. + +"It is cruel--cruel!" she exclaimed. "What ought I to do?" + +"Treat the safeguard as a discovery of to-day, and have it removed +while the people are all present." She looked at him searchingly. On +her forehead between the brows, he beheld a line never there before. +More surprising was the failure of self-reliance observable in her +request for counsel. Heretofore her courage and sufficiency had been +remarkable. In all dealings with him she had proved herself the +directress, quick yet decided. The change astonished him, so little was +he acquainted with the feminine nature; and in reply he spoke hastily, +hardly knowing what he had said. The words were not straightforward and +honest; they were not becoming him any more than the conduct suggested +was becoming her; they lingered in his ear, a wicked sound, and he +would have recalled them--but he hesitated. + +Here a voice in fierce malediction was heard up at the pavilions, +together with a prodigious splashing of water. Laughter, clapping of +hands, and other expressions of delight succeeded. + +"Go, Sergius, and see what is taking place," said the Princess. + +Glad of the opportunity to terminate the painful scene, he hastened to +the reservoirs and returned. + +"Your presence will restore quiet at once." + +The people made way for their hostess with alacrity. The hamari, it +appeared, had just arrived from the garden. Observing Lael in the midst +of the suite of fair ladies, he advanced to her with many strange +salutations. Alarmed, she would have run away had not Joqard broken +from his master, and leaped with a roar into the water. The poor beast +seemed determined to enjoy the bath. He swam, and dived, and played +antics without number. In vain the showman, resorting to every known +language, coaxed and threatened by turns--Joqard was self-willed and +happy, and it were hard saying which appreciated his liberty most, he +or the spectators of the scene. + +The Princess, for the time conquering her pain of heart, interceded for +the brute; whereupon the hamari, like a philosopher used to making the +best of surprises, joined in the sport until Joqard grew tired, and +voluntarily returned to control. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS + + +Word passed from the garden to the knots of people on the height: "Come +down quickly. They are making ready for the boat race." Directly the +reservoirs, the pavilions, and the tesselation about them were deserted. + +The Princess Irene, with her suite, made the descent to the garden more +at leisure, knowing the regatta would wait for her. So it happened she +was at length in charge of what seemed a rear guard; but how it befell +that Sergius and Lael drew together, the very last of that rear guard, +is not of such easy explanation. + +Whether by accident or mutual seeking, side by side the two moved +slowly down the hill, one moment in the shade of the kingly pines, then +in the glowing sunshine. The noises of the celebration, the shouting, +singing, calling, and merry outcries of children ascended to them, and +through the verdurousness below, lucent as a lake, gleams of color +flashed from scarfs, mantles, embroidered jackets, and flaming +petticoats. + +"I hope you are enjoying yourself," he said to Lael, upon their meeting. + +"Oh, yes! How could I help it--everything is delightful. And the +Princess--she is so good and gracious. Oh, if I were a man, I should go +mad with loving her!" + +She spoke with enthusiasm; she even drew her veil partially aside; yet +Sergius did not respond; he was asking himself if it were possible the +girl could be an impostor. Presently he resolved to try her with +questions. + +"Tell me of your father. Is he well?" + +At this she raised her veil entirely, and in turn asked: "Which father +do you mean?" + +"Which father," he repeated, stopping. + +"Oh, I have the advantage of everybody else! I have two fathers." + +He could do no more than repeat after her: "Two fathers!" + +"Yes; Uel the merchant is one of them, and the Prince of India is the +other. I suppose you mean the Prince, since you know him. He +accompanied me to the landing this morning, and seated me in the boat. +He was then well." + +There was no concealment here. Yet Sergius saw the disclosure was not +complete. He was tempted to go on. + +"Two fathers! How can such thing be?" + +She met the question with a laugh. "Oh! If it depended on which of them +is the kinder to me, I could not tell you the real father." + +Sergius stood looking at her, much as to say: "That is no answer; you +are playing with me." + +"See how we are falling behind," she then said. "Come, let us go on. I +can talk while walking." + +They set forward briskly, but it was noticeable that he moved nearer +her, stooping from his great height to hear further. + +"This is the way of it," she continued of her own prompting. "Some +years ago, my father, Uel, the merchant, received a letter from an old +friend of his father's, telling him that he was about to return to +Constantinople after a long absence in the East somewhere, and asking +if he, Uel, would assist the servant who was bearer of the note in +buying and furnishing a house. Uel did so, and when the stranger +arrived, his home was ready for him. I was then a little girl, and went +one day to see the Prince of India, his residence being opposite Uel's +on the other side of the street. He was studying some big books, but +quit them, and picked me up, and asked me who I was? I told him Uel was +my father. What was my name? Lael, I said. How old was I? And when I +answered that also, he kissed me, and cried, and, to my wonder, +declared how he had once a child named Lael; she looked like me, and +was just my age when she died"-- + +"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sergius. + +"Yes, and he then said Heaven had sent me to take her place. Would I be +his Lael? I answered I would, if Uel consented. He took me in his arms, +carried me across the street and talked so Uel could not have refused +had he wanted to." + +The manner of the telling was irresistible. At the conclusion, she +turned to him and said, with emotion: "There, now. You see I really +have two fathers, and you know how I came by them: and were I to +recount their goodness to me, and how they both love me, and how happy +each one of them is in believing me the object of the other's +affection, you would understand just as well how I know no difference +between them." + +"It is strange; yet as you tell it, little friend, it is not strange," +he returned, seriously. They were at the instant in a bar of brightest +sunlight projected across the road; and had she asked him the cause of +the frown on his face, he could not have told her he was thinking of +Demedes. + +"Yes, I see it--I see it, and congratulate you upon being so doubly +blessed. Tell me next who the Prince of India is." + +She looked now here, now there, he watching her narrowly. + +"Oh! I never thought of asking him about himself." + +She was merely puzzled by an unexpected question. + +"But you know something of him?" + +"Let me think," she replied. "Yes, he was the intimate of my father +Uel's father, and of his father before him." + +"Is he so old then?" + +"I cannot say how long he has been a family acquaintance. Of my +knowledge he is very learned in everything. He speaks all the languages +I ever heard of; he passes the nights alone on the roof of his house"-- + +"Alone on the roof of his house!" + +"Only of clear nights, you understand. A servant carries a chair and +table up for him, and a roll of papers, with pen and ink, and a clock +of brass and gold. The paper is a map of the heavens; and he sits there +watching the stars, marking them in position on the map, the clock +telling him the exact time." + +"An astronomer," said Sergius. + +"And an astrologer," she added; "and besides these things he is a +doctor, but goes only amongst the poor, taking nothing from them. He is +also a chemist; and he has tables of the plants curative and deadly, +and can extract their qualities, and reduce them from fluids to solids, +and proportionate them. He is also a master of figures, a science, he +always terms it, the first of creative principles without which God +could not be God. So, too, he is a traveller--indeed I think he has +been over the known world. You cannot speak of a capital or of an +island, or a tribe which he has not visited. He has servants from the +farthest East. One of his attendants is an African King; and what is +the strangest to me, Sergius, his domestics are all deaf and dumb." + +"Impossible!" + +"Nothing appears impossible to him." + +"How does he communicate with them?" + +"They catch his meaning from the motion of his lips. He says signs are +too slow and uncertain for close explanations." + +"Still he must resort to some language." + +"Oh, yes, the Greek." + +"But if they have somewhat to impart to him?" + +"It is theirs to obey, and pantomime seems sufficient to convey the +little they have to return to him, for it is seldom more than, 'My +Lord, I have done the thing you gave me to do.' If the matter be +complex, he too resorts to the lip-speech, which he could not teach +without first being proficient in it himself. Thus, for instance, to +Nilo"-- + +"The black giant who defended you against the Greek?" + +"Yes--a wonderful man--an ally, not a servant. On the journey to +Constantinople, the Prince turned aside into an African Kingdom called +Kash-Cush. I cannot tell where it is. Nilo was the King, and a mighty +hunter and warrior. His trappings hang in his room now--shields, +spears, knives, bows and arrows, and among them a net of linen threads. +When he took the field for lions, his favorite game, the net and a +short sword were all he cared for. His throne room, I have heard my +father the Prince say, was carpeted with skins taken by him in single +combats." + +"What could he do with the net, little Princess?" + +"I will give you his account; perhaps you can see it clearly--I cannot. +When the monster makes his leap, the corners of the net are tossed up +in the air, and he is in some way caught and tangled... Well, as I was +saying, Nilo, though deaf and dumb, of choice left his people and +throne to follow the Prince, he knew not where." + +"Oh, little friend! Do you know you are talking the incredible to me? +Who ever heard of such thing before?" + +Sergius' blue eyes were astare with wonder. + +"I only speak what I have heard recounted by my father, the Prince, to +my other father, Uel.... What I intended saying was that directly the +Prince established himself at home he began teaching Nilo to converse. +The work was slow at first; but there is no end to the master's skill +and patience; he and the King now talk without hindrance. He has even +made him a believer in God." + +"A Christian, you mean." + +"No. In my father's opinion the mind of a wild man cannot comprehend +modern Christianity; nobody can explain the Trinity; yet a child can be +taught the almightiness of God, and won to faith in him." + +"Do you speak for yourself or the Prince?" + +"The Prince," she replied. + +Sergius was struck with the idea, and wished to go further with it, but +they were at the foot of the hill, and Lael exclaimed, "The garden is +deserted. We may lose the starting of the race. Let us hurry." + +"Nay, little friend, you forget how narrow my skirts are. I cannot run. +Let us walk fast. Give me a hand. There now--we will arrive in time." + +Near the palace, however, Sergius dropped into his ordinary gait; then +coming to a halt, he asked: "Tell me to whom else you have related this +pretty tale of the two fathers?" + +His look and tone were exceedingly grave, and she studied his face, and +questioned him in turn: "You are very serious--why?" + +"Oh, I was wondering if the story is public?" More plainly, he was +wondering whence Demedes had his information. + +"I suppose it is generally known; at least I cannot see why it should +not be." + +The few words swept the last doubt from his mind; yet she continued: +"My father Uel is well known to the merchants of the city. I have heard +him say gratefully that since the coming of the Prince of India his +business has greatly increased. He used to deal in many kinds of goods; +now he sells nothing but precious stones. His patrons are not alone the +nobles of Byzantium; traders over in Galata buy of him for the western +markets, especially Italy and France. My other father, the Prince, is +an expert in such things, and does not disdain to help Uel with advice." + +Lael might have added that the Prince, in course of his travels, had +ascertained the conveniency of jewels as a currency familiar and +acceptable to almost every people, and always kept a store of them by +him, from which he frequently replenished his protege's stock, allowing +him the profits. That she did not make this further disclosure was +probably due to ignorance of the circumstances; in other words, her +artlessness was extreme enough to render her a dangerous confidant, and +both her fathers were aware of it. + +"Everybody in the bazaar is friendly to my father Uel, and the Prince +visits him there, going in state; and he and his train are an +attraction"--thus Lael proceeded. "On his departure, the questions +about him are countless, and Uel holds nothing back. Indeed, it is more +than likely he has put the whole mart and city in possession of the +history of my adoption by the Prince." + +In front of the palace she broke off abruptly: "But see! The landing is +covered with men and women. Let us hurry." + +Presently they issued from the garden, and were permitted to join the +Princess. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN + + +The boatmen had taken up some of the marble blocks of the landing, and +planting long oars upright in the ground, and fixing other oars +crosswise on them, constructed a secure frame covered with fresh +sail-cloth. From their vessels they had also brought material for a +dais under the shelter thus improvised; another sail for carpet, and a +chair on the dais completed the stand whence the Princess was to view +and judge the race. + +A way was opened for her through the throng, and with her attendants, +she passed to the stand; and as she went, all the women near reached +out their hands and reverently touched the skirt of her gown--so did +their love for her trench on adoration. + +The shore from the stand to the town, and from the stand again around +the promontory on the south, was thronged with spectators, while every +vantage point fairly in view was occupied by them; even the ships were +pressed into the service; and somehow the air over and about the bay +seemed to give back and tremble with the eagerness of interest +everywhere discernible. + +Between Fanar, the last northern point of lookout over the Black Sea, +and Galata, down on the Golden Horn, there are about thirty hamlets, +villages and cities specking the European shore of the Bosphorus. Each +of them has its settlement of fishermen. Aside from a voluminous net, +the prime necessity for successful pursuit of the ancient and honorable +calling is a boat. Like most things of use amongst men, the vessel of +preferred model here came of evolution. The modern tourist may yet see +its kind drawn up at every landing he passes. + +Proper handling, inclusive of running out and hauling in the seine, +demanded a skilful crew of at least five men; and as whole lives were +devoted to rowing, the proficiency finally attained in it can be +fancied. It was only natural, therefore, that the thirty communities +should each insist upon having the crew of greatest excellence--the +crew which could outrow any other five on the Bosphorus; and as every +Byzantine Greek was a passionate gambler, the wagers were without end. +Vauntings of the sort, like the Black Sea birds of unresting wings, +went up and down the famous waterway. + +At long intervals occasions presented for the proof of these men of +pride; after which, for a period there was an admitted champion crew, +and a consequent hush of the babble and brawl. + +In determining to conclude the fete with a boat-race open to all Greek +comers from the capital to the Cyanian rocks, the Princess Irene did +more than secure a desirable climax; unconsciously, perhaps, she hit +upon the measure most certain to bring peace to the thirty villages. + +She imposed but two conditions on the competitors--they should be +fishermen and Greeks. + +The interval between the announcement of the race and the day set for +it had been filled with boasting, from which one would have supposed +the bay of Therapia at the hour of starting would be too contracted to +hold the adversaries. When the hour came there were six crews present +actually prepared to contest for the prize--a tall ebony crucifix, with +a gilded image, to be displayed of holidays on the winning prow. The +shrinkage told the usual tale of courage oozed out. There was of course +no end of explanation. + +About three o'clock, the six boats, each with a crew of five men, were +held in front of the Princess' stand, representative of as many towns. +Their prows were decorated with banderoles large enough to be easily +distinguished at a distance--one yellow, chosen for Yenimahale; one +blue, for Buyukdere; one white, for Therapia; one red, for Stenia; one +green, for Balta-Liman; and one half white and half scarlet, for Bebek. +The crews were in their seats--fellows with knotted arms bare to the +shoulder; white shirts under jackets the color of the flags, trousers +in width like petticoats. The feet were uncovered that, while the pull +was in delivery, they might the better clinch the cleats across the +bottom of the boat. + +The fresh black paint with which the vessels had been smeared from end +to end on the outside was stoned smoothly down until it glistened like +varnish. Inside there was not a superfluity to be seen of the weight of +a feather. + +The contestants knew every point of advantage, and, not less clearly, +they were there to win or be beaten doing their best. They were cool +and quiet; much more so, indeed, than the respective clansmen and +clanswomen. + +From these near objects of interest, the Princess directed a glance +over the spreading field of dimpled water to a galley moored under a +wooded point across on the Asiatic shore. The point is now crowned with +the graceful but neglected Kiosk of the Viceroy of Egypt. That galley +was the thither terminus of the race course, and the winners turning +it, and coming back to the place of starting, must row in all about +three miles. + +A little to the right of the Princess' stand stood a pole of height to +be seen by the multitude as well as the rival oarsmen, and a rope for +hoisting a white flag to the top connected it with the chair on the +dais. At the appearance of the flag the boats were to start; while it +was flying, the race was on. + +And now the competitors are in position by lot from right to left. On +bay and shore the shouting is sunk to a murmur. A moment more--but in +that critical period an interruption occurred. + +A yell from a number of voices in sharpest unison drew attention to the +point of land jutting into the water on the north side not inaptly +called the toe of Therapia, and a boat, turning the point, bore down +with speed toward the sail-covered stand. There were four rowers in it; +yet its glossy sides and air of trimness were significant of a seventh +competitor for some reason behind time. The black flag at the prow and +the black uniform of the oarsmen confirmed the idea. The hand of the +Princess was on the signal rope; but she paused. + +As the boat-hook of the newcomers fell on the edge of the landing, one +of them dropped upon his knees, crying: "Grace, O Princess! Grace, and +a little time!" + +The four were swarthy men, and, unlike the Greeks they were seeking to +oppose, their swart was a peculiarity of birth, a racial sign. +Recognizing them, the spectators near by shouted: "Gypsies! Gypsies!" +and the jeer passed from mouth to mouth far as the bridge over the +creek at the corner of the bay; yet it was not ill-natured. That these +unbelievers of unknown origin, separatists like the Jews, could offer +serious opposition to the chosen of the towns was ridiculous. Since +they excited no apprehension, their welcome was general. + +"Why the need of grace? Who are you?" the Princess replied, gravely. + +"We are from the valley by Buyukdere," the man returned. + +"Are you fishermen?" + +"Judged by our catches the year through, and the prices we get in the +market, O Princess, it is not boasting to say our betters cannot be +found, though you search both shores between Fanar and the Isles of the +Princes." + +This was too much for the bystanders. The presence they were in was not +sufficient to restrain an outburst of derision. + +"But the conditions of the race shut you out. You are not Greeks," the +judge continued. + +"Nay, Princess, that is according to the ground of judgment. If it +please you to decide by birth and residence rather than ancestry, then +are we to be preferred over many of the nobles who go in and out of His +Majesty's gates unchallenged. Has not the sweet water that comes down +from the hills seeking the sea through our meadow furnished drink for +our fathers hundreds of years? And as it knew them, it knows us." + +"Well answered, I must admit. Now, my friend, do as wisely with what I +ask next, and you shall have a place. Say you come out winners, what +will you do with the prize? I have heard you are not Christians." + +The man raised his face the first time. + +"Not Christians! Were the charge true, then, argument being for the +hearing, I would say the matter of religion is not among the +conditions. But I am a petitioner, not lawyer, and to my rude thinking +it is better that I hold on as I began. Trust us, O Princess! There is +a plane tree, wondrous old, and with seven twin trunks, standing before +our tents, and in it there is a hollow which shelters securely as a +house. Attend me now, I pray. If happily we win, we will convert the +tree into a cathedral, and build an altar in it, and set the prize +above the altar in such style that all who love the handiworks of +nature better than the artfulness of men may come and worship there +reverently as in the holiest of houses, Sancta Sophia not excepted." + +"I will trust you. With such a promise overheard by so many of this +concourse, to refuse you a part in the race were a shame to the +Immaculate Mother. But how is it you are but four?" + +"We were five, O Princess; now one is sick. It was at his bidding we +come; he thought of the hundreds of oarsmen who would be here one at +least could be induced to share our fortune." + +"You have leave to try them." + +The man arose, and looked at the bystanders, but they turned away. + +"A hundred noumiae for two willing hands!" he shouted. + +There was no reply. "If not for the money, then in honor of the noble +lady who has feasted you and your wives and children." + +A voice answered out of the throng: "Here am I!" and presently the +hamari appeared with the bear behind him. + +"Here," he said, "take care of Joqard for me. I will row in the sick +man's place, and"-- + +The remainder of the sentence was lost in an outburst of gibing--and +laughter. Finally the Princess asked the rowers if they were satisfied +with the volunteer. + +They surveyed him doubtfully. + +"Art thou an oarsman?" one of them asked. + +"There is not a better on the Bosphorus. And I will prove it. Here, +some of you--take the beast off my hands. Fear not, friend, Joqard's +worst growl is inoffensive as thunder without lightning. That's a good +man." + +And with the words the hamari released the leading strap, sprang into +the boat, and without giving time for protest or remonstrance, threw +off his jacket and sandals, tucked up his shirt-sleeves, and dropped +into the vacant fifth seat. The dexterity with which he then unshipped +the oars and took them in hand measurably quieted the associates thus +audaciously adopted; his action was a kind of certificate that the +right man had been sent them. + +"Believe in me," he said, in a low tone. "I have the two qualities +which will bring us home winners--skill and endurance." Then he spoke +to the Princess: "Noble lady, have I your consent to make a +proclamation?" + +The manner of the request was singularly deferential. Sergius observed +the change, and took a closer look at him while the Princess was giving +the permission. + +Standing upon the seat, the hamari raised his voice: "Ho, +here--there--every one!" and drawing a purse from his bosom, he waved +it overhead, with a louder shout, "See!--a hundred noumiae, and not all +copper either. Piece against piece weighed or counted, I put them in +wager! Speak one or all. Who dares the chance?" + +Takers of the offer not appearing on the shore, he shook the purse at +his competitors. + +"If we are not Christians," he said to them, "we are oarsmen and not +afraid. See--I stake this purse--if you win, it is yours." + +They only gaped at him. + +He put the purse back slowly, and recounting the several towns of his +opponents by their proper names in Greek, he cried: "Buyukdere, +Therapia, Stenia, Bebek, Balta-Liman, Yenimahale--your women will sing +you low to-night!" Then to the Princess: "Allow us now to take our +place seventh on the left." + +The bystanders were in a maze. Had they been served with a mess of +brag, or was the fellow really capable? One thing was clear--the +interest in the race had taken a rise perceptible in the judge's stand +not less than on the crowded shore. + +The four Gypsies, on their part, were content with the volunteer. In +fact, they were more than satisfied when he said to them, as their +vessel turned into position: + +"Now, comrades, be governed by me; and besides the prize, if we win, +you shall have my purse to divide amongst you man and man. Is it +agreed?" And they answered, foreman and all, yes. "Very well," he +returned. "Do you watch, and get the time and force from me. Now for +the signal." + +The Princess sent the starting flag to the top of the pole, and the +boats were off together. A great shout went up from the spectators--a +shout of men mingled with the screams of women to whom a hurrah or +cheer of any kind appears impossible. + +To warm the blood, there is nothing after all like the plaudits of a +multitude looking on and mightily concerned. This was now noticeable. +The eyes of all the rowers enlarged; their teeth set hard; the arteries +of the neck swelled; and even in their tension the muscles of the arms +quivered. + +A much better arrangement would have been to allow the passage of the +racers broadside to the shore; for then the shiftings of position, and +the strategies resorted to would have been plain to the beholders; as +it was, each foreshortened vessel soon became to them a black body, +with but a man and one pair of oars in motion; and sometimes +provokingly indistinguishable, the banderoles blew backward squarely in +a line with the direction of the movement. Then the friends on land +gave over exercising their throats; finally drawn down to the water's +edge, and pressing on each other, they steadied and welded into a mass, +like a wall. + +Once there was a general shout. Gradually the boats had lost the +formation of the start, and falling in behind each other, assumed an +order comparable to a string. While this change was going on, a breeze +unusually strong blew from the south, bringing every flag into view at +the same time: when it was perceived that the red was in the lead. +Forthwith the clansmen of Stenia united in a triumphant yell, followed +immediately, however, by another yet louder. It was discovered, thanks +to the same breeze, that the black banderole of the Gypsies was the +last of the seven. Then even those who had been most impressed by the +bravado of the hamari, surrendered themselves to laughter and sarcasm. + +"See the infidels!" "They had better be at home taking care of their +kettles and goats!" "Turn the seven twins into a cathedral, will they? +The devil will turn them into porpoises first!" "Where is the hamari +now--where? By St. Michael, the father of fishermen, he is finding what +it is to have more noumiae than brains! Ha, ha, ha!" + +Nevertheless the coolest of the thirty-five men then scudding the +slippery waterway was the hamari--he had started the coolest--he was +the coolest now. + +For a half mile he allowed his crew to do their best, and with them he +had done his best. The effort sufficed to carry them to the front, +where he next satisfied himself they could stay, if they had the +endurance. He called to them: + +"Well done, comrades! The prize and the money are yours! But ease up a +little. Let them pass. We will catch them again at the turn. Keep your +eyes on me." + +Insensibly he lessened the dip and reach of his oars; at last, as the +thousands on the Therapian shore would have had it, the Gypsy racer was +the hinderling of the pack. Afterwards there were but trifling changes +of position until the terminal galley was reached. + +By a rule of the race, the contestants were required to turn the +galley, keeping it on the right; and it was a great advantage to be a +clear first there, since the fortunate party could then make the round +unhindered and in the least space. The struggle for the point began +quite a quarter of a mile away. Each crew applied itself to quickening +the speed--every oar dipped deeper, and swept a wider span;--on a +little, and the keepers of the galley could hear the half groan, half +grunt with which the coming toilers relieved the extra exertion now +demanded of them;--yet later, they saw them spring to their feet, reach +far back, and finish the long deep draw by falling, or rather toppling +backward to their seats. + +Only the hamari eschewed the resort for the present. He cast a look +forward, and said quickly: "Attend, comrades!" Thereupon he added +weight to his left delivery, altering the course to an angle which, if +pursued, must widen the circle around the galley instead of contracting +it. + +On nearing the goal the rush of the boats grew fiercer; each foreman, +considering it honor lost, if not a fatal mischance, did he fail to be +first at the turning-point, persisted in driving straight forward--a +madness which the furious yelling of the people on the marker's deck +intensified. This was exactly what the hamari had foreseen. When the +turn began five of the opposing vessels ran into each other. The boil +and splash of water, breaking of oars, splintering of boatsides; the +infuriate cries, oaths, and blind striving of the rowers, some intent +on getting through at all hazards, some turned combatants, striking or +parrying with their heavy oaken blades; the sound of blows on breaking +heads; plunges into the foaming brine; blood trickling down faces and +necks, and reddening naked arms--such was the catastrophe seen in its +details from the overhanging gunwale of the galley. And while it went +on, the worse than confused mass drifted away from the ship's side, +leaving a clear space through which, with the first shout heard from +him during the race, the hamari urged his crew, and rounded the goal. + +On the far Therapian shore the multitude were silent. They could dimly +see every incident at the turn--the collision, fighting, and manifold +mishaps, and the confounding of the banderoles. Then the Stenia colors +flashed round the galley, with the black behind it a close second. + +"Is that the hamari's boat next the leader?" + +Thus the Princess, and upon the answer, she added: "It looks as if the +Holy One might find servants among the irreclaimables in the valley." + +Had the Gypsies at last a partisan? + +The two rivals were now clear of the galley. For a time there was but +one cry heard--"Stenia! Stenia!" The five oarsmen of that charming town +had been carefully selected; they were vigorous, skilful, and had a +chief well-balanced in judgment. The race seemed theirs. Suddenly--it +was when the homestretch was about half covered--the black flag rushed +past them. + +Then the life went out of the multitude. "St. Peter is dead!" they +cried--"St. Peter is dead! It is nothing to be a Greek now!" and they +hung their heads, refusing to be comforted. + +The Gypsies came in first; and amidst the profoundest silence, they +dropped their oars with a triumphant crash on the marble revetment. The +hamari wiped the sweat from his face, and put on his jacket and +sandals; pausing then to toss his purse to the foreman, and say: "Take +it in welcome, my friends. I am content with my share of the victory," +he stepped ashore. In front of the judge's stand, he knelt, and said: +"Should there be a dispute touching the prize, O Princess, be a witness +unto thyself. Thine eyes have seen the going and the coming; and if the +world belie thee not--sometimes it can be too friendly--thou art fair, +just and fearless." + +On foot again, his courtierly manner vanished in a twinkling. + +"Joqard, Joqard? Where are you?" + +Some one answered: "Here he is." + +"Bring him quickly. For Joqard is an example to men--he is honest, and +tells no lies. He has made much money, and allowed me to keep it all, +and spend it on myself. Women are jealous of him, but with reason--he +is lovely enough to have been a love of Solomon's; his teeth are as +pearls of great price; his lips scarlet as a bride's; his voice is the +voice of a nightingale singing to the full moon from an acacia tree +fronded last night; in motion, he is now a running wave, now a blossom +on a swaying branch, now a girl dancing before a king--all the graces +are his. Yes, bring me Joqard, and keep the world; without him, it is +nothing to me." + +While speaking, from a jacket pocket he brought out the fan Lael had +thrown him from the portico, and used it somewhat ostentatiously to +cool himself. The Princess and her attendants laughed heartily. +Sergius, however, watched the man with a scarcely defined feeling that +he had seen him. But where? And he was serious because he could not +answer. + +Taking the leading strap, when Joqard was brought, the hamari scrupled +not to give the brute a hearty cuff, whereat the fishermen shook the +sails of the pavilion with laughter; then, standing Joqard up, he +placed one of the huge paws on his arm, and, with the mincing step of a +lady's page, they disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED + + +"I shall ask you, Sergius, to return to the city to-night, for inquiry +about the fete will be lively tomorrow in the holy houses. And if you +have the disposition to defend me"-- + +"You doubt me, O Princess?" + +"No." + +"O little mother, let me once for all be admitted to your confidence, +that in talking to me there may never be a question of my loyalty." + +This, with what follows, was part of a conversation between the +Princess Irene and Sergius of occurrence the evening of the fete in the +court heretofore described, being that to which she retired to read the +letter of introduction brought her by the young monk from Father +Hilarion. + +From an apartment adjoining, the voices of her attendants were +occasionally heard blent with the monotonous tinkle of water +overflowing the bowls of the fountain. In the shadowy depths of the +opening above the court the stars might have been seen had not a number +of lamps suspended from a silken cord stretched from wall to wall +flooded the marble enclosure with their nearer light. + +There was a color, so to speak, in the declaration addressed to her--a +warmth and earnestness--which drew a serious look from the +Princess--the look, in a word, with which a woman admits a fear lest +the man speaking to her may be a lover. + +To say of her who habitually discouraged the tender passion, and the +thought of it, that she moved in an atmosphere charged with attractions +irresistible to the other sex sounds strangely: yet it was true; and as +a consequence she had grown miraculously quick with respect to +appearances. + +However, she now dismissed the suspicion, and replied: + +"I believe you, Sergius, I believe you. The Holy Virgin sees how +completely and gladly." + +She went on presently, a tremulous light in her eyes making him think +of tears. "You call me little mother. There are some who might laugh, +did they hear you, yet I agree to the term. It implies a relation of +trust without embarrassment, and a promise of mutual faithfulness +warranting me to call you in return, Sergius, and sometimes 'dear +Sergius.' ... Yes, I think it better that you go back immediately. The +Hegumen will want to speak to you in the morning about what you have +seen and heard to-day. My boatmen can take you down, and arrived there, +they will stay the night. My house is always open to them." + +After telling her how glad he was for the permission to address her in +a style usual in his country, he moved to depart, but she detained him. + +"Stay a moment. To-day I had not time to deal as I wished with the +charges the Hegumen prefers against me. You remember I promised to +speak to you about them frankly, and I think it better to do so now; +for with my confessions always present you cannot be surprised by +misrepresentations, nor can doubt take hold of you so readily. You +shall go hence possessed of every circumstance essential to judge how +guilty I am." + +"They must do more than talk," the monk returned, with emphasis. + +"Beware, Sergius! Do not provoke them into argument--or if you must +talk, stop when you have set them to talking. The listener is he who +can best be wise as a serpent.... And now, dear friend, lend me your +good sense. Thanks to the generosity of a kinsman, I am mistress of a +residence in the city and this palace; and it is mine to choose between +them. How healthful and charming life is with surroundings like +these--here, the gardens; yonder, the verdurous hills; and there, +before my door, a channel of the seas always borrowing from the sky, +never deserted by men. Guilt seeks exclusion, does it not? Well, +whether you come in the day or the night, my gate is open; nor have I a +warder other than Lysander; and his javelin is but a staff with which +to steady his failing steps. There are no prohibitions shutting me in. +Christian, Turk, Gypsy--the world in fact--is welcome to see what all I +have; and as to danger, I am defended better than with guards. I strive +diligently to love my neighbors as I love myself, and they know it.... +Coming nearer the accusation now. I find here a freedom which not a +religious house in the city can give me, nor one on the Isles, not +Halki itself. Here I am never disturbed by sectaries or partisans; the +Greek and the Latin wrangle before the Emperor and at the altars; but +they spare me in this beloved retiracy. Freedom! Ah, yes, I find it in +this retreat--this escape from temptations--freedom to work and sleep, +and praise God as seems best to me--freedom to be myself in defiance of +deplorable social customs--and there is no guilt in it.... Coming still +nearer the very charge, hear, O Sergius, and I will tell you of the +brass on my gate, and why I suffer it to stay there; since you, with +your partialities, account it a witness against me, it is in likelihood +the foundation of the calumny associating me with the Turk. Let me ask +first, did the Hegumen mention the name of one such associate?" + +"No." + +The Princess with difficulty repressed her feelings. + +"Bear with me a moment," she said; "you cannot know the self-mastery I +require to thus defend myself. Can I ever again be confident of my +judgment? How doubts and fears will beset me when hereafter upon my own +responsibility I choose a course, whatever the affair! Ah, God, whom I +have sought to make my reliance, seems so far away! It will be for Him +in the great day to declare if my purpose in living here be not escape +from guiltiness in thought, from wrong and temptation, from taint to +character. For further security, I keep myself surrounded with good +women, and from the beginning took the public into confidence, giving +it privileges, and inviting it to a study of my daily life. And this is +the outcome! ... I will proceed now. The plate on the gate is a +safeguard"-- + +"Then Mahommed has visited you?" + +The slightest discernible pallor overspread her face. + +"Does it surprise you so much? ... This is the way it came about. You +remember our stay at the White Castle, and doubtless you remember the +knight in armor who received us at the landing--a gallant, +fair-speaking, chivalrous person whom we supposed the Governor, and who +prevailed upon us to become his guests while the storm endured. You +recollect him?" + +"Yes. He impressed me greatly." + +"Well, let me now bring up an incident not in your knowledge. The +eunuch in whose care I was placed for the time with Lael, daughter of +the Prince of India, as my companion, to afford us agreeable diversion, +obtained my consent to introduce an Arab story-teller of great repute +among the tribes of the desert and other Eastern people. He gave us the +name of the man--Sheik Aboo-Obeidah. The Sheik proved worthy his fame. +So entertaining was he, in fact, I invited him here, and he came." + +"Did I understand you to say the entertainment took place in Lael's +presence?" + +"She was my companion throughout." + +"Let us be thankful, little mother." + +"Ay, Sergius, and that I have witnesses down to the last incident. You +may have heard how the Emperor and his court did me the high honor of a +visit in state." + +"The visit was notorious." + +"Well, while the royal company were at table, Lysander appeared and +announced Aboo-Obeidah, and, by permission of the Emperor, the +story-teller was admitted, and remained during the repast. Now I come +to the surprising event--Aboo-Obeidah was Mahommed!" + +"Prince Mahommed--son of the terrible Amurath?" exclaimed Sergius. "How +did you know him?" + +"By the brass plate. When he went to his boat, he stopped and nailed +the plate to the pillar. I went to look at it, and not understanding +the inscription, sent to town for a Turk who enlightened me." + +"Then the hamari was not gasconading?" + +"What did he say?" + +"He confirmed your Turk." + +She gazed awhile at the overflowing of the fountain, giving a thought +perhaps to the masquerader and his description of himself what time he +was alone with her on the portico; presently she resumed: + +"One word more now, and I dismiss the brass plate.... I cannot blind +myself, dear friend, to the condition of my kinsman's empire. It creeps +in closer and closer to the walls of Constantinople. Presently there +will be nothing of it left save the little the gates of the capital can +keep. The peace we have is by the grace of an unbeliever too old for +another great military enterprise; and when it breaks, then, O Sergius, +yon safeguard may be for others besides myself--for many +others--farmers, fishermen and townspeople caught in the storm. Say +such anticipation followed you, Sergius--what would you do with the +plate?" + +"What would I do with it? O little mother, I too should take counsel of +my fears." + +"You approve my keeping it where it is, then? Thank you.... What +remains for explanation? Ah, yes--my heresy. That you shall dispose of +yourself. Remain here a moment." + +She arose, and passing through a doorway heavily draped with cloth, +left him to the entertainment of the fountain. Returning soon, she +placed a roll of paper in his hand. + +"There," she said, "is the creed which your Hegumen makes such a sin. +It may be heresy; yet, God helping me, and Christ and the Holy Mother +lending their awful help, I dare die for it. Take it, dear Sergius. You +will find it simple--nine words in all--and take this cover for it." + +He wrapped the parcel in the white silken cover she gave him, making +mental comparison, nevertheless, with the old Nicaean ordinances. + +"Only nine words--O little mother!" + +"Nine," she returned. + +"They should be of gold." + +"I leave them to speak for themselves." + +"Shall I return the paper?" + +"No, it is a copy.... But it is time you were going. Fortunately the +night is pleasant and starlit; and if you are tired, the speeding of +the boat will rest you. Let me have an opinion of the creed at your +leisure." + +They bade each other good-night. + + * * * * * + +About eight o'clock next morning Sergius awoke. He had dropped on his +cot undressed, and slept the sweet sleep of healthful youth; now, +glancing about, he thought of the yesterday and the spacious garden, of +the palace in the garden, of the Princess Irene, and of the +conversation she held with him in the bright inner court. And the creed +of nine words! He felt for it, and found it safe. Then his thought flew +to Lael. She had exonerated herself. Demedes was a liar--Demedes, the +presumptuous knave! He was to have been at the fete, but had not dared +go. There was a limit to his audacity; and in great thankfulness for +the discovery, Sergius tossed an arm over the edge of the narrow cot, +and struck the stool, his solitary item of furniture. He raised his +head, and looked at the stool, wondering how it came there so close to +his cot. What was that he saw? A fan?--And in his chamber? Somebody had +brought it in. He examined it cautiously. Whose was it? Whose could it +be?--How!--No--but it _was_ the very fan he had seen Lael toss to the +hamari from the portico! And the hamari? + +A bit of folded paper on the settle attracted his attention. He +snatched it up, opened, and read it, and while he read his brows knit, +his eyes opened to their full. + +"PATIENCE--COURAGE--JUDGMENT! + +"Thou art better apprised of the meaning of the motto than thou wert +yesterday. + +"Thy seat in the Academy is still reserved for thee. + +"Thou mayst find the fan of the Princess of India useful; with me it is +embalmed in sentiment. + +"Be wise. THE HAMARI." + +He read the scrap twice, the second time slowly; then it fell rustling +to the floor, while he clasped his hands and looked to Heaven. A murmur +was all he could accomplish. + +Afterwards, prostrate on the cot, his face to the wall, he debated with +himself, and concluded: + +"The Greek is capable of any villany he sets about--of abduction and +murder--and now indeed must Lael beware!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS + + +We will now take the liberty of reopening the audience chamber of the +palace of Blacherne, presuming the reader holds it in recollection. It +is the day when, by special appointment, the Prince of India appears +before the Emperor Constantine to present his idea of a basis for +Universal Religious Union. The hour is exactly noon. + +A report of the Prince's former audience with His Majesty had awakened +general curiosity to see the stranger and hear his discourse. This was +particularly the feeling in spiritual circles; by which term the most +influential makers of public opinion are meant. A sharp though decorous +rivalry for invitations to be present on the occasion ensued. + +The Emperor, in robes varied but little from those he wore the day of +the Prince's first audience, occupied the throne on the dais. On both +sides of him the company sat in a semicircular arrangement which left +them all facing the door of the main entrance, and permitted the +placement of a table in a central position under every eye. + +The appearance of the assemblage would have disappointed the reader; +for while the court was numerously represented, with every functionary +in his utmost splendor of decoration, it was outnumbered by the +brethren of the Holy Orders, whose gowns, for the most part of gray and +black material unrelieved by gayety in color, imparted a sombreness to +the scene which the ample light of the chamber could not entirely +dissipate, assisted though it was by refractions in plenitude from +heads bald and heads merely tonsured. + +It should be observed now that besides a very striking exterior, the +Emperor fancied he discerned in the Prince of India an idea enriched by +an extraordinary experience. At loss to make him out, impressed, not +unpleasantly, with the mystery the stranger had managed, as usual, to +leave behind him, His Majesty had looked forward to this second +appearance with interest, and turned it over with a view to squeezing +out all of profit there might be in it. Why not, he asked himself, make +use of the opportunity to bring the chiefs of the religious factions +once more together? The explosive tendency which it seemed impossible +for them to leave in their cells with their old dalmatics had made it +politic to keep them apart widely and often as circumstances would +permit; here, however, he thought the danger might be averted, since +they would attend as auditors from whom speech or even the asking a +question would be out of order unless by permission. The imperial +presence, it was also judged, would restrain the boldest of them from +resolving himself into a disputant. + +The arrangement of the chamber for the audience had been a knotty +problem to our venerable acquaintance, the Dean; but at last he +submitted his plan, giving every invitee a place by ticket; the +Emperor, however, blotted it out mercilessly. "Ah, my old friend," he +said, with a smile which assuaged the pang of disapproval, "you have +loaded yourself with unnecessary trouble. There was never a mass +performed with stricter observance of propriety than we will now have. +Fix the chairs thus"--and with a finger-sweep he described a +semicircle--"here the table for the Prince. Having notified me of his +intention to read from some ancient books, he must have a table--and +let there be no reserved seat, except one for the Patriarch. Set a +sedilium, high and well clothed, for him here on my right--and forget +not a stool for his feet; for now to the bitterness of controversy long +continued he has added a constriction of the lungs, and together they +are grievous to old age." + +"And Scholarius?" + +"Scholarius is an orator; some say he is a prophet; I know he is not an +official; so of the seats vacant when he arrives, let him choose for +himself." + +The company began coming early. Every Churchman of prominence in the +city was in attendance. The reception was unusually ceremonious. When +the bustle was over, and His Majesty at ease, the pages having arranged +the folds of his embroidered vestments, he rested his hand lightly on +the golden cone of the right arm of the throne, and surveyed the +audience with a quiet assurance becoming his birth in the purple, +looking first to the Patriarch, and bowing to him, and receiving a +salute in return. To the others on the right he glanced next, with a +gracious bend of the head, and then to those on the left. In. the +latter quarter he recognized Scholarius, and covertly smiled; if +Gregory had taken seat on the left, Scholarius would certainly have +crossed to the right. There was no such thing as compromise in his +intolerant nature. + +One further look the Emperor gave to where, near the door, a group of +women was standing, in attendance evidently upon the Princess Irene, +who was the only one of them seated. Their heads were covered by veils +which had the appearance of finely woven silver. This jealous +precaution, of course, cut off recognition; nevertheless such of the +audience as had the temerity to cast their eyes at the fair array were +consoled by a view of jewelled hands, bare arms inimitably round and +graceful, and figures in drapery of delicate colors, and of designs to +tempt the imagination without offence to modesty--a respect in which +the Greek costume has never been excelled. The Emperor recognized the +Princess, and slightly inclined his head to her. He then spoke to the +Dean: + +"Wait on the Prince of India, and if he is prepared, accompany him +hither." + +Passing out a side door, the master of ceremonies presently reappeared +with Nilo in guidance. The black giant was as usual barbarously +magnificent in attire; and staring at him, the company did not observe +the burden he brought in, and laid on the table. He retired +immediately; then they looked, and saw a heap of books and MSS. in +rolls left behind him--quaint, curious volumes, so to speak, yellow +with age and exposure, and suggestive of strange countries, and a +wisdom new, if not of more than golden worth. And they continued to +gaze and wonder at them, giving warrant to the intelligent forethought +of the Prince of India which sent Nilo in advance of his own entry. + +Again the door was thrown open, and this time the Dean ushered the +Prince into the chamber, and conducted him toward the dais. Thrice the +foreigner prostrated himself; the last time within easy speaking +distance of His Majesty, who silently agreed with the observant +lookers-on, that he had never seen the salutations better executed. + +"Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor said, blandly, and well pleased. + +The Prince arose, and stood before him, his eyes downcast, his hands +upon his breast--suppliancy in excellent pantomime. + +"Be not surprised, Prince of India, at the assemblage you behold." Thus +His Majesty proceeded. "Its presence is due, I declare to you, not so +much to design of mine as to the report the city has had of your former +audience, and the theme of which you then promised to discourse." +Without apparently noticing the low reverence in acknowledgment of the +compliment, he addressed himself to the body of listeners. "I regard it +courtesy to our noble Indian guest to advise you, my Lords of the +Court, and you, devotees of Christ and the Father, whose prayers are +now the chief stay of my empire, that he is present by my appointment. +On a previous occasion, he interested us--I speak of many of my very +honorable assistants in Government--he interested us, I say, with an +account of his resignation of the Kingship in his country, moved by a +desire to surrender himself exclusively to study of religion. Under my +urgency, he bravely declared he was neither Jew, Moslem, Hindoo, +Buddhist nor Christian; that his travels and investigation had led him +to a faith which he summed up by pronouncing the most holy name of God; +giving us to understand he meant the God to whom our hearts have long +been delivered. He also referred to the denominations into which +believers are divided, and said his one motive in life was the bringing +them together in united brotherhood; and as I cannot imagine a result +more desirable, provided its basis obtain the sanction of our +conscience, I will now ask him to proceed, if it be his pleasure, and +speak to us freely." + +Again the visitor prostrated himself in his best oriental manner; after +which, moving backward, he went to the table and took a few minutes +arranging the books and rolls. The spectators availed themselves of the +opportunity to gratify their curiosity well as they could from mere +inspection of the man; and as the liberty was within his anticipations, +it gave him but slight concern. + +We about know how he appeared to them. We remember his figure, low, +slightly stooped, and deficiently slender;--we remember the thin yet +healthful looking face, even rosy of cheek;--we can see him in his +pointed red slippers, his ample trousers of glossy white satin, his +long black gown, relieved at the collar and cuffs with fine laces, his +hair fallen on his shoulders, beard overflowing his breast;--we can +even see the fingers, transparent, singularly flexible in operation, +turning leaves, running down pages and smoothing them out, and placing +this roll or that book as convenience required, all so lithe, swift, +certain, they in a manner exposed the mind which controlled them. At +length, the preliminaries finished, the Prince raised his eyes, and +turned them slowly about--those large, deep, searching eyes--wells from +which, without discoverable effort, he drew magnetism at his pleasure. + +He began simply, his voice distinct, and cast to make itself heard, and +not more. + +"This"--his second finger was on a page of the large volume heretofore +described--"this is the Bible, the most Holy of Bibles. I call it the +rock on which your faith and mine are castled." There was a stretching +of necks to see, and he did not allow the sensation to pass. + +"And more--it is one of the fifty copies of the Bible translated by +order of the first Constantine, under supervision of his minister +Eusebius, well known to you for piety and learning." + +It seemed at first every Churchman was on his feet, but directly the +Emperor observed Scholarius and the Patriarch seated, the latter +diligently crossing himself. The excitement can be readily comprehended +by considering the assemblage and its composition of zealots and +relic-worshippers, and that, while the tradition respecting the fifty +copies was familiar, not a man there could have truly declared he had +ever seen one of them--so had they disappeared from the earth. + +"These are Bibles, also," the speaker resumed, upon the restoration of +order--"Bibles sacred to those unto whom they were given as that +imperishable monument to Moses and David is to us; for they too are +Revelations from God--ay, the very same God! This is the _Koran_--and +these, the _Kings_ of the Chinese--and these, the _Avesta_ of the +Magians of Persia--and these, the _Sutras_ well preserved of +Buddha--and these, the _Vedas_ of the patient Hindoos, my countrymen." + +He carefully designated each book and roll by placing his finger on it. + +"I thank Your Majesty for the gracious words of introduction you were +pleased to give me. They set before my noble and most reverend auditors +my history and the subject of my discourse; leaving me, without wrong +to their understanding, or waste of time or words, to invite them to +think of the years it took to fit myself to read these Books--for so I +will term them--years spent among the peoples to whom they are divine. +And when that thought is in mind, stored there past loss, they will +understand what I mean by Religion, and the methods I adopted and +pursued for its study. Then also the value of the assertions I make can +be intelligently weighed.... This first--Have not all men hands and +eyes? We may not be able to read the future in our palms; but there is +no excuse for us if we do not at least see God in them. Similarity is +law, and the law of Nature is the will of God. Keep the argument with +you, O my Lord, for it is the earliest lesson I had from my travels.... +Animals when called to, the caller being on a height over them, never +look for him above the level of their eyes; even so some men are +incapable of thinking of the mysteries hidden out of sight in the sky; +but it is not so with all; and therein behold the partiality of God. +The reason of the difference between the leaves of trees not of the +same species, is the reason of the inequality of genius among races of +men. The Infinite prefers variety because He is more certainly to be +perceived in it. At this stop now, my Lord, mark the second lesson of +my travels. God, wishing above all things to manifest Himself and His +character to all humanity, made choice amongst the races, selecting +those superior in genius, and intrusted them with special revelations; +whence we have the two kinds of religion, natural and revealed. Seeing +God in a stone, and worshipping it, is natural religion; the +consciousness of God in the heart, an excitant of love and gratitude +inexpressible except by prayer and hymns of praise--that, O my Lord, is +the work and the proof of revealed religion.... I next submit the third +of the lessons I have had; but, if I may have your attention to the +distinction, it is remarkable as derived from my reading"--here he +covered all the books on the table with a comprehensive gesture--"my +reading more than my travels; and I call it the purest wisdom because +it is not sentiment, at the same time that it is without so much as a +strain of philosophy, being a fact clear as any fact deducible from +history--yes, my Lord, clearer, more distinct, more positive, most +undeniable--an incident of the love the Universal Maker has borne his +noblest creatures from their first morning--a Godly incident which I +have had from the study of these Bibles in comparison with each other. +In brief, my Lord, a revelation not intended for me above the +generality of men; nevertheless a revelation to me, since I went +seeking it--or shall I call it a recompense for the crown and throne I +voluntarily gave away?" + +The feeling the Prince threw into these words took hold of his +auditors. Not a few of them were struck with awe, somewhat as if he +were a saint or prophet, or a missionary from the dead returned with +secrets theretofore locked up fast in the grave. They waited for his +next saying--his third lesson, as he termed it--with anxiety. + +"The Holy Father of Light and Life," the speaker went on, after a pause +referable to his consummate knowledge of men, "has sent His Spirit down +to the world, not once merely, or unto one people, but repeatedly, in +ages sometimes near together, sometimes wide apart, and to races +diverse, yet in every instance remarkable for genius." + +There was a murmur at this, but he gave it no time. + +"Ask you now how I could identify the Spirit so as to be able to +declare to you solemnly, as I do in fear of God, that in the several +repeated appearances of which I speak it was the very same Spirit? How +do you know the man you met at set of sun yesterday was the man you +saluted and had salute from this morning? Well, I tell you the Father +has given the Spirit features by which it may be known--features +distinct as those of the neighbors nearest you there at your right and +left hands. Wherever in my reading Holy Books, like these, I hear of a +man, himself a shining example of righteousness, teaching God and the +way to God, by those signs I say to my soul: 'Oh, the Spirit, the +Spirit! Blessed is the man appointed to carry it about!'" + +Again the murmur, but again he passed on. + +"The Spirit dwelt in the Holy of Holies set apart for it in the +Tabernacle; yet no man ever saw it there, a thing of sight. The soul is +not to be seen; still less is the Spirit of the Most High; or if one +did see it, its brightness would kill him. In great mercy, therefore, +it has always come and done its good works in the world veiled; now in +one form, now in another; at one time, a voice in the air; at another, +a vision in sleep; at another, a burning bush; at another, an angel; at +another, a descending dove"-- + +"Bethabara!" shouted a cowled brother, tossing both hands up. + +"Be quiet!" the Patriarch ordered. + +"Thus always when its errand was of quick despatch," the Prince +continued. "But if its coming were for residence on earth, then its +habit has been to adopt a man for its outward form, and enter into him, +and speak by him; such was Moses, such Elijah, such were all the +Prophets, and such"--he paused, then exclaimed shrilly--"such was Jesus +Christ!" + +In his study at home, the Prince had undoubtedly thought out his +present delivery with the care due an occasion likely to be a +turning-point in his projects, if not his life; and it must at that +time have required of him a supreme effort of will to resolve upon this +climax; as it was, he hesitated, and turned the hue of ashes; none the +less his unknowing auditors renewed their plaudits. Even the Emperor +nodded approvingly. None of them divined the cunning of the speaker; +not one thought he was pledging himself by his applause to a kindly +hearing of the next point in the speech. + +"Now, my Lord, he who lives in a close vale shut in by great mountains, +and goes not thence so much as to the top of one of the mountains, to +him the vastness and beauty of the world beyond his pent sky-line shall +be secret in his old age as they were when he was a child. He has +denied himself to them. Like him is the man who, thinking to know God, +spends his days reading one Holy Book. I care not if it be this +one"--he laid his finger on the _Avesta_--"or this one"--in the same +manner he signified the _Vedas_--"or this one"--touching the +_Koran_--"or this one"--laying his whole hand tenderly palm down on the +most Holy Bible. "He shall know God--yes, my Lord, but not all God has +done for men.... I have been to the mountain's top; that is to say, I +know these books, O reverend brethren, as you know the beads of your +rosaries and what each bead stands for. They did not teach me all there +is in the Infinite--I am in too much awe for such a folly of the +tongue--yet through them I know His Spirit has dwelt on earth in men of +different races and times; and whether the Spirit was the same Spirit, +I fear not leaving you to judge. If we find in those bearing it about +likenesses in ideas, aims, and methods--a Supreme God and an Evil One, +a Heaven and a Hell, Sin and a Way to Salvation, a Soul immortal +whether lost or saved--what are we to think? If then, besides these +likenesses, we find the other signs of divine authority, acknowledged +such from the beginning of the world--Mysteries of Birth, Sinlessness, +Sacrifices, Miracles done--which of you will rise in his place, and +rebuke me for saying there were Sons of God in Spirit before the Spirit +descended upon Jesus Christ? Nevertheless, that is what I say." + +Here the Prince bent over the table pretending to be in search of a +page in the most Holy Book, while--if the expression be pardonable--he +watched the audience with his ears. He heard the rustle as the men +turned to each other in mute inquiry; he almost heard their question, +though they but looked it; otherwise, if it had been dark, the silence +would have been tomb-like. At length, raising his head, he beheld a +tall, gaunt, sallow person, clad in a monkish gown of the coarsest gray +wool, standing and looking at him; the eyes seemed two lights burning +in darkened depths; the air was haughty and menacing; and altogether he +could not avoid noticing the man. He waited, but the stranger silently +kept his feet. + +"Your Majesty," the Prince began again, perfectly composed, "these are +but secondary matters; yet there is such light in them with respect to +my main argument, that I think best to make them good by proofs, lest +my reverend brethren dismiss me as an idler in words.... Behold the +Bible of the Bodhisattwa"--he held up a roll of broad-leafed vellum, +and turned it dextrously for better exhibition--"and hear, while I read +from it, of a Birth, Life and Death which took place a thousand and +twenty-seven years before Jesus Christ was born." And he read: + +"'Strong and calm of purpose as the earth, pure in mind as the +water-lily, her name figuratively assumed, Maya, she was in truth above +comparison. On her in likeness as the heavenly queen the Spirit +descended. A mother, but free from grief or pain, she was without +deceit.'" The Prince stopped reading to ask: "Will not my Lord see in +these words a Mary also 'blessed above other women'?" Then he read on: +..."'And now the queen Maya knew her time for the birth had come. It +was the eighth day of the fourth moon, a serene and agreeable season. +While she thus religiously observed the rules of a pure discipline, +Bodhisattwa was born from her right side, come to deliver the world, +constrained by great pity, without causing his mother pain or +anguish.'" Again the Prince lifted his eyes from the roll. "What is +this, my Lord, but an Incarnation? Hear now of the Child: ... 'As one +born from recumbent space, and not through the gates of life, men +indeed regarded his exceeding great glory, yet their sight remained +uninjured; he allowed them to gaze, the brightness of his person +concealed for a time, as when we look upon the moon in heaven. His body +nevertheless was effulgent with light, and, like the sun which eclipses +the shining of the lamp, so the true gold-like beauty of Bodhisattwa +shone forth and was everywhere diffused. Upright and firm, and +unconfused in mind, he deliberately took seven steps, the soles of his +feet resting evenly upon the ground as he went, his footmarks remained +bright as seven stars. Moving like the lion, king of beasts, and +looking earnestly toward the four quarters, penetrating to the centre +the principles of truth, he spoke thus with the fullest assurance: This +birth is in the condition of Buddha; after this I have done with +renewed birth; _now only am I born this once, for the purpose of saving +all the world._'" A third time the Prince stopped, and, throwing up his +hand to command attention, he asked: "My Lord, who will say this was +not also a Redeemer? See now what next ensued"--and he read on: "'And +now from the midst of Heaven there descended two streams of pure water, +one warm, the other cold, and baptized his head.'" Pausing again, the +speaker searched the faces of his auditors on the right and left, while +he exclaimed in magnetic repetition: "Baptism--_Baptism_--BAPTISM AND +MIRACLE!" + +Constantine sat, like the rest, his attention fixed; but the gray-clad +monk still standing grimly raised a crucifix before him as if taking +refuge behind it. + +"My Lord is seeing the likenesses these things bear to the conception, +birth and mission of Jesus Christ, the later Blessed One, who is +nevertheless his first in love. He is comparing the incidents of the +two Incarnations of the Spirit or Holy Ghost; he is asking himself: +'Can there have been several Sons of God?' and he is replying: 'That +were indeed merciful--Blessed be God!'" + +The Emperor made no sign one way or the other. + +"Suffer me to help my Lord yet a little more," the Prince continued, +apparently unobservant of the lowering face behind the crucifix. "He +remembers angels came down the night of the nativity in the cave by +Bethlehem; he cannot forget the song they sung to the shepherds. How +like these honors to the Bodhisattwa!"--and he read from the roll: ... +"'Meanwhile the Devas'--angels, if my Lord pleases--'the Devas in +space, seizing their jewelled canopies, attending, raise in responsive +harmony their heavenly songs to encourage him.' Nor was this all, my +Lord," and he continued reading: "'On every hand the world was greatly +shaken.... The minutest atoms of sandal perfume, and the hidden +sweetness of precious lilies, floated on the air, and rose through +space, and then commingling came back to earth.... All cruel and +malevolent kinds of beings together conceived a loving heart; all +diseases and afflictions amongst men, without a cure applied, of +themselves were healed; the cries of beasts were hushed; the stagnant +waters of the river courses flowed apace; no clouds gathered on the +heavens, while angelic music, self-caused, was heard around.... So when +Bodhisattwa was born, he came to remove the sorrows of all living +things. Mara alone was grieved.' O my reverend brethren!" cried the +Prince, fervently, "who was this Mara that he should not share in the +rejoicing of all nature else? In Christian phrase, Satan, and Mara +alone was grieved." + +"Do the likenesses stop with the births, my brethren are now asking. +Let us follow the Bodhisattwa. On reaching the stage of manhood, he +also retired into the wilderness. 'The valley of the Se-na was level +and full of fruit trees, with no noxious insects,' say these +Scriptures: 'and there he dwelt under a sala tree. And he fasted nigh +to death. The Devas offered him sweet dew, but he rejected it, and took +but a grain of millet a day.' Now what think you of this as a parallel +incident of his sojourn in the wilderness?" And he read: ... "'Mara +Devaraga, enemy of religion, alone was grieved, and rejoiced not. He +had three daughters, mincingly beautiful, and of a pleasant +countenance. With them, and all his retinue, he went to the grove of +"fortunate rest," vowing the world should not find peace, and +there'"--the Prince forsook the roll--"'and there he tempted +Bodhisattwa, and menaced him, a legion of devils assisting.' The +daughters, it is related, were changed to old women, and of the battle +this is written: ... 'And now the demon host waxed fiercer, and added +force to force, grasping at stones they could not lift, or lifting them +they could not let them go; their flying spears stuck fast in space +refusing to descend; the angry thunder-drops and mighty hail, with +them, were changed into five-colored lotus flowers; while the foul +poison of the dragon snakes was turned into spicy-breathing air'--and +Mara fled, say the Scriptures, fled gnashing his teeth, while +Bodhisattwa reposed peacefully under a fall of heavenly flowers." The +Prince, looking about him after this, said calmly: "Now judge I by +myself; not a heart here but hears in the intervals of its beating, the +text: 'Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be +tempted of the devil'--and that other text: 'Then the devil leaveth +him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.' Verily, my Lord, +was not the Spirit the same Spirit, and did it not in both incarnations +take care of its own?" + +Thereupon the Prince again sought for a page on the roll, watching the +while with his ears, and the audience drew long breaths, and rested +from their rigor of attention. Then also the Emperor spoke to the +Prince. + +"I pray you, Prince of India, take a little rest. Your labor is of the +kind exhaustive to mind and body: and in thought of it, I ordered +refreshments for you and these, my other guests. Is not this a good +time to renew thyself?" + +The Prince, rising from a low reverence, replied: + +"Indeed Your Majesty has the kingly heart; but I pray you, in return, +hear me until I have brought the parallel, my present point of +argument, to an end; then I will most gladly avail myself of your great +courtesy; after which--your patience, and the goodwill of these +reverend fathers, holding on--I will resume and speedily finish my +discourse." + +"As you will. We are most interested. Or"--and the Emperor, glancing +over toward the monk on his feet, said coldly: "Or, if my declaration +does not fairly vouch the feeling of all present, those objecting have +permission to retire upon the adjournment. We will hear you, Prince." + +The ascetic answered by lifting his crucifix higher. Then, having found +the page he wanted, the Prince, holding his finger upon it, proceeded: + +"It would not become me, my Lord, to assume an appearance of teaching +you and this audience, most learned in the Gospels, concerning them, +especially the things said by the Blessed One of the later Incarnation, +whom we call The Christ. We all know the Spirit for which he was both +habitation and tongue, came down to save the world from sin and hell; +we also know what he required for the salvation. So, even so, did +Bodhisattwa. Listen to him now--he is talking to his Disciples: ... 'I +will teach you,' he said, to the faithful Ananda, 'a way of Truth, +called the Mirror of Truth, which, if an elect disciple possess, he may +himself predict of himself, "Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as +an animal, or a ghost, or any place of woe. I am converted. I am no +longer liable to be reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of +final salvation."'... Ah, Your Majesty is asking, will the parallel +never end? Not yet, not yet! For the Bodhisattwa did miracles as well. +I read again: ... 'And the Blessed One came once to the river Ganges, +and found it overflowing. Those with him, designing to cross, began to +seek for boats, some for rafts of wood, while some made rafts of +basket-work. Then the Blessed One, as instantaneously as a strong man +would stretch forth his arm and draw it back again when he had +stretched it forth, vanished from this side of the river, and stood on +the further bank with the company of his brethren.'" + +The stir the quotation gave rise to being quieted, the Prince, quitting +the roll, said: "Like that, my Lord, was the Bodhisattwa's habit on +entering assemblies of men, to become of their color--he, you remember, +was from birth of the color of gold just flashed in the crucible--and +in a voice like theirs instructing them. Then, say the Scriptures, +they, not knowing him, would ask, Who may this be that speaks? A man or +a God? Then he would vanish away. Like that again was his purifying the +water which had been stirred up by the wheels of five hundred carts +passing through it. He was thirsty, and at his bidding his companion +filled a cup, and lo! the water was clear and delightful. Still more +decided, when he was dying there was a mighty earthquake, and the +thunders of heaven broke forth, and the spirits stood about to see him +until there was no spot, say the Scriptures, in size even as the +pricking of the point of the tip of a hair not pervaded with them; and +he saw them, though they were invisible to his disciples; and then when +the last reverence of his five hundred brethren was paid at his feet, +the pyre being ready, it took fire of itself, and there was left of his +body neither soot nor ashes--only the bones for relics. Then, again, as +the pyre had kindled itself, so when the body was burned up streams of +water descended from the skies, and other streams burst from the earth, +and extinguished the fire. Finally, my Lord, the parallel ends in the +modes of death. Bodhisattwa chose the time and place for himself, and +the circumstances of his going were in harmony with his heavenly +character. Death was never arrayed in such beauty. The twin Sala trees, +one at the head of his couch, the other at the foot, though out of +season, sprinkled him with their flowers, and the sky rained powder of +sandal-wood, and trembled softly with the incessant music and singing +of the floating Gandharvis. But he whose soul was the Spirit, last +incarnate, the Christ"--the Prince stopped--the blood forsook his +face--he took hold of the table to keep from falling--and the audience +arose in alarm. + +"Look to the Prince!" the Emperor commanded. + +Those nearest the ailing man offered him their arms, but with a mighty +effort he spoke to them naturally: "Thank you, good friends--it is +nothing." Then he said louder: "It is nothing, my Lord--it is gone now. +I was about to say of the Christ, how different was his dying, and with +that ends the parallel between him and the Bodhisattwa as Sons of +God.... Now, if it please Your Majesty, I will not longer detain your +guests from the refreshments awaiting them." + +A chair was brought for him; and when he was seated, a long line of +servants in livery appeared with the collation. + +In a short time the Prince was himself again. The mention of the +Saviour, in connection with his death, had suddenly projected the scene +of the Crucifixion before him, and the sight of the Cross and the +sufferer upon it had for the moment overcome him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED + + +It had been better for the Prince of India if he had not consented to +the intermission graciously suggested by the Emperor. The monk with the +hollow eyes who had arisen and posed behind his crucifix, like an +exorcist, was no other than George Scholarius, whom, for the sake of +historical conformity, we shall from this call Gennadius; and far from +availing himself of His Majesty's permission to retire, that person was +observed to pass industriously from chair to chair circulating some +kind of notice. Of the refreshments he would none; his words were few, +his manner earnest; and to him, beyond question, it was due that when +order was again called, the pleasure the Prince drew from seeing every +seat occupied was dashed by the scowling looks which met him from all +sides. The divining faculty, peculiarly sharpened in him, apprised him +instantly of an influence unfriendly to his project--a circumstance the +more remarkable since he had not as yet actually stated any project. + +Upon taking the floor, the Prince placed the large Judean Bible before +him opened, and around it his other references, impressing the audience +with an idea that in his own view the latter were of secondary +importance. + +"My Lord, and Reverend Sirs," he began, with a low salutation to the +Emperor, "the fulness of the parallel I have run between the +Bodhisattwa, Son of Maya, and Jesus Christ, Son of Mary, may lead to a +supposition that they were the only Blessed Ones who have appeared in +the world honored above men because they were chosen for the +Incarnation of the Spirit. In these Scriptures," unrolling the _Sutra_ +or _Book of the Great Decease_--"frequent statements imply a number of +Tathagatas or Buddhas of irregular coming. In this"--putting a finger +on a Chinese _King_--"time is divided into periods termed _Kalpas_, and +in one place it is said ninety-eight Buddhas illuminated one Kalpa +[Footnote: EAKIN'S Chinese Buddhism, 14.]--that is, came and taught as +Saviours. Nor shall any man deny the Spirit manifest in each of them +was the same Spirit. They preached the same holy doctrine, pointed out +the same road to salvation, lived the same pure unworldly lives, and +all alike made a declaration of which I shall presently speak; in other +words, my Lord, the features of the Spirit were the same in all of +them.... Here in these rolls, parts of the Sacred Books of the East, we +read of Shun. I cannot fix his days, they were so long ago. Indeed, I +only know he must have been an adopted of the Spirit by his leaving +behind him the Tao, or Law, still observed among the Chinese as their +standard of virtue.... Here also is the _Avesta_, most revered remains +of the Magi, from whom, as many suppose, the Wise Men who came up to +Jerusalem witnesses of the birth of the new King of the Jews were +sent." This too he identified with his finger. "Its teacher is +Zarathustra, and, in my faith, the Spirit descended upon him and abode +with him while he was on the earth. The features all showed themselves +in him--in his life, his instruction, and in the honors paid him +through succeeding generations. His religion yet lives, though founded +hundreds of years before your gentle Nazarene walked the waters of +Galilee.... And here, O my Lord, is a book abhorred by Christians"--he +laid his whole hand on the Koran--"How shall it be judged? By the +indifferent manner too many of those ready to die defending its divine +origin observe it? Alas! What religion shall survive that test? In the +visions of Mahomet I read of God, Moses, the Patriarchs--nay, my Lord, +I read of him called the Christ. Shall we not beware lest in condemning +Mahomet we divest this other Bible"--he reverently touched the great +Eusebian volume--"of some of its superior holiness? He calls himself a +Prophet. Can a man prophesy except he have in him the light of the +Spirit?" + +The question awoke the assemblage. A general signing of the Cross was +indulged in by the Fathers, and there was groaning hard to distinguish +from growls. Gennadius kept his seat, nervously playing with his +rosary. The countenance of the Patriarch was unusually grave. In all +his experience it is doubtful if the Prince ever touched a subject +requiring more address than this dealing with the Koran. He resumed +without embarrassment: + +"Now, my Lord, I shall advance a step nearer my real subject. Think +not, I pray, that the things I have spoken of the Bodhisattwa, of Shun, +of Zarathustra, of Mahomet, likening them in their entertainment of the +Spirit to Jesus, was to excite comparisons; such as which was the +holiest, which did the most godly things, which is most worthy to be +accounted the best beloved of the Father; for I come to bury all strife +of the kind.... I said I had been to the mountain's top; and now, my +Lord, did you demand of me to single out and name the greatest of the +wonders I thence beheld, I should answer: Neither on the sea, nor on +the land, nor in the sky is there a wonder like unto the perversity +which impels men to invent and go on inventing religions and sects, and +then persecute each other on account of them. And when I prayed to be +shown the reason of it, I thought I heard a voice, 'Open thine +eyes--See!' ... And the first thing given me to see was that the +Blessed Ones who went about speaking for the Spirit which possessed +them were divine; yet they walked the earth, not as Gods, but witnesses +of God; asking hearing and belief, not worship; begging men to come +unto them as guides sent to show them the only certain way to +everlasting life in glory--only that and nothing more.... The next +thing I saw, a bright light in a white glass set on a dark hill, was +the waste of worship men are guilty of in bestowing it on inferior and +often unworthy objects. When Jesus prayed, it was to our Father in +Heaven, was it not?--meaning not to himself, or anything human, or +anything less than human.... One other thing I was permitted to see; +and the reserving it last is because it lies nearest the proposal I +have come a great distance to submit to my Lord and these most reverend +brethren in holiness. Every place I have been in which men are not left +to their own imaginings of life and religion--in every land and island +touched by revelation--a supreme God is recognized, the same in +qualities--Creator, Protector, Father--Infinite in Power, Infinite in +Love--the Indivisible One! Asked you never, my Lord, the object he had +in intrusting his revelation to us, and why the Blessed Ones, his Sons +in the Spirit, were bid come here and go yonder by stony paths? Let me +answer with what force is left me. There is in such permissions but one +intention which a respectful mind can assign to a being great and good +as God--one altar, one worship, one prayer, and He the soul of them. +With a flash of his beneficent thought he saw in one religion peace +amongst men. Strange--most strange! In human history no other such +marvel! There has been nothing so fruitful of bickering, hate, murder +and war. Such is the seeming, and so I thought, my Lord, until on the +mountain's highest peak, whence all concerns lie in view below, I +opened my eyes and perceived the wrestling of tongues and fighting were +not about God, but about forms, and immaterialities, more especially +the Blessed Ones to whom he had intrusted his Spirit. From the +Ceylonesian: 'Who is worthy praise but Buddha?' 'No,' the Islamite +answers: 'Who but Mahomet?' And from the Parsee; 'No--Who but +Zarathustra?' 'Have done with your vanities,' the Christian thunders: +'Who has told the truth like Jesus?' Then the flame of swords, and the +cruelty of blows--all in God's name!" + +This was bold speaking. + +"And now, my Lord," the Prince went on, his appearance of exceeding +calmness belied only by the exceeding brightness of his eyes, "God +wills an end to controversy and wars blasphemously waged in his name, +and I am sent to tell you of it; and for that the Spirit is in me." + +Here Gennadius again arose, crucifix in hand. + +"I am returned from visiting many of the nations," the Prince +continued, nothing daunted. "They demanded of me a faith broad enough +for them to stand upon while holding fast the lesser ideas grown up in +their consciences; and, on my giving them such a faith, they said they +were ready to do the will, but raised a new condition. Some one must +move first. 'Go find that one,' they bade me, 'and we will follow +after.' In saying now I am ambassador appointed to bring the affair to +Your Majesty and Your Majesty's people, enlightened enough to see the +will of the Supreme Master, and of a courage to lead in the movement, +with influence and credit to carry it peacefully forward to a glorious +end, I well know how idle recommendation and entreaty are except I +satisfy you in the beginning that they have the sanction of Heaven; and +thereto now.... I take no honor to myself as author of the faith +presented in answer to the demand of the nations. In old cities there +are houses under houses, along streets underlying streets, and to find +them, the long buried, men dig deep and laboriously; that did I, until +in these old Testaments"--he cast a loving glance at all the Sacred +Books--"I made a precious discovery. I pray Your Majesty's patience +while I read from them.... This from the Judean Bible: 'And God said +unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, This shalt thou say unto the +children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' Thus did God, of whom +we have no doubt, name himself to one chosen race.... Next from a holy +man of China who lived nearly five hundred years before the Christ was +born: 'Although any one be a bad man, if he fasts and is collected, he +may indeed offer sacrifices unto God.' [Footnote: FABER'S _Mind of +Mencius_]... And from the _Avesta_, this of the creed of the Magi: 'The +world is twofold, being the work of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu: all +that is good in the world comes from the First Principle (which is God) +and all that is bad from the latter (which is Satan). Angra Mainyu +invaded the world after it was made by Ahura Mazda and polluted it, but +the conflict will some day end.' [Footnote: Sir William Jones.] The +First Principle here is God. But most marvellous, because of the +comparison it will excite, hearken to this from the same Magian creed: +'When the time is full, a son of the lawgiver still unborn, named +Saoshyant, will appear; then Angra Mainyu (Satan) and Hell will be +destroyed, men will arise from the dead, and everlasting happiness +reign over the world.' Here again the Lawgiver is God; but the Son--who +is he? Has he come? Is he gone? ... Next, take these several things +from the _Vedas_: 'By One Supreme Ruler is the universe pervaded, even +every world in the whole circle of nature. There is One Supreme Spirit +which nothing can shake, more swift than the thought of man. The +Primeval Mover even divine intelligence cannot reach; that Spirit, +though unmoved, infinitely transcends others, how rapid soever their +course; it is distant from us, yet very near; it pervades the whole +system of worlds, yet is infinitely beyond it.' [Footnote: _Ibid._ Vol. +XIII.] Now, my Lord, and very reverend sirs, do not the words quoted +come to us clean of mystery? Or have you the shadow of a doubt whom +they mean, accept and consider the prayer I read you now from the same +_Vedas:_ 'O Thou who givest sustenance to the world, Thou sole mover of +all, Thou who restrainest sinners, who pervadest yon great luminary +which appearest as the Son of the Creator; hide thy struggling beams +and expand thy spiritual brightness that I may view thy most +auspicious, most glorious, real form. OM, remember me, divine Spirit! +OM, remember my deeds! Let my soul return to the immortal Spirit of +God, and then let my body, which ends in ashes, return to dust.' Who is +OM? Or is my Lord yet uncertain, let him heed this from the _Holiest +Verse of the Vedas_: 'Without hand or foot, he runs rapidly, and grasps +firmly; without eyes, he sees; without ears, he hears all; he knows +whatever can be known, but there is none who knows him: Him the wise +call the Great, Supreme, Pervading Spirit.' [Footnote: Sir William +Jones. Vol. XIII.] ... Now once more, O my Lord, and I am done with +citation and argument. Ananda asked the Bodhisattwa what was the Mirror +of Truth, and he had this answer: 'It is the consciousness that the +elect disciple is in this world possessed of faith in Buddha, believing +the Blessed One to be the Holy One, the Fully Enlightened One, Wise, +Upright, Happy, World-knowing, Supreme, the bridler of men's wayward +hearts, the Teacher of Gods and men--the Blessed Buddha.' [Footnote: +REHYS DAVID'S _Buddhist Sutras_.] Oh, good my Lord, a child with +intellect barely to name the mother who bore him, should see and say, +Here God is described!" ... + +The Prince came to a full stop, and taking a fine silken cloth from a +pocket in his gown, he carefully wiped the open pages of the Eusebian +Bible, and shut it. Of the other books he made a separate heap, first +dusting each of them. The assemblage watched him expectantly. The +Fathers had been treated to strange ideas, matter for thought through +many days and nights ahead; still each of them felt the application was +wanting. "The purpose--give it us--and quickly!" would have been a fair +expression of their impatience. At length he proceeded: + +"Dealing with children, my Lord, and reverend sirs," he began, "it is +needful to stop frequently, and repeat the things we have said; but you +are men trained in argument: wherefore, with respect to the faith asked +of me as I have told you by the nations, I say simply it is God; and +touching his sanction of it, you may wrest these Testaments from me and +make ashes of them, but you shall not now deny his approval of the +Faith I bring you. It is not in the divine nature for God to abjure +himself. Who of you can conceive him shrunk to so small a measure?" + +The dogmatic vehemence amazed the listeners. + +"Whether this idea of God is broad enough to accommodate all the +religions grown up on the earth, I will not argue; for I desire to be +most respectful"--thus the speaker went on in his natural manner. "But +should you accept it as enough, you need not be at loss for a form in +which to put it. 'Master,' the lawyer asked, 'which is the great +commandment in the law?' And the Master answered: 'Thou shalt love the +Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all +thy mind;' and he added: 'This is the first and great commandment.' My +Lord, no man else ever invented, nor shall any man ever invent an +expression more perfectly definitive of the highest human duty--the +total of doctrine. I will not tell you who the master uttering it was; +neither will I urge its adoption; only if the world were to adopt it, +and abide by it, there would be an end to wars and rumors of war, and +God would have his own. If the Church here in your ancient capital were +first to accept it, what happiness I should have carrying the glad +tidings to the peoples"-- + +The Prince was not allowed to finish the sentence. + +"What do I understand, O Prince, by the term 'total of doctrine'?" + +It was the Patriarch speaking. + +"Belief in God." + +In a moment the assemblage became uproarious, astounding the Emperor; +and in the midst of the excitement, Gennadius was seen on tip-toe, +waving his crucifix with the energy of command. + +"Question--a question!" he cried. + +Quiet was presently given him. + +"In thy total of doctrine, what is Jesus Christ?" + +The voice of the Patriarch, enfeebled by age and disease, had been +scarcely heard; his rival's penetrated to the most distant corner; and +the question happening to be the very thought pervading the assemblage, +the churchmen, the courtiers, and most of the high officials arose to +hear the reply. + +In a tone distinct as his interlocutor's, but wholly without passion, +the master actor returned: + +"A Son of God." + +"And Mahomet, the Father of Islam--what is he?" + +If the ascetic had put the name of Siddartha, the Bodhisattwa, in his +second question, his probing had not been so deep, nor the effect so +quick and great; but Mahomet, the camel-driver! Centuries of feud, +hate, crimination, and wars--rapine, battles, sieges, massacres, +humiliations, lopping of territory, treaties broken, desecration of +churches, spoliation of altars, were evoked by the name Mahomet. + +We have seen it a peculiarity of the Prince of India never to forget a +relation once formed by him. Now behind Constantine he beheld young +Mahommed waiting for him--Mahommed and revenge. If his scheme were +rejected by the Greeks, very well--going to the Turks would be the old +exchange with which he was familiar, Cross for Crescent. To be sure +there was little time to think this; nor did he think it--it appeared +and went a glare of light--and he answered: + +"He will remain, in the Spirit another of the Sons of God." + +Then Gennadius, beating the air with his crucifix: +"Liar--impostor--traitor! Ambassador of Satan thou! Behind thee Hell +uncurtained! Mahomet himself were more tolerable! Thou mayst turn black +white, quench water with fire, make ice of the blood in our hearts, all +in a winking or slowly, our reason resisting, but depose the pure and +blessed Saviour, or double his throne in the invisible kingdom with +Mahomet, prince of liars, man of blood, adulterer, monster for whom +Hell had to be enlarged--that shalt thou never! A body without a soul, +an eye its light gone out, a tomb rifled of its dead--such the Church +without its Christ! ... Ho, brethren! Shame on us that we are guests in +common with this fiend in cunning! We are not hosts to bid him begone; +yet we can ourselves begone. Follow me, O lovers of Christ and the +Church! To your tents, O Israel!" + +The speaker's face was purple with passion; his voice filled the +chamber; many of the monks broke from their seats and rushed howling +and blindly eager to get nearer him. The Patriarch sat ashy white, +helplessly crossing himself. Constantine excellently and rapidly +judging what became him as Emperor and host, sent four armed officers +to protect the Prince, who held his appointed place apparently +surprised but really interested in the scene--to him it was an +exhibition of unreasoning human nature replying to an old-fashioned +impulse of bigotry. + +Hardly were the guards by the table, when Gennadius rushed past going +to the door, the schismatics at his heels in a panic. The pulling and +hauling, the hurry-skurry of the mad exit must be left to the +imagination. It was great enough to frighten thoroughly the attendants +of the Princess Irene. Directly there remained in the chamber with His +Majesty, the attaches of the court, the Patriarch and his adherents. +Then Constantine quietly asked: + +"Where is Duke Notaras?" + +There was much looking around, but no response. + +The countenance of the monarch was observed to change, but still +mindful, he bade the Dean conduct the Prince to him. + +"Be not alarmed, Prince. My people are quick of temper, and sometimes +they act hastily. If you have more to say, we are of a mind to hear you +to the end." + +The Prince could not but admire the composure of his august host. After +a low reverence, he returned: + +"Perhaps I tried the reverend Fathers unreasonably; yet it would be a +much greater grief to me if their impatience extended to Your Majesty. +I was not alarmed; neither have I aught to add to my discourse, unless +it pleases you to ask of anything in it which may have been left +obscure or uncertain." + +Constantine signed to the Patriarch and all present to draw nearer. + +"Good Dean, a chair for His Serenity." + +In a short time the space in front of the dais was occupied. + +"I understand the Prince of India has submitted to us a proposal +looking to a reform of our religion," His Majesty said, to the +Patriarch; "and courtesy requiring an answer, the violence to which we +have just been subjected, and the spirit of insubordination manifested, +make it imperative that you listen to what I now return him, and with +attention, lest a misquotation or false report lead to further +trouble.... Prince," he continued, "I think I comprehend you. The world +is sadly divided with respect to religion, and out of its divisions +have proceeded the mischiefs to which you have referred. Your project +is not to be despised. It reminds me of the song, the sweetest ear ever +listened to--'Peace and good will toward men.' Its adoption, +nevertheless, is another matter. I have not power to alter the worship +of my empire. Our present Creed was a conclusion reached by a Council +too famous in history not to be conspicuously within your knowledge. +Every word of it is infinitely sacred. It fixed the relations between +God the Father, Christ the Son, and men to my satisfaction, and that of +my subjects. Serenity, do thou say if I may apply the remark to the +Church." + +"Your Majesty," the Patriarch replied, "the Holy Greek Church can never +consent to omit the Lord Jesus Christ from its worship. You have spoken +well, and it had been better if the brethren had remained to hear you." + +"Thanks, O most venerated--thanks," said the Emperor, inclining his +head. "A council having established the creed of the Church," he +resumed, to the Prince of India, "the creed is above change to the +extent of a letter except by another council solemnly and +authoritatively convoked. Wherefore, O Prince, I admit myself wiser of +the views you have presented; I admit having been greatly entertained +by your eloquence and rhetoric; and I promise myself further happiness +and profit in drawing upon the stores of knowledge with which you +appear so amply provided, results doubtless of your study and +travel--yet you have my answer." + +The faculty of retiring his thoughts and feelings deeper in his heart +as occasion demanded, was never of greater service to the Prince than +now; he bowed, and asked if he had permission to retire; and receiving +it, he made the usual prostrations, and began moving backwards. + +"A moment, Prince," said Constantine. "I hope your residence is +permanently fixed in our capital." + +"Your Majesty is very gracious, and I thank you. If I leave the city, +it will be to return again, and speedily." + +At the door of the palace the Prince found an escort waiting for him, +and taking his chair, he departed from Blacherne. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + + +Alone in his house, the Prince of India was unhappy, but not, as the +reader may hurriedly conclude, on account of the rejection by the +Christians of his proposal looking to brotherhood in the bonds of +religion. He was a trifle sore over the failure, but not disappointed. +A reasonable man, and, what times his temper left him liberty to think, +a philosopher, he could not hope after the observations he brought from +Mecca to find the followers of the Nazarene more relaxed in their faith +than the adherents of Mahomet. In short, he had gone to the palace +warned of what would happen. + +It was not an easy thing for him to fold up his grand design +preparatory to putting it away forever; still there was no choice left +him; and now he would move for vengeance. Away with hesitation. + +Descending the heights of Blacherne, he had felt pity for Constantine +who, though severely tried in the day's affair, had borne himself with +dignity throughout; but it was Mahommed's hour. Welcome Mahommed! + +Between the two, the Prince's predilections were all for the Turk, and +they had been from the meeting at the White Castle. Besides personal +accomplishments and military prestige, besides youth, itself a mighty +preponderant, there was the other argument--separating Mahommed from +the strongest power in the world, there stood only an ancient whose +death was a daily expectation. "What opportunities the young man will +have to offer me! I have but to make the most of his ambition--to loan +myself to it--to direct it." + +Thus the Seer reasoned, returning from Blacherne to his house. + +At the door, however, he made a discovery. There the first time during +the day he thought of her in all things the image of the Lael whom he +had buried under the great stone in front of the Golden Gate at +Jerusalem. We drop a grain in the ground, and asking nothing of us but +to be let alone, it grows, and flowers, and at length amazes us with +fruit. Such had been the outcome of his adoption of the daughter of the +son of Jahdai. + +The Prince called Syama. + +"Make ready the chair and table on the roof," he said. + +While waiting, he ate some bread dipped in wine: then walked the room +rubbing his hands as if washing them. + +He sighed frequently. Even the servants could see he was in trouble. + +At length he went to the roof. Evening was approaching. On the table +were the lamp, the clock, the customary writing materials, a fresh map +of the heavens, and a perfect diagram of a nativity to be cast. + +He took the map in his hand, and smiled--it was Lael's work. "How she +has improved!--and how rapidly!" he said aloud, ending a retrospect +which began with the hour Uel consented to her becoming his daughter. +She was unlettered then, but how helpful now. He felt an artist's pride +in her growth in knowledge. There were tedious calculations which she +took off his hands; his geometrical drawings of the planets in their +Houses were frequently done in haste; she perfected them next day. She +had numberless daughterly ways which none but those unused to them like +him would have observed. What delight she took in watching the sky for +the first appearance of the stars. In this work she lent him her young +eyes, and there was such enthusiasm in the exclamations with which she +greeted the earliest wink of splendor from the far-off orbs. And he had +ailing days; then she would open the great Eusebian Scriptures at the +page he asked for, and read--sometimes from Job, sometimes from Isaiah, +but generally from Exodus, for in his view there was never man like +Moses. The contest with Pharaoh--how prodigious! The battles in +magic--what glory in the triumphs won! The luring the haughty King into +the Red Sea, and bringing him under the walls of water suddenly let +loose! What majestic vengeance! + +Of the idle dreams of aged persons the possibility of attaching the +young to them in sentimental bonds of strength to insure resistance to +every other attachment is the idlest. Positive, practical, experienced +though he was, the childless man had permitted this fantasy to get +possession of him. He actually brought himself to believe Lael's love +of him was of that enduring kind. With no impure purpose, yet +selfishly, and to bring her under his influence until of preference she +could devote her life to him, with its riches of affection, admiration, +and dutiful service, he had surrendered himself to her; therefore the +boundless pains taken by him personally in her education, the +surrounding her with priceless luxuries which he alone could afford--in +brief, the attempt to fasten himself upon her youthful fancy as a +titled sage and master of many mysteries. So at length it came to pass, +while he was happy in his affection for her, he was even happier in her +affection for himself; indeed he cultivated the latter sentiment and +encouraged it in winding about his being until, in utter +unconsciousness, he belonged to it, and, in repetition of experiences +common to others, instead of Lael's sacrificing herself for him, he was +ready to sacrifice everything for her. This was the discovery he made +at the door of his house. + +The reader should try to fancy him in the chair by the table on the +roof. Evening has passed into night. The city gives out no sound, and +the stars have the heavens to themselves. He is lost in thought--or +rather, accepting the poetic fancy of a division of the heart into +chambers, in that apartment of the palpitating organ of the Prince of +India supposed to be the abode of the passions, a very noisy parliament +was in full session. The speaker--that is, the Prince +himself--submitted the question: Shall I remain here, or go to Mahommed? + +Awhile he listened to Revenge, whose speech in favor of the latter +alternative may be imagined; and not often had its appeals been more +effective. Ambition spoke on the same side. It pointed out the +opportunities offered, and dwelt upon them until the chairman nodded +like one both convinced and determined. These had an assistant not +exactly a passion but a kinsman collaterally--Love of Mischief--and +when the others ceased, it insisted upon being heard. + +On the other side, Lael led the opposition. She stood by the +president's chair while her opponents were arguing, her arms round his +neck; when they were most urgent, she would nurse his hand, and make +use of some trifling endearment; upon their conclusion, she would gaze +at him mutely, and with tears. Not once did she say anything. + +In the midst of this debate, Lael herself appeared, and kissed him on +the forehead. + +"Thou here!" he said. + +"Why not?" she asked. + +"Nothing--only"-- + +She did not give him time to finish, but caught up the map, and seeing +it fresh and unmarked, exclaimed: + +"You did so greatly to-day, you ought to rest." + +He was surprised. + +"Did so greatly?" + +"At the palace." + +"Put the paper down. Now, O my Gul Bahar"--and he took her hand, and +carried it to his cheek, and pressed it softly there--"deal me no +riddle. What is it you say? One may do well, yet come out badly." + +"I was at the market in my father Uel's this afternoon," she began, +"when Sergius came in." + +A face wonderfully like the face of the man he helped lead out to +Golgotha flashed before the Prince, a briefest passing gleam. + +"He heard you discourse before the Emperor. How wickedly that +disgusting Gennadius behaved!" + +"Yes," the Prince responded darkly, "a sovereign beset with such +spirits is to be pitied. But what did the young man think of my +proposal to the Emperor?" + +"But for one verse in the Testament of Christ"-- + +"Nay, dear, say Jesus of Nazareth." + +"Well, of Jesus--but for one verse he could have accepted your argument +of many Sons of God in the Spirit." + +"What is the verse?" + +"It is where a disciple speaks of Jesus as the only begotten. Son." + +The Wanderer smiled. + +"The young man is too literal. He forgets that the Only Begotten Son +may have had many Incarnations." + +"The Princess Irene was also present," Lael went on. "Sergius said she +too could accept your argument did you alter it"-- + +"Alter it!"--A bitter look wrung the Prince's countenance--"Sergius, a +monk not yet come to orders, and Irene, a Princess without a husband. +Oh, a small return for my surrender! ... I am tired--very tired," he +said impatiently--"and I have so much, so much to think of. Come, good +night." + +"Can I do nothing for you?" + +"Yes, tell Syama to bring me some water." + +"And wine?" + +"Yes, some wine." + +"Very well. Good night." + +He drew her to his breast. + +"Good night. O my Gul Bahar!" + +She went lightly away, never dreaming of the parliament to which she +left him. + +When she was gone, he sat motionless for near an hour, seeing nothing +in the time, although Syama set water and wine on the table. And it may +be questioned if he heard anything, except the fierce debate going on +in his heart. Finally he aroused, looked at the sky, arose, and walked +around the table; and his expression of face, his actions, were those +of a man who had been treading difficult ground, but was safely come +out of it. Filling a small crystal cup, and holding the red liquor, +rich with garnet sparkles, between his eyes and the lamp, he said: + +"It is over. She has won. If there were for me but the years of one +life, the threescore and ten of the Psalmist, it had been different. +The centuries will bring me a Mahommed gallant as this one, and +opportunities great as he offers; but never another Lael. Farewell +Ambition! Farewell Revenge! The world may take care of itself. I will +turn looker-on, and be amused, and sleep.... To hold her, I will live +for her, but in redoubled state. So will I hurry her from splendor to +splendor, and so fill her days with moving incidents, she shall not +have leisure to think of another love. I will be powerful and famous +for her sake. Here in this old centre of civilization there shall be +two themes for constant talk, Constantine and myself. Against his rank +and patronage, I will set my wealth. Ay, for her sake! And I will begin +to-morrow." + +The next day he spent in making drawings and specifications for a +palace. The second day he traversed the city looking for a building +site. The third day he bought the site most to his fancy. The fourth +day he completed a design for a galley of a hundred oars, that it might +be sea-going far as the Pillars of Hercules. Nothing ever launched from +the imperial docks should surpass it in magnificence. When he went +sailing on the Bosphorus, Byzantium should assemble to witness his +going, and with equal eagerness wait the day through to behold him +return. And for the four days, Lael was present and consulted in every +particular. They talked like two children. + +The schemes filled him with a delight which would have been remarkable +in a boy. He packed his books and put away his whole paraphernalia of +study--through Lael's days he would be an actor in the social world, +not a student. + +Of course he recurred frequently to the engagements with Mahommed. They +did not disturb him. The Turk might clamor--no matter, there was the +ever ready answer about the unready stars. The veteran intriguer even +laughed, thinking how cunningly he had provided against contingencies. +But there was a present practical requirement begotten of these +schemes--he must have money--soldans by the bag full. + +Very early in the morning of the fifth day, having studied the weather +signs from his housetop, he went with Nilo to the harbor gate of +Blacherne, seeking a galley suitable for an outing of a few days on the +Marmora. He found one, and by noon she was fitted out, and with him and +Nilo aboard, flying swiftly around Point Serail. + +Under an awning over the rudder-deck, he sat observing the brown-faced +wall of the city, and the pillars and cornices of the noble structures +towering above it. As the vessel was about passing the Seven Towers, +now a ruin with a most melancholy history, but in that day a +well-garrisoned fortress, he conversed with the master of the galley. + +"I have no business in the strict meaning of the term," he said, in +good humor. "The city has become tiresome to me, and I have fancied a +run on the water would be bracing to body and restful to mind. So keep +on down the sea. When I desire a change of direction, I will tell you." +The mariner was retiring. "Stay," the Prince continued, his attention +apparently caught by two immense gray rocks rising bluffly out of the +blue rippling in which the Isles of the Princes seemed afloat--"What +are those yonder? Islands, of course, but their names?" + +"Oxia and Plati--the one nearest us is Oxia." + +"Are they inhabited?" + +"Yes and no," the captain replied, smiling. "Oxia used to have a +convent, but it is abandoned now. There may be some hermits in the +caves on the other side, but I doubt if the poor wretches have noumias +to keep their altars in candles. It was so hard to coax visitors into +believing God had ever anything to do with the dreary place that +patrons concluded to give it over to the bad. Plati is a trifle more +cheerful. Three or four monks keep what used to be the prison there; +but they are strays from unknown orders, and live by herding a few +starving goats and cultivating snails for the market." + +"Have you been on either of them recently?" + +"Yes, on Plati." + +"When?" + +"Within the year." + +"Well, you excite my curiosity. It is incredible that there can be two +such desolations in such close vicinity to yon famous capital. Turn and +row me around them." + +The captain was pleased to gratify his passenger, and stood by him +while the galley encircled Oxia, telling legends, and pointing out the +caves to which celebrated anchorites had lent their names. He gave in +full the story of Basil and Prusien, who quarrelled, and fought a duel +to the scandal of the Church; whereupon Constantine VIII., then +emperor, exiled them, the former to Oxia, the latter to Plati, where +their sole consolation the remainder of their lives was gazing at each +other from the mouths of their respective caverns. For some reason, +Plati, to which he next crossed, was of more interest to the Prince +than its sister isle. What a cruel exterior the prison at the north end +had! Wolves and bats might live in it, but men--impossible! He drew +back horrified when told circumstantially of the underground cells. + +While yet on the eastern side, the passenger said he would like to go +up to the summit. + +"There," he exclaimed, pointing to a part of the bluff which appeared +to offer a climb, "put me on that shelving rock. I think I can go up by +it." + +The small boat was lowered, and directly he set foot on the identical +spot which received him when, in the night fifty-six years before, he +made the ascent with the treasures of Hiram King of Tyre. + +Almost any other man would have given at least a thought to that +adventure; the slice out of some lives would have justified a tear; but +he was too intent thinking about the jewels and the sword of Solomon. + +His affected awkwardness in climbing amused the captain, watching him +from the deck, but at last he gained the top of the bluff. + +The plain there was the same field of sickly weeds and perishing vines, +with here and there a shrub, and yonder a stunted olive tree, covered +trunk and branches with edible snails. If it brought anything in the +market, the crop, singular only to the Western mind, was plenteous +enough to be profitable to its farmers. There too was the debris of the +tower. With some anxiety he went to the stone which the reader will +probably remember as having to be rolled away from the mouth of the +hiding-place. It had not been disturbed. These observations taken, he +descended the bluff, and was received aboard the galley. + +A very cautious man was the Prince of India. In commercial parlance, he +was out to cash a draft on the Plati branch of his quadruple bank. He +was not down to assist the captain of the galley to partnership with +him in the business. So, after completing the circuit of Plati, the +vessel bore away for Prinkipo and Halki, which Greek wealth and taste +had converted into dreamful Paradises. There it lay the night and next +day, while the easy-going passenger, out for air and rest, amused +himself making excursions to the convents and neighboring hills. + +The second night, a perfect calm prevailing, he took the small boat, +and went out on the sea drifting, having provided himself with wine and +water, the latter in a new gurglet bought for the trip. The captain +need not be uneasy if he were late returning, he said on departing. +Nilo was an excellent sailor, and had muscle and spirit to contend +against a blow. + +The tranquil environments of Prinkipo were enlivened by other parties +also drifting. Their singing was borne far along the starlit sea. Once +beyond sight and hearing, Nilo plied the oars diligently, bringing up +an hour or two after midnight at the shelving rock under the eastern +bluff of Plati. The way to the ruined tower was then clear. + +Precisely as at the first visit when burial was the object, the +concealing stone was pushed aside; after which the Prince entered the +narrow passage crawling on his hands and knees. He was anxious. If the +precious stones had been discovered and carried away, he would have to +extend the voyage to Jaffa in order to draw from the Jerusalem branch +of his bank. But the sword of Solomon--that was not in the power of man +to duplicate--its loss would be irreparable. + +The stones were mouldy, the passage dark, the progress slow. He had +literally to feel every inch in front of him, using his hands as a +caterpillar uses its antennae; but he did not complain--the +difficulties were the inducements which led him to choose the +hiding-place in the first instance. At length he went down a broken +step, and, rising to his knees, slipped his left hand along the face of +the wall until his fingers dropped into a crack between rocks. It was +the spot he sought; he knew it, and breathed easily. In murky +lamplight, with mallet and chisel--ah, how long ago!--he had worked a +shelf there, finishing it with an oblong pocket in the bottom. To mask +the hole was simple. Three or four easy-fitting blocks were removed, +and thrusting a hand in, he drew forth the sheepskin mantle of the +elder Nilo. + +In spite of the darkness, he could not refrain from unrolling the +mildewed cover. The sword was safe! He drew the blade and shot it +sharply back into the scabbard, then kissed the ruby handle, thinking +again of the purchasing power there was in the relic which was yet more +than a relic. The leather of the water-gurglet, stiff as wood, +responded to a touch. The jewels were also safe, the great emerald with +the rest. He touched the bags, counting from one to nine inclusively. +Then remembering the ten times he had crawled into the passage to put +the treasures away, he began their removal, and kept at it until every +article was safely deposited in the boat. + +On the way back to the galley he made new packages, using his mantle as +a wrap for the sword, and the new gurglet for the bags of jewels. + +"I have had enough," he exclaimed to the captain, dropping wearily on +the deck about noon. "Take me to the city." After a moment of +reflection, he added: "Land me after nightfall." + +"We will reach the harbor before sundown." + +"Oh, well! There is the Bosphorus--go to Buyukdere, and come back." + +"But, my Lord, the captain of the gate may decline to allow you to +pass." + +The Prince smiled, and rejoined, with a thought of the bags in the +gurglet thrown carelessly down by him: "Up with the anchor." + +The sailor's surmise was groundless. Disembarking about midnight, he +whispered his name to the captain at the gate of Blacherne, and, +leaving a soldan in the official palm, was admitted without +examination. On the street there was nothing curious in an old man +carrying a mantle under his arm, followed by a porter with a +half-filled gurglet on his shoulder. Finally, the adventure safely +accomplished, the Prince of India was home again, and in excellent +humor. + +One doubt assailed him--one only. He had just seen the height of +Candilli, an aerial wonder in a burst of moonlight, and straightway his +fancy had crowned it with a structure Indian in style, and of material +to shine afar delicate as snow against the black bosomed mountain +behind it. He was not a Greek to fear the Turks. Nay, in Turkish +protection there was for him a guaranty of peaceable ownership which he +could not see under Constantine. And as he was bringing now the +wherewith to realize his latest dream, he gave his imagination a +loosened rein. + +He built the house; he heard the tinkling of fountains in its courts, +and the echoes in the pillared recession of its halls; free of care, +happy once more, with Lael he walked in gardens where roses of Persia +exchanged perfumes with roses of Araby, and the daylong singing of +birds extended into noon of night; yet, after all, to the worn, weary, +droughted heart nothing was so soothing as the fancy which had been his +chief attendant from the gate of Blacherne--that he heard strangers +speaking to each other: "Have you seen the Palace of Lael?" "No, where +is it?" "On the crest of Candilli." The Palace of Lael! The name +confirmed itself sweeter and sweeter by repetition. And the doubt grew. +Should he build in the city or amidst the grove of Judas trees on the +crest of Candilli? + +Just as he arrived before his door, he glanced casually across the +street, and was surprised by observing light in Uel's house. It was +very unusual. He would put the treasure away, and go over and inquire +into the matter. Hardly was he past his own lintel when Syama met him. +The face of the faithful servant showed unwonted excitement, and, +casting himself at his master's feet, he embraced his knees, uttering +the hoarse unintelligible cries with which the dumb are wont to make +their suffering known. The Master felt a chill of fear--something had +happened--something terrible--but to whom? He pushed the poor man's +head back until he caught the eyes. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +Syama arose, took the Prince's hand, and led him out of the door, +across the street, and into Uel's house. The merchant, at sight of +them, rushed forward and hid his face in the master's breast, crying: + +"She is gone--lost!--The God of our fathers be with her!" + +"Who is gone? Who lost?" + +"Lael, Lael--our child--our Gul Bahar." + +The blood of the elder Jew flew to his heart, leaving him pale as a +dead man; yet such was his acquired control of himself, he asked +steadily: "Gone!--Where?" + +"We do not know. She has been snatched from us--that is all we know." + +"Tell me of it--and quickly." + +The tone was imperious, and he pushed Uel from him. + +"Oh! my friend--and my father's friend--I will tell you all. You are +powerful, and love her, and may help where I am helpless." Then by +piecemeal he dealt out the explanation. "This afternoon she took her +chair and went to the wall in front of the Bucoleon--sunset, and she +was not back. I saw Syama--she was not in your house. He and I set out +in search of her. She was seen on the wall--later she was seen to +descend the steps as if starting home--she was seen in the garden going +about on the terrace--she was seen coming out of the front gate of the +old palace. We traced her down the street--then she returned to the +garden, through the Hippodrome, and there she was last seen. I called +my friends in the market to my aid--hundreds are now looking for her." + +"She went out in her chair, did you say?" + +The steady voice of the Prince was in singular contrast with his +bloodless face. + +"Yes." + +"Who carried it?" + +"The men we have long had." + +"Where are they?" + +"We sought for them--they cannot be found." + +The Prince kept his eyes on Uel's face. They were intensely, fiercely +bright. He was not in a rage, but thinking, if a man can be said to +think when his mind projects itself in a shower. Lael's disappearance +was not voluntary; she was in detention somewhere in the city. If the +purpose of the abduction were money, she would be held in scrupulous +safety, and a day or two would bring the demand; but if--he did not +finish the idea--it overpowered him. Pure steel in utmost flexion +breaks into pieces without warning; so with this man now. He threw both +hands up, and cried hoarsely: "Lend me, O God, of thy vengeance!" and +staggering blindly, he would have fallen but for Syama. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS + + +The Academy of Epicurus was by no means a trifle spun for vainglory in +the fertile fancy of Demedes; but a fact just as the Brotherhoods of +the City were facts, and much more notorious than many of them. + +Wiseacres are generally pessimistic. Academy of Epicurus indeed! For +once there was a great deal in a name. The class mentioned repeated it +sneeringly; it spoke to them, and loudly, of some philosophical +wickedness. + +Stories of the miraculous growth of the society were at first amusing; +then the announcement of its housing excited loud laughter; but when +its votaries attached the high sounding term _Temple_ to their place of +meeting, the clergy and all the devoutly inclined looked sober. In +their view the word savored of outright paganism. Temple of the Academy +of Epicurus! Church had been better--Church was at least Christian. + +At length, in ease of the increasing interest, notice was +authoritatively issued of a Festival of Flowers by the Academicians, +their first public appearance, and great were the anticipations aroused +by the further advertisement that they would march from their Temple to +the Hippodrome. + +The festival took place the afternoon of the third day of the Prince of +India's voyage to Plati. More particularly, while that distinguished +foreigner on the deck of the galley was quietly sleeping off the +fatigue and wear of body and spirit consequent on the visit to the +desolate island, the philosophers were on parade with an immense quota +of Byzantines of both sexes in observation. About three thousand were +in the procession, and from head to foot it was a mass of flowers. + +The extravaganza deserved the applause it drew. Some of its features +nevertheless were doubtfully regarded. Between the sections into which +the column was divided there marched small groups, apparently officers, +clad in gowns and vestments, carrying insignia and smoking tripods well +known to have belonged to various priesthoods of mythologic fame. When +the cortege reached the Hippodrome every one in the galleries was +reminded of the glory the first Constantine gained from his merciless +forays upon those identical properties. + +In the next place, the motto of the society--Patience, Courage, +Judgment--was too frequently and ostentatiously exhibited not to +attract attention. The words, it was observed, were not merely on +banners lettered in gold, but illustrated by portable tableaux of +exquisite appositeness and beauty. They troubled the wiseacres; for +while they might mean a world of good, they might also stand for +several worlds of bad. Withal, however, the youthfulness of the +Academicians wrought the profoundest sensation upon the multitude of +spectators. The march was three times round the interior, affording +excellent opportunity to study the appearances; and the sober thinking, +whom the rarity and tastefulness of the display did not hoodwink, when +they discovered that much the greater number participating were +beardless lads, shook their heads while saying to each other, At the +rate these are going what is to become of the Empire? As if the +decadence were not already in progress, and they, the croakers, +responsible for it! + +At the end of the first round, upon the arrival of the sections in +front of the triple-headed bronze serpent, one of the wonders of the +Hippodrome then as now, the bearers of the tripods turned out, and set +them down, until at length the impious relic was partially veiled in +perfumed smoke, as was the wont in its better Delphian days. + +Nothing more shocking to the religionists could have been invented; +they united in denouncing the defiant indecency. Hundreds of persons, +not all of them venerable and frocked, were seen to rise and depart, +shaking the dust from their feet. In course of tile third circuit, the +tripods were coolly picked up and returned to their several places in +the procession. + +From a seat directly over the course, Sergius beheld the gay spectacle +from its earliest appearance through the portal of the Blues to its +exit by the portal of the Greens. [Footnote: The Blues and the +Greens--two celebrated factions of Constantinople. See Gibbon, vii. pp. +79-89. Four gates, each flanked with towers, gave entrance to the +Hippodrome from the city. The northwestern was called the gate of the +Blues; the northeastern of the Greens; the southeastern gate bore the +sullen title, "Gate of the Dead."--Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor.] His +interest, the reader will bear reminding, was peculiar. He had been +honored by a special invitation to become a member of the Academy--in +fact, there was a seat in the Temple at the moment reserved for him. He +had the great advantage, moreover, of exact knowledge of the objects of +the order. Godless itself, it had been organized to promote +godlessness. He had given much thought to it since Demedes unfolded the +scheme to him, and found it impossible to believe persons of sound +sense could undertake a sin so elaborate. If for any reason the State +and Church were unmindful of it, Heaven certainly could not be. + +Aside from the desire to satisfy himself of the strength of the +Academy, Sergius was drawn to the Hippodrome to learn, if possible, the +position Demedes held in it. His sympathy with the venerable Hegumen, +with whom mourning for the boy astray was incessant, and sometimes +pathetic as the Jewish king's, gradually became a grief for the +prodigal himself, and he revolved plans for his reformation. What +happiness could he one day lead the son to the father, and say: "Your +prayers and lamentations have been heard; see--God's kiss of peace on +his forehead!" + +And then in what he had seen of Demedes--what courage, dash, and +audacity--what efficiency--what store of resources! The last play of +his--attending the fete of the Princess Irene as a bear tender--who but +Demedes would have thought of such a role? Who else could have made +himself the hero of the occasion, with none to divide honors with him +except Joqard? And what a bold ready transition from bear tender to +captain in the boat race! Demedes writhing in the grip of Nilo over the +edge of the wall, death in the swish of waves beneath, had been an +object of pity tinged with contempt--Demedes winner of the prize at +Therapia was a very different person. + +This feeling for the Greek, it is to be said next, was dashed with a +lurking dread of him. If he had a design against Lael, what was there +to prevent him from attempting it? That he had such a design, Sergius +could not deny. How often he repeated the close of the note left on the +stool after the Fisherman's fete. "Thou mayst find the fan of the +Princess of India useful; with me it is embalmed in sentiment." He +shall write with a pen wondrous fine who makes the difference between +love and sentiment clear. Behind the fete, moreover, there was the +confession heard on the wall, illustrated by the story of the plague of +crime. Instead of fading out in the Russian's mind it had become better +understood--a consequence of the brightening process of residence in +the city. + +Twice the procession rounded the great curriculum. Twice Sergius had +opportunity to look for the Greek, but without avail. So were the +celebrants literally clothed in flowers that recognition of individuals +was almost impossible. The first time, he sought him in the body of +each passing section; the second time, he scanned the bearers of the +standards and symbols; the third time, he was successful. + +At the head of the parade, six or eight persons were moving on +horseback. It was singular Sergius had not looked for Demedes amongst +them, since the idea of him would have entitled the Greek to a chief +seat in the Temple and a leading place when in the eye of the public. +As it was, he could not repress an exclamation on making the discovery. + +Like his associates, Demedes was in armor _cap-a-pie_. He also carried +an unshod lance, a shield on arm, and a bow and quiver at his back; but +helmet, breastplate, shield, lance and bow were masked in flowers, and +only now and then a glint betrayed the underdress of polished steel. +The steed he bestrode was housed in cloth which dragged the ground; but +of the color of the cloth or its material not a word can be said, so +entirely was it covered with floral embroidery of diverse hues and +figures. + +The decoration contributed little of grace to man or beast; +nevertheless its richness was undeniable. To the spendthrifts in the +galleries the effect was indescribably attractive. They studied its +elaboration, conjecturing how many gardens along the Bosphorus, and out +in the Isles of the Princes, had been laid under contribution for the +accomplishment of the splendor. Thus in the saddle, Demedes could not +have been accused of diminutiveness; he appeared tall, even burly; +indeed, Sergius would never have recognized him had he not been going +with raised visor, and at the instant of passing turned his face up, +permitting it to be distinctly seen. + +The exclamation wrung from the monk was not merely because of his +finding the man; in sober truth, it was an unconventional expression +provoked by finding him in the place he occupied, and a quick jump to +the logical conclusion that the foremost person in the march was also +the chief priest--if such were the title--in the Academy. + +Thenceforward Sergius beheld little else of the show than Demedes. He +forgot the impiety of the honors to the bronze serpent. There is no +enigma to us like him who is broadly our antipodes in moral being, and +whether ours is the good or the bad nature does not affect the saying. +His feelings the while were strangely diverse. The election of the evil +genius to the first place in the insidious movement was well done for +the Academy; there would be no failure with him in control; but the +poor Hegumen! + +And now, the last circuit completed, the head of the bright array +approached the Gate of the Greens. There the horsemen drew out and +formed line on the right hand to permit the brethren to march past +them. The afternoon was going rapidly. The shadow of the building on +the west crept more noticeably across the carefully kept field. Still +Sergius retained his seat watchful of Demedes. He saw him signal the +riders to turn out--he saw the line form, and the sections begin to +march past it--then an incident occurred of no appreciable importance +at the moment, but replete with significancy a little later. + +A man appeared on the cornice above the Gate--the Grate on the interior +having a face resembling a very tall but shallow portico resting on +slender pillars--and commenced lowering himself as if he meant to +descend. The danger of the attempt drew all eyes to him. Demedes looked +up, and hastily rode through the column toward the spot where the +adventurer must alight. The spectators credited the young chief with a +generous intent to be of assistance; but agile as a cat, and master of +every nerve and muscle, the man gained one of the pillars and slid to +the ground. The galleries of the Hippodrome found voice immediately. + +While the acrobat hung from the cornice striving to get hold of the +pillar with his feet and legs, Sergius was wrestling with the question, +what could impel a fellow being to tempt Providence so rashly? If a +messenger with intelligence for some one in the procession, why not +wait for him outside? In short, the monk was a trifle vexed; but doubly +observant now, he saw the man hasten to Demedes, and Demedes bend low +in the saddle to receive a communication from him. The courier then +hurried away through the Gate, while the chief returned to his place; +but, instructed probably by some power of divination proceeding from +sympathy and often from suspicion, one of the many psychological +mysteries about which we keep promising ourselves a day of +enlightenment, Sergius observed a change in the latter. He was +restless, impatient, and somewhat too imperative in hastening the +retirement of the brethren. The message had obviously excited him. + +Now Sergius would have freely given the best of his earthly possessions +to have known at that moment the subject of the communication delivered +by a route so extraordinary; but leaving him to his conjectures, there +is no reason why the reader should not be more confidentially treated. + +"Sir," the messenger had whispered to Demedes, "she has left her +father's, and is coming this way." + +"How is she coming?" + +"In her sedan." + +"Who is with her?" + +"She is alone." + +"And her porters?" + +"The Bulgarians." + +"Thank you. Go now--out by the Gate--to the keeper of the Imperial +Cistern. Tell him to await me under the wall in the Bucoleon garden +with my chair. He will understand. Come to the Temple tomorrow for your +salary." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR + + +The words between Demedes and his courier may have the effect of +additionally exciting the reader's curiosity; for better understanding, +therefore, we will take the liberty of carrying him from the Hippodrome +to the house of Uel the merchant. + +Much has been said about the Prince of India's affection for Lael; so +much indeed that there is danger of its being thought one sided. A +greater mistake could scarcely be. She returned his love as became a +daughter attentive, tender and obedient. Without knowing anything of +his past life except as it was indistinctly connected with her family, +she regarded him a hero and a sage whose devotion to her, multiform and +unwearied, was both a delight and an honor. She was very sympathetic, +and in everything of interest to him responded with interest. His word +in request or direction was law to her. Such in brief was the charming +mutuality between them. + +The night before he started for Plati, Lael sat with him on the roof. +He was happy of his resolution to stay with her. The moonlight was +ample for them. Looking up into his face, her chin in a palm, an elbow +on his knee, she listened while he talked of his plans, and was the +more interested because he made her understand she was the inspiration +of them all. + +"The time for my return home is up," he said, forgetting to specify +where the home was, "and I should have been off before this but for my +little girl--my Gul Bahar"--and he patted her head fondly. "I cannot go +and leave her; neither can I take her with me, for what would then +become of father Uel? When she was a child it might not have been so +hard for me to lose sight of her, but now--ah, have I not seen you grow +day by day taller, stronger, wiser, fairer of person, sweeter of soul, +until you are all I fancied you would be--until you are my ideal of a +young woman of our dear old Israel, the loveliness of Judah in your +eyes and on your cheek, and of a spirit to sit in the presence of the +Lord like one invited and welcome? Oh, I am very happy!" + +He kept silence awhile, indulging in retrospect. If she could have +followed him! Better probably that she could not. + +"It is a day of ease to me, dear, and I cannot see any unlawfulness in +extending the day into months, or a year, or years indefinitely, and in +making the most of it. Can you?" he asked, smiling at her. + +"I am but a handmaiden, and my master's eyes are mine," she replied. + +"That was well said--ever so well said," he returned. "The words would +have become Ruth speaking to her lord who was of the kindred of +Elimelech... Yes, I will stay with my Gul Bahar, my most precious one. +I am resolved. She loves me now, but can I not make her love me still +more--Oh, doubt not, doubt not! Her happiness shall be the measure of +her love for me. That is the right way, is it not?" + +"My father is never wrong," Lael answered, laughing. + +"Flatterer!" he exclaimed, pressing her cheeks between his hands.... +"Oh, I have it marked out already! In the dry lands of my country, I +have seen a farmer, wanting to lead water to a perishing field, go +digging along the ground, while the stream bubbled and leaped behind +him, tame and glad as a petted lamb. My heart is the field to be +watered--your love, O my pretty, pretty Gul Bahar, is the refreshing +stream, and I will lead it after me--never fear!... Listen, and I will +tell you how I will lead it. I will make you a Princess. These Greeks +are a proud race, but they shall bow to you; for we will live amongst +them, and you shall have things richer than their richest--trinkets of +gold and jewels, a palace, and a train of women equal to that of the +Queen who went visiting Solomon. They praise themselves when they look +at their buildings, but I tell you they know nothing of the art which +turns dreams into stones. The crags and stones have helped them to +their models. I will teach them better--to look higher--to find +vastness with grace and color in the sky. The dome of Sancta +Sophia--what is it in comparison with the Hindoo masterpieces copied +from the domes of God on the low-lying clouds in the distance opposite +the sun?" + +Then he told her of his palace in detail--of the fronts, no two of them +alike--the pillars, those of red granite, those of porphyry, and the +others of marble--windows which could not be glutted with light--arches +such as the Western Kaliphs transplanted from Damascus and Bagdad, in +form first seen in a print of the hoof of Borak. Then he described the +interior, courts, halls; passages, fountains: and when he had thus set +the structure before her, he said, softly smoothing her hair: + +"There now--you have it all--and verily, as Hiram, King of Tyre, helped +Solomon in his building, he shall help me also." + +"How can he help you?" she asked, shaking her finger at him. "He has +been dead this thousand years, and more." + +"Yes, dear, to everybody but me," he answered, lightly, and asked in +turn: "How do you like the palace?" + +"It will be wonderful!" + +"I have named it. Would you like to hear the name?" + +"It is something pretty, I know." + +"The Palace of Lael." + +Her cry of delighted surprise, given with clasped hands and wide-open +eyes, would have been tenfold payment were he putting her in possession +of the finished house. + +The sensation over, he told her of his design for a galley. + +"We know how tiresome the town becomes. In winter, it is cheerless and +damp; in summer, it is hot, dusty and in every way trying. Weariness +will invade our palace--yes, dear, though we hide from it in the shady +heart of our Hall of Fountains. We can provide against everything but +the craving for change. Not being birds to fly, and unable to compel +the eagles to lend us their wings, the best resort is a galley; then +the sea is ours--the sea, wide, mysterious, crowded with marvels. I am +never so near the stars as there. When a wave is bearing me up, they +seem descending to meet me. Times have been when I thought the Pleiades +were about to drop into my palm.... Here is my galley. You see, child, +the palace is to be yours, the galley mine." + +Thereupon he described a trireme of a hundred and twenty oars, sixty on +a side, and ended, saying: "Yes, the peerless ship will be mine, but +every morning it shall be yours to say Take it here or there, until we +have seen every city by the sea; and there are enough of them, I +promise, to keep us going and going forever were it not that the +weariness which drove us from our palace will afterwhile drive us back +to it. How think you I have named my galley?" + +"Lael," she answered. + +"No, try again." + +"The world is too full of names for me. Tell me." + +"Gul Bahar," he returned. + +Again she clasped her hands, and gave the little cry in his ears so +pleasant. + +Certainly the Prince was pleading with effect, and laying up happiness +in great store to cheer him through unnumbered sterile years inevitably +before him after time had resolved this Lael into a faint and fading +memory, like the other Lael gone to dust under the stone at Jerusalem. + +The first half of the night was nearly spent when he arose to conduct +her across the street to Uel's house. The last words at the head of the +steps were these: "Now, dear, to-morrow I must go a journey on business +which will keep me three days and nights--possibly three weeks. Tell +father Uel what I say. Tell him also that I have ordered you to stay +indoors while I am absent, unless he can accompany you. Do you hear me?" + +"Three weeks!" she cried, protestingly. "Oh, it will be so lonesome! +Why may I not go with Syama?" + +"Syama would be a wisp of straw in the hands of a ruffian. He could not +even call for help." + +"Then why not with Nilo?" + +"Nilo is to attend me." + +"Oh, I see," she said, with a merry laugh. "It is the Greek, the Greek, +my persecutor! Why, he has not recovered from his fright yet; he has +deserted me." + +He answered gravely: "Do you remember a bear tender, one of the +amusements at the fisherman's fete?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"He was the Greek." + +"He!" she cried, astonished. + +"Yes. I have it from Sergius the monk; and further, my child, he was +there in pursuit of you." + +"Oh, the monster! I threw him my fan!" + +The Prince knew by the tremulous voice she was wounded, and hastened to +say: "It was nothing. He deceived everybody but Sergius. I spoke of the +pestilent fellow because you wanted a reason for my keeping you close +at home. Perhaps I exacted too much of you. If I only knew certainly +how long I shall be detained! The three weeks will be hard--and it may +be Uel cannot go with you--his business is confining. So if you do +venture out, take your sedan--everybody knows to whom it belongs--and +the old Bulgarian porters. I have paid them enough to be faithful to +us. Are you listening, child?" + +"Yes, yes--and I am so glad!" + +He walked down the stairs half repenting the withdrawal of his +prohibition. + +"Be it so," he said, crossing the street. "The confinement might be +hurtful. Only go seldom as you can; then be sure you return before +sunset, and that you take and keep the most public streets. That is all +now." + +"You are so good to me!" she said, putting her arm round his neck, and +kissing him. "I will try and stay in the house. Come back early. +Farewell." + +Next day about noon the Prince of India took the galley, and set out +for Plati. + +The day succeeding his departure was long with Lael. She occupied +herself with her governess, however, and did a number of little tasks +such as women always have in reserve for a more convenient season. + +The second day was much more tedious. The forenoon was her usual time +for recitations to the Prince; she also read with him then, and +practised talking some of the many languages of which he was master. +That part of the day she accordingly whiled through struggling with her +books. + +She was earnest in the attempt at study; but naturally, the +circumstances considered, she dropped into thinking of the palace and +galley. What a delightful glorious existence they prefigured! And it +was not a dream! Her father, the Prince of India, as she proudly and +affectionately called him, did not deal in idle promises, but did what +he said. And besides being a master of design in many branches of art, +he had an amazing faculty of describing the things he designed. That is +saying he had the mind's eye to see his conceptions precisely as they +would appear in finished state. So in talking his subjects always +seemed before him for portraiture. One can readily perceive the +capacity he must have had for making the unreal appear real to a +listener, and also how he could lead Lael, her hand in his, through a +house more princely than anything of the kind in Constantinople, and on +board a ship such as never sailed unless on a painted ocean--a house +like the Taj Mahal, a vessel like that which burned on the Cydnus. She +decided what notable city by the sea she wanted most to look at next, +and in naming them over, smiled at her own indecision. + +The giving herself to such fancies was exactly what the Prince +intended; only he was to be the central figure throughout. Whether in +the palace or on the ship, she was to think of him alone, and always as +the author of the splendor and the happiness. Of almost any other +person we would speak compassionately; but he had lived long enough to +know better than dream so childishly--long enough at least to know +there is a law for everything except the vagaries of a girl scarcely +sixteen. + +After all, however, if his scheme was purely selfish, perhaps it may be +pleasing to the philosophers who insist that relations cannot exist +without carrying along with them their own balance of compensations, to +hear how Lael filled the regal prospect set before her with visions in +which Sergius, young, fair, tall and beautiful, was the hero, and the +Prince only a paternal contributor. If the latter led her by the hand +here and there, Sergius went with them so close behind she could hear +his feet along the marble, and in the voyages she took, he was always a +passenger. + +The trial of the third day proved too much for the prisoner. The +weather was delightfully clear and warm, and in the afternoon she fell +to thinking of the promenade on the wall by the Bucoleon, and of the +waftures over the Sea from the Asian Olympus. They were sweet in her +remembrance, and the longing for them was stronger of a hope the +presence of which she scarcely admitted to herself--a hope of meeting +Sergius. She wanted to ask him if the bear-tender at the fete could +have been the Greek. Often as she thought of that odious creature with +her fan, she blushed, and feared Sergius might seriously misunderstand +her. + +About three o'clock she ordered her chair brought to father Uel's door +at exactly four, having first dutifully run over the conditions the +Prince had imposed upon her. Uel was too busy to be her escort. Syama, +if he went, would be no protection; but she would return early. To be +certain, she made a calculation. It would take about half an hour to +get to the wall; the sun would set soon after seven; by starting home +at six she could have fully an hour and a half for the airing, which +meant a possible hour and a half with Sergius. + +At four o'clock the sedan was set down before the merchant's house, +and, for a reason presently apparent, the reader to whom vehicles of +the kind are unfamiliar is advised to acquaint himself somewhat +thoroughly with them. In idea, as heretofore observed, this one was a +box constructed with a seat for a single passenger; a door in front +allowed exit and entrance; besides the window in the door, there was a +smaller opening on each side. For portage, it was affixed centrally and +in an upright position to two long poles; these, a porter in front and +another behind grasped at the ends, easing the burden by straps passed +over the shoulders. The box was high enough for the passenger to stand +in it. + +Lest this plain description should impose an erroneous idea of the +appearance of the carriage, we again advert to its upholstery in +silk-velvet orange-tinted; to the cushions covering the seat; to the +lace curtaining the windows in a manner to permit view from within +while screening the occupant from obtrusive eyes without; and to the +elaborate decoration of the exterior, literally a mosaic of +vari-colored woods, mother-of-pearl and gold, the latter in lines and +flourishes. In fine, to such a pitch of gorgeousness had the Prince +designed the chair, intending the public should receive it as an +attestation of his love for the child to whom it was specially set +apart, that it became a notoriety and avouched its ownership everywhere +in the city. + +The reader would do well in the next place to give a glance at the men +who brought the chair to the door--two burly fellows, broad-faced, +shock-headed, small-eyed, sandalled, clad in semi-turbans, gray shirts, +and gray trousers immensely bagged behind--professional porters; for +the service demanded skill. A look by one accustomed to the compound of +races hived in Constantinople would have determined them Bulgarians in +extraction, and subjects of the Sultan by right of recent conquest. +They had settled upon the Prince of India in a kind of retainership. As +the chair belonged to Lael, from long employment as carriers they +belonged to the chair. Their patron dealt very liberally with them, and +for that reason had confidence in their honesty and faithfulness. That +they should have pride in the service, he dressed them in a livery. On +this occasion, however, they presented themselves in every-day +costume--a circumstance which would not have escaped the Prince, or +Uel, or Syama. + +The only witness of the departure was the governess, who came out and +affectionately settled her charge in the chair, and heard her name the +streets which the Bulgarians were to pursue, all of them amongst the +most frequented of the city. Gazing at her through the window the +moment the chair was raised, she thought Lael never appeared lovelier +and was herself pleased and lulled with the words she received at +parting: + +"I will be home before sunset." + +The carriers in going followed instructions, except that upon arrival +at the Hippodrome, observing it already in possession of a concourse of +people waiting for the Epicureans, they passed around the enormous +pile, and entered the imperial gardens by a gate north of Sancta Sophia. + +Lael found the promenade thronged with habitues, and falling into the +current moving toward Point Serail, she permitted her chair to become +part of it; after which she was borne backward and forward from the +Serail to the Port of Julian, stopping occasionally to gaze at the +Isles of the Princes seemingly afloat and drifting through the purple +haze of the distance. + +Where, she persisted in asking herself, is Sergius? Lest he might pass +unobserved, she kept the curtains of all the windows aside, and every +long gown and tall hat she beheld set her heart to fluttering. Her +eagerness to meet the monk at length absorbed her. + +The sun marked five o'clock--then half after five--then, in more rapid +declension, six, and still she went pendulously to and fro along the +wall--six o'clock, the hour for starting home; but she had not seen +Sergius. On land the shadows were lengthening rapidly; over the sea, +the brightness was dulling, and the air perceptibly freshening. She +awoke finally to the passage of time, and giving up the hope which had +been holding her to the promenade, reluctantly bade the carriers take +her home. "Shall we go by the streets we came?" the forward man asked, +respectfully. + +"Yes," she returned. + +Then, as he closed the door, she was startled by noticing the promenade +almost deserted; the going and coming were no longer in two decided +currents; groups had given place to individual loiterers. These things +she noticed, but not the glance the porters threw to each other +telegraphic of some understanding between them. + +At the foot of the stairs descending the wall she rapped on the front +window. + +"Make haste," she said, to the leading man; "make haste, and take the +nearest way." + +This, it will be perceived, left him to choose the route in return, and +he halted long enough to again telegraph his companion by look and nod. + +Between the eastern front of the Bucoleon and the sea-wall the entire +space was a garden. From the wall the ascent to the considerable +plateau crowned by the famous buildings was made easy by four graceful +terraces, irregular in width, and provided with zigzag roads securely +paved. + +Roses and lilies were not the only products of the terraces; vines and +trees of delicate leafage and limited growth flourished upon them in +artistic arrangement. Here and there were statues and lofty pillars, +and fountains in the open, and fountains under tasteful pavilions, +planted advantageously at the angles. Except where the trees and +shrubbery formed groups dense enough to serve as obstructions, the wall +commanded the whole slope. Time was when all this loveliness was +jealously guarded for the lords and ladies of the court; but when +Blacherne became the Very High Residence the Bucoleon lapsed to the +public. His Majesty maintained it; the people enjoyed it. + +Following the zigzags, the carriers mounted two of the terraces without +meeting a soul. The garden was deserted. Hastening on, they turned the +Y at the beginning of the third terrace. A hundred or more yards along +the latter there was a copse of oleander and luxuriant filbert bushes +over-ridden by fig trees. As the sedan drew near this obstruction, its +bearers flung quick glances above and below them, and along the wall, +and descrying another sedan off a little distance but descending toward +them, they quickened their pace as if to pass the copse first. In the +midst of it, at the exact point where the view from every direction was +cut off, the man in the rear stumbled, struggled to recover himself, +then fell flat. His ends of the poles struck the pavement with a +crash--the chair toppled backward--Lael screamed. The leader slipped +the strap from his shoulder, and righted the carriage by letting it go +to the ground, floor down. He then opened the door. + +"Do not be scared," he said to Lael, whose impulse was to scramble out. +"Keep your seat--my comrade has had a fall--that is nothing--keep your +seat. I will get him up, and we will be going on in a minute." + +Lael became calm. + +The man walked briskly around, and assisted his partner to his feet. +There was a hurried consultation between them, of which the passenger +heard only the voices. Presently they both came to the door, looking +much mortified. + +"The accident is more than I thought," the leader said, humbly. + +By this time the chill of the first fear was over with Lael, and she +asked: "Can we go on?" + +"If the Princess can walk--yes." + +She turned pale. + +"What is it? Why must I walk?" + +"Our right-hand pole is broken, and we have nothing to tie it with." + +And the other man added: "If we only had a rope!" + +Now the mishap was not uncommon, and remembering the fact, Lael grew +cooler, and bethought herself of the silken scarf about her waist. To +take it off was the work of a moment. + +"Here," she said, rather pleased at her presence of mind; "you can make +a rope of this." + +They took the scarf, and busied themselves, she thought, trying to +bandage the fractured shaft. Again they stood before the door. + +"We have done the best we can. The pole will hold the chair, but not +with the Princess. She must walk--there is nothing else for her." + +Thereupon the assistant interposed a suggestion: "One of us can go for +another chair, and overtake the Princess before she reaches the gate." + +This was plausible, and Lael stepped forth. She sought the sun first; +the palace hid it, yet she was cheered by its last rays redly +enlivening the heights of Scutari across the Bosphorus, and felicitated +herself thinking it still possible to get home before the night was +completely fallen. + +"Yes, one of you may seek another"-- + +That instant the sedan her porters had descried before they entered the +copse caught her eyes. Doubt, fear, suspicion vanished; her face +brightened: "A chair! A chair!--and no one in it!" she cried, with the +vivacity of a child. "Bring it here, and let us be gone." + +The carriage so heartily welcomed was of the ordinary class, and the +carriers were poorly clad, hard-featured men, but stout and well +trained. They came at call. + +"Where are you going?" + +"To the wall." + +"Are you engaged?" + +"No, we hoped to find some one belated there." + +"Do you know Uel the merchant?" + +"We have heard of him. He has a stall in the market, and deals in +diamonds." + +"Do you know where his house is?" + +"On the street from St. Peter's Gate, under the church by the old +cistern." + +"We have a passenger here, his daughter, and want you to carry her +home. One of our poles is broken." + +"Will she pay us our price?" + +"How much do you want?" + +Here Lael interposed: "Stand not on the price. My father will pay +whatever they demand." + +The Bulgarians seemed to consider a moment. + +"It is the best we can do," the leader said. + +"Yes, the very best," the other returned. + +Thereupon the first one went to the new sedan, and opened the door. "If +the Princess will take seat," he said, respectfully, "we will pick up, +and follow close after her." + +Lael stepped in, saying as the door closed upon her: "Make haste, for +the night is near." + +The strangers without further ado faced about, and started up the road. + +"Wait, wait," she heard her old leader call out. + +There was a silence during which she imagined the Bulgarians were +adjusting the straps upon their shoulders; then there came a quick: +"Now go, and hurry, or we will pass you." + +These were the last words she heard from them, for the new men put +themselves in motion. She missed the cushions of her own carriage, but +was content--she was returning home, and going fast. This latter she +judged by the slide and shuffle of the loose-sandalled feet under her, +and the responsive springing of the poles. + +The reaction of spirit which overtook her was simply the swing of +nature back to its normal lightness. She ceased thinking of the +accident, except as an excuse for the delay to which she had been +subjected. She was glad the Prince's old retainer had escaped without +injury. There was no window back through which she could look, yet she +fancied she heard the feet of the faithful Bulgarians; they said +nothing, therefore everything was proceeding well. Now and then she +peered out through the side windows to notice the deepening of the +shades of evening. Once a temporary darkness filled the narrow box, but +it gave her no uneasiness--the men were passing out of the garden +through a covered gate. Now they were in a street, and the travelling +plain. + +Thus assured and tranquil, maiden-like, she again fell to thinking of +Sergius. Where could he have been? What kept him from the promenade? He +might have known she would be there. Was the Hegumen so exacting? Old +people are always forgetting they cannot make young people old like +themselves; and it was so inconvenient, especially now she wanted to +hear of the bear tender. Then she adverted to the monk more directly. +How tall he was! How noble and good of face! And his religion--she +wished ever so quietly that he could be brought over to the Judean +faith--she wished it, but did not ask herself why. To say truth, there +was a great deal more feeling in undertone, as it were, touching these +points than thought; and while she kept it going, the carriers forgot +not to be swift, nor did the night tarry. + +Suddenly there was an awakening. From twilight deeply shaded, she +passed into utter darkness. While, with her face to a window, she tried +to see where she was and make out what had happened, the chair stopped, +and next moment was let drop to the ground. The jar and the blank +blackness about renewed her fears, and she called out: + +"What is the matter? Where are we? This is not my father Uel's." + +And what time an answer should have been forthcoming had there been +good faith and honesty in the situation, she heard a rush of feet which +had every likeness to a precipitate flight, and then a banging noise, +like the slamming to of a ponderous door. + +She had time to think of the wisdom of her father, the Prince of India, +and of her own wilfulness--time to think of the Greek--time to call +once on Sergius--then a flutter of consciousness--an agony of +fright--and it was as if she died. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME + + +A genius thoroughly wicked--such was Demedes. + +Quick to see the disgust the young men of Constantinople had fallen +into for the disputes their elders were indulging about the Churches, +he proposed that they should discard religion, and reinstate +philosophy; and at their request he formulated the following: + +"Nature is the lawgiver; the happiness of man is the primary object of +Nature: hence for youth, Pleasure; for old age, Repentance and Piety, +the life hereafter being a respectable conjecture." + +The principles thus tersely stated were eagerly adopted, and going +forward with his scheme, it may be said the Academy was his design, and +its organization his work. In recognition of his superior abilities, +the grateful Academicians elected him their High Priest. + +We have seen how the public received the motto of the society. +Patience, Courage, Judgment looked fair and disclosed nothing wrong; +but there was an important reservation to it really the only secret +observed. This was the motto in full, known only to the +initiated--Patience, Courage, Judgment _in the pursuit of Pleasure_. + +From the hour of his installation as High Priest, Demedes was consumed +by an ambition to illustrate the motto in its entirety, by doing +something which should develop the three virtues in connection with +unheard of daring and originality. + +It is to be added here that to his own fortune, he had now the treasury +of the Academy to draw upon, and it was full. In other words, he had +ample means to carry out any project his _judgment_ might approve. + +He pondered the matter long. One day Lael chanced to fall under his +observation. She was beautiful and the town talk. Here, he thought, was +a subject worth studying, and speedily two mysteries presented +themselves to him: Who was the Prince of India? And what was her true +relationship to the Prince? + +We pass over his resorts in unravelling the mysteries; they were many +and cunning, and thoroughly tried the first virtue of the Academical +motto; still the sum of his finding with respect to the Prince was a +mere theory--he was a Jew and rich--beyond this Demedes took nothing +for his pains. + +He proceeded next to investigate Lael. She too was of Jewish origin, +but unlike other Jewesses, wonderful to say, she had two fathers, the +diamond merchant and the Prince of India. + +Nothing better could be asked--so his judgment, the third virtue of the +motto, decreed. In Byzantine opinion, Jews were socially outside decent +regard. In brief, if he should pursue the girl to her ruin, there was +little to fear from an appeal by either of her fathers to the +authorities. Exile might be the extremest penalty of discovery. + +He began operations by putting into circulation the calumny, too +infamous for repetition, with which we have seen him attempt to poison +Sergius. Robbing the victim of character would deprive her of sympathy, +and that, in the event of failure, would be a half defence for himself +with the public. + +He gave himself next to finding what to do with the little Princess, as +he termed her. All his schemes respecting her fell short in that they +lacked originality. At last the story of the Plague of Crime, stumbled +on in the library of the St. James', furnished a suggestion novel, if +not original, and he accepted it. + +Proceeding systematically, he first examined the cistern, paddling +through it in a boat with a flambeau at the bow. He sounded the depth +of the water, counted the pillars, and measured the spaces between +them; he tested the purity of the air; and when the reconnoissance was +through, he laughed at the simplicity of the idea, and embodied his +decision in a saying eminently becoming his philosophic character--the +best of every new thing is that it was once old. + +Next he reduced the affair to its elements. He must steal her--such was +the deed in simplest term--and he must have assistants, but prudence +whispered just as few of them as possible. He commenced a list, heading +it with the keeper of the cistern, whom he found poor, necessitous, and +anxious to better his condition. Upon a payment received, that worthy +became warmly interested, and surprised his employer with suggestions +of practical utility. + +Coming then to the abduction, he undertook a study of her daily life, +hoping it would disclose something available. A second name was +thereupon entered in his list of accomplices. + +One day a beggar with sore eyes and a foot swollen with +elephantiasis--an awful object to sight--set a stool in an angle of the +street a few doors from Uel's house; and thenceforward the girl's every +appearance was communicated to Demedes, who never forgot the great jump +of heart with which he heard of the gorgeous chair presented her by the +Prince, and of the visit she forthwith made to the wall of the Bucoleon. + +Soon as he satisfied himself that the Bulgarians were in the Prince's +pay, he sounded them. They too were willing to permit him to make them +comfortable the remainder of their days, especially as, after the +betrayal asked of them, they had only to take boat to the Turkish side +of the Bosphorus, beyond pursuit and demand. His list of assistants was +then increased to four. + +Now indeed the game seemed secure, and he prepared for the hour which +was to bring the Jewess to him. + +The keeper of the cistern was the solitary occupant of a house built +round a small court from which a flight of stone steps admitted to the +darkened water. He had a felicitous turn for mechanics, and undertook +the building of a raft with commodious rooms on it. Demedes went with +him to select a place of anchorage, and afterward planned the structure +to fit between four of the pillars in form thus: + +[Illustration] + +Seeing the design on paper, Demedes smiled--it was so like a cross; the +part in lines being the landing, and the rest a room divisible at +pleasure into three rooms. A boat was provided for communication, and +to keep it hid from visitors, a cord was fixed to a pillar off in the +darkness beyond ken, helped though it might be by torches; so standing +on the stone steps, one could draw the vessel to and fro, exactly as a +flag is hoisted or lowered on a staff. + +The work took a long time, but was at last finished. The High Priest of +the Epicureans came meantime to have something akin to tender feeling +for his intended victim. He indulged many florid dreams of when she +should grace his bower in the Imperial Cistern; and as the time of her +detention might peradventure extend into months, he vowed to enrich the +bower until the most wilful spirit would settle into contentment. + +Neither the money nor the time spent in this part of the preparation +was begrudged; on the contrary, Demedes took delight in the occupation; +it was exercise for ingenuity, taste, and judgment, always a pleasure +to such as possess the qualities. In fact, the whole way through he +likened himself to a bird building a nest for its mate. + +After all, however, the part of the project most troublesome of +arrangement by the schemer, was getting the Princess into the cistern +keeper's house--that is, without noise, scuffle, witnesses, or a clew +left behind. To this he gave more hours of reflection than to the rest +altogether. The method we have seen executed was decided upon when he +arrived at two conclusions; that the attempt was most likely to succeed +in the garden of the Bucoleon, and that the Princess must be lured from +her chair into another less conspicuous and not so well known. Greatly +to his regret, but of necessity, he then saw himself compelled to +increase his list of accessories to six. Yet he derived peace +remembering none of them, with exception of the keeper, knew aught of +the affair beyond their immediate connection with it. The porters, for +instance, who dropped the unfortunate and fled, leaving her in the +sedan to intents dead, had not the slightest idea of what was to become +of her afterwards. + +The conjunctions needful to success in the enterprise were numerous; +yet the Greek accepted the waiting they put him to as a trial of the +Patience to which the motto pledged him. He believed in being ready. +When the house was built and furnished, he drilled the Bulgarians with +such particularity that the scene in the garden may be said to have +been literally to order. Probably the nearest approach to the mythical +sixth sense is the power of casting one's mind forward to a coming +event, and arranging its occurrence; and whether some have it a gift of +nature, while others derive it from cultivation, this much is +certain--without it, no man will ever create anything originally. + +Now, if the reader pleases, Demedes was too liberally endowed with the +faculty, trait or sense of which we have just spoken to permit the +sedan to be broken; such an accident would have been very inconvenient +at the critical moment succeeding the exchange of chairs. The prompter +ever at the elbow of a bad man instructed him that, aside from what the +Prince of India could not do, it was in his power to arouse the city, +and set it going hue and cry; and then the carriage, rich, glittering, +and known to so many, would draw pursuit, like a flaming torch at +night. So it occurred to Demedes, the main object being to conceal the +going to the cistern keeper's, why not use the sedan to deceive the +pursuers? He scored the idea with an exultant laugh. + +Returning now to the narrative of the enactment, directly the strange +porters moved out of the copse with their unsuspecting passenger, the +Bulgarians slung the poles to their shoulders, and followed up the +zigzag to the Y of the fourth terrace; there they turned, and retraced +their steps to the promenade; whence, after reaching Point Serail, they +doubled on their track, descended the wall, traversed the garden, and, +passing the gate by which they came, paraded their empty burden around +the Hippodrome and down a thronged street. And again doubling, they +returned to the wall, and finding it forsaken, and the night having +fallen, they abandoned the chair at a spot where the water on the +seaward side was deep and favorable for whatever violence theory might +require. In the course of this progress they were met by numberless +people, many of whom stopped to observe the gay turnout, doubting not +that the little Princess was within directing its movements. Finally, +their task thoroughly done, the Bulgarians hurried to where a boat was +in readiness, and crossing to Scutari, lost themselves in the growing +dominions of their rightful Lord, the Sultan. + +One casually reading this silhouette of a crime in act is likely to +rest here, thinking there was nothing more possible of doing either to +forward the deed or facilitate the escape of those engaged in it; yet +Demedes was not content. There were who had heard him talk of the +girl--who knew she had been much in his thought--to whom he had +furnished ground for suspecting him of following her with evil +intent--Sergius amongst others. In a word, he saw a necessity for +averting attention from himself in the connection. Here also his wit +was willing and helpful. The moment the myrmidon dropped from the +portico with news that the Princess was out in her chair unattended, he +decided she was proceeding to the wall. + +"The gods are mindful of me!" he said, his blood leaping quick. "Now is +the time ripe, and the opportunity come!" + +Looking at the sun, he fixed the hour, and reflected: + +"Five o'clock--she is on the wall. Six o'clock--she is still there. +Half after six--making up her mind to go home. Oh, but the air will be +sweet, and the sea lovely! Seven o'clock--she gives order, and the +Bulgarians signal my men on the fourth terrace. Pray Heaven the Russian +keep to his prayers or stay hearkening for my father's bell!... Here am +I seen of these thousands. Later on--about the time she forsakes the +wall--my presence shall be notorious along the streets from the Temple +to Blacherne. Then what if the monk talks? May the fiend pave his path +with stumbling-blocks and breaknecks! The city will not discredit its +own eyes." + +The Epicureans, returning from the Hippodrome, reached their Temple +about half after five o'clock. The dispersal occupied another hour; +shortly after, the regalia having been put away, and the tripods and +banners stored, Demedes called to his mounted assistants: + +"My brothers, we have worked hard, but the sowing has been bounteous +and well done. Philosophy in flowers, religion in sackcloth--that is +the comparison we have given the city. There will be no end to our +harvest. To-morrow our doors open to stay open. To-day I have one +further service for you. To your horses and ride with me to the gate of +Blacherne. We may meet the Emperor." + +They answered him shouting: "Live the Emperor!" + +"Yes," cried Demedes, when the cheering was over, "by this time he +should be tired of the priests; and what is that but the change of +heart needful to an Epicurean?" + +Laughing and joking, they mounted, eight of them, in flowers as when in +the Hippodrome. The sun was going down, but the streets were yet bright +with day. It was the hour when balconies overhanging the narrow +thoroughfares were crowded with women and children, and the doors beset +with servants--the hour Byzantine gossips were abroad filling and +unfilling their budgets. How the wooden houses trembled while the +cavalcade went galloping by! What thousands of bright eyes peered down +upon the cavaliers, attracted by the shouting and laughter! Now and +then some person would be a little late in attempting to cross before +him; then with what grace Demedes would spur after him, his bow and +bowstring for whip! And how the spectators shrieked with delight when +he overtook the culprit, and wore the flowers out flogging him! And +when a balcony was low, and illuminated with a face fairer than common, +how the gallant young riders plucked roses from their helms and +shields, and tossed them in shouting: + +"Largesse, Lady--largesse of thy smiles!" + +"Look again! Another rose for another look!" + +"From the brave to the fair!" + +Thus to the gate of Blacherne. There they drew up, and saluted the +officer of the guard, and cheered: "Live Constantine! To the good +Emperor, long life!" + +All the way Demedes rode with lifted visor. Returning through the +twilight, earlier in the close streets than in the open, he led his +company by the houses of Uel and the Prince of India. Something might +be learned of what was going on with the little Princess by what was +going on there; and the many persons he saw in the street signified +alarm and commotion. + +"Ho, here!" he shouted, drawing rein. "What does this mean? Somebody +dead or dying?" + +"Uel, the master of the house, is afraid for his child. She should have +been home before sundown. He is sending friends out to look for her." + +There was a whole story in the answer, and the conspirator repressed a +cry of triumph, and rode on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON + + +Syama, always thoughtful, took care of the treasure brought from Plati, +and standing by the door watched his master through the night, +wondering what the outcome of his agitation would be. + +It were useless attempting to describe how the gloomy soul of the Jew +exercised itself. His now ungovernable passions ran riot within him. He +who had seen so much of life, who had made history as the loomsmen of +Bokhara make carpets, who dealt with kings and kingdoms, and the +superlatives of every kind canonized in the human imagination--he to be +so demeaned! Yet it was not the disrespect to himself personally that +did the keenest stinging, nor even the enmity of Heaven denying him the +love permitted every other creature, bird, beast, crawling reptile, +monster of the sea--these were as the ruffling of the weather feathers +of a fighting eagle, compared with the torture he endured from +consciousness of impotency to punish the wrongdoers as he would like to +punish them. + +That Lael was immured somewhere in the city, he doubted not; and he +would find her, for what door could stand shut against knocking by a +hand with money in it? But might it not be too late? The flower he +could recover, but the fragrance and purity of bloom--what of them? How +his breast enlarged and shrank under the electric touch of that idea! +The devil who did the deed might escape him, for hell was vast and +deep; yet the city remained, even the Byzantium ancient of days like +himself, and he would hold it a hostage for the safe return of his Gul +Bahar. + +All the night long he walked without pause; it seemed unending to him; +at length the faintest rosy tint, a reflection from morning's palette +of splendor, lodged on the glass of his eastern window, and woke him +from his misery. At the door he found Syama. + +"Syama," he said, kindly, "bring me the little case which has in it my +choicest drugs." + +It was brought him, an oblong gold box encrusted with brilliants. +Opening it, he found a spatula of fine silver on a crystal lid, and +under the lid, in compartments, pellets differently colored, one of +which he selected, and dropped in his throat. + +"There, put it back," he said, returning the box to Syama, who went out +with it. Looking then at the brightness brighter growing through the +window, "Welcome," he continued, speaking to the day as it were a +person: "Thou wert slow coming, yet welcome. I am ready for this new +labor imposed on me, and shall not rest, or sleep, or hunger, or thirst +until it is done. Thou shalt see I have not lived fourteen centuries +for nothing; that in a hunt for vengeance I have not lost my cunning. I +will give them till thou hast twice run thy course; then, if they bring +her not, they will find the God they worship once more the Lord God of +Israel." + +Syama returned. + +"Thou art a faithful man, Syama, and I love thee. Get me a cup of the +Cipango leaves--no bread, the cup alone." + +While waiting, the Prince continued his silent walk; but when the tea +was brought, he said: "Good! It shall go after the meat of the +poppies"--adding to Syama--"While I drink, do thou seek Uel, and bring +him to me." + +When the son of Jahdai entered, the Prince looked at him a moment, and +asked: "Hast thou word of her?" + +"Not a word, not one word," and with the reply the merchant's face sunk +until the chin rested on his breast. The hopelessness observable in the +voice, joined to the signs of suffering apparent in the manner, was +irresistibly touching. Another instant, then the elder advanced to him, +and took his hand. + +"We are brothers," he said, with exceeding gentleness. "She was our +child--ours--thine, yet mine. She loved us both. We loved her, thou not +more, I not less. She went not willingly from us; we know that much, +because we know she loved us, me not less, thee not more. A pitfall was +digged for her. Let us find it. She is calling for us from the +bottom--I hear her--now thy name, now mine--and there is no time to be +lost. Wilt thou do as I say?" + +"You are strong, and I weak; be it entirely as you say," Uel answered, +without looking up, for there were tears in his eyes, and a great groan +growing in his throat. + +"Well, see thou now. We will find the child, be the pit ever so deep; +but--it is well bethinking--we may not find her the undefiled she was, +or we may find her dead. I believe she had a spirit to prefer death to +dishonor--but dead or dishonored, wilt thou merge thy interest in her +into mine?" + +"Yes." + +"I alone am to decide then what best becomes us to do. Is it agreed?" + +"Yes--such faith have I in you." + +"Oh, but understand thee, son of Jahdai! I speak not merely as a +father, but as an Israelite." + +Uel looked at the speaker's face, and was startled. The calm voice, low +and evenly toned, to which he had been listening, had not prepared him +for the livid pursing he saw under the eyes, and the pupils lurid and +unnaturally dilated--effects we know, good reader, of the meat of the +poppies assisted by the friendly Cipango leaves. Yet the merchant +replied, strong in the other's strength: "Am not I, too, an +Israelite?--Only do not take her from me." + +"Fear not. Now, son of Jahdai, let us to work. Let us first find our +pretty child." + +Again Uel was astonished. The countenance was bright and beaming with +confidence. A world of energy seemed to have taken possession of the +man. He looked inspired--looked as if a tap of his finger could fetch +the extremities of the continent rolling like a carpet to his feet. + +"Go now, my brother Uel, and bring hither all the clerks in the market." + +"All of them--all? Consider the expense." + +"Nay, son of Jahdai, be thou a true Israelite. In trade, this for that, +consider the profits and stand on them closely, getting all thou canst. +But here is no trade--here is honor--our honor--thine, mine. Shall a +Christian beat us, and wear the virtue of our daughter as it were a +leman's favor? No, by Abraham--by the mother of Israel"--a returning +surge of passion blackened his face again, and quickened his +speech--"by Rachael and Sarah, and all the God-loving asleep in Hebron, +in this cause our money shall flow like water--even as the Euphrates in +swollen tide goes bellowing to the sea, it shall flow. I will fill the +mouths and eyes as well as the pockets of this Byzantium with it, until +there shall not be a dune on the beach, a cranny in the wall, a rathole +in its accursed seven hills unexamined. Yes, the say is mine--so thou +didst agree--deny it not! Bid the clerks come, and quickly--only see to +it that each brings his writing material, and a piece of paper large as +his two hands. This house for their assemblage. Haste. Time flies--and +from the pit, out of the shadows in the bottom of the pit, I hear the +voice of Lael calling now to thee, now to me." + +Uel was not deficient in strength of purpose, nor for that matter in +judgment; he went and in haste; and the clerks flocked to the Prince, +and wrote at his dictation. Before half the breakfasts in the city were +eaten, vacant places at the church doors, the cheeks of all the gates, +and the fronts of houses blazed with handbills, each with a reader +before it proclaiming to listening groups: + +"BYZANTINES! + +"FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF BYZANTIUM! + +"Last evening the daughter of Uel the merchant, a child of sixteen, +small in stature, with dark hair and eyes, and fair to see, was set +upon in the garden of the Bucoleon, and stolen out of her sedan chair. +Neither she, nor the Bulgarians carrying her have been heard of since. + +"REWARDS. + +"Out of love of the child, whose name was Lael, I will pay him who +returns her to me living or dead + +"6,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. + +"And to him who brings me the abductor, or the name of any one engaged +in the crime, with proof to convict him, + +"5,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. + +"Inquire of me at Uel's stall in the Market. + +"PRINCE OF INDIA." + +Thus the Jew began his campaign of discovery, meaning to follow it up +with punishment first, and then vengeance, the latter in conditional +mood. + +Let us not stop to ask about motives. This much is certain, the city +arose with one mind. Such a running here and there had never been +known, except possibly the times enemies in force sat down before the +gates. The walls landwardly by the sea and harbor, and the towers of +the walls above and below; old houses whose solitariness and decay were +suspicious; new houses and their cellars; churches from crypt to pulpit +and gallery; barracks and magazines, even the baker's ovens attached to +them; the wharves and vessels tied up and the ships at anchor--all +underwent a search. Hunting parties invaded the woods. Scorpions were +unnested, and bats and owls made unhappy by daylight where daylight had +never been before. Convents and monasteries were not exempt. The sea +was dragged, and the great moat from the Golden Gate to the Cynegion +raked for traces of a new-made grave. Nor less were the cemeteries +overhauled, and tombs and sarcophagi opened, and Saints' Rests dug into +and profaned. In short, but one property in Byzantium was +respected--that of the Emperor. By noon the excitement had crossed to +Galata, and was at high tide in the Isles of the Princes. Such power +was there in the offer of bezants in gold--six thousand for the girl, +five thousand for one of her captors--singly, a fortune to stir the +cupidity of a Duke--together, enough to enlist a King in the work. And +everywhere the two questions--Has she been found? and who is the Prince +of India? Poor Uel had not space to think of his loss or yield to +sorrow; the questions kept him so busy. + +It must not be supposed now in this all but universal search, nobody +thought of the public cisterns. They were visited. Frequently through +the day parties followed each other to the Imperial reservoir; but the +keeper was always in his place, cool, wary, and prepared for them. He +kept open door and offered no hindrance to inspection of his house. To +interrogators he gave ready replies: + +"I was at home last night from sunset to sunrise. At dark I closed up, +and no one could have come in afterwards without my seeing him.... I +know the chair of the merchant's daughter. It is the finest in the +city. The Bulgarians have carried it past my house, but they never +stopped.... Oh, yes, you are welcome to do with the cistern what you +please. There is the doorway to the court, and in the court is the +descent to the water." Sometimes he would treat the subject +facetiously: "If the girl were here, I should know it, and if I knew +it--ha, ha, ha!--are bezants in gold by the thousand more precious to +you than to me? Do you think I too would not like to be rich?--I who +live doggedly on three noumias, helped now and then by scanty +palm-salves from travellers?" + +This treatment was successful. One party did insist on going beyond the +court. They descended the steps about half way, looked at the great +gray pillars in ghostly rows receding off into a blackness of silence +thick with damps and cellar smells, each a reminder of contagion; then +at the motionless opaque water, into which the pillars sank to an +unknown depth: and they shivered, and cried: "Ugh! how cold and ugly!" +and hastened to get out. + +Undoubtedly appearances helped save the ancient cistern from +examination; yet there were other influences to the same end. Its +vastness was a deterrent. A thorough survey required organization and +expensive means, such as torches, boats, fishing tongs and drag-nets; +and why scour it at all, if not thoroughly and over every inch? Well, +well--such was the decision--the trouble is great, and the uncertainty +greater. Another class was restrained by a sentiment possibly the +oldest and most general amongst men; that which casts a spell of +sanctity around wells and springs, and stays the hand about to toss an +impurity into a running stream; which impels the North American Indian +to replace the gourd, and the Bedouin to spare the bucket for the next +comer, though an enemy. In other words, the cistern was in daily use. + +One can imagine the scene at the Prince's through the day. To bring a +familiar term into service, his house was headquarters. + +About eight o'clock the sedan was brought home empty, and without a +sign of defacement inside or out. It told no tale. + +Noon, and still no clew. + +In the afternoon there was an observable cessation of vigor in the +quest. Thousands broke off, and went about their ordinary business, +giving the reason. + +"Which way now?" would be asked them. + +"Home." + +"What! Has she been found?" + +"Not that we know." + +"Ah, you have given up." + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"We are satisfied the Bulgarians stole the girl. The Turks have her; +and now for a third part of either of the rewards he offers, the Prince +of India, whoever he is, can ransom her. He will have plenty of time. +There is no such thing as haste in a harem." + +By lamplighting in the evening, the capital resumed its customary +quiet, and of the turmoil of the day, the rush and eager halloo, the +promiscuous delving into secret places, and upturning of things strange +and suspicious, there remained nothing but a vast regret--vast in the +collective sense--for the rewards lost. + +Quiet crept into headquarters. To the Prince's insistence that the hunt +go on, he was advised to prosecute the inquest on the other side of the +Bosphorus. The argument presented him was plausible; either--thus it +ran--the Bulgarians carried the child away with them or she was taken +from them. They were stout men, yet there is no sign of a struggle. If +they were killed, we should find their bodies; if they are alive and +innocent, why are they not here? They would be entitled to the rewards +along with the best of us. + +Seeing the drift, the Prince refrained from debate. He only looked more +grim and determined. When the house was cleared, he took the floor +again fiercely restless as before. Later on Uel came in, tired, +spirit-worn, and apparently in the last stage of despondency. + +"Well, son of Jahdai, my poor brother," said the Prince, much moved, +and speaking tenderly. "It is night, and what bringest thou?" + +"Alas! Nothing, except the people say the Bulgarians did it." + +"The Bulgarians! Would it were so; for look thee, in their hands she +would be safe. Their worst of villany would be a ransom wrung from us. +Ah, no! They might have been drawn into the conspiracy; but take her, +they did not. How could they have passed the gates unseen? The night +was against them. And besides, they have not the soul to devise or dare +the deed. This is no common criminal, my brother. When he is found--and +he will be, or hell hath entered into partnership with him--thou wilt +see a Greek of title, bold from breeding and association, behind him an +influence to guarantee him against the law and the Emperor. Of the +classes in Byzantium to-day, who are the kings? Who but the monks? And +here is a morsel of wisdom, true, else my experience is a delusion: In +decaying and half-organized states, the boldest in defying public +opinion are they who have the most to do in making it." + +"I do not understand you," Uel interposed. + +"Thou art right, my brother. I know not why I am arguing; yet I ought +not to leave thee in the dark now; therefore I will go a step further. +Thou art a Jew--not a Hebrew, or an Israelite, mark thee--but in the +contemptuous Gentile sense, a Jew. She, our gentle Gul-Bahar, hath her +beating of heart from blood thou gavest her. I also am a Jew. Now, of +the classes in Byzantium, which is it by whom hate of Jews is the +article of religion most faithfully practised? Think if it be not the +same from whose shops proceed the right and wrong of the time--the same +I myself scarce three days gone saw insult and mortify the man they +chose Emperor, and not privately, in the depths of a monastery or +chapel, but publicly, his court present.... Ah, now thou seest my +meaning! In plainest speech, my brother, when he who invented this +crime is set down before us, look not for a soldier, or a sailor, or +one of thy occupation--look not for a beggar, or a laborer, or an +Islamite--look rather for a Greek, with a right from relationship near +or remote to summon the whole priestly craft to hold up his hands +against us, Jews that we are. But I am not discouraged. I shall find +her, and the titled outlaw who stole her. Or--but threats now are idle. +They shall have tomorrow to bring her home. I pray pardon for keeping +thee from rest and sleep. Go now. In the morning betimes see thou that +the clerks come back to me here. I will have need of them again, +for"--he mused a moment--"yes, if that I purpose must be, then, the +worst betiding us, they shall not say I was hard and merciless, and cut +their chances scant." + +Uel was at the door going, when the Prince called him back. + +"Wait--I do not need rest. Thou dost. Is Syama there?" + +"Yes." + +"Send him to me." + +When the slave was come, "Go," the master said, "and bring me the +golden case." + +And when it was brought, he took out a pellet, and gave it to Uel. + +"There--take it, and thou shalt sleep sound as the dead, and have never +a dream--sound, yet healthfully. To-morrow we must work. To-morrow," he +repeated when Uel was gone--"to-morrow! Till then, eternity." + +Let us now shift the scene to the Monastery of the St. James'. + +It is eight o'clock in the morning--about the time the empty sedan was +being brought to the Prince's house. Sergius had been hearkening for +the Hegumen's bell, and at the moment we look in upon him, he is with +the venerable superior, helping him to breakfast, if a meal so frugal +deserves the name. + +The young Russian, it is to be said, retired to his cell immediately +upon the conclusion of the Festival of Flowers the evening before. +Awaking early, he made personal preparation for the day, and with the +Brotherhood in the chapel, performed the matinal breviary services, +consisting of lauds, psalms, lections and prayers. Then he took seat by +his superior's door. By and by the bell called him in, and +thenceforward he was occupied in the kitchen or at the elder's elbow. +In brief, he knew nothing of the occurrence which had so overwhelmed +the merchant and the Prince of India. + +The Hegumen sat on a broad armless chair, very pale and weak--so +poorly, indeed, that the brethren had excused him from chapel duties. +Having filled a flagon with water, Sergius was offering it to him, when +the door opened without knock, or other warning, and Demedes entered. +Moving silently to his father, he stooped, and kissed his hand with an +unction which brought a smile to the sunken face. + +"God's benison on you, my boy. I was thinking of the airs of Prinkipo +or Halki, and that they might help me somewhat; but now you are here, I +will put them off. Bring the bench to my right hand, and partake with +me, if but to break a crust." + +"The crust has the appearance of leaven in it, and you know the party +to which I belong. I am not an _azymite_." + +There was scarcely an attempt to conceal the sneer with which the young +man glanced at the brown loaf gracing the platter on the Hegumen's +knees. Seeing then a look of pain on the paternal countenance, he +continued: "No, I have had breakfast, and came to see how you are, and +to apprise you that the city is being stirred from the foam on top to +the dregs at the bottom, all because of an occurrence last evening, so +incredible, so strange, so audacious, and so wicked it weakens +confidence in society, and almost forces one to look up and wonder if +God does not sometimes sleep." + +The Hegumen and his attendant were aroused. Both gazed at Demedes +looking the same question. + +"I hesitate to tell you, my dear father, of the affair, it is so +shocking. The chill of the first hearing has not left me. I am excited +body and mind, and you know how faithfully I have tried to school +myself against excitement--it is unbecoming--only the weak suffer it. +Rather than trust myself to the narrative--though as yet there are no +details--I plucked a notice from a wall while coming, and as it was the +first I had of the news, and contains all I know, I brought it along; +and if you care to hear, perhaps our friend Sergius will kindly give +you the contents. His voice is better than mine, and he is perfectly +calm." + +"Yes, Sergius will read. Give him the paper." + +Thereupon Demedes passed to Sergius one of the handbills with which the +Prince of India had sown the city. After the first line, the monk began +stammering and stumbling; at the close of the first sentence, he +stopped. Then he threw a glance at the Greek, and from the gaze with +which he was met, he drew understanding and self-control. "I ask thy +grace, Father," he said, raising the paper, and looking at the +signature. "I am acquainted with Uel the merchant, and with the child +said to be stolen. I also know the man whose title is here attached. He +calls himself Prince of India, but by what right I cannot say. The +circumstance is a great surprise to me; so, with thy pardon, I will try +the reading again." + +Sergius finished the paper, and returned it to Demedes. + +The Hegumen folded his hands, and said: "Oh, the flow of mercy cannot +endure forever!" + +Then the young men looked at each other. + +To be surprised when off guard, is to give our enemy his best +opportunity. This was the advantage the Greek then had. He was +satisfied with the working of his scheme; yet one dread had disturbed +him through the night. What would the Russian do? And when he read the +Prince's proclamation, and saw the rewards offered, in amounts undreamt +of, he shivered; not, as he told the Hegumen, from horror at the crime; +still less from fear that the multitude might blunder on discovery; and +least of all from apprehension of betrayal from his assistants, for, +with exception of the cistern-keeper, they were all in flight, and a +night's journey gone. Be the mass of enemies ever so great, there is +always one to inspire us with liveliest concern. Here it was Sergius. +He had come so recently into the world--descent from a monastery in the +far north was to the metropolitan much like being born again--there was +no telling what he might do. Thus moved and uncertain, the conspirator +resolved to seek his adversary, if such he were, and boldly try him. In +what spirit would he receive the news? That was the thought behind the +gaze Demedes now bent on the unsophisticated pupil of the saintly +Father Hilarion. + +Sergius returned the look without an effort to hide the pain he really +felt. His utmost endeavor was to control his feelings. With no idea of +simulation, he wanted time to think. Altogether it would have been +impossible for him to have chosen a course more perplexing to Demedes, +who found himself driven to his next play. + +"You know now," he said to his father, "why I decline to break a crust +with you. I must go and help uncover this wicked deed. The rewards are +great"--he smiled blandly--"and I should like to win one of them at +least--the first one, for I have seen the girl called Lael. She +interested me, and I was in danger from her. On one occasion"--he +paused to throw a glance to Sergius--"I even made advances to become +acquainted with her, but she repulsed me. As the Prince of India says, +she was fair to see. I am sure I have your permission to engage in the +hunt." + +"Go, and God speed you," the Hegumen responded. + +"Thank you; yet another request." + +He turned to the Russian. + +"Now is Sergius here tall, and, if his gown belie him not, stout, and +there may be need of muscle as well as spirit; for who can tell where +our feet will take us in a game like this, or what or whom we may +confront? I ask you to permit him to go with me." + +"Nay," said the Hegumen, "I will urge him to go." + +Sergius answered simply: + +"Not now. I am under penance, and to-day bound to the third breviary +prayers. When they are finished, I will gladly go." + +"I am disappointed," Demedes rejoined. "But I must make haste." + +He kissed the Hegumen's hand and retired; after which, the meal +speedily concluded, Sergius gathered the few articles of service on the +platter, and raised it, but stopped to say: "After prayers, with your +consent, reverend Father, I will take part in this affair." + +"Thou hast my consent." + +"It may take several days." + +"Give thyself all the time required. The errand is of mercy." + +And the holy man extended his hand, and Sergius saluted it reverently, +and went out. + +If the young monastic kept not fast hold of the holy forms prescribed +immemorially for the third hour's service, there is little doubt he was +forgiven in the higher court before which he was supposed present, for +never had he been more nearly shaken out of his better self than by the +Prince's proclamation. He had managed to appear composed while under +Demedes' observation. In the language of the time, some protecting +Saint prompted him to beware of the Greek, and keeping the admonition, +he had come well out of the interview; but hardly did the Hegumen's +door close behind him before Lael's untoward fate struck him with +effect. He hurried to his cell, thinking to recover himself; but it was +as if he were pursued by a voice calling him, and directly the voice +seemed hers, sharp and piercing from terror. A little later he took to +answering the appeal--I hear, but where art thou? His agitation grew +until the bell summoned him to the chapel, and the sound was gladdening +on account of the companionship it promised. Surely the voice would be +lost in the full-toned responses of the brethren. Not so. He heard it +even more clearly. Then, to place himself certainly beyond it, he +begged an ancient worshipper at his side to loan him his triptych. For +once, however, the sorrowful figure of the Christ on the central tablet +was of no avail, hold it close as he might; strange to say, the face of +the graven image assumed her likeness; so he was worse off than before, +for now her suffering look was added to her sorrowful cry. + +At last the service was over. Rushing back to his cell he exchanged his +black gown for the coarse gray garment with which he had sallied from +Bielo-Osero. Folding the veil, and putting it carefully away in his +hat, he went forth, a hunter as the multitude were hunters; only, as we +shall presently see, his zeal was more lasting than theirs, and he was +owner of an invaluable secret. + +On the street he heard everywhere of the rewards, and everywhere the +question, Has she been found? The population, women and children +included, appeared to have been turned out of their houses. The corners +were possessed by them, and it will be easy for readers who have once +listened to Greeks in hot debate to fancy how on this occasion they +were heard afar. Yet Sergius went his way unobservant of the remarks +drawn by the elephantine ears of his outlandish hood, his tall form, +and impeded step. + +Had one stopped him to ask, Where are you going? it is doubtful if he +could have told. He had no plan; he was being pulled along by a pain of +heart rather than a purpose--moving somnolently through a light which +was also a revelation, for now he knew he loved the lost girl--knew it, +not by something past, such as recollections of her sweetness and +beauty, but by a sense of present bereavement, an agonizing impulsion, +a fierce desire to find the robber, a murderous longing the like of +which had never assailed him. The going was nearest an answer he could +make to the voice calling him, equivalent to, I am coming. + +He sped through the Hippodrome outwalking everybody; then through the +enclosure of Sancta Sophia; then down the garden terraces--Oh, that the +copse could have told him the chapter it had witnessed!--then up the +broad stairway to the promenade, and along it toward Port St. Julian, +never pausing until he was at the bench in the angle of the wall from +which he had overheard Demedes' story of the Plague of Crime. + +Now the bench was not in his mind when he started from the monastery; +neither had he thought of it on the way, or of the dark history it had +helped him to; in a freak, he took the seat he had formerly occupied, +placed his arm along the coping of the parapet, and closed his eyes. +And strange to say, the conversation of that day repeated itself almost +word for word. Stranger still, it had now a significancy not then +observed; and as he listened, he interpreted, and the fever of spirit +left him. + +About an hour before noon, he arose from the bench like one refreshed +by sleep, cool, thoughtful, capable. In the interval he had put off +boyishness, and taken on manhood replete with a faculty for worldly +thinking that would have alarmed Father Hilarion. In other words, he +was seeing things as they were; that bad and good, for instance, were +coexistent, one as much a part of the plan of creation as the other; +that religion could only regulate and reform; that the end of days +would find good men striving with bad men--in brief, that Demedes was +performing the role to which his nature and aptitude assigned him, just +as the venerable Hegumen, his father, was feebly essaying a +counterpart. Nor was that all. The new ideas to which he had been +converted facilitated reflection along the lines of wickedness. In the +Plague of Crime, told the second time, he believed he had found what +had befallen Lael. Demedes, he remembered, gave the historic episode to +convince his protesting friend how easy it would be to steal and +dispose of her. The argument pointed to the Imperial cistern as the +hiding-place. + +Sergius' first prompting was to enlist the aid of the Prince of India, +and go straight to the deliverance; but he had arisen from the bench a +person very different from a blind lover. Not that his love had +cooled--ah, no! But there were things to be done before exposing his +secret. Thus, his curiosity had never been strong enough to induce him +to look into the cistern. Was it not worth while to assure himself of +the possibility of its conversion to the use suspected? He turned, and +walked back rapidly--down the stairway, up the terraces, and through +the Hippodrome. Suddenly he was struck with the impolicy of presenting +himself to the cistern-keeper in his present costume--it would be such +a help to identification by Demedes. So he continued on to the +monastery, and resumed the black gown and tall hat. + +The Hegumen's door, which he had to pass in going out again, served him +with another admonition. If Demedes were exposed through his endeavor, +what of the father? If, in the conflict certain of precipitation, the +latter sided with his son--and what could be more natural?--would not +the Brotherhood follow him? How then could he, Sergius, a foreigner, +young, and without influence, combat a fraternity powerful in the city +and most powerful up at Blacherne? + +At this, it must be confessed, the young man's step lost its +elasticity; his head sunk visibly, and the love just found was driven +to divide its dominion with a well-grounded practical apprehension. Yet +he walked on, out of the gate, and thence in the direction of the +cistern. + +Arrived there, he surveyed the wooden structure doubtfully. The door +was open, and just inside of it the keeper sat stick in hand drumming +upon the brick pavement, a man of medium height and rather pleasant +demeanor. + +"I am a stranger here," Sergius said to him. "The cistern is public, I +believe; may I see it?" + +"It is public, and you may look at it all you want. The door there at +the end of the passage will let you into the court. If you have trouble +in finding the stairway down, call me." + +Sergius dropped some small coin into the keeper's hand. + +The court was paved with yellow Roman brick, and moderately spacious. +An oblong curbing in the centre without rails marked the place of +descent to the water. Overhead there was nothing to interfere with the +fall of light from the blue sky, except that in one corner a shed had +been constructed barely sufficient to protect a sedan chair deposited +there, its poles on end leant against the wall. Sergius noticed the +chair and the poles, then looked down over the curbing into a doorway, +and saw four stone steps leading to a platform three or four feet +square. Observing a further descent, he went down to the landing, where +he paused long enough to be satisfied that the whole stairway was built +into the eastern wall of the cistern. The light was already dim. +Proceeding carefully, for the stones were slippery, he counted fourteen +steps to another landing, the width of the first but quite ten feet +long, and slightly submerged with water. Here, as he could go no +further, he stopped to look about him. + +It is true there was not much to be seen, yet he was at once impressed +with a sense of vastness and durability. A dark and waveless sheet lay +stretched before him, merging speedily into general blackness. About +four yards away and as many apart, two gigantic pillars arose out of +the motionless flood stark and ghostly gray. Behind them, suggestive of +rows with an aisle between, other pillars were seen, mere upright +streaks of uncertain hue fainter growing in the shadowy perspective. +Below there was nothing to arrest a glance. Raising his eyes to the +roof above him, out of the semi-obscurity, he presently defined a brick +vault springing boldly from the Corinthian capitals of the nearest +pillars, and he knew straightway the roof was supported by a system of +vaults susceptible of indefinite extension. But how was he, standing on +a platform at the eastern edge of the reservoir, mighty in so many +senses, to determine its shape, width, length? Stooping he looked down +the vista straining his vision, but there was no opposite wall--only +darkness and impenetrability. He filled his lungs trying the air, and +it was damp but sweet. He stamped with force--there was a rumble in the +vault overhead--that was all. He called: "Lael, Lael"--there was no +answer, though he listened, his soul in his ears. Therewith he gave +over trying to sound the great handmade cavern, and lingered awhile +muttering: + +"It is possible, it is possible! At the end of this row of pillars"--he +made a last vain effort to discover the end--"there may be a house +afloat, and she"--he clinched his hands, and shook with a return of +murderous passion--"God help her! Nay, God help me! If she is here, as +I believe, I will find her." + +In the court he again noticed the sedan in the corner. + +"I am obliged to you," he said to the keeper by the door. "How old is +the cistern?" + +"Constantine begun it, and Justinian finished it, they say." + +"Is it in use now?" + +"They let buckets down through traps in the roof." + +"Do you know how large it is?" [Footnote: Yere Batan Serai, or the +Underground Palace, the ancient Royal Cistern, or cistern of +Constantine, is in rank, as well as in interest and beauty, the chief +Byzantine cistern. It is on the right-hand side of the tramway street, +west of St. Sophia. The entrance is in the yard of a large Ottoman +house in last street on the right of tramway street before the tramway +turns abruptly west (to right) after passing St. Sophia. + +This cistern was built by Constantine the Great, and deepened and +enlarged by Justinian the Great in 527, the first year of his reign. It +has been in constant use ever since. The water is supplied from unknown +and subterranean sources, sometimes rising nearly to the capitals of +the columns. It is still in admirable preservation: all its columns are +in position, and almost the entire roof is intact. The columns are +arranged in twelve rows of twenty-eight, there being in all three +hundred and thirty-six, which are twelve feet distant from each other +or from the wall. Some of the capitals are Corinthian; others plain, +hardly more than truncated pyramids. The roof consists of a succession +of brick vaults. + +On left side in yard of the large Ottoman house already mentioned is a +trap-door. One is let down over a rickety ladder about four feet to the +top of four high stone steps, which descend on the left to a platform +about three and one-half feet square which projects without railing +over the water. Thence fourteen steps, also without railing, conduct to +another platform below, about three and one-half feet wide and ten feet +long. Sometimes this lower platform and the nearer steps are covered +with water, though seldom in summer and early fall. These steps are +uneven--in places are broken and almost wanting; and they as well as +both platforms are exceedingly slippery. The place is absolutely dark +save for the feeble rays which glimmer from the lantern of the guide. +One should remember there is no railing or barrier of any sort, and not +advance an inch without seeing where he puts his foot. Then there is no +danger. Moreover, the platform below is less slippery than the steps or +the platform above. Visitors will do well to each bring his own candle +or small lantern, not for illumination but for safety. When the +visitors have arrived on the lower platform, which is near the middle +of the eastern side against the wall, the guide, who has not descended +the steps, lights a basket of shavings or other quick combustible on +the platform above. The effect is instantaneous and magical. Suddenly +from an obscurity so profound that only the outline of the nearest +columns can be faintly discerned by the flicker of a candle, the entire +maze of columns flashes into being resplendent and white. The roof and +the water send the light back to each other. Not a sound is heard save +distant splashes here and there as a bucket descends to supply the +necessities of some house above. Nowhere can be beheld a scene more +weird and enchanting. It will remain printed on the memory when many +another experience of Stamboul is dim or forgotten. + +PROFESSOR GROSVENOR. CONSTANTINOPLE.] + +The keeper laughed, and pommelled the pavement vigorously: "I was never +through it--haven't the courage--nor do I know anybody who has been. +They say it has a thousand pillars, and that it is supplied by a river. +They tell too how people have gone into it with boats, and never come +out, and that it is alive with ghosts; but of these stories I say +nothing, because I know nothing." + +Sergius thereupon departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED + + +All the next night, Syama, his ear against his master's door, felt the +jar of the machine-like tread in the study. At intervals it would slow, +but not once did it stop. The poor slave was himself nearly worn out. +Sympathy has a fashion of burdening us without in the least lightening +the burden which occasions it. + +To-morrows may be long coming, but they keep coming. Time is a mill, +and to-morrows are but the dust of its grinding. Uel arose early. He +had slept soundly. His first move was to send the Prince all the clerks +he could find in the market, and shortly afterwards the city was +re-blazoned with bills. + +"BYZANTINES! + +"Fathers and mothers of Byzantium! + +"Lael, the daughter of Uel the merchant, has not been found. Wherefore +I now offer 10,000 bezants in gold for her dead or alive, and 6,000 +bezants in gold for evidence which will lead to the discovery and +conviction of her abductors. + +"The offers will conclude with to-day. + +"PRINCE OF INDIA." + +There was a sensation when the new placards had been generally read; +yet the hunt of the day before was not resumed. It was considered +exhausted. Men and women poured into the streets and talked and +talked--about the Prince of India. By ten o'clock all known of him and +a great deal more had gone through numberless discussions; and could he +have heard the conclusions reached he had never smiled again. By a +consensus singularly unanimous, he was an Indian, vastly rich, but not +a Prince, and his interest in the stolen girl was owing to forbidden +relations. This latter part of the judgment, by far the most cruel, +might have been traced to Demedes. + +In all the city there had not been a more tireless hunter than Demedes. +He seemed everywhere present--on the ships, on the walls, in the +gardens and churches--nay, it were easier telling where he had not +been. And by whomsoever met, he was in good spirits, fertile in +suggestions, and sure of success. He in fact distinguished himself in +the search, and gave proof of a knowledge of the capital amazing to the +oldest inhabitants. Of course his role was to waste the energy of the +mass. In every pack of beagles it is said there is one particularly +gifted in the discovery of false scents. Such was Demedes that first +day, until about two o'clock. The results of the quest were then in, +and of the theories to which he listened, nothing pleased him like the +absence of a suggestion of the second sedan. There were witnesses to +tell of the gorgeous chair, and its flitting here and yonder through +the twilight; none saw the other. This seems to have sufficed him, and +he suddenly gave up the chase; appearing in the garden of the Bucoleon, +he declared the uselessness of further effort. The Jewess, he said, was +not in Byzantium; she had been carried off by the Bulgarians, and was +then on the road to some Turkish harem. From that moment the search +began to fall off, and by evening it was entirely discontinued. + +Upon appearance of the placards the second day, Demedes was again equal +to the emergency. He collected his brethren in the Temple, organized +them into parties, and sent them everywhere--to Galata, to the towns +along the Bosphorus, down the western shore of the Marmora, over to the +Islands, and up to the forest of Belgrade--to every place, in short, +except the right one. And this conduct, apparently sincere, certainly +energetic, bore its expected fruit; by noon he was the hero of the +occasion, the admiration of the city. + +When very early in the second day the disinclination of the people to +renew the search was reported to the Prince of India, he looked +incredulous, and broke out: + +"What! Not for ten thousand bezants!--more gold than they have had in +their treasury at one time in ten years!--enough to set up three +empires of such dwindle! To what is the world coming?" + +An hour or so later, he was told of the total failure of his second +proclamation. The information drove him with increased speed across the +floor. + +"I have an adversary somewhere," he was saying to himself--"an +adversary more powerful than gold in quantity. Are there two such in +Byzantium?" + +An account of Demedes' action gave him some comfort. + +About the third hour, Sergius asked to see him, and was admitted. After +a simple expression of sympathy, the heartiness of which was attested +by his sad voice and dejected countenance, the monk said: "Prince of +India, I cannot tell you the reasons of my opinion; yet I believe the +young woman is a prisoner here in this city. I will also beg you not to +ask me where I think she is held, or by whom. It may turn out that I am +mistaken; I will then feel better of having had no confidant. With this +statement--submitted with acknowledged uncertainty--can you trust me?" + +"You are Sergius, the monk?" + +"So they call me; though here I have not been raised to the priesthood." + +"I have heard the poor child speak of you. You were a favorite with +her." + +The Prince spoke with trouble. + +"I am greatly pleased to hear it." + +The trouble of the Prince was contagious, but Sergius presently +recovered. + +"Probably the best certificate of my sincerity, Prince--the best I can +furnish you--is that your gold is no incentive to the trial at finding +her which I have a mind to make. If I succeed, a semblance of pay or +reward would spoil my happiness." + +The Jew surveyed him curiously. "Almost I doubt you," he said. + +"Yes, I can understand. Avarice is so common, and disinterestedness, +friendship, and love so uncommon." + +"Verily, a great truth has struck you early." + +"Well, hear what I have to ask." + +"Speak." + +"You have in your service an African"-- + +"Nilo?" + +"That is his name. He is strong, faithful, and brave, qualities I may +need more than gold. Will you allow him to go with me?" + +The Prince's look and manner changed, and he took the monk's hand. +"Forgive me," he said warmly--"forgive me, if I spoke +doubtfully--forgive me, if I misunderstood you." + +Then, with his usual promptitude, he went to the door, and bade Syama +bring Nilo. + +"You know my method of speech with him?" the Prince asked. + +"Yes," Sergius replied. + +"If you have instructions for him, see they are given in a good light, +for in the dark he cannot comprehend." + +Nilo came, and kissed his master's hand. He understood the trouble +which had befallen. + +"This," the Prince said to him, "is Sergius, the monk. He believes he +knows where the little Princess is, and has asked that you may go with +him. Are you willing?" + +The King looked assent. + +"It is arranged," the master added to Sergius. "Have you other +suggestion?" + +"It were better he put off his African costume." + +"For the Greek?" + +"The Greek will excite less attention." + +"Very well." + +In a short time Nilo presented himself in Byzantine dress, with +exception of a bright blue handkerchief on his head. + +"Now, I pray you, Prince, give me a room. I wish to talk with the man +privately." + +The request was granted, the instructions given, and Sergius reappeared +to take leave. + +"Nilo and I are good friends, Prince. He understands me." + +"He may be too eager. Remember I found him a savage." + +With these words, the Prince and the young Russian parted. + +After this nobody came to the house. The excitement had been a flash. +Now it seemed entirely dead, and dead without a clew. When Time goes +afoot his feet are of lead; and in this instance his walk was over the +Prince's heart. By noon he was dreadfully wrought up. + +"Let them look to it, let them look to it!" he kept repeating, +sometimes shaking a clinched hand. Occasionally the idea to which he +thus darkly referred had power to bring him to a halt. "I have an +adversary. Who is he?" Ere long the question possessed him entirely. It +was then as if he despaired of recovering Lael, and had but one earthly +object--vengeance. "Ah, my God, my God! Am I to lose her, and never +know my enemy? Action, action, or I will go mad!" Uel came with his +usual report: "Alas! I have nothing." The Prince scarcely heard or saw +him. "There are but two places where this enemy can harbor," he was +repeating to himself--"but two; the palace and"--he brought his hands +together vehemently--"the church. Where else are they who have power to +arrest a whole people in earnest movement? Whom else have I offended? +Ay, there it is! I preached God; therefore the child must perish. So +much for Christian pity!" + +All the forces in his nature became active. + +"Go," he said to Uel, "order two men for my chair. Syama will attend +me." + +The merchant left him on the floor patting one hand with another. + +"Yes, yes, I will try it--I will see if there is such thing as +Christian pity--I will see. It may have swarmed, and gone to hive at +Blacherne." In going to the palace, he continually exhorted the porters: + +"Faster, faster, my men!" + +The officer at the gate received him kindly, and came back with the +answer, "His Majesty will see you." + +Again the audience chamber, Constantine on the dais, his courtiers each +in place; again the Dean in his role of Grand Chamberlain; again the +prostrations. Ceremony at Blacherne was never remitted. There is a +poverty which makes kings miserable. + +"Draw nearer, Prince," said Constantine, benignly. "I am very busy. A +courier arrived this morning from Adrianople with report that my august +friend, the Sultan Amurath, is sick, and his physicians think him sick +unto death. I was not prepared for the responsibilities which are +rising; but I have heard of thy great misfortune, and out of sympathy +bade my officer bring thee hither. By accounts the child was rarely +intelligent and lovely, and I did not believe there was in my capital a +man to do her such inhuman wrong. The progress of the search thou didst +institute so wisely I have watched with solicitude little less than +thine own. My officials everywhere have orders to spare no effort or +expense to discover the guilty parties; for if the conspiracy succeed +once, it will derive courage and try again, thus menacing every family +in my Empire. If thou knowest aught else in my power to do, I will +gladly hear it." + +The Emperor, intent upon his expressions, failed to observe the gleam +which shone in the Wanderer's eyes, excited by mention of the condition +of the Sultan. + +"I will not try Your Majesty's patience, since I know the +responsibilities to which you have referred concern the welfare of an +Empire, while I am troubled not knowing if one poor soul be dead or +alive; yet she was the world to me"--thus the Prince began, and the +knightly soul of the Emperor was touched, for his look softened, and +with his hand he gently tapped the golden cone of the right arm of his +throne. + +"That which brought me to your feet," the Prince continued, "is partly +answered. The orders to your officers exhaust your personal endeavor, +unless--unless"-- + +"Speak, Prince." + +"Your Majesty, I shrink from giving offence, and yet I have in this +terrible affair an enemy who is my master. Yesterday Byzantium adopted +my cause, and lent me her eyes and hands; before the sun went down her +ardor cooled; to-day she will not go a rood. What are we to think, what +do, my Lord, when gold and pity alike lose their influence? ... I will +not stop to say what he must be who is so much my enemy as to lay an +icy finger on the warm pulse of the people. When we who have grown old +cast about for a hidden foe, where do we habitually look? Where, except +among those whom we have offended? Whom have I offended? Here in the +audience you honored me with, I ventured to argue in favor of universal +brotherhood in faith, and God the principle of agreement; and there +were present some who dealt me insult, and menaced me, until Your +Majesty sent armed men to protect me from their violence. They have the +ear of the public--they are my adversaries. Shall I call them the +Church?" + +Constantine replied calmly: "The head of the Church sat here at my +right hand that day, Prince, and he did not interrupt you; neither did +he menace you. But say you are right--that they of whom you speak are +the Church--what can I do?" + +"The Church has thunders to terrify and subdue the wicked, and Your +Majesty is the head of the Church." + +"Nay, Prince, I fear thou hast studied us unfairly. I am a member--a +follower--a subscriber to the faith--its thunders are not mine." + +A despairing look overcast the countenance of the visitor, and he +trembled. "Oh, my God! There is no hope further--she is lost--lost!" +But recovering directly, he said: "I crave pardon for interrupting Your +Majesty. Give me permission to retire. I have much work to do." + +Constantine bowed, and on raising his head, declared with feeling to +his officers: "The wrong to this man is great." + +The Wanderer moved backward slowly, his eyes emitting uncertain light; +pausing, he pointed to the Emperor, and said, solemnly: "My Lord, thou +hadst thy power to do justice from God; it hath slipped from thee. The +choice was thine, to rule the Church or be ruled by it; thou hast +chosen, and art lost, and thy Empire with thee." + +He was at the door before any one present could arouse from surprise; +then while they were looking at each other, and making ready to cry +out, he came back clear to the dais, and knelt. There was in his manner +and countenance so much of utter hopelessness, that the whole court +stood still, each man in the attitude the return found him. + +"My Lord," he said, "thou mightest have saved me--I forgive thee that +thou didst not. See--here"--he thrust a hand in the bosom of his gown, +and from a pocket drew the great emerald--"I will leave thee this +talisman--it belonged to King Solomon, the son of David--I found it in +the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre--it is thine, my Lord, so thou fitly +punish the robber of the lost daughter of my soul, my Gul Bahar. +Farewell." + +He laid the jewel on the edge of the dais, and rising, betook himself +to the door again, and disappeared before the Dean was sufficiently +mindful of his duty. + +"The man is mad," the Emperor exclaimed. + +"Take up the stone"--he spoke to the Dean--"and return it to him +to-morrow." [Footnote: This identical stone, or one very like it, may +be seen in the "Treasury" which is part of the old Serail in Stamboul. +It is in the first room of entrance, on the second shelf of the great +case of curios, right-hand side.] For a time then the emerald was kept +passing from hand to hand by the courtiers, none of whom had ever seen +its peer for size and brilliance; more than one of them touched it with +awe, for despite a disposition to be incredulous in the matter of +traditions incident to precious stones, the legend here, left behind +him by the mysterious old man, was accepted--this was a talisman--it +had belonged to Solomon--it had been found by the Prince of India--and +he was a Prince--nobody but Indian Princes had such emeralds to give +away. But while they bandied the talisman about, the Emperor sat, his +chin in the palm of his right hand, the elbow on the golden cone, not +seeing as much as thinking, nor thinking as much as silently repeating +the strange words of the stranger: "Thou hadst thy power to do justice +from God; it hath slipped from thee. The choice was thine to rule the +Church or be ruled by it. Thou hast chosen, and art lost, and thy +Empire with thee." Was this prophetic? What did it mean? And by and by +he found a meaning. The first Constantine made the Church; now the +Church will unmake the last Constantine. How many there are who spend +their youth yearning and fighting to write their names in history, then +spend their old age shuddering to read them there! + +The Prince of India was scarcely in his study, certainly he was not yet +calmed down from the passion into which he had been thrown at +Blacherne, when Syama informed him there was a man below waiting to see +him. + +"Who is he?" + +The servant shook his head. + +"Well, bring him here." + +Presently a gypsy, at least in right of his mother, and tent-born in +the valley of Buyukdere, slender, dark-skinned, and by occupation a +fisherman, presented himself. From the strength of the odor he brought +with him, the yield of his net during the night must have been +unusually large. + +"Am I in presence of the Prince of India?" the man asked, in excellent +Arabic, and a manner impossible of acquisition except in the daily life +of a court of the period. + +The Prince bowed. + +"The Prince of India who is the friend of the Sultan Mahommed?" the +other inquired, with greater particularity. "Sultan Mahommed? Prince +Mahommed, you mean." + +"No--Mahommed the Sultan." + +A flash of joy leaped from the Prince's eyes--the first of the kind in +two days. + +The stranger addressed himself to explanation. + +"Forgive my bringing the smell of mullet and mackerel into your house. +I am obeying instructions which require me to communicate with you in +disguise. I have a despatch to tell who I am, and more of my business +than I know myself." + +The messenger took from his head the dirty cloth covering it, and from +its folds produced a slip of paper; with a salute of hand to breast and +forehead, declarative of a Turk to the habit born, he delivered the +slip, and walked apart to give opportunity for its reading. This was +the writing in free translation: + +"Mahommed, Son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans, to the Prince of India. + +"I am about returning to Magnesia. My father--may the prayers of the +Prophet, almighty with God, preserve him from long suffering!--is fast +falling into weakness of body and mind. Ali, son of Abed-din the +Faithful, is charged instantly the great soul is departed on its way to +Paradise to ride as the north wind flies, and give thee a record which +Abed-din is to make on peril of his soul, abating not the fraction of a +second. Thou wilt understand it, and the purpose of the sending." + +The Prince of India, with the slip in his hand, walked the floor once +from west to east to regain the mastery of himself. + +"Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful," he then said, "has a record for +me." + +Now the thongs of Ali's sandals were united just below the instep with +brass buttons; stooping he took off that of the left sandal, and gave +it a sharp twist; whereupon the top came off, disclosing a cavity, and +a ribbon of the finest satin snugly folded in it. He gave the ribbon to +the Prince, saying: + +"The button of the plane tree planted has not in promise any great +thing like this I take from the button of my sandal. Now is my mission +done. Praised be Allah!" And while the Prince read, he recapped the +button, and restored it in place. + +The bit of yellow satin, when unfolded, presented a diagram which the +Prince at first thought a nativity; upon closer inspection, he asked +the courier: + +"Son of Abed-din, did thy father draw this?" + +"No, it is the handiwork of my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed." + +"But it is a record of death, not of birth." + +"Insomuch is my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed, wiser in his youth than many +men in their age"--Ali paused to formally salute the opinion. "He +selected the ribbon, and drew the figure--did all you behold, indeed, +except the writing in the square; that he intrusted to my father, +saying at the time: 'The Prince of India, when he sees the minute in +the square, will say it is not a nativity; have one there to tell him +I, Mahommed, avouch, 'Twice in his life I had the throne from my august +father; now has he given it to me again, this third time with death to +certify it mine in perpetuity; wherefore it is but righteous holding +that the instant of his final secession must be counted the beginning +of my reign; for often as a man has back the property he parted from as +a loan, is it not his? What ceremony is then needed to perfect his +title?" + +"If one have wisdom, O son of Abed-din, whence is it except from Allah? +Let not thy opinion of thy young master escape thee. Were he to die +to-morrow"-- + +"Allah forbid!" exclaimed Ali. + +"Fear it not," returned the Prince, smiling at the young man's +earnestness: "for is it not written, 'A soul cannot die unless by +permission of God, according to a writing definite as to time'? +[Footnote: Koran, III. 139.]--I was about to say, there is not in his +generation another to lie as close in the bosom of the Prophet. Where +is he now?" + +"He rides doubtless to Adrianople. The moment I set out hither, which +was next minute after the great decease, a despatch was started for him +by Khalil the Grand Vizier." + +"Knowest thou the road he will take?" + +"By Gallipoli." + +"Behold, Ali!"--from his finger the Prince took a ring. "This for thy +good news. Now to the road again, the White Castle first. Tell the +Governor there to keep ward to-night with unlocked gates, for I may +seek them in haste. Then put thyself in the Lord Mahommed's way coming +from Gallipoli, and when thou hast kissed his sandals for me, and given +him my love and duty, tell him I have perfect understanding of the +nativity, and will meet him in Adrianople. Hast thou eaten and drunk?" + +"Eaten, not drunk, my Lord." + +"Come then, and I will put thee in the way to some red wine; for art +thou not a traveller?" + +The son of Abed-din saluted, saying simply: "_Meshallah!_" and was +presently in care of Syama; after which the Prince took the ribbon to +the table, spread it out carefully, and stood over it in the strong +light, studying the symbols and writing in the square of + +[Illustration: THE DIAGRAM.] + +"It is the nativity of an Empire, [Footnote: Since the conquest of +Constantinople by Mahommed, Turkey has been historically counted an +Empire.] not a man," the Prince said, his gaze still on the figure--"an +Empire which I will make great for the punishment of these robbers of +children." + +He stood up at the last word, and continued, excitedly: "It is the word +of God, else it had not come to me now nigh overcome and perishing in +bitter waters; and it calls me to do His will. Give over the child, it +says--she is lost to thee. Go up now, and be thou my instrument this +once again--I AM THE I AM whom Moses knew, the Lord God of Israel who +covenanted with Abraham, and with whom there is no forgetting--no, not +though the world follow the leaf blown into the mouth of a roaring +furnace. I hear, O God! I hear--I am going!" + +This, it will be observed, is the second of the two days of grace the +Prince appears to have given the city for the return of Lael; and as it +is rapidly going without a token of performance, our curiosity +increases to know the terrible thing in reserve of which some of his +outbursts have vaguely apprised us. + +A few turns across the floor brought him back to apparent calmness; +indeed, but for the fitful light in his eyes and the swollen veins +about his temples, it might be supposed he had been successful in +putting his distresses by. He brought Syama in, and, for the first time +in two days, took a seat. + +"Listen, and closely," he said; "for I would be sure you comprehend me. +Have you laid the Sacred Books in the boxes?" + +Syama, in his way, answered, yes. + +"Are the boxes secure? They may have to go a long journey." + +"Yes." + +"Did you place the jewels in new bags? The old ones were well nigh +gone." + +"Yes." + +"Are they in the gurglet now?" + +"Yes." + +"You know we will have to keep it filled with water." + +"Yes." + +"My medicines--are they ready for packing?" + +"Yes." + +"Return them to their cases carefully. I cannot afford to leave or lose +them. And the sword--is it with the books?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. Attend again. On my return from the voyage I made the other +day for the treasure you have in care"--he paused for a sign of +comprehension--"I retained the vessel in my service, and directed the +captain to be at anchor in the harbor before St. Peter's gate"--another +pause--"I also charged him to keep lookout for a signal to bring the +galley to the landing; in the day, the signal would be a blue +handkerchief waved; at night, a lantern swung four times thus"--he gave +the illustration. "Now to the purpose of all this. Give heed. I may +wish to go aboard to-night, but at what hour I cannot tell. In +preparation, however, you will get the porters who took me to the +palace to-day, and have them take the boxes and gurglet of which I have +been speaking to St. Peter's gate. You will go with them, make the +signal to the captain, and see they are safely shipped. The other +servants will accompany you. You understand?" + +Syama nodded. + +"Attend further. When the goods are on the galley, you will stay and +guard them. All the other property you will leave in the house here +just as it is. You are certain you comprehend?" + +"Yes." + +"Then set about the work at once. Everything must be on the ship before +dark." + +The master offered his hand, and the slave kissed it, and went softly +out. + +Immediately that he was alone, the Prince ascended to the roof. He +stood by the table a moment, giving a thought to the many times his Gul +Bahar had kept watch on the stars for him. They would come and go +regularly as of old, but she?--He shook with sudden passion, and walked +around taking what might have answered for last looks at familiar +landmarks in the wide environment--at the old church near by and the +small section of Blacherne in the west, the heights of Galata and the +shapely tower northwardly, the fainter glimpses of Scutari in the east. +Then he looked to the southwest where, under a vast expanse of sky, he +knew the Marmora was lying asleep; and at once his face brightened. In +that quarter a bank of lead-colored clouds stretched far along the +horizon, sending rifts lighter hued upward like a fan opening toward +the zenith. He raised his hand, and held it palm thitherward, and +smiled at feeling a breath of air. Somehow the cloud associated itself +with the purpose of which he was dreaming, for he said audibly, his +eyes fiercely lighted: + +"O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent +men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. But +now hast thou thy hand under my head; now the wind cometh, and their +punishment; and it is for me to scourge them." + +He lingered on the roof, walking sometimes, but for the most part +seated. The cloud in the southwest seemed the great attraction. Assured +it was still coming, he would drop awhile into deep thought. If there +were calls at the street door, he did not hear them. At length the sun, +going down, was met and covered out of sight by the curtain beyond the +Marmora. About the same time a wave of cold February air rolled into +the city, and to escape it he went below. + +The silence there was observable; for now Syama had finished, and the +house was deserted. Through the rooms upper and lower he stalked gloomy +and restless, pausing now and then to listen to a sufflation noisier +and more portentous than its predecessors; and the moans with which the +intermittent blast turned the corners and occasionally surged through +the windows he received smilingly, much as hospitable men welcome +friends, or as conspirators greet each other; and often as they +recurred, he replied to them in the sonorous words of the Psalm, and +the refrain, "Now the wind cometh, and the punishment." + +When night was fallen, he crossed the street to Uel's. After the first +greeting, the conversation between the two was remarkable chiefly for +its lapses. It is always so with persons who have a sorrow in +common--the pleasure is in their society, not in exchange of words. + +In one thing the brethren were agreed--Lael was lost. By and by the +Prince concluded it time for him to depart. There was a lamp burning +above the table; he went to it, and called Uel; and when he was come, +the elder drew out a sealed purse, saying: + +"Our pretty Gul Bahar may yet be found. The methods of the Lord we +believe in are past finding out. If it should be that I am not in the +city when she is brought home, I would not she should have cause to say +I ceased thinking of her with a love equal to yours--a father's love. +Wherefore, O son of Jahdai, I give you this. It is full of jewels, each +a fortune in itself. If she comes, they are hers; if a year passes, and +she is not found, they are yours to keep, give or sell, as you please. +You have furnished me happiness which this sorrow is not strong enough +to efface. I will not pay you, for acceptance in such kind were +shameful to you as the offer would be to me; yet if she comes not in +the year, break the seal. We sometimes wear rings in help of pleasant +memories." + +"Is your going so certain?" Uel asked. + +"O my youngest brother, I am a traveller even as you are a merchant, +with the difference, I have no home. So the Lord be with you. Farewell." + +Then they kissed each other tenderly. + +"Will I not hear from you?" Uel inquired. + +"Ah, thank you," and the Wanderer returned to him and said, as if to +show who was first in his very farewell thought: + +"Thank you for the reminder. If peradventure you too should be gone +when she is found, she will then be in want of a home. Provide against +that; for she is such a sweet stranger to the world." + +"Tell me how, and I will keep your wish as it were part of the Law." + +"There is a woman in Byzantium worthy to have Good follow her name +whenever it is spoken or written." + +"Give me her name, my Lord." + +"The Princess Irene." + +"But she is a Christian!" + +Uel spoke in surprise. + +"Yes, son of Jahdai, she is a Christian. Nevertheless send Lael to her. +Again I leave you where I rest myself--with God--our God." + +Thereupon he went out finally, and between gusts of wind regained his +own house. He stopped on entering, and barred the door behind him; then +he groped his way to the kitchen, and taking a lamp from its place, +raked together the embers smothering in a brazier habitually kept for +retention of fire, and lighted the lamp. He next broke up some stools +and small tables, and with the pieces made a pile under the grand +stairway to the second floor, muttering as he worked: "The proud are +risen against me; and now the wind cometh, and punishment." + +Once more he walked through the rooms, and ascended to the roof. There, +just as he cleared the door, as if it were saluting him, and determined +to give him a trial of its force, a blast leaped upon him, like an +embodiment out of the cloud in full possession of both world and sky, +and started his gown astream, and twisting his hair and beard into +lashes whipped his eyes and ears with them, and howled, and snatched +his breath nearly out of his mouth. Wind it was, and darkness somewhat +like that Egypt knew what time the deliverer, with God behind him, was +trying strength with the King's sorcerers--wind and darkness, but not a +drop of rain. He grasped the door-post, and listened to the crashing of +heavy things on the neighboring roofs, and the rattle of light things +for the finding of which loose here and there the gust of a storm may +be trusted where eyes are useless. And noticing that obstructions +served merely to break the flying forces into eddies, he laughed and +shouted by turns so the inmates of the houses near might have heard had +they been out as he was instead of cowering in their beds: "The proud +are risen against me, and the assembly of violent men have sought after +my soul; and now--ha, ha, ha!--the wind cometh and the punishment!" + +Availing himself of a respite in the blowing, he ran across the roof +and looked over into the street, and seeing nothing, neither light nor +living thing, he repeated the refrain with a slight variation: "And the +wind--ha, ha!--the wind _is_ come, and the punishment!"--then he fled +back, and down from the roof. + +And now the purpose in reserve must have revelation. + +The grand staircase sprang from the floor open beneath like a bridge. +Passing under it, he set the lamp against the heap of kindling there, +and the smell of scorching wood spread abroad, followed by smoke and +the crackle and snap of wood beginning to burn. + +It was not long until the flames, gathering life and strength, were +beyond him to stay or extinguish them, had he been taken with sudden +repentance. From step to step they leaped, the room meantime filling +fast with suffocating gases. When he knew they were beyond the efforts +of any and all whom they might attract, and must burst into +conflagration the instant they reached the lightest of the gusts +playing havoc outside, he went down on his hands and knees, for else it +had been difficult for him to breathe, and crawled to the door. Drawing +himself up there, he undid the bar, and edged through into the street; +nor was there a soul to see the puff of smoke and murky gleam which +passed out with him. + +His spirit was too drunken with glee to trouble itself with precautions +now; yet he stopped long enough to repeat the refrain, with a hideous +spasm of laughter: "And now--ha, ha!--the wind _is_ come, and the fire, +and the punishment." Then he wrapped his gown closer about his form +bending to meet the gale, and went leisurely down the street, intending +to make St. Peter's gate. + +Where the intersections left openings, the Jew, now a fugitive rather +than a wanderer--a fugitive nevertheless who knew perfectly where he +was going, and that welcome awaited him there--halted to scan the +cloudy floor of the sky above the site of the house he had just +abandoned. A redness flickering and unsteady over in that quarter was +the first assurance he had of the growth of the flame of small +beginning under the grand staircase. + +"Now the meeting of wind and fire!--Now speedily these hypocrites and +tongue-servers, bastards of Byzantium, shall know Israel has a God in +whom they have no lot, and in what regard he holds conniving at the +rape of his daughters. Blow, Wind, blow harder! Rise, Fire, and +spread--be a thousand lions in roaring till these tremble like hunted +curs! The few innocent are not more in the account than moths burrowed +in woven wool and feeding on its fineness. Already the guilty begin to +pray--but to whom? Blow, O Wind! Spread and spare not, O Fire!" + +Thus he exulted; and as if it heard him and were making answer to his +imprecations, a column, pinked by the liberated fire below it, a burst +of sparks in its core, shot up in sudden vastness like a Titan rushing +to seizure of the world; but presently the gale struck and toppled it +over toward Blacherne in the northwest. + +"That way points the punishment? I remember I offered him God and peace +and good-will to men, and he rejected them. Blow, Winds! Now are ye but +breezes from the south, spice-laden to me, but in his ears be as +chariots descending. And thou, O Fire! Forget not the justice to be +done, and whose servant thou art. Leave Heaven to say which is +guiltier; they who work at the deflowerment of the innocent, or he who +answers no to the Everlasting offering him love. Unto him be thou as +banners above the chariots!" + +Now a noise began--at first faint and uncertain, then, as the red +column sprang up, it strengthened, and ere long defined itself--Fire, +Fire! + +It seemed the city awoke with that cry. And there was peering from +windows, opening of doors, rushing from houses, and hurrying to where +the angry spot on the floor of the cloud which shut Heaven off was +widening and deepening. In a space incredibly quick, the streets--those +leading to the corner occupied by the Jew as well--became rivulets +flowing with people, and then blatant rivers. + +"My God, what a night for a fire!" + +"There will be nothing left of us by morning, not even ashes." + +"And the women and children--think of them!" + +"Fire--fire--fire!" + +Exchanges like these dinned the Jew until, finding himself an +obstruction, he moved on. Not a phase of the awful excitement escaped +him--the racing of men--half-clad women assembling--children staring +wild-eyed at the smoke extending luridly across the fifth and sixth +hills to the seventh--white faces, exclamations, and not seldom resort +to crucifixes and prayers to the Blessed Lady of Blacherne--he heard +and saw them all--yet kept on toward St. Peter's gate, now an easy +thing, since the thoroughfares were so aglow he could neither stumble +nor miss the right one. A company of soldiers running nearly knocked +him down; but finally he reached the portal, and passed out without +challenge. A brief search then for his galley; and going aboard, after +replying to a few questions about the fire, he bade the captain cast +off, and run for the Bosphorus. + +"It looks as if the city would all go," he said; and the mariner, +thinking him afraid, summoned his oarsmen, and to please him made +haste, as he too well might, for the light of the burning projected +over the wall, and, flung back from the cloud overhead far as the eye +could penetrate, illuminated the harbor as it did the streets, bringing +the ships to view, their crews on deck, and Galata, wall, housetops and +tower, crowded with people awestruck by the immensity of the calamity. + +When the galley outgoing cleared Point Serail, the wind and the long +swells beating in from the Marmora white with foam struck it with such +force that keeping firm grip of their oars was hard for the rowers, and +they began to cry out; whereupon the captain sought his passenger. + +"My Lord," he said, "I have plied these waters from boyhood, and never +saw them in a night like this. Let me return to the harbor." + +"What, is it not light enough?" + +The sailor crossed himself, and replied: "There is light enough--such +as it is!" and he shuddered. "But the wind, and the running sea, my +Lord"-- + +"Oh! for them, keep on. Under the mountain height of Scutari the +sailing will be plain." + +And with much wonder how one so afraid of fire could be so indifferent +to danger from flood and gale, the captain addressed himself to +manoeuvring his vessel. + +"Now," said the Jew, when at last they were well in under the Asiatic +shore--"now bear away up the Bosphorus." + +The light kept following him the hour and more required to make the +Sweet Waters and the White Castle; and even there the reflection from +the cloud above the ill-fated city was strong enough to cast half the +stream in shadow from the sycamores lining its left bank. + +The Governor of the Castle received the friend of his master, the new +Sultan, at the landing; and from the wall just before retiring, the +latter took a last look at the signs down where the ancient capital was +struggling against annihilation. Glutted with imaginings of all that +was transpiring there, he clapped his hands, and repeated the refrain +in its past form: + +"Now have the winds come, and the fire, and the punishment. So be it +ever unto all who encourage violence to children, and reject God." + +An hour afterwards, he was asleep peacefully as if there were no such +thing as conscience, or a misery like remorse. + + * * * * * + +Shortly after midnight an officer of the guard ventured to approach the +couch of the Emperor Constantine; in his great excitement he even shook +the sacred person. + +"Awake, Your Majesty, awake, and save the city. It is a sea of fire." + +Constantine was quickly attired, and went first to the top of the Tower +of Isaac. He was filled with horror by what he beheld; but he had +soldierly qualities--amongst others the faculty of keeping a clear head +in crises. He saw the conflagration was taking direction with the wind +and coming straight toward Blacherne, where, for want of aliment, it +needs must stop. Everything in its line of progress was doomed; but he +decided it possible to prevent extension right and left of that line, +and acting promptly, he brought the entire military force from the +barracks to cooperate with the people. The strategy was successful. + +Gazing from the pinnacle as the sun rose, he easily traced a blackened +swath cut from the fifth hill up to the eastward wall of the imperial +grounds; and, in proof of the fury of the gale, the terraces of the +garden were covered inches deep with ashes and scoriac-looking flakes +of what at sunset had been happy homes. And the dead? Ascertainment of +the many who perished was never had; neither did closest inquiry +discover the origin of the fire. The volume of iniquities awaiting +exposure Judgment Day must be immeasurable, if it is of the book +material in favor among mortals. + +The Prince of India was supposed to have been one of the victims of the +fire, and not a little sympathy was expended for the mysterious +foreigner. But in refuge at the White Castle, that worthy greedily +devoured the intelligence he had the Governor send for next day. One +piece of news, however, did more than dash the satisfaction he secretly +indulged--Uel, the son of Jahdai, was dead--and dead of injuries +suffered the night of the catastrophe. + +A horrible foreboding struck the grim incendiary. Was the old destiny +still pursuing him? Was it still a part of the Judgment that every +human being who had to do with him in love, friendship or business, +every one on whom he looked in favor, must be overtaken soon or late +with a doom of some kind? From that moment, moved by an inscrutable +prompting of spirit, he began a list of those thus unfortunate--Lael +first, then Uel. Who next? + +The reader will remember the merchant's house was opposite the +Prince's, with a street between them. Unfortunately the street was +narrow; the heat from one building beat across it and attacked the +other. Uel managed to get out safely; but recollecting the jewels +intrusted to him for Lael, he rushed back to recover them. Staggering +out again blind and roasting, he fell on the pave, and was carried off, +but with the purse intact. Next day he succumbed to the injuries. In +his last hour, he dictated a letter to the Princess Irene, begging her +to accept the guardianship of his daughter, if God willed her return. +Such, he said, was his wish, and the Prince of India's; and with the +missive, he forwarded the jewels, and a statement of the property he +was leaving in the market. They and all his were for the child--so the +disposition ran, concluding with a paragraph remarkable for the +confidence it manifested in the Christian trustee. "But if she is not +returned alive within a year from this date, then, O excellent +Princess, I pray you to be my heir, holding everything of mine yours +unconditionally. And may God keep you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT + + +We have seen the result of Sergius' interview with the Prince of India, +and remember that it was yet early in the morning after Lael's +disappearance when, in company with Nilo, he bade the eccentric +stranger adieu, and set forth to try his theory respecting the lost +girl. + +About noon he appeared southwest of the Hippodrome in the street +leading past the cistern-keeper's abode. Nilo, by arrangement, followed +at a distance, keeping him in sight. By his side there was a fruit +peddler, one of the every-day class whose successors are banes of life +to all with whom in the modern Byzantium a morning nap is the sweetest +preparation for the day. + +The peddler carried a huge basket strapped to his forehead. He was also +equipped with a wooden platter for the display of samples of his stock; +and it must be said the medlars, oranges, figs of Smyrna, and the +luscious green grapes in enormous clusters freshly plucked in the +vineyards on the Asiatic shore over against the Isles of the Princes, +were very tempting; especially so as the hour was when the whole world +acknowledges the utility of lunching as a stay for dinner. + +It is not necessary to give the conversation between the man of fruits +and the young Russian. The former was endeavoring to sell. Presently +they reached a point from which the cistern-keeper was visible, seated, +as usual, just within the door pommelling the pavement. Sergius stopped +there, and affected to examine his companion's stock; then, as if of a +mind, he said: + +"Oh, well! Let us cross the street, and if the man yonder will give me +a room in which I can eat to my content, I will buy of you. Let us try +him." + +The two made their way to the door. + +"Good day, my friend," Sergius said, to the keeper, who recognized him, +and rising, returned the salutation pleasantly enough. + +"You were here yesterday," he said, "I am glad to see you again. Come +in." + +"Thank you," Sergius returned. "I am hungry, and should like some of +this man's store; but it is uncomfortable eating in the street; so I +thought you might not be offended if I asked a room for the purpose; +particularly as I give you a hearty invitation to share the repast with +me." + +In support of the request the peddler held the platter to the keeper. +The argument was good, and straightway, assuming the air of a +connoisseur, the master of the house squeezed a medlar, and raising an +orange to his nose smelt it, calculated its weight, and answered: "Why, +yes--come right along to my sitting-room. I will get some knives; and +when we are through, we will have a bowl of water, and a napkin. Things +are not inviting out here as they might be." + +"And the peddler?" Sergius inquired. + +"Bring him along. We will make him show us the bottom of his basket. I +believe you said you are a stranger?" + +Sergius nodded. + +"Well, I am not," the keeper continued, complacently. "I know these +fellows. They all have tricks. Bring him in. I have no family. I live +alone." + +The monk acknowledged the invitation, but pausing to allow the peddler +to enter first, he at the same time lifted his hat as if to readjust +it; then a moment was taken to make a roll of the long fair hair, and +tuck it securely under the hat. That finished, he stepped into the +passage, and pursued after his host through a door on the left hand; +whereupon the passage to the court was clear. + +Now the play with the hat was a signal to Nilo. Rendered into words, it +would have run thus: "The keeper is employed, and the way open. Come!" +And the King, on the lookout, answered by sauntering slowly down, +mindful if he hurried he might be followed, there being a number of +persons in the vicinity. + +At the door, he took time to examine the front of the house; then he, +too, stepped into the passage and through it, and out into the court, +where, with a glance, he took everything in--paved area, the curbing +about the stairway to the water, the faces of the three sides of the +square opposite that of the entrance, all unbroken by door, window, or +panel, the sedan in the corner, the two poles lashed together and on +end by the sedan. He looked behind him--the passage was yet clear--if +seen coming in, he was not pursued. There was a smile on his shining +black face; and his teeth, serrated along the edges after the military +fashion in Kash-Cush, displayed themselves white as dressed coral. +Evidently he was pleased and confident. Next he went to the curb, shot +a quick look down the steps far as could be seen; thence he crossed to +the sedan, surveyed its exterior, and opened the door. The interior +appearing in good order, he entered and sat down, and closing the door, +arranged the curtain in front, drew it slightly aside and peeped out, +now to the door admitting from the passage, then to the curbing. Both +were perfectly under view. + +When the King issued from the chair, his smile was broader than before, +and his teeth seemed to have received a fresh enamelling. Without +pausing again, he proceeded to the opening of the cistern, and with his +hands on the curbing right and left, let himself lightly down on the +four stones of the first landing; a moment, and he began descent of the +steps, taking time to inspect everything discernible in the shadowy +space. At length he stood on the lower platform. + +He was now in serious mood. The white pillars were wondrous vast, and +the darkness--it may be doubted if night in its natural aspects is more +impressive to the savage than the enlightened man; yet it is certain +the former will take alarm quicker when shut in by walls of artful +contrivance. His imagination then peoples the darkness with spirits, +and what is most strange, the spirits are always unfriendly. To say now +that Nilo, standing on the lower platform, was wholly unmoved, would be +to deny him the sensibilities without which there can be none of the +effects usually incident to courage and cowardice. The vastness of the +receptacle stupefied him. The silence was a curtain he could feel; the +water, deep and dark, looked so suggestive of death that the +superstitious soul required a little time to be itself again. But +relief came, and he watched intently to see if there was a current in +the black pool; he could discover none; then, having gained all the +information he could, he ascended the steps and lifted himself out into +the court. A glance through the passage--another at the sky--and he +entered the sedan, and shut himself in. + +The discussion of the fruit in the keeper's sitting-room meantime was +interesting to the parties engaged in it. With excellent understanding +of Nilo's occupation in the court, Sergius exerted himself to detain +his host--if the term be acceptable--long as possible. + +Fortunately no visitors came. Settling the score, and leaving a +profusion of thanks behind him, he at length made his farewell, and +spent the remainder of the afternoon on a bench in the Hippodrome. + +Occasionally he went back to the street conducting to the cistern, and +walked down it far enough to get a view of the keeper still at the door. + +In the evening he ate at a confectionery near by, prolonging the meal +till near dusk, and thence, business being suspended, he idled along +the same thoroughfare in a manner to avoid attracting attention. + +Still later, he found a seat in the recess of an unused doorway nearly +in front of the house of such interest to him. + +The manoeuvres thus detailed advise the reader somewhat of the +particulars of the programme in execution by the monk and Nilo; nor +that only--they notify him of the arrival of a very interesting part of +the arrangement. In short, it is time to say that, one in the recess of +the door, the other shut up in the sedan, they are both on the lookout +for Demedes. Would he come? And when? + +Anticipating a little, we may remark, if he comes, and goes into the +cistern, Nilo is to open the street door and admit Sergius, who is then +to take control of the after operations. + +A little before sunset the keeper shut his front door. Sergius heard +the iron bolt shoot into the mortice. He believed Demedes had not seen +Lael since the abduction, and that he would not try to see her while +the excitement was up and the hunt going forward. But now the city was +settled back into quiet--now, if she were indeed in the cistern, he +would come, the night being in his favor. And further, if he merely +appeared at the house, the circumstance would be strongly corroborative +of the monk's theory; if he did more--if he actually entered the +cistern, there would be an end of doubt, and Nilo could keep him there, +while Sergius was bringing the authorities to the scene. Such was the +scheme; and he who looks at it with proper understanding must perceive +it did not contemplate unnecessary violence. On this score, indeed, the +Prince of India's significant reminder that he had found Nilo a savage, +had led Sergius to redoubled care in his instructions. + +The first development in the affair took place under the King's eye. + +Waiting in ambush was by no means new to him. He was not in the least +troubled by impatience. To be sure, he would have felt more comfortable +with a piece of bread and a cup of water; yet deprivations of the kind +were within the expectations; and while there was a hope of good issue +for the enterprise, he could endure them indefinitely. The charge given +him pertained particularly to Demedes. No fear of his not recognizing +the Greek. Had he not enjoyed the delight of holding him out over the +wall to be dropped to death? + +He was eager, but not impatient. His chief dependence was in the sense +of feeling, which had been cultivated so the slightest vibration along +the ground served him in lieu of hearing. The closing of the front door +by the keeper--felt, not heard--apprised him the day was over. + +Not long afterward the pavement was again jarred, bringing a return of +the sensations he used to have when, stalking lions in Kash-Cush, he +felt the earth thrill under the galloping of the camelopards stampeded. + +He drew the curtain aside slightly, just as a man stepped into the +court from the passage. The person carried a lighted lamp, and was not +Demedes. + +The cistern-keeper--for he it was--went to the curbing slowly, for the +advance airs of the gale were threatening his lamp, and dropped +dextrously through the aperture to the upper landing. + +In ambush the King never admitted anything like curiosity. Presently he +felt the pavement again jar. Nobody appeared at the passage. Another +tremor more decided--then the King stepped softly from the sedan, and +stealing barefooted to the curbing looked down the yawning hole. + +The lamp on the platform enabled him to see a boat drawn up to the +lower step, and the stranger in the act of stepping into it. Then the +lamp was shifted to the bow of the boat--oars taken in hand--a push +off, and swift evanishment. + +We, with our better information of the devices employed, know what a +simple trick it was on the keeper's part to bring the vessel to him--he +had but to pull the right string in the right direction--but Nilo was +left to his astonishment. Stealing back to his cover, he drew the door +to, and struggled with the mystery. + +Afterwhile, the mist dissipated, and a fact arose plainer to him than +the mighty hand on his knee. The cistern was inhabited--some person was +down there to be communicated with. What should the King do now? + +The quandary was trying. Finally he concluded to stay where he was. The +stranger might bring somebody back with him--possibly the lost +child--such Lael was in his thoughts of her. + +Afterwhile--he had no idea of time--he felt a shake run along the +pavement, and saw the stranger appear coming up the steps, lamp in +hand. Next instant the person crawled out of the curbing, and went into +the house through the passage doorway. The King never took eye from the +curbing--nobody followed after--the secret of the old reservatory was +yet a secret. + +Again Nilo debated whether to bring Sergius in, and again he decided to +stay where he was. + +Meantime the cloud which the Prince of India had descried from the roof +of his house arrived on the wings of the gale. Ere long Sergius was +shivering in the recess of the door. For relief he counted the beads of +his rosary, and there was scarcely a Saint in the calendar omitted from +his recitals. If there was potency in prayers the angels were in the +cistern ministering to Lael. + +The street became deserted. Everything living which had a refuge sought +it; yet the gale increased: it howled and sang dirges; it started the +innumerable loose trifles in its way to waltzing over the bowlders; +every hinged fixture on the exposed house-fronts creaked and banged. +Only a lover would voluntarily endure the outdoors of such a night--a +lover or a villain unusually bold. + +Near midnight--so Sergius judged--a dull redness began to tinge the +cloud overhead, and brightening rapidly, it ere long cast a strong +reflection downward. At first he was grateful for the light; +afterwhile, however, he detected an uproar distinguishable from the +wind; it had no rest or lulls, and in its rise became more and more a +human tone. When shortly people rushed past his cover crying fire, he +comprehended what it was. The illumination intensified. The whole city +seemed in danger. There were women and children exposed; yet here he +was waiting on a mere hope; there he could do something. Why not go? + +While he debated, down the street from the direction of the Hippodrome +he beheld a man coming fast despite the strength of the gusts. A cloak +wrapped him from head to foot, somewhat after the fashion of a toga, +and the face was buried in its folds; yet the air and manner suggested +Demedes. Instantly the watcher quit arguing; and forgetful of the fire, +and of the city in danger, he shrank closer into the recess. + +The thoroughfare was wider than common, and the person approaching on +the side opposite Sergius; when nearer, his low stature was observable. +Would he stop at the cistern-keeper's? + +Now he was at the door! + +The Russian's heart was in his mouth. + +Right in front of the door the man halted and knocked. The sound was so +sharp a stone must have been used. Immediately the bolt inside was +drawn, and the visitor passed in. + +Was it Demedes? The monk breathed again--he believed it was--anyhow the +King would determine the question, and there was nothing to do meantime +but bide the event. + +The sedan, it hardly requires saying, was a much more comfortable +ambush than the recess of the door. Nilo merely felt the shaking the +gale now and then gave the house. So, too, he bade welcome to the glare +in the sky for the flushing it transmitted to the court. Only a wraith +could have come from or gone into the cistern unseen by him. + +The clapping to of the front door on the street was not lost to the +King. Presently the person he had seen in the boat at the foot of the +steps again issued from the passage, lamp in hand as before; but as he +kept looking back deferentially, a gust leaped down, and extinguished +the flame, compelling him to return; whereupon another man stepped out +into the court, halting immediately. Nilo opened a little wider the gap +in the curtain through which he was peeping. + +It may be well to say here that the newcomer thus unwittingly exposing +himself to observation was the same individual Sergius had seen +admitted into the house. The keeper had taken him to a room for the +rearrangement of his attire. Standing forth in the light now filling +the court, he was still wrapped in the cloak, all except the head, +which was jauntily covered with a white cap, in style not unlike a +Scotch bonnet, garnished with two long red ostrich feathers held in +place by a brooch that shot forth gleams of precious stones in artful +arrangement. Once the man opened the cloak, exposing a vest of +fine-linked mail, white with silver washing, and furnished with +epaulettes or triangular plates, fitted gracefully to the shoulders. A +ruff, which was but the complement of a cape of heavy lace, clothed the +neck. + +To call the feeling which now shot through the King's every fibre a +sudden pleasure would scarcely be a sufficient description; it was +rather the delight with which soldiers old in war acknowledge the +presence of their foemen. In other words, the brave black recognized +Demedes, and was strong minded enough to understand and appreciate the +circumstances under which the discovery was made. If the savage arose +in him, it should be remembered he was there to revenge a master's +wrongs quite as much as to rescue a stolen girl. Moreover, the +education he had received from his master was not in the direction of +mercy to enemies. + +The two--Demedes and the keeper--lost no time in entering the cistern, +the latter going first. When the King thought they had reached the +lower platform, he issued from the chair barefooted, and bending over +the curbing beheld what went on below. + +The Greek was holding the lamp. The occupation of his assistant was +beyond comprehension until the boat moved slowly into view. Demedes +then set the lamp down, divested himself of his heavy wrap, and taking +the rower's seat, unshipped the oars. There was a brief conference; at +the conclusion the subordinate joined his chief; whereupon the boat +pushed off. + +Thus far the affair was singularly in the line of Sergius' +anticipations; and now to call him in! + +There is little room for doubt that Nilo was in perfect recollection of +the instructions he had received, and that his first intention was to +obey them; for, standing by the curbing long enough to be assured the +Greek was indeed in the gloomy cavern, whence escape was impossible +except by some unknown exit, he walked slowly away, and was in the +passage door when, looking back, he saw the keeper leaping out into the +court. + +To say truth, the King had witnessed the departure of the boat with +misgivings. Catching the robbers was then easy; yet rescue of the girl +was a different thing. What might they not do with her in the meantime? +As he understood his master, her safety was even more in purpose than +their seizure; wherefore his impulse was to keep them in sight without +reference to Sergius. He could swim--yes, but the water was cold, and +the darkness terrible to his imagination. It might be hours before he +found the hiding-place of the thieves--indeed, he might never overtake +them. His regret when he stepped into the passage was mighty; it +enables us, however, to comprehend the rush of impetuous joy which now +took possession of him. A step to the right, and he was behind the +cheek of the door. + +All unsuspicious of danger, the keeper came on; a few minutes, and he +would be in bed and asleep, so easy was he in conscience. The ancient +cistern had many secrets. What did another one matter? His foot was on +the lintel--he heard a rustle close at his side--before he could dart +back--ere he could look or scream, two powerful hands were around his +throat. He was not devoid of courage or strength, and resisted, +struggling for breath. He merely succeeded in drawing his assailant out +into the light far enough to get a glimpse of a giant and a face black +and horrible to behold. A goblin from the cistern! And with this idea, +he quit fighting, and sank to the floor. Nilo kept his grip +needlessly--the fellow was dead of terror. + +Here was a contingency not provided for in the arrangement Sergius had +laid out with such care. + +And what now? + +It was for the King to answer. + +He dragged the victim out in the court, and set a foot on his throat. +All the savage in him was awake, and his thoughts pursued Demedes. +Hungering for that life more than this one, he forgot the monk utterly. +Had he a plank--anything in the least serviceable as a float--he would +go after the master. He looked the enclosure over, and the sedan caught +his eye, its door ajar. The door would suffice. He took hold of the +limp body of the keeper, drew it after him, set it on the seat, and was +about wrenching the door away, when he saw the poles. They were twelve +or fourteen feet long and lashed together. On rafts not half so good he +had in Kash-Cush crossed swollen streams, paddling with his hands. To +take them to the cistern--to descend the steps with them--to launch +himself on them--to push out into the darkness, were as one act, so +swiftly were they accomplished. And going he knew not whither, but +scorning the thought of another man betaking himself where he dared +not, sustained by a feeling that he was in pursuit, and would have the +advantage of a surprise when at last he overtook the enemy, we must +leave the King awhile in order to bring up a dropped thread of our +story. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET + + +The reader will return--not unwillingly, it is hoped--to Lael. + +The keeper, on watch for her, made haste to bar the door behind the +carriers of the sedan, who, on their part, made greater haste to take +boat and fly the city. From his sitting-room he brought a lamp, and +opening the chair found the passenger in a corner to appearance dead. +The head was hanging low; through the dishevelled hair the slightest +margin of forehead shone marble white; a scarce perceptible rise and +fall of the girlish bosom testified of the life still there. A woman at +mercy, though dumb, is always eloquent. + +"Here she is at last!" the keeper thought, while making a profane +survey of the victim.... "Well, if beauty was his object--beauty +without love--he may be satisfied. That's as the man is. I would rather +have the bezants she has cost him. The market's full of just such +beauty in health and strength--beauty matured and alive, not wilted +like this! ... But every fish to its net, every man to his fate, as the +infidels on the other shore say. To the cistern she must go, and I must +put her there. Oh, how lucky! Her wits are out--prayers, tears, +resistance would be uncomfortable. May the Saints keep her!" Closing +the door of the sedan, he hurried out into the court, and thence down +the cistern stairs to the lower platform, where he drew the boat in, +and fixed it stationary by laying the oars across the gunwale from a +step. The going and return were quick. + +"The blood of doves, or the tears of women--I am not yet decided which +is hardest on a soul.... Come along!... There is a palace at the +further end of the road."... + +He lifted her from the chair. In the dead faint she was more an +inconvenient burden than a heavy one. + +At the curbing he sat her down while he returned for the lamp. The +steps within were slippery, and he dared take no risks. To get her into +the boat was trying: yet he was gentle as possible--that, however, was +from regard for the patron he was serving. He laid her head against a +seat, and arranged her garments respectfully. + +"O sweet Mother of Blacherne!" he then said, looking at the face for +the first time fully exposed. "That pin on the shoulder--Heavens, how +the stone flashes! It invites me." Unfastening the trinket, he secured +it under his jacket, then ran on: "She is so white! I must hurry--or +drop her overboard. If she dies"--his countenance showed concern, but +brightened immediately. "Oh, of course she jumped overboard to escape!" + +There was no further delay. With the lamp at the bow, he pushed off, +and rowed vigorously. Through the pillared space he went, with many +quick turns. It were vain saying exactly which direction he took, or +how long he was going; after a time, the more considerable on account +of the obstructions to be avoided, he reached the raft heretofore +described as in the form of a cross and anchored securely between four +of the immense columns by which the roof of the cistern was upheld. +Still Lael slept the merciful sleep. + +Next the keeper carried the unresisting body to a door of what in the +feeble light seemed a low, one-storied house--possibly hut were a +better word--thence into an interior where the blackness may be likened +to a blindfold many times multiplied. Yet he went to a couch, and laid +her upon it. + +"There--my part is done!" he muttered, with a long-drawn breath.... +"Now to illuminate the Palace! If she were to awake in this +pitch-black"--something like a laugh interrupted the speech--"it would +strangle her--oil from the press is not thicker." + +He brought in the light--in such essential midnight it was +indispensable, and must needs be always thought of--and amongst the +things which began to sparkle was a circlet of furbished metal +suspended from the centre of the ceiling. It proved to be a chandelier, +provided with a number of lamps ready for lighting; and when they were +all lit, the revelation which ensued while a lesson in extravagance was +not less a tribute to the good taste of the reckless genius by which it +was conceived. + +It were long reading the inventory of articles he had brought together +there for the edification and amusement of such as might become his +idols. They were everywhere apparently--books, pictures, musical +instruments--on the floor, a carpet to delight a Sultana mother--over +the walls, arras of silk and gold in alternate threads--the ceiling an +elaboration of wooden panels. + +By referring to the diagram of the raft, it will be seen one quarter +was reserved for a landing, while the others supported what may be +termed pavilions, leaving an interior susceptible of division into +three rooms. Standing under the circlet of light, an inmate could see +into the three open quarters, each designed and furnished for a special +use; this at the right hand, for eating and drinking; that at the left, +for sleeping; the third, opposite the door, for lounging and reading. +In the first one, a table already set glittered with ware in glass and +precious metals; in the second, a mass of pink plush and fairy-like +lace bespoke a bed; in the third were chairs, a lounge, and footrests +which had the appearance of having been brought from a Ptolemaic palace +only yesterday; and on these, strewn with an eye to artistic effect, +lay fans and shawls for which the harem-queens of Persia and Hindostan +might have contended. The "crown-jewel" of this latter apartment, +however, was undoubtedly a sheet of copper burnished to answer the +purpose of a looking-glass with a full-length view. On stands next the +mirror, was a collection of toilet necessaries. + +Elsewhere we have heard of a Palace of Love lying as yet in the high +intent of Mahommed; here we have a Palace of Pleasure illustrative of +Epicureanism according to Demedes. The expense and care required to +make it an actuality beget the inference that the float, rough outside, +splendid within, was not for Lael alone. A Princess of India might +inaugurate it, but others as fair and highborn were to come after her, +recipients of the same worship. Whosoever the favorite of the hour +might be, the three pavilions were certainly the assigned limits of her +being; while the getting rid of her would be never so easy--the water +flowing, no one knew whence or whither, was horribly suggestive. Once +installed there, it was supposed that longings for the upper world +would go gradually out. The mistress, with nothing to wish for not at +hand, was to be a Queen, with Demedes and his chosen of the philosophic +circle for her ministers. In other words, the Academic Temple in the +upper world was but a place of meeting; this was the Temple in fact. +There the gentle priests talked business; here they worshipped; and of +their psalter and litany, their faith and ceremonial practices, enough +that the new substitute for religion was only a reembodiment of an old +philosophy with the narrowest psychical idea for creed; namely, that +the principle of Present Life was all there was in man worth culture +and gratification. + +The keeper cared little for the furnishments and curios. He was much +more concerned in the restoration of his charge, being curious to see +how she would behave on waking. He sprinkled her face with water, and +fanned her energetically, using an ostrich wing of the whiteness of +snow, overlaid about the handle with scarab-gems. Nor did he forget to +pray. + +"O Holy Mother! O sweet Madonna of Blacherne! Do not let her die. +Darkness is nothing to thee. Thou art clothed in brightness. Oh, as +thou lovest all thy children, descend hither, and open her eyes, and +give her speech!" + +The man was in earnest. + +Greatly to his delight, he beheld the blood at length redden the pretty +mouth, and the eyelids begin to tremble. Then a long, deep inhalation, +and an uncertain fearful looking about; first at the circlet of the +lamps, and next at the keeper, who, as became a pious Byzantine, burst +into exclamation: + +"Oh Holy Mother! I owe you a candle!" + +Directly, having risen to a sitting posture, Lael found her tongue: + +"You are not my father Uel, or my father the Prince of India?" + +"No," he returned, plying the fan. + +"Where are they? Where is Sergius?" + +"I do not know." + +"Who are you?" + +"I am appointed to see that no harm comes to you." + +This was intended kindly enough; it had, however, the opposite effect. +She arose, and with both hands holding the hair from her eyes, stared +wildly at objects in the three rooms, and fell to the couch again +insensible. And again the water, the ostrich-wing, and the prayer to +the Lady of Blacherne--again an awakening. + +"Where am I?" she asked. + +"In the Palace of"-- + +He had not time to finish; with tears, and moans, and wringing of hands +she sat up: "Oh, my father! Oh, that I had heeded him! ... You will +take me to him, will you not? He is rich, and loves me, and he will +give you gold and jewels until you are rich. Only take me to him.... +See--I am praying to you!"--and she cast herself at his feet. + +Now the keeper was not used to so much loveliness in great distress, +and he moved away; but she tried to follow him on her knees, crying: +"Oh, as you hope mercy for yourself, take me home!" And beginning to +doubt his strength, he affected harshness. + +"It is useless praying to me. I could not take you out if your father +rained gold on me for a month--I could not if I wished to.... Be +sensible, and listen to me." + +"Then you did not bring me here." + +"Listen to me, I say.... You will get hungry and thirsty--there are +bread, fruit, and water and wine--and when you are sleepy, yonder is +the bed. Use your eyes, and you are certain to find in one room or the +other everything you can need; and whatever you put hand on is yours. +Only be sensible, and quit taking on so. Quit praying to me. Prayer is +for the Madonna and the Blessed Saints. Hush and hear. No? Well, I am +going now." + +"Going?--and without telling me where I am? Or why I was brought here? +Or by whom? Oh, my God!" + +She flung herself on the floor distracted; and he, apparently not +minding, went on: + +"I am going now, but will come back for your orders in the morning, and +again in the evening. Do not be afraid; it is not intended to hurt you; +and if you get tired of yourself, there are books; or if you do not +read, maybe you sing--there are musical instruments, and you can choose +amongst them. Now I grant you I am not a waiting-maid, having had no +education in that line; still, if I may advise, wash your face, and +dress your hair, and be beautiful as you can, for by and by he will +come"-- + +"Who will come?" she asked, rising to her knees, and clasping her hands. + +The sight was more than enough for him. He fled incontinently, saying: +"I will be back in the morning." As he went he snatched up the +indispensable lamp; outside, he locked the door; then rowed away, +repeating, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of women!" + +Left thus alone, the unfortunate girl lay on the floor a long time, +sobbing, and gradually finding the virtue there is in tears--especially +tears of repentance. Afterwhile, with the return of reason--meaning +power to think--the silence of the place became noticeable. Listening +closely, she could detect no sign of life--nothing indicative of a +street, or a house adjoining, or a neighbor, or that there was any +outdoors about her at all. The noise of an insect, the note of a bird, +a sough of wind, the gurgle of water, would have relieved her from the +sense of having in some way fallen off the earth, and been caught by a +far away uninhabited planet. That would certainly have been hard; but +worse--the idea of being doomed to stay there took possession of her, +and becoming intolerable, she walked from room to room, and even tried +to take interest in the things around. Will it ever be that a woman can +pass a mirror without being arrested by it? Before the tall copper +plate she finally stopped. At first, the figure she saw startled her. +The air of general discomfiture--hair loose, features tear-stained, +eyes red and swollen, garments disarranged--made it look like a +stranger. The notion exaggerated itself, and further on she found a +positive comfort in the society of the image, which not only looked +somebody else, but more and more somebody else who was lost like +herself, and, being in the same miserable condition, would be happy to +exchange sympathy for sympathy. + +Now the spectacle of a person in distress is never pleasant; wherefore +permission is begged to dismiss the passage of that night in the +cistern briefly as possible. From the couch to the mirror; fearing now, +then despairing; one moment calling for help, listening next, her +distracted fancy caught by an imaginary sound; too much fevered to care +for refreshments; so overwhelmed by the awful sense of being hopelessly +and forever lost, she could neither sleep nor control herself mentally. +Thus tortured, there were no minutes or hours to her, only a time, that +being a peculiarity of the strange planet her habitat. To be sure, she +explored her prison intent upon escape, but was as often beaten back by +walls without window, loophole or skylight--walls in which there was +but one door, fastened outside. + +The day following was to the captive in nothing different from the +night--a time divisionless, and filled with fear, suspense, and +horrible imaginings--a monotony unbroken by a sound. If she could have +heard a bell, though ever so faint, or a voice, to whomsoever +addressed, it would yet prove her in an inhabited world--nay, could she +but have heard a cricket singing! + +In the morning the keeper kept his appointment. He came alone and +without business except to renew the oil in the lamps. After a careful +survey of the palace, as he called it, probably in sarcasm, and as he +was about to leave, he offered, if she wanted anything, to bring it +upon his return. Was there ever prisoner not in want of liberty? The +proposal did but reopen the scene of the evening previous; and he fled +from it, repeating as before, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of +women!" + +In the evening he found her more tractable; so at least he thought; and +she was in fact quieter from exhaustion. None the less he again fled to +escape the entreaties with which she beset him. + +She took to the couch the second night. The need of nature was too +strong for both grief and fear, and she slept. Of course she knew not +of the hunt going on, or of the difficulties in the way of finding her; +and in this ignorance the sensation of being lost gradually yielded to +the more poignant idea of desertion. Where was Sergius? Would there +ever be a fitter opportunity for display of the superhuman intelligence +with which, up to this time, she had invested her father, the Prince of +India? The stars could tell him everything; so, if now they were silent +respecting her, it could only be because he had not consulted them. +Situations such as she was in are right quarters of the moon for +unreasonable fantasies; and she fell asleep oppressed by a conviction +that all the friendly planets, even Jupiter, for whose appearance she +had so often watched with the delight of a lover, were hastening to +their Houses to tell him where she was, but for some reason he ignored +them. + +Still later, she fell into a defiant sullenness, one of the many +aspects of despair. + +In this mood, while lying on the couch, she heard the sound of oars, +and almost immediately after felt the floor jar. She sat up, wondering +what had brought the keeper back so soon. Steps then approached the +door; but the lock there proving troublesome, suggested one +unaccustomed to it; whereupon she remembered the rude advice to wash +her face and dress her hair, for by and by somebody was coming. + +"Now," she thought, "I shall learn who brought me here, and why." + +A hope returned to her. + +"Oh, it may be my father has at last found me!" + +She arose--a volume of joy gathered in her heart ready to burst into +expression--when the door was pushed open, and Demedes entered. + +We know the figure he thus introduced to her. With averted face he +reinserted the key in the lock. She saw the key, heavy enough in +emergency for an aggressive weapon--she saw a gloved hand turn it, and +heard the bolt plunge obediently into its socket--and the flicker of +hope went out. She sunk upon the couch again, sullenly observant. + +The visitor--at first unrecognized by her--behaved as if at home, and +confident of an agreeable reception. Having made the door safe on the +outside, he next secured it inside, by taking the key out. Still +averting his face, he went to the mirror, shook the great cloak from +his shoulders, and coolly surveyed himself, turning this way and that. +He rearranged his cape, took off the cap, and, putting the plumes in +better relation, restored it to his head--thrust his gloves on one side +under a swordless belt, and the ponderous key under the same belt but +on the other side, where it had for company a straight dagger of +threatening proportions. + +Lael kept watch on these movements, doubtful if the stranger were aware +of her presence. Uncertainty on that score was presently removed. +Turning from the mirror, he advanced slowly toward her. When under the +circlet, just at the point where the light was most favorable for an +exhibition of himself, he stopped, doffed the cap, and said to her: + +"The daughter of the Prince of India cannot have forgotten me." + +Now if, from something said in this chronicle, the reader has been led +to exalt the little Jewess into a Bradamante, it were just to undeceive +him. She was a woman in promise, of fair intellect subordinate to a +pure heart. Any great thing said or done by her would be certain to +have its origin in her affections. The circumstances in which she would +be other than simple and unaffected are inconceivable. In the beautiful +armor, Demedes was handsome, particularly as there was no other man +near to force a comparison of stature; yet she did not see any of his +braveries--she saw his face alone, and with what feeling may be +inferred from the fact that she now knew who brought her where she was, +and the purpose of the bringing. + +Instead of replying, she shrank visibly further and further from him, +until she was an apt reminder of a hare cornered by a hound, or a dove +at last overtaken by a hawk. + +The suffering she had undergone was discernible in her appearance, for +she had not taken the advice of the keeper; in a word, she was at the +moment shockingly unlike the lissome, happy, radiant creature whom we +saw set out for a promenade two days before. Her posture was crouching; +the hair was falling all ways; both hands pressed hard upon her bosom; +and the eyes were in fixed gaze, staring at him as at death. She was in +the last extremity of fear, and he could not but see it. + +"Do not be afraid," he said, hurriedly, and in a tone of pity. "You +were never safer than you are here--I swear it, O Princess!" + +Observing no change in her or indication of reply, he continued: "I see +your fear, and it may be I am its object. Let me come and sit by you, +and I will explain everything--where you are--why you were brought +here--and by whom.... Or give me a place at your feet.... I will not +speak for myself, except as I love you--nay, I will speak for love." + +Still not a word from her--only a sullenness in which he fancied there +was a threat.... A threat? What could she do? To him, nothing; he was +in shirt of steel; but to herself much.... And he thought of suicide, +and then of--madness. + +"Tell me, O Princess, if you have received any disrespect since you +entered this palace? There is but one person from whom it could have +proceeded. I know him; and if, against his solemn oath, he has dared an +unseemly look or word--if he has touched you profanely--you may choose +the dog's death he shall die, and I will give it him. For that I wear +this dagger. See!" + +In this he was sincere; yet he shall be a student very recently come to +lessons in human nature who fails to perceive the reason of his +sincerity; possibly she saw it; we speak with uncertainty, for she +still kept silent. Again he cast about to make her speak. Reproach, +abuse, rage, tears in torrents, fury in any form were preferable to +that look, so like an animal's conscious of its last moment. + +"Must I talk to you from this distance? I can, as you see, but it is +cruel; and if you fear me"--he smiled, as if the idea were amusing. +"Oh! if you still fear me, what is there to prevent my compelling the +favors I beg?" + +The menace was of no more effect than entreaty. Paralysis of spirit +from fright was new to him; yet the resources of his wit were without +end. Going to the table, he looked it over carefully. + +"What!" he cried, turning to her with well-dissembled astonishment. +"Hast thou eaten nothing? Two days, and not a crumb of bread in thy +pretty throat?--not a drop of wine? This shall not go on--no, by all +the goodness there is in Heaven!" + +On a plate he then placed a biscuit and a goblet filled with red wine +of the clearest sparkle, and taking them to her, knelt at her feet. + +"I will tell you truly, Princess--I built this palace for you, and +brought you here under urgency of love. God deny me forever, if I once +dreamed of starving you! Eat and drink, if only to give me ease of +conscience." + +He offered the plate to her. + +She arose, her face, if possible, whiter than before. + +"Do not come near me--keep off!" Her voice was sharp and high. "Keep +off!... Or take me to my father's house. This palace is yours--you have +the key. Oh, be merciful!" + +Madness was very near her. + +"I will obey you in all things but one," he said, and returned the +plate to the table, content with having brought her to speech. "In all +things but one," he repeated peremptorily, standing under the circlet. +"I will not take you to your father's house. I brought you here to +teach you what I would never have a chance to teach you there--that you +are the idol for whom I have dared every earthly risk, and imperilled +my soul.... Sit down and rest yourself. I will not come near you +to-night, nor ever without your consent.... Yes, that is well. And now +you are seated, and have shown a little faith in my word--for which I +thank you and kiss your hand--hear me further and be reasonable.... You +shall love me." + +Into this declaration he flung all the passion of his nature. + +"No, no! Draw not away believing yourself in peril. You shall love me, +but not as a scourged victim. I am not a brute. I may be won too +lightly, by a voice, by bright eyes, by graces of person, by +faithfulness where faithfulness is owing, by a soul created for love +and aglow with it as a star with light; but I am not of those who kill +the beloved, and justify the deed, pleading coldness, scorn, preference +for another. Be reasonable, I say, O Princess, and hear how I will +conquer you.... Are not the better years of life ours? Why should I +struggle or make haste, or be impatient? Are you not where I have +chosen to put you?--where I can visit you day and night to assure +myself of your health and spirits?--all in the world, yet out of its +sight?... You may not know what a physician Time is. I do. He has a +medicine for almost every ailment of the mind, every distemper of the +soul. He may not set my lady's broken finger, but he will knit it so, +when sound again, the hurt shall be forgotten. He drops a month--in +extreme cases, a year or years--on a grief, or a bereavement, and it +becomes as if it had never been. So he lets the sun in on prejudices +and hates, and they wither, and where they were, we go and gather the +fruits and flowers of admiration, respect--ay, Princess, of love. Now, +in this cause, I have chosen Time for my best friend; he and I will +come together, and stay"-- + +The conclusion of the speech must be left to the reader, for with the +last word some weighty solid crashed against the raft until it trembled +throughout. Demedes stopped. Involuntarily his hand sought the dagger; +and the action was a confession of surprise. An interval of quiet +ensued; then came a trial of the lock--at first, gentle--another, with +energy--a third one rattled the strong leaf in its frame. + +"The villain! I will teach him--No, it cannot be--he would not +dare--and besides I have the boat." + +As Demedes thus acquitted the keeper, he cast a serious glance around +him, evidently in thought of defence. + +Again the raft was shaken, as if by feet moving rapidly under a heavy +burden. Crash!--and the door was splintered. Once more--crash!--and +door and framework shot in--a thunderbolt had not wrought the wreck +more completely. + +Justice now to the Greek. Though a genius all bad, he was manly. +Retiring to a position in front of Lael, he waited, dagger in hand. And +he had not breathed twice, before Nilo thrust his magnificent person +through the breach, and advanced under the circlet. + +Returning now. Had the King been in toils, and hard pressed, he would +not have committed himself to the flood and darkness of the cistern in +the manner narrated; at least the probabilities are he would have +preferred battle in the court, and light, though of the city on fire, +by which to conquer or die. But his blood was up, and he was in +pursuit, not at bay; to the genuine fighting man, moreover, a taste of +victory is as a taste of blood to tigers. He was not in humor to bother +himself with practical considerations such as--If I come upon the +hiding-place of the Greek, how, being deaf and dumb, am I to know it? +Of what use are eyes in a hollow rayless as this? Whether he considered +the obvious personal dangers of the adventure--drowning, for +instance--is another matter. + +The water was cold, and his teeth chattered; for it will be recollected +he was astride the poles of the sedan, lashed together. That his body +was half submerged was a circumstance he little heeded, since it was +rather helpful than otherwise to the hand strokes with which he +propelled himself. Nor need it be supposed he moved slowly. The speed +attainable by such primitive means in still water is wonderful. + +Going straight from the lower platform of the stair, he was presently +in total darkness. With a row of columns on either hand, he managed to +keep direction; and how constantly and eagerly he employed the one +available sense left him may be imagined. His project was to push on +until stayed by a boundary wall--then he would take another course, and +so on to the end. The enemy, by his theory, was in a boat or floating +house. Hopeful, determined, inspirited by the prospect of combat, he +made haste as best he could. At last, looking over his left shoulder, +he beheld a ruddy illumination, and changed direction thither. +Presently he swept into the radius of a stationary light, broken, of +course, by intervening pillars and the shadows they cast; then, at his +right, a hand lamp in front of what had the appearance of a house +rising out of the water, startled him. + +Was it a signal? + +The King approached warily, until satisfied no ambush was +intended--until, in short, the palace of the Greek was before him. + +It was his then to surprise; so he drove the ends of the poles against +the landing with force sufficient, as we have seen, to interrupt +Demedes explaining how he meant to compel the love of Lael. + +With all his nicety of contrivance, the Greek had at the last moment +forgotten to extinguish the lamp or take it into the house with him. +The King recognized it and the boat, yet circumspectly drew his humble +craft up out of the water. He next tried the lock, and then the door; +finally he used the poles as a ram. + +Taking stand under the circlet, there was scant room between it and the +blue handkerchief on his head; while the figure he presented, nude to +the waist, his black skin glistening with water, his trousers clinging +to his limbs, his nostrils dilating, his eyes jets of flame, his cruel +white teeth exposed--this figure the dullest fancy can evoke--and it +must have appeared to the guilty Greek a very genius of vengeance. + +Withal, however, the armor and the dagger brought Demedes up to a +certain equality; and, as he showed no flinching, the promise of combat +was excellent. It happened, however, that while the two silently +regarded each other, Lael recognized the King, and unable to control +herself, gave a cry of joy, and started to him. Instinctively Demedes +extended a hand to hold her back; the giant saw the opening; two steps +so nearly simultaneous the movement was like a leap--and he had the +wrist of the other's armed hand in his grip. Words can convey no idea +of the outburst attending the assault--it was the hoarse inarticulate +falsetto of a dumb man signalizing a triumph. If the reader can think +of a tiger standing over him, its breath on his cheek, its roar in his +ears, something approximate to the effect is possible. + +The Greek's cap fell off, and the dagger rattled to the floor. His +countenance knit with sudden pain--the terrible grip was crushing the +bones--yet he did not submit. With the free hand, he snatched the key +from his belt, and swung it to strike--the blow was intercepted--the +key wrenched away. Then Demedes' spirit forsook him--mortal terror +showed in his face turned gray as ashes, and in his eyes, enlarged yet +ready to burst from their sockets. He had not the gladiator's +resignation under judgment of death. + +"Save me, O Princess, save me!... He is killing me.... My +God--see--hear--he is crushing my bones!... Save me!" + +Lael was then behind the King, on her knees, thanking Heaven for +rescue. She heard the imploration, and, woman-like, sight of the awful +agony extinguished the memory of her wrongs. + +"Spare him, Nilo, for my sake, spare him!" she cried. + +It was not alone her wrongs that were forgotten--she forgot that the +avenger could not hear. + +Had he heard, it is doubtful if he had obeyed; for we again remark he +was fighting less for her than for his master--or rather for her in his +master's interest. And besides, it was the moment of victory, when, of +all moments, the difference between the man born and reared under +Christian influences and the savage is most impressible. + +While she was entreating him, he repeated the indescribable howl, and +catching Demedes bore him to the door and out of it. At the edge of the +landing, he twisted his fingers in the long locks of the screaming +wretch, whose boasted philosophy was of so little worth to him now that +he never thought of it--then he plunged him in the water, and held him +under until--enough, dear reader! + +Lael did not go out. The inevitable was in the negro's face. Retreating +to the couch, she there covered her ears with her hands, trying to +escape the prayers the doomed man persisted to the last in addressing +her. + +By and by Nilo returned alone. + +He took the cloak from the floor, wrapped her in it, and signed her to +go with him; but the distresses she had endured, together with the +horrors of the scene just finished, left her half fainting. In his arms +she was a child. Almost before she knew it, he had placed her in the +boat. With a cord found in the house, he tied the poles behind the +vessel, and set out to find the stairs, the tell-tale lamp twinkling at +the bow. + +Safely arrived there, the good fellow carried his fair charge up the +steps to the court--descending again, he brought the poles--going back +once more, he drew the boat on the lower platform. Then to hasten to +the street door, unbar it, and admit Sergius were scarce a minute's +work. + +The monk's amazement and delight at beholding Lael, and hers at sight +of him, require no labored telling. At that meeting, conventionalities +were not observed. He carried her into the passage, and gave her the +keeper's chair; after which, reminded of the programme so carefully +laid out by him, he returned with Nilo to the court, where the +illumination in the sky still dropped its relucent flush. Turning the +King face to him he asked: + +"Where is the keeper?" + +The King walked to the sedan, opened the door, and dragging the dead +man forth, flung him sprawling on the pavement. + +Sergius stood speechless, seeing what the victor had not--arrests, +official inquests, and the dread machinery of the law started, with +results not in foresight except by Heaven. Before he had fairly +recovered, Nilo had the sedan out and the poles fixed to it, and in the +most cheerful, matter-of-fact manner signed him to take up the forward +ends. + +"Where is the Greek?" the monk asked. + +That also the King managed to answer. + +"In the cistern--drowned!" exclaimed Sergius, converting the reply into +words. + +The King drew himself up proudly. + +"O Heavens! What will become of us?" + +The exclamation signified a curtain rising upon a scene of prosecution +against which the Christian covered his face with his hands.... Again +Nilo brought him back to present duty.... In a short time Lael was in +the chair, and they bearing her off. + +Sergius set out first for Uel's house. The time was near morning; but +for the conflagration the indications of dawn might have been seen in +the east. He was not long in getting to understand the awfulness of the +calamity the city had suffered, and that, with thousands of others, the +dwellings of Uel and the Prince of India were heaps of ashes on which +the gale was expending its undiminished strength. + +What was to be done with Lael? + +This Sergius answered by leading the way to the town residence of the +Princess Irene. There the little Jewess was received, while he took +boat and hurried to Therapia. + +The Princess came down, and under her roof, Lael found sympathy, rest, +and safety. In due time also Uel's last testament reached her, with the +purse of jewels left by the Prince of India, and she then assumed +guardianship of the bereaved girl. + + + + +BOOK V + +MIRZA + + +CHAPTER I + +A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE + + +It is now the middle of February, 1451. Constantine has been Emperor a +trifle over three years, and proven himself a just man and a +conscientious ruler. How great he is remains for demonstration, since +nothing has occurred to him--nothing properly a trial of his higher +qualities. + +In one respect the situation of the Emperor was peculiar. The highway +from Gallipoli to Adrianople, passing the ancient capital on the south, +belonged to the Turks, and they used it for every purpose--military, +commercial, governmental--used it as undisputedly within their domain, +leaving Constantine territorially surrounded, and with but one +neighbor, the Sultan Amurath. + +Age had transformed the great Moslem; from dreams of conquest, he had +descended to dreams of peace in shaded halls and rose-sprent gardens, +with singers, story-tellers, and philosophers for companions, and +women, cousins of the houris, to carpet the way to Paradise; but for +George Castriot, [Footnote: Iskander-beg--Scanderbeg. _Vide_ GIBBON's +_Roman Empire._] he had abandoned the cimeter. Keeping terms of amity +with such a neighbor was easy--the Emperor had merely to be himself +peaceful. Moreover, when John Palaeologus died, the succession was +disputed by Demetrius, a brother to Constantine. Amurath was chosen +arbitrator, and he decided in favor of the latter, placing him under a +bond of gratitude. + +Thus secure in his foreign relations, the Emperor, on taking the +throne, addressed himself to finding a consort; of his efforts in that +quest the reader is already informed, leaving it to be remarked that +the Georgian Princess at last selected for him by Phranza died while +journeying to Constantinople. This, however, was business of the +Emperor's own inauguration, and in point of seriousness could not stand +comparison with another affair imposed upon him by inheritance--keeping +the religious factions domiciled in the capital from tearing each other +to pieces. The latter called for qualities he does not seem to have +possessed. He permitted the sectaries to bombard each other with +sermons, bulletins and excommunications which, on the ground of scandal +to religion, he should have promptly suppressed; his failure to do so +led to its inevitable result--the sectaries presently dominated him. + +Now, however, the easy administration of the hitherto fortunate Emperor +is to vanish; two additional matters of the gravest import are thrust +upon him simultaneously, one domestic, the other foreign; and as both +of them become turning points in our story, it is advisable to attend +to them here. + +When the reins of government fell from the hands of Amurath, they were +caught up by Mahommed; in other words, Mahommed is Sultan, and the old +regime, with its friendly policies and stately courtesies, is at an +end, imposing the necessity for a recast of the relations between the +Empires. What shall they be? Such is the foreign question. + +Obviously, the subject being of vital interest to the Greek, it was for +him to take the initiative in bringing about the definitions desired. +With keen appreciation of the danger of the situation he addressed +himself to the task. Replying to a request presented through the +ambassador resident at Adrianople, Mahommed gave him solemn assurances +of his disposition to observe every existing treaty. The response seems +to have made him over-confident. Into the gilded council chamber at +Blacherne he drew his personal friends and official advisers, and heard +them with patience and dignity. At the close of a series of +deliberative sessions which had almost the continuity of one session, +two measures met his approval. Of these, the first was so extraordinary +it is impossible not to attribute its suggestion to Phranza, who, to +the immeasurable grief and disgust of our friend the venerable Dean, +was now returned, and in the exercise of his high office of Grand +Chamberlain. + +Allusion has been already made to the religious faith of the mother of +Mahommed. [Footnote: "For it was thought that his (Amurath's) eldest +son Mahomet, after the death of his father, would have embraced the +Christian Religion, being in his childhood instructed therein, as was +supposed, by his mother, the daughter of the Prince of Servia, a +Christian."--KNOLLES' _Turk. Hist._, 239, Vol. I. + +"He (Mahommed) also entered into league with Constantinus Palaeologus, +the Emperor of Constantinople, and the other Princes of Grecia; as also +with the Despot of Servia, his Grandfather by the mother's side, as +some will have it; howbeit some others write that the Despot his +daughter, Amurath his wife (the Despot's daughter, Amurath's wife) was +but his Mother-in-law, whom he, under colour of Friendship, sent back +again unto her Father, after the death of Amurath, still allowing her a +Princely Dowery."--_Ibid_. 230. + +On this very interesting point both Von Hammer and Gibbon are somewhat +obscure; the final argument, however, is from Phranza: "After the +taking of Constantinople, she (the Princess) fled to Mahomet II." +(GIBBON'S _Rom. Emp._, Note 52, 12.) The action is significant of a +mother. Mothers-in-law are not usually so doting.] The daughter of a +Servian prince, she is supposed to have been a Christian. After the +interment of Amurath, she had been returned to her native land. Her age +was about fifty. Clothed with full powers, the Grand Chamberlain was +despatched to Adrianople to propose a marriage between His Majesty, the +Emperor, and the Sultana mother. The fears and uncertainties besetting +the Greek must have been overwhelming. + +The veteran diplomat was at the same time entrusted with another affair +which one would naturally think called for much less delicacy in +negotiation. There was in Constantinople then a refugee named Orchan, +of whose history little is known beyond the fact that he was a grandson +of Sultan Solyman. Sometime presumably in the reign of John +Palaeologus, the Prince appeared in the Greek capital as a pretender to +the Sultanate; and his claim must have had color of right, at least, +since he became the subject of a treaty between Amurath and his +Byzantine contemporary, the former binding himself to pay the latter an +annual stipend in aspers in consideration of the detention of the +fugitive. + +With respect to this mysterious person, the time was favorable, in the +opinion of the council, for demanding an increase of the stipend. +Instructions concerning the project were accordingly delivered to Lord +Phranza. + +The High Commissioner was received with flattering distinction at +Adrianople. He of course presented himself first to the Grand Vizier, +Kalil Pacha, of whom the reader may take note, since, aside from his +reappearances in these pages, he is a genuine historic character. To +further acquaintance with him, it may be added that he was truly a +veteran in public affairs, a member of the great family to which the +vizierat descended almost in birthright, and a friend to the Greeks, +most likely from long association with Amurath, although he has +suffered severe aspersion on their account. Kalil advised Phranza to +drop the stipend. His master, he said, was not afraid of Orchan, if the +latter took the field as an open claimant, short work would be made of +him. The warning was disregarded. Phranza submitted his proposals to +Mahommed directly, and was surprised by his gentleness and suavity. +There was no scene whatever. On the contrary, the marriage overture was +forwarded to the Sultana with every indication of approval, nor was the +demand touching the stipend rejected; it was simply deferred. Phranza +lingered at the Turkish capital, pleased with the attentions shown him, +and still more with the character of the Sultan. + +In the judgment of the Envoy the youthful monarch was the incarnation +of peace. What time he was not mourning the loss of his royal father, +he was studying designs for a palace, probably the Watch Tower of the +World (_Jehan Numa_), which he subsequently built in Adrianople. + +Well for the trusting master in Blacherne, well for Christianity in the +East, could the credulous Phranza have looked in upon the amiable young +potentate during one of the nights of his residence in the Moslem +capital! He would have found him in a chamber of impenetrable privacy, +listening while the Prince of India proved the calculations of a +horoscope decisive of the favorable time for beginning war with the +Byzantines. + +"Now, my Lord," he could have heard the Prince say, when the last of +the many tables had been refooted for the tenth time--"now we are ready +for the ultimate. We are agreed, if I mistake not"--this was not merely +a complimentary form of speech, for Mahommed, it should be borne in +mind, was himself deeply versed in the intricate and subtle science of +planetary prediction--"we are agreed that as thou art to essay the war +as its beginner, we should have the most favorable Ascendant, +determinable by the Lord, and the Planet or Planets therein or in +conjunction or aspect with the Lord; we are also agreed that the Lord +of the Seventh House is the Emperor of Constantinople; we are also +agreed that to have thee overcome thy adversary, the Emperor, it is +better to have the Ascendant in the House of one of the Superior +Planets, Saturn, Jupiter or Mars"-- + +"Jupiter would be good, O Prince," said Mahommed, intensely interested, +"yet I prefer Mars." + +"My Lord is right again." The Seer hesitated slightly, then explained +with a deferential nod and smile: "I was near saying my Lord is always +right. Though some of the adepts have preferred Scorpio for the +Ascendant, because it is a fixed sign, Mars pleases me best; wherefore +toward him have I directed all my observations, seeking a time when he +shall certainly be better fortified than the Lord of the Seventh House, +as well as elevated above him in our figure of the Heavens." + +Mahommed leaned far over toward the Prince, and said imperiously, his +eyes singularly bright: "And the ultimate--the time, the time, O +Prince! Hast thou found it? Allah forbid it be too soon!--There is so +much to be done--so much of preparation." + +The Prince smiled while answering: + +"My Lord is seeing a field of glory--his by reservation of destiny--and +I do not wonder at his impatience to go reaping in it; but" (he became +serious) "it is never to be forgotten--no, not even by the most exalted +of men--that the Planets march by order of Allah alone." ... Then +taking the last of the calculations from the table at his right hand, +he continued: "The Ascendant permits my Lord to begin the war next +year." + +Mahommed heard with hands clinched till the nails seemed burrowing in +the flesh of the palms. + +"The day, O Prince!--the day--the hour!" he exclaimed. + +Looking at the calculation, the Prince appeared to reply from it: "At +four o'clock, March twenty-sixth"-- + +"And the year?" + +"Fourteen hundred and fifty-two." + +"_Four o'clock, March twenty-sixth, fourteen hundred and fifty-two_," +Mahommed repeated slowly, as if writing and verifying each word. Then +he cried with fervor: "There is no God but God!" + +Twice he crossed the floor; after which, unwilling probably to submit +himself at that moment to observation by any man, he returned to the +Prince: + +"Thou hast leave to retire; but keep within call. In this mighty +business who is worthier to be the first help of my hands than the +Messenger of the Stars?" + +The Prince saluted and withdrew. + +At length Phranza wearied of waiting, and being summoned home left the +two affairs in charge of an ambassador instructed to forego no +opportunity which might offer to press them to conclusions. Afterwhile +Mahommed went into Asia to suppress an insurrection in Caramania. The +Greek followed him from town to camp, until, tiring of the importunity, +the Sultan one day summoned him to his tent. + +"Tell my excellent friend, the Lord of Constantinople, thy master, that +the Sultana Maria declines his offer of marriage." + +"Well, my Lord," said the ambassador, touched by the brevity of the +communication, "did not the great lady deign an explanation?" + +"She declined--that is all." + +The ambassador hurried a courier to Constantinople with the answer. For +the first time he ventured to express a doubt of the Turk's sincerity. + +He would have been a wiser man and infinitely more useful to his +sovereign, could he have heard Mahommed again in colloquy with the +Prince of India. + +"How long am I to endure this dog of a _Gabour?_" [Footnote: Mahommed +always wrote and spoke of Byzantines as _Romans_, except when in +passion; then he called them _Gabours_.] asked the Sultan, angrily. "It +was not enough to waylay me in my palace; he pursued me into the field; +now he imbitters my bread, now at my bedside he drives sleep from me, +now he begrudges me time for prayer. How long, I say?" + +The Prince answered quietly: "Until March twenty-sixth, fourteen +hundred and fifty-two." + +"But if I put him to sleep, O Prince?" + +"His master will send another in his place." + +"Ah, but the interval! Will it not be so many days of rest?--so many +nights of unbroken sleep?" + +"Has my Lord finished his census yet? Are his arsenals full? Has he his +ships, and sailors, and soldiers? Has he money according to the +estimate?" + +"No." + +"My Lord has said he must have cannon. Has he found an artificer to his +mind?" + +Mahommed frowned. + +"I will give my Lord a suggestion. Does it suit him to reply now to the +proposal of marriage, keeping the matter of the stipend open, he may +give half relief and still hold the Emperor, who stands more in need of +bezants than of a consort." + +"Prince," said Mahommed, quickly, "as you go out send my secretary in." + +"Despatch a messenger for the ambassador of my brother of +Constantinople. I will see him immediately." + +This to the secretary. + +And presently the ambassador had the matter for report above recited. +In the report he might have said with truth--a person styling himself +_Prince of India_ has risen to be Grand Vizier in fact, leaving the +title to Kalil. + +These negotiations, lamentably barren of good results, were stretched +through half the year. But it is necessary to leave them for the time, +that we may return and see if the Emperor had better success in the +management of the domestic problem referred to as an inheritance. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB + + +The great fire burned its way broadly over two hills of the city, +stopping at the wall of the garden on the eastern front of Blacherne. +How it originated, how many houses were destroyed, how many of the +people perished in the flames and in the battle waged to extinguish +them, were subjects of unavailing inquiry through many days. + +For relief of the homeless, Constantine opened his private coffers. He +also assumed personal direction of the removal of the debris cumbering +the unsightly blackened districts, and, animated by his example, the +whole population engaged zealously in the melancholy work. When Galata, +laying her jealousies aside, contributed money and sent companies of +laborers over to the assistance of her neighbor, it actually seemed as +if the long-forgotten age of Christian brotherhood was to be renewed. +But, alas! This unity, bred of so much suffering, so delightful as a +rest from factious alarms, so suggestive of angelic society and +heavenly conditions in general, disappeared--not slowly, but almost in +a twinkling. + +It was afternoon of the second day after the fire. Having been on +horseback since early morning, the Emperor, in need of repose, had +returned to his palace; but met at the portal by an urgent request for +audience from the Princess Irene, he received her forthwith. The reader +can surmise the business she brought for consideration, and also the +amazement with which her royal kinsman heard of the discovery and +rescue of Lael. For a spell his self-possession forsook him. In +anticipation of the popular excitement likely to be aroused by the +news, he summoned his councillors, and after consultation, appointed a +commission to investigate the incident, first sending a guard to take +possession of the cistern. + +Like their master, the commissioners had never heard of the first +profanation of the ancient reservoir; as a crime, consequently, this +repetition was to them original in all its aspects, and they addressed +themselves to the inquiry incredulously; but after listening to +Sergius, and to the details the little Jewess was able to give them, +the occurrence forced itself on their comprehension as more than a +crime at law--it took on the proportions and color of a conspiracy +against society and religion. Then its relative consequences presented +themselves. Who were concerned in it? + +The name of Demedes startled them by suddenly opening a wide horizon of +conjecture. Some were primarily disposed to welcome the intelligence +for the opportunity it offered His Majesty to crush the Academy of +Epicurus, but a second thought cooled their ardor; insomuch that they +began drawing back in alarm. The Brotherhood of the St. James' was +powerful, and it would certainly resent any humiliation their venerable +Hegumen might sustain through the ignominious exposure of his son. + +In great uncertainty, and not a little confusion, the commissionate +body hied from the Princess Irene to the cistern. While careful to hide +it from his associates, each of them went with a scarce admitted hope +that there would be a failure of the confirmations at least with +respect to the misguided Demedes; and not to lose sight of Nilo, in +whom they already discerned a serviceable scapegoat, they required him +to go with them. + +The revelations call for a passing notice. In the court the body of the +keeper was found upon the pavement. The countenance looked the terror +of which the man died, and as a spectacle grimly prepared the beholders +for the disclosures which were to follow. + +There was need of resolution to make the dismal ferriage from the lower +platform in the cistern, but it was done, Nilo at the oars. When the +visitors stepped on the landing of the "palace," their wonder was +unbounded. When they passed through the battered doorway, and standing +under the circlet, in which the lights were dead, gazed about them, +they knew not which was most astonishing, the courage of the majestic +black or the audacity of the projector of the villanous scheme. But +where was he? We may be sure there was no delay in the demand for him. +While the fishing tongs were being brought, the apartments were +inspected, and a list of their contents made. Then the party collected +at the edge of the landing. The secret hope was faint within them, for +the confirmations so far were positive, and the terrible negro, not in +the least abashed, was showing them where his enemy went down. They +gave him the tongs, and at the first plunge he grappled the body, and +commenced raising it. They crowded closer around him, awe-struck yet +silently praying: Holy Mother, grant it be any but the Hegumen's son! A +white hand, the fingers gay with rings, appeared above the water. The +fisherman took hold of it, and with a triumphant smile, drew the corpse +out, and laid it face up for better viewing. The garments were still +bright, the gilded mail sparkled bravely. One stooped with the light, +and said immediately: + +"It is he--Demedes!" + +Then the commissioners looked at each other--there was no need of +speech--a fortunate thing, for at that instant there was nothing of +which they were more afraid. + +Avoidance of the dreaded complications was now impossible--so at least +it seemed to them. Up in the keeper's room, whither they hurriedly +adjourned, it was resolved to despatch a messenger to His Majesty with +an informal statement of the discoveries, and a request for orders. The +unwillingness to assume responsibility was natural. + +Constantine acted promptly, and with sharp discernment of the +opportunity afforded the mischief-makers. The offence was to the city, +and it should see the contempt in which the conspirators held it, the +danger escaped, and the provocation to the Most Righteous; if then +there were seditions, his conscience was acquit. He sent Phranza to +break the news to the Hegumen, and went in person to the Monastery, +arriving barely in time to receive the blessings of his reverend +friend, who, overcome by the shock, died in his arms. Returning sadly +to Blacherne, he ordered the corpses of the guilty men to be exposed +for two days before the door of the keeper's house, and the cistern +thrown open for visitation by all who desired to inspect the Palace of +Darkness, as he appropriately termed the floating tenement constructed +with such wicked intents. He also issued a proclamation for the +suppression of the Epicurean Academy, and appointed a day of +Thanksgiving to God for the early exposure of the conspiracy. Nilo he +sent to a cell in the Cynegion, ostensibly for future trial, but really +to secure him from danger; in his heart he admired the King's spirit, +and hoped a day would come when he could safely and suitably reward him. + +On the part of the people the commotion which ensued was extraordinary. +They left the fire to its smouldering, and in steady currents marched +past the ghastly exhibits prepared for them in the street, looked at +them, shuddered, crossed themselves, and went their ways apparently +thankful for the swiftness of the judgment which had befallen; nor was +there one heard to criticise the Emperor's course. The malefactors were +dropped, like unclean clods, into the earth at night, without ceremony +or a mourner in attendance. Thus far all well. + +At length the day of thanksgiving arrived. By general agreement, there +was not a sign of dissatisfaction to be seen. The most timorous of the +commissioners rested easy. Sancta Sophia was the place appointed for +the services, and Constantine had published his intention to be +present. He had donned the Basilean robes; his litter was at the door +of the palace; his guard of horse and foot was formed, when the officer +on duty at the gate down by the Port of Blacherne arrived with a +startling report. + +"Your Majesty," he said, unusually regardless of the ancient +salutation, "there is a great tumult in the city." + +The imperial countenance became stern. + +"This is a day of thanks to God for a great mercy; who dares profane it +by tumult?" + +"I must speak from hearsay," the officer answered.... "The funeral of +the Hegumen of the St. James took place at daylight this morning"-- + +"Yes," said Constantine, sighing at the sad reminder, "I had intended +to assist the Brotherhood. But proceed." + +"The Brothers, with large delegations from the other Monasteries, were +assembled at the tomb, when Gennadius appeared, and began to preach, +and he wrought upon his hearers until they pushed the coffin into the +vault, and dispersed through the streets, stirring up the people." + +At this the Emperor yielded to his indignation. + +"Now, by the trials and sufferings of the Most Christian Mother, are we +beasts insensible to destruction? Or idiots exempt from the penalties +of sin and impiety? And he--that genius of unrest--that master of +foment--God o' Mercy, what has he laid hold of to lead so many better +men to betray their vows and the beads at their belts? Tell +me--speak--my patience is nearly gone." + +For an instant, be it said, the much tried Sovereign beheld a strong +hand move within reach, as offering itself for acceptance. No doubt he +saw it as it was intended, the symbol and suggestion of a policy. Pity +he did not take it! For then how much of mischance had been averted +from himself--Constantinople might not have been lost to the Christian +world--the Greek Church had saved its integrity by recognizing the +union with the Latins consummated at the Council of +Florence--Christianity had not been flung back for centuries in the +East, its birthplace. + +"Your Majesty," the officer returned, "I can report what I heard, +leaving its truth to investigation.... In his speech by the tomb +Gennadius admitted the awfulness of the crime attempted by Demedes, and +the justice of the punishment the young man suffered, its swiftness +proving it to have been directed by Heaven; but he declared its +conception was due to the Academy of Epicurus, and that there remained +nothing deserving study and penance except the continued toleration +without which the ungodly institution had passed quickly, as plagues +fly over cities purified against them. The crime, he said, was ended. +Let the dead bury the dead. But who were they responsible for grace to +the Academy? And he answered himself, my Lord, by naming the Church and +the State." + +"Ah! He attacked the Church then?" + +"No, my Lord, he excused it by saying it had been debauched by an +_azymite_ Patriarch, and while that servant of prostitution and heresy +controlled it, wickedness would be protected and go on increasing." + +"And the State--how dealt he with the State?" + +"The Church he described as Samson; the Patriarch, as an uncomely +Delilah who had speciously shorn it of its strength and beauty; the +State, as a political prompter and coadjutor of the Delilah; and Rome, +a false God seeking to promote worship unto itself through the debased +Church and State." + +"God o' Mercy!" Constantine exclaimed, involuntarily signing to the +sword-bearer at his back; but recovering himself, he asked with forced +moderation: "To the purpose of it all--the object. What did he propose +to the Brothers?" + +"He called them lovers of God in the livery of Christ, and implored +them to gird up their loins, and stand for the religion of the Fathers, +lest it perish entirely." + +"Did he tell them what to do?" + +"Yes, my Lord." + +A wistful, eager look appeared on the royal face, and behind it an +expectation that now there would be something to justify arrest and +exile at least--something politically treasonable. + +"He referred next to the thanksgiving services appointed to-day in +Sancta Sophia, and declared it an opportunity from Heaven, sent them +and all the faithful in the city, to begin a crusade for reform; not by +resort to sword and spear, for they were weapons of hell, but by +refusing to assist the Patriarch with their presence. A vision had come +to him in the night, he said--an angel of the Lord with the Madonna of +Blacherne--advising him of the Divine will. Under his further +urgency--and my Lord knows his power of speech--the Brothers listening, +the St. James' and all present from the other Orders, broke up and took +to the streets, where they are now, exhorting the people not to go to +the Church, and there is reason to believe they will"-- + +"Enough," said the Emperor, with sudden resolution. "The good Gregory +shall not pray God singly and alone." + +Turning to Phranza, he ordered him to summon the court for the +occasion. "Let not one stay away," he continued; "and they shall put on +their best robes and whole regalia; for, going in state myself, I have +need of their utmost splendor. It is my will, further, that the army be +drawn from their quarters to the Church, men, music, and flags, and the +navies from their ships. And give greeting to the Patriarch, and notify +him, lest he make haste. Aside from these preparations, I desire the +grumblers be left to pursue their course unmolested. The sincere and +holy amongst them will presently have return of clear light." + +This counter project was entered upon energetically. + +Shortly after noon the military bore down to the old Church, braying +the streets with horns, drums and cymbals, and when they were at order +in the immense auditorium, their banners hanging unfurled from the +galleries, the Emperor entered, with his court; in a word, the brave, +honest, white-haired Patriarch had company multitudinous and noble as +he could desire. None the less, however, Gennadius had his way +also--_the people took no part in the ceremony_. + +After the celebration, Constantine, in his chambers up in Blacherne, +meditated upon the day and its outcome. Phranza was his sole attendant. + +"My dear friend," the Emperor began, breaking a long silence, and much +disquieted, "was not my predecessor, the first Constantine, beset with +religious dissensions?" + +"If we may credit history, my Lord, he certainly was." + +"How did he manage them?" + +"He called a Council." + +"A Council truly--was that all?" + +"I do not recollect anything more." + +"It was this way, I think. He first settled the faith, and then +provided against dispute." + +"How, my Lord?" + +"Well, there was one Arius, a Libyan, Presbyter of a little church in +Alexandria called Baucalis, preacher of the Unity of God"-- + +"I remember him now." + +"Of the Unity of God as opposed to the Trinity. Him the first +Constantine sent to prison for life, did he not?" + +Thereupon Phranza understood the subject of his master's meditation; +but being of a timid soul, emasculated by much practice of diplomacy, +usually a tedious, waiting occupation, he hastened to reply: "Even so, +my Lord. Yet he could afford to be heroic. He had consolidated the +Church, and was holding the world in the hollow of his hand." + +Constantine allowed a sigh to escape him, and lapsed into silence; when +next he spoke, it was to say slowly: + +"Alas, my dear friend! The people were not there"--meaning at Sancta +Sophia. "I fear, I fear"-- + +"What, my Lord?" + +Another sigh deeper than the first one: "I fear I am not a statesman, +but only a soldier, with nothing to give God and my Empire except a +sword and one poor life." + +These details will help the reader to a fair understanding of the +domestic involvements which overtook the Emperor about the time +Mahommed ascended the Turkish throne, and they are to be considered in +addition to the negotiations in progress with the Sultan. And as it is +important to give an idea of their speeding, we remark further, that +from the afternoon of the solemnity in Sancta Sophia the discussion +then forced upon him went from bad to worse, until he was seriously +deprived both of popular sympathy and the support of the organized +religious orders. The success of the solemnity in point of display, and +the measures resorted to, were not merely offensive to Gennadius and +his ally, the Duke Notaras; they construed them as a challenge to a +trial of strength, and so vigorously did they avail themselves of their +advantages that, before the Emperor was aware of it, there were two +distinct parties in the city, one headed by Gennadius, the other by +himself and Gregory the Patriarch. + +Month by month the bitterness intensified; month by month the imperial +party fell away until there was little of it left outside the court and +the army and navy, and even they were subjected to incessant +inroads--until, finally, it came to pass that the Emperor was doubtful +whom to trust. Thereupon, of course, the season for energetic +repressive measures vanished, never to return. + +Personalities, abuse, denunciation, lying, and sometimes downright +blows took the place of debate in the struggle. One day religion was an +exciting cause; next day, politics. Throughout it all, however, +Gennadius was obviously the master-spirit. His methods were +consummately adapted to the genius of the Byzantines. By confining +himself strictly to the Church wrangle, he avoided furnishing the +Emperor pretexts for legal prosecution; at the same time he wrought +with such cunning that in the monasteries the very High Residence of +Blacherne was spoken of as a den of _azymites_, while Sancta Sophia was +abandoned to the Patriarch. To be seen in the purlieus of the latter +was a signal for vulgar anathemas and social ostracism. His habits +meantime were of a sort to make him a popular idol. He grew, if +possible, more severely penitential; he fasted and flagellated himself; +he slept on the stony floor before his crucifix; he seldom issued from +his cell, and when visited there, was always surprised at prayers, the +burden of which was forgiveness for signing the detested Articles of +Union with the Latins. The physical suffering he endured was not +without solace; he had heavenly visions and was attended by angels. If +in his solitude he fainted, the Holy Virgin of Blacherne ministered to +him, and brought him back to life and labor. First an ascetic, then a +Prophet--such was his progression. + +And Constantine was a witness to the imposture, and smarted under it; +still he held there was nothing for him but to temporize, for if he +ordered the seizure and banishment of the all-powerful hypocrite, he +could trust no one with the order. The time was dark as a starless +night to the high-spirited but too amiable monarch, and he watched and +waited, or rather watched and drifted, extending confidence to but two +counsellors, Phranza and the Princess Irene. Even in their company he +was not always comfortable, for, strange to say, the advice of the +woman was invariably heroic, and that of the man invariably weak and +accommodating. + +From this sketch the tendencies of the government can be right plainly +estimated, leaving the suspicion of a difference between the first +Constantine and the last to grow as the evils grew. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED + + +Vegetation along the Bosphorus was just issuing from what may be called +its budded state. In the gardens and protected spots on the European +side white and yellow winged butterflies now and then appeared without +lighting, for as yet there was nothing attractive enough to keep them. +Like some great men of whom we occasionally hear, they were in the +world before their time. In other words the month of May was about a +week old, and there was a bright day to recommend it--bright, only a +little too much tinctured with March and April to be all enjoyable. The +earth was still spongy, the water cold, the air crisp, and the sun +deceitful. + +About ten o'clock in the morning Constantinopolitans lounging on the +sea-wall were surprised by explosive sounds from down the Marmora. +Afterwhile they located them, so to speak, on a galley off St. +Stephano. At stated intervals, pale blue smoke would burst from the +vessel, followed by a hurry-skurry of gulls in the vicinity, and then +the roar, muffled by distance. The age of artillery had not yet +arrived; nevertheless, cannon were quite well known to fame. +Enterprising traders from the West had sailed into the Golden Horn with +samples of the new arm on their decks; they were of such rude +construction as to be unfit for service other than saluting. [Footnote: +Cannon were first made of hooped iron, widest at the mouth. The process +of casting them was just coming in.] So, now, while the idlers on the +wall were not alarmed, they were curious to make out who the +extravagant fellows were, and waited for the flag to tell them. + +The stranger passed swiftly, firing as it went; and as the canvas was +new and the hull freshly painted in white, it rode the waves to +appearances a very beautiful "thing of life;" but the flag told nothing +of its nationality. There were stripes on it diagonally set, green, +yellow, and red, the yellow in the middle. + +"The owners are not Genoese"--such was the judgment on the wall. + +"No, nor Venetian, for that is not a lion in the yellow." + +"What, then, is it?" + +Pursued thus, the galley, at length rounding Point Serail (Demetrius), +turned into the harbor. When opposite the tower of Galata, a last +salute was fired from her deck; then the two cities caught up the +interest, and being able to make out decisively that the sign in the +yellow field of the flag was but a coat-of-arms, they said emphatically: + +"It is not a national ship--only a great Lord;" and thereupon the +question became self-inciting: + +"Who is he?" + +Hardly had the anchor taken hold in the muddy bed of the harbor in +front of the port of Blacherne, before a small boat put off from the +strange ship, manned by sailors clad in flowing white trousers, short +sleeveless jackets, and red turbans of a style remarkable for +amplitude. An officer, probably the sailing-master, went with them, and +he, too, was heavily turbaned. A gaping crowd on the landing received +the visitor when he stepped ashore and asked to see the captain of the +guard. To that dignitary he delivered a despatch handsomely enveloped +in yellow silk, saying, in imperfect Greek: + +"My Lord, just arrived, prays you to read the enclosure, and send it +forward by suitable hand. He trusts to your knowledge of what the +proprieties require. He will await the reply on his galley." + +The sailing-master saluted profoundly, resumed seat in his boat, and +started back to the ship, leaving the captain of the guard to open the +envelope and read the communication, which was substantially as follows: + +"From the galley, St. Agostino, May 5, Year of our Blessed Saviour, +1451. + +"The undersigned is a Christian Noble of Italy, more particularly from +his strong Castle Corti on the eastern coast of Italy, near the ancient +city of Brindisi. He offers lealty to His Most Christian Majesty, the +Emperor of Constantinople, Defender of the Faith according to the +crucified Son of God (to whom be honor and praise forevermore), and +humbly represents that he is a well-knighted soldier by profession, +having won his spurs in battle, and taken the accolade from the hand of +Calixtus the Third, Bishop of Rome, and, yet more worthily, His +Holiness the Pope: that the time being peaceful in his country, except +as it was rent by baronial feuds and forays not to his taste, he left +it in search of employment and honors abroad; that he made the +pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre first, and secured there a number of +precious relics, which he is solicitous of presenting to His Imperial +Majesty; that from long association with the Moslems, whom Heaven, in +its wisdom impenetrable to the understanding of men, permits to profane +the Holy Land with their presence and wicked guardianship, he acquired +a speaking knowledge of the Arabic and Turkish languages; that he +engaged in warfare against those enemies of God, having the powerful +sanction therefor of His Holiness aforesaid, by whose direction he +occupied himself chiefly with chastising the Berber pirates of Tripoli, +from whom he took prisoners, putting them at his oars, where some of +them now are. With the august city of Byzantium he has been acquainted +many years through report, and, if its fame be truly published, he +desires to reside in it, possibly to the end of his days. Wherefore he +presumes to address this his respectful petition, praying its +submission to His Most Christian Majesty, that he may be assured if the +proposal be agreeable to the royal pleasure, and in the meantime have +quiet anchorage for his galley. + +UGO, COUNT CORTI." + +In the eyes of the captain of the guard the paper was singular, but +explicit; moreover, the request seemed superfluous, considering the +laxity prevalent with respect to the coming and going of persons of all +nativities and callings. To be sure, trade was not as it used to be, +and, thanks to the enterprise and cunning of the Galatanese across the +harbor, the revenues from importations were sadly curtailed; still the +old city had its markets, and the world was welcome to them. The +argument, however, which silenced the custodian's doubt was, that of +the few who rode to the gates in their own galleys and kept them there +ready to depart if their reception were in the least chilling, how many +signed themselves as did this one? Italian counts were famous fighters, +and generally had audiences wherever they knocked. So he concluded to +send the enclosure up to the Palace without the intermediation of the +High Admiral, a course which would at least save time. + +While the affair is thus pending, we may return to Count Corti, and say +an essential word or two of him. + +The cannon, it is to be remarked, was not the only novelty of the +galley. Over the stern, where the aplustre cast its shadow in ordinary +crafts, there was a pavilion-like structure, high-raised, flat-roofed, +and with small round windows in the sides. Quite likely the progressive +ship-builders at Palos and Genoa would have termed the new feature a +cabin. It was beyond cavil an improvement; and on this occasion the +proprietor utilized it as he well might. Since the first gun off St. +Stephano, he had held the roof, finding it the best position to get and +enjoy a view of the capital, or rather of the walls and crowned +eminences they had so long and all-sufficiently defended. A chair had +been considerately brought up and put at his service, but in witness of +the charm the spectacle had for him from the beginning, he did not once +resort to it. + +If only to save ourselves description of the man, and rescue him from a +charge of intrusion into the body of our story, we think it better to +take the reader into confidence at once, and inform him that Count +Corti is in fact our former acquaintance Mirza, the Emir of the Hajj. +The difference between his situation now, and when we first had sight +of him on his horse under the yellow flag in the valley of Zaribah is +remarkable; yet he is the same in one particular at least--he was in +armor then, and he is still in armor--that is, he affects the same +visorless casque, with its cape of fine rings buckled under the chin, +the same shirt and overalls of pliable mail, the same shoes of +transverse iron scales working into each other telescopically when the +feet are in movement, the same golden spurs, and a surcoat in every +particular like the Emir's, except it is brick-dust red instead of +green. And this constancy in armor should not be accounted a vanity; it +was a habit acquired in the school of arms which graduated him, and +which he persisted in partly for the inurement, and partly as a mark of +respect for Mahommed, with whom the gleam and clink of steel well +fashioned and gracefully worn was a passion, out of which he evolved a +suite rivalling those kinsmen of the Buccleuch who-- + +"--quitted not their harness bright, Neither by day nor yet by night." + +Returning once again. It was hoped when Mirza was first introduced that +every one who might chance to spend an evening over these pages would +perceive the possibilities he prefigured, and adopt him as a favorite; +wherefore the interest may be more pressing to know what he, an +Islamite supposably without guile, a Janissary of rank, lately so high +in his master's confidence, is doing here, offering lealty to the Most +Christian Emperor, and denouncing the followers of the Prophet as +enemies of God. The appearances are certainly against him. + +The explanation due, if only for coherence in our narrative, would be +clearer did the reader review the part of the last conversation in the +White Castle between the Prince of India and Mahommed, in which the +latter is paternally advised to study the Greek capital, and keep +himself informed of events within its walls. Yet, inasmuch as there is +a current in reading which one once fairly into is loath to be pushed +out of, we may be forgiven for quoting a material passage or two.... +"There is much for my Lord to do"--the Prince says, speaking to his +noble eleve. "It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were +his capital temporarily in possession of another.... It is for him to +learn the city within and without; its streets and edifices; its hills +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, clubs, and religious factions; +especially is it for him to foment the differences Latin and Greek +already a fire which has long been eating out to air in an inflammable +house."... Mahommed, it will be recollected, acceded to the counsel, +and in discussing the selection of a person suitable for the secret +agency, the Prince said: ... "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 salons and +palaces; along with other facilities, he must be provided to buy +service in the Emperor's bedroom and council chamber--nay, at his +elbow. Mature of judgment, it is of prime importance that he possess my +Lord's confidence unalterably."... And when the ambitious Turk +demanded: "The man, Prince, the man!"--the wily tutor responded: "My +Lord has already named him."--"I?"--"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him +as a marvel."--"Mirza?"... The Jew then proceeded: "Despatch him to +Italy; let him appear in Constantinople, embarked from a galley, +habited like an Italian, 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."... + +Mahommed demurred to the proposal, saying: "So has Mirza become a part +of me, I am scarcely myself without him." + +Now he who has allowed himself to become interested in the bright young +Emir, and pauses to digest these excerpts, will be aware of a grave +concern for him. He foresees the outcome of the devotion to Mahommed +dwelt upon so strongly by the Prince of India. An order to undertake +the secret service will be accepted certainly as it is given. The very +assurance that it will be accepted begets solicitude in the affair. Did +Mahommed decide affirmatively? What were the instructions given? Having +thus settled the coherences, we move on with the narrative. + +It will be remembered, further, that close after the departure of the +Princess Irene from the old Castle, Mahommed followed her to Therapia, +and, as an Arab story-teller, was favored with an extended private +audience in which he extolled himself to her at great length, and +actually assumed the role of a lover. What is yet more romantic, he +came away a lover in fact. + +The circumstance is not to be lightly dismissed, for it was of +immeasurable effect upon the fortunes of the Emir, and--if we can be +excused for connecting an interest so stupendous with one so +comparatively trifling--the fate of Constantinople. Theretofore the +Turk's ambition had been the sole motive of his designs against that +city, and, though vigorous, driving, and possibly enough of itself to +have pushed him on, there might yet have been some delay in the +achievement. Ambition derived from genius is cautious in its first +movements, counts the cost, ponders the marches to be made and the +means to be employed, and is at times paralyzed by the simple +contemplation of failure; in other words, dread of loss of glory is not +seldom more powerful than the hope of glory. After the visit to +Therapia, however, love reenforced ambition; or rather the two passions +possessed Mahommed, and together they murdered his sleep. He became +impatient and irritable; the days were too short, the months too long. +Constantinople absorbed him. He thought of nothing else waking, and +dreamed of nothing else. Well for him his faith in astrology, for by it +the Prince of India was able to hold him to methodic preparation. + +There were times when he was tempted to seize the Princess, and carry +her off. Her palace was undefended, and he had but to raid it at night. +Why not? There were two reasons, either of them sufficient: first, the +stern old Sultan, his father, was a just man, and friendly to the +Emperor Constantine; but still stronger, and probably the deterrent in +fact, he actually loved the Princess with a genuine romantic sentiment, +her happiness an equal motive--loved her for herself--a thing perfectly +consistent, for in the Oriental idea there is always One the Highest. + +Now, it was very lover-like in Mahommed, his giving himself up to +thought of the Princess while gliding down the Bosphorus, after leaving +his safeguard on her gate. He closed his eyes against the mellow light +on the water, and, silently admitting her the perfection of womanhood, +held her image before him until it was indelible in memory--face, +figure, manner, even her dress and ornaments--until his longing for her +became a positive hunger of soul. + +As if to give us an illustration of the mal-apropos in coincidence, his +august father had selected a bride for him, and he was on the road to +Adrianople to celebrate the nuptials when he stopped at the White +Castle. The maiden chosen was of a noble Turkish family, but harem born +and bred. She might be charming, a very queen in the Seraglio; but, +alas! the kinswoman of the Christian Emperor had furnished a glimpse of +attractions which the fiancee to whom he was going could never +attain--attractions of mind and manner more lasting than those of mere +person; and as he finished the comparison, he beat his breast, and +cried out: "Ah, the partiality of the Most Merciful! To clothe this +Greek with all the perfections, and deny her to me!" + +Withal, there was a method in Mahommed's passion. Setting his face +sternly against violating his own safeguard by abducting the Princess, +he fell into revision of her conversation; and then a light broke in +upon him--a light and a road to his object. + +He recalled with particularity her reply to the message delivered to +her, supposably from himself, containing his avowal that he loved her +the more because she was a Christian, and singled out of it these +words: ... "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." + +This he took to pieces.... "'She might become a wife.' Good!... 'She +might become my wife'--on condition.... What condition?" ... He beat +his breast again, this time with a laugh. + +The rowers looked at him in wonder. What cared he for them? He had +discovered a way to make her his.... "Constantinople is the Greek +Church," he muttered, with flashing eyes. "I will take the city for my +own glory--to her then the glory of saving the Church! On to +Constantinople!" + +And from that moment the fate of the venerable metropolis may be said +to have been finally sealed. + +Within an hour after his return to the White Castle, he summoned Mirza, +and surprised him by the exuberance of his joy. He threw his arm over +the Emir's shoulder, and walked with him, laughing and talking, like a +man in wine. His nature was of the kind which, for the escape of +feeling, required action as well as words. At length he sobered down. + +"Here, Mirza," he said. "Stand here before me.... Thou lovest me, I +believe?" + +Mirza answered upon his knee: "My Lord has said it." + +"I believe thee.... Rise and take pen and paper, and write, standing +here before me." [Footnote: A Turkish calligraphist works on his feet +as frequently as on a chair, using a pen made of reed and India ink +reduced to fluid.] + +From a table near by the materials were brought, and the Emir, again +upon his knees, wrote as his master dictated. + +The paper need not be given in full. Enough that it covered with +uncommon literalness--for the Conqueror's memory was prodigious--the +suggestions of the Prince of India already quoted respecting the duties +of the agent in Constantinople. While writing, the Emir was variously +moved; one instant, his countenance was deeply flushed, and in the next +very pale; sometimes his hand trembled. Mahommed meantime kept close +watch upon him, and now he asked: + +"What ails thee?" + +"My Lord's will is my will," was the answer--"yet"-- + +"Out--speak out." + +"My Lord is sending me from him, and I dread losing my place at his +right hand." + +Mahommed laughed heartily. + +"Lay the fear betime," he then said, gravely. "Where thou goest, though +out of reach of my right hand, there will my thought be. Hear--nay, at +my knee." + +He laid the hand spoken of on Mirza's shoulder, and stooped towards +him. "Ah, my Saladin, thou wert never in love, I take it? Well--I am. +Look not up now, lest--lest thou think my bearded cheek hath changed to +a girl's." + +Mirza did not look up, yet he knew his master was blushing. + +"Where thou goest, I would give everything but the sword of Othman to +be every hour of the day, for she abideth there.... I see a ring on thy +hand--the ruby ring I gave thee the day thou didst unhorse the +uncircumcised deputy of Hunyades. Give it back to me. 'Tis well. See, I +place it on the third finger of my left hand. They say whoever looketh +at her is thenceforth her lover. I caution thee, and so long as this +ruby keepeth color unchanged, I shall know thou art keeping honor +bright with me--that thou lovest her, because thou canst not help it, +yet for my sake, and because I love her.... Look up now, my +falcon--look up, and pledge me." + +"I pledge my Lord," Mirza answered. + +"Now I will tell thee. She is that kinswoman of the _Gabour_ Emperor +Constantine whom we saw here the day of our arrival. Or didst thou see +her? I have forgotten." + +"I did not, my Lord." + +"Well, thou wilt know her at sight; for in grace and beauty I think she +must be a daughter of the houri this moment giving immortal drink to +the beloved of Allah, even the Prophet." + +Mahommed changed his tone. + +"The paper and the pen." + +And taking them he signed the instructions, and the signature was the +same as that on the safeguard on the gate at Therapia. + +"There--keep it well; for when thou gettest to Constantinople, thou +wilt become a Christian." He laughed again. "Mirza--the Mirza Mahommed +swore by, and appointed keeper of his heart's secret--he a Christian! +This will shift the sin of the apostasy to me." + +Mirza took the paper. + +"I have not chosen to write of the other matter. In what should it be +written, if at all, except in my blood--so close is it to me?... These +are the things I expect of thee. Art thou listening? She shall be to +thee as thine eye. Advise me of her health, and where she goes; with +whom she consorts; what she does and says; save her from harm: does one +speak ill of her, kill him, only do it in my name--and forget not, O my +Saladin!--as thou hopest a garden and a couch in Paradise--forget not +that in Constantinople, when I come, I am to receive her from thy hand +peerless in all things as I left her to-day.... Thou hast my will all +told. I will send money to thy room to-night, and thou wilt leave +to-night, lest, being seen making ready in the morning, some idiot +pursue thee with his wonder.... As thou art to be my other self, be it +royally. Kings never account to themselves.... Thou wantest now nothing +but this signet." + +From his breast he drew a large ring, its emerald setting graven with +the signature at the bottom of the instructions, and gave it to him. + +"Is there a Pacha or a Begler-bey, Governor of a city or a province, +property of my father, who refuseth thy demand after showing him this, +report him, and _Shintan_ will be more tolerable unto him than I, when +I have my own. It is all said. Go now.... We will speak of rewards when +next we meet.... Or stay! Thou art to communicate by way of this +Castle, and for that I will despatch a man to thee in Constantinople. +Remember--for every word thou sendest me of the city, I look for two of +her.... Here is my hand." Mirza kissed it, and departed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EMIR IN ITALY + + +We know now who Count Corti is, and the objects of his coming to +Constantinople--that he is a secret agent of Mahommed--that, summed up +in the fewest words, his business is to keep the city in observation, +and furnish reports which will be useful to his master in the +preparation the latter is making for its conquest. We also know he is +charged with very peculiar duties respecting the Princess Irene. + +The most casual consideration of these revelations will make it +apparent, in the next place, that hereafter the Emir must be designated +by his Italian appellative in full or abbreviated. Before forsaking the +old name, there is lively need of information, whether as he now stands +on the deck of his galley, waiting the permissions prayed by him of the +Emperor Constantine, he is, aside from title, the same Mirza lately so +honored by Mahommed. + +From the time the ship hove in sight of the city, he had kept his place +on the cabin. The sailors, looking up to him occasionally, supposed him +bound by the view, so motionless he stood, so steadfastly he gazed. Yet +in fact his countenance was not expressive of admiration or rapture. A +man with sound vision may have a mountain just before him and not see +it; he may be in the vortex of a battle deaf to its voices; a thought +or a feeling can occupy him in the crisis of his life to the exclusion +of every sense. If perchance it be so with the Emir now, he must have +undergone a change which only a powerful cause could have brought +about. He had been so content with his condition, so proud of his fame +already won, so happy in keeping prepared for the opportunities plainly +in his sight, so satisfied with his place in his master's confidence, +so delighted when that master laid a hand upon his shoulder and called +him familiarly, now his Saladin, and now his falcon. + +Faithfully, as bidden, Mirza sallied from the White Castle the night of +his appointment to the agency in Constantinople. He spoke to no one of +his intention, for he well knew secrecy was the soul of the enterprise. +For the same reason, he bought of a dervish travelling with the Lord +Mahommed's suite a complete outfit, including the man's donkey and +donkey furniture. At break of day he was beyond the hills of the +Bosphorus, resolved to skirt the eastern shore of the Marmora and +Hellespont, from which the Greek population had been almost entirely +driven by the Turks, and at the Dardanelles take ship for Italy direct +as possible--a long route and trying--yet there was in it the total +disappearance from the eyes of acquaintances needful to success in his +venture. His disguise insured him from interruption on the road, +dervishes being sacred characters in the estimation of the Faithful, +and generally too poor to excite cupidity. A gray-frocked man, hooded, +coarsely sandalled, and with a blackened gourd at his girdle for the +alms he might receive from the devout, no Islamite meeting him would +ever suspect a large treasure in the ragged bundle on the back of the +patient animal plodding behind him like a tired dog. + +The Dardanelles was a great stopping-place for merchants and tradesmen, +Greek, Venetian, Genoese. There Mirza provided himself with an Italian +suit, adopted the Italian tongue, and became Italian. He borrowed a +chart of the coast of Italy from a sailor, to determine the port at +which it would be advisable for him to land. + +While settling this point, the conversation had with the Prince of +India in the latter's tent at Zaribah arose to mind, and he recalled +with particularity all that singular person said with reference to the +accent observable in his speech. He also went over the description he +himself had given the Prince of the house or castle from which he had +been taken in childhood. A woman had borne him outdoors, under a blue +sky, along a margin of white sand, an orchard on one hand, the sea on +the other. He remembered the report of the waves breaking on the shore, +the olive-green color of the trees in the orchard, and the battlemented +gate of the castle; whereupon the Prince said the description reminded +him of the eastern shore of Italy in the region of Brindisi. + +It was a vague remark certainly; but now it made a deeper impression on +the Emir than at the moment of its utterance and pointed his attention +to Brindisi. The going to Italy, he argued, was really to get a warrant +for the character he was to assume in Constantinople; that is, to +obtain some knowledge of the country, its geography, political +divisions, cities, rulers, and present conditions generally, without +which the slightest cross-examination by any of the well-informed +personages about the Emperor would shatter his pretensions in an +instant. Then it was he fell into a most unusual mood. + +Since the hour the turbaned rovers captured him he had not been +assailed by a desire to see or seek his country and family. Who was his +father? Was his mother living? Probably nothing could better define the +profundity of the system underlying the organization of the Janissaries +than that he had never asked those questions with a genuine care to +have them solved. What a suppression of the most ordinary instincts of +nature! How could it have been accomplished so completely? As a +circumstance, its tendency is to confirm the theory that men are +creatures of education and association.... Was his mother living? Did +she remember him? Had she wept for him? What sort of being was she? If +living, how old would she be? And he actually attempted a calculation. +Calling himself twenty-six she might not be over forty-five. That was +not enough to dim her eyes or more than slightly silver her hair; and +as respects her heart, are not the affections of a mother flowers for +culling by Death alone? + +Such reflections never fail effect. A tenderness of spirit is the first +token of their presence; then memory and imagination begin striving; +the latter to bring the beloved object back, and the former to surround +it with sweetest circumstances. They wrought with Mirza as with +everybody else. The yearning they excited in him was a surprise; +presently he determined to act on the Prince of India's suggestion, and +betake himself to the eastern coast of Italy. + +The story of the sack of a castle was of a kind to have wide +circulation; at the same time this one was recent enough to be still in +the memory of persons living. Finding the place of its occurrence was +the difficulty. If in the vicinity of Brindisi--well, he would go and +ask. The yearning spoken of did not come alone; it had for companion, +Conscience, as yet in the background. + +There were vessels bound for Venice. One was taking in water, after +which it would sail for Otranto. It seemed a fleet craft, with a fair +crew, and a complement of stout rowers. Otranto was south of Brindisi a +little way, and the castle he wanted to hear of might have been +situated between those cities. Who could tell? Besides, as an Italian +nobleman, to answer inquiry in Constantinople, he would have to locate +himself somewhere, and possibly the coast in question might accommodate +him with both a location and a title. The result was he took passage to +Otranto. + +While there he kept his role of traveller, but was studious, and picked +up a great fund of information bearing upon the part awaiting him. He +lived and dressed well, and affected religious circles. It was the day +when Italy was given over to the nobles--the day of robbers, fighting, +intrigues and usurpations--of free lances and bold banditti--of +government by the strong hand, of right determinable by might, of +ensanguined Guelphs and Ghibellines. Of these the Emir kept clear. + +By chance he fell in with an old man of secondary rank in the city much +given to learning, an habitue of a library belonging to one of the +monasteries. It came out ere long that the venerable person was +familiar with the coast from Otranto to Brindisi, and beyond far as +Polignano. + +"It was in my sturdier days," the veteran said, with a dismal glance at +his shrunken hands. "The people along the shore were much harried by +Moslem pirates. Landing from their galleys, the depredators burned +habitations, slew the men, and carried off such women as they thought +would fetch a price. They even assaulted castles. At last we were +driven to the employment of a defensive guard cooperative on land and +water. I was a captain. Our fights with the rovers were frequent and +fierce. Neither side showed quarter." + +The reminiscence stimulated Mirza to inquiry. He asked the old man if +he could mention a castle thus attacked. + +"Yes, there was one belonging to Count Corti, a few leagues beyond +Brindisi. The Count defended himself, but was slain." + +"Had he a family?" + +"A wife and a boy child." + +"What became of them?" + +"By good chance the Countess was in Brindisi attending a fete; she +escaped, of course. The boy, two or three years of age, was made +prisoner, and never heard of afterwards." + +A premonition seized Mirza. + +"Is the Countess living?" + +"Yes. She never entirely recovered from the shock, but built a house +near the site of the castle, and clearing a room in the ruins, turned +it into a chapel. Every morning and evening she goes there, and prays +for the soul of her husband, and the return of her lost boy." + +"How long is it since the poor lady was so bereft?" + +The narrator reflected, and replied: "Twenty-two or three years." + +"May the castle be found?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you been to it?" + +"Many times." + +"How was it named?" + +"After the Count--_Il Castillo di Corti_." + +"Tell me something of its site." + +"It is down close by the sea. A stone wall separates its front +enclosure from the beach. Sometimes the foam of the waves is dashed +upon the wall. Through a covered gate one looks out, and all is water. +Standing on the tower, all landward is orchard and orchard--olive and +almond trees intermixed. A great estate it was and is. The Countess, it +is understood, has a will executed; if the boy does not return before +her death, the Church is to be her legatee." + +There was more of the conversation, covering a history of the Corti +family, honorable as it was old--the men famous warriors, the women +famous beauties. + +Mirza dreamed through the night of the Countess, and awoke with a vague +consciousness that the wife of the Pacha, the grace of whose care had +been about him in childhood--a good woman, gentle and tender--was after +all but a representative of the mother who had given him birth, just as +on her part every mother is mercifully representative of God. Under +strong feeling he took boat for Brindisi. + +There he had no trouble in confirming the statements of his Otranto +acquaintance. The Countess was still living, and the coast road +northwardly would bring him to the ruins of her castle. The journey did +not exceed five leagues. + +What he might find at the castle, how long he would stay, what do, were +so uncertain--indeed everything in the connection was so dependent upon +conditions impossible of foresight, that he resolved to set out on +foot. To this course he was the more inclined by the mildness of the +weather, and the reputation of the region for freshness and beauty. + +About noon he was fairly on the road. Persons whom he met--and they +were not all of the peasant class--seeing a traveller jaunty in plumed +cap, light blue camail, pointed buskins, and close-fitting hose the +color of the camail, sword at his side, and javelin in hand, stayed to +observe him long as he was in sight, never dreaming they were permitted +to behold a favorite of one of the bloody Mahounds of the East. + +Over hill and down shallow vales: through stone-fenced lanes; now in +the shade of old trees; now along a seashore partially overflowed by +languid waves, he went, lighter in step than heart, for he was in the +mood by no means uncommon, when the spirit is prophesying evil unto +itself. He was sensible of the feeling, and for shame would catch the +javelin in the middle and whirl it about him defensively until it sung +like a spinning-wheel; at times he stopped and, with his fingers in his +mouth, whistled to a small bird as if it were a hunting hawk high in +air. + +Once, seeing a herd of goats around a house thatched and half-hidden in +vines, he asked for milk. A woman brought it to him, with a slice of +brown bread; and while he ate and drank, she stared at him in +respectful admiration; and when he paid her in gold, she said, +courtesying low: "A glad life to my Lord! I will pray the Madonna to +make the wish good." Poor creature! She had no idea she was blessing +one in whose faith the Prophet was nearer God than God's own Son. + +At length the road made an abrupt turn to the right, bringing him to a +long stretch of sandy beach. Nearly as he could judge, it was time for +the castle to appear, and he was anxious to make it before sundown. Yet +in the angle of the wood he saw a wayside box of stone sheltering an +image of the Virgin, with the Holy Child in its arms. Besides being +sculptured better than usual, the figures were covered with flowers in +wreath and bouquet. A dressed slab in front of the structure, evidently +for the accommodation of worshippers, invited him to rest, and he took +the seat, and looking up at the mother, she appeared to be looking at +him. He continued his gaze, and presently the face lost its stony +appearance--stranger still, it smiled. It was illusion, of course, but +he arose startled, and moved on with quickened step. The impression +went with him. Why the smile? He did not believe in images: much less +did he believe in the Virgin, except as she was the subject of a goodly +story. And absorbed in the thought, he plodded on, leaving the sun to +go down unnoticed. + +Thereupon the shadows thickened in the woods at his left hand, while +the sound of the incoming waves at his right increased as silence laid +its velvet finger with a stronger compress on all other pulsations. +Here and there a star peeped timidly through the purpling sky--now it +was dusk--a little later, it would be night--and yet no castle! + +He pushed on more vigorously; not that he was afraid--fear and the +falcon of Mahommed had never made acquaintance--but he began to think +of a bed in the woods, and worse yet, he wanted the fast-going daylight +to help him decide if the castle when he came to it were indeed the +castle of his fathers. He had believed all along, if he could see the +pile once, his memory would revive and help him to recognition. + +At last night fell, and there was darkness trebled on the land, and on +the sea darkness, except where ghostly lines of light stretched +themselves along the restless water. Should he go on?... + +Then he heard a bell--one soft tone near by and silvery clear. He +halted. Was it of the earth? A hush deeper of the sound--and he was +wondering if another illusion were not upon him, when again the bell! + +"Oh!" he muttered, "a trick of the monks in Otranto! Some soul is +passing." + +He pressed forward, guided by the tolling. Suddenly the trees fell +away, and the road brought him to a stone wall heavily coped. On +further, a blackened mass arose in dim relief against the sky, with +heavy merlons on its top. + +"It is the embattled gate!" he exclaimed, to himself--"the embattled +gate!--and here the beach!--and, O Allah! the waves there are making +the reports they used to!" + +The bell now tolled with awful distinctness, filling him with unwonted +chills--tolled, as if to discourage his memory in its struggle to lift +itself out of a lapse apparently intended to be final as the +grave--tolled solemnly, as if his were the soul being rung into the +next life. A rush of forebodings threatened him with paralysis of will, +and it was only by a strong exertion he overcame it, and brought +himself back to the situation, and the question, What next? + +Now Mirza was not a man to forego a purpose lightly. Emotional, but not +superstitious, he tried the sword, if it were loose in the scabbard, +and then, advancing the point of his javelin, entered the darkened +gallery of the gate. Just as he emerged from it on the inner side, the +bell tolled. + +"A Moslem doth not well," he thought, silently repeating a saying of +the _jadis_, "to accept a Christian call to prayer; but," he answered +in self-excuse, "I am not going to prayer--I am seeking"--he stopped, +for very oddly, the face of the Virgin in the stone box back in the +angle of the road presented itself to him, and still more oddly, he +felt firmer of purpose seeing again the smile on the face. Then he +finished the sentence aloud--"my mother _who is a Christian._" + +There was a jar in the conclusion, and he went back to find it, and +having found it, he was surprised. Up to that moment, he had not +thought of his mother a Christian. How came the words in his mouth now? +Who prompted them? And while he was hastily pondering the effect upon +her of the discovery that he himself was an Islamite, the image in the +box reoccurred to him, this time with the child in its arms; and +thereupon the mystery seemed to clear itself at once. "Mother and +mother!" he said. "What if my coming were the answer of one of them to +the other's prayer?" + +The idea affected him; his spirit softened; the heat of tears sprang to +his eyelids; and the effort he made to rise above the unmanliness +engaged him so he failed to see the other severer and more lasting +struggle inevitable if the Countess were indeed the being to whom he +owed the highest earthly obligations--the struggle between natural +affection and honor, as the latter lay coiled up in the ties binding +him to Mahommed. + +The condition, be it remarked, is ours; for from that last appearance +of the image by the wayside--from that instant, marking a new era in +his life--often as the night and its incidents recurred to him, he had +never a doubt of his relationship to the Countess. Indeed, not only was +she thenceforward his mother, but all the ground within the gate was +his by natal right, and the castle was the very castle from which he +had been carried away, over the body of his heroic father--_he was the +Count Corti_! + +These observations will bring the reader to see more distinctly the +Emir's state after passing the gate. Of the surroundings, he beheld +nothing but shadows more or less dense and voluminous; the mournful +murmuring of the wind told him they belonged to trees and shrubbery in +clumps. The road he was on, although blurred, was serviceable as a +guide, and he pursued it until brought to a building so masked by night +the details were invisible. Following its upper line, relieved against +the gray sky, he made out a broken front and one tower massively +battlemented. A pavement split the road in two; crossing it, he came to +an opening, choked with timbers and bars of iron; surmisably the front +portal at present in disuse. He needed no explanation of its condition. +Fire and battle were familiars of his. + +The bell tolled on. The sound, so passing sweet elsewhere, seemed to +issue from the yawning portal, leaving him to fancy the interior a +lumber of floors, galleries, and roofs in charred tumble down. + +Mirza turned away presently, and took the left branch of the road; +since he could not get into the castle, he would go around it; and in +doing so, he borrowed from the distance traversed a conception of its +immensity, as well as of the importance the countship must have enjoyed +in its palmy days. + +At length he gained the rear of the great pile. The wood there was more +open, and he was pleased with the sight of lights apparently gleaming +through windows, from which he inferred a hamlet pitched on a broken +site. Then he heard singing; and listening, never had human voices +seemed to him so impressively solemn. Were they coming or going? + +Ere long a number of candles, very tall, and screened from the wind by +small lanterns of transparent paper, appeared on the summit of an +ascent; next moment the bearers of the candles were in view--boys +bareheaded and white frocked. As they began to descend the height, a +bevy of friars succeeded them, their round faces and tonsured crowns +glistening in ruddy contrast with their black habits. A choir of four +singers, three men and one woman, followed the monks. Then a linkman in +half armor strode across the summit, lighting the way for a figure, +also in black, which at once claimed Mirza's gaze. + +As he stared at the figure, the account given him by the old captain in +Otranto flashed upon his memory. The widow of the murdered count had +cleared a room in the castle, and fitted it up as a chapel, and every +morning and evening she went thither to pray for the soul of her +husband and the return of her lost boy. + +The words were alive with suggestions; but suggestions imply +uncertainty; wherefore they are not a reason for the absolute +conviction with which the Emir now said to himself: + +"It is she--the Countess--my mother!" + +There must be in every heart a store of prevision of which we are not +aware--occasions bring it out with such sudden and bewildering effect. + +Everything--hymn, tolling bell, lights, boys, friars, procession--was +accessory to that veiled, slow-marching figure. And in habiliment, +movement, air, with what telling force it impersonated sorrow! On the +other hand, how deep and consuming the sorrow itself must be! + +She--he beheld only her--descended the height without looking up or +around--a little stooped, yet tall and of dignified carriage--not old +nor yet young--a noble woman worthy reverence. + +While he was making these comments, the procession reached the foot of +the ascent; then the boys and friars came between, and hid her from his +view. + +"O Allah! and thou his Prophet!" he exclaimed. "Am I not to see her +face? Is she not to know me?" + +Curiously the question had not presented itself before; neither when he +resolved to come, nor while on the way. To say truth, he had been all +the while intent on the one partial object--to see her. He had not +anticipated the awakening the sight might have upon his feelings. + +"Am I not to discover myself to her? Is she never to know me?" he +repeated. + +The lights in the hands of the boys were beginning to gleam along a +beaten road a short distance in front of the agitated Emir conducting +to the castle. He divined at once that the Countess was coming to the +chapel for the usual evening service, and that, by advancing to the +side of the road, he could get a near view of her as she passed. He +started forward impulsively, but after a few steps stopped, trembling +like a child imagining a ghost. + +Now our conception of the man forbids us thinking him overcome by a +trifle, whether of the air or in the flesh. A change so extreme must +have been the work of a revelation of quick and powerful +consequence--and it was, although the first mention may excite a smile. +In the gleam of mental lightning--we venture on the term for want of +another more descriptive--he had been reminded of the business which +brought him to Italy. + +Let us pause here, and see what the reminder means; if only because the +debonair Mirza, with whom we have been well pleased, is now to become +another person in name and character, commanding our sympathies as +before, but for a very different reason. + +This was what the lightning gave him to see, and not darkly: If he +discovered himself to the Countess, he must expose his history from the +night the rovers carried him away. True, the tale might be given +generally, leaving its romance to thrill the motherly heart, and exalt +him the more; for to whom are heroes always the greatest heroes? +Unhappily steps in confession are like links in a chain, one leads to +another.... Could he, a Christian born, tell her he was an apostate? Or +if he told her, would it not be one more grief to the many she was +already breaking under--one, the most unendurable? And as to himself, +how could he more certainly provoke a forfeiture of her love?... She +would ask--if but to thank God for mercies--to what joyful accident his +return was owing? And then? Alas! with her kiss on his brow, could he +stand silent? More grievous yet, could he deceive her? If nothing is so +murderous of self-respect as falsehood, a new life begun with a lie +needs no prophet to predict its end. No, he must answer the truth. This +conviction was the ghost which set him trembling. An admission that he +was a Moslem would wound her, yet the hope of his conversion would +remain--nay, the labor in making the hope good might even renew her +interest in life; but to tell her he was in Italy to assist in the +overthrow of a Christian Emperor for the exaltation of an infidel--God +help him! Was ever such a monster as he would then become in her +eyes?... The consequences of that disclosure, moreover, were not to the +Countess and himself merely. With a sweep of wing one's fancy is alone +capable of, he was borne back to the White Castle, and beheld Mahommed. +When before did a Prince, contemplating an achievement which was to +ring the world, give trust with such absoluteness of faith? Poor Mirza! +The sea rolled indefinitely wide between the White Castle and this one +of his fathers; across it, nevertheless, he again heard the words: "As +thou art to be my other self, be it royally. Kings never account to +themselves." If they made betrayal horrible in thought, what would the +fact be?... + +Finally, last but not least of the reflections the lightning laid bare, +the Emir had been bred a soldier, and he loved war for itself and for +the glory it offered unlike every other glory. Was he to bid them both +a long farewell? + +Poor Mirza! A few paragraphs back allusion was made to a struggle +before him between natural affection on one hand and honor on the +other. Perhaps it was obscurely stated; if so, here it is amended, and +stripped of conditions. He has found his mother. She is coming down the +road--there, behind the dancing lights, behind the friars, she is +coming to pray for him. Should he fly her recognition or betray his +confiding master? Room there may be to say the alternatives were a +judgment upon him, but who will deny him pity? ... There is often a +suffering, sometimes an agony, in indecision more wearing than disease, +deadlier than sword-cuts. + +The mournful pageant was now where its lights brought out parts of the +face of the smoke-stained building. With a loud clang a door was thrown +open, and a friar, in the black vestments usual in masses for the dead, +came out to receive the Countess. The interior behind him was dully +illuminated. A few minutes more, and the opportunity to see her face +would be lost. Still the Emir stood irresolute. Judge the fierceness of +the conflict in his breast! + +At last he moved forward. The acolytes, with their great candles of +yellow wax, were going by as he gained the edge of the road. They +looked at him wonderingly. The friars, in Dominican cassocks, stared at +him also. Then the choir took its turn. The linkman at sight of him +stopped an instant, then marched on. The Emir really beheld none of +them; his eyes and thoughts were in waiting; and now--how his heart +beat!--how wistfully he gazed!--the Countess was before him, not three +yards away. + +Her garments, as said, were all black. A thick veil enveloped her head; +upon her breast her crossed hands shone ivory white. Two or three times +the right hand, in signing the cross, uncovered a ring upon the +left--the wedding ring probably. Her bearing was of a person not so old +as persecuted by an engrossing anguish. She did not once raise her face. + +The Emir's heart was full of prayer. + +"O Allah! It is my mother! If I may not speak to her, or kiss her +feet--if I may not call her mother--if I may not say, mother, mother, +behold, I am thy son come back--still, as thou art the Most Merciful! +let me see her face, and suffer her to see mine--once, O Allah! once, +if nevermore!" + +But the face remained covered--and so she passed, but in passing she +prayed. Though the voice was low, lie heard these words: "Oh, sweet +Mother! By the Blessed Son of thy love and passion, remember mine, I +beseech thee. Be with him, and bring him to me quickly. Miserable woman +that I am!" + +The world, and she with it, swam in the tears he no longer tried to +stay. Stretching his arms toward her, he fell upon his knees, then upon +his face; and that the face was in the dust, he never minded. When he +looked up, she was gone on, the last of the procession. And he knew she +had not seen him. + +He followed after. Everybody stood aside to let her enter the door +first. The friar received her; she went in, and directly the linkman +stood alone outside. + +"Stay!" said the linkman, peremptorily. "Who art thou?" + +Thus rudely challenged, the Emir awoke from his daze--awoke with all +his faculties clear. + +"A gentleman of Otranto," he replied. + +"What is thy pleasure?" + +"Admit me to the chapel." + +"Thou art a stranger, and the service is private. Or hast thou been +invited?" + +"No." + +"Thou canst not enter." + +Again the world dropped into darkness before Mirza; but this time it +was from anger. The linkman never suspected his peril. Fortunately for +him, the voice of the female chorister issued from the doorway in +tremulous melody. Mirza listened, and became tranquillized. The voice +sank next into a sweet unearthly pleading, and completely subdued, he +began arguing with himself.... She had not seen him while he was in the +dust at her side, and now this repulse at the door--how were they to be +taken except as expressions of the will of Heaven?... There was plenty +of time--better go away, and return--perhaps to-morrow. He was not +prepared to prove his identity, if it were questioned.... There would +be a scene, and he shrank from it.... Yes, better retire now.... And he +turned to go. Not six steps away, the Countess reappeared to his +excited mind, exactly as she had passed praying for him--reappeared-- + + ... "like the painting of a sorrow." + +A revulsion of feeling seized him--he halted. Oh, the years she had +mourned for him! Her love was deep as the sea! Tears again--and without +thought of what he did--all aimlessly--he returned to the door. + +"This castle was sacked and burned by pirates, was it not?" he asked +the linkman. + +"Yes." + +"They slew the Count Corti?" + +"Yes." + +"And carried off his son?" + +"Yes." + +"Had he other children?" + +"No." + +"What was the name of the boy?" + +"Ugo." + +"Well--in thy ear now--thou didst not well in shutting me out--_I am +that Ugo._" + +Thereupon the Emir walked resolutely away. + +A cry, shrill and broken, overtook him, issuing apparently from the +door of the chapel--a second time he heard it, more a moan than a +shriek--and thinking the linkman had given the alarm, he quickened his +pace to a run, and was soon out on the beach. + +The breath of the sea was pleasant and assuring, and falling into a +walk, he turned his face toward Brindisi. But the cry pursued him. He +imagined the scene in the chapel--the distress of the Countess--the +breaking up of the service--the hurry of question--a consultation, and +possibly search for him. Every person in the procession but the +Countess had seen him; so the only open point in the affair was the one +of directest interest to her: Was it her son? + +Undoubtedly the suffering lady would not rest until investigation was +exhausted. Failing to find the stranger about the castle, horsemen +might be sent out on the road. There is terrible energy in mother-love. +These reflections stimulated the Emir to haste. Sometimes he even ran; +only at the shrine of the Virgin and Child in the angle of the road did +he halt. There he cast himself upon the friendly slab to recover breath. + +All this of course indicated a preference for Mahommed. And now he came +to a decision. He would proceed with the duty assigned him by the young +master; then, at the end, he would come back, and assert himself in his +native land. + +He sat on the slab an hour or more. At intervals the outcry, which he +doubted not was his mother's, rang in his ears, and every time he heard +it, conscience attacked him with its whip of countless stings. Why +subject her to more misery? For what other outcome could there be to +the ceaseless contention of fears and hopes now hers? Oh, if she had +only seen him when he was so near her in the road! That she did not, +was the will of Allah, and the fatalistic Mohammedan teaching brought +him a measure of comfort. In further sooth, he had found a location and +a title. Thenceforward, and not fictitiously, he was the _Count Corti_; +and so entitling himself, he determined to make Brindisi, and take ship +for Genoa or Venice in the morning before a messenger could arrive from +the castle. + +As he arose from the slab, a bird in housel for the night flew out of +the box. Its small cheep reminded him of the smile he had fancied on +the face of the Madonna, and how, a little later, the smile had, with +such timely suggestion of approval, woven itself into his thought of +the Countess. He looked up at the face again; but the night was over it +like a veil, and he went nearer, and laid his hand softly on the Child. +That which followed was not a miracle; only a consequence of the wisdom +which permits the enshrinement of a saintly woman and Holy Child as +witnesses of the Divine Goodness to humanity. He raised himself higher +in the box, and pushing aside a heap of faded floral offerings, kissed +the foot of the taller image, saying: "Thus would I have done to my +mother." And when he had climbed down, and was in the road, it seemed +some one answered him: "Go thy way! God and Allah are the same." We may +now urge the narrative. From Brindisi the Emir sailed to Venice. Two +weeks in "the glorious city in the sea" informed him of it thoroughly. +While there, he found, on the "ways" of an Adriatic builder, the galley +in which we have seen him at anchor in the Golden Horn. Leaving an +order for the employment of a sailing-master and crew when the vessel +was complete, he departed next for Rome. At Padua he procured the +harness of a man-at-arms of the period, and recruited a company of +_condottieri_--mercenary soldiers of every nationality. With all his +sacerdotal authority, Nicholas V., the Holy Father, was sorely tried in +keeping his States. The freebooters who unctuously kissed his hand +to-day, did not scruple, if opportunity favored, to plunder one of his +towns tomorrow. It befell that Count Corti--so the Emir styled +himself--found a Papal castle beleaguered by marauders, whom he +dispersed, slaying their chief with his own hand. Nicholas, in public +audience, asked him to name the reward he preferred. + +"Knighthood at thy hands, first of all things," was the reply. + +The Holy Father took a sword from one of his officers, and gave him the +_accolade_. + +"What next, my son?" + +"I am tired fighting men who ought to be Christians. Give me, I pray, +thy commission to make war upon the Barbary pirates who infest the +seas." + +This was granted him. + +"What next?" + +"Nothing, Holy Father, but thy blessing, and a certificate in good +form, and under seal, of these favors thou hast done me." + +The certificate and the blessing were also granted. + +The Count then dismissed his lances, and, hastening to Naples, embarked +for Venice. There he supplied himself with suits of the finest Milanese +armor he could obtain, and a wardrobe consisting of costumes such as +were in vogue with the gay gallants along the Grand Canal. Crossing to +Tripoli, he boarded a Moorish merchantman, and made prisoners of the +crew and rowers. The prize he gave to his Christian sailors, and sent +them home. Summoning his prisoners on deck, he addressed them in +Arabic, offering them high pay if they would serve him, and they +gratefully accepted his terms. + +The Count then directed his prow to what is now Aleppo, with the +purpose of procuring Arab horses; and having purchased five of the +purest blood, he made sail for Constantinople. + +We shall now, for a time, permit the title _Emir_ to lapse. The knight +we have seen on the deck of the new arrival in the Golden Horn viewing +with melancholy interest the cities on either side of the fairest +harbor on earth, is in easy English speech, _Count Corti_, the Italian. + +Thus far the Count had been successful in his extraordinary mission, +yet he was not happy. He had made three discoveries during his +journey--his mother, his country, his religion. Ordinarily these +relations--if we may so call them--furnish men their greatest sum of +contentment; sadly for him, however, he had made a fourth finding, of +itself sufficient to dash all the others--in briefest term, he was not +in condition to acknowledge either of them. Unable to still the cry +heard while retiring from his father's ruined castle, he surrendered +himself more and more to the wisdom brought away from the box of the +Madonna and Child in the angle of the road to Brindisi--_God and Allah +are the same._ Conscience and a growing sense of misappropriated life +were making Count Corti a very different person from the light-hearted +Emir of Mahommed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN + + +An oblong room divided in the middle crosswise by two fluted pillars of +pink-stained marble, light, delicately capped, and very +graceful--between the pillars a segmental arch--between the walls and +the pillars square ties;--the wall above the pillars elaborately +scrolled;--three curtains of woollen stuff uniformly Tyrian dyed +filling the open places--the central curtain drawn to the pillars, and +held there by silken ropes richly tasselled--the side curtains +dropped;--a skylight for each division of the room, and under each +skylight an ample brazier dispensing a comfortable degree of +warmth;--floor laid in pink and saffron tiles;--chairs with and without +arms, some upholstered, all quaintly carved--to each chair a rug +harmoniously colored;--massive tables of carven wood, the tops of +burnished copper inlaid with blocks of jasper, mostly red and +yellow--on the tables murrhine pitchers vase-shaped, with crystal +drinking goblets about them;--the skylights conical and of clear +glass;--the walls panelled, a picture in every panel, and the raised +margins and the whole space outside done in arabesque of studied +involution;--doors opposite each other and bare;--such was the +reception-room in the town-house of the Princess Irene arranged for the +winter. + +On an armless chair in one of the divisions of the beautiful room, the +Princess sat, slightly bending over a piece of embroidery stretched +upon a frame. What with the accessories about her--the chair, a small +table at her right covered with the bright materials in use, the +slanted frame, and a flexible lion's skin under her feet--she was a +picture once seen never forgotten. The wonderful setting of the head +and neck upon the Phidian shoulders was admirably complemented by the +long arms, bare, round, and of the whiteness of an almond kernel +freshly broken, the hands, blue-veined and dimpled, and the fingers, +tapering, pliant, nimble, rapid, each seemingly possessed of a separate +intelligence. + +To the left of the Princess, a little removed, Lael half reclined +against a heap of cushions, pale, languid, and not wholly recovered +from the effects of the abduction by Demedes, the terrible doom which +had overtaken her father, and the disappearance of the Prince of India, +the latter unaccountable except upon the hypothesis of death in the +great fire. The dying prayer of the son of Jahdai had not failed with +the Princess Irene. Receiving the unfortunate girl from Sergius the day +after the rescue from the cistern, she accepted the guardianship, and +from that hour watched and tended her with maternal solicitude. + +The other division of the room was occupied by attendants. They were +visible through the opening left by the drawn curtain; yet it is not to +be supposed they were under surveillance; on the contrary, their +presence in the house was purely voluntary. They read, sang, accepted +tasks in embroidery from their mistress, accompanied her abroad, loved +her--in a word, their service was in every respect compatible with high +rank, and in return they derived a certain education from her. For by +universal acknowledgment she was queen and arbiter in the social world +of Byzantium; in manner the mirror, in taste and fashion its very form. +Indeed, she was the subject of but one objection--her persistent +protest against the encumbrance of a veil. + +With all her grave meditation, she never lectured her attendants, +knowing probably that sermons in example are more impressive than +sermons in words. In illustration of the freedom they enjoyed in her +presence and hearing, one of them, behind the curtain, touched a +stringed instrument--a cithern--and followed the prelude with a song of +Anacreontic vein. + + THE GOLDEN NOON. + + If my life were but a day-- + One morn, one night, + With a golden noon for play, + And I, of right, + Could say what I would do + With it--what would I do? + + Penance to me--e'en the stake, + And late or soon!-- + Yet would Love remain to make + That golden noon + Delightful--I would do-- + Ah, Love, what would I do? + +And when the singer ceased there was a merry round of applause. + +The ripple thus awakened had scarcely subsided, when the ancient +Lysander opened one of the doors, and, after ringing the tiled floor +with the butt of his javelin, and bowing statelywise, announced +Sergius. Taking a nod from the Princess, he withdrew to give the +visitor place. + +Sergius went first to Irene, and silently kissed her hand; then, +leaving her to resume work, he drew a chair to Lael's side. + +Under his respectful manner there was an ease which only an assurance +of welcome could have brought him. This is not to be taken in the sense +of familiarity; if he ever indulged that vulgarism--something quite out +of character with him--it was not in his intercourse with the Princess. +She did not require formality; she simply received courtesy from +everybody, even the Emperor, as a natural tribute. At the same time, +Sergius was nearer in her regard than any other person, for special +reasons. + +We have seen the sympathetic understanding between the two in the +matter of religion. We have seen, also, why she viewed him as a +protege. Never had one presented himself to her so gentle and +unconventional never one knowing so little of the world. With life all +before him, with its ways to learn, she saw he required an adviser +through a period of tutelage, and assumed the relation partly through a +sense of duty, partly from reverent recollection of Father Hilarion. +These were arguments sound in themselves; but two others had recently +offered. + +In the first place she was aware of the love which had arisen between +the monk and Lael. She had not striven to spy it out. Like children, +they had affected no disguise of their feeling; and while disallowing +the passion a place in her own breast, she did not deprecate or seek to +smother it in others. Far from that, in these, her wards, so to speak, +it was with her an affair of permissive interest. They were so lovable, +it seemed an order of nature they should love each other. + +Next, the world was dealing harshly with Sergius; and though he strove +manfully to hide the fact, she saw he was suffering. He deserved well, +she thought, for his rescue of Lael, and for the opportunity given the +Emperor to break up the impiety founded by Demedes. Unhappily her +opinion was not subscribed in certain quarters. The powerful +Brotherhood of the St. James' amongst others was in an extreme state of +exasperation with him. They insisted he could have achieved the rescue +without the death of the Greek. They went so far as to accuse him of a +double murder--of the son first, then of the father. A terrible +indictment! And they were bold and open-mouthed. Out of respect for the +Emperor, who was equally outspoken in commendation of Sergius, they had +not proceeded to the point of expulsion. The young man was still of the +Brotherhood; nevertheless he did not venture to exercise any of the +privileges of a member. His cell was vacant. The five services of the +day were held in the chapel without him. In short, the Brotherhood were +in wait for an opportunity to visit him with their vengeance. In hope +of a favorable turn in the situation, he wore the habit of the Order, +but it was his only outward sign of fraternity. Without employment, +miserable, he found lodgment in the residence of the Patriarch, and +what time he was not studying, he haunted the old churches of the city, +Sancta Sophia in especial, and spent many hours a dreaming voyager on +the Bosphorus. + +The glad look which shone in the eyes of the invalid when Sergius took +seat by her was very noticeable; and when she reached him her hand, the +kiss he left upon it was of itself a declaration of tender feeling. + +"I hope my little friend is better, to-day," he said, gravely. + +"Yes, much better. The Princess says I may go out soon--the first real +spring day." + +"That is good news. I wish I could hurry the spring. I have everything +ready to take you on the water--a perfect boat, and two master rowers. +Yesterday they carried me to the Black Sea and back, stopping for a +lunch of bread and figs at the foot of the Giants' Mountain. They boast +they can repeat the trip often as there are days in the week." + +"Did you stop at the White Castle?" she asked, with a smile. + +"No. Our noble Princess was not with me; and in her absence, I feared +the Governor might forget to be polite as formerly." + +The gracious lady, listening, bent lower over the frame before her. She +knew so much more of the Governor than Lael did! But Lael then inquired: + +"Where have you been to-day?" + +"Well, my little friend, let me see if I can interest you.... This +morning I awoke betimes, and set myself to study. Oh, those chapters of +John--the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth. There is no need of +religious knowledge beyond them. Of the many things they make clear, +this is the clearest--the joys of eternal life lie in the saying of the +Lord, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto +the Father but by Me.' ... After my hours of study, I went to see an +old church over in the low garden grounds beyond the aqueduct. Before I +could get through the doorway, a flock of goats had to pass out. I will +tell His Serenity what I beheld. Better the wreck be cleaned from the +face of the earth than desecrated. Holy ground once, holy ground +forever." + +"Where is the Church?" the Princess inquired. + +"In the low grounds between the aqueduct, and the gates of St. Romain +and Adrianople." + +"It belongs to one of the Brotherhoods. They have farming right in the +soil." + +"I am sorry to hear it." + +As she turned to her work again, he went on with his account of himself. + +"I had then two hours and more till noon, and was at loss what to do. +Finally I decided to go to the Port of Blacherne--a long walk, but not +too long, considering my motive.... Princess, have you heard of the +Italian newly arrived?" + +"What of him, pray?" + +"He is the talk of the city, and if the half told of him be true, we +must needs wonder. He travels in his own ship. Merchants have that +habit, but he is not a merchant. Kings do so, but he is not a king. He +came in saluting with a gun, in style becoming a great admiral; but if +he is an admiral, his nationality is a secret. He also flies an unknown +flag. They report him further as standing much on his deck in a suit of +armor glistening like silver. And what is he? Mouth speaketh unto +mouth, with no one to answer. They go then to his ship, pronouncing it +the most perfect thing of the kind ever seen in the harbor. Those who +have rowed around it say the sailors are not white men, but dark-faced +creatures in turbans and black beards, un-Christian and ugly-looking. +Fishermen and fruiterers have been permitted on deck--nobody else--and +they, returning alive, say the rowers, of whom they caught glimpses, +are blacker than the sailors. They also overheard strange noises +below--voices not human." + +The countenance of the Princess during this recital gradually changed; +she seemed disposed to laugh at the exaggerations of the populace. + +"So much for town-talk," Sergius continued. "To get sight of the ship, +and of the mysterious magnate, I walked across the city to the Port of +Blacherne, and was well rewarded. I found the ship drawn in to the +quay, and the work of unloading her in progress. Parties of porters +were attacking heaps of the cargo already on the landing. Where they +were taking the goods I could not learn. I saw five horses lifted out +of the hold, and led ashore over a bridge dropped from the vessel's +side. Such horses I never before beheld. Two were grays, two bays, and +one chestnut-colored. They looked at the sun with wide-open unwinking +eyes; they inhaled the air as it were something to drink; their coats +shone like silk; their manes were soft like the hair of children; their +tails flared out in the breeze like flags; and everybody exclaimed: +'Arabs, Arabs!' There was a groom for each horse--tall men, lean, +dust-hued, turbaned, and in black gowns. At sight of the animals, an +old Persian who, from his appearance, might have been grandfather of +the grooms, begged permission--I could not understand the tongue he +used--put his arms around the necks of the animals, and kissed them +between the eyes, his own full of tears the while. I suppose they +reminded him of his own country.... Then two officers from the palace, +representatives doubtless of the Emperor, rode out of the gate in +armor, and immediately the stranger issued from his cabin, and came +ashore. I confess I lost interest in the horses, although he went to +them and scanned them over, lifting their feet and tapping their hoofs +with the handle of a dagger. By that time the two officers were +dismounted; and approaching with great ceremony, they notified him they +had been sent by His Majesty to receive and conduct him to assigned +quarters. He replied to them in excellent Greek, acknowledging His +Majesty's graciousness, and the pleasure he would have in their escort. +From the cabin, two of his men brought a complete equipment, and placed +it on the chestnut steed. The furniture was all sheen of satin and +gold. Another attendant brought his sword and shield; and after the +sword was buckled around him, and the shield at his back, he took hold +of the saddle with both hands, and swung himself into the seat with an +ease remarkably in contrast with the action of his Greek conductors, +who, in mounting, were compelled to make use of their stirrups. The +cavalcade then passed the gate into the city." + +"You saw him closely?" Lael asked. + +"To get to his horse, he passed near me as I am to you, my little +friend." + +"What did he wear?" + +"Oh, he was in armor. A cap of blue steel, with a silver spike on the +crown--neck and shoulders covered with a hood of mail--body in a shirt +of mail, a bead of silver in each link--limbs to the knees in mail. +From the knees down there were splints of steel inlaid with silver; his +shoes were of steel, and on the heels long golden spurs. The hood was +clasped under the chin, leaving the face exposed--a handsome face, eyes +black and bright, complexion olive, though slightly bloodless, +expression pleasant." + +"How old is he?" + +"Twenty-six or seven. Altogether he reminded me of what I have heard of +the warriors who used to go crusading." + +"What following had he?" + +This was from the Princess. + +"I can only speak of what I saw--of the keepers of the horses, and of +the other men, whom, in my unfamiliarity with military fashions, I will +call equerry, armorer, and squire or page. What accounting is to be +made of the ship's company, I leave, O Princess, to your better +knowledge." + +"My inquiry was of his personal suite." + +"Then I cannot give you a better answer; but if I may say so much, the +most unusual thing observable in his followers was, they were all +Orientals--not one of them had a Christian appearance." + +"Well"--and the Princess laid her needle down for the first time--"I +see how easily a misunderstanding of the stranger may get abroad. Let +me tell what I know of him.... Directly he arrived, he despatched a +letter to His Majesty, giving an account of himself. He is a soldier by +profession, and a Christian; has spent much time in the Holy Land, +where he acquired several Eastern languages; obtained permission from +the Pontiff Nicholas to make war on the African pirates; manned his +galley with captives; and, not wishing to return to his native land and +engage in the baronial wars which prevail there at present, he offered +his services to His Majesty. He is an Italian nobleman, entitled _Count +Corti,_ and submitted to His Majesty a certificate, under the hand and +seal of the Holy Father, showing that the Holy Father knighted him, and +authorized his crusade against the infidels. The preference for a +following composed of Orientals is singular; but after all, it is only +a matter of taste. The day may come, dear Sergius, when the Christian +world will disapprove his method of getting title to servants; but it +is not here now.... If further discussion of the Count takes place in +your presence, you are at liberty to tell what I tell you. At Blacherne +yesterday I had the particulars, together with the other circumstance, +that the Emperor gladly accepted the Italian's overture, and assigned +him quarters in the Palace of Julian, with leave to moor his galley in +the port there. Few noble foreigners have sought our Empire bringing +better recommendations." + +The fair lady then took up her needle, and was resuming work, when +Lysander entered, and, after thumping the floor, announced: "Three +o'clock." + +The Princess silently arose, and passed out of the room; at the same +time there was a commotion behind the curtain, and presently the other +apartment was vacated. Sergius lingered a moment. + +"Tell me now of yourself," Lael said, giving him her hand. + +He kissed the hand fondly, and replied: "The clouds still hang low and +dark over me; but my faith is not shaken; they will blow away; and in +the meantime, dear little friend, the world is not all cheerless--you +love me." + +"Yes, I love you," she said, with childish simplicity. + +"The Brotherhood has elected a new Hegumen," he continued. + +"A good man, I hope." + +"The violence with which he denounced me was the chief argument in his +favor. But God is good. The Emperor, the Patriarch, and the Princess +Irene remain steadfast. Against them the Hegumen will be slow in +proceeding to my expulsion. I am not afraid. I will go on doing what I +think right. Time and patience are good angels to the unjustly accused. +But that any one should hold it a crime to have rescued you--O little +friend, dear soul! See the live coal which does not cease burning!" + +"And Nilo?" + +"He wants nothing in the way of comforts." + +"I will go see the poor man the first thing when I get out." + +"His cell in the Cynegion is well furnished. The officer in charge has +orders direct from the Emperor to see that he suffers no harm. I saw +him day before yesterday. He does not know why he is a prisoner, but +behaves quietly. I took him a supply of tools, and he passes the time +making things in use in his country, mostly implements of war and +hunting. The walls of his cell are hung with bows, arrows and lances of +such curious form that there is always quite a throng to see them. He +actually divides honor with Tamerlane, the king of the lions." + +"It should be a very noble lion, for that." + +Sergius, seeing her humor, went on: "You say truly, little friend. He +has in hand a net of strong thread and thousands of meshes already. +'What is it for?' I asked. In his pantomimic way he gave me to +understand: 'In my country we hunt lions with it.' 'How?' said I. And +he showed me two balls of lead, one in each corner of the net. Taking +the balls in his hands: 'Now we are in front of the game--now it +springs at us--up they go this way.' He gave the balls a peculiar toss +which sent them up and forward on separating lines. The woven threads +spread out in the air like a yellow mist, and I could see the +result--the brute caught in the meshes, and entangled. Then the brave +fellow proceeded with his pantomime. He threw himself to one side out +of the way of the leap--drew a sword, and stabbed and stabbed--and the +triumph in his face told me plainly enough. 'There--he is dead!' Just +now he is engaged on another work scarcely less interesting to him. A +dealer in ivory sent him an elephant's tusk, and he is covering it with +the story of a campaign. You see the warriors setting out on the +march--in another picture they are in battle--a cloud of arrows in +flight--shields on arm--bows bent--and a forest of spears. From the +large end he is working down toward the point. The finish will be a +victory, and a return with captives and plunder immeasurable.... He is +well cared for; yet he keeps asking me about his master the Prince of +India. Where is he? When will he come? When he turns to that subject I +do not need words from him. His soul gets into his eyes. I tell him the +Prince is dead. He shakes his head: 'No, no!' and sweeping a circle in +the air, he brings his hands to his breast, as to say: 'No, he is +travelling--he will come back for me.'" + +Sergius had become so intent upon the description that he lost sight of +his hearer; but now a sob recalled him. Bending lower over the hand, he +caressed it more assiduously than ever, afraid to look into her face. +When at length the sobbing ceased, he arose and said, shamefacedly: + +"O dear little friend, you forgive me, do you not?" + +From his manner one would have thought he had committed an offence far +out of the pale of condonement. + +"Poor Sergius," she said. "It is for me to think of you, not you of +me." He tried to look cheerful. + +"It was stupid in me. I will be more careful. Your pardon is a sweet +gift to take away.... The Princess is going to Sancta Sophia, and she +may want me. To-morrow--until to-morrow--good-by." + +This time he stooped, and kissed her on the forehead; next moment she +was alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + +The Palace of Julian arose the chief embellishment of a large square +enclosure on the sea front southeast of the landmark at present called +the Burnt Column, and, like other imperial properties of the kind, it +was an aggregation of buildings irregular in form and style, and more +or less ornate and imposing. A garden stretched around it. The founder, +wanting private harborage for his galleys and swarm of lesser boats, +dug a basin just inside the city wall, and flooded it with pure +Marmoran water; then, for ingress and egress at his sovereign will, he +slashed the wall, and of the breach made the _Port of Julian_. +[Footnote: Only a shallow depression in the ground, faintly +perpetuating the outlines of the harbor, now marks the site of this +royal residence.] + +Count Corti found the Palace well preserved in and out. He had not +purposed hiding himself, yet it was desirable to keep his followers +apart much as possible; and for that a situation more to his wish could +scarcely have been chosen in the capital. + +Issuing from the front door, a minute's walk through a section of the +garden brought him to a stairway defended on both sides with massive +balustrading. The flight ended in a spacious paved landing; whence, +looking back and up, he could see two immense columnar pedestals +surmounted by statues, while forward extended the basin, a sheet of +water on which, white and light as a gull, his galley rested. He had +but to call the watchman on its deck, and a small boat would come to +him in a trice. He congratulated himself upon the lodgement. + +The portion of the Palace assigned him was in the south end; and, +although he enlisted a number of skilful upholsterers, a week and more +was industriously taken with interior arrangements for himself, and in +providing for the comfort and well-being of his horses; for it is to be +said in passing, he had caught enough of the spirit of the nomadic Turk +to rate the courser which was to bear him possibly through foughten +fields amongst the first in his affections. In this preparation, +keeping the scheme to which his master had devoted him ever present, he +required no teaching to point out the policy of giving his +establishment an air of permanence as well as splendor. + +Occupied as he was, he had nevertheless snatched time to look in upon +the Hippodrome, and walk once around the Bucoleon and Sancta Sophia. +From a high pavilion overhanging his quarters, he had surveyed the +stretches of city in the west and southwest, sensible of a lively +desire to become intimately acquainted with the bizarre panorama of +hills behind hills, so wonderfully house and church crowned. + +To say truth, however, the Count was anxious to hear from the Sultan +before beginning a career. The man who was to be sent to him might +appear any hour, making it advisable to keep close home. He had a +report of the journey to Italy, and of succeeding events, including his +arrival at Constantinople, ready draughted, and was impatient to +forward it. A word of approval from Mahommed would be to him like a new +spirit given. He counted upon it as a cure for his melancholia. + +Viewing the galley one day, he looked across the basin to where the +guard of the Port was being changed, and was struck with the foreign +air of the officer of the relief. This, it happened, was singularly +pertinent to a problem which had been disturbing his active mind--how +he could most safely keep in communication with Mahommed, or, more +particularly, how the Sultan's messenger could come with the most +freedom and go with the least hindrance. A solution now presented +itself. If the Emperor intrusted the guardianship of the gate to one +foreigner, why not to another? In other words, why not have the duty +committed to himself and his people? Not improbably the charge might be +proposed to him; he would wait awhile, and see; if, however, he had to +formally request it, could anything be more plausibly suggestive than +the relation between the captaincy of that Port and residence in the +Palace of Julian? The idea was too natural to be refused; if granted, +he was master of the situation. It would be like holding the keys of +the city. He could send out and admit as need demanded; and then, if +flight became imperative, behold a line of retreat! Here was his +galley--yonder the way out. + +While he pondered the matter, a servant brought him notice of an +officer from Blacherne in waiting. Responding immediately, he found our +ancient friend the Dean in the reception room, bringing the +announcement that His Majesty the Emperor had appointed audience for +him next day at noon; or, if the hour was not entirely convenient, +would the Count be pleased to designate another? His Majesty was aware +of the attention needful to a satisfactory settlement in strange +quarters, and had not interrupted him earlier; for which he prayed +pardon. + +The Count accepted the time set; after which he conducted his visitor +through his apartments, omitting none of them; from the kitchen he even +carried him to the stable, whence he had the horses brought one by one. +Hospitality and confidence could go no further, and he was amply +rewarded. The important functionary was pleased with all he saw, and +with nothing more than Corti himself. There could not be a doubt of the +friendliness of the report he would take back to Blacherne. In short, +the Count's training in a court dominated by suspicion to a greater +degree even than the court in Constantinople was drawn upon most +successfully. A glass of wine at parting redolent with the perfume of +the richest Italian vintage fixed the new-comer's standing in the +Dean's heart. If there had been the least insufficiency in the +emblazoned certificate of the Holy Father, here was a swift witness in +confirmation. + +The day was destined to be eventful to the Count. While he was +entertaining the Dean, the men on the deck of the galley, unused to +Byzantine customs, were startled by a cry, long, swelling, then +mournfully decadent. Glancing in the direction from which it came, they +saw a black boat sweeping through the water-way of the Port. A man of +dubious complexion, tall and lithe, his scant garments originally +white, now stiff with dirt of many hues, a ragged red head-cloth illy +confining his coarse black hair, stood in the bow shouting, and holding +up a wooden tray covered with fish. The sentinel to whom he thus +offered the stock shook his head, but allowed him to pass. At the +galley's side there was an interchange of stares between the sailors +and the fishermen--such the tenants of the black craft were--leaving it +doubtful which side was most astonished. Straightway the fellow in the +bow opened conversation, trying several tongues, till finally he +essayed the Arabic. + +"Who are you?" + +"Sailors." + +"Where from?" + +"Tripoli." + +"Children of the Prophet?" + +"We believe in Allah and the Last Day, and observe prayer, and pay the +appointed alms, and dread none but Allah; we are among the rightly +guided." [Footnote: Koran, IX. 18.] + +"Blessed be Allah! May his name be exalted here and everywhere!" the +fisherman returned; adding immediately: "Whom serve you?" + +"A _Scherif_ from Italy." + +"How is he called?" + +"The Count." + +"Where is he?" + +"In the Palace yonder." + +"A Christian?" + +"A Christian with an Eastern tongue; and he knows the hours of prayer, +and observes them." + +"Does he reside here?" + +"He is Lord of the Palace." + +"When did he arrive?" + +"Since the moon fulled." + +"Does he want fish?" + +The men on the ship laughed. + +"Go ask him." + +"That is his landing there?" + +"Yes." + +"All men who live down by the sea eat fish--when they can get them," +the dealer said, solemnly. Turning then to his rowers, he bade them: +"Forward to the landing." + +There he stepped out, dextrously balanced the tray on his head, +ascended the stairs, and in front of the great house went persistently +from door to door until he came to that of the Count. + +"Fish?" he asked the man who answered his knock. + +"I will see." + +The doorkeeper returned shortly, and said, "No." + +"Are you a Moslem?" the fisherman inquired. + +"Yes. Blessed be Allah for the right understanding!" + +"So am I. Now let me see the master. I want to furnish him with fish +for the season." + +"He is engaged." + +"I will wait for him. Tell him my catch is this morning's--red mullets +and choice cuts from a royal sword-fish that leaped ten feet in the air +with the spear in his back." + +Thereupon he deposited the tray, and took seat by it, much as to say, +Time is of no consequence to me. Ere long the Count appeared with the +Dean. He glanced at the tray, then at the fisherman--to the latter he +gave a second look. + +"What beautiful fish!" he said, to the Dean. + +"Yes, yes--there are no fish pastures like those of our Bosphorus." + +"How do you call this kind?" + +"Mullets--red mullets. The old Romans used to fatten them in tanks." + +"I thought I had seen their like on our Italian coasts. How do you +prepare them for the table?" + +"We fry them, Count, in olive oil--pure oil." + +All this time Corti was studying the fisherman. + +"What meal, pray, will fashion allow them to me dished?" he went on. + +"For breakfast especially; though when you come to dine with His +Majesty do not be surprised to see them early in course." + +"Pardon the detention, my Lord--I will make trial of these in the +morning." Then to the fisherman the Count said, carelessly: "Keep thy +place until I return." + +Corti saw the Dean out of the eastern gate of the enclosure, and +returned. + +"What, still here!" he said, to the dealer. "Well, go with the +doorkeeper to the kitchen. The cook will take what he needs for +to-morrow." Speaking to the doorkeeper then: "Bring the man to me. I am +fond of fishing, and should like to talk with him about his methods. +Sometime he may be willing to take me with him." + +By and by the monger was shown into the Count's room, where there was a +table, with books and writing material--a corner room full lighted by +windows in the south and east. When they were alone, the two gazed at +each other. + +"Ali, son of Abed-din!" said the Count. "Is it thou?" + +"O Emir! All of me that is not fish is the Ali thou hast named." + +"God is great!" the first exclaimed. + +"Blessed be God!" the other answered. + +They were acquaintances of long standing. + +Then Ali took the red rag from his head, and from its folds produced a +strip of fine parchment with writing on it impervious to water. +"Behold, Emir! It is for thee." + +The Count received the scrip and read: + +"This is he I promised to send. He has money for thee. Thou mayst trust +him. Tell me this time of thyself first; then of her; but always after +of her first. My soul is scorching with impatience." + +There was no date to the screed nor was it signed; yet the Count put it +to his forehead and lips. He knew the writing as he knew his own hand. + +"O Ali!" he said, his eyes aglow. "Hereafter thou shalt be Ali the +Faithful, son of Abed-din the Faithful." + +Ali replied with a rueful look: "It is well. What a time I have had +waiting for you! Much I fear my bones will never void the damps blown +into them by the winter winds, and I perched on the cross-sticks of a +floating _dallyan_.... I have money for you, O Emir! and the keeping it +has given me care more than enough to turn another man older than his +mother. I will bring it to-morrow; after which I shall say twenty +prayers to the Prophet--blessed be his name!--where now I say one." + +"No, not to-morrow, Ali, but the day after when thou bringest me +another supply of fish. There is danger in coming too often--and for +that, thou must go now. Staying too long is dangerous as coming too +often.... But tell me of our master. Is he indeed the Sultan of Sultans +he promised to be? Is he well? Where is he? What is he doing?" + +"Not so fast, O Emir, not so fast, I pray you! Better a double mouthful +of stale porpoise fat, with a fin bone in it, than so many questions at +once." + +"Oh, but I have been so long in the slow-moving Christian world without +news!" + +"Verily, O Emir, Padishah Mahommed will be greatest of the _Gabour_ +eaters since Padishah Othman--that to your first. He is well. His bones +have reached their utmost limit, but his soul keeps growing--that to +your second. He holds himself at Adrianople. Men say he is building +mosques. I say he is building cannon to shoot bullets big as his +father's tomb; when they are fired, the faithful at Medina will hear +the noise, and think it thunder--that to your third. And as to his +doing--getting ready for war, meaning business for everybody, from the +Shiek-ul-Islam to the thieving tax-farmers of Bagdad--to the +Kislar-Jinn of Abad-on with them. He has the census finished, and now +the Pachas go listing the able-bodied, of whom they have half a +million, with as many more behind. They say the young master means to +make a _sandjak_ of unbelieving Europe." + +"Enough, Ali!--the rest next time." + +The Count went to the table, and from a secret drawer brought a package +wrapped in leather, and sealed carefully. + +"This for our Lord--exalted be his name! How wilt thou take it?" + +Ali laughed. + +"In my tray to the boat, but the fish are fresh, and there are flowers +of worse odor in Cashmere. So, O Emir, for this once. Next time, and +thereafter, I will have a hiding-place ready." + +"Now, Ali, farewell. Thy name shall be sweet in our master's ears as a +girl-song to the moon of Ramazan. I will see to it." + +Ali took the package, and hid it in the bosom of his dirty shirt. When +he passed out of the front door, it lay undistinguishable under the +fish and fish meat; and he whispered to the Count in going: "I have an +order from the Governor of the White Castle for my unsold stock. God is +great!" + +Corti, left alone, flung himself on a chair. He had word from +Mahommed--that upon which he counted so certainly as a charm in +counteraction of the depression taking possession of his spirit. There +it was in his hand, a declaration of confidence unheard of in an +Oriental despot. Yet the effect was wanting. Even as he sat thinking +the despondency deepened. He groped for the reason in vain. He strove +for cheer in the big war of which Ali had spoken--in the roar of +cannon, like thunder in Medina--in Europe a Sultanic _sandjak_. He +could only smile at the exaggeration. In fact, his trouble was the one +common to every fine nature in a false position. His business was to +deceive and betray--whom? The degradation was casting its shadow +before. Heaven help when the eclipse should be full! + +For relief he read the screed again: "Tell me this time of thyself +first; then of _her_." ... Ah, yes, the kinswoman of the Emperor! He +must devise a way to her acquaintance, and speedily. And casting about +for it, he became restless, and finally resolved to go out into the +city. He sent for the chestnut Arab, and putting on the steel cap and +golden spurs had from the Holy Father was soon in the saddle. + +It was about three o'clock afternoon, with a wind tempered to mildness +by a bright sun. The streets were thronged, while the balconies and +overhanging windows had their groups on the lookout for entertainment +and gossip. As may be fancied the knightly rider and gallant barb, +followed by a dark-skinned, turbaned servant in Moorish costume, +attracted attention. Neither master nor man appeared to give heed to +the eager looks and sometimes over-loud questions with which they were +pursued. + +Turning northward presently, the Count caught sight of the dome of +Sancta Sophia. It seemed to him a vast, upturned silver bowl glistening +in the sky, and he drew rein involuntarily, wondering how it could be +upheld; then he was taken with a wish to go in, and study the problem. +Having heard from Mahommed, he was lord of his time, and here was noble +diversion. + +In front of the venerable edifice, he gave his horse to the dark-faced +servant, and entered the outer court unattended. + +A company, mixed apparently of every variety of persons, soldiers, +civilians, monks, and women, held the pavement in scattered groups; and +while he halted a moment to survey the exterior of the building, cold +and grimly plain from cornice to base, he became himself an object of +remark to them. About the same time a train of monastics, bareheaded, +and in long gray gowns, turned in from the street, chanting +monotonously, and in most intensely nasal tones. The Count, attracted +by their pale faces, hollow eyes and unkept beards, waited for them to +cross the court. Unkept their beards certainly were, but not white. +This was the beginning of the observation he afterward despatched to +Mahommed: Only the walls of Byzantium remain for her defence; the +Church has absorbed her young men; the sword is discarded for the +rosary. Nor could he help remarking that whereas the _frati_ of Italy +were fat, rubicund, and jolly, these seemed in search of death through +the severest penitential methods. His thought recurring to the house +again, he remembered having heard how every hour of every day from five +o'clock in the morning to midnight was filled with religious service of +some kind in Sancta Sophia. + +A few stone steps the full length of the court led up to five great +doors of bronze standing wide open; and as the train took one of the +latter and began to disappear, he chose another, and walked fast in +order to witness the entry. Brought thus into the immense vestibule, he +stopped, and at once forgot the gray brethren. Look where he might, at +the walls, and now up to the ceiling, every inch of space wore the +mellowed brightness of mosaic wrought in cubes of glass exquisitely +graduated in color. What could he do but stand and gaze at the Christ +in the act of judging the world? Such a cartoon had never entered his +imagination. The train was gone when he awoke ready to proceed. + +There were then nine doors also of bronze conducting from the +vestibule. The central and larger one was nearest him. Pushed lightly, +it swung open on noiseless hinges; a step or two, and he stood in the +nave or auditorium of the Holy House. + +The reader will doubtless remember how Duke Vlodomir, the grandson of +Olga, the Russian, coming to Constantinople to receive a bride, entered +Sancta Sophia the first time, and from being transfixed by what he saw +and heard, fell down a convert to Christianity. Not unlike was the +effect upon Corti. In a sense he, too, was an unbeliever semi-barbaric +in education. Many were the hours he had spent with Mahommed while the +latter, indulging his taste, built palaces and mosques on paper, +striving for vastness and original splendor. But what was the Prince's +utmost achievement in comparison with this interior? Had it been an +ocean grotto, another Caprian cave, bursting with all imaginable +revelations of light and color, he could not have been more deeply +impressed. Without architectural knowledge; acquainted with few of the +devices employed in edificial construction, and still less with the +mysterious power of combination peculiar to genius groping for effects +in form, dimensions, and arrangement of stone on stone with beautiful +and sublime intent; yet he had a soul to be intensely moved by such +effects when actually set before his eyes. He walked forward slowly +four or five steps from the door, looking with excited vision--not at +details or to detect the composition of any of the world of objects +constituting the view, or with a thought of height, breadth, depth, or +value--the marbles of the floor rich in multiformity and hues, and +reflective as motionless water, the historic pillars, the varied +arches, the extending galleries, the cornices, friezes, balustrades, +crosses of gold, mosaics, the windows and interlacing rays of light, +brilliance here, shadows yonder--the apse in the east, and the altar +built up in it starry with burning candles and glittering with +prismatic gleams shot from precious stones and metals in every +conceivable form of grace--lamps, cups, vases, candlesticks, cloths, +banners, crucifixes, canopies, chairs, Madonnas, Child Christs and +Christs Crucified--and over all, over lesser domes, over arches +apparently swinging in the air, broad, high, near yet far away, the +dome of Sancta Sophia, defiant of imitation, like unto itself alone, a +younger sky within the elder--these, while he took those few steps, +merged and ran together in a unity which set his senses to reeling, and +made question and thought alike impossible. + +How long the Count stood thus lost to himself in the glory and +greatness of the place, he never knew. The awakening was brought about +by a strain of choral music, which, pouring from the vicinity of the +altar somewhere, flooded the nave, vast as it was, from floor to dome. +No voice more fitting could be imagined; and it seemed addressing +itself to him especially. He trembled, and began to think. + +First there came to him a comparison in which the Kaaba was a relative. +He recalled the day he fell dying at the corner under the Black Stone. +He saw the draped heap funereally dismal in the midst of the cloisters. +How bare and poor it seemed to him now! He remembered the visages and +howling of the demoniac wretches struggling to kiss the stone, though +with his own kiss he had just planted it with death. How different the +worship here! ... This, he thought next, was his mother's religion. And +what more natural than that he should see that mother descending to the +chapel in her widow's weeds to pray for him? Tears filled his eyes. His +heart arose chokingly in his throat. Why should not her religion be +his? It was the first time he had put the question to himself directly; +and he went further with it. What though Allah of the Islamite and +Jehovah of the Hebrew were the same?--What though the Koran and the +Bible proceeded from the same inspiration?--What though Mahomet and +Christ were alike Sons of God? There were differences in the worship, +differences in the personality of the worshippers. Why, except to allow +every man a choice according to his ideas of the proper and best in +form and companionship? And the spirit swelled within him as he asked, +Who are my brethren? They who stole me from my father's house, who slew +my father, who robbed my mother of the lights of life, and left her to +the darkness of mourning and the bitterness of ungratified hope--were +not they the brethren of my brethren? + +At that moment an old man appeared before the altar with assistants in +rich canonicals. One placed on the elder's head what seemed a crown all +a mass of flaming jewels; another laid upon him a cloak of cloth of +gold; a third slipped a ring over one of his fingers; whereupon the +venerable celebrant drew nearer the altar, and, after a prayer, took up +a chalice and raised it as if in honor to an image of Christ on a cross +in the agonies of crucifixion. Then suddenly the choir poured its +triumphal thunder abroad until the floor, and galleries, and pendant +lamps seemed to vibrate. The assistants and worshippers sank upon their +knees, and ere he was aware the Count was in the same attitude of +devotion. + +The posture consisted perfectly with policy, his mission considered. +Soon or late he would have to adopt every form and observance of +Christian worship. In this performance, however, there was no +premeditation, no calculation. In his exaltation of soul he fancied he +heard a voice passing with the tempestuous jubilation of the singers: +"On thy knees, O apostate! On thy knees! God is here!" + +But his was a combative nature; and coming to himself, and not +understanding clearly the cause of his prostration, he presently arose. +Of the worshippers in sight, he alone was then standing, and the +sonorous music ringing on, he was beginning to doubt the propriety of +his action, when a number of women, unobserved before, issued from a +shaded corner at the right of the apse, fell into processional order, +and advanced slowly toward him. + +One moved by herself in front. A reflection of her form upon the +polished floor lent uncertainty to her stature, and gave her an +appearance of walking on water. Those following were plainly her +attendants. They were all veiled; while a white mantle fell from her +left shoulder, its ends lost in the folds of the train of her gown, +leaving the head, face, and neck bare. Her manner, noticeable in the +distance even, was dignified without hauteur, simple, serious, free of +affectation. She was not thinking of herself.... Nearer--he heard no +foot-fall. Now and then she glided through slanting rays of soft, white +light cast from upper windows, and they seemed to derive ethereality +from her.... Nearer--and he could see the marvellous pose of the head, +and the action of the figure, never incarnation more graceful.... Yet +nearer--he beheld her face, in complexion a child's, in expression a +woman's. The eyes were downcast, the lips moved. She might have been +the theme of the music sweeping around her in acclamatory waves, +drowning the part she was carrying in suppressed murmur. He gazed +steadfastly at the countenance. The light upon the forehead was an +increasing radiance, like a star's refined by passage through the +atmospheres of infinite space. A man insensitive to beauty in woman +never was, never will be. Vows cannot alter nature; neither can monkish +garbs nor years; and it is knowledge of this which makes every woman +willing to last sacrifices for the gift; it is power to her, +vulgarizing accessories like wealth, coronets and thrones. With this +confession in mind, words are not needed to inform the reader of the +thrills which assailed the Count while the marvel approached. + +The service was over as to her, and she was evidently seeking to retire +by the main door; but as he stood in front of it, she came within two +or three steps before noticing him. Then she stopped suddenly, +astonished by the figure in shining armor. A flush overspread her face; +smiling at her alarm, she spoke: "I pray pardon, Sir Knight, for +disturbing thy devotions." + +"And I, fair lady, am grateful to Heaven that it placed me in thy way +to the door unintentionally." + +He stepped aside, and she passed on and out. + +The interior of the church, but a minute before so overwhelmingly +magnificent and impressive, became commonplace and dull. The singing +rolled on unheard. His eyes fixed on the door through which she went; +his sensations were as if awakening from a dream in which he had seen a +heavenly visitant, and been permitted to speak to it. + +The spell ceased with the music; then, with swift returning sense, he +remembered Mahommed's saying: "Thou wilt know her at sight." + +And he knew her--the _Her_ of the screed brought only that day by Ali. + +Nor less distinctly did he recall every incident of the parting with +Mahommed, every word, every injunction--the return of the ruby ring, +even then doubtless upon the imperious master's third finger, a subject +of hourly study--the further speech, "They say whoever looketh at her +is thenceforward her lover"--and the final charge, with its +particulars, concluding: "Forget not that in Constantinople, when I +come, I am to receive her from thy hand peerless in all things as I +left her." + +His shoes of steel were strangely heavy when he regained his horse at +the edge of the court. For the first time in years, he climbed into the +saddle using the stirrup like a man reft of youth. He would love the +woman--he could not help it. Did not every man love her at sight? + +The idea colored everything as he rode slowly back to his quarters. + +Dismounting at the door, it plied him with the repetition, _Every man +loves her at sight_. + +He thought of training himself to hate her, but none the less through +the hours of the night he heard the refrain, _Every man loves her at +sight_. + +In a clearer condition, his very inability to shut her out of mind, +despite his thousand efforts of will, would have taught him that +another judgment was upon him. + +HE LOVED HER. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + + +At noon the days are a little more yellow, and the shadows a trifle +longer, while at evening the snows on the far mountains give the air a +coolness gently admonitory of the changing season; with these +exceptions there is scarcely a difference between the September to +which we now come and the closing stages of June. + +Count Corti is fully settled in his position. Withal, however, he is +very miserable. A new light has been let in upon his being. He finds it +a severe trial to serve a Mahommedan, knowing himself a Christian born, +and still more difficult trying to be a Turk, knowing himself an +Italian. The stings grow sharper as experience makes it plainer that he +is nefariously helping those whom he ought to regard enemies destroy an +Emperor and people who never gave him offence. Worst of all, most +crushing to spirit, is his passion for the Princess Irene while under +obligations to Mahommed prohibitory of every hope, dream, and +self-promise ordinarily the sweetest incidents of love. + +The person with a mental ailment curable by prompt decision, who yet +goes about debating what to do, will ere long find his will power so +weakened as to leave him a confirmed wreck. Count Corti seemed likely +to become an instance in point. The months since his visit to the +paternal castle in Italy, really the beginning of the conflicts tossing +him now here, now there, were full of warnings he could but hear; still +he continued his course. + +His reports to Mahommed were frequent, and as they are of importance to +our story, we think it advisable to quote from some of them. + +The following is from his first communication after the visit to Sancta +Sophia: + +"I cast myself at your feet, O my Lord, praying Allah to keep you in +health, and strengthen the wise designs which occupy you +incessantly.... You bade me always speak first of the kinswoman of the +Emperor. Yesterday I rode to the Church supreme in the veneration of +the Greeks, erected, it is said, by the Emperor Justinian. Its vastness +amazed me, and, knowing my Lord's love for such creations, I declare, +were there no other incentive to the conquest of this unbelieving city +than the reduction of Sancta Sophia to the religious usages of Islam, +its possession would alone justify my Lord's best effort, regardless of +life and treasure. The riches accumulated in it through the ages are +incalculable; nevertheless its splendors, dazzling as the sun, varied +as a rainbow, sunk out of sight when the Princess Irene passed me so +near that I had a perfect view of her. Her face is composed of the +light of unnumbered stars. The union of all the graces in her person is +so far above words that Hafiz, my Lord's prince of poets, would have +been dumb before her, or, if he had spoken, it would have been to say, +She is the Song of Songs impossible to verse. She spoke to me as she +moved by, and her voice was the voice of Love. Yet she had the dignity +of a Queen governing the world through a conqueror such as my Lord is +to be. Then, the door having closed upon her, I was ready to declare, +as I now do, were there no other incentive to the conquest of this +unbelieving city than the possession of the womanly perfections +belonging to her, she would justify war to the exhaustion of the +universe. O my Lord, thou only art worthy of her! And how infinite will +be my happiness, if the Prophet through his powerful intercessions with +the Most Merciful, permits me to be the servant instrumental in +bringing her safely to thy arms!" This report concluded: + +"By appointment of His Majesty, the Emperor, I had audience with him +yesterday at his High Residence, the Palace of Blacherne. The Court was +in full attendance, and, after my presentation to His Majesty, I was +introduced to its members. The ceremony was in charge of the Grand +Chamberlain, that Phranza with whom my Lord is acquainted. Much I +feared lest he should recognize me. Fortunately he is dull and +philosophical, and too much given to study of things abstract and far +away to be mindful of those close under his nose. Duke Notaras was +there also. He conversed with me about Italy. Fortunately I knew more +about the _Gabour_ country than he--its nobles, cities, manners, and +present conditions. He thanked me for information, and when he had my +account of the affair which brought me the invaluable certificate of +the Bishop of Rome he gave over sounding me. I have more reason to be +watchful of him than all the rest of the court; _so has the Emperor_. +Phranza is a man to be spared. Notaras is a man to be bowstrung.... I +flatter myself the Emperor is my friend. In another month I shall be +intrenched in his confidence. He is brave, but weak. An excellent +general without lieutenants, without soldiers, and too generous and +trustful for a politician, too religious for a statesman. His time is +occupied entirely with priests and priestly ceremonies. My Lord will +appreciate the resort which enabled me to encamp myself in his trust. +Of the five Arab horses I brought with me from Aleppo, I gave him +one--a gray, superior to the best he has in his stables. He and his +courtiers descended in a body to look at the barb and admire it." + +From the third report: + +"A dinner at the High Residence. There were present officers of the +army and navy, members of the Court, the Patriarch, a number of the +Clergy--Hegumen, as they are called--and the Princess Irene, with a +large suite of highborn ladies married and unmarried. His Majesty was +the Sun of the occasion, the Princess was the Moon. He sat on a raised +seat at one side of the table; she opposite him; the company according +to rank, on their right and left. I had eyes for the Moon only, +thinking how soon my Lord would be her source of light, and that her +loveliness, made up of every loveliness else in the world, would then +be the fitting complement of my Lord's glory.... His Majesty did me the +honor to lead me to her, and she did me the higher honor of permitting +me to kiss her hand. In further thought of what she was to my Lord, I +was about making her a salaam, but remembered myself--Italians are not +given to that mode of salutation, while the Greeks reserve it for the +Emperor, or Basileus as he is sometimes called.... She condescended to +talk with me. Her graces of mind are like those of her +person--adorable.... I was very deferent, and yielded the choice of +topics. She chose two--religion and arms. Had she been a man, she would +have been a soldier; being a woman, she is a religious devotee. There +is nothing of which she is more desirous than the restoration of the +Holy Sepulchre to the Christian powers. She asked me if it were true +the Holy Father commissioned me to make war on the Tripolitan pirates, +and when I said yes, she replied with a fervor truly engaging: 'The +practice of arms would be the noblest of occupations if it were given +solely to crusading.' ... She then adverted to the Holy Father. I infer +from her speaking of the Bishop of Rome as the Holy Father that she +inclines to the party which believes the Bishop rightfully the head of +the Church. How did he look? Was he a learned man? Did he set a +becoming example to his Clergy? Was he liberal and tolerant? If great +calamity were to threaten Christianity in the East, would he lend it +material help?... My Lord will have a time winning the Princess over to +the Right Understanding; but in the fields of Love who ever repented +him of his labor? When my Lord was a boy, he once amused himself +training a raven and a bird of paradise to talk. The raven at length +came to say, 'O Allah, Allah!' The other bird was beyond teaching, yet +my Lord loved it the best, and excused his partiality: 'Oh, its +feathers are so brilliant!'" + +Again: + +"A few days ago, I rode out of the Golden Gate, and turning to the +right, pursued along the great moat to the Gate St. Romain. The wall, +or rather the walls, of the city were on my right hand, and it is an +imposing work. The moat is in places so cumbered I doubt if it can be +everywhere flooded.... I bought some snow-water of a peddler, and +examined the Gate in and out. Its central position makes it a key of +first importance. Thence I journeyed on surveying the road and adjacent +country up far as the Adrianople gate.... I hope my Lord will find the +enclosed map of my reconnoissance satisfactory. It is at least +reliable." + +Again: + +"His Majesty indulged us with a hawking party. We rode to the Belgrade +forest from which Constantinople is chiefly though not entirely +supplied with water.... My Lord's Flower of Flowers, the Princess, was +of the company. I offered her my chestnut courser, but she preferred a +jennet. Remembering your instructions, O my Lord, I kept close to her +bridle. She rides wonderfully well; yet if she had fallen, how many +prayers to the Prophet, what amount of alms to the poor, would have +availed me with my Lord?... Riding is a lost art with the Greeks, if +the ever possessed it. The falcon killed a heron beyond a hill which +none of them, except the Emperor, dared cross in their saddles. Some +day I will show them how we of my Lord's loving ride.... The Princess +came safely home." + +Again: + +"O my Lord in duty always!... I paid the usual daily visit to the +Princess, and kissed her hand upon my admission and departing. She has +this quality above other women--she is always the same. The planets +differ from her in that they are sometimes overcast by clouds.... From +her house, I rode to the imperial arsenal, situated in the ground story +of the Hippodrome, northern side. [Footnote: Professor E A Grosvenor.] +It is well stored with implements of offence and defence--mangonels, +balistas, arbalists, rams--cranes for repairing breaches--lances, +javelins, swords, axes, shields, scutums, pavises, armor--timber for +ships--cressets for night work--ironmonger machines--arquebuses, but of +antique patterns--quarrels and arrows in countless sheaves--bows of +every style. In brief, as my Lord's soul is dauntless, as he is an +eagle, which does not abandon the firmament scared by the gleam of a +huntsman's helmet in the valley, he can bear to hear that the Emperor +keeps prepared for the emergencies of war. Indeed, were His Majesty as +watchful in other respects, he would be dangerous. Who are to serve all +these stores? His native soldiers are not enough to make a bodyguard +for my Lord. Only the walls of Byzantium remain for her defence. The +Church has swallowed the young men; the sword is discarded for the +rosary. Unless the warriors of the West succor her, she will be an easy +prey." + +Again: + +"My Lord enjoined me to be royal.... I have just returned from a sail +up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in my galley. The decks were crowded +with guests. Under a silken pavilion pitched on the roof of my cabin, +there was a throne for the Princess Irene, and she shone as the central +jewel in a kingly crown.... We cast anchor in the bay of Therapia, and +went ashore to her palace and gardens. On the outside face of one of +the gate-columns, she showed me a brass plate. I recognized my Lord's +signature and safeguard, and came near saluting them with a _rik'rath_, +but restraining myself, asked her innocently, 'What it was?' O my Lord, +verily I congratulate you! She blushed, and cast down her eyes, and her +voice trembled while she answered: 'They say the Prince Mahommed nailed +it there.' 'What Prince Mahommed?' 'He who is now Sultan of the Turks.' +'He has been here, then? Did you see him?' 'I saw an Arab +story-teller.' Her face was the hue of a scarlet poppy, and I feared to +go further than ask concerning the plate: 'What does it mean?' And she +returned: 'The Turks never go by without prostrating themselves before +it. They say it is notice to them that I, and my house and grounds, are +sacred from their intrusion.' And then I said: 'Amongst peoples of the +East and the Desert, down far as the Barbary coast, the Sultan Mahommed +has high fame for chivalry. His bounties to those once fortunate enough +to excite his regard are inexhaustible.' She would have had me speak +further of you, but out of caution, I was driven to declare I knew +nothing beyond the hearsay of the Islamites among whom I had been here +and there cast.... My Lord will not require me to describe the palace +by Therapia. He has seen it.... The Princess remained there. I was at +sore loss, not knowing how I could continue to make report of her to my +Lord, until, to my relief she invited me to visit her." + +Again: + +"I am glad to say, for my Lord's sake, that the October winds, sweeping +down from the Black Sea, have compelled his Princess to return to her +house in the city, where she will abide till the summer comes again. I +saw her to-day. The country life has retouched her cheeks with a +just-sufficient stain of red roses; her lips are scarlet, as if she had +been mincing fresh-blown bloom of pomegranates; her eyes are clear as a +crooning baby's; her neck is downy--round as a white dove's; in her +movements afoot, she reminds me of the swaying of a lily-stalk brushed +softly by butterflies and humming-birds, attracted to its open cup of +paradisean wax. Oh, if I could but tell her of my Lord!"... + +This report was lengthy, and included the account of an episode more +personal to the Sultanic emissary than any before given his master. It +was dated October. The subjoined extracts may prove interesting. + +... "Everybody in the East has heard of the Hippodrome, whither I went +one day last week, and again yesterday. It was the mighty edifice in +which Byzantine vanity aired itself through hundreds of years. But +little of it is now left standing. At the north end of an area probably +seventy paces wide, and four hundred long, is a defaced structure with +a ground floor containing the arsenal, and on that, boxes filled with +seats. A lesser building rises above the boxes which is said to have +been a palace called the _Kathisma_, from which the Emperor looked down +upon the various amusements of the people, such as chariot racing, and +battles between the Blue and Green factions. Around the area from the +_Kathisma_ lie hills of brick and marble--enough to build the Palace as +yet hid in my Lord's dreams, and a mosque to becomingly house our +Mohammedan religion. In the midst, marking a line central of the +race-course, are three relics--a square pillar quite a hundred feet +high, bare now, but covered once with plates of brass--an obelisk from +Egypt--and a twisted bronze column, representing three writhing +serpents, their heads in air. [Footnote: The Hippodrome was the popular +pleasure resort in Constantinople. Besides accommodating one hundred +thousand spectators, it was the most complete building for the purposes +of its erection ever known. The world--including old Rome--had been +robbed of statuary for the adornment of this extravaganza. Its enormous +level posed in great part upon a substructure of arches on arches, +which still exist. The opinion is quite general that it was destroyed +by the Turks, and that much of its material went to construct the +Mosque Sulymanie. The latter averment is doubtless correct; but it is +only justice to say that the Crusaders, so called Christians, who +encamped in Constantinople in 1204 were the real vandals. For pastime, +merely, they plied their battle-axes on the carvings, inscriptions, and +vast collection of statuary in marble and bronze found by them on the +spinet, and elsewhere in the edifice. When they departed, the +Hippodrome was an irreparable ruin--a convenient and lawful quarry.]... +The present Emperor does not honor the ruin with his presence; but the +people come, and sitting in the boxes under the KATHISMA, and standing +on the heaps near by, find diversion watching the officers and soldiers +exercising their horses along the area.... My Lord must know, in the +next place, that there is in the city a son of the Orchan who terms +himself lawful heir of Solyman of blessed memory--the Orchan pretender +to my Lord's throne, whom the Greeks have been keeping in mock +confinement--the Orchan who is the subject of the present Emperor's +demand on my Lord for an increase of the stipend heretofore paid for +the impostor's support. The son of the pretender, being a Turk, affects +the martial practices prevalent with us, and enjoys notoriety for +accomplishments as a horseman, and in the tourney play djerid. He is +even accredited with an intention of one day taking the field against +my Lord--this when his father, the old Orchan, dies.... When I entered +the Hippodrome one day last week, Orchan the younger occupied the arena +before the Kathisma. The boxes were well filled with spectators. Some +officers of my acquaintance were present, mounted like myself, and they +accosted me politely, and eulogized the performance. Afterwhile I +joined in their commendation, but ventured to say I had seen better +exercise during my sojourn among the infidels in the Holy Land. They +asked me if I had any skill. 'I cannot call it skill,' I said; 'but my +instruction was from a noble master, the Sheik of the Jordan.' Nothing +would rest them then but a trial. At length I assented on condition +that the Turk would engage me in a tourney or a combat without +quarter--bow, cimeter, spear--on horseback and in Moslem armor. They +were astonished, but agreed to carry the challenge.... Now, O my Lord, +do not condemn me. My residence here has extended into months, without +an incident to break the peace. Your pleasure is still my rule. I keep +the custom of going about on horseback and in armor. Once only--at His +Majesty's dinner--I appeared in a Venetian suit--a red mantle and hose, +one leg black, the other yellow--red-feathered cap, shoes with the long +points chained to my knees. Was there not danger of being mistaken for +a strutting bird of show? If my hand is cunning with weapons, should +not the Greeks be taught it? How better recommend myself to His Majesty +of Blacherne? Then, what an opportunity to rid my Lord of future +annoyance! Old Orchan cannot live much longer, while this cheeping +chicken is young.... The son of the pretender, being told I was an +Italian, replied he would try a tourney with me; if I proved worthy, he +would consider the combat.... Yesterday was the time for the meeting. +There was a multitude out as witnesses, the Emperor amongst others. He +did not resort to the _Kathisma,_ but kept his saddle, with a bodyguard +of horsemen at his back. His mount was my gray Arab.... We began with +volting, demi-volting, jumping, wheeling in retreat, throwing the +horse. Orchan was a fumbler.... We took to bows next, twelve arrows +each. At full speed he put two bolts in the target, and I twelve, all +in the white ring.... Then spear against cimeter. I offered him choice, +and he took the spear. In the first career, the blunted head of his +weapon fell to the ground shorn off close behind the ferrule. The +spectators cheered and laughed, and growing angry, Orchan shouted it +was an accident, and challenged me to combat. I accepted, but His +Majesty interposed--we might conclude with the spear and sword in +tourney again.... My antagonist, charged with malicious intent, +resolved to kill me. I avoided his shaft, and as his horse bolted past +on my left, I pushed him with my shield, and knocked him from the +saddle. They picked him up bleeding nose and ears. His Majesty invited +me to accompany him to Blacherne.... I left the Hippodrome sorry not to +have been permitted to fight the vain fool; yet my repute in +Constantinople is now undoubtedly good--I am a soldier to be +cultivated." + +Again: + +"His Majesty has placed me formally in charge of the gate in front of +my quarters. Communication with my Lord is now at all times easy. _The +keys of the city are in effect mine._ Nevertheless I shall continue to +patronize Ali. His fish are the freshest brought to market." + +Again: + +"O my Lord, the Princess Irene is well and keeps the morning colors in +her cheeks for you. Yet I found her quite distraught. There was +unwelcome news at the Palace from His Majesty's ambassador at +Adrianople. The Sultan had at last answered the demand for increase of +the Orchan stipend--not only was the increase refused, but the stipend +itself was withdrawn, and a peremptory order to that effect sent to the +province whence the fund has been all along collected.... I made a +calculation, with conclusion that my report of the tourney with young +Orchan reached my Lord's hand, and I now am patting myself on the back, +happy to believe it had something to do with my Lord's decision. The +imposition deserved to have its head blown off. Orchan is a dotard. His +son's ears are still impaired. In the fall the ground caught him crown +first. He will never ride again. The pretension is over.... I rode from +the Princess' house directly to Blacherne. The Grand Council was in +session: yet the Prefect of the Palace admitted me.... O my Lord, this +Constantine is a man, a warrior, an Emperor, surrounded by old women +afraid of their shadows. The subject of discussion when I went in was +the news from Adrianople. His Majesty was of opinion that your +decision, coupled with the order discontinuing the stipend, was sign of +a hostile intent. He was in favor of preparing for war. Phranza thought +diplomacy not yet spent. Notaras asked what preparations His Majesty +had in mind. His Majesty replied, buying cannon and powder, stocking +the magazines with provisions for a siege, increasing the navy, +repairing the walls, clearing out the moat. He would also send an +embassy to the Bishop of Rome, and through him appeal to the Christian +powers of Europe for assistance in men and money. Notaras rejoined +instantly: 'Rather than a Papal Legate in Constantinople, he would +prefer a turbaned Turk.' The Council broke up in confusion.... Verily, +O my Lord, I pitied the Emperor. So much courage, so much weakness! His +capital and the slender remnant of his empire are lost unless the +_Gabours_ of Venice and Italy come to his aid. Will they? The Holy +Father, using the opportunity, will try once more to bring the Eastern +Church to its knees, and failing, will leave it to its fate. If my Lord +knocked at these gates to-morrow, Notaras would open one of them, and I +another.... Yet the Emperor will fight. He has the soul of a hero." + +Again: + +"The Princess Irene is inconsolable. Intensely Greek, and patriotic, +and not a little versed in politics, she sees nothing cheering in the +situation of the Empire. The vigils of night in her oratory are leaving +their traces on her face. Her eyes are worn with weeping. I find it +impossible not to sympathize with so much beauty tempered by so many +virtues. When the worst has befallen, perhaps my Lord will know how to +comfort her." + +Finally: + +"It is a week since I last wrote my Lord. Ali has been sick but keeps +in good humor, and says he will be well when Christian winds cease +blowing from Constantinople. He prays you to come and stop them.... The +diplomatic mishaps of the Emperor have quickened the religious feuds of +his subjects. The Latins everywhere quote the speech of Notaras in the +Council: 'Rather than a Papal Legate in Constantinople, I prefer a +turbaned Turk'--and denounce it as treason to God and the State. It +certainly represents the true feeling of the Greek clergy; yet they are +chary in defending the Duke.... The Princess is somewhat recovered, +although perceptibly paler than is her wont. She is longing for the +return of spring, and promises herself health and happiness in the +palace at Therapia.... To-morrow, she informs me, there is to be a +special grand service in Sancta Sophia. The Brotherhoods here and +elsewhere will be present. I will be there also. She hopes peace and +rest from doctrinal disputes will follow. We will see." + +The extracts above given will help the reader to an idea of life in +Constantinople; more especially they portray the peculiar service +rendered by Corti during the months they cover. + +There are two points in them deserving special notice: The warmth of +description indulged with respect to the Princess Irene and the +betrayal of the Emperor. It must not be supposed the Count was unaware +of his perfidy. He did his writing after night, when the city and his +own household were asleep; and the time was chosen, not merely for +greater security from discovery, but that no eye might see the remorse +he suffered. How often he broke off in the composition to pray for +strength to rescue his honor, and save himself from the inflictions of +conscience! There were caverns in the mountains and islands off in the +mid-seas: why not fly to them? Alas! He was now in a bondage which made +him weak as water. It was possible to desert Mahommed, but not the +Princess. The dangers thickening around the city were to her as well. +Telling her of them were useless; she would never abandon the old +Capital; and it was the perpetually recurring comparison of her +strength with his own weakness which wrought him his sharpest pangs. +Writing of her in poetic strain was easy, for he loved her above every +earthly consideration: but when he thought of the intent with which he +wrote--that he was serving the love of another, and basely scheming to +deliver her to him--there was no refuge in flight; recollection would +go with him to the ends of the earth--better death. Not yet--not +yet--he would argue. Heaven might send him a happy chance. So the weeks +melted into months, and he kept the weary way hoping against reason, +conspiring, betraying, demoralizing, sinking into despair. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUR LORD'S CREED + + +Proceeding now to the special service mentioned in the extract from the +last report of Count Corti to Mahommed. + +The nave of Sancta Sophia was in possession of a multitude composed of +all the Brotherhoods of the city, interspersed with visiting +delegations from the monasteries of the Islands and many of the +hermitic colonies settled in the mountains along the Asiatic shore of +the Marmora. In the galleries were many women; amongst them, on the +right-hand side, the Princess Irene. Her chair rested on a carpeted box +a little removed from the immense pilaster, and raised thus nearly to a +level with the top of the balustrade directly before her, she could +easily overlook the floor below, including the apse. From her position +everybody appeared dwarfed; yet she could see each figure quite well in +the light of the forty arched windows above the galleries. + +On the floor the chancel, or space devoted to the altar, was separated +from the body of the nave by a railing of Corinthian brass, inside +which, at the left, she beheld the Emperor, in Basilean regalia, seated +on a throne--a very stately and imposing figure. Opposite him was the +chair of the Patriarch. Between the altar and the railing arose a +baldacchino, the canopy of white silk, the four supporting columns of +shining silver. Under the canopy, suspended by a cord, hung the vessel +of gold containing the Blessed Sacraments; and to the initiated it was +a sufficient publication of the object of the assemblage. + +Outside the railing, facing the altar, stood the multitude. To get an +idea of its appearance, the reader has merely to remember the +description of the bands marching into the garden of Blacherne the +night of the _Pannychides_. There were the same gowns black and gray; +the same tonsured heads, and heads shock-haired; the same hoods and +glistening rosaries; the same gloomy, bearded faces; the same banners, +oriflammes, and ecclesiastical gonfalons, each with its community under +it in a distinctive group. Back further towards the entrances from the +vestibule was a promiscuous host of soldiers and civilians; having no +part in the service, they were there as spectators. + +The ceremony was under the personal conduct of the Patriarch. Silence +being complete, the choir, invisible from the body of the nave, began +its magnificent rendition of the _Sanctus_--"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God +of Sabaoth. Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna +in the highest"--and during the singing, His Serenity was clothed for +the rite. Over his cassock, the deacons placed the surplice of white +linen, and over that again a stole stiff with gold embroidery. He then +walked slowly to the altar, and prayed; and when he had himself +communicated, he was led to the baldacchino, where he blessed the Body +and the Blood, and mixed them together in chalices, ready for delivery +to the company of servers kneeling about him. The Emperor, who, in +common with the communicants within and without the railing, had been +on his knees, arose now and took position before the altar in a +prayerful attitude; whereupon the Patriarch brought him a chalice on a +small paten, and he put it to his lips, while the choir rang the dome +with triumphal symphony. + +His Serenity next returned to the baldacchino, and commenced giving the +cups to the servers; at the same time the gate leading from the chancel +to the nave was thrown open. Nor rustle of garment, nor stir of foot +was heard. + +Then a black-gowned figure arose amidst a group not far from the gate, +and said, in a hoarse voice, muffled by the flaps of the hood covering +his head and face: + +"We are here, O Serenity, by thy invitation--here to partake of the +Holy Eucharist--and I see thou art about sending it to us. Now not a +few present believe there is no grace in leavened bread, and others +hold it impiety to partake thereof. Wherefore tell us"-- + +The Patriarch looked once at the speaker; then, delivering the chalice, +signed the servers to follow him; next instant, he stood in the open +gateway, and with raised hands, cried out: + +"Holy things to the holy!" + +Repeating the ancient formula, he stepped aside to allow the +cup-bearers to pass into the nave; but they stood still, for there came +a skurry of sound not possible of location, so did it at the same +moment seem to be from the dome descending and from the floor going up +to the dome. It was the multitude rising from their knees. + +Now the Patriarch, though feeble in body, was stout of soul and +ready-witted, as they usually are whose lives pass in combat and fierce +debate. Regarding the risen audience calmly, he betook himself to his +chair, and spoke to his assistants, who brought a plain chasuble, and +put it on him, covering the golden stole completely. When he again +appeared in the spaceway of the open gate, as he presently did, every +cleric and every layman in the church to whom he was visible understood +he took the interruption as a sacrilege from which he sought by the +change of attire to save himself. + +"Whoso disturbs the Sacrament in celebration has need of cause for that +he does; for great is his offence whatever the cause." + +The Patriarch's look and manner were void of provocation, except as +one, himself rudely disposed, might discover it in the humility +somewhat too studied. + +"I heard my Brother--it would be an untruth to say I did not--and to go +acquit of deceit, I will answer him, God helping me. Let me say first, +while we have some differences in our faith, there are many things +about which we are agreed, the things in agreement outnumbering those +in difference; and of them not the least is the Real Presence once the +Sacraments are consecrated. Take heed, O Brethren! Do any of you deny +the Real Presence in the bread and wine of communion?" + +No man made answer. + +"It is as I said--not one. Look you, then, if I or you--if any of us be +tempted to anger or passionate speech, and this house, long dedicated +to the worship of God, and its traditions of holiness too numerous for +memory, and therefore of record only in the Books of Heaven, fail the +restraints due them, lo, Christ is here--Christ in Real +Presence--Christ our Lord in Body and Blood!" + +The old man stood aside, pointing to the vessel under the baldacchino, +and there were sighs and sobs. Some shouted: "Blessed be the Son of +God!" + +The sensation over, the Patriarch continued: + +"O my Brother, take thou answer now. The bread is leavened. Is it +therefore less grace-giving?" + +"No, no!" But the response was drowned by an affirmative yell so strong +there could be no doubt of the majority. The minority, however, was +obstinate, and ere long the groups disrupted, and it seemed every man +became a disputant. Now nothing serves anger like vain striving to be +heard. The Patriarch in deep concern stood in the gateway, exclaiming: +"Have a care, O Brethren, have a care! For now is Christ here!" And as +the babble kept increasing, the Emperor came to him. + +"They are like to carry it to blows, O Serenity." + +"Fear not, my son, God is here, and He is separating the wheat from the +chaff." + +"But the blood shed will be on my conscience, and the _Panagia_"-- + +The aged Prelate was inflexible. "Nay, nay, not yet! They are Greeks. +Let them have it out. The day is young; and how often is shame the +miraculous parent of repentance." + +Constantine returned to his throne, and remained there standing. + +Meantime the tumult went on until, with shouting and gesticulating, and +running about, it seemed the assemblage was getting mad with drink. +Whether the contention was of one or many things, who may say? Well as +could be ascertained, one party, taking cue from the Patriarch, +denounced the interruption of the most sacred rite; the other +anathematized the attempt to impose leavened bread upon orthodox +communicants as a scheme of the devil and his arch-legate, the Bishop +of Rome. Men of the same opinions argued blindly with each other; while +genuine opposition was conducted with glaring eyes, swollen veins, +clinched hands, and voices high up in the leger lines of hate and +defiance. The timorous and disinclined were caught and held forcibly. +In a word, the scene was purely Byzantine, incredible of any other +people. + +The excitement afterwhile extended to the galleries, where, but that +the women were almost universally of the Greek faction, the same +passion would have prevailed; as it was, the gentle creatures screamed +_azymite, azymite_ in amazing disregard of the proprieties. The +Princess Irene, at first pained and mortified, kept her seat until +appearances became threatening; then she scanned the vast pit long and +anxiously; finally her wandering eyes fell upon the tall figure of +Sergius drawn out of the mass, but facing it from a position near the +gate of the brazen railing. Immediately she settled back in her chair. + +To justify the emotion now possessing her, the reader must return to +the day the monk first presented himself at her palace near Therapia. +He must read again the confession, extorted from her by the second +perusal of Father Hilarion's letter, and be reminded of her education +in the venerated Father's religious ideas, by which her whole soul was +adherent to his conceptions of the Primitive Church of the Apostles. +Nor less must the reader suffer himself to be reminded of the +consequences to her--of the judgment of heresy upon her by both Latins +and Greeks--of her disposition to protest against the very madness now +enacting before her--of her longing, Oh, that I were a man!--of the +fantasy that Heaven had sent Sergius to her with the voice, learning, +zeal, courage, and passion of truth to enable her to challenge a +hearing anywhere-of the persistence with which she had since cared for +and defended him, and watched him in his studies, and shared them with +him. Nor must the later incident, the giving him a copy of the creed +she had formulated--the Creed of Nine Words--be omitted in the +consideration. + +Now indeed the reader can comprehend the Princess, and the emotions +with which she beheld the scene at her feet. The Patriarch's dramatic +warning of the Real Presence found in her a ready second; for keeping +strictly to Father Hilarion's distinction between a right Creed and a +form or ceremony for pious observance, the former essential to +salvation, the latter merely helpful to continence in the Creed, it was +with her as if Christ in glorified person stood there under the +baldacchino. What wonder if, from indignation at the madness of the +assembly, the insensate howling, the blasphemous rage, she passed to +exaltation of spirit, and fancied the time good for a reproclamation of +the Primitive Church? + +Suddenly a sharper, fiercer explosion of rage arose from the floor, and +a rush ensued--the factions had come to blows! + +Then the Patriarch yielded, and at a sign from the Emperor the choir +sang the _Sanctus_ anew. High and long sustained, the sublime anthem +rolled above the battle and its brutalism. The thousands heard it, and +halting, faced toward the apse, wondering what could be coming. It even +reached into the vortex of combat, and turned all the unengaged there +into peacemakers. + +Another surprise still more effective succeeded. Boys with lighted +candles, followed by bearers of smoking censers, bareheaded and in +white, marched slowly from behind the altar toward the open gate, +outside which they parted right and left, and stopped fronting the +multitude. A broad banner hung to a cross-stick of gold, heavy with +fringing of gold, the top of the staff overhung with fresh flowers in +wreaths and garlands, the lower corners stayed by many streaming white +ribbons in the hands of as many holy men in white woollen chasubles +extending to the bare feet, appeared from the same retreat, carried by +two brethren known to every one as janitors of the sacred chapel on the +hill-front of Blacherne. + +The Emperor, the Patriarch, the servers of the chalices, the whole body +of assistants inside the railing, fell upon their knees while the +banner was borne through the gate, and planted on the floor there. Its +face was frayed and dim with age, yet the figure of the woman upon it +was plain to sight, except as the faint gray smoke from the censers +veiled it in a vanishing cloud. + +Then there was an outburst of many voices: + +"The _Panagia!_ The _Panagia!_" + +The feeling this time was reactionary. + +"O Blessed Madonna!--Guardian of Constantinople!--Mother of +God!--Christ is here!--Hosannas to the Son and to the Immaculate +Mother!" With these, and other like exclamations, the mass precipitated +itself forward, and, crowding near the historic symbol, flung +themselves on the floor before it, grovelling and contrite, if not +conquered. + +The movement of the candle and censer bearers outside the gate forced +Sergius nearer it; so when the _Panagia_ was brought to a rest, he, +being much taller than its guardians, became an object of general +observation, and wishing to escape it if possible, he took off his high +hat; whereupon his hair, parted in the middle, dropped down his neck +and back fair and shining in the down-beating light. + +This drew attention the more. Did any of the prostrate raise their eyes +to the Madonna on the banner, they must needs turn to him next; and +presently the superstitious souls, in the mood for miracles, began +whispering to each other: + +"See--it is the Son--it is the Lord himself!" + +And of a truth the likeness was startling; although in saying this, the +reader must remember the difference heretofore remarked between the +Greek and Latin ideals. + +About that time Sergius looked up to the Princess, whose face shone out +of the shadows of the gallery with a positive radiance, and he was +electrified seeing her rise from her chair, and wave a hand to him. + +He understood her. The hour long talked of, long prepared for, was at +last come--the hour of speech. The blood surged to his heart, leaving +him pallid as a dead man. He stooped lower, covered his eyes with his +hands, and prayed the wordless prayer of one who hastily commits +himself to God; and in the darkness behind his hands there was an +illumination, and in the midst of it a sentence in letters each a +lambent flame--the Creed of Father Hilarion and the Princess Irene--our +Lord's Creed: + +"I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON." + +This was his theme! + +With no thought of self, no consciousness but of duty to be done, +trusting in God, he stood up, pushed gently through the kneeling boys +and guardians of the _Panagia_, and took position where all eyes could +look at the Blessed Mother slightly above him, and then to himself, in +such seeming the very Son. It might have been awe, it might have been +astonishment, it might have been presentiment; at all events, the +moaning, sobbing, praying, tossing of arms, beating of breasts, with +the other outward signs of remorse, grief and contrition grotesque and +pitiful alike subsided, and the Church, apse, nave and gallery, grew +silent--as if a wave had rushed in, and washed the life out of it. + +"Men and brethren," he began, "I know not whence this courage to do +comes, unless it be from Heaven, nor at whose word I speak, if not that +Jesus of Nazareth, worker of miracles which God did by him anciently, +yet now here in Real Presence of Body and Blood, hearing what we say, +seeing what we do." + +"Art thou not He?" asked a hermit, half risen in front of him, his wrap +of undressed goatskin fallen away from his naked shoulders. + +"No; his servant only am I, even as thou art--his servant who would not +have forsaken him at Gethsemane, who would have given him drink on the +Cross, who would have watched at the door of his tomb until laid to +sleep by the Delivering Angel--his servant not afraid of Death, which, +being also his servant, will not pass me by for the work I now do, if +the work be not by his word." + +The voice in this delivery was tremulous, and the manner so humble as +to take from the answer every trace of boastfulness. His face, when he +raised it, and looked out over the audience, was beautiful. The +spectacle offered him in return was thousands of people on their knees, +gazing at him undetermined whether to resent an intrusion or welcome a +messenger with glad tidings. + +"Men and brethren," he continued, more firmly, casting the old +Scriptural address to the farthest auditor, "now are you in the anguish +of remorse; but who told you that you had offended to such a degree? +See you not the Spirit, sometimes called the Comforter, in you? Be at +ease, for unto us are repentance and pardon. There were who beat our +dear Lord, and spit upon him, and tore his beard; who laid him on a +cross, and nailed him to it with nails in his hands and feet; one +wounded him in the side with a spear; yet what did he, the Holy One and +the Just? Oh! if he forgave them glorying in their offences, will he be +less merciful to us repentant?" + +Raising his head a little higher, the preacher proceeded, with +increased assurance: + +"Let me speak freely unto you; for how can a man repent wholly, if the +cause of his sin be not laid bare that he may see and hate it? + +"Now before our dear Lord departed out of the world, he left sayings, +simple even to children, instructing such as would be saved unto +everlasting life what they must do to be saved. Those sayings I call +our Lord's Creed, by him delivered unto his disciples, from whom we +have them: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, +and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.' So we have +the First Article--belief in God. Again: 'Verily, verily, I say unto +you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' Behold the Second +Article--belief in Christ. + +"Now, for that the Son, and he who sent him, are at least in purpose +one, belief in either of them is declared sufficient; nevertheless it +may be simpler, if not safer, for us to cast the Two Articles together +in a single phrase; we have then a Creed which we may affirm was made +and left behind him by our Lord himself: + +I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON. + +And when we sound it, lo! two conditions in all; and he who embraces +them, more is not required of him; he is already passed from death unto +life--everlasting life. + +"This, brethren, is the citadel of our Christian faith; wherefore, to +strengthen it. What was the mission of Jesus Christ our Lord to the +world? Hear every one! What was the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ? +Why was he sent of God, and born into the world? Hearing the question, +take heed of the answer: He was sent of God for the salvation of men. +You have ears, hear; minds, think; nor shall one of you, the richest in +understanding of the Scriptures, in walk nearest the Sinless Example, +ever find another mission for him which is not an arraignment of the +love of his Father. + +"Then, if it be true, as we all say, not one denying it, that our Lord +brought to his mission the perfected wisdom of his Father, how could he +have departed from the world leaving the way of salvation unmarked and +unlighted? Or, sent expressly to show us the way, himself the appointed +guide, what welcome can we suppose he would have had from his Father in +Heaven, if he had given the duty over to the angels? Or, knowing the +deceitfulness of the human heart, and its weakness and liability to +temptation, whence the necessity for his coming to us, what if he had +given the duty over to men, so much lower than the angels, and then +gone away? Rather than such a thought of him, let us believe, if the +way had been along the land, he would have planted it with inscribed +hills; if over the seas, he would have sown the seas with pillars of +direction above the waves; if through the air, he would have made it a +path effulgent with suns numerous as the stars. 'I am the Way,' he +said--meaning the way lies through me; and you may come to me in the +place I go to prepare for you, if only you believe in God and me. Men +and brethren, our Lord was true to his mission, and wise in the wisdom +of his Father." + +At this the hermit in front of the preacher, uttering a shill cry, +spread his arms abroad, and quivered from head to foot. Many of those +near sprang forward to catch him. + +"No, leave him alone," cried Sergius, "leave him alone. The cross he +took was heavy of itself; but upon the cross you heaped conditions +without sanction, making a burden of which he was like to die. At last +he sees how easy it is to go to his Master; that he has only to believe +in God and the Master. Leave him with the truth; it was sent to save, +not to kill." + +The excitement over, Sergius resumed: + +"I come now, brethren, to the cause of your affliction. I will show it +to you; that is to say, I will show you why you are divided amongst +yourselves, and resort to cruelty one unto another; as if murder would +help either side of the quarrel. I will show your disputes do not come +from anything said or done by our Lord, whose almost last prayer was +that all who believed in him might be made perfect in one. + +"It is well known to you that our Lord did not found a Church during +his life on earth, but gave authority for it to his Apostles. It is +known to you also that what his Apostles founded was but a community: +for such is the description: 'And all that believed were together, and +had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted +them to all men, as every man had need.' [Footnote: Acts ii. 44, 45.] +And again: 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart +and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things +which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' +'Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were +possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the +things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and +distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.' +[Footnote: Acts iv. 32, 34, 35.] But in time this community became +known as the Church; and there was nothing of it except our Lord's +Creed, in definition of the Faith, and two ordinances for the +Church--Baptism for the remission of sins, that the baptized might +receive the Comforter, and the Sacraments, that believers, often as +they partook of the Body and Blood of Christ, might be reminded of him. + +"Lo, now! In the space of three generations this Church, based upon +this simple Creed, became a power from Alexandria to Lodinum; and +though kings banded to tread it out; though day and night the smell of +the blood of the righteous spilt by them was an offence to God; though +there was no ingenuity more amongst men except to devise methods for +the torture of the steadfast--still the Church grew; and if you dig +deep enough for the reasons of its triumphant resistance, these are +they: there was Divine Life in the Creed, and the Community was perfect +in one; insomuch that the brethren quarrelled not among themselves; +neither was there jealousy, envy or rivalry among them; neither did +they dispute about immaterial things, such as which was the right mode +of baptism, or whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened, or +whence the Holy Ghost proceeded, whether from the Father or from the +Father and Son together; neither did the elders preach for a price, nor +forsake a poor flock for a rich one that their salaries might be +increased, nor engage in building costly tabernacles for the sweets of +vanity in tall spires; neither did any study the Scriptures seeking a +text, or a form, or an observance, on which to go out and draw from the +life of the old Community that they might set up a new one; and in +their houses of God there were never places for the men and yet other +separate places for the women of the congregation; neither did a +supplicant for the mercy of God look first at the garments of the +neighbor next him lest the mercy might lose a virtue because of a patch +or a tatter. The Creed was too plain for quibble or dispute; and there +was no ambition in the Church except who should best glorify Christ by +living most obedient to his commands. Thence came the perfection of +unity in faith and works; and all went well with the Primitive Church +of the Apostles; and the Creed was like unto the white horse seen by +the seer of the final visions, and the Church was like him who sat upon +the horse, with a bow in his hand, unto whom a crown was given; and he +went forth conquering and to conquer." + +Here the audience was stirred uncontrollably; many fell forward upon +their faces; others wept, and the nave resounded with rejoicing. In one +quarter alone there was a hasty drawing together of men with frowning +brows, and that was where the gonfalon of the Brotherhood of the St. +James' was planted. The Hegumen, in the midst of the group, talked +excitedly, though in a low tone. + +"I will not ask, brethren," Sergius said, in continuance, "if this +account of the Primitive Church be true; you all do know it true; yet I +will ask if one of you holds that the offending of which you would +repent--the anger, and bitter words, and the blows--was moved by +anything in our Lord's Creed, let him arise, before the Presence is +withdrawn, and say that he thinks. These, lending their ears, will hear +him, and so will God. What, will not one arise? + +"It is not necessary that I remind you to what your silence commits +you. Rather suffer me to ask next, which of you will arise and declare, +our Lord his witness, that the Church of his present adherence is the +same Church the Apostles founded? You have minds, think; tongues, +speak." + +There was not so much as a rustle on the floor. + +"It was well, brethren, that you kept silence; for, if one had said his +Church was the same Church the Apostles founded, how could he have +absolved himself of the fact that there are nowhere two parties each +claiming to be of the only true Church? Or did he assert both claimants +to be of the same Church, and it the only true one, then why the +refusal to partake of the Sacraments? Why a division amongst them at +all? Have you not heard the aforetime saying, 'Every kingdom divided +against itself is brought to desolation'? + +"Men and brethren, let no man go hence thinking his Church, whichever +it be, is the Church of the Apostles. If he look for the community +which was the law of the old brotherhood, his search will be vain. If +he look for the unity, offspring of our Lord's last prayer, lo! +jealousies, hates, revilements, blows instead. No, your Creed is of +men, not Christ, and the semblance of Christ in it is a delusion and a +snare." At this the gonfalon of the St. James' was suddenly lifted up, +and borne forward to within a few feet of the gate, and the Hegumen, +standing in front of it, cried out: + +"Serenity, the preacher is a heretic! I denounce"-- + +He could get no further; the multitude sprang to foot howling. The +Princess Irene, and the women in the galleries, also arose, she pale +and trembling. Peril to Sergius had not occurred to her when she gave +him the signal to speak. The calmness and resignation with which he +looked at his accuser reminded her of his Master before Pilate, and +taking seat again, she prayed for him, and the cause he was pleading. + +At length, the Patriarch, waving his hand, said: + +"Brethren, it may be Sergius, to whom we have been listening, has his +impulse of speech from the Spirit, even as he has declared. Let us be +patient and hear him." + +Turning to Sergius, he bade him proceed. + +"The three hundred Bishops and Presbyters from whom you have your +Creeds, [Footnote: _Encyclopedia Brit.,_ VI. 560.] O men and +brethren"--so the preacher continued--"took the Two Articles from our +Lord's Creed, and then they added others. Thus, which of you can find a +text of our Lord treating of his procession from the substance of God? +Again, in what passage has our Lord required belief in the personage of +the Holy Ghost as an article of faith essential to salvation? +[Footnote: Four Creeds are at present used in the Roman Catholic +Church; viz., the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, the Athanasian, that of +Pius IV--ADD. and AR., _Catholic Dictionary,_ 232.] 'I am the Way,' +said our Lord. 'No,' say the three hundred, 'we are the way; and would +you be saved, you must believe in us not less than in God and his Son.'" + +The auditors a moment before so fierce, even the Hegumen, gazed at the +preacher in a kind of awe; and there was no lessening of effect when +his manner underwent a change, his head slightly drooping and his voice +plaintive. + +"The Spirit by whose support and urgency I have dared address you, +brethren, admonishes me that my task is nearly finished." + +He took hold of the corner of the _Panagia;_ so all in view were more +than ever impressed with his likeness to their ideal of the Blessed +Master. + +"The urgency seemed to me on account of your offence to the Real +Presence so graciously in our midst; for truly when we are in the +depths of penitence it is our nature to listen more kindly to what is +imparted for our good; wherefore, as you have minds, I beg you to +think. If our Lord did indeed leave a Creed containing the all in all +for our salvation, what meant he if not that it should stand in saving +purity until he came again in the glory of his going? And if he so +intended, and yet uninspired men have added other Articles to the +simple faith he asked of us, making it so much the harder for us to go +to him in the place he has prepared for us, are they not usurpers? And +are not the Articles which they have imposed to be passed by us as +stratagems dangerous to our souls? + +"Again. The excellence of our Lord's Creed by which it may be always +known when in question, its wisdom superior to the devices of men, is +that it permits us to differ about matters outside of the faith without +weakening our relations to the Blessed Master or imperilling our lot in +his promises. Such matters, for example, as works, which are but +evidences of faith and forms of worship, and the administration of the +two ordinances of the Church, and God and his origin, and whether +Heaven be here or there, or like unto this or that. For truly our Lord +knew us, and that it was our nature to deal in subtleties and speculate +of things not intended we should know during this life; the thought of +our minds being restless and always running, like the waters of a river +on their way to the sea. + +"Again, brethren. If the Church of the Apostles brought peace to its +members, so that they dwelt together, no one of them lacking or in +need, do not your experiences of to-day teach you wherein your +Churches, being those built upon the Creed of the three hundred +Bishops, are unlike it? Moreover, see you not if now you have several +Churches, some amongst you, the carping and ambitious, will go out and +in turn set up new Confessions of Faith, and at length so fill the +earth with rival Churches that religion will become a burden to the +poor and a byword with fools who delight in saying there is no God? In +a village, how much better one House of God, with one elder for its +service, and always open, than five or ten, each with a preacher for a +price, and closed from Sabbath to Sabbath? For that there must be +discipline to keep the faithful together, and to carry on the holy war +against sin and its strongholds and captains, how much better one +Church in the strength of unity than a hundred diversely named and +divided against themselves? + +"The Revelator, even that John who while in the Spirit was bidden. +'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and +the things which shall be hereafter,' wrote, and at the end of his book +set a warning: 'If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add +unto him the plagues that are written in this book.' I cannot see, +brethren, wherein that crime is greater than the addition of Articles +to our Lord's Creed; nor do I know any who have more reason to be +afraid of those threatened plagues than the priest or preacher who from +pride or ambition, or dread of losing his place or living, shall +wilfully stand in the way of a return to the Church of the Apostles and +its unity. Forasmuch as I also know what penitential life is, and how +your minds engage themselves in the solitude of your cells, I give you +whereof to think. Men and brethren, peace unto you all!" + +The hermit knelt to the preacher, and kissed his hand, sobbing the +while; the auditors stared at each other doubtfully; but the Hegumen's +time was come. Advancing to the gate, he said: + +"This man, O Serenity, is ours by right of fraternity. In thy hearing +he hath defamed the Creed which is the rock the Fathers chose for the +foundation of our most holy Church. He hath even essayed to make a +Creed of his own, and present it for our acceptance--thy acceptance, O +Serenity, and that of His Majesty, the only Christian Emperor, as well +as ours. And for those things, and because never before in the history +of our ancient and most notable Brotherhood hath there been an instance +of heresy so much as in thought, we demand the custody of this apostate +for trial and judgment. Give him to us to do with." + +The Patriarch clasped his hands, and, shaking like a man struck with +palsy, turned his eyes upward as if asking counsel of Heaven. His doubt +and hesitation were obvious; and neighbor heard his neighbor's heart +beat; so did silence once more possess itself of the great auditorium. +The Princess Irene arose white with fear, and strove to catch the +Emperor's attention; but he, too, was in the bonds waiting on the +Patriarch. + +Then from his place behind the Hegumen, Sergius spoke: + +"Let not your heart be troubled, O Serenity. Give me to my Brotherhood. +If I am wrong, I deserve to die; but if I have spoken as the Spirit +directed me, God is powerful to save. I am not afraid of the trial." + +The Patriarch gazed at him, his withered cheeks glistening with tears; +still he hesitated. + +"Suffer me, O Serenity!"--thus Sergius again--"I would that thy +conscience may never be disquieted on my account; and now I ask not +that thou give me to my Brotherhood--I will go with them freely and of +my own accord." Speaking then to the Hegumen, he said: "No more, I +pray. See, I am ready to be taken as thou wilt." + +The Hegumen gave him in charge of the brethren; and at his signal, the +gonfalon was raised and carried through the concourse, and out of one +of the doors, followed closely by the Brotherhood. + +At the moment of starting, Sergius lifted his hands, and shouted so as +to be heard above the confusion: "Bear witness, O Serenity--and thou, O +Emperor! That no man may judge me an apostate, hear my confession: I +believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son." + +Many of those present remained and partook of the Sacraments; far the +greater number hurried away, and it was not long until the house was +vacated. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + + +Extract: + +"God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet! May they keep my Lord in +health, and help him to all his heart's desires! ... It is now three +days since my eyes were gladdened by the presence of the Princess +Irene; yet I have been duteously regular in my calls at her house. To +my inquiries, her domestic has returned the same answer: 'The Princess +is in her chapel praying. She is sadly disturbed in mind, and excuses +herself to every one.' Knowing this information will excite my Lord's +apprehension, I beg him to accept the explanation of her ailments which +I think most probable.... My Lord will gratify me by graciously +referring to the account of the special meeting in Sancta Sophia which +I had the honor to forward the evening of the day of its occurrence. +The conjecture there advanced that the celebration of the Sacrament in +highest form was a stratagem of the Patriarch's looking to a +reconciliation of the factions, has been confirmed; and more--it has +proved a failure. Its effect has inflamed the fanaticism of the Greek +party as never before. Notaras, moved doubtless by Gennadius, induced +them to suspect His Majesty and the Patriarch of conniving at the +wonderful sermon of the monk Sergius; and, as the best rebuke in their +power, the Brotherhood of the St. James' erected a Tribunal of Judgment +in their monastery last night, and placed the preacher on trial. He +defended himself, and drove them to admit his points; that their Church +is not the Primitive Church of the Apostles, and that their Creed is an +unwarranted enlargement of the two Articles of Faith left by Jesus +Christ for the salvation of the world. Yet they pronounced him an +apostate and a heretic of incendiary purpose, and condemned him to the +old lion in the Cynegion, Tamerlane, famous these many years as a +man-eater.... My Lord should also know of the rumor in the city which +attributes the Creed of Nine Words--'I believe in God, and Jesus +Christ, his Son'--to the Princess Irene; and her action would seem to +justify the story. Directly the meeting in Sancta Sophia was over, she +hastened to the Palace, and entreated His Majesty to save the monk from +his brethren. My Lord may well think the Emperor disposed to grant her +prayer; his feeling for her is warmer than friendship. The gossips say +he at one time proposed marriage to her. At all events, being a +tender-hearted man--too tender indeed for his high position--it is easy +imagining how such unparalleled beauty in tearful distress must have +moved him. Unhappily the political situation holds him as in a vice. +The Church is almost solidly against him; while of the Brotherhoods +this one of the St. James' has been his only stanch adherent. What +shall the poor man do? If he saves the preacher, he is himself lost. It +appears now she has been brought to understand he cannot interfere. +Thrown thus upon the mercy of Heaven, she has buried herself in her +oratory. Oh, the full Moon of full Moons! And alas! that she should +ever be overcast by a cloud, though it be not heavier than the +just-risen morning mist. My Lord--or Allah must come quickly! + + * * * * * + +"O my Lord! In duty again and always!... Ali did not come yesterday. I +suppose the high winds were too unfriendly. So the despatch of that +date remained on my hands; and I now open it, and include a +supplement.... This morning as usual I rode to the Princess' door. The +servant gave me the same report--his mistress was not receiving. It +befalls therefore that my Lord must take refuge in his work or in +dreams of her--and may I lay a suggestion at his feet, I advise the +latter, for truly, if the world is a garden, she is its Queen of +Roses.... For the sake of the love my Lord bears the Princess, and the +love I bear my Lord, I did not sleep last night, being haunted with +thinking how I could be of service to her. What is the use of strength +and skill in arms if I cannot turn them to account in her behalf as my +Lord would have me?... On my way to the Princess', I was told that the +monk, who is the occasion of her sorrow, his sentence being on her +conscience, is to be turned in with the lion to-morrow. As I rode away +from her house in desperate strait, not having it in power to tell my +Lord anything of her, it occurred to me to go see the Cynegion, where +the judgment is to be publicly executed. What if the Most Merciful +should offer me an opportunity to do the unhappy Princess something +helpful? If I shrank from the lion, when killing it would save her a +grief, my Lord would never forgive me ... . Here is a description of +the Cynegion: The northwest wall of the city drops from the height of +Blacherne into a valley next the harbor or Golden Horn, near which it +meets the wall coming from the east. Right in the angle formed by the +intersection of the walls there is a gate, low, very strong, and always +closely guarded. Passing the gate, I found myself in an enclosed field, +the city wall on the east, wooded hills south, and the harbor north. +How far the enclosure extends up the shore of the harbor, I cannot say +exactly--possibly a half or three quarters of a mile. The surface is +level and grassy. Roads wind in and out of clumps of selected +shrubbery, with here and there an oak tree. Kiosk-looking houses, +generally red painted, are frequent, some with roofs, some without. +Upon examination I discovered the houses were for the keeping of +animals and birds. In one there was an exhibition of fish and reptiles. +But much the largest structure, called the Gallery, is situated nearly +in the centre of the enclosure; and it astonished me with an interior +in general arrangement like a Greek theatre, except it is entirely +circular and without a stage division. There is an arena, like a sanded +floor, apparently fifty paces in diameter, bounded by a brick wall +eighteen or twenty feet in height, and from the top of the wall seats +rise one above another for the accommodation of common people; while +for the Emperor I noticed a covered stand over on the eastern side. The +wall of the arena is broken at regular intervals by doors heavily +barred, leading into chambers anciently dens for ferocious animals, but +at present prisons for criminals of desperate character. There are also +a number of gates, one under the grand stand, the others forming +northern, southern and eastern entrances. From this, I am sure my Lord +can, if he cares to, draught the Cynegion, literally the Menagerie, +comprehending the whole enclosure, and the arena in the middle of it, +where the monk will to-morrow expiate his heresy. Formerly combats in +the nature of wagers of battle were appointed for the place, and beasts +were pitted against each other; but now the only bloody amusement +permitted in it is when a criminal or an offender against God is given +to the lion. On such occasions, they tell me, the open seats and grand +stands are crowded to their utmost capacities.... If the description is +tedious, I hope my Lord's pardon, for besides wishing to give him an +idea of the scene of the execution to-morrow, I thought to serve him in +the day he is looking forward to with so much interest, when the +locality will have to be considered with a view to military approach. +In furtherance of the latter object, I beg to put my Lord in possession +of the accompanying diagram of the Cynegion, observing particularly its +relation to the city; by attaching it to the drawings heretofore sent +him, he will be enabled to make a complete map of the country adjacent +to the landward wall.... Ali has just come in. As I supposed, he was +detained by the high winds. His mullets are perfection. With them he +brings a young sword-fish yet alive. I look at the mess, and grieve +that I cannot send a portion to my Lord for his breakfast. However, a +few days now, and he will come to his own; the sea with its fish, and +the land and all that belongs to it. The child of destiny can afford to +wait." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SERGIUS TO THE LION + + +About ten o'clock the day after the date of Count Corti's last +despatch--ten of the morning--a woman appeared on the landing in front +of Port St. Peter, and applied to a boatman for passage to the Cynegion. + +She was thickly veiled, and wore an every-day overcloak of brown stuff +closely buttoned from her throat down. Her hands were gloved, and her +feet coarsely shod. In a word, her appearance was that of a female of +the middle class, poor but respectable. + +The landing was thronged at the time. It seemed everybody wanted to get +to the menagerie at once. Boatmen were not lacking. Their craft, of all +known models, lay in solid block yards out, waiting turns to get in; +and while they waited, the lusty, half-naked fellows flirted their +oars, quarrelled with each other in good nature, Greek-like, and yelled +volleys at the slow bargain makers whose turns had arrived. + +Twice the woman asked if she could have a seat. + +"How many of you are there?" she was asked in reply. + +"I am alone." + +"You want the boat alone?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that can't be. I have seats for several--and wife and four +babies at home told me to make the most I could out of them. It has +been some time since one has tried to look old Tamerlane in the eye, +thinking to scare him out of his dinner. The game used to be common; +it's not so now." + +"But I will pay you for all the seats." + +"Full five?" + +"Yes." + +"In advance?" + +"Yes." + +"Jump in, then--and get out your money--fifty-five noumias--while I +push through these howling water-dogs." + +By the time the boat was clear of the pack, truly enough the passenger +was with the fare in hand. + +"Look," she said, "here is a bezant." + +At sight of the gold piece, the man's countenance darkened, and he +stopped rowing. + +"I can't change that. You might as well have no money at all." + +"Friend," she returned, "row me swiftly to the first gate of the +Cynegion, and the piece is yours." + +"By my blessed patron! I'll make you think you are on a bird, and that +these oars are wings. Sit in the middle--that will do. Now!" + +The fellow was stout, skilful, and in earnest. In a trice he was under +headway, going at racing speed. The boats in the harbor were moving in +two currents, one up, the other down; and it was noticeable those in +the first were laden with passengers, those of the latter empty. +Evidently the interest was at the further end of the line, and the day +a holiday to the two cities, Byzantium and Galata. Yet of the +attractions on the water and the shores, the woman took no heed; she +said never a word after the start; but sat with head bowed, and her +face buried in her hands. Occasionally, if the boatman had not been so +intent on earning the gold piece, he might have heard her sob. For some +reason, the day was not a holiday to her. + +"We are nearly there," he at length said. + +Without lifting the veil, she glanced at a low wall on the left-hand +shore, then at a landing, shaky from age and neglect, in front of a +gate in the wall; and seeing it densely blockaded, she spoke: + +"Please put me ashore here. I have no time to lose." + +The bank was soft and steep. + +"You cannot make it." + +"I can if you will give me your oar for a step." + +"I will." + +In a few minutes she was on land. Pausing then to toss the gold piece +to the boatman, she heard his thanks, and started hastily for the gate. +Within the Cynegion, she fell in with some persons walking rapidly, and +talking of the coming event as if it were a comedy. + +"He is a Russian, you say?" + +"Yes, and what is strange, he is the very man who got the Prince of +India's negro"-- + +"The giant?" + +"Yes--who got him to drown that fine young fellow Demedes." + +"Where is the negro now?" + +"In a cell here." + +"Why didn't they give him to the lion?" + +"Oh, he had a friend--the Princess Irene." + +"What is to be done with him?" + +"Afterwhile, when the affair of the cistern is forgotten, he will be +given a purse, and set free." + +"Pity! For what sport to have seen him in front of the old Tartar!" + +"Yes, he's a fighter." In the midst of this conversation, the party +came in sight of the central building, externally a series of arches +supporting a deep cornice handsomely balustraded, and called the +Gallery. + +"Here we are!--But see the people on the top! I was afraid we would be +too late. Let us hurry." + +"Which gate?" + +"The western--it's the nearest." + +"Can't we get in under the grand stand?" + +"No, it's guarded." + +These loquacious persons turned off to make the western gate; but the +woman in brown kept on, and ere long was brought to the grand stand on +the north. An arched tunnel, amply wide, ran under it, with a gate at +the further end admitting directly to the arena. A soldier of the +foreign legion held the mouth of the tunnel. + +"Good friend," she began, in a low, beseeching tone, "is the heretic +who is to suffer here yet?" + +"He was brought out last night." + +"Poor man! I am a friend of his"--her voice trembled--"may I see him?" + +"My orders are to admit no one--and I do not know which cell he is in." + +The supplicant, sobbing and wringing her hands, stood awhile silent. +Then a roar, very deep and hoarse, apparently from the arena, startled +her and she trembled. + +"Tamerlane!" said the soldier. + +"O God!" she exclaimed. "Is the lion turned in already?" + +"Not yet. He is in his den. They have not fed him for three days." + +She stayed her agitation, and asked: "What are your orders?" + +"Not to admit any one." + +"To the cells?" + +"The cells, and the arena also." + +"Oh, I see! You can let me stand at the gate yonder?" + +"Well--yes. But if you are the monk's friend, why do you want to see +him die?" + +She made no reply, but took from a pocket a bezant, and contrived to +throw its yellow gleam in the sentinel's eyes. + +"Is the gate locked?" + +"No, it is barred on this side." + +"Does it open into the arena?" + +"Yes." + +"I do not ask you to violate your orders," she continued, calmly; "only +let me go to the gate, and see the man when he is brought out." + +She offered him the money, and he took it, saying: "Very well. I can +see no harm in that. Go." + +The gate in question was open barred, and permitted a view of nearly +the whole circular interior. The spectacle presented was so startling +she caught one of the bars for support. Throwing back the veil, she +looked, breathing sighs which were almost gasps. The arena was clear, +and thickly strewn with wet sand. There were the walls shutting it in, +like a pit, and on top of them, on the ascending seats back to the last +one--was it a cloud she beheld? A second glance, and she recognized the +body of spectators, men, women and children, compacted against the sky. +How many of them there were! Thousands and thousands! She clasped her +hands, and prayed. + +Twelve o'clock was the hour for the expiation. + +Waiting so wearily there at the gate--praying, sighing, weeping by +turns--the woman was soon forgotten by the sentinel. She had bought his +pity. In his eyes she was only a lover of the doomed monk. An hour +passed thus. If the soldier's theory were correct, if she were indeed a +poor love-lorn creature come to steal a last look at the unfortunate, +she eked small comfort from her study of the cloud of humanity on the +benches. Their jollity, their frequent laughter and hand-clapping +reached her in her retreat. "Merciful God!" she kept crying. "Are these +beings indeed in thy likeness?" + +In a moment of wandering thought, she gave attention to the fastenings +of the gate, and observed the ends of the bar across it rested in +double iron sockets on the side toward her; to pass it, she had only to +raise the bar clear of the socket and push. + +Afterwhile the door of a chamber nearly opposite her opened, and a man +stood in the aperture. He was very tall, gigantic even; and apparently +surprised by what he beheld, he stepped out to look at the benches, +whereat the light fell upon him and she saw he was black. His +appearance called for a roar of groans, and he retired, closing the +door behind him. Then there was an answering roar from a cell near by +at her left. The occupants of the benches applauded long and merrily, +crying, "Tamerlane! Tamerlane!" The woman shrank back terrified. + +A little later another man entered the arena, from the western gate. +Going to the centre he looked carefully around him; as if content with +the inspection, he went next to a cell and knocked. Two persons +responded by coming out of the door; one an armed guardsman, the other +a monk. The latter wore a hat of clerical style, and a black gown +dropping to his bare feet, its sleeves of immoderate length completely +muffling his hands. Instantly the concourse on the benches arose. There +was no shouting--one might have supposed them all suddenly seized with +shuddering sympathy. But directly a word began passing from mouth to +mouth; at first, it was scarcely more than a murmur; soon it was a +byname on every tongue: + +"The heretic! The heretic!" + +The monk was Sergius. + +His guard conducted him to the centre of the field, and, taking off his +hat, left him there. In going he let his gauntlet fall. Sergius picked +it up, and gave it to him; then calm, resigned, fearless, he turned to +the east, rested his hands on his breast palm to palm, closed his eyes, +and raised his face. He may have had a hope of rescue in reserve; +certain it is, they who saw him, taller of his long gown, his hair on +his shoulders and down his back, his head upturned, the sunlight a +radiant imprint on his forehead, and wanting only a nimbus to be the +Christ in apparition, ceased jeering him; it seemed to them that in a +moment, without effort, he had withdrawn his thoughts from this world, +and surrendered himself. They could see his lips move; but what they +supposed his last prayer was only a quiet recitation: "I believe in +God, and Jesus Christ, his Son." + +The guard withdrawn, three sharp mots of a trumpet rang out from the +stand. A door at the left of the tunnel gate was then slowly raised; +whereupon a lion stalked out of the darkened depths, and stopped on the +edge of the den thus exposed, winking to accustom his eyes to the +day-splendor. He lingered there very leisurely, turning his ponderous +head from right to left and up and down, like a prisoner questioning if +he were indeed at liberty. Having viewed the sky and the benches, and +filled his deep chest with ample draughts of fresh air, suddenly +Tamerlane noticed the monk. The head rose higher, the ears erected, +and, snuffing like a hound, he fretted his shaggy mane; his yellow eyes +changed to coals alive, and he growled and lashed his sides with his +tail. A majestic figure was he now. "What is it?" he appeared asking +himself. "Prey or combat?" Still in a maze, he stepped out into the +arena, and shrinking close to the sand, inched forward creeping toward +the object of his wonder. + +The spectators had opportunity to measure him, and drink their fill of +terror. The monk was a goodly specimen of manhood, young, tall, strong; +but a fig for his chances once this enemy struck him or set its teeth +in his flesh! An ox could not stand the momentum of that bulk of bone +and brawn. It were vain telling how many--not all of them women and +children--furtively studied the height of the wall enclosing the pit to +make sure of their own safety upon the seats. + +Sergius meantime remained in prayer and recitation; he was prepared for +the attack, but as a non-resistant; if indeed he thought of battle, he +was not merely unarmed--the sleeves of his gown deprived him of the use +of his hands. From the man to the lion, from the lion to the man, the +multitude turned shivering, unable nevertheless to look away. + +Presently the lion stopped, whined, and behaved uneasily. Was he +afraid? Such was the appearance when he began trotting around at the +base of the wall, halting before the gates, and seeking an escape. +Under the urgency, whatever it was, from the trot he broke into a +gallop, without so much as a glance at the monk. + +A murmur descended from the benches. It was the people recovering from +their horror, and impatient. Ere long they became positive in +expression; in dread doubtless of losing the catastrophe of the show, +they yelled at the cowardly beast. + +In the height of this tempest, the gate of the tunnel under the grand +stand opened quickly, and was as quickly shut. Death brings no deeper +hush than fell upon the assemblage then. A woman was crossing the sand +toward the monk! Round sped the lion, forward she went! Two victims! +Well worth the monster's hunger through the three days to be so +banqueted on the fourth! + +There are no laws of behavior for such situations. Impulse and instinct +rush in and take possession. While the thousands held their breath, +they were all quickened to know who the intruder was. + +She was robed in white, was bareheaded and barefooted. The dress, the +action, the seraphic face were not infrequent on the water, and +especially in the churches; recognition was instantaneous, and through +the eager crowded ranks the whisper flew: + +"God o' Mercy! It is the Princess--the Princess Irene!" + +Strong men covered their eyes, women fainted. + +The grand stand had been given up to the St. James', and they and their +intimates filled it from the top seat to the bottom; and now directly +the identity became assured, toward them, or rather to the Hegumen +conspicuous in their midst, innumerable arms were outstretched, +seconding the cry: "Save her! Save her! Let the lion be killed!" + +Easier said than done. Crediting the Brotherhood with lingering sparks +of humanity, the game was beyond their interference. The brute was +lord. Who dared go in and confront him? + +About this time, the black man, of whom we have spoken, looked out of +his cell again. To him the pleading arms were turned. He saw the monk, +the Princess, and the lion making its furious circuit--saw them and +retreated, but a moment after reappeared, attired in the savageries +which were his delight. In the waist-belt he had a short sword, and +over his left shoulder a roll like a fisherman's net. And now he did +not retreat. + +The Princess reached Sergius safely, and placing a hand on his arm, +brought him back, as it were, to life and the situation. + +"Fly, little mother--by the way you came--fly!" he cried, in mighty +anguish. "O God! it is too late--too late." + +Wringing his hands, he gave way to tears. + +"No, I will not fly. Did I not bring you to this? Let death come to us +both. Better the quick work of the lion than the slow torture of +conscience. I will not fly! We will die together. I too believe in God +and Jesus Christ his Son." + +She reached up, and rested her hand upon his shoulder. The repetition +of the Creed, and her companionship restored his courage, and smiling, +despite the tears on his cheeks, he said: + +"Very well, little mother. The army of the martyrs will receive us, and +the dear Lord is at his mansion door to let us in." + +The lion now ceased galloping. Stopping over in the west quarter of the +field, he turned his big burning eyes on the two thus resigning +themselves, and crouching, put himself in motion toward them; his mane +all on end; his jaws agape, their white armature whiter of the crimson +tongue lolling adrip below the lips. He had given up escape, and, his +curiosity sated, was bent upon his prey. The charge of cowardice had +been premature. The near thunder of his roaring was exultant and awful. + +There was great ease of heart to the people when Nilo--for he it +was--taking position between the devoted pair and their enemy, shook +the net from his shoulder, and proceeded to give an example of his +practice with lions in the jungles of Kash-Cush. + +Keeping the brute steadily eye to eye, he managed so that while +retaining the leaden balls tied to its disengaged corners one in each +hand, the net was presently in an extended roll on the ground before +him. Leaning forward then, his hands bent inwardly knuckle to knuckle +at his breast, his right foot advanced, the left behind the right ready +to carry him by a step left aside, he waited the attack--to the +beholders, a figure in shining ebony, giantesque in proportions, +Phidian in grace. + +Tamerlane stopped. What new wonder was this? And while making the +study, he settled flat on the sand, and sunk his roaring into uneasy +whines and growls. + +By this time every one looking on understood Nilo's intent--that he +meant to bide the lion's leap, and catch and entangle him in the net. +What nerve and nicety of calculation--what certainty of eye--what +knowledge of the savage nature dealt with--what mastery of self, limb +and soul were required for the feat! + +Just at this crisis there was a tumult in the grand stand. Those who +turned that way saw a man in glistening armor pushing through the +brethren there in most unceremonious sort. In haste to reach the front, +he stepped from bench to bench, knocking the gowned Churchmen right and +left as if they were but so many lay figures. On the edge of the wall, +he tossed his sword and shield into the arena, and next instant leaped +after them. Before astonishment was spent, before the dull of faculties +could comprehend the intruder, before minds could be made up to so much +as yell, he had fitted the shield to his arm, snatched up the sword, +and run to the point of danger. There, with quick understanding of the +negro's strategy, he took place behind him, but in front of the +Princess and the monk. His agility, cumbered though he was, his amazing +spirit, together with the thought that the fair woman had yet another +champion over whom the lion must go ere reaching her, wrought the whole +multitude into ecstasy. They sprang upon the benches, and their +shouting was impossible of interpretation except as an indication of a +complete revulsion of feeling. In fact, many who but a little before +had cheered the lion or cursed him for cowardice now prayed aloud for +his victims. + +The noise was not without effect on the veteran Tamerlane. He surveyed +the benches haughtily once, then set forward again, intent on Nilo. + +The movement, in its sinuous, flexile gliding, resembled somewhat a +serpent's crawl. And now he neither roared nor growled. The lolling +tongue dragged the sand; the beating of the tail was like pounding with +a flail; the mane all erect trebly enlarged the head; and the eyes were +like live coals in a burning bush. The people hushed. Nilo stood firm; +thunder could as easily have diverted a statue; and behind him, not +less steadfast and watchful, Count Corti kept guard. Thirty feet +away--twenty-five--twenty--then the great beast stopped, collected +himself, and with an indescribable roar launched clear of the ground. +Up, at the same instant, and forward on divergent lines, went the +leaden balls; the netting they dragged after them had the appearance of +yellow spray blown suddenly in the air. When the monster touched the +sand again, he was completely enveloped. + +The struggle which ensued--the gnashing of teeth, the bellowing, the +rolling and blind tossing and pitching, the labor with the mighty +limbs, the snapping of the net, the burrowing into the sand, the +further and more inextricable entanglement of the enraged brute may be +left to imagination. Almost before the spectators realized the altered +condition, Nilo was stabbing him with the short sword. + +The well-directed steel at length accomplished the work, and the pride +of the Cynegion lay still in the bloody tangle--then the benches found +voice. + +Amidst the uproar Count Corti went to Nilo. + +"Who art thou?" he asked, in admiration. + +The King smiled, and signified his inability to hear or speak. +Whereupon the Count led him to the Princess. + +"Take heart, fair saint," he said. "The lion is dead, and thou art +safe." + +She scarcely heard him. + +He dropped upon his knee. + +"The lion is dead, O Princess, and here is the hand which slew +him--here thy rescuer." + +She looked her gratitude to Nilo--speak she could not. + +"And thou, too," the Count continued, to the monk, "must have thanks +for him." + +Sergius replied: "I give thee thanks, Nilo--and thou, noble Italian--I +am only a little less obliged to thee--thou wast ready with thy sword." + +He paused, glanced at the grand stand, and went on: "It is plain to me, +Count Corti, that thou thinkest my trial happily ended. The beast is +dead truly; but yonder are some not less thirsty for blood. It is for +them to say what I must further endure. I am still the heretic they +adjudged me. Do thou therefore banish me from thy generous mind; then +thou canst give it entirely to her who is most in need of it. Remove +the Princess--find a chair for her, and leave me to God." + +"What further can they do?" asked the Count. "Heaven hath decided the +trial in thy favor. Have they another lion?" + +The propriety of the monk's suggestion was obvious; it was not becoming +for the Princess to remain in the public eye; besides, under reaction +of spirit, she was suffering. + +"Have they another lion?" the Count repeated. + +Anxious as he was to assist the Princess, he was not less anxious, if +there was further combat, to take part in it. The Count was essentially +a fighting man. The open door of Nilo's cell speedily attracted his +attention. + +"Help me, sir monk. Yonder is a refuge for the Princess. Let us place +her in safety. I will return, and stay with thee. If the reverend +Christians, thy brethren in the grand stand, are not content, by +Allah"--he checked himself--"their cruelty would turn the stomach of a +Mohammedan." + +A few minutes, and she was comfortably housed in the cell. + +"Now, go to thy place; I will send for a chair, and rejoin thee." + +At the tunnel gate, the Count was met by a number of the St. James', +and he forgot his errand. + +"We have come," said one of them to Sergius, "to renew thy arrest." + +"Be it so," Sergius replied; "lead on." + +But Count Corti strode forward. + +"By whose authority is this arrest renewed?" he demanded. + +"Our Hegumen hath so ordered." + +"It shall not be--no, by the Mother of your Christ, it shall not be +unless you bring me the written word of His Majesty making it lawful." + +"The Hegumen"-- + +"I have said it, and I carry a sword"--the Count struck the hilt of the +weapon with his mailed hand, so the clang was heard on the benches. "I +have said it, and my sword says it. Go, tell thy Hegumen." + +Then Sergius spoke: + +"I pray you interfere not. The Heavenly Father who saved me this once +is powerful to save me often." + +"Have done, sir monk," the Count returned, with increasing earnestness. +"Did I not hear thee say the same in thy holy Sancta Sophia, in such +wise that these deserved to cast themselves at thy feet? Instead, lo! +the lion there. And for the truth, which is the soul of the world as +God is its Maker--the Truth and the Maker being the same--it is not +interest in thee alone which moves me. She, thy patroness yonder, is my +motive as well. There are who will say she followed thee hither being +thy lover; but thou knowest better, and so do I. She came bidden by +conscience, and except thou live, there will be no ease of conscience +for her--never. Wherefore, sir monk, hold thy peace. Thou shalt no more +go hence of thine own will than these shall take thee against it.... +Return, ye men of blood--return to him who sent you, and tell him my +sword vouches my word, being so accustomed all these years I have been +a man. Bring they the written word of His Majesty, I will give way. Let +them send to him." + +The brethren stared at the Count. Had he not been willing to meet old +Tamerlane with that same sword? They turned about, and were near the +tunnel gate going to report, when it was thrown open with great force, +and the Emperor Constantine appeared on horseback, the horse bloody +with spurring and necked with foam. Riding to the Count he drew rein. + +"Sir Count, where is my kinswoman?" + +Corti kissed his hand. + +"She is safe, Your Majesty--she is in the cell yonder." + +The Emperor's eye fell upon the carcass of the lion. + +"Thou didst it, Count?" + +"No--this man did it." + +The Emperor gazed at Nilo, thus designated, and taking a golden chain +of fine workmanship from his neck, he threw it over the black King's. +At the door of the cell, he dismounted; within, he kissed the Princess +on the forehead. + +"A chair will be here directly." + +"And Sergius?" she asked. + +"The Brotherhood must forego their claim now. Heaven has signified its +will." + +He thereupon entered into explanation. The necessity upon him was sore +and trying, else he had never surrendered Sergius to the Brotherhood. +He expected the Hegumen would subject him to discipline--imprisonment +or penance. He had even signed the order placing the lion at service, +supposing they meant merely a trial of the monk's constancy. Withal the +proceeding was so offensive he had refused to witness it. An officer +came to the palace with intelligence which led him to believe the worst +was really intended. To stop it summarily, he had ordered a horse and a +guard. Another officer reported the Princess in the arena with Sergius +and the lion. With that His Majesty had come at speed. And he was +grateful to God for the issue. + +In a short time the sedan was brought, and the Princess borne to her +house. + +Summoning the Brotherhood from the grand stand, the Emperor forbade +their pursuing Sergius further; the punishment had already been too +severe. The Hegumen protested. Constantine arose in genuine majesty, +and denouncing all clerical usurpations, he declared that for the +future he would be governed by his own judgment in whatever concerned +the lives of his subjects and the welfare of his empire. The +declaration was heard by the people on the benches. + +By his order, Sergius was conducted to Blacherne, and next day +installed a janitor of the imperial Chapel; thus ending his connection +with the Brotherhood of the St. James'. + +"Your Majesty," said Count Corti, at the conclusion of the scene in the +arena, "I pray a favor." + +Constantine, by this time apprised of the Count's gallantry, bade him +speak. + +"Give me the keeping of this negro." + +"If you mean his release from prison, Sir Count, take him. He can have +no more suitable guardian. But it is to be remembered he came to the +city with one calling himself the Prince of India, and if at any time +that mysterious person reappears, the man is to be given back to his +master." + +The Count regarded Nilo curiously--he was merely recalling the Prince. + +"Your Majesty is most gracious. I accept the condition." + +The captain of the guard, coming to the tunnel under the grand stand, +was addressed by the sentinel there. + +"See--here are a dress, a pair of shoes, and a veil. I found them by +the gate there." + +"How came they there?" + +"A woman asked me to let her stand by the gate, and see the heretic +when they brought him out, and I gave her permission. She wore these +things." + +"The Princess Irene!" exclaimed the officer. "Very well. Send them to +me, and I will have her pleasure taken concerning them." + +The Cynegion speedily returned to its customary state. But the +expiation remained in the public mind a date to which all manner of +events in city life was referred; none of them, however, of such +consequence as the loss to the Emperor of the allegiance of the St. +James'. Thenceforth the Brotherhoods were united against him. + + + + +BOOK VI + +CONSTANTINE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + + +The current of our story takes us once more to the White Castle at the +mouth of the Sweet Waters of Asia. + +It is the twenty-fifth of March, 1452. The weather, for some days +cloudy and tending to the tempestuous, changed at noon, permitting the +sun to show himself in a field of spotless blue. At the edge of the +mountainous steep above Roumeli Hissar, the day-giver lingered in his +going down, as loath to leave the life concentrated in the famous +narrows in front of the old Castle. + +On the land, there was an army in waiting; therefore the city of tents +and brushwood booths extending from the shore back to the hills, and +the smoke pervading the perspective in every direction. + +On the water, swinging to each other, crowding all the shallows of the +delta of the little river, reaching out into the sweep of the +Bosphorus, boats open and boats roofed--scows, barges, galleys oared +and galleys with masts--ships--a vast conglomerate raft. + +About the camp, and to and fro on the raft, men went and came, like +ants in storing time. Two things, besides the locality, identified +them--their turbans, and the crescent and star in the red field of the +flags they displayed. + +History, it would appear, takes pleasure in repetition. Full a thousand +years before this, a greater army had encamped on the banks of the same +Sweet Waters. Then it was of Persians; now it is of Turks; and +curiously there are no soldiers to be seen, but only working men, while +the flotilla is composed of carrying vessels; here boats laden with +stone; there boats with lime; yonder boats piled high with timber. + +At length the sun, drawing the last ravelling of light after it, +disappeared. About that time, the sea gate in front of the Palace of +Julian down at Constantinople opened, and a boat passed out into the +Marmora. Five men plied the oars. Two sat near the stern. These latter +were Count Corti and Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful. + +Two hours prior, Ali, with a fresh catch of fish, entered the gate, and +finding no purchaser in the galley, pushed on to the landing, and +thence to the Palace. + +"O Emir," he said, when admitted to the Count, "the Light of the World, +our Lord Mahommed is arrived." + +The intelligence seemed to strike the Count with a sudden ague. + +"Where is he?" he asked, his voice hollow as from a closed helmet. Ere +the other could answer, he added a saving clause: "May the love of +Allah be to him a staff of life!" + +"He is at the White Castle with Mollahs, Pachas, and engineers a +host.... What a way they were in, rushing here and there, like +squealing swine, and hunting quarters, if but a crib to lie in and +blow! Shintan take them, beards, boots, and turbans! So have they lived +on fat things, slept on divans of down under hangings of silk, breathed +perfumed airs in crowded harems, Heaven knows if now they are even fit +to stop an arrow. They thought the old Castle of Bajazet-Ilderim +another Jehan-Numa. By the delights of Paradise, O Emir--ha, ha, +ha!--it was good to see how little the Light of the World cared for +them! At the Castle, he took in with him for household the ancient +_Gabour_ Ortachi-Khalil and a Prince of India, whom he calls his +Messenger of the Stars; the rest were left to shift for themselves till +their tents arrive. Halting the Incomparables, [Footnote: Janissaries.] +out beyond Roumeli-Hissar, he summoned the Three Tails, [Footnote: +Pachas.] nearly dead from fatigue, having been in the saddle since +morning, and rode off with them fast as his Arab could gallop across +the country, and down the long hill behind Therapia, drawing rein at +the gate before the Palace of the Princess Irene." + +"The Palace of the Princess Irene," the Count repeated. "What did he +there?" + +"He dismounted, looked at the brass plate on the gate-post, went in, +and asked if she were at home. Being told she was yet in the city, he +said: 'A message for her to be delivered to-night. Here is a purse to +pay for going. Tell her Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik'--only the +Prophet knows of such a Sheik--'has been here, bidden by Sultan +Mahommed to see if her house had been respected, and inquire if she has +yet her health and happiness.' With that, he called for his horse, and +went through the garden and up to the top of the promontory; then he +returned to Hissar faster than he went to Therapia; and when, to take +boat for the White Castle, he walked down the height, two of the Three +Tails had to be lifted from their saddles, so nearly dead were they." + +Here Ali stopped to laugh. + +"Pardon me, O Emir," he resumed, "if I say last what I should have said +first, it being the marrow of the bone I bring you.... Before sitting +to his pilaf, our Lord Mahommed sent me here. 'Thou knowest to get in +and out of the unbelieving city,' he said. 'Go privily to the Emir +Mirza, and bid him come to me to-night.'" + +"What now, Ali?" + +"My Lord was too wise to tell me." + +"It is a great honor, Ali. I shall get ready immediately." + +When the night was deep enough to veil the departure, the Count seated +himself in the fisher's boat, a great cloak covering his armor. Half a +mile below the Sweet Waters the party was halted. + +"What is this, Ali?" + +"The Lord Mahommed's galleys of war are down from the Black Sea. These +are their outlyers." + +At the side of one of the vessels, the Count showed the Sultan's +signet, and there was no further interruption. + +A few words now with respect to Corti. + +He had become a Christian. Next, the bewilderment into which the first +sight of the Princess Irene had thrown him instead of passing off had +deepened into hopeless love. + +And farther--Constantine, a genuine knight himself; in fact more knight +than statesman; delighting in arms, armor, hounds, horses, and martial +exercises, including tournaments, hawking, and hunting, found one +abiding regret on his throne--he could have a favorite but never a +comrade. The denial only stimulated the desire, until finally he +concluded to bring the Italian to Court for observation and trial, his +advancement to depend upon the fitness, tact, and capacity he might +develop. + +One day an order was placed in the Count's hand, directing him to find +quarters at Blacherne. The Count saw the honor intended, and discerned +that acceptance would place him in better position to get information +for Mahommed, but what would the advantage avail if he were hindered in +forwarding his budget promptly? + +No, the mastership of the gate was of most importance; besides which +the seclusion of the Julian residence was so favorable to the part he +was playing; literally he had no one there to make him afraid. + +Upon receipt of the order he called for his horse, and rode to +Blacherne, where his argument of the necessity of keeping the Moslem +crew of his galley apart brought about a compromise. His Majesty would +require the Count's presence during the day, but permit him the nights +at Julian. He was also allowed to retain command of the gate. + +A few months then found him in Constantine's confidence, the imperial +favorite. Yet more surprising as a coincidence, he actually became to +the Emperor what he had been to Mahommed. He fenced and jousted with +him, instructed him in riding, trained him to sword and bow. Every day +during certain hours he had his new master's life at mercy. With a +thrust of sword, stroke of battle-axe, or flash of an arrow, it was in +his power to rid Mahommed of an opponent concerning whom he wrote: "O +my Lord, I think you are his better, yet if ever you meet him in +personal encounter, have a care." + +But the unexpected now happened to the Count. He came to have an +affection for this second lord which seriously interfered with his +obligations to the first one. Its coming about was simple. Association +with the Greek forced a comparison with the Turk. The latter's passion +was a tide before which the better gifts of God to rulers--mercy, +justice, discrimination, recognition of truth, loyalty, services--were +as willows in the sweep of a wave. Constantine, on the other hand, was +thoughtful, just, merciful, tender-hearted, indisposed to offend or to +fancy provocation intended. The difference between a man with and a man +without conscience--between a king all whose actuations are dominated +by religion and a king void of both conscience and religion--slowly but +surely, we say, the difference became apparent to the Count, and had +its inevitable consequences. + +Such was the Count's new footing in Blacherne. + +The changes wrought in his feeling were forwarded more than he was +aware by the standing accorded him in the reception-room of the +Princess Irene. + +After the affair at the Cynegion he had the delicacy not to push +himself upon the attention of the noble lady. In preference he sent a +servant every morning to inquire after her health. Ere long he was the +recipient of an invitation to come in person; after which his visits +increased in frequency. Going to Blacherne, and coming from it, he +stopped at her house, and with every interview it seemed his passion +for her intensified. + +Now it were not creditable to the young Princess' discernment to say +she was blind to his feeling; yet she was careful to conceal the +discovery from him, and still more careful not to encourage his hope. +She placed the favor shown him to the account of gratitude; at the same +time she admired him, and was deeply interested in the religious +sentiment he was beginning to manifest. + +In the Count's first audience after the rescue from the lion, she +explained how she came to be drawn to the Cynegion. This led to detail +of her relations with Sergius, concluding with the declaration: "I gave +him the signal to speak in Sancta Sophia, and felt I could not live if +he died the death, sent to it by me." + +"Princess," the Count replied, "I heard the monk's sermon in Sancta +Sophia, but did not know of your giving the signal. Has any one +impugned your motive in going to the Cynegion? Give me his name. My +sword says you did well." + +"Count Corti, the Lord has taken care of His own." + +"As you say, Princess Irene. Hear me before addressing yourself to +something else.... I remember the words of the Creed--or if I have them +wrong correct me: 'I believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son.'" + +"It is word for word." + +"Am I to understand you gave him the form?" + +"The idea is Father Hilarion's." + +"And the Two Articles. Are they indeed sayings of Jesus Christ?" + +"Even so." + +"Give me the book containing them." + +Taking a New Testament from the table, she gave it to him. + +"You will find the sayings easily. On the margins opposite them there +are markings illuminated in gold." + +"Thanks, O Princess, most humbly. I will return the book." + +"No, Count, it is yours." + +An expression she did not understand darkened his face. + +"Are you a Christian?" she asked. + +He flushed deeply, and bowed while answering: + +"My mother is a Christian." + +That night Count Corti searched the book, and found that the strength +of faith underlying his mother's prayers for his return to her, and the +Princess' determination to die with the monk, were but Christian lights. + +"Princess Irene," he said one day, "I have studied the book you gave +me; and knowing now who Christ is, I am ready to accept your Creed. +Tell me how I may know myself a believer?" + +A lamp in the hollow of an alabaster vase glows through the +transparency; so her countenance responded to the joy behind it. + +"Render obedience to His commands--do His will, O Count--then wilt thou +be a believer in Christ, and know it." + +The darkness she had observed fall once before on his face obscured it +again, and he arose and went out in silence. + +Brave he certainly was, and strong. Who could strike like him? He loved +opposition for the delight there was in overcoming it; yet in his +chamber that night he was never so weak. He resorted to the book, but +could not read. It seemed to accuse him. "Thou Islamite--thou son of +Mahomet, though born of a Christian, whom servest thou? Judas, what +dost thou in this city? Hypocrite--traitor--which is thy master, +Mahomet or Christ?" + +He fell upon his knees, tore at his beard, buried his head in his arms. +He essayed prayer to Christ. + +"Jesus--Mother of Jesus--O my mother!" he cried in agony. + +The hour he was accustomed to give to Mahommed came round. He drew out +the writing materials. "The Princess"--thus he began a sentence, but +stopped--something caught hold of his heart--the speaking face of the +beloved woman appeared to him--her eyes were reproachful--her lips +moved--she spoke: "Count Corti, I am she whom thou lovest; but what +dost thou? Is it not enough to betray my kinsman? Thy courage--what +makest thou of it but wickedness? ... Write of me to thy master. Come +every day, and contrive that I speak, then tell him of it. Am I sick? +Tell him of it. Do I hold to this or that? Tell him. Am I shaken by +visions of ruin to my country? Tell him of them. What is thy love if +not the servant for hire of his love? Traitor--panderer!" + +The Count pushed the table from him, and sprang to foot writhing. To +shut out the word abhorrent above all other words, he clapped his hands +tight over his ears--in vain. + +"Panderer!"--he heard with his soul--"Panderer! When thou hast +delivered me to Mahommed, what is he to give thee? How much?" + +Thus shame, like a wild dog, bayed at him. For relief he ran out into +the garden. And it was only the beginning of misery. Such the +introduction or first chapter, what of the catastrophe? He could not +sleep for shame. + +In the morning he ordered his horse, but had not courage to go to +Blacherne. How could he look at the kindly face of the master he was +betraying? He thought of the Princess. Could he endure her salutation? +She whom he was under compact to deliver to Mahommed? A paroxysm of +despair seized him. + +He rode to the Gate St. Romain, and out of it into the country. Gallop, +gallop--the steed was good--his best Arab, fleet and tireless. Noon +overtook him--few things else could--still he galloped. The earth +turned into a green ribbon under the flying hoofs, and there was relief +in the speed. The air, whisked through, was soothing. At length he came +to a wood, wild and interminable, Belgrade, though he knew it not, and +dismounting by a stream, he spent the day there. If now and then the +steed turned its eyes upon him, attracted by his sighs, groans and +prayer, there was at least no accusation in them. The solitude was +restful; and returning after nightfall, he entered the city through the +sortie under the Palace of Blacherne known as the Cercoporta. + +It is well pain of spirit has its intermissions; otherwise long life +could not be; and if sleep bring them, so much the better. + +Next day betimes, the Count was at Blacherne. + +"I pray grace, O my Lord!" he said, speaking to the question in the +Emperor's look. "Yesterday I had to ride. This confinement in the city +deadens me. I rode all day." + +The good, easy master sighed: "Would I had been with you, Count." + +Thus he dismissed the truancy. But with the Princess it was a lengthy +chapter. If the Emperor was never so gracious, she seemed never so +charming. He wrote to Mahommed in the evening, and walked the garden +the residue of the night. + +So weeks and months passed, and March came--even the night of the +twenty-fifth, with its order from the Sultan to the White Castle--an +interval of indecision, shame, and self-indictment. How many plans of +relief he formed who can say? Suicide he put by, a very last resort. +There was also a temptation to cut loose from Mahommed, and go boldly +over to the Emperor. That would be a truly Christian enlistment for the +approaching war; and aside from conformity to his present sympathies, +it would give him a right to wear the Princess' favor on his helmet. +But a fear shook the resort out of mind. Mahommed, whether successful +or defeated, would demand an explanation of him, possibly an +accounting. He knew the Sultan. Of all the schemes presented, the most +plausible was flight. There was the gate, and he its keeper, and beyond +the gate, the sunny Italian shore, and his father's castle. The seas +and sailing between were as green landscapes to a weary prisoner, and +he saw in them only the joy of going and freedom to do. Welcome, and to +God the praise! More than once he locked his portables of greatest +value in the cabin of the galley. But alas! He was in bonds. Life in +Constantinople now comprehended two of the ultimate excellencies to +him, Princess Irene and Christ--and their joinder in the argument he +took to be no offence. + +From one to another of these projects he passed, and they but served to +hide the flight of time. He was drifting--ahead, and not far, he heard +the thunder of coming events--yet he drifted. + +In this condition, the most envied man in Constantinople and the most +wretched, the Sultan's order was delivered to him by Ali. + +The time for decision was come. Tired--ashamed--angry with himself, he +determined to force the end. + +The Count arrived at the Castle, was immediately admitted to the +Sultan; indeed, had he been less resolute, his master's promptitude +would have been a circumstance of disturbing significance. + +Observation satisfied him Mahommed was in the field; for with all his +Epicureanism in times of peace, when a campaign was in progress the +Conqueror resolved himself into a soldierly example of indifference to +luxury. In other words, with respect to furnishment, the interior of +the old Castle presented its every day ruggedness. + +One lamp fixed to the wall near the door of the audience chamber +struggled with the murk of a narrow passage, giving to view an +assistant chamberlain, an armed sentinel, and two jauntily attired +pages in waiting. Surrendering his sword to the chamberlain, the Count +halted before the door, while being announced; at the same time, he +noticed a man come out of a neighboring apartment clad in black velvet +from head to foot, followed closely by a servant. It was the Prince of +India. + +The mysterious person advanced slowly, his eyes fixed on the floor, his +velvet-shod feet giving out no sound. His air indicated deep +reflection. In previous encounters with him, the Count had been +pleased; now his sensations were of repugnance mixed with doubt and +suspicion. He had not time to account for the change. It may have had +origin in the higher prescience sometimes an endowment of the spirit by +which we stand advised of a friend or an enemy; most likely, however, +it was a consequence of the curious tales abroad in Constantinople; for +at the recognition up sprang the history of the Prince's connection +with Lael, and her abandonment by him, the more extraordinary from the +evidences of his attachment to her. Up sprang also the opinion of +universal prevalence in the city that he had perished in the great +fire. What did it all mean? What kind of man was he? + +The servant carried a package wrapped in gold-embroidered green silk. + +Coming near, the Prince raised his eyes--stopped--smiled--and said: + +"Count Corti--or Mirza the Emir--which have I the honor of meeting?" + +In spite of the offence he felt, Corti blushed, such a flood of light +did the salutation let in upon the falsity of his position. Far from +losing presence of mind, he perceived at once how intimately the Prince +stood in the councils of the Sultan. + +"The Lord Mahommed must be heard before I can answer," he returned, +calmly. + +In an instant the Prince became cordial. + +"That was well answered," he said. "I am pleased to have my judgment of +you confirmed. Your mission has been a trying one, but you have +conducted it like a master. The Lord Mahommed has thanked me many times +that I suggested you for it. He is impatient to see you. We will go in +together." + +Mahommed, in armor, was standing by a table on which were a bare +cimeter, a lamp brightly burning, and two large unrolled maps. In one +of the latter, the Count recognized Constantinople and its environs +cast together from his own surveys. + +Retired a few steps were the two Viziers, Kalil Pacha and his rival, +Saganos Pacha, the Mollah Kourani, and the Sheik Akschem-sed-din. The +preaching of the Mollah had powerfully contributed to arousing the +fanatical spirit of the Sultan's Mohammedan subjects. The four were +standing in the attitude usual to Turkish officials in presence of a +superior, their heads bowed, their hands upon their stomachs. In +speaking, if they raised their eyes from the floor it was to shoot a +furtive glance, then drop them again. + +"This is the grand design of the work by which you will be governed," +Mahommed said to the counsellors, laying the finger points of his right +hand upon the map unknown to the Count, and speaking earnestly. "You +will take it, and make copies tonight; for if the stars fail not, I +will send the masons and their workmen to the other shore in the +morning." + +The advisers saluted--it would be difficult to say which of them with +the greatest unction. + +Looking sharply at Kalil, the master asked: "You say you superintended +the running of the lines in person?" + +Kalil saluted separately, and returned: "My Lord may depend upon the +survey." + +"Very well. I wait now only the indication of Heaven that the time is +ripe for the movement. Is the Prince of India coming?" + +"I am here, my Lord." + +Mahommed turned as the Prince spoke, and let his eyes rest a moment +upon Count Corti, without a sign of recognition. + +"Come forward, Prince," he said. "What is the message you bring me?" + +"My Lord," the Prince replied, after prostration, "in the Hebrew +Scriptures there is a saying in proof of the influence the planets have +in the affairs of men: 'Then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by +the waters of Megiddo; they fought from heaven; the stars in their +courses fought against Sisera.' Now art thou truly Sultan of Sultans. +To-morrow--the twenty-sixth of March--will be memorable amongst days, +for then thou mayst begin the war with the perfidious Greek. From four +o'clock in the morning the stars which fought against Sisera will fight +for Mahommed. Let those who love him salute and rejoice." + +The counsellors, dropping on their knees, fell forward, their faces on +their hands. The Prince of India did the same. Count Corti alone +remained standing, and Mahommed again observed him. + +"Hear you," the latter said, to his officers. "Go assemble the masons +and their workmen, the masters of boats, and the chiefs charged with +duties. At four o'clock in the morning I will move against Europe. The +stars have said it, and their permission is my law. Rise!" + +As his associates were moving backward with repeated genuflections, the +Prince of India spoke: + +"O most favored of men! Let them stay a moment." + +At a sign from the Sultan they halted; thereupon the Prince of India +beckoned Syama to come, and taking the package from his hands, he laid +it on the table. + +"For my Lord Mahommed," he said. + +"What is it?" Mahommed demanded. + +"A sign of conquest.... My Lord knows King Solomon ruled the world in +his day, its soul of wisdom. At his death dominion did not depart from +him. The secret ministers in the earth, the air and the waters, +obedient to Allah, became his slaves. My Lord knows of whom I speak. +Who can resist them? ... In the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre, the friend +of King Solomon, I found a sarcophagus. It was covered with a model in +marble of the Temple of the Hebrew Almighty God. Removing the lid, lo! +the mummy of Hiram, a crown upon its head, and at its feet the sword of +Solomon, a present without price. I brought it away, resolved to give +it to him whom the stars should elect for the overthrow of the +superstitions devised by Jesus, the bastard son of Joseph the carpenter +of Nazareth.... Undo the wrappings, Lord Mahommed." + +The Sultan obeyed, and laying the last fold of the cloth aside, drew +back staring, and with uplifted hands. + +"Kalil--Kourani--Akschem-sed-din--all of you, come look. Tell me what +it is--it blinds me." + +The sword of Solomon lay before them; its curved blade a gleam of +splendor, its scabbard a mass of brilliants, its hilt a ruby so pure we +may say it retained in its heart the life of a flame. + +"Take it in hand, Lord Mahommed," said the Prince of India. + +The young Sultan lifted the sword, and as he did so down a groove in +its back a stream of pearls started and ran, ringing musically, and +would not rest while he kept the blade in motion. He was speechless +from wonder. + +"Now may my Lord march upon Constantinople, for the stars and every +secret minister of Solomon will fight for him." + +So saying, the Prince knelt before the Sultan, and laid his lips on the +instep of his foot, adding: "Oh, my Lord! with that symbol in hand, +march, and surely as Tabor is among the mountains and Carmel by the +sea, so surely Christ will give place to Mahomet in Sancta Sophia. +March at four o'clock." + +And the counsellors left kisses on the same instep, and departed. + +Thence through the night the noises of preparation kept the space +between the hills of the narrows alive with echoes. At the hour +permitted by the stars--four o'clock--a cloud of boats cast loose from +the Asiatic shore, and with six thousand laborers, handmen to a +thousand master masons, crossed at racing speed to Europe. "God is God, +and Mahomet is his Prophet," they shouted. The vessels of burden, those +with lime, those with stone, those with wood, followed as they were +called, and unloading, hauled out, to give place to others. + +Before sun up the lines of the triangular fort whose walls near +Roumeli-Hissar are yet intact, prospectively a landmark enduring as the +Pyramids, were defined and swarming with laborers. The three Pachas, +Kalil, Sarudje, and Saganos, superintended each a side of the work, and +over them all, active and fiercely zealous, moved Mahommed, the sword +of Solomon in his hand. + +And there was no lack of material for the structure extensive as it +was. Asia furnished its quota, and Christian towns and churches on the +Bosphorus were remorselessly levelled for the stones in them; wherefore +the outer faces of the curtains and towers are yet speckled with +marbles in block, capital and column. + +Thus Mahommed, taking his first step in the war so long a fervid dream, +made sure of his base of operations. + +On the twenty-eighth of August, the work completed, from his camp on +the old Asometon promontory he reconnoitred the country up to the ditch +of Constantinople, and on the first of September betook himself to +Adrianople. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER + + +Upon the retirement of the Prince of India and the counsellors, +Mahommed took seat by the table, and played with the sword of Solomon, +making the pearls travel up and down the groove in the blade, listening +to their low ringing, and searching for inscriptions. This went on +until Count Corti began to think himself forgotten. At length the +Sultan, looking under the guard, uttered an exclamation--looked +again--and cried out: + +"O Allah! It is true!--May I be forgiven for doubting him!--Come, +Mirza, come see if my eyes deceive me. Here at my side!" + +The Count mastered his surprise, and was presently leaning over the +Sultan's shoulder. + +"You remember, Mirza, we set out together studying Hebrew. Against your +will I carried you along with me until you knew the alphabet, and could +read a little. You preferred Italian, and when I brought the learned +men, and submitted to them that Hebrew was one of a family of tongues +more or less alike, and would have sent you with them to the Sidonian +coast for inscriptions, you refused. Do you remember?" + +"My Lord, those were the happiest days of my life." + +Mahommed laughed. "I kept you three days on bread and water, and let +you off then because I could not do without you.... But for the matter +now. Under this guard--look--are not the brilliants set in the form of +letters?" + +Corti examined closely. + +"Yes, yes; there are letters--I see them plainly--a name." + +"Spell it." + +"S-O-L-O-M-O-N." + +"Then I have not deceived myself," Mahommed exclaimed. "Nor less has +the Prince of India deceived me." He grew more serious. "A marvellous +man! I cannot make him out. The more I do with him the more +incomprehensible he becomes. The long past is familiar to him as the +present to me. He is continually digging up things ages old, and +amazing me with them. Several times I have asked him when he was born, +and he has always made the same reply: 'I will tell when you are Lord +of Constantinople.' ... How he hates Christ and the Christians! ... +This is indeed the sword of Solomon--and he found it in the tomb of +Hiram, and gives it to me as the elect of the stars now. Ponder it, O +Mirza! Now at the mid of the night in which I whistle up my dogs of war +to loose them on the _Gabour_--How, Mirza--what ails you? Why that +change of countenance? Is he not a dog of an unbeliever? On your knees +before me--I have more to tell you than to ask. No, spurs are +troublesome. To the door and bid the keeper there bring a stool--and +look lest the lock have an ear hanging to it. Old Kalil, going out, +though bowing, and lip-handing me, never took his eyes off you." + +The stool brought, Corti was about to sit. + +"Take off your cap"--Mahommed spoke sternly--"for as you are not the +Mirza I sent away, I want to see your face while we talk. Sit here, in +the full of the light." + +The Count seated, placed his hooded cap on the floor. He was perfectly +collected. Mahommed fingered the ruby hilt while searching the eyes +which as calmly searched his. + +"How brave you are!" the Sultan began, but stopped. "Poor Mirza!" he +began again, his countenance softened. One would have said some tender +recollection was melting the shell of his heart. "Poor Mirza! I loved +you better than I loved my father, better than I loved my brothers, +well as I loved my mother--with a love surpassing all I ever knew but +one, and of that we will presently speak. If honor has a soul, it lives +in you, and the breath you draw is its wine, purer than the first +expressage of grapes from the Prophet's garden down by Medina. Your +eyes look truth, your tongue drips it as a broken honey-comb drips +honey. You are truth as God is God." + +He was speaking sincerely. + +"Fool--fool--that I let you go!--and I would not--no, by the rose-door +of Paradise and the golden stairs to the House of Allah, I would not +had I loved my full moon of full moons less. She was parted from me; +and with whose eyes could I see her so well as with yours, O my falcon? +Who else would report to me so truly her words? Love makes men and +lions mad; it possessed me; and I should have died of it but for your +ministering. Wherefore, O Mirza"-- + +The Count had been growing restive; now he spoke. "My Lord is about +committing himself to some pledge. He were wise, did he hear me first." + +"Perhaps so," the Sultan rejoined, uncertainly, but added immediately: +"I will hear you." + +"It is true, as my Lord said, I am not the Mirza he despatched to +Italy. The changes I have undergone are material; and in recounting +them I anticipate his anger. He sees before him the most wretched of +men to whom death would be mercy." + +"Is it so bad? You were happy when you went away. Was not the mission +to your content?" + +"My Lord's memory is a crystal cup from which nothing escapes--a cup +without a leak. He must recall how I prayed to stay with him." + +"Yes, yes." + +"My dread was prophetic." + +"Tell me of the changes." + +"I will--and truly as there is but one God, and he the father of life +and maker of things. First, then, the affection which at my going was +my Lord's, and which gave me to see him as the Light of the World, and +the perfection of glory in promise, is now divided." + +"You mean there is another Light of the World? Be it so, and still you +leave me flattered. How far you had to travel before finding the other! +Who is he?" + +"The Emperor of the Greeks." + +"Constantine? Are his gifts so many and rich? The next." + +"I am a Christian." + +"Indeed? Perhaps you can tell me the difference between God and Allah. +Yesterday Kourani said they were the same." + +"Nay, my Lord, the difference is between Christ and Mahomet." + +"The mother of the one was a Jewess, the mother of the other an Arab--I +see. Go on." + +The Count did not flinch. "My Lord, great as is your love of the +Princess Irene"--Mahommed half raised his hands, his brows knit, his +eyes filled with fire, but the Count continued composedly--"mine is +greater." + +The Sultan recovered himself. + +"The proof, the proof!" he said, his voice a little raised. "My love of +her is consuming me, but I see you alive." + +"My Lord's demand is reasonable. I came here to make the avowal, and +die. Would my Lord so much?" + +"You would die for the Princess?" + +"My Lord has said it." + +"Is there not something else in the urgency?" + +"Yes--honor." + +The Count's astonishment was unspeakable. He expected an outburst of +wrath unappeasable, a summons for an executioner; instead, Mahommed's +eyes became humid, and resting his elbow on the table, and his face on +the thumb and forefinger, he said, gazing sorrowfully: + +"Ahmed was my little brother. His mother published before my father's +death, that my mother was a slave. She was working for her child +already, and I had him smothered in a bath. Cruel? God forgive me! It +was my duty to provide for the peace of my people. I had a right to +take care of myself; yet will I never be forgiven. Kismet!... I have +had many men slain since. I travel, going to mighty events beckoned by +destiny. The ordinary cheap soul cannot understand how necessary it is +that my path should be smooth and clear; for sometime I may want to +run; and he will amuse or avenge himself by stamping me in history a +monster without a soul. Kismet! ... But you, my poor Mirza, you should +know me better. You are my brother without guile. I am not afraid to +love you. I do love you. Let us see.... Your letters from +Constantinople--I have them all--told me so much more than you +intended, I could not suspect your fidelity. They prepared me for +everything you have confessed. Hear how in my mind I disposed of them +point by point.... 'Mirza,' I said, 'pities the _Gabour_ Emperor; in +the end he will love him. Loving a hundred men is less miraculous in a +man than loving one. He will make comparisons. Why not? The _Gabour_ +appeals to him through his weakness, I through my strength. I would +rather be feared than pitied. Moreover, the _Gabour's_ day runs to its +close, and as it closes, mine opens. Pity never justified treason.' ... +And I said, too, on reading the despatch detailing your adventures in +Italy: 'Poor Mirza! now has he discovered he is an Italian, stolen when +a child, and having found his father's castle and his mother, a noble +woman, he will become a Christian, for so would I in his place.' Did I +stop there? The wife of the Pacha who received you from your abductors +is in Broussa. I sent to her asking if she had a keepsake or memento +which would help prove your family and country. See what she returned +to me." + +From under a cloth at the further end of the table, Mahommed drew a +box, and opening it, produced a collar of lace fastened with a cameo +pin. On the pin there was a graven figure. + +"Tell me, Mirza, if you recognize the engraving." The Count took the +cameo, looked at it, and replied, with a shaking voice: + +"The arms of the Corti! God be praised!" + +"And here--what are these, and what the name on them?" + +Mahommed gave him a pair of red morocco half-boots for a child, on +which, near the tops, a name was worked in silk. + +"It is mine, my Lord--my name--'Ugo.'" + +He cast himself before the Sultan, and embraced his knees, saying, in +snatches as best he could: + +"I do not know what my Lord intends--whether he means I am to die or +live--if it be death, I pray him to complete his mercy by sending these +proofs to my mother"-- + +"Poor Mirza, arise! I prefer to have your face before me." + +Directly the Count was reseated, Mahommed continued: + +"And you, too, love the Princess Irene? You say you love her more than +I? And you thought I could not endure hearing you tell it? That I would +summon black Hassan with his bowstring? With all your opportunities, +your seeing and hearing her, as the days multiplied from tens to +hundreds, is it for me to teach you she will come to no man except as a +sacrifice? What great thing have you to offer her? While I--well, by +this sword of Solomon, to-morrow morning I set out to say to her: 'For +thy love, O my full Moon of full Moons, for thy love thou shalt have +the redemption of thy Church.'... And besides, did I not foresee your +passion? Courtiers stoop low and take pains to win favor; but no +courtier, not even a professional, intending merely to please me, could +have written of her as you did; and by that sign, O Mirza, I knew you +were in the extremity of passion. Offended? Not so, not so! I sent you +to take care of her--fight for her--die, if her need were so great. Of +whom might I expect such service but a lover? Did I not, the night of +our parting, foretell what would happen?" He paused gazing at the ruby +of the ring on his finger. + +"See, Mirza! There has not been a waking hour since you left me but I +have looked at this jewel; and it has kept color faithfully. Often as I +beheld it, I said: 'Mirza loves her because he cannot help it; yet he +is keeping honor with me. Mirza is truth, as God is God. From his hand +will I receive her in Constantinople'"-- + +"O my Lord"-- + +"Peace, peace! The night wanes, and you have to return. Of what was I +speaking? Oh, yes"-- + +"But hear me, my Lord. At the risk of your displeasure I must speak." + +"What is it?" + +"In her presence my heart is always like to burst, yet, as I am to be +judged in the last great day, I have kept faith with my Lord. Once she +thanked me--it was after I offered myself to the lion--O Heaven! how +nearly I lost my honor! Oh, the agony of that silence! The anguish of +that remembrance! I have kept the faith, my Lord. But day by day now +the will to keep it grows weaker. All that holds me steadfast is my +position in Constantinople. What am I there?" + +The Count buried his face in his hands, and through the links in his +surcoat the tremor which shook his body was apparent. + +Mahommed waited. + +"What am I there? Having come to see the goodness of the Emperor, I +must run daily to betray him. I am a Christian; yet as Judas sold his +Master, I am under compact to sell my religion. I love a noble woman, +yet am pledged to keep her safely, and deliver her to another. O my +Lord, my Lord! This cannot go on. Shame is a vulture, and it is tearing +me--my heart bleeds in its beak. Release me, or give me to death. If +you love me, release me." + +"Poor Mirza!" + +"My Lord, I am not afraid." + +Mahommed struck the table violently, and his eyes glittered. "That ever +one should think I loved a coward! Yet more intolerable, that he whom I +have called brother should know me so little! Can it be, O Mirza, can +it be, you tell me these things imagining them new to me? ... Let me +have done. What we are saying would have become us ten years ago, not +now. It is unmanly. I had a purpose in sending for you.... Your mission +in Constantinople ends in the morning at four o'clock. In other words, +O Mirza, the condition passes from preparation for war with the +_Gabour_ to war. Observe now. You are a fighting man--a knight of skill +and courage. In the rencounters to which I am going--the sorties, the +assaults, the duels single and in force, the exchanges with all arms, +bow, arbalist, guns small and great, the mines and countermines--you +cannot stay out. You must fight. Is it not so?" + +Corti's head arose, his countenance brightened. + +"My Lord, I fear I run forward of your words--forgive me." + +"Yes, give ear.... The question now is, whom will you fight--me or the +_Gabour?_" + +"O my Lord"-- + +"Be quiet, I say. The issue is not whether you love me less. I prefer +you give him your best service." + +"How, my Lord?" + +"I am not speaking in contempt, but with full knowledge of your +superiority with weapons--of the many of mine who must go down before +you. And that you may not be under restraint of conscience or arm-tied +in the melee, I not only conclude your mission, but release you from +every obligation to me." + +"Every obligation!" + +"I know my words, Emir, yet I will leave nothing uncertain.... You will +go back to the city free of every obligation to me--arm-free, +mind-free. Be a Christian, if you like. Send me no more despatches +advisory of the Emperor"-- + +"And the Princess Irene, my Lord?" + +Mahommed smiled at the Count's eagerness. + +"Have patience, Mirza.... Of the moneys had from me, and the properties +heretofore mine in trust, goods, horses, arms, armor, the galley and +its crew, I give them to you without an accounting. You cannot deliver +them to me or dispose of them, except with an explanation which would +weaken your standing in Blacherne, if not undo you utterly. You have +earned them." + +Corti's face reddened. + +"With all my Lord's generosity, I cannot accept this favor. Honor"-- + +"Silence, Emir, and hear me. I have never been careless of your honor. +When you set out for Italy, preparatory to the mission at +Constantinople, you owed me duty, and there was no shame in the +performance; but now--so have the changes wrought--that which was +honorable to Mirza the Emir is scandalous to Count Corti. After four +o'clock you will owe me no duty; neither will you be in my service. +From that hour Mirza, my falcon, will cease to be. He will have +vanished. Or if ever I know him more, it will be as Count Corti, +Christian, stranger, and enemy." + +"Enemy--my Lord's enemy? Never!" + +The Count protested with extended arms. + +"Yes, circumstances will govern. And now the Princess Irene." + +Mahommed paused; then, summoning his might of will, and giving it +expression in a look, he laid a forcible hand on the listener's +shoulder. + +"Of her now.... I have devised a promotion for you, Emir. After +to-night we will be rivals." + +Corti was speechless--he could only stare. + +"By the rose-door of Paradise--the only oath fit for a lover--or, as +more becoming a knight, by this sword of Solomon, Emir, I mean the +rivalry to be becoming and just. I have an advantage of you. With women +rank and riches are as candles to moths. On the other side your +advantage is double; you are a Christian, and may be in her eyes day +after day. And not to leave you in mean condition, I give you the +moneys and property now in your possession; not as a payment--God +forbid!--but for pride's sake--my pride. Mahommed the Sultan may not +dispute with a knight who has only a sword." + +"I have estates in Italy." + +"They might as well be in the moon. I shall enclose Constantinople +before you could arrange with the Jews, and have money enough to buy a +feather for your cap. If this were less true, comes then the argument: +How can you dispose of the properties in hand, and quiet the gossips in +the _Gabour's_ palace? 'Where are your horses?' they will ask. What +answer have you? 'Where your galley?' Answer. 'Where your Mohammedan +crew?' Answer." + +The Count yielded the debate, saying: "I cannot comprehend my Lord. +Such thing was never heard of before." + +"Must men be restrained because the thing they wish to do was never +heard of before? Shall I not build a mosque with five minarets because +other builders stopped with three? ... To the sum of it all now. +Christian or Moslem, are you willing to refer our rivalry for the young +woman to God?" + +"My wonder grows with listening to my Lord." + +"Nay, this surprises you because it is new. I have had it in mind for +months. It did not come to me easily. It demanded +self-denial--something I am unused to.... Here it is--I am willing to +call Heaven in, and let it decide whether she shall be mine or +yours--this lily of Paradise whom all men love at sight. Dare you as +much?" + +The soldier spirit arose in the Count. + +"Now or then, here or there, as my Lord may appoint. I am ready. He has +but to name his champion." + +"I protest. The duel would be unequal. As well match a heron and a +hawk. There is a better way of making our appeal. Listen.... The walls +of Constantinople have never succumbed to attack. Hosts have dashed +against them, and fled or been lost. It may be so with me; but I will +march, and in my turn assault them, and thou defending with thy best +might. If I am beaten, if I retire, be the cause of failure this or +that, we--you and I, O Mirza--will call it a judgment of Heaven, and +the Princess shall be yours; but if I success and enter the city, it +shall be a judgment no less, and then"--Mahommed's eyes were full of +fire--"then"-- + +"What then, my Lord?" + +"Thou shalt see to her safety in the last struggle, and conduct her to +Sancta Sophia, and there deliver her to me as ordered by God." + +Corti was never so agitated. He turned pale and red--he trembled +visibly. + +Mahommed asked mockingly: "Is it Mirza I am treating with, or Count +Corti? Are Christians so unwilling to trust God?" + +"But, my Lord, it is a wager you offer me." + +"Call it so." + +"And its conditions imply slavery for the Princess. Change them, my +Lord--allow her to be consulted and have her will, be the judgment this +or that." + +Mahommed clinched his hands. + +"Am I a brute? Did ever woman lay her head on my breast perforce?" + +The Count replied, firmly: + +"Such a condition would be against us both alike." + +The Sultan struggled with himself a moment. + +"Be it so," he rejoined. "The wager is my proposal, and I will go +through with it. Take the condition, Emir. If I win, she shall come to +me of her free will or not at all." + +"A wife, my Lord?" + +"In my love first, and in my household first--my Sultana." + +The animation which then came to the Count was wonderful. He kissed +Mahommed's hand. + +"Now has my Lord outdone himself in generosity. I accept. In no other +mode could the issue be made so absolutely a determination of Heaven." + +Mahommed arose. + +"We are agreed.--The interview is finished.--Ali is waiting for you." + +He replaced the cover on the box containing the collar and the +half-boots. + +"I will send these to the Countess your mother; for hereafter you are +to be to me Ugo, Count Corti.... My falcon hath cast its jess and hood. +Mirza is no more. Farewell Mirza." + +Corti was deeply moved. Prostrating himself, he arose, and replied: + +"I go hence more my Lord's lover than ever. Death to the stranger who +in my presence takes his name in vain." + +As he was retiring, Mahommed spoke again: + +"A word, Count.... In what we are going to, the comfort and safety of +the Princess Irene may require you to communicate with me. You have +ready wit for such emergencies. Leave me a suggestion." + +Corti reflected an instant. + +"The signal must proceed from me," he said. "My Lord will pitch his +tent in sight"-- + +"By Solomon, and this his sword, yes! Every _Gabour_ who dares look +over the wall shall see it while there is a hill abiding." + +The Count bowed. + +"I know my Lord, and give him this--God helping me, I will make myself +notorious to the besiegers as he will be to the besieged. If at any +time he sees my banderole, or if it be reported to him, let him look if +my shield be black; if so, he shall come himself with a shield the +color of mine, and place himself in my view. My Lord knows I make my +own arrows. If I shoot one black feathered, he must pick it up. The +ferrule will be of hollow lead covering a bit of scrip." + +"Once more, Count Corti, the issue is with God. Good night." + +Traversing the passage outside the door, the Count met the Prince of +India. + +"An hour ago I would have entitled you Emir: but now"--the Prince +smiled while speaking--"I have stayed to thank Count Corti for his +kindness to my black friend Nilo." + +"Your servant?" + +"My friend and ally--Nilo the King.... If the Count desires to add to +the obligation, he will send the royal person to me with Ali when he +returns to-night." + +"I will send him." + +"Thanks, Count Corti." + +The latter lingered, gazing into the large eyes and ruddy face, +expecting at least an inquiry after Lael. He received merely a bow, and +the words: "We will meet again." + +Night was yet over the city, when Ali, having landed the Count, drew +out of the gate with Nilo. The gladness of the King at being restored +to his master can be easily fancied. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BLOODY HARVEST + + +In June, a few days after the completion of the enormous work begun by +Mahommed on the Asometon promontory, out of a gate attached to the High +Residence of Blacherne, familiarly known as the Caligaria, there issued +a small troop of horsemen of the imperial military establishment. + +The leader of this party--ten in all--was Count Corti. Quite a body of +spectators witnessed the exit, and in their eyes he was the most +gallant knight they had ever seen. They cheered him as, turning to the +right after issuance from the gate, he plunged at a lively trot into +the ravine at the foot of the wall, practically an immense natural +fosse. "God and our Lady of Blacherne," they shouted, and continued +shouting while he was in sight, notwithstanding he did not so much as +shake the banderole on his lance in reply. + +Of the Count's appearance this morning it is unnecessary to say more +than that he was in the suit of light armor habitual to him, and as an +indication of serious intent, bore, besides the lance, a hammer or +battle-axe fixed to his saddle-bow, a curved sword considerably longer, +though not so broad as a cimeter, a bow and quiver of arrows at his +back, and a small shield or buckler over the quiver. The favorite +chestnut Arab served him for mount, its head and neck clothed in +flexible mail. The nine men following were equipped like himself in +every particular, except that their heads were protected by +close-fitting conical caps, and instead of armor on their legs, they +wore flowing red trousers. + +Of them it may be further remarked, their mode of riding, due to their +short stirrups, was indicative of folk akin to the Bedouin of the +Desert. + +Upon returning from the last interview with Mahommed in the White +Castle, the Count had subjected the crew of his galley to rigorous +trial of fitness for land service. Nine of them he found excellent +riders after their fashion, and selecting them as the most promising, +he proceeded to instruct them in the use of the arms they were now +bearing. His object in this small organization was a support to rush in +after him rather than a battle front. That is, in a charge he was to be +the lance's point, and they the broadening of the lance's blade; while +he was engaged, intent on the foe before him, eight of them were to +guard him right and left, and, as the exigencies of combat might +demand, open and close in fan-like movement. The ninth man was a +fighter in their rear. In the simple manoeuvring of this order of +battle he had practised them diligently through the months. The skill +attained was remarkable; and the drilling having been in the +Hippodrome, open to the public, the concourse to see it had been +encouraging. + +In truth, the wager with Mahommed had supplied the Count with energy of +body and mind. He studied the chances of the contest, knowing how +swiftly it was coming, and believed it possible to defend the city +successfully. At all events, he would do his best, and if the judgment +were adverse, it should not be through default on his part. + +The danger--and he discerned it with painful clearness--was in the +religious dissensions of the Greeks; still he fancied the first serious +blow struck by the Turks, the first bloodshed, would bring the factions +together, if only for the common safety. + +It is well worth while here to ascertain the views and feelings of the +people whom Count Corti was thus making ready to defend. This may be +said of them generally: It seemed impossible to bring them to believe +the Sultan really intended war against the city. + +"What if he does?" they argued. "Who but a young fool would think of +such a thing? If he comes, we will show him the banner of the Blessed +Lady from the walls." + +If in the argument there was allusion to the tower on the Asometon +heights, so tall one could stand on its lead-covered roof, and looking +over the intermediate hills, almost see into Constantinople, the +careless populace hooted at the exaggeration: "There be royal idiots as +well as every-day idiots. Staring at us is one thing, shooting at us is +another. Towers with walls thirty feet thick are not movable." + +One day a report was wafted through the gates that a gun in the water +battery of the new Turkish fort had sunk a passing ship. "What flag was +the ship flying?" "The Venetian." "Ah, that settles it," the public +cried. "The Sultan wants to keep the Venetians out of the Black Sea. +The Turks and the Venetians have always been at war." + +A trifle later intelligence came that the Sultan, lingering at +Basch-Kegan, supposably because the air along the Bosphorus was better +than the air at Adrianople, had effected a treaty by which the Podesta +of Galata bound his city to neutrality; still the complacency of the +Byzantines was in no wise disturbed. "Score one for the Genoese. It is +good to hear of their beating the Venetians." + +Occasionally a wanderer--possibly a merchant, more likely a +spy--passing the bazaars of Byzantium, entertained the booth-keepers +with stories of cannon being cast for the Sultan so big that six men +tied together might be fired from them at once. The Greeks only jeered. +Some said: "Oh, the Mahound must be intending a salute for the man in +the moon of Ramazan!" Others decided: "Well, he is crazier than we +thought him. There are many hills on the road to Adrianople, and at the +foot of every hill there is a bridge. To get here he must invent wings +for his guns, and even then it will be long before they can be taught +to fly." + +At times, too, the old city was set agog with rumors from the Asiatic +provinces opposite that the Sultan was levying unheard-of armies; he +had half a million recruits already, but wanted a million. "Oh, he +means to put a lasting quietus on Huniades and his Hungarians. He is +sensible in taking so many men." + +In compliment to the intelligence of the public, this obliviousness to +danger had one fostering circumstance--the gates of the city on land +and water stood open day and night. + +"See," it was everywhere said, "the Emperor is not alarmed. Who has +more at stake than he? He is a soldier, if he is an _azymite_. He keeps +ambassadors with the Sultan--what for, if not to be advised?" + +And there was a great deal in the argument. + +At length the Greek ambassadors were expelled by Mahommed. It was while +he lay at Basch-Kegan. They themselves brought the news. This was +ominous, yet the public kept its spirits. The churches, notably Sancta +Sophia, were more than usually crowded with women; that was all, for +the gates not only remained open, but traffic went in and out of them +unhindered--out even to the Turkish camp, the Byzantines actually +competing with their neighbors of Galata in the furnishment of +supplies. Nay, at this very period every morning a troop of the +Imperial guard convoyed a wagon from Blacherne out to Basch-Kegan laden +with the choicest food and wines; and to the officer receiving them the +captain of the convoy invariably delivered himself: "From His Majesty, +the Emperor of the Romans and Greeks, to the Lord Mahommed, Sultan of +the Turks. Prosperity and long life to the Sultan." + +If these were empty compliments, if the relations between the +potentates were slippery, if war were hatching, what was the Emperor +about? + +Six months before the fort opposite the White Castle was begun, +Constantine had been warned of Mahommed's projected movement against +his capital. The warning was from Kalil Pacha; and whether Kalil was +moved by pity, friendship, or avarice is of no moment; certain it is +the Emperor acted upon the advice. He summoned a council, and proposed +war; but was advised to send a protesting embassy to the enemy. A +scornful answer was returned. Seeing the timidity of his cabinet, cast +upon himself, he resolved to effect a policy, and accordingly +expostulated, prayed, sent presents, offered tribute, and by such means +managed to satisfy his advisers; yet all the time he was straining his +resources in preparation. + +In the outset, he forced himself to face two facts of the gravest +import: first, of his people, those of age and thews for fighting were +in frocks, burrowing in monasteries; next, the clergy and their +affiliates were his enemies, many openly preferring a Turk to an +_azymite_. A more discouraging prospect it is difficult to imagine. +There was but one hope left him. Europe was full of professional +soldiers. Perhaps the Pope had influence to send him a sufficient +contingent. Would His Holiness interest himself so far? The brave +Emperor despatched an embassy to Rome, promising submission to the +Papacy, and praying help in Christ's name. + +Meantime his agents dispersed themselves through the Aegean, buying +provisions and arms, enginery, and war material of all kinds. This +business kept his remnant of a navy occupied. Every few days a vessel +would arrive with stores for the magazine under the Hippodrome. By the +time the fort at Roumeli Hissar was finished, one of his anxieties was +in a measure relieved. The other was more serious. Then the frequency +with which he climbed the Tower of Isaac, the hours he passed there +gazing wistfully southward down the mirror of the Marmora, became +observable. The valorous, knightly heart, groaning under the +humiliations of the haughty Turk, weary not less of the incapacity of +his own people to perceive their peril, and arise heroically to meet +it, found opportunity to meditate while he was pacing the lofty +lookout, and struggling to descry the advance of the expected succor. + +In this apology the reader who has wondered at the inaction of the +Emperor what time the Sultan was perfecting his Asiatic communications +is answered. There was nothing for him but a siege. To that alternative +the last of the Romans was reduced. He could not promise himself enough +of his own subjects to keep the gates, much less take the field. + +The country around Constantinople was given to agriculture. During the +planting season, and the growing, the Greek husbandmen received neither +offence nor alarm from the Turks. But in June, when the emerald of the +cornfields was turning to gold, herds of mules and cavalry horses began +to ravage the fields, and the watchmen, hastening from their little +huts on the hills to drive them out, were set upon by the soldiers and +beaten. They complained to the Emperor, and he sent an embassy to the +Sultan praying him to save the crops from ruin. In reply, Mahommed +ordered the son of Isfendiar, a relative, to destroy the harvest. The +peasants resisted, and not unsuccessfully. In the South, and in the +fields near Hissar on the north, there were deaths on both sides. +Intelligence of the affair coming to Constantine, he summoned Count +Corti. + +"The long expected has arrived," he said. "Blood has been shed. My +people have been attacked and slain in their fields; their bodies lie +out unburied. The war cannot be longer deferred. It is true the succors +from the Holy Father have not arrived; but they are on the way, and +until they come we must defend ourselves. Cold and indifferent my +people have certainly been. Now I will make a last effort to arouse +them. Go out toward Hissar, and recover the dead. Have the bodies +brought in just as they are. I will expose them in the Hippodrome. +Perhaps their bruises and blood may have an effect; if not, God help +this Christian city. I will give you a force." + +"Your Majesty," the Count replied, "such an expedition might provoke an +advance upon the city before you are entirely prepared. Permit me to +select a party from my own men." "As you choose. A guide will accompany +you." + +To get to the uplands, so to speak, over which, north of Galata, the +road to Hissar stretched, Corti was conducted past the Cynegion and +through the districts of Eyoub to the Sweet Waters of Europe, which he +crossed by a bridge below the site of the present neglected country +palace of the Sultan. Up on the heights he turned left of Pera, and +after half an hour's rapid movement was trending northward parallel +with the Bosphorus, reaches of which were occasionally visible through +cleftings of the mountainous shore. Straw-thatched farmhouses dotted +the hills and slopes, and the harvest spread right and left in cheerful +prospect. + +The adventurer had ample time to think; but did little of it, being too +full of self-gratulation at having before him an opportunity to +recommend himself to the Emperor, with a possibility of earning +distinction creditable in the opinion of the Princess Irene. + +At length an exclamation of his guide aroused him to action. + +"The Turks, the Turks!" + +"Where?" + +"See that smoke." + +Over a hilltop in his front, the Count beheld the sign of alarm +crawling slowly into the sky. + +"Here is a village--to our left, but"-- + +"Have done," said Corti, "and get me to the fire. Is there a nearer way +than this?" + +"Yes, under the hill yonder." + +"Is it broken?" + +"It narrows to a path, but is clear." + +The Count spoke in Arabic to his followers, and taking the gallop, +pushed the guide forward. Shortly a party of terror-stricken peasants +ran down toward him. + +"Why do you run? What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Oh, the Turks, the Turks!" + +"What of them? Stand, and tell me." + +"We went to work this morning cutting corn, for it is now ripe enough. +The Mahounds broke in on us. We were a dozen to their fifty or more. We +only escaped, and they set fire to the field. O Christ, and the Most +Holy Mother! Let us pass, or we too will be slain!" + +"Are they mounted?" + +"Some have horses, some are afoot." + +"Where are they now?" + +"In the field on the hill." + +"Well, go to the village fast as you can, and tell the men there to +come and pick up their dead. Tell them not to fear, for the Emperor has +sent me to take care of them." + +With that the Count rode on. + +This was the sight presented him when he made the ascent: A wheat field +sloping gradually to the northeast; fire creeping across it crackling, +smoking, momentarily widening; through the cloud a company of Turkish +soldiers halted, mostly horsemen, their arms glinting brightly in the +noon sun; blackened objects, unmistakably dead men, lying here and +there. Thus the tale of the survivors of the massacre was confirmed. + +Corti gave his lance with the banderole on it to the guide. By +direction his Berbers drove their lances into the earth that they might +leave them standing, drew their swords, and brought their bucklers +forward. Then he led them into the field. A few words more, directions +probably, and he started toward the enemy, his followers close behind +two and two, with a rear-guardsman. He allowed no outcry, but gradually +increased the pace. + +There were two hundred and more yards to be crossed, level, except the +slope, and with only the moving line of fire as an impediment. The +crop, short and thin, was no obstacle under the hoofs. + +The Turks watched the movement herded, like astonished sheep. They may +not have comprehended that they were being charged, or they may have +despised the assailants on account of their inferiority in numbers, or +they may have relied on the fire as a defensive wall; whatever the +reason, they stood passively waiting. + +When the Count came to the fire, he gave his horse the spur, and +plunging into the smoke and through the flame full speed, appeared on +the other side, shouting: "Christ and Our Lady of Blacherne!" His long +sword flashed seemingly brighter of the passage just made. Fleckings of +flame clung to the horses. What the battle-cry of the Berbers we may +not tell. They screamed something un-Christian, echoes of the Desert. +Then the enemy stirred; some drew their blades, some strung their bows; +the footmen amongst them caught their javelins or half-spears in the +middle, and facing to the rear, fled, and kept flying, without once +looking over their shoulders. + +One man mounted, and in brighter armor than the others, his steel cap +surmounted with an immense white turban, a sparkling aigrette pinned to +the turban, cimeter in hand, strove to form his companions--but it was +too late. "Christ and our Lady of Blacherne!"--and with that Corti was +in their midst; and after him, into the lane he opened, his Berbers +drove pell-mell, knocking Turks from their saddles, and overthrowing +horses--and there was cutting and thrusting, and wounds given, and +souls rendered up through darkened eyes. + +The killing was all on one side; then as a bowl splinters under a +stroke, the Turkish mass flew apart, and went helter-skelter off, each +man striving to take care of himself. The Berbers spared none of the +overtaken. + +Spying the man with the showy armor, the Count made a dash to get to +him, and succeeded, for to say truth, he was not an unwilling foeman. A +brief combat took place, scarcely more than a blow, and the Turk was +disarmed and at mercy. + +"Son of Isfendiar," said Corti, "the slaying these poor people with +only their harvest knives for weapons was murder. Why should I spare +your life?" + +"I was ordered to punish them." + +"By whom?" + +"My Lord the Sultan." + +"Do your master no shame. I know and honor him." + +"Yesterday they slew our Moslems." + +"They but defended their own.... You deserve death, but I have a +message for the Lord Mahommed. Swear by the bones of the Prophet to +deliver it, and I will spare you." + +"If you know my master, as you say, he is quick and fierce of temper, +and if I must die, the stroke may be preferable at your hand. Give me +the message first." + +"Well, come with me." + +The two remained together until the flight and pursuit were ended; +then, the fire reduced to patches for want of stalks to feed it, the +Count led the way back to the point at which he entered the field. +Taking his lance from the guide, he passed it to the prisoner. + +"This is what I would have you do," he said. "The lance is mine. Carry +it to your master, the Lord Mahommed, and say to him, Ugo, Count Corti, +salute him, and prays him to look at the banderole, and fix it in his +memory. He will understand the message, and be grateful for it. Now +will you swear?" + +The banderole was a small flag of yellow silk, with a red moon in the +centre, and on the face of the moon a white cross. Glancing at it, the +son of Isfendiar replied: + +"Take off the cross, and you show me a miniature standard of the +_Silihdars_, my Lord's guard of the Palace." Then looking the Count +full in the face, he added: "Under other conditions I should salute you +Mirza, Emir of the Hajj." + +"I have given you my name and title. Answer." + +"I will deliver the lance and message to my Lord--I swear it by the +bones of the Prophet." + +Scarcely had the Turk disappeared in the direction of Hissar, when a +crowd of peasants, men and women, were seen coming timorously from the +direction of the village. The Count rode to meet them, and as they were +provided with all manner of litters, by his direction the dead Greeks +were collected, and soon, with piteous lamentations, a funeral cortege +was on the road moving slowly to Constantinople. Anticipating a speedy +reappearance of the Turks, hostilities being now unavoidable, Count +Corti despatched messengers everywhere along the Bosphorus, warning the +farmers and villagers to let their fields go, and seek refuge in the +city. So it came about that the escort of the murdered peasants +momentarily increased until at the bridge over the Sweet Waters of +Europe it became a column composed for the most part of women, +children, and old men. Many of the women carried babies. The old men +staggered under such goods as they could lay their hands on in haste. +The able-bodied straggled far in the rear with herds of goats, sheep, +and cattle; the air above the road rang with cries and prayers, and the +road itself was sprinkled with tears. In a word, the movement was a +flight. + +Corti, with his Berbers, lingered in the vicinity of the field of fight +watchful of the enemy. In the evening, having forwarded a messenger to +the Emperor, he took stand at the bridge; and well enough, for about +dusk a horde of Turkish militia swept down from the heights in search +of plunder and belated victims. At the first bite of his sword, they +took to their heels, and were not again seen. + +By midnight the settlements and farmhouses of the up-country were +abandoned; almost the entire district from Galata to Fanar on the Black +Sea was reduced to ashes. The Greek Emperor had no longer a frontier or +a province--all that remained to him was his capital. + +Many of the fugitives, under quickening of the demonstration at the +bridge, threw their burdens away; so the greater part of them at an +early hour after nightfall appeared at the Adrianople gate objects of +harrowing appeal, empty-handed, broken down, miserable. + +Constantine had the funeral escort met at the gate by torch-bearers, +and the sextons of the Blacherne Chapel. Intelligence of the massacre, +and that the corpses of the harvesters would be conveyed to the +Hippodrome for public exposure, having been proclaimed generally +through the city, a vast multitude was also assembled at the gate. The +sensation was prodigious. + +There were twenty litters, each with a body upon it unwashed and in +bloody garments, exactly as brought in. On the right and left of the +litters the torchmen took their places. The sextons lit their long +candles, and formed in front. Behind trudged the worn, dust-covered, +wretched fugitives; and as they failed to realize their rescue, and +that they were at last in safety, they did not abate their +lamentations. When the innumerable procession passed the gate, and +commenced its laborious progress along the narrow streets, seldom, if +ever, has anything of the kind more pathetic and funereally impressive +been witnessed. + +Let be said what may, after all nothing shall stir the human heart like +the faces of fellowmen done to death by a common enemy. There was no +misjudgment of the power of the appeal in this instance. It is no +exaggeration to say Byzantium was out assisting--so did the people +throng the thoroughfares, block the street intersections, and look down +from the windows and balconies. Afar they heard the chanting of the +sextons, monotonous, yet solemnly effective; afar they saw the swaying +candles and torches; and an awful silence signalized the approach of +the pageant; but when it was up, and the bodies were borne past, +especially when the ghastly countenances of the sufferers were under +eye plainly visible in the red torchlight, the outburst of grief and +rage in every form, groans, curses, prayers, was terrible, and the +amazing voice, such by unity of utterance, went with the dead, and +followed after them until at last the Hippodrome was reached. There the +Emperor, on horseback, and with his court and guards, was waiting, and +his presence lent nationality to the mournful spectacle. + +Conducting the bearers of the litters to the middle of the oblong area, +he bade them lay their burdens down, and summoned the city to the view. + +"Let there be no haste," he said, "for, in want of their souls, the +bruised bodies of our poor countrymen shall lie here all tomorrow, +every gaping wound crying for vengeance. Then on the next day it will +be for us to say what we will do--fight, fly, or surrender." + +Through the remainder of the night the work of closing the gates and +making them secure continued without cessation. The guards were +strengthened at each of them, and no one permitted to pass out. +Singular to say, a number of eunuchs belonging to the Sultan were +caught and held. Some of the enraged Greeks insisted on their death; +but the good heart of the Emperor prevailed, and the prisoners were +escorted to their master. The embassy which went with them announced +the closing of the gates. + +"Since neither oaths, nor treaty, nor submission can secure peace, +pursue your impious warfare"--thus Constantine despatched to Mahommed. +"My trust is in God; if it shall please him to mollify your heart, I +shall rejoice in the change; if he delivers the city in your hands, I +submit without a murmur to his holy will. But until he shall pronounce +between us, it is my duty to live and die in defence of my people." +[Footnote: Gibbon] + +Mahommed answered with a formal declaration of war. + +It remains to say that the bodies of the harvesters were viewed as +promised. They lay in a row near the Twisted Serpent, and the people +passed them tearfully; in the night they were taken away and buried. + +Sadder still, the result did not answer the Emperor's hope. The +feeling, mixed of sorrow and rage, was loudly manifested; but it was +succeeded by fear, and when the organization of companies was +attempted, the exodus was shameful. Thousands fled, leaving about one +hundred thousand behind, not to fight, but firm in the faith that +Heaven would take care of the city. + +After weeks of effort, five thousand Greeks took the arms offered them, +and were enrolled. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP + + +A man in love, though the hero of many battles, shall be afraid in the +presence of his beloved, and it shall be easier for him to challenge an +enemy than to ask her love in return. + +Count Corti's eagerness to face the lion in the gallery of the Cynegion +had established his reputation in Constantinople for courage; his +recent defence of the harvesters raised it yet higher; now his name was +on every tongue. + +His habit of going about in armor had in the first days of his coming +subjected him to criticism; for the eyes before which he passed +belonged for the most part to a generation more given to prospecting +for bezants in fields of peace than the pursuit of glory in the +ruggeder fields of war. But the custom was now accepted, and at sight +of him, mounted and in glistening armor, even the critics smiled, and +showered his head with silent good wishes, or if they spoke it was to +say to each other: "Oh, that the Blessed Mother would send us more like +him!" And the Count knew he had the general favor. We somehow learn +such things without their being told us. + +Up in the empyrean courtly circles his relations were quite as +gratifying. The Emperor made no concealment of his partiality, and +again insisted on bringing him to Blacherne. + +"Your Majesty," the Count said one day, "I have no further need of my +galley and its crew. I beg you to do with them as you think best." + +Constantine received the offer gratefully. + +"The galley is a godsend. I will order payment for it. Duke Notaras, +the Grand Admiral, will agree with you about the price." + +"If Your Majesty will permit me to have my way," the Count rejoined, +"you will order the vessel into the harbor with the fleet, and if the +result of the war is with Your Majesty, the Grand Admiral can arrange +for the payment; if otherwise"--he smiled at the alternative--"I think +neither Your Majesty nor myself will have occasion for a ship." + +The galley was transferred from the Bay of Julian to anchorage in the +Golden Horn. That night, speaking of the tender, the Emperor said to +Phranza: "Count Corti has cast his lot with us. As I interpret him, he +does not mean to survive our defeat. See that he be charged to select a +bodyguard to accompany me in action." + +"Is he to be Captain of the guard?" + +"Yes." + +The duty brought the Count to Blacherne. In a few days he had fifty +men, including his nine Berbers. + +These circumstances made him happy. He found peace of mind also in his +release from Mahommed. Not an hour of the day passed without his +silently thanking the Sultan for his magnanimity. + +But no matter for rejoicing came to him like the privilege of freely +attending the Princess Irene. + +Not only was her reception-room open to him; whether she went to +Blacherne or Sancta Sophia, he appeared in her train. Often when the +hour of prayer arrived, she invited him as one of her household to +accompany her to the apartment she had set apart for chapel exercises; +and at such times he strove to be devout, but in taking her for his +pattern of conduct--as yet he hardly knew when to arise or kneel, or +cross himself--if his thoughts wandered from the Madonna and Child to +her, if sometimes he fell to making comparisons in which the Madonna +suffered as lacking beauty--nay, if not infrequently he caught himself +worshipping the living woman at the foot of the altar rather than the +divinity above it, few there were who would have been in haste to +condemn him even in that day. There is nothing modern in the world's +love of a lover. + +By the treaty with Mahommed he was free to tell the Princess of his +passion; and there were moments in which it seemed he must cast himself +at her feet and speak; but then he would be seized with a trembling, +his tongue would unaccountably refuse its office, and he would quiet +himself with the weakling's plea--another time--to-morrow, to-morrow. +And always upon the passing of the opportunity, the impulse being laid +with so many of its predecessors in the graveyard of broken +resolutions--every swain afraid keeps such a graveyard--always he +sallied from her door eager for an enemy on whom to vent his vexation. +"Ah," he would say, with prolonged emphasis upon the exclamation--"if +Mahommed were only at the gate! Is he never coming?" + +One day he dismounted at the Princess' door, and was ushered into the +reception-room by Lysander. "I bring you good news," he said, in course +of the conversation. + +"What now?" she asked. + +"Every sword counts. I am just from the Port of Blacherne, whither I +accompanied the Grand Equerry to assist in receiving one John Grant, +who has arrived with a following of Free Lances, mostly my own +countrymen." + +"Who is John Grant?" + +"A German old in Eastern service; more particularly an expert in making +and throwing hollow iron balls filled with inflammable liquid. On +striking, the balls burst, after which the fire is unquenchable with +water." + +"Oh! our Greek fire rediscovered!" + +"So he declares. His Majesty has ordered him the materials he asks, and +that he go to work to-morrow getting a store of his missiles ready. The +man declares also, if His Holiness would only proclaim a crusade +against the Turks. Constantinople has not space on her walls to hold +the volunteers who would hasten to her defence. He says Genoa, Venice, +all Italy, is aroused and waiting." + +"John Grant is welcome," the Princess returned; "the more so that His +Holiness is slow." + +Afterward, about the first of December, the Count again dismounted at +her door with news. + +"What is it now?" she inquired. + +"Noble Princess, His Holiness has been heard from." + +"At last?" + +"A Legate will arrive to-morrow." + +"Only a Legate! What is his name?" + +"Isidore, Grand Metropolitan of Russia." + +"Brings he a following?" + +"No soldiers; only a suite of priests high and low." + +"I see. He comes to negotiate. Alas!" + +"Why alas?" + +"Oh, the factions, the factions!" she exclaimed, disconsolately; then, +seeing the Count still in wonder, she added: "Know you not that +Isidore, familiarly called the Cardinal, was appointed Metropolitan of +the Russian Greek Church by the Pope, and, rejected by it, was driven +to refuge in Poland? What welcome can we suppose he will receive here?" + +"Is he not a Greek?" + +"Yes, truly; but being a Latin Churchman, the Brotherhoods hold him an +apostate. His first demand will be to celebrate mass in Sancta Sophia. +If the world were about shaking itself to pieces, the commotion would +be but little greater than the breaking of things we will then hear. +Oh, it is an ill wind which blows him to our gates!" Meantime the +Hippodrome had been converted into a Campus Martius, where at all hours +of the day the newly enlisted men were being drilled in the arms to +which they were assigned; now as archers, now as slingers; now with +balistas and catapults and arquebuses; now to the small artillery +especially constructed for service on the walls. And as trade was at an +end in the city, as in fact martial preparation occupied attention to +the exclusion of business in the commercial sense, the ancient site was +a centre of resort. Thither the Count hastened to work off the +disheartenment into which the comments of the Princess had thrown him. + +That same week, however, he and the loyal population of Constantinople +in general, were cheered by a coming of real importance. Early one +morning some vessels of war hove in sight down the Marmora. Their flags +proclaimed them Christian. Simultaneously the lookouts at Point +Demetrius reported a number of Turkish galleys plying to and fro up the +Bosphorus. It was concluded that a naval battle was imminent. The walls +in the vicinity of the Point were speedily crowded with spectators. In +fact, the anxiety was great enough to draw the Emperor from his High +Residence. Not doubting the galleys were bringing him stores, possibly +reinforcements, he directed his small fleet in the Golden Horn to be +ready to go to their assistance. His conjecture was right; yet more +happily the Turks made no attempt upon them. Turning into the harbor, +the strangers ran up the flags of Venice and Genoa, and never did they +appear so beautiful, seen by Byzantines--never were they more welcome. +The decks were crowded with helmed men who responded vigorously to the +cheering with which they were saluted. + +Constantine in person received the newcomers at the Port of Blacherne. +From the wall over the gate the Princess Irene, with an escort of noble +ladies, witnessed the landing. + +A knight of excellent presence stepped from a boat, and announced +himself. + +"I am John Justiniani of Genoa," he said, "come with two thousand +companions in arms to the succor of the most Christian Emperor +Constantine. Guide me to him, I pray." + +"The Emperor is here--I am he." + +Justiniani kissed the hand extended to him, and returned with fervor: + +"Christ and the Mother be praised! Much have I been disquieted lest we +should be too late. Your Majesty, command me." + +"Duke Notaras," said the Emperor, "assist this noble gentleman and his +companions. When they are disembarked, conduct them to me. For the +present I will lodge them in my residence." Then he addressed the +Genoese: "Duke Notaras, High Admiral of the Empire, will answer your +every demand. In God's name, and for the imperilled religion of our +Redeeming Lord, I bid you welcome." + +It seemed the waving of scarfs and white hands on the wall, and the +noisy salutations of the people present, were not agreeable to the +Duke; although coldly polite, he impressed Justiniani as an ill second +to the stately but courteous Emperor. + +At night there was an audience in the Very High Residence, and +Justiniani assisted Phranza in the presentation of his companions; and +though the banquet which shortly succeeded the audience may not, in the +courses served or in its table splendors, have vied with those Alexis +resorted to for the dazzlement of the chiefs of the first crusade, it +was not entirely wanting in such particulars; for it has often +happened, if the chronicles may be trusted, that the expiring light of +great countries has lingered longest in their festive halls, just as +old families have been known to nurture their pride in sparkling +heirlooms, all else having been swept away. The failings on this +occasion, if any there were, Constantine more than amended by his +engaging demeanor. Soldier not less than Emperor, he knew to win the +sympathy and devotion of soldiers. Of his foreign guests that evening +many afterwards died hardly distinguishing between him and the Holy +Cause which led them to their fate. + +The table was long, and without head or foot. On one side, in the +middle, the Emperor presided; opposite him sat the Princess Irene; and +on their right and left, in gallant interspersion, other ladies, the +wives and daughters of senators, nobles, and officials of the court, +helped charm the Western chivalry. + +And of the guests, the names of a few have been preserved by history, +together with the commands to which they were assigned in the siege. + +There was Andrew Dinia, under Duke Notaras, a captain of galleys. + +There was the Venetian Contarino, intrusted with the defence of the +Golden Grate. + +There was Maurice Cataneo, a soldier of Genoa, commandant of the walls +on the landward side between the Golden Gate and the Gate Selimbria. + +There were two brothers, gentlemen of Genoa, + +Paul Bochiardi and Antonin Troilus Bochiardi, defendants of the +Adrianople Gate. + +There was Jerome Minotte, Bayle of Venice, charged with safe keeping +the walls between the Adrianople Gate and the Cerco Portas. + +There was the artillerist, German John Grant, who, with Theodore +Carystos, made sure of the Gate Charsias. + +There was Leonardo de Langasco, another Genoese, keeper of the Wood +Gate. + +There was Gabriel Travisan; with four hundred other Venetians, he +maintained the stretch of wall on the harbor front between Point +Demetrius and the Port St. Peter. + +There was Pedro Guiliani, the Spanish Consul, assigned to the +guardianship of the wall on the sea side from Point Demetrius to the +Port of Julian. + +There also was stout Nicholas Gudelli; with the Emperor's brother, he +commanded the force in reserve. + +Now these, or the major part of them, may have been Free Lances; yet +they did not await the motion of Nicholas, the dilatory Pope, and were +faithful, and to-day exemplify the saying: + + "That men may rise on stepping-stones + Of their dead selves to higher things." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR + + +"Gracious Princess, the Italian, Count Corti, is at the door. He prays +you to hear a request from him." + +"Return, Lysander, and bring the Count." + +It was early morning, with February in its last days. + +The visitor's iron shoes clanked sharply on the marble floor of the +reception room, and the absence of everything like ornament in his +equipment bespoke preparation for immediate hard service. + +"I hope the Mother is keeping you well," she said, presenting her hand +to him. + +With a fervor somewhat more marked than common, he kissed the white +offering, and awaited her bidding. + +"My attendants are gone to the chapel, but I will hear you--or will you +lend us your presence at the service, and have the audience afterwards?" + +"I am in armor, and my steed is at the door, and my men biding at the +Adrianople Gate; wherefore, fair Princess, if it be your pleasure, I +will present my petition now." + +In grave mistrust, she returned: + +"God help us, Count! I doubt you have something ill to relate. Since +the good Gregory fled into exile to escape his persecutors, but more +especially since Cardinal Isidore attempted Latin mass in Sancta +Sophia, and the madman Gennadius so frightened the people with his +senseless anathemas, [Footnote: The scene here alluded to by the +Princess Irene is doubtless the one so vividly described by Gibbon as +having taken place in Sancta Sophia, the 12th of December, 1452, being +the mass celebrated by Cardinal Isidore in an attempt to reconcile the +Latin and Greek factions. + +Enumerating the consequences of the same futile effort at compromise, +Von Hammer says: "Instead of uniting for the common defence, the Greeks +and Latins fled, leaving the churches empty; the priests refused the +sacrament to the dying who were not of their faith; the monks and nuns +repudiated confessors who acknowledged the _henoticon_ (decree +ordaining the reunion of the two churches); a spirit of frenzy took +possession of the convents; one _religieuse_, to the great scandal of +all the faithful, adopted the faith and costume of the Mussulmans, +eating meat and adoring the Prophet. Thus Lent passed." (Vol. II., p. +397.) + +To the same effect we read in the Universal History of the Catholic +Church (Vol. XXII., p. 103): "The religious who affected to surpass +others in sanctity of life and purity of faith, following the advice of +Gennadius and their spiritual advisers, as well as that of the +preachers and laity of their party, condemned the decree of union, and +anathematized those who approved or might approve it. The common +people, sallying from the monasteries, betook themselves to the +taverns; there flourishing glasses of wine, they reviled all who had +consented to the union, and drinking in honor of an image of the Mother +of God, prayed her to protect and defend the city against Mahomet, as +she had formerly defended it against Chosroes and the Kagan. We will +have nothing to do with assistance from the Latins or a union with +them. Far from us be the worship of the _azymites_."] I have been beset +with forebodings until I startle at my own thoughts. It were gentle, +did you go to your request at once." + +She permitted him to lead her to an armless chair, and, standing before +her, he spoke with decision: + +"Princess Irene, now that you have resolved finally to remain in the +city, and abide the issue of the siege, rightly judging it an affair +determinable by God, it is but saying the truth as I see it, that no +one is more interested in what betides us from day to day than you; for +if Heaven frowns upon our efforts at defence, and there comes an +assault, and we are taken, the Conqueror, by a cruel law of war, has at +disposal the property both public and private he gains, and every +living thing as well. We who fight may die the death he pleases; +you--alas, most noble and virtuous lady, my tongue refuses the words +that rise to it for utterance!" + +The rose tints in her cheeks faded, yet she answered: "I know what you +would say, and confess it has appalled me. Sometimes it tempts me to +fly while yet I can; then I remember I am a Palaeologus. I remember +also my kinsman the Emperor is to be sustained in the trial confronting +him. I remember too the other women, high and low, who will stay and +share the fortunes of their fighting husbands and brothers. If I have +less at stake than they, Count Corti, the demands of honor are more +rigorous upon me." + +The count's eyes glowed with admiration, but next moment the light in +them went out. + +"Noble lady," he began, "I hope it will not be judged too great a +familiarity to say I have some days been troubled on your account. I +have feared you might be too confident of our ability to beat the +enemy. It seems my duty to warn you of the real outlook that you may +permit us to provide for your safety while opportunities favor." + +"For my flight, Count Corti?" + +"Nay, Princess Irene, your retirement from the city." + +She smiled at the distinction he made, but replied: + +"I will hear you, Count." + +"It is for you to consider, O Princess--if reports of the Sultan's +preparation are true--this assault in one feature at least will be +unparalleled. The great guns for which he has been delaying are said to +be larger than ever before used against walls. They may destroy our +defences at once; they may command all the space within those defences; +they may search every hiding-place; the uncertainties they bring with +them are not to be disregarded by the bravest soldier, much less the +unresisting classes.... In the next place, I think it warrantable from +the mass of rumors which has filled the month to believe the city will +be assailed by a force much greater than was ever drawn together under +her walls. Suffer me to refer to them, O Princess... The Sultan is yet +at Adrianople assembling his army. Large bodies of footmen are crossing +the Hellespont at Gallipolis and the Bosphorus at Hissar; in the region +of Adrianople the country is covered with hordes of horsemen speaking +all known tongues and armed with every known weapon--Cossacks from the +north, Arabs from the south, Koords and Tartars from the east, +Roumanians and Slavs from beyond the Balkans. The roads from the +northwest are lined with trains bringing supplies and siege-machinery. +The cities along the shores of the Black Sea have yielded to Mahommed; +those which defied him are in ruins. An army is devastating Morea. The +brother whom His Majesty the Emperor installed ruler there is dead or a +wanderer, no man can say in what parts. Assistance cannot be expected +from him. Above us, far as the sea, the bays are crowded with ships of +all classes; four hundred hostile sail have been counted from the +hill-tops. And now that there is no longer a hope of further aid from +the Christians of Europe, the effect of the news upon our garrison is +dispiriting. Our garrison! Alas, Princess, with the foreigners come to +our aid, it is not sufficient to man the walls on the landward side +alone." + +"The picture is gloomy, Count, but if you have drawn it to shake my +purpose, it is not enough. I have put myself in the hands of the +Blessed Mother. I shall stay, and be done with as God orders." + +Again the Count's face glowed with admiration. + +"I thought as much, O Princess," he said warmly; "yet it seemed to me a +duty to advise you of the odds against us; and now, the duty done, I +pray you hear me as graciously upon another matter.... Last night, +seeing the need of information of the enemy, I besought His Majesty to +allow me to ride toward Adrianople. He consented, and I set out +immediately; but before going, before bidding you adieu, noble Princess +and dear lady, I have a prayer to offer you." + +He hesitated; then plucking courage from the embarrassment of silence, +went on: + +"Dear lady, your resolution to stay and face the dangers of the siege +and assault fills me with alarm for your safety." + +He cast himself upon his knees, and stretched his hands to her. + +"Give me permission to protect you. I devote my sword to you, and the +skill of my hands--my life, my soul. Let me be your knight." + +She arose, but he continued: + +"Some day, deeds done for your country and religion may give me courage +to speak more boldly of what I feel and hope; but now I dare go no +further than ask what you have just heard. Let me be your protector and +knight through the perils of the siege at least." + +The Princess was pleased with the turn his speech had taken. She +thought rapidly. A knight in battle, foremost in the press, her name a +conquering cry on his lips were but the constituents of a right womanly +ambition. She answered: + +"Count Corti, I accept thy offer." + +Taking the hand she extended, he kissed it reverently, and said: + +"I am happy above other men. Now, O Princess, give me a favor--a glove, +a scarf--something I may wear, to prove me thy knight." + +She took from her neck a net of knitted silk, pinkish in hue, and large +enough for a kerchief or waist sash. + +"If I go about this gift," she said, her face deeply suffused, "in a +way to provoke a smile hereafter; if in placing it around thy neck with +my own hands"--with the words, she bent over him, and dropped the net +outside the hood so the ends hung loosely down his breast--"I overstep +any rule of modesty, I pray you will not misunderstand me. I am +thinking of my country, my kinsman, of religion and God, and the +service even unto noble deeds thou mayst do them. Rise, Count Corti. In +the ride before thee now, in the perils to come, thou shalt have my +prayers." + +The Count arose, but afraid to trust himself in further speech, he +carried her hand to his lips again, and with a simple farewell, hurried +out, and mounting his horse rode at speed for the Adrianople Gate. + +Four days after, he reentered the gate, bringing a prisoner, and +passing straight to the Very High Residence, made report to the +Emperor, Justiniani and Duke Notaras in council. + +"I have been greatly concerned for you, Count," said Constantine; "and +not merely because a good sword can be poorly spared just now." + +The imperial pleasure was unfeigned. + +"Your Majesty's grace is full reward for my performance," the Count +replied, and rising from the salutation, he began his recital. + +"Stay," said the Emperor, "I will have a seat brought that you may be +at ease." + +Corti declined: "The Arabs have a saying, Your Majesty--'A nest for a +setting bird, a saddle for a warrior.' The jaunt has but rested me, and +there was barely enough danger in it.... The Turk is an old +acquaintance. I have lived with him, and been his guest in house and +tent, and as a comrade tempted Providence at his side under countless +conditions, until I know his speech and usages, himself scarcely +better. My African Berbers are all Mohammedans who have performed the +Pilgrimage. One of them is a muezzin by profession; and if he can but +catch sight of the sun, he will never miss the five hours of prayer. +None of them requires telling the direction to Mecca.... I issued from +Your Majesty's great gate about the third hour, and taking the road to +Adrianople, journeyed till near midday before meeting a human being. +There were farms and farmhouses on my right and left, and the fields +had been planted in good season; but the growing grain was wasted; and +when I sought the houses to have speech with their tenants they were +forsaken. Twice we were driven off by the stench of bodies rotting +before the doors." + +"Greeks?" + +"Greeks, Your Majesty.... There were wild hogs in the thickets which +fled at sight of us, and vultures devouring the corpses." + +"Were there no other animals, no horses or oxen?" asked Justiniani. + +"None, noble Genoese--none seen by us, and the swine were spared, I +apprehend, because their meat is prohibited to the children of +Islam.... At length Hadifah, whom I have raised to be a Sheik--Your +Majesty permitting--and whose eyes discover the small things with which +space is crowded as he were a falcon making circles up near the +sun--Hadifah saw a man in the reeds hiding; and we pursued the wretch, +and caught him, and he too was a Greek; and when his fright allowed him +to talk, he told us a band of strange people, the like of whom he had +never seen, attacked his hut, burned it, carried off his goats and she +buffaloes; and since that hour, five weeks gone, he had been hunting +for his wife and three girl-children. God be merciful to them! Of the +Turks he could tell nothing except that now, everything of value gone, +they too had disappeared. I gave the poor man a measure of oaten cakes, +and left him to his misery. God be merciful to him also!" + +"Did you not advise him to come to me?" + +"Your Majesty, he was a husband and father seeking his family; with all +humility, what else is there for him to do?" + +"I give your judgment credit, Count. There is nothing else." + +"I rode on till night, meeting nobody, friend or foe--on through a wide +district, lately inhabited, now a wilderness. The creatures of the +Sultan had passed through it, and there was fire in their breath. We +discovered a dried-up stream, and by sinking in its bed obtained water +for our horses. There, in a hollow, we spent the night.... Next +morning, after an hour's ride, we met a train of carts drawn by oxen. +The groaning and creaking of the distraught wheels warned me of the +encounter before the advance guard of mounted men, quite a thousand +strong, were in view. I did not draw rein"-- + +"What!" cried Justiniani, astonished. "With but a company of nine?" + +The Count smiled. + +"I crave your pardon, gallant Captain. In my camp the night before, I +prepared my Berbers for the meeting." + +"By the bones of the saints, Count Corti, thou dost confuse me the +more! With such odds against thee, what preparations were at thy +command?" + +"'There was never amulet like a grain of wit in a purse under thy cap.' +Good Captain, the saying is not worse of having proceeded from a +Persian. I told my followers we were likely at any moment to be +overtaken by a force too strong for us to fight; but instead of running +away, we must meet them heartily, as friends enlisted in the same +cause; and if they asked whence we were, we must be sure of agreement +in our reply. I was to be a Turk; they, Egyptians from west of the +Nile. We had come in by the new fortress opposite the White Castle, and +were going to the mighty Lord Mahommed in Adrianople. Beyond that, I +bade them be silent, leaving the entertainment of words to me." + +The Emperor and Justiniani laughed, but Notaras asked: "If thy Berbers +are Mohammedans, as thou sayest, Count Corti, how canst thou rely on +them against Mohammedans?" + +"My Lord the High Admiral may not have heard of the law by which, if +one Arab kills another, the relatives of the dead man are bound to kill +him, unless there be composition. So I had merely to remind Hadifah and +his companions of the Turks we slew in the field near Basch-Kegan." + +Corti continued: "After parley with the captain of the advance guard, I +was allowed to ride on; and coming to the train, I found the carts +freighted with military engines and tools for digging trenches and +fortifying camps. There were hundreds of them, and the drivers were a +multitude. Indeed, Your Majesty, from head to foot the caravan was +miles in reach, its flanks well guarded by groups of horsemen at +convenient intervals." + +This statement excited the three counsellors. + +"After passing the train," the Count was at length permitted to resume, +"my way was through bodies of troops continuously--all irregulars. It +must have been about three o'clock in the afternoon when I came upon +the most surprising sight. Much I doubt if ever the noble Captain +Justiniani, with all his experience, can recall anything like it. + +"First there was a great company of pioneers with tools for grading the +hills and levelling the road; then on a four-wheeled carriage two men +stood beating a drum; their sticks looked like the enlarged end of a +galley oar. The drum responded to their blows in rumbles like dull +thunder from distant clouds. While I sat wondering why they beat it, +there came up next sixty oxen yoked in pairs. Your Majesty can in fancy +measure the space they covered. On the right and left of each yoke +strode drivers with sharpened goads, and their yelling harmonized +curiously with the thunder of the drum. The straining of the brutes was +pitiful to behold. And while I wondered yet more, a log of bronze was +drawn toward me big at one end as the trunk of a great plane tree, and +so long that thirty carts chained together as one wagon, were required +to support it laid lengthwise; and to steady the piece on its rolling +bed, two hundred and fifty stout laborers kept pace with it +unremittingly watchful. The movement was tedious, but at last I saw"-- + +"A cannon!" exclaimed the Genoese. + +"Yes, noble Captain, the gun said to be the largest ever cast." + +"Didst thou see any of the balls?" + +"Other carts followed directly loaded with gray limestones chiselled +round; and to my inquiry what the stones were for, I was told they were +bullets twelve spans in circumference, and that the charge of powder +used would cast them a mile." + +The inquisitors gazed at each other mutely, and their thoughts may be +gathered from the action of the Emperor. He touched a bell on a table, +and to Phranza, who answered the call, he said: "Lord Chamberlain, have +two men well skilled in the construction of walls report to me in the +morning. There is work for them which they must set about at once. I +will furnish the money." [Footnote: Before the siege by the Turks, two +monks, Manuel Giagari and Neophytus of Rhodes, were charged with +repairing the walls, but they buried the sums intrusted to them for +these works; and in the pillage of the city seventy thousand pieces of +gold thus advanced by the Emperor were unearthed.--VON HAMMER, Vol. +II., p. 417.] + +"I have but little more of importance to engage Your Majesty's +attention.... Behind the monster cannon, two others somewhat smaller +were brought up in the same careful manner. I counted seventeen pieces +all brass, the least of them exceeding in workmanship and power the +best in the Hippodrome." + +"Were there more?" Justiniani asked. + +"Many more, brave Captain, but ancient, and unworthy mention.... The +day was done when, by sharp riding, I gained the rear of the train. At +sunrise on the third day, I set out in return.... I have a prisoner +whom this august council may examine with profit. He will, at least, +confirm my report." + +"Who is he?" + +"The captain of the advance guard." + +"How came you by him?" + +"Your Majesty, I induced him to ride a little way with me, and at a +convenient time gave his bridle rein to Hadifah. In his boyhood the +Sheik was trained to leading camels, and he assures me it is much +easier to lead a horse." + +The sally served to lighten the sombre character of the Count's report, +and in the midst of the merriment, he was dismissed. The prisoner was +then brought in, and put to question; next day the final preparation +for the reception of Mahommed was begun. + +With a care equal to the importance of the business, Constantine +divided the walls into sections, beginning on the landward side of the +Golden Gate or Seven Towers, and ending at the Cynegion. Of the harbor +front he made one division, with the Grand Gate of Blacherne and the +Acropolis or Point Serail for termini; from Point Serail to the Seven +Towers he stationed patrols and lookouts, thinking the sea and rocks +sufficient to discourage assault in that quarter. + +His next care was the designation of commandants of the several +divisions. The individuals thus honored have been already mentioned; +though it may be well to add how the Papal Legate, Cardinal Isidore, +doffing his frock and donning armor, voluntarily accepted chief +direction along the harbor--an example of martial gallantry which ought +to have shamed the lukewarm Greeks morosely skulking in their cells. + +Shrewdly anticipating a concentration of effort against the Gate St. +Romain, and its two auxiliary towers, Bagdad and St. Romain, the former +on the right hand and the latter on the left, he assigned Justiniani to +its defence. + +Upon the walls, and in the towers numerously garnishing them, the +gallant Emperor next brought up his guns and machines, with profuse +supplies of missiles. + +Then, after flooding the immense ditch, he held a review in the +Hippodrome, whence the several detachments marched to their stations. + +Riding with his captains, and viewing the walls, now gay with banners +and warlike tricking, Constantine took heart, and told how Amurath, the +peerless warrior, had dashed his Janissaries against them, and rued the +day. + +"Is this boy Mahommed greater than his father?" he asked. + +"God knows," Isidore responded, crossing himself breast and forehead. + +And well content, the cavalcade repassed the ponderous Gate St. Romain. +All that could be done had been done. There was nothing more but to +wait. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN + + +In the city April seemed to have borrowed from the delays of Mahommed; +never month so slow in coming. At last, however, its first day, dulled +by a sky all clouds, and with winds from the Balkans. + +The inertness of the young Sultan was not from want of will or zeal. It +took two months to drag his guns from Adrianople; but with them the +army moved, and as it moved it took possession, or rather covered the +land. At length, he too arrived, bringing, as it were, the month with +him; and then he lost no more time. + +About five miles from the walls on the south or landward side, he drew +his hordes together in the likeness of a line of battle, and at a +trumpet call they advanced in three bodies simultaneously. So a tidal +wave, far extending, broken, noisy, terrible, rises out of the deep, +and rolls upon a shore of stony cliffs. + +Near ten o'clock in the forenoon of the sixth of April the Emperor +mounted the roof of the tower of St. Romain, mentioned as at the left +of the gate bearing the same name. There were with him Justiniani, the +Cardinal Isidore, John Grant, Phranza, Theophilus Palaeologus, Duke +Notaras, and a number of inferior persons native and foreign. He had +come to see all there was to be seen of the Turks going into position. + +The day was spring-like, with just enough breeze to blow the mists away. + +The reader must think of the roof as an immense platform accessible by +means of a wooden stairway in the interior of the tower, and +battlemented on the four sides, the merlons of stone in massive blocks, +and of a height to protect a tall man, the embrasures requiring +banquettes to make them serviceable. In arrangement somewhat like a +ship's battery, there are stoutly framed arbalists and mangonels on the +platform, and behind them, with convenient spaces between, arquebuses +on tripods, cumbrous catapults, and small cannon on high axles ready +for wheeling into position between the merlons. Near each machine its +munitions lie in order. Leaning against the walls there are also +spears, javelins, and long and cross bows; while over the corner next +the gate floats an imperial standard, its white field emblazoned with +the immemorial Greek cross in gold. The defenders of the tower are +present; and as they are mostly Byzantines, their attitudes betray much +more than cold military respect, for they are receiving the Emperor, +whom they have been taught to regard worshipfully. + +They study him, and take not a little pride in observing that, clad in +steel cap-a-pie, he in no wise suffers by comparison with the best of +his attendants, not excepting Justiniani, the renowned Genoese captain. +Not more to see than be seen, the visor of his helmet is raised; and +stealing furtive glances at his countenance, noble by nature, but just +now more than ordinarily inspiring, they are better and stronger for +what they read in it. + +On the right and left the nearest towers obstruct the view of the walls +in prolongation; but southward the country spreads before the party a +campania rolling and fertile, dotted with trees scattered and in thin +groves, and here and there an abandoned house. The tender green of +vegetation upon the slopes reminds those long familiar with them that +grass is already invading what were lately gardens and cultivated +fields. Constantine makes the survey in silence, for he knows how soon +even the grass must disappear. Just beyond the flooded ditch at the +foot of the first or outward wall is a road, and next beyond the road a +cemetery crowded with tombs and tombstones, and brown and white +mausolean edifices; indeed, the chronicles run not back to a time when +that marginal space was unallotted to the dead. From the far skyline +the eyes of the fated Emperor drop to the cemetery, and linger there. + +Presently one of his suite calls out: "Hark! What sound is that?" + +They all give attention. + +"It is thunder." + +"No--thunder rolls. This is a beat." + +Constantine and Justiniani remembered Count Corti's description of the +great drum hauled before the artillery train of the Turks, and the +former said calmly: + +"They are coming." + +Almost as he spoke the sunlight mildly tinting the land in the farness +seemed to be troubled, and on the tops of the remote hillocks there +appeared to be giants rolling them up, as children roll snow-balls--and +the movement was toward the city. + +The drum ceased not its beating or coming. Justiniani by virtue of his +greater experience, was at length able to say: + +"Your Majesty, it is here in front of us; and as this Gate St. Romain +marks the centre of your defences, so that drum marks the centre of an +advancing line, and regulates the movement from wing to wing." + +"It must be so, Captain; for see--there to the left--those are bodies +of men." + +"And now, Your Majesty, I hear trumpets." + +A little later some one cried out: + +"Now I hear shouting." + +And another: "I see gleams of metal." + +Ere long footmen and horsemen were in view, and the Byzantines, brought +to the wall by thousands, gazed and listened in nervous wonder; for +look where they might over the campania, they saw the enemy closing in +upon them, and heard his shouting, and the neighing of horses, the +blaring of horns, and the palpitant beating of drums. + +"By our Lady of Blacherne," said the Emperor, after a long study of the +spectacle, "it is a great multitude, reaching to the sea here on our +left, and, from the noise, to the Golden Horn on our right; none the +less I am disappointed. I imagined much splendor of harness and shields +and banners, but see only blackness and dust. I cannot make out amongst +them one Sultanic flag. Tell me, most worthy John Grant--it being +reported that thou hast great experience combating with and against +these hordes--tell me if this poverty of appearance is usual with them." + +The sturdy German, in a jargon difficult to follow, answered: "These at +our left are the scum of Asia. They are here because they have nothing; +their hope is to better their condition, to return rich, to exchange +ragged turbans for crowns, and goatskin jackets for robes of silk. +Look, Your Majesty, the tombs in front of us are well kept; to-morrow +if there be one left standing, it will have been rifled. Of the lately +buried there will not be a ring on a finger or a coin under a tongue. +Oh, yes, the ghouls will look better next week! Only give them time to +convert the clothes they will strip from the dead into fresh turbans. +But when the Janissaries come Your Majesty will not be disappointed. +See--their advance guard now--there on the rising ground in front of +the gate." + +There was a swell of ground to the right of the gate rather than in +front of it, and as the party looked thither, a company of horsemen +were seen riding slowly but in excellent order, and the sheen of their +arms and armor silvered the air about them. Immediately other companies +deployed on the right and left of the first one; then the thunderous +drum ceased; whereat, from the hordes out on the campania, brought to a +sudden standstill, detachments dashed forward at full speed, and +dismounting, began digging a trench. + +"Be this Sultan like or unlike his father, he is a soldier. He means to +cover his army, and at the same time enclose us from sea to harbor. +To-morrow, my Lord, only high-flying hawks can communicate with us from +the outside." + +This, from Justiniani to the Emperor, was scarcely noticed, for behind +the deploying Janissaries, there arose an outburst of music in deep +volume, the combination of clarions and cymbals so delightful to +warriors of the East; at the same instant a yellow flag was displayed. +Then old John Grant exclaimed: + +"The colors of the _Silihdars!_ Mahommed is not far away. Nay, Your +Majesty, look--the Sultan himself!" + +Through an interval of the guard, a man in chain mail shooting golden +sparkles, helmed, and with spear in hand and shield at his back, +trotted forth, his steed covered with flowing cloths. Behind him +appeared a suite mixed of soldiers and civilians, the former in warlike +panoply, the latter in robes and enormous turbans. Down the slope the +foremost rider led as if to knock at the gate. On the tower the cannon +were loaded, and run into the embrasures. + +"Mahommed, saidst thou, John Grant?" + +"Mahommed, Your Majesty." + +"Then I call him rash; but as we are not ashamed of our gates and +walls, let him have his look in peace.... Hear you, men, let him look, +and go in peace." + +The repetition was in restraint of the eager gunners. + +Further remark was cut short by a trumpet sounded at the foot of the +tower. An officer peered over the wall, and reported: "Your Majesty, a +knight just issued from the gate is riding forth. I take him to be the +Italian, Count Corti." + +Constantine became a spectator of what ensued. + +Ordinarily the roadway from the country was carried over the deep moat +in front of the Gate St. Romain by a floor of stout timbers well +balustraded at the sides, and resting on brick piers. Of the bridge +nothing now remained but a few loose planks side by side ready to be +hastily snatched from their places. To pass them afoot was a venture; +yet Count Corti, when the Emperor looked at him from the height, was +making the crossing mounted, and blowing a trumpet as he went. + +"Is the man mad?" asked the Emperor, in deep concern. + +"Mad? No, he is challenging the Mahounds to single combat; and, my +lords and gentlemen, if he be skilful as he is bold, then, by the Three +Kings of Cologne, we will see some pretty work in pattern for the rest +of us." + +Thus Grant replied. + +Corti made the passage safely, and in the road beyond the moat halted, +and drove the staff of his banderole firmly in the ground. A broad +opening through the cemetery permitted him to see and be seen by the +Turks, scarcely a hundred yards away. Standing in his stirrups, he +sounded the trumpet again--a clear call ringing with defiance. + +Mahommed gave over studying the tower and deep-sunken gate, and +presently beckoned to his suite. + +"What is the device on yon pennon?" he asked. + +"A moon with a cross on its face." + +"Say you so?" + +Twice the defiance was repeated, and so long the young Sultan, sat +still, his countenance unusually grave. He recognized the Count; only +he thought of him by the dearer Oriental name, Mirza. He knew also how +much more than common ambition there was in the blatant challenge--that +it was a reminder of the treaty between them, and, truly interpreted, +said, in effect: "Lo, my Lord! she is well, and for fear thou judge me +unworthy of her, send thy bravest to try me." And he hesitated--an +accident might quench the high soul. Alas, then, for the Princess Irene +in the day of final assault! Who would deliver her to him? The hordes, +and the machinery, all the mighty preparation, were, in fact, less for +conquest and glory than love. Sore the test had there been one in +authority to say to him: "She is thine, Lord Mahommed; thine, so thou +take her, and leave the city." + +A third time the challenge was delivered, and from the walls a taunting +cheer descended. Then the son of Isfendiar, recognizing the banderole, +and not yet done with chafing over his former defeat, pushed through +the throng about Mahommed, and prayed: + +"O my Lord, suffer me to punish yon braggart." + +Mahommed replied: "Thou hast felt his hand already, but go--I commend +thee to thy houris." + +He settled in his saddle smiling. The danger was not to the Count. + +The arms, armor, weapons, and horse-furniture of the Moslem were +identical with the Italian's; and it being for the challenged party to +determine with what the duel should be fought, whether with axe, sword, +lance or bow, the son of Isfendiar chose the latter, and made ready +while advancing. The Count was not slow in imitating him. + +Each held his weapon--short for saddle service--in the left hand, the +arrow in place, and the shield on the left forearm. + +No sooner had they reached the open ground in the cemetery than they +commenced moving in circles, careful to keep the enemy on the shield +side at a distance of probably twenty paces. The spectators became +silent. Besides the skill which masters in such affrays should possess, +they were looking for portents of the result. + +Three times the foemen encircled each other with shield guard so well +kept that neither saw an opening to attack; then the Turk discharged +his arrow, intending to lodge it in the shoulder of the other's horse, +the buckling attachments of the neck mail being always more or less +imperfect. The Count interposed his shield, and shouted in Osmanli: +"Out on thee, son of Isfendiar! I am thy antagonist, not my horse. Thou +shalt pay for the cowardice." + +He then narrowed the circle of his movement, and spurring full speed, +compelled the Turk to turn on a pivot so reduced it was almost a halt. +The exposure while taking a second shaft from the quiver behind the +right shoulder was dangerously increased. "Beware!" the Count cried +again, launching his arrow through the face opening of the hood. + +The son of Isfendiar might never attain his father's Pachalik. There +was not voice left him for a groan. He reeled in his saddle, clutching +the empty air, then tumbled to the earth. + +The property of the dead man, his steed, arms, and armor, were lawful +spoils; but without heeding them, the Count retired to his banderole, +and, amidst the shouts of the Greeks on the walls and towers, renewed +the challenge. A score of chiefs beset the Sultan for permission to +engage the insolent _Gabour_. + +To an Arab Sheik, loudest in importunity, he said: "What has happened +since yesterday to dissatisfy thee with life?" + +The Sheik raised a lance with a flexible shaft twenty feet in length, +made of a cane peculiar to the valley of the Jordan, and shaking it +stoutly, replied: + +"Allah, and the honor of my tribe!" + +Perceiving the man's reliance in his weapon, Mahommed returned: "How +many times didst thou pray yesterday?" + +"Five times, my Lord." + +"And to-day?" + +"Twice." + +"Go, then; but as yon champion hath not a lance to put him on equality +with thee, he will be justified in taking to the sword." + +The Sheik's steed was of the most precious strain of El-Hejaz; and +sitting high in the saddle, a turban of many folds on his head, a +striped robe drawn close to the waist, his face thin, coffee-colored, +hawk-nosed, and lightning-eyed, he looked a king of the desert. +Galloping down on the Christian, he twirled the formidable lance +dextrously, until it seemed not more than a stalk of dried papyrus. + +The Count beheld in the performance a trick of the _djerid_ he had +often practised with Mahommed. Uncertain if the man's robe covered +armor, he met him with an arrow, and seeing it fall off harmless, +tossed the bow on his back, drew sword, and put his horse in forward +movement, caracoling right and left to disturb the enemy's aim. Nothing +could be more graceful than this action. + +Suddenly the Sheik stopped playing, and balancing the lance overhead, +point to the foe, rushed with a shrill cry upon him. Corti's friends on +the tower held their breath; even the Emperor said: "It is too unequal. +God help him!" At the last moment, however--the moment of the +thrust--changing his horse to the right, the Count laid himself flat +upon its side, under cover of his shield. The thrust, only a little +less quick, passed him in the air, and before the Sheik could recover +or shorten his weapon, the trained foeman was within its sweep. In a +word, the Arab was at mercy. Riding with him side by side, hand on his +shoulder, the Count shouted: "Yield thee!" + +"Dog of a Christian, never! Do thy worst." + +The sword twirled once--a flash--then it descended, severing the lance +in front of the owner's grip. The fragment fell to the earth. + +"Now yield thee!" + +The Sheik drew rein. + +"Why dost thou not kill me?" + +"I have a message for thy master yonder, the Lord Mahommed." + +"Speak it then." + +"Tell him he is in range of the cannon on the towers, and only the +Emperor's presence there restrains the gunners. There is much need for +thee to haste." + +"Who art thou?" + +"I am an Italian knight who, though thy Lord's enemy, hath reason to +love him. Wilt thou go?" + +"I will do as thou sayest." + +"Alight, then. Thy horse is mine." + +"For ransom?" + +"No." + +The Sheik dismounted grumblingly, and was walking off when the cheering +of the Greeks stung him to the soul. + +"A chance--O Christian, another chance--to-day--to-morrow!" + +"Deliver the message; it shall be as thy Lord may then appoint. Bestir +thyself." + +The Count led the prize to the banderole, and flinging the reins over +it, faced the gleaming line of Janissaries once more, trumpet at mouth. +He saw the Sheik salute Mahommed; then the attendants closed around +them. "A courteous dog, by the Prophet!" said the Sultan. "In what +tongue did he speak?" + +"My Lord, he might have been bred under my own tent." + +The Sultan's countenance changed. + +"Was there not more of his message?" + +He was thinking of the Princess Irene. + +"Yes, my Lord." + +"Repeat it." + +"He will fight me again to-day or to-morrow, as my Lord may +appoint--and I want my horse. Without him, El-Hejaz will be a widow." + +A red spot appeared on Mahommed's forehead. + +"Begone!" he cried angrily. "Seest thou not, O fool, that when we take +the city we will recover thy horse? Fight thou shalt not, for in that +day I shall have need of thee." + +Thereupon he bade them open for him, and rode slowly back up the +eminence, and when he disappeared Corti was vainly sounding his trumpet. + +The two horses were led across the dismantled bridge, and into the gate. + +"Heaven hath sent me a good soldier," said the Emperor to the Count, +upon descending from the tower. + +Then Justiniani asked: "Why didst thou spare thy last antagonist?" + +Corti answered truthfully. + +"It was well done," the Genoese returned, offering his hand. + +"Ay," said Constantine, cordially, "well done. But mount now, and ride +with us." + +"Your Majesty, a favor first.... A man is in the road dead. Let his +body be placed on a bier, and carried to his friends." + +"A most Christian request! My Lord Chamberlain, attend to it." + +The cavalcade betook itself then to other parts, the better to see the +disposition of the Turks; and everywhere on the landward side it was +the same--troops in masses, and intrenchments in progress. Closing the +inspection at set of sun, the Emperor beheld the sea and the Bosphorus +in front of the Golden Horn covered with hundreds of sails. + +"The leaguer is perfected," said the Genoese. + +"And the issue with God," Constantine replied. "Let us to Hagia St. +Sophia." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS + + +The first sufficient gleam of light next morning revealed to the +watchmen on the towers an ominous spectacle. Through the night they had +heard a medley of noises peculiar to a multitude at work with all their +might; now, just out of range of their own guns, they beheld a +continuous rampart of fresh earth grotesquely spotted with marbles from +the cemetery. + +In no previous siege of the Byzantine capital was there reference to +such a preliminary step. To the newly enlisted, viewing for the first +time an enemy bodily present, it seemed like the world being pared down +to the smallest dimensions; while their associate veterans, to whom +they naturally turned for comfort, admitted an appreciable respect for +the Sultan. Either he had a wise adviser, they said, or he was himself +a genius. + +Noon--and still the workmen seemed inexhaustible--still the rampart +grew in height--still the hordes out on the campania multiplied, and +the horizon line west of the Gate St. Romain was lost in the increasing +smoke of a vast bivouac. + +Nightfall--and still the labor. + +About midnight, judging by the sounds, the sentinels fancied the enemy +approached nearer the walls; and they were not mistaken. With the +advent of the second morning, here and there at intervals, ill-defined +mounds of earth were seen so much in advance of the intrenched line +that, by a general order, a fire of stones and darts was opened upon +them; and straightway bodies of bowmen and slingers rushed forward, and +returned the fire, seeking to cover the mound builders. This was battle. + +Noon again--and battle. + +In the evening--battle. + +The advantage of course was with the besieged. + +The work on the mounds meanwhile continued, while the campania behind +the intrenchment was alive with a creaking of wheels burdened by +machinery, and a shouting of ox-drivers; and the veterans on the walls +said the enemy was bringing up his balistas and mangonels. + +The third morning showed the mounds finished, and crowned with +mantelets, behind which, in working order and well manned, every sort +of engine known in sieges from Alexander to the Crusaders was in +operation. Thenceforward, it is to be observed, the battle was by no +means one-sided. + +In this opening there was no heat or furore of combat; it was rather +the action of novices trying their machines, or, in modern artillery +parlance, finding the range. Many minutes often intervened between +shots, and as the preliminary object on the part of the besiegers was +to destroy the merlons sheltering the warders, did a stone strike +either wall near the top, the crash was saluted by cheers. + +Now the foreigners defending were professionals who had graduated in +all the arts of town and castle taking. These met the successes of +their antagonists with derision. "Apprentices," they would say, +"nothing but apprentices."... "See those fellows by the big springal +there turning the winch the wrong way!" ... "The turbaned sons of +Satan! Have they no eyes? I'll give them a lesson. Look!" And if the +bolt fell truly, there was loud laughter on the walls. + +The captains, moreover, were incessantly encouraging the raw men under +them. "Two walls, and a hundred feet of flooded ditch! There will be +merry Christmas in the next century before the Mahounds get to us at +the rate they are coming. Shoot leisurely, men--leisurely. An infidel +for every bolt!" + +Now on the outer wall, which was the lower of the two, and naturally +first to draw the enemy's ire, and then along the inner, the Emperor +went, indifferent to danger or fatigue, and always with words of cheer. + +"The stones under our feet are honest," he would say. "The Persian came +thinking to batter them down, but after many days he fled; and search +as we will, no man can lay a finger on the face of one of them, and +say, 'Here Chosroes left a scar.' So Amurath, sometimes called Murad, +this young man's father, wasted months, and the souls of his subjects +without count; but when he fled not a coping block had been disturbed +in its bed. What has been will be again. God is with us." + +When the three days were spent, the Greeks under arms began to be +accustomed to the usage, and make merry of it, like the veterans. + +The fourth day about noon the Emperor, returning from a round of the +walls, ascended the Bagdad tower mentioned as overlooking the Gate St. +Romain on the right hand; and finding Justiniani on the roof, he said +to him: "This fighting, if it may be so called, Captain, is without +heart. But two of our people have been killed; not a stone is shaken. +To me it seems the Sultan is amusing us while preparing something more +serious." + +"Your Majesty," the Genoese returned, soberly, "now has Heaven given +you the spirit of a soldier and the eyes as well. Old John Grant told +me within an hour that the yellow flag on the rising ground before us +denotes the Sultan's quarters in the field, and is not to be confounded +with his battle flag. It follows, I think, could we get behind the +Janissaries dismounted on the further slope of the rise, yet in +position to meet a sally, we would discover the royal tent not unwisely +pitched, if, as I surmise, this gate is indeed his point of main +attack. And besides here are none of the old-time machines as elsewhere +along our front; not a catapult, or bricole, or bible--as some, with +wicked facetiousness, have named a certain invention for casting huge +stones; nor have we yet heard the report of a cannon, or arquebus, or +bombard, although we know the enemy has them in numbers. Wherefore, +keeping in mind the circumstance of his presence here, the omissions +satisfy me the Sultan relies on his great guns, and that, while amusing +us, as Your Majesty has said, he is mounting them. To-morrow, or +perhaps next day, he will open with them, and then"-- + +"What then?" Constantine asked. + +"The world will have a new lesson in warfare." + +The Emperor's countenance, visible under his raised visor, knit hard. + +"Dear, dear God!" he said, half to himself. "If this old Christian +empire should be lost through folly of mine, who will there be to +forgive me if not Thou?" + +Then, seeing the Genoese observing him with surprise, he continued: + +"It is a simple tale, Captain.... A Dacian, calling himself Urban, +asked audience of me one day, and being admitted, said he was an +artificer of cannon; that he had plied his art in the foundries of +Germany, and from study of powder was convinced of the practicality of +applying it to guns of heavier calibre than any in use. He had +discovered a composition of metals, he said, which was his secret, and +capable, when properly cast, of an immeasurable strain. Would I furnish +him the materials, and a place, with appliances for the work such as he +would name, I might collect the machines in my arsenal, and burn them +or throw them into the sea. I might even level my walls, and in their +stead throw up ramparts of common earth, and by mounting his guns upon +them secure my capital against the combined powers of the world. He +refused to give me details of his processes. I asked him what reward he +wanted, and he set it so high I laughed. Thinking to sound him further, +I kept him in my service a few days; but becoming weary of his +importunities, I dismissed him. I next heard of him at Adrianople. The +Sultan Mahommed entertained his propositions, built him a foundry, and +tried one of his guns, with results the fame of which is a wonder to +the whole East. It was the log of bronze Count Corti saw on the +road--now it is here--and Heaven sent it to me first." + +"Your Majesty," returned the Genoese, impressed by the circumstance, +and the evident remorse of the Emperor, "Heaven does not hold us +accountable for errors of judgment. There is not a monarch in Europe +who would have accepted the man's terms, and it remains to be seen if +Mahommed, as yet but a callow youth, has not been cheated. But look +yonder!" + +As he spoke, the Janissaries in front of the gate mounted and rode +forward, probably a hundred yards, pursued by a riotous shouting and +cracking of whips. Presently a train of buffaloes, yoked and tugging +laboriously at something almost too heavy for them, appeared on the +swell of earth; and there was a driver for every yoke, and every driver +whirled a long stick with a longer lash fixed to it, and howled lustily. + +"It is the great gun," said Constantine. "They are putting it in +position." + +Justiniani spoke to the men standing by the machines: "Make ready bolt +and stone." + +The balistiers took to their wheels eagerly, and discharged a shower of +missiles at the Janissaries and ox-drivers. + +"Too short, my men--more range." + +The elevation was increased; still the bolts fell short. + +"Bring forward the guns!" shouted Justiniani. + +The guns were small bell-mouthed barrels of hooped iron, muzzle +loading, mounted on high wheels, and each shooting half a dozen balls +of lead large as walnuts. They were carefully aimed. The shot whistled +and sang viciously. + +"Higher, men!" shouted the Genoese, from a merlon. "Give the pieces +their utmost range." + +The Janissaries replied with a yell. The second volley also failed. +Then Justiniani descended from his perch. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "to stop the planting of the gun there is +nothing for us but a sally." + +"We are few, they are many," was the thoughtful reply. "One of us on +the wall is worth a score of them in the field. Their gun is an +experiment. Let them try it first." + +The Genoese replied: "Your Majesty is right." + +The Turks toiled on, backing and shifting their belabored trains, until +the monster at last threatened the city with its great black Cyclopean +eye. + +"The Dacian is not a bad engineer," said the Emperor. + +"See, he is planting other pieces." + +Thus Justiniani; for oxen in trains similar to the first one came up +tugging mightily, until by mid-afternoon on each flank of the first +monster three other glistening yellow logs lay on their carriages in a +like dubious quiet, leaving no doubt that St. Romain was to be +overwhelmed, if the new agencies answered expectations. + +If there was anxiety here, over the way there was impatience too fierce +for control. Urban, the Dacian, in superintendency of the preparation, +was naturally disposed to be careful, so much, in his view, depended on +the right placement of the guns; but Mahommed, on foot, and whip in +hand, was intolerant, and, not scrupling to mix with the workmen, urged +them vehemently, now with threats, now with promises of reward. + +"Thy beasts are snails! Give me the goad," he cried, snatching one from +a driver. Then to Urban: "Bring the powder, and a bullet, for when the +sun goes down thou shalt fire the great gun. Demur not. By the sword of +Solomon, there shall be no sleep this night in yon _Gabour_ city, least +of all in the palace they call Blacherne." + +The Dacian brought his experts together. The powder in a bag was rammed +home; with the help of a stout slab, a stone ball was next rolled into +the muzzle, then pushed nakedly down on the bag. Of a truth there was +need of measureless strength in the composition of the piece. Finally +the vent was primed, and a slow-match applied, after which Urban +reported: + +"The gun is ready, my Lord." + +"Then watch the sun, and--_Bismillah!_--at its going down, fire.... Aim +at the gate--this one before us--and if thou hit it or a tower on +either hand, I will make thee a _begler-bey_." + +The gun-planting continued. Finally the sun paused in cloudy splendor +ready to carry the day down with it. The Sultan, from his tent of many +annexes Bedouin fashion, walked to where Urban and his assistants stood +by the carriage of the larger piece. + +"Fire!" he said. + +Urban knelt before him. + +"Will my Lord please retire?" + +"Why should I retire?" + +"There is danger." + +Mahommed smiled haughtily. + +"Is the piece trained on the gate?" + +"It is; but I pray"-- + +"Now if thou wilt not have me believe thee a dog not less than an +unbeliever, rise, and do my bidding." + +The Dacian, without more ado, put the loose end of the slow-match into +a pot of live coals near by, and when it began to spit and sputter, he +cast it off. His experts fled. Only Mahommed remained with him; and no +feat of daring in battle could have won the young Padishah a name for +courage comparable to that the thousands looking on from a safe +distance now gave him. + +"Will my Lord walk with me a little aside? He can then see the ball +going." + +Mahommed accepted the suggestion. + +"Look now in a line with the gate, my Lord." + +The match was at last spent. A flash at the vent--a spreading white +cloud--a rending of the air--the rattle of wheels obedient to the +recoil of the gun--a sound thunder in volume, but with a crackle +sharper than any thunder--and we may almost say that, with a new voice, +and an additional terror, war underwent a second birth. + +Mahommed's ears endured a wrench, and for a time he heard nothing; but +he was too intent following the flight of the ball to mind whether the +report of the gun died on the heights of Galata or across the Bosphorus +at Scutari. He saw the blackened sphere pass between the towers +flanking the gate, and speed on into the city--how far, or with what +effect, he could not tell, nor did he care. + +Urban fell on his knees. + +"Mercy, my Lord, mercy!" + +"For what? That thou didst not hit the gate? Rise, man, and see if the +gun is safe." And when it was so reported, he called to Kalil, the +Vizier, now come up: "Give the man a purse, and not a lean one, for, by +Allah! he is bringing Constantinople to me." + +And despite the ringing in his ears, he went to his tent confident and +happy. On the tower meantime Constantine and the Genoese beheld the +smoke leap forth and curtain the gun, and right afterward they heard +the huge ball go tearing past them, like an invisible meteor. Their +eyes pursued the sound--where the missile fell they could not say--they +heard a crash, as if a house midway the city had been struck--then they +gazed at each other, and crossed themselves. + +"There is nothing for us now but the sally," said the Emperor. + +"Nothing," replied Justiniani. "We must disable the guns." + +"Let us go and arrange it." + +There being no indication of further firing, the two descended from the +tower. + +The plan of sortie agreed upon was not without ingenuity. The gate +under the palace of Blacherne called _Cercoporta_ was to be opened in +the night. [Footnote: In the basement of the palace of Blacherne there +was an underground exit, Cercoporta or gate of the Circus; but Isaac +Comnenus had walled it up in order to avoid the accomplishment of a +prediction which announced that the Emperor Frederick would enter +Constantinople through it.... But before the siege by Mahommed the exit +was restored, and it was through it the Turks passed into the +city.--VON HAMMER, _Hist. de l'Empire Ottoman._] Count Corti, with the +body-guard mounted, was to pass out by it, and surprise the Janissaries +defending the battery. Simultaneously Justiniani should sally by the +Gate St. Romain, cross the moat temporarily bridged for the purpose, +and, with the footmen composing the force in reserve, throw himself +upon the guns. + +The scheme was faithfully attempted. The Count, stealing out of the +ancient exit in the uncertain light preceding the dawn, gained a +position unobserved, and charged the careless Turks. By this time it +had become a general report that the net about his neck was a favor of +the Princess Irene, and his battle cry confirmed it--_For God and +Irene!_ Bursting through the half-formed opposition, he passed to the +rear of the guns, and planted his banderole at the door of Mahommed's +tent. Had his men held together, he might have returned with a royal +prisoner. + +While attention was thus wholly given the Count, Justiniani overthrew +the guns by demolishing the carriages. A better acquaintance with the +operation known to moderns as "spiking a piece," would have enabled him +to make the blow irreparable. The loss of Janissaries was severe; that +of the besieged trifling. The latter, foot and horse, returned by the +Gate St. Romain unpursued. + +Mahommed, aroused by the tumult, threw on his light armor, and rushed +out in time to hear the cry of his assailant, and pluck the banderole +from its place. At sight of the moon with the cross on its face, his +wrath was uncontrollable. The Aga in command and all his assistants +were relentlessly impaled. + +There were other sorties in course of the siege, but never another +surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN + + +Hardly had the bodies making the sortie retired within the gate when +the Janissaries on the eminence were trebly strengthened, and the +noises in that quarter, the cracking of whips, the shouting of +ox-drivers, the hammering betokened a prodigious activity. The +besieged, under delusion that the guns had been destroyed, could not +understand the enemy. Not until the second ensuing morning was the +mystery solved. The watchmen on the towers, straining to pierce the +early light, then beheld the great bronze monster remounted and gaping +at them through an embrasure, and other monsters of a like kind on +either side of it, fourteen in all, similarly mounted and defended. + +The warders on the towers, in high excitement, sent for Justiniani, and +he in turn despatched a messenger to the Emperor. Together on the +Bagdad tower the two discussed the outlook. + +"Your Majesty," said the Genoese, much chagrined, "the apostate Dacian +must be master of his art. He has restored the cannon I overthrew." + +After a time Constantine replied: "I fear we have underrated the new +Sultan. Great as a father may be, it is possible for a son to be +greater." + +Perceiving the Emperor was again repenting the dismissal of Urban, the +Captain held his peace until asked: "What shall we now do?" + +"Your Majesty," he returned, "it is apparent our sally was a failure. +We slew a number of the infidels, and put their master--may God +confound him!--to inconvenience, and nothing more. Now he is on guard, +we may not repeat our attempt. My judgment is that we let him try his +armament upon our walls. They may withstand his utmost effort." + +The patience this required was not put to a long test. There was a +sudden clamor of trumpets, and the Janissaries, taking to their +saddles, and breaking right and left into divisions, cleared the +battery front. Immediately a vast volume of smoke hid the whole ground, +followed by a series of explosions. Some balls passing over the +defences ploughed into the city; and as definitions of force, the +sounds they made in going were awful; yet they were the least of the +terrors. Both the towers were hit, and they shook as if an earthquake +were wrestling with them. The air whitened with dust and fragments of +crushed stone. The men at the machines and culverins cowered to the +floor. Constantine and the Genoese gazed at each other until the latter +bethought him, and ordered the fire returned. And it was well done, for +there is nothing which shall bring men round from fright like action. + +Then, before there could be an exchange of opinion between the high +parties on the tower, a man in half armor issued from the slowly rising +cloud, and walked leisurely forward. Instead of weapons, he carried an +armful of stakes, and something which had the appearance of a heavy +gavel. After a careful examination of the ground to the gate, he halted +and drove a stake, and from that point commenced zigzagging down the +slope, marking each angle. + +Justiniani drew nearer the Emperor, and said, in a low voice: "With new +agencies come new methods. The assault is deferred." + +"Nay, Captain, our enemy must attack; otherwise he cannot make the moat +passable." + +"That, Your Majesty, was the practice. Now he will gain the ditch by a +trench." + +"With what object?" + +"Under cover of the trench, he will fill the ditch." + +Constantine viewed the operation with increased gravity. He could see +how feasible it was to dig a covered way under fire of the guns, making +the approach and the bombardment simultaneous; and he would have +replied, but that instant a mob of laborers--so the spades and picks +they bore bespoke them--poured from the embrasure of the larger gun, +and, distributing themselves at easy working intervals along the staked +line, began throwing up the earth on the side next the city. Officers +with whips accompanied and stood over them. + +The engineer--if we may apply the modern term--was at length under fire +of the besieged; still he kept on; only when he exhausted his supply of +stakes did he retire, leaving it inferrible that the trench was to run +through the opening in the cemetery to the bridge way before the gate. + +At noon, the laborers being well sunk in the ground, the cannon again +vomited fire and smoke, and with thunderous reports launched their +heavy bullets at the towers. Again the ancient piles shook from top to +base. Some of the balistiers were thrown down. The Emperor staggered +under the shock. One ball struck a few feet below a merlon of the +Bagdad, and when the dust blew away, an ugly crack was seen in the +exposed face of the wall, extending below the roof. + +While the inspection of damages immediately ordered is in progress, we +take the liberty of transporting the reader elsewhere, that he may see +the effect of this amazing warfare on other parties of interest in the +tragedy. + +Count Corti was with his guard at the foot of the tower when the first +discharge of artillery took place. He heard the loud reports and the +blows of the shot which failed not their aim; he heard also the sound +of the bullets flying on into the city, and being of a quick +imagination, shuddered to think of the havoc they might inflict should +they fall in a thickly inhabited district. Then it came to him that the +residence of the Princess Irene must be exposed to the danger. Like a +Christian and a lover, he, sought to allay the chill he felt by signing +the cross repeatedly, and with unction, on brow and breast. The pious +performance brought no relief. His dread increased. Finally he sent a +man with a message informing the Emperor that he was gone to see what +damage the guns had done in the city. + +He had not ridden far when he was made aware of the prevalence of an +extraordinary excitement. It seemed the entire population had been +brought from their houses by the strange thunder, and the appalling +flight of meteoric bodies over their roofs. Men and women were running +about asking each other what had happened. At the corners he was +appealed to: + +"Oh, for Christ's sake, stop, and tell us if the world is coming to an +end!" Arid in pity lie answered: "Do not be so afraid, good people. It +is the Turks. They are trying to scare us by making a great noise. Go +back into your houses." + +"But the bullets which passed over us. What of them?" + +"Where did they strike?" + +"On further. God help the sufferers!" + +One cry he heard so often it made an impression upon him: + +"The _Panagia!_ Tell His Majesty, as he is a Christian, to bring the +Blessed Madonna from the Chapel." + +With each leap of his horse he was now nearing the alighting places of +the missiles, and naturally the multiplying signs of terror he +observed, together with a growing assurance that the abode of the +Princess was in the range of danger, quickened his alarm for her. The +white faces of the women he met and passed without a word reminded him +the more that she was subject to the same peril, and in thought of her +he forgot to sympathize with them. + +In Byzantium one might be near a given point yet far away; so did the +streets run up and down, and here and there, their eccentricities in +width and direction proving how much more accident and whim had to do +with them originally than art or science. Knowing this, the Count was +not sparing of his horse, and as his blood heated so did his fancy. If +the fair Princess were unhurt, it was scarcely possible she had escaped +the universal terror. He imagined her the object of tearful attention +from her attendants. Or perhaps they had run away, and left her in +keeping of the tender Madonna of Blacherne. + +At last he reached a quarter where the throng of people compelled him +to slacken his gait, then halt and dismount. It was but a few doors +from the Princess'. One house--a frame, two stories--appeared the +object of interest. + +"What has happened?" he asked, addressing a tall man, who stood +trembling and praying to a crucifix in his hand. + +"God protect us, Sir Knight! See how clear the sky is, but a great +stone--some say it was a meteor--struck this house. There is the hole +it made. Others say it was a bullet from the Turks.--Save us, O Son of +Mary!" and he fell to kissing the crucifix. + +"Was anybody hurt?" the Count asked, shaking the devotee. + +"Yes--two women and a child were killed.--Save us, O Son of God! Thou +hast the power from the Father." + +The Count picked his way toward the house till he could get no further, +so was it blocked by a mass of women on their knees, crying, praying, +and in agony of fright. There, sure enough, was a front beaten in, +exposing the wrecked interior. But who was the young woman at the door +calmly directing some men bringing out the body of one apparently dead? +Her back was to him, but the sunlight was tangled in her uncovered +hair, making gold of it. Her figure was tall and slender, and there was +a marvellous grace in her action. Who was she? The Count's heart was +prophetic. He gave the bridle rein to a man near by, and holding his +sword up, pushed through the kneeling mass. He might have been more +considerate in going; but he was in haste, and never paused until at +the woman's side. "God's mercy, Princess Irene!" he cried, "what dost +thou here? Are there not men to take this charge upon them?" + +And in his joy at finding her safe, he fell upon his knees, and, +without waiting for her to offer the favor, took one of her hands, and +carried it to his lips. + +"Nay, Count Corti, is it not for me to ask what thou dost here?" + +Her face was solemn, and he could hardly determine if the eyes she +turned to him were not chiding; yet they were full of humid violet +light, and she permitted him to keep the hand while he replied: + +"The Turk is for the time having his own way. We cannot get to him.... +I came in haste to--to see what his guns have done--or--why should I +not say it? Princess, I galloped here fearing thou wert in need of +protection and help. I remembered that I was thy accepted knight." + +She understood him perfectly, and, withdrawing her hand, returned: +"Rise, Count Corti, thou art in the way of these bearing the dead." + +He stood aside, and the men passed him with their burden--a woman +drenched in blood. + +"Is this the last one?" she asked them. + +"We could find no other." + +"Poor creature! ... Yet God's will be done! ... Bear her to my house, +and lay her with the others." Then to the Count she said: "Come with +me." + +The Princess set out after the men. Immediately the women about raised +a loud lamentation; such as were nearest her cried out: "Blessings on +you!" and they kissed the hem of her gown, and followed her moaning and +weeping. The body was borne into the house, and to the chapel, and all +who wished went in. Before the altar, two others were lying lifeless on +improvised biers, an elderly woman and a half-grown girl. The Lady in +picture above the altar looked down on them, as did the Holy Child in +her arms; and there was much comfort to the spectators in the look. +Then, when the third victim was decently laid out, Sergius began the +service for the dead. The Count stood by the Princess, her attendants +in group a little removed from them. + +In the midst of the holy ministration, a sound like distant rolling +thunder penetrated the chapel. Every one present knew what it was by +this time--knew at least it was not thunder--and they cried out, and +clasped each other--from their knees many fell grovelling on the floor. +Sergius' voice never wavered. Corti would have extended his arms to +give the Princess support; but she did not so much as change color; her +hands holding a silver triptych remained firm. The deadly bullets were +in the air and might alight on the house; yet her mind was too +steadfast, her soul too high, her faith too exalted for alarm; and if +the Count had been prone to love her for her graces of person, now he +was prompted to adore her for her courage. + +Outside near by, there was a crash as of a flying solid smiting another +dwelling, and, without perceptible interval, an outcry so shrill and +unintermitted it required no explanation. + +The Princess was the first to speak. + +"Proceed, Sergius," she said; nor might one familiar with her voice +have perceived any alteration in it from the ordinary; then to the +Count again: "Let us go out; there may be others needing my care." + +At the door Corti said: "Stay, O Princess--a word, I pray." + +She had only to look at his face to discover he was the subject of a +fierce conflict of spirit. + +"Have pity on me, I conjure you. Honor and duty call me to the gate; +the Emperor may be calling me; but how can I go, leaving you in the +midst of such peril and horrors?" + +"What would you have me do?" + +"Fly to a place of safety." + +"Where?" + +"I will find a place; if not within these walls, then"-- + +He stopped, and his eyes, bright with passion, fell before hers; for +the idea he was about giving his tongue would be a doubly dishonorable +coinage, since it included desertion of the beleaguered city, and +violation of his compact with Mahommed. + +"And then?" she asked. + +And love got the better of honor. + +"I have a ship in the harbor, O Princess Irene, and a crew devoted to +me, and I will place you on its deck, and fly with you. Doubt not my +making the sea; there are not Christians and Mohammedans enough to stay +me once my anchor is lifted, and my oars out; and on the sea freedom +lives, and we will follow the stars to Italy, and find a home." + +Again he stopped, his face this time wrung with sudden anguish; then he +continued: + +"God forgive, and deal with me mercifully! I am mad! ... And thou, O +Princess--do thou forgive me also, and my words and weakness. Oh, if +not for my sake, then for that which carried me away! Or if thou canst +not forget, pity me, pity me, and think of the wretchedness now my +portion. I had thy respect, if not thy love; now both are lost--gone +after my honor. Oh! I am most miserable--miserable!" + +And wringing his hands, he turned his face from her. + +"Count Corti," she replied gently, "thou hast saved thyself. Let the +affair rest here. I forgive the proposal, and shall never remind thee +of it. Love is madness. Return to duty; and for me"--she hesitated--"I +hold myself ready for the sacrifice to which I was born. God is +fashioning it; in His own time, and in the form He chooses, He will +send it to me.... I am not afraid, and be thou not afraid for me. My +father was a hero, and he left me his spirit. I too have my duty born +within the hour--it is to share the danger of my kinsman's people, to +give them my presence, to comfort them all I can. I will show thee what +thou seemest not to have credited--that a woman can be brave as any +man. I will attend the sick, the wounded, and suffering. To the dying I +will carry such consolation as I possess--all of them I can reach--and +the dead shall have ministration. My goods and values have long been +held for the poor and unfortunate; now to the same service I consecrate +myself, my house, my chapel, and altar.... There is my hand in sign of +forgiveness, and that I believe thee a true knight. I will go with thee +to thy horse." + +He bowed his head, and silently struggling for composure, carried the +hand to his lips. + +"Let us go now," she said. + +They went out together. + +Another dwelling had been struck; fortunately it was unoccupied. + +In the saddle, he stayed to say: "Thy soul, O Princess Irene, is +angelic as thy face. Thou hast devoted thyself to the suffering. Am I +left out? What word wilt thou give me?" + +"Be the true knight thou art, Count Corti, and come to me as before." + +He rode away with a revelation; that in womanly purity and goodness +there is a power and inspiration beyond the claims of beauty. + +The firing continued. Seven times that day the Turks assailed the Gate +St. Romain with their guns; and while a few of the stones discharged +flew amiss into the city, there were enough to still further terrorize +the inhabitants. By night all who could had retreated to vaults, +cellars, and such hiding-places as were safe, and took up their abodes +in them. In the city but one woman went abroad without fear, and she +bore bread and medicines, and dressed wounds, and assuaged sorrows, and +as a Madonna in fact divided worship with the Madonna in the chapel up +by the High Residence. Whereat Count Corti's love grew apace, though +the recollection of the near fall he had kept him humble and +circumspect. + +The same day, but after the second discharge of the guns, Mahommed +entered the part of his tent which, with some freedom, may be termed +his office and reception-room, since it was furnished with seats and a +large table, the latter set upon a heavily tufted rug, and littered +over with maps and writing and drawing materials. Notable amongst the +litter was the sword of Solomon. Near it lay a pair of steel gauntlets +elegantly gilt. One stout centre-tree, the main support of the roof of +camel's hair, appeared gayly dressed with lances, shields, arms, and +armor; and against it, strange to say, the companion of a bright red +battle-flag, leant the banderole Count Corti had planted before the +door the morning of the sally. A sliding flap overhead, managed by +cords in the interior, was drawn up, admitting light and air. + +The office, it may be added, communicated by gay portieres with four +other apartments, each having its separate centre-tree; one occupied by +Kalil, the Vizier; one, a bed-chamber, so to speak; one, a stable for +the imperial stud; the fourth belonged to no less a person than our +ancient and mysterious acquaintance, the Prince of India. + +Mahommed was in half-armor; that is, his neck, arms, and body were in +chain mail, the lightest and most flexible of the East, exquisitely +gold-washed, and as respects fashion exactly like the suit habitually +affected by Count Corti. His nether limbs were clad in wide trousers of +yellow silk, drawn close at the ankles. Pointed shoes of red leather +completed his equipment, unless we may include a whip with heavy handle +and long lash. Could Constantine have seen him at the moment, he would +have recognized the engineer whose performance in tracing the trench he +had witnessed with so much interest in the morning. + +The Grand Chamberlain received him with the usual prostration, and in +that posture waited his pleasure. + +"Bring me water. I am thirsty." + +The water was brought. + +"The Prince of India now." + +Presently the Prince appeared in the costume peculiar to him--a cap and +gown of black velvet, loose trousers, and slippers. His hair and beard +were longer than when we knew him a denizen of Constantinople, making +his figure seem more spare and old; otherwise he was unchanged. He too +prostrated himself; yet as he sank upon his knees, he gave the Sultan a +quick glance, intended doubtless to discover his temper more than his +purpose. + +"You may retire." + +This to the Chamberlain. + +Upon the disappearance of the official, Mahommed addressed the Prince, +his countenance flushed, his eyes actually sparkling. + +"God is great. All things are possible to him. Who shall say no when he +says yes? Who resist when he bids strike? Salute me, and rejoice with +me, O Prince. He is on my side. It was he who spoke in the thunder of +my guns. Salute me, and rejoice. Constantinople is mine! The towers +which have outlasted the ages, the walls which have mocked so many +conquerors--behold them tottering to their fall! I will make dust of +them. The city which has been a stumbling-block to the true faith shall +be converted in a night. Of the churches I will make mosques. Salute me +and rejoice! How may a soul contain itself knowing God has chosen it +for such mighty things? Rise, O Prince and rejoice with me!" + +He caught up the sword of Solomon, and in a kind of ecstasy strode +about flourishing it. + +The Prince, arisen, replied simply: "I rejoice with my Lord;" and +folding his arms across his breast, he waited, knowing he had been +summoned for something more serious than to witness an outburst so +wild--that directly this froth would disappear, as bubbles vanish from +wine just poured. The most absolute of men have their ways--this was +one of Mahommed's. And behind his composed countenance the Jew smiled, +for, as he read it, the byplay was an acknowledgment of his influence +over the chosen of God. + +And he was right. Suddenly Mahommed replaced the sword, and standing +before him, asked abruptly: + +"Tell me, have the stars fixed the day when I may assault the Gabours?" + +"They have, my Lord." + +"Give it to me." + +The Prince returned to his apartment, and came back with a horoscope. + +"This is their decision, my Lord." + +In his character of Messenger of the Stars, the Prince of India +dispensed with every observance implying inferiority. + +Without looking at the Signs, or at the planets in their Houses; +without noticing the calculations accompanying the chart; glancing +merely at the date in the central place, Mahommed frowned, and said: + +"The twenty-ninth of May! Fifty-three days! By Allah and Mahomet arid +Christ--all in one--if by the compound the oath will derive an extra +virtue--what is there to consume so much time? In three days I will +have the towers lording this gate they call St. Romain in the ditch, +and the ditch filled. In three days, I say." + +"Perhaps my Lord is too sanguine--perhaps he does not sufficiently +credit the skill and resources of the enemy behind the gate--perhaps +there is more to do than he has admitted into his anticipations." + +Mahommed darted a look at the speaker. + +"Perhaps the stars have been confidential with their messenger, and +told him some of the things wanting to be done." + +"Yes, my Lord." The calmness of the Prince astonished Mahommed. + +"And art thou permitted to be confidential with me?" he asked. + +"My Lord must break up this collection of his guns, and plant some of +them against the other gates; say two at the Golden Gate, one at the +Caligaria, and before the Selimbria and the Adrianople two each. He +will have seven left.... Nor must my Lord confine his attack to the +landward side; the weakest front of the city is the harbor front, and +it must be subjected. He should carry there at least two of his guns." + +"Sword of Solomon!" cried Mahommed. "Will the stars show me a road to +possession of the harbor? Will they break the chain which defends its +entrance? Will they sink or burn the enemy's fleet?" + +"No; those are heroisms left for my Lord's endeavor." + +"Thou dost taunt me with the impossible." + +The Prince smiled. + +"Is my Lord less able than the Crusaders? I know he is not too proud to +be taught by them. Once, marching upon the Holy City, they laid siege +to Nicea, and after a time discovered they could not master it without +first mastering Lake Ascanius. Thereupon they hauled their ships three +leagues overland, and launched them in the lake." [Footnote: VON +HAMMER, _Hist. de l'Emp. Ottoman._] + +Mahommed became thoughtful. + +"If my Lord does not distribute the guns; if he confines his attack to +St. Romain, the enemy, in the day of assault, can meet him at the +breach with his whole garrison. More serious, if the harbor is left to +the Greeks, how can he prevent the Genoese in Galata from succoring +them? My Lord derives information from those treacherous people in the +day; does he know of the intercourse between the towns by boats in the +night? If they betray one side, will they be true to the other? My +Lord, they are Christians; so are these with whom we are at war." + +The Sultan sank into a seat; and satisfied with the impression he had +made, the Prince wisely allowed him his thoughts. + +"It is enough!" said the former, rising. Then fixing his eye on his +confederate, he asked: "What stars told thee these things, O Prince?" + +"My Lord, the firmament above is God's, and the sun and planets there +are his mercifully to our common use. But we have each of us a +firmament of our own. In mine, Reason is the sun, and of its stars I +mention two--Experience and Faith. By the light of the three, I +succeed; when I refuse them, one or all, I surrender to chance." + +Mahommed caught up the sword, and played with its ruby handle, turning +it at angles to catch its radiations; at length he said: + +"Prince of India, thou hast spoken like a Prophet. Go call Kalil and +Saganos." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE + + +We have given the opening of the siege of Byzantium by Mahommed with +dangerous minuteness, the danger of course being from the critic. We +have posted the warders on their walls, and over against them set the +enemy in an intrenched line covering the whole landward side of the +city. We have planted Mahommed's guns, and exhibited their power, +making it a certainty that a breach in the wall must be sooner or later +accomplished. We have shown the effect of the fire of the guns, not +only on the towers abutting the gate which was the main object of +attack, but on the non-combatants, the women and children, in their +terror seeking safety in cellars, vaults, and accessible underground +retreats. We have carefully assembled and grouped those of our +characters who have survived to this trying time; and the reader is +informed where they are, the side with which their fortunes are cast, +their present relations to each other, and the conditions which environ +them. In a word, the reader knows their several fates are upon them, +and the favors we now most earnestly pray are to be permitted to pass +the daily occurrences of the siege, and advance quickly to the end. +Even battles can become monotonous in narrative. + +The Sultan, we remark, adopted the suggestions of the Prince of India. +He distributed his guns, planting some of them in front of the several +gates of the city. To control the harbor, he, in modern parlance, +erected a battery on a hill by Galata; then in a night, he drew a part +of his fleet, including a number of his largest vessels, from +Besich-tasch on the Bosphorus over the heights and hollows of Pera, a +distance of about two leagues, and dropped them in the Golden Horn. +These Constantine attacked. Justiniani led the enterprise, but was +repulsed. A stone bullet sunk his ship, and he barely escaped with his +life. Most of his companions were drowned; those taken were pitilessly +hung. Mahommed next collected great earthen jars--their like may yet be +seen in the East--and, after making them air-tight, laid a bridge upon +them out toward the single wall defending the harbor front. At the +further end of this unique approach he placed a large gun; and so +destructive was the bombardment thus opened that fire-ships were sent +against the bridge and battery. But the Genoese of Galata betrayed the +scheme, and it was baffled. The prisoners captured were hanged in view +of the Greeks, and in retaliation Constantine exposed the heads of a +hundred and sixty Turks from the wall. + +On the landward side Mahommed was not less fortunate. The zigzag trench +was completed, and a footing obtained for his men in the moat, whence +they strove to undermine the walls. + +Of the lives lost during these operations no account was taken, since +the hordes were the victims. Their bodies were left as debris in the +roadway so expensively constructed. Day after day the towers Bagdad and +St. Romain were more and more reduced. Immense sections of them +tumbling into the ditch were there utilized. Day after day the exchange +of bullets, bolts, stones, and arrows was incessant. The shouting in +many tongues, heating of drums, and blowing of horns not seldom +continued far into the night. + +The Greeks on their side bore up bravely. Old John Grant plied the +assailants with his inextinguishable fire. Constantine, in seeming +always cheerful, never shirking, visited the walls; at night, he +seconded Justiniani in hastening needful repairs. Finally the steady +drain upon the stores in magazine began to tell. Provisions became +scarce, and the diminution of powder threatened to silence the +culverins and arquebuses. Then the Emperor divided his time between the +defences and Sancta Sophia--between duty as a military commander, and +prayer as a Christian trustful in God. And it was noticeable that the +services at which he assisted in the ancient church were according to +Latin rites; whereat the malcontents in the monasteries fell into +deeper sullenness, and refused the dying the consolation of their +presence. Gennadius assumed the authority of the absent Patriarch, and +was influential as a prophet. The powerful Brotherhood of the St. +James', composed of able-bodied gentry and nobles who should have been +militant at the gates, regarded the Emperor as under ban. Notaras and +Justiniani quarrelled, and the feud spread to their respective +followers. + +One day, about the time the Turkish ships dropped, as it were, from the +sky into the harbor, when the store of powder was almost exhausted, and +famine menaced the city, five galleys were reported in the offing down +the Marmora. About the same time the Turkish flotilla was observed +making ready for action. The hungry people crowded the wall from the +Seven Towers to Point Serail. The Emperor rode thither in haste, while +Mahommed betook himself to the shore of the sea. A naval battle ensued +under the eyes of the two. [Footnote: The following is a translation of +Von Hammer's spirited account of this battle: + +"The 15th of April, 1453, the Turkish fleet, of more than four hundred +sails, issued from the bay of Phidalia, and directing itself toward the +mouth of the Bosphorus on the western side, cast anchor near the two +villages to-day Besich-tasch. A few days afterward five vessels +appeared in the Marmora, one belonging to the Emperor, and four to the +Genoese. During the month of March they had been unable to issue from +Scio; but a favorable wind arising, they arrived before Constantinople, +all their sails unfurled. A division of the Turkish fleet, more than a +hundred and fifty in number, advanced to bar the passage of the +Christian squadron and guard the entrance to the harbor. The sky was +clear, the sea tranquil, the walls crowded with spectators. The Sultan +himself was on the shore to enjoy the spectacle of a combat in which +the superiority of his fleet seemed to promise him a certain victory. +But the eighteen galleys at the head of the division, manned by +inexperienced soldiers, and too low at the sides, were instantly +covered with arrows, pots of Greek fire, and a rain of stones launched +by the enemy. They were twice repulsed. The Greeks and the Genoese +emulated each other in zeal. Flectanelli, captain of the imperial +galley, fought like a lion; Cataneo, Novarro, Balaneri, commanding the +Genoese, imitated his example. The Turkish ships could not row under +the arrows with which the water was covered; they fouled each other, +and two took fire. At this sight Mahommed could not contain himself; as +if he would arrest the victory of the Greeks, he spurred his horse in +the midst of the ships. His officers followed him trying to reach the +vessels combating only a stone's throw away. The soldiers, excited by +shame or by fear, renewed the attack, but without success, and the five +vessels, favored by a rising wind, forced a passage through the +opposition, and happily entered the harbor."] The Christian squadron +made the Golden Horn, and passed triumphantly behind the chain +defending it. They brought supplies of corn and powder. The relief had +the appearance of a merciful Providence, and forthwith the fighting was +renewed with increased ardor. Kalil the Vizier exhorted Mahommed to +abandon the siege. + +"What, retire now? Now that the gate St. Romain is in ruins and the +ditch filled?" the Sultan cried in rage. "No, my bones to Eyoub, my +soul to Eblis first. Allah sent me here to conquer." + +Those around attributed his firmness, some to religious zeal, some to +ambition; none of them suspected how much the compact with Count Corti +had to do with his decision. + +To the lasting shame of Christian Europe, the arrival of the five +galleys, and the victory they achieved, were all of succor and cheer +permitted the heroic Emperor. + +But the unequal struggle wore on, and with each set of sun Mahommed's +hopes replumed themselves. From much fondling and kissing the sword of +Solomon, and swearing by it, the steel communicated itself to his will; +while on the side of the besieged, failures, dissensions, watching and +labor, disparity in numbers, inferiority in arms, the ravages of death, +and the neglect of Christendom, slowly but surely invited despair. + +Weeks passed thus. April went out; and now it is the twenty-third of +May. On the twenty-ninth--six days off--the stars, so we have seen, +will permit an assault. + +And on this day the time is verging midnight. Between the sky and the +beleaguered town a pall of clouds is hanging thick. At intervals light +showers filter through the pall, and the drops fall perpendicularly, +for there is no wind. And the earth has its wrap of darkness, only over +the seven hills of the old capital it appears to be in double folds +oppressively close. Darkness and silence and vacancy, which do not +require permission to enter by a gate, have possession of the streets +and houses; except that now and then a solitary figure, gliding +swiftly, turns a corner, pauses to hear, moves on again, and disappears +as if it dropped a curtain behind it. Desertion is the rule. The hush +is awful. Where are the people? + +To find each other friends go from cellar to cellar. There are vaults +and arched passages, crypts under churches and lordly habitations, +deep, damp, mouldy, and smelling of rotten air, sheltering families. In +many districts all life is underground. Sociality, because it cannot +exist under such conditions save amongst rats and reptiles, ceased some +time ago. Yet love is not dead--thanks, O Heaven, for the divine +impulse!--it has merely taken on new modes of expression; it shows +itself in tears, never in laughter; it has quit singing, it moans; and +what moments mothers are not on their knees praying, they sit crouched, +and clasping their little ones, and listen pale with fear and want. +Listening is the universal habit; and the start and exclamation with +which in the day the poor creatures recognize the explosive thunder of +Mahommed's guns explain the origin of the habit. + +At this particular hour of the twenty-third of May there are two +notable exceptions to the statement that darkness, silence and vacancy +have possession of the streets and houses. + +By a combination of streets most favorable for the purpose, a +thoroughfare had come into use along which traffic preferably drove its +bulky commodities from St. Peter's on the harbor to the Gates St. +Romain and Adrianople; its greater distance between terminal points +being offset by advantages such as solidity, width and gentler grades. +In one of the turns of this very crooked way there is now a murky flush +cast by flambeaux sputtering and borne in hand. On either side one may +see the fronts of houses without tenants, and in the way itself long +lines of men tugging with united effort at some cumbrous body behind +them. There is no clamor. The labor is heavy, and the laborers in +earnest. Some of them wear round steel caps, but the majority are +civilians with here and there a monk, the latter by the Latin cross at +his girdle an _azymite_. Now and then the light flashes back from a +naked torso streaming with perspiration. One man in armor rides up and +down the lines on horseback. He too is in earnest. He speaks low when +he has occasion to stop and give a direction, but his face seen in +flashes of the light is serious, and knit with purpose. The movement of +the lines is slow; at times they come to a dead stand-still. If the +halt appears too long the horseman rides back and comes presently to +the black hull of a dismantled galley on rollers. The stoppages are to +shift the rollers forward. When the shifting is done, he calls out: +"Make ready, men!" Whereupon every one in the lines catches hold of a +rope, and at his "Now--for love of Christ!" there follows a pull with +might, and the hull drags on. + +In these later days of the siege there are two persons actively engaged +in the defence who are more wrought upon by the untowardness of the +situation than any or all their associates--they are the Emperor and +Count Corti. + +There should be no difficulty in divining the cause of the former's +distress. It was too apparent to him that his empire was in desperate +straits; that as St. Romain underwent its daily reduction so his +remnant of State and power declined. And beholding the dissolution was +very like being an enforced witness of his own dying. + +But Count Corti with the deepening of the danger only exerted himself +the more. He seemed everywhere present--now on the ruins of the towers, +now in the moat, now foremost in a countermine, and daily his +recklessness increased. His feats with bow and sword amazed his +friends. He became a terror to the enemy. He never tired. No one knew +when he slept. And as note was taken of him, the question was +continually on the lip, What possesses the man? He is a foreigner--this +is not his home--he has no kindred here--what can be his motive? And +there were who said it was Christian zeal; others surmised it was +soldier habit; others again, that for some reason he was disgusted with +life; yet others, themselves of sordid natures, said the Emperor +affected him, and that he was striving for a great reward in promise. +As in the camps of the besiegers none knew the actual reason of +Mahommed's persistence, so here the secret of the activity which left +the Count without a peer in performance and daring went without +explanation. + +A few--amongst them the Emperor--were aware of the meaning of the red +net about the Italian's neck--it shone so frequently through the smoke +and dust of hourly conflict as to have become a subject of general +observation--yet in the common opinion he was only the lady's knight; +and his battle cry, _For Christ and Irene--Now!_ did but confirm the +opinion. Time and time again, Mahommed beheld the doughty deeds of his +rival, heard his shout, saw the flash of his blade, sometimes near, +sometimes afar, but always where the press was thickest. Strange was it +that of the two hosts he alone understood the other's inspiration? He +had only to look into his own heart, and measure the force of the +passion there. + +The horseman we see in charge of the removal of the galley-hulk this +night of the twenty-third of May is Count Corti. It is wanted at St. +Romain. The gate is a hill of stone and mortar, without form; the moat +almost level from side to side; and Justiniani has decided upon a +barricade behind a new ditch. He will fill the hull with stones, and +defend from its deck; and it must be on the ground by break of day. + +Precisely as Count Corti was bringing the galley around the turn of the +thoroughfare, Constantine was at the altar in Sancta Sophia where +preparations for mass were making; that is, the priests were changing +their vestments, and the acolytes lighting the tall candles. The +Emperor sat in his chair of state just inside the brass railing, +unattended except by his sword-bearer. His hands were on his knees, his +head bowed low. He was acknowledging a positive need of prayer. The +ruin at the gate was palpable; but God reigned, and might be reserving +his power for a miraculous demonstration. + +The preparation was about finished when, from the entrances of the +Church opposite the nave, a shuffling of many feet was heard. The light +in that quarter was weak, and some moments passed before the Emperor +perceived a small procession advancing, and arose. The garbs were of +orthodox Brotherhoods which had been most bitter in their denunciation. +None of them had approached the door of the holy house for weeks. + +The imperial mind was greatly agitated by the sight. Were the brethren +recanting their unpatriotic resolutions? Had Heaven at last given them +an understanding of the peril of the city? Had it brought to them a +realization of the consequences if it fell under the yoke of the +Turk?--That the whole East would then be lost to Christendom, with no +date for its return? A miracle!--and to God the glory! And without a +thought of himself the devoted man walked to the gate of the railing, +and opening it, waited to receive the penitents. + +Before him in front of the gate they knelt--in so far they yielded to +custom. + +"Brethren," he said, "this high altar has not been honored with your +presence for many days. As Basileus, I bid you welcome back, and dare +urge the welcome in God's holy name. Reason instructs me that your +return is for a purpose in some manner connected with the unhappy +condition in which our city and empire, not to mention our religion, +are plunged. Rise, one of you, and tell me to what your appearance at +this solemn hour is due." + +A brother in gray, old and stooped, arose, and replied: + +"Your Majesty, it cannot be that you are unacquainted with the +traditions of ancient origin concerning Constantinople and Hagia +Sophia; forgive us, however, if we fear you are not equally well +informed of a more recent prophecy, creditably derived, we think, and +presume to speak of its terms. 'The infidels'--so the prediction +runs--'will enter the city; but the instant they arrive at the column +of Constantine the Great, an angel will descend from Heaven, and put a +sword in the hands of a man of low estate seated at the foot of the +column, and order him to avenge the people of God with it. Overcome by +sudden terror, the Turks will then take to flight, and be driven, not +only from the city, but to the frontier of Persia.' [Footnote: Von +Hammer.] This prediction relieves us, and all who believe in it, from +fear of Mahommed and his impious hordes, and we are grateful to Heaven +for the Divine intervention. But, Your Majesty, we think to be +forgiven, if we desire the honor of the deliverance to be accounted to +the Holy Mother who has had our fathers in care for so many ages, and +redeemed them miraculously in instances within Your Majesty's +knowledge. Wherefore to our purpose.... We have been deputed by the +Brotherhoods in Constantinople, united in devotion to the Most Blessed +Madonna of Blacherne, to pray your permission to take the _Panagia_ +from the Church of the Virgin of Hodegetria, where it has been since +the week of the Passover, and intrust it to the pious women of the +city. To-morrow at noon, Your Majesty consenting, they will assemble at +the Acropolis, and with the banner at their head, go in procession +along the walls and to every threatened gate, never doubting that at +the sight of it the Sultan and his unbaptized hordes will be reft of +breath of body or take to flight.... This we pray of Your Majesty, that +the Mother of God may in these degenerate days have back the honor and +worship accorded her by the Emperors and Greeks of former times." + +The old man ceased, and again fell upon his knees, while his associate +deputies rang the space with loud _Amens_. + +It was well the light was dim, and the Emperor's face in shadow; it was +well the posture of the petitioners helped hide him from close study; a +feeling mixed of pity, contempt, and unutterable indignation seized +him, distorting his features, and shaking his whole person. Recantation +and repentance!--Pledge of loyalty!--Offer of service at the gates and +on the shattered walls!--Heaven help him! There was no word of apology +for their errors and remissness--not a syllable in acknowledgment of +his labors and services--and he about to pray God for strength to die +if the need were, as became the Emperor of a brave and noble people! + +An instant he stood gazing at them--an instant of grief, shame, +mortification, indignation, all heightened by a burning sense of +personal wrong. Ay, God help him! + +"Bear with me a little," he said quietly, and passing the waiting +priests, went and knelt upon a step of the altar in position to lay his +head upon the upper step. Minutes passed thus. The deputies supposed +him praying for the success of the morrow's display; he was in fact +praying for self-possession to answer them as his judgment of policy +demanded. + +At length he arose, and returned to them, and had calmness to say: + +"Arise, brethren, and go in peace. The keeper of the Church will +deliver the sacred banner to the pious women. Only I insist upon a +condition; if any of them are slain by the enemy, whom you and they +know to have been bred in denial of womanly virtue, scorning their own +mothers and wives, and making merchandise of their daughters--if any of +them be slain, I say, then you shall bear witness to those who sent you +to me that I am innocent of the blood-guilt. Arise, and go in peace." + +They marched out of the Church as they had come in, and he proceeded +with the service. + +Next day about ten o'clock in the morning there was a lull in the +fighting at the Gate St. Romain. It were probably better to say the +Turks for some reason rested from their work of bringing stones, +tree-trunks, earth in hand carts, and timbers wrenched from +houses--everything, in fact, which would serve to substantially fill +the moat in that quarter. Then upon the highest heap of what had been +the tower of Bagdad Count Corti appeared, a black shield on his arm, +his bow in one hand, his banderole in the other. + +"Have a care, have a care!" his friends halloed. "They are about firing +the great gun." + +Corti seemed not to hear, but deliberately planted the banderole, and +blowing his trumpet three times, drew an arrow from the quiver at his +back. The gun was discharged, the bullet striking below him. When the +dust cleared away, he replied with his trumpet. Then the Turks, keeping +their distance, set up a cry. Most of the arrows shot at him fell +short. Seeing their indisposition to accept his challenge, he took seat +upon a stone. + +Not long then until a horseman rode out from the line of Janissaries +still guarding the eminence, and advanced down the left of the zigzag +galloping. + +He was in chain mail glistening like gold, but wore flowing yellow +trousers, while his feet were buried in shoe-stirrups of the royal +metal. Looking over the small round black shield on his left arm, and +holding a bow in the right hand, easy in the saddle, calm, confident, +the champion slackened speed when within arrow flight, but commenced +caracoling immediately. A prolonged hoarse cry arose behind him. Of the +Christians, the Count alone recognized the salute of the Janissaries, +still an utterance amongst Turkish soldiers, in literal translation: +_The Padishah! Live the Padishah!_ The warrior was Mahommed himself! + +Arising, the Count placed an arrow at the string, and shouted, "_For +Christ and Irene--Now!_" With the last word, he loosed the shaft. + +Catching the missile lightly on his shield, Mahommed shouted back: +"_Allah-il-Allah!_" and sent a shaft in return. The exchange continued +some minutes. In truth, the Count was not a little proud of the enemy's +performance. If there was any weakness on his part, if his clutch of +the notch at the instant of drawing the string was a trifle light, the +fault was chargeable to a passing memory. This antagonist had been his +pupil. How often in the school field, practising with blunted arrows, +the two had joyously mimicked the encounter they were now holding. At +last a bolt, clanging dully, dropped from the Sultan's shield, and +observing that it was black feathered, he swung from his seat to the +ground, and, shifting the horse between him and the foe, secured the +missile, and remounted. + +_"Allah-il-Allah!"_ he cried, slowly backing the charger out of range. + +The Count repeated the challenge through his trumpet, and sat upon the +stone again; but no other antagonist showing himself, he at length +descended from the heap. + +In his tent Mahommed examined the bolt; and finding the head was of +lead, he cut it open, and extracted a scrip inscribed thus: + +"To-day at noon a procession of women will appear on the walls. You may +know it by the white banner a monk will bear, with a picture of the +Madonna painted on it. _The Princess Irene marches next after the +banner._" + +Mahommed asked for the time. It was half after ten o'clock. In a few +minutes the door was thronged by mounted officers, who, upon receiving +a verbal message from him, sped away fast as they could go. + +Thereupon the conflict was reopened. Indeed, it raged more fiercely +than at any previous time, the slingers and bowmen being pushed up to +the outer edge of the moat, and the machines of every kind plied over +their heads. In his ignorance of the miracle expected of the Lady of +the Banner, Mahommed had a hope of deterring the extraordinary march. + +Nevertheless at the appointed hour, ten o'clock, the Church of the +Virgin of Hodegetria was surrounded by nuns and monks; and presently +the choir of Sancta Sophia issued from the house, executing a solemn +chant; the Emperor followed in Basilean vestments; then the _Panagia_ +appeared. + +At sight of the picture of the Very Holy Virgin painted front view, the +eyes upraised, the hands in posture of prayer, the breast covered by a +portrait of the Child, the heads encircled by the usual nimbus, the +mass knelt, uttering cries of adoration. + +The Princess Irene, lightly veiled and attired in black, advanced, and, +kissing the fringed corners of the hallowed relic, gathered the white +staying ribbons in her hands; thereupon the monk appointed to carry it +moved after the choir, and the nuns took places. And there were tears +and sighs, but not of fear. The Mother of God would now assume the +deliverance of her beloved capital. As it had been to the Avars, and +later to the Russians under Askold and Dir, it would be now to Mahommed +and his ferocious hordes--all Heaven would arm to punish them. They +would not dare look at the picture twice, or if they did--well, there +are many modes of death, and it will be for the dear Mother to choose. +Thus the women argued. Possibly a perception of the failure in the +defence, sharpened by a consciousness of the horrors in store for them +if the city fell by assault, turned them to this. There is no relief +from despair like faith. + +From the little church, the devotees of the Very Holy Virgin took their +way on foot to the southeast, chanting as they went, and as they went +their number grew. Whence the accessions, none inquired. + +They first reached a flight of steps leading to the banquette or +footway along the wall near the Golden Gate. The noise of the conflict, +the shouting and roar of an uncounted multitude of men in the heat and +fury of combat, not to more than mention the evidences of the +conflict--arrows, bolts, and stones in overflight and falling in +remittent showers--would have dispersed them in ordinary mood; but they +were under protection--the Madonna was leading them--to be afraid was +to deny her saving grace. And then there was no shrinking on the part +of the Princess Irene. Even as she took time and song from the choir, +they borrowed of her trust. + +At the foot of the steps the singers turned aside to allow the +_Panagia_ to go first. The moment of miracle was come! What form would +the manifestation take? Perhaps the doors and windows of Heaven would +open for a rain of fire--perhaps the fighting angels who keep the +throne of the Father would appear with swords of lightning--perhaps the +Mother and Son would show themselves. Had they not spared and converted +the Khagan of the Avars? Whatever the form, it were not becoming to +stand between the _Panagia_ and the enemy. + +The holy man carrying the ensign was trustful as the women, and he +ascended the steps without faltering. Gathering the ribbons a little +more firmly in her hands, the Princess kept her place. Up--up they were +borne--Mother and Son. Then the white banner was on the height--seen +first by the Greeks keeping the wall, and in the places it discovered +them, they fell upon their faces, next by the hordes. And they--oh, a +miracle, a miracle truly!--they stood still. The bowman drawing his +bow, the slinger whirling his sling, the arquebusers taking aim matches +in hand, the strong men at the winches of the mangonels, all +stopped--an arresting hand fell on them--they might have been changed +to pillars of stone, so motionlessly did they stand and look at the +white apparition. _Kyrie Eleison_, thrice repeated, then _Christie +Eleison_, also thrice repeated, descended to them in the voices of +women, shrilled by excitement. + +And the banner moved along the wall, not swiftly as if terror had to do +with its passing, but slowly, the image turned outwardly, the Princess +next it, the ribbons in her hands; after her the choir in full chant; +and then the long array of women in ecstasy of faith and triumph; for +before they were all ascended, the hordes at the edge of the moat, and +those at a distance--or rather such of them as death or wounds would +permit--were retreating to their entrenchment. Nor that merely--the +arrest which had fallen at the Golden Gate extended along the front of +leaguerment from the sea to Blacherne, from Blacherne to the Acropolis. + +So it happened that in advance of the display of the picture, without +waiting for the _Kyrie Eleison_ of the glad procession, the Turks took +to their defences; and through the city, from cellar, and vault, and +crypt, and darkened passage, the wonderful story flew; and there being +none to gainsay or explain it, the miracle was accepted, and the +streets actually showed signs of a quick return to their old life. Even +the very timid took heart, and went about thanking God and the _Panagia +Blachernitissa_. + +And here and there the monks passed, sleek and blithe, and complacently +twirling the Greek crosses at the whip-ends of their rosaries of +polished horn buttons large as walnuts, saying: + +"The danger is gone. See what it is to have faith! Had we kept on +trusting the _azymites_, whether Roman cardinal or apostate Emperor, a +muezzin would ere long, perhaps to-morrow, be calling to prayer from +the dome of Hagia Sophia. Blessed be the _Panagia!_ To-night let us +sleep; and then--then we will dismiss the mercenaries with their Latin +tongues." + +But there will be skeptics to the last hour of the last day; so is the +world made of kinds of men. Constantine and Justiniani did not disarm +or lay aside their care. In unpatriotic distrust, they kept post behind +the ruins of St. Romain, and saw to it that the labor of planting the +hull of the galley for a new wall, strengthened with another ditch of +dangerous depth and width, was continued. + +And they were wise; for about four o'clock in the afternoon, there was +a blowing of horns on the parapet by the monster gun, and five heralds +in tunics stiff with gold embroidery, and trousers to +correspond--splendid fellows, under turbans like balloons, each with a +trumpet of shining silver--set out for the gate, preceding a stately +unarmed official. + +The heralds halted now and then to execute a flourish. Constantine, +recognizing an envoy, sent Justiniani and Count Corti to meet him +beyond the moat, and they returned with the Sultan's formal demand for +the surrender of the city. The message was threatening and imperious. +The Emperor replied offering to pay tribute. Mahommed rejected the +proposal, and announced an assault. + +The retirement of the hordes at sight of the _Panagia_ on the wall was +by Mahommed's order. His wilfulness extended to his love--he did not +intend the Princess Irene should suffer harm. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT + + +The artillery of Mahommed had been effective, though not to the same +degree, elsewhere than at St. Romain. Jerome the Italian and Leonardo +di Langasco the Genoese, defending the port of Blacherne in the +lowland, had not been able to save the Xiloporta or Wood Gate on the +harbor front harmless; under pounding of the floating battery it lay in +the dust, like a battered helmet. + +John Grant and Theodore de Carystos looked at the green hills of Eyoub +in front of the gate Caligaria or Charsias, assigned to them, through +fissures and tumbles-down which made their hearts sore. The Bochiardi +brothers, Paul and Antonin, had fared no better in their defence of the +gate Adrianople. At the gate Selimbria, Theophilus Palaeologus kept the +Imperial flag flying, but the outer faces of the towers there were in +the ditch serving the uses of the enemy. Contarino the Venetian, on the +roof of the Golden Gate, was separated from the wall reaching northward +to Selimbria by a breach wide enough to admit a chariot. Gabriel +Trevisan, with his noble four hundred Venetians, kept good his grip on +the harbor wall from the Acropolis to the gate of St. Peter's. Through +the incapacity or treason of Duke Notaras, the upper portion of the +Golden Horn was entirely lost to the Christians. From the Seven Towers +to Galata the Ottoman fleet held the wall facing the Marmora as a net +of close meshes holds the space of water it is to drag. In a word, the +hour for assault had arrived, and from the twenty-fourth to evening of +the twenty-eighth of May Mahommed diligently prepared for the event. + +The attack he reduced to a bombardment barely sufficient to deter the +besiegers from systematic repairs. The reports of his guns were but +occasionally heard. At no time, however, was the energy of the man more +conspicuous. Previously his orders to chief officers in command along +the line had been despatched to them; now he bade them to personal +attendance; and, as may be fancied, the scene at his tent was +orientally picturesque from sunrise to sunset. Such an abounding of +Moslem princes and princes not Moslem, of Pachas, and Beys, and +Governors of Castles, of Sheiks, and Captains of hordes without titles; +such a medley of costumes, and armor, and strange ensigns; such a +forest of tall shafts flying red horse-tails; such a herding of +caparisoned steeds; such a company of trumpeters and heralds--had +seldom if ever been seen. It seemed the East from the Euphrates and Red +Sea to the Caspian, and the West far as the Iron Gates of the Danube, +were there in warlike presence. Yet for the most part these selected +lions of tribes kept in separate groups and regarded each other +askance, having feuds and jealousies amongst themselves; and there was +reason for their good behavior--around them, under arms, were fifteen +thousand watchful Janissaries, the flower of the Sultan's host, of whom +an old chronicler has said, Each one is a giant in stature, and the +equal of ten ordinary men. + +Throughout those four days but one man had place always at Mahommed's +back, his confidant and adviser--not Kalil, it is to be remarked, or +Saganos, or the Mollah Kourani, or Akschem-sed-din the Dervish. + +"My Lord," the Prince of India had argued when the Sultan resolved to +summon his vassal chiefs to personal conference, "all men love +splendor; pleasing the eye is an inducement to the intelligent; +exciting the astonishment of the vulgar disposes them to submit to +superiority in another without wounding their vanity. The Rajahs in my +country practise this philosophy with a thorough understanding. Having +frequently to hold council with their officials, into the tent or hall +of ceremony they bring their utmost riches. The lesson is open to my +Lord." + +So when his leaders of men were ushered into the audience, the interior +of Mahommed's tent was extravagantly furnished, and their prostrations +were at the step of a throne. Nevertheless in consenting to the +suggestion, the Sultan had insisted upon a condition. + +"They shall not mistake me for something else than a warrior--a +politician or a diplomatist, for instance--or think the heaviest blow I +can deal is with the tongue or a pen. Art thou hearing, Prince?" + +"I hear, my Lord." + +"So, by the tomb of the Prophet--may his name be exalted!--my +household, viziers and all, shall stand at my left; but here on my +right I will have my horse in panoply; and he shall bear my mace and +champ his golden bit, and be ready to tread on such of the beggars as +behave unseemly." + +And over the blue and yellow silken rugs of Khorassan, with which the +space at the right of the throne was spread, the horse, bitted and +house led, had free range, an impressive reminder of the master's +business of life. + +As they were Christians or Moslems, Mahommed addressed the vassals +honored by his summons, and admitted separately to his presence; for +the same arguments might not be pleasing to both. + +"I give you trust," he would say to the Christian, "and look for brave +and loyal service from you.... I shall be present with you, and as an +eyewitness judge of your valor, and never had men such incentives. The +wealth of ages is in the walls before us, and it shall be yours--money, +jewels, goods and people--all yours as you can lay hands on it. I +reserve only the houses and churches. Are you poor, you may go away +rich; if rich, you may be richer; for what you get will be honorable +earnings of your right hand of which none shall dispossess you--and to +that treaty I swear.... Rise now, and put your men in readiness. The +stars have promised me this city, and their promises are as the breath +of the God we both adore." + +Very different in style and matter were his utterances to a Moslem. + +"What is that hanging from thy belt?" + +"It is a sword, my Lord." + +"God is God, and there is no other God--_Amin!_ And he it was who +planted iron in the earth, and showed the miner where it was hid, and +taught the armorer to give it form, and harden it, even the blade at +thy belt; for God had need of an instrument for the punishment of those +who say 'God hath partners.' ... And who are they that say 'God hath +partners--a Son and his Mother'? Here have they their stronghold; and +here have we been brought to make roads through its walls, and turn +their palaces of unbelief into harems. For that thou hast thy sword, +and I mine--_Amin!_... It is the will of God that we despoil these +_Gabours_ of their wealth and their women; for are they not of those of +whom it is said: 'In their hearts is a disease, and God hath increased +their disease, and for them is ordained a painful punishment, because +they have charged the Prophet of God with falsehood'? That they who +escape the sharpness of our swords shall be as beggars, and slaves, and +homeless wanderers--such is the punishment, and it is the judgment of +God--_Amin!_ ... That they shall leave all they have behind them--so +also hath God willed, and I say it shall be. I swear it. And that they +leave behind them is for us who were appointed from the beginning of +the world to take it; that also God wills, and I say it shall be. I +swear it. _Amin!_ ... What if the way be perilous, as I grant it is? Is +it not written: 'A soul cannot die except by permission of God, +according to a writing of God, definite as to time'? And if a man die, +is it not also written: 'Repute not those slain in God's cause to be +dead; nay, alive with God, they are provided for'? They are people of +the 'right hand,' of whom it is written: 'They shall be brought nigh +God in the gardens of delight, upon inwrought couches reclining face to +face. Youths ever young shall go unto them round about with goblets and +ewers, and a cup of flowing wine; and fruits of the sort which they +shall choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind which they shall +desire, and damsels with eyes like pearls laid up, we will give them as +a reward for that which they have done.' ... But the appointed time is +not yet for all of us--nay, it is for the fewest--_Amin!_ ... And when +the will of God is done, then for such as live, lo! over the walls +yonder are gold refined and coined, and gold in vessels, and damsels on +silken couches, their cheeks like roses of Damascus, their arms whiter +and cooler than lilies, and as pearls laid up are their eyes, and their +bodies sweeter than musk on the wings of the south wind in a grove of +palms. With the gold we can make gardens of delight; and the damsels +set down in the gardens, ours the fault if the promise be not made good +as it was spoken by the Prophet--'Paradise shall be brought near unto +the pious, to a place not distant from them, so they shall see it!' ... +Being of those who shall 'receive their books in the right hand,' more +need not be said unto you. I only reserve for myself the houses when +you have despoiled them, and the churches. Make ready yourself and your +people, and tell them faithfully what I say, and swear to. I will come +to you with final orders. Arise!" [Footnote: For the quotations in this +speech, see _Selections from the Koran_, by EDWARD WILLIAM LANE.] + +From sunrise to sunset of the twenty-seventh Mahommed was in the saddle +going with the retinue of a conqueror from chief to chief. From each he +drew a detachment to be held in reserve. One hundred thousand men were +thus detached. + +"See to it," he said finally, "that you direct your main effort against +the gate in front of you.... Put the wild men in the advance. The dead +will be useful in the ditch.... Have the ladders at hand.... At the +sound of my trumpets, charge.... Proclaim for me that he who is first +upon the walls shall have choice of a province. I will make him +governor. God is God. I am his servant, ordering as he has ordered." + +On the twenty-eighth, he sent all the dervishes in camp to preach to +the Moslems in arms; and of such effect were their promises of pillage +and Paradise that after the hour of the fifth prayer, the multitude, in +all quite two hundred and fifty thousand, abandoned themselves to +transports of fanaticism. Of their huts and booths they made heaps, and +at night set fire to them; and the tents of the Pachas and great +officers being illuminated, and the ships perfecting the blockade +dressed in lights, the entrenchment from Blacherne to the Seven Towers, +and the sea thence to the Acropolis, were in a continued brilliance +reaching up to the sky. Even the campania was invaded by the dazzlement +of countless bonfires. + +And from the walls the besieged, if they looked, beheld the antics of +the hordes; if they listened, they heard the noise, in the distance, a +prolonged, inarticulate, irregular clamor of voices, near by, a +confusion of songs and cries. At times the bray of trumpets and the +roll of drums great and small shook the air, and smothered every rival +sound. And where the dervishes came, in their passage from group to +group, the excitement arose out of bounds, while their dancing lent +diablerie to the scene. + +Assuredly there was enough in what they beheld to sink the spirit of +the besieged, even the boldest of them. The cry _Allah-il-Allah_ +shouted from the moat was trifling in comparison with what they might +have overheard around the bonfires. + +"Why do you burn your huts?" asked a prudent officer of his men. + +"Because we will not need them more. The city is for us to-morrow. The +Padishah has promised and sworn." + +"Did he swear it?" + +"Ay, by the bones of the Three in the Tomb of the Prophet." + +At another fire, the following: + +"Yes, I have chosen my palace already. It is on the hill over there in +the west." + +And again: + +"Tell us, O son of Mousa, when we are in the town what will you look +for?" + +"The things I most want." + +"Well, what things?" + +"May the Jinn fill thy stomach with green figs for such a question of +my mother's son! What things? Two horses out of the Emperor's stable. +And thou--what wilt thou put thy hand to first?" + +"Oh, I have not made up my mind! I am thinking of a load of gold for my +camel--enough to take my father and his three wives to Mecca, and buy +water for them from the Zem-zem. Praised be Allah!" + +"Bah! Gold will be cheap." + +"Yes, as bezants; but I have heard of a bucket the unbelieving Greeks +use at times for mixing wine and bread in. It is when they eat the body +of their God. They say the bucket is so big it takes six fat priests to +lift it." + +"It is too big. I'll gather the bezants." + +"Well," said a third, with a loud Moslem oath, "keep to your gold, +whether in pots or coin. For me--for me"-- + +"Ha, ha!--he don't know." + +"Don't I? Thou grinning son of a Hindoo ape." + +"What is it, then?" + +"The thing which is first in thy mind." + +"Name it." + +"A string of women." + +"Old or young?" + +"An _hoo-rey-yeh_ is never old." + +"What judgment!" sneered the other. "I will take some of the old ones +as well." + +"What for?" + +"For slaves to wait on the young. Was it not said by a wise man, 'Sweet +water in the jar is not more precious than peace in the family'?" + +Undoubtedly the evil genius of Byzantium in this peril was the Prince +of India. + +"My Lord," he had said, cynically, "of a truth a man brave in the day +can be turned into a quaking coward at night; you have but to present +him a danger substantial enough to quicken his imagination. These +Greeks have withstood you stoutly; try them now with your power a +vision of darkness." + +"How, Prince?" + +"In view and hearing from the walls let the hordes kindle fires +to-night. Multiply the fires, if need be, and keep the thousands in +motion about them, making a spectacle such as this generation has not +seen; then"-- + +The singular man stopped to laugh. + +Mahommed gazed at him in silent wonder. + +"Then," he continued, "so will distorted fancy do its work, that by +midnight the city will be on its knees praying to the Mother of God, +and every armed man on the walls who has a wife or daughter will think +he hears himself called to for protection. Try it, my Lord, and thou +mayst whack my flesh into ribbons if by dawn the general fear have not +left but a half task for thy sword." + +It was as the Jew said. + +Attracted by the illumination in the sky, suggestive of something vast +and terrible going on outside the walls, and still full of faith in a +miraculous deliverance, thousands hastened to see the mercy. What an +awakening was in store for them! Enemies seemed to have arisen out of +the earth--devils, not men. The world to the horizon's rim appeared +oppressed with them. Nor was it possible to misapprehend the meaning of +what they beheld. "To-morrow--to-morrow"--they whispered to each +other--"God keep us!" and pouring back into the streets, they became +each a preacher of despair. Yet--marvelous to say--the monks sallied +from their cells with words of cheer. + +"Have faith," they said. "See, we are not afraid. The Blessed Mother +has not deserted her children. Believe in her. She is resolved to allow +the _azymite_ Emperor to exhaust his vanity that in the last hour he +and his Latin myrmidons may not deny her the merit of the salvation. +Compose yourselves, and fear not. The angel will find the poor man at +the column of Constantine." + +The ordinary soul beset with fears, and sinking into hopelessness, is +always ready to accept a promise of rest. The people listened to the +priestly soothsayers. Nay, the too comforting assurance made its way to +the defenders at the gates, and hundreds of them deserted their posts; +leaving the enemy to creep in from the moat, and, with hooks on long +poles, actually pull down some of the new defences. + +It scarcely requires telling how these complications added weight to +the cares with which the Emperor was already overladen. Through the +afternoon he sat by the open window of a room above the Cercoporta, or +sunken gate under the southern face of his High Residence, [Footnote: +This room is still to be seen. The writer once visited it. Arriving +near, his Turkish _cavass_ requested him to wait a moment. The man then +advanced alone and cautiously, and knocked at the door. There was a +conference, and a little delay; after which the _cavass_ announced it +was safe to go in. The mystery was revealed upon entering. A half dozen +steaming tubs were scattered over the paved floor, and by each of them +stood a scantily attired woman with a dirty _yashmak_ covering her +face. The chamber which should have been very sacred if only because +there the last of the Byzantine Emperors composedly resigned himself to +the inevitable, had become a filthy den devoted to one of the most +ignoble of uses. The shame is, of course, to the Greeks of +Constantinople.] watching the movements of the Turks. The subtle +prophet which sometimes mercifully goes before death had discharged its +office with him. He had dismissed his last hope. Beyond peradventure +the hardest task to one pondering his fate uprisen and standing before +him with all its attending circumstances, is to make peace with +himself; which is simply viewing the attractions of this life as birds +of plumage in a golden cage, and deliberately opening the door, and +letting them loose, knowing they can never return. This the purest and +noblest of the imperial Greeks--the evil times in which his race as a +ruler was run prevent us from terming him the greatest--had done. + +He was in armor, and his sword rested against the cheek of a window. +His faithful attendants came in occasionally, and spoke to him in low +tones; but for the most part he was alone. + +The view of the enemy was fair. He could see their intrenchment, and +the tents and ruder quarters behind it. He could see the standards, +many of them without meaning to him, the detachments on duty and +watchful, the horsemen coming and going, and now and then a column in +movement. He could hear the shouting, and he knew the meaning of it +all--the final tempest was gathering. + +About four o'clock in the afternoon, Phranza entered the room, and +going to his master's right hand, was in the act of prostrating himself. + +"No, my Lord," said the Emperor, reaching out to stay him, and smiling +pleasantly, "let us have done with ceremony. Thou hast been true +servant to me--I testify it, God hearing--and now I promote thee. Be as +my other self. Speak to me standing. To-morrow is my end of days. In +death no man is greater than another. Tell me what thou bringest." + +On his knees, the Grand Chamberlain took the steel-gloved hand nearest +him, and carried it to his lips. + +"Your Majesty, no servant had ever a more considerate and loving +master." + +An oppressive silence followed. They were both thinking the same +thought, and it was too sad for speech. + +"The duty Your Majesty charged me with this morning "--thus Phranza +upon recovery of his composure--"I attended to." + +"And you found it?" + +"Even as Your Majesty had warning. The Hegumens of the Brotherhoods"-- + +"All of them, O Phranza?" + +"All of them, Your Majesty--assembled in a cloister of the Pantocrator." + +"Gennadius again!" + +The Emperor's hands closed, and there was an impatient twitching of his +lips. + +"Though why should I be astonished? Hark, my friend! I will tell thee +what I have as yet spoken to no man else. Thou knowest Kalil the Vizier +has been these many years my tributary, and that he hath done me many +kindly acts, not always in his master's interest. The night of the day +our Christian ships beat the Turks the Grand Vizier sent me an account +of a stormy scene in Mahommed's tent, and advised me to beware of +Gennadius. Ah, I had fancied myself prepared to drink the cup Heaven +hath in store for me, lees and all, without a murmur, but men will be +men until their second birth. It is nature! ... Oh, my Phranza, what +thinkest thou the false monk is carrying under his hood?" + +"Some egg of treason, I doubt not." + +"Having driven His Serenity, the pious and venerable Gregory, into +exile, he aspires to succeed him." + +"The hypocrite!--the impostor!--the perjured!--He, Patriarch!" cried +Phranza, with upraised eyes. + +"And from whose hands thinkest thou he dreams of deriving the honor?" + +"Not Your Majesty's." + +The Emperor smiled faintly. "No--he regards Mahommed the Sultan a +better patron, if not a better Christian." + +"Forbid it Heaven!" and Phranza crossed himself repeatedly. + +"Nay, good friend, hear his scheme, then thou mayst call the forbidding +powers with undeniable reason....He undertook--so Kalil privily +declared--if Mahommed would invest him with the Patriarchate, to +deliver Constantinople to him." + +"By what means? He has no gate in keeping--he is not even a soldier." + +"My poor Phranza! Hast thou yet to learn that perfidy is not a trait of +any class? This gowned traitor hath a key to all the gates. Hear him--I +will ply the superstition of the Greeks, and draw them from the walls +with a prophecy." + +Phranza was able to cry out: "Oh! that so brave a prince, so good a +master should be at the mercy of--of such a"-- + +"With all thy learning, I see thou lackest a word. Let it pass, let it +pass--I understand thee....But what further hast thou from the meeting?" + +Phranza caught the hand again, and laid his forehead upon it while he +replied: "To-night the Brotherhoods are to go out, and renew the story +of the angel, and the man at the foot of the column of Constantine." +The calmness of the Emperor was wonderful. He gazed at the Turks +through the window, and, after reflection, said tranquilly: + +"I would have saved it--this old empire of our fathers; but my utmost +now is to die for it--ay, as if I were blind to its unworthiness. God's +will be done, not mine!" + +"Talk not of dying--O beloved Lord and master, talk not so! It is not +too late for composition. Give me your terms, and I will go with them +to"-- + +"Nay, friend, I have done better--I have made peace with myself.... I +shall be no man's slave. There is nothing more for me--nothing except +an honorable death. How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much +glory in dying! A day of Greek regeneration may come--then there may be +some to do me honor--some to find worthy lessons in my life--perchance +another Emperor of Byzantium to remember how the last of the +Palaeologae accepted the will of God revealed to him in treachery and +treason.... But there is one at the door knocking as he were in haste. +Let him enter." + +An officer of the guard was admitted. + +"Your Majesty," he said, after salutation, "the Captain Justiniani, and +the Genoese, his friends, are preparing to abandon the gates." + +Constantine seized his sword, and arose. + +"Tell me about it," he said, simply. + +"Justiniani has the new ditch at St. Romain nearly completed, and +wanting some cannon, he made request for them of the High Admiral, who +refused, saying, 'The foreign cowards must take care of themselves.'" + +"Ride, sir, to the noble Captain, and tell him I am at thy heels." + +"Is the Duke mad?" Constantine continued, the messenger having +departed. "What can he want? He is rich, and hath a family--boys +verging on manhood, and of excellent promise. Ah, my dear friend in +need, what canst thou see of gain for him from Mahommed?" + +"Life, your Majesty--life, and greater riches." + +"How? I did not suppose thou thoughtest so ill of men." + +"Of some--of some--not all." Then Phranza raised his head, and asked, +bitterly: "If five galleys won the harbor, every Moslem sail opposing, +why could not twelve or more do better? Does not Mahommed draw his +supplies by sea?" + +The Emperor looked out of the window again, but not at the Turks. + +"Lord Phranza," he said, presently, "thou mayst survive to-morrow's +calamity; if so, being as thou art skilful with the pen, write of me in +thy day of leisure two things; first, I dared not break with Duke +Notaras while Mahommed was striving for my gates--he could and would +have seized my throne--the Church, the Brotherhoods, and the people are +with him--I am an _azymite._ Say of me next that I have always held the +decree of union proclaimed by the Council of Florence binding upon +Greek conscience, and had I lived, God helping me roll back this flood +of Islam, it should have been enforced.... Hither--look hither, Lord +Phranza"--he pointed out of the window--"and thou wilt see an argument +of as many divisions as there are infidels beleaguering us why the +Church of Christ should have one head; and as to whether the head +should be Patriarch or Bishop, is it not enough that we are perishing +for want of Western swords?"--He would have fallen into silence again, +but roused himself: "So much for the place I would have in the world's +memory.... But to the present affair. Reparation is due Justiniani and +his associates. Do thou prepare a repast in the great dining hall. Our +resources are so reduced I may not speak of it as a banquet; but as +thou lovest me do thy best with what we have. For my part, I will ride +and summon every noble Greek in arms for Church and State, and the +foreign captains. In such cheer, perhaps, we can heal the wounds +inflicted by Notaras. We can at least make ready to die with grace." + +He went out, and taking horse, rode at speed to the Gate St. Romain, +and succeeded in soothing the offended Genoese. + +At ten o'clock the banquet was held. The chroniclers say of it that +there were speeches, embraces, and a fresh resolution to fight, and +endure the worst or conquer. And they chose a battle-cry--_Christ and +Holy Church._ At separating, the Emperor, with infinite tenderness, but +never more knightly, prayed forgiveness of any he might have wronged or +affronted; and the guests came one by one to bid him adieu, and he +commended them to God, and the gratitude of Christians in the ages to +come, and his hands were drenched with their tears. + +From the Very High Residence he visited the gates, and was partially +successful in arresting the desertions actually in progress. + +Finally, all other duties done, his mind turning once more to God, he +rode to Sancta Sophia, heard mass, partook of the Communion, and +received absolution according to Latin rite; after which the morrow +could hold no surprise for him. And he found comfort repeating his own +word: How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much glory in dying. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA + + +From the repast at Blacherne--festive it was in no sense--Count Corti +escorted the Emperor to the door of Sancta Sophia; whence, by +permission, and taking with him his nine Berbers, he rode slowly to the +residence of the Princess Irene. Slowly, we say, for nowhere in the +pent area of Byzantium was there a soul more oppressed. + +If he looked up, it was to fancy all the fortunate planets seated in +their Houses helping Mahommed's star to a fullest flood of splendor; if +he looked down, it was to see the wager--and his soul cried out, Lost! +Lost! Though one be rich, or great, or superior in his calling, wherein +is the profit of it if he have lost his love? + +Besides the anguish of a perception of his rival's better fortune, the +Count was bowed by the necessity of deciding certain consequences +unforeseen at the time the wager was made. The place of the surrender +of the Princess was fixed. Thinking forward now, he could anticipate +the scene in the great church--the pack of fugitives, their terror and +despair, the hordes raging amongst them. How was he single-handed to +save her unharmed in the scramble of the hour? Thoughts of her youth, +beauty, and rank, theretofore inspirations out of Heaven, set him to +shivering with an ague more like fear than any he had ever known. + +Nor was this all. The surrender was by the terms to be to Mahommed +himself. The Sultan was to demand her of him. He groaned aloud: "Oh, +dear God and Holy Mother, be merciful, and let me die!" For the first +time it was given him to see, not alone that he might lose the woman to +his soul all the sun is to the world, but her respect as well. By what +management was he to make the surrender without exposing the +understanding between the conqueror and himself? She would be +present--she would see what took place--she would hear what was said. +And she would not be frightened. The image of the Madonna above the +altar in the nave would not be more calm. The vaguest suspicion of a +compact, and she the subject, would put her upon inquiry; then--"Oh, +fool--idiot--insensate as my sword-grip!" Thus, between groans, he +scourged himself. + +It was late, but her home was now a hospital filled with wounded men, +and she its sleepless angel. Old Lysander admitted him. + +"The Princess Irene is in the chapel." + +Thus directed, the Count went thither well knowing the way. + +A soldier just dead was the theme of a solemn recital by Sergius. The +room was crowded with women in the deepest excitement of fear. Corti +understood the cause. Poor creatures! They had need of religious +comfort. A thousand ghosts in one view could not have overcome them as +did the approach of the morrow. + +At the right of the altar, he discovered the Princess in the midst of +her attendants, who kept close to her, like young birds to the mother +in alarm. She was quiet and self-contained. Apparently she alone heard +the words of the reader; and whereas the Count came in a +penitent--doubtful--in a maze--unknowing what to do or where to turn, +one glance at her face restored him. He resolved to tell her his +history, omitting only the character in which he entered her kinsman's +service, and the odious compact with Mahommed. Her consent to accompany +him to Sancta Sophia must be obtained; for that he was come. + +His presence in the chapel awakened a suppressed excitement, and +directly the Princess came to him. + +"What has happened, Count Corti? Why are you here?" + +"To speak with you, O Princess Irene' + +"Go with me, then." + +She conducted him into a passage, and closed the door behind them. + +"The floor of my reception room is overlaid with the sick and +suffering--my whole house is given up to them. Speak here; and if the +news be bad, dear Count, it were mercy not to permit the unfortunates +to hear you." + +She was not thinking of herself. He took the hand extended to him, and +kissed it--to him it was the hand of more than the most beautiful woman +in the world--it was the hand of a saint in white transfigurement. + +"Thy imperial kinsman, O Princess, is at the church partaking of the +Holy Communion, and receiving absolution." + +"At this hour? Why is he there, Count?" + +Corti told her of the repast at the palace, and recounted the scene at +parting. + +"It looks like despair. Can it be the Emperor is making ready to die? +Answer, and fear not for me. My life has been a long preparation. He +believes the defence is lost--the captains believe so--and thou?" + +"O Princess, it is terrible saying, but I too expect the judgment of +God in the morning." + +The hall was so dimly lighted he could not see her face; but the nerve +of sympathy is fine--he felt she trembled. Only a moment--scarcely +longer than taking a breath--then she answered: + +"Judgment is for us all. It will find me here." + +She moved as if to return to the chapel; but he stepped before her, and +drawing out a chair standing by the door, said, firmly, yet tenderly: + +"You are weary. The labor of helping the unfortunate these many +days--the watching and anxiety--have been trying upon you. Sit, I pray, +and hear me." + +She yielded with a sigh. + +"The judgment which would find you here, O Princes, would not be death, +but something more terrible, so terrible words burn in thinking of it. +I have sworn to defend you: and the oath, and the will to keep it, give +me the right to determine where and how the defence shall be made. If +there are advantages, I want them, for your sweet sake." + +He stopped to master his feeling. + +"You have never stood on the deck of a ship in wreck, and seen the sea +rush in to overwhelm it," he went on presently: "I have; and I declare +to you, O beloved lady, nothing can be so like to-morrow when the +hordes break into the city, as that triumph of waters; and as on the +deck there was no place of safety for the perishing crew, neither will +there be place of safety for man, woman, or child in Byzantium +then--least of all for the kinswoman of the Emperor--for her--permit me +to say it--whose loveliness and virtue are themes for story-tellers +throughout the East. As a prize--whether for ransom or dishonor--richer +than the churches and the palaces, and their belongings, be they jewels +or gold, or anointed crown, or bone of Saint, or splinter of the True +Cross, or shred from the shirt of Christ--to him who loves her, a prize +of such excellence that glory, even the glory Mahommed is now dreaming +of when he shall have wrenched the keys of the gates from their +rightful owner dead in the bloody breach, would pale if set beside it +for comparison, and sink out of sight--think you she will not be +hunted? Or that the painted Mother above the altar, though it spoke +through a miraculous halo, could save her when found? No, no, Princess, +not here, not here!... You know I love you; in an unreasoning moment I +dared tell you so; and you may think me passion-blind, and that I hung +the vow to defend you upon my soul's neck, thinking it light as this +favor you were pleased to give me; that love being a braggart, +therefore I am a braggart. Let me set myself right in your +opinion--your good opinion, O Princess, for it is to me a world of such +fair shining I dream of it as of a garden in Paradise.... If you do not +know how hardly I have striven in this war, send, I pray, and ask any +of the captains, or the most Christian sovereign I have just left +making his peace with God. Some of them called me mad, but I pardoned +them--they did not know the meaning of my battle-cry--'For Christ and +Irene'--that I was venturing life less for Constantinople, less for +religion--I almost said, less for Christ--than for you, who are all +things in one to me, the fairest on earth, the best in Heaven.... At +last, at last I am driven to admit we may fail--that to-morrow, whether +I am here or there, at your side or under the trampling, you may be a +prisoner at mercy." + +At these words, of infinite anguish in utterance, the Princess +shuddered, and looked up in silent appeal. + +"Attend me now. You have courage above the courage of women; therefore +I may speak with plainness.... What will become of you--I give the +conclusion of many wrangles with myself--what will become of you +depends upon the hands which happen to be laid on you first. O +Princess, are you giving me heed? Do you comprehend me?" + +"The words concern me more than life, Count." + +"I may go on then.... I have hope of saving your life and honor. You +have but to do what I advise. If you cannot trust me, further speech +were idleness, and I might as well take leave of you. Death in many +forms will be abroad to-morrow--nothing so easily found." + +"Count Corti," she returned, "if I hesitate pledging myself, it is not +because of distrust. I will hear you." + +"It is well said, dear lady." + +He stopped--a pleasant warmth was in his heart--a perception, like dim +light, began breaking through the obscurities in his mind. To this +moment, in fact, he had trouble gaining his own consent to the proposal +on his tongue; it seemed so like treachery to the noble woman--so like +a cunning inveiglement to deliver her to Mahommed under the hated +compact. Now suddenly the proposal assumed another appearance--it was +the best course--the best had there been no wager, no compact, no +obligation but knightly duty to her. As he proceeded, this conviction +grew clearer, bringing him ease of conscience and the subtle influence +of a master arguing right. He told her his history then, holding +nothing back but the two points mentioned. Twice only she interrupted +him. + +"Your mother, Count Corti--poor lady--how she has suffered! But what +happiness there is in store for her!" And again: "How wonderful the +escape from the falsehoods of the Prophet! There is no love like +Christ's love unless--unless it be a mother's." + +At the conclusion, her chin rested in the soft palm of her hand, and +the hand, unjewelled, was white as marble just carven, and, like the +arm, a wonder of grace. Of what was she thinking?--Of him? Had he at +last made an impression upon her? What trifles serve the hope of +lovers! At length she asked: + +"Then, O Count, thou wert his playmate in childhood?" + +A bitter pang struck him--that pensiveness was for Mahommed--yet he +answered: "I was nearest him until he took up his father's sword." + +"Is he the monster they call him?" + +"To his enemies, yes--and to all in the road to his desires, yes--but +to his friends there was never such a friend." + +"Has he heart to"-- + +The omission, rather than the question, hurt him--still he returned: + +"Yes, once he really loves." + +Then she appeared to awake. + +"To the narrative now--Forgive my wandering." + +The opportunity to return was a relief to him, and he hastened to +improve it. + +"I thank you for grace, O Princess, and am reminded of the pressure of +time. I must to the gate again with the Emperor.... This is my +proposal. Instead of biding here to be taken by some rapacious +hordesman, go with me to Sancta Sophia, and when the Sultan comes +thither--as he certainly will--deliver yourself to him. If, before his +arrival, the plunderers force the doors of the holy house, I will stand +with you, not, Princess, as Count Corti the Italian, but Mirza the Emir +and Janissary, appointed by the Sultan to guard you. My Berbers will +help the assumption." + +He had spoken clearly, yet she hesitated. + +"Ah," he said, "you doubt Mahommed. He will be upon honor. The +glory-winners, Princess, are those always most in awe of the judgment +of the world." + +Yet she sat silent. + +"Or is it I who am in your doubt?" + +"No, Count. But my household--my attendants--the poor creatures are +trembling now--some of them, I was about saying, are of the noblest +families in Byzantium, daughters of senators and lords of the court. I +cannot desert them--no, Count Corti, not to save myself. The baseness +would be on my soul forever. They must share my fortune, or I their +fate." + +Still she was thinking of others! + +More as a worshipper than lover, the Count replied: "I will include +them in my attempt to save you. Surely Heaven will help me, for your +sake, O Princess." + +"And I can plead for them with him. Count Corti, I will go with you." + +The animation with which she spoke faded in an instant. + +"But thou--O my friend, if thou shouldst fall?" + +"Nay, let us be confident. If Heaven does not intend your escape, it +would be merciful, O beloved lady, did it place me where no report of +your mischance and sorrows can reach me. Looking at the darkest side, +should I not come for you, go nevertheless to the Church. Doubt not +hearing of the entry of the Turks. Seek Mahommed, if possible, and +demand his protection. Tell him, I, Mirza the Emir, counselled you. On +the other side, be ready to accompany me. Make preparation +to-night--have a chair at hand, and your household assembled--for when +I come, time will be scant.... And now, God be with you! I will not say +be brave--be trustful." + +She extended her hand, and he knelt, and kissed it. + +"I will pray for you, Count Corti." + +"Heaven will hear you." + +He went out, and rejoining the Emperor, rode with him from the Church +to Blacherne. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ASSAULT + + +The bonfires of the hordes were extinguished about the time the +Christian company said their farewells after the last supper in the +Very High Residence, and the hordes themselves appeared to be at rest, +leaving Night to reset her stars serenely bright over the city, the +sea, and the campania. + +To the everlasting honor of that company, be it now said, they could +under cover of the darkness have betaken themselves to the ships and +escaped; yet they went to their several posts. Having laid their heads +upon the breast of the fated Emperor, and pledged him their lives, +there is no account of one in craven refuge at the break of day. The +Emperor's devotion seems to have been a communicable flame. + +This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that in the beginning +the walls were relied upon to offset the superiority of the enemy in +numbers, while now each knight and man-at-arms knew the vanity of that +reliance--knew himself, in other words, one of scant five thousand +men--to such diminished roll had the besieged been reduced by wounds, +death and desertion--who were to muster on the ruins of the outer wall, +or in the breaches of the inner, and strive against two hundred and +fifty thousand goaded by influences justly considered the most powerful +over ferocious natures--religious fanaticism and the assurance of booty +without limit. The silence into which the Turkish host was sunk did not +continue a great while. The Greeks on the landward walls became aware +of a general murmur, followed shortly by a rumble at times vibrant--so +the earth complains of the beating it receives from vast bodies of men +and animals in hurried passage. + +"The enemy is forming," said John Grant to his associate Carystos, the +archer. + +Minotle, the Venetian bayle, listening from the shattered gate of +Adrianople, gave order: "Arouse the men. The Turks are coming." + +Justiniani, putting the finishing touches upon his masked repairs +behind what had been the alley or passage between the towers Bagdad and +St. Romain, was called to by his lookout: "Come up, Captain--the +infidels are stirring--they seem disposed to attack." + +"No," the Captain returned, after a brief observation, "they will not +attack to-night--they are getting ready." + +None the less, without relieving his working parties, he placed his +command in station. + +At Selimbria and the Golden Gate the Christians stood to arms. So also +between the gates. Then a deep hush descended upon the mighty +works--mighty despite the slugging they had endured--and the silence +was loaded with anxiety. + +For such of my readers as have held a night-watch expectant of battle +at disadvantage in the morning it will be easy putting themselves in +the place of these warders at bay; they can think their thoughts, and +hear the heavy beating of their hearts; they will remember how long the +hours were, and how the monotony of the waiting gnawed at their spirits +until they prayed for action, action. On the other hand, those without +the experience will wonder how men can bear up bravely in such +conditions--and that is a wonder. + +In furtherance of his plan, Mahommed drew in his irregulars, and massed +them in the space between the intrenchment and the ditch; and by +bringing his machines and small guns nearer the walls, he menaced the +whole front of defence with a line amply provided with scaling ladders +and mantelets. Behind the line he stationed bodies of horsemen to +arrest fugitives, and turn them back to the fight. His reserves +occupied the intrenchments. The Janissaries were retained at his +quarters opposite St. Romain. + +The hordes were clever enough to see what the arrangement portended for +them, and they at first complained. + +"What, grumble, do they?" Mahommed answered. "Ride, and tell them I say +the first choice in the capture belongs to the first over the walls. +Theirs the fault if the city be not an empty nest to all who come after +them." + +The earth in its forward movement overtook the moon just before +daybreak; then in the deep hush of expectancy and readiness, the light +being sufficient to reveal to the besieged the assault couchant below +them, a long-blown flourish was sounded by the Turkish heralds from the +embrasure of the great gun. + +Other trumpeters took up the signal, and in a space incredibly short it +was repeated everywhere along the line of attack. A thunder of drums +broke in upon the music. Up rose the hordes, the archers and slingers, +and the ladder bearers, and forward, like a bristling wave, they +rushed, shouting every man as he pleased. In the same instant the +machines and light guns were set in operation. Never had the old walls +been assailed by such a tempest of bolts, arrows, stones and +bullets--never had their echoes been awakened by an equal explosion of +human voices, instruments of martial music, and cannon. The warders +were not surprised by the assault so much as by its din and fury; and +when directly the missiles struck them, thickening into an +uninterrupted pouring rain, they cowered behind the merlons, and such +other shelters as they could find. + +This did not last long--it was like the shiver and gasp of one plunged +suddenly into icy water. The fugitives were rallied, and brought back +to their weapons, and to replying in kind; and having no longer to +shoot with care, the rabble fusing into a compact target, especially on +the outer edge of the ditch, not a shaft, or bolt, or stone, or ball +from culverin went amiss. Afterwhile, their blood warming with the +work, and the dawn breaking, they could see their advantage of +position, and the awful havoc they were playing; then they too knew the +delight in killing which more than anything else proves man the most +ferocious of brutes. + +The movement of the hordes was not a dash wholly without system--such +an inference would be a great mistake. There was no pretence of +alignment or order--there never is in such attacks--forlorn hopes, +receiving the signal, rush on, each individual to his own endeavor; +here, nevertheless, the Pachas and Beys directed the assault, +permitting no blind waste of effort. They hurled their mobs at none but +the weak places--here a breach, there a dismantled gate. + +Thousands were pushed headlong into the moat. The ladders then passed +down to such of them as had footing were heavy, but they were caught +willingly; if too short, were spliced; once planted so as to bring the +coping of the wall in reach, they swarmed with eager adventurers, who, +holding their shields and pikes overhead, climbed as best they could. +Those below cheered their comrades above, and even pushed them up. + +"The spoils--think of the spoils--the gold, the women!... +_Allah-il-Allah!_... Up, up--it is the way to Paradise!" + +Darts and javelins literally cast the climbers in a thickened shade. +Sometimes a ponderous stone plunging down cleaned a ladder from top to +bottom; sometimes, waiting until the rounds were filled, the besieged +applied levers, and swung a score and more off helpless and shrieking. +No matter--_Allah-il-Allah!_ The living were swift to restore and +attempt the fatal ascents. + +Every one dead and every one wounded became a serviceable clod; rapidly +as the dump and cumber of humanity filled the moat the ladders extended +their upward reach; while drum-beat, battle-cry, trumpet's blare, and +the roar of cannon answering cannon blent into one steady +all-smothering sound. + +In the stretches of space between gates, where the walls and towers +were intact, the strife of the archers and slingers was to keep the +Greeks occupied, lest they should reenforce the defenders hard pressed +elsewhere. + +During the night the blockading vessels had been warped close into the +shore, and, the wall of the seafront being lower than those on the land +side, the crews, by means of platforms erected on the decks, engaged +the besieged from a better level. There also, though attempts at +escalade were frequent, the object was chiefly to hold the garrison in +place. + +In the harbor, particularly at the Wood Gate, already mentioned as +battered out of semblance to itself by the large gun on the floating +battery, the Turks exerted themselves to effect a landing; but the +Christian fleet interposed, and there was a naval battle of varying +fortune. + +So, speaking generally, the city was wrapped in assault; and when the +sun at last rode up into the clear sky above the Asiatic heights, +streets, houses, palaces, churches--the hills, in fact, from the sea to +the Tower of Isaac--were shrouded in ominous vapor, through which such +of the people as dared go abroad flitted pale and trembling; or if they +spoke to each other, it was to ask in husky voices, What have you from +the gates? + +Passing now to the leading actors in this terrible tragedy. Mahommed +retired to his couch early the night previous. He knew his orders were +in course of execution by chiefs who, on their part, knew the +consequences of failure. The example made of the Admiral in command of +the fleet the day the five relieving Christian galleys won the port was +fresh in memory. [Footnote: He was stretched on the ground and whipped +like a common malefactor.] + +"To-morrow, to-morrow," he kept repeating, while his pages took off his +armor, and laid the pieces aside. "To-morrow, to-morrow," lingered in +his thoughts, when, his limbs stretched out comfortably on the broad +bronze cot which served him for couch, sleep crept in as to a tired +child, and laid its finger of forgetfulness upon his eyelids. The +repetition was as when we run through the verse of a cheerful song, +thinking it out silently, and then recite the chorus aloud. Once he +awoke, and, sitting up, listened. The mighty host which had its life by +his permission was quiet--even the horses in their apartment seemed +mindful that the hour was sacred to their master. Falling to sleep +again, he muttered: "To-morrow, to-morrow--Irene and glory. I have the +promise of the stars." + +To Mahommed the morrow was obviously but a holiday which was bringing +him the kingly part in a joyous game--a holiday too slow in coming. + +About the third hour after midnight he was again awakened. A man stood +by his cot imperfectly shading the light of a lamp with his hand. + +"Prince of India!" exclaimed Mahommed, rising to a sitting posture. + +"It is I, my Lord." + +"What time is it?" + +The Prince gave him the hour. + +"Is it so near the break of day?" Mahommed yawned. "Tell me"--he fixed +his eyes darkly on the visitor--"tell me first why thou art here?" + +"I will, my Lord, and truly. I wished to see if you could sleep. A +common soul could not. It is well the world has no premonitory sense." + +"Why so?" + +"My Lord has all the qualities of a conqueror." + +Mahommed was pleased. + +"Yes, I will make a great day of to-morrow. But, Prince of India, what +shadows are disturbing thee? Why art thou not asleep?" + +"I too have a part in the day, my Lord." + +"What part?" + +"I will fight, and"-- + +Mahommed interrupted him with a laugh. + +"Thou!" and he looked the stooped figure over from head to foot. + +"My Lord has two hands--I have four--I will show them." + +Returning to his apartment, the Prince reappeared with Nilo. + +"Behold, my Lord!" + +The black was in the martial attire of a king of Kash-Cush--feathered +coronet, robe of blue and red hanging from shoulder to heel, body under +the robe naked to the waist, assegai in the oft-wrapped white sash, +skirt to the knees glittering with crescents and buttons of silver, +sandals beaded with pearls. On his left arm depended a shield rimmed +and embossed with brass; in his right hand he bore a club knotted, and +of weight to fell a bull at a blow. Without the slightest abashment, +but rather as a superior, the King looked down at the young Sultan. + +"I see--I understand--I welcome the four hands of the Prince of India," +Mahommed said, vivaciously; then, giving a few moments of admiration to +the negro, he turned, and asked: + +"Prince, I have a motive for to-morrow--nay, by the cool waters of +Paradise, I have many motives. Tell me thine. In thy speech and action +I have observed a hate for these Greeks deep as the Shintan's for God. +Why? What have they done to thee?" + +"They are Christians," the Jew returned, sullenly. + +"That is good, Prince, very good--even the Prophet judged it a +justification for cleaning the earth of the detestable sect--yet it is +not enough. I am not old as thou"--Mahommed lost the curious gleam +which shone in the visitor's eyes--"I am not old as thou art; still I +know hate like thine must be from a private grievance." + +"My Lord is right. To-morrow I will leave the herd to the herd. In the +currents of the fight I will hunt but one enemy--Constantine. Judge +thou my cause." + +Then he told of Lael--of his love for her--of her abduction by +Demedes--his supplication for the Emperor's assistance--the refusal. + +"She was the child of my soul," he continued, passionately. "My +interest in life was going out; she reinspired it. She was the promise +of a future for me, as the morning star is of a gladsome day. I dreamed +dreams of her, and upon her love builded hopes, like shining castles on +high hills. Yet it was not enough that the Greek refused me his power +to discover and restore her. She is now in restraint, and set apart to +become the wife of a Christian--a Christian priest--may the fiends +juggle for his ghost!--To-morrow I will punish the tyrant--I will give +him a dog's death, and then seek her. Oh! I will find her--I will find +her--and by the light there is in love, I will show him what all of +hell there can be in one man's hate!" + +For once the cunning of the Prince overreached itself. In the rush of +passion he forgot the exquisite sensory gifts of the potentate with +whom he was dealing; and Mahommed, observant even while shrinking from +the malignant fire in the large eyes, discerned incoherencies in the +tale, and that it was but half told; and while he was resolving to push +his Messenger of the Stars to a full confession, a distant rumble +invaded the tent, accompanied by a trample of feet outside. + +"It is here, Prince of India--the day of Destiny. Let us get ready, +thou for thy revenge, I for glory and"--Irene was on his tongue, but he +suppressed the name. "Call my chamberlain and equerry.... On the table +there thou mayst see my arms--a mace my ancestor Ilderim [Footnote: +Bajazet.] bore at Nicopolis, and thy sword of Solomon.... God is great, +and the Jinn and the Stars on my side, what have we to fear?" + +Within half an hour he rode out of the tent. + +"Blows the wind to the city or from it?" he asked his chief Aga of +Janissaries. + +"Toward the city, my Lord." + +"Exalted be the name of the Prophet! Set the Flower of the Faithful in +order--a column of front wide as the breach in the gate--and bring the +heralds. I shall be by the great gun." + +Pushing his horse on the parapet, he beheld the space before him, down +quite to the moat--every trace of the cemetery had disappeared--dark +with hordes assembled and awaiting the signal. Satisfied, happy, he +looked then toward the east. None better than he knew the stars +appointed to go before the sun--their names were familiar to him--now +they were his friends. At last a violet corona infinitely soft +glimmered along the hill tops beyond Scutari. + +"Stand out now," he cried to the five in their tabards of gold--"stand +out now, and as ye hope couches in Paradise, blow--blow the stones out +of their beds yonder--God was never so great!" + +Then ensued the general advance which has been described, except that +here, in front of St. Romain, there was no covering the assailants with +slingers and archers. The fill in the ditch was nearly level with the +outer bank, from which it may be described as an ascending causeway. +This advantage encouraged the idea of pouring the hordesmen _en masse_ +over the hill composed of the ruins of what had been the towers of the +gate. + +There was an impulsive dash under incitement of a mighty drumming and +trumpeting--a race, every man of the thousands engaged in it making for +the causeway--a jam--a mob paralyzed by its numbers. They trampled on +each other--they fought, and in the rebound were pitched in heaps down +the perpendicular revetment on the right and left of the fill. Of those +thus unfortunate the most remained where they fell, alive, perhaps, but +none the less an increasing dump of pikes, shields, and crushed bodies; +and in the roar above them, cries for help, groans, and prayers were +alike unheard and unnoticed. + +All this Justiniani had foreseen. Behind loose stones on top of the +hill, he had collected culverins, making, in modern phrase, a masked +battery, and trained the pieces to sweep the causeway; with them, as a +support, he mixed archers and pikemen. On either flank, moreover, he +stationed companies similarly armed, extending them to the unbroken +wall, so there was not a space in the breach undefended. + +The Captain, on watch and expectant, heard the signal. + +"To the Emperor at Blacherne," he bade; "and say the storm is about to +break. Make haste." Then to his men: "Light the matches, and be ready +to throw the stones down." + +The hordesmen reached the edge of the ditch; that moment the guns were +unmasked, and the Genoese leader shouted: + +"Fire, my men!--_Christ and Holy Church!_" + +Then from the Christian works it was bullet, bolt, stone, and shaft, +making light of flimsy shield and surcoat of hide; still the hordesmen +pushed on, a river breasting an obstruction. Now they were on the +causeway. Useless facing about--behind them an advancing wall--on both +sides the ditch. Useless lying down--that was to be smothered in bloody +mire. Forward, forward, or die. What though the causeway was packed +with dead and wounded?--though there was no foothold not +slippery?--though the smell of hot blood filled every nostril?--though +hands thrice strengthened by despair grappled the feet making stepping +blocks of face and breast? The living pressed on leaping, stumbling, +staggering; their howl, "Gold--spoils--women--slaves," answered from +the smoking hill, "_Christ and Holy Church._" + +And now, the causeway crossed, the leading assailants gain the foot of +the rough ascent. No time to catch breath--none to look for +advantage--none to profit by a glance at the preparation to receive +them--up they must go, and up they went. Arrows and javelins pierce +them; stones crush them; the culverins spout fire in their faces, and, +lifting them off their uncertain footing, hurl them bodily back upon +the heads and shields of their comrades. Along the brow of the rocky +hill a mound of bodies arises wondrous quick, an obstacle to the +warders of the pass who would shoot, and to the hordesmen a barrier. + +Slowly the corona on the Scutarian hills deepened into dawn. The +Emperor joined Justiniani. Count Corti came with him. There was an +affectionate greeting. + +"Your Majesty, the day is scarcely full born, yet see how Islam is +rueing it." + +Constantine, following Justiniani's pointing, peered once through the +smoke; then the necessity of the moment caught him, and, taking post +between guns, he plied his long lance upon the wretches climbing the +rising mound, some without shields, some weaponless, most of them +incapable of combat. + +With the brightening of day the mound grew in height and width, until +at length the Christians sallied out upon it to meet the enemy still +pouring on. + +An hour thus. + +Suddenly, seized with a comprehension of the futility of their effort, +the hordesmen turned, and rushed from the hill and the causeway. + +The Christians suffered but few casualties; yet they would have gladly +rested. Then, from the wall above the breach, whence he had used his +bow, Count Corti descended hastily. + +"Your Majesty," he said, his countenance kindled with enthusiasm, "the +Janissaries are making ready." + +Justiniani was prompt. "Come!" he shouted. "Come every one! We must +have clear range for the guns. Down with these dead! Down with the +living. No time for pity!" + +Setting the example, presently the defenders were tossing the bodies of +their enemies down the face of the hill. + +On his horse, by the great gun, Mahommed had observed the assault, +listening while the night yet lingered. Occasionally a courier rode to +him with news from this Pacha or that one. He heard without excitement, +and returned invariably the same reply: + +"Tell him to pour the hordes in." + +At last an officer came at speed. + +"Oh, my Lord, I salute you. The city is won." + +It was clear day then, yet a light not of the morning sparkled in +Mahommed's eyes. Stooping in his saddle, he asked: "What sayest thou? +Tell me of it, but beware--if thou speakest falsely, neither God nor +Prophet shall save thee from impalement to the roots of thy tongue." + +"As I have to tell my Lord what I saw with my own eyes, I am not +afraid.... My Lord knows that where the palace of Blacherne begins on +the south there is an angle in the wall. There, while our people were +feigning an assault to amuse the Greeks, they came upon a sunken gate"-- + +"The Cercoporta--I have heard of it." + +"My Lord has the name. Trying it, they found it unfastened and +unguarded, and, pushing through a darkened passage, discovered they +were in the Palace. Mounting to the upper floor, they attacked the +unbelievers. The fighting goes on. From room to room the Christians +resist. They are now cut off, and in a little time the quarter will be +in our possession." + +Mahommed spoke to Kalil: "Take this man, and keep him safely. If he has +spoken truly, great shall be his reward; if falsely, better he were not +his mother's son." Then to one of his household: "Come hither.... Go to +the sunken gate Cercoporta, pass in, and find the chief now fighting in +the palace of Blacherne. Tell him I, Mahommed, require that he leave +the Palace to such as may follow him, and march and attack the +defenders of this gate, St. Romain, in the rear. He shall not stop to +plunder. I give him one hour in which to do my bidding. Ride thou now +as if a falcon led thee. For Allah and life!" + +Next he called his Aga of Janissaries. + +"Have the hordes before this gate retired. They have served their turn; +they have made the ditch passable, and the _Gabours_ are faint with +killing them. Observe, and when the road is cleared let go with the +Flower of the Faithful. A province to the first through; and this the +battle-cry: _Allah-il-Allah!_ They will fight under my eye. Minutes are +worth kingdoms. Go thou, and let go." + +Always in reserve, always the last resort in doubtful battle, always +the arm with which the Sultans struck the finishing blow, the +Janissaries thus summoned to take up the assault were in discipline, +spirit, and splendor of appearance the _elite_ corps of the martial +world. + +Riding to the front, the Aga halted to communicate Mahommed's orders. +Down the columns the speech was passed. + +The Flower of the Faithful were in three divisions dismounted. Throwing +off their clumsy gowns, they stood forth in glittering mail, and +shaking their brassy shields in air, shouted the old salute: "_Live the +Padishah! Live the Padishah!_" + +The road to the gate was cleared; then the Aga galloped back, and when +abreast of the yellow flag of the first division, he cried: +"_Allah-il-Allah!_ Forward!" + +And drum and trumpet breaking forth, a division moved down in column of +fifties. Slowly at first, but solidly, and with a vast stateliness it +moved. So at Pharsalia marched the legion Caesar loved--so in decision +of heady fights strode the Old Guard of the world's last Conqueror. + +Approaching the ditch, the fresh assailants set up the appointed +battle-cry, and quickening the step to double time rushed over the +terrible causeway. + +Mahommed then descended to the ditch, and remained there mounted, the +sword of Solomon in his hand, the mace of Ilderim at his saddle bow; +and though hearing him was impossible, the Faithful took fire from his +fire--enough that they were under his eye. + +The feat attempted by the hordes was then repeated, except now there +was order in disorder. The machine, though shaken and disarranged, kept +working on, working up. Somehow its weight endured. Slowly, with all +its drench and cumber, the hill was surmounted. Again a mound arose in +front of the battery--again the sally, and the deadly ply of pikes from +the top of the mound. + +The Emperor's lance splintered; he fought with a pole-axe; still even +he became sensible of a whelming pressure. In the gorge, the smoke, +loaded with lime-dust, dragged rather than lifted; no man saw down it +to the causeway; yet the ascending din and clamor, possessed of the +smiting power of a gust of wind, told of an endless array coming. + +There was not time to take account of time; but at last a Turkish +shield appeared over the ghastly rampart, glimmering as the moon +glimmers through thick vapor. Thrusts in scores were made at it, yet it +arose; then a Janissary sprang up on the heap, singing like a muezzin, +and shearing off the heads of pikes as reapers shear green rye. He was +a giant in stature and strength. Both Genoese and Greeks were disposed +to give him way. The Emperor rallied them. Still the Turk held his +footing, and other Turks were climbing to his support. Now it looked as +if the crisis were come, now as if the breach were lost. + +In the last second a cry _For Christ and Irene_ rang through the melee, +and Count Corti, leaping from a gun, confronted the Turk. + +"Ho, Son of Ouloubad! Hassan, Hassan!" [Footnote: One of the +Janissaries, Hassan d'Ouloubad, of gigantic stature and prodigious +strength, mounted to the assault under cover of his shield, his cimeter +in the right hand. He reached the rampart with thirty of his +companions. Nineteen of them were cast down, and Hassan himself fell +struck by a stone.--VON HAMMER.] he shouted, in the familiar tongue. + +"Who calls me?" the giant asked, lowering his shield, and gazing about +in surprise. + +"I call you--I, Mirza the Emir. Thy time has come. _Christ and Irene. +Now!_" + +With the word the Count struck the Janissary fairly on the flat cap +with his axe, bringing him to his knees. Almost simultaneously a heavy +stone descended upon the dazed man from a higher part of the wall, and +he rolled backward down the steep. + +Constantine and Justiniani, with others, joined the Count, but too +late. Of the fifty comrades composing Hassan's file, thirty mounted the +rampart. Eighteen of them were slain in the bout. Corti raged like a +lion; but up rushed the survivors of the next file--and the next--and +the vantage-point was lost. The Genoese, seeing it, said: + +"Your Majesty, let us retire." + +"Is it time?" + +"We must get a ditch between us and this new horde, or we are all dead +men." + +Then the Emperor shouted: "Back, every one! For love of Christ and Holy +Church, back to the galley!" + +The guns, machines, store of missiles, and space occupied by the +battery were at once abandoned. Constantine and Corti went last, facing +the foe, who warily paused to see what they had next to encounter. + +The secondary defence to which the Greeks resorted consisted of the +hulk brought up, as we have seen, by Count Corti, planted on its keel +squarely in rear of the breach, and filled with stones. From the hulk, +on right and left, wings of uncemented masonry extended to the main +wall in form thus: + +[Illustration] + +A ditch fronted the line fifteen feet in width and twelve in depth, +provided with movable planks for hasty passage. Culverins were on the +hulk, with ammunition in store. + +Greatly to the relief of the jaded Christians, who, it is easy +believing, stood not on the order of going, they beheld the reserves, +under Demetrius Palaeologus and Nicholas Giudalli, in readiness behind +the refuge. + +The Emperor, on the deck, raised the visor of his helmet, and looked up +at an Imperial flag drooping in the stagnant air from a stump of the +mast. Whatever his thought or feeling, no one could discern on his +countenance an unbecoming expression. The fact, of which he must have +been aware, that this stand taken ended his empire forever, had not +shaken his resolution or confidence. To Demetrius Palaeologus, who had +lent a hand helping him up the galley's side, he said: "Thank you, +kinsman. God may still be trusted. Open fire." + +The Janissaries, astonished at the new and strange defence, would have +retreated, but could not; the files ascending behind drove them +forward. At the edge of the ditch the foremost of them made a +despairing effort to resist the pressure rushing them to their +fate--down they went in mass, in their last service no better than the +hordesmen--clods they became--clods in bright harness instead of +bull-hide and shaggy astrakhan. + +From the wings, bolts and stones; from the height of the wall, bolts +and stones; from the hulk, grapeshot; and the rattle upon the shields +of the Faithful was as the passing of empty chariots over a Pompeiian +street. Imprecations, prayers, yells, groans, shrieks, had lodgement +only in the ear of the Most Merciful. The open maw of a ravenous +monster swallowing the column fast as Mahommed down by the great moat +drove it on--such was the new ditch. + +Yet another, the final horror. When the ditch was partially filled, the +Christians brought jugs of the inflammable liquid contributed to the +defence by John Grant; and cast them down on the writhing heap. +Straightway the trench became a pocket of flame, or rather an oven from +which the smell of roasting human flesh issued along with a choking +cloud! + +The besieged were exultant, as they well might be--they were more than +holding the redoubtable Flower of the Faithful at bay--there was even a +merry tone in their battle-cry. About that time a man dismounted from a +foaming horse, climbed the rough steps to the deck of the galley, and +delivered a message to the Emperor. + +"Your Majesty. John Grant, Minotle the bayle, Carystos, Langasco, and +Jerome the Italian are slain. Blacherne is in possession of the Turks, +and they are marching this way. The hordes are in the streets. I saw +them, and heard the bursting of doors, and the screams of women." + +Constantine crossed himself three times, and bowed his head. + +Justiniani turned the color of ashes, and exclaimed: + +"We are undone--undone! All is lost!" And that his voice was hoarse did +not prevent the words being overheard. The fire slackened--ceased. Men +fighting jubilantly dropped their arms, and took up the cry--"All is +lost! The hordes are in, the hordes are in!" + +Doubtless Count Corti's thought sped to the fair woman waiting for him +in the chapel, yet he kept clear head. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "my Berbers are without. I will take them, and +hold the Turks in check while you draw assistance from the walls. +Or"--he hesitated, "or I will defend your person to the ships. It is +not too late." + +Indeed, there was ample time for the Emperor's escape. The Berbers were +keeping his horse with Corti's. He had but to mount, and ride away. No +doubt he was tempted. There is always some sweetness in life, +especially to the blameless. He raised his head, and said to Justiniani: + +"Captain, my guard will remain here. To keep the galley they have only +to keep the fire alive in the ditch. You and I will go out to meet the +enemy." ... Then he addressed himself to Corti: "To horse, Count, and +bring Theophilus Palaeologus. He is on the wall between this gate and +the gate Selimbria.... Ho, Christian gentlemen," he continued, to the +soldiers closing around him, "all is not lost. The Bochiardi at the +Adrianople gate have not been heard from. To fly from an unseen foe +were shameful, We are still hundreds strong. Let us descend, and form. +God cannot"-- + +That instant Justiniani uttered a loud cry, and dropped the axe he was +holding. An arrow had pierced the scales of his gauntlet, and disabled +his hand. The pain, doubtless, was great, and he started hastily as if +to descend from the deck. Constantine called out: + +"Captain, Captain!" + +"Give me leave, Your Majesty, to go and have this wound dressed." + +"Where, Captain?" + +"To my ship." + +The Emperor threw his visor up--his face was flushed--in his soul +indignation contended with astonishment. + +"No, Captain, the wound cannot be serious; and besides, how canst thou +get to thy ships?" + +Justiniani looked over the bulwark of the vessel. The alley from the +gate ran on between houses abutting the towers. A ball from one of +Mahommed's largest guns had passed through the right-hand building, +leaving a ragged fissure. Thither the Captain now pointed. + +"God opened that breach to let the Turks in. I will go out by it." + +He stayed no longer, but went down the steps, and in haste little short +of a run disappeared through the fissure so like a breach. + +The desertion was in view of his Genoese, of whom a few followed him, +but not all. Many who had been serving the guns took swords and pikes, +and gathering about the Emperor, cried out: + +"Give orders, Your Majesty. We will bide with you." + +He returned them a look full of gratitude. + +"I thank you, gentlemen. Let us go down, and join our shields across +the street. To my guard I commit defence of the galley." + +Unfastening the purple half-cloak at his back, and taking off his +helmet, he called to his sword-bearer: "Here, take thou these, and give +me my sword.... Now, gallant gentlemen--now, my brave countrymen--we +will put ourselves in the keeping of Heaven. Come!" + +They had not all gained the ground, however, when there arose a clamor +in their front, and the hordesmen appeared, and blocking up the +passage, opened upon them with arrows and stones, while such as had +javelins and swords attacked them hand to hand. + +The Christians behaved well, but none better than Constantine. He +fought with strength, and in good countenance; his blade quickly +reddened to the hilt. + +"Strike, my countrymen, for city and home. Strike, every one, for +_Christ and Holy Church!_" + +And answering him: "_Christ and Holy Church!_" they all fought as they +had strength, and their swords were also reddened to the hilt. Quarter +was not asked; neither was it given. Theirs to hold the ground, and +they held it. They laid the hordesmen out over it in scattered heaps +which grew, and presently became one long heap the width of the alley; +and they too fell, but, as we are willing to believe, unconscious of +pain because lapped in the delirium of battle-fever. + +Five minutes--ten--fifteen--then through the breach by which Justiniani +ingloriously fled Theophilus Palaeologus came with bared brand to +vindicate his imperial blood by nobly dying; and with him came Count +Corti, Francesco de Toledo, John the Dalmatian, and a score and more +Christian gentlemen who well knew the difference between an honorable +death and a dishonored life. + +Steadily the sun arose. Half the street was in its light, the other +half in its shade; yet the struggle endured; nor could any man have +said God was not with the Christians. Suddenly a louder shouting arose +behind them. They who could, looked to see what it meant, and the +bravest stood stone still at sight of the Janissaries swarming on the +galley. Over the roasting bodies of their comrades, undeterred by the +inextinguishable fire, they had crossed the ditch, and were slaying the +imperial body-guard. A moment, and they would be in the alley, and +then-- + +Up rose a wail: "The Janissaries, the Janissaries! _Kyrie Eleison!_" +Through the knot of Christians it passed--it reached Constantine in the +forefront, and he gave way to the antagonist with whom he was engaged. + +"God receive my soul!" he exclaimed; and dropping his sword, he turned +about, and rushed back with wide extended arms. + +"Friends--countrymen!--Is there no Christian to kill me?" + +Then they understood why he had left his helmet off. + +While those nearest stared at him, their hearts too full of pity to do +him the last favor one can ask of another, from the midst of the +hordesmen there came a man of singular unfitness for such a +scene--indeed a delicate woman had not been more out of place--for he +was small, stooped, withered, very white haired, very pale, and much +bearded--a black velvet cap on his head, and a gown of the like about +his body, unarmed, and in every respect unmartial. He seemed to glide +in amongst the Christians as he had glided through the close press of +the Turks; and as the latter had given him way, so now the sword points +of the Christians went down--men in the heat of action forgot +themselves, and became bystanders--such power was there in the +unearthly eyes of the apparition. + +"Is there no Christian to kill me?" cried the Emperor again. + +The man in velvet stood before him. + +"Prince of India!" + +"You know me? It is well; for now I know you are not beyond +remembering." The voice was shrill and cutting, yet it shrilled and cut +the sharper. + +"Remember the day I called on you to acknowledge God, and give him his +due of worship. Remember the day I prayed you on my knees to lend me +your power to save my child, stolen for a purpose by all peoples held +unholy. Behold your executioner!" + +He stepped back, and raised a hand; and ere one of those standing by +could so much as cry to God, Nilo, who, in the absorption of interest +in his master, had followed him unnoticed--Nilo, gorgeous in his +barbarisms of Kash-Cush, sprang into the master's place. He did not +strike; but with infinite cruel cunning of hand--no measurable lapse of +time ensuing--drew the assegai across the face of the astonished +Emperor. Constantine--never great till that moment of death, but then +great forever--fell forward upon his shield, calling in strangled +utterance: "God receive my soul!" + +The savage set his foot upon the mutilated countenance, crushing it +into a pool of blood. An instant, then through the petrified throng, +knocking them right and left, Count Corti appeared. + +"_For Christ and Irene!_" he shouted, dashing the spiked boss of his +shield into Nilo's eyes--down upon the feathered coronal he brought his +sword--and the negro fell sprawling upon the Emperor. + +Oblivious to the surroundings, Count Corti, on his knees, raised the +Emperor's head, slightly turning the face--one look was enough. "His +soul is sped!" he said; and while he was tenderly replacing the head, a +hand grasped his cap. He sprang to his feet. Woe to the intruder, if an +enemy! The sword which had known no failure was drawn back to +thrust--above the advanced foot the shield hung in ready poise--between +him and the challenger there was only a margin of air and the briefest +interval of time--his breath was drawn, and his eyes gleamed with +vengeful murder--but--some power invisible stayed his arm, and into his +memory flashed the lightning of recognition. + +"Prince of India," he shouted, "never wert thou nearer death!" + +"Thou--liest! Death--and--I"-- + +The words were long drawn between gasps, and the speech was never +finished. The tongue thickened, then paralyzed. The features, already +distorted with passion, swelled, and blackened horribly. The eyes +rolled back--the hands flew up, the fingers apart and rigid--the body +rocked--stiffened--then fell, sliding from the Count's shield across +the dead Emperor. + +The combat meantime had gone on. Corti, with a vague feeling that the +Prince's flight of soul was a mystery in keeping with his life, took a +second to observe him, and muttered: "Peace to him also!" + +Looking about him then, he was made aware that the Christians, attacked +in front and rear, were drawing together around the body of +Constantine--that their resistance was become the last effort of brave +men hopeless except of the fullest possible payment for their lives. +This was succeeded by a conviction of duty done on his part, and of +every requirement of honor fulfilled; thereupon with a great throb of +heart, his mind reverted to the Princess Irene waiting for him in the +chapel. He must go to her. But how? And was it not too late? + +There are men whose wits are supernaturally quickened by danger. The +Count, pushing through the intervening throng, boldly presented himself +to the Janissaries, shouting while warding the blows they aimed at him: + +"Have done, O madmen! See you not I am your comrade, Mirza the Emir? +Have done, I say, and let me pass. I have a message for the Padishah!" + +He spoke Turkish, and having been an idol in the barracks--their best +swordsman--envied, and at the same time beloved--they knew him, and +with acclamations opened their files, and let him pass. + +By the fissure which had served Justiniani, he escaped from the +terrible alley, and finding his Berbers and his horse, rode with speed +for the residence of the Princess Irene. + +Not a Christian survived the combat. Greek, Genoese, Italian lay in +ghastly composite with hordesmen and mailed Moslems around the Emperor. +In dying they had made good their battle-cry--_For Christ and Holy +Church!_ Let us believe they will yet have their guerdon. + +About an hour after the last of them had fallen, when the narrow +passage was deserted by the living--the conquerors having moved on in +search of their hire--the Prince of India aroused, and shook himself +free of the corpses cumbering him. Upon his knees he gazed at the +dead--then at the place--then at the sky. He rubbed his hands--made +sure he was sound of person--he seemed uncertain, not of life, but of +himself. In fact, he was asking, Who am I? And the question had +reference to the novel sensations of which he was conscious. What was +it coursing through his veins? Wine?--Elixir?--Some new principle +which, hidden away amongst the stores of nature, had suddenly evolved +for him? The weights of age were gone. In his body--bones, arms, limbs, +muscles--he recognized once more the glorious impulses of youth; but +his mind--he started--the ideas which had dominated him were beginning +to return--and memory! It surged back upon him, and into its wonted +chambers, like a wave which, under pressure of a violent wind, has been +momentarily driven from a familiar shore. He saw, somewhat faintly at +first, the events which had been promontories and lofty peaks cast up +out of the level of his long existence. Then THAT DAY and THAT EVENT! +How distinctly they reappeared to him! They must be the same--must +be--for he beheld the multitude on its way to Calvary, and the Victim +tottering under the Cross; he heard the Tribune ask, "Ho, is this the +street to Golgotha?" He heard his own answer, "I will guide you;" and +he spit upon the fainting Man of Sorrows, and struck him. And then the +words--"TARRY THOU TILL I COME!" identified him to himself. He looked +at his hands--they were black with what had been some other man's +life-blood, but under the stain the skin was smooth--a little water +would make them white. And what was that upon his breast? Beard--beard +black as a raven's wing! He plucked a lock of hair from his head. It, +too, was thick with blood, but it was black. Youth--youth--joyous, +bounding, eager, hopeful youth was his once more! He stood up, and +there was no creak of rust in the hinges of his joints; he knew he was +standing inches higher in the sunlit air; and a cry burst from him--"O +God, I give thanks!" The hymn stopped there, for between him and the +sky, as if it were ascending transfigured, he beheld the Victim of the +Crucifixion; and the eyes, no longer sad, but full of accusing majesty, +were looking downward at him, and the lips were in speech: "TARRY THOU +TILL I COME!" He covered his face with his hands. Yes, yes, he had his +youth back again, but it was with the old mind and nature--youth, that +the curse upon him might, in the mortal sense, be eternal! And pulling +his black hair with his young hands, wrenching at his black beard, it +was given him to see he had undergone his fourteenth transformation, +and that between this one and the last there was no lapse of +connection. Old age had passed, leaving the conditions and +circumstances of its going to the youth which succeeded. The new life +in starting picked up and loaded itself with every burden and all the +misery of the old. So now while burrowing, as it were, amongst dead +men, his head upon the breast of the Emperor whom, treating Nilo as an +instrument in his grip, he had slain, he thought most humanly of the +effects of the transformation. + +First of all, his personal identity was lost, and he was once more a +Wanderer without an acquaintance, a friend, or a sympathizer on the +earth. To whom could he now address himself with a hope of recognition? +His heart went out primarily to Lael--he loved her. Suppose he found +her, and offered to take her in his arms; she would repulse him. "Thou +art not my father. He was old--thou art young." And Syama, whose +bereavements of sense had recommended him for confidant in the event of +his witnessing the dreaded circumstance just befallen--if he addressed +himself to Syama, the faithful creature would deny him. "No; my master +was old--his hair and beard were white--thou art a youth. Go hence." +And then Mahommed, to whom he had been so useful in bringing additional +empire, and a glory which time would make its own forever--did he seek +Mahommed again--"Thou art not the Prince of India, my peerless +Messenger of the Stars. He was old--his hair and beard were white--thou +art a boy. Ho, guards, take this impostor, and do with him as ye did +with Balta-Ogli stretch him on the ground, and beat the breath out of +him." + +There is nothing comes to us, whether in childhood or age, so crushing +as a sense of isolation. Who will deny it had to do with the +marshalling of worlds, and the peopling them--with creation? + +These reflections did but wait upon the impulse which still further +identified him to himself--the impulse to go and keep going--and he +cast about for solaces. + +"It is the Judgment," he said, with a grim smile; "but my stores +remain, and Hiram of Tyre is yet my friend. I have my experience of +more than a thousand years, and with it youth again. I cannot make men +better, and God refuses my services. Nevertheless I will devise new +opportunities. The earth is round, and upon its other side there must +be another world. Perhaps I can find some daring spirit equal to the +voyage and discovery--some one Heaven may be more willing to favor. But +this meeting place of the old continents"--he looked around him, and +then to the sky--"with my farewell, I leave it the curse of the most +accursed. The desired of nations, it shall be a trouble to them +forever." + +Then he saw Nilo under a load of corpses, and touched by remembrance of +the poor savage's devotion, he uncovered him to get at his heart, which +was still beating. Next he threw away his cap and gown, replaced them +with a bloody tarbousche and a shaggy Angora mantle, selected a +javelin, and sauntered leisurely on into the city. Having seen +Constantinople pillaged by Christians, he was curious to see it now +sacked by Moslems--there might be a further solace in the comparison. + +[Footnote: According to the earliest legends, the Wandering Jew was +about thirty years old when he stood in the road to Golgotha, and +struck the Saviour, and ordered him to go forward. At the end of every +hundred years, the undying man falls into a trance, during which his +body returns to the age it was when the curse was pronounced. In all +other respects he remains unchanged.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + +Count Corti, we may well believe, did not spare his own steed, or those +of his Berbers; and there was a need of haste of which he was not aware +upon setting out from St. Romain. The Turks had broken through the +resistance of the Christian fleet in the harbor, and were surging into +the city by the gate St. Peter (Phanar), which was perilously near the +residence of the Princess Irene. + +Already the spoil-seekers were making sure of their hire. More than +once he dashed by groups of them hurrying along the streets in search +of houses most likely to repay plundering. There were instances when he +overtook hordesmen already happy in the possession of "strings of +slaves;" that is to say, of Greeks, mostly women and children, tied by +their hands to ropes, and driven mercilessly on. The wailing and +prayers of the unfortunate smote the Count to the heart; he longed to +deliver them; but he had given his best efforts to save them in the +struggle to save the city, and had failed; now it would be a providence +of Heaven could he rescue the woman waiting for him in such faith as +was due his word and honor specially plighted to her. As the pillagers +showed no disposition to interfere with him, he closed his eyes and +ears to their brutalities, and sped forward. + +The district in which the Princess dwelt was being overrun when he at +last drew rein at her door. With a horrible dread, he alighted, and +pushed in unceremoniously. The reception-room was empty. Was he too +late? Or was she then in Sancta Sophia? He flew to the chapel, and +blessed God and Christ and the Mother, all in a breath. She was before +the altar in the midst of her attendants. Sergius stood at her side, +and of the company they alone were perfectly self-possessed. A white +veil lay fallen over her shoulders; save that, she was in unrelieved +black. The pallor of her countenance, caused, doubtless, by weeks of +care and unrest, detracted slightly from the marvelous beauty which was +hers by nature; but it seemed sorrow and danger only increased the +gentle dignity always observable in her speech and manner. + +"Princess Irene," he said, hastening forward, and reverently saluting +her hand, "if you are still of the mind to seek refuge in Sancta +Sophia, I pray you, let us go thither." + +"We are ready," she returned. "But tell me of the Emperor." + +The Count bent very low. + +"Your kinsman is beyond insult and further humiliation. His soul is +with God." + +Her eyes glistened with tears, and partly to conceal her emotion she +turned to the picture above the altar, and said, in a low voice, and +brokenly: + +"O Holy Mother, have thou his soul in thy tender care, and be with me +now, going to what fate I know not." + +The young women surrounded her, and on their knees filled the chapel +with sobbing and suppressed wails. Striving for composure himself, the +Count observed them, and was at once assailed by an embarrassment. + +They were twenty and more. Each had a veil over her head; yet from the +delicacy of their hands he could imagine their faces, while their rank +was all too plainly certified by the elegance of their garments. As a +temptation to the savages, their like was not within the walls. How was +he to get them safely to the Church, and defend them there? He was used +to military problems, and decision was a habit with him; still he was +sorely tried--indeed, he was never so perplexed. + +The Princess finished her invocation to the Holy Mother. + +"Count Corti," she said, "I now place myself and these, my sisters in +misfortune, under thy knightly care. Only suffer me to send for one +other.--Go, Sergius, and bring Lael." + +One other! + +"Now God help me!" he cried, involuntarily; and it seemed he was heard. + +"Princess," he returned, "the Turks have possession of the streets. On +my way I passed them with prisoners whom they were driving, and they +appeared to respect a right of property acquired. Perhaps they will be +not less observant to me; wherefore bring other veils here--enough to +bind these ladies two and two." + +As she seemed hesitant, he added: "Pardon me, but in the streets you +must all go afoot, to appearances captives just taken." + +The veils were speedily produced, and the Princess bound her trembling +companions in couples hand to hand; submitting finally to be herself +tied to Lael. Then when Sergius was more substantially joined to the +ancient Lysander, the household sallied forth. + +A keener realization of the situation seized the gentler portion of the +procession once they were in the street, and they there gave way to +tears, sobs, and loud appeals to the Saints and Angels of Mercy. + +The Count rode in front; four of his Berbers moved on each side; Sheik +Hadifah guarded the rear; and altogether a more disconsolate company of +captives it were hard imagining. A rope passing from the first couple +to the last was the only want required to perfect the resemblance to +the actual slave droves at the moment on nearly every thoroughfare in +Constantinople. + +The weeping cortege passed bands of pillagers repeatedly. + +Once what may be termed a string in fact was met going in the opposite +direction; women and children, and men and women were lashed together, +like animals, and their lamentations were piteous. If they fell or +faltered, they were beaten. It seemed barbarity could go no further. + +Once the Count was halted. A man of rank, with a following at his +heels, congratulated him in Turkish: + +"O friend, thou hast a goodly capture." + +The stranger came nearer. + +"I will give you twenty gold pieces for this one," pointing to the +Princess Irene, who, fortunately, could not understand him--"and +fifteen for this one." + +"Go thy way, and quickly," said Corti, sternly. + +"Dost thou threaten me?" + +"By the Prophet, yes--with my sword, and the Padishah." + +"The Padishah! Oh, ho!" and the man turned pale. "God is great--I give +him praise." + +At last the Count alighted before the main entrance of the Church. By +friendly chance, also--probably because the site was far down toward +the sea, in a district not yet reached by the hordesmen--the space in +front of the vestibule was clear of all but incoming fugitives; and he +had but to knock at the door, and give the name of the Princess Irene +to gain admission. + +In the vestibule the party were relieved of their bonds; after which +they passed into the body of the building, where they embraced each +other, and gave praise aloud for what they considered a final +deliverance from death and danger; in their transports, they kissed the +marbles of the floor again and again. + +While this affecting scene was going on, Corti surveyed the interior. +The freest pen cannot do more than give the view with a clearness to +barely stimulate the reader's imagination. + +It was about eleven o'clock. The smoke of battle which had overlain the +hills of the city was dissipated; so the sun, nearing high noon, poured +its full of splendor across the vast nave in rays slanted from south to +north, and a fine, almost impalpable dust hanging from the dome in the +still air, each ray shone through it in vivid, half-prismatic relief +against the shadowy parts of the structure. Such pillars in the +galleries as stood in the paths of the sunbeams seemed effulgent, like +emeralds and rubies. His eyes, however, refused everything except the +congregation of people. + +"O Heaven!" he exclaimed. "What is to become of these poor souls!" + +Byzantium, it must be recalled, had had its triumphal days, when Greeks +drew together, like Jews on certain of their holy occasions; +undoubtedly the assemblages then were more numerous, but never had +there been one so marked by circumstances. This was the funeral day of +the Empire! + +Let the reader try to recompose the congregation the Count +beheld--civilians--soldiers--nuns--monks--monks bearded, monks shaven, +monks tonsured--monks in high hats and loose veils, monks in gowns +scarce distinguishable from gowns of women--monks by the thousand. Ah, +had they but dared a manly part on the walls, the cause of the Christ +for whom they affected such devotion would not have suffered the +humiliation to which it was now going! As to the mass in general, let +the reader think of the rich jostled by the poor--fine ladies careless +if their robes took taint from the Lazarus' next them--servants for +once at least on a plane with haughty masters--Senators and +slaves--grandsires--mothers with their infants--old and young, high and +low, all in promiscuous presence--society at an end--Sancta Sophia a +universal last refuge. And by no means least strange, let the reader +fancy the refugees on their knees, silent as ghosts in a tomb, except +that now and then the wail of a child broke the awful hush, and gazing +over their shoulders, not at the altar, but toward the doors of +entrance; then let him understand that every one in the smother of +assemblage--every one capable of thought--was in momentary expectation +of a miracle. + +Here and there moved priestly figures, holding crucifixes aloft, and +halting at times to exhort in low voices: "Be not troubled, O dearly +beloved of Christ! The angel will appear by the old column. If the +powers of hell are not to prevail against the Church, what may men do +against the sword of God?" + +The congregation was waiting for the promised angel to rescue them from +the Barbarians. + +Of opinion that the chancel, or space within the railing of the apse +opposite him, was a better position for his charge than the crowded +auditorium, partly because he could more easily defend them there, and +partly because Mahommed when he arrived would naturally look for the +Princess near the altar, the Count, with some trouble, secured a place +within it behind the brazen balustrade at the right of the gate. The +invasion of the holy reserve by the Berbers was viewed askance, but +submitted to; thereupon the Princess and her suite took to waiting and +praying. + +Afterwhile the doors in the east were barred by the janitor. + +Still later there was knocking at them loud enough to be by authority. +The janitor had become deaf. + +Later still a yelling as of a mob out in the vestibule penetrated to +the interior, and a shiver struck the expectant throng, less from a +presentiment of evil at hand than a horrible doubt. An angel of the +Lord would hardly adopt such an incongruous method of proclaiming the +miracle done. A murmur of invocation began with those nearest the +entrances, and ran from the floor to the galleries. As it spread, the +shouting increased in volume and temper. Ere long the doors were +assailed. The noise of a blow given with determination rang dreadful +warning through the whole building, and the concourse arose. + +The women shrieked: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +Even the nuns who had been practising faith for years joined their lay +sisters in crying: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +The great, gowned, cowardly monks dropped their crucifixes, and, like +the commoner sons of the Church, howled: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +Finally the doors were battered in, and sure enough--there stood the +hordesmen, armed and panoplied each according to his tribe or personal +preference--each a most unlikely delivering angel. + +This completed the panic. + +In the vicinity of the ruined doors everybody, overcome by terror, +threw himself upon those behind, and the impulsion thus started gained +force while sweeping on. As ever in such cases, the weak were the +sufferers. Children were overrun--infants dashed from the arms of +mothers--men had need of their utmost strength--and the wisdom of the +Count in seeking the chancel was proved. The massive brazen railing +hardly endured the pressure when the surge reached it; but it stood, +and the Princess and her household--all, in fact, within the +chancel--escaped the crushing, but not the horror. + +The spoilsmen were in strength, but they were prudently slow in +persuading themselves that the Greeks were unarmed, and incapable of +defending the Church. Ere long they streamed in, and for the first time +in the history of the edifice the colossal Christ on the ceiling above +the altar was affronted by the slogan of Islam--_Allah-il-Allah_. + +Strange now as it may appear to the reader, there is no mention in the +chronicles of a life lost that day within the walls of Sancta Sophia. +The victors were there for plunder, not vengeance, and believing there +was more profit in slaves than any other kind of property, their effort +was to save rather than kill. The scene was beyond peradventure one of +the cruelest in history, but the cruelty was altogether in taking +possession of captives. + +Tossing their arms of whatever kind upon their backs, the savages +pushed into the pack of Christians to select whom they would have. We +may be sure the old, sick, weakly, crippled, and very young were +discarded, and the strong and vigorous chosen. Remembering also how +almost universally the hordes were from the East, we may be sure a +woman was preferred to a man, and a pretty woman to an ugly one. + +The hand shrinks from trying to depict the agonies of separation which +ensued--mothers torn from their children, wives from husbands--their +shrieks, entreaties, despair--the mirthful brutality with which their +pitiful attempts at resistance were met--the binding and dragging +away--the last clutch of love--the final disappearance. It is only +needful to add that the rapine involved the galleries no less than the +floor. All things considered, the marvel is that the cry--there was but +one, just as the sounds of many waters are but one to the ear--which +then tore the habitual silence of the august temple should have ever +ceased--and it would not if, in its duration, human sympathy were less +like a flitting echo. + +Next to women, the monks were preferred, and the treatment they +received was not without its touches of grim humor. Their cowls were +snatched off, and bandied about, their hats crushed over their ears, +their veils stuffed in their mouths to stifle their outcries, their +rosaries converted into scourges; and the laughter when a string of +them passed to the doors was long and loud. They had pulled their +monasteries down upon themselves. If the Emperor, then lying in the +bloody alley of St. Romain, dead through their bigotry, superstition, +and cowardice, had been vengeful in the slightest degree, a knowledge +of the judgment come upon them so soon would have been at least restful +to his spirit. + +It must not be supposed Count Corti was indifferent while this +appalling scene was in progress. The chancel, he foresaw, could not +escape the foray. There was the altar, loaded with donatives in gold +and precious stones, a blazing pyramidal invitation. When the doors +were burst in, he paused a moment to see if Mahommed were coming. + +"The hordes are here, O Princess, but not the Sultan." + +She raised her veil, and regarded him silently. + +"I see now but one resort. As Mirza the Emir, I must meet the pillagers +by claiming the Sultan sent me in advance to capture and guard you for +him." + +"We are at mercy, Count Corti," she replied. "Heaven deal with you as +you deal with us." + +"If the ruse fails, Princess, I can die for you. Now tie yourselves as +before--two and two, hand to hand. It may be they will call on me to +distinguish such as are my charge." + +She cast a glance of pity about her. + +"And these, Count--these poor women not of my house, and the +children--can you not save them also?" + +"Alas, dear lady! The Blessed Mother must be their shield." + +While the veils were being applied, the surge against the railing took +place, leaving a number of dead and fainting across it. + +"Hadifah," the Count called out, "clear the way to yon chair against +the wall." + +The Sheik set about removing the persons blockading the space, and +greatly affected by their condition, the Princess interceded for them. + +"Nay, Count, disturb them not. Add not to their terror, I pray." + +But the Count was a soldier; in case of an affray, he wanted the +advantage of a wall at his back. + +"Dear lady, it was the throne of your fathers, now yours. I will seat +you there. From it you can best treat with the Lord Mahommed." + +Ere long some of the hordes--half a dozen or more--came to the chancel +gate. They were of the rudest class of Anatolian shepherds, clad +principally in half-cloaks of shaggy goat skin. Each bore at his back a +round buckler, a bow, and a clumsy quiver of feathered arrows. Awed by +the splendor of the altar and its surroundings, they stopped; then, +with shouts, they rushed at the tempting display, unmindful of the +living spoils crouched on the floor dumb with terror. Others of a like +kind reenforced them, and there was a fierce scramble. The latest +comers turned to the women, and presently discovered the Princess Irene +sitting upon the throne. One, more eager than the rest, was indisposed +to respect the Berbers. + +"Here are slaves worth having. Get your ropes," he shouted to his +companions. + +The Count interposed. + +"Art thou a believer?" he asked in Turkish. + +They surveyed him doubtfully, and then turned to Hadifah and his men, +tall, imperturbable looking, their dark faces visible through their +open hoods of steel. They looked at their shields also, and at their +bare cimeters resting points to the floor. + +"Why do you ask?" the man returned. + +"Because, as thou mayst see, we also are of the Faithful, and do not +wish harm to any whose mothers have taught them to begin the day with +the Fah-hat." + +The fellow was impressed. + +"Who art thou?" + +"I am the Emir Mirza, of the household of our Lord the Padishah--to +whom be all the promises of the Koran! These are slaves I selected for +him--all these thou seest in bonds. I am keeping them till he arrives. +He will be here directly. He is now coming." + +A man wearing a bloody tarbousche joined the pillagers, during this +colloquy, and pressing in, heard the Emir's name passing from mouth to +mouth. + +"The Emir Mirza! I knew him, brethren. He commanded the caravan, and +kept the _mahmals,_ the year I made the pilgrimage.... Stand off, and +let me see." After a short inspection, he continued: "Truly as there is +no God but God, this is he. I was next him at the most holy corner of +the Kaaba when he fell down struck by the plague. I saw him kiss the +Black Stone, and by virtue of the kiss he lived.... Ay, stand back--or +if you touch him, or one of these in his charge, and escape his hand, +ye shall not escape the Padishah, whose first sword he is, even as +Khalid was first sword for the Prophet--exalted be his name!... Give me +thy hand, O valiant Emir." + +He kissed the Count's hand. + +"Arise, O son of thy father," said Corti; "and when our master, the +Lord Mahommed, hath set up his court and harem, seek me for reward." + +The man stayed awhile, although there was no further show of +interference; and he looked past the Princess to Lael cowering near +her. He took no interest in what was going on around him--Lael alone +attracted him. At last he shifted his sheepskin covering higher upon +his shoulders, and left these words with the Count: + +"The women are not for the harem. I understand thee, O Mirza. When the +Lord Mahommed hath set up his court, do thou tell the little Jewess +yonder that her father the Prince of India charged thee to give her his +undying love." + +Count Corti was wonder struck--he could not speak--and so the Wandering +Jew vanished from his sight as he now vanishes from our story. + +The selection among the other refugees in the chancel proceeded until +there was left of them only such as were considered not worth the +having. + +A long time passed, during which the Princess Irene sat with veil drawn +close, trying to shut out the horror of the scene. Her attendants, +clinging to the throne and to each other, seemed a heap of dead women. +At last a crash of music was heard in the vestibule--drums, cymbals, +and trumpets in blatant flourish. Four runners, slender lads, in short, +sleeveless jackets over white shirts, and wide trousers of yellow silk, +barefooted and bareheaded, stepped lightly through the central doorway, +and, waving wands tipped with silver balls, cried, in long-toned shrill +iteration: "The Lord Mahommed--Mahommed, Sultan of Sultans." + +The spoilsmen suspended their hideous labor--the victims, moved +doubtless by a hope of rescue, gave over their lamentations and +struggling--only the young children, and the wounded, and suffering +persisted in vexing the floor and galleries. + +Next to enter were the five official heralds. Halting, they blew a +triumphant refrain, at which the thousands of eyes not too blinded by +misery turned to them. + +And Mahommed appeared! + +He too had escaped the Angel of the false monks! + +When the fighting ceased in the harbor, and report assured him of the +city at mercy, Mahommed gave order to make the Gate St. Romain passable +for horsemen, and with clever diplomacy summoned the Pachas and other +military chiefs to his tent; it was his pleasure that they should +assist him in taking possession of the prize to which he had been +helped by their valor. With a rout so constituted at his back, and an +escort of _Silihdars_ mounted, the runners and musicians preceding him, +he made his triumphal entry into Constantinople, traversing the ruins +of the towers Bagdad and St. Romain. + +He was impatient and restless. In their ignorance of his passion for +the Grecian Princess, his ministers excused his behavior on account of +his youth [Footnote: He was in his twenty-third year.] and the +greatness of his achievement. Passing St. Romain, it was also observed +he took no interest in the relics of combat still there. He gave his +guides but one order: + +"Take me to the house the _Gabours_ call the Glory of God." + +"Sancta Sophia, my Lord?" + +"Sancta Sophia--and bid the runners run." + +His Sheik-ul-Islam was pleased. + +"Hear!" he said to the dervishes with him. "The Lord Mahommed will make +mosques of the houses of Christ before sitting down in one of the +palaces. His first honors are to God and the Prophet." + +And they dutifully responded: "Great are God and his Prophet! Great is +Mahommed, who conquers in their names!" + +The public edifices by which he was guided--churches, palaces, and +especially the high aqueduct, excited his admiration; but he did not +slacken the fast trot in which he carried his loud cavalcade past them +until at the Hippodrome. + +"What thing of devilish craft is here?" he exclaimed, stopping in front +of the Twisted Serpents. "Thus the Prophet bids me!" and with a blow of +his mace, he struck off the lower jaw of one of the Pythons. + +Again the dervishes shouted: "Great is Mahommed, the servant of God!" + +It was his preference to be taken to the eastern front of Sancta +Sophia, and in going the guides led him by the corner of the Bucoleon. +At sight of the vast buildings, their incomparable colonnades and +cornices, their domeless stretches of marble and porphyry, he halted +the second time, and in thought of the vanity of human glory, recited: + + "The spider hath woven his web in the imperial palace; + And the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of + Afrasiab." + +In the space before the Church, as elsewhere along the route he had +come, the hordes were busy carrying off their wretched captives; but he +affected not to see them. They had bought the license of him, many of +them with their blood. + +At the door the suite dismounted. Mahommed however, kept his saddle +while surveying the gloomy exterior. Presently he bade: + +"Let the runners and the heralds enter." + +Hardly were they gone in, when he spoke to one of his pages: "Here, +take thou this, and give me my cimeter." And then, receiving the +ruby-hilted sword of Solomon in exchange for the mace of Ilderim, +without more ado he spurred his horse up the few broad stone steps, and +into the vestibule. Thence, the contemptuous impulse yet possessing +him, he said loudly: "The house is defiled with idolatrous images. +Islam is in the saddle." + +In such manner--mounted, sword in hand, shield behind him--clad in +beautiful gold-washed chain mail, the very ideal of the immortal Emir +who won Jerusalem from the Crusaders, and restored it to Allah and the +Prophet--Mahommed made his first appearance in Sancta Sophia. + +Astonishment seized him. He checked his horse. Slowly his gaze ranged +over the floor--up to the galleries--up--up to the swinging dome--in +all architecture nothing so nearly a self-depending sky. + +"Here, take the sword--give me back my mace," he said. + +And in a fit of enthusiasm, not seeing, not caring for the screaming +wretches under hoof, he rode forward, and, standing at full height in +his stirrups, shouted: "Idolatry be done! Down with the Trinity. Let +Christ give way for the last and greatest of the Prophets! To God the +one God, I dedicate this house!" + +Therewith he dashed the mace against a pillar; and as the steel +rebounded, the pillar trembled. [Footnote: The guides, if good Moslems, +take great pleasure in showing tourists the considerable dent left by +this blow in the face of the pillar.] + +"Now give me the sword again, and call Achmet, my muezzin--Achmet with +the flute in his throat." + +The moods of Mahommed were swift going and coming. Riding out a few +steps, he again halted to give the floor a look. This time evidently +the house was not in his mind. The expression on his face became +anxious. He was searching for some one, and moved forward so slowly the +people could get out of his way, and his suite overtake him. At length +he observed the half-stripped altar in the apse, and went to it. + +The colossal Christ on the ceiling peered down on him through the +shades beginning to faintly fill the whole west end. + +Now he neared the brazen railing of the chancel--now he was at the +gate--his countenance changed--his eyes brightened--he had discovered +Count Corti. Swinging lightly from his saddle, he passed with steps of +glad impatience through the gateway. + +Then to Count Corti came the most consuming trial of his adventurous +life. + +The light was still strong enough to enable him to see across the +Church. Comprehending the flourish of the heralds, he saw the man on +horseback enter; and the mien, the pose in the saddle, the rider's +whole outward expose of spirit, informed him with such certainty as +follows long and familiar association, that Mahommed was +come--Mahommed, his ideal of romantic orientalism in arms. A tremor +shook him--his cheek whitened. To that moment anxiety for the Princess +had held him so entirely he had not once thought of the consequences of +the wager lost; now they were let loose upon him. Having saved her from +the hordes, now he must surrender her to a rival--now she was to go +from him forever. Verily it had been easier parting with his soul. He +held to his cimeter as men instantly slain sometimes keep grip on their +weapons; yet his head sunk upon his breast, and he saw nothing more of +Mahommed until he stood before him inside the chancel. + +"Count Corti, where is"-- + +Mahommed caught sight of the Count's face. + +"Oh, my poor Mirza!" + +A volume of words could not have so delicately expressed sympathy as +did that altered tone. + +Taking off his steel glove, the fitful Conqueror extended the bare +hand, and the Count, partially recalled to the situation by the +gracious offer, sunk to his knees, and carried the hand to his lips. + +"I have kept the faith, my Lord," he said in Turkish, his voice +scarcely audible. "This is she behind me--upon the throne of her +fathers. Receive her from me, and let me depart." + +"My poor Mirza! We left the decision to God, and he has decided. Arise, +and hear me now." + +To the notables closing around, he said, imperiously: "Stand not back. +Come up, and hear me." + +Stepping past the Count, then, he stood before the Princess. She arose +without removing her veil, and would have knelt; but Mahommed moved +nearer, and prevented her. + +The training of the politest court in Europe was in her action, and the +suite looking on, used to slavishness in captives, and tearful humility +in women, he held her with amazement; nor could one of them have said +which most attracted him, her queenly composure or her simple grace. + +"Suffer me, my Lord," she said to him; then to her attendants: "This is +Mahommed the Sultan. Let us pray him for honorable treatment." + +Presently they were kneeling, and she would have joined them, but +Mahommed again interfered. + +"Your hand, O Princess Irene! I wish to salute it." + +Sometimes a wind blows out of the sky, and swinging the bell in the +cupola, starts it to ringing itself; so now, at sight of the only woman +he ever really loved overtaken by so many misfortunes, and actually +threatened by a rabble of howling slave-hunters, Mahommed's better +nature thrilled with pity and remorse, and it was only by an effort of +will he refrained from kneeling to her, and giving his passion tongue. +Nevertheless a kiss, though on the hand, can be made tell a tale of +love, and that was what the youthful Conqueror did. + +"I pray next that you resume your seat," he continued. "It has pleased +God, O daughter of a Palaeologus, to leave you the head of the Greek +people; and as I have the terms of a treaty to submit of great concern +to them and you, it were more becoming did you hear me from a +throne.... And first, in this presence, I declare you a free +woman--free to go or stay, to reject or to accept--for a treaty is +impossible except to sovereigns. If it be your pleasure to go, I pledge +conveyance, whether by sea or land, to you and yours--attendants, +slaves, and property; nor shall there be in any event a failure of +moneys to keep you in the state to which you have been used." + +"For your grace, Lord Mahommed, I shall beseech Heaven to reward you." + +"As the God of your faith is the God of mine, O Princess Irene, I shall +be grateful for your prayers.... In the next place, I entreat you to +abide here; and to this I am moved by regard for your happiness. The +conditions will be strange to you, and in your going about there will +be much to excite comparisons of the old with the new; but the Arabs +had once a wise man, El Hatim by name--you may have heard of him"--he +cast a quick look at the eyes behind the veil--"El Hatim, a poet, a +warrior, a physician, and he left a saying: 'Herbs for fevers, amulets +for mischances, and occupation for distempers of memory.' If it should +be that time proves powerless over your sorrows, I would bring +employment to its aid.... Heed me now right well. It pains me to think +of Constantinople without inhabitants or commerce, its splendors +decaying, its palaces given over to owls, its harbor void of ships, its +churches vacant except of spiders, its hills desolations to eyes afar +on the sea. If it become not once more the capital city of Europe and +Asia, some one shall have defeated the will of God; and I cannot endure +that guilt or the thought of it. 'Sins are many in kind and degree, +differing as the leaves and grasses differ,' says a dervish of my +people; 'but for him who stands wilfully in the eyes of the Most +Merciful--for him only shall there be no mercy in the Great Day.'... +Yes, heed me right well--I am not the enemy of the Greeks, O Princess +Irene. Their power could not agree with mine, and I made war upon it; +but now that Heaven has decided the issue, I wish to recall them. They +will not listen to me. Though I call loudly and often, they will +remember the violence inflicted on them in my name. Their restoration +is a noble work in promise. Is there a Greek of trust, and so truly a +lover of his race, to help me make the promise a deed done? The man is +not; but thou, O Princess--thou art. Behold the employment I offer you! +I will commission you to bring them home--even these sorrowful +creatures going hence in bonds. Or do you not love them so much?... +Religion shall not hinder you. In the presence of these, my ministers +of state, I swear to divide houses of God with you; half of them shall +be Christian, the other half Moslem; arid neither sect shall interfere +with the other's worship. This I will seal, reserving only this house, +and that the Patriarch be chosen subject to my approval. Or do you not +love your religion so much?".... + +During the discourse the Princess listened intently; now she would have +spoken, but he lifted his hand. + +"Not yet, not yet! it is not well for you to answer now. I desire that +you have time to consider--and besides, I come to terms of more +immediate concern to you.... Here, in the presence of these witnesses, +O Princess Irene, I offer you honorable marriage." + +Mahommed bowed very low at the conclusion of this proposal. + +"And wishing the union in conscience agreeable to you, I undertake to +celebrate it according to Christian rite and Moslem. So shall you +become Queen of the Greeks--their intercessor--the restorer and +protector of their Church and worship--so shall you be placed in a way +to serve God purely and unselfishly; and if a thirst for glory has ever +moved you, O Princess, I present it to you a cupful larger than woman +ever drank.... You may reside here or in Therapia, and keep your +private chapel and altar, and choose whom you will to serve them. And +these things I will also swear to and seal." + +Again she would have interrupted him. + +"No--bear with me for the once. I invoke your patience," he said. "In +the making of treaties, O Princess, one of the parties must first +propose terms; then it is for the other to accept or reject, and in +turn propose. And this"--he glanced hurriedly around--"this is no time +nor place for argument. Be content rather to return to your home in the +city or your country-house at Therapia. In three days, with your +permission, I will come for your answer; and whatever it be, I swear by +Him who is God of the world, it shall be respected.... When I come, +will you receive me?" + +"The Lord Mahommed will be welcome." + +"Where may I wait on you?" + +"At Therapia," she answered. + +Mahommed turned about then. + +"Count Corti, go thou with the Princess Irene to Therapia. I know thou +wilt keep her safely.--And thou, Kalil, have a galley suitable for a +Queen of the Greeks made ready on the instant, and let there be no lack +of guards despatched with it, subject to the orders of Count Corti, for +the time once more Mirza the Emir.... O Princess, if I have been +peremptory, forgive me, and lend me thy hand again. I wish to salute +it." + +Again she silently yielded to his request. + +Kalil, seeing only politics in the scene, marched before the Princess +clearing the way, and directly she was out of the Church. At the +suggestion of the Count, sedan chairs were brought, and she and her +half-stupefied companions carried to a galley, arriving at Therapia +about the fourth hour after sunset. + +Mahommed had indeed been imperious in the interview; but, as he +afterward explained to her, with many humble protestations, he had a +part to play before his ministers. + +No sooner was she removed than he gave orders to clear the building of +people and idolatrous symbols; and while the work was in progress, he +made a tour of inspection going from the floor to the galleries. His +wonder and admiration were unbounded. + +Passing along the right-hand gallery, he overtook a pilferer with a +tarbousche full of glass cubes picked from one of the mosaic pictures. + +"Thou despicable!" he cried, in rage. "Knowest thou not that I have +devoted this house to Allah? Profane a Mosque, wilt thou?" + +And he struck the wretch with the flat of his sword. Hastening then to +the chancel, he summoned Achmet, the muezzin. + +"What is the hour?" he asked. + +"It is the hour of the fourth prayer, my Lord." + +"Ascend thou then to the highest turret of the house, and call the +Faithful to pious acknowledgment of the favors of God and his +Prophet--may their names be forever exalted." + +Thus Sancta Sophia passed from Christ to Mahomet; and from that hour to +this Islam has had sway within its walls. Not once since have its +echoes been permitted to respond to a Christian prayer or a hymn to the +Virgin. Nor was this the first instance when, to adequately punish a +people for the debasement and perversions of his revelations, God, in +righteous anger, tolerated their destruction. + +To-day there are two cities, lights once of the whole earth, under +curses so deeply graven in their remains--sites, walls, ruins--that +every man and woman visiting them should be brought to know why they +fell. + +Alas, for Jerusalem! + +Alas, for Constantinople! + +POSTSCRIPTS. + +In the morning of the third day after the fall of the city, a common +carrier galley drew alongside the marble quay in front of the Princess' +garden at Therapia, and landed a passenger--an old, decrepit man, +cowled and gowned like a monk. With tottering steps he passed the gate, +and on to the portico of the classic palace. Of Lysander, he asked: "Is +the Princess Irene here or in the city?" + +"She is here." + +"I am a Greek, tired and hungry. Will she see me?" + +The ancient doorkeeper disappeared, but soon returned. + +"She will see you. This way." + +The stranger was ushered into the reception room. Standing before the +Princess, he threw back his cowl. She gazed at him a moment, then went +to him and, taking his hands, cried, her eyes streaming with tears: +"Father Hilarion! Now praised be God for sending you to me in this hour +of uncertainty and affliction!" + +Needless saying the poor man's trials ended there, and that he never +again went cold, or hungry, or in want of a place to lay his head. + +But this morning, after breaking fast, he was taken into council, and +the proposal of marriage being submitted to him, he asked first: + +"What are thy inclinations, daughter?" + +And she made unreserved confession. + +The aged priest spread his hands paternally over her head, and, looking +upward, said solemnly: "I think I see the Great Designer's purpose. He +gave thee, O daughter, thy beauties of person and spirit, and raised +thee up out of unspeakable sorrows, that the religion of Christ should +not perish utterly in the East. Go forward in the way He has opened +unto thee. Only insist that Mahommed present himself at thy altar, and +there swear honorable dealing with thee as his wife, and to keep the +treaty proposed by him in spirit and letter. Doth he those things +without reservation, then fear not. The old Greek Church is not all we +would have it, but how much better it is than irreligion; and who can +now say what will happen once our people are returned to the city?" + + * * * * * + +In the afternoon, a boat with one rower touched at the same marble +quay, and disembarked an Arab. His face was a dusty brown, and he wore +an _abba_ such as children of the Desert affect. His dark eyes were +wonderfully bright, and his bearing was high, as might be expected in +the Sheik of a tribe whose camels were thousands to the man, and who +dwelt in dowars with streets after the style of cities. On his right +forearm he carried a crescent-shaped harp of five strings, inlaid with +colored woods and mother of pearl. + +"Does not the Princess Irene dwell here?" he asked. + +Lysander, viewing him suspiciously, answered: "The Princess Irene +dwells here." + +"Wilt thou tell her one Aboo-Obeidah is at the door with a blessing and +a story for her?" + +The doorkeeper again disappeared, and, returning, answered, with +evident misgivings, "The Princess Irene prays you to come in." + +Aboo-Obeidah tarried at the Therapian palace till night fell; and his +story was an old one then, but he contrived to make it new; even as at +this day, though four hundred and fifty years older than when he told +it to the Princess, women of white souls, like hers, still listen to it +with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks--the only story which Time has +kept and will forever keep fresh and persuasive as in the beginning'. + +They were married in her chapel at Therapia, Father Hilarion +officiating. Thence, when the city was cleansed of its stains of war, +she went thither with Mahommed, and he proclaimed her his Sultana at a +feast lasting through many days. + +And in due time he built for her the palace behind Point Demetrius, yet +known as the Seraglio. In other words, Mahommed the Sultan abided +faithfully by the vows Aboo-Obeidah made for him. [Footnote: The throne +of Mahommed was guarded by the numbers and fidelity of his Moslem +subjects; but his national policy aspired to collect the remnant of the +Greeks; and they returned in crowds as soon as they were assured of +their lives, their liberties, and the free exercise of their +religion.... The churches of Constantinople were shared between the two +religions. GIBBON. ] + +And so, with ampler means, and encouraged by Mahommed, the Princess +Irene spent her life doing good, and earned the title by which she +became known amongst her countrymen--The Most Gracious Queen of the +Greeks. + +Sergius never took orders formally. With the Sultana Irene and Father +Hilarion, he preferred the enjoyment and practice of the simple creed +preached by him in Sancta Sophia, though as between the Latins and the +orthodox Greeks he leaned to the former. The active agent dispensing +the charities of his imperial benefactress, he endeared himself to the +people of both religions. Ere long, he married Lael, and they lived +happily to old age. + + * * * * * + +Nilo was found alive, and recovering, joined Count Corti. + + * * * * * + +Count Corti retained the fraternal affection of Mahommed to the last. +The Conqueror strove to keep him. He first offered to send him +ambassador to John Sobieski; that being declined, he proposed promoting +him chief Aga of Janissaries, but the Count declared it his duty to +hasten to Italy, and devote himself to his mother. The Sultan finally +assenting, he took leave of the Princess Irene the day before her +marriage. + +An officer of the court representing Mahommed conducted the Count to +the galley built in Venice. Upon mounting the deck he was met by the +Tripolitans, her crew, and Sheik Hadifah, with his fighting Berbers. He +was then informed that the vessel and all it contained belonged to him. + +The passage was safely made. From Brindisi he rode to Castle Corti. To +his amazement, it was completely restored. Not so much as a trace of +the fire and pillage it had suffered was to be seen. + +His reception by the Countess can be imagined. The proofs he brought +were sufficient with her, and she welcomed him with a joy heightened by +recollections of the years he had been lost to her, and the manifest +goodness of the Blessed Madonna in at last restoring him--the joy one +can suppose a Christian mother would show for a son returned to her, as +it were, from the grave. + +The first transports of the meeting over, he reverted to the night he +saw her enter the chapel: "The Castle was then in ruins; how is it I +now find it rebuilt?" + +"Did you not order the rebuilding?" + +"I knew nothing of it." + +Then the Countess told him a man had presented himself some months +prior, with a letter purporting to be from him, containing directions +to repair the Castle, and spare no expense in the work. + +"Fortunately," she said, "the man is yet in Brindisi." + +The Count lost no time in sending for the stranger, who presented him a +package sealed and enveloped in oriental style, only on the upper side +there was a _tughra_, or imperial seal, which he at once recognized as +Mahommed's. With eager fingers he took off the silken wraps, and found +a note in translation as follows: + +"Mahommed the Sultan to Ugo, Count Corti, formerly Mirza the Emir. + +"The wager we made, O my friend, who should have been the son of my +mother, is not yet decided, and as it is not given a mortal to know the +will of the Most Compassionate until he is pleased to expose it, I +cannot say what the end will be. Yet I love you, and have faith in you; +and wishing you to be so assured whether I win or lose, I send Mustapha +to your country in advance with proofs of your heirship, and to notify +the noble lady, your mother, that you are alive, and about returning to +her. Also, forasmuch as a Turk destroyed it, he is ordered to rebuild +your father's castle, and add to the estate all the adjacent lands he +can buy; for verily no Countship can be too rich for the Mirza who was +my brother. And these things he will do in your name, not mine. And +when it is done, if to your satisfaction, O Count, give him a statement +that he may come to me with evidence of his mission discharged. + +"I commend you to the favor of the Compassionate. MAHOMMED." + +When the missive was read, Mustapha knelt to the Count, and saluted +him. Then he conducted him into the chapel of the castle, and going to +the altar, showed him an iron door, and said: + +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, instructed me to deposit here certain +treasure with which he graciously intrusted me. Receive the key, I +pray, and search the vault, and view the contents, and, if it please +you, give me a certificate which will enable me to go back to my +country, and live there a faithful servant of my master, the Lord +Mahommed--may he be exalted as the Faithful are!" + +Now when the Count came to inspect the contents of the vault he was +displeased; and seeing it, Mustapha proceeded: + +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, anticipated that you might protest +against receiving the treasure; if so, I was to tell you it was to make +good in some measure the sums the noble lady your mother has paid in +searching for you, and in masses said for the repose of your father's +soul." + +Corti could not do else than accept. + +Finally, to complete the narrative, he never married. The reasonable +inference is, he never met a woman with graces sufficient to drive the +Princess Irene from his memory. + +After the death of the Countess, his mother, he went up to Rome, and +crowned a long service as chief of the Papal Guard by dying of a wound +received in a moment of victory. Hadifah, the Berbers, and Nilo chose +to stay with him throughout. The Tripolitans were returned to their +country; after which the galley was presented to the Holy Father. + +Once every year there came to the Count a special messenger from +Constantinople with souvenirs; sometimes a sword royally enriched, +sometimes a suit of rare armor, sometimes horses of El Hajez--these +were from Mahommed. Sometimes the gifts were precious relics, or +illuminated Scriptures, or rosaries, or crosses, or triptychs +wonderfully executed--so Irene the Sultana chose to remind him of her +gratitude. + +Syama wandered around Constantinople a few days after the fall of the +city, looking for his master, whom he refused to believe dead. Lael +offered him asylum for life. Suddenly he disappeared, and was never +seen or heard of more. It may be presumed, we think, that the Prince of +India succeeded in convincing him of his identity, and took him to +other parts of the world--possibly back to Cipango. + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Prince of India, Volume II, by Lew. 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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..5ddd844 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6849 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6849) diff --git a/old/tpin210.txt b/old/tpin210.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd56c7c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tpin210.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18462 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume 2 +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 2 + +Author: Lew. Wallace + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6849] +[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 2 *** + + + + +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. II. + + + + + _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 IV +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE +(_Continued_) + +CHAPTER + XI. THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD + XII. LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS + XIII. THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN + XIV. THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED + XV. THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS + XVI. HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED + XVII. LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON +XVIII. THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS + XIX. THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR + XX. THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME + XXI. SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON + XXII. THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED +XXIII. SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT + XXIV. THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET + +BOOK V +MIRZA + + I. A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE + II. A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB + III. MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED + IV. THE EMIR IN ITALY + V. THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN + VI. COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA + VII. COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + VIII. OUR LORD'S CREED + IX. COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + X. SERGIUS TO THE LION + +BOOK VI +CONSTANTINE + + I. THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + II. MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER + III. THE BLOODY HARVEST + IV. EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP + V. COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR + VI. MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN + VII. THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS + VIII. MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN + IX. THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE + X. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT + XI. COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA + XII. THE ASSAULT + XIII. MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + + + +BOOK IV + +THE PALACE OF BLACHERNE +(_Continued_) + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PRINCESS HEARS FROM THE WORLD + + +The sun shone clear and hot, and the guests in the garden were glad to +rest in the shaded places of promenade along the brooksides and under +the beeches and soaring pines of the avenues. Far up the extended hollow +there was a basin first to receive the water from the conduit supposed +to tap the aqueduct leading down from the forest of Belgrade. The noise +of the little cataract there was strong enough to draw a quota of +visitors. From the front gate to the basin, from the basin to the summit +of the promontory, the company in lingering groups amused each other +detailing what of fortune good and bad the year had brought them. The +main features of such meetings are always alike. There were games by the +children, lovers in retired places, and old people plying each other +with reminiscences. The faculty of enjoyment changes but never expires. + +An array of men chosen for the purpose sallied from the basement of the +palace carrying baskets of bread, fruits in season, and wine of the +country in water-skins. Dispersing themselves through the garden, they +waited on the guests, and made distribution without stint or +discrimination. The heartiness of their welcome may be imagined; while +the thoughtful reader will see in the liberality thus characterizing her +hospitality one of the secrets of the Princess's popularity with the +poor along the Bosphorus. Nor that merely. A little reflection will lead +up to an explanation of her preference for the Homeric residence by +Therapia. The commonalty, especially the unfortunate amongst them, were +a kind of constituency of hers, and she loved living where she could +most readily communicate with them. + +This was the hour she chose to go out and personally visit her guests. +Descending from the portico, she led her household attendants into the +garden. She alone appeared unveiled. The happiness of the many amongst +whom she immediately stepped touched every spring of enjoyment in her +being; her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy, her spirit high; in a +word, the beauty so peculiarly hers, and which no one could look on +without consciousness of its influence, shone with singular enhancement. + +News that she was in the garden spread rapidly, and where she went +everyone arose and remained standing. Now and then, while making +acknowledgments to groups along the way, she recognized acquaintances, +and for such, whether men or women, she had a smile, sometimes a word. +Upon her passing, they pursued with benisons, "God bless you!" "May the +Holy Mother keep her!" Not unfrequently children ran flinging flowers at +her feet, and mothers knelt and begged her blessing. They had lively +recollection of a sickness or other overtaking by sorrow, and of her +boat drawing to the landing laden with delicacies, and bringing what was +quite as welcome, the charm of her presence, with words inspiring hope +and trust. The vast, vociferous, premeditated Roman ovation, sonorously +the Triumph, never brought a Consular hero the satisfaction this +Christian woman now derived. + +She was aware of the admiration which went with her, and the sensation +was of walking through a purer and brighter sunshine. Nor did she affect +to put aside the triumph there certainly was in the demonstration; but +she accounted it the due of charity--a triumph of good work done for the +pleasure there was in the doing. + +At the basin mentioned as the landward terminus of the garden the +progress in that direction stopped. Thence, after gracious attentions to +the women and children there, the Princess set out for the summit of the +promontory. The road taken was broad and smooth, and on the left hand +lined from bottom to top with pine trees, some of which are yet +standing. + +The summit had been a place of interest time out of mind. From its woody +cover, the first inhabitants beheld the Argonauts anchor off the town of +Amycus, king of the Bebryces; there the vengeful Medea practised her +incantations; and descending to acknowledged history, it were long +telling the notable events of the ages landmarked by the hoary height. +When the builder of the palace below threw his scheme of improvement +over the brow of the hill, he constructed water basins on different +levels, surrounding them with raised walls artistically sculptured; +between the basins he pitched marble pavilions, looking in the distance +like airy domes on a Cyclopean temple; then he drew the work together by +a tesselated pavement identical with the floor of the house of Caesar +hard by the Forum in Rome. + +Giving little heed to the other guests in occupancy of the summit, the +attendants of the Princess broke into parties sight seeing; while she +called Sergius to her, and conducted him to a point commanding the +Bosphorus for leagues. A favorite lookout, in fact, the spot had been +provided with a pavement and a capacious chair cut from a block of the +coarse brown limestone native to the locality. There she took seat, and +the ascent, though all in shade, having been wearisome, she was glad of +the blowing of the fresh upper air. + +From a place in the rear Sergius had witnessed the progress to the +present halt. Every incident and demonstration had been in his view and +hearing. The expressions of affection showered upon the Princess were +delightful to him; they seemed so spontaneous and genuine. As testimony +to her character in the popular estimate at least, they left nothing +doubtful. His first impression of her was confirmed. She was a woman to +whom Heaven had confided every grace and virtue. Such marvels had been +before. He had heard of them in tradition, and always in a strain to +lift those thus favored above the hardened commonplace of human life, +creatures not exactly angels, yet moving in the same atmosphere with +angels. The monasteries, even those into whose gates women are forbidden +to look, all have stories of womanly excellence which the monks tell +each other in pauses from labor in the lentil patch, and in their cells +after vesper prayers. In brief, so did Sergius' estimate of the Princess +increase that he was unaware of impropriety when, trudging slowly after +the train of attendants, he associated her with heroines most odorous in +Church and Scriptural memories; with Mothers Superior famous for +sanctity; with Saints, like Theckla and Cecilia; with the Prophetess who +was left by the wayside in the desert of Zin, and the later seer and +singer, she who had her judgment-seat under the palm tree of Deborah. + +Withal, however, the monk was uncomfortable. The words of his Hegumen +pursued him. Should he tell the Princess? Assailed by doubts, he +followed her to the lookout on the edge of the promontory. + +Seating herself, she glanced over the wide field of water below; from +the vessels there, she gazed across to Asia; then up at the sky, full to +its bluest depth with the glory of day. At length she asked: + +"Have you heard from Father Hilarion?" + +"Not yet," Sergius replied. + +"I was thinking of him," she continued. "He used to tell me of the +primitive church--the Church of the Disciples. One of his lessons +returns to me. He seems to be standing where you are. I hear his voice. +I see his countenance. I remember his words: 'The brethren while of one +faith, because the creed was too simple for division, were of two +classes, as they now are and will always be'--ay, Sergius, as they will +always be!--'But,' he said, 'it is worthy remembrance, my dear child, +unlike the present habit, the rich held their riches with the +understanding that the brethren all had shares in them. The owner was +more than owner; he was a trustee charged with the safe-keeping of his +property, and with farming it to the best advantage, that he might be in +condition to help the greatest number of the Christian brotherhood +according to their necessities.' I wondered greatly at the time, but not +now. The delight I have today confirms the Father; for it is not in my +palace and garden, nor in my gold, but in the power I derive from them +to give respite from the grind of poverty to so many less fortunate than +myself. 'The divine order was not to desist from getting wealth'--thus +the Father continued--'for Christ knew there were who, labor as they +might, could not accumulate or retain; circumstances would be against +them, or the genius might be wanting. Poor without fault, were they to +suffer, and curse God with the curse of the sick, the cold, the naked, +the hungry? Oh, no! Christ was the representative of the Infinitely +Merciful. Under his dispensation they were to be partners of the more +favored.' Who can tell, who can begin to measure the reward there is to +me in the laughter of children at play under the trees by the brooks, +and in the cheer and smiles of women whom I have been able to draw from +the unvarying routine of toil like theirs?" + +There was a ship with full spread sail speeding along so close in shore +Sergius could have thrown a stone on its deck. He affected to be deeply +interested in it. The ruse did not avail him. + +"What is the matter?" + +Receiving no reply, she repeated the question. + +"My dear friend, you are not old enough in concealment to deceive me. +You are in trouble. Come sit here.... True, I am not an authorized +confessor; yet I know the principle on which the Church defends the +confessional. Let me share your burden. Insomuch as you give me, you +shall be relieved." + +It came to him then that he must speak. + +"Princess," he began, striving to keep his voice firm, "you know not +what you ask." + +"Is it what a woman may hear?" + +A step nearer brought him on the tesselated square. + +"I hesitate, Princess, because a judgment is required of me. Hear, and +help me first." + +Then he proceeded rapidly: + +"There is one just entered holy service. He is a member of an ancient +and honorable Brotherhood, and by reason of his inexperience, doubtless, +its obligations rest the heavier on his conscience. His superior has +declared to him how glad he would be had he a son like him, and +confiding in his loyalty, he intrusted him with gravest secrets; amongst +others, that a person well known and greatly beloved is under watch for +the highest of religious crimes. Pause now, O Princess, and consider the +obligations inseparable from the relation and trust here disclosed.... +Look then to this other circumstance. The person accused condescended to +be the friend and patron of the same neophyte, and by vouching for him +to the head of the Church, put him on the road to favor and quick +promotion. Briefly, O Princess, to which is obligation first owing? The +father superior or the patron in danger?" + +The Princess replied calmly, but with feeling: "It is not a supposition, +Sergius." + +Though surprised, he returned: "Without it I could not have your +decision first." + +"Thou, Sergius, art the distressed neophyte." + +He held his hands out to her: "Give me thy judgment." + +"The Hegumen of the St. James' is the accuser." + +"Be just, O Princess! To which is the obligation first owing?" + +"I am the accused," she continued, in the same tone. + +He would have fallen on his knees. "No, keep thy feet. A watchman may be +behind me now." + +He had scarcely resumed his position before she asked, still in the +quiet searching manner: "What is the highest religious crime? Or rather, +to men in authority, like the Hegumen of your Brotherhood, what is the +highest of all crimes?" + +He looked at her in mute supplication. + +"I will tell you--HERESY." + +Then, compassionating his suffering, she added: "My poor Sergius! I am +not upbraiding you. You are showing me your soul. I see it in its first +serious trial.... I will forget that I am the denounced, and try to help +you. Is there no principle to which we can refer the matter--no +Christian principle? The Hegumen claims silence from you; on the other +side, your conscience--I would like to say preference--impels you to +speak a word of warning for the benefit of your patroness. There, now, +we have both the dispute and the disputants. Is it not so?" + +Sergius bowed his head. + +"Father Hilarion once said to me: 'Daughter, I give you the ultimate +criterion of the divineness of our religion--there cannot be an instance +of human trial for which it does not furnish a rule of conduct and +consolation.' A profound saying truly! Now is it possible we have here +at last an exception? I do not seek to know on which side the honors +lie. Where are the humanities? Ideas of honor are of men conventional. +On the other hand, the humanities stand for Charity. If thou wert the +denounced, O Sergius, how wouldst thou wish to be done by?" + +Sergius' face brightened. + +"We are not seeking to save a heretic--we are in search of quiet for our +consciences. So why not ask and answer further: What would befall the +Hegumen, did you tell the accused all you had from him? Would he suffer? +Is there a tribunal to sentence him? Or a prison agape for him? Or +torture in readiness? Or a King of Lions? In these respects how is it +with the friend who vouched for you to the head of the Church? Alas!" + +"Enough--say no more!" Sergius cried impulsively. "Say no more. O +Princess, I will tell everything--I will save you, if I can--if not, and +the worst come, I will die with you." + +Womanlike the Princess signalized her triumph with tears. At length she +asked: "Wouldst thou like to know if I am indeed a heretic?" + +"Yes, for what thou art, that am I; and then"-- + +"The same fire in the Hippodrome may light us both out of the world." + +There was a ring of prophecy in the words. + +"God forbid!" he ejaculated, with a shiver. + +"God's will be done, were better! ... So, if it please you," she went +on, "tell me all the Hegumen told you about me." + +"Everything?" he asked doubtfully. + +"Why not?" + +"Part of it is too wicked for repetition." + +"Yet it was an accusation." + +"Yes." + +"Sergius, you are no match in cunning for my enemies. They are Greeks +trained to diplomacy; you are"--she paused and half smiled--"only a +pupil of Hilarion's. See now--if they mean to kill me, how important to +invent a tale which shall rob me of sympathy, and reconcile the public +to my sacrifice. They who do much good, and no harm"--she cast a glance +at the people swarming around the pavilions--"always have friends. Such +is the law of kindness, and it never failed but once; but today a +splinter of the Cross is worth a kingdom." + +"Princess, I will hold nothing back." + +"And I, Sergius--God witnessing for me--will speak to each denunciation +thou givest me." + +"There were two matters in the Hegumen's mind," Sergius began, but struck +with the abruptness, he added apologetically: "I pray you, Princess, +remember I speak at your insistence, and that I am not in any sense an +accuser. It may be well to say also the Hegumen returned from last +night's Mystery low in spirits, and much spent bodily, and before +speaking of you, declared he had been an active partisan of your +father's. I do not think him your personal enemy." + +A mist of tears dimmed her eyes while the Princess replied: "He was my +father's friend, and I am grateful to him; but alas! that he is +naturally kind and just is now of small consequence." + +"It grieves me"-- + +"Do not stop," she said, interrupting him. + +"At the Father's bedside I received his blessing; and asked leave to be +absent a few days. 'Where?' he inquired, and I answered: 'Thou knowest I +regard the Princess Irene as my little mother. I should like to go see +her.'" + +Sergius sought his auditor's face at this, and observing no sign of +objection to the familiarity, was greatly strengthened. + +"The Father endeavored to persuade me not to come, and it was with that +purpose he entered upon the disclosures you ask.... 'The life the +Princess leads'--thus he commenced--'and her manners, are outside the +sanctions of society.'" + +Here, from resting on her elbow, the listener sat upright, grasping the +massive arm of the chair. + +"Shall I proceed, O Princess?" + +"Yes." + +"This place is very public"--he glanced at the people above them. + +"I will hear you here." + +"At your pleasure.... The Hegumen referred next to your going about +publicly unveiled. While not positively wrong, he condemned the practice +as a pernicious example; besides which there was a defiant boldness in +it, he said, tending to make you a subject of discussion and indelicate +remark." + +The hand on the stony arm trembled. + +"I fear, O Princess," Sergius continued, with downcast look, "that my +words are giving you pain." + +"But they are not yours. Go on." + +"Then the Father came to what was much more serious." + +Sergius again hesitated. + +"I am listening," she said. + +"He termed it your persistence in keeping up the establishment here at +Therapia." + +The Princess grew red and white by turns. + +"He said the Turk was too near you; that unmarried and unprotected your +proper place was in some house of God on the Islands, or in the city, +where you could have the benefit of holy offices. As it was, rumor was +free to accuse you of preferring guilty freedom to marriage." + +The breeze fell off that moment, leaving the Princess in the centre of a +profound hush; except for the unwonted labor of her heart, the leaves +overhead were not more still. The sight of her was too oppressive-- +Sergius turned away. Presently he heard her say, as if to herself: "I am +indeed in danger. If my death were not in meditation, the boldest of them +would not dare think so foul a falsehood.... Sergius," she said. + +He turned to her, but she broke off diverted by another idea. Had this +last accusation reference to the Emperor's dream of making her his wife? +Could the Emperor have published what took place between them? +Impossible! + +"Sergius, did the Hegumen tell you whence this calumny had origin?" + +"He laid it to rumor merely." + +"Surely he disclosed some ground for it. A dignitary of his rank and +profession cannot lend himself to shaming a helpless woman without +reason or excuse." + +"Except your residence at Therapia, he gave no reason." + +Here she looked at Sergius, and the pain in the glance was pitiful. "My +friend, is there anything in your knowledge which might serve such a +rumor?" + +"Yes," he replied, letting his eyes fall. + +"What!" and she lifted her head, and opened her eyes. + +He stood silent and evidently suffering. + +"Poor Sergius! The punishment is yours. I am sorry for you--sorry we +entered on this subject--but it is too late to retire from it. Speak +bravely. What is it you know against me? It cannot be a crime; much I +doubt if it be a sin; my walk has been very strait and altogether in +God's view. Speak!" + +"Princess," he answered, "coming down from the landing, I was stopped by +a concourse studying a brass plate nailed to the right-hand pillar of +your gate. It was inscribed, but none of them knew the import of the +inscription. The hamari came up, and at sight of it fell to saluting, +like the abject Eastern he is. The bystanders chaffered him, and he +retorted, and, amongst other things, said the brass was a safeguard +directed to all Turks, notifying them that this property, its owner, and +inmates were under protection of the Prince Mahommed. Give heed now, I +pray you, O Princess, to this other thing of the man's saying. The +notice was the Prince Mahommed's, the inscription his signature, and the +Prince himself fixed the plate on the pillar with his own hand." + +Sergius paused. + +"Well," she asked. + +"The inferences--consider them." + +"State them." + +"My tongue refuses. Or if I must, O Princess, I will use the form of +accusation others are likely to have adopted. 'The Princess Irene lives +at Therapia because Prince Mahommed is her lover, and it is a convenient +place of meeting. Therefore his safeguard on her gate.'" + +"No one could be bold enough to"-- + +"One has been bold enough." + +"One?" + +"The Hegumen of my Brotherhood." + +The Princess was very pale. + +"It is cruel--cruel!" she exclaimed. "What ought I to do?" + +"Treat the safeguard as a discovery of to-day, and have it removed while +the people are all present." She looked at him searchingly. On her +forehead between the brows, he beheld a line never there before. More +surprising was the failure of self-reliance observable in her request +for counsel. Heretofore her courage and sufficiency had been remarkable. +In all dealings with him she had proved herself the directress, quick +yet decided. The change astonished him, so little was he acquainted with +the feminine nature; and in reply he spoke hastily, hardly knowing what +he had said. The words were not straightforward and honest; they were +not becoming him any more than the conduct suggested was becoming her; +they lingered in his ear, a wicked sound, and he would have recalled +them--but he hesitated. + +Here a voice in fierce malediction was heard up at the pavilions, +together with a prodigious splashing of water. Laughter, clapping of +hands, and other expressions of delight succeeded. + +"Go, Sergius, and see what is taking place," said the Princess. + +Glad of the opportunity to terminate the painful scene, he hastened to +the reservoirs and returned. + +"Your presence will restore quiet at once." + +The people made way for their hostess with alacrity. The hamari, it +appeared, had just arrived from the garden. Observing Lael in the midst +of the suite of fair ladies, he advanced to her with many strange +salutations. Alarmed, she would have run away had not Joqard broken from +his master, and leaped with a roar into the water. The poor beast seemed +determined to enjoy the bath. He swam, and dived, and played antics +without number. In vain the showman, resorting to every known language, +coaxed and threatened by turns--Joqard was self-willed and happy, and it +were hard saying which appreciated his liberty most, he or the +spectators of the scene. + +The Princess, for the time conquering her pain of heart, interceded for +the brute; whereupon the hamari, like a philosopher used to making the +best of surprises, joined in the sport until Joqard grew tired, and +voluntarily returned to control. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS + + +Word passed from the garden to the knots of people on the height: "Come +down quickly. They are making ready for the boat race." Directly the +reservoirs, the pavilions, and the tesselation about them were deserted. + +The Princess Irene, with her suite, made the descent to the garden more +at leisure, knowing the regatta would wait for her. So it happened she +was at length in charge of what seemed a rear guard; but how it befell +that Sergius and Lael drew together, the very last of that rear guard, +is not of such easy explanation. + +Whether by accident or mutual seeking, side by side the two moved slowly +down the hill, one moment in the shade of the kingly pines, then in the +glowing sunshine. The noises of the celebration, the shouting, singing, +calling, and merry outcries of children ascended to them, and through +the verdurousness below, lucent as a lake, gleams of color flashed from +scarfs, mantles, embroidered jackets, and flaming petticoats. + +"I hope you are enjoying yourself," he said to Lael, upon their meeting. + +"Oh, yes! How could I help it--everything is delightful. And the +Princess--she is so good and gracious. Oh, if I were a man, I should go +mad with loving her!" + +She spoke with enthusiasm; she even drew her veil partially aside; yet +Sergius did not respond; he was asking himself if it were possible the +girl could be an impostor. Presently he resolved to try her with +questions. + +"Tell me of your father. Is he well?" + +At this she raised her veil entirely, and in turn asked: "Which father +do you mean?" + +"Which father," he repeated, stopping. + +"Oh, I have the advantage of everybody else! I have two fathers." + +He could do no more than repeat after her: "Two fathers!" + +"Yes; Uel the merchant is one of them, and the Prince of India is the +other. I suppose you mean the Prince, since you know him. He accompanied +me to the landing this morning, and seated me in the boat. He was then +well." + +There was no concealment here. Yet Sergius saw the disclosure was not +complete. He was tempted to go on. + +"Two fathers! How can such thing be?" + +She met the question with a laugh. "Oh! If it depended on which of them +is the kinder to me, I could not tell you the real father." + +Sergius stood looking at her, much as to say: "That is no answer; you +are playing with me." + +"See how we are falling behind," she then said. "Come, let us go on. I +can talk while walking." + +They set forward briskly, but it was noticeable that he moved nearer +her, stooping from his great height to hear further. + +"This is the way of it," she continued of her own prompting. "Some years +ago, my father, Uel, the merchant, received a letter from an old friend +of his father's, telling him that he was about to return to +Constantinople after a long absence in the East somewhere, and asking if +he, Uel, would assist the servant who was bearer of the note in buying +and furnishing a house. Uel did so, and when the stranger arrived, his +home was ready for him. I was then a little girl, and went one day to +see the Prince of India, his residence being opposite Uel's on the other +side of the street. He was studying some big books, but quit them, and +picked me up, and asked me who I was? I told him Uel was my father. What +was my name? Lael, I said. How old was I? And when I answered that also, +he kissed me, and cried, and, to my wonder, declared how he had once a +child named Lael; she looked like me, and was just my age when she +died"-- + +"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sergius. + +"Yes, and he then said Heaven had sent me to take her place. Would I be +his Lael? I answered I would, if Uel consented. He took me in his arms, +carried me across the street and talked so Uel could not have refused +had he wanted to." + +The manner of the telling was irresistible. At the conclusion, she +turned to him and said, with emotion: "There, now. You see I really have +two fathers, and you know how I came by them: and were I to recount +their goodness to me, and how they both love me, and how happy each one +of them is in believing me the object of the other's affection, you +would understand just as well how I know no difference between them." + +"It is strange; yet as you tell it, little friend, it is not strange," +he returned, seriously. They were at the instant in a bar of brightest +sunlight projected across the road; and had she asked him the cause of +the frown on his face, he could not have told her he was thinking of +Demedes. + +"Yes, I see it--I see it, and congratulate you upon being so doubly +blessed. Tell me next who the Prince of India is." + +She looked now here, now there, he watching her narrowly. + +"Oh! I never thought of asking him about himself." + +She was merely puzzled by an unexpected question. + +"But you know something of him?" + +"Let me think," she replied. "Yes, he was the intimate of my father +Uel's father, and of his father before him." + +"Is he so old then?" + +"I cannot say how long he has been a family acquaintance. Of my knowledge +he is very learned in everything. He speaks all the languages I ever +heard of; he passes the nights alone on the roof of his house"-- + +"Alone on the roof of his house!" + +"Only of clear nights, you understand. A servant carries a chair and +table up for him, and a roll of papers, with pen and ink, and a clock of +brass and gold. The paper is a map of the heavens; and he sits there +watching the stars, marking them in position on the map, the clock +telling him the exact time." + +"An astronomer," said Sergius. + +"And an astrologer," she added; "and besides these things he is a doctor, +but goes only amongst the poor, taking nothing from them. He is also a +chemist; and he has tables of the plants curative and deadly, and can +extract their qualities, and reduce them from fluids to solids, and +proportionate them. He is also a master of figures, a science, he always +terms it, the first of creative principles without which God could not +be God. So, too, he is a traveller--indeed I think he has been over the +known world. You cannot speak of a capital or of an island, or a tribe +which he has not visited. He has servants from the farthest East. One of +his attendants is an African King; and what is the strangest to me, +Sergius, his domestics are all deaf and dumb." + +"Impossible!" + +"Nothing appears impossible to him." + +"How does he communicate with them?" + +"They catch his meaning from the motion of his lips. He says signs are +too slow and uncertain for close explanations." + +"Still he must resort to some language." + +"Oh, yes, the Greek." + +"But if they have somewhat to impart to him?" + +"It is theirs to obey, and pantomime seems sufficient to convey the +little they have to return to him, for it is seldom more than, 'My Lord, +I have done the thing you gave me to do.' If the matter be complex, he +too resorts to the lip-speech, which he could not teach without first +being proficient in it himself. Thus, for instance, to Nilo"-- + +"The black giant who defended you against the Greek?" + +"Yes--a wonderful man--an ally, not a servant. On the journey to +Constantinople, the Prince turned aside into an African Kingdom called +Kash-Cush. I cannot tell where it is. Nilo was the King, and a mighty +hunter and warrior. His trappings hang in his room now--shields, spears, +knives, bows and arrows, and among them a net of linen threads. When he +took the field for lions, his favorite game, the net and a short sword +were all he cared for. His throne room, I have heard my father the +Prince say, was carpeted with skins taken by him in single combats." + +"What could he do with the net, little Princess?" + +"I will give you his account; perhaps you can see it clearly--I cannot. +When the monster makes his leap, the corners of the net are tossed up in +the air, and he is in some way caught and tangled... Well, as I was +saying, Nilo, though deaf and dumb, of choice left his people and throne +to follow the Prince, he knew not where." + +"Oh, little friend! Do you know you are talking the incredible to me? +Who ever heard of such thing before?" + +Sergius' blue eyes were astare with wonder. + +"I only speak what I have heard recounted by my father, the Prince, to +my other father, Uel.... What I intended saying was that directly the +Prince established himself at home he began teaching Nilo to converse. +The work was slow at first; but there is no end to the master's skill +and patience; he and the King now talk without hindrance. He has even +made him a believer in God." + +"A Christian, you mean." + +"No. In my father's opinion the mind of a wild man cannot comprehend +modern Christianity; nobody can explain the Trinity; yet a child can be +taught the almightiness of God, and won to faith in him." + +"Do you speak for yourself or the Prince?" + +"The Prince," she replied. + +Sergius was struck with the idea, and wished to go further with it, but +they were at the foot of the hill, and Lael exclaimed, "The garden is +deserted. We may lose the starting of the race. Let us hurry." + +"Nay, little friend, you forget how narrow my skirts are. I cannot run. +Let us walk fast. Give me a hand. There now--we will arrive in time." + +Near the palace, however, Sergius dropped into his ordinary gait; then +coming to a halt, he asked: "Tell me to whom else you have related this +pretty tale of the two fathers?" + +His look and tone were exceedingly grave, and she studied his face, and +questioned him in turn: "You are very serious--why?" + +"Oh, I was wondering if the story is public?" More plainly, he was +wondering whence Demedes had his information. + +"I suppose it is generally known; at least I cannot see why it should +not be." + +The few words swept the last doubt from his mind; yet she continued: "My +father Uel is well known to the merchants of the city. I have heard him +say gratefully that since the coming of the Prince of India his business +has greatly increased. He used to deal in many kinds of goods; now he +sells nothing but precious stones. His patrons are not alone the nobles +of Byzantium; traders over in Galata buy of him for the western markets, +especially Italy and France. My other father, the Prince, is an expert +in such things, and does not disdain to help Uel with advice." + +Lael might have added that the Prince, in course of his travels, had +ascertained the conveniency of jewels as a currency familiar and +acceptable to almost every people, and always kept a store of them by +him, from which he frequently replenished his protege's stock, allowing +him the profits. That she did not make this further disclosure was +probably due to ignorance of the circumstances; in other words, her +artlessness was extreme enough to render her a dangerous confidant, and +both her fathers were aware of it. + +"Everybody in the bazaar is friendly to my father Uel, and the Prince +visits him there, going in state; and he and his train are an +attraction"--thus Lael proceeded. "On his departure, the questions about +him are countless, and Uel holds nothing back. Indeed, it is more than +likely he has put the whole mart and city in possession of the history +of my adoption by the Prince." + +In front of the palace she broke off abruptly: "But see! The landing is +covered with men and women. Let us hurry." + +Presently they issued from the garden, and were permitted to join the +Princess. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE HAMARI TURNS BOATMAN + + +The boatmen had taken up some of the marble blocks of the landing, and +planting long oars upright in the ground, and fixing other oars +crosswise on them, constructed a secure frame covered with fresh +sail-cloth. From their vessels they had also brought material for a dais +under the shelter thus improvised; another sail for carpet, and a chair +on the dais completed the stand whence the Princess was to view and +judge the race. + +A way was opened for her through the throng, and with her attendants, +she passed to the stand; and as she went, all the women near reached out +their hands and reverently touched the skirt of her gown--so did their +love for her trench on adoration. + +The shore from the stand to the town, and from the stand again around +the promontory on the south, was thronged with spectators, while every +vantage point fairly in view was occupied by them; even the ships were +pressed into the service; and somehow the air over and about the bay +seemed to give back and tremble with the eagerness of interest +everywhere discernible. + +Between Fanar, the last northern point of lookout over the Black Sea, +and Galata, down on the Golden Horn, there are about thirty hamlets, +villages and cities specking the European shore of the Bosphorus. Each +of them has its settlement of fishermen. Aside from a voluminous net, +the prime necessity for successful pursuit of the ancient and honorable +calling is a boat. Like most things of use amongst men, the vessel of +preferred model here came of evolution. The modern tourist may yet see +its kind drawn up at every landing he passes. + +Proper handling, inclusive of running out and hauling in the seine, +demanded a skilful crew of at least five men; and as whole lives were +devoted to rowing, the proficiency finally attained in it can be +fancied. It was only natural, therefore, that the thirty communities +should each insist upon having the crew of greatest excellence--the crew +which could outrow any other five on the Bosphorus; and as every +Byzantine Greek was a passionate gambler, the wagers were without end. +Vauntings of the sort, like the Black Sea birds of unresting wings, went +up and down the famous waterway. + +At long intervals occasions presented for the proof of these men of +pride; after which, for a period there was an admitted champion crew, +and a consequent hush of the babble and brawl. + +In determining to conclude the fete with a boat-race open to all Greek +comers from the capital to the Cyanian rocks, the Princess Irene did +more than secure a desirable climax; unconsciously, perhaps, she hit +upon the measure most certain to bring peace to the thirty villages. + +She imposed but two conditions on the competitors--they should be +fishermen and Greeks. + +The interval between the announcement of the race and the day set for it +had been filled with boasting, from which one would have supposed the +bay of Therapia at the hour of starting would be too contracted to hold +the adversaries. When the hour came there were six crews present actually +prepared to contest for the prize--a tall ebony crucifix, with a gilded +image, to be displayed of holidays on the winning prow. The shrinkage +told the usual tale of courage oozed out. There was of course no end of +explanation. + +About three o'clock, the six boats, each with a crew of five men, were +held in front of the Princess' stand, representative of as many towns. +Their prows were decorated with banderoles large enough to be easily +distinguished at a distance--one yellow, chosen for Yenimahale; one +blue, for Buyukdere; one white, for Therapia; one red, for Stenia; one +green, for Balta-Liman; and one half white and half scarlet, for Bebek. +The crews were in their seats--fellows with knotted arms bare to the +shoulder; white shirts under jackets the color of the flags, trousers in +width like petticoats. The feet were uncovered that, while the pull was +in delivery, they might the better clinch the cleats across the bottom +of the boat. + +The fresh black paint with which the vessels had been smeared from end +to end on the outside was stoned smoothly down until it glistened like +varnish. Inside there was not a superfluity to be seen of the weight of +a feather. + +The contestants knew every point of advantage, and, not less clearly, +they were there to win or be beaten doing their best. They were cool and +quiet; much more so, indeed, than the respective clansmen and clanswomen. + +From these near objects of interest, the Princess directed a glance over +the spreading field of dimpled water to a galley moored under a wooded +point across on the Asiatic shore. The point is now crowned with the +graceful but neglected Kiosk of the Viceroy of Egypt. That galley was +the thither terminus of the race course, and the winners turning it, and +coming back to the place of starting, must row in all about three miles. + +A little to the right of the Princess' stand stood a pole of height to +be seen by the multitude as well as the rival oarsmen, and a rope for +hoisting a white flag to the top connected it with the chair on the +dais. At the appearance of the flag the boats were to start; while it +was flying, the race was on. + +And now the competitors are in position by lot from right to left. On +bay and shore the shouting is sunk to a murmur. A moment more--but in +that critical period an interruption occurred. + +A yell from a number of voices in sharpest unison drew attention to the +point of land jutting into the water on the north side not inaptly +called the toe of Therapia, and a boat, turning the point, bore down +with speed toward the sail-covered stand. There were four rowers in it; +yet its glossy sides and air of trimness were significant of a seventh +competitor for some reason behind time. The black flag at the prow and +the black uniform of the oarsmen confirmed the idea. The hand of the +Princess was on the signal rope; but she paused. + +As the boat-hook of the newcomers fell on the edge of the landing, one +of them dropped upon his knees, crying: "Grace, O Princess! Grace, and a +little time!" + +The four were swarthy men, and, unlike the Greeks they were seeking to +oppose, their swart was a peculiarity of birth, a racial sign. +Recognizing them, the spectators near by shouted: "Gypsies! Gypsies!" +and the jeer passed from mouth to mouth far as the bridge over the creek +at the corner of the bay; yet it was not ill-natured. That these +unbelievers of unknown origin, separatists like the Jews, could offer +serious opposition to the chosen of the towns was ridiculous. Since they +excited no apprehension, their welcome was general. + +"Why the need of grace? Who are you?" the Princess replied, gravely. + +"We are from the valley by Buyukdere," the man returned. + +"Are you fishermen?" + +"Judged by our catches the year through, and the prices we get in the +market, O Princess, it is not boasting to say our betters cannot be +found, though you search both shores between Fanar and the Isles of the +Princes." + +This was too much for the bystanders. The presence they were in was not +sufficient to restrain an outburst of derision. + +"But the conditions of the race shut you out. You are not Greeks," the +judge continued. + +"Nay, Princess, that is according to the ground of judgment. If it +please you to decide by birth and residence rather than ancestry, then +are we to be preferred over many of the nobles who go in and out of His +Majesty's gates unchallenged. Has not the sweet water that comes down +from the hills seeking the sea through our meadow furnished drink for +our fathers hundreds of years? And as it knew them, it knows us." + +"Well answered, I must admit. Now, my friend, do as wisely with what I +ask next, and you shall have a place. Say you come out winners, what +will you do with the prize? I have heard you are not Christians." + +The man raised his face the first time. + +"Not Christians! Were the charge true, then, argument being for the +hearing, I would say the matter of religion is not among the conditions. +But I am a petitioner, not lawyer, and to my rude thinking it is better +that I hold on as I began. Trust us, O Princess! There is a plane tree, +wondrous old, and with seven twin trunks, standing before our tents, and +in it there is a hollow which shelters securely as a house. Attend me +now, I pray. If happily we win, we will convert the tree into a +cathedral, and build an altar in it, and set the prize above the altar +in such style that all who love the handiworks of nature better than the +artfulness of men may come and worship there reverently as in the +holiest of houses, Sancta Sophia not excepted." + +"I will trust you. With such a promise overheard by so many of this +concourse, to refuse you a part in the race were a shame to the +Immaculate Mother. But how is it you are but four?" + +"We were five, O Princess; now one is sick. It was at his bidding we +come; he thought of the hundreds of oarsmen who would be here one at +least could be induced to share our fortune." + +"You have leave to try them." + +The man arose, and looked at the bystanders, but they turned away. + +"A hundred noumiae for two willing hands!" he shouted. + +There was no reply. "If not for the money, then in honor of the noble +lady who has feasted you and your wives and children." + +A voice answered out of the throng: "Here am I!" and presently the +hamari appeared with the bear behind him. + +"Here," he said, "take care of Joqard for me. I will row in the sick +man's place, and"-- + +The remainder of the sentence was lost in an outburst of gibing--and +laughter. Finally the Princess asked the rowers if they were satisfied +with the volunteer. + +They surveyed him doubtfully. + +"Art thou an oarsman?" one of them asked. + +"There is not a better on the Bosphorus. And I will prove it. Here, some +of you--take the beast off my hands. Fear not, friend, Joqard's worst +growl is inoffensive as thunder without lightning. That's a good man." + +And with the words the hamari released the leading strap, sprang into +the boat, and without giving time for protest or remonstrance, threw off +his jacket and sandals, tucked up his shirt-sleeves, and dropped into +the vacant fifth seat. The dexterity with which he then unshipped the +oars and took them in hand measurably quieted the associates thus +audaciously adopted; his action was a kind of certificate that the right +man had been sent them. + +"Believe in me," he said, in a low tone. "I have the two qualities which +will bring us home winners--skill and endurance." Then he spoke to the +Princess: "Noble lady, have I your consent to make a proclamation?" + +The manner of the request was singularly deferential. Sergius observed +the change, and took a closer look at him while the Princess was giving +the permission. + +Standing upon the seat, the hamari raised his voice: "Ho, here--there-- +every one!" and drawing a purse from his bosom, he waved it overhead, +with a louder shout, "See!--a hundred noumiae, and not all copper either. +Piece against piece weighed or counted, I put them in wager! Speak one or +all. Who dares the chance?" + +Takers of the offer not appearing on the shore, he shook the purse at +his competitors. + +"If we are not Christians," he said to them, "we are oarsmen and not +afraid. See--I stake this purse--if you win, it is yours." + +They only gaped at him. + +He put the purse back slowly, and recounting the several towns of his +opponents by their proper names in Greek, he cried: "Buyukdere, Therapia, +Stenia, Bebek, Balta-Liman, Yenimahale--your women will sing you low +to-night!" Then to the Princess: "Allow us now to take our place seventh +on the left." + +The bystanders were in a maze. Had they been served with a mess of brag, +or was the fellow really capable? One thing was clear--the interest in +the race had taken a rise perceptible in the judge's stand not less than +on the crowded shore. + +The four Gypsies, on their part, were content with the volunteer. In +fact, they were more than satisfied when he said to them, as their +vessel turned into position: + +"Now, comrades, be governed by me; and besides the prize, if we win, you +shall have my purse to divide amongst you man and man. Is it agreed?" +And they answered, foreman and all, yes. "Very well," he returned. "Do +you watch, and get the time and force from me. Now for the signal." + +The Princess sent the starting flag to the top of the pole, and the +boats were off together. A great shout went up from the spectators--a +shout of men mingled with the screams of women to whom a hurrah or cheer +of any kind appears impossible. + +To warm the blood, there is nothing after all like the plaudits of a +multitude looking on and mightily concerned. This was now noticeable. +The eyes of all the rowers enlarged; their teeth set hard; the arteries +of the neck swelled; and even in their tension the muscles of the arms +quivered. + +A much better arrangement would have been to allow the passage of the +racers broadside to the shore; for then the shiftings of position, and +the strategies resorted to would have been plain to the beholders; as it +was, each foreshortened vessel soon became to them a black body, with +but a man and one pair of oars in motion; and sometimes provokingly +indistinguishable, the banderoles blew backward squarely in a line with +the direction of the movement. Then the friends on land gave over +exercising their throats; finally drawn down to the water's edge, and +pressing on each other, they steadied and welded into a mass, like a +wall. + +Once there was a general shout. Gradually the boats had lost the +formation of the start, and falling in behind each other, assumed an +order comparable to a string. While this change was going on, a breeze +unusually strong blew from the south, bringing every flag into view at +the same time: when it was perceived that the red was in the lead. +Forthwith the clansmen of Stenia united in a triumphant yell, followed +immediately, however, by another yet louder. It was discovered, thanks +to the same breeze, that the black banderole of the Gypsies was the last +of the seven. Then even those who had been most impressed by the bravado +of the hamari, surrendered themselves to laughter and sarcasm. + +"See the infidels!" "They had better be at home taking care of their +kettles and goats!" "Turn the seven twins into a cathedral, will they? +The devil will turn them into porpoises first!" "Where is the hamari +now--where? By St. Michael, the father of fishermen, he is finding what +it is to have more noumiae than brains! Ha, ha, ha!" + +Nevertheless the coolest of the thirty-five men then scudding the +slippery waterway was the hamari--he had started the coolest--he was the +coolest now. + +For a half mile he allowed his crew to do their best, and with them he +had done his best. The effort sufficed to carry them to the front, where +he next satisfied himself they could stay, if they had the endurance. He +called to them: + +"Well done, comrades! The prize and the money are yours! But ease up a +little. Let them pass. We will catch them again at the turn. Keep your +eyes on me." + +Insensibly he lessened the dip and reach of his oars; at last, as the +thousands on the Therapian shore would have had it, the Gypsy racer was +the hinderling of the pack. Afterwards there were but trifling changes +of position until the terminal galley was reached. + +By a rule of the race, the contestants were required to turn the galley, +keeping it on the right; and it was a great advantage to be a clear +first there, since the fortunate party could then make the round +unhindered and in the least space. The struggle for the point began +quite a quarter of a mile away. Each crew applied itself to quickening +the speed--every oar dipped deeper, and swept a wider span;--on a +little, and the keepers of the galley could hear the half groan, half +grunt with which the coming toilers relieved the extra exertion now +demanded of them;--yet later, they saw them spring to their feet, reach +far back, and finish the long deep draw by falling, or rather toppling +backward to their seats. + +Only the hamari eschewed the resort for the present. He cast a look +forward, and said quickly: "Attend, comrades!" Thereupon he added weight +to his left delivery, altering the course to an angle which, if pursued, +must widen the circle around the galley instead of contracting it. + +On nearing the goal the rush of the boats grew fiercer; each foreman, +considering it honor lost, if not a fatal mischance, did he fail to be +first at the turning-point, persisted in driving straight forward--a +madness which the furious yelling of the people on the marker's deck +intensified. This was exactly what the hamari had foreseen. When the +turn began five of the opposing vessels ran into each other. The boil +and splash of water, breaking of oars, splintering of boatsides; the +infuriate cries, oaths, and blind striving of the rowers, some intent on +getting through at all hazards, some turned combatants, striking or +parrying with their heavy oaken blades; the sound of blows on breaking +heads; plunges into the foaming brine; blood trickling down faces and +necks, and reddening naked arms--such was the catastrophe seen in its +details from the overhanging gunwale of the galley. And while it went +on, the worse than confused mass drifted away from the ship's side, +leaving a clear space through which, with the first shout heard from him +during the race, the hamari urged his crew, and rounded the goal. + +On the far Therapian shore the multitude were silent. They could dimly +see every incident at the turn--the collision, fighting, and manifold +mishaps, and the confounding of the banderoles. Then the Stenia colors +flashed round the galley, with the black behind it a close second. + +"Is that the hamari's boat next the leader?" + +Thus the Princess, and upon the answer, she added: "It looks as if the +Holy One might find servants among the irreclaimables in the valley." + +Had the Gypsies at last a partisan? + +The two rivals were now clear of the galley. For a time there was but +one cry heard--"Stenia! Stenia!" The five oarsmen of that charming town +had been carefully selected; they were vigorous, skilful, and had a +chief well-balanced in judgment. The race seemed theirs. Suddenly--it +was when the homestretch was about half covered--the black flag rushed +past them. + +Then the life went out of the multitude. "St. Peter is dead!" they +cried--"St. Peter is dead! It is nothing to be a Greek now!" and they +hung their heads, refusing to be comforted. + +The Gypsies came in first; and amidst the profoundest silence, they +dropped their oars with a triumphant crash on the marble revetment. The +hamari wiped the sweat from his face, and put on his jacket and sandals; +pausing then to toss his purse to the foreman, and say: "Take it in +welcome, my friends. I am content with my share of the victory," he +stepped ashore. In front of the judge's stand, he knelt, and said: +"Should there be a dispute touching the prize, O Princess, be a witness +unto thyself. Thine eyes have seen the going and the coming; and if the +world belie thee not--sometimes it can be too friendly--thou art fair, +just and fearless." + +On foot again, his courtierly manner vanished in a twinkling. + +"Joqard, Joqard? Where are you?" + +Some one answered: "Here he is." + +"Bring him quickly. For Joqard is an example to men--he is honest, and +tells no lies. He has made much money, and allowed me to keep it all, +and spend it on myself. Women are jealous of him, but with reason--he is +lovely enough to have been a love of Solomon's; his teeth are as pearls +of great price; his lips scarlet as a bride's; his voice is the voice of +a nightingale singing to the full moon from an acacia tree fronded last +night; in motion, he is now a running wave, now a blossom on a swaying +branch, now a girl dancing before a king--all the graces are his. Yes, +bring me Joqard, and keep the world; without him, it is nothing to me." + +While speaking, from a jacket pocket he brought out the fan Lael had +thrown him from the portico, and used it somewhat ostentatiously to cool +himself. The Princess and her attendants laughed heartily. Sergius, +however, watched the man with a scarcely defined feeling that he had +seen him. But where? And he was serious because he could not answer. + +Taking the leading strap, when Joqard was brought, the hamari scrupled +not to give the brute a hearty cuff, whereat the fishermen shook the +sails of the pavilion with laughter; then, standing Joqard up, he placed +one of the huge paws on his arm, and, with the mincing step of a lady's +page, they disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PRINCESS HAS A CREED + + +"I shall ask you, Sergius, to return to the city to-night, for inquiry +about the fete will be lively tomorrow in the holy houses. And if you +have the disposition to defend me"-- + +"You doubt me, O Princess?" + +"No." + +"O little mother, let me once for all be admitted to your confidence, +that in talking to me there may never be a question of my loyalty." + +This, with what follows, was part of a conversation between the Princess +Irene and Sergius of occurrence the evening of the fete in the court +heretofore described, being that to which she retired to read the letter +of introduction brought her by the young monk from Father Hilarion. + +From an apartment adjoining, the voices of her attendants were +occasionally heard blent with the monotonous tinkle of water overflowing +the bowls of the fountain. In the shadowy depths of the opening above +the court the stars might have been seen had not a number of lamps +suspended from a silken cord stretched from wall to wall flooded the +marble enclosure with their nearer light. + +There was a color, so to speak, in the declaration addressed to her--a +warmth and earnestness--which drew a serious look from the Princess--the +look, in a word, with which a woman admits a fear lest the man speaking +to her may be a lover. + +To say of her who habitually discouraged the tender passion, and the +thought of it, that she moved in an atmosphere charged with attractions +irresistible to the other sex sounds strangely: yet it was true; and as +a consequence she had grown miraculously quick with respect to +appearances. + +However, she now dismissed the suspicion, and replied: + +"I believe you, Sergius, I believe you. The Holy Virgin sees how +completely and gladly." + +She went on presently, a tremulous light in her eyes making him think of +tears. "You call me little mother. There are some who might laugh, did +they hear you, yet I agree to the term. It implies a relation of trust +without embarrassment, and a promise of mutual faithfulness warranting +me to call you in return, Sergius, and sometimes 'dear Sergius.' ... +Yes, I think it better that you go back immediately. The Hegumen will +want to speak to you in the morning about what you have seen and heard +to-day. My boatmen can take you down, and arrived there, they will stay +the night. My house is always open to them." + +After telling her how glad he was for the permission to address her in a +style usual in his country, he moved to depart, but she detained him. + +"Stay a moment. To-day I had not time to deal as I wished with the +charges the Hegumen prefers against me. You remember I promised to speak +to you about them frankly, and I think it better to do so now; for with +my confessions always present you cannot be surprised by +misrepresentations, nor can doubt take hold of you so readily. You shall +go hence possessed of every circumstance essential to judge how guilty I +am." + +"They must do more than talk," the monk returned, with emphasis. + +"Beware, Sergius! Do not provoke them into argument--or if you must +talk, stop when you have set them to talking. The listener is he who can +best be wise as a serpent.... And now, dear friend, lend me your good +sense. Thanks to the generosity of a kinsman, I am mistress of a +residence in the city and this palace; and it is mine to choose between +them. How healthful and charming life is with surroundings like +these--here, the gardens; yonder, the verdurous hills; and there, before +my door, a channel of the seas always borrowing from the sky, never +deserted by men. Guilt seeks exclusion, does it not? Well, whether you +come in the day or the night, my gate is open; nor have I a warder other +than Lysander; and his javelin is but a staff with which to steady his +failing steps. There are no prohibitions shutting me in. Christian, +Turk, Gypsy--the world in fact--is welcome to see what all I have; and +as to danger, I am defended better than with guards. I strive diligently +to love my neighbors as I love myself, and they know it.... Coming +nearer the accusation now. I find here a freedom which not a religious +house in the city can give me, nor one on the Isles, not Halki itself. +Here I am never disturbed by sectaries or partisans; the Greek and the +Latin wrangle before the Emperor and at the altars; but they spare me in +this beloved retiracy. Freedom! Ah, yes, I find it in this retreat--this +escape from temptations--freedom to work and sleep, and praise God as +seems best to me--freedom to be myself in defiance of deplorable social +customs--and there is no guilt in it.... Coming still nearer the very +charge, hear, O Sergius, and I will tell you of the brass on my gate, +and why I suffer it to stay there; since you, with your partialities, +account it a witness against me, it is in likelihood the foundation of +the calumny associating me with the Turk. Let me ask first, did the +Hegumen mention the name of one such associate?" + +"No." + +The Princess with difficulty repressed her feelings. + +"Bear with me a moment," she said; "you cannot know the self-mastery I +require to thus defend myself. Can I ever again be confident of my +judgment? How doubts and fears will beset me when hereafter upon my own +responsibility I choose a course, whatever the affair! Ah, God, whom I +have sought to make my reliance, seems so far away! It will be for Him +in the great day to declare if my purpose in living here be not escape +from guiltiness in thought, from wrong and temptation, from taint to +character. For further security, I keep myself surrounded with good +women, and from the beginning took the public into confidence, giving it +privileges, and inviting it to a study of my daily life. And this is the +outcome! ... I will proceed now. The plate on the gate is a safeguard"-- + +"Then Mahommed has visited you?" + +The slightest discernible pallor overspread her face. + +"Does it surprise you so much? ... This is the way it came about. You +remember our stay at the White Castle, and doubtless you remember the +knight in armor who received us at the landing--a gallant, fair-speaking, +chivalrous person whom we supposed the Governor, and who prevailed upon +us to become his guests while the storm endured. You recollect him?" + +"Yes. He impressed me greatly." + +"Well, let me now bring up an incident not in your knowledge. The eunuch +in whose care I was placed for the time with Lael, daughter of the +Prince of India, as my companion, to afford us agreeable diversion, +obtained my consent to introduce an Arab story-teller of great repute +among the tribes of the desert and other Eastern people. He gave us the +name of the man--Sheik Aboo-Obeidah. The Sheik proved worthy his fame. +So entertaining was he, in fact, I invited him here, and he came." + +"Did I understand you to say the entertainment took place in Lael's +presence?" + +"She was my companion throughout." + +"Let us be thankful, little mother." + +"Ay, Sergius, and that I have witnesses down to the last incident. You +may have heard how the Emperor and his court did me the high honor of a +visit in state." + +"The visit was notorious." + +"Well, while the royal company were at table, Lysander appeared and +announced Aboo-Obeidah, and, by permission of the Emperor, the +story-teller was admitted, and remained during the repast. Now I come to +the surprising event--Aboo-Obeidah was Mahommed!" + +"Prince Mahommed--son of the terrible Amurath?" exclaimed Sergius. "How +did you know him?" + +"By the brass plate. When he went to his boat, he stopped and nailed the +plate to the pillar. I went to look at it, and not understanding the +inscription, sent to town for a Turk who enlightened me." + +"Then the hamari was not gasconading?" + +"What did he say?" + +"He confirmed your Turk." + +She gazed awhile at the overflowing of the fountain, giving a thought +perhaps to the masquerader and his description of himself what time he +was alone with her on the portico; presently she resumed: + +"One word more now, and I dismiss the brass plate.... I cannot blind +myself, dear friend, to the condition of my kinsman's empire. It creeps +in closer and closer to the walls of Constantinople. Presently there +will be nothing of it left save the little the gates of the capital can +keep. The peace we have is by the grace of an unbeliever too old for +another great military enterprise; and when it breaks, then, O Sergius, +yon safeguard may be for others besides myself--for many others--farmers, +fishermen and townspeople caught in the storm. Say such anticipation +followed you, Sergius--what would you do with the plate?" + +"What would I do with it? O little mother, I too should take counsel of +my fears." + +"You approve my keeping it where it is, then? Thank you.... What remains +for explanation? Ah, yes--my heresy. That you shall dispose of yourself. +Remain here a moment." + +She arose, and passing through a doorway heavily draped with cloth, left +him to the entertainment of the fountain. Returning soon, she placed a +roll of paper in his hand. + +"There," she said, "is the creed which your Hegumen makes such a sin. It +may be heresy; yet, God helping me, and Christ and the Holy Mother +lending their awful help, I dare die for it. Take it, dear Sergius. You +will find it simple--nine words in all--and take this cover for it." + +He wrapped the parcel in the white silken cover she gave him, making +mental comparison, nevertheless, with the old Nicaean ordinances. + +"Only nine words--O little mother!" + +"Nine," she returned. + +"They should be of gold." + +"I leave them to speak for themselves." + +"Shall I return the paper?" + +"No, it is a copy.... But it is time you were going. Fortunately the +night is pleasant and starlit; and if you are tired, the speeding of the +boat will rest you. Let me have an opinion of the creed at your leisure." + +They bade each other good-night. + + * * * * * + +About eight o'clock next morning Sergius awoke. He had dropped on his +cot undressed, and slept the sweet sleep of healthful youth; now, +glancing about, he thought of the yesterday and the spacious garden, of +the palace in the garden, of the Princess Irene, and of the conversation +she held with him in the bright inner court. And the creed of nine +words! He felt for it, and found it safe. Then his thought flew to Lael. +She had exonerated herself. Demedes was a liar--Demedes, the presumptuous +knave! He was to have been at the fete, but had not dared go. There was a +limit to his audacity; and in great thankfulness for the discovery, +Sergius tossed an arm over the edge of the narrow cot, and struck the +stool, his solitary item of furniture. He raised his head, and looked at +the stool, wondering how it came there so close to his cot. What was that +he saw? A fan?--And in his chamber? Somebody had brought it in. He +examined it cautiously. Whose was it? Whose could it be?--How!--No--but +it _was_ the very fan he had seen Lael toss to the hamari from the +portico! And the hamari? + +A bit of folded paper on the settle attracted his attention. He snatched +it up, opened, and read it, and while he read his brows knit, his eyes +opened to their full. + +"PATIENCE--COURAGE--JUDGMENT! + +"Thou art better apprised of the meaning of the motto than thou wert +yesterday. + +"Thy seat in the Academy is still reserved for thee. + +"Thou mayst find the fan of the Princess of India useful; with me it is +embalmed in sentiment. + +"Be wise. +THE HAMARI." + +He read the scrap twice, the second time slowly; then it fell rustling +to the floor, while he clasped his hands and looked to Heaven. A murmur +was all he could accomplish. + +Afterwards, prostrate on the cot, his face to the wall, he debated with +himself, and concluded: + +"The Greek is capable of any villany he sets about--of abduction and +murder--and now indeed must Lael beware!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA PREACHES GOD TO THE GREEKS + + +We will now take the liberty of reopening the audience chamber of the +palace of Blacherne, presuming the reader holds it in recollection. It +is the day when, by special appointment, the Prince of India appears +before the Emperor Constantine to present his idea of a basis for +Universal Religious Union. The hour is exactly noon. + +A report of the Prince's former audience with His Majesty had awakened +general curiosity to see the stranger and hear his discourse. This was +particularly the feeling in spiritual circles; by which term the most +influential makers of public opinion are meant. A sharp though decorous +rivalry for invitations to be present on the occasion ensued. + +The Emperor, in robes varied but little from those he wore the day of +the Prince's first audience, occupied the throne on the dais. On both +sides of him the company sat in a semicircular arrangement which left +them all facing the door of the main entrance, and permitted the +placement of a table in a central position under every eye. + +The appearance of the assemblage would have disappointed the reader; for +while the court was numerously represented, with every functionary in +his utmost splendor of decoration, it was outnumbered by the brethren of +the Holy Orders, whose gowns, for the most part of gray and black +material unrelieved by gayety in color, imparted a sombreness to the +scene which the ample light of the chamber could not entirely dissipate, +assisted though it was by refractions in plenitude from heads bald and +heads merely tonsured. + +It should be observed now that besides a very striking exterior, the +Emperor fancied he discerned in the Prince of India an idea enriched by +an extraordinary experience. At loss to make him out, impressed, not +unpleasantly, with the mystery the stranger had managed, as usual, to +leave behind him, His Majesty had looked forward to this second +appearance with interest, and turned it over with a view to squeezing +out all of profit there might be in it. Why not, he asked himself, make +use of the opportunity to bring the chiefs of the religious factions +once more together? The explosive tendency which it seemed impossible +for them to leave in their cells with their old dalmatics had made it +politic to keep them apart widely and often as circumstances would +permit; here, however, he thought the danger might be averted, since +they would attend as auditors from whom speech or even the asking a +question would be out of order unless by permission. The imperial +presence, it was also judged, would restrain the boldest of them from +resolving himself into a disputant. + +The arrangement of the chamber for the audience had been a knotty problem +to our venerable acquaintance, the Dean; but at last he submitted his +plan, giving every invitee a place by ticket; the Emperor, however, +blotted it out mercilessly. "Ah, my old friend," he said, with a smile +which assuaged the pang of disapproval, "you have loaded yourself with +unnecessary trouble. There was never a mass performed with stricter +observance of propriety than we will now have. Fix the chairs thus"--and +with a finger-sweep he described a semicircle--"here the table for the +Prince. Having notified me of his intention to read from some ancient +books, he must have a table--and let there be no reserved seat, except +one for the Patriarch. Set a sedilium, high and well clothed, for him +here on my right--and forget not a stool for his feet; for now to the +bitterness of controversy long continued he has added a constriction of +the lungs, and together they are grievous to old age." + +"And Scholarius?" + +"Scholarius is an orator; some say he is a prophet; I know he is not an +official; so of the seats vacant when he arrives, let him choose for +himself." + +The company began coming early. Every Churchman of prominence in the +city was in attendance. The reception was unusually ceremonious. When +the bustle was over, and His Majesty at ease, the pages having arranged +the folds of his embroidered vestments, he rested his hand lightly on +the golden cone of the right arm of the throne, and surveyed the audience +with a quiet assurance becoming his birth in the purple, looking first to +the Patriarch, and bowing to him, and receiving a salute in return. To +the others on the right he glanced next, with a gracious bend of the +head, and then to those on the left. In. the latter quarter he recognized +Scholarius, and covertly smiled; if Gregory had taken seat on the left, +Scholarius would certainly have crossed to the right. There was no such +thing as compromise in his intolerant nature. + +One further look the Emperor gave to where, near the door, a group of +women was standing, in attendance evidently upon the Princess Irene, who +was the only one of them seated. Their heads were covered by veils which +had the appearance of finely woven silver. This jealous precaution, of +course, cut off recognition; nevertheless such of the audience as had +the temerity to cast their eyes at the fair array were consoled by a +view of jewelled hands, bare arms inimitably round and graceful, and +figures in drapery of delicate colors, and of designs to tempt the +imagination without offence to modesty--a respect in which the Greek +costume has never been excelled. The Emperor recognized the Princess, +and slightly inclined his head to her. He then spoke to the Dean: + +"Wait on the Prince of India, and if he is prepared, accompany him +hither." + +Passing out a side door, the master of ceremonies presently reappeared +with Nilo in guidance. The black giant was as usual barbarously +magnificent in attire; and staring at him, the company did not observe +the burden he brought in, and laid on the table. He retired immediately; +then they looked, and saw a heap of books and MSS. in rolls left behind +him--quaint, curious volumes, so to speak, yellow with age and exposure, +and suggestive of strange countries, and a wisdom new, if not of more +than golden worth. And they continued to gaze and wonder at them, giving +warrant to the intelligent forethought of the Prince of India which sent +Nilo in advance of his own entry. + +Again the door was thrown open, and this time the Dean ushered the Prince +into the chamber, and conducted him toward the dais. Thrice the foreigner +prostrated himself; the last time within easy speaking distance of His +Majesty, who silently agreed with the observant lookers-on, that he had +never seen the salutations better executed. + +"Rise, Prince of India," the Emperor said, blandly, and well pleased. + +The Prince arose, and stood before him, his eyes downcast, his hands +upon his breast--suppliancy in excellent pantomime. + +"Be not surprised, Prince of India, at the assemblage you behold." Thus +His Majesty proceeded. "Its presence is due, I declare to you, not so +much to design of mine as to the report the city has had of your former +audience, and the theme of which you then promised to discourse." +Without apparently noticing the low reverence in acknowledgment of the +compliment, he addressed himself to the body of listeners. "I regard it +courtesy to our noble Indian guest to advise you, my Lords of the Court, +and you, devotees of Christ and the Father, whose prayers are now the +chief stay of my empire, that he is present by my appointment. On a +previous occasion, he interested us--I speak of many of my very +honorable assistants in Government--he interested us, I say, with an +account of his resignation of the Kingship in his country, moved by a +desire to surrender himself exclusively to study of religion. Under my +urgency, he bravely declared he was neither Jew, Moslem, Hindoo, +Buddhist nor Christian; that his travels and investigation had led him +to a faith which he summed up by pronouncing the most holy name of God; +giving us to understand he meant the God to whom our hearts have long +been delivered. He also referred to the denominations into which +believers are divided, and said his one motive in life was the bringing +them together in united brotherhood; and as I cannot imagine a result +more desirable, provided its basis obtain the sanction of our +conscience, I will now ask him to proceed, if it be his pleasure, and +speak to us freely." + +Again the visitor prostrated himself in his best oriental manner; after +which, moving backward, he went to the table and took a few minutes +arranging the books and rolls. The spectators availed themselves of the +opportunity to gratify their curiosity well as they could from mere +inspection of the man; and as the liberty was within his anticipations, +it gave him but slight concern. + +We about know how he appeared to them. We remember his figure, low, +slightly stooped, and deficiently slender;--we remember the thin yet +healthful looking face, even rosy of cheek;--we can see him in his +pointed red slippers, his ample trousers of glossy white satin, his long +black gown, relieved at the collar and cuffs with fine laces, his hair +fallen on his shoulders, beard overflowing his breast;--we can even see +the fingers, transparent, singularly flexible in operation, turning +leaves, running down pages and smoothing them out, and placing this roll +or that book as convenience required, all so lithe, swift, certain, they +in a manner exposed the mind which controlled them. At length, the +preliminaries finished, the Prince raised his eyes, and turned them +slowly about--those large, deep, searching eyes--wells from which, +without discoverable effort, he drew magnetism at his pleasure. + +He began simply, his voice distinct, and cast to make itself heard, and +not more. + +"This"--his second finger was on a page of the large volume heretofore +described--"this is the Bible, the most Holy of Bibles. I call it the +rock on which your faith and mine are castled." There was a stretching +of necks to see, and he did not allow the sensation to pass. + +"And more--it is one of the fifty copies of the Bible translated by +order of the first Constantine, under supervision of his minister +Eusebius, well known to you for piety and learning." + +It seemed at first every Churchman was on his feet, but directly the +Emperor observed Scholarius and the Patriarch seated, the latter +diligently crossing himself. The excitement can be readily comprehended +by considering the assemblage and its composition of zealots and +relic-worshippers, and that, while the tradition respecting the fifty +copies was familiar, not a man there could have truly declared he had +ever seen one of them--so had they disappeared from the earth. + +"These are Bibles, also," the speaker resumed, upon the restoration of +order--"Bibles sacred to those unto whom they were given as that +imperishable monument to Moses and David is to us; for they too are +Revelations from God--ay, the very same God! This is the _Koran_--and +these, the _Kings_ of the Chinese--and these, the _Avesta_ of the Magians +of Persia--and these, the _Sutras_ well preserved of Buddha--and these, +the _Vedas_ of the patient Hindoos, my countrymen." + +He carefully designated each book and roll by placing his finger on it. + +"I thank Your Majesty for the gracious words of introduction you were +pleased to give me. They set before my noble and most reverend auditors +my history and the subject of my discourse; leaving me, without wrong to +their understanding, or waste of time or words, to invite them to think +of the years it took to fit myself to read these Books--for so I will +term them--years spent among the peoples to whom they are divine. And +when that thought is in mind, stored there past loss, they will +understand what I mean by Religion, and the methods I adopted and +pursued for its study. Then also the value of the assertions I make can +be intelligently weighed.... This first--Have not all men hands and +eyes? We may not be able to read the future in our palms; but there is +no excuse for us if we do not at least see God in them. Similarity is +law, and the law of Nature is the will of God. Keep the argument with +you, O my Lord, for it is the earliest lesson I had from my travels.... +Animals when called to, the caller being on a height over them, never +look for him above the level of their eyes; even so some men are +incapable of thinking of the mysteries hidden out of sight in the sky; +but it is not so with all; and therein behold the partiality of God. The +reason of the difference between the leaves of trees not of the same +species, is the reason of the inequality of genius among races of men. +The Infinite prefers variety because He is more certainly to be +perceived in it. At this stop now, my Lord, mark the second lesson of my +travels. God, wishing above all things to manifest Himself and His +character to all humanity, made choice amongst the races, selecting +those superior in genius, and intrusted them with special revelations; +whence we have the two kinds of religion, natural and revealed. Seeing +God in a stone, and worshipping it, is natural religion; the +consciousness of God in the heart, an excitant of love and gratitude +inexpressible except by prayer and hymns of praise--that, O my Lord, is +the work and the proof of revealed religion.... I next submit the third +of the lessons I have had; but, if I may have your attention to the +distinction, it is remarkable as derived from my reading"--here he +covered all the books on the table with a comprehensive gesture--"my +reading more than my travels; and I call it the purest wisdom because it +is not sentiment, at the same time that it is without so much as a +strain of philosophy, being a fact clear as any fact deducible from +history--yes, my Lord, clearer, more distinct, more positive, most +undeniable--an incident of the love the Universal Maker has borne his +noblest creatures from their first morning--a Godly incident which I +have had from the study of these Bibles in comparison with each other. +In brief, my Lord, a revelation not intended for me above the generality +of men; nevertheless a revelation to me, since I went seeking it--or +shall I call it a recompense for the crown and throne I voluntarily gave +away?" + +The feeling the Prince threw into these words took hold of his auditors. +Not a few of them were struck with awe, somewhat as if he were a saint +or prophet, or a missionary from the dead returned with secrets +theretofore locked up fast in the grave. They waited for his next +saying--his third lesson, as he termed it--with anxiety. + +"The Holy Father of Light and Life," the speaker went on, after a pause +referable to his consummate knowledge of men, "has sent His Spirit down +to the world, not once merely, or unto one people, but repeatedly, in +ages sometimes near together, sometimes wide apart, and to races +diverse, yet in every instance remarkable for genius." + +There was a murmur at this, but he gave it no time. + +"Ask you now how I could identify the Spirit so as to be able to declare +to you solemnly, as I do in fear of God, that in the several repeated +appearances of which I speak it was the very same Spirit? How do you +know the man you met at set of sun yesterday was the man you saluted and +had salute from this morning? Well, I tell you the Father has given the +Spirit features by which it may be known--features distinct as those of +the neighbors nearest you there at your right and left hands. Wherever +in my reading Holy Books, like these, I hear of a man, himself a shining +example of righteousness, teaching God and the way to God, by those +signs I say to my soul: 'Oh, the Spirit, the Spirit! Blessed is the man +appointed to carry it about!'" + +Again the murmur, but again he passed on. + +"The Spirit dwelt in the Holy of Holies set apart for it in the +Tabernacle; yet no man ever saw it there, a thing of sight. The soul is +not to be seen; still less is the Spirit of the Most High; or if one did +see it, its brightness would kill him. In great mercy, therefore, it has +always come and done its good works in the world veiled; now in one +form, now in another; at one time, a voice in the air; at another, a +vision in sleep; at another, a burning bush; at another, an angel; at +another, a descending dove"-- + +"Bethabara!" shouted a cowled brother, tossing both hands up. + +"Be quiet!" the Patriarch ordered. + +"Thus always when its errand was of quick despatch," the Prince +continued. "But if its coming were for residence on earth, then its +habit has been to adopt a man for its outward form, and enter into him, +and speak by him; such was Moses, such Elijah, such were all the +Prophets, and such"--he paused, then exclaimed shrilly--"such was Jesus +Christ!" + +In his study at home, the Prince had undoubtedly thought out his present +delivery with the care due an occasion likely to be a turning-point in +his projects, if not his life; and it must at that time have required of +him a supreme effort of will to resolve upon this climax; as it was, he +hesitated, and turned the hue of ashes; none the less his unknowing +auditors renewed their plaudits. Even the Emperor nodded approvingly. +None of them divined the cunning of the speaker; not one thought he was +pledging himself by his applause to a kindly hearing of the next point +in the speech. + +"Now, my Lord, he who lives in a close vale shut in by great mountains, +and goes not thence so much as to the top of one of the mountains, to +him the vastness and beauty of the world beyond his pent sky-line shall +be secret in his old age as they were when he was a child. He has denied +himself to them. Like him is the man who, thinking to know God, spends +his days reading one Holy Book. I care not if it be this one"--he laid +his finger on the _Avesta_--"or this one"--in the same manner he +signified the _Vedas_--"or this one"--touching the _Koran_--"or this +one"--laying his whole hand tenderly palm down on the most Holy Bible. +"He shall know God--yes, my Lord, but not all God has done for men.... I +have been to the mountain's top; that is to say, I know these books, O +reverend brethren, as you know the beads of your rosaries and what each +bead stands for. They did not teach me all there is in the Infinite--I +am in too much awe for such a folly of the tongue--yet through them I +know His Spirit has dwelt on earth in men of different races and times; +and whether the Spirit was the same Spirit, I fear not leaving you to +judge. If we find in those bearing it about likenesses in ideas, aims, +and methods--a Supreme God and an Evil One, a Heaven and a Hell, Sin and +a Way to Salvation, a Soul immortal whether lost or saved--what are we +to think? If then, besides these likenesses, we find the other signs of +divine authority, acknowledged such from the beginning of the +world--Mysteries of Birth, Sinlessness, Sacrifices, Miracles done--which +of you will rise in his place, and rebuke me for saying there were Sons +of God in Spirit before the Spirit descended upon Jesus Christ? +Nevertheless, that is what I say." + +Here the Prince bent over the table pretending to be in search of a page +in the most Holy Book, while--if the expression be pardonable--he +watched the audience with his ears. He heard the rustle as the men +turned to each other in mute inquiry; he almost heard their question, +though they but looked it; otherwise, if it had been dark, the silence +would have been tomb-like. At length, raising his head, he beheld a +tall, gaunt, sallow person, clad in a monkish gown of the coarsest gray +wool, standing and looking at him; the eyes seemed two lights burning in +darkened depths; the air was haughty and menacing; and altogether he +could not avoid noticing the man. He waited, but the stranger silently +kept his feet. + +"Your Majesty," the Prince began again, perfectly composed, "these are +but secondary matters; yet there is such light in them with respect to +my main argument, that I think best to make them good by proofs, lest my +reverend brethren dismiss me as an idler in words.... Behold the Bible +of the Bodhisattwa"--he held up a roll of broad-leafed vellum, and +turned it dextrously for better exhibition--"and hear, while I read +from it, of a Birth, Life and Death which took place a thousand and +twenty-seven years before Jesus Christ was born." And he read: + +"'Strong and calm of purpose as the earth, pure in mind as the +water-lily, her name figuratively assumed, Maya, she was in truth above +comparison. On her in likeness as the heavenly queen the Spirit +descended. A mother, but free from grief or pain, she was without +deceit.'" The Prince stopped reading to ask: "Will not my Lord see in +these words a Mary also 'blessed above other women'?" Then he read on: +..."'And now the queen Maya knew her time for the birth had come. It +was the eighth day of the fourth moon, a serene and agreeable season. +While she thus religiously observed the rules of a pure discipline, +Bodhisattwa was born from her right side, come to deliver the world, +constrained by great pity, without causing his mother pain or anguish.'" +Again the Prince lifted his eyes from the roll. "What is this, my Lord, +but an Incarnation? Hear now of the Child: ... 'As one born from +recumbent space, and not through the gates of life, men indeed regarded +his exceeding great glory, yet their sight remained uninjured; he +allowed them to gaze, the brightness of his person concealed for a time, +as when we look upon the moon in heaven. His body nevertheless was +effulgent with light, and, like the sun which eclipses the shining of +the lamp, so the true gold-like beauty of Bodhisattwa shone forth and +was everywhere diffused. Upright and firm, and unconfused in mind, he +deliberately took seven steps, the soles of his feet resting evenly upon +the ground as he went, his footmarks remained bright as seven stars. +Moving like the lion, king of beasts, and looking earnestly toward the +four quarters, penetrating to the centre the principles of truth, he +spoke thus with the fullest assurance: This birth is in the condition of +Buddha; after this I have done with renewed birth; _now only am I born +this once, for the purpose of saving all the world._'" A third time +the Prince stopped, and, throwing up his hand to command attention, he +asked: "My Lord, who will say this was not also a Redeemer? See now what +next ensued"--and he read on: "'And now from the midst of Heaven there +descended two streams of pure water, one warm, the other cold, and +baptized his head.'" Pausing again, the speaker searched the faces of +his auditors on the right and left, while he exclaimed in magnetic +repetition: "Baptism--_Baptism_--BAPTISM AND MIRACLE!" + +Constantine sat, like the rest, his attention fixed; but the gray-clad +monk still standing grimly raised a crucifix before him as if taking +refuge behind it. + +"My Lord is seeing the likenesses these things bear to the conception, +birth and mission of Jesus Christ, the later Blessed One, who is +nevertheless his first in love. He is comparing the incidents of the two +Incarnations of the Spirit or Holy Ghost; he is asking himself: 'Can +there have been several Sons of God?' and he is replying: 'That were +indeed merciful--Blessed be God!'" + +The Emperor made no sign one way or the other. + +"Suffer me to help my Lord yet a little more," the Prince continued, +apparently unobservant of the lowering face behind the crucifix. "He +remembers angels came down the night of the nativity in the cave by +Bethlehem; he cannot forget the song they sung to the shepherds. How +like these honors to the Bodhisattwa!"--and he read from the roll: ... +"'Meanwhile the Devas'--angels, if my Lord pleases--'the Devas in space, +seizing their jewelled canopies, attending, raise in responsive harmony +their heavenly songs to encourage him.' Nor was this all, my Lord," and +he continued reading: "'On every hand the world was greatly shaken.... +The minutest atoms of sandal perfume, and the hidden sweetness of +precious lilies, floated on the air, and rose through space, and then +commingling came back to earth.... All cruel and malevolent kinds of +beings together conceived a loving heart; all diseases and afflictions +amongst men, without a cure applied, of themselves were healed; the +cries of beasts were hushed; the stagnant waters of the river courses +flowed apace; no clouds gathered on the heavens, while angelic music, +self-caused, was heard around.... So when Bodhisattwa was born, he came +to remove the sorrows of all living things. Mara alone was grieved.' O +my reverend brethren!" cried the Prince, fervently, "who was this Mara +that he should not share in the rejoicing of all nature else? In +Christian phrase, Satan, and Mara alone was grieved." + +"Do the likenesses stop with the births, my brethren are now asking. Let +us follow the Bodhisattwa. On reaching the stage of manhood, he also +retired into the wilderness. 'The valley of the Se-na was level and full +of fruit trees, with no noxious insects,' say these Scriptures: 'and +there he dwelt under a sala tree. And he fasted nigh to death. The Devas +offered him sweet dew, but he rejected it, and took but a grain of +millet a day.' Now what think you of this as a parallel incident of his +sojourn in the wilderness?" And he read: ... "'Mara Devaraga, enemy of +religion, alone was grieved, and rejoiced not. He had three daughters, +mincingly beautiful, and of a pleasant countenance. With them, and all +his retinue, he went to the grove of "fortunate rest," vowing the world +should not find peace, and there'"--the Prince forsook the roll--"'and +there he tempted Bodhisattwa, and menaced him, a legion of devils +assisting.' The daughters, it is related, were changed to old women, and +of the battle this is written: ... 'And now the demon host waxed fiercer, +and added force to force, grasping at stones they could not lift, or +lifting them they could not let them go; their flying spears stuck fast +in space refusing to descend; the angry thunder-drops and mighty hail, +with them, were changed into five-colored lotus flowers; while the foul +poison of the dragon snakes was turned into spicy-breathing air'--and +Mara fled, say the Scriptures, fled gnashing his teeth, while Bodhisattwa +reposed peacefully under a fall of heavenly flowers." The Prince, looking +about him after this, said calmly: "Now judge I by myself; not a heart +here but hears in the intervals of its beating, the text: 'Then was Jesus +led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil'--and +that other text: 'Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and +ministered unto him.' Verily, my Lord, was not the Spirit the same +Spirit, and did it not in both incarnations take care of its own?" + +Thereupon the Prince again sought for a page on the roll, watching the +while with his ears, and the audience drew long breaths, and rested from +their rigor of attention. Then also the Emperor spoke to the Prince. + +"I pray you, Prince of India, take a little rest. Your labor is of the +kind exhaustive to mind and body: and in thought of it, I ordered +refreshments for you and these, my other guests. Is not this a good time +to renew thyself?" + +The Prince, rising from a low reverence, replied: + +"Indeed Your Majesty has the kingly heart; but I pray you, in return, +hear me until I have brought the parallel, my present point of argument, +to an end; then I will most gladly avail myself of your great courtesy; +after which--your patience, and the goodwill of these reverend fathers, +holding on--I will resume and speedily finish my discourse." + +"As you will. We are most interested. Or"--and the Emperor, glancing +over toward the monk on his feet, said coldly: "Or, if my declaration +does not fairly vouch the feeling of all present, those objecting have +permission to retire upon the adjournment. We will hear you, Prince." + +The ascetic answered by lifting his crucifix higher. Then, having found +the page he wanted, the Prince, holding his finger upon it, proceeded: + +"It would not become me, my Lord, to assume an appearance of teaching +you and this audience, most learned in the Gospels, concerning them, +especially the things said by the Blessed One of the later Incarnation, +whom we call The Christ. We all know the Spirit for which he was both +habitation and tongue, came down to save the world from sin and hell; we +also know what he required for the salvation. So, even so, did +Bodhisattwa. Listen to him now--he is talking to his Disciples: ... 'I +will teach you,' he said, to the faithful Ananda, 'a way of Truth, +called the Mirror of Truth, which, if an elect disciple possess, he may +himself predict of himself, "Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as an +animal, or a ghost, or any place of woe. I am converted. I am no longer +liable to be reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of final +salvation."'... Ah, Your Majesty is asking, will the parallel never end? +Not yet, not yet! For the Bodhisattwa did miracles as well. I read +again: ... 'And the Blessed One came once to the river Ganges, and found +it overflowing. Those with him, designing to cross, began to seek for +boats, some for rafts of wood, while some made rafts of basket-work. +Then the Blessed One, as instantaneously as a strong man would stretch +forth his arm and draw it back again when he had stretched it forth, +vanished from this side of the river, and stood on the further bank with +the company of his brethren.'" + +The stir the quotation gave rise to being quieted, the Prince, quitting +the roll, said: "Like that, my Lord, was the Bodhisattwa's habit on +entering assemblies of men, to become of their color--he, you remember, +was from birth of the color of gold just flashed in the crucible--and in +a voice like theirs instructing them. Then, say the Scriptures, they, +not knowing him, would ask, Who may this be that speaks? A man or a God? +Then he would vanish away. Like that again was his purifying the water +which had been stirred up by the wheels of five hundred carts passing +through it. He was thirsty, and at his bidding his companion filled a +cup, and lo! the water was clear and delightful. Still more decided, +when he was dying there was a mighty earthquake, and the thunders of +heaven broke forth, and the spirits stood about to see him until there +was no spot, say the Scriptures, in size even as the pricking of the +point of the tip of a hair not pervaded with them; and he saw them, +though they were invisible to his disciples; and then when the last +reverence of his five hundred brethren was paid at his feet, the pyre +being ready, it took fire of itself, and there was left of his body +neither soot nor ashes--only the bones for relics. Then, again, as the +pyre had kindled itself, so when the body was burned up streams of water +descended from the skies, and other streams burst from the earth, and +extinguished the fire. Finally, my Lord, the parallel ends in the modes +of death. Bodhisattwa chose the time and place for himself, and the +circumstances of his going were in harmony with his heavenly character. +Death was never arrayed in such beauty. The twin Sala trees, one at the +head of his couch, the other at the foot, though out of season, sprinkled +him with their flowers, and the sky rained powder of sandal-wood, and +trembled softly with the incessant music and singing of the floating +Gandharvis. But he whose soul was the Spirit, last incarnate, the +Christ"--the Prince stopped--the blood forsook his face--he took hold of +the table to keep from falling--and the audience arose in alarm. + +"Look to the Prince!" the Emperor commanded. + +Those nearest the ailing man offered him their arms, but with a mighty +effort he spoke to them naturally: "Thank you, good friends--it is +nothing." Then he said louder: "It is nothing, my Lord--it is gone now. +I was about to say of the Christ, how different was his dying, and with +that ends the parallel between him and the Bodhisattwa as Sons of God.... +Now, if it please Your Majesty, I will not longer detain your guests +from the refreshments awaiting them." + +A chair was brought for him; and when he was seated, a long line of +servants in livery appeared with the collation. + +In a short time the Prince was himself again. The mention of the +Saviour, in connection with his death, had suddenly projected the scene +of the Crucifixion before him, and the sight of the Cross and the +sufferer upon it had for the moment overcome him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HOW THE NEW FAITH WAS RECEIVED + + +It had been better for the Prince of India if he had not consented to +the intermission graciously suggested by the Emperor. The monk with the +hollow eyes who had arisen and posed behind his crucifix, like an +exorcist, was no other than George Scholarius, whom, for the sake of +historical conformity, we shall from this call Gennadius; and far from +availing himself of His Majesty's permission to retire, that person was +observed to pass industriously from chair to chair circulating some kind +of notice. Of the refreshments he would none; his words were few, his +manner earnest; and to him, beyond question, it was due that when order +was again called, the pleasure the Prince drew from seeing every seat +occupied was dashed by the scowling looks which met him from all sides. +The divining faculty, peculiarly sharpened in him, apprised him +instantly of an influence unfriendly to his project--a circumstance the +more remarkable since he had not as yet actually stated any project. + +Upon taking the floor, the Prince placed the large Judean Bible before +him opened, and around it his other references, impressing the audience +with an idea that in his own view the latter were of secondary +importance. + +"My Lord, and Reverend Sirs," he began, with a low salutation to the +Emperor, "the fulness of the parallel I have run between the Bodhisattwa, +Son of Maya, and Jesus Christ, Son of Mary, may lead to a supposition +that they were the only Blessed Ones who have appeared in the world +honored above men because they were chosen for the Incarnation of the +Spirit. In these Scriptures," unrolling the _Sutra_ or _Book of the Great +Decease_--"frequent statements imply a number of Tathagatas or Buddhas of +irregular coming. In this"--putting a finger on a Chinese _King_--"time +is divided into periods termed _Kalpas_, and in one place it is said +ninety-eight Buddhas illuminated one Kalpa [Footnote: EAKIN'S Chinese +Buddhism, 14.]--that is, came and taught as Saviours. Nor shall any man +deny the Spirit manifest in each of them was the same Spirit. They +preached the same holy doctrine, pointed out the same road to salvation, +lived the same pure unworldly lives, and all alike made a declaration of +which I shall presently speak; in other words, my Lord, the features of +the Spirit were the same in all of them.... Here in these rolls, parts of +the Sacred Books of the East, we read of Shun. I cannot fix his days, +they were so long ago. Indeed, I only know he must have been an adopted +of the Spirit by his leaving behind him the Tao, or Law, still observed +among the Chinese as their standard of virtue.... Here also is the +_Avesta_, most revered remains of the Magi, from whom, as many suppose, +the Wise Men who came up to Jerusalem witnesses of the birth of the new +King of the Jews were sent." This too he identified with his finger. "Its +teacher is Zarathustra, and, in my faith, the Spirit descended upon him +and abode with him while he was on the earth. The features all showed +themselves in him--in his life, his instruction, and in the honors paid +him through succeeding generations. His religion yet lives, though +founded hundreds of years before your gentle Nazarene walked the waters +of Galilee.... And here, O my Lord, is a book abhorred by Christians"--he +laid his whole hand on the Koran--"How shall it be judged? By the +indifferent manner too many of those ready to die defending its divine +origin observe it? Alas! What religion shall survive that test? In the +visions of Mahomet I read of God, Moses, the Patriarchs--nay, my Lord, I +read of him called the Christ. Shall we not beware lest in condemning +Mahomet we divest this other Bible"--he reverently touched the great +Eusebian volume--"of some of its superior holiness? He calls himself a +Prophet. Can a man prophesy except he have in him the light of the +Spirit?" + +The question awoke the assemblage. A general signing of the Cross was +indulged in by the Fathers, and there was groaning hard to distinguish +from growls. Gennadius kept his seat, nervously playing with his rosary. +The countenance of the Patriarch was unusually grave. In all his +experience it is doubtful if the Prince ever touched a subject requiring +more address than this dealing with the Koran. He resumed without +embarrassment: + +"Now, my Lord, I shall advance a step nearer my real subject. Think not, +I pray, that the things I have spoken of the Bodhisattwa, of Shun, of +Zarathustra, of Mahomet, likening them in their entertainment of the +Spirit to Jesus, was to excite comparisons; such as which was the +holiest, which did the most godly things, which is most worthy to be +accounted the best beloved of the Father; for I come to bury all strife +of the kind.... I said I had been to the mountain's top; and now, my +Lord, did you demand of me to single out and name the greatest of the +wonders I thence beheld, I should answer: Neither on the sea, nor on the +land, nor in the sky is there a wonder like unto the perversity which +impels men to invent and go on inventing religions and sects, and then +persecute each other on account of them. And when I prayed to be shown +the reason of it, I thought I heard a voice, 'Open thine eyes--See!' ... +And the first thing given me to see was that the Blessed Ones who went +about speaking for the Spirit which possessed them were divine; yet they +walked the earth, not as Gods, but witnesses of God; asking hearing and +belief, not worship; begging men to come unto them as guides sent to +show them the only certain way to everlasting life in glory--only that +and nothing more.... The next thing I saw, a bright light in a white +glass set on a dark hill, was the waste of worship men are guilty of in +bestowing it on inferior and often unworthy objects. When Jesus prayed, +it was to our Father in Heaven, was it not?--meaning not to himself, or +anything human, or anything less than human.... One other thing I was +permitted to see; and the reserving it last is because it lies nearest +the proposal I have come a great distance to submit to my Lord and these +most reverend brethren in holiness. Every place I have been in which men +are not left to their own imaginings of life and religion--in every land +and island touched by revelation--a supreme God is recognized, the same +in qualities--Creator, Protector, Father--Infinite in Power, Infinite in +Love--the Indivisible One! Asked you never, my Lord, the object he had +in intrusting his revelation to us, and why the Blessed Ones, his Sons +in the Spirit, were bid come here and go yonder by stony paths? Let me +answer with what force is left me. There is in such permissions but one +intention which a respectful mind can assign to a being great and good +as God--one altar, one worship, one prayer, and He the soul of them. +With a flash of his beneficent thought he saw in one religion peace +amongst men. Strange--most strange! In human history no other such +marvel! There has been nothing so fruitful of bickering, hate, murder +and war. Such is the seeming, and so I thought, my Lord, until on the +mountain's highest peak, whence all concerns lie in view below, I opened +my eyes and perceived the wrestling of tongues and fighting were not +about God, but about forms, and immaterialities, more especially the +Blessed Ones to whom he had intrusted his Spirit. From the Ceylonesian: +'Who is worthy praise but Buddha?' 'No,' the Islamite answers: 'Who but +Mahomet?' And from the Parsee; 'No--Who but Zarathustra?' 'Have done +with your vanities,' the Christian thunders: 'Who has told the truth +like Jesus?' Then the flame of swords, and the cruelty of blows--all in +God's name!" + +This was bold speaking. + +"And now, my Lord," the Prince went on, his appearance of exceeding +calmness belied only by the exceeding brightness of his eyes, "God wills +an end to controversy and wars blasphemously waged in his name, and I am +sent to tell you of it; and for that the Spirit is in me." + +Here Gennadius again arose, crucifix in hand. + +"I am returned from visiting many of the nations," the Prince continued, +nothing daunted. "They demanded of me a faith broad enough for them to +stand upon while holding fast the lesser ideas grown up in their +consciences; and, on my giving them such a faith, they said they were +ready to do the will, but raised a new condition. Some one must move +first. 'Go find that one,' they bade me, 'and we will follow after.' In +saying now I am ambassador appointed to bring the affair to Your Majesty +and Your Majesty's people, enlightened enough to see the will of the +Supreme Master, and of a courage to lead in the movement, with influence +and credit to carry it peacefully forward to a glorious end, I well know +how idle recommendation and entreaty are except I satisfy you in the +beginning that they have the sanction of Heaven; and thereto now.... I +take no honor to myself as author of the faith presented in answer to +the demand of the nations. In old cities there are houses under houses, +along streets underlying streets, and to find them, the long buried, men +dig deep and laboriously; that did I, until in these old Testaments"--he +cast a loving glance at all the Sacred Books--"I made a precious +discovery. I pray Your Majesty's patience while I read from them.... +This from the Judean Bible: 'And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: +and he said, This shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath +sent me unto you.' Thus did God, of whom we have no doubt, name himself +to one chosen race.... Next from a holy man of China who lived nearly +five hundred years before the Christ was born: 'Although any one be a +bad man, if he fasts and is collected, he may indeed offer sacrifices +unto God.' [Footnote: FABER'S _Mind of Mencius_]... And from the +_Avesta_, this of the creed of the Magi: 'The world is twofold, +being the work of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu: all that is good in the +world comes from the First Principle (which is God) and all that is bad +from the latter (which is Satan). Angra Mainyu invaded the world after +it was made by Ahura Mazda and polluted it, but the conflict will some +day end.' [Footnote: Sir William Jones.] The First Principle here is +God. But most marvellous, because of the comparison it will excite, +hearken to this from the same Magian creed: 'When the time is full, a +son of the lawgiver still unborn, named Saoshyant, will appear; then +Angra Mainyu (Satan) and Hell will be destroyed, men will arise from the +dead, and everlasting happiness reign over the world.' Here again the +Lawgiver is God; but the Son--who is he? Has he come? Is he gone? ... +Next, take these several things from the _Vedas_: 'By One Supreme +Ruler is the universe pervaded, even every world in the whole circle of +nature. There is One Supreme Spirit which nothing can shake, more swift +than the thought of man. The Primeval Mover even divine intelligence +cannot reach; that Spirit, though unmoved, infinitely transcends others, +how rapid soever their course; it is distant from us, yet very near; it +pervades the whole system of worlds, yet is infinitely beyond +it.' [Footnote: _Ibid._ Vol. XIII.] Now, my Lord, and very reverend +sirs, do not the words quoted come to us clean of mystery? Or have you +the shadow of a doubt whom they mean, accept and consider the prayer I +read you now from the same _Vedas:_ 'O Thou who givest sustenance +to the world, Thou sole mover of all, Thou who restrainest sinners, who +pervadest yon great luminary which appearest as the Son of the Creator; +hide thy struggling beams and expand thy spiritual brightness that I may +view thy most auspicious, most glorious, real form. OM, remember me, +divine Spirit! OM, remember my deeds! Let my soul return to the immortal +Spirit of God, and then let my body, which ends in ashes, return to +dust.' Who is OM? Or is my Lord yet uncertain, let him heed this from +the _Holiest Verse of the Vedas_: 'Without hand or foot, he runs +rapidly, and grasps firmly; without eyes, he sees; without ears, he +hears all; he knows whatever can be known, but there is none who knows +him: Him the wise call the Great, Supreme, Pervading Spirit.' [Footnote: +Sir William Jones. Vol. XIII.] ... Now once more, O my Lord, and I am +done with citation and argument. Ananda asked the Bodhisattwa what was +the Mirror of Truth, and he had this answer: 'It is the consciousness +that the elect disciple is in this world possessed of faith in Buddha, +believing the Blessed One to be the Holy One, the Fully Enlightened One, +Wise, Upright, Happy, World-knowing, Supreme, the bridler of men's +wayward hearts, the Teacher of Gods and men--the Blessed Buddha.' +[Footnote: REHYS DAVID'S _Buddhist Sutras_.] Oh, good my Lord, a +child with intellect barely to name the mother who bore him, should see +and say, Here God is described!" ... + +The Prince came to a full stop, and taking a fine silken cloth from a +pocket in his gown, he carefully wiped the open pages of the Eusebian +Bible, and shut it. Of the other books he made a separate heap, first +dusting each of them. The assemblage watched him expectantly. The +Fathers had been treated to strange ideas, matter for thought through +many days and nights ahead; still each of them felt the application was +wanting. "The purpose--give it us--and quickly!" would have been a fair +expression of their impatience. At length he proceeded: + +"Dealing with children, my Lord, and reverend sirs," he began, "it is +needful to stop frequently, and repeat the things we have said; but you +are men trained in argument: wherefore, with respect to the faith asked +of me as I have told you by the nations, I say simply it is God; and +touching his sanction of it, you may wrest these Testaments from me and +make ashes of them, but you shall not now deny his approval of the Faith +I bring you. It is not in the divine nature for God to abjure himself. +Who of you can conceive him shrunk to so small a measure?" + +The dogmatic vehemence amazed the listeners. + +"Whether this idea of God is broad enough to accommodate all the +religions grown up on the earth, I will not argue; for I desire to be +most respectful"--thus the speaker went on in his natural manner. "But +should you accept it as enough, you need not be at loss for a form in +which to put it. 'Master,' the lawyer asked, 'which is the great +commandment in the law?' And the Master answered: 'Thou shalt love the +Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy +mind;' and he added: 'This is the first and great commandment.' My Lord, +no man else ever invented, nor shall any man ever invent an expression +more perfectly definitive of the highest human duty--the total of +doctrine. I will not tell you who the master uttering it was; neither +will I urge its adoption; only if the world were to adopt it, and abide +by it, there would be an end to wars and rumors of war, and God would +have his own. If the Church here in your ancient capital were first to +accept it, what happiness I should have carrying the glad tidings to the +peoples"-- + +The Prince was not allowed to finish the sentence. + +"What do I understand, O Prince, by the term 'total of doctrine'?" + +It was the Patriarch speaking. + +"Belief in God." + +In a moment the assemblage became uproarious, astounding the Emperor; and +in the midst of the excitement, Gennadius was seen on tip-toe, waving his +crucifix with the energy of command. + +"Question--a question!" he cried. + +Quiet was presently given him. + +"In thy total of doctrine, what is Jesus Christ?" + +The voice of the Patriarch, enfeebled by age and disease, had been +scarcely heard; his rival's penetrated to the most distant corner; and +the question happening to be the very thought pervading the assemblage, +the churchmen, the courtiers, and most of the high officials arose to +hear the reply. + +In a tone distinct as his interlocutor's, but wholly without passion, +the master actor returned: + +"A Son of God." + +"And Mahomet, the Father of Islam--what is he?" + +If the ascetic had put the name of Siddartha, the Bodhisattwa, in his +second question, his probing had not been so deep, nor the effect so +quick and great; but Mahomet, the camel-driver! Centuries of feud, hate, +crimination, and wars--rapine, battles, sieges, massacres, humiliations, +lopping of territory, treaties broken, desecration of churches, +spoliation of altars, were evoked by the name Mahomet. + +We have seen it a peculiarity of the Prince of India never to forget a +relation once formed by him. Now behind Constantine he beheld young +Mahommed waiting for him--Mahommed and revenge. If his scheme were +rejected by the Greeks, very well--going to the Turks would be the old +exchange with which he was familiar, Cross for Crescent. To be sure +there was little time to think this; nor did he think it--it appeared +and went a glare of light--and he answered: + +"He will remain, in the Spirit another of the Sons of God." + +Then Gennadius, beating the air with his crucifix: "Liar--impostor-- +traitor! Ambassador of Satan thou! Behind thee Hell uncurtained! Mahomet +himself were more tolerable! Thou mayst turn black white, quench water +with fire, make ice of the blood in our hearts, all in a winking or +slowly, our reason resisting, but depose the pure and blessed Saviour, or +double his throne in the invisible kingdom with Mahomet, prince of liars, +man of blood, adulterer, monster for whom Hell had to be enlarged--that +shalt thou never! A body without a soul, an eye its light gone out, a +tomb rifled of its dead--such the Church without its Christ! ... Ho, +brethren! Shame on us that we are guests in common with this fiend in +cunning! We are not hosts to bid him begone; yet we can ourselves begone. +Follow me, O lovers of Christ and the Church! To your tents, O Israel!" + +The speaker's face was purple with passion; his voice filled the chamber; +many of the monks broke from their seats and rushed howling and blindly +eager to get nearer him. The Patriarch sat ashy white, helplessly +crossing himself. Constantine excellently and rapidly judging what became +him as Emperor and host, sent four armed officers to protect the Prince, +who held his appointed place apparently surprised but really interested +in the scene--to him it was an exhibition of unreasoning human nature +replying to an old-fashioned impulse of bigotry. + +Hardly were the guards by the table, when Gennadius rushed past going to +the door, the schismatics at his heels in a panic. The pulling and +hauling, the hurry-skurry of the mad exit must be left to the +imagination. It was great enough to frighten thoroughly the attendants +of the Princess Irene. Directly there remained in the chamber with His +Majesty, the attaches of the court, the Patriarch and his adherents. +Then Constantine quietly asked: + +"Where is Duke Notaras?" + +There was much looking around, but no response. + +The countenance of the monarch was observed to change, but still +mindful, he bade the Dean conduct the Prince to him. + +"Be not alarmed, Prince. My people are quick of temper, and sometimes +they act hastily. If you have more to say, we are of a mind to hear you +to the end." + +The Prince could not but admire the composure of his august host. After +a low reverence, he returned: + +"Perhaps I tried the reverend Fathers unreasonably; yet it would be a +much greater grief to me if their impatience extended to Your Majesty. I +was not alarmed; neither have I aught to add to my discourse, unless it +pleases you to ask of anything in it which may have been left obscure or +uncertain." + +Constantine signed to the Patriarch and all present to draw nearer. + +"Good Dean, a chair for His Serenity." + +In a short time the space in front of the dais was occupied. + +"I understand the Prince of India has submitted to us a proposal looking +to a reform of our religion," His Majesty said, to the Patriarch; "and +courtesy requiring an answer, the violence to which we have just been +subjected, and the spirit of insubordination manifested, make it +imperative that you listen to what I now return him, and with attention, +lest a misquotation or false report lead to further trouble.... Prince," +he continued, "I think I comprehend you. The world is sadly divided with +respect to religion, and out of its divisions have proceeded the +mischiefs to which you have referred. Your project is not to he +despised. It reminds me of the song, the sweetest ear ever listened +to--'Peace and good will toward men.' Its adoption, nevertheless, is +another matter. I have not power to alter the worship of my empire. Our +present Creed was a conclusion reached by a Council too famous in +history not to be conspicuously within your knowledge. Every word of it +is infinitely sacred. It fixed the relations between God the Father, +Christ the Son, and men to my satisfaction, and that of my subjects. +Serenity, do thou say if I may apply the remark to the Church." + +"Your Majesty," the Patriarch replied, "the Holy Greek Church can never +consent to omit the Lord Jesus Christ from its worship. You have spoken +well, and it had been better if the brethren had remained to hear you." + +"Thanks, O most venerated--thanks," said the Emperor, inclining his +head. "A council having established the creed of the Church," he +resumed, to the Prince of India, "the creed is above change to the +extent of a letter except by another council solemnly and authoritatively +convoked. Wherefore, O Prince, I admit myself wiser of the views you have +presented; I admit having been greatly entertained by your eloquence and +rhetoric; and I promise myself further happiness and profit in drawing +upon the stores of knowledge with which you appear so amply provided, +results doubtless of your study and travel--yet you have my answer." + +The faculty of retiring his thoughts and feelings deeper in his heart as +occasion demanded, was never of greater service to the Prince than now; +he bowed, and asked if he had permission to retire; and receiving it, he +made the usual prostrations, and began moving backwards. + +"A moment, Prince," said Constantine. "I hope your residence is +permanently fixed in our capital." + +"Your Majesty is very gracious, and I thank you. If I leave the city, it +will be to return again, and speedily." + +At the door of the palace the Prince found an escort waiting for him, +and taking his chair, he departed from Blacherne. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAEL AND THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + + +Alone in his house, the Prince of India was unhappy, but not, as the +reader may hurriedly conclude, on account of the rejection by the +Christians of his proposal looking to brotherhood in the bonds of +religion. He was a trifle sore over the failure, but not disappointed. A +reasonable man, and, what times his temper left him liberty to think, a +philosopher, he could not hope after the observations he brought from +Mecca to find the followers of the Nazarene more relaxed in their faith +than the adherents of Mahomet. In short, he had gone to the palace +warned of what would happen. + +It was not an easy thing for him to fold up his grand design preparatory +to putting it away forever; still there was no choice left him; and now +he would move for vengeance. Away with hesitation. + +Descending the heights of Blacherne, he had felt pity for Constantine +who, though severely tried in the day's affair, had borne himself with +dignity throughout; but it was Mahommed's hour. Welcome Mahommed! + +Between the two, the Prince's predilections were all for the Turk, and +they had been from the meeting at the White Castle. Besides personal +accomplishments and military prestige, besides youth, itself a mighty +preponderant, there was the other argument--separating Mahommed from the +strongest power in the world, there stood only an ancient whose death +was a daily expectation. "What opportunities the young man will have to +offer me! I have but to make the most of his ambition--to loan myself to +it--to direct it." + +Thus the Seer reasoned, returning from Blacherne to his house. + +At the door, however, he made a discovery. There the first time during +the day he thought of her in all things the image of the Lael whom he +had buried under the great stone in front of the Golden Gate at +Jerusalem. We drop a grain in the ground, and asking nothing of us but +to be let alone, it grows, and flowers, and at length amazes us with +fruit. Such had been the outcome of his adoption of the daughter of the +son of Jahdai. + +The Prince called Syama. + +"Make ready the chair and table on the roof," he said. + +While waiting, he ate some bread dipped in wine: then walked the room +rubbing his hands as if washing them. + +He sighed frequently. Even the servants could see he was in trouble. + +At length he went to the roof. Evening was approaching. On the table +were the lamp, the clock, the customary writing materials, a fresh map +of the heavens, and a perfect diagram of a nativity to be cast. + +He took the map in his hand, and smiled--it was Lael's work. "How she +has improved!--and how rapidly!" he said aloud, ending a retrospect +which began with the hour Uel consented to her becoming his daughter. +She was unlettered then, but how helpful now. He felt an artist's pride +in her growth in knowledge. There were tedious calculations which she +took off his hands; his geometrical drawings of the planets in their +Houses were frequently done in haste; she perfected them next day. She +had numberless daughterly ways which none but those unused to them like +him would have observed. What delight she took in watching the sky for +the first appearance of the stars. In this work she lent him her young +eyes, and there was such enthusiasm in the exclamations with which she +greeted the earliest wink of splendor from the far-off orbs. And he had +ailing days; then she would open the great Eusebian Scriptures at the +page he asked for, and read--sometimes from Job, sometimes from Isaiah, +but generally from Exodus, for in his view there was never man like +Moses. The contest with Pharaoh--how prodigious! The battles in +magic--what glory in the triumphs won! The luring the haughty King into +the Red Sea, and bringing him under the walls of water suddenly let +loose! What majestic vengeance! + +Of the idle dreams of aged persons the possibility of attaching the +young to them in sentimental bonds of strength to insure resistance to +every other attachment is the idlest. Positive, practical, experienced +though he was, the childless man had permitted this fantasy to get +possession of him. He actually brought himself to believe Lael's love of +him was of that enduring kind. With no impure purpose, yet selfishly, +and to bring her under his influence until of preference she could +devote her life to him, with its riches of affection, admiration, and +dutiful service, he had surrendered himself to her; therefore the +boundless pains taken by him personally in her education, the +surrounding her with priceless luxuries which he alone could afford--in +brief, the attempt to fasten himself upon her youthful fancy as a titled +sage and master of many mysteries. So at length it came to pass, while +he was happy in his affection for her, he was even happier in her +affection for himself; indeed he cultivated the latter sentiment and +encouraged it in winding about his being until, in utter unconsciousness, +he belonged to it, and, in repetition of experiences common to others, +instead of Lael's sacrificing herself for him, he was ready to sacrifice +everything for her. This was the discovery he made at the door of his +house. + +The reader should try to fancy him in the chair by the table on the +roof. Evening has passed into night. The city gives out no sound, and +the stars have the heavens to themselves. He is lost in thought--or +rather, accepting the poetic fancy of a division of the heart into +chambers, in that apartment of the palpitating organ of the Prince of +India supposed to be the abode of the passions, a very noisy parliament +was in full session. The speaker--that is, the Prince himself--submitted +the question: Shall I remain here, or go to Mahommed? + +Awhile he listened to Revenge, whose speech in favor of the latter +alternative may be imagined; and not often had its appeals been more +effective. Ambition spoke on the same side. It pointed out the +opportunities offered, and dwelt upon them until the chairman nodded +like one both convinced and determined. These had an assistant not +exactly a passion but a kinsman collaterally--Love of Mischief--and when +the others ceased, it insisted upon being heard. + +On the other side, Lael led the opposition. She stood by the president's +chair while her opponents were arguing, her arms round his neck; when +they were most urgent, she would nurse his hand, and make use of some +trifling endearment; upon their conclusion, she would gaze at him +mutely, and with tears. Not once did she say anything. + +In the midst of this debate, Lael herself appeared, and kissed him on +the forehead. + +"Thou here!" he said. + +"Why not?" she asked. + +"Nothing--only"-- + +She did not give him time to finish, but caught up the map, and seeing +it fresh and unmarked, exclaimed: + +"You did so greatly to-day, you ought to rest." + +He was surprised. + +"Did so greatly?" + +"At the palace." + +"Put the paper down. Now, O my Gul Bahar"--and he took her hand, and +carried it to his cheek, and pressed it softly there--"deal me no +riddle. What is it you say? One may do well, yet come out badly." + +"I was at the market in my father Uel's this afternoon," she began, +"when Sergius came in." + +A face wonderfully like the face of the man he helped lead out to +Golgotha flashed before the Prince, a briefest passing gleam. + +"He heard you discourse before the Emperor. How wickedly that disgusting +Gennadius behaved!" + +"Yes," the Prince responded darkly, "a sovereign beset with such spirits +is to be pitied. But what did the young man think of my proposal to the +Emperor?" + +"But for one verse in the Testament of Christ"-- + +"Nay, dear, say Jesus of Nazareth," + +"Well, of Jesus--but for one verse he could have accepted your argument +of many Sons of God in the Spirit" + +"What is the verse?" + +"It is where a disciple speaks of Jesus as the only begotten. Son." + +The Wanderer smiled. + +"The young man is too literal. He forgets that the Only Begotten Son may +have had many Incarnations." + +"The Princess Irene was also present," Lael went on. "Sergius said she +too could accept your argument did you alter it"-- + +"Alter it!"--A bitter look wrung the Prince's countenance--"Sergius, a +monk not yet come to orders, and Irene, a Princess without a husband. +Oh, a small return for my surrender! ... I am tired--very tired," he +said impatiently--"and I have so much, so much to think of. Come, good +night." + +"Can I do nothing for you?" + +"Yes, tell Syama to bring me some water." + +"And wine?" + +"Yes, some wine." + +"Very well. Good night." + +He drew her to his breast. + +"Good night. O my Gul Bahar!" + +She went lightly away, never dreaming of the parliament to which she +left him. + +When she was gone, he sat motionless for near an hour, seeing nothing in +the time, although Syama set water and wine on the table. And it may be +questioned if he heard anything, except the fierce debate going on in +his heart. Finally he aroused, looked at the sky, arose, and walked +around the table; and his expression of face, his actions, were those of +a man who had been treading difficult ground, but was safely come out of +it. Filling a small crystal cup, and holding the red liquor, rich with +garnet sparkles, between his eyes and the lamp, he said: + +"It is over. She has won. If there were for me but the years of one life, +the threescore and ten of the Psalmist, it had been different. The +centuries will bring me a Mahommed gallant as this one, and opportunities +great as he offers; but never another Lael. Farewell Ambition! Farewell +Revenge! The world may take care of itself. I will turn looker-on, and be +amused, and sleep.... To hold her, I will live for her, but in redoubled +state. So will I hurry her from splendor to splendor, and so fill her +days with moving incidents, she shall not have leisure to think of +another love. I will be powerful and famous for her sake. Here in this +old centre of civilization there shall be two themes for constant talk, +Constantine and myself. Against his rank and patronage, I will set my +wealth. Ay, for her sake! And I will begin to-morrow." + +The next day he spent in making drawings and specifications for a +palace. The second day he traversed the city looking for a building +site. The third day he bought the site most to his fancy. The fourth day +he completed a design for a galley of a hundred oars, that it might be +sea-going far as the Pillars of Hercules. Nothing ever launched from the +imperial docks should surpass it in magnificence. When he went sailing +on the Bosphorus, Byzantium should assemble to witness his going, and +with equal eagerness wait the day through to behold him return. And for +the four days, Lael was present and consulted in every particular. They +talked like two children. + +The schemes filled him with a delight which would have been remarkable +in a boy. He packed his books and put away his whole paraphernalia of +study--through Lael's days he would be an actor in the social world, not +a student. + +Of course he recurred frequently to the engagements with Mahommed. They +did not disturb him. The Turk might clamor--no matter, there was the +ever ready answer about the unready stars. The veteran intriguer even +laughed, thinking how cunningly he had provided against contingencies. +But there was a present practical requirement begotten of these +schemes--he must have money--soldans by the bag full. + +Very early in the morning of the fifth day, having studied the weather +signs from his housetop, he went with Nilo to the harbor gate of +Blacherne, seeking a galley suitable for an outing of a few days on the +Marmora. He found one, and by noon she was fitted out, and with him and +Nilo aboard, flying swiftly around Point Serail. + +Under an awning over the rudder-deck, he sat observing the brown-faced +wall of the city, and the pillars and cornices of the noble structures +towering above it. As the vessel was about passing the Seven Towers, now +a ruin with a most melancholy history, but in that day a well-garrisoned +fortress, he conversed with the master of the galley. + +"I have no business in the strict meaning of the term," he said, in good +humor. "The city has become tiresome to me, and I have fancied a run on +the water would be bracing to body and restful to mind. So keep on down +the sea. When I desire a change of direction, I will tell you." The +mariner was retiring. "Stay," the Prince continued, his attention +apparently caught by two immense gray rocks rising bluffly out of the +blue rippling in which the Isles of the Princes seemed afloat--"What are +those yonder? Islands, of course, but their names?" + +"Oxia and Plati--the one nearest us is Oxia." + +"Are they inhabited?" + +"Yes and no," the captain replied, smiling. "Oxia used to have a convent, +but it is abandoned now. There may be some hermits in the caves on the +other side, but I doubt if the poor wretches have noumias to keep their +altars in candles. It was so hard to coax visitors into believing God had +ever anything to do with the dreary place that patrons concluded to give +it over to the bad. Plati is a trifle more cheerful. Three or four monks +keep what used to be the prison there; but they are strays from unknown +orders, and live by herding a few starving goats and cultivating snails +for the market." + +"Have you been on either of them recently?" + +"Yes, on Plati." + +"When?" + +"Within the year." + +"Well, you excite my curiosity. It is incredible that there can be two +such desolations in such close vicinity to yon famous capital. Turn and +row me around them." + +The captain was pleased to gratify his passenger, and stood by him while +the galley encircled Oxia, telling legends, and pointing out the caves +to which celebrated anchorites had lent their names. He gave in full the +story of Basil and Prusien, who quarrelled, and fought a duel to the +scandal of the Church; whereupon Constantine VIII., then emperor, exiled +them, the former to Oxia, the latter to Plati, where their sole +consolation the remainder of their lives was gazing at each other from +the mouths of their respective caverns. For some reason, Plati, to which +he next crossed, was of more interest to the Prince than its sister +isle. What a cruel exterior the prison at the north end had! Wolves and +bats might live in it, but men--impossible! He drew back horrified when +told circumstantially of the underground cells. + +While yet on the eastern side, the passenger said he would like to go up +to the summit. + +"There," he exclaimed, pointing to a part of the bluff which appeared to +offer a climb, "put me on that shelving rock. I think I can go up by +it." + +The small boat was lowered, and directly he set foot on the identical +spot which received him when, in the night fifty-six years before, he +made the ascent with the treasures of Hiram King of Tyre. + +Almost any other man would have given at least a thought to that +adventure; the slice out of some lives would have justified a tear; but +he was too intent thinking about the jewels and the sword of Solomon. + +His affected awkwardness in climbing amused the captain, watching him +from the deck, but at last he gained the top of the bluff. + +The plain there was the same field of sickly weeds and perishing vines, +with here and there a shrub, and yonder a stunted olive tree, covered +trunk and branches with edible snails. If it brought anything in the +market, the crop, singular only to the Western mind, was plenteous +enough to be profitable to its farmers. There too was the debris of the +tower. With some anxiety he went to the stone which the reader will +probably remember as having to be rolled away from the mouth of the +hiding-place. It had not been disturbed. These observations taken, he +descended the bluff, and was received aboard the galley. + +A very cautious man was the Prince of India. In commercial parlance, he +was out to cash a draft on the Plati branch of his quadruple bank. He +was not down to assist the captain of the galley to partnership with him +in the business. So, after completing the circuit of Plati, the vessel +bore away for Prinkipo and Halki, which Greek wealth and taste had +converted into dreamful Paradises. There it lay the night and next day, +while the easy-going passenger, out for air and rest, amused himself +making excursions to the convents and neighboring hills. + +The second night, a perfect calm prevailing, he took the small boat, and +went out on the sea drifting, having provided himself with wine and +water, the latter in a new gurglet bought for the trip. The captain need +not be uneasy if he were late returning, he said on departing. Nilo was +an excellent sailor, and had muscle and spirit to contend against a +blow. + +The tranquil environments of Prinkipo were enlivened by other parties +also drifting. Their singing was borne far along the starlit sea. Once +beyond sight and hearing, Nilo plied the oars diligently, bringing up an +hour or two after midnight at the shelving rock under the eastern bluff +of Plati. The way to the ruined tower was then clear. + +Precisely as at the first visit when burial was the object, the +concealing stone was pushed aside; after which the Prince entered the +narrow passage crawling on his hands and knees. He was anxious. If the +precious stones had been discovered and carried away, he would have to +extend the voyage to Jaffa in order to draw from the Jerusalem branch of +his bank. But the sword of Solomon--that was not in the power of man to +duplicate--its loss would be irreparable. + +The stones were mouldy, the passage dark, the progress slow. He had +literally to feel every inch in front of him, using his hands as a +caterpillar uses its antennae; but he did not complain--the difficulties +were the inducements which led him to choose the hiding-place in the +first instance. At length he went down a broken step, and, rising to his +knees, slipped his left hand along the face of the wall until his +fingers dropped into a crack between rocks. It was the spot he sought; +he knew it, and breathed easily. In murky lamplight, with mallet and +chisel--ah, how long ago!--he had worked a shelf there, finishing it +with an oblong pocket in the bottom. To mask the hole was simple. Three +or four easy-fitting blocks were removed, and thrusting a hand in, he +drew forth the sheepskin mantle of the elder Nilo. + +In spite of the darkness, he could not refrain from unrolling the +mildewed cover. The sword was safe! He drew the blade and shot it +sharply back into the scabbard, then kissed the ruby handle, thinking +again of the purchasing power there was in the relic which was yet more +than a relic. The leather of the water-gurglet, stiff as wood, responded +to a touch. The jewels were also safe, the great emerald with the rest. +He touched the bags, counting from one to nine inclusively. Then +remembering the ten times he had crawled into the passage to put the +treasures away, he began their removal, and kept at it until every +article was safely deposited in the boat. + +On the way back to the galley he made new packages, using his mantle as +a wrap for the sword, and the new gurglet for the bags of jewels. + +"I have had enough," he exclaimed to the captain, dropping wearily on +the deck about noon. "Take me to the city." After a moment of +reflection, he added: "Land me after nightfall." + +"We will reach the harbor before sundown." + +"Oh, well! There is the Bosphorus--go to Buyukdere, and come back." + +"But, my Lord, the captain of the gate may decline to allow you to +pass." + +The Prince smiled, and rejoined, with a thought of the bags in the +gurglet thrown carelessly down by him: "Up with the anchor." + +The sailor's surmise was groundless. Disembarking about midnight, he +whispered his name to the captain at the gate of Blacherne, and, leaving +a soldan in the official palm, was admitted without examination. On the +street there was nothing curious in an old man carrying a mantle under +his arm, followed by a porter with a half-filled gurglet on his +shoulder. Finally, the adventure safely accomplished, the Prince of +India was home again, and in excellent humor. + +One doubt assailed him--one only. He had just seen the height of +Candilli, an aerial wonder in a burst of moonlight, and straightway his +fancy had crowned it with a structure Indian in style, and of material +to shine afar delicate as snow against the black bosomed mountain behind +it. He was not a Greek to fear the Turks. Nay, in Turkish protection +there was for him a guaranty of peaceable ownership which he could not +see under Constantine. And as he was bringing now the wherewith to +realize his latest dream, he gave his imagination a loosened rein. + +He built the house; he heard the tinkling of fountains in its courts, +and the echoes in the pillared recession of its halls; free of care, +happy once more, with Lael he walked in gardens where roses of Persia +exchanged perfumes with roses of Araby, and the daylong singing of birds +extended into noon of night; yet, after all, to the worn, weary, +droughted heart nothing was so soothing as the fancy which had been his +chief attendant from the gate of Blacherne--that he heard strangers +speaking to each other: "Have you seen the Palace of Lael?" "No, where +is it?" "On the crest of Candilli." The Palace of Lael! The name +confirmed itself sweeter and sweeter by repetition. And the doubt grew. +Should he build in the city or amidst the grove of Judas trees on the +crest of Candilli? + +Just as he arrived before his door, he glanced casually across the +street, and was surprised by observing light in Uel's house. It was very +unusual. He would put the treasure away, and go over and inquire into +the matter. Hardly was he past his own lintel when Syama met him. The +face of the faithful servant showed unwonted excitement, and, casting +himself at his master's feet, he embraced his knees, uttering the hoarse +unintelligible cries with which the dumb are wont to make their suffering +known. The Master felt a chill of fear--something had happened--something +terrible--but to whom? He pushed the poor man's head back until he caught +the eyes. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +Syama arose, took the Prince's hand, and led him out of the door, across +the street, and into Uel's house. The merchant, at sight of them, rushed +forward and hid his face in the master's breast, crying: + +"She is gone--lost!--The God of our fathers be with her!" + +"Who is gone? Who lost?" + +"Lael, Lael--our child--our Gul Bahar." + +The blood of the elder Jew flew to his heart, leaving him pale as a dead +man; yet such was his acquired control of himself, he asked steadily: +"Gone!--Where?" + +"We do not know. She has been snatched from us--that is all we know." + +"Tell me of it--and quickly." + +The tone was imperious, and he pushed Uel from him. + +"Oh! my friend--and my father's friend--I will tell you all. You are +powerful, and love her, and may help where I am helpless." Then by +piecemeal he dealt out the explanation. "This afternoon she took her +chair and went to the wall in front of the Bucoleon--sunset, and she was +not back. I saw Syama--she was not in your house. He and I set out in +search of her. She was seen on the wall--later she was seen to descend +the steps as if starting home--she was seen in the garden going about on +the terrace--she was seen coming out of the front gate of the old +palace. We traced her down the street--then she returned to the garden, +through the Hippodrome, and there she was last seen. I called my friends +in the market to my aid--hundreds are now looking for her." + +"She went out in her chair, did you say?" + +The steady voice of the Prince was in singular contrast with his +bloodless face. + +"Yes." + +"Who carried it?" + +"The men we have long had." + +"Where are they?" + +"We sought for them--they cannot be found." + +The Prince kept his eyes on Uel's face. They were intensely, fiercely +bright. He was not in a rage, but thinking, if a man can be said to +think when his mind projects itself in a shower. Lael's disappearance +was not voluntary; she was in detention somewhere in the city. If the +purpose of the abduction were money, she would be held in scrupulous +safety, and a day or two would bring the demand; but if--he did not +finish the idea--it overpowered him. Pure steel in utmost flexion breaks +into pieces without warning; so with this man now. He threw both hands +up, and cried hoarsely: "Lend me, O God, of thy vengeance!" and +staggering blindly, he would have fallen but for Syama. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS + + +The Academy of Epicurus was by no means a trifle spun for vainglory in +the fertile fancy of Demedes; but a fact just as the Brotherhoods of the +City were facts, and much more notorious than many of them. + +Wiseacres are generally pessimistic. Academy of Epicurus indeed! For +once there was a great deal in a name. The class mentioned repeated it +sneeringly; it spoke to them, and loudly, of some philosophical +wickedness. + +Stories of the miraculous growth of the society were at first amusing; +then the announcement of its housing excited loud laughter; but when its +votaries attached the high sounding term _Temple_ to their place of +meeting, the clergy and all the devoutly inclined looked sober. In their +view the word savored of outright paganism. Temple of the Academy of +Epicurus! Church had been better--Church was at least Christian. + +At length, in ease of the increasing interest, notice was +authoritatively issued of a Festival of Flowers by the Academicians, +their first public appearance, and great were the anticipations aroused +by the further advertisement that they would march from their Temple to +the Hippodrome. + +The festival took place the afternoon of the third day of the Prince of +India's voyage to Plati. More particularly, while that distinguished +foreigner on the deck of the galley was quietly sleeping off the fatigue +and wear of body and spirit consequent on the visit to the desolate +island, the philosophers were on parade with an immense quota of +Byzantines of both sexes in observation. About three thousand were in +the procession, and from head to foot it was a mass of flowers. + +The extravaganza deserved the applause it drew. Some of its features +nevertheless were doubtfully regarded. Between the sections into which +the column was divided there marched small groups, apparently officers, +clad in gowns and vestments, carrying insignia and smoking tripods well +known to have belonged to various priesthoods of mythologic fame. When +the cortege reached the Hippodrome every one in the galleries was +reminded of the glory the first Constantine gained from his merciless +forays upon those identical properties. + +In the next place, the motto of the society--Patience, Courage, Judgment +--was too frequently and ostentatiously exhibited not to attract +attention. The words, it was observed, were not merely on banners +lettered in gold, but illustrated by portable tableaux of exquisite +appositeness and beauty. They troubled the wiseacres; for while they +might mean a world of good, they might also stand for several worlds of +bad. Withal, however, the youthfulness of the Academicians wrought the +profoundest sensation upon the multitude of spectators. The march was +three times round the interior, affording excellent opportunity to study +the appearances; and the sober thinking, whom the rarity and tastefulness +of the display did not hoodwink, when they discovered that much the +greater number participating were beardless lads, shook their heads while +saying to each other, At the rate these are going what is to become of +the Empire? As if the decadence were not already in progress, and they, +the croakers, responsible for it! + +At the end of the first round, upon the arrival of the sections in front +of the triple-headed bronze serpent, one of the wonders of the +Hippodrome then as now, the bearers of the tripods turned out, and set +them down, until at length the impious relic was partially veiled in +perfumed smoke, as was the wont in its better Delphian days. + +Nothing more shocking to the religionists could have been invented; they +united in denouncing the defiant indecency. Hundreds of persons, not all +of them venerable and frocked, were seen to rise and depart, shaking the +dust from their feet. In course of tile third circuit, the tripods were +coolly picked up and returned to their several places in the procession. + +From a seat directly over the course, Sergius beheld the gay spectacle +from its earliest appearance through the portal of the Blues to its exit +by the portal of the Greens. [Footnote: The Blues and the Greens--two +celebrated factions of Constantinople. See Gibbon, vii. pp. 79-89. Four +gates, each flanked with towers, gave entrance to the Hippodrome from +the city. The northwestern was called the gate of the Blues; the +northeastern of the Greens; the southeastern gate bore the sullen title, +"Gate of the Dead."--Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor.] His interest, the reader +will bear reminding, was peculiar. He had been honored by a special +invitation to become a member of the Academy--in fact, there was a seat +in the Temple at the moment reserved for him. He had the great advantage, +moreover, of exact knowledge of the objects of the order. Godless itself, +it had been organized to promote godlessness. He had given much thought +to it since Demedes unfolded the scheme to him, and found it impossible +to believe persons of sound sense could undertake a sin so elaborate. If +for any reason the State and Church were unmindful of it, Heaven +certainly could not be. + +Aside from the desire to satisfy himself of the strength of the Academy, +Sergius was drawn to the Hippodrome to learn, if possible, the position +Demedes held in it. His sympathy with the venerable Hegumen, with whom +mourning for the boy astray was incessant, and sometimes pathetic as the +Jewish king's, gradually became a grief for the prodigal himself, and he +revolved plans for his reformation. What happiness could he one day lead +the son to the father, and say: "Your prayers and lamentations have been +heard; see--God's kiss of peace on his forehead!" + +And then in what he had seen of Demedes--what courage, dash, and +audacity--what efficiency--what store of resources! The last play of +his--attending the fete of the Princess Irene as a bear tender--who but +Demedes would have thought of such a role? Who else could have made +himself the hero of the occasion, with none to divide honors with him +except Joqard? And what a bold ready transition from bear tender to +captain in the boat race! Demedes writhing in the grip of Nilo over the +edge of the wall, death in the swish of waves beneath, had been an +object of pity tinged with contempt--Demedes winner of the prize at +Therapia was a very different person. + +This feeling for the Greek, it is to be said next, was dashed with a +lurking dread of him. If he had a design against Lael, what was there to +prevent him from attempting it? That he had such a design, Sergius could +not deny. How often he repeated the close of the note left on the stool +after the Fisherman's fete. "Thou mayst find the fan of the Princess of +India useful; with me it is embalmed in sentiment." He shall write with +a pen wondrous fine who makes the difference between love and sentiment +clear. Behind the fete, moreover, there was the confession heard on the +wall, illustrated by the story of the plague of crime. Instead of fading +out in the Russian's mind it had become better understood--a consequence +of the brightening process of residence in the city. + +Twice the procession rounded the great curriculum. Twice Sergius had +opportunity to look for the Greek, but without avail. So were the +celebrants literally clothed in flowers that recognition of individuals +was almost impossible. The first time, he sought him in the body of each +passing section; the second time, he scanned the bearers of the standards +and symbols; the third time, he was successful. + +At the head of the parade, six or eight persons were moving on horseback. +It was singular Sergius had not looked for Demedes amongst them, since +the idea of him would have entitled the Greek to a chief seat in the +Temple and a leading place when in the eye of the public. As it was, he +could not repress an exclamation on making the discovery. + +Like his associates, Demedes was in armor _cap-a-pie_. He also carried an +unshod lance, a shield on arm, and a bow and quiver at his back; but +helmet, breastplate, shield, lance and bow were masked in flowers, and +only now and then a glint betrayed the underdress of polished steel. The +steed he bestrode was housed in cloth which dragged the ground; but of +the color of the cloth or its material not a word can be said, so +entirely was it covered with floral embroidery of diverse hues and +figures. + +The decoration contributed little of grace to man or beast; nevertheless +its richness was undeniable. To the spendthrifts in the galleries the +effect was indescribably attractive. They studied its elaboration, +conjecturing how many gardens along the Bosphorus, and out in the Isles +of the Princes, had been laid under contribution for the accomplishment +of the splendor. Thus in the saddle, Demedes could not have been accused +of diminutiveness; he appeared tall, even burly; indeed, Sergius would +never have recognized him had he not been going with raised visor, and +at the instant of passing turned his face up, permitting it to be +distinctly seen. + +The exclamation wrung from the monk was not merely because of his +finding the man; in sober truth, it was an unconventional expression +provoked by finding him in the place he occupied, and a quick jump to +the logical conclusion that the foremost person in the march was also +the chief priest--if such were the title--in the Academy. + +Thenceforward Sergius beheld little else of the show than Demedes. He +forgot the impiety of the honors to the bronze serpent. There is no +enigma to us like him who is broadly our antipodes in moral being, and +whether ours is the good or the bad nature does not affect the saying. +His feelings the while were strangely diverse. The election of the evil +genius to the first place in the insidious movement was well done for +the Academy; there would be no failure with him in control; but the poor +Hegumen! + +And now, the last circuit completed, the head of the bright array +approached the Gate of the Greens. There the horsemen drew out and +formed line on the right hand to permit the brethren to march past them. +The afternoon was going rapidly. The shadow of the building on the west +crept more noticeably across the carefully kept field. Still Sergius +retained his seat watchful of Demedes. He saw him signal the riders to +turn out--he saw the line form, and the sections begin to march past +it--then an incident occurred of no appreciable importance at the +moment, but replete with significancy a little later. + +A man appeared on the cornice above the Gate--the Grate on the interior +having a face resembling a very tall but shallow portico resting on +slender pillars--and commenced lowering himself as if he meant to +descend. The danger of the attempt drew all eyes to him. Demedes looked +up, and hastily rode through the column toward the spot where the +adventurer must alight. The spectators credited the young chief with a +generous intent to be of assistance; but agile as a cat, and master of +every nerve and muscle, the man gained one of the pillars and slid to +the ground. The galleries of the Hippodrome found voice immediately. + +While the acrobat hung from the cornice striving to get hold of the +pillar with his feet and legs, Sergius was wrestling with the question, +what could impel a fellow being to tempt Providence so rashly? If a +messenger with intelligence for some one in the procession, why not wait +for him outside? In short, the monk was a trifle vexed; but doubly +observant now, he saw the man hasten to Demedes, and Demedes bend low in +the saddle to receive a communication from him. The courier then hurried +away through the Gate, while the chief returned to his place; but, +instructed probably by some power of divination proceeding from sympathy +and often from suspicion, one of the many psychological mysteries about +which we keep promising ourselves a day of enlightenment, Sergius +observed a change in the latter. He was restless, impatient, and +somewhat too imperative in hastening the retirement of the brethren. The +message had obviously excited him. + +Now Sergius would have freely given the best of his earthly possessions +to have known at that moment the subject of the communication delivered +by a route so extraordinary; but leaving him to his conjectures, there +is no reason why the reader should not be more confidentially treated. + +"Sir," the messenger had whispered to Demedes, "she has left her +father's, and is coming this way." + +"How is she coming?" + +"In her sedan." + +"Who is with her?" + +"She is alone." + +"And her porters?" + +"The Bulgarians." + +"Thank you. Go now--out by the Gate--to the keeper of the Imperial +Cistern. Tell him to await me under the wall in the Bucoleon garden with +my chair. He will understand. Come to the Temple tomorrow for your +salary." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE PRINCE BUILDS CASTLES FOR HIS GUL BAHAR + + +The words between Demedes and his courier may have the effect of +additionally exciting the reader's curiosity; for better understanding, +therefore, we will take the liberty of carrying him from the Hippodrome +to the house of Uel the merchant. + +Much has been said about the Prince of India's affection for Lael; so +much indeed that there is danger of its being thought one sided. A +greater mistake could scarcely be. She returned his love as became a +daughter attentive, tender and obedient. Without knowing anything of his +past life except as it was indistinctly connected with her family, she +regarded him a hero and a sage whose devotion to her, multiform and +unwearied, was both a delight and an honor. She was very sympathetic, +and in everything of interest to him responded with interest. His word +in request or direction was law to her. Such in brief was the charming +mutuality between them. + +The night before he started for Plati, Lael sat with him on the roof. He +was happy of his resolution to stay with her. The moonlight was ample +for them. Looking up into his face, her chin in a palm, an elbow on his +knee, she listened while he talked of his plans, and was the more +interested because he made her understand she was the inspiration of +them all. + +"The time for my return home is up," he said, forgetting to specify +where the home was, "and I should have been off before this but for my +little girl--my Gul Bahar"--and he patted her head fondly. "I cannot go +and leave her; neither can I take her with me, for what would then +become of father Uel? When she was a child it might not have been so +hard for me to lose sight of her, but now--ah, have I not seen you grow +day by day taller, stronger, wiser, fairer of person, sweeter of soul, +until you are all I fancied you would be--until you are my ideal of a +young woman of our dear old Israel, the loveliness of Judah in your eyes +and on your cheek, and of a spirit to sit in the presence of the Lord +like one invited and welcome? Oh, I am very happy!" + +He kept silence awhile, indulging in retrospect. If she could have +followed him! Better probably that she could not. + +"It is a day of ease to me, dear, and I cannot see any unlawfulness in +extending the day into months, or a year, or years indefinitely, and in +making the most of it. Can you?" he asked, smiling at her. + +"I am but a handmaiden, and my master's eyes are mine," she replied. + +"That was well said--ever so well said," he returned. "The words would +have become Ruth speaking to her lord who was of the kindred of +Elimelech... Yes, I will stay with my Gul Bahar, my most precious one. I +am resolved. She loves me now, but can I not make her love me still +more--Oh, doubt not, doubt not! Her happiness shall be the measure of +her love for me. That is the right way, is it not?" + +"My father is never wrong," Lael answered, laughing. + +"Flatterer!" he exclaimed, pressing her cheeks between his hands.... +"Oh, I have it marked out already! In the dry lands of my country, I +have seen a farmer, wanting to lead water to a perishing field, go +digging along the ground, while the stream bubbled and leaped behind +him, tame and glad as a petted lamb. My heart is the field to be +watered--your love, O my pretty, pretty Gul Bahar, is the refreshing +stream, and I will lead it after me--never fear!... Listen, and I will +tell you how I will lead it. I will make you a Princess. These Greeks +are a proud race, but they shall bow to you; for we will live amongst +them, and you shall have things richer than their richest--trinkets of +gold and jewels, a palace, and a train of women equal to that of the +Queen who went visiting Solomon. They praise themselves when they look +at their buildings, but I tell you they know nothing of the art which +turns dreams into stones. The crags and stones have helped them to their +models. I will teach them better--to look higher--to find vastness with +grace and color in the sky. The dome of Sancta Sophia--what is it in +comparison with the Hindoo masterpieces copied from the domes of God on +the low-lying clouds in the distance opposite the sun?" + +Then he told her of his palace in detail--of the fronts, no two of them +alike--the pillars, those of red granite, those of porphyry, and the +others of marble--windows which could not be glutted with light--arches +such as the Western Kaliphs transplanted from Damascus and Bagdad, in +form first seen in a print of the hoof of Borak. Then he described the +interior, courts, halls; passages, fountains: and when he had thus set +the structure before her, he said, softly smoothing her hair: + +"There now--you have it all--and verily, as Hiram, King of Tyre, helped +Solomon in his building, he shall help me also." + +"How can he help you?" she asked, shaking her finger at him. "He has +been dead this thousand years, and more." + +"Yes, dear, to everybody but me," he answered, lightly, and asked in +turn: "How do you like the palace?" + +"It will be wonderful!" + +"I have named it. Would you like to hear the name?" + +"It is something pretty, I know." + +"The Palace of Lael." + +Her cry of delighted surprise, given with clasped hands and wide-open +eyes, would have been tenfold payment were he putting her in possession +of the finished house. + +The sensation over, he told her of his design for a galley. + +"We know how tiresome the town becomes. In winter, it is cheerless and +damp; in summer, it is hot, dusty and in every way trying. Weariness +will invade our palace--yes, dear, though we hide from it in the shady +heart of our Hall of Fountains. We can provide against everything but +the craving for change. Not being birds to fly, and unable to compel the +eagles to lend us their wings, the best resort is a galley; then the sea +is ours--the sea, wide, mysterious, crowded with marvels. I am never so +near the stars as there. When a wave is bearing me up, they seem +descending to meet me. Times have been when I thought the Pleiades were +about to drop into my palm.... Here is my galley. You see, child, the +palace is to be yours, the galley mine." + +Thereupon he described a trireme of a hundred and twenty oars, sixty on +a side, and ended, saying: "Yes, the peerless ship will be mine, but +every morning it shall be yours to say Take it here or there, until we +have seen every city by the sea; and there are enough of them, I +promise, to keep us going and going forever were it not that the +weariness which drove us from our palace will afterwhile drive us back +to it. How think you I have named my galley?" + +"Lael," she answered. + +"No, try again." + +"The world is too full of names for me. Tell me." + +"Gul Bahar," he returned. + +Again she clasped her hands, and gave the little cry in his ears so +pleasant. + +Certainly the Prince was pleading with effect, and laying up happiness +in great store to cheer him through unnumbered sterile years inevitably +before him after time had resolved this Lael into a faint and fading +memory, like the other Lael gone to dust under the stone at Jerusalem. + +The first half of the night was nearly spent when he arose to conduct +her across the street to Uel's house. The last words at the head of the +steps were these: "Now, dear, to-morrow I must go a journey on business +which will keep me three days and nights--possibly three weeks. Tell +father Uel what I say. Tell him also that I have ordered you to stay +indoors while I am absent, unless he can accompany you. Do you hear me?" + +"Three weeks!" she cried, protestingly. "Oh, it will be so lonesome! Why +may I not go with Syama?" + +"Syama would be a wisp of straw in the hands of a ruffian. He could not +even call for help." + +"Then why not with Nilo?" + +"Nilo is to attend me." + +"Oh, I see," she said, with a merry laugh. "It is the Greek, the Greek, +my persecutor! Why, he has not recovered from his fright yet; he has +deserted me." + +He answered gravely: "Do you remember a bear tender, one of the +amusements at the fisherman's fete?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"He was the Greek." + +"He!" she cried, astonished. + +"Yes. I have it from Sergius the monk; and further, my child, he was +there in pursuit of you." + +"Oh, the monster! I threw him my fan!" + +The Prince knew by the tremulous voice she was wounded, and hastened to +say: "It was nothing. He deceived everybody but Sergius. I spoke of the +pestilent fellow because you wanted a reason for my keeping you close at +home. Perhaps I exacted too much of you. If I only knew certainly how +long I shall be detained! The three weeks will be hard--and it may be +Uel cannot go with you--his business is confining. So if you do venture +out, take your sedan--everybody knows to whom it belongs--and the old +Bulgarian porters. I have paid them enough to be faithful to us. Are you +listening, child?" + +"Yes, yes--and I am so glad!" + +He walked down the stairs half repenting the withdrawal of his +prohibition. + +"Be it so," he said, crossing the street. "The confinement might be +hurtful. Only go seldom as you can; then be sure you return before +sunset, and that you take and keep the most public streets. That is all +now." + +"You are so good to me!" she said, putting her arm round his neck, and +kissing him. "I will try and stay in the house. Come back early. +Farewell." + +Next day about noon the Prince of India took the galley, and set out for +Plati. + +The day succeeding his departure was long with Lael. She occupied +herself with her governess, however, and did a number of little tasks +such as women always have in reserve for a more convenient season. + +The second day was much more tedious. The forenoon was her usual time +for recitations to the Prince; she also read with him then, and +practised talking some of the many languages of which he was master. +That part of the day she accordingly whiled through struggling with her +books. + +She was earnest in the attempt at study; but naturally, the circumstances +considered, she dropped into thinking of the palace and galley. What a +delightful glorious existence they prefigured! And it was not a dream! +Her father, the Prince of India, as she proudly and affectionately called +him, did not deal in idle promises, but did what he said. And besides +being a master of design in many branches of art, he had an amazing +faculty of describing the things he designed. That is saying he had the +mind's eye to see his conceptions precisely as they would appear in +finished state. So in talking his subjects always seemed before him for +portraiture. One can readily perceive the capacity he must have had for +making the unreal appear real to a listener, and also how he could lead +Lael, her hand in his, through a house more princely than anything of the +kind in Constantinople, and on board a ship such as never sailed unless +on a painted ocean--a house like the Taj Mahal, a vessel like that which +burned on the Cydnus. She decided what notable city by the sea she wanted +most to look at next, and in naming them over, smiled at her own +indecision. + +The giving herself to such fancies was exactly what the Prince intended; +only he was to be the central figure throughout. Whether in the palace +or on the ship, she was to think of him alone, and always as the author +of the splendor and the happiness. Of almost any other person we would +speak compassionately; but he had lived long enough to know better than +dream so childishly--long enough at least to know there is a law for +everything except the vagaries of a girl scarcely sixteen. + +After all, however, if his scheme was purely selfish, perhaps it may be +pleasing to the philosophers who insist that relations cannot exist +without carrying along with them their own balance of compensations, to +hear how Lael filled the regal prospect set before her with visions in +which Sergius, young, fair, tall and beautiful, was the hero, and the +Prince only a paternal contributor. If the latter led her by the hand +here and there, Sergius went with them so close behind she could hear +his feet along the marble, and in the voyages she took, he was always a +passenger. + +The trial of the third day proved too much for the prisoner. The weather +was delightfully clear and warm, and in the afternoon she fell to +thinking of the promenade on the wall by the Bucoleon, and of the +waftures over the Sea from the Asian Olympus. They were sweet in her +remembrance, and the longing for them was stronger of a hope the +presence of which she scarcely admitted to herself--a hope of meeting +Sergius. She wanted to ask him if the bear-tender at the fete could have +been the Greek. Often as she thought of that odious creature with her +fan, she blushed, and feared Sergius might seriously misunderstand her. + +About three o'clock she ordered her chair brought to father Uel's door +at exactly four, having first dutifully run over the conditions the +Prince had imposed upon her. Uel was too busy to be her escort. Syama, +if he went, would be no protection; but she would return early. To be +certain, she made a calculation. It would take about half an hour to get +to the wall; the sun would set soon after seven; by starting home at six +she could have fully an hour and a half for the airing, which meant a +possible hour and a half with Sergius. + +At four o'clock the sedan was set down before the merchant's house, and, +for a reason presently apparent, the reader to whom vehicles of the kind +are unfamiliar is advised to acquaint himself somewhat thoroughly with +them. In idea, as heretofore observed, this one was a box constructed +with a seat for a single passenger; a door in front allowed exit and +entrance; besides the window in the door, there was a smaller opening on +each side. For portage, it was affixed centrally and in an upright +position to two long poles; these, a porter in front and another behind +grasped at the ends, easing the burden by straps passed over the +shoulders. The box was high enough for the passenger to stand in it. + +Lest this plain description should impose an erroneous idea of the +appearance of the carriage, we again advert to its upholstery in +silk-velvet orange-tinted; to the cushions covering the seat; to the +lace curtaining the windows in a manner to permit view from within while +screening the occupant from obtrusive eyes without; and to the elaborate +decoration of the exterior, literally a mosaic of vari-colored woods, +mother-of-pearl and gold, the latter in lines and flourishes. In fine, +to such a pitch of gorgeousness had the Prince designed the chair, +intending the public should receive it as an attestation of his love for +the child to whom it was specially set apart, that it became a notoriety +and avouched its ownership everywhere in the city. + +The reader would do well in the next place to give a glance at the men +who brought the chair to the door--two burly fellows, broad-faced, +shock-headed, small-eyed, sandalled, clad in semi-turbans, gray shirts, +and gray trousers immensely bagged behind--professional porters; for the +service demanded skill. A look by one accustomed to the compound of +races hived in Constantinople would have determined them Bulgarians in +extraction, and subjects of the Sultan by right of recent conquest. They +had settled upon the Prince of India in a kind of retainership. As the +chair belonged to Lael, from long employment as carriers they belonged +to the chair. Their patron dealt very liberally with them, and for that +reason had confidence in their honesty and faithfulness. That they +should have pride in the service, he dressed them in a livery. On this +occasion, however, they presented themselves in every-day costume--a +circumstance which would not have escaped the Prince, or Uel, or Syama. + +The only witness of the departure was the governess, who came out and +affectionately settled her charge in the chair, and heard her name the +streets which the Bulgarians were to pursue, all of them amongst the +most frequented of the city. Gazing at her through the window the moment +the chair was raised, she thought Lael never appeared lovelier and was +herself pleased and lulled with the words she received at parting: + +"I will be home before sunset." + +The carriers in going followed instructions, except that upon arrival at +the Hippodrome, observing it already in possession of a concourse of +people waiting for the Epicureans, they passed around the enormous pile, +and entered the imperial gardens by a gate north of Sancta Sophia. + +Lael found the promenade thronged with habitues, and falling into the +current moving toward Point Serail, she permitted her chair to become +part of it; after which she was borne backward and forward from the +Serail to the Port of Julian, stopping occasionally to gaze at the Isles +of the Princes seemingly afloat and drifting through the purple haze of +the distance. + +Where, she persisted in asking herself, is Sergius? Lest he might pass +unobserved, she kept the curtains of all the windows aside, and every +long gown and tall hat she beheld set her heart to fluttering. Her +eagerness to meet the monk at length absorbed her. + +The sun marked five o'clock--then half after five--then, in more rapid +declension, six, and still she went pendulously to and fro along the +wall--six o'clock, the hour for starting home; but she had not seen +Sergius. On land the shadows were lengthening rapidly; over the sea, the +brightness was dulling, and the air perceptibly freshening. She awoke +finally to the passage of time, and giving up the hope which had been +holding her to the promenade, reluctantly bade the carriers take her +home. "Shall we go by the streets we came?" the forward man asked, +respectfully. + +"Yes," she returned. + +Then, as he closed the door, she was startled by noticing the promenade +almost deserted; the going and coming were no longer in two decided +currents; groups had given place to individual loiterers. These things +she noticed, but not the glance the porters threw to each other +telegraphic of some understanding between them. + +At the foot of the stairs descending the wall she rapped on the front +window. + +"Make haste," she said, to the leading man; "make haste, and take the +nearest way." + +This, it will be perceived, left him to choose the route in return, and +he halted long enough to again telegraph his companion by look and nod. + +Between the eastern front of the Bucoleon and the sea-wall the entire +space was a garden. From the wall the ascent to the considerable plateau +crowned by the famous buildings was made easy by four graceful terraces, +irregular in width, and provided with zigzag roads securely paved. + +Roses and lilies were not the only products of the terraces; vines and +trees of delicate leafage and limited growth flourished upon them in +artistic arrangement. Here and there were statues and lofty pillars, and +fountains in the open, and fountains under tasteful pavilions, planted +advantageously at the angles. Except where the trees and shrubbery +formed groups dense enough to serve as obstructions, the wall commanded +the whole slope. Time was when all this loveliness was jealously guarded +for the lords and ladies of the court; but when Blacherne became the +Very High Residence the Bucoleon lapsed to the public. His Majesty +maintained it; the people enjoyed it. + +Following the zigzags, the carriers mounted two of the terraces without +meeting a soul. The garden was deserted. Hastening on, they turned the Y +at the beginning of the third terrace. A hundred or more yards along the +latter there was a copse of oleander and luxuriant filbert bushes +over-ridden by fig trees. As the sedan drew near this obstruction, its +bearers flung quick glances above and below them, and along the wall, +and descrying another sedan off a little distance but descending toward +them, they quickened their pace as if to pass the copse first. In the +midst of it, at the exact point where the view from every direction was +cut off, the man in the rear stumbled, struggled to recover himself, +then fell flat. His ends of the poles struck the pavement with a +crash--the chair toppled backward--Lael screamed. The leader slipped the +strap from his shoulder, and righted the carriage by letting it go to +the ground, floor down. He then opened the door. + +"Do not be scared," he said to Lael, whose impulse was to scramble out. +"Keep your seat--my comrade has had a fall--that is nothing--keep your +seat. I will get him up, and we will be going on in a minute." + +Lael became calm. + +The man walked briskly around, and assisted his partner to his feet. +There was a hurried consultation between them, of which the passenger +heard only the voices. Presently they both came to the door, looking +much mortified. + +"The accident is more than I thought," the leader said, humbly. + +By this time the chill of the first fear was over with Lael, and she +asked: "Can we go on?" + +"If the Princess can walk--yes." + +She turned pale. + +"What is it? Why must I walk?" + +"Our right-hand pole is broken, and we have nothing to tie it with." + +And the other man added: "If we only had a rope!" + +Now the mishap was not uncommon, and remembering the fact, Lael grew +cooler, and bethought herself of the silken scarf about her waist. To +take it off was the work of a moment. + +"Here," she said, rather pleased at her presence of mind; "you can make +a rope of this." + +They took the scarf, and busied themselves, she thought, trying to +bandage the fractured shaft. Again they stood before the door. + +"We have done the best we can. The pole will hold the chair, but not +with the Princess. She must walk--there is nothing else for her." + +Thereupon the assistant interposed a suggestion: "One of us can go for +another chair, and overtake the Princess before she reaches the gate." + +This was plausible, and Lael stepped forth. She sought the sun first; +the palace hid it, yet she was cheered by its last rays redly enlivening +the heights of Scutari across the Bosphorus, and felicitated herself +thinking it still possible to get home before the night was completely +fallen. + +"Yes, one of you may seek another"-- + +That instant the sedan her porters had descried before they entered the +copse caught her eyes. Doubt, fear, suspicion vanished; her face +brightened: "A chair! A chair!--and no one in it!" she cried, with the +vivacity of a child. "Bring it here, and let us be gone." + +The carriage so heartily welcomed was of the ordinary class, and the +carriers were poorly clad, hard-featured men, but stout and well +trained. They came at call. + +"Where are you going?" + +"To the wall." + +"Are you engaged?" + +"No, we hoped to find some one belated there." + +"Do you know Uel the merchant?" + +"We have heard of him. He has a stall in the market, and deals in +diamonds." + +"Do you know where his house is?" + +"On the street from St. Peter's Gate, under the church by the old +cistern." + +"We have a passenger here, his daughter, and want you to carry her home. +One of our poles is broken." + +"Will she pay us our price?" + +"How much do you want?" + +Here Lael interposed: "Stand not on the price. My father will pay +whatever they demand." + +The Bulgarians seemed to consider a moment. + +"It is the best we can do," the leader said. + +"Yes, the very best," the other returned. + +Thereupon the first one went to the new sedan, and opened the door. "If +the Princess will take seat," he said, respectfully, "we will pick up, +and follow close after her." + +Lael stepped in, saying as the door closed upon her: "Make haste, for +the night is near." + +The strangers without further ado faced about, and started up the road. + +"Wait, wait," she heard her old leader call out. + +There was a silence during which she imagined the Bulgarians were +adjusting the straps upon their shoulders; then there came a quick: "Now +go, and hurry, or we will pass you." + +These were the last words she heard from them, for the new men put +themselves in motion. She missed the cushions of her own carriage, but +was content--she was returning home, and going fast. This latter she +judged by the slide and shuffle of the loose-sandalled feet under her, +and the responsive springing of the poles. + +The reaction of spirit which overtook her was simply the swing of nature +back to its normal lightness. She ceased thinking of the accident, +except as an excuse for the delay to which she had been subjected. She +was glad the Prince's old retainer had escaped without injury. There was +no window back through which she could look, yet she fancied she heard +the feet of the faithful Bulgarians; they said nothing, therefore +everything was proceeding well. Now and then she peered out through the +side windows to notice the deepening of the shades of evening. Once a +temporary darkness filled the narrow box, but it gave her no uneasiness-- +the men were passing out of the garden through a covered gate. Now they +were in a street, and the travelling plain. + +Thus assured and tranquil, maiden-like, she again fell to thinking of +Sergius. Where could he have been? What kept him from the promenade? He +might have known she would be there. Was the Hegumen so exacting? Old +people are always forgetting they cannot make young people old like +themselves; and it was so inconvenient, especially now she wanted to +hear of the bear tender. Then she adverted to the monk more directly. +How tall he was! How noble and good of face! And his religion--she +wished ever so quietly that he could be brought over to the Judean +faith--she wished it, but did not ask herself why. To say truth, there +was a great deal more feeling in undertone, as it were, touching these +points than thought; and while she kept it going, the carriers forgot +not to be swift, nor did the night tarry. + +Suddenly there was an awakening. From twilight deeply shaded, she passed +into utter darkness. While, with her face to a window, she tried to see +where she was and make out what had happened, the chair stopped, and +next moment was let drop to the ground. The jar and the blank blackness +about renewed her fears, and she called out: + +"What is the matter? Where are we? This is not my father Uel's." + +And what time an answer should have been forthcoming had there been good +faith and honesty in the situation, she heard a rush of feet which had +every likeness to a precipitate flight, and then a banging noise, like +the slamming to of a ponderous door. + +She had time to think of the wisdom of her father, the Prince of India, +and of her own wilfulness--time to think of the Greek--time to call once +on Sergius--then a flutter of consciousness--an agony of fright--and it +was as if she died. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SILHOUETTE OF A CRIME + + +A genius thoroughly wicked--such was Demedes. + +Quick to see the disgust the young men of Constantinople had fallen into +for the disputes their elders were indulging about the Churches, he +proposed that they should discard religion, and reinstate philosophy; +and at their request he formulated the following: + +"Nature is the lawgiver; the happiness of man is the primary object of +Nature: hence for youth, Pleasure; for old age, Repentance and Piety, +the life hereafter being a respectable conjecture." + +The principles thus tersely stated were eagerly adopted, and going +forward with his scheme, it may be said the Academy was his design, and +its organization his work. In recognition of his superior abilities, the +grateful Academicians elected him their High Priest. + +We have seen how the public received the motto of the society. Patience, +Courage, Judgment looked fair and disclosed nothing wrong; but there was +an important reservation to it really the only secret observed. This was +the motto in full, known only to the initiated--Patience, Courage, +Judgment _in the pursuit of Pleasure_. + +From the hour of his installation as High Priest, Demedes was consumed +by an ambition to illustrate the motto in its entirety, by doing +something which should develop the three virtues in connection with +unheard of daring and originality. + +It is to be added here that to his own fortune, he had now the treasury +of the Academy to draw upon, and it was full. In other words, he had +ample means to carry out any project his _judgment_ might approve. + +He pondered the matter long. One day Lael chanced to fall under his +observation. She was beautiful and the town talk. Here, he thought, was +a subject worth studying, and speedily two mysteries presented themselves +to him: Who was the Prince of India? And what was her true relationship +to the Prince? + +We pass over his resorts in unravelling the mysteries; they were many +and cunning, and thoroughly tried the first virtue of the Academical +motto; still the sum of his finding with respect to the Prince was a +mere theory--he was a Jew and rich--beyond this Demedes took nothing for +his pains. + +He proceeded next to investigate Lael. She too was of Jewish origin, but +unlike other Jewesses, wonderful to say, she had two fathers, the +diamond merchant and the Prince of India. + +Nothing better could be asked--so his judgment, the third virtue of the +motto, decreed. In Byzantine opinion, Jews were socially outside decent +regard. In brief, if he should pursue the girl to her ruin, there was +little to fear from an appeal by either of her fathers to the +authorities. Exile might be the extremest penalty of discovery. + +He began operations by putting into circulation the calumny, too +infamous for repetition, with which we have seen him attempt to poison +Sergius. Robbing the victim of character would deprive her of sympathy, +and that, in the event of failure, would be a half defence for himself +with the public. + +He gave himself next to finding what to do with the little Princess, as +he termed her. All his schemes respecting her fell short in that they +lacked originality. At last the story of the Plague of Crime, stumbled +on in the library of the St. James', furnished a suggestion novel, if +not original, and he accepted it. + +Proceeding systematically, he first examined the cistern, paddling +through it in a boat with a flambeau at the bow. He sounded the depth of +the water, counted the pillars, and measured the spaces between them; he +tested the purity of the air; and when the reconnoissance was through, +he laughed at the simplicity of the idea, and embodied his decision in a +saying eminently becoming his philosophic character--the best of every +new thing is that it was once old. + +Next he reduced the affair to its elements. He must steal her--such was +the deed in simplest term--and he must have assistants, but prudence +whispered just as few of them as possible. He commenced a list, heading +it with the keeper of the cistern, whom he found poor, necessitous, and +anxious to better his condition. Upon a payment received, that worthy +became warmly interested, and surprised his employer with suggestions of +practical utility. + +Coming then to the abduction, he undertook a study of her daily life, +hoping it would disclose something available. A second name was +thereupon entered in his list of accomplices. + +One day a beggar with sore eyes and a foot swollen with elephantiasis--an +awful object to sight--set a stool in an angle of the street a few doors +from Uel's house; and thenceforward the girl's every appearance was +communicated to Demedes, who never forgot the great jump of heart with +which he heard of the gorgeous chair presented her by the Prince, and of +the visit she forthwith made to the wall of the Bucoleon. + +Soon as he satisfied himself that the Bulgarians were in the Prince's +pay, he sounded them. They too were willing to permit him to make them +comfortable the remainder of their days, especially as, after the +betrayal asked of them, they had only to take boat to the Turkish side +of the Bosphorus, beyond pursuit and demand. His list of assistants was +then increased to four. + +Now indeed the game seemed secure, and he prepared for the hour which +was to bring the Jewess to him. + +The keeper of the cistern was the solitary occupant of a house built +round a small court from which a flight of stone steps admitted to the +darkened water. He had a felicitous turn for mechanics, and undertook +the building of a raft with commodious rooms on it. Demedes went with +him to select a place of anchorage, and afterward planned the structure +to fit between four of the pillars in form thus: + +[Illustration] + +Seeing the design on paper, Demedes smiled--it was so like a cross; the +part in lines being the landing, and the rest a room divisible at +pleasure into three rooms. A boat was provided for communication, and to +keep it hid from visitors, a cord was fixed to a pillar off in the +darkness beyond ken, helped though it might be by torches; so standing +on the stone steps, one could draw the vessel to and fro, exactly as a +flag is hoisted or lowered on a staff. + +The work took a long time, but was at last finished. The High Priest of +the Epicureans came meantime to have something akin to tender feeling +for his intended victim. He indulged many florid dreams of when she +should grace his bower in the Imperial Cistern; and as the time of her +detention might peradventure extend into months, he vowed to enrich the +bower until the most wilful spirit would settle into contentment. + +Neither the money nor the time spent in this part of the preparation was +begrudged; on the contrary, Demedes took delight in the occupation; it +was exercise for ingenuity, taste, and judgment, always a pleasure to +such as possess the qualities. In fact, the whole way through he likened +himself to a bird building a nest for its mate. + +After all, however, the part of the project most troublesome of +arrangement by the schemer, was getting the Princess into the cistern +keeper's house--that is, without noise, scuffle, witnesses, or a clew +left behind. To this he gave more hours of reflection than to the rest +altogether. The method we have seen executed was decided upon when he +arrived at two conclusions; that the attempt was most likely to succeed +in the garden of the Bucoleon, and that the Princess must be lured from +her chair into another less conspicuous and not so well known. Greatly +to his regret, but of necessity, he then saw himself compelled to +increase his list of accessories to six. Yet he derived peace remembering +none of them, with exception of the keeper, knew aught of the affair +beyond their immediate connection with it. The porters, for instance, who +dropped the unfortunate and fled, leaving her in the sedan to intents +dead, had not the slightest idea of what was to become of her afterwards. + +The conjunctions needful to success in the enterprise were numerous; yet +the Greek accepted the waiting they put him to as a trial of the +Patience to which the motto pledged him. He believed in being ready. +When the house was built and furnished, he drilled the Bulgarians with +such particularity that the scene in the garden may be said to have been +literally to order. Probably the nearest approach to the mythical sixth +sense is the power of casting one's mind forward to a coming event, and +arranging its occurrence; and whether some have it a gift of nature, +while others derive it from cultivation, this much is certain--without +it, no man will ever create anything originally. + +Now, if the reader pleases, Demedes was too liberally endowed with the +faculty, trait or sense of which we have just spoken to permit the sedan +to be broken; such an accident would have been very inconvenient at the +critical moment succeeding the exchange of chairs. The prompter ever at +the elbow of a bad man instructed him that, aside from what the Prince +of India could not do, it was in his power to arouse the city, and set +it going hue and cry; and then the carriage, rich, glittering, and known +to so many, would draw pursuit, like a flaming torch at night. So it +occurred to Demedes, the main object being to conceal the going to the +cistern keeper's, why not use the sedan to deceive the pursuers? He +scored the idea with an exultant laugh. + +Returning now to the narrative of the enactment, directly the strange +porters moved out of the copse with their unsuspecting passenger, the +Bulgarians slung the poles to their shoulders, and followed up the +zigzag to the Y of the fourth terrace; there they turned, and retraced +their steps to the promenade; whence, after reaching Point Serail, they +doubled on their track, descended the wall, traversed the garden, and, +passing the gate by which they came, paraded their empty burden around +the Hippodrome and down a thronged street. And again doubling, they +returned to the wall, and finding it forsaken, and the night having +fallen, they abandoned the chair at a spot where the water on the +seaward side was deep and favorable for whatever violence theory might +require. In the course of this progress they were met by numberless +people, many of whom stopped to observe the gay turnout, doubting not +that the little Princess was within directing its movements. Finally, +their task thoroughly done, the Bulgarians hurried to where a boat was +in readiness, and crossing to Scutari, lost themselves in the growing +dominions of their rightful Lord, the Sultan. + +One casually reading this silhouette of a crime in act is likely to rest +here, thinking there was nothing more possible of doing either to +forward the deed or facilitate the escape of those engaged in it; yet +Demedes was not content. There were who had heard him talk of the +girl--who knew she had been much in his thought--to whom he had +furnished ground for suspecting him of following her with evil +intent--Sergius amongst others. In a word, he saw a necessity for +averting attention from himself in the connection. Here also his wit was +willing and helpful. The moment the myrmidon dropped from the portico +with news that the Princess was out in her chair unattended, he decided +she was proceeding to the wall. + +"The gods are mindful of me!" he said, his blood leaping quick. "Now is +the time ripe, and the opportunity come!" + +Looking at the sun, he fixed the hour, and reflected: + +"Five o'clock--she is on the wall. Six o'clock--she is still there. Half +after six--making up her mind to go home. Oh, but the air will be sweet, +and the sea lovely! Seven o'clock--she gives order, and the Bulgarians +signal my men on the fourth terrace. Pray Heaven the Russian keep to his +prayers or stay hearkening for my father's bell!... Here am I seen of +these thousands. Later on--about the time she forsakes the wall--my +presence shall be notorious along the streets from the Temple to +Blacherne. Then what if the monk talks? May the fiend pave his path with +stumbling-blocks and breaknecks! The city will not discredit its own +eyes." + +The Epicureans, returning from the Hippodrome, reached their Temple +about half after five o'clock. The dispersal occupied another hour; +shortly after, the regalia having been put away, and the tripods and +banners stored, Demedes called to his mounted assistants: + +"My brothers, we have worked hard, but the sowing has been bounteous and +well done. Philosophy in flowers, religion in sackcloth--that is the +comparison we have given the city. There will be no end to our harvest. +To-morrow our doors open to stay open. To-day I have one further service +for you. To your horses and ride with me to the gate of Blacherne. We +may meet the Emperor." + +They answered him shouting: "Live the Emperor!" + +"Yes," cried Demedes, when the cheering was over, "by this time he +should be tired of the priests; and what is that but the change of heart +needful to an Epicurean?" + +Laughing and joking, they mounted, eight of them, in flowers as when in +the Hippodrome. The sun was going down, but the streets were yet bright +with day. It was the hour when balconies overhanging the narrow +thoroughfares were crowded with women and children, and the doors beset +with servants--the hour Byzantine gossips were abroad filling and +unfilling their budgets. How the wooden houses trembled while the +cavalcade went galloping by! What thousands of bright eyes peered down +upon the cavaliers, attracted by the shouting and laughter! Now and then +some person would be a little late in attempting to cross before him; +then with what grace Demedes would spur after him, his bow and bowstring +for whip! And how the spectators shrieked with delight when he overtook +the culprit, and wore the flowers out flogging him! And when a balcony +was low, and illuminated with a face fairer than common, how the gallant +young riders plucked roses from their helms and shields, and tossed them +in shouting: + +"Largesse, Lady--largesse of thy smiles!" + +"Look again! Another rose for another look!" + +"From the brave to the fair!" + +Thus to the gate of Blacherne. There they drew up, and saluted the +officer of the guard, and cheered: "Live Constantine! To the good +Emperor, long life!" + +All the way Demedes rode with lifted visor. Returning through the +twilight, earlier in the close streets than in the open, he led his +company by the houses of Uel and the Prince of India. Something might +be learned of what was going on with the little Princess by what was +going on there; and the many persons he saw in the street signified +alarm and commotion. + +"Ho, here!" he shouted, drawing rein. "What does this mean? Somebody +dead or dying?" + +"Uel, the master of the house, is afraid for his child. She should have +been home before sundown. He is sending friends out to look for her." + +There was a whole story in the answer, and the conspirator repressed a +cry of triumph, and rode on. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SERGIUS LEARNS A NEW LESSON + + +Syama, always thoughtful, took care of the treasure brought from Plati, +and standing by the door watched his master through the night, wondering +what the outcome of his agitation would be. + +It were useless attempting to describe how the gloomy soul of the Jew +exercised itself. His now ungovernable passions ran riot within him. He +who had seen so much of life, who had made history as the loomsmen of +Bokhara make carpets, who dealt with kings and kingdoms, and the +superlatives of every kind canonized in the human imagination--he to be +so demeaned! Yet it was not the disrespect to himself personally that +did the keenest stinging, nor even the enmity of Heaven denying him the +love permitted every other creature, bird, beast, crawling reptile, +monster of the sea--these were as the ruffling of the weather feathers +of a fighting eagle, compared with the torture he endured from +consciousness of impotency to punish the wrongdoers as he would like to +punish them. + +That Lael was immured somewhere in the city, he doubted not; and he +would find her, for what door could stand shut against knocking by a +hand with money in it? But might it not be too late? The flower he could +recover, but the fragrance and purity of bloom--what of them? How his +breast enlarged and shrank under the electric touch of that idea! The +devil who did the deed might escape him, for hell was vast and deep; yet +the city remained, even the Byzantium ancient of days like himself, and +he would hold it a hostage for the safe return of his Gul Bahar. + +All the night long he walked without pause; it seemed unending to him; +at length the faintest rosy tint, a reflection from morning's palette of +splendor, lodged on the glass of his eastern window, and woke him from +his misery. At the door he found Syama. + +"Syama," he said, kindly, "bring me the little case which has in it my +choicest drugs." + +It was brought him, an oblong gold box encrusted with brilliants. +Opening it, he found a spatula of fine silver on a crystal lid, and +under the lid, in compartments, pellets differently colored, one of +which he selected, and dropped in his throat. + +"There, put it back," he said, returning the box to Syama, who went out +with it. Looking then at the brightness brighter growing through the +window, "Welcome," he continued, speaking to the day as it were a +person: "Thou wert slow coming, yet welcome. I am ready for this new +labor imposed on me, and shall not rest, or sleep, or hunger, or thirst +until it is done. Thou shalt see I have not lived fourteen centuries for +nothing; that in a hunt for vengeance I have not lost my cunning. I will +give them till thou hast twice run thy course; then, if they bring her +not, they will find the God they worship once more the Lord God of +Israel." + +Syama returned. + +"Thou art a faithful man, Syama, and I love thee. Get me a cup of the +Cipango leaves--no bread, the cup alone." + +While waiting, the Prince continued his silent walk; but when the tea +was brought, he said: "Good! It shall go after the meat of the +poppies"--adding to Syama--"While I drink, do thou seek Uel, and bring +him to me." + +When the son of Jahdai entered, the Prince looked at him a moment, and +asked: "Hast thou word of her?" + +"Not a word, not one word," and with the reply the merchant's face sunk +until the chin rested on his breast. The hopelessness observable in the +voice, joined to the signs of suffering apparent in the manner, was +irresistibly touching. Another instant, then the elder advanced to him, +and took his hand. + +"We are brothers," he said, with exceeding gentleness. "She was our +child--ours--thine, yet mine. She loved us both. We loved her, thou not +more, I not less. She went not willingly from us; we know that much, +because we know she loved us, me not less, thee not more. A pitfall was +digged for her. Let us find it. She is calling for us from the bottom--I +hear her--now thy name, now mine--and there is no time to be lost. Wilt +thou do as I say?" + +"You are strong, and I weak; be it entirely as you say," Uel answered, +without looking up, for there were tears in his eyes, and a great groan +growing in his throat. + +"Well, see thou now. We will find the child, be the pit ever so deep; +but--it is well bethinking--we may not find her the undefiled she was, +or we may find her dead. I believe she had a spirit to prefer death to +dishonor--but dead or dishonored, wilt thou merge thy interest in her +into mine?" + +"Yes." + +"I alone am to decide then what best becomes us to do. Is it agreed?" + +"Yes--such faith have I in you." + +"Oh, but understand thee, son of Jahdai! I speak not merely as a father, +but as an Israelite." + +Uel looked at the speaker's face, and was startled. The calm voice, low +and evenly toned, to which he had been listening, had not prepared him +for the livid pursing he saw under the eyes, and the pupils lurid and +unnaturally dilated--effects we know, good reader, of the meat of the +poppies assisted by the friendly Cipango leaves. Yet the merchant +replied, strong in the other's strength: "Am not I, too, an +Israelite?--Only do not take her from me." + +"Fear not. Now, son of Jahdai, let us to work. Let us first find our +pretty child." + +Again Uel was astonished. The countenance was bright and beaming with +confidence. A world of energy seemed to have taken possession of the +man. He looked inspired--looked as if a tap of his finger could fetch +the extremities of the continent rolling like a carpet to his feet. + +"Go now, my brother Uel, and bring hither all the clerks in the market." + +"All of them--all? Consider the expense." + +"Nay, son of Jahdai, be thou a true Israelite. In trade, this for that, +consider the profits and stand on them closely, getting all thou canst. +But here is no trade--here is honor--our honor--thine, mine. Shall a +Christian beat us, and wear the virtue of our daughter as it were a +leman's favor? No, by Abraham--by the mother of Israel"--a returning +surge of passion blackened his face again, and quickened his speech--"by +Rachael and Sarah, and all the God-loving asleep in Hebron, in this +cause our money shall flow like water--even as the Euphrates in swollen +tide goes bellowing to the sea, it shall flow. I will fill the mouths +and eyes as well as the pockets of this Byzantium with it, until there +shall not be a dune on the beach, a cranny in the wall, a rathole in its +accursed seven hills unexamined. Yes, the say is mine--so thou didst +agree--deny it not! Bid the clerks come, and quickly--only see to it +that each brings his writing material, and a piece of paper large as his +two hands. This house for their assemblage. Haste. Time flies--and from +the pit, out of the shadows in the bottom of the pit, I hear the voice +of Lael calling now to thee, now to me." + +Uel was not deficient in strength of purpose, nor for that matter in +judgment; he went and in haste; and the clerks flocked to the Prince, +and wrote at his dictation. Before half the breakfasts in the city were +eaten, vacant places at the church doors, the cheeks of all the gates, +and the fronts of houses blazed with handbills, each with a reader +before it proclaiming to listening groups: + +"BYZANTINES! + +"FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF BYZANTIUM! + +"Last evening the daughter of Uel the merchant, a child of sixteen, +small in stature, with dark hair and eyes, and fair to see, was set upon +in the garden of the Bucoleon, and stolen out of her sedan chair. +Neither she, nor the Bulgarians carrying her have been heard of since. + +"REWARDS. + +"Out of love of the child, whose name was Lael, I will pay him who +returns her to me living or dead + +"6,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. + +"And to him who brings me the abductor, or the name of any one engaged +in the crime, with proof to convict him, + +"5,000 BEZANTS IN GOLD. + +"Inquire of me at Uel's stall in the Market. + +"PRINCE OF INDIA." + +Thus the Jew began his campaign of discovery, meaning to follow it up +with punishment first, and then vengeance, the latter in conditional +mood. + +Let us not stop to ask about motives. This much is certain, the city +arose with one mind. Such a running here and there had never been known, +except possibly the times enemies in force sat down before the gates. +The walls landwardly by the sea and harbor, and the towers of the walls +above and below; old houses whose solitariness and decay were suspicious; +new houses and their cellars; churches from crypt to pulpit and gallery; +barracks and magazines, even the baker's ovens attached to them; the +wharves and vessels tied up and the ships at anchor--all underwent a +search. Hunting parties invaded the woods. Scorpions were unnested, and +bats and owls made unhappy by daylight where daylight had never been +before. Convents and monasteries were not exempt. The sea was dragged, +and the great moat from the Golden Gate to the Cynegion raked for traces +of a new-made grave. Nor less were the cemeteries overhauled, and tombs +and sarcophagi opened, and Saints' Rests dug into and profaned. In short, +but one property in Byzantium was respected--that of the Emperor. By noon +the excitement had crossed to Galata, and was at high tide in the Isles +of the Princes. Such power was there in the offer of bezants in gold--six +thousand for the girl, five thousand for one of her captors--singly, a +fortune to stir the cupidity of a Duke--together, enough to enlist a King +in the work. And everywhere the two questions--Has she been found? and +who is the Prince of India? Poor Uel had not space to think of his loss +or yield to sorrow; the questions kept him so busy. + +It must not be supposed now in this all but universal search, nobody +thought of the public cisterns. They were visited. Frequently through +the day parties followed each other to the Imperial reservoir; but the +keeper was always in his place, cool, wary, and prepared for them. He +kept open door and offered no hindrance to inspection of his house. To +interrogators he gave ready replies: + +"I was at home last night from sunset to sunrise. At dark I closed up, +and no one could have come in afterwards without my seeing him.... I +know the chair of the merchant's daughter. It is the finest in the city. +The Bulgarians have carried it past my house, but they never stopped.... +Oh, yes, you are welcome to do with the cistern what you please. There +is the doorway to the court, and in the court is the descent to the +water." Sometimes he would treat the subject facetiously: "If the girl +were here, I should know it, and if I knew it--ha, ha, ha!--are bezants +in gold by the thousand more precious to you than to me? Do you think I +too would not like to be rich?--I who live doggedly on three noumias, +helped now and then by scanty palm-salves from travellers?" + +This treatment was successful. One party did insist on going beyond the +court. They descended the steps about half way, looked at the great gray +pillars in ghostly rows receding off into a blackness of silence thick +with damps and cellar smells, each a reminder of contagion; then at the +motionless opaque water, into which the pillars sank to an unknown +depth: and they shivered, and cried: "Ugh! how cold and ugly!" and +hastened to get out. + +Undoubtedly appearances helped save the ancient cistern from +examination; yet there were other influences to the same end. Its +vastness was a deterrent. A thorough survey required organization and +expensive means, such as torches, boats, fishing tongs and drag-nets; +and why scour it at all, if not thoroughly and over every inch? Well, +well--such was the decision--the trouble is great, and the uncertainty +greater. Another class was restrained by a sentiment possibly the oldest +and most general amongst men; that which casts a spell of sanctity +around wells and springs, and stays the hand about to toss an impurity +into a running stream; which impels the North American Indian to replace +the gourd, and the Bedouin to spare the bucket for the next comer, +though an enemy. In other words, the cistern was in daily use. + +One can imagine the scene at the Prince's through the day. To bring a +familiar term into service, his house was headquarters. + +About eight o'clock the sedan was brought home empty, and without a sign +of defacement inside or out. It told no tale. + +Noon, and still no clew. + +In the afternoon there was an observable cessation of vigor in the +quest. Thousands broke off, and went about their ordinary business, +giving the reason. + +"Which way now?" would be asked them. + +"Home." + +"What! Has she been found?" + +"Not that we know." + +"Ah, you have given up." + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"We are satisfied the Bulgarians stole the girl. The Turks have her; and +now for a third part of either of the rewards he offers, the Prince of +India, whoever he is, can ransom her. He will have plenty of time. There +is no such thing as haste in a harem." + +By lamplighting in the evening, the capital resumed its customary quiet, +and of the turmoil of the day, the rush and eager halloo, the +promiscuous delving into secret places, and upturning of things strange +and suspicious, there remained nothing but a vast regret--vast in the +collective sense--for the rewards lost. + +Quiet crept into headquarters. To the Prince's insistence that the hunt +go on, he was advised to prosecute the inquest on the other side of the +Bosphorus. The argument presented him was plausible; either--thus it +ran--the Bulgarians carried the child away with them or she was taken +from them. They were stout men, yet there is no sign of a struggle. If +they were killed, we should find their bodies; if they are alive and +innocent, why are they not here? They would be entitled to the rewards +along with the best of us. + +Seeing the drift, the Prince refrained from debate. He only looked more +grim and determined. When the house was cleared, he took the floor again +fiercely restless as before. Later on Uel came in, tired, spirit-worn, +and apparently in the last stage of despondency. + +"Well, son of Jahdai, my poor brother," said the Prince, much moved, and +speaking tenderly. "It is night, and what bringest thou?" + +"Alas! Nothing, except the people say the Bulgarians did it." + +"The Bulgarians! Would it were so; for look thee, in their hands she +would be safe. Their worst of villany would be a ransom wrung from us. +Ah, no! They might have been drawn into the conspiracy; but take her, +they did not. How could they have passed the gates unseen? The night was +against them. And besides, they have not the soul to devise or dare the +deed. This is no common criminal, my brother. When he is found--and he +will be, or hell hath entered into partnership with him--thou wilt see a +Greek of title, bold from breeding and association, behind him an +influence to guarantee him against the law and the Emperor. Of the +classes in Byzantium to-day, who are the kings? Who but the monks? And +here is a morsel of wisdom, true, else my experience is a delusion: In +decaying and half-organized states, the boldest in defying public +opinion are they who have the most to do in making it." + +"I do not understand you," Uel interposed. + +"Thou art right, my brother. I know not why I am arguing; yet I ought +not to leave thee in the dark now; therefore I will go a step further. +Thou art a Jew--not a Hebrew, or an Israelite, mark thee--but in the +contemptuous Gentile sense, a Jew. She, our gentle Gul-Bahar, hath her +beating of heart from blood thou gavest her. I also am a Jew. Now, of +the classes in Byzantium, which is it by whom hate of Jews is the +article of religion most faithfully practised? Think if it be not the +same from whose shops proceed the right and wrong of the time--the same +I myself scarce three days gone saw insult and mortify the man they +chose Emperor, and not privately, in the depths of a monastery or +chapel, but publicly, his court present.... Ah, now thou seest my +meaning! In plainest speech, my brother, when he who invented this crime +is set down before us, look not for a soldier, or a sailor, or one of +thy occupation--look not for a beggar, or a laborer, or an Islamite--look +rather for a Greek, with a right from relationship near or remote to +summon the whole priestly craft to hold up his hands against us, Jews +that we are. But I am not discouraged. I shall find her, and the titled +outlaw who stole her. Or--but threats now are idle. They shall have +tomorrow to bring her home. I pray pardon for keeping thee from rest and +sleep. Go now. In the morning betimes see thou that the clerks come back +to me here. I will have need of them again, for"--he mused a moment-- +"yes, if that I purpose must be, then, the worst betiding us, they shall +not say I was hard and merciless, and cut their chances scant." + +Uel was at the door going, when the Prince called him back. + +"Wait--I do not need rest. Thou dost. Is Syama there?" + +"Yes." + +"Send him to me." + +When the slave was come, "Go," the master said, "and bring me the golden +case." + +And when it was brought, he took out a pellet, and gave it to Uel. + +"There--take it, and thou shalt sleep sound as the dead, and have never +a dream--sound, yet healthfully. To-morrow we must work. To-morrow," he +repeated when Uel was gone--"to-morrow! Till then, eternity." + +Let us now shift the scene to the Monastery of the St. James'. + +It is eight o'clock in the morning--about the time the empty sedan was +being brought to the Prince's house. Sergius had been hearkening for the +Hegumen's bell, and at the moment we look in upon him, he is with the +venerable superior, helping him to breakfast, if a meal so frugal +deserves the name. + +The young Russian, it is to be said, retired to his cell immediately +upon the conclusion of the Festival of Flowers the evening before. +Awaking early, he made personal preparation for the day, and with the +Brotherhood in the chapel, performed the matinal breviary services, +consisting of lauds, psalms, lections and prayers. Then he took seat by +his superior's door. By and by the bell called him in, and thenceforward +he was occupied in the kitchen or at the elder's elbow. In brief, he +knew nothing of the occurrence which had so overwhelmed the merchant and +the Prince of India. + +The Hegumen sat on a broad armless chair, very pale and weak--so poorly, +indeed, that the brethren had excused him from chapel duties. Having +filled a flagon with water, Sergius was offering it to him, when the +door opened without knock, or other warning, and Demedes entered. Moving +silently to his father, he stooped, and kissed his hand with an unction +which brought a smile to the sunken face. + +"God's benison on you, my boy. I was thinking of the airs of Prinkipo or +Halki, and that they might help me somewhat; but now you are here, I +will put them off. Bring the bench to my right hand, and partake with +me, if but to break a crust." + +"The crust has the appearance of leaven in it, and you know the party to +which I belong. I am not an _azymite_." + +There was scarcely an attempt to conceal the sneer with which the young +man glanced at the brown loaf gracing the platter on the Hegumen's +knees. Seeing then a look of pain on the paternal countenance, he +continued: "No, I have had breakfast, and came to see how you are, and +to apprise you that the city is being stirred from the foam on top to +the dregs at the bottom, all because of an occurrence last evening, so +incredible, so strange, so audacious, and so wicked it weakens +confidence in society, and almost forces one to look up and wonder if +God does not sometimes sleep." + +The Hegumen and his attendant were aroused. Both gazed at Demedes +looking the same question. + +"I hesitate to tell you, my dear father, of the affair, it is so +shocking. The chill of the first hearing has not left me. I am excited +body and mind, and you know how faithfully I have tried to school myself +against excitement--it is unbecoming--only the weak suffer it. Rather +than trust myself to the narrative--though as yet there are no details--I +plucked a notice from a wall while coming, and as it was the first I had +of the news, and contains all I know, I brought it along; and if you care +to hear, perhaps our friend Sergius will kindly give you the contents. +His voice is better than mine, and he is perfectly calm." + +"Yes, Sergius will read. Give him the paper." + +Thereupon Demedes passed to Sergius one of the handbills with which the +Prince of India had sown the city. After the first line, the monk began +stammering and stumbling; at the close of the first sentence, he stopped. +Then he threw a glance at the Greek, and from the gaze with which he was +met, he drew understanding and self-control. "I ask thy grace, Father," +he said, raising the paper, and looking at the signature. "I am +acquainted with Uel the merchant, and with the child said to be stolen. I +also know the man whose title is here attached. He calls himself Prince +of India, but by what right I cannot say. The circumstance is a great +surprise to me; so, with thy pardon, I will try the reading again." + +Sergius finished the paper, and returned it to Demedes. + +The Hegumen folded his hands, and said: "Oh, the flow of mercy cannot +endure forever!" + +Then the young men looked at each other. + +To be surprised when off guard, is to give our enemy his best +opportunity. This was the advantage the Greek then had. He was satisfied +with the working of his scheme; yet one dread had disturbed him through +the night. What would the Russian do? And when he read the Prince's +proclamation, and saw the rewards offered, in amounts undreamt of, he +shivered; not, as he told the Hegumen, from horror at the crime; still +less from fear that the multitude might blunder on discovery; and least +of all from apprehension of betrayal from his assistants, for, with +exception of the cistern-keeper, they were all in flight, and a night's +journey gone. Be the mass of enemies ever so great, there is always one +to inspire us with liveliest concern. Here it was Sergius. He had come +so recently into the world--descent from a monastery in the far north +was to the metropolitan much like being born again--there was no telling +what he might do. Thus moved and uncertain, the conspirator resolved to +seek his adversary, if such he were, and boldly try him. In what spirit +would he receive the news? That was the thought behind the gaze Demedes +now bent on the unsophisticated pupil of the saintly Father Hilarion. + +Sergius returned the look without an effort to hide the pain he really +felt. His utmost endeavor was to control his feelings. With no idea of +simulation, he wanted time to think. Altogether it would have been +impossible for him to have chosen a course more perplexing to Demedes, +who found himself driven to his next play. + +"You know now," he said to his father, "why I decline to break a crust +with you. I must go and help uncover this wicked deed. The rewards are +great"--he smiled blandly--"and I should like to win one of them at +least--the first one, for I have seen the girl called Lael. She +interested me, and I was in danger from her. On one occasion"--he paused +to throw a glance to Sergius--"I even made advances to become acquainted +with her, but she repulsed me. As the Prince of India says, she was fair +to see. I am sure I have your permission to engage in the hunt." + +"Go, and God speed you," the Hegumen responded. + +"Thank you; yet another request." + +He turned to the Russian. + +"Now is Sergius here tall, and, if his gown belie him not, stout, and +there may be need of muscle as well as spirit; for who can tell where +our feet will take us in a game like this, or what or whom we may +confront? I ask you to permit him to go with me." + +"Nay," said the Hegumen, "I will urge him to go." + +Sergius answered simply: + +"Not now. I am under penance, and to-day bound to the third breviary +prayers. When they are finished, I will gladly go." + +"I am disappointed," Demedes rejoined. "But I must make haste." + +He kissed the Hegumen's hand and retired; after which, the meal speedily +concluded, Sergius gathered the few articles of service on the platter, +and raised it, but stopped to say: "After prayers, with your consent, +reverend Father, I will take part in this affair." + +"Thou hast my consent." + +"It may take several days." + +"Give thyself all the time required. The errand is of mercy." + +And the holy man extended his hand, and Sergius saluted it reverently, +and went out. + +If the young monastic kept not fast hold of the holy forms prescribed +immemorially for the third hour's service, there is little doubt he was +forgiven in the higher court before which he was supposed present, for +never had he been more nearly shaken out of his better self than by the +Prince's proclamation. He had managed to appear composed while under +Demedes' observation. In the language of the time, some protecting Saint +prompted him to beware of the Greek, and keeping the admonition, he had +come well out of the interview; but hardly did the Hegumen's door close +behind him before Lael's untoward fate struck him with effect. He +hurried to his cell, thinking to recover himself; but it was as if he +were pursued by a voice calling him, and directly the voice seemed hers, +sharp and piercing from terror. A little later he took to answering the +appeal--I hear, but where art thou? His agitation grew until the bell +summoned him to the chapel, and the sound was gladdening on account of +the companionship it promised. Surely the voice would be lost in the +full-toned responses of the brethren. Not so. He heard it even more +clearly. Then, to place himself certainly beyond it, he begged an +ancient worshipper at his side to loan him his triptych. For once, +however, the sorrowful figure of the Christ on the central tablet was of +no avail, hold it close as he might; strange to say, the face of the +graven image assumed her likeness; so he was worse off than before, for +now her suffering look was added to her sorrowful cry. + +At last the service was over. Rushing back to his cell he exchanged his +black gown for the coarse gray garment with which he had sallied from +Bielo-Osero. Folding the veil, and putting it carefully away in his hat, +he went forth, a hunter as the multitude were hunters; only, as we shall +presently see, his zeal was more lasting than theirs, and he was owner +of an invaluable secret. + +On the street he heard everywhere of the rewards, and everywhere the +question, Has she been found? The population, women and children +included, appeared to have been turned out of their houses. The corners +were possessed by them, and it will be easy for readers who have once +listened to Greeks in hot debate to fancy how on this occasion they were +heard afar. Yet Sergius went his way unobservant of the remarks drawn by +the elephantine ears of his outlandish hood, his tall form, and impeded +step. + +Had one stopped him to ask, Where are you going? it is doubtful if he +could have told. He had no plan; he was being pulled along by a pain of +heart rather than a purpose--moving somnolently through a light which +was also a revelation, for now he knew he loved the lost girl--knew it, +not by something past, such as recollections of her sweetness and +beauty, but by a sense of present bereavement, an agonizing impulsion, a +fierce desire to find the robber, a murderous longing the like of which +had never assailed him. The going was nearest an answer he could make to +the voice calling him, equivalent to, I am coming. + +He sped through the Hippodrome outwalking everybody; then through the +enclosure of Sancta Sophia; then down the garden terraces--Oh, that the +copse could have told him the chapter it had witnessed!--then up the +broad stairway to the promenade, and along it toward Port St. Julian, +never pausing until he was at the bench in the angle of the wall from +which he had overheard Demedes' story of the Plague of Crime. + +Now the bench was not in his mind when he started from the monastery; +neither had he thought of it on the way, or of the dark history it had +helped him to; in a freak, he took the seat he had formerly occupied, +placed his arm along the coping of the parapet, and closed his eyes. And +strange to say, the conversation of that day repeated itself almost word +for word. Stranger still, it had now a significancy not then observed; +and as he listened, he interpreted, and the fever of spirit left him. + +About an hour before noon, he arose from the bench like one refreshed by +sleep, cool, thoughtful, capable. In the interval he had put off +boyishness, and taken on manhood replete with a faculty for worldly +thinking that would have alarmed Father Hilarion. In other words, he was +seeing things as they were; that bad and good, for instance, were +coexistent, one as much a part of the plan of creation as the other; +that religion could only regulate and reform; that the end of days would +find good men striving with bad men--in brief, that Demedes was +performing the role to which his nature and aptitude assigned him, just +as the venerable Hegumen, his father, was feebly essaying a counterpart. +Nor was that all. The new ideas to which he had been converted +facilitated reflection along the lines of wickedness. In the Plague of +Crime, told the second time, he believed he had found what had befallen +Lael. Demedes, he remembered, gave the historic episode to convince his +protesting friend how easy it would be to steal and dispose of her. The +argument pointed to the Imperial cistern as the hiding-place. + +Sergius' first prompting was to enlist the aid of the Prince of India, +and go straight to the deliverance; but he had arisen from the bench a +person very different from a blind lover. Not that his love had +cooled--ah, no! But there were things to be done before exposing his +secret. Thus, his curiosity had never been strong enough to induce him +to look into the cistern. Was it not worth while to assure himself of +the possibility of its conversion to the use suspected? He turned, and +walked back rapidly--down the stairway, up the terraces, and through the +Hippodrome. Suddenly he was struck with the impolicy of presenting +himself to the cistern-keeper in his present costume--it would be such a +help to identification by Demedes. So he continued on to the monastery, +and resumed the black gown and tall hat. + +The Hegumen's door, which he had to pass in going out again, served him +with another admonition. If Demedes were exposed through his endeavor, +what of the father? If, in the conflict certain of precipitation, the +latter sided with his son--and what could be more natural?--would not +the Brotherhood follow him? How then could he, Sergius, a foreigner, +young, and without influence, combat a fraternity powerful in the city +and most powerful up at Blacherne? + +At this, it must be confessed, the young man's step lost its elasticity; +his head sunk visibly, and the love just found was driven to divide its +dominion with a well-grounded practical apprehension. Yet he walked on, +out of the gate, and thence in the direction of the cistern. + +Arrived there, he surveyed the wooden structure doubtfully. The door was +open, and just inside of it the keeper sat stick in hand drumming upon +the brick pavement, a man of medium height and rather pleasant demeanor. + +"I am a stranger here," Sergius said to him. "The cistern is public, I +believe; may I see it?" + +"It is public, and you may look at it all you want. The door there at +the end of the passage will let you into the court. If you have trouble +in finding the stairway down, call me." + +Sergius dropped some small coin into the keeper's hand. + +The court was paved with yellow Roman brick, and moderately spacious. An +oblong curbing in the centre without rails marked the place of descent +to the water. Overhead there was nothing to interfere with the fall of +light from the blue sky, except that in one corner a shed had been +constructed barely sufficient to protect a sedan chair deposited there, +its poles on end leant against the wall. Sergius noticed the chair and +the poles, then looked down over the curbing into a doorway, and saw +four stone steps leading to a platform three or four feet square. +Observing a further descent, he went down to the landing, where he +paused long enough to be satisfied that the whole stairway was built +into the eastern wall of the cistern. The light was already dim. +Proceeding carefully, for the stones were slippery, he counted fourteen +steps to another landing, the width of the first but quite ten feet +long, and slightly submerged with water. Here, as he could go no +further, he stopped to look about him. + +It is true there was not much to be seen, yet he was at once impressed +with a sense of vastness and durability. A dark and waveless sheet lay +stretched before him, merging speedily into general blackness. About +four yards away and as many apart, two gigantic pillars arose out of the +motionless flood stark and ghostly gray. Behind them, suggestive of rows +with an aisle between, other pillars were seen, mere upright streaks of +uncertain hue fainter growing in the shadowy perspective. Below there +was nothing to arrest a glance. Raising his eyes to the roof above him, +out of the semi-obscurity, he presently defined a brick vault springing +boldly from the Corinthian capitals of the nearest pillars, and he knew +straightway the roof was supported by a system of vaults susceptible of +indefinite extension. But how was he, standing on a platform at the +eastern edge of the reservoir, mighty in so many senses, to determine +its shape, width, length? Stooping he looked down the vista straining +his vision, but there was no opposite wall--only darkness and +impenetrability. He filled his lungs trying the air, and it was damp but +sweet. He stamped with force--there was a rumble in the vault +overhead--that was all. He called: "Lael, Lael"--there was no answer, +though he listened, his soul in his ears. Therewith he gave over trying +to sound the great handmade cavern, and lingered awhile muttering: + +"It is possible, it is possible! At the end of this row of pillars"--he +made a last vain effort to discover the end--"there may be a house +afloat, and she"--he clinched his hands, and shook with a return of +murderous passion--"God help her! Nay, God help me! If she is here, as I +believe, I will find her." + +In the court he again noticed the sedan in the corner. + +"I am obliged to you," he said to the keeper by the door. "How old is +the cistern?" + +"Constantine begun it, and Justinian finished it, they say." + +"Is it in use now?" + +"They let buckets down through traps in the roof." + +"Do you know how large it is?" [Footnote: Yere Batan Serai, or the +Underground Palace, the ancient Royal Cistern, or cistern of Constantine, +is in rank, as well as in interest and beauty, the chief Byzantine +cistern. It is on the right-hand side of the tramway street, west of St. +Sophia. The entrance is in the yard of a large Ottoman house in last +street on the right of tramway street before the tramway turns abruptly +west (to right) after passing St. Sophia. + +This cistern was built by Constantine the Great, and deepened and +enlarged by Justinian the Great in 527, the first year of his reign. It +has been in constant use ever since. The water is supplied from unknown +and subterranean sources, sometimes rising nearly to the capitals of the +columns. It is still in admirable preservation: all its columns are in +position, and almost the entire roof is intact. The columns are arranged +in twelve rows of twenty-eight, there being in all three hundred and +thirty-six, which are twelve feet distant from each other or from the +wall. Some of the capitals are Corinthian; others plain, hardly more +than truncated pyramids. The roof consists of a succession of brick +vaults. + +On left side in yard of the large Ottoman house already mentioned is a +trap-door. One is let down over a rickety ladder about four feet to the +top of four high stone steps, which descend on the left to a platform +about three and one-half feet square which projects without railing over +the water. Thence fourteen steps, also without railing, conduct to +another platform below, about three and one-half feet wide and ten feet +long. Sometimes this lower platform and the nearer steps are covered +with water, though seldom in summer and early fall. These steps are +uneven--in places are broken and almost wanting; and they as well as +both platforms are exceedingly slippery. The place is absolutely dark +save for the feeble rays which glimmer from the lantern of the guide. +One should remember there is no railing or barrier of any sort, and not +advance an inch without seeing where he puts his foot. Then there is no +danger. Moreover, the platform below is less slippery than the steps or +the platform above. Visitors will do well to each bring his own candle +or small lantern, not for illumination but for safety. When the visitors +have arrived on the lower platform, which is near the middle of the +eastern side against the wall, the guide, who has not descended the +steps, lights a basket of shavings or other quick combustible on the +platform above. The effect is instantaneous and magical. Suddenly from +an obscurity so profound that only the outline of the nearest columns +can be faintly discerned by the flicker of a candle, the entire maze of +columns flashes into being resplendent and white. The roof and the water +send the light back to each other. Not a sound is heard save distant +splashes here and there as a bucket descends to supply the necessities +of some house above. Nowhere can be beheld a scene more weird and +enchanting. It will remain printed on the memory when many another +experience of Stamboul is dim or forgotten. + +PROFESSOR GROSVENOR. CONSTANTINOPLE.] + +The keeper laughed, and pommelled the pavement vigorously: "I was never +through it--haven't the courage--nor do I know anybody who has been. +They say it has a thousand pillars, and that it is supplied by a river. +They tell too how people have gone into it with boats, and never come +out, and that it is alive with ghosts; but of these stories I say +nothing, because I know nothing." + +Sergius thereupon departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE PRINCE OF INDIA SEEKS MAHOMMED + + +All the next night, Syama, his ear against his master's door, felt the +jar of the machine-like tread in the study. At intervals it would slow, +but not once did it stop. The poor slave was himself nearly worn out. +Sympathy has a fashion of burdening us without in the least lightening +the burden which occasions it. + +To-morrows may be long coming, but they keep coming. Time is a mill, and +to-morrows are but the dust of its grinding. Uel arose early. He had +slept soundly. His first move was to send the Prince all the clerks he +could find in the market, and shortly afterwards the city was +re-blazoned with bills. + +"BYZANTINES! + +"Fathers and mothers of Byzantium! + +"Lael, the daughter of Uel the merchant, has not been found. Wherefore I +now offer 10,000 bezants in gold for her dead or alive, and 6,000 +bezants in gold for evidence which will lead to the discovery and +conviction of her abductors. + +"The offers will conclude with to-day. + +"PRINCE OF INDIA." + +There was a sensation when the new placards had been generally read; yet +the hunt of the day before was not resumed. It was considered exhausted. +Men and women poured into the streets and talked and talked--about the +Prince of India. By ten o'clock all known of him and a great deal more +had gone through numberless discussions; and could he have heard the +conclusions reached he had never smiled again. By a consensus singularly +unanimous, he was an Indian, vastly rich, but not a Prince, and his +interest in the stolen girl was owing to forbidden relations. This +latter part of the judgment, by far the most cruel, might have been +traced to Demedes. + +In all the city there had not been a more tireless hunter than Demedes. +He seemed everywhere present--on the ships, on the walls, in the gardens +and churches--nay, it were easier telling where he had not been. And by +whomsoever met, he was in good spirits, fertile in suggestions, and sure +of success. He in fact distinguished himself in the search, and gave +proof of a knowledge of the capital amazing to the oldest inhabitants. +Of course his role was to waste the energy of the mass. In every pack of +beagles it is said there is one particularly gifted in the discovery of +false scents. Such was Demedes that first day, until about two o'clock. +The results of the quest were then in, and of the theories to which he +listened, nothing pleased him like the absence of a suggestion of the +second sedan. There were witnesses to tell of the gorgeous chair, and +its flitting here and yonder through the twilight; none saw the other. +This seems to have sufficed him, and he suddenly gave up the chase; +appearing in the garden of the Bucoleon, he declared the uselessness of +further effort. The Jewess, he said, was not in Byzantium; she had been +carried off by the Bulgarians, and was then on the road to some Turkish +harem. From that moment the search began to fall off, and by evening it +was entirely discontinued. + +Upon appearance of the placards the second day, Demedes was again equal +to the emergency. He collected his brethren in the Temple, organized +them into parties, and sent them everywhere--to Galata, to the towns +along the Bosphorus, down the western shore of the Marmora, over to the +Islands, and up to the forest of Belgrade--to every place, in short, +except the right one. And this conduct, apparently sincere, certainly +energetic, bore its expected fruit; by noon he was the hero of the +occasion, the admiration of the city. + +When very early in the second day the disinclination of the people to +renew the search was reported to the Prince of India, he looked +incredulous, and broke out: + +"What! Not for ten thousand bezants!--more gold than they have had in +their treasury at one time in ten years!--enough to set up three empires +of such dwindle! To what is the world coming?" + +An hour or so later, he was told of the total failure of his second +proclamation. The information drove him with increased speed across the +floor. + +"I have an adversary somewhere," he was saying to himself--"an adversary +more powerful than gold in quantity. Are there two such in Byzantium?" + +An account of Demedes' action gave him some comfort. + +About the third hour, Sergius asked to see him, and was admitted. After +a simple expression of sympathy, the heartiness of which was attested by +his sad voice and dejected countenance, the monk said: "Prince of India, +I cannot tell you the reasons of my opinion; yet I believe the young +woman is a prisoner here in this city. I will also beg you not to ask me +where I think she is held, or by whom. It may turn out that I am +mistaken; I will then feel better of having had no confidant. With this +statement--submitted with acknowledged uncertainty--can you trust me?" + +"You are Sergius, the monk?" + +"So they call me; though here I have not been raised to the priesthood." + +"I have heard the poor child speak of you. You were a favorite with +her." + +The Prince spoke with trouble. + +"I am greatly pleased to hear it." + +The trouble of the Prince was contagious, but Sergius presently +recovered. + +"Probably the best certificate of my sincerity, Prince--the best I can +furnish you--is that your gold is no incentive to the trial at finding +her which I have a mind to make. If I succeed, a semblance of pay or +reward would spoil my happiness." + +The Jew surveyed him curiously. "Almost I doubt you," he said. + +"Yes, I can understand. Avarice is so common, and disinterestedness, +friendship, and love so uncommon." + +"Verily, a great truth has struck you early." + +"Well, hear what I have to ask." + +"Speak." + +"You have in your service an African"-- + +"Nilo?" + +"That is his name. He is strong, faithful, and brave, qualities I may +need more than gold. Will you allow him to go with me?" + +The Prince's look and manner changed, and he took the monk's hand. +"Forgive me," he said warmly--"forgive me, if I spoke doubtfully--forgive +me, if I misunderstood you." + +Then, with his usual promptitude, he went to the door, and bade Syama +bring Nilo. + +"You know my method of speech with him?" the Prince asked. + +"Yes," Sergius replied. + +"If you have instructions for him, see they are given in a good light, +for in the dark he cannot comprehend." + +Nilo came, and kissed his master's hand. He understood the trouble which +had befallen. + +"This," the Prince said to him, "is Sergius, the monk. He believes he +knows where the little Princess is, and has asked that you may go with +him. Are you willing?" + +The King looked assent. + +"It is arranged," the master added to Sergius. "Have you other +suggestion?" + +"It were better he put off his African costume." + +"For the Greek?" + +"The Greek will excite less attention." + +"Very well." + +In a short time Nilo presented himself in Byzantine dress, with +exception of a bright blue handkerchief on his head. + +"Now, I pray you, Prince, give me a room. I wish to talk with the man +privately." + +The request was granted, the instructions given, and Sergius reappeared +to take leave. + +"Nilo and I are good friends, Prince. He understands me." + +"He may be too eager. Remember I found him a savage." + +With these words, the Prince and the young Russian parted. + +After this nobody came to the house. The excitement had been a flash. +Now it seemed entirely dead, and dead without a clew. When Time goes +afoot his feet are of lead; and in this instance his walk was over the +Prince's heart. By noon he was dreadfully wrought up. + +"Let them look to it, let them look to it!" he kept repeating, sometimes +shaking a clinched hand. Occasionally the idea to which he thus darkly +referred had power to bring him to a halt. "I have an adversary. Who is +he?" Ere long the question possessed him entirely. It was then as if he +despaired of recovering Lael, and had but one earthly object--vengeance. +"Ah, my God, my God! Am I to lose her, and never know my enemy? Action, +action, or I will go mad!" Uel came with his usual report: "Alas! I have +nothing." The Prince scarcely heard or saw him. "There are but two +places where this enemy can harbor," he was repeating to himself--"but +two; the palace and"--he brought his hands together vehemently--"the +church. Where else are they who have power to arrest a whole people in +earnest movement? Whom else have I offended? Ay, there it is! I +preached God; therefore the child must perish. So much for Christian +pity!" + +All the forces in his nature became active. + +"Go," he said to Uel, "order two men for my chair. Syama will attend +me." + +The merchant left him on the floor patting one hand with another. + +"Yes, yes, I will try it--I will see if there is such thing as Christian +pity--I will see. It may have swarmed, and gone to hive at Blacherne." +In going to the palace, he continually exhorted the porters: + +"Faster, faster, my men!" + +The officer at the gate received him kindly, and came back with the +answer, "His Majesty will see you." + +Again the audience chamber, Constantine on the dais, his courtiers each +in place; again the Dean in his role of Grand Chamberlain; again the +prostrations. Ceremony at Blacherne was never remitted. There is a +poverty which makes kings miserable. + +"Draw nearer, Prince," said Constantine, benignly. "I am very busy. A +courier arrived this morning from Adrianople with report that my august +friend, the Sultan Amurath, is sick, and his physicians think him sick +unto death. I was not prepared for the responsibilities which are +rising; but I have heard of thy great misfortune, and out of sympathy +bade my officer bring thee hither. By accounts the child was rarely +intelligent and lovely, and I did not believe there was in my capital a +man to do her such inhuman wrong. The progress of the search thou didst +institute so wisely I have watched with solicitude little less than +thine own. My officials everywhere have orders to spare no effort or +expense to discover the guilty parties; for if the conspiracy succeed +once, it will derive courage and try again, thus menacing every family +in my Empire. If thou knowest aught else in my power to do, I will +gladly hear it." + +The Emperor, intent upon his expressions, failed to observe the gleam +which shone in the Wanderer's eyes, excited by mention of the condition +of the Sultan. + +"I will not try Your Majesty's patience, since I know the +responsibilities to which you have referred concern the welfare of an +Empire, while I am troubled not knowing if one poor soul be dead or +alive; yet she was the world to me"--thus the Prince began, and the +knightly soul of the Emperor was touched, for his look softened, and +with his hand he gently tapped the golden cone of the right arm of his +throne. + +"That which brought me to your feet," the Prince continued, "is partly +answered. The orders to your officers exhaust your personal endeavor, +unless--unless"-- + +"Speak, Prince." + +"Your Majesty, I shrink from giving offence, and yet I have in this +terrible affair an enemy who is my master. Yesterday Byzantium adopted +my cause, and lent me her eyes and hands; before the sun went down her +ardor cooled; to-day she will not go a rood. What are we to think, what +do, my Lord, when gold and pity alike lose their influence? ... I will +not stop to say what he must be who is so much my enemy as to lay an icy +finger on the warm pulse of the people. When we who have grown old cast +about for a hidden foe, where do we habitually look? Where, except among +those whom we have offended? Whom have I offended? Here in the audience +you honored me with, I ventured to argue in favor of universal +brotherhood in faith, and God the principle of agreement; and there were +present some who dealt me insult, and menaced me, until Your Majesty +sent armed men to protect me from their violence. They have the ear of +the public--they are my adversaries. Shall I call them the Church?" + +Constantine replied calmly: "The head of the Church sat here at my right +hand that day, Prince, and he did not interrupt you; neither did he +menace you. But say you are right--that they of whom you speak are the +Church--what can I do?" + +"The Church has thunders to terrify and subdue the wicked, and Your +Majesty is the head of the Church." + +"Nay, Prince, I fear thou hast studied us unfairly. I am a member--a +follower--a subscriber to the faith--its thunders are not mine." + +A despairing look overcast the countenance of the visitor, and he +trembled. "Oh, my God! There is no hope further--she is lost--lost!" But +recovering directly, he said: "I crave pardon for interrupting Your +Majesty. Give me permission to retire. I have much work to do." + +Constantine bowed, and on raising his head, declared with feeling to his +officers: "The wrong to this man is great." + +The Wanderer moved backward slowly, his eyes emitting uncertain light; +pausing, he pointed to the Emperor, and said, solemnly: "My Lord, thou +hadst thy power to do justice from God; it hath slipped from thee. The +choice was thine, to rule the Church or be ruled by it; thou hast +chosen, and art lost, and thy Empire with thee." + +He was at the door before any one present could arouse from surprise; +then while they were looking at each other, and making ready to cry out, +he came back clear to the dais, and knelt. There was in his manner and +countenance so much of utter hopelessness, that the whole court stood +still, each man in the attitude the return found him. + +"My Lord," he said, "thou mightest have saved me--I forgive thee that +thou didst not. See--here"--he thrust a hand in the bosom of his gown, +and from a pocket drew the great emerald--"I will leave thee this +talisman--it belonged to King Solomon, the son of David--I found it in +the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre--it is thine, my Lord, so thou fitly +punish the robber of the lost daughter of my soul, my Gul Bahar. +Farewell." + +He laid the jewel on the edge of the dais, and rising, betook himself to +the door again, and disappeared before the Dean was sufficiently mindful +of his duty. + +"The man is mad," the Emperor exclaimed. + +"Take up the stone"--he spoke to the Dean--"and return it to him +to-morrow." [Footnote: This identical stone, or one very like it, may be +seen in the "Treasury" which is part of the old Serail in Stamboul. It +is in the first room of entrance, on the second shelf of the great case +of curios, right-hand side.] For a time then the emerald was kept +passing from hand to hand by the courtiers, none of whom had ever seen +its peer for size and brilliance; more than one of them touched it with +awe, for despite a disposition to be incredulous in the matter of +traditions incident to precious stones, the legend here, left behind him +by the mysterious old man, was accepted--this was a talisman--it had +belonged to Solomon--it had been found by the Prince of India--and he +was a Prince--nobody but Indian Princes had such emeralds to give away. +But while they bandied the talisman about, the Emperor sat, his chin in +the palm of his right hand, the elbow on the golden cone, not seeing as +much as thinking, nor thinking as much as silently repeating the strange +words of the stranger: "Thou hadst thy power to do justice from God; it +hath slipped from thee. The choice was thine to rule the Church or be +ruled by it. Thou hast chosen, and art lost, and thy Empire with thee." +Was this prophetic? What did it mean? And by and by he found a meaning. +The first Constantine made the Church; now the Church will unmake the +last Constantine. How many there are who spend their youth yearning and +fighting to write their names in history, then spend their old age +shuddering to read them there! + +The Prince of India was scarcely in his study, certainly he was not yet +calmed down from the passion into which he had been thrown at Blacherne, +when Syama informed him there was a man below waiting to see him. + +"Who is he?" + +The servant shook his head. + +"Well, bring him here." + +Presently a gypsy, at least in right of his mother, and tent-born in the +valley of Buyukdere, slender, dark-skinned, and by occupation a +fisherman, presented himself. From the strength of the odor he brought +with him, the yield of his net during the night must have been unusually +large. + +"Am I in presence of the Prince of India?" the man asked, in excellent +Arabic, and a manner impossible of acquisition except in the daily life +of a court of the period. + +The Prince bowed. + +"The Prince of India who is the friend of the Sultan Mahommed?" the +other inquired, with greater particularity. "Sultan Mahommed? Prince +Mahommed, you mean." + +"No--Mahommed the Sultan." + +A flash of joy leaped from the Prince's eyes--the first of the kind in +two days. + +The stranger addressed himself to explanation. + +"Forgive my bringing the smell of mullet and mackerel into your house. I +am obeying instructions which require me to communicate with you in +disguise. I have a despatch to tell who I am, and more of my business +than I know myself." + +The messenger took from his head the dirty cloth covering it, and from +its folds produced a slip of paper; with a salute of hand to breast and +forehead, declarative of a Turk to the habit born, he delivered the +slip, and walked apart to give opportunity for its reading. This was the +writing in free translation: + +"Mahommed, Son of Amurath, Sultan of Sultans, to the Prince of India. + +"I am about returning to Magnesia. My father--may the prayers of the +Prophet, almighty with God, preserve him from long suffering!--is fast +falling into weakness of body and mind. Ali, son of Abed-din the +Faithful, is charged instantly the great soul is departed on its way to +Paradise to ride as the north wind flies, and give thee a record which +Abed-din is to make on peril of his soul, abating not the fraction of a +second. Thou wilt understand it, and the purpose of the sending." + +The Prince of India, with the slip in his hand, walked the floor once +from west to east to regain the mastery of himself. + +"Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful," he then said, "has a record for +me." + +Now the thongs of Ali's sandals were united just below the instep with +brass buttons; stooping he took off that of the left sandal, and gave it +a sharp twist; whereupon the top came off, disclosing a cavity, and a +ribbon of the finest satin snugly folded in it. He gave the ribbon to +the Prince, saying: + +"The button of the plane tree planted has not in promise any great thing +like this I take from the button of my sandal. Now is my mission done. +Praised be Allah!" And while the Prince read, he recapped the button, +and restored it in place. + +The bit of yellow satin, when unfolded, presented a diagram which the +Prince at first thought a nativity; upon closer inspection, he asked the +courier: + +"Son of Abed-din, did thy father draw this?" + +"No, it is the handiwork of my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed." + +"But it is a record of death, not of birth." + +"Insomuch is my Lord, the Sultan Mahommed, wiser in his youth than many +men in their age"--Ali paused to formally salute the opinion. "He +selected the ribbon, and drew the figure--did all you behold, indeed, +except the writing in the square; that he intrusted to my father, saying +at the time: 'The Prince of India, when he sees the minute in the +square, will say it is not a nativity; have one there to tell him I, +Mahommed, avouch, 'Twice in his life I had the throne from my august +father; now has he given it to me again, this third time with death to +certify it mine in perpetuity; wherefore it is but righteous holding +that the instant of his final secession must be counted the beginning of +my reign; for often as a man has back the property he parted from as a +loan, is it not his? What ceremony is then needed to perfect his title?" + +"If one have wisdom, O son of Abed-din, whence is it except from Allah? +Let not thy opinion of thy young master escape thee. Were he to die +to-morrow"-- + +"Allah forbid!" exclaimed Ali. + +"Fear it not," returned the Prince, smiling at the young man's +earnestness: "for is it not written, 'A soul cannot die unless by +permission of God, according to a writing definite as to time'? +[Footnote: Koran, III. 139.]--I was about to say, there is not in his +generation another to lie as close in the bosom of the Prophet. Where is +he now?" + +"He rides doubtless to Adrianople. The moment I set out hither, which +was next minute after the great decease, a despatch was started for him +by Khalil the Grand Vizier." + +"Knowest thou the road he will take?" + +"By Gallipoli." + +"Behold, Ali!"--from his finger the Prince took a ring. "This for thy +good news. Now to the road again, the White Castle first. Tell the +Governor there to keep ward to-night with unlocked gates, for I may seek +them in haste. Then put thyself in the Lord Mahommed's way coming from +Gallipoli, and when thou hast kissed his sandals for me, and given him +my love and duty, tell him I have perfect understanding of the nativity, +and will meet him in Adrianople. Hast thou eaten and drunk?" + +"Eaten, not drunk, my Lord." + +"Come then, and I will put thee in the way to some red wine; for art +thou not a traveller?" + +The son of Abed-din saluted, saying simply: "_Meshallah!_" and was +presently in care of Syama; after which the Prince took the ribbon to +the table, spread it out carefully, and stood over it in the strong +light, studying the symbols and writing in the square of + +[Illustration: THE DIAGRAM.] + +"It is the nativity of an Empire, [Footnote: Since the conquest of +Constantinople by Mahommed, Turkey has been historically counted an +Empire.] not a man," the Prince said, his gaze still on the figure--"an +Empire which I will make great for the punishment of these robbers of +children." + +He stood up at the last word, and continued, excitedly: "It is the word +of God, else it had not come to me now nigh overcome and perishing in +bitter waters; and it calls me to do His will. Give over the child, it +says--she is lost to thee. Go up now, and be thou my instrument this +once again--I AM THE I AM whom Moses knew, the Lord God of Israel who +covenanted with Abraham, and with whom there is no forgetting--no, not +though the world follow the leaf blown into the mouth of a roaring +furnace. I hear, O God! I hear--I am going!" + +This, it will be observed, is the second of the two days of grace the +Prince appears to have given the city for the return of Lael; and as it +is rapidly going without a token of performance, our curiosity increases +to know the terrible thing in reserve of which some of his outbursts +have vaguely apprised us. + +A few turns across the floor brought him back to apparent calmness; +indeed, but for the fitful light in his eyes and the swollen veins about +his temples, it might be supposed he had been successful in putting his +distresses by. He brought Syama in, and, for the first time in two days, +took a seat. + +"Listen, and closely," he said; "for I would be sure you comprehend me. +Have you laid the Sacred Books in the boxes?" + +Syama, in his way, answered, yes. + +"Are the boxes secure? They may have to go a long journey." + +"Yes." + +"Did you place the jewels in new bags? The old ones were well nigh +gone." + +"Yes." + +"Are they in the gurglet now?" + +"Yes." + +"You know we will have to keep it filled with water." + +"Yes." + +"My medicines--are they ready for packing?" + +"Yes." + +"Return them to their cases carefully. I cannot afford to leave or lose +them. And the sword--is it with the books?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. Attend again. On my return from the voyage I made the other +day for the treasure you have in care"--he paused for a sign of +comprehension--"I retained the vessel in my service, and directed the +captain to be at anchor in the harbor before St. Peter's gate"--another +pause--"I also charged him to keep lookout for a signal to bring the +galley to the landing; in the day, the signal would be a blue +handkerchief waved; at night, a lantern swung four times thus"--he gave +the illustration. "Now to the purpose of all this. Give heed. I may wish +to go aboard to-night, but at what hour I cannot tell. In preparation, +however, you will get the porters who took me to the palace to-day, and +have them take the boxes and gurglet of which I have been speaking to +St. Peter's gate. You will go with them, make the signal to the captain, +and see they are safely shipped. The other servants will accompany you. +You understand?" + +Syama nodded. + +"Attend further. When the goods are on the galley, you will stay and +guard them. All the other property you will leave in the house here just +as it is. You are certain you comprehend?" + +"Yes." + +"Then set about the work at once. Everything must be on the ship before +dark." + +The master offered his hand, and the slave kissed it, and went softly +out. + +Immediately that he was alone, the Prince ascended to the roof. He stood +by the table a moment, giving a thought to the many times his Gul Bahar +had kept watch on the stars for him. They would come and go regularly as +of old, but she?--He shook with sudden passion, and walked around taking +what might have answered for last looks at familiar landmarks in the +wide environment--at the old church near by and the small section of +Blacherne in the west, the heights of Galata and the shapely tower +northwardly, the fainter glimpses of Scutari in the east. Then he looked +to the southwest where, under a vast expanse of sky, he knew the Marmora +was lying asleep; and at once his face brightened. In that quarter a +bank of lead-colored clouds stretched far along the horizon, sending +rifts lighter hued upward like a fan opening toward the zenith. He +raised his hand, and held it palm thitherward, and smiled at feeling a +breath of air. Somehow the cloud associated itself with the purpose of +which he was dreaming, for he said audibly, his eyes fiercely lighted: + +"O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent +men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. But +now hast thou thy hand under my head; now the wind cometh, and their +punishment; and it is for me to scourge them." + +He lingered on the roof, walking sometimes, but for the most part +seated. The cloud in the southwest seemed the great attraction. Assured +it was still coming, he would drop awhile into deep thought. If there +were calls at the street door, he did not hear them. At length the sun, +going down, was met and covered out of sight by the curtain beyond the +Marmora. About the same time a wave of cold February air rolled into the +city, and to escape it he went below. + +The silence there was observable; for now Syama had finished, and the +house was deserted. Through the rooms upper and lower he stalked gloomy +and restless, pausing now and then to listen to a sufflation noisier and +more portentous than its predecessors; and the moans with which the +intermittent blast turned the corners and occasionally surged through +the windows he received smilingly, much as hospitable men welcome +friends, or as conspirators greet each other; and often as they +recurred, he replied to them in the sonorous words of the Psalm, and the +refrain, "Now the wind cometh, and the punishment." + +When night was fallen, he crossed the street to Uel's. After the first +greeting, the conversation between the two was remarkable chiefly for +its lapses. It is always so with persons who have a sorrow in +common--the pleasure is in their society, not in exchange of words. + +In one thing the brethren were agreed--Lael was lost. By and by the +Prince concluded it time for him to depart. There was a lamp burning +above the table; he went to it, and called Uel; and when he was come, +the elder drew out a sealed purse, saying: + +"Our pretty Gul Bahar may yet be found. The methods of the Lord we +believe in are past finding out. If it should be that I am not in the +city when she is brought home, I would not she should have cause to say +I ceased thinking of her with a love equal to yours--a father's love. +Wherefore, O son of Jahdai, I give you this. It is full of jewels, each +a fortune in itself. If she comes, they are hers; if a year passes, and +she is not found, they are yours to keep, give or sell, as you please. +You have furnished me happiness which this sorrow is not strong enough +to efface. I will not pay you, for acceptance in such kind were shameful +to you as the offer would be to me; yet if she comes not in the year, +break the seal. We sometimes wear rings in help of pleasant memories." + +"Is your going so certain?" Uel asked. + +"O my youngest brother, I am a traveller even as you are a merchant, +with the difference, I have no home. So the Lord be with you. Farewell." + +Then they kissed each other tenderly. + +"Will I not hear from you?" Uel inquired. + +"Ah, thank you," and the Wanderer returned to him and said, as if to +show who was first in his very farewell thought: + +"Thank you for the reminder. If peradventure you too should be gone when +she is found, she will then be in want of a home. Provide against that; +for she is such a sweet stranger to the world." + +"Tell me how, and I will keep your wish as it were part of the Law." + +"There is a woman in Byzantium worthy to have Good follow her name +whenever it is spoken or written." + +"Give me her name, my Lord." + +"The Princess Irene." + +"But she is a Christian!" + +Uel spoke in surprise. + +"Yes, son of Jahdai, she is a Christian. Nevertheless send Lael to her. +Again I leave you where I rest myself--with God--our God." + +Thereupon he went out finally, and between gusts of wind regained his +own house. He stopped on entering, and barred the door behind him; then +he groped his way to the kitchen, and taking a lamp from its place, +raked together the embers smothering in a brazier habitually kept for +retention of fire, and lighted the lamp. He next broke up some stools +and small tables, and with the pieces made a pile under the grand +stairway to the second floor, muttering as he worked: "The proud are +risen against me; and now the wind cometh, and punishment." + +Once more he walked through the rooms, and ascended to the roof. There, +just as he cleared the door, as if it were saluting him, and determined +to give him a trial of its force, a blast leaped upon him, like an +embodiment out of the cloud in full possession of both world and sky, +and started his gown astream, and twisting his hair and beard into +lashes whipped his eyes and ears with them, and howled, and snatched his +breath nearly out of his mouth. Wind it was, and darkness somewhat like +that Egypt knew what time the deliverer, with God behind him, was trying +strength with the King's sorcerers--wind and darkness, but not a drop of +rain. He grasped the door-post, and listened to the crashing of heavy +things on the neighboring roofs, and the rattle of light things for the +finding of which loose here and there the gust of a storm may be trusted +where eyes are useless. And noticing that obstructions served merely to +break the flying forces into eddies, he laughed and shouted by turns so +the inmates of the houses near might have heard had they been out as he +was instead of cowering in their beds: "The proud are risen against me, +and the assembly of violent men have sought after my soul; and now--ha, +ha, ha!--the wind cometh and the punishment!" + +Availing himself of a respite in the blowing, he ran across the roof and +looked over into the street, and seeing nothing, neither light nor +living thing, he repeated the refrain with a slight variation: "And the +wind--ha, ha!--the wind _is_ come, and the punishment!"--then he +fled back, and down from the roof. + +And now the purpose in reserve must have revelation. + +The grand staircase sprang from the floor open beneath like a bridge. +Passing under it, he set the lamp against the heap of kindling there, +and the smell of scorching wood spread abroad, followed by smoke and the +crackle and snap of wood beginning to burn. + +It was not long until the flames, gathering life and strength, were +beyond him to stay or extinguish them, had he been taken with sudden +repentance. From step to step they leaped, the room meantime filling +fast with suffocating gases. When he knew they were beyond the efforts +of any and all whom they might attract, and must burst into conflagration +the instant they reached the lightest of the gusts playing havoc outside, +he went down on his hands and knees, for else it had been difficult for +him to breathe, and crawled to the door. Drawing himself up there, he +undid the bar, and edged through into the street; nor was there a soul to +see the puff of smoke and murky gleam which passed out with him. + +His spirit was too drunken with glee to trouble itself with precautions +now; yet he stopped long enough to repeat the refrain, with a hideous +spasm of laughter: "And now--ha, ha!--the wind _is_ come, and the +fire, and the punishment." Then he wrapped his gown closer about his +form bending to meet the gale, and went leisurely down the street, +intending to make St. Peter's gate. + +Where the intersections left openings, the Jew, now a fugitive rather +than a wanderer--a fugitive nevertheless who knew perfectly where he was +going, and that welcome awaited him there--halted to scan the cloudy +floor of the sky above the site of the house he had just abandoned. A +redness flickering and unsteady over in that quarter was the first +assurance he had of the growth of the flame of small beginning under the +grand staircase. + +"Now the meeting of wind and fire!--Now speedily these hypocrites and +tongue-servers, bastards of Byzantium, shall know Israel has a God in +whom they have no lot, and in what regard he holds conniving at the rape +of his daughters. Blow, Wind, blow harder! Rise, Fire, and spread--be a +thousand lions in roaring till these tremble like hunted curs! The few +innocent are not more in the account than moths burrowed in woven wool +and feeding on its fineness. Already the guilty begin to pray--but to +whom? Blow, O Wind! Spread and spare not, O Fire!" + +Thus he exulted; and as if it heard him and were making answer to his +imprecations, a column, pinked by the liberated fire below it, a burst +of sparks in its core, shot up in sudden vastness like a Titan rushing +to seizure of the world; but presently the gale struck and toppled it +over toward Blacherne in the northwest. + +"That way points the punishment? I remember I offered him God and peace +and good-will to men, and he rejected them. Blow, Winds! Now are ye but +breezes from the south, spice-laden to me, but in his ears be as +chariots descending. And thou, O Fire! Forget not the justice to be +done, and whose servant thou art. Leave Heaven to say which is guiltier; +they who work at the deflowerment of the innocent, or he who answers no +to the Everlasting offering him love. Unto him be thou as banners above +the chariots!" + +Now a noise began--at first faint and uncertain, then, as the red column +sprang up, it strengthened, and ere long defined itself--Fire, Fire! + +It seemed the city awoke with that cry. And there was peering from +windows, opening of doors, rushing from houses, and hurrying to where +the angry spot on the floor of the cloud which shut Heaven off was +widening and deepening. In a space incredibly quick, the streets--those +leading to the corner occupied by the Jew as well--became rivulets +flowing with people, and then blatant rivers. + +"My God, what a night for a fire!" + +"There will be nothing left of us by morning, not even ashes." + +"And the women and children--think of them!" + +"Fire--fire--fire!" + +Exchanges like these dinned the Jew until, finding himself an +obstruction, he moved on. Not a phase of the awful excitement escaped +him--the racing of men--half-clad women assembling--children staring +wild-eyed at the smoke extending luridly across the fifth and sixth +hills to the seventh--white faces, exclamations, and not seldom resort +to crucifixes and prayers to the Blessed Lady of Blacherne--he heard and +saw them all--yet kept on toward St. Peter's gate, now an easy thing, +since the thoroughfares were so aglow he could neither stumble nor miss +the right one. A company of soldiers running nearly knocked him down; +but finally he reached the portal, and passed out without challenge. A +brief search then for his galley; and going aboard, after replying to a +few questions about the fire, he bade the captain cast off, and run for +the Bosphorus. + +"It looks as if the city would all go," he said; and the mariner, +thinking him afraid, summoned his oarsmen, and to please him made haste, +as he too well might, for the light of the burning projected over the +wall, and, flung back from the cloud overhead far as the eye could +penetrate, illuminated the harbor as it did the streets, bringing the +ships to view, their crews on deck, and Galata, wall, housetops and +tower, crowded with people awestruck by the immensity of the calamity. + +When the galley outgoing cleared Point Serail, the wind and the long +swells beating in from the Marmora white with foam struck it with such +force that keeping firm grip of their oars was hard for the rowers, and +they began to cry out; whereupon the captain sought his passenger. + +"My Lord," he said, "I have plied these waters from boyhood, and never +saw them in a night like this. Let me return to the harbor." + +"What, is it not light enough?" + +The sailor crossed himself, and replied: "There is light enough--such as +it is!" and he shuddered. "But the wind, and the running sea, my Lord"-- + +"Oh! for them, keep on. Under the mountain height of Scutari the sailing +will be plain." + +And with much wonder how one so afraid of fire could be so indifferent +to danger from flood and gale, the captain addressed himself to +manoeuvring his vessel. + +"Now," said the Jew, when at last they were well in under the Asiatic +shore--"now bear away up the Bosphorus." + +The light kept following him the hour and more required to make the +Sweet Waters and the White Castle; and even there the reflection from +the cloud above the ill-fated city was strong enough to cast half the +stream in shadow from the sycamores lining its left bank. + +The Governor of the Castle received the friend of his master, the new +Sultan, at the landing; and from the wall just before retiring, the +latter took a last look at the signs down where the ancient capital was +struggling against annihilation. Glutted with imaginings of all that was +transpiring there, he clapped his hands, and repeated the refrain in its +past form: + +"Now have the winds come, and the fire, and the punishment. So be it +ever unto all who encourage violence to children, and reject God." + +An hour afterwards, he was asleep peacefully as if there were no such +thing as conscience, or a misery like remorse. + + * * * * * + +Shortly after midnight an officer of the guard ventured to approach the +couch of the Emperor Constantine; in his great excitement he even shook +the sacred person. + +"Awake, Your Majesty, awake, and save the city. It is a sea of fire." + +Constantine was quickly attired, and went first to the top of the Tower +of Isaac. He was filled with horror by what he beheld; but he had +soldierly qualities--amongst others the faculty of keeping a clear head +in crises. He saw the conflagration was taking direction with the wind +and coming straight toward Blacherne, where, for want of aliment, it +needs must stop. Everything in its line of progress was doomed; but he +decided it possible to prevent extension right and left of that line, +and acting promptly, he brought the entire military force from the +barracks to cooperate with the people. The strategy was successful. + +Gazing from the pinnacle as the sun rose, he easily traced a blackened +swath cut from the fifth hill up to the eastward wall of the imperial +grounds; and, in proof of the fury of the gale, the terraces of the +garden were covered inches deep with ashes and scoriac-looking flakes of +what at sunset had been happy homes. And the dead? Ascertainment of the +many who perished was never had; neither did closest inquiry discover +the origin of the fire. The volume of iniquities awaiting exposure +Judgment Day must be immeasurable, if it is of the book material in +favor among mortals. + +The Prince of India was supposed to have been one of the victims of the +fire, and not a little sympathy was expended for the mysterious +foreigner. But in refuge at the White Castle, that worthy greedily +devoured the intelligence he had the Governor send for next day. One +piece of news, however, did more than dash the satisfaction he secretly +indulged--Uel, the son of Jahdai, was dead--and dead of injuries +suffered the night of the catastrophe. + +A horrible foreboding struck the grim incendiary. Was the old destiny +still pursuing him? Was it still a part of the Judgment that every human +being who had to do with him in love, friendship or business, every one +on whom he looked in favor, must be overtaken soon or late with a doom +of some kind? From that moment, moved by an inscrutable prompting of +spirit, he began a list of those thus unfortunate--Lael first, then Uel. +Who next? + +The reader will remember the merchant's house was opposite the Prince's, +with a street between them. Unfortunately the street was narrow; the +heat from one building beat across it and attacked the other. Uel +managed to get out safely; but recollecting the jewels intrusted to him +for Lael, he rushed back to recover them. Staggering out again blind and +roasting, he fell on the pave, and was carried off, but with the purse +intact. Next day he succumbed to the injuries. In his last hour, he +dictated a letter to the Princess Irene, begging her to accept the +guardianship of his daughter, if God willed her return. Such, he said, +was his wish, and the Prince of India's; and with the missive, he +forwarded the jewels, and a statement of the property he was leaving in +the market. They and all his were for the child--so the disposition ran, +concluding with a paragraph remarkable for the confidence it manifested +in the Christian trustee. "But if she is not returned alive within a +year from this date, then, O excellent Princess, I pray you to be my +heir, holding everything of mine yours unconditionally. And may God keep +you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT + + +We have seen the result of Sergius' interview with the Prince of India, +and remember that it was yet early in the morning after Lael's +disappearance when, in company with Nilo, he bade the eccentric stranger +adieu, and set forth to try his theory respecting the lost girl. + +About noon he appeared southwest of the Hippodrome in the street leading +past the cistern-keeper's abode. Nilo, by arrangement, followed at a +distance, keeping him in sight. By his side there was a fruit peddler, +one of the every-day class whose successors are banes of life to all +with whom in the modern Byzantium a morning nap is the sweetest +preparation for the day. + +The peddler carried a huge basket strapped to his forehead. He was also +equipped with a wooden platter for the display of samples of his stock; +and it must be said the medlars, oranges, figs of Smyrna, and the +luscious green grapes in enormous clusters freshly plucked in the +vineyards on the Asiatic shore over against the Isles of the Princes, +were very tempting; especially so as the hour was when the whole world +acknowledges the utility of lunching as a stay for dinner. + +It is not necessary to give the conversation between the man of fruits +and the young Russian. The former was endeavoring to sell. Presently +they reached a point from which the cistern-keeper was visible, seated, +as usual, just within the door pommelling the pavement. Sergius stopped +there, and affected to examine his companion's stock; then, as if of a +mind, he said: + +"Oh, well! Let us cross the street, and if the man yonder will give me a +room in which I can eat to my content, I will buy of you. Let us try +him." + +The two made their way to the door. + +"Good day, my friend," Sergius said, to the keeper, who recognized him, +and rising, returned the salutation pleasantly enough. + +"You were here yesterday," he said, "I am glad to see you again. Come +in." + +"Thank you," Sergius returned. "I am hungry, and should like some of +this man's store; but it is uncomfortable eating in the street; so I +thought you might not be offended if I asked a room for the purpose; +particularly as I give you a hearty invitation to share the repast with +me." + +In support of the request the peddler held the platter to the keeper. +The argument was good, and straightway, assuming the air of a +connoisseur, the master of the house squeezed a medlar, and raising an +orange to his nose smelt it, calculated its weight, and answered: "Why, +yes--come right along to my sitting-room. I will get some knives; and +when we are through, we will have a bowl of water, and a napkin. Things +are not inviting out here as they might be." + +"And the peddler?" Sergius inquired. + +"Bring him along. We will make him show us the bottom of his basket. I +believe you said you are a stranger?" + +Sergius nodded. + +"Well, I am not," the keeper continued, complacently. "I know these +fellows. They all have tricks. Bring him in. I have no family. I live +alone." + +The monk acknowledged the invitation, but pausing to allow the peddler +to enter first, he at the same time lifted his hat as if to readjust it; +then a moment was taken to make a roll of the long fair hair, and tuck +it securely under the hat. That finished, he stepped into the passage, +and pursued after his host through a door on the left hand; whereupon +the passage to the court was clear. + +Now the play with the hat was a signal to Nilo. Rendered into words, it +would have run thus: "The keeper is employed, and the way open. Come!" +And the King, on the lookout, answered by sauntering slowly down, +mindful if he hurried he might be followed, there being a number of +persons in the vicinity. + +At the door, he took time to examine the front of the house; then he, +too, stepped into the passage and through it, and out into the court, +where, with a glance, he took everything in--paved area, the curbing +about the stairway to the water, the faces of the three sides of the +square opposite that of the entrance, all unbroken by door, window, or +panel, the sedan in the corner, the two poles lashed together and on end +by the sedan. He looked behind him--the passage was yet clear--if seen +coming in, he was not pursued. There was a smile on his shining black +face; and his teeth, serrated along the edges after the military fashion +in Kash-Cush, displayed themselves white as dressed coral. Evidently he +was pleased and confident. Next he went to the curb, shot a quick look +down the steps far as could be seen; thence he crossed to the sedan, +surveyed its exterior, and opened the door. The interior appearing in +good order, he entered and sat down, and closing the door, arranged the +curtain in front, drew it slightly aside and peeped out, now to the door +admitting from the passage, then to the curbing. Both were perfectly +under view. + +When the King issued from the chair, his smile was broader than before, +and his teeth seemed to have received a fresh enamelling. Without +pausing again, he proceeded to the opening of the cistern, and with his +hands on the curbing right and left, let himself lightly down on the +four stones of the first landing; a moment, and he began descent of the +steps, taking time to inspect everything discernible in the shadowy +space. At length he stood on the lower platform. + +He was now in serious mood. The white pillars were wondrous vast, and +the darkness--it may be doubted if night in its natural aspects is more +impressive to the savage than the enlightened man; yet it is certain the +former will take alarm quicker when shut in by walls of artful +contrivance. His imagination then peoples the darkness with spirits, and +what is most strange, the spirits are always unfriendly. To say now that +Nilo, standing on the lower platform, was wholly unmoved, would be to +deny him the sensibilities without which there can be none of the +effects usually incident to courage and cowardice. The vastness of the +receptacle stupefied him. The silence was a curtain he could feel; the +water, deep and dark, looked so suggestive of death that the +superstitious soul required a little time to be itself again. But relief +came, and he watched intently to see if there was a current in the black +pool; he could discover none; then, having gained all the information he +could, he ascended the steps and lifted himself out into the court. A +glance through the passage--another at the sky--and he entered the +sedan, and shut himself in. + +The discussion of the fruit in the keeper's sitting-room meantime was +interesting to the parties engaged in it. With excellent understanding +of Nilo's occupation in the court, Sergius exerted himself to detain his +host--if the term be acceptable--long as possible. + +Fortunately no visitors came. Settling the score, and leaving a +profusion of thanks behind him, he at length made his farewell, and +spent the remainder of the afternoon on a bench in the Hippodrome. + +Occasionally he went back to the street conducting to the cistern, and +walked down it far enough to get a view of the keeper still at the door. + +In the evening he ate at a confectionery near by, prolonging the meal +till near dusk, and thence, business being suspended, he idled along the +same thoroughfare in a manner to avoid attracting attention. + +Still later, he found a seat in the recess of an unused doorway nearly +in front of the house of such interest to him. + +The manoeuvres thus detailed advise the reader somewhat of the +particulars of the programme in execution by the monk and Nilo; nor that +only--they notify him of the arrival of a very interesting part of the +arrangement. In short, it is time to say that, one in the recess of the +door, the other shut up in the sedan, they are both on the lookout for +Demedes. Would he come? And when? + +Anticipating a little, we may remark, if he comes, and goes into the +cistern, Nilo is to open the street door and admit Sergius, who is then +to take control of the after operations. + +A little before sunset the keeper shut his front door. Sergius heard the +iron bolt shoot into the mortice. He believed Demedes had not seen Lael +since the abduction, and that he would not try to see her while the +excitement was up and the hunt going forward. But now the city was +settled back into quiet--now, if she were indeed in the cistern, he +would come, the night being in his favor. And further, if he merely +appeared at the house, the circumstance would be strongly corroborative +of the monk's theory; if he did more--if he actually entered the +cistern, there would be an end of doubt, and Nilo could keep him there, +while Sergius was bringing the authorities to the scene. Such was the +scheme; and he who looks at it with proper understanding must perceive +it did not contemplate unnecessary violence. On this score, indeed, the +Prince of India's significant reminder that he had found Nilo a savage, +had led Sergius to redoubled care in his instructions. + +The first development in the affair took place under the King's eye. + +Waiting in ambush was by no means new to him. He was not in the least +troubled by impatience. To be sure, he would have felt more comfortable +with a piece of bread and a cup of water; yet deprivations of the kind +were within the expectations; and while there was a hope of good issue +for the enterprise, he could endure them indefinitely. The charge given +him pertained particularly to Demedes. No fear of his not recognizing +the Greek. Had he not enjoyed the delight of holding him out over the +wall to be dropped to death? + +He was eager, but not impatient. His chief dependence was in the sense +of feeling, which had been cultivated so the slightest vibration along +the ground served him in lieu of hearing. The closing of the front door +by the keeper--felt, not heard--apprised him the day was over. + +Not long afterward the pavement was again jarred, bringing a return of +the sensations he used to have when, stalking lions in Kash-Cush, he +felt the earth thrill under the galloping of the camelopards stampeded. + +He drew the curtain aside slightly, just as a man stepped into the court +from the passage. The person carried a lighted lamp, and was not +Demedes. + +The cistern-keeper--for he it was--went to the curbing slowly, for the +advance airs of the gale were threatening his lamp, and dropped +dextrously through the aperture to the upper landing. + +In ambush the King never admitted anything like curiosity. Presently he +felt the pavement again jar. Nobody appeared at the passage. Another +tremor more decided--then the King stepped softly from the sedan, and +stealing barefooted to the curbing looked down the yawning hole. + +The lamp on the platform enabled him to see a boat drawn up to the lower +step, and the stranger in the act of stepping into it. Then the lamp was +shifted to the bow of the boat--oars taken in hand--a push off, and +swift evanishment. + +We, with our better information of the devices employed, know what a +simple trick it was on the keeper's part to bring the vessel to him--he +had but to pull the right string in the right direction--but Nilo was +left to his astonishment. Stealing back to his cover, he drew the door +to, and struggled with the mystery. + +Afterwhile, the mist dissipated, and a fact arose plainer to him than +the mighty hand on his knee. The cistern was inhabited--some person was +down there to be communicated with. What should the King do now? + +The quandary was trying. Finally he concluded to stay where he was. The +stranger might bring somebody back with him--possibly the lost +child--such Lael was in his thoughts of her. + +Afterwhile--he had no idea of time--he felt a shake run along the +pavement, and saw the stranger appear coming up the steps, lamp in hand. +Next instant the person crawled out of the curbing, and went into the +house through the passage doorway. The King never took eye from the +curbing--nobody followed after--the secret of the old reservatory was +yet a secret. + +Again Nilo debated whether to bring Sergius in, and again he decided to +stay where he was. + +Meantime the cloud which the Prince of India had descried from the roof +of his house arrived on the wings of the gale. Ere long Sergius was +shivering in the recess of the door. For relief he counted the beads of +his rosary, and there was scarcely a Saint in the calendar omitted from +his recitals. If there was potency in prayers the angels were in the +cistern ministering to Lael. + +The street became deserted. Everything living which had a refuge sought +it; yet the gale increased: it howled and sang dirges; it started the +innumerable loose trifles in its way to waltzing over the bowlders; +every hinged fixture on the exposed house-fronts creaked and banged. +Only a lover would voluntarily endure the outdoors of such a night--a +lover or a villain unusually bold. + +Near midnight--so Sergius judged--a dull redness began to tinge the +cloud overhead, and brightening rapidly, it ere long cast a strong +reflection downward. At first he was grateful for the light; +afterwhile, however, he detected an uproar distinguishable from the +wind; it had no rest or lulls, and in its rise became more and more a +human tone. When shortly people rushed past his cover crying fire, he +comprehended what it was. The illumination intensified. The whole city +seemed in danger. There were women and children exposed; yet here he was +waiting on a mere hope; there he could do something. Why not go? + +While he debated, down the street from the direction of the Hippodrome +he beheld a man coming fast despite the strength of the gusts. A cloak +wrapped him from head to foot, somewhat after the fashion of a toga, and +the face was buried in its folds; yet the air and manner suggested +Demedes. Instantly the watcher quit arguing; and forgetful of the fire, +and of the city in danger, he shrank closer into the recess. + +The thoroughfare was wider than common, and the person approaching on +the side opposite Sergius; when nearer, his low stature was observable. +Would he stop at the cistern-keeper's? + +Now he was at the door! + +The Russian's heart was in his mouth. + +Right in front of the door the man halted and knocked. The sound was so +sharp a stone must have been used. Immediately the bolt inside was +drawn, and the visitor passed in. + +Was it Demedes? The monk breathed again--he believed it was--anyhow the +King would determine the question, and there was nothing to do meantime +but bide the event. + +The sedan, it hardly requires saying, was a much more comfortable ambush +than the recess of the door. Nilo merely felt the shaking the gale now +and then gave the house. So, too, he bade welcome to the glare in the +sky for the flushing it transmitted to the court. Only a wraith could +have come from or gone into the cistern unseen by him. + +The clapping to of the front door on the street was not lost to the +King. Presently the person he had seen in the boat at the foot of the +steps again issued from the passage, lamp in hand as before; but as he +kept looking back deferentially, a gust leaped down, and extinguished +the flame, compelling him to return; whereupon another man stepped out +into the court, halting immediately. Nilo opened a little wider the gap +in the curtain through which he was peeping. + +It may be well to say here that the newcomer thus unwittingly exposing +himself to observation was the same individual Sergius had seen admitted +into the house. The keeper had taken him to a room for the rearrangement +of his attire. Standing forth in the light now filling the court, he was +still wrapped in the cloak, all except the head, which was jauntily +covered with a white cap, in style not unlike a Scotch bonnet, garnished +with two long red ostrich feathers held in place by a brooch that shot +forth gleams of precious stones in artful arrangement. Once the man +opened the cloak, exposing a vest of fine-linked mail, white with silver +washing, and furnished with epaulettes or triangular plates, fitted +gracefully to the shoulders. A ruff, which was but the complement of a +cape of heavy lace, clothed the neck. + +To call the feeling which now shot through the King's every fibre a +sudden pleasure would scarcely be a sufficient description; it was +rather the delight with which soldiers old in war acknowledge the +presence of their foemen. In other words, the brave black recognized +Demedes, and was strong minded enough to understand and appreciate the +circumstances under which the discovery was made. If the savage arose in +him, it should be remembered he was there to revenge a master's wrongs +quite as much as to rescue a stolen girl. Moreover, the education he had +received from his master was not in the direction of mercy to enemies. + +The two--Demedes and the keeper--lost no time in entering the cistern, +the latter going first. When the King thought they had reached the lower +platform, he issued from the chair barefooted, and bending over the +curbing beheld what went on below. + +The Greek was holding the lamp. The occupation of his assistant was +beyond comprehension until the boat moved slowly into view. Demedes then +set the lamp down, divested himself of his heavy wrap, and taking the +rower's seat, unshipped the oars. There was a brief conference; at the +conclusion the subordinate joined his chief; whereupon the boat pushed +off. + +Thus far the affair was singularly in the line of Sergius' anticipations; +and now to call him in! + +There is little room for doubt that Nilo was in perfect recollection of +the instructions he had received, and that his first intention was to +obey them; for, standing by the curbing long enough to be assured the +Greek was indeed in the gloomy cavern, whence escape was impossible +except by some unknown exit, he walked slowly away, and was in the +passage door when, looking back, he saw the keeper leaping out into the +court. + +To say truth, the King had witnessed the departure of the boat with +misgivings. Catching the robbers was then easy; yet rescue of the girl +was a different thing. What might they not do with her in the meantime? +As he understood his master, her safety was even more in purpose than +their seizure; wherefore his impulse was to keep them in sight without +reference to Sergius. He could swim--yes, but the water was cold, and +the darkness terrible to his imagination. It might be hours before he +found the hiding-place of the thieves--indeed, he might never overtake +them. His regret when he stepped into the passage was mighty; it enables +us, however, to comprehend the rush of impetuous joy which now took +possession of him. A step to the right, and he was behind the cheek of +the door. + +All unsuspicious of danger, the keeper came on; a few minutes, and he +would be in bed and asleep, so easy was he in conscience. The ancient +cistern had many secrets. What did another one matter? His foot was on +the lintel--he heard a rustle close at his side--before he could dart +back--ere he could look or scream, two powerful hands were around his +throat. He was not devoid of courage or strength, and resisted, +struggling for breath. He merely succeeded in drawing his assailant out +into the light far enough to get a glimpse of a giant and a face black +and horrible to behold. A goblin from the cistern! And with this idea, +he quit fighting, and sank to the floor. Nilo kept his grip +needlessly--the fellow was dead of terror. + +Here was a contingency not provided for in the arrangement Sergius had +laid out with such care. + +And what now? + +It was for the King to answer. + +He dragged the victim out in the court, and set a foot on his throat. +All the savage in him was awake, and his thoughts pursued Demedes. +Hungering for that life more than this one, he forgot the monk utterly. +Had he a plank--anything in the least serviceable as a float--he would +go after the master. He looked the enclosure over, and the sedan caught +his eye, its door ajar. The door would suffice. He took hold of the limp +body of the keeper, drew it after him, set it on the seat, and was about +wrenching the door away, when he saw the poles. They were twelve or +fourteen feet long and lashed together. On rafts not half so good he had +in Kash-Cush crossed swollen streams, paddling with his hands. To take +them to the cistern--to descend the steps with them--to launch himself +on them--to push out into the darkness, were as one act, so swiftly were +they accomplished. And going he knew not whither, but scorning the +thought of another man betaking himself where he dared not, sustained by +a feeling that he was in pursuit, and would have the advantage of a +surprise when at last he overtook the enemy, we must leave the King +awhile in order to bring up a dropped thread of our story. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE IMPERIAL CISTERN GIVES UP ITS SECRET + + +The reader will return--not unwillingly, it is hoped--to Lael. + +The keeper, on watch for her, made haste to bar the door behind the +carriers of the sedan, who, on their part, made greater haste to take +boat and fly the city. From his sitting-room he brought a lamp, and +opening the chair found the passenger in a corner to appearance dead. +The head was hanging low; through the dishevelled hair the slightest +margin of forehead shone marble white; a scarce perceptible rise and +fall of the girlish bosom testified of the life still there. A woman at +mercy, though dumb, is always eloquent. + +"Here she is at last!" the keeper thought, while making a profane survey +of the victim.... "Well, if beauty was his object--beauty without +love--he may be satisfied. That's as the man is. I would rather have the +bezants she has cost him. The market's full of just such beauty in +health and strength--beauty matured and alive, not wilted like this! ... +But every fish to its net, every man to his fate, as the infidels on the +other shore say. To the cistern she must go, and I must put her there. +Oh, how lucky! Her wits are out--prayers, tears, resistance would be +uncomfortable. May the Saints keep her!" Closing the door of the sedan, +he hurried out into the court, and thence down the cistern stairs to the +lower platform, where he drew the boat in, and fixed it stationary by +laying the oars across the gunwale from a step. The going and return +were quick. + +"The blood of doves, or the tears of women--I am not yet decided which +is hardest on a soul.... Come along!... There is a palace at the further +end of the road."... + +He lifted her from the chair. In the dead faint she was more an +inconvenient burden than a heavy one. + +At the curbing he sat her down while he returned for the lamp. The steps +within were slippery, and he dared take no risks. To get her into the +boat was trying: yet he was gentle as possible--that, however, was from +regard for the patron he was serving. He laid her head against a seat, +and arranged her garments respectfully. + +"O sweet Mother of Blacherne!" he then said, looking at the face for the +first time fully exposed. "That pin on the shoulder--Heavens, how the +stone flashes! It invites me." Unfastening the trinket, he secured it +under his jacket, then ran on: "She is so white! I must hurry--or drop +her overboard. If she dies"--his countenance showed concern, but +brightened immediately. "Oh, of course she jumped overboard to escape!" + +There was no further delay. With the lamp at the bow, he pushed off, and +rowed vigorously. Through the pillared space he went, with many quick +turns. It were vain saying exactly which direction he took, or how long +he was going; after a time, the more considerable on account of the +obstructions to be avoided, he reached the raft heretofore described as +in the form of a cross and anchored securely between four of the immense +columns by which the roof of the cistern was upheld. Still Lael slept +the merciful sleep. + +Next the keeper carried the unresisting body to a door of what in the +feeble light seemed a low, one-storied house--possibly hut were a better +word--thence into an interior where the blackness may be likened to a +blindfold many times multiplied. Yet he went to a couch, and laid her +upon it. + +"There--my part is done!" he muttered, with a long-drawn breath.... "Now +to illuminate the Palace! If she were to awake in this pitch-black"-- +something like a laugh interrupted the speech--"it would strangle her-- +oil from the press is not thicker." + +He brought in the light--in such essential midnight it was indispensable, +and must needs be always thought of--and amongst the things which began +to sparkle was a circlet of furbished metal suspended from the centre of +the ceiling. It proved to be a chandelier, provided with a number of +lamps ready for lighting; and when they were all lit, the revelation +which ensued while a lesson in extravagance was not less a tribute to the +good taste of the reckless genius by which it was conceived. + +It were long reading the inventory of articles he had brought together +there for the edification and amusement of such as might become his +idols. They were everywhere apparently--books, pictures, musical +instruments--on the floor, a carpet to delight a Sultana mother--over +the walls, arras of silk and gold in alternate threads--the ceiling an +elaboration of wooden panels. + +By referring to the diagram of the raft, it will be seen one quarter was +reserved for a landing, while the others supported what may be termed +pavilions, leaving an interior susceptible of division into three rooms. +Standing under the circlet of light, an inmate could see into the three +open quarters, each designed and furnished for a special use; this at +the right hand, for eating and drinking; that at the left, for sleeping; +the third, opposite the door, for lounging and reading. In the first +one, a table already set glittered with ware in glass and precious +metals; in the second, a mass of pink plush and fairy-like lace bespoke +a bed; in the third were chairs, a lounge, and footrests which had the +appearance of having been brought from a Ptolemaic palace only +yesterday; and on these, strewn with an eye to artistic effect, lay fans +and shawls for which the harem-queens of Persia and Hindostan might have +contended. The "crown-jewel" of this latter apartment, however, was +undoubtedly a sheet of copper burnished to answer the purpose of a +looking-glass with a full-length view. On stands next the mirror, was a +collection of toilet necessaries. + +Elsewhere we have heard of a Palace of Love lying as yet in the high +intent of Mahommed; here we have a Palace of Pleasure illustrative of +Epicureanism according to Demedes. The expense and care required to make +it an actuality beget the inference that the float, rough outside, +splendid within, was not for Lael alone. A Princess of India might +inaugurate it, but others as fair and highborn were to come after her, +recipients of the same worship. Whosoever the favorite of the hour might +be, the three pavilions were certainly the assigned limits of her being; +while the getting rid of her would be never so easy--the water flowing, +no one knew whence or whither, was horribly suggestive. Once installed +there, it was supposed that longings for the upper world would go +gradually out. The mistress, with nothing to wish for not at hand, was +to be a Queen, with Demedes and his chosen of the philosophic circle for +her ministers. In other words, the Academic Temple in the upper world +was but a place of meeting; this was the Temple in fact. There the +gentle priests talked business; here they worshipped; and of their +psalter and litany, their faith and ceremonial practices, enough that +the new substitute for religion was only a reembodiment of an old +philosophy with the narrowest psychical idea for creed; namely, that the +principle of Present Life was all there was in man worth culture and +gratification. + +The keeper cared little for the furnishments and curios. He was much +more concerned in the restoration of his charge, being curious to see +how she would behave on waking. He sprinkled her face with water, and +fanned her energetically, using an ostrich wing of the whiteness of +snow, overlaid about the handle with scarab-gems. Nor did he forget to +pray. + +"O Holy Mother! O sweet Madonna of Blacherne! Do not let her die. +Darkness is nothing to thee. Thou art clothed in brightness. Oh, as thou +lovest all thy children, descend hither, and open her eyes, and give her +speech!" + +The man was in earnest. + +Greatly to his delight, he beheld the blood at length redden the pretty +mouth, and the eyelids begin to tremble. Then a long, deep inhalation, +and an uncertain fearful looking about; first at the circlet of the +lamps, and next at the keeper, who, as became a pious Byzantine, burst +into exclamation: + +"Oh Holy Mother! I owe you a candle!" + +Directly, having risen to a sitting posture, Lael found her tongue: + +"You are not my father Uel, or my father the Prince of India?" + +"No," he returned, plying the fan. + +"Where are they? Where is Sergius?" + +"I do not know." + +"Who are you?" + +"I am appointed to see that no harm comes to you." + +This was intended kindly enough; it had, however, the opposite effect. +She arose, and with both hands holding the hair from her eyes, stared +wildly at objects in the three rooms, and fell to the couch again +insensible. And again the water, the ostrich-wing, and the prayer to the +Lady of Blacherne--again an awakening. + +"Where am I?" she asked. + +"In the Palace of"-- + +He had not time to finish; with tears, and moans, and wringing of hands +she sat up: "Oh, my father! Oh, that I had heeded him! ... You will take +me to him, will you not? He is rich, and loves me, and he will give you +gold and jewels until you are rich. Only take me to him.... See--I am +praying to you!"--and she cast herself at his feet. + +Now the keeper was not used to so much loveliness in great distress, and +he moved away; but she tried to follow him on her knees, crying: "Oh, as +you hope mercy for yourself, take me home!" And beginning to doubt his +strength, he affected harshness. + +"It is useless praying to me. I could not take you out if your father +rained gold on me for a month--I could not if I wished to.... Be +sensible, and listen to me." + +"Then you did not bring me here." + +"Listen to me, I say.... You will get hungry and thirsty--there are +bread, fruit, and water and wine--and when you are sleepy, yonder is the +bed. Use your eyes, and you are certain to find in one room or the other +everything you can need; and whatever you put hand on is yours. Only be +sensible, and quit taking on so. Quit praying to me. Prayer is for the +Madonna and the Blessed Saints. Hush and hear. No? Well, I am going +now." + +"Going?--and without telling me where I am? Or why I was brought here? +Or by whom? Oh, my God!" + +She flung herself on the floor distracted; and he, apparently not +minding, went on: + +"I am going now, but will come back for your orders in the morning, and +again in the evening. Do not be afraid; it is not intended to hurt you; +and if you get tired of yourself, there are books; or if you do not +read, maybe you sing--there are musical instruments, and you can choose +amongst them. Now I grant you I am not a waiting-maid, having had no +education in that line; still, if I may advise, wash your face, and +dress your hair, and be beautiful as you can, for by and by he will +come"-- + +"Who will come?" she asked, rising to her knees, and clasping her hands. + +The sight was more than enough for him. He fled incontinently, saying: +"I will be back in the morning." As he went he snatched up the +indispensable lamp; outside, he locked the door; then rowed away, +repeating, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of women!" + +Left thus alone, the unfortunate girl lay on the floor a long time, +sobbing, and gradually finding the virtue there is in tears--especially +tears of repentance. Afterwhile, with the return of reason--meaning +power to think--the silence of the place became noticeable. Listening +closely, she could detect no sign of life--nothing indicative of a +street, or a house adjoining, or a neighbor, or that there was any +outdoors about her at all. The noise of an insect, the note of a bird, a +sough of wind, the gurgle of water, would have relieved her from the +sense of having in some way fallen off the earth, and been caught by a +far away uninhabited planet. That would certainly have been hard; but +worse--the idea of being doomed to stay there took possession of her, +and becoming intolerable, she walked from room to room, and even tried +to take interest in the things around. Will it ever be that a woman can +pass a mirror without being arrested by it? Before the tall copper plate +she finally stopped. At first, the figure she saw startled her. The air +of general discomfiture--hair loose, features tear-stained, eyes red and +swollen, garments disarranged--made it look like a stranger. The notion +exaggerated itself, and further on she found a positive comfort in the +society of the image, which not only looked somebody else, but more and +more somebody else who was lost like herself, and, being in the same +miserable condition, would be happy to exchange sympathy for sympathy. + +Now the spectacle of a person in distress is never pleasant; wherefore +permission is begged to dismiss the passage of that night in the cistern +briefly as possible. From the couch to the mirror; fearing now, then +despairing; one moment calling for help, listening next, her distracted +fancy caught by an imaginary sound; too much fevered to care for +refreshments; so overwhelmed by the awful sense of being hopelessly and +forever lost, she could neither sleep nor control herself mentally. Thus +tortured, there were no minutes or hours to her, only a time, that being +a peculiarity of the strange planet her habitat. To be sure, she +explored her prison intent upon escape, but was as often beaten back by +walls without window, loophole or skylight--walls in which there was but +one door, fastened outside. + +The day following was to the captive in nothing different from the +night--a time divisionless, and filled with fear, suspense, and horrible +imaginings--a monotony unbroken by a sound. If she could have heard a +bell, though ever so faint, or a voice, to whomsoever addressed, it +would yet prove her in an inhabited world--nay, could she but have heard +a cricket singing! + +In the morning the keeper kept his appointment. He came alone and +without business except to renew the oil in the lamps. After a careful +survey of the palace, as he called it, probably in sarcasm, and as he +was about to leave, he offered, if she wanted anything, to bring it upon +his return. Was there ever prisoner not in want of liberty? The proposal +did but reopen the scene of the evening previous; and he fled from it, +repeating as before, "Oh, the blood of doves and the tears of women!" + +In the evening he found her more tractable; so at least he thought; and +she was in fact quieter from exhaustion. None the less he again fled to +escape the entreaties with which she beset him. + +She took to the couch the second night. The need of nature was too +strong for both grief and fear, and she slept. Of course she knew not of +the hunt going on, or of the difficulties in the way of finding her; and +in this ignorance the sensation of being lost gradually yielded to the +more poignant idea of desertion. Where was Sergius? Would there ever be +a fitter opportunity for display of the superhuman intelligence with +which, up to this time, she had invested her father, the Prince of +India? The stars could tell him everything; so, if now they were silent +respecting her, it could only be because he had not consulted them. +Situations such as she was in are right quarters of the moon for +unreasonable fantasies; and she fell asleep oppressed by a conviction +that all the friendly planets, even Jupiter, for whose appearance she +had so often watched with the delight of a lover, were hastening to +their Houses to tell him where she was, but for some reason he ignored +them. + +Still later, she fell into a defiant sullenness, one of the many aspects +of despair. + +In this mood, while lying on the couch, she heard the sound of oars, and +almost immediately after felt the floor jar. She sat up, wondering what +had brought the keeper back so soon. Steps then approached the door; but +the lock there proving troublesome, suggested one unaccustomed to it; +whereupon she remembered the rude advice to wash her face and dress her +hair, for by and by somebody was coming. + +"Now," she thought, "I shall learn who brought me here, and why." + +A hope returned to her. + +"Oh, it may be my father has at last found me!" + +She arose--a volume of joy gathered in her heart ready to burst into +expression--when the door was pushed open, and Demedes entered. + +We know the figure he thus introduced to her. With averted face he +reinserted the key in the lock. She saw the key, heavy enough in +emergency for an aggressive weapon--she saw a gloved hand turn it, and +heard the bolt plunge obediently into its socket--and the flicker of +hope went out. She sunk upon the couch again, sullenly observant. + +The visitor--at first unrecognized by her--behaved as if at home, and +confident of an agreeable reception. Having made the door safe on the +outside, he next secured it inside, by taking the key out. Still +averting his face, he went to the mirror, shook the great cloak from his +shoulders, and coolly surveyed himself, turning this way and that. He +rearranged his cape, took off the cap, and, putting the plumes in better +relation, restored it to his head--thrust his gloves on one side under a +swordless belt, and the ponderous key under the same belt but on the +other side, where it had for company a straight dagger of threatening +proportions. + +Lael kept watch on these movements, doubtful if the stranger were aware +of her presence. Uncertainty on that score was presently removed. +Turning from the mirror, he advanced slowly toward her. When under the +circlet, just at the point where the light was most favorable for an +exhibition of himself, he stopped, doffed the cap, and said to her: + +"The daughter of the Prince of India cannot have forgotten me." + +Now if, from something said in this chronicle, the reader has been led +to exalt the little Jewess into a Bradamante, it were just to undeceive +him. She was a woman in promise, of fair intellect subordinate to a pure +heart. Any great thing said or done by her would be certain to have its +origin in her affections. The circumstances in which she would be other +than simple and unaffected are inconceivable. In the beautiful armor, +Demedes was handsome, particularly as there was no other man near to +force a comparison of stature; yet she did not see any of his +braveries--she saw his face alone, and with what feeling may be inferred +from the fact that she now knew who brought her where she was, and the +purpose of the bringing. + +Instead of replying, she shrank visibly further and further from him, +until she was an apt reminder of a hare cornered by a hound, or a dove +at last overtaken by a hawk. + +The suffering she had undergone was discernible in her appearance, for +she had not taken the advice of the keeper; in a word, she was at the +moment shockingly unlike the lissome, happy, radiant creature whom we +saw set out for a promenade two days before. Her posture was crouching; +the hair was falling all ways; both hands pressed hard upon her bosom; +and the eyes were in fixed gaze, staring at him as at death. She was in +the last extremity of fear, and he could not but see it. + +"Do not be afraid," he said, hurriedly, and in a tone of pity. "You were +never safer than you are here--I swear it, O Princess!" + +Observing no change in her or indication of reply, he continued: "I see +your fear, and it may be I am its object. Let me come and sit by you, +and I will explain everything--where you are--why you were brought +here--and by whom.... Or give me a place at your feet.... I will not +speak for myself, except as I love you--nay, I will speak for love." + +Still not a word from her--only a sullenness in which he fancied there +was a threat.... A threat? What could she do? To him, nothing; he was in +shirt of steel; but to herself much.... And he thought of suicide, and +then of--madness. + +"Tell me, O Princess, if you have received any disrespect since you +entered this palace? There is but one person from whom it could have +proceeded. I know him; and if, against his solemn oath, he has dared an +unseemly look or word--if he has touched you profanely--you may choose +the dog's death he shall die, and I will give it him. For that I wear +this dagger. See!" + +In this he was sincere; yet he shall be a student very recently come to +lessons in human nature who fails to perceive the reason of his +sincerity; possibly she saw it; we speak with uncertainty, for she still +kept silent. Again he cast about to make her speak. Reproach, abuse, +rage, tears in torrents, fury in any form were preferable to that look, +so like an animal's conscious of its last moment. + +"Must I talk to you from this distance? I can, as you see, but it is +cruel; and if you fear me"--he smiled, as if the idea were amusing. "Oh! +if you still fear me, what is there to prevent my compelling the favors +I beg?" + +The menace was of no more effect than entreaty. Paralysis of spirit from +fright was new to him; yet the resources of his wit were without end. +Going to the table, he looked it over carefully. + +"What!" he cried, turning to her with well-dissembled astonishment. +"Hast thou eaten nothing? Two days, and not a crumb of bread in thy +pretty throat?--not a drop of wine? This shall not go on--no, by all the +goodness there is in Heaven!" + +On a plate he then placed a biscuit and a goblet filled with red wine of +the clearest sparkle, and taking them to her, knelt at her feet. + +"I will tell you truly, Princess--I built this palace for you, and +brought you here under urgency of love. God deny me forever, if I once +dreamed of starving you! Eat and drink, if only to give me ease of +conscience." + +He offered the plate to her. + +She arose, her face, if possible, whiter than before. + +"Do not come near me--keep off!" Her voice was sharp and high. "Keep +off!... Or take me to my father's house. This palace is yours--you have +the key. Oh, be merciful!" + +Madness was very near her. + +"I will obey you in all things but one," he said, and returned the plate +to the table, content with having brought her to speech. "In all things +but one," he repeated peremptorily, standing under the circlet. "I will +not take you to your father's house. I brought you here to teach you +what I would never have a chance to teach you there--that you are the +idol for whom I have dared every earthly risk, and imperilled my soul.... +Sit down and rest yourself. I will not come near you to-night, nor ever +without your consent.... Yes, that is well. And now you are seated, and +have shown a little faith in my word--for which I thank you and kiss your +hand--hear me further and be reasonable.... You shall love me." + +Into this declaration he flung all the passion of his nature. + +"No, no! Draw not away believing yourself in peril. You shall love me, +but not as a scourged victim. I am not a brute. I may be won too +lightly, by a voice, by bright eyes, by graces of person, by faithfulness +where faithfulness is owing, by a soul created for love and aglow with it +as a star with light; but I am not of those who kill the beloved, and +justify the deed, pleading coldness, scorn, preference for another. Be +reasonable, I say, O Princess, and hear how I will conquer you.... Are +not the better years of life ours? Why should I struggle or make haste, +or be impatient? Are you not where I have chosen to put you?--where I can +visit you day and night to assure myself of your health and spirits?--all +in the world, yet out of its sight?... You may not know what a physician +Time is. I do. He has a medicine for almost every ailment of the mind, +every distemper of the soul. He may not set my lady's broken finger, but +he will knit it so, when sound again, the hurt shall be forgotten. He +drops a month--in extreme cases, a year or years--on a grief, or a +bereavement, and it becomes as if it had never been. So he lets the sun +in on prejudices and hates, and they wither, and where they were, we go +and gather the fruits and flowers of admiration, respect--ay, Princess, +of love. Now, in this cause, I have chosen Time for my best friend; he +and I will come together, and stay"-- + +The conclusion of the speech must be left to the reader, for with the +last word some weighty solid crashed against the raft until it trembled +throughout. Demedes stopped. Involuntarily his hand sought the dagger; +and the action was a confession of surprise. An interval of quiet +ensued; then came a trial of the lock--at first, gentle--another, with +energy--a third one rattled the strong leaf in its frame. + +"The villain! I will teach him--No, it cannot be--he would not dare--and +besides I have the boat." + +As Demedes thus acquitted the keeper, he cast a serious glance around +him, evidently in thought of defence. + +Again the raft was shaken, as if by feet moving rapidly under a heavy +burden. Crash!--and the door was splintered. Once more--crash!--and door +and framework shot in--a thunderbolt had not wrought the wreck more +completely. + +Justice now to the Greek. Though a genius all bad, he was manly. +Retiring to a position in front of Lael, he waited, dagger in hand. And +he had not breathed twice, before Nilo thrust his magnificent person +through the breach, and advanced under the circlet. + +Returning now. Had the King been in toils, and hard pressed, he would +not have committed himself to the flood and darkness of the cistern in +the manner narrated; at least the probabilities are he would have +preferred battle in the court, and light, though of the city on fire, by +which to conquer or die. But his blood was up, and he was in pursuit, +not at bay; to the genuine fighting man, moreover, a taste of victory is +as a taste of blood to tigers. He was not in humor to bother himself +with practical considerations such as--If I come upon the hiding-place +of the Greek, how, being deaf and dumb, am I to know it? Of what use are +eyes in a hollow rayless as this? Whether he considered the obvious +personal dangers of the adventure--drowning, for instance--is another +matter. + +The water was cold, and his teeth chattered; for it will be recollected +he was astride the poles of the sedan, lashed together. That his body +was half submerged was a circumstance he little heeded, since it was +rather helpful than otherwise to the hand strokes with which he +propelled himself. Nor need it be supposed he moved slowly. The speed +attainable by such primitive means in still water is wonderful. + +Going straight from the lower platform of the stair, he was presently in +total darkness. With a row of columns on either hand, he managed to keep +direction; and how constantly and eagerly he employed the one available +sense left him may be imagined. His project was to push on until stayed +by a boundary wall--then he would take another course, and so on to the +end. The enemy, by his theory, was in a boat or floating house. Hopeful, +determined, inspirited by the prospect of combat, he made haste as best +he could. At last, looking over his left shoulder, he beheld a ruddy +illumination, and changed direction thither. Presently he swept into the +radius of a stationary light, broken, of course, by intervening pillars +and the shadows they cast; then, at his right, a hand lamp in front of +what had the appearance of a house rising out of the water, startled +him. + +Was it a signal? + +The King approached warily, until satisfied no ambush was +intended--until, in short, the palace of the Greek was before him. + +It was his then to surprise; so he drove the ends of the poles against +the landing with force sufficient, as we have seen, to interrupt Demedes +explaining how he meant to compel the love of Lael. + +With all his nicety of contrivance, the Greek had at the last moment +forgotten to extinguish the lamp or take it into the house with him. The +King recognized it and the boat, yet circumspectly drew his humble craft +up out of the water. He next tried the lock, and then the door; finally +he used the poles as a ram. + +Taking stand under the circlet, there was scant room between it and the +blue handkerchief on his head; while the figure he presented, nude to +the waist, his black skin glistening with water, his trousers clinging +to his limbs, his nostrils dilating, his eyes jets of flame, his cruel +white teeth exposed--this figure the dullest fancy can evoke--and it +must have appeared to the guilty Greek a very genius of vengeance. + +Withal, however, the armor and the dagger brought Demedes up to a +certain equality; and, as he showed no flinching, the promise of combat +was excellent. It happened, however, that while the two silently +regarded each other, Lael recognized the King, and unable to control +herself, gave a cry of joy, and started to him. Instinctively Demedes +extended a hand to hold her back; the giant saw the opening; two steps +so nearly simultaneous the movement was like a leap--and he had the +wrist of the other's armed hand in his grip. Words can convey no idea of +the outburst attending the assault--it was the hoarse inarticulate +falsetto of a dumb man signalizing a triumph. If the reader can think of +a tiger standing over him, its breath on his cheek, its roar in his +ears, something approximate to the effect is possible. + +The Greek's cap fell off, and the dagger rattled to the floor. His +countenance knit with sudden pain--the terrible grip was crushing the +bones--yet he did not submit. With the free hand, he snatched the key +from his belt, and swung it to strike--the blow was intercepted--the key +wrenched away. Then Demedes' spirit forsook him--mortal terror showed in +his face turned gray as ashes, and in his eyes, enlarged yet ready to +burst from their sockets. He had not the gladiator's resignation under +judgment of death. + +"Save me, O Princess, save me!... He is killing me.... My God--see--hear +--he is crushing my bones!... Save me!" + +Lael was then behind the King, on her knees, thanking Heaven for rescue. +She heard the imploration, and, woman-like, sight of the awful agony +extinguished the memory of her wrongs. + +"Spare him, Nilo, for my sake, spare him!" she cried. + +It was not alone her wrongs that were forgotten--she forgot that the +avenger could not hear. + +Had he heard, it is doubtful if he had obeyed; for we again remark he +was fighting less for her than for his master--or rather for her in his +master's interest. And besides, it was the moment of victory, when, of +all moments, the difference between the man born and reared under +Christian influences and the savage is most impressible. + +While she was entreating him, he repeated the indescribable howl, and +catching Demedes bore him to the door and out of it. At the edge of the +landing, he twisted his fingers in the long locks of the screaming +wretch, whose boasted philosophy was of so little worth to him now that +he never thought of it--then he plunged him in the water, and held him +under until--enough, dear reader! + +Lael did not go out. The inevitable was in the negro's face. Retreating +to the couch, she there covered her ears with her hands, trying to +escape the prayers the doomed man persisted to the last in addressing +her. + +By and by Nilo returned alone. + +He took the cloak from the floor, wrapped her in it, and signed her to +go with him; but the distresses she had endured, together with the +horrors of the scene just finished, left her half fainting. In his arms +she was a child. Almost before she knew it, he had placed her in the +boat. With a cord found in the house, he tied the poles behind the +vessel, and set out to find the stairs, the tell-tale lamp twinkling at +the bow. + +Safely arrived there, the good fellow carried his fair charge up the +steps to the court--descending again, he brought the poles--going back +once more, he drew the boat on the lower platform. Then to hasten to the +street door, unbar it, and admit Sergius were scarce a minute's work. + +The monk's amazement and delight at beholding Lael, and hers at sight of +him, require no labored telling. At that meeting, conventionalities were +not observed. He carried her into the passage, and gave her the keeper's +chair; after which, reminded of the programme so carefully laid out by +him, he returned with Nilo to the court, where the illumination in the +sky still dropped its relucent flush. Turning the King face to him he +asked: + +"Where is the keeper?" + +The King walked to the sedan, opened the door, and dragging the dead man +forth, flung him sprawling on the pavement. + +Sergius stood speechless, seeing what the victor had not--arrests, +official inquests, and the dread machinery of the law started, with +results not in foresight except by Heaven. Before he had fairly +recovered, Nilo had the sedan out and the poles fixed to it, and in the +most cheerful, matter-of-fact manner signed him to take up the forward +ends. + +"Where is the Greek?" the monk asked. + +That also the King managed to answer. + +"In the cistern--drowned!" exclaimed Sergius, converting the reply into +words. + +The King drew himself up proudly. + +"O Heavens! What will become of us?" + +The exclamation signified a curtain rising upon a scene of prosecution +against which the Christian covered his face with his hands.... Again +Nilo brought him back to present duty.... In a short time Lael was in +the chair, and they bearing her off. + +Sergius set out first for Uel's house. The time was near morning; but +for the conflagration the indications of dawn might have been seen in +the east. He was not long in getting to understand the awfulness of the +calamity the city had suffered, and that, with thousands of others, the +dwellings of Uel and the Prince of India were heaps of ashes on which +the gale was expending its undiminished strength. + +What was to be done with Lael? + +This Sergius answered by leading the way to the town residence of the +Princess Irene. There the little Jewess was received, while he took boat +and hurried to Therapia. + +The Princess came down, and under her roof, Lael found sympathy, rest, +and safety. In due time also Uel's last testament reached her, with the +purse of jewels left by the Prince of India, and she then assumed +guardianship of the bereaved girl. + + + + +BOOK V + +MIRZA + + +CHAPTER I + +A COLD WIND FROM ADRIANOPLE + + +It is now the middle of February, 1451. Constantine has been Emperor a +trifle over three years, and proven himself a just man and a +conscientious ruler. How great he is remains for demonstration, since +nothing has occurred to him--nothing properly a trial of his higher +qualities. + +In one respect the situation of the Emperor was peculiar. The highway +from Gallipoli to Adrianople, passing the ancient capital on the south, +belonged to the Turks, and they used it for every purpose--military, +commercial, governmental--used it as undisputedly within their domain, +leaving Constantine territorially surrounded, and with but one neighbor, +the Sultan Amurath. + +Age had transformed the great Moslem; from dreams of conquest, he had +descended to dreams of peace in shaded halls and rose-sprent gardens, +with singers, story-tellers, and philosophers for companions, and women, +cousins of the houris, to carpet the way to Paradise; but for George +Castriot, [Footnote: Iskander-beg--Scanderbeg. _Vide_ GIBBON's _Roman +Empire._] he had abandoned the cimeter. Keeping terms of amity with such +a neighbor was easy--the Emperor had merely to be himself peaceful. +Moreover, when John Palaeologus died, the succession was disputed by +Demetrius, a brother to Constantine. Amurath was chosen arbitrator, and +he decided in favor of the latter, placing him under a bond of gratitude. + +Thus secure in his foreign relations, the Emperor, on taking the throne, +addressed himself to finding a consort; of his efforts in that quest the +reader is already informed, leaving it to be remarked that the Georgian +Princess at last selected for him by Phranza died while journeying to +Constantinople. This, however, was business of the Emperor's own +inauguration, and in point of seriousness could not stand comparison +with another affair imposed upon him by inheritance--keeping the +religious factions domiciled in the capital from tearing each other to +pieces. The latter called for qualities he does not seem to have +possessed. He permitted the sectaries to bombard each other with +sermons, bulletins and excommunications which, on the ground of scandal +to religion, he should have promptly suppressed; his failure to do so +led to its inevitable result--the sectaries presently dominated him. + +Now, however, the easy administration of the hitherto fortunate Emperor +is to vanish; two additional matters of the gravest import are thrust +upon him simultaneously, one domestic, the other foreign; and as both of +them become turning points in our story, it is advisable to attend to +them here. + +When the reins of government fell from the hands of Amurath, they were +caught up by Mahommed; in other words, Mahommed is Sultan, and the old +regime, with its friendly policies and stately courtesies, is at an end, +imposing the necessity for a recast of the relations between the +Empires. What shall they be? Such is the foreign question. + +Obviously, the subject being of vital interest to the Greek, it was for +him to take the initiative in bringing about the definitions desired. +With keen appreciation of the danger of the situation he addressed +himself to the task. Replying to a request presented through the +ambassador resident at Adrianople, Mahommed gave him solemn assurances +of his disposition to observe every existing treaty. The response seems +to have made him over-confident. Into the gilded council chamber at +Blacherne he drew his personal friends and official advisers, and heard +them with patience and dignity. At the close of a series of deliberative +sessions which had almost the continuity of one session, two measures +met his approval. Of these, the first was so extraordinary it is +impossible not to attribute its suggestion to Phranza, who, to the +immeasurable grief and disgust of our friend the venerable Dean, was now +returned, and in the exercise of his high office of Grand Chamberlain. + +Allusion has been already made to the religious faith of the mother of +Mahommed. [Footnote: "For it was thought that his (Amurath's) eldest son +Mahomet, after the death of his father, would have embraced the +Christian Religion, being in his childhood instructed therein, as was +supposed, by his mother, the daughter of the Prince of Servia, a +Christian."--KNOLLES' _Turk. Hist._, 239, Vol. I. + +"He (Mahommed) also entered into league with Constantinus Palaeologus, +the Emperor of Constantinople, and the other Princes of Grecia; as also +with the Despot of Servia, his Grandfather by the mother's side, as some +will have it; howbeit some others write that the Despot his daughter, +Amurath his wife (the Despot's daughter, Amurath's wife) was but his +Mother-in-law, whom he, under colour of Friendship, sent back again unto +her Father, after the death of Amurath, still allowing her a Princely +Dowery."--_Ibid_. 230. + +On this very interesting point both Von Hammer and Gibbon are somewhat +obscure; the final argument, however, is from Phranza: "After the taking +of Constantinople, she (the Princess) fled to Mahomet II." (GIBBON'S +_Rom. Emp._, Note 52, 12.) The action is significant of a mother. +Mothers-in-law are not usually so doting.] The daughter of a Servian +prince, she is supposed to have been a Christian. After the interment of +Amurath, she had been returned to her native land. Her age was about +fifty. Clothed with full powers, the Grand Chamberlain was despatched to +Adrianople to propose a marriage between His Majesty, the Emperor, and +the Sultana mother. The fears and uncertainties besetting the Greek must +have been overwhelming. + +The veteran diplomat was at the same time entrusted with another affair +which one would naturally think called for much less delicacy in +negotiation. There was in Constantinople then a refugee named Orchan, of +whose history little is known beyond the fact that he was a grandson of +Sultan Solyman. Sometime presumably in the reign of John Palaeologus, +the Prince appeared in the Greek capital as a pretender to the +Sultanate; and his claim must have had color of right, at least, since +he became the subject of a treaty between Amurath and his Byzantine +contemporary, the former binding himself to pay the latter an annual +stipend in aspers in consideration of the detention of the fugitive. + +With respect to this mysterious person, the time was favorable, in the +opinion of the council, for demanding an increase of the stipend. +Instructions concerning the project were accordingly delivered to Lord +Phranza. + +The High Commissioner was received with flattering distinction at +Adrianople. He of course presented himself first to the Grand Vizier, +Kalil Pacha, of whom the reader may take note, since, aside from his +reappearances in these pages, he is a genuine historic character. To +further acquaintance with him, it may be added that he was truly a +veteran in public affairs, a member of the great family to which the +vizierat descended almost in birthright, and a friend to the Greeks, +most likely from long association with Amurath, although he has suffered +severe aspersion on their account. Kalil advised Phranza to drop the +stipend. His master, he said, was not afraid of Orchan, if the latter +took the field as an open claimant, short work would be made of him. The +warning was disregarded. Phranza submitted his proposals to Mahommed +directly, and was surprised by his gentleness and suavity. There was no +scene whatever. On the contrary, the marriage overture was forwarded to +the Sultana with every indication of approval, nor was the demand +touching the stipend rejected; it was simply deferred. Phranza lingered +at the Turkish capital, pleased with the attentions shown him, and still +more with the character of the Sultan. + +In the judgment of the Envoy the youthful monarch was the incarnation of +peace. What time he was not mourning the loss of his royal father, he +was studying designs for a palace, probably the Watch Tower of the World +(_Jehan Numa_), which he subsequently built in Adrianople. + +Well for the trusting master in Blacherne, well for Christianity in the +East, could the credulous Phranza have looked in upon the amiable young +potentate during one of the nights of his residence in the Moslem +capital! He would have found him in a chamber of impenetrable privacy, +listening while the Prince of India proved the calculations of a +horoscope decisive of the favorable time for beginning war with the +Byzantines. + +"Now, my Lord," he could have heard the Prince say, when the last of the +many tables had been refooted for the tenth time--"now we are ready for +the ultimate. We are agreed, if I mistake not"--this was not merely a +complimentary form of speech, for Mahommed, it should be borne in mind, +was himself deeply versed in the intricate and subtle science of +planetary prediction--"we are agreed that as thou art to essay the war +as its beginner, we should have the most favorable Ascendant, +determinable by the Lord, and the Planet or Planets therein or in +conjunction or aspect with the Lord; we are also agreed that the Lord of +the Seventh House is the Emperor of Constantinople; we are also agreed +that to have thee overcome thy adversary, the Emperor, it is better to +have the Ascendant in the House of one of the Superior Planets, Saturn, +Jupiter or Mars"-- + +"Jupiter would be good, O Prince," said Mahommed, intensely interested, +"yet I prefer Mars." + +"My Lord is right again." The Seer hesitated slightly, then explained +with a deferential nod and smile: "I was near saying my Lord is always +right. Though some of the adepts have preferred Scorpio for the +Ascendant, because it is a fixed sign, Mars pleases me best; wherefore +toward him have I directed all my observations, seeking a time when he +shall certainly be better fortified than the Lord of the Seventh House, +as well as elevated above him in our figure of the Heavens." + +Mahommed leaned far over toward the Prince, and said imperiously, his +eyes singularly bright: "And the ultimate--the time, the time, O Prince! +Hast thou found it? Allah forbid it be too soon!--There is so much to be +done--so much of preparation." + +The Prince smiled while answering: + +"My Lord is seeing a field of glory--his by reservation of destiny--and +I do not wonder at his impatience to go reaping in it; but" (he became +serious) "it is never to be forgotten--no, not even by the most exalted +of men--that the Planets march by order of Allah alone." ... Then taking +the last of the calculations from the table at his right hand, he +continued: "The Ascendant permits my Lord to begin the war next year." + +Mahommed heard with hands clinched till the nails seemed burrowing in +the flesh of the palms. + +"The day, O Prince!--the day--the hour!" he exclaimed. + +Looking at the calculation, the Prince appeared to reply from it: "At +four o'clock, March twenty-sixth"-- + +"And the year?" + +"Fourteen hundred and fifty-two." + +"_Four o'clock, March twenty-sixth, fourteen hundred and fifty-two_," +Mahommed repeated slowly, as if writing and verifying each word. Then he +cried with fervor: "There is no God but God!" + +Twice he crossed the floor; after which, unwilling probably to submit +himself at that moment to observation by any man, he returned to the +Prince: + +"Thou hast leave to retire; but keep within call. In this mighty +business who is worthier to be the first help of my hands than the +Messenger of the Stars?" + +The Prince saluted and withdrew. + +At length Phranza wearied of waiting, and being summoned home left the +two affairs in charge of an ambassador instructed to forego no +opportunity which might offer to press them to conclusions. Afterwhile +Mahommed went into Asia to suppress an insurrection in Caramania. The +Greek followed him from town to camp, until, tiring of the importunity, +the Sultan one day summoned him to his tent. + +"Tell my excellent friend, the Lord of Constantinople, thy master, that +the Sultana Maria declines his offer of marriage." + +"Well, my Lord," said the ambassador, touched by the brevity of the +communication, "did not the great lady deign an explanation?" + +"She declined--that is all." + +The ambassador hurried a courier to Constantinople with the answer. For +the first time he ventured to express a doubt of the Turk's sincerity. + +He would have been a wiser man and infinitely more useful to his +sovereign, could he have heard Mahommed again in colloquy with the +Prince of India. + +"How long am I to endure this dog of a _Gabour?_" [Footnote: Mahommed +always wrote and spoke of Byzantines as _Romans_, except when in passion; +then he called them _Gabours_.] asked the Sultan, angrily. "It was not +enough to waylay me in my palace; he pursued me into the field; now he +imbitters my bread, now at my bedside he drives sleep from me, now he +begrudges me time for prayer. How long, I say?" + +The Prince answered quietly: "Until March twenty-sixth, fourteen hundred +and fifty-two." + +"But if I put him to sleep, O Prince?" + +"His master will send another in his place." + +"Ah, but the interval! Will it not be so many days of rest?--so many +nights of unbroken sleep?" + +"Has my Lord finished his census yet? Are his arsenals full? Has he his +ships, and sailors, and soldiers? Has he money according to the +estimate?" + +"No." + +"My Lord has said he must have cannon. Has he found an artificer to his +mind?" + +Mahommed frowned. + +"I will give my Lord a suggestion. Does it suit him to reply now to the +proposal of marriage, keeping the matter of the stipend open, he may +give half relief and still hold the Emperor, who stands more in need of +bezants than of a consort." + +"Prince," said Mahommed, quickly, "as you go out send my secretary in." + +"Despatch a messenger for the ambassador of my brother of Constantinople. +I will see him immediately." + +This to the secretary. + +And presently the ambassador had the matter for report above recited. In +the report he might have said with truth--a person styling himself +_Prince of India_ has risen to be Grand Vizier in fact, leaving the +title to Kalil. + +These negotiations, lamentably barren of good results, were stretched +through half the year. But it is necessary to leave them for the time, +that we may return and see if the Emperor had better success in the +management of the domestic problem referred to as an inheritance. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A FIRE FROM THE HEGUMEN'S TOMB + + +The great fire burned its way broadly over two hills of the city, +stopping at the wall of the garden on the eastern front of Blacherne. +How it originated, how many houses were destroyed, how many of the +people perished in the flames and in the battle waged to extinguish +them, were subjects of unavailing inquiry through many days. + +For relief of the homeless, Constantine opened his private coffers. He +also assumed personal direction of the removal of the debris cumbering +the unsightly blackened districts, and, animated by his example, the +whole population engaged zealously in the melancholy work. When Galata, +laying her jealousies aside, contributed money and sent companies of +laborers over to the assistance of her neighbor, it actually seemed as +if the long-forgotten age of Christian brotherhood was to be renewed. +But, alas! This unity, bred of so much suffering, so delightful as a +rest from factious alarms, so suggestive of angelic society and heavenly +conditions in general, disappeared--not slowly, but almost in a +twinkling. + +It was afternoon of the second day after the fire. Having been on +horseback since early morning, the Emperor, in need of repose, had +returned to his palace; but met at the portal by an urgent request for +audience from the Princess Irene, he received her forthwith. The reader +can surmise the business she brought for consideration, and also the +amazement with which her royal kinsman heard of the discovery and rescue +of Lael. For a spell his self-possession forsook him. In anticipation of +the popular excitement likely to be aroused by the news, he summoned his +councillors, and after consultation, appointed a commission to +investigate the incident, first sending a guard to take possession of +the cistern. + +Like their master, the commissioners had never heard of the first +profanation of the ancient reservoir; as a crime, consequently, this +repetition was to them original in all its aspects, and they addressed +themselves to the inquiry incredulously; but after listening to Sergius, +and to the details the little Jewess was able to give them, the +occurrence forced itself on their comprehension as more than a crime at +law--it took on the proportions and color of a conspiracy against +society and religion. Then its relative consequences presented +themselves. Who were concerned in it? + +The name of Demedes startled them by suddenly opening a wide horizon of +conjecture. Some were primarily disposed to welcome the intelligence for +the opportunity it offered His Majesty to crush the Academy of Epicurus, +but a second thought cooled their ardor; insomuch that they began +drawing back in alarm. The Brotherhood of the St. James' was powerful, +and it would certainly resent any humiliation their venerable Hegumen +might sustain through the ignominious exposure of his son. + +In great uncertainty, and not a little confusion, the commissionate body +hied from the Princess Irene to the cistern. While careful to hide it +from his associates, each of them went with a scarce admitted hope that +there would be a failure of the confirmations at least with respect to +the misguided Demedes; and not to lose sight of Nilo, in whom they +already discerned a serviceable scapegoat, they required him to go with +them. + +The revelations call for a passing notice. In the court the body of the +keeper was found upon the pavement. The countenance looked the terror of +which the man died, and as a spectacle grimly prepared the beholders for +the disclosures which were to follow. + +There was need of resolution to make the dismal ferriage from the lower +platform in the cistern, but it was done, Nilo at the oars. When the +visitors stepped on the landing of the "palace," their wonder was +unbounded. When they passed through the battered doorway, and standing +under the circlet, in which the lights were dead, gazed about them, they +knew not which was most astonishing, the courage of the majestic black +or the audacity of the projector of the villanous scheme. But where was +he? We may be sure there was no delay in the demand for him. While the +fishing tongs were being brought, the apartments were inspected, and a +list of their contents made. Then the party collected at the edge of the +landing. The secret hope was faint within them, for the confirmations so +far were positive, and the terrible negro, not in the least abashed, was +showing them where his enemy went down. They gave him the tongs, and at +the first plunge he grappled the body, and commenced raising it. They +crowded closer around him, awe-struck yet silently praying: Holy Mother, +grant it be any but the Hegumen's son! A white hand, the fingers gay +with rings, appeared above the water. The fisherman took hold of it, and +with a triumphant smile, drew the corpse out, and laid it face up for +better viewing. The garments were still bright, the gilded mail sparkled +bravely. One stooped with the light, and said immediately: + +"It is he--Demedes!" + +Then the commissioners looked at each other--there was no need of +speech--a fortunate thing, for at that instant there was nothing of +which they were more afraid. + +Avoidance of the dreaded complications was now impossible--so at least +it seemed to them. Up in the keeper's room, whither they hurriedly +adjourned, it was resolved to despatch a messenger to His Majesty with +an informal statement of the discoveries, and a request for orders. The +unwillingness to assume responsibility was natural. + +Constantine acted promptly, and with sharp discernment of the +opportunity afforded the mischief-makers. The offence was to the city, +and it should see the contempt in which the conspirators held it, the +danger escaped, and the provocation to the Most Righteous; if then there +were seditions, his conscience was acquit. He sent Phranza to break the +news to the Hegumen, and went in person to the Monastery, arriving +barely in time to receive the blessings of his reverend friend, who, +overcome by the shock, died in his arms. Returning sadly to Blacherne, +he ordered the corpses of the guilty men to be exposed for two days +before the door of the keeper's house, and the cistern thrown open for +visitation by all who desired to inspect the Palace of Darkness, as he +appropriately termed the floating tenement constructed with such wicked +intents. He also issued a proclamation for the suppression of the +Epicurean Academy, and appointed a day of Thanksgiving to God for the +early exposure of the conspiracy. Nilo he sent to a cell in the +Cynegion, ostensibly for future trial, but really to secure him from +danger; in his heart he admired the King's spirit, and hoped a day would +come when he could safely and suitably reward him. + +On the part of the people the commotion which ensued was extraordinary. +They left the fire to its smouldering, and in steady currents marched +past the ghastly exhibits prepared for them in the street, looked at +them, shuddered, crossed themselves, and went their ways apparently +thankful for the swiftness of the judgment which had befallen; nor was +there one heard to criticise the Emperor's course. The malefactors were +dropped, like unclean clods, into the earth at night, without ceremony +or a mourner in attendance. Thus far all well. + +At length the day of thanksgiving arrived. By general agreement, there +was not a sign of dissatisfaction to be seen. The most timorous of the +commissioners rested easy. Sancta Sophia was the place appointed for the +services, and Constantine had published his intention to be present. He +had donned the Basilean robes; his litter was at the door of the palace; +his guard of horse and foot was formed, when the officer on duty at the +gate down by the Port of Blacherne arrived with a startling report. + +"Your Majesty," he said, unusually regardless of the ancient salutation, +"there is a great tumult in the city." + +The imperial countenance became stern. + +"This is a day of thanks to God for a great mercy; who dares profane it +by tumult?" + +"I must speak from hearsay," the officer answered.... "The funeral of +the Hegumen of the St. James took place at daylight this morning"-- + +"Yes," said Constantine, sighing at the sad reminder, "I had intended to +assist the Brotherhood. But proceed." + +"The Brothers, with large delegations from the other Monasteries, were +assembled at the tomb, when Gennadius appeared, and began to preach, and +he wrought upon his hearers until they pushed the coffin into the vault, +and dispersed through the streets, stirring up the people." + +At this the Emperor yielded to his indignation. + +"Now, by the trials and sufferings of the Most Christian Mother, are we +beasts insensible to destruction? Or idiots exempt from the penalties of +sin and impiety? And he--that genius of unrest--that master of foment-- +God o' Mercy, what has he laid hold of to lead so many better men to +betray their vows and the beads at their belts? Tell me--speak--my +patience is nearly gone." + +For an instant, be it said, the much tried Sovereign beheld a strong +hand move within reach, as offering itself for acceptance. No doubt he +saw it as it was intended, the symbol and suggestion of a policy. Pity +he did not take it! For then how much of mischance had been averted from +himself--Constantinople might not have been lost to the Christian +world--the Greek Church had saved its integrity by recognizing the union +with the Latins consummated at the Council of Florence--Christianity had +not been flung back for centuries in the East, its birthplace. + +"Your Majesty," the officer returned, "I can report what I heard, +leaving its truth to investigation.... In his speech by the tomb +Gennadius admitted the awfulness of the crime attempted by Demedes, and +the justice of the punishment the young man suffered, its swiftness +proving it to have been directed by Heaven; but he declared its +conception was due to the Academy of Epicurus, and that there remained +nothing deserving study and penance except the continued toleration +without which the ungodly institution had passed quickly, as plagues fly +over cities purified against them. The crime, he said, was ended. Let +the dead bury the dead. But who were they responsible for grace to the +Academy? And he answered himself, my Lord, by naming the Church and the +State." + +"Ah! He attacked the Church then?" + +"No, my Lord, he excused it by saying it had been debauched by an +_azymite_ Patriarch, and while that servant of prostitution and +heresy controlled it, wickedness would be protected and go on +increasing." + +"And the State--how dealt he with the State?" + +"The Church he described as Samson; the Patriarch, as an uncomely +Delilah who had speciously shorn it of its strength and beauty; the +State, as a political prompter and coadjutor of the Delilah; and Rome, a +false God seeking to promote worship unto itself through the debased +Church and State." + +"God o' Mercy!" Constantine exclaimed, involuntarily signing to the +sword-bearer at his back; but recovering himself, he asked with forced +moderation: "To the purpose of it all--the object. What did he propose +to the Brothers?" + +"He called them lovers of God in the livery of Christ, and implored them +to gird up their loins, and stand for the religion of the Fathers, lest +it perish entirely." + +"Did he tell them what to do?" + +"Yes, my Lord." + +A wistful, eager look appeared on the royal face, and behind it an +expectation that now there would be something to justify arrest and +exile at least--something politically treasonable. + +"He referred next to the thanksgiving services appointed to-day in +Sancta Sophia, and declared it an opportunity from Heaven, sent them and +all the faithful in the city, to begin a crusade for reform; not by +resort to sword and spear, for they were weapons of hell, but by +refusing to assist the Patriarch with their presence. A vision had come +to him in the night, he said--an angel of the Lord with the Madonna of +Blacherne--advising him of the Divine will. Under his further urgency-- +and my Lord knows his power of speech--the Brothers listening, the St. +James' and all present from the other Orders, broke up and took to the +streets, where they are now, exhorting the people not to go to the +Church, and there is reason to believe they will"-- + +"Enough," said the Emperor, with sudden resolution. "The good Gregory +shall not pray God singly and alone." + +Turning to Phranza, he ordered him to summon the court for the occasion. +"Let not one stay away," he continued; "and they shall put on their best +robes and whole regalia; for, going in state myself, I have need of +their utmost splendor. It is my will, further, that the army be drawn +from their quarters to the Church, men, music, and flags, and the navies +from their ships. And give greeting to the Patriarch, and notify him, +lest he make haste. Aside from these preparations, I desire the +grumblers be left to pursue their course unmolested. The sincere and +holy amongst them will presently have return of clear light." + +This counter project was entered upon energetically. + +Shortly after noon the military bore down to the old Church, braying the +streets with horns, drums and cymbals, and when they were at order in +the immense auditorium, their banners hanging unfurled from the +galleries, the Emperor entered, with his court; in a word, the brave, +honest, white-haired Patriarch had company multitudinous and noble as he +could desire. None the less, however, Gennadius had his way also--_the +people took no part in the ceremony_. + +After the celebration, Constantine, in his chambers up in Blacherne, +meditated upon the day and its outcome. Phranza was his sole attendant. + +"My dear friend," the Emperor began, breaking a long silence, and much +disquieted, "was not my predecessor, the first Constantine, beset with +religious dissensions?" + +"If we may credit history, my Lord, he certainly was." + +"How did he manage them?" + +"He called a Council." + +"A Council truly--was that all?" + +"I do not recollect anything more." + +"It was this way, I think. He first settled the faith, and then provided +against dispute." + +"How, my Lord?" + +"Well, there was one Arius, a Libyan, Presbyter of a little church in +Alexandria called Baucalis, preacher of the Unity of God"-- + +"I remember him now." + +"Of the Unity of God as opposed to the Trinity. Him the first Constantine +sent to prison for life, did he not?" + +Thereupon Phranza understood the subject of his master's meditation; but +being of a timid soul, emasculated by much practice of diplomacy, +usually a tedious, waiting occupation, he hastened to reply: "Even so, +my Lord. Yet he could afford to be heroic. He had consolidated the +Church, and was holding the world in the hollow of his hand." + +Constantine allowed a sigh to escape him, and lapsed into silence; when +next he spoke, it was to say slowly: + +"Alas, my dear friend! The people were not there"--meaning at Sancta +Sophia. "I fear, I fear"-- + +"What, my Lord?" + +Another sigh deeper than the first one: "I fear I am not a statesman, +but only a soldier, with nothing to give God and my Empire except a +sword and one poor life." + +These details will help the reader to a fair understanding of the +domestic involvements which overtook the Emperor about the time Mahommed +ascended the Turkish throne, and they are to be considered in addition +to the negotiations in progress with the Sultan. And as it is important +to give an idea of their speeding, we remark further, that from the +afternoon of the solemnity in Sancta Sophia the discussion then forced +upon him went from bad to worse, until he was seriously deprived both of +popular sympathy and the support of the organized religious orders. The +success of the solemnity in point of display, and the measures resorted +to, were not merely offensive to Gennadius and his ally, the Duke +Notaras; they construed them as a challenge to a trial of strength, and +so vigorously did they avail themselves of their advantages that, before +the Emperor was aware of it, there were two distinct parties in the +city, one headed by Gennadius, the other by himself and Gregory the +Patriarch. + +Month by month the bitterness intensified; month by month the imperial +party fell away until there was little of it left outside the court and +the army and navy, and even they were subjected to incessant inroads-- +until, finally, it came to pass that the Emperor was doubtful whom to +trust. Thereupon, of course, the season for energetic repressive measures +vanished, never to return. + +Personalities, abuse, denunciation, lying, and sometimes downright blows +took the place of debate in the struggle. One day religion was an +exciting cause; next day, politics. Throughout it all, however, +Gennadius was obviously the master-spirit. His methods were consummately +adapted to the genius of the Byzantines. By confining himself strictly +to the Church wrangle, he avoided furnishing the Emperor pretexts for +legal prosecution; at the same time he wrought with such cunning that in +the monasteries the very High Residence of Blacherne was spoken of as a +den of _azymites_, while Sancta Sophia was abandoned to the Patriarch. To +be seen in the purlieus of the latter was a signal for vulgar anathemas +and social ostracism. His habits meantime were of a sort to make him a +popular idol. He grew, if possible, more severely penitential; he fasted +and flagellated himself; he slept on the stony floor before his crucifix; +he seldom issued from his cell, and when visited there, was always +surprised at prayers, the burden of which was forgiveness for signing the +detested Articles of Union with the Latins. The physical suffering he +endured was not without solace; he had heavenly visions and was attended +by angels. If in his solitude he fainted, the Holy Virgin of Blacherne +ministered to him, and brought him back to life and labor. First an +ascetic, then a Prophet--such was his progression. + +And Constantine was a witness to the imposture, and smarted under it; +still he held there was nothing for him but to temporize, for if he +ordered the seizure and banishment of the all-powerful hypocrite, he +could trust no one with the order. The time was dark as a starless night +to the high-spirited but too amiable monarch, and he watched and waited, +or rather watched and drifted, extending confidence to but two +counsellors, Phranza and the Princess Irene. Even in their company he +was not always comfortable, for, strange to say, the advice of the woman +was invariably heroic, and that of the man invariably weak and +accommodating. + +From this sketch the tendencies of the government can be right plainly +estimated, leaving the suspicion of a difference between the first +Constantine and the last to grow as the evils grew. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MIRZA DOES AN ERRAND FOR MAHOMMED + + +Vegetation along the Bosphorus was just issuing from what may be called +its budded state. In the gardens and protected spots on the European +side white and yellow winged butterflies now and then appeared without +lighting, for as yet there was nothing attractive enough to keep them. +Like some great men of whom we occasionally hear, they were in the world +before their time. In other words the month of May was about a week old, +and there was a bright day to recommend it--bright, only a little too +much tinctured with March and April to be all enjoyable. The earth was +still spongy, the water cold, the air crisp, and the sun deceitful. + +About ten o'clock in the morning Constantinopolitans lounging on the +sea-wall were surprised by explosive sounds from down the Marmora. +Afterwhile they located them, so to speak, on a galley off St. Stephano. +At stated intervals, pale blue smoke would burst from the vessel, +followed by a hurry-skurry of gulls in the vicinity, and then the roar, +muffled by distance. The age of artillery had not yet arrived; +nevertheless, cannon were quite well known to fame. Enterprising traders +from the West had sailed into the Golden Horn with samples of the new +arm on their decks; they were of such rude construction as to be unfit +for service other than saluting. [Footnote: Cannon were first made of +hooped iron, widest at the mouth. The process of casting them was just +coming in.] So, now, while the idlers on the wall were not alarmed, they +were curious to make out who the extravagant fellows were, and waited +for the flag to tell them. + +The stranger passed swiftly, firing as it went; and as the canvas was +new and the hull freshly painted in white, it rode the waves to +appearances a very beautiful "thing of life;" but the flag told nothing +of its nationality. There were stripes on it diagonally set, green, +yellow, and red, the yellow in the middle. + +"The owners are not Genoese"--such was the judgment on the wall. + +"No, nor Venetian, for that is not a lion in the yellow." + +"What, then, is it?" + +Pursued thus, the galley, at length rounding Point Serail (Demetrius), +turned into the harbor. When opposite the tower of Galata, a last salute +was fired from her deck; then the two cities caught up the interest, and +being able to make out decisively that the sign in the yellow field of +the flag was but a coat-of-arms, they said emphatically: + +"It is not a national ship--only a great Lord;" and thereupon the +question became self-inciting: + +"Who is he?" + +Hardly had the anchor taken hold in the muddy bed of the harbor in front +of the port of Blacherne, before a small boat put off from the strange +ship, manned by sailors clad in flowing white trousers, short sleeveless +jackets, and red turbans of a style remarkable for amplitude. An +officer, probably the sailing-master, went with them, and he, too, was +heavily turbaned. A gaping crowd on the landing received the visitor +when he stepped ashore and asked to see the captain of the guard. To +that dignitary he delivered a despatch handsomely enveloped in yellow +silk, saying, in imperfect Greek: + +"My Lord, just arrived, prays you to read the enclosure, and send it +forward by suitable hand. He trusts to your knowledge of what the +proprieties require. He will await the reply on his galley." + +The sailing-master saluted profoundly, resumed seat in his boat, and +started back to the ship, leaving the captain of the guard to open the +envelope and read the communication, which was substantially as follows: + +"From the galley, St. Agostino, May 5, Year of our Blessed Saviour, +1451. + +"The undersigned is a Christian Noble of Italy, more particularly from +his strong Castle Corti on the eastern coast of Italy, near the ancient +city of Brindisi. He offers lealty to His Most Christian Majesty, the +Emperor of Constantinople, Defender of the Faith according to the +crucified Son of God (to whom be honor and praise forevermore), and +humbly represents that he is a well-knighted soldier by profession, +having won his spurs in battle, and taken the accolade from the hand of +Calixtus the Third, Bishop of Rome, and, yet more worthily, His Holiness +the Pope: that the time being peaceful in his country, except as it was +rent by baronial feuds and forays not to his taste, he left it in search +of employment and honors abroad; that he made the pilgrimage to the Holy +Sepulchre first, and secured there a number of precious relics, which he +is solicitous of presenting to His Imperial Majesty; that from long +association with the Moslems, whom Heaven, in its wisdom impenetrable to +the understanding of men, permits to profane the Holy Land with their +presence and wicked guardianship, he acquired a speaking knowledge of +the Arabic and Turkish languages; that he engaged in warfare against +those enemies of God, having the powerful sanction therefor of His +Holiness aforesaid, by whose direction he occupied himself chiefly with +chastising the Berber pirates of Tripoli, from whom he took prisoners, +putting them at his oars, where some of them now are. With the august +city of Byzantium he has been acquainted many years through report, and, +if its fame be truly published, he desires to reside in it, possibly to +the end of his days. Wherefore he presumes to address this his +respectful petition, praying its submission to His Most Christian +Majesty, that he may be assured if the proposal be agreeable to the +royal pleasure, and in the meantime have quiet anchorage for his galley. + +UGO, COUNT CORTI." + +In the eyes of the captain of the guard the paper was singular, but +explicit; moreover, the request seemed superfluous, considering the +laxity prevalent with respect to the coming and going of persons of all +nativities and callings. To be sure, trade was not as it used to be, +and, thanks to the enterprise and cunning of the Galatanese across the +harbor, the revenues from importations were sadly curtailed; still the +old city had its markets, and the world was welcome to them. The +argument, however, which silenced the custodian's doubt was, that of the +few who rode to the gates in their own galleys and kept them there ready +to depart if their reception were in the least chilling, how many signed +themselves as did this one? Italian counts were famous fighters, and +generally had audiences wherever they knocked. So he concluded to send +the enclosure up to the Palace without the intermediation of the High +Admiral, a course which would at least save time. + +While the affair is thus pending, we may return to Count Corti, and say +an essential word or two of him. + +The cannon, it is to be remarked, was not the only novelty of the +galley. Over the stern, where the aplustre cast its shadow in ordinary +crafts, there was a pavilion-like structure, high-raised, flat-roofed, +and with small round windows in the sides. Quite likely the progressive +ship-builders at Palos and Genoa would have termed the new feature a +cabin. It was beyond cavil an improvement; and on this occasion the +proprietor utilized it as he well might. Since the first gun off St. +Stephano, he had held the roof, finding it the best position to get and +enjoy a view of the capital, or rather of the walls and crowned +eminences they had so long and all-sufficiently defended. A chair had +been considerately brought up and put at his service, but in witness of +the charm the spectacle had for him from the beginning, he did not once +resort to it. + +If only to save ourselves description of the man, and rescue him from a +charge of intrusion into the body of our story, we think it better to +take the reader into confidence at once, and inform him that Count Corti +is in fact our former acquaintance Mirza, the Emir of the Hajj. The +difference between his situation now, and when we first had sight of him +on his horse under the yellow flag in the valley of Zaribah is +remarkable; yet he is the same in one particular at least--he was in +armor then, and he is still in armor--that is, he affects the same +visorless casque, with its cape of fine rings buckled under the chin, +the same shirt and overalls of pliable mail, the same shoes of +transverse iron scales working into each other telescopically when the +feet are in movement, the same golden spurs, and a surcoat in every +particular like the Emir's, except it is brick-dust red instead of +green. And this constancy in armor should not be accounted a vanity; it +was a habit acquired in the school of arms which graduated him, and +which he persisted in partly for the inurement, and partly as a mark of +respect for Mahommed, with whom the gleam and clink of steel well +fashioned and gracefully worn was a passion, out of which he evolved a +suite rivalling those kinsmen of the Buccleuch who-- + +"--quitted not their harness bright, Neither by day nor yet by night." + +Returning once again. It was hoped when Mirza was first introduced that +every one who might chance to spend an evening over these pages would +perceive the possibilities he prefigured, and adopt him as a favorite; +wherefore the interest may be more pressing to know what he, an Islamite +supposably without guile, a Janissary of rank, lately so high in his +master's confidence, is doing here, offering lealty to the Most +Christian Emperor, and denouncing the followers of the Prophet as +enemies of God. The appearances are certainly against him. + +The explanation due, if only for coherence in our narrative, would be +clearer did the reader review the part of the last conversation in the +White Castle between the Prince of India and Mahommed, in which the +latter is paternally advised to study the Greek capital, and keep +himself informed of events within its walls. Yet, inasmuch as there is a +current in reading which one once fairly into is loath to be pushed out +of, we may be forgiven for quoting a material passage or two.... "There +is much for my Lord to do"--the Prince says, speaking to his noble +eleve. "It is for him to think and act as if Constantinople were his +capital temporarily in possession of another.... It is for him to learn +the city within and without; its streets and edifices; its hills 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, clubs, and religious factions; especially is +it for him to foment the differences Latin and Greek already a fire +which has long been eating out to air in an inflammable house."... +Mahommed, it will be recollected, acceded to the counsel, and in +discussing the selection of a person suitable for the secret agency, the +Prince said: ... "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 salons and palaces; along with +other facilities, he must be provided to buy service in the Emperor's +bedroom and council chamber--nay, at his elbow. Mature of judgment, it +is of prime importance that he possess my Lord's confidence +unalterably."... And when the ambitious Turk demanded: "The man, Prince, +the man!"--the wily tutor responded: "My Lord has already named him."-- +"I?"--"Only to-night my Lord spoke of him as a marvel."--"Mirza?"... The +Jew then proceeded: "Despatch him to Italy; let him appear in +Constantinople, embarked from a galley, habited like an Italian, 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."... + +Mahommed demurred to the proposal, saying: "So has Mirza become a part +of me, I am scarcely myself without him." + +Now he who has allowed himself to become interested in the bright young +Emir, and pauses to digest these excerpts, will be aware of a grave +concern for him. He foresees the outcome of the devotion to Mahommed +dwelt upon so strongly by the Prince of India. An order to undertake the +secret service will be accepted certainly as it is given. The very +assurance that it will be accepted begets solicitude in the affair. Did +Mahommed decide affirmatively? What were the instructions given? Having +thus settled the coherences, we move on with the narrative. + +It will be remembered, further, that close after the departure of the +Princess Irene from the old Castle, Mahommed followed her to Therapia, +and, as an Arab story-teller, was favored with an extended private +audience in which he extolled himself to her at great length, and +actually assumed the role of a lover. What is yet more romantic, he came +away a lover in fact. + +The circumstance is not to be lightly dismissed, for it was of +immeasurable effect upon the fortunes of the Emir, and--if we can be +excused for connecting an interest so stupendous with one so +comparatively trifling--the fate of Constantinople. Theretofore the +Turk's ambition had been the sole motive of his designs against that +city, and, though vigorous, driving, and possibly enough of itself to +have pushed him on, there might yet have been some delay in the +achievement. Ambition derived from genius is cautious in its first +movements, counts the cost, ponders the marches to be made and the means +to be employed, and is at times paralyzed by the simple contemplation of +failure; in other words, dread of loss of glory is not seldom more +powerful than the hope of glory. After the visit to Therapia, however, +love reenforced ambition; or rather the two passions possessed Mahommed, +and together they murdered his sleep. He became impatient and irritable; +the days were too short, the months too long. Constantinople absorbed +him. He thought of nothing else waking, and dreamed of nothing else. +Well for him his faith in astrology, for by it the Prince of India was +able to hold him to methodic preparation. + +There were times when he was tempted to seize the Princess, and carry +her off. Her palace was undefended, and he had but to raid it at night. +Why not? There were two reasons, either of them sufficient: first, the +stern old Sultan, his father, was a just man, and friendly to the +Emperor Constantine; but still stronger, and probably the deterrent in +fact, he actually loved the Princess with a genuine romantic sentiment, +her happiness an equal motive--loved her for herself--a thing perfectly +consistent, for in the Oriental idea there is always One the Highest. + +Now, it was very lover-like in Mahommed, his giving himself up to +thought of the Princess while gliding down the Bosphorus, after leaving +his safeguard on her gate. He closed his eyes against the mellow light +on the water, and, silently admitting her the perfection of womanhood, +held her image before him until it was indelible in memory--face, +figure, manner, even her dress and ornaments--until his longing for her +became a positive hunger of soul. + +As if to give us an illustration of the mal-apropos in coincidence, his +august father had selected a bride for him, and he was on the road to +Adrianople to celebrate the nuptials when he stopped at the White +Castle. The maiden chosen was of a noble Turkish family, but harem born +and bred. She might be charming, a very queen in the Seraglio; but, +alas! the kinswoman of the Christian Emperor had furnished a glimpse of +attractions which the fiancee to whom he was going could never +attain--attractions of mind and manner more lasting than those of mere +person; and as he finished the comparison, he beat his breast, and cried +out: "Ah, the partiality of the Most Merciful! To clothe this Greek with +all the perfections, and deny her to me!" + +Withal, there was a method in Mahommed's passion. Setting his face +sternly against violating his own safeguard by abducting the Princess, +he fell into revision of her conversation; and then a light broke in +upon him--a light and a road to his object. + +He recalled with particularity her reply to the message delivered to +her, supposably from himself, containing his avowal that he loved her +the more because she was a Christian, and singled out of it these +words: ... "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." + +This he took to pieces.... "'She might become a wife.' Good!... 'She +might become my wife'--on condition.... What condition?" ... He beat his +breast again, this time with a laugh. + +The rowers looked at him in wonder. What cared he for them? He had +discovered a way to make her his.... "Constantinople is the Greek +Church," he muttered, with flashing eyes. "I will take the city for my +own glory--to her then the glory of saving the Church! On to +Constantinople!" + +And from that moment the fate of the venerable metropolis may be said to +have been finally sealed. + +Within an hour after his return to the White Castle, he summoned Mirza, +and surprised him by the exuberance of his joy. He threw his arm over +the Emir's shoulder, and walked with him, laughing and talking, like a +man in wine. His nature was of the kind which, for the escape of +feeling, required action as well as words. At length he sobered down. + +"Here, Mirza," he said. "Stand here before me.... Thou lovest me, I +believe?" + +Mirza answered upon his knee: "My Lord has said it." + +"I believe thee.... Rise and take pen and paper, and write, standing +here before me." [Footnote: A Turkish calligraphist works on his feet as +frequently as on a chair, using a pen made of reed and India ink reduced +to fluid.] + +From a table near by the materials were brought, and the Emir, again +upon his knees, wrote as his master dictated. + +The paper need not be given in full. Enough that it covered with uncommon +literalness--for the Conqueror's memory was prodigious--the suggestions +of the Prince of India already quoted respecting the duties of the agent +in Constantinople. While writing, the Emir was variously moved; one +instant, his countenance was deeply flushed, and in the next very pale; +sometimes his hand trembled. Mahommed meantime kept close watch upon him, +and now he asked: + +"What ails thee?" + +"My Lord's will is my will," was the answer--"yet"-- + +"Out--speak out." + +"My Lord is sending me from him, and I dread losing my place at his +right hand." + +Mahommed laughed heartily. + +"Lay the fear betime," he then said, gravely. "Where thou goest, though +out of reach of my right hand, there will my thought be. Hear--nay, at +my knee." + +He laid the hand spoken of on Mirza's shoulder, and stooped towards him. +"Ah, my Saladin, thou wert never in love, I take it? Well--I am. Look +not up now, lest--lest thou think my bearded cheek hath changed to a +girl's." + +Mirza did not look up, yet he knew his master was blushing. + +"Where thou goest, I would give everything but the sword of Othman to be +every hour of the day, for she abideth there.... I see a ring on thy +hand--the ruby ring I gave thee the day thou didst unhorse the +uncircumcised deputy of Hunyades. Give it back to me. 'Tis well. See, I +place it on the third finger of my left hand. They say whoever looketh +at her is thenceforth her lover. I caution thee, and so long as this +ruby keepeth color unchanged, I shall know thou art keeping honor bright +with me--that thou lovest her, because thou canst not help it, yet for +my sake, and because I love her.... Look up now, my falcon--look up, and +pledge me." + +"I pledge my Lord," Mirza answered. + +"Now I will tell thee. She is that kinswoman of the _Gabour_ Emperor +Constantine whom we saw here the day of our arrival. Or didst thou see +her? I have forgotten." + +"I did not, my Lord." + +"Well, thou wilt know her at sight; for in grace and beauty I think she +must be a daughter of the houri this moment giving immortal drink to the +beloved of Allah, even the Prophet." + +Mahommed changed his tone. + +"The paper and the pen." + +And taking them he signed the instructions, and the signature was the +same as that on the safeguard on the gate at Therapia. + +"There--keep it well; for when thou gettest to Constantinople, thou wilt +become a Christian." He laughed again. "Mirza--the Mirza Mahommed swore +by, and appointed keeper of his heart's secret--he a Christian! This +will shift the sin of the apostasy to me." + +Mirza took the paper. + +"I have not chosen to write of the other matter. In what should it be +written, if at all, except in my blood--so close is it to me?... These +are the things I expect of thee. Art thou listening? She shall be to +thee as thine eye. Advise me of her health, and where she goes; with +whom she consorts; what she does and says; save her from harm: does one +speak ill of her, kill him, only do it in my name--and forget not, O my +Saladin!--as thou hopest a garden and a couch in Paradise--forget not +that in Constantinople, when I come, I am to receive her from thy hand +peerless in all things as I left her to-day.... Thou hast my will all +told. I will send money to thy room to-night, and thou wilt leave +to-night, lest, being seen making ready in the morning, some idiot +pursue thee with his wonder.... As thou art to be my other self, be it +royally. Kings never account to themselves.... Thou wantest now nothing +but this signet." + +From his breast he drew a large ring, its emerald setting graven with +the signature at the bottom of the instructions, and gave it to him. + +"Is there a Pacha or a Begler-bey, Governor of a city or a province, +property of my father, who refuseth thy demand after showing him this, +report him, and _Shintan_ will be more tolerable unto him than I, +when I have my own. It is all said. Go now.... We will speak of rewards +when next we meet.... Or stay! Thou art to communicate by way of this +Castle, and for that I will despatch a man to thee in Constantinople. +Remember--for every word thou sendest me of the city, I look for two of +her.... Here is my hand." Mirza kissed it, and departed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EMIR IN ITALY + + +We know now who Count Corti is, and the objects of his coming to +Constantinople--that he is a secret agent of Mahommed--that, summed up +in the fewest words, his business is to keep the city in observation, +and furnish reports which will be useful to his master in the preparation +the latter is making for its conquest. We also know he is charged with +very peculiar duties respecting the Princess Irene. + +The most casual consideration of these revelations will make it apparent, +in the next place, that hereafter the Emir must be designated by his +Italian appellative in full or abbreviated. Before forsaking the old +name, there is lively need of information, whether as he now stands on +the deck of his galley, waiting the permissions prayed by him of the +Emperor Constantine, he is, aside from title, the same Mirza lately so +honored by Mahommed. + +From the time the ship hove in sight of the city, he had kept his place +on the cabin. The sailors, looking up to him occasionally, supposed him +bound by the view, so motionless he stood, so steadfastly he gazed. Yet +in fact his countenance was not expressive of admiration or rapture. A +man with sound vision may have a mountain just before him and not see +it; he may be in the vortex of a battle deaf to its voices; a thought or +a feeling can occupy him in the crisis of his life to the exclusion of +every sense. If perchance it be so with the Emir now, he must have +undergone a change which only a powerful cause could have brought about. +He had been so content with his condition, so proud of his fame already +won, so happy in keeping prepared for the opportunities plainly in his +sight, so satisfied with his place in his master's confidence, so +delighted when that master laid a hand upon his shoulder and called him +familiarly, now his Saladin, and now his falcon. + +Faithfully, as bidden, Mirza sallied from the White Castle the night of +his appointment to the agency in Constantinople. He spoke to no one of +his intention, for he well knew secrecy was the soul of the enterprise. +For the same reason, he bought of a dervish travelling with the Lord +Mahommed's suite a complete outfit, including the man's donkey and +donkey furniture. At break of day he was beyond the hills of the +Bosphorus, resolved to skirt the eastern shore of the Marmora and +Hellespont, from which the Greek population had been almost entirely +driven by the Turks, and at the Dardanelles take ship for Italy direct +as possible--a long route and trying--yet there was in it the total +disappearance from the eyes of acquaintances needful to success in his +venture. His disguise insured him from interruption on the road, +dervishes being sacred characters in the estimation of the Faithful, and +generally too poor to excite cupidity. A gray-frocked man, hooded, +coarsely sandalled, and with a blackened gourd at his girdle for the +alms he might receive from the devout, no Islamite meeting him would +ever suspect a large treasure in the ragged bundle on the back of the +patient animal plodding behind him like a tired dog. + +The Dardanelles was a great stopping-place for merchants and tradesmen, +Greek, Venetian, Genoese. There Mirza provided himself with an Italian +suit, adopted the Italian tongue, and became Italian. He borrowed a +chart of the coast of Italy from a sailor, to determine the port at +which it would be advisable for him to land. + +While settling this point, the conversation had with the Prince of India +in the latter's tent at Zaribah arose to mind, and he recalled with +particularity all that singular person said with reference to the accent +observable in his speech. He also went over the description he himself +had given the Prince of the house or castle from which he had been taken +in childhood. A woman had borne him outdoors, under a blue sky, along a +margin of white sand, an orchard on one hand, the sea on the other. He +remembered the report of the waves breaking on the shore, the olive-green +color of the trees in the orchard, and the battlemented gate of the +castle; whereupon the Prince said the description reminded him of the +eastern shore of Italy in the region of Brindisi. + +It was a vague remark certainly; but now it made a deeper impression on +the Emir than at the moment of its utterance and pointed his attention +to Brindisi. The going to Italy, he argued, was really to get a warrant +for the character he was to assume in Constantinople; that is, to obtain +some knowledge of the country, its geography, political divisions, +cities, rulers, and present conditions generally, without which the +slightest cross-examination by any of the well-informed personages about +the Emperor would shatter his pretensions in an instant. Then it was he +fell into a most unusual mood. + +Since the hour the turbaned rovers captured him he had not been assailed +by a desire to see or seek his country and family. Who was his father? +Was his mother living? Probably nothing could better define the +profundity of the system underlying the organization of the Janissaries +than that he had never asked those questions with a genuine care to have +them solved. What a suppression of the most ordinary instincts of nature! +How could it have been accomplished so completely? As a circumstance, its +tendency is to confirm the theory that men are creatures of education and +association.... Was his mother living? Did she remember him? Had she wept +for him? What sort of being was she? If living, how old would she be? And +he actually attempted a calculation. Calling himself twenty-six she might +not be over forty-five. That was not enough to dim her eyes or more than +slightly silver her hair; and as respects her heart, are not the +affections of a mother flowers for culling by Death alone? + +Such reflections never fail effect. A tenderness of spirit is the first +token of their presence; then memory and imagination begin striving; the +latter to bring the beloved object back, and the former to surround it +with sweetest circumstances. They wrought with Mirza as with everybody +else. The yearning they excited in him was a surprise; presently he +determined to act on the Prince of India's suggestion, and betake +himself to the eastern coast of Italy. + +The story of the sack of a castle was of a kind to have wide circulation; +at the same time this one was recent enough to be still in the memory of +persons living. Finding the place of its occurrence was the difficulty. +If in the vicinity of Brindisi--well, he would go and ask. The yearning +spoken of did not come alone; it had for companion, Conscience, as yet in +the background. + +There were vessels bound for Venice. One was taking in water, after +which it would sail for Otranto. It seemed a fleet craft, with a fair +crew, and a complement of stout rowers. Otranto was south of Brindisi a +little way, and the castle he wanted to hear of might have been situated +between those cities. Who could tell? Besides, as an Italian nobleman, +to answer inquiry in Constantinople, he would have to locate himself +somewhere, and possibly the coast in question might accommodate him with +both a location and a title. The result was he took passage to Otranto. + +While there he kept his role of traveller, but was studious, and picked +up a great fund of information bearing upon the part awaiting him. He +lived and dressed well, and affected religious circles. It was the day +when Italy was given over to the nobles--the day of robbers, fighting, +intrigues and usurpations--of free lances and bold banditti--of +government by the strong hand, of right determinable by might, of +ensanguined Guelphs and Ghibellines. Of these the Emir kept clear. + +By chance he fell in with an old man of secondary rank in the city much +given to learning, an habitue of a library belonging to one of the +monasteries. It came out ere long that the venerable person was familiar +with the coast from Otranto to Brindisi, and beyond far as Polignano. + +"It was in my sturdier days," the veteran said, with a dismal glance at +his shrunken hands. "The people along the shore were much harried by +Moslem pirates. Landing from their galleys, the depredators burned +habitations, slew the men, and carried off such women as they thought +would fetch a price. They even assaulted castles. At last we were driven +to the employment of a defensive guard cooperative on land and water. I +was a captain. Our fights with the rovers were frequent and fierce. +Neither side showed quarter." + +The reminiscence stimulated Mirza to inquiry. He asked the old man if he +could mention a castle thus attacked. + +"Yes, there was one belonging to Count Corti, a few leagues beyond +Brindisi. The Count defended himself, but was slain." + +"Had he a family?" + +"A wife and a boy child." + +"What became of them?" + +"By good chance the Countess was in Brindisi attending a fete; she +escaped, of course. The boy, two or three years of age, was made +prisoner, and never heard of afterwards." + +A premonition seized Mirza. + +"Is the Countess living?" + +"Yes. She never entirely recovered from the shock, but built a house +near the site of the castle, and clearing a room in the ruins, turned it +into a chapel. Every morning and evening she goes there, and prays for +the soul of her husband, and the return of her lost boy." + +"How long is it since the poor lady was so bereft?" + +The narrator reflected, and replied: "Twenty-two or three years." + +"May the castle be found?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you been to it?" + +"Many times." + +"How was it named?" + +"After the Count--_Il Castillo di Corti_." + +"Tell me something of its site." + +"It is down close by the sea. A stone wall separates its front enclosure +from the beach. Sometimes the foam of the waves is dashed upon the wall. +Through a covered gate one looks out, and all is water. Standing on the +tower, all landward is orchard and orchard--olive and almond trees +intermixed. A great estate it was and is. The Countess, it is understood, +has a will executed; if the boy does not return before her death, the +Church is to be her legatee." + +There was more of the conversation, covering a history of the Corti +family, honorable as it was old--the men famous warriors, the women +famous beauties. + +Mirza dreamed through the night of the Countess, and awoke with a vague +consciousness that the wife of the Pacha, the grace of whose care had +been about him in childhood--a good woman, gentle and tender--was after +all but a representative of the mother who had given him birth, just as +on her part every mother is mercifully representative of God. Under +strong feeling he took boat for Brindisi. + +There he had no trouble in confirming the statements of his Otranto +acquaintance. The Countess was still living, and the coast road +northwardly would bring him to the ruins of her castle. The journey did +not exceed five leagues. + +What he might find at the castle, how long he would stay, what do, were +so uncertain--indeed everything in the connection was so dependent upon +conditions impossible of foresight, that he resolved to set out on foot. +To this course he was the more inclined by the mildness of the weather, +and the reputation of the region for freshness and beauty. + +About noon he was fairly on the road. Persons whom he met--and they were +not all of the peasant class--seeing a traveller jaunty in plumed cap, +light blue camail, pointed buskins, and close-fitting hose the color of +the camail, sword at his side, and javelin in hand, stayed to observe +him long as he was in sight, never dreaming they were permitted to +behold a favorite of one of the bloody Mahounds of the East. + +Over hill and down shallow vales: through stone-fenced lanes; now in the +shade of old trees; now along a seashore partially overflowed by languid +waves, he went, lighter in step than heart, for he was in the mood by no +means uncommon, when the spirit is prophesying evil unto itself. He was +sensible of the feeling, and for shame would catch the javelin in the +middle and whirl it about him defensively until it sung like a +spinning-wheel; at times he stopped and, with his fingers in his mouth, +whistled to a small bird as if it were a hunting hawk high in air. + +Once, seeing a herd of goats around a house thatched and half-hidden in +vines, he asked for milk. A woman brought it to him, with a slice of +brown bread; and while he ate and drank, she stared at him in respectful +admiration; and when he paid her in gold, she said, courtesying low: "A +glad life to my Lord! I will pray the Madonna to make the wish good." +Poor creature! She had no idea she was blessing one in whose faith the +Prophet was nearer God than God's own Son. + +At length the road made an abrupt turn to the right, bringing him to a +long stretch of sandy beach. Nearly as he could judge, it was time for +the castle to appear, and he was anxious to make it before sundown. Yet +in the angle of the wood he saw a wayside box of stone sheltering an +image of the Virgin, with the Holy Child in its arms. Besides being +sculptured better than usual, the figures were covered with flowers in +wreath and bouquet. A dressed slab in front of the structure, evidently +for the accommodation of worshippers, invited him to rest, and he took +the seat, and looking up at the mother, she appeared to be looking at +him. He continued his gaze, and presently the face lost its stony +appearance--stranger still, it smiled. It was illusion, of course, but +he arose startled, and moved on with quickened step. The impression went +with him. Why the smile? He did not believe in images: much less did he +believe in the Virgin, except as she was the subject of a goodly story. +And absorbed in the thought, he plodded on, leaving the sun to go down +unnoticed. + +Thereupon the shadows thickened in the woods at his left hand, while the +sound of the incoming waves at his right increased as silence laid its +velvet finger with a stronger compress on all other pulsations. Here and +there a star peeped timidly through the purpling sky--now it was dusk--a +little later, it would be night--and yet no castle! + +He pushed on more vigorously; not that he was afraid--fear and the +falcon of Mahommed had never made acquaintance--but he began to think of +a bed in the woods, and worse yet, he wanted the fast-going daylight to +help him decide if the castle when he came to it were indeed the castle +of his fathers. He had believed all along, if he could see the pile +once, his memory would revive and help him to recognition. + +At last night fell, and there was darkness trebled on the land, and on +the sea darkness, except where ghostly lines of light stretched +themselves along the restless water. Should he go on?... + +Then he heard a bell--one soft tone near by and silvery clear. He +halted. Was it of the earth? A hush deeper of the sound--and he was +wondering if another illusion were not upon him, when again the bell! + +"Oh!" he muttered, "a trick of the monks in Otranto! Some soul is +passing." + +He pressed forward, guided by the tolling. Suddenly the trees fell away, +and the road brought him to a stone wall heavily coped. On further, a +blackened mass arose in dim relief against the sky, with heavy merlons +on its top. + +"It is the embattled gate!" he exclaimed, to himself--"the embattled +gate!--and here the beach!--and, O Allah! the waves there are making the +reports they used to!" + +The bell now tolled with awful distinctness, filling him with unwonted +chills--tolled, as if to discourage his memory in its struggle to lift +itself out of a lapse apparently intended to be final as the grave-- +tolled solemnly, as if his were the soul being rung into the next life. A +rush of forebodings threatened him with paralysis of will, and it was +only by a strong exertion he overcame it, and brought himself back to the +situation, and the question, What next? + +Now Mirza was not a man to forego a purpose lightly. Emotional, but not +superstitious, he tried the sword, if it were loose in the scabbard, and +then, advancing the point of his javelin, entered the darkened gallery +of the gate. Just as he emerged from it on the inner side, the bell +tolled. + +"A Moslem doth not well," he thought, silently repeating a saying of the +_jadis_, "to accept a Christian call to prayer; but," he answered in +self-excuse, "I am not going to prayer--I am seeking"--he stopped, for +very oddly, the face of the Virgin in the stone box back in the angle of +the road presented itself to him, and still more oddly, he felt firmer of +purpose seeing again the smile on the face. Then he finished the sentence +aloud--"my mother _who is a Christian._" + +There was a jar in the conclusion, and he went back to find it, and +having found it, he was surprised. Up to that moment, he had not thought +of his mother a Christian. How came the words in his mouth now? Who +prompted them? And while he was hastily pondering the effect upon her of +the discovery that he himself was an Islamite, the image in the box +reoccurred to him, this time with the child in its arms; and thereupon +the mystery seemed to clear itself at once. "Mother and mother!" he +said. "What if my coming were the answer of one of them to the other's +prayer?" + +The idea affected him; his spirit softened; the heat of tears sprang to +his eyelids; and the effort he made to rise above the unmanliness +engaged him so he failed to see the other severer and more lasting +struggle inevitable if the Countess were indeed the being to whom he +owed the highest earthly obligations--the struggle between natural +affection and honor, as the latter lay coiled up in the ties binding him +to Mahommed. + +The condition, be it remarked, is ours; for from that last appearance of +the image by the wayside--from that instant, marking a new era in his +life--often as the night and its incidents recurred to him, he had never +a doubt of his relationship to the Countess. Indeed, not only was she +thenceforward his mother, but all the ground within the gate was his by +natal right, and the castle was the very castle from which he had been +carried away, over the body of his heroic father--_he was the Count +Corti_! + +These observations will bring the reader to see more distinctly the +Emir's state after passing the gate. Of the surroundings, he beheld +nothing but shadows more or less dense and voluminous; the mournful +murmuring of the wind told him they belonged to trees and shrubbery in +clumps. The road he was on, although blurred, was serviceable as a +guide, and he pursued it until brought to a building so masked by night +the details were invisible. Following its upper line, relieved against +the gray sky, he made out a broken front and one tower massively +battlemented. A pavement split the road in two; crossing it, he came to +an opening, choked with timbers and bars of iron; surmisably the front +portal at present in disuse. He needed no explanation of its condition. +Fire and battle were familiars of his. + +The bell tolled on. The sound, so passing sweet elsewhere, seemed to +issue from the yawning portal, leaving him to fancy the interior a +lumber of floors, galleries, and roofs in charred tumble down. + +Mirza turned away presently, and took the left branch of the road; since +he could not get into the castle, he would go around it; and in doing +so, he borrowed from the distance traversed a conception of its +immensity, as well as of the importance the countship must have enjoyed +in its palmy days. + +At length he gained the rear of the great pile. The wood there was more +open, and he was pleased with the sight of lights apparently gleaming +through windows, from which he inferred a hamlet pitched on a broken +site. Then he heard singing; and listening, never had human voices +seemed to him so impressively solemn. Were they coming or going? + +Ere long a number of candles, very tall, and screened from the wind by +small lanterns of transparent paper, appeared on the summit of an +ascent; next moment the bearers of the candles were in view--boys +bareheaded and white frocked. As they began to descend the height, a +bevy of friars succeeded them, their round faces and tonsured crowns +glistening in ruddy contrast with their black habits. A choir of four +singers, three men and one woman, followed the monks. Then a linkman in +half armor strode across the summit, lighting the way for a figure, also +in black, which at once claimed Mirza's gaze. + +As he stared at the figure, the account given him by the old captain in +Otranto flashed upon his memory. The widow of the murdered count had +cleared a room in the castle, and fitted it up as a chapel, and every +morning and evening she went thither to pray for the soul of her husband +and the return of her lost boy. + +The words were alive with suggestions; but suggestions imply +uncertainty; wherefore they are not a reason for the absolute conviction +with which the Emir now said to himself: + +"It is she--the Countess--my mother!" + +There must be in every heart a store of prevision of which we are not +aware--occasions bring it out with such sudden and bewildering effect. + +Everything--hymn, tolling bell, lights, boys, friars, procession--was +accessory to that veiled, slow-marching figure. And in habiliment, +movement, air, with what telling force it impersonated sorrow! On the +other hand, how deep and consuming the sorrow itself must be! + +She--he beheld only her--descended the height without looking up or +around--a little stooped, yet tall and of dignified carriage--not old +nor yet young--a noble woman worthy reverence. + +While he was making these comments, the procession reached the foot of +the ascent; then the boys and friars came between, and hid her from his +view. + +"O Allah! and thou his Prophet!" he exclaimed. "Am I not to see her +face? Is she not to know me?" + +Curiously the question had not presented itself before; neither when he +resolved to come, nor while on the way. To say truth, he had been all +the while intent on the one partial object--to see her. He had not +anticipated the awakening the sight might have upon his feelings. + +"Am I not to discover myself to her? Is she never to know me?" he +repeated. + +The lights in the hands of the boys were beginning to gleam along a +beaten road a short distance in front of the agitated Emir conducting to +the castle. He divined at once that the Countess was coming to the +chapel for the usual evening service, and that, by advancing to the side +of the road, he could get a near view of her as she passed. He started +forward impulsively, but after a few steps stopped, trembling like a +child imagining a ghost. + +Now our conception of the man forbids us thinking him overcome by a +trifle, whether of the air or in the flesh. A change so extreme must +have been the work of a revelation of quick and powerful consequence--and +it was, although the first mention may excite a smile. In the gleam of +mental lightning--we venture on the term for want of another more +descriptive--he had been reminded of the business which brought him to +Italy. + +Let us pause here, and see what the reminder means; if only because the +debonair Mirza, with whom we have been well pleased, is now to become +another person in name and character, commanding our sympathies as +before, but for a very different reason. + +This was what the lightning gave him to see, and not darkly: If he +discovered himself to the Countess, he must expose his history from the +night the rovers carried him away. True, the tale might be given +generally, leaving its romance to thrill the motherly heart, and exalt +him the more; for to whom are heroes always the greatest heroes? +Unhappily steps in confession are like links in a chain, one leads to +another.... Could he, a Christian born, tell her he was an apostate? Or +if he told her, would it not be one more grief to the many she was +already breaking under--one, the most unendurable? And as to himself, +how could he more certainly provoke a forfeiture of her love?... She +would ask--if but to thank God for mercies--to what joyful accident his +return was owing? And then? Alas! with her kiss on his brow, could he +stand silent? More grievous yet, could he deceive her? If nothing is so +murderous of self-respect as falsehood, a new life begun with a lie +needs no prophet to predict its end. No, he must answer the truth. This +conviction was the ghost which set him trembling. An admission that he +was a Moslem would wound her, yet the hope of his conversion would +remain--nay, the labor in making the hope good might even renew her +interest in life; but to tell her he was in Italy to assist in the +overthrow of a Christian Emperor for the exaltation of an infidel--God +help him! Was ever such a monster as he would then become in her eyes?... +The consequences of that disclosure, moreover, were not to the Countess +and himself merely. With a sweep of wing one's fancy is alone capable of, +he was borne back to the White Castle, and beheld Mahommed. When before +did a Prince, contemplating an achievement which was to ring the world, +give trust with such absoluteness of faith? Poor Mirza! The sea rolled +indefinitely wide between the White Castle and this one of his fathers; +across it, nevertheless, he again heard the words: "As thou art to be my +other self, be it royally. Kings never account to themselves." If they +made betrayal horrible in thought, what would the fact be?... + +Finally, last but not least of the reflections the lightning laid bare, +the Emir had been bred a soldier, and he loved war for itself and for +the glory it offered unlike every other glory. Was he to bid them both a +long farewell? + +Poor Mirza! A few paragraphs back allusion was made to a struggle before +him between natural affection on one hand and honor on the other. Perhaps +it was obscurely stated; if so, here it is amended, and stripped of +conditions. He has found his mother. She is coming down the road--there, +behind the dancing lights, behind the friars, she is coming to pray for +him. Should he fly her recognition or betray his confiding master? Room +there may be to say the alternatives were a judgment upon him, but who +will deny him pity? ... There is often a suffering, sometimes an agony, +in indecision more wearing than disease, deadlier than sword-cuts. + +The mournful pageant was now where its lights brought out parts of the +face of the smoke-stained building. With a loud clang a door was thrown +open, and a friar, in the black vestments usual in masses for the dead, +came out to receive the Countess. The interior behind him was dully +illuminated. A few minutes more, and the opportunity to see her face +would be lost. Still the Emir stood irresolute. Judge the fierceness of +the conflict in his breast! + +At last he moved forward. The acolytes, with their great candles of +yellow wax, were going by as he gained the edge of the road. They looked +at him wonderingly. The friars, in Dominican cassocks, stared at him +also. Then the choir took its turn. The linkman at sight of him stopped +an instant, then marched on. The Emir really beheld none of them; his +eyes and thoughts were in waiting; and now--how his heart beat!--how +wistfully he gazed!--the Countess was before him, not three yards away. + +Her garments, as said, were all black. A thick veil enveloped her head; +upon her breast her crossed hands shone ivory white. Two or three times +the right hand, in signing the cross, uncovered a ring upon the left--the +wedding ring probably. Her bearing was of a person not so old as +persecuted by an engrossing anguish. She did not once raise her face. + +The Emir's heart was full of prayer. + +"O Allah! It is my mother! If I may not speak to her, or kiss her feet-- +if I may not call her mother--if I may not say, mother, mother, behold, I +am thy son come back--still, as thou art the Most Merciful! let me see +her face, and suffer her to see mine--once, O Allah! once, if nevermore!" + +But the face remained covered--and so she passed, but in passing she +prayed. Though the voice was low, lie heard these words: "Oh, sweet +Mother! By the Blessed Son of thy love and passion, remember mine, I +beseech thee. Be with him, and bring him to me quickly. Miserable woman +that I am!" + +The world, and she with it, swam in the tears he no longer tried to +stay. Stretching his arms toward her, he fell upon his knees, then upon +his face; and that the face was in the dust, he never minded. When he +looked up, she was gone on, the last of the procession. And he knew she +had not seen him. + +He followed after. Everybody stood aside to let her enter the door +first. The friar received her; she went in, and directly the linkman +stood alone outside. + +"Stay!" said the linkman, peremptorily. "Who art thou?" + +Thus rudely challenged, the Emir awoke from his daze--awoke with all his +faculties clear. + +"A gentleman of Otranto," he replied. + +"What is thy pleasure?" + +"Admit me to the chapel." + +"Thou art a stranger, and the service is private. Or hast thou been +invited?" + +"No." + +"Thou canst not enter." + +Again the world dropped into darkness before Mirza; but this time it was +from anger. The linkman never suspected his peril. Fortunately for him, +the voice of the female chorister issued from the doorway in tremulous +melody. Mirza listened, and became tranquillized. The voice sank next +into a sweet unearthly pleading, and completely subdued, he began +arguing with himself.... She had not seen him while he was in the dust +at her side, and now this repulse at the door--how were they to be taken +except as expressions of the will of Heaven?... There was plenty of +time--better go away, and return--perhaps to-morrow. He was not prepared +to prove his identity, if it were questioned.... There would be a +scene, and he shrank from it.... Yes, better retire now.... And he +turned to go. Not six steps away, the Countess reappeared to his excited +mind, exactly as she had passed praying for him--reappeared-- + + ... "like the painting of a sorrow." + +A revulsion of feeling seized him--he halted. Oh, the years she had +mourned for him! Her love was deep as the sea! Tears again--and without +thought of what he did--all aimlessly--he returned to the door. + +"This castle was sacked and burned by pirates, was it not?" he asked the +linkman. + +"Yes." + +"They slew the Count Corti?" + +"Yes." + +"And carried off his son?" + +"Yes." + +"Had he other children?" + +"No." + +"What was the name of the boy?" + +"Ugo." + +"Well--in thy ear now--thou didst not well in shutting me out--_I am +that Ugo._" + +Thereupon the Emir walked resolutely away. + +A cry, shrill and broken, overtook him, issuing apparently from the door +of the chapel--a second time he heard it, more a moan than a shriek--and +thinking the linkman had given the alarm, he quickened his pace to a +run, and was soon out on the beach. + +The breath of the sea was pleasant and assuring, and falling into a +walk, he turned his face toward Brindisi. But the cry pursued him. He +imagined the scene in the chapel--the distress of the Countess--the +breaking up of the service--the hurry of question--a consultation, and +possibly search for him. Every person in the procession but the Countess +had seen him; so the only open point in the affair was the one of +directest interest to her: Was it her son? + +Undoubtedly the suffering lady would not rest until investigation was +exhausted. Failing to find the stranger about the castle, horsemen might +be sent out on the road. There is terrible energy in mother-love. These +reflections stimulated the Emir to haste. Sometimes he even ran; only at +the shrine of the Virgin and Child in the angle of the road did he halt. +There he cast himself upon the friendly slab to recover breath. + +All this of course indicated a preference for Mahommed. And now he came +to a decision. He would proceed with the duty assigned him by the young +master; then, at the end, he would come back, and assert himself in his +native land. + +He sat on the slab an hour or more. At intervals the outcry, which he +doubted not was his mother's, rang in his ears, and every time he heard +it, conscience attacked him with its whip of countless stings. Why +subject her to more misery? For what other outcome could there be to the +ceaseless contention of fears and hopes now hers? Oh, if she had only +seen him when he was so near her in the road! That she did not, was the +will of Allah, and the fatalistic Mohammedan teaching brought him a +measure of comfort. In further sooth, he had found a location and a +title. Thenceforward, and not fictitiously, he was the _Count Corti_; and +so entitling himself, he determined to make Brindisi, and take ship for +Genoa or Venice in the morning before a messenger could arrive from the +castle. + +As he arose from the slab, a bird in housel for the night flew out of +the box. Its small cheep reminded him of the smile he had fancied on the +face of the Madonna, and how, a little later, the smile had, with such +timely suggestion of approval, woven itself into his thought of the +Countess. He looked up at the face again; but the night was over it like +a veil, and he went nearer, and laid his hand softly on the Child. That +which followed was not a miracle; only a consequence of the wisdom which +permits the enshrinement of a saintly woman and Holy Child as witnesses +of the Divine Goodness to humanity. He raised himself higher in the box, +and pushing aside a heap of faded floral offerings, kissed the foot of +the taller image, saying: "Thus would I have done to my mother." And +when he had climbed down, and was in the road, it seemed some one +answered him: "Go thy way! God and Allah are the same." We may now urge +the narrative. From Brindisi the Emir sailed to Venice. Two weeks in +"the glorious city in the sea" informed him of it thoroughly. While +there, he found, on the "ways" of an Adriatic builder, the galley in +which we have seen him at anchor in the Golden Horn. Leaving an order +for the employment of a sailing-master and crew when the vessel was +complete, he departed next for Rome. At Padua he procured the harness of +a man-at-arms of the period, and recruited a company of _condottieri_-- +mercenary soldiers of every nationality. With all his sacerdotal +authority, Nicholas V., the Holy Father, was sorely tried in keeping his +States. The freebooters who unctuously kissed his hand to-day, did not +scruple, if opportunity favored, to plunder one of his towns tomorrow. It +befell that Count Corti--so the Emir styled himself--found a Papal castle +beleaguered by marauders, whom he dispersed, slaying their chief with his +own hand. Nicholas, in public audience, asked him to name the reward he +preferred. + +"Knighthood at thy hands, first of all things," was the reply. + +The Holy Father took a sword from one of his officers, and gave him the +_accolade_. + +"What next, my son?" + +"I am tired fighting men who ought to be Christians. Give me, I pray, thy +commission to make war upon the Barbary pirates who infest the seas." + +This was granted him. + +"What next?" + +"Nothing, Holy Father, but thy blessing, and a certificate in good form, +and under seal, of these favors thou hast done me." + +The certificate and the blessing were also granted. + +The Count then dismissed his lances, and, hastening to Naples, embarked +for Venice. There he supplied himself with suits of the finest Milanese +armor he could obtain, and a wardrobe consisting of costumes such as +were in vogue with the gay gallants along the Grand Canal. Crossing to +Tripoli, he boarded a Moorish merchantman, and made prisoners of the +crew and rowers. The prize he gave to his Christian sailors, and sent +them home. Summoning his prisoners on deck, he addressed them in Arabic, +offering them high pay if they would serve him, and they gratefully +accepted his terms. + +The Count then directed his prow to what is now Aleppo, with the purpose +of procuring Arab horses; and having purchased five of the purest blood, +he made sail for Constantinople. + +We shall now, for a time, permit the title _Emir_ to lapse. The knight we +have seen on the deck of the new arrival in the Golden Horn viewing with +melancholy interest the cities on either side of the fairest harbor on +earth, is in easy English speech, _Count Corti_, the Italian. + +Thus far the Count had been successful in his extraordinary mission, yet +he was not happy. He had made three discoveries during his journey--his +mother, his country, his religion. Ordinarily these relations--if we may +so call them--furnish men their greatest sum of contentment; sadly for +him, however, he had made a fourth finding, of itself sufficient to dash +all the others--in briefest term, he was not in condition to acknowledge +either of them. Unable to still the cry heard while retiring from his +father's ruined castle, he surrendered himself more and more to the +wisdom brought away from the box of the Madonna and Child in the angle +of the road to Brindisi--_God and Allah are the same._ Conscience +and a growing sense of misappropriated life were making Count Corti a +very different person from the light-hearted Emir of Mahommed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PRINCESS IRENE IN TOWN + + +An oblong room divided in the middle crosswise by two fluted pillars of +pink-stained marble, light, delicately capped, and very graceful--between +the pillars a segmental arch--between the walls and the pillars square +ties;--the wall above the pillars elaborately scrolled;--three curtains +of woollen stuff uniformly Tyrian dyed filling the open places--the +central curtain drawn to the pillars, and held there by silken ropes +richly tasselled--the side curtains dropped;--a skylight for each +division of the room, and under each skylight an ample brazier dispensing +a comfortable degree of warmth;--floor laid in pink and saffron tiles;-- +chairs with and without arms, some upholstered, all quaintly carved--to +each chair a rug harmoniously colored;--massive tables of carven wood, +the tops of burnished copper inlaid with blocks of jasper, mostly red and +yellow--on the tables murrhine pitchers vase-shaped, with crystal +drinking goblets about them;--the skylights conical and of clear glass;-- +the walls panelled, a picture in every panel, and the raised margins and +the whole space outside done in arabesque of studied involution;--doors +opposite each other and bare;--such was the reception-room in the +town-house of the Princess Irene arranged for the winter. + +On an armless chair in one of the divisions of the beautiful room, the +Princess sat, slightly bending over a piece of embroidery stretched upon +a frame. What with the accessories about her--the chair, a small table +at her right covered with the bright materials in use, the slanted +frame, and a flexible lion's skin under her feet--she was a picture once +seen never forgotten. The wonderful setting of the head and neck upon +the Phidian shoulders was admirably complemented by the long arms, bare, +round, and of the whiteness of an almond kernel freshly broken, the +hands, blue-veined and dimpled, and the fingers, tapering, pliant, +nimble, rapid, each seemingly possessed of a separate intelligence. + +To the left of the Princess, a little removed, Lael half reclined +against a heap of cushions, pale, languid, and not wholly recovered from +the effects of the abduction by Demedes, the terrible doom which had +overtaken her father, and the disappearance of the Prince of India, the +latter unaccountable except upon the hypothesis of death in the great +fire. The dying prayer of the son of Jahdai had not failed with the +Princess Irene. Receiving the unfortunate girl from Sergius the day +after the rescue from the cistern, she accepted the guardianship, and +from that hour watched and tended her with maternal solicitude. + +The other division of the room was occupied by attendants. They were +visible through the opening left by the drawn curtain; yet it is not to +be supposed they were under surveillance; on the contrary, their +presence in the house was purely voluntary. They read, sang, accepted +tasks in embroidery from their mistress, accompanied her abroad, loved +her--in a word, their service was in every respect compatible with high +rank, and in return they derived a certain education from her. For by +universal acknowledgment she was queen and arbiter in the social world +of Byzantium; in manner the mirror, in taste and fashion its very form. +Indeed, she was the subject of but one objection--her persistent protest +against the encumbrance of a veil. + +With all her grave meditation, she never lectured her attendants, +knowing probably that sermons in example are more impressive than +sermons in words. In illustration of the freedom they enjoyed in her +presence and hearing, one of them, behind the curtain, touched a +stringed instrument--a cithern--and followed the prelude with a song of +Anacreontic vein. + + THE GOLDEN NOON. + + If my life were but a day-- + One morn, one night, + With a golden noon for play, + And I, of right, + Could say what I would do + With it--what would I do? + + Penance to me--e'en the stake, + And late or soon!-- + Yet would Love remain to make + That golden noon + Delightful--I would do-- + Ah, Love, what would I do? + +And when the singer ceased there was a merry round of applause. + +The ripple thus awakened had scarcely subsided, when the ancient +Lysander opened one of the doors, and, after ringing the tiled floor +with the butt of his javelin, and bowing statelywise, announced Sergius. +Taking a nod from the Princess, he withdrew to give the visitor place. + +Sergius went first to Irene, and silently kissed her hand; then, leaving +her to resume work, he drew a chair to Lael's side. + +Under his respectful manner there was an ease which only an assurance of +welcome could have brought him. This is not to be taken in the sense of +familiarity; if he ever indulged that vulgarism--something quite out of +character with him--it was not in his intercourse with the Princess. She +did not require formality; she simply received courtesy from everybody, +even the Emperor, as a natural tribute. At the same time, Sergius was +nearer in her regard than any other person, for special reasons. + +We have seen the sympathetic understanding between the two in the matter +of religion. We have seen, also, why she viewed him as a protege. Never +had one presented himself to her so gentle and unconventional never one +knowing so little of the world. With life all before him, with its ways +to learn, she saw he required an adviser through a period of tutelage, +and assumed the relation partly through a sense of duty, partly from +reverent recollection of Father Hilarion. These were arguments sound in +themselves; but two others had recently offered. + +In the first place she was aware of the love which had arisen between +the monk and Lael. She had not striven to spy it out. Like children, +they had affected no disguise of their feeling; and while disallowing +the passion a place in her own breast, she did not deprecate or seek to +smother it in others. Far from that, in these, her wards, so to speak, +it was with her an affair of permissive interest. They were so lovable, +it seemed an order of nature they should love each other. + +Next, the world was dealing harshly with Sergius; and though he strove +manfully to hide the fact, she saw he was suffering. He deserved well, +she thought, for his rescue of Lael, and for the opportunity given the +Emperor to break up the impiety founded by Demedes. Unhappily her +opinion was not subscribed in certain quarters. The powerful Brotherhood +of the St. James' amongst others was in an extreme state of exasperation +with him. They insisted he could have achieved the rescue without the +death of the Greek. They went so far as to accuse him of a double +murder--of the son first, then of the father. A terrible indictment! And +they were bold and open-mouthed. Out of respect for the Emperor, who was +equally outspoken in commendation of Sergius, they had not proceeded to +the point of expulsion. The young man was still of the Brotherhood; +nevertheless he did not venture to exercise any of the privileges of a +member. His cell was vacant. The five services of the day were held in +the chapel without him. In short, the Brotherhood were in wait for an +opportunity to visit him with their vengeance. In hope of a favorable +turn in the situation, he wore the habit of the Order, but it was his +only outward sign of fraternity. Without employment, miserable, he found +lodgment in the residence of the Patriarch, and what time he was not +studying, he haunted the old churches of the city, Sancta Sophia in +especial, and spent many hours a dreaming voyager on the Bosphorus. + +The glad look which shone in the eyes of the invalid when Sergius took +seat by her was very noticeable; and when she reached him her hand, the +kiss he left upon it was of itself a declaration of tender feeling. + +"I hope my little friend is better, to-day," he said, gravely. + +"Yes, much better. The Princess says I may go out soon--the first real +spring day." + +"That is good news. I wish I could hurry the spring. I have everything +ready to take you on the water--a perfect boat, and two master rowers. +Yesterday they carried me to the Black Sea and back, stopping for a +lunch of bread and figs at the foot of the Giants' Mountain. They boast +they can repeat the trip often as there are days in the week." + +"Did you stop at the White Castle?" she asked, with a smile. + +"No. Our noble Princess was not with me; and in her absence, I feared +the Governor might forget to be polite as formerly." + +The gracious lady, listening, bent lower over the frame before her. She +knew so much more of the Governor than Lael did! But Lael then inquired: + +"Where have you been to-day?" + +"Well, my little friend, let me see if I can interest you.... This +morning I awoke betimes, and set myself to study. Oh, those chapters of +John--the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth. There is no need of +religious knowledge beyond them. Of the many things they make clear, +this is the clearest--the joys of eternal life lie in the saying of the +Lord, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the +Father but by Me.' ... After my hours of study, I went to see an old +church over in the low garden grounds beyond the aqueduct. Before I +could get through the doorway, a flock of goats had to pass out. I will +tell His Serenity what I beheld. Better the wreck be cleaned from the +face of the earth than desecrated. Holy ground once, holy ground +forever." + +"Where is the Church?" the Princess inquired. + +"In the low grounds between the aqueduct, and the gates of St. Romain +and Adrianople." + +"It belongs to one of the Brotherhoods. They have farming right in the +soil." + +"I am sorry to hear it." + +As she turned to her work again, he went on with his account of himself. + +"I had then two hours and more till noon, and was at loss what to do. +Finally I decided to go to the Port of Blacherne--a long walk, but not +too long, considering my motive.... Princess, have you heard of the +Italian newly arrived?" + +"What of him, pray?" + +"He is the talk of the city, and if the half told of him be true, we +must needs wonder. He travels in his own ship. Merchants have that +habit, but he is not a merchant. Kings do so, but he is not a king. He +came in saluting with a gun, in style becoming a great admiral; but if +he is an admiral, his nationality is a secret. He also flies an unknown +flag. They report him further as standing much on his deck in a suit of +armor glistening like silver. And what is he? Mouth speaketh unto mouth, +with no one to answer. They go then to his ship, pronouncing it the most +perfect thing of the kind ever seen in the harbor. Those who have rowed +around it say the sailors are not white men, but dark-faced creatures in +turbans and black beards, un-Christian and ugly-looking. Fishermen and +fruiterers have been permitted on deck--nobody else--and they, returning +alive, say the rowers, of whom they caught glimpses, are blacker than +the sailors. They also overheard strange noises below--voices not +human." + +The countenance of the Princess during this recital gradually changed; +she seemed disposed to laugh at the exaggerations of the populace. + +"So much for town-talk," Sergius continued. "To get sight of the ship, +and of the mysterious magnate, I walked across the city to the Port of +Blacherne, and was well rewarded. I found the ship drawn in to the quay, +and the work of unloading her in progress. Parties of porters were +attacking heaps of the cargo already on the landing. Where they were +taking the goods I could not learn. I saw five horses lifted out of the +hold, and led ashore over a bridge dropped from the vessel's side. Such +horses I never before beheld. Two were grays, two bays, and one +chestnut-colored. They looked at the sun with wide-open unwinking eyes; +they inhaled the air as it were something to drink; their coats shone +like silk; their manes were soft like the hair of children; their tails +flared out in the breeze like flags; and everybody exclaimed: 'Arabs, +Arabs!' There was a groom for each horse--tall men, lean, dust-hued, +turbaned, and in black gowns. At sight of the animals, an old Persian +who, from his appearance, might have been grandfather of the grooms, +begged permission--I could not understand the tongue he used--put his +arms around the necks of the animals, and kissed them between the eyes, +his own full of tears the while. I suppose they reminded him of his own +country.... Then two officers from the palace, representatives +doubtless of the Emperor, rode out of the gate in armor, and immediately +the stranger issued from his cabin, and came ashore. I confess I lost +interest in the horses, although he went to them and scanned them over, +lifting their feet and tapping their hoofs with the handle of a dagger. +By that time the two officers were dismounted; and approaching with +great ceremony, they notified him they had been sent by His Majesty to +receive and conduct him to assigned quarters. He replied to them in +excellent Greek, acknowledging His Majesty's graciousness, and the +pleasure he would have in their escort. From the cabin, two of his men +brought a complete equipment, and placed it on the chestnut steed. The +furniture was all sheen of satin and gold. Another attendant brought his +sword and shield; and after the sword was buckled around him, and the +shield at his back, he took hold of the saddle with both hands, and +swung himself into the seat with an ease remarkably in contrast with the +action of his Greek conductors, who, in mounting, were compelled to make +use of their stirrups. The cavalcade then passed the gate into the +city." + +"You saw him closely?" Lael asked. + +"To get to his horse, he passed near me as I am to you, my little +friend." + +"What did he wear?" + +"Oh, he was in armor. A cap of blue steel, with a silver spike on the +crown--neck and shoulders covered with a hood of mail--body in a shirt +of mail, a bead of silver in each link--limbs to the knees in mail. From +the knees down there were splints of steel inlaid with silver; his shoes +were of steel, and on the heels long golden spurs. The hood was clasped +under the chin, leaving the face exposed--a handsome face, eyes black +and bright, complexion olive, though slightly bloodless, expression +pleasant." + +"How old is he?" + +"Twenty-six or seven. Altogether he reminded me of what I have heard of +the warriors who used to go crusading." + +"What following had he?" + +This was from the Princess. + +"I can only speak of what I saw--of the keepers of the horses, and of +the other men, whom, in my unfamiliarity with military fashions, I will +call equerry, armorer, and squire or page. What accounting is to be made +of the ship's company, I leave, O Princess, to your better knowledge." + +"My inquiry was of his personal suite." + +"Then I cannot give you a better answer; but if I may say so much, the +most unusual thing observable in his followers was, they were all +Orientals--not one of them had a Christian appearance." + +"Well"--and the Princess laid her needle down for the first time--"I see +how easily a misunderstanding of the stranger may get abroad. Let me +tell what I know of him.... Directly he arrived, he despatched a letter +to His Majesty, giving an account of himself. He is a soldier by +profession, and a Christian; has spent much time in the Holy Land, where +he acquired several Eastern languages; obtained permission from the +Pontiff Nicholas to make war on the African pirates; manned his galley +with captives; and, not wishing to return to his native land and engage +in the baronial wars which prevail there at present, he offered his +services to His Majesty. He is an Italian nobleman, entitled _Count +Corti,_ and submitted to His Majesty a certificate, under the hand +and seal of the Holy Father, showing that the Holy Father knighted him, +and authorized his crusade against the infidels. The preference for a +following composed of Orientals is singular; but after all, it is only a +matter of taste. The day may come, dear Sergius, when the Christian +world will disapprove his method of getting title to servants; but it is +not here now.... If further discussion of the Count takes place in your +presence, you are at liberty to tell what I tell you. At Blacherne +yesterday I had the particulars, together with the other circumstance, +that the Emperor gladly accepted the Italian's overture, and assigned +him quarters in the Palace of Julian, with leave to moor his galley in +the port there. Few noble foreigners have sought our Empire bringing +better recommendations." + +The fair lady then took up her needle, and was resuming work, when +Lysander entered, and, after thumping the floor, announced: "Three +o'clock." + +The Princess silently arose, and passed out of the room; at the same +time there was a commotion behind the curtain, and presently the other +apartment was vacated. Sergius lingered a moment. + +"Tell me now of yourself," Lael said, giving him her hand. + +He kissed the hand fondly, and replied: "The clouds still hang low and +dark over me; but my faith is not shaken; they will blow away; and in +the meantime, dear little friend, the world is not all cheerless--you +love me." + +"Yes, I love you," she said, with childish simplicity. + +"The Brotherhood has elected a new Hegumen," he continued. + +"A good man, I hope." + +"The violence with which he denounced me was the chief argument in his +favor. But God is good. The Emperor, the Patriarch, and the Princess +Irene remain steadfast. Against them the Hegumen will be slow in +proceeding to my expulsion. I am not afraid. I will go on doing what I +think right. Time and patience are good angels to the unjustly accused. +But that any one should hold it a crime to have rescued you--O little +friend, dear soul! See the live coal which does not cease burning!" + +"And Nilo?" + +"He wants nothing in the way of comforts." + +"I will go see the poor man the first thing when I get out." + +"His cell in the Cynegion is well furnished. The officer in charge has +orders direct from the Emperor to see that he suffers no harm. I saw him +day before yesterday. He does not know why he is a prisoner, but behaves +quietly. I took him a supply of tools, and he passes the time making +things in use in his country, mostly implements of war and hunting. The +walls of his cell are hung with bows, arrows and lances of such curious +form that there is always quite a throng to see them. He actually +divides honor with Tamerlane, the king of the lions." + +"It should be a very noble lion, for that." + +Sergius, seeing her humor, went on: "You say truly, little friend. He +has in hand a net of strong thread and thousands of meshes already. +'What is it for?' I asked. In his pantomimic way he gave me to +understand: 'In my country we hunt lions with it.' 'How?' said I. And he +showed me two balls of lead, one in each corner of the net. Taking the +balls in his hands: 'Now we are in front of the game--now it springs at +us--up they go this way.' He gave the balls a peculiar toss which sent +them up and forward on separating lines. The woven threads spread out in +the air like a yellow mist, and I could see the result--the brute caught +in the meshes, and entangled. Then the brave fellow proceeded with his +pantomime. He threw himself to one side out of the way of the leap--drew +a sword, and stabbed and stabbed--and the triumph in his face told me +plainly enough. 'There--he is dead!' Just now he is engaged on another +work scarcely less interesting to him. A dealer in ivory sent him an +elephant's tusk, and he is covering it with the story of a campaign. You +see the warriors setting out on the march--in another picture they are +in battle--a cloud of arrows in flight--shields on arm--bows bent--and a +forest of spears. From the large end he is working down toward the +point. The finish will be a victory, and a return with captives and +plunder immeasurable.... He is well cared for; yet he keeps asking me +about his master the Prince of India. Where is he? When will he come? +When he turns to that subject I do not need words from him. His soul +gets into his eyes. I tell him the Prince is dead. He shakes his head: +'No, no!' and sweeping a circle in the air, he brings his hands to his +breast, as to say: 'No, he is travelling--he will come back for me.'" + +Sergius had become so intent upon the description that he lost sight of +his hearer; but now a sob recalled him. Bending lower over the hand, he +caressed it more assiduously than ever, afraid to look into her face. +When at length the sobbing ceased, he arose and said, shamefacedly: + +"O dear little friend, you forgive me, do you not?" + +From his manner one would have thought he had committed an offence far +out of the pale of condonement. + +"Poor Sergius," she said. "It is for me to think of you, not you of me." +He tried to look cheerful. + +"It was stupid in me. I will be more careful. Your pardon is a sweet +gift to take away.... The Princess is going to Sancta Sophia, and she +may want me. To-morrow--until to-morrow--good-by." + +This time he stooped, and kissed her on the forehead; next moment she +was alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COUNT CORTI IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + +The Palace of Julian arose the chief embellishment of a large square +enclosure on the sea front southeast of the landmark at present called +the Burnt Column, and, like other imperial properties of the kind, it +was an aggregation of buildings irregular in form and style, and more or +less ornate and imposing. A garden stretched around it. The founder, +wanting private harborage for his galleys and swarm of lesser boats, dug +a basin just inside the city wall, and flooded it with pure Marmoran +water; then, for ingress and egress at his sovereign will, he slashed +the wall, and of the breach made the _Port of Julian_. [Footnote: +Only a shallow depression in the ground, faintly perpetuating the +outlines of the harbor, now marks the site of this royal residence.] + +Count Corti found the Palace well preserved in and out. He had not +purposed hiding himself, yet it was desirable to keep his followers +apart much as possible; and for that a situation more to his wish could +scarcely have been chosen in the capital. + +Issuing from the front door, a minute's walk through a section of the +garden brought him to a stairway defended on both sides with massive +balustrading. The flight ended in a spacious paved landing; whence, +looking back and up, he could see two immense columnar pedestals +surmounted by statues, while forward extended the basin, a sheet of +water on which, white and light as a gull, his galley rested. He had but +to call the watchman on its deck, and a small boat would come to him in +a trice. He congratulated himself upon the lodgement. + +The portion of the Palace assigned him was in the south end; and, +although he enlisted a number of skilful upholsterers, a week and more +was industriously taken with interior arrangements for himself, and in +providing for the comfort and well-being of his horses; for it is to be +said in passing, he had caught enough of the spirit of the nomadic Turk +to rate the courser which was to bear him possibly through foughten +fields amongst the first in his affections. In this preparation, keeping +the scheme to which his master had devoted him ever present, he required +no teaching to point out the policy of giving his establishment an air +of permanence as well as splendor. + +Occupied as he was, he had nevertheless snatched time to look in upon +the Hippodrome, and walk once around the Bucoleon and Sancta Sophia. +From a high pavilion overhanging his quarters, he had surveyed the +stretches of city in the west and southwest, sensible of a lively desire +to become intimately acquainted with the bizarre panorama of hills +behind hills, so wonderfully house and church crowned. + +To say truth, however, the Count was anxious to hear from the Sultan +before beginning a career. The man who was to be sent to him might +appear any hour, making it advisable to keep close home. He had a report +of the journey to Italy, and of succeeding events, including his arrival +at Constantinople, ready draughted, and was impatient to forward it. A +word of approval from Mahommed would be to him like a new spirit given. +He counted upon it as a cure for his melancholia. + +Viewing the galley one day, he looked across the basin to where the +guard of the Port was being changed, and was struck with the foreign air +of the officer of the relief. This, it happened, was singularly pertinent +to a problem which had been disturbing his active mind--how he could most +safely keep in communication with Mahommed, or, more particularly, how +the Sultan's messenger could come with the most freedom and go with the +least hindrance. A solution now presented itself. If the Emperor +intrusted the guardianship of the gate to one foreigner, why not to +another? In other words, why not have the duty committed to himself and +his people? Not improbably the charge might be proposed to him; he would +wait awhile, and see; if, however, he had to formally request it, could +anything be more plausibly suggestive than the relation between the +captaincy of that Port and residence in the Palace of Julian? The idea +was too natural to be refused; if granted, he was master of the +situation. It would be like holding the keys of the city. He could send +out and admit as need demanded; and then, if flight became imperative, +behold a line of retreat! Here was his galley--yonder the way out. + +While he pondered the matter, a servant brought him notice of an officer +from Blacherne in waiting. Responding immediately, he found our ancient +friend the Dean in the reception room, bringing the announcement that +His Majesty the Emperor had appointed audience for him next day at noon; +or, if the hour was not entirely convenient, would the Count be pleased +to designate another? His Majesty was aware of the attention needful to +a satisfactory settlement in strange quarters, and had not interrupted +him earlier; for which he prayed pardon. + +The Count accepted the time set; after which he conducted his visitor +through his apartments, omitting none of them; from the kitchen he even +carried him to the stable, whence he had the horses brought one by one. +Hospitality and confidence could go no further, and he was amply +rewarded. The important functionary was pleased with all he saw, and +with nothing more than Corti himself. There could not be a doubt of the +friendliness of the report he would take back to Blacherne. In short, +the Count's training in a court dominated by suspicion to a greater +degree even than the court in Constantinople was drawn upon most +successfully. A glass of wine at parting redolent with the perfume of +the richest Italian vintage fixed the new-comer's standing in the Dean's +heart. If there had been the least insufficiency in the emblazoned +certificate of the Holy Father, here was a swift witness in +confirmation. + +The day was destined to be eventful to the Count. While he was +entertaining the Dean, the men on the deck of the galley, unused to +Byzantine customs, were startled by a cry, long, swelling, then +mournfully decadent. Glancing in the direction from which it came, they +saw a black boat sweeping through the water-way of the Port. A man of +dubious complexion, tall and lithe, his scant garments originally white, +now stiff with dirt of many hues, a ragged red head-cloth illy confining +his coarse black hair, stood in the bow shouting, and holding up a +wooden tray covered with fish. The sentinel to whom he thus offered the +stock shook his head, but allowed him to pass. At the galley's side +there was an interchange of stares between the sailors and the +fishermen--such the tenants of the black craft were--leaving it doubtful +which side was most astonished. Straightway the fellow in the bow opened +conversation, trying several tongues, till finally he essayed the +Arabic. + +"Who are you?" + +"Sailors." + +"Where from?" + +"Tripoli." + +"Children of the Prophet?" + +"We believe in Allah and the Last Day, and observe prayer, and pay the +appointed alms, and dread none but Allah; we are among the rightly +guided." [Footnote: Koran, IX. 18.] + +"Blessed be Allah! May his name be exalted here and everywhere!" the +fisherman returned; adding immediately: "Whom serve you?" + +"A _Scherif_ from Italy." + +"How is he called?" + +"The Count." + +"Where is he?" + +"In the Palace yonder." + +"A Christian?" + +"A Christian with an Eastern tongue; and he knows the hours of prayer, +and observes them." + +"Does he reside here?" + +"He is Lord of the Palace." + +"When did he arrive?" + +"Since the moon fulled." + +"Does he want fish?" + +The men on the ship laughed. + +"Go ask him." + +"That is his landing there?" + +"Yes." + +"All men who live down by the sea eat fish--when they can get them," the +dealer said, solemnly. Turning then to his rowers, he bade them: +"Forward to the landing." + +There he stepped out, dextrously balanced the tray on his head, ascended +the stairs, and in front of the great house went persistently from door +to door until he came to that of the Count. + +"Fish?" he asked the man who answered his knock. + +"I will see." + +The doorkeeper returned shortly, and said, "No." + +"Are you a Moslem?" the fisherman inquired. + +"Yes. Blessed be Allah for the right understanding!" + +"So am I. Now let me see the master. I want to furnish him with fish for +the season." + +"He is engaged." + +"I will wait for him. Tell him my catch is this morning's--red mullets +and choice cuts from a royal sword-fish that leaped ten feet in the air +with the spear in his back." + +Thereupon he deposited the tray, and took seat by it, much as to say, +Time is of no consequence to me. Ere long the Count appeared with the +Dean. He glanced at the tray, then at the fisherman--to the latter he +gave a second look. + +"What beautiful fish!" he said, to the Dean. + +"Yes, yes--there are no fish pastures like those of our Bosphorus." + +"How do you call this kind?" + +"Mullets--red mullets. The old Romans used to fatten them in tanks." + +"I thought I had seen their like on our Italian coasts. How do you +prepare them for the table?" + +"We fry them, Count, in olive oil--pure oil." + +All this time Corti was studying the fisherman. + +"What meal, pray, will fashion allow them to me dished?" he went on. + +"For breakfast especially; though when you come to dine with His Majesty +do not be surprised to see them early in course." + +"Pardon the detention, my Lord--I will make trial of these in the +morning." Then to the fisherman the Count said, carelessly: "Keep thy +place until I return." + +Corti saw the Dean out of the eastern gate of the enclosure, and +returned. + +"What, still here!" he said, to the dealer. "Well, go with the +doorkeeper to the kitchen. The cook will take what he needs for +to-morrow." Speaking to the doorkeeper then: "Bring the man to me. I am +fond of fishing, and should like to talk with him about his methods. +Sometime he may be willing to take me with him." + +By and by the monger was shown into the Count's room, where there was a +table, with books and writing material--a corner room full lighted by +windows in the south and east. When they were alone, the two gazed at +each other. + +"Ali, son of Abed-din!" said the Count. "Is it thou?" + +"O Emir! All of me that is not fish is the Ali thou hast named." + +"God is great!" the first exclaimed. + +"Blessed be God!" the other answered. + +They were acquaintances of long standing. + +Then Ali took the red rag from his head, and from its folds produced a +strip of fine parchment with writing on it impervious to water. "Behold, +Emir! It is for thee." + +The Count received the scrip and read: + +"This is he I promised to send. He has money for thee. Thou mayst trust +him. Tell me this time of thyself first; then of her; but always after +of her first. My soul is scorching with impatience." + +There was no date to the screed nor was it signed; yet the Count put it +to his forehead and lips. He knew the writing as he knew his own hand. + +"O Ali!" he said, his eyes aglow. "Hereafter thou shalt be Ali the +Faithful, son of Abed-din the Faithful." + +Ali replied with a rueful look: "It is well. What a time I have had +waiting for you! Much I fear my bones will never void the damps blown +into them by the winter winds, and I perched on the cross-sticks of a +floating _dallyan_.... I have money for you, O Emir! and the keeping it +has given me care more than enough to turn another man older than his +mother. I will bring it to-morrow; after which I shall say twenty prayers +to the Prophet--blessed be his name!--where now I say one." + +"No, not to-morrow, Ali, but the day after when thou bringest me another +supply of fish. There is danger in coming too often--and for that, thou +must go now. Staying too long is dangerous as coming too often.... But +tell me of our master. Is he indeed the Sultan of Sultans he promised to +be? Is he well? Where is he? What is he doing?" + +"Not so fast, O Emir, not so fast, I pray you! Better a double mouthful +of stale porpoise fat, with a fin bone in it, than so many questions at +once." + +"Oh, but I have been so long in the slow-moving Christian world without +news!" + +"Verily, O Emir, Padishah Mahommed will be greatest of the _Gabour_ +eaters since Padishah Othman--that to your first. He is well. His bones +have reached their utmost limit, but his soul keeps growing--that to +your second. He holds himself at Adrianople. Men say he is building +mosques. I say he is building cannon to shoot bullets big as his +father's tomb; when they are fired, the faithful at Medina will hear the +noise, and think it thunder--that to your third. And as to his doing-- +getting ready for war, meaning business for everybody, from the +Shiek-ul-Islam to the thieving tax-farmers of Bagdad--to the Kislar-Jinn +of Abad-on with them. He has the census finished, and now the Pachas go +listing the able-bodied, of whom they have half a million, with as many +more behind. They say the young master means to make a _sandjak_ of +unbelieving Europe." + +"Enough, Ali!--the rest next time." + +The Count went to the table, and from a secret drawer brought a package +wrapped in leather, and sealed carefully. + +"This for our Lord--exalted be his name! How wilt thou take it?" + +Ali laughed. + +"In my tray to the boat, but the fish are fresh, and there are flowers +of worse odor in Cashmere. So, O Emir, for this once. Next time, and +thereafter, I will have a hiding-place ready." + +"Now, Ali, farewell. Thy name shall be sweet in our master's ears as a +girl-song to the moon of Ramazan. I will see to it." + +Ali took the package, and hid it in the bosom of his dirty shirt. When +he passed out of the front door, it lay undistinguishable under the fish +and fish meat; and he whispered to the Count in going: "I have an order +from the Governor of the White Castle for my unsold stock. God is +great!" + +Corti, left alone, flung himself on a chair. He had word from Mahommed-- +that upon which he counted so certainly as a charm in counteraction of +the depression taking possession of his spirit. There it was in his hand, +a declaration of confidence unheard of in an Oriental despot. Yet the +effect was wanting. Even as he sat thinking the despondency deepened. He +groped for the reason in vain. He strove for cheer in the big war of +which Ali had spoken--in the roar of cannon, like thunder in Medina--in +Europe a Sultanic _sandjak_. He could only smile at the exaggeration. In +fact, his trouble was the one common to every fine nature in a false +position. His business was to deceive and betray--whom? The degradation +was casting its shadow before. Heaven help when the eclipse should be +full! + +For relief he read the screed again: "Tell me this time of thyself +first; then of _her_." ... Ah, yes, the kinswoman of the Emperor! +He must devise a way to her acquaintance, and speedily. And casting +about for it, he became restless, and finally resolved to go out into +the city. He sent for the chestnut Arab, and putting on the steel cap +and golden spurs had from the Holy Father was soon in the saddle. + +It was about three o'clock afternoon, with a wind tempered to mildness +by a bright sun. The streets were thronged, while the balconies and +overhanging windows had their groups on the lookout for entertainment +and gossip. As may be fancied the knightly rider and gallant barb, +followed by a dark-skinned, turbaned servant in Moorish costume, +attracted attention. Neither master nor man appeared to give heed to the +eager looks and sometimes over-loud questions with which they were +pursued. + +Turning northward presently, the Count caught sight of the dome of +Sancta Sophia. It seemed to him a vast, upturned silver bowl glistening +in the sky, and he drew rein involuntarily, wondering how it could be +upheld; then he was taken with a wish to go in, and study the problem. +Having heard from Mahommed, he was lord of his time, and here was noble +diversion. + +In front of the venerable edifice, he gave his horse to the dark-faced +servant, and entered the outer court unattended. + +A company, mixed apparently of every variety of persons, soldiers, +civilians, monks, and women, held the pavement in scattered groups; and +while he halted a moment to survey the exterior of the building, cold +and grimly plain from cornice to base, he became himself an object of +remark to them. About the same time a train of monastics, bareheaded, +and in long gray gowns, turned in from the street, chanting monotonously, +and in most intensely nasal tones. The Count, attracted by their pale +faces, hollow eyes and unkept beards, waited for them to cross the court. +Unkept their beards certainly were, but not white. This was the beginning +of the observation he afterward despatched to Mahommed: Only the walls of +Byzantium remain for her defence; the Church has absorbed her young men; +the sword is discarded for the rosary. Nor could he help remarking that +whereas the _frati_ of Italy were fat, rubicund, and jolly, these seemed +in search of death through the severest penitential methods. His thought +recurring to the house again, he remembered having heard how every hour +of every day from five o'clock in the morning to midnight was filled with +religious service of some kind in Sancta Sophia. + +A few stone steps the full length of the court led up to five great +doors of bronze standing wide open; and as the train took one of the +latter and began to disappear, he chose another, and walked fast in +order to witness the entry. Brought thus into the immense vestibule, he +stopped, and at once forgot the gray brethren. Look where he might, at +the walls, and now up to the ceiling, every inch of space wore the +mellowed brightness of mosaic wrought in cubes of glass exquisitely +graduated in color. What could he do but stand and gaze at the Christ in +the act of judging the world? Such a cartoon had never entered his +imagination. The train was gone when he awoke ready to proceed. + +There were then nine doors also of bronze conducting from the vestibule. +The central and larger one was nearest him. Pushed lightly, it swung +open on noiseless hinges; a step or two, and he stood in the nave or +auditorium of the Holy House. + +The reader will doubtless remember how Duke Vlodomir, the grandson of +Olga, the Russian, coming to Constantinople to receive a bride, entered +Sancta Sophia the first time, and from being transfixed by what he saw +and heard, fell down a convert to Christianity. Not unlike was the +effect upon Corti. In a sense he, too, was an unbeliever semi-barbaric +in education. Many were the hours he had spent with Mahommed while the +latter, indulging his taste, built palaces and mosques on paper, +striving for vastness and original splendor. But what was the Prince's +utmost achievement in comparison with this interior? Had it been an +ocean grotto, another Caprian cave, bursting with all imaginable +revelations of light and color, he could not have been more deeply +impressed. Without architectural knowledge; acquainted with few of the +devices employed in edificial construction, and still less with the +mysterious power of combination peculiar to genius groping for effects +in form, dimensions, and arrangement of stone on stone with beautiful +and sublime intent; yet he had a soul to be intensely moved by such +effects when actually set before his eyes. He walked forward slowly four +or five steps from the door, looking with excited vision--not at details +or to detect the composition of any of the world of objects constituting +the view, or with a thought of height, breadth, depth, or value--the +marbles of the floor rich in multiformity and hues, and reflective as +motionless water, the historic pillars, the varied arches, the extending +galleries, the cornices, friezes, balustrades, crosses of gold, mosaics, +the windows and interlacing rays of light, brilliance here, shadows +yonder--the apse in the east, and the altar built up in it starry with +burning candles and glittering with prismatic gleams shot from precious +stones and metals in every conceivable form of grace--lamps, cups, +vases, candlesticks, cloths, banners, crucifixes, canopies, chairs, +Madonnas, Child Christs and Christs Crucified--and over all, over lesser +domes, over arches apparently swinging in the air, broad, high, near yet +far away, the dome of Sancta Sophia, defiant of imitation, like unto +itself alone, a younger sky within the elder--these, while he took those +few steps, merged and ran together in a unity which set his senses to +reeling, and made question and thought alike impossible. + +How long the Count stood thus lost to himself in the glory and greatness +of the place, he never knew. The awakening was brought about by a strain +of choral music, which, pouring from the vicinity of the altar +somewhere, flooded the nave, vast as it was, from floor to dome. No +voice more fitting could be imagined; and it seemed addressing itself to +him especially. He trembled, and began to think. + +First there came to him a comparison in which the Kaaba was a relative. +He recalled the day he fell dying at the corner under the Black Stone. +He saw the draped heap funereally dismal in the midst of the cloisters. +How bare and poor it seemed to him now! He remembered the visages and +howling of the demoniac wretches struggling to kiss the stone, though +with his own kiss he had just planted it with death. How different the +worship here! ... This, he thought next, was his mother's religion. And +what more natural than that he should see that mother descending to the +chapel in her widow's weeds to pray for him? Tears filled his eyes. His +heart arose chokingly in his throat. Why should not her religion be his? +It was the first time he had put the question to himself directly; and +he went further with it. What though Allah of the Islamite and Jehovah +of the Hebrew were the same?--What though the Koran and the Bible +proceeded from the same inspiration?--What though Mahomet and Christ +were alike Sons of God? There were differences in the worship, +differences in the personality of the worshippers. Why, except to allow +every man a choice according to his ideas of the proper and best in form +and companionship? And the spirit swelled within him as he asked, Who +are my brethren? They who stole me from my father's house, who slew my +father, who robbed my mother of the lights of life, and left her to the +darkness of mourning and the bitterness of ungratified hope--were not +they the brethren of my brethren? + +At that moment an old man appeared before the altar with assistants in +rich canonicals. One placed on the elder's head what seemed a crown all +a mass of flaming jewels; another laid upon him a cloak of cloth of +gold; a third slipped a ring over one of his fingers; whereupon the +venerable celebrant drew nearer the altar, and, after a prayer, took up +a chalice and raised it as if in honor to an image of Christ on a cross +in the agonies of crucifixion. Then suddenly the choir poured its +triumphal thunder abroad until the floor, and galleries, and pendant +lamps seemed to vibrate. The assistants and worshippers sank upon their +knees, and ere he was aware the Count was in the same attitude of +devotion. + +The posture consisted perfectly with policy, his mission considered. +Soon or late he would have to adopt every form and observance of +Christian worship. In this performance, however, there was no +premeditation, no calculation. In his exaltation of soul he fancied he +heard a voice passing with the tempestuous jubilation of the singers: +"On thy knees, O apostate! On thy knees! God is here!" + +But his was a combative nature; and coming to himself, and not +understanding clearly the cause of his prostration, he presently arose. +Of the worshippers in sight, he alone was then standing, and the +sonorous music ringing on, he was beginning to doubt the propriety of +his action, when a number of women, unobserved before, issued from a +shaded corner at the right of the apse, fell into processional order, +and advanced slowly toward him. + +One moved by herself in front. A reflection of her form upon the +polished floor lent uncertainty to her stature, and gave her an +appearance of walking on water. Those following were plainly her +attendants. They were all veiled; while a white mantle fell from her +left shoulder, its ends lost in the folds of the train of her gown, +leaving the head, face, and neck bare. Her manner, noticeable in the +distance even, was dignified without hauteur, simple, serious, free of +affectation. She was not thinking of herself.... Nearer--he heard no +foot-fall. Now and then she glided through slanting rays of soft, white +light cast from upper windows, and they seemed to derive ethereality +from her.... Nearer--and he could see the marvellous pose of the head, +and the action of the figure, never incarnation more graceful.... Yet +nearer--he beheld her face, in complexion a child's, in expression a +woman's. The eyes were downcast, the lips moved. She might have been the +theme of the music sweeping around her in acclamatory waves, drowning +the part she was carrying in suppressed murmur. He gazed steadfastly at +the countenance. The light upon the forehead was an increasing radiance, +like a star's refined by passage through the atmospheres of infinite +space. A man insensitive to beauty in woman never was, never will be. +Vows cannot alter nature; neither can monkish garbs nor years; and it is +knowledge of this which makes every woman willing to last sacrifices for +the gift; it is power to her, vulgarizing accessories like wealth, +coronets and thrones. With this confession in mind, words are not needed +to inform the reader of the thrills which assailed the Count while the +marvel approached. + +The service was over as to her, and she was evidently seeking to retire +by the main door; but as he stood in front of it, she came within two or +three steps before noticing him. Then she stopped suddenly, astonished +by the figure in shining armor. A flush overspread her face; smiling at +her alarm, she spoke: "I pray pardon, Sir Knight, for disturbing thy +devotions." + +"And I, fair lady, am grateful to Heaven that it placed me in thy way to +the door unintentionally." + +He stepped aside, and she passed on and out. + +The interior of the church, but a minute before so overwhelmingly +magnificent and impressive, became commonplace and dull. The singing +rolled on unheard. His eyes fixed on the door through which she went; +his sensations were as if awakening from a dream in which he had seen a +heavenly visitant, and been permitted to speak to it. + +The spell ceased with the music; then, with swift returning sense, he +remembered Mahommed's saying: "Thou wilt know her at sight." + +And he knew her--the _Her_ of the screed brought only that day by +Ali. + +Nor less distinctly did he recall every incident of the parting with +Mahommed, every word, every injunction--the return of the ruby ring, +even then doubtless upon the imperious master's third finger, a subject +of hourly study--the further speech, "They say whoever looketh at her is +thenceforward her lover"--and the final charge, with its particulars, +concluding: "Forget not that in Constantinople, when I come, I am to +receive her from thy hand peerless in all things as I left her." + +His shoes of steel were strangely heavy when he regained his horse at +the edge of the court. For the first time in years, he climbed into the +saddle using the stirrup like a man reft of youth. He would love the +woman--he could not help it. Did not every man love her at sight? + +The idea colored everything as he rode slowly back to his quarters. + +Dismounting at the door, it plied him with the repetition, _Every man +loves her at sight_. + +He thought of training himself to hate her, but none the less through +the hours of the night he heard the refrain, _Every man loves her at +sight_. + +In a clearer condition, his very inability to shut her out of mind, +despite his thousand efforts of will, would have taught him that another +judgment was upon him. + +HE LOVED HER. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + + +At noon the days are a little more yellow, and the shadows a trifle +longer, while at evening the snows on the far mountains give the air a +coolness gently admonitory of the changing season; with these exceptions +there is scarcely a difference between the September to which we now +come and the closing stages of June. + +Count Corti is fully settled in his position. Withal, however, he is +very miserable. A new light has been let in upon his being. He finds it +a severe trial to serve a Mahommedan, knowing himself a Christian born, +and still more difficult trying to be a Turk, knowing himself an +Italian. The stings grow sharper as experience makes it plainer that he +is nefariously helping those whom he ought to regard enemies destroy an +Emperor and people who never gave him offence. Worst of all, most +crushing to spirit, is his passion for the Princess Irene while under +obligations to Mahommed prohibitory of every hope, dream, and +self-promise ordinarily the sweetest incidents of love. + +The person with a mental ailment curable by prompt decision, who yet +goes about debating what to do, will ere long find his will power so +weakened as to leave him a confirmed wreck. Count Corti seemed likely to +become an instance in point. The months since his visit to the paternal +castle in Italy, really the beginning of the conflicts tossing him now +here, now there, were full of warnings he could but hear; still he +continued his course. + +His reports to Mahommed were frequent, and as they are of importance to +our story, we think it advisable to quote from some of them. + +The following is from his first communication after the visit to Sancta +Sophia: + +"I cast myself at your feet, O my Lord, praying Allah to keep you in +health, and strengthen the wise designs which occupy you incessantly.... +You bade me always speak first of the kinswoman of the Emperor. Yesterday +I rode to the Church supreme in the veneration of the Greeks, erected, it +is said, by the Emperor Justinian. Its vastness amazed me, and, knowing +my Lord's love for such creations, I declare, were there no other +incentive to the conquest of this unbelieving city than the reduction of +Sancta Sophia to the religious usages of Islam, its possession would +alone justify my Lord's best effort, regardless of life and treasure. The +riches accumulated in it through the ages are incalculable; nevertheless +its splendors, dazzling as the sun, varied as a rainbow, sunk out of +sight when the Princess Irene passed me so near that I had a perfect view +of her. Her face is composed of the light of unnumbered stars. The union +of all the graces in her person is so far above words that Hafiz, my +Lord's prince of poets, would have been dumb before her, or, if he had +spoken, it would have been to say, She is the Song of Songs impossible to +verse. She spoke to me as she moved by, and her voice was the voice of +Love. Yet she had the dignity of a Queen governing the world through a +conqueror such as my Lord is to be. Then, the door having closed upon +her, I was ready to declare, as I now do, were there no other incentive +to the conquest of this unbelieving city than the possession of the +womanly perfections belonging to her, she would justify war to the +exhaustion of the universe. O my Lord, thou only art worthy of her! And +how infinite will be my happiness, if the Prophet through his powerful +intercessions with the Most Merciful, permits me to be the servant +instrumental in bringing her safely to thy arms!" This report concluded: + +"By appointment of His Majesty, the Emperor, I had audience with him +yesterday at his High Residence, the Palace of Blacherne. The Court was +in full attendance, and, after my presentation to His Majesty, I was +introduced to its members. The ceremony was in charge of the Grand +Chamberlain, that Phranza with whom my Lord is acquainted. Much I feared +lest he should recognize me. Fortunately he is dull and philosophical, +and too much given to study of things abstract and far away to be +mindful of those close under his nose. Duke Notaras was there also. He +conversed with me about Italy. Fortunately I knew more about the +_Gabour_ country than he--its nobles, cities, manners, and present +conditions. He thanked me for information, and when he had my account of +the affair which brought me the invaluable certificate of the Bishop of +Rome he gave over sounding me. I have more reason to be watchful of him +than all the rest of the court; _so has the Emperor_. Phranza is a +man to be spared. Notaras is a man to be bowstrung.... I flatter myself +the Emperor is my friend. In another month I shall be intrenched in his +confidence. He is brave, but weak. An excellent general without +lieutenants, without soldiers, and too generous and trustful for a +politician, too religious for a statesman. His time is occupied entirely +with priests and priestly ceremonies. My Lord will appreciate the resort +which enabled me to encamp myself in his trust. Of the five Arab horses +I brought with me from Aleppo, I gave him one--a gray, superior to the +best he has in his stables. He and his courtiers descended in a body to +look at the barb and admire it." + +From the third report: + +"A dinner at the High Residence. There were present officers of the army +and navy, members of the Court, the Patriarch, a number of the +Clergy--Hegumen, as they are called--and the Princess Irene, with a +large suite of highborn ladies married and unmarried. His Majesty was +the Sun of the occasion, the Princess was the Moon. He sat on a raised +seat at one side of the table; she opposite him; the company according +to rank, on their right and left. I had eyes for the Moon only, thinking +how soon my Lord would be her source of light, and that her loveliness, +made up of every loveliness else in the world, would then be the fitting +complement of my Lord's glory.... His Majesty did me the honor to lead +me to her, and she did me the higher honor of permitting me to kiss her +hand. In further thought of what she was to my Lord, I was about making +her a salaam, but remembered myself--Italians are not given to that mode +of salutation, while the Greeks reserve it for the Emperor, or Basileus +as he is sometimes called.... She condescended to talk with me. Her +graces of mind are like those of her person--adorable.... I was very +deferent, and yielded the choice of topics. She chose two--religion and +arms. Had she been a man, she would have been a soldier; being a woman, +she is a religious devotee. There is nothing of which she is more +desirous than the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre to the Christian +powers. She asked me if it were true the Holy Father commissioned me to +make war on the Tripolitan pirates, and when I said yes, she replied +with a fervor truly engaging: 'The practice of arms would be the noblest +of occupations if it were given solely to crusading.' ... She then +adverted to the Holy Father. I infer from her speaking of the Bishop of +Rome as the Holy Father that she inclines to the party which believes +the Bishop rightfully the head of the Church. How did he look? Was he a +learned man? Did he set a becoming example to his Clergy? Was he liberal +and tolerant? If great calamity were to threaten Christianity in the +East, would he lend it material help?... My Lord will have a time +winning the Princess over to the Right Understanding; but in the fields +of Love who ever repented him of his labor? When my Lord was a boy, he +once amused himself training a raven and a bird of paradise to talk. The +raven at length came to say, 'O Allah, Allah!' The other bird was beyond +teaching, yet my Lord loved it the best, and excused his partiality: +'Oh, its feathers are so brilliant!'" + +Again: + +"A few days ago, I rode out of the Golden Gate, and turning to the +right, pursued along the great moat to the Gate St. Romain. The wall, or +rather the walls, of the city were on my right hand, and it is an +imposing work. The moat is in places so cumbered I doubt if it can be +everywhere flooded.... I bought some snow-water of a peddler, and +examined the Gate in and out. Its central position makes it a key of +first importance. Thence I journeyed on surveying the road and adjacent +country up far as the Adrianople gate.... I hope my Lord will find the +enclosed map of my reconnoissance satisfactory. It is at least +reliable." + +Again: + +"His Majesty indulged us with a hawking party. We rode to the Belgrade +forest from which Constantinople is chiefly though not entirely supplied +with water.... My Lord's Flower of Flowers, the Princess, was of the +company. I offered her my chestnut courser, but she preferred a jennet. +Remembering your instructions, O my Lord, I kept close to her bridle. +She rides wonderfully well; yet if she had fallen, how many prayers to +the Prophet, what amount of alms to the poor, would have availed me with +my Lord?... Riding is a lost art with the Greeks, if the ever possessed +it. The falcon killed a heron beyond a hill which none of them, except +the Emperor, dared cross in their saddles. Some day I will show them how +we of my Lord's loving ride.... The Princess came safely home." + +Again: + +"O my Lord in duty always!... I paid the usual daily visit to the +Princess, and kissed her hand upon my admission and departing. She has +this quality above other women--she is always the same. The planets +differ from her in that they are sometimes overcast by clouds.... From +her house, I rode to the imperial arsenal, situated in the ground story +of the Hippodrome, northern side. [Footnote: Professor E A Grosvenor.] It +is well stored with implements of offence and defence--mangonels, +balistas, arbalists, rams--cranes for repairing breaches--lances, +javelins, swords, axes, shields, scutums, pavises, armor--timber for +ships--cressets for night work--ironmonger machines--arquebuses, but of +antique patterns--quarrels and arrows in countless sheaves--bows of +every style. In brief, as my Lord's soul is dauntless, as he is an +eagle, which does not abandon the firmament scared by the gleam of a +huntsman's helmet in the valley, he can bear to hear that the Emperor +keeps prepared for the emergencies of war. Indeed, were His Majesty as +watchful in other respects, he would be dangerous. Who are to serve all +these stores? His native soldiers are not enough to make a bodyguard for +my Lord. Only the walls of Byzantium remain for her defence. The Church +has swallowed the young men; the sword is discarded for the rosary. +Unless the warriors of the West succor her, she will be an easy prey." + +Again: + +"My Lord enjoined me to be royal.... I have just returned from a sail up +the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in my galley. The decks were crowded with +guests. Under a silken pavilion pitched on the roof of my cabin, there +was a throne for the Princess Irene, and she shone as the central jewel +in a kingly crown.... We cast anchor in the bay of Therapia, and went +ashore to her palace and gardens. On the outside face of one of the +gate-columns, she showed me a brass plate. I recognized my Lord's +signature and safeguard, and came near saluting them with a +_rik'rath_, but restraining myself, asked her innocently, 'What it +was?' O my Lord, verily I congratulate you! She blushed, and cast down +her eyes, and her voice trembled while she answered: 'They say the +Prince Mahommed nailed it there.' 'What Prince Mahommed?' 'He who is now +Sultan of the Turks.' 'He has been here, then? Did you see him?' 'I saw +an Arab story-teller.' Her face was the hue of a scarlet poppy, and I +feared to go further than ask concerning the plate: 'What does it mean?' +And she returned: 'The Turks never go by without prostrating themselves +before it. They say it is notice to them that I, and my house and +grounds, are sacred from their intrusion.' And then I said: 'Amongst +peoples of the East and the Desert, down far as the Barbary coast, the +Sultan Mahommed has high fame for chivalry. His bounties to those once +fortunate enough to excite his regard are inexhaustible.' She would have +had me speak further of you, but out of caution, I was driven to declare +I knew nothing beyond the hearsay of the Islamites among whom I had been +here and there cast.... My Lord will not require me to describe the +palace by Therapia. He has seen it.... The Princess remained there. I +was at sore loss, not knowing how I could continue to make report of her +to my Lord, until, to my relief she invited me to visit her." + +Again: + +"I am glad to say, for my Lord's sake, that the October winds, sweeping +down from the Black Sea, have compelled his Princess to return to her +house in the city, where she will abide till the summer comes again. I +saw her to-day. The country life has retouched her cheeks with a +just-sufficient stain of red roses; her lips are scarlet, as if she had +been mincing fresh-blown bloom of pomegranates; her eyes are clear as a +crooning baby's; her neck is downy--round as a white dove's; in her +movements afoot, she reminds me of the swaying of a lily-stalk brushed +softly by butterflies and humming-birds, attracted to its open cup of +paradisean wax. Oh, if I could but tell her of my Lord!"... + +This report was lengthy, and included the account of an episode more +personal to the Sultanic emissary than any before given his master. It +was dated October. The subjoined extracts may prove interesting. + +... "Everybody in the East has heard of the Hippodrome, whither I went +one day last week, and again yesterday. It was the mighty edifice in +which Byzantine vanity aired itself through hundreds of years. But +little of it is now left standing. At the north end of an area probably +seventy paces wide, and four hundred long, is a defaced structure with a +ground floor containing the arsenal, and on that, boxes filled with +seats. A lesser building rises above the boxes which is said to have +been a palace called the _Kathisma_, from which the Emperor looked +down upon the various amusements of the people, such as chariot racing, +and battles between the Blue and Green factions. Around the area from +the _Kathisma_ lie hills of brick and marble--enough to build the +Palace as yet hid in my Lord's dreams, and a mosque to becomingly house +our Mohammedan religion. In the midst, marking a line central of the +race-course, are three relics--a square pillar quite a hundred feet +high, bare now, but covered once with plates of brass--an obelisk from +Egypt--and a twisted bronze column, representing three writhing +serpents, their heads in air. [Footnote: The Hippodrome was the popular +pleasure resort in Constantinople. Besides accommodating one hundred +thousand spectators, it was the most complete building for the purposes +of its erection ever known. The world--including old Rome--had been +robbed of statuary for the adornment of this extravaganza. Its enormous +level posed in great part upon a substructure of arches on arches, which +still exist. The opinion is quite general that it was destroyed by the +Turks, and that much of its material went to construct the Mosque +Sulymanie. The latter averment is doubtless correct; but it is only +justice to say that the Crusaders, so called Christians, who encamped in +Constantinople in 1204 were the real vandals. For pastime, merely, they +plied their battle-axes on the carvings, inscriptions, and vast +collection of statuary in marble and bronze found by them on the spinet, +and elsewhere in the edifice. When they departed, the Hippodrome was an +irreparable ruin--a convenient and lawful quarry.]... The present +Emperor does not honor the ruin with his presence; but the people come, +and sitting in the boxes under the KATHISMA, and standing on the heaps +near by, find diversion watching the officers and soldiers exercising +their horses along the area.... My Lord must know, in the next place, +that there is in the city a son of the Orchan who terms himself lawful +heir of Solyman of blessed memory--the Orchan pretender to my Lord's +throne, whom the Greeks have been keeping in mock confinement--the +Orchan who is the subject of the present Emperor's demand on my Lord for +an increase of the stipend heretofore paid for the impostor's support. +The son of the pretender, being a Turk, affects the martial practices +prevalent with us, and enjoys notoriety for accomplishments as a +horseman, and in the tourney play djerid. He is even accredited with an +intention of one day taking the field against my Lord--this when his +father, the old Orchan, dies.... When I entered the Hippodrome one day +last week, Orchan the younger occupied the arena before the Kathisma. +The boxes were well filled with spectators. Some officers of my +acquaintance were present, mounted like myself, and they accosted me +politely, and eulogized the performance. Afterwhile I joined in their +commendation, but ventured to say I had seen better exercise during my +sojourn among the infidels in the Holy Land. They asked me if I had any +skill. 'I cannot call it skill,' I said; 'but my instruction was from a +noble master, the Sheik of the Jordan.' Nothing would rest them then but +a trial. At length I assented on condition that the Turk would engage me +in a tourney or a combat without quarter--bow, cimeter, spear--on +horseback and in Moslem armor. They were astonished, but agreed to carry +the challenge.... Now, O my Lord, do not condemn me. My residence here +has extended into months, without an incident to break the peace. Your +pleasure is still my rule. I keep the custom of going about on horseback +and in armor. Once only--at His Majesty's dinner--I appeared in a +Venetian suit--a red mantle and hose, one leg black, the other yellow-- +red-feathered cap, shoes with the long points chained to my knees. Was +there not danger of being mistaken for a strutting bird of show? If my +hand is cunning with weapons, should not the Greeks be taught it? How +better recommend myself to His Majesty of Blacherne? Then, what an +opportunity to rid my Lord of future annoyance! Old Orchan cannot live +much longer, while this cheeping chicken is young.... The son of the +pretender, being told I was an Italian, replied he would try a tourney +with me; if I proved worthy, he would consider the combat.... Yesterday +was the time for the meeting. There was a multitude out as witnesses, the +Emperor amongst others. He did not resort to the _Kathisma,_ but kept his +saddle, with a bodyguard of horsemen at his back. His mount was my gray +Arab.... We began with volting, demi-volting, jumping, wheeling in +retreat, throwing the horse. Orchan was a fumbler.... We took to bows +next, twelve arrows each. At full speed he put two bolts in the target, +and I twelve, all in the white ring.... Then spear against cimeter. I +offered him choice, and he took the spear. In the first career, the +blunted head of his weapon fell to the ground shorn off close behind the +ferrule. The spectators cheered and laughed, and growing angry, Orchan +shouted it was an accident, and challenged me to combat. I accepted, but +His Majesty interposed--we might conclude with the spear and sword in +tourney again.... My antagonist, charged with malicious intent, resolved +to kill me. I avoided his shaft, and as his horse bolted past on my left, +I pushed him with my shield, and knocked him from the saddle. They picked +him up bleeding nose and ears. His Majesty invited me to accompany him to +Blacherne.... I left the Hippodrome sorry not to have been permitted to +fight the vain fool; yet my repute in Constantinople is now undoubtedly +good--I am a soldier to be cultivated." + +Again: + +"His Majesty has placed me formally in charge of the gate in front of my +quarters. Communication with my Lord is now at all times easy. _The +keys of the city are in effect mine._ Nevertheless I shall continue +to patronize Ali. His fish are the freshest brought to market." + +Again: + +"O my Lord, the Princess Irene is well and keeps the morning colors in +her cheeks for you. Yet I found her quite distraught. There was +unwelcome news at the Palace from His Majesty's ambassador at +Adrianople. The Sultan had at last answered the demand for increase of +the Orchan stipend--not only was the increase refused, but the stipend +itself was withdrawn, and a peremptory order to that effect sent to the +province whence the fund has been all along collected.... I made a +calculation, with conclusion that my report of the tourney with young +Orchan reached my Lord's hand, and I now am patting myself on the back, +happy to believe it had something to do with my Lord's decision. The +imposition deserved to have its head blown off. Orchan is a dotard. His +son's ears are still impaired. In the fall the ground caught him crown +first. He will never ride again. The pretension is over.... I rode from +the Princess' house directly to Blacherne. The Grand Council was in +session: yet the Prefect of the Palace admitted me.... O my Lord, this +Constantine is a man, a warrior, an Emperor, surrounded by old women +afraid of their shadows. The subject of discussion when I went in was +the news from Adrianople. His Majesty was of opinion that your decision, +coupled with the order discontinuing the stipend, was sign of a hostile +intent. He was in favor of preparing for war. Phranza thought diplomacy +not yet spent. Notaras asked what preparations His Majesty had in mind. +His Majesty replied, buying cannon and powder, stocking the magazines +with provisions for a siege, increasing the navy, repairing the walls, +clearing out the moat. He would also send an embassy to the Bishop of +Rome, and through him appeal to the Christian powers of Europe for +assistance in men and money. Notaras rejoined instantly: 'Rather than a +Papal Legate in Constantinople, he would prefer a turbaned Turk.' The +Council broke up in confusion.... Verily, O my Lord, I pitied the +Emperor. So much courage, so much weakness! His capital and the slender +remnant of his empire are lost unless the _Gabours_ of Venice and +Italy come to his aid. Will they? The Holy Father, using the +opportunity, will try once more to bring the Eastern Church to its +knees, and failing, will leave it to its fate. If my Lord knocked at +these gates to-morrow, Notaras would open one of them, and I another.... +Yet the Emperor will fight. He has the soul of a hero." + +Again: + +"The Princess Irene is inconsolable. Intensely Greek, and patriotic, and +not a little versed in politics, she sees nothing cheering in the +situation of the Empire. The vigils of night in her oratory are leaving +their traces on her face. Her eyes are worn with weeping. I find it +impossible not to sympathize with so much beauty tempered by so many +virtues. When the worst has befallen, perhaps my Lord will know how to +comfort her." + +Finally: + +"It is a week since I last wrote my Lord. Ali has been sick but keeps in +good humor, and says he will be well when Christian winds cease blowing +from Constantinople. He prays you to come and stop them.... The +diplomatic mishaps of the Emperor have quickened the religious feuds of +his subjects. The Latins everywhere quote the speech of Notaras in the +Council: 'Rather than a Papal Legate in Constantinople, I prefer a +turbaned Turk'--and denounce it as treason to God and the State. It +certainly represents the true feeling of the Greek clergy; yet they are +chary in defending the Duke.... The Princess is somewhat recovered, +although perceptibly paler than is her wont. She is longing for the +return of spring, and promises herself health and happiness in the +palace at Therapia.... To-morrow, she informs me, there is to be a +special grand service in Sancta Sophia. The Brotherhoods here and +elsewhere will be present. I will be there also. She hopes peace and +rest from doctrinal disputes will follow. We will see." + +The extracts above given will help the reader to an idea of life in +Constantinople; more especially they portray the peculiar service +rendered by Corti during the months they cover. + +There are two points in them deserving special notice: The warmth of +description indulged with respect to the Princess Irene and the betrayal +of the Emperor. It must not be supposed the Count was unaware of his +perfidy. He did his writing after night, when the city and his own +household were asleep; and the time was chosen, not merely for greater +security from discovery, but that no eye might see the remorse he +suffered. How often he broke off in the composition to pray for strength +to rescue his honor, and save himself from the inflictions of +conscience! There were caverns in the mountains and islands off in the +mid-seas: why not fly to them? Alas! He was now in a bondage which made +him weak as water. It was possible to desert Mahommed, but not the +Princess. The dangers thickening around the city were to her as well. +Telling her of them were useless; she would never abandon the old +Capital; and it was the perpetually recurring comparison of her strength +with his own weakness which wrought him his sharpest pangs. Writing of +her in poetic strain was easy, for he loved her above every earthly +consideration: but when he thought of the intent with which he +wrote--that he was serving the love of another, and basely scheming to +deliver her to him--there was no refuge in flight; recollection would go +with him to the ends of the earth--better death. Not yet--not yet--he +would argue. Heaven might send him a happy chance. So the weeks melted +into months, and he kept the weary way hoping against reason, +conspiring, betraying, demoralizing, sinking into despair. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUR LORD'S CREED + + +Proceeding now to the special service mentioned in the extract from the +last report of Count Corti to Mahommed. + +The nave of Sancta Sophia was in possession of a multitude composed of +all the Brotherhoods of the city, interspersed with visiting delegations +from the monasteries of the Islands and many of the hermitic colonies +settled in the mountains along the Asiatic shore of the Marmora. In the +galleries were many women; amongst them, on the right-hand side, the +Princess Irene. Her chair rested on a carpeted box a little removed from +the immense pilaster, and raised thus nearly to a level with the top of +the balustrade directly before her, she could easily overlook the floor +below, including the apse. From her position everybody appeared dwarfed; +yet she could see each figure quite well in the light of the forty +arched windows above the galleries. + +On the floor the chancel, or space devoted to the altar, was separated +from the body of the nave by a railing of Corinthian brass, inside +which, at the left, she beheld the Emperor, in Basilean regalia, seated +on a throne--a very stately and imposing figure. Opposite him was the +chair of the Patriarch. Between the altar and the railing arose a +baldacchino, the canopy of white silk, the four supporting columns of +shining silver. Under the canopy, suspended by a cord, hung the vessel +of gold containing the Blessed Sacraments; and to the initiated it was a +sufficient publication of the object of the assemblage. + +Outside the railing, facing the altar, stood the multitude. To get an +idea of its appearance, the reader has merely to remember the description +of the bands marching into the garden of Blacherne the night of the +_Pannychides_. There were the same gowns black and gray; the same +tonsured heads, and heads shock-haired; the same hoods and glistening +rosaries; the same gloomy, bearded faces; the same banners, oriflammes, +and ecclesiastical gonfalons, each with its community under it in a +distinctive group. Back further towards the entrances from the vestibule +was a promiscuous host of soldiers and civilians; having no part in the +service, they were there as spectators. + +The ceremony was under the personal conduct of the Patriarch. Silence +being complete, the choir, invisible from the body of the nave, began +its magnificent rendition of the _Sanctus_--"Holy, holy, holy, Lord +God of Sabaoth. Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. +Hosanna in the highest"--and during the singing, His Serenity was +clothed for the rite. Over his cassock, the deacons placed the surplice +of white linen, and over that again a stole stiff with gold embroidery. +He then walked slowly to the altar, and prayed; and when he had himself +communicated, he was led to the baldacchino, where he blessed the Body +and the Blood, and mixed them together in chalices, ready for delivery +to the company of servers kneeling about him. The Emperor, who, in +common with the communicants within and without the railing, had been on +his knees, arose now and took position before the altar in a prayerful +attitude; whereupon the Patriarch brought him a chalice on a small +paten, and he put it to his lips, while the choir rang the dome with +triumphal symphony. + +His Serenity next returned to the baldacchino, and commenced giving the +cups to the servers; at the same time the gate leading from the chancel +to the nave was thrown open. Nor rustle of garment, nor stir of foot was +heard. + +Then a black-gowned figure arose amidst a group not far from the gate, +and said, in a hoarse voice, muffled by the flaps of the hood covering +his head and face: + +"We are here, O Serenity, by thy invitation--here to partake of the Holy +Eucharist--and I see thou art about sending it to us. Now not a few +present believe there is no grace in leavened bread, and others hold it +impiety to partake thereof. Wherefore tell us"-- + +The Patriarch looked once at the speaker; then, delivering the chalice, +signed the servers to follow him; next instant, he stood in the open +gateway, and with raised hands, cried out: + +"Holy things to the holy!" + +Repeating the ancient formula, he stepped aside to allow the cup-bearers +to pass into the nave; but they stood still, for there came a skurry of +sound not possible of location, so did it at the same moment seem to be +from the dome descending and from the floor going up to the dome. It was +the multitude rising from their knees. + +Now the Patriarch, though feeble in body, was stout of soul and +ready-witted, as they usually are whose lives pass in combat and fierce +debate. Regarding the risen audience calmly, he betook himself to his +chair, and spoke to his assistants, who brought a plain chasuble, and +put it on him, covering the golden stole completely. When he again +appeared in the spaceway of the open gate, as he presently did, every +cleric and every layman in the church to whom he was visible understood +he took the interruption as a sacrilege from which he sought by the +change of attire to save himself. + +"Whoso disturbs the Sacrament in celebration has need of cause for that +he does; for great is his offence whatever the cause." + +The Patriarch's look and manner were void of provocation, except as one, +himself rudely disposed, might discover it in the humility somewhat too +studied. + +"I heard my Brother--it would be an untruth to say I did not--and to go +acquit of deceit, I will answer him, God helping me. Let me say first, +while we have some differences in our faith, there are many things about +which we are agreed, the things in agreement outnumbering those in +difference; and of them not the least is the Real Presence once the +Sacraments are consecrated. Take heed, O Brethren! Do any of you deny +the Real Presence in the bread and wine of communion?" + +No man made answer. + +"It is as I said--not one. Look you, then, if I or you--if any of us be +tempted to anger or passionate speech, and this house, long dedicated to +the worship of God, and its traditions of holiness too numerous for +memory, and therefore of record only in the Books of Heaven, fail the +restraints due them, lo, Christ is here--Christ in Real Presence--Christ +our Lord in Body and Blood!" + +The old man stood aside, pointing to the vessel under the baldacchino, +and there were sighs and sobs. Some shouted: "Blessed be the Son of +God!" + +The sensation over, the Patriarch continued: + +"O my Brother, take thou answer now. The bread is leavened. Is it +therefore less grace-giving?" + +"No, no!" But the response was drowned by an affirmative yell so strong +there could be no doubt of the majority. The minority, however, was +obstinate, and ere long the groups disrupted, and it seemed every man +became a disputant. Now nothing serves anger like vain striving to be +heard. The Patriarch in deep concern stood in the gateway, exclaiming: +"Have a care, O Brethren, have a care! For now is Christ here!" And as +the babble kept increasing, the Emperor came to him. + +"They are like to carry it to blows, O Serenity." + +"Fear not, my son, God is here, and He is separating the wheat from the +chaff." + +"But the blood shed will be on my conscience, and the _Panagia_"-- + +The aged Prelate was inflexible. "Nay, nay, not yet! They are Greeks. +Let them have it out. The day is young; and how often is shame the +miraculous parent of repentance." + +Constantine returned to his throne, and remained there standing. + +Meantime the tumult went on until, with shouting and gesticulating, and +running about, it seemed the assemblage was getting mad with drink. +Whether the contention was of one or many things, who may say? Well as +could be ascertained, one party, taking cue from the Patriarch, +denounced the interruption of the most sacred rite; the other +anathematized the attempt to impose leavened bread upon orthodox +communicants as a scheme of the devil and his arch-legate, the Bishop of +Rome. Men of the same opinions argued blindly with each other; while +genuine opposition was conducted with glaring eyes, swollen veins, +clinched hands, and voices high up in the leger lines of hate and +defiance. The timorous and disinclined were caught and held forcibly. In +a word, the scene was purely Byzantine, incredible of any other people. + +The excitement afterwhile extended to the galleries, where, but that the +women were almost universally of the Greek faction, the same passion +would have prevailed; as it was, the gentle creatures screamed +_azymite, azymite_ in amazing disregard of the proprieties. The +Princess Irene, at first pained and mortified, kept her seat until +appearances became threatening; then she scanned the vast pit long and +anxiously; finally her wandering eyes fell upon the tall figure of +Sergius drawn out of the mass, but facing it from a position near the +gate of the brazen railing. Immediately she settled back in her chair. + +To justify the emotion now possessing her, the reader must return to the +day the monk first presented himself at her palace near Therapia. He +must read again the confession, extorted from her by the second perusal +of Father Hilarion's letter, and be reminded of her education in the +venerated Father's religious ideas, by which her whole soul was adherent +to his conceptions of the Primitive Church of the Apostles. Nor less +must the reader suffer himself to be reminded of the consequences to +her--of the judgment of heresy upon her by both Latins and Greeks--of +her disposition to protest against the very madness now enacting before +her--of her longing, Oh, that I were a man!--of the fantasy that Heaven +had sent Sergius to her with the voice, learning, zeal, courage, and +passion of truth to enable her to challenge a hearing anywhere-of the +persistence with which she had since cared for and defended him, and +watched him in his studies, and shared them with him. Nor must the later +incident, the giving him a copy of the creed she had formulated--the +Creed of Nine Words--be omitted in the consideration. + +Now indeed the reader can comprehend the Princess, and the emotions with +which she beheld the scene at her feet. The Patriarch's dramatic warning +of the Real Presence found in her a ready second; for keeping strictly +to Father Hilarion's distinction between a right Creed and a form or +ceremony for pious observance, the former essential to salvation, the +latter merely helpful to continence in the Creed, it was with her as if +Christ in glorified person stood there under the baldacchino. What +wonder if, from indignation at the madness of the assembly, the +insensate howling, the blasphemous rage, she passed to exaltation of +spirit, and fancied the time good for a reproclamation of the Primitive +Church? + +Suddenly a sharper, fiercer explosion of rage arose from the floor, and +a rush ensued--the factions had come to blows! + +Then the Patriarch yielded, and at a sign from the Emperor the choir +sang the _Sanctus_ anew. High and long sustained, the sublime +anthem rolled above the battle and its brutalism. The thousands heard +it, and halting, faced toward the apse, wondering what could be coming. +It even reached into the vortex of combat, and turned all the unengaged +there into peacemakers. + +Another surprise still more effective succeeded. Boys with lighted +candles, followed by bearers of smoking censers, bareheaded and in +white, marched slowly from behind the altar toward the open gate, +outside which they parted right and left, and stopped fronting the +multitude. A broad banner hung to a cross-stick of gold, heavy with +fringing of gold, the top of the staff overhung with fresh flowers in +wreaths and garlands, the lower corners stayed by many streaming white +ribbons in the hands of as many holy men in white woollen chasubles +extending to the bare feet, appeared from the same retreat, carried by +two brethren known to every one as janitors of the sacred chapel on the +hill-front of Blacherne. + +The Emperor, the Patriarch, the servers of the chalices, the whole body +of assistants inside the railing, fell upon their knees while the banner +was borne through the gate, and planted on the floor there. Its face was +frayed and dim with age, yet the figure of the woman upon it was plain +to sight, except as the faint gray smoke from the censers veiled it in a +vanishing cloud. + +Then there was an outburst of many voices: + +"The _Panagia!_ The _Panagia!_" + +The feeling this time was reactionary. + +"O Blessed Madonna!--Guardian of Constantinople!--Mother of God!--Christ +is here!--Hosannas to the Son and to the Immaculate Mother!" With these, +and other like exclamations, the mass precipitated itself forward, and, +crowding near the historic symbol, flung themselves on the floor before +it, grovelling and contrite, if not conquered. + +The movement of the candle and censer bearers outside the gate forced +Sergius nearer it; so when the _Panagia_ was brought to a rest, he, +being much taller than its guardians, became an object of general +observation, and wishing to escape it if possible, he took off his high +hat; whereupon his hair, parted in the middle, dropped down his neck and +back fair and shining in the down-beating light. + +This drew attention the more. Did any of the prostrate raise their eyes +to the Madonna on the banner, they must needs turn to him next; and +presently the superstitious souls, in the mood for miracles, began +whispering to each other: + +"See--it is the Son--it is the Lord himself!" + +And of a truth the likeness was startling; although in saying this, the +reader must remember the difference heretofore remarked between the +Greek and Latin ideals. + +About that time Sergius looked up to the Princess, whose face shone out +of the shadows of the gallery with a positive radiance, and he was +electrified seeing her rise from her chair, and wave a hand to him. + +He understood her. The hour long talked of, long prepared for, was at +last come--the hour of speech. The blood surged to his heart, leaving +him pallid as a dead man. He stooped lower, covered his eyes with his +hands, and prayed the wordless prayer of one who hastily commits himself +to God; and in the darkness behind his hands there was an illumination, +and in the midst of it a sentence in letters each a lambent flame--the +Creed of Father Hilarion and the Princess Irene--our Lord's Creed: + +"I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON." + +This was his theme! + +With no thought of self, no consciousness but of duty to be done, +trusting in God, he stood up, pushed gently through the kneeling boys +and guardians of the _Panagia_, and took position where all eyes +could look at the Blessed Mother slightly above him, and then to +himself, in such seeming the very Son. It might have been awe, it might +have been astonishment, it might have been presentiment; at all events, +the moaning, sobbing, praying, tossing of arms, beating of breasts, with +the other outward signs of remorse, grief and contrition grotesque and +pitiful alike subsided, and the Church, apse, nave and gallery, grew +silent--as if a wave had rushed in, and washed the life out of it. + +"Men and brethren," he began, "I know not whence this courage to do +comes, unless it be from Heaven, nor at whose word I speak, if not that +Jesus of Nazareth, worker of miracles which God did by him anciently, +yet now here in Real Presence of Body and Blood, hearing what we say, +seeing what we do." + +"Art thou not He?" asked a hermit, half risen in front of him, his wrap +of undressed goatskin fallen away from his naked shoulders. + +"No; his servant only am I, even as thou art--his servant who would not +have forsaken him at Gethsemane, who would have given him drink on the +Cross, who would have watched at the door of his tomb until laid to +sleep by the Delivering Angel--his servant not afraid of Death, which, +being also his servant, will not pass me by for the work I now do, if +the work be not by his word." + +The voice in this delivery was tremulous, and the manner so humble as to +take from the answer every trace of boastfulness. His face, when he +raised it, and looked out over the audience, was beautiful. The +spectacle offered him in return was thousands of people on their knees, +gazing at him undetermined whether to resent an intrusion or welcome a +messenger with glad tidings. + +"Men and brethren," he continued, more firmly, casting the old +Scriptural address to the farthest auditor, "now are you in the anguish +of remorse; but who told you that you had offended to such a degree? See +you not the Spirit, sometimes called the Comforter, in you? Be at ease, +for unto us are repentance and pardon. There were who beat our dear +Lord, and spit upon him, and tore his beard; who laid him on a cross, +and nailed him to it with nails in his hands and feet; one wounded him +in the side with a spear; yet what did he, the Holy One and the Just? +Oh! if he forgave them glorying in their offences, will he be less +merciful to us repentant?" + +Raising his head a little higher, the preacher proceeded, with increased +assurance: + +"Let me speak freely unto you; for how can a man repent wholly, if the +cause of his sin be not laid bare that he may see and hate it? + +"Now before our dear Lord departed out of the world, he left sayings, +simple even to children, instructing such as would be saved unto +everlasting life what they must do to be saved. Those sayings I call our +Lord's Creed, by him delivered unto his disciples, from whom we have +them: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and +believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.' So we have the +First Article--belief in God. Again: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he +that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' Behold the Second +Article--belief in Christ. + +"Now, for that the Son, and he who sent him, are at least in purpose +one, belief in either of them is declared sufficient; nevertheless it +may be simpler, if not safer, for us to cast the Two Articles together +in a single phrase; we have then a Creed which we may affirm was made +and left behind him by our Lord himself: + +I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON. + +And when we sound it, lo! two conditions in all; and he who embraces +them, more is not required of him; he is already passed from death unto +life--everlasting life. + +"This, brethren, is the citadel of our Christian faith; wherefore, to +strengthen it. What was the mission of Jesus Christ our Lord to the +world? Hear every one! What was the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ? +Why was he sent of God, and born into the world? Hearing the question, +take heed of the answer: He was sent of God for the salvation of men. +You have ears, hear; minds, think; nor shall one of you, the richest in +understanding of the Scriptures, in walk nearest the Sinless Example, +ever find another mission for him which is not an arraignment of the +love of his Father. + +"Then, if it be true, as we all say, not one denying it, that our Lord +brought to his mission the perfected wisdom of his Father, how could he +have departed from the world leaving the way of salvation unmarked and +unlighted? Or, sent expressly to show us the way, himself the appointed +guide, what welcome can we suppose he would have had from his Father in +Heaven, if he had given the duty over to the angels? Or, knowing the +deceitfulness of the human heart, and its weakness and liability to +temptation, whence the necessity for his coming to us, what if he had +given the duty over to men, so much lower than the angels, and then gone +away? Rather than such a thought of him, let us believe, if the way had +been along the land, he would have planted it with inscribed hills; if +over the seas, he would have sown the seas with pillars of direction +above the waves; if through the air, he would have made it a path +effulgent with suns numerous as the stars. 'I am the Way,' he +said--meaning the way lies through me; and you may come to me in the +place I go to prepare for you, if only you believe in God and me. Men +and brethren, our Lord was true to his mission, and wise in the wisdom +of his Father." + +At this the hermit in front of the preacher, uttering a shill cry, +spread his arms abroad, and quivered from head to foot. Many of those +near sprang forward to catch him. + +"No, leave him alone," cried Sergius, "leave him alone. The cross he +took was heavy of itself; but upon the cross you heaped conditions +without sanction, making a burden of which he was like to die. At last +he sees how easy it is to go to his Master; that he has only to believe +in God and the Master. Leave him with the truth; it was sent to save, +not to kill." + +The excitement over, Sergius resumed: + +"I come now, brethren, to the cause of your affliction. I will show it +to you; that is to say, I will show you why you are divided amongst +yourselves, and resort to cruelty one unto another; as if murder would +help either side of the quarrel. I will show your disputes do not come +from anything said or done by our Lord, whose almost last prayer was +that all who believed in him might be made perfect in one. + +"It is well known to you that our Lord did not found a Church during his +life on earth, but gave authority for it to his Apostles. It is known to +you also that what his Apostles founded was but a community: for such is +the description: 'And all that believed were together, and had all +things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to +all men, as every man had need.' [Footnote: Acts ii. 44, 45.] And again: +'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one +soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he +possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' 'Neither was +there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of +lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that +were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution +was made unto every man according as he had need.' [Footnote: Acts iv. +32, 34, 35.] But in time this community became known as the Church; and +there was nothing of it except our Lord's Creed, in definition of the +Faith, and two ordinances for the Church--Baptism for the remission of +sins, that the baptized might receive the Comforter, and the Sacraments, +that believers, often as they partook of the Body and Blood of Christ, +might be reminded of him. + +"Lo, now! In the space of three generations this Church, based upon this +simple Creed, became a power from Alexandria to Lodinum; and though +kings banded to tread it out; though day and night the smell of the +blood of the righteous spilt by them was an offence to God; though there +was no ingenuity more amongst men except to devise methods for the +torture of the steadfast--still the Church grew; and if you dig deep +enough for the reasons of its triumphant resistance, these are they: +there was Divine Life in the Creed, and the Community was perfect in +one; insomuch that the brethren quarrelled not among themselves; neither +was there jealousy, envy or rivalry among them; neither did they dispute +about immaterial things, such as which was the right mode of baptism, or +whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened, or whence the Holy +Ghost proceeded, whether from the Father or from the Father and Son +together; neither did the elders preach for a price, nor forsake a poor +flock for a rich one that their salaries might be increased, nor engage +in building costly tabernacles for the sweets of vanity in tall spires; +neither did any study the Scriptures seeking a text, or a form, or an +observance, on which to go out and draw from the life of the old +Community that they might set up a new one; and in their houses of God +there were never places for the men and yet other separate places for +the women of the congregation; neither did a supplicant for the mercy of +God look first at the garments of the neighbor next him lest the mercy +might lose a virtue because of a patch or a tatter. The Creed was too +plain for quibble or dispute; and there was no ambition in the Church +except who should best glorify Christ by living most obedient to his +commands. Thence came the perfection of unity in faith and works; and +all went well with the Primitive Church of the Apostles; and the Creed +was like unto the white horse seen by the seer of the final visions, and +the Church was like him who sat upon the horse, with a bow in his hand, +unto whom a crown was given; and he went forth conquering and to +conquer." + +Here the audience was stirred uncontrollably; many fell forward upon +their faces; others wept, and the nave resounded with rejoicing. In one +quarter alone there was a hasty drawing together of men with frowning +brows, and that was where the gonfalon of the Brotherhood of the St. +James' was planted. The Hegumen, in the midst of the group, talked +excitedly, though in a low tone. + +"I will not ask, brethren," Sergius said, in continuance, "if this +account of the Primitive Church be true; you all do know it true; yet I +will ask if one of you holds that the offending of which you would +repent--the anger, and bitter words, and the blows--was moved by +anything in our Lord's Creed, let him arise, before the Presence is +withdrawn, and say that he thinks. These, lending their ears, will hear +him, and so will God. What, will not one arise? + +"It is not necessary that I remind you to what your silence commits you. +Rather suffer me to ask next, which of you will arise and declare, our +Lord his witness, that the Church of his present adherence is the same +Church the Apostles founded? You have minds, think; tongues, speak." + +There was not so much as a rustle on the floor. + +"It was well, brethren, that you kept silence; for, if one had said his +Church was the same Church the Apostles founded, how could he have +absolved himself of the fact that there are nowhere two parties each +claiming to be of the only true Church? Or did he assert both claimants +to be of the same Church, and it the only true one, then why the refusal +to partake of the Sacraments? Why a division amongst them at all? Have +you not heard the aforetime saying, 'Every kingdom divided against +itself is brought to desolation'? + +"Men and brethren, let no man go hence thinking his Church, whichever it +be, is the Church of the Apostles. If he look for the community which +was the law of the old brotherhood, his search will be vain. If he look +for the unity, offspring of our Lord's last prayer, lo! jealousies, +hates, revilements, blows instead. No, your Creed is of men, not Christ, +and the semblance of Christ in it is a delusion and a snare." At this +the gonfalon of the St. James' was suddenly lifted up, and borne forward +to within a few feet of the gate, and the Hegumen, standing in front of +it, cried out: + +"Serenity, the preacher is a heretic! I denounce"-- + +He could get no further; the multitude sprang to foot howling. The +Princess Irene, and the women in the galleries, also arose, she pale and +trembling. Peril to Sergius had not occurred to her when she gave him +the signal to speak. The calmness and resignation with which he looked +at his accuser reminded her of his Master before Pilate, and taking seat +again, she prayed for him, and the cause he was pleading. + +At length, the Patriarch, waving his hand, said: + +"Brethren, it may be Sergius, to whom we have been listening, has his +impulse of speech from the Spirit, even as he has declared. Let us be +patient and hear him." + +Turning to Sergius, he bade him proceed. + +"The three hundred Bishops and Presbyters from whom you have your Creeds, +[Footnote: _Encyclopedia Brit.,_ VI. 560.] O men and brethren"--so the +preacher continued--"took the Two Articles from our Lord's Creed, and +then they added others. Thus, which of you can find a text of our Lord +treating of his procession from the substance of God? Again, in what +passage has our Lord required belief in the personage of the Holy Ghost +as an article of faith essential to salvation? [Footnote: Four Creeds are +at present used in the Roman Catholic Church; viz., the Apostles' Creed, +the Nicene, the Athanasian, that of Pius IV--ADD. and AR., _Catholic +Dictionary,_ 232.] 'I am the Way,' said our Lord. 'No,' say the three +hundred, 'we are the way; and would you be saved, you must believe in us +not less than in God and his Son.'" + +The auditors a moment before so fierce, even the Hegumen, gazed at the +preacher in a kind of awe; and there was no lessening of effect when his +manner underwent a change, his head slightly drooping and his voice +plaintive. + +"The Spirit by whose support and urgency I have dared address you, +brethren, admonishes me that my task is nearly finished." + +He took hold of the corner of the _Panagia;_ so all in view were +more than ever impressed with his likeness to their ideal of the Blessed +Master. + +"The urgency seemed to me on account of your offence to the Real +Presence so graciously in our midst; for truly when we are in the depths +of penitence it is our nature to listen more kindly to what is imparted +for our good; wherefore, as you have minds, I beg you to think. If our +Lord did indeed leave a Creed containing the all in all for our +salvation, what meant he if not that it should stand in saving purity +until he came again in the glory of his going? And if he so intended, +and yet uninspired men have added other Articles to the simple faith he +asked of us, making it so much the harder for us to go to him in the +place he has prepared for us, are they not usurpers? And are not the +Articles which they have imposed to be passed by us as stratagems +dangerous to our souls? + +"Again. The excellence of our Lord's Creed by which it may be always +known when in question, its wisdom superior to the devices of men, is +that it permits us to differ about matters outside of the faith without +weakening our relations to the Blessed Master or imperilling our lot in +his promises. Such matters, for example, as works, which are but +evidences of faith and forms of worship, and the administration of the +two ordinances of the Church, and God and his origin, and whether Heaven +be here or there, or like unto this or that. For truly our Lord knew us, +and that it was our nature to deal in subtleties and speculate of things +not intended we should know during this life; the thought of our minds +being restless and always running, like the waters of a river on their +way to the sea. + +"Again, brethren. If the Church of the Apostles brought peace to its +members, so that they dwelt together, no one of them lacking or in need, +do not your experiences of to-day teach you wherein your Churches, being +those built upon the Creed of the three hundred Bishops, are unlike it? +Moreover, see you not if now you have several Churches, some amongst +you, the carping and ambitious, will go out and in turn set up new +Confessions of Faith, and at length so fill the earth with rival +Churches that religion will become a burden to the poor and a byword +with fools who delight in saying there is no God? In a village, how much +better one House of God, with one elder for its service, and always +open, than five or ten, each with a preacher for a price, and closed +from Sabbath to Sabbath? For that there must be discipline to keep the +faithful together, and to carry on the holy war against sin and its +strongholds and captains, how much better one Church in the strength of +unity than a hundred diversely named and divided against themselves? + +"The Revelator, even that John who while in the Spirit was bidden. +'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and +the things which shall be hereafter,' wrote, and at the end of his book +set a warning: 'If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add +unto him the plagues that are written in this book.' I cannot see, +brethren, wherein that crime is greater than the addition of Articles to +our Lord's Creed; nor do I know any who have more reason to be afraid of +those threatened plagues than the priest or preacher who from pride or +ambition, or dread of losing his place or living, shall wilfully stand +in the way of a return to the Church of the Apostles and its unity. +Forasmuch as I also know what penitential life is, and how your minds +engage themselves in the solitude of your cells, I give you whereof to +think. Men and brethren, peace unto you all!" + +The hermit knelt to the preacher, and kissed his hand, sobbing the +while; the auditors stared at each other doubtfully; but the Hegumen's +time was come. Advancing to the gate, he said: + +"This man, O Serenity, is ours by right of fraternity. In thy hearing he +hath defamed the Creed which is the rock the Fathers chose for the +foundation of our most holy Church. He hath even essayed to make a Creed +of his own, and present it for our acceptance--thy acceptance, O +Serenity, and that of His Majesty, the only Christian Emperor, as well +as ours. And for those things, and because never before in the history +of our ancient and most notable Brotherhood hath there been an instance +of heresy so much as in thought, we demand the custody of this apostate +for trial and judgment. Give him to us to do with." + +The Patriarch clasped his hands, and, shaking like a man struck with +palsy, turned his eyes upward as if asking counsel of Heaven. His doubt +and hesitation were obvious; and neighbor heard his neighbor's heart +beat; so did silence once more possess itself of the great auditorium. +The Princess Irene arose white with fear, and strove to catch the +Emperor's attention; but he, too, was in the bonds waiting on the +Patriarch. + +Then from his place behind the Hegumen, Sergius spoke: + +"Let not your heart be troubled, O Serenity. Give me to my Brotherhood. +If I am wrong, I deserve to die; but if I have spoken as the Spirit +directed me, God is powerful to save. I am not afraid of the trial." + +The Patriarch gazed at him, his withered cheeks glistening with tears; +still he hesitated. + +"Suffer me, O Serenity!"--thus Sergius again--"I would that thy +conscience may never be disquieted on my account; and now I ask not that +thou give me to my Brotherhood--I will go with them freely and of my own +accord." Speaking then to the Hegumen, he said: "No more, I pray. See, I +am ready to be taken as thou wilt." + +The Hegumen gave him in charge of the brethren; and at his signal, the +gonfalon was raised and carried through the concourse, and out of one of +the doors, followed closely by the Brotherhood. + +At the moment of starting, Sergius lifted his hands, and shouted so as +to be heard above the confusion: "Bear witness, O Serenity--and thou, O +Emperor! That no man may judge me an apostate, hear my confession: I +believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son." + +Many of those present remained and partook of the Sacraments; far the +greater number hurried away, and it was not long until the house was +vacated. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +COUNT CORTI TO MAHOMMED + + +Extract: + +"God is God, and Mahomet is his Prophet! May they keep my Lord in +health, and help him to all his heart's desires! ... It is now three days +since my eyes were gladdened by the presence of the Princess Irene; yet +I have been duteously regular in my calls at her house. To my inquiries, +her domestic has returned the same answer: 'The Princess is in her +chapel praying. She is sadly disturbed in mind, and excuses herself to +every one.' Knowing this information will excite my Lord's apprehension, +I beg him to accept the explanation of her ailments which I think most +probable.... My Lord will gratify me by graciously referring to the +account of the special meeting in Sancta Sophia which I had the honor to +forward the evening of the day of its occurrence. The conjecture there +advanced that the celebration of the Sacrament in highest form was a +stratagem of the Patriarch's looking to a reconciliation of the +factions, has been confirmed; and more--it has proved a failure. Its +effect has inflamed the fanaticism of the Greek party as never before. +Notaras, moved doubtless by Gennadius, induced them to suspect His +Majesty and the Patriarch of conniving at the wonderful sermon of the +monk Sergius; and, as the best rebuke in their power, the Brotherhood of +the St. James' erected a Tribunal of Judgment in their monastery last +night, and placed the preacher on trial. He defended himself, and drove +them to admit his points; that their Church is not the Primitive Church +of the Apostles, and that their Creed is an unwarranted enlargement of +the two Articles of Faith left by Jesus Christ for the salvation of the +world. Yet they pronounced him an apostate and a heretic of incendiary +purpose, and condemned him to the old lion in the Cynegion, Tamerlane, +famous these many years as a man-eater.... My Lord should also know of +the rumor in the city which attributes the Creed of Nine Words--'I +believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son'--to the Princess Irene; and +her action would seem to justify the story. Directly the meeting in +Sancta Sophia was over, she hastened to the Palace, and entreated His +Majesty to save the monk from his brethren. My Lord may well think the +Emperor disposed to grant her prayer; his feeling for her is warmer than +friendship. The gossips say he at one time proposed marriage to her. At +all events, being a tender-hearted man--too tender indeed for his high +position--it is easy imagining how such unparalleled beauty in tearful +distress must have moved him. Unhappily the political situation holds +him as in a vice. The Church is almost solidly against him; while of the +Brotherhoods this one of the St. James' has been his only stanch +adherent. What shall the poor man do? If he saves the preacher, he is +himself lost. It appears now she has been brought to understand he +cannot interfere. Thrown thus upon the mercy of Heaven, she has buried +herself in her oratory. Oh, the full Moon of full Moons! And alas! that +she should ever be overcast by a cloud, though it be not heavier than +the just-risen morning mist. My Lord--or Allah must come quickly! + + * * * * * + +"O my Lord! In duty again and always!... Ali did not come yesterday. I +suppose the high winds were too unfriendly. So the despatch of that date +remained on my hands; and I now open it, and include a supplement.... +This morning as usual I rode to the Princess' door. The servant gave me +the same report--his mistress was not receiving. It befalls therefore +that my Lord must take refuge in his work or in dreams of her--and may I +lay a suggestion at his feet, I advise the latter, for truly, if the +world is a garden, she is its Queen of Roses.... For the sake of the +love my Lord bears the Princess, and the love I bear my Lord, I did not +sleep last night, being haunted with thinking how I could be of service +to her. What is the use of strength and skill in arms if I cannot turn +them to account in her behalf as my Lord would have me?... On my way to +the Princess', I was told that the monk, who is the occasion of her +sorrow, his sentence being on her conscience, is to be turned in with +the lion to-morrow. As I rode away from her house in desperate strait, +not having it in power to tell my Lord anything of her, it occurred to +me to go see the Cynegion, where the judgment is to be publicly +executed. What if the Most Merciful should offer me an opportunity to do +the unhappy Princess something helpful? If I shrank from the lion, when +killing it would save her a grief, my Lord would never forgive me ... . +Here is a description of the Cynegion: The northwest wall of the city +drops from the height of Blacherne into a valley next the harbor or +Golden Horn, near which it meets the wall coming from the east. Right in +the angle formed by the intersection of the walls there is a gate, low, +very strong, and always closely guarded. Passing the gate, I found +myself in an enclosed field, the city wall on the east, wooded hills +south, and the harbor north. How far the enclosure extends up the shore +of the harbor, I cannot say exactly--possibly a half or three quarters +of a mile. The surface is level and grassy. Roads wind in and out of +clumps of selected shrubbery, with here and there an oak tree. +Kiosk-looking houses, generally red painted, are frequent, some with +roofs, some without. Upon examination I discovered the houses were for +the keeping of animals and birds. In one there was an exhibition of fish +and reptiles. But much the largest structure, called the Gallery, is +situated nearly in the centre of the enclosure; and it astonished me +with an interior in general arrangement like a Greek theatre, except it +is entirely circular and without a stage division. There is an arena, +like a sanded floor, apparently fifty paces in diameter, bounded by a +brick wall eighteen or twenty feet in height, and from the top of the +wall seats rise one above another for the accommodation of common +people; while for the Emperor I noticed a covered stand over on the +eastern side. The wall of the arena is broken at regular intervals by +doors heavily barred, leading into chambers anciently dens for ferocious +animals, but at present prisons for criminals of desperate character. +There are also a number of gates, one under the grand stand, the others +forming northern, southern and eastern entrances. From this, I am sure +my Lord can, if he cares to, draught the Cynegion, literally the +Menagerie, comprehending the whole enclosure, and the arena in the +middle of it, where the monk will to-morrow expiate his heresy. Formerly +combats in the nature of wagers of battle were appointed for the place, +and beasts were pitted against each other; but now the only bloody +amusement permitted in it is when a criminal or an offender against God +is given to the lion. On such occasions, they tell me, the open seats +and grand stands are crowded to their utmost capacities.... If the +description is tedious, I hope my Lord's pardon, for besides wishing to +give him an idea of the scene of the execution to-morrow, I thought to +serve him in the day he is looking forward to with so much interest, +when the locality will have to be considered with a view to military +approach. In furtherance of the latter object, I beg to put my Lord in +possession of the accompanying diagram of the Cynegion, observing +particularly its relation to the city; by attaching it to the drawings +heretofore sent him, he will be enabled to make a complete map of the +country adjacent to the landward wall.... Ali has just come in. As I +supposed, he was detained by the high winds. His mullets are perfection. +With them he brings a young sword-fish yet alive. I look at the mess, +and grieve that I cannot send a portion to my Lord for his breakfast. +However, a few days now, and he will come to his own; the sea with its +fish, and the land and all that belongs to it. The child of destiny can +afford to wait." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SERGIUS TO THE LION + + +About ten o'clock the day after the date of Count Corti's last +despatch--ten of the morning--a woman appeared on the landing in front +of Port St. Peter, and applied to a boatman for passage to the Cynegion. + +She was thickly veiled, and wore an every-day overcloak of brown stuff +closely buttoned from her throat down. Her hands were gloved, and her +feet coarsely shod. In a word, her appearance was that of a female of +the middle class, poor but respectable. + +The landing was thronged at the time. It seemed everybody wanted to get +to the menagerie at once. Boatmen were not lacking. Their craft, of all +known models, lay in solid block yards out, waiting turns to get in; and +while they waited, the lusty, half-naked fellows flirted their oars, +quarrelled with each other in good nature, Greek-like, and yelled +volleys at the slow bargain makers whose turns had arrived. + +Twice the woman asked if she could have a seat. + +"How many of you are there?" she was asked in reply. + +"I am alone." + +"You want the boat alone?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that can't be. I have seats for several--and wife and four babies +at home told me to make the most I could out of them. It has been some +time since one has tried to look old Tamerlane in the eye, thinking to +scare him out of his dinner. The game used to be common; it's not so +now." + +"But I will pay you for all the seats." + +"Full five?" + +"Yes." + +"In advance?" + +"Yes." + +"Jump in, then--and get out your money--fifty-five noumias--while I push +through these howling water-dogs." + +By the time the boat was clear of the pack, truly enough the passenger +was with the fare in hand. + +"Look," she said, "here is a bezant." + +At sight of the gold piece, the man's countenance darkened, and he +stopped rowing. + +"I can't change that. You might as well have no money at all." + +"Friend," she returned, "row me swiftly to the first gate of the +Cynegion, and the piece is yours." + +"By my blessed patron! I'll make you think you are on a bird, and that +these oars are wings. Sit in the middle--that will do. Now!" + +The fellow was stout, skilful, and in earnest. In a trice he was under +headway, going at racing speed. The boats in the harbor were moving in +two currents, one up, the other down; and it was noticeable those in the +first were laden with passengers, those of the latter empty. Evidently +the interest was at the further end of the line, and the day a holiday +to the two cities, Byzantium and Galata. Yet of the attractions on the +water and the shores, the woman took no heed; she said never a word +after the start; but sat with head bowed, and her face buried in her +hands. Occasionally, if the boatman had not been so intent on earning +the gold piece, he might have heard her sob. For some reason, the day +was not a holiday to her. + +"We are nearly there," he at length said. + +Without lifting the veil, she glanced at a low wall on the left-hand +shore, then at a landing, shaky from age and neglect, in front of a gate +in the wall; and seeing it densely blockaded, she spoke: + +"Please put me ashore here. I have no time to lose." + +The bank was soft and steep. + +"You cannot make it." + +"I can if you will give me your oar for a step." + +"I will." + +In a few minutes she was on land. Pausing then to toss the gold piece to +the boatman, she heard his thanks, and started hastily for the gate. +Within the Cynegion, she fell in with some persons walking rapidly, and +talking of the coming event as if it were a comedy. + +"He is a Russian, you say?" + +"Yes, and what is strange, he is the very man who got the Prince of +India's negro"-- + +"The giant?" + +"Yes--who got him to drown that fine young fellow Demedes." + +"Where is the negro now?" + +"In a cell here." + +"Why didn't they give him to the lion?" + +"Oh, he had a friend--the Princess Irene." + +"What is to be done with him?" + +"Afterwhile, when the affair of the cistern is forgotten, he will be +given a purse, and set free." + +"Pity! For what sport to have seen him in front of the old Tartar!" + +"Yes, he's a fighter." In the midst of this conversation, the party came +in sight of the central building, externally a series of arches +supporting a deep cornice handsomely balustraded, and called the +Gallery. + +"Here we are!--But see the people on the top! I was afraid we would be +too late. Let us hurry." + +"Which gate?" + +"The western--it's the nearest." + +"Can't we get in under the grand stand?" + +"No, it's guarded." + +These loquacious persons turned off to make the western gate; but the +woman in brown kept on, and ere long was brought to the grand stand on +the north. An arched tunnel, amply wide, ran under it, with a gate at +the further end admitting directly to the arena. A soldier of the +foreign legion held the mouth of the tunnel. + +"Good friend," she began, in a low, beseeching tone, "is the heretic who +is to suffer here yet?" + +"He was brought out last night." + +"Poor man! I am a friend of his"--her voice trembled--"may I see him?" + +"My orders are to admit no one--and I do not know which cell he is in." + +The supplicant, sobbing and wringing her hands, stood awhile silent. +Then a roar, very deep and hoarse, apparently from the arena, startled +her and she trembled. + +"Tamerlane!" said the soldier. + +"O God!" she exclaimed. "Is the lion turned in already?" + +"Not yet. He is in his den. They have not fed him for three days." + +She stayed her agitation, and asked: "What are your orders?" + +"Not to admit any one." + +"To the cells?" + +"The cells, and the arena also." + +"Oh, I see! You can let me stand at the gate yonder?" + +"Well--yes. But if you are the monk's friend, why do you want to see him +die?" + +She made no reply, but took from a pocket a bezant, and contrived to +throw its yellow gleam in the sentinel's eyes. + +"Is the gate locked?" + +"No, it is barred on this side." + +"Does it open into the arena?" + +"Yes." + +"I do not ask you to violate your orders," she continued, calmly; "only +let me go to the gate, and see the man when he is brought out." + +She offered him the money, and he took it, saying: "Very well. I can see +no harm in that. Go." + +The gate in question was open barred, and permitted a view of nearly the +whole circular interior. The spectacle presented was so startling she +caught one of the bars for support. Throwing back the veil, she looked, +breathing sighs which were almost gasps. The arena was clear, and +thickly strewn with wet sand. There were the walls shutting it in, like +a pit, and on top of them, on the ascending seats back to the last +one--was it a cloud she beheld? A second glance, and she recognized the +body of spectators, men, women and children, compacted against the sky. +How many of them there were! Thousands and thousands! She clasped her +hands, and prayed. + +Twelve o'clock was the hour for the expiation. + +Waiting so wearily there at the gate--praying, sighing, weeping by +turns--the woman was soon forgotten by the sentinel. She had bought his +pity. In his eyes she was only a lover of the doomed monk. An hour +passed thus. If the soldier's theory were correct, if she were indeed a +poor love-lorn creature come to steal a last look at the unfortunate, +she eked small comfort from her study of the cloud of humanity on the +benches. Their jollity, their frequent laughter and hand-clapping +reached her in her retreat. "Merciful God!" she kept crying. "Are these +beings indeed in thy likeness?" + +In a moment of wandering thought, she gave attention to the fastenings +of the gate, and observed the ends of the bar across it rested in double +iron sockets on the side toward her; to pass it, she had only to raise +the bar clear of the socket and push. + +Afterwhile the door of a chamber nearly opposite her opened, and a man +stood in the aperture. He was very tall, gigantic even; and apparently +surprised by what he beheld, he stepped out to look at the benches, +whereat the light fell upon him and she saw he was black. His appearance +called for a roar of groans, and he retired, closing the door behind +him. Then there was an answering roar from a cell near by at her left. +The occupants of the benches applauded long and merrily, crying, +"Tamerlane! Tamerlane!" The woman shrank back terrified. + +A little later another man entered the arena, from the western gate. +Going to the centre he looked carefully around him; as if content with +the inspection, he went next to a cell and knocked. Two persons +responded by coming out of the door; one an armed guardsman, the other a +monk. The latter wore a hat of clerical style, and a black gown dropping +to his bare feet, its sleeves of immoderate length completely muffling +his hands. Instantly the concourse on the benches arose. There was no +shouting--one might have supposed them all suddenly seized with +shuddering sympathy. But directly a word began passing from mouth to +mouth; at first, it was scarcely more than a murmur; soon it was a +byname on every tongue: + +"The heretic! The heretic!" + +The monk was Sergius. + +His guard conducted him to the centre of the field, and, taking off his +hat, left him there. In going he let his gauntlet fall. Sergius picked +it up, and gave it to him; then calm, resigned, fearless, he turned to +the east, rested his hands on his breast palm to palm, closed his eyes, +and raised his face. He may have had a hope of rescue in reserve; +certain it is, they who saw him, taller of his long gown, his hair on +his shoulders and down his back, his head upturned, the sunlight a +radiant imprint on his forehead, and wanting only a nimbus to be the +Christ in apparition, ceased jeering him; it seemed to them that in a +moment, without effort, he had withdrawn his thoughts from this world, +and surrendered himself. They could see his lips move; but what they +supposed his last prayer was only a quiet recitation: "I believe in God, +and Jesus Christ, his Son." + +The guard withdrawn, three sharp mots of a trumpet rang out from the +stand. A door at the left of the tunnel gate was then slowly raised; +whereupon a lion stalked out of the darkened depths, and stopped on the +edge of the den thus exposed, winking to accustom his eyes to the +day-splendor. He lingered there very leisurely, turning his ponderous +head from right to left and up and down, like a prisoner questioning if +he were indeed at liberty. Having viewed the sky and the benches, and +filled his deep chest with ample draughts of fresh air, suddenly +Tamerlane noticed the monk. The head rose higher, the ears erected, and, +snuffing like a hound, he fretted his shaggy mane; his yellow eyes +changed to coals alive, and he growled and lashed his sides with his +tail. A majestic figure was he now. "What is it?" he appeared asking +himself. "Prey or combat?" Still in a maze, he stepped out into the +arena, and shrinking close to the sand, inched forward creeping toward +the object of his wonder. + +The spectators had opportunity to measure him, and drink their fill of +terror. The monk was a goodly specimen of manhood, young, tall, strong; +but a fig for his chances once this enemy struck him or set its teeth in +his flesh! An ox could not stand the momentum of that bulk of bone and +brawn. It were vain telling how many--not all of them women and +children--furtively studied the height of the wall enclosing the pit to +make sure of their own safety upon the seats. + +Sergius meantime remained in prayer and recitation; he was prepared for +the attack, but as a non-resistant; if indeed he thought of battle, he +was not merely unarmed--the sleeves of his gown deprived him of the use +of his hands. From the man to the lion, from the lion to the man, the +multitude turned shivering, unable nevertheless to look away. + +Presently the lion stopped, whined, and behaved uneasily. Was he afraid? +Such was the appearance when he began trotting around at the base of the +wall, halting before the gates, and seeking an escape. Under the +urgency, whatever it was, from the trot he broke into a gallop, without +so much as a glance at the monk. + +A murmur descended from the benches. It was the people recovering from +their horror, and impatient. Ere long they became positive in +expression; in dread doubtless of losing the catastrophe of the show, +they yelled at the cowardly beast. + +In the height of this tempest, the gate of the tunnel under the grand +stand opened quickly, and was as quickly shut. Death brings no deeper +hush than fell upon the assemblage then. A woman was crossing the sand +toward the monk! Round sped the lion, forward she went! Two victims! +Well worth the monster's hunger through the three days to be so +banqueted on the fourth! + +There are no laws of behavior for such situations. Impulse and instinct +rush in and take possession. While the thousands held their breath, they +were all quickened to know who the intruder was. + +She was robed in white, was bareheaded and barefooted. The dress, the +action, the seraphic face were not infrequent on the water, and +especially in the churches; recognition was instantaneous, and through +the eager crowded ranks the whisper flew: + +"God o' Mercy! It is the Princess--the Princess Irene!" + +Strong men covered their eyes, women fainted. + +The grand stand had been given up to the St. James', and they and their +intimates filled it from the top seat to the bottom; and now directly +the identity became assured, toward them, or rather to the Hegumen +conspicuous in their midst, innumerable arms were outstretched, +seconding the cry: "Save her! Save her! Let the lion be killed!" + +Easier said than done. Crediting the Brotherhood with lingering sparks +of humanity, the game was beyond their interference. The brute was lord. +Who dared go in and confront him? + +About this time, the black man, of whom we have spoken, looked out of +his cell again. To him the pleading arms were turned. He saw the monk, +the Princess, and the lion making its furious circuit--saw them and +retreated, but a moment after reappeared, attired in the savageries +which were his delight. In the waist-belt he had a short sword, and over +his left shoulder a roll like a fisherman's net. And now he did not +retreat. + +The Princess reached Sergius safely, and placing a hand on his arm, +brought him back, as it were, to life and the situation. + +"Fly, little mother--by the way you came--fly!" he cried, in mighty +anguish. "O God! it is too late--too late." + +Wringing his hands, he gave way to tears. + +"No, I will not fly. Did I not bring you to this? Let death come to us +both. Better the quick work of the lion than the slow torture of +conscience. I will not fly! We will die together. I too believe in God +and Jesus Christ his Son." + +She reached up, and rested her hand upon his shoulder. The repetition of +the Creed, and her companionship restored his courage, and smiling, +despite the tears on his cheeks, he said: + +"Very well, little mother. The army of the martyrs will receive us, and +the dear Lord is at his mansion door to let us in." + +The lion now ceased galloping. Stopping over in the west quarter of the +field, he turned his big burning eyes on the two thus resigning +themselves, and crouching, put himself in motion toward them; his mane +all on end; his jaws agape, their white armature whiter of the crimson +tongue lolling adrip below the lips. He had given up escape, and, his +curiosity sated, was bent upon his prey. The charge of cowardice had +been premature. The near thunder of his roaring was exultant and awful. + +There was great ease of heart to the people when Nilo--for he it +was--taking position between the devoted pair and their enemy, shook the +net from his shoulder, and proceeded to give an example of his practice +with lions in the jungles of Kash-Cush. + +Keeping the brute steadily eye to eye, he managed so that while +retaining the leaden balls tied to its disengaged corners one in each +hand, the net was presently in an extended roll on the ground before +him. Leaning forward then, his hands bent inwardly knuckle to knuckle at +his breast, his right foot advanced, the left behind the right ready to +carry him by a step left aside, he waited the attack--to the beholders, +a figure in shining ebony, giantesque in proportions, Phidian in grace. + +Tamerlane stopped. What new wonder was this? And while making the study, +he settled flat on the sand, and sunk his roaring into uneasy whines and +growls. + +By this time every one looking on understood Nilo's intent--that he +meant to bide the lion's leap, and catch and entangle him in the net. +What nerve and nicety of calculation--what certainty of eye--what +knowledge of the savage nature dealt with--what mastery of self, limb +and soul were required for the feat! + +Just at this crisis there was a tumult in the grand stand. Those who +turned that way saw a man in glistening armor pushing through the +brethren there in most unceremonious sort. In haste to reach the front, +he stepped from bench to bench, knocking the gowned Churchmen right and +left as if they were but so many lay figures. On the edge of the wall, +he tossed his sword and shield into the arena, and next instant leaped +after them. Before astonishment was spent, before the dull of faculties +could comprehend the intruder, before minds could be made up to so much +as yell, he had fitted the shield to his arm, snatched up the sword, and +run to the point of danger. There, with quick understanding of the +negro's strategy, he took place behind him, but in front of the Princess +and the monk. His agility, cumbered though he was, his amazing spirit, +together with the thought that the fair woman had yet another champion +over whom the lion must go ere reaching her, wrought the whole multitude +into ecstasy. They sprang upon the benches, and their shouting was +impossible of interpretation except as an indication of a complete +revulsion of feeling. In fact, many who but a little before had cheered +the lion or cursed him for cowardice now prayed aloud for his victims. + +The noise was not without effect on the veteran Tamerlane. He surveyed +the benches haughtily once, then set forward again, intent on Nilo. + +The movement, in its sinuous, flexile gliding, resembled somewhat a +serpent's crawl. And now he neither roared nor growled. The lolling +tongue dragged the sand; the beating of the tail was like pounding with +a flail; the mane all erect trebly enlarged the head; and the eyes were +like live coals in a burning bush. The people hushed. Nilo stood firm; +thunder could as easily have diverted a statue; and behind him, not less +steadfast and watchful, Count Corti kept guard. Thirty feet away-- +twenty-five--twenty--then the great beast stopped, collected himself, +and with an indescribable roar launched clear of the ground. Up, at the +same instant, and forward on divergent lines, went the leaden balls; the +netting they dragged after them had the appearance of yellow spray blown +suddenly in the air. When the monster touched the sand again, he was +completely enveloped. + +The struggle which ensued--the gnashing of teeth, the bellowing, the +rolling and blind tossing and pitching, the labor with the mighty limbs, +the snapping of the net, the burrowing into the sand, the further and +more inextricable entanglement of the enraged brute may be left to +imagination. Almost before the spectators realized the altered +condition, Nilo was stabbing him with the short sword. + +The well-directed steel at length accomplished the work, and the pride +of the Cynegion lay still in the bloody tangle--then the benches found +voice. + +Amidst the uproar Count Corti went to Nilo. + +"Who art thou?" he asked, in admiration. + +The King smiled, and signified his inability to hear or speak. Whereupon +the Count led him to the Princess. + +"Take heart, fair saint," he said. "The lion is dead, and thou art +safe." + +She scarcely heard him. + +He dropped upon his knee. + +"The lion is dead, O Princess, and here is the hand which slew him--here +thy rescuer." + +She looked her gratitude to Nilo--speak she could not. + +"And thou, too," the Count continued, to the monk, "must have thanks for +him." + +Sergius replied: "I give thee thanks, Nilo--and thou, noble Italian--I +am only a little less obliged to thee--thou wast ready with thy sword." + +He paused, glanced at the grand stand, and went on: "It is plain to me, +Count Corti, that thou thinkest my trial happily ended. The beast is +dead truly; but yonder are some not less thirsty for blood. It is for +them to say what I must further endure. I am still the heretic they +adjudged me. Do thou therefore banish me from thy generous mind; then +thou canst give it entirely to her who is most in need of it. Remove the +Princess--find a chair for her, and leave me to God." + +"What further can they do?" asked the Count. "Heaven hath decided the +trial in thy favor. Have they another lion?" + +The propriety of the monk's suggestion was obvious; it was not becoming +for the Princess to remain in the public eye; besides, under reaction of +spirit, she was suffering. + +"Have they another lion?" the Count repeated. + +Anxious as he was to assist the Princess, he was not less anxious, if +there was further combat, to take part in it. The Count was essentially +a fighting man. The open door of Nilo's cell speedily attracted his +attention. + +"Help me, sir monk. Yonder is a refuge for the Princess. Let us place +her in safety. I will return, and stay with thee. If the reverend +Christians, thy brethren in the grand stand, are not content, by +Allah"--he checked himself--"their cruelty would turn the stomach of a +Mohammedan." + +A few minutes, and she was comfortably housed in the cell. + +"Now, go to thy place; I will send for a chair, and rejoin thee." + +At the tunnel gate, the Count was met by a number of the St. James', and +he forgot his errand. + +"We have come," said one of them to Sergius, "to renew thy arrest." + +"Be it so," Sergius replied; "lead on." + +But Count Corti strode forward. + +"By whose authority is this arrest renewed?" he demanded. + +"Our Hegumen hath so ordered." + +"It shall not be--no, by the Mother of your Christ, it shall not be +unless you bring me the written word of His Majesty making it lawful." + +"The Hegumen"-- + +"I have said it, and I carry a sword"--the Count struck the hilt of the +weapon with his mailed hand, so the clang was heard on the benches. "I +have said it, and my sword says it. Go, tell thy Hegumen." + +Then Sergius spoke: + +"I pray you interfere not. The Heavenly Father who saved me this once is +powerful to save me often." + +"Have done, sir monk," the Count returned, with increasing earnestness. +"Did I not hear thee say the same in thy holy Sancta Sophia, in such +wise that these deserved to cast themselves at thy feet? Instead, lo! +the lion there. And for the truth, which is the soul of the world as God +is its Maker--the Truth and the Maker being the same--it is not interest +in thee alone which moves me. She, thy patroness yonder, is my motive as +well. There are who will say she followed thee hither being thy lover; +but thou knowest better, and so do I. She came bidden by conscience, and +except thou live, there will be no ease of conscience for her--never. +Wherefore, sir monk, hold thy peace. Thou shalt no more go hence of +thine own will than these shall take thee against it.... Return, ye men +of blood--return to him who sent you, and tell him my sword vouches my +word, being so accustomed all these years I have been a man. Bring they +the written word of His Majesty, I will give way. Let them send to him." + +The brethren stared at the Count. Had he not been willing to meet old +Tamerlane with that same sword? They turned about, and were near the +tunnel gate going to report, when it was thrown open with great force, +and the Emperor Constantine appeared on horseback, the horse bloody with +spurring and necked with foam. Riding to the Count he drew rein. + +"Sir Count, where is my kinswoman?" + +Corti kissed his hand. + +"She is safe, Your Majesty--she is in the cell yonder." + +The Emperor's eye fell upon the carcass of the lion. + +"Thou didst it, Count?" + +"No--this man did it." + +The Emperor gazed at Nilo, thus designated, and taking a golden chain of +fine workmanship from his neck, he threw it over the black King's. At +the door of the cell, he dismounted; within, he kissed the Princess on +the forehead. + +"A chair will be here directly." + +"And Sergius?" she asked. + +"The Brotherhood must forego their claim now. Heaven has signified its +will." + +He thereupon entered into explanation. The necessity upon him was sore +and trying, else he had never surrendered Sergius to the Brotherhood. He +expected the Hegumen would subject him to discipline--imprisonment or +penance. He had even signed the order placing the lion at service, +supposing they meant merely a trial of the monk's constancy. Withal the +proceeding was so offensive he had refused to witness it. An officer +came to the palace with intelligence which led him to believe the worst +was really intended. To stop it summarily, he had ordered a horse and a +guard. Another officer reported the Princess in the arena with Sergius +and the lion. With that His Majesty had come at speed. And he was +grateful to God for the issue. + +In a short time the sedan was brought, and the Princess borne to her +house. + +Summoning the Brotherhood from the grand stand, the Emperor forbade +their pursuing Sergius further; the punishment had already been too +severe. The Hegumen protested. Constantine arose in genuine majesty, and +denouncing all clerical usurpations, he declared that for the future he +would be governed by his own judgment in whatever concerned the lives of +his subjects and the welfare of his empire. The declaration was heard by +the people on the benches. + +By his order, Sergius was conducted to Blacherne, and next day installed +a janitor of the imperial Chapel; thus ending his connection with the +Brotherhood of the St. James'. + +"Your Majesty," said Count Corti, at the conclusion of the scene in the +arena, "I pray a favor." + +Constantine, by this time apprised of the Count's gallantry, bade him +speak. + +"Give me the keeping of this negro." + +"If you mean his release from prison, Sir Count, take him. He can have +no more suitable guardian. But it is to be remembered he came to the +city with one calling himself the Prince of India, and if at any time +that mysterious person reappears, the man is to be given back to his +master." + +The Count regarded Nilo curiously--he was merely recalling the Prince. + +"Your Majesty is most gracious. I accept the condition." + +The captain of the guard, coming to the tunnel under the grand stand, +was addressed by the sentinel there. + +"See--here are a dress, a pair of shoes, and a veil. I found them by the +gate there." + +"How came they there?" + +"A woman asked me to let her stand by the gate, and see the heretic when +they brought him out, and I gave her permission. She wore these things." + +"The Princess Irene!" exclaimed the officer. "Very well. Send them to +me, and I will have her pleasure taken concerning them." + +The Cynegion speedily returned to its customary state. But the expiation +remained in the public mind a date to which all manner of events in city +life was referred; none of them, however, of such consequence as the +loss to the Emperor of the allegiance of the St. James'. Thenceforth the +Brotherhoods were united against him. + + + + +BOOK VI + +CONSTANTINE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SWORD OF SOLOMON + + +The current of our story takes us once more to the White Castle at the +mouth of the Sweet Waters of Asia. + +It is the twenty-fifth of March, 1452. The weather, for some days cloudy +and tending to the tempestuous, changed at noon, permitting the sun to +show himself in a field of spotless blue. At the edge of the mountainous +steep above Roumeli Hissar, the day-giver lingered in his going down, as +loath to leave the life concentrated in the famous narrows in front of +the old Castle. + +On the land, there was an army in waiting; therefore the city of tents +and brushwood booths extending from the shore back to the hills, and the +smoke pervading the perspective in every direction. + +On the water, swinging to each other, crowding all the shallows of the +delta of the little river, reaching out into the sweep of the Bosphorus, +boats open and boats roofed--scows, barges, galleys oared and galleys +with masts--ships--a vast conglomerate raft. + +About the camp, and to and fro on the raft, men went and came, like ants +in storing time. Two things, besides the locality, identified them--their +turbans, and the crescent and star in the red field of the flags they +displayed. + +History, it would appear, takes pleasure in repetition. Full a thousand +years before this, a greater army had encamped on the banks of the same +Sweet Waters. Then it was of Persians; now it is of Turks; and curiously +there are no soldiers to be seen, but only working men, while the +flotilla is composed of carrying vessels; here boats laden with stone; +there boats with lime; yonder boats piled high with timber. + +At length the sun, drawing the last ravelling of light after it, +disappeared. About that time, the sea gate in front of the Palace of +Julian down at Constantinople opened, and a boat passed out into the +Marmora. Five men plied the oars. Two sat near the stern. These latter +were Count Corti and Ali, son of Abed-din the Faithful. + +Two hours prior, Ali, with a fresh catch of fish, entered the gate, and +finding no purchaser in the galley, pushed on to the landing, and thence +to the Palace. + +"O Emir," he said, when admitted to the Count, "the Light of the World, +our Lord Mahommed is arrived." + +The intelligence seemed to strike the Count with a sudden ague. + +"Where is he?" he asked, his voice hollow as from a closed helmet. Ere +the other could answer, he added a saving clause: "May the love of Allah +be to him a staff of life!" + +"He is at the White Castle with Mollahs, Pachas, and engineers a +host.... What a way they were in, rushing here and there, like squealing +swine, and hunting quarters, if but a crib to lie in and blow! Shintan +take them, beards, boots, and turbans! So have they lived on fat things, +slept on divans of down under hangings of silk, breathed perfumed airs +in crowded harems, Heaven knows if now they are even fit to stop an +arrow. They thought the old Castle of Bajazet-Ilderim another Jehan-Numa. +By the delights of Paradise, O Emir--ha, ha, ha!--it was good to see how +little the Light of the World cared for them! At the Castle, he took in +with him for household the ancient _Gabour_ Ortachi-Khalil and a Prince +of India, whom he calls his Messenger of the Stars; the rest were left to +shift for themselves till their tents arrive. Halting the Incomparables, +[Footnote: Janissaries.] out beyond Roumeli-Hissar, he summoned the Three +Tails, [Footnote: Pachas.] nearly dead from fatigue, having been in the +saddle since morning, and rode off with them fast as his Arab could +gallop across the country, and down the long hill behind Therapia, +drawing rein at the gate before the Palace of the Princess Irene." + +"The Palace of the Princess Irene," the Count repeated. "What did he +there?" + +"He dismounted, looked at the brass plate on the gate-post, went in, and +asked if she were at home. Being told she was yet in the city, he said: +'A message for her to be delivered to-night. Here is a purse to pay for +going. Tell her Aboo-Obeidah, the Singing Sheik'--only the Prophet knows +of such a Sheik--'has been here, bidden by Sultan Mahommed to see if +her house had been respected, and inquire if she has yet her health and +happiness.' With that, he called for his horse, and went through the +garden and up to the top of the promontory; then he returned to Hissar +faster than he went to Therapia; and when, to take boat for the White +Castle, he walked down the height, two of the Three Tails had to be +lifted from their saddles, so nearly dead were they." + +Here Ali stopped to laugh. + +"Pardon me, O Emir," he resumed, "if I say last what I should have said +first, it being the marrow of the bone I bring you.... Before sitting to +his pilaf, our Lord Mahommed sent me here. 'Thou knowest to get in and +out of the unbelieving city,' he said. 'Go privily to the Emir Mirza, +and bid him come to me to-night.'" + +"What now, Ali?" + +"My Lord was too wise to tell me." + +"It is a great honor, Ali. I shall get ready immediately." + +When the night was deep enough to veil the departure, the Count seated +himself in the fisher's boat, a great cloak covering his armor. Half a +mile below the Sweet Waters the party was halted. + +"What is this, Ali?" + +"The Lord Mahommed's galleys of war are down from the Black Sea. These +are their outlyers." + +At the side of one of the vessels, the Count showed the Sultan's signet, +and there was no further interruption. + +A few words now with respect to Corti. + +He had become a Christian. Next, the bewilderment into which the first +sight of the Princess Irene had thrown him instead of passing off had +deepened into hopeless love. + +And farther--Constantine, a genuine knight himself; in fact more knight +than statesman; delighting in arms, armor, hounds, horses, and martial +exercises, including tournaments, hawking, and hunting, found one +abiding regret on his throne--he could have a favorite but never a +comrade. The denial only stimulated the desire, until finally he +concluded to bring the Italian to Court for observation and trial, his +advancement to depend upon the fitness, tact, and capacity he might +develop. + +One day an order was placed in the Count's hand, directing him to find +quarters at Blacherne. The Count saw the honor intended, and discerned +that acceptance would place him in better position to get information +for Mahommed, but what would the advantage avail if he were hindered in +forwarding his budget promptly? + +No, the mastership of the gate was of most importance; besides which the +seclusion of the Julian residence was so favorable to the part he was +playing; literally he had no one there to make him afraid. + +Upon receipt of the order he called for his horse, and rode to +Blacherne, where his argument of the necessity of keeping the Moslem +crew of his galley apart brought about a compromise. His Majesty would +require the Count's presence during the day, but permit him the nights +at Julian. He was also allowed to retain command of the gate. + +A few months then found him in Constantine's confidence, the imperial +favorite. Yet more surprising as a coincidence, he actually became to +the Emperor what he had been to Mahommed. He fenced and jousted with +him, instructed him in riding, trained him to sword and bow. Every day +during certain hours he had his new master's life at mercy. With a +thrust of sword, stroke of battle-axe, or flash of an arrow, it was in +his power to rid Mahommed of an opponent concerning whom he wrote: "O my +Lord, I think you are his better, yet if ever you meet him in personal +encounter, have a care." + +But the unexpected now happened to the Count. He came to have an +affection for this second lord which seriously interfered with his +obligations to the first one. Its coming about was simple. Association +with the Greek forced a comparison with the Turk. The latter's passion +was a tide before which the better gifts of God to rulers--mercy, +justice, discrimination, recognition of truth, loyalty, services--were +as willows in the sweep of a wave. Constantine, on the other hand, was +thoughtful, just, merciful, tender-hearted, indisposed to offend or to +fancy provocation intended. The difference between a man with and a man +without conscience--between a king all whose actuations are dominated by +religion and a king void of both conscience and religion--slowly but +surely, we say, the difference became apparent to the Count, and had its +inevitable consequences. + +Such was the Count's new footing in Blacherne. + +The changes wrought in his feeling were forwarded more than he was aware +by the standing accorded him in the reception-room of the Princess +Irene. + +After the affair at the Cynegion he had the delicacy not to push himself +upon the attention of the noble lady. In preference he sent a servant +every morning to inquire after her health. Ere long he was the recipient +of an invitation to come in person; after which his visits increased in +frequency. Going to Blacherne, and coming from it, he stopped at her +house, and with every interview it seemed his passion for her +intensified. + +Now it were not creditable to the young Princess' discernment to say she +was blind to his feeling; yet she was careful to conceal the discovery +from him, and still more careful not to encourage his hope. She placed +the favor shown him to the account of gratitude; at the same time she +admired him, and was deeply interested in the religious sentiment he was +beginning to manifest. + +In the Count's first audience after the rescue from the lion, she +explained how she came to be drawn to the Cynegion. This led to detail +of her relations with Sergius, concluding with the declaration: "I gave +him the signal to speak in Sancta Sophia, and felt I could not live if +he died the death, sent to it by me." + +"Princess," the Count replied, "I heard the monk's sermon in Sancta +Sophia, but did not know of your giving the signal. Has any one impugned +your motive in going to the Cynegion? Give me his name. My sword says +you did well." + +"Count Corti, the Lord has taken care of His own." + +"As you say, Princess Irene. Hear me before addressing yourself to +something else.... I remember the words of the Creed--or if I have them +wrong correct me: 'I believe in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son.'" + +"It is word for word." + +"Am I to understand you gave him the form?" + +"The idea is Father Hilarion's." + +"And the Two Articles. Are they indeed sayings of Jesus Christ?" + +"Even so." + +"Give me the book containing them." + +Taking a New Testament from the table, she gave it to him. + +"You will find the sayings easily. On the margins opposite them there +are markings illuminated in gold." + +"Thanks, O Princess, most humbly. I will return the book." + +"No, Count, it is yours." + +An expression she did not understand darkened his face. + +"Are you a Christian?" she asked. + +He flushed deeply, and bowed while answering: + +"My mother is a Christian." + +That night Count Corti searched the book, and found that the strength of +faith underlying his mother's prayers for his return to her, and the +Princess' determination to die with the monk, were but Christian lights. + +"Princess Irene," he said one day, "I have studied the book you gave me; +and knowing now who Christ is, I am ready to accept your Creed. Tell me +how I may know myself a believer?" + +A lamp in the hollow of an alabaster vase glows through the +transparency; so her countenance responded to the joy behind it. + +"Render obedience to His commands--do His will, O Count--then wilt thou +be a believer in Christ, and know it." + +The darkness she had observed fall once before on his face obscured it +again, and he arose and went out in silence. + +Brave he certainly was, and strong. Who could strike like him? He loved +opposition for the delight there was in overcoming it; yet in his +chamber that night he was never so weak. He resorted to the book, but +could not read. It seemed to accuse him. "Thou Islamite--thou son of +Mahomet, though born of a Christian, whom servest thou? Judas, what dost +thou in this city? Hypocrite--traitor--which is thy master, Mahomet or +Christ?" + +He fell upon his knees, tore at his beard, buried his head in his arms. +He essayed prayer to Christ. + +"Jesus--Mother of Jesus--O my mother!" he cried in agony. + +The hour he was accustomed to give to Mahommed came round. He drew out +the writing materials. "The Princess"--thus he began a sentence, but +stopped--something caught hold of his heart--the speaking face of the +beloved woman appeared to him--her eyes were reproachful--her lips +moved--she spoke: "Count Corti, I am she whom thou lovest; but what dost +thou? Is it not enough to betray my kinsman? Thy courage--what makest +thou of it but wickedness? ... Write of me to thy master. Come every +day, and contrive that I speak, then tell him of it. Am I sick? Tell him +of it. Do I hold to this or that? Tell him. Am I shaken by visions of +ruin to my country? Tell him of them. What is thy love if not the +servant for hire of his love? Traitor--panderer!" + +The Count pushed the table from him, and sprang to foot writhing. To +shut out the word abhorrent above all other words, he clapped his hands +tight over his ears--in vain. + +"Panderer!"--he heard with his soul--"Panderer! When thou hast delivered +me to Mahommed, what is he to give thee? How much?" + +Thus shame, like a wild dog, bayed at him. For relief he ran out into +the garden. And it was only the beginning of misery. Such the +introduction or first chapter, what of the catastrophe? He could not +sleep for shame. + +In the morning he ordered his horse, but had not courage to go to +Blacherne. How could he look at the kindly face of the master he was +betraying? He thought of the Princess. Could he endure her salutation? +She whom he was under compact to deliver to Mahommed? A paroxysm of +despair seized him. + +He rode to the Gate St. Romain, and out of it into the country. Gallop, +gallop--the steed was good--his best Arab, fleet and tireless. Noon +overtook him--few things else could--still he galloped. The earth turned +into a green ribbon under the flying hoofs, and there was relief in the +speed. The air, whisked through, was soothing. At length he came to a +wood, wild and interminable, Belgrade, though he knew it not, and +dismounting by a stream, he spent the day there. If now and then the +steed turned its eyes upon him, attracted by his sighs, groans and +prayer, there was at least no accusation in them. The solitude was +restful; and returning after nightfall, he entered the city through the +sortie under the Palace of Blacherne known as the Cercoporta. + +It is well pain of spirit has its intermissions; otherwise long life +could not be; and if sleep bring them, so much the better. + +Next day betimes, the Count was at Blacherne. + +"I pray grace, O my Lord!" he said, speaking to the question in the +Emperor's look. "Yesterday I had to ride. This confinement in the city +deadens me. I rode all day." + +The good, easy master sighed: "Would I had been with you, Count." + +Thus he dismissed the truancy. But with the Princess it was a lengthy +chapter. If the Emperor was never so gracious, she seemed never so +charming. He wrote to Mahommed in the evening, and walked the garden the +residue of the night. + +So weeks and months passed, and March came--even the night of the +twenty-fifth, with its order from the Sultan to the White Castle--an +interval of indecision, shame, and self-indictment. How many plans of +relief he formed who can say? Suicide he put by, a very last resort. +There was also a temptation to cut loose from Mahommed, and go boldly +over to the Emperor. That would be a truly Christian enlistment for the +approaching war; and aside from conformity to his present sympathies, it +would give him a right to wear the Princess' favor on his helmet. But a +fear shook the resort out of mind. Mahommed, whether successful or +defeated, would demand an explanation of him, possibly an accounting. He +knew the Sultan. Of all the schemes presented, the most plausible was +flight. There was the gate, and he its keeper, and beyond the gate, the +sunny Italian shore, and his father's castle. The seas and sailing +between were as green landscapes to a weary prisoner, and he saw in them +only the joy of going and freedom to do. Welcome, and to God the praise! +More than once he locked his portables of greatest value in the cabin of +the galley. But alas! He was in bonds. Life in Constantinople now +comprehended two of the ultimate excellencies to him, Princess Irene and +Christ--and their joinder in the argument he took to be no offence. + +From one to another of these projects he passed, and they but served to +hide the flight of time. He was drifting--ahead, and not far, he heard +the thunder of coming events--yet he drifted. + +In this condition, the most envied man in Constantinople and the most +wretched, the Sultan's order was delivered to him by Ali. + +The time for decision was come. Tired--ashamed--angry with himself, he +determined to force the end. + +The Count arrived at the Castle, was immediately admitted to the Sultan; +indeed, had he been less resolute, his master's promptitude would have +been a circumstance of disturbing significance. + +Observation satisfied him Mahommed was in the field; for with all his +Epicureanism in times of peace, when a campaign was in progress the +Conqueror resolved himself into a soldierly example of indifference to +luxury. In other words, with respect to furnishment, the interior of the +old Castle presented its every day ruggedness. + +One lamp fixed to the wall near the door of the audience chamber +struggled with the murk of a narrow passage, giving to view an assistant +chamberlain, an armed sentinel, and two jauntily attired pages in +waiting. Surrendering his sword to the chamberlain, the Count halted +before the door, while being announced; at the same time, he noticed a +man come out of a neighboring apartment clad in black velvet from head +to foot, followed closely by a servant. It was the Prince of India. + +The mysterious person advanced slowly, his eyes fixed on the floor, his +velvet-shod feet giving out no sound. His air indicated deep reflection. +In previous encounters with him, the Count had been pleased; now his +sensations were of repugnance mixed with doubt and suspicion. He had not +time to account for the change. It may have had origin in the higher +prescience sometimes an endowment of the spirit by which we stand +advised of a friend or an enemy; most likely, however, it was a +consequence of the curious tales abroad in Constantinople; for at the +recognition up sprang the history of the Prince's connection with Lael, +and her abandonment by him, the more extraordinary from the evidences of +his attachment to her. Up sprang also the opinion of universal +prevalence in the city that he had perished in the great fire. What did +it all mean? What kind of man was he? + +The servant carried a package wrapped in gold-embroidered green silk. + +Coming near, the Prince raised his eyes--stopped--smiled--and said: + +"Count Corti--or Mirza the Emir--which have I the honor of meeting?" + +In spite of the offence he felt, Corti blushed, such a flood of light +did the salutation let in upon the falsity of his position. Far from +losing presence of mind, he perceived at once how intimately the Prince +stood in the councils of the Sultan. + +"The Lord Mahommed must be heard before I can answer," he returned, +calmly. + +In an instant the Prince became cordial. + +"That was well answered," he said. "I am pleased to have my judgment of +you confirmed. Your mission has been a trying one, but you have +conducted it like a master. The Lord Mahommed has thanked me many times +that I suggested you for it. He is impatient to see you. We will go in +together." + +Mahommed, in armor, was standing by a table on which were a bare +cimeter, a lamp brightly burning, and two large unrolled maps. In one of +the latter, the Count recognized Constantinople and its environs cast +together from his own surveys. + +Retired a few steps were the two Viziers, Kalil Pacha and his rival, +Saganos Pacha, the Mollah Kourani, and the Sheik Akschem-sed-din. The +preaching of the Mollah had powerfully contributed to arousing the +fanatical spirit of the Sultan's Mohammedan subjects. The four were +standing in the attitude usual to Turkish officials in presence of a +superior, their heads bowed, their hands upon their stomachs. In +speaking, if they raised their eyes from the floor it was to shoot a +furtive glance, then drop them again. + +"This is the grand design of the work by which you will be governed," +Mahommed said to the counsellors, laying the finger points of his right +hand upon the map unknown to the Count, and speaking earnestly. "You +will take it, and make copies tonight; for if the stars fail not, I will +send the masons and their workmen to the other shore in the morning." + +The advisers saluted--it would be difficult to say which of them with +the greatest unction. + +Looking sharply at Kalil, the master asked: "You say you superintended +the running of the lines in person?" + +Kalil saluted separately, and returned: "My Lord may depend upon the +survey." + +"Very well. I wait now only the indication of Heaven that the time is +ripe for the movement. Is the Prince of India coming?" + +"I am here, my Lord." + +Mahommed turned as the Prince spoke, and let his eyes rest a moment upon +Count Corti, without a sign of recognition. + +"Come forward, Prince," he said. "What is the message you bring me?" + +"My Lord," the Prince replied, after prostration, "in the Hebrew +Scriptures there is a saying in proof of the influence the planets have +in the affairs of men: 'Then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by +the waters of Megiddo; they fought from heaven; the stars in their +courses fought against Sisera.' Now art thou truly Sultan of Sultans. +To-morrow--the twenty-sixth of March--will be memorable amongst days, +for then thou mayst begin the war with the perfidious Greek. From four +o'clock in the morning the stars which fought against Sisera will fight +for Mahommed. Let those who love him salute and rejoice." + +The counsellors, dropping on their knees, fell forward, their faces on +their hands. The Prince of India did the same. Count Corti alone +remained standing, and Mahommed again observed him. + +"Hear you," the latter said, to his officers. "Go assemble the masons +and their workmen, the masters of boats, and the chiefs charged with +duties. At four o'clock in the morning I will move against Europe. The +stars have said it, and their permission is my law. Rise!" + +As his associates were moving backward with repeated genuflections, the +Prince of India spoke: + +"O most favored of men! Let them stay a moment." + +At a sign from the Sultan they halted; thereupon the Prince of India +beckoned Syama to come, and taking the package from his hands, he laid +it on the table. + +"For my Lord Mahommed," he said. + +"What is it?" Mahommed demanded. + +"A sign of conquest.... My Lord knows King Solomon ruled the world in +his day, its soul of wisdom. At his death dominion did not depart from +him. The secret ministers in the earth, the air and the waters, obedient +to Allah, became his slaves. My Lord knows of whom I speak. Who can +resist them? ... In the tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre, the friend of King +Solomon, I found a sarcophagus. It was covered with a model in marble of +the Temple of the Hebrew Almighty God. Removing the lid, lo! the mummy +of Hiram, a crown upon its head, and at its feet the sword of Solomon, a +present without price. I brought it away, resolved to give it to him +whom the stars should elect for the overthrow of the superstitions +devised by Jesus, the bastard son of Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth.... +Undo the wrappings, Lord Mahommed." + +The Sultan obeyed, and laying the last fold of the cloth aside, drew +back staring, and with uplifted hands. + +"Kalil--Kourani--Akschem-sed-din--all of you, come look. Tell me what it +is--it blinds me." + +The sword of Solomon lay before them; its curved blade a gleam of +splendor, its scabbard a mass of brilliants, its hilt a ruby so pure we +may say it retained in its heart the life of a flame. + +"Take it in hand, Lord Mahommed," said the Prince of India. + +The young Sultan lifted the sword, and as he did so down a groove in its +back a stream of pearls started and ran, ringing musically, and would +not rest while he kept the blade in motion. He was speechless from +wonder. + +"Now may my Lord march upon Constantinople, for the stars and every +secret minister of Solomon will fight for him." + +So saying, the Prince knelt before the Sultan, and laid his lips on the +instep of his foot, adding: "Oh, my Lord! with that symbol in hand, +march, and surely as Tabor is among the mountains and Carmel by the sea, +so surely Christ will give place to Mahomet in Sancta Sophia. March at +four o'clock." + +And the counsellors left kisses on the same instep, and departed. + +Thence through the night the noises of preparation kept the space +between the hills of the narrows alive with echoes. At the hour +permitted by the stars--four o'clock--a cloud of boats cast loose from +the Asiatic shore, and with six thousand laborers, handmen to a thousand +master masons, crossed at racing speed to Europe. "God is God, and +Mahomet is his Prophet," they shouted. The vessels of burden, those with +lime, those with stone, those with wood, followed as they were called, +and unloading, hauled out, to give place to others. + +Before sun up the lines of the triangular fort whose walls near +Roumeli-Hissar are yet intact, prospectively a landmark enduring as the +Pyramids, were defined and swarming with laborers. The three Pachas, +Kalil, Sarudje, and Saganos, superintended each a side of the work, and +over them all, active and fiercely zealous, moved Mahommed, the sword of +Solomon in his hand. + +And there was no lack of material for the structure extensive as it was. +Asia furnished its quota, and Christian towns and churches on the +Bosphorus were remorselessly levelled for the stones in them; wherefore +the outer faces of the curtains and towers are yet speckled with marbles +in block, capital and column. + +Thus Mahommed, taking his first step in the war so long a fervid dream, +made sure of his base of operations. + +On the twenty-eighth of August, the work completed, from his camp on the +old Asometon promontory he reconnoitred the country up to the ditch of +Constantinople, and on the first of September betook himself to +Adrianople. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MAHOMMED AND COUNT CORTI MAKE A WAGER + + +Upon the retirement of the Prince of India and the counsellors, Mahommed +took seat by the table, and played with the sword of Solomon, making the +pearls travel up and down the groove in the blade, listening to their +low ringing, and searching for inscriptions. This went on until Count +Corti began to think himself forgotten. At length the Sultan, looking +under the guard, uttered an exclamation--looked again--and cried out: + +"O Allah! It is true!--May I be forgiven for doubting him!--Come, Mirza, +come see if my eyes deceive me. Here at my side!" + +The Count mastered his surprise, and was presently leaning over the +Sultan's shoulder. + +"You remember, Mirza, we set out together studying Hebrew. Against your +will I carried you along with me until you knew the alphabet, and could +read a little. You preferred Italian, and when I brought the learned +men, and submitted to them that Hebrew was one of a family of tongues +more or less alike, and would have sent you with them to the Sidonian +coast for inscriptions, you refused. Do you remember?" + +"My Lord, those were the happiest days of my life." + +Mahommed laughed. "I kept you three days on bread and water, and let you +off then because I could not do without you.... But for the matter now. +Under this guard--look--are not the brilliants set in the form of +letters?" + +Corti examined closely. + +"Yes, yes; there are letters--I see them plainly--a name." + +"Spell it." + +"S-O-L-O-M-O-N." + +"Then I have not deceived myself," Mahommed exclaimed. "Nor less has the +Prince of India deceived me." He grew more serious. "A marvellous man! I +cannot make him out. The more I do with him the more incomprehensible he +becomes. The long past is familiar to him as the present to me. He is +continually digging up things ages old, and amazing me with them. +Several times I have asked him when he was born, and he has always made +the same reply: 'I will tell when you are Lord of Constantinople.' ... +How he hates Christ and the Christians! ... This is indeed the sword +of Solomon--and he found it in the tomb of Hiram, and gives it to me as +the elect of the stars now. Ponder it, O Mirza! Now at the mid of the +night in which I whistle up my dogs of war to loose them on the +_Gabour_--How, Mirza--what ails you? Why that change of countenance? Is +he not a dog of an unbeliever? On your knees before me--I have more to +tell you than to ask. No, spurs are troublesome. To the door and bid the +keeper there bring a stool--and look lest the lock have an ear hanging to +it. Old Kalil, going out, though bowing, and lip-handing me, never took +his eyes off you." + +The stool brought, Corti was about to sit. + +"Take off your cap"--Mahommed spoke sternly--"for as you are not the +Mirza I sent away, I want to see your face while we talk. Sit here, in +the full of the light." + +The Count seated, placed his hooded cap on the floor. He was perfectly +collected. Mahommed fingered the ruby hilt while searching the eyes +which as calmly searched his. + +"How brave you are!" the Sultan began, but stopped. "Poor Mirza!" he +began again, his countenance softened. One would have said some tender +recollection was melting the shell of his heart. "Poor Mirza! I loved +you better than I loved my father, better than I loved my brothers, well +as I loved my mother--with a love surpassing all I ever knew but one, +and of that we will presently speak. If honor has a soul, it lives in +you, and the breath you draw is its wine, purer than the first expressage +of grapes from the Prophet's garden down by Medina. Your eyes look truth, +your tongue drips it as a broken honey-comb drips honey. You are truth as +God is God." + +He was speaking sincerely. + +"Fool--fool--that I let you go!--and I would not--no, by the rose-door +of Paradise and the golden stairs to the House of Allah, I would not had +I loved my full moon of full moons less. She was parted from me; and +with whose eyes could I see her so well as with yours, O my falcon? Who +else would report to me so truly her words? Love makes men and lions +mad; it possessed me; and I should have died of it but for your +ministering. Wherefore, O Mirza"-- + +The Count had been growing restive; now he spoke. "My Lord is about +committing himself to some pledge. He were wise, did he hear me first." + +"Perhaps so," the Sultan rejoined, uncertainly, but added immediately: +"I will hear you." + +"It is true, as my Lord said, I am not the Mirza he despatched to Italy. +The changes I have undergone are material; and in recounting them I +anticipate his anger. He sees before him the most wretched of men to +whom death would be mercy." + +"Is it so bad? You were happy when you went away. Was not the mission to +your content?" + +"My Lord's memory is a crystal cup from which nothing escapes--a cup +without a leak. He must recall how I prayed to stay with him." + +"Yes, yes." + +"My dread was prophetic." + +"Tell me of the changes." + +"I will--and truly as there is but one God, and he the father of life +and maker of things. First, then, the affection which at my going was my +Lord's, and which gave me to see him as the Light of the World, and the +perfection of glory in promise, is now divided." + +"You mean there is another Light of the World? Be it so, and still you +leave me flattered. How far you had to travel before finding the other! +Who is he?" + +"The Emperor of the Greeks." + +"Constantine? Are his gifts so many and rich? The next." + +"I am a Christian." + +"Indeed? Perhaps you can tell me the difference between God and Allah. +Yesterday Kourani said they were the same." + +"Nay, my Lord, the difference is between Christ and Mahomet." + +"The mother of the one was a Jewess, the mother of the other an Arab--I +see. Go on." + +The Count did not flinch. "My Lord, great as is your love of the +Princess Irene"--Mahommed half raised his hands, his brows knit, his +eyes filled with fire, but the Count continued composedly--"mine is +greater." + +The Sultan recovered himself. + +"The proof, the proof!" he said, his voice a little raised. "My love of +her is consuming me, but I see you alive." + +"My Lord's demand is reasonable. I came here to make the avowal, and +die. Would my Lord so much?" + +"You would die for the Princess?" + +"My Lord has said it." + +"Is there not something else in the urgency?" + +"Yes--honor." + +The Count's astonishment was unspeakable. He expected an outburst of +wrath unappeasable, a summons for an executioner; instead, Mahommed's +eyes became humid, and resting his elbow on the table, and his face on +the thumb and forefinger, he said, gazing sorrowfully: + +"Ahmed was my little brother. His mother published before my father's +death, that my mother was a slave. She was working for her child +already, and I had him smothered in a bath. Cruel? God forgive me! It +was my duty to provide for the peace of my people. I had a right to take +care of myself; yet will I never be forgiven. Kismet!... I have had many +men slain since. I travel, going to mighty events beckoned by destiny. +The ordinary cheap soul cannot understand how necessary it is that my +path should be smooth and clear; for sometime I may want to run; and he +will amuse or avenge himself by stamping me in history a monster without +a soul. Kismet! ... But you, my poor Mirza, you should know me better. +You are my brother without guile. I am not afraid to love you. I do love +you. Let us see.... Your letters from Constantinople--I have them +all--told me so much more than you intended, I could not suspect your +fidelity. They prepared me for everything you have confessed. Hear how +in my mind I disposed of them point by point.... 'Mirza,' I said, +'pities the _Gabour_ Emperor; in the end he will love him. Loving a +hundred men is less miraculous in a man than loving one. He will make +comparisons. Why not? The _Gabour_ appeals to him through his +weakness, I through my strength. I would rather be feared than pitied. +Moreover, the _Gabour's_ day runs to its close, and as it closes, +mine opens. Pity never justified treason.' ... And I said, too, on +reading the despatch detailing your adventures in Italy: 'Poor Mirza! +now has he discovered he is an Italian, stolen when a child, and having +found his father's castle and his mother, a noble woman, he will become +a Christian, for so would I in his place.' Did I stop there? The wife of +the Pacha who received you from your abductors is in Broussa. I sent to +her asking if she had a keepsake or memento which would help prove your +family and country. See what she returned to me." + +From under a cloth at the further end of the table, Mahommed drew a box, +and opening it, produced a collar of lace fastened with a cameo pin. On +the pin there was a graven figure. + +"Tell me, Mirza, if you recognize the engraving." The Count took the +cameo, looked at it, and replied, with a shaking voice: + +"The arms of the Corti! God be praised!" + +"And here--what are these, and what the name on them?" + +Mahommed gave him a pair of red morocco half-boots for a child, on +which, near the tops, a name was worked in silk. + +"It is mine, my Lord--my name--'Ugo.'" + +He cast himself before the Sultan, and embraced his knees, saying, in +snatches as best he could: + +"I do not know what my Lord intends--whether he means I am to die or +live--if it be death, I pray him to complete his mercy by sending these +proofs to my mother"-- + +"Poor Mirza, arise! I prefer to have your face before me." + +Directly the Count was reseated, Mahommed continued: + +"And you, too, love the Princess Irene? You say you love her more than +I? And you thought I could not endure hearing you tell it? That I would +summon black Hassan with his bowstring? With all your opportunities, +your seeing and hearing her, as the days multiplied from tens to +hundreds, is it for me to teach you she will come to no man except as a +sacrifice? What great thing have you to offer her? While I--well, by +this sword of Solomon, to-morrow morning I set out to say to her: 'For +thy love, O my full Moon of full Moons, for thy love thou shalt have the +redemption of thy Church.'... And besides, did I not foresee your +passion? Courtiers stoop low and take pains to win favor; but no +courtier, not even a professional, intending merely to please me, could +have written of her as you did; and by that sign, O Mirza, I knew you +were in the extremity of passion. Offended? Not so, not so! I sent you +to take care of her--fight for her--die, if her need were so great. Of +whom might I expect such service but a lover? Did I not, the night of +our parting, foretell what would happen?" He paused gazing at the ruby +of the ring on his finger. + +"See, Mirza! There has not been a waking hour since you left me but I +have looked at this jewel; and it has kept color faithfully. Often as I +beheld it, I said: 'Mirza loves her because he cannot help it; yet he is +keeping honor with me. Mirza is truth, as God is God. From his hand will +I receive her in Constantinople'"-- + +"O my Lord"-- + +"Peace, peace! The night wanes, and you have to return. Of what was I +speaking? Oh, yes"-- + +"But hear me, my Lord. At the risk of your displeasure I must speak." + +"What is it?" + +"In her presence my heart is always like to burst, yet, as I am to be +judged in the last great day, I have kept faith with my Lord. Once she +thanked me--it was after I offered myself to the lion--O Heaven! how +nearly I lost my honor! Oh, the agony of that silence! The anguish of +that remembrance! I have kept the faith, my Lord. But day by day now the +will to keep it grows weaker. All that holds me steadfast is my position +in Constantinople. What am I there?" + +The Count buried his face in his hands, and through the links in his +surcoat the tremor which shook his body was apparent. + +Mahommed waited. + +"What am I there? Having come to see the goodness of the Emperor, I must +run daily to betray him. I am a Christian; yet as Judas sold his Master, +I am under compact to sell my religion. I love a noble woman, yet am +pledged to keep her safely, and deliver her to another. O my Lord, my +Lord! This cannot go on. Shame is a vulture, and it is tearing me--my +heart bleeds in its beak. Release me, or give me to death. If you love +me, release me." + +"Poor Mirza!" + +"My Lord, I am not afraid." + +Mahommed struck the table violently, and his eyes glittered. "That ever +one should think I loved a coward! Yet more intolerable, that he whom I +have called brother should know me so little! Can it be, O Mirza, can it +be, you tell me these things imagining them new to me? ... Let me have +done. What we are saying would have become us ten years ago, not now. It +is unmanly. I had a purpose in sending for you.... Your mission in +Constantinople ends in the morning at four o'clock. In other words, O +Mirza, the condition passes from preparation for war with the _Gabour_ to +war. Observe now. You are a fighting man--a knight of skill and courage. +In the rencounters to which I am going--the sorties, the assaults, the +duels single and in force, the exchanges with all arms, bow, arbalist, +guns small and great, the mines and countermines--you cannot stay out. +You must fight. Is it not so?" + +Corti's head arose, his countenance brightened. + +"My Lord, I fear I run forward of your words--forgive me." + +"Yes, give ear.... The question now is, whom will you fight--me or the +_Gabour?_" + +"O my Lord"-- + +"Be quiet, I say. The issue is not whether you love me less. I prefer +you give him your best service." + +"How, my Lord?" + +"I am not speaking in contempt, but with full knowledge of your +superiority with weapons--of the many of mine who must go down before +you. And that you may not be under restraint of conscience or arm-tied +in the melee, I not only conclude your mission, but release you from +every obligation to me." + +"Every obligation!" + +"I know my words, Emir, yet I will leave nothing uncertain.... You will +go back to the city free of every obligation to me--arm-free, mind-free. +Be a Christian, if you like. Send me no more despatches advisory of the +Emperor"-- + +"And the Princess Irene, my Lord?" + +Mahommed smiled at the Count's eagerness. + +"Have patience, Mirza.... Of the moneys had from me, and the properties +heretofore mine in trust, goods, horses, arms, armor, the galley and its +crew, I give them to you without an accounting. You cannot deliver them +to me or dispose of them, except with an explanation which would weaken +your standing in Blacherne, if not undo you utterly. You have earned +them." + +Corti's face reddened. + +"With all my Lord's generosity, I cannot accept this favor. Honor"-- + +"Silence, Emir, and hear me. I have never been careless of your honor. +When you set out for Italy, preparatory to the mission at Constantinople, +you owed me duty, and there was no shame in the performance; but now--so +have the changes wrought--that which was honorable to Mirza the Emir is +scandalous to Count Corti. After four o'clock you will owe me no duty; +neither will you be in my service. From that hour Mirza, my falcon, will +cease to be. He will have vanished. Or if ever I know him more, it will +be as Count Corti, Christian, stranger, and enemy." + +"Enemy--my Lord's enemy? Never!" + +The Count protested with extended arms. + +"Yes, circumstances will govern. And now the Princess Irene." + +Mahommed paused; then, summoning his might of will, and giving it +expression in a look, he laid a forcible hand on the listener's +shoulder. + +"Of her now.... I have devised a promotion for you, Emir. After to-night +we will be rivals." + +Corti was speechless--he could only stare. + +"By the rose-door of Paradise--the only oath fit for a lover--or, as +more becoming a knight, by this sword of Solomon, Emir, I mean the +rivalry to be becoming and just. I have an advantage of you. With women +rank and riches are as candles to moths. On the other side your advantage +is double; you are a Christian, and may be in her eyes day after day. And +not to leave you in mean condition, I give you the moneys and property +now in your possession; not as a payment--God forbid!--but for pride's +sake--my pride. Mahommed the Sultan may not dispute with a knight who has +only a sword." + +"I have estates in Italy." + +"They might as well be in the moon. I shall enclose Constantinople +before you could arrange with the Jews, and have money enough to buy a +feather for your cap. If this were less true, comes then the argument: +How can you dispose of the properties in hand, and quiet the gossips in +the _Gabour's_ palace? 'Where are your horses?' they will ask. What +answer have you? 'Where your galley?' Answer. 'Where your Mohammedan +crew?' Answer." + +The Count yielded the debate, saying: "I cannot comprehend my Lord. Such +thing was never heard of before." + +"Must men be restrained because the thing they wish to do was never +heard of before? Shall I not build a mosque with five minarets because +other builders stopped with three? ... To the sum of it all now. +Christian or Moslem, are you willing to refer our rivalry for the young +woman to God?" + +"My wonder grows with listening to my Lord." + +"Nay, this surprises you because it is new. I have had it in mind for +months. It did not come to me easily. It demanded self-denial--something +I am unused to.... Here it is--I am willing to call Heaven in, and let +it decide whether she shall be mine or yours--this lily of Paradise whom +all men love at sight. Dare you as much?" + +The soldier spirit arose in the Count. + +"Now or then, here or there, as my Lord may appoint. I am ready. He has +but to name his champion." + +"I protest. The duel would be unequal. As well match a heron and a hawk. +There is a better way of making our appeal. Listen.... The walls of +Constantinople have never succumbed to attack. Hosts have dashed against +them, and fled or been lost. It may be so with me; but I will march, and +in my turn assault them, and thou defending with thy best might. If I am +beaten, if I retire, be the cause of failure this or that, we--you and +I, O Mirza--will call it a judgment of Heaven, and the Princess shall be +yours; but if I success and enter the city, it shall be a judgment no +less, and then"--Mahommed's eyes were full of fire--"then"-- + +"What then, my Lord?" + +"Thou shalt see to her safety in the last struggle, and conduct her to +Sancta Sophia, and there deliver her to me as ordered by God." + +Corti was never so agitated. He turned pale and red--he trembled +visibly. + +Mahommed asked mockingly: "Is it Mirza I am treating with, or Count +Corti? Are Christians so unwilling to trust God?" + +"But, my Lord, it is a wager you offer me." + +"Call it so." + +"And its conditions imply slavery for the Princess. Change them, my +Lord--allow her to be consulted and have her will, be the judgment this +or that." + +Mahommed clinched his hands. + +"Am I a brute? Did ever woman lay her head on my breast perforce?" + +The Count replied, firmly: + +"Such a condition would be against us both alike." + +The Sultan struggled with himself a moment. + +"Be it so," he rejoined. "The wager is my proposal, and I will go +through with it. Take the condition, Emir. If I win, she shall come to +me of her free will or not at all." + +"A wife, my Lord?" + +"In my love first, and in my household first--my Sultana." + +The animation which then came to the Count was wonderful. He kissed +Mahommed's hand. + +"Now has my Lord outdone himself in generosity. I accept. In no other +mode could the issue be made so absolutely a determination of Heaven." + +Mahommed arose. + +"We are agreed.--The interview is finished.--Ali is waiting for you." + +He replaced the cover on the box containing the collar and the +half-boots. + +"I will send these to the Countess your mother; for hereafter you are to +be to me Ugo, Count Corti.... My falcon hath cast its jess and hood. +Mirza is no more. Farewell Mirza." + +Corti was deeply moved. Prostrating himself, he arose, and replied: + +"I go hence more my Lord's lover than ever. Death to the stranger who in +my presence takes his name in vain." + +As he was retiring, Mahommed spoke again: + +"A word, Count.... In what we are going to, the comfort and safety of +the Princess Irene may require you to communicate with me. You have +ready wit for such emergencies. Leave me a suggestion." + +Corti reflected an instant. + +"The signal must proceed from me," he said. "My Lord will pitch his tent +in sight"-- + +"By Solomon, and this his sword, yes! Every _Gabour_ who dares look +over the wall shall see it while there is a hill abiding." + +The Count bowed. + +"I know my Lord, and give him this--God helping me, I will make myself +notorious to the besiegers as he will be to the besieged. If at any time +he sees my banderole, or if it be reported to him, let him look if my +shield be black; if so, he shall come himself with a shield the color of +mine, and place himself in my view. My Lord knows I make my own arrows. +If I shoot one black feathered, he must pick it up. The ferrule will be +of hollow lead covering a bit of scrip." + +"Once more, Count Corti, the issue is with God. Good night." + +Traversing the passage outside the door, the Count met the Prince of +India. + +"An hour ago I would have entitled you Emir: but now"--the Prince smiled +while speaking--"I have stayed to thank Count Corti for his kindness to +my black friend Nilo." + +"Your servant?" + +"My friend and ally--Nilo the King.... If the Count desires to add to +the obligation, he will send the royal person to me with Ali when he +returns to-night." + +"I will send him." + +"Thanks, Count Corti." + +The latter lingered, gazing into the large eyes and ruddy face, +expecting at least an inquiry after Lael. He received merely a bow, and +the words: "We will meet again." + +Night was yet over the city, when Ali, having landed the Count, drew out +of the gate with Nilo. The gladness of the King at being restored to his +master can be easily fancied. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BLOODY HARVEST + + +In June, a few days after the completion of the enormous work begun by +Mahommed on the Asometon promontory, out of a gate attached to the High +Residence of Blacherne, familiarly known as the Caligaria, there issued +a small troop of horsemen of the imperial military establishment. + +The leader of this party--ten in all--was Count Corti. Quite a body of +spectators witnessed the exit, and in their eyes he was the most gallant +knight they had ever seen. They cheered him as, turning to the right +after issuance from the gate, he plunged at a lively trot into the +ravine at the foot of the wall, practically an immense natural fosse. +"God and our Lady of Blacherne," they shouted, and continued shouting +while he was in sight, notwithstanding he did not so much as shake the +banderole on his lance in reply. + +Of the Count's appearance this morning it is unnecessary to say more +than that he was in the suit of light armor habitual to him, and as an +indication of serious intent, bore, besides the lance, a hammer or +battle-axe fixed to his saddle-bow, a curved sword considerably longer, +though not so broad as a cimeter, a bow and quiver of arrows at his +back, and a small shield or buckler over the quiver. The favorite +chestnut Arab served him for mount, its head and neck clothed in +flexible mail. The nine men following were equipped like himself in +every particular, except that their heads were protected by +close-fitting conical caps, and instead of armor on their legs, they +wore flowing red trousers. + +Of them it may be further remarked, their mode of riding, due to their +short stirrups, was indicative of folk akin to the Bedouin of the +Desert. + +Upon returning from the last interview with Mahommed in the White +Castle, the Count had subjected the crew of his galley to rigorous trial +of fitness for land service. Nine of them he found excellent riders +after their fashion, and selecting them as the most promising, he +proceeded to instruct them in the use of the arms they were now bearing. +His object in this small organization was a support to rush in after him +rather than a battle front. That is, in a charge he was to be the +lance's point, and they the broadening of the lance's blade; while he +was engaged, intent on the foe before him, eight of them were to guard +him right and left, and, as the exigencies of combat might demand, open +and close in fan-like movement. The ninth man was a fighter in their +rear. In the simple manoeuvring of this order of battle he had practised +them diligently through the months. The skill attained was remarkable; +and the drilling having been in the Hippodrome, open to the public, the +concourse to see it had been encouraging. + +In truth, the wager with Mahommed had supplied the Count with energy of +body and mind. He studied the chances of the contest, knowing how +swiftly it was coming, and believed it possible to defend the city +successfully. At all events, he would do his best, and if the judgment +were adverse, it should not be through default on his part. + +The danger--and he discerned it with painful clearness--was in the +religious dissensions of the Greeks; still he fancied the first serious +blow struck by the Turks, the first bloodshed, would bring the factions +together, if only for the common safety. + +It is well worth while here to ascertain the views and feelings of the +people whom Count Corti was thus making ready to defend. This may be +said of them generally: It seemed impossible to bring them to believe +the Sultan really intended war against the city. + +"What if he does?" they argued. "Who but a young fool would think of +such a thing? If he comes, we will show him the banner of the Blessed +Lady from the walls." + +If in the argument there was allusion to the tower on the Asometon +heights, so tall one could stand on its lead-covered roof, and looking +over the intermediate hills, almost see into Constantinople, the +careless populace hooted at the exaggeration: "There be royal idiots as +well as every-day idiots. Staring at us is one thing, shooting at us is +another. Towers with walls thirty feet thick are not movable." + +One day a report was wafted through the gates that a gun in the water +battery of the new Turkish fort had sunk a passing ship. "What flag was +the ship flying?" "The Venetian." "Ah, that settles it," the public +cried. "The Sultan wants to keep the Venetians out of the Black Sea. The +Turks and the Venetians have always been at war." + +A trifle later intelligence came that the Sultan, lingering at +Basch-Kegan, supposably because the air along the Bosphorus was better +than the air at Adrianople, had effected a treaty by which the Podesta +of Galata bound his city to neutrality; still the complacency of the +Byzantines was in no wise disturbed. "Score one for the Genoese. It is +good to hear of their beating the Venetians." + +Occasionally a wanderer--possibly a merchant, more likely a spy--passing +the bazaars of Byzantium, entertained the booth-keepers with stories of +cannon being cast for the Sultan so big that six men tied together might +be fired from them at once. The Greeks only jeered. Some said: "Oh, the +Mahound must be intending a salute for the man in the moon of Ramazan!" +Others decided: "Well, he is crazier than we thought him. There are many +hills on the road to Adrianople, and at the foot of every hill there is +a bridge. To get here he must invent wings for his guns, and even then +it will be long before they can be taught to fly." + +At times, too, the old city was set agog with rumors from the Asiatic +provinces opposite that the Sultan was levying unheard-of armies; he had +half a million recruits already, but wanted a million. "Oh, he means to +put a lasting quietus on Huniades and his Hungarians. He is sensible in +taking so many men." + +In compliment to the intelligence of the public, this obliviousness to +danger had one fostering circumstance--the gates of the city on land and +water stood open day and night. + +"See," it was everywhere said, "the Emperor is not alarmed. Who has more +at stake than he? He is a soldier, if he is an _azymite_. He keeps +ambassadors with the Sultan--what for, if not to be advised?" + +And there was a great deal in the argument. + +At length the Greek ambassadors were expelled by Mahommed. It was while +he lay at Basch-Kegan. They themselves brought the news. This was +ominous, yet the public kept its spirits. The churches, notably Sancta +Sophia, were more than usually crowded with women; that was all, for the +gates not only remained open, but traffic went in and out of them +unhindered--out even to the Turkish camp, the Byzantines actually +competing with their neighbors of Galata in the furnishment of supplies. +Nay, at this very period every morning a troop of the Imperial guard +convoyed a wagon from Blacherne out to Basch-Kegan laden with the +choicest food and wines; and to the officer receiving them the captain +of the convoy invariably delivered himself: "From His Majesty, the +Emperor of the Romans and Greeks, to the Lord Mahommed, Sultan of the +Turks. Prosperity and long life to the Sultan." + +If these were empty compliments, if the relations between the potentates +were slippery, if war were hatching, what was the Emperor about? + +Six months before the fort opposite the White Castle was begun, +Constantine had been warned of Mahommed's projected movement against his +capital. The warning was from Kalil Pacha; and whether Kalil was moved +by pity, friendship, or avarice is of no moment; certain it is the +Emperor acted upon the advice. He summoned a council, and proposed war; +but was advised to send a protesting embassy to the enemy. A scornful +answer was returned. Seeing the timidity of his cabinet, cast upon +himself, he resolved to effect a policy, and accordingly expostulated, +prayed, sent presents, offered tribute, and by such means managed to +satisfy his advisers; yet all the time he was straining his resources in +preparation. + +In the outset, he forced himself to face two facts of the gravest +import: first, of his people, those of age and thews for fighting were +in frocks, burrowing in monasteries; next, the clergy and their +affiliates were his enemies, many openly preferring a Turk to an +_azymite_. A more discouraging prospect it is difficult to imagine. +There was but one hope left him. Europe was full of professional +soldiers. Perhaps the Pope had influence to send him a sufficient +contingent. Would His Holiness interest himself so far? The brave +Emperor despatched an embassy to Rome, promising submission to the +Papacy, and praying help in Christ's name. + +Meantime his agents dispersed themselves through the Aegean, buying +provisions and arms, enginery, and war material of all kinds. This +business kept his remnant of a navy occupied. Every few days a vessel +would arrive with stores for the magazine under the Hippodrome. By the +time the fort at Roumeli Hissar was finished, one of his anxieties was +in a measure relieved. The other was more serious. Then the frequency +with which he climbed the Tower of Isaac, the hours he passed there +gazing wistfully southward down the mirror of the Marmora, became +observable. The valorous, knightly heart, groaning under the humiliations +of the haughty Turk, weary not less of the incapacity of his own people +to perceive their peril, and arise heroically to meet it, found +opportunity to meditate while he was pacing the lofty lookout, and +struggling to descry the advance of the expected succor. + +In this apology the reader who has wondered at the inaction of the +Emperor what time the Sultan was perfecting his Asiatic communications +is answered. There was nothing for him but a siege. To that alternative +the last of the Romans was reduced. He could not promise himself enough +of his own subjects to keep the gates, much less take the field. + +The country around Constantinople was given to agriculture. During the +planting season, and the growing, the Greek husbandmen received neither +offence nor alarm from the Turks. But in June, when the emerald of the +cornfields was turning to gold, herds of mules and cavalry horses began +to ravage the fields, and the watchmen, hastening from their little huts +on the hills to drive them out, were set upon by the soldiers and +beaten. They complained to the Emperor, and he sent an embassy to the +Sultan praying him to save the crops from ruin. In reply, Mahommed +ordered the son of Isfendiar, a relative, to destroy the harvest. The +peasants resisted, and not unsuccessfully. In the South, and in the +fields near Hissar on the north, there were deaths on both sides. +Intelligence of the affair coming to Constantine, he summoned Count +Corti. + +"The long expected has arrived," he said. "Blood has been shed. My +people have been attacked and slain in their fields; their bodies lie +out unburied. The war cannot be longer deferred. It is true the succors +from the Holy Father have not arrived; but they are on the way, and +until they come we must defend ourselves. Cold and indifferent my people +have certainly been. Now I will make a last effort to arouse them. Go +out toward Hissar, and recover the dead. Have the bodies brought in just +as they are. I will expose them in the Hippodrome. Perhaps their bruises +and blood may have an effect; if not, God help this Christian city. I +will give you a force." + +"Your Majesty," the Count replied, "such an expedition might provoke an +advance upon the city before you are entirely prepared. Permit me to +select a party from my own men." "As you choose. A guide will accompany +you." + +To get to the uplands, so to speak, over which, north of Galata, the +road to Hissar stretched, Corti was conducted past the Cynegion and +through the districts of Eyoub to the Sweet Waters of Europe, which he +crossed by a bridge below the site of the present neglected country +palace of the Sultan. Up on the heights he turned left of Pera, and +after half an hour's rapid movement was trending northward parallel with +the Bosphorus, reaches of which were occasionally visible through +cleftings of the mountainous shore. Straw-thatched farmhouses dotted the +hills and slopes, and the harvest spread right and left in cheerful +prospect. + +The adventurer had ample time to think; but did little of it, being too +full of self-gratulation at having before him an opportunity to +recommend himself to the Emperor, with a possibility of earning +distinction creditable in the opinion of the Princess Irene. + +At length an exclamation of his guide aroused him to action. + +"The Turks, the Turks!" + +"Where?" + +"See that smoke." + +Over a hilltop in his front, the Count beheld the sign of alarm crawling +slowly into the sky. + +"Here is a village--to our left, but"-- + +"Have done," said Corti, "and get me to the fire. Is there a nearer way +than this?" + +"Yes, under the hill yonder." + +"Is it broken?" + +"It narrows to a path, but is clear." + +The Count spoke in Arabic to his followers, and taking the gallop, +pushed the guide forward. Shortly a party of terror-stricken peasants +ran down toward him. + +"Why do you run? What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Oh, the Turks, the Turks!" + +"What of them? Stand, and tell me." + +"We went to work this morning cutting corn, for it is now ripe enough. +The Mahounds broke in on us. We were a dozen to their fifty or more. We +only escaped, and they set fire to the field. O Christ, and the Most +Holy Mother! Let us pass, or we too will be slain!" + +"Are they mounted?" + +"Some have horses, some are afoot." + +"Where are they now?" + +"In the field on the hill." + +"Well, go to the village fast as you can, and tell the men there to come +and pick up their dead. Tell them not to fear, for the Emperor has sent +me to take care of them." + +With that the Count rode on. + +This was the sight presented him when he made the ascent: A wheat field +sloping gradually to the northeast; fire creeping across it crackling, +smoking, momentarily widening; through the cloud a company of Turkish +soldiers halted, mostly horsemen, their arms glinting brightly in the +noon sun; blackened objects, unmistakably dead men, lying here and +there. Thus the tale of the survivors of the massacre was confirmed. + +Corti gave his lance with the banderole on it to the guide. By direction +his Berbers drove their lances into the earth that they might leave them +standing, drew their swords, and brought their bucklers forward. Then he +led them into the field. A few words more, directions probably, and he +started toward the enemy, his followers close behind two and two, with a +rear-guardsman. He allowed no outcry, but gradually increased the pace. + +There were two hundred and more yards to be crossed, level, except the +slope, and with only the moving line of fire as an impediment. The crop, +short and thin, was no obstacle under the hoofs. + +The Turks watched the movement herded, like astonished sheep. They may +not have comprehended that they were being charged, or they may have +despised the assailants on account of their inferiority in numbers, or +they may have relied on the fire as a defensive wall; whatever the +reason, they stood passively waiting. + +When the Count came to the fire, he gave his horse the spur, and +plunging into the smoke and through the flame full speed, appeared on +the other side, shouting: "Christ and Our Lady of Blacherne!" His long +sword flashed seemingly brighter of the passage just made. Fleckings of +flame clung to the horses. What the battle-cry of the Berbers we may not +tell. They screamed something un-Christian, echoes of the Desert. Then +the enemy stirred; some drew their blades, some strung their bows; the +footmen amongst them caught their javelins or half-spears in the middle, +and facing to the rear, fled, and kept flying, without once looking over +their shoulders. + +One man mounted, and in brighter armor than the others, his steel cap +surmounted with an immense white turban, a sparkling aigrette pinned to +the turban, cimeter in hand, strove to form his companions--but it was +too late. "Christ and our Lady of Blacherne!"--and with that Corti was +in their midst; and after him, into the lane he opened, his Berbers +drove pell-mell, knocking Turks from their saddles, and overthrowing +horses--and there was cutting and thrusting, and wounds given, and souls +rendered up through darkened eyes. + +The killing was all on one side; then as a bowl splinters under a +stroke, the Turkish mass flew apart, and went helter-skelter off, each +man striving to take care of himself. The Berbers spared none of the +overtaken. + +Spying the man with the showy armor, the Count made a dash to get to +him, and succeeded, for to say truth, he was not an unwilling foeman. A +brief combat took place, scarcely more than a blow, and the Turk was +disarmed and at mercy. + +"Son of Isfendiar," said Corti, "the slaying these poor people with only +their harvest knives for weapons was murder. Why should I spare your +life?" + +"I was ordered to punish them." + +"By whom?" + +"My Lord the Sultan." + +"Do your master no shame. I know and honor him." + +"Yesterday they slew our Moslems." + +"They but defended their own.... You deserve death, but I have a message +for the Lord Mahommed. Swear by the bones of the Prophet to deliver it, +and I will spare you." + +"If you know my master, as you say, he is quick and fierce of temper, +and if I must die, the stroke may be preferable at your hand. Give me +the message first." + +"Well, come with me." + +The two remained together until the flight and pursuit were ended; then, +the fire reduced to patches for want of stalks to feed it, the Count led +the way back to the point at which he entered the field. Taking his +lance from the guide, he passed it to the prisoner. + +"This is what I would have you do," he said. "The lance is mine. Carry +it to your master, the Lord Mahommed, and say to him, Ugo, Count Corti, +salute him, and prays him to look at the banderole, and fix it in his +memory. He will understand the message, and be grateful for it. Now will +you swear?" + +The banderole was a small flag of yellow silk, with a red moon in the +centre, and on the face of the moon a white cross. Glancing at it, the +son of Isfendiar replied: + +"Take off the cross, and you show me a miniature standard of the +_Silihdars_, my Lord's guard of the Palace." Then looking the Count +full in the face, he added: "Under other conditions I should salute you +Mirza, Emir of the Hajj." + +"I have given you my name and title. Answer." + +"I will deliver the lance and message to my Lord--I swear it by the bones +of the Prophet." + +Scarcely had the Turk disappeared in the direction of Hissar, when a +crowd of peasants, men and women, were seen coming timorously from the +direction of the village. The Count rode to meet them, and as they were +provided with all manner of litters, by his direction the dead Greeks +were collected, and soon, with piteous lamentations, a funeral cortege +was on the road moving slowly to Constantinople. Anticipating a speedy +reappearance of the Turks, hostilities being now unavoidable, Count +Corti despatched messengers everywhere along the Bosphorus, warning the +farmers and villagers to let their fields go, and seek refuge in the +city. So it came about that the escort of the murdered peasants +momentarily increased until at the bridge over the Sweet Waters of +Europe it became a column composed for the most part of women, children, +and old men. Many of the women carried babies. The old men staggered +under such goods as they could lay their hands on in haste. The +able-bodied straggled far in the rear with herds of goats, sheep, and +cattle; the air above the road rang with cries and prayers, and the road +itself was sprinkled with tears. In a word, the movement was a flight. + +Corti, with his Berbers, lingered in the vicinity of the field of fight +watchful of the enemy. In the evening, having forwarded a messenger to +the Emperor, he took stand at the bridge; and well enough, for about +dusk a horde of Turkish militia swept down from the heights in search of +plunder and belated victims. At the first bite of his sword, they took +to their heels, and were not again seen. + +By midnight the settlements and farmhouses of the up-country were +abandoned; almost the entire district from Galata to Fanar on the Black +Sea was reduced to ashes. The Greek Emperor had no longer a frontier or +a province--all that remained to him was his capital. + +Many of the fugitives, under quickening of the demonstration at the +bridge, threw their burdens away; so the greater part of them at an +early hour after nightfall appeared at the Adrianople gate objects of +harrowing appeal, empty-handed, broken down, miserable. + +Constantine had the funeral escort met at the gate by torch-bearers, and +the sextons of the Blacherne Chapel. Intelligence of the massacre, and +that the corpses of the harvesters would be conveyed to the Hippodrome +for public exposure, having been proclaimed generally through the city, +a vast multitude was also assembled at the gate. The sensation was +prodigious. + +There were twenty litters, each with a body upon it unwashed and in +bloody garments, exactly as brought in. On the right and left of the +litters the torchmen took their places. The sextons lit their long +candles, and formed in front. Behind trudged the worn, dust-covered, +wretched fugitives; and as they failed to realize their rescue, and that +they were at last in safety, they did not abate their lamentations. When +the innumerable procession passed the gate, and commenced its laborious +progress along the narrow streets, seldom, if ever, has anything of the +kind more pathetic and funereally impressive been witnessed. + +Let be said what may, after all nothing shall stir the human heart like +the faces of fellowmen done to death by a common enemy. There was no +misjudgment of the power of the appeal in this instance. It is no +exaggeration to say Byzantium was out assisting--so did the people +throng the thoroughfares, block the street intersections, and look down +from the windows and balconies. Afar they heard the chanting of the +sextons, monotonous, yet solemnly effective; afar they saw the swaying +candles and torches; and an awful silence signalized the approach of the +pageant; but when it was up, and the bodies were borne past, especially +when the ghastly countenances of the sufferers were under eye plainly +visible in the red torchlight, the outburst of grief and rage in every +form, groans, curses, prayers, was terrible, and the amazing voice, such +by unity of utterance, went with the dead, and followed after them until +at last the Hippodrome was reached. There the Emperor, on horseback, and +with his court and guards, was waiting, and his presence lent +nationality to the mournful spectacle. + +Conducting the bearers of the litters to the middle of the oblong area, +he bade them lay their burdens down, and summoned the city to the view. + +"Let there be no haste," he said, "for, in want of their souls, the +bruised bodies of our poor countrymen shall lie here all tomorrow, every +gaping wound crying for vengeance. Then on the next day it will be for +us to say what we will do--fight, fly, or surrender." + +Through the remainder of the night the work of closing the gates and +making them secure continued without cessation. The guards were +strengthened at each of them, and no one permitted to pass out. Singular +to say, a number of eunuchs belonging to the Sultan were caught and +held. Some of the enraged Greeks insisted on their death; but the good +heart of the Emperor prevailed, and the prisoners were escorted to their +master. The embassy which went with them announced the closing of the +gates. + +"Since neither oaths, nor treaty, nor submission can secure peace, +pursue your impious warfare"--thus Constantine despatched to Mahommed. +"My trust is in God; if it shall please him to mollify your heart, I +shall rejoice in the change; if he delivers the city in your hands, I +submit without a murmur to his holy will. But until he shall pronounce +between us, it is my duty to live and die in defence of my people." +[Footnote: Gibbon] + +Mahommed answered with a formal declaration of war. + +It remains to say that the bodies of the harvesters were viewed as +promised. They lay in a row near the Twisted Serpent, and the people +passed them tearfully; in the night they were taken away and buried. + +Sadder still, the result did not answer the Emperor's hope. The feeling, +mixed of sorrow and rage, was loudly manifested; but it was succeeded by +fear, and when the organization of companies was attempted, the exodus +was shameful. Thousands fled, leaving about one hundred thousand behind, +not to fight, but firm in the faith that Heaven would take care of the +city. + +After weeks of effort, five thousand Greeks took the arms offered them, +and were enrolled. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EUROPE ANSWERS THE CRY FOR HELP + + +A man in love, though the hero of many battles, shall be afraid in the +presence of his beloved, and it shall be easier for him to challenge an +enemy than to ask her love in return. + +Count Corti's eagerness to face the lion in the gallery of the Cynegion +had established his reputation in Constantinople for courage; his recent +defence of the harvesters raised it yet higher; now his name was on +every tongue. + +His habit of going about in armor had in the first days of his coming +subjected him to criticism; for the eyes before which he passed belonged +for the most part to a generation more given to prospecting for bezants +in fields of peace than the pursuit of glory in the ruggeder fields of +war. But the custom was now accepted, and at sight of him, mounted and +in glistening armor, even the critics smiled, and showered his head with +silent good wishes, or if they spoke it was to say to each other: "Oh, +that the Blessed Mother would send us more like him!" And the Count knew +he had the general favor. We somehow learn such things without their +being told us. + +Up in the empyrean courtly circles his relations were quite as +gratifying. The Emperor made no concealment of his partiality, and again +insisted on bringing him to Blacherne. + +"Your Majesty," the Count said one day, "I have no further need of my +galley and its crew. I beg you to do with them as you think best." + +Constantine received the offer gratefully. + +"The galley is a godsend. I will order payment for it. Duke Notaras, the +Grand Admiral, will agree with you about the price." + +"If Your Majesty will permit me to have my way," the Count rejoined, +"you will order the vessel into the harbor with the fleet, and if the +result of the war is with Your Majesty, the Grand Admiral can arrange +for the payment; if otherwise"--he smiled at the alternative--"I think +neither Your Majesty nor myself will have occasion for a ship." + +The galley was transferred from the Bay of Julian to anchorage in the +Golden Horn. That night, speaking of the tender, the Emperor said to +Phranza: "Count Corti has cast his lot with us. As I interpret him, he +does not mean to survive our defeat. See that he be charged to select a +bodyguard to accompany me in action." + +"Is he to be Captain of the guard?" + +"Yes." + +The duty brought the Count to Blacherne. In a few days he had fifty men, +including his nine Berbers. + +These circumstances made him happy. He found peace of mind also in his +release from Mahommed. Not an hour of the day passed without his +silently thanking the Sultan for his magnanimity. + +But no matter for rejoicing came to him like the privilege of freely +attending the Princess Irene. + +Not only was her reception-room open to him; whether she went to +Blacherne or Sancta Sophia, he appeared in her train. Often when the +hour of prayer arrived, she invited him as one of her household to +accompany her to the apartment she had set apart for chapel exercises; +and at such times he strove to be devout, but in taking her for his +pattern of conduct--as yet he hardly knew when to arise or kneel, or +cross himself--if his thoughts wandered from the Madonna and Child to +her, if sometimes he fell to making comparisons in which the Madonna +suffered as lacking beauty--nay, if not infrequently he caught himself +worshipping the living woman at the foot of the altar rather than the +divinity above it, few there were who would have been in haste to +condemn him even in that day. There is nothing modern in the world's +love of a lover. + +By the treaty with Mahommed he was free to tell the Princess of his +passion; and there were moments in which it seemed he must cast himself +at her feet and speak; but then he would be seized with a trembling, his +tongue would unaccountably refuse its office, and he would quiet himself +with the weakling's plea--another time--to-morrow, to-morrow. And always +upon the passing of the opportunity, the impulse being laid with so many +of its predecessors in the graveyard of broken resolutions--every swain +afraid keeps such a graveyard--always he sallied from her door eager for +an enemy on whom to vent his vexation. "Ah," he would say, with prolonged +emphasis upon the exclamation--"if Mahommed were only at the gate! Is he +never coming?" + +One day he dismounted at the Princess' door, and was ushered into the +reception-room by Lysander. "I bring you good news," he said, in course +of the conversation. + +"What now?" she asked. + +"Every sword counts. I am just from the Port of Blacherne, whither I +accompanied the Grand Equerry to assist in receiving one John Grant, who +has arrived with a following of Free Lances, mostly my own countrymen." + +"Who is John Grant?" + +"A German old in Eastern service; more particularly an expert in making +and throwing hollow iron balls filled with inflammable liquid. On +striking, the balls burst, after which the fire is unquenchable with +water." + +"Oh! our Greek fire rediscovered!" + +"So he declares. His Majesty has ordered him the materials he asks, and +that he go to work to-morrow getting a store of his missiles ready. The +man declares also, if His Holiness would only proclaim a crusade against +the Turks. Constantinople has not space on her walls to hold the +volunteers who would hasten to her defence. He says Genoa, Venice, all +Italy, is aroused and waiting." + +"John Grant is welcome," the Princess returned; "the more so that His +Holiness is slow." + +Afterward, about the first of December, the Count again dismounted at +her door with news. + +"What is it now?" she inquired. + +"Noble Princess, His Holiness has been heard from." + +"At last?" + +"A Legate will arrive to-morrow." + +"Only a Legate! What is his name?" + +"Isidore, Grand Metropolitan of Russia." + +"Brings he a following?" + +"No soldiers; only a suite of priests high and low." + +"I see. He comes to negotiate. Alas!" + +"Why alas?" + +"Oh, the factions, the factions!" she exclaimed, disconsolately; then, +seeing the Count still in wonder, she added: "Know you not that Isidore, +familiarly called the Cardinal, was appointed Metropolitan of the +Russian Greek Church by the Pope, and, rejected by it, was driven to +refuge in Poland? What welcome can we suppose he will receive here?" + +"Is he not a Greek?" + +"Yes, truly; but being a Latin Churchman, the Brotherhoods hold him an +apostate. His first demand will be to celebrate mass in Sancta Sophia. +If the world were about shaking itself to pieces, the commotion would be +but little greater than the breaking of things we will then hear. Oh, it +is an ill wind which blows him to our gates!" Meantime the Hippodrome +had been converted into a Campus Martius, where at all hours of the day +the newly enlisted men were being drilled in the arms to which they were +assigned; now as archers, now as slingers; now with balistas and +catapults and arquebuses; now to the small artillery especially +constructed for service on the walls. And as trade was at an end in the +city, as in fact martial preparation occupied attention to the exclusion +of business in the commercial sense, the ancient site was a centre of +resort. Thither the Count hastened to work off the disheartenment into +which the comments of the Princess had thrown him. + +That same week, however, he and the loyal population of Constantinople +in general, were cheered by a coming of real importance. Early one +morning some vessels of war hove in sight down the Marmora. Their flags +proclaimed them Christian. Simultaneously the lookouts at Point +Demetrius reported a number of Turkish galleys plying to and fro up the +Bosphorus. It was concluded that a naval battle was imminent. The walls +in the vicinity of the Point were speedily crowded with spectators. In +fact, the anxiety was great enough to draw the Emperor from his High +Residence. Not doubting the galleys were bringing him stores, possibly +reinforcements, he directed his small fleet in the Golden Horn to be +ready to go to their assistance. His conjecture was right; yet more +happily the Turks made no attempt upon them. Turning into the harbor, +the strangers ran up the flags of Venice and Genoa, and never did they +appear so beautiful, seen by Byzantines--never were they more welcome. +The decks were crowded with helmed men who responded vigorously to the +cheering with which they were saluted. + +Constantine in person received the newcomers at the Port of Blacherne. +From the wall over the gate the Princess Irene, with an escort of noble +ladies, witnessed the landing. + +A knight of excellent presence stepped from a boat, and announced +himself. + +"I am John Justiniani of Genoa," he said, "come with two thousand +companions in arms to the succor of the most Christian Emperor +Constantine. Guide me to him, I pray." + +"The Emperor is here--I am he." + +Justiniani kissed the hand extended to him, and returned with fervor: + +"Christ and the Mother be praised! Much have I been disquieted lest we +should be too late. Your Majesty, command me." + +"Duke Notaras," said the Emperor, "assist this noble gentleman and his +companions. When they are disembarked, conduct them to me. For the +present I will lodge them in my residence." Then he addressed the +Genoese: "Duke Notaras, High Admiral of the Empire, will answer your +every demand. In God's name, and for the imperilled religion of our +Redeeming Lord, I bid you welcome." + +It seemed the waving of scarfs and white hands on the wall, and the +noisy salutations of the people present, were not agreeable to the Duke; +although coldly polite, he impressed Justiniani as an ill second to the +stately but courteous Emperor. + +At night there was an audience in the Very High Residence, and +Justiniani assisted Phranza in the presentation of his companions; and +though the banquet which shortly succeeded the audience may not, in the +courses served or in its table splendors, have vied with those Alexis +resorted to for the dazzlement of the chiefs of the first crusade, it +was not entirely wanting in such particulars; for it has often happened, +if the chronicles may be trusted, that the expiring light of great +countries has lingered longest in their festive halls, just as old +families have been known to nurture their pride in sparkling heirlooms, +all else having been swept away. The failings on this occasion, if any +there were, Constantine more than amended by his engaging demeanor. +Soldier not less than Emperor, he knew to win the sympathy and devotion +of soldiers. Of his foreign guests that evening many afterwards died +hardly distinguishing between him and the Holy Cause which led them to +their fate. + +The table was long, and without head or foot. On one side, in the +middle, the Emperor presided; opposite him sat the Princess Irene; and +on their right and left, in gallant interspersion, other ladies, the +wives and daughters of senators, nobles, and officials of the court, +helped charm the Western chivalry. + +And of the guests, the names of a few have been preserved by history, +together with the commands to which they were assigned in the siege. + +There was Andrew Dinia, under Duke Notaras, a captain of galleys. + +There was the Venetian Contarino, intrusted with the defence of the +Golden Grate. + +There was Maurice Cataneo, a soldier of Genoa, commandant of the walls +on the landward side between the Golden Gate and the Gate Selimbria. + +There were two brothers, gentlemen of Genoa, + +Paul Bochiardi and Antonin Troilus Bochiardi, defendants of the +Adrianople Gate. + +There was Jerome Minotte, Bayle of Venice, charged with safe keeping the +walls between the Adrianople Gate and the Cerco Portas. + +There was the artillerist, German John Grant, who, with Theodore +Carystos, made sure of the Gate Charsias. + +There was Leonardo de Langasco, another Genoese, keeper of the Wood +Gate. + +There was Gabriel Travisan; with four hundred other Venetians, he +maintained the stretch of wall on the harbor front between Point +Demetrius and the Port St. Peter. + +There was Pedro Guiliani, the Spanish Consul, assigned to the +guardianship of the wall on the sea side from Point Demetrius to the +Port of Julian. + +There also was stout Nicholas Gudelli; with the Emperor's brother, he +commanded the force in reserve. + +Now these, or the major part of them, may have been Free Lances; yet +they did not await the motion of Nicholas, the dilatory Pope, and were +faithful, and to-day exemplify the saying: + + "That men may rise on stepping-stones + Of their dead selves to higher things." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COUNT CORTI RECEIVES A FAVOR + + +"Gracious Princess, the Italian, Count Corti, is at the door. He prays +you to hear a request from him." + +"Return, Lysander, and bring the Count." + +It was early morning, with February in its last days. + +The visitor's iron shoes clanked sharply on the marble floor of the +reception room, and the absence of everything like ornament in his +equipment bespoke preparation for immediate hard service. + +"I hope the Mother is keeping you well," she said, presenting her hand +to him. + +With a fervor somewhat more marked than common, he kissed the white +offering, and awaited her bidding. + +"My attendants are gone to the chapel, but I will hear you--or will you +lend us your presence at the service, and have the audience afterwards?" + +"I am in armor, and my steed is at the door, and my men biding at the +Adrianople Gate; wherefore, fair Princess, if it be your pleasure, I +will present my petition now." + +In grave mistrust, she returned: + +"God help us, Count! I doubt you have something ill to relate. Since the +good Gregory fled into exile to escape his persecutors, but more +especially since Cardinal Isidore attempted Latin mass in Sancta Sophia, +and the madman Gennadius so frightened the people with his senseless +anathemas, [Footnote: The scene here alluded to by the Princess Irene is +doubtless the one so vividly described by Gibbon as having taken place +in Sancta Sophia, the 12th of December, 1452, being the mass celebrated +by Cardinal Isidore in an attempt to reconcile the Latin and Greek +factions. + +Enumerating the consequences of the same futile effort at compromise, +Von Hammer says: "Instead of uniting for the common defence, the Greeks +and Latins fled, leaving the churches empty; the priests refused the +sacrament to the dying who were not of their faith; the monks and nuns +repudiated confessors who acknowledged the _henoticon_ (decree +ordaining the reunion of the two churches); a spirit of frenzy took +possession of the convents; one _religieuse_, to the great scandal +of all the faithful, adopted the faith and costume of the Mussulmans, +eating meat and adoring the Prophet. Thus Lent passed." (Vol. II., p. +397.) + +To the same effect we read in the Universal History of the Catholic +Church (Vol. XXII., p. 103): "The religious who affected to surpass +others in sanctity of life and purity of faith, following the advice of +Gennadius and their spiritual advisers, as well as that of the preachers +and laity of their party, condemned the decree of union, and +anathematized those who approved or might approve it. The common people, +sallying from the monasteries, betook themselves to the taverns; there +flourishing glasses of wine, they reviled all who had consented to the +union, and drinking in honor of an image of the Mother of God, prayed +her to protect and defend the city against Mahomet, as she had formerly +defended it against Chosroes and the Kagan. We will have nothing to do +with assistance from the Latins or a union with them. Far from us be the +worship of the _azymites_."] I have been beset with forebodings +until I startle at my own thoughts. It were gentle, did you go to your +request at once." + +She permitted him to lead her to an armless chair, and, standing before +her, he spoke with decision: + +"Princess Irene, now that you have resolved finally to remain in the +city, and abide the issue of the siege, rightly judging it an affair +determinable by God, it is but saying the truth as I see it, that no one +is more interested in what betides us from day to day than you; for if +Heaven frowns upon our efforts at defence, and there comes an assault, +and we are taken, the Conqueror, by a cruel law of war, has at disposal +the property both public and private he gains, and every living thing as +well. We who fight may die the death he pleases; you--alas, most noble +and virtuous lady, my tongue refuses the words that rise to it for +utterance!" + +The rose tints in her cheeks faded, yet she answered: "I know what you +would say, and confess it has appalled me. Sometimes it tempts me to fly +while yet I can; then I remember I am a Palaeologus. I remember also my +kinsman the Emperor is to be sustained in the trial confronting him. I +remember too the other women, high and low, who will stay and share the +fortunes of their fighting husbands and brothers. If I have less at +stake than they, Count Corti, the demands of honor are more rigorous +upon me." + +The count's eyes glowed with admiration, but next moment the light in +them went out. + +"Noble lady," he began, "I hope it will not be judged too great a +familiarity to say I have some days been troubled on your account. I +have feared you might be too confident of our ability to beat the enemy. +It seems my duty to warn you of the real outlook that you may permit us +to provide for your safety while opportunities favor." + +"For my flight, Count Corti?" + +"Nay, Princess Irene, your retirement from the city." + +She smiled at the distinction he made, but replied: + +"I will hear you, Count." + +"It is for you to consider, O Princess--if reports of the Sultan's +preparation are true--this assault in one feature at least will be +unparalleled. The great guns for which he has been delaying are said to +be larger than ever before used against walls. They may destroy our +defences at once; they may command all the space within those defences; +they may search every hiding-place; the uncertainties they bring with +them are not to be disregarded by the bravest soldier, much less the +unresisting classes.... In the next place, I think it warrantable from +the mass of rumors which has filled the month to believe the city will +be assailed by a force much greater than was ever drawn together under +her walls. Suffer me to refer to them, O Princess... The Sultan is yet +at Adrianople assembling his army. Large bodies of footmen are crossing +the Hellespont at Gallipolis and the Bosphorus at Hissar; in the region +of Adrianople the country is covered with hordes of horsemen speaking +all known tongues and armed with every known weapon--Cossacks from the +north, Arabs from the south, Koords and Tartars from the east, +Roumanians and Slavs from beyond the Balkans. The roads from the +northwest are lined with trains bringing supplies and siege-machinery. +The cities along the shores of the Black Sea have yielded to Mahommed; +those which defied him are in ruins. An army is devastating Morea. The +brother whom His Majesty the Emperor installed ruler there is dead or a +wanderer, no man can say in what parts. Assistance cannot be expected +from him. Above us, far as the sea, the bays are crowded with ships of +all classes; four hundred hostile sail have been counted from the +hill-tops. And now that there is no longer a hope of further aid from +the Christians of Europe, the effect of the news upon our garrison is +dispiriting. Our garrison! Alas, Princess, with the foreigners come to +our aid, it is not sufficient to man the walls on the landward side +alone." + +"The picture is gloomy, Count, but if you have drawn it to shake my +purpose, it is not enough. I have put myself in the hands of the Blessed +Mother. I shall stay, and be done with as God orders." + +Again the Count's face glowed with admiration. + +"I thought as much, O Princess," he said warmly; "yet it seemed to me a +duty to advise you of the odds against us; and now, the duty done, I +pray you hear me as graciously upon another matter.... Last night, +seeing the need of information of the enemy, I besought His Majesty to +allow me to ride toward Adrianople. He consented, and I set out +immediately; but before going, before bidding you adieu, noble Princess +and dear lady, I have a prayer to offer you." + +He hesitated; then plucking courage from the embarrassment of silence, +went on: + +"Dear lady, your resolution to stay and face the dangers of the siege +and assault fills me with alarm for your safety." + +He cast himself upon his knees, and stretched his hands to her. + +"Give me permission to protect you. I devote my sword to you, and the +skill of my hands--my life, my soul. Let me be your knight." + +She arose, but he continued: + +"Some day, deeds done for your country and religion may give me courage +to speak more boldly of what I feel and hope; but now I dare go no +further than ask what you have just heard. Let me be your protector and +knight through the perils of the siege at least." + +The Princess was pleased with the turn his speech had taken. She thought +rapidly. A knight in battle, foremost in the press, her name a conquering +cry on his lips were but the constituents of a right womanly ambition. +She answered: + +"Count Corti, I accept thy offer." + +Taking the hand she extended, he kissed it reverently, and said: + +"I am happy above other men. Now, O Princess, give me a favor--a glove, a +scarf--something I may wear, to prove me thy knight." + +She took from her neck a net of knitted silk, pinkish in hue, and large +enough for a kerchief or waist sash. + +"If I go about this gift," she said, her face deeply suffused, "in a way +to provoke a smile hereafter; if in placing it around thy neck with my +own hands"--with the words, she bent over him, and dropped the net +outside the hood so the ends hung loosely down his breast--"I overstep +any rule of modesty, I pray you will not misunderstand me. I am thinking +of my country, my kinsman, of religion and God, and the service even +unto noble deeds thou mayst do them. Rise, Count Corti. In the ride +before thee now, in the perils to come, thou shalt have my prayers." + +The Count arose, but afraid to trust himself in further speech, he +carried her hand to his lips again, and with a simple farewell, hurried +out, and mounting his horse rode at speed for the Adrianople Gate. + +Four days after, he reentered the gate, bringing a prisoner, and passing +straight to the Very High Residence, made report to the Emperor, +Justiniani and Duke Notaras in council. + +"I have been greatly concerned for you, Count," said Constantine; "and +not merely because a good sword can be poorly spared just now." + +The imperial pleasure was unfeigned. + +"Your Majesty's grace is full reward for my performance," the Count +replied, and rising from the salutation, he began his recital. + +"Stay," said the Emperor, "I will have a seat brought that you may be at +ease." + +Corti declined: "The Arabs have a saying, Your Majesty--'A nest for a +setting bird, a saddle for a warrior.' The jaunt has but rested me, and +there was barely enough danger in it.... The Turk is an old acquaintance. +I have lived with him, and been his guest in house and tent, and as a +comrade tempted Providence at his side under countless conditions, until +I know his speech and usages, himself scarcely better. My African Berbers +are all Mohammedans who have performed the Pilgrimage. One of them is a +muezzin by profession; and if he can but catch sight of the sun, he will +never miss the five hours of prayer. None of them requires telling the +direction to Mecca.... I issued from Your Majesty's great gate about the +third hour, and taking the road to Adrianople, journeyed till near midday +before meeting a human being. There were farms and farmhouses on my right +and left, and the fields had been planted in good season; but the growing +grain was wasted; and when I sought the houses to have speech with their +tenants they were forsaken. Twice we were driven off by the stench of +bodies rotting before the doors." + +"Greeks?" + +"Greeks, Your Majesty.... There were wild hogs in the thickets which +fled at sight of us, and vultures devouring the corpses." + +"Were there no other animals, no horses or oxen?" asked Justiniani. + +"None, noble Genoese--none seen by us, and the swine were spared, I +apprehend, because their meat is prohibited to the children of Islam.... +At length Hadifah, whom I have raised to be a Sheik--Your Majesty +permitting--and whose eyes discover the small things with which space is +crowded as he were a falcon making circles up near the sun--Hadifah saw +a man in the reeds hiding; and we pursued the wretch, and caught him, +and he too was a Greek; and when his fright allowed him to talk, he told +us a band of strange people, the like of whom he had never seen, +attacked his hut, burned it, carried off his goats and she buffaloes; +and since that hour, five weeks gone, he had been hunting for his wife +and three girl-children. God be merciful to them! Of the Turks he could +tell nothing except that now, everything of value gone, they too had +disappeared. I gave the poor man a measure of oaten cakes, and left him +to his misery. God be merciful to him also!" + +"Did you not advise him to come to me?" + +"Your Majesty, he was a husband and father seeking his family; with all +humility, what else is there for him to do?" + +"I give your judgment credit, Count. There is nothing else." + +"I rode on till night, meeting nobody, friend or foe--on through a wide +district, lately inhabited, now a wilderness. The creatures of the +Sultan had passed through it, and there was fire in their breath. We +discovered a dried-up stream, and by sinking in its bed obtained water +for our horses. There, in a hollow, we spent the night.... Next morning, +after an hour's ride, we met a train of carts drawn by oxen. The +groaning and creaking of the distraught wheels warned me of the +encounter before the advance guard of mounted men, quite a thousand +strong, were in view. I did not draw rein"-- + +"What!" cried Justiniani, astonished. "With but a company of nine?" + +The Count smiled. + +"I crave your pardon, gallant Captain. In my camp the night before, I +prepared my Berbers for the meeting." + +"By the bones of the saints, Count Corti, thou dost confuse me the more! +With such odds against thee, what preparations were at thy command?" + +"'There was never amulet like a grain of wit in a purse under thy cap.' +Good Captain, the saying is not worse of having proceeded from a +Persian. I told my followers we were likely at any moment to be +overtaken by a force too strong for us to fight; but instead of running +away, we must meet them heartily, as friends enlisted in the same cause; +and if they asked whence we were, we must be sure of agreement in our +reply. I was to be a Turk; they, Egyptians from west of the Nile. We had +come in by the new fortress opposite the White Castle, and were going to +the mighty Lord Mahommed in Adrianople. Beyond that, I bade them be +silent, leaving the entertainment of words to me." + +The Emperor and Justiniani laughed, but Notaras asked: "If thy Berbers +are Mohammedans, as thou sayest, Count Corti, how canst thou rely on +them against Mohammedans?" + +"My Lord the High Admiral may not have heard of the law by which, if one +Arab kills another, the relatives of the dead man are bound to kill him, +unless there be composition. So I had merely to remind Hadifah and his +companions of the Turks we slew in the field near Basch-Kegan." + +Corti continued: "After parley with the captain of the advance guard, I +was allowed to ride on; and coming to the train, I found the carts +freighted with military engines and tools for digging trenches and +fortifying camps. There were hundreds of them, and the drivers were a +multitude. Indeed, Your Majesty, from head to foot the caravan was miles +in reach, its flanks well guarded by groups of horsemen at convenient +intervals." + +This statement excited the three counsellors. + +"After passing the train," the Count was at length permitted to resume, +"my way was through bodies of troops continuously--all irregulars. It +must have been about three o'clock in the afternoon when I came upon the +most surprising sight. Much I doubt if ever the noble Captain +Justiniani, with all his experience, can recall anything like it. + +"First there was a great company of pioneers with tools for grading the +hills and levelling the road; then on a four-wheeled carriage two men +stood beating a drum; their sticks looked like the enlarged end of a +galley oar. The drum responded to their blows in rumbles like dull +thunder from distant clouds. While I sat wondering why they beat it, +there came up next sixty oxen yoked in pairs. Your Majesty can in fancy +measure the space they covered. On the right and left of each yoke +strode drivers with sharpened goads, and their yelling harmonized +curiously with the thunder of the drum. The straining of the brutes was +pitiful to behold. And while I wondered yet more, a log of bronze was +drawn toward me big at one end as the trunk of a great plane tree, and +so long that thirty carts chained together as one wagon, were required +to support it laid lengthwise; and to steady the piece on its rolling +bed, two hundred and fifty stout laborers kept pace with it unremittingly +watchful. The movement was tedious, but at last I saw"-- + +"A cannon!" exclaimed the Genoese. + +"Yes, noble Captain, the gun said to be the largest ever cast." + +"Didst thou see any of the balls?" + +"Other carts followed directly loaded with gray limestones chiselled +round; and to my inquiry what the stones were for, I was told they were +bullets twelve spans in circumference, and that the charge of powder +used would cast them a mile." + +The inquisitors gazed at each other mutely, and their thoughts may be +gathered from the action of the Emperor. He touched a bell on a table, +and to Phranza, who answered the call, he said: "Lord Chamberlain, have +two men well skilled in the construction of walls report to me in the +morning. There is work for them which they must set about at once. I +will furnish the money." [Footnote: Before the siege by the Turks, two +monks, Manuel Giagari and Neophytus of Rhodes, were charged with +repairing the walls, but they buried the sums intrusted to them for +these works; and in the pillage of the city seventy thousand pieces of +gold thus advanced by the Emperor were unearthed.--VON HAMMER, Vol. II., +p. 417.] + +"I have but little more of importance to engage Your Majesty's +attention.... Behind the monster cannon, two others somewhat smaller +were brought up in the same careful manner. I counted seventeen pieces +all brass, the least of them exceeding in workmanship and power the best +in the Hippodrome." + +"Were there more?" Justiniani asked. + +"Many more, brave Captain, but ancient, and unworthy mention.... The day +was done when, by sharp riding, I gained the rear of the train. At +sunrise on the third day, I set out in return.... I have a prisoner whom +this august council may examine with profit. He will, at least, confirm +my report." + +"Who is he?" + +"The captain of the advance guard." + +"How came you by him?" + +"Your Majesty, I induced him to ride a little way with me, and at a +convenient time gave his bridle rein to Hadifah. In his boyhood the +Sheik was trained to leading camels, and he assures me it is much easier +to lead a horse." + +The sally served to lighten the sombre character of the Count's report, +and in the midst of the merriment, he was dismissed. The prisoner was +then brought in, and put to question; next day the final preparation for +the reception of Mahommed was begun. + +With a care equal to the importance of the business, Constantine divided +the walls into sections, beginning on the landward side of the Golden +Gate or Seven Towers, and ending at the Cynegion. Of the harbor front he +made one division, with the Grand Gate of Blacherne and the Acropolis or +Point Serail for termini; from Point Serail to the Seven Towers he +stationed patrols and lookouts, thinking the sea and rocks sufficient to +discourage assault in that quarter. + +His next care was the designation of commandants of the several +divisions. The individuals thus honored have been already mentioned; +though it may be well to add how the Papal Legate, Cardinal Isidore, +doffing his frock and donning armor, voluntarily accepted chief +direction along the harbor--an example of martial gallantry which ought +to have shamed the lukewarm Greeks morosely skulking in their cells. + +Shrewdly anticipating a concentration of effort against the Gate St. +Romain, and its two auxiliary towers, Bagdad and St. Romain, the former +on the right hand and the latter on the left, he assigned Justiniani to +its defence. + +Upon the walls, and in the towers numerously garnishing them, the +gallant Emperor next brought up his guns and machines, with profuse +supplies of missiles. + +Then, after flooding the immense ditch, he held a review in the +Hippodrome, whence the several detachments marched to their stations. + +Riding with his captains, and viewing the walls, now gay with banners +and warlike tricking, Constantine took heart, and told how Amurath, the +peerless warrior, had dashed his Janissaries against them, and rued the +day. + +"Is this boy Mahommed greater than his father?" he asked. + +"God knows," Isidore responded, crossing himself breast and forehead. + +And well content, the cavalcade repassed the ponderous Gate St. Romain. +All that could be done had been done. There was nothing more but to +wait. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MAHOMMED AT THE GATE ST. ROMAIN + + +In the city April seemed to have borrowed from the delays of Mahommed; +never month so slow in coming. At last, however, its first day, dulled +by a sky all clouds, and with winds from the Balkans. + +The inertness of the young Sultan was not from want of will or zeal. It +took two months to drag his guns from Adrianople; but with them the army +moved, and as it moved it took possession, or rather covered the land. +At length, he too arrived, bringing, as it were, the month with him; and +then he lost no more time. + +About five miles from the walls on the south or landward side, he drew +his hordes together in the likeness of a line of battle, and at a +trumpet call they advanced in three bodies simultaneously. So a tidal +wave, far extending, broken, noisy, terrible, rises out of the deep, and +rolls upon a shore of stony cliffs. + +Near ten o'clock in the forenoon of the sixth of April the Emperor +mounted the roof of the tower of St. Romain, mentioned as at the left of +the gate bearing the same name. There were with him Justiniani, the +Cardinal Isidore, John Grant, Phranza, Theophilus Palaeologus, Duke +Notaras, and a number of inferior persons native and foreign. He had +come to see all there was to be seen of the Turks going into position. + +The day was spring-like, with just enough breeze to blow the mists away. + +The reader must think of the roof as an immense platform accessible by +means of a wooden stairway in the interior of the tower, and +battlemented on the four sides, the merlons of stone in massive blocks, +and of a height to protect a tall man, the embrasures requiring +banquettes to make them serviceable. In arrangement somewhat like a +ship's battery, there are stoutly framed arbalists and mangonels on the +platform, and behind them, with convenient spaces between, arquebuses on +tripods, cumbrous catapults, and small cannon on high axles ready for +wheeling into position between the merlons. Near each machine its +munitions lie in order. Leaning against the walls there are also spears, +javelins, and long and cross bows; while over the corner next the gate +floats an imperial standard, its white field emblazoned with the +immemorial Greek cross in gold. The defenders of the tower are present; +and as they are mostly Byzantines, their attitudes betray much more than +cold military respect, for they are receiving the Emperor, whom they +have been taught to regard worshipfully. + +They study him, and take not a little pride in observing that, clad in +steel cap-a-pie, he in no wise suffers by comparison with the best of +his attendants, not excepting Justiniani, the renowned Genoese captain. +Not more to see than be seen, the visor of his helmet is raised; and +stealing furtive glances at his countenance, noble by nature, but just +now more than ordinarily inspiring, they are better and stronger for +what they read in it. + +On the right and left the nearest towers obstruct the view of the walls +in prolongation; but southward the country spreads before the party a +campania rolling and fertile, dotted with trees scattered and in thin +groves, and here and there an abandoned house. The tender green of +vegetation upon the slopes reminds those long familiar with them that +grass is already invading what were lately gardens and cultivated +fields. Constantine makes the survey in silence, for he knows how soon +even the grass must disappear. Just beyond the flooded ditch at the foot +of the first or outward wall is a road, and next beyond the road a +cemetery crowded with tombs and tombstones, and brown and white +mausolean edifices; indeed, the chronicles run not back to a time when +that marginal space was unallotted to the dead. From the far skyline the +eyes of the fated Emperor drop to the cemetery, and linger there. + +Presently one of his suite calls out: "Hark! What sound is that?" + +They all give attention. + +"It is thunder." + +"No--thunder rolls. This is a beat." + +Constantine and Justiniani remembered Count Corti's description of the +great drum hauled before the artillery train of the Turks, and the +former said calmly: + +"They are coming." + +Almost as he spoke the sunlight mildly tinting the land in the farness +seemed to be troubled, and on the tops of the remote hillocks there +appeared to be giants rolling them up, as children roll snow-balls--and +the movement was toward the city. + +The drum ceased not its beating or coming. Justiniani by virtue of his +greater experience, was at length able to say: + +"Your Majesty, it is here in front of us; and as this Gate St. Romain +marks the centre of your defences, so that drum marks the centre of an +advancing line, and regulates the movement from wing to wing." + +"It must be so, Captain; for see--there to the left--those are bodies of +men." + +"And now, Your Majesty, I hear trumpets." + +A little later some one cried out: + +"Now I hear shouting." + +And another: "I see gleams of metal." + +Ere long footmen and horsemen were in view, and the Byzantines, brought +to the wall by thousands, gazed and listened in nervous wonder; for look +where they might over the campania, they saw the enemy closing in upon +them, and heard his shouting, and the neighing of horses, the blaring of +horns, and the palpitant beating of drums. + +"By our Lady of Blacherne," said the Emperor, after a long study of the +spectacle, "it is a great multitude, reaching to the sea here on our +left, and, from the noise, to the Golden Horn on our right; none the +less I am disappointed. I imagined much splendor of harness and shields +and banners, but see only blackness and dust. I cannot make out amongst +them one Sultanic flag. Tell me, most worthy John Grant--it being +reported that thou hast great experience combating with and against +these hordes--tell me if this poverty of appearance is usual with them." + +The sturdy German, in a jargon difficult to follow, answered: "These at +our left are the scum of Asia. They are here because they have nothing; +their hope is to better their condition, to return rich, to exchange +ragged turbans for crowns, and goatskin jackets for robes of silk. Look, +Your Majesty, the tombs in front of us are well kept; to-morrow if there +be one left standing, it will have been rifled. Of the lately buried +there will not be a ring on a finger or a coin under a tongue. Oh, yes, +the ghouls will look better next week! Only give them time to convert +the clothes they will strip from the dead into fresh turbans. But when +the Janissaries come Your Majesty will not be disappointed. See--their +advance guard now--there on the rising ground in front of the gate." + +There was a swell of ground to the right of the gate rather than in +front of it, and as the party looked thither, a company of horsemen were +seen riding slowly but in excellent order, and the sheen of their arms +and armor silvered the air about them. Immediately other companies +deployed on the right and left of the first one; then the thunderous +drum ceased; whereat, from the hordes out on the campania, brought to a +sudden standstill, detachments dashed forward at full speed, and +dismounting, began digging a trench. + +"Be this Sultan like or unlike his father, he is a soldier. He means to +cover his army, and at the same time enclose us from sea to harbor. +To-morrow, my Lord, only high-flying hawks can communicate with us from +the outside." + +This, from Justiniani to the Emperor, was scarcely noticed, for behind +the deploying Janissaries, there arose an outburst of music in deep +volume, the combination of clarions and cymbals so delightful to +warriors of the East; at the same instant a yellow flag was displayed. +Then old John Grant exclaimed: + +"The colors of the _Silihdars!_ Mahommed is not far away. Nay, Your +Majesty, look--the Sultan himself!" + +Through an interval of the guard, a man in chain mail shooting golden +sparkles, helmed, and with spear in hand and shield at his back, trotted +forth, his steed covered with flowing cloths. Behind him appeared a +suite mixed of soldiers and civilians, the former in warlike panoply, +the latter in robes and enormous turbans. Down the slope the foremost +rider led as if to knock at the gate. On the tower the cannon were +loaded, and run into the embrasures. + +"Mahommed, saidst thou, John Grant?" + +"Mahommed, Your Majesty." + +"Then I call him rash; but as we are not ashamed of our gates and walls, +let him have his look in peace.... Hear you, men, let him look, and go +in peace." + +The repetition was in restraint of the eager gunners. + +Further remark was cut short by a trumpet sounded at the foot of the +tower. An officer peered over the wall, and reported: "Your Majesty, a +knight just issued from the gate is riding forth. I take him to be the +Italian, Count Corti." + +Constantine became a spectator of what ensued. + +Ordinarily the roadway from the country was carried over the deep moat +in front of the Gate St. Romain by a floor of stout timbers well +balustraded at the sides, and resting on brick piers. Of the bridge +nothing now remained but a few loose planks side by side ready to be +hastily snatched from their places. To pass them afoot was a venture; +yet Count Corti, when the Emperor looked at him from the height, was +making the crossing mounted, and blowing a trumpet as he went. + +"Is the man mad?" asked the Emperor, in deep concern. + +"Mad? No, he is challenging the Mahounds to single combat; and, my lords +and gentlemen, if he be skilful as he is bold, then, by the Three Kings +of Cologne, we will see some pretty work in pattern for the rest of us." + +Thus Grant replied. + +Corti made the passage safely, and in the road beyond the moat halted, +and drove the staff of his banderole firmly in the ground. A broad +opening through the cemetery permitted him to see and be seen by the +Turks, scarcely a hundred yards away. Standing in his stirrups, he +sounded the trumpet again--a clear call ringing with defiance. + +Mahommed gave over studying the tower and deep-sunken gate, and +presently beckoned to his suite. + +"What is the device on yon pennon?" he asked. + +"A moon with a cross on its face." + +"Say you so?" + +Twice the defiance was repeated, and so long the young Sultan, sat +still, his countenance unusually grave. He recognized the Count; only he +thought of him by the dearer Oriental name, Mirza. He knew also how much +more than common ambition there was in the blatant challenge--that it +was a reminder of the treaty between them, and, truly interpreted, said, +in effect: "Lo, my Lord! she is well, and for fear thou judge me +unworthy of her, send thy bravest to try me." And he hesitated--an +accident might quench the high soul. Alas, then, for the Princess Irene +in the day of final assault! Who would deliver her to him? The hordes, +and the machinery, all the mighty preparation, were, in fact, less for +conquest and glory than love. Sore the test had there been one in +authority to say to him: "She is thine, Lord Mahommed; thine, so thou +take her, and leave the city." + +A third time the challenge was delivered, and from the walls a taunting +cheer descended. Then the son of Isfendiar, recognizing the banderole, +and not yet done with chafing over his former defeat, pushed through the +throng about Mahommed, and prayed: + +"O my Lord, suffer me to punish yon braggart." + +Mahommed replied: "Thou hast felt his hand already, but go--I commend +thee to thy houris." + +He settled in his saddle smiling. The danger was not to the Count. + +The arms, armor, weapons, and horse-furniture of the Moslem were +identical with the Italian's; and it being for the challenged party to +determine with what the duel should be fought, whether with axe, sword, +lance or bow, the son of Isfendiar chose the latter, and made ready +while advancing. The Count was not slow in imitating him. + +Each held his weapon--short for saddle service--in the left hand, the +arrow in place, and the shield on the left forearm. + +No sooner had they reached the open ground in the cemetery than they +commenced moving in circles, careful to keep the enemy on the shield +side at a distance of probably twenty paces. The spectators became +silent. Besides the skill which masters in such affrays should possess, +they were looking for portents of the result. + +Three times the foemen encircled each other with shield guard so well +kept that neither saw an opening to attack; then the Turk discharged his +arrow, intending to lodge it in the shoulder of the other's horse, the +buckling attachments of the neck mail being always more or less +imperfect. The Count interposed his shield, and shouted in Osmanli: "Out +on thee, son of Isfendiar! I am thy antagonist, not my horse. Thou shalt +pay for the cowardice." + +He then narrowed the circle of his movement, and spurring full speed, +compelled the Turk to turn on a pivot so reduced it was almost a halt. +The exposure while taking a second shaft from the quiver behind the +right shoulder was dangerously increased. "Beware!" the Count cried +again, launching his arrow through the face opening of the hood. + +The son of Isfendiar might never attain his father's Pachalik. There was +not voice left him for a groan. He reeled in his saddle, clutching the +empty air, then tumbled to the earth. + +The property of the dead man, his steed, arms, and armor, were lawful +spoils; but without heeding them, the Count retired to his banderole, +and, amidst the shouts of the Greeks on the walls and towers, renewed +the challenge. A score of chiefs beset the Sultan for permission to +engage the insolent _Gabour_. + +To an Arab Sheik, loudest in importunity, he said: "What has happened +since yesterday to dissatisfy thee with life?" + +The Sheik raised a lance with a flexible shaft twenty feet in length, +made of a cane peculiar to the valley of the Jordan, and shaking it +stoutly, replied: + +"Allah, and the honor of my tribe!" + +Perceiving the man's reliance in his weapon, Mahommed returned: "How +many times didst thou pray yesterday?" + +"Five times, my Lord." + +"And to-day?" + +"Twice." + +"Go, then; but as yon champion hath not a lance to put him on equality +with thee, he will be justified in taking to the sword." + +The Sheik's steed was of the most precious strain of El-Hejaz; and +sitting high in the saddle, a turban of many folds on his head, a +striped robe drawn close to the waist, his face thin, coffee-colored, +hawk-nosed, and lightning-eyed, he looked a king of the desert. +Galloping down on the Christian, he twirled the formidable lance +dextrously, until it seemed not more than a stalk of dried papyrus. + +The Count beheld in the performance a trick of the _djerid_ he had +often practised with Mahommed. Uncertain if the man's robe covered +armor, he met him with an arrow, and seeing it fall off harmless, tossed +the bow on his back, drew sword, and put his horse in forward movement, +caracoling right and left to disturb the enemy's aim. Nothing could be +more graceful than this action. + +Suddenly the Sheik stopped playing, and balancing the lance overhead, +point to the foe, rushed with a shrill cry upon him. Corti's friends on +the tower held their breath; even the Emperor said: "It is too unequal. +God help him!" At the last moment, however--the moment of the thrust-- +changing his horse to the right, the Count laid himself flat upon its +side, under cover of his shield. The thrust, only a little less quick, +passed him in the air, and before the Sheik could recover or shorten his +weapon, the trained foeman was within its sweep. In a word, the Arab was +at mercy. Riding with him side by side, hand on his shoulder, the Count +shouted: "Yield thee!" + +"Dog of a Christian, never! Do thy worst." + +The sword twirled once--a flash--then it descended, severing the lance +in front of the owner's grip. The fragment fell to the earth. + +"Now yield thee!" + +The Sheik drew rein. + +"Why dost thou not kill me?" + +"I have a message for thy master yonder, the Lord Mahommed." + +"Speak it then." + +"Tell him he is in range of the cannon on the towers, and only the +Emperor's presence there restrains the gunners. There is much need for +thee to haste." + +"Who art thou?" + +"I am an Italian knight who, though thy Lord's enemy, hath reason to +love him. Wilt thou go?" + +"I will do as thou sayest." + +"Alight, then. Thy horse is mine." + +"For ransom?" + +"No." + +The Sheik dismounted grumblingly, and was walking off when the cheering +of the Greeks stung him to the soul. + +"A chance--O Christian, another chance--to-day--to-morrow!" + +"Deliver the message; it shall he as thy Lord may then appoint. Bestir +thyself." + +The Count led the prize to the banderole, and flinging the reins over +it, faced the gleaming line of Janissaries once more, trumpet at mouth. +He saw the Sheik salute Mahommed; then the attendants closed around +them. "A courteous dog, by the Prophet!" said the Sultan. "In what +tongue did he speak?" + +"My Lord, he might have been bred under my own tent." + +The Sultan's countenance changed. + +"Was there not more of his message?" + +He was thinking of the Princess Irene. + +"Yes, my Lord." + +"Repeat it." + +"He will fight me again to-day or to-morrow, as my Lord may appoint--and +I want my horse. Without him, El-Hejaz will be a widow." + +A red spot appeared on Mahommed's forehead. + +"Begone!" he cried angrily. "Seest thou not, O fool, that when we take +the city we will recover thy horse? Fight thou shalt not, for in that +day I shall have need of thee." + +Thereupon he bade them open for him, and rode slowly back up the +eminence, and when he disappeared Corti was vainly sounding his trumpet. + +The two horses were led across the dismantled bridge, and into the gate. + +"Heaven hath sent me a good soldier," said the Emperor to the Count, +upon descending from the tower. + +Then Justiniani asked: "Why didst thou spare thy last antagonist?" + +Corti answered truthfully. + +"It was well done," the Genoese returned, offering his hand. + +"Ay," said Constantine, cordially, "well done. But mount now, and ride +with us." + +"Your Majesty, a favor first.... A man is in the road dead. Let his body +be placed on a bier, and carried to his friends." + +"A most Christian request! My Lord Chamberlain, attend to it." + +The cavalcade betook itself then to other parts, the better to see the +disposition of the Turks; and everywhere on the landward side it was the +same--troops in masses, and intrenchments in progress. Closing the +inspection at set of sun, the Emperor beheld the sea and the Bosphorus +in front of the Golden Horn covered with hundreds of sails. + +"The leaguer is perfected," said the Genoese. + +"And the issue with God," Constantine replied. "Let us to Hagia St. +Sophia." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GREAT GUN SPEAKS + + +The first sufficient gleam of light next morning revealed to the +watchmen on the towers an ominous spectacle. Through the night they had +heard a medley of noises peculiar to a multitude at work with all their +might; now, just out of range of their own guns, they beheld a +continuous rampart of fresh earth grotesquely spotted with marbles from +the cemetery. + +In no previous siege of the Byzantine capital was there reference to +such a preliminary step. To the newly enlisted, viewing for the first +time an enemy bodily present, it seemed like the world being pared down +to the smallest dimensions; while their associate veterans, to whom they +naturally turned for comfort, admitted an appreciable respect for the +Sultan. Either he had a wise adviser, they said, or he was himself a +genius. + +Noon--and still the workmen seemed inexhaustible--still the rampart grew +in height--still the hordes out on the campania multiplied, and the +horizon line west of the Gate St. Romain was lost in the increasing +smoke of a vast bivouac. + +Nightfall--and still the labor. + +About midnight, judging by the sounds, the sentinels fancied the enemy +approached nearer the walls; and they were not mistaken. With the advent +of the second morning, here and there at intervals, ill-defined mounds +of earth were seen so much in advance of the intrenched line that, by a +general order, a fire of stones and darts was opened upon them; and +straightway bodies of bowmen and slingers rushed forward, and returned +the fire, seeking to cover the mound builders. This was battle. + +Noon again--and battle. + +In the evening--battle. + +The advantage of course was with the besieged. + +The work on the mounds meanwhile continued, while the campania behind +the intrenchment was alive with a creaking of wheels burdened by +machinery, and a shouting of ox-drivers; and the veterans on the walls +said the enemy was bringing up his balistas and mangonels. + +The third morning showed the mounds finished, and crowned with mantelets, +behind which, in working order and well manned, every sort of engine +known in sieges from Alexander to the Crusaders was in operation. +Thenceforward, it is to be observed, the battle was by no means +one-sided. + +In this opening there was no heat or furore of combat; it was rather the +action of novices trying their machines, or, in modern artillery +parlance, finding the range. Many minutes often intervened between +shots, and as the preliminary object on the part of the besiegers was to +destroy the merlons sheltering the warders, did a stone strike either +wall near the top, the crash was saluted by cheers. + +Now the foreigners defending were professionals who had graduated in all +the arts of town and castle taking. These met the successes of their +antagonists with derision. "Apprentices," they would say, "nothing but +apprentices."... "See those fellows by the big springal there turning +the winch the wrong way!" ... "The turbaned sons of Satan! Have they +no eyes? I'll give them a lesson. Look!" And if the bolt fell truly, +there was loud laughter on the walls. + +The captains, moreover, were incessantly encouraging the raw men under +them. "Two walls, and a hundred feet of flooded ditch! There will be +merry Christmas in the next century before the Mahounds get to us at the +rate they are coming. Shoot leisurely, men--leisurely. An infidel for +every bolt!" + +Now on the outer wall, which was the lower of the two, and naturally +first to draw the enemy's ire, and then along the inner, the Emperor +went, indifferent to danger or fatigue, and always with words of cheer. + +"The stones under our feet are honest," he would say. "The Persian came +thinking to batter them down, but after many days he fled; and search as +we will, no man can lay a finger on the face of one of them, and say, +'Here Chosroes left a scar.' So Amurath, sometimes called Murad, this +young man's father, wasted months, and the souls of his subjects without +count; but when he fled not a coping block had been disturbed in its +bed. What has been will be again. God is with us." + +When the three days were spent, the Greeks under arms began to be +accustomed to the usage, and make merry of it, like the veterans. + +The fourth day about noon the Emperor, returning from a round of the +walls, ascended the Bagdad tower mentioned as overlooking the Gate St. +Romain on the right hand; and finding Justiniani on the roof, he said to +him: "This fighting, if it may be so called, Captain, is without heart. +But two of our people have been killed; not a stone is shaken. To me it +seems the Sultan is amusing us while preparing something more serious." + +"Your Majesty," the Genoese returned, soberly, "now has Heaven given you +the spirit of a soldier and the eyes as well. Old John Grant told me +within an hour that the yellow flag on the rising ground before us +denotes the Sultan's quarters in the field, and is not to be confounded +with his battle flag. It follows, I think, could we get behind the +Janissaries dismounted on the further slope of the rise, yet in position +to meet a sally, we would discover the royal tent not unwisely pitched, +if, as I surmise, this gate is indeed his point of main attack. And +besides here are none of the old-time machines as elsewhere along our +front; not a catapult, or bricole, or bible--as some, with wicked +facetiousness, have named a certain invention for casting huge stones; +nor have we yet heard the report of a cannon, or arquebus, or bombard, +although we know the enemy has them in numbers. Wherefore, keeping in +mind the circumstance of his presence here, the omissions satisfy me the +Sultan relies on his great guns, and that, while amusing us, as Your +Majesty has said, he is mounting them. To-morrow, or perhaps next day, +he will open with them, and then"-- + +"What then?" Constantine asked. + +"The world will have a new lesson in warfare." + +The Emperor's countenance, visible under his raised visor, knit hard. + +"Dear, dear God!" he said, half to himself. "If this old Christian +empire should be lost through folly of mine, who will there be to +forgive me if not Thou?" + +Then, seeing the Genoese observing him with surprise, he continued: + +"It is a simple tale, Captain.... A Dacian, calling himself Urban, asked +audience of me one day, and being admitted, said he was an artificer of +cannon; that he had plied his art in the foundries of Germany, and from +study of powder was convinced of the practicality of applying it to guns +of heavier calibre than any in use. He had discovered a composition of +metals, he said, which was his secret, and capable, when properly cast, +of an immeasurable strain. Would I furnish him the materials, and a +place, with appliances for the work such as he would name, I might +collect the machines in my arsenal, and burn them or throw them into the +sea. I might even level my walls, and in their stead throw up ramparts +of common earth, and by mounting his guns upon them secure my capital +against the combined powers of the world. He refused to give me details +of his processes. I asked him what reward he wanted, and he set it so +high I laughed. Thinking to sound him further, I kept him in my service +a few days; but becoming weary of his importunities, I dismissed him. I +next heard of him at Adrianople. The Sultan Mahommed entertained his +propositions, built him a foundry, and tried one of his guns, with +results the fame of which is a wonder to the whole East. It was the log +of bronze Count Corti saw on the road--now it is here--and Heaven sent it +to me first." + +"Your Majesty," returned the Genoese, impressed by the circumstance, and +the evident remorse of the Emperor, "Heaven does not hold us accountable +for errors of judgment. There is not a monarch in Europe who would have +accepted the man's terms, and it remains to be seen if Mahommed, as yet +but a callow youth, has not been cheated. But look yonder!" + +As he spoke, the Janissaries in front of the gate mounted and rode +forward, probably a hundred yards, pursued by a riotous shouting and +cracking of whips. Presently a train of buffaloes, yoked and tugging +laboriously at something almost too heavy for them, appeared on the +swell of earth; and there was a driver for every yoke, and every driver +whirled a long stick with a longer lash fixed to it, and howled lustily. + +"It is the great gun," said Constantine. "They are putting it in +position." + +Justiniani spoke to the men standing by the machines: "Make ready bolt +and stone." + +The balistiers took to their wheels eagerly, and discharged a shower of +missiles at the Janissaries and ox-drivers. + +"Too short, my men--more range." + +The elevation was increased; still the bolts fell short. + +"Bring forward the guns!" shouted Justiniani. + +The guns were small bell-mouthed barrels of hooped iron, muzzle loading, +mounted on high wheels, and each shooting half a dozen balls of lead +large as walnuts. They were carefully aimed. The shot whistled and sang +viciously. + +"Higher, men!" shouted the Genoese, from a merlon. "Give the pieces +their utmost range." + +The Janissaries replied with a yell. The second volley also failed. Then +Justiniani descended from his perch. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "to stop the planting of the gun there is +nothing for us but a sally." + +"We are few, they are many," was the thoughtful reply. "One of us on the +wall is worth a score of them in the field. Their gun is an experiment. +Let them try it first." + +The Genoese replied: "Your Majesty is right." + +The Turks toiled on, backing and shifting their belabored trains, until +the monster at last threatened the city with its great black Cyclopean +eye. + +"The Dacian is not a bad engineer," said the Emperor. + +"See, he is planting other pieces." + +Thus Justiniani; for oxen in trains similar to the first one came up +tugging mightily, until by mid-afternoon on each flank of the first +monster three other glistening yellow logs lay on their carriages in a +like dubious quiet, leaving no doubt that St. Romain was to be +overwhelmed, if the new agencies answered expectations. + +If there was anxiety here, over the way there was impatience too fierce +for control. Urban, the Dacian, in superintendency of the preparation, +was naturally disposed to be careful, so much, in his view, depended on +the right placement of the guns; but Mahommed, on foot, and whip in +hand, was intolerant, and, not scrupling to mix with the workmen, urged +them vehemently, now with threats, now with promises of reward. + +"Thy beasts are snails! Give me the goad," he cried, snatching one from +a driver. Then to Urban: "Bring the powder, and a bullet, for when the +sun goes down thou shalt fire the great gun. Demur not. By the sword of +Solomon, there shall be no sleep this night in yon _Gabour_ city, +least of all in the palace they call Blacherne." + +The Dacian brought his experts together. The powder in a bag was rammed +home; with the help of a stout slab, a stone ball was next rolled into +the muzzle, then pushed nakedly down on the bag. Of a truth there was +need of measureless strength in the composition of the piece. Finally +the vent was primed, and a slow-match applied, after which Urban +reported: + +"The gun is ready, my Lord." + +"Then watch the sun, and--_Bismillah!_--at its going down, fire.... +Aim at the gate--this one before us--and if thou hit it or a tower on +either hand, I will make thee a _begler-bey_." + +The gun-planting continued. Finally the sun paused in cloudy splendor +ready to carry the day down with it. The Sultan, from his tent of many +annexes Bedouin fashion, walked to where Urban and his assistants stood +by the carriage of the larger piece. + +"Fire!" he said. + +Urban knelt before him. + +"Will my Lord please retire?" + +"Why should I retire?" + +"There is danger." + +Mahommed smiled haughtily. + +"Is the piece trained on the gate?" + +"It is; but I pray"-- + +"Now if thou wilt not have me believe thee a dog not less than an +unbeliever, rise, and do my bidding." + +The Dacian, without more ado, put the loose end of the slow-match into a +pot of live coals near by, and when it began to spit and sputter, he +cast it off. His experts fled. Only Mahommed remained with him; and no +feat of daring in battle could have won the young Padishah a name for +courage comparable to that the thousands looking on from a safe distance +now gave him. + +"Will my Lord walk with me a little aside? He can then see the ball +going." + +Mahommed accepted the suggestion. + +"Look now in a line with the gate, my Lord." + +The match was at last spent. A flash at the vent--a spreading white +cloud--a rending of the air--the rattle of wheels obedient to the recoil +of the gun--a sound thunder in volume, but with a crackle sharper than +any thunder--and we may almost say that, with a new voice, and an +additional terror, war underwent a second birth. + +Mahommed's ears endured a wrench, and for a time he heard nothing; but +he was too intent following the flight of the ball to mind whether the +report of the gun died on the heights of Galata or across the Bosphorus +at Scutari. He saw the blackened sphere pass between the towers flanking +the gate, and speed on into the city--how far, or with what effect, he +could not tell, nor did he care. + +Urban fell on his knees. + +"Mercy, my Lord, mercy!" + +"For what? That thou didst not hit the gate? Rise, man, and see if the +gun is safe." And when it was so reported, he called to Kalil, the +Vizier, now come up: "Give the man a purse, and not a lean one, for, by +Allah! he is bringing Constantinople to me." + +And despite the ringing in his ears, he went to his tent confident and +happy. On the tower meantime Constantine and the Genoese beheld the +smoke leap forth and curtain the gun, and right afterward they heard the +huge ball go tearing past them, like an invisible meteor. Their eyes +pursued the sound--where the missile fell they could not say--they heard +a crash, as if a house midway the city had been struck--then they gazed +at each other, and crossed themselves. + +"There is nothing for us now but the sally," said the Emperor. + +"Nothing," replied Justiniani. "We must disable the guns." + +"Let us go and arrange it." + +There being no indication of further firing, the two descended from the +tower. + +The plan of sortie agreed upon was not without ingenuity. The gate under +the palace of Blacherne called _Cercoporta_ was to be opened in the +night. [Footnote: In the basement of the palace of Blacherne there was an +underground exit, Cercoporta or gate of the Circus; but Isaac Comnenus +had walled it up in order to avoid the accomplishment of a prediction +which announced that the Emperor Frederick would enter Constantinople +through it.... But before the siege by Mahommed the exit was restored, +and it was through it the Turks passed into the city.--VON HAMMER, +_Hist. de l'Empire Ottoman._] Count Corti, with the body-guard +mounted, was to pass out by it, and surprise the Janissaries defending +the battery. Simultaneously Justiniani should sally by the Gate St. +Romain, cross the moat temporarily bridged for the purpose, and, with +the footmen composing the force in reserve, throw himself upon the guns. + +The scheme was faithfully attempted. The Count, stealing out of the +ancient exit in the uncertain light preceding the dawn, gained a +position unobserved, and charged the careless Turks. By this time it had +become a general report that the net about his neck was a favor of the +Princess Irene, and his battle cry confirmed it--_For God and +Irene!_ Bursting through the half-formed opposition, he passed to the +rear of the guns, and planted his banderole at the door of Mahommed's +tent. Had his men held together, he might have returned with a royal +prisoner. + +While attention was thus wholly given the Count, Justiniani overthrew +the guns by demolishing the carriages. A better acquaintance with the +operation known to moderns as "spiking a piece," would have enabled him +to make the blow irreparable. The loss of Janissaries was severe; that +of the besieged trifling. The latter, foot and horse, returned by the +Gate St. Romain unpursued. + +Mahommed, aroused by the tumult, threw on his light armor, and rushed +out in time to hear the cry of his assailant, and pluck the banderole +from its place. At sight of the moon with the cross on its face, his +wrath was uncontrollable. The Aga in command and all his assistants were +relentlessly impaled. + +There were other sorties in course of the siege, but never another +surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MAHOMMED TRIES HIS GUNS AGAIN + + +Hardly had the bodies making the sortie retired within the gate when the +Janissaries on the eminence were trebly strengthened, and the noises in +that quarter, the cracking of whips, the shouting of ox-drivers, the +hammering betokened a prodigious activity. The besieged, under delusion +that the guns had been destroyed, could not understand the enemy. Not +until the second ensuing morning was the mystery solved. The watchmen on +the towers, straining to pierce the early light, then beheld the great +bronze monster remounted and gaping at them through an embrasure, and +other monsters of a like kind on either side of it, fourteen in all, +similarly mounted and defended. + +The warders on the towers, in high excitement, sent for Justiniani, and +he in turn despatched a messenger to the Emperor. Together on the Bagdad +tower the two discussed the outlook. + +"Your Majesty," said the Genoese, much chagrined, "the apostate Dacian +must be master of his art. He has restored the cannon I overthrew." + +After a time Constantine replied: "I fear we have underrated the new +Sultan. Great as a father may be, it is possible for a son to be +greater." + +Perceiving the Emperor was again repenting the dismissal of Urban, the +Captain held his peace until asked: "What shall we now do?" + +"Your Majesty," he returned, "it is apparent our sally was a failure. We +slew a number of the infidels, and put their master--may God confound +him!--to inconvenience, and nothing more. Now he is on guard, we may not +repeat our attempt. My judgment is that we let him try his armament upon +our walls. They may withstand his utmost effort." + +The patience this required was not put to a long test. There was a +sudden clamor of trumpets, and the Janissaries, taking to their saddles, +and breaking right and left into divisions, cleared the battery front. +Immediately a vast volume of smoke hid the whole ground, followed by a +series of explosions. Some balls passing over the defences ploughed into +the city; and as definitions of force, the sounds they made in going +were awful; yet they were the least of the terrors. Both the towers were +hit, and they shook as if an earthquake were wrestling with them. The +air whitened with dust and fragments of crushed stone. The men at the +machines and culverins cowered to the floor. Constantine and the Genoese +gazed at each other until the latter bethought him, and ordered the fire +returned. And it was well done, for there is nothing which shall bring +men round from fright like action. + +Then, before there could be an exchange of opinion between the high +parties on the tower, a man in half armor issued from the slowly rising +cloud, and walked leisurely forward. Instead of weapons, he carried an +armful of stakes, and something which had the appearance of a heavy +gavel. After a careful examination of the ground to the gate, he halted +and drove a stake, and from that point commenced zigzagging down the +slope, marking each angle. + +Justiniani drew nearer the Emperor, and said, in a low voice: "With new +agencies come new methods. The assault is deferred." + +"Nay, Captain, our enemy must attack; otherwise he cannot make the moat +passable." + +"That, Your Majesty, was the practice. Now he will gain the ditch by a +trench." + +"With what object?" + +"Under cover of the trench, he will fill the ditch." + +Constantine viewed the operation with increased gravity. He could see +how feasible it was to dig a covered way under fire of the guns, making +the approach and the bombardment simultaneous; and he would have +replied, but that instant a mob of laborers--so the spades and picks +they bore bespoke them--poured from the embrasure of the larger gun, +and, distributing themselves at easy working intervals along the staked +line, began throwing up the earth on the side next the city. Officers +with whips accompanied and stood over them. + +The engineer--if we may apply the modern term--was at length under fire +of the besieged; still he kept on; only when he exhausted his supply of +stakes did he retire, leaving it inferrible that the trench was to run +through the opening in the cemetery to the bridge way before the gate. + +At noon, the laborers being well sunk in the ground, the cannon again +vomited fire and smoke, and with thunderous reports launched their heavy +bullets at the towers. Again the ancient piles shook from top to base. +Some of the balistiers were thrown down. The Emperor staggered under the +shock. One ball struck a few feet below a merlon of the Bagdad, and when +the dust blew away, an ugly crack was seen in the exposed face of the +wall, extending below the roof. + +While the inspection of damages immediately ordered is in progress, we +take the liberty of transporting the reader elsewhere, that he may see +the effect of this amazing warfare on other parties of interest in the +tragedy. + +Count Corti was with his guard at the foot of the tower when the first +discharge of artillery took place. He heard the loud reports and the +blows of the shot which failed not their aim; he heard also the sound of +the bullets flying on into the city, and being of a quick imagination, +shuddered to think of the havoc they might inflict should they fall in a +thickly inhabited district. Then it came to him that the residence of +the Princess Irene must be exposed to the danger. Like a Christian and a +lover, he, sought to allay the chill he felt by signing the cross +repeatedly, and with unction, on brow and breast. The pious performance +brought no relief. His dread increased. Finally he sent a man with a +message informing the Emperor that he was gone to see what damage the +guns had done in the city. + +He had not ridden far when he was made aware of the prevalence of an +extraordinary excitement. It seemed the entire population had been +brought from their houses by the strange thunder, and the appalling +flight of meteoric bodies over their roofs. Men and women were running +about asking each other what had happened. At the corners he was +appealed to: + +"Oh, for Christ's sake, stop, and tell us if the world is coming to an +end!" Arid in pity lie answered: "Do not be so afraid, good people. It +is the Turks. They are trying to scare us by making a great noise. Go +back into your houses." + +"But the bullets which passed over us. What of them?" + +"Where did they strike?" + +"On further. God help the sufferers!" + +One cry he heard so often it made an impression upon him: + +"The _Panagia!_ Tell His Majesty, as he is a Christian, to bring +the Blessed Madonna from the Chapel." + +With each leap of his horse he was now nearing the alighting places of +the missiles, and naturally the multiplying signs of terror he observed, +together with a growing assurance that the abode of the Princess was in +the range of danger, quickened his alarm for her. The white faces of the +women he met and passed without a word reminded him the more that she +was subject to the same peril, and in thought of her he forgot to +sympathize with them. + +In Byzantium one might be near a given point yet far away; so did the +streets run up and down, and here and there, their eccentricities in +width and direction proving how much more accident and whim had to do +with them originally than art or science. Knowing this, the Count was +not sparing of his horse, and as his blood heated so did his fancy. If +the fair Princess were unhurt, it was scarcely possible she had escaped +the universal terror. He imagined her the object of tearful attention +from her attendants. Or perhaps they had run away, and left her in +keeping of the tender Madonna of Blacherne. + +At last he reached a quarter where the throng of people compelled him to +slacken his gait, then halt and dismount. It was but a few doors from +the Princess'. One house--a frame, two stories--appeared the object of +interest. + +"What has happened?" he asked, addressing a tall man, who stood trembling +and praying to a crucifix in his hand. + +"God protect us, Sir Knight! See how clear the sky is, but a great +stone--some say it was a meteor--struck this house. There is the hole it +made. Others say it was a bullet from the Turks.--Save us, O Son of +Mary!" and he fell to kissing the crucifix. + +"Was anybody hurt?" the Count asked, shaking the devotee. + +"Yes--two women and a child were killed.--Save us, O Son of God! Thou +hast the power from the Father." + +The Count picked his way toward the house till he could get no further, +so was it blocked by a mass of women on their knees, crying, praying, +and in agony of fright. There, sure enough, was a front beaten in, +exposing the wrecked interior. But who was the young woman at the door +calmly directing some men bringing out the body of one apparently dead? +Her back was to him, but the sunlight was tangled in her uncovered hair, +making gold of it. Her figure was tall and slender, and there was a +marvellous grace in her action. Who was she? The Count's heart was +prophetic. He gave the bridle rein to a man near by, and holding his +sword up, pushed through the kneeling mass. He might have been more +considerate in going; but he was in haste, and never paused until at the +woman's side. "God's mercy, Princess Irene!" he cried, "what dost thou +here? Are there not men to take this charge upon them?" + +And in his joy at finding her safe, he fell upon his knees, and, without +waiting for her to offer the favor, took one of her hands, and carried +it to his lips. + +"Nay, Count Corti, is it not for me to ask what thou dost here?" + +Her face was solemn, and he could hardly determine if the eyes she +turned to him were not chiding; yet they were full of humid violet +light, and she permitted him to keep the hand while he replied: + +"The Turk is for the time having his own way. We cannot get to him.... I +came in haste to--to see what his guns have done--or--why should I not +say it? Princess, I galloped here fearing thou wert in need of +protection and help. I remembered that I was thy accepted knight." + +She understood him perfectly, and, withdrawing her hand, returned: +"Rise, Count Corti, thou art in the way of these bearing the dead." + +He stood aside, and the men passed him with their burden--a woman +drenched in blood. + +"Is this the last one?" she asked them. + +"We could find no other." + +"Poor creature! ... Yet God's will be done! ... Bear her to my house, and +lay her with the others." Then to the Count she said: "Come with me." + +The Princess set out after the men. Immediately the women about raised a +loud lamentation; such as were nearest her cried out: "Blessings on +you!" and they kissed the hem of her gown, and followed her moaning and +weeping. The body was borne into the house, and to the chapel, and all +who wished went in. Before the altar, two others were lying lifeless on +improvised biers, an elderly woman and a half-grown girl. The Lady in +picture above the altar looked down on them, as did the Holy Child in +her arms; and there was much comfort to the spectators in the look. +Then, when the third victim was decently laid out, Sergius began the +service for the dead. The Count stood by the Princess, her attendants in +group a little removed from them. + +In the midst of the holy ministration, a sound like distant rolling +thunder penetrated the chapel. Every one present knew what it was by +this time--knew at least it was not thunder--and they cried out, and +clasped each other--from their knees many fell grovelling on the floor. +Sergius' voice never wavered. Corti would have extended his arms to give +the Princess support; but she did not so much as change color; her hands +holding a silver triptych remained firm. The deadly bullets were in the +air and might alight on the house; yet her mind was too steadfast, her +soul too high, her faith too exalted for alarm; and if the Count had +been prone to love her for her graces of person, now he was prompted to +adore her for her courage. + +Outside near by, there was a crash as of a flying solid smiting another +dwelling, and, without perceptible interval, an outcry so shrill and +unintermitted it required no explanation. + +The Princess was the first to speak. + +"Proceed, Sergius," she said; nor might one familiar with her voice have +perceived any alteration in it from the ordinary; then to the Count +again: "Let us go out; there may be others needing my care." + +At the door Corti said: "Stay, O Princess--a word, I pray." + +She had only to look at his face to discover he was the subject of a +fierce conflict of spirit. + +"Have pity on me, I conjure you. Honor and duty call me to the gate; the +Emperor may be calling me; but how can I go, leaving you in the midst of +such peril and horrors?" + +"What would you have me do?" + +"Fly to a place of safety." + +"Where?" + +"I will find a place; if not within these walls, then"-- + +He stopped, and his eyes, bright with passion, fell before hers; for the +idea he was about giving his tongue would be a doubly dishonorable +coinage, since it included desertion of the beleaguered city, and +violation of his compact with Mahommed. + +"And then?" she asked. + +And love got the better of honor. + +"I have a ship in the harbor, O Princess Irene, and a crew devoted to +me, and I will place you on its deck, and fly with you. Doubt not my +making the sea; there are not Christians and Mohammedans enough to stay +me once my anchor is lifted, and my oars out; and on the sea freedom +lives, and we will follow the stars to Italy, and find a home." + +Again he stopped, his face this time wrung with sudden anguish; then he +continued: + +"God forgive, and deal with me mercifully! I am mad! ... And thou, O +Princess--do thou forgive me also, and my words and weakness. Oh, if not +for my sake, then for that which carried me away! Or if thou canst not +forget, pity me, pity me, and think of the wretchedness now my portion. +I had thy respect, if not thy love; now both are lost--gone after my +honor. Oh! I am most miserable--miserable!" + +And wringing his hands, he turned his face from her. + +"Count Corti," she replied gently, "thou hast saved thyself. Let the +affair rest here. I forgive the proposal, and shall never remind thee of +it. Love is madness. Return to duty; and for me"--she hesitated--"I hold +myself ready for the sacrifice to which I was born. God is fashioning +it; in His own time, and in the form He chooses, He will send it to +me.... I am not afraid, and be thou not afraid for me. My father was a +hero, and he left me his spirit. I too have my duty born within the +hour--it is to share the danger of my kinsman's people, to give them my +presence, to comfort them all I can. I will show thee what thou seemest +not to have credited--that a woman can be brave as any man. I will +attend the sick, the wounded, and suffering. To the dying I will carry +such consolation as I possess--all of them I can reach--and the dead +shall have ministration. My goods and values have long been held for the +poor and unfortunate; now to the same service I consecrate myself, my +house, my chapel, and altar.... There is my hand in sign of forgiveness, +and that I believe thee a true knight. I will go with thee to thy +horse." + +He bowed his head, and silently struggling for composure, carried the +hand to his lips. + +"Let us go now," she said. + +They went out together. + +Another dwelling had been struck; fortunately it was unoccupied. + +In the saddle, he stayed to say: "Thy soul, O Princess Irene, is angelic +as thy face. Thou hast devoted thyself to the suffering. Am I left out? +What word wilt thou give me?" + +"Be the true knight thou art, Count Corti, and come to me as before." + +He rode away with a revelation; that in womanly purity and goodness +there is a power and inspiration beyond the claims of beauty. + +The firing continued. Seven times that day the Turks assailed the Gate +St. Romain with their guns; and while a few of the stones discharged +flew amiss into the city, there were enough to still further terrorize +the inhabitants. By night all who could had retreated to vaults, +cellars, and such hiding-places as were safe, and took up their abodes +in them. In the city but one woman went abroad without fear, and she +bore bread and medicines, and dressed wounds, and assuaged sorrows, and +as a Madonna in fact divided worship with the Madonna in the chapel up +by the High Residence. Whereat Count Corti's love grew apace, though the +recollection of the near fall he had kept him humble and circumspect. + +The same day, but after the second discharge of the guns, Mahommed +entered the part of his tent which, with some freedom, may be termed his +office and reception-room, since it was furnished with seats and a large +table, the latter set upon a heavily tufted rug, and littered over with +maps and writing and drawing materials. Notable amongst the litter was +the sword of Solomon. Near it lay a pair of steel gauntlets elegantly +gilt. One stout centre-tree, the main support of the roof of camel's +hair, appeared gayly dressed with lances, shields, arms, and armor; and +against it, strange to say, the companion of a bright red battle-flag, +leant the banderole Count Corti had planted before the door the morning +of the sally. A sliding flap overhead, managed by cords in the interior, +was drawn up, admitting light and air. + +The office, it may be added, communicated by gay portieres with four +other apartments, each having its separate centre-tree; one occupied by +Kalil, the Vizier; one, a bed-chamber, so to speak; one, a stable for +the imperial stud; the fourth belonged to no less a person than our +ancient and mysterious acquaintance, the Prince of India. + +Mahommed was in half-armor; that is, his neck, arms, and body were in +chain mail, the lightest and most flexible of the East, exquisitely +gold-washed, and as respects fashion exactly like the suit habitually +affected by Count Corti. His nether limbs were clad in wide trousers of +yellow silk, drawn close at the ankles. Pointed shoes of red leather +completed his equipment, unless we may include a whip with heavy handle +and long lash. Could Constantine have seen him at the moment, he would +have recognized the engineer whose performance in tracing the trench he +had witnessed with so much interest in the morning. + +The Grand Chamberlain received him with the usual prostration, and in +that posture waited his pleasure. + +"Bring me water. I am thirsty." + +The water was brought. + +"The Prince of India now." + +Presently the Prince appeared in the costume peculiar to him--a cap and +gown of black velvet, loose trousers, and slippers. His hair and beard +were longer than when we knew him a denizen of Constantinople, making +his figure seem more spare and old; otherwise he was unchanged. He too +prostrated himself; yet as he sank upon his knees, he gave the Sultan a +quick glance, intended doubtless to discover his temper more than his +purpose. + +"You may retire." + +This to the Chamberlain. + +Upon the disappearance of the official, Mahommed addressed the Prince, +his countenance flushed, his eyes actually sparkling. + +"God is great. All things are possible to him. Who shall say no when he +says yes? Who resist when he bids strike? Salute me, and rejoice with +me, O Prince. He is on my side. It was he who spoke in the thunder of my +guns. Salute me, and rejoice. Constantinople is mine! The towers which +have outlasted the ages, the walls which have mocked so many conquerors-- +behold them tottering to their fall! I will make dust of them. The city +which has been a stumbling-block to the true faith shall be converted in +a night. Of the churches I will make mosques. Salute me and rejoice! How +may a soul contain itself knowing God has chosen it for such mighty +things? Rise, O Prince and rejoice with me!" + +He caught up the sword of Solomon, and in a kind of ecstasy strode about +flourishing it. + +The Prince, arisen, replied simply: "I rejoice with my Lord;" and +folding his arms across his breast, he waited, knowing he had been +summoned for something more serious than to witness an outburst so +wild--that directly this froth would disappear, as bubbles vanish from +wine just poured. The most absolute of men have their ways--this was one +of Mahommed's. And behind his composed countenance the Jew smiled, for, +as he read it, the byplay was an acknowledgment of his influence over +the chosen of God. + +And he was right. Suddenly Mahommed replaced the sword, and standing +before him, asked abruptly: + +"Tell me, have the stars fixed the day when I may assault the Gabours?" + +"They have, my Lord." + +"Give it to me." + +The Prince returned to his apartment, and came back with a horoscope. + +"This is their decision, my Lord." + +In his character of Messenger of the Stars, the Prince of India +dispensed with every observance implying inferiority. + +Without looking at the Signs, or at the planets in their Houses; without +noticing the calculations accompanying the chart; glancing merely at the +date in the central place, Mahommed frowned, and said: + +"The twenty-ninth of May! Fifty-three days! By Allah and Mahomet arid +Christ--all in one--if by the compound the oath will derive an extra +virtue--what is there to consume so much time? In three days I will have +the towers lording this gate they call St. Romain in the ditch, and the +ditch filled. In three days, I say." + +"Perhaps my Lord is too sanguine--perhaps he does not sufficiently credit +the skill and resources of the enemy behind the gate--perhaps there is +more to do than he has admitted into his anticipations." + +Mahommed darted a look at the speaker. + +"Perhaps the stars have been confidential with their messenger, and told +him some of the things wanting to be done." + +"Yes, my Lord." The calmness of the Prince astonished Mahommed. + +"And art thou permitted to be confidential with me?" he asked. + +"My Lord must break up this collection of his guns, and plant some of +them against the other gates; say two at the Golden Gate, one at the +Caligaria, and before the Selimbria and the Adrianople two each. He will +have seven left.... Nor must my Lord confine his attack to the landward +side; the weakest front of the city is the harbor front, and it must be +subjected. He should carry there at least two of his guns." + +"Sword of Solomon!" cried Mahommed. "Will the stars show me a road to +possession of the harbor? Will they break the chain which defends its +entrance? Will they sink or burn the enemy's fleet?" + +"No; those are heroisms left for my Lord's endeavor." + +"Thou dost taunt me with the impossible." + +The Prince smiled. + +"Is my Lord less able than the Crusaders? I know he is not too proud to +be taught by them. Once, marching upon the Holy City, they laid siege to +Nicea, and after a time discovered they could not master it without +first mastering Lake Ascanius. Thereupon they hauled their ships three +leagues overland, and launched them in the lake." [Footnote: VON HAMMER, +_Hist. de l'Emp. Ottoman._] + +Mahommed became thoughtful. + +"If my Lord does not distribute the guns; if he confines his attack to +St. Romain, the enemy, in the day of assault, can meet him at the breach +with his whole garrison. More serious, if the harbor is left to the +Greeks, how can he prevent the Genoese in Galata from succoring them? My +Lord derives information from those treacherous people in the day; does +he know of the intercourse between the towns by boats in the night? If +they betray one side, will they be true to the other? My Lord, they are +Christians; so are these with whom we are at war." + +The Sultan sank into a seat; and satisfied with the impression he had +made, the Prince wisely allowed him his thoughts. + +"It is enough!" said the former, rising. Then fixing his eye on his +confederate, he asked: "What stars told thee these things, O Prince?" + +"My Lord, the firmament above is God's, and the sun and planets there +are his mercifully to our common use. But we have each of us a firmament +of our own. In mine, Reason is the sun, and of its stars I mention +two--Experience and Faith. By the light of the three, I succeed; when I +refuse them, one or all, I surrender to chance." + +Mahommed caught up the sword, and played with its ruby handle, turning +it at angles to catch its radiations; at length he said: + +"Prince of India, thou hast spoken like a Prophet. Go call Kalil and +Saganos." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MADONNA TO THE RESCUE + + +We have given the opening of the siege of Byzantium by Mahommed with +dangerous minuteness, the danger of course being from the critic. We +have posted the warders on their walls, and over against them set the +enemy in an intrenched line covering the whole landward side of the +city. We have planted Mahommed's guns, and exhibited their power, making +it a certainty that a breach in the wall must be sooner or later +accomplished. We have shown the effect of the fire of the guns, not only +on the towers abutting the gate which was the main object of attack, but +on the non-combatants, the women and children, in their terror seeking +safety in cellars, vaults, and accessible underground retreats. We have +carefully assembled and grouped those of our characters who have +survived to this trying time; and the reader is informed where they are, +the side with which their fortunes are cast, their present relations to +each other, and the conditions which environ them. In a word, the reader +knows their several fates are upon them, and the favors we now most +earnestly pray are to be permitted to pass the daily occurrences of the +siege, and advance quickly to the end. Even battles can become +monotonous in narrative. + +The Sultan, we remark, adopted the suggestions of the Prince of India. +He distributed his guns, planting some of them in front of the several +gates of the city. To control the harbor, he, in modern parlance, +erected a battery on a hill by Galata; then in a night, he drew a part +of his fleet, including a number of his largest vessels, from +Besich-tasch on the Bosphorus over the heights and hollows of Pera, a +distance of about two leagues, and dropped them in the Golden Horn. +These Constantine attacked. Justiniani led the enterprise, but was +repulsed. A stone bullet sunk his ship, and he barely escaped with his +life. Most of his companions were drowned; those taken were pitilessly +hung. Mahommed next collected great earthen jars--their like may yet be +seen in the East--and, after making them air-tight, laid a bridge upon +them out toward the single wall defending the harbor front. At the +further end of this unique approach he placed a large gun; and so +destructive was the bombardment thus opened that fire-ships were sent +against the bridge and battery. But the Genoese of Galata betrayed the +scheme, and it was baffled. The prisoners captured were hanged in view +of the Greeks, and in retaliation Constantine exposed the heads of a +hundred and sixty Turks from the wall. + +On the landward side Mahommed was not less fortunate. The zigzag trench +was completed, and a footing obtained for his men in the moat, whence +they strove to undermine the walls. + +Of the lives lost during these operations no account was taken, since +the hordes were the victims. Their bodies were left as debris in the +roadway so expensively constructed. Day after day the towers Bagdad and +St. Romain were more and more reduced. Immense sections of them tumbling +into the ditch were there utilized. Day after day the exchange of +bullets, bolts, stones, and arrows was incessant. The shouting in many +tongues, heating of drums, and blowing of horns not seldom continued far +into the night. + +The Greeks on their side bore up bravely. Old John Grant plied the +assailants with his inextinguishable fire. Constantine, in seeming +always cheerful, never shirking, visited the walls; at night, he +seconded Justiniani in hastening needful repairs. Finally the steady +drain upon the stores in magazine began to tell. Provisions became +scarce, and the diminution of powder threatened to silence the culverins +and arquebuses. Then the Emperor divided his time between the defences +and Sancta Sophia--between duty as a military commander, and prayer as a +Christian trustful in God. And it was noticeable that the services at +which he assisted in the ancient church were according to Latin rites; +whereat the malcontents in the monasteries fell into deeper sullenness, +and refused the dying the consolation of their presence. Gennadius +assumed the authority of the absent Patriarch, and was influential as a +prophet. The powerful Brotherhood of the St. James', composed of +able-bodied gentry and nobles who should have been militant at the +gates, regarded the Emperor as under ban. Notaras and Justiniani +quarrelled, and the feud spread to their respective followers. + +One day, about the time the Turkish ships dropped, as it were, from the +sky into the harbor, when the store of powder was almost exhausted, and +famine menaced the city, five galleys were reported in the offing down +the Marmora. About the same time the Turkish flotilla was observed +making ready for action. The hungry people crowded the wall from the +Seven Towers to Point Serail. The Emperor rode thither in haste, while +Mahommed betook himself to the shore of the sea. A naval battle ensued +under the eyes of the two. [Footnote: The following is a translation of +Von Hammer's spirited account of this battle: + +"The 15th of April, 1453, the Turkish fleet, of more than four hundred +sails, issued from the bay of Phidalia, and directing itself toward the +mouth of the Bosphorus on the western side, cast anchor near the two +villages to-day Besich-tasch. A few days afterward five vessels appeared +in the Marmora, one belonging to the Emperor, and four to the Genoese. +During the month of March they had been unable to issue from Scio; but a +favorable wind arising, they arrived before Constantinople, all their +sails unfurled. A division of the Turkish fleet, more than a hundred and +fifty in number, advanced to bar the passage of the Christian squadron +and guard the entrance to the harbor. The sky was clear, the sea +tranquil, the walls crowded with spectators. The Sultan himself was on +the shore to enjoy the spectacle of a combat in which the superiority of +his fleet seemed to promise him a certain victory. But the eighteen +galleys at the head of the division, manned by inexperienced soldiers, +and too low at the sides, were instantly covered with arrows, pots of +Greek fire, and a rain of stones launched by the enemy. They were twice +repulsed. The Greeks and the Genoese emulated each other in zeal. +Flectanelli, captain of the imperial galley, fought like a lion; +Cataneo, Novarro, Balaneri, commanding the Genoese, imitated his +example. The Turkish ships could not row under the arrows with which the +water was covered; they fouled each other, and two took fire. At this +sight Mahommed could not contain himself; as if he would arrest the +victory of the Greeks, he spurred his horse in the midst of the ships. +His officers followed him trying to reach the vessels combating only a +stone's throw away. The soldiers, excited by shame or by fear, renewed +the attack, but without success, and the five vessels, favored by a +rising wind, forced a passage through the opposition, and happily +entered the harbor."] The Christian squadron made the Golden Horn, and +passed triumphantly behind the chain defending it. They brought supplies +of corn and powder. The relief had the appearance of a merciful +Providence, and forthwith the fighting was renewed with increased ardor. +Kalil the Vizier exhorted Mahommed to abandon the siege. + +"What, retire now? Now that the gate St. Romain is in ruins and the +ditch filled?" the Sultan cried in rage. "No, my bones to Eyoub, my soul +to Eblis first. Allah sent me here to conquer." + +Those around attributed his firmness, some to religious zeal, some to +ambition; none of them suspected how much the compact with Count Corti +had to do with his decision. + +To the lasting shame of Christian Europe, the arrival of the five +galleys, and the victory they achieved, were all of succor and cheer +permitted the heroic Emperor. + +But the unequal struggle wore on, and with each set of sun Mahommed's +hopes replumed themselves. From much fondling and kissing the sword of +Solomon, and swearing by it, the steel communicated itself to his will; +while on the side of the besieged, failures, dissensions, watching and +labor, disparity in numbers, inferiority in arms, the ravages of death, +and the neglect of Christendom, slowly but surely invited despair. + +Weeks passed thus. April went out; and now it is the twenty-third of +May. On the twenty-ninth--six days off--the stars, so we have seen, will +permit an assault. + +And on this day the time is verging midnight. Between the sky and the +beleaguered town a pall of clouds is hanging thick. At intervals light +showers filter through the pall, and the drops fall perpendicularly, for +there is no wind. And the earth has its wrap of darkness, only over the +seven hills of the old capital it appears to be in double folds +oppressively close. Darkness and silence and vacancy, which do not +require permission to enter by a gate, have possession of the streets +and houses; except that now and then a solitary figure, gliding swiftly, +turns a corner, pauses to hear, moves on again, and disappears as if it +dropped a curtain behind it. Desertion is the rule. The hush is awful. +Where are the people? + +To find each other friends go from cellar to cellar. There are vaults +and arched passages, crypts under churches and lordly habitations, deep, +damp, mouldy, and smelling of rotten air, sheltering families. In many +districts all life is underground. Sociality, because it cannot exist +under such conditions save amongst rats and reptiles, ceased some time +ago. Yet love is not dead--thanks, O Heaven, for the divine impulse!--it +has merely taken on new modes of expression; it shows itself in tears, +never in laughter; it has quit singing, it moans; and what moments +mothers are not on their knees praying, they sit crouched, and clasping +their little ones, and listen pale with fear and want. Listening is the +universal habit; and the start and exclamation with which in the day the +poor creatures recognize the explosive thunder of Mahommed's guns +explain the origin of the habit. + +At this particular hour of the twenty-third of May there are two notable +exceptions to the statement that darkness, silence and vacancy have +possession of the streets and houses. + +By a combination of streets most favorable for the purpose, a +thoroughfare had come into use along which traffic preferably drove its +bulky commodities from St. Peter's on the harbor to the Gates St. Romain +and Adrianople; its greater distance between terminal points being +offset by advantages such as solidity, width and gentler grades. In one +of the turns of this very crooked way there is now a murky flush cast by +flambeaux sputtering and borne in hand. On either side one may see the +fronts of houses without tenants, and in the way itself long lines of +men tugging with united effort at some cumbrous body behind them. There +is no clamor. The labor is heavy, and the laborers in earnest. Some of +them wear round steel caps, but the majority are civilians with here and +there a monk, the latter by the Latin cross at his girdle an _azymite_. +Now and then the light flashes back from a naked torso streaming with +perspiration. One man in armor rides up and down the lines on horseback. +He too is in earnest. He speaks low when he has occasion to stop and give +a direction, but his face seen in flashes of the light is serious, and +knit with purpose. The movement of the lines is slow; at times they come +to a dead stand-still. If the halt appears too long the horseman rides +back and comes presently to the black hull of a dismantled galley on +rollers. The stoppages are to shift the rollers forward. When the +shifting is done, he calls out: "Make ready, men!" Whereupon every one in +the lines catches hold of a rope, and at his "Now--for love of Christ!" +there follows a pull with might, and the hull drags on. + +In these later days of the siege there are two persons actively engaged +in the defence who are more wrought upon by the untowardness of the +situation than any or all their associates--they are the Emperor and +Count Corti. + +There should be no difficulty in divining the cause of the former's +distress. It was too apparent to him that his empire was in desperate +straits; that as St. Romain underwent its daily reduction so his remnant +of State and power declined. And beholding the dissolution was very like +being an enforced witness of his own dying. + +But Count Corti with the deepening of the danger only exerted himself +the more. He seemed everywhere present--now on the ruins of the towers, +now in the moat, now foremost in a countermine, and daily his +recklessness increased. His feats with bow and sword amazed his friends. +He became a terror to the enemy. He never tired. No one knew when he +slept. And as note was taken of him, the question was continually on the +lip, What possesses the man? He is a foreigner--this is not his home--he +has no kindred here--what can be his motive? And there were who said it +was Christian zeal; others surmised it was soldier habit; others again, +that for some reason he was disgusted with life; yet others, themselves +of sordid natures, said the Emperor affected him, and that he was +striving for a great reward in promise. As in the camps of the besiegers +none knew the actual reason of Mahommed's persistence, so here the +secret of the activity which left the Count without a peer in +performance and daring went without explanation. + +A few--amongst them the Emperor--were aware of the meaning of the red +net about the Italian's neck--it shone so frequently through the smoke +and dust of hourly conflict as to have become a subject of general +observation--yet in the common opinion he was only the lady's knight; +and his battle cry, _For Christ and Irene--Now!_ did but confirm +the opinion. Time and time again, Mahommed beheld the doughty deeds of +his rival, heard his shout, saw the flash of his blade, sometimes near, +sometimes afar, but always where the press was thickest. Strange was it +that of the two hosts he alone understood the other's inspiration? He +had only to look into his own heart, and measure the force of the +passion there. + +The horseman we see in charge of the removal of the galley-hulk this +night of the twenty-third of May is Count Corti. It is wanted at St. +Romain. The gate is a hill of stone and mortar, without form; the moat +almost level from side to side; and Justiniani has decided upon a +barricade behind a new ditch. He will fill the hull with stones, and +defend from its deck; and it must be on the ground by break of day. + +Precisely as Count Corti was bringing the galley around the turn of the +thoroughfare, Constantine was at the altar in Sancta Sophia where +preparations for mass were making; that is, the priests were changing +their vestments, and the acolytes lighting the tall candles. The Emperor +sat in his chair of state just inside the brass railing, unattended +except by his sword-bearer. His hands were on his knees, his head bowed +low. He was acknowledging a positive need of prayer. The ruin at the +gate was palpable; but God reigned, and might be reserving his power for +a miraculous demonstration. + +The preparation was about finished when, from the entrances of the +Church opposite the nave, a shuffling of many feet was heard. The light +in that quarter was weak, and some moments passed before the Emperor +perceived a small procession advancing, and arose. The garbs were of +orthodox Brotherhoods which had been most bitter in their denunciation. +None of them had approached the door of the holy house for weeks. + +The imperial mind was greatly agitated by the sight. Were the brethren +recanting their unpatriotic resolutions? Had Heaven at last given them +an understanding of the peril of the city? Had it brought to them a +realization of the consequences if it fell under the yoke of the +Turk?--That the whole East would then be lost to Christendom, with no +date for its return? A miracle!--and to God the glory! And without a +thought of himself the devoted man walked to the gate of the railing, +and opening it, waited to receive the penitents. + +Before him in front of the gate they knelt--in so far they yielded to +custom. + +"Brethren," he said, "this high altar has not been honored with your +presence for many days. As Basileus, I bid you welcome back, and dare +urge the welcome in God's holy name. Reason instructs me that your +return is for a purpose in some manner connected with the unhappy +condition in which our city and empire, not to mention our religion, are +plunged. Rise, one of you, and tell me to what your appearance at this +solemn hour is due." + +A brother in gray, old and stooped, arose, and replied: + +"Your Majesty, it cannot be that you are unacquainted with the traditions +of ancient origin concerning Constantinople and Hagia Sophia; forgive us, +however, if we fear you are not equally well informed of a more recent +prophecy, creditably derived, we think, and presume to speak of its +terms. 'The infidels'--so the prediction runs--'will enter the city; but +the instant they arrive at the column of Constantine the Great, an angel +will descend from Heaven, and put a sword in the hands of a man of low +estate seated at the foot of the column, and order him to avenge the +people of God with it. Overcome by sudden terror, the Turks will then +take to flight, and be driven, not only from the city, but to the +frontier of Persia.' [Footnote: Von Hammer.] This prediction relieves us, +and all who believe in it, from fear of Mahommed and his impious hordes, +and we are grateful to Heaven for the Divine intervention. But, Your +Majesty, we think to be forgiven, if we desire the honor of the +deliverance to be accounted to the Holy Mother who has had our fathers in +care for so many ages, and redeemed them miraculously in instances within +Your Majesty's knowledge. Wherefore to our purpose.... We have been +deputed by the Brotherhoods in Constantinople, united in devotion to the +Most Blessed Madonna of Blacherne, to pray your permission to take the +_Panagia_ from the Church of the Virgin of Hodegetria, where it has been +since the week of the Passover, and intrust it to the pious women of the +city. To-morrow at noon, Your Majesty consenting, they will assemble at +the Acropolis, and with the banner at their head, go in procession along +the walls and to every threatened gate, never doubting that at the sight +of it the Sultan and his unbaptized hordes will be reft of breath of body +or take to flight.... This we pray of Your Majesty, that the Mother of +God may in these degenerate days have back the honor and worship accorded +her by the Emperors and Greeks of former times." + +The old man ceased, and again fell upon his knees, while his associate +deputies rang the space with loud _Amens_. + +It was well the light was dim, and the Emperor's face in shadow; it was +well the posture of the petitioners helped hide him from close study; a +feeling mixed of pity, contempt, and unutterable indignation seized him, +distorting his features, and shaking his whole person. Recantation and +repentance!--Pledge of loyalty!--Offer of service at the gates and on +the shattered walls!--Heaven help him! There was no word of apology for +their errors and remissness--not a syllable in acknowledgment of his +labors and services--and he about to pray God for strength to die if the +need were, as became the Emperor of a brave and noble people! + +An instant he stood gazing at them--an instant of grief, shame, +mortification, indignation, all heightened by a burning sense of +personal wrong. Ay, God help him! + +"Bear with me a little," he said quietly, and passing the waiting +priests, went and knelt upon a step of the altar in position to lay his +head upon the upper step. Minutes passed thus. The deputies supposed him +praying for the success of the morrow's display; he was in fact praying +for self-possession to answer them as his judgment of policy demanded. + +At length he arose, and returned to them, and had calmness to say: + +"Arise, brethren, and go in peace. The keeper of the Church will deliver +the sacred banner to the pious women. Only I insist upon a condition; if +any of them are slain by the enemy, whom you and they know to have been +bred in denial of womanly virtue, scorning their own mothers and wives, +and making merchandise of their daughters--if any of them be slain, I +say, then you shall bear witness to those who sent you to me that I am +innocent of the blood-guilt. Arise, and go in peace." + +They marched out of the Church as they had come in, and he proceeded +with the service. + +Next day about ten o'clock in the morning there was a lull in the +fighting at the Gate St. Romain. It were probably better to say the +Turks for some reason rested from their work of bringing stones, +tree-trunks, earth in hand carts, and timbers wrenched from +houses--everything, in fact, which would serve to substantially fill the +moat in that quarter. Then upon the highest heap of what had been the +tower of Bagdad Count Corti appeared, a black shield on his arm, his bow +in one hand, his banderole in the other. + +"Have a care, have a care!" his friends halloed. "They are about firing +the great gun." + +Corti seemed not to hear, but deliberately planted the banderole, and +blowing his trumpet three times, drew an arrow from the quiver at his +back. The gun was discharged, the bullet striking below him. When the +dust cleared away, he replied with his trumpet. Then the Turks, keeping +their distance, set up a cry. Most of the arrows shot at him fell short. +Seeing their indisposition to accept his challenge, he took seat upon a +stone. + +Not long then until a horseman rode out from the line of Janissaries +still guarding the eminence, and advanced down the left of the zigzag +galloping. + +He was in chain mail glistening like gold, but wore flowing yellow +trousers, while his feet were buried in shoe-stirrups of the royal +metal. Looking over the small round black shield on his left arm, and +holding a bow in the right hand, easy in the saddle, calm, confident, +the champion slackened speed when within arrow flight, but commenced +caracoling immediately. A prolonged hoarse cry arose behind him. Of the +Christians, the Count alone recognized the salute of the Janissaries, +still an utterance amongst Turkish soldiers, in literal translation: +_The Padishah! Live the Padishah!_ The warrior was Mahommed +himself! + +Arising, the Count placed an arrow at the string, and shouted, "_For +Christ and Irene--Now!_" With the last word, he loosed the shaft. + +Catching the missile lightly on his shield, Mahommed shouted back: +"_Allah-il-Allah!_" and sent a shaft in return. The exchange continued +some minutes. In truth, the Count was not a little proud of the enemy's +performance. If there was any weakness on his part, if his clutch of the +notch at the instant of drawing the string was a trifle light, the fault +was chargeable to a passing memory. This antagonist had been his pupil. +How often in the school field, practising with blunted arrows, the two +had joyously mimicked the encounter they were now holding. At last a +bolt, clanging dully, dropped from the Sultan's shield, and observing +that it was black feathered, he swung from his seat to the ground, and, +shifting the horse between him and the foe, secured the missile, and +remounted. + +_"Allah-il-Allah!"_ he cried, slowly backing the charger out of range. + +The Count repeated the challenge through his trumpet, and sat upon the +stone again; but no other antagonist showing himself, he at length +descended from the heap. + +In his tent Mahommed examined the bolt; and finding the head was of +lead, he cut it open, and extracted a scrip inscribed thus: + +"To-day at noon a procession of women will appear on the walls. You may +know it by the white banner a monk will bear, with a picture of the +Madonna painted on it. _The Princess Irene marches next after the +banner._" + +Mahommed asked for the time. It was half after ten o'clock. In a few +minutes the door was thronged by mounted officers, who, upon receiving a +verbal message from him, sped away fast as they could go. + +Thereupon the conflict was reopened. Indeed, it raged more fiercely than +at any previous time, the slingers and bowmen being pushed up to the +outer edge of the moat, and the machines of every kind plied over their +heads. In his ignorance of the miracle expected of the Lady of the +Banner, Mahommed had a hope of deterring the extraordinary march. + +Nevertheless at the appointed hour, ten o'clock, the Church of the +Virgin of Hodegetria was surrounded by nuns and monks; and presently the +choir of Sancta Sophia issued from the house, executing a solemn chant; +the Emperor followed in Basilean vestments; then the _Panagia_ appeared. + +At sight of the picture of the Very Holy Virgin painted front view, the +eyes upraised, the hands in posture of prayer, the breast covered by a +portrait of the Child, the heads encircled by the usual nimbus, the mass +knelt, uttering cries of adoration. + +The Princess Irene, lightly veiled and attired in black, advanced, and, +kissing the fringed corners of the hallowed relic, gathered the white +staying ribbons in her hands; thereupon the monk appointed to carry it +moved after the choir, and the nuns took places. And there were tears +and sighs, but not of fear. The Mother of God would now assume the +deliverance of her beloved capital. As it had been to the Avars, and +later to the Russians under Askold and Dir, it would be now to Mahommed +and his ferocious hordes--all Heaven would arm to punish them. They +would not dare look at the picture twice, or if they did--well, there +are many modes of death, and it will be for the dear Mother to choose. +Thus the women argued. Possibly a perception of the failure in the +defence, sharpened by a consciousness of the horrors in store for them +if the city fell by assault, turned them to this. There is no relief +from despair like faith. + +From the little church, the devotees of the Very Holy Virgin took their +way on foot to the southeast, chanting as they went, and as they went +their number grew. Whence the accessions, none inquired. + +They first reached a flight of steps leading to the banquette or footway +along the wall near the Golden Gate. The noise of the conflict, the +shouting and roar of an uncounted multitude of men in the heat and fury +of combat, not to more than mention the evidences of the +conflict--arrows, bolts, and stones in overflight and falling in +remittent showers--would have dispersed them in ordinary mood; but they +were under protection--the Madonna was leading them--to be afraid was to +deny her saving grace. And then there was no shrinking on the part of +the Princess Irene. Even as she took time and song from the choir, they +borrowed of her trust. + +At the foot of the steps the singers turned aside to allow the _Panagia_ +to go first. The moment of miracle was come! What form would the +manifestation take? Perhaps the doors and windows of Heaven would open +for a rain of fire--perhaps the fighting angels who keep the throne of +the Father would appear with swords of lightning--perhaps the Mother and +Son would show themselves. Had they not spared and converted the Khagan +of the Avars? Whatever the form, it were not becoming to stand between +the _Panagia_ and the enemy. + +The holy man carrying the ensign was trustful as the women, and he +ascended the steps without faltering. Gathering the ribbons a little +more firmly in her hands, the Princess kept her place. Up--up they were +borne--Mother and Son. Then the white banner was on the height--seen +first by the Greeks keeping the wall, and in the places it discovered +them, they fell upon their faces, next by the hordes. And they--oh, a +miracle, a miracle truly!--they stood still. The bowman drawing his bow, +the slinger whirling his sling, the arquebusers taking aim matches in +hand, the strong men at the winches of the mangonels, all stopped--an +arresting hand fell on them--they might have been changed to pillars of +stone, so motionlessly did they stand and look at the white apparition. +_Kyrie Eleison_, thrice repeated, then _Christie Eleison_, also thrice +repeated, descended to them in the voices of women, shrilled by +excitement. + +And the banner moved along the wall, not swiftly as if terror had to do +with its passing, but slowly, the image turned outwardly, the Princess +next it, the ribbons in her hands; after her the choir in full chant; +and then the long array of women in ecstasy of faith and triumph; for +before they were all ascended, the hordes at the edge of the moat, and +those at a distance--or rather such of them as death or wounds would +permit--were retreating to their entrenchment. Nor that merely--the +arrest which had fallen at the Golden Gate extended along the front of +leaguerment from the sea to Blacherne, from Blacherne to the Acropolis. + +So it happened that in advance of the display of the picture, without +waiting for the _Kyrie Eleison_ of the glad procession, the Turks +took to their defences; and through the city, from cellar, and vault, +and crypt, and darkened passage, the wonderful story flew; and there +being none to gainsay or explain it, the miracle was accepted, and the +streets actually showed signs of a quick return to their old life. Even +the very timid took heart, and went about thanking God and the _Panagia +Blachernitissa_. + +And here and there the monks passed, sleek and blithe, and complacently +twirling the Greek crosses at the whip-ends of their rosaries of polished +horn buttons large as walnuts, saying: + +"The danger is gone. See what it is to have faith! Had we kept on +trusting the _azymites_, whether Roman cardinal or apostate Emperor, a +muezzin would ere long, perhaps to-morrow, be calling to prayer from the +dome of Hagia Sophia. Blessed be the _Panagia!_ To-night let us sleep; +and then--then we will dismiss the mercenaries with their Latin tongues." + +But there will be skeptics to the last hour of the last day; so is the +world made of kinds of men. Constantine and Justiniani did not disarm or +lay aside their care. In unpatriotic distrust, they kept post behind the +ruins of St. Romain, and saw to it that the labor of planting the hull +of the galley for a new wall, strengthened with another ditch of +dangerous depth and width, was continued. + +And they were wise; for about four o'clock in the afternoon, there was a +blowing of horns on the parapet by the monster gun, and five heralds in +tunics stiff with gold embroidery, and trousers to correspond--splendid +fellows, under turbans like balloons, each with a trumpet of shining +silver--set out for the gate, preceding a stately unarmed official. + +The heralds halted now and then to execute a flourish. Constantine, +recognizing an envoy, sent Justiniani and Count Corti to meet him beyond +the moat, and they returned with the Sultan's formal demand for the +surrender of the city. The message was threatening and imperious. The +Emperor replied offering to pay tribute. Mahommed rejected the proposal, +and announced an assault. + +The retirement of the hordes at sight of the _Panagia_ on the wall was by +Mahommed's order. His wilfulness extended to his love--he did not intend +the Princess Irene should suffer harm. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ASSAULT + + +The artillery of Mahommed had been effective, though not to the same +degree, elsewhere than at St. Romain. Jerome the Italian and Leonardo di +Langasco the Genoese, defending the port of Blacherne in the lowland, +had not been able to save the Xiloporta or Wood Gate on the harbor front +harmless; under pounding of the floating battery it lay in the dust, +like a battered helmet. + +John Grant and Theodore de Carystos looked at the green hills of Eyoub +in front of the gate Caligaria or Charsias, assigned to them, through +fissures and tumbles-down which made their hearts sore. The Bochiardi +brothers, Paul and Antonin, had fared no better in their defence of the +gate Adrianople. At the gate Selimbria, Theophilus Palaeologus kept the +Imperial flag flying, but the outer faces of the towers there were in +the ditch serving the uses of the enemy. Contarino the Venetian, on the +roof of the Golden Gate, was separated from the wall reaching northward +to Selimbria by a breach wide enough to admit a chariot. Gabriel +Trevisan, with his noble four hundred Venetians, kept good his grip on +the harbor wall from the Acropolis to the gate of St. Peter's. Through +the incapacity or treason of Duke Notaras, the upper portion of the +Golden Horn was entirely lost to the Christians. From the Seven Towers +to Galata the Ottoman fleet held the wall facing the Marmora as a net of +close meshes holds the space of water it is to drag. In a word, the hour +for assault had arrived, and from the twenty-fourth to evening of the +twenty-eighth of May Mahommed diligently prepared for the event. + +The attack he reduced to a bombardment barely sufficient to deter the +besiegers from systematic repairs. The reports of his guns were but +occasionally heard. At no time, however, was the energy of the man more +conspicuous. Previously his orders to chief officers in command along +the line had been despatched to them; now he bade them to personal +attendance; and, as may be fancied, the scene at his tent was orientally +picturesque from sunrise to sunset. Such an abounding of Moslem princes +and princes not Moslem, of Pachas, and Beys, and Governors of Castles, +of Sheiks, and Captains of hordes without titles; such a medley of +costumes, and armor, and strange ensigns; such a forest of tall shafts +flying red horse-tails; such a herding of caparisoned steeds; such a +company of trumpeters and heralds--had seldom if ever been seen. It +seemed the East from the Euphrates and Red Sea to the Caspian, and the +West far as the Iron Gates of the Danube, were there in warlike +presence. Yet for the most part these selected lions of tribes kept in +separate groups and regarded each other askance, having feuds and +jealousies amongst themselves; and there was reason for their good +behavior--around them, under arms, were fifteen thousand watchful +Janissaries, the flower of the Sultan's host, of whom an old chronicler +has said, Each one is a giant in stature, and the equal of ten ordinary +men. + +Throughout those four days but one man had place always at Mahommed's +back, his confidant and adviser--not Kalil, it is to be remarked, or +Saganos, or the Mollah Kourani, or Akschem-sed-din the Dervish. + +"My Lord," the Prince of India had argued when the Sultan resolved to +summon his vassal chiefs to personal conference, "all men love splendor; +pleasing the eye is an inducement to the intelligent; exciting the +astonishment of the vulgar disposes them to submit to superiority in +another without wounding their vanity. The Rajahs in my country practise +this philosophy with a thorough understanding. Having frequently to hold +council with their officials, into the tent or hall of ceremony they +bring their utmost riches. The lesson is open to my Lord." + +So when his leaders of men were ushered into the audience, the interior +of Mahommed's tent was extravagantly furnished, and their prostrations +were at the step of a throne. Nevertheless in consenting to the +suggestion, the Sultan had insisted upon a condition. + +"They shall not mistake me for something else than a warrior--a +politician or a diplomatist, for instance--or think the heaviest blow I +can deal is with the tongue or a pen. Art thou hearing, Prince?" + +"I hear, my Lord." + +"So, by the tomb of the Prophet--may his name be exalted!--my household, +viziers and all, shall stand at my left; but here on my right I will +have my horse in panoply; and he shall bear my mace and champ his golden +bit, and be ready to tread on such of the beggars as behave unseemly." + +And over the blue and yellow silken rugs of Khorassan, with which the +space at the right of the throne was spread, the horse, bitted and house +led, had free range, an impressive reminder of the master's business of +life. + +As they were Christians or Moslems, Mahommed addressed the vassals +honored by his summons, and admitted separately to his presence; for the +same arguments might not be pleasing to both. + +"I give you trust," he would say to the Christian, "and look for brave +and loyal service from you.... I shall be present with you, and as an +eyewitness judge of your valor, and never had men such incentives. The +wealth of ages is in the walls before us, and it shall be yours--money, +jewels, goods and people--all yours as you can lay hands on it. I +reserve only the houses and churches. Are you poor, you may go away +rich; if rich, you may be richer; for what you get will be honorable +earnings of your right hand of which none shall dispossess you--and to +that treaty I swear.... Rise now, and put your men in readiness. The +stars have promised me this city, and their promises are as the breath +of the God we both adore." + +Very different in style and matter were his utterances to a Moslem. + +"What is that hanging from thy belt?" + +"It is a sword, my Lord." + +"God is God, and there is no other God--_Amin!_ And he it was who +planted iron in the earth, and showed the miner where it was hid, and +taught the armorer to give it form, and harden it, even the blade at thy +belt; for God had need of an instrument for the punishment of those who +say 'God hath partners.' ... And who are they that say 'God hath +partners--a Son and his Mother'? Here have they their stronghold; and +here have we been brought to make roads through its walls, and turn +their palaces of unbelief into harems. For that thou hast thy sword, and +I mine--_Amin!_... It is the will of God that we despoil these _Gabours_ +of their wealth and their women; for are they not of those of whom it is +said: 'In their hearts is a disease, and God hath increased their +disease, and for them is ordained a painful punishment, because they have +charged the Prophet of God with falsehood'? That they who escape the +sharpness of our swords shall be as beggars, and slaves, and homeless +wanderers--such is the punishment, and it is the judgment of God--_Amin!_ +... That they shall leave all they have behind them--so also hath God +willed, and I say it shall be. I swear it. And that they leave behind +them is for us who were appointed from the beginning of the world to take +it; that also God wills, and I say it shall be. I swear it. _Amin!_ ... +What if the way be perilous, as I grant it is? Is it not written: 'A soul +cannot die except by permission of God, according to a writing of God, +definite as to time'? And if a man die, is it not also written: 'Repute +not those slain in God's cause to be dead; nay, alive with God, they are +provided for'? They are people of the 'right hand,' of whom it is +written: 'They shall be brought nigh God in the gardens of delight, upon +inwrought couches reclining face to face. Youths ever young shall go unto +them round about with goblets and ewers, and a cup of flowing wine; and +fruits of the sort which they shall choose, and the flesh of birds of the +kind which they shall desire, and damsels with eyes like pearls laid up, +we will give them as a reward for that which they have done.' ... But the +appointed time is not yet for all of us--nay, it is for the fewest-- +_Amin!_ ... And when the will of God is done, then for such as live, lo! +over the walls yonder are gold refined and coined, and gold in vessels, +and damsels on silken couches, their cheeks like roses of Damascus, their +arms whiter and cooler than lilies, and as pearls laid up are their eyes, +and their bodies sweeter than musk on the wings of the south wind in a +grove of palms. With the gold we can make gardens of delight; and the +damsels set down in the gardens, ours the fault if the promise be not +made good as it was spoken by the Prophet--'Paradise shall be brought +near unto the pious, to a place not distant from them, so they shall see +it!' ... Being of those who shall 'receive their books in the right +hand,' more need not be said unto you. I only reserve for myself the +houses when you have despoiled them, and the churches. Make ready +yourself and your people, and tell them faithfully what I say, and swear +to. I will come to you with final orders. Arise!" [Footnote: For the +quotations in this speech, see _Selections from the Koran_, by EDWARD +WILLIAM LANE.] + +From sunrise to sunset of the twenty-seventh Mahommed was in the saddle +going with the retinue of a conqueror from chief to chief. From each he +drew a detachment to be held in reserve. One hundred thousand men were +thus detached. + +"See to it," he said finally, "that you direct your main effort against +the gate in front of you.... Put the wild men in the advance. The dead +will be useful in the ditch.... Have the ladders at hand.... At the +sound of my trumpets, charge.... Proclaim for me that he who is first +upon the walls shall have choice of a province. I will make him +governor. God is God. I am his servant, ordering as he has ordered." + +On the twenty-eighth, he sent all the dervishes in camp to preach to the +Moslems in arms; and of such effect were their promises of pillage and +Paradise that after the hour of the fifth prayer, the multitude, in all +quite two hundred and fifty thousand, abandoned themselves to transports +of fanaticism. Of their huts and booths they made heaps, and at night +set fire to them; and the tents of the Pachas and great officers being +illuminated, and the ships perfecting the blockade dressed in lights, +the entrenchment from Blacherne to the Seven Towers, and the sea thence +to the Acropolis, were in a continued brilliance reaching up to the sky. +Even the campania was invaded by the dazzlement of countless bonfires. + +And from the walls the besieged, if they looked, beheld the antics of +the hordes; if they listened, they heard the noise, in the distance, a +prolonged, inarticulate, irregular clamor of voices, near by, a +confusion of songs and cries. At times the bray of trumpets and the roll +of drums great and small shook the air, and smothered every rival sound. +And where the dervishes came, in their passage from group to group, the +excitement arose out of bounds, while their dancing lent diablerie to +the scene. + +Assuredly there was enough in what they beheld to sink the spirit of the +besieged, even the boldest of them. The cry _Allah-il-Allah_ shouted from +the moat was trifling in comparison with what they might have overheard +around the bonfires. + +"Why do you burn your huts?" asked a prudent officer of his men. + +"Because we will not need them more. The city is for us to-morrow. The +Padishah has promised and sworn." + +"Did he swear it?" + +"Ay, by the bones of the Three in the Tomb of the Prophet." + +At another fire, the following: + +"Yes, I have chosen my palace already. It is on the hill over there in +the west." + +And again: + +"Tell us, O son of Mousa, when we are in the town what will you look +for?" + +"The things I most want." + +"Well, what things?" + +"May the Jinn fill thy stomach with green figs for such a question of my +mother's son! What things? Two horses out of the Emperor's stable. And +thou--what wilt thou put thy hand to first?" + +"Oh, I have not made up my mind! I am thinking of a load of gold for my +camel--enough to take my father and his three wives to Mecca, and buy +water for them from the Zem-zem. Praised be Allah!" + +"Bah! Gold will be cheap." + +"Yes, as bezants; but I have heard of a bucket the unbelieving Greeks +use at times for mixing wine and bread in. It is when they eat the body +of their God. They say the bucket is so big it takes six fat priests to +lift it." + +"It is too big. I'll gather the bezants." + +"Well," said a third, with a loud Moslem oath, "keep to your gold, +whether in pots or coin. For me--for me"-- + +"Ha, ha!--he don't know." + +"Don't I? Thou grinning son of a Hindoo ape." + +"What is it, then?" + +"The thing which is first in thy mind." + +"Name it." + +"A string of women." + +"Old or young?" + +"An _hoo-rey-yeh_ is never old." + +"What judgment!" sneered the other. "I will take some of the old ones as +well." + +"What for?" + +"For slaves to wait on the young. Was it not said by a wise man, 'Sweet +water in the jar is not more precious than peace in the family'?" + +Undoubtedly the evil genius of Byzantium in this peril was the Prince of +India. + +"My Lord," he had said, cynically, "of a truth a man brave in the day +can be turned into a quaking coward at night; you have but to present +him a danger substantial enough to quicken his imagination. These Greeks +have withstood you stoutly; try them now with your power a vision of +darkness." + +"How, Prince?" + +"In view and hearing from the walls let the hordes kindle fires +to-night. Multiply the fires, if need be, and keep the thousands in +motion about them, making a spectacle such as this generation has not +seen; then"-- + +The singular man stopped to laugh. + +Mahommed gazed at him in silent wonder. + +"Then," he continued, "so will distorted fancy do its work, that by +midnight the city will be on its knees praying to the Mother of God, and +every armed man on the walls who has a wife or daughter will think he +hears himself called to for protection. Try it, my Lord, and thou mayst +whack my flesh into ribbons if by dawn the general fear have not left +but a half task for thy sword." + +It was as the Jew said. + +Attracted by the illumination in the sky, suggestive of something vast +and terrible going on outside the walls, and still full of faith in a +miraculous deliverance, thousands hastened to see the mercy. What an +awakening was in store for them! Enemies seemed to have arisen out of +the earth--devils, not men. The world to the horizon's rim appeared +oppressed with them. Nor was it possible to misapprehend the meaning of +what they beheld. "To-morrow--to-morrow"--they whispered to each +other--"God keep us!" and pouring back into the streets, they became +each a preacher of despair. Yet--marvelous to say--the monks sallied +from their cells with words of cheer. + +"Have faith," they said. "See, we are not afraid. The Blessed Mother has +not deserted her children. Believe in her. She is resolved to allow the +_azymite_ Emperor to exhaust his vanity that in the last hour he +and his Latin myrmidons may not deny her the merit of the salvation. +Compose yourselves, and fear not. The angel will find the poor man at +the column of Constantine." + +The ordinary soul beset with fears, and sinking into hopelessness, is +always ready to accept a promise of rest. The people listened to the +priestly soothsayers. Nay, the too comforting assurance made its way to +the defenders at the gates, and hundreds of them deserted their posts; +leaving the enemy to creep in from the moat, and, with hooks on long +poles, actually pull down some of the new defences. + +It scarcely requires telling how these complications added weight to the +cares with which the Emperor was already overladen. Through the +afternoon he sat by the open window of a room above the Cercoporta, or +sunken gate under the southern face of his High Residence, [Footnote: +This room is still to be seen. The writer once visited it. Arriving +near, his Turkish _cavass_ requested him to wait a moment. The man +then advanced alone and cautiously, and knocked at the door. There was a +conference, and a little delay; after which the _cavass_ announced +it was safe to go in. The mystery was revealed upon entering. A half +dozen steaming tubs were scattered over the paved floor, and by each of +them stood a scantily attired woman with a dirty _yashmak_ covering +her face. The chamber which should have been very sacred if only because +there the last of the Byzantine Emperors composedly resigned himself to +the inevitable, had become a filthy den devoted to one of the most +ignoble of uses. The shame is, of course, to the Greeks of +Constantinople.] watching the movements of the Turks. The subtle prophet +which sometimes mercifully goes before death had discharged its office +with him. He had dismissed his last hope. Beyond peradventure the +hardest task to one pondering his fate uprisen and standing before him +with all its attending circumstances, is to make peace with himself; +which is simply viewing the attractions of this life as birds of plumage +in a golden cage, and deliberately opening the door, and letting them +loose, knowing they can never return. This the purest and noblest of the +imperial Greeks--the evil times in which his race as a ruler was run +prevent us from terming him the greatest--had done. + +He was in armor, and his sword rested against the cheek of a window. His +faithful attendants came in occasionally, and spoke to him in low tones; +but for the most part he was alone. + +The view of the enemy was fair. He could see their intrenchment, and the +tents and ruder quarters behind it. He could see the standards, many of +them without meaning to him, the detachments on duty and watchful, the +horsemen coming and going, and now and then a column in movement. He +could hear the shouting, and he knew the meaning of it all--the final +tempest was gathering. + +About four o'clock in the afternoon, Phranza entered the room, and going +to his master's right hand, was in the act of prostrating himself. + +"No, my Lord," said the Emperor, reaching out to stay him, and smiling +pleasantly, "let us have done with ceremony. Thou hast been true servant +to me--I testify it, God hearing--and now I promote thee. Be as my other +self. Speak to me standing. To-morrow is my end of days. In death no man +is greater than another. Tell me what thou bringest." + +On his knees, the Grand Chamberlain took the steel-gloved hand nearest +him, and carried it to his lips. + +"Your Majesty, no servant had ever a more considerate and loving +master." + +An oppressive silence followed. They were both thinking the same +thought, and it was too sad for speech. + +"The duty Your Majesty charged me with this morning "--thus Phranza upon +recovery of his composure--"I attended to." + +"And you found it?" + +"Even as Your Majesty had warning. The Hegumens of the Brotherhoods"-- + +"All of them, O Phranza?" + +"All of them, Your Majesty--assembled in a cloister of the Pantocrator." + +"Gennadius again!" + +The Emperor's hands closed, and there was an impatient twitching of his +lips. + +"Though why should I be astonished? Hark, my friend! I will tell thee +what I have as yet spoken to no man else. Thou knowest Kalil the Vizier +has been these many years my tributary, and that he hath done me many +kindly acts, not always in his master's interest. The night of the day +our Christian ships beat the Turks the Grand Vizier sent me an account +of a stormy scene in Mahommed's tent, and advised me to beware of +Gennadius. Ah, I had fancied myself prepared to drink the cup Heaven +hath in store for me, lees and all, without a murmur, but men will be +men until their second birth. It is nature! ... Oh, my Phranza, what +thinkest thou the false monk is carrying under his hood?" + +"Some egg of treason, I doubt not." + +"Having driven His Serenity, the pious and venerable Gregory, into +exile, he aspires to succeed him." + +"The hypocrite!--the impostor!--the perjured!--He, Patriarch!" cried +Phranza, with upraised eyes. + +"And from whose hands thinkest thou he dreams of deriving the honor?" + +"Not Your Majesty's." + +The Emperor smiled faintly. "No--he regards Mahommed the Sultan a better +patron, if not a better Christian." + +"Forbid it Heaven!" and Phranza crossed himself repeatedly. + +"Nay, good friend, hear his scheme, then thou mayst call the forbidding +powers with undeniable reason....He undertook--so Kalil privily +declared--if Mahommed would invest him with the Patriarchate, to deliver +Constantinople to him." + +"By what means? He has no gate in keeping--he is not even a soldier." + +"My poor Phranza! Hast thou yet to learn that perfidy is not a trait of +any class? This gowned traitor hath a key to all the gates. Hear him--I +will ply the superstition of the Greeks, and draw them from the walls +with a prophecy." + +Phranza was able to cry out: "Oh! that so brave a prince, so good a +master should be at the mercy of--of such a"-- + +"With all thy learning, I see thou lackest a word. Let it pass, let it +pass--I understand thee....But what further hast thou from the meeting?" + +Phranza caught the hand again, and laid his forehead upon it while he +replied: "To-night the Brotherhoods are to go out, and renew the story +of the angel, and the man at the foot of the column of Constantine." The +calmness of the Emperor was wonderful. He gazed at the Turks through the +window, and, after reflection, said tranquilly: + +"I would have saved it--this old empire of our fathers; but my utmost +now is to die for it--ay, as if I were blind to its unworthiness. God's +will be done, not mine!" + +"Talk not of dying--O beloved Lord and master, talk not so! It is not +too late for composition. Give me your terms, and I will go with them +to"-- + +"Nay, friend, I have done better--I have made peace with myself.... I +shall be no man's slave. There is nothing more for me--nothing except an +honorable death. How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much glory +in dying! A day of Greek regeneration may come--then there may be some +to do me honor--some to find worthy lessons in my life--perchance +another Emperor of Byzantium to remember how the last of the Palaeologae +accepted the will of God revealed to him in treachery and treason.... +But there is one at the door knocking as he were in haste. Let him +enter." + +An officer of the guard was admitted. + +"Your Majesty," he said, after salutation, "the Captain Justiniani, and +the Genoese, his friends, are preparing to abandon the gates." + +Constantine seized his sword, and arose. + +"Tell me about it," he said, simply. + +"Justiniani has the new ditch at St. Romain nearly completed, and +wanting some cannon, he made request for them of the High Admiral, who +refused, saying, 'The foreign cowards must take care of themselves.'" + +"Ride, sir, to the noble Captain, and tell him I am at thy heels." + +"Is the Duke mad?" Constantine continued, the messenger having departed. +"What can he want? He is rich, and hath a family--boys verging on +manhood, and of excellent promise. Ah, my dear friend in need, what +canst thou see of gain for him from Mahommed?" + +"Life, your Majesty--life, and greater riches." + +"How? I did not suppose thou thoughtest so ill of men." + +"Of some--of some--not all." Then Phranza raised his head, and asked, +bitterly: "If five galleys won the harbor, every Moslem sail opposing, +why could not twelve or more do better? Does not Mahommed draw his +supplies by sea?" + +The Emperor looked out of the window again, but not at the Turks. + +"Lord Phranza," he said, presently, "thou mayst survive to-morrow's +calamity; if so, being as thou art skilful with the pen, write of me in +thy day of leisure two things; first, I dared not break with Duke +Notaras while Mahommed was striving for my gates--he could and would +have seized my throne--the Church, the Brotherhoods, and the people are +with him--I am an _azymite._ Say of me next that I have always held +the decree of union proclaimed by the Council of Florence binding upon +Greek conscience, and had I lived, God helping me roll back this flood +of Islam, it should have been enforced.... Hither--look hither, Lord +Phranza"--he pointed out of the window--"and thou wilt see an argument +of as many divisions as there are infidels beleaguering us why the +Church of Christ should have one head; and as to whether the head should +be Patriarch or Bishop, is it not enough that we are perishing for want +of Western swords?"--He would have fallen into silence again, but roused +himself: "So much for the place I would have in the world's memory.... +But to the present affair. Reparation is due Justiniani and his +associates. Do thou prepare a repast in the great dining hall. Our +resources are so reduced I may not speak of it as a banquet; but as thou +lovest me do thy best with what we have. For my part, I will ride and +summon every noble Greek in arms for Church and State, and the foreign +captains. In such cheer, perhaps, we can heal the wounds inflicted by +Notaras. We can at least make ready to die with grace." + +He went out, and taking horse, rode at speed to the Gate St. Romain, and +succeeded in soothing the offended Genoese. + +At ten o'clock the banquet was held. The chroniclers say of it that +there were speeches, embraces, and a fresh resolution to fight, and +endure the worst or conquer. And they chose a battle-cry--_Christ and +Holy Church._ At separating, the Emperor, with infinite tenderness, +but never more knightly, prayed forgiveness of any he might have wronged +or affronted; and the guests came one by one to bid him adieu, and he +commended them to God, and the gratitude of Christians in the ages to +come, and his hands were drenched with their tears. + +From the Very High Residence he visited the gates, and was partially +successful in arresting the desertions actually in progress. + +Finally, all other duties done, his mind turning once more to God, he +rode to Sancta Sophia, heard mass, partook of the Communion, and +received absolution according to Latin rite; after which the morrow +could hold no surprise for him. And he found comfort repeating his own +word: How sweet a grace it is that we can put so much glory in dying. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +COUNT CORTI IN DILEMMA + + +From the repast at Blacherne--festive it was in no sense--Count Corti +escorted the Emperor to the door of Sancta Sophia; whence, by +permission, and taking with him his nine Berbers, he rode slowly to the +residence of the Princess Irene. Slowly, we say, for nowhere in the pent +area of Byzantium was there a soul more oppressed. + +If he looked up, it was to fancy all the fortunate planets seated in +their Houses helping Mahommed's star to a fullest flood of splendor; if +he looked down, it was to see the wager--and his soul cried out, Lost! +Lost! Though one be rich, or great, or superior in his calling, wherein +is the profit of it if he have lost his love? + +Besides the anguish of a perception of his rival's better fortune, the +Count was bowed by the necessity of deciding certain consequences +unforeseen at the time the wager was made. The place of the surrender of +the Princess was fixed. Thinking forward now, he could anticipate the +scene in the great church--the pack of fugitives, their terror and +despair, the hordes raging amongst them. How was he single-handed to +save her unharmed in the scramble of the hour? Thoughts of her youth, +beauty, and rank, theretofore inspirations out of Heaven, set him to +shivering with an ague more like fear than any he had ever known. + +Nor was this all. The surrender was by the terms to be to Mahommed +himself. The Sultan was to demand her of him. He groaned aloud: "Oh, +dear God and Holy Mother, be merciful, and let me die!" For the first +time it was given him to see, not alone that he might lose the woman to +his soul all the sun is to the world, but her respect as well. By what +management was he to make the surrender without exposing the +understanding between the conqueror and himself? She would be +present--she would see what took place--she would hear what was said. +And she would not be frightened. The image of the Madonna above the +altar in the nave would not be more calm. The vaguest suspicion of a +compact, and she the subject, would put her upon inquiry; then--"Oh, +fool--idiot--insensate as my sword-grip!" Thus, between groans, he +scourged himself. + +It was late, but her home was now a hospital filled with wounded men, +and she its sleepless angel. Old Lysander admitted him. + +"The Princess Irene is in the chapel." + +Thus directed, the Count went thither well knowing the way. + +A soldier just dead was the theme of a solemn recital by Sergius. The +room was crowded with women in the deepest excitement of fear. Corti +understood the cause. Poor creatures! They had need of religious +comfort. A thousand ghosts in one view could not have overcome them as +did the approach of the morrow. + +At the right of the altar, he discovered the Princess in the midst of +her attendants, who kept close to her, like young birds to the mother in +alarm. She was quiet and self-contained. Apparently she alone heard the +words of the reader; and whereas the Count came in a penitent--doubtful-- +in a maze--unknowing what to do or where to turn, one glance at her face +restored him. He resolved to tell her his history, omitting only the +character in which he entered her kinsman's service, and the odious +compact with Mahommed. Her consent to accompany him to Sancta Sophia must +be obtained; for that he was come. + +His presence in the chapel awakened a suppressed excitement, and +directly the Princess came to him. + +"What has happened, Count Corti? Why are you here?" + +"To speak with you, O Princess Irene' + +"Go with me, then." + +She conducted him into a passage, and closed the door behind them. + +"The floor of my reception room is overlaid with the sick and suffering-- +my whole house is given up to them. Speak here; and if the news be bad, +dear Count, it were mercy not to permit the unfortunates to hear you." + +She was not thinking of herself. He took the hand extended to him, and +kissed it--to him it was the hand of more than the most beautiful woman +in the world--it was the hand of a saint in white transfigurement. + +"Thy imperial kinsman, O Princess, is at the church partaking of the +Holy Communion, and receiving absolution." + +"At this hour? Why is he there, Count?" + +Corti told her of the repast at the palace, and recounted the scene at +parting. + +"It looks like despair. Can it be the Emperor is making ready to die? +Answer, and fear not for me. My life has been a long preparation. He +believes the defence is lost--the captains believe so--and thou?" + +"O Princess, it is terrible saying, but I too expect the judgment of God +in the morning." + +The hall was so dimly lighted he could not see her face; but the nerve +of sympathy is fine--he felt she trembled. Only a moment--scarcely +longer than taking a breath--then she answered: + +"Judgment is for us all. It will find me here." + +She moved as if to return to the chapel; but he stepped before her, and +drawing out a chair standing by the door, said, firmly, yet tenderly: + +"You are weary. The labor of helping the unfortunate these many +days--the watching and anxiety--have been trying upon you. Sit, I pray, +and hear me." + +She yielded with a sigh. + +"The judgment which would find you here, O Princes, would not be death, +but something more terrible, so terrible words burn in thinking of it. I +have sworn to defend you: and the oath, and the will to keep it, give me +the right to determine where and how the defence shall be made. If there +are advantages, I want them, for your sweet sake" + +He stopped to master his feeling. + +"You have never stood on the deck of a ship in wreck, and seen the sea +rush in to overwhelm it," he went on presently: "I have; and I declare +to you, O beloved lady, nothing can be so like to-morrow when the hordes +break into the city, as that triumph of waters; and as on the deck there +was no place of safety for the perishing crew, neither will there be +place of safety for man, woman, or child in Byzantium then--least of all +for the kinswoman of the Emperor--for her--permit me to say it--whose +loveliness and virtue are themes for story-tellers throughout the East. +As a prize--whether for ransom or dishonor--richer than the churches and +the palaces, and their belongings, be they jewels or gold, or anointed +crown, or bone of Saint, or splinter of the True Cross, or shred from +the shirt of Christ--to him who loves her, a prize of such excellence +that glory, even the glory Mahommed is now dreaming of when he shall +have wrenched the keys of the gates from their rightful owner dead in +the bloody breach, would pale if set beside it for comparison, and sink +out of sight--think you she will not be hunted? Or that the painted +Mother above the altar, though it spoke through a miraculous halo, could +save her when found? No, no, Princess, not here, not here!... You know +I love you; in an unreasoning moment I dared tell you so; and you may +think me passion-blind, and that I hung the vow to defend you upon my +soul's neck, thinking it light as this favor you were pleased to give +me; that love being a braggart, therefore I am a braggart. Let me set +myself right in your opinion--your good opinion, O Princess, for it is +to me a world of such fair shining I dream of it as of a garden in +Paradise.... If you do not know how hardly I have striven in this war, +send, I pray, and ask any of the captains, or the most Christian +sovereign I have just left making his peace with God. Some of them +called me mad, but I pardoned them--they did not know the meaning of my +battle-cry--'For Christ and Irene'--that I was venturing life less for +Constantinople, less for religion--I almost said, less for Christ--than +for you, who are all things in one to me, the fairest on earth, the best +in Heaven.... At last, at last I am driven to admit we may fail--that +to-morrow, whether I am here or there, at your side or under the +trampling, you may be a prisoner at mercy." + +At these words, of infinite anguish in utterance, the Princess +shuddered, and looked up in silent appeal. + +"Attend me now. You have courage above the courage of women; therefore I +may speak with plainness.... What will become of you--I give the +conclusion of many wrangles with myself--what will become of you depends +upon the hands which happen to be laid on you first. O Princess, are you +giving me heed? Do you comprehend me?" + +"The words concern me more than life, Count." + +"I may go on then.... I have hope of saving your life and honor. You +have but to do what I advise. If you cannot trust me, further speech +were idleness, and I might as well take leave of you. Death in many +forms will be abroad to-morrow--nothing so easily found." + +"Count Corti," she returned, "if I hesitate pledging myself, it is not +because of distrust. I will hear you." + +"It is well said, dear lady." + +He stopped--a pleasant warmth was in his heart--a perception, like dim +light, began breaking through the obscurities in his mind. To this +moment, in fact, he had trouble gaining his own consent to the proposal +on his tongue; it seemed so like treachery to the noble woman--so like a +cunning inveiglement to deliver her to Mahommed under the hated compact. +Now suddenly the proposal assumed another appearance--it was the best +course--the best had there been no wager, no compact, no obligation but +knightly duty to her. As he proceeded, this conviction grew clearer, +bringing him ease of conscience and the subtle influence of a master +arguing right. He told her his history then, holding nothing back but +the two points mentioned. Twice only she interrupted him. + +"Your mother, Count Corti--poor lady--how she has suffered! But what +happiness there is in store for her!" And again: "How wonderful the +escape from the falsehoods of the Prophet! There is no love like +Christ's love unless--unless it be a mother's." + +At the conclusion, her chin rested in the soft palm of her hand, and the +hand, unjewelled, was white as marble just carven, and, like the arm, a +wonder of grace. Of what was she thinking?--Of him? Had he at last made +an impression upon her? What trifles serve the hope of lovers! At length +she asked: + +"Then, O Count, thou wert his playmate in childhood?" + +A bitter pang struck him--that pensiveness was for Mahommed--yet he +answered: "I was nearest him until he took up his father's sword." + +"Is he the monster they call him?" + +"To his enemies, yes--and to all in the road to his desires, yes--but to +his friends there was never such a friend." + +"Has he heart to"-- + +The omission, rather than the question, hurt him--still he returned: + +"Yes, once he really loves." + +Then she appeared to awake. + +"To the narrative now--Forgive my wandering." + +The opportunity to return was a relief to him, and he hastened to +improve it. + +"I thank you for grace, O Princess, and am reminded of the pressure of +time. I must to the gate again with the Emperor.... This is my proposal. +Instead of biding here to be taken by some rapacious hordesman, go with +me to Sancta Sophia, and when the Sultan comes thither--as he certainly +will--deliver yourself to him. If, before his arrival, the plunderers +force the doors of the holy house, I will stand with you, not, Princess, +as Count Corti the Italian, but Mirza the Emir and Janissary, appointed +by the Sultan to guard you. My Berbers will help the assumption." + +He had spoken clearly, yet she hesitated. + +"Ah," he said, "you doubt Mahommed. He will be upon honor. The +glory-winners, Princess, are those always most in awe of the judgment of +the world." + +Yet she sat silent. + +"Or is it I who am in your doubt?" + +"No, Count. But my household--my attendants--the poor creatures are +trembling now--some of them, I was about saying, are of the noblest +families in Byzantium, daughters of senators and lords of the court. I +cannot desert them--no, Count Corti, not to save myself. The baseness +would be on my soul forever. They must share my fortune, or I their +fate." + +Still she was thinking of others! + +More as a worshipper than lover, the Count replied: "I will include them +in my attempt to save you. Surely Heaven will help me, for your sake, O +Princess." + +"And I can plead for them with him. Count Corti, I will go with you." + +The animation with which she spoke faded in an instant. + +"But thou--O my friend, if thou shouldst fall?" + +"Nay, let us be confident. If Heaven does not intend your escape, it +would be merciful, O beloved lady, did it place me where no report of +your mischance and sorrows can reach me. Looking at the darkest side, +should I not come for you, go nevertheless to the Church. Doubt not +hearing of the entry of the Turks. Seek Mahommed, if possible, and +demand his protection. Tell him, I, Mirza the Emir, counselled you. On +the other side, be ready to accompany me. Make preparation to-night--have +a chair at hand, and your household assembled--for when I come, time will +be scant.... And now, God be with you! I will not say be brave--be +trustful." + +She extended her hand, and he knelt, and kissed it. + +"I will pray for you, Count Corti." + +"Heaven will hear you." + +He went out, and rejoining the Emperor, rode with him from the Church to +Blacherne. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ASSAULT + + +The bonfires of the hordes were extinguished about the time the +Christian company said their farewells after the last supper in the Very +High Residence, and the hordes themselves appeared to be at rest, +leaving Night to reset her stars serenely bright over the city, the sea, +and the campania. + +To the everlasting honor of that company, be it now said, they could +under cover of the darkness have betaken themselves to the ships and +escaped; yet they went to their several posts. Having laid their heads +upon the breast of the fated Emperor, and pledged him their lives, there +is no account of one in craven refuge at the break of day. The Emperor's +devotion seems to have been a communicable flame. + +This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that in the beginning +the walls were relied upon to offset the superiority of the enemy in +numbers, while now each knight and man-at-arms knew the vanity of that +reliance--knew himself, in other words, one of scant five thousand +men--to such diminished roll had the besieged been reduced by wounds, +death and desertion--who were to muster on the ruins of the outer wall, +or in the breaches of the inner, and strive against two hundred and +fifty thousand goaded by influences justly considered the most powerful +over ferocious natures--religious fanaticism and the assurance of booty +without limit. The silence into which the Turkish host was sunk did not +continue a great while. The Greeks on the landward walls became aware of +a general murmur, followed shortly by a rumble at times vibrant--so the +earth complains of the beating it receives from vast bodies of men and +animals in hurried passage. + +"The enemy is forming," said John Grant to his associate Carystos, the +archer. + +Minotle, the Venetian bayle, listening from the shattered gate of +Adrianople, gave order: "Arouse the men. The Turks are coming." + +Justiniani, putting the finishing touches upon his masked repairs behind +what had been the alley or passage between the towers Bagdad and St. +Romain, was called to by his lookout: "Come up, Captain--the infidels +are stirring--they seem disposed to attack." + +"No," the Captain returned, after a brief observation, "they will not +attack to-night--they are getting ready." + +None the less, without relieving his working parties, he placed his +command in station. + +At Selimbria and the Golden Gate the Christians stood to arms. So also +between the gates. Then a deep hush descended upon the mighty works-- +mighty despite the slugging they had endured--and the silence was +loaded with anxiety. + +For such of my readers as have held a night-watch expectant of battle at +disadvantage in the morning it will be easy putting themselves in the +place of these warders at bay; they can think their thoughts, and hear +the heavy beating of their hearts; they will remember how long the hours +were, and how the monotony of the waiting gnawed at their spirits until +they prayed for action, action. On the other hand, those without the +experience will wonder how men can bear up bravely in such conditions-- +and that is a wonder. + +In furtherance of his plan, Mahommed drew in his irregulars, and massed +them in the space between the intrenchment and the ditch; and by +bringing his machines and small guns nearer the walls, he menaced the +whole front of defence with a line amply provided with scaling ladders +and mantelets. Behind the line he stationed bodies of horsemen to arrest +fugitives, and turn them back to the fight. His reserves occupied the +intrenchments. The Janissaries were retained at his quarters opposite +St. Romain. + +The hordes were clever enough to see what the arrangement portended for +them, and they at first complained. + +"What, grumble, do they?" Mahommed answered. "Ride, and tell them I say +the first choice in the capture belongs to the first over the walls. +Theirs the fault if the city be not an empty nest to all who come after +them." + +The earth in its forward movement overtook the moon just before +daybreak; then in the deep hush of expectancy and readiness, the light +being sufficient to reveal to the besieged the assault couchant below +them, a long-blown flourish was sounded by the Turkish heralds from the +embrasure of the great gun. + +Other trumpeters took up the signal, and in a space incredibly short it +was repeated everywhere along the line of attack. A thunder of drums +broke in upon the music. Up rose the hordes, the archers and slingers, +and the ladder bearers, and forward, like a bristling wave, they rushed, +shouting every man as he pleased. In the same instant the machines and +light guns were set in operation. Never had the old walls been assailed +by such a tempest of bolts, arrows, stones and bullets--never had their +echoes been awakened by an equal explosion of human voices, instruments +of martial music, and cannon. The warders were not surprised by the +assault so much as by its din and fury; and when directly the missiles +struck them, thickening into an uninterrupted pouring rain, they cowered +behind the merlons, and such other shelters as they could find. + +This did not last long--it was like the shiver and gasp of one plunged +suddenly into icy water. The fugitives were rallied, and brought back to +their weapons, and to replying in kind; and having no longer to shoot +with care, the rabble fusing into a compact target, especially on the +outer edge of the ditch, not a shaft, or bolt, or stone, or ball from +culverin went amiss. Afterwhile, their blood warming with the work, and +the dawn breaking, they could see their advantage of position, and the +awful havoc they were playing; then they too knew the delight in killing +which more than anything else proves man the most ferocious of brutes. + +The movement of the hordes was not a dash wholly without system--such an +inference would be a great mistake. There was no pretence of alignment +or order--there never is in such attacks--forlorn hopes, receiving the +signal, rush on, each individual to his own endeavor; here, nevertheless, +the Pachas and Beys directed the assault, permitting no blind waste of +effort. They hurled their mobs at none but the weak places--here a +breach, there a dismantled gate. + +Thousands were pushed headlong into the moat. The ladders then passed +down to such of them as had footing were heavy, but they were caught +willingly; if too short, were spliced; once planted so as to bring the +coping of the wall in reach, they swarmed with eager adventurers, who, +holding their shields and pikes overhead, climbed as best they could. +Those below cheered their comrades above, and even pushed them up. + +"The spoils--think of the spoils--the gold, the women!... +_Allah-il-Allah!_... Up, up--it is the way to Paradise!" + +Darts and javelins literally cast the climbers in a thickened shade. +Sometimes a ponderous stone plunging down cleaned a ladder from top to +bottom; sometimes, waiting until the rounds were filled, the besieged +applied levers, and swung a score and more off helpless and shrieking. +No matter--_Allah-il-Allah!_ The living were swift to restore and +attempt the fatal ascents. + +Every one dead and every one wounded became a serviceable clod; rapidly +as the dump and cumber of humanity filled the moat the ladders extended +their upward reach; while drum-beat, battle-cry, trumpet's blare, and +the roar of cannon answering cannon blent into one steady all-smothering +sound. + +In the stretches of space between gates, where the walls and towers were +intact, the strife of the archers and slingers was to keep the Greeks +occupied, lest they should reenforce the defenders hard pressed +elsewhere. + +During the night the blockading vessels had been warped close into the +shore, and, the wall of the seafront being lower than those on the land +side, the crews, by means of platforms erected on the decks, engaged the +besieged from a better level. There also, though attempts at escalade +were frequent, the object was chiefly to hold the garrison in place. + +In the harbor, particularly at the Wood Gate, already mentioned as +battered out of semblance to itself by the large gun on the floating +battery, the Turks exerted themselves to effect a landing; but the +Christian fleet interposed, and there was a naval battle of varying +fortune. + +So, speaking generally, the city was wrapped in assault; and when the +sun at last rode up into the clear sky above the Asiatic heights, +streets, houses, palaces, churches--the hills, in fact, from the sea to +the Tower of Isaac--were shrouded in ominous vapor, through which such +of the people as dared go abroad flitted pale and trembling; or if they +spoke to each other, it was to ask in husky voices, What have you from +the gates? + +Passing now to the leading actors in this terrible tragedy. Mahommed +retired to his couch early the night previous. He knew his orders were +in course of execution by chiefs who, on their part, knew the +consequences of failure. The example made of the Admiral in command of +the fleet the day the five relieving Christian galleys won the port was +fresh in memory. [Footnote: He was stretched on the ground and whipped +like a common malefactor.] + +"To-morrow, to-morrow," he kept repeating, while his pages took off his +armor, and laid the pieces aside. "To-morrow, to-morrow," lingered in his +thoughts, when, his limbs stretched out comfortably on the broad bronze +cot which served him for couch, sleep crept in as to a tired child, and +laid its finger of forgetfulness upon his eyelids. The repetition was as +when we run through the verse of a cheerful song, thinking it out +silently, and then recite the chorus aloud. Once he awoke, and, sitting +up, listened. The mighty host which had its life by his permission was +quiet--even the horses in their apartment seemed mindful that the hour +was sacred to their master. Falling to sleep again, he muttered: +"To-morrow, to-morrow--Irene and glory. I have the promise of the +stars." + +To Mahommed the morrow was obviously but a holiday which was bringing +him the kingly part in a joyous game--a holiday too slow in coming. + +About the third hour after midnight he was again awakened. A man stood +by his cot imperfectly shading the light of a lamp with his hand. + +"Prince of India!" exclaimed Mahommed, rising to a sitting posture. + +"It is I, my Lord." + +"What time is it?" + +The Prince gave him the hour. + +"Is it so near the break of day?" Mahommed yawned. "Tell me"--he fixed +his eyes darkly on the visitor--"tell me first why thou art here?" + +"I will, my Lord, and truly. I wished to see if you could sleep. A +common soul could not. It is well the world has no premonitory sense." + +"Why so?" + +"My Lord has all the qualities of a conqueror." + +Mahommed was pleased. + +"Yes, I will make a great day of to-morrow. But, Prince of India, what +shadows are disturbing thee? Why art thou not asleep?" + +"I too have a part in the day, my Lord." + +"What part?" + +"I will fight, and"-- + +Mahommed interrupted him with a laugh. + +"Thou!" and he looked the stooped figure over from head to foot. + +"My Lord has two hands--I have four--I will show them." + +Returning to his apartment, the Prince reappeared with Nilo. + +"Behold, my Lord!" + +The black was in the martial attire of a king of Kash-Cush--feathered +coronet, robe of blue and red hanging from shoulder to heel, body under +the robe naked to the waist, assegai in the oft-wrapped white sash, +skirt to the knees glittering with crescents and buttons of silver, +sandals beaded with pearls. On his left arm depended a shield rimmed and +embossed with brass; in his right hand he bore a club knotted, and of +weight to fell a bull at a blow. Without the slightest abashment, but +rather as a superior, the King looked down at the young Sultan. + +"I see--I understand--I welcome the four hands of the Prince of India," +Mahommed said, vivaciously; then, giving a few moments of admiration to +the negro, he turned, and asked: + +"Prince, I have a motive for to-morrow--nay, by the cool waters of +Paradise, I have many motives. Tell me thine. In thy speech and action I +have observed a hate for these Greeks deep as the Shintan's for God. +Why? What have they done to thee?" + +"They are Christians," the Jew returned, sullenly. + +"That is good, Prince, very good--even the Prophet judged it a +justification for cleaning the earth of the detestable sect--yet it is +not enough. I am not old as thou"--Mahommed lost the curious gleam which +shone in the visitor's eyes--"I am not old as thou art; still I know +hate like thine must be from a private grievance." + +"My Lord is right. To-morrow I will leave the herd to the herd. In the +currents of the fight I will hunt but one enemy--Constantine. Judge thou +my cause." + +Then he told of Lael--of his love for her--of her abduction by +Demedes--his supplication for the Emperor's assistance--the refusal. + +"She was the child of my soul," he continued, passionately. "My interest +in life was going out; she reinspired it. She was the promise of a +future for me, as the morning star is of a gladsome day. I dreamed +dreams of her, and upon her love builded hopes, like shining castles on +high hills. Yet it was not enough that the Greek refused me his power to +discover and restore her. She is now in restraint, and set apart to +become the wife of a Christian--a Christian priest--may the fiends +juggle for his ghost!--To-morrow I will punish the tyrant--I will give +him a dog's death, and then seek her. Oh! I will find her--I will find +her--and by the light there is in love, I will show him what all of hell +there can be in one man's hate!" + +For once the cunning of the Prince overreached itself. In the rush of +passion he forgot the exquisite sensory gifts of the potentate with whom +he was dealing; and Mahommed, observant even while shrinking from the +malignant fire in the large eyes, discerned incoherencies in the tale, +and that it was but half told; and while he was resolving to push his +Messenger of the Stars to a full confession, a distant rumble invaded +the tent, accompanied by a trample of feet outside. + +"It is here, Prince of India--the day of Destiny. Let us get ready, thou +for thy revenge, I for glory and"--Irene was on his tongue, but he +suppressed the name. "Call my chamberlain and equerry.... On the table +there thou mayst see my arms--a mace my ancestor Ilderim [Footnote: +Bajazet.] bore at Nicopolis, and thy sword of Solomon.... God is great, +and the Jinn and the Stars on my side, what have we to fear?" + +Within half an hour he rode out of the tent. + +"Blows the wind to the city or from it?" he asked his chief Aga of +Janissaries. + +"Toward the city, my Lord." + +"Exalted be the name of the Prophet! Set the Flower of the Faithful in +order--a column of front wide as the breach in the gate--and bring the +heralds. I shall be by the great gun." + +Pushing his horse on the parapet, he beheld the space before him, down +quite to the moat--every trace of the cemetery had disappeared--dark +with hordes assembled and awaiting the signal. Satisfied, happy, he +looked then toward the east. None better than he knew the stars +appointed to go before the sun--their names were familiar to him--now +they were his friends. At last a violet corona infinitely soft glimmered +along the hill tops beyond Scutari. + +"Stand out now," he cried to the five in their tabards of gold--"stand +out now, and as ye hope couches in Paradise, blow--blow the stones out +of their beds yonder--God was never so great!" + +Then ensued the general advance which has been described, except that +here, in front of St. Romain, there was no covering the assailants with +slingers and archers. The fill in the ditch was nearly level with the +outer bank, from which it may be described as an ascending causeway. +This advantage encouraged the idea of pouring the hordesmen _en masse_ +over the hill composed of the ruins of what had been the towers of the +gate. + +There was an impulsive dash under incitement of a mighty drumming and +trumpeting--a race, every man of the thousands engaged in it making for +the causeway--a jam--a mob paralyzed by its numbers. They trampled on +each other--they fought, and in the rebound were pitched in heaps down +the perpendicular revetment on the right and left of the fill. Of those +thus unfortunate the most remained where they fell, alive, perhaps, but +none the less an increasing dump of pikes, shields, and crushed bodies; +and in the roar above them, cries for help, groans, and prayers were +alike unheard and unnoticed. + +All this Justiniani had foreseen. Behind loose stones on top of the +hill, he had collected culverins, making, in modern phrase, a masked +battery, and trained the pieces to sweep the causeway; with them, as a +support, he mixed archers and pikemen. On either flank, moreover, he +stationed companies similarly armed, extending them to the unbroken +wall, so there was not a space in the breach undefended. + +The Captain, on watch and expectant, heard the signal. + +"To the Emperor at Blacherne," he bade; "and say the storm is about to +break. Make haste." Then to his men: "Light the matches, and be ready to +throw the stones down." + +The hordesmen reached the edge of the ditch; that moment the guns were +unmasked, and the Genoese leader shouted: + +"Fire, my men!--_Christ and Holy Church!_" + +Then from the Christian works it was bullet, bolt, stone, and shaft, +making light of flimsy shield and surcoat of hide; still the hordesmen +pushed on, a river breasting an obstruction. Now they were on the +causeway. Useless facing about--behind them an advancing wall--on both +sides the ditch. Useless lying down--that was to be smothered in bloody +mire. Forward, forward, or die. What though the causeway was packed with +dead and wounded?--though there was no foothold not slippery?--though +the smell of hot blood filled every nostril?--though hands thrice +strengthened by despair grappled the feet making stepping blocks of face +and breast? The living pressed on leaping, stumbling, staggering; their +howl, "Gold--spoils--women--slaves," answered from the smoking hill, +"_Christ and Holy Church._" + +And now, the causeway crossed, the leading assailants gain the foot of +the rough ascent. No time to catch breath--none to look for advantage-- +none to profit by a glance at the preparation to receive them--up they +must go, and up they went. Arrows and javelins pierce them; stones crush +them; the culverins spout fire in their faces, and, lifting them off +their uncertain footing, hurl them bodily back upon the heads and shields +of their comrades. Along the brow of the rocky hill a mound of bodies +arises wondrous quick, an obstacle to the warders of the pass who would +shoot, and to the hordesmen a barrier. + +Slowly the corona on the Scutarian hills deepened into dawn. The Emperor +joined Justiniani. Count Corti came with him. There was an affectionate +greeting. + +"Your Majesty, the day is scarcely full born, yet see how Islam is +rueing it." + +Constantine, following Justiniani's pointing, peered once through the +smoke; then the necessity of the moment caught him, and, taking post +between guns, he plied his long lance upon the wretches climbing the +rising mound, some without shields, some weaponless, most of them +incapable of combat. + +With the brightening of day the mound grew in height and width, until at +length the Christians sallied out upon it to meet the enemy still +pouring on. + +An hour thus. + +Suddenly, seized with a comprehension of the futility of their effort, +the hordesmen turned, and rushed from the hill and the causeway. + +The Christians suffered but few casualties; yet they would have gladly +rested. Then, from the wall above the breach, whence he had used his +bow, Count Corti descended hastily. + +"Your Majesty," he said, his countenance kindled with enthusiasm, "the +Janissaries are making ready." + +Justiniani was prompt. "Come!" he shouted. "Come every one! We must have +clear range for the guns. Down with these dead! Down with the living. No +time for pity!" + +Setting the example, presently the defenders were tossing the bodies of +their enemies down the face of the hill. + +On his horse, by the great gun, Mahommed had observed the assault, +listening while the night yet lingered. Occasionally a courier rode to +him with news from this Pacha or that one. He heard without excitement, +and returned invariably the same reply: + +"Tell him to pour the hordes in." + +At last an officer came at speed. + +"Oh, my Lord, I salute you. The city is won." + +It was clear day then, yet a light not of the morning sparkled in +Mahommed's eyes. Stooping in his saddle, he asked: "What sayest thou? +Tell me of it, but beware--if thou speakest falsely, neither God nor +Prophet shall save thee from impalement to the roots of thy tongue." + +"As I have to tell my Lord what I saw with my own eyes, I am not +afraid.... My Lord knows that where the palace of Blacherne begins on +the south there is an angle in the wall. There, while our people were +feigning an assault to amuse the Greeks, they came upon a sunken gate"-- + +"The Cercoporta--I have heard of it." + +"My Lord has the name. Trying it, they found it unfastened and unguarded, +and, pushing through a darkened passage, discovered they were in the +Palace. Mounting to the upper floor, they attacked the unbelievers. The +fighting goes on. From room to room the Christians resist. They are now +cut off, and in a little time the quarter will be in our possession." + +Mahommed spoke to Kalil: "Take this man, and keep him safely. If he has +spoken truly, great shall be his reward; if falsely, better he were not +his mother's son." Then to one of his household: "Come hither.... Go to +the sunken gate Cercoporta, pass in, and find the chief now fighting in +the palace of Blacherne. Tell him I, Mahommed, require that he leave the +Palace to such as may follow him, and march and attack the defenders of +this gate, St. Romain, in the rear. He shall not stop to plunder. I give +him one hour in which to do my bidding. Ride thou now as if a falcon led +thee. For Allah and life!" + +Next he called his Aga of Janissaries. + +"Have the hordes before this gate retired. They have served their turn; +they have made the ditch passable, and the _Gabours_ are faint with +killing them. Observe, and when the road is cleared let go with the +Flower of the Faithful. A province to the first through; and this the +battle-cry: _Allah-il-Allah!_ They will fight under my eye. Minutes +are worth kingdoms. Go thou, and let go." + +Always in reserve, always the last resort in doubtful battle, always the +arm with which the Sultans struck the finishing blow, the Janissaries +thus summoned to take up the assault were in discipline, spirit, and +splendor of appearance the _elite_ corps of the martial world. + +Riding to the front, the Aga halted to communicate Mahommed's orders. +Down the columns the speech was passed. + +The Flower of the Faithful were in three divisions dismounted. Throwing +off their clumsy gowns, they stood forth in glittering mail, and shaking +their brassy shields in air, shouted the old salute: "_Live the Padishah! +Live the Padishah!_" + +The road to the gate was cleared; then the Aga galloped back, and when +abreast of the yellow flag of the first division, he cried: +"_Allah-il-Allah!_ Forward!" + +And drum and trumpet breaking forth, a division moved down in column of +fifties. Slowly at first, but solidly, and with a vast stateliness it +moved. So at Pharsalia marched the legion Caesar loved--so in decision +of heady fights strode the Old Guard of the world's last Conqueror. + +Approaching the ditch, the fresh assailants set up the appointed +battle-cry, and quickening the step to double time rushed over the +terrible causeway. + +Mahommed then descended to the ditch, and remained there mounted, the +sword of Solomon in his hand, the mace of Ilderim at his saddle bow; and +though hearing him was impossible, the Faithful took fire from his +fire--enough that they were under his eye. + +The feat attempted by the hordes was then repeated, except now there was +order in disorder. The machine, though shaken and disarranged, kept +working on, working up. Somehow its weight endured. Slowly, with all its +drench and cumber, the hill was surmounted. Again a mound arose in front +of the battery--again the sally, and the deadly ply of pikes from the +top of the mound. + +The Emperor's lance splintered; he fought with a pole-axe; still even he +became sensible of a whelming pressure. In the gorge, the smoke, loaded +with lime-dust, dragged rather than lifted; no man saw down it to the +causeway; yet the ascending din and clamor, possessed of the smiting +power of a gust of wind, told of an endless array coming. + +There was not time to take account of time; but at last a Turkish shield +appeared over the ghastly rampart, glimmering as the moon glimmers +through thick vapor. Thrusts in scores were made at it, yet it arose; +then a Janissary sprang up on the heap, singing like a muezzin, and +shearing off the heads of pikes as reapers shear green rye. He was a +giant in stature and strength. Both Genoese and Greeks were disposed to +give him way. The Emperor rallied them. Still the Turk held his footing, +and other Turks were climbing to his support. Now it looked as if the +crisis were come, now as if the breach were lost. + +In the last second a cry _For Christ and Irene_ rang through the +melee, and Count Corti, leaping from a gun, confronted the Turk. + +"Ho, Son of Ouloubad! Hassan, Hassan!" [Footnote: One of the Janissaries, +Hassan d'Ouloubad, of gigantic stature and prodigious strength, mounted +to the assault under cover of his shield, his cimeter in the right hand. +He reached the rampart with thirty of his companions. Nineteen of them +were cast down, and Hassan himself fell struck by a stone.--VON HAMMER.] +he shouted, in the familiar tongue. + +"Who calls me?" the giant asked, lowering his shield, and gazing about +in surprise. + +"I call you--I, Mirza the Emir. Thy time has come. _Christ and Irene. +Now!_" + +With the word the Count struck the Janissary fairly on the flat cap with +his axe, bringing him to his knees. Almost simultaneously a heavy stone +descended upon the dazed man from a higher part of the wall, and he +rolled backward down the steep. + +Constantine and Justiniani, with others, joined the Count, but too late. +Of the fifty comrades composing Hassan's file, thirty mounted the +rampart. Eighteen of them were slain in the bout. Corti raged like a +lion; but up rushed the survivors of the next file--and the next--and +the vantage-point was lost. The Genoese, seeing it, said: + +"Your Majesty, let us retire." + +"Is it time?" + +"We must get a ditch between us and this new horde, or we are all dead +men." + +Then the Emperor shouted: "Back, every one! For love of Christ and Holy +Church, back to the galley!" + +The guns, machines, store of missiles, and space occupied by the battery +were at once abandoned. Constantine and Corti went last, facing the foe, +who warily paused to see what they had next to encounter. + +The secondary defence to which the Greeks resorted consisted of the hulk +brought up, as we have seen, by Count Corti, planted on its keel +squarely in rear of the breach, and filled with stones. From the hulk, +on right and left, wings of uncemented masonry extended to the main wall +in form thus: + +[Illustration] + +A ditch fronted the line fifteen feet in width and twelve in depth, +provided with movable planks for hasty passage. Culverins were on the +hulk, with ammunition in store. + +Greatly to the relief of the jaded Christians, who, it is easy believing, +stood not on the order of going, they beheld the reserves, under +Demetrius Palaeologus and Nicholas Giudalli, in readiness behind the +refuge. + +The Emperor, on the deck, raised the visor of his helmet, and looked up +at an Imperial flag drooping in the stagnant air from a stump of the +mast. Whatever his thought or feeling, no one could discern on his +countenance an unbecoming expression. The fact, of which he must have +been aware, that this stand taken ended his empire forever, had not +shaken his resolution or confidence. To Demetrius Palaeologus, who had +lent a hand helping him up the galley's side, he said: "Thank you, +kinsman. God may still be trusted. Open fire." + +The Janissaries, astonished at the new and strange defence, would have +retreated, but could not; the files ascending behind drove them forward. +At the edge of the ditch the foremost of them made a despairing effort +to resist the pressure rushing them to their fate--down they went in +mass, in their last service no better than the hordesmen--clods they +became--clods in bright harness instead of bull-hide and shaggy +astrakhan. + +From the wings, bolts and stones; from the height of the wall, bolts and +stones; from the hulk, grapeshot; and the rattle upon the shields of the +Faithful was as the passing of empty chariots over a Pompeiian street. +Imprecations, prayers, yells, groans, shrieks, had lodgement only in the +ear of the Most Merciful. The open maw of a ravenous monster swallowing +the column fast as Mahommed down by the great moat drove it on--such was +the new ditch. + +Yet another, the final horror. When the ditch was partially filled, the +Christians brought jugs of the inflammable liquid contributed to the +defence by John Grant; and cast them down on the writhing heap. +Straightway the trench became a pocket of flame, or rather an oven from +which the smell of roasting human flesh issued along with a choking +cloud! + +The besieged were exultant, as they well might be--they were more than +holding the redoubtable Flower of the Faithful at bay--there was even a +merry tone in their battle-cry. About that time a man dismounted from a +foaming horse, climbed the rough steps to the deck of the galley, and +delivered a message to the Emperor. + +"Your Majesty. John Grant, Minotle the bayle, Carystos, Langasco, and +Jerome the Italian are slain. Blacherne is in possession of the Turks, +and they are marching this way. The hordes are in the streets. I saw +them, and heard the bursting of doors, and the screams of women." + +Constantine crossed himself three times, and bowed his head. + +Justiniani turned the color of ashes, and exclaimed: + +"We are undone--undone! All is lost!" And that his voice was hoarse did +not prevent the words being overheard. The fire slackened--ceased. Men +fighting jubilantly dropped their arms, and took up the cry--"All is +lost! The hordes are in, the hordes are in!" + +Doubtless Count Corti's thought sped to the fair woman waiting for him +in the chapel, yet he kept clear head. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "my Berbers are without. I will take them, and +hold the Turks in check while you draw assistance from the walls. +Or"--he hesitated, "or I will defend your person to the ships. It is not +too late." + +Indeed, there was ample time for the Emperor's escape. The Berbers were +keeping his horse with Corti's. He had but to mount, and ride away. No +doubt he was tempted. There is always some sweetness in life, especially +to the blameless. He raised his head, and said to Justiniani: + +"Captain, my guard will remain here. To keep the galley they have only +to keep the fire alive in the ditch. You and I will go out to meet the +enemy." ... Then he addressed himself to Corti: "To horse, Count, and +bring Theophilus Palaeologus. He is on the wall between this gate and +the gate Selimbria.... Ho, Christian gentlemen," he continued, to the +soldiers closing around him, "all is not lost. The Bochiardi at the +Adrianople gate have not been heard from. To fly from an unseen foe were +shameful, We are still hundreds strong. Let us descend, and form. God +cannot"-- + +That instant Justiniani uttered a loud cry, and dropped the axe he was +holding. An arrow had pierced the scales of his gauntlet, and disabled +his hand. The pain, doubtless, was great, and he started hastily as if +to descend from the deck. Constantine called out: + +"Captain, Captain!" + +"Give me leave, Your Majesty, to go and have this wound dressed." + +"Where, Captain?" + +"To my ship." + +The Emperor threw his visor up--his face was flushed--in his soul +indignation contended with astonishment. + +"No, Captain, the wound cannot he serious; and besides, how canst thou +get to thy ships?" + +Justiniani looked over the bulwark of the vessel. The alley from the +gate ran on between houses abutting the towers. A ball from one of +Mahommed's largest guns had passed through the right-hand building, +leaving a ragged fissure. Thither the Captain now pointed. + +"God opened that breach to let the Turks in. I will go out by it." + +He stayed no longer, but went down the steps, and in haste little short +of a run disappeared through the fissure so like a breach. + +The desertion was in view of his Genoese, of whom a few followed him, +but not all. Many who had been serving the guns took swords and pikes, +and gathering about the Emperor, cried out: + +"Give orders, Your Majesty. We will bide with you." + +He returned them a look full of gratitude. + +"I thank you, gentlemen. Let us go down, and join our shields across the +street. To my guard I commit defence of the galley." + +Unfastening the purple half-cloak at his back, and taking off his +helmet, he called to his sword-bearer: "Here, take thou these, and give +me my sword.... Now, gallant gentlemen--now, my brave countrymen--we +will put ourselves in the keeping of Heaven. Come!" + +They had not all gained the ground, however, when there arose a clamor +in their front, and the hordesmen appeared, and blocking up the passage, +opened upon them with arrows and stones, while such as had javelins and +swords attacked them hand to hand. + +The Christians behaved well, but none better than Constantine. He fought +with strength, and in good countenance; his blade quickly reddened to +the hilt. + +"Strike, my countrymen, for city and home. Strike, every one, for +_Christ and Holy Church!_" + +And answering him: "_Christ and Holy Church!_" they all fought as +they had strength, and their swords were also reddened to the hilt. +Quarter was not asked; neither was it given. Theirs to hold the ground, +and they held it. They laid the hordesmen out over it in scattered heaps +which grew, and presently became one long heap the width of the alley; +and they too fell, but, as we are willing to believe, unconscious of +pain because lapped in the delirium of battle-fever. + +Five minutes--ten--fifteen--then through the breach by which Justiniani +ingloriously fled Theophilus Palaeologus came with bared brand to +vindicate his imperial blood by nobly dying; and with him came Count +Corti, Francesco de Toledo, John the Dalmatian, and a score and more +Christian gentlemen who well knew the difference between an honorable +death and a dishonored life. + +Steadily the sun arose. Half the street was in its light, the other half +in its shade; yet the struggle endured; nor could any man have said God +was not with the Christians. Suddenly a louder shouting arose behind +them. They who could, looked to see what it meant, and the bravest stood +stone still at sight of the Janissaries swarming on the galley. Over the +roasting bodies of their comrades, undeterred by the inextinguishable +fire, they had crossed the ditch, and were slaying the imperial +body-guard. A moment, and they would be in the alley, and then-- + +Up rose a wail: "The Janissaries, the Janissaries! _Kyrie Eleison!_" +Through the knot of Christians it passed--it reached Constantine in the +forefront, and he gave way to the antagonist with whom he was engaged. + +"God receive my soul!" he exclaimed; and dropping his sword, he turned +about, and rushed back with wide extended arms. + +"Friends--countrymen!--Is there no Christian to kill me?" + +Then they understood why he had left his helmet off. + +While those nearest stared at him, their hearts too full of pity to do +him the last favor one can ask of another, from the midst of the +hordesmen there came a man of singular unfitness for such a scene--indeed +a delicate woman had not been more out of place--for he was small, +stooped, withered, very white haired, very pale, and much bearded--a +black velvet cap on his head, and a gown of the like about his body, +unarmed, and in every respect unmartial. He seemed to glide in amongst +the Christians as he had glided through the close press of the Turks; and +as the latter had given him way, so now the sword points of the +Christians went down--men in the heat of action forgot themselves, and +became bystanders--such power was there in the unearthly eyes of the +apparition. + +"Is there no Christian to kill me?" cried the Emperor again. + +The man in velvet stood before him. + +"Prince of India!" + +"You know me? It is well; for now I know you are not beyond remembering." +The voice was shrill and cutting, yet it shrilled and cut the sharper. + +"Remember the day I called on you to acknowledge God, and give him his +due of worship. Remember the day I prayed you on my knees to lend me +your power to save my child, stolen for a purpose by all peoples held +unholy. Behold your executioner!" + +He stepped back, and raised a hand; and ere one of those standing by +could so much as cry to God, Nilo, who, in the absorption of interest in +his master, had followed him unnoticed--Nilo, gorgeous in his barbarisms +of Kash-Cush, sprang into the master's place. He did not strike; but +with infinite cruel cunning of hand--no measurable lapse of time +ensuing--drew the assegai across the face of the astonished Emperor. +Constantine--never great till that moment of death, but then great +forever--fell forward upon his shield, calling in strangled utterance: +"God receive my soul!" + +The savage set his foot upon the mutilated countenance, crushing it into +a pool of blood. An instant, then through the petrified throng, knocking +them right and left, Count Corti appeared. + +"_For Christ and Irene!_" he shouted, dashing the spiked boss of +his shield into Nilo's eyes--down upon the feathered coronal he brought +his sword--and the negro fell sprawling upon the Emperor. + +Oblivious to the surroundings, Count Corti, on his knees, raised the +Emperor's head, slightly turning the face--one look was enough. "His +soul is sped!" he said; and while he was tenderly replacing the head, a +hand grasped his cap. He sprang to his feet. Woe to the intruder, if an +enemy! The sword which had known no failure was drawn back to thrust-- +above the advanced foot the shield hung in ready poise--between him and +the challenger there was only a margin of air and the briefest interval +of time--his breath was drawn, and his eyes gleamed with vengeful murder +--but--some power invisible stayed his arm, and into his memory flashed +the lightning of recognition. + +"Prince of India," he shouted, "never wert thou nearer death!" + +"Thou--liest! Death--and--I"-- + +The words were long drawn between gasps, and the speech was never +finished. The tongue thickened, then paralyzed. The features, already +distorted with passion, swelled, and blackened horribly. The eyes rolled +back--the hands flew up, the fingers apart and rigid--the body rocked-- +stiffened--then fell, sliding from the Count's shield across the dead +Emperor. + +The combat meantime had gone on. Corti, with a vague feeling that the +Prince's flight of soul was a mystery in keeping with his life, took a +second to observe him, and muttered: "Peace to him also!" + +Looking about him then, he was made aware that the Christians, attacked +in front and rear, were drawing together around the body of Constantine-- +that their resistance was become the last effort of brave men hopeless +except of the fullest possible payment for their lives. This was +succeeded by a conviction of duty done on his part, and of every +requirement of honor fulfilled; thereupon with a great throb of heart, +his mind reverted to the Princess Irene waiting for him in the chapel. He +must go to her. But how? And was it not too late? + +There are men whose wits are supernaturally quickened by danger. The +Count, pushing through the intervening throng, boldly presented himself +to the Janissaries, shouting while warding the blows they aimed at him: + +"Have done, O madmen! See you not I am your comrade, Mirza the Emir? +Have done, I say, and let me pass. I have a message for the Padishah!" + +He spoke Turkish, and having been an idol in the barracks--their best +swordsman--envied, and at the same time beloved--they knew him, and with +acclamations opened their files, and let him pass. + +By the fissure which had served Justiniani, he escaped from the terrible +alley, and finding his Berbers and his horse, rode with speed for the +residence of the Princess Irene. + +Not a Christian survived the combat. Greek, Genoese, Italian lay in +ghastly composite with hordesmen and mailed Moslems around the Emperor. +In dying they had made good their battle-cry--_For Christ and Holy +Church!_ Let us believe they will yet have their guerdon. + +About an hour after the last of them had fallen, when the narrow passage +was deserted by the living--the conquerors having moved on in search of +their hire--the Prince of India aroused, and shook himself free of the +corpses cumbering him. Upon his knees he gazed at the dead--then at the +place--then at the sky. He rubbed his hands--made sure he was sound of +person--he seemed uncertain, not of life, but of himself. In fact, he +was asking, Who am I? And the question had reference to the novel +sensations of which he was conscious. What was it coursing through his +veins? Wine?--Elixir?--Some new principle which, hidden away amongst the +stores of nature, had suddenly evolved for him? The weights of age were +gone. In his body--bones, arms, limbs, muscles--he recognized once more +the glorious impulses of youth; but his mind--he started--the ideas +which had dominated him were beginning to return--and memory! It surged +back upon him, and into its wonted chambers, like a wave which, under +pressure of a violent wind, has been momentarily driven from a familiar +shore. He saw, somewhat faintly at first, the events which had been +promontories and lofty peaks cast up out of the level of his long +existence. Then THAT DAY and THAT EVENT! How distinctly they reappeared +to him! They must be the same--must be--for he beheld the multitude on +its way to Calvary, and the Victim tottering under the Cross; he heard +the Tribune ask, "Ho, is this the street to Golgotha?" He heard his own +answer, "I will guide you;" and he spit upon the fainting Man of +Sorrows, and struck him. And then the words--"TARRY THOU TILL I COME!" +identified him to himself. He looked at his hands--they were black with +what had been some other man's life-blood, but under the stain the skin +was smooth--a little water would make them white. And what was that upon +his breast? Beard--beard black as a raven's wing! He plucked a lock of +hair from his head. It, too, was thick with blood, but it was black. +Youth--youth--joyous, bounding, eager, hopeful youth was his once more! +He stood up, and there was no creak of rust in the hinges of his joints; +he knew he was standing inches higher in the sunlit air; and a cry burst +from him--"O God, I give thanks!" The hymn stopped there, for between +him and the sky, as if it were ascending transfigured, he beheld the +Victim of the Crucifixion; and the eyes, no longer sad, but full of +accusing majesty, were looking downward at him, and the lips were in +speech: "TARRY THOU TILL I COME!" He covered his face with his hands. +Yes, yes, he had his youth back again, but it was with the old mind and +nature--youth, that the curse upon him might, in the mortal sense, be +eternal! And pulling his black hair with his young hands, wrenching at +his black beard, it was given him to see he had undergone his fourteenth +transformation, and that between this one and the last there was no +lapse of connection. Old age had passed, leaving the conditions and +circumstances of its going to the youth which succeeded. The new life in +starting picked up and loaded itself with every burden and all the +misery of the old. So now while burrowing, as it were, amongst dead men, +his head upon the breast of the Emperor whom, treating Nilo as an +instrument in his grip, he had slain, he thought most humanly of the +effects of the transformation. + +First of all, his personal identity was lost, and he was once more a +Wanderer without an acquaintance, a friend, or a sympathizer on the +earth. To whom could he now address himself with a hope of recognition? +His heart went out primarily to Lael--he loved her. Suppose he found +her, and offered to take her in his arms; she would repulse him. "Thou +art not my father. He was old--thou art young." And Syama, whose +bereavements of sense had recommended him for confidant in the event of +his witnessing the dreaded circumstance just befallen--if he addressed +himself to Syama, the faithful creature would deny him. "No; my master +was old--his hair and beard were white--thou art a youth. Go hence." And +then Mahommed, to whom he had been so useful in bringing additional +empire, and a glory which time would make its own forever--did he seek +Mahommed again--"Thou art not the Prince of India, my peerless Messenger +of the Stars. He was old--his hair and beard were white--thou art a boy. +Ho, guards, take this impostor, and do with him as ye did with +Balta-Ogli stretch him on the ground, and beat the breath out of him." + +There is nothing comes to us, whether in childhood or age, so crushing +as a sense of isolation. Who will deny it had to do with the marshalling +of worlds, and the peopling them--with creation? + +These reflections did but wait upon the impulse which still further +identified him to himself--the impulse to go and keep going--and he cast +about for solaces. + +"It is the Judgment," he said, with a grim smile; "but my stores remain, +and Hiram of Tyre is yet my friend. I have my experience of more than a +thousand years, and with it youth again. I cannot make men better, and +God refuses my services. Nevertheless I will devise new opportunities. +The earth is round, and upon its other side there must be another world. +Perhaps I can find some daring spirit equal to the voyage and +discovery--some one Heaven may be more willing to favor. But this +meeting place of the old continents"--he looked around him, and then to +the sky--"with my farewell, I leave it the curse of the most accursed. +The desired of nations, it shall be a trouble to them forever." + +Then he saw Nilo under a load of corpses, and touched by remembrance of +the poor savage's devotion, he uncovered him to get at his heart, which +was still beating. Next he threw away his cap and gown, replaced them +with a bloody tarbousche and a shaggy Angora mantle, selected a javelin, +and sauntered leisurely on into the city. Having seen Constantinople +pillaged by Christians, he was curious to see it now sacked by +Moslems--there might be a further solace in the comparison. + +[Footnote: According to the earliest legends, the Wandering Jew was +about thirty years old when he stood in the road to Golgotha, and struck +the Saviour, and ordered him to go forward. At the end of every hundred +years, the undying man falls into a trance, during which his body +returns to the age it was when the curse was pronounced. In all other +respects he remains unchanged.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MAHOMMED IN SANCTA SOPHIA + + +Count Corti, we may well believe, did not spare his own steed, or those +of his Berbers; and there was a need of haste of which he was not aware +upon setting out from St. Romain. The Turks had broken through the +resistance of the Christian fleet in the harbor, and were surging into +the city by the gate St. Peter (Phanar), which was perilously near the +residence of the Princess Irene. + +Already the spoil-seekers were making sure of their hire. More than once +he dashed by groups of them hurrying along the streets in search of +houses most likely to repay plundering. There were instances when he +overtook hordesmen already happy in the possession of "strings of +slaves;" that is to say, of Greeks, mostly women and children, tied by +their hands to ropes, and driven mercilessly on. The wailing and prayers +of the unfortunate smote the Count to the heart; he longed to deliver +them; but he had given his best efforts to save them in the struggle to +save the city, and had failed; now it would be a providence of Heaven +could he rescue the woman waiting for him in such faith as was due his +word and honor specially plighted to her. As the pillagers showed no +disposition to interfere with him, he closed his eyes and ears to their +brutalities, and sped forward. + +The district in which the Princess dwelt was being overrun when he at +last drew rein at her door. With a horrible dread, he alighted, and +pushed in unceremoniously. The reception-room was empty. Was he too +late? Or was she then in Sancta Sophia? He flew to the chapel, and +blessed God and Christ and the Mother, all in a breath. She was before +the altar in the midst of her attendants. Sergius stood at her side, and +of the company they alone were perfectly self-possessed. A white veil +lay fallen over her shoulders; save that, she was in unrelieved black. +The pallor of her countenance, caused, doubtless, by weeks of care and +unrest, detracted slightly from the marvelous beauty which was hers by +nature; but it seemed sorrow and danger only increased the gentle +dignity always observable in her speech and manner. + +"Princess Irene," he said, hastening forward, and reverently saluting +her hand, "if you are still of the mind to seek refuge in Sancta Sophia, +I pray you, let us go thither." + +"We are ready," she returned. "But tell me of the Emperor." + +The Count bent very low. + +"Your kinsman is beyond insult and further humiliation. His soul is with +God." + +Her eyes glistened with tears, and partly to conceal her emotion she +turned to the picture above the altar, and said, in a low voice, and +brokenly: + +"O Holy Mother, have thou his soul in thy tender care, and be with me +now, going to what fate I know not." + +The young women surrounded her, and on their knees filled the chapel +with sobbing and suppressed wails. Striving for composure himself, the +Count observed them, and was at once assailed by an embarrassment. + +They were twenty and more. Each had a veil over her head; yet from the +delicacy of their hands he could imagine their faces, while their rank +was all too plainly certified by the elegance of their garments. As a +temptation to the savages, their like was not within the walls. How was +he to get them safely to the Church, and defend them there? He was used +to military problems, and decision was a habit with him; still he was +sorely tried--indeed, he was never so perplexed. + +The Princess finished her invocation to the Holy Mother. + +"Count Corti," she said, "I now place myself and these, my sisters in +misfortune, under thy knightly care. Only suffer me to send for one +other.--Go, Sergius, and bring Lael." + +One other! + +"Now God help me!" he cried, involuntarily; and it seemed he was heard. + +"Princess," he returned, "the Turks have possession of the streets. On +my way I passed them with prisoners whom they were driving, and they +appeared to respect a right of property acquired. Perhaps they will be +not less observant to me; wherefore bring other veils here--enough to +bind these ladies two and two." + +As she seemed hesitant, he added: "Pardon me, but in the streets you +must all go afoot, to appearances captives just taken." + +The veils were speedily produced, and the Princess bound her trembling +companions in couples hand to hand; submitting finally to be herself +tied to Lael. Then when Sergius was more substantially joined to the +ancient Lysander, the household sallied forth. + +A keener realization of the situation seized the gentler portion of the +procession once they were in the street, and they there gave way to +tears, sobs, and loud appeals to the Saints and Angels of Mercy. + +The Count rode in front; four of his Berbers moved on each side; Sheik +Hadifah guarded the rear; and altogether a more disconsolate company of +captives it were hard imagining. A rope passing from the first couple to +the last was the only want required to perfect the resemblance to the +actual slave droves at the moment on nearly every thoroughfare in +Constantinople. + +The weeping cortege passed bands of pillagers repeatedly. + +Once what may be termed a string in fact was met going in the opposite +direction; women and children, and men and women were lashed together, +like animals, and their lamentations were piteous. If they fell or +faltered, they were beaten. It seemed barbarity could go no further. + +Once the Count was halted. A man of rank, with a following at his heels, +congratulated him in Turkish: + +"O friend, thou hast a goodly capture." + +The stranger came nearer. + +"I will give you twenty gold pieces for this one," pointing to the +Princess Irene, who, fortunately, could not understand him--"and fifteen +for this one." + +"Go thy way, and quickly," said Corti, sternly. + +"Dost thou threaten me?" + +"By the Prophet, yes--with my sword, and the Padishah." + +"The Padishah! Oh, ho!" and the man turned pale. "God is great--I give +him praise." + +At last the Count alighted before the main entrance of the Church. By +friendly chance, also--probably because the site was far down toward the +sea, in a district not yet reached by the hordesmen--the space in front +of the vestibule was clear of all but incoming fugitives; and he had but +to knock at the door, and give the name of the Princess Irene to gain +admission. + +In the vestibule the party were relieved of their bonds; after which +they passed into the body of the building, where they embraced each +other, and gave praise aloud for what they considered a final +deliverance from death and danger; in their transports, they kissed the +marbles of the floor again and again. + +While this affecting scene was going on, Corti surveyed the interior. +The freest pen cannot do more than give the view with a clearness to +barely stimulate the reader's imagination. + +It was about eleven o'clock. The smoke of battle which had overlain the +hills of the city was dissipated; so the sun, nearing high noon, poured +its full of splendor across the vast nave in rays slanted from south to +north, and a fine, almost impalpable dust hanging from the dome in the +still air, each ray shone through it in vivid, half-prismatic relief +against the shadowy parts of the structure. Such pillars in the +galleries as stood in the paths of the sunbeams seemed effulgent, like +emeralds and rubies. His eyes, however, refused everything except the +congregation of people. + +"O Heaven!" he exclaimed. "What is to become of these poor souls!" + +Byzantium, it must be recalled, had had its triumphal days, when Greeks +drew together, like Jews on certain of their holy occasions; undoubtedly +the assemblages then were more numerous, but never had there been one so +marked by circumstances. This was the funeral day of the Empire! + +Let the reader try to recompose the congregation the Count beheld-- +civilians--soldiers--nuns--monks--monks bearded, monks shaven, monks +tonsured--monks in high hats and loose veils, monks in gowns scarce +distinguishable from gowns of women--monks by the thousand. Ah, had they +but dared a manly part on the walls, the cause of the Christ for whom +they affected such devotion would not have suffered the humiliation to +which it was now going! As to the mass in general, let the reader think +of the rich jostled by the poor--fine ladies careless if their robes took +taint from the Lazarus' next them--servants for once at least on a plane +with haughty masters--Senators and slaves--grandsires--mothers with their +infants--old and young, high and low, all in promiscuous presence-- +society at an end--Sancta Sophia a universal last refuge. And by no means +least strange, let the reader fancy the refugees on their knees, silent +as ghosts in a tomb, except that now and then the wail of a child broke +the awful hush, and gazing over their shoulders, not at the altar, but +toward the doors of entrance; then let him understand that every one in +the smother of assemblage--every one capable of thought--was in momentary +expectation of a miracle. + +Here and there moved priestly figures, holding crucifixes aloft, and +halting at times to exhort in low voices: "Be not troubled, O dearly +beloved of Christ! The angel will appear by the old column. If the +powers of hell are not to prevail against the Church, what may men do +against the sword of God?" + +The congregation was waiting for the promised angel to rescue them from +the Barbarians. + +Of opinion that the chancel, or space within the railing of the apse +opposite him, was a better position for his charge than the crowded +auditorium, partly because he could more easily defend them there, and +partly because Mahommed when he arrived would naturally look for the +Princess near the altar, the Count, with some trouble, secured a place +within it behind the brazen balustrade at the right of the gate. The +invasion of the holy reserve by the Berbers was viewed askance, but +submitted to; thereupon the Princess and her suite took to waiting and +praying. + +Afterwhile the doors in the east were barred by the janitor. + +Still later there was knocking at them loud enough to be by authority. +The janitor had become deaf. + +Later still a yelling as of a mob out in the vestibule penetrated to the +interior, and a shiver struck the expectant throng, less from a +presentiment of evil at hand than a horrible doubt. An angel of the Lord +would hardly adopt such an incongruous method of proclaiming the miracle +done. A murmur of invocation began with those nearest the entrances, and +ran from the floor to the galleries. As it spread, the shouting +increased in volume and temper. Ere long the doors were assailed. The +noise of a blow given with determination rang dreadful warning through +the whole building, and the concourse arose. + +The women shrieked: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +Even the nuns who had been practising faith for years joined their lay +sisters in crying: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +The great, gowned, cowardly monks dropped their crucifixes, and, like +the commoner sons of the Church, howled: "The Turks! The Turks!" + +Finally the doors were battered in, and sure enough--there stood the +hordesmen, armed and panoplied each according to his tribe or personal +preference--each a most unlikely delivering angel. + +This completed the panic. + +In the vicinity of the ruined doors everybody, overcome by terror, threw +himself upon those behind, and the impulsion thus started gained force +while sweeping on. As ever in such cases, the weak were the sufferers. +Children were overrun--infants dashed from the arms of mothers--men had +need of their utmost strength--and the wisdom of the Count in seeking +the chancel was proved. The massive brazen railing hardly endured the +pressure when the surge reached it; but it stood, and the Princess and +her household--all, in fact, within the chancel--escaped the crushing, +but not the horror. + +The spoilsmen were in strength, but they were prudently slow in +persuading themselves that the Greeks were unarmed, and incapable of +defending the Church. Ere long they streamed in, and for the first time +in the history of the edifice the colossal Christ on the ceiling above +the altar was affronted by the slogan of Islam--_Allah-il-Allah_. + +Strange now as it may appear to the reader, there is no mention in the +chronicles of a life lost that day within the walls of Sancta Sophia. +The victors were there for plunder, not vengeance, and believing there +was more profit in slaves than any other kind of property, their effort +was to save rather than kill. The scene was beyond peradventure one of +the cruelest in history, but the cruelty was altogether in taking +possession of captives. + +Tossing their arms of whatever kind upon their backs, the savages pushed +into the pack of Christians to select whom they would have. We may be +sure the old, sick, weakly, crippled, and very young were discarded, and +the strong and vigorous chosen. Remembering also how almost universally +the hordes were from the East, we may be sure a woman was preferred to a +man, and a pretty woman to an ugly one. + +The hand shrinks from trying to depict the agonies of separation which +ensued--mothers torn from their children, wives from husbands--their +shrieks, entreaties, despair--the mirthful brutality with which their +pitiful attempts at resistance were met--the binding and dragging +away--the last clutch of love--the final disappearance. It is only +needful to add that the rapine involved the galleries no less than the +floor. All things considered, the marvel is that the cry--there was but +one, just as the sounds of many waters are but one to the ear--which +then tore the habitual silence of the august temple should have ever +ceased--and it would not if, in its duration, human sympathy were less +like a flitting echo. + +Next to women, the monks were preferred, and the treatment they received +was not without its touches of grim humor. Their cowls were snatched +off, and bandied about, their hats crushed over their ears, their veils +stuffed in their mouths to stifle their outcries, their rosaries +converted into scourges; and the laughter when a string of them passed +to the doors was long and loud. They had pulled their monasteries down +upon themselves. If the Emperor, then lying in the bloody alley of St. +Romain, dead through their bigotry, superstition, and cowardice, had +been vengeful in the slightest degree, a knowledge of the judgment come +upon them so soon would have been at least restful to his spirit. + +It must not be supposed Count Corti was indifferent while this appalling +scene was in progress. The chancel, he foresaw, could not escape the +foray. There was the altar, loaded with donatives in gold and precious +stones, a blazing pyramidal invitation. When the doors were burst in, he +paused a moment to see if Mahommed were coming. + +"The hordes are here, O Princess, but not the Sultan." + +She raised her veil, and regarded him silently. + +"I see now but one resort. As Mirza the Emir, I must meet the pillagers +by claiming the Sultan sent me in advance to capture and guard you for" +him." + +"We are at mercy, Count Corti," she replied. "Heaven deal with you as +you deal with us." + +"If the ruse fails, Princess, I can die for you. Now tie yourselves as +before--two and two, hand to hand. It may be they will call on me to +distinguish such as are my charge." + +She cast a glance of pity about her. + +"And these, Count--these poor women not of my house, and the children-- +can you not save them also?" + +"Alas, dear lady! The Blessed Mother must be their shield." + +While the veils were being applied, the surge against the railing took +place, leaving a number of dead and fainting across it. + +"Hadifah," the Count called out, "clear the way to yon chair against the +wall." + +The Sheik set about removing the persons blockading the space, and +greatly affected by their condition, the Princess interceded for them. + +"Nay, Count, disturb them not. Add not to their terror, I pray." + +But the Count was a soldier; in case of an affray, he wanted the +advantage of a wall at his back. + +"Dear lady, it was the throne of your fathers, now yours. I will seat +you there. From it you can best treat with the Lord Mahommed." + +Ere long some of the hordes--half a dozen or more--came to the chancel +gate. They were of the rudest class of Anatolian shepherds, clad +principally in half-cloaks of shaggy goat skin. Each bore at his back a +round buckler, a bow, and a clumsy quiver of feathered arrows. Awed by +the splendor of the altar and its surroundings, they stopped; then, with +shouts, they rushed at the tempting display, unmindful of the living +spoils crouched on the floor dumb with terror. Others of a like kind +reenforced them, and there was a fierce scramble. The latest comers +turned to the women, and presently discovered the Princess Irene sitting +upon the throne. One, more eager than the rest, was indisposed to +respect the Berbers. + +"Here are slaves worth having. Get your ropes," he shouted to his +companions. + +The Count interposed. + +"Art thou a believer?" he asked in Turkish. + +They surveyed him doubtfully, and then turned to Hadifah and his men, +tall, imperturbable looking, their dark faces visible through their open +hoods of steel. They looked at their shields also, and at their bare +cimeters resting points to the floor. + +"Why do you ask?" the man returned. + +"Because, as thou mayst see, we also are of the Faithful, and do not +wish harm to any whose mothers have taught them to begin the day with +the Fah-hat." + +The fellow was impressed. + +"Who art thou?" + +"I am the Emir Mirza, of the household of our Lord the Padishah--to whom +be all the promises of the Koran! These are slaves I selected for him-- +all these thou seest in bonds. I am keeping them till he arrives. He will +be here directly. He is now coming." + +A man wearing a bloody tarbousche joined the pillagers, during this +colloquy, and pressing in, heard the Emir's name passing from mouth to +mouth. + +"The Emir Mirza! I knew him, brethren. He commanded the caravan, and +kept the _mahmals,_ the year I made the pilgrimage.... Stand off, and let +me see." After a short inspection, he continued: "Truly as there is no +God but God, this is he. I was next him at the most holy corner of the +Kaaba when he fell down struck by the plague. I saw him kiss the Black +Stone, and by virtue of the kiss he lived.... Ay, stand back--or if you +touch him, or one of these in his charge, and escape his hand, ye shall +not escape the Padishah, whose first sword he is, even as Khalid was +first sword for the Prophet--exalted be his name!... Give me thy hand, O +valiant Emir." + +He kissed the Count's hand. + +"Arise, O son of thy father," said Corti; "and when our master, the Lord +Mahommed, hath set up his court and harem, seek me for reward." + +The man stayed awhile, although there was no further show of +interference; and he looked past the Princess to Lael cowering near her. +He took no interest in what was going on around him--Lael alone +attracted him. At last he shifted his sheepskin covering higher upon his +shoulders, and left these words with the Count: + +"The women are not for the harem. I understand thee, O Mirza. When the +Lord Mahommed hath set up his court, do thou tell the little Jewess +yonder that her father the Prince of India charged thee to give her his +undying love." + +Count Corti was wonder struck--he could not speak--and so the Wandering +Jew vanished from his sight as he now vanishes from our story. + +The selection among the other refugees in the chancel proceeded until +there was left of them only such as were considered not worth the +having. + +A long time passed, during which the Princess Irene sat with veil drawn +close, trying to shut out the horror of the scene. Her attendants, +clinging to the throne and to each other, seemed a heap of dead women. +At last a crash of music was heard in the vestibule--drums, cymbals, and +trumpets in blatant flourish. Four runners, slender lads, in short, +sleeveless jackets over white shirts, and wide trousers of yellow silk, +barefooted and bareheaded, stepped lightly through the central doorway, +and, waving wands tipped with silver balls, cried, in long-toned shrill +iteration: "The Lord Mahommed--Mahommed, Sultan of Sultans." + +The spoilsmen suspended their hideous labor--the victims, moved doubtless +by a hope of rescue, gave over their lamentations and struggling--only +the young children, and the wounded, and suffering persisted in vexing +the floor and galleries. + +Next to enter were the five official heralds. Halting, they blew a +triumphant refrain, at which the thousands of eyes not too blinded by +misery turned to them. + +And Mahommed appeared! + +He too had escaped the Angel of the false monks! + +When the fighting ceased in the harbor, and report assured him of the +city at mercy, Mahommed gave order to make the Gate St. Romain passable +for horsemen, and with clever diplomacy summoned the Pachas and other +military chiefs to his tent; it was his pleasure that they should assist +him in taking possession of the prize to which he had been helped by +their valor. With a rout so constituted at his back, and an escort of +_Silihdars_ mounted, the runners and musicians preceding him, he +made his triumphal entry into Constantinople, traversing the ruins of +the towers Bagdad and St. Romain. + +He was impatient and restless. In their ignorance of his passion for the +Grecian Princess, his ministers excused his behavior on account of his +youth [Footnote: He was in his twenty-third year.] and the greatness of +his achievement. Passing St. Romain, it was also observed he took no +interest in the relics of combat still there. He gave his guides but one +order: + +"Take me to the house the _Gabours_ call the Glory of God." + +"Sancta Sophia, my Lord?" + +"Sancta Sophia--and bid the runners run." + +His Sheik-ul-Islam was pleased. + +"Hear!" he said to the dervishes with him. "The Lord Mahommed will make +mosques of the houses of Christ before sitting down in one of the +palaces. His first honors are to God and the Prophet." + +And they dutifully responded: "Great are God and his Prophet! Great is +Mahommed, who conquers in their names!" + +The public edifices by which he was guided--churches, palaces, and +especially the high aqueduct, excited his admiration; but he did not +slacken the fast trot in which he carried his loud cavalcade past them +until at the Hippodrome. + +"What thing of devilish craft is here?" he exclaimed, stopping in front +of the Twisted Serpents. "Thus the Prophet bids me!" and with a blow of +his mace, he struck off the lower jaw of one of the Pythons. + +Again the dervishes shouted: "Great is Mahommed, the servant of God!" + +It was his preference to be taken to the eastern front of Sancta Sophia, +and in going the guides led him by the corner of the Bucoleon. At sight +of the vast buildings, their incomparable colonnades and cornices, their +domeless stretches of marble and porphyry, he halted the second time, +and in thought of the vanity of human glory, recited: + + "The spider hath woven his web in the imperial palace; + And the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of + Afrasiab." + +In the space before the Church, as elsewhere along the route he had +come, the hordes were busy carrying off their wretched captives; but he +affected not to see them. They had bought the license of him, many of +them with their blood. + +At the door the suite dismounted. Mahommed however, kept his saddle +while surveying the gloomy exterior. Presently he bade: + +"Let the runners and the heralds enter." + +Hardly were they gone in, when he spoke to one of his pages: "Here, take +thou this, and give me my cimeter." And then, receiving the ruby-hilted +sword of Solomon in exchange for the mace of Ilderim, without more ado +he spurred his horse up the few broad stone steps, and into the +vestibule. Thence, the contemptuous impulse yet possessing him, he said +loudly: "The house is defiled with idolatrous images. Islam is in the +saddle." + +In such manner--mounted, sword in hand, shield behind him--clad in +beautiful gold-washed chain mail, the very ideal of the immortal Emir +who won Jerusalem from the Crusaders, and restored it to Allah and the +Prophet--Mahommed made his first appearance in Sancta Sophia. + +Astonishment seized him. He checked his horse. Slowly his gaze ranged +over the floor--up to the galleries--up--up to the swinging dome--in all +architecture nothing so nearly a self-depending sky. + +"Here, take the sword--give me back my mace," he said. + +And in a fit of enthusiasm, not seeing, not caring for the screaming +wretches under hoof, he rode forward, and, standing at full height in +his stirrups, shouted: "Idolatry be done! Down with the Trinity. Let +Christ give way for the last and greatest of the Prophets! To God the +one God, I dedicate this house!" + +Therewith he dashed the mace against a pillar; and as the steel +rebounded, the pillar trembled. [Footnote: The guides, if good Moslems, +take great pleasure in showing tourists the considerable dent left by +this blow in the face of the pillar.] + +"Now give me the sword again, and call Achmet, my muezzin--Achmet with +the flute in his throat." + +The moods of Mahommed were swift going and coming. Riding out a few +steps, he again halted to give the floor a look. This time evidently the +house was not in his mind. The expression on his face became anxious. He +was searching for some one, and moved forward so slowly the people could +get out of his way, and his suite overtake him. At length he observed +the half-stripped altar in the apse, and went to it. + +The colossal Christ on the ceiling peered down on him through the shades +beginning to faintly fill the whole west end. + +Now he neared the brazen railing of the chancel--now he was at the +gate--his countenance changed--his eyes brightened--he had discovered +Count Corti. Swinging lightly from his saddle, he passed with steps of +glad impatience through the gateway. + +Then to Count Corti came the most consuming trial of his adventurous +life. + +The light was still strong enough to enable him to see across the +Church. Comprehending the flourish of the heralds, he saw the man on +horseback enter; and the mien, the pose in the saddle, the rider's whole +outward expose of spirit, informed him with such certainty as follows +long and familiar association, that Mahommed was come--Mahommed, his +ideal of romantic orientalism in arms. A tremor shook him--his cheek +whitened. To that moment anxiety for the Princess had held him so +entirely he had not once thought of the consequences of the wager lost; +now they were let loose upon him. Having saved her from the hordes, now +he must surrender her to a rival--now she was to go from him forever. +Verily it had been easier parting with his soul. He held to his cimeter +as men instantly slain sometimes keep grip on their weapons; yet his +head sunk upon his breast, and he saw nothing more of Mahommed until he +stood before him inside the chancel. + +"Count Corti, where is"-- + +Mahommed caught sight of the Count's face. + +"Oh, my poor Mirza!" + +A volume of words could not have so delicately expressed sympathy as did +that altered tone. + +Taking off his steel glove, the fitful Conqueror extended the bare hand, +and the Count, partially recalled to the situation by the gracious +offer, sunk to his knees, and carried the hand to his lips. + +"I have kept the faith, my Lord," he said in Turkish, his voice scarcely +audible. "This is she behind me--upon the throne of her fathers. Receive +her from me, and let me depart." + +"My poor Mirza! We left the decision to God, and he has decided. Arise, +and hear me now." + +To the notables closing around, he said, imperiously: "Stand not back. +Come up, and hear me." + +Stepping past the Count, then, he stood before the Princess. She arose +without removing her veil, and would have knelt; but Mahommed moved +nearer, and prevented her. + +The training of the politest court in Europe was in her action, and the +suite looking on, used to slavishness in captives, and tearful humility +in women, he held her with amazement; nor could one of them have said +which most attracted him, her queenly composure or her simple grace. + +"Suffer me, my Lord," she said to him; then to her attendants: "This is +Mahommed the Sultan. Let us pray him for honorable treatment." + +Presently they were kneeling, and she would have joined them, but +Mahommed again interfered. + +"Your hand, O Princess Irene! I wish to salute it." + +Sometimes a wind blows out of the sky, and swinging the bell in the +cupola, starts it to ringing itself; so now, at sight of the only woman +he ever really loved overtaken by so many misfortunes, and actually +threatened by a rabble of howling slave-hunters, Mahommed's better +nature thrilled with pity and remorse, and it was only by an effort of +will he refrained from kneeling to her, and giving his passion tongue. +Nevertheless a kiss, though on the hand, can be made tell a tale of +love, and that was what the youthful Conqueror did. + +"I pray next that you resume your seat," he continued. "It has pleased +God, O daughter of a Palaeologus, to leave you the head of the Greek +people; and as I have the terms of a treaty to submit of great concern +to them and you, it were more becoming did you hear me from a throne.... +And first, in this presence, I declare you a free woman--free to go or +stay, to reject or to accept--for a treaty is impossible except to +sovereigns. If it be your pleasure to go, I pledge conveyance, whether +by sea or land, to you and yours--attendants, slaves, and property; nor +shall there be in any event a failure of moneys to keep you in the state +to which you have been used." + +"For your grace, Lord Mahommed, I shall beseech Heaven to reward you." + +"As the God of your faith is the God of mine, O Princess Irene, I shall +be grateful for your prayers.... In the next place, I entreat you to +abide here; and to this I am moved by regard for your happiness. The +conditions will be strange to you, and in your going about there will be +much to excite comparisons of the old with the new; but the Arabs had +once a wise man, El Hatim by name--you may have heard of him"--he cast a +quick look at the eyes behind the veil--"El Hatim, a poet, a warrior, a +physician, and he left a saying: 'Herbs for fevers, amulets for +mischances, and occupation for distempers of memory.' If it should be +that time proves powerless over your sorrows, I would bring employment +to its aid.... Heed me now right well. It pains me to think of +Constantinople without inhabitants or commerce, its splendors decaying, +its palaces given over to owls, its harbor void of ships, its churches +vacant except of spiders, its hills desolations to eyes afar on the sea. +If it become not once more the capital city of Europe and Asia, some one +shall have defeated the will of God; and I cannot endure that guilt or +the thought of it. 'Sins are many in kind and degree, differing as the +leaves and grasses differ,' says a dervish of my people; 'but for him +who stands wilfully in the eyes of the Most Merciful--for him only shall +there be no mercy in the Great Day.'... Yes, heed me right well--I am +not the enemy of the Greeks, O Princess Irene. Their power could not +agree with mine, and I made war upon it; but now that Heaven has decided +the issue, I wish to recall them. They will not listen to me. Though I +call loudly and often, they will remember the violence inflicted on them +in my name. Their restoration is a noble work in promise. Is there a +Greek of trust, and so truly a lover of his race, to help me make the +promise a deed done? The man is not; but thou, O Princess--thou art. +Behold the employment I offer you! I will commission you to bring them +home--even these sorrowful creatures going hence in bonds. Or do you not +love them so much?... Religion shall not hinder you. In the presence of +these, my ministers of state, I swear to divide houses of God with you; +half of them shall be Christian, the other half Moslem; arid neither +sect shall interfere with the other's worship. This I will seal, +reserving only this house, and that the Patriarch be chosen subject to +my approval. Or do you not love your religion so much?".... + +During the discourse the Princess listened intently; now she would have +spoken, but he lifted his hand. + +"Not yet, not yet! it is not well for you to answer now. I desire that +you have time to consider--and besides, I come to terms of more +immediate concern to you.... Here, in the presence of these witnesses, +O Princess Irene, I offer you honorable marriage." + +Mahommed bowed very low at the conclusion of this proposal. + +"And wishing the union in conscience agreeable to you, I undertake to +celebrate it according to Christian rite and Moslem. So shall you become +Queen of the Greeks--their intercessor--the restorer and protector of +their Church and worship--so shall you be placed in a way to serve God +purely and unselfishly; and if a thirst for glory has ever moved you, O +Princess, I present it to you a cupful larger than woman ever drank.... +You may reside here or in Therapia, and keep your private chapel and +altar, and choose whom you will to serve them. And these things I will +also swear to and seal." + +Again she would have interrupted him. + +"No--bear with me for the once. I invoke your patience," he said. "In +the making of treaties, O Princess, one of the parties must first +propose terms; then it is for the other to accept or reject, and in turn +propose. And this"--he glanced hurriedly around--"this is no time nor +place for argument. Be content rather to return to your home in the city +or your country-house at Therapia. In three days, with your permission, +I will come for your answer; and whatever it be, I swear by Him who is +God of the world, it shall be respected.... When I come, will you +receive me?" + +"The Lord Mahommed will be welcome." + +"Where may I wait on you?" + +"At Therapia," she answered. + +Mahommed turned about then. + +"Count Corti, go thou with the Princess Irene to Therapia. I know thou +wilt keep her safely.--And thou, Kalil, have a galley suitable for a +Queen of the Greeks made ready on the instant, and let there be no lack +of guards despatched with it, subject to the orders of Count Corti, for +the time once more Mirza the Emir.... O Princess, if I have been +peremptory, forgive me, and lend me thy hand again. I wish to salute +it." + +Again she silently yielded to his request. + +Kalil, seeing only politics in the scene, marched before the Princess +clearing the way, and directly she was out of the Church. At the +suggestion of the Count, sedan chairs were brought, and she and her +half-stupefied companions carried to a galley, arriving at Therapia +about the fourth hour after sunset. + +Mahommed had indeed been imperious in the interview; but, as he +afterward explained to her, with many humble protestations, he had a +part to play before his ministers. + +No sooner was she removed than he gave orders to clear the building of +people and idolatrous symbols; and while the work was in progress, he +made a tour of inspection going from the floor to the galleries. His +wonder and admiration were unbounded. + +Passing along the right-hand gallery, he overtook a pilferer with a +tarbousche full of glass cubes picked from one of the mosaic pictures. + +"Thou despicable!" he cried, in rage. "Knowest thou not that I have +devoted this house to Allah? Profane a Mosque, wilt thou?" + +And he struck the wretch with the flat of his sword. Hastening then to +the chancel, he summoned Achmet, the muezzin. + +"What is the hour?" he asked. + +"It is the hour of the fourth prayer, my Lord." + +"Ascend thou then to the highest turret of the house, and call the +Faithful to pious acknowledgment of the favors of God and his Prophet-- +may their names be forever exalted." + +Thus Sancta Sophia passed from Christ to Mahomet; and from that hour to +this Islam has had sway within its walls. Not once since have its echoes +been permitted to respond to a Christian prayer or a hymn to the Virgin. +Nor was this the first instance when, to adequately punish a people for +the debasement and perversions of his revelations, God, in righteous +anger, tolerated their destruction. + +To-day there are two cities, lights once of the whole earth, under +curses so deeply graven in their remains--sites, walls, ruins--that +every man and woman visiting them should be brought to know why they +fell. + +Alas, for Jerusalem! + +Alas, for Constantinople! + +POSTSCRIPTS. + +In the morning of the third day after the fall of the city, a common +carrier galley drew alongside the marble quay in front of the Princess' +garden at Therapia, and landed a passenger--an old, decrepit man, cowled +and gowned like a monk. With tottering steps he passed the gate, and on +to the portico of the classic palace. Of Lysander, he asked: "Is the +Princess Irene here or in the city?" + +"She is here." + +"I am a Greek, tired and hungry. Will she see me?" + +The ancient doorkeeper disappeared, but soon returned. + +"She will see you. This way." + +The stranger was ushered into the reception room. Standing before the +Princess, he threw back his cowl. She gazed at him a moment, then went +to him and, taking his hands, cried, her eyes streaming with tears: +"Father Hilarion! Now praised be God for sending you to me in this hour +of uncertainty and affliction!" + +Needless saying the poor man's trials ended there, and that he never +again went cold, or hungry, or in want of a place to lay his head. + +But this morning, after breaking fast, he was taken into council, and +the proposal of marriage being submitted to him, he asked first: + +"What are thy inclinations, daughter?" + +And she made unreserved confession. + +The aged priest spread his hands paternally over her head, and, looking +upward, said solemnly: "I think I see the Great Designer's purpose. He +gave thee, O daughter, thy beauties of person and spirit, and raised +thee up out of unspeakable sorrows, that the religion of Christ should +not perish utterly in the East. Go forward in the way He has opened unto +thee. Only insist that Mahommed present himself at thy altar, and there +swear honorable dealing with thee as his wife, and to keep the treaty +proposed by him in spirit and letter. Doth he those things without +reservation, then fear not. The old Greek Church is not all we would +have it, but how much better it is than irreligion; and who can now say +what will happen once our people are returned to the city?" + + * * * * * + +In the afternoon, a boat with one rower touched at the same marble quay, +and disembarked an Arab. His face was a dusty brown, and he wore an +_abba_ such as children of the Desert affect. His dark eyes were +wonderfully bright, and his bearing was high, as might be expected in +the Sheik of a tribe whose camels were thousands to the man, and who +dwelt in dowars with streets after the style of cities. On his right +forearm he carried a crescent-shaped harp of five strings, inlaid with +colored woods and mother of pearl. + +"Does not the Princess Irene dwell here?" he asked. + +Lysander, viewing him suspiciously, answered: "The Princess Irene dwells +here." + +"Wilt thou tell her one Aboo-Obeidah is at the door with a blessing and +a story for her?" + +The doorkeeper again disappeared, and, returning, answered, with evident +misgivings, "The Princess Irene prays you to come in." + +Aboo-Obeidah tarried at the Therapian palace till night fell; and his +story was an old one then, but he contrived to make it new; even as at +this day, though four hundred and fifty years older than when he told it +to the Princess, women of white souls, like hers, still listen to it +with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks--the only story which Time has +kept and will forever keep fresh and persuasive as in the beginning'. + +They were married in her chapel at Therapia, Father Hilarion +officiating. Thence, when the city was cleansed of its stains of war, +she went thither with Mahommed, and he proclaimed her his Sultana at a +feast lasting through many days. + +And in due time he built for her the palace behind Point Demetrius, yet +known as the Seraglio. In other words, Mahommed the Sultan abided +faithfully by the vows Aboo-Obeidah made for him. [Footnote: The throne +of Mahommed was guarded by the numbers and fidelity of his Moslem +subjects; but his national policy aspired to collect the remnant of the +Greeks; and they returned in crowds as soon as they were assured of +their lives, their liberties, and the free exercise of their +religion.... The churches of Constantinople were shared between the two +religions. GIBBON. ] + +And so, with ampler means, and encouraged by Mahommed, the Princess +Irene spent her life doing good, and earned the title by which she +became known amongst her countrymen--The Most Gracious Queen of the +Greeks. + +Sergius never took orders formally. With the Sultana Irene and Father +Hilarion, he preferred the enjoyment and practice of the simple creed +preached by him in Sancta Sophia, though as between the Latins and the +orthodox Greeks he leaned to the former. The active agent dispensing the +charities of his imperial benefactress, he endeared himself to the +people of both religions. Ere long, he married Lael, and they lived +happily to old age. + + * * * * * + +Nilo was found alive, and recovering, joined Count Corti. + + * * * * * + +Count Corti retained the fraternal affection of Mahommed to the last. +The Conqueror strove to keep him. He first offered to send him +ambassador to John Sobieski; that being declined, he proposed promoting +him chief Aga of Janissaries, but the Count declared it his duty to +hasten to Italy, and devote himself to his mother. The Sultan finally +assenting, he took leave of the Princess Irene the day before her +marriage. + +An officer of the court representing Mahommed conducted the Count to the +galley built in Venice. Upon mounting the deck he was met by the +Tripolitans, her crew, and Sheik Hadifah, with his fighting Berbers. He +was then informed that the vessel and all it contained belonged to him. + +The passage was safely made. From Brindisi he rode to Castle Corti. To +his amazement, it was completely restored. Not so much as a trace of the +fire and pillage it had suffered was to be seen. + +His reception by the Countess can be imagined. The proofs he brought +were sufficient with her, and she welcomed him with a joy heightened by +recollections of the years he had been lost to her, and the manifest +goodness of the Blessed Madonna in at last restoring him--the joy one +can suppose a Christian mother would show for a son returned to her, as +it were, from the grave. + +The first transports of the meeting over, he reverted to the night he +saw her enter the chapel: "The Castle was then in ruins; how is it I now +find it rebuilt?" + +"Did you not order the rebuilding?" + +"I knew nothing of it." + +Then the Countess told him a man had presented himself some months +prior, with a letter purporting to be from him, containing directions to +repair the Castle, and spare no expense in the work. + +"Fortunately," she said, "the man is yet in Brindisi." + +The Count lost no time in sending for the stranger, who presented him a +package sealed and enveloped in oriental style, only on the upper side +there was a _tughra_, or imperial seal, which he at once recognized +as Mahommed's. With eager fingers he took off the silken wraps, and +found a note in translation as follows: + +"Mahommed the Sultan to Ugo, Count Corti, formerly Mirza the Emir. + +"The wager we made, O my friend, who should have been the son of my +mother, is not yet decided, and as it is not given a mortal to know the +will of the Most Compassionate until he is pleased to expose it, I +cannot say what the end will be. Yet I love you, and have faith in you; +and wishing you to be so assured whether I win or lose, I send Mustapha +to your country in advance with proofs of your heirship, and to notify +the noble lady, your mother, that you are alive, and about returning to +her. Also, forasmuch as a Turk destroyed it, he is ordered to rebuild +your father's castle, and add to the estate all the adjacent lands he +can buy; for verily no Countship can be too rich for the Mirza who was +my brother. And these things he will do in your name, not mine. And when +it is done, if to your satisfaction, O Count, give him a statement that +he may come to me with evidence of his mission discharged. + +"I commend you to the favor of the Compassionate. +MAHOMMED." + +When the missive was read, Mustapha knelt to the Count, and saluted him. +Then he conducted him into the chapel of the castle, and going to the +altar, showed him an iron door, and said: + +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, instructed me to deposit here certain +treasure with which he graciously intrusted me. Receive the key, I pray, +and search the vault, and view the contents, and, if it please you, give +me a certificate which will enable me to go back to my country, and live +there a faithful servant of my master, the Lord Mahommed--may he be +exalted as the Faithful are!" + +Now when the Count came to inspect the contents of the vault he was +displeased; and seeing it, Mustapha proceeded: + +"My master, the Lord Mahommed, anticipated that you might protest +against receiving the treasure; if so, I was to tell you it was to make +good in some measure the sums the noble lady your mother has paid in +searching for you, and in masses said for the repose of your father's +soul." + +Corti could not do else than accept. + +Finally, to complete the narrative, he never married. The reasonable +inference is, he never met a woman with graces sufficient to drive the +Princess Irene from his memory. + +After the death of the Countess, his mother, he went up to Rome, and +crowned a long service as chief of the Papal Guard by dying of a wound +received in a moment of victory. Hadifah, the Berbers, and Nilo chose to +stay with him throughout. The Tripolitans were returned to their +country; after which the galley was presented to the Holy Father. + +Once every year there came to the Count a special messenger from +Constantinople with souvenirs; sometimes a sword royally enriched, +sometimes a suit of rare armor, sometimes horses of El Hajez--these were +from Mahommed. Sometimes the gifts were precious relics, or illuminated +Scriptures, or rosaries, or crosses, or triptychs wonderfully executed-- +so Irene the Sultana chose to remind him of her gratitude. + +Syama wandered around Constantinople a few days after the fall of the +city, looking for his master, whom he refused to believe dead. Lael +offered him asylum for life. Suddenly he disappeared, and was never seen +or heard of more. It may be presumed, we think, that the Prince of India +succeeded in convincing him of his identity, and took him to other parts +of the world--possibly back to Cipango. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince of India, Volume 2 +by Lew. 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