Volume Ii Part 72 (1/2)
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 s.h.i.+elds 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 b.l.o.o.d.y tarbousche joined the pillagers, during this colloquy, and pressing in, heard the Emir's name pa.s.sing 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 G.o.d but G.o.d, 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 s.h.i.+fted 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 pa.s.sed, 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 s.h.i.+rts, and wide trousers of yellow silk, barefooted and bareheaded, stepped lightly through the central doorway, and, waving wands tipped with silver b.a.l.l.s, 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 a.s.sured him of the city at mercy, Mahommed gave order to make the Gate St. Romain pa.s.sable for hors.e.m.e.n, and with clever diplomacy summoned the Pachas and other military chiefs to his tent; it was his pleasure that they should a.s.sist him in taking possession of the prize to which he had been helped by their valor. With a rout so const.i.tuted 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 pa.s.sion 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. Pa.s.sing 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 G.o.d.”
”Sancta Sophia, my Lord?”
”Sancta Sophia--and bid the runners run.”
His Sheik-ul-Islam was pleased.