Part 15 (1/2)

CHAPTER IX.

THE AMAZON BRIGADE.

It was three days since Azrael had come into the possession of Ha.s.san Pasha, and in the evening of the third day Haji Baba was sitting in the prow of his s.h.i.+p and rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight when he saw, a long way off, in the direction of the Margaret island a skiff, and then another skiff, and then another, row across the Danube, and heard heart-rending shrieks which only lasted for a short time.

Presently the skiffs disappeared among the trees on the river bank, the last hideous cry died away, and from the rose-groves of the castle came a romantic song which resounded over the Danube through the silent night. The merchant recognised the voice of the odalisk, and listened attentively to it for a long time, and it seemed to him as if through this song those shrieks were pa.s.sing incessantly.

The next day Yffim Beg came to see him, and the merchant hospitably welcomed him. He set before him a narghile and little cups of sherbet, and then they settled down comfortably to their pipes, but neither of them uttered a word.

Thus a good hour pa.s.sed away; then at last Haji Baba opened his mouth.

”During the night I saw some skiffs row out towards the island, and I heard the sound of stifled shrieks.”

And then they both continued to pull away at their narghiles, and another long hour pa.s.sed away.

Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji Baba, and said, just as he was moving off:

”They were the favourite damsels of Ha.s.san Pasha, who had been sewn up in leathern sacks and flung into the water.”

Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a Turk: I antic.i.p.ated that.

Not long afterwards the whole host began to a.s.semble below Pesth, encamping on the bank of the Danube; a bridge suddenly sprang into sight, and across it pa.s.sed army corps, heavy cannons and wagons. First there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier Aga, with a bodyguard of nine thousand men, and pitched their tents on the Rakas; after him followed Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and their tents covered the plain. The Tartar Khan's disorderly hordes, which might be computed at forty thousand, extended over the environs of Vacz; and presently Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand hors.e.m.e.n, and along with him the picked troops of the Vizier of Buda; the whole army numbered about one hundred thousand.

So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were numerous purchasers among so many Turkish gentlemen; there was something to suit everyone, for the prices were graduated; and Haji thought he might perhaps order up a fresh consignment from his agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off rapidly so long as the camp remained. But he very much wanted to know how long the concentration would go on, and how many more gentlemen were still expected to join the host, and with that object he sought out Yffim Beg.

The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly everyone who had a mind to come was there already. The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk Pasha and young Feriz Beg's brigades were still expected; without them the army would move no farther.

At the mention of these names Haji Baba started.

”You have as good as made me a dead man, sir. I must now go back to Stambul with my whole consignment.”

”Art thou mad?”

”No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for these gentlemen. Never, sir, can I live in the same part of the world, sir, with those fine fellows, whom may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation! I have two houses on the opposite sh.o.r.es of the Bosphorus, so that when these n.o.ble gentlemen are in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come to Asia I may sail over to Europe.”

”Thou speakest in riddles.”

”Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz Beg?”

”I have heard him mentioned as a valiant warrior.”

”And how about the brigade of damsels which is wont to follow him into battle?”

Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words.

”It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have never dealt in damsels like me. But you should know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz Beg is as great a danger to every man who trades in women as plague or small-pox.”

”I never heard of this peculiarity of his.”