CHAPTER II.

THE MOO-CALF.

I dare say your highness, and gentlemen of the court, have heard a

good many stories about the moo-calf? I shall abstain from expressing

just here an opinion of the mysterious creature as, by so doing, I

should anticipate the denouement of one of my most remarkable

adventures. I think almost every dweller in Coblentz has heard of the

moo-calf's strange doings; for there are numerous records in the

chronicles of the city, of its mysterious appearance and behavior.

The moo-calf ordinarily appears in those cities where the Jews have

multiplied excessively, and attained to power.

It is a well-known fact that a calf is the meekest, the most innocent

of animals, that it has never been known to assault anyone, that it

would be the least likely of all the animal kingdom to wield a

boundless tyranny over an entire community. Therefore, I do not

believe _all_ the terrifying tales I have heard about the moo-calf. Do

any of the gentlemen here believe them?

Several members of the court admitted that they believed the tales;

some thought a portion might be true, others were non-committal. So

much time was given to the discussion, that the chair was at last

obliged to interfere. He said to the prisoner--after rapping

impatiently for order:

"You are not here to ask questions, but to be questioned. Now let us

hear what _you_ have to say about the moo-calf?"

Hugo bowed and resumed his confession:

When we arrived at Hamburg, Mynheer so managed matters, that it was

evening when he and I went ashore. With the bag of valuables on my

back, I tramped after him to the suburb of St. Paul, to seek in the

winding, and zig-zag streets of the "Hamberger Berg," the house of the

honest Christian, who would relieve my back, and incidentally my mind,

of the load of treasure.

We pushed our way with whole skins through a confusion of menagerie

booths, puppet-shows, jugglery and rope-dancing exhibitions, which

their proprietors importuned us to patronize, avoided with some

difficulty the crowds of tipsy sailors, and at last arrived in front

of the house we were seeking.

The name of the owner was Meyer--a by no means rare cognomen in

Germany!

He was a Lutheran, as eleven-twelfths of the residents of Hamburg are.

They alone possess the rights of citizenship.

Mynheer Ruissen took Herr Meyer to one side, and communicated to him

what business had brought me to Hamburg, whereupon Herr Meyer without

further ceremony invited me to sup with him.

"I hope"--here impatiently interrupted the chair--"you don't intend to

waste more of our time by an enumeration and description of the

various dishes you partook of?"

"No, your honor, though it would not take long to tell what we had for

supper. Herr Meyer placed before me nothing but bread, cheese and

water. He could not say enough in praise of the bread and cheese, and

he boasted that the water, which he said was from the Elias fountain,

possessed the most remarkable properties. While I ate, he examined in

turn each of the vessels I had taken from the bag and placed on the

table, exclaiming over every piece, and making a peculiar noise with

his tongue against the inside of his upper teeth:

"A baptismal basin! Tse-tse-tse! How could you dare to take this? A

censer! tse-tse-tse! Young man, did it never occur to you that you

were defying Satan when you put this into your bag? A communion-cup!

tse-tse-tse! I should think your soul would be oppressed with its

weight of sin! And--actually!--the Holy Virgin's diadem! Woe-woe-woe,

to you, miserable sinner!" I could listen no longer to his lugubrious

comments:

"Oh, hush, Master Meyer," I interrupted, "what use to talk like that?

You needn't think to frighten me with your lamentations. I am a

Lutheran like yourself--rather let us talk about the value of these

things: What will you give for the whole lot? But, before we talk

business, bring me something more palatable to eat and drink. Your

bread and cheese and water are not to my taste."

"Very good, you shall have something else," with sudden alacrity

responded Master Meyer, whose opinion of me was evidently improving.

He hurried to the kitchen, and soon returned with some salt fish, and

a jug of good cider, which he placed before me.

Then he proceeded to appraise the church vessels, and the diadem,

telling me the while that I ought to be thankful his dear old friend

Mynheer Ruissen had led me to him. How easily I might have fallen into

the hands of the papists, who would certainly have imprisoned me--and

perhaps put me to death; or into those of the Jews, who had swarmed

from Spain into Hamburg, and were ruining all honest tradesmen. The

rascally Hebrews would offer only ridiculously low prices for articles

they suspected had been acquired by means not altogether legitimate,

and would give in payment for them counterfeit money. And, wasn't the

cod-fish I was eating most appetizing?

After he had examined my treasures two or three times, he said he

would give me six hundred thalers for the lot--and that I might drink

all of the cider into the bargain.

"See here, Master Meyer," I replied, "your fish is so salty it makes

one want to drink continually, and your cider is so sour, I would

rather not eat your fish than to have to quench my thirst with the

cider. And, moreover, I will take my treasures to the Jews' quarter,

where I shall no doubt find some one who will give more than a paltry

six hundred thalers to a poor shipwrecked traveller for a lot of

articles that are worth at least twenty times the sum you offer."

At these words my worthy host beat his hands together above his head,

and exclaimed:

"My dear son! how will you find your way to the Jews' quarter at this

late hour? It would be very unwise--nay, dangerous, for you to attempt

it. Don't you know that the moo-calf makes its appearance about this

time?"

I shrugged my shoulders to indicate that I was not afraid of a

moo-calf.

"But, my dear son, you don't know what a terrible creature the

moo-calf is. It has become even more terrible and ferocious since the

Jews have multiplied to such numbers in Hamburg. These Spanish Jews

understand all sorts of witch-craft. It was they who discovered that

if a young calf is fed on human blood instead of milk, it will become

savage as a lion. This is the sort of moo-calf they have turned loose

in the Hamberger Berg. It roams through the streets at night,

terrifying to death every person it meets, and scatters the watchmen

in all directions. It tears the bells from the house doors; it has

teeth so sharp that it can snap off the pole of a halberd as easily as

if it were a pipe-stem; and its tongue is rough as a cloth-shearer's

brush. It roars like a lion, bellows like a wild bull, snorts like a

whole herd of wild horses; clatters through the streets like a luggage

van, clappers like a fulling-mill, and crows like a cock that is

possessed. It takes special delight in pursuing honest men and fathers

of families, who suspect their wives and daughters of adventure, and

if it chances to catch one of them, _he_ will not very soon forget the

moo-calf--that is if he escapes with his head to remember it! Another

favorite trick with the calf is: to steal upon a pair of lovers, and

roar at them with such a terrible voice that they die of fright--"

"And what sort of looking beast is this moo-calf?" I interrupted.

"Why, no one can tell what it looks like, my son. Those who have been

unfortunate enough to encounter it on the street have had a stream of

fire blown into their eyes from the beast's nostrils, and they were

not able to see for weeks afterward. The man who is brave enough to

thrust his head out the window when he hears the moo-calf bellow, will

be sure to regret his curiosity, for his head will swell to such a

size that he will not be able for several days to get it back through

the window. That is why no one is able to tell what the monster is

like. I only know that it has the power to stretch its neck to such a

length that it can look into the upper windows of a house. Oh, I can

assure you, it is a most horrible creature!"

I had had ample time, while he was descanting on the moo-calf's

terrible doings, to replace my treasures in the bag.

"Then there really is such a monster?" I observed, shouldering my

load.

He swore by all he held dear, that the moo-calf not only existed, but

that it roamed the streets of Hamburg almost every night.

"Have you any desire to make a bet with me?" I asked.

"A bet?--on what?"

"That I can eat a whole calf at a sitting--especially when I have a

ravenous appetite as now. Fetch me your moo-calf and I'll devour him,

hoofs, hide and tail!"

I dropped the bag from my shoulder to the table, drew forth the short

Roman sword, which was part of my lictor's costume, and sharpened it

on the steel.

"Now, fetch on your moo-calf," I repeated, again shouldering the bag

and making as if I were going to quit the house.

"And you really are not afraid of the moo-calf?" exclaimed Master

Meyer, placing himself in front of me, believing I intended to pursue

my way. "I see you are a headstrong lad, but, as I have taken a fancy

to you, I don't want you to run any risks. Come, make up your mind to

stop here until morning. We will agree on a price for your treasures;

and then have supper together."

"No, thanks," I returned, my face still toward the street door. "I

don't want any more dried codfish. The season of fasting is

over--besides, I am no priest, and if I were I shouldn't object to

wine."

"You shall have whatever you want, my son. Put down your bag, and make

yourself at home." And he hurried into the kitchen to give his orders.

After several minutes he returned, clad in an entire suit of new

clothes; on his arm he carried another handsome suit, which he begged

me to accept as a present from him, adding that I would find in the

pocket of the coat in a purse the sum he was willing to pay for my

treasures, and with which he knew I would be quite satisfied.

When I opened the purse I found in it fifty doubloons, and a slip of

paper.

"What is this?" I inquired, holding the paper toward him.

"A promissory note for two-thousand thalers, payable in three months."

I knew very well that a note of hand was as good as money, and was

quite satisfied with the trade--only, the time of payment was too long

distant to suit me.

"It is a Hamburg custom, my son," replied Master Meyer when I

mentioned my objections. "The money must have time to mature."

I was obliged to be satisfied, besides, fifty doubloons would be quite

enough to keep me in food and raiment for three months.

The supper Master Meyer now placed before me was of a sort I would not

have believed his larder capable of supplying--judging from the fare

he had offered me first. There were pasties of all sorts, game,

confections and a choice selection of wines. Of the last I took

special care not to imbibe too freely. Master Meyer's family joined us

at the repast; there were three daughters, comely, and of marriageable

age; and a son. The latter, I was informed, was a student at the

university. I thought him rather advanced in years for a student!

There was not the least resemblance between the three young women; no

one would have taken them to be sisters. They were merry creatures,

sang and played on the harp and the guitar.

One of them, a blonde, was very pretty. I noticed that she stole

frequent glances toward me, and when her eyes met mine she would blush

and smile enchantingly.

I was still young, and not at all averse to a flirtation. Moreover, I

was a widower. I had had enough experience with the fairer sex,

however, to teach me that it would be well to be on my guard.

Master Meyer had introduced me to his family as "Junker Hermann." The

blonde daughter's name was Agnes. She was a sentimental and romantic

maid. I sat by her side at supper, and was so flustered by the glances

from her blue eyes, I could think of nothing more sensible to say to

her than: "that when the dear Lord should bestow on me a family, I

would have just such spoons as her father's"--with which we were

eating the chocolate cream--and that my own and my wife's crests

should be engraved on the handles. This remark led me to observe

further that I thought the initial letters of Hermann and Agnes would

form a pretty monogram. My fair neighbor could not see just how the

letters might be arranged. I told her it was very simple: the A need

only be inserted between the two uprights of the H to make the union

perfect.

I wanted the Meyers to believe that I was a genuine cavalier, so I

said to the father--after I had emptied my third glass of wine:

"That ring on your finger pleases me very much. I should like to buy

it."

"Well, you see, Junker Hermann," he returned slowly, turning the ring

on his finger, "this is a costly piece of jewelry. The carbuncle alone

is worth fifty thalers; besides, the ring is an heirloom. I wouldn't

sell it for seventy thalers."

"Would you sell it for eighty?"

"I wouldn't let anyone but you, Junker Hermann, have it at any price!

As you seem to have taken such a fancy to it, then take it, in God's

name, for eighty thalers."

"All right," said I. "Just keep the eighty thalers out of the

two-thousand you owe me."

At mention of the two-thousand thalers Agnes helped me to a second

dish of chocolate cream.

"I will draw up a note for the amount," said her father. "We are only

human, and no one can tell what may happen to me."

"Write whatever you like and I'll scrawl my signature to it," I

replied disdainfully.

When he had quitted the room, Agnes whispered to me:

"I am very sorry father sold his ring. It is a talisman in our family,

and was given to my mother as a wedding-present."

"And suppose"--I whispered back to her--"my buying it does not take it

out of the family?"

"I don't quite understand you," she replied, casting down her eyes,

and blushing.

"I shall make my meaning clearer when I may speak to you alone."

"That can be arranged very easily, Junker Hermann; when the family

have gone to their rooms for the night, we can meet in the bow-window

chamber--then you can tell me what you have to say."

The father now returned with the note to the dining-room. It was for

one-hundred thalers, that being the sum--principal and interest--I

should owe Master Meyer at the expiration of three months.

I did not think it worth while to waste words over the usurious

interest charged; but signed my name with cavalier _sangfroid_, and

the ring was transferred from Master Meyer's hand to my own. As my

hand was considerably larger than his, which was exceedingly thin and

bony, I could only get the ring on the second joint of my little

finger.

Just at that moment Rupert, the elderly student, must have made a

teasing remark to his sister; for the three at once set upon him, and

began to belabor him with their fists, and cry out that he should not

have any more wine that evening.

"Very well," he exclaimed, laughing, "then I'll go to the tavern and

get some."

He invited me to accompany him; saying that we should find at the

tavern some good company and bad wine. I excused myself on the plea

that I was very tired, and wanted to rest. He departed alone, and we

heard him singing, and knocking against the doors with his stick, as

he staggered down the street.

Good-nights were now exchanged, and each one went to his or her room.

I waited with considerable impatience until the house had become

quiet; then I stole on tip-toe to the bow-window chamber. This

apartment is in the top story of the house, and projects several feet

over the street. A bright moon illumined the cozy chamber, so that a

lamp was not necessary.

I had not long to wait; the soft rustle of feminine garments very soon

announced the coming of my charming Agnes.

I met her at the door, took her hand in mine, and drew her into the

bow-window. She asked me without further ceremony, to explain how the

ring I had bought from her father could remain in their family now

that I was the owner of it.

"Nothing easier in the world! my dear Agnes," I made answer. "I need

only to slip it on your finger as an engagement ring."

She understood my explanation, and allowed me to place on the third

finger of her left hand the ring for which I owed one-hundred thalers.

After this ceremony I asked--as was natural--if I might seal the

bargain with a kiss--

"Ha! I knew that was coming!" interrupted the chair; "we don't care to

hear that sort of evidence."

"Why," pacifically interposed the prince, "Why, a kiss is nothing out

of the way."

"_One_ kiss would not be; but it would not stop at one; a second and a

third--and heaven only knows how many more would follow, and--

"Pray allow me to contradict your honor," respectfully interrupted the

prisoner. "There was only one. I will admit that I was about to help

myself to more, but I was hindered--"

"By the white dove on your shoulder, of course!" interrupted the

mayor's ironical tones.

"No, your honor, not the white dove. Just at the moment I was going to

take the second kiss, there came from the street directly underneath

the bow-window, the most unearthly sounds--as if a herd of angry

elephants were bellowing for their supper. I never heard so hideous a

noise. It was a mixture of the squealing of a wild boar; the neighing

of a horse; the blare of a trumpet, and the clattering of a heavy

wagon over cobbles."

"Jesu Maria! the moo-calf!" shrieked my terror-stricken betrothed,

tearing herself from my arms. The next instant she had vanished, with

my hundred-thaler ring.

Furious with rage, and not a little fear, I sprang to the window,

flung back the sash, and thrust out my head--never once thinking of

the dire result which would follow such action: my head swollen to the

size of a barrel.

However, that did not happen to me; but enough pepper was blown into

my eyes to prevent me, most effectually, from seeing anything on the

earth, or in the heaven! I howled with pain and rage--compared to the

sounds which came from my throat, the moo-calf's bellowing was the

weakly puling of an infant.

But, such was the fear of my host and his daughters, of the fiendish

brute, that not one of them ventured to come to my assistance. I was

obliged to grope my way unaided to my room, and to wash the pepper

from my blinded eyes as best I could.

While I was thus engaged Rupert returned home, and joined his howls to

mine; he said the moo-calf had attacked him, and almost done for him.

His face and clothes were proof of a rough and tumble encounter with

something: the former was scratched and bleeding, and his garments

looked as though he had had a scuffle with an enraged eagle. His bed

and mine were in the same room, and neither of us slept very much that

night. The student was frightfully ill; he kept muttering constantly

something about the moo-calf; while I sat by the basin until daylight,

mopping my eyes with water.

The cursed moo-calf! Why didn't he bellow before I gave my costly ring

into Agnes' keeping? It was not at all likely that I should soon have

another opportunity to be alone with her!

The next morning Master Meyer gave me to understand that the duties of

hospitality would not be extended beyond one day; and that I would

better seek a lodging more suitable to the station of a young man of

quality. He would be glad to have me visit him frequently; and if I

wanted to be amused Rupert, who was perfectly familiar with all the

ways of the city, would be delighted to be my guide.

I did not see the lovely Agnes again alone; so I made up my mind to

write, and tell her how much I thought of her. I question now, whether

any of the numerous letters I sent her through Rupert, ever reached

her hands.

From that day, there was no end to amusements. Rupert was the very lad

to make me acquainted in the shortest time with all the resorts of

entertainment, and many companions of questionable reputation. I was

introduced to a Spanish hidalgo; a Scotch laird; a Brazilian planter;

a Wallachian boyar--that their patents of nobility grew on the same

genealogical tree with my own I suspected from the very first. They

were, individually and collectively, hearty drinkers, reckless

gamblers, and fearless fighters. That the money they squandered with

lavish hand was not obtained through honest means I was confident, and

I was equally confident that the entire crew looked on me as their own

special prey.

But, I taught them a thing or two before very long!

At our drinking-bouts, I always left them under the table. While with

the Templars I learned a valuable secret: how to drink all the wine

you wanted without becoming intoxicated. I shall not reveal this most

valuable secret here. I have an idea, that when the court sentences

me, I may win its clemency by revealing what I learned from the

_dornenritter_--the secret which would be of incalculable value to all

mankind--

"We shall see about it--if the time ever comes when sentence shall be

passed on you!" observed the chair.

To out-drink me, resumed the prisoner, after this digression, was

impossible, though they tried their best to do so. Had they succeeded

in stupefying me with wine, I am quite certain they would have robbed

me of the note for two-thousand thalers, which I always carried with

me. I suspected that the series of drinking-bouts had been arranged to

enable Rupert to steal the note; had he succeeded, Master Meyer would

have been relieved of paying what he owed me. But my secret enabled me

to frustrate their plans.

Nor did they succeed in getting hold of any of my doubloons. The first

time we engaged in a game of dice, I detected their scheme to cheat

me; the dice were loaded. As I had played that sort of game before, I

astonished and discomfited my companions by the frequency with which

the sixes always came on top when I threw. They, and not I, lost

money. If they attempted to quarrel with me about my good fortune,

they found that, skilled though they were in the pugilistic art, I

could take care of myself. I learned some wrestling tricks while I was

with the haidemaken, and they served me well in my bouts with those

notorious fighting-cocks. I was not the one to get worsted. But, no

matter how angry I might be, I always took good care not to injure any

of them seriously; had I done so, they would very soon have had me

behind prison bars.

I was also extremely careful in my intercourse with the women I met.

My white dove accompanied me wherever I went, but I never spoke of her

to anyone. I would tell my companions, after they had dragged me from

one den to another without succeeding in attaching me to any of the

alluring nymphs, that I had no eyes for any woman but my charming

betrothed, to whom I had vowed eternal fidelity; and that I was

obliged to adhere all the more rigidly to my vow, because Rupert,

being the brother of my sweetheart, might betray me to her were he to

see me paying attention to another girl.

Then the student would swear that a "whole ditch full of devils" might

fetch him (a favorite oath in Hamberger Berg polite society) if he so

much as mentioned my name to his sister. I might flirt with whomsoever

I chose, he would not betray me. But, I persisted in turning a deaf

ear to the fascinating damsels I continued to meet night after night

in the various drinking shops we frequented. I knew very well that a

tidy wench would be more apt to get hold of my carefully guarded note

of hand than would any of my brawling comrades.

I wasn't going to let anyone steal it; I had decided that I would take

the money home to my poor old parents. The two-thousand thalers would

make of them real gentle folk; father could buy a little fruit farm;

and a fur coat for himself; and the old mother might promenade to

church in a silk mantle, bought with the money her son had given her--

"And which he obtained by selling stolen church property,"

sarcastically interjected the chair.

"The end justified the means," quickly, but with due respect, retorted

the prisoner, whereupon the prince laughed heartily.

The mayor's face became crimson; he said in a tone of reprimand: "That

phrase was not devised by the pious Jesuits to excuse the man who

steals church property, and sells it to obtain money for his family.

The prisoner will continue his confession."

In this manner I passed three months. The day before the one on which

my note fell due, I spent in my lodgings sleeping quietly. That night

I accompanied my friends, as usual, on a round of the different

taverns we were wont to frequent. We scattered the night patrol;

smeared the windows of several professors' houses with wagon grease;

sang rollicking ditties in front of the houses in which we knew there

were pretty girls; belabored all the Jews we found abroad at that

hour, and kept the entire "Berg" in a state of excitement, until long

after midnight. We marched arm in arm, forming a line across the

street that reached from house to house, to the "Three Apples"--a

famous tavern at that time--where, for a wager, we drank all the

liquid medicines in the store of an itinerant quack doctor, who had

stopped there for the night.

It is just possible it was the medicaments that confused my

brain--though I am convinced they were perfectly innocent of any

intoxicants. Rupert became so helpless, he lay like a log on the

tap-room floor; the innkeeper ordered the rest of us out of the house.

As it was too early to go home, the Scotchman suggested that, as

Rupert was not with us, we should go around to Master Meyer's, where

he and the rest would keep watch in the street, while I made a

"window-call" on my betrothed.

"That's a bright idea of yours!" I exclaimed. "How am I to get up to

my pretty Agnes' window? Her room is in the top story, in the gable. I

am not a moo-calf that can stretch its neck to the luthern."

"Why are we your friends?" chivalrously demanded the Spanish hidalgo.

"Are not we here to help you? We will form a pyramid: three of us will

support two others on their shoulders, and you will form the apex.

You can then rap at your lady-love's window, and we will remain

immovable, while you exchange kisses with her."

The quack's medicaments had, as I said before, confused my brain; I

agreed to the silly plan suggested by the hidalgo, and we turned our

unsteady steps toward the Meyer residence.

When we arrived in front of the house, the first thing we did was

break the lantern which swung from a rope stretched across the street,

in order that the darkness might screen us from the sight of

passers-by.

The acrobatic feat of building a human pyramid was easily

accomplished; and I was very soon standing on the shoulders of two

comrades whose feet in turn rested on the shoulders of the three

forming the base.

I had no difficulty in reaching to the sill of the bow-window; that

room, I knew, opened into Agnes' sleeping-chamber. I had rapped once

on the glass--cautiously, for I did not want to rouse any one in the

lower rooms; and was about to repeat the knock, when the fiendish

bellowing I had heard once before made the blood run cold in my veins.

My comrades under me cried out in terror:

"The moo-calf is coming!"--and the next instant I was hanging by my

fingers to the sill of the bow-window, with my legs wriggling like

those of a frog caught on a hook. I could hear my valiant comrades

scampering for their lives down the street. I did not want to call for

help; for, if old Meyer saw me dangling in front of his window, he

would believe me to be a burglar, and shoot me without ceremony. I

could not swing myself up to the window-sill, for the sash was

closed; so, I hung there, and tried in vain to find a projection below

me, on which to rest my toes.

Meanwhile, the bellowing monster came nearer; I could already hear it

snorting under me. I hung motionless as an executed criminal on the

gallows, hoping the calf might not notice me.

It was a vain hope! The brute came directly toward me, and when I

looked down, I saw the hideous horned head stretch upward--nearer,

nearer. I could feel the rough tongue lick the soles of my shoes--then

my ankles. I drew up my knees, and lifted myself as high as I could;

but the elastic neck stretched out longer--the horrible tongue licked

higher. I felt as if my trousers were being brushed with a curry-comb,

and I thought to myself every moment: "Now the devil will seize me!"

I wriggled and kicked in vain--nearer, and nearer, came the long horns

which threatened to spit me on their sharp points. Fiendish laughter

seemed to come from the red throat, as the tongue licked higher and

higher. It reached my thighs--then my waist, and before I could guess

what might happen, the little bag hanging from my belt, in which I

carried the note for two-thousand thalers, was snapped from its chain,

and disappeared down the brute's gullet.

My fear vanished with the note. Not even Satan himself should take it

without a struggle!

Heedless of the moo-calf, as well as of the danger to my legs, I let

go my hold on the window-sill and dropped. Fortunately my mantle

carried me like a parachute through the air, so that I was not even

shaken by a too sudden contact with the pavement.

I now stood face to face with the dreaded moo-calf. It was not a

creation of the imagination, but a veritable monster, and a most

hideous and frightful one too, at that! It had four huge legs and feet

like an elephant; a neck two fathoms long, at the end of it an

enormous head with horns; the long red tongue hanging from the open

jaws was covered with scales shaped like saw teeth.

"You may be the devil himself," I cried, drawing my sword, and

stepping up to the monster, "but you must give me back my purse."

Quick as thought, the long neck was drawn in, and the head thrust at

me with a force that sent me staggering backward several feet. A

faint-hearted man would most likely have taken to his heels, but I was

too enraged at my loss to think of seeking safety in flight.

What! had I purloined the _dornenritter_ treasures for this?

_They_ were now in Master Meyer's possession, and the two-thousand

thalers were in the stomach of this moo-calf! All this passed like

lightning through my brain, as I picked myself up from the pavement,

where the brute had flung me, and again approached him.

"Either you take me with you to hell," I exclaimed hoarsely, "or I'll

tear my purse from your entrails!"

Again the monster drew in his neck, spread his legs apart as if to

brace himself, and gave utterance to another marrow-freezing roar. I

remembered the dose of pepper I had received from him, and held the

corner of my mantle in front of my face; this shielded me also from

the sparks of fire he blew from his nostrils.

I was prepared for the second assault, and when the brute again shot

out his head toward me, I dropped nimbly to the pavement, and the head

swept over me into the empty air. Before it could be drawn back, I was

on my feet, and buried my sword to the hilt in the creature's breast.

What was my surprise and horror to hear a despairing moan--not from

the moo-calf's throat, from its belly--an unmistakably human voice.

"I am killed--murdered!" cried the voice, as the moo-calf fell in a

heap to the pavement; and from the shapeless leather envelope

staggered a human form--my comrade, Rupert, the student.

The blood was spurting from a wound in his breast--my sword had

pierced clean through him!

"So, you are the moo-calf?" I exclaimed in amazement, surveying the

wounded man leaning, gasping for breath, against the door of his

father's house.

"The devil take you," he groaned. "Why didn't I kill you at once, when

you were hanging from the window, instead of fooling with you? Now,

the old man may play the moo-calf himself, and scare customers from

the Jews' quarter! It's all up with me! Ho, Agnes! Mettze! Come quick!

Summon the patrol! Sound an alarm!"

I saw a female form appear in the bow-window. It was Agnes. When she

recognized Rupert's voice, she began to shriek "Murder! murder!"

I turned to fly, but Rupert, who had sunk to the pavement, weak from

the loss of blood, seized hold of my leg--even in death he thought

only of revenge! I jerked my leg from his grasp with such force, that

he fell backward, striking his head against the door-post.

He did not stir again.

I did not stop to search in the skin of the moo-calf for the

promissory note; I took only time enough to catch up a handful of mud

from the street, and fling it into the face of the girl, who was

leaning from the window shrieking "Murder!" into the night.

It silenced her for a few moments, and I fled down the street with

strides that soon took me a considerable distance from the scene of

the tragedy.

In my terror I imagined that a multitude was pursuing me, crying:

"Catch him!" "Hold him!" "There goes the assassin!"

I fled through unfamiliar streets and by-ways, across bridges, to the

outskirts of the city. There I saw, in an underground den, lights and

moving forms; and heard dance-music and riotous shouting. I tore open

the entrance-door, dashed down the steps, and fell into the arms of an

overgrown rascal, who was clad in the uniform of the Munster guards.

The fellow locked his arms about me, and said laughingly:

"You are welcome, comrade! You have come to the proper refuge. You

must have been close pressed, I declare! You are puffing like a

porpoise! But, have no further fear--you are safe now. Come, sit and

have something to drink."

He pressed a goblet of wine into my hand, thrust his arm through mine,

and drank _smollis_ with me, by exchanging his bear-skin hat for my

cloth barret-cap.

"There, my son, now you are one of us. You have drank our wine, and

are now under the command of our worthy captain."

I had stumbled upon a body of recruits for a partisan corps. The

company was made up of desperate characters, who were glad enough of

this chance to escape prison, or the gallows.

As for myself, I was forced to put a good face on a bad business! Only

twelve hours before, I had been a distinguished cavalier, was called

Junker Hermann; and had a promissory note for two-thousand thalers in

my pocket. Now, I had neither station nor money, and as I had good

cause for not wanting to keep the name by which I was known in

Hamburg, I gave the recruiting sergeant my own true patronymic.

After I had been properly registered, I asked the sergeant:

"What is the name of our captain?"

"Meyer."

"There are a good many Meyers in the world. Is the captain related to

the Berg-Meyers?"

"You've guessed it the first time, my son! The captain's father lives

in the Hamberger Berg, and is a well-known receiver of stolen goods.

Rupert, the captain's brother, is a pander."

I dare say many a man in my place would have been frightened at this

discovery; but _I_ congratulated myself! If I were pursued--I

argued--the officers of justice would seek for me everywhere else but

in the company commanded by the brother of the murdered man; and if

Captain Meyer ever discovered that it was I who had relieved him of

the brother with whom he would have been obliged to share his

inheritance, _he_ certainly would not reproach me for it!

This, honored and high-born gentlemen, added Hugo in conclusion, is

the true history of the homicide for which I am arraigned. I have not

added to, or taken from it; but have related the events exactly as

they occurred.

"_Qui bene distinguit, bene docet!_" observed the prince thoughtfully.

"We call it murder, when the person committing the deed strikes what

he knows to be a human being. But, if the man encounters a ferocious

monster that he believes to be a moo-calf, and kills it as such, and

it turns out to be a human being, 'murder' is certainly not the term

to apply to the deed. Moreover, the person who is so devoid of sense

and dignity, as to conceal his human form in the hide of an irrational

beast, is himself responsible for whatever may happen to him!

Therefore, this indictment may also be stricken from the register."

"Perhaps, your highness," observed the chair with a covert sneer,

"would like to suggest a reward for the prisoner, for delivering the

city of Hamburg from the terrorism of the moo-calf?"

The prince's reply made it obvious that he had not noticed the chair's

sarcasm:

"I-think-not," he returned slowly. "As the prisoner is likely to be

condemned to death for one or more of the other crimes, it would be

useless to bestow on him a certainly deserved reward."

A further hearing was postponed until the next morning.

PART VI.

CHAPTER I.

THE FORGERY.--ONE CIPHER.

I passed an entire year under the command of Captain Meyer, during

which time I may say I committed no more--nor less, evil than my

comrades. I do not hold it necessary to mention the seven mortal sins,

of which all soldiers are guilty when in the enemy's country--those

sins become virtues then.

Were I to enumerate the pillaging, homicides, conflagrations, in which

I took active part, it would be rather a _captatis benevolentiae_ than

an enforced confession. This much, however, I will confess: The

regions visited by Captain Meyer's corps never expressed a desire for

our return. A whole year of such a life was quite enough for me; and,

as I had enlisted for only a twelve-month, at the expiration of that

time I asked for my discharge.

The captain expressed regret at my wanting to leave him; but made no

objection when I gave him my reason for quitting the service; I was

home-sick, and wanted to see my poor old mother and father. The old

folks lived in Andernach, near which we were quartered. I had not

seen them for full ten years; and I decided that I would spend the

rest of my days with them.

The gold and silver I had once counted on taking to them, to solace

their old age, was not now in my possession: Satan, through whose aid

I had obtained it, had taken it away from me again.

But, if I could not give my parents curse-laden wealth, I was able to

offer them two strong and willing arms which, after so many years of

sinful struggling, longed for the honest toil that would call down a

blessing from heaven.

I would adopt my father's trade; become a pious believer, and try to

be of some use to my fellow-creatures.

Before I could do this, however, I should be obliged to commit a

forgery--as the world would call it.

The burgomaster of Andernach, and the manager of the tannery in that

place, were so very scrupulous, that they wanted to know all about my

antecedents, before they would consent to receive me as a citizen, and

journeyman.

Not for the world would I have forged an entire testimonial for

honesty, and respectability; but I did not think, that to add a single

cipher to the honorable discharge I had received from Captain Meyer

was anything out of the way. A tiny, innocent, worth-nothing,

insignificant cipher, that could harm no one, take nothing from

anyone! And I did not place it in front of the figure 1 either--thus

giving it the precedence over the more valuable numeral. If the

honorable, and high-born gentlemen will but look at it from a

different point of view from that usually taken, I feel confident they

will not think my transgression so heinous after all. Heaven knows!

_Ten_ years' service under Captain Meyer contained sufficient torture

to purge the most hardened criminal, and make him fit for citizenship

in any respectable community!

This, your highness, and honorable gentlemen, is the forgery to which

I plead guilty.

"Humph!" ejaculated his highness. "It is not worth mentioning! Who

would take the trouble to notice such a trifle? Proceed to the

indictment next on the list--"

"On which there is still another crime less!" grumbled the chair

impatiently.

CHAPTER II.

THE LEGACY.

Discharged soldiers travel on foot. It is the more expeditious way if

the roads are bad, for a wagon is heavier than a man. The man has only

two feet to draw from the mud; while the wagon has four wheels.

Besides to travel on foot is cheaper.

When I arrived in Andernach I had, remaining from the money I had

saved during my year's campaigning, only one thaler; but my heart was

so light, the lightness of my pocket did not trouble me.

How glad I was when I caught sight of the familiar towers of the

palace, and the ruins on the Templeberg. How often, when a lad, I had

clambered among those ruins, in search of hawks' nests, and Roman

coins. If I had only broken my neck on one of those innocent quests.

Everything was so familiar; the large mill-stone factory; the cranes

on the quay; the rafts on the river; the long avenues--yes, even the

old receivers of customs at the Coblentz gate! I recognized the old

fellows at once; but they did not remember me. I might stray through

the entire town without hearing a single voice call to me: "Welcome,

welcome! Why that is Hugo!" I was so changed in appearance!

But I remembered everybody and everything! I did not need to ask my

way through the narrow streets to the tanneries on the banks of the

river. I remembered the names of all the families that lived in those

narrow streets.

At last I came in sight of the house in which dwelt my parents--the

dear, familiar home of my boyhood! There it stood; and beside it, the

same tall mulberry tree with its branches shading the street.

Perched among those branches, I had learned to decline the classical

formula: "_Hic gallus cantans in arbore sedens, kukuriku dicens!_" At

the moment of my arrival, however, instead of a _gallus cantans_ on

the tree, an auctioneer's assistant was standing under it, and

vigorously beating a cracked drum.

"What is going on here?" I asked of the man, in whom I recognized an

acquaintance of my boyhood.

"There's going to be an auction, Master Soldier."

"What is to be sold?"

"Everything that belonged to the old tanner. You may take a look

inside if you like," he added, nodding toward the house. "It won't

cost you anything."

"But why are you selling the old man's property?" I asked again.

"To get money, naturally!"

"For whom?"

"For the numerous Jebucees, Sadducees, and publicans, to whom the old

man was indebted. If they sell everything--to the brood of sparrows

under the eaves!--there will not be enough money, by a good deal, to

pay all he owes."

"Why," said I, "the old man was a good manager; and his wife an

industrious and thrifty house-wife, when I knew them."

"And so they were! The old man was all right, until he took to

drinking."

"Took to drinking? Why did he do that?"

"Well--you see, he had a worthless son, who ran away from home about

ten years ago. The scamp joined a band of robbers; and when he left

them, he gave out that he was a Polish count; played all manner of

tricks; broke out of prison; robbed churches. Every year the news

which came to the old man about his Hugo grew worse; until at last he

was afraid to venture on the street, for the whole town was talking

about his worthless son. So he took to drink--had it fetched to the

house, and drank harder and harder--especially after his wife died--"

"Dead?" I interrupted. "Is the old dame dead?" my heart almost burst

because I had to keep back the words "my mother."

"Yes, Master Soldier, she is dead, and it is a mercy the good old soul

did not live to see this sorrowful day! But, you must excuse me. I

have got to beat this drum, so that a good lot of people will come to

the sale."

A dozen or more purchasers came in response to the summons. I took up

my station by the open window, and looked into the familiar room,

where the buyers were higgling over the various articles to be sold.

My mother's Sunday mantle was just then under the hammer--the pretty

silk mantle with the silver fastening at the neck. How I wished I were

able to put an end to the disgusting higgling, by shouting in the

window:

"I'll take the whole lot for a thousand thalers!"

But, alas! there was only a single, miserable thaler in my pocket.

The mantle at last became the property of an old-clothes dealer: he

flung it around his shoulders, and made believe to promenade to

church. It was a revolting sight! The entire higgling crew laughed

uproariously, and clapped their hands. I could endure it no longer, my

heart was bursting.

I stepped back to the drummer, and asked:

"Is it long since the old dame died?"

"Not so long but you may find her grave if you care to see it. She is

buried in the cemetery on the Templeberg."

"And where is her husband?"

"Well"--and he scratched his ear--"that is a question I am unable to

answer: what was immortal about him, is in heaven, or hell, or

purgatory--who can say? Flesh, bones and skin, are about to be buried

in the earth--just where though, I can't tell you."

"Buried now?" I repeated. "Why, there's no bell tolling for the

funeral?"

"No, Master Soldier, the death bell doesn't ring for such corpses. The

poor old man hung himself--just here, on this limb above us!"

"Hung himself?" I repeated in horror.

"Yes, Master Soldier--he hung himself on that limb! You see he

couldn't stand it when, after he had been told that his property would

have to be sold to pay his debts, he heard that the burgomaster had

received from Hamburg a warrant to arrest Hugo, his vagabond son, who

had murdered a comrade of his in that city."

You may imagine my feeling when I heard these words! They banished

from my mind all thought of making myself known as the long-lost Hugo,

and the determination to keep my identity a strict secret was

strengthened by the drummer who, at every beat he inflicted on the

cracked calf-skin, exclaimed: "The rascal!" "The vagabond!" "The

gallows-bird!" and similar titles of honor!

I deemed it wise to join him in execrating the reprobate, whose evil

conduct had forced the honest old tanner to end his life on the green

branch over our heads.

The bloody deed I had committed in Hamburg had driven my poor father

to a suicide's grave. I could listen no longer to the monotonous

drum-beats, and the call which came from the house: "Who bids higher?"

I stole away from the house to which I had brought disgrace and death.

I stole away to that city of the silent multitude, where there is no

higgling, no outbidding, no "who bids higher?"

Here, the wooden cross at the head of the grass-grown mound of earth,

serves the same purpose, and serves it as well as the majestic marble

monument. After a long search among many familiar, and some unfamiliar

names, I found, on one of the wooden crosses, the name to which I had

a claim.

Underneath that mound, bare of green sod, with no mourning wreath of

never-fading flowers adorning the cross, rested the woman who had left

behind her on earth nothing but a drunken husband, who drank to forget

his shame; and a worthless son, whose name was a public disgrace in

every city in the land.

I flung myself beside the mound. I dared not give vent to my sorrow in

moans and tears, for fear a grave-digger, or some passer-by might hear

me, and suspect me to be the son of the woman in the grave.

The Hamburg magistrates had offered one hundred thalers for my arrest;

consequently it behooved me to be very cautious. I pretended I had

chosen that spot to rest; and lay very still; for, just then, a good

many people--chattering old women, noisy lads, and all sorts of shabby

folk--were passing through the cemetery, toward the further wall.

The crowd seemed to be expecting something--an imposing funeral, I

said to myself. I soon found out why they were so eager to get to the

boundary wall of the cemetery: In the strip of earth just outside the

wall was the suicide's grave.

He is not to rest among the respectable Christians; but in the strip

of unconsecrated ground outside the sacred inclosure. No priest leads

his funeral train; his body comes to its last resting place in the

knacker's cart, on a bier made of four rough deals. The coffin is

unpainted; there is no name-plate on the lid.

The bell on the neck of the knacker's old steed tolls him to the

grave. Instead of a solemn funeral dirge, there is the noisy chatter

of the curious mob; and in lieu of funeral oration are the knacker's

stupid and offensive jokes, which he cracks while he prepares to lower

the coffin into the grave. Before he does this, he takes a knife from

his pocket, and whittles a few chips from the coffin; and over these

the gaping crowd--especially the old women--quarrel and higgle, gladly

giving their last pence for the relics. And these people never suspect

that the man who leans heavily against the broken cross, hard-by the

new-made grave, might rush suddenly upon them, and with the stump of

the broken cross crack the skulls of those whom he chanced to strike!

At last the knacker took note of me:

"Well, Master Soldier," he called, "and how goes it with you? Don't

you want to exchange a few pence for a chip from the coffin of the man

who hung himself? There is great virtue in such a bit of wood! It will

preserve you from lightning, and--"

"I would rather have a nail out of the coffin," I interrupted, "for

iron will attract lightning, which is what I most desire."

The fellow was ready enough to comply with my request, but he said the

nail would be worth a thaler. I gave him the thaler, the last money I

possessed in the world! and received the nail--my legacy from my

father!

Later, I had a ring made of the coffin-nail, and I still wear it on

the fore-finger of my right hand.

"Well," enunciated his highness, drawing his handkerchief from his

pocket; "you certainly were punished for your misdeeds, my son. Your

sufferings must have been greater than if you had been tortured on the

wheel."

The chair's comments were inaudible amid the sounds of emotion, which

came from behind the prince's handkerchief.

PART VII.

CHAPTER I.

PEACEFUL REPOSE.

I was now without a heller in my pocket; and yet I did not feel poor.

I thought to myself: I am a man, born this day--nothing, and nobody. I

am so much better off than the new-born babe, in that I shall not have

to be taught how to walk and talk, need no one to feed me, and rock me

to sleep.

I determined I would not remain longer on German soil. If I remained,

only one of two alternatives was left to me: If I desired to associate

with respectable folk, I should have to allow them, when they

discovered who I was, to cut off my head; and if I went back to my old

life, or into the army, I should have to cut off the heads of my

fellow-creatures. I had no desire to do either.

After my varied, and troublous experiences, I yearned for peace and

quiet. My plans were soon formed. There was considerable trade in

lumber, between Andernach and Holland. Innumerable rafts, composed of

huge tree-trunks for masts, and piles for dams, were floated down the

Rhine; and to the owner of one of these rafts I hired myself as rower.

The wage was fair: thirty pfenings a day, with bread, cheese, dried

fish, and a jug of beer. I never drank my portion of beer, but sold it

for three pfenings, to one of my comrades on the raft, who got thirsty

twice daily. I drank only water.

When my fellow rowers would curse and swear, because a strong wind, or

the current, drove the raft against the rocks, I would remonstrate

mildly with them; and assure them that such speech in the mouths of

Christian men was displeasing to God; and when, to pass the time, they

would sit down to a game of dice, I would withdraw to the further end

of the raft. If they urged me to join the game, I would reply:

"Thou shalt not covet what belongs to thy neighbor."

After awhile the jeers of my comrades attracted the attention of the

owner of the raft.

"Hello, lad; what's the matter with you? You don't drink, don't

gamble, and don't swear--you are damnably pious, it seems to me! But,

you are a first-rate worker; and I shall sell you in Nimeguen for at

least three times as much as any of those lazy louts."

"You are going to sell me and my comrades in Nimeguen?" I exclaimed in

amazement.

"Why, certainly! What the devil else should I do with you? You can

float down stream on the raft; but I couldn't float you

up-stream!--and I couldn't carry you on my back, could I? But, don't

you worry. I'll find good places for the lot of you. There will be

plenty of buyers for the rowers, as well as for the raft, and the

price every fellow brings will be equally divided between me and

himself!"

"What becomes of the men--usually?" I ventured to inquire.

"Well, I don't believe _all_ are chopped into sausage-meat! The

Hollander likes to be a sailor--but only a captain, or a pilot. He

likes also to be a soldier, but again he prefers to be a captain, or

the commandant of a fortress. Therefore, common seamen and private

soldiers are in demand; and for this the ignorant stranger is good.

Consequently, you need only say which you prefer: to become a sailor,

or a land-lubber--and take your choice."

I deliberated a moment, then I said to him:

"I will tell you the truth, Captain, because I have vowed never again

to let a lie pass my lips. I am tired of soldiering. I have shed so

much blood on the battlefield, that the remembrance of it oppresses my

soul. I don't want to be a soldier; I would rather go to sea, and be

rocked by the waves."

"Well, you are an ignorant dunce!" he exclaimed. "Don't you know that,

if you go to sea, you will get right into the thick of battle? The

Dutch fight all their real battles at sea. They keep an army on shore,

only that they may have troops to capitulate when a fortress is

starved out by the enemy! The soldiers never get any actual fighting.

Punctuality, sobriety, irreproachable conduct--these are the Dutch

soldier's strong points--and, the devil fly away with me, if you

don't rise to be a corporal in less than a twelve-month, if you join

the army! What were you before?"

"A gunner."

"Well, you can be a gunner in the Dutch army."

"But, what have the gunners in the Dutch artillery to do if there is

no enemy to shoot at?" I asked.

"Oh, they find enough to occupy their time. On Saturday evenings they

have the management of the fire-works, which are set off in the park;

and on the other days of the week they prepare the rockets, and other

things, for the Saturday evening's display."

That is why I became a gunner in the artillery, in the goodly city of

Nimeguen. Sixty dollars was the price paid for me, the half of which I

received.

I was now in a community that exactly suited me. Here was no mighty

uproar, no rioting, no drinking. Here, no vain braggart youths

molested the wives of the staid burghers. Here were no conflicts

between the military and the citizens. All were at peace with one

another.

On Sunday mornings the armed, and the unarmed residents went together

to church; and in the evening all drank their pints together amicably

in the beer-houses. The soldiers were allowed, when not on guard duty,

or otherwise engaged in the fortress, to work for the citizens; the

money thus earned belonged to themselves. And there were many chances

to secure employment. The entire city of Nimeguen was a huge

flower-garden, in which was grown that most important article of

commerce: the tulip bulb.

It is a well-known fact that not only entire Europe but all the lands

under the dominion of the Turkish sultan, would suffer a greater

financial loss, were the Dutch tulip-bulbs to remain out of the

markets for a year, than if all other crops were to fail for the same

length of time.

By saying this, I do not mean that the carnation is not also a

necessary luxury--if I may so term it; but the tulip is, and will

remain, the most important article of commerce in the lands I have

mentioned. One tulip-bulb is worth as much as a peck of wheat. But it

is of different values--according to the color. There are tulips which

only kings and sultans can afford to have bloom in their gardens.

I was fortunate enough to secure employment for my leisure hours, as

gardener's assistant, on the estate of a widow who was "tulip-wealthy."

The lady would visit her tulip beds early every morning, to see them

in bud; and again late in the afternoon, to see the full-blown

flowers. At such times I never got a glimpse of her face; for she

always wore a huge cap, from which only the tip of her nose protruded.

But I decided, after I had been on the estate a week, that the fair

owner must be young, for when she addressed a remark to me, which she

did occasionally, her voice was so low--as if she feared I might hear

what she said.

To judge by the enormous quantities of bulbs she sent to market, the

widow must have been very rich; but the bulbs were not her only

treasures. She possessed a collection of shells, fresh, and

salt-water, that represented a very tidy sum of money.

In Holland, as well as in England, and France, the shell had also a

commercial value; and wealthy collectors vied with one another to

secure the finest examples of the _spordilus regius_; the "sun-ray"

mussel; the rainbow-hued "venus-ear"; the "queen's cap"; the "tower of

Babylon"; and "Pharaoh's turban," and would pay as high as two hundred

dollars for a perfect specimen of the shell they wanted. I have known

a perfect _scalaria preciosa_ to bring one hundred zequins. This shell

is more valuable than the pearl; and my fair employer possessed a

whole drawerful of them. Her sainted husband had collected them; and

they would have sold for more than would a three-master loaded with

grain.

More than one nabob had offered fabulous sums for the collection; and

it was said that a British peer, who was devoted to the study of

conchology, had even gone so far as to offer his hand and title to the

widow, in order to gain possession of the much coveted treasure.

The widow who hesitates loses a title; while the lady was considering

the peer's offer, there was a sudden fall in the price of shells, and

my lord sailed away to England.

What caused this depression in the shell-market you ask?

Well, as your highness, and the honorable gentlemen, must know, every

sea-creature like the _scalaria_ builds its house with the volutions

turning to the left.

One day a sailor, whose home was in Nimeguen, returned from a voyage

to Sumatra, and brought with him a large number of _scalaria_ with the

shells turned in just the opposite direction--from left to right. Now,

a shell of this order was a decided _lusus naturae_, and the price for

the ordinary pattern at once depreciated. The bankers and nabobs, who

had formerly vied with one another in their quest for the _scalaria

preciosa_, were now so inflamed with the desire to possess a _scalaria

retrotorsa_, that they willingly paid from two to three thousand

thalers for a single specimen. On the other hand, the ordinary

_scalaria_, which had sold readily for one hundred ducats, could now

be bought for ten, and fifteen thalers.

This was a heavy blow for my widowed employer, and she soon found that

she had not the strength to bear it alone.

When I heard of her loss, I summoned enough courage to say to her:

"If this unlucky business about the shells is all that troubles you,

my dear lady, I think I can help you. I have a scheme that will in a

very short time produce shells which turn to the right--and in such

quantities, that you can supply all the shell-markets in the country."

The widow reflected several moments, then replied:

"But, I couldn't think of allowing you to employ witch-craft to secure

such shells for me. I do not approve of magic. I have always held

aloof from sorcery, charms, conjuring, and all such infernal

practices; and, as I hope some time to be united with my beloved

husband, who is with the saints, I could not bind my soul to the

wicked one, by countenancing any sort of magic, or idolatry."

"There is neither magic nor idolatry connected with my scheme to

benefit you, gracious lady," I assured her. "What I have in mind is a

purely scientific experiment. It is fully described in a large book

written by the learned Professor Wagner, who was a very pious man, as

well as a very clever scholar."

"The book I allude to, gracious lady, treats of the sympathy and

antipathy of plants, and cold-blooded animals; and is all about

creatures made by our Heavenly Father. It is a noteworthy fact, that

the bean vine always twines from left to right around the stake which

supports it; while the hop as invariably winds from right to

left--neither of them ever makes a mistake. If, however, the bean and

the hop be planted close together, then, the two plants being

antipathetic one to the other, the bean will twine to the left, and

the hop to the right."

"_Quid fuit probatum._"

"From such experiments the learned professor was led to experiment

with living creatures. He found that, when an acaleph which forms its

shell from right to left in the flower-beds at the bottom of the

ocean, chances to lie in close proximity to a _nautilus pompilius_,

which belongs to the cephalopods, and builds from left to right, the

two, because of their antipathy for each other, will reverse the order

of their volutions."

"From this it is clear that those conchologists, who have created a

veritable social revolution with their _scalaria retrotorsa_, and have

shaken the foundations of prosperity in the Dutch low countries, have

accidentally come upon such shells which, in consequence of an

antipathetic propinquity, have reversed their order of building--and

by so doing, my dear lady, have caused you great loss and sorrow. But,

you need sorrow no longer, if you will graciously assent to my

proposition. It will, I feel confident, bring you a fortune so

enormous that even the queen regent will envy you!"

"But, what is your proposition?" queried the pious soul, and for the

first time, half of her face emerged from the depths of her cap.

"It is this, gracious lady: Order your agents to bring from the ocean

living _scalaria_, and _nautili_, which are to be secured with least

trouble during the mating season. We will prepare for them here a

large basin of sea-water, with sand from the bottom of the ocean. In

this we will plant sea-weeds, place our living shells among them, and

feed them with star-fish, holothures, and other soft-bodied marine

creatures. After a season our shell-fish will spawn; the eggs of the

_scalaria_ cling together--like a string of pearls; those of the

_nautili_ adhere to one another by sixes, in shape of a star.

"When we shall have secured a number of broods, we will fasten

together the ends of a _scalaria_ string, forming a circle, in the

center of which we will place a star of _nautilus_ spawn; and you will

see, when the tiny creatures escape from the eggs, that they will

build their houses in a reversed order from the parent shell."

My plan was quite clear to the fair widow; she gave her orders at once

to her agents, for the _scalaria_, and _nautili_, and from that

moment treated me with great respect and affability.

Meanwhile, I continued to perform my duties: I polished my guns

mornings; inspected the soldiers' coats, to see if any of the buttons

had been sewed on wrong side up--the lower part of the state's coat of

arms uppermost--and reported to the captain that everything was in

order. Saturday evenings I attended to setting off the fire-works; and

every week-day afternoon I worked in the widow's garden.

What I earned I laid by. I never touched pipe, nor glass--not even

when they were offered to me; and to whomsoever I addressed a remark,

I gave the title belonging to him. Thus, I gained the respect of all

my fellow-citizens. I had become what I had long desired: a

respectable God-fearing man--

"Now, look out for a special bit of rascality;" _sotto voce_,

interjected the chair.

I admit it was to win promotion that I conducted myself with such

propriety, continued the prisoner. I was extremely desirous of

attaining a lieutenancy.

When the living _scalaria_, and _nautili_, arrived together with the

creatures which were to serve as food for them, they were placed in

the large basin with a wall about it, I had prepared for them in the

lower portion of the tulip garden; and in due time the spawn was ready

for further operation.

My gracious employer was greatly surprised to learn that the eggs of

the shell-fish have a peculiarity which distinguishes them from the

eggs of birds and insects. With the development of the embryonic fish,

its envelope also extends; one such egg, which at first is hardly as

large as a lentil, increases to the size of a hazel-nut. In this

condition its outer covering is very thin--merely a transparent

membrane, through which the now quickened animal may be seen revolving

with the celerity of a spinning top. One may even detect the

pulsations of its heart.

"The fellow has actually taken it upon himself to deliver a lecture on

malacology!" irritably interposed the chair. "I am sorry to prolong

the hearing, your honor," deferentially returned the prisoner, "but, I

beg you will allow me to finish what I have to say on this subject, in

order that I may explain why I was accused of conjuring. I desire to

prove that what I did was not accomplished by aid of any infernal

power; but through my own intelligence, in discovering, and making use

of one of Nature's secrets."

As I mentioned before, one may perceive, in the embryonic mollusk, the

incessant rotary movement from left to right. In order to keep the two

antipathetic broods constantly in the close juxtaposition necessary to

influence their development, I was obliged to handle them frequently,

as the eggs would move about--

"Stop!" interrupted the chair, "mollusks have no eyes; how then were

those you hatched able to see their antipathetic neighbors, and move

away from them?"

Their antipathetic sensations informed them. Though mollusks have no

eyes, they are endowed with other remarkable organs--such as are not

found in warm-blooded animals. However, to cut my story short, the

quickened _scalaria_, and _nautili_, immediately began to form their

shells in the reversed order I had expected, and the secret of

fabulous enrichment was solved.

During the mysterious process of nature--while the shell-fish were

industriously rearing their priceless houses--my patroness daily spent

a half hour or more beside the sea-water basin; and would even, now

and then, assist me to restore the creatures to their proper

positions.

At first she would push her sleeves only an inch or two above the

wrists; but, after awhile, they were tucked above the elbows, and I

could admire as much as I wanted the beautiful white arms--a favor no

modest woman will allow anyone but her own husband.

As the work had to be done, and as we did not want a third party to

have cognizance of our experiment, the fair widow was obliged to

assist me, and the natural result of the bared arms was: I became her

legal husband. Therefore, it was neither through magic, nor

witch-craft, nor yet through seductive arts employed by myself, that I

became the legal protector of the richest, and handsomest young widow

in Nimeguen.

("The truth of the matter is: the modest Dutch widow bewitched the

valiant gunner, and compelled him to marry her!" was the chair's

sarcastic interpolation.)

Well, be that as it may, the lady was amply rewarded for marrying me.

The _scalaria retrotorsa_ resulting from my experiment, brought her

enormous wealth. We did not know, at last, what to do with all the

money that kept pouring into our coffers; but, the larger portion of

her reward by far, she found in the conjugal fidelity I vowed to her.

I would not have believed that I possessed so many of the attributes

necessary to the making of a pattern husband, and my wife would have

been entirely satisfied with me, had I been a captain like her first

spouse.

But I was only a gunner!

My predecessor had been a captain, it is true, but he had never seen a

battle; and when, on _Corpus Christi_, he commanded the city militia,

and gave orders to fire the salute, he always pressed his hands

against his ears to shut out the noise.

Still, his title gave his wife the right to call herself "Frau

Hauptmannin;" while, as my wife she was merely "Constablerinn"--a

degradation intolerable to any proud-spirited woman.

I tried to purchase at least a lieutenant's commission; but there were

fifty-six applicants for the position ahead of me; and there was no

telling how many years I should have to wait for my turn.

My wife at last became so sensitive that, in order to escape being

addressed by the inferior title, she ceased to go out of the house;

and when she had occasion to make mention of me to any one, she always

spoke, or wrote, in this wise: "The husband of the widow of Captain

Tobias van der Bullen." That honorable and high-born gentlemen, is how

I came to be called--through no fault of mine!--by my twelfth false

name: "Tobias van der Bullen."

I must confess, it was an extremely dull life. Of what use to us were

the hoards of gold in the treasure-chests? We did not know how to

spend them. I did not drink wine; I was not allowed to smoke at home,

because it was an unclean habit. And I was always at home, when not at

the barracks, because I had nowhere else to go.

At the merchants' casino, of which I might have become a member had I

so elected, all the conversation was about matters I could not endure.

The men were so grave and sedate, there was no fun in trying to play

tricks on them; and the women were virtuous to such a degree, that not

one of them would have allowed a barn-yard cock to scratch worms for

more than one hen.

As all married men know, women are peculiar creatures. There are times

when they become impressed with a desire to possess certain things

that--so say the sagacious doctors--it is unwise, nay dangerous, to

refuse to gratify the request. I have heard said, that a woman has

been known to long for a dish of shoemaker's paste; another believed

she would collapse if she did not get a frog to devour; still another,

vowed she could not survive, if her husband did not rise from his bed

at midnight, and hasten to the nearest grocery for a box of superfine

wagon grease!

Now, my wife was seized with a longing to possess a sheet of

parchment--a desire, you will say, that might easily have been

gratified. But, the sort of parchment she wanted did not grow on every

bush! A document, engrossed with the words which certified that her

husband was a captain, was what she craved. But, where was I to

procure it?

Chance one day brought me face to face with an old acquaintance,

Mynheer Ruissen. He recognized me at once. It would have been useless

to deny my identity; moreover, there had been established between us a

certain good-fellowship that justified me in believing I might safely

take him into my confidence.

He told me how zealously the officers of the law were searching

throughout Germany for the fugitive, who had substituted tin

church-vessels for the gold and silver ones used in the Templars'

castle; and for having caused the wonderful metamorphosis of the

Hamburg moo-calf.

("Fine phrases for robbery, and assassination!" commented the chair).

It was fortunate for me that I was known in Holland only under the

name of my wife's deceased husband; had the worthy Dutchmen known who

I was, the German authorities would not have remained long in

ignorance as to the whereabouts of the fugitive criminal they were

seeking.

I confided to Mynheer Ruissen my desire to obtain the title of captain

in order to prevent my wife from grieving herself to death.

"Well, my son," he observed after a moment's deliberation, "it isn't

such an easy matter to get to be a captain--on shore. There is no war

now. These Hollanders prefer to look on fighting at a distance. If you

want to become a captain, come with me to sea. I am on my way to East

India, with small arms and cannons for the nabob Nujuf Khan, of

Bengal. There's a general in his army, who is a countryman of yours--a

Reinhard Walter. He was an adventurer like yourself when he went to

India; and now he is a distinguished man. He changed his name to

'Sommer,' and the natives out yonder call him 'Sumro.' He is in need

of soldiers, especially skilled gunners. If you will come with me--who

can tell?--you may become not only a captain, but a prince within a

twelve-month."

The tales Mynheer Ruissen related of General Sommer's success in

Bengal were so marvelous, they inflamed me with the desire to try my

fortune in that distant land; besides, the wearisome dullness of my

monotonous existence in Nimeguen was driving me to madness. I decided

to accompany the Mynheer, whom I introduced to my wife. She was almost

beside herself with delight, when he told her he knew of a land in

which there grew a tree, called the banyan, with a thousand branches,

every one bearing a hundred figs, in every one of which might be found

a captain's commission. And these wonderful figs might be had for the

plucking, by any one who would take the trouble to journey to that

distant land.

"You must start at once, my dear," said my wife in urgent tones--as if

she feared there might not be any of the figs left for me, if I

delayed going immediately. "At once! You must on no account miss the

ship!"

With her own hands she packed everything I should need for the

journey--not forgetting soap and tooth-brushes! And she did not weep

at parting with me. You see, the women of Holland become accustomed to

having their husbands go away on long journeys, to be absent for

years. I confess I was not sorry to go; for, I knew that, if I stopped

at home, when the third member of the family arrived, it would be my

task to rock the cradle. I preferred to be rocked myself by the waves

on a good ship!

Two days later I bade farewell for a time to Europe, and set sail with

Mynheer Ruissen for India. A favorable wind sent us skimming out of

the harbor; my wife waved a farewell with her handkerchief from the

shore.

"Did you commit any crimes on the high seas?" This query from the

chair interrupted the voyage for a few moments.

"Nothing worth mentioning, your honor."

"Then, just skip over the entire ocean, and don't waste our time with

descriptions of flying-fish, and chanting mermaids. Debark without

further delay in Bengal, and let us hear what rascalities you

perpetrated there?"

PART VIII.

IN BENGAL.

CHAPTER I.

BEGUM SUMRO.

The next morning Hugo resumed his confession:

I hope the honorable gentlemen of the court will pardon me, and not

imagine I wish to prolong this hearing, if I mention what may seem

trifling details. They are absolutely necessary to render intelligible

the recital of my most serious transgressions: idolatry, polygamy, and

regicide--

"All of which you will prove to have been so many praiseworthy acts!"

interpolated the chair.

To begin with--continued the prisoner, paying no heed to the chair's

interpolation--from one of the upper windows of a tall tower that

stands on the left bank of the Ganges, in the neighborhood of Benares,

projects a bamboo pole as thick as a man's waist; and from it depends,

by an iron chain, a large iron cage. A man is confined in this cage.

His food is conveyed to him from the window of the tower, through a

long hollow pipe of bamboo. The cage hangs over a large pool of water

that is fed by an arm of the river, and swarms with voracious

crocodiles.

It is a horrible sight, in the late afternoon, to see these ferocious

brutes lift their heads from the water, and grin at the man in the

cage. If he should break the iron bars which confine him in his airy

prison, and attempt to escape by leaping into the pool, the hungry

monsters would devour him skin and hair.

"Who is the man?" queried the chair.

"No less a personage than his royal highness, Shah Alum, the heir to

the throne of the great Mogul."

"Why is he confined in the cage?"

"Because he extended the hospitalities of his roof to his highness,

Mir Cossim, the nabob of Bengal, whom the English banished from his

territory, after the battle of Patna. Later, after the battle at

Buxar, Shah Alum himself fell into the power of the English; and Mir

Cossim was obliged to flee to the protection of the nabob of Andh,

whose commander-in-chief was the General Sommer, of whom Mynheer

Ruissen had told me. The English demanded of the nabob of Andh, that

he deliver to them Mir Cossim and Sommer: whom they wanted to cage,

and hang beside Shah Alum, to keep him from getting lonely! But the

nabob of Andh allowed Sommer to escape; and he fled across the Jumna,

where he organized another army. He was again defeated by the English,

and fled to Joodpoor, where he placed himself under the protection of

Prince Radspoota. Here he organized troops after the manner of those

in Europe, and vanquished the rajahs of Chitore, and Abeil. Again he

was compelled by the English to flee--but not by the force of arms

this time; his enemies intimidated the prince, his protector; and, in

order not to cause his highness any inconvenience, Sommer went to

Delhi, the chief city in India, where he sought the protection of

Najuf Khan. The full name of this ruler is: 'Mirza Nujuf Khan Zuelfikar

al Dowlah, commander-in-chief to the Great Mogul.' From him Sommer

received a hearty welcome."

"This Sommer," observed the chair, "seems to have been a vagrant like

yourself."

"I consider that a great compliment, your honor, and thank you for

it!" returned the prisoner. Then he resumed his confession: Sommer had

an opportunity the very first day to prove his gratitude for the

friendly reception accorded him by Najuf Khan. The mutinous Mahrattas

made a sudden attack that night on the residence of the Khan, and

would have assassinated him, had not Sommer hastened with the loyal

Mahrattas to the rescue, and vanquished the mutineers. And they were

fine fellows--devilish fine fellows, too--those mutinous Mahrattas!

The crack troop of the imperial army! They had once compelled a former

commander-in-chief, who had failed, for some reason or other, to pay

the troops, to sit, bound hand and foot, and with bare head in the

scorching sun, until he gave orders to have them paid.

("I think it will be well to keep that episode from the ears of our

troops," observed the prince with a meaning smile.)

In gratitude for his rescue, Najuf Khan charged Sommer with the

organization of his army; and in a short time he, Sommer, got together

a force of natives, and Europeans, sufficient to conquer a neighboring

province, the chief city of which is Agra; he also captured the

so-called impregnable citadel of Drig, in which rock-fortress he

imprisoned nabob Nevil Szig.

In reward for this victorious campaign, the emperor of Delhi appointed

Sommer king of the conquered province of Sardhana. Thus, the son of a

grocer in Treves became the sovereign of an East Indian province.

I trust the honorable gentlemen of the court have received this

somewhat prolix preface with favor. I believed it necessary, in order

to familiarize you with the marvelous changes, which are worked by a

mysterious fate in that tropical clime, where alone such changes are

possible.

If I could but delineate approximately the peculiarities of that

region, of the atmosphere I breathed, the ground I trod, I believe the

honorable gentlemen would say: "Arise, and go your way in peace. You

are not to blame for what you have done. Your transgressions are but

the fruits of the soil which produces also the boa and the upas tree."

The province of Sardhana is ten times as large as the grand-duchy of

Treves; and the revenue of its sovereign four times that of the grand

duke.

It is a very fruitful country, rich in grain, wool, and tobacco.

Sommer built a fort near his residence; and with the aid of his troops

kept the neighboring provinces under subjection. He forced a passage

through the forests of Mevas, into which, until then, none of the

foreign conquerors had been able to penetrate; which had formed an

impassable barrier for the great Alexander on his triumphal march;

baffled the hordes of Djingis Khan, whose inhabitants sallied forth

only when they desired to levy tribute on a neighboring tribe.

After vanquishing these savages, Sommer directed his attention toward

the inhuman Balluken, who offered the blood of young girls in

sacrifice to their gods, and in a very short time succeeded in

dislodging them from their rocky retreat. Ultimately, he undertook to

subdue the royal Pertaub Singh, which he accomplished--but not through

the force of arms: by his powers of persuasion, which he possessed to

a marvelous degree.

Sommer's patron, as was natural, wished to bestow on his successful

commander-in-chief a new reward for all these conquests. There was a

beautiful young girl, named Zeib Alnissa (the Hindoo for "ornament of

her sex"), the daughter of one of the most influential princely

families in Delhi, and this girl the emperor sought in marriage for

his favorite.

Sommer informed his patron that he would espouse the beautiful Zeib

Alnissa if she would adopt the Christian faith.

"Why," exclaimed the emperor, "can't you love a woman who worships

Brahma?"

"Oh, yes, your imperial highness," responded Sommer; "it is because I

should love her very much, that I want her to belong to my faith. I am

not a young man any more, and I have a profligate son whom I have

been forced to disown. If I should die, my wife, according to the

Brahminical custom, would be burned alive with my body. If she becomes

a Christian, she will not have to ascend the funeral pyre, but my

throne, where she will reign as Begum, and prevent my kingdom from

falling into the hands of my worthless son."

The emperor conceded that Sommer's argument was just; and permitted

the foreign missionaries to convert the lovely young princess to the

Christian faith. This was a concession never before granted to a

European in India.

Zeib Alnissa adored her husband. She accompanied him on every

expedition he undertook; watched over him; guarded him from the secret

enemies and treachery which encompass every East Indian sovereign. The

successful commander-in-chief had many enemies and rivals. The English

company had long ranked among his opponents. Not infrequently he was

rescued as by a miracle from great danger by the watchful care of his

devoted wife.

Ultimately, however, his enemies succeeded in their attempts on his

life; and the brave commander-in-chief succumbed to the poison

secretly administered to him. He died in the arms of the faithful Zeib

Alnissa, just about the time I arrived in Sardhana, to take command of

his artillery.

His widow, under the title of Sumro Begum, ascended the throne, thus

preventing, as her husband had desired, her step-son from inheriting

it.

This son was a truly immoral and wicked fellow. I saw him for a few

minutes after the Begum's accession to the crown, and after she had

confirmed my appointment as commander of the fort. He actually had the

effrontery to try to bribe me to betray the Begum into his power; and,

on finding that his efforts were useless, he threatened to revenge

himself on me when he should come into possession of the throne.

"Very well," I retorted. "When that time comes I shall become a

regicide."

How little I dreamed then, that my words were prophetic!

Meanwhile, Sumro Begum grasped with a firm hand the reins of

government. She increased her army, and added several pieces of

ordnance to the artillery.

Seated on a spirited battle-horse, or elephant, she inspected the

manoeuvers in person.

Her neighbors in the adjacent provinces very soon learned to fear and

respect her; even the emperor gave her credit for great prudence and

wisdom. Indeed, so great was the influence she wielded, that her voice

frequently decided the issue in the discussions at court.

Those East Indian dignitaries are a jealous folk. When Gholam Kadir

found that his influence at the imperial court was secondary to that

of Sumro Begum, he marched with his troops on the capital, and began

to bombard the palace. Sumro Begum, however, heard the thunder of the

cannonading, and hastily summoning her troops, joined her forces to

those of Prince Ivan Buk, and drove the jealous Gholam Kadir back to

his province.

The revolt in the interior of his empire concluded, the emperor was

at liberty to turn his attention to the foreign invader. Kuli Khan had

captured the fortress of Ghokal Gur. This valuable stronghold had to

be recaptured; and troops were not lacking, but leaders were. Sommer's

loss was most keenly felt; but Sumro Begum was still to the fore, and

she was worth a dozen ordinary generals.

The imperial troops had been trying for three weeks to recapture the

fortress of Ghokal Gur. They had become tired of the continued

ill-success of their undertaking, and had abandoned themselves to

feasting and carousing. One night, after all tipsy heads had been laid

to rest, Kuli Khan, with his Mongolian cavalry, surprised the imperial

camp, and began to slaughter the stupefied troops. The enemy in the

fortress could see by the light of the burning tents the horrible

butchery going on outside the walls, and decided to take a hand in it.

The emperor's tent was riddled with bullets; two of his palanquin

bearers were killed, and he was obliged to seek flight on his own

feet. But, whither to turn he knew not, as he was in the center of a

furious cross-fire.

It is quite certain that he would have been destroyed, together with

his entire army, had not Sumro Begum hastened to the rescue, with her

admirably disciplined troops, officered by Europeans.

On hearing of the emperor's danger the heroic Begum summoned her

body-guard--hardly one hundred men--entered her palanquin, and

hastened, with the battery under my command, toward the thickest of

the fight.

When she saw that the enemy from the fortress was taking part in the

massacre of the half-sober imperial troops, she called to me:

"Follow my example!"

Then, she sprang from her palanquin, mounted a horse, and at the head

of her body-guard, charged upon the enemy.

I knew very well what was expected of me! I placed my battery in such

a position that the guns would clear a way for the Begum.

In a very short time the valiant enemy, who had sallied forth from the

fortress to take a hand in slaughtering their beleaguerers, were in a

wild retreat toward it. Sumro Begum met them at the draw-bridge, took

the commander prisoner, and, with him in chains at her side, entered

the fort, of which she took possession in the name of the emperor. She

left all but ten of her men to guard the fort, and returned to the

assistance of the emperor, whose troops, taking courage from the

example of the brave Begum, plucked up heart, turned upon their

butchers, and after a severe struggle gained the mastery.

The rising sun witnessed the annihilation of the enemy.

The fort was again in the possession of the emperor, who, in face of

his entire army, embraced Sumro Begum, and called her his "dear

daughter." He did not hesitate to declare, in the presence of his

commanding officers, that he owed his life, the lives of six imperial

princes, his empire, and the rescue of his army, to the brave woman.

To this the Begum, with a modest blush, made reply: "Not to me alone

is due all this praise, your imperial highness. The greater portion

belongs to my commander of artillery. This is he"--she drew me forward

and presented me to the emperor. "To him must be given a fitting

reward for the great service he has done your imperial highness."

The answer to this was:

"Let yourself be the brave man's reward!"

With his own imperial hand he placed the lady's hand in my own, and

betrothed her to me with a ring from his own finger. At the same time

he appointed me co-regent of Sardhana, under the name of Maharajah

Kong. Thus, I became--not a captain, but a maharajah.

"And all this really happened?" inquired the chair.

"Yes, your honor, and more too--as you may read in the court

chronicles at Delhi."

"We will hear the rest tomorrow," observed the prince. "It is enough

for one day to have heard how the son of an Andernach tanner became

assistant sovereign of a province in India."

CHAPTER II.

IDOL WORSHIP.

The next day the prisoner resumed his confession:

I was now ruler of a province, with a revenue of twenty lacs of

rupees. I had a remarkably handsome and clever wife, with eyes than

which no gem was brighter.

But, there was a thought that troubled me night and day:

What was to become of my wife in Holland?

My religion forbade two wives. This thought so troubled me, that at

last I confided it to Sumro Begum.

"I don't see why you considered that necessary," interrupted the

chair. "You had already told so many lies, another one would certainly

have found room beside the rest!"

I beg your honor to remember that I vowed at the grave of my poor

father to lead a God-fearing life, and to let nothing but the truth

pass my lips. The ring made of the coffin-nail, which I wore on my

thumb, constantly reminded me of my vow. Therefore, I considered it my

duty to tell Sumro Begum that I had a legal wife in Holland; and that,

were I to go back to her, I should find my child on her bosom.

The Begum was not in the least offended when I made my confession; on

the contrary, she commended me for telling the truth. "He who proves

himself faithful to the absent one, will certainly remain loyal to the

one at hand," she quoted. Only a religion stood between her and me;

and that might easily be changed.

"If we remain Catholics, of course two wives are out of the question,"

decided the Begum, "because that would be bigamy. If we go over to the

Brahmans, their sacred books forbid the wife to occupy the throne with

her husband, and the widow from marrying again. But, there is the

faith of Siva; it permits a man to have more than one wife; it

acknowledges no difference of rank between man and man--as do the

Brahman and the Christian religions--nor does it consider a woman a

soulless animal, men and women are alike human beings. An adherent of

the Siva faith may even take a foreigner to wife; he may eat at the

same table with his wife, or wives, after the grace before food,

prescribed by the Prophet Bazawa, has been repeated. We will adopt

this faith, then you may keep your other wife, and I will share with

her your love and respect."

I thought over this suggestion for several days, for the fate of an

entire province depended on my decision.

On the one hand a people whose prosperity depended on how I would

settle the question; a yearly income of several million thalers, a

beautiful and clever wife with a heart filled with love for me, with

all the delights of paradise on her lips--on the other: the Roman

pope, with St. Peter's keys in his possession!

In my position, your highness, and honorable gentlemen, how would you

have decided?

"Get along with you, _perversus nebulo_!" exclaimed his highness,

smiling. "You want us to commit ourselves, do you? I'll warrant you

suspect what would have been our decision! I don't in the least doubt

but even the mayor here, would elect to kiss a beautiful woman rather

than the pope's slipper--especially if the choice were submitted to

him in the province of Sardhana! It is enough: you became an idol

worshipper--forced to it by circumstances. It is your own affair, and

one which you will have to settle with a higher tribunal than this

one. This indictment may be erased from the record."

Not even the mayor objected to this decision. At first, though, he

wrinkled his brows and looked serious; but in the end he smiled with

the rest; and dictated to the notary, that the transgression last

confessed might be recorded as condoned by the court.

Most worthy and honorable gentlemen, resumed the prisoner, I must now

tell you something about the customs and manners of that land whither

I had been led by the hand of destiny. Even the sky over there is

unlike ours. Why, the sun of Holland would not do for a moon in India!

Yon flaming heavens heat the blood and brain to boiling; the humid

atmosphere creates phenomena which are like the phantasmagoria of

delirium; triple suns, and wreaths of flame appear in the sky; when

frequently the mysterious _Fata Morgana_ portrays inverted landscapes,

and cities; the vivid coloring of the clouds causes the most brilliant

hues on the earth below to appear faded and insignificant.

Forests, fields, houses, human beings, at times take on an ocherous

hue, as if the world were dead; and when a rain falls, it is a deluge

of fire from a sky of brass. And sometimes, the cloud-burst will be

like a rain of blood, and the whole earth will glow with the most

brilliant crimson hue.

On very, very hot days, when the native farmers trudge along the

high-road (the high caste native never travels on foot, nor appears in

public at midday) the dust rising from their feet looks like a fiery

mist, and makes one think he is looking on the damned in hades walking

amid the flames!

And there too the soil is so different from ours. There the plants we

grow in pots in our hot houses thrive and luxuriate under the open

sky, and form a wilderness, the lurking place of tigers and lions, in

which the fragrance of the very air is intoxicating as wine.

The hundred different varieties of fruits, which ripen in succession

throughout the year, explain sufficiently how a people that outnumbers

the entire population of Europe are able to subsist on vegetable diet

alone, without the nourishment of meats, which their religion

prohibits.

The borasses palm supplies them with honey, oil, wine, and sugar;

another palm yields flour, butter, and milk; and they have a tree on

which grow loaves of bread the size of a human head; raw, this

vegetable bread is a sweet fruit; baked, it is as palatable as a

bakers' loaf and--

"Stop! stop!" cried the chair, rapping on the table with his stick.

"That is going too far! Of all the lies you have told us, this one

about loaves of bread growing on a tree is the most outrageously

incredible."

"I am very sorry that your honor refuses to believe there is such a

tree. The proof that I am not lying may easily be obtained, if your

honor will send a deputation to India, to make inquiries concerning

the truth of my statements, if it turns out that a single one of them

is lacking in truth, then your honor may disbelieve all the rest."

"Oho!" sneered the chair, "you would like to postpone this trial for a

year or more, while a searching commission travelled to the end of the

world and back--wouldn't you? We prefer to believe that living

creatures also hang on trees like fruits."

"And so they do!" responded the prisoner. "There is a sort of large

squirrel, or small dog, that has wings and flies, and at night hangs

by its hind legs to the limbs of trees, and looks like a gourd."

"Didn't I say so?" again interrupted the chair with a choleric laugh.

"Flying dogs that sleep hanging by their feet! Go on with your fables,

you reprobate!--this honorable court is sitting for the sole purpose

of believing every lie you choose to tell. I am curious to hear how

your bread growing on trees, and your flying dogs are going to clear

you of the crimes of bigamy and regicide."

I am coming to that, your honor. The entire world which environs the

human being in that distant land, works an irresistible influence on

his nature, and the native inhabitant compels, with his peculiar

religion, customs, his deeply-rooted prejudices, the foreigner

resident to adopt a mode of life antipodal to that he led at home.

The majority of the natives wear no clothing at all; while the rest

bend under a costly burden of greatest splendor.

The Indian is a mixture of the ideally perfect, and the grotesquely

hideous, heroic at one moment, cowardly the next, free as a bird, and

restricted as an anchorite. He is to be envied for his paradisal

simplicity, and admired for his gigantic creations. His cities surpass

in magnificence and grandeur those of Europe. His churches are

mountains, enormous edifices hewn by artist hands from a single rock;

with thousands of majestic columns, and armies of idols; while his

huts are more abjectly wretched than the dwellings of our beavers. The

Indian, with his thousand gods, to all of whom he renders service and

sacrifices--and of whom not one possesses the power to help him--is so

gentle-hearted, that he will not take the life of an animal; allows

himself to be devoured by lions and tigers; crushed under foot by the

rhinoceros; bitten by serpents; and stung by venomous insects--and

yet, he considers it no sin to exterminate an entire neighboring folk.

Oh, that is a strange country: where the aristocrat, if touched by a

member of another caste, considers himself defiled, and possesses the

right to cut off the hand, or arm that touched him, and the mutilated

pariah accepts the punishment as his due. Where the wife is burned

alive on the funeral pyre of her husband; where the invalid is placed

on the banks of a river, and declared to be already dead, so that,

should he recover, he may not return to the living, but seek the

"community of the dead," which is made up of one-time invalids,

recovered like himself.

Dwelling amid such a people, every idea the European entertains when

he lands on that shore very soon fades away; for, there, they have

different virtues and different sins.

"This lengthy dissertation I take it," interrupted the chair, "is for

the purpose of acquainting the court that bigamy and regicide are

permissable crimes among that wonderful people?"

Bigamy is permissable, your honor, on conditions: if the first wife

consents, her husband may marry a second. But, before the consent of

the first wife is secured, he may not kiss and embrace his second.

CHAPTER III.

MAIMUNA, AND DANESH.

My beautiful Zeib Alnissa was a wonderful woman. On the day of our

wedding, which was celebrated with truly Asiatic splendor, when

meal-time came, and I took my seat at the head of the table, she could

not be induced to sit by my side; but seated herself at the extreme

lower end of the board. This custom, she said, we should have to

observe, until we received my first wife's consent to our marriage,

which would give my second the right to repeat the Bazawa grace before

food. Until my new wife was entitled to perform this ceremony we were

not allowed to drink from the same cup; were not permitted to clasp

hands, or look into each other's eyes. I might not have respected all

these rigid laws, which kept me separated from my beautiful bride, had

not Zeib Alnissa herself understood how to compel me to respect them.

The Siva religion prohibits the use of wine, which is to be regretted;

for, in that tropic zone, grow hundreds and hundreds of different

sorts of fruits, which would yield nectarious beverages, the taste of

which would cause one to forget all about wine, and disgust one with

beer. Tons of deliciously sweet and aromatic sap flow from the pierced

palm, and the agave, and its effect on the human senses is nothing

like the stupor which results from drinking our liquors; it is rather

a state of exaltation.

My charming bride understood well how to entertain me with tales of

her native palm forests. She related the history of Prince Kamir

Essaman, and the Princess Bedur. She told me how the prince, who lived

in India, and the princess, whose home was in Persia, were brought

together while they slept, by the two friendly genii, Maimuna and

Danesh, who bore the sleeping lovers on their pinions to the place of

meeting, and then back to their homes again. It was an interesting

tale, but I grew very sleepy while listening to it. I am convinced

that the spicy potion Zeib Alnissa prepared for me caused the

drowsiness, and I only remember that, as I sank back on my pillow, she

placed the prohibitory unsheathed sword between herself and me.

The moment I closed my eyes in sleep I quitted this earth. I could

hear the rustle of wings as I was borne swiftly through the clouds,

which parted with a sound like thunder--as when they are rent by

lightning. By the light of the stars I could see that I was lying on

the wings of the Jinnee, Danesh.

He was of gigantic form; his wings, like those of a bat stretched from

horizon to horizon; his hair looked like bamboo rods, and his beard

like palm leaves.

So swift was our flight that the moon changed from full to last

quarter above us. A meteor raced to overtake us, but, when it came

abreast with Danesh, he thrust out his foot, and gave it a kick that

burst it, and sent myriads of sparks flying in all directions.

Looking downward, I saw China, which I recognized by its porcelain

towers, and long canals. Then Thibet, with the snow-clad summits of

the Himalayan range, and the great Mongolian plain.

At last we arrived over Mount Ararat. I knew where I was, by the

tongues of flame which encircled the mount like a wreath. They were

the altars of the fire-worshipping Parsees--the source of Baku's

eternal fires; and Danesh was one of the great spirits of the

flame-adoring heathen. On the summit of Mount Ararat was a magnificent

palace--to describe its splendors is impossible to the human tongue!

Its walls were covered with the names of those persons who have been

happy, and have thanked God therefor. The letters in which the names

are written are so radiant, they make night as light as day.

Here, in a sumptuous apartment, with silken hangings, and glittering

with gems, Danesh laid me gently down on a divan; and immediately

began to laugh in a tone that sounded like thunder.

In answer to his laughter, there came a sound from the air, as if the

balmy south wind were murmuring a complaint.

"You are the one-hundred-thousandth part of a minute late," called

Danesh.

"And you are three-hundred-thousand eons ahead of time," replied the

second Voice; and the next instant Maimuna descended from the sky.

This Jinnee was also of giant stature, but of feminine form. Her

ringlets were of sea-coral, her wings of gleaming mother-of-pearl,

and on them she bore a woman whom she laid by my side on the divan.

Then the two genii suddenly changed to vapor; one blue, the other

yellow; and while I was staring at them the two columns of smoke sank

into two large crystal decanters, which stood on the table among the

costly viands and wines.

Then I turned to look at the woman by my side--it was my own wife, the

one I had left in Nimeguen, only that she was more beautiful, and

garbed more elegantly than I had ever seen her.

Her voice too was sweeter, her caresses more endearing; she seemed

more like a celestial being than a woman of flesh and blood. We

showered kisses on each other; I could read in her radiant countenance

how overjoyed she was to be with me again; and I was enraptured to

clasp her once more in my arms.

[Illustration: "I could read in her radiant countenance how overjoyed

she was to be with me again; and I was enraptured to clasp her once

more in my arms"]

We committed a thousand foolish acts; laughed, teased each other like

children. We seated ourselves at the bountifully spread board; I

shared every bite she took; drank out of her glass; we sat on the same

chair, drank of every bottle, and found each one sweeter, more

delicious than the last.

"Let us taste what is in those bottles too," suggested my wife,

pointing toward the two decanters--one blue, the other yellow.

"Yes, let us," I assented, and I drew out the glass stoppers. But,

instead of wine, two columns of vapor rose from the decanters, one

blue, the other yellow, and filled the room. The vapor took shape,

first the blue then the yellow, and one became Danesh, the other

Maimuna, and we knew that our bliss was at an end--that we should have

to part.

We added our names to those gleaming on the walls, to certify that we

also had been happy there.

After I had written my name, it occurred to me that I had something

important to tell my wife; so I said to her: "My love, I must tell you

that I have become a king; and that I have taken a second wife. I want

to ask a favor of you; will you consent to let me kiss and embrace her

as I do you?"

The woman replied: "I do consent."

That I might have proof of our having spent a blissful hour together,

and that she had given me the desired permission to take a second

wife, she pressed my hand so tightly in her own, that the wedding ring

on my finger--the one with which I had espoused her--burst asunder.

And that she also might possess evidence of our meeting, I gave her

the "lingam"--the symbol of the Siva faith--I wore on my arm attached

to a gold bracelet. I also tore from the canopy over our divan a small

piece of the material of which it was made--crimson silk woven with

dragons in gold thread.

Then the two genii took us again on their wings, and soon I was

speeding again amid the clouds, with the glittering stars above me.

The icy summits of the Himalayas were already gleaming with the rosy

hues of dawn, on noting which Danesh increased his speed. I heard the

sea murmuring below--a ray of sunlight from the eastern mountains

pierced through Danesh like an arrow, he dropped me and I fell to the

earth. Fortunately I had not far to fall--only from my bed, in the

palace of Sardhana, to the floor!

"Was it necessary to tell us what you dreamed?" angrily demanded the

chair.

"Well, your honor, if the court at Nimeguen accepted my dream as

evidence, and based its decision on it, I think it may also be

recorded here. Moreover, the vision I have related is an important

factor in this case."

I was so deeply impressed by my dream, that I related it to Zeib

Alnissa as an actual occurrence. I assured her I had really been with

my other wife, in proof of which I showed her the broken ring on my

finger.

"It is a most wonderful occurrence!" was Zeib Alnissa's comment, when

I concluded my recital. "Write out the whole vision, exactly as you

related it to me, and we will send it to your wife in Holland. One of

my captains shall hasten with the document after the messenger you

have sent to her with the letter asking her to consent to our

marriage."

I acted in accordance with the suggestion, and wrote on a long strip

of Chinese palm-paper, which is tough as leather, a full account of my

vision. The Begum then sent for seven bonzes, who were skilled

writers, that they might, by signing their names to the account,

certify that what I had written had really occurred; that Maimuna and

Danesh were a well known pair of genii, who maintained direct

communication between India and other portions of the globe, and that

there was on Mount Ararat a magnificent palace for the use of lovers

who came from distant parts of the world to meet there. All of which

was to prove indubitably that I and my wife from Holland had been

together in the palace.

This document dispatched, I believed the question of the prohibitory

sword between me and Zeib Alnissa settled; but I was mistaken; she did

not repeat Bazawa's grace at supper.

"On what are you waiting now?" I asked. "Haven't I asked my other wife

for her consent? Haven't I been with her, and given her my lingam?"

"Yes, but she has not yet given you anything. Until I have her written

consent in my hands, I dare not repeat Bazawa's blessing," was Zeib

Alnissa's smiling reply.

"And I shall have to wait at the gates of paradise, content myself

with inhaling the perfume of the flowers within the walls, until our

messenger has twice traversed the ocean between India and Holland?"

"He will need to cross only once. I ordered him to take with him

several doves, the species with green feathers known as bridegroom's

doves. When your wife has written her consent, the messenger will bind

it under the wing of a dove, and it will fly from Holland to us here

in two days. So, you need reckon only the outward voyage."

But that would take considerable time too! I began to wonder how I

should have comforted myself had I, instead of becoming an adherent of

Siva, adopted the faith of Brahma, or Vishnu, or any other of the

many-handed, many-footed deities.

"Knave, what about Jehovah?" interposed the chair with just

indignation.

"Jehovah, your honor, does not forbid polygamy. The patriarch Jacob

had two wives; David had four; Solomon the wise had one thousand four

hundred. But, it would be a pity to waste precious time over dogmatic

discussion. Besides, my wondering resulted in nothing. One hundred and

ten days and nights I passed in the society of my charming bride; we

ate at the same table; slept under the same canopy; but not once did I

clasp her hand, or kiss her lovely lips."

"I am curious to know how you managed not to do either," observed the

prince.

"Does your highness desire me to relate what happened on every one of

the one-hundred and ten days and nights?"

"Not by any means!" hastily interrupted the chair. "We want only a

summary of your doings out yonder."

The prisoner bowed, and resumed his confession:

I determined that I would not again drink the sort of sleeping potion

which had sent me speeding among the clouds on Danesh's back, and

communicated my decision to Zeib Alnissa.

"Very well," said she, "then I will prepare a drink for you that will

keep you awake all night."

That would suit me.

In India the preparation of elixirs of all sorts has reached a high

grade. There is a drug which, if taken by a man of mild disposition,

will make him warlike and fierce; it is called "bangue."

By administering to the peaceable elephants a decoction of the

"thauverd," they can be made quarrelsome and ferocious for the combats

arranged for the Shah's guests. "Therat" will give one the

inspirations of a poet; after taking it, the most unimaginative person

will become a romancer, and composer of verses. The "Nazzarani" tax

can be collected from the natives only when they have become docile

and tractable from having eaten "mhoval" flowers--a species of manna.

Zeib Alnissa gave me some "panzopari" to chew; it possesses a singular

property; it will make even the noisiest tippler so sober and sedate

that his brain becomes the seat of all wisdom. Then she began to speak

of her plans for the future government of our province, and other

equally important matters; continuing to talk to me until morning. And

during the whole time I remained quiet, and listened attentively; but

I saw what I had not yet noticed: that my incomparable bride had a

mole in the middle of her left cheek, and I also discovered that she

might be alarmingly loquacious if she chose. I could hardly wait until

the sun rose. Nothing will so effectually sober a man as advice from

his wife; and the remedy is frequently made use of in India as well as

in Europe.

A true Indian Singh--that is what a nobleman is called out

there--undertakes nothing without first consulting his wife. Indeed,

there are some who never give an answer to a question until they have

asked their wives what they shall reply. For instance you ask: "What

sort of weather are we going to have this afternoon, Gholem Singh?"

"I will consult my wife and tell you," he answers.

In the afternoon he will say to you--and no matter if a deluge of rain

begins to fall while he is speaking:

"We shall have fine weather this afternoon."

The following day my bride and I set out on a tour of our kingdom--a

ceremony necessary to my installation as rajah.

An entire brigade on horses, elephants, and camels, accompanied us as

escort. The Begum and I rode on separate elephants, as Indian

etiquette does not permit man and wife to occupy the same

"sovari"--that is what the sedan with a canopy on the back of an

elephant is called.

The Begum travelled with the vanguard; I brought up the rear with a

good cannon bound to the back of my beast. A cannon, by the way, is a

very convenient travelling appendage to a journey in India, as one is

frequently called on to give a warm reception to the legions of

predatory bands which infest the highways and byways.

My bride and I met only when our elephants chanced to come alongside

each other at the resting places. We took part in all sorts of

festivities. We bore with patience the wearisome ceremonies attendant

upon the adoration of the serpent, and Taku-worship; we even waded to

our knees in the sacred waters of the Ganges, at the Moharam

pilgrimage; and permitted the frantic Gusseins and fakirs at the

Holiza feast to shower over us the red dust of the highway. At the

Ganeza festival we distributed with our own hands the "muzzer," and

received in return the "khilla"--each word means gifts; the former is

bestowed by the sovereigns on their subjects; the latter are given by

the subjects to their rulers. Without this exchange of presents, the

sovereignty of the rulers would not be recognized by the people. We

visited in their turn all the principal towns and cities; the

god-burdened temples and pagodas, which are half church, half

tomb--the Jaina animal hospital, where the Hindoo takes care of

invalid dogs, cats, oxen, as well as crows, ravens, and turkeys. We

also honored with our presence the bayadere communities, where only

women dwell. These bayaderes are privileged characters, you must know;

they are allowed entry to the emperor's presence, to dance and sing

before him and his ministers.

"Not a bad custom, by jove!" muttered the prince; aloud he asked: "Are

the bayaderes pretty?"

"Enchantingly beautiful, your highness. Their garments are of silk and

cashmere, embroidered with real gold and pearls; their fingers and

toes are loaded with rings set with precious gems. Their gowns show a

lack of material as do those worn by our women, with this difference:

the shoulders and bosoms of our women are left bare; while the

bayaderes expose the lower extremities, sometimes even to the--"

"Stop! stop!" irritably called the chair. "We don't want a full

description of heathen toilets!"

We also arranged, for the entertainment of our subjects, a number of

gorgeous spectacles, and tournaments, resumed the prisoner, dropping

the subject of bayadere fashions. There were combats between

elephants, and combats between elephants and men. (The former are

called "Mufti;" the latter "Satmari.") There were also combats between

lions and boars, and between tapirs.

In return for all these festivities, my bride's relatives entertained

us with a feast of lanterns; and games of chess, which were played

with living chess-men. We also visited the most remote corners of our

kingdom, where dwelt the Thugs, a community whose faith permits them

to strangle all foreigners; the Bheels, who worship epidemics instead

of gods; the colony of the Quadrumans, whose king is called "Dengue,"

and his subjects "apes."

Every day of our journey brought something new and interesting. After

our visit to the "City of the Seven Sages" we went to the "City of the

King's Tombs," where are four magnificent temples, under each of which

rest the remains of a king. There are no other inhabitants in this

city.

Then followed the pilgrimage to Buddha's tree; for, although we were

adherents of the Sivan faith, we were obliged, in order to win the

favor of the majority of our subjects, to pay deference to their

deity.

Then we journeyed to the "Fountain of Wisdom." There the temple is

guarded by bayaderes, who are not permitted to dance anywhere else but

in the sacred edifice in adoration of the gods.

"A respectable temple, I must say!" ironically commented the chair, to

which the prince appended his good-humored observation:

"Their liturgy can't be very tedious!"

During all this time, I saw my bride only when she was seated on a

throne, on an elephant, or in a palanquin. The opportunities for an

exchange of words were rare. On the one hundred and tenth day we set

out on our return home. On the morning of that day, Zeib Alnissa sent

me a letter in which she gave me the welcome news that what might be

called our "St. Joseph's marriage" would soon come to a conclusion.

The carrier dove had returned from Holland with the longed-for consent

from my first wife.

Before leaving our capital, we had arranged for a fitting reception to

greet our return. When our cavalcade should approach the city gates,

all the most distinguished residents, the raos, the singhs, the sages,

bonzes and holy men were to meet us at the head of a gorgeous pageant

and greet me as "Rajah," to which title our tour would have given me

the right.

Then would follow a splendid feast, that would conclude with the

"utterpan" ceremony, in which every guest receives from the rajah's

own hands a handkerchief perfumed with rose-water.

The rajah receives the utterpan from his wife, of whom he may demand

that the rose-water perfuming be performed in the zenana.

The zenana is that portion of the palace which only the rajah and his

wives may enter.

I am ashamed to confess it, honorable gentlemen of the court, but I

was so rejoiced, so proud of my success, my extraordinary good fortune

filled my soul to such a degree, that I never once thought to offer a

prayer to the god Siva, who had bestowed all the good gifts on me, or

to Jehovah, who could take them all from me.

The fakir, who, in his religious enthusiasm, carries on his head a pot

of earth until the orange seed planted in it sprouts, grows to a tree,

blooms and bears fruit; who binds himself to a post, that he may sleep

standing so as not to lose his balance and drop the pot from his

head--that fakir does not suffer half as much as did I those one

hundred and ten days and nights, when I was forced to refrain from

saying to the most beautiful of women: "O, thou my sweetest one!"

But the last day of such restraint and torture was at hand. Before us

lay the capital; the gilded roofs of its palaces gleamed through the

humid atmosphere.

Already I could see rising from the market-place the "baoli," under

which the three-legged stone cow waited (as all believers know) for

the hour of midnight to hobble to her pasture outside the walls.

Already I saw the multitude in gala attire press forth from the

elaborately carved gates, on horses, on camels, on foot--a mingling of

gold, gems, beauty, flowers, with rags, filth and unsightly scars.

Zeib Alnissa, as usual, rode at the head of the cavalcade, and I at

the end, separated from her by a cannon shot range.

When the multitude from the city met the head of our cavalcade, there

ensued a tumult of shouts and cries, but I was too far away to

distinguish what was occurring. I could see, though, that Zeib Alnissa

had risen to her feet in the sovari, and was gesticulating excitedly.

I was deliberating whether I should ride forward or remain where I

was, when a fakir forced his way to my side. He was the most hideous

specimen of his class I had yet seen; his appearance indicated that he

had vowed not to cut his hair nor his finger nails for a decade.

"What do you want?" I called down to him.

"I want you to let me come up there and sit beside you in the sovari,"

he made answer.

One is obliged to comply with any demand these holy men may see fit to

make--especially in face of such a multitude. I leaned over the side

of my beast, seized the fakir by the hair, and drew him into the

sovari.

"Lucky for you that you granted my request," he said, when he was

seated by my side. "You have saved your life by so doing. Know that a

revolt broke out in the city during your absence. The conspirators

declared that the Begum forfeited the throne by marrying you, and have

proclaimed the valiant Singh Rais, the son of her first husband, Sumro

Shah, rajah of Sardhana. He has taken possession of the city and

bribed the army to support him. He has already executed the subjects

who remained loyal to you and the Begum, and the same fate awaits

you--if he captures you."

Though loath to believe the fanatic's ill tidings, I was forced to

credit my eyes, which at that moment saw rude hands lay hold of my

beloved Zeib Alnissa, tear her from the sovari, bind her hands, and,

amid the taunts and sneers of the shameless nautchnees, compel her to

walk to the gates, while a man, wearing the pearl-decorated hat of a

sovereign, climbed to the vacated seat in the sovari.

It was the infamous profligate who, by reason of the honors to which

his father had attained, was a prince, but who was, by birth, merely a

German nobody, like myself.

He had deposed the Begum as he had threatened, had laid chains on

her--the heroic deliverer of her people--and this he had been able to

accomplish because he had become an adherent of the religion of

Buddha, and because the Begum had become a worshipper of Siva--

"The like of that never could have happened in Europe," interpolated

the prince.

My rage and fury were boundless. In one brief moment to lose my

kingdom and my bride; to be robbed of power and love; to be forced to

look on helpless while a cowardly knave stole my treasures, chief of

which was my beautiful Zeib Alnissa!

It was more than Christian patience and Siva humility could endure.

I unstrapped the cannon at the back of the sovari. The new rajah was

haranguing the crowd gathered about his elephant, and gesticulating

rapidly with his hands, as he gave his orders.

I took aim at his majesty--Boom! The next instant there was no head on

the rajah's shoulders, but his arms continued to move convulsively.

Then I turned my elephant's head in the opposite direction, and urged

him to the swiftest gait he was able to go.

A troop of horsemen followed me, but I dashed into the jungle, and

soon distanced my pursuers. My life was saved, but only my miserable

life. I had nothing, was nothing--

"Oh, yes," interrupted the chair, "you were a good deal: the husband

of two wives, and murderer of one king--"

"_Minorem nego, majorem non concedo_," interposed the prince. "As the

prisoner's second marriage was--as he aptly described it: a St.

Joseph's union--merely one of form, he cannot be said to have

committed bigamy. And concerning the killing of the rajah--_qui bene

distinguit, bene docet!_--we would understand thereby that a crime had

been committed by a subject against a crowned head. But, if one king

kills another one, it cannot be called regicide, but ordinary

homicide, which, in the prisoner's case, was justifiable

manslaughter--"

"I knew it!" exclaimed the chair. "I knew the rascal would talk

himself out of the three capital crimes: idolatry, bigamy, regicide,

and prove himself as innocent as St. Susanna!"

But, continued the prisoner, even had I not been robbed of my wealth,

of what use would it have been to me? I had come to India to win the

rank of captain--not to become a rajah. It is a deal better to be a

pensioned captain than a deposed king. The new rajah of Sardhana set a

large price on my head; had I fled the accursed country then, I should

have spared myself the terrible misfortunes which overtook me later.