In the confusion of the conquering and the conquered, Zelinda had
wrested herself from Fadrique’s arms and had fled from him with such
swiftness that, however much love and desire might have given wings to
his pursuit, she was soon out of sight in a spot so well known to her.
All the more vehement was the fury of the excited Spaniard against the
infidel foe. Wherever a little host made a fresh stand to oppose
the Christians, he would hasten forward with the troops, who ranged
themselves round him, resistless as he was, as round a banner of
victory, while Heimbert ever remained at his side like a faithful
shield, guarding off many a danger to which the youth, intoxicated with
rage and success, exposed himself without consideration. The following
day they heard of Barbarossa’s flight from the city, and the victorious
troops advanced without resistance through the gates of Tunis.
Fadrique’s and Heimbert’s companies were always together.
Thick clouds of smoke began to curl through the streets; the soldiers
were obliged to shake off the glowing and dusty flakes from their
mantles and richly plumed helmets, where they often rested smouldering.
“I trust the enemy in his despair has not set fire to some magazine full
of powder!” exclaimed the thoughtful Heimbert; and Fadrique, allowing
by a sign that he agreed with his surmise, hastened on to the spot from
whence the smoke proceeded, the troops courageously pressing after him.
The sudden turn of a street brought them in view of a magnificent
palace, from the beautifully ornamented windows of which the flames
were emerging, looking like torches of death in their fitful glow,
and lighting up the splendid building in the hour of its ruin in the
grandest manner, now illuminating this and now that part of the gigantic
structure, and then again relapsing into a fearful darkness of smoke and
vapor.
And like some faultless statue, the ornament of the whole edifice, there
stood Zelinda upon a high and giddy projection, while the tongues of
flame wreathed around her from below, calling to her companions in the
faith to help her in saving the wisdom of centuries which was preserved
in this building. The projection on which she stood began to totter from
the fervent heat raging beneath it, and a few stones gave way; Fadrique
called with a voice full of anguish to the endangered lady, and scarcely
had she withdrawn her foot from the spot, when the stone on which she
had been standing broke away and came rattling down on the pavement.
Zelinda disappeared within the burning palace, and Fadrique rushed up
its marble staircase, Heimbert, his faithful companion, following him.
Their hasty steps carried them through lofty resounding halls; the
architecture over their heads was a maze of high arches, and one chamber
led into another almost like a labyrinth. The walls displayed on all
sides magnificent shelves, in which were to be seen stored rolls of
parchment, papyrus, and palm-leaf, partly inscribed with the characters
of long-vanished centuries, and which were now to perish themselves.
For the flames were already crackling among them and stretching their
serpent-like and fiery heads from one case of treasures to another;
while some Spanish soldiers, barbarous in their fury, and hoping for
plunder, and finding nothing but inscribed rolls within the gorgeous
building, passed from disappointment to rage, and aided the flames; the
more so as they regarded the inscriptions as the work of evil magicians.
Fadrique flew as in a dream through the strange half-consumed halls,
ever calling Zelinda! thinking and regarding nothing but her enchanting
beauty. Long did Heimbert remain at his side, until at length they
both reached a cedar staircase leading to an upper story; here Fadrique
paused to listen, and exclaiming, “She is speaking up there! she is
speaking loud! she needs my help!” he dashed up the already burning
steps. Heimbert hesitated a moment; he saw the staircase already
tottering, and he thought to give a warning cry to his companion; but
at the same moment the light ornamental ascent gave way and burst into
flames. He could just see Fadrique clinging above to a brass grating
and swinging himself up to it, but all means of following him were
destroyed. Quickly recollecting himself, Heimbert lost no time in idly
gazing, but hastened through the adjacent halls in search of another
flight of steps which would lead him to his vanished friend.
Meanwhile Fadrique, following the enchanting voice, had reached a
gallery in the midst of which, the floor having fallen in, there was
a fearful abyss of flames, though the pillars on each side were still
standing. Opposite to him the youth perceived the longed-for maiden,
clinging with one hand to a pillar, while with the other she was
threatening back some Spanish soldiers, who seemed ready at any moment
to seize her, and her delicate foot was already hovering over the edge
of the glowing ruins. For Fadrique to go to her was impossible; the
breadth of the opening rendered even a desperate leap unavailing.
Trembling lest his call might make the maiden precipitate herself into
the abyss, either in terror or despairing anger, he only softly raised
his voice and whispered as with a breath over the flaming gulf, “Oh,
Zelinda, Zelinda! do not give way to such frightful thoughts! Your
preserver is here!” The maiden turned her queenly head, and when
Fadrique saw her calm and composed demeanor, he cried to the soldiers on
the other side, with all the thunder of his warrior’s voice, “Back, ye
insolent plunderers! Whoever advances but one step to the lady shall
feel the vengeance of my arm!” They started and seemed on the point of
withdrawing, when one of their number said, “The knight cannot touch
us, the gulf between us is too broad for that. And as for the lady’s
throwing herself down--it almost looks as if the young knight were
her lover, and whoever has a lover is not likely to be so hasty about
throwing herself down.” All laughed at this and again advanced. Zelinda
tottered at the edge of the abyss. But with the courage of a lion
Fadrique had torn his target from his arm, and hurling it with his right
hand he flung it at the soldiers with such a sure aim that the rash
leader, struck on the head, fell senseless to the ground. The rest again
stood still. “Away with you!” cried Fadrique authoritatively, “or my
dagger shall strike the next as surely, and then I swear I will never
rest till I have found out your whole gang and appeased my rage.” The
dagger gleamed in the youth’s hand, but yet more fearfully gleamed the
fury in his eyes, and the soldiers fled. Then Zelinda bowed gratefully
to her preserver, took up a roll of palm-leaves which lay at her feet,
and which must have previously slipped from her hand, and then vanished
hastily through a side-door of the gallery. Henceforth Fadrique sought
her in vain in the burning palace.