Sequel of the foregoing history, and of the resolution which Hajji Baba
takes in consequence.
The Armenian youth here finished his narrative, and left me in
astonishment and admiration at all he had related. With my permission
he then quitted me to visit his wife, and promised to return immediately
with the report of her present state, and how she felt after her repose.
He surely cannot have been inventing lies to my face all this time,
said I when left to myself, for a bleeding woman is here in evidence
to corroborate what he has advanced; but then should I permit him to
proceed, and the serdar was to hear that I had done so, what would
become of me? I should certainly lose my place, and perhaps my ears.
No; compassion does not suit me; for if it did, I ought not to remain a
nasakchi. I will stick to what the sage Locman, I believe, once said
on this occasion, which runs something to this purpose: If you are a
tiger, be one altogether; for then the other beasts will know what to
trust to: but if you wear a tigers skin, and long ears are discovered
to be concealed therein, they will then treat you even worse than if you
walked about in your own true character, an undisguised ass.
I kept turning over in my mind whether I should release him or not; and
was fluctuating in great perplexity between the ass and the tiger, when
Yûsûf returned. He told me that his Mariam was considerably refreshed by
repose; but, weak from loss of blood, and stiff by the violence of the
contusions which she had received (in particular, one upon her leg,
which was of consequence), it would be impossible for her to move for
several days; except indeed we were pursued by the serdar, added he,
when I believe nothing but force could hinder us from proceeding. He
said that not until now had she found strength enough to relate her own
adventures from the time she had left him at Gavmishlû.
It appears that the instant she had darted from the nuptial chamber,
only covered by her veil, she had been seized by a Persian, who,
discovering by the glare of the lightning that she was young and
handsome, ran off with her to some distance, and there detained her
until, with the assistance of another, she was mounted on a horse and
taken forcibly away; that these two men carried her straight to the camp
at Aberan, and offered her for sale to the serdar; who, having agreed
to take her, ordered her to be conducted to his seraglio at Erivan, and
there put into service; that the horrid plight in which she stood, when
exhibited to the serdar, her disfigured looks, and her weak and drooping
state, made her hope that she would remain unnoticed and neglected;
particularly when she heard what was his character, and to what extent
he carried his cruelties on the unfortunate victims of his selfishness.
Mariam, alluding to herself, then said, Hoping, by always talking of
myself as a married woman, that I should meet with more respect in
the house of a Mussulman, than if I were otherwise, I never lost an
opportunity of putting my husbands name forward, and this succeeded,
for little or no notice was taken of me, and I was confounded with the
other slaves, and performed the different tasks of servitude which
were set me. But, unfortunately, I did not long keep my own counsel;
I confided my story to a Persian woman, who pretended to be my friend;
hoping by that means to soften her heart so much as to induce her to
help me in regaining my freedom; but she proved treacherous; she made a
merit of relating it to the serdar, who immediately forced me to confirm
her words with my own lips, and then the extent of my imprudence became
manifest. He announced his intention to avail himself of my situation,
and ordered me to prepare for receiving him. Conceive then what were the
horrors of my position. I turned over in my mind every means of escape,
but all avenues to it were shut. I had never before thought of looking
over the precipice upon which the windows of our prison opened; but now
I seriously thought of precipitating myself, rather than submit to the
tyrant. But a few hours after I had had the blessing to discover you on
the bridge, I had been ordered to hold myself in readiness to receive
him; and it was then that I had positively determined in my own mind to
throw myself headlong out, either once more to bejoined to you, or to
die in the attempt. When I shut the lattices in haste, several women
had just come into the room to conduct me to the hot bath previously to
being dressed; and when I had made some excuse for delaying it, and
had sent them out of the room, it was then that I opened the lattice a
second time, and put my resolution into practice.
Yûsûf having finished the recital of his and his wifes adventures, was
very anxious to know what part I would take, and earnestly entreated me
to befriend him by my advice and assistance. The morning was far spent.
My men were already mounted, and ready to proceed on our reconnoitring
expedition, and my horse was waiting for me, when a thought struck me,
which would settle every difficulty with regard to the young Armenian
and his wife.
I called him to me, and said, After what you have related, it will be
impossible to leave you at liberty. You have, by your own account, run
off with a woman from the serdars seraglio, a crime which you perhaps
do not know, in a Mussulman country, is punished with death, so sacred
is the harem held in our estimation. If I were to act right, I ought not
to lose a moment in sending you both back to Erivan; but that I will
not do, provided you agree to join us in our present expedition, and to
serve us as guide in those parts of the country with which you are best
acquainted. I then explained to him the nature of my office, and what
was the object of the expedition.
If you are zealous in our cause, said I, you will then have performed
a service which will entitle you to reward, and thus enable me to speak
in your favour to the serdar and to my chief, and, _Inshallah!_ please
God, to procure your release. In the meanwhile, your wife may remain
here, in all safety, in the hands of the good folks of this village; and
by the time we return, she will, I hope, have been restored to health.
The youth, upon hearing this language, took my hand and kissed it,
agreed to everything I had said, and having girt on his arms, he was
ready to attend us. I permitted him to go to his wife, to give her an
account of this arrangement, and to console her, with proper assurances,
that they would soon be restored to each other. He again thanked me;
and, with the agility of an antelope, had already gained the summit of
the first hill before we had even begun to ascend it.