Thou land of the Glad Hand, whose frequent boast
Is of the hordes to whom thou playest host!
Whose liberty is full! whose standard high
Has reached and taken stars from out the sky!
Whose fair-faced women tread the streets unveiled,
Unchallenged, unaffronted, unassailed!
Whose little ones in park and meadow laugh,
Nor know what cost that precious cup they quaff,
Nor pay in stripes and bruises and regret
Ten times each total of a parent's debt!
Thou nation born in freedom--land of kings
Whose laws protect the very feathered things,
Uplifting last and least to high estate
That none be overlooked--and none too great!
Is all thy freedom good for thee alone?
Is earth thy footstool? Are the clouds thy throne?
Shall other peoples reach thy hand to take
That gladdens only thee for thine own sake?
To get word to Rustum Khan was simple enough, for he himself came
riding down to get news. The minute he learned what Monty wanted
of him he turned his horse back up-hill at a steady lope, and I began
on the next item in the program.
Nor was that difficult. The reading aloud of Will's letter, translated
to them by Anna, convinced the women that their beloved bridge was
in no immediate danger, and no less than three hundred of them marched
off to reenforce Kagig's men behind Beirut Dagh. I reckoned that
by the time they reached the scene of action we would have a few
more than three thousand men and women in the field under arms--against
Mahmoud Bey's thirty thousand Turks!
There remained to scrape together as many as possible to man the
castle walls; and what with wounded, and middle-aged women, and
men whose weapons did not fit the plundered Turkish ammunition, I
had more than a hundred volunteers in no time. The only disturbing
feature about this new command of mine was that it contained more
than a sprinkling of the type of malcontents who had bearded Kagig
in his den the night before. Those looked like thoroughly excellent
fighting men, if only they could have been persuaded to agree to
trust a common leader.
Not one of them but knew a thousand times more of Zeitoon, and their
people, and the various needs of defense than, for instance, I did.
Yet they clustered about me for lack of confidence in one another,
and shouted after the women who marched away advice to watch lest
Kagig betray them all. Not for nothing had the unspeakable Turk
inculcated theories of misrule all down the centuries!
I led them up to the castle, they carrying with them food enough
for several days. We passed Rustum Khan coming down with the horsemen,
and I fell behind to have word with him.
"Which of these men shall I pick to command the rest?" I asked him.
"You've more experience of them."
"Any that you choose will be pounced on by the rest as wolves devour
a sheep!" the Rajput answered.
"Should I have them vote on it?"
"They would elect you," he answered.
"I've got to be free to look for Miss Gloria. She's
kidnapped--disappeared utterly!"
Rustum Khan swore under his breath, using a language that I knew
no word of.
"A woman again, and more trouble!" he said at last grimly. "Let
like cure like then! Choose a woman herdsman!" he grinned. "It
may be she will surprise them into obedience!"
"I'll take your advice," said I, although I resented his insinuation
that they were a herd--so swiftly does command make partisans.
"The last thing you may take from me, sahib!" he answered.
"How so?"
"So few against so many! I see death and I am not sorry. Only may
I die leading those good mountain-men of mine!"
It was part and parcel of him to praise those he had drilled and
scorn the others. I shook hands and said nothing. It did not seem
my place to contradict him.
"Let us hope these people are the gainers by our finish!" he called
over his shoulder, riding on after his command. "They are not at
all bad people--only un-drilled, and a little too used to the ways
of the Turk! Good-by, sahib!"
Within the castle gate I found a woman, whom they all addressed as
Marie, very busy sorting out the bundles they had thrown against
the wall. She was putting all the food together into a common fund,
and as I entered she shouted to her own nominees among the other
women to get their cooking pots and begin business.
Still pondering Rustum Khan's advice, in the dark whether or not
be meant it seriously, I chose Marie Chandrian to take command.
She made no bones about it, but accepted with a great shrill laugh
that the rest of them seemed to recognize--and to respect for old
acquaintance' sake. She turned out to have her husband with her--an
enormous, hairy man with a bull's voice who ought to have been in
one or other of the firing-lines but had probably held back in obedience
to his better half. She made him her orderly at once, and it was
not long before every soul in the castle had his or her place to hold.
Then I mounted once more and rode at top speed down the new road
that Monty was defending, taking another horse this time, not so
good, but much less afraid of the din of battle.
I found Monty scarcely fifty paces from the track, on the outside
edge of the fringe of trees that the Turks had been unable to cut
down. There were numbers of wounded laid out on the track itself,
with none to carry them away; and the Turks were keeping up a hot
fire from behind the shelter of the felled trees and standing stumps.
The outside range was two hundred yards, and there were several platoons
of the enemy who had crept up to within thirty or forty yards and
could not be dislodged.
I pulled Monty backward, for he could not hear me, and he and I stood
behind two trees while I told him what I had done, shouting into
his ear.
"I've got to go and find Gloria!" I said finally, and he frowned,
and nodded.
"Go first and take a look at the ramp through the trees. Tell me
what's happening."
So I limped down to the end of the track and made my way cautiously
through the lower fringe of trees that had been cut three-parts through
in readiness for felling in a hurry. Just as I got there the Turks
began a new massed advance up the ramp, as if in direct proof of
Monty's mental alertness.
The men posted on the opposite flank to where I was opened a terrific
fire that would have made poor Kagig bite his lips in fear for the
waning ammunition. Then Fred came into action with his hundred,
throwing them in line into the open along the top, where they lay
down to squander cartridges--squandering to some purpose, however,
for the Turkish lines checked and reeled.
But Mahmoud Bey had evidently given orders that this advance should
be pressed home, and the Turks came on, company after company, in
succeeding waves of men. There were some in front with picks and
shovels, making rough steps in the slippery clay; and I groaned,
hating to go and tell Monty that it was only a matter of minutes
before the frontal attack must succeed and the pass be in enemy hands.
"Here goes Armenia's last chance!" I thought; and I waited to see
the beginning of the end before limping back to Monty.
And it was well I did wait. I had actually forgotten Rustum Khan
and his two squadrons. Nor would I ever have believed without seeing
it that one lone man could so inspirit and control that number of
aliens whom he had only as much as drilled a time or two. It said
as much for the Zeitoonli as for Rustum Khan. Without the very
ultimate of bravery, good faith, and intelligence on their part he
could never have come near attempting what he did.
He brought his two squadrons in line together suddenly over the brow
of the ramp, galloped them forward between Fred's extended riflemen,
and charged down-hill, the horses checking as they felt the slippery
clay under foot and then, unable to pull up, careering head-long,
urged by their riders into madder and madder speed, with Rustum Khan
on his beautiful bay mare several lengths in the lead.
Cavalry usually starts at a walk, then trots, and only gains its
great momentum within a few yards of the enemy. This cavalry started
at top speed, and never lost it until it buried itself into the
advancing Turks as an avalanche bursts into a forest! No human enemy
could ever have withstood that charge. Many of the horses fell in
the first fifty yards, and none of these were able to regain their
feet in time to be of use. Some of the riders were rolled on and
killed. And some were slain by the half-dozen volleys the astonished
Turks found time to greet them with. But more than two-thirds of
Rustum Khan's men, armed with swords of every imaginable shape and
weight, swept voiceless into an enemy that could not get out of their
way; and regiments in the rear that never felt the shock turned
and bolted from the wrath in front of them.
I climbed out to the edge of the trees, and yelled for Fred, waving
both arms and my hat and a branch. He saw me at last, and brought
his hundred men down the ramp at a run.
"Join Monty," I shouted, "and help him clear the woods."
He led his men into the trees like a pack of hounds in full cry,
and I limped after them, arriving breathless in time to see the Turks
in front of Monty in full retreat, fearful because the Rajput's
cavalry had turned their flank. Then Monty and Fred got their men
together and swung them down into the pass to cover Rustum Khan's
retreat when the charge should have spent itself.
The Rajput had managed to demoralize the Turkish infantry, but Mahmoud's
guns were in the rear, far out of reach. Bursting shells did more
destruction as he shepherded the squadrons back again than bullet,
bayonet and slippery clay combined to do in the actual charge itself.
Monty gave orders to throw down the fringe of trees and let them
through to the castle road, so saving them from the total annihilation
in store if they had essayed to scramble up the slippery ramp. And
then Fred's men joined Monty's contingent, helping them fortify the
new line--deepening and reversing the trench the Turks had dug below
the ramp, and continuing that line along through the remaining edge
of trees that still stood between the enemy and the castle road.
But by cutting down the fringe at the end of the road to let Rustum
Khan through we had forfeited the last degree of secrecy. If the
Turks could come again and force the gut of the pass, nothing but
the hardest imaginable fighting could prevent them from swinging
round at that point and making use of our handiwork.
"That castle has become a weakness, not a strength, Colonel sahib!"
said Rustum Khan, striding through the trees to where Monty and Fred
and I were standing. "I have lost seven and thirty splendid men,
and three and forty horses. One more such charge, and--"
"No, Rustum Khan. Not again," Monty answered.
"What else?" laughed the Rajput. "That castle divides our forces,
making for weakness. If only--"
"We must turn it to advantage, then, Rustum Khan!"
"Ah, sahib! So speaks a soldier! How then?"
"Mahmoud knows by now that the trees are down," said I. "His watchers
must have seen them fall. Some of the trees are lying outward toward
the ramp."
"Exactly," said Monty. "His own inclination will lead him to use
our new road, and we must see that he does exactly that. The guns
are making the ramp too hot just now for amusement, but let some
one--you, Fred--run a deep ditch across the top of the ramp; and
if we can hold them until dark we'll have connected ditches dug at
intervals all the way down."
Looking over the top of the trees I could just see the Montdidier
standard bellying in the wind.
"I'll bet you Mahmoud can see that, too!" said I, drawing the others'
attention to it.
"Let's hope so," Monty answered quietly. "Now, Rustum Khan, find
one of those brave horsemen of yours who is willing to be captured
by the enemy and give some false information. I want it well understood
that our only fear is of a night attack!"
"You say, Colonel sahib, there will be no further use for cavalry?"
"Not for a charge down that ramp, at any rate!"
"Then send me! My word will carry conviction. I can say that as
a Moslem I will fight no longer on the side of Christians. They
will accept my information, and then hang me for having led a charge
into their infantry. Send me, sahib!"
Monty shook his head. Rustum Khan seemed inclined to insist, but
there came astonishing interruption. Kagig appeared, with arms akimbo,
in our midst.
"Oh, sportmen all!" he laughed. "This day goes well!"
"Thank God you're here!" said Monty. "Now we can talk."
"That Will--what is his name?--Will Yerkees is a wonderful fighter!"
said Kagig, snapping his fingers and making the joints crack.
"He accuses you of that complaint," said I.
"Me? No. I am only enthusiast. The road behind Beirut Dagh is
rough and narrow. The Turks had hard work, and less reason for
eagerness than we. So we overcame them. They have fallen back to
where they were at dawn, and they are discouraged"--he made his
finger-joints crack again--"discouraged! The women feel very confident.
The men feet exactly as the women do! The Turks are preparing to
bivouac where they lie. They will attack no more to-day--I know them!"
"Listen, Kagig!" Monty drew us all together with a gesture of both
hands. "These Turks are too many for us, if we give them time.
Our ammunition won't last, for one thing. We must induce Mahmoud
to attack to-night--coax him up this castle road, and catch him in
a trap. It can be done. It must be done!"
"I know the right man to send to the Turk to tell him things!" Kagig
answered slowly with relish.
"That is my business!" growled Rustum Khan, but Kagig laughed at him.
"No Turk would believe a word you say--not one leetle word!" he said,
snapping his fingers. "You are a good fighter. I saw your charge
from the castle tower; it was very good. But I will send an Armenian
on this errand. Go on, Lord Monty; I know the proper man."
"That's about the long and short of it," said Monty. "If we can
induce Mahmoud to attack to-night, we've a fair chance of hitting
him so hard that he'll withdraw and let us alone. Otherwise--"
Kagig's finger-joints cracked harder than ever as his quick mind
reviewed the possibilities.
"Have you any idea what can have happened to Miss Vanderman?" I
asked him.
"Miss Vanderman? No? What? Tell me!"
He seemed astonished, and I told him slowly, lest he miss one grain
of the enormity of Maga's crime. But instead of appearing distressed
he shook his bands delightedly and rattled off a very volley of
cracking knuckles.
"That is the idea! We have Mahmoud caught! I know Mahmoud! I know
him! The man I shall choose shall tell Mahmoud that Gloria Vanderman--the
beautiful American young lady, who is outlawed because of her
fighting on behalf of Armenians--who--who could not possibly be claimed
by the American consul, on account of being outlawed--is in the castle
to-night and can be taken if he only will act quickly! Oh, how his
eyes will glitter! That Mahmoud--he buys women all the time! A
young--beautiful--athletic American girl--Mahmoud will sacrifice
three thousand men to capture her!"
Monty ground his teeth. Fred turned his back, and filled his pipe.
Rustum Khan brushed his black beard upward with both hands.
"Suppose you go now and try to find Miss Vanderman," said Monty rather
grimly to me. "If you find her, hide her out of harm's way and
communicate with Will!"
So Fred helped me on the horse and I rode back to the castle, where
I explained the details of the fighting below to the defenders, and
then rode on down to Zeitoon by the other road. It was wearing along
into the afternoon, and I had no idea which way to take to look for
Gloria; but I did have a notion that Maga Jhaere might be looking
out for me. There was a chance that she might have been in earnest
in persuading me to elope, and that if I rode alone she might show
herself--she or else Gloria's captors.
Failing signs of Maga Jhaere or her men, I proposed to ride behind
Beirut Dagh in search of Will, and to get his quick Yankee wit employed
on the situation.
So, instead of crossing the bridge into Zeitoon I guided my horse
around the base of the mountain, riding slowly so as to ease the
pain in my foot and to give plenty of opportunity to any one lying
in wait to waylay me.
It happened I guessed rightly. The track swung sharp to the left
after a while, and passed up-hill through a gorge between two cliffs
into wilder country than any I had yet seen in Armenia. From the
top of the cliff on the right-hand side a pebble was dropped and
struck the horse--then another--then a third one. I thought it best
to take no notice of that, although the horse made fuss enough.
The third pebble was followed by a shrill whistle, which I also decided
to ignore, and continued to ride on toward where a clump of scrawny
bushes marked the opening out of a narrow valley. I heard the bushes
rustle as I drew near them, and was not surprised to see Maga emerge,
looking hot, impatient and angry, although not less beautiful on
that account.
"Fool!" she began on me. "Why you wait so long? Another half-hour
and it is too late altogether! Come now! Leave the horse. Come quick!"
Wondering what important difference half an hour should make, it
occurred to me that Will was probably impatient long ago at receiving
no news of Gloria. If I judged Will rightly, he would be on his
way to look for her.
"Come quick!" commanded Maga.
"I can't climb that cliff," said I. "I've hurt my foot."
"I help you. Come!"
She stepped up close beside me to help me down, but that instant
it seemed to me that I heard more than one horse approaching.
"Quick!" she commanded, for she heard them, too, and held out her
arms to help me. "Quick! I have two men to help you walk!"
I could have reached my pistol, but so could she have reached hers,
and her hand and eye were quicker than forked lightning. Besides,
to shoot her would have been of doubtful benefit until Gloria's
whereabouts were first ascertained. She put an arm round me to pull
me from the saddle, and that settled it. I fell on her with all
my weight, throwing her backward into the bushes, and kicking the
horse in the ribs with my uninjured foot. The horse took fright
as I intended, and went galloping off in the direction of the
approaching sounds.
I had not wrestled since I was a boy at school, and then never with
such a spitting puzzle of live wires as Maga proved herself. I had
the advantage of weight, but I had told her of my injured foot, and
she worked like a she-devil to damage it further, fighting at the
same time with left and right wrist alternately to reach pistol
and knife.
I let go one wrist, snatched the pistol out of her bosom and threw
it far away. But with the free and she reached her knife, and landed
with it into my ribs. The pain of the stab sickened me; but the
knowledge that she had landed fooled her into relaxing her hold in
order to jump clear. So I got hold of both wrists again, and we
rolled over and over among the bushes, she trying like an eel to wriggle
away, and I doing my utmost to crush the strength out of her. We
were interrupted by Will's voice, and by Will's strong arms dragging
us apart.
"Catch her!" I panted. "Hold her! Don't let her go!"
"Never fear!" he laughed.
"Her men have kidnapped Gloria! Tie her hands!"
Will had two men with him, one of whom was leading my runaway horse.
They gazed open-eyed while Will tied Maga's wrists behind her back.
"Kagig--what will he say?" one of them objected, but Will laughed.
"What you do with me?" demanded Maga.
"Take you to Kagig, of course. Where's Miss Vanderman?"
Then suddenly Maga's whole appearance changed. The defiance vanished,
leaving her as if by magic supple again, subtle, suppliant, conjuring
back to memory the nights when she had danced and sung. The fire
departed from her eyes and they became wet jewels of humility with
soft love lights glowing in their depths.
"You do not want that woman!" she said slowly, smiling at Will.
"You give 'er to this fool!" She glanced at my bleeding ribs, as
if the blood were evidence of folly. "You take me, Will Yerkees!
Then I teach you all things--all about people--all about land, and
love, and animals, and water, and the air--I teach you all!"
She paused a moment, watching his face, judging the effect of words.
He stood waiting with a look of puzzled distress that betrayed regret
for her tied wrists, but accepted the necessity. Perhaps she mistook
the chivalrous distress for tenderness.
"I 'ave tried to make that man Kagig king! I 'ave tried, and tried!
But 'e is no good! If 'e 'ad obeyed me, I would 'ave made 'im king
of all Armenia! But 'e is as good as dead already, because Mahmoud
the Turk is come to finish 'im--so!" She spat conclusively. "So
now I make you king instead of 'im! You let that Gloria Vanderman
go to this fool, an' I show you 'ow to make all Armenians follow
you an' overthrow the Turks, an' conquer, an' you be king!"