THE NIGHT BEFORE DEATH.
The Angel of Death had already spread his wings over the palace of
Hassan. It was already known that on the morning of the morrow someone
of those who now dwelt beneath that roof would quit the world--only the
name of the condemned mortal was not pronounced.
Till late at evening the carpenters were at work in front of the palace
gates, and every nail knocked into the fabric of the scaffold was
audible in the rooms. When the structure was ready they covered it with
red cloth, and placed upon it a three-legged chair and by the side of
the chair leaned a bright round headsman's sword. A gigantic Kurd then
mounted the scaffolding, and stamped about the floor with his big feet
to see whether it would break down beneath him. The chair was badly
placed, he observed it, put it right and shook his head while he did so.
To think that people did not understand how to set a chair! Then he
stripped his muscular arms to the shoulder, took up the sword in his
broad palm and tested the edge of it, running his fingers along the
blade as if it were some musical instrument and could not conceal his
satisfaction. Then he made some sweeping blows with it, and as if
everything was now in perfect order, he leaned it against the chair
again and descended the ladder like a man well content with himself.
The hands of Hassan Pasha trembled unusually when that evening he locked
the golden padlocks on the hands of Azrael and Mariska. A hundred times
he tapped the key hidden in his girdle to convince himself that it had
not fallen out.
Scarcely had he left the two women alone than he came back to them again
to ascertain whether he had really locked their hands together, for he
had forgotten all about it by the time he had reached the door.
Then he came back a second time, looked all round the room, tapped the
walls repeatedly, for he was afraid or had dreamt that there was another
door somewhere which led out of the room. However, he convinced himself
at last that there was not. Then he went to the window and looked out.
There was a fall of fifteen feet to the bastions, and the ditch below
was planted with sharp stakes; all round the room there was nothing
whatever which could serve as a rope. The curtains were all of down and
feathers; the dresses were of the lightest transparent material; the
shawls which formed Azrael's turban and were twisted round her body were
the finest conceivable; and the garments the odalisk actually wore were
of silk, and so light that they stuck to the skin everywhere.
Azrael saw through the mind of the Vizier.
"Why dost though look at me?" she exclaimed aloud so that he trembled
all over; "thou dost suspect me. If thou fearest this woman whom thou
hast confided to me, take and guard her thyself."
"Azrael," said Hassan meekly, "be not angry with me, at least not now."
"Thou hast never suspected me, then?"
"Have I not always loved thee? If even thou didst want my life would I
not trust it with thee?"
"Then wander not about the room so. Go and rest!"
"Rest to-night? The Messenger of Death stands before the door."
"What care I about the Messenger of Death? I know _when_ I am going to
die! And _till_ then I will not lower my eyes before Death."
"And when will Hassan die?" asked the Vizier, seizing the hand of his
favourite and watching eagerly for her answer with parted lips.
"Thou wilt survive me a day and no longer," said Azrael. There was a
tremulousness in the intonation of her voice. She felt that what she
said was true.
The tears trickled from Hassan's face, and he covered it with his hands.
Then the imbecile old man kissed the robe of the odalisk again and
again, and folding her in his ardent embrace, actually sobbed over her.
And he kept on babbling:
"Thou wilt die before me?"
"So it is written in the book of the Future," said Azrael proudly; "so
long as thou seest me alive, have no fear of Death! But the sound of the
horn of the Angel of Death which summons me away will also be a signal
for thee to make ready."
Hassan, having dried his tears, quitted Azrael's room, and on reaching
his own, sank down upon a divan, and was immediately overcome by sleep.
When he had gone, Mariska knelt down before the bed on which her little
child was softly sleeping, and drawing a little ivory cross from her
breast, began to pray.
Azrael touched her hand.
"Pray not now, thou wilt have time to pray later."
Mariska looked at her in wonder.
"I? Are not the hours of my life numbered?"
"No. Listen to my words and act accordingly. I will free thee."
The Princess was astonished, she fancied she was dreaming.
The odalisk now drew a small fine steel file from her girdle, and,
seizing the Princess's hand, began to file the chain from off it.
After the first few rubs the sharp file bit deeply into the silver
circlet, but suddenly it stopped, and, press it as hard as she would, it
would bite the chain no more.
"What is this? it won't go on. What is the chain made of? Even if it
were of steel, another steel would file it."
Azrael hastily filed right round the whole of the link which Hassan's
smith had thought good to form of silver only on the outside, thinking
that the fraud would never be discovered, and behold, the hard
impervious substance which resisted the file was nothing but--glass.
"Ah!" said Azrael, "all the better for us, the work will be quicker;"
and seizing an iron candlestick, she broke in pieces with a single blow
the whole of the glass chain which was only covered by a light varnish
of silver, only the two locked golden manacles remained in their hands.
"We shall be ready all the sooner," she whispered to Mariska, "now we
must make haste and get you off."
But Mariska still stood before her like one who knows not what is
befalling her.
"Hast thou thought how we are to escape?" she inquired of Azrael. "The
guards of Hassan Pasha stand at every door, and all the doors have been
locked by his own hand. In front of the gates of the fortress the
sentinels have been doubled. I heard what commands he gave."
"I have nought to do with doors or guards; we are going to escape
through the window."
Mariska looked at Azrael incredulously; she fancied she had gone mad.
She could see nothing in the room by which they could descend from the
window, and below stood the thickly planted sharp stakes.
"Help me to let down this gobaea ladder!" said Azrael, and quick as a
squirrel herself, she leaped on the edge of the great porcelain tub, and
thrust aside the vigorous shoots of the plant from its natural ladder
within, which grew right up to the roof and thence descended again to
its own roots.
Mariska began to see that her companion knew what she was about. She
hastened to give her assistance, lowered the pliable trunk, and,
looking round to see if anyone was watching, bent the branches towards
the window.
But still it was too short. The longest creepers only reached to the
edges of the palisade, and one could not count upon the green sprouts at
the end of the creepers. Even if the ladder which formed the flower were
attached to it, it would still not reach to the bottom of the trench.
Azrael looked around the room to see if she could find anything.
Suddenly she had hit upon it.
"Give me those scissors," she said to Mariska, and when the latter had
returned to her, the odalisk had already let down her flowing tresses.
Four long locks as black as night, reaching below her knee, the crown of
a woman's beauty which make men rejoice in her, were twining there on
the floor.
"Give me the scissors!" she said to Mariska.
"Wouldst thou cut off thy hair?" asked the Princess, holding back.
"Yes, yes, what does it matter? It is wanted for the rope, and it will
be quite strong enough."
"Rather cut off mine!" said Mariska. With noble emulation she took from
her head her small pearl haube, and loosened her own tresses, which, if
not so long and so full of colour, at least rivalled those of her
comrade in quantity.
"Good; the two together will make the rope stronger," said Azrael; and
with that the two ladies began clipping off their luxurious locks one by
one with the little scissors. One marvellously beautiful tress after
another flowed from the head of the odalisk. When the last had fallen, a
tear-drop also followed it.
Then she picked up the splendid tresses and began plaiting them together
into strong knots.
"Wouldst thou ever have thought," said Azrael, "that the locks of thy
hair would be so intermingled?"
Mariska gratefully pressed the hand of the odalisk.
"How can I ever thank you for your goodness?"
"Think not of it. Fate orders it so--and someone else," she muttered
softly.
And now the attached ladder was long enough to reach the bottom of the
palisades. Then they pitched down all the pillows and cushions of the
divans till they covered the sharp stakes, so that their points might
not hurt the fugitives. Moreover, Azrael tied the tough shoots of the
gobaea to the cross piece of the window with the wraps of her turban and
girdle.
"And now let me go first," said the odalisk, when all was ready; "if the
branches of the creeper do not break beneath me, then thou canst come
boldly after me, for thou and the child together are not heavier than I
am."
The sky was dark and obscured by clouds; no one saw a white shape
descending from one of the black windows of the fortress down the wall,
lower and lower, till at last it got to the bottom and vanished in the
depths of the ditch.
Mariska was waiting above there with a beating heart till the odalisk
had descended; a tug at the gobaea-rope informed her that Azrael was
already below, and Mariska could come after her.
A supplicating sigh to God ascended from the anxious bosom of the
Princess at that supreme moment of trial; then she fastened to her
breast with the folds of her garment the little one, who, fortunately,
was still sound asleep, and stepping from the window entrusted herself
to the yawning abyss below.
And, indeed, she had need of the most confident trust in God during this
hazardous experiment, for if the child had awoke, the Komparajis pacing
the bastions would have heard his tearful little wail at once, and it
would have been all over with the fugitives.
Nothing happened. Mariska reached the ditch in safety, together with her
child. Azrael assisted her to descend, and then they began to creep
along among the trenches on the river's bank. It was not advisable to
clamber upon the trenches, as there they might have encountered a
sentinel at any moment.
At last they came to the end of the ditch where two bastions joined
together, forming a little oblique opening, through which one could look
down on the town of Pesth.
Before the little opening stood a Komparaji leaning on his long lance.
As his back was turned towards them, he did not notice the women, while
they started back in terror when they saw him. The man stood right in
front of the opening completely barring their way, and was gaping at
Pesth, facing the steep declivity.
Azrael quickly caught Mariska's hand and whispered in her ear:
"Remain here! Sit down with the child, and see that he does not make a
noise."
And with that, quitting her companion and pressing against the wall of
the bastion, she slowly and noiselessly began creeping along behind the
back of the Komparaji.
The sentinel remained standing there, as motionless as a statue, gazing
at the Danube flying in front of him, when suddenly, like the panther
leaping upon its prey, the odalisk leaped upon the Komparaji, and before
he had time to call out, pushed him so violently that he plunged over
into the abyss.
Then quickly seizing Mariska's hand, the odalisk exclaimed:
"And now forward quickly!"
Like two spirits the forms of the women flitted across the bastions. In
Azrael's hand was the key of the castle garden; in a few moments they
reached the subterranean staircase, and when Azrael had locked the door
behind her she turned to Mariska and said:
"Now thou canst pray, for thou art saved."
* * * * *
The report had already spread through the two towns that early at dawn
someone would be executed, and here and there people whispered that it
would be the Princess of Moldavia.
The population living outside the town were able to give full reins to
their imagination, for the gates of the fortress, by Hassan Pasha's
command, were already locked fast at six o'clock in the evening, and
after that time nobody was allowed to enter out or in except the
sentinels outside, and these only by the Szombat gate.
The later grew the hour the more numerous became the crowd assembled in
front of the gates thus unwontedly bolted and barred, consisting for the
most part of people who lived inside the town of every rank, who thus
waited patiently for the chance of reaching their houses again. Knocking
at the gates was useless, the guards had been ordered to take no notice
of such demonstrations.
The darker grew the night, the more numerous became the throng before
the gate, and the more closely they pressed together the plainer it
became to them all that they would have to sleep outside.
The largest concourse was in front of the Fejervar gate, for that was
the chief entrance.
It was already close upon midnight, when some dozen horsemen, in the
uniforms of Spahis, arrived at the gate, forcing their way through the
throng, led, apparently, by a handsome youth (it was too dark to
distinguish very clearly), who thundered at the gate with the butt-end
of his lance.
"You may bang away at it till morning," said a cobbler of Buda, who was
lying prone, chawing bacon at his ease, "they won't let you in."
"Then why are you all here?" cried the youth in the purest Hungarian.
"Because they locked us out at six o'clock in the evening, and would not
let us in."
"Why was that?"
"They say that at dawn of day someone in the fortress is to be
executed."
"Who is it?" said the youth, visibly affected.
"Why, the Princess of Moldavia, of course."
"Oh, that cannot be in any case," exclaimed the leader of the Spahis. "I
have just come from the Sultan, and I have brought with me his firman,
in which he summons her to Stambul; not a hair of her head is to be
crumpled."
"Then it will be just as well, sir, if you try to get into the fortress,
for it may be you have come with the sermon after the festival is over,
and that letter may remain in your pocket if once they cut off her
head."
The youth seemed for a moment to be reflecting, then, turning to those
who stood around, he said:
"Through which gate do they admit the soldiers on guard?"
"Through the Szombat gate."
The youth immediately turned his horse's head, and beckoned to his
comrades to follow him.
But at the first words he had uttered, a figure enwrapped in a mantle
had emerged from a corner of the gate, and when he began to talk about
the Princess and the firman, this figure, with great adroitness, had
crept quite close to him, and when he turned round had swiftly followed
him till, having made its way through the throng, it overtook him, and,
placing its hand on the horseman's knee, said in a low voice: "Toekoely!"
"Hush!" hissed the horseman, with an involuntary start, and bending his
head so that he might look into the face of his interlocutor, whereupon
his wonder was mingled with terror, and throwing himself back in his
saddle, he exclaimed: "Prince! can it be you?"
For Prince Ghyka stood before him.
"Could I be anywhere else when they want to kill my wife?" he said
mournfully.
"Do not be cast down, there will be plenty of time till to-morrow
morning. I have plenty of confidence in my good star. When I really wish
for a thing I generally get it even if the Devil stand in the opposite
camp against me, and never have I wished for anything so much as to save
Mariska."
The Prince, with tears in his eyes, pressed the hand of the youth, and
did not take it at all amiss of him that he called his wife Mariska.
"Well, of course, you have brought the firman with you, and if you come
with the suite of the Sultan----"
"Firman, my friend? I have not brought a bit of a firman with me, and
those who are with me are my good kinsfolk in Turkish costumes, worthy
Magyar chums everyone of them, who have agreed to help me through with
whatsoever I take it into my head to set about; but I have got something
about me which can make firmans and athnames, and whatever else I may
require, whether it be the key of a dungeon, or a marshal's baton, or a
prince's sceptre--a golden knapsack, I mean."
"And what are you going to get with that?"
"Everything. I will corrupt the sentinels so that they will let me into
the fortress; and once let me get in, and I'll either make Hassan Pasha
sell Olaj Beg, or Olaj Beg sell Hassan Pasha. If a good word be of no
avail I will use threats, and if my whole scheme falls through, Heaven
only knows what I won't do. I'll chop Hassan Pasha and his guards into a
dozen pieces, or I'll set the castle on fire, or I'll blow up the powder
magazine--in a word, I won't desist till I have brought out your
consort."
"How can I thank you for your noble enthusiasm?"
"You mustn't thank me, my friend; you must thank Flora Teleki, who is
your wife's friend, and expects this of me."
"Then you are re-engaged?"
"No, my friend. Helen is my bride. Ah, that is the only real woman in
the whole round world. I should be with her now if I were not engaged in
this business, and as soon as I have finished with it, the pair of us
will give you a wedding the like of which has never yet been seen in
Hungary."
The Prince sadly bowed his head. He means well, he thought, but there is
a very poor chance of his succeeding. The mercurial youth seems to have
no idea that within an hour he will be jeopardizing his head by engaging
in a foolhardy enterprise which runs counter to the whole policy of the
Turkish Empire. But Toekoely's mind never impeded his heart. His motto
always was: "_Virtus nescia freni_."
"Then what do you intend to do?" Toekoely casually asked Ghyka, just as if
he considered it the most extraordinary thing in the world to find him
there.
"I also want to save Mariska, and I have hopes of doing so," said the
Prince.
"How? Tell me! Perchance we may be able to unite our efforts."
"Scarcely, I think. My plan is simply to give myself up instead of my
wife. They would execute her for my fault; it is only right that I
should appear on the scaffold and take her place."
"A bad idea!" exclaimed Toekoely, "a stupid notion. If you deliver
yourself up, they will seize you as well as your wife and do for the
pair of you. I know a dodge worth two of that. Take horse along with us,
and let us make our way into the fortress sword in hand; we shall do
much more that way than if we went hobbling in on crutches. Luck belongs
to the audacious."
"You know, Toekoely, that I do not much rely on Turkish humanity; and I am
quite prepared, if I deliver myself up, for them to kill both me and
her; but at least we shall die together, and that will be some
consolation."
"It is no good talking like that," cried the young Magyar impatiently.
"Stop! A good idea occurs to me. Yes, and it will be better if you come
with us and we all act in common. We will say openly at the gate that we
bring with us the fugitive Prince of Moldavia as a captive. At the mere
rumour of such a thing they will instantly admit us, not only into the
fortress, but into the presence of Hassan likewise. The Pasha knows me
pretty well, and if I tell him that I bring you a captive, he will
believe me, or I'll break his head for him. He will be delighted to see
you. But I will not give you up. I am responsible for you, and must
mount guard over you. This will make it necessary to postpone the
execution, for we shall have to write to Stambul that the husband has
fallen into our hands, and inquire whether the wife is to be sacrificed,
and we shall have time to elope ten times over before we get a reply."
The Prince hesitated. If this desperate expedient had been a mere joke,
Toekoely could not have spoken of it with greater nonchalance. The Prince
gave him his hand upon it.
"The only question now is: which is the easiest way into the fortress.
Let us draw near the first sentinel whom we find on the bridge or in the
garden and wait until they change guard."
The horsemen thereupon surrounded the Prince as if he was their captive,
and escorted him along the river's bank.
It was late. On the black surface of the Danube rocked the shapeless
Turkish vessels, their sails creaking in the blast of the strong south
wind.
It was scarce possible to see ahead at all, nevertheless the little band
of adventurers, constantly pushing forward, kept looking around to see
where the sentinels were, keeping very quiet themselves that they might
catch the watchword.
Suddenly a cry was heard, but a cry which ended abruptly, as if the
mouth from which it proceeded had been clapped to in mid-utterance.
On reaching the walls of the palace garden, however, one of them
perceived that an armed figure was standing in the little wicket gate.
"There's the sentinel!" said Toekoely.
"The rascal must certainly be asleep to let us come right up to him
without challenging us," said Toekoely; and he approached the armed man,
who still stood motionless in the gate, and addressed him in the Turkish
tongue:
"Hie, Timariot, or whoever you are! Are you guarding this gate?"
"You see that I am."
"Then why don't you challenge those who approach you?"
"That's none of my business."
"Then what is your business?"
"To stand here till I am relieved."
"And when will they relieve you?"
"Any time."
"Does the relief watch come by this gate?"
"Not by this gate."
"And by which gate can one get into the fortress?"
"By no gate."
"You give very short answers, my friend, but we must get at Hassan Pasha
this very night without fail."
"You must learn to fly then."
"Don't joke with me, sir! I have very important tidings for the Vizier;
you may possibly find it easier to get into the fortress than we could.
You shall receive from me a hundred ducats on the spot if you inform the
Pasha that I, Emeric Toekoely, bring with me as a captive the fugitive
Prince of Moldavia, and the Vizier himself will certainly reward you for
it richly."
The Count had no sooner mentioned his name, and pointed at the captive
prince, than the Turkish sentinel quickly came forth from beneath the
archway, and Toekoely and Ghyka, in astonishment, exclaimed with one
voice:
"Feriz Beg!"
"Yes, 'tis I. Keep still. You want to save Mariska, so do I."
"So it is," said Toekoely. "I promised the woman I do not love that I
would do it, and I will keep my promise. You need have no secrets from
us, for we shall require your assistance."
"Your secrets are nought to me."
The Prince listened with downcast head to the conversation of the two
young men; then he intervened, took their hands, and said with deep
emotion:
"Feriz! Toekoely! Once upon a time we faced each other as antagonists, and
now as self-sacrificing friends we hold each other's hands. I don't want
to be smaller than you. A scaffold has been put up in the courtyard of
the fortress of Buda, that scaffold awaits a victim, whoever it may be,
for the sword which the Sultan draws in his wrath will not remain
unsatisfied. That scaffold was prepared for my wife, you must let me
take her place. I am well aware that whoever liberates her must be
prepared to perish instead of her. Let me perish. You, Feriz, can easily
get into the fortress. Tell Hassan that the scaffold shall have the
husband instead of the wife--let him surrender the wife for the
husband."
"Leave the scaffold alone, Prince. He who deserves it most shall get to
the scaffold."
"Don't listen to the Prince!" said Toekoely to Feriz; "he has lost his
head evidently, as he wants to make a present of it to Hassan. All I ask
of you is to let me into the fortress; once let me get inside, and no
harm shall be done. I was born with a caul, so good-luck goes with me."
"Good. Wait here till the muezzin proclaims midnight, which will not be
long, I fancy, as the night is already well advanced; meanwhile, keep
your eye on those horsemen below there."
The men fancied Feriz wanted to join the sentinels when the watch was
relieved, and taking him at his word, hid themselves and their horses
behind the lofty bank.
The night was now darker than ever, only here and there a lofty star
looked down upon them from among the wind-swept clouds.
* * * * *
Hassan had a restless night. Horrible dreams awoke him every instant,
and yet he never wholly awoke, one phantom constantly supplanted the
other in his agitated brain.
The raging blast broke open one of the windows and beat furiously
against the wall, so that the coloured glasses crashed down upon the
floor.
Aroused by the uproar, and gazing but half awake at the window, he saw
the long curtain slowly approaching him as if some Dzhin were inside and
had come thither to terrify him.
"Who is that?" cried Hassan in terror, laying his hand on his sword.
It was no one. It was only the wind which had stiffened out the
curtains, expanding them like a banner and blowing gustily into the
room.
Hassan seized the curtain, pulled it away from the window, fastened it
up by its golden tassels, and laid him down again. The wind returned to
torment him and again worried the curtain till it had succeeded in
unravelling the tassels, and again blew the curtain into the room.
And then the tapestries of the door and the divans began fluttering and
flapping as if someone was tugging away at their ends, and the flame of
the night-lamp on the tripod flickered right and left, casting galloping
shadows on the wall.
"What is that? Have the devils been let loose in this palace?" Hassan
asked himself in amazement.
The closed doors jarred in the blast as if someone was banging at them
from the outside, and every now and then the bang of a window-shutter
would respond to the howling of the blast.
Men have curious supernatural faculties through which their minds are
suddenly illuminated. At that moment the idea flashed through Hassan's
brain that, in the apartments of the wing beyond, a window must needs be
open, which was the cause of the unwonted current of air which fluttered
the curtains of his palace and made the doors rattle, and this window
could be none other than Azrael's, and if it were open, then the two
women must have escaped.
At this horrible idea he quickly leaped out on to the floor, seized his
sword, which was lying at his bedside, and, bursting open the door,
rushed like a madman through all the apartments to Azrael's dormitory.
At the instant of their escape Azrael had turned over the long divan and
placed it right across the room in such a way that one end of it was
jammed against the door, whilst the other end pressed against the wall,
so that when Hassan tried to open the door, he found it impossible to do
so.
Everything was now quite clear to him.
He called to nobody to open the door; he knew that they had escaped. In
the fury of despair he snatched a battle-axe from the wall and began to
break open the hard oaken door, so that the whole palace resounded with
the noise of the blows, and the guards and the domestics all came
running up together.
Having beaten in the door at last, Hassan rushed into the room, cast a
glance around, and even _his_ eyes could see that his slave had flown.
Howling with rage he rushed to the window, and when he saw the dependent
branches of the gobaea, he beat his forehead with his fists and laughed
aloud as if something had broken loose inside him.
"They have run off!" he yelled; "they have escaped, they have stolen
their lives, and they have stolen my life, too. Run after them into
every corner of the globe, pursue them, bring them back tied together,
tied together so that the blood may flow through their fingers. Oh,
Azrael, Azrael! How have I deserved this of thee?"
And with that the old man burst into tears, and perceiving the
odalisk's girdle on the window-frame, to which the plant was attached,
he took it down, kissed it hundreds of times, hid his tearful face in
it, and collapsed senseless on the floor.
* * * * *
"Hasten, Princess, hasten!"
The odalisk pressed her companion's hand, and dragged her down along the
bushy hillside. And now they had reached the hollow forming the entrance
to the underground passage which terminated at the gates of the garden
on the banks of the Danube.
The odalisk had succeeded in filching the keys of the door of this
secret passage from Hassan. While she was trying which of the two it was
that belonged to the lock of the inner door, a cry resounded through the
stillness of the night. "Hassan!" exclaimed the two girls together. They
had recognised the voice.
"They have discovered our escape," said Azrael.
"Oh, God! do not leave me!" cried Mariska, pressing her hands together.
"My child!"
Azrael quickly opened the grating door. It took a few moments, and
during that time a commotion was audible in the town, no doubt caused by
the cry of Hassan. Cries of alarm and consternation spread from bastion
to bastion, the whole garrison was aroused, and there was a confused
murmur within the fortress.
"Let us hasten!" cried Azrael, quickly opening the door and dragging
after her the Princess into the blind-black corridor.
At that moment a cannon-shot thundered from the fortress as an
alarm-signal.
Mariska, at the sound of the shot, collapsed in terror at Azrael's feet,
and lay motionless in the corridor, still holding her child fast clasped
in her arms.
"Hah! the woman has fainted," cried the odalisk in alarm; "we shall
both perish here," she cried in her despair.
The din in the fortress grew louder every instant, from every bastion
the signal-guns thundered.
"No, no, we must not perish!" exclaimed the heroine, and with a strength
multiplied by the extremity of the danger, she caught up the moaning
woman and child in her arms, and raising them to her bosom began making
her way with them along the covered corridor.
Pitch darkness engulfed everything around them; the odalisk groped her
way along by the feel of the wet, sinuous walls, stumbling from time to
time beneath the burden of the dead weight in her arms, but at every
fresh shot she started forward again and went on without resting.
Onwards, ever onwards!--till the last gasp! till the last heart-throb!
The awakened child also began to cry.
Azrael's knees tottered, her bosom heaved beneath the double load, her
staring eyes saw nothing; and the world was as dark before her soul as
it was before her eyes.
Heavy was the load upon her shoulder; but heavier still was the thought
in her heart that this woman whom she was saving at the risk of her own
life was the darling of him whom she loved herself, yet save her she
must, for she had promised to do so.
At every step she felt her strength diminishing; with swimming head she
staggered against the wall, the steps seemed to have no end; if only she
could hold out till she reached the door with her, and then for a moment
might see Feriz Beg and hear from his lips the words: "Well done!"--then
Israfil, the Angel of Death might come with his flaming sword.
For some time she had gathered from the hollower resonance of the steps
in the darkness that she was approaching the door; rallying her
remaining strength, she tottered forward a few paces with her load, and
when the latch of the door was already in her hand, her knees gave way
beneath her, and along with the Princess and the child, she fell in a
heap on the threshold, being just able to shove the key into the lock
and turn it twice.
* * * * *
Feriz Beg, with the Magyar nobles, plunged again beneath the shade of
the deep arch of the gate of the fortress garden and with wrapt
attention listened for the muezzin to proclaim midnight. It was then
that Azrael had said she would come.
It never occurred to him that the woman could not come, so deeply had he
looked into her heart that he felt sure she would fulfil her promise.
If only the muezzin would proclaim midnight from the mosque.
At last a cry sounded through the stillness of the night, but it was not
the voice of the muezzin from the mosque, but Hassan's yell of terror
from the fortress window and the din which immediately followed it,
proclaiming that there was danger.
Feriz's heart was troubled, but he never moved from the spot. He knew
right well what that noise meant. They had tried to help the Princess to
escape and her escape was discovered.
"What is that noise?" asked the Prince apprehensively, sticking up his
head.
Feriz did not want to alarm him.
"It is nothing," he answered. "Some one has stolen away on the bastions,
perhaps, and they are pursuing him."
Then the first cannon-shot resounded.
Feriz, for the first time in his life, was agitated at the sound of a
cannon.
"That is an alarm-signal," cried Toekoely, drawing his sword.
"Keep quiet!" whispered Feriz, "perhaps they are shooting at the people
who are thronging the gates."
Nevertheless the shots were repeated from every bastion; the tumult,
the uproar increased; a tattoo was beaten, the trumpets rang out and a
whole concourse of people could be seen running along the bastions with
torches and flashing swords in their hands.
"They are pursuing someone!" cried the Prince, and unable to endure it
any longer, he leaped upon the bank.
"I know not what it is," stammered Feriz, and a cold shudder ran through
his body.
Ghyka grasped his sword, and would have rushed up the hill as if obeying
some blind instinct.
"What would you do?" whispered Feriz, grasping the hand of the Prince,
and pulling him back by force under the gate.
For a few moments they stood there in a dead silence, the tumult, the
uproar seemed to be coming nearer and nearer--if it were to overtake
them?
"Hush!" whispered Feriz, holding his ear close to the door. He seemed to
hear footsteps approaching from within and the plaintive wail of a
child.
A few moments afterwards there was a fumbling at the latch and a key was
thrust into the lock and twice turned. Feriz hastened to open the door
and the senseless forms of the two women fell at his feet.
The youth quickly dragged the Prince after him, and recognising Mariska,
who still lay in the embrace of Azrael, he placed her in her husband's
arms together with the weeping child.
"Here are your wife and child," said he, "and now hasten!"
"Mariska!" exclaimed the Prince, beside himself; and embracing the child
whom he now saw for the first time, he kissed the rosy face of the one
and the pallid face of the other again and again.
That voice, that kiss, that embrace awoke the fainting woman, and as
soon as she opened her eyes, she quickly, passionately, flung her arms
round her husband's neck while he held the child on his arm. No sound
came from her lips, all her life was in her heart.
"Quick! quick!" Feriz whispered to them. "Get into this skiff. When you
get to the other side it will be time to rejoice in each other; till
then we have cause to fear, for the whole of the Buda side of the river
is on the alert. But I'll look after them here. On the other bank my
servant is awaiting you with the swift horses; mention my name, and he
will hand them over to you. On the banks of the Raab you will find
another of my servants with fresh relays. Choose your horses, and then
to Nograd as fast as you can. Thence it will be easy to escape into
Poland. Do not linger. Every moment is precious. Forward!"
With that he conducted the fugitives to the skiff which was ready
waiting for them, and at the bottom of which two muscular servants of
his were lying out of sight. These helped them in, Feriz undid the rope,
and at a few strokes of the oars they were already some distance from
the shore.
Then only did Feriz breathe freely, as if a huge load had fallen from
his heart.
"May they not pursue them?" inquired Toekoely anxiously.
"They may," returned Feriz; "but they cannot transport the horses in
boats, as the fugitives now sit in the only boat here; the bridge, too,
has been removed and they will hardly be able to build another in time
on such a night as this."
The fugitives had now reached the middle of the Danube, when Mariska,
who had scarce been herself for joy and terror in her half-unconscious
state, suddenly bethought her of her companion who had saved her with
such incomprehensible self-sacrifice and energy, and standing up in the
skiff waved her handkerchief as if she would thereby make up for the
leave-taking which she had neglected in her joy and haste.
"What are they doing?" cried Feriz angrily, seeing that they were
attracting attention in consequence.
Fortunately the night was dark and the people rushing down from the
bastions could not see the skiff making its way across the Danube;
presently its shape even began to vanish out of sight of the young eyes
that were watching it.
Feriz looked up to the sky with a transfigured face. Two stars, close
together, looked down very brightly from amidst the fleeting clouds. Did
he not see Aranka's eyes in that twin stellar radiance?
Toekoely took the hands of the young hero and pressed them hard.
"Once before we stood face to face," he said with a feeling voice, which
came from the bottom of his heart, "then I prevailed, now you prevail.
God be with you!"
Then the young Count mounted his horse, and beckoning to his comrades,
galloped off in the direction of Gellerthegy.
Feriz stood there alone on the shore with folded arms and tried to
distinguish once more the shape of the skiff already vanishing in the
darkness.
Nobody thought of the poor odalisk who had saved them.
All at once the youth felt the contact of a burning hand upon his arm.
Broken in mind and body, the odalisk dragged herself to his knees, and
seizing his hand drew it to her breast and to her lips. She could not
speak, she could only sob and weep.
Feriz looked at her compassionately.
"Thou hast done well," he said gently.
The girl embraced the youth's knees, and it was well with her that he
suffered her to do so.
"I thank thee for keeping thy word," said Feriz; "look now! that woman
was not my beloved. She has a husband who loves her."
Indescribably sweet were these words to the damsel. In them she found
the sweetest reward for her sufferings and self-sacrifice. Then it was
not love after all which made Feriz save this woman through her!
The uproar meanwhile was extending along the shore, the pursuers could
see that they were on the track of the fugitives.
"We must be off," said Feriz; "wouldst thou like to come with me?"
"Come with him!" What a thought was that for Azrael! To be able to live
under the same roof with him!
Yet she answered: "I will not come."
It occurred to her that if she were found with the dear youth he would
perish because of her. And besides, she knew that the invitation was due
not to love but to magnanimous gratitude.
"I want to go over to the island," she said in a faint voice.
"Then I'll help thee to find thy skiff," said the youth, extending his
hand to the odalisk to raise her up.
She was still kneeling on the ground before him.
She fixed upon him her large eyes swimming with tears, and whispered in
a tremulous voice:
"Feriz! Thou wert wont to reward those damsels who sacrificed themselves
for thee, who died nobly and valiantly because they loved thee. Have not
I also won that reward?"
Feriz Beg sadly lowered his head as if it afflicted him to think of the
significance of these words; then softly, gently, he bent over the
damsel, and drawing her lovely head towards him, pressed a warm, feeling
kiss on her marble forehead.
The odalisk trembled with rapture beneath the load of that more than
earthly sensation of pleasure, and leaping up and stretching her arms to
Heaven, she whispered:
"I am happy!--For the first time in my life. Now I may go--and die."
Feriz, tenderly embracing her, led the damsel to her skiff. Then she
stopped suddenly, and leaning her head against the shoulder of the
youth, murmured in his ear:
"When thou reachest thy kiosk, lie not down to sleep! Sit at thy window
and look towards the island in the direction of sunrise. The night will
be over ere long, and the dawn will come sooner than at other times.
When thou seest this portent think of me and say for me the prayer which
is used before the cold dawn, and say from thy heart: 'That woman does
penance for her sins!'"
The odalisk felt two tear-drops falling upon her cheek. They fell from
the eyes of the youth.
She could never feel happier in this world than she felt now.
A few minutes later the skiff was flying over the rocking waves.