THE TURKISH DEATH.
In the gate of the Pasha of Grosswardein, amidst the gaping throng of
armed retainers there, could be seen a pale wizened Moslem idly
sprawling on the threshold, apparently regardless of everything, but
sometimes looking up, cat-like, with half-shut, dreamy eyes, and at such
times he would smile craftily to himself.
Suddenly a handsome, chivalrous youth galloped out of the gate before
whom the soldiers bowed down to the earth; this was the Pasha's
favourite horseman, Feriz Beg, who had just arrived from Stambul.
The Beg, as if he had only by accident caught sight of the sprawling
Moslem, turned towards him, tapped him on the shoulder with his lance,
and while the latter, feigning ignorance and astonishment, gazed up at
him, he drew nearer to him and said:
"What Zuelfikar! dost thou not recognise me?"
The person so addressed bowed himself to the earth.
"Allah is gracious! By the soul of the Prophet, is it thou, gracious
sir?" and with that he got up and began walking by the side of the horse
of the Beg, who beckoned him to follow.
"I have lost a good deal of money and a good many horses over the
dice-box at Stambul, Zuelfikar," said Feriz Beg, "so I have come into
these parts to rehabilitate my purse a little. Where dost thou go
a-robbing now, Zuelfikar?"
"La illah, il Allah! God is gracious and Mohammed is His holy Prophet,"
said Zuelfikar, rolling his eyes heavenwards.
"A truce to this piety, Zuelfikar; ye renegades, with unendurable
shamelessness, are always glorifying the Prophet, born Turks don't
mention him half as much. What I ask thee is, where dost thou go
a-plundering now of nights?"
"I thank thee, gracious sir," answered Zuelfikar, making a wooden picture
of his face, "my wife is quite well, and there is nothing amiss with me
either."
"Zuelfikar, I value in thee that peculiarity of thine which enables thee
to become deaf whenever thou desirest it, but I possess a very good
remedy for that evil, and if thou wilt I will cure thee of it."
Zuelfikar dodged the lance which was turned in his direction, and said
with a Pharisaical air:
"What does your honour deign to inquire of me?"
"Didst thou hear what I said to thee just now?"
"Dost thou mean: where I went robbing? I swear by the beard of the
Prophet that I go nowhither for such a purpose."
"I know very well, thou cat, that thou goest nowhither where there is
trouble, but thou dost ferret out where a fat booty lies hidden, and
thou leadest our Spahis on the track of it, wherefore they give thee
also a portion of it; so answer me at once whom thou art wont to visit
at night, as otherwise I shall open a hole in thy head."
"But, sir, betray me not; for the Spahis would tie me to a horse's tail
and the Pasha would impale me. Thou knowest that he does not allow
robbery, but if it happens he looks through his fingers."
"So far from betraying thee I would go with thee, I only know one mode
of getting hold of booty. While the others storm a village, I stand a
little distance off at the farther end of the village; whoever has
anything to save always makes for the farther end of the village, and so
falls into my hands."
The renegade began to feel in his element.
"My good sir, at night the Spahis will go to Elesd. There dwell rich
Wallachians away from the high road. They have never had blackmail
levied on them and there's lots of gold and silver there; if we get a
good haul, do not betray me."
"But may we not fall in with the soldiers of Ladislaus Szekely?"
"Nay, sir," said Zuelfikar, winking his eyes, "they are far from here. Do
not betray thy faithful servant."
Feriz Beg put spurs to his horse and galloped off. Zuelfikar sat down in
the gate again, very sleepily blinking his eyes, and smiling
mysteriously.
Towards evening four-and-twenty Spahis crept out of the fortress and
made off in the direction of Elesd. Feriz Beg kept an eye upon them, and
when they had disappeared in the woods he aroused his Albanian horsemen
and quietly went after them.
It was past midnight when Feriz Beg and his company reached the hillside
covering Elesd. The Spahis had already plundered the place as was
evident from the distant uproar, the loud shrieks, the pealing of bells,
and a couple of flaming haystacks which the mauraders had set on fire to
assist their operations.
Feriz Beg posted his Albanian horsemen at the mouth of a narrow pass,
divided them into four bands and ordered them all to remain as quiet as
possible and wait patiently till the Spahis returned.
After some hours of plundering the distant tumult died away, and instead
of it could be heard approaching a sound of loud wrangling. Presently,
in the deep valley below, the Spahis became visible, staggering under
the stolen goods, dispersed into twos and threes and quarrelling
together over their booty.
Feriz Beg let them come into the narrow pass and when they were quite
unsuspiciously at the height of their dispute, he suddenly blew his horn
and then suddenly fell upon them from all sides with his Albanian
horsemen, surrounded and attacked the marauders, and before they had had
time to use their weapons began to cut them down. The tussle was a
short one. Not one of the Albanians fell, not one of the Spahis escaped.
Feriz dried his sword and leaving the dead Spahis on the road, galloped
back with his band to Grosswardein.
In the Pasha's gate he again encountered Zuelfikar and, shaking his fist
at him, dismounted from his horse.
"Thou dog! thou hast betrayed us to Ladislaus Szekely; the Spahis have
all been cut down."
Zuelfikar turned yellow with fear. It is true that he usually did
something like this: when the Spahis would only promise him a small
portion of the booty, he would for a few ducats extra let the Hungarian
generals know of their coming, when one or two of them would bite the
dust and the rest return without the booty. Last night also he had told
the captain of Klausenberg of this particular adventure, but the
commandant had been unable to make any use of it, for it had been the
Prince's birthday, and he had been obliged to treat the soldiers.
Zuelfikar felt a lump in his throat when he heard that all twenty-four of
the Spahis had perished, and he immediately quitted the fortress and
made his way to Klausenberg through the woods as hard as he could pelt.
Feriz Beg, however, in great wrath, paid a visit upon the Pasha.
"Your Excellency," said he, assuming a very severe countenance, "this is
the sort of allies we have. Last night I went on an excursion, taking
four-and-twenty Spahis with me, in order to purchase horses for myself
in the neighbourhood. We dealt honourably with the dealers. I entrusted
the horses to the Spahis and myself galloped on in front. In a narrow
pass the soldiers of Ladislaus Szekely laid an ambush for the Spahis,
surrounded them and cut them off to a man. When I came to their
assistance there they were all lying slain and the slayers had trotted
off on my own good steeds. Most gracious sir, that is treachery, our
own allies do us a mischief. I will not put up with it, but if thou dost
not give me complete satisfaction, I will go myself to Klausenberg and
put every one of them to the sword, from Master Michael Apafi down to
Master Ladislaus Szekely."
Ajas Pasha, whose special favourite Feriz Beg was, laughed loudly at
this demonstration, patted the youth's cheek, and said in a consolatory
voice:
"Nay, my dear son, do not so, nor waste the fire of thy enthusiasm upon
these infidels. I have a short method of doing these things--leave it to
me."
And thereupon he sent for an aga, and gave him a command in the
following terms:
"Sit on thy horse and go quickly to Klausenberg. There go to the
commandant, Ladislaus Szekely, and speak to him thus: Ajas Pasha wishes
thee good-day, thou unbelieving giaour, and sends thee this message:
Inasmuch as thy dog-headed servants during the night last past have
treacherously fallen upon the men of Feriz Beg and cut down
four-and-twenty of them, now therefore I require of thee to search for
and send me instantly these murderers, otherwise the whole weight of my
wrath shall descend upon thine own head. Moreover, in the place of the
horses stolen from him, see that thou send to me without delay just as
many good chargers of Wallachia, and beware lest I come for them myself,
for then thou wilt have no cause to thank me."
When the aga had learnt the message by heart he withdrew, and Ajas Pasha
turned to Feriz Beg complacently:
"Trouble not thyself further," said he, "in a couple of days the
murderers will be here."
"I want the Prince to intercede for them himself," said Feriz Beg.
"And dost thou not believe then that the little finger of the Sublime
Porte is able to give thee the lives of a few giaour hirelings, when it
sends forth thousands to perish on the battle-field?"
"And I will venture to bet a hundred ducats that Master Ladislaus
Szekely will reply that his soldiers were not out of the fortress at all
last night."
"I am sorry for thy hundred ducats, my dear son, but I will take thy bet
all the same; and, if I lose, I will cut just as many pieces out of the
skin of Master Ladislaus Szekely."
* * * * *
The terrified Zuelfikar was almost at his last gasp by the time he
reached the courtyard of Master Ladislaus Szekely, where, greatly
exhausted, he obtained an audience of the commandant, who was
resplendent in a great mantle trimmed with galloon and adorned with
rubies and emeralds. This love of display was the good old gentleman's
weak point. He had the most beautiful collection of precious stones in
all Transylvania; the nearest way to his heart was to present him with a
rare and beautiful jewel.
He was engaged in furbishing up a necklace of chrysoprases and jacinths
with a hare's foot when the renegade breathlessly rushed through the
door unable to utter a word for sheer weariness. Ladislaus Szekely
fancied that Zuelfikar had come for the reward of his treachery, and very
bluntly hastened to anticipate him.
"I was unable to make any use of your information, Zuelfikar; it was the
Prince's name-day, and the soldiers were not at liberty to leave the
town."
"How can your honour say so," stuttered Zuelfikar; "you had
four-and-twenty Spahis cut down at Elesd. What fool told your honour to
kill them? You should merely have deprived them of their booty."
Ladislaus Szekely let fall his necklace in his fright and gazed at the
renegade with big round eyes.
"Don't be a fool, Zuelfikar, my son! Not a soul was outside this fortress
to-day or yesterday."
"Your honour has been well taught what to say," said the renegade, with
the insolence of fury; "you put on as innocent a face over the business
as a new-born lamb."
"I swear to you I don't understand a word of your nonsense."
"Of course, of course! Capital! Excellent! But your honour would do well
to keep these falsehoods for the messengers of Ajas Pasha, who will be
with your honour immediately; try and fool them if you like, but don't
fool me."
Ladislaus Szekely, well aware that every word he said was the sacred
truth, fancied that Zuelfikar's assertion was only a rough joke which he
wanted to play upon him, so he cast an angry look on the renegade.
"Be off, my son Zuelfikar, and cease joking; or I'll beat you about the
head with this hare's foot till I knock all the moonshine out of you."
"Your honour had best keep your hare's foot to yourself, for if I draw
my Turkish dagger I'll make you carry your own head."
"Be off, be off, my son!" cried Szekely, looking around for a stick, and
perceiving a cane in the corner with a large silver knob he seized it.
"And now are you going, or I shall come to you?" he added.
Zuelfikar had just caught sight, meanwhile, through the window of the aga
sent by Ajas Pasha, and fearing to encounter him, hastily skipped
through the door, which sudden flight was attributed by Master Ladislaus
Szekely to his own threats of violence. He followed close upon the heels
of the fugitive, and ran almost into the very arms of the aga;
whereupon, the aga, also flying into a rage, belaboured the commandant
with his fists, reviled his father, his mother, and his remotest
ancestry, and only after that began to deliver the message of Ajas
Pasha, which he enlarged and embellished with the choicest flowers of an
angry man's rhetoric.
At these words Ladislaus Szekely changed colour as often as a genuine
opal, or as a fractured polyporus fungus. It was clear to him that
someone or other had just slain a number of marauding Spahis, but he
knew very well that neither he nor his men had performed this heroic
deed, for that particular evening they had all been safe and sound at
ten o'clock, and yet he was expected to pay the piper!
"Gracious sir, unconquerable aga," he said at last, "my men the whole of
that evening were on duty beneath the windows of the Prince, and the
same evening I myself closed the city gates, so that no living thing
except a bird could get out. Therefore, I pray you ask not of me the
slayers of the Spahis, for never in my life have I killed one of them."
The aga gnashed his teeth, and stared wildly about, as if seeking for
big words worthy of the occasion.
"Darest thou say such things to me, thou wine-drinking infidel?" he
cried at last. "I know very well that thou, single-handed, hast not cut
down four-and-twenty Spahis; rather do I believe there were two thousand
of you that fell upon them, but these thou must give up to me, every
man-jack of them."
Large drops of perspiration began to ooze out upon the forehead of the
commandant, and in his embarrassment it occurred to him that deeds were
better than words, so he seized the chain covered with chrysoprases and
jacinths, which he had just been polishing, and handed them in a
deprecating manner to the Turk, knowing that such a line of defence was
most likely to obtain a hearing.
But the envoy gave the chain handed to him such a kick that the precious
stones were scattered all over the deal boards, and, trampling them
beneath his feet, he roared with a blood-red face:
"I want the murderers, not your precious stones."
The commandant thereupon seeing that the aga's embassy was really a
serious matter, took him down to the soldiers, who were drawn up in the
courtyard, in order to ask each one of them in the hearing of the
envoy: "Where were you during the night in question?" Naturally everyone
of them was able to prove an alibi, not one of them could be suspected.
The aga very nearly had an overflow of gall. He said nothing, he only
rolled his eyes; and when the last soldier had denied any share in the
death of the Turks, he leaped upon his horse, and threatening them with
his fist, growled through his gnashing teeth:
"Wait, ye also shall have your St. Demetrius' day!"[21] and with that he
galloped back to Grosswardein.
[Footnote 21: _i.e._ you shall be stoned to death.]
On his arrival he found Feriz Beg with the Pasha, and at once told his
story, exaggerating the details to the uttermost.
"What did I tell thee?" said Feriz to the Pasha; "didn't I say they
would send back the message that they had never quitted the town. I am
sorry for your honour's hundred ducats."
At these words Ajas Pasha kicked over his chibouk and his saucer of
sherbet, and in a hoarse, scarce intelligible voice, said to the aga:
"Be off this instant to Stambul as fast as thou canst. Tell the Grand
Vizier what has happened, and say to him that if he does not give me the
amplest satisfaction, I myself will go against these unbelieving
devourers of unruminating beasts who have dared to send me such a
message, and will destroy them, together with their strongholds; or else
I will cast my sword to the ground, and tie a girdle round my loins, and
go away and join the brotherhood of Iskender! Say that, and forget it
not!"
* * * * *
Very soon one firman after another reached the Prince from Stambul, each
one of which, with steadily rising wrath, demanded the extradition of
the assassins of the Spahis. The Prince made inquiries and searched for
them everywhere, but nobody could be found to take upon his shoulders
this uncommitted deed of heroism.
The messages from the Porte assumed a more and more furious tone every
day. In itself the death of four-and-twenty Spahis was no very serious
stumbling-block, but what more than anything lashed the Turkish generals
into a fury was the persistent refusal of the Prince to acknowledge the
offence. Yet with the best will in the world he was unable to do
anything else, for not a single person on whom suspicion might fall
could he find throughout the Principality.
* * * * *
In those days the dungeons of Klausenburg were well filled with
condemned robbers; in the past year alone no fewer than thirty
incendiaries had been discovered who had resolved to fire all
Transylvania.
One day the noble Martin Pok, the provost-marshal of the place, appeared
before the robbers, and attracted the attention of the most
evil-disposed of these cut-throats and incendiaries by shouting at them:
"You worthless gallows-dogs, which of you would like to be set free at
any price?"
"I would! I would!" cried a whole lot of them.
"Bread is going to be dear, so we cannot waste it on the like of you, so
Master Ladislaus Szekely has determined that whoever of you would like
to become Turks are to be handed over to our gracious master, Ajas
Pasha, who will make some of you Janissaries, and send the rest to the
isle of Samos; so whoever will be a Turk, let him speak."
Everyone of them wanted to be a Turk.
"Very well, you rascals, just attend to me! I must tell you what to say
when you stand before the Pasha, for if you answer foolishly you will
be bastinadoed. First of all he will ask you: 'Are you Master Ladislaus
Szekely's men?' You will answer: 'Yes, we are!' Then he will ask you:
'Were you at Elesd on a certain day?' And you must admit that you were.
Finally, he will ask you if you met Feriz Beg there? You will admit
everything, and then he will instantly release you from servitude. Do
you understand?"
"Yes, yes!" roared the incendiaries; and dancing in their fetters they
followed the provost-marshal upstairs, who turned his extraordinary
small head back from time to time to smile at them, at the same time
twisting the ends of his poor thin moustache with an air of crafty
self-satisfaction.
* * * * *
One day two letters reached Grosswardein from Stambul. One of these
letters was from Kucsuk Pasha to his son, the other was from the Sultan
to Ajas Pasha.
The letter to Feriz Beg was as follows:
"MY SON,--Let thy heart rejoice: Kiuprile and
Maurocordato have not been wasting their time. The
Grand Vizier is very wrath with the Prince and his
Court. The death of the four-and-twenty Spahis is an
affair of even greater importance in Stambul just now
than the capture of Candia. I fancy we shall very soon
get what we want."
Feriz Beg understood the allusion, and went at once to the Pasha in the
best of humours.
"Listen to what the omnipotent Sultan writes," said the Pasha, producing
a parchment sealed with green wax, adorned below with the official
signature of the Sultan, the so-called Tugra, which was not unlike a
bird's-nest made of spiders'-webs.
Feriz Beg pressed the parchment to his forehead and his lips, and the
further he read into it the more his face filled with surprise and joy.
"VALIANT AJAS PASHA MY FAITHFUL SERVANT!--I wish thee
always all joy and honour. Inasmuch as I learn from
thee that the faithless servants of the Prince, in
time of peace and amity, have slain four-and-twenty
Spahis, and that their masters not only have not
punished this misdeed but even presumed to deceive me
with lying reports thereof, thereby revealing their
ill-will towards me, now therefore I charge and
authorise thee in case the counsellors of the Prince
do not surrender the murderers in response to my
ultimatum, which even now is on its way to them, or in
case they make any objection whatsoever, or even if
they simply pass over the matter in silence; in any
such case I charge and authorise thee instantly to
invade Transylvania with all the armies at thy
disposal, and by the nearest route. Kucsuk Pasha also
will immediately be ready at hand with his bands at
Voeroestorony, and the Tartar King hath also our command
to lend thee assistance. This done, I will either
drive the Prince into exile or take him prisoner, when
I will at once strike off the chains of Master Paul
Beldi--who, because of his stubbornness, now sits in
irons at Jedekula--and whether he will or not, I will
place him incontinently on the throne of the Prince,
etc., etc."
"Dost thou believe now that we shall get the murderers?" asked Ajas
Pasha triumphantly.
"Never!" said Feriz Beg, laughing aloud and beside himself with joy.
"What dost thou say?" growled the astonished Ajas; "but suppose we go
for them ourselves?"
"Well!" said Feriz, perceiving that he had nearly betrayed himself, "in
that case--yes." But he said to himself "Not then or ever; and Paul
Beldi will be released, and Paul Beldi will become Prince, and his wife
will be Princess Consort, and Aranka will be a Princess too, and we
shall see each other again."
At that moment an aga entered the room and announced with a look of
satisfaction:
"Master Ladislaus Szekely has now sent the murderers."
Feriz Beg reeled backwards. The word "impossible" hung upon his lips,
and he nearly let it escape. It _was_ impossible.
"Let them come in!" said Ajas Pasha viciously. He would have preferred
to carry out the Sultan's conditional command, seize the Principality,
and conduct the campaign personally.
Feriz Beg fancied he was dreaming when he saw the forty or fifty
selected rascals who, led by Martin Pok, drew up before Ajas Pasha; the
rogues were dressed up as soldiers but thief, criminal, was written on
the face of each one of them.
Master Martin Pok exhibited them to the Pasha and Feriz Beg, and very
wisely stood aside from them. Feriz Beg clapped his hands together in
astonishment. He knew better than anyone that these fellows had never
seen the Spahis, and he waited to hear what they would say.
Ajas Pasha sat on his sofa with a countenance as cold as marble, and at
a sign from him a file of Janissaries formed behind the backs of the
rascals, who tried to look as pleasant and smiling as possible before
the Pasha to gain his favour.
"Ye are Master Ladislaus Szekely's men, eh?" inquired the Pasha of the
false heroes.
"We are--at thy service, unconquerable Pasha," they replied with one
voice, folding their hands across their breasts and bowing down to the
very ground.
The Pasha beckoned to the Janissaries to come softly up behind each one
of them.
"Ye were at Elesd at midnight on the day of St. Michael the Archangel,
eh?" he asked again.
"We were indeed--at thy service invincible Pasha!" they repeated
striking their knees with their foreheads.
Feriz Beg rent his clothes in his rage. He would have liked to have
roared at them: "Ye lie, you rascals! You were not there at all!" but he
was obliged to keep silence.
Ajas beckoned again to the Janissaries, and very nicely and quietly they
drew their swords from their sheaths, and, grasping them firmly,
concealed them behind their backs.
The Pasha put the third question to the robbers.
"Ye met Feriz Beg, eh?"
"Lie not!" cried Feriz furiously. "Look well at me! Have you ever seen
me anywhere before? Did you ever meet me at Elesd?"
The interrogated, bowing to the earth, replied with the utmost devotion:
"Yes--at your service, invincible Pasha and most valiant Beg!"
At that same instant the swords flashed in the hands of the Janissaries,
and the heads of the robbers suddenly rolled at their feet.
"Oh, ye false knaves!" cried Feriz Beg, striking his forehead with his
clenched fist.
Ajas Pasha turned coolly towards Martin Pok: "Greet thy master, and tell
him from me that another time he must be quicker, and not make me
angry.--As for thee, Feriz, my son, pay me back those hundred ducats!"