"Well, boys," said Professor Gunn, some days later, as the trio were
lounging in their rooms after the midday meal, "what do you think of
Constantinople? Have you seen about enough of it?"
"Well, we have seen a great deal," confessed Dick. "It is a fascinating
and bewildering place, with its narrow, dirty streets, its swarms of
people of many races, its veiled women, its dogs, its palaces and watch
towers--in short, its thousands of strange sights."
"It is a whole lot queer," nodded Buckhart. "It gives me a right odd
feeling to stand beside a mosque and see a muezzin come out on the
balcony of a minaret and utter the call to prayer. The way he chants it
kind of stirs something inside of me: 'God is great; there is but one
God; Mohammed is the prophet of God; prayer is better than sleep; come
to prayer!' Oh, I've got her all down fine, and I'll never forget the
words nor how they sound."
"I suppose there are lots of places we have not seen, together with
plenty of interesting things," said Dick. "The thing that I'll remember
longest is the dance of the howling dervishes."
"You bet that was a corker!" exclaimed the Texan, sitting up. "I opine
I've got good nerves, but it certain came near driving me crazy to see
them, a full dozen, just whirling and whirling like tops."
"Then when they began to chant and howl!" said Dick. "The way they
wailed, and groaned, and cried, 'Allah, hough! Allah, hough!' was enough
to disturb nerves of steel."
"But the finish was the worst, when all the whirlers had their eyes set
and their lips covered with foam. No more howling-dervish shows for me!"
"Nor me, pard!"
"Well, when you youngsters get tired of Constantinople we'll move on,"
said Zenas.
"I sure would like to know whatever became of Major Fitts and Miss
Ketchum," said Brad.
"Never mind them!" exclaimed the professor hastily. "It was a great
relief when they both took themselves out of this hotel after
that--after that encounter in the cemetery."
"After your bloody duel, professor," laughed Dick. "That was a fearful
encounter, from which you came forth the victor."
"But somewhat damaged myself," confessed Zenas. "Boys, you want to
remember what will happen to you if you ever relate that affair to any
one."
Buckhart grinned.
"Miss Ketchum was some excited when she arrived on the scene of action.
She thought the major was dying. I don't wonder, for the sounds he
emitted after being struck in the mouth by that egg sure sounded like he
was coughing up the ghost."
"She certainly was disgusted when she found the major's yellow blood was
smashed rotten eggs," said Dick.
"She had the stuff all over her hands after putting her arms about him.
Partner, that was a great racket!"
"Hum! haw!" coughed the professor. "Of course, on the major's account I
was willing to carry out the programme and use eggs, but it was beneath
my dignity, and I should have preferred a regular duel with pistols or
swords."
"Professor!" exclaimed Dick. "Why, you know you were somewhat timid over
the result before you learned what sort of weapons were to be used."
"Because I did not wish to have human blood on my hands. It was entirely
for Major Fitts that I was worried."
"I opine," said Brad, "that old Aziz Achmet was just about as disgusted
as any one. It is my judgment that the old pirate wanted to see the
professor and the major carve each other up, though just what his reason
for it was I can't say."
"He disappeared at the same time when Sarah and the major vanished,"
said Dick. "He was becoming a nuisance, and I thought we might have no
end of trouble with him while in this place. However, I fancy he found
out he was wasting his time spying on us. I'm still confident that Bunol
and Marsh caused us to be placed under surveillance by the Turkish
secret police."
"The Turkish secret police?" exclaimed Zenas. "You don't mean to
say----"
"There is such a body, and Aziz Achmet belonged to it. We were
suspicious characters, and he watched us. But I have an idea that he
finally decided that we were exactly what we represented ourselves to
be, ordinary travelers. Miss Ketchum, however, belongs to a society that
is seeking to investigate and correct the wrongs of the Armenians in
Turkey, and, therefore, Achmet transferred his attention wholly to her."
"Good gracious!" spluttered the professor. "Although she turned out to
be a hatchet-faced old maid, I hope no harm has come to her in this
heathen land."
"Don't you worry," laughed Dick. "Major Fitts will look out for her. All
I ask is that he keeps her away from us."
"I don't think the major wants to see us again," chuckled Brad. "I'm
sure he wouldn't fancy having the story of that duel get back to
Natchez, Mississippi."
"Well, boys, shall we spend the afternoon in talk, or shall we go out
and see something?" asked the professor.
They quickly decided that they were ready to go out, and once more rose
the question of what they should see.
"I have it!" cried the old pedagogue.
"Name it," urged Dick.
"The Underground Palace."
"What's that?"
"You haven't heard of it? Good! It's the very place for us to visit this
day. Wait; I'll send for Mustapha. Hope he's not engaged, for we must go
over into Stamboul, and I do not fancy visiting that place without a
good guide and interpreter."
"I should say not!" exclaimed Dick. "If ever there was a place just made
to get lost in it's Stamboul, with its maze of narrow, crooked, unnamed
streets and unnumbered houses."
"Correct, pard," agreed Brad. "I can get lost quicker and a heap sight
worse in Stamboul than on a trackless desert. We sure must take a
dragoman if we're going to amble over there."
So the black Nubian, who seemed always waiting for a call, was summoned
and instructed to send out for the dragoman engaged by Dick on their
arrival, to pilot them from the steamer to their hotel.
In less than thirty minutes Mustapha appeared, salaming in true Turkish
fashion, the tassel of his fez sweeping the floor.
"I here, effendi," he said, addressing the professor. "What you haf of
me?"
"We want to visit Stamboul."
"I good dragoman. I guide you, effendi."
"Our purpose is to see the great underground cistern sometimes called
the Underground Palace."
"Effendi, go not! Keep from there!" Mustapha showed great concern.
"Why should we not go there?" questioned the professor. "It is one of
the great sights."
"You haf for your life some valuement?"
"Certainly; but what can there be dangerous about a visit to the
Underground Palace?"
"Maybe you haf not hear it, effendi?"
"Have not heard what?"
"One time some Engleeshman go there. They nefer come back."
"What happened to them?"
Mustapha made a gesture with his hands indicative of vanishing into the
air.
"Who answer it the question?" he said.
"Well, well!" muttered Zenas. "What do you think about this matter,
boys?"
"My interest is aroused now," answered Dick. "I want to see this
mysterious place."
"That's right, pard. I'm sure some wrought up to see it myself. Of
course we'll go."
"Too young to haf wisdom," said Mustapha, with a gesture toward the
boys.
"Come on, professor!" cried Dick. "If this dragoman will not act as
guide for us, we can easily secure another."
Instantly Mustapha hastened to assure them that he would be only too
glad to act as their guide; but that they should pay him before visiting
the Underground Palace, as they might never return, in which case he
would lose his honestly earned due by neglecting to collect ahead.
They agreed to pay him in advance, and soon they set out from the hotel
in Pera, eager to see the mysterious place that was said to hold so much
of mystery and danger.
In the afternoon sunshine Stamboul was magnificent when seen from a
distance. But when they had crossed the Golden Horn and plunged into the
city all its impressiveness vanished. At intervals they came upon some
splendid mosques, but mosques were far more impressive when seen from
the proper distance.
Mustapha knew his business, and he conducted them to the place where
they could descend and inspect the Underground Palace, but he declined
to enter with them. For that purpose he called another man, with
close-set, shifty eyes and a thin-lipped mouth.
"This dragoman, Bayazid," he said. "He tak' you."
"Is he trustworthy?" asked the professor, with a slight show of
nervousness.
"You not find one more so, effendi."
So Bayazid, or "Pigeon," as he was called in English, was engaged to
show them the Underground Palace.
"I haf very good boat, effendi," he declared.
"Whatever is that?" asked Buckhart. "Do we have to take a boat?"
"You will see," answered Zenas.
The entrance was somewhat like that of a sewer, but there were stone
steps leading down into the darkness of the place. The guide found and
lighted two torches, which it seemed were kept for the use of those who
wished to visit the Palace.
"Say, this is some boogerish!" said Brad, as they found themselves in a
dark and damp cemented passage.
"The old city was built above a huge system of cisterns," explained the
professor. "Their purpose was to guard against a famine of water in time
of war. Some of the old cisterns are dry now and are used by silk
spinners. We shall visit one that still contains water."
"But I thought we were going to see a palace," said Dick, in
disappointment.
"You shall see one--so called."
The passage echoed to their tread, while their voices came back
hollowly, as if hidden imps were mocking them.
But the boys were quite unprepared for the spectacle that suddenly met
their gaze. They came from the passage into a mighty vaulted chamber,
stretching away into an unknown distance and filled with a shadowy maze
of marble columns, row on row. The floor of this wonderful place was
smooth as a mirror and seemed black as ebony, save where the light of
the torches fell on it. There it glittered, and gleamed, and shimmered.
Exclamations of astonishment and wonder broke from the lips of the two
lads. The professor grasped them, one with either hand, and stopped them
abruptly.
"We can't go farther on foot," he said.
"Eh? Why not?" asked the Texan, in surprise. "Look at that floor!
Wouldn't it be great to dance on! It's smooth as glass and----"
"You would get your feet wet if you attempted to dance on that,"
declared Zenas.
"What? Why--why, it's water!"
"Exactly."
"But--but it looks black everywhere except where the light strikes
directly on it."
"Because no other ray of light reaches this place."
Dick stooped and dipped his hand in the water, which reached to their
very feet.
"Well, this is worth seeing!" he declared.
"This was constructed by Constantine more than fifteen hundred years
ago," explained the professor. "Think, boys, what you now behold is the
work of man, yet it remains practically the same as when constructed
fifteen centuries ago."
"It looks like a partly submerged cathedral," murmured Dick. "One can
fancy all its worshipers and priests as drowned in that flood of black
water. In fancy I seem to see their restless spirits floating above the
surface of the lake, away, away yonder in the unknown distance. How
large is it, professor?"
"There are three hundred and thirty-six of those marble columns,
arranged in twenty-eight rows. I fancy the real reason why Mustapha
refused to enter here is because of the many legends and tales told
concerning the place. It is said that these vaults often echo to hollow
laughter, and that the place is haunted by the ghosts of murdered
sultans of past ages, whose places were usurped by the very monsters who
intrigued to bring about the murders. Some claim that the spirits of the
beautiful women destroyed by jealous sultans are doomed to float forever
here above the surface of this buried lake, and that occasionally one of
them is seen by a visitor for a single fleeting instant, then goes
wailing and sobbing into the black distance."
"Well, by the great horn spoon, I don't know that I blame Mustapha for
not coming here!" exclaimed Brad. "It's the most spooky old hole I ever
struck."
At this juncture Bayazid inquired if they wished to take a boat and
venture out a short distance on the water.
"Certainly," answered Dick, at once. "I think it will be a novel
experience, and I want to go. If Brad does not----"
"Hold on, pard!" cried the Texan. "Wherever you go I go, you bet your
boots! Mebbe I don't like it a heap, but I'm with you."
Bayazid left them and moved a short distance to the right. They watched
him and saw the light of his torch fall on a black boat that lay
motionless at the edge of the black lake. He stepped into the boat and
soon brought it to the shore at their feet.
Dick and Brad followed the professor into the boat, which was large
enough to accommodate two more persons, if the party had included them.
Bayazid had placed his torch in a socket that seemed arranged for it. He
suggested that the others should extinguish theirs, as too much light
close at hand would blind them, instead of making it possible for them
to see better.
They accepted his suggestion, and slowly the boat slipped out upon the
bosom of the soundless lake.
Suddenly there was a whirring rush through the air, and something
brushed past the head of the professor, who uttered a squawk of alarm,
struck out wildly with both hands and fell over backward off his seat to
flounder in the bottom of the boat.
"Howling tornadoes!" gasped Buckhart. "Whatever was that?"
"A bat, effendi," answered Bayazid.
Dick laughed.
"Goodness!" palpitated the professor, as he finally struggled up to his
seat. "I confess it did frighten me, boys. Made me think of those
restless ghosts which are said to wander forever above the bosom of this
lake. Hadn't we better go back?"
"Which way shall we go?" asked Dick.
They looked around. On every hand they saw nothing but marble pillars,
shadows, and grim darkness.
"Waugh!" muttered the Texan. "I confess I couldn't follow the back
trail."
"But Bayazid knows the way, don't you, Bayazid?" anxiously asked the
professor.
"I know it, effendi," was the assurance. "Trust me."
"I--I'm very glad you do!" breathed Zenas. "I think we will return at
once."
But Dick urged that they should go on a little farther, as Bayazid was
thoroughly familiar with the place and there was no danger that they
would become lost.
Brad always stuck by Dick, and the two overruled the old pedagogue.
Therefore Bayazid paddled slowly on. Had they seen his face they might
have become suspicious and alarmed, but the shadows hid the crafty and
treacherous look his countenance wore.
Finally they paused again, amid the labyrinth of pillars. Without the
guide, not one of them could have told which course to follow in order
to return to the point from which they started.
Suddenly Bayazid uttered an exclamation and stood up in the boat,
staring into the darkness beyond his passengers.
Involuntarily the trio turned their heads to look, wondering what it
could be that the guide saw.
Barely were their heads turned in that manner when the treacherous guide
snatched the torch from its socket and plunged it into the water. There
was a hissing sound and instant darkness.