Again and again I tried the handle, failing utterly to move it. Another
moment's delay might cost me my life!
Shaking the great door in frantic desperation, and turning to see
whether I had been detected, I suddenly noticed that on each side of
this gate hung heavy curtains of bright yellow silken brocade. One
appeared to have been disarranged, for it did not hang in such graceful
folds as the other, and this attracted my attention. After a careful
examination, I discovered a small square handle in the centre of the
gate, painted black, so as to appear as one of the big nails with which
the door was studded. In a moment the truth flashed upon me. Eagerly I
tried the handle, and found I could turn it with ease, and that a small
and cunningly-concealed door, just large enough to admit one person, was
the means by which the private apartments of His Majesty could be
entered.
Stepping through without hesitation and closing the door silently after
me, I found myself in a great wide court, with fine arched arcades on
either side. In the centre a splendid fountain of perfume was playing,
the sparkling, scented water falling into a huge basin of crystal. The
spectacle was gorgeous and dazzling. The brilliant colours, the green
palms, the rich brocades, the woven carpets, the glittering gold with
which the arcades were decorated, and the glimpse of cool and beautiful
gardens in the vista away through several open courts, seemed a
veritable fairyland.
From the great gilt perfuming-pans, columns of thin blue smoke diffused
sensuous odours. Bright-eyed women with faces of flawless beauty were
half-sitting, half reclining on their luxurious divans, lazily smoking
cigarettes, or allowing themselves to be slowly fanned by their slaves.
Resplendent in bright-hued silks, heavy gold ornaments and flashing
gems, some were seated in little groups gossiping, others had stretched
themselves on silken couches in languid indolence, while one or two,
leaning against the columns of marvellously-carved marble, with their
delicate hands clasped behind their heads, were indulging in
day-dreams--dreams perhaps of joyous hours bygone before they were torn
away from the ones they loved to adorn the Sultan's harem. With brows
covered by strings of pearls and sequins, white arms with massive
bracelets, bare bosoms half hidden by necklaces and scintillating gems,
bare feet encased in tiny slippers embroidered with gold and jewels, and
neat ankles heavy with golden bangles, the beautiful prisoners of Hamed
the Mighty were idling away the day with careless, dreamy indifference
amid the sweetly-scented atmosphere of love.
Entranced by the wondrous scene of beauty, I stood for a few seconds
while my eyes travelled quickly around in search of His Majesty. He
was, however, not present; therefore, summoning courage and dashing
forward, I sped on through the three great Courts of the Sultanas
towards the distant garden, beyond which I had heard lay His Majesty's
private pavilion. Without daring to notice the profound sensation my
sudden appearance was causing throughout the harem, I ran quickly
through court after court, until, just as I had gained the great arch
which led into the garden, my passage was barred by a big black eunuch
who had recognised me as a slave.
To close with him would have been folly, for his muscles were like iron;
therefore, redoubling my speed, I bent down quickly just as he was about
to grasp me, and thus dodged under his hands. Pursued, I rushed across
the beautiful garden, red with roses and green with many leaves, along
the edge of a clear lake, through an open gate, and into a
richly-furnished magnificent pavilion, the pavement of which was of
polished sardonyx and agate.
In the centre was a great baldachin of amaranth silk enriched with long
fringes of silver, stretched on twelve pillars of twisted gold, and
underneath there sat upon the Great White Divan, Hamed, son of Mohammed
el Bakeri, the all-powerful Sultan of the Ahir. Upon his head was a
turban of pale green silk, in front of which was a splendid diamond
aigrette, while the robes he wore were of rich white silk brocade.
Behind His Majesty stood two negro slaves cooling him with large fans of
peacocks' feathers. Around him were his gorgeously-attired
body-servants, to whom he was giving some instructions, being just about
to rise from his midday meal. As I burst upon them, with the gigantic
eunuch in pursuit, the guards were in a moment on the alert, and those
who were prostrate before their sovereign sprang to their feet and drew
their swords.
"Seize him!" cried the eunuch excitedly. "He is a slave who hath
escaped!"
"My gracious lord the Sultan!" I gasped breathlessly, prostrating
myself before the royal divan as the slaves pounced upon me. "Hear me,
I beseech thee! Let not thy servants remove me before I have spoken."
"The slave hath merely some paltry grievance," exclaimed the eunuch,
with ceremonious obeisance.
"It is no grievance," I cried wildly. "I come to give thee warning, O
Sultan, Mighty of the Earth, that ere the shadows lengthen thou wilt
die!"
"Silence, slave! Heed what thou sayest!" the Sultan thundered, pale
with anger as he rose stately and superb from his divan. He was tall
and of majestic presence, though his dark, sinister features bore
distinct impress of the vile and brutal passions which actuated him.
"Silence!" he cried again, and his servants fell before him with
genuflections inspired by awe. "Slave! thou, who hast passed the
portals of the private courts of thy Sovereign to prophesy his
discomforture, hast dared to address thy Ruler without leave! Knowest
thou not that none are allowed in this our pavilion unless commanded,
under pain of instant death?"
"I come to forewarn thee, O August Ruler, of impending evil--"
"Stop thy chatter, dog!" he shouted, his face livid with sudden passion.
The storm burst, and the dark cloud, swollen with his accumulated
exasperation, exploded in a tremolo full of threats. When the Sultan
Hamed broke out, he was terrible. "I heed not the croakings of a common
slave who--"
"But men, jealous of thy position, have plotted to compass thy death ere
to-day's sun hath set!"
"Liar! Thou art indeed demented," he cried, in full combustion. Then,
in the frightful rumbling of his phrases, in the incessant crackling of
his words, he roared bitter corrosive invectives that caused his robust
frame to vibrate as they issued forth. Suddenly, turning to his
trembling body-servants, he added, "Seize him! Let his prophetic tongue
be torn out as a punishment for daring to predict evil in our presence!"
"Hear me, I pray thee, Just and Mighty one, slow to anger and of great
mercy! It is to save thy Majesty's life that--"
"The Sultan of the Ahir desireth not the aid of a slave!" he answered
proudly. "I would send thee to execution at Azarmadarangh at once, only
I think thy mind is deranged, and if so, thy boldness is not of thine
own fault. But the chatter of the idiot annoyeth the sane, therefore
thy tongue shall be removed, so that, though mad, thou wilt in future be
dumb." Turning quickly to my captors, he added, "Let him be cast into
prison and rendered speechless. Away with him!"
For this rebuff I was totally unprepared, and my courage sank.
"Wilt thou show no mercy towards thine humble slave, who hath risked his
life to prostrate himself before thee and give thee warning?" I
ventured to cry earnestly, in final appeal.
"Take him from my sight," commanded the Sultan, waving his hand angrily.
"See that his glib tongue wags not after sundown."
"Merciful Allah!" I implored, struggling violently with those who held
me. "Behold, I am thy slave, O lord the Sultan! Hear me, I beseech of
thee!"
But His Majesty, uttering a string of voluble curses upon my family
through generations, turned his back towards me with a gesture of
impatience, and I was unceremoniously hurried from his terrible
presence.
The Sultan had, however, stepped from his divan, therefore, at the
entrance to the pavilion I was held back by the four stalwart guards in
order to let him pass through to the spacious Hall of Audience.
Surrounded by his body-servants, he strode along with regal gait and
keen, observant eye; then, after he had gone, I was dragged onward at a
distance behind not so great as to prevent me watching his progress.
Gaining the Hall of Audience, one of the most gorgeous apartments of the
Fada, Mukhtar, the Grand Vizier, suddenly appeared, and, bowing low,
craved a hasty and private word with his royal master. The plot was
being carried out before my eyes! The Sultan, halting at the entrance
to the long arched arcade that gave access to the Court of the Treasury,
waved his hand, motioning those surrounding him to pass onward.
The armed janissaries standing erect and mute as statues along the walls
of the audience-chamber exchanged expectant glances full of meaning, and
I knew that they were anxiously awaiting the commission of the dastardly
crime. I would, even at that moment, have shouted a last warning, but,
alas! the men in whose hands I stood powerless had gagged me in
compliance with the desire of their irate master.
Until the servants and guards had passed through the long dimly-lit
arcade and crossed the paved court beyond, Mukhtar held his royal master
in earnest conversation, then, prostrating himself humbly, he rose and
took his leave, while His Majesty, hitching his robes of spotless silk
about him, moved onward briskly and alone down the silent arcade.
Upon Mukhtar's lips a momentary smile of satisfaction played as he
stalked away. It told me that the doom of the Sultan Hamed was at hand!
Walking still in the grip of the guards, I watched the upright and
truly regal figure of His Majesty receding until he had passed half-way
along the great arched corridor. Then suddenly a second figure was
sharply silhouetted against the brilliant sunlight at the end of the
vista. A strong arm was raised, a gleaming scimitar whirled aloft, and
a loud cry of surprise and dismay echoed until it reached the spot where
we stood.
Next second the headless body of Hamed, Sultan of the Ahir, lay at the
Chief Eunuch's feet, and upon the polished marble pavement a dark, ugly
pool was rapidly forming.
My four captors, paralysed and amazed, released me and dashed along
towards the prostrate body of their master, but in an instant the
scimitars of the guards of the Hall of Audience were hovering over their
heads, and after a desperate but brief struggle they were secured and
gagged.
So swiftly indeed had the secret assassination been accomplished, that,
ere I could realise that the plot had been carried out, the body had
been thrust into a sack and removed, slaves who had actually held water
in readiness had washed the stains from the marble, and almost before
one could regain breath, every trace of the terrible crime had been
erased.