Beyond the walls of the seraglio lay the royal hunting grounds. Many
acres of the city were enclosed within high walls of clayey earth,
packed into huge square blocks and dried in the sun; on the top and
outside of which bristled a miniature abattis of prickly vines. Some
parts of this park were adorned with every elegance that the art of
landscape gardening could devise. In the summer season these portions
were covered with floral beauties, interspersed with water-jets, which
tossed the light silver balls like fairy jugglers; broad basins
sparkling with gold fish; and walks leading to little kiosks and
arbors. Even its winter shroud could not conceal from the imagination
what must have been its living beauty in summer.
The greater part of this reserve was, however, left in its natural
state. Gnarled old olive trees twisted themselves like huge serpents
above the dense copses of elder and hazel bushes. Dusky balsams rose
in pyramids, overtopped by the pines, which spread their branches like
umbrellas. Here and there were open fields, encumbered with stinted
underbrush, and either broken with out-cropping rocks, or smooth with
strips of meadow land now white and glistening under the snow.
This section of the park presented a fascinating appearance on the day
of the fox-hunt. Scores of lads from the Janizary school were there,
dressed in all shades of bright-colored jackets, and short trousers
bagged at the knees; the lower part of the limbs being protected with
close-fitting stockings of leather, terminating in light, but strong,
sandals. Each wore a skull cap or fez of red flannel, from the top of
which and down the back hung a tassel, that, by its length and
richness, indicated some prize won by its wearer in previous games.
Old soldiers gathered here and there in groups; some, the Janizaries,
wearing tall sugar-loaf-shaped hats of gray; others, white turbans, or
green ones, indicating that their possessors had made a holy
pilgrimage to Mecca. Elegant burnooses, or sleeveless cloaks, of
white, black, orange and yellow silks, fluttered in the wind or were
gathered at the waist by rich sashes, from which hung great cimeters.
Near an open spot was a stand, or running gallery, enclosed in
lattice-work, from behind which the ladies of the harem could witness
the sports, themselves unseen. The presence of these invisible
beauties was indicated by the stiff, straight forms of the black
eunuchs, whose faces appeared above their white cloaks like heads of
ebony on statues of alabaster.
Prince Mahomet rode a horse, small but compactly built, with head and
mane suggestive of the power of his well-rounded muscles; slim ankles,
seemingly better adapted to carry the lighter form of a deer; jet
black, in strongest contrast with the white tunic and gaily
embroidered jacket of the little prince, as well as with the
saddle-cloth of purple silk, in which the star and crescent were
wrought with threads of gold. With merry shout the young tyrant chased
the boys, who, carrying wands decorated with ribbons, ran ahead of him
to clear the way.
"So it will be if he ever comes to the throne," said Selim to a
comrade. "Mahomet II. would follow no one. There would be no use of
viziers and generals, and he would even attempt to drive the
Janizaries like his sheep. It is well that Aladdin is the elder."
"But woe to Aladdin if Mahomet lives after his brother comes to the
throne," said the man addressed. "With such fire-boxes about him one
could justify the practice of a sovereign inaugurating his reign by
the slaughter of his next of kin."[31]
The woinaks brought in several crates, with latticed sides, containing
the foxes, which, one by one, were to be let loose for the chase; the
boys to act the part of hounds, and drive the game from the thickets,
in which they would naturally take refuge, out into the open space,
and within arrow range of the prince. Mahomet, by constant practice,
had acquired great dexterity in managing his steed, and almost
unerring aim in using the bow from the horse's back.
A splendid red fox was thrust out of the crate. For a moment he
remained crouching and trembling in his fright at the crowd; then
darted suddenly for the underbrush. The boys, imitating the sharp cry
or prolonged baying of a pack of hounds, scattered in different
directions; some disappearing in the copse; others stationing
themselves at the openings or run-ways where they thought the animal
would appear. The bugle of the white eunuch, who was constantly near
the prince, kept all informed of his position, so that reynard might
be driven toward him. In a few moments the arrow of Mahomet laid him
low.
A second fox was liberated--like many of the Sultan's nobler
creatures--only to fly to his speedy execution. The third animal was
an old one, who persisted in taking the direction opposite to that in
which the chasers would drive him. Again and again, as the boys closed
about him, he dashed through the thickest of their legs, leaving them
tumbled together in a heap. At one time he sprang through the opening
at which Michael, studying the tricks of the quick-witted brute, had
stationed himself. Sudden as were his movements, the young
mountaineer's were not less so; for, like a veritable hound, he threw
himself bodily upon the prey. Passing his right hand beneath the
entire length of the animal's body from the rear, he grasped his front
leg and bent it back beneath him; at the same time using his whole
weight to keep the animal's head close to the ground, so as to escape
his fangs. He had taken more than one beast in a similar way from the
holes in the old mountain pass. In the excitement of the sport he now
forgot that he was merely to enable another to get the game without
effort or danger.
Prince Mahomet rode to the spot toward which the fox had turned, and,
in a sudden outburst of anger at this interference with his shot,
drove the arrow at the two as they were struggling on the ground. The
whirring barb cut the arm of Michael before it entered the heart of
the prey. The sharp cry of pain uttered by the lad recalled Mahomet
from his insane rage. The rushing attendants showed pity for Michael,
but no one ventured a remonstrance against this act of imperial
cowardice and cruelty. A moment's examination showed that the lad's
wound was not serious, being only a cut through the flesh. But as the
pallor of his fright died away from his face, it was followed by a
deep flush of anger. Tears of vexation filled his eyes. His glance of
scorn was hardly swifter than his leap: for, with a bound, his arms
were around the prince's body, while his weight dragged him from the
saddle to the ground. Mahomet, rising, drew a jeweled dagger, and made
several hasty passes at his assailant, who, however, dextrously
avoided them. The posing of the lads would have done justice to the
fame of professional gladiators. The prince pressed upon his
antagonist with incessant thrusts, which, by skilful retreating and
parries with his bare arm, Michael avoided; until, with a ringing blow
upon Mahomet's wrist, he sent the weapon from his hand, and closed
with him; the prince falling to the ground beneath the greater
strength of Michael.
The spectators at this point interfered. As they rose the eunuch
grasped the little victor, and shaking him, cried: "I will cut the
throat of the Giaour cub of hell."
But the one hand of old Mustapha was upon the eunuch's throat, and his
one eye flashed like a discharging culverin, as he cried, "Had I
another hand to do it with, I would cut yours, you white-faced
imbecile! Don't you know that the boy belongs to the Janizaries? and
woe to him who is not a Janizary that lays a hand on him!"
"The prince's honor must be avenged," wheezed out the eunuch between
the finger grips of the old soldier. "I care not for the Janizary,
though you were the Aga[32] himself, instead of a mutilated slave."
The eunuch had drawn his dagger, and was working his hand into a
position whence he could strike, when old Selim's hand grasped his.
"None of that treachery, or we will let out of your leprous skin what
manhood is left in you, you blotch on your race! Touch one hair of
Black Khalil's[33] children and you die like the dog you are. Let him
go, Mustapha! His coward throat is no place for you to soil a brave
hand. We will get a snake to strangle him; a buzzard to pick his grain
of a soul out of his vile carcass;[34] an ass to kick him to death. We
must observe the proprieties."
"Pardon my heat!" said the eunuch. "My zeal for my prince has led me
too far."
"Not at all!" said Selim. "It is pleasant to see that you have some
heat in your cold blooded toad nature."
"It is better for us to retire," said the eunuch to Mahomet. "I shall
sound the signal for the close of the games."
Mahomet stood stubbornly for awhile; then turning to Michael said in a
tone which was strangely without a shade of anger or petulance in it:
"Say, young Giaour, you and I must have this out some day."
Michael could not help a half-smiling recognition of the boyish
challenge, and replied:
"I have seen more foxes than you have, and know some tricks I didn't
show you to-day."
As they moved out of the park, Yusef delivered a brief lecture to his
princely pupil. "Hark thee, my master. I warn thee, that thou have an
eye always open and a hand always closed to the Janizaries. They have
grown from being the heel to think that they are the head of the
state. They dictate to thy father, the Padishah, and snub the very
Vizier. I would have killed both those old imbeciles, but that it
would not have been politic. I am glad, too, that thou didst not let
thy dagger find the heart of the Balkan boy. That would not have been
politic. For, Allah grant! thou mayest one day be Padishah. Then this
day would be remembered against us."
"But, Yusef, I did not spare the boy. I think he spared me; and if I
ever get to be Padishah, I will make him my vizier, for his
cleverness. It would be a pity that so brave a man were elsewhere than
at my right hand. Though he angered me awfully at the moment, I shall
like that fellow. Did you see how he gripped the fox with his bare
arms? He must teach me how to do that. Was it between the hind legs he
thrust his hand, or across the beast's body? I could not see for my
being so mad because he spoiled for me a fine running shot."
"Thou art a strange child, Mahomet. Thou seemest to have forgotten
that the boy leaped at thy throat, and would have torn out thine eyes,
but that thou wast more valiant than he."
"Well, I should despise him as white-livered and milk-galled if he had
not sprung at me," said Mahomet. "Has not every noble fellow quick
blood, as well as a prince, Yusef? That boy shall be mine. He shall
teach me his tricks, and I shall give him all my sweetmeats; for they
get none of such things in the school."
"Ah! my little prince, thy head is as full of wit as a fig is of
seeds. Thou art gifted to know and use men. One that is born to rule
must make his passion bend to policy. He must not allow himself the
pleasure of hating those whom he can use. But take heed of this:--whom
he cannot use he must not love."
"But I was not born to rule, Yusef. If so, I would have been born
earlier, before my brother Aladdin cried in his nurse's arms, and
would not be comforted until they had covered the soft spot on his
bare head with a paper crown. Do you believe in omens, Yusef?"
"Not in such; only in dreams," said the eunuch.
"Well; I dreamed that our two heads--yours and mine, Yusef--were
together on a pike-staff, grinning at Aladdin's coronation."
"Nonsense, child!" said the eunuch, his white face bleaching a shade
whiter under the thought, as they passed through the gateway into the
seraglio grounds.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] The custom also in other Oriental nations than the Turkish.
[32] Aga; commander.
[33] Kara Khalil Tschendereli, the founder of the Janizaries in the
time of Sultan Orchan.
[34] According to a Moslem tradition the beautiful birds of paradise
hold in their crops the souls of holy martyrs until the resurrection.