The battlements of Sfetigrade lay, like a ruffled collar, upon
enormous shoulders of rock rising high above the surrounding country.
Over them rose, like a massive head, the citadel with its bartizans
projecting as a crown about the brow. The rock upon which the
fortification stood was scarped toward the valley, so that it could be
climbed only with the help of ladders, even though the assailants were
unresisted by its defenders. The few spots which nature had left
unguarded were now choked with abattis, or overlooked by bastions so
skilfully constructed as to need far less courage and strength for
their defence than were possessed by the bands of Dibrian and Epirot
patriots who fought from behind them.
The assaults which Sultan Amurath launched against the place had been
as frequent as the early summer showers, and his armies were beaten to
pieces as the rain rebounded in spray and ran in streams from the
rocks. The chagrin of the baffled Sultan reflected itself in the
discouragement of his generals and the demoralization of their men.
The presence of his majesty could not silence the mutual
recriminations, the loud and rancorous strife with which brave
officers sought to lay upon one another the responsibility for their
defeat, rather than confess that the daily disasters were due to the
superior genius commanding among their foes. Especially was the envy
of the leaders of the other corps and branches of the service excited
against the Janizaries, to whose unrivalled training and daring were
due whatever minor victories had been won, and whatever exploits
worthy of mention had been performed.
A lofty tent, whose projecting centre-pole bore the glittering brass
crescent and star, and before the entrance to which a single
horse-tail hung from the long spear, denoted the headquarters of a
Sanjak Bey. In front of the tent walked two men in eager, and not
altogether amiable, conversation. The one was the Bey, whose huge
turban of white, inwound with green, indicated that his martial zeal
was supplemented by equal enthusiasm for his faith; and that he had
added to the fatigue of many campaigns against the infidels the toil
of a more monotonous, though more satisfactory, pilgrimage to Mecca.
His companion was an Aga of the Janizaries, second only in rank to the
chief Aga.
The latter was speaking with a wrath which his courteous words but ill
concealed--
"I do not impugn your honor or the sincerity of your motives,
Caraza-Bey, in making your accusation against our Captain Ballaban;
but the well-known jealousy which is everywhere manifested against our
corps compels me to believe not a single word to the discredit of him
or any of the Yeni-Tscheri without indubitable proof. I would allow
the word of Captain Ballaban--knowing him so well as I do--to outweigh
the oaths on the Koran of a score of those who, like yourself, have
reason to be jealous of his superior courage."
"But your upstart captain's guilt can be proved, if not to your
personal satisfaction, at least before those who will not care to ask
your assent to their judgment," replied the other, not attempting to
veil his hatred of the Aga, any more than his purpose of crushing the
one of whom they were speaking.
"What will the lies of a whole sanjak of your hirelings avail against
the honor of a Janizary?" replied the Aga. "If two horse-tails[49]
hung from the standard yonder, I would not publicly disgrace Captain
Ballaban by so much as ordering an inquiry at your demand. The
Janizaries will take no suggestion from any but the Padishah."
"A curse on the brag of the Janizaries! The arrogancy of the Christian
renegades needs better warrant than Ballaban can give it," sneered the
Bey. "If you like, let the matter rest as it is. The whole army
believes that one of your dervish-capped heroes--the best of the
brood, I imagine--deserted his comrades in battle, and all for the
sake of a captive girl."
"It is a lie!" shouted the Aga, drawing his sword upon him.
The attitude of the two officers drew a crowd, who rushed from all
sides to witness the duel. Both were masters of sword play, so that
neither obtained any sanguinary advantage before they were separated
by the arrival of the chief Aga, who forbade his subaltern to continue
the conflict. Upon hearing the occasion of the affray, the chief said:
"The trial of Captain Ballaban shall be had, with the publication of
the fact that Caraza-Bey has assumed the position of his accuser; and,
in the event of his charge proving false, he shall atone for his
malice by submitting to any punishment the captain may indicate; and
the force of the Janizaries shall execute it, though they cut the
throats of his entire command in order to do it. We must first
vindicate the honor of the corps, and then take vengeance upon its
detractors. I demand that Caraza-Bey make good his charge to-morrow at
the sixth hour, or accept the judgment of coward and vilifier, which
our court shall then proclaim to the army."
At the appointed time on the day following, the tent of the chief Aga
was the gathering place of the notable officers of the corps. Without,
it differed from hundreds of other tents only in its size, and in the
pennant indicating the rank of its occupant. Within, it was lined with
a canopy of finest silk and woollen tapestries, on the blue background
of which crescents and stars, cimeters and lance-heads, battle-axes,
shields, turbans and dervish caps were artistically grouped with texts
from the Koran, and skilfully wrought in braids and threads of gold.
The canvas sides of the tent were now removed, making it an open
pavilion, and inviting inspection and audience from any who desired to
approach. A divan was at one side, and made a semicircle of about half
the tent. Upon this sat the chief Aga, his cushion slightly raised
above those at his side, which were occupied by the agas of lower
rank. A group of officers filled the space beneath the tent; and
soldiers of all grades made a dense crowd for several rods beyond into
the open air.
The chief Aga waved his hand to an attendant, and the military court
was formally opened. Several cases were disposed of before that of
Captain Ballaban was called.
There was led in a stalwart soldier of middle age. Two witnesses
deposed that, in a recent assault upon the enemy's works at
Sfetigrade, when there was poured upon the assailants a shower of
arrows and stones from the battlements above, this man, without orders
from his officer, had cried, "Give way! Give way!" and that to this
cry and his example were due the confusion of ranks and the retreat
which followed.
The chief Aga turned and looked silently upon the man, awaiting his
reply to the accusation. The accused was speechless. The chief then
turned to the Aga to whose division the culprit belonged, that he
might hear any plea that he should be pleased to offer for the
soldier; but the Aga's face was stolid with indifference. The chief,
without raising his head, sat in silence for a moment, as in solemn
act of weighing the case. He then muttered an invocation of Allah as
the Supreme Judge. He paused. A gleam of light circled above the man;
a hissing sound of the cimeter and a thud were heard. The culprit's
head rolled to the ground. His trunk swayed for an instant and fell.
This scene was apparently of little interest to the spectators. A
second case only tested their patience. One was charged with having
failed to deliver an order from the colonel of his orta, or regiment,
to a captain of one of the odas, or companies. Both these officers
testified, the one to having sent the order, the other to not having
received it, and on this account to have failed to occupy a certain
position with his men in a recent engagement with the enemy. The
culprit alleged that it was impossible to deliver the order because of
the enemy's movements at the time. The Aga of the division, being
appealed to by the silent gaze of the judge, simply said:
"The man is brave;" when, by a motion of the hand, the judge dismissed
the soldier together with the case.
The expectation not only of common soldiers, but also of officials,
led them to crane their necks to look at the next comer. Even the
ordinarily immobile features of the chief relaxed into an expression
of anxiety as a young man walked down the aisle made by the reverent
receding of the crowd to either side. He was not graceful in form. His
body was beyond the proportion of his legs; though his arms
compensated for any lack in the length of his lower limbs. His neck
was thick, the head round, with full development of forehead, though
that portion of his face was somewhat concealed by the short, bushy
masses of red hair which protruded beneath his rimless Janizary cap.
His face was homely, but strongly marked, evincing force of character
as clearly as the convolutions of his muscles evinced animal strength
and endurance. The brightness of his eye atoned for any lack of beauty
in his features; as did his free and manly bearing make ample amends
for deficiency in grace of form. Altogether he was a man to attract
one's attention and hold it pleasantly.
Though he bent low to the earth in his obeisance to the chief officer
of his troop, it was without the suggestion of obsequiousness, with
that dignity which betokens real reverence and crowns itself with the
honor it would give to another.
The chief Aga announced that, although the witnesses in this case were
not of the order of the Yeni-Tscheri, and, therefore, had no claim to
the consideration of the court, yet it pleased him in this peculiar
case to waive the right to try the matter exclusively among
themselves, that the good name of the Yeni-Tscheri might suffer no
reproach. "Caraza-Bey," added the chief, "for some reason best known
to himself does not accept the privilege we have extended him, to
speak in our official presence what he has freely spoken elsewhere. We
shall, therefore, hear any witnesses he may have sent."
One Lovitsch, belonging to the irregular auxiliary troops, testified
that Captain Ballaban had organized a raid upon an Albanian village,
and engaged himself and company for the venture; but had left them in
the heat of the fight, not rejoining them until the second day. A
common soldier deposed that the captain returned to the company early
in the second evening, and induced him, the witness, and Koremi, to
whom the captain had entrusted a beautiful captive, to bring the girl
to the rear, under plea of getting from her information regarding the
enemy; and had then mysteriously disappeared with her. Koremi
corroborated this testimony.
Captain Ballaban gave a look of puzzled curiosity as he heard this;
but otherwise evinced not the slightest emotion.
The crowd gazed upon the young captain with disappointment while
testimony was being given. The agas present being unable to conceal
the deep anxiety depicted upon their countenances, as they leaned
forward with impatience to hear from his lips some exonerating
statement, which, however, they feared could not be given. A few faces
wore a look of contemptuous triumph. But two persons maintained
composure. It might be expected that the chief Aga, from his
familiarity with such scenes, if not from the propriety of his being
the formal embodiment of the rigid and remorseless court of the
Janizaries, whose decrees he was to announce, would show no emotion,
however strong his sympathy with the prisoner.
The endangered man answered his gaze with equal stolidity when the
judge turned to him for his defence; but he remained speechless. A
shudder of horror ran through the crowd. The executioner stepped
forward to the side of the apparently convicted person. A slight
ringing sound, as the long curve of the well-tempered blade grazed the
ground, sent to every heart the chilling announcement of his
readiness. The chief Aga turned to the others, but sought in vain any
palliatory suggestion or appeal for mercy, except in the mute agony of
their looks. The chief then raised his eyes as if for the invocation
of Allah's confirmation of the sentence as just. But his prayer was a
strange one:--"Oh, Allah! thou hast given a wondrous spirit to this
man; a courage worthy of the soul of Othman himself!" Then rising with
excitement he addressed the throng in rapid speech.
"Look upon this man, my brothers of the shining face![50]
"Did he quail at the ring of the executioner's sword? Did he even
change color when he heard the damning testimony? A true son of Kara
Khalif is he. A word from his lips would have exonerated him, yet he
would not speak it lest it should reveal the secrets of our service,
which he would keep with dead lips rather than live to tell them. But
I shall be his witness; and you, my brothers, shall be his judges.
Captain Ballaban was recalled from the raid by our brother Sinam, aga
of the division to which the captain belongs. But, alas! the sword of
Scanderbeg has loosed Sinam's soul for flight to paradise, and he
could not testify to this man's fidelity. But I know the order of
Sinam; in this very tent it was written. And though the faithful
messenger who carried it was slain in after conflict, the order was
executed by Captain Ballaban to every letter: every moment of his
absence from the raid is accounted for on my tablets"--tapping his
forehead as he spoke.
A loud shout burst from the crowd which made the tent shake as if
filled with a rising wind.
"Ballaban! Ballaban!" cried the multitude, lifting the brave fellow
upon their shoulders.
"Take that for your grin when you thought he was guilty!" shouted one,
as he delivered a tremendous blow upon the face of another.
"Death to Caraza-Bey! Down with the lying villain!" rose the cry, the
crowd beginning to move, as if animated by a common spirit, to seek
the envious commandant of the neighboring corps. But they halted at
the tent side waiting for the sign of permission from their chief,
who, by the motion of his hand forbade the assault which would have
brought on a terrific battle between the Janizaries and their rivals
throughout the army.
"We shall deal with Caraza-Bey hereafter, if his shame does not send
him skulking from the camps," said the chief, resuming his sitting
posture, and restoring order about him.
"Summon the witnesses again," he proceeded.
"You Lovitsch testified truly as to Captain Ballaban's absence, and
may go. But you twin rascals who swore to his escape with the girl,
your heads shall go to Caraza-Bey, and your black souls to the seventh
hell.[51] Executioner, do your office!"
"Hold!" cried Ballaban, as the man drew his cimeter. "Upon my return
to the company I found my fair captive gone, and under such strange
circumstances that I can see that these good fellows may be honest in
what they have stated. I bespeak thy mercy, Sire, for them."
"Captain Ballaban's will shall be ours," replied the chief, with a
wave of his hand dismissing the assemblage. As the crowd withdrew, he
said, "My brothers, the agas, will remain, and Captain Ballaban."
The sides of the tent were put up. The guard patrolled without at a
distance of sixty paces, that no one might overhear the conversation
in the council.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Two horse-tails; the symbol of a Beyler Bey, a chief bey of
Europe or Asia.
[50] A title of Janizaries given them by the dervish who blessed the
order at its institution in the days of Orchan.
[51] According to the Moslems, hell is divided into seven stories or
cellars, the lowest being reserved for hypocrites.