CHAPTER XII.
Selim's apartment was off from the common barracks of the Janizaries.It was luxuriantly furnished in its way. Elegant rugs lay upon themarble floor. A divan, with silken covering, filled one end of theroom. The walls were hung with a variety of richly wrought weapons andarmor:--short swords, long crescent-shaped cimeters, spears ofpolished wood headed with glistening steel, helmets, breastplates,greaves. Badges and honorary decorations shone among costly robeswhich had accumulated since the days when he had been a page to theSultan Amurath I.
Upon a low table, reaching to the edge of the divan, had been placedsalvers holding cups and open dishes of silver. A woinak entered withbasins of scented water in which to wash the hands and bathe the face.
Selim placed his little guest by his side upon the divan. Mustaphaalso appeared, and, removing his shoes, made a profound and dignifiedsalam--quite in contrast with his usual rough and badgering mannerwhen with Selim--then placed himself beside his comrade upon thecushions. An excellent repast was served. There was hare's fleshchopped and rolled with rice into balls, made more savory with currysauce. Sweet cakes, pastry of figs and candied orange blossoms exciteda thirst for the sweetened water, which was so strongly flavored withthe juices of fruits that the more scrupulous Moslems refused to drinkit, lest they should disobey the command of the Koran prohibiting theuse of wine.
The two old men vied with each other in telling thrilling stories ofadventure in battle and on secret service; of the romance of castlesand courts; of how they won their honors and got their scars; of thefavors of princes and princesses; and of exploits in which, though therules of their order forbade their marrying, they retaliated thecaptivity of the maiden's eye by capturing her person. The burden ofevery story was the praise of the Janizary organization, which aloneenabled them to attain such glories and joys. The close brotherhood,which gave to each the help of all the ten thousand, was commended byincidents illustrating it. They told of their Aga or chief, who wasmore powerful than the Grand Vizier--for sultans made these latter bya word, and unmade them with equal caprice, often with the stroke ofthe sword; but to touch a hair of the Aga would be for the Sultan tolose the favor of the entire band, whom he regarded as the mainsupport of his throne, as their hands had won it for his fathers. Didnot the word of Mustapha and Selim, at the fox-hunt, cow the pride ofYusef, who was next to the Capee Aga or chief of the white eunuchs?Yet Selim and Mustapha were but captains in the Janizaries. No generalin any other arm of the service would have dared to antagonize theeunuch as they did.
As Michael listened, his cheeks flushed and chilled by turns with theexcitement of his martial ambition. The dreams he used to have in hismountain home, of being a soldier and coming back covered with badgesof honor to claim Morsinia as his bride, seemed to be dissolving intothe reality. Nor was his ardor damped when he learned from Selim thatthe first step toward all this was the total surrender of himself tothe service of the brotherhood, in pledging and keeping obedience toits rules; as a part of the body, like the hand, must never be severedfrom the rest, but keep the contact perfect in every muscle and nerve,in order to have the strength which only the health of the whole bodycan give to it. Selim explained to him how wrong it had been for himto seize the fox, no matter how excited he was, or how much daring itshowed to do so, since he had not been ordered to seize, but only toturn the beast toward the Prince. Besides, to raise a hand against theprince was treason--unless it were ordered by the chief of theJanizaries. Therefore he had been punished according to the Janizarydiscipline; though they would not have allowed any one else to touchhim--no not even the Padishah himself.
Michael's spirit was fully healed with such words. His depression gaveway to a hotter ambition and pride of expectation than he had everfelt before, when Selim put upon his head the whitish gray cap, likethat worn by the dervishes, and differing from it only in having uponthe back a strip of wool which the old man thus explained, as he toldthe story of the organization of the Janizary corps.
"The death angel, Azrael, has reaped the earth more than five timessince the mighty Othman,[36] who founded our empire, entered paradise.His queen, Malkhatoon, the most beautiful of women, had given him twosons. Never since Khalif Omar followed the Prophet was noblersuccessor than would have been either Alaeddin or Orchan to Othman.The stars shone not with deeper lustre than did the wisdom ofAlaeddin. The storm never burst more resistlessly on your Balkanmountains than did the bravery and strength of Orchan beat down thefoe. To Orchan the empire came by will of Allah and Othman. But toAlaeddin the new king said, 'Thou art wise, my brother, above all men.Be thou the eyes of the throne, and I will be its arm!' So Alaeddinwas the great minister of the mighty Orchan. To Prince Alaeddin we oweour best laws, our system of drilling and marching in all the Ottomanarmies.
"But two lights are better known than one. And in a dream the AngelGabriel, who knows the secrets of Allah regarding men, said toAlaeddin, 'Go look into the eyes of Kara Khalil Tschendereli. We havegiven him a thought for thee and thy people.' And Kara Khalil said,'Know, O wise and virtuous Prince Alaeddin, I have been permitted inmy dreams to stand upon the wall Al Araf, that runs between paradiseand hell. In the third story of the seven which divide perdition I sawthe ghosts of the Giaours. But while I watched their torments thespirit of Othman, the Blessed, came to me, and, pointing to a gate inthe wall, said, in a voice so sweet that all the birds in paradiseechoed it, but so strong that it shook the mighty wall Al Araf as ifit would fall, "I charge thee, as thou art a true believer in Mahomet,open that gate that some of the believers in Jesu, Son of Mary, mayescape into paradise."
"'"What power have I for such a miracle, O Othman," I cried. ButOthman said:
"'"Thou shalt save the souls of the boys among the captives Allahgives thee in battle. Is it not written in the Koran that all thechildren are at their birth gifted with the true faith. Believe this,and teach the captive boys to trust the Prophet, to breathe the holyIslam of Father Abraham, and to draw the sword for Allah. So shaltthou be a saviour of many souls. And such valor will Allah send theserescued ones, and such blessings shall follow them, that the Giaourchildren shall conquer for thee the Giaour nations."'
"And so, Michael," added Selim, "the wisdom of earth and heavenappointed our order. We are still the Yeni Tscheri,[37] though acentury has gone by since we were founded; for the vigor of perpetualyouth is ours.
"When Orchan, at such advice of Alaeddin and Kara Khalil enrolled thefirst of the new troop--bright Christian boys like yourself,Michael--they were led to the old dervish, Hadji Beytarch, whosesanctity was as the fragrance of paradise itself. The face of the holyman caught the lustre of the prophecy from heaven. As he drew thesleeve of his mantle over each bowed head--and the strip of wool onour cap is the sign of his sleeve--he uttered this benediction: 'Thyface shall be white and shining; thy right arm shall be strong; thysabre shall be keen; and thine arrows sharp. Thou shalt be fortunatein fight, and thou shalt never leave the battle-field save as aconqueror.'"
"And have they never been conquered?" asked Michael with incredulity.
"Never!" cried Selim.
"Except," added Mustapha, "that they might prepare themselves for somegreater victory. Allah sometimes makes known to us his will that weshould retreat; then we take up our kismet as joyfully as we wouldshout the advance. That we may make sure of Allah's will, beforeretreating we always assault the enemy thrice. If at that sacrednumber we cannot conquer we know that the victory has been reserved,still held for us, but in the closed hand of Fate."
"But what of those who were killed? I certainly saw many Janizarieslying dead in the snows of the Balkans the day of the fight. Are theynot conquered?" asked the boy.
"Nay, more than conquerors," said Mustapha. "If one falls in battleparadise flings wide its gates, and troops of angels and houris cometo lead his soul in a triumphal procession into that beautiful landwhere the earth is like purest musk, and where the great Tuba treegrows--a branch of which shades the kiosk of every believ
er, and bendsdown to place its luscious fruit into his hand, if he so much asdesires it; where are grapes and pomegranates, and such as for spicysweetness have never been tasted on earth; where are streams of waterand milk and wine and honey, whose bottoms are pebbled with pearls andemeralds and rubies; where the houris, the fairest of maidens, dwellclose beside the believer in pavilions of hollow pearls, and serveevery wish of the faithful even before he can utter it."[38]
But Michael's eyes were heavy; and as the old veterans diverted theconversation to some matter of business between them, his excitedimagination reproduced the description of paradise in his dreams.Only, the pavilion of pearl was shaped like good Uncle Kabilovitsch'scot on the mountains, and the houris were all fair-haired Morsinias.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Whence the word Ottoman. Also written Osman, whence the Osmanlis.
[37] Yeni Tscheri; new troop; corrupted in Janizary.
[38] _Vide_ Koran.
The Captain of the Janizaries Page 12
