CHAPTER XXXIII.
Through a narrow street, lighted by the lanterns which hung before thedoors of the few wine shops that were still open--for the hour waslate--a man, wrapped in a hooded cloak, went stumbling over the dogsthat were asleep in the middle of the way, and not unfrequently overthe watchmen lying upon the mats before the closed entrances to thebazaars they were guarding. He entered one wine shop after another,muttering an oath of disappointment as he withdrew from each. Atlength he turned into an alley, which seemed like a mere crevice inthe compact mass of houses, and threaded his way between windowlessand doorless walls, until the passage widened into a small and filthycourt. At the extreme rear of this a lamp was just flickering with itsexhausted oil, and only sufficed to show him a doorway. Rapping gentlyhe called in Italian:
"Pedro! Giovan!"
The door was opened by a short, stout man with bullet head, who spreadhimself across the entrance and peered into the face of the latecomer. Two villainous looking men stared through the lurid glare of arush light on a low table, at which, squatted on the ground, they wereplaying dice. A purse or pouch of gold thread, decorated with somedevice wrought with pearls and various precious stones, lay besidethem.
"Ah, the gentleman from Genoa!" exclaimed one. "You are quite welcometo our castle. Ricardo, where is the stool? Well! if you can't findit, lie down, and let the gentleman sit on your head."
"You appear to be in luck, Pedro, if I am to judge from the purseyonder," said the visitor. "Your lady has taken you back to heraffection, and given you this as a love token, I suppose."
"I'll tell you the secrets of my lady's chamber, Signior, when youtell me those of yours," replied Pedro.
"Perhaps," interposed Giovan, "the gentleman would have us help him into the secrets of his lady's chamber. How now, Signior Alexis, haveyou trapped a new beauty so soon in Byzantium?"
"Let's throw for this before we talk," interposed Ricardo, holding thepurse in one hand and a dice cup in the other. "One business at atime."
The three men threw. The stake fell to Ricardo, who thrust the richprize into his dirty pocket, where a third of the contents of thepurse had previously been deposited.
"May I see the little bag?" asked Alexis.
"No!" was the surly response.
"You see, Signior," interposed Giovan, in an attempt to mitigate therudeness of his comrade, "You see it was a trust from--from a deadman, who was afraid to take it with him to purgatory, lest the firemight tarnish it. So we keep it for him until he comes back. And weare still in the trust business, Signior! Our credit is without astain. You know it was just a suspicion of our integrity--we would nothave our honor even suspected by the police--that led us to leaveGenoa. Will you trust us with any little business?"
"Do you know the Albanian officer in the emperor's guards?" askedAlexis.
"No, and want to know nothing about officers of any sort," growledGiovan.
"Ay!" interposed Ricardo, "the red-topped fellow, with a body likeGiovan's, and the neck the right height to come under my sword arm?"making the gesture of cutting off one's head with a sabre. "Does hedisturb you?"
"Yes!"
"It will be worth a hundred ducats," said Giovan.
"A hundred and fifty," said Ricardo; and, lowering his voice to theothers, added, "I need fifty, and I would take only my even share."
"You shall have it," said Alexis, counting out the gold. "If youdeceive me, you know that one word from me here in Byzantium will costyou your heads. Good night!"
When he had gone, Giovan said in low voice:
"I say, Pedro, we will divide a thousand ducats out of this."
"How?" exclaimed the two.
"The young officer is brother to the lady at the grand chamberlain's.She will pay heavy ransom if we deliver him instead of--" drawing hisfinger across his throat. "Of course we should have to leaveByzantium. But Ricardo and I have concluded that it were best to begone anyhow; for the people here are so poor that our business doesnot thrive. This purse once held ducats, but when we took it, it hadonly silver bits. We pocket-bankers need better constituency."
"Yes, we had better get out of this," said Pedro. "General Giustinianihas come to live in Galata.[69] He got his weasel-eyes on me yesterdayas I was doing a little business by the old wharf. That man knows toomuch, he does. But he'll never get me on the galley benches again. I'dcrawl like a mud turtle on the bottom of Marmora before I'd go underthe hatches a second time. I like freedom and fresh air, I do--"blowing out of his face the thick smoke emitted by the wick floatingon the surface of a saucer of oil.
"Right!" said Giovan. "Let's get out of this if we can do so withenough gold to pay our royal travelling expenses. But if we spare theneck of that fellow who is in Signior Alexis' way, where will we keephim that Alexis will not know it?"
"Our mansion here is hardly commodious enough for so distinguished andlively a guest as the young officer will be likely to be," saidRicardo, scraping the spiders' webs from the low ceiling of the roomwith his cap.
"Try the old water vault," suggested Pedro.
"Good!" said Ricardo, "when the Albanian goes to the walls, as he doesevery day, he will pass near to the opening."
FOOTNOTE:
[69] A suburb of Constantinople, occupied by the Genoese.
The Captain of the Janizaries Page 33
