The Prince of India; Or, Why Constantinople Fell — Volume 02

by Lew Wallace

  CHAPTER XXIII

  SERGIUS AND NILO TAKE UP THE HUNT

  We have seen the result of Sergius' interview with the Prince of India,and remember that it was yet early in the morning after Lael'sdisappearance when, in company with Nilo, he bade the eccentricstranger adieu, and set forth to try his theory respecting the lostgirl.

  About noon he appeared southwest of the Hippodrome in the streetleading past the cistern-keeper's abode. Nilo, by arrangement, followedat a distance, keeping him in sight. By his side there was a fruitpeddler, one of the every-day class whose successors are banes of lifeto all with whom in the modern Byzantium a morning nap is the sweetestpreparation for the day.

  The peddler carried a huge basket strapped to his forehead. He was alsoequipped with a wooden platter for the display of samples of his stock;and it must be said the medlars, oranges, figs of Smyrna, and theluscious green grapes in enormous clusters freshly plucked in thevineyards on the Asiatic shore over against the Isles of the Princes,were very tempting; especially so as the hour was when the whole worldacknowledges the utility of lunching as a stay for dinner.

  It is not necessary to give the conversation between the man of fruitsand the young Russian. The former was endeavoring to sell. Presentlythey reached a point from which the cistern-keeper was visible, seated,as usual, just within the door pommelling the pavement. Sergius stoppedthere, and affected to examine his companion's stock; then, as if of amind, he said:

  "Oh, well! Let us cross the street, and if the man yonder will give mea room in which I can eat to my content, I will buy of you. Let us tryhim."

  The two made their way to the door.

  "Good day, my friend," Sergius said, to the keeper, who recognized him,and rising, returned the salutation pleasantly enough.

  "You were here yesterday," he said, "I am glad to see you again. Comein."

  "Thank you," Sergius returned. "I am hungry, and should like some ofthis man's store; but it is uncomfortable eating in the street; so Ithought you might not be offended if I asked a room for the purpose;particularly as I give you a hearty invitation to share the repast withme."

  In support of the request the peddler held the platter to the keeper.The argument was good, and straightway, assuming the air of aconnoisseur, the master of the house squeezed a medlar, and raising anorange to his nose smelt it, calculated its weight, and answered: "Why,yes--come right along to my sitting-room. I will get some knives; andwhen we are through, we will have a bowl of water, and a napkin. Thingsare not inviting out here as they might be."

  "And the peddler?" Sergius inquired.

  "Bring him along. We will make him show us the bottom of his basket. Ibelieve you said you are a stranger?"

  Sergius nodded.

  "Well, I am not," the keeper continued, complacently. "I know thesefellows. They all have tricks. Bring him in. I have no family. I livealone."

  The monk acknowledged the invitation, but pausing to allow the peddlerto enter first, he at the same time lifted his hat as if to readjustit; then a moment was taken to make a roll of the long fair hair, andtuck it securely under the hat. That finished, he stepped into thepassage, and pursued after his host through a door on the left hand;whereupon the passage to the court was clear.

  Now the play with the hat was a signal to Nilo. Rendered into words, itwould have run thus: "The keeper is employed, and the way open. Come!"And the King, on the lookout, answered by sauntering slowly down,mindful if he hurried he might be followed, there being a number ofpersons in the vicinity.

  At the door, he took time to examine the front of the house; then he,too, stepped into the passage and through it, and out into the court,where, with a glance, he took everything in--paved area, the curbingabout the stairway to the water, the faces of the three sides of thesquare opposite that of the entrance, all unbroken by door, window, orpanel, the sedan in the corner, the two poles lashed together and onend by the sedan. He looked behind him--the passage was yet clear--ifseen coming in, he was not pursued. There was a smile on his shiningblack face; and his teeth, serrated along the edges after the militaryfashion in Kash-Cush, displayed themselves white as dressed coral.Evidently he was pleased and confident. Next he went to the curb, shota quick look down the steps far as could be seen; thence he crossed tothe sedan, surveyed its exterior, and opened the door. The interiorappearing in good order, he entered and sat down, and closing the door,arranged the curtain in front, drew it slightly aside and peeped out,now to the door admitting from the passage, then to the curbing. Bothwere perfectly under view.

  When the King issued from the chair, his smile was broader than before,and his teeth seemed to have received a fresh enamelling. Withoutpausing again, he proceeded to the opening of the cistern, and with hishands on the curbing right and left, let himself lightly down on thefour stones of the first landing; a moment, and he began descent of thesteps, taking time to inspect everything discernible in the shadowyspace. At length he stood on the lower platform.

  He was now in serious mood. The white pillars were wondrous vast, andthe darkness--it may be doubted if night in its natural aspects is moreimpressive to the savage than the enlightened man; yet it is certainthe former will take alarm quicker when shut in by walls of artfulcontrivance. His imagination then peoples the darkness with spirits,and what is most strange, the spirits are always unfriendly. To say nowthat Nilo, standing on the lower platform, was wholly unmoved, would beto deny him the sensibilities without which there can be none of theeffects usually incident to courage and cowardice. The vastness of thereceptacle stupefied him. The silence was a curtain he could feel; thewater, deep and dark, looked so suggestive of death that thesuperstitious soul required a little time to be itself again. Butrelief came, and he watched intently to see if there was a current inthe black pool; he could discover none; then, having gained all theinformation he could, he ascended the steps and lifted himself out intothe court. A glance through the passage--another at the sky--and heentered the sedan, and shut himself in.

  The discussion of the fruit in the keeper's sitting-room meantime wasinteresting to the parties engaged in it. With excellent understandingof Nilo's occupation in the court, Sergius exerted himself to detainhis host--if the term be acceptable--long as possible.

  Fortunately no visitors came. Settling the score, and leaving aprofusion of thanks behind him, he at length made his farewell, andspent the remainder of the afternoon on a bench in the Hippodrome.

  Occasionally he went back to the street conducting to the cistern, andwalked down it far enough to get a view of the keeper still at the door.

  In the evening he ate at a confectionery near by, prolonging the mealtill near dusk, and thence, business being suspended, he idled alongthe same thoroughfare in a manner to avoid attracting attention.

  Still later, he found a seat in the recess of an unused doorway nearlyin front of the house of such interest to him.

  The manoeuvres thus detailed advise the reader somewhat of theparticulars of the programme in execution by the monk and Nilo; northat only--they notify him of the arrival of a very interesting part ofthe arrangement. In short, it is time to say that, one in the recess ofthe door, the other shut up in the sedan, they are both on the lookoutfor Demedes. Would he come? And when?

  Anticipating a little, we may remark, if he comes, and goes into thecistern, Nilo is to open the street door and admit Sergius, who is thento take control of the after operations.

  A little before sunset the keeper shut his front door. Sergius heardthe iron bolt shoot into the mortice. He believed Demedes had not seenLael since the abduction, and that he would not try to see her whilethe excitement was up and the hunt going forward. But now the city wassettled back into quiet--now, if she were indeed in the cistern, hewould come, the night being in his favor. And further, if he merelyappeared at the house, the circumstance would be strongly corroborativeof the monk's theory; if he did more--if he actually entered thecistern, there would be an end of doubt, and Nilo could keep him there,while
Sergius was bringing the authorities to the scene. Such was thescheme; and he who looks at it with proper understanding must perceiveit did not contemplate unnecessary violence. On this score, indeed, thePrince of India's significant reminder that he had found Nilo a savage,had led Sergius to redoubled care in his instructions.

  The first development in the affair took place under the King's eye.

  Waiting in ambush was by no means new to him. He was not in the leasttroubled by impatience. To be sure, he would have felt more comfortablewith a piece of bread and a cup of water; yet deprivations of the kindwere within the expectations; and while there was a hope of good issuefor the enterprise, he could endure them indefinitely. The charge givenhim pertained particularly to Demedes. No fear of his not recognizingthe Greek. Had he not enjoyed the delight of holding him out over thewall to be dropped to death?

  He was eager, but not impatient. His chief dependence was in the senseof feeling, which had been cultivated so the slightest vibration alongthe ground served him in lieu of hearing. The closing of the front doorby the keeper--felt, not heard--apprised him the day was over.

  Not long afterward the pavement was again jarred, bringing a return ofthe sensations he used to have when, stalking lions in Kash-Cush, hefelt the earth thrill under the galloping of the camelopards stampeded.

  He drew the curtain aside slightly, just as a man stepped into thecourt from the passage. The person carried a lighted lamp, and was notDemedes.

  The cistern-keeper--for he it was--went to the curbing slowly, for theadvance airs of the gale were threatening his lamp, and droppeddextrously through the aperture to the upper landing.

  In ambush the King never admitted anything like curiosity. Presently hefelt the pavement again jar. Nobody appeared at the passage. Anothertremor more decided--then the King stepped softly from the sedan, andstealing barefooted to the curbing looked down the yawning hole.

  The lamp on the platform enabled him to see a boat drawn up to thelower step, and the stranger in the act of stepping into it. Then thelamp was shifted to the bow of the boat--oars taken in hand--a pushoff, and swift evanishment.

  We, with our better information of the devices employed, know what asimple trick it was on the keeper's part to bring the vessel to him--hehad but to pull the right string in the right direction--but Nilo wasleft to his astonishment. Stealing back to his cover, he drew the doorto, and struggled with the mystery.

  Afterwhile, the mist dissipated, and a fact arose plainer to him thanthe mighty hand on his knee. The cistern was inhabited--some person wasdown there to be communicated with. What should the King do now?

  The quandary was trying. Finally he concluded to stay where he was. Thestranger might bring somebody back with him--possibly the lostchild--such Lael was in his thoughts of her.

  Afterwhile--he had no idea of time--he felt a shake run along thepavement, and saw the stranger appear coming up the steps, lamp inhand. Next instant the person crawled out of the curbing, and went intothe house through the passage doorway. The King never took eye from thecurbing--nobody followed after--the secret of the old reservatory wasyet a secret.

  Again Nilo debated whether to bring Sergius in, and again he decided tostay where he was.

  Meantime the cloud which the Prince of India had descried from the roofof his house arrived on the wings of the gale. Ere long Sergius wasshivering in the recess of the door. For relief he counted the beads ofhis rosary, and there was scarcely a Saint in the calendar omitted fromhis recitals. If there was potency in prayers the angels were in thecistern ministering to Lael.

  The street became deserted. Everything living which had a refuge soughtit; yet the gale increased: it howled and sang dirges; it started theinnumerable loose trifles in its way to waltzing over the bowlders;every hinged fixture on the exposed house-fronts creaked and banged.Only a lover would voluntarily endure the outdoors of such a night--alover or a villain unusually bold.

  Near midnight--so Sergius judged--a dull redness began to tinge thecloud overhead, and brightening rapidly, it ere long cast a strongreflection downward. At first he was grateful for the light;afterwhile, however, he detected an uproar distinguishable from thewind; it had no rest or lulls, and in its rise became more and more ahuman tone. When shortly people rushed past his cover crying fire, hecomprehended what it was. The illumination intensified. The whole cityseemed in danger. There were women and children exposed; yet here hewas waiting on a mere hope; there he could do something. Why not go?

  While he debated, down the street from the direction of the Hippodromehe beheld a man coming fast despite the strength of the gusts. A cloakwrapped him from head to foot, somewhat after the fashion of a toga,and the face was buried in its folds; yet the air and manner suggestedDemedes. Instantly the watcher quit arguing; and forgetful of the fire,and of the city in danger, he shrank closer into the recess.

  The thoroughfare was wider than common, and the person approaching onthe side opposite Sergius; when nearer, his low stature was observable.Would he stop at the cistern-keeper's?

  Now he was at the door!

  The Russian's heart was in his mouth.

  Right in front of the door the man halted and knocked. The sound was sosharp a stone must have been used. Immediately the bolt inside wasdrawn, and the visitor passed in.

  Was it Demedes? The monk breathed again--he believed it was--anyhow theKing would determine the question, and there was nothing to do meantimebut bide the event.

  The sedan, it hardly requires saying, was a much more comfortableambush than the recess of the door. Nilo merely felt the shaking thegale now and then gave the house. So, too, he bade welcome to the glarein the sky for the flushing it transmitted to the court. Only a wraithcould have come from or gone into the cistern unseen by him.

  The clapping to of the front door on the street was not lost to theKing. Presently the person he had seen in the boat at the foot of thesteps again issued from the passage, lamp in hand as before; but as hekept looking back deferentially, a gust leaped down, and extinguishedthe flame, compelling him to return; whereupon another man stepped outinto the court, halting immediately. Nilo opened a little wider the gapin the curtain through which he was peeping.

  It may be well to say here that the newcomer thus unwittingly exposinghimself to observation was the same individual Sergius had seenadmitted into the house. The keeper had taken him to a room for therearrangement of his attire. Standing forth in the light now fillingthe court, he was still wrapped in the cloak, all except the head,which was jauntily covered with a white cap, in style not unlike aScotch bonnet, garnished with two long red ostrich feathers held inplace by a brooch that shot forth gleams of precious stones in artfularrangement. Once the man opened the cloak, exposing a vest offine-linked mail, white with silver washing, and furnished withepaulettes or triangular plates, fitted gracefully to the shoulders. Aruff, which was but the complement of a cape of heavy lace, clothed theneck.

  To call the feeling which now shot through the King's every fibre asudden pleasure would scarcely be a sufficient description; it wasrather the delight with which soldiers old in war acknowledge thepresence of their foemen. In other words, the brave black recognizedDemedes, and was strong minded enough to understand and appreciate thecircumstances under which the discovery was made. If the savage arosein him, it should be remembered he was there to revenge a master'swrongs quite as much as to rescue a stolen girl. Moreover, theeducation he had received from his master was not in the direction ofmercy to enemies.

  The two--Demedes and the keeper--lost no time in entering the cistern,the latter going first. When the King thought they had reached thelower platform, he issued from the chair barefooted, and bending overthe curbing beheld what went on below.

  The Greek was holding the lamp. The occupation of his assistant wasbeyond comprehension until the boat moved slowly into view. Demedesthen set the lamp down, divested himself of his heavy wrap, and takingthe rower's seat, unshipped the oars. There was a brief conference; att
he conclusion the subordinate joined his chief; whereupon the boatpushed off.

  Thus far the affair was singularly in the line of Sergius'anticipations; and now to call him in!

  There is little room for doubt that Nilo was in perfect recollection ofthe instructions he had received, and that his first intention was toobey them; for, standing by the curbing long enough to be assured theGreek was indeed in the gloomy cavern, whence escape was impossibleexcept by some unknown exit, he walked slowly away, and was in thepassage door when, looking back, he saw the keeper leaping out into thecourt.

  To say truth, the King had witnessed the departure of the boat withmisgivings. Catching the robbers was then easy; yet rescue of the girlwas a different thing. What might they not do with her in the meantime?As he understood his master, her safety was even more in purpose thantheir seizure; wherefore his impulse was to keep them in sight withoutreference to Sergius. He could swim--yes, but the water was cold, andthe darkness terrible to his imagination. It might be hours before hefound the hiding-place of the thieves--indeed, he might never overtakethem. His regret when he stepped into the passage was mighty; itenables us, however, to comprehend the rush of impetuous joy which nowtook possession of him. A step to the right, and he was behind thecheek of the door.

  All unsuspicious of danger, the keeper came on; a few minutes, and hewould be in bed and asleep, so easy was he in conscience. The ancientcistern had many secrets. What did another one matter? His foot was onthe lintel--he heard a rustle close at his side--before he could dartback--ere he could look or scream, two powerful hands were around histhroat. He was not devoid of courage or strength, and resisted,struggling for breath. He merely succeeded in drawing his assailant outinto the light far enough to get a glimpse of a giant and a face blackand horrible to behold. A goblin from the cistern! And with this idea,he quit fighting, and sank to the floor. Nilo kept his gripneedlessly--the fellow was dead of terror.

  Here was a contingency not provided for in the arrangement Sergius hadlaid out with such care.

  And what now?

  It was for the King to answer.

  He dragged the victim out in the court, and set a foot on his throat.All the savage in him was awake, and his thoughts pursued Demedes.Hungering for that life more than this one, he forgot the monk utterly.Had he a plank--anything in the least serviceable as a float--he wouldgo after the master. He looked the enclosure over, and the sedan caughthis eye, its door ajar. The door would suffice. He took hold of thelimp body of the keeper, drew it after him, set it on the seat, and wasabout wrenching the door away, when he saw the poles. They were twelveor fourteen feet long and lashed together. On rafts not half so good hehad in Kash-Cush crossed swollen streams, paddling with his hands. Totake them to the cistern--to descend the steps with them--to launchhimself on them--to push out into the darkness, were as one act, soswiftly were they accomplished. And going he knew not whither, butscorning the thought of another man betaking himself where he darednot, sustained by a feeling that he was in pursuit, and would have theadvantage of a surprise when at last he overtook the enemy, we mustleave the King awhile in order to bring up a dropped thread of ourstory.