The Eye of Zeitoon

by Talbot Mundy

  Chapter Eighteen"Per terram et aquam."

  AND HE WHO WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT

  The fed fools beat their brazen gongFor gods' ears dulled by blatant praise,Awonder why the scented fumesAnd surplices at evensongAvail not as in other days.Shrunken and mean the spirit failsLike old snow falling from the cragsAnd priest and pedagog competeWith nostrums for the age that ails,But learn not why the spirit lags.Tuneless and dull the loose lyre thrumsIll-plucked by fingers strange to skillThat change and change the fever'd chords,But still no inspiration comesThough priest and pundit labor still.Lust-urged the clamoring clans denounceWhate'er their sires agreed was good,And swift on faith and fair returnWith lies the feud-leaders pounceLest Truth deprive them of their food.Dog eateth dog and none gives thanks;All crave the fare, but grudge the priceTheir nobler forbears proudly paid,That now for moonstruck madness ranks--The only true coin--Sacrifice!

  The man who is a hero to himself perhaps exists, but the surfaceindications are no proof of it. I don't pretend to be satisfied,and made no pretense at the time of being satisfied with my sharein Maga's treachery. But I claim that it was more than human naturecould have done, to endure the open disapproval of my friends, begunby Fred's half-earnest jest, and continued by my own indignation;and at the same time to induce them to take my warning seriously.

  Will avoided me, and walked with Gloria, who made no particular secretof her disgust. Fred naturally enough kept the joke going, to savehimself from being tripped in his own net. He had probably persuadedhimself by that time that the accusation was true, and thereforeequally probably regretted having made it; for he would have beenthe last man in the world to give tongue about an offense that hereally believed a friend of his had committed.

  Monty, who believed from force of habit every single word Fred said,walked beside me and was good enough to give me fatherly advice.

  "Not the time, you know, to fool with women. I don't pretend, ofcourse, to any right to judge your private conduct, but--you canbe so awfully useful, you know, and all that kind of thing, whenyou're paying strict attention. Women distract a man."

  All, things considered, I might have done worse than decide to sayno more about the plot, but to keep my own eyes wide open. (I wasparticularly sore with Gloria, and derived much unwise consolationfrom considering stinging remarks I would make to her when the actualtruth should out.)

  Monty began making the best of my, in his eyes, damaged characterby explaining the general dispositions he and Kagig had made forthe defense of Zeitoon.

  "According to my view of it," he said, "this bridge we've just crossedis the weakest point--or was. I think we can hold that clay rampyou came up yesterday against all comers. But there's a way roundthe back of this mountain that leads to the dismantled fort you seeon this side of the river. That is the fort built by the Turkishsoldiers whom Kagig told us the women of Zeitoon threw one by oneover the bridge."

  He stopped (we had climbed about two hundred feet of a fairly steeptrack leading up the flank of Beirut Dagh) and let the others gatheraround us.

  "You see, if the enemy can once establish a footing on this hill,they'll then command the whole of Zeitoon opposite with rifle fire,even if they don't succeed in bringing artillery round the mountain."

  Between us and Zeitoon there now lay a deep, sheer-sided gash, downat the bottom of which the Jihun brawled and boiled. I did not envyany army faced with the task of crossing it, even supposing the bridgeshould not be destroyed. But they would not need to cross in orderto make the town untenable.

  "The Zeitoonli are, you might say, superstitious about that bridge,"Monty went on. "They refuse as much as to consider making arrangementsto blow it up in case of need. Another remarkable thing is thatthe women claim the bridge defense as their privilege. That doesn'tmatter. They look like a crowd of last-ditch fighters, and we'reawfully short of men. But we're almost equally short of ammunition;and if it ever gets to the point where we're driven in so that wehave to hold that bridge, we shall be doling out cartridges one byone to the best shots! I have tried to persuade the women to leavethe bridge until there's need of defending it, and to lend us ahand elsewhere meanwhile; but they've always held the bridge, andthey propose to do the same again. Even Kagig can't shift them,although the women have been his chief supporters all along."

  Fred interrupted, pointing toward a few acres of level land to ourleft, below Zeitoon village but still considerably above theriver level.

  "Is that Rustum Khan?"

  "He it is," said Kagig. "A devil of a man--a wonder of a devil--nofriend of mine, yet I shook hands with him and I salute him! A genius!A cavalryman born. Our people are not cavalrymen. No place forhorses, this. Yet, as you have seen, there are some of us who canride, and that Rustum Khan found many others--refugees from thisand that place. See how he drills them yonder--see! It was thegift of God that so many horses fell into our hands. Some of therefugees brought horses along for food. Instead, Rustum Khan tookmen's corn away, to feed the hungry horses!"

  "We could never have held the place without Rustum Khan," said Monty."As it is we've a chance. The last thing the Turks will expect fromus is mounted tactics. Allowing for plenty of spare horses, we shallhave two full squadrons--one under Rustum Khan, and one I'll leadmyself. From all accounts they're bringing an awful number of menagainst us, and we expect them to try to force the clay ramp. Inthat case--but come and see."

  He led on up-hill, and after a few minutes the well-worn trackdisappeared, giving place to a newly cleared one. Trees had beencut down roughly, leaving stumps in such irregular profusion that,though horses could pass between them easily, no wheeled trafficcould have gone that way. The undergrowth and the tree-trunks hadbeen piled along either side, so that the new path was fenced in.It was steep and crooked, every section of it commanded by someother section higher up, with plenty of crags and boulders thatafforded even better cover than the trees.

  "Discovered this the first day I got here," said Monty. "Askedabout bears, and a man offered to show me where a dozen of them lived.I was curious to see where a 'dozen bears could live in amitytogether--didn't believe a word of it. We set out that afternoon,and didn't reach the top until midnight. Worst climb I ever experienced.Lost ourselves a hundred times. Next day, however, Kagig agreed to letme have as many men as could be crowded together to work, and I tooka hundred and twenty. Set them to cutting this trail and anotherone. They worked like beavers. But come along and look."

  "How about the bears?" Fred demanded. "Did you get them?"

  "Smelt 'em. Saw one--or saw his shadow, and heard him. Followedhim up-hill by the smell, and so found the castle wall. Haven'tseen a bear since."

  "Hssh!" said Kagig, and sprang up-hill ahead of us to take the lead."There are guards above there, and they are true Zeitoonli--theywill shoot dam' quick!"

  They did not shoot, because we all lay in the shadow of a greatrock as soon as we could see a ragged stone wall uplifted againstthe purple sky, and Kagig whistled half a dozen times. We plainlyheard the snap of breech-blocks being tested.

  "They are weary of talking fight!" Kagig whispered.

  But the sixth or seventh whistle was answered by a shout, and webegan to climb again. Close to the castle the tree-cutters had beenable to follow the line of the original road fairly closely, andthere were places underfoot that actually seemed to have been paved.Finally we reached a steep ramp of cemented stone blocks, not oneof which was out of place, and went up that toward an arch--clear,unmistakable, round Roman that had once been closed by a portcullisand an oak gate. All of the woodwork had long ago disappeared, butthere was little the matter with the masonry.

  Under the echoing arch we strode into a shadowy courtyard where thesun had not penetrated long enough to warm the stones. In the midstof it a great stone keep stood as grim and almost as undecayed aswhen Crusaders last defended it. That castle had never been builtby Crusaders; they had found it standing there, and had a
dded toit, Norman on to Roman.

  The courtyard was littered with weeds that Kagig's men had slasheddown, and here and there a tree had found root room and forced itsway up between the rough-hewn paving stones. Animals had lairedin the place, and had left their smell there together with an airof wilderness. But now a new-old smell, and new-old sounds wereawakening the past. There were horses again in the stables, whoseroof formed the fighting-platform behind the rampart of the outer wall.

  Monty led the way to the old arched entrance of the keep, and pointedupward to a spot above the arch where some one had been scrapingand scrubbing away the stains of time. There, clean white now inthe midst of rusty stonework, was a carved device--shield-shaped--twoships and two wheat-sheaves; and underneath on a scroll the mottoin Latin--Per terram et aquam--By land and sea--in token that theold Montdidiers held themselves willing to do duty on either element.The same device and the same motto were on the gold signet ring onMonty's little finger.

  "What's happening on top of the keep?" demanded Will.

  Fred laughed aloud. We could not see up from inside, for at leastone of the stone floors remained intact.

  "Can't you guess?" demanded Fred. "Didn't I tell you the man has'verted to Crusader days?"

  But Monty explained.

  "There's an old stone socket up there that used to hold the flag-pole.Two or three fellows have been kind enough to haul a tree up there,and they're trimming it to fit."

  "If we were wise we'd hang you to it, Didums, and save you from alousy Turkish jail!"

  "Thank you, Fred," Monty answered. "There are capitulations still,I fancy. No Turk can legally try me, or imprison me a minute. I'manswerable to the British consul."

  "They're fine, legal-minded sticklers for the rules, the Turks are!"Fred retorted.

  "But we've a net laid for the Turks!" smiled Monty.

  Fred shook his head. Monty led the way toward stone steps, whosetreads bad been worn into smooth hollows centuries before by thefeet of men in armor.

  Up above on the outer rampart we could see Kagig's sentries outlinedagainst the sky, protected against the chilly mountain air bygoat-skin outer garments and pointed goat-skin hats. We mountedthe stone stair, holding to a baluster worn smooth by the rub ofcountless forgotten hands, as perfect yet as on the day when themasons pronounced it finished; and emerged on to a wide stone floorabove the stables, guarded by a breast-high parapet pierced by slitsfor archers.

  From below the breathing of the pines came up to us, peculiarlyaudible in spite of the Titan roar of Jihun River. Immediately belowus was a ledge of forest-covered rock, and beyond that we could seesheer down the tree-draped flank of Beirut Dagh to the foaming water.We leaned our elbows on the parapet, and stared in silence all ina row, stared at in turn by the more than half-suspicious sentries.

  "How does it feel, old man" asked Will at last, "standing on rampartswhere your ancestors once ruled the roost?"

  "Stranger than perhaps you think," Monty answered, not looking toright or left, or downward, but away out in front of him toward thesky-line on top of the opposite hills.

  "I bet I know," said Will. "You hate to see the old order passing.You'd like the old times back."

  "You're wrong for once, America!" Monty turned his back on theparapet and the view, and with hands thrust deep down in his pocketssought for words that could explain a little of his inner man. Fredhad perhaps seen that mood before, but none of the rest of us.Usually he would talk of anything except his feelings. He felt thedifficulty now, and checked.

  "How so?" demanded Will.

  "I've watched the old order passing. I'm part of it. I'm passing, too."

  Gloria watched him with melting eyes. Fred turned his back and wentthrough the fruitless rigmarole of trying to appear indifferent,going to the usual length at last of humming through his nose.

  "That's what I said. You'd like these castle days back again."

  "You're wrong, Will. I pray they never may come back. The placeis an anachronism. So am I!--useless for most modern purposes.You'd have to tear castle or me so to pieces that we'd be unrecognizable.The world is going forward, and I'm glad of it. It shall have nohindrance at my hands."

  "If men were all like you--" began Gloria, but he checked her witha frown.

  "You can call this castle a robbers' nest, if you like. It's easyto call names. It stood for the best men knew in those days--protectionof the countryside, such law and order as men understood, and theopen road. It was built primarily to keep the roads safe. Thereare lots of things in England and America to-day, Will, that yourdescendants (being fools) will sneer at, just as it's the fashionto-day to sneer at relics of the past like this--and me!"

  "Who's sneering? Not I! Not we!"

  "This castle was built for the sake of the countryside. I've a mindto see it end as it began--that's all."

  "Aw--what's eating you, Monty?"

  "Shut up croaking, you old raven!" grumbled Fred.

  "Show us the view you promised. This isn't it, for there isn't aTurk in sight."

  Monty knew better than mistake Fred's surliness for anything butfriendship in distress. Without another word he led the way alongthe parapet toward a ragged tower at the southern corner. It hadbeen built by Normans, evidently added to the earlier Roman wall.

  "Now tell me if the old folk didn't know their business," said Monty."Very careful, all! The steps inside are rough. The roof has fallenin, and the ragged upper edge that's left probably accounts for thecastle remaining undetected from below all these years--looks likefangs of discolored rock."

  We followed him through the doorless gap in the tower wall, and upbroken stone stairs littered with fragments of the fallen roof, untilwe stood at last in a half-circle around the jagged rim, our feetwedged between rotten masonry, breasts against the saw-edge parapet,and heads on a level with the eagles. From that dizzy height wehad a full view between the mountains, not only of the immediateenvirons of Zeitoon, but of most of the pass--up which we ourselveshad come, and of some of the open land beyond it.

  "D'you see Turks now?"

  Monty pointed, but there was no need. Dense masses of men werebivouacked beyond the bottom of the wide clay ramp. Through theglasses I could see artillery and supply wagons. They were comingto make a thorough job of "rescuing" Zeitoon this time! After awhile I was able to make out the dark irregular line of Kagig's men,and here and there the lighter color of freshly dug entrenchments.None of Zeitoon's defenders appeared to be thrown out beyond theclay ramp, but they evidently flanked it on the side of the passthat was farthest from us.

  "Now look this way, and you'll understand."

  Monty pointed to our right, and the significance of the voices wehad heard so close to us when Fred was searching for a path aroundthe clay on the morning of our arrival, was made plain instantly.Down from the ledge on which the castle stood to a point apparentlywithin a few yards of the clay ramp there had been cut a windingswath through the forest, along which four horses abreast could beridden, or as many men marched.

  "How did you do all that in time?" demanded Will. "It looks likeone of those contractor's jobs in the States--put through while youwait and to hell with everything!"

  "It follows the old road," Monty answered. "There was too muchcobble-paving for the trees to take hold, and most of what they hadto cut was small stuff. That accounts, too, for the freedom fromstumps. But, do you get the idea? The trees between the end ofthe cutting and the clay ramp are cut almost through--ready to fall,in fact. I'm afraid of a wind. If it blows, our screen may falltoo soon! But if the Turks try to storm the ramp, we'll draw themon. Then, hey--presto! Down go the remaining trees, and into themiddle of 'em rides our cavalry!"

  "What's the use of cavalry four abreast?" demanded Fred, in no moodto be satisfied with anything.

  "Rustum Khan is concentrating all his energy on teaching that onemaneuver," Monty answered. "We come--"

  "Thought it 'ud be 'we!' Your pl
ace is at the rear, giving orders!"

  "We come down the track at top speed, and the impetus will carryus clear across the ramp. Some of the horses'll go down, becausethe slope is slippery. But the remainder will front form squadron,and charge down hill in line. Then watch!"

  "All right," Fred grumbled. "But how about you rear while all that'sgoing on? The Turk must have worked his way around Beirut Dagh onformer occasions--or how else could he ever have built and held thatdismantled fort? What's to stop him from doing it again?"

  "It's a fifteen-mile fight ahead of him," Monty answered, "withriflemen posted at every vantage-point all the way--"

  "Who is in charge of the riflemen?"

  Kagig leaned back until he looked in danger of falling, and tappedhis breast significantly three times.

  "I--I have picked the men who will command those riflemen and women!"

  "Well," Fred grumbled, "what are your plans for us?"

  "For the last time, Fred, I want you, old man, to help me to persuadethese others to escape into the hills while there's still a chance,and I want you to go with them."

  "I also!" exclaimed Kagig. "I also desire that!"

  "Now you've got that off your chest, Didums, suppose you talk sense,"suggested Fred. "What are your plans?"

  Monty recognized the unalterable, and set his face.

  "You first, Miss Vanderman. There's one way in which we can alwaysuse a gentlewoman's services."

  "Mayn't I fight?" she begged, and we all laughed.

  "'Fraid not. No. The women have cleared out several houses fora hospital. Please go and superintend."

  "Damn!" exclaimed Gloria, Boston fashion, not in the least underher breath.

  "I am sending word," said Kagig, "that they shall obey you or learnfrom me!"

  "The rest of us," Monty went on, "will know better what to do whenwe know what the Turk intends, but I expect to send all of you fromtime to time to wherever the fighting is thickest. Kagig, of course,will please himself, and my orders are subject to his approval."

  "I'll go, then," said Gloria. "Good-by!" And she kissed Will onthe mouth in full view of all of us, he blushing furiously, and Kagigcracking all his finger-joints.

  "Go with her, Will!" urged Monty, as she disappeared down the steps."Go and save yourself. You're young. I've notions of my own thatI've inherited, and the world calls me a back number. You go withMiss Vanderman!"

  I seconded that motion.

  "Go with her, Will! I've warned you she's unsafe alone! Go andprotect her!"

  Will grinned, wholly without malice.

  "Thanks!" he said. "She's a back number, too. So'm I! If I leftMonty in this pinch she'd never look at me, and I'd not ask her to!Inherited notions about merit and all that kind of thing, don't youknow, by gosh! No, sir! She and I both sat into this game. Sheand I both stay! Wish Esau would open the ball, though. I'm tiredof talking."