Complete Works of F Marion Crawford

by F. Marion Crawford

  XVI.

  IF ANY OF the party could have guessed what Gregorios Balsamides and I were doing on that dark night, they would not have slept as soundly as they did. It was an evil night, a night for a bad deed, I thought, as I looked out of the carriage-window, when we were clear of the houses and streets of Pera. The black clouds drove angrily down before the north wind, seeming to tear themselves in pieces on the stars, as one might tear a black veil upon steel nails. The wind swept the desolate country, and made the panes of the windows rattle even more loudly than did the hoofs and wheels upon the stony road. But the horses were strong, and the driver was not a shivering Greek, but a sturdy Turk, who could laugh at the wind as it whistled past his ears, striking full upon his broad chest. He drove fast along the rising ground, and faster as he reached the high bend which the road follows above the Bosphorus, winding in and out among the hills till it descends at last to Therapia.

  “The clouds look like the souls of the lost, to-night,” said Balsamides, drawing his fur coat closely around him. “One can imagine how Dante conceived the idea of the scene in hell, when the souls stream down the wind.”

  “You seem poetically inclined,” I answered.

  “Why not? We are out upon a romantic errand. Our lives are not often romantic. We may as well make the best of it, as a beggar does when he gets a bowl of rice.”

  “I should fancy you had led a very romantic life,” said I, lighting a cigarette in the dark, and leaning back against the cushions.

  “That is what women always say when they want a man to make confidences,” laughed Balsamides. “No, I have not led a romantic life. I pass most of my time sitting on my horse in the hot sun, or the driving snow, preserving, or pretending to preserve, the life of his Majesty from real or imaginary dangers. Or else I sit eight or nine hours a day chatting and smoking with the other adjutants. It is not a healthy life. It is certainly not romantic.”

  “Not as you describe it. But I judged from the ease with which you made the preparations for this expedition that you had done things of the sort before.”

  My friend laughed again, but turned the subject.

  “I hope that when we meet your friends to-morrow morning, we may have something to show for our night’s work,” he said. “Fancy what an excitement there would be if we brought Alexander Patoff back with us! Not that it is at all probable. We may bring back nothing but broken bones.”

  “I do not think Selim will hurt us much,” I answered. “He is not exactly an athlete. I would risk a fight with him.”

  “I dare say. But there may be plenty of strong fellows about the premises. There are the four caïdjs, the boatmen, to begin with. There is a coachman and probably two grooms. Very likely there are half a dozen big hamáls about.”

  “That makes thirteen,” I said. “Six and a half to one, or four and a third to one, if we count upon our own driver.”

  “You may count upon him,” replied Gregorios. “He is an old soldier, and as strong as a lion. In case of necessity he will call the watch from Yeni Köj. There is a small detachment of infantry there. But we shall not have to resort to such measures. I believe that I can make the Khanum confess. If so, I can make her order Selim to give up Patoff, if he is alive.”

  “And if he is dead?”

  “It will be the worse for the Khanum and her people. She is not in good odor at the palace. It would not take much to have her exiled to Arabia, even though she be dying, as they say she is. That is the question. Let me only find her alive, and I will answer for the rest.”

  “She might very well refuse to confess, I fancy,” I remarked, surprised at my friend’s tone of conviction.

  “I believe not,” he said shortly. Then he remained silent for some time.

  My nerves are good; but I did not like the business, though I knew it was undertaken for a good purpose, and that if we were successful we should be conferring great and lasting happiness upon more than one of my friends. I had heard many queer stories of wild deeds in the East, and in my own experience had been concerned in at least one strange and unhappy story, which had ended in my losing sight forever of a man who was very dear to me. I do not think that the fact of having been in danger necessarily brings with it a liking for dangerous adventures, though it undoubtedly makes a man more fit to encounter perils of all kinds. Few men are absolutely careless of life, and those who are, do not of necessity court death. It is one thing to say that one would readily die at any moment; it is quite another to seek risks and to incur them voluntarily. The brave man, as a general rule, does not feel a thrill of pleasure until the struggle has actually begun; when he is expecting it he is grave and cautious, lest it should come upon him unawares. This, at least, I believe to be the character of the Northern man, and I think it constitutes one of his elements of superiority.

  Balsamides is an Oriental, and looks at things very differently. In his belief death will come at its appointed time, whether a man stay at home and nurse his safety, or whether he lead the front in battle. The essence of fatalism is the conviction that death must come at a certain time, no matter what a man is doing, nor how he may try to protect himself. This is the reason why the fanatic Mussulman is absolutely indifferent to danger. He firmly believes that if he is to die, death will overtake him at the plow as surely as in storming an enemy’s battery. But he believes also that if he dies fighting against unbelievers his place in Paradise will be far higher than if he dies upon his farm, his ambrosial refreshment more abundant, and the dark-eyed houris who will soothe his eternal repose more beautiful and more numerous. The low-born hamál in the street will march up to the mouth of the guns without so much as a cup of coffee to animate him, with an absolute courage not found in men who have not his unswerving faith. To him Paradise is an almost visible reality, and the attainment of it depends only on his individual exertions. But what is most strange is the fact that this indifference to death is contagious, so that Christians who live among Turks unconsciously acquire much of the Moslem belief in fate. The Albanians, who are chiefly Christians, are among the bravest officers in the Turkish army, as they are amongst the most faithfully devoted to the Sultan and to the interests of the Empire.

  Balsamides was in a mood which differed widely from mine. As we clattered over the rough road in the face of the north wind, I was thinking of what was before us, anticipating trouble, and determining within myself what I would do. If I were ready to meet danger, it was from an inward conviction of necessity which clearly presented itself to me, and I consequently made the best of it. But Balsamides grew merry as we proceeded. His spirits rose at the mere thought of a fight, until I almost fancied that he would provoke an unnecessary struggle rather than forego the pleasure of dealing a few blows. It was a new phase of his character, and I watched him, or rather listened to him, with interest.

  “This is positively delightful,” he said in a cheerful voice.

  “What?” I inquired, with pardonable curiosity.

  “What? In an hour or two we may have strangled the Lala, have forced the old Khanum to confess her iniquities, kicked the retainers into the Bosphorus, and be on our way back, with Alexander Patoff in this very carriage! I cannot imagine a more delightful prospect.”

  “It is certainly a lively entertainment for a cold night,” I replied. “But if you expect me to murder anybody in cold blood, I warn you that I will not do it.”

  “No; but they may show fight,” he said. “A little scuffle would be such a rest after leading this monotonous life. I should think you would be more enthusiastic.”

  “I shall reserve my enthusiasm until the fight is over.”

  “Then it will be of no use to you. Where is the pleasure in talking about things when they are past? The real pleasure is in action.”

  “Action is not necessarily bloodshed,” said I. “Active exercise is undoubtedly good for mind and body, but when you take it by strangling your fellow-creatures” ——

  “Rubbish!” exclaimed Balsam
ides. “What is the life of one Lala more or less in this world? Besides, he will not be killed unless he deserves it.”

  “With your ideas about the delight of such amusements, you will be likely to find that he deserves it. I do not think he would be very safe in your keeping.”

  “No, perhaps not,” he answered, with a light laugh. “If he objects to letting me in, I shall take great pleasure in making short work of him. I am rather sorry you have put on that uniform. Your appearance will probably inspire so much respect that they will all act like sheep in a thunderstorm, — huddle together, and bleat or squeal. It is some consolation to think that unless I appeared with an adjutant they would not believe that I came from the palace.”

  “It is a consolation to me to think that my presence may render it unnecessary for you to strangle, crucify, burn alive, and drown the whole population of Yeni Köj,” I answered. “I dare say you have done most of those things at one time or another.”

  “In insurrections, such as we occasionally have in Albania and Crete, it is imperative sometimes to make an example. But I am not bloodthirsty.”

  “No; from your conversation I should take you for a lamb,” said I.

  “I am not bloodthirsty,” continued Gregorios. “I should not care to kill a man who was quite defenseless, or who was innocent. Indeed, I would not do such a thing on any account.”

  “You amaze me,” I observed.

  “No. But I like fighting. I enter into the spirit of the thing. There is really nothing more exhilarating, — I even believe it is healthy.”

  “For the survivors it is good exercise. Those who do not survive are, of course, no longer in a condition to appreciate the fun.”

  “Exactly; the fun consists in surviving.”

  “One does not always survive,” I objected.

  “What is the difference?” exclaimed Balsamides, who probably shrugged his shoulders, in his dark corner of the carriage. “A man can die only once, and then it is all over.”

  “A man can also live only once,” said I. “A living dog is better than a dead lion.”

  “Very little,” answered Balsamides, with a laugh. “I would rather have been a living lion for ever so short a time, and be dead, than be a Pera dog forever. The Preacher would have been nearer to the truth if he had said that a living man is better than a dead man. But the Preacher was an Oriental, and naturally had to use a simile to express his meaning.”

  Suddenly the carriage stopped in the road. Then, after a moment’s pause, we turned to the right, and began to descend a steep hill, slowly and cautiously, for the night was very dark and the road bad.

  “We are going down to Yeni Köj,” said Balsamides. “In twenty minutes we shall be there. I will get out of the carriage first. Remember that, once there, you must not speak a word of any language but Turkish.”

  Slowly we crept down the hill, the wheels grinding in the drag, and jolting heavily from time to time. There were trees by the roadside, — indeed, we were on the outskirts of the Belgrade forest. The bare boughs swayed and creaked in the bitter March wind, and as I peered out through the window the night seemed more hideous than ever.

  “By the by,” said I, suddenly, “we have no names. What am I to call you, if I have to speak to you?”

  “Anything,” said Balsamides. “She does not know the name of the court physician, I suppose. However, you had better call me by his name. She might know, after all. Call me Kalopithaki Bey. You are Mehemet Bey. That is simple enough. Here we are coming to the house; be ready, they will open the door if they recognize the palace carriage through the lattice. Of course every one will be up if the old lady is dying, and it is not much past twelve. The man has driven fast.”

  The wheels rattled over the pavement, and we drew up before the door of Laleli’s house. We both descended quickly, and Balsamides went up the broad steps which led to the door and knocked. Some one opened almost immediately, and a harsh voice — not Selim’s — called out, —

  “Who is there?”

  “From the palace, by order of his Majesty,” answered Balsamides, promptly. I showed myself by his side, and, as he had predicted, the effect produced by the adjutant’s uniform was instantaneous. The man made a low salute, which we hastily returned, and held the door wide open for us to pass; closing it and bolting it, however, when we had entered. I noticed that the bolts slid easily and noiselessly in their sockets. The man was a sturdy and military Turk, I observed, with grizzled mustaches and a face deeply marked with small-pox.

  We entered a lofty vestibule, lighted by two hanging lamps. The floor was matted, but there was no furniture of any description. At the opposite end a high doorway was closed by a heavy curtain. A large Turkish mangál, or brazier, stood in the middle of the wide hall. The man turned to the right and led us into a smaller apartment, of which the walls were ornamented with mirrors in gilt frames. A low divan, covered with satin of the disagreeable color known as magenta, surrounded the room on all sides. Two small tables, inlaid with tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl, stood side by side in the middle of the apartment.

  “Buyurun, be seated, Effendimlir,” said the man, who then left the room. A moment later we heard his harsh voice at some distance: —

  “Selim, Selim! There are two Effendilir from Yildiz-Kiöshk in the selamlek!”

  We sat down to wait.

  “The porter is a genuine Turk, and not a Circassian. A Circassian would have said ‘Effendilir,’ without the ‘m,’ in the vocative when he spoke to us, as he did when he used it in the nominative to Selim.”

  I reflected that Balsamides had good nerves if he could notice grammatical niceties at such a moment.

  XVII.

  IN A FEW moments Selim, the hideous Lala, entered the room, making the usual salutation as he advanced. He must have recognized Balsamides at once, for he started and stood still when he saw him, and seemed about to speak. But my appearance probably prevented him from saying what was on his lips, and he stood motionless before us. Balsamides assumed a suave manner, and informed him that he was sent by his Majesty to afford relief, if possible, to Laleli Khanum Effendi. His Majesty, said Gregorios, was deeply grieved at hearing of the Khanum’s illness, and desired that every means should be employed to alleviate her sufferings. He begged that Selim would at once inform the Khanum of the physician’s presence, as every moment might be of importance at such a juncture.

  Selim could hardly have guessed the truth. He did not know the court doctor by sight, and Balsamides played his part with consummate coolness. The negro could never have imagined that a Frank and a foreigner would dare to assume the uniform of one of the Sultan’s adjutants, — a uniform which he knew very well, and which he knew that he must respect. He was terrified when he recognized in the Sultan’s medical adviser the man who had scattered the crowd in the bazaar, and who had so startled him by his references to the ring, the box, and the chain. He was frightened, but he knew he could not attempt to resist the imperial order, and after a moment’s hesitation he answered.

  “The Khanum Effendi,” he said, “is indeed very ill. It is past midnight, and no one in the harem thinks of sleep. I will prepare the Khanum for the Effendi’s visit.”

  Thereupon he withdrew, and we were once more left alone. I confess that my courage rose as I grew more confident of the excellence of my disguise. If the Lala himself had no doubts concerning me, it was not likely that any one else would venture to question my identity. As for Balsamides, he seemed as calm as though he were making an ordinary visit.

  “They will make us wait,” he said. “It will take half an hour to prepare the harem for my entrance. The old lady may be dying, but she will not sacrifice the formalities. It is no light thing with such as she to receive a visit from a Frank doctor.”